Notes on the Customs of Mota, Banks Islands. 135 



23. Sneezing. 



It is thought that when a man sneezes somebody is talk- 

 ing about him. 



[In Fiji a salutation is shouted to the sneezer by the bystanders — 

 "May you lire." It is proper to utter a good wish in return — " Thanks! 

 May you kill," i.e.— kill an enemy — L.F.] 



24. Stone Clubs. 



Mr. Stevens says, in his book called Flint Chips, that 

 " Mr. Robert Day, of Cork, possesses a stone club from San 

 Cristoval." I question whether the club was procured at 

 that island. I have only seen one, and that was obtained in 

 the Solomon Group. It is headed with a stone, which is 

 woven over with cane, so that one cannot see whether it be 

 drilled or not. It is an upright oval as fastened to its 

 handle. 



[I have in my possession three clubs, weighted with drilled stones, from 

 New Britain. The handle of one of them, from which I detached the stone, 

 is four feet two inches long, and is sharpened to a point at the lower end. The 

 stone weighs nine ounces, seemingly a light weight for the purpose. But it 

 needs only to take the club in one's hand in order to perceive that it is a 

 thoroughly effective weapon. The poise is exact. — L. F.] 



25. Wild Men. 



Throughout the field covered by our mission there is 

 everywhere a story, but with all sorts of modifications, that 

 inland on the mountain or mountains there is, or used to 

 be, a race of wild men, to whom different names are given 

 in the different places. The stories might be those one reads 

 from the great islands and peninsulas of Asia. These 

 creatures live in trees and eat fruit. They are never seen 

 more than two together, and single young ones are seen with 

 the mother. They wear no clothes, but carry a bag, which 

 seems odd. They cannot speak. They are seen high up on 

 the great volcano at Ambrym sunning and scratching them- 

 selves. If they catch a man they tear him with their long nails, 

 and some say that they will devour him. I have not heard 

 of any that have tails, but I am settled in the belief that 

 they are identical with the tailed men represented in the 

 myths of New Guinea and New Britain. Does this wide- 

 spread belief originate in the memory of apes in the ancient 

 home of these people, or in that of men in a lower state 



L 



