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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

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ofthe
ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND

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THE

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Their Natives.

BY

H. B. GUPPY, M.B., F.G.S.

LATE SUEGBON, R.N.

LONDON:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LOWEEY & CO.,
PATERNOSTEE SQUAEE,
18S7.

S. Cowan <fc Oo. Strathmore Printing TTwi-s, Pertli,.

PEEFACE.

WHEN, in the beginning of 1881, H.M.S. ''Lark " was
being prepared for her commission as a surveying
ship in the Western Pacific, I -was selected by Sir John Watt
Reid, the Medical Director-General of the Navy, to be ap
pointed as Surgeon. For this selection I was also in some
ineasure indebted to the late Sir Frederick Evans, then
Hydrographer, who was desirous that a person possessing
tastes for natural history should be chosen. I subsequently
received some instructions from Dr. Gunther, Keeper of
Zoology in the British Museum, to whom I may take this
opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks for the en
couragement he gave to me during the commission.
Unfortunately there were no public funds from which I
could be assisted; and, as a matter of fact, I may state that
all expenses had to come out of my pay as a naval surgeon.
At the close of the commission I received, mainly through
the influence of Dr. Gunther, a promise of a grant of
£150 from the Royal Society of London for the exploration
of the interior of the large island of Guadalcanar; but a
very serious illness prevented me from carrying out my in
tention, and thus au expedition, which I had looked
forward to as a fitting completion of my work in these
islands, was never undertaken. However, my disappoint
ment was in some measure diminished on my arrival in
England, after being invalided, by the important results
arising from the examination by Dr. John Murray, Director
•of the Challenger Commission, of that portion of my
geological collection which threw light on the formation of
coral reefs, and which exhibited the deep-sea deposits of the
Challenger Expedition as rocks composing islands in the
Solomon Group. To Dr. Murray I am indebted for much
kindness in many ways, and I gladly take this opportunity
of expressing my sincerest thanks.
In this volume I have chiefly confined myself to my
observations- on the anthropology, natural history, botany,
-and meteorology of the group, having originally reserved my

iv PREFACE.
account of the geology and of the coral reefs, together with
my special descriptions of the islands, for another volume,
which I hoped to publish siiortly, if my first undertaking
proved a success. My reasons for thus acting were to be
found in a lack of funds and in the necessity of not over-
lading my first venture, which, like a ship carrying a heavy
though perhaps a valuable cargo, might founder within sight
of the port of departure. This difficulty has been met by
a generous arrangement of my publishers, in consequence of
which both volumes will be brought out together. All my
notes relating to these islands are there embodied, with
the exception of my coral reef observations, which have
been recently published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh
in their Proceedings (1885-1886). However, to make this
volume more complete, I have added a short introductory
chapter containing a general description of the islands.
It is necessary that I should here briefly allude to the
circumstances under which my observations and collections
were made. Had I been previously aware of the difficulties
and discomforts that would attend me, I should have
hesitated to have performed more than a tithe of v/hat I
finall}^ accomplished "per varios casus per tot discrimina
rerun)." Inexperienced and deprived of any official support
or recognition of other than my professional duties, 1 was
only urged on by the consciousness of the importance of the
work I had voluntarily undertaken. At length my health
began to give way, and it was with mixedfeelings of satisfaction
and apprehension that I returned to the islands for the third
and last year. One cau.«e of continual worry lay in the fact
that for two-thirds of the time spent in this region, I had
only my cabin for the disposal of my collections, the size of
the ship (a schooner of about 150 tons), and the arrange
ments made before leaving England, not permitting of any
other plan.
Under these circumstances I received the greatest assist
ance from Lieut.-Corumander C. F. Oldham, who, notwith
standing that he. had received no instructions concerning
inyself, smoothed the way for me and gave me the oppor
tunities I desired, often, it should be added, at the expense
of much anxiety to himself. To the officers, Lieut. C.
F. de M. Malan, Lieut. T. H. Heming, and Lieut. A.
Leeper, I am lastingly indebted, not only for their constant
aid, but also for the S}mpathy they evinced towards myself
and my pursuits. From the petty-officers and crew I re-

PREFACE. V
ceived much voluntary help, and I was often indebted to
the services of Mr. Samuel Redman and Mr. Albert Rowe.
My right-hand man was Mr. William Isabell who had been
sent to the ship as Leading-Stoker to take charge of the
condenser. Without his aid in the packing away of my
collections and his cheerful readiness to assist me in every
way throughout the commission, I should have broken down
long before I did. To his careful attendance during my
illness I <_)we my life.
With reference to tlie different sections of this work, I
should remark that the anthropological notes are for the
most part now published for the first time. The transla
tion of Gallego's Journal and the historical sketch of the
re-discovery of the group will, I hope, have a general as
well as a special interest. In my natural history notes it
will be seen that I am greatly indebted to the papers on
my collections of shells and reptiles by Mr. Edgar Smith
and Mr. G. A. Boulenger. For the identification of the
greater part of my botanical coUection, I am indebted to
the courtesy of the officials at Kew and particularly to that
of Prof. Oliver. I take this opportunity of acknowledging
the kind assistance I received at Melbourne from Baron
Ferd. von Mueller. My inexperience in botanical collect
ing considerably diminished the value of my collections,
which have further suffered from the fact that I have been
unable after repeated application to learn anything of a
collection of ferns that I presented to the British Museum.
During the commission I profited greatly by Lieut. Malan's
previous experiences of the Pacific Islands. To Lieut.
Leeper I am greatly indebted, as shown in the chapters on
the vocabulary of .Bougainville Straits and on the meteor
ology of the group. The enumeration of the manj^ disin
terested services I have received would carry me far beyond
the limits of a preface. Of all of them I shall retain a last
ing remembrance.
HENRY BROUGHAM GUPPY.
17 Woodlane, Falmouth.

INTEODUCTION.

THE Soloinon Islands cover an area 600 miles in length.
They include seven or eight large mountainous islands
attaining an extreme height, as in the case of Guadalcanar
and Bougainville, of from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, and possess
ing a length varying from 70 to 100 miles, and a breadth
varying between 20 and 30 miles. In addition, there are a
great number of smaller islands which range in size from
those 15 to 20 miles in length to the tiny coral island only
half a mile across. The islands fall naturally into two
divisions, those mainly or entirely of volcanic formations
and those mainly or entirely of recent calcareous formations.
In the first division, St. Christoval may be taken as a
type of the large mountainous islands possessing massive
profiles, such as Guadalcanar, Malaita, Isabel, etc. St.
Christoval, which rises to a height of 4,100 feet above the
sea, is composed in the mass of much altered and some
times highly crystalline volcanic rocks (such as, in their
order of frequency, dolerites, diabases, diorites, gabbros,
serpentines, and saussuritic felspar-rock) which, as I learn
from Mr. T. Davies, have been both formed and altered at
considerable depths and indicate great geological age and
extensive denudation. Recent calcareous rocks, such as
will be subsequently referred to in the description of the
second division of islands, flank the lower slopes at the sea-
border up to an elevation of 500 feet. Fragments of similar
diorites, dolerites, and other dense basic rocks, all much
altered and often schistose, have been transported by trees
to the coral islets off the coasts of Guadalcanar and afford
evidence of the geological structure of that island. .Serpen
tines were obtained by Dr Hombron in 1838^ from St.
George's Island, which is " ipso facto " a portion of Isabel.
Bougainville and New Georgia are largely of more recent
origin, as is indicated by their numerous symmetrical vol-
' " Voyage au Pole Sud et dans L'Oceanie," (D'Urville). Geologie :
part ii., p. 211.

INTRODUCTION. vii
capic cones. However, the geological evidence at present
at our disposal points generally to the great antiquity of the
larger islands. The significance of this fact will be subse
quently referred to. There can be httle doubt that some of
the mountainous islands will be found to yield in quantity
the ores of tin and copper. A -resident trader. Captain
John Macdonald, has discovered arsenical pyrites and
stream tin at the head of the Keibeck River in the interior
of St. Christoval. A sample of stream tin from the south
east part of Bougainville was given to me by the Shortland
chief. Copper will not improbably be found in association
with the serpentine rocks of these islands.
The smaller islands of volcaaic formation group them
selves into two classes :
(1.) Those which, like Fauro and some of the Florida
Islands, are composed partly of modern rocks, such as horn
blende and augite-andesites with their tuffs and agglomerates,
and partly of ancient and often highly crystalline rocks such
as, as I am informed by Prof. Judd and Mr. T. Davies,
quartz-diorites, quartz-porphyries, altered dacites and dole
rites, serpentines, saussuritic felspar-rock, etc.
(2.) Those that are composed entirely or in the main of
recently erupted rocks, islands which preserve the volcanic
profile, possess craters, and sometimes exhibit signs of latent
activity. Eddystone Island, which I examined, is probabh^
typical of the majority of the islands of this class, such as
Savo, JMurray Island, and many others. It is composed of
andesitic lavas of the augite type, is pierced by many fuma-
roles, and has a crater in the solfatara stage. Savo, though
quiescent in the present day, has been in eruption withui
the memory of living men, and was in a state of activity in
1567 when the Spaniards discovered the group. Fumaroles
and sulphur-deposits occur in Vella-la-vella. It may,
however, be generally stated that the volcanic forces in these
regions are in a quiescent condition at the present day, there
being only one vent in active eruption, viz., Mount Bagana
in the interior of Bougainville. Many small islands with
volcanic profiles show no evidence of a latent activity.
Amongst them I may mention those of Bougainville Strait,
which are composed of andesitic lavas of the hornblende type.
I now pass to those islands which are composed mainly
or entirely of recent calcareous forniations.i Excluding the
' Vide my paper on this subjeot (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin.: vol. xxxii.,
p. 545), and my -woi'k on the geology of this group.

viii INTEODUCTION.
innumerable islets that have been formed on the coral reefs
at the present sea-level, we come first to those small islands
and islets less than 100 feet in height, such as the Three
Sisters and Stirling Island, which are composed entirely of
coral limestone. In the next place there are islands of
larger size and greater height, such as Ugi, which are com
posed in bulk of partially consolidated bedded deposits
containing numerous foraminifera, and possessing the char
acters of the muds which were found by the " Challenger"
Expedition to be at present forming around oceanic volcanic
islauds in depths probably of from 150 to 500 fathoms.
Coral limestones encrust the lower slopes of these islands
and do not attain a greater thickness than 150 feet. The
next type is to be found in Treasury Island which has a
similar structure to that of Ugi, but possesses in its centre
an ancient volcanic peak that was once submerged and is
now covered over by these recent deposits. Then, there are
islands, such as the principal island of the Shortlands, in
which the volcanic mass has become an eccentric nucleus,
irom which line after line of barrier-reef has been advanced
based on the soft deposits. These soft deposits contain
amongst other organic remains, the shells of pteropods and
the tests of foraminifera in great abundance. In such
islands I did not find that.the coral limestone had a thick
ness of as much as 100 feet. In this island the upraised reefs
are based upon hard foraminiferal limestones. Lastly, we
have the upraised atoll of Santa Anna -yvhich within the
small compass of a height of 470 feet displays the several
stages of its growth ; first, the originally submerged volcanic
peak ; then, the investing soft deposit resembling in character
a deep-sea clay and considered to have been formed in con
siderable depths, probably from 1500 to 2000 fathoms; and
over all, the ring of corallimestone that cannot far exceed
150 feet in thickness. The islands formed mainly of the
soft foraminiferous deposits have long level summits free
from peaks. Judging from their profiles, the islands of
Ulaua and Ronongo will be found to possess the structure of
Ugi and Treasury. The western end of Choiseul has a very
significant profile, and I have little doubt from my exami
nation of the lower slopes that this extremity of the island
is mainly composed of the recent soft deposits.
I now proceed to refer very shortly to the coral reefs i of
these islands. The three principal classes are to be found in
^ Vide my paper on this subjeot. (Proc. Roy. Soc, Edin., 1885-86.)

INTRODUCTION. ix
this region ; but of these, the fringing and barrier-reefs are
^nore commonly distributed, whilst the atolls are compara
tively few in number and of small size. A line of barrier-
reefs, probably not much under 60 miles in length and bear
ing innumerable islets on its surface, fronts the east coasts of
the islands of New Georgia at a distance of from one to
three miles from the shore. Extensive reefs of the same
class, having a broad deep-water channel inside them, lie off
the large island of Isabel and off the south-coast of Choiseul.
Barrier-reefs, of smaller extent, also skirt the west end of
Guadalcanar and the southern end of Bougainville. I have
referred particularly- to these reefs because at the time that
Mr. Darwin wrote his work on " Coral Reefs," fringing-re^fs
were alone believed to exist in these islands.
The larger islands of the Solomon Group are often separ
ated from each other by depths of several hundred fathoms.
St. Christoval, for instance, is separated from the neighbour
ing islands of Guadalcanar and Malaita by straits in which
casts of 200 fathoms fail to reacli the bottom. On the
other hand, the same 100 fathom line includes both Bougain-
and Choiseul. Judging, however, from the soundings ob
tained by Lieut.-Commander Oldham between the islands
lying off the north coast of St. Christoval, it would appear
probable that depths of 400 fathoms commonly occur be
tween the islands of the Solomon Group\ Although the
soundings hitherto made in this portion of the Western
Pacific go to show that this archipelago, together with New
Ireland and New Britain, are included within the same 1,000
fathom line, which extends as a loop from the adjacent
borders of New Guinea, we can scarcely urge this fact as
evidence of a former land connection, seeing that one of the
most interesting features in the geological history of this
region is that of the enormous elevation which these islands
have experienced in recent and probably sub-recent times.
Independently of the character of the deposits discovered
by me in the Solomon Islands, I arrived at the conclusion
that there had b.^en a recent upheaval of at least 1,500 feet.
The characters of some of the deposits, as examined by Dr.
Murray in the' light ofthe "Challenger" soundings, however,
afford indications of an upheaval of a far more exten
sive nature. I am informed, in fact, by Mr. H. B. Brady,
that the foraminifera of some of the Treasury Island
rocks indicate depths of probably from 1500 to 2000
fathoms. Geologists may look forward with the greatest

X INTRODUCTION.
interest to the results of the examination by Mr. Brady
of the foraminiferous deposits of the Western Pacific.
One of the most important results will be to establish the
great elevation which has occurred in this region during
Post-Tertiary times. We are therefore justified in regard
ing the island groups of the Western Pacific as having
always retained their insular condition, situated, as they are,
in a region of upheaval, and separated, as they are, from
each other and from the Australian continent by depths of
from 1,000 to 2,400 fathoms. I have already pointed out
that the volcanic rocks of th.e large islands of the Solomon
Group are geologically ancient. Their elevation and the
great subaerial denudation which they have experienced
afford indications of the insular condition having been pre
served from remote ages. It is this prolonged isolation that
explains the occurrence of the peculiar forms of the am
phibia which I discovered in Bougainville Straits, and that
accounts for many of the peculiarities of the fauna of this
archipelago. ' - '
Having thus briefly considered the leading geological and
hydrological features of this group, I pass on to consider
these islands in the point of view of an intending settler.
They are for the most part clothed with dense forest and
rank undergrowth, and it is only here and there, as in the
western portion of Guadalcanar and in limited localities in
St. Christoval, that the forest gives place to long grass and
ferns, a change often corresponding with the passage from a
clayey and calcareous to a dry porous and volcanic soil.
As a rule, the calcareous districts of a large island possess a
rich red argillaceous soil, . often 5 or 6 feet in thickness, and
in such localities the streams are large and numerous. In
the districts of volcanic formation the soil is dry, friable,
and porous, whilst the streams are few in number and of no
great size. In the principal island of the Shortlands the
difference in the character of the soil between the volcanic
north-west part and the remaining calcareous portion is well
exhibited. In the smaller islands the Soil varies in character
according to the formation, those of volcanic origui being
singularly destitute of streams.
In chapter XVII. I have dwelt with some detail on the
climate. The healthiest portion ofthe group would, as I think,
be found in the eastern islands, and the healthiest part of each
island would be that which is exposed to the blast of the
south-east trade during a large portion of the year. The ex^

INTRODUCTION. xi
cessive annual rainfall, the humid atmosphere, together with
the enervating season of the north-west monsoon, are amongst
the chief evils of the climate. Malarious districts can be
readily avoided by shunning the low-lying damp districts on
the lee sides of islands. Dysentery is rare on account of the
general purity of the water. But, if we believe native testi
mony, which I have found most reliable and which in this
instance agrees with my own, the streams draining calcareous
regions are least liable to suspicion. Should an intending
settler ask me whether the climate is suitable for the European,
I would reply that with proper precautions as to his habits
and the selection of a site, the white-man can l\ere preserve
his health as well as in most other tropical islands in these
latitudes. I will conclude this introduction with some remarks on
the vexed question of making annexations and forming pro
tectorates in the Western Pacific. From the eagerness of
our Australian colonies to control them and of France and
Germany to possess them, the presumption arises that the
islands in this region are wortii holding. Yet, how surprising
have been the changes withiii the last four years! When
in 1882 I was m the Solomon Islands, British influence was
recognised as paramount in New Guinea and throughout the
Western Pacific. At the present time the British flag has been
almost squeezed out of the Western Pacific. In April of
this year (1886), the British and German Governments came
to an arrangement by which the northern side of New
Guinea together with New Britain, New Ireland, and the
adjacent western half of the Solomon Group passed under
the protection, or in other words into the practical posses
sion, of Germany ; whilst Great Britain by this arrangement
was to consider the remaining islands of the Western Pacific
and the south coast of New Guinea as her sphere of action.
It is only in New Guinea that Great Britain has exercised
her right. Amongst the remaining islands of the Western
Pacific she has little scope either for acquiring territory or
for establishing a protectorate. France possesses New Cale
donia and in a geographical sense she can claim not only
the Loyalty Islands but the New Hebrides Group. There
only remains then for Great Britain the Santa Cruz Islands
and the adjacent eastern half of the Solomon Group, in
which, if she chooses, she can exercise her rights without
dispute. England's wisest policy in the ¥/estern Pacific is to

xii INTRODUCTION.
recognise the existing condition of things, and to deal with
France as generously as she has dealt with Germany.
Stifling my own patriotic regrets, I cannot but think that
the presence of Germany in these regions will be fraught
with great advantage to the world of science. When we recall
our spasmodic efforts to explore New Guinea and the com
paratively small results obtained, when we remember to how
great an extent such attempts have been supported by
private enterprise and how little they have been due to
government or even to semi-official aid, we have reason to
be glad that the exploration of these regions will be con
ducted with ,that thoroughness which can only be obtained
when, as in the case of Germany, geographical enterprises
become the business of the State,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE I.
INTRODUCTORY.
A Traveller's Difficulties — Islands of which Science has no ken — .Bush-
Walking a Tedious Process — Ascent of Stream-Courses^Heavy
Annual Eainfall — Native Companions — Mysterious Influence of the
Fragrant Weed — Odd-looking Party of Geologists — A Night on the
Summit of Treasury Island— Experiences in a Eob Eoy Canoe —
Narrow Escape from Drowning — ^Nature of the Work performed by
the Officers of Survey — An Apparent Injustice ... pp. 1-12
CHAPTEE II.
GOVERNMENT  HEAD-HUNTING— SLAVERY  CANNIBALISM.
Hereditary Chieftainship — St. Christoval — Coast Tribes and Bush Tribes —
Their unceasing Hostility — Head-Hunting and Head-Money —
Greater Power ofthe Chiefs of Bougainville Straits — Gorai, the Sliort-
land Chief — How the Treasury Islanders became our Friends — Fauro
and its Chief — Choiseul Bay — In the calmest Seas there are oc
casional Storms— A Tragedy, in several Acts — Hostilities between
Aiu and Treasury — Fee Feminis ! — Tambu Ban — Slavery, an easy
Servitude if it were not for one grave Contingency — A Purveyor of
Human Flesh — Cannibalism — A Bea — Fattening for the Market pp. 13-40
CHAPTER III.
THE FEMALE SEX  POLYGAMY  MODES OF BURIAL, <fec.
Position of the Female Sex — Infanticide — The Women are the Cultivators
— A Plea for Polygamy — Marital Establishments — Kaika, the
principal Wife of the Shortland Chief — Her Death — The Obsequies
— Modes of Burial — Superstitious Beliefs — Sorcerers — Method of Re
cording Time — The Pleiades ... ... ... ... pp. 41-56
CHAPTER IV.
DWELLINGS — TAMBU-HOUSES  WBAPONS^TOOLS.
Villages — Houses — Pile- Dwellings — Mat-Making - — Domestic Utensils —
Pottery Manufacture — Modes of Producing Fire — Torches — Tambu-
Houses — Deification of the Shark — ^Weapons — Polished Stone Im
plements — Ancient Worked Flints — Whence did they come % — Who
were the Artificers ? ... ... ... ... ••• pp. 57-80

xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
CULTIVATION — FOOD, &C.
Cultivation — Sago Palm — Diet essentially Vegetarian — Common Vegetables
and Fruits— Modes of Cooking — Articles of Aninial Food — Modes of
Cooking — Tobacco Smoking — Betel Chewing ... pp. 81-97
CHAPTER VI.
THE PHYSICAL CHAEAOTERS AND EACE  AFFINITIES OP THESE ISLANDERS.
Race Affinities — Migrations ofthe Pacific Islanders — Evidence derived from
the Native Names of Littoral Trees — A Typical Solomon Islander
— Variations in the Type — Physical Measurements — Height —
Weight — Limbs — SkuU — Features — Hair — Colour of Skin — Powers
of Vision — Colour-sense — Gestures and Expressions of the Emotions
— Disposition — The Estimation of Dumont D'Urville — My Own
pp. 98-129
CHAPTER VII.
DRESS  TATTOOING — SONGS, &C.
Dress — Personal Ornaments — Fondness for Decorating Themselves -with
Flowers — Tattooing — Head Coverings — Ornamentation — Songs —
Musical Instruments — Dances — Boys' Games ... pp. 130-145
CHAPTER VIII.
CANOES  FISHING^ — HUNTING.
Canoes — Paddles and Paddling — Fishing — Kite Fishing — Fish-Spear — Nets
— Hooks — Snares — Dynamite — Pig Hunting — Wild Dogs — Opos
sums — Path-Finding ... ... ... ... pp. 146-162
CHAPTER IX.
PREVALENT DISEASES
Medicine-Men, — Indifference to the Sick — Great Recuperative Powers after
Severe Injuries — The Hot-Stone Treatment — Nostalgic Melancholy
— Ulcers — Solomon Island or Tokelau Ringworm — Very Widely-
spread and very Prevalent in the Western Pacific — Has spread
Eastward from the Indian Archipelago — Pustular Eruptive Disease
of Children — Epidemics of Influenza and Mumps — Elephantiasis —
Congenital Deformities — Venereal Diseases — Susceptibility to Small
Falls of Temperature — Mental Diseases rare ... pp. 163-179
CHAPTER X.
A VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
Vocabulary of Bougainville Straits — Divisions of the Solomon Island
Languages — Affinities of the Vocabulary — Important Clues afi'orded

CONTENTS. XV
by the Comparison of the Native Names of Common Littoral Trees
in the Indian Archipelago and in the Pacific Islands — Other sirailar
comparisons — Imitative Words  pp. 180-191
CHAPTER XL
THE JOURNAL OP GALLEGO.
Prefatory Remarks— The Journal — Prologue — Voyage from Peru — Its
Length — Crew disheartened — Isle of Jesus — Candelaria Shoals —
Arrival at Estrella Harbour — Exploring Cruise cf the Brigantine —
Florida, Sesarga, Guadalcanar — Ships proceed to Guadalcanar —
Second Cruise of the Brigantine — Malaita, Ulaua, Ugi, St. Christoval
— Massacre of the Spaniards at Puerto de la Cruz — Ships proceed
to St. Christoval — Capture of a Town — Third Cruise of the Brigan
tine — Conflict at Santa Anna — The Islands aroused — Council of the
Captains and Pilots — Decide to return to Peru — Heading Northward
— Eeflections on the Discoveries and on the Conduct of the Spaniards
— In the vicinity of the Gilbert Group — San Bartolomeo identified
with the Musquillo Islands — San Francisco I. identified with Wake's
I. — Perilous Voyage — Ships separated — Storms and Squalls — Pro-
visons failing — The Gambler's Eation — Sickness — Despair — "We
resolved to Trust that God Would Send us Aid " — " He provided for
us in His Great Mercy " — Old California — The Ships meet at Santiago
— Mexican Coast — A strange Scotch People — Peru pp. 192-245
CHAPTEE XII.
THE STORY OP A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
A Pious Fraud — Drake's appearance in the South Sea — Jealousy of the
Spaniards — "It being considered better, as things were then, to let
these Islands remain unknown" — "Omne ignotum pro magnifice"
Mendana's Expedition to form a Colony in St. Christoval — An un
solved Mystery ofthe Sea — A Colony formed at Santa Cruz — Mutiny
and Disaster — Abandonment — Unsuccessful Attempt to find the
Solomon Islands — " All her sails set, and All her People Dead and
Eotten " — Quiros leads another Expedition from Peru to reach these
Islands — They elude his Search — Jealous Attidude of the Spaniards
towards other Nations — Suppression and Destruction of Journals and
Documents— Confusion of Geographers — The Existence of the Solo
mon Islands treated as a Eomance — Fabulous Accounts— After Two
Centuries — Carteret — Bougainville — Surville — Maurelle — Short-
land — French and English Geographers — Dontrecasteaux— Jacobs
— D'Urville — Boyd — Denham — Melanesian Mission pp. 246-271
GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
Gallego aud Figueroa compared — Isle of Jesus — Candelaria Shoals — (jal-
lego's Latitudes — Isle of Eamos — Islands between Cape Prieto «nQ
Guadalcanar^Islands of San Bartolomeo and San Francisco— List
of Islands obtained by Quiros at Taumaco — Eddystone Rook, &a.
pp. 272-279

xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XIIL
BOTANICAL NOTES IN BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
Knowledge of Plants possessed by these Islanders — Ascent of a Stream-
Course — Interior of the Forest — Up to the Summit of Faro Island
— Littoral Vegetation — How a Coral Island is stocked with Trees —
List of Plants — Flotation of Fruits — Weeds and Eubbish-Plants —
Tuber regium  pp. 280-307
CHAPTEE XIV.
REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS.
Unexpected Discoveries — List of Reptiles — Crocodiles — Lizards — Snakes —
Batraohians — A New Family — A region of great promise to future
collectors  pp. 308-318
CHAPTER XV.
GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.
Robber-Crab — Nut-cracking-Gizzard of the Nicobar Pigeon — Megapods —
Edible Birds' Nest — Scorpions — Millipedes — Hermit-Crabs — Scypho-
Medusse — Legends of Anthropoid Apes — New Cetacean pp. 319-335
CHAPTER XVI.
LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS.
Several New Species — Variation of Species — Bulimi — Neritinse — Mode of
Dispersal — Suggestion as to the Origin of Tree-Nerites — The capa
bility of Neritinse to adapt themselves to different climates — List
of my CoUection of Shells — Description of New Species — Littorina
scabra ... ... ... ... ... ... pp. 336-351
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CLIMATE OP THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Rainfall — The Black Squall — Eain Eecords of Ugi and Santa Anna — Ship
Eecord — Annual Eainfall of the Coasts and Higher Regions — Baro
metric Pressure — Temperature — Humidity — Sun-burns — Winds —
Table of Meteorological Observations — Wind Record — The Effeets
of the Climate on the Weight of the Body ... pp. 352-370
INDEX  371

THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.

CHAPTER I.
¦if
INTRODUCTORY.
THOSE who have never been tempted " to seek strange truths
in undiscovered lands," will perhaps find it diflBcult to appre
ciate the disappointments, inconveniences, and petty difiSculties
whicii beset the traveller, however favourably circumstanced he may
be. Patience and perseverance enable him finally to disregard these
lesser hindrances and to devote his undisturbed attention to the
principal objects he bas in view : and thus, when writing at some
future time the narrative of his experiences, he gives but little pro
minence to matters which affected very materially at the moment
both his personal comfort and his chances of success.
Amongist the Solomon Islands the student of nature may be
compared to a man who, having found a mine of great wealth, is
only allowed to carry away just so much of the precious ore as he
can bear about his person. For there can be no region of the world
-where he experiences more tantali sation. Day after day he skirts
the shores of islands of which science has no " ken." Month after
month, he may scan, as I have done, lofty mountain-masses never yet
explored, whose peaks rise through the clouds to heights of from
7,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. He may discern on the moun
tain-slopes the columns of blue smoke which mark the abodes of
men who have never beheld the -white man. But he cannot land
except accompanied by a strong party ; and he has therefore to be
content usually with viewing such scenes from the deck of his
vessel. Fortunately, however, there are some parts of the Solomou

2 BUSH WALKING.
Group where the hostility of the natives has been to a great extent
overcome by the influence of the missionaries and of the traders ;.
but the interiors of the larger islands are almost without exception
inhabited by fierce and treacherous tribes who forbid all approach.
In this chapter I have endeavoured to give some idea of my
experiences during my rambles in different islands of the group.
When geologising in these islands, one labours under the very seri
ous disadvantage of being unable to get any view or form any idea
of the surroundings, on account of the dense forest-growth clothincf
both the slopes and summits of the hills, vi^hich is often impassable
except by the rude native tracks that are completely hemmed in by
trees on either side. Bush walking, where there is no native track,
is a very tedidus process and requires the constant use of the com
pass. In districts of coral limestone, such traverses are equally
trying to the soles of one's boots and to the measure of one's temper.
After being provokinglj' entangled in a thicket for some minutes, the
persevering traveller walks briskly along through a comparatively
ilear space, when a creeper suddenly trips up his feet and over he
goes to the ground. Picking himself up, he no sooner starts again
when he finds his face in the middle of a strong web which some
huge-bodied spider has been laboriously constructing. However,
clearing away the web from his - features, he struggles along until
coming to the fallen trunk of some giant of the forest which ob-
•structs his path, he with all confidence plants his foot firmly on it
and sinks knee-deep into rotten wood. With resignation he lifts
his foot out of the mess and proceeds on his way, when he feels an
uncomfortable sensation inside his helmet, in which, on leisurely
removing it from his head, he finds his old friend the spider, with
body as big as a filbert, quite at its ease. Shaking it out in a
hurry, he hastens along, with his composure of mind somewhat
ruflBed. Going down a steep slope, he clasps a stout-looking areca
palm to prevent himself falling, when down comes the rotten palm,
and the long-suffering traveller finds himself once more on the
ground. To these inconveniences must be added the peculiarly
oppresisive heat of a tropical forest, the continual perspiration in
which the skin is bathed, and the frequent diflficulty of getting
water. Tiiere are therefore many drawbacks to the enjoyment of
such excursions undertaken without an aim. But let there be
some object to be gained, and it is astonishing how small a success
amply repays the naturalist for all the toil. As an example of the

DUSKY R.WINES. 3
tedious nature of bush walking in these regions, I may state that
crossing the small island of Santa Anna from south to north— a
distance of 2^ miles — occupied on one occasion five hours. For
nearly the whole distance my path lay either through a dense
forest-growth which had never been cleared since this little island
first rose as a coral-atoll above the waves, or amongst tangled
undergrowth which often succeeded efiectually in barring the way.
Rarely could I obtain a glimpse ot my surroundings, and in con
sequence it was on rny pocket-compass that I entirely depended.
Coral-rock honeycombed into sharp tearing edges covered the
slopes, my way lying between the large masses of this rock that laj^
about in strange confusion, the smaller blocks swaying about under
my weight as if eager to rid themselves of their unusual burden.
At one place the coral -limestone over a space of about a hundred
yards was pei-forated like a sieve by numerous holes two to three
feet across and five to ten feet deep : but now and then a deep
fissure appeared at the bottom of one of tiiese cavities — leading
Heaven knows where — in all probability the swallow-hole of ^ome
stream that once became engulphed in the solid rock. The spreading
roots of trees, together with ferns and shrubs, often nearly con
cealed these man-traps from my view ; and I found it necessary to
clear the way for every step, a very tedious process at the close of a
tiresome day's excursion.
In many places that I visited, the ascent of the stream-courses
afi'orded the only opportunity of learning anything ofthe geological
structure on account of the thick forest and the depth of the soil on
the hill-slopes. Only at times are the sun's rays able to penetrate
the dusky ravines through which the streams flow, being usually in^
terceptsd by the matted foliage overhead. Even in the hottest day,
such a walk is pleasantly cool, since the necessitj'^ of wading waist-
deep and sometimes of swimming is not unfrequent in the deeper
parts of the stream. However, I found on more than one occasion,
altei' having been wading for several hours along ono of the streams
in the cool damp air of the ravine, that I experienced a sudden sensa
tion of chilliness accompanied by lassitude and nausea, the thermo
meter at the time registering 80° in the shade. Probably the de
pressing effects of the gloom and damp aii- of the ravine, and the
wading for several hours under these conditions, may explain these
symptoms. I sliouldhave before referred to anothervery frequentinconvenience

4 HEAVY RAINS.
which, in more senses than one, dampened the ardour with which I
.set out Odi many of my excursions amongst these islands. ihe
annual rainfall in these regions is probably about five times as much
as the average annual rainfall in England. The showers them-
selves are usually very heavy, and often rain falls at the rate of an
inch in the hour, which means a thorough wetting in less than a
minute. When in the eastern part of the group, I rarely used to
retum on board without having had half-an-inch, or an inch, of rain
distributed over my person. Such wettings, however, do but little
harm as long as a flannel suit is worn, since the weather generally
clears up after each shower and the powerful rays of the sun dry
the clothes in a very few minutes without there being the necessity
of stopping to take them off'.
In spite of the numerous drawbacks, my excursions never lost
their interest. Although accustomed to traverse districts which
have been upheaved in recent times to elevations of several hundred
feet above the sea, the finding of an ancient coral-reef high up a
densely-wooded hill-slope, or the picking up of sand and recent sea
shells in the interior of an island now supporting a luxuriant vegeta
tion, alwavs excited the same feelings of wonder and interest that
I experienced on first landing on one of the recently upheaved islands
of the Solomon Group. My thirst, fatigue, and bruises, were for
gotten, as whilst contemplating my surroundings over a pipe I
attempted to picture to myself the stages in the history of the
island on which I was standing, and reflected on the unwritten past
of the natives sitting smoking on the ground around me.
I was rarely unaccompanied in my excursions, since with the
prospect of getting tobacco and pipes at the close of the day,
natives were always found eager to accompany me. Frequently the
boys and lads of the village were only too glad to assist me in
carrying my bags. The young imps were always full of fun and
frolic, making themselves useful in all kinds of ways, and enlivening
the time by their singing, laughing, and continua] chattering. Many
were the speculations made concerning the nature of my pursuits, and
many were the questions to which I had to give some reply. Gorai,
the chief of the Shortland Islands, was very desirous to know what
I made with the rocks I collected ; but I found it somewhat diffi
cult to give him an explanation which he could understand. On
one occasion I was the cause of much amusement and perplexity
to the natives of the village of Sinasoro in Bougainville Straits.

CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES. ' 5
Hitherto I had been known to them chiefly on account of my
rock-breaking propensities, but during that particular visit I was
making a collection of plants. The chief men of the village re
ceived me very civilly, made me sit down, and began at once to
speculate on the nature of my new pursuit, the botanical line
being a new object for wonder with them. " Patu, he finish ? " {patu
meaning stone) was the question put to me by more than one of
their number ; and on my telling tl)em that I was going to turn my
attention to " bulu-bulu" — their general name for plants they have
no name for — I had to explain to further inquirers that a parti
cular fern, named " sinimi " in the native tongue (a species of
Gleichenia), which flourished on the higher slopes of their island, -was
one of the objects of my excursion.
My usual plan on arriving* at a village, which I had never
visited before, was to distribute a little tobacco amongst the curious
throng that pressed around, and then to light my pipe and look
pleasant whilst my guides were endeavouring to explain the
character of my pursuits. A white man without tobacco in these
islands is worse off' than a man without any money in his purse in
London : for very little is given for nothing by these natives, and
the acceptance of a gift binds you to give an equivalent in return.
I remember once when landing on the beach of a village where the
natives seemed a little uncertain as to what kind of reception
they should give me, what a rapid transformation was produced by
the gift of a little tobacco to the chief Where there had heen
scowls and sullen looks a few moments before, smiles and laughter
now prevailed. The chief led me into his house, introduced me
to his principal wife, and in another minute I was dangling his
little son of about two years old upon my knee. This pleasing
transformation had been eff"ected by the expenditure of a half
pennyworth of tobacco ; and I could not resist framing at the time
the following doggrel rhyme, the excuse for which must be the
occasion that gave rise to it.
Shade of Exeter Hall ! emerge from thy pall.
Learn the token of union 'twixt white man and black :
Not a brisk cannonade, nor the attractions of trade,
But the mysterious influence of the fragrant tambalc.'^
' This is the manner of pronouncing "tobacco" amongst these islanders. In the Malay-
Archipelago it is pronounced " tambaku.'' (" Cra-wfurd's Malay Grammar and Dictionary.")

6 NUDE GEOLOGISTS.
Althcugh I was rarely absent from the ship raore than a couple
of days at a time, my excursions had occasionally, as regards the
number of my attendants, somewhat of an imposing appearance.
Being anxious to visit a district named Komalia, on the north-west
side of Aiu, the principal of the Shortland Islands, that being the
localit}'- from which the natives obtained their slabs of a hard,
crystalline diorite, upon which they used to sharpen their knives
and axes, Gorai, the chief, volunteered to take me there. Accord
ingly, he appeared alongside the ship the next morning in a large
war-canoe, fifty feet long, and manned by eighteen paddle-men.
We started, twenty-four all told, including Gorai, three of .his sons,
and myself The chief and I sat beside each other, on the second
bow thwart, the post, I believe, which is usually occupied by a chief
Leaving the Onua anchorage shortlgr before ten a.m., we proceeded
easily along at about three miles an hour, coasting the north
side of Ahi and passing numerous islets on the way. The day was
fine but very hot, and there was no protection from the glare of the
sun on the water. About half-past one, we reached the north-west
point of Aiu, where we put into a small cove to get water. Here
we saw the tracks of a crocodile on the sand ; and on proceeding
on our way we saw another on the beach, which, however, soon
dived into the sea. Shortly after thi.s, two-thirds of the crew of the
canoe jumped -overboard after a sraall turtle, which managed to
evade them. The men in the water disturbed another crocodile,
which rushed boldly through the line of swimmers, and, diving
under our canoe, .soon disappeared. Three dugongs came up to the
surface close to us ; and the old chief fired a shot with his snider at
one of them, but without much apparent eflfect. About half-past
two, we reached our destination, and we at once proceeded in search
of the volcanic rocks, which we soon succeeded in finding. There
was not the slightest reason to question on what errand we 'were em
ployed, and I doubt if there was ever a more odd-looking party of
geologists. The old chief, distinguished from the rest of his men by
a shirt, his only article of apparel, led the way ; and I followed with
about a dozen of his natives. Taking the cue from me, the -whole
party immediately began breaking up the ropks, and I was in a very
short time supplied with an abundance of material to select from.
Courtesy, however, compelled me to take all the chief brought to
me, which was somewhat inconvenient since the old man displayed
mucli energy in using my geological hammer. On returnino- to the

OVER OUR PIPES. 7
beach where the canoe had been drawn up, we found that some of
the natives had captured a wild boar by the aid of their dogs and
spears. The animal was already disembowelled and was being
quartered. Whilst we were preparing our evening meal, some of
the men made temporary couches for the chief, his three sons, and
mj'self, these couches being merely a layer of poles resting at their
ends on two logs and raised about six inches above the ground, the
materials being quickly obtained in the adjoining wood. As night
fell, we lay down on our couches and smoked, whilst the natives,
who had lit about half-a-dozen fires, were waiting for their roast pig,
the quarters of which had been placed on a large pile of burning
logs, built up in layers to a height of three feet, with three poles
placed like a tripod over the pile to draw the fire up. When it .was '
quite dark, the numerous fires lit up the wood around, whilst the
natives made the place resound with their singing and laughter.
Over our pipes, Gorai and I had some conversation on his ideas of a
future state, which he summed up concisely in the phrase " go
ground." In the middle of the night heavy rain came on ; and since
there was no shelter, I had simply to lie still and let it come down.
My companions, however, used their pandanus mats to cover them
selves from head to foot, and did not appear to be, in the slightest
degree, inconvenienced by the wet.
Oh another occasion, I spent a night on the summit of Treasury
Island, in the company of four natives, one of whom, named Erosini,
knew a little English. Leaving the anchorage in the early morning,
a, three hours' tramp brought us to the large stream named Tella-
tella, on the north-east side of the island. Another four hours were
occupied in wading up the stream, when we commenced to ascend
the hill-slopes, arriving at the summit late in the afternoon. From
here we could see, at a distance of about sixty railes, the lofty peaks
of Bougainville, and midway between us lay the white beaches of
the Shortland Islands. As it was getting dusk, we began to look
around f&r what Erosini had described to me as a house where we
mio-ht pass the night. It turned out, however, to be a very dilapi
dated " lean-to," which had been temporarily occupied by a native
who had come up to look after his sago palms a year or more before.
My men immediately set to work to make it habitable for the night,
and then they began to prepare their evening meal, consisting of a
two-pound tin of beef, three ojiossums, and a large fresh-water eel
which had been captured during the day. With the night-fa)!, the

8 THE INVIGORATING "TEADE."
concert of frogs, hzards, and insects began. One could readily dis
tinguish amongst the notes of the various contributors in the evening
chorus, the " kooroo " of the lizard, and the " appa-appa " of the frog,
sounds from which the native names for these creatures are derived,
viz., " kurru-rupu " and " appa-appa." Numerous fire-flies lit up the
recesses of the forest, as if to disclose the hiding-places of the per
formers in the general discord, but to no purpose ; and soon, rather
fatigued by our day's exertions, we fell asleep. So bttle had my
companions been used to wander over their island, that I found
three out of the four had never been in that locality before.
Not unfrequently, after having carefully chosen my guides, I have
found it necessary to lead instead of to follow ; but as a rule my
men have been very willing to trust to the directions of the com
pass, which I have found absolutely necessary in crossing the
smaller islands with no track to guide the course. Some of ray
pleasantest memories are associated with my traverses across these
smaller islands. After forcing my way during some hours through
a tangled forest, irritated bj'- the numerous obstructions in mj"-
course and sweltering under the oppressive heat, I have suddenly
emerged from the trees on the weather coast of the island, where
the invigorating blast of the trade in a few moments restores the
equilibrium of mind and body as one drinks in the healthful breeze.
After such an experience, I have found myself with my native com
panions standing on the brink of a bold line of coral-limestone
cliff" with the surf breaking below us, which even in the calmest
weather sends up one continued roar, whilst away to seaward, across
the blue expanse of water, extended the horizon unbroken by any
distant land. On the edge of the cliflT the pandanus and the
cycad competed with each other for the possession of the seaward
margin of the island. The scene was' pecubarly Pacific ; and as we
sat alone on the brink of the cliff's enjoying a smoke and contem
plating the scene spread out below us, I fancied even the minds of
my natives shared with me that feeling of awe with which one -views
the grander of nature's forces in actual operation  Equally
pleasant are my recollections of numerous tramps during fine weather
along the sandy beaches on the windward coasts of coral islands.
On such occasions the sea itself seemed to revel in the glory of the
day. Wave after wave, white-tipped with foam and refiecting the
brightest of the sun's rays, pursued each other merrily over the
surface of its unfathomable blue. Against the edge of the reef
)

MY EOB EOY CANOE. !>
broke the surf unceasingly, sending its whitened spray high into the
air, and joining its hoarse bass with the hum of insect life ffom the
neighbouring wood.
During the greater portion of our sojourn in the Solomon
Islands, I had a sraall Rob Roy canoe made for me by Mr. Oliver,
boat-builder of Auckland, N.Z. It was built of kauri pine, and
measured 8J feet in length and 3 feet in beam, being intended to
combine compactness with stability. This little craft turned out a
great success and was extremely handy, as I could haul it up on the
beach with ease, and its stowage capability was something surpris
ing. Numerous and varied were my experiences in this sraall canoe,
but the raost enjoyable were those when in the loveliest of weather
I paddled gently along from one coral islet to another, adrairing the
Tariety in form and colour of the groves of coral over which my
little craft smoothly glided. At other times in the sleepy hours of
the afternoon I would tie up ray canoe to the overhanging branch
of a tree, and would land to enjoy a cocoa-nut, a pipe, and perhaps
a nap. When lazy, I would get a tow from my native companions
in their larger canoe ; and in this manner I was towed for more
than a mile up one of the large streams that empty into Choiseul
Bay. I used to penetrate into all kinds of solitary inlets, now dis
turbing the siesta of some unsuspecting crocodile as I paddled
through the dismal tract of the mangrove swamp, or surprising a
turtle in the shallow water of the lagoons inside the coral-reefs. In
the deeper water I have passed t'.irough a shoal of clumsj^ porpoises,
sorae of which I could have touched with ray paddle ; whilst occa
sionally sorae huge shark, twice the length of my canoe, would come
almost within reach, and then, after satisfying its curiosity, dive
down into the depths again. Now and then my little craft would
be borne on the shoulders of natives to some inland lakelet which I
was anxious to explore. In its lightness I found this great advan
tage, that I could sometimes considerably shorten my journey by
what I may describe as terrestrial navigation. On more than one
occasion I have crossed the weather edge of a coral-reef, watching for
my chance between the breakers, and keeping warily clear of the
numerous coral nobs, any one of wbich would have upset the canoe
and its contents ; but these are experiments which I .should not care
to repeat. I was only twice upset, and on both occasions my canoe
displayed two other serviceable qualities, shipping but little water
and losing none of its contents although bottom upwards. One of

10 NEAELY DEOWNED.
these upsets was rather ludicrous. I was crossing Aiu harbour in
.tow of a large native canoe, setting out on a two days' excursion
with all rjy stores on board, when my scientific zeal induced me to
lean over to pick up a piece of floating pumice. At that moment
the large canoe gave a sudden tug and I found myself in the water
-with iny canoe bqttom upwards beside rae. The men in the other
canoe turned her over on her keel, and I got in over the bow, finding
very little water inside, but quite sufficient to soak our store of
biscuit. However, nothing was lost, although my watcii stopped
half-an-hour afterwards and refused duty during the rest of the
seasqp, and my aneroid was never of any use again, both these
articles having boen carried in my belt.
On the weather coasts of clift'-girt islands exposed to the continu
ous trade-swell, much caution is needed in skirting the shore, as every
ten minutes or more a huge roller suddenly rushes in, exposing rocks
covered usually by three or four fathoms of water, and rising up the
face of the cliffs to a height twice as high as the usual level reached
by the breakers. From my foolhardy disregard of this circumstance,
I very nearly lost my life in July, 1884, on the weather coast of
Stirling Island. Having stood for some moments on the edge of
the cliff adrairing the magnificent' breakers that broke at the foot,
there having been a strong south-easterly gale during the two pre
ceding days, I commenced to clamber down the face of the cliff to
i-each a ledge that rose about twenty feet above the usual level of
the breakers. Whilst I wa,3 pausing in the descent to exaraine the
nuraerous embedded corals in the cliff-face, a huge wave rose over
the ledge, swept up the face of the cliff" over my head, and carried
rae off as if I had been a fS&ther. I thought my last moments had
come, knowing that if swept off the ledge into the breakers below, I
.should be dashed by the next roller against the base of the cliff.
Asi was being carried off, I clutched a projecting point of coral-
rock with all my energy, and in a few moments the wave had left
me lying flat on my face on the ledge within two yards of its brink.
The next roller was fortunately of much smaller size, and in less
than a minute I had clambered up the face of the cliflf atrain to a
j)osition of safety, pretty well bruised and scratched about the arms
and legs, but otherwise none the worse. My compass and other
things had fallen out of the pouches in my belt, showing that I had
described a somersault during the immersion. Whilst waitino- to

NAUTICAL SUEVEYING. 11
dry my clothes in the sun, I noticed that another ten minutes elapsed
before a breaker of sirailar size rolled in.
I will conclude this chapter with some observations on the
nature of the work performed by the officers of the survey. The
usual experiences of a nautical surveyor, when detached ' from his
ship for periods varying from a few days to a fortnight or more, are
little known outside the circle of those more imraediately interested
in the work of the Hydrogiaphic Department of the Admiralty.
Tbey would afford, as I have often thought, materials for an
interesting volume, the perusal of which would give the general
reader some idea of what nautical survejdng really is. It is a
work often hazardous and tedious to those engaged in the boats,
.and frequently full of anxiety for the commander who has to direct
the survey.
The work in the Solomon Islands had its peculiar, and none
the less trying, features. To be detached in a boat for a week off a
coast, on which it -was not considered prudent to land, except on
particular points selected for the establishraent of theodolite-stations,
was a net uncoramon experience with the surveying parties. Tho
alternation of heaVy rain and scorching heat served to vary the
experience, but not to increase the comfort of those employed frora
sunrise to sunset in raapping the intricacies of an unsurveyed
coast;, and the kindheartedness of the surveying officer was often
sorely tried, when, after a tedious day's work under these conditions,
he had to tell off his raen to keep a look-out for canoSs, and a sharp
¦eye on the land, to see that the boat did not drag. There were, of
couise, other occasions when the detached parties were engaged
in surveying islands, the natives of which were friendly disposed ;
and then, if the weather favoured them, the week's absence frora
the ship partook almost of the nature of a pleasant picnic. In the
Solomon Islands, however, a considerable experience of the
inhabitants of an island is required before a boat can be sent
away with the certain assurance that its occupants will meet with
no mishap. The unfortunate massacre of Lieutenant Bower of
H.M.S. " Sandfly," and of most of his boat's crew in 1880, whilst
employed in the survey of the Florida Islands in this group, is but
an example of the uncertainty that there always will be in
dealino- with these races. Although similar disasters have been
recently almost of monthly occurrence in these islands, during our
intercourse of 21 months with the natives we did not fire a single

12 ANXIOUS NAVIGATION.
shot in anger, and in our turn we never witnessed a spear hurled
or an arrow discharged except in sport.
The navigation of a sailing ship, such as H.M.S. "Lark,"
whilst engaged in the survey of a passage dotted with unknown,
sunken coral-reefs, and skirted by islands inhabited bj' a race of
savages who have obtained a notorious reputation on account of the
ferocity they display to the white man, cannot but tax to the
uttermost the capacity and nerve of the oflficer in command. I
can recall more than one anxious moraent, and probably there were
others known only to those concerned in the navigation of the ship,
when on our suddenly getting soundings in the middle of the night
in a place where we expected to find " a hundred fathoms and no
bottom," I set about putting my journals together in order not to
lose what I had been at so rauch pains to obtain. Towards the
completion of the survey, however, it was ascertained by Lieutenant
Oldham that the ship might have sailed without danger over any of
the isolated reefs which weie not indicated at the surface by either
a sand-key or an islet ; but this was a character. of the reefs that
was only ascertained by a process more pleasing to talk about than
to undergo. Before quitting this subject, I should refer to an apparent
injustice which exists in the apportioning of no extra paj' to the
raen employed in detached boat-work in the surveying service. With
the exception of an issue of clothing, gratis, the boats' crews receive
little or nothing in the form of a reward. I am strongly inclined to-
believe that the recognition, even in a slight degree, of the arduous
character of their work, which is of quite an exceptional character as
compared with the routine-employment on board the ordinary man-
of-war, would do much towards increasing the interest usually
displayed by the men employed in such a service.

CHAPTER II.
GOVERNMENT — HEAD-HUNTING —SLAVERY —CANNIBALISM.
rriHE following anthropological notes are the result of my own
J- personal observation and research, and are necessarily of a
somewhat fragmentary character. I had no intention when I first
visited these islands of making any special observations on the
habits and manners of their inhabitants. When, however, I saw the
apparent want of interest di.splayed by those who had it in their
power to enrich the world with their accumulated experiences, I
determined to jot down in my diary the things which came in ray
way during my intercourse with the natives. I cannot of course
lay claim to the accuracy and more intimate knowledge such as
missionaries and traders resident in the group raust possess ; and it
is to be deplored that such valuable sources of raaterials for a cora
prehensive work on the anthropology of this region should be
allowed to lie fallow. My lengthened intercourse with the natives
of certain parts of the group reraoved to sorae extent the disadvan
tages under which lhe traveller raust always labour when not
actually resident araong thera. My field of observation, however,
was limited to but a small area of the whole region: and the greater
part has yet to be explored and described.
Commencing my remarks by referring to the system of govern
raent usually adopted in these island.^, it should be observed that
the forra of hereditary chieftainship, which prevails throughout tbe
Pacific, here predominates. Every island that supports a number of
natives may possess as raany distinct chiefs — each elairaing inde
pendence of the others — as there are villages in the island ; and
this stateraent holds equally good whether applied to a large island
like St. Christoval or to those of sraall size as Santa Anna and Ugi.
Yet there is not unfrequently to be raet a chief who, by the power of

U GOVEENMENT.
his wealth or by the nuraber of his fighting men, assumes a degree
of suzerainty over the less powerful chiefs in his vicinity. Thus,
the infiuence of Gorai, the Shortland chief, is not only dominant
over the i.slands of Bougainville Straits, but extends to the adjacent
coast of the large islands of Bougainville and Choiseul, and reaches
even to Bouka, more than a hundred miles away. The small island
of Sirabo or Eddystone, the Narovo of the natives, is under the
sway of a powerful chief who resides, together with nearly all his
fighting men, on an islet bordering its south-east side. His influence
extends to the neighbouring larger islands, and is probably as des
potic as that of any of the numerous chiefs with whora I was
brought into contact. I raight raention otber instances in tbis group
where a comparatively small island becoraes the political centre of
a large district. Similar instances are farailiar araongst the other
Pacific archipelagos, and notably in the case of Bau in Fiji; and they
may all be attributed to the fact that the coast-tribes are of more
robust physique and of raore enterprising character than the in
habitants of the interior of the larger island, or " bushmen " as they
are often termed.
The large islaiid of St. Christoval is divided amongst numerous
tribes between which there are constant feuds, each tribe having its
own chief. A v/ide distinction exists between the inhabitants of
the interior and those of the coast ; and an unceasing hostility pre
vails between the one and the other. Tbe distinction often extends
to language, a circumstance which points to a long continuation of
these feuds ; and from it we may infer that the isolation has con
tinued during a considerable period. The bush-tribes find their
best protection' on the summits of the high hills and on the crests
of the mountain-ridges which traverse the interior of the island. I
passed one night in the bush -viUage of Lawa, which is situated on a
hill-top about 1,400 feet above the sea near the north coast of St.
ChristovaLN^ As I was in a locality where probably no white man
had been before, the novelty of my .situation kept me awake the
greater part of the night ; and very early the next morning t rose
up from my mat in the tambu-house to view, undisturbed, the interior
region of the island. It was a gloomy morning. Thin lines of
mist were still encircling the loftier summits or lingering in the
valleys below. Here and there on the crest of some distant hill a
cluster of cocoa-nut palms marked the home of a bush-tribe eflfecta-
ally isolated by deep intervening valleys from the neighbouring

HEAD-HUNTING. 15
tribes. I gazed upon a region which had for ages worn the sarae
aspect, inhabited by the same savage races, the signs of whose exis
tence played such an insignificant part in the panorama laid out
before me. Standing alone on this hill-top, I refiected on the deeds
of barbarity which these silent mountains raust have witnessed " in
the days of other years," deeds.which are only too frequent in our
own day when the hand of every tribo is against its neighbour, and
when the butchery of some unsuspecting haralet too often supplies
the captors with the materials for the cannibal feast.
By the unusual success of their treachery' and cunning — the two
weapons most essential to savage warfare, in St. Christoval as well
as in the other islands — some chiefs have acquired a predominance
over the neighbouring villages, and their narae inspires terror
throughout the island. Amongst them, I may mention Taki, the
chief of the large village of Wano on the north coast of this
island. He has obtained the double reputation of being a friend
to the white man and of being the most accomplished head-hunter
in St. Christoval ; and, as may be readily imagined, the efforts
of the Melane.sian Mission, by whom a station has been for many
years established in this village,^ have been greatly retarded by the
indifference of this powerfnl chief. The resident teacher in the
village was his own son, who had been selected by Bishop Selwyn
and had undergone the usual training of teachers in Norfolk Island.
I regret to write that he greatly lapsed during our stay in the
group, that he appears to have accompanied his father on a head
hunting foray, and that he finally met with an untimely fate, being
so severely wounded by a shark when fishing on tbe reef that he
died a few houis afterwards. Taki, although not a Christian con
vert, was fond of displaying his connection with the Mission. He
showed me a certificate which he received from Bishop Patteson
in July, 18G6 ; and in fact he is always ready to do the honours
of his village to the white man. Of his head-hunting propensities.
Captain Macdonald, an Ameiican trader resident in Santa Anna,
told us the following tale : Not long before the arrival of H.M.S.
" Lark " in the Solomon Islands, he was sailing along the St. Chris
toval coast,, when he met Taki in his war-canoe proceeding on one
of these expeditions. He endeavoured to place hindrances in the
cbief'.s way by telling him that he had native-traders living at the
' The Eev. J. Atkin was resident at Wano in 1871, shortly before he met his deatli witb
Rishop Patteson in Santa Cruz.

16 GOVEENMENT.
difl'erent places on the coast where he intended to land. But it was
to no purpose. Taki saw the ruse, and taking it in good part re
marked to Captain Macdonald that he had apparently a large
number of natives trading for him. Waiting patiently until some
unfortunate bushmen ventured down on the reefs to fish, the Wano
chief surprised them, slaughtered many and carried the living and
the dead in triumph to his village. When Mr. Brenchley visited
this village in H.M.S. "Curacoa" in 1865, he saw evidence of a head
hunting foray, in which probably Taki had taken part in his youth
ful days. The skulls of 25 bushmen were observed hanging up
under the roof of the tambu-house, all showing the marks of the
tomahawk.1 In our time, this chief conducted his forays less openly,
and I saw no evidence of his work in the tarabu-houses of hia village.
The practice of head-hunting, above referred to, prevails over a
large extent of the Soloraon Group. The chiefs of New Georgia or
Rubiana extend their raids to Isabel, Florida, and Guadalcanar ; and
thus perforra voyages over a hundred railes in length. Within the
l-adius of these raids no native can be said to enjoy the security of
his own existence for a single day. In the villages of Rubiana may
be seen heaps of skulls testifying to the success of previous expedi
tions. Captain Cheyne, when visiting Simbo or Eddystone Island
in 1844, found that the natives had just returned from a successful
expedition, bringing with thera 93 heads of raen, woraen, and children.
In these expeditions, he says, they sometimes reached as far as
Murray Island which lies about 135 miles to the eastward.^ Their
reputation, however, had extended yet further, since D'Urville, who
visited Thousand Ships Baj'^ in 1838, tells us that the Isabel natives
knew the land of Simbo and pointed to the west to indicate its
direction.^ The Rev. Dr. Codrington, in referring to these head
hunting raids,* remarks that the people of the south-west part of
Isabel have suflfered very much from attacks made on them year
after year by the inhabitants of the further coast of the same island
and of neighbouring islands, the object of these attacks being to ob
tain heads, either for the honour of a dead or living chief or for
the inanguration of new canoes. He observes that a new war
canoe is not invested with due mana, %.e., supematural power, until
1 " Cruise of H.M.S. ' Curacoa ' " (p. 267) ; by J. L. Brenchley, M.A.
2 " A Deacription of Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean " (p. 66), by Andrew Cheyne,
London, 1852.
s " Voyage au Pole Sud," Paris, 1843 ; tom. v., p. 31.
* Journal of Anthropological Institute, vol. x. , p. 201.

HEAD-HUNTING. 17
some man has been killed by those on board her ; and any un
fortunate voyagers are hunted down for the purpose on the first trip
or afterwards. The Rubiana natives are said to have introduced
head-hunting and human sacrifices into the neighbouring islands.
They carry off not onlj' heads but living prisoners, whom they are
believed to keep, till on the death of a chief, or launching of a canoe,
or some great sacrifice, their lives are taken.
White raen have sometimes been the victims of these head
hunting expeditions. As is well known. Lieutenant Bower, of
H.M.S. " Sandfly," met his death, together with the greater number-
of his boat's crew, on the islet of Mandoleana, in 1880, at the hands
of a similar expedition undertaken by the Florida natives. Kali-
kona, the most influential chief of the Florida Islands, was freed
from implication in this tragedy mainly through the efforts of
Bishop Selwyn, to whose influence the subsequent surrender ofthe
five natives concerned in the raid was chiefly due. More often
than not, these head-hunting forays are unconnected with can
nibalism, the raere possession of skulls being the principal object
of the expedition. In sorae islands, there is a rude idea of justice
perceptible in this practice. It is the custora in the eastern islands
of the group to place out head-money for the head of any man who
may have rendered himself obnoxious to any particular village.
The money — a considerable amount of native shell-money — may be
off'ered by the friends of a murdered man for the head of the
murderer. Months, sometimes years, may elapse before the deed is
accomplished and the money paid. The task is generally under
taken by a professional head-hunter, such as we met in the person
of Mai, the second chief of the village of Sapuna, in the island of
Santa Anna. To make a thorough examination of the home and
surroundings of his victim, and to insinuate himself into that intim
acy which friendship alone can give him, are necessary initiatory
steps which only the cunning head-hunter can know how to carry
to a successful issue. Time is of no moment. The means employed
are slow, but the end is none the less secure ; and when the
opportunity arrives, it is the friend of months, if not of years, who
gives the fatal blow.
In the above description of the head-hunter, I have had before
ray mind some of the reminiscences of Captain Macdonald, to whom
I have before alluded. By his judicious treatment of the natives
in the eastern islands, he has acquired a powerful influence for good

18 ¦ GOVEENMENT.
amongst thera ; and it is to his past discretion that many a white
man, myself among the number, has owed his safety when landing
on St. Christoval.
When this island was being survej-ed by the oflficers of H.M.S.
^' Lark," in 1882, we learned that there was head-money out for a
white raan's head in a district on the north side and nearly opposite
Ugi. It appeared that about a year before a fatal accident had
occurred on board a trading- vessel through a revolver going oflP
unexpectedly and killing a native belonging to the district. It was
the current opinion of resident traders that sooner or later the
required head would be obtained. As characteristic of a trader's
experience in these islands, I may add that on one occasion when
visiting Mr. Bateman, a trader residing then on the north coast of
Ugi, I was told by hira that about a month before a friendly Malaita
chief had arrived in a large canoe at Ugi with the information that
head-money had been offered by another Malaita chief for, the head
of a white man. The chief who brought the news advised Mr.
Bateman to remove his residence to the interior of the island ; and
the natives in his vicinity were very solicitous that the waming
.should be heeded.
I learned from Mr. Stephens, who has resided on Ugi for several
years, that on one occasion when he was resident on Guadalcanar,
on returning frora an excursion up the bed of one of the streams,
a message was received from the chief of a village in the interior
warning him not to make any raore sirailar excursions or he
would take his life. The chief of the village, under whose pro
tection Er. Stephens was residing, took up the raatter as an insult
to hiraself; and sent a reply to the effect that if the neighbouring
chief wished to remain on terms of amity with him, he should at
once send a head in atonement for the threats directed against the
white man. A day or two afterwards, Mr. Stephens saw the head,
which had been dul}'^ sent.
The little island of Santa Anna, although but 2^ miles in length,
supports tvvo principal villages, Otagara and Sapuna, which are as
often as not at war with each other, although only separated by the
breadth of the island. Such was the state of affairs durino- one of
our visits to Port Marj'- in this island ; and the fact that the natives
of the two villages were connected by inter-marriages did not act as
a deterrent in the matter. (Through the re.stless spirit of Mai, the
head-hunter before referred to, some old grievance had been dug up.

MAL 19
the murder, I believe, some years before of the brother of Mai by
the Otagara natives. The outcome of it was that in the middle of
the night all the fighting men of Sapuna assembled at the tambu-
house of Mai, and started off* along the coast to pounce upon their
fellow islanders on the other side. The utmost that could have hap
pened would have been the slaughter of some unsuspecting raan or
woraan on the skirts of the village : but, as it chanced, a thunder
storm with heavy rain overtook the party when near their destina
tion ; and thus dampened their courage to .such a degree that they
retumed to their own village with the excuse that the rain, by
running down their faces, would have hindered them in throwing
their spears and avoiding those of their opponents. On the follow
ing day, Mai led a party of Sapuna men to raake another attack,
and on returning in the afternoon from one of my excursions into
the interior of the island, I leamed that the partjy had returned
triumphant, having killed one of their neighbour's large pigs, an act
which is regarded as a " casus belli " in native politics.
In the person of Mai, we have a typical exaraple of a Soloraon
Island head-hunter. The cunning and ferocity which marked his
dealings, were sufSciently indicated in his countenance and his mien.
He had established for himself the position of war-chief in his village
of Sapuna, the reigning chief being of a more peaceable disposition.
During one of our visits to this island we found that this war-chief
had been very recently displaying his heroisra in the raost approved
native fashion. He had led a war-party across to Fanarite on the
opposite coast of St. Christoval, to avenge the death of a fugitive
from a labour vessel who, having escaped at Santa Anna, subse
quently found his way to Fanarite where he was killed. The
excuse, although somewhat circuitous, was quite suflficient for Mai,
who in his disinterestedness thought more of this chance of gaining
new laurels than of the untimely end of the native whose death he
was so eager to avenge. Having reached the part of the coast where
this man had been killed, the war-party lay in arabush and slaugh
tered a chief and two women as thej'- were returning from their yam
patches ; whilst they severely wounded another woman who escaped
into the bush with a spear through her back. Having dipped their
weapons in the gore of their vigtiras, Mai and his party returned to
Santa Anna. I was sorry to leam that a native, named Pukka-
pukka, who had served in the "Lark" as an interpreter during the
previous year, had taken an active part in this expedition. It

20 GOVEENMENT.
appeared that the chief had aimed at him, but his musket missed
fire, when Pukka-pukka shot hira through the back with his snider.
The scene of the tragedy was familiar to rae, as I had landed there
the year before. Pukka-pukka, who is a sensible young man and of
by no means a bloodthirsty disposition, did not like my taking him
to task for the part he took in this raid ; and he protested more than
once in a somewhat injured tone that his people did not fight with
out good cause. In his case, I felt confident that he was not tempted
by the mere love of bloodshedding, the truth being that through the
able tutorship of Mai, all old feuds are kept alive in the minds ofthe
young men of the village, who, in their desire to distinguish them
selves, corae to regard such grievances as fair grounds for -war. We
soon learned that the Fanarite natives would seize the first oppor
tunity to retaliate ; and that head-raoney to a large amount had
been offered for the head of a native of Santa Anna, and particularly
for the head of Pukka-pukka.
The chiefs of the islands of Bougainville Straits possess far
greater power over their peoples than that which is wielded by most
of the chiefs we encountered at the St. Christoval end of the group.
At Santa Anna and at Ugi, the position of the chief is almost an
empty honour ; and some man of spirit, though not of principle,
such as Mai in the former island and Rora at Ugi, usurps by his
fighting prowess a large share of the power. On the St. Christoval
coast I met several such chiefs, who possess no influence beyond
their o-wn district, and often very little in that. Occasionally,(as I
have before observed, a chief is found who, like Taki at Wano,
exercises a powerful influence over the less pretentious chiefs of
neighbouring islands and districts. Some of the Guadalcanar chiefs
are very powerful ; but with them I had no personal intercourse ;
and I prefer to confine my reraarks to those portions of the group
with which I becarae acquainted. Returning, then, to the chiefs of
the islands of Bougainville Straits, I may enuraerate them in their
order of importance— Gorai in the Shortland Islands, Mule at
Treasury, Kurra-kurra and Toraimas in Faro or Fauro, and Krepas
at Choiseul Bay. There is constant communication between the
natives of these islands, more particularly between those of Treasury,
the Shortlands, and Faro, the distances between the islands varying
between 15 and 25 miles. Intermarriages are frequent between the
natives of these islands. They all speak the same language ; and
not uncommonly a man shifts his horae from one island to another

I. Gorai, his principal Wife, and his Son Ferguson.
2. Four or the Wives of Mule.

{To face page 2?.

