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frightened, flies out into the net, which is immediately closed 

 by another man. The white cockatoo fOrdma), the red one 

 (Urciva), the small brown (Ero), and the large brown (Bina)^ 

 as well as the black (Behemu), were valued for feather orna- 

 ments. 



The bird of paradise (Tsidke) was caught in a snare 

 (Onigo) set on a branch of a native Ficus (BdniJ, on the 

 fruits of which the birds feed. When the bird walks on this 

 branch a man standing underneath pulls the snare and catches 

 the bird. 



The cuscus (Oura) is caught by cutting down the tree in 

 which it hides. 



A word may be said in this place about the breeding of 

 pigs. As a rule, the sows only were reared and kept in the 

 village, and they usually lived within the village enclosure. 

 But they were allowed outside as well, where they mated with 

 the wild boars of the jungle. This is alleged as one of the 

 reasons why the pigs on the mainland in Mailu district were not 

 nearly as good as those of Aroma, where the Mailu islanders, 

 who did not breed their own animals, used to provide them- 

 selves with the material for their feasts. The Aroma pigs had 

 much better food, as the large coconut plantations there were 

 used for fattening them. Both sows and boars were kept in 

 the village, thus precluding the admixture of the inferior, 

 wild breed of the jungle. The Aroma people are also said to 

 wash their pigs with coconut cream and bathe them, and they 

 put some leaves as medicine into their food, but they do not 

 utter any spells nor use any charms. 



3. Fishing. 



In Mailu Island fishing is the most important economic 

 activity, this industry having here reached a much more 

 varied development than amongst the mainland Magi, and 

 all that is said in this section applies to Mailu Island. The 

 mainland Magi, who, in order to fish, had to venture down 

 to the beach from their stockaded villages, and who had to- 

 be always on the alert, had much fewer methods of fishing in 

 the past, although nowadays, when they live on the beach, 

 they have probably adopted all, or nearly all, of the Mailu 

 methods. 



To the Mailu islanders the sea and its inhabitants are 

 objects of the greatest interest. Several times I observed a 

 great uproar in the village, shouts ringing from one end to 

 the other, and people hurrying to the beach in the greatest 

 excitement, the reason being that dugongs were seen in the 

 shallow water near the reef. Often when I sailed in native 

 canoes, or in launches, or paddled in a dinghy, I saw the- 



