Late in the afternoon a few naked figures appeared on the beach. One
of them signalled with a branch, and soon others followed, till
about fifty men had assembled, and in the background, half-hidden by
shrubs, stood half a dozen women. We entered the whale-boats, two
boys and a white man in each, and slowly approached the shore. All
the natives carried their rifles in their right hands and yams in
their left, making signs to show that they wished to trade. We gave
them to understand that they must first put down their muskets,
and when they hesitated we cocked our rifles and waited. Some of
them went back to the forest and laid down their guns, while the
others sat down at a distance and watched. We promptly put down our
rifles, approached and showed our trade-goods--tobacco, matches,
clay pipes and calico. Hesitating, suspicious, yet tempted, they
crowded round the boat and offered their yams, excitedly shouting
and gesticulating, talking and laughing. They had quite enormous
yams, which they traded for one or two sticks of tobacco or as many
pipes. Matches and calico were not much in demand. Our visitors
were mostly well-built, medium-sized men of every age, and looked
very savage and dangerous. They were nearly naked, but for a belt of
bark around their waists, about 20 cm. wide, which they wore wound
several times around their bodies, so that it stood out like a thick
ring. Over this they had bound narrow ribbons of braided fibres,
dyed in red patterns, the ends of the ribbons falling down in large
tassels. Under this belt is stuck the end of the enormous nambas,
also consisting of red grass fibres. Added to this scanty dress are
small ornaments, tortoise-shell ear-rings, bamboo combs, bracelets
embroidered with rings of shell and cocoa-nut, necklaces, and thin
bands bound under the knees and over the ankles.

The beautiful, lithe, supple bodies support a head covered with long,
curly hair, and the face is framed by a long and fairly well-kept
beard. The eyes roll unsteadily, and their dark and penetrating look
is in no wise softened by the brown colouring of the scela. The nose
is only slightly concave, the sides are large and thick, and their
width is increased by a bamboo or stone cylinder stuck through the
septum. Both nose and eyes are overhung by a thick torus. The upper lip
is generally short and rarely covers the mouth, which is exceptionally
large and wide, and displays a set of teeth of remarkable streng