GOEAI. 21
The chiefs are all connected either by blood-relationship or by
marriage, and together form as powerful an alliance as might be
found in the whole group. Visits of condolence are exchanged in
times of bereavement between the chiefs ; and presents are conveyed
from one to another. On one occasion we carried a present of sago
from Mule to Gorai ; and I have on more than one occasion during
our passages between these islands been made the bearer of a
message from chief to chief.
Gorai, the well-known Aiu chief, Aiu being the name of his
principal island, exercises a kind of suzerainty over the neighbour
ing chiefs. But his reputation and influence extend far beyond the
islands directly or indirectly under his rule. From Treasury north
ward and eastward, throughout the Shortlands, across the straits to
Choiseul Bay, through Faro, and along the coast of Bougainville,
extending even to Bouka, his influence is predominant. Masters of
vessels, recruiting labour on the coast of Bougainville, have a
suflficient guarantee for the good behaviour of the natives of the
places the^J- visit, if they have been fortunate enough to secure the
presence on board of one of the sons of Gorai. This chief has been
the trusted friend of the white man for many years. On our first
visit to Aiu we were therefore prepared to think favourably of him.
We found him on the beach, surrounded by a considerable number
df his people. Shaking hands with us, he told us in his imperfect
English that he was a friend of the white man. Rather beyond
middle age, and somewhat shorter than the average native, he has
an honest, good-humoured expression of countenance, which at once
prepossessed us in his favour. Whilst seated in the dingy interior
of one of his houses, surrounded by several of his wives, Gorai
related to us the story — well known to all acquainted with the
Solomon Group — of his reprisal a few years before on the natives of
Nouraa-nouraa, a village on the east coast of Bougainville, for the
murder of Captain Ferguson of the trading stearaer " Ripple." The
master of the " Ripple " was an old friend of Gorai, and traded ex
tensively with hira. On hearing- the nev/s, the chief mustered his
men and despatched them in canoes, under the command of his
eldest son, to the scene of the raassacre, about a hundred railes away.
The natives of the oflfending village Avere surprised, and about
twenty of them were killed, including men, woraen, and children —
" all same raan-of-war," as Gorai too truthfully observed. One of
the chief's sons has received the narae of the unfortunate master of

2'2 GOVEENMEXT.
the "Ripple;" and I may here refer to the good name which
Captain Ferguson has left behind him, not only amongst the natives
of the Solomon Islands, but^also amongst his fellow-traders in those
seas. The inhabitants of the Shortiand Islands, Gorai's immediate
rule, live in great awe of their chief ; and the number of natives
who gathered round us when we first met the chief showed
us by their manner that in the friendship of the chief the white
man possessed the goodwill of his subjects. We were unable to
see very much of the mode of exercising his power ; but I
suspect that Gorai, hke other chiefs, places but Httle value on the
lives of his people. Punishment is summarily dealt by the spear or
the tomahawk ; and I learned from natives of the adjoining islands
that the oflfence may be of a very trivial nature.
On one occasion, Gorai took me in his war-canoe ou a geological
excursion to the north-west side of Aiu. During our return, the
sun set when we were about twelve railes from the ship, and left us
to pursue our way in the darkness. Seated alongside the chief on
the secoud bow thwart of the canoe, I could not help reflecting how
many times he must have occupied the same seat in his war-canoes
when engaged in those expeditions which have made his influence
dominant on this part of the group. On our way we skirted the
beach of an islet on which were squatting a party of Aiu natives
who had gone there to fish. Although we passed a few yards from
these men, not a word of recognition was exchanged. The sight of
a large war-canoe with Gorai and a white man in the bow passing
them in the dusk of evening must have been a novel one to them, yet
neither they nor our men exchanged a word. There they sat squat
ting motionless on tho beach, and we passed them in silence. Gorai
subsequently explained to me that the reason of this was that the men
were " too much fright," or rather awed, by the presence of their chief.
The chief of the Shortland Islands has two or more elderl}' men
who act as his ministers. Many years ago he was living at
Treasury, of which island he was chief ; but being unwilling to
take part in the hostility displayed by the Treasury natives towards
the white men, he left the island under the chieftainship of Mule,
the present chief, who still reraained in some degree under the rule
of Gorai. The Aiu chief takes a pleasure in asserting that he is
" all same white man," at the same time deprecating the inferior
position of his race with the remark, "White man, he savez too
much. Poor black man ! He no savez nothing-."

MULE. 2S
I now come to Mule, the Treasury chief, who numbers amongst
his wives a sister of Gorai, Bita by name ; whilst the Aiu chief
has returned the compliment bj' making Mule's sister, Kai-ka, the
principal amongst his hundred wives. Mule, ais > known as Mule-
kopa, has rather the appearance and build of a chief of one of the
more eastern Pacific groups. He has a sedate expression of coun
tenance, a prominent chin, and strongly marked coarse features. A
large bushy head of hair adds to the dignity of his appearance ; and
his powerful hmbs, depth of chest, breadth of shoulders, and greater
height distinguish him pre-erainently frora his people. His rule is
as despotic in Treasury as that of Gorai in the Shortlands ; and he
maintains his sway rather by the fear he inspires than by possess
ing any feeling of respect on the part of his subjects. On more
than one occasion I have heard the natives use threatening language
towards their chief, when he had made some arbitrary exercise of
his power. He had a habit of sending away to the bush any native
who from his superior knowledge of English seemed to be sup
planting hira in the intercourse with "the ships that visited the
harbour. Even his right-hand man, who . prided himself on his
name of BiUy, experienced his wrath on one occasion in this
manner. Like other chiefs, Mule is grasping and covetous, short
comings which are rather those of the race than of the individual. .
Although ofthe chiefs of Bougainville Straits I liked hira the least,
the contrast was rather due to the exceptionally good estiraate we
had formed of his fellow chiefs. The visits of H.M.S. " Lark " to
this island have been the means- of removing the very bad reputa
tion which the natives had deservedly possessed : and I would
especially invite the attention of my readers to the historj'- of this
change in the attitude of these natives towards- the white man.
Captain C. H. Simpson, who visited this island in H.M.S.
" Blanche " in 1872, described its people in his report to the Admir
alty,^ as being "the most treacherous and blood-thirsty of any
known savages ; " and the officers employed in making a sketch of
the harbour had ample evidence of their ferocity. About seven
years before, the natives had cut out a barque and had raurdered
her crew of 33 men. Previously they had captured several boats of
whalers visiting the islands, and had massacred the crews. The
Treasury natives were always veiy reticent to us when we tried to
leam something more of the fate of the barque ; but we learned
1 " Hydrographio Notices, Pacific Ocean," 1856 to 1873 (p. 106).

24 GOVEENMENT.
httie except that she was American, and was named " Superior."
The captain, whose name the natives pronounced "Hoody," was
carried away into the interior of the island and killed, and the
scene of his raurder was once pointed out to Lieutenant Oldham
when crossing the island. As Captain Simpson charges the natives
with cannibalism, there can be littie doubt of the ultimate fate of
the crew of the American barque. In the interval between the
occurrence of this event and the arrival of the " Blanche," no vessel
had anchored in the harbour, the ships always heaving-to oflF the
north coast, where the natives resided when Captain Simpson
visited the island. Treasury retained its bad reputation up to
the date of cur Adsit; and but few traders had much knowledge
of the place, as they generally gave the island a wide berth.
We met but one man who spoke well of these natives, and he was
Captain Walsch of the trading schooner " Venture." All others
gave thera the worst of characters : and led rae to believe that my
acquaintance with Treasury would not extend beyond the deck of
H.M.S. " Lark." When Lieutenant Oldham first visited this island
in May, 1882, he had every reason to place but little confidence in
the natives ; and iu truth we all thought that the appearance and
behaviour of the natives justified the treacherous reputation which
they had obtained. Only two days were spent there, but no land
ing was efi'ected : the chief made no response to the invitations to
visit the ship ; and we left the harbour without much feeling of
regret. In June of the following year we again visited this island ;
and if the same procedure had been followed we should have been
a very long tirae in gaining the confidence of the natives. Lieu
tenant Oldham, however, paid an oflficial visit to the chief, accom
panied by Lieutenant Malan and myself. Mule and one of his sons
returned the visit within a couple of hours. Presents were ex
changed ; and the foundation of mutual confidence was thus laid.
The result raay be briefiy stated. In a few days I was rambUng all
over the island, usually accompanied by a lively gathering of men
and boys. An intimacy -was established with the natives, which
lasted until we bade farewell to the group in the following year ;
and the return of the " Lark " frora her cruises was always a cause
of rejoicing amongst the natives. The men of the ship were known
by name to raost of the people of the island : whilst Mr. Isabell our
leading-stoker, made a deep impression upon tbem by his readiness
to erajiloy his mechanical skill for their various wants, so much so

THE CHIEF OF SINASOEO. 25
ihat Mule oflTered, if he would remain, to make hira a chief with the
usual perquisite as to the nuraber of his wives. For ray own part,
I reaped the full benefit of our araicable relations -with the natives ;
and for the proof of this statement I must refer the reader to the
remarks on ray intercourse with them, and to my observations on
the geology, botany, and other characteristics of the island.
Coming now to the chiefs of Faro or Fauro Island, I raust
mention raore particularly Kurra-kurra the chief of Toma, and
Toraiinas the chief of Sinasoro, Toraa and Sinasoro being the two
principal villages of the island. Kurra-kurra is, I believe, a half-
brother of Gorai. He has not, however, the sarae dignity of
raanner, and has resigned most of his power into the hands of his
son Gorishwa, a fine strapping young raan. Both father and son
a,re friends of the white man. Toraimas, the Sinasoro chief, also
related to Gorai, is somewhat taciturn even with his own people,
but a chief to be thoroughly trusted. On one occasion whilst as
sisting Lieutenant Heming and myself in demolishing our dinners
in a tambu-house at his village, Toraimas broke a long .silence by
informing us through a native interpreter that the men of Sinasoro
were very good people, that they did not kill white men, and that
their chief was like Gorai. It is needless to Avrite that we appreci
ated the good intention, though hardly the elegance of the chief's
solitary remark. In the following year, when I was returning from
a botanical excursion to the peak of Faro, I received an invitation
irom Toraimas to visit him on the side of the harbour opposite to
the -village. The chief, who awaited rae on the beach, received me
cordially, telling me through one of the natives, who could speak a
little English, that he had collected for rae the fi-uits and leaves of
the " anumi " — a tree of the genus Cerbera — which he had heard I
had been anxious to find. The kindly manner of the old chief
attracted me towards hira, and I sat down, as he wished me, by his
side on the log of a tree, having first presented him with a large
knife which greatly pleased him. Close by, stood his four wives, to
whom he introduced me, pointing out to me the mother of his
eldest son Kopana, an intelligent young man of about twenty-two.
A bunch of ripe bananas was laid beside me, of which I was bidden
to partake. This was followed in a- short time by a savoury vegetable
broth, which the chief brought with his own hands in a cooking-pot.
It was especially prepared for me on their learning that I had found
the plant (an aroid, Schizmatoglottis) in my excursions. There was

2S GOVEENMENT.
the spirit of true politeness displayed in the manner of the chief
and his wives, as they endeavoured to show that in the exercise of
their siraple hospitality they were receiving, instead of conferring,
an honour. I felt that I was iu the presence of good breeding,
although sitting attired in a dirty flannel suit in the raidst of a
number of almost naked savages. My own party of Sinasoro
natives, who had been fasting for raany hours, politely asked me
to partake of their meal which the generosity of the chief had pre
pared, before they thought of touching it themselves. I of course
complied with their request by tasting a cooked banana, when, this
piece of etiquette having been duly observed, they attacked the
victuals without ceremony.
Such was my pleasing experience of this Faro chief. During
the survey of this island, the natives showed every disposition to be
friendly towards us. In my numerous excursions I always met
with civility, and frequently with unexpected acts of kindness ; and
I soon became known to them by the name given to me by the
Treasury natives, " Rokus " or " Dokus."
The principal chief of the district, iraraediately north of Choiseul
Bay, is naraed " Krepas." Several years before he had been living
at Faro, which he left on account of the death of all his wives.
When we first visited Choiseul Bay in September, 1883, we found
the natives very coy in approaching us, on account of the reprisal
of H.M.S. " Emerald," two years before, on the people of the neigh
bouring village of Kangopassa for the cutting out of the trading-
vessel " Zephyr," and the murder of a portion of her crew. After
two days, however. Lieutenant Oldham succeeded in removing their
suspicions, and the chief came on board. Si^bsequently Krepas and
his son, Kiliusi, accompanied me in a canoe during my ascent of one
of the rivers that empty themselves into this bay. I found the-
chief and his son very useful guides, and was prepossessed in their
favour. On our return to Treasury, I was surprised to learn
from Billy, Mule's prime minister, as we termed him, that Krepas
was a practised cannibal, and would not think much of killing a
white man. Billy was deeply impressed by the circurastance of
my having shared my lunch with the chief of Choiseitl Bay, about
two miles up one of the rivers. It was in this bay that the French
navigator, Bougainville, intended to anchor his ships in 1768, being
opposed by the hostility of the natives. The boats, which had been
sent in to find an anchorage, were attacked by 150 men in ten

CHOISEUL BAY. 27
canoes, who were only routed after the second discharge of fire-arms.
Two canoes were captured, in one of which was found the jaw of
a man half-broiled. The number of shoals, and the irregularity of
the currents prevented the ships coming up to the anchorage before
night fell ; and Bougainville, abandoning his design, continued his
course through the Straits.^ The description which the French
navigator gave of these natives in 1768, apphes equally well to
those of the present day. When H.M.S. " Lark " revisited Choiseul
Bay in October, 1884, not a single native was seen; so that it would
behove future visitors to be very cautious in their dealings with
these natives. Whilst off' the coast north of this bay, a fishing-party
of half-a-dozen men came oflf to the ship from the village of Kan-
delai; but they showed great suspicion of us. They would not
corae alongside for some tirae ; and when a present of calico was
flung to them at the end of a line, they were divided araongst
themselves whether to come and take it, some paddling one way
and some another. At length they took the present and carae
alongside, but did not stay long, and soon paddled towards the
.shore, their suspicions by no means allayed. What had happened
to cause this change of attitude, we could not learn. Evidently,.
the good impression which we had left behind us a year before, had
borne no fruit. Probably, some inconsiderate action on the part of
the crew of a trading- vessel had undone our work.
The professional head-hunter of the eastern islands of the group
does not appear to be represented amongst the islands of Bougain
ville Straits. Raids are occasionally made on the villages of the
adjoining Bougainville coast, but more, I believe, for the purpose of
procuring slaves, than from the mere desire of fighting. There is,
however, frequent friendly communication between the natives of
the islands of the Straits and those of certain Bougainville villages,
the forraer usually exchanging articles of trade for spears and tor
toise-shell, and acting as middle-men in the traffic with the white
men. It is however singular that the natives of the Straits trade
with different villages onthe Bougainville coast; and that, although
on usually such friendly terms with each other, they are often on
terms of hostility with the particular Bougainville village with
which their neighbours trade. Thus, Mule, the Treasury chief,
trades . with the people of the village of Suwai, over which his
brother Kopana is chief. Gorai, the Aiu chief, on the other hand, is
1 " Voyage autour du Monde," 2nd edit. augm. vol. II., Paiis, 1772.

i>8 GOVEENMENT.
at war with the natives of Suwai, but maintains friendly communi-^
cation with Daku, the chief of the village of Takura, and with
Magasa the chief of the harbour of Tonab. Whilst spending a night
&t Sinasoro with Lieutenant Heming and his party, I with the rest
had to share the tambu-house with a party of ten natives from
Takura. They had come across for pigs and taro. The natives of
the adjoining coast of Bougainville, possessing a different language,
are not able to make theraselves understood by the peopie of the
Straits except by interpreters. I have seen one of these natives
just as httle able to raake hiraself understood by the natives of Faro,
as if he had been suddenly removed to some very distant country
instead of only 30 miles away.
I have previously referred to the close friendship which usually
prevails between the inhabitants of the islands of Bougainville
Straits, linked together as they are by inter-marriages and by the
possession of a common language. But in the calmest seas there
are occasional storms ; and I will proceed to relate an extraordinary
€hain of events wbich came more or less under our observation
whilst in this portion of the group. Shortly before our return to
Treasury in April, 1884, there had been a terrible domestic tragedy,
which at one time threatened to embroil all the chiefs of the .Straits
in actual war. It appeared that Kopana,. the eldest son of Gorai
had, in a fit of teraporary madness, shot one of his wives dead with
his rifle, the unfortunate woman being a daughter of Mule, the
Treasury chief. On hearing the news, Mule at once crossed over to
Aiu to exact vengeance on Kopana ; but Gorai would not permit
hira to harra his son ; and it was arranged between the two chiefs
that Mule should be allowed to shoot one of the other wives of
Kopana, as the price of blood. Early one raorning the Treasury
chief, armed with his snider rifle, took his way in a canoe up a
passage I had often traversed in my Rob Roy, and surprising his
selected victim at work in a taro patch, he shot her dead. At the
same time he wounded her male attendant, an elderly native named
Malakolo, the bullet passing through the left shoulder-joint from
behind. When I saw this man six or seven weeks afterwards, he
was fast recovering from the injury, although with a useless limb.
Kopana, who is a headstrong son and beyond his father's control,
naturally resented this act bf Mule, and appears to have raeditated
a descent on Treasury. Collecting his followers and the remainder
of his -wives, he disappeared on what was given out as a tortoise-

HOSTILITIES. 29'
shell expedition. We found the Treasury people in a great dread
of the daily arrival of Kopana ; and I had sorae difficulty in getting
natives to accompany me in my excursions about the island. They
did not care to leave the vicinity of the village ; and I found many
of the bush-paths familiar to me in the previous year partly over
grown. Apparently through a sense of shame. Mule and his natives
avoided telling us anything about the act of retaliation ; they werCj
however, loud in their endeavours to cast aspersions on Kopana,
On our arrival at Aiu, we learned the truth from Gorai to whom
Mule had, sent a native, who took a passage with us, asking him not
to be too communicative in case we made inquiries. As it happened,.
however, the Treasury native was kept on board, and Lieutenant
Oldham, on landing, learned the part Mule had played. Kopana
was apparently quite conscious ofhis own responsibility in the raatter,
as he had left a present with Gorai to be given to the captain of any
man-of-war who should come to punish hira. Thus closed the first
scene of this tragedy.
Whilst we lay at anchor off Gorai's village, it was evident that
there was trouble brewing. The natives accompanying rae in my
geological excursions carried arms contrary to their usual practice.
On the same day the two principal villages were found deserted ;
and Gorai shifted his residence to another islet. Rumours became
rife that the Treasury and Shortland natives had met with blood
shed; but the men we questioned made so many wilful raisstatements
that it was impossible to learn what had really happened. At
length the truth came out. Being in Gorai's house one morning, I
was told by the chief that his son had been attacked five days be
fore by the Treasury natives on the islet of Tuluba, off' the west
coast of Aiu, that Kopana's canoe had returned without his master,
bringing a raan and a woraan badly wounded, and that he shortly ex
pected the return of two large war-canoes which he had sent to the
scene of the encounter. These two canoes returned whilst I was
talkino- to the chief on the beach, bringing a few more survivors
but without Kopana. The old chief then took it for granted that
his eldest son was dead, and in telling me so showed no emotion
whatever. In the evening, however, we leamed, to our astonish
ment, that Kopana had returned, having not been engaged in the
fray. It seemed that at the time of the encounter he was on a
neighbouring islet. After some difficulty, I was able to get an ac
count of the affair.

30 GOVEENMENT.
Two Ti-easury war-canoes, it appears, atterapted to iand at
Tuluba Islet one evening, where the crews were going to encamp for
the night. Ostensibly the Treasury men were on their way to
Bougainville to buy spears ; but since they were led by Olega, the
brother of Mule and the fighting-chief of the island, it is probable
that they were intending a descent on Aiu from this islet of Tuluba.
When the Treasury men discovered Kopana's party were already
there, the fighting at once began. During the conflict, for which
the Aiu natives were ill-prepared, seeing that they were largely
¦coraposed of Kopana's wives, one of the Treasury canoes was dashed
to pieces on a reef and all the occupants were thrown into the
water. In this unequal contest, the Aiu natives had a man and a
woman killed and a man and a woman wounded, both the women
being wives of Kopana. In addition four other of Kopana's wives
were captured by the Treasury raen, who returned to their own
island in the reraaining canoe with a loss of four men wounded, of
whom one subsequently died.
The unfortunate wives of Kopana had indeed borne the brunt
from the very beginning. Within two months, three of them had
suffered violent death, one of them was wounded apparently beyond
recovery, and four had been carried oflf prisoners to Treasury.
'The singular feature of this breach between the Treasury and Aiu
natives, was that the animosity of the former was directed against
Gorai's eldest son and not against the old chief, his father, who did
not think it incumbent on him to interfere except for the purpose
-of pacifying the two parties.
I visited the two wounded brought back to Aiu. Five days had
already elapsed since the fight, and I found the wounds of both in
-a horrible condition. The wife of Kopana had a severe tomahawk
wound of the thigh just above the knee, smashing the bone and im-
phcating the joint. The man had a rifle-bullet wound through the
fleshy part of the thigh and a pistol-bullet wound in the opposite
groin. Nothing had been done in either case, and after the lapse of
five days in a tropical chmate, the condition of the wounds could be
scarcely described. I was allowed to do but Httle, and considered
recovery in either case most iraprobable. Both, however, recovered
to my great astonishment. I found afterwards, on visiting the
wounded at Treasury, that one man had been shot through thp
-elbow-joint by one of his own party.
The subsequent events in connection with this outbreak of

THE BEIGHTEE SIDE 31
hostilities in the Straits may be soon i-elated Although there was
now open war between Aiu and Treasury, it assumed a ])assive
character, each side awaiting or expecting an attack from the other.
Gorai was much concerned at this turn of events, seeing that, as he
told me, he thought he had come to an amicable arrangement with
Mule when he allowed him to take the life of one of his son's wives.
The canoe-houses at Aiu were usually filled during the day by a
number of natives, all carrying their tomahawks and debating on
the topic of the day. In the raidst of them I once found Gorai
talking in his quiet way to an attentive circle of armed natives.
In the meanwhile the Treasury natives held a feast in celebration
of their success ; and the four wives of Kopana were distributed
about the village, but they experienced no ill treatment. In a few
weeks the animosity displayed between the peoples of the two
islands began to cool down ; and it soon became evident that the
war was one only in narae. At length peace was once more restored.
In the beginning of October a number of Treasury natives came
over to the west coast of Aiu where Gorai was then residing, bring
ing with them Mule's principal wife, Bita, the sister of the Aiu
chief, together with a large present of bananas, taro, and other
vegetables; and lastly, what was the most significant act of all, they
brought with them the four wives of Kopana who had been cap
tured on the islet of Tuluba. Gorai told me that araity was now
perfectly restored, and that he was going to exchange visits with
the Treasury chief to confirm the compact. Fortunately for the
happiness of the natives of Bougainville Straits, war rarely disturbs
the peaceful atmosphere in which they live.
I cannot doubt that, in the lives of the natives of these .straiLs, we
have the brighter side of the existence of the Solomon Islander >
and this result raay, I think, be attributed in the main to the
influence of Gorai, the Aiu chief, who in his intercourse with white
men, not always the best fitted to represent their colour, as I need
scarcely remark, has learned some lessons in his own crude way
which he could hardly have learned under any other conditions.
Natives of the islands of the Straits can count with some confidence
on the tenure of their lives, but this is simply due to the influence
of the name of the Aiu chief. And yet, however secure the sur
roundings of a native may be, he will never be entirely off' his guard.
Suspici'on is a quality inherent in his mind, and it shows itself in
raost of ^he actions of his life. Even of those natives, who, in the

32 GOVEENMENT.
capacity of interpreters, lived on board the ship for weeks together,
one was always keeping watch, over his corarades during the long
hours of the night whenever we were at any anchorage away from
their own island ; and I have been told by the officers in charge of
the detached surveying parties, that even after a hard day's work in
the boat, they have found their natives keeping a self-imposed watch
during the night.
I pass on now to the subject of the power of the "tambu," or
" taboo " as it is more usually termed. The tambu ban constitutes
the real authority of a petty chief in times of peace. In the eastern
islands, the tambu sign is often two sticks crossed and placed in the
ground. In such a manner, the St. Christoval native secures his
patch of ground from intrusion. In the islands of Bougainville
Straits, posts six to eight feet in height, rudely carved in the form of
the head and face, are erected facing sea- ward on the beach of a -village
to keep off enemies and sickness. Similar posts are erected on the
skirts of a plantation of cocoa-nut pahns to warn off intruders. On
one occasion, whilst ascending the higher part of a stream in
Treasury, my natives unexpectedly came upon the faint footprint
of a bushman ; and my sheath-knife was at once borrowed by the
chief's eldest son, who happened to be one of the party, to cut out a
face in the soft rock as a tambu mark for the bushman, or in other
words to preserve the streara. I have only touched on the exercise
of the right of tarabu in its narrowest sense. Scattered about in the
pages of this v;ork will be found nuraerous allusions to customs
which would be comprised under this head in its widest meaning :
for the power of the tambu is but the power of a code which
usually prohibits and rarely coraraands ; and in enuraerating its
restrictions and defining its limits, one would be in reality describing
a negative system of public and private etiquette. It is worthy of
note, that the terra " tambu " is not included in the vocabulary of
the language of the natives of Bougainville Straits, its equivalent
being " olatu."
It may be here apposite to make some observations on the slavery
which is practised in connection with the buish-tribes of these islands.
As already remarked, a wide distinction usually prevails in the
Solomon Group between the inhabitants of the coast and those of
the interior ; and although this distinction is most evident in the
case of the larger islands, it also prevails, but to a less degree, in
those of smaller size. It is a noteworthy fact that the bushmen are

SLAVEEY. 33
always looked down upon by their brethren ofthe coast. "Man-
bush" is with the latter a term of reproach, implying stupidity and
ci-ass ignorance. I have frequently heard this epithet applied to
natives who handled their canoes in an awkward manner or who
stumbled in their walk whilst accompanying me in ray excursions.
On one occasion, when trying to obtain stone axes from the natives
of Aiu, I was referred with a sraile to the busbmen of the neigh
bouring island of Bougainville, who still employ these tools. In the
larger islands the bush-tribes and the coast natives wage an un
ceasing warfare, in which the latter are usually the aggressors and
the victors — the bushmen captured during these raids either afford
ing materials for the cannibal feast or being- detained in servitude
by their captors. , But there prevails in the group a recognized
systera of slave-traffic, in which a huraan being becomes a market
able commodity — the equivalent being represented in goods either of
native or of foreign manufacture. This custora which carae under
the notice of the officers of Surville's expedition, _ during their visit
to Port Praslin in Isabel, in 1769,^ obtains under the same con
ditions at the present tirae. These natives were in the habit of
making voyages of ten and twelve days' duration -with the object of
exchanging men for "fine cloths covered with designs," articles
which were manufactured by a race of people much fairer than
their own, who were in all probability the inhabitants of Ontong
Java. The servitude to which the victims of this traffic are doomed is
not usually an arduous one. But there is one grave contingency
attached to his thraldora which raust be always before the raind of
the captive, however lightly his chains of service raay lie upon him.
When a head is required to satisfy the offended honour of a neigh
bouring- chief, or when a life has to be sacrificed on the corapletion
of a tambu-house or at the launching of a new war-canoe, the
victim chosen is usually the man who is not a free-born native of
the village. He may have been bought as a child and have lived
araongst them frora his boyhood up, a slave only in name, and en
joying all the rights of his fellow natives. But no feelings of com
passion can save him from his doom ; and the only consideration
which he receives at the hands of those with whora he may have
lived on terms of equality for raany years is to be found in the cir
curastance that he gets no warning of his fate
1 " Discoveries to the south-east of New Guinea," by M. Fleurieu, p. 143, Eng. edit.
0

3-1 SLAVEEY.
There are in Treasury several men and women who, originally
bought as slaves fronaythe people of Bouka and Bougainville, now
enjoy apparently the same privileges and freedom of action as their
fellow islanders. It is sometimes not a matter of rauch difficulty to
.single out the slaves araongst a crowd of natives. On one occasion
I engaged a canoe of Faro men to take me to a distant part of their
isjland : and very soon after we started I became aware from the
cowed and sullen condition of one of the crew that he was a slave.
On inquiry I leamed that this man had been captured when a boy
in the island of Bougainville, and I was informed that if he was to
return to his native place — a bush village named Kiata — he would
undoubtedly be killed. Although in fact a slave, I concluded frorn
the bearing of the other raen towards hira that his bondage was not
a very hard one ; and he evidently appeared to enjoy raost of the
rights of a native of the common class. Su kai, however, for such
was his name, had to make himself generally useful in the course of
the day ; and when at the close of the excursion we were seated
inside the house of a man who provided us with a meal of boiled
taro, sweet potatoes, and bananas, he was served with his repast on
the beach outside.
Mule, the Treasury chief, had adopted a little Bougainville bush-
boy, naraed Sapeku, who was purchased when very young from his
friends. In 1883 he was six or seven years old, and was the con
stant corapanion of the sons of the chief He was a fat chubby little
urchin, with woolly hair, and was known on board under the name
of " Tubby." His wild excitable disposition full of suspicion showed
to great contrast with the calraer and more confident demeanour of
his corapanions. He was, however, a general favourite with us,
although I should add he did not possess half the pluck of his asso
ciates. Mule also possessed, at the tirae of our visit, a young girl,
twelve or thirteen years old, who had been not long before pur
chased frora the Bougainville natives.
I have previously referred to the existence of bushmen on some
ofthe smaller islands. In the interior of Treasury tiiere are a few
haralets containing each two or three faraibes of bushmen, who live
quite apart from the other natives of the island. On more than one,
occasion I experienced tiie hospitality of these bush families, who in
matters, of dress are even less observant than the harbour natives.
They are probably the remnants of the original bushmen who occu
pied this island. Over our pipes, I used freauentiv to converse with

CANNIBALISM. 3.3
the natives on the subject ofthe past history of their island; and I
gleaned from them that the enterprising race at present dominant
in the Bougainville Straits came originally from the islands imraedi
ately to the eastward, using Treasury as a stepping-stone to the
Shortlands and Faro, and ousting or exterminating the bushmen
they found in the possession of these islands.
I will turn for a raoment to the subject of slavery in the eastern
islands of the group. In L^gi it is the practice of infanticide which
has given rise to a slave-coraraerce regularly conducted with the
natives of the interior of St. Christoval. Three-fourths of the men
of this island were originally bought as youths to supply the place
of the natural offspring killed in infancy. But such natives when
they attain manhood virtually acquire their independence, and their
original purchaser has but little control over them. On page 42, I
have made further reference to this subject.
Connected in the manner above shown with the subject of slavery
is the practice of cannibalism. The completion of a new tambu-
house is frequently celebrated among the St. Christoval natives by
a cannibal feast. Residents in that part of the group tell me that
if the victim is not procured in a raid amongst the neighbouring
tribes of the interior, some man is usually selected from those men
in the village who were originally purchased by the chief. The
doomed man is not enlightened as to the fate which awaits hira, and
may, perhaps, have been engaged inthe erection of the very building
at the completion of which his life is forfeited. The late Mr. Louis
Nixon,^ one of those traders whose name should not be forgotten
amongst the pioneers who, in working for themselves, have worked
indirectly for the good of their successors in the Solomon Group,
once recounted to me a tragical incident of this kind on the island of
Guadalcanar, of which he was an unwilling spectator. Whilst look
ing out of the window of his house one afternoon, he observed a
native walk up to another standing close to the window and engage
him in conversation. A man then stole up unperceived, and raising
his heavy club above his head, struck the intended victim lifeless to
the ground. Knowing too well the nature and purpose of the deed,
Mr. Nixon tumed away quite sickened by the sight.
The natives of the small island of Santa Anna enjoy the reputa
tion of being abstainers from human fiesh : but, inasmuch, as Mai the
war-chief has acquired a considerable fortune, in a native's point of
1 Mr. Nixon died at Santa Anna in the end of 1882.

36 CANNIBALISM.
view, by following ohe profitable calling of purveyor of human flesh
tothe man-eaters of the adjacent coasts of St. Christoval — a trade in
which he is ably assisted by those who accompany him on his forag
ing expeditions — we can hardly preserve this nice distinction
between the parts taken by the contractor and his customers in this
extraordinary traffic. I learned from Captain Macdonald that in
their abstinence frora human flesh, the Santa Anna natives are not
actuated by any dislike of anthropophagy in itself; but that the cus
tom has fallen into abeyance since the chief laid the tambu-ban on
human flesh several years ago, on account of a severe epidemic of
sickness having followed a cannibal feast. On one occasion through
the instrumentality of this resident. Lieutenant Oldham had the
satisfaction of rescuing two St. Christoval natives whom Mai was
carefully keeping in anticipation of the wants of the man-eaters of
Cape Surville. As the result of an interview held with this chief,
the two prisoners were sent on board the " Lark ; " but Mai gave
them up with a very bad grace, protesting that he was being robbed
of his own property. It is difficult to speculate on the reflections of
the victim as he lives on from day to day in constant expectation of
his fate. I am told that there is a faint gleam of tender feeling
shown in the case of a man who, by long residence in the village, has
almost come to be looked upon as one of theraselves. He is allowed
to remain in ignorance of the dreaded moraent until the last : and,
perhaps, he may be standing on the beach assisting in the launching
of the very canoe in which he is destined to take his final journey,
when suddenly he is laid hold of, and in a few moments raore he is
being ferried across to the man-eaters of the opposite coast. All
persons whora I have met that have had a lengthened experience of
the St. Christoval natives confirm these cannibal practices. They
may sometiraes be observed with all the horrible preliminaries which
have been described in the cases of other Pacific groups ; whilst, on
the other hand, it may be the habit to purchase and partake of
human flesh as an extra dainty in the daily fare.
Captain Redhch, master of the schooner " Franz," who visited
Makira on the south side of St. Christoval in 1872, states that he
found a dead body in a war-canoe dressed and cooked whole. He
was informed by Mr. Perry, a resident, that he had seen as many as
twenty bodies lying on the beach dressed and cooked.^ In 1865, Mr.
Brenchley noticed at Wano, on the north , coast of this island, the
1 Journal of the Koyal Geographical Society for 1874 (toI. 44), p. 31.

CANNIBALISM. 37
skulls of twenty-five bushmen hanging up under the roof of tho
tambu-house, aU of which showed the eflfects of the tomahawk and
all had been eaten.^ At the present time it is not an easy matter
for axi-y person cot resident in the group to obtain ocular e-vidence of
cannibabsm, since the natives have become aware of the white man's
avereion to the custom. I have, however, frequently seen the arm
and leg bones of the -victim consumed at the opening of a new
tambu-house, as they are usually hung up over the entrance or in
some other part of the building. The natives, however, are gener
ally reluctant to talk much about these matters ; and I believe the
residents, in such mattere, prefer to trust more to the testimony of
their o-wn eyes than to the statements of the natives.
I have previously referred to the death of the son of Taki the
Wano chief, who was attacked bv a shark whilst fishino- on the St
Christoval reefs. When we arrived at Ugi in April, 1883, shortly
after this event, we leamed that his death would probably lead to a
further sacrifice of hfe, and that a human -victim from sorae neigh
bouring hill-tribe would be required to remove the tambu-ban, or in
other words to propitiate the shark-god. At the completion of the
time of mourning, a gathering of the tribes of the district known as
a bea was to be held at Wano ; and I obtained frora Mr. Stephens
of Ugi the foUo-wing particulars of this singular custom. From a
raised staging some fifteen feet in height, each of the warriors of any
reno-wn addresses in tum the assembled people. The gathering is
composed not only of his o-wn tribesmen but also of paities of fight
ing men from all the neighbouring -villages, each party standing
aloof from the others. The orator, declaiming on the vaJonr of his
o-wn people and on his indi-vidual prowess, soon works himseK into
a condition of excitement, and should any tribe be there represented
with whom there may have been some recent cause of ill-feeling, it
is probably made the object of the taunts of the speaker. The as
sembled natives, who are all armed, soon participate in the excite
ment. The people of the -village support their champion, and openly
display their ill -will against those at whom the diatribes of the
orator have been directed. The suspected strangers retum the
taunts; and the feehng of irritation reaches its acme when a
threatening gesture or the throwing of a spear sets ablaze the sup
pressed passions. Every man darts into the bush and the -village is
emptv in a moment A desultory contest then ensues in which the
' " Cruise of H.M.S. Curacoa,' " by J. L. Brenchley.

£8 CANNIBALISM.
people of the village, who have generally the best of it, pursue their
visitors to the outskirts of their district ; and from henceforth a
long period of hostility begins.
Such is not an uncommon -sequence of a Ua, dnd I am told that
the natives of the district, in which such a gathering is to be held,
look forward to it with considerable apprehension. A human body
is usually procured for these occasions ; and the payment of the
persons who procured it is made from contributions collected at thp
bia. Each leading chief endeavours to surpass his rival in the sum
he gives ; and fiinging his string of shell money down from the
stage on which he stands, he looks contemptuously at his rival's
par°y. The body is apportioned out after the gathering is over;
and if no contention has arisen, all asserabled partake of the feast.
Taki told Mr. Stephens that in order to obtain a body for his son's
bea, he would have to start on another raan-hunting expedition. A
bia was also soon to be held in Ugi by Rora, the fighting chief of
the village of Ete-ete, on behalf of his brother who had died about
two years before. Cannibahsra is however dying out in Ugi; and in
this case a pig was to supply the place of a huraan body.
Whilst the ship was anchored at Sulagina Bay on the north
coast of St. Christoval, I visited the viUage of that name and saw
the chief who is named Toro. He received me civilly and shook
hands. Outside the front of his house five skulls were hanging
which belonged to some unfortunate bushmen who had fallen at his
hands. On inquiring of a native who spoke a little English, I ascer
tained that their bodies had been " kaied-kaied," i,e., eaten, although
it was with a bttle hesitation that he admitted the fact Numerons
spears were thrust in araong the pole overhead which supported the
roof, one or two of thera being broken at the point with some
suspicious-looking dried-up substance still adherent. The same
native explained to me, in a raatter-of-fact way, that the points had
broken oflf in the bellies of the victiras.
Cannibalism is rarely if ever practised at the present day in the
islands of Bougainville Straits. The people of the western extremity
of Choiseul Island in the vicinity of Choiseul Bay are reputed by
the Treasury Islanders to be still cannibals. During our stay in
this bay we had no opportunity of satisfying ourselves in this
matter. Bougainville, however, who visited this bay in 1768, re
cords, as I have pi'eviously observed, that a human jaw, half-broiled,
was found in one of the canoes which had been deserted by the

CANNIBALISM. 3[>
natives after the repulse of their attack upon the French boats.^
The Shortland natives accredit the Bougainville people who live
around the active volcano of Bagana with the regular practice of
cannibalism ; and there can be little doubt that this custora is ex
tensively practised amongst the scarcely known bush-tribes in the
interior of this lai-ge island. Of the natives of New Georgia or
Rubiana, Captain Cheyne avers that human flesh forms their chief
tu'ticle of diet ; they were in his opinion, when he visited this part
of the group in 1844, the most treacherous and bloodthirsty race in
the Western Pacific- These natives have of late years come more
under the direct influence of the traders and probably would merit
now a better name.
I wUl close this chapter with a short account, to some extent
recapitulative, of the history of three natives of St Christoval after
they were recruited by the boats of the Fiji labour-vessel " Red
coat'' in 1882. It will serve to illustrate some points already
alluded to. Amongst the occupants of a tambu-house in which I
slept on one occasion in the village of Lawa, in the interior of St.
Christoval, were five men who were intending to offer themselves as
recruits to the government-agent of the " Redcoat." Three of these
men, one of whom was the chief's son, carae under ray observation
again not many weeks after they had been received on board the
labour- vessel. ' They escaped from the ship at Santa Anna, and seiz
ing a canoe reached the adjoining coast of St. Christoval. Here
they were pursued by Mai, in his capacity of purveyor of huraan
flesh to the Cape Surville natives. Two of thera were captured; but
the third, who was the chief s son, had died at the hands of a local
chief, who, -wishing to remove the tambu-ban arising frora the recent
death of liis wife, had effected his object by spearing his guest Mai
retumed to Santa Anna with his two captives, and immediately
became imbued with the idea that he had been insulted by the chief
who, in successfully removing the tambu-ban from the shade of his
departed spouse, had deprived him of one of his victims. Then the
raid was earried out, which I have already described, as having re
sulted in the slaughter of three women and the chief of Fanarite.
Mai now devoted his attention to preparing his two prisoners for
the market on the opposite coast, and was thus employed when
H.M.S. "Lark"' arrived at Port Mary and rescued the prisoners
1 " Voyage autour du Monde " ; 2nd edit, augment ; vol. ii., Paris, 1772.
-- "A Description of Islands in the AVestern Pacific Ocean," by A. Cheyne (London, 1852).

•iO CANNIBALISM..
When these two natives were brought on board, I at once recognised
my tambu-house companions in the village of Lawa ; and I leamed
to my regret that the chief's son, who had been killed, was the
sprightlj' young native who had on one occasion carried my geolo
gical bag. It is but just to remark that under Mai's care the con
dition of the two prisoners had considerably improved since I last
saw them. However, their troubles were not all over. They were
landed at Ugi ; but the older of the two, on hearing that his life
would be probably required by the people of his own village to
atone for the death of the chief's son, preferred to remain at Ugi
A report reached me in the following year, whether true or not I
was unable to ascertain, that he had been killed on returning to his
village.

CHAPTER IIL
THE FEMALE SEX — POLYGAMY — MODES OF BURIAL, ETC.
THE position of the female sex amongst the natives of the eastern
islands of the Solomon Group would appear to diflfer but little
from the position which it holds amongst races in a similar savage
state. The women are without doubt the drudges of the men, and
pitiable examples of this often carae under ray observation. On one
occasion, when I was returning to the coast from an excursion into
the interior of St. Christoval, I was accompanied by some half-a-
dozen natives of both sexes who were bringing down yams to sell to
the traders on the beach. The men were content with carrying their
tomahawks ; whilst the women followed up with heavy loads of
yams on their heads. When a feast is in preparation, it is the work
of the women to bring in the yams and taro from the "patches,"
which raay be one or two miles away. In my excursions, I fre
quently used to see at work in their " patches " these poor creatures,
whom drudgery had prematurely deprived of all their comeliness.
Women are excluded from the tambu-house. They are not per
mitted to remain in the presence of a chief at his meal ; and even
the wife after preparing her husband's meal leaves her lord alone,
returning to partake of what remains after he has finished his repast.
In the island of Santa Catalina we found that we had temporarily
received the rank of chief when a bevy of young girls, who had been
following us all the morning, walked solemnly away as we began
our lunch ; but no sooner had we lit our pipes than back came the
little troop with srailing faces. In Ugi, a man will never, if he can
help it, pass under a tree that has fallen across the path, for the
reason that a, woman may have stepped over it before him. On one
occasion, in the village of Sapuna, in Santa Anna, I saw a man,
whilst lighting his pipe, throw the piece of smouldering wood cou-

42 THE FEMALE SEX.
temptuously on the ground, when a woraan, in order to bght her
own pipe, stretched out her hand to take it from him.
The custom of infanticide throws a shade over not a few of these
islands. During my frequent walks over the island of Ugi, where
one may pass through a village without seeing a single child in arms,
I often experienced a feeling of rehef in leaving behind such a village
, where the prattle of children is but rarely heard. In Ugi, infanticide
is the prevailing custom. When a man needs assistance in his
declining years, his props are not his own sons but youths obtained
by purchase from the St. Christoval natives, who, ag they attain to
manhood, acquire a virtual independence, passing almost beyond the
control of their original owner. It is from this cause that but a
small proportion of the Ugi natives have been born on the island,
three-fourths of them having been brought as youths to supply the
^ place of offspring kiUed in infancy. Yet some bright experiences,
brighter, perhaps, in the contrast, recur to my mind. In the small
island of Orika (Santa Catalina) the visitor will be followed about
by a little train of children, of both sexes, with smibng, intelligent
faces, and clad only in the garb whicii nature gave thera. Whilst
having an evening pipe in front of the house of Haununo, the young
chief, Mr. W. Macdonald and I were surrounded by a varied throng
of the natives of the village, both old and young. Numerous young
children, from babes in arms to those three or four years old, formed
no inconsiderable proportion of the number around us. Bright-
looking lads, eight or nine years of age, stood smoking their pipes as
gravely as Haununo himself; and even the smallest babe in its
father's arms caught hold of his pipe and began to suck instinctively.
The chief's son, a little shapeless mass of flesh, a few months^ old, was
handed about from man to man with as much care as if he had been
V composed of soraething brittle. It would have taken raany ship
loads of " trade," as Mr. Macdonald remarked to me, to have pur
chased the hopeful heir of the chief of Orika.
But to return to the subject of the position held by the women.
When away with a recruiting party from the labour-ship " Redcoat,"
on the St Christoval coast, I was present at the parting on the beach
of sis natives, who had elected to proceed to Fiji to work for a term
of three years on the plantations. But bttle regret was observable
in the faces of those whose friends were leaving thera. Son parted
with father, and brother with brother with apparently as littie con
cern as if they were merely parting for the hour. The mother or

FE.NLILE VIETUE. 43
sister played no part in this scene, a characteristic negative feature
of the social Hfe of these natives. However, amongst the six natives
was an elderly woman who was foUo-wing her husband to Fiji ; and
her departure wais evidently keenly felt by a small knot of female
companions on the beach. One poor creature stood at the edge of
the water, looking wistfuUy towards the boat as it was being puUed
away, and crying more after the manner of a fretful child. It was
the bond of a true affection that knit together the heart of these
poor women. In this episode I saw, to employ those beautiful lines
of Milton, "The sable cloud
Tum forth her silver lining on the night."
In it was e-vinced the only sign of the tenderer feelings which was
displayed in the whole of that day's proceedings.
It is necessary for me to touch lightly on a subject, which,
although less pleasing, is none the less essential to the short sketch
which I have presented to my readers of the domestic relations of
the natives in the eastern islands. Female chastity is a virtue that
would sound strangely in the ear of the native. Amongst then- many
customs which when narrated strike with such a discordant note on
the ears of the European reader, the inhabitants of St. Christoval
and the adjacent islands have a usage which sufficiently enlightens
us as to the unrestrained character of their code of morality. For
two or three years after a giid has become eligible for mamage, she
distributes her favours amongst all the young men of the -viUage.
Should she be unwilling to accept the addresses of anyone, it is but
necessary for her admirer to raake her parents some present.
Fathers ofifer their daughters to the white man in the hope of a re
munerative return ; and the white men, sometimes less scrupidous
in their advances, provoke the hostility of the natives, and not un
frequently a laraentable massacre results. Conjugal fidelity is
usually preserved in the hmits of the same community ; but the men
of Santa Anna, when they exchange their wives for those of tbe
men ofthe adjoining St. Christoval coast, see in such a transaction
no loosenintr of the marriage-tie, and restore their -wives to their
oritnnal position on their retum to their homes.
In considering the domestic relations of the inhabitants of
Bougainville Straits, we enter upon a more agreeable topic. The
white man on first visiting these islands is struck with the shyness

44 THE FEMALE SEX.
of the women as compared with those of St. Christoval and its
adjacent islands. The unmarried girls are rarely seen ; whilst, on
the other hand, in Santa Anna and Santa Catalina there appears to
be no restriction placed on their movements. The following incident
in the island of Faro will serve to illustrate this shyness. Whilst
following a path in the interior of the island, unattended by anj'
companion, I suddenly surprised a woman sitting on a log with a
child in her lap. She bolted away into the wood leaving the child,
a little boy three or four years of age, on the ground in the middle
of the path. The little urchin at once set up a terrific yell ; but a
present of a gilt necklace softened the tone of his distress, although
it did not remove his fears. However, I passed along and soon had
the satisfaction of hearing the mother returning to her child.
This fear of the white man is soon dispelled by kindly treatment
When I first visited Treasury Island my entrance into the village
was the signal for every woman to rush into her house, and I could
only catch a glirapse of their retreating figures. This shyness soon
wore away during the lengthened visits of the " Lark ; " and in a
short tirae when I walked through the village I was surrounded hy
a troop of young boys shouting out my name of " Dokus " or
"Rokasy," at the top of their voices. This was the signal for all
who were indoors to turn out to greet me. The old people would
hobble out to the door ; and the married women with their babes in
their arms would walk up to me caUing me by name and holding
up their little ones for me to see, as if only too proud to show me
the confidence the visit of the " Lark " had inspired.
The females in these islands of the Straits perform most of the
work in the " patches " or plantations. Towards the evening, they
raay usually be seen returning in tiieir canoes from the more distant
" patches " bringing home a goodly quantity of taro, bananas, and
other vegetables. There is generally a man in the stern who steers
with a paddle ; whilst the crew of eight or ten women, sitting in
pairs, paddle briskly along with their light paddles.
The powerful chiefs ofthe islands of Bougainville Straits usually
possess a large number of wives of whom only tiie few that retain
their youth and comeliness enjoy much of the society of their lord.
The majority, having been supplanted in the esteem of their common
husband, have sunk into a condition of drudgery, finding their em
ployment and their livelihood in toiling for the master whose
aff'ections they once possessed. I learned from Gorai, the Shortland

POLYGAMY. 45
chief, who has between eighty and a hundred wives, that the main
objection he has against missionaries settling on his islands is, that
they would insist on his giving up nearly all his wives, thereby de
priving him of those by whose labour his plantations are cultivated
and his household supplied v/ith food. A great chief, he remarked,
required a large staff of workers to cultivate his extensive lands; or,
in other words, numerous women to work in his plantations and to
bring the produce horae. Such a plea for polygaray is in this con
dition of society somewhat plausible. The domestic establishment
of such a chief may be compared in its internal economy to a social
community of bees. The head of the society is, in this case, a male
who, whilst living on the fat produce of his lands and increasing his
species, performs no active office for the good of the community.
The workers consist of his numerous cast-off wives, who ha-s'ing been
supplanted in their lord's affections as their personal attractions-
dirainished in the course of year,?, have at length subsided into the
position of drudges to procure food for the king and his progenj'.
Mule's marital establishraent is on a smaller scale than that of
the more powerful Shortland chief. This Treasury chief possesses
between twenty-five and thirty wives, and has numerous young sons
who were my frequent companions during my excursions in this
island. In both establishments there is a favourite wife who exer
cises sorae authority over the others, and is known araong white
men as the queen. The principal wives are generally distinguished
from the others by a raore dignified deportment, a slim graceful
figure, and more delicate features. The coarser features, bigger
limbs, and more ungainly persons of many of the wives at once
mark the women of raore coraraon origin. The chief secures the
fidelity of his wives by the summary punishment of death, suspicion
being tantamount to proof, and an unwary action being held pre
suraptive of guilt Many of their wives are obtained by purchase
from the Bougainville natives ; whilst others represent the tribute
owed by some of the- sraaller chiefs.
The majority of the Treasury men have two wives who are
usually widely separated by age. They are originally obtained by
making a handsome present to the parents. Each wife in working
on her husband's land has her own patch allotted to her to which she-
confines her labours. My association with the natives of Treasury
o-ave me some insight into their social life, in which, I should add, the
women occupyasomewhatbetterpositionthanin the islands we visited.

46 THE FEMALE SEX.
to the eastward. Men have introduced me to their wives with an air
of politeness which supplied an index of the social status of their
helpmates : and to show that the position of authority may be re
versed — although from the abSence of clothing one cannot employ the
expressive phrase applied to those women who rule their husbands
in raore civilized lands — I may here observe that on one occasion an
able-bodied man coraplained to rae that his wife chastised him on the
previous night
I had one vei-y pleasing experience of the domestic establishment
of the Treasury chief. Having informed Mule that I was desirous to
witness the manufacture of the cooking-pots employed by the
natives, he despatched four of his wives into the interior of the island
to get the clay ; and in due time I was suraraoned to his house where
I found myself in the midst of a dozen of his wives who were
already hard at work, for the women are the potters here as in other
parts of " savagedom." Mule's wives received me with much polite
ness, and made me sit down on a mat to watch the proceedings,
being evidently rauch pleased with the idea of exhibiting their skiU.
For about five minutes there was but little work done as my curios
ity led me to look more closely into the different steps of the process,
a proceeding which caused much hilarity and elicited frequent excla
mations of " tion drakono," often preceded by " Dokus," which im
plied that the doctor was a very good man. At last, after I had
smiled on them to the best of my ability, and had gained their
further approbation by taking on my knee a little well-scrubbed
urchin that could hardly toddle, who in the most matter-of-fact
manner made a vigorous onslaught on my chin and then went tooth-
and-nail at my shirt-cuflf, all in the best of humour and seemingly in
an absent-minded kind of fashion as though its , little mind was
already occu]-)ied by far weightier matters — after all this, the more
serious part of the entertainment became fairly under way. At its
conclusion, 1 gave the principal wife a quantity of beads and a
number of jews-harps to be distributed araong her companions.
The marital establishraent of Toraimas, one of the principal Faro
chiefs, is small as compared with those of Gorai and Mule. He has
only four wives who are named respectively, Doiuari, Duia, Bose, and
Omakau, the first being the mother of the chief's eldest son, Kopana,
an intelligent young man about twenty-two years of age.
In connection with the names of the women of Bougainville
..Straits, I should observe that there was always sorae reluctance on

KAIKA. 47
the part of the men to give rae such naraes ; and that when they
did so, they usually uttered thera in a low tone as though it was
not the proper thing to speak of the women bj- narae to others.
This is especially noticeable when a man of the comraon class is
asked the name of one of the chief's wives. On more than one
occasion, when referring by name to the chief's principal wife in the
course of a conversation with a native, I learned from the look of
surprise, which the mention of the name elicited, that I had, unwit
tingly, been guilty of a breach of etiquette.
During the surveying season of 1883, which we passed among the
islands of Bougainville Straits, we were witnesses of the mourning
ceremonials that were observed in connection with the death of
Kaika, the principal wife of the Shortland chief, or the queen as
Gorai was pleased to call her. It was in the beginning of July that
I first made the acquaintance of Kaika, Gorai having asked rae to
visit her as she was suffering from some indisposition. A month
passed away before I again saw ray royal patient, and on this
occasion the chief accompanied me to his house. Here I found
Kaika quite recovered from her iUness, a result which she attributed
to some medicine which I had given her. She was reclining in a
broken down easy-chair, the gift of a trader, engaged in working an
armlet of beads, and clad only in the usual " sulu " or waist-handker
chief In age Kaika was probably between 25 and SO, her general
appearance being that of a woman superior in caste to most of her
fellow-wives. For a native, her features were good and regular, her
figure slira but weU proportioned, her carriage graceful. Her clean
skin and bushy head of hair, dyed a magenta hue bj'- the use of red
ochreous earth, added to the general eflfect of her appearance.
Whilst sitting down be.side Gorai and his spouse, the latter
showed me her little boy who was nearly blind. I was much struck
with the tendemess, displayed in the manner of both the parents
towards their little son, who, seated on his mother's lap, placed his
hand in that of his father, when he was directed to raise his eyes
towards the light for my inspection.
The work of the ship took us away from Aiu ; and when we
returned after an absence of five weeks, we learned that Kaika was
dyino-. Landing on tbe ensuing day to see if I could be of any ser
vice, I was told that Kaika was dead; and as I stepped out of ray'
Rob Roy, I received a message from Gorai to corae and visit hira.
I found the old chief seated on the ground in front of his house.

48 MOUENING CEEEMONIALS.
looking very dismal. Near by, there were nine or ten of his wives
all well past the prime of life, withered and haggish, with heads
shaven and faces plastered with lime as a token of mourning. They
were squatting on the ground, and were engaged in droning out a
dismal chant, reminding rae of a group of witches. Accompanying
Gorai into his house, I found there a numerous gathering of his
wives all with their faces plastered with lime ; their dead- white
features, peering strangely at us through the gloom of the building,
gave the whole scene quite an uncanny look. The old chief appeared
to feel the loss of his favourite wife and broke down more than once
when talking to me of her. He told me that the end came when
we dropped our anchor in the bay, and he excused hiraself on account
of his grief frora coraing off to the ship — " too much cry," as he re
marked of hiraself to me. When I was leaving him, he asked me '
on the arrival of the ship at Treasury to inform Mule of his loss,
Kaika being the sister of the Treasury chief, and to request that his
own sister, Bita, who was Mule's principal wife, should come and
visit him. Returning to my canoe I passed some of Gorai's head
men who had plastered their foreheads and a part of their cheeks
with lirae, an observance, however, which was not followed by either
the chief or his sons.
The next raorning most of the men of the viUage were engaged
in fishing on the reef to obtain material for a great funeral feast that
was to be held in the afternoon. When I landed with Lieutenant
Leeper in the latter part of the day, we found ourselves on the beach
in the midst of about a hundred raen carrying their toraahawks, and
assembled together on the occasion of the queen's demise. On enter
ing the chief's grounds, which are tabooed to all the men of the
village except those on the staff of the chief, we came upon about
eighty women performing a funeral dance. Some of them were
Gorai's wives ; whilst others were the principal women of the neigh
bouring villages. With their faces white .with lime they formed a
large circle, in the centre of which were four posts placed erect in
the ground, each about ten feet high, charred on one side and rudely
carved in imitation of the human head, two of them painted red and
two white. Enclosed in the ring and grouped around the posts were
six women bearing in their hands the personal belongings of tbe
deceased, such as her basket, cushion, &c. To the slow and mea
sured time of the beats of a wooden drum, a hollowed log struck by
a man outside the circle, the dancers of the ring adapted their move

THE FUNEEAL DAN'CE. 49
ments, which consisted merely in raising the feet in turns and gently
stamping on the ground. The central group of women danced
around the posts, partly skipping, partly hopping, each woman
holding up before her the article she bore, and regulating her steps
to the beats of the drum. Now and then the raan at the drum
quickened his tirae, and the moveinents of the women of the ring
becarae more spirited ; whUst the central group of dancers skipped
more actively around, the foremost woman sprinkling at each bound
handfuls of lirae over the dancers of the ring. As the weather was
rainy, many of the women — aU of whom wore a " sulu '' reaching
down to the knees — had their shoulders covered by their mats of
pandanus leaves. This dance was repeated on the foUowing day
but with a smaUer number of dancers. I was anxious to ascertain
the manner in which the body had been disposed ; but beyond the
fact that interraent had taken place in the ground sorae distance
away, I could learn but little. It is, however, very probable that
the body was first burned between the charred posts, around which
the dance was performed, which would have served as supports for
the funeral pyre. Further reference to this custom will be found
on page 51.
In making inquiries as to the obsequies paid to the dead queen,
I was nmch struck with the reluctance of the natives to refer to the
event They mentioned the narae of the deceased in a low subdued
tone as if it were wrong to utter the names of the dead. This
mysterious dread which is associated with the mention of the names
of the dead is found, as Dr. Tylor points out in his " Early History
of Mankind'' (3rd edit, p. 143), amongst many races of men. The
example of the Australian native who refuses to utter thera raay be
here cited as an extreme instance of this superstition.
Three days after the death of Kaika, all the men of Aiu, with
the exception of the chief and his sons, cut off' their hair close to
the scalp as a symbol of mourning for the deceased, an observance
which produced a surprising change in the appearance of men whom
I had been familiar with as the owners of luxuriant bushy periwigs.
A similar custom of either shaving the scalp or of cutting the hair
close prevailed in other islands of the group which we visited, as at
Simbo and Ugi. In the latter island the shaving is restricted to the
posterior half of the scalp. With this digression I will continue my
account of che mourning ceremonials observed atthe death of Kaika.
The news of the death of the principal wife of the Aiu chief was

50 MOUENING CEEEMONIALS.
soon carried to the other islands of Bougainville Straits. Visits of
condolence were paid to Gorai by Toraimas and Kurra-kurra, the
two Faro chiefs ; and parties of the women of Faro went to display
in person their sympathy with the Aiu chief on the occasion of his
bereavement We were the first to convey the news to Treasury ;
and as Mule stepped on deck shortly after the ship had come to an
anchor in Blanche Harbour, I informed him of his sister's death and
of Gorai's request that his own sister Bita should go and visit him
at Aiu. The news of Kaika's death was received by her brother
with much coraposure. Several weeks passed away before Bita
could accoraplish the long canoe voyage to her brother's island, as it
is only practicable for a canoe in settled weather. There was a
.sudden deraand for pairs of scissors in Treasury when the news of
the death of Gorai's wife became generaUy known. Mule, his
sons, and several of the raen of the island showed their regard
for the deceased by neatly trimming their bush/ periwigs, not
cropping their hair close as in the case of the Aiu natives ; and in
accordance with custom the wives of the chief plastered their faces
with lime.
A week after our arrival at Treasury feasts were prepared as
oflferings to the Evil Spirit — the nito paitena of the natives — to
appease the wrath of that deity. For to his anger, as I was informed
by an intelligent native naraed Erosini, the death of Kaika was at
tributed. Whilst walking through the village one evening, I came
upon the " remains " of one of these feasts. The essence of the
viands had doubtless been extracted by this direful spirit, inasrauch
as I learned on the authority of Erosini that the " devUo," as he
terraed him, had already satiated his appetite ; but to the eyes of
ordinary mortals like myself, the dishes had not been touched.
However, it was not long before numerous natives were helping
themselves freely to the roasted opossums, boiled fish, taro, bananas,
etc., which formed the feast Although pressed to join in the
banquet, I did not take to the idea of eating a vicarious mea! for his
infernal majesty ; and I resisted the persuasion of one of my would-
be hosts who, having scooped up with his hands a mixture of mashed
taro and cocoa-nut scrapings, licked his fingers well and reraarked it
was very good " kai-kai." On the following day an old rudely carved
tarabu-post that had been erected on the beach was used as a target,
at which, frora a distance of about fifteen paces, the natives fired
their muskets and discharged their arrows. This proceeding, so we

MODES OF BUEIAL. 51
learned, was to intimidate the " devilo " in case the feasts of the
previous day had not propitiated him.
The raode of burial employed by the natives of the islands of
Bougainville Straits varies according to the position of the deceased.
The bodies of the chiefs and of any merabers of their farailies are
usually burned ; and the ashes are deposited together with the skull
and soraetiraes the thigh-bones in a cairn on some sacred islet, or are
placed in charge of the reigning chief The natives were always
reticent on this subject, a circumstance which prevented my ascer
taining how the skull and thigh-bones were preserved from the
flames. In the village of Treasury there are some memorials of de
parted chiefs, one of which is shown in the accompanying engraving.
The one in best condition is that of the late chief, whose skull and
thigh-bones were deposited on one of the islets in the harbour.
They evidently mark the site of the funeral pyres. A wooden f i-arae
of the diraeusions of a large coffin is placed on the ground and con
tains sorae young plants and the club of the deceased chief. Four
posts charred on their inner sides and decorated on their outer sides
with patterns in red, white, and black, are placed one at each corner
of the frame. They are rudely carved at the top in the form of a
face, and in all respects reserable those around which the funeral
dance was performed at Aiu, as described on page 49. A sprouting
cocoa-nut is placed at one end of the frame, and a club is placed
erect in the ground at the other end.
In the vicinity of Gorai's house, I noticed three small enclosures,
apparently graves, two of them round and one oblong, and all fenced
in by a paling of sticks. Lying on the ground within each enclosure
were .such articles as strings of trade-beads, clay-pipes, betel-nuts
long since dried up, and dishes of palm leaves such as the natives
use for serving up their food. A comraunicative old raan informed
rae that a few months before a woman and a girl belonging to tiie
chief's household had died, and that their bodies had been tirst
burned between four posts and the ashes had been placed in the
oblong enclosure. They bore, so he told me, the pretty names of
lilv^nu and Siali. On my asking the reason of placing articles such
as beads and betel-nuts on the grave, he told me that in addition
cocoa-nuts and other food had been placed there previously in accor
dance with the native custom, which the old man endeavoured to
explain by pointing his fingers towards the skies. I should here
mention that on the spot, where the body of Kaika had been burned

52 MODES OF BUEIAL.
some months before, there was placed a wooden fiamework in the
form of a long box, the materials being obtained from a ship's fittings.
Inside it were placed some beads and coloured calico.
The custora of depositing skulls in cairns on the points of islands,
which is prevalent in the eastern portion of the Solomon Group, is
not generally practised amongst the islands of Bougainville Straits :
and I rarely came upon them in my excursions. However, on an
islet in Choiseul Bay, I found two cairns, one of which was tenanted
only by herrait-crabs with their cast-off shells, and the other con
tained two skulls that had apparently lain for years in their resting-
jjlace to whicii they were attached by the tendrils of creeping plants.
On the surarait of Oima, I came upon a heap of stones under which
-was supposed to be the reraains of a Bougainville native killed in a
fight, but I failed to find any of his bones after examining the heap.
The sea is generally chosen as the last resting-place for the
natives below the rank of chief in the islands of Bougainville
Straits. Lieutenant Malan, whilst engaged in sounding at the
entrance of the Aiu anchorage, passed two large canoes in one of
which were being conveyed, for burial in deep water, the remains of
a woman who had died during the previous night. The relatives of
the deceased accompanied the corpse, but took no share in the
paddling, being employed in wailing and bemoaning their loss after
the conventional manner of the Chinese. A peculiar style of
paddling was adopted by the funeral party ; each raan, pausing after
every stroke, partially arrested the raotion of the canoe by a back
water movement of his paddle.
In Sirabo or Eddystone Island, the bodies of the dead are some
times placed amongst the large masses of rock which lie at the base
of Middle Hill on the west coast of the island. My attention was
first attracted to this custora by the stench that came from this spot
as I passed it in a canoe. Sorae human bones were observed on the
reef which lies off the anchorage. In the eastern islands the dead are
often buried at sea. In Ugi and in Florida the skulls are sometimes
preserved in a cairn of stones built on the edge of a sea cliff, or at
the extreraity of a point, or in some remote islet. A dwarf cocoa-nut,
which attains a height of from eight to twelve feet, frequently marks
the grave of the chief in the island of Ugi. In one of the villages of
this island I was shown the shrine of a chief, a sraall house in which
suspended from the roof in a basket were the skulls of the chief and
his wife concealed from view by a screen of palm leaves. Some

EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. 63
articles of food, including a portion of an opossum, together with a
large wooden bowl, were hung up before the screen.
The burial place for men in the village of Sapuna in Santa Anna
is an oblong enclosure in the midst of the village which measures 24
by 18 feet, and is .surrounded by a low wall of fragments of coral
limestone. In this space all the bodies are buried at a depth of five
or six feet ; and after sorae time the skulls are exhumed and placed
inside the wooden figure of a shark about three feet in length, which
is deposited in the tambu-house. One of these wooden fish, which
lay on the surface of the burial ground at the tirae of my visit, had
recently been removed from the tambu-house on account of its being
rotten through age, and the skull was to be re-interred. The body
of a chief is placed at once in the tambu-house in a wooden shark of
sufficient size. Woraen are buried in another ground, and the
wooden sharks containing their skulls are deposited in a sraall
house by the side of the tambu-house.
Into the subject of the superstitions and religious beliefs which
are held by the natives of the Solomon Islands I shall barely enter,
as only those who have becorae farailiar with the natives by long
residence araong thera, and who have acquired an intiraate know
ledge of their language, can hope to avoid the nuraerous pitfalls into
which the unwary observer is so likely to fall. I would, therefore,
refer the reader for information on this subject to a paper by the
Rev. R. H. Codrington, entitled " Religious Beliefs and Practices in
Melanesia," which was published in the Journal of the Anthropo
logical Institute (vol. x.,p. 261). Through Lieutenant Malan's know
ledge of the Fijian tongue, a language understood by the men who
had served their term on the Fiji plantations, I learned that the
natives of Treasury and the Shortlands believe in a Good Spirit
(nito clrel'Oiia) who lives in a pleasant land whither all men who have
lived good lives go after death, and that all the bad men are trans
ported to the crater of Bagana, the burning volcano of Bougainville,
which is the home of the Evil Spirit (nito paitena) and his cora
panion spirits. That the natives of the Shortlands really beUeve in
some future state is shown in the following singular superstition
which came under my notice at Aiu. I was returning one night in
Gorai's war canoe from one of my excursions, when I noticed that the
chief and his men were looking towards the coral island of Balalai
which lies a few miles distant from the anchorage. They told me
they were looking for a bright light which was sometimes to be

54 EELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
seen shining at night in this island in the winter months of the
year. This Ught they believed to be the spirit of Captain Ferguson
of the "Ripple," who had been kiUed some years before by the natives
of Nouma-nouma on the Bougainville coast I suggested that it
might be the watch-fire of a party of the Faro natives who had gone
there to fish, or to hunt turtie ; but my suggestion was pooh-poohed
Balalai was evidently a haunted island in the minds of ray com
panions, and I desisted from making any further remarks whicb
would be likely to disabuse them of this idea. Often and often
when we were anchored within sight of this island I remembered
the story, but never saw the light.
The natives of Ugi beUeve that the souls of the dead pass into
fireflies : and should one of these insects enter a house, those inside
quickly leave it The spirits of the dead in human shape are be
lieved to frequent certain islets in Treasury Harbour, where they
are occasionally seen by the woraen. Certain spirits, who are usuaUy
accredited with the power of sending sickness or other calamities,
are said to take up their abodes in particular districts. Such a
spirit haunts the picturesque glen of Tetabau on the northern slope
of the surarait of Treasury, if we raay accept the statement of one
of the islanders ; and any native who is bold enough to enter this
glen will, according to the general belief, provoke the anger of its
invisible occupant The party of natives who accompanied me to
the summit of Tarawei Hill in the island of Faro refused to go
further than the brink of the hill, because, as they said, there dwelt
on the top sorae evil spirits who would send sickness and death on
any intruder. I had therefore to walk along the crest of the hill
alone. The echoes which the shouts of ray men awakened as we
descended the steep slopes to the west were, as I was told, but the
voices of the spirits who haunted the sumrait of the hill.
In the island of Ugi the superstition of " ill-wishing " is very
prevalent. When a man cuts off his hair, as in mourning, he buries
it unobserved so that it may not fall into the hands of Einy one who
may by sorcery bring sickness or some other calamity upon him ;
and he adopts the sarae precaution with reference to the husks of
betel-nuts and sirailar i-efuse. Whilst I was obtaining some samples
of hair from the natives of this island, I was told that if in the
immediate future any sickness should befall those who had parted
with their hair, they would assign the cause to me ; yet, native-like,
thev aUowed rae to take a sample with their free consent, for it is

THE SOECEEEE. 55
their custom never to refuse to each other anything that is asked.
The professions of the sorcerer and raedicine-man are usually com
bined in the same individual. These men in the Shortlands have a
great reputation in the minds of the natives, being accredited by
them with a knowledge almost universal ; and the precincts of their
dweUings are tabooed even to the chief. One of them named
Kikila, a sinister-looking individual with but one eye, had obtained
much repute in the practice of his profession. When on one occasion
Lieutenant Oldhara complained to the chief that sorae of the calico
had been removed by the natives from the surveying-marks, the
services of Kikila were eraployed to bring about the death of the
unknown culprit. The sorcerer was not himself aware who the
raan was ; but we were told that for one of so rauch repute this was
(-[uite unnecessary. We never learned the result of his incantation ;
but in all probability they^effected their purpose soon enough by
working on the fears of the unfortunate offender. How it was to
be done we could not satisfactorily ascertain ; but there was no
doubt as to the efficacy of the raeans employed in the minds of the
natives. Amongst the powers of the sorcerers are those of influencing the
weather. But such powers are not confined to men of this class
alone. In Ugi, different natives are accredited with being able to
bring wind and rain ; and I knew one man who had earned for
himself a considerable reputation as a " wind-prophet" These
powers are claimed by Mule, the Treasury chief, amongst his other
jirerogatives. As far as I could ascer-tain, these natives keep no record, even in
the memory, of the lapse of years. Nor are they acquainted with
their own age. More than once when trying to obtain the date of
]]articular events, I received the wildest replies. The safest raethod
to employ in making .such inquiries is to get the native to refer a
recent event to some epoch in his own Ufe, or in the case of earlier
occurrences to associate thera with his boyhood, manhood, or mar
riage. When he asserts that a certain event occurred whilst his
father was a child, he is probably to be trusted ; but when he goes
back to the time ofhis grandfather, no further reliance can be placed
on his statements, except as implying an indefinite number of years.
I have observed elsewhere (page 76) that a grandfather is deemed a
personage of such a high antiquity that these islanders, when re
ferring to past events, seldom care to go beyond. *

56 METHOD OF BECKONING TIME.
The only raethod of reckoning that came under my notice was in
the instance of a Treasury native, who, whilst serving as interpreter
on board the "Lai-k," kept a register of the time he was away from
his island by tying a knot daily on a cord and marking Sunday by a
piece of paper, the knots being about an inch apart. I learned from
a Faro man that this is the method of recording days which is
commonly employed by the inhabitants of Bougainville Straits, the
" moons " or months being alone distinguished by a piece of native
tobacco tied in the knot. Such a practice, however, would appear
to be followed only during the temporary absences from their islands,
as when they are away on canoe expeditions. A native, captured in
1769 by Surville, whilst at Port Praslin, in Isabel, kept count of the
days of absence from his country by tying knots in a " Iacet." ^ It is
scarcely necessary for me to point out that in the " knotted cord " of
the Solomon Islanders we have the elementary form of the " quipu "
ofthe Incas.
Amongst the constellations, the Pleiades and Orion's Belt seem to
be those which are most farailiar to the natives of Bougainville
Straits. The former, which they speak of as possessing six stars,
they name " Vuhu ; " the latter, " Matatala." They have also names
for a few other stars. As in the case of many other savage races,
the Pleiades is a consteUation of great significance with the inhabi
tants of these straits. The Treasury Islanders hold a great feast to
wards the end of October, to celebrate, as far as I could learn, the
approaching appearance of this constellation above the eastern
horizon soon after sunset. Probably, as in raanjr of the Pacific
Islands, this event raarks the beginning of their year. I learned
frora Mr. Stephens that, in Ugi, where of all the constellations the
Pleiades alone receives a name, the natives are guided by it in
selecting the times for planting and taking up their yams.
1 From an extract of this voyage given in "Voyage de Marion." Paris, 1783: p. 274,
eircd.

