OFS A \^1 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Charles Tillian '7ason DU 598.Y3F98 """"'"*' '""''"^ ^''*iii&^,iSf,i,te,.™ney, yap of the Ca 3 1924 023 500 543 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023500543 (/-(PL^U^-^^ THE ISLAND OF STOOT: MONEY UAP OF THE CAROLINES \ ;i ^ p I ^ THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY UAP OF THE CAEOLINES By WILLIAM HENEY PUENBSS, 3ed, M.D., F.E.G.S. AUTHOR OF "hOMB-LIFE of the BORNEO HEAD-HUNTEES " WITB ILLVSTRATIONS FSOM PBOTOQRAFHS BY THE AUTHOR PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LTPPmCOTT COMPANY 1910 COPTEIOHT. 1910 By J. B. LippiNooTT Company Published September, 1910 ^,^l51^(o Printed by J. B, lAppincott Company The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, V. S. A. ^O IN MEMORIAM 23 JUNE, 1909 CONTENTS CHAFTEB FAQS I iNTKODtrCTOBY 11 II Native Houses 21 III Bachelors' Houses 36 IV Costume and Adornments 56 V Songs and Incantations 69 VI Dance and Postuke Songs 82 VII Money and Cukrency 92 VTII Uap Friendships 107 IX Religion 142 X Perception op Colour 155 XI Tattooing 157 XII Burial Eites 162 Uap Grammar 180 Vocabulary 199 ILLUSTRATIONS PAQB A Record, in the Making Frontispiece A Native Eesidence 22 A Kich Man's House 24 House of a Copra Trader 26 A Native-Made Path 30 A "Pabai," or Men's Club-House 36 Return From a Fishing Cruise on the Open Sea 40 A"Failu" 44 Man and Wife of " Pimlingai," or Slave Class 48 Lemet, a Mispil 52 Waigong, a Boy of Sixteen or Seventeen 56 Full Dress of a High-Class Damsel 60 Inifel, a Turbulent Chief 64 A Phonographic Matinee 72 Four Damsels Who Sang into the Phonograph 74 Lian, Chief of Dulukan 76 The Largest "Fei" on the Island 92 Stone Money Belonging to the " Failu" 96 " Gagai," or Cat's Cradle 108 Kakofel, the Daughter of Lian 110 Coconut Grove 114 Migiul, a Mispil 124 Fatumak 126 Fatumak's Account for Coconuts Rendered 138 The Mode of Carrying Babies 154 The Tattooing of the Men of Fashion 158 Tattooing 159 TJsual Tattoo Marks of a Mispil 160 Funeral Gifts of Stone Money and Pearl Shells 166 Gyeiga Placing Two Pearl Shells on Her Father's Corpse 168 Map '. 273 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY CHAPTER I INTEODUCTORY ALTHOUGH old-time Pacific whalers and -^ ^ missionaries, both of them, let us hope, from kindly motives of rendering the island- ers happy, introduced two unfortunate attend- ants of western civilization — alcohol and di- versity of faiths — ^nevertheless the natives of The Caroline Islands have retained the greater part of their original primitive beliefs, and recently, imder admirable German rule, have perforce abandoned alcohol. Wherefore they are become an exceedingly pleasant and gentle folk to visit ; this is especially true of the na- tives of the island of Uap or Yap, the most westerly of the group. Like all other primi- tive people (it hurts one's feelings to call them savages or even uncivilized, — one is too broad 11 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET and the other too narrow) they are shy at first, either through mistrust or awe, but, let acquaintance and confidence be once estab- lished, and they are good company and benignantly ready to tolerate, even to foster condescendingly, the incomprehensible pecu- liarities and demented foibles of the white- faced visitor. When I visited The Caroline Islands in 1903, there was but one small steamer, of a German trading company, which, about five times a year, links these little worlds with our great one, and the people which it brings from the. uttermost horizon must seem to the natives quite as wonderful as beings from Mars might seem to us; we at least can discern the little point of light from which our Martian visitors might come, and can appreciate the size and distance of another world, but to the man of Uap, whose whole world in length and breadth is but a day's walk, the little steamboat emerges from an invisible spot, out of the very ocean. ' 12 INTRODUCTORY After a whole month of tossing and rolling and endless pitching on the tiny, 500-ton steamer, Oceana, plying between Sydney and The Marshall and Caroline Islands and Hong- kong, we were within one night's sail of the little island of Uap, — a mere dot on our school maps. Here I intended to remain for nearly two months and await the return trip of the steamer. The five short stops which the steamer had made at other enchanting, allur- ing islands had been veritable Jiors-d'ceuvres to whet the appetite, and while drinking in the beauty of my last sunset from the deck of the copra-laden little steamer, with the sea the colour of liquid rose leaves and the sky shaded off in all tints of yellow, orange, green, blue, mauve, and rose-color, I was thrilled by the thought that I was soon to enjoy again the earthy perfume of damp groves of palm, the pungent odor of rancid coconut oil, and the scent of fires of sappy wood, whereof all com- bined compose the peculiar atmosphere of the palm-thatched houses of Pacific Islanders. I expected to be awakened on the following 13 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY morning by the sudden change from tossing on the open sea to the smooth gliding of the vessel through the waters of the calm lagoon, and with that delicious smell of land and of lush vegetation. Instead of this, however, in the gray of dawn, I was instantly aroused by the clang of the captain's signal to the engine room, ringing first "stop" and then "full speed astern." I jumped from my berth to the deck and looked into a thick, impenetrable fog that utterly henuned us in. From every side an ominous roar of breakers rose above the thmnp of the engines. The fog lifted; there were the reefs and breakers distant not a hundred and fifty feet dead ahead of us; then down came the fog and off we backed, only to find that the reefs encircled us com- pletely. Even before the glow on the light and fleecy clouds which formed the ineffable beauty of the sunset had faded, heavy clouds had arisen; by midnight the sky was inky black with no star to guide our course. The captain thus fell a victim to the strong, variable currents, characteristic of these 14 INTRODUCTORY waters, wMch are indeed but one of the many- varieties of thorns which hedge these Sleeping Beauties of the ocean ; these had been respon- sible for our being hurried on much faster than the log could show, and here we were almost on top of the reef, two hours ahead of time, with the land hidden behind an impene- trable veil. Our situation was like a fever-dream, wherein vague but fatal dangers threaten, and, strain as we may, we are unable to open our eyes. The fog had been like a great eyelid, raised and lowered just long enough to give us one fleeting glimpse, and no more, of fatal peril, while the thunder and hissing swish of the breakers were like the deadly warnings of a rattlesnake before it strikes. Then, of a sud- den, again the dense fog lifted completely, and the land seemed verily to rise out of the sea, and we found ourselves directly in front of the very entrance to the harbour with the channel of deep-blue water almost running out to meet us. Five minutes more of fog and we should have been pounding helplessly on the reefs 15 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY with the garden gates impenetrably closed. I mention this only to give the hint that were the gates wider open and less danger- ously ajar, "trade's imfeeling train" would have long ago wholly overrun these impris- oned little lands and dispossessed the aborig- inal "swain." Yap, or rather Uaap, with a prolonged broad a, the pronunciation invariably used by the natives, means, in their old language, I was told, "the Land," which, I suppose, ex- actly meant to the aborigines — ^the whole world. Uap is, as I have said before, the westernmost of The Caroline group, and lies about nine degrees north of the equator. It is not an atoU, but the result of volcanic up- heaval; it is encircled, nevertheless, by coral reefs from three to five miles wide, and has, at about the middle of the southwestern coast, a good harbour in Tomil Bay. To recall very briefly the general history of this group of islands : They have been known to the civilized world since 1527, when they were discovered by the Portuguese ; a hmidred 16 INTRODUCTORY and fifty years later they were annexed by Spain and named in honour of Carolus II. At the close of the Spanish- American war the whole group was purchased from Spain by Germany for the sum of $3,300,000, and since then under judicious and enlightened govern- ment has steadily improved in productive- ness. The natives of Uap, in number from five to six thousand, are of that perplexing type known generally as Micronesian, which covers a multitude of conjectures. The natives of each island have certain characteristics of form and features which make relationship to natives of other islands or groups of islands a possibility ; but, on the other hand, there are such differences in language, in customs, in manner of living, that it is well-nigh impos- sible to state, with any degree of certainty, what or whence is the parent stock or predomi- nant race. By way of generalization merely, and not as deciding the question, let me say that the people of Uap are of the Malayan type, — a light coffee-coloured skin ; hair black 2 17 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY and inclined to wave or curl, not crinkly, like the Melanesian and African ;. eyes very dark brown, almost black ; cheek bones rather high and noses inclined to be hooked, but not promi- nent. In this last feature they resemble other Pol3aiesians and the Melanesians of New Guinea and The Solomon Islands. They are not as taU nor, on an average, as strongly built as the natives of Samoa, Fiji, or Tahiti. Since the sale of intoxicants and gunpowder has been prohibited, except to the trustworthy chiefs, they are gentle, docile, and lazy; formerly, under the very lax rule of Spain they were exceedingly troublesome and fre- quently made raids upon the Spanish and Ger- man traders, and were continuously at inter- necine war. Personal details are generally iminterest- ing ; it therefore suffices to say that I was re- ceived most kindly by the little colony of white people who live upon the island, consisting of the resident doctor, then acting as Gover- nor ; the postmaster ; the manager — an Ameri- 18 INTRODUCTORY can — of The Jaluit Trading Company; and four Spanisli and German copra traders. I was most hospitably entertained by Herr Friedlander, one of these copra traders, and, in point of residence, the oldest white trader on the island. With a courteous friendliness for which I shall be always grateful, he in- vited me to lodge with him at his little copra station in Dulukan, where I could be all the time in close touch with the natives ; not only was he always ready to act as my interpreter, but was also at every turn unwearied in his kindness and devotion. I had expected and hoped to share the home life in the houses of the natives, as I had done in Borneo, but the village life and the home life of the people of Uap differ so widely from those of the Bor- neans that I found it would be better by far to stay in Herr Friedlander's comfortable little pile-built house and visit the natives, or get them to visit me. As soon as the Oceana had discharged her cargo and departed on her way to Hong-Kong, we set our sail of matting in Friedlander's 19 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY native-built copra barge, whicb was fairly loaded to the gunwales with my luggage and photographic outfit, and glided through green aisles of mangrove and over the glassy blue and green water of the lagoon to the southern end of the island where lies the delightful, scattered little village of Dulukan. CHAPTER II NATIVE HOUSES THE island is divided into districts, more or less defined, wMch are the remnants of former days when these districts marked the division into hostile tribes ; but now, under one government, these separate districts are but little regarded as tribal divisions, and within them the houses are scattered indis- criminately in small groups. Such a thing as a village street or even a road between rows of dwellings nowhere exists; there is, there- fore, nothing of what we would call village life, when " all the village train, from labour free, Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree." The large "bachelor houses," to be sure, are adequate meeting places for the men, but the poor neglected women have no common ground where the heart-easing and nutritious gossip of the day may be exchanged. In the coconut groves, which form a broad band 21 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY along the coast all round the island, each house is surrounded by a neatly-swept clearing, and this little lawn, if that can be called a lawn which is devoid of grass, is brightened here and there by variegated crotons, suggestive of the neatness of the Uap housewife, and afford- ing an attractive playground of chequered shade under the lofty palms. The houses are always built upon a platform, about two and a half to three feet high, of masses of cor- alline rock, which look like huge pieces of pumice stone ; when first taken from the water this soft lime-like rock lends itself admira- bly to being smoothed and fashioned with the primitive implements of the natives. The platform is made level on top by filling in with rubble and earth or with a covering of large flat stones. This loosely built foundation is, I suppose, to serve the same purpose as the high piles whereon tropical houses are usually built, namely, to keep the floor, which is also the domestic bed, as high and dry as possible above the level of the ground, which at times is deluged with rain in the usual troDical abun- 22 NATIVE HOUSES dance. Well constructed houses, have a broad and long foundation platform, whereon is built a second stage just large enough to be covered by the house ; the lower and larger then serves as a broad uncovered veranda round at least three sides of the building. The cornerposts for the framework are embedded in the upper dais of stone so that the occasional typhoons which sweep the island and level even the coco- nut palms may not carry away the whole struc- ture. Every beam and stanchion is mortised to its fellow and bound with innumerable lash- ings of twine made from the iibre of coconut husks ; not a nail is used and scarcely a peg. In the little yards or clearings about the houses and on the larger broad platform of stones whereon the houses are built, all that there is of village life goes on ; here guests are received and entertained, councils of the wise held, and news passed round. It is decidedly bad manners for any visitor to enter a house, except by special invitation, no matter how in- timate a friend he may be. Very often, to 23 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY add to comfort, upright stones are imbedded in the lower platform to serve as back rests when sessions of the councils happen to be prolonged or the orator prosy. A matting of bamboo grass, or else panels of interwoven fronds of the coconut pahn form the side walls of the house; security and secrecy, it must be remembered, are hardly necessary in such small communities, where all are ac- quaintances, and every article of household use or of luxury is almost as well known to everybody as to the actual owner ; stolen goods are not marketable and thefts are quite rare, except, of course, of coconuts that happen to fall unexpectedly and temptingly from a neighbour's tree. The interior of the house is neither bright nor cheerful ; it is not strange, therefore, that there is but little indoor life. The eaves of the palm-thatched roof overhang so far that they almost touch the level of the floor and all the light and air come through the door- way, or through one or two panels in the wall which are occasionally raised like shutters and 24 NATIVE HOUSES held by a wooden hook suspended from the rafters. How any dust at all can collect on a small island in mid-Pacific is a mystery; never- theless, every article in a Uap house is coated deep with cobwebs and fine dust. This is also the case, however, in the houses of all Pacific Islanders that I have ever visited, and is possibly due to absence of chimneys and abundance of smoke. There is always in private houses in Uap an inner room or comer, screened off from the common room, where the owners of the house sleep at night. This little sleeping- room is totally dark except for what little light may filter through the walls or under the eaves. There is, of course, no second story to the houses, except a general storage place under the rafters, on top of the cross beams, where any article, not in daily use, such as a leaky canoe, a ragged fish net, a broken spear, etc., is tucked away. I have groped my way through many a Uap house, of course with the full permission of 25 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY the owner, rununagiiig in every dark corner in search of articles of ethnological interest, but only once or twice was my search re- warded. The owners did not seem to object in the slightest degree to my curiosity, and after giving me liberty to poke and pry to my heart's content, they stood by smiling and good-naturedly answering my questions as to the names and uses of everything. They knew well enough that I should not find what they considered their really valuable posses- sions, which were probably hidden away in the darkness of the inner chamber, and were sure moreover that whatever I found that I wanted would be paid for by many a stick of " trade " tobacco. It was near a scattered collection of houses such as these that, on a cloudless after- noon in February, I landed at Priedlander's charming little copra station. He is married to a native of Guam, a convert to the Roman Catholic faith, but not to the western method of living and style of house; so 26 NATIVE HOUSES Friedlander has built for her a home to her liking, bare of all furniture, except mats on the floor, and with an open hearth for cooking and for the comforting circulation of smoke throughout the house, or rather room; here she lives ''shut up in measureless content" with her select circle of native friends, to- gether with a sprinkliutg of elderly relatives, which seems to be an inevitable household ele- ment in the Orient. My host and I, however, put up at his own little house built within the same compound, on piles six feet high and furnished with two comfortable cot-beds, tables, and chairs. The whole house is about twenty feet long by ten wide and constructed as openly as possible, with roof and walls of palm-leaf thatch, for coolness' sake. This is also his office where he transacts business, such as the purchase of coconuts or the payment for the manufactur- ing of copra. Copra, by the way, is made by cutting out the meat of ripe coconuts and plac- ing it on screens to dry in the sun. When thus dried, it is exported to Europe, where the oil 27 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY is expressed and used in the manufacture of fine soaps. After my luggage had been carried up from the little jetty of rough, spongy, coral blocks to the house, about twenty feet away, and while Priedlander was busy with his group of na- tives, settling accounts for coconuts delivered during his absence, and with unpacking his boxes of new articles of trade, I strolled forth to take a preliminary survey