SANTA CRUZ. 239 
and that it should be used as the basis for all linguistic work. The 
peoples speaking Polynesian never learn the Melanesian tongues, 
whereas those who speak Melanesian are nearly always bilingual. 
It would be advisable to take the language of some one island and 
definitely adopt it as the standard language for all translational work. 
To learn one language well and to make that the lingua franca seems 
a feasible project. 
Undoubtedly one of the chief reasons for the present religious stag- 
nation in Santa Cruz is the Mission’s failure to learn any one of the 
languages and to make translations. Many boys have been taken 
from the neighborhood to Norfolk Island and have returned home in 
order to impart to their fellows what they had learned of Christianity. 
They might have done much even without assistance from the whites 
had they been provided with books, but with the exception of good 
Henry Leambi hardly one of them has risen to a sense of the duties 
of his high calling and has kept to his post. A Matema boy, Ben 
Teilo, has done excellent work on Vanikolo and Utupua, and has 
lately been ordained deacon. 
The Santa Cruz boys never throve when taken to Norfolk Island. 
As a whole they failed to show much sign of intellectuality, though 
some of them were sharp enough; they were always the first to fall ill, 
and during any epidemic they were a constant source of anxiety. It 
is reported that during one epidemic of meningitis five Cruzians 
died within a few days of one another, some sickening and dying within 
the day. In former years vessels endeavored to recruit laborers at 
Santa Cruz for Queensland, but the recruiting was stopped owing to 
the heavy mortality which occurred through nostalgia, men simply 
giving up the ghost in their homesickness. In later years the Mission 
has been taking Santa Cruz boys for training as teachers to the central 
school at Vureas, Banks Islands. There they seem to have kept in 
better health, but nevertheless they have been a source of great anxiety 
and some have died. 
Santa Cruz can also claim distinction as being the only place in 
Melanesia where the people use a hand loom. Looms do not appear 
in Polynesia at all, but the one used at Santa Cruz has great likeness 
to those used in the Carolines. Looms also appear in the Philippines 
and in Borneo. The Spaniards in 1595 remarked on the presence of 
these looms. ‘The fiber used in the weaving is derived from the stem of 
a certain banana and is made into mats for wearing as dresses and into 
kits for men’s use to carry their lime-boxes, etc. “The weaving is done 
by the men. 
The wonderful sailing canoe of the Cruzians is called loju or tepuket. 
These are made principally in the Duff Group, Taumako. The foun- 
dation of the canoe is a large hollowed-out log, the aperture being 
covered eventually to keep out the water. On this log a big stage is 
