built largely from the proceeds of copper ingots, v 

 natives dived for on a neighbouring reef ; these they sold to 

 traders for about £500. This is what the Rev. Dr. Lawes 

 referred to, but the statement that " This find was prohabiy 

 apile of tempered copper Peruvian mining tools. All gone 

 to the melting pot ! Alack ! alas ! " is entirely without 

 foundation, and further it should be noted that the copper 

 ingots were found at least 120 miles west of the ship- 



P. 43, rt is absurd even to suggest that coco-nuts and 

 bows and arrows were introduced into Torres Straits by the 

 Spaniards. The Murray Islanders invariably bad only 

 conical huts, the "gable built houses" were due to the 

 influence of ' South Sea men ' in quite recent years. The 

 Murray Islanders are by no means "obviously blended with 

 something that is neither Papuan nor Australian," and one 

 would have to look for a long time to discover "Peruvian 

 words and customs " in these islands. 



P. 44, When one asks a Torres Straits native for the 

 name of a turtle-shell mask, he never says "Devega- 

 Devega," or anything like it. 



P. 45, The large fish-traps or weirs, sai, of Murray Island 

 and Darnley occur also in some western islands, where 

 they are called graz ; they are of indigenous construction 

 and are not "turtle ponds." The only observation of value 

 in this remarkable paper is the imperfect record on p. 46 

 of a ceremonial object on Stephen's Island (Uga), which 

 evidently was connected with an initiation ceremony into 

 a fraternity, probably analogous to the Bomai-Malu cult 

 of the Miriam, or that of the heroes in other islands. There 

 is no reason to doubt that Mate was the name of the 

 custodian, the statement that " It is obvious enough to me 

 now that Ma-te was not the man's name, but Muerte 

 (Spanish for death)" is not worth discussion. 