of my field, pro- vided with a note-book wherein were certain useful phrases in the Uap tongue which I was anxious to put to the test. The compound about Friedlander's several houses was quite deserted; everybody had gathered about the master to watch the un- packing and drink in with open ears and gaping mouths every syllable that fell from his lips; and, of course, to ask innumerable irrelevant questions. The declining sun cast long bands of orange light between the gray and mossy-green trunks of the palms, and the sandy earth of the well-swept little compound was rippling with the flickering shadows of 28 NATIVE HOUSES the over-arcliiiig coconut fronds. There was no song nor twitter of birds; the only sound was the murmur of voices from the crowd within the house, and from a little inlet beside the deserted husking sheds came a rhythmical swish of innumerable coconut husks floating there in an almost solid mass. I turned out of the bamboo wicket gate eager for explora- tion, and, feeling very much " Like some lone watcher of the skies, When a new planet swims into his ken," I became suddenly aware, however, of the drollest, coffee-coloured, curly-headed, little seven-year-old girl gazing at me with solemn black eyes, awestruck and spellbound. The ex- pression of those wide open eyes, framed all round in long black lashes, was awe, fear, and curiosity mingled ; her hands, prettily and deli- cately shaped, not overly clean, were pressed one upon the other on her little bare chest as if to quell the thumpings of fright, and, whether from astonishment or by nature, her glossy black curls stood up in short spirals all over her head. She was such a typical, little, wild 29 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET gingerbread baby, that I could not avoid stop- ping at once to scrutinize her as earnestly as she scrutinized me. Although she was the only one of her kind in sight, she stood her ground bravely and betrayed nervousness only in the slight digging of her little stubby brown toes in the sand as if she were preparing a good foothold for a precipitate dash. As I looked down upon her, the bunchy little skirt of dried brown grasses and strips of pandanus leaves, her sole garment, gave her the appear- ance of a little brown imp just rising out of the ground. I thought I detected a slight turning movement in those nervous little feet, so for fear of frightening her into the head- long dash, I looked as benignant, unconcerned, and unsurprised as I could, and turned down the path outside the fence toward the first house in sight. With no particular objective point I followed one of the wide, native-built paths constructed of sand, finely-broken shells, and decomposed coral, and, inasmuch as they dry off almost instantly after a heavy shower, they are excellently devised for rainy 30 A XATIVK-JI ADK PATH NATIVE HOUSES seasons. These footpaths (there is not a cart in the conununity) extend from one end of the island to the other and branch off toward all the principal settlements ; many of the smaller branches are, however, constructed with no great care and consist merely of a narrow pav- ing of rough coral and stone, well adapted for tough bare feet, but not for stiff, slippery, leather soles. The road past Friedlander's Station at Du- lukan is one of the main thoroughfares and well kept up ; down this I turned, with the long vista before me of gray, sun-flecked road, overarched by the cloistered fronds and bor- dered by the slanting stems of coconut pahns, with here and there spots of bright color from variegated crotons and dracsenas. I was lost in admiration of the beauty of it all and was still thinking of my first encounter with an island-born elf, when I heard the patter of tiny feet behind me, and turning, saw again the little jungle baby trotting close after me. Curiosity had spurred on her valour to con- quer discretion, and now she stood close beside 31 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY me, and, with a sidelong glance, smiled coyly and inquiringly, showing a row of wMte baby teeth set rather far apart. I too smiled in return at the droll little figure, and, not hav- ing my Uap OUendorf at my tongue's end, I said in English "Come along, little elf, and take a walk." The spell was broken; I be- came to her a human being with articulate speech, and not a green-eyed demon. At once there issued forth in a childish little treble a stream of higgledy-piggledy words, and then she wistfully waited for a reply. The Uap vernacular failed me, so I simply shook my head despairingly. Then I heard her say dis- tinctly one of my note-book phrases. Mini fltMng am igurf "What's your name?" This I could answer and she tried hard to repeat the name I gave; after several ineffectual struggles, she looked up consolingly, and pat- ting her chest with her outspread hand, and nodding her head each time to emphasize it, she reiterated "Pooguroo, Pooguroo, Poogu- roo," clearly intimating that this was her own name. Here then was all the formal intro- 32 NATIVE HOUSES duction necessary, so we two sauntered down the path together, she keeping up a constant chatter and patter, while pointing toward houses here and there in the open ,grove of pahns. I think she was telling me the name of every house-owner in the neighbour- hood and the whole of his family history and also his wife's, but I was restricted to "Oh's" and "Ah's" and grunting assents; but all distinction of race or age vanished and here I gained my first little friend, staunch and true, among the people of Uap. I never found out who she was, further than that she was Pooguroo; she was always on hand when anything was astir, and always proved a fearless little friend among the chil- dren ; but who her parents were, or where her home, I never knew. Adoption, or rather exchange of children at an early age, is so common that it is a wise father that knows his own child. To the mind of the Uap pa- rents children are not like toothbrushes whereof every one prefers his own; they are more or less public property as soon as they 3 33 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY are able to run about from bouse to house. They cannot without extraordinary exertion fall off the island, and, like little guinea-pigs, they can find food anywhere; their clothing grows by every roadside, and any shelter, or no shelter, is good enough for the night. They cannot starve, there are no wild beasts or snakes to harm them, and should they tear their clothes, nature mends them, leaving only a scar to show the patch; what matters it if they sleep under the high, star-powdered ceil- ing of their foster mother's nursery, or curled up on mats beneath their father's thatch? There is no implication here that parents are not fond of their children; on the contrary, they love them so much that they see their own children in all children. It is the ease of life and its surroundings which have atro- phied the emotion of parental love. Has not " too light winning made the prize light? " When a father has merely to say to his wife and children "Go out and shake your break- fast off the trees" or, "Go to the thicket and gather your clothes," to him the struggle for 34 NATIVE HOUSES existence is meaningless, and, without a strug- gle, the prizes of life, whicli include a wife and family, are held in light esteem. Parental love, by being extended to all children, be- comes diluted and shallow. Is it not here then, in an untutored tropic island, that the realization is to be found of the Spartan ideal? Somebody's children are always about the houses and to the fore in all excitements, and never did I see them roughly handled or harshly treated. As soon as they are old enough they must win their own way, and, if boys, at a very early age, they make the pahai or failu — the man's house — their home by night and day, sharing the cooked food of their elders, or living on raw coconuts, and chew- ing betel incessantly. CHAPTER III BACHELORS' HOUSES ONE of the most noteworthy features of Uap life are the large houses known as failu, when situated on the coast, and pabai, when built inland beyond the belt of coconut groves. These houses are found in all Uap villages, and pertain exclusively to the men, be they married or single ; herein councils are held, and the affairs of the community are dis- cussed, free from all intervention of women; and here, too, men and boys entertain them- selves with song and dance, in which, under the plea that it would not be decorous for women to join, a desire may be detected to escape feminine criticism. A failu or pabai is frequently years in buildin,g ; the men do not wait, however for its final completion and ceremonial opening before occupying it, but often make it their home even should no more than the framework and roof be finished. Every post, every beam is selected with ex- 36 BACHELORS' HOUSES tremest care, so that all its natural curves and angles may be used without further shaping. No nails, and, indeed, very few pegs are used to hold the beams together; each beam is at- tached to another by mortising, and then liter- ally thousands of yards of cord, made from the fibre of coconut husks, are used to bind the joints. The lashings of this brown haya cord furnish excellent opportunities for orna- mentation ; wherefore, with tropical lavishness and Oriental contempt for the expenditure of time, the main posts, for four or five feet below the cross beams, are often bound with cords interlaced into beautiful basket patterns and complicated knots; where the slanting supports of the thatched roof meet the side walls there is a continuous, graceful band of interwoven cords, where each knot has its own peculiar designation and invariable position. When, after years of fitful labor, one of these club-houses is finally complete, a feast is spread and dances are performed in front of the structure, to which all, including even the 37 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY women, for the nonce, are invited; the house is then and there given a name, and new fire is started in the fireplace by means of the fire drill, the most primitive method of obtaining fire known in Uap. Thereafter this failu or pabai belongs exclusively to the men, and no women, with but one exception, dare set foot within its precincts. During the fishing season every fisherman, while plying his craft, lies under a most strict taboo. Wherefore, one very important use of the failu, or ''house on the shore," possibly its primitive cause, is to provide a place of seclusion for the tabooed fishermen during their intervals of rest. After three or four days and nights of hard work in boats on the open sea outside the lagoon, the fishermen re- turn to the failu to distribute their haul of fish and to repair damages to their boats and nets. Whether the sea has been calm or stormy, they are always an exhausted crew; their meat and drink have consisted almost exclusively of coconuts, and their quarters have been extremely cramped in the long, 38 BACHELORS' HOUSES narrow, outrigger canoes. Not for these poor wretches, however, are the refreshing com- forts of home when, weary and worn, they re- turn to recuperate; an inexorable, rigorous taboo enshrouds them until the last hour of the six or eight weeks of the fishing season. Dur- ing their brief seasons of needful rest, not a fishermen dare leave the failu or, under any pretext whatsoever, visit his own house; he must not so much as look on the face of woman (with one exception) be she his own, or an- other's, mother, wife or daughter. If the heedless fisherman steal but a glance, fljdng fish will infallibly bore out his eyes at night. They may not even join in song or dance with the other men of the failu in the evening, but must keep strictly and silently apart ; nor may their stay-at-home companions mingle with them ; and, worst of all, until the fishing season is over and past, they can have none of a fisherman's prerogative of endlessly expatiat- ing on the unprecedented size and weight of the fish that they have missed, — tantwm religio potuit suadere malorum. 39 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY It is truly impressive to see large fisMng canoes come in after a cruise; they carry twenty or more men, and have often experi- enced extremely rough weather for craft which, according to our ideas, are so unwieldy, and unstable. In their management they can be paralleled only by the vessel provided by the "Bellman" in the "Hunting of the Snark," where at times it was not at aU out of the ordinary for the bow to get mixed up with the rudder. Inasmuch as the whole balance of the boat depends upon the outrigger, it would never do, of course, to have the large, heavy sail, bearing the weight of the wind, on the opposite side of the boat; consequently, when sailing up in the wind, where tacking is necessary, instead of putting about or jib- ing, the crew assemble and, lifting the mast with aU the rigging, carry it bodily from the bow to the stern, where it is stepped anew ; the stern then becomes the bow, and the man at the helm has to scramble quickly to the other end of the boat to find out which way he is going. Of course, such a liberty never can 40 BACHELORS' HOUSES be taken with the mast and rigging under any other than a very mild breeze ; consequently, in rough weather there is nothing for it but to keep on one course until the wind abates, or else take in all sail and drift. Herein lies one of the causes which accounts, I think, for the mixture of inhabitants throughout Poly- nesia and Micronesia; canoes full of helpless fishermen have been known to drift from The Crilbert and Marshall Islands a thousand miles or more ; from the very centre of The Carolines down to the northern coast of New Guinea and The Solomons. Is it any wonder then that the return of a canoe full of friends, fathers, and husbands, who, for the common good, have ventured forth on the vasty deep, far beyond the sight of their little world, should be hailed, as it always is by the simple islanders, with emotions almost akin to awe? Even to us it seems little short of a miracle, when we reflect that this return is effected without compass or sextant. It is not strange, therefore, that the lives of these venturers should be hedged about with peculiar laws and 41 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET mysterious restrictions, as if they were beings apart from the common herd, and superior. A canoe is usually sighted long before it turns into the entrance to the lagoon, and then the members of the failu stand or squat on the stone platform at the seaward end of the house and quietly watch the slow approach of their daring comrades. When they are within a half a mile or so of the shore where the water is shoal and thickly sown with many protrud- ing treacherous boulders, — the remains of an- cient fish- weirs, — the mast with its sail of mat- ting is unstepped and stowed; the canoe is then guided on its tortuous way with poles and paddles. The approach is slow and silent ; there is no shouting, no outward excite- ment; it has all the solemnity of a religious ceremony; the waiting crowd on the shore is hushed or converses in subdued whispers ; the great, unwieldy canoe moves slowly onward with all the dignity of a majestic ocean liner coming into port. As soon as the bow touches the shore, the fishermen at once disembark and silently march up into the failu, leaving 42 BACHELORS' HOUSES two members of the crew to protect witli mat- ting the painted figureheads of conventional- ized frigate birds, at the bow and stem ; and, after unloading the fish, to take the canoe to its mooring nearby. I once went into a failu immediately after the fishermen had returned ; the whole interior aspect of the house was changed; more than two-thirds of the floor was partitioned off into little stalls or pens made of matting of green coconut fronds with the leaves interwoven. The sides of the little pens were just high enough to permit the occupants when sitting down to look over and see what was going on ; if they wished to be unseen, they had only to lie down. Possibly, these partitions are not SO" much for seclusion as to prevent any one from stepping over the legs of the sleeping fishermen, a terribly ill-omened accident, and sure to bring misfortune on the sleeper. The other members of the failu were gathered to- gether at the inland end of the house, and were either at their usual trifling occupations, or mending fine cast-nets, or fashioning from THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY a section of bamboo a box for powdered lime, that indispensable adjunct to betel chewing; some young dandies, or oof oof , as tbey are termed, were grouped about a little heap of glowing embers, which they had raked to- gether for cheerfulness' sake, and, also, to save the expense of innumerable matches for their cigarettes ; they were humming in unison one of their unintelligible and unmusical songs. It was probably either etiquette or taboo, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to the fishermen, who seemed to be, in fact, absolutely ignored ever since their arrival. These poor, tired men were each in- stalled, and the whole floor looked like a gigan- tic wasp's nest, with every ceU-cap off, and demure grubs just sticking their heads out. After all their hard, self-sacrificing work at sea to provide food for the commimity, they are literally imprisoned till the time arrives for them to sail again; they are not allowed to go further inland than the inland side of the house, and if their mothers, wives, or daugh- ters bring any gift, or wish to talk to them, 44 BACHELORS' HOUSES the women must stand down near the shore, with their backs turned toward the house ; then the men may go out and speak to them, or, with their backs turned to them, receive what has been brought, and return at once to their prison. The fish are displayed on the stone platform in front of the house, or on stands of bamboo or palm, and are then apportioned to the fami- lies of the fishermen, or to purchasers from the district. Payment is made in sheU money or in the stone money-wheels peculiar to Uap. A feature of this barter, which speaks much for the ingrained honesty of these people, is that the money is deposited on the ground near the failu, possibly several days before the fish- ermen return ; no one ever attempts to steal it, or lay false claim to it; there it remains, un- touched and safe, until the owner receives the fish. The strings of pearl-sheU money and the stone wheels received in payment for the fish, become the property of the failu, and are expended for such purposes only as will benefit the whole house, namely, the purchase 45 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY of new canoes, rigging, nets, etc., or else re- served to pay the heavy indemnity which must invariably be paid for the theft of a new mistress, or mispil. The custom of having one mistress common to all the members of the failu, is merely a form of polyandry, which reveals in a striking degree a noteworthy characteristic of the men of Uap, namely, a complete freedom from the emotion of jealousy. In every failu and pdbai there lives a young woman, or sometimes two young women, who are the companions with- out preference to all the men of the house ; I was assured repeatedly, moreover, that this possession of a wife in common never awakens any jealous animosity among themselves in the breasts of the numerous husbands. A mispil must always be stolen by force or cunning, from a district at some distance from that wherein her captors reside. After she has been fairly, or unfairly, captured and installed in her new home, she loses no shade of respect among her own people ; on the contrary, have not her beauty and her worth received the 46 BACHELOES' HOUSES highest proof of her exalted perfection, in the devotion, not of one, but of a whole conununity of lovers'? Unlike a prophet, it is in her own country and among her own kith and kin that she is held in honour. But in the community where she is an alien, her social rank is gone. None of the matrons in the district of her failu, who live at home with their husbands and children, will have any social intercourse with her. By the men, whether in her failu or out of it, the mispil is invariably treated with every consideration and respect; no un- seemly actions may take place in her pres- ence, and all coarse language is scrupulously avoided when she is within hearing ; neverthe- less, owing to her station, she is permitted to hear and see the songs and dances, from which other women are barred. If, by chance, a preference of one lover over another become observable, no blame whatever is attached to her, but the favourite is quietly told that, in the opinion of the whole house, he must retire, or possibly leave the failu for a while and live with friends in another district. 