90 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF 
appeased, nor is the occasion of offence remembered with any feelings 
of rancour. The women seem to possess stronger passions than the 
men, and more enduring wrath; jealousy is the principal exciting 
cause with them, and they will sometimes carry a small weapon, made 
of a shark’s tooth, concealed for months, watching an opportunity of 
making an attack; desperate fights are the consequence of this, and 
so much injury is done before these ferocious combatants can be 
parted, that they often suffer from terrible wounds. Yet Kirby says, 
he found in other respects than this the women always more humane 
and gentle than the men. 
Like all savages, they are treacherous and cruel to the last degree; 
although they seem less prone to fighting than other natives whom 
we had met during our cruise. Kirby mentioned, that they had had 
no war on the three islands where he was resident, for upwards of 
five years. This may be partly owing to the difficulty of fitting out 
expeditions to attack the other islands, and the hazard of communi¬ 
cating with those islands of which they have a knowledge. 
Another custom is remarkable: when a fisherman arrives with a 
well-loaded canoe, his neighbours assemble around him, selecting and 
taking away such as they please, leaving the owner nothing in return 
but the satisfaction of knowing, that on a similar occasion he has a like 
privilege to help himself. Custom has so far sanctioned this habit of 
appropriating things belonging to another, that, according to Kirby, 
they have no term to designate a poor man, except that of slave. Any 
one who owns land can always call upon others to provide him with a 
house, canoe, and the necessaries of life; but one who has none is con¬ 
sidered as a slave, and can hold no property whatever. 
The courtesies of life with them are few, and the want of them 
probably arises from their privilege of making use of what belongs to 
another as their own. Their salutations on meeting are confined to 
simple inquiries, “ Where are you going ?” or, “ Whence do you 
come The rubbing of noses is only practised on special occasions. 
On meeting a chief, the other natives leave the path and stand aside 
until he passes, but make no gestures or expression of obeisance. This 
same mark of respect is also rendered to all the women by the other 
sex. 
They are said to be kind and affectionate to their children, and to 
indulge them in every thing; they never punish them even for the most 
insolent and passionate behaviour, only using kind and affectionate 
words: this may account for the rude treatment that was observed to 
be in practice among the natives of Drummond’s Island towards our 
gentlemen as well as their conduct towards each other. There is, how- 
