its for a week and trade
only at the house where I was staying, so as to give them time to quiet
down. This helped matters a little, although, until the day I left,
I was always the centre of an excited mob that pulled at my sleeves
and trousers and shrieked into my ears. I was always cordially invited
to enter the gamals; these were square houses, kept very clean, with
a fireplace in the centre, and the floor covered with mats. As usual,
the roof was full of implements of all sorts, and over the fire there
was a stand and shelves, where coprah was roasted and food preserved.

The natives are expert fishermen, and know how to make the finest as
well as the coarsest nets. They frequently spend the mornings fishing,
a flotilla of canoes gathering at some shallow spot in the bay.

The afternoons are mostly spent in the village in a dolce far
niente. Each village has its special industry: in one the arm-rings
of shell are made, in another the breastplates, in a third canoes,
or the fine mats which are woven on a loom of the simplest system,
very similar to a type of loom found in North America. Weaving,
it will be remembered, is quite unknown in the New Hebrides.

An object peculiar to these islands is feather money. This consists
of the fine breast-feathers of a small bird, stuck together to
form plates, which are fastened on a strip of sinnet, so that a
long ribbon of scarlet feathers is obtained of beautiful colour
and brilliancy. These strips are rolled and preserved in the houses,
carefully wrapped up and only displayed on great occasions. Considering
how few available feathers one little bird yields, and how many are
needed for one roll, it is not surprising that this feather money
is very valuable, and that a single roll will buy a woman. At great
dances the circular dancing-grounds along the shore are decorated
with these ribbons.

For a dance the men exchange the nose-ring of tortoise-shell for a
large, finely carved plate of mother-of-pearl. In the perforated sides
of the nose they place thin sticks, which stand high up towards the
eyes. In the hair they wear sticks and small boards covered with the
same feathers as those used for feather money. They have dancing-sticks
of a most elaborate description, heavy wooden clubs of the shape of
a canoe, painted in delicate designs and with rattles at the lower
end. The designs are black and red on a white ground, and are derived
from shapes of fish and birds. Similar