Village of Suenna in Ugi.

\.To Jac€ page 57.

CHAPTER IV.
DWELLINGS — TAMBU-HOUSES — WEAPONS — TOOLS.
THE villages in the eastern islands of the group vary much in
size. They usuaUy contain between 25 and 40 houses, and
between one and two hundred inhabitants. There are however some
much larger, as in the case of Wano on the north coast of St. Christo
val, which probably does not possess a population much under five
himdred. In the larger villages the houses are generally built in
double rows with a comraon thoroughfare between ; and the tarabu-
house occupies usually a central position. In the village of Suenna,
as shown in the engraving, which is one of the larcest villages in
Ugi, the houses are built around a large open space free of buildings.
The usual diraeusions of the dwelling-houses are as follows : length
25 to 30 feet, breadth 15 to 20 feet, height 8 to 10 feet. The gable-
roof, which is raade of a framework of baraboos thatched with the
leaves of pandanus trees, or of cocoa-nut or areca palms, is supported
on a central row of posts. The sides are low and made of the same
materials as the roof The only entrance is by an oblong aperture
in the front of the building, which is reraoved 21 to 3 feet above
the ground, so that one has literally to dive into the interior, which
frora the absence of any other openings, is kept very dark. Such
are the diraeusions and mode of structure of an ordinary dwelling-
house in the eastern islands. The chiefs, however, have larger
buildings, which in some instances, as in those of the more powerful
chiefs, rival in size and in style the tambu-houses themselves. Many
houses have a staging in front, which is on a level with the lower
edge of the aperture that serves as the entrance. On this staging,
protected by the projecting roof, the inmates are wont to sit and lie
about during the day ; and the men occasionally pass the night
there. In the houses of the chiefs and principal men, there are
generally spaces partitioned off for sleeping and containing

58 DWELLINGS.
a raised stage for the mats ; but in the dwelling-house of an
ordinary man no such partitions usually occur. Single men sleep
on the ground on a mat, which may be nothing more than the leaves
of two branches of the cocoa-nut palra rudely plaited together. Each
raan lays his raat bythe side ofa little smouldering wood-fire, which
he endeavours to keep up during the night, and for this purpose he
gets up at all hours to fan it into a flame.
There is but little atterapt raade to please the eye in the way of
external or intemal decoration in the ordinary dwelling-house of a
native in the eastern islands. Rows of the lower jaws of pigs with
the skeletons of fishes and the dried skins of the flying-fox are to
be seen suspended frora the roof over the entrance ; whilst the
spears, clubs, and fishing implements are either thrust between the
bamboos of the roof or slung in a bundle over the entrance. Of
furniture there is but little except the large cooking-bowls, the
mats, and a circle of cooking-stones forming a rude hearth in the
centre of the fioor. I have seen in temporary sheds or " lean-tos,"
erected by fishing parties on the southern island of the " Three
SLsters," fire-places formed of a circle two to three feet across of
medium-sized Tridacna shells, the enclosed space being strewn with
small stones.
The houses of the chiefs usually display more decoration.
Amongst others I recall to my mind the brightly-coloured front of
the residence of Haununo, the intelUgent young chief of Santa Cata
lina. I ara not aware how long a native house will last. The
white residents, however, tell me that houses built for their own
use, which are raore substantial than the ordinary native dwellings,.
will stand some five or six years ; and that, notwithstanding
the heavy rainfall of this region, the thatch remains admirably
waterproof. I now come to the description of the houses in the islands of
Bougainville Straits. In the villages of Treasury and the Short-
lands, the houses are arranged in a long straggling row; and although
close to the beach they are for the most part concealed by the tree."
from the view of those on board the ships in the anchorage. In the
materials used, in their style, and in their general size, these houses
resemble those of St Christoval and the adjacent sraaller islands.
A thatch made of the leaves of the sago-palm or of the pandanus,
covers the gable-roof and the framework of the walls. The usual
dimensions of a dwelling-house, are : length 25 to 30 feet, breadth

DWELLIN(iS. 59-
12 to 15 feet, height 10 to 12 feet Since there are no means of ad
mitting light except by the door, the interiors are very dark,
insomuch that on entering one of these houses from the brifrht
sunlight the eyes require some time before they can see at all. In
the out-lying hamlets in the intei-ior of these islands, the houses
are often smaller and more rudely constructed ; and the owner
supplies the place of a door by placing a couple of large plantain
leaves or a branch of a cocoa-nut palm before the entrance.
Many of these small hamlets are only occupied during the plant
ing season.
There is a far greater difference in size between the dweUings of
the chiefs and those of the ordinary natives than exists in the
eastern islands of the group, a distinction which might have been
expected op account of the greater power of the chiefs of Bougain-
viUe Straits. Gorai, the powerful Shortland chief, has appropriated
to himself more than an acre of ground on which stand the several
buildings required for the accommodation of his numerous wives,
children, and dependents. Its precincts are tabooed to the ordinary
native ; but the old chief is always ready to extend to the white man
a privilege which he denies to his own people. His own residence
when we first met hira, had no great pretensions in size or appear
ance, raeasuring 40 by 20 feet in length and breadth, and possessing
a very dingy interior frora the absence of any opening except the
entrance to adrait light Thero was, however, a larger and better
constructed building- situated near his own for the accoraraodation
of his feraale establishraent. It measured 60 by 30 by 20 feet in
length, breadth, and height ; and was subsequently appropriated by
the chief for his own use.
The residence of Mule, the Treasury chief, was one of the largest
native edifices that I saw in the Soloraon Group. It is a gable-
roofed building, measuring about 80 feet in length, 50 feet in
breadth, and 25 to 30 feet in height. The front of the house,
which is at one of the ends of the building, has a singular appear
ance from the central part or body of the building, being advanced
several feet beyond the sides, a style which is imitated in some
of the smaller houses of the village. Its interior is very im
perfectly lighted by small apertures in the walls. I should here
refer to the large and neatiy built house of the powerful chief
of Sirabo, who, contrary to the usual practice, prefers light to dark
ness in his residence.

60 DWELLINGS.
In the two principal villages of Faro or Fauro which are named
Toraa and Sinasoro, a number of the houses are built on piles and
raised from 5 to 8 feet above the ground, as shown in the accompany
ing plate. But this custom is by no means universal in the same
vUlage, and depends, as far as I could learn, on the personal fancy of
the owner. Both these viUages are situated on low level tracts
bordering the sea; but their sites are free frora moist and swampy
ground, to the existence of which one might have attributed this
practice. The houses built on the ground are about 30 feet long, 20
feet wide, and 12 or 13 feet high; whilst those raised on piles are
con.siderably sraaUer, raeasurmg 22 by 15 feet in length and breadth,
the building itself being supported on a fraraework of stout poles
lashed on the tops of the piles by broad stripes of rattan. These
pile-dwellings are ¦ reached by rudely constructed steps made after
the style of our own ladders. The roofs of the houses in these
villages have a higher pitch than I have observed in houses
of the other islands of the Straits. Their eaves project consider
ably beyond the waUs, and the roof is often prolonged at the
front end of the building forraing a kind of portico. A neat
thatch of the leaves of the sago palm covers the sides and roof of
each building.
After remarking that the houses in the Florida Islands are often
similarly built on piles not only at the coast, but also on the hill-
slopes some distance from the sea, I pass on to briefiy refer to the
purpose of these pile-dwellings on land. It seemed to me probable
that in previous years, when the natives of Faro were not on such
friendly terms with their neighbours, the houses were built on piles
for purposes of defence against a surprise ; and that when com
parative peace and order reigned, some persons preferred the more
coraraodious house on a ground site to the smaller and less convenient
building on piles. Various explanations have been advanced with
reference to this custora of building pile-dwellings on dry land, some
of which I will enumerate. It is held by some that this custom is
but the survival of " the once purposeful habit of building them in
the water." The exclusion of pigs and goats and the protection
against wild animals have been suggested as probable objects of this
practice ; whilst by others it is urged that the purpose of these pile-
dwellings is to obviate the effects ef excessive rain and to guard
against damp exhalations from a tropical soil. Whatever may be
the cause or causes of this custom, it is one which is widely spread.

PiLE-DWELLINGS IN FaURO ISLAND.

[To face page do.

MATS. 61
being found in New Guinea, in tbe Philippines, amongst the tribes
on the north-eastern frontier of India, and in Guiana.'-
With regard to the internal arrangements of the houses in this
part of the Solomon Group, but little remains to be said. In many
houses a portion of a space is partitioned off for sleeping purposes,
usually one of the corners ; in others, again, the interior is divided
into two halves by a cross-partition. More attention is here paid to
the corafort of repose than in the eastern islands. In the place of
the single raat laid on the ground, they have low couches, raised a
foot to eighteen inches above the floor, on which thej"- lay their mats ;
whilst a round cylinder of wood serves them as a pillow. These
couches, which the natives can improvise in the bush in a few
minutes, are usually nothing more than a layer of stout poles, such
as the slender trunks of the areca palras, resting at their ends on
tv/o logs.
Mat-making is one of the occupations of the women of the
Straits, the material eraployed being the thick leaves of a species of
Pandanus which is known by the natives as the pota. The leaves
are flrst deprived of their thin polished epidermis by being rubbed
over with the leaves of a plant, named sansuti, which have a rough
surface giving a sensation like that caused by fine emery paper
when passed over the skin. The pandanus leaves are then dried in
the sun, when they become whitened and leathery, and are then
sewn together into mats. These mats are not only used to Ue upon,
but are also worn by the women over their shoulders as a
protection in wet weather. They are especially useful, as I
have myself found, when sleeping out in the open in wet
weather. They are sufficiently long to cover the whole length
of a native ; and when he is sleeping out in the bush, he lies
down on his couch formed, as above described, frora the slender
trunks of areca palras ready at his hand, and covering himself cora
pletely with his mat, he raay sleep through a deluge of rain without
being touched by the wet. The mat has a crease along the raiddle
of its length, so that when placed over the body it resembles a
" tente d'abri ; " and the rain runs off as from the roof of a house.
To intending travellers in these islands, I strongly recoraraend this
form of couch. A native mat and a blanket are all he requires tO'
carry. Almost anywhere in the bush he can find the areca palras,
1 Those of my readers who desire further information on this subject should refer to the
works of Tylor, Mosely, etc., and to " Nature " for the last few years.

•62 POTTEEY MANUFACTUEE.
the slender trunks of which, when placed as a layer of poles on two
logs, will sei-ve him as an excellent couch.
With regard to the domestic utensils in use amongst the natives
of Bougainville Straits, I should observe that cocoa-nut shells
pierced by a hole of about the size of a fiorin, are employed as
drinking-vessels. The outer surface of the shell is usually coated
over with a kind of red cement forraed of a raixture of red ochreous
earth and the resinous material, obtained from the fruit of the " tita"
(Parinarium laurinum), which is employed for caulking the seams
of the canoes. The exterior of these vessels is frequently ornamented
by double chevron-lines of native sheU-beads. Sometimes a tube of
bamboo is fitted into the orifice of the vessel to form a neck, the
whole being plastered over with the red cement and looking like
some antique earthen jar. Both of these kinds of drinking-vessels
are shown in the accompanying plate. Drinking water is always
kept at hand in a house in a number of these cocoa-nut shells which,
being hung up overhead, keep the water pleasantly cool, a plug of
leaves being used as a stopper. The native, in drinking, never puts
the vessel to his mouth, but throwing his head w^ell back, he holds
the vessel a few inches above his lips and allows the water to run
into his mouth. The milk of the cocoa-nut is drunk in the same
manner. The scoops or scrapers used in eating the white kernels of
the cocoa-nuts are generally either of bone or of pearl-shell. Some
times for this puipose a large Cardium shell is lashed to a handle,
a small hole being raade in the shell for this purpose  Wooden
hooks of clurasy size, though showing some skill in their design and
workmanship, are employed as hanging-pegs in the houses.
The cooking-vessels in use in the islands of Bougainville Straits
are circular pots of a rough clay ware, usuaUy raeasuring about nine
inches in depth and breadth, but soraetiraes more than double this
size. Cleansing these vessels out between the raeals is deemed an
unnecessary refinement These cooking-pots, one of which is shown
in the accompanying plate, are raade by the women in the
following manner : A handful of the clay, which is dark-reddish
in colour and would make a good brick-clay, is first worked to
gether in the hands into a plastic lump ; and this is fashioned
rudely into a kind of saucer to form the bottom of the vessel by
basting the mass against a fiat smooth pebble, three or four inches
.across, held in the left hand, with a kind of wooden trowel or beater

I. Model Canoe made by a St. Christoval Native.
2. Pan-pipes. Cocoanut Drinking Vessels. Cooking-pot with
Cushion and Trowel. Fan.
(All these Articles are from Treasury Island.) [To fact page 63.

POTTEEY MANUFACTUEE. 63
held in the right hand. (One of these wooden trowels is figured in
the plate.) Whilst one woraan is thus engaged, a couple of her cora
panions are occupied in flattening out, by raeans of a flat-sided stick,
strips of the clay six to twelve inches in length and an inch in
breadth, their length increasing as the raaking of the vessel pro-
gre.sses. One of these strips is then placed around the upper edge
of the saucer ; and the potter welds or batters it into position, em
ploying the same tools in a sirailar manner, the pebble being held
inside. The cooking vessel is thus built up strip by strip ; and to
enable the worker to give symmetry to the upper part of the pot, a
fillet of broad grass is tied around as a guide. An even edge is given
to the lip by drawing along the rim a fibre from the cocoa-nut husk ,
and the interior and neck are finished off by the fingers well mois
tened. Whilst being made, the cooking-pot is rested on a ring-
cushion of palm leaves, as shown in the sarae engraving. The time
occupied in making one of the ordinary sized pots is about three-
quarters of an hour. Thus made, they ai'e kept in the . shade for
three or four days to become firm ; and they are finally hardened by
being placed in a wood-fire. No glaze appears to be used, and the
vessels themselves show no signs of its employment. Their outer
surfaces are indistinctly marked by odd-looking patterns in relief,
reminding one somewhat of hieroglyphics, which are produced by the
sarae patterns cut into one of the surfaces of the wooden beater (as
shown in the engraving) for the purpose of giving the tool a
better hold on the clay. Sorae cooking-pots, as in the case of the one
iUustrated, are ornamented with a chevron-line in relief below the
neck and partly surrounding the vessel.^ This ware compares but
poorly with the finish and variety of design displayed by the glazed
pottery of Fiji. The Fijian women, however, employ sirailar tools
and accessories, naraely, a fiat raallet, a sraall round flat stone, and a
ring-like cushion of palm leaves ; but they do not appear from the .
accounts given of the process by Commodore Wilkes,^ Messrs.
Williams and Calvert,^ and Miss Gordon Cumraing,* to fashion the'
clay in the first place into strips. I may here refer the reader to the
iUustration, given by Comraodore WUkes in his narrative (vol. iii. p.
^ Specimens of the pots, the implements, the clay, and the other accessories, have been
placed in the Ethnographical Collection of the British Museum.
- "Narrative of the U.S. Explor. Exped. : " vol. iii., p. 348.
3 "Fiji and the Fijians : " Srd edit., 1870, p. 60.
^ " A Lady's Cruise in a French Man-of-War : " London, 1882, p. 247.

64 POTTEEY MANUFACTUEE.
3-tS), of pottery-making in Fiji, as it exactly suits my description of
pottery-making in these islands of Bougainville Straits.
It will be interesting, perhaps, to briefly notice some of the grada
tions in the art of pottery manufacture amongst the savage races in
this quarter of the globe. A very simple method, as recorded by
Captain Forrest ^ more than a century ago, was employed by the
-women of Dory Hai-bour, New Guinea. They forraed " pieces of
clay into earthen pots ; with a pebble in one hand to put into it,
whilst they held in the other hand, also a pebble, with which they
knocked, to enlarge and smooth it." The natives of the Andaman
Islands ^ advance another step in the process. We learn from Mr.
Man that the only implements employed are, an Aj-ca shell, a short
pointed stick, and a board. The clay is rolled out into strips with
the hand. One of these strips is twisted to form the cup-like base ;
and the pot is then built up strip by strip. The method employed
by the natives of Bougainville Straits in the Solomon Group, raay be
considered to be an improvement on the plan adopted by the Anda
man Islanders. As already described, they also fashion the cjay into
strips and build up the vessel in a similar manner, but in the
eraployraent of a special implement as the wooden beater, in the use
of the ring-cushion, and probably in the more artistic details of the
process, they make a nearer approach than do the Andaman Islanders
to the pottery-making ofthe Fijians. Then we come in the ascending
scale to the method eraployed by the woraen of the Motu tribe
around Port Moresby, New Guinea. By the Eev. Dr. W. Turner,*
we are informed that they use a round smooth stone and a wooden
beater but no cushion, the vessel being made without the aid of
strips of clay into two pieces, the body and the mouth, which are
moulded together. This method, as eraployed by the Motu women,
may not be superior to that followed araongst the women of Bou
gainville Straits ; but inasmuch as the former manufacture three
kinds of vessels, one for holding water, another for cooking, and a
third to be used as a plate, whilst the latter conflne their art to the
cooking- pot, I have assigned the first place to the former. * From
1 " A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas," by Captain T. Forrest ; London, 1^79, p. 96.
- Journal of the Anthropological Institute : vol. xii. , p. 69.
3 Ibid: vol. vii., p. 470.
¦• In the Ethnological Collection of the British Museum there are specimens from this
quarter of New Guinea of the wooden beaters employed in the pottery making. They are
highly carved and much more finished than those of Bougainville Straits, being labelled
"blocks " in the collection, as if their chief use was for imprinting patterns on the olay. It

METHOD OF PEODUCING FIEE. 65
the work of the Motu women to the pottery of the Fijians, and
between the different processes employed, there is a considerable
advance in the art of pottery manufacture, as already deseribed in
the case of Fiji. There, a glaze is for the first time eraployed ;
whilst in their finish, their comparative elegance of design, in their
multiplicity of pattern, and in the various purposes for which they
are employed from the cooking-pot up to the ornamental jar, these
Fijian vessels are greatly superior to all I have referred to, whether
the work of a woman of Port Dory, of an Andaman Islander, of a
woman of Bougainville Sti-aits, or of a woman of the Motu tribe in
New Guinea.^
The Polynesian plan of producing fire, which is known as the
" stick -and-groove " method, was that which was occasionally em
ployed by my native guides during ray excursions in St Christoval
and in the island of Simbo. At the risk of being charged with un
due prolixity, I will briefly describe it as I saw it performed. A dry
piece of wood is first taken, and one side of it is sliced so as to form
a flat surface. A sraall bit of the same wood is then pointed at one
end and worked briskly along a groove which it soon forms in the
flat surface. The friction in some three or four rainutes produces
sraoke ; and finally a fine powder, which has been collecting in a
small heap at the end of the groove, begins to smoulder. After being
carefully nursed by the breath of the operator, the tiny fiarae is
transferred to a piece of touch-wood, and the object is attained. In
most native houses in districts not often visited by the trader, pieces
of the wood used for this purpose are left lying about on the floor.
Wax matches, however, form an important item in the large quan
tities of trade-articles which pass into the hands of the natives of
sorae of the islands ; and in such islands any other method of pro
ducing fire is not generally eraployed. In most cases, when I had
omitted to take matches with me in my excursions, my natives,
although very desirous of getting a light for their pipes, were too
lazy to obtain it by making use of the raore laborious method of the
" stick-and-groove." When making their own joumeys in the bush,
they carry along with thera a piece of smouldering wood, a pre-
Beems to me, however, that their principal purpose is as beaters, the simply cut patterns of
the beater of Bougainville Straits, which serve to give the tool a better hold on the clay,
being elaborated in the case of the New Guinea beater into ornamental patterns which
have the same purpose.
1 Two kinds of earthen pots from the Admiralty Islands are figured in the official narrative
of the cruise of the "Challenger " (figs. 242 and 243). They differ in shape from those of
Bougainville Straits and are probably made in a different manner.
E

66 TOECHES AND FANS,
caution which I used to encourage thera to adopt when accorapanying
me, in order to save myself being pestered every few rainutes for a
light for their pipes.
Burning-glasses are in coraraon use araongst the natives of some
of tiie islands, as at Simbo. The reason of their being not always
favourite articles of trade in other islands, I was at a loss to under
stand. The numerous fumaroles varying in temperature between
160° and 200° Fahr. which pierce the hill-sides ofthe volcanic island
of Simbo, are eraployed by the natives for the purposes of, cooking,
as I have elsewhere observed (p. 86 ).
Fans serve the double purpose of nursing a fire and of cooling the
person. Those in use in Treasury are made of the extremities of
two branches of the cocoa-nut palm, the midribs forming the handle,
whilst the long "pinn£e " are neatly plaited together to form the fan.
One of these fans is figured in the pottery engraving. Although more
coarsely made, they are of a pattern similar to the fans of Fiji and
Samoa. The shape appears to have originated from- the nature of
the materials employed; and I suspect that in Fiji and Samoa,
where different raaterials are used, the original shape which de
pended on the plaiting of the cocoa-nut leaves has been retained,
whilst the material itself has been discarded.
The natives of Bougainville Straits burn torches during their
fishing excursions at night and during festivals. For this purpose
they use resins obtained from the " anoga," ^ probably a species of
Canariwm, and the "katari," a .species of Galophyllum, two tall
trees which rank araong the giants of the forest in this region. Th§
resin of the '' anoga " should be more properly described as a resinous
balsam. It is white, is easily pulverised, and has a powerful odour,
as if of camphor and sandal- wood combined. It concretes in mass
inside the bark and in tears on the outer surface of the tree, and is
usually obtained by cUmbing up and knocking it off the bark ; but
sometimes the tree is ringed at a height of four feet from the ground,
a process which drains it of its resin but causes its death. The
torch of this material is simply prepared by wrapping up compactly
the powdered resin in a palm-leaf, which although outside answers
the purpose of a wick. . . . The "katari" resin, which is less
frequently used, is a dark-coloured material that burns with a tarry
^ From Surville's description of his visit to Port Praslin in Isabel in 1769, it would appear
that the natives burned torches made of this resin. ("Voyage de Marion." Paris, 1783 ; p.
274.)

TAMBU-HOUSES. 67
and somewhat fragrant odour. Other resins and gums are yielded
by the trees, one of which somewhat resembles the " kauri " gum of
New Zealand, and occurs in a similar situation beneath the soil ; but
I was unable to flnd the tree.
In the tambu-houses of St. Christoval and the adjoining islands
we have a style of building on which all the mechanical skill of
which the natives are possessed has been brought to bear. These
sacred buUdings have many and varied uses. Women are forbidden
to enter their walls ; and in some coast villages, as at Sapuna in the
island of Santa Anna, where the tambu-house overlooks the beach,
woraen are not even permitted to cross the beach in front The
tambu-houses of the coast villages are employed chiefly for keeping
the war-canoes, each chief being allowed, as an honourable raark of
his position, the privilege of there placing his own war-canoe ; ^ but
in the inland villages, these buildings are of course no longer em
ployed for this purpose. Another use to which these buildings may
be put is described on page 53, in connection with the tambu-house
of Sapuna in Santa Anna, in which are deposited, enclosed in the
wooden figure of a shark, the skulls of ordinary men and the entire
bodies of the chiefs.
The front of the tambu-house in his native village is, for the
Soloraon Islander, a common place of resort, more especially towards
the close of the afternoon. There he meets his fellows and listens
to the news of his own little world ; and it is to this spot that any
native who may be a stranger to the village first directs his steps,
and on arriving states his errand or particular business. In my
numerous excursions, when thirsty or tired, I always used to follow
the native custom in this raatter, being always treated hospitably
and never with any rudeness. The interior of these buildings is free
to any man to lie down in and sleep. On one occasion, when passing
a night in an island village of St. Christoval, I slept in the tambu-
house, the only white man amongst a dozen natives. Bloodshed, I
believe, rarely occurs in these buildings ; and they are for this reason
viewed somewhat in the light of a sanctuary.
The completion of a new tambu-house is always an occasion of a
festival in a village. The festival is often accompanied by the
sacrifice of a human life ; and the leg and arm bones of the victim
1 Mr. 0. F. Wood, in his " Yachting in the Sbuth Seas " (London, 1875), gives, as the
frontispiece of his book, an autotype photograph of the tambu-house of Makira in" St,
Christoval, in which the war-canoes are well shown.

68 TAMBU-HOUSES.
may be sometimes seen suspended to the roof overhead. In the
tambu-house of the viUage of Makia, on the east coast of Ugi, I
observed hanging from the roof the two temporal bones, the right
femur, and the left humerus of the victim who had been killed and
eaten at the opening of the building ; and similarly suspended in
the tambu-house of the hill-village of Lawa on the north side of St
Christoval, in which I passed the night, I noticed over my head as I
lay on my mat the left femur, tibia, and fibula, and the left humerus
of the unfortunate man who had been killed and eaten on the com
pletion of the buUding twelve months before. At these feasts there
is a great slaughter of pigs that have been confined for some pre
vious time in an enclosure of strong wooden stakes, which may be
aMowed to reraain long after the occasion for its use has passed
away. After the feast, the lower jaws of all the pigs consuraed are
hung in rows frora the roof of the building. In one tambu-house I
remember counting as many as sixty jaws thus strung up.
The style of building and the size and relative diraeusions of the
tarabu-houses are very sirailar in all the coast-villages of the eastern
islands, a correspondence which may be explained frora the necessity
of the structure being long enough to hold the large war-canoes. As
a type of these buildings, I will describe somewhat in detail the
tambu-house of the large village of Wano, on the north coast of St
Christoval. Its length is about 60 feet and its breadth between 20
and 25 feet. The gable roof is supported by five rows of posts, tbe
height of th« central row being sorae 14 or 15 feet frora the ground ;
whilst on account of its high pitch the two outer lateral rows of
posts are only 3 or 4 feet high. The principal weight of the roof is
borne by the central and two next rows, each of which supports a
long, bulky ridge-pole. The two outer lateral rows of posts are
much smaUer and support rauch lighter ridge-poles. In each row
there are four posts, two in the raiddle and one at each gable-end.
These posts, more particularly those of the central row, are grotesquely
carved, and evidently by no unskilled hand, the lower part repre
senting the body of a shark with its head upwards and mouth agape,
supporting in various postures a rude imitation of the human figure
which formed the upper part of the post. In one instance, a man
was represented seated on the upper lip or snout of the shark, witli
his legs dangling in its mouth, and wearing a hat on his head, the
crown of which supported the ridge-pole. In another case the man
was inverted ; and whilst the soles of his feet supported the ridge-

TAMBU-HOUSES. 69
pole, his head and chest were resting in the mouth of the shark.^
Long after the tambu-house has disappeared, the carved posts
remain in their position and form a not uncommon feature in a
-village scene as shown in the engraving of a village in Ugi.
. . . The roof of the Wano tambu-house is formed of a frame
work of bamboo poles covered with palm-leif thatch, the poles being
of equal size, whether serving as rafters or cross-battens, the latter
affording attachment for the thatch. The same raaterials are used
in tbe sides of the building  With reference to tambu-houses
generaUy in this part of the group, I should remark that they are
open at both ends, with usually a staging at the front end raised
about four feet from the gr jund, which may be aptly termed " the
viUage lounge."
The tambu-house of the interesting little island of Santa Cata
lina or Orika — the Yoriki of the Admiralty chart — is worthy of a
few special remarks. Its dimensions are similar to those of like
buildings in this part of the group, the length being between 60 and
70 feet. Placed in front of each of its ends are three circles of large
wooden posts driven into the earth, each circle of ]-)osts being 4 or 5
feet in height and enclosing a space of ground a few feet across, into
which are thrown cocoa-nuts and other articles of food to appease
the hunger of the presiding deity or devil-god. The ridge-poles and
posts are painted with nuraerous grotesque representations in out
line of war-canoes and fishing-parties, of natives in full fighting
equipraent, of sharks, and of the devil-god himself, with a long, lank
body and a tail besides. On a ridge-pole there was drawn in paint
the outline of some waggon or other vehicle with tbe horses in the
shafts': whether this was a reminiscence of some native who had
been to the colonies, or was merely a copy from a picture, I did not
learn. Some of the representations on the ridge-poles were of au
obscene character. The central row of posts were defaced by
chipping, whicii I was informed was a token of mourning for the
late chief of the island, who had died not many months before. Mr.
C. F. Wood met with a similar custom in 1873 in the case of a
native of a village at the west end of St Christoval, who on the
death of his son broke and damaged the carved figures of birds and
fish in his house.^ I ara inclined to think that this house was a
' Mr. Brenchley, who visited Wano, or Wanga as he names it, in 1865, refers briefiy in
his " Cruise of H.M.S. ' Curacoa ' " to these carved posts (p. 267).
2 "A Yachting Cruise in the South Seas : " London, 1875 (p. 133).

70 TAMBU-HOUSES,
sacred building of some kind  Mr. William Macdonald,
through whose kindness I had the opportunity of visiting this
island, pointed out to me that two or three of the posts of the build
ing had been carved into the figures of women, an innovation in the
interior of a tambu-house which I observed in no other building of
this kind.
The tarabu-house of the vUlage of Sapuna in Santa Anna, which
is shown in the accorapanying plate, is higher, broader, and raore
massive in structure than the other buildings which I have visited
in the adjacent islands. As in other tambu-houses, the forras of the
shark and of the human figure are given to parts of the posts ; and
in the hollow cavities of wooden representations of the shark on the
sides of the interior of the building are enclosed the entire bodies of
departed chiefs and the skulls of ordinary men. The carved central
post, which is seen in the accompanying engraving, affords a superior
specimen of native workinanship. It was originally brought, as I
was inforraed by one of the natives of Santa Anna, from Guadal
canar. The walls of this building are made more rain-proof by long
slabs, measuring 36 by 6 by 2 inches, which are cut out from the
dense matted growth of fibres and rootlets that invests the base of
the bole of the cocoa-nut palm.
The principal tarabu-house in the village of Ete-ete, on the west
side of Ugi, is between 60 and 70 feet in length, from 25 to 30 feet
broad, and 11 or 12 feet in height. Here also the sculptured posts
represent the body of a shark with its head uppermost and sup
porting in the gape of its mouth the figure of a man, on whose
head rests the ridge-pole of the roof The front of the building is
decorated with red and black bands, sorae straight, some wa-vy, and
others of the chevron pattern. Mr. Brenchley in his account of the
" Cruise of the ' Curacoa ' " gives a sketch of this tarabu-house, which
he visited in 1865 (p. 258). Forming the frontispiece of his work is
a chromo-lithograph showing the two sides of an ornaraental tie-
beara frora the roof of a " public hall " at Ugi, which he presented to
the Maidstone Museum. It represents on one side sharks, bonitos,
and sea-birds supposed to be frigate-birds, and cn the other side four
canoes with sharks attacking the crew of one of them, which is
bottora upwards.
The deification of the shark appears to arise from the superstitious
dread which this fish inspires. Its good-will may be obtained by
leaving offerings of food on the rocks before undertaking a long

Tambu-House in the Island of Santa Anna,
(Preparations for a Feast.)

TAMBU-HOUSES. 71
journey in a canoe. Tbe natives of the neighbouring island of Ulaua,
or Ulawa, propitiate the shark with offerings of their ovvn shell-
money and of porpoise teeth, which they prize even more than
money ; and, if a sacred shark has attempted to seize a man who
has been able to finally escape from its jaws, they are so much afraid
that they will throw him back into the sea to be devoured.^ We
learn from Mr. EUis^ and from Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet,** that
in the Society Islands sharks were deified, that temples were erected
for their worship in which the fisherman propitiated tho favour of
the shark -god, and that almost every faraily had its particular shark
as its tutelary deity to which it bowed and made oblations.
At Aiu and Treasury in Bougainville Straits, the tambu-house,
which is such a prorainent feature in the villages of the eastern
islands, is represented by a mere open canoe-shed, for the most part
destitute of ornament, and apparently held in but little veneration
Rows of the lower jaws of pigs, which are strung up inside the build
ings, signify, as in the eastward islands, the number of animals
slaughtered for the feast that Avas held to celebrate the completion
of the canoe-shed. In the island of Faro, the canoe-houses are only
temporary sheds built over the large war-canoes, and can have no
sacred character in the mind of the native, the tambu-houses in the
two principal villages of Toraa and Sinasoro having no connection
with the war-canoes. The tarabu-house of the village of Toraa is a
neat-looking building about 18 feet high, 45 feet long, and 25 feet
broad. It is open at the ends and partly open at the sides, and is
built of much the sarae materials as the dwelling-houses. The roo<,
which is neatly thatched with the leaves of the sago-palm, is sup
ported on stout ridge-poles by a central and two lateral rows of
posts. There is no carving and but little decoration about the build
ing ; and from the circumstance of its being sometiraes converted
into a temporary drying-house for copra, we may draw some infer-
eiice as to the degree of sanctity in which such a building is held.
The weapons in coramon use in these islands are spears, clubs,
bows and arrows, and tomahawks. An indication of the disposition
of the natives raay be usuaUy obtained by observing whether arms
1" Eeligious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia," bythe Eev. E. H. Codrington, M.A.
"Journal of the Anthropological Institute.'' Vol. x.
2 " Polynesian Besearches : " London, 1853. Vol. i., pp. 167, 329.
s " Voyages and Travels of the Eev. D. Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. : " London, 1831.
Vol. i., p. 247.

72 WEAPONS.
are habitually carried. In islands where the men go unarmed, the
white man, from the absence of intertribal conflicts, has an additional
guarantee for his own safety. On the other hand, araongst natives
who never leave the vicinity of their villages without a spear or a
club, he will requiro to be very cautious in all that concerns his
safety. The spears are usuaUy 8 to 9 feet in length, with no foreshaft,
and are raade of a hard palm wood. Those of the natives of Bougain
ville Straits are \ery formidable weapons. They are armed with
long points or barbs of bone, sorae of them 4 or 5 inches in length,
and they are coloured white and red, are curiously carved, and are
ornamented with bands of the same plaited raaterial of which the
armlets are made. The barbs and bands are imitated in the colour
ing of the head of the spear. These spears are raade by the natives
of Bougainville, and are exchanged with the people of the Straits for
European articles of trade. I have seen them in the hands of the
men of Simbo. In St. Christoval and the adjacent islands at the
other end of the group, the spears are of dark wood, with carved
heads and blunt wooden points and are uncoloured. As compared
with those of Bougainville Straits, they are not very formidable
weapons. They are only armed with blunt barbs cut out of the
wood, which are rather more ornamental than useful.
In throwing a spear, the men of Bougainville Straits, whilst
poising the weapon, extend the left arm in the direction of the object
and often point the forefinger as well. None of the contrivances fot
assisting the flight of the spear, such as the throwing-stick or the
amentura, were employed by the natives of the islands we visited.
These weapons are used both as hand-weapons and as missiles. The
natives of St Christoval spear their victims through the abdomen,
and as a mark of their prowess they often aUow the gore to dry on
the point of the weapon. A raan in this island usuaUy keeps his
spears slung in a bundle under tbe projecting eaves of the roof in
front of the entrance to his house.
Bows and arrows are rauch raore coraraonly eraployed by the
natives of Bougainville Straits than by the St. Christoval natives.
The bows are stoutly made, and are from 6 to 7 feet in length. The
string is of a strong cord. The arrows used in the first-mentioned
locality are usually 4| to 4f feet in length. They have a long reed
shaft, with a pointed foreshaft of a hard heavy palm wood inserted
into the end. and measuring about one-fourth the length of the arrow

WEAPONS. 73
Although most of the arrows have simple pointed foreshafts, desti
tute of barbs, a few terminate in arrow-heads carved out of tlie hard
wood. A kind of dart, rauch shorter than the arrow and armed with
points of bone, is also used. About nine out of every ten arrows are
notched for the bowstring. Feathers are not used ; but the hinder
shaft of each arrow is decorated with etchings as if in imitation of
jdumes. These arrows are essentially Melanesian in character, and
much resemble those in the British Museum CoUection from New
Guinea and the New Hebrides.^ At short distances of 25 or 30
yards, the natives make good shooting with the bow and arrow ; but
on account of the length of the arrow it is not to be depended on at
greater ranges. For shooting fish and pigeons, the natives of these
Straits sometimes employ sraall arrows fashioned out of the large
leaf of a kind of reed. The midrib serves as the shaft, and a narrow
strip of the blade of the leaf, which is left attached on each side of
the shaft, serves the purpose of the plurae. The end is pointed and
hardened by fire. Such arrows are easily made, and are not generally
sought for after they have been shot away.^ On one occasion I ob
served a boy of Aiu shooting a pigeon with an arrow terminating in
fine points Uke a miniature fish-spear.
Poisoned spears and arrows are rarely employed by the natives
of the Solomon Group. They did not corae under our observation
in any of tiie islands that we visited. In the island of Savo, how
ever, the natives are said to poison their spears and arrows by
thrusting them into a decomposing corpse, where they are allowed
to remain for some days.
The clubs vary in form in different parts of the group. In St.
Christoval, they have flat recurved blades cut out of the fiange-like
buttresses of a tree having very hard wood which bears a polish Uke
that of mahogany. In other islands, as in those of Florida, thej'^
^ To those who have never had their interest specially engaged in the subject of savage
weapons, the above detailed description of these arrows may seem unnecessary ; but, as
Colonel Lane Fox originally pointed out, it is iu the absence or presence of the feather and
notch, in the length and formation of the shaft and its point, and in other characters, that
the arrows of different races are distinguished from each other. Thus, in many parts of New
Guinea in Melanesia agenerally, and throughout the Pacific, the arrows are destitute of
feathers; while those from Europe and Asia are always feathered. (P'ide "Catalogue of
the original Lane Fox Collection," pp. 87-95 ; also, paper on " Primitive Warfare." " Journ.
Unit. Ser. Inst.," 1867-68, for a general treatment of the subject.) Prof. Morse has shown
that in the different methods of releasing the arrow from the bow, important race-distinctions
are to be found. An abstract of his interesting paper is given in " Nature," Nov. 4th, 1886.
2 Mr. Mosely in his "Notes by a Naturalist," p. 381, describes and figures very similar
arrows which are used by the Ke Islanders for the same purposes.

74 WEAPONS.
have flattened oval blades like that of a paddle. Otiier clubs againi
like those of Guadalcanar, are moro cylindrical, and have their ends
but slighty enlarged ; they ai-e often ornamented with the so-called
" dyed grass." No weapons of the character of maces came under
my observation. Most clubs are pointed at tho butt-end to enable
them to be stuck upright in the ground. These weapons are rarely
seen in the hands of the natives of Bougainville Straits, if I may
except an ornamental club which is carried at the dances.^ Tho St.
Christoval club is also a defensive weapon. Its flat recurved blade
is used to turn aside a spear or an arrow just as the bat is employed
to slip a cricket-ball. Some have considered that these weapons are
merely paddles. I never saw them put to this uso, and I should
add that they are most unsuited for such a purpose, being very
heavy and sinking in water. I havo frequently met natives, when
away from the coast, carrying them on their shoulder ; and I often
learned from thera of the true character of the weapon. Traders,
who had been years in this part of the group, spoke of them to ma
as war-clubs. Together with their spears, the St Christoval natives
carry thera during their hostile incursions against the bushmen-
A singular W pattern that occurs on the flat blades of these St.
Christoval clubs was for a long time a puzzle to me. However
a very probable explanation of its origin has been given by Major-
General Pitt-Rivers.^ It is ono which goes to show that theso
curved flat-bladed clubs originated as paddles, and that in proportion
as they came to be employed also for purposes of defence, their form
and material were in tirae changed, until thoir original use was
either lost or forgotten. In the early forms of this paddle-club, tho
swell of the blade suggested the shape of the body of a fish ; and
the profile of a fish's head with the jaws agape was added to com
plete the resemblance. In course of time the blade lost its fish-liko
form, but the outline of the snout with jaws agape was still retained
as an ornament. In this manner the W pattern of the present clubs
originated. The steps in the production of this pattern may bo
illustrated in a series of clubs from those with most marked fish-liko
form to those where the profile of the fish's snout in tho form of a
W alone remains ; and this again by the omission of the mouth is
often replaced by a triangular nob.
1 These ornamental clubs exactly losemblc, both in form and decoration, somo dubs fvom
New Ireland in the British Museum.
2 " Naturo," July 14th, 1881. I differ from the writer in considering these articles na
clubs, not paddlcu.

Fish-Spear.Spears from Bougainville Straits.
St. Christoval Spears.
Head of a Florida Club.
St. Christoval Clubs.
Dance-Club of Treasury.

7. Canoe-Ornament, placed on the
prow.
8. Hanging-Hook (Treasury I.).
9. Fish-Float.
10. Canoe-God, lashed to the stem.
i'fo face page 74.

SHIELDS. 75
Toraahawks and muskets, which have been introduced by the
trader, are frequently possessed by natives of the coast. The owner
of the tomahawk fits it with a long straight handle which he ofteii
decorates with inlaid pearl-shell. It is a formidable weapon in the
hands of a native, and it is one which he usually eraploys very
effectively, whether against his fellow islanders or against the whito
man. The muskets are often of little use on account of the lack of
percussion caps and powder.
The defensive arm carried by these islanders is usually a narrow
shield measuring 3 feet in length by 9 or 10 inches in breadth.
W ith the exception apparently of St Christoval, these shields are to
be observed amongst the natives of most of the larsrer islands of the
group. They appear usually to be made of a layer of light reeds or
canes lashed together by rattan. In some islands, as in Florida and
in Guadalcanar, they are worked over with fine wicker-work, and
are ornamented with beads in the case of a chief In other islands,
as in Isabel and Choiseul, they are often more rudely constructed
and have no wicker-work. In the two last islands they are
rectangular in forra. In Florida and Guadalcanar they are raore
oval and are slightly contracted in the raiddle. Mr. Brenchley
figures one of tho Florida shields in his " Cruise of H.M.S. 'Curacoa,' "
(p. 281) ; whilst a sketch of a shield of the Port Praslin (Isabel)
natives is to be found in the narrative of Surville's visit to this
group.^ The Port Praslin shield is deeply notched at one end. I
did not observe these shields amongst the inhabitants of St. Chris
toval and the adjacent islands, a circumstance which may be
explained by the fact that spears, and not hows and arrows, are
the offensive weapons usually carried by these islanders. Yet we
learn that three centuries ago it was with their bows and arrows
that the St Christoval natives usually assailed the Spaniards (vide
pages 228, 231. It should be remembered that the flat-bladed curved
clubs of these natives also serve the purpose of a defensive weapon.
The tactics employed in war are those which treachery and
cunning suggest. Very rarely, I beUeve, does a fair, open fight
occur. In their sham fights, one of which we witnessed on the beach
at Santa Anna, two parties confront each other in open and irregular
order and hurl their spears with aU the excitement of a real contest.
Every man keeps constantly on the move as in dancing a jig, in
order to be able to more easily avoid the missUes hurled at him.
1 Fleurieu's " Discoveries of the French in 1768 and 1769."

76 POLISHED STONE IMPLEMENTS.
The boys of Treasury soraetiraes amuse theraselves with a game of
the same character, when they use as their weapons the stalk and
bulb of the large taro. I was on one occasion much surprised at
their skill in aiming apparently at one boy and hitting the one next
to him. The polished stone impleraents of their fathers have been to a
large extent discarded by the natives of the coasts ; but the natives
of the interiors of the large i.slands, such as Bougainville, who may
have been rarely, if ever, in communication with the trader, are said
to be still in a large degree dependent on their stone axes and adzes.
On account of the extensive introduction of trade axes, adzes, and
knives, it was often difiieult to obtain the polished stone implements
from the people of a coast village, and natives were wont to express
their surprise at my wanting such inefficient and old-fashioned tools.
My inquiries as to when these stone implements were used usually
received some such reply as the following : " Father, belong father,
belong rae, he all sarae " — the purport of which was that they were
in use a long tirae ago, the native's grandfather being deemed a
person of so high antiquity, that in referring to past events he
seldom cares to go beyond. These stone axes and adzes are generally
made of the hard volcanic rocks of this region. A few are fashioned
out of the thick portion of the shell of Tridacna gigas.
The upper surface of a large raushroora-coral (Fungidm), serves
as an effective rasp for scraping canoes ; and the large shell of a
Cyre-na and the sharper edge of a boar's tusk are similarly used for
scraping spears and bows, which are ultimately rubbed smooth with
powdered pumice.
The " bow-drill," armed with a steel point, was employed by
Mule, the Treasury chief, in piercing the holes for the rattan-hke
thongs in the planks of his canoes. This was the only " bow-drill"
that came under my notice, and I could not tempt its owner to part
with it In the British Museum Collection, however, there are two
smaUer tools of this kind from other islands of the group. Without
describing it, I may remark that a similar '" bow-drill" is figured in
Commodore Wilkes' account of the Bowditch Islanders,^ by Dr. G.
Turner^ in his account of the Samoans, and by Signor D'Albertis in
his book on New Guinea.^ The history of the "bow-drill," as we
' "Narr. TJ. S. Expl. Exped.," vol. v., p. 17.
2 "Ninteen years iu Polynesia," p. 273.
8 Vol. ii., p. 378.

GEINDING STONES. 77
learn from Dr. Tylor,^ is an interesting one. It originated with the
" fire-drill," which is simply a pointed piece of wood that is twirled
between the hands. This vvas then made more efiicacious by wind
ing a cord around it, when it became a " cord-driU." By substituting
for the cord a bow with a loose string, a still more useful tool
was obtained : and frora this simple form of " bow-drill" the Pacific
islanders have obtained the iraproved boring-tool they now employ.
I should here allude to the round stones, rather larger than a
cricket-ball, which are employed as " cooking-stones" and for crack
ing the hard kanary-nuts. They are to be seen in the raajority of
the dweUings in the eastern islands ; and they often mark the sites
of old villages and the temporary homes of fishing-parties.
The grinding slabs and blocks of rock, which were used for
rubbing down the stone axes, are still to be seen in the coast villages,
their surfaces being sometimes worn into a hollow. At present
these blocks are used for grinding down the shell bead-money and
for sharpening the iron tools. I have soraetiraes corae upon them
marking the position of an old village, the site of which had been
long concealed by the growth of trees and scrub. In some islands
where it is not possible to obtain stones of a sutficient hardness, these
blocks have been transported from considerable distances. A large
block of a crystalline trap-rock, more than a third of a ton in weight,
vvhich now lies on the reef-fiat in the vicinity of the village of
Vanatoga on the east side of Santa Anna, was originally brought
down from the summit of the island to be used as a grinding block.
Slabs of a quartz-diorite, wbich is found in the north-west part of
Aiu, and which is much valued for its hardness, have been transported
in canoes to Treasury Island more than twenty railes away and to
the other islands of the Straits. From their size, they would weigh
usually five or six hundredweight.
Araongst the interesting discoveries which I have raade in the
Soloraon Group, I should refer to that of the occurrence of worked
flints, which are coraraonly found in the soil when it is disturbed
for purposes of cultivation, and are frequently exposed after heavy
rains. My attention was first directed to this raatter on noticing a
specimen of flint in the posses.sion of Mr. Howard at Ugi, and I
soon obtained a number of specimens from this island, and from the
adjacent large island of St Christoval. The majority of them were
of common flint, but fragments of chalcedony and cornelian were
1 " Early History of Mankind : " pp. 237-246.

78 WOEKED FLINTS.
frequent, and a jasper also occurred. The largest specimen, which
was nearly 4 lbs. in weight, clearly showed traces of artificial working,
and, as I am informed by Professor Liversidge, was evidently a
large, stone axe or tomahawk. Of the rest, some were cores, others
were flakes, resembling in their form, and often in their white colour,
the flakes of the post-tertiary gravels ; whilst one specimen possessed
the shape of an arrow-head.y Some of these flints presented the
appearance of having been re-fashioned after lying disused for ages.
In such speciraens, there were two sets of facets or fractured surfaces,
the one whitened by weathering or exposure, the other displajdng
the natural colour of recently broken flint All were, in fact, of the
palceolithic type. The specimens, that I obtained in the islands of
Treasury and Aiu in Bougainville Straits, were usually of chalcedonic
flint, and possessed tbe forra of hammer-stones, scrapers, etc.
Worked flints will probably be found in most of the islands of the
Soloraon Group, except, perhaps, in those of purely volcanic forma
tion (vide page 80). They are said to occur in Santa Anna, and I had
a specimen given to me from Ulaua.
There are two interesting circurastances in connection with these
flints to which I should allude. In the first place, the inhabitants
of these islands are ignorant of their nature and their source. I
was gravely informed by the natives of Treasury Island, that the
hints which the}'^ brought me from the disturbed soil of their
] ilantations had tumbled from the sky, a superstition which reminds
one of a similar belief prevalent in sorae rural districts of our own
country as to tbe origin of the polished stone implements or celts.
In a similar way the men of the Shortland Islands explained to me
the occurrence beneath the soil of lumps of gum, which, hke the
masses of the kauri gum of New Zealand, mark the original position
of the trees from which they were derived.
Concerning these flint implements, we may fitly ask : Who were
the race of men that formed and used thera ? How long a period
has elapsed since these raen inhabited this region ? Whence did
they corae ? Where are their descendants to be sought ? Are they
to be found amongst the present inhabitants of this group, who,
having discarded the rude flint implements for polished stone tools
of volcanic rock, regard, with ignorant contempt, the handiwork of
their ancestors ? To these queries we may with some confidence
reply that the original inhabitants of these islands belonged to the
once widely spread Negrito race, of which we find the remnants in

WORKED FLINTS. 79
our own day in the aborigines of the Andaman and Philippine
Islands, and that their characters, both physical and hnguistic, have
been fused with those of other races which have reached the
Solomon Islands both from the Malay Archipelago to the west, and
from the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia to the east. The
present natives of this group may, in truth, be considered as the
result of the fusion of the Negrito aborigines with the Malayan,
Micronesian, and Polynesian intruders.
The second interesting point with reference to these ancient
dint irapleraents is concerned with their original source. Professor
Liversidge, in drawing attention to ray speciraens, which he ex
hibited at a raeeting of the Royal Society of New South Wales in
Deceraber, 1883, remarked that this discovery of flints in these
regions afforded a very strong proof of the probable presence of
true chalk of cretaceous age in the South Sea Islands, and he
alluded to a soft white Umestone undistinguishable from chalk, which
had been previously brought from New Ireland by Mr. Brown, the
Wesleyan missionary.^ Chalk-rocks carae under my observation in
the Soloraon Islands ; but in no case was I able to find embedded
flints (vide Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Vol. 32, Part 3). I think
it, however, highly probable that when the interior of one of the
large islands such as Guadalcanar has been explored, older chalk
formations containing flints will be discovered. The island of
Ulaua, which I was unable to visit, would probably afford some clue
as to the source of these flints. Although in all likeUhood this
island possesses the general geological structure of the neighbouring
island of Ugi, which is described on page vu. yet it possesses one
peculiar feature. Mr. Brenchley,^ when landing on the beach of
this island of Ulaua in 1865, picked up a great raany pieces of flint
scattered about among the broken-up coral, and he wondered where
they came from. Captain Macdonald, a resident trader in this part
of the group, informed me that flints are abundant on the beaches
of this island, together with fragments of a white chalk-like rock.^
^"Journal of the Royal Society of New South Wales:" vol. xvii., p. 223; inde aXso
"Geolog. Mag." Dec, 1877. Mr. H. B. Brady is at present engaged in working out the
Foraminifera of this New Ireland rock. Its age, though still sub judice, is probably compara
tively recent.
^ " Cruise of the ' Curacoa, ' " p. 2.j.iJ.
2 Should any of my readers iu the Western Pacific ha,ve the opportunity of visiting the
iiland of Ulaua, it would be well worth their while to pay careful attention to the mode of
occurrence of these flints. I am of the opinion that imbedded flints will be found in the
ncent rocks of this island.

80 WORKED FLINTS.
In the island of Faro, which is entirely of volcanic formation,
flints are not known to the natives, and it would be interesting to
ascertain whether they are similarly absent from other islands of
the same character. When in search of the source of these flints, I
was more than once led off on a false scent. It was on one such
occasion, when accompanying Gorai, the Shortland chief, on an ex
cursion in his war-canoe to the north-west part of the island of Aiu,
that I experienced a great disappointraent. Learning from the
chief that he could direct me to the place where the flints ("kilifela")
were found, I was in great hope of at last finding thera imbedded.
The locality, however, proved to be of volcanic formation, and a pit
or cave in which the flints were to be found, successfully eluded our
efforts to discover it. I would, however, recomraend future visitors
to endeavour to find this pit which lies a little way in from the
beach and close to the north-west point of Aiu. Its examination
might throw some fresh light on the aborigines of these regions.
The occurrence of fiints on the south-east coast of New Guinea
has been recorded by Mr. Stone.^ He tells us that the sraall island
of Tatana at the head of Port Moresby is " strewn with pieces of a
cornelian-coloured flint, called by the natives vesika and used for
boring holes through shell, bone, or other hard substances." In
1767, Captain Carteret found spears and arrows pointed with flint
in use amongst the natives of the Santa Cruz Group and of Gower
Island, one of the Solomon Islands.^ M. Surville, when anchored in
Port Praslin in the Solomon Group in 1769, observed that the
natives employed " a sort of flint " as knives and razors and for ob
taining fire.^ In ray own intercourse with these islanders I did not
find fiints in use araong them ; but it is very probable that in some
islands the ancient flint implements are occasionally employed for
cutting purposes.*
1 " A few months in New Guinea," by O. 0. Stone. London, 1880, p. 72.
2 Hawkesworth's " Voyages" : vol. i., pp, 296, 297.
3 Fleurieu's " Discoveries of the French in 1768 and 1769," etc : p. 144.
^ In Raffles' " History of Java " (1830 ; vol i., pp. 25, 33) it is stated that common flints,
hornstone, chalcedony, jasper, cornelian, etc., are frequently found in the beds of the streams
of this island. If not already inquired into, furtucr information should be sought concern
ing the shape and the eource of these flints

CHAPTER V.
CULTIVATION — FOOD, ETC.
THE inhabitants of the islands of Bougainville Straits display far
more interest in the cultivation of the soil than do those of St
Christoval and its adjacent islands. Whether this circurastance raay
be attributed to the greater powers wielded by the chiefs of these
islands, and to the consequent tranquillity which their peoples enjoy,
or whether it is due to the comparatively isolated position of these
islands of the Straits which has secured to their inhabitants a free
dom from the attacks of neighbouring tribes, I can scarcely distin
guish. It is, however, probable that the explanation of the extensive
cultivated tracts with the consequent abundance of food in the one
region, and of the raeagre patches of cultivation with the resulting
dearth of food in the other, lies raore in the surroundings than in the
individual character of the natives.
In the island of Treasury acres and acres of taro and banana
plantations lie in the immediate vicinity of the village; and I passed
through similarly cultivated tracts in the east and west districts ot
the island. The wide and level region, which constitutes the margin
of the island, is covered with a deep productive soil. Cultivation is
not confined, however, to the raore level districts. Large cultivated
patches lie on the hill-slopes behind the village ; and in other places
fire and the axe are constantly eraployed in the preliminary work
of clearing the hill-side. The islands of the Shortlands exhibit a
corresponding degree of industry on the part of their inhabitants.
When crossing the eastern part of the island of Morgusaia, I traversed
for nearly a mile one continuous tract of cultivation. In the midst
of the taro and banana plantations stood groves of the stately sago
palm and clumps of the betel-nut palra. An occasional bread-fruit
tree towered over all ; and now and then a hme tree was pointed
out by my guides. This extensive tract belonged to the chief

82 CULTIVATION.
Sorae of the cultivated patches in the Shoi'tlands are marked out by
lines of poles laid flat on the ground into long, narrow divisions,
about twenty feet in width, each wife of the owner of the patch con
fining her labours to her own division.
On the east side of the island of Fauro, the interval between the
villages of Toma and Sinasoro is to a great extent under cultivation,
and is occupied chiefly by banana and taro plantations. Similar
indications of the prosperity of the inhabitants are displayed in the
number of cocoa-nut palms .and bread-fruit trees, with here and there
a grove of sago palras, which occupy the low tract of land on which
the village of Toma stands. In the planting season natives of the
Straits spend weeks in their distant plantations in the interior of
their islands ; and in the instance of Fauro Island, many of them
possess other plantations in the small outlying uninhabite'd islands
which they visit in parties at the regular periods. ;
In the islands of Bougainville Straits, the banana, taro, and the
sweet potato are the vegetables which are grown in greatest quantity.
The yara does not appear to be such a fa-v'ourite article of food as in
the eastern islands. I observed in Treasury that the natives protect,
the short stems of the large taro against the depradations of the
large frugivorous bats {Pteropidce) by lashing them round with,
sticks. ¦ '
.Here, as in the eastern islands, the following method of climbing
the cocoa-nut palm and other trees prevailed. A lashing or thong
around' the ankles supports much of the weight of the body, and
serves as a fulcrum for each effort of the climber towards the top.
When the cocoa-nut palm is rather inclined to one side, I have seen
a native adopt the mode of the West Indian negro, and walking up
the trunk on all fours, after the style of monkeys  It
is a singular circumstance, as residents in the group inforra rae, that
natives never sefein tobe struck by a falling cocoa-nut, notwithstand
ing that they raust be frequently exposed to injury from this cause.
I have often, when sitting amongst a group of natives in a viUage
under the .shade of the cocoa-nut trees, been warned by those around.
rae that the nuts might fall on us. On two occasions I have had
heavy cocoa-nuts fall to the ground within reach of mj' arm, which,
if they had struck my head with the momentum imparted by a drop
of some fifty feet, would undoubtedly have stunned me\
I may here refer to the sago palm, wdiich is grown in far greater
numbers in, the islands of Bougainville Straits than in St Christoval

THE SAGO PALM. 83
and its vicinity. It furnishes not only the vegetable-ivory nut of
these islands and the sago, which is an important item in the native
dietar^^ but its leaves supply the thatch for the roofs and sides of
the houses. Althoilgh belonging to the same genus, Sagus, it is
evidently distinct in species from the sago palra of Fiji (Sagus
vitiensis), which, according to Mr. Home, grows on the low-lying
swampy land, and attains a height of about 35 feet^ In the Soloraon
Islands, the height of full-grown sago palms varies between 60 and
70 feet ; whilst the situations in which they are usually fouud, lie
on the hill-slopes and in the drier districts of the islands. In the
islands of Fauro and Treasury groves of sago palms occur both on
the lower slopes and in the higher districts. They occur on the
summit of Treasury at a height of a thousand feet above the sea ;
and I observed a few at Fauro at a height of 1400 feet I found
them in the middle of the breadth of St. Christoval, between Wano
and Makira  The sago palm in these islands is the
finest specimen ofthe Palmaceos. I often used to admire its heavy
bole terminating above in its handsome crown of massive branches.*
In the extraction and preparation of the sago, the natives of
Bougainville Straits employ the following raethod. After the palra
has been felled and all the pith reraoved, either by scooping it out
or sphtting the trunk, the pith is then torn up into sraall pieces and
placed in a trough extemporised from the broad sheathing base of one
of the branches of the felled tree. The trough is then tilted up and
is kejjt filled with water, which running away at the lower end
passes through a kind of strainer, made of a fold of the vegetable
mattino; that invests the bases of the branches of the cocoa-nut tree,
and is then received in another trough of sirailar material. The
fibrous portion of the pith is thus left behind, and the sago is de
posited as a sediment in the lower trough. When this trough is full
of sago, the superfluous water is poured off, and the whole is placed
over a fire so as to get rid of the remaining raoisture. This method
of sao'o-vvashing is similar to that which is employed in the islands
of the Malay Archipelago. The sago is now fit for consumption, and
is wrapped up in the leaves in the form of cylindrical packages 1 J to
2 feet in length. For the convenience of the water-supply, sago-
washino- is carried out usually on the side of a streara. The refuse
1 "A Year in Fiji," by John Home, F.L.S. London, 1881, p. 68.
- Althouo-h this palm, when full grown, has the appearance of great .age and durability, it
docs not live for more than 20 years, when it flowers, bears, and dies.

84 FOOD.
is afterwards aUowed to decay on the banks, and the water of the
streara is contaminated for a long time after, whilst the air in the
vicinity is impregnated with the unpleasant sour odour of the de
caying debris.
The diet of these islanders is essentially a vegetable one, and
most of the comraon articles of food have already been referred to.
Yaras, svveet potatoes, two kinds of taro,^ cocoa-nuts, plantains, and
sugar-cane forra the staple substances of their diet In St Christoval
and the adjacent islands the yam is more extensively cultivated ;
\v-hilst in the islands of Bougainville Straits the taro and the sago-
palm are more usually grown and the yam is less preferred. The
bread-fruit appears to be but an occasional article of food ; and it
was only now and then, as in the vicinity of the village of Toma in
Fauro Island, that I observed the tree in any nurabers. In Bou
gainville Straits there appears to be but one variety of the bread
fruit tree (Arfocarpus iricisa) which ripens in August. Its leaves
are deepl}'- lobed (pinnatisect) and have an even surface ; and the
fruit are stalked, seedless, rough, and of a somewhat oval shape. In
Santa Anna there is another variety of the Artocarpus incisa, the
fruit of which has seeds and ripens in October. In the plantations
of Treasury Island I came upon a tree which is apparently a variety
of the Jack-fruit tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) ; it is known to the
natives as the " tafati," whilst the bread-fruit tree is known in this
part of the group as the " balia." Two cucurbitaceous fruits are
coraraonly grown in the i.slands of Bougainville Straits. One is a
large pumpkin, and tbe other is an oval " pepo," about six inches
long, known to the natives as the " kusiwura ; " it is a variety of
Cuciimis melo, and is a very good substitute for the ordinary cucum
ber. Araongst other vegetables grown in the cultivated patches of
this region are two varieties of a species of Solaniim, probably
repandum, which are known to the natives as "kobureki" and
" kirkarai;" and a second species of yam, Dioscorea sativa ("alapa").*
Amongst the fruit-trees grown hy the natives of BougainvUle
Straits in their plantations are the Papaw-tree {Carica Papatia)'. a
^ The small tai-o, which also grows wild on the sides ot the streams and is called " koko "
in Bougainville Straits, is apparently Colocasia esculenta. The large taro, which grows to a
height ot 7 or 8 feet, and is known as the "kiilafai," maybe the same as the "via kana" of
Fiji {Cyrtosperma edulis). I cannot, however, speak with any authority on this subject, ns I
collected no specimens.
2 Traders occasionally introduce foreign vegetables. Gorai, the Shortland chief, grows a
litt'e maize in one of his plantations.

THE KANARY-NUT. y.3
species of Lime -v<rhich the Aiu chief grows in his extensive cultivated
patches ; a Mango, probably Mangifera indica (" false ") ; the " loro-
long," a species of Barringtonia (probably B. edulis) which, when in
flower, is at once known by its handsome pendent yellow spikes
2| feet in length ; the kernel of the fruit is eaten, but it is not equal
in flavour to the similar kernels of the " saori " (TerininaUa catappa)
and the " ka-i " (Gana'num sp.) ; the " sioko," is apparently another
species of Barringtonia, the fruit of which ripens in May ; the " usi,''
a tall tree 60 or 70 feet high (not deterrained), the fruits of which
ai-e juicy, seedless, and have a pleasant flavour ; the leaves have an
acid taste and are eaten by the natives.
Such are the principal fruits and vegetables cultivated by the
natives of this part of the group ; but before proceeding to the
methods of cooking and of serving them up, I should refer to the
white kemels ofthe "ka-i," a species of Canarium, which forra one
of the staple articles of vegetable food throughout the Solomon
Group. My specimens sent to Kew were only sufficient for generic
identification. It is, however, probable that this tree is identical
with, or closely allied to, Gananum commune, which is the familiar
" kanarie " of the Malay Archipelago, and the " kengar " of tbe
Maclay-Coast, New Guinea.^ This tree is raainly indebted to the
fruit pigeon for its wide dispersal. The fruit is of a dark purple
colour, oval in shape, and 2 to 2| inches in length. Its fleshy cover-
ino-, which is also eaten by the natives, invests a triangular stony
nut inclosing the white kernel which sometimes rivals the almond
in delicacy of flavour. It requires a httle practice to crack the nut
readily. For this purpose the natives employ a rounded stone of
the size of a cricket ball, the nut being placed in a little hollow on
the surface of a flat stone. The frait-pigeons are very fond of the
fleshy covering of this fruit ; and it is their disgorgement of the
hard nuts which coUect at the foot of the trees, that often saves ths
native the necessity of climbing up and picking the fruit for him
self. This nut, which is famUiarly known in this group as the Solo
mon Island Almond, and in the Malay Archipelago as the Kanary
Nut, is in fact an article of considerable importance in the dietary
of the inhabitants of these regions, and it is often stored up in large
quantities. In order to keep them, the natives of Treasury Island
han a- the nuts up in leaf-packages from the branches of the cocoa-
nut palms.\ The Spanish discoverers of the Solomon Islands under
1 " Proceedings, Linnean Society, N.S.W." Vol. .\., p. 349.

8G FOOD.
Mendana, seized and carried off to their ships the stores of these
almonds, as they called them, which they found in the houses of the
unfortunate natives. According to Miklouho-Maclay, the inhabitants
of the Maclay Coast of New Guinea store up the nuts of the Gana-
rium commune between May and July.^ Labillardiere, writing at
the end of last century, tells us that the natives of Amboina, lay in
a large stock cf the kernels of the Canarium for their voyages.^
With reference to the mode of cooking employed, I should re
mark that it varies in different parts of the group. In St. Christo
val and the adjacent islands very palatable cakes are produced by
mashing together the taro, cocoa-nut, plantain, and kanary-nut
Portions of the paste are placed between leaves in a pit in the
ground in the midst of hot ashes and heated cooking-stones,, and
the whole is covered over with eartii and left undisturbed for some
tirae. The vegetables may be also cooked entire in this manner.
Stone-boihng is also employed in this part of the group in cooking
vegetables and flsh. A large wooden bowl, about two feet long and
containing water, is filled with yams, breadfruit, and other vege
tables. Red hot cooking-stones of the size of the two fists are then
taken out of the fire and dropped into the bowl until the water
begins to boil. The top is then covered over with several layers of
large leaves which are weighed down by stones placed on them.
The heat is thus retained in the bowl, and after an hour the leaves
are i-eraoved when the contents are found to be daintily cooked.^
In volcanic islands, such as Simbo, the natives utilise the steam-
holes or fumaroles for cooking their food. Whilst I was examining
a solfatara in this island, I found that I had unconsciously trespassed
within the precincts of a public cooking-place ; and in order to
silence the clamour of the native woraen, I had to distribute neck
laces to aU.
In the islands of Bougainville Straits, where the art of pottery is
known, the vegetables are usually boiled in the cooking-pots which
are not cleaned out after use. The leaves of the small taro are thus
cooked and make an excellent substitute for spinach. The plan-
1 "Proc. Lin. Soe . N.S.W.," Vol. x., p. 349.
2 " Account of a Voyage in Search of La Pferouse." London. 1800 (Vol. i., p. 377).
s This method of cooking, aptly termed " stone-boiling " by Dr. Tylor ("Early History of
Mankind:" 3rd edit., p. 203), which is often employed by savage races unacquainted -with
the art of pottery, is represented in our own day by the old-fashioned tea-urn. As late as
1000, the wild Irish are said to have warmed their milk with a stone first cast into the fire.
(" Tyler's Primitive Culture : " vol. i., p. 40.)