47 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY The mispiVs food, and lier luxuries, such as tobacco and betel nut, are supplied by the men, and she is never required to work in the taro fields, as are the wives and daughters of the district. At quite a distance, in the bush be- hind the failu, a little house is built for her sole use when she wishes to be secluded; here she occupies her time in making new skirts for herself of leaves, and during her sojourn in her little home, known as tapal, the men sedu- lously place her food near by, but dare not so much as take one step within the enclosure around her house. The men of the failu treat their mispils with far more respect and devotion than is gener- ally shown by the men outside to the wives of their own household. The mispils are abso- lutely faithful to the men of their failu or pabai, regarding themselves as unquestion- able property, having been sought and cap- tured at the risk of men's lives, and paid for withal in costly pieces of stone money. They are by no means kept as prisoners ; as soon as the excitement over their capture has 48 M\X AXn AVIFK OF THE PIMIJXIiM, lili SI, \VF, CLA BACHELORS' HOUSES abated in their own village, they are at full liberty to return home and visit their family and friends, and they always return willingly and voluntarily to the failu. In ancient times, — ^which were probably no further removed than the last generation, history in these islands does not usually date much further back than the memory of the oldest inhabitant, — when there were many dis- tricts at constant war with each other and the high-born nobles were divided into two tribes, the ulun-pagel and the huUreh-e-pilun, the capture of a mispil was always accompanied by bloodshed and enduring feuds ; but, nowa- days, since abstinence from alcohol has cooled their brains, and they all regard themselves as really one people (with the exception of the tribe of slaves known as Pimlingai), the seiz- ure of a young girl to fill the office of mispil is reduced to little more than a commonplace burglary; nay, it is almost always furtively prearranged with the chief of the district, in- asmuch as it is to him that the parents appeal for redress. If certain captors, — or shall we 4 49 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY say burglars, — have already made choice of a victim from his district as their future mispil, it might be difficult, if not impossible, for him to prevent them from carrying out their de- sign, but, inasmuch as he is fully assured that they are prepared to pay a good round sum in shell money and stone money by way of in- demnity, he contrives, nowadays, by means of this bribe to salve the wounds of a disrupted family and dispel all thoughts of a bloody retaliation. Nevertheless, the whole proceed- ing is still carried out with the greatest pos- sible secrecy and stealth. With Friedlander's help, as interpreter, I elicited from an intelligent young fellow named Gamiau, the following account of the capture of Lemet, the mispil of Dulukan. Ga- miau, the leader of the party, was a quiet, seri- ous, young fellow, about eighteen or twenty years old; foremost in dance and song, and, consequently, admired by his companions for the fertility of his poetic and acrobatic re- sources. He was not tall, but weU built, with a skin as smooth as velvet, which seemed to 50 BACHELORS' HOUSES stretch tightly over the muscles underneath like a brown kid glove. He was sitting cross- legged on the floor of our little house one even- ing when no one else was present, and, taking intermittent puffs at his cigarette of "Nigger- head" tobacco rolled in a fragment of pahn- leaf, gave us this somewhat disjointed account of the theft of a mispil. "Lemet, our mispil, is a daughter of Pagel of Libenau, who is a brother of the chief of Bugol in the Rul district. We had not de- cided upon her or any other girl before we started out, but we had heard that the girls of Bugol were all pretty. "About twenty of us from the failu of Du- lukan stocked a canoe with all sorts of trade and set out for Bugol ; we knew that the chief there would help us if we took plenty of pres- ents to him, so we put in a good stock of reng [a species of turmeric used as an ornamental dye], several strings of flat pearl shells, and one large and very high priced fei [stone money]. When we reached Bugol, we sepa- rated, so that no one should suspect that we 51 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY were after a girl, and, having given our pres- ents to tlie chief, we waited there two months and a half enjoying ourselves, but all the time on a furtive look-out for a mispil for our failu, but we could not make a choice. "Then word came to us that we had better go to Rul, a short distance away, so that no one would suspect our plans ; in this place we waited eighteen days until word came again to us from the chief of Bugol that he had selected a girl for us, and we were to move across the bay to Tomil, and build a house in the mangroves by the shore and wait till his messengers came. So we went, and, after a night and a day, two Bugol men came. Early, early in the morning, before daylight, six of us and the two Bugol men paddled very noise- lessly over to Libenau. "We left the canoe and four of our men in it near the shore, and I, — Gamiau, — and Fatuf al and the Bugol men went ashore. Without speaking a word, the Bugols led us through the underbrush and finally pointed out the house, and whispered that we would find the girl asleep all by herself 52 LEMET, A M[S['1I. BACHELORS' HOUSES in a little hut at the end of her father's house. We crept up very, very softly, peeped in, and there we saw her, sound asleep, stretched out on her mat with nothing over her. Then we jumped in suddenly and one of us held her arms, and the other kept his hand tight over her mouth so that she could not cry out, and, just as she was, we carried her back to the canoe and paddled quickly down to Aff where the other men were waiting. When we got there, one of us stole a skirt from a house nearby, for she had no clothes. On the way home we stopped at Rul and gave two beauti- ful shells to the Chief, because Rul is really the head of the whole district. The girl cried a little, and seemed very sad while she was in the canoe, but now, after two months, she is as happy as can be and has never once attempted to leave us." Raec fabula docet that the example set by young Lochinvar has still its genial modifica- tions in Uap, and that, although the Bugol bride may not be so compliant as the ISTetherby, yet the stealing of a mispil is not now an 53 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY exploit wholly devoid of romance, nor of a spice of danger. A haimting suspicion will obtrude, however, that the girl had been pri- vately "coached" by the chief, and that her family had been paid her equivalent in several good shells and were discreet enough to keep out of the way, and make the course of love run as smooth as possible. Be it added that the members of the failu who venture on these expeditions are always thereafter ad- mired as heroes. In dress the mispil is in no wise distin- guished from other women, except by tattoo marks on her hands and legs. In this tattoo- ing there seems to be, however, no set pattern, and the designs are not so elaborate as lasting, and, since it is not the custom for any other women to be thus ornamented, I found it occasionally possible to decipher on hands and legs of highly respectable, albeit wrinkled and shrivelled, old grandmothers, a former chap- ter in their history when to them all the world was young and they were the cynosure of every eye in a failu. This is explained by the 64 BACHELORS' HOUSES fact that should a mispil prove enceinte, the duty devolves on one of the men of the failu to take her as his wife, build a house for her, and bring up his own separate family. Here again, the remarkable scheme of social rela- tions and of morality, by which these people live, renders such a compulsory marriage per- fectly adjustable and by no means a disgrace. The mfe of my excellent friend, Lian, the Chief of Dulukan, showed the ineffaceable and unmistakable telltale tattoo on her hands and legs, and both he and she held their social heads very high in the community. Verily, it does seem that even in austere eyes this feature of the failu loses half its im- morality in losing all its grossness. CHAPTER IV COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS THERE is apparently no formal initia- tion into a failu; when very young the boys wander in and out of it continually ; and, if they please, may even sleep there ; thus they gradually glide into an accepted fellowship, and, when about ten or eleven years old, may join the men as associates in the adult dances. At about this same age the young boys are known as petir, and may wear but one loin-cloth (or none at aU). The next promotion is two loin-cloths, the second longer than the first little scrap, and more elaborately interlaced ; they are now known as pagul. The adult man is called pumawn, and wears, first, a loin-cloth ; then over this a long rope of thin strips of pandanus leaves and grasses known as kavurr; next, to add a touch of color, a bimch of the same material, stained red, is tucked in at the side and so looped that it hangs down in front over the loin-cloth. 56 "WATfiOX*;, A HOV ()K ,SIXTK?:\ I )R SKVKXTKEN" COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS The badge of a freeman, distinguishing him at once from a slave, is an ornamental comb in the knot of hair on the top of his head. One of the TJlun-pagel, the aristocratic tribe, assured me in the most emphatic terms that he would instantly attempt to kill a Pimlingai or "slave" should he meet one wearing such a comb. This comb, albeit of no great intrinsic value, is, therefore, the essential feature of male attire. It is made merely of fifteen or twenty narrow strips of bamboo, about eight inches long, sharpened at one end, with short- er, slightly wedge-shaped pieces inserted be- tween each strip four or five inches from the sharpened ends, whereby the teeth of the comb are kept apart ; the upper ends are now bound together with ornamental lashings of coco- nut fibre. A simple form, but nevertheless deemed foppishly elegant, is that wherein the strips of bamboo are fastened together with a peg run through at about the middle; the strips are then slid past each other like the ribs of a fan; these broad, unpointed, upper ends lend themselves admirably to such decor- 57 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY ation as the insertion of bright leaves of croton, tufts of cotton, strips of pandanus, etc. In one of my first attempts at photo- graphing with a cinematograph camera, many yards of the narrow fihn, which, when imdeveloped looks like stiff yellow ribbon, were spoiled; with exasperation, and, I fear, imprecations, I cut this worthless film ruth- lessly from the little sprocket wheels which carry it through the camera, and tossed it away, No princely gift could I have devised which would have been received with more exuberant delight than these worthless strips of film ; to Uap eyes they happened to be just of the most fascinating shade of yellow, and to the Uap nostril they possessed a peculiar and ravishing perfinne; and as a supreme grace they vibrated like serpents when insert- ed in combs and caught by the breeze; in a trice every head was wreathed with coils like Medusa's and every face was radiant with smiles. Other male ornaments consist of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and armlets. Mutilations 58 COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS of nose or of lips are not in fashion; ear- lobes, however, being appendages not orna- mental and by no means useful, are always, the world over, responsive to improvement at the behest of beauty. They are not neglected in Uap. Both boys and girls have the ear- lobes pierced and stretched at an early age, — at about the tenth or twelfth year, — ^but this mutilation is never stretched to the extent that it is in the island of Ruk (in the central Carol- ines), nor as it is in Borneo, where the lobe is so elongated that it becomes a mere loop of skin drooping below the shoulders. The Uap men and women are satisfied with a simple hole through the lobe, about three- fourths of an inch in diameter, just about large enough for the insertion of bright leaves or flowers or a tuft of cotton. After an inci- sion is made with a piece of sharpened coco- nut shell, a roll of leaves of a plant, which they call maluek* is at once inserted. This leaf, and this leaf only, must be used; to it *Chbistian, {The Caroline Islands, p. 350) says that it is a variety of Morinda citrifoUa. 59 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY is ascribed peculiar properties both of stretch- ing and healing ; it must be first warmed over the fire, then soaked and softened in coconut oil, rolled up tightly and pushed through the wound. As soon as this plug becomes loose, it is renewed, and an additional leaf added until the hole is of sufficient size and is healed. The boys grin and bear the suffering without any protection for their poor swollen and in- flamed ears, which, after the fourth or fifth day, certainly look exceedingly painful; but the girls are allowed to wear protectors made of the halves of a coconut shell, held in place by strings attached to the upper edges, pass- ing over the head, and strings from the lower edges, tied under the chin. These shells are stained a bright yellow with a turmeric, al- ready mentioned, known as reng. Another and a smaller hole, just about large enough for the stem of a flower is often made in the rim of the ear a little above the larger hole in the lobe; this is designed for no particular ornament, but merely supplements the larger one when the latter is completely filled with 60 COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS earrings and bouquets; a white and yellow flower of "Frangipanni, or the spray of a delicate little orchid, growing on coconut trees, greatly enhances the charm when wav- ing above red and green crotons and a pend- ant of pink shell. Women do not in general affect manufactured earrings ; they cling more to natural effects of leaves and flowers. The men's ear ornaments consist of short loops of small glass beads, whereto is attached a piece of pink or white shell usually cut in a triangular shape, with each edge about an inch in length; this is pendant from the loop of beads about three inches below the ear. The triangular shape is, in general, obligatory, inasmuch as the shell from which it is cut has this one sole patch of rosy pink near the umbo. This shell is exceedingly rare on the shores of Uap ; consequently, these pink pend- ants are highly valued and owned only by the wealthy families who part with them reluctantly, and only at an exorbitant price. Other pendants of less value are made from any fine white shell, or of tortoise-sheU ; any 61 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY man may wear these who has patience enough to scrape the shells to the proper shape. Still another variety of ear ornament is a piece of thin tortoise-shell, about a third of an inch wide, bent into the shape of a U; this is hooked in the lobe of the ear, and from the outer open ends are suspended little strings of beads. In default of other orna- ment the men will insert anything with gay colors; my cinematograph film, whenever I happened to discard it, was sure to be seen for the next two or three days either flutter- ing from combs or passed through loops and coiled about the ears. Ordinary necklaces, worn by all the common folk, are made of thin discs of coconut shell or tortoise-shell, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and strung closely and tightly together, interspersed at intervals with similar discs of white shell, so that they make a flexible cord which coils like a collar rather tightly about the neck. One of the most highly prized possessions of the men is, however, a necklace of beads 62 COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS made of the same rose-coloured shell whereof they make their ear pendants. In each shell of superior quality there is of the pink or red portion only enough to make one good bead about an inch and a half long by half an inch wide and an eighth of an iach thick ; such a bead is usually strung in the middle of the necklace among others graded off from it in size, on both sides, merging into oblong pieces about half an inch long, of the same breadth and thickness as the bead in the centre; then, finally, follow discs about one sixteenth of an inch thick. One day, a chief, named Inifel, with a suite of followers from his district of Magachpa, at the northern end of the island, paid us a visit ; for an old man, his features bore as treacherous and malevo- lent a stamp as ever I saw; he scowled at everything and everybody from under his shaggy grizzled eyebrows, with a piercing gleam at once suspicious and sinister; he was magnificent in adornment, however, with a thauei, — a red-shell necklace, — of surpassing splendour, composed throughout of exquisite 63 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY red shell beads of the very largest size, except where, at intervals of every seven or eight red beads, there followed one of pure white. So Satanic were his looks that I did not dare even to hint at the purchase of so gorgeous a prize, lest he should propose my soul, or my shadow, by some devilish contract, as the price. These strings of shell beads are usually about three feet long, and hang far down on the chest. Beyond question they are exceedingly beauti- ful, especially when set off by the dark, bur- nished livery of a tawny skin. A report of these red shell ornaments had reached me by rumour before I came to Uap, and I had been assured that it was utterly impossible to buy one ; hence it was, naturally of course, the one thing 1 set my heart on possessing ; wherefore I caused it to be widely