303 MATABELLO [chap. iiv» 



of tills poor and uEwbolesome diet is seen in the frequency 

 of eniptions and scurfy skin diseases, and the nuiiieroua 

 sore^ that disfiguie the faces of the children. 



The villages are situated on high and nigged coral 

 peaks, ottly accessihle by steep naiTow paths, with ladders 

 and bridges over yawning chasms. They are iilthy with 

 rotten husks and oil refuse, and the huts are dark, greasy, 

 and dirty in the extreme. The people are wretched ugly 

 dirty savages, clothed in imchanged rags, and living in the 

 most miserable manner, and as ever^' drop of fresh water 

 has to be brought up from the beacli, washing is never 

 thought of; yet they anj actually wealthy, and have the 

 means of purchasing all the necessaries and luxuries of life. 

 Fowls are ahundfint, and eggs were given nie whenever I 

 visited the villages, hut these are never eaten, being looked 

 upon as peta or as merchandise. Almost all of the women 

 wear massive gohl earrings, and in every v illage there are 

 dozens of small bronze cannon lying about on tlie ground, 

 although they have cost on the average perhaps 10/. a- 

 piece. The chief men of each v illage came to visit me, 

 clothed in robes of silk and fiowtred satin, though their 

 houses and their daily fure are no better than those of the 

 other inhabitants. What a oontmst between these people 

 and such savages as the best tribes of hillDyaks in Borneo, 

 or the Indians of the Uaupes in South America, living on 

 the banks of clear streams, clean in their pei-sons and 

 their houses, with abundance of wholesome food, and 

 exhibiting its eirect in he^ilthy skins and beauty of form 

 and feature \ There is in fact almost as much dilTerence 

 between the various races of savage as of civilized peoples, 

 and we may safely affirm that the better specimens of 

 the former ure much superior to the lower examples of 

 tlie latter class. 



One of the few bixuriea of Matal.ioUo is the palm wine, 

 which is the fermented sap from the ilower stems of the 

 cocoa-nut. It is really a very nice drink, more like cyder 

 than beer, though quite as intoxicating as the latter. 

 Young cocoa-nuls arc also very abundant, so that anywhere 

 in the island it is only necessary to go a few yards to find 

 a delicious beverage by climbing up a tree for iL It is 

 the water of the young fruit that is drunk, before tiie 