EDIBLE AVILD FRUITS. 87
tains are boiled in their .skins, and are to the European i^alate when
thus cooked most in^^ipid. The sago, which is a common article of
food in this part of the group, is not sufficiently dried during ita
preparation and it soon turns sour ; but this is no objection with
the native who devours it with the same eagerness whether it is
rancid or sweet It is usually only half -cooked in a little packet of
leaves ; but when required for keeping, it is well baked, and in the
form of cakes is a favourite food with children. The Solomon
Islander, however, has not the forethought of the inhabitants of tho
Malay Archipelago in laying by a store of sago for future use.
When a sago palm is felled, there is usually no lack of friends to
assist the owner in consuming the sago. The native of Bougainville
Straits serves up the cooked vegetables in trays rnade of plaited
palm leaves or of the sheathing base of t.he branch of the " kisu "
palm. A ]ileasantly fiavoured dish is made of raashed taro,^ covered
with cocoa-nut scrapings ; and in such mixed dishes the kanary-nut
{" ka-i ") often occurs.
Although the native of Bougainville Straits to a great extent
subsists on the produce pf his plantations, there are a great number
of edible wild fruits and vegetables which he also employs as fopd,
and which in times of scarcity would supply hira with araple sus
tenance. I have already referred to the kanai-y-nut, the fruit of
the Canarium, as forming a staple article in his diet The nuts of
the " saori " (Terminalia catappa) have a smaU edible kernel which
has an almond-like flavour and is much appreciated by the natives.
It is the '¦ country almond " of India and, as Mr. Home tells us, it
is extensively eaten in Fiji where the tree is known as the Fijian
almond tree.^ In Tanna in the New Hebrides, as we learn from
Mr. Forster, it is also eaten.* The fruit of the comraon littoral tree
pchrosia parviflora (" pokosola ") contains an edible flat kernel.
The three coraraon littoral species of Pandanus also furnish susten
ance in tiraes of dearth ; the seeds of the drupes of the " sararang "
and the " pota " contain sraall edible kernels, and the pulpy base of
the "darashi" is also eaten. The pulpy kernels of the fruit, pf Nipa
fruticans are occasionally eaten as in the Malay Archipelago ; byit
the natives of Bougainville Straits do not seera to be acquainted
with the alcoholic liquor which this palm yields to the inhabitants
^ The taro and other vegetables are often pounded in a mortar made from the hoUpwe^
trunk of a small tree and pointed at its lower end so that it can be implanted in the ground,
2 " A Year iu Fiji." London, 1881 : (p. 88).
5 " Observations made duriug a Voyage rouud the World." London, 1773.

88 FOOD.
of the Philippines. The fruit of the " abgesi " (Aleurites ?), a stout
climber common in the woods of Treasury, has a pleasantly
flavoured kernel like that of the kanary-nut ; and on one occasion
my party and I lunched on these kernels ; the outer pulp of the
fruit has a dry scented but by no means unpleasant flavour. The
kernels of the fruit of a stout tree that grows on the verge of the
mangrove-swaraps in Fauro Island, and which is probably Sapium,
indicum, are said to be edible by the natives ; my natives and I
partook of them on one occasion when one man became very sick
for some tirae, and I afterwards found that it was an euphorbiace-
ous tree, a circurastance which explained his Ulness ; I should
therefore doubt the edibility ofthese nuts. This tree is known by
the same native name ("aligesi") as the preceding, which apparently
belongs to the same order. The white kernels of the " kunuka," a
species of Gnetum, are cooked and eaten by the inhabitants of Fauro ;
this tree grows to a height of sixty feet and has a cylindrical pro
rainently ringed trunk.
The growing tops of several species of palms are much appreci
ated by the natives of Bougainville Straits; and on several occasions
I have largely made my lunch off them. They are usuaUy eaten
uncooked. The top of the common Garyota palm (" eala ") is often
preferred. Mr. Marsden ^ and Mr. Crawfurd ^ inform us that in the
Malay Archipelago the growing top of the sarae or of an allied
species of Garyota (C. urens) is a favourite article of food. It is
there known as the true " mountain cabbage," and Mr. Marsden
tells us that in Sumatra it is preferred to the cocoa-nut. Amongst
other palms whicii in Bougainville Straits supply in their growing
tops the so-called cabbage are the " memo," a species of Areca, the
" sensisi," a species of Cyrtostachys, and the " kisu."
I have already referred to the fact that the sraall taro grows
wild in the ravines and on the banks of the streams in this region.
A very savoury vegetable soup is made from the leaves and unopened
spathe of a small arum that grows wild on the banks of the streams
in Fauro Island. It is a species of ScMzmatoglottis and is known
to the natives as the " kuraka." I should here allude to a wild yam
which I found during one of my excursions in this island. The
mountain-plantain, which grows on the sides of the valleys, and in
moist, sheltered situations as high as a thousand feet above the sea,
^ " History of Sumatra." London, 1811 : p. 89.
2 " History of the Indian Archipelago." Edinburgh, 1820 : vol. i., p. 447.

EDIBLE ALG.V. 89
furnishes in its smafl seeded fruits, when cooked, an occasional
substitute for those of the cultivated plantain ; it grows to a height
of 35 feet, and on account of its striking appearance it often forms a
conspicuous feature in the vegetation at the heads of the vaUeys.
It is known as the " kaUula."
Amongst the wild fruits which are eaten by the natives in this
part of the group, are those of two trees named the " natu" and the
" finoa." As my specimens were insufficient for the deterraination
at Kew of the characters of these trees, I may add that the " natu''
grows to a height of a hundred feet, its fruit being of the size of a
small melon and having a pleasant flavour. The " finoa" grows to
a height of fifty feet ; it is occasionaUy found in the plantations.
The natives of the Shortland Islands informed me that the
neighbouring people of Rubiana were accustoraed to eat the fruits
ofthe coramon bttoral tree Morinda citrifolia ("urati"), but that they
did not theraselves eat it The shoots of a tree named " poporoko,'
vvhich belongs probably to the Olacinece, are eaten by the inhabitants
of Fauro, who also consider as edible the tiara-like cones (?) of the
Gnetum Gnemon ( " meriwa").
The fronds of ferns are in some species edible ; amongst thera,
I may particularly refer to the " quaheh" (unfortunately not
identified), which is eaten by the natives of Treasury Island. Fungi,
which are generaUy kno-wn in thLs part of the group as " magu," are
often cooked and eaten ; but through inadvertence I am now unable
to refer particularly to the edible species. A deUcacy with the
natives of Treasury is an alga, a species of Gaulerpa, which grows
in the .sheltered waters just below the low-tide level at the western
end of the harbour. They .eat it -with keen relish, when freshly
picked from the rocks, holding it over the mouth and munching at
it just as if it were a bunch of grapes, which it somewhat resembles
in appearance. There is another non-edible species of Gaulerpa
which grows in the broken water on the weather or outer side of the
reef-fiats.^ Tacca pinnatifida (" mainago"), commonly known as the South
Sea or Tahiti Arrowroot, is often seen on the coral islets in
Bougainville Straits. The natives, though acquainted with the
nutritious qualities of the plant, make little if any use of it. \ ilr.
Home,^ writing ofit in Fiji, says that the arrowroot obtained fromjthe
-" I am indebted to Mr. Moore of Sydney, for the identification of the genus.
= " A Tear in Fiji," p. 104.

90 FOOD.
roots of this and another species of Tacca (T. sativa) is even more
nutritive than the ordinary arrowroot which is obtained from a very
different plant (Maranta arundinacea). This leads me to reteark
on the singular fact that the inhabitants of one Pacific group are
often unacquainted with, or make but little use of, sources of vege
table food which in other groups afford a staple diet Whilst the
Fijians and the Societj' Islanders make use of the arrowroot obtained
from Tacca pinnatifida, the inhabitants of the Radack Archipelago,
as Charaisso informs us,^ seldom use it, although the plant is very
frequent on the islands; and I have already reraai-ked that the
natives of Bougainville Straits raake little if any use of the same
plant. The Fijians were unacquainted with the nutritious qualities
of their sago palra (Sagus vitiensis) until Mr. Pritchard and Dr.
Seemann extracted the sago.^ On the other hand we have seen
that the natives of Bougainville Straits largely consurae the sago of
their palm which belongs to another species of Sagus growing not
in the swamps as in Fiji, but in more elevated and drier situations.
In the instance of Gyoas circinalis, one of the common littoral trees
in the Pacific, we find considerable variation in the knowledge
possessed bythe inhabitants of diff'erent regions of its value as a source
of food. Its growing top produces a cabbage which, as we learn from
Mr. Marsden, is rauch esteemed by the people of Sumatra.^ Its
fruits, when their noxious qualities have been reraoved by macera
tion or by cooking, are largely consumed in seasons of scarcity by the
inhabitants of the Moluccas, New Ireland,* south-east part of New
Guinea, and North Queensland.^ Its central pith yields an inferior
kind of sago to the inhabitants of some of the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago ; and a guraray exudation resembling tragacanth, which
is yielded by this tree, has probably a medicinal value. The
natives of Bougainville Straits are not acquainted with the sago-
producing character of this tree nor with the fact that its fruits are
edible ; they, however, prepare an application for the ulcers from
which they often suffer by macerating the fruits in question. Mr.
Home observes that the Fijians do not make use of the Gycas
1 -'A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea," by Otto von Kotzebue : London, 1821 :
vol. IIL, pp. 15), 154.
2 " A Mission to Viti," by Dr. Berthold Seemann ; p. 291.
3 " History of Sumatra," p. 89. '
-¦ LabillardiSre's "Voyage in search of La Perouse : " London, 180 1 : vol. I., p. 254.
•^ " Work and Adventure in New Guinea," by Messrs. Chalmers and Gill ; p. 310.

ANLMAL FOOD. 91
circinalis as a sago-yielding plant :^ we learn, however, from Dr.
Seemann, that its sago is reserved for the use of the chiefs.^ . . .
I raay here refer to the fact tiiat the Treasury Islanders, although
acquainted with the coramon Garyota palm (" eala") as yielding a
kind of sago, do not often avail themselves of it.
Fisb,^ opossums (Cuscus), and pigs supply the natives of Bougain
ville Straits with the raore nitrogenous elements of food. But as
with vegetable so with aniraal food, the terra " kai-kai "* is a very
comprehensive one with the Soloraon Islander. Shellfish furnish
occasional sustenance. Araongst them I may mention Tridacna gigas,
and species of TUppopus, Cardium, Turbo, and of many other marine
genera. The Cyrenoi, that lie sunk in the black mud of the man
grove swamps, are much esteemed : and those natives who have
their homes in these gloomy and unwholesorae regions eraploy as
food Pyratus palustris which thrives in littie clusters on the mud,
and in the puddles around the mangrove roots. The Unios and the
freshwater Nerites are also eaten. The fiesh of the large monitor-
lizard, Varanus indicus, is much prized. The crocodile is not
rejected ; and, as the following anecdote will show, the past misdeeds
of all its tribe are heaped upon it, whilst the victors at the sarae
time satisfj'- their sense of hunger, and glut their feelings of revengeX
.... The freshwater lake of Wailava in Santa Anna is frequented
by crocodiles which occasionally attack natives fishing on the banks.
At the end of 18S2, one of tiiese animals was shot by Mr. Charles
Sproul, an American resident. The news of its death caused great
rejoicing araongst the people of the village; and Mr. Sproul, who
was looked upon as a great hero, received presents of yaras as an
acknowledgment of his prowess. After he had skinned it, he gave
the carcase to the viUage, and a feast was held. One old man, who
had been nearly carried off by a crocodile at the lake a few years
before and had had his leg broken, was positive that this was the
identical animal, and he was so delighted at its death, that, as Mr.
Sproul told me, there was nothing he would not have done for him.
The old raan claimed as his share the portion of the head attached
1 Home's "Fiji," p. 1(^4.
= Seemann's "Viti," p. 289.
' I came upon some bushmen from the interior of Bougainville, who, although they were
staying some time at a village on the coast of Fauro, would not eat fish ; and I learned from
the Fauro natives that the Bougainville bushmen abstained from fish, even when they were
able to get it.
* "Kai-kai " is a term for " food " : but, like " tambu," it has been introduced by traders.

9-2 FOOD.
to the carcase, and bones and all were eaten with that additional
relish which the sensation of feasting on his enemy would naturally
produce. The Solomon Islanders are very fond of fatty food. They have
been observed to drink the liquid fat of pigs with the same gusto
with which a white man would quaff an iced drink on a hot day.
They much appreciate the fat in the abdomen of the Cocoa-nut Crab
(Birgus latro) ; and, without rauch regard for the feeUngs of the
crab, they raay throw it alive on the hot cinders of a fire in order
to cook its fat.
A depraved taste for decaying fiesh would appear not to he
peculiar to the upper classes of civilized nations. Mr. Stephens of
Ugi tells rae that he has known natives of O'ntong-Java, which lies
off the Soloraon Group, to allow the carcase of a pig to remain
buried in the ground until it. was rotten, when they dug up their
treasure and enjoyed then- feast under cover of the night as though
conscious of the depravity of the act. It was the strong odour
which penetrated his dwelling that attracted the attention of Mr.
Stephens to their proceedings.
The methods of cooking animal food may be here referred to.
In the eastern islands of the group, it may be boiled in a wooden
bowl by means of hot-stones as described on page 86. In Bougain
ville Straits, when a fishing-party returns towards nightfaU with
their capture of fish, they erect on posts a large framework or grating
.of sticks, which is raised about three feet frora the ground. On
this the fish is placed, a large fire is kindled beneath, and, by a
corabined process of scorching and smoking, the fish is cooked. As
the portion of the grating on which the fish lies is usually almost
burned away, the framework is made some ten feet in length by
five feet in breadth, and the next fish to be cooked is placed on a
fresh part of it. On a framework of this size a considerable number
of fish. may be thus cooked. Fish such as eels are cut up into
pieces, and each piece after being compactly wrapped around with
leaves is kept on the wood-fire for about half an hour. When an
opossum is to be cooked, it is first placed for a short tirae on the
fire in order to singe the hair off. It is then cut open, and the
viscera are removed: of these, the intestines are subsequently
cleaned and eaten. The body is tben placed, without any further
process, on top of the fire ; and there it remains until, after being
well scorched as well as roasted, it is considered to be cooked : when

FEASTING. 93
thus prepared, the flesh is juicy and tender, but has a strong flavour.
Pigs are first quartered, and then placed on a pile of logs built up
in layers to a height of about three feet, over which three poles are
placed like a tripod about six feet in height, in order to draw the
fire up. When thus roasted, the flesh of the wild pig is very good
eating, and may be thought by some white raen to be superior in
flavour to the flesh of our farra-bred pigs.
There are usually two meals in the day (viz., at its commencement
and at its close) in the case of those who are working in the culti
vated patches ; whilst those who remain in the village may indulge"
in a mid-day repast. Often during my excursions I have been glad
to take advantage of the simple hospitality of the natives ; and I
have found a light meal of boiled bananas or of partly cooked sago,
when taken in the middle of the day, a convenierit, though not a
palatable, form of nourishment for a hard day's work in these
islands.X I was once present at a feast in the village of Sapuna in Santa
Anna. Each man's contribution was added to the general store.
Heaped up in large black wooden bowls, such as are in comraon use
in St Christoval and the adjacent islands, the materials for the feast
were flrst placed in front of the tambu-house, and then carried to
the house of the chief, where they were distributed. For several
days before, the woraen had been engaged in bringing in the yams
and other vegetables from the " patches " in the interior of the
island, whilst their indolent spouses had been lounging about with
empty pipes in the village. The feast was held at night, and was
accompanied by much shouting. The natives gave vent to the
ex;uberance of their spirits, and mingled the raost deraoniacal yells
with their peals of laughter. The feast may be fitly described as a
" gorge." When it was concluded at an early morning hour, silence
carae over the village, and everyone retired to their homes, where
they remained in a torpid condition during the rest of the day ; and,
in fact, for some days afterwards the men were incapacitated for
active labour.
I should have previously referred to a kind of wild honey
(" manofi "), the work of a bee about the size of the ordinary, house
fly, which is much esteemed by the natives of Bougainville Straits-
It is more fluid than our own honey, and has a scented flavour. It
is drunk off like water by these natives. The honeycomb is raerely
a collection of bags of brown wax of the size of a walnut and aggre-

94 TOBACCO SMOKING.
gated together in an irregular raass, which is often found in a hollow
in the lower part of the trunk of a tree. The inhabitants of this
region have apparently no acquaintance with the uses of wax, and
thus differ from the Andaman Islander.s, who employ it for caulking
the leaks in their canoes and for waxing their bowstrings.^
The Solomon Islanders are inordinarily fond of tobacco-smoking^
a habit which prevails with both sexes and almost at all ages.
Tobacco has in fact established itself as the principal currency
between the trader and the native ; and without it a white man
would be as destitute in these islands as the beggar is in raore
civilized lands. In a viUage the visitor will soraetiraes be foUowed
by a knot of little urchins five or six years of age who have slipped
down from their mothers' backs to pester him for tobacco ; and I
have seen a child in its mother's arras allowed to take the pipe from
its parent's lips and puff away with apparent enjoyment Should
there be a scarcity of tobacco in a village when a ship arrives, the
trader may drive a cheap bargain, and the curiosity-seeker may
readily purchase anything he desires. We were able on such occa
sions to obtain, for a piece of tobacco of the size of the thumb-nail,
articles, such as fish-hooks, which required for their raanufacture
days of tedious labour. In the waste-ground of viUages a few
tobacco plants are often grown. This is very frequently the case in
the villages of the islands of Bougainville Straits, where native-
grown tobacco is often preferred to the trade-tobacco. This home
grown tobacco is there known as " brubush." The leaves are never
cut up for smoking, but are usuaUy rolled roughly into twists ; and
when the native is going to smoke, he stuffs two or three large
pieces into his pipe. Claypipes obtained from the traders are always
used. These islanders very rarely make wood pipes for themselves,
although they must often see them in the mouths of white men. I
never met with a native who, having broken or lost his clay pipe,
had the energy to raanufacture a pipe of wood. There is, however,
such a specimen of native work in the British Museum collection.
I could not ascertain any inforraation relative to the introduction of
tobacco-sraoking. It was, however, probably introduced from the
West independently of the infiuence of the trader. The natives of
the Maclay Coast and of the South Coast of New Guinea aUege that
the habit was unknown two generations ago, and that the seeds of
the plant, with the knowledge of tobacco-sraoking, have been intro-
^ Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. VII., p. 403.

BETEL CHEWING. 95
duced from the West. In the Louisiade Archipelago and in South-
East New Guinea, tobacco was unknown until the last few years.^
The practice of chewing the betel-nut is prevalent through the
group, and is accompanied by the usual accessories, the lime and the
betel-pepper (Piper Betel). In St. Christoval and the neighbouring
small islands, the lime is carried in bamboo boxes, which are
decorated with patterns scratched on their surface. In the islands
of Bougainville Straits, gourds are employed for this purpose, the
stoppers of which are ingeniously raade of narrow bands of the leaf
of the sago palm wound round and round in the form of a disc and
bound together at the margin by fine strips of the vascular tissue of
the "sinirai" fern (Gleichenia sp.). Plain wooden sticks, like a
Chinese chop-stick, are used for conveying the lirae to the raouth ;
but frequently the stick is dispensed with, when the fingers are used
or the betel-nut is dipped into the lirae.
The Piper Betel, which is known in Bougainville Straits as the
" kolu," is grown in the plantations, where it is trailed around the
stems of bananas and the trunks of trees. In these straits, as on the
Maclay Coast of New Guinea,^ the female spike, or so-called fruit, is
more usuaUy chewed with the betel-nut Around St. Christoval the
leaves are generaUy preferred.
The betel palra, the " olega " of the natives, which is apparently
identical with, or closely allied to, Areca catechu, the common betel-
nut tree, is grown in clumps and groves in the vicinity of villages.
The fruits of other species of Areca, which grow wild, are occa
sionally used as substitutes for the ordinary betel-nut ; in Bougain
ville Straits the fruits of the " niga-solu," " niga-torulo," and " poa-
raau '' are thus employed, those of the " poamau " being appropriated
by the women.
Betel-chewing is practised by both sexes. It has a marked |
stimulant effect ; but the natives allege that no harm results from its
constant use. The betel-pepper gives the betel-juice the " bite " of
a glass of grog : by the natives it is considered to remove the taint
1 Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Liu. Soc, N. S. W., vol. X., p. 352.
Crawfurd makes some interesting remarks on the introduction of tobacco into the Malay
Archipelago, whence, as I have shown above, the plant has been evidently introduced into
the "Western Pacific. The Java annals affirm that tobacco was introduced in 1601 ; and, as
supporting this statement, Crawfurd observes that the plant is not mentioned by European
travellers in this region before the beginning of the 17th century. (Malay Grammar and
Dictionary, vol. L, p. 191.)
- Miklouho-Maclay : Proc. Lin. Soc, N. S. W., vol. X., p. 350.

9G BETEL CHEWING.
of the breath. The betel-juice is the active agent in the production
of the red colour which stains the saliva and the mouth of the betel-
chewer. I satisfied myself that the saliva w^as not necessary for
producing this colour, which may be readily obtained by mixing the
betel-nut and lime in rain water.
When away on an occasion with a party of natives, I once was
terapted by curiosity to chew a betel-nut which I afterwards
swallowed in order to experience its fuU effect. Verj'- shortly after
wards ray head began to feel heavy, and I had an inclination to lie
down, whilst ray sight -was sensibly dimmed. These effects passed
away in about twenty rainutes. In ray cabin I tried the effect on
ray circulation of merely chewing a single nut Five minutes after
wards I found ray pulse had increased in force and in frequency
from 62 to 92 beats per minute. There was a sensation of fulness
in the head and temples, but no perceptible effect on the -vision.
The pulse retained this frequency for another five minutes ; but it
did not resume its previous rate until more than half-an-hour had
elapsed since the beginning of the experiraent. Subsequently I tried
the effect of chewing two betel-nuts. The first increased the pulse
by twenty beats per minute, and gave rise to restlessness and a
feeling of fulness in the head. The second sustained, but did not
increase the frequency of the pulse. On account of nausea I chewed
the second nut with difficulty. No effect was produced on locomo
tion by these two nuts ; but my sight was sensibly dimmed. On
turning-in for the night soon afterwards, I experienced during the
first hour rather vivid dreams characterised by rapid shifting of the
scene and change in the "dramatis personae." Some of the crew
who, at my desire, tried the eff'ect of chewing a single nut, informed
rae that it affected thera rauch the sarae as a glass of spirit would.
The natives theraselves are usually content with chewing one nut at
a time, two nuts, as thej'- told me, produced unpleasant symptoms,
and a bad head.
The betel-nut, in truth, possesses far greater stimulating
properties than I had previously suspected. A single nut had much
the sarae effect on me as a glass of sherry would have had. I
-believe that the extent of its intoxicating qualities is not generally
known. I may here reraark that I did not come upon the custom of
kava-drinking in these islands. According to the Rev. Mr. Lawes,
the kava plant (Piver methysticum) grows wild in the forests of the

THE KAVA PLANT. ~ 97
South-Coast of New Guinea, but its use is unknown. It maj'
similarly be found in the Solomon Islands. On the Maclay Coast,
as we are informed by Miklouho-Maclaj', the custom of kav.i-
drinking has been introduced not very long ago.^
» Proc. Lin. Soc, N S.W., vol. X., pp. 350, S-'L

CHAPTER VL
THE PHY.SICAL CHARACTERS AND RACE-AFFINITIES OF THESE
LSLANDERS.^
I WILL in the first place briefly refer to the position assigned to
these islanders in the classification of the different races of raan.
Professor Flower, in a recent address,^ divided the different varieties
of the human species into three principal divisions, the Ethiopian,
the Mongolian, and the Caucasian, a system of classification which,
although often advanced and as often disputed, has now been pre
ferred to other more coraplicated raethods of classif jdng the different
varieties of man. Around or between these three types all existing
vaiieties can be ranged.
The Soloraon Island natives are usually referred to the
Melanesian group of the Ethiopian division, a group which includes
the Papuans of New Guinea and the majority of the inhabitants of
the islands of the Westem Pacific ; but my observations on the
phj'sical characters of these natives have shown that the type of a
Soloraon Island native varies considerably in different parts of the
group, in sorae islands approaching the pure Papuan, in others
possessing Polynesian affinities, and in others showing traces of
the Malay. The prevailing characters, however, are distinctly
Melanesian or Papuan. The Melanesians, who, according to Pro
fessor Flower, are chiefiy distinguished frora the African negroes by
the well developed glabella and supra-orbital ridges in the male,
greatly excel the true African negroes, the Hottentots and Bushmen,
and the Negritos of the Andaman and Philippine Islands, who are
included in the Ethiopian division, in all that affects their social
condition. In their usuages, their rites, their dwellings, their agri-
^ Jly observations on the physical characters of these islanders were embodied in a paper
read before the Anthropological Institute in July, 1885. They were to be published in the
Journal of that society.
2 The President's Anuiversary Address to the Anthropological Institute, Jan. 27th, 1885.

MINGLING OF RACES. 99
culture, their canoes, and in many other respects, the Melanesian oi-
Papuan peoples display a far greater intellectual capacity than we
find exhibited by the other members of the Ethiopian division.
I cannot here enter at length into the question of the peopling
of the various groups of islands in the Pacific. It is a question on
which conclusions drawn from the linguistic and physical characters
of the inhabitants of these islands do not always agree. Professor
Keane^ holds that the three principal divisions of the varieties of
man are represented in this region ; tbe Caucasian in the Polynesians
inhabiting the islands of the south-central Pacific (Marquesas,
Samoa, Tonga, &c.) ; the Mongolian in the Micronesians of the islands
of the north-central Pacific (Gilbert, Marshall, Caroline, Ladrone
Islands) ; and the Ethiopian, or as he terms it the Dark Tj-pe, in
the Papuans of the Western Pacific (to whora he restricts the name
Melanesian), New Guinea, and the adjacent islands of the Indian
Archipelago. It is to the different mingling of tiiese three principal
typos, that the widely varying characters of the peoples dwelling in
the several regions of the Pacific are attributed. According to Pro
fessor Keane, the Polynesians of the south-central Pacific are almost
purely Caucasian, without a trace of Mongolian blood. This view,
however, is not supported by Professor Flower who contends that
the combination of the Mongolo-Malayan and Melanesian characters,
in varj'ing proportions and under varying conditions, would probably
account for all the modifications obser \red araong the inhabitants of
the Pacific Islands.
The theory advanced by Professor Keane with reference to the
peopling of the Pacific Islands, is one on which sorae of my observa
tions in the Solomon Islands, although not directlj' connected with
the subject, have some bearing. The primitive Negrito race, as now
exhibited in the Andaman Islander, according to this viev/- is the
original stock of all the dark races. From its home in the Indian
Archipelago, it extended westwards to Africa across the now lost
continent of Lemuria, and eastwards " across a continent of which
the South Sea I.slands are a remnant — to become slowlj^ differentiated
into the present Papuan or Melanesian peoples of those island.s."
Subsequently, the Caucasians of southern Asia, impeUed before the
southerly raigration of the Mongols from higher Asia, occupied the
islands of the Indian Archipelago and extended eastwards to their
^ Vide a series of three papers in vol. XXIII. of " Nature " cn the Indo-Chinese and Oceanic
Caces.

100 THE POURO OF QUIROS.
present horaes in the south-central Pacific (Saraoa, Tonga, the
Marquesas, Society Islands, &c). The Mongols following close upon
thera, finally reached the groups of islands together known as
Micronesia in the north-central Pacific (Ladrone, Caroline, Marshall,
Gilbert Islands, &c.).
The reference to the supposed sunken continents in the Indian
and Pacific Oceans, which served as stepping-stones in these
migrations, inerits ray attention. From our most recent knowledge
of the geological structure of tropical islands, to which my observa
tions in the Solomon Islands have in some raeasure contributed, it
may be inferred that there is but little geological evidence to sup
port the view of the existence of these submerged continents. The
theory of subsidence, on which Mr. Darwin's explanations of atolls
was based, cannot now be urged in support of prolonged periods of
subsidence in the tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The groups of atolls, which there occur, were formed, as shown bj'
recent investigations, around and over oceanic peaks of volcanic
formation, and independently of any raovement of subsidence.^
With reference to the migration eastwards of the Eastern Poly
nesians, I would allude to a piece of evidence which was advanced
bj' Mr. Hale in support of the view that the island of Bouro in the
Malay Archipelago was the starting-point of the migration. Quiros,
the Spanish navigator, was informed in 1606 by a native captured
at Taumaco, near the Santa Cruz Group, that there was a large
country naraed Pouro in the vicinity of that region. This Pouro,
however, was without doubt the neighbouring island of St. Chris
toval (one of the Solomon Group) which retains the native name of
Bauro at the present day, and as we learn from Gallego's journal,^
was called by the natives Paubro rather over three centuries ago.
Mr. Hale, however, who of course was not acquainted with the
native name of St Christoval, endeavours to identifj' this Pouro, of
which Quiros was informed, with the distant Bouro of the Indian
Archipelago. (Vide note xv. of the Geographical Appendix) ....
The foregoing remarks have not been offered with any object of
criticising a view on which I am not competent to speak. The
misconception having come under ray notice, I considered it my
duty to lefer to it.
1 'Pide the writings of Murray, Agassiz, Geikie, and others. In my volume of geological
observations, to be shortly published, I have referred at length to this subject.
"- 'Vide page 229 of this work.

THE LINE OF MIGRATION. 101
In the course of my researches I carae upon a circurastance
which appears to point in an unraistakeable raanner to the Indian
Archipelago as being the highway by which the Eastern Poly
nesians have reached the Pacific. The circurastance, to which I
refer, is that it is possible to trace the native naraes of some of the
common littoral trees, such as the Pandanus, Barringtonia ,'ipeciosa,
&c., from the Indian Archipelago across the central Pacific to the
Austral and Society Islands. In illusti-ation, I will take Barring
tonia speciosa, refei-ring the i-eader, however, for the other trees to
jiage 186. of this work. In the Indian Archipelago, I find the native
names of this tree to be lioewa boeton and Poetoen} In the islands
of Bougainville Straits in the Solomon Group, it is known as Puputu.
In Fiji, it is known as Vidu ;^ in the Tongan Group, as Futu ;' and
in the Hervey and Society Islands as E-Hoodu* or Utu.^ It is
interesting to notice the raodifications which the narae of this tree
undergoes, as one foUows it eastward from the Indian Archipelago
to the centre of tho Pacific Ocean, a distance of between 4,000 and
5,000 miles; and it is equally instructive to reflect that without the
intermediate changes, intermediate it should be added in a geogra
phical as well as in an etymological sense, the names at the end of
the series would scarcely seem to be related. The Indian Archi
pelago would appear to be the horae of this littoral tree, which on
account of fh-. buoyancy of its fruits has not only been spread over
Polynesia, but has reached Ceylon and Madagascar.*' From its
horae in the Indian Archipelago, it has therefore extended to the
eastward as far as the central Pacific, and to the westward nearly
across the Indian Ocean. . . . It is obvious that rauch inforraa
tion of this kind might be collected which would be of considerable
value to philologists ; and even in the case of this single tree I
have only, so to speak, broken the ground. The tedious character
of the research necessary to collect the scanty inforraation I have
obtained on this subject, will be amply compensated for, if ray
remarks should prove suggestive to residents in the different
islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
' " De Inlandsohe Plantennamen," by 6. J. Filet {vide reference on page 18 J).
2 " Year in Fiji," by J. Home : p. 70. (1881.)
3 " Ten years in South-Central Polynesia," by the Eev. T. West : p. 146. (1865.)
* " Ob--ervations made during a Voyage round the World," by J. R. Forster. (1778.)
6 " Jottings froiff the Pacific," by Wyatt Gill : p. 198. (1885.)
'' "Keport on the Botany ot the Challenger," by W. Betting Hemsley : vol. I., part iii.,
p. 152.

10-2 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS
The physical characters of a typical Solomon Islander. — Notwith
standing the variety in some of the characters of these natives, it is
not a difficult matter to describe a typical individual who combines
their most ])rominent and raost prevalent characteristics. Such a
man would have a well-proportioned physique, a good carriage, and
well-rounded limbs. His height would be about 5 feet 4 inches ;
his chest-girth between 34 and 35 inches ; and his weight between
125 and 130 pounds. The colour of his skin would be a deep
brown, corresponding with nuraber 35 of the colour-types of M.
Broca;! and he would wear his hair in the style of a bushy periwig
in which all the hairs are entangled independently into a loose
frizzled mass. His face would have a moderate degree of subnasal
prognathism, with projecting brows, deeply sunk orbits, short,
straight nose, much depressed at the root but sometimes arched, lips
of moderate thickness and rather prominent, chin somewhat reced
ing. His hairless face would have an expression of good humour,
which is in accord with the cheerful teraperament of these islanders.
The form of his skull would be probably mesocephalic. The pro
portion of the lengtii of the span of the extended arras to the height
of the bodj-, taking the latter as 100, would be represented by the
index 106-7. The length of the upper limb would be exactly one-
third the height of the body ; and the tip of his middle finger would
reach down to a point about 3i inches above the patella. The
length of the lower limb would be slightly under one-half (^V^) '^^
the height of the bodj' ; and the relations of the lengths of the
upper and lower limbs to each other would be represented bj' the
interraembral index 68. I was only able to obtain the measurement
of six women who belonged to the small islands of Ugi and Santa
Anna, off the St Christoval coast Their average height was 4 feet
lOi inches, which corresponds with the rule given by Topinard in
his " Anthropology," that for a race of this stature 7 per cent, of
the height of the raan (5 feet 31- inches, in this part of the group)
raust be subtracted to obtain the true proportional height of the
woraan. The hair of tho women has the same characters as that of
the men. Their figures have not usually that breadth of hip which
the European model would pos.sess. The general appearance ofthe
younger women is not unattractive, but they soon lose their good
looks after marriage. In Bougainville Straits, it was often possible
'The colour- types employed wero thoso given in the "Anthropological Notes and
Queries," published by tlic British Association in 1874.

:3 p

m s

P

<

X

m
f.
D
<
m
r,
T.
o
<
z
<
W
<
^
f/)
,_,
(¦5
O
tl
z
o
S
O
H
^s
DIFFERENT TYPES. 103
to notice araongst the wives of the chiefs two castes of woraen of
very diff'erent appearance, the one with elegant figure and carriage,
slim limbs and more delicately cut features, the other more clumsily
proportioned with stout ungainly limbs and a coarse type of
features. I found that two constant variations in the type of the Soloraon
Island native are presented by the natives of the islands of Bougain
ville Straits (including Choiseul Bay), and the natives of St.
Christoval and its adjoining islands at the opposite end of the group.
In the former region there exists a taller, darker, more robust, arid
more brachj^cephalic race ; whilst in the latter locality the average
native is shorter, less vigorous, of a lighter hue, and his skull has a
more dolichocephalic index. From 35 to 40 natives were examined
in each region, and some of the principal distinctions may be thus
tabulated -.

Average Height.

Colour of Skin.

Cephalic Inde.x
of living subject.

St. Christoval,
Bougainville Straits,...

, 5 ft. H in.
- 5 „ 4 „

Colour-types, 35 &' 28
„ 35 & 42

76 80-7

In the districts of Urasi and the Uta Pass on the north coast of
Malaita,^ there would appear to exist an alraost brachycephalic race,
of a Ughter hue than is possessed by the natives of BougainviUe
Straits. Diff'erences are in fact constant in their localities through
out the group, the most marked that came under my observation
being between the natives of Bougainville Straits and those of St.
Christoval at the opposite end of the group, as already alluded to.
D'Urville, the French navigator, who visited this group in 1838,
contrasts in a similar way the natives of St. Christoval and Isabel
with those of Bougainville. The former appeared to him small and
feeble in comparison with the more vigorous, sturdier, and much
blacker natives of the latter island. He was particularly struck
with the diminutive and wretched appearance of the natives of
Isabel around " Thousand-Ships Bay," as compared with the vigorous
well-made natives of Bougainville.^  In some islands of small
size, we find the natives markedly different frora those around them.
In the small island of Santa Catalina, off the eastern end of St.
1 1 was indebted to the Hon. Curzon Howe, Government Agent of the labour hooncr
" La-vina," for the opportunity ot examining these Malaita natives.
2 "Voyage au Pole Sud et dans rOoeanie," (Tome V., p. 105, hist, du voyage.).

104 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
Christoval, the natives are distinguished from all others in this part
of the group, bj' their finer physique, Ughter colour, and greater
height They do not appear to intermarry rauch with the sur
rounding tribes ; but they are, strange to relate, in friendlj' cora
raunication with the natives of some district on the coast of Malaita,
with whora thej'- probably interraarry. On the coasts of Guadal
canar there would appear to be sorae of the finest types of the
Solomon Islander. Unfortunately, I had but little opportunity of
observing them.
Having briefiy referred to some of the general facts resulting
frora ray observations on the physical characters of these islanders, I
now come to refer to the observations themselves. They were con
fined for the most part to the natives of the opposite extremities of
the group — at the eastern extremity to the natives of St. Christoval
and of the adjoining small islands of Ugi, Santa Anna, and Santa
Catalina; and towards the opposite extremity to the natives of the
islands of Bougainville Straits, which include Treasury Island, the
Shortland Islands, Faro Island, together with Choiseul Bay. Ob
servations, although fewer in nuraber, were also raade on the natives
of the following interraediate islands, viz., Malaita, the Florida
Islands, and Sirabo or Eddj'stone Island.
AU the measurements, unless otherwise stated, refer to male
adults. STATURE.
Height in feet and inches. Number of Measurements.
4 feet 1 1 h inches tu 5 feet 0 inches. 2

5 „ 0 „ — .1
5 „ 1 „ -5
¦¦5 „ 2 „ -5
.1 . „ 3 „ — 5
5 ,, 4 „ 5
5 „ 5 „ — 5
5 „ 6 „ — 5
5 „ 7 „ — 5
5 „ 8 — 5

1 „ 5
2 „ 6
3 „ 13
4 „ 18
5 „ 9
6 „ 10
7 „ 6
8 „ 2
8i „ 1
Total, 72

The foregoing table includes all the measurements of height
which I obtained in the various parts of the group. The range of
these 72 measureraents is 4 feet 11^ inches to 5 feet 8^ inches.

HEIGHT. 105
Fifty of these are gathered together between 5 feet 2 inches and 5
feet 6 inches. Arranging the whole series in order, I find that the
value of the central number (36th) is 5 feet 4 inches; of the quarter-
points, the value of the 18th is 5 feet 3 inches, and of the 54th, 5
feet 5| inches ; and the values of the 9th and 63rd in the scale are 5
feet IJ inches, and 5 feet 6 inches respectively. There is a disturb
ing element in this series, which is probably the result of corabining
in the sarae series the natives of the Bougainville Straits islands and
those of St Christoval, the latter being rather shorter, as noticed
below. We raaj'-, however, take the value of the median as repre
senting the average height of a native of the Solomon Islands, viz., 5
feet 4 inches, or 1-625 metres, which is somewhat below the medium
height of the human race, as stated by Topinard at 1-65 metres. It
is, however, in a marked degree in excess of the heiglit which
Mayer gives for the Papuans, viz., 1-536 metres (vide Topinard's
Anthropology). Deviations ofa constant character are found in different parts of
the group, and often in diff'erent districts of the same island. The
natives of the islands of Bougainville Straits, for instance, are
noticeably taller than those of St. Christoval at the opposite end of
the group, the averages of about thirty measurements in each region,
differing b\' frorn one half to three quarters of an inch. This differ
ence of height in these two localities is accorapanied by other irapor
tant changes in the physical characters which will be subsequently
referred to.
The rano-e of ray measurements may be contrasted with those
obtained by Miklouho-Maclay on the coast of New Guinea (vide
" Nature," Dec. 7th, 1882).
Papua-Koviay coast,  1-75 to 1-48 metres.
Maclay coast,  1-74 to 1-42 „
Solomon Islands,  1-74 to 1-51 „
CHEST-GIRTH.
The range of the eighteen measurements given in the subjoined table is
31|- to 37 inches : and since half of these are included between 34 and 35
inches, -we may consider these as the limits ofthe average chest-girth of the
natives in the portions of the group in which the measurements were made,
viz., the islands of Bougainville Straits and St. Christoval, with its adjoin
ing islands.

Girth :

in inches.

311

to 32

32

to 33

33

to 34

34

to 35

35

to 36

36

to 37

106 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
Number of Measurements - Stature taken as 100.
50... I
1 62-53. ..3
3 53-54. ..7
3 54-55.. .3
9 55-56.. .2
0 56-57.. .1
2 57-2 ...1
Total, 18 Total, 18
Taking the average height (5 feet 4 inches) as 100, the proportion,
whioh a chest girth of 34^ inches would bear, would be 53-9. - This very
closely corresponds with the values of the median of the accompanying
series, -vvhich itself agrees with the value of the average of the indices.
This index of chest-girth may be compared with results given by
Topinard : Englishmen, ... ... ... 54-0
Negroes, ... .. ... ... 52-3
New Zealanders, ... ... ... 51-4
Solomon Islanders, ... ... 53-9
WEIGHT OF BODY.i
Twelve natives of the Shortland Islands were takeu promiscuously and
weighed, the following being the results, stated in pounds : — 100, 103, IIG,
117, 120, 120, 123, 130, 148, 148, 150, 154. The mean of these numbers
is 127 ; and the average weight would probably vary between 125 and 130
pounds, or between 57 and 59 kilogrammes. 'This probable average weight
is quite in accordance with the size and build of a typical Solomon Island
native ; and agrees with the general rule that the weight in pounds ought
to be about twice the height in inches ; the average height being 64 inches,
aud the average weight 125 to 130 lbs.
LENGTH OF LIMBS.
Tbe points of measurement employed were : —
(a) For the upper extremity : (1) a point half an inch outside, and cn the
level with the apex of the coracoid process of the scapula ; (2) the centre
of tbe hollow of the elbow on a line drawn from the interspace between
tbe head of the radius and the external condyle of the humerus (indi
cated by a dimple when the fore-arm is extended) to immediately below
the internal condyle; (3) the centre of a line joining tho apices of the
styloid processes of the radius and ulna on the front of the wrist.
(b) I'or the lower extremity-. (1) a point on the middle of the front of the
thigh on a level with another point midway between the anterior
superior spinous process of the ilium and the upper edge of the great
trochanter; (2) a point on the " ligamentum patellae " on a level -with
the upper edge ofthe external tuberosity of the tibia ; (3) the centre
of the front of the ankle on a level with the base of the internal
malleolus.
(1) The intfirinenifiral index, or the ratio between the length ofthe
upper and lower limbs, taking the latter as 100. From the table
subjoined, it will be seen that the range of 26 indices is 64 to 73.
^ Mr. Evered, ships-steward assistant, obtained these -weights for me.

LIMB MEASUREMENTS. ¦107
Eleven of these lie between 67 and 68: and since the average of my numbers,
whioh is 68, corresponds -n'ith the value of the median of the series, we will
take this index of 68 as representing the average ratio of the lengths of
the two limbs compared together.
Intermembral index. Number of measurements.
64 1
65 2
66 3
67 6
68 5
69 3
70 1
71 3
72 1
73 1
Total, 26
(2) The index of the fore-arm and arm, or the ratio between the lengths
of tbe fore-arm and arm, taking the latter as 100. The range of 27
indices is 79 to 100. Of these 16 are included between 87 and 91 ; and
the average of the numbers is 88.
Indices. Number ot Jlcasurements.
79 1
80 1
82 2
83 2
84 1
86 1
87 6
88 2
89 1
91 7
y.-) 1
100 2
Total, 27
(3) The index of the leg and thigh, or the ratio between the lengths of
the leg and thigh, tnking the latter as 100. Tbe range of 27 indices, as
sho-wm in tbe subjoined table, is 68 to 97. Of these, two-thirds are in
cluded between 74 and 83 : and since the value of the median, which is 80,
corresponds nearly with the average of tbe numbers, we may take it as
representing the average proportion which the leg bears to the thigh amongst
these natives. Indices. Number of Measurements.
68 1
69 1
70 1
72 1
Carry forward, 4

108 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
Indices. Number ot Measurements.
Brought forward, 4
73 1
74 2
75 2
78 1
79 1
80 3
81 2
82 2
83 4
88 3
92 1
97 1
Total, 27
(4) The index of the arm and thigh, or the ratio between the lengths of
the arm and thigh, taking the latter as 100. The range of 27 indices is 56
to 73. Of these, three-fourths are grouped between 61 and 69. The aver
age of the figures is 65, and the median of the series is 66.
Indices. Number of Measurements.
56 1
57 1
60 1
61 2
62 2
63 3
64 2
65 1
66 3
67 4
69 3
70 1
71 1
73 2
Total, 27
(5) The proportion of the length of the upper limb to the hdght of the
body, taking the latter as 100.
Indices. Number of Measurements.
32 1
32-33 10
33-34 10
34-35 4
35-36 2
Total, 27
These 27 indices range between 32 and 36 : three-fourths of them are

LIMB MEASUREMENTS. 109
included between 32 and 34. Since the average of the numbers, which is
33-3, nearly corresponds with the value of the median, we may take it as
representing the proportion which the length of the upper limb bears to the
height of the body amongst these natives.
(6) The proportion of the length ofthe lower limb io the height of the body,
taking the latter as 100. Th? range of these 27 indices is 46-9 to 51-6.
Two-thirds of the total number are included between 48 and 50 ; and since
the average of the numbers, whioh is 49-1, corresponds nearly with the value
of the middle index of the series, we may take it as representing tbe propor
tion that the lower limb usually bears to the height of the body amongst
these natives. Indices. Number ot Measurements.
46-9 1
47-48 4
48-49 8
49-50 10
50-51 3
51-6 1
Total, 27
(7) The span of the outstretched arms. — The following indices — 69 in
all — show the ratio of the span of the arms to the height of tbe body,
taking the latter as 100 : —
Indices. Number ot Measurements.
100 1
101-102 4
102-103 2
103-104 4
104-105 5
105-106 5
106-107 18
107-108 11
108-109 6
109-110 9
110-111 3
112-6 1
Total, 69
The range of these indices is 100 to 112-6; and tbe indices of greatest
frequency are those included between 106 and 107. Placing all the indices
in their order, T find that the value of the central of the series is 106-7, and
of the quarter-points 105-2 and 108-6 respectively. Taking 106-7 as repre
senting the average proportion which the span of tbe amis bears to the
stature amongst these natives, I may compare it with similar results given
for other races in Topinard's Anthropology : — •
American soldiers (10,876), ... ... ... 104-3
Solomon Islander.? (69), ... ... ... 106-7
Negroes (2020), ... ... ... -- 108-1

110- PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
(8) Distance ofthe tip ofthe middle finger from the upper edge of the
patella. Number of
Distance. Measurements.
2 inches. 2
2 to 3 „ 6
3 to 4 „ 1 1 (9 of these at 3|- inches).
4 to 5 „ 2
Total, 21
From this table it will be seen that amongst 21 natives the tip of Iht
finger never approached the patella nearer than two inches, and was nevji
farther removed tban five inches. The value of greatest frequency is 3^
inches, and it may be taken as approximating- to the average distance.
Comparing it with tbe average stature (64 inches) taken as 100, we obtain
tbe index 5-46; but by comparing- the distance ofthe middle finger above the
patella with the stature as 100 in each individual measurement, we obtain
a more reliable average index somewhat smaller than the preoedin
Indices. Number.
3-12-4-00 4
4-00-5-00 5
5-00-6-00 9
6-00-7-00 1
7-00-7-94 2
Total, 21
In this table the indices range between 3-12 and 7-94 : nearly half are in
cluded between 5-00 and 6-00 ; the value of the median is 5-24, and the
average of the numbers is 5-19. Accepting the value of the median as our
average index for these natives, it may be compared with similar results for
other races given in Topinard's Anthropology :
American soldiers (10,876),.. .7-49
Negroes (2020)  4-37
Solomon Islanders (21),  5-24

I will conclude my remarks on the length of the limbs by giving from the
preceding "data" the limb measurements of a Solomon Island native of
average height :

Height of body,  64 in. ) Index of height, andlength
( Length of upper limb, 21-J- „ J of upper limb, 33-3.
Intermembral j Length of arm,  1 l-g- „ ( Index of arm and fore-arm,

index, 68. ~] Length of fore-arm, ...10 ,, /
(. Length of lower limb 31^ „ ...Index of height, and length
of lower limb, 49.
Length of thigh  17i ) -r -, „ , . , ,, on
Length of leg  14'^ „ ] ^^'^^^ °^ ^^'S^^ ^'^'^ ^"-^ ^°'
The form of tlie skull as indicated hythe relation to each other of its

EORM OF THE SKULL. 11 H
length and breadth. — A hundred measurements, which I made of the
heads of natives in this group,^ in order to obtain their proportional
breadth, taking the length as 100, gave indices varying between 69-2
and §6-2. The whole series, however, displays a tendency to group
ing around different medians, and thus points to the important
inference that we cannot accept one type of the skull as a distinctive
character of the Solomon Islander. As shown in the subjoined table,
which gives the indices corrected to actual skull-measurements by
subtracting two units as proposed by M. Broca, there would appear
to be a raarked preponderance of raesocephaly ; but frora ray raeasure-
ments being limited both in number and locality, the safest conclusion
to draw will be the most general one, viz., that all types of skulls,
brachycephalic, mesocephalic, and dolichocephalic, are to be found
prevailing amongst the islands of the Soloraon Group, the particular
type being often constant in the same locality.^ If my measure
ments had been five tiraes as nuraerou":;. and had been spread equally
over the group, I raight somewhat narrow ray conclusions ; and in
truth brachycephaly might have formed a more important factor in
the series, if I had measured the heads of the same number of
natives frora the north coast of Malaita which I measured in the dis
tricts of St. Christoval and of Bougainville Straits. In the subjoined
table I have accepted all indices below 75 as dolichocephalic, those
between 75 and 80 as mesocephalic, and those above 80 as brachy
cephalic.
¦Cephalic indices which have been reduced to actual skull-measurements by
the subtraction of two tmits.
Dolichocephalic indices ... ... 29
Mesocephalic ... ... ... 52
Brachycephalic ... ... ... 19
100
I now corae to consider more in detail the series of measurements
1 The localities were — St. Christoval and the adjoining islands of Ugi and Santa Anna,
Florida Islands, north coast of Malaita (Urasi and Uta Pass), Simbo or Eddystone Island,
the islands of Bougainville Straits, including the -west end of Choiseul
2 This conclusion is in accordance with the extensive observations of Miklouho-Macla-y in
New Guinea and in the Melanesian Islands. He found brachycephaly common in the New
Hebrides, indices of 81, and even of 85, not being rare. The indices of several hundred
measurements of Ne-w Guinea natives varied between 02 and 86. This eminent traveller
therefore arrived at the conclusion that no classification of these natives can rest on the
form of the skull. ("Nature," xxvii., pp. 137, 185. Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W., vol. VI.,
p. 171.-

112 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS
given below. In this series, which ranges from 692 to 86-2, there is
a want of uniformity arising from the fact that the numbers tend to
gather together around three centres, one between the indices 75
and 76, another between the indices 80 and 81, and the third
between the indices 82 and 83. We have thus in this series of a
hundred indices, obtained by measureraent of the head of the living
subject, evidence of different prevaUing types of skull amongst the
natives of the Soloraon Group ; and it will be subsequently shown
that each locality has usually one prevailing type.
Number of Measurements. 2 1
3 3
6
8 66
111216 7
10 71 1
Total, 100
(1) St. Christoval and the adjoining islands of Ugi, Santa Anna, and
Santa Catalina. As shown ia the subjoined table, this series of 35 indices
has a wide range between 69-2 and 86-2. The value of the median index
of the series is 75-9 ; and the average of the numbers is 76-6. Out of the
35 indices, 11 are included between 74 and 76. Ou the whole, however,
I should take 76 as representing the average cephalic index in this part of
the group, although even here, as shown in the series, there is some dis
turbing element. Number of Measurements. 2 1
2
26
5
3
2
4 3
Carry forward, 30

Cepha'ic Indices

(Liviuj

5 Subject.)

69-2 to 70

70

„ 71

72

„ 73

73

„ 74

74

„ 75

75

„ 76

76

„ 77

77

„ 78

78

„ 79

79

„ 80

80

„ 81

81

„ 82

82

„ 83

83

„ 84

85

„ 86

86

,,86-2

Cephalic Indices.

69-2 to 70

70

„ 71

72

„ 73

73

„ 74

74

„ 75

75

„ 76

76

„ 77

77

„ 78

78

„ 79

79

,, 80

FORM OF THE SKULL. 115

Cephalic Indices.

Number of Measurements,

Brought forward, 30

80 „ 81

1

82 ,. 83

V)

83 „ 84

1

86 „ 86-2

1

Cephalic Indices.

75-9 to 76

76

„ 77

77

., 78

78

„ 79

79

„ 80

80

„ 81

81

„ 82

82

„ 83

83

„ 84

85

„ 85-2

Total, 35
^2.) Tlie Islands of Bougainville Straits, which include Treasury Island,
the Shortland Island, Faro Islands, and the western extremely of Choiseul.
The range of the subjoined forty indices is 759 to 85-2. The contrast
between this ana the preceding St. Christoval series, as shown iu the
grouping in the indices, well illustrates the prevalence of distinct types in
these twor egions of the group. The indices of greatest frequency are in
cluded between 80 and 81 : the average of the ngures is 80-6, and the
value of the median index is 80-7, whioh may be accepted as the typical
index. Number of Measurement. 2 1 2
6 O9
556 1
Total, 40
(3.) The North Coast of Malaita. — Through the kindness of the Hon.
Curzon-Howe, government-agent of the labour schooner " Lavina," I was
enabled to measure ten natives who had been recruited from the districts of
Urasi and the Uta Pass on tbe north coast of Malaita.
Cephalic Indices. Number of Measurements.
79-3 to 80 -1
80 ,, 81 4
81 „ 82 1
82 „ 83 3
Total, 10
This series, though small, is compact, its range being 79-3 to 83. The
average of the numbers is 81-2, which 1 will take as typical of these
localities. (4.) The Island of Simbo or Eddystone. — From the head-measurements
of nine natives I obtained the follovdng cephalic indices — 72-9, 73-8, 75-8,
76-6, 77-0, 78-0, 78-7, 79-3, 80-4— the average of which just falls short of
7 7, which however may be taken as an approximation of the prevailing
index. n

Number of
Measurements.

Living
Subject.

Skull.

35

76-0

74-0

40

80-7

78-7

10

81-2

79-2

9

77-0

75-0

6

79-6

77-6

114 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
(5.) The Florida Islands. — Measurements of six natives of Mboli Har
bour gave the followiug cephalic indices, .... 77-2, 79-3, 79-3, 80-0,
-80-7, 81'4, .... the average ofthe numbers being 79-6.
I will now proceed to sura up briefly the results of the foregoing
hundred raeasureraents of the head of the living subject It will
first be necessary to reduce thera to the form of measurements of the
actual skull by subtracting two units from the index, as proposed by
M. Broca. The effect of this correction in shown in the following
table :
St. Christoval and adjoining islands.
The islands of Bougainville Straits, . .
The north coast of Malaita,
The island of Simbo or Eddystone, ..
The Florida Islands, ...
Accepting all indices below 75 as dolichocephalic, those between 75
and 80 as mesocephalic, and those above 80 as brachycephalic, wo
find therefore that raesocephaly, as represented by an average index
of 787, prevails araongst the natives of the islands of Bougainville
Straits ; whilst dolichocephaly, as represented by an average index
•of 74, prevails amongst the natives of St Christoval and its adjoin
ing islands at the opposite end of the group. On the north coast of
Malaita exists a type of native with an almost brach ycephalic index.
The foregoing remarks refer only to the average in each locality.
When we apply the sarae correction to the table of the hundred
measureraents as given on page 112, we find, as stated on a previous
page, that 29 are dolichocephalic, 52 are raesocephalic, and 19
brachycephalic. It would, therefore, appear from these observations
that, whilst brachycephaly is not uncomraon, dolichocephaly is more
frequent, and raesocephaly prevails. Although this result may give
an indication of the truth, at present it would be safer, for reasons
given on page 111, to accept the general conclusion that these three
types of skulls prevail in the Solomon Group.
As confirmatory of the foregoing corrected measureraents of the
head of the living subject, I will add the indices of nine skulls pro
cured amongst the eastern islands of the group.^
i I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to my messmates Lieut. Leeper and
Lieut. Heming, aud to my friend Dr. Beaumont, staff-surgeon of H.M.S. '' Diamond," tor the
majority of the skulls in this small collection. The oificers of the survey, whilst away in
their boats, had more opportunities than I had of obtaining these specimens. As I was
"usually accompanied by natives, I was often unable to take advantage of occasions.

MEASUREMENTS OF WOMEN.

115

p. . , > Rua Sura Islets, off north coast of Giiadaleaner
74-1 Ugi Island.
74-5 Port Adam, .Malaita.
75-5 ^ Ugi Island.

80-0 (
80-0 j
84-9 Kwahkwahru, Malaita.

Measurements of Women. — I was only able to obtain measurements of
six women, all of them from the small islands of Ugi and Santa Anna, oif
the St. Christoval coast. Span of Arms. Intermembral Distance between middle

Height.

(Stature— IUO.) Index.

finger

and patella.

4 ft. 8 in.

100-S

65

31 in.

^ JJ ^ JJ

102-1
68
3|-
4 JJ n „
104-3
68
4'
4 „ 10 ,.
104-7
71
—
•5 J, 0 „
106-9
—
Average,
H
5 JJ 3 „
A^
108-3 Average
,68
•age, 4 ft. 1 0^ in.
rerage, 104-5
Arm and Height
Leg and Height
Cephalic
Index.
Index.
Index.
32-5
48-5
71
33
48-5
75
33
50
76-8
33-5
51-5
76-8
34-535-5
79-G 82-1
Average, 49-6
Average, 33-7
Considering the paucity of the observations, the average indices
ofthe limb-raeasureraents agree closelj'' with those obtained for the
raen. The average height of the woraen would appear from these
few measurements to be that which they ought to possess as cora
pared with the height ofthe raen. This conclusion is based on the
rule given by Topinard in his " Anthropology " that for a race of
this stature 7 per cent, of the raan's height raust be subtracted to
obtain the proportional height of the woraan.
27ie Features.
The facial angle taken was that between a line dropt frora the
forehead to the alveolar border of the upper jaw, and another line
drawn frora the external auditory meatus through the central axis
of the oi-bit, the angle bein
taken with a goniometer.
Amongst
116 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
eighty natives froni different part^ of the group, the angle varied
between 87° and 98°. Seventy-five of the natives had facial angles
between 90° and 95° ; and the average of the whole nuraber of
angles was 93°. On apyilying the method for obtaining the facial
angle of Cloquet to two large photographs of the faces in profile of
two typical natives, I find the angles to he 63° and 67° respectively.
The common characters of the features may be thus described :
face rather angular, with often a beetle-browed aspect from the
¦deeply sunk orbits and projecting brows ; forehead of raoderate
height and breadth, and somewhat flattened ; middle of face rather
prominent on account of the chin receding ; moderate .subnasal pro-
gnathisni as indicated by Cloquet's facial angles of 63° and C7°;
lips rather thick and often projecting ; nose usually coarse, short,
straight, and much depressed at the root, with broad nostrils and
extended alse ; in about one man out of five the nose is arched in a
regular curve, giving a Jewish cast to the face.
Tlie Hair, Colour of Skin, Powers of Vision, &c.
Amongst the natives of the Soloinon Group, there are four
common styles of wearing the hair, which I may term the woolly,
the mop-like, the partially bushy, and the corapletely bushy : these
prevail with both sexes, the fashion varying in different islands.
Frora frequent observations of the different modes of wearing the
hair, I am of the opinion that their variety is to be attributed more
to individual caprice than to any difference in the character of the
hair. According to his taste, a raan may prefer to wear his hair
close and uncombed, when the short matted curls with small spiral
give it a woolly appearance,^ somewhat reserabling that of the hair
of the African negro. Should he allow his hair to grow, making
but little use of his comb, the hair will hanir in narrow ringlets
three to eight inches in length, a mode which is more common
araongst the natives of the eastern islands of the group, and which
is best described as the " raop-headed " style. More often, from a
raoderate araount of combing, the locks are loosely entangled, and
the hair-mass assuraes a soraewhat bushy appearance, the arrange
ment into locks being stUl discernible, and the surface of the hair
presenting a tufted aspect^ The majority of natives, however, pro-
1 With the bushmen of the interior, the hair appears to be permanently woolly [vide p. 121).
= My experience, however, goos to prove that of Miklouho-Maclay that the hair grows
uniformly over the scalp and not in little tufts separated by bald patches as described by
Topinard.

THE HAIR. ¦ 117
duce by constant combing a large bushy periwig in which all the
hairs are entangled independently into a loose frizzled mass, the
separate locks being no longer discernible. Of these four styles of
wearing the hair, I am inclined to view the " mop-headed " style as
the result of the natural mode of growth, it being the one which
the hair would assume if aUowed to grow uncombed and uncut.
The native of these i.slands unfortunately makes such a constant use
of his corah that one rarely sees his hair as nature intended it to
grow. When, however, a man with bushy hair has been di-ving for
sorae time, the hairs, disentangling themselves to a great extent,
gather together into long narrow ringlets, nature's " coiffure " of thfe
Solomon Islander. I was pleased to find that Mr. Eari^ and Dr.
Barnard Davis,^ in writing on the subject of the hair of the Papuans,
also consider that the hairs would naturally arrange themselves in
long narrow ringlets if left uncombed, and that the bushy frizzled
periwig is produced by teasing out the locks by raeans of the corab'
This bushy frizzled mass of hair is soraetiraes referred to, as if it
were one of the natural characters of the Papuans : but since it is
also characteristic of other dark races of Africa and South Araerica,
and raay be produced in Europeans, it has but little distinguishing
value.^ Mr. Prichard in his " Physical History of Mankind " (vol.
V. p. 215), expresses hiraself to be in doubt whether the bushy
frizzled hair affords any racial distinction, but he seems to have lost
the point of the remarks of Mr. Earl (to whom he refers) concerning
the natural mode of growth of the hair in long narrow ringlets.
The terra "raop-headed" is often applied to the Papuan with' a
bushy frizzled periwig : but since a mop is neither bushy nor
frizzly, the term is more appropriately eraployed as I have used it,'
and as I see Dr. Barnard Davis uses it, in connection with thdf/ style'
in which the hair hangs in long drawn-out ringlets. ' The tend-ency
of the hair to roll itself into a spiral of small diameter is attributed
to the thin flattened form of the hair in section. : According to Dr.
Pruner-Bey, the hair in the Papuan is implanted perpendicularly
and not obliquely, as in the great majority of the races of nian.^
1 '" The Papuans " by G. W. Earl (page 2). London, 1853. '
2 Vide a paper by Dr. J. Barnard Da-vis iu vol ii. (p. 95), of Journ. of Anthrop. Inst.
3 These bushy periwigs are found also among the Kafiirs in Africa and among the Cafusos
of South America. Dr. Pruner-Bey, who appears to view these bushy periwigs as resulting
fvom the natural growth of the hair, remarks that he has met in Europe three individuals
¦whose hair had the same aspect. I have seen a characteristic Papuan periwig produced in
England in the case of a fair-haired girl. (Anthropological Eeview : Feb. 1864.)
^ The Anthropological Eeview for February 1§"4 (p. 6).

118 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
The hue of the hair in adults varies usuaUy in accordance with
the changes in the colour of the skin. Amongst the St Christoval
natives it agrees with the nurabers 35 and 42 of the colour-types of
M. Broca ; whilst araongst the darker-hued natives of the islands of
Bougainville Straits the hair is of a deeper hue, corresponding with
the colour-types 34 and 49. The average thickness of eleven
samples of hair from the former locaUty is frora ^hs ^o 'why ^^ ^^
inch ; whilst in the latter locaUty, where the hair is of a darker
hue, the hairs are individually coarser, ten samples giving an aver-
ao-e thickness of J^^ to jrhr «f an inch. The diaraeter of the spiral,
when raeasurable, varies between 5 and 10 millimetres,^ its usual
range throughout the group ; but on account of the practice of comb
ing, it is often difficult to measure it with any degree of accuracj^
These measureraents, however, are double the size of the curl (2 to
4 ram.) which Miklouho-Maclay ^ has determined to be characteristic
of the Papuan. The difference may be due to the greater inter
raingling of the eastern Polynesian eleraent araongst the Solomon
Lslanders. The natives of the eastern islands of this group frequently stain
their hair a light-brown hue by the use of lime, a practice which
frees the hair of vermin. The passing visitor raight easily carry
away with hira the impression that such light-brown hair was a
permanent character ; but on examining adults, he would usuaUy
find that the hair is much darker at the roots. The natives (women
and boys) of the islands of Bougainville Straits, and according to
Labillardiere,* those of the adjacent island of Bouka, stain the
hair by the use of a red ochreous earth, the colour of which,
blended with the deep colour of the hair, produces a striking
raagenta hue.
"With regard to the araount of hair on the face, lirabs, and trunk,
great diversity is observed even amongst natives of the same
-village. Epilation is commonly employed, a bivalve shell being
used as a pair of pincers ; but there can be no doubt that the
development of the hair varies quite independently of such a custom.
Out of ten men taken promiscuously from one of the villages on
the north coast of St. Christoval, perhaps, five would have smooth
' In young boys in difterent parts of the group, the hair sometimes grows in larger flat
spirals having a diameter of from 12 to 15 millimetres.
2 "Nature." Dec. 21st, 1882.
3 Labillardi6re's " Voyage in search of La Perouse," vol. i. p. 248. London 1800.

THE HAIR 119
faces ; three would possess a small growth of hair on the chin and
upper lip ; the ninth would possess a beard, a moustache, and
whiskers of moderate growth ; whilst the tenth would present a
shaggy beard, and a hairy visage. With the majority of the Solo
mon Islanders, the surfaces of the body and limbs are coraparatively
free frora hair ; but hairy men are to be found in raost villages, and
in rare and exceptional cases, the hairy-bodied, hairy-visaged men
are the rule. It would appear that in this group, the qualities of
treachery and ferocity are possessed in a greater degree by those
communities in which hairy men prevail. Hairy-visaged raen are
commonly found araongst the natives of the Florida Islands. In
Bougainville Straits, the great raajority of the raen keep their faces
and chins free from hair, which the chiefs and the older men usuaUy
perrait to grow.
With age the hair generally assumes an iron-grey hue, as if the
decoloration was incomplete. In one old man, however, who was
the patriarch of Treasury Island, the hair was completely grey.
Baldness usually commences over the fore-head ; and is not uncom
monly observed beginning araongst middle-aged men. The old
women apparently regard hair as an unnecessary encumbrance, the
Uttle that remains in later life being generally removed.
I have not yet referred to an almost straight-haired eleraent
which has been infused araongst the inhabitants of Bougainville
Straits. The individuals, thus characterised, have very dark skins,
the hair being even darker, and corresponding in hue with the
colour-types 34 and 49. With such natives the face is flatter, and
the nose is more ecrase than usual. Th.e hair may be almost
straight : and, if not very long, it is often erect, giving the person
a shock-headed appearance ; whilst in some cases it tends to gather
into curls of a large spiral. Other natives possess hair which com
bines the straight and frizzly characters, giving the whole mass,
when combed out, an appearance partly wavy and partly bushy.
Small boys in this part of the group have frequently curly heads
of hair with large flattened spirals. Traders tell rae that straight-
liaired individuals are found araongst the hill-tribes of St Christoval
at the opposite end of the group. I have seen two such natives, one
a woman, and the other a man whom I met near Cape Keibeck on
the north coast of the island.
A few remarks with reference to the prevailing hues of the
skin may be here interesting.^ It would seera to be a general rule

120 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.
that the darker-skinned natives occur in the western islands of the
group, such as New Georgia, Bougainville Straits, and BougainviUe;
whilst the lighter-coloured natives are raore restricted to the eastern
islands such as St. Christoval, Guadalcanar, &c. In different parts
of the Solomon Group, the colour of the skin, as may have been
already inferred, varies considerably in shade frora a very deep
brown, exeraplified by colour-type 42 of M. Broca, to a copperish
hue, best typefied by colour-type 29. The prevailing darker hue of
the western islands is represented by type 42, and the prevailing
lighter hue of the eastern islands by type 35. Where there is no
means of comparison, the darker hues of the skin might be called
black. The lightest hues, such as would appear to characterise
natives in isolated localities, as in Santa Catalina, and on the north
coast of Guadalcanar opposite the Rua Sura Islets, would be best
exeraplified by colour-type 28. The elderly natives are, as a rule,
raore dark-skinned than those of younger years, the difference in
shade being attributable partly to a longer exposure by reason of
their age to the influence of sun and weather, and partly to those
structural changes in the skin which accorapany advancing years.
The colour is usuaUy fairly uniforra over the person, but in the case
of the Malaita natives, before referred to, the colour of the face
and chest was of a lighter hue than that of the lirabs and body, as
exeraplified by contrasting the colour-types 28 and 35.^
I would draw attention to the circurastance that ray observa
tions were confined to the coast tribes of these islands. The larger
islands, which raay be compared in size to the county of Cornwall,
are but thinly populated in their interior by tribes of raore puny
physique and less enterprising character, who are ill-suited to cope
with their more robust and raore war-like feUow-islanders of the coast
These " bushraen," as they are called, are accredited by the coast-
natives with inferior raental capabilities as corapared with their
own. To call a raan of the coast a " bushman " is equivalent to
caUing him a stupid or a fool, a taunt which is commonly employed
amongst the coast-natives. The. stone adzes and axes, which have
been discarded by the inhabitants of the coast, are said to be stiU
employed by the bushraen. I was unable to make any measure
ments of these natives ; but those I saw were usually of short
stature and of a more excitable and suspicious teraperaraent The
1 Vide page for remarks onthe effect of the prevailing skin-disease, an inveterate form ot
body-iingworm, on the colour of the skin.

POWERS OF VISION. 121
hair is worn in the wooUy style, is short like that of the African
Negro, and its surface has often a peculiar appearance frora the
hairs arranging themselves in little knobs. I believe that these
bushmen, and at the present time I am recalling to ray raind those
of the interior of Bougainville, have naturally shorter hair than
those of the coast, and that the peculiar character of the hair just
described is a perraanent one.^ These bushmen probably represent
the original Negrito stock of these islands, which, at the coast, often
loses many of its characters on account of the intermingling with
Eastern Polynesian and Malayan intruders.
With the object of testing the powers of vision possessed by the
natives of these islands, I exarained the sight of twenty-two indivi
duals who were in all eases either young adults or of an age not
rauch beyond thirty. For this purpose I eraployed the square test-
dots which are used in exaraining the sight of recruits for the
British array, and I obtained the following results. Two natives
could distinguish the dots clearly at 70 feet, one at 67 feet, two at
65 feet, three at 62 feet, four at 60 feet, two at 55 feet, three at 52
feet, four at 50 feet, and one at 35 feet I roughly placed the
average distance at which a native could count the dots at about
60 feet, which is a little beyond the standard distance for testing
the normal vision of recruits, viz., 57 feet ; but I laid no stress on
this difference, and briefly noted in my journal that these natives
possessed the normal powers of vision. The quickness of the
natives in perceiving distant objects, such as ships at sea, was a
matter of daily observation to us ; and I was often, much surprised
by their facUity in picking out pigeons and opossums, which were
almost concealed in the dense foliage of the trees sorae 60 or 70 feet
overhead. I was therefore irapressed with the greater discrirainat
ing power possessed by these savages ; but the results of ray
observations on their far-seeing powers were not such as would
justify the conclusion that they excelled us very greatly in this
respect Having read an interesting correspondence in " Nature " during
February and Mareh, 1885, on the subject of " civilisation and eye
sight,'' I forwarded the results of ray observations to that journal
{vide, April 2nd). A fortnight afterwards there appeared a com
munication from Mr. Charles Roberts, in which he added greatly to
1 Mr. Earl, who well describes this knobby appearance of the surface of the hair of some
Papuan tribes, also believes that these tribes may sometimes have naturally short hair.
(" Papuans,'' p. 2.)

