GENERAL ACCOUNT HEDLEY. 



27 



Fig. 2. A palin reserved by the " Niu Tabu." 



New Guinea, and the Rev. W. W. Gill described* it in Rarotonga. 

 There it is held to represent the owner clasping the tree with his 

 arms and legs, separate bunches of pinnules being knotted to 

 represent the limbs. Dr. Gill tells me that in old Rarotonga, if 

 the midrib of the niu tabu was injured the owner would consider 

 that his spine was figuratively broken, a mortal injury only to be 

 atoned by the blood of the offender. In Tonga the trespasser 

 incurred a curse that his child would die within the year, but in 

 peaceful Funafuti I did not learn of any dire evil befalling the 

 offender. The tip of the coconut frond, the sacred "iku kukau," 

 was a religious emblem in former days.} 



Anyone athirst in another man's land was in Funafuti at 

 liberty to pluck his neighbour's coconut, but he was expected to 

 report the circumstance to the owner on his return. 



* Gill Jottings from the Pacific, 1885, p. 205. 



t Gill loc. cit., pp. 15 and 22. On Nukufetau the American Expedi- 

 tion observed a coconut leaflet tied around the neck, probably as a sign of 

 amity and peace. Wilkes Narr. Amer. Explor. Exped., v., 1845, p. 48. 



