MELANESIA AND ITS PEOPLE. 185 
Bonito and flying-fish are esteemed as the greatest delicacies. The 
former is coarse, but the latter is indeed a dainty. ‘The bonito is a 
very sacred fish to the mind of the southern Solomon Islander, and the 
catching of it was intimately connected with his religion. The bonito 
is caught from canoes, either by a hook trailed aft, no bait being used, 
or by a hook played up and down in a jerky fashion and attached to a 
strong rod and line. ‘The flying-fish are caught on a gorge made of 
tortoise-shell or of the midrib of the rachis of the sago palm. The best 
bait is the claw of the robber crab (Birgus latro). The hook and line are 
made fast to a fishing float called u‘o in Ulawa (Maori wto fish-float). 
Numbers of these are thrown out in places frequented by the flying-fish 
and the owner stands by in his canoe and watches them. 
Sea bream are the most delicate fish in Melanesia. They are caught 
with hook and line, and live white ants are thrown out as burly. The 
bait is a worm found in the sand at high-water mark. The white ant 
used is not the destructive white ant, which is capable of giving a sharp 
bite, but is of a brownish color. The ignorant bushmen are popularly 
supposed to use the wrong ant, with the result that the bream will 
disappear. 
- THE HOUSES OF THE MELANESIANS. 
The houses are mainly of one type, one-roomed buildings, to which 
annexes may easily be added. Some of these houses are large enough 
to accommodate a chief and his twenty wives, small chambers being 
built within the main building. The commoners have their own 
houses, one house to each family, and it is rarely that two families 
live together. The roof is the first part of the house that is built. 
Three rows of posts are erected and ridge poles are set on them. The 
poles may rest in a groove or the tops of the posts may be forked. 
Bamboo rafters are tied from the center pole to the side, and thatch 
is laid on them longitudinally. The thatch is made of leaves, sago 
palm or nipa palm, or the leaves of sugar cane (this latter is only used 
in the south) sewn on to reeds or laths of bamboos and then tied in 
position. The people of Florida and of Ysabel put their thatch on 
in very close layers, and consequently the roof lasts very well, but in 
the other islands the thatch needs a good deal of repair after the second 
year. The smoke of the wood fires used in cooking hardens the thatch 
and tends to preserve it; but schools and churches, buildings where 
fires are not lighted, need constant repairs to the thatch. ‘The sides 
are built in with lattice-work of thin bamboo, and a small doorway is 
left in the front which can be covered by a shutter of leaves. Orna- 
mental ridges are made on the ground and are hoisted up into position, 
and then made fast with creepers. 
The Malaita and San Cristoval houses have a platform in front, 
where the people sit in the evenings. ‘To get into the house one has 