122 POWERS OF VISION.
the value of my observations by comparing them with results
obtained by the use of the army test-dots in the case of English
agricultural and out-door labourers, results which were extracted
from the Report for 1881 of the Anthropometric Comraittee of the
British Association. After raaking this comparison Mr. Roberts
remarked that the figures gave no support to the belief that savages
possess better sight than civilised peoples ; and he pointed out that
my average of 60 feet, which, however, I had only roughly
estimated, was soniewhat excessive and should have been 57-5 feet,
which is only half a foot more than the distance at which Professor
Longraore has deterrained these test-dots ought to be seen by a
recruit with normal powers of vision. My observations were com
paratively few, but, as above shown, they give no support to the
view that savages possess superior powers of vision as compared
with civilised races.
In the correspondence in " Nature," above referred to, Mr.
Brudenell Carter supported the " commonly received view " that
the savage possesses greater acuteness of vision ; but .Lord Rayleigh
held that it would be inconsistent with optical laws to hold that
the eyes of savages, considered raerely as optical instruraents, are
greatly superior to our own ; and he observed that it appeared to
him that the superiority of the savage is a question of attention
and practice in the interpretation of minute indications. The same
opinion was expressed by Mr. Roberts, when he referred to the
comraon mistake of travellers in confounding acuteness of vision
with the results of special training or education of the faculty of
seeing, results which, as he reraarked, are quite as rauch dependent
on mental training as on the use of the eyes.
There is a circurastance which raay influence the powers of
vision possessed by these islanders; and it is this. With the object,
I believe, of excluding flies and other insects from their dwellings,
the natives keep the interiors dark, the door being usually the only
aperture admitting light. Coraing in frora the direct sunUght, I
have often had to wait a minute or two before my eyes became
accustomed to the change ; but the natives do not experience this
inconvenience. Some hours of the day they coraraonly spend in
their houses ; whUst at night they use no artificial light except the
fitful glare of a wood fire. It would seem probable that the influ
ence of the opposite conditions presented by the darkness of their
dweUings and the bright sunlight, would be found in the increased

POWERS OF VISION. 123
rapidity of the contraction and dilation of the pupil with the
enlargement, perhaps, of the retinal receiving area. It is, howevei\
a noteworthy circumstance that these natives are able to pass frora
the bright tropical glare outside their dwellings to the dark in
teriors, and vice versd, without showing that temporary derangement
of vision which the white man experiences whilst the iris is
adapting itself to the new condition.
My attention was not attracted by the size of tbe pupils ; but I
paid no especial attention to this point. Mr. J. Rand Capron in the
correspondence in " Nature," above alluded to, refers to the circum
stance that the pupil varies in size in individual cases ; and he
instances the case of one of his assistants possessing unusually large
pupils who had a singularly " sharp " eye for picking up companions
to double stars, smaU satellites, &c., and who could read fine print
with a light much less bright than is usually required. "The
pecuUarity affecting my assistant's eyes," as Mr. Capron writes,
" may be more common with the savages than with us." I am in
clined myself to believe that, on a careful coraparison being raade,
the pupils of the savage will be generally found to be larger. If
such should be the case, we shall have a ready explanation of his
better discrirainating powers of vision.
The eyes of these natives have usually a soft, fawn-like appear
ance ' with but little expression. Of the twenty-two individuals
whose sight I examined, I came upon only one whose powers of
vision seemed at all defective. In this instance — that of a raan
about thirty years old — the nature of the cause was sufficiently
indicated by the prominence of the eyes and the nipping of the lids,
especially when the sight was strained by trying to count the test-
dots at a distance. The limit of distance at which this raan could
count the test-dots was 35 feet. The question which presented
itself to my mind in this case was, whether a white man, who could
count the dots at the same limit of distance, would exhibit to the
same degree the external signs of myopia.
I also made some observations on the colour-sense of the in
habitants of Bougainville Straits. Although able to match the
seven colours of the spectrum, viz., red, orange, yellow, green,
Pru.ssian blue, indigo, and violet, they have only, as far as I could
ascertain, distinctive names for white, red, yellow, and sometimes
blue ; whilst all the other colours, including black, indigo, dark blue,
violet, green, &c., are included under one or more general names for

124 COLOUR SENSE.
dark hues, as shown in the list below. Some of the naraes of thg
colours have been suggested by the colours of objects with which
the natives are farailiar. Thus, one of the naraes of dark hues is
evidently taken from that of charcoal (sibi). Again, one of the
names for red is but the native term for blood, (masini) ; whilst the
coraraonest word for yellow (temuli) is also the narae of a scitamineous
plant, the bulbous root of which possesses a yellow juice. YeUow
must be a farailiar colour to these natives, as they soraetiraes decorate
their persons with the yellow juice that exudes from incisions into
the fruits of Thespesia populnea, one of the coramonest of littorai
trees. They possess also the Morinda citrifolia, the roots of which
supply a bright yellow dye that is employed in other Polynesian
groups, such as in the Society Islands, for staining purposes. The
circumstance that different inen often appUed different naraes to the
same test-colour, shows that they have no recognised list of colour-
names ; and it would appear probable that all the names are of a
suggestive nature, or in other words that they are derived from the
names of objects with the conspicuous hues of which the natives are
familiar. NATIVE NAMES FOR COLOURS.
White,  Anaa; Ana-anaa.
Red, Oeange,  Alec; Masi-masini '; Loto.
Yellow,  Temuli; Samoi ; Latili.
Blub,  Totono.
Black, Indigo, Violet, Gbebn (dark).
Blue (dark),  Soipa; Kia; Sivi-sivi; Malai.
The pigments employed in decorating the posts of houses, canoe-
ornaments, carved clubs, &c., are white, red, and black. Blue is a
favourite colour with the natives of BougainviUe Straits when
choosing beads and other articles of trade ; and, in fact, blue is th^
favourite colour for beads in most of the islands.
Tn the eastern islands, pigments of white, red, and black are
also those which are commonly eraployed for decorative purposes.
In the island of Ugi, as Mr. Stephens inforined rae, the sarae word
is used to indicate all the dark colours. A native of this island
cannot distinguish the different cblours in the rainbow : and it
should be here remarked that he views the appearance of a bow
with a large arc as a waming of the approach of hostUe canoes,
and he retires accordingly to his house.
The foUowing notes on tlie gestures and the expressions of the

GESTURES. 125
eraotions of the Solomon Islanders, which I was led to make after a
perusal of Mr. Darwin's weU-known work on these subjects, occur
scattered about the pages of my journals ; and I must crave the
indulgence of ray reader if they are, from this reason, of a somewhat
disconnected character.
The natives of Bougainville Straits and of other parts of the
group beekon with the hand, in a manner almost the reverse of our
own. Instead of holding out the hand with the palra uppermost
and motioning with the forefinger, they beckon with the palm
downwards, and motion with all the fingers. On several occa
sions, when motioning a native to approach by means of our own
gesture, I have had to adopt his own raode of beckoning before
he could understand me  Clapping the hands is a common
means of evincing astonishment and delight, the hands being usually
held up before the face as in the attitude of prayer, but little noise
being made. Mule, the Treasury chief, clapped his hands before
his face, when Lieutenant Leeper showed him some of his paintings ;
and surprise was exhibited in a similar manner by the men of Aiu,
-Whilst I was taking a sample of hair from the head of one of their
number. Some young lads of Fauro clapped their hands noiselessly
during their laughter when I gave them a tune on the Jews-harp :
whUst a party of Treasury boys, who accompanied me on one of my
rambles, thus evinced their pleasure when sorae matches for lighting
our pipes were unexpectedly found in my bag.
The following mode of signifying hunger was often adopted by
my youthful native companions in my excursions, when the sun
"vvas near its raeridian altitude, in order to remind me of the biscuit
I generally carried for them ; and the little imps used to repeat the
gesture in an exaggerated form for my amusement. The belly is
drawn in to a surprising degree by the powerful contraction of the
abdominal rhuscles; and,assuming a dismal expression of countenance,
the hungry individual points with his finger to this unmistakeable
sign of the apparently empty condition of his storaach, and says
" kai-kai, rauru " (food for stomach). Labillardiere tells us that the
natives of New Caledonia signified their hunger in a sirailar manner
by pointing to their bellies, and contracting the abdominal rauscles
as much as they could.^ .... The natives of Bougainville Straits
raake use ofthe exclaraation, " Agai," to indicate pain and suffering.
This cry often rang pitifully in ray ears when, frora the prejudices
1 " Voyage in search of La Perouse" (Eng. edit. ; London 1800) vol. ii., p. 213.

126 GESTURES.
of the natives, I was unable to render much surgical aid in the case
of the severe gunshot injuries, which resulted from the conflicts
between the Treasury and Shortland islanders.
Elevation of the eyebrows with a slight throwing backward of
the head is the gesture of assent. A native sometimes raises his
eyebrows slightly to indicate caution or reticence under circumstances
in which we should employ a cough or a wink ; and, by the same
sign, a question raay be asked, and as silently answered by a similar
movement of the eyebrows, accompanied by a throwing up of the
head. A native of Simbo, on one occasion, because I -would not
give him tobacco, signified his contempt for me by spitting on the
srround. A woman of Aiu informed me that she was the mother of
two girls standing near, by first pointing to her daughters, and then
touching her breasts. When puzzled, a native sometimes adopts
our sign of perplexity by frowning, and scratching his head.
On one occasion, I was much araused by the behaviour of some
of the Treasury boys, lively young imps who used frequently to
accorapany rae on ray excursions. One of their number had been
offended by his companions, who iraraediately began to caper round
hira, distorting their faces in a peculiar raanner by drawing the
eyes and raouth towards each other with their fingers, and producing
an appearance reminding me of the human faces on the dancer-clubs
¦of Bougainville Straits and New Ireland. Sometiraes they would
only go through the motions by scraping their fingers down their
cheeks. The object was evidently to create terror, but only in a
miraic fashion.
But little gesticulation is used in ordinary conversation. A.
native of Cape Keibeck, on the north coast of St. Christoval, who
went through the raotions of throwing a spear in time of battle,
assumed a hideous expression of countenance with eyes starting and
knitted brows, much as Mr. Mosely describes in the instance of a
native of Humboldt Bay, New Guinea.^ A native, who is planning
the perforraance of an act of treachery, usually exhibits during his
¦conversation an Excited, restless manner, with a slight trembling of
the limbs and a partial loss of control over the facial muscles. It is
in this raanner that white men, resident in the group, when ap
proaching a village with which they are unacquainted, often find an
indication ofthe hostility or friendliness of the inhabitants by ob-
-serving the unconscious bearing of the first men they meet.
^ "Naturalist on the Challenger,'' p, 441.

DISPOSITION. 127
These islanders converse in a low, monotonous voice ; and are
unaccustomed to loud, stentorian tones, such as those in which
words of coraraand are given. I was told a story of a white man
who had engaged some natives to take hira out in a canoe to tho
site ofa sunken rock, which he intended to blow up with dynaraite
as it obstructed the channel. Iraraediately on dropping tho charge,
he shouted out to his crew to paddle away as quickly as possible
and at the same time gesticulated wildly. The men opened their
eyes wide and stared at hira with astonishment, but never moved ;
and before they could recover theraselves, off went the charge, and
the canoe and its occupants were blown into the air. However, but
little damage was caused except to the canoe. My informant told
me that if the men had been told quietly to paddle away, the accident
would never have happened.
I now corae to the subject of the disposition of these islanders.
There is a generosity between raan and raan, which I often admired,
although it was easy to perceive that there was a singular relation
between the giver and the recipient. A native rarely refuses any
thing that is asked ; but, on the other hand, he is not accustoraed
to offer anything spontaneously except when he expects an equiva
lent in return. His generosity is, in truth, constrained by the know
ledge of the fact that by a refusal he v/ill incur the enmity of the
person who has made the lequest. Often when during ray excur
sions I have come upon some raan who was preparing a raeal for
hiraself and his family, I have been surprised at the open-handed
way in which he dispensed the food to my party of hungry natives.
No gratitude was shown towards the giver, who apparently expected
none, and only raildly reraonstrarted when ray raen were unusually
voracious. I was often amused at noticing how a native's friends
would gather around when there Avas a sago palm to be felled.
But there is one occasion when the existence of friends raust be
very trying to a Solomon Islander, and that is when he returns to
his island after his terra of service in the plantations of Fiji or
Queensland has expired. He brings with him his earnings of three
years in the shape of a musket a couple of American axes, and a
large box filled with calico, coloured handkerchiefs, tobacco, pipes,
knives, beads, &c. On landing at the beach, he is greeted by tho
greater portion of the village. The chief at once appropriates the
musket, as his way of welcoming the M'anderer on his return. His
father selects, with due deliberation, the best tempered of the axes.

128 DISPOSITION.
The chief's son relieves hira of one of the largest knives. His
numerous relations and friends assist themselves to some of the
raore valuable articles in the box ; whilst the calico and beads are
evenly appropriated by the different ladies of the village, as their
manner of e-vincing their pleasure at his safe return. The unhappy
man dares not refuse, and he finally leaves the beach for his own
house with a very light box and a heavy heart. But his friends in
the neighbourhood think it their duty to convey their congratulations
in person ; and in a few days the box alone remains, which it is very
hkely that the chief has already secured " in prospectu." The fore
going is by no means an exaggerated account of the reception which
awaits a Solomon Islander when he returns from his terra of service
in the colonies.
The natives of this group have obtained for theraselves the
reputation of being the most treacherous and bloodthirsty of the
Pacific Islanders. Here, however, as in other groups, the inhabi
tants have been judged according to the circumstances attending the
visit of the navigator. If he has come into collision with them, he
paints their conduct in the darkest colours ; but if, as has rarely
been the case, there has been nothing to interrupt the harmony of
his intercourse, he is apt, in his description of the peaceful character
of the natives, to reflect on the want of humanity which marked the
dealings ofhis predecessors. But for us a middle course would seem
preferable ; and in approving the mild measures of the one, we must
not forget that the harsh treatment of the other may have arisen in
circumstances over which he had little control. The early inter
course between civilized and savage peoples must of necessity be
fraught with peril, until the latter cease to look upon every stranger
as a probable foe. It is not often that we have the pleasure of
reading such accounts as are given by Kotzebue and Chamisso of
their intercourse with the Radack Islanders ; yet we raust remember
that the humane principles of La Perouse led, unfortunately, to the
massacre of M. de Langle and eleven others in the Navigator Islands.
Here again the middle course is to be followed ; and the traveller
raost successful in his dealings with these races will be he who
obtains for hiraself their fear as well as their affection.
The early intercourse of the Soloraon Islanders with the
Spaniards, and with the first French navigators, was too often
marked by bloodshed to enable us to form a correct estimation of
the disposition of these natives. We therefore turn without regret

DISPOSITION. 129
to the more pleasing experience of a later voyager in these seas.
In his account of his intercourse with the natives of Isabel in 1838,
D'Urville thus refers to these islanders : " Nous sommes les premiers
k inscrire dans I'histoire des habitants de ces ties, une page en favour
de leur caractere : ils auraient pu, presque sans dangers, massacrer
ceux de nos officiers qui sont all^s chercher I'hospitalite aux villages
d'Opihi et Toitoi, et j'aime a croire qu'ils n'auraient pas r^sist^ h la
tentation, si dans leur caractfere il n'y avait pas eu quelques senti
ments d'affect'ion ou de probite."^
In recalling my own experiences, I can scarcely remember a
single instance in which I was aught but kindly treated by a race of
savages who have been so often characterised as the raost treacher
ous and bloodthirsty in the Pacific. I was constantly in their
power, since, in my excursions, I very rarely had any other com
panions. I will, therefore, frame my estimate of their character in
the words of the French navigator, that they would not have heen
able to resist the temptation of harming me, if there was not in their
disposition something of the sense of honour and affection.
1 " Voyage au Polfl Sud," eto. Vol. V., p. 106.

CHAPTER VIL

DRESS — TATTOOING — SONGS, ETC.

THE dress wom by the men of these islands is generally of the
scantiest description. A narrow band of cloth, worn like a T
bandage, often constitutes their only garraent. In some islands
visited by traders, waist-cloths are wom. Often, however, and
especially amongst the bush tribes, the Solomon Islander presents
hiraself as guiltless of clothing as did our original parents. The
dress of the woraen varies considerably in different islands of the
group. The raarried women of St. Christoval and the adjacent
small islands wear the scantiest of fringes, whicii cannot be digni
fied by the name of dress : whilst the unmarried girls dispense with
clothing altogether. In the Florida Islands, the women are more
decorously clad, and wear a longer fringe. In the eastern islands,
however, the influence of the raissionary and the trader have caused
a more general employment by the women of the " sulu " (a large
coloured handkerchief), which is fastened around the waist, and is
very becoming. The woraen of the islands of Bougainville Straits
commonly wear the " sulu ; " but they frequently discard it for a
time, as when they are wading on the reefs, and then they are con
tent with an improvised apron of long leaves (" bassa "), the stalks
of which are passed under a narrow waist-band. On one occasion
at Aiu, when arriving at the beach after one of my excursions into
the interior of the island, I carae upon a party of woraen who were
bathing in the sea. They at once carae out of the -water, and began
to interrogate ray guides, having first provided theraselves in the
most unabashed manner with temporary aprons of fern fronds and
the leaves of trees. They then gathered round me to learn where I
had been, and what I had been doing ; and after I had satisfied
their curiosity, I sent them away, highly pleased with some tobacco
and beads.

DRESS. 131
The men of these islands are always very anxious to becorae the
possessors of European articles of clothing, such as shirts, coats, hats,
etc. ; but the happy owners seldora don them except during the
visit of a ship, when they strut about clad in some solitary
garraent, such as a shirt or a waistcoat, or often only a hat I had
often some difficulty in preserving my gravity when I met sorae
sedate individual, as naked as on the day when he was born, wear
ing a round hat on his head, and carrying his shirt on his arra.
The fortunate possessor of a shirt usually regards it as a kind of
light overcoat, to be worn on especial occasions ; and in sorae islands
the possessors seem to prefer carrying their shirts on their arms
wherever they go. A few men, who have these articles of clothing,
never take them off after they have begun to wear them. Such a
practice, however, is quite opposed to the usual cleanly habits of
these islanders. Whilst we were in Bougainville Straits, three
natives were employed on board as interpreters, who were dubbed
by the men. Jacket, Waistcoat, and Trousers, as they used to wear a
suit between them. On one occasion, when I had induced some
Faro men to take me in their canoe to an island some distance away
I was amused at the appearance of my crew, to whora I had pre
viously given shirts. We were, for all the world, Uke a party of
nigger-minstrels. Following the waggish advice of the quarter
master, the natives tumed 'up their large collars. Off we started,
and the sight of their serious countenances, half buried in their
collars, was too much for ray gravity : but when we landed, and ray
men proceeded in a dignified manner to disembark, they looked so
ludicrously sedate in their long-tailed shirts, that I roared with
laughter. The most picturesque of the jjersonal ornaments of the natives
of the eastern islands is a frontlet of the handsorae white cowries
(Ovulum ovum). About a dozen of these shells, rather small in size,
are strung together, and bound across the forehead. A single shell
is sometimes worn on the front of the leg just below the knee
Many men possess large crescent-shaped plates of the pearl shell
found in these seas, and whicli they wear on the breast. Resident
traders, such as Captain Macdonald at Santa Anna, have largely
supplied the natives with these ornaments. Necklaces raade of the
teeth of dogs, porpoises, fruit-bats, and phalangers (Cuscus), are
commonly worn. The seeds of the Goix Lachryraa are also em
ployed for this purpose. Various articles are used as necklace-

V32 PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
pendants, such as Bulla shells, the pretty Natica mamilla, beans, the
hard palate of a fish (probably a ray), and other things. One native
was very proud of a fragment of a willow-pattern plate, which he
had smoothed off and ground down to a convenient size for his
necklace. Shell armlets^ are in general use, and their number and size
frequently denote the rank of their owner. Those most prized are
fashioned out of the thickest part of the shell of Tridacna gigas
towards the hinge. On one occasion, in the island of Simbo, I had
an opportunity of observing the tedious process of making these
• Tridacna armlets. A hole is first bored through the solid thickness
of the shell, and in it is insertsd a piece of hoop iron, with one edge
roughly jagged, after the fashion of a saw. This is worked with
the hands, and after much labour the ring is sawn out of the
shell. It is then rubbed down and polished with sand. On account
of the tedious nature of the process of raaking them, these Tridacna
armlets are much prized by their possessors. Araongst the numer
ous articles employed in trading with these natives is a very good
imitation of this armlet made of tough white porcelain, and valued
at about half a dollar. Smaller armlets are also cut out of large
shells belonging to the genera Trochus and Turho. The sheU arm
lets of these islanders are often first placed on during youth, or at
the first attainraent of raanhood ; and, as the wearer grows older
these ornaments become too sraall to pass over the elbow, and are
peiinanently worn. Armlets are also made of native shell-money
worked into patterns. Sometimes a couple of curved boar's-tusks
are joined together for this purpose. Excluding the shell armlets,
those most 1 requently worn are raade of what is coraraonly known
as "dyed grass." This material, however, consists, for the most
part, of the strips of the vascular tissue of ferns, belonging to
Gleichenia and other genera, which are neatly plaited together in
patterns (vide page281) The prettiest specimens of this work are
to be obtained at Savo. The same plaited armlets are worn by the
Admiralty Islanders.^ In some parts of New Guinea, strips of
rattan are worked in with this material.* ... In the Solomon
Islands, armlets are usually worn on the left arra. The native
' By " armlet," I mean an ornament encircling the arm above the elbo-w.
2 There is a ohromodithograph of these ornaments in the " Narrative of the Cruise of the
'Challenger.'" 3 Specimens in British Museum collection.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 133
usually'- carries his jiipe or his tobacco tucked inside them, They
are often worn verj^ tight, especially in the case of the plaited arm
lets, which actually constrict the lirab.
Nose ornaments are not commonly worn in the eastern islands,
though the nasal septum is generally pierced by a hole for the:
appendage which may be of tortoise-shell, bone, shells, &c. Youths
keep the hole patent by retaining in it a sraall piece of wood of the
thickness of a lead pencil, and between one and two inches in length.
The tip of the nose is frequentlj'^ pierced by a small hole about half
an inch deep, in which a small peg of wood is sometimes placed
which projects beyond the nose and gives the face an odd appear
ance. The lobes of the ears are perforated by holes, which by continual
distension become of the size of a crown-piece and often larger. In
some islands, as in Santa Anna, a disc of M'hite wood 1^ to 2 inches
in diameter is placed in these holes. Sometiraes they are kept in
shape by the insertion of a shaving of wood rolled into a spiral; but
raore frequently they are left erapty. Singular uses are raade of
these holes in the lobes of the ear, pipes and matchboxes being
sometimes placed in thera. On one occasion, Taki, the Wano chief,
came on board with a heavy bunch of native shell-money hanging
from each ear, a sign of mourning, as he informed us, for a recently
deceased wife. In some instances, more particularly araongst the
elder men, the pendulous loop formed by the distended hole in the
lobe becomes severed and hangs in two pieces. I ara told that when
these loops break, the two parts are readily joined by paring the
torn surfaces obliquely and binding them together.
The natives of the islands of Bougainville Straits pay less atten
tion to personal decoration than do those of St, Christoval and the
adjacent islands. The large Tridacna armlets are not often worn,
the small shell armlets being those generally preferred, and as in the
case of those worn in the eastern islands, their nuraber indicates the
rank and wealth of the wearer. The plaited arra-bands described
on page 132 are frequently worn. Arralets made of trade beads are
favourite ornaments of the woraen : when visiting the houses of the
chiefs, I have sometiraes found their wives eraployed in this kind of
fancy-work, sraall red, blue, and white beads being tastefully worked
together in the coramon zig-zag pattern. Here, as in the eastern
islands, the septum of the nose is pierced by a hole, but I rarely saw
any omament suspended from it The women of Treasurj' Island,

134 PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
however, sometimes wear in this aperture a tusk-like orna-ment,
1| to 2 inches long, which is made from the shell of the giant clam.
OccasionaUy I have observed clay pipes carried in this perforation
in the nasal septum. Here, also, the lobes of the ears are pierceiby
large holes, and in the older men they hang in loops 2 to 3 inches in
length. The men of Sirabo (Narovo Island) streak their countenances
with lirae, whilst the boys of Treasury Islands soraetiraes paint
their faces around the eyes with the red ochreous earth that they
eraploy for staining the hair. The young lads of Faro occasionally
adorn their faces with silvery strips of a fish's swiraming-bladder
which they plaster on their cheeks.
In the matter of personal decoration I should observe that the
men usually wear the pluraes, not that the women dislike decora
tions, but because they do not often have the opportunity of wearing
them. If a trade necklace or some similar ornament is given to a
woman, it will very soon be observed adorning the person of her
husband. An incident of this sort particularly annoyed me on one
occasion in the island of St. Christoval ; but I might as well have
tried to persuade a pig that it was a glutton as have attempted to
convince a native that such a transaction was ungallant In some
islands it is the custora for the husband on the occasion of a festival
to load his favourite wife with all his worldly wealth in the form of
the native bead raoney ; and, as at Santa Anna, the wives of the
headmen parade about the viUage thus heavily attired and presenting
suoh a picture of " portable property " as would have gladdened the
heart of Mr. Wemraick himself. This shell-money, to which I have
frequently referred in this work, and which is so often employed in
personal decoration, consists of small pieces of shells of different
colours shaped and strung together like beads. In the eastern
islands, this money is largely derived from the natives of Malaita.
Six fathoras of it are said to be sufficient for the purchase of a pig.
The sarae kind of money is used by the inhabitants of the Admiralty
Islands, New Ireland, New Guinea, and the New Hebrides. In the
last two localities it is worked into armlets.^
The men of the Solomon Islands are very fond of placing in their
hair a brightly-coloured flower such as that of Hibiscus tiliaceus, or
a pretty sprig, or the frond of a fem. My native companions in my
' The natives of the Solomon Islands also occasionally employ as money the teeth of fisli,
porpoises, fruit-eating bats (Pteropida), and of other animals.

TATTOOING. , 135
excursions rarely passed a pretty flower without plucking it and
placing it in their bushy hair ; and they were fond of decorating ray
helmet in a similar fashion. Sometimes one individual would adorn
himself to such an extent with flowers, ferns, and scented leaves,
that a botanist might have made an instructive capture in seizing
his person. In addition to the flowers placed in his bushy raass of
blackish-brown hair, he would tuck under his necklace and armlets
sprigs and leaves of numerous scented plants, such as Evodia hortensis
and Ocymum sanctum. He wOuld take rauch pleasure in pointing
out to rae the plants whose scented leaves are eraployed in the
native perfumery, most of which are of the labiate order, and are to
be coraraonly found in the waste ground of the plantations. The
women seldora decorate theraselves in this manner. Those of Bou
gainville Straits make their scanty aprons of the leaves of a scita
mineous plant named "bassa" which, when crushed in the fingers
have a pleasant scent.
The fondness for decorating the person with flowers and scented
herbs has been frequently referred to by travellers in their accounts
of the natives of other parts of the Western Pacific. Mr. George
Forster tells us that the people of Tanna and Mallicolo in the New
Hebrides place inside their shell arralets bunches of the odoriferous
plant, Evodia hortensis, together with the leaves of crotons and
other plants.^ We learn from Mr. MacgUlivray,^ and from Mr.
Stone,* that the natives of the south-east part of New Guinea are
similarly fond of decorating themselves with flowers and scented
leaves which they place in the hair and inside their armlets and
necklaces. Tattooing is practised amongst both sexes in many islands ; but
the process differs frora that ordinarily employed in the circurastance
that the pigment is frequently omitted, and for this reason tho
marks are often faint and only visible on a close inspection. In
this manner the natives of St. Christoval and the adjacent islands
have their cheeks marked by a number of shallow grooves arranged
in a series of chevron-lines, and differing but little if at all frora the
general colour of the skin. On the trunk the lines are of a faint
blue hue, and here a pigraent is more frequently used. The process,
as employed in the island of Santa Anna, consists in deeply abrading
1 "A Voyage round tho World," by George Forster, London, 1777 ; (page 276.)
2 "-Voyage of H.M.S. 'Rattlesnake,'" by John Maogillivray ; London, 1852.
s " A fe-w months in Ne-w- Guinea," by O. C. Stone ; London, 1880.

13G TATTOOING.
the skin vnth such instruments as a piece of a shell, the flinty edge
of the bamboo, the tooth of a large fruit-eating bat (Pteropidae), or
even by the long finger-nails. The older lads have to submit them
selves to this operation before they obtain the rights of manhood;
and I was inforraed that during its progress they are kept isolated
in a house and fed on the blood of a certain fish (?) After it is
completed, they are at liberty to marry, and they are aUowed to
take part in the fighting and in the fishing expeditions.
Tattooing is not generally practised amongst the people of the
islands of BougainviUe Straits. I only observed it in a few
instances, more particularly amongst the women, when it resembles
that which has been above described. A party of men. from the
viUage of Takura on the coast of Bougainville, whom I met on one
occasion, had their faces marked with shallow linear grooves of much
the sarae colour as the skin, which commenced at the " alse nostri.'
and, curving over the cheek-bones, terminated above the eyebrows.
These lines were more distinct than those which raark the faces of
the natives in the eastward islands, although they were probably
produced in a similar raanner. Another pattern of tattooing, which
may be described as a branching coil, is to be found in the repre
sentation of the head of a native of Isabel Island, which was obtained
from a mould taken in D'Urville's expedition in 1838.^ Some men
of the districts of the Uta Pass and Urasi on the north coast of
Malaita, whom I met on one occasion, had their faces raarked with
a double or a single row of blueish dots commencing on the cheek
bones and meeting on the forehead.
In the place of tattooing, the inhabitants of the islands of Bou
gainville Straits ornament their bodies with rows of circular and
somewhat raised cicatrices which are usually about the size of a
fourpenny piece and about a third of an inch apart In the case of
the men, the shoulders, upper arms, and chest are thus marked : a
double row of cicatrices commences on the shoulder-blade of either
side, and crossing the upper arms near the apex of the insertion of
the deltoid muscle these rows arch over the armpits and meet at the
lower part of the sternum. The chiefs and their sons often have an
additional row of these marks. Although this is the common
fashion, one sometiraes raeets men who have the cicatrices confined to
the chest or to the shoulders, or to only one side of the body.
Amongst the women, the shoulders, upper arras, and breasts are
1 Plate vi. : Atlas Anthropologie ; " Voya;;e au Pole Sud et dans I'Oceanie."

CICATRICES 137
similarly marked as shown in the engraving here given, and in
addition they have these rows of cicatrices across the inside of the
thigh. A triple row across the left breast distinguished tho prin
cipal wife of the chief of Treasury Lsland. This method of orna
menting the body with raised cicatrices, which I also observed in
the case of the party of Takura natives above referred to, would
appear to be a sign of manhood and womanhood, as it is not to be
found amongst the younger of either sex. With regard to the mode
of producing these marks, I could only ascertain that they .Avere
made by placing the powdered dust of touchwood on the skin and
then igniting it To produce such a permanent and indelible cica
trix, I should think it probable that means were employed to con
vert the burn into a festering sore. The light colour of these scars
would appear to indicate that no pigraent is used in the process. I
should reraark that this custom of raising the skin in cicatrices, es
pecially on the shoulders, breasts, and thighs, is very prevalent
among the Papuans of the south and south-west coasts of New
Guinea.' Mr. Mosely describes the same method of ornamenting
the body as he observed it amongst the men of the Admiralty
Islands.^ It may be here noticed, that tho practice of circumcision is
apparently not to be met with in these islands, except, as observed
by Dr. Codrington, in the pure Polynesian settlements,* with which,
however, I did not come into contact.
I have previously described the raodes of wearing and of decorat
ing the hair (pages 116, 134), and can only raake a few reraarks hero.
In sorae islands, as at Ugi, the young boys have the entire scalp
shaven with the exception of two tufts on the top of the head.
Then ascain, at the other extrerae of life, it is often the custora for old
woraen to assist the natural falling-off of the hair and reraove it
altogether. As a sign of mourning, the hair may be trimmed, cut
close, or shaved off.
The Soloraon Islander often carries his corab stuck in his bushy
hair. As shown in the figure in this work, the comb in common
use throughout this group reserables very much in pattern and mode
of workmanship that which is in use in parts of New Giunea, the
Admiralty Islands, the Tonga Group, and other islands of the
1 " Papuans " by G. W. Earl ; (p. 5.)
- Journ. Anthroi). Inst. vol. vi., p. 379.
sihid.. voL x: v. 261.

138 COMBS.
Western Pacifie. The combs of different islands may vary some
what in details, but they belong all to this pattern, being usually
made of a hard dark wood, the teeth consisting of separate pieces
either bound tightly or glued together by a kind of resin. The
handles and upper parts are often prettily decorated with the plaited
" dyed gi-ass," so-called (vide, page 132). An excellent coloured
illustration of an Admiralty Island corab is to be found in the official
narrative of the cruise of the " Challenger." In the islands of Bou
gainviUe Straits, the native often carries in his hair an instrument
three prongs rudely fashioned out of bamboo, as shown in one of
the figures. It is used as much for scratching the head as for
combing the hair.
Head-coverings are rarely to be found in this group, except in
BougainviUe and Bouka. A native of Treasury showed me a singu
lar conical hat which he had brought frora Bouka. It really was a
double hat, one inside the other, the inner hat being made of the
leaf of the " kiari," a species of Heliconia, and the outer of the fan-
shaped leaf of the " firo," a palm of the genus Licuala. A band of
the so-called plaited " dyed grass " encircles the base and keeps the
hat on the head. A sirailariy shaped hat but smaller and shorter,
and made of the leaf of the " kiari," was worn by sorae Bougainville
natives frora the village of Takura, whora I met in Fauro Island.
It was placed towards the back of the head ; and as it covered
only a small portion of the crown, it was evidently more ornamen
tal than useful. In addition, these natives wore a little bunch of
feathers on each temjile. Their appearance in this grotesque head
dress was rather ludicrous.
It is a reraarkable circurastance that although the Solomon
Islanders, as a rule, wear no protective covering for the head, the
carved figures of their tarabu-posts are usually represented with
very European-looking hats. These carved tarabu-posts have vari
ous uses (vide, page 32). In a sirailar raanner in Bougainville
Straits, the hat is to be noticed in the case of the little wooden
figures which are fastened on the stems of canoes as protective
deities  Where these islanders first obtained their
idea of a hat of this shape is a matter for speculation. It may have
been originally suggested by the hats of the Spanish soldiers three
centuries ago, who by"nieans of their musketry seldom failed to make
a lasting impression of their visit during the six months spent by
the expedition in the group.

DECORATIVE PATTERNS. 139
Sunshades in the forra of a peak of plaited grass bound to the
forehead and projecting over the eyes are occasionally worn by the
natives of Bougainville Straits, whilst flshing in canoes, in order to
protect their eyes frora the sun's glare on the water. In Ugi, these
sunshades are soraetiraes worn on gala days. They did not, how
ever, appear to be in constant use in any part of the group which
we visited.
The coranon decorative pattern employed by the natives of the
islands that we visited was the chevron line. It is the pattern used
in tattooing the face in the eastern islands ; and it is represented in
alternating hues of red, white, and black, on the fronts of tambu-
houses. It is rudely cut on the outer border of the sraall shell
armlets of St. Christoval, and ornaments the cooking-pots and
drinking-vessels of Bougainville Straits. (See Illustration!) In
some of the shell arralets a continuous lozenge or diamond-shaped
design is produced by the arrangement of the chevron lines as
shown in the woodcut. The advance frora this design to the dis
connected lozenge pattern is then but an easy gradation. These
chevron lines, are often curiously transformed. The Z pattern of
inlaid mother-of-pearl, which is shown in the illustration of the
canoe-god, is apparently but a broken chevron line. On the heads
of the Treasury spears fantastic patterns are cut out in which the
chevron design is adapted to the human skeleton (See illustratioji).
 I raay here add that the baraboo boxes used for the
betel lirae are ornaraented with rectilinear patterns (scratched on
their surfaces) which reserable those used in ornaraenting the simUar
lime boxes of New Guinea, Borneo, and Sumatra.^ The ornaraental
dance-clubs of Bougainville Straits exactly reserable the clubs from
New Ireland and possess those singular distorted representations of
the human face which characterise New Ireland ornaraentation.
Caution is required in studying the Inodes of ornaraentation of
these islanders. The reraark made by the Rev. Mr. Lawes, in
reference to the woraen of the Motu tribe in New Guinea,^ that they
are glad to get new tattooing patterns from the printed calicoes, is
equally applicable to sorae of the Solomon Island natives. On one
occasion I was gravely informed by a native, as a fact likely to add
to their interest, that some designs I was copying had this origin.
The Solomon Island songs, although often monotonous to the
1 Exhibited in the British Museura Ethnological collection.
a Journ. Authrop. Inst. vol. VIIL, p. 369.

MO SONGS
' ' ¦
cultivated ear, appeared to mc to be in consonan.ce with the wild
character of these islander.s Often when I have stopped to rest and
enjoy a pipe in the raidst of my e.xcur.sions, it may have been beside
a streara in the wood or on the edge of a tall cliff overlooking the
sea, ray native corapanions have sat down and coramenced their
monotonous chanting, which, discordant as it may have sometimes
seemed to me, appeared to bc in unison witb my surroundingsy
Now raised to a high key, now sinking to a. low, subdued drone,
now hurried, now slow and measured, these rude not,es recalled to
ray mind rather the sounds of the inanimate world around me, such
as the siffhiuff of the wind ainong the trees or the shrill whistle of
the gale, the noise of tbe surf on the reef or the rippUng of the
waves on the beach, the rushing of a mountain torrent or the mur
muring of a rivulet in its bed. My thoughts at such times recurred
to those unpoUshed ages in the history of nations when the bard
attuned his raelody to the voices of the waves, the strearas, and the
wind, and found in the raist or in the cloud his expression for the
shadowy unknown. At no time have the poeras of Ossian appeared
to my raind to be invested with greater beauty than when I have
been standing in solitude in sorae inland dell or on sorae lofty hill
top in these regions. The song of the bard of Selraa, despite its
ruggedness, on such occasions, appealed more powerfully to my
imagination than raany more finished verses, and seemed more in
keeping with scenes that owed to man nothing, remaining as they
had been for ages. Nature's handiwork.
Frequently whilst descending sorae steep hill-slope or whilst
following the downward course of a ravine, my natives were wont
to make the woods echo with their shouts and their wild songs.
The natural impulse to make use of the vocal organs whilst descend
ing a raountain is worth a moment's remark. Often I found my
self involuntarily shouting with my savage corapanions, when their
loud peals of laughter attracted my attention. Some years ago,
when visiting the Si-shan Mountains which lie behind the city of
Kiukiang on the south bank of the Yang-tse, I remeraber Ustening
to the cries of the Chinese wood-cutters as they returned in the.
evening down the narrow gorges that led to their homes. As their
shouts died away in the higher parts of the raountain, the echo was
caught by the wood-cutters below, and was answered back in such
a manner that the raen further down the gorges took up the cry.
The training of natives of these islands by the- Melanesian

SONGS. 141
Mission at Norfolk Island has shown that the corapass of theii-
voices and their ear for rausic are capable of rauch cultivation.
When staying with Bishop Selwyn at Gaeta in the Florida Islands,
I heard faraUiar hyran-tunes sang with as true an appreciation of
harmony as would be found in the Sunday School of an English
village, and sung by a congregation of natives of both sexes, who,
with the exception of their teachers, had never left their island.
During our lengthened sojoum in Bougainville Straits, we
became very familiar with the popular tunes of the natives ; and-
through the exerticns of Mr. Isabell, I have been able to reproduce
in this work three of the commonest airs.^ The songs are usuall}'
sung in chorus, and a droning accorapaniraent is often introduced
by some of the men which is especially well given in the second
tune. There appear to be four or five comraon airs. All are short
and most of them have refrains which are repeated over and over
again. The first tune is a cannibal song and is sung at the war
dances. Its words, as I learned from Gorai, the Shortland chief,
are the address of a man to his eneray, in whicii he inforras hira of
his intention to kill and eat hira. The second tune, though not
possessing words, is often sung or rather chanted by the men.
When sung by a number of persons, its wild music is to an imagin
ative mind very suggestive of the savage Ufe. I have heard it sung
by about forty men whilst passing the night with thera in the
village of Sinasoro in Faro Island. The tambu-house, in which
we were, was dimly lighted, and the natives were squatting around
a wood-fire chanting their wild song in chorus, and terrainating it
in a fashion that sounded very abrupt to the white raan's ear. The
third tune is a pretty air which the men of the " Lark " used to
play with the concertina in waltz time. The words, accompanying
it, have a music of their own. I learned frora the natives of
Treasury Island that this tune was brought from Meoko (Duke of
York Islands) not long since.
The Pandean pipe is the rausical instrument in coraraon use
araongst the natives of the Islands of Bougainville Straits. I did
not notice it in St Christoval and the adjacent islands at the otber
end of the group, where it is either not known or but rarely used.
The distribution of this instrument in the Pacific is interesting. It
is figured by D'Albertis in his work on New Guinea, and there are
specimens in the British Museum Collection from Brumer 's Island
1 Mr. Isabell was indebted for assistance to Mr. Tremaine of jVuckland, N.Z.

142 PANDEAN PIPES.
off this coast, as well as from the Admiralty Islands, the New
Hebrides, the Tonga Group, and New Zealand. The instruments
from all these localities are distinguished from the Solomon Island
pan-pipe by the reeds being arranged in a single row and being of a
much sraaller size. They are also more neatly madeJ Those used
by the Treasury and Shortland natives are coraposed of a double
row of from 6 to 8 reeds, the second row being merely added to give
support to the instruraent. The longest reed is usually a foot in
length and three quarters of an inch in bore ; whilst the shortest
reed is about 5 inches long and rather less than half an inch
in bore. Sorae natives prefer instruraents having twice this
length. The Pandean pipes, played at the public dances of Aiu,
are of very large size, the length of the longest reed of one
which I measured being between 3J and 4 feet. At such perform
ances, the air is given by the smaller pipes ; whilst the bass notes of
the larger pipes form a droning but harmonious accompaniment The
music of these instruraents, being in the usual contracted compass,
is of a soraewhat raonotonous character. Those of Treasury Island
are said to be only adapted for playing one tune, which is the
second air given on the page. I learn frora Mr. Isabell, who was
interested in this raatter, that the natives vary the nuraber of reeds
in the instruraent according to the air it is intended to play. The
musician accompanies his melody with a nodding of the head and
a swaying of the body on the hips, movements which are anything
but expressive and are in fact rather ludicrous.
Jew's harps of foreign manufacture are much in deraand amongst
persons of both sexes and all ages throughout the Solomon Group.
In the eastem islands they fashion thera of baraboo, as in the
New Hebrides and New Guinea;^ but I did not observe any native-
made instruraents araongst the people of Bougainville Straits?) The
women of Treasury Island produce a similar though softer kind of
music by playing,, somewhat after the fashion of a Jew's harp,
on a lightly made fine-stringed bow about 15 inches long. This is
held to the lips and the string is gently struck with the fingers,
the cavity of the mouth serving as a resonator. . . . That
school-boy's delight, the " paper-and-comb instruraent," finds its
counterpart in these islands. On one occasion, when I was enjoying
a pipe and watching the surf on the south coast of StirUno- Island,
1 Mr. Mosely in his " Notes by a NaturaUst " gives an illustratiou of a Jew's harp from
the New Hebrides.

DANCES. 143
a young lad, who accompanied me, amused himself with, sorae rude
music by holding in front of his lips, as he hummed a native air, a
thick leaf in which he had made a hole about half an inch wide,
leaving the thin transparent epidermis intact on one side ; the vib
ration of this thin merabrane gave a peculiar twang to his voice.
The drura in common use in the different islands we visited was
made of a portion of the trunk of a tree, 8 to 10 feet long, hollowed
out in its interior and possessing a slit in the middle. It is placed
lengthways on the ground, and is struck by two short sticks.
Sirailar druras are eraployed by the inhabitants of the New
Hebrides^ and the Adrairalty Islands.^ This pattern may therefore
be described as the Melanesian drum. A kind of sounding-board,
placed in a pit in the ground and struck by the feet of the dancers,
is described in my account of the dances of these islanders (vide
page 144).
As conches, the two large shells, Triton and Cassis are commonly
used. For this purpose, a hole is pierced for the lips on the side of
the spire.
Dancing is perforraed on very different occasions in these islands.
Besides the war, funeral, and festal dances, there are others which
partake of a lascivious character both in the words of the accom-
jianying chant and in the movements of the hands and body.
Whilst visiting the small island of Santa Catalina, I saw one of these
dances performed by young girls from 10 to 14 years of age. An
explanation of their reluctance to commence, which at first from my
ignorance of what was to follow I was at a loss to understand, soon
offered itself in the character of the dance, and evidently arose from
a natural sense of modesty that appeared strange when associated
with their subsequent performance. There are, however, other
(lances, purely sportive in their nature. Of such a kind were sorae
which were performed for my benefit at the village of Gaeta in the
Florida Islands. About twenty lads, having formed a ring around
a group of their companions squatting in the centre, began to walk
slowly round, tapping the ground with their left feet at every other
step, and keeping time with a dismal drone chanted by the central
group of boys. Every now and then the boys of the ring bent for
ward on one knee towards those in the raiddle, while at the same
1 " A year in the New Hebrides " by F. A Campbell, p. 108. The druras are placed erect
in the earth.
-^ Mosely's "Notes by a Naturalist on the ' Challenger,' " p. 471.

144 DANCES.
time they clapped their hands and made a pecuUar noise between a
hiss and a sneeze : the chant then became more enlivening and the
dancing more spirited. On the following day the women of the
vUlage took part in a dance which was very similar to that of the
boys, except that there was no central group, and that they wore
bunches of large beans around the left ankle which made a rattling
noise when they tapped the ground at every other step with tbe
left foot Bishop Selwyn, to whom I was indebted for the oppor
tunity of witnessing these dances in the viUage of Gaeta, informed
rae that in the Florida Islands, dancing is often more or less of a
profession, troupes of dancers raaking lengthened tours through the
different islands of this sub-group.

During a great feast that was held in the island of Treasury,
the following dance was performed. Between thirty and forty
women and girls stood in a ring around a semi-circular pit, 5 feet
across, which was sunk about 4 feet in the ground. A board, which
was flxed in the pit about half way down, covered it in with the
exception of a notch at its border. On this board stood two women,
and as they danced they stamped with their feet, producing a dull
hollow sound, to which the woraen of the circle timed their dancing,
which consisted in bending their bodies slightly forward, gently
swaying frora side to side, and raising their feet alternately. All
the while, the dancers sang in a spirited style different native airs.
Now and then, a pair of women would dance slowly round outside
the circle, holding before thera their folded pandanus mats which
all the performers carried.^
I was present at a dance given on one occasion at Aiu, prepara
tory to a great feast which was about to be held. Soon after sunset
the natives began to asserable on the beach, and when Gorai, the
' The employment of a hole in the ground as a resonator does not appear to be coramon.
Mr. Mosely in his " Notes by a Naturalist," p. 309, refers to a somewhat similar use of holes
in the ground by the Fijians who plaoe a log-drum of light wood over three holes and strike
it with a wooden mallet.

DANCES. 145
chief, arrived on the scene, between thirty and forty men arranged
themselves in a circle, each carrying his pan-pipe. They began by
playing an air in slow time, accompanying the rausic by a slight
swaying motion of the body, and by alternately raising each foot.
Then the notes becarae more lively and the raovements of the
dancers more brisk. The larger pipes took the part of the bass in
a rude but harmonious syraphony, whUst the raonotonous air was
repeated without rauch vai-iation in the higher key of the smaller
instruments. At times one of the younger men stopped in the
centre of the ring, tomahawk in hand, and whilst he assumed a
half -stooping posture, with his face looking upwards, the rausicians
dwelt on the same note which became gradually quicker and louder.
whilst the_dancing became more brisk, until, when the tip-toe of
expectation was apparently reached, and one was beginning to feel
that something ought to happen, the man in the centre who had
been hitherto motionless, swung back a leg, stuck his tomahawk ua
the ground, and one's feelings m ere relieved by the dull monotone
suddenly breaking off into a Uvely native air. . . On another occa-
.sion, I was present at a funeral or mourning dance, which was held
in connection with the death of the principal wife of the Aiu chief.
It will be found described on page 48.
I will conclude this chapter by alluding to a favourite game of
the Treasury boys which rerainded me somewhat of our English
2-ame of peg-tops. An oval pebble about two inches long is placed
on a leaf on the ground. Each boy then takes a similar pebble,
around which a piece of twine is wound ; and standing abont eight
feet away, he endeavours in the foUo-wing manner to throw it so as
to fall on the pebble on the ground. The end of the twine is hcM
between his fingers ; and as the twine uncoils, he jerks it backward.-
and brings his pebble with considerable force on to]3 of the other.

CHAPTER VIIL
CANOES — FISHING — HUNTING.
IN the eastern islands of the Soloraon Group there is a considerable
uniformity in the construction of the canoe. " Dug-out " canoes
are rarely to be seen, except in tbe sheltered waters of some such
harbour as that of Makira, when they are provided with outriggers.
In the case of the built canoes, outriggers are not employed, and, in
truth, the general absence of outriggers is characteristic of this group.
The small-sized canoe, which is in coramon use araongst the natives
of St Christoval and the adjacent islands, raeasures fifteen or sixteen
feet in length and carries three raen. The side is built of two
planks ; whilst two narrower planks form the rounded bottom.
Both stera and stem are prolonged upwards into beaks which are
rudely carved ; whilst the gunwale towards either end is ornamented
with representations both of fishes, such as sharks and bonitos, and
of sea-birds. The planks are sewn together, and the seams are
covered over with a resinous substance that is obtained from the
fruit of the Parinarium laurinum which is a coraraon tree tbroughout
the group. This resinous raaterial takes some weeks to dry, when
it becomes dark and hard.
Of the larger canoes, which are similarly constructed, I will take
a.s the type the war-canoe. Its length is usually from 35 to 40 feet :
its sides are of three planks ; and the keel is flat, the stem and stern
being continued upwards in the form of beaks. Native decorative
talent is brought into play in the decoration of the war-canoe. Its
.sides are inlaid with pieces, usuallj'^ triangular in forra, of the pearl-
shell of commerce (Meleagrina margaritifera) ; and the
small and large opercula belonging to shells of the Turhirtidai
with flat spiral discs produced by grinding' down orriinary Cone-
shells (Conidce) are similarly eraployed. Along the stera an<l beak
there is usually attached a string of the handsorae white cowries

CANOES. 147
(Ovulum ovum), or of the pretty white Natica (Natica mamilla). In
the island of Simbo or Eddystone, where these shells are used in a
similar manner to decorate the large canoes, the white cowry
marks the canoes of the chiefs ; whilst the Natica shell decorates
those of the rest of the people.
The pretty little outrigger canoes of Makira on the St Christoval
coast are only nine inches across ; and the native sits on a board,
resting on the gunwales of his small craft. From one side there
stretch out two slender poles four or flve feet in length and support
ing at their outer ends a long wooden float which runs parallel with
the canoe.
The war-canoes have the reputation amongst resident traders of
being good sea-boats. They frequently make the passage between
Malaita and Ugi, traversing a distance of about thirty miles exposed
to the full force of the Pacific swell. A similarly exposed but much
longer passage of ninety railes is successfully accoraplished by the
war-canoes of Santa Catalina, when the natives of this sraall island
pay their periodical visits to a friendly tribe on the coast of Malaita.
Skilfully raanaged, even the smaller canoes, which carry two or
three persons, will behave well in a moderately heavy sea. I fre
quently used thera and had practical experience of the dexterity
with which they are handled. On one occasion I was coasting along
the west side of the island of Sirabo in an overladen canoe ; and
there was just enough " lop " and swell to raake the chances even as
to whether we should have to swira for it or not It was astonishing
to see the various raanceuvres employed by my natives to keep our
little craft afloat — now smoothing off with the blade, of the paddle
the top of the wave as it rose to the gunwale, now dodging the
swell and taking full advantage of its onward roll, now putting a leg
over each side to increase the stability of the canoe ; by such de
vices, in addition to continuous baling, I raanaged to escape the un
pleasantness of a ducking.
Although the larger canoes of the Soloraon Islanders are appar
ently suited to the re^uireraents of the natives, yet the want of an
outrigger must be often felt, especially in raaking the unprotected
sea passages frora one island to another. The natives of Bougain
ville Straits who, as referred to below, occasionally fit their war-
canoes, when heavy laden, with teraporary outriggers of stout
bamboo poles, must evidently be aware of the deficiencies of their
canoes, unless thus provided : yet for some reason or other they raake

148 CANOES.
no general use of this contrivance. Bishop Patteson in 1866 was
surprised to see on the St Christoval coast an outrigger canoe which
had been built by the natives after the model of a canoe that had
been drifted over frora Santa Cruz some j'ears before.^ He says that
the natives found it raore serviceable than their own canoes for
catching large fish : yet in 1882 after a lapse of sixteen years, we
found no signs of this style of canoe having been adopted by the St.
Christoval natives. It seeras to rae that the explanation of the 6ut-
rigger canoe not being generally employed by the natives of these
islands lies in the arrangement of the larger islands of this group in
a double line enclosing a coraparatively sheltered sea 350. miles in
length, which is, to a great extent, protected from the ocean swell.
Thus, the head-hunting voyages of the New Georgia natives to the
eastward, which raay extend to Malaita 150 miles distant, are
entirely confined to these sheltered waters. The passages between
Malaita and the eastern islands, which I have referred to above, are,
however, in great part exposed ; but they are only undertaken in
very settled weather.
On account of the frequent communication which is kept up
between the different islands of Bougainville Straits, where open-sea
passage of frora 15 to 25 railes have to be perforraed, the larger
canoes are in raore comraon use and in greater number than in the
eastern islands of the group. These large canoes vary in length be
tween 40 and 50 feet, are between 3J and 4 feet in beara, can carry
from 18 to 25 men, and are paddled double-banked. They are stoutly
built with three lines of side-planking and two narrow planks form
ing the bottom .of the canoe : all the planks are bevelled off at their
edges and are brought, or rather sewn, together by narrow strips of
the slender stems of a pretty climbing fern (Lygonia sp.), the
" asama " of the natives, which have the pliancy and strength of
rattan. The seams are caulked with the same resinous material that
is employed for this purpose in the eastern islands, and is obtained
fi-om the brown nearly spherical fruits of the " tita " of the native>
the Parinarium laurinum of the botanist.^
The natives of Bougainville Straits do not decorate their -canoes
to any great extent ; and in this they differ from those of St
Christoval, who, as I have remarked, ornament the prows and gun-
1 " Life of Bishop Patteson," p. 126 (S.P.C.K. pub.).
2 The resin of this fruit is used for the same purpose in Isabel and probably throughout the
group. It is similarly used in the Admiralty Islands. Narrative of the "Challenger," page 719.

J-
CANOES. 149
wales with carvings of fish and sea-birds, and inlay the sides with
jiearl-shell. The steras and sterns of the large canoes of Faro and of
Choiseul Bay are continued up in the form of high beaks, which
rise 12 to 15 feet above the water. I was at first at a loss to find
the explanation of these high beaks, which give the canoes of
Bougainville Straits such a singular appearance. In the narratives
of the voyages of Bougainville and Surville who observed those
high-beaked canoes, the former at Choiseul Bay in 1768,^ and lhe
latter at Port Praslin, in Isabel, in 1769,^ we find the explanation
required, which is, that these high prows, when the canoe is turned
end on to the enemy, afford shelter against arrows and other
missiles. For sea-passages, greater stability is soraetiraes given to the large
canoes ofthe Straits, by teraporarily fitting thera with an outrigger
on each side, in the forra of a bundle of stout baraboos lashed to the
projecting ends of three baraboo poles placed across the gunwales of
the canoe. The large canoes, in crossing from one island to the other
in the Straits, emploj^ often a couple of sraall lug-sails which are
made from calico or light canvas obtained from the traders. I never
saw any sails of native material : but it was worthy of remark that
in 1792, when Dontrecasteaux approached close to the west coast of
the Shortland Islands, he noticed " large canoes under sail,"
which, to quote directly from the narrative, " annonqoient une
na-vigation active dans cet archipel d'iles extreniement petites.""
Why the natives of these Straits no longer employ sails of their own
raanufacture, it is difficult to say. The very recent introduction of
trade calico cannot have caused thera to be set aside for those of the
new material, since when a native wants to have a sail, and has no
calico, he has no recourse to sails of his own manufacture. Rather,
it would appear, that the canoes under sail, which navigated these
Straits a century ago, belonged to a people more enterprising than
the present inhabitants of these islands.
To the stera of the canoe, just above the water-line, is sometimes
attached a small misshapen wooden figure, which is the little tutelar
deity that sees the hidden rock, and gives warning of an approaching
foe. One ofthese figures is shown inthe accompan)dng illustration.
^ " Voyage autour du Moude : " 2nd edit, augment. Paris, 1772; Vol. II., p. 187. In
this work there is an engraving of one of these canoes.
-"Discoveries of the French to the South-East of New Guinea," by M. F eurieu.
London, 1791 (p. 139). '
' " Voyage de Dontrecasteaux," redigo par. M. de Bossel, Paris, 1808 : tom, 1, p. 117.

150 CANOES.
They are sirailariy employed by the natives of the adjacent island of
Sirabo, and of other islands in this part of the group. Often they
are double-headed, so that the little deity raay keep a watchful look
out astern as well as ahead ; and then they are placed on the tops of
the high beaks of the Faro canoes. Probably the Chinese custom of
painting eyes on the sides of the bows of the junks, and the similar
practice of the Maltese, in the case of their boats, may date back to
the little gods of wood that were attached to the bows and stems of
the canoes of their barbarous predecessors. The origin of the figure
heads of our ships raay perhaps be traced back to tiraes of savagery
when a similar superstitious practice prevailed.
" Dug-out" canoes are only to be found in the sheltered waters of
Treasury Harbour. They are from 16 to 18 feet long, are provided
with an outrigger, and are so narrow that the occupant sits on a
board placed on the gunwales with only his feet and legs inside the
canoe. In the quiet waters of the anchorage at Simbo, the natives
make use of a raft of poles lashed together somewhat after the
manner of a catamaran, such as I have seen on the coast of Formosa.
A few remarks on the mode of paddling, and on the paddles
eraployed, raay be here fitting. The long tapering blade,^ which is
in common use in the eastward islands, gives place in BougainviUe
Straits to the oval and sub-circular blades. All the paddles which I
saw had cross-handles. Those used by the woraen of the Straits
are unusually light, raore finished, and are sometiraes decorated with
patterns in red and black. According to the length of the journey,
one or other of two styles of progression is adopted. In short
distances, they often proceed by a succession of spurts with a stroke
of 60 and raore to the rainute, each spurt lasting a few minutes, and
being followed by a short interval of rest In longer distances they
employ a slo-wer stroke of from 40 to 50 to the minute, which is
varied by occasional spurts. On one occasion when taking a journey
of 12 miles in a war canoe, I was much struck with the different
kinds of strokes by which my crew of eighteen men varied their
exertions. They usuaUy paddled along easily at about 50 strokes to
the minute : but every ten or fifteen minutes they began a series of
spurts, each spurt beginning with a short sharp stroke of about 60
to the minute, and passing into a slow strong stroke of about 28 to
the minute. After a succession of these spurts, which occupied.
altogether about five minutes, they settled down again into their
^ See illustration.

CANOES. 151
previous easy stroke of 50 to the minute. Frequent stoppages
occur during the course of a long journey, either for enjoying a
chew of the betel-nut or for smoking a pipe ; and the average
speed, from this reason, would not exceed three miles an hour,
whilst a day's run, between daylight and dusk, in fine weather
would be from 25 to 30 railes.
When a corpse is- being transported in a canoe to its last resting-
place in the sea by the natives of the Shortlands, they adopt a
funeral stroke, pausing between each stroke of the paddle, and by
a slight back-water raoveraent partly arresting the progress of the
canoe. I remeraber on one occasion, whilst watching a large canoe
starting from Ugi to the opposite coast of St. Christoval, remarking
their singular style of paddling. At every other stroke each man
raised his arm and paddle much higher in the air, and gave a.
vigorous dig into the water, a very effective style as regards speed,
and one likely to irapress a tiraid eneray with fear. . . . Before
leaving this subject, I should refer to the paddling-posture of these
natives. All of them in the different islands we visited squat down
with their legs crossed, facing the bow. The New Guinea practice
of standing up to paddle a canoe did not come under my observation
except in the case of outrigger canoes, and in such canoes it was not
the rule. I should infer that the posture of sitting or standing to
paddle a canoe varies in accordance with the use of or non-eraploy-
raent of an outrigger. If, as in the case of the Solomon Island
canoes, outriggers are rarely used, then the sitting posture will be
found to be the one adopted, since the unaided stability of the canoe
does not perrait of the standing posture. If, on the other hand, out
riggers are usually employed, it follows that, as in certain parts of
New Guinea, the raore effective posture of standing is preferred.
As fish form a staple diet'of a large proportion of these islanders,
much ingenuity is shown in the methods devised for catching them.
In the eastern part of the archipelago, kite-fishing is commonly em
ployed. A kite ^ is flown in the air from the end of a canoe, and to
it a fishing-line is attached in place of the usual tail. Whilst the
man in the canoe paddles slowly ahead, the movement of the kite
whisks the bait about on the surface of the water ; and when the
fish bites, the kite goes down. Instead of a hook and bait, the
natives usually employ for this mode of fishing some stout spider-
^ Some of these kites, which I saw, had a form rudely representing a bird with expanded
-wings. Others had a squarish form and were made of palm leaf.

152 FISHING.
web, which gets entangled around the teeth and snout of the fi.«h,
and can be used several tiraes. The explanation of this plan of
catching fish is probably as follows. The kite swaying in the air
offers some resemblance to an aquatic bird hovering over the water
where a shoal of sraall fish occurs. It thus attracts the larger fish>
who are said to follow the raovements of these birds, and are thus
guided in the pursuit of the smaller fry. It is with this object that
the natives of the Society Group tie bunches of feathers to the ex
treraities of the long-curved poles which, projecting frora the fore
part of the canoe, support the lines.^ As bearing on this subject, I
may remark that it is not uncommon in these seas to observe por
poises, large fish, and sea-birds joining together in the pursuit of
small fry. On one occasion, when in my Rob Roy canoe, I got into
the thick of the fray. A large nuraber of sea-birds were hoverinc
over the water, which was alive with fish, about a foot in leno-th,
which, in pursuit of sraall fry, were themselves pursued by a shoal
of porpoises, and were pecked at by the birds as, in their endeavour
to escape, they leapt out of the water. It was a lively spectacle.
The fish jumped out of the water aU around rae, whilst the birds
hovering within reach of raj- paddle swooped down on them ; and
the huge porpoises, joining lazily in the sport, rose quietly to the
.surface within a few feet of the canoe, showed their dorsal fin.s, and
dived again in pursuit of their prey. I stupidly fired three shots with
my revolver into the hovering flock of birds ; but it was not until
after the third report that they temporarily suspended the chase. . . .
Another comraon method of fishing in the eastern islands, which
resembles in its idea that of the kite-fishing, consists in the use of
a float of wood about three. feet in length and rather bigger than a
walking-stick. It is weighted by a stone at one end, so that it floats
upright in the water, a fishing-line with tbe spider-web bait being
attached to its lower end. The upper end of the float, which is out
of the water, is rudely cut in imitation of a wad ing- bird ; and here
we have the same idea exhibited which I have described above in
the case of kite-fishing, the figure of the bird being supposed to
attract the larger fish. There is, however, this difference. A glance
at one of these floats, one of which is figured else w here, wiU convince
anyone that a fish is not likely to be deceived by such a sorry repre
sentation of a bird. Doubtless we have here an instauce of the sur
vival of a more effective method of fishing, in which tho idea has
1 E lis's "Polynesian Researches," Vol. I., p. 149-50.

1

EISH I. NO. 153
been retained, but the utiUty has been lost. This plan is in fact
nothing more than the eraployment of a float, which is thrown into
the water by the fisherman, who follows it up in his canoe a.nd looks
out for its bob.
In the eastern islands the fishing spear is frequently eraployed.
With this weapon in his hand, the native wades in the shallow water
on the flats of the reefs, and hurls it at any passing fish. The night
time is often chosen for this mode of fishing. A party of natives
provided with torches, spread themselves along the edge of the reof
and stand ready to throw their spears as the fish dart by them.
During the day, when the reef-flats at low-tide are covered only by
a small depth of water, the fishermen advance in a semicircle until a
flsh is observed, when the two wings close in, and the fish is sur-
lounded. The kind of flsh-spear which they use much reserables
that which Mr. Ellis describes in his account of the Society Islands.
As shown in the engraving (p. 155), the head of the fish-spear is com
posed of five fore-shafts of hard wood, notched at their sides, and ar
ranged around a similar fore-shaft These are bound together, and the
whole is fitted into the end of a stout bamboo, giving the weapon a
total length of about seven feet .... The fish-spear does not
appear to be so commonly used - by the natives of Bougainville
Straits. There, its place is often taken by the bow and arrow,
which are weapons that are not in use amongst the natives of
St. Christoval and the adjacent islands at the eastern end of the
group. I should here remark that, when fishing on the reefs, natives are
sometimes struck by the gar-fish with such force that they die from
the wound. The possibility of this occurrence has recently been
doubted. But that such is the case, we incidentally learned from
the natives of the Shortlands. The people of Wano, on the north
coast of St. Christoval, believe that the ghosts which haunt the sea,
cause the flying-fish and the gar-fish to dart out of the water and
to strike men in the canoes ; and they hold that any man thus
struck will die.^ This superstitious belief could only have arisen
frora the circumstance of natives having met their death in this
manner ; and it is probable that in this respect the larger flying-
fish would be quite as much to be feared as the gar-fish. Mr.
1 " Polynesian Eesearches,'' vol. I,, j). 143.
' "Eeligious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia," by the Rev. E. H, Codrington, M.A.
Journal of Anthropological Institute, vol. X,

154 FISHING.
Moseley, in his "Notes by a Naturali.st," p. 480, refers to such
an event as not of uncommon occurrence in some of the Pacific
Islands.^ The material, from which the natives of Bougainville Straits
manufacture the twine for their fishing-nets and lines, is usually
suppUed by the deUcate fibres lining the bark of the young branches
of a stout climber, which is known to the natives as the " awi-sulu."
This climber, which is probably a species of Lyonsia, has a main
stem of the size of a man's leg, which embraces a tree, whilst it
sends its offishoots for a distance of some 40 or 50 feet along the
ground. It is the delicate fibres lining the inside of the skin of the
young procumbent branches that the native selects for his purpose.
By scraping the thin bark or skin with the edge of a pearl-shell,
the fibres are first cleared of other material : they are then dried in
the sun ; and when dry, they are arranged in small strands, threeof
which are twisted together into a fine line by rolling them with the
palra of the hand on the thigh. The natives soraetiraes obtain the
raaterial for their nets and lines frora the coramon littoral tree, the
Hibiscus tiliaceus, which they name " dakatako."
In making their nets, our coramon netting-stitch i^ employed,
the needle being of plain wood, 18 inches long, and forked at each
end ; whilst the mesh eraployed is a piece of tortoise-shell, having
for a width of an inch a length of 2^ inches. The method of netting
farailiar to ourselves appears to be generally employed amonest the
native races of this portion of the globe. We learn from the Rev.
George Turner that in Samoa the same stitch and the sarae form of
needle are eraployed which are in use in Europe.^ The natives of
Port Moresby, in New Guinea, net " so precisely in our mode that
the seamen of H.M.S. " Basilisk " took up their shuttles and went on
with their work." * 'The needle employed at Rcdscar Bay, on the
coast of the same island, is more like our own, the mesh being oi
tortoise-shell, two to three inches long.* When Captain Bowen, of
the ship " Albemarle," was visited in 1791 by some natives of the
Soloraon Islands who carae off to him in their canoes, he thought he
had found in the apparently European workmanship of their nets a
1 Vide&\so " Nature," index ot vol. XXVIII., for sorae further correspondence on this
subject. 2 " Nineteen Years in Polynesia " (London, 1861), p. 272.
8 Moresby's " New Guinea " (1876), p. 156.
* These specimens are in the British Museum Ethnological collection.

