FROM THE HKW HEBRIDES CAMERON. 405 



removing the skulls from their box, I found that they pre- 

 sented quite a remarkable appearance, for on each there 

 had been moulded in clay or some similar medium, with 

 no small display of skill, the supposed facial features of the 

 deceased. On investigating them further, it was seen that 

 they exhibited many points of more than passing interest 

 which were deemed worthy of being placed on record. 



I wrote a letter to Dr. Annand inquiring about the racial 

 characteristics of the New Hebridean inhabitants, and he 

 very courteously sent me by return mail a very interesting 

 account, in the course of which he stated that they were 

 mainly Melanesian with some Polynesian admixture. His 

 letter contained so many points bearing on the subject of 

 this memoir that I decided to reproduce it i7i extenso. 



"Your letter of yesterday asking for information relating 

 to two New Hebrides skulls is before me. The history 

 of the "clay facial masks" is, so far as the New Hebrides 

 is concerned, non-existent. However I will mention some 

 facts that may aid you in forming an opinion regarding 

 them. The skulls Avere brought home to show a custom 

 that prevails on South and South West Malekula only of 

 the New Hebrides, namely the binding of the head in infancy 

 to produce "long heads". Why this was first done no one 

 now knows; but it continues because their fathers did it. 

 It is the fashion. The clay mask is not essentially connected 

 with the long skull for on other parts of the same island 

 the human body is thus encased with clay and lime into 

 mummy form. Sorhe bodies have been taken from the 

 island that passed as mummies. The chief preservative is 

 lime (burned coral). The moulding of the masks is done 

 over the body soon after death, and placed over a fire to 

 dry and smoke. There is no burial where this custom 

 prevails. The corpse is put up on a platform in a house or 

 roof erected for the purpose. After the days of mourning 

 are over (from fifty days and upward) the body gets no 