known that I was prepared to pay a good round price for a red necklace, and I begged old Eonoboi, one of my first acquaintances among the nobility, not only a Chief, but also a powerful soothsayer, or mach-mach, to strain every nerve to procure one for me. He 64 l\'IFf:L, A TT'KHri.KXT f'HIEF: flX HIS LKFT ARM IS A I.ARGK UH ITK BRACELET, MADE ERDM \ f'ONTH SIIELE; ARIJITT HIS XECK A IIIIIHLV \ ALT MILE X EC K l,AI ' E COSTUME AND ADOENMENTS shook liis gi-ave head dubiously, saying he would try, but had no hope whatever of suc- cess. Later, I saw some tJiaueis that were truly excellent, but the owners would not listen to a syllable of sale, and seemed even to doubt that a white man existed with wealth enough to purchase a perfect one. After several re- buffs in my attempts to buy these enviable "jewels" from wearers who looked otherwise impecunious enough, I found out that these necklaces were actually loaned, at interest, and were not the disposable property of the wearer, who, for work or services performed, was privileged to strut about, thus adorned, for a certain number of days, with that deli- cious glow around the heart, whether civilised or savage, which the consciousness of being well-dressed invariably bestows. In fact, the thauei, in Uap, is a medium of exchange, and is not often parted with outright, but loaned out ; the interest on the loan is to be paid for in labour. After three weeks of eager and zealous endeavour, I succeeded at last in ob- taining a very inferior string of merely round 5 65 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET discs, but I had to pay for it the staggering sum of thirty marks ($7.50) ; when the owner delivered it to me, he exclaimed, "There now, you have the price of a murder; offer that to a man and tell him whom you want killed, and it's done !" Not until the very day I left the island did I get a really fine tJiauei; after almost tearful pleadings on my part, old Ronoboi, possibly by a good deal of hook and probably by a good deal more crook, persuaded one of his subjects and eke believers in the awful mysteries of mach-mach, to part with a prized heirloom, which the dear old chief and wizard solemnly and secretly brought to me. I gave him a double handful of silver mark pieces; this seemed to hush effectually the "still, small voice;" furthermore, can a king do wrong? and the necklace is mine! The only other ornaments that the men wear are armlets and bracelets of shell or of tortoise-shell. These are made simply by cutting a narrow section from the base of one of the large conical sea-shells and breaking out aU the imier whorls ; the ring thus formed 66 COSTUME AND ADORNMENTS is then slipped over the arm and worn above the elbow or wrist. I noticed none that was carved or decorated; they were merely smoothed and polished. The tortoise-shell bracelets are plain, broad bands which, after softening in hot water, are bent around the wrists, where they fit tightly, leaving the ends about three fourths of an inch apart, so that they may be sprung off the arm, and need not be slipped over the hand. These tortoise- shell ornaments are usually engraved with a few parallel lines running round them. One peculiar shell bracelet, much affected by old men, is made of a large, white conical sea-shell, whereof the base and all the interior spirals have been cut away; this is worn like a cuff on the wrist with the big end upward. It seems incredible that they can get their hands through so small an opening, but in some way they do squeeze them through. One of my particular friends, Fatumak by name, of whom I shall speak later, told me that, once upon a time, a man from Goror, at the southernmost point of the island, tried to go 67 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY up to the land of departed spirits, — Falraman, — but he never reached his destination, al- though he saw many marvelous things, and brought back to the Chiefs extraordinary novelties; among them, these shell cuffs, and chickens. CHAPTER V SONGS AND INCANTATIONS 'T^BLA.T I might obtain permanent records -*- of their songs and incantations, I carried with me a large-sized phonograph, with all needful appliances. With much relish I an- ticipated the consternation of the natives when they saw and heard a box whence issued a living human voice and music played by all sorts of instruments. In order to introduce them to it with due paralysing effect, I made a selection of band music and several songs in English ; with these I intended to charm them before requesting them to speak or sing into that embarrassing, expressionless metal horn. Experience had taught me, however, the impossibility of fore- telling the fashion in which untutored minds will accept such miracles, and I was not altogether unprepared to have their be- wilderment find expression in a shower of well-directed coconuts at the first bars of 69 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY "Lead kindly light" or other soothing, peace- ful hymns. But what was my unexpected amazement and infinite chagrin, when the audience I had gathered displayed not the faintest interest in the performance beyond the sight of the revolution of the little wax cylinder, A living, human voice, singing a sweet English love-song, and issuing from a brass horn attached to a machine, was, to them, not half as awesome as the whirling wheels and the buzz of clock-work; some of the audience actually turned away in indifference, if not in disgust, and went off to resume their work of husking coconuts. Completely crestfallen, I ventured to ask one man when the tune was finished what he thought of it; "An all right sort of tom- tom" was his careless and patronizing reply. (Tom-tom is an adopted word which they apply to cheap musical boxes, — ^in fact to any variety of musical instrument, — introduced many years ago by whalers and copra traders.) Friedlander himself was as- toimded at their mortifying indifference, and 70 SONGS AND INCANTATIONS suggested very justly that it was probably because the words meant nothing to them, and that the phonograph was to them only another form of hurdy-gurdy. A human voice utter- ing incomprehensible sounds had to them no more meaning than the beating of a tin pan. Cast down, but not utterly discouraged, I tried a second song by a melodious female voice, but this fell just as absolutely flat as the former. As a final and desperate resource, I put on a blank roll and the recording needle, and then induced one of the youths to speak a few native words into the horn, and imme- diately ground off a reproduction of his very words. The effect was magical ! The audience forgot to breathe in awed silence ! Their eyes dilated! Their jaws fell! And they began repeating after the instrument the words of their very own language, in the boy's very own voice, now issuing from the bottom of the horn! Was the boy himself imprisoned there ? For five or six seconds after the voice ceased, they remained silent, looking from one to another, and then — ^thenthey burst into peals 71 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY and peals of screaming laughter, clamour- ously and vehemently imploring me to repeat it. Of course I complied. The coconut huskers dropped their work and hurried back helter-skelter, to hear a little machine that after only a minute's acquaintance could talk as well as they could themselves! The con- quest was complete! Thereafter I had no difficulty whatsoever in finding volunteers to sing or repeat set speeches. The miracle of a ''tom-tom that talked and sung" was assured, and its success unbounded! At my first and second exhibition men alone happened to be present. A request then came to me from the women, through Friedlander's wife, that I should give them an exhibition, to which, as they were shy, no men should be admitted. Accordingly, kind-hearted Fried- lander had one of his copra storehouses cleared, — ^it was a little house on low piles, with walls and floor of bamboo slats, about twenty feet long and ten feet wide. At one end I set up my phonograph, and the audience duly gathered in bunches and bundles, — I use 72 SONGS AND INCANTATIONS the words advisedly, so enormous and expan- sive are the skirts of dried grasses and leaves. The hall was filled to overflowing. But in a house of bamboo the walls and floor have many a chink, and I think I may truly say there was no single crevice without its outside ear. I tried the same experiment with the women as with the men, and first of all I gave them an English song ; and precisely the same result followed ; the performance emphatically bored them, and they conversed with each other and pointed to the different parts of the machine as if the entertainment was yet to begin. But the native song, that I gave them next, awed them into silence in a trice ; with dilated eyes they scrutinised me wonderingly, before, be- hind and on every side, to see that there was no living man concealed who was the real singer. The silence, however, lasted but a min- ute, and was then broken by shouts of de- lighted laughter, and thereupon followed such a commotion and eager shifting of places to get a nearer view of the mystery, that I really expected every minute that the whole audi- 73 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY ence, myself included, would crash through the frail floor to the ground below. The rows of jet black teeth on a broad grin from ear to ear, seemed to darken the room. During the intermission, while I was putting on another record, cigarettes burned hard and fast to brace up the nerves for another thrill. After two or three men's songs, I asked for a song from the women; they were reluctant and very shy, but finally they induced two young girls to sing a duet, which they said is wont to be sung at funerals, setting forth the good qualities of the deceased and the intense grief of the survivors. It must have been the identical tune that the original "old cow died on," so monotonous, so lugubrious, so discord- ant was it. Evidently the debutantes had not assisted at many funerals; they frequently made awkward pauses and looked around de- spairingly until kind friends prompted them loudly. It did not turn out to be a good record, but it served to interest the women intensely, and render them anxious to hear their own voices as others hear them. 74 SONGS AND INCANTATIONS Thereafter the fame of the tom-tom-ni-non, — ^the "talking tom-tom/' — spread all over the island. I think that eventually I must have been visited by every human being in Uap, from babies in arms to hoary age, — everything that could creep, walk, or hobble. From far and near there came crowds so insistent that almost every day I had to give a session in the morning for the men, and a select session for the women in the afternoon, but I no longer crowded them into the little copra house ; open air exhibitions were perfectly satisfactory. It was intensely interesting to watch their expression as they recognised the words of a familiar son^, or speech, and knew the speaker's voice. There was one particular chant, sung for me by three men from the adjacent failu, which Lian, the chief, cau- tioned me not to play for the women; it was quite as well they should not hear it. Pleased with this unexpected display of refinement, I assured him at once that I would do my best to comply with his request. At that early stage of my knowledge of their song-language 75 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONET the songs were all so much alike, and the tunes so completely indistinguishable one from another, that one afternoon, in my innocency, before I was aware, the forbidden song was droning away on the phonograph, and I was awakened to my oversight by the "nods and becks and wreathed smiles" of the women before me ; but I had gone too far to retreat. I glanced up and saw Lian at a little distance off, standing in the doorway of our house. He was both smiling and scowling, but from his position at one side he was watching keenly the women's faces while they were listening to that mysterious song. There were also a few other men standing further off behind the rows of women who were sitting cross-legged on the ground. The women's eyes danced with merriment and, as soon as the song was recog- nized, a suppressed giggle went round the audience and they turned to one another with up-lifted brows and wide open eyes, with a sort of "did-you-ever! — ^no-I-never" expres- sion ; it evidently diverted them, so I submitted to fate. Lian still stood watching, and I saw 76 ^^^^s^i^ I,IA\, C'HIKK IIF IITIIJ'KAX SONGS AND INCANTATIONS Ms lips repeating each word; then came several bars of the song which gave forth nothing but a low humming, with plaintive cadences. The women all cast their eyes on the ground, laughing, but ashamed to laugh. Lian gave a foolish, sickly smile and, shaking his head weakly, retreated into the obscurity of the house; the men in the background could not suppress two or three loud guffaws, and then, stooping down to hide their embar- rassment, busied themselves at once with split- ting the husks of some coconuts. I had, indeed, quite innocently proved a marplot, and suffered the women to hear one of the secret songs of the failu. The combined questioning of Priedlander and myself failed to elicit its meaning, or why the men should have been so particularly anxious to keep it from the women's ears. We never could get any further explanation than that it was "merely one of the songs sung only in the failu." An odd feature of all their songs and in- cantations is that they are not in the modern 77 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET Uap langua,ge at all, nor in a language used by the people in any other island. They say it is the primitive language of Palalagab, the ancient name of Uap, and they use these words when they compose a new song. It is, how- ever, impossible to extract any meaning, or, rather, any literal meaning out of these mere strings of words; they translated them for us into modern Uap, but this yielded merely a collection of what seemed to be absolutely disconnected and irrelevant statements. They usually began with an appeal for attention, such as "Hear what we have been doing;" "Listen to what we are saying," or "Open your ears to hear;" then follow immediately one after another, such sentences as "Brave men, all the same as devils, make a mach-mach for good weather at sea" — "When we go in a canoe and see a bird, we say we are near to land, when we see a fish, we say we are near to land" — "Listen to what we yoimg boys dreamt about" — "We all got in a canoe;" etc. These are the sentences of a song which Tomak, a high-class man, sang into the phono- 78 SONGS AND INCANTATIONS graph and then told us proudly that he himself composed it, but he could give us no more than the above sentences translated into mod- ern Uap, and he was unable to say what meaning he intended to convey. This same incomprehensible language is, of course, a heaven-sent boon to the madi-mach men; luckily nobody, not even themselves, can tell what they are talking about.* Powerful spells may be purchased and learned from the mach-macli men for large sums; at times they are heirlooms and pass on from father to son or younger brother. Since they must all be transmitted by word of mouth, is it surprising that they should become at last mere nondescript jargon? It is not, however, beyond possibility that the wizards understand these random sentiments and disjointed sentences; they are experts * " Almost the oldest specimen of Latin which we now possess is the Song of the Salii, the priests of Mars, handed on from generation to generation, and repeated with scrupulous care, even though the priests themselves, as Quintilian assures us, had not the least notion what it meant." — Bailey Religion of Ancient Rome, 1907, p. 24. 79 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY at reading between lines, and what to us is the merest platitude, becomes in their ears a lyric overflowing with sentiment. Nay, is it not even so with the Japanese whom we have lately learned to admire in the arts of peace as well as of war, and especially in Painting, Poetry's twin sister? There flits across my memory the following Japanese "Poem" consisting of these three lines and no more : " At the time of being far away ! If the moon were a looking-glass! Delightful ! " To a Japanese this is all sufficient to con- jure up a picture of two lovers sundered by icruel fate, each happy in the thought that both are gazing at the same moon and longing for the moon's mirror to reflect an image of the beloved face, while the "Delightful" at the close has all the convincing emphasis of the "Assuredly" in the Koran. Indeed it is not straining probability too far to suggest that a Uap song, which was thus translated for me : — 80 SONGS AND INCANTATIONS "I have a canoe, I will stick to you like a burr, I have lost my mind." may, to tlie languishing Uap youths or love- lorn maids express all the tenderness of Lover's " What would you do, love, if I were going, With white sail flowing, The seas beyond ? " etc. In both songs we have a limitless expanse of seas, and eternal fidelity (how full is the image of a "burr" with its side glance of an- noying persistence!). It is in the last line, however, that the Uap song bears the palm, and rises to a height of self-knowledge rarely attained by poets, of all men, and beyond all praise in its open confession of what is patent to all. Let no one hereafter cast a slur on Uap poetry, — least of all those who admire Emily Dickinson, that belated Uap poetess, who would have been hailed as a Sappho had she been born under the palms of The Carolines. CHAPTER VI DANCE AND POSTURE SONGS T was extremely desirous of taking a moving -■■ picture of one of their dances, and, accord- ingly, promised the natives of our district that if they would perform a really good, genuine dance, and hold it outside of the failu, in the bright light of day, they should have all the tobacco they could smoke for many days and a lavish feast of their favourite tinned meats, sardines, salmon, boned chicken, etc., aU to be had in Friedlander's Emporimn. But little did I dream at what expense I was to get my wish. There are two affiliated failus, both within a hundred yards of Friedlander's house, and, the nights being almost as light as day under the full moon, rehearsals for the dance and song took place in the cool night outside the failu, and lasted far on toward daAvn. It took at least a week of rehearsals, and I am afraid poor Friedlander deeply anathematised the unmelodious, howling, ex- 82 DANCE AND POSTURE SONGS plosive nights I was responsible for, at peace- ful Dulukan. The singers punctuate the end of each verse or stanza with a loud clap produced by bending the left arm at the elbow, and holding it across the chest, then the right hand with the fingers and thumb held together and the pahn bent so that it is cup-shaped, is clapped down sharply over the bend of the left arm, and produces, when skilfully done, a report nearly as loud as a pistol. When this is performed simultaneously by thirty or forty men and boys, it wakes the echoes, and everything else that is trying to get a wink of sleep. At last the momentous day for the dance dawned, and I urgently begged the performers to be ready before noon so that I could get the best possible light under the thick palm trees. By eight o'clock in the morning they were all busy and bustling near the