FISHING. 155
clue to the fate of La Perouse, a very pardonable error which receives
its explanation from the above facts.^

Fishing on the reef-flats with large hand-nets is a comraon occu
pation of the raen in the islands of BougainviUe Straits. Sorae five
or six men form a party, each raan carrying a pair of long hand-
nets in which the netting is stretched on a long bamboo some 20
feet in length and bent like a bow, as shown in the accorapanying
figure. The fishing party wade about on the flat near the edge of
the reef, each raan being about 20 paces apart, and dragging behind
him a pair of these clumsy-looking nets, one in each hand. When a
fish is perceived they close round ; and every raan spreads out his
nets, one on each side like a pair of wings, thus covering an extent
of sorae 40 feet. By skilfuUy dropping his nets, when it raakes a
rush in his direction, the native secures the flsh, which, dashing bead
first against one of the nets, gets its snout caught in the raeshes ;
and a couple of blows on the head complete the capture. I bave
seen flsh of the size of an ordinary bass caught in this manner.
Smaller nets, 4 to 6 feet in length, with a flner mesh, are used for
catching fish of less size. The large hand-net is known as the
" sorau," and the small hand-net as the " saiaili." Such is one of the
coraraonest raethods of fishing in the Straits. For this purpose,
fishing parties often visit the uninhabited sraall islands and coral
islets that lie off the coasts. There they erect teraporary sheds and
] eraain for one or two weeks. In the nuraerous uninhabited islets
and small islands which I visited, I frequently carae on the tem-
]iorary habitations erected by fishing parties ; whilst propped up
against the trees were the long bamboo poles on which the nets are
stretched. The natives of St. Christoval and the adjacent islands
eraploy a similar method in fishing on the reef -flats. Fishing parties
often spend a -week or two on the small islands and reefs which lie
1 Dillon's " Discovery of the Fate of La Perouse " (1829), vol I., p. Ixix.

136 FISHING.
off the St Christoval coast ; thus the men of Wano visit for this
purpose the islet of Maoraha, about 12 miles down the eoast;
whilst those of Sulagina cross over to the Three Sisters, which are
about the same distance away.
Dip-nets, such as I have seen in common use on the banks of
the Chinese rivers, are bere employed, though on a smaller scale, for
catching sraall fish. They are usually 7 or 8 feet across, and are
stretched on two cro.ssed baraboos. (Seine-nets, rauch prized by the
natives on account of the labour expended in making them, and
buoyed up with floats of the square fruits of the Barringtonia
speciosa, are commonly eraployed. There are other raodes of net-
fishing, ofwhich I am ignorant, some of which probably came under
the notice of the officers of the survey : and I hope that in reading
these reraarks they raay be induced to supplement them with addi
tional information.
The fish-hooks eraployed vai-y in form and workmanship in
different parts of the group. In the sheltered harbour of Makira,
the natives whiff in small outrigger-canoes for a small fish of the
size of a smelt, using very fine lines and small delicately made hooks
of mother-of-pearl. During our stay at the island of Simbo or
Eddystone, one of the principal articles of exchange between the
natives and ourselves was a somewhat clumsy kind of fish-hook
used for catching large fish. The shank is of pearl-shell cut in the
shape of the body of a .small fish, 2 to 2| inches long, and rather less
than half an inch wide. The hook itself, which is destitute of barbs
and is made of tortoise-shell, is bound by strong twine to the tail-
end of the shank. Considerable labour raust be expended in making
one of these hooks : but so eager were the natives for tobacco, that
we were able to obtain thera for sraall pieces of this article whicii
could not have been worth raore than half a farthing. It is worthy
of note that in the island of Treasury, about 80 raUes to the north
west, these hooks are not raade by the natives, who were anxious to
obtain frora us those which we had brought from Sirabo. Very
similar, though larger, hooks are used by the natives of other Pacific
groups; amongst them I may refer to those employed by the
Society Islanders' for catching dolphins, albicores, and bonitas.
These hooks, wherever they are used, as I need scarcely add, answer
the purpose of both hook and bait. The fish-hooks of European
manufacture, which are one of the articles used in trading with the
^ Ellis's " Polynesian Researches," vol. I. p. 146.

FISHING. 157
natives, are in demand in many islands, though not in all. In some
islands, in fact, the native fish-hook is preferred.
The various ingenious methods of ensnaring and decoying fish,
which are employed by the natives of this archipelago, would alone
afford, to a true enthusiast in tlie sport of fishing, materials for a
small volurae. A plan which I saw eraployed at Ugi consisted in
tying a living fish to the end of a bamboo float and using it as a
decoy for other :^sh. The fisherraan repairs to the reef when it is
covered by a depth of between 2 and 3 feet of water. Placing the
fish and bamboo float in the water-, he foUows them up either in his
canoe or on foot The fish swims along, drawing the bamboo float
after it : it soons decoys some other fish frora its retreat, when the
fisherman watches his opportunity and catches his flsh, in a hand-
net which he carries with him.
A singular mode of fishing, whicb Mr. Stephens of Ugi described
to me as being sometimes employed in that part of the group, may
be here alluded to. A rock, where fish resoit, which lies 3 or 4 feet
below the surface, is first selected. On the surface of the water is
placed a ring of some supple stem so as to include within its circum
ference the rock beneath. No fish on the rock will pass under this
ring, which is gradually contracted in size until the fish become
crowded together, when thoy are scooped up with a hand-net
The following ingenious snare was employed on one occasion by
my natives in Treasury, when I was anxious to obtain for Dr.
Gunther sorae small fish that frequented one of the streams on the
north side of the island. I was very desirous to have sorae of these
fish, and ray natives were equally anxious to display their ingenuity
in catching them. They first bent a pliant switch into an oval hoop,
about a foot in length, over which they spread a covering of a stout
spider-web which was found in the wood hard by. Having placed
this hoop on the surface of the water, buoying it up on two light
sticks, they shook over it a portion of a nest of ants, which forraed
a large kind of tumour on the trunk of a neighbouring tree, thus
covering the web with a number of the struggling young insects.
This snare was then aUowed to float down the streara, when the
little fish, which were between 2 and 3 inches long, commenced
jumping up at the white bodies of the ants from underneath the
hoop, apparently not seeing the intervening web on which they lay,
as it appeared nearly transparent in the water. In a short time
one of the sraall fish succeeded in getting its snout and gills en-

158 FISHING.
tangled in the web, when a native at once waded in, and placing his
hand under the entangled fish secured the prize. With two of these
web-hoops we caught nine or ten of these little fish in a quarter of
an hour. As in other Pacific groups, the natives sometimes catch fish by
throwing small bits of some poisonous fruit on the water, when in a
short time the fi.sh rise dead to the surface. The crushed kernels of
the fruits of the coraraon littoral Barringtonia (B. speciosa) are thus
employed by the natives. I tried them on one occasion in a fresh
water lake in Stirling Island, which abounded with fish, but after
the lapse of two or three hours, no dead fish appeared at the surface.
The use of dynamite for destroying fish, by white men in the
group, has led to its occasional employraent for a sirailar purpose
by the natives, whenever white men have been thoughtless enough
to give them this substance. In August, 1882, I visited a village
in the Bauro district on the north coast of St Christoval, which had
lost its chief, a few days before, frora an injury to the hand, resulting
from an accidental explosion of dynamite whilst fishing. Such
occurrences must not be uncomraon in these and other islands. In
the previous April, we raet with a native teacher at Mboli Harbour
who had lost one of his hands from a sirailar cause.^ At the end of
May, 1884, I reraoved the left hand of Captain Sraith, the master of
the labour-schooner " Lavina,'' who had received a very serious
injury of the hand whilst fishing with dynamite on the coast of
Malaita. Some of the fresh- water fish which I sent to Dr. Gunther
were obtained in this way through the kindness of Mr. Curzon-
Howe, the Government agent of the '' Lavina ; " and as I witnessed
the operation, I am in a position to pronounce on the hazardous
nature of the mode in which the dynamite was employed 
With reference to the natives, there are two very obvious reasons
why this explosive substance should not be perraitted to get into
their hands, even if we disregard the hazard that would attend its
use. In the first place, they raight eraploy it against white men
and against their fellows; and in the next place, its eraployment for
obtaining fish would tend to encourage the already too indolent
habits of these islanders.
I pass on now to the subject of pig-hunting in these islands.
1 Since writing the above, I have learned from my friend, Dr. Luther, late of H.M.S
Dart," that he Iiad to amputate on two occasions in the cases of natives who had sustained
severe injuries of the hand whilst fishing with dynamite.

PIG-HUNTING. 159
Wild pigs occurred in raost, if not all, of the islands whicii we
visited. I was frequently warned \>y the natives, when undertaking
a solitary excursion, to look out for the boars, who attain a ferocity
which, on aecount of their powerful curved tusks, it would be
dangerous to provoke unarraed. On more than one occasion when
alone, I came unexpectedly in the bush on one of these boars, who
are in appearance by no raeans despicable antagonists. When they
stand their ground, it is necessary to be prepared for their onset ;
but as a rule they only indicate their presence bj'- the noise which
thej' raake when scarapering away. In the islands of Bougainville
Straits, where there are numerous plantations of sago palms, the
wild pigs are very fond of the fruit of this palra before the alburaen
of the seed attains its stony hardness. They often select as their
retreats the hollow trunks of the palms which have been felled and
emptied of the sago. Their habit of frequenting the plantations of
sago palms, and of feasting on the reraains of the pahns that have
been lately cut down and the pith reraoved, was observed by Captain
Thomas Forrest in the island of Gilolo, in the Indian Archipelago. '^
On the approach of any .special occasion of feasting, ]iig-hunting be
coraes a necessary sport with the natives ; but in addition, they
frequently take to it for the sake of replenishing their larders.
With his spear and a couple of dogs, a man is usually successful in
getting his pig. The dogs bring the animal to bay, when he is
speared by the hunter, who, if alone, at once sets to work to quarter
and roast his quarry, and thus considerably lightens the weight
he has to carry back. During my excursions, my natives used
to frequently leave me when their dogs had roused a pig in the
bush ; and on one occasion, when, rauch to ray indignation, they
had been absent for an hour, they carae back triuraphantly with two
large boars. Captain Forrest, in his account of his voyage to New
Guinea, gives an illustration of " Papua men in their canoes hunting
wild hogs " ^ off the island of Morty, near the large island of Gilolo.
These men are represented with the spear, bow, and arrovsr, and a
dog. Such a method of hunting pigs never came under my notice
in the Solomon Islands and must necessarily be rarely employed.
Wild dogs are numerous in the bush in the interior of Aiu.
They never attack the natives or the pigs and, as they alwaj^s slink
away when alarmed, they are not often seen. They subsist ou the
1 "A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas." London, 1779 (p. 39).
- Foid. , I'late XI. of book of plates.

160 OPOSSUM HUNTING.
opossums (Cuscus), waiting to catch them at the foot of the trunks
of the trees as they descend to the ground at nightfall. When I
was away on an excursion with Gorai the Aiu chief, the native dogs
that were with us ran down a wild dog and worried it to death.
I came in at the death, and was not very much pleased with the
spectacle which afforded much amusement to Gorai and his men.
The unfortunate dog was apparently of the native breed. How
these animals have come to prefer this mode of life I could not
learn. My native companions during my excursions rarely returned to
their homes without bringing back an opossum (Cuscus). Usually
this animal was caught without much trouble, as it slumbers during
the day and may be then surprised amongst the foUage of the tree
where it finds its home. Soraetiraes, however, when the keen eyes
of ray natives discovered an opossum amongst the leafy branches
overhead, we were enlivened by an exciting hunt. On such occa
sions, one raan climbs the tree in which the animal is esconced
whilst three or four other men climb the trees immediately around.
By dint of .shouting and shaking the branches, the opossum is
started from its retreat, and then the sport comraences. This clumsy
looking creature displays great agility in springing from branch to
branch, and even frora tree to tree. Suspended by its prehensile
tail to the branch above, the Cuscus first tests the firmness of the
branch next below, before it finally intrusts its weight to its support.
It runs up and down the stouter limbs of the tree like a squirrel ;
but its activity and cunning are most displayed in passing from the
branches of one tree to those of another. At length, scai-ed by the
shaking of the branches, and by the cries of the natives who have
clambered out on the limbs as far as they can get with safety, the
opossura runs out towards the extreraity of the lirab, proceeding
cautiously to the very terminal branchlets, until the weight of its
body bends down the slender extremities of the branch, and it hangs
suspended by its tail in mid-air about ten feet below. The gentle
swaying of the branches in the wind, aided probably by its own
movements, swings the opossum to and fro, until it approaches
within grasp of the foliage of the adjoining tree. Then the clever
creature, having first ascertained the strength of its new support,
uncoils its tail. Up goes the branch with a swish when relieved of
its weight ; and in a similar manner the opossum swings by its tail
from the slender branches of the tree to which it has now trans-

THE CUSCUS. 161
ferred its weight. Finally the opossura reaches the ground, where
its awkward movements render it an easy capture. It is then tied
to a stick and carried home alive on the shoulder of a native.
The Cuscus is a common article of food with these islanders ;
and in some islands, as in Sirabo or Eddystone, it is kept as a pet
by the natives. Out of seven opossuras that were kept as pets on
board the " Lark," all died within a few weeks, being apparently
unable to withstand capti-vity. Most of them, however, were
j-oung. The cause of the death of one of them was rather singular.
Iramediately after its death the skin of the animal was literally
covered with small ticks about the size of a pin's head and distended
with blood, whilst the body presented the blanched appearance of
an aniraal bled to death. It had beenaiUng for a day or two before
and was incessantly drinking all liquids it could get, even its own
urine : but the ticks had not been sufficiently nuraerous to be
observed ; and in fact they appeared to have covered the animal in
the course of a single night. As I was informed by the natives of
Simbo, these aniraals subsist on the shoots and young leaves of the
trees : on board the " Lark " they cared for httle else than bananas.
They raake a curious clicking- noise when eating, and often hold
the substance in their fore-paws. When taken out in the day-tirae
from their boxes they were half asleep, and at once tried to get out
of the bright Ught into the shade. In the night-time they were
very restless in their prisons, raaking continual efforts to escape be
tween the bars, and as soon as they were let out they moved about
with much activity. The older animals are sometimes rather flerce.
One of them which belonged to the men used to spend a consider
able portion of its time up aloft ; and, when in want of food, it
would descend the rigging and go down to the lower deck. Their
naked tails have a cold clamm}- feeling ; and with them they were
in the habit of swinging themselves from any object When the
Cuscus was about to be taken up by its master, it moored itself to
the nearest object by means of its tail. It alwa.ys descended a rope
head first, but kept its tail twined round the rope during its descent
so as to be able to withdraw itself at once if necessary, the taU
supporting the greater portion of its weight.
Although the natives, who accompanied me in my various ex
cursions, usually displayed then- skiU in following a straight course
through a pathless wood where they could only see a few yards on
either side of them, yet on raore than one occasion they were, to use

162 PATH-FINDING.
a nautical phrase, completely out in their reckoning, and I had to
bring my corapass into use and becorae the guide rayself in order to
avoid passing the night in the bush. When in the interior of the
north-west part of Aiu accorapanied by Gorai, the chief, and a
nuraber of his men, I was astonished at the readiness with which, in
the absence ofany tracks, tliey found their way to the coast. Gorai
led the way ; and on my asking him how he managed to know the
right direction in a thick forest with neither sun nor trade-wind to
guide hira, he merely remarked that he " saveyed bush," and point
ing with his hand in a particular direction, he informed me that
" Mono stopped there," Mono being the native name for Treasury.
There was a little uncertainty among the natives as to whether the
old chief was guiding us aright ; but there was no hesitation on the
part of Gorai, whose course as tested by ray compass was always in
the same direction ; he, however, disdained the use of the compass
and ultimately brought us back to the coast When passing
through a district with which he is but little acquainted, the native
frequently bends the branches of the bushes as he passes, in order
to strike the same path on the way back. He must be frequently
guided in his course through the forest by noticing the bearing of
the sun and the swaying of the upper branches of the trees in the
trade-wind, guides which were often eraployed by rayself when
alone in the bush : but when, as not uncoramonly happens, there i.s
such a dense screen of foliage overhead, that neither the sun nor the
upper branches of the trees can be seen, he must employ other
means of guidance. Rude tracks, usually traversed the least fre
quented districts of the islands which we visited; and their per
sistence appeared to be sometimes due to the fact that they were
used by the wild pigs.
FaUen trees commonly obstruct the most frequented paths in the
vicinity of villages : and there they remain until decay removes
them, for the native has no idea of doing an act for the public
weal : with him, in such and kindred raatters, what is everybody's
business is nobody's. Captain Macdonald, in his capacity as a chief
in Santa Anna, adopted the serviceable method of employing
natives, who had coraraitted petty offences, in making good walks
in the vicinity of the houses of the white residents. The exaraple
however was not followed by the natives for the approaches to their
own viUage of Sapuna. Being quite content with their narrow foot
paths, they probably could not understand that whatever contributed
to the public good was also to the advantage of the individual.

CHAPTER IX.
PREVALENT DISEASES.
T HAVE previously remarked that in these islands the duties of
-L the sorcerer and the medicine-raan are frequently combined.
The sarae man, who can remove a disease by exorcism and by ill-
wishing can bring sickness and death upon any obnoxious individual,
may also be able in the estimation of the people to procure a fair
¦wind for an intended voyage, or to bring about rain in a season of
drought. I had raore than one opportunity of satisfying myself of
the fact that the medicine-raan often trades upon the creduUty of
his patients, and that he is hiraself aware that all his charms and
incantations are mere trickery. In Santa Anna his services are
often employed to procure the recovery of a sick raan, and by some
form of incantation he pretends to appease the anger of the offended
spirit to whom the illness is attributed. Captain Macdonald, who
has long resided in this island, informed me that when on one
occasion he had relieved by medicine the sufferings of a native who
had in vain employed the exorcisms of the village physician to
effect his cure, the success of his treatraent did not detract in any
way from the reputation of the raedicine-raan, who, having informed
hiraself of the progress of the patient, after Captain Macdonald had
given his reraedy, foretold his recovery and took to himself the
whole credit of the cure.
In the island of Ugi chunam (burnt lime) is one of the domestic
remedies eraployed in sickness, being rubbed into the skin of the
patient by his friends. The chunara of some men is supposed to
be more efficacious than that of others, and messengers may be sent
from one end of the island to the other to procure it One of our
Treasury natives, who was employed on board, had a reputation as
medicine-man. His raethod of treatment in the case of one of his
own comrades consisted in tying a particular le&f around the limbs

164 DISEASES.
and joints to localize the pain, and in striking the affected part
with the sarae leaf. On one occasion this raan was himself laid up
with a large abscess in the buttock, which he attempted to cure by
tying a strip of the leaf around the thigh and by placing another
for a few raoraents over the sea.t of the abscess. He would not let
rae do much for hira ; and frora absorption of the purulent matter
into the blood, a nuraber of abscesses began to forra in other parts
of the body which brought him into a serious hectic condition.
'The poor fellow's cries of "Agai" "Agai," corresponding to our
exclaraations of pain, made me feel acutely for him ; but he placed
little faith in our offices, his great desire, as intiraated by his
frequent cries of " Fell " (Fire), was to be placed beside a large wood
fire. He was sent on shore and given in charge of his wife on our
arrival off" Treasury. When I landed to see him a few hours after,
I found him with his wish at last gratified ; there he lay beside a
roasting fire, the very last condition that seeraed likely to promote
his recovery. However he slowly regained his health, and I did
what I could for hira in buying sago and other articles of food from
his own people who were not very ready with their supplies for the
sick raan.
This brings me to the subject of the indifference often displayed
towards the sick_and invalids. The natives view these things in a
verj"- matter-of-fact way. On more than one occasion when in the
house of sickness, the son or the brother of the sick man has
reraarked to rae, in the coolest manner, '' Him too much sick. I
think by-and-by finish ; " and it is astonishing to hear of the manner
in which they allow the sick to shift for theraselves. In the islands
of Bougainville Straits the very aged, who are unable to get about
or to be of any service to themselves, are placed in a house in which
thejr are left alone although supplied with food ; and there they
reinain until they die. Two old and decrepit men, who were both
fast hastening to their ends, being the subjects of chronic lung
affections, were placed together in a house in Treasury where they
were supplied with food but rarely if ever visited. They were
placed there to die as the relations inforraed us ; and there they
remained day after day untU the end arrived. Mr. Stephens told
me that in his island of Ugi, if a cocoa-nult is placed by the side of
the sick man, his friends consider they have done all in their power.
No atterapt is raade to alleviate pain, or to soothe by companionship
the tedious hours of the sick. He lies deserted on his roughly

RECOVEEY PROM SEVERE INJURIES. 165
plaited mat of palm-leaves, in his wretched horae where the sunlight
rarely enters ; and there he awaits, perhaps without regret, his a])-
proaching death. When consciousness leaves him, his friends regard
hira as already dead, attributing the spasmodic breathing and the
convulsive efforts of the dying man to the agency of sorae evil spirit.
The influence of superstition probably explains. the indifference
which i^revails as to the welfare of the sick and aged. Those
afflicted with such an infirmity as blindness are kindly treated by
their fellows. I wa,s particularly struck, whilst looking on at a
feast in the village of Treasury, by the attention that was paid to
the wants of a young blind man who sat aloof frora the rest. , He
was blind frora his birth, and I particularly pleased hira by sitting
down beside hira and giving hira a stick of tobacco.
In the case of those who have received some severe injury, such
as a gunshot wound, considerable care is shown by the friends in
their welfare. I saw much of the natives who were wounded
during- the hostilities carried on between the natives of Treasury
and the Shortlands, and was astonished at the ease with which
they recovered from apparently hopeless injuries. My experience
goes to support the opinion laid down by Professor Waitz in his
" Anthropology of Primitive Peoples," ^ that the healing power of
nature is greater araong savage than araong civilized races. The
principle of non-interference was literally carried out in defiance of
the laws of hygiene and of the experience of raodern surgery.
After the unfortunate conflict on the islet of Tuluba, off the west
coast of Aiu, I visited the wounded man and woman who had been
brought back to their homes. I found the woman lying in a
dingy little house in which I had to stand still for a few minutes
before I could see my patient Five days had elapsed since the
fight ; and the condition of a wound, which has been left alone for
this period in a tropical climate, may be well iraagined. She had
received a severe toraahawk wound just aboye the right knee,
smashing the bone and implicating the joint. The parts were rauch
swollen and there was profuse suppuration. ' No attempt had been
made to wash the wound, and in consequence it stunk horribly. A
few pieces of split bamboo, less than a foot in length, were lashed
in a slack fashion around the joint by means of rattan ; but they
could have given little or no support Under the couch, which
was merely a laj-er of poles raised about a foot from the ground,
1 English edition : translated by J. F. CoUingwood : London, J.863 : p. 126.

166 DISEASES.
-were placed hot stones wrapped up in leaves, from which the warmth
ascended to the injured limb which was left uncovered and exposed
to the flies and other insects. The poor woman was moaning
terribty; and her cries of "Agai" were painful to' listen toi especially
as I was permitted to do but little. They would neither wash nor
cover the wound, and persisted in keeping up the hot air treatment
by means of the hot stones wrapped in leaves, which were placed
under the couch. I pronounced her recovery as hopeless ; and was
after a time obliged to discontinue ray visits, upon being told by
one of the raedicine-raen that as he could raake her well, my
presence was not required. I never saw the woraan again, but
sometime after I leamed that she was nearly well.
The raan who was wounded at the same time had received a rifle-
bullet through the thigh without injuring the bone, and another
through the groin. I found his wounds in the same horrible condi
tion, with the wound of exit in the thigh as large as my fist.
Nothing whatever had been done except placing hot .stones in
leaves under the limb on the ground beneath ; and nothing more
was done. There the man lay for several weeks with his wounds
unwa-shed and exposed to the air. In course of time he recovered.
One of the Treasury natives had been shot by one of his own party>
the rifle-buUet passing through fhe right elbow from behind, and
apparently disorganising the joint. I saw him a month after he
had received the injury, lying in a very emaciated condition on his
couch, with th© wounded limb stretched out beside him quite un
protected and displaying an extensive flesh-wound in front of the
joint. The hot-stone treatment had been the only one employed.
In another month or five weeks he was up and about, but of course
with a useless elbow. One of the Aiu natives, who had been .shot
through the left shoulder from behind by the Treasury chief, had
nearly recovered when I saw Iiim six or seven weeks after, although
the arm- was useless.
Reflecting on the hot-stone treatraent which the natives em
ployed for these Severe injuries, I- carae to think that it was really
efficacious. They said themselves that the hot air eased the pain,
and this was- probably effected, as I hold, by the warmth relaxing
the parts after Suppuration had begun and thus assisting the escape
of the purulent discharges. The surgeon of our own time may take
a hint froM this practice of the Solomon Islander. It would cer
tainly scarcely accord with the principles of modern surgery if a

HOME-SICKNESS. 167
gunshot injury of one of the larger joints was to be treated in one
of our general hospitals by being constantly kept in a current of
heated air, uncovered and even unwashed. The experiment, how
ever, would be worth a trial in cases where amputation is unpractic
able and where death is the probable result.
It is a common saying amongst white men who have had to deal
with these natives, that when a man makes up his raind to die he
assuredly will, even although apparently in robust health. Such
cases are not unusual on board labour-ships on their way to the
Queensland and Fiji plantations, and they raay be- regarded as of
the nature of nostalgic melancholy or home-sickne.ss. It is in truth
hard to imagine the train of thoughts which must pass through the
simple mind of a native when his island-home disappears below the
horizon, and he is borne away to a strange land from which, it may
be, some of his acquaintances have never returned. Even the
attractions of the box of trade tliat his servitude will earn may be
insufficient to keep down the undefined apprehensions which fill his
breast; and the knowledge of the irapos-sibility of seeking his friends
or his island again for what must appear to hira an indefinite
period raay only serve to strengthen his longing for home. Here
we have that disease with which the army surgeons of Europe were
farailiar, and which has been most recently exhibited amongst the
Italian troops stationed at Masowah on the coast of the Red Sea.
It is that " strange disease " which Dr. Livingstone so pathetically
describes in his " Last Journals," as affecting the victiras of the
slave-trade in the lake region of Africa. I reraember on one occa
sion, when visiting a labour-vessel that had arrived in Treasury
Harbour, my attention was drawn by the mate to a native of New
Ireland who had eaten little for sorae days and was looking over
the side of the ship towards the shore in a depressed and moody
manner. I saw that the thoughts of the poor fellow were in reality
far away ; and I passed on to see some of the other sick men. The
next morning this New Ireland native was missing, and in the
evening his body was found washed up on the beach. ... I
would refer my readers to some interesting remarks on this subject
from the pen of Mr. Romilly,^ whose official experience in the
Western Pacific enables him to write with authority. The Solomon
Islanders, according to this author, are less affected by this disease
than those of other groups ; whilst the New Hebrides natives
1 " The Western Pacific and New Guinea." London, 1886 : pp. 16, 177.

168 DISEASES.
appear to be most subject to it Not only do natives often die
of nostalgia before they are landed, but many die from this cause
after their arrival in Fiji ; and the only way to cure those affected
is the one least likely to be followed, that is, " to send them bonje."
In the eastern part of the Soloraon Group, one coraraonly meets
natives limping along with large ulcerous sores on the soles of
the feet, seated usually near the base of the toes. They are often
caused by stepping on the sharp corals when fishing on the reefs, or
by splinters of wood piercing the skin of the soles of the feet when
walking in the bush. As a rule, the native pays no attention to
these sores, and from neglect the ulceration extends both on the
surface and to the deeper tis.sues, exposing the tendons and , the
metatarsal bones. Ultiraately some or all the toes may be lost, and
an unshapely clubbed foot arises from the subsequent contraction of
the cicatrised surface. At other times, where the ulceration has
been superficial but has extended between the toes, adhesion and
perfect union of the lateral surfaces of the toes ensue, and a continu
ous covering of skin bridges over the intervening spaces. Mr.
Nisbet, the governraent agent of the labour-scooner " Redcoat" from
Fiji, showed me a Solomon Island native with a foot of perfect form
but with apparently no toes. A continuous covering of skin covered
the whole foot like a thin sock, and the toes were only recognisable
by the touch. The man appeared to be but little incoraraoded by
this obliteration of the toes. Among the natives of New Britain, as
we learn frora Mr. Romilly,' " the toes are not unfrequently joined
together by a tough membrane," a defect which does " not seem to
impair their activity." This evidently results from superficial
ulceration in the manner I have above described.
These ulcerous sores, if left exposed to the irritation of sand,
dirt, and flies, raay last for years and raay ultimately cause death.
Dr. Livingstone in his "Last Journals" (vol. ii. chaps. 2, and 3)
speaks of the ulcers of the feet from which many of the slaves die in
the region west of Tanganyika. They eat through everything^
muscle, tendon, and bone, and often lame permanently. "The
wailing of slaves tortured with these sores is one of the night sounds
of a slave carap." These ulcers, however, as they affect the Solomon
Islanders, have a natural tendency to heal. vWhen staying with
Bishop Selwyn at Gaeta in Florida, I accompanied him on his
moming round of visits to his patients, most of them being the sub-
1 " The Western Pacific and New Guinea. " London, 1886, p. 21.

TOKELAU RINGWORM. 169
jects of these large ulcerous- sores on the feet and legs. He tells me
that with rest and cleanliness they soon take on a healing action.
Carbolic oil was the application he used, and it seemed well suited
for these discharging, loathsorae sores. Several of the raen of the
" Lark " were laid up with these ulcers of the feet for raany weeks.
The ulcers in their ca.se assuraed a circular form with raised callous
edges and an irritable inflaraed surface, being attended by much
pain in the surrounding parts. The free application of lunar caustic
every two or three daj'-s followed by poulticing, I found to be the
most effectual treatraent. Dr. Livingstone, who was himself laid up
with these sores for eighty days in the interior of Africa, found the
best of all topical applications to be malachite rubbed down with
water on a stone and applied with a feather. The natives of
Treasury Island in the Solomon Group use an application prepared
by pounding the fruit of the Cycas circinalis, which grows near the
edge of the cliffs on the south coast of the adjacent StirUng Island.
There is a loathsome skin disease very prevalent amongst the
inhabitants of this group, which is generally known as the Solomon
Island or Tokelau ringworm. I should estimate that two-flfths of
the total population of these islands are thus affected. We found it
more prevalent in sorae islands than in others. In Treasury, for
instance, four-flfths of the people are the subjects of this disease, and
half of the chief's wives who nuraber about thirty are almost covered
with it In the southern large island of the Florida Islands, it ap
pears to affect quite one half of the population. It ranges from one
end of the group to the other, neither sex nor age affording any
imraunity. The chiefs and their families, however, seem to be less
liable to this disease. The skin of every man does not appear to
afford a suitable nidus for the growth of the fungus which is the
cause of the eruption ; and this is evident frora the circumstance
that one parent may be covered with the disease while the other is
entirely free from it. This skin-eruption, although so repulsive in
appearance in the eyes of the European when he first visits the
group, is not viewed with any feelings of disgust by the natives ;
and even the European after spending some tirae in thb group learns
to disregard its repulsiveness. Those affected show no anxiety to
be quit of it and evince great indifference when any offer is raade to
'thera to cure it. It is to thera only an inconvenience ; and appar
ently causes no irritation except when the skin is hot and perspiring,
as after exertion.

170 DISEASES.
When this disease first came under my notice in the early part
of 1882, I was unacquainted with what had been previously written
on the subject. I accordingly made a microscopical exaraination of
the affected skin and arrived at the conclusion, previously formed
Dy those far more competent to express an opinion than myself,
that the eruption was an inveterate form of body-ringworm. As it
is to be seen affecting the skin of young children in the form of
liraited circular patches, which usually commence on the belly, it dis
plays all the essential characters of Tinea cireinata or body-ringworm.
Spreading all over the trunk and limbs, the eruption assumes a
chronic character and its typical characters become obscured. The
whole skin, with the exception of that of the face and scalp which
are not attacked by the disease, is covered by a great number of
wavy desquamating lines partly concentric in their arrangement ;
and on account of the intervals between the lines being of a paler
hue, the whole skin obtains a singular marbled appearance.
To such a degree is the skin implicated in some cases of the
disease that the rapid desiccation and desquamation of the epidermal
ceUs lead to a partial decoloration of the deeper parts of the cuticle,
as though the rate of the production of pigment was less rapid than
the rate of its removal in the desquamati-ve proces.?. This disease,
in other words, tends to decolorize the skin. From this cause, one
occasionally meets with a native whose skin as corapared with that
of his fellows is of a pale sickly hue. The tendency to produce a
lighter colour by the too rapid destruction of the pigment is
especially noticeable in those cases where the body is only partially
covered with the eruption, there being a raarked contrast between
the paleness ofrthe affected surfaces and the dark hue of the healthy
skin. The influence of this cutaneous disease on the colour was re
marked by Commodore Wilkes araongst the natives of the Depeyster
Islands in the Ellice Group. He refers to the skin of those affected
as much lighter than in any Polynesian race he had hitherto met
with.' The same effect of this disease was noticed hv Mr. Wilfred
Powell amongst the natives of New Britain.^
I have entered somewhat at length into the subject ofthe partial
decoloration produced by this eruption, because it has a bearing on
that " quaestio vexata," the causes of race-colour. Pathology, in
fact, affords more than one instance of changes, almost of a perma-
^ " Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition," London, 1345 ; vol. V. p. 40.
2 "Three years amongst the Cannibals ot New Britain," London, 1883, p. 86.

TOKELAU RINGWORM 171
nent character, produced in the colour of the skin through the
influence of abnormal action. Dr. Tylor in one of his lectures ^
alludes to " the morbid appearance of race-character '' produced by
the bronzing of the skin in Addison's disease, which is shown to be
immediately due to a deposit of pigment in the rete mucosum closely
resembling that of the negro. " The importance of the comparison,"
he says, " lies in its bridging over the physiological differences of
race, by showing that morbid action may bring about in one race
results raore or less analogous to the norraal type in another." To
the partial decoloration of the skin in Tokelau ringworm and to
the bronzing of the skin in Addison's disease, these remarks equally
apply. This disease has been variously spoken of by different authors
and travellers as Leprosy, Icthyosis, Psoriasis, Pityriasis versicoloi-,
and Tokelau Ringworm, of which it is needless to remark that the
last is the t)nly name which is correct. The medical officers of the
United States Exploring Expedition, under Coraraodore Wilkes in
1841, were the first to recognise the nature of the eruption in the
case of the inhabitants of the Depeyster Islands in the Ellice Group.^
In 187-4 Dr. Tilbury Fox, after having exarained some scrapings of
the skin which had been sent to him frora Saraoa, published in the
"Lancet" (August 29th) a paper on "Tokelau Ringworm and its
Fungus," in which he established the true character of the disease,
and disposed of a view held by the Rev. Dr. G. Turner of the
Samoan Medical Mission and by Dr. Mullen, R.N. of H. M. S.
"Cameleon," that its origin may have been connected with the
occurrence of numerous dipterous insects found in scrapings of the
skin after the use of sulphur ointment. This last he showed to be
only an accidental feature of the eruption. Two years afterwards.
Dr. Fox in connection with Dr. Farquhar wrote an account of
" Certain Endemic Skin and other Diseases in India and Hot Climates
generally " (London 1876), in which further reference was raade to
this disease. It was there shown that Tokelau ringworra, Burmese
ringworm, Chinese ringworm, and the Indian ringworms known
farailiarly as " dhobie itch," " washerman's itch," "Malabar itch,'' etc.,
are all of them forms of Tinea cireinata tropica variously modified
by such circumstances as the personal habits, the nature of the
1 Delivered at Oxford on Feb. 15th, 1883: ("Nature" vol. xxviii., p. 9). Vide also
Topinard's " Elements d' Anthropologie generale : " Paris 1885, p. .325.
2 " Narrative of the XI. S. Explor. Exped." : vol. v., p. 40.

172 DISEASES.
apparel, and the character of the cliraate. A proof of the correctness
of this conclusion carae under ray observation in the Solomon
Islands, where the white men in taking this disease from the
natives suffer from it frequently in the forra of " dhobie itch." The
parasitic disease Tinea cireinata tropica to which, as above sho-wn,
aU tropical ringworras should be referred is, as Dr. Fox reraarks in
his work on " Skin Diseases " (3rd edit, 1873, p. 451), " nothing more
or less than ordinary ringworra of the body (tinea cireinata), such
as we have in Europe, deterrained in its occurrence to certain parts
of the body by peculiar circumstances, and assuming characters
soraewhat different from those observed in the disease as it exists
in colder climates, in consequence of the greater luxuriance of the
parasite consequent upon the presence in one case of a greater
amount of heat and moisture, which are favourable to the develop
ment and speed the growth of fungi."
The particular forra of the disease to which the narae Tokelau
Ringworra should be applied has a very wide distribution. Mr. G.
W. Earl in his work on "The Papuans" (London, 1853; p. 37)
speaks of this disease under the narae of "icthyosis " as being very
prevalent amongst all the coast tribes of the Indian Archipelago:
but I gather from some references made by Mr. WaUace to this
affection in his account of the Malay Archipelago (3rd edit, 1872,
p. 449) that it is not to be found so rauch araongst the pure Malays
as amongst the tribes of raixed origin. Mr. Mai-sden in his "History
of Sumatra" (London 1811, p. 190) refers to it as being very com
raon arhons-st the inhabitants of Pulo Nias an island which lies off
the west coast of Sumatra. His description of the disease leaves,
no doubt as to its true character, but he hiraself is uncertain as to
whether it is an " impetigo " indicating a mild type of leprosy, or,
whether it is not ordinary " shingles " or a confirmed stage of ring
worm. The sarae disease was recently observed by Mr. H. 0. Forbes
amongst the natives of Tiinor-laut and of the island of Buru, islands
which lie at the opposite end of the Indian Archipelago.^ Two
centuries since. Dam pier well described this disease in the case of
the inhabitants of Mindanao in the Philippines and of those of
Guam in the Ladrones.^
Coraing to New Guinea, I find that this disease prevails g,ll along
its coasts and in many of the off-lying islands, such as the Ki and
1 "A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago;" pp, 331, 402; London, 1885.
2 " Voyage round the World." London 1729, vol. i., p. 334.

TOKELAU RINGWORM. 173
Aru Islands, Teste Island, Woodlark Island, etc. The authorities
on which I have founded this general statement are numerous and
include, Modera, Bruijn Kops, Wallace, Mosely, Miklouho-Maclay,
Corarie, W. Turner, Chalraers, Wyatt GiU, Romilly, Lyne, and
others, whose descriptions, though they often did not recognise the
true character of the eruption, leave no reasonable doubt on tlie
matter. This disease was observed by Mr. Wilfred Powell to be very
frequent amongst the natives of New Britain and the Duke of Vork
Islands, where it is called "buckwar."^ Dr. Comrie, R.N., when
serving in H.M.S. " Dido," found it to be very frequent amongst
the natives of New Ireland.^ Through the islands of the Soloraon
Group it is widely spread, as I have already shown : and frora thera
it has extended to the different groups to the eastward, reaching
the Gilbert, Ellice, Tonga and Samoa Groups.
In the Western Pacific we are able in some instances to trace
the eastward extension of this disease during the last half century.
Dr. G. Turner in his annual report of the Samoan Medical Mission,
dated October, 1869, refers to the recent introduction ofthe Tokelau
Ringworra araongst the Samoan Islanders as the introduction of a
new disease. It was brought to Samoa from Bowditch or Tokelau
Island where it had been also unknown until about ten years before,
when it was introduced by a native of the GUbert Group who had
been landed by a whaler. The Gilbert or Kingsmill Islanders,
according to the narrative of Comraodore Wilkes, beUeved that the
disease came frora the south-west, and called it the " south-west
gune," the nearest islands in that direction being those of the
Soloraon and Santa Cruz groups, between SOO and 900 railes away.
Coraraodore Wilkes, however, was of opinion that this disease had
reached the Kingsmill Group from the Depeyster Islands in the
Ellice Group to the south-south-east ; and he refers to the circura
stance that the disease was raost prevalent in the southern islands
of the Kingsraill Group, being apparently absent from Makin the
northernmost island ;^ but this distribution of the disease may be
also urged in support of the more probable view of the natives that
it carae from the south-west. We are thus able to trace one pro
bable track of this disease from the Soloraon Islands, or one of the
1 "Three years among the Cannibals in New Britain," London, 1883, p. 54.
2 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. vi. p. 102.
3 " Narrative of the U. S. Explor. Exped." vol. v. p. 105.

174 DISEASES.
groups immediately adjacent to them, across a wide tract of sea to
the Gilbert and EUice Groups, and from there to Tokelau Island,
and thence to Samoa. The French navigator, Dentrecasteaux,^ found
the same disease to be very prevalent amongst the inhabitants of
the Tonga Islands towards the end of last century ; and it seems
strange that it did not reach the Samoa Group until about seventy
years after. The Tonga natives, however, maj'- have derived it by
another and raore direct course frora the westward, namely through
the New Hebrides and the Fiji Groups.
I may appear to have entered with unnecessary detail into this
subject, but it is apparent that this fungoid skin disease, dissemin
ated as it is by personal contact and other similar agencies, would
have reached these sub-central Pacific Groups long ago if they had
been occupied through ages by their present inhabitants. The same
evidence, therefore, which can be brought forward to prove the
recent appearance of this disease amongst the natives of these groups
may also be advanced in support of the recent occupation of these
islands by the eastern Polynesians.
From the previous remarks on the distribution of Tokelau
Ringworm it may be inferred that in New Guinea and in
the islands of the MalajJ- Archipelago we have the home of the
disease. From this region it has spread eastward towards the
centre of the Pacific ; and we may also infer that this eastward
extension of the disease has occurred within the last three hundred
years, since in the accounts which Gallego and Quiros give of the
natives of the Soloraon, Santa Cruz, and New Hebrides Groups at
the tirae of their first discovery by the Spaniards, there is no refer
ence to the prevalence of any cutaneous disease, which, if it had
•existed, would raost certainly have attracted the notice of these
early navigators.
I only had one opportunity of treating this affection, and that was
in the person of a native of Guadalcanar, who -v^as shipped on board
as an interpreter, and who had been the subject of the disease for
about five raonths. Partly from its obstinacy, and partly from the
difficulty of ensuring that the remedies were regularly and
thoroughly employed, my experience was not very satisfactory.
Sulphur ointraent, mercurial ointment, tincture of iodine, and a
lotion of hyposulphite of soda (1 in 12) were severally used, and
.after about three weeks the skin was alraost clean. Some weeks
' "Voyage de Dentrecasteaux,'' par M. de Eossel, tom. I. p. Z2^, Paris 1808.

PUSTULAR ERUPTION OP CHILDREN. 175
afterwards, the eruption re-appeared on the forearms in the forra of
tbe characteristic sraall circurascribed patches of body-ringworra.
The local reraedy, which I found most rapid in its effect as a para
siticide in the treatraent of this case, was tho tincture of iodine of
which two applications corapletely removed the disease frora the
fore-arms. The lotion of the hyposulphite of soda and the mercurial
ointment had apparently but Uttle influence on the disease. The
sulphur ointment, however, had a gradual curative action. To
many of the vessels which leave Queensland and Fiji to recruit
labour in the Solomon and New Hebrides groups, sulphur ointment
is supplied ; and the government-agents are instructed to use it in
all cases of this disease amongst the natives recruited. I leamed
from sorae of these gentlemen that, when the remedy is applied
thoroughly, and under superintendence, they usually succeed in
thoroughly cleansing the skin from the eruption before the ships
return to the colonies.
A pustular eruptive disease peculiar to children, which has been
referred to by various authors as prevalent in the New Hebrides,
Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa groups, affects many of the young children
of the Soloraon Islands, usually occurring about the age of flve. A
nuraber of large papules, twice the size of a split pea, which sub
sequently becorae filled with a pustular fluid, appear on the face.
These pustules by rupturing tend to unite and form unhealthy-
looking sores of the size of a florin. ,The disease pursues a regular
course of papule, pustule, and sore ; and is said never to recur.
As far as I could learn, the natives interfere but little with its
progress ; and, as in Fiji where it is known as coJco,^ they regard
the disease as having a salutary influence on the future health of
the child.
That peculiar spinal disease, which produces so many hunch
backs in the Society and Samoan groups, and which is so well
described by Mr. Ellis in his "Polynesian Researches" (2nd edit,
1831, vol. iii. pp. 39, 40), does not prevail among the Soloraon Island
ers. I can only recall one instance of spinal deformity which came
under my observation. It was in the person of a little hoy about
ten- or eleven years old, who was the subject of lateral and posterior
curvature of the spine. The little fellow, who was a native of
Simbo, apparently experienced no inconvenience from the deformity,
since a flrm ankylosis had occurred. He was able to accorapany rae
1 " Fiji and the Fijians," by Messi-s T. Williams and J. Calvert. 3rd edit. 1870, p. 151.

176 DISEASES.
in ray ascents to the summit of his island, which is elevated about
1,100 feet above the sea.
An epidemic catarrhal disease, which is allied to influenza, is
very prevalent amongst the natives of these islands. It is com
monly followed by lung-complications, which not infrequently cause
the death of the sufferer. Such an epidemic in running through a
village sometimes carries off several of the inhabitants. The elderly
natives are, in fadJ, very liable to pulmonary affections ; such dis- y
eases usuallj'- terminate their lives.
From the occurrence of an epideraic of this catarrhal disease, a
village often obtains an unhealthyreputation; and the natives abandon
it for some other situation, which is selected rather for the convenience
of its position than for its freedom from unhealthy influences. A
generation ago, one of the principal villages in the island of Ugi was
situated on the level sumrait of a hill overlooking Selwyn Bay on
the west coast, a site which would have at once been chosen both
for its salubrity and for its capability of defence. However, a
nuraber of deaths occurred in the village from epidemic catarrhal
disease ; and the inhabitants shifted their homes to the low-lying
unhealthy situation where the village of Ete-ete now stands.
Epidemics of mumps occur occasionaUj^ araongst these islanders.
In October, 1882, whilst we were taking to Ugi the crew of the
"Pioneer," a schooner which had been wrecked off the coast of
Guadalcanar, sorae cases of this disease appeared among the
natives belonging to that ship, affecting ten out of the twenty on
board, and pursuing its usual course. It was evident that the
disease had been originally brought from Brisbane, as the ship
which was engaged in returning natives from the Queensland plan
tations, had had three cases previously, the first having occurred on
her arrival at Makira harbour, just a week after she left Brisbane-
That mumps is sometiraes a fatal disease amongst these races, there
is no reason to doubt. Mr. Stephens of Ugi informed me that a
few years since, some natives of Lord Howe Islands, whom he was
eraploying on his preraises, rapidly succumbed to this disease.
Men who were the subjects of Elephantiasis arabum were, occasion
ally seen in the different islands we visited. Instances of " lymph-
scrotum " most frequently typify this disease, but now and then
cases of " swollen leg " occur. In the island of Faro or Fauro in
Bougainville Straits, the natives attribute this disease to the water
of narticular streams. There is a stream on the west side of the

DEFORMITIES. I77
island, the water of which when drunk is said to produce " swollen
legs." For this reason the water is never employed ; and the ban
is even extended to the cocoa-nut trees on its banks.
Natives, who are the subjects of such congenital deformities as
" hare-lip," are rarely seen. Very probably in such cases life is de
stroyed by the parents soon after birth. I only observed one instance
of " hare-lip " which occurred in the case of a man of Simbo. This
malformation, which was of the single character, was associated with
abnormal development of crisp hair on the body and more par
ticularly on the back As an instance of another kind of congenital
deformity, which however came but rarely under my observation, I
may refer to a raan of Ugi who had six perfect toes on the right foot,
both 'fifth and sixth toes being provided with nails and apparently
arising from a common metatarsal bone. None of his family had
the same deformity, which in his case was probably inconvenient in
more ways than one, as the print of his foot was familiar to every
native in the island.^
Strabismus is not uncommon amongst the natives of these islands,
and appears to occur with the same relative frequency as amongst
more civilised people.
Venereal diseases, both constitutional and local, are said by traders
to be very frequent in certain islands, as in Ugi, which have had
most intercourse with the outer world. I rarely however came
upon unequivocal evidence of the constitutional form of these
diseases, those cases which carae under my iraraediate observation
being of the non-constitutional types which, as in other tropical
regions, are often of a rapidly destructive character. The natives of
Ugi assert that these diseases have not been introduced within the
raemory of any living man, and no tradition prevails with reference
to their origin. I shall scarcely enter into the question of the in
troduction of these diseases into the more central groups of the
Pacific, a subject which is discussed in most of the narratives of the
early expeditions to those regions, but in a spirit of unfairness and
mutual recrimination which goes far to invalidate the conclusions
arrived at Negative evidence, however, must be of a ver}' exhaus
tive character before it would warrant the inference that to the
licence, so freely permitted to the crews of the English and French
expeditions during the latter half of the last century, must be at-
i Mr. EomUly, in the -wort referred to on page 168, alludes to the strange prevalence ot
these congenital deformities of the hands and feet In New Britain.
M

178 ' DISEASES.
tributed the presence of these diseases among the Polynesian racesi
M. Rollin, who, as surgeon of the frigate " Boussole," accompanied
La Pdrouse on his ill-fated voyage, adduces evidence to show the
probability of these diseases having existed in the Pacific before the
discoveries of the French and English navigators in that region ; ^
and La Perouse himself approaches very near the truth when he sug
gests that the free intercourse, which prevailed between the natives
and the crews during those expeditions, may have increased the ac
tivity and destructive tendency of the pre-existing diseases.^ For,
not only has M. Parrot of Paris demonstrated from an examination
of the skulls of some South American aborigines the existence of
SyphiUs in the New World before Colurabus set foot on its shores,
but he affirms without hesitation, after examining three fragments
of infant skulls from a dolmen in central France, that this disease
existed in prehistoric times ("Lancet," May 10th, 1879). We are
not therefore surprised at finding references to venereal diseases in
the ancient literature of China, India, Arabia, Greece and Rome
{Aitken's "Medicine," 6th edit, 1872, vol i. p. 859); and having re
gard to the ethnological past of the Pacific, we can with some confi
dence assurae that the original stock, derived in the first place from
the Asiatic continent, brought with thera these diseases.
The susceptibility of these islanders to comparatively small falls
of temperature is an element in their predisposition to disease which
should not be disregarded. This susceptibility was strikingly shown
to me on one occasion, at the end of August 1882, when I was
following up the course of a stream at Sulagina on the north coast
of St Christoval, Accorapanied by a party of natives, I was wading
up the stream for several hours, the water often reaching the waist,
whilst a steady deluge of rain completed the wetting. Although
the air was merely comparatively cool for this latitude (10° 30' S.), the
thermometer in the shade standing at 80° Fahr, my nativfes were
shivering with the cold ; whilst I myself felt only the inconvenience
of haying been soaked through for so many hours. As soon as we
returned to the coast, all my party huddled themselves together
around their wood-fires in a little hut and warmed their hands and
feet as eagerly as we should in winter-time at home. As I stood in
the hut looking comfortably on at my naked companions who,
^ " Voyage round the World, by La Perouse," edit, by Milet-Mureau : London : vol. iii.,
p: 180.
^ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 52.

INSANITY. 179
shivering and with their teeth chattering, were endeavouring to warm
themselves around the fires, I recalled to my mind an incident which
Mr. Darwin relates in his " Journal of the Beagle " (p. 220), which
although analogous, illustrates the converse of these conditions. " A
small family of Fuegians " — he writes — " soon joined our party
round a blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting close
to the fire were far from too warm ; yet these naked savages, though
further off, were observed, to our great surprise, to be streaming
with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting."
Instances of mental weakness or of insanity amongst the natives
of these islands rarely came under my notice. However, more than
one of the chiefs whom we met had a half-witted individual on his
staff, who made himself generaUy useful to his master. The chief's
fool, as we called him, was frequently my guide in the island of
Santa Anna. He was the general butt of the village ; and I was
told the girls would sometiraes seize hold of him and roll him about
in the sand. Insanity would appear to be of uncommon occurrence
amongst these islanders ; but I suspect that such individuals are
not perraitted to Uve. Whilst the " Lark " was engaged in the sur
vey of Faro Island in Bougain-ville Straits, I learned that there was
a madman, who was partially dumb, living in the bush in the in
terior of the island. Having murdered his wife about five months
before our visit, he had taken to the forest where he led a solitary
life at enmity with his fellow-islanders, who would have killed him
as they told me, if they found him. He frequently used to steal
from the plantations ; and during our stay in the island he was ob
served by a woman near one of the yam patches. The chief's son
came up to me one afternoon, after I had returned to the coast from
an ascent of one of the principal summits, to advise me to shoot this
unfortunate being if ever I saw him ; and he added that if this mad
man should see me, unobserved, he would either run away or take
his opportunity of killing me. However, I made several excursions
into the interior afterwards ; but I never fell in with him.

CHAPTER X.
VOGABULAET of the • ISLANDS OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS— TREA
SURY ISLAND, THE SHORTLAND ISLANDS, FARO OR FAURO
ISLAND, WITH CHOISEUL BAY.
THIS vocabulary -was formed in great part by Lieutenant A.
Leeper, to -whom I raay take this opportunity of expressing my
thanks for his, kindness, in thus placing it at my disposal. I have
supplemented this list from smaller vocabularies made by Lieutenant
C. F. de M. Malan and by myself. If is to be regretted that, o-wing to
Lieutenant Malan taking up a Colonial appointment in Fiji during the
last year of the commission, we were unable to avail ourselves in a
fui-ther degree of his knowledge of the Fijian tongue, and of his
general acquaintance with the construction of the Polynesian
languages. We are, however, especially indebted to him for the
recognition of the pronominal suffixes.
The spelling follows to a great extent the mode adopted in the
missionary alphabet bf Professor Max'Miiller, as given on page 116
of the Anthropological Notes and Queries drawn up at the request
of the British Association. The vowels and dipthongs are pro
nounced as in the following examples ; — a as a in father, e as a in
fate, i as i in marine, o as o in note, M as oo in moon, ai as ai in aisle,
au as ou in proud. Where there has been an evident want of agree
ment in the three vocabulariess, I have given the different words or
the different spellings, as the case may have occurred. We have
thus been, in some degree, " checks " to each other : and I hope we
have avoided, in this manner, many of those errors into which the
unassisted framer of a vocabulary is so liable to fall. The accented
syllable is thus indicated (') in most instances where it is needed,
the accent being usually placed on the penultimate.

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.

181

Miscellaneous Words

Afraid  Fulau.
Angry  ,  Fangolu. Gafolu.
Armlet  Pago.
Arrow  Iliu.
Ashes  Oafu.
Awl  Nila.
Axe  Libba-libba. Levo-
levo.
Back  ,  Aro.
Bad  Paitdna.
Bag  Ko-isa.
Basket  Koko. Besa.
Beat (to)  Lapu.
Before  Gaga.
Behind  Arogu.
Big  YoluUa. Kana-kana.
Blood  Masini.
Blow  Ifu.
Bow  Lili.
Boy  Taui.
Break (to)  Taposha.
Bring  Gal6mi.
Brother  Manai-ina.
Bury (to)  Nafu.
Buy  Funa-aili.
Calico  Bauro.
Canoe  Obuna.
Cap  So-so.
Capsize (to)  Igomo.
Charcoal  Sibi.
Chew  Tatau.
Chief  Ldlaf a. Yol6na.
Chiefs eldest sonNatuna.
Clean  Lapu. Sapolu.
Club  Peko.
Club (dancing)..Toko. Toku.
Cold  Lulu-gulu.
Comb  Supi.
Cut  Ausi.
Dance  Gatu.
Dark  Lali.
Day  Boi.
Dead  Mate. Imati.
Deaf  Kipau.
Devil (t,e., bad
spirit)  Nito pait^ua.
Dig (to)  Eli.
Dirty  Mati.
Drift (to)  Ali.
Drink (to)  Atali aoa.

Drinking-vessel (a cocoanut).
with neck of
bamboc.Dogo.
without neck....Droo.
Dry  Diigga-diigga.
Earthquake  Nono.
Eat (to)  A-am.
Egg  :  1-au.
Empty  Golu.
Enough  Sumdna.
Fall  Kappa.
Fan  Etif.
Far.  De-apfna.
Fat  ...Hatutu.
Father  Apa.
Few  Alua-tapoina.
Fight  Tala.
Finish (end)  Egdfulu.
Finished  Sumd,na
Fire..  Feh
Fish-hook..  A-ili
Flint  Kilifela
Fly (to)  Lofu
Food  Dor6mi. Dardmi.
, , (cooked) . . . Selo-selo.
Full  Forna.
Gift  .Teletafala.
God (i.e., good
.spirit) .... Nito dr^kona.
Good  Dr^kona ; Dekona.
Great  YoluUa; Kana-kana,
Half  Koputi.
Heaven  ..Lavia.
Heavy  Mamma.
Hot  Posella.
House  Numa ; Fale-fale.
„ (tambu)... Olatu.
Hungry  Belu.
Inside  Uni ; Fakoria.
Jew's harp  Mako-mako.
Jump (to)  Subolosa.
Kick (to)  Savulu.
Kill (to)  So-orti.
Kneel (to)  Fasiliki.
Knife  Papalana.
Know (to)  Atai.

182

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.

Lick (to)  Damiti.
Lift (to)  Ikoti.
Light (in weight) Dugga-dugga,
Live (to)  Peoka.
Long.  Deapa.
Mad  Kipau.
Man  Kdniga ; Tium ; Kd-
niga-tium.
Many  Tap6ina.
Mat  Sararang; Pota.
(The names of the two pan
danus trees, from the leaves
of which the mats are made.)
Match  Sararang (vide pre
ceding).
Moon  llala; Ilella.
Mother  Unka.
Naked  Ampea-paiia.
Net (fishing) ....Sorau (large).
Sai-aili (smaU).
Awi-sulu.
(The plant supplying the fibre
is named awi-sulu, probably
a species of "Lyonsia.")
New  Faolu.
Night  Lali.
No  Api;Apea.
Noise  So-orli.
None  Ausaka.
Now  Ivai.
Old  Purafalu.
Open  Kapeta.
Outside  Ampapaluna.

Paddle (noun
and verb) . . .
Pay 
Path 
Pearl 
Pestle and mor
tar (wooden),
used for pound
ing food 
Plane (a) 
Plenty 
Pot (cooking)....
Present (a) 

Eose.

Fosi
Aili.Poa. Bor-otulu

Tagero.
Ketuma.
Tap6ina.
Kore.Teletafala.

Quarter  Totoli.
Queen  Mamaifi.

Quick  Fakare.
Rain  Laiti.
Resin  f An6ga, for torches.
„  I Ti ta, for canoe seama
Rope  Fili.
Run  Gdgona,
Same  Umbilua.
Sea  Keno ; Kelo,
Short  Papa.
Shut  Dakopi.
Sick  Mate; Sali.
Sing (to)  Gatu.
Sister  Fafini.
Sit  Ahotu.
Sky  Abu; Avu.
Sleep  Su^li.
Small  Kaidakina.
Smoke  Tula.
Speak  Arei ; Selli-selli.
Spear  Portulu.
Spirit  Nito;Nitu.
Star  Bito-bito.
Stone  Patu.
Stop  Aru.
Sun  Feo ; Isang.
Swim (to)  Usu.
Tail  Aukuna.
Tambu (forbid den)... Olatu.
Tear  Igati.
Thin  Morsu.
Thirsty  Fana-oa.
To-day  Ibai.
To-morrow  Boi wa
Town  Famaca.
Tray  Kisu; Kishu.
(The name of the palm supply
ing the material for making
the trays is also " kisu.")
Tree  Au ; Ava.
Waist-cloth  Malioto.
Wait  Au.
Walk (to)  Dagona.
Wash (to)  Sisi.
Water  Ateli (fresh).
„  Kelo ; Keno (salt).
Wet  Pu-un.
What?  Afana?
When?  Lefila?

^ These are also the native names of the trees supplying the resins, the anoga being pro
bably a species of "Ganarium,"the tita, "Parinarium laurinum."

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.

183

Whistle (to)  Faso.
Wife  Ewa.
Wind  Oa.
Woman  Batafa ; Bataha ;
Talai-ina.
Wood  Au.

Work  Karre.
Worn  Tualina.

Yes  0-0.
Yesterday  Lafi.

Numerals.

One  Ilia; Kala.
Two  Elua.
Three  ^^pisa; Ebisha.
Four  Efdte; Efatsi.
Five  Lima.
Six  Onomo ; Onoma.
Seven  Fito ; Pit
Eight  Aiu.
Nine  Ulia.
Ten  Ldfulu.
Eleven  Ldf ulu kala.
Twelve  Ldfulu 61ua.
Thirteen  Ldfulu 6pisa
Fourteen  Ldfulu efdte

Fifteen  Ldf ulu lima.
Sixteen  L4f ulu 6nomo.
Seventeen  Ldfulu fito.
Eighteen  Ldfulu aiu.
Nineteen  Ldfulu lilia.
Twenty  Tanuge; Tana oge.
Thirty  Pisa-vulu.
Forty  Fatia-vulu.
Fifty  Lima-hulu.
Sixty  Nomo-fulu.
Seventy  Fitua-fulu.
Eighty  Alua-fulu.
Ninety  Tia-f ulu ; Sia-f ulu
Hundred  Latu ; Latu-u.

Parts of Body.

Ankle  Sapolu.
Arm  Pagolo.
Beard  Polu.
Cheek  Papala.
Chest  Ate.
Chin  Ali.
Ear  Tana.
Elbow  Tau.
Eye  Mata; Shoi.
Eyebrow  Metapolissi.
Faoe  Laia.
Finger  Kim.
Fist  Gogumu.
Foot  Toto.
Hair  Tawo ; Uutu.

Hand  Imai ; Ime.
Head  Alapatu ; To-o.
Leg  Tatabua ; Nanabu ;
Lip  Ulu. [Tato.
Mouth  Uruguru.
Neck  Lua.
Nose  Leo; Le-u.
Shoulder  Fall.
Stomach  Muru.
Thumb  Gagata.
Toe  Kuri-kurisi.
Tongue  Miata.
Tooth  Nifo; Nifa.
Trank  Tia.
Waist  Bull.

Geographical and Nautical.

Cape  Manavo.
Drift  Ali.
Hill  Soma.
Island  Nua-nua ; Pete.
Land  Mesola.
Mountain  Olo.
Passage  Ai.
Eain  Laiti.
Reef  Aru-oshe ; Butulu.
River.  Ateli;Atele; Sallile.
Eock  P ushai.

Sand  Mesola-lanun
Sea  Keno; Kelo.
Shallow  Seala.
Sky  Abu.
Steep (to)  Suele.
Stream. . ,  Ateli;Atele; Sallile.
Tide  Tofala.
Wind  Oa.
fPull  Fosi.
Rowing •< Back.... Palma.
( Stop  Atti-horsi.

184

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.

Animal Kingdom.

Ant  Dbiu.
Bat (Pteropidse). . .Dramo.
Bird  Maraka ; Maruka.
Butterfly  :..Bebe.
Cockatoo.  Anau.
Crocodile  Umau,
Dog  Au-au.
Eel  ....Tolo.
Fire-fly  Bito-bito.
Fish  lanna ; lenna.
Fly  Lau-au.
Fowl  Kokole.
Frog  Appa-appa.

HornbiU  '....Po-po.
Lizard  Kiirru-ruptt.
Opossum (Cuscus). Mali.
Osprey..'  Manuella.
Parrot  :..Karro.
Pig  Boa.
Pigeon  Ba61o.
Rat  Kudki.
Shark...  Bao.
Snake  Nifii.
Turtle  Paliisi.
Turtle-shell  Purai.

Pronouns.

My  Gu, as a suffix, e.g..
Toto-gu, my foot.
Your  ;  Ng, asasuffix, e.g.
Toto-ng, your foot.

You  Maito.
Him  Ealai.
These  Ea.
Those  Oa.

Names of Natives.

Men. — Gorai ; Mule ; K6pana ;
Krepas; Kurra-kurra; Erosini; Tutu;
Lawi; Sage; FaUh; Kiliusi; G^gora;
Nito ; fimara ; Olega ; Malakolo ;
Butiu ; Igeti ; Ki'kila ; Totono ;
G^lesi ; Diikutau ; Alisa ; Iri-isa ;

Sahi; Oisi; Karubo; Devi; Dansi j
Kamo ; Fulagi ; Pilaisi ; Maluka ;
Tokura; Misiki; Levo; Tunu;-Bira.
, Women. — Kaika ; Bito ; Siali ;
Evenu; Bose; Omakau; Domari;
Duia.

Banana  Toitoi.
Wild Plantain  Kalula.
Breadfruit  Balia.
Betel-nut  Olega.
Cocoa-nut  Niu.

Vegetables, Fruits,^ &c.
Sago  Nami; Bia.
Taro (small)  Koko.
Taro (large)  Karafai.
Tobacco  Brubush.

Short Sentences and Phrases.

Where have you
come from?.. .Tiga fina ?,
I come from Alu..Tiga Aiu.
I -want it  Ai peko.
I do not want it... Abu ai peko.
I give you  PanteUao.
Give me  '.  Tellao.
Will you give me ?. Tellao fa ?
I do not give you.Abu hanatellao.
Do I go this way ?.Fina fanato ?

Whatdoyouwant?Ahana pe-"una?
Ahampeo ?.
What do you do ?.Ahana wussa 1
What is this?  Mai-ito ahampeo 1 :
Igo  Falalau.
Go away  Fato.
He goes  Onalau.
Let me see  Fanaroro.
Take it  Na.
I take it  ^...Nto.^

1 The native names of most ot the coriim'on plants will be fouud in the list given on pagea
2D4-204. Vide also remarks on page 280.
'- This is an expression of acknowledgment rather than of thanks.

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 185
In a recent work on the Melanesian languages, the Rev. Dr.
Codrington^ deals -with the languages of the islands of the Solomon
Group which lie east of New Georgia. Some of them, as he ob
serves, fall naturally into two di-visions : those which belong to
Ulaua, Malaita, Ugi, San Cristoval, and the part of Guadalcanar
adjacent ; and those of Florida, the parts of Guadalcanar opposite.
and the nearest extremity of Ysabel. In the first region, the
language of Fagani on the north coast of San Cristoval, is somewhat
distinct ; and in the second, that of Savo is strangely different in
some respects.^
The languages of the large islands of Choiseul; BougainviUe, and
Bouka and of the numerous sraaller islands in their vicinity, or,
in other words, the languages of the western portion of the Solomon
Group have hitherto scarcely come within the ' cognizance of the
philologist, and are therefore riot referi-ed to by Dr. Codrington in
his comprehensive work. It is probable that that of the islands of
Bougainville Straits may form the centre of another group of the
Solomon Island languages, as it is spoken by a dominaint, tribe of
natives who have extended their raids to the island of Bouka. Yet,
it is a singular circumstance that the natives of Takura, a village
on the adjoining coast of Bougainville, cannot understand, the lan
guage spoken by the inhabitants of , the islands of Bougainville
Straits. I met twelve of the Takura men visiting the island of
Faro, who were only able to make theraselves understood by the
Faro people througli the medium of an interpreter.
Little communication appears to take place between the natives
of the Straits and those of the islands of Vella-la-vella, Ronongo,
and Simbo (Narovo) to the eastward ; and judging from a vocabulary
obtained by Captain Cheyne^ in 1844 from the inhabitants of Simbo,
or Eddystone Island as it is also called, a native of this island would
be scarcely able to make himself understood by the people of
Treasury Island nearly eighty miles away. As shown in the foot
note * where the numerals up to ten are compared, all the Simbo
^ "The Melanesian Languages, "by R. H. Codrington, D.D. Clarendon Press, 1885.
^ For instance, the Savo notation forms an exception to the decimal system of counting
which prevails in the Solomon Islands. >
8 "A Description of Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean." London 1852.
* One . Two Three Four. Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten,
Simbo  Kamee Karu Kuay Mantee Leema Wouama Weetu Kalu Seang Manosa.
Treasury \ Ji'*. Blua Episa Efate Lima . Onomo Fito , Aiu Ulia Lafulu.
Sun Moon Fire Sleep Spear Bad Star.
Simbo...  Gawaso ' Popu Bku Puta Opuree Ekarenah Keenda.
Treasury ff^" ^ Ilella FeU Sueli Portulu Paitena Bito-bito.

186 VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
numbers with the exception of those signifying five, seven, and eight
are apparently distinct. Many of the common terms are equally
different ; so that it would appear that the inhabitants of this island
speak a language referable to a distinct group of the Solomon Island
languages, probably to be classed with those spoken by the natives
of Ronongo, VeUa-la-vella, Kulambangra, and perhaps New Georgia.
I forbear from making many remarks on the general affinities
of the language of the islands of Bougainville Straits, and prefer to
leave such a coraparison to those qualified to pronounce on the sub
ject. There are, however, certain points to which I will briefly refer.
Professor Keane, to whom I sent a portion of this vocabulary,
informs me that -whUst the structure of the language and most of
the words are distinctly Papuan, the numerals and several terms
are Polynesian. However, whilst I was engaged in collecting plants
and making general botanical notes in this locality, it occurred to
me that by coraparing the names of the common littoral trees with
those of the same trees in other Pacific groups and in the Indian
or Malay Archipelago, I might obtain some important additional
clues as to the sources of the language. In so doing I have ob
tained some interesting results, to which I have briefly alluded
on a previous page, and which go to show that the peoples who
originaUy migrated from the Indian Archipelago to the various
Pacific groups carried with them the names of several of their
common littoral trees, some of which may still be found in the
intermediate groups of islands, such as the Solomon Islands, which
have served as stepping-stones or halting places along the line of
migration. On page 101 I have taken " Barringtonia speciosa " as
an illustration. I will now refer to some other instances.
After examming the pages of Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary,
together with the extensive list of the native names of plants
obtained by G. J. Filet, I have ascertamed that the foUowing
names of pandanus-trees belonging to languages of the Indian
Archipelago may be traced across the South Pacific to the Austral
Islands, viz., Harassas, Haragh-hagh, Pudah, Putih.^^ In the
1 Pudalc (Pandanus inermis), Pandan-pudak (P. mosohatus), Pandan-putih (P. leuoaoan-
thus). Vide Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary.
2 Hara-hagh (Pandanus mosohatus) Sundaneesoh, Harassas leutiek (P. humilis) Sunda-
neesch, Barrassas gedeh (P. caricosus) Sundaneesch. Vide "Do Inlandsohe Plantennamen,"
hy G. J. Filet, published in " Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie." Dee
xix. vierdo serie, deel v. Batavia, 1859. Another list by J. C. M. Radermacher occurs in
"Bataviasch Genootschap," deel i. p. 87.

