FEEJEE GROUP. 363 



The ula is a short club, used as a missile : it is about eighteen 

 inches long ; the handle is small, and at the end is a natural knot. 

 The size of the end is as large as an eighteen-pound ball. Our 

 sailors gave this the name of Handy Billy, and it is almost incredible 

 with what accuracy and force the natives can throw this weapon. 



The long club is usually carried by the natives over the shoulder, 

 which, on meeting another, is at once lowered to the ground. They 

 are never to be found without the ula, which is usually stuck in the 

 girdle behind. 



Their bows and arrows are by no means good. The former are 

 made of the pendent roots of the mangrove; the Tatter of the wild 

 sugar-cane, with pieces of hard wood inserted, that have been 

 charred : they are too light to do much harm. 



There are many of these clubs, spears, and arrows deposited in the 

 mbure, which are held in great veneration. Some of these, that they 

 say belong to the spirit, it is not easy to buy from them. If a 

 price is offered for one, they generally answer, that it belongs to the 

 spirit, and cannot be sold. In hopes of a higher price, however, and 

 not allowing the purchaser to escape, they usually offer to consult the 

 spirit. For this purpose they take up any thing that it may be con- 

 venient to consider the spirit to dwell in, and then name the spirit's 

 price for it. This is generally twice as much as they are willing 

 to take, and after several consultations the first offer is accepted. 



Besides the general occupations of war and agriculture, and the 

 barbers we have mentioned as attending on the chiefs, the men carry 

 burdens, and build houses and canoes. In the construction of these 

 they employ persons who are by profession carpenters, and who are 

 held in great estimation. 



Their houses differ from those of the other groups, although they 

 are constructed of similar materials. The frame and sills are 

 made of the cocoa-nut and tree-fern ; they have two doorways, on 

 opposite sides, from three to four feet high, and four feet wide ; the 

 posts are set in the ground, and are placed about three feet apart ; the 

 rafters of the palm tree are set upon a plate, resting on the post: these 

 have a very steep pitch, and support a cocoa-nut log, that forms the 

 peak of the roof; the ends of the peak extend beyond the thatching 

 at each end, and are covered with shells (Cyprsea ovula). The 

 thatching is peculiar, being thickest at the eaves ; to make the roof 

 they begin at the peak, whence they thatch down with the wild 

 sugar-cane, under which they place fern-leaves. These gradually 



