236 SANTA CRUZ. 
wear the native mat. In the Melanesian islands of the group the 
women are kept much in seclusion and do not mingle freely with the 
men, and in all the islands alike there is not as much freedom of 
intimacy between the sexes as one sees in the Solomons. Yellow 
ocher is much used and everything gets stained by it. ‘he men plaster 
their hair with lime, thus bleaching it, and one often sees the hair done 
up by wrapping a piece of paper mulberry bark round it. ‘The women’s 
heads are shaven. 
Some 20 miles north of Graciosa Bay, and in full view, there towers 
the active volcanic cone called Tamami by the Ndeni people and 
Tinakula by the Reef Islanders. This volcano is about 2,000 feet 
high and rises straight out of the sea. Its top is generally covered 
with a cloud which is half mist and half steam, and at nights the red 
lava is often seen coursing down the steep face to the sea on the north- 
west side of the island. On his last voyage, as he lay becalmed near 
the volcano, Bishop Patteson noticed that it was in action, and Bishop 
John Selwyn saw pumice and gravel descending the sides. ‘The 
earthquakes which are so common in the neighborhood, and which are 
felt so frequently at Ulawa in the Solomons, are probably caused by 
disturbances at this volcanic center. ‘The weather coast of Ulawa 
is frequently covered with pumice-stone carried there by the southeast 
winds. ‘linakula is uninhabited, but coconuts appear round the 
coast and the neighboring peoples of Nupani are said to be in the habit 
of visiting it to collect what food it offers. There is a striking likeness 
between Tinakula and Meralava in the Banks Group, and were Tina- 
kula to cease its activity the fertility of its soil would doubtless equal 
that of Meralava. 
The Swallow Group, or Reef Islands, lie about 40 miles northeast of 
Graciosa Bay. ‘These islands are all small and low-lying, the largest 
of them, Fenua Loa, is 6 or 8 miles in length and very narrow, while 
others (like Pileni and Nukapu) are tiny places which one could walk 
round in half an hour. There is a deep-water passage on the east 
side of Fenua Loa, between it and the cluster of islands marked Lomlom 
on the chart. Lomlom is really the name of a village on Fenua Loa, 
and, so far from the Lomlom of the chart being one island, it is really 
a group of five clustered round a lagoon. ‘The largest of these is named 
Ngailo, and the entrance to the lagoon is by a passage facing Fenua 
Loa. ‘The lagoon is dotted with villages and the people of each island 
maintain their separate lives, often being at war with their next-door 
neighbors. ‘There is a passage through to the south, but owing to 
the prevailing southeast wind this is negotiable only in calm weather. 
Two small islands lie off Ngailo, called Bange Netepa and Bange Ninde. 
These differ from the rest of the group in having no encircling reef and 
rise precipitously to 150 feet, with no beach and with bad landings. 