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 187
islands of Bougainville Straits the four common pandanus-trees
are known as Darashi, Sararang, Pota, and Samala. In the Sikyana
or Stewart Islands off the eastern end of the Solomon Group, the
pandanus is named Dawa} The Fijians name the "Pandanus
odoratissimus " Balawa.^ In the Hervey Group and in the surround
ing islands, as we learn from Mr. Wyatt GiU,* the " Pandanus
odoratissimus" is the Ara of the natives, whilst the "Pandanus
utiUs " is the Rauara ; the first being the Thatch-tree, and the last
the Mat-tree. In the Austral Islands further to the eastward, the
names of the pandanus-trees were ascertained by Dr. G. Bennett to
be Hoshoa, Sahang, and Pauhuf (" Pandanus odoratissimus.") *
Indian Archipelago  Haragh-hagh . . . Harrassas . . . Pudak, Putih.
Bougainville Straits  Sararang  Darashi  Pota.
Sikyana Islauds  Dawa.
Fiji Group  Balawa.
Hervey Group, and vicinity... Rauara, Ara.
Austral Islands  Sahang  Hoshoa  Pauhuf.
By arranging these naraes as in the above list, the iraportant
bearings of such a comparison are at once seen ; and I may here re
raark that I have attached no weight to the non-retention of the
same native name for the same species of " Pandanus " in different
localities, since as in the instance of " P. odoratissimus," there
is no evidence that would lead us to expect such a close agreement.
Most of the comraon pandanus-trees have a very similar appearance,
and there is often a general name given to them in addition to their
distinctive names. Thus the natives of the Bougainville Straits
often designate all the species by the term Sararang. In the Indian
Archipelago, the general names are Pandan, Haragh-hagh, Harassas,
Pudak, Rampai, &c. These are the names which would be applied
to any new kind of pandanus-tree during the migration eastward
of the races of this archipelago ; and it is raanifest that as the
separate Pacific groups of islands came to be occupied by different
offshoots of the main migration, the same tree might have received
a different general name. Therefore, in investigating the nomen
clature of the pandanus-trees throughout the Pacific, we should
concern ourselves not with a comparison of the names of identical
^ Soherzer's "Voyage of the Novara," vol. ii. p. 617. London, 1861-63.
2 Seemann's "Mission to Viti." London, .1862.
3 " Jottings from the Pacific," pp. 183, 188. London, 1885.
* " Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia," p. 389. London, 1859.

188 VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
species in different groups, but with the general names for the whole
genus of "Pandanus." We desire, in fact, to find the equivalent of
such terms as the Ara of the Hervey Group, arid the Sararang of
BougainviUe Straits.
That the names of trees possessing such conspicuous character^
as those of the genus "Pandanus," can be traced from the Indian
Archipelago eastward through the Solomon Islands, and across the
Central Pacific to the Austral Islands, is a circumstance of consider
able interest to the philologist and anthropologist. We have already
seen (page 101) that in the instance of " Barringtonia speciosa," the
name may be similarly traced from the Indian Archipelago across
the Pacific to the Society Islands. Another example is to be found
in the case of " Morinda citrifolia," the Indian mulberry, a common
littoral tree in the Indian and Pacific regions ; it supplies a yellow
dye extensively used by the inhabitants. It is the Bangkudv, or
Mangkudu of the Indian Archipelago and the Wongkudu or Kudu
of Java in particular.^ In BougainviUe Straits it is known as the
Urati; in Fiji as the .E^wra ; ^ and in Tahiti as the Aari;^ names
-which are evidently different forms of the same word, probably
the Kudu of the Indian Archipelago. Another tree, "Fagrsea
Berteriana," the sacred tree of the South Central Pacific groups,
is tho Bubulata of Bougainville Straits, the Bua of Fiji,* and
the Pua or Bua of the Hervey and Society Groups.^ I have not
yet found the original of this name in the Indian Archipelago,
the oni}!- .suggestive word being Biia or Buwah, the Malay word
for fruit. Before proceeding further I should observe that an inquiry into
the names of the coraraon littoral trees, such as " Barringtonia
speciosa," " Morinda citrifolia," and the species of " Pandanus,"
which are yet preserved in the languages of the islands of the
Indian Ocean, raight be productive of important results. Being
unable to follow up this branch of the subject, I would recommend
it to some of my readers. As an encouragement, I would point
out that there appears to be a resemblance between the names for
the pandanus-tree in northern Madagascar, and in the Pacific
^ Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary. Raffles' "History of Java."
2 Seemann's "Mission to Viti."
3 Bennett's " Gatherings of a NaturaUst,'' p. 399.
¦* Seemann. (Ibid.)
5 Wyatt Gill's "Life in the Southern Isles " (p. 275), and "Jottings from the Pacific,"

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 189
Islands. Thus the Hoshoa of the Austral Islands, the Darashi of
Bougainville Straits, the Harrassas of the Indian Archipelago, and
the Vua-tchiriS ^ of North Madagascar, may be the same compound
word in different forras. Vua, it should be reraarked, is a prefix
attached to many trees and plants in this part of Madagascar.
With this digression, I wUl now proceed.
Amongst the native names of trees in the Indian or Malay Archi
pelago which are to be found in an altered form in the islands of
Bougainville Straits, I may refer to Kanari, which is the common
appeUation of " Canarium commune," in the former region.^ The
kemels of the fruits of this tree furnish a frequent source of food to'
the Malay races and also to the inhabitants of the Maclay coast of
New Guinea, where the tree is known by the similar name of Kengar.^
In;the islands of Bougainville Straits, where the same or an allied
species of " Canarium " is found, the fruits of which form a staple
article of food, the Malay name of Kanari and the New Guinea
name of Kengar have been contracted to Ka-i. . . . The sago-palm
(" Sagus," sp.) affords another instance. It is, according to Crawfurd,
the Rdmhiya of the Indian Archipelago.* Earl informs us that in
Kisa, one of the islands of the Sarawati group in the Banda Sea, it
is kno-wn as the Pihir.^ On the Maclay coast of New Guinea it is
the Buam.^ In Bougaijiville Straits it receives two names, Bia and
Nami, the foi-mer (I think) being applied to the tree and the latter
to the sago. . . . Then again, the two sirailar naraes, the Katari of
Bougainville Straits and the Gutur of the Maclay coast,^ are applied
in both regions to resin-yielding trees which belong, however, to
different genera, the Katari being a species of " Calophyllum," and
the Gutur a species of " Canarium." In both localities the name is
alsp given to the resin itself, which is employed by the natives for
various purposes. But the important point is that these two words
are merely sUghtly altered forms of Gdtah, which is the general
name for gums and resins in the Indian Archipelago -^ and I need
scarcely add that gutta-percha is but the gdtah of the Pdrcha tree,
1 Roohon's "Voyage a Madagascar et aux Indes Orientales." Paris, 1791, p. 319.
2 In the numerous works referring to the Indian Archipelago, this word is sometimes
written kanary or kanarie.
' Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. VqL X., p. 349.
* Crawfurd's "Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language."
B "Journal of the Indian Archipelago." VoL' 1L, p. 695 (1848).
6 Miklouho-Maclay Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 349.
' Miklouho-Maclay (Ibid., p. 353, 357).
* Crawfurd's " Malay Dictionary."

190 VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
the familiar " Isonandra gutta " of this region.^ .... Some of the
names of trees in BougainviUe Straits I have been unable to trace
further westward than New Guinea. Thus, tho breadfruit-tree
(" Artocarpus incisa ") is the Balia of Bougainville Straits and the
Boli of the Maclay coast of New Guinea.^
The term Uri, which is applied in a slightly altered form to
different fruits in the Melanesian Islands, would seem to be derive'l
from the Indian Archipelago. Proceeding westward from the Banks
Group where Ur is the name of the fruit of " Spondias dulcis," we
find that in New Georgia in the Solomon Islands Ure is a designa
tion for fruit. In the neighbouring islands of Bougainville Straits,
several species of " Ficus " and their fruits receive the narae of Uri.
To the westward of the Soloraon Lslands we come upon the same
term in the Mafoor of New Guinea, where the breadfruit is known
as Ur. Lastly, in the island of Coram in the Indian Archipelago,
the fruit of the banana is called Uri.^
On this unequivocal evidence of one of the sources of the lan
guages of the islands of BougainviUe Straits it is unnecessary to
dilate. It should, however, be remembered that other words are
distinctly Polynesian in their origin, and must be sought for in the
languages of the Pacific groups. Thus, whilst nuina, the word for
" house," finds its counterpart in the Malay rumah and the Javanese
uma, fale-fale, which also signifies a house, is the vale of the New
Hebrides (Lepers Island and Aurora Island), the vale of Fiji, the
fale of Samoa and Tonga, and the whare of the Maori. According
to Dr. Codrington, these two words signifying a house, /afe and ruma,
with their various forms, have an interesting distribution. The
first belongs to the eastern Pacific, and the second to the western
Pacific ; but they overlap in the intermediate districts as in the
New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. It is, however, significant
that both these words should be included in the language of Bou
gainville Straits.
I will conclude ray reraarks on this vocabulary with a reference
to the imitative character of the names of some of the animals. In
Bougainville Straits, the frog is known as appa-appa in imitation of
iBy an easy transition from gdlah through katari to kauri we have the probable
origin of the native name of the resin-yielding " Dammara australis " (Kauri Pine) of New
Zealand. 2 Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 348.
2 I am mainly indebted to Dr. Codrington's " Melanesian Languages " for the distribution
¦vi this term.

VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 191
its cry. For a similar reason it is known in New Britain as rok-rok^
in Australia as twonk} and in the Malay Archipelago as codac} The
lizard is named Imrru-rupu by the natives of these straits, an appel
lation which is suggested by its cry ; in the Malay Archipelago it is
known as kikia.* The hornbiU is called po-po by the natives of
Bougainville Straits in iraitation of the rushing sound that it raakes
during its fiight, which has been aptly compared by travellers to the
noise of a locomotive. For this reason the natives of New Britain
term it hanga-banga -^ whilst at Redscar Bay, New Guinea, it is
called pawporo.^ In a like manner the native dog of these straits
is named au-au, and the bush-hen (Megapod) kokole ; there is, how
ever, no necessity to supplement these more famiUar imitative names
from the numerous examples in the languages of neighbouring
regions. The native names, which the frog and the hornbiU have
received in the localities aUuded to, will serve to show how varied
may be the form of the narae which has been suggested by the noise
or cry of the aniraal. There would, thus, appear at first sight to be
but little connection between the naraes po-po and langa-banga ;
yet those persons who have been farailiar with the noise made by
the hornbiU during its fiight will recognise these terras as distinctly
imitative of such a sound. Again, few would guess that such diffe
rent sounding names, as appa-appa, rok-rok, twonlc, and codac, have
been very naturaUy suggested by the cry of the frog.
1 Wilfred Powell's " Wanderings in a Wild Country," &c.
^ Tyler's "Primitive Culture."
3 Labillardi&e's " Voyage in search of La Perouse." (Vocabularies in Vol. II.)
* Labillardiere. Ibid.
» Wilfred PoweU. Ibid.
« Macgillivray's "Voyage of H.M.S. 'Rattlesnake.'"

CHAPTER XL
THE JOURNAL OF GALLEGO — PREFATORY REMARKS.
A CONSIDERABLE interest was aroused in the minds of geo-
-^- graphers, rather more than a century ago, by the recent dis
coveries of French and English navigators in that portion of the
Western Pacific in which the Solomon Islands are now known to
lie. M. M. Buache and Fleurieu (pages 263-265.) endeavoured to
show that the islands there discovered were none other than the
mysterious Islands of Solomon discovered two centuries before by
the Spaniards, the existence of which had been long treated as a
myth, and in fact, had almost been forgotten. This view was
opposed by Mr. Dalrymple, one of the foremost of the English
geographers ; and it laboured under the serious disadvantage that
the only existing narrative of this Spanish voyage, on which such a
conclusion could be based, was a very brief and iraperfect account
incorporated by Dr. Figueroa^ in a work that was published at
Madrid nearly half a century after the return of the voyagers to
Peru. There were some reasons for believing that Hernando
Gallego, the chief pilot of the expedition, had kept a journal of the
voyage ; " but the geographical writers of the close of last century
failed to have access to such an account, and its existence was
doubted by some of them. The only other account, worthy of the
name, that was known to these writers was one included by Herrera
in his " Descripcion de las Indias Oceidentales," a work which was
published at Madrid about the year 1601, or more than thirty years
after the Spanish voyagers had returned to Peru. But this account
was a somewhat vague, general description of the Solomon Islands,
1 Heches de Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Quarto Marques de Canete ; por el Doctor
Christoval Suarez de Figueroa. Madrid, 1613. Vide Note I. of the Geographical Appendix.
2 A M S. journal of Gallego was referred to by Penelo as occurring in the Barcia Library.
(Dalrymple's Hist. Coll. Voy. aud Disc : p. 96.)

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 193
which, although it contained a few additional particulars, was of
little service to the cartographer.
It appears to have been only in the second quarter of the
present century that the existence of a journal written by Gallego
became known to geographers. It may seem at first sight difficult
to explain the reason of this narrative being so long unknown ;
but its author tells us in his prologue that it was through fear
he did not pubUsh it ; and from other circumstances, referred
to in the succeeding pages, it may be inferred that pressure was
brought to bear on him, and that the journal was intentionally
-withheld in order to keep Drake, who had recently appeared in the
South Sea, in ignorance of the position of these islands, The jour
nal has for this reason always remained in raanuscript. The original
manuscript was a few years since in the possession of Mr. Amhurst.
There is a copy in the library of the British Museum, which was
purchased of M. Fr. Michelena y Roiss in 1848;^ and it is a transla
tion of this copy that is given in great part in the following pages.
In undertaking this translation, I have been greatly assisted by my
.acquaintance with these islands; and I have thus been able to avoid
the pitfalls into which the somewhat careless copyist might have
led me.
If M. M. Buache and Fleurieu could have had access to this
journal of Gallego, they would have been sa^jed much ¦ laborious
criticism, both on their own part and on the part of others. That
they were able to employ the scanty data, furnished by Figueroa,
for the identification of the lost Isles of Solomon with the recent
discoveries of their own da.y, is an accoraplishraent concerning which
any adulation on ray part would be both unnecessary and unbe
coming. Even with the comparative wealth of materials which the
journal of Gallego affords, as contrasted with the account of
Figueroa, all that remained to be done was to fill in the rude out
line originally sketched by the French geographers.
The story of the gradual identification of the Isles of Solomon
forms an interesting and instructive episode in the history of geo
graphical discovery. In the sketch which I have given, I have, so
to speak, raked up the ashes of a controversy which burnt itself
out some generations ago ; but the labour expended in its prepara-
1 The British Museum Reference number is 17,623 ; and the title is as follows : " Des-
cubrmiiento.de las Islas Salomon en el Mar del Sur : 1566," by Hernando Gallego, native of
Corunna. N

194 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
tion will not have been unprofitable, if I have been successful in
placing before ray readers a clear and connected account of how the
Isles of Solomon were discovered, lost, and found.
THE JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
We find in the prologue, with which Gallego coramences his
account of this voyage, an explanation not only of the principal
object of the expedition, but also of the motive which led the
Spanish navigator to draw up his narrative. It was for the pro
pagation of the Christian faith araongst the peoples of the unknown
islands of the West that this expedition was dispatched from the
shores of Peru ; and it was to guide the missionary to the field of
his labour that the chief pilot drew up his relation of the voyage.
" I understand it to be incumbent '' — thus Gallego writes — " on
the men who follow the nautical profession, and have had the good
fortune, in some degree, to take precedence of their fellows, to give
an account of their success. And there are many reasons why it is
necessary that from the ignorant these things should not be con
cealed. But for me. Christian piety affords the principal induce
raent ; and especially since it raoved the mind of that most Christian
and most Catholic monarch, Don Philip, to write to his Governor,
the most illustrious Lope Garcia de Castro, that he .should convert
every infidel to Christ. Imbued with this feeling, I have made it
my first object, by means of this relation and of the additions made
by rae to the sea-chart, to enable the missionaries, who are to guide
the infidels into the vineyard of the Lord, to know where these
places will be found and to learn how to navigate these seas exposed
to the fury of the winds, and how all dangers and enemies may be
avoided. This is my design, unless I ara otherwise convinced. Let
the curious accept this brief discourse. It is from fear that its
author has not wished to print it. This is my object : such is my
desire. Receive, reader, this token of esteera, and be steadfast in
God. FareweU ! "
Before proceeding with the journal of Gallego, it is necessary for
me to remark that I have relegated to an appendix much of that
which is of interest to the geographical student. The reason is an
obvious one and needs no further reference, since the narrative often
takes the character of a sea-log, and the geographical and critical
points involved are necessarily only of special interest.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 19.5
The Governor, Lope Garcia de Castro, gave orders for the equip
ment of two ships of the fleet for the discovery of certain islands
and a continent (tierra firme) concerning which His Catholic Majesty
D. Philip II. had summoned a number of persons versed in mathe
matics in order to deliberate on the plan to be followed. After
selecting the vessels, he nominated as Generalin coramand of the
expedition his nephew, Alvaro de Mendana; as Comraander of
the troops (maestro de carapo), Pedro de Ortega Valencia ; as the
Royal Ensign, D. Fernando Enriquez ; and lastly, as Chief-Pilot —
to quote the words of the journal — "rayself, the said Hernando
GaUego." The number of all that embarked on this voyage, including,
besides the soldiers and sailors, four Franciscan friars and the
servants, was a hundred. The preparations were raade with such
alacrity and -willingness that the ships were fitted out with a dis
patch that seeraed scarcely credible ; and on the 19th day of Nov.,
1 566,^ being Wednesday, the day of St. Isabel, the two ships saUed
from CaUao, the port of the City of Kings, which is situated, as
Gallego remarks, in 12j-° S. lat. Shaping their course to the south
west, they had not to allow for the variation of the compass, since
the needle pointed direct to the pole ; and reference is here made in
the journal to the circurastance that in Spain, raore particularly in
the city of Seville, the needle varied one point to the north-west.
Steering in the sarae southerly and westerly direction until the 27th
ofthe same month, they reached the latitude of 15|-°, being by their
reckoning 57 leagues^ due west from the "morro de Uacaxique,"
which was in the sarae latitude.^ They now shaped their course
west, following along the parallel of 15f°, because " the Lord Presi
dent had said that in the latitude of 15°, at a distance of 600 leagues
from Peru, there were raany rich islands." With the wind "a long
time in the south-east," they accomplished a usual daily run of frora
20 to 30 leagues. By the third of Deceraber, they were by their
reckoning in the raeridian of the bay of Fego,* which is stated by
GaUego to be situated in 16° north of the equinoctial and 546
leagues due north of their position. On the 7th of the same
month, the Chief-Pilot recorded his observation that the needle
1 Vide In ote IL of Geographical Appendix.
2 Spanish leagues, 17J to a degree, all through the narrative.
' I have not been able to fin 1 this name in any maps or charts.
' In the maps I have examined there is no bay of this name given.

196 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
showed no variation frora the pole and that it neither dipped nor
tilted up.
" At this tirae," he writes, " I inquired of the pilots as to our
position ; but I only provoked their obstinacy : and we went on our
voyage sailing across the ocean to discover land. We noticed the
flight of the birds that passed us in the morning and evening, and
whence they came, and whither they went towards the setting sun..
All this was no certain guide, as sorae flew north and others soutli ;
and there was nothing to justify our pursuing the fiying-fish which
abounded in those seas." It is right that I should here allude to the
iraportance attached by the voyagers of this period to the flight of
birds which had often guided thera to the discovery of new lands.
It was for this reason, it will be i-eraerabered, that Columbus swerved
from his westerly course when approaching the Araerican Continent
Gallego soon began to lose confidence in the opinion of the Lord
President, because pursuing their course along the sarae parallel of
15f° they failed to observe any signs of land. On the 12th of
December, heing in the meridian of the harbour of La Navidad (a
port on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in lat. 19° 12' N., long. 104° 40'
W.), there was a consultation between Gallego and the other pilots,
when their latitudes were found to agree, but the dead reckoning of
the pilots was greater. At length, on the 16th of the month, it was
resolved by the Chief-Pilot to leave this parallel and head more to
the northward, as they were now 620 leagues rather raore than less
irom Peru and there were no signs of their approaching land.
Accordingly the course was altered ; and for four days they ran
west-by-north reaching the latitude of 13f°, and accomplishing 166
leagues. During the 20th and 21st of December they steered north
west for 65 leagues, keeping a good look-out for land, but to no pur
pose. On the 22nd, after steering to the north-west-by-west for 30
leagues, they reached the parallel of 11°. They. then coursed north
west until the 26th, which was St. Stephen's Day, having gone by
their reckoning 95 leagues and attaining, as their observations showed,
a latitude rather under nine degrees (nueve grades escasos). It is
worthy of note that in the daily record, which was at this time
kept by GaUego of the course and distance and of the latitude
obtained by observation, it usually happens tbat the computed lati
tude is considerably less than that observed.^- In this journal, how
ever, the latitudes are all those of observation except where it is
' This circumstance was, probably, due to a strong southerly drift.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 197
otherwise mentioned. During the 27th and 28th of Deceraber they
stood to the west-north-west for 60 leagues ; and on the two foUow
ing days they steered west -by-north for 62 leagues, reaching the
latitude ot 6j°. It is here recorded that the needle -was deflected a
third cf a point to the north-west. On the last day of the year they
sailed 30 leagues to the west, experiencing strong currents.
Hitherto no signs of land had been observed, and, in consequence,
symptoras of uneasiness showed theraselves araongst the crews. As
they sailed along, the}- were led in their imaginations to believe that
they were always on the point of raaking the land ; but no land
appeared. " The pilots told rae," writes GaUego in his journal, " that
I was the only person who was not disheartened after having sailed
so many leagues without seeing land : and when I told them that
they would suffer no ill and that, with the favour of God, they would
see the land at the end of January, they all kept silent andi made no
reply." The 1st of January, 1567, found the Spanish voyagers steering
west along the parallel of 6J° ; and in accordance with the opinions
of his fellow pilots, GaUego kept this course until the 7th, traversing
in the tirae about 125 leagues.^ They now experienced unsettled
weather, the wind shifting to the north and subsequently to the
north-east. Although steering west-by-south, they did not change
their latitude as rauch as they expected; and, on the 10th, after
accomplishing 30 leagues on this course during the past three days
they found their latitude in 6^°. During the llth and 12th witli a
very favourable wind they sailed 55 leagues to the west on the sarae
parallel. Heavy rain-squalls here overtook thera ; and they ran
along under easy sail.
" On this day," writes GaUego, " they signalled from the " Alrair-
anta" (the general's ship) to ask where the land should be. I
I'eplied that it lay, in my opinion, 300 leagues away ; and that at
all events we should not sight it until the end of the month.
At this time some of the people began to doubt whether we should
ever see the land. But I always told thera that, if God was with
them, it would be His pleasure that they should not suffer ill."
During the 13th they steered west 25 leagues and found themselves
in the paraUel of 6°. On tbe foUowing day they ran in the same
' For one day, Saturday the Srd, there is no record in the Journal of the distance run.
To allow for this omission, I have taken 18 leagues aa being the average daily run during
this week.

198 JOURNA.L OF GALLEGO.
direction for 30 leagues, experiencing much rain and varying winds.
Their water supply was faiUng, and the minds of many were the
more depressed ; for these reasons they ran on with eased sheets
and did not shorten sail.
But the long-expected land was near, and I will perrait Gallego
for the time to tell his own story. " On the Thursday the 15th of
January, we had heavy showers of rain and such thunder and
lightning as we had not seen in all the voyage. We were distant
from the land of Peru, on the course which we had steered, 1450
leagues. In the following^ raorning we ran with a light wind 15
leagues south-west-by-west, and were in the latitude of 6|-°. A
searaan went to the top and discovered land in the shape of a small
island, which appeared on the port hand to the south-west-by-west.
We were about six leagues from it, because being a low island it
could not be seen at a greater distance. Keeping away, we reached
it at sunset. This island is low and level. It has many reefs
around it, and has quite a bay of the sea in the middle of it. After
we had arrived, I found the latitude to be 6f°. We were eager to
send a boat in ; but, however, it was thought best to await the
arrival ofthe -Almiranta' which was much behind us.
" In the meantirae seven canoes full of people started from the
island. Sorae turned back to the shore and the remainder came
off to the ship. But when they saw so raany persons, they returned
to the beach and raade great bonfires. That night they put up
flags, seemingly for the protection of the island. We were not able
to determine whether they were mats of palra-leaves or of cotton,
they were bbached so white.^ The people in the canoes were
naked and of a tawny hue. When the 'Almiranta' arrived, we
.agreed that no boats should land until tho next day, as it was then
evening. And when it dawnerl, it blew so strong from the north
west that we drifted a quarter of a league to leeward of the island.
I wi.shed to reach it, but could not, as the wind was so strong that
we could carry no sails. I advised that, if we beat up to reach the
island with the wind so strong and contrary, the ships might be
broken in pieces (on the reefs) ; that it would not be wise to run
the risk of losing all our lives for an island so small ; and that
seeing that the island was inhabited, the rest could not be faraway.
' The word "following " has been added by me, since from the subsequent remarks of
Gallego, it is evident that this land was sighted on the 16th.
2 Mats of very fine quality are manufactured in many of the Pacific islands.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 199
Although being so near to this island, we could not get bottom
with 200 fathoms."
The decision of Gallego naturally caused rauch discontent
amongst the crews. " The soldiers murraured " — thus the Journal
continues — " because they were unwilling to leave this island, not
withstanding that they would run the chance of losing their lives.
Being weary of the voyage, they took no pains to conceal their
displeasure. But I cheered tbera and consoled thera with the
assurance that they would meet with no raisfortune, and that with
the grace of God, I would give them more land than they would
be able to people ; for this island (as I pointed out to thera) V/'as
not more than five or six leagues in size. I gave it the narae of
the Isle of Jesus, because we arrived at it on the day after that
which we accounted the 15th of January." ^
As the Spanish voyagers were now approaching the scene of their
future discoveries, their course becoraes of peculiar interest to the
historical geographer.^ Continuing their voyage on the 17th of
January, they had before thera a long and tedious passage, having
to contend with contrary winds and being swept north and south
in turns by the currents. On the 23rd, they were in the latitude
of 6°, and on the 28th in 5^°. At length on Sunday the 1st of
February, when they were according to their reckoning 165 leagues
from the Isle of Jesus, they discovered two leagues away ^ sorae
banks of reefs with sorae islets in the raiddle of them. " These
, shoals " — as described by Gallego — " ran obliquely from north-east
to south-west. We were not able" — so he writes — "to get their
extremity within our range of sight ; but as far as we could see
them they extended more than fifteen leagues. We gave them the
name of 'Los Bajos de la Candelaria,' because we saw thera on
Candlemas Eve : and I took the latitude near them, when we lay
east and west with their centre, and found it to be 6J°." On refer
ring to the present Adrairalty charts, it will be noticed that the
name " Candelaria Reef," is applied to an atoll lying about eighty
miles to the north of the large island of Isabel -in the Soloraon
Group and named " El Roncador " by Maurelle the Spanish navi-
^ It is scarcely possible to identify this island with any of the islands marked in the
latest Admiralty charts, l^ide Note III. of the Geographical Appendix.
^ I would direct the nautical reader to Note V. of the Geographical Appendix which
refers to Gallego's observations of latitude in this group. He will thus be saved some con
fusion in comparing the Spanish latitudes with those of the present charts.
^ Thus the distance of these shoals from the Isle of Jesus would be probably about 167
leagues in all. Figueroa gives the distance as 160 leagues.

200 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
gator in 1781. Now, seeing that this atoll is not more than six
miles across, it cannot possiblmbe identical with the extensive reefs
which are above described by Gallego under the narae of the
Candelaria Shoals. As shown in the appendix,^ it is highly pro
bable that these shoals are the same with those which lie about
35 railes to the north of the Roncador Reef, where they constitute
an atoll fifty railes in width which was discovered by the Dutch
navigators Le Maire and Schouten in 1616, and was named "Ontong
Java " by Tasman in 1643.
Leaving these shoals, they steered south-west, expecting to
sight land, which could not have been, in the opinion of Gallego,
more than fifty leagues distant. During the night, however, they
had to heave-to on account of the heavy weather ; and on the
following day, which was the day of our Lady of Candlemas, they
experienced the same weather and were obliged to take in all sail
During the next day, which was the 4th of Februarj', the weather
improved ; and steering at first west-by-north tbey subsequently
stood to the south-west ; and as night approached they shortened
sail, in the event of there being other reefs and shoals such as those
they had already passed. The prevailing winds had been north
west ; but on the following day the -wind went round to the west
and fell very light. For four days they had been unable to take
observations on account of the thick weather. On the 5th,^ their
latitude was found in 7° 8', from which Gallego inferred that in
those four days they had drifted fifteen leagues to the south-by-west.
They now raade sail and headed north.* (?)
" This day," writes Gallego, " was Saturday, the 7th of February,
and the 80th day since we set out frora Callao, the port of the City
of the Kings. In the raorning I ordered a seaman to go aloft to the
top and scan the south for land, because there seeraed to me to be
in that quarter an elevated raass ; and the seaman reported land.
The land soon became visible to us ; and a signal of our discovery
was made to the ' Almiranta ' which was half a league from the
' Capitana ' (Gallego's vessel). Every one received the news with
feelings of great joy and gratitude for the favour which God had
granted them through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the
^ Vide Note IV. ot the Geographical Appendix.
^ There is apparently an error in the journal with reference to this date, since the 6th is
omitted altogether.
2 The subsequent remarks relative to the conrse show that there is here an error in the
M.S., or in the original journal.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 201
Glorious Mother of God, whora we aU believed to be our mediator ;
and the ' Te Deum laudamus ' was sung."
They were distant frora the land, when they first saw it, about
15 leagues. It is described in the journal as "very high." Turning
the ships' heads in that direction, after they had gone 3 or 4 leagues,
they discovered much more land belonging to the same island which
appeared to be a continent. They did not get up to it untU the
evening of the next day, which was Sunday the 8th of February.
" Shortly after we arrived," continues GaUego in his narrative,
"many large and small canoes came off to see us, displaying signs of
amity. But they did not dare to corae alongside the vessels ; and
as we approached the land, they kept away. However the General
threw thera sorae coloured caps, and being thus assured they carae
alongside the ship. The boat was launched, and in it went Juan
Enriquez with eight rausketeers and target-raen (rodoleros) to see
if they could find a port to anchor in, and also to search for
the place whence the canoes had come. The rest of the -natives
became more confident, and some of them came on board the ship.
As they behaved well, we gave thera things to eat and drink ; and
they remained on board until it began to grow dark, when they
got into their canoes and went ashore. And those who had gone
away in the boat, seeing that it was getting dusk, returned without
having found any port. As soon as it was dark we stood out to
sea, and the natives in the canoes returned to their homes. They
told us that for the sake of friendship we should have gone with
tliem, and that they would have entertained us and given us plenty
to eat. " We stood to windward that night with a light wind ; and the
currents carried us more than three leagues to the west-north-west,
bringing us over sorae reefs on whicii we raight have been lost as
the sea was breaking around thera. Finding ourselves in seven
fathoms of water, we at once made course to stand clear of them.
We remained under easy canvas until it dawned, when we saw that
the currents had carried us right upon the shoals ; and as the sea
broke around us, we made more sail. I hailed the ' Almiranta ' to
make the best of her way out of her position among the shoals ; and
we accordingly stood away until we found a sufficient depth."
Juan Enriquez was now dispatched in the boat to find a harbour
for the ships ; but he was deterred by the sight of all the reefs and
returned to the ship. He was ordered by the General to go back

202 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
again and carry out his search, and " I told him " — adds Gallego — ¦
" that it was necessary for the safety of the ships that he should
find a port without delay." The position of the Spanish vessels was
a truly critical one ; and only those who have been similarly situated
in a sailing ship in unsurveyed waters, studded with unknown coral
reefs, can realise how anxious the raoment was.
"Coraraitting ourselves to God " — thus Gallego writes — " I sent a
raan aloft to the fore-top, and placed another on the bowsprit, and I
told them to notice where the shoals were white. The sounding-
lead was kept in hand ; and in the event of our having to go about
or to anchor, we stood by the sheets and bowlines and had the
anchor cleared. I steered for the place where we found seven
fathoms of water, as it seemed to me that we should not find a less
depth. The boat had not yet reached the shore, so I deterrained to
sound and I got twelve fathoms with, a clear bottom ; and farther
on it was deeper and also clear of rocks. Although it was mid-day,
a star appearbd to us over the entrance of the reef. Taking it as a
guide and as a good omen, we were cheered in spirit and became
raore hopeful. As we proceeded, the water deepened little by little :
and I inforraed the General that we were already clear ofthe reefs . . .
I signalled to the ' Almiranta ' to follow us. As we neared the
harbour where the boat had gone, they signalled to us that they had
found a good anchorage. Presently we entered the harbour with
the star over the bow, and we anchored, the ' Almiranta ' entering
shortly afterwards. At the entrance of the port is a rock (or islet),
in size larger than the ship.
" It was the day of Santa Polonia, the 9th of February. The
harbour, which is in the latitude of 7° 50", we named the port of
Santa Isabel del Estrella ; and we named the island, Santa Isabel.
The Indians called the island Camba ; and their cacique is named
Billebanarra. This harbour lies nearly in the middle of the north
coast ofthe island, and is 26 leagues north-east and south-west from
the reefs.^ Having disembarked with the other captains, I took
possession of the island in the narae of His Majesty. A cross was
erected : and I chose a convenient place for building a brigantine."
On the following day, Gallego landed with the carpenters ; and
they began with all diligence to fell the trees and to saw the planks
1 The reefs, here referred to, are evidently the Candelaria Shoals. This bearing of the
harbour with these shoals does not warrant the position which has been assigned to Estrella
Bay in the present Admiralty Chart, its position there being due south of these reefs.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 203
for the construction of the brigantine. Meanwhile the General had
sent Pedro Sarraiento with thirty raen into the interior. They
penetrated about five leagues, and raet with some Indians, one of
whom they took as a hostage. This native was treated kindly by
the General ; and he was set at liberty in order that he raight carry
a favourable account to the other natives of the island. During
this incursion, a soldier had been struck by an arrow, but received
no hurt. Shortly afterwards, a larger force was dispatched under
Pedro de Ortega to explore the interior. The expedition included
52 persons, and coraprised 35 soldiers, with sorae seamen and .
negroes. They were absent seven days frora the ship ; and frora
the account of Gallego, we raay infer that but little discretion was
employed in their dealings with the natives. They burned " many
temples dedicated to the worship of snakes, toads, and other
insects ; " and, as the result of such proceedings, two soldiers were
wounded, one of whom subsequently died of tetanus. His name
was Alonzo Martin, and he bore the character of a good soldier.
"These people," writes the Chief Pilot, "are tawny and have
crisp hair. They go naked, wearing only short aprons of palm
leaves. They have as food sorae maizes or roots which they call
betiaus and plenty of fish. They are, in my opinion, a clean race,
and I am certain that they eat human flesh." On the 15th of
March, whilst the Spaniards were at mass on shore, a fleet of four
teen canoes arrived at the place where the brigantine was being
built. The cacique, who was in comraand, sent the General a
present of a quarter of a boy, including the arra and hand, together
with sorae roots (benaus), which he requested hira to accept. In
order that the natives should understand that the Spaniards did not
eat human flesh, the General ordered it to be buried in their
presence, at which they were abashed and hung their heads, and
returned to an islet which was situated at the entrance of the
harbour. This cacique, who is terraed in the Journal the Taurique
Meta, lived at a place fifteen leagues from the harbour to the west-
by-north. Pedro de Ortega, with the two pilots, Pedro Roanges and
Juan Enriquez, were sent with thirty soldiers and four Indians to
vi-sit the place where this taurique lived. They were absent four
days, and effected nothing except the capture of four Indians, two
of whom they retained as hostages in order to compel the natives to
bring thera pro-visions.
On the 4th of AprU, the brigantine was launched, and the

204 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
rigging was set up. It having been resolved that she should pro
ceed on a voyage to discover the other islands and harbours, Gallego,
Ortega, with 18 soldiers^ and 12 sailors, embarked on board; and
on the 7th of April they left the port. Following the coast along
to the south-east, they came to two islets, lying six leagues away
from the port of Santa Isabel de la Estrella, and situated, according
to an observation of Gallego, exactly in the latitude of 8°. On
these i,slets were many palms which were deemed to be palmettos
and cocoa-nut trees. " This land," as the Chief PUot remarks,
" trends south-east and north-west. The needle stood a point to
the north-east and there remained. Proceeding on our cruise, we
saw many islets in the same direction .... * 5 leagues from
where we had started ; and we anchored at an islet in which we
found a canoe and three houses. We landed 7 soldiers ; and they
went up towards the houses in search of the Indians, who, however,
carried off their canoe. On reaching the houses, the soldiers found
a quantity of provisions, which they brought on board the brigan
tine. Continuing our voyage along the coast, 17 canoes came out
to us. In thera carae an exceedingly daring Indian, who, calling
himself the cacique Babalay, held his bow towards u.s, and signified
to us that we should go with him, and that, if we should not wish
to go, he would carry us by force and would kill us. On account of
his audacity, the " maestro de carapo " ordered them to fire and
knocked him down with a shot ; and when those in the canoes saw
hira fall, they all fled to the shore. Shortly afterwards^, I tacked
towards the shore in order to make a port, as the wind was strong.
In a little tirae we carae to an anchor, and I found by observation
that the latitude was 8^° . . . . ^" Leaving this anchorage,
they stood out to sea, with the wind in the north-north-west; and
in a short tirae they kept away and followed the coast along to the
south-east-by-east. " And as we sailed on," continues Gallego, " the mast sprung and
nearty fell on us. Seeing what had happened, I ordered the sails to
be secured and the tackle to be brought to the weather side, and in
1 According to the MS. in this passage, only 10 soldiers embarked ; but on one occasion
during the cruise it is stated that 18 soldiers were landed {indep. 207), a number whichagrees
with that given by Figueroa,
" The words omitted here are iu the Spanish : "hasta la provincia de Vallas,"
2 Reference is here made to the tact that the coast ran north-west-by-west -with the
island of Meta, which was seven (?) leagues, distant. This island of Meta was probably a
small coast island on which the chief of that name lived;

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 205
this raanner the mast was " stayed.'' When the night overtook us
v/e were without knowledge of anj'^ port, having much thick weather
with wind and rain. Guided by the phosphorescence of the sea we
skirted the reefs ; and when I saw that the reefs did not make the
sea phosphorescent, I weathered the point and entered a good har
bour at the fourth hour of the night, where, much to our ease, we
passed (the remainder of) the night.' This port is 6 leagues from
where we set out, and is in a great bay. It is capacious and has 7
or 8 inhabited islands. The next day I disembarked the people to
get water and wood ; and we saw coraing to the beach more than a
hundred Indians, carrying their bows and arrows and clubs with
which they are accustomed to fight. The ' maestre de campo '
ordered those on shore to embark, fearing sorae arabuscade. Soon
the Indians arrived but they did nothing, and a canoe carae. See
ing that they raade no attack, the 'raaestre de campo' ordered
four soldiers to go ashore and fire three or four shots to frighten
them ; and when this was done and the Indians saw it, they
shot their arrows and took to flight. Thus passed the 12th of
April. " WbUst in this bay we saw to seaward a very large island whicii
lies east and west -with this bay. This island is called in the language
of those Indians, Malaita. The west extreme of this island lies east
and west with the point of Meta.^ 'Ihis island lies with the shoals
of Candelaria north-west-by-west and south-east-by-east 52 leagues;^
and the extremity of this island of Malaita is in 8° ; it is distant
irom the island of Santa Isabel 14 leagues; it has 5 or 6 islets at the
extremity, which are, each of them, 2 leagues in circuit. There
are two islets in the raiddle, between the two large islands. The
name of the Isle of Ramos suggested itself for this Island of
1 To find in a dark night and in thick weather au opening in a line of coral-reef on an
unkno-wn coast, is an undertaking fraught with the greatest hazard, even for a ship possess
ing steam power. The only available guide is that which was foUowed by this clear-headed
navigator ; but it is one which, as it depends on the luminosity of the sea, can only be of
occasional service. When the sea has been unusually phosphorescent, each roller, as it
breaks on the weather-edge of the reef, is marked by a disconnected line of light, reminding
one ot the straggling fire of a line of musketry. I once saw this phenomenon splendidly
exhibited on the coast of Japan, the sea-surface being crowded -with myriads of "NoctUucae.''
2 The point of Meta is probably near the place where the chief of that name lived. Vide
page 203.
3 "Nomeste sueste quarta de leste hueste " is the bearing given in the MS. The distance
of 52 leagues very closely corresponds with the distance indicated on the present chart be
tween the west end of Malaita and Ontong Java. (Vide appendix : note iv.)

206 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
Malaita, because it was discovered on Palm Sunday (Domingo de
Ramos).' " Coasting further along from this bay, we saw a fleet of more
than seven large canoes making for the shore where there were
fisheries. The canoes carae on -with us ; and many Indians shot
their arrows at us with great shouting. The ' maestre de campo,'
on seeing their daring, ordered some muskets to be fired ; and one
Indian was kiUed and the rest took to flight. On the following
day, which we made the 14th of April, running further along the
coast to the east-south-east (?) we sailed nearly 6 leagues. Here
the Indians carae out to us in a friendly manner, bringing cocoa-
nut and other things which we needed. Here we saw a hog, which
was the flrst we had seem The next day we went further out in
quest of the point and extremity of this island, running to the
south-east. From the bay to the point of the island, the coast ran
north-west and south-east. There are some islets near this point!
and from this point to the bay is 14 leagues. I took the latitude
and found it to be barely 9°. At this point, two canoes came out
to us with fighting-raen, in order to question an Indian whom we
had on board, one of the two we took frora Meta. They shot their
arrows at us ; and when we fired a musket to frighten them, they
fled. "On the following day, which we reckoned the 16th of the
month, being at the extremity of this island, we named it Cape
Pueto ; ^ and from here we discovered sorae islands to the south
east,^ which are 9 leagues frora this cape. Some lie north-by-west
and south-bj'-east ; * and others north-west and south-east. And we
approached them this day with a fair wind, sailing to the south
east. We arrived at ten o'clock in the night at an island which
was a league and a half in circuit ; and there we anchored. It is
^ Through an unconscious error in the translations by Mr. Dalrymple and Capt. Burney
ot the account given by Figueroa, the namo " Isle of Eamos " has been applied in modern
charts to an islet nearly in the middle of the passage between Isabel and Malaita. For
further particulars consult Note VI. of appendix.
2 The narae of this cape is spelt in three difEerent ways in this MS., viz., Puerto, Pueto,
and Prieto. The latter is that adopted in Figueroa's accourt. Puerto seems to be the correct
name as no reason is given in the journal for using the epithet of " black " (prieto) ; but
the last is employed in the present chart.
^ In the account of Figueroa this bearin? is given as south-west, whioh, as pointed out by
Pingrfe, Fleurieu, and Burney, is in contradiction to the other bearings, and was by all three
authors replaced by that of " south-east."
^ Norte sur quarta del norueste sueste."

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 207
low and beset with reefs. We sailed around it. It has many palras,
is inhabited ; and it was there we passed the night. When it
dawned, we were desirous to land but could not on account of the
numerous shoals and reefs. It was named ' La Galera.' Here a
canoe came off to us carrying 50 raen whora we perceived to be ready
for battle. . . .^ It preceded us to another large island which was a
league distant. It was soon joined by raany canoes both sraall and
large ; and in (one of) thera came a leading taurique. He came
and approached us in a friendly manner, and gave us beads
(chaquiza), of the kind they wear, which resemble those that are
found in Puerto-viejo.^ The ' maestre de campo ' gave him a good
reception ; and in token of peace presented him with sorae things
which we had on board. Soon the taurique coraraanded the raen
in the canoes to take the brigantine in tow and bring us into the
harbour, which they did. After we were inside, the ' raaestre de
campo' landed with 18 soldiers ; and I remained with 12 on board
the brigantine. The Indians soon took up their weapons, and
hurled stones at us, and jeered at us because we asked for provisions.
Seeing their insolence, some shots were fired at them, and two
Indians were killed. Thereupon they fled, leaving their houses
defenceless. This island is called in the language of the Indians,
Pela.* And there is a chain of five islands, which lie east and
west one with another. The first of these, which we carae to, was
at the east end, for we were pursuing our discoveries frora East to
West; it Ues with the Cape Prieto north-west and south-east, 9
leagues frora the said cape. It will be in circuit 12 leagues. It is
well peopled by natives and has raany -huts and towns and. . . *
To this island we gave the name of Buena Vista from its appear
ance ; it seeraed to be very fertile, and was well-peopled ; and the
rest are as above inentioned. They go naked, without any
covering whatever, and have their faces patterned (tattooed).^
There are many inhabited islands around. I took the latitude
' As the meaning is obscure, I have here omitted the following : " and coming close to
us" which is followed in the Spanish by "no nos dijo eosa nise mavieron contra nosotros,"
which I have left untranslated.
^ A town in the province of Quito, in the kingdom of Peru.
' Gela is the present native name of the Florida Islands. (Codrington's " Melanesian
Languages," p. 522, circd). Consult Note VTI. of the geographical appendix.
* "Lugares forraados y juntos.'' These words, whioh I have not translated, are to be
found unaltered in Figueroa's account, and have been rendered thus by Dalrymple -'places
cultivated and enclosed."
° "Las caraslabradas."

208 .JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
here, and found it to be 9|° south of the equinoctial. It runs
east and west.
" On Good Friday of this same year we went from this island
to another a league distant. We found in it abundance of cocoa-
nuts ; and we placed a quantity on board the brigantine for our
sustenance. Whilst we were at this island, a canoe came off to us
with three Indians ; they left us to go from there to the large
island ; and they offered us hogs, but we did not want them.
" On arriving at the large island, the ' maestre de campo ' landed
and carae to a town which was on high-ground. ^ Here they gave
hira two hogs, which he brought off with him to the ship, having
met with no bad treatment ; and we returned to pass the night at
the islet (?). This day was Holy Saturday. On the foUewing day,
which was the Feast of the Resurrection, we skirted the south coast
of the island ; and frora here we went to another island, which is a
league from it. On our arrival, there came off to us more than 20
canoes of fighting-men, who planned taking us to their town and
capturing us, and displayed much delight araongst themselves. I
ordered the anchor to be weighed that we might get to a better
place, because we were almost touching the shoals. When the
Indians saw that we were about to shift our position, they got into
their canoes in a great hurry with their bows and arrows, and
clubs, and many stones ; and in a very fierce manner they began
to shoot their arrows and stones at us. Seeing their daring, we
replied with the rauskets ; and many Indians were killed, and the
whole were repulsed; and they ralUed and came on to the attack with
greater fury ; but this tiine they suffered even more, and for the
second tirae they were repulsed and routed. There were more than
700 Indians. We took three canoes ; but afterwards we abandoned
two and kept the other. Deserting their towns, they went off -with
many howls and cries to the higher land in the interior. Soon the
' maestre de campo ' landed with 20 men : and he endeavoured to
bring off sorae provisions to the brigantine, and to restore friend
ship with the natives ; but frora their dread of the muskets they
would never approach ; and they kept much in advance of them
caUing to each other by conch-shells and with drums. Seeing that
there was no help for it, we set fire to a house, after having taken
possession of the island in the name of His Majesty, as in the case
of the other islands ; and we gave it the name of ' La Florida.' This
island is in latitude 9-|° and lies east and west with the island of

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 209
Buena vista. It is 25 leagues in circuit, and is a fine island in ap
pearance, with many inhabitants, who are also naked as in the other
islands ; and they redden their hair, eat human fie-sh, and have their
towns built over the water as in Mexico.^
" This day we went on to other islands which are further to the
east in the same latitude. The first has a circuit of 25 leagues.
We had not resistance from them (the Indians) ; because they had
already come to know that they could not overcome us, if we were
prepared for them. To this island, we gave the narae of San
Dimas. We did not go to the reraaining islands that we might not
hinder ourselves. We named the one San German, and the other
the Island of Guadalupe." (Vide Note VII. of the Geographical
Appendix.) " The next morning we went to another very large island which
is on the south side of the five islands. In the middle of the way,
or half-way between tbem, is an island which we named Sesarga.
It is 8 leagues in circuit. This island is high and round and well-
peopled ; with plenty of food, mames and panales^ and roots and
hogs [which have no grain to eat ?]. In the middle of this island
there is a volcano, which is continually emitting great sraoke. It
has a white streak which resembles a road descending from the
higher parts down to the sea. This island is in latitude 9|°. With
the island of Buenavista it lies north-west and south-east (?).* Five
leagues frora this island, there carae out 5 canoes ; and they gave us
a fish, telling us by signs that we should go with thera to their
island, and that they would give us hogs. The Indians went away ;
and we slept this night at sea.
" On the next day, which was the 19th of April, we arrived at
the great island, which we had seen, and came upon a town of the
Indians. There is a large river here ; and there came out canoes to
' In the present day the natives of Florida built their houses on piles. See p. 60, of
this work.
'' Figueroa gives for mames, ynanimes; and for panales, panays. In the first instance,
" yams " are probably meant ; whilst, in the second case, Burney suggests that hj panays
the "breadfruit " may be referred to. Fleurieu hints that it may be the application of the
name of the " parsnip " to some other vegetable. The "taro " is evidently here alluded to.
s In Note VII. ot the Geographical Appendix, I have treated of the question relating to
the identification of the islands whioh lie between Cape Prieto and the north coast of
Guadalcanar, with the Spanish discoveries. In so doing, I have re-opened a discussion that
excited considerable interest a century ago, but which has since, notwithstanding the efforts
of Burney and Krusenstem, boen almost forgotten. Those acquainted with these islands
will recognise iu Sesarga the present Savo. O

-210 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
the brigantine, and sorae Indians who were swimming, and some
woraen and boys. They gave us a rope, and towing us, carried us to
the shore. When we were close to the beach, they began to throw
stones at us, saying, ' Mate,' ' Mate,' raeaning that they were going to
kill us.' Sorae shots were fired, which kiUed two of them; and
imraediately they left us and fled. The ' maestre de campo ' landed
with 20 men, and took possession as in the case of the other islands.
In the town was found, in small baskets, a large quantity of pro
visions, of roots, and ginger wbich is plentiful in this island. We
put on board the brigantine what we could, including a hog. The
same evening, -we erabarked ; and we gave this island the name of
Guadalcanal and to the river that of Ortega. I took the latitude,
and found it to be in 10|-°. With the higher part of Buenavista, it
lies north and south 9 leagues, and with that of Sesarga north-west
and south-east. Frora here we determined to return to where we
had left the ships. We, therefore, started on the return voyage.
Running back to the island of Santa Isabel, we passed by the island
of Sesarga, which is called in the language of the Indians 'Gua li.'
Pursuing our way, we came close to Cape Prieto. We sailed along
the south coast and arrived at an island, 7 leagues from Cape Prieto,
which lies with the island of Sesarga north-by-west^ 15 leagues.
The taurique of this island, Beneboneja by narae, called it the island
of Veru. It is a league from, that of Santa Isabel. The passage
(entrada), which is on the south-east side of the island of Beru
{Veru), has a fine harbour that is able to hold a thousand ships : it
is 6 leagues in length, has a depth of 12 to 8 fathoms, is very clear
(of shoals), and has an outlet to the north-west a league in length.^
This channel* runs west-north-west to the cape of this island, where
there is a large town which has more than 300 houses. The Indians
received us in a friendly manner, giving us a hog : and because they
would not give us raore than a hog, we seized three canoes ; and
when they saw that we had taken these canoes, they ransomed
thera, giving for two canoes two hogs. We saw in this island some
pearls that the Indians brought, which they did not hold in
1 There is here a strange coincidence. The natives in using the word " mate " — a widely
spread Polynesian word for "dead" — were unconsciously making a correct use of the
Spanish verb " matar," to kill.
2 Norueste quarta del norueste (?).
' This fine harbour is at present known as Thousand Ships Bay. It was visited by
D'Urville, in 1838, who named his anchorage Astrolabe Harbour.
¦• The outlet to the northwest has been named Ortega Channel. It was explored by the
officers of D'Urville's expedition.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 211
much esteem. They also brought us sorae tusks' that seemed
to belong to some large animal, of which they have many : and
they told us that we should take them and give them back
their canoe. I considered that we should restore canoe their
and accept these tu.sks: but the 'maestre de carapo' was not
wiUing to do so This island is in latitude 9^°. We named ifc
the island of Jorge.^
" We continued our return joumey, sailing to the west-by-north
around the said island of Santa Isabel. When we were a third part
from the south-south-east portion of this island, we saw two large
islands. We did not go to them, because we had not reached the
extremity of the island which we should have to round,^ and also
because the coast is beset with many reefs and shoals which we
Could scarcely pass through in the brigantine, it being impossible to
sail through thera in ships. These islands would be 6 leagues from
Santa Isabel ; they are in latitude 9J° S., as they lie east and west
with the island of Veru 10 leagues. These islands, which we
passed, bear east and west one with the other. The land runs
much further to the west-by-north. The needle declined to the
N.W.* I observed the sun near the river and found myself in 9°
full (9 grados targos). In this island we saw many bats (murcie-
lagos) of such a size tbat the wings from tip to tip measured 5 feet
in expanse. This island has a breadth of 20 leagues ; for I took
the sun on the north side, where the ships lay, and now on the south
side ; and in this last I found the latitude to be 9° full (largos),
whilst on the north side the latitude is 8° rainus 8 rainutes, lying
north-north-east and south-south-west 20 leagues. To the two large
islands, which we saw, we gave the following naraes, to the one
San Nicolas, and to the other, which lies more to the west, the Isle
of Arracises (Reefs), because there are so many reefs to pass through
that it is irapracticable to sail round the island.^
" After running for four days, but not through the nights, we
' Probably boar's tusks.
' The St. George's Island of the present chart.
^ Tho general sense of this passage italicized is here given.
¦* For N.W. read N.E. There is evidently a mistake in the MS., as Gallego previously
found the needle to vary one jjoint to the north-east, when a few leagues from Estrella
Harbour (see p. 204).
" These two islands were probably, from their bearing with the island of Veru or St.
George, the two mountainous islands in the south-east part of New Georgia, which, as
observed by GaUego, runs much further to the westward. Their distance, however, from
Veru, is more than double that jvhich Gallego gives.

212 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
could scarcely sail along,i on account of the raany reefs ; and we
entered a passage a quarter of a league further on, but seeing that
there was no outlet we had to return by the aid of the oars.^ At
this time many Indians came out against us, from among the reefs,
with their bows and arrows. We raade sail, and as we were pro--
ceeding in the same direction, 18 canoes full of fishermen, in each
canoe 30 Indians, with their bows and arrows, came to shoot at us.
We fired some shots, and so they went away and left us.
" On the 26th of April, we reached some reefs and grounded on
them . . .^ Some Indians came out at this time with bows and
arrows ; and we fired some shots, but because the Indians did not
leave us, we did not repeat this. There are many islets near, both
inhabited and uninhabited. The island became narrower as we
arrived at a point of this island which is from the extremity 6
leagues north-west to south-east. We entered a passage separating
the island from the other islets around, which are many and in
habited. This is the west part of the island ; and I took the sun at
its extremity and found myself in 7^°. This island is 95 leagues in
length, and in circuit more than 200.* As we sailed on, some canoes
came out to us ; and on our firing sorae shots, they left us, because
. . . (por que nos aflirian).
" Issuing frora the passage, we saw, towards the east-by-south,^ 6
leagues away, a large island. We did not go to it, so as not to de
lay ourselves. We gave it the name of San Marcos.® It is in lati
tude 7f°. This island Ues with that of Santa Isabel west-by-north
and east-by-south. AU this people, which we have hitherto seen,
are naked, and are as the Moors of Barbary, and do not confess the
Lord. " Sailing on to the 28th of the month, there carae out to us 34
canoes in line of battle, in order to stop us. Three large canoes,
which passed astern, foUowed us for more than 2 leagues. When
we saw their determination to overhaul us (que trahian), we fired
^ Lit " we were unable to sail along."
2 This blind passage may be the one indicated in the present chart in the vicinity ot
Nairn Island, an off -lying islet.
5 The following sentence, being unintelligible to me, has not been translated, "porque ea
esta isla hay muchos suefios que llaman fueuos forzado volver atras para salir."
* These dimensions are very greatly in excess.
5 This bearing is evidently an error ; the correct bearing is given a few lines below.
" The island of San Marcos is evidently the Choiseul Island of the present chart, as named
by Bougainville in 1768 ; and the passage through whioh the brigantine had just passed, is
that known as Manning Strait between Choiseul and Isabel. ' '

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 213
at them with a small cannon and sorae rauskets. At this, they took
to flight . . . (mas que de paieia). Although we had been
away from the ships a long tirae ancl were endeavouring to return,
we were delayed in arriving at them, as we were opposed by the
east winds.
" Being anchored on Sunday' at a small uninhabited island, we
determined to send before us a canoe with nine soldiers, a sailor,
and an Indian who bad always accompanied us. Whilst they were
coasting along, not daring to stand out to sea, they got on some
reefs. Through their negligence, the canoe was broken in pieces ;
and bj' God's raercy, the people escaped with the loss of what they
carried, their muskets and aramunition being wetted. When they
were all collected together, they resolved to return to the brigan
tine ; and the Indian ran away from thera, although he did not
belong to that land. Having walked all that night over the stones
and rocks along the coast, for fear of raeeting the Indians, they
came to a point where they found a cross which they had put up
when they passed by there ; and they worshipped it, and deter
mined to await there the arrival of the brigantine. They put up a
flag which loas seen by us as we came along . . .^ We went to
receive thera and found them in a sorry plight (maltratados). Con
tinuing our voyage, we came to where they had been wrecked
amongst some reefs close to an islet, in which they had left two
hogs that they carried with thera. A canoe was sent for thera (the
hogs) and they were taken. Near here we anchored, because there
was much wind. As the weather was flne and the wind was off
the land, we went inside the reefs, looking out for our ships all that
day and part of the night. We made sail the next day at dawn,
and arrived at the port of Santa Isabel de la Estrella, where we
found the ships, to the no small satisfaction of both those on board
and of ourselves.^
" The same day on which we arrived at Santa Isabel de la
Estrella, I told the General that it was necessary to refit the ships,
and that soon afterwards we should proceed further on to follow up
what we had begun. Accordingly, on the Sth of the said month,
^ " Visto por losque en el veniamos soy echamos lo que podia ser. "
2 From the context it may be inferred that the brigantine completed the circuit of the
island of Isabel. Figueroa, in his narrative, expressly states that the brigantine turned the
west end of the island, and encountered head easterly winds in her return to the ships.
Figueroa also tells us that during the absence of the brigantine some of the men iu the ships
had died of sickness ; but Gallego does not refer to this circumstance.

214 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
we left the port of Santa Isabel de la Estrella, on our way out, pas
sing by sorae reefs which are at the entrance of the . harbour. We
sailed on until the end of two days. The brigantine, being unable
to keep up with the ships, drifted towards the land, so rauch so that
at dawn she -was nearly out of sight, although there carae in her
the pilot Gregorio Gonzalez with some of the soldiers and sailors
who had (previously) gone in her. Being afraid of losing her, I
made signals to her to go about and make a reach to seaward. I
deemed that unless one of the ships turned back to take her in tow,
we should lose her. Seeing that, on account of the many reefs, she
was so essential to us for the exploration of those islands, and had
been built by us after so rauch labour and through ray diligence, I
left the ' Almiranta ' to go on, and turned back in the ' Capitana '
to get her. We kept the sounding-lead in hand for fear of the
reefs ; and about 6 leagues out to sea (seis leguas de la mar) I found
rayself in 6 fathoras. I went about imraediately, and it pleased
God that we found deeper water. We found the brigantine in the
hours of the night ; and we took her in tow with no little labour,
going after the ' Almiranta ' which had followed the course I had
advised in order to avoid the many reefs existing here, and leaving
behind in her course the islands of Veru and Flores,^ and many
others which were discovered in the brigantine, without touching at
thera. At the end of four days, we saw the ' Almiranta ' right
ahead of us, not having j^et found a port.
"On Tuesday, the 12th of May, we arrived at a port in the
island of Guadalcanal, to which we had gone frora Santa Isabel;
but we were not able to arrive at the river of Ortega which lay two
leagues to windward of where we were. This day, the wind blew
so hard from the east that our cable parted and we lost an anchor.
On the foUowing morning I went in a boat to find a good anchor
age, for we were anchored on an (open) coast ; and I went a league
from here to the rear of an islet which was close to this island of
Guadalcanal ; and having sounded everywhere I found that it was
clear (of shoals) and afforded a good anchorage for the ships, since
it had a large river which was named by us Rio GaUego. It is itt
latitude 10° 8'. Frora here I returned to the ships, and brought
thera to this port which we named Puerto de la Cruz.^
1 The island of Florida is probably thus referred to.
''The position of this harbour is shown on the present chart ; but it is placed too muoh to
the eastward ; since, from the narrative, it is apxmrent that it lies near Sesarga, whioh is
the present Savo.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 215
"This sarae day, the General landed with all the soldiers aud
self; and he took possession of this island in the narae of His
Majesty as in the case of the other islands. A cross was erected on
a little erainence that was there ; and we all paid our adoration.
Some Indians, who stood near to look on, comraenced to discharge
their arrows ; and sorae shots were fired at them, by which two
Indians were killed ; and so they left us and fled, and we embarked
for-that night.
" On the following morning, when we intended to land to say
mass, we noticed that the Indians had pulled up the cross and had
carried it off. On account oftheir audacity, the General ordered the
soldiers to get themselves ready to go in search of the cross and to
put it in its place : and whilst they were going ashore in the boat,
we saw the Indians return and endeavour to set it up. When it
was in its place, they went away ; but it appeared that they had not
thrust it in sufficiently, and it fell. Presently, the same men at
tempted to erect it; but, frora fear of us, they did not stop to set it
up quite straight and fled; and herewith our people reached the
shore and disembarked. The General sent Pedro Sarmiento with
some soldiers to look at the cross ; whilst he himself reraained on
the beach with the rest of the people. On reaching there, they
found that the cross was not upright: and thej'- placed it as it was
at first. Pedro Sarraiento then returned, and they all embarked and
came back to the ships.
" In order not to lose time, I gave the order to repair the brigan
tine, as she was very leaky. She was repaired accordingly ; and
then it was deterrained that Don Fernando Henriquez, the chief-
ensign (alferez general), and I, the said Hernan Gallego, should go
in the brigantine with 30 soldiers and sailors to discover the re
maining lands ofthe same island of Guadalcanal. On the 19th of
May, we sailed in the brigantine along the coast of the said island
which is naraed, in the language of the natives, Sabo.^ And on the
same day, the General sent Andres Nunez with 30 soldiers to see
what the land possessed, and to endeavour to make a search in
cracks or broken ground, because the miners, who understood it,
said that it was a land for gold. And so they carried out this
' The name of Savo is at the present day given to the volcanic island, named by the
Spaniards, Sesarga, which lies off the north-west coast of Guadalcanar : Savuli is the name
of a viUage at the west eud of Guadalcanar {vide map in Dr. Codrington's "Melanesian
Languages " ).

216 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
object in an excursion of 7 days. Whilst they were endeavouring
to make a trial of the ground in a large river, so many natives
crowded around them that they bad to give it up, because they
would not suffer them to do it. By a sign which they gave, they
said that there was gold. They have . . . .^ ; and here were found
the first hens of Castile. They brought back two young hens and a
cock, which they all received with much satisfaction, understanding
that they would discover better land." (These birds were evideUtly
the " bush-hens," Megapodida, of these islands.)
" Those in the brigantine, as they sailed along the coast of this
island from the south-east to the north-west,^ saw many viUages
near a river that was nigh to the ships. We passed a league further
on, and after another league carae to the river of Ortega. All this
coast is full of villages ; yet we did not stop to have seen raore of it.
Going further along the coast, we came to a river and anchored in
it ; and we resolved to land to see the people who were there. More
than 200 Indians came out to meet us in a friendly manner, with
their bows in their hands and the clubs with which they fight.
They gave us some plantains (platanos) which abound here. After
we had seen this, the people embarked ; however, they threw some
stones at us as we were erabarking. We were frora the ships 12
leagues. Proceeding on our course to the south-east, we saw in
another river a large population of natives, and we named it Rio de
San Bernardino because it was that same day. It is in the latitude
of 101°, and bears . . . .^ There is a very high round hill here.
This river is 4 leagues from where we started from, as I have
said.* " We continued coasting along this same island ; and two leagues
from this river, we came to a great village on the bank of a small
river. Don Fernando landed, and took a canoe which he found m
the river, and also some roots, that they call "maraes" (yams) and
others, " names," which they found in cases. We told the natives to
give us some hogs, and they should have their canoe back They
said that they would give them to us with the intention of detaining
us whilst they collected their numbers. Thereupon they began to
play their instruments for the battle. By the time we were em-
1 " muohas guacanaras en este entrada."
2 A perplexing error. Eead instead, N.W. to S.E. Figueroa gives the course as E.S.E.
3 " Nor norueste suhueste " (an impossible bearing).
* The sense of this sentence is not intelligible to me.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 217
barked, more than 600 ruffians (gandules) had assembled. Coming
to the beach with their bows and arrows, and clubs, and stones, they
began to shoot ; but no rausket was fired at thera, although they
did not cease frora shooting at us. Some took to the water and
swara off to the brigantine endeavouring to cajole us with fair words,
asking us for the canoe and promising us a hog. They tried to take
it frora astern : and when we observed this, we threatened thera and
they went ashore.
" The Indians then brought on a pole a bundle of dry grass in
inutation of a hog ; and they placed it on the beach. Sorae carae
off to the brigantine and said that there was the hog, that we should
go for it, and should give back the canoe. We saw the deceit that
they intended ; and when they perceived that we understood what
it was and did not go for it, they threw stones at us and rushed into
the sea, swimming with their weapons in their hands. Withal, we
did not wish to harm them until we saw their boldness, and that
they were coming to the brigantine to shoot at us with their arrows.
To frighten them, sorae shots were fired high in the air, which did
not wound any one ; and so we went further along the coast, whilst
they returned to the shore and followed us until we arrived off an
other large river, with raany people as nuraerous as theraselves,
whom they joined.
" On the 22nd of May, we naraed this river Santa Elena. There
is much level ground here whicii is covered with palms and cocoa-
nut trees. This island has a very lofty cordUlera in its interior and
many ravines frora which these rivers issue ; whilst between the
mountains and the sea there are eight leagues of level country. In
the mouth ofthe river there are many sandbanks; but we did not
anchor there, ancl sailed a long way from the coast to double a point
of reefs, where we anchored. The wind blew so strong from the
south-east that we ran rauch risk when seeking shelter to leeward
of the shoals that run out from the river. Here I anchored, and
although there was much wind, it was fine weather at sea.
" The Indians, who were more than a thousand in nuraber, swam
out to us with their bows and arrows ; and they dived and plunged
beneath the water to lay hold of our anchor and carry the brigantine
ashore. Seeing their determined perseverance, we fired some shots,
and having killed some, we ceased firing ; and they raade for the
shore, where they raised some mounds of sand for their protection.
As we were short of water, we were compeUed to get more ; and

218 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
when we headed towards the shore, a great number of the natives
assembled together to menace us lest we should take up a position
in the rear of their works, from which they defended themselves.
We loaded a small cannon with sraall shot, and discharged it against
their mound-works, by which some were wounded and one killed
Seeing that they could not hold the works, they left the beach and
withdrew to the mountain slope.
" And we found a place to get water in the canoe that we had ;
but it was brackish ; and I told them that unless they brought
sweeter water they should not come on board the brigantine. The
Indians said that they would fetch it in the earthen jars which were
given thera for it ; and taking thera, the Indians went and brought
it sweet and put it on board the brigantine. Soon they all came on
board, and they did not follow us any raore. Continuing our voyage
along the same coast for another 6 leagues, we anchored off a great
town, which was more than three leagues in extent (mas de tres
leguas de poblacion), whence there came; out to us more than 3,000(1)
Indians, who gave us a hog and many cocoa-nuts ; and they filled
the earthen jars with water and brought it off in their canoes, and
they came on board the brigantine to visit us without arms. Close
to the shore there are two inhabited islets lying about half a league
to sea ; and further on to the north-west of these two islets, there is
another islet of sand. Soon we steered our course to the south-east,
following the trend of the coast for two leagues. There are two
other islets, and another of sand, near them, which were not in
habited. " On the 24th of May we sailed further along ; and there came
off to us 18 canoes, which accompanied us until sunset. When they
were about to go, they menaced us with their bows ; and on some
shots being fired to disperse thera, they quickly left us. Accord
ingly, we kept our course until the extreraity of this island, which
runs frora north-west to south-east. We went to look for a port
for the ships in case it should be needed ; and we found at the point
of this promontory many islets with shoals between them. Among
them is a large island with a good port. We were in want of water,
and two canoes that accompanied us showed us where to get it, with
the intention of luring us there and killing us ; for they came with
their weapons. They were joined by 30 other canoes, one of them
carrying 30 Indian warriors. Arriving whilst we were watering,
they landed, and having got plenty of stones and arrows and spears.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 2l9
some went to attack the brigantine, whilst the others went to attack
those who were getting water on shore. When we saw their deter
mined daring, shots were fired by which some were killed and raany
wounded ; and so they fled, leaving behind two canoes erapty, and
carrying off the rest. The large canoe was rauch injured, and in
their precipitation they threw themselves into the sea ; but we took
the canoe with four Indians, two wounded and two unharraed. We
landed thera, and treating thera well, gave tiiera their liberty and
restored their canoe. And so they went away ; and I kept a boy
that I took here. I found the latitude to be in 10f°. On the south-
south-east .side of the point, the coast trends frora north-east to
south-west, but frora this point we could not see the end of it. The
port is 40 leagues frora where we left the ships.^
" We left this port with sorae difficulty as it lies among the reefs.
We saw to the south-east-by-east an island 7 leagues away;^ but we
did not go to it, as we were going to the island of Malaita, as the
Indians name it, which lies with the island of Guadalcanal, and
with the point where we had been, north-east-by-east. We sailed
to the north-east-by-east for 16 leagues, and arrived at a good har
bour which has many reefs at the entrance. There came out 25
canoes with warriors who discharged their arrows. Some shots
were fired at them, which killed some and wounded others. This
port, which is on the south-south-west coast, is in the latitude of
10^° ; and the name, Escondido, was given to it, because it is almost
enclosed by reefs.* In this island we found apples of sorae size,
oranges, a metal that seemed to be a base kind of gold, and, besides,
pearl-shell, with which they inlay the club they use in battle, being
the one they usually carry. These natives, like the rest, go com
pletely naked. In the name of His Majesty we took possession of
this island, to which we gave the name of the Isle of Ramos." ( Vide
Note VL, Geographical Appendix.)
" Leaving this port, we sailed to the south-east for four leagues,
and discovered an entrance to a harbour resembling a river dividing
1 The description of this part, its .situation, and relative position to the adjoining coasts
of Malaita and St. Christoval, as stated below, all point to its identity with Maran Sound.
In the Geographical Appendix reference is made to the discrepancies in the distances and
latitudes of Gallego.
^ This island is evidently St. Christoval.
2 Future visitors to the southern portion ot Malaita will doubtless be able to identify this
port -with some anchorage on the west coast to the northward of the Maramasiki Passage.
In so doing they should not forget the usual error of Gallego's latitudes (Note V. of the Geo
graphical Appendix).

