r disfiguring nose-rings of tortoise-shell hanging down over
their mouths, so large that when eating they have to be lifted up out
of the way with the left hand. Another ugly habit is the chewing of
betel, the nut of the areca palm, which is mixed with pepper leaves
and lime. The lime is carried in a gourd, often decorated with drawings
and provided with an artistically carved stopper. The leaves and this
bottle are kept in beautifully woven baskets, the prettiest products
of native art, made of banana fibre interwoven with delicate designs
in black. Betel-chewing seems to have a slightly intoxicating effect;
my boys, at least, were often strangely exhilarated in the evening,
although they had certainly had no liquor. The lime forms a black
deposit on the teeth, which sometimes grows to such a size as to hang
out of the mouth, an appendage of which some natives seem rather vain.

The dress of the men consists of a narrow belt of bark and a strip
of tapa worn between the legs. Around their knees and ankles they
wear small, shiny shells, and on their chests a large circular
plate of tridacna-shell, to which is attached a dainty bit of carved
tortoise-shell representing a combination of fish and turtle. This
beautiful ornament is very effective on the dark skin. In the lobes
of the ears are hung large tortoise-shell ornaments, and on the arms
large shell rings or bracelets braided with shell and cocoa-nut beads
are worn.

The men are never seen without bows and arrows of large and heavy
dimensions. Like all the belongings of the Santa Cruzians, the arrows
show artistic taste, being carefully carved and painted so as to
display black carving on a white and red ground. The points of the
arrows are made of human bone.

I bought one of the excellent canoes made by these people, and often
crossed the lovely, quiet bay to visit different villages. The natives
take great care of their canoes, and make it a point of honour to
keep them spotlessly white, which they do by rubbing them with a
seaweed they gather at the bottom of the ocean.

On approaching a village it requires all the skill of the native not
to be dashed by the swell against the reefs. A narrow sandy beach lies
behind, and then a stone terrace 6 feet high, on which the gamal is
built. Generally there was great excitement when I landed, and the men
came rushing from all sides to see me. They were not hostile, only too
eager for trade, and I had to interrupt my vis