56 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



No cooking is ever done in the house, but each family has a 

 separate kitchen, a roughly built hut, some distance away from 

 the. dwelling. No native pottery exists, nor do the islanders 

 seem to app'reciate European earthenware, but iron pots are 

 valued. Coconut shells are used to heat fluids. The usual 

 Polynesian method of cooking with hob stones in a hole in the 

 ground still prevails, it has been well described by the Rev. S. 

 Ella,* as well as by numerous other writers. For lack of better 

 stones the cooks are obliged to use coral, of which they select the 

 hardest kinds, such as Montipora and Millepora, even these soon 

 crumble in the tire. If any volcanic rock was brought as ship's 

 ballast from Fiji or elsewhere, it was eagerly seized upon for 

 cooking-stones. The roots of trees drifted ashore were also care- 

 fully searched for hard stones. 



A missionary says : " Missionaries are by some charged with 

 too great strictness in their dealings with the failings and weak- 

 nesses of recent converts. If those who make the charges took 

 the trouble to enquire, they would find that missionaries generally 

 take the opposite side, and endeavour to modify the severity of 

 the converts themselves towards their erring brethren."! The 

 severity of the Native Teacher towards the gentle, submissive 

 Islanders, remarked upon by all the members of the Expedition, 

 is probably, as indicated by the foregoing quotation, contrary to 

 the wishes of his superiors. He seemed as anxious to obliterate 

 native manners, and to substitute the habits and customs of the 

 European, as. he understood them, as to preach the European's 

 creed. One instance of this that came under my notice was 

 where children were scolded for indulging in the pretty native 

 custom of wearing wreaths of flowers in their hair. In their 

 progress towards civilisation the natives have lost most of their 

 old amusements. The elders often look back with regret to 

 the merry old days of heathendom, when the village was not 

 so dull. Foot racing, lance throwing, quarterstaff fencing, 

 wrestling, and dancing have died out under the Native Teacher's 

 disapproval. Singing is still keenly enjoyed, but is only per- 

 mitted under the supervision of the Native Teacher or Deacon, 

 and in a subdued tone. Attention is directed rather to singing 

 passages from the Scriptures, or the multiplication table set 

 to verse than to the stirring native chants. A public meet- 

 ing for singing takes place twice or thrice a week. The sexes 

 sit apart, usually facing each other from opposite sides of the 

 house ; they both sit cross legged or tailor-wise. A leader on 

 one side or the other usually strikes up, and the rest at once 

 fall in. The old Funafuti airs which were danced to wild 



* Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1892 (1893), p. 636. 

 t Whitmee Joe. cit., p. 13. 



