sionally the night. In rainy
weather they sit round the fire, smoking, gossiping and working on
some tool,--a club or a fine basket. Each clan has its own gamal,
which is strictly taboo for the women, and to each gamal belongs
a dancing-ground like the one described. On Vao there are five,
corresponding to the number of clans.

Near by are the dwelling-houses and family enclosures. Each family has
its square, surrounded by a wall about 1 metre high of loose stones
simply piled up, so that it is unsafe to lean against it. Behind the
walls are high screens of braided reeds, which preclude the possibility
of looking into the enclosure; even the doors are so protected that no
one can look in; for the men are very jealous, and do not want their
wives observed by strangers. These enclosures are very close together,
and only narrow lanes permit circulation. As we turn a corner we may
see a woman disappear quickly, giggling, while children run away with
terrified howls, for what the black man is to ours the white man is
to them.

Having won the confidence of a native, we may be taken into his
courtyard, where there is little to be seen, as all the social life
goes on in the gamals or on the dancing-grounds. A dozen simple huts
stand irregularly about the square, some half decayed and serving as
pigsties. One hut belongs to the master, and each of his wives has a
house of her own, in which to bring up her children. The yard is alive
with pigs and fowls and dogs and children, more or less peacefully
at play.

In Vao, as in all Melanesia, the pig is the most valued of animals. All
the thoughts of the native circle round the pig; for with pigs he
can buy whatever his heart desires: he can have an enemy killed, he
can purchase many women, he can attain the highest social standing,
he can win paradise. No wonder, then, that the Vao pigs are just as
carefully nursed, if not more so, than the children, and that it is
the most important duty of the old matrons to watch over the welfare
of the pigs. To call a young beauty "pig's foot," "pig's nose,"
"pig's tail," or similar endearing names is the greatest compliment
a lover can pay. But only the male pigs are esteemed, the females are
of account only as a necessary instrument for propagating the species,
and nobody takes care of them; so they run wild, and have to look out
for themselves. They are much happier than the males, which are tied
all their lives to a pole under a little ro