se, and may cause tetanus
at the slightest scratch. On the arrows they are extremely sharp and
only slightly attached to the wood, so that they stick in the flesh
and increase the inflammation. Besides, they are often dipped in some
special poison.

All over the archipelago the arrows are very carefully made, and
almost every island has its own type, although they all resemble
each other. Many are covered at the point with a fine spiral binding,
and the small triangles thus formed are painted in rows--red, green
and white. Much less care is bestowed on the fish- and bird-arrows,
which are three-pointed as a rule, and often have no point at all,
but only a knob, so as to stun the bird and not to stick in the
branches of the trees.

Shields are unknown. It would seem that the arrow was not, as
elsewhere, the principal weapon, but rather the spear and club,
and the wars were not very deadly, as the natives' skill in handling
their weapons was equalled by their skill in dodging them.

Having inspected the gamal, we received from the highest caste present
a gift of some yam, or taro, which we requited with some sticks of
tobacco. The length of the gamal depends on the caste of the chief
who builds it. I saw a gamal 60 metres long, and while this length
seems senseless to-day, because of the scanty population, it was
necessary in former days, when the number of a man's followers rose
with his rank. Not many years ago these houses were filled at night
with sleeping warriors, each with his weapons at hand, ready for a
fight. To-day these long, dark, deserted houses are too dismal for
the few remaining men, so that they generally build a small gamal
beside the big one.

To have killed a man, no matter in what way, is a great honour,
and gives the right to wear a special plume of white and black
feathers. Such plumes are not rare in Port Olry.

Each man has his own fire, and cooks his own food; for, as I have
said, it would mean the loss of caste to eat food cooked on the
fire of a lower caste. Women are considered unworthy to cook a man's
meal; in fact, their standing here is probably the lowest in all the
archipelago. Still, they do not lack amusement; they gather like the
men for social carousals, and are giggling and chattering all day
long. Their principal occupation is the cultivation of the fields,
but where Nature is so open-handed this is not such a task as we might
think when we see them coming home in the aftern