484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a hoop, and, by constantly exerting a pressure, tended to enlarge 

 the hole. A boy, whose photograph I took at Rubiana, had the 

 hole in his ears enlarged to a diameter of at least four inches. 

 They are excessively fond of and prize highly armlets made from 

 the shell of the giant clam (Tridacna gigas). A native chief, 

 whom I saw at Santa Anna with a remarkably fine pair, told me 

 he had given a boy for each. At Guadalcanar, Rubiana, and to 

 the westward they take rather the form of bangles, and as many 

 as eight or ten are frequently worn on each arm. Large crescents 

 cut out of pearl-shell are frequently worn round the neck, and, 

 especially on Malayta, frontlets of a white cowry. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, the ornament most highly prized is a necklace of dogs' teeth. 

 A good necklace will consist of five hundred teeth, each one being 

 carefully bored and mounted with great ingenuity. As only two 

 teeth are available from each dog, it would require two hundred 

 and fifty dogs to make a necklace such as I refer to. On San 

 Cristoval, where most of the dogs' teeth come from, I am told 

 that they extract the teeth from live dogs, burying them up to 

 the neck in the ground for the purpose. Porpoise teeth, cuscus 

 teeth, and the teeth of the flying fox are also used, but are not so 

 highly valued as dogs' teeth. 



The natives of Rubiana and New Georgia also wear a neck 

 ornament known by them as a buckea. This is a ring cut from 

 the solid shell of the Tridacna gigas, and suspended round the 

 neck by a sort of plaited red straw. The buckea is more highly 

 prized if it possesses a peculiar yellow stain, and I am told that 

 the best are made from shells that are found as fossils in the bush 

 in regions of coral upheaval. 



I must not forget to mention the strings of bead-money, gener- 

 ally about a fathom in length, which are made from shells at the 

 expense of great labor. It is of two kinds, red and white, the red 

 being more highly prized by them. 



Their weapons are bows and arrows, spears, clubs, tomahawks, 

 and defensive shields. But, while the natives of San Cristoval 

 and Malayta use the arrow, spear, and tomahawk, I never saw on 

 Guadalcanar any arrows or bows except those used for bird-shoot- 

 ing. At Rubiana and New Georgia also arrows are not used, the 

 tomahawk and spear being preferred. But it is on Bougainville 

 that the finest specimens of arrows and spears are found. In fact, 

 the latter, barbed with the wing-bones of the flying fox, are 

 eagerly sought after and bought by the natives of the more east- 

 ern islands, the Alu natives paying two or three visits a year to 

 Bougainville for the purpose of buying spears, arrows, baskets, 

 and other things in the manufacture of which the Bougainville 

 natives excel. 



Perhaps the thing that' most strikes a stranger visiting the 



