SANTA CRUZ. O35 
stones in the bowls and are esteemed a great relish. The young shoots 
of the su‘a are eaten as spinach, and so are the catkins of the male 
tree. Fishing-lines are made from the same bark, and some of the 
lines are strong enough to hold a shark. They are coated with a 
preparation made from the inner skin of the casuarina. 
The arrows of Santa Cruz are much to be dreaded. Dr. Codrington 
writes that they are uniformly 4 feet long and weigh about 2 ounces. 
The bone point is 7 inches long and the foreshaft (of hardwood curi- 
ously carved and colored) is 16 inches long. ‘The bone head (human 
bone) is covered with a preparation of vegetable ashes which is 
supposed to give great supernatural power. The common result of a 
wound from any of these arrows is certainly tetanus. However, it 
is quite certain that no vegetable poisons are consciously used in the 
preparation of the arrows, but all the preparation is done while charms 
are being said to fasten supernatural qualities on the arrow. What 
the native seeks for is an arrow which shall have mana to hurt. The 
truth of the matter seems to be that while the arrows are poisonous, 
they are not deliberately poisoned... A punctured wound in the tropics 
may easily be followed by tetanus, especially if dirt be adhering to 
whatever caused the puncture; and the breaking off of a fine point of 
bone in a wound is sure to be dangerous and likely to be fatal. The 
introduction into the wound of an acrid or burning substance will 
increase the inflammation in it. In the case of natives, it is always 
expected that tetanus will surely follow and the expectation may go 
a long way to cause the symptoms. One would think that the rigidity 
of the bows and the weight of the arrows would militate considerably 
against the accuracy of the shooting; the Malaita bow is much more 
easily bent and the arrow is lighter, though a little longer. 
The men in the whole of the group wear a turtle-shell ring hanging 
from the septum of the nose. ‘These rings are made out of the tail- 
piece of the turtle shell, which is of considerable thickness and has an 
aperture where it fits on to the carapace. This particular piece of 
the shell, called popo (stern) in Ulawa, 1s much sought after. When 
the man wishes to eat he has to lift up his nose ring. Numbers of 
rings made of strips of turtle shell are hung in the ears, the lobe of 
which becomes much distended, and it is a common thing for the rings 
to touch the shoulder. Great heavy discs of pure white clam-shell 
are suspended from the neck. ‘The best of these are said to be made 
from clam shells of immemorial antiquity found inland in the bush 
and dating back to the time when the land was upheaved. On these 
discs (called te ma, moon) a piece of turtle shell is tied, cut into the 
conventional shape of the man-of-war hawk. Some of the discs are 
Io inches in diameter. 
The boys are clad in a native mat after attaining a certain age and 
the men all wear the native mat as a loin-cloth. The women also 
