ization could
improve them, as, like most aborigines, they have a pronounced sense
of propriety, justice and politeness. There is very little disputing or
quarrelling, and differences of opinion are usually settled by a joke,
so that in this respect the savages show a behaviour far superior to
that of many a roaring and swearing white.

I found neither drums nor statues here, and of the local religion
I could learn nothing. There is a skull-cult, similar to that on
Malekula: a man will paint the skull of a favourite wife or child
yellow, shut all the openings with wooden stoppers and carry the relic
about with him. Towards the end of my stay I obtained possession of
some of these interesting skulls. The idea in shutting the holes is
doubtless to preserve the spirit of the dead inside the skull.

One evening I crossed the bay to attend a dance. The starless sky shone
feebly, spotted with dark, torn clouds. A dull silver light lay on the
sea, which was scarcely lighter than the steep shores. In the silence
the strokes of our oars sounded sharp and energetic, yet they seemed
to come from a distance. In the darkness we felt first the outrigger,
then the canoe, lifted by a heavy swell, which glided away out of sight
in monotonous rhythm. Then light began to play around us, indistinct
at first, then two silver stripes formed at the bow and ran along
the boat. They were surrounded by bright, whirling sparks, and at the
bow of the outrigger the gayest fireworks of silver light sprang up,
sparkling and dying away as if the boat had been a meteor. The oars,
too, dripped light, as though they were bringing up fine silver dust
from below. The naked boy in front of me shone like a marble statue on
a dark background as his beautiful body worked in rhythmic movements,
the light playing to and fro on his back. And ever the sparks danced
along the boat in hypnotizing confusion, and mighty harmonies seemed
to echo through the night air. The feeling of time was lost, until
the opposite shore rose to a black wall, then, through the silence,
we heard the cold rush of the surf beating moodily on the reef. We
slackened speed, the fairy light died and the dream ended. We kept
along the shore, looking for the entrance, which the boys found by
feeling for a well-known rock with their oars. A wave lifted us,
the boys bent to their oars with all their might, we shot across the
reef and ran into the soft sand of the beach.

But as the rain fell