SANTA CRUZ. 243 
made from the bark of the tree su‘a, described previously. Shark 
is esteemed a great delicacy, but Europeans would be well advised 
if they refrained from visiting the villages where the flesh or the fins 
are being prepared, for the odor is almost unbearable. 
Mr. O’Ferrall noted that the Pileni men were sorry for themselves 
in that no sharks were left round their island! 
In 1906 Rey. H. Hawkins, now archdeacon in charge of the Maoris 
in the diocese of Auckland, went on the Southern Cross with a Maori 
priest round the Reb aesae shea islands of the Mission to inquire 
into the practicability of sending Maori missionaries to work on these - 
islands. In addition to Matema, Pileni, Nukapu, and Nupani in the 
Reefs, there is Tikopia to the southeast, and in the Solomons Rennell 
and Bellona, west of San Cristoval, and Sikaiana, north of Ulawa, 
islands all lying out of the ordinary track. They were able by talking 
Maori to make themselves understood in all these islands, and were 
quite confident that Maori missionaries would be able to get on there 
from the very first without much hindrance. However, the isolation 
in which they would have been compelled to live their lives was felt 
to be a complete barrier against the Maoris taking up the work. The 
only chance of their being visited was during the biennial trips of the 
Southern Cross. For white men thus to be isolated is hard enough, 
but in the case of Maoris such isolation would be quite fatal. Never- 
theless, several Maoris volunteered for the work, and now that the 
Marsden Centenary has been celebrated the project is being revived 
and Maoris of the diocese of Waiapu are raising funds to support some 
of their own number as missionaries in Melanesia. 
But it can not be said that the problem of frequent communication 
with these islands has yet been solved. A small auxiliary schooner, 
the Selwyn, was built for the purpose of intercommunication between 
the various stations in the Solomons, but so far she has not proved a 
success and has spent a great deal of her time lying up in harbor, 
owing to engine defects. A new engine has now been installed, and 
better things are expected of the Selwyn, but her small size would 
militate against her making frequent and regular voyages to the out- 
lying Polynesian islands in the Solomons, and it would be quite out 
of the question to think of her visiting Santa Cruz. If the Maoris 
are to go as missionaries, then they must be regularly visited, for 
their health’s sake as well as for the supervision of their work, and this 
would demand the presence of a powerful auxiliary schooner stationed 
possibly in the Solomons. 
In any case, it is quite out of the question for the work at Santa Cruz, 
when it is revived, to go on any longer without the missionaries being 
provided with some better means of locomotion than a whaleboat. 
Mr. Nind’s breakdown in health was caused by prolonged journeys 
by boat. With their boats fitted with a small dipping lug-sail, when 