failu, donning their costmnes and having head-dresses renovated and elaborated; and I adjusted my five- hundred feet of film ready for an exceptional show ; my camera was all set up to begin at a 83 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY moment's notice. Ten o'clock came, and they were still busy. The day wore on to eleven o'clock; still came the threadbare answer that they were not nearly ready, but would surely be fully decked out by noon, or a little after. Noon found them still as excited as bees about to swarm and preparing long strips of pandanus leaves or of the bast of Hibiscus for their costumes, collecting white chicken- feathers, bits of cotton wool or pieces of paper for their combs, and practising the steps of their dance. The hours came and passed ; one o'clock; two o'clock; three o'clock; and not until near five o'clock in the afternoon did they pronounce themselves ready. I had refrained from bothering them with too many requests to hurry; it would have been not only absolutely useless, but I desired to be sure that they were really completely satisfied with themselves and would therefore enter into the spirit of the dance with ani- mation, and not with that resigned mien implying "of course, since you insist." At last they filed out from behind the failu 84 DANCE AND POSTURE SONGS and burst in all their glory upon my aching sight; they had been fully nine hours most busily and incessantly dressing and I could not, after the closest scrutiny, detect that they had done anything more than dab on their foreheads and cheeks a few streaks of white paint with the lime from their betel baskets, and decorate their combs with streamers of pandanus leaves and yellow stained paper, and tie bands of narrow palm fronds round both knees and their right elbows (only the right elbows, so as not to interfere with the pimc- tuation). They walked with exultant pride and supreme self -consciousness to the front of the failu where there was a good open space, and there sat down cross-legged in one long straight line, the little boys, or petir, at one end ; the youths, or pagul, in the middle ; and the proficient adults, or pumawn, at the other end ; all arranged according to size and age. These dances, or rather posture-songs, are to the natives like theatrical performances or grand opera ; the nmaour of this performance had spread near and far, and for several 85 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY hours an audience of a hundred or more men, women, and children had waited patiently and expectantly, smokin,g innumerable cigarettes and chewing many a pound of betel nut. Out of consideration for the "ladies" the first number on the programme was, para- doxical as it may seem, a sitting-down dance or "tsuru," This song-dance is the only one that is considered proper for the women to witness and hear. As well as I could make out, it is a dramatic narration of adventures of heroes in canoes at sea, or dramatic legends of the Kan or devils who control the lives of men. While the men sing in unison, with the higher voices of the boys in accord making it slightly harmonious, they wave their arms about, sometimes as though rowing with pad- dles, sometimes as though repelling foes, but most of the time merely accompanying the cadences of the song with graceful, waving motions of the wrists; no weapons, neither sword, spear, nor shield, were used. This posture-dance belongs to the same class as those to be seen in Japan, Anam, Siam, the 86 DANCE AND POSTURE SONGS Malay States, and Java. The dancers do not move from their sitting position; every now and then they make a loud clap, on the bend of their elbows with the palms of their hands, and apparently the stanza is finished. Sev- eral times they seemed merely to take a rest between songs and, without rising, begin an- other; possibly it was only another verse or chapter of the same narrative; I had no one to interpret or explain it to me. The audience of women was scattered in groups in the coconut grove at a respectful distance from the failu, while the men pushed forward close to the performers ; they were all as fixedly attentive as if witnessing the intric- ate plot of a problem play, and the performers were equally absorbed in their parts, never even smiling nor hesitating for a moment in the perfect rhythm of their song and the ac- companying movements of their arms. Even down to the small boys at the end of the line, the gestures were identical and as synchro- nous as the steps and body-swing of a troop of soldiers. 87 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY After several verses, or songs, a loud, high. shout proclaimed the end of the sitting-down dance, and the performers arose and saun- tered off into the failu, or out of sight on the other side of it, to repair whatever damage might have been done to their costumes bj their exertions or by the wind. The announce- ment that a "standing-up tsuru" was about to be performed, caused a lively stir among the women; the greater part of them really did retire to the houses near-by or wandered off in the side paths to their own homes, but quite a number merely moved off a short distance deeper in the grove and sat down again upon the ground, albeit with their backs turned; others sought conveniently stout coconut trees behind which they hid themselves and took surreptitious peeps at the forbidden dances. I think their conduct was not con- sidered downright reprehensible, but only a little "fast," verging on immodest; the men knew perfectly weU that these women were watching them and even twitted them about it, so that several of the younger ones, who 88 DANCE AND POSTURE SONGS were a little too conspicuous, broke from their ostrich-like Mding places and ran giggling to another equally insufficient shelter at a greater distance. The standing-up tsuru is performed chiefly by the younger men, who filed out from the failu and took up a position in a long line, shoulder to shoulder, in front of it. Truly they were a fine looking lot, clean of Umb, and smooth and glistening of skin from their recent exertions in the sitting tsuru; the brisk sea breeze fluttered the plumes of grass and feathers in their hair, and the shifting glints of the declining sun seemed to keep them in a continual barbaric shower of golden spangles. They arranged their positions with much care to avoid interference with one another, and then began a sort of marking-time move- ment with their feet, and at the same time clapping their hands at about the rate of ninety to a hundred beats a minute. This they kept up in an exceedingly uninteresting, dispirited manner, as it seemed to me, for a 89 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY long while, in reality, I suppose, for about three minutes; then one of them, I think it was Gamiau, the strong-voiced maker of phonograph records, started the song in a high-pitched head-toned voice, and the others all joined in and the dance became fast and furious; they waved their arms from side to side ; they stepped forward and stepped back ; they twisted and turned to right and to left; they dropped on one knee, and swayed the body like a Spanish dancer. Then up on their feet again, and then down on hands and knees, and up on their feet again, almost in less time than it takes to tell it. All the while the song continued uninterruptedly; and the motions of arms, body, and legs seemed to italicise emphatic words and keep time with the metre. I failed completely to unravel what it was all about; either they could not, or perchance, would not, translate it into modern Uap. It is barely possible that its impropriety is a tradition purely, which has survived after the fuU meaning of the ancient phrases is lost. This strenuous dance lasted but five or 90 DANCE AND POSTUEE SONGS six minutes and tlien wound up with a loud and prolonged howl, a vigorous stamping of feet, and a salvo of elbow-claps. It was evidently humourous, for at several points the native audience laughed loudly, but the performers never smiled, on the contrary, they maintained an earnest, sometimes even a ferocious and hostile expression. During the dance, tobacco was free to the spectators, and after it, a liberal supply to all hands and mouths was distributed; this, and also a goodly pile of tins of provisions of all descriptions made the evening pass busily and gaily. Although my especial interest in the dance faded with the sunlight, theirs did not ; they had practised the several dances long and faithfully and were not minded to sub- side into humdrum life and doff all gorgeous- ness so rapidly. Throughout the livelong night T heard at intervals the minor drone of their voices, the clapping of hands as the dances were renewed, and the resounding punctuation of the elbow-claps. CHAPTER VII MONEY AND CURRENCY IN a land where food and drink and ready- made clothes grow on trees and may be had for the gathering, it is not easy to see how a man can run very deeply in debt for his living expenses, — for which, indeed, there need be no barter, and if no barter, there is no need for any medium of exchange. In fine, as far as mere existence is concerned in Uap, there is no use for money. But nature's ready- made clothes, though useful, are not orna- mental, and the soul of man, especially of wo- man, from the Equator to the Poles, demands personal adornment. And like all adorn- ments, polished shells, tortoise-shiell, variegated beads, etc., demand labour in the making. Here then the simple-hearted natives of Uap, who never heard of Adam Smith nor of Ricardo, or even if they should hear of them would care no more for them than for an English song from the phonograph, have solved the ultimate 92 IHK I.AKIiKST KKI l)N TIIK ISLAND MONEY AND CURRENCY problem of Political Economy, and found that labour is the true medium of exchange and the true standard of value. But this medium must be tangible and enduring, and as their island yields no metal, they have had recourse to stone; stone, on which labour in fetching and fashioning has been expended, and as truly a representation of labour as the mined and minted coins of civilisation. This medium of exchange they call fei^ and it consists of large, solid, thick, stone wheels, ranging in diameter from a foot to twelve feet, having in the centre a hole varying in size with the diameter of the stone, wherein a pole may be inserted sufficiently large and strong to bear the weigh^t and facilitate transpor- tation. These stone "coins," if I may so call them, are not made on the Island of Uap, but were originally quarried and shaped in Babel- thuap, one of The Pelao Islands, four hundred miles to the southward, and brought to Uap by some venturesome native navigators, in canoes and on rafts, over the ocean by no means as pacific as its name implies ; and, with 93 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY the stones safely landed, these navigators turned speculators, and, with arguments as persuasive as those of the most glib book- agent, induced their countrymen to believe that these "novelties" were the most desirable things to have about the house. Of course, the larger the stone the greater its worth, but it is not size alone that is prized ; the limestone, of which the fei is composed, to be of the high- est value, must be fine and white and of close grain. It is by no means any large stone, how- ever skUf ully fashioned, from The Pelaos that will be accepted as a fei; it is essential that a fei be made of this particular variety and quality of limestone. After having been stored in houses, out of Sim, wind and rain, the fei present a white, opaque appearance, somewhat like quartz, but not so translucent nor of so fine a grain ; when by luck it happens that a man's wealth out- grows the capacity of his house, his money is then stored outside, and, thus exposed to tropical weather, its colour changes to a dirty gray, somewhat like sandstone, and the sur- 94 MONEY AND CURRENCY face becomes rough and covered with moss and lichen. As far as purchasing power goes, this does not, however, detract from its value ; this "unearned increment" can be readily scraped off and the quality of the stone and its diameter, on which depends its value, be no whit diminished. I saw several aesthetic possessors of stone money polishing their wealth and cheerfully chipping away at their riches, thereby plainly evincing that they did not deem the acquisition of moss desirable for rolling stones. Fei are cut as nearly circular as primitive resources permit, and through their centre a hole is cut whereof the diameter is, roughly speaking, about one sixth of the total diam- eter; this hole is, as I have said, for the insertion of a pole sufficiently strong to bear the weight of the wealth upon the shoulders of men when passed as currency. The smaller, more portable "coins," used for the purchase of fish from the failu, or of pigs from the wealthy chiefs, slope from the centre in one or two step-like gradations; wherefore, if at 95 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY the centre they are six or eight inches thick, they are but an inch and a half, or two inches thick at the periphery. Their diameter, and, therefore, their value, is measured in spans, which in Uap means the stretch of the index finger and thumb. In front of a failu there are always many fei, which are thus displayed as evidence of the industry and wealth of the inmates; they are acquired by the hard work of members either on fishing expeditions or by their labour in building houses for the villagers. Another noteworthy feature of this stone currency, which is also an equally noteworthy tribute to Uap honesty, is that it is not necessary for its owner to reduce it to posses- sion. After concluding a bargain which in- volves the price of a fei too large to be conven- iently moved, its new owner is quite content to accept the bare acknowledgment of owner- ship and without so much as a mark to indicate the exchange, the coin remains tmdisturbed on the former owner's premises. My faithful old friend, Fatmnak, assured 96 MONEY AND CUREENCY me that there was in a village near-by a family whose wealth was unquestioned, — acknowl- edged by every one, and yet no one, not even the family itself, had ever laid eye or hand on this wealth; it consisted of an enormous fei, whereof the size is known only by tra- dition; for the past two or three generations it had been, and at that very time it was lying at the bottom of the sea! Many years ago an ancestor of this family, on an expedition after fei, secured this remarkably large and exceedingly valuable stone, which was placed on a raft to be towed homeward. A violent storm arose and the party, to save their lives, were obliged to cut the raft adrift, and the stone sank out of sight. When they reached home, they all testified that the fei was of magnificent proportions and of extraordinary quality, and that it was lost through no fault of the owner. Thereupon it was universally conceded in their simple faith that the mere accident of its loss overboard was too trifling to mention, and that a few hundred feet of water off shore ought not to affect its market- 7 97 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY able value, since it was aU chipped out in proper form. The purchasing power of that stone remains, therefore, as valid as if it were leaning visibly against the side of the owner's house, and represents wealth as potentially as the hoarded inactive gold of a miser of the middle ages, or as our silver doUars stacked in the treasury at Washington, which we never see nor touch, but trade with on the strength of a printed certificate that they are there. There is one undeniable advantage in this form of weighty wealth among people whose houses are as fragile as those in Uap : — ^when it takes four strong men to steal the price of a pig, burglary cannot but prove a somewhat disheartening occupation. As may be sup- posed, thefts of fei are almost unknown. There are no wheeled vehicles in TJap and, consequently, no cart roads; but there have always been clearly defined paths communi- cating with the different settlements. "When the German Government assumed the owner- ship of The Caroline Islands, after the pur- 98 MONEY AND CUREENCY chase of them from Spain in 1898, many of these paths or highways were in bad condition, and the chiefs of the several districts were told that they must have them repaired and put in good order. The roughly dressed blocks of coral were, however, quite good enough for the bare feet of the natives; and many were the repetitions of the command, which still remained unheeded. At last it was decided to impose a fine for disobedience on the chiefs of the districts. In what shape was the fine to be levied? It was of no avail to demand silver or gold from the chiefs, — they had none, — and to force them to pay in their own currency would have required, in the first place, half the population of the island to transport the fines ; in the second place, their largest government building could not hold them ; and finally, fei, six feet in diameter, not having been "made in Grermany," were hardly available as a circulating medium in the Fatherland. At last, by a happy thought, the fine was exacted by sending a man to every failu and pdbai throughout the disobedient 99 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY districts, where lie simply marked a certain number of the most valuable fei with a cross in black paint to show that the stones were claimed by the government. This instantly worked like a charm; the people, thus dole- fully impoverished, turned to and repaired the highways to such good effect from one end of the island to the other, that they are now like park drives. Then the government dis- patched its agents and erased the crosses. Presto! the fine was paid, the happy failus resumed possession of their capital stock, and rolled in wealth. Fei are not prized merely because they are old, nor have they any sanctity as the legend- ary work of gods or ancient heroes. This was proved by an enterprising Irish-American copra trader, who, while living in Uap, carried on for many years a brisk, profitable trade by sending a schooner to The Pelaos with several natives, experts in all the essentials of fei. There the stones were quarried, properly shaped, and the schooner returned with a full cargo of genuine wealth, which was given in 100 MONEY AND CUERENOY exchange for tons of dried coconut and beclie- de-mer. The exchangeable value of fei seems to depend largely upon the eagerness of buyer and seller at the time of trading. Fatumak gave me, however, the following valuations, which possibly are a little high, — ^he was intelligent and a dear old fellow, but close- fisted to a degree, and his avaricious soul would no doubt have insisted, when trading, upon the very highest value. A three span fei of good whiteness and shape ought to purchase fifty ''baskets" of food — a basket is about eighteen inches long and ten inches deep, and the food is taro roots, husked coco- nuts, yams, and bananas; — or, it is worth an eighty or a hundred pound pig, or a thousand coconuts, or a pearl shell measuring the length of the hand plus the width of three fingers up the wrist. I exchanged a small, short handled axe for a good white fei, fifty centimetres in diameter. For another fei, a little larger, I gave a fifty pound bag of rice — a somewhat extortionate price, but then the 101 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY