505 



an enormous variety of birds, with magnificent plumage, ancP 

 edible for the natives. 



The shore, and especially the reef, affords splendid oppor- 

 tunities for fishing and for the collection of shell fish. The* 

 shells constitute an important raw material for implements and 

 decorations. 



The Barrier Reef runs along some parts of the coast, 

 though it is absent on others. It extends from Cape Rodney 

 in the west to the middle of Table Bay. Then there are again 

 patches of reef off Mogubo Point. In Amazon Bay there are 

 ring-barriers of coral encircling the islands. 



There were no stone quarries affording really good 

 material in the district, and the majority of stone implements 

 was imported. The only place whence stone was taken for 

 making sago-pounders and other implements was in the island 

 of Abd'u in Amazon Bay. T^.ere was, however, good pottery 

 clay on Mailu Island. 



The Villages. — The Mailu or Magi inhabit the coast of 

 this country, some of their villages lying directly on the beach,, 

 others, built before the advent of white man's influence, on 

 the hills, which rise straight from the sea between Amazon 

 and Orangerie Bays. Again, on some parts of the coast, 

 natives speaking a different language, and probably belonging 

 to a different stock, came quite close to the coast, though there 

 were no non-Mailu villages on the beach. It will be best to 

 enumerate the Mailu villages and characterize them briefly, 

 as well as to say a few words about their neighbours on either- 

 side and inland. (^^ 



Beginning from the east, Gadaisiu is the first place 

 inhabited by the Mailu. As a matter of fact, it is a mixed 

 village, about half the houses being built in the Massim 

 manner and inhabited by the Massim (Bonahona subdivision) 

 and the rest showing the Mailu style and tenanted by Mailu- 

 speaking natives. Succeeding Gadaisiu, westwards, comes a 

 group of Mailu villages — Gogotsiha, Oihdda, Ori, Nahd — 

 some built on the shore, some a few miles inland. These 

 villages have some specific customs, by which they differ from 

 the other Mailu (comp. chap, v., sees. 1 and 4). Beyond 

 these, all of which lie on the shores of Orangerie Bay, come 

 the places situated on the hills betv/een Orangerie and Amazon 

 Bays. All the latter were built on the hilltops for purposes 

 of defence. Under the influence of the new conditions of 

 existence and of the complete personal security which these 

 assured, these villages moved to the shore. On the hills 



(6) I am indebted to Mr. Saville for much of the inform atiort: 

 on this subject. 



