FRENCH MELANESIA. 



345 



so many clans, so many nations, now allies now enemies, and all speaking different 

 dialects, though of a common stock language. 



Nevertheless, the tribes are usually grouped during hostilities in the two 

 confederacies of the Ots and Wawaps. Each group is constituted under a monar- 

 chical form, with a chief whose person is sacred, and to whom all owe not only 

 deference, but also forced labour for the plantations, structures, fisheries, and 

 transport of provisions. In the native villages, the chief's house is at once 



Fi^. 148.— New Caledonian Woman. 



recognised by its size and its pointed cone terminating in little wisps of straw and 

 a few tilUts, or bark banderols. The dwelling of a great chief is still more 

 ornamented, for the chief is the " sun " of his tribe, and at his death the luminary 

 is said to have " set." He is bound to summon the council of elders on all serious 

 occasions, such as judicial inquiries and sentences, proclamations of war or peace, 

 the organisation of the pih(-pi7u, or national festivities and banquets. 