good, close-fisted Fatmnak was not on hand to bargain for me. I was told that a well-finislied fei, about four feet in diameter, is the price usually paid either to the parents or to the headman of the village as a compensation for the theft of a mispil. For "small change" the people of Uap use flat pearl-shells, also obtained from The Pela- os. The smaller shells, about five inches in di- ameter, are always strung on a cord of plaited Tcaya twine at intervals of about five inches apart, with a cowrie in the middle of each interval; seven shells, thus strung, constitute what is known as a iotJia-ayar. The shells may be trimmed along the sides, but the thin edge facing the hinge must be always left intact, and a small hole is drilled only through the umbo, or base of the shell, whereby it is strung on the cord. The value of the shells is always computed by their width from the hinge to the opposite thin edge; to mutilate this edge is as depreciatory of its value as the boring of a hole in a coin is in our currency. Charles Lamb reckons it as one of the 102 MONEY AND CUERENCY choicest blessings to do good in secret and to have it found out in public. Prom this bless- ing a philanthropist in Uap is shut off; no alms can there be given in secret; there is there no keeping the left hand from knowing what the right hand doeth ; for open, trumpet- tongued proclamation, the ponderous fei and the jangling shells are as efficient as a house- top. Likewise, there can be no pocket-money in Uap, — even granting the pockets. Next higher in value to the hotha-ayar is the single large pearl shell, called yar-nu- hetchreh; it, too, may be trimmed at the sides, but the thin outer edge is always left in its natural state, no matter how chipped and ragged. To the hinge of the shells is attached a stiff loop of haya twine which serves as a handle and also as a means of hanging them up out of harm's way. Their value is estimated by measuring them on the arm from the finger-tips; a shell having a diameter of about an average hand's length is worth one entire botha-ayar, every width of a finger beyond this almost doubles the value. Four 103 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY of them are always placed upon the corpse of a notable man or woman before it is removed to the grave ; whereof two are the perquisites of the undertakers, who are always of the slave class ; the remaining two are buried with the corpse to pay for food on the journey to Falraman, the Uap heaven. These shells are never used as ornaments, although they are often exceedingly beautiful and sometimes measure ten or twelve inches in diameter. They are money pure and simple. Next in value to the yar-nu-betchrek comes the umhul, a sacred mat of banana fibre. A mystery shrouds the umiul; the manufacture of them is a lost art ; they are believed to have been made by the primeval ancestors of the present race. As far as I could ascertain, they are about five feet wide (their length I do not know), and woven of extremely fine and soft shreds of banana leaf, with loose ends left sticking out all over them, almost like fur. I never saw one imrolled; they are always ]?;ept rolled up and enclosed in a case of mat- ting; the umhul itself is never exposed nor 104 MONET AND CURRENCY seen. Some day, should a curator of "The Free Museum of Science and Art" in Phila- delphia, unroll the umhul which I brought away from Uap, I hope that he will either cor- rect or corroborate my description, which, I admit, is founded only on hearsay. Umhuls vary somewhat in the diameter of the roll, but very little in the width; when they are used by way of exchange, their value is computed according to its diameter meas- ured in spans of index and thumb, or deh. They are ordinarily valued as equivalent to the largest size of yar-nu-hetchrek, or a good white fei, three deh in diameter. The red shell necklaces, or thauei, might be also enumerated as currency. Their owners, however, rarely, if ever, sell them outright, but, as payment for work or labour done, permit their use for stated periods. This I discovered when trying to buy one, as I have already mentioned. Many men wore them but refused to part with them at any price ; they could not; they had merely bought the priv- ilege of pranking themselves up for a while. 105 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONET I did, however, obtain, as I have already said, an excellent thauei through, the kindness of old Ronoboi, who paid for it, so he averred, ten hotha-ayar, or seventy pearl shells. Between traders and natives the medium of exchange is the ripe coconut, from which copra is made ; they have in general agreed up- on a rough standard of values for the articles most commonly in demand ; for instance : the price of a large pilot biscuit is three coconuts ; a stick of "uigger-head" tobacco, together with a box of Japanese safety matches, is worth six coconuts. The most extravagant deal I heard of was negotiated by that same royal old Ronoboi, who paid twenty thousand coconuts for a cooking stove, "made-in- Germany," of thin sheet-iron. He was absolutely shut up in measureless content with his bargain, and vowed he was going to make bread in it; doubtless the kind of bread he wiU bake in it will, if possible, augment his content, but he wiU be forced either to begin or end with a new set of teeth and a rejuven- ated digestion. 106 CHAPTER VIII UAP FEIENDSHIPS A GOOD method of learning a language, where there is neither dictionary, text- book, nor grammar, is to begin, in the primary class, with the children. Accordingly, to the children I devoted my earliest attention ; in the guise of a playmate, I let them unwittingly instruct me. One game, with its marvellous amplifications, I found to be exceedingly popular: our nursery game of cat's-cradle. It is, indeed, a game and pastime not only of the children, but also of youths, maidens, matrons, and old men. All were familiar with figures which, at first made my head swim by their intricacy and the lightning rapidity of the wriggling brown fingers. I was already familiar with one or two figures which I had learned from a delightful paper in The Jour- nal of the Anthropological Institute^ by my friend. Dr. A. C. Haddon, and I was keen for more. 107 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY My first lesson came from the hands of Kakof el, the yomig daughter of Lian, Chief of Duliikan. Curly-headed, little Pooguroo was my earliest and most faithful friend ; and Kakof el came next. Her father brought her with him, or rather she trudged after in his train, the first morning after Friedlander and I arri\'ed at his village. We were busy getting our various "traps" ready for the day's work ; Friedlander with his merchandise, and I with my photographic outfit, when Lian, a hand- some man with a somewhat negroid face, but light in colour, solemnly ascended the ladder and silently squatted cross-legged on the floor a short distance from the door. Directly behind him a closely cropped little head arose ; at first, just on a level with the threshold ; next, there cautiously peered forth a pair of wide open, wondering, snappy black eyes, framed all round in long, jet-black lashes, making the whites look larger and whiter; then uprose a little brown body girdled with a straggly skirt of dried leaves hanging down to the knees ; last of all two little brown legs, and lo, there stood 108 UAP FEIENDSHIPS Kakofel! Slie immediately seated herself cross-legged beside her father, conveniently near the doorway, however, in readiness for an instant retreat down the ladder at a second's notice. Not a word did the dignified, impassive Lian utter; Eriedlander took no notice of him, and I, like "Br'er Eabbit," kept on saying nothing. Greetings are not "good form" in Uap, and nowhere is it diplomatic to blurt out at once the object of a visit. A row of little brown heads, following Kakofel 's example, now appeared on the level of the threshold, but remained there, motion- less, like little tropical cherubim with the wings moulted. Of course, Lian had his betel basket with him, and so did Kakofel, and the embarrassing pause was bridged by the prep- aration of a bolus, which they both per- formed mechanically, while their eyes nar- rowly examined us and every corner of the room. The little maid was about twelve years old, an exceedingly round and healthy little body for one brought up on coconuts ; accord- ing to the Uap standard of beauty, the little 109 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY girl gave promise of a highly attractive future belle. At length Lian spoke, and just as though he were of the highest culture and fashion, began with the weather and the prospects of rain, just then much needed for the coconut trees and the tanks, or rather water holes, on the island; then, of course, the next subjects broached were coconuts, copra, and trade; I could not understand what was said, but Priedlander, always courteous and kind, in- cluded me in the conversation by translating from time to time. The peculiar appearance of the little damsel's cheeks was, however, what I was most anxious to have explained. She looked as if she were suffering from an extraordinarily severe attack of mumps com- bined with jaundice. At the earliest oppor- tunity I begged my host to permit me to ask by what mysterious malady she had been attacked; and I extended my hand to touch the strange excrescences; she shrank back timidly with a little cry and her feet darted for the first rung of the ladder ; thereupon all 110 K \KUFKI,, THK DAITCHTER OF LIAN, WITH COCONUT 8HET,I,S TO PROTECT IIER RECEXTT^Y PERFORATED EARS UAP FEIENDSHIPS the cherubim instantly disappeared. I at once tried to make amends by stepping back a few paces; her father then explained that what I had mistaken for mum,ps were merely the halves of a coconut shell worn to protect her poor, little ears, which had been recently punched in conformity with the feminine fashions of Uap. These shell protectors had been scraped smooth and powdered thickly with saffron, or reng-reng, an ornamental cos- metic in universal use and the stain had been so smeared over the little girl's neck and cheeks that the skin and shells were all the same colour. When she saw, however, that my interest was friendly, she loosened the strings that held the coconut shells in place and showed me, as a special favour, her terribly swollen ears, whereof the lobes had been punctured and a wad of oily green leaves, as thick as a dentist's thumb, inserted in the wound to keep it from closing up. Her spirits were not, however, in the least depressed by her afflictions, and after I had, as a fair exchange, displayed 111 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY to her some elaborate Japanese tattooing on my arms and she had contributed to it many smudges of black and yellow from her inquis- itive fingers, we became excellent friends. To change the subject, I produced a string and inquiringly showed her one of my cat's-cradle figures. She watched my awkward movements with open-mouthed wonder and then, taking the string, made a figure, which she called melang, — coral, — representing a stalk of coral with two side branches ; of course, I was eager to learn it, and in my attempts I increased my vocabulary with several words or phrases, — dahafel, meaning "not right," — hafel, "all right," and piri a/mith, "very painful," which I was told to say when she nearly twisted my fingers out of joint in forcing them through tight loops or in hooking them over each other at impossible angles. Manigil, "excellent, very good" was the last word I learned. By this time the cherubim had dispelled both their fears and the illusion, by crawling up stealthily and sitting down on the floor near us. Of course, little Pooguroo was there 112 UAP FRIENDSHIPS close beside me, and gave a smile meaning "we're old friends, aren't weT' In a few minutes they were all at cat's-eradle, compet- ing with each other in making the figures rapidly and grunting at me for applause. Before this first lesson was over, Lian, the chief, became so lost in watching us that he stopped talking copra, and, taking the string from his daughter, tried to show off his own sldll in some wonderful pattern, but he was so shaky with a palsy of his hands, that his efforts were vain and his disrespectful daughter jeered at his failure, and in high glee shouted "dakafel! dakafel!" until he gave it up and, with a provoked smile, flung the string at her merry little face and resumed his talk about trade. Kakof el was the tom-boy of Dulukan ; there was no mischief afoot that she was not in it, and where the boys were making the most noise and playing the roughest games, there was Kakofel, always in the midst, and her rippling laughter, ending in a prolonged high note, was always distinguishable above the 8 113 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY others. But I grieve to say our friendship did not last long; it was my inadvertent rude- nessi that caused the breach. One resplendent moonlight night, the shouting of boys and the shrill screams of little girls playing in the coconut grove seemed to be more boisterous than usual, and Kakofel's voice frequently rose high above the rest. Friedlander and I strolled forth to see what was going on, and were astonished to see firebrands Qymg in all directions, scattering trails of sparks, like comets. "Hang the little imps," shouted Friedlander, "they're at their fiendish fire- game again!" They had built a fire of dried coconut husks which smoulder slowly, and, armed with these glowing embers, were hiding behind coconut trees, awaiting a chance to launch the fiery missile at some unwary play- mate. Friedlander was not concerned for the blisters on tough little hides, but he was justly fearful lest a misdirected brand might lodge on the thatch of his storehouses. Off he dashed into the darkness, hurling broadcast some awful Uap words ; the pyrotechnic display fell 114 ('(]('(]X|:|" (.K'i\l UAP FRIENDSHIPS at once to earth, and the shouts and laughter died away in the patter of little bare feet and the rustle of grass skirts. Like wild animals they knew how to run to cover, and in a trice the grove was still and dark and silent, as at midnight, and deserted ; merely the persistent embers, that kept on glowing where they had been dropped, were left to tell of the escapade. But Friedlander was rendered so anxious over the risk to his "go-downs," stored full with several months' accumulation of copra, that when he became convinced that it was impossible to run to earth the wiU-o'-the- wisps, he strode over to the failu, where several men and boys were still sitting aroimd a fire, and there vented his wrath upon them, assuring them that if they didn't restrict those little devils, and especially that little "Kako- fel Kan" (that is: "that little demon of a Kdkofel"), whom he suspected by her tell-tale laughter to be the ring-leader, he would hold them all responsible for any damage by fire, and would confiscate their largest and whitest fei till the loss was made good. 115 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Their eyes and mouths opened wide in astonishment and, when his harangue was concluded, several of them jumped up and started out in the darkness to catch and chas- tise the culprits; as well might they have attempted to catch the frigate bird that soared over the house the day before. By the next morning Friedlander's rage and anxiety had subsided and the night's adven- ture had apparently faded from his memory, as all other annoyances of his life always van- ished whenever his lighter with a full load of coconuts pulled up to the jetty. While I was tinkering at my cinematograph or my camera, I glanced up and happened to see Kakofel sauntering toward me, swinging in one hand her inseparable betel basket, and in the other holding the white spongy heart of a sprouted coconut^ known as bul, which is about the size of an apple and of the consistency of pith, but with a very pleasant, sweet taste, and a favourite delicacy with children. The process of munching this bul, from time to time, eclipsed and disarranged the sweet and 116 UAP FRIENDSHIPS innocent smile with which she saluted me as she approached. There was, of course, her usual accompaniment of small boy and girl- satelUtes and when she stood at my side, I shook my finger at her and said in the merest joke, **Hullo,Kakofel Kan!" Her expression changed in a flash! She stopped short, the smile vanished, her eyes opened wide, as she stared at me, with an expression of almost horror on her face ; the half eaten hul dropped from her hand, she turned quickly, and with one backward glance at me over her shoulder, ran swiftly out of the enclosure and up the path toward her home, her little brown legs swinging out sideways from the knees, as, in native, girlish fashion she turned her* toes in to get a better grip upon the loose sand. That was almost the last I ever saw of Kakofel; nothing would induce her to come near me again; when the phonograph was played to large audiences, she was present, but always in the furthest row of listeners, and often sitting solemnly alone outside the light bamboo fence ; when I caught her eye and smiled, she 117 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY responded with a stony stare, and turned away; if I called to her, she paid not the slightest attention, except to quicken her pace to a run. Indeed, she was a mournful loss in my circle of small friends; she was always a merry little thing; a wonderful adept at cat's- cradle, and a patient, although derisive, teacher. However deeply I may have wounded Kakofel's feelings, her mother by no means shared the affront; for she was always the first to arrive and the last to leave whenever a phonograph "recital" was on hand; more- over, she invariably managed to secure a seat as near as possible to the instrument, whence she could command the best singers to come forward to sing or speak into the brass horn ; I usually dropped three or four imported cigarettes in her lap by way of thanks. She was not what even an ecstatic imagination could describe as beautiful, but she had a gentle, plaintive expression, and this rueful look was emphasised by a droop at the left corner of her mouth caused by the loss of all 118 UAP FRIENDSHIPS her teeth on that side. She was extremely- thin, every bone of her chest stood out ahnost in alto-relievo, but she seemed, withal, to be very cheerful and, whenever the phonograph showed off well its power of mimicry to some surprised new-comer, she emitted ''the loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind." The dim blue tattoo marks on the back of her hands and on her legs bore witness that in her youth she had been the feted belle of some failu, before Lian took her to himself as wife. I once paid her a visit when she happened to be busy boiling some dal (yams), and lak (taro), for the midday meal, and she showed me all over her kitchen by allowing me to thrust my head within the doorway. It was merely a little outhouse of pahn leaf close beside their large house and only about six feet long, by three or four wide; the floor was really neatly swept up, although the thatching of the sides and rafters was well coated with soot. The fireplace was a large iron bowl, — purchased of course, from Friedlander, — banked up in a mound of sand ; in this the fire 119 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY was built, without any draught, and