30G 



durin- the preparation, sucking the sweetish substance after 

 mastication and spitting tlie tibrous matter out m the sliape of a 

 ball The preparation requires a considerable amount ot lal)or. 

 The pieces of bark are first broken in lengths of about six t,. 

 eight inches and split in strips of about half an inch wide 

 These pieces are then laid on hot ashes, well pounded with 

 the yam-stick, and constantly turned and mixed with the ashes 

 Bv this means the outer brown bark is removed, wlulst the heat 

 makes it crisp, l:)ut the inner white bark remains mtact on 

 account of the greater quantity of moisture it contains. \\ hen 

 this process is completed the white strips are dried perfectly 

 before the fire and afterwards triturated in the manner I have 

 described before. Only the finest of the pounded stuff, is eaten, 

 the coarse and tibrous portion being rejected. 



20th October, 1891.^1 amused myself this evening for some 

 time with the blacks, who were throwing sticks at a small iron 

 hoop rapidly rolled along the ground. This was good practice 

 for them to throw at running game, and amusing exercise for 

 me, whilst my occasional misses afforded great delight to the 



natives. , , ^^ ^1,17 



2,0th October, 1891 (At the DamsudvCrs Camp near the J^rasei 

 Kan"-e).— T was well received at the camp, found the men 

 en<^a°ed at work, and just about finishing one of the dams. A 

 «reat number of blacks, men and women, were hard at work 

 carrying, soil out of the excavation. They had to work m pairs, 

 as they "carried the earth on litters made of sacks with a couple 

 of saplings run through them. For this they received a good 

 supply of mutton three times a day. Most of them are of ratlier 

 small stature, not measuring more than 5 feet 3 inclies on an 

 average, and the women less than that. Six or eight old ones ot 

 the fair sex are particularly scraggy individuals and extremely 

 u"-ly There were, however, a few young men above the average 

 and well shaped, particularly one of them, who was about 5 feet 

 9 inches high, and the best-made man seen hitherto. beveral ot 

 the men had deformed limbs caused by burns when young. _ One 

 of them had half tlie right buttock and some flesh from his side 

 burned away, and in consentuenoo walked lopsided. A child just 

 able to walk had both its hands burned not long since, and looked 

 a wretched object with all the fingers on one hand distorted and 

 contracted, and the greater part on the other also. Here 1 also 

 saw a woman with six perfect fingers on each hand and the same 

 number of toes on her feet. Not only are the fingers perfectly 

 formed but there are the corresponding number of metacar})al 

 bones in the hand. I learn that she has several brothers and 

 other relations with the same remarkable _ development, but 

 none of them were at the camp during my visit. 



