THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
518 
the reef, one of whom had been in Queensland, the other in Fiji ; both spoke a good deal 
of English, and one said he was willing to go to Fiji again. Nearly all the men wore 
round their necks a small triangular ornament, cut out of one of the septa from the shell 
of the pearly Nautilus, and threaded by the hole through which the syphon passes. Many 
had broad flat tortoiseshell bracelets, and nearly all wore ear-rings made of narrow strips 
of tortoiseshell moulded into a flat spiral from which the tips of pigs’ tails sometimes 
hung as ornaments. 
The bows used by the natives are made of hard wood. The arrows are without 
feathers, but notched for the string, and made of reeds with heavy wooden ends, frequently 
with tips of human bone. The tips are all covered with poison, in the form of a black 
incrustation. The arrows have an elaborate and artistic coloured decoration in the 
binding round the part where the bone tips are inserted. They prize these arrows 
highly, and were unwilling to part with them. They carry them rolled up in an oblong 
strip of plantain leaf, and showed by signs that, they considered the poison deadly, 
and were much in awe of it. 
All the men have cicatrices on their bodies, usually representing a human face, and 
placed sometimes on the shoulder, but more often upon the breast, and sometimes on 
both breasts. They understood the value of the usual trade articles very well. Knives, 
tobacco, and pipes were what they wanted most, but they were not at all eager to trade, 
and few weapons or ornaments were obtained from them. The tortoiseshell bracelets 
they would not part with at any price. 
It was very trying to the scientific staff of the Expedition to be obliged to leave a 
totally unknown island like Api after spending only two hours on shore. 
Swallows ( Hirundo taliitica ) and Swifts ( Cottocalia uropygialis ) were flying about 
in considerable numbers near the landing place. Specimens of a Kingfisher ( Halcyon 
julice), a Shrike ( Artamus melaleucus ), and a Pigeon ( Carpophaga pacijica ) were also 
procured ; and in addition to these a Heron, Tern, and a few other birds w r ere 
observed. A Gannet (Sula piscator ) which came on board had specimens of a Cephalopod 
( Ommastrephes oualaniensis ) in its stomach. 
Several Spiders 1 were obtained at Api: — Epeira moluccensis, Dol., Epeira man- 
gareva, Walck., Nephila victorialis, L. Koch, Meta sp. ?, Argyrodes sp. ?, and Trochosa 
sp. ?; seven species of land shells 2 were collected, of which four are new: — Pythici 
apiensis, Melania apiensis, Melania turbans, and Melania ordinaria. 
The landing place was in the bay north of the first point north of the southwest 
extremity of the island, on a steep black sandy beach a cable south of the entrance to a 
small stream, and inside a large coral border, the northernmost rock above water. 
Whilst the officers and naturalists were on shore, some very rich hauls of the dredge 
1 Determined "by Eev. 0. P. Cambridge. 
2 E. A. Smith, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 268, 1884. 
