CHAP. XXXI.] WEAPONS OF WAR. 265 



quarrels are taken up by villages and tribes, and the non- 

 payment of the stipulated price for a wife is one of the 

 most frequent causes of bitterness and bloodshed. One 

 of the war shields was brought me to look at. It was 

 made of rattans and covered with cotton twist, so as to be 

 both light, strong, and very tough. I should think it 

 would resist any ordinary bullet. About the middle there 

 was an arm-hole with a shutter or flap over it. This 

 enables the arm to be put through and the bow drawn, 

 while the body and face, up to the eyes, remain protected, 

 which cannot be done if the shield is carried on the arm 

 by loops attached at the back in the ordinary way. A 

 few of the young men from our house went to help their 

 friends, but I could not hear that any of them were hurt, 

 or that there was much hard fighting. 



May %tli. — I had now been six weeks at Wanumbai, 

 but for more than half the time was laid up in the house 

 with ulcerated feet. My stores being nearly exhausted, 

 and my bird and insect boxes full, and haAang no imme- 

 diate prospect of getting the use of my legs again, I 

 determined on returning to Dobbo. Birds had lately 

 become rather scarce, and the Paradise birds had not yet 

 become as plentiful as the natives assured me they would 

 be in another month. The Wanumbai people seemed 

 very sorry at my departure ; and well they might be, for 

 the shells and insects they picked up on the way to and 