over it an iron tripod, whereon was hung another iron bowl in which the food was cooking. She had to sit by and watch the fire constantly because, as she explained, it was exceedingly ill-omened for a spark to fly out and lie burn- ing on the floor, so while the fire burned brightly, she must be close at hand to push back embers that might fall, and to catch flying sparks. The little house wherein the women cook their own food is called pinfi, meaning "wo- man's fire," and is always for their exclusive use; no man can eat food cooked in utensils that have been used in preparing food for a woman, and I doubt if a man would use even the same fire ; I know that they will not light a cigarette from the same ember or match that a woman uses; this is true even of husband and wife. Once, at Friedlander's instigation, to make a test, I picked some areca nuts out of a woman's betel basket as if to examine them, and then in an absent-minded manner, dropped them into the basket of a man who 120 UAP FRIENDSHIPS had seen me take them from the woman; instantly he snatched them out of his basket and flung them from him as if they had been live coals. I questioned Lian about this cus- tom; he admitted that nothing would induce him to eat food prepared in a woman's bowl or chew a betel nut that had been in a woman's basket. He assured me solemnly that it would inevitably bring ill luck or sickness. When I visited Lian's wife, all utensils used in the preparation of her husband's food were in a small vestibule or antechamber near the door of the house, and there also was the fireplace used exclusively for him. This taboo, as I suppose it may be termed, does not, however, prevent a husband from eating voraciously of the food which his poor wife, slaving over the fire (in the tropics too!), has cooked for her high and mighty lord ; — here is just where the charming flexibility of the taboo is in evidence. The ill omen attached to the flying sparks is devised to frighten poor women into taking care lest they set the house on fire ; and, by the way, it is, indeed, almost miraculous that they 121 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONET do escape daily, nay hourly conflagrations, even with this dread omen hanging over them. In the first place, their skirts are composed of four or five layers of dried leaves and strips of bast, and are so voluminous and distended that they stand out all round the body, out- rivalling the old-fashioned hoopskirts; even when sitting down, the women are surrounded by a mound of veritable tinder. In the second place, they are for ever striking matches to light their cigarettes, nay, worse even, they carry about with them for the sake of econ- omy the glowing husk of a coconut, and neither to matches nor husk do they give the slightest heed, striking the one recklessly over their own skirts or absent-mindedly resting the other against the skirts of their neighbour. Yet in spite of this utter recklessness never did I see a skirt catch fire, although I confi- dently awaited it every time they assembled to hear the phonograph. When the female audi- ences had dispersed after these exhibitions, Friedlander's neatly swept little compound was wont to look Hke a threshing-floor, so 122 UAP FRIENDSHIPS covered was it with fragments of pandanus leaves, the relics of female attire. One month at longest is the life of a woman's dress; then the old skirt is burned and a brand-new one plaited, with no tedious fittings at the dress- maker's, nor depressing bills to pay. When dressed in their best for visits or feast days, the women don skirts prettily decorated with wide strips of pandanus leaves bleached^ for the purpose and stained a bright yellow with reng, and about the waist-band are inserted brightly variegated leaves of croton. The effect is, indeed, extremely pretty on the background of their smooth, brown skin. The women do not, as a rule, adorn themselves with necklaces or other ornaments ; some, who do not work very hard in the taro patches, wear bracelets of coconut shell or tortoise- shell, and sometimes finger rings of the same material. The long strips of hibiscus bast, stained black, which they all wear knotted about their necks after they have come to maturity, seems to take the place of all other finery. This cord, known as marafd, must be 123 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY always worn by a woman, young or old, when she is away from her home ; to be seen in the open air without it would be as immodest and disgraceful as to appear without any clothes at all. Within the dwelling house, however, it may be discarded with perfect propriety. Standards of beauty vary so widely among different races, from the fat, round-faced beauties alleged to predominate in Turkish harems, to the thin oval-faced belles of Japan, and to the long-eared, black-toothed maidens of Borneo, that I was anxious to learn what in masculine eyes of Uap constituted feminine beauty. One day, after a phonograph recital for the men, fifteen or twenty from different parts of the island lingered behind to watch the putting of the tom-tom in its box ; I then took the opportunity of asking them who, in their opinion, was the prettiest girl of all they knew on the island. They seemed to take a great interest in the discussion which followed, and several girls were named and their charms discussed and compared, but finally a unani- mous voice was given to Migiul the mispil 124 MKillT. A "mISPIIj" UAP FRIENDSHIPS . of Magachagil, in the south of Uap. Their good taste may be verified by turning to her photograph on the opposite page. Migiiil was a frequent visitor at Fried- lander's house, being an intimate friend of his wife, and whenever she came to visit her parents, who lived close by in Dulukan, she spent the greater part of the day gossiping in Mrs. Priedlander's cosy little home and learn- ing to speak the Marianne Island language. She was an exceptionally bright girl, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a sad, plaintive expression and a soft, gentle voice, — a universal favourite with the women, and the admiration of all the men. Nor was this all. Her reputation as a ballad singer was wide- spread, hence she was pushed forward on all occasions when a new song ''record" was to be made, and seemed modestly conscious of her proficiency; I cannot honestly affirm, how- ever, that I sympathised with her admirers in their ecstasy over her high or low notes, which to my dull, untrained ears too closely resembled, in all seriousness, the cry of a cat in 125 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY agony. Notwithstanding lier peculiar position in that small community, there was no trace of boldness in her demeanour; her voice in speaking was always low, "an excellent thing in woman;" she never obtruded herself, but retreated quickly to the background when she had finished her song; in fact, she was the personification of unstudied, innate femi- ninity. This may be surely accepted, whether among primitive people or amid the conven- tionalities of modem society, as a high standard of refinement and an essential ele- ment of a thorough lady. Poor little Migiul, according to the exactest code of propriety is in her own eyes and in those of all her Uap world, a thoroughly blameless, moral girl. Of aU my friends among the men, old Fatumak, the mach-mach or soothsayer, was the most faithful, the most intelligent, and, consequently, to me, invaluable. In his youth he had fallen from a coconut tree and so injured his spine, that he was permanently deformed and had a dwarf -like figure with a 126 ■A TT^M \ K UAP FRIENDSHIPS pronounced distortion. One evening, when he had been rehearsing to Friedlander and my- self some of the legends of Uap, I asked him how it was that he knew so much; he said he had heard these stories from the old people when he was a boy, and then he added, point- ing to a long row of notches on the handle of a little adze that he always carried: — "Those marks, each one, — one moon; twenty-eight moons after I fell, I lay in my house ; no one to talk to ; I think and think over everything ; I talk to myself; I remember these stories. Some I think true; some I think foolish." This had been his school, — two years of soli- tary self-commimion, and during this time he had pondered on the problems of nature and the human mind, and solved them in his simple primitive way, to his own satisfaction. He emerged a wise man among his own people and endowed, as they believed, with prophetic foresight. He was ready with an answer to every question and made his living by inter- preting omens and telling fortunes by myste- rious combinations of knots in Bei leaves. 127 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY His house, wherein he lived quite alone, never having taken to himself a wife, was a veritable magpie's nest, so full was it of odds and ends of every description, piled in comers or suspended from rafters, mostly discarded rubbish from the houses of Spanish or German traders. It was enclosed by an open fence of bamboo, fairly well built but natu- rally flimsy; in this fence there stood a gate which at night and invariably in the absence of the owner, was kept closed with a ponder- ous, rusty padlock, although a single, slight push would have been enough to throw the whole fence flat; indeed, I doubt that anyone hurrying along on a dark night and happening to stumble into Fatumak's fence, would have been aware of it, or recognized any difference between it and other obstructive patches of thick imdergrowth ; but it was a great comfort to the old fellow to feel that "fast bind" ought to mean "fast find." In the house his most valued possessions, such as bits of brass wire, nails, beads, extra blades for his adze, empty baking-powder boxes, the key-board of an 128 UAP FRIENDSHIPS ancient accordion, and innumerable other articles calculated to set a Uap's "pugging tooth on edge," were kept secure in a large tin biscuit-box, whereof the top had been cut on three sides, and the third side served as a hinge. He had contrived to punch holes through this lid and the side of the box, and through them he had inserted the hasp of another padlock almost as unwieldy as the one on his front gate. I think that after lock- ing it he had lost the key, — the corners of the lid looked as if they had been bent upward to extract what he wanted without disturbing the lock ; in fact, it was through these openings that I was able to examine the treasures of this safe. The old man, — I call him old, but I doubt that he was over fifty, yet seemed older because of his deformed body and his quiet, sedate, and thoughtful bearing, — ^had a pleas- ant, pensive face, with somewhat negroid features, a broad flat nose and thick re-curving lips; his hair, just beginning to show grey, was, however, wavy and curly, with no trace 9 129 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY of the wool of African negroes or of Papuans. He smiled easily and took good humouredly the chaff which we constantly poked at him for his thrifty devices, which closely verged on miserliness, and, occasionally, for the prices he charged poor unfortunates who invoked his skill in foretelling the future. He was not able, on account of his misshapen back, to paddle his own canoe, but he had constructed a raft of palm stems and bamboos, which he called his "barco," after the Spanish, and many a time I saw him start off in the early morning to make his rounds of fortune-telling, poling his ''barco" up the coast in the shallow lagoon, and return again in the evening with his decks almost awash with ripe coconuts, — his fees for consultation collected on the spot. His method of foretelling the future by means of hei leaves, he himself believed in implicitly, and invariablj^ became serious and reserved if we alluded to it lightly. Many a time when he was squatting beside us as we ate our lunch or dinner at a little table in the yard under the pahns, he would be called aside by an 130 UAP FRIENDSHIPS anxious client to interpret some mysterious combinations of knots which had been tied at random in strips of palm leaf. There are only a favoured few who know the hidden significance of marriages of the kan or demons, indicated by these knots, and this knowledge is kept sacredly secret and never revealed until the father, at the approach of death, discloses it to his son ; thus it is handed down from generation to generation. On several occasions I noticed these con- sultations with Fatumak, but had no idea of their meaning; I supposed that the tying of knots in a strip of leaf was mere frivolity to fill up the time. One day, however, a seeker for truth happened to sit close beside me and I heard him earnestly talking to himself, or to the knots, as each one was tied; when the four strips were finished, he adjusted them carefully in his hand and showed them to Fatumak, who merely glanced at them and murmured a reply. This was repeated several times ; then the man arose and went away con- tented. Of course, I asked Fatumak what it 131 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY all meant and lie informed me that tlie man wished to find out whether or not a friend of his, in the northern end of Uap, who was very sick, was going to get well ; the answers had been favourable. Whoever wishes to consult the omens in this manner provides himself with eight or ten strips of green pahn leaf, preferably the narrow leaves of the coconut, and in the presence of the soothsayer, proceeds to tie at random in each strip a series of single knots about a half inch apart, not counting the knots as he ties them, but aU the time murmuring to himself the question which he wishes answered. When four strips bear many knots thus tied, he takes the first strip and, counting off the knots by fours, beginning at the broad end of the leaf, catches the strip between his thumb and the base of the index finger of the right hand in such a way that all the knots which are over an even division by four, stick up above the back of the hand. On the second, third and fourth strips he counts off the knots in the same way, and catches them in turn 132 UAP FRIENDSHIPS between the index and middle finger, tlie middle finger and ring finger, and tlie ring finger and little finger, thus leaving the imeven number of knots sticking up close to the knuckles. If there happens to be, on any strip, an even number of fours, then four knots are left projecting. The seer then reads the omen from the combinations of knots in the two pairs of strips, composed of the thumb and index strip, and the index and middle finger strip for one pair; and the middle and ring finger strip, and the ring and little finger strip for the other. Each pair signifies a different Tian, or demon, and it is in accordance with the union of these han, that the omens are good or bad. As may be seen, there are sixteen combinations of the number of knots possible in each pair; consequently, there are sixteen valuable han which assist at this form of mach-mach. For instance, the thumb strip may have four knots left over and the index strip have two, this is the sign that the female Uan, Vengek, is present for one; the middle finger strip may have one and the ring finger 133 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY strip have three knots left projecting above the knuckles, this is the sign that Nebul, a male han, is associating with Vengek, and this indicates a certain answer according to the drift of the question; which would be also affected by the appearance of Vengek or Nebul in the first or second pair of knots, the time of day, conditions of the weather and many other influences, which Fatmnak declared it would be useless to tell me, as I could not possibly understand them all. I had made the grave error of showing too rapid a comprehension of one of the mysteries of the art when he was giving me the signs of the various kan, their sex, and to whom they were married. This is the list, as he gave it to me, before explain- ing an3d;hing about sex or marriage among the kan: 3 and 3 — Thugalup 2 and 1 — Navai 3 and 1 — Languperran 3 and 2 — Fawgomoa 1 and 4 — Wunumerr 1 and 3 — Nebul 4 and 4 — Sayuk 2 and 3 — Musauk 1 and 1— Thilibil 2 and 4— Namen 2 and 2 — ^Nagaman 4 and 2 — Naf au 3 and 4 — Trunuwil 4 and 3 — Vengek 1 and 2 — Saupis 4 and 1 — Liverr 134 UAP FRIENDSHIPS Of course, he had to give a practical demon- stration of each combination, he could not carry the numbers in his head; and when he had finished the last one, Liverr, he vouch- safed the additional information, while the knots were still between his fingers, that this Jean was a woman and was married to Wunumerr. This led me to ask about the next to the last, Vengek; this also proved to be a woman, married to Trunuwil; the next, Nafau (f our-and-two) also a woman and mar- ried to Namen (two-and-four), — this gave me the key, — the descending mmaerical combina- tions were women and they were married to their ascending reverse combinations. Three-and-two would be a woman and married to two-and-three ; three-and-one the wife of one-and-three, etc., etc. Foolishly exultant over my guessing these combina- tions, I forestalled Fatumak in teUing off the remaining combinations and named the hus- bands and wives; he first eyed me with astonishment, and then became unmistakably provoked and sullen. But my pride had its 135 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY fall; I could not determine the even combi- nations of four-and-four,tliree-and-tliree, two- and-two, and one-and-one, so I had to appeal to his superior knowledge again; whereupon he told me rather gruffly that four-and-four was the chief Sayuk, and his lesser half was Nagaman (two-and-two), and one-and-one was their son Thilibik, and three-and-three was the bachelor youth Thugalup; and then he added that I might be very clever and guess just as shrewdly about the Bei, but that I would never know any more than what he had just told me, and that no white man could ever understand it; we had our glasses that looked beyond the sight of man into the distance, but the men of Uap had Bei where- with they could see things that had not yet happened that were beyond the thoughts of man. With that he gathered up his betel basket and solemnly walked away. I had lost for ever a golden opportunity by my vanity, — but I incline to think it was somewhat pardonable. I did learn, however, a little more about the 136 UAP FRIENDSHIPS mach-mach, or momoh men, from tlie cMef, Ronoboi, also a noted seer and dealer in charms. Those who practice the art must be aged widowers, or widows, from whose lives all thoughts of love for the opposite sex have vanished; they may never eat food that has been prepared the previous day; they must always be scrupulously careful that the "quids" of betel nut, which they have finished chewing, are destroyed either by fire or by throwing them into the sea, where no profane hands can find them and thereby work charms (consequently their betel basket is provided with an extra compartment wherein the exhausted "quids" are deposited to await their destruction) ; the parings of their nails and the hair cut from their head must likewise be burned or thrown into the sea ; if they spit upon the ground, they must always wipe it out with the foot. All this is done so that no counter spells may be worked against them. The aim of the regulation in regard to warmed-over food is, we may surmise, that no stale food shall be proffered as a com- 137 THE ISLAND OP STONE MONEY pensation for their f ortune-telliiig or, possi- bly, it may be to avoid the risk of poisons. Whoever takes counsel of the Bei, must him- self make the knots in the strips of palm leaf and hold them in his right hand. He cannot force his fortune by pre-arranging the com- binations of kan; there are so many controlling circumstances, of which only the soothsayer has knowledge, that it would be futile for any one to try to deceive the Fates. Fatumak bore me no grudge for trying to pry too curiously into his art; he came to visit us again the next day; all was forgiven and he was as genial as ever. It happened that on this particular occasion he had come to settle his accounts with Friedlander for goods to be received in return for coconuts rendered. He was always most accurate in his dealings and seemed to remember so exactly the number of coconuts representing the value of each article which he had been promised, that Friedlander fairly marvelled at his memory, imtil one day he discovered that the old man had invented a cipher for all 138 Patuinak's Account F Those two persons yonder ; the two. Galitsanem . . . ) Galitsanei These two persons. Galianir . . } Those two persons. Gahtsamr Galiningan Which of those two (animals or inan- imate objects) . Galis Tattooing instrument. Gan Fuel. Garda Wet. Garfuku Poor, unfortunate. Garubeb Cold, fresh. Gatsal Wounds, abrasions. Gatu A cat. Gauel Hot. Gaunauruk Afternoon, at parting, means — au revoir. Gep-e-gep Oil. Gergal To give birth to. Gerger A bush, a thicket, a branch. Gi To see. Gidi People, men, mankind. Giible Knots used in lashing beams of a house. Gil A complaint. Gilai Left hand. Giligan Bowels, entrails. 