Page 6 _June-July-Aug. 1980 No. 263___NEW__ YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES 
often far from any roads or docks, 
outer world. 
Predominantly Melanesian and Pol 
thus virtually unaware of the 
ynesian, the people are eh 
i : i d to as either "bush 
classifiable by lifestyle, often being referred 
people", Tieine in Pe vanele highlands by bun Fane one Be oe 
burn agriculture, or as "coastal people Lae ea. ; fs ae 
cocoanut culture along the coastal fringes of e volcanic “high is- 
lands" and on the coral "low islands". 
One of the objectives of the AMELA Expedition was to meet local peo- 
ple, to 1o8eR a little about their way of life, and to buy shells. 
We did visit the Polynesian village of Leuaniua on remote Ontong 
Java atoll, out in the open Pacific, and the Melanesian Kia Village, 
on a jungle slope where river-like Austria Sound cuts through north- 
west Santa Isabel Island. It was a privilege to observe even so 
briefly a way of life based on fishing and subsistence agriculture, 
little touched by outside influences. The former warlike reputation 
of the Melanesian people may have been partly based on their under- 
standable retaliation for the raiding and pillaging of their vil- 
lages by nineteenth century slave traders. 
In that part of the world, June and July are winter months, part of 
the "dry season", but we were to learn that this only meant that we 
would have somewhat less rain than during a comparable period in 
the "wet season". Where an average of eighty inches of rain each 
year keeps the rivers full and the jungle green, we should not have 
been surprised by frequent grey skies and occasional stormy periods. 
The ocean water was a pleasant eighty degrees or more, and we needed 
no wetsuits. We did, however, wear slacks and long-sleeved shirts 
when diving to guard against coral scratches and jellyfish stings, 
and this cover also kept us warm when the water temperature declined 
at depths to a hundred feet and during late night dives. 
Visibility in the open ocean was generally around a hundred feet, 
except in the vicinity of rivers, where silt and the mixture of salt 
and fresh water clouded our vision, and in the turbulent passages 
between islands, as near Kia Village and among the Florida Islands. 
There visibility was reduced to arm's length, and the swirling cur- 
rents made drift-dives the order of the day. Brian Bailey had told 
us that we would find, in these passes, a shell under every rock or 
coral bump. He forgot to tell us how many yards of bare sand might 
lie between rocks. 
Shell collecting began at once on our arrival in Honiara. In fact, 
the Bradners, having flown ahead of the main party, could already 
show us interesting specimens found directly in front of the hotel. 
Then, while the CORALITA took on fuel in Honiara Harbor our first 
night on board, several of our group took the opportunity to make 4 
night dive under the adjacent pier. By the light of the waterproof 
electric lamps they turned up a magnificent Conus aulicus, a large 
and very active Harpa, and various nice Cypraea._ tnt 
In contrast to the earlier Fiji expedition, wh i ells 
were collected while simply walking on reefs icone cuidate’ 
ing, in the Solomons most of our collecting entailed long hours of 
snorkeling, or SCUBA diving. In general the reefs and shores we 
visited seemed sparsely inhabited by marine life, some even appeared 
