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the roof of grass thatch. There is often a verandah at 
either or both front and back. Doors are of planks from 
packing cases, and windows may have wooden shutters. 
Sometimes there are partitions inside to form two or three 
rooms. The original island houses were round and this 
type was introduced by the missionaries. The usual bed 
is a woven coconut leaf mat that can be rolled up when 
not in use. One might pass a patient going home from 
hospital with his bed in a roll over his shoulder. Apart 
from sleeping and storage of belongings, the inside of the 
house is not greatly used. Cooking and other domestic 
jobs are done in outside sheds of bamboo and thatch, and 
meals may be eaten on the verandah. Most households 
have a pressure lamp for illumination. A low line of 
stones marks the boundary to each property and the 
yards are kept swept and tidy. There is beauty and 
peacefulness in these villages set just above the beach 
amongst tall coconut palms with here and there a 
Pandanus or a spreading lig tree. Poinciavn trees grow 
in profusion near at hand and must be a wonderful sight 
when in flower. 
Darnlev villages are more sophisticated and less 
picturesque. Nearly every house has at least a sheet or 
two of galvanised iron somewhere about it. They are 
built on a series of little bays along the south side of the 
island. Into another bay beyond the furthest village runs 
a small creek. This watercourse is typical of those on 
both islands with dense vegetation along its banks, part 
regrowth after clearing and part natural— bananas, 
mangroves, clumps of bamboo, taro, conjevoi, various rain 
forest trees, palms and vines, with Pandanus and man- 
groves near the beach. Though the lowest reaches of the 
stream are salt, there is no direct communication with the 
sea. from which it is cut off by a high bank of sand. A 
unique feature of this particular watercourse is a clump 
of sago palms, said to be the only ones of the Torres Straits 
islands. McGillivray, who saw them about 1846. was told 
they had been introduced from New Guinea “many years 
ago. ’ ’ 
1 he islanders are Anglicans and keen churchgoers. 
Those on Mer have their own native parson and on 
Barnley have lay-readers. I have never before heard 
hymns sung with so much enthusiasm. The churches are 
pleasant buildings of lime-washed coral cement with the 
font a giant clam shell. 
The first missionaries (London Missionary Society) 
to come to the forces Straits landed on Darnley Island 