246 VOCABULARY Giliu Personal injury, damage. Giloi reb To imitate. Gin Fright. Go Alone, only. Goi To hit with the fist. Gomad "We (exclusive) . Gomou We two only. Goromangamang. . A caterpillar. Gosogos A laugh, a joke, a game. Gotau Tattooing. Gothagathei To unfasten. Gotruk The croton. Gouf aned For us only. Gowan I go, I am going. Guchigur Near. Gudur Wronged, injured. Guf anei For me. Gumed Tou (plural) . Gumu You two. Gulip-ai Finger. Guloua To yawn. Gulunglung Blue (a term used by women). Gurgurmorets ... A lemon. H Hei Yes. Hu Yes. 247 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY I lam A corpse. Ian A ghost. leniik Head-louse. Igak I (personal pronoun). Iguii The gums. Igumper Patience. Igur You, thou. II A bone. In The stomach. lor To cry. lya It is that ; yes, just so. K Kaargon From the beginning. Kabai To have. Kabai lengen .... Married. Kabul .To-morrow morning (a salutation on parting for the night). Kad To bite. Kaerin To steal. Kaf el Good, well, aU right. Kaf orombots Not long ago. Kainep Night time. Kaiuk Enough, sufficient. Kakadai Old. 248 VOCABULARY Kakail To pinch. Kakarom Before, formerly. Kakatabul Early morning. Kakatabul-ni- kakatabul Daybreak. Kakei A fruit tree. Kakolin Eaw. Kalakal ei The thigh. Kalemulang A cloud. Kamagar Thank you. Kamot Taro, kaladium. Kanakalei Muscle. Kaniloi To dash. Kaningek Four days hence (see Grammar) . Karagufin An ember, red hot. Kareb Bad. Keb-e-nu It rains. Kebutsen Sad. Keei Low tide. Keek To count. Kef A net. Kefalaiefu Calm. Kei Hungry. Keiru Back. Kel To get. Kenguin The trunk of a tree. Kenikaiak To bury. 249 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Kensuk A crowd. Keptsa-nga-but . . Dropped to the ground. Kerek Crystal. Kerker A scratch. Keru A husk. Kesigiri To turn to one side. Kethik Fallen stretched on the ground. Ketibuli On the contrary. Ketsop A crackling, a slight noise. Ketugul Straight. Kinei This piece of. Kinem That piece of. Kinir That piece yonder of. Kiots Dawn. Kirifel Perfectly. Ko To (used before personal pronouns or names in the indirect objective case; ex.: Munon ko Tomak — teU it to Tomak. Also used in com- parisons). Kobre Iron, metal. Koi To eat. Kokal-nga-nug . . . Repentance. Kol A handle. Kong lugunai . . . The inside of the throat. Koruf To bore. Ku Of. 250 VOCABULAEY Kuf To bloom, to blossom. Kuf anu For us two only. Kuyungun Value. L La An abscess. Laguen-e-thuth . . Human milk. Lai A portion, a part. Lai A sail. Lam A fish-hook (wooden) . Lamen To taste. Lanei-utei The eye. Lang To enclose, to twist. Langat Wild pepper. Langei The mouth. Langgin Within, the interior. Langilat Day after to-morrow. Lanilii Hole in lobe of ear. Lanipei Palm of hand. Lanimit The eye. Laninii Memory. Lanuautan-e-thuthA nipple. L 'dou A corpse. Le Shell of coconut. Lebuk Knuckles. Leek To steal. Lengin Wife, or husband. 251 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Li To wound. Lifith To weave. Ligil To boil. Ligin The neck. Liguin A close necklace, a collar. Likai Dreams. Likengin A root. Lili Sick. Lingau To rob. Lingilingi The cheek. Lingir Coconut milk. Liok Light with flint and steel. Lo The skuU. Lod A tumor. Logoru Two. Lok To lower from the level of the ground. Lokar To belch. Lol A fly. Lolugei The head. Lou A pit, a hole. L 'ra A ditch. Lu To lower from a place above the level of the ground. Lu Tears. Lugud A cigarette. Lugunei, Lungei. . The mouth. Lul A stream, a brook. 252 VOCABULARY Lumor Darkness. Lumots To drown. Lungei, Lugunei. . The mouth. Lungun The voice. Luou A ring. M Maab A door, a gate. Maai Foolish, a fool. Maap To stretch. Machuri Take away. Mad Clothing. Madangadang-ko- mal Valiant. Madthu To spit. Madus A tumor. Mafeng To meet, to encounter. Magagan Ugly. Magal Fire-light, lamp-light. Magar To become tired. Magilao A bat. Mak To tie, to fasten. Makadkad A sharp taste. Makef Inside the reefs, the lagoon. Makil Sweet, sugar-cane. Mai A wall. Malabots Wild, savage. 253 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Malad A wound. Malaf Distance. Malamal Idle, lazy. Malamit ...Blind. Malang A stone, coral. Maluk To bathe. Man To go. Manang To know. Manga What? Mangafan Why? Mangial When? At what time? Manigil Excellent, precious. Maraf a Neck-cord worn by adult women. Mases Matches. Matau Right hand. Mathil Limit. Matsalabok Clean, clear, pure. Matsei To paint. Matsem To become accustomed, a custom. Matsitsi Mean, penurious. Matsuri Holdup! Stop! Mederek Separate, separable. Meiogo , Wet. Melik Dried, parsimonious. Meloi To carve, to engrave. Meluol An order, a command. Merau Ripe cocoanuts. 254 VOCABULARY Merup A shell for scraping taro. Methir To bum, to light with fire. Metsaf Money, riches. Michibii To stand up. Ming To break. Mingieng To chew. Mil To flee, to escape. Mini Who? Which? Minimin Laughter. Mininum By-and-by, wait a little. Misilipik Corrhyza, a cold object. Mispil A woman of the Failu. Mit Class, form, manner. Mith To hide. Mithemith To move. Mitri Lateness, delay. Mitsibitsi Lashing tying together. Mogotrul Dark yellow. Mokuf A flower. Mol To sleep, to lie down. Mom Easy. Moma Difficult. Momau Difficult. Momok A charm, incantation. Mon First. Mongol A woman of the Failu. Mor Grass, bamboo. 255 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Moriar To die. Mororei Dry, crisp, arid. Mororo A robber, thief. Moruel Work, toil. Mosul Mucus. Mot A pit, a well, a hole. Mu A canoe. Mu To finish. Muf aned For you (plural) . Mufanei For thee. Muf anu For you two. Mugunin Bitter, sour. Mul To lose. Murubidi Dry, crisp. Murugil A dagger (of bamboo) . Mus End, finish, conclusion. Muth A cut by a knife or axe. Mutrubil A bachelor, unmarried person. N Nag To drag. Nak To pardon. Nairn A house. Ne (ni, nu) Of. Nei Belly. Neng Mosquito. Nep Night. 256 VOCABULARY Nga To (motion towards) . Ngabut Toward below. Ngadaf aned For us. Ngadaf anou For us two. Ngak Him, her, it (ace.) . Ngalang Above (motion upwards) . Ngalangin Toward the inside. Ngalen niga Molar teeth. Ngara Thither. Ngarai Hither, toward here. Ngaram Toward yonder. Ngauen Toward the outside. Nge To (infinitive mood), for the purpose of. Hge dii Wherefore. Ngibots Spittle. Ngigak The elder; Ngijik, the younger (of persons) . Ngiringir Food which Yalaf ath provides in Falraman ; it lasts forever. Ngodad Us, to us (ace. or dat.). Ngodou Us two. Ngok Me, to me (ace. or dat.) . Ngol A shark. Ngom Thee, to thee (ace. or dat.) . Ngomad Us only, to us only (ace. or dat.) . Ngomed You, to you (plur. ace. or dat.) . 17 257 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Ngomou Us two only. Ngomu .' You two, to you two (ace. or dat.) . Ngongor Pineapple. Ngorad Them, to them (ace. or dat.) . Ngorok To vomit. Ngorou Them (two), to them (two) (ace. or dat.). Ngualen, Nguol . . A tooth. Ngualeng A point. Ngurung-e-rek ...The chest. Ngutsei A vein. Ni If. Nifel Good. Nif eng The wind. Nifi Fire, flint and steel. Nigup Tobacco. Nik Fish. Ning To ask, to beg, to close. Niu-u-keiru The backbone. Niung To plant. Non To speak, to talk. Nong To swim. Nu Raia. Nuf A sprout of a plant. Num To drink. Numen A fowl. 258 VOCABULARY O Oagon ..Home. Oburei Hill. Od To waken. Ok To talk, to speak. OlagTii To sweep. Olak Brother, friend, cousin. Olum Cold. Ong "Woman's skirt. Oroporopek "Weak. Orur Eotten. Otli To jump. Otofin Coal, charcoal. Otorel Far off. Otsen Skein of thread, lock of hair. Otsup Coconut (soft) . Oudi To squeeze out. Ouol Centipede. Outsen Seed. P Pabai Bachelor's house (inland). Pachijik Small. Pak To leave. Pan Grass. Pangin A branch. Papai Quick. 259 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Patak Diligent. Pau Banana. Pei (or paei) .... The arm. Pelis A dog. Peluon Price, recompence. Peluon ko, or nga. Point at. Pemon The chest. Per , To be. Pere Forehead. Pes To float. Petangai To meet. Pethungui The nose. Petsok Scissors. Pi To give. Pidorang Beautiful (woman). Pih Hair of head. Pilun A chief. Pimlingai A slave. Pin A woman. Pinfi Kitchen, house where women cook. Pingek To turn around. Pinning Call, summon. Pir To sit. Pirdi To pound, to break. Piri Very, much. Pirieiai Often. Pithik Untie. 260 VOCABULARY Pitsanei These persons. Pitsanem They, those persons yonder. Pitsanir Those persons (near). Pitsoai Handsome (man) . Poi Shoulder. Pon Wing of a bird. P^ok To flow, to spill. Potson A tail. Pnf ethin An oath. Pul The moon. Pulo Entire. Pumawn Man, male. Pupuan To argue, to dispute. Purpur A hat. Puu Bamboo. R Raau To exceed, abundant. Rabungek A cancer, a large sore. Rafaned iFor them. Rafanou For them (two) . Raiok Possible. Rak Of me, my. Ran Water (fresh) . Raurau Red. Reb Also. Reen Colour. 261 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Refungirieh Knots used in lashing beams together. Ren A tree, wood. Rengreng Yellow, saffron used as cosmetic. Ren^rengmalalai. Dark yellow, orange. Rif-e-rif The width of the hand, used in measurements. Riul Truly, really. Riul-ni-riul Positively. Rob The beard. Rodad Of us, with us. R^dou Of us two. Rogobug To kneel. Rok Of him, his, her, its. Rom Thy, thine, yours, of thee. Romad Of us, or with us only. Romed Of you, or with you. Romou Of us, or with us. Romu Of you (two), or with you (two). Rungak To hear. Rungidu Black, blue, green. Rungiu To love. Rus Panic, to fear much. S Sabaneban Fraud, swindler. Sabaut Light, not heavy. Sathao^ Slow. 262 VOCABULARY Sawl Salt. Seinian To take a walk. Sesei To tear in strips. Soath Slowly. Solap Skilful, intelligent. Somening A lobster. Sorom Ton are right, that's right. Suksuk dao Fat, corpulent. Sul To return. Sulungai Again, to repeat. Sumrumor Slanted, inclined. Sunogor Disgust, nausea. Suon Master. Susun Equally. T Tab One, the one. Tabang Mixed. Tabanguin End, extremity. Tabethung A right angle. Tafen Property, kingdom. Taf enai The soul, to think. Taflai Doctor. Tagalul Shade. Tagil Village. Taguil Place, position. Tai To put, to place. 263 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Tal A string. Tali The ear. Talibei Arm-pit, axilla. Taliginai Throat, neck. Taliu Burying ground. Tarn Funeral chant. Tamadak To fear. Tamako Tobacco. Tamara Shame. Tamathath One or another, seldom. Tamilang Smooth, flat. Tangin Under, below. Taoreng Love. Taoromrom Flames. Tapal Woman's house. Tapiung Low, low position. Tar Excrement. Tareb One. Tareb arragon . . . Like, as. Tebil A sour fruit. Ted Home. Teliau A fillet of flowers. Tham An out-rigger. Thang To extinguish. Thap Cut with a knife. Tharami The sky. Thauei Red shell necklace. 264 VOCABULARY Thei The navel. Thoath Slow. Thik To throw down, to tumble. Thinbots Order, command. Thoi To blow. Thu Waist cloth. Thuak To take out of the mouth. Thugal Bamboo fish wier. Thuth The breast. Tinei These (animals or things) . Tinem Those (animals or things) yonder. Tiningan Which ones (animals or inanimate objects). Tinir Those (animals or things) . Tinning To suspend. Tir-u-moro Pupil of eye, eyeball. Tob Young coconut. Togar Enemy. Toi To chop, to strike. Tololobei Butterfly. Tolomol The jungle. Toluk Centre, middle. Tolul To scream, to cry. Tomal Heavy. Tomunemun Food. Tomur Last. Tou Hatchet. 265 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Tsabok A grave. Tsagal A war-belt. Tsam A wall, a combat. Tsanem That, he, she, it. Tsangar To see. Tsanei This. Tseb-e-tseb Curious. Tsediri To-day. Tseltsel Take a walk, to revolve, to roll. Tsidiri Now, instantly. Tsigii Roof. Tsikinega This very large piece of. TsiMnei This very small piece of. Tsine Now. Tsogou Hot. Tsop Mat of palm leaf. Tsotsol A cough. Tsrua Necklace. Tsum Pig-sty, a filthy place. Tsuru A dance. Tsutsu To doze. Tuf A star. Tugui To hit with the fist. Tugupiai Woman 's dancing belt. Tuguru A bigamist. Tulang To stand, to rise. 266 VOCABULARY Timgin Grandfather, grandson. Tungui To begin. Tungun-e-ei Calf of leg. U U In. Uamangin Fruit. Uara There. Uaram Yonder. Uargon How, in what manner. Uathungin Eyebrow. Ub To come. Ubpt Below. Ubutsia About to die. Ued Equally. Uelduk A vegetable, a sown field. Uen Outside. Uerialen-e-ei The heel. Ueruer Separate, to separate. Uetch Lime. Uetsuma Brother-in-law. Ufin Flesh, meat. Uf uf Vain, a dandy. Uin When (past time). Ul A feather, leaf of eocoanut pabn. Ulang Above. Ulian Captain of a ship. 267 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Ululupei The wrist, a doll. Ulum Chilliness, internal cold. Uluts A ray of light. Uluulek Order, discipline. Umbul Banana fibre mat. TJn To dress up. Uonu Long. Uots Dawn. Uotsrei The chin. Up To sew. TJrgot A girl before puberty. Uriel The last. Uroi Here. Urukruk To balance with the hand. Urungin Everywhere. Uurngin-e-ran . . . Every day. Utii White, like foam. Utoluk In the middle. Uu Where. Uua A path. Uubut From below. Uubutorel From far. Uubutsugur From near. Uuen From outside. Uulang From above. Uulangin From inside. 268 VOCABULARY tluro Thence. Uuroi From here. Uarom From yonder. V Vetch-vetch White (like paper). W Wai Old fashioned betel basket of semi- circular shape. Witandawei The skin. Wu Betel nut. Y Ya Because. Yad Those (yonder) persons. Yai A tune. Yalafath God of Creation. Yan A soul. Yap A paddle. Yar Shell (mother-of-pearl) . Yar-ne-matsif .... Shell knife. Yar-nu-betchrek . Large shell money. Yenengin Sister-in-law. Yomon ulungai . . . The tongue. Yu A palm tree. Yuentali The ear (the outside ear). 269 THE ISLAND OF STONE MONEY Who art thou? — Igur Mini? I am a man of Uap — Igak pumawn nu JJap. What is thy name? — Mini fithingam igurf My name is Lemet — Fithingak e Lemet. Who is that man who is coming ? — Mini e- tsanir ni keh f He is one of my brothers — Tareb Olakek. What is your brother's name? — Mini e fithingan olakem? He is named Ronoboi — Fithingan e Bonoioi. Whence dost thou come? — Mui uuf Where do you (plural) come from? — M'bad uuf Where do you two come from? — M'hou uu? Where is that one coming from? — Eeb uu tsanemf Where are they coming from? — R'bad uu pitsanem? I am coming from my house — ^Gup u naun rak. We are coming (or come) from Rul — Gupad u Bui. We (two) come from the stream — Gupou u lul. He is coming from the sea — Keb u madai. They come from a little island which is near— E '6 ad u tareb e dongots ni kabai botsugur. Where art thou going alone? — Nga> man e ngan gogur? Where are you going? — Nga mailed e nganf Where is he going? — Nga yane ngan e tsanemf Where are they going? — Nga ranod ngan e pitsanemf I have come from the house and I go to Goror — Eogup u naun, nge gwan nga Goror. We are going to the cemetery — Gwanad nga taliu. He is going to fish — Tsanem kean ko fita. 270 VOCABULAEY Those people are going to see the plants — Pitsanem karanod nge kibots e uelduk. This one is not going because he is afraid — Tsanei dabiyan ya tamadak. Of whom art thou afraid? — Tatamadak ko mini? I am very much afraid of the dead — Gutamadak e piri ko iam. What dost thou want? — Manga gadak? I want nothing — Dari Dari! I want water because I am thirsty — Gedak e ran ya kogum, n'ran. What does he say? — Manga haiok e tsanir? What is the name of that? — Manga fithingan tinei? What is this for? — Manga kaflak ka tinei? Art thou alone or with others? — Gogur fa gumed e boor? Art thou alone or are there two ? — -Gogur fa gumou e be? We are many — Gomad e boor. We are two — Gomou e be. I am going to sleep — Gwan nge gutsutsu. Come thou — Moi ngarai. Come you two — Marrou ngarai. Come you — Marred ngarai. I do not know — Dakonang. Call all the people — Pinning avjning e gidi. When wilt thou return? — Dain baimusid? tJAP ISLAND. ENTRANCE BOCK, LAT. 9° 28' 3" N., LONG. 138° 4' 46" E. INDEX FAOB Adoption 33 Armlets 66 Athegiths or ghosts 148 Bachelors' Houses, Construction of 36 Banana-leaf mats 104, 151 "Bei" leaves 130 Bracelets 66 Burial position 176 Burial rites 162 Burying grounds 171 Cats-cradle 107, 112 Causes of illness 148 Colour perception 155 Combs 57 Copra 27 Costume 56 Counting 140 Creation legend 142 Dances 82 Drift of canoes 41 Ear-lobes, Slitting of 59 Ear-protectors 110 Ear-rings 61 Epileptics 148 European music, Appreciation of 70 FaUu, A 36 Failu after a fisHng expedition 43 Falraman (Heaven) 68, 147 Fatumak 126 275 INDEX ratumak's ■writing 139 Fei 93 Fire, Origin of 151 Fishing in open sea 38 Forbidden song of Failu 75 Fortune tellers 137 Fortune telling 130, 133 Funeral, A 164 Gods and Demons 149 Grave digging 172 Heaven (Falraman) 68, 147 High-bom nobles 49 History of the Carolines 16 Houses, Construction of 22 , Importation of Fei 100 Incantations 152 Inif el of Magachpa 63 Introduction of tattooing 159 Japanese poetry 80 Kakofel, daughter of Lian 108 Kitchens 110 Language of songs and incantations 77 Legend of creation 142 Lemet, a roispil 51 Lost Fei, The 96 Maeh-mach or sorcery 152 Maraf a, — a badge of puberty 123 Migiul, a mispil 124 Mispils 46 Mispils, Capture of 50 Money and currency 92 Moving pictures 83 Mutilations 59 Naming a child 153 276 INDEX Necklaces 62 New fire 37 Omens from Bei leaves 132 Origin of fire 151 Out-rigger canoes, Management of 40 Pabai, A 36 Paths, Native made 31 Payment of a fine 98 Perception of colour 155 Phonographic records 69 Pimlingai, Slave class 49, 158, 168 Pooguroo 29, 33 Population 17 Posture songs 82, 85 Presents to a corpse 166 Religion 142 Return of a fishing party 42 Ronoboi, The mach-mach 64, 106 Sacred mats or Umbul 104, 151 Shell money 102, 103 Shell necklaces as money 105 Sitting down posture song 86 Slave class, Pimlingai 49, 158, 168 Soul, The 147, 149 Spells 79 Standard of beauty 124 Standing-up dance 88 Stone money 93 Sunken wealth 97 Superstitions 39, 43, 45, 120, 137, 165 Taboo over fishermen 38 Tacking with an out-rigger canoe 40 Tafenai, The soul 147, 149 Tattooing 157 277 INDEX Tattooing of a mispil 54 Thauei, Shell necklaces 105 Trading value of Pei 101 Uaap, Meaning of 16 Umbul, Sacred mats 104 Women's skirts 121 Words of songs 78 Yalaf ath, The Supreme Deity 149 Yap, Meaning of 16 27S