220 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
the lands from each other.^ We could not see the end of it ; and
on account of the strong current we were unable to enter. We
accordingly passed on another four leagues, where we found a good
port : and in it I took the latitude, and found it to be 10^° south of
the equinoctial. It has an islet at the entrance which should be left
close on the starboard hand in entering the port. Two hundred
Indians carae out and attacked us. To this port we gave the name
of La Asuncion, because we entered it on that day.^ This day we
sailed out and proceeded further along the coast to the south-east.
Close to the extremity of the island, we put into a small bay^
where they discharged some arrows at us, and on our firing some
shots they left us. Quitting the small bay, we sailed as far as the end
of the island which is in \0\°.* It lies north-east and south-east with
the isle of Jesus, which is the first island we saw, and Ues in 7°.
[With the other end of Malaita, which is to the north-east, and lies
east and west with Meta in 8°, it is 85 leagues. There is another
point in 7°, with wliich the Isle of Jesus lies north-east-by-north
135 leagues.^]
"This island of Malaita has a length of 114 leagues. We did
not go to the north side, and for that reason we cannot say what is
its breadth. The island of Guadalcanal is very large. I do not
estiraate its size, because it is a great land and half a j^ear is needed
to sail along its shores.^ That we sailed along its length on the
north side for 130 leagues and did not reach tbe end, shows its
great size. Moreover, on the east^ side ofthe extremity, the coast
trended to the west, where I saw a great number of fine towns.'
" Frora the extremity of this island of Malaita we saw another
island, which lies east and west from this cape 8 leagues, to which
we went, arriving in the night. We anchored in front of a town on
' This is -without a doubt the Maramasiki Passage which cuts through the south-eastern
portion of Malaita.
2 Port Asuncion may, perhaps, be the large bay of Su Paina.
' Caleta in the Spanish. This anchorage may, perhaps, be identified with Su Oroha or
with oue of the inlets or coves nearer to Cape Zelfie, such as Te Oroha or Te Waina.
("Pacific Islands: "voh I.; " Western Groups : " p. 01, 62; "Admiralty publication," 1885.)
^This latitude is not consistent with that given above for the port of Escondido, which,
according to the journal, lies more than half a degree to the north-west.
" I have endeavoured unsuccessfully to get at the meaning of the two sentences enclosed
in brackets. *" Para andaJlce es menestcr medio anno."
'This should be "west."
* See Note VIII. in Geographical Appendix for remarks on th eexaggerated ideas as to the
size of this island.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 221
the coast, which has a small river ; and whilst we were anchoring,
two canoes came off to see Us, but they soon returned. At dawn we
sent the people on shore to get water : and the natives came out
peacefully with their women and their sons. They are all naked
hke the others. The women carry in their hands some things like
fans, which they sometimes place before them. When the water
was procured, we asked for a hog, and they brought it ; and placing
it so that we should see it, they returned and carried it off. But we
did not injure them in any way ; and accordingly embarked and
proceeded out to sail round the island. When the natives saw that
we were going, most of them came out in their canoes with their
bows and arrows in pursuit of us. The first man who was about to
aim, we knocked over with a shot. At this, they turned and fied ;
and we pursued them as far as the port, capturing some canoes that
had intended to take us. A friendly Indian, whom we carried with us,
climbed a palm tree and saw how the Indians came in regular
bodies bearing their shields. We went to arms, and sent three
soldiers to see in what force the people were. They carae in their
canoes in two or three divisions to attack the brigantine : and we
began to bring our musketry into action, killing two Indians and an
Indian woman. They soon retired ; and our men who vvere on the
shore having embarked in the brigantine, we went on in pursuit
of our quest. The island is named Uraba^ in the language of the
Indians. We gave it the name of La Ti-eguada because they led us
into a treacherous truce.^ This island is in latitude 10J°. It is well
peopled, and has plenty of provisions of their kind. Although
small, it has an area of 25 leagues. There is communication with the
neighbouring islands, and with a cape that lies to the north-west.
It trends north-west and south-east until the middle of the island,
where we found these 10°, and the other  (milad)
trends north-north-west until the end of the island.
" To the south-by-west of the point of the island there are low
islands, with raany shoals around thera, which are three leagues dis-
^The reader wiU have already inferred that the island of Uraba is the Ulaua of thfe
present chart, and wiU have noticed that the name of the island has remained the same
during the last three centuries. It is the Ulawa of the present natives, and the Contrariete
of Surville. 2 One must judge Gallego in the spirit of his times. Humane as he really was, we
cannot free him from his share in this unfortunate conflict with the natives ot Ulaua : and
the name of La Treguada had been better never bestowed. The next navigator who visited
this island was Surville in 1769 ; who, following up his previous proceedings at Port Praslin
in Isabel, repelled its inhabitants with grape shot.

222 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
tant from this island of La Treguada, to which we went and
obtained water. They are inhabited; and we gave them the
name of Las Tres Marias, . They trend west-by-north and east-
by-south.i " There is another island which lies three leagues from Las Tres
Marias. It is low, and the inhabitants are like those around. We
named it the island of San Juan, and found in it a good harbour.
We took possession of it in the narae of His Majesty, as in the case
of the other islands. It is 6 leagues in circuit ; and is in latitude
10f°.2 " We went thence to another great island,^ which lies north and
south with it, 2 leagues away. Before we arrived, 93 canoes with
warriors carae out to us and  * We took an Indian chief
and placed hira below the deck. He seized a sword, and defending
hiraself attemped to escape, until at last the sword was taken from
liim and he was bound. We sent the people on shore, intending to
take possession ; but so many natives attacked thera that we were
not able to do so, and. we returned to the island of San Juan. I
offered to Don Fernando to take possession of it before dawn;
and it was done. In the island of San Juan, they ransomed the
Indian, and gave us for him three hogs, to which he added some
beads. As a sign of friendliness, Don Fernando Henriquez em
braced him.
" On the following day, which was the 2nd of June, we arrived
at dawn off the island of Santiago.^ More than 50 canoes came out
^ These three islands are without doubt identical with the three small islands whioh are
named the Three Sisters in the present chart. SurviUe, the French navigator, who saw
them in 1769, gave them the name of Les Trois Soeurs, which they still retain. At the
present day they are uninhabited, and any water that couldbe obtained would be of a very
doubtful quality. Fleurieu hints at the identity of Les Trois Sceurs and Las Tres Marias.
2 The San Juan ot Gallego is evidently the island now known as Ugi. There is no
apparent reference in this journal to the small adjacent island ot Eiu.
2 Apparently this is the island named Santiago below. It is without doubt St. Christovah
^ " y tuvimos gran guasavara."
5 The reader will now require to use some caution in following this part of the narrative,
since Gallego seems to have fallen into mnch conf usion respecting the island ot St. Chi-istoval.
The name of Santiago was evidently applied by him to the north side ot the island west of
the prominent headlong of Cape Keibeck, which he might easily have taken for the ex
tremity of the island. The name of San Urban was in aU probability given to the peninsula
ot Cape Surville, whioh, as Ihave myself remarked while offi the St. Christoval coast,, has
the appearance of a detached island when first seen, in approaching it from the northwaril
and westward. This deceptive appearance, when viewed from a distance, is due to the
¦circumstance that the neck, of the peninsula ot Cape Surville is raised but a few feet above
the level of the sea, and is in consequence below the horizon when this cape is first sighted.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 223
to us ; and they planned to carry us off to their towns. It was
necessary to fire some shots in order that they should quit us ; and
they left us and returned. Possession was taken of this island in
the name of His Majest3'- ; and we did no injury to the people. This
island is 40 leagues in length on its north side : and it is narrow,
and in part mountainous, and is well peopled. The Indians of this
island go naked and eat huraan fiesh. Its eastern extreraity is in
latitude 10f°; and lies north-west and south-east with the island of
Treguada 12 leagues. The south-east extremity lies north-west and
south-east 18 leagues with the island of Malaita.
" When we were all embarked to proceed further on, a violent
north-east wind overtook us, and drove us to the extreraity of
Santiago, whence we saw a large island to the south-east that
trended westward. It was 18 leagues distant. It is in latitude
10 J° south of the equinoctial; and is 4 leagues distant frora the
island of Guadalcanal. We gave it the name of the island of San
Urban. " On account of tho sickness of mj'self and of sorae of the soldiers,
we did not proceed further : and, keeping away to leeward, we
arrived at the island of Guadalcanal. We landed at a town where
the Indians gave us  ^ when we intended to get water, and
where we set free the three Indians in the canoe ; and they gave us
a hog and panales. But they were in great fear of us, and leaving
us they returned to the town. Beads were given to thera as a sign
of friendship. Leaving there, we continued our cruise to return to
the ships, and touched at some places where we had been before,
the natives receiving us in a friendly manner, and giving us what
they had, because they wore much afraid of the rauskets we carried.
We sailed further on to a port, where, during- our previous stay, we
had been received peacefully. We got water there ; and they gave
us a hog and alraost filled the brigantine with panoes^ which is the
food they eat. It is a very good harbour for the ships, and lies
under the shelter of an island. There are raany inhabitants.
"We continued our return cruise, intending to explore a river
where we had been before. Sailing into the port to obtain provisions.
The distance of San Urban from Guadalcanal, as given above, is inconsistent with the rest
of the journal ; and for i leagues, 40 leagues was evidently intended, the omission of the
cipher being probably a clerical error. The name of St. Christoval was subsequently given,
Bs shown further on in the narrative, when the Sjianish ships visited the south coast of this
island. ' "La Guacauara."

224 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
we arrived close off a town which the Indians abandoned when
they saw us. We found there, many ^amoes and names (yaras) with
which we loaded the brigantine. I tried to catch a tame white
parrot, which the Indians had together with many others of various
hues. When the Indians saw that we did no harm, they all
assembled, and came and gave us a hog to induce us to go. Pre
sently we sailed on to another river, on the bank of which there is
a large town ; we anchored in it. The Indians began to make fires,
and to cast the fire in the air ;^ it was a thing we had not seen in
any other part.
"On the next day, which was the 6th of June, the Feast of the
Holy Ghost, we reached the ships, and found them all vei-y sad.
It appeared that on the Day of the Ascension, the steward with
four soldiers and five negroes were sent on shore for water. As on
previous occasions, they were sent because the cacique of that tribe
was a friend and used to corae off to the ships to give us cocoa-nut's,
whilst his men used to fetch the water in the earthen jars, and
because we trusted them for the friendly raanner in which they
behaved in their dealings with u,s. This day, however, when they
were gone for the water, it seemed that the boat got aground
because they had not taken care to keep her afloat as she was being
filled. At this moraent, the Indians rushed out from ambush with
their weapons and were upon them ; and they did not leave a
single soul alive except a negro of raine who escaped. All the rest
they hewed to pieces, cutting off their heads, and arms, and legs,
tearing out their tongues, and supping up their brains^ with great
ferocity. The negro who escaped took to the water to swim ofl" to
an islet that was near. However, they swam in pursuit, and with
a cutlass, whicii he carried in his hand, he defended himself from
them in such a manner that they left him, and he reached the islet.
Frora there he began to make signs, and to shout out to those in
the ships, which they perceived ; and as quickly as ' possible the
General went ashore to see what had happened. When he reached
there, the ill tidings were told. The Indians retired to the hills.
In a short time, the dead Christians were recovered ; and they
buried thera in the place where they used to say mass, the soldiers
1 " hechar por lo alto.''
2 Tho New Ireland cannibals of the present day are fond of a composition of sago,
cocoa-nut, and human brains. ("The Western Pacific and New Guinea." London 1886:
p. 58 : by H. H. Komilly.)

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 225
in one grave, and the negroes in another. Of the negroes, one
belonged to the King, two to ourselves, and one to the boatswain.
It was a thing to hear their shouting, and the noise that the Indians
made with their drums. It appeared to be a general assembling
daywith them, because more than 40,000 Indians^'had gathered
together for this purpose. When our people had buried the dead,
they embarked in the ships, being in great grief with what had
occurred. " As I understand, the cause of the Indians coming to attack us
was this. The cacique carae off to the ' Capitana ' to entreat that
our people would give hira back a boy belonging to his tribe, whom
they had taken. He offered a hog for him ; but they would not
give hira up. On the following day, the cacique brought a hog off
to the ship, and said that, if they gave him the boy who was a
kinsman of his, he would give thera the hog. But they would not
give him up, and took the hog by force. When the cacique saw
how he had been treated, he went away and did not return to the
ships again. In a few days, the disaster happened.
" On the day after this unfortunate event, the General ordered
Pedro Sarmiento to land with as many men as he could muster to
inflict punishraent. He burned raany towns, and killed more than
20 Indians. Then he returned to give account of what he had done.
Each day that they landed they endeavoured' to punish them the
more. On a subsequent occasion, because no more Indians were
seen whom they could punish, the General ordered Pedro Sarmiento
to proceed to a point that lay to the south-east a league and a half
from the ships. For he considered that all the Indians had been
concerned in the treachery and in the death of the Christians.
Having embarked 50 soldiers in two boats, Pedro Sarmiento went
there, but he found no Indians as they had fled to the hills. After
he had burned all the buildings and habitations that he could find,
he turned back on his way to the ships. Some Indians, who came
out from a point, followed hirn slowly ; and our people lay in
ambush and killed three or four Indians, the rest escaping in flight.
They then returned to the boats, and embarking carae back to the
ships. An Indian, whom we took, informed us of those who vvere
concerned in the death of our men. He said that the leader was a
taurique, named Nobolo, who lived on the bank of the river that lay
a league to the east of the Rio Gallego ; and tbat with him there
iThis is either au exaggerated statement, or it is an error in transcribing.
P

226 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
were many others who had collected together for that object and
with the said result.
"On Wednesday, the 9th of June, the men of the 'Almiranta'
were engaged in making a top-mast on the islet close to where the
ships were anchored. Some musketeers and targeteers (rodeleros),
who were eight in number, were in guard of the carpenter's party.
As it happened, the Indians were then preparing for another attack;
and more than 300 of them lay in ambush, ready for the assault.
About 10 Indians crossed over to the islet with bows and arrows
concealed ; and they brought a hog, intending to beguile our men
by occupying their attention in talking, whilst the other Indian
warriors should be arriving. When I saw the Indians crossing over
and this canoe heading for the islet where our people were making
the top-mast, I ordered some musketeers into the boat; and
accompanied by Pedro Sarmiento, we steered so that the islet con
cealed us from those in the canoe. Approaching the islet, we
passed between it and the raain island and carae close up with the
canoe which had only one Indian on board, the others having thrown
themselves into the sea. The canoe was captured together with the
hog which they had brought to deceive us. When we had joined
the party who were making the top-mast, we returned to the ships
after having killed those who carae in the canoe. This was the
most effective attack that was made, for the Indians went away
much discouraged.
" On the 12th of the same month of June, the General took the
brigantine and a boat with nearly all the people, in order to inflict
further punishraent at a river which lay a league to the east of the
place where the ships were anchored ; and I accompanied him. An
hour before the dawn we arrived close to the river ; and we were
about to conceal ourselves and fall upon the Indians, when we
were seen by their sentinels and they went to arms. I remained
with four musketeers in charge of the brigantine and the boat in
the mouth of the river, so as not to allow any canoe to escape. The
General on arriving at the town, which had more than 200 houses,
found it deserted. He set fire to it ; and then we returned to the
ships. " The next day, which was Sunday the 18th of June, we made
sail during the night and proceeded in the ships to follow up the
discoveries of the brigantine. When we had sailed about 8 leagues
to the south-east, we anchored because the wind was contrary. The

JOURNAL OP GALLEGO. 227
General landed here to get some provisions for the sick, of whom
there were many. In a short time he returned to the ships, when
we made sail with the land-breeze. Now died the pilot. Paladin, an
experienced searaan. We lost sight of the brigantine, as she went
ahead of us : and we did not see ber until we found her anchored
in a port off an islet that lay half a league to windward of where we
had anchored in the brigantine during our voyage of discoverj^.
There were many inhabitaiits here ; and they came off to us as
friends. On account of it being Corpus Christi Day, we remained
here all the day. Mass was said at the islet which is close to the
anchorage. W^e watered the ships there. The Indians gave us of
their own free will two hogs and raany cocoa-nuts and names (yaras).
The cacique of this tribe was named Meso, and the town was called
Urare. This people is at war with the people of Feday, which is
the name of the place where we were anchored  ^
" On the 18th of June, we left this port, and proceeded on our
voyage, seeking the island of Santiago or San Juan,^ which was the
island that we had discovered and named. We beat to windward
against a strong head wind in our endeavour to arrive at the island
of Santiago ; but on account of this contrary wind and the bois
terous weather, we did not fetch it ; and I determined to steer to
the south of the island of Santiago, the wind and the contrary
currents not allowing us to find a harbour. We coasted along an
island, not seen in the brigantine^ and we held on our course for
fourteen days, endeavouring to reach the end of the island ; but in
the middle of the island, on account of the contrary wind and
currents, what we gained one day we lost the next. Accordingly I
went to find a port. We named this island San Christoval.* It was
our Lord's pleasure that after so much difficulty I should find a
very good port for the ships ; and on the following day I returned
to the ships. We sailed to windward that night on account of the
boisterous weather, which obliged us to shorten sail and lie-to ^ for
the night. When it dawned, we found ourselves three leagues to
^ " que nos maron gente."
^ Gallego here seems to have forgotten that he had previously applied these two naraes to
different islands, that of Sau Juan to Ugi and that of Santiago to the large island south of
it, -viz., the present St. Christoval (see p. 222),
* This remark is inconsistent with the previous reference to their steering soutii of
Santiago, ^ I should here call attention to the circumstance that the Spaniards were navigating the
south coast of this island. Further proof of this is given in succeeding pages,
^ "Sin velas de mar a el traves.'

228 JOURN.VL OF GALLEGO.-,
leeward of the port, which we tried in vain to reach ; and since we
kept falling to leeward, I was compelled to take the brigantine and
go in search of another anchorage, with the understanding that
when I had found one, I should signal to the ships to foUow the
brigantine. The signal being made, I guided the ships to the
brigantine, which lay outside a point of reefs that formed the
harbour ; and so we entered it.
" It is a good and secure anchorage ; and there is a town there
which has eighty houses. The General landed with the captains
and the soldiers to obtain provisions and to take possession of
the island, in the name of His Majesty, which we did without
opposition, for the Indians received us peacefully. The same
evening we landed, and went in marching order to see the
town, but without doing them any injury ; and we returned to
the ships with the agreement that on the foUowing morning
we should revisit the town to get provisions, of which we were
in need. " On the morning of the 1st of Jul}', we all landed with the
deterraination to obtain provisions for our present necessities ; and
the General entered one part of the town with the greator number
of our people, whilst Pedro Sarraiento with twelve soldiers entered
another part. When the Indians saw our deterinination, and that
we entered the town in two places, they began to arouse them
selves and to take up their weapons, making signs that we should
embark. They held a consultation in a small hollow, where Pedro
Sarraiento and his party entered. One of the headmen was seen
to raake incantations and invocations to the devil, which caused
real terror, because it seemed as though his body was possessed of
a devil. There wore two other Indians, who, whilst making great
contortions with their faces and violently shaking themselves,
scraped up the sand with their feet and hands and threw it into the
air. They then made towards the boats with loud shouting and
yells of rage, and tossed the water in the air. At tliis, our
people sounded the trumpets to assemble whore the General was ;
for there were all the Indians with their bows and arrows and darts
and clubs, which are the weapons with which they fight. They
came very close to us, bending their bows and bidding us to depart.
It became necessary for us to fire ; and accordingly some were
killed and others were wounded. Thereupon they fled and
abandoned the town, in which thero was a great quantity of panaes

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 229
and fiames and raany cocoa-nuts and almonds,^ which were sufficient
to load a ship. Presently we set about carrying to the boats all
that we found, and nothing more was done that day. The Indians
did not dare to return to the to-wn again, and that night we
embarked. This port is in 11° south latitude. It is in close
proximity to the island of Santiago, to the south-east ; it is narrow
and mountainous, and the inhabitants are like the rest.^
"After three days had passed, the General ordered that the
brigantine should proceed on a voyage of discoverj'^ ; and Francisco
Munoz Rico, with ten soldiers, and I, with thirteen seamen, em
barked. We left this port on the 4th of July, aud coasted along
this island of Paubro, as it is called in the language of the natives,
being that which we named San Christobal.* Until the middle of
the island,- the coast trends north-west and south-east for 20 leagues
and a point nearer east and west ; and the other half trends west-
by-north and south-by-east. We entered a harbour, which was the
first we discovered in this cruise ; and there we reraained for the
day. " On the foUowing moi-ning we left there, and proceeded further
along the coast to the east-by-south. We entered a small bay,
enclosed by reefs, near which were three towns. We seized two
boys here. The officer in comraand of the soldiers went with all our
people to reconnoitre the town that was a league away ; and I
remained behind in charge of the brigantine with no small risk, for
there were only three soldiers left with me to defend it. In a few
hours the people returned with two canoes that tbey had taken,
and five sucking-pigs, and some panaes, and plantains, with which
they embarked. We then made sail to proceed further along the
coast. " On the next day a canoe with two Indians came off to us. They
were friendly, and one of them carae on board tbe brigantine. We
saUed on in order to reach a harbour, and proceeded further along
the same coast, on which there were raany towns, and the people of
them were, as we exiiected, very turbulent ; for a canoe preceded
1 These almonds were without doubt the almond-like kernels of the fruit of a species of
Canarium, a common article of food at the present day.
2 This sentence refers to the island, and not to the port, judging from the context.
8 This reference to the native name of Paubro is interesting, since at the present day St.
Christoval is largely known by the native name of Bauro, which is evidently the same.
This is also without a doubt the " large country named Pouro " of whioh the natives of
Taumaco (Duff Group) informed Quiros about forty years afterwards (vide Geographical
Appendix, Note XV.).

230 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
us, giving warning in such a manner that in aU this island we were
not able to capture anything. As we approached a promontory
(morro), many Indians came out and threw stones at us with much
shouting ; and at the extremity of tbis island we discovered two
small islands. The end of this island is in 11^° south of the
Equinoctial. This island is a hundred leagues in circuit and seven
leagues in width, and is well peopled.
" From the extremity, we went to one of the small islands which
was the sraallest and lay to tbe south side.^ On arriving there we
anchored ; and there carae off to us twelve Indians who came on
board the brigantine and spent sorae tirae with us. On their being
asked by- signs what further land there was in that part, they said
that there was none ; but towards the west, whero we pointed, they
said that there was much land. We saw it, and because there was
no time or opportunity we did not go to it.^ Through the day and
night we had much wind. As we were about to disembark, the
natives began to throw stones at us ; and when some shots were
fired for our own defence, they fled. Accordingly, we landed and
went to the town, where we found some hogs and a quantity of
almonds and plantains. I ordered a sailor to climb a high palm to
see if he could descry land to the south, or south-east, or north
west (?)^ but no further land appeared. There carae from that
quarter a great swell which was a sign of their being no more land
there. This island, we named, Santa Catalina ; in the language of
the natives it is called Aguare.* It is 40^ leagues round, and it is
low and level. It has many palras and is well peopled. It has
^ This small island was subsequently named Santa Catalina ; and the circumstance of the-
Spaniards going to it before they visited the adjacent small island ot Santa Anna, is a proof
of their having coasted along the south side of St. Christoval. Then, the description of the
trend of the coast (see page 229) applies rather to the south than to the north coast ; and this
is further conflrmed by the circumstance that when the Spanish ships were soon afterwards
leaving the group on their return voyage to Peru, they weathered or doubled the two islands
ot Santa Anna and Santa Catalina. Again, no reference is made to the islands visible off
the north coast, which would have been certainly referred to, even although they had pre
viously visited them iu the brigantine. I lay stress on this point as it clears up the confusion
of the different names applied to St. Christoval.
2 There is some obscurity in this passage, and in rendering it I have been guided by the
account of Figueroa.
3 " North-west " is an error, which the context indicates, even excluding other circum
stances ; it shonld be "south-west."
^ The present native name is Orika, or Yoiiki of the Admiralty chart.
5 An evident mistake, and one inconsistent with the context. The island is scarcely two.
leagues in circuit.

JOURNAL OP GALLEGO. 231
many reefs. It is in latitude 11§°, and it lies two leagues south-east
from the extremity of San Christobal.
"Onthe llth of this raonth, we went from this island to the
other island which lies with it north-north-west and south-south-
east,i a short league distant frora it.^ It is distant 3 leagues, east-
by-south, from the end of San Christobal ; and is in latitude 11° 36'.
We named it Santa Anna; it is called Hapa^ in the language of the
natives. It is 7 leagues in circuit ; and is a low round island with
an eminence in the centre, like a castle ; it is well peopled, having
abundant provisions, with pigs and hens of Castile ; and there is a
very good port on the east side.*
" On arriving there, we landed the people, and the Indians com
menced to attack us.^ On an Indian being killed, they began to fly,
and deserted the town. Our men entered the houses in search of
provisions, but they found only three hogs, as all the rest had been
placed in safety. At nightfall we embarked in the brigantine and
stood off the land ; and all the night we heard no sound except the
crowing of many cocks. The next morning, which was the 13th of
July, we landed the people to obtain more provisions to carry back
for the sick in the ships ; and when the Indians saw our people
landing, they got into ambush. I was left with four soldiers in
charge of the brigantine. The Indians, with loud cries, began to
attack our men, discharging raany darts and arrows. Their bodies
were painted with red stripes, and they had branches on their
heads.** They wounded three Spaniards and a negro of mine ; and
also the officer in coraraand, Francisco Muiioz, a dart piercing the
shield and arra and projecting a hand's breadth on the other side of
the shield. RaUying our raen, we attacked them valiantly, killing
some Indians and wounding many others, so that they abandoned
the place and fled. We burned the town, and took water. From
the higher ground near by we tried to discover any appearance of
^ This bearing is only approximate, the magnetic bearing being nearly north and south.
' This distauce agrees nearly with that on the chart whioh is about two miles. Figueroa,
in his account, gives- the distance as three leagues.
s The village, situated on the shores ot Port Mary on the west coast of the island, is at
preseut called Sapuna by its inhabitants. Allowing for the variation in the spelling of native
names, we can here recognise the Hapa of the Spaniards. Oo-ah or Oa, is the name of the
island. ^ This is a good description of the appearance of this island. The port is, however, on
the west side ; and the circumference of the island is not half this amount.
5 " A dar nos guacanara. '' What " guacauara '' raeans, I can only guess at.
8 1 oannot gather the meaning of this latter part of the sentence and have rendered it
literally. The same expression occurs in the account of Figueroa.

232 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
Jand ; but as we saw none, we erabarked on our return voyage to
the ships.
"Sailing all this day with a fair wind, we arrived at the island of
San Christobal; and that night we entered a port because there was
a threatening appearance in the weather. We landed in a town that
was there, and the Indians fled, discharging sorae arrows. A soldier
was wounded in the throat, but not seriously, and lie was able to
swallow sorae food. As we wished to leave the port with the ris
ing moon, we embarked ; and we naraed the port La Palraa.
" We continued our voyage back to the ships; and when we had
sailed about 4 leagues from the port, a canoe came off to look at us
and to learn what people we were. As we had need of Indians for
their language, we endeavoured to take the canoe; and so we coaxed
them on, and of four which carae in the canoe we took three alive,
and one died whilst defending hiraself. In the evening, we arrived
at the Puerto de la Visitacion de Nuestra Senora, where the ships
lay.^ I found that, on account of bad treatraent, all the Indians
-whom we had taken in the islands had gone.
"I. gave a report to the General of what we had seen and accom
plished in the expedition, telling him that there was no appear.ance
of land further (in that direction), but that all the mass of the land,
which was endless, lay to the west ; and. that, frora this, he would
perceive what ought to be done. A council of the captains and
pilots was held to determine what steps should be followed in the
prosecution of the voyage ; and it was decided to refit the ships for
this purpose ; this, therefore, was the result of the general consulta
tion. The ships were accordingly refitted ; ^ but on Saturday, the
7th of August, in the same year of 1568, all mustered together and
made a protestation to the General and the captains with reference
to the plan to be pursued. I told thera briefiy that because the
ships were getting worm-eaten and rotten, and the rigging and
cordage were not of much good, we should be determined to com
plete, without delay, tbe object for which we had come. The
General, in reply, said that it would be well that the brigantine
should go in search of more provisions, of which we were in want;
but I pointed out that this should not be done, because all the
1 From the short description of this harbour given on page 228, it is probably not Makira
Harbour on the south coast of St. Christoval; although from the time occupied by the
brigantine in her return voyage along this south coast from Santa Anna to the ships, it muat
be in its vicinity,
2 Figueroa refers to the ships being heaved down in this harbour.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. :233
"islands that we had visited were aroused, and the provisions hidden.
They asked for my opinion as to returning to Peru, whence we
had come ; and I told them that we should not sail to the soutii of
the Equinoctial, as we should be lost, on account of there being
many people, scanty pi-ovisions, aud but little water. I also said
thatif we were to direct our course to positions in latitudes which
we should have time to reach, we should not have tirae to find land
to the south-south-west and south, which would be a work of diffi
culty ; and that such a new navigation, with 1,700 leagues of sea to
, cross on our return voyage, did not seera prudent. I therefore gave
it as my opinion that we should steer north to reach the latitude of
the first land we ibund, because it would be necessary, in order to
shape a course from Peru, to go beyond the south tropic for thirty
degrees and more ; and I also said that when they should venture
to make the return voyage, they should carry an abundance of water
and provisions, because, otherwise, they would run the risk of all
perishing. And so the pilots carae to ray view, which satisfied the
protest that had been made ; and I gave my opinion in the presence
of a clerk who was Antonio de Cieza. Concerning the idea of my
asking to found a settlement in these islands, I said that in that
matter I did not know what the General intended to do, since the
instructions concerning it were in his keeping. To this opinion
they all came, and were of one mind without one that did not
assent.^ "At midnight on the following Monday, when all were asleep,
the General ordered Gabriel Munoz and myself to go with some
soldiers and make an entrance into a town in order to seize some
Indians.for interpreters (para lenguas). We went with 30 raen, and
took an Indian with his wife and young son ; and all the rest of the
Indians fled. We then returned to the ships ; and straightway we
made preparations for prosecuting our voyage.
" On the llth of August of the sarae year, we left the Puerto de
Nuestra Senora, which is in 11° south of the Equinoctial, in
order to follow our voyage to Peru. Sailing to windward, at the
end of 7 days after we had left the port, we weathered the island of
San Christobal with the two islands of Santa Catalina and Santa
¦¦ The impression, which this interesting passage leaves on my mind, is that the Chief-
Pilot prefers in his narrative to gloss over an incident which must have been full of disap
pointment to himself. Further on in the narrative, he writes more freely on the subject
(page r37). In Note IX. of the Geographical Appendix, I have given some further remarks on
this passage.

234 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
Anna. On the Tuesday evening, having shortened sail, we had
reached the islands of Santa Catalina and Santa Anna, which lay
three leagues to the north-north-west. Looking around we did not
see any more land, and here a strong south-east wind overtook us ;
and we shaped our course to the north-east-by-east."
In this manner the Spaniards left behind them the Isles of Salo
mon after a sojourn of six months in these islands ; and, perhaps, a
few reflections on their discoveries in this group, and on their deal
ings with the inhabitants, may be here apposite. They seem to
have landed on, and to have taken formal possession of, almost every
island of any size from Isabel eastward ; they naraed all the large
islands in the group with the exception of Bougainville ; and the
raajority of the sraaller islands also received tbeir naraes. In the
Geographical Appendix, I have given a list of the islands named by
the Spaniards, which do not at present bear the naraes given them
by their original discoverers.^ It would be a graceful compUment to
the memory of the gallant Gallego, who was the central flgure of
this expedition, if, after the lapse of more than three centuries, the
Spanish names should be associated with these islands in the Ad
miralty charts. The reason why" such islands as Choiseul, Contra-
ridtd, Les Trois Soeurs, and the He du Golfe (Ugi), at present bear
the names given to them by the French navigators, Bougainville and
Surville, rather raore than a century ago, is to be found, not in any
intended act of injustice to the Spanish discoverers, but in the cir
cumstance that the iraperfect account of Figueroa,^ which omiti
many of the discoveries made in the brigantine, has been the only
source of inforraation available in the construction of the Admiralty
charts. Those who have written most on the history of geographical
discovery in these regions, Pingr^, Dalrymple, Buache, and Fleurieu
a century ago, and Burney in the early part of the present century,
had only the account of Figueroa at their disposal.* The Journal
of Hernan Gallego, the existence of which was doubted, would have
been invaluable to them ; and although a non-professional writer, I
may be pardoned when I express my admiration at the manner in
1 Vide Note X.
* Translated in great part from the original in the works of Pingrd, Dalrymple, Fleurieu,
and Burney. (Heches de Don G. H. de Mendoza : par Dr. 0. S. de Figueroa.)
s Pingre's ' ' Memoire sur le choix et I'etat des lieux du le passage de Venus du 3 Juui,
1769;'' Dalrymple's "Historical Collection ot Voyages;" Fleurieu's "Decouvertes des
Francois ou 1768 and 1769 dans le sud-est de la NouveUe Guinfee " (also Eng. edit.); Burney's
" Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries," &c.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 235
which M, M. Buacbe and Fleurieu arrived at such correct inferences,
based as they were on such scanty premises. One or two raistakes
have arisen in the noraenclature of the present chart, which are due
to misconceptions in the English translations of the account given
by Figueroa, to wit, I raay cite the instance of the Isle of Raraos. . .
.... The additional names -which the Journal of Gallego enables
us to identify with existing islands are, in truth, to be found in the
general description of the Salomon Islands, which Herrera incor
porated in his " Descripcion de les Indias Oceidentales," which was
published about 1601. But this description was, as just remarked,
of a general character, and beyond confirming the suspicion that
there were other accounts of Mendana's discoveries besides the rela
tion of Figueroa, it was but of little service to the nautical geo
grapher. I come now to a less pleasant task, that of re-vdewing the char
acter of the intercourse that prevailed between the Spaniards and
the natives. It has been remarked by Commander Markhara in his
spirited sketch of the discoveries of Mendana, that the conduct of
the Spaniards, in their intercourse with the islanders, was not other
wise than huraane ;^ but I feel assured that a different opinion
would have been expressed, if the writer had extended his inquiries
further into the narrative of Gallego. During their six raonths'
sojourn in this group, the loss of the Spaniards was but trifiing in
comparison with the losses they infiicted on the natives. In these
numerous conflicts the natives must have lost not less than a hun
dred kiUed, whilst the Spaniards lost ten of their number ; but a
large proportion of these unfortunate islanders fell victiras to the
lamentable succession of reprisals for the massacre of the watering-
party at the Puerto de la Cruz, an act of retribution which the
Spaniards had entirely brought upon themselves. In the great
majority of instances the natives assumed the aggressive, but not in
aU ; and although the Spaniards were often justifiably compelled to
employ force in obtaining provisions, yet there was often nothing to
excuse them in seizing the canoes, in cajoling natives alongside in
order to capture them, or in carrying off with them from the group
an unfortunate native with his wife and child. The natives kept
on board the ships escaped on account of ill-treatment; and, as
Gallego also writes, all the islands were aroused to such a degree by
the visit of the Spaniards, that they concealed their provisions, and
1 " The Cruise of the 'Eosario,' " 2nd edit., 1873 (p. 8).

236 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
the ships began their return-voyage to Peru with scanty supplies of
food and water  We raust, however, judge of the conduct of
the first discoverers of the Solomon Islands in the spirit of the age
to which they belonged. The zeal, which led them to bum the
teraples dedicated to the worship of snakes and toads in the interior
of Isabel, was appropriate to the spirit of an age in which expedi
tions were fitted out for the double purpose of discovering new
territories and of reclairaing the infidel. Vet, if we lay aside the
religious element, I doubt very much whether the laipse of three
centuries has raaterially raised the standard by which our dealings
with savage races should be guided. The white man kidnaps ; the
savage revenges the outrage on the next comer ; the ship-of-war in
its reprisal is of necessity equally indiscriminate ; and thus feuds are
re-opened with no single effort at conciliation.
We left the Spanish vessels when on the eve of their departure
frora the Isles of Saloraon. Little could Mendana or Gallego have
then believed that two centuries would pass away before the white
raan should again visit the scene of their discovery. The Chief-Pilot
kept in his journal an almost daily record of the course and usually
of the distance during the first portion of this return voyage ; but
as he was not so regular or so precise in noting the distance of each
day's run, the latitudes, which he frequentlj' records, enable me to
follow this portion of the track with sorae degree of confidence.^ It
was on the 18th of August that they bore away to the north-east
ward (N.E. by E.) with a strong south-east wind. Experiencing rain-
squalls and calras, they kept a little to the north of this course, and
on the 23rd they were in latitude 7° (full largos), being, as they
computed, 36 leagues W. by N. from the Isle of Jesus.^ It is ap
parent from the Journal that Gallego expected to find more land in
this vicinity, and that he would wilUngly have gone in search of it.
But the expedition had lost heart in the enterprise, and all that they
desired was to return to Peru. A look-out was kept for several
days, but not a ¦ sign of land was seen ; and thereupon Gallegoj
stifiing his own desire, thus records his lament in his journal: "As
in the case of the archi])elago of the islands, they did not allow me
to explore further where I wished. And I hold for certain that if
'' I have only indicated the general course in the return voyage, as a full translation
would be tedious to the reader and would occupy too much of my space. , .
2 The bearing was to the southward of west, as the Isle of Jesus, according to Gallego's
own observation, was in latitude 6|°. Three days after, when they were in latitude 5J° S.',
Gallego gives their distance and bearing from the Isle of Jesus as 45 leagues W. by N.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 237
they had allowed me to go further, I should have brought them to
a very prosperous and rich land, which will be discovered at God's
pleasure by whomsoever He wiUs. We were not far frora it now,
and of its goodness I did not wish to speak, because they were all
disheartened and desired to return to Peru."
Heading north-eastward with uncertain winds, they were obliged
to steer S.E. by E. for six days as the wind shifted to the north-east.
Finall}'-, they headed to the northward again, and in the last day of
August they passed the 3rd parallel of south latitude. " Between 2°
and 4° of south latitude," as Gallego writes, " we raet abundant signs
of land, such as pahn-leaf matting, burnt wood, sticks, and rosuras,'^
which the sea derived from the land. From these signs we knew
that we were near the land, although we did not discover it. We
thought that it was New Guinea,^ because it is not in a gi-eater
latitude than 4° south of the Equinoctial."
New Guinea, however, lay some 1200 miles away ; and the
Spamsh vessels were in the vicinity of the GUbert Group, which lay
probably about 300 miles to the eastward. On September 5th, with
shifty and contrary -winds, they crossed the Equator at about the
168th meridian of longitude east of Greenwich. The course pur
sued, in whicii it would appear the Chief- Pilot had not been con
sulted, was the subject of a protest made to the General. Thus
writes Gallego : " I said to the pilot, Juan Henriquez, that we ought
to petition the General to direct our course to one place or another
or to steer for one pole or the other, as we were expending our pro
visions and water in beating to windward. Since the General
followed his own opinion and showed no desire to consult me, I
made this request in the presence of Antonio de Cieza, Clerk, all of
which appears more fully in the said petition, which is in the pos
session of the said Clerk."
Steering to the north and subsequently to the N.E. by E., they
reached the 4th parallel of north latitude on September 8th. "This
day," writes the Chief-Pilot, " I signified to the ' Almiranta ' that
they should keep a good look-out from 6° up to 11°, as we were
heading for the land." Altering their course to N.N.W., they
^ Not translated.
^ Gallego here adds: "Inigo Ortez de Eetes discovered it (i.e.. New Guinea), and no
other : but Bernardo de la Torre did not see it : uor is there such a Cabo de Cruz (Cape of
the Cross) as he says." I have placed this interesting reference to the discovery of New
Guinea in a foot-note, as it is suddenly interposed in the narrative. In Note XI. of thp|
Geographical Appendix, the reader may learn more, if so desirous.

238 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO,
reached the paraUel of 6° on the 14th, the needle showing no
declination to the north-east. On the 15th and 16th, they headed
north-east, and on the I7th, steering north, they found themselves
in 8°, The surraise of Gallego proved correct. In this parallel, they
discovered land.
" Two hours before dawn," as the Chief-Pilot writes, " we came
upon the shoals and i.slands of San Bartolomeo, which trend north
west and south-east and are 15 leagues in length. The south-east
extreraity is in 8°, and the north-west extremity lies in 8f °. There
are two lines of reefs with apparently channels between them.
There seems to be another line about half-a-league distant. At the
north-west, there are two islets, which lie one with the other east
and west one league. The coast is steep-to ; and we did not find
any depth to anchor on the west side. There were many houses and
much people and villos in these islands. Between the islands, which
nuraber raore than 20, a canoe was under sail, but it made for the
shore. We launched the boat to go for water. They could only
obtain a cock of Castile, which they brought back with them. The
people fled, abandoning their houses. They came upon a chisel
made from a nail, which appears to have belonged to some ships
that had been there, and some pieces of rope. They did not find
water, but the cocoa-nut palms were cut which showed how the
inhabitants got their water.^ These Indians drink " chicha," ^ which
is made frora some fruits like pine-apples ; and on this account there
is an infinite number of flies. We beat to windward for three
hours trying to find depth to anchor ; but the water was a thousand
fathoms (estados) deep. When the boat returned, we continued our
voyage." Figueroa, in his scanty account, neither gives the name nor the
latitude of this discovery, so that previous writers, who derived
their inforraation entirely from this source, were unable to identify
these islands with those in the charts. However, with the materials
afforded to me by the journal of Gallego, I have been able, after
carefuUy following the track of the Spanish ships, to identify this
discovery with the Musquillo Islands in the Ralick Chain of the
Marshall Group. Having followed their course northward from the
vicinity of the Gilbert Group, to which I referred above (page 237),
1 This probably refers to cocoa-nut palms that had been out for making "toddy," a
practice to be found amongst the natives of the Line Islauds at the present day.
^ An Indian name for a drink prepared from maize.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 239
it was evident that they were about to pass through the Marshall
Islands, and that if they should sight land, I had only to compare
the description of Gallego with the present chart of this group, in
order to identify this discovery with one of the atolls that there
exist. ( Vide Note XII. of the Geographical Appendix.)
Continuing their course to the northward, they began to get
short of water, and the people sickened and  ^ On the 22nd
of September, they attained the latitude of 11|°, and running due
north along the raeridian, they reached the latitude of 19^° on Octo
ber 2nd, when they discovered " a low islet enclosing the sea after
the manner of a fishing-net, and surrounded by reefs." " We were
hove-to all that night," . . . writes Gallego, ..." beUeving that it
was inhabited, and that we should be able to obtain water. But
there were only sea-birds living on it ; and its surface was sandy
with some patches of bushes. It is probably two leagues in circuit :
and is in latitude 19^° north of the Equinoctial. As it was the Day
of San Francisco, we named it the Isle of San Francisco."
This island of San Francisco has not been identified by previous
writers with any island in the present chart, as Figueroa supplied
them with the latitude alone, but gave no reliable account frora
which they might be able to follow the previous track ; nor, in fact,
in the times of Burney and Krusenstem, who were the last to devote
any considerable attention to the discoveries of Mendana, was this
part of the Pacific sufficiently well known to enable even a confident
surmise to be raade. Coraraodore Wilkes, araongst others, has swept
more than one phantora-island frora this region. The track of the
Spanish ships northward from the Marshall Group brought them, in
fact, to a little coral-atoll, named Wake's Island in the present chart,
and lying in 19° 10' 54" N. lat. This is the Isle of San Francisco,
which is but little altered in appearance in our own day.^
Keeping the same northerly course, they passed the lirait of the
tropic of Cancer on October 7th ; and in another week they had
reached the latitude of 30°. They now shaped their course north
east; and GaUego consulted the other pilots as to the position of the
land, and as to the bearing of the Cabo de Fortunas ^ (Cape Fortune).
" They told me in reply," .... as the Chief Pilot informs us, ... .
" that we were already in the vicinity of land, that this cape lay, in
^ '-'Murierou hartos." To avoid falling into a serious mistake, I have not translated
this, more especially as Figueroa refers to no deaths on board during the voyage to Peru.
2 Vide Note XIII. of the Geographical Appendix for further information on this subject.
" This cape is evidently referred to as on the Californian coast ; I cannot identify it.

240 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
their opinion, 70 or 80 leagues to the north-by- west, that we were
much to leeward of the land, that it was not practicable to reach
the cape with this wind as the coast trended north-west and south
east, and that we could not Uve unless we fell in with tbe land."
Could the Spaniards have known at this time what lay before
them, the bravest heart amongst them would have quailed. Instead
of being in the neighbourhood of the Californian coast whither they
were steering, they had more than 3,000 miles of ocean to traverse
and two long dreary months to struggle through, before they were
fated to sight the land. They were destined to pass through storms,
the like of which Gallego had never witnessed during his 45 years*
experience of the sea. , The two ships were to be parted ; and each
was to pursue its solitary way in the fear that the missing ship had.
foundered. Such was the lot before them with sickness already
amongst them, and with a failing store of water and provisions.
The Chief-Pilot thus continues his narrative — " On the 14th of
this raonth (October), I continued to steer both ships in close com
pany to the north-east. In the middle of the night there came a
squall with a little rain. We shortened sail ; and at that time the
'Almiranta' was to windward; but she allowed herself to fall to
leeward for an hour, and when it dawned we could only see her
from the top. Hoping to fall in with her, we carried only the fore
sail, and raade no more sail all that day and night. We headed to
the north-east until the second hour of the day ; and because we did
not see her, we took in all the sails. This was the 16th day of the
raonth of October.
" Two hours after noon on Sunday the 17th, whilst we were yet
hoping, we shortened sail because there was much wind from the
south-east. We were driven before the gale ; and as we were lying
in the trough ofthe sea without any sails, the wind came upon us
with all its fury from the north-east, such as I never beheld during
the 45 years that I have been at sea, SO of which I have served as
pilot. Such boisterous weather, I have never witnessed, although
I have seen storms enough. For a squall to take us when we were
without sail, this was what frightened rae. A sea struck us on the
port side from the water-line to the middle hatch, which was battened
down and caulked as I had ordered. We were deluged with water.
Everything went its own way ; and the soldiers and sailors were
swimming about inside the ship, as they were trying to launch the
boat, which was smashed and full of cables and water. The saUors

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 241
were not able of themselves to do it ; but God and His Blessed
Mother willed that it should be done.^ Then I ordered the sailors
to unfurl a little of the sail ; but before two gaskets were loosed, the
fore-sail went into two thousand pieces, and only the bolt-ropes re
mained. For more than half-an-hour the ship was in great peril
until the main-mast was cut away.^ And soon I ordered them to
make a sail of a frecadaf and of a piece of a bonnet (boneta) ; with
this the ship was able to answer her helm  * The weather
began to clear. We were driven from our course more than 50
leagues, because the storra overtook us in latitude 32^°, and when it
began to clear we found ourselves in 30°. When this weather carae
upon us we were 70 leagues south-east-by-south ^ frora the Cabo de
Fortunas ; and when it began to clear we were 120 leagues, rather
more than less.
" We headed on our course with only the fore-sails, as we had no
other sails, since the sailors had lost the bonnets overboard. On the
21st of October, the wind went round to the opposite quarter, and
lasted until the 29th. Coursing north-east with much wind and
sea, we sailed close-hauled on one tack or the other, because it was
no longer possible to saU free as the sea would engulph us. The
ship did not behave well in a beam sea, for soon she shipped seas on
either side, and she lost as much way as she made. On the evening
of the 29th of October, the wind went round to the south-east, and
there was a heavy sea. The wind was so strong that we were un
able to make any saUs, as they were carried away. AU that night
we lay in the trough of the sea with much wind and thunder and
lightning, so that it seemed like the overwhelming of the world.**
On the following morning I ordered thera to clear away the sprit-
sail and use it as a fore-sail, so that we might steer the ship. Before
we had run for a watch to the north-east, the wind went round to
the south, and with such force that it carried away the sails and we
^ This reference to the launching of the boat, in order, I infer, to lighten the vessel, is
ambiguously expressed. Figueroa, in his account, would appear to imply that the boat was
merely relieved from its weight of ropes and water ; but further on in his account, GaUego
expressly refers to their being without a boat.
2 Figueroa adds to this account. He says that the General gave the order to cut away
the mainmast, and that it carried away a portion of the bulwarks.
s Frazada in the account of Figueroa.
* "Para atras hechamos el camarote de popa a la mar."
^ I cannot understand this bearing.
'Fieueroa in his account states that there was always a foot and a half of water in the
hold. Q

242 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
were left without any sail. We employed las frescadas (blankets?)
for sails, and thus we went this day. Soon the wind lessened, and
we hoisted the fore-sail and coursed north-east until the next day,
which was the last day of October."
The " Capitana," to which ship the narrative for a time alone
refers, was now in 29° N. lat. A very strong north-east wind, last
ing until Noveraber 4th, drove them to the south-east in latitude 26°.
These north-easterly winds continued to prevaU ; and being unable
to sail close to the wind, the Spaniards could not keep their latitude
and were being driven from their course, to the south-east.^ " We
were," . . , , as Gallego writes, . . . . " much wearied and suffered
frora hunger and thirst, as they did not aUow us more than half a
pint of stinking water and eight ounces of biscuit, a few very black
beans, and oil ; besides which there was nothing else in the ship.
Many of our people were unable from weakness to eat any more
food. A soldier, who had gambled with his allowance of water and
had lost it, becarae desperate with thirst and cried out all the day.
Being without a boat, we could do nothing on approaching a harbour.
We resolved to trust that God would send us the raeans of help.
He provided for us in His great niercy, and on the day of St. Isabel
(November 19th) he gave us a (fair) wind, and we sailed in the lati
tude of 28° and up to 30°. This weather lasted until the 26th of
Noveraber, and we were 125 leagues further on our voyage."
During the first week of December they experienced foul winds
and thick weather : but on the 9th the wind went round to the
south-south-east ; and they reached the latitude of 31° on the 12th.
Signs of the vicinity of land were now observed, such as sea-birds
and a goose. A sailor leapt into the sea after a floating piece of a
pine, and brought it on board, in order to bring fair weather. Rain
fell, and enough water was collected for three days. At length the
land was sighted by the watchful eye of Gallego. " It was the eve of
our Lady the Virgin "  he writes  " and whilst standing
at the side of the ship, I saw the land. Some of us, who despaired
to see it, said that it could not be the land. Sailing through tbe
night, two hours before the dawn we found ourselves close to two
islets that lay a league from the mainland in latitude 30° north of
the Equinoctial.^ "
1 Figueroa iu his account tells us that they rigged a jury-mast, raaking use of a top-mast
for this purpose.
2 Gallego here observes that the day before the land was sighted, the needle remained
pointing north.

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO, 243
At length the Spaniards had reached the coast of Old California;
" The mercy of God " — as GaUego writes — " had brought us safely
through so many storms and privations that the soldiers had des
paired of seeing it. Following along the coast, as it trended to the
south-east, we entered a bay which reserables in form a pen for
shoeing cattle (corral de herrar ganado). We could not see the out
side point on account of its great distance. We found ourselves
embayed ; and it was necessary to steer west to weather this point.
 We were detained three days with calms and north-west
winds, as we had to beat to windward to weather this point. We
named this bay la bahia de San. tome -. it is in latitude 27|-°. At
the point of this bay thei-e are two large islets, named the Isles of
Cacones.^ We doubled the point on the 23rd of December. We
beached the ship for 12 days between these islets. Having lost our
boat at sea, we went ashore on a raft of casks to get water. There
we made another raft of rushes and some casks, on which we carried
on board 12 casks of water and many fish that we caught."
Ha-ving obtained timber for making another boat, they continued
their voyage, as the Indians were hostile. A foul wind caused them
to pass by the port of Xalosco, and they " tacked to seaward to
double the Cabo de Corrientes, which is in 21°, in order to reach the
port of Santiago, which is 50 leagues beyond Xalosco."
On the 24th^ of January, 1569, they entered the port of Santiago.
The Chief -Pilot tells us in his journal that he was well acquainted
with this coast and with its people : this port,^ he says, lies six
leagues from Port Natividad, and is in latitude 19i-. Before they
left Santiago a joyful surprise awaited them. " On the day of St.
' This large bay, which deeply indents the Californian peninsula, is naraed in the present
maps the bay ot Sebastian Vizcaino, after the Spaniard who surveyed this coast in 1602.
Gallego's name ot San. tome, which may be a contraction foi; San. Bartolomeo, has, there
fore, the priority of some 30 years and more. The prominent headland, which they had to
double, is at present called Poiut Eugenio. The two large islets off this point are now
called Cerros and Natividad Islands.
^This. should be the 22nd of January, as Gallego observes subsequently that the
" Almiranta " arriving on the 25th came three days after them.
8 During his passage fi-oin the Californian to the Mexican coast, GaUego seeras from some
observatious in his journal to have been puzzled by getting a latitude of 23° 26' before he
arrived at the extremity of the Californian Peninsula. He speaks ot Sau Lucas as being ' ' at
the end of CaUfornia iu the tropics ; " but this observation apparently did not clear up his
doubt on the matter ; and in fact on first touching the Mexican coast, the nuraber of smaU
bays made him think that it was still the coast of CaUfornia. The latitude of Cape San
Lucas,the extremity of the Californian Peniiisula, is 22° 52' -- it is, therefore, weU within
the tropics.

244 JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.
Paul's Conversion, three days after our arrival, the '.Almiranta'
 hove in sight. She was much in want of water and pro
visions ; and she carried no boat which, like ourselves, she had cast
over in the great storms ; and her main-mast -ft'as cut away. They
did not recognize the coast. It was our Lord's good will to bring
us together in this port. God knows how glad we were to see each
other. In preserving us through such great tempests, our Lord
had worked a miracle  They told us what had happened
during the great storms : and that when they arrived, they had only
one vessel (botija) of water reraaining  Sama, the alguacil-
raayor of the city of Mexico, came with some people of the town of
Colima to see who we were, and be talked with the General."
The two ships left the port of Santiago on the 10th of March.i
Nine days afterwards, they sailed into the port of Atapulco
(Acapulco) to obtain news from Peru : but learning nothing, they
left in an hour. Gallego adds that this port is the nearest to the
city of Mexico, and that it lies in 17°. Proceeding along the
Mexican coast, they anchored outside the port of Guatulco (lying
according to Gallego in 15|-°); and they sent a boat on shore to
learn news of Peru and to get wine and biscuits  "All the
people of the town,"  the Chief -Pilot writes  " were
scared and fied into the interior, because they had heard in Mexico
that we were a strange Scotch people " (gente estrangera escoceses).
Through a jealousy exhibited by the pilots of the "Almiranta"
towards Gallego, the "Capitana " was left behind at this port for a
day and a night, for which, says the object of their jealousy, the
General was very angry with them. However, the " Capitana "
arrived in the port of Caputla nine days before the other ship. Tbe
people there were at first much disturbed; but on recognising
Gallego, who had been there on previous occasions, they were re
assured ; and they carried the news ashore that the voyagers had
come from " the discovery of the islands." On the 4th of April the
" Capitana " arrived in the port of Realejo on the Nicaraguan coast,
and was followed five days after by the " Almiranta "  "In
this port,"  continues the Chief-Pilot  "we beached
the ships and caulked the seams, and set up lower-masts and top
masts, of which we had need, in order to be able to lie up for Peru.
With all our necessity in this port, neither the officials ofthe govern-
' Gallego refers to an eclipse of the moon at nine in the night ot the 10th of March. "At
the end of an hour the moon was clear. "

JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 245
ment nor any other persons would give or lend money to us for the
repair of the ships. Perceiving that otherwise the ships would be
lost, and that it was indispensable for the service of His Majesty, I
lent the General all the money which I had of my own, and I re
ceived an acknowledgment for 1400 pesos (dollars), with which the
ships were refitted ; and they were victualled for another piece of
gold of 400 pesos : all this I lent for the service of His Majesty.
" We left this port, which is in latitude 12i,° on the 28tb of May.
Sailing to the Cabo de Guion (Cape Guion), we lay up thence for
the coast of Peru. On tbe 4th of June we lost sight of the coast of
Nicaragua ; and on the 5th we passed to leeward of Mal Pelo Island.^
On the moming of the llth we were off Facames,^ which lies four
leagues below the Cabo del San Francisco (Cape San Francisco) on
the coast of Peru. On the 14th we anchored in Puerto-viejo ; and
on the 19th we reached Point Santa Elena. On Sunday, the 26th of
June,^ Don Fernando Henriquez left with the news for Lima or the
City of the Kings." IjAus Deo.

IThe Malpelo Island of the present charts.
2 This is evidently Atacames, which has the position described.
3 The two last dates are referred to as July. This is apparently a mistake, and I have,
therefore, corrected it in the translation.

CHAPTER XII
THE STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
THE most interesting feature in the history of the discovery of
the Soloraon Group is the circumstance that during a period
of two hundred years after it was first discovered by the Spaniards
it was lost to the world and its very existence doubted. In the
belief that I shall be treading on ground new to the general reader,
I will at once pass on to relate how this large archipelago was lost
and found again.
Fancied discoveries of the precious metals in the island of
Guadalcanar inflamed the imaginations of the Spaniards : and the
reports, which they gave on their return to Peru, in 1568, of tho
wealth and fertility of the newly-found lands, cast a glamour of
romance over the scene of their discoveries which the lapse of three
hundred years has not been able altogether to reraove.
To colonize his new discovery and add one more to the vast pos
sessions of Spain, becarae the life-long arabition of Mendana. In
order to further his great aira, he gave to these islands the name of
the " Isles of Salomon," to the end that the Spaniards, supposing
them to be the islands whence Solomon obtained his gold for the
temple at Jerusalem, might be induced to go and inhabit them.
Thus, the narae of the new discovery was itself a " pious fraud," if
we raay believe the story of Lopez Vaz,^ a Portuguese, who was cap
tured by the English, nearly twenty years afterwards, at the River
Plate. This seems to me to be the explanation of the name, which
we ought, in fairness, to receive ; since, after reading the narrative
of Gallego, it is scarcely crediting the Spaniards with ordinary
reasoning faculties to imagine that Mendana and his officers really
thought that they had found the Ophir of Solomon.
However, many years rolled by ; and Mendana had arrived at
i "Purchas, his Pilgrimes," Part IV., Lib. VIL

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 247
an elderly age before any further undertaking was atterapted. The
appearance of Drake in the South Sea, sorae years after the return
of the expedition to Peru, caused the scherae of colonization to be
abandoned. The Spaniards now found a rival in the navigation of
that ocean which, under the sanction of a Papal decree, they had
hitherto regarded as exclusively their own. The dread that they
would be unable to hold the " Isles of Saloraon " against the attacks
of the powerful nation now intruding in their doraain, caused thera
to relinquish the coveted islands ; and " coraraanderaent was given,
that they should not be inhabited, to the end that such Englishraen,
and of other Nations as passed the Straits of Magellan to goe to the
Malucos (Moluccas), raight have no succour there, but such as they
got of the Indian people." ^ To prevent the English obtaining any
knowledge of these islands, the publication of the official narrative
of Mendana's voyage was purposely delayed. So strong a pressure
was brought to bear upon Gallego, the Chief-Pilot of the expedition,^
that he was afraid to publish his journal, which has not only re
mained in raanuscript up to the present day, but was not brought to
light until the second quarter of the present century. Thus, it
happened that for nearly half-a-century after the return of Mendana,
there was no account of the expedition -? no chart preserved its dis
coveries, it being considered better, as things were then, to let these
islands remain unknown.*
The popular ignorance of these islands naturaUy increased the
mystery that surrounded them ; and their wealth and resources
were soon increased ten-fold under the infiuence of the imaginative
faculties of the Spaniards. Lopez Vaz, the Portuguese already re
ferred to, writing about the year 1586 of the recent American dis
coveries, remarked that " the greatest and raost notable discovery
that hath beene from those parts now of late, was that of the Isles
of Salomon." But romance and fact are strangely mingled in his
story. We learn from him, for the first time, that the Spaniards,
although " not seeking nor being desirous of gold," brought back
with them, from the island of Guadalcanar, 40,000 pezos^ of the
precious metal. No reference is made to such a find of gold on the
part of the Spaniards in the accounts of Gallego and Figueroa : and
1 " History of Lopez Vaz : Purchas, his Pilgrimes," Part IV., Lib. VII.
^ Vide prologue to " Gallego's Journal," page 194.
3 Ftfe page 192.
' Letter from Quiros to Don Antonio de Morga, Governor of the Philippines.
" Dollars.

248 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
it is probable that the reports to this effect may have originally
arisen out of the circurastance that, when the ships were being re
fitted and provisioned at the port of Realejo, on the Nicaraguan
coast, for the corapletion of their voyage to Peru, the necessary
expenses, which amounted to 1800 pezos, were defrayed by the
Chief-Pilot, GaUego.^
If the English captain, Withrington by name, who eUcited this
information frora his Portuguese prisoner, Lopez Vaz, had hoped to
have obtained any satisfactory account of the position of these
vaunted islands, be raust have been grievously disappointed. He
learned frora hira that the Spaniards, having coasted along the island
of Guadalcanar untU the parallel of 18° S. latitude without reaching
its extreraity, were of the opinion that it formed " part of that con
tinent which stretches to the strait of Magalhanes " (Magellan).
From this misconception, the idea arose that the Spaniards had dis
covered the southern continent and that Gallego was the discoverer,^
and so vague was the inforraation of the extent of the newly-dis
covered islands that, when in 1599, an English ship was carried by
terapest to 64° S. lat., the captain, on sighting some mountainous
land covered with snow, considered that it extended towards the
islands of Salomon.^
But to return to the long-deferred project of Mendana. Years
of delay seemed only to increase tbe desire of the first discoverer of
this group to complete his work. A change occurred in the vice-
royalty of Peru ; and under the auspices of the new Viceroy an
expedition of four ships was fitted out, on which were embarked
sailors, soldiers, and eraigrants to the total nuraber of four hundred.
In 1595, raore than a quarter of a century after the return of his
first expedition, Mendana, now an elderly raan, sailed from Peru
accompanied by his wife. Donna Isabella Baretto. Fernandez de
Quiros, who had braved with his leader the perils of the first voyage
and had shared with hira in the disheartenings arising from a hope
so long deferred, now served under hira as cbief pilot. Their des
tination was St. Christoval, the easternmost of the Solomon Group.
The imperfect knowledge of the navigator of those days was curiously
exhibited during this voyage. With the means at his command, it
was a comparatively easy matter to follow along one parallel of
^ Vide page 245.
2 Dalrymple's "Historical Collection of Voyages," &o.. Vol. I., p. 96.
3 "Purchas, his Pjlgriraes," Vol. IV., p. 1391.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 249
latitude or " to run down his latitude " as the sailor terms it ; but to
ascertain with any approach to accuracy his meridian of longitude
was scarcely within the power of the Spanish navigator. When
only about half-way across the Pacific and about the same distance
on their voyage to the Soloraon Group, they discovered a group of
islands, which, frora their latitude, they believed to be the object of
their quest. Further exploration, however, convinced Mendana of
his mistake ; and he named his new discovery Las Marquesas de
Mendoza, a narae which this group at present in part retains. On
continuing the voyage, the crews were assured that in three or four
days they would arrive at the " Isles of Saloraon," which were in
point of fact more than three thousand miles away. The three or
four days wearily spun themselves out into thirty-three. General
discontent became rife ; and murmurs of dissatisfaction arose which
might have shortly ended in open revolt. At length, late one night
thej'^ were overtaken by one of the rain-storms so coramon in those
regions ; and when the clouds lifted, they saw within a league of thera
the shores of a large island. The discovery was signalled frora the
flag-ship, the " Capitana," to the other three ships : but only two
replied. The missing vessel, the " Alrairanta," had been last seen
between two and three hours before. No trace was ever found of
her. Whither she went, or what fate befell her, are questions which
have remained amongst the manj' unsolved mysteries of the sea.
There is something tragical in this disappearance of a large ship
having probably over a hundred souls on board, men, women, and
children, when apparently the goal of the expedition had been
attained. The appearance of the natives of this large island at first in
duced Mendana to believe that be had at last arrived at the lands
he had been so long seeking. Eut his belief was short-lived. The
new island was named Santa Cruz; and having abandoned the
original object of the expedition to establish a colony on the island
of St. Christoval, the Spaniards coraraenced to plant their colony on
the shores of a harbour which they naraed Graciosa Bay. Disaster
upon disaster fell on the little colony. Disease struck down numbers
of the settlers, and the poisoned weapons of the natives ended the
lives of raany others. Mutiny broke out ; and the extrerae punish
ment of death was inflicted on the conspirators. The foul raurder
of the chief who had steadfastly befriended them was punished, it
is true, by the execution of the murderers ; but the enmity of the

250 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
natives could not thus be pacified. Broken-hearted and overcome
by disease, Mendana sickened and died ; and the heavens themselves
must bave seemed to the superstitious Spaniards to have frowned
on their design, for a total eclipse of the moon preceded by a few
hours the death of their coramander. The brother of Donna Isabel
had been selected by Mendana as his successor; but a fortnight
afterwards he died from a wound received in an affray with the
natives. It was at length resolved to abandon the enterprise ; and
rather over two months after they had first sighted the island, the
survivors of the expedition re-embarked for Manilla. Hoping to
leam something of the missing ship before finally steering north
ward, they directed their course westward until they should reach
the parallel of 11° of south latitude, when they expected to arrive
at St. Christoval whither the "Almiranta" raight have gone. The
course^ which they steered under the guidance of Quiros, the pilot,
must have soon brought them on this parallel ; and they appear to
have followed it with a favourable wind until the second day,^ when
seeing no signs of land, they were urged by the increasing sickness
and by the scarcity of water and provisions to give up the search,
and to this change of plans Quiros gave his consent. In a few hours,
if they had continued their course, the mountain-tops of St Christ
oval would have appeared above the horizon and the " Isles of
Salomon " would have been found. But such was not to be ; and
when probably not raore than fifty railes from the original destination
of the expedition, the ships were headed N.N.W. for Manilla. Such
a course must have brought the Spanish vessels yet closer to the
eastern extremity of the group ; but the night fell, and on the
following raorning the Solomon Islands were well below the western
horizon. Of the three ships, two only reached the Philippines.
The "Fragata" lost the company of the other ships and "never more
appeared." It was subsequently reported that she had been found
driven ashore with all her' sails set and all her people dead and
rotten.^ Thus terminated the attempt of the Spaniards to found a colony
in the Soloraon Islands ; and the ill fate which it experienced was
scarcely calculated to encourage others to undertake a similar
^ The course is differently given, by Quiros as W. by S. and by Figueroa as W.S.W.
(Dalrymple's Historical Collection : vol. I., 92.)
^- Figueroa implies the second day ; whilst Quiros speaks of " two days.''
2 Dalrymple's Historical CoUection of Voyages : vol. I., 58.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 251
enterprise. Barely half of the four hundred souls who had left
Peru under such bright auspices could have reached the Philippines.
Among them, however, was Quiros the pilot of Mendana, who,
nothing daunted by disaster and ill-success, returned to Peru and
endeavoured to re-awaken the spirit of discovery which was losing
much of its enthusiasm with the departing glory of the Spanish
nation. The Viceroy of Peru referred him to the Court of Spain ;
and, after experiencing for several years the effects of those intrigues
which seem to have been the accustomed fate of the early navigators,
Quiros set sail from Callao at the close of 1605, to search the Southern
Ocean once again for the Isles of Salomon and the other unknown
lands in that region. He had been supplied with two ships, and
was accompanied by Luis Vaez de Torres as second in command.
It is unnecessary to enter here into the particulars of the voj'age
across the Pacific. It will be sufficient for my purpose to state that
Quiros finally sought the paraUel of 10° south, and sailed westward
in the direction of Santa Cruz, which he had discovered with
Mendana ten years before. Being rather to the northward of the lati
tude of Santa Cruz, he struck a small group of islands, the principal
of which was called Taumaco by the natives. These islands have
been identified with the Duff Group, which lies about 65 railes
north-east of Santa Cruz. Nearly two centuries had passed away
before these islands were again seen by Europeans, when they were
sighted by Captain Wilson of the missionary ship " Duff," in 1797.
During the ten days spent by the Spaniards at Taumaco, Quiros
obtained inforraation of a number of islands and large tracts of
land in the neighbourhood, which seemed to confirra hira in his
belief in a vast unknown extent of land in the Southern Ocean.
The list of these islands are included in a memorial subsequently
presented by Quiros to Philip II. of Spain, which contains many
particulars of the discoveries of the expedition in this region. Some
of them I have been able to identify with names on existing charts,
but referring my reader to Note XIV. of the Geographical Appendix,
I will only allude here to the most interesting reference in this
memorial, which is to a large country named Pouro, that is without
doubt the large island of St. Christoval in the Solomon Group,
which lay rather under 300 miles to the westward. The central
' Dalrymple's Hist. CoU. of Voyages : vol. I, p. 145. This memorial is given in the
original in Purchas, (His Pilgrimes, Part VI, Lib. VII, Chap. 10.) Vide&lso De Brasses
"Histoire des Navigations aux Tenes Australes : " tom. I, p. 341 : Paris 1756.

252 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
portion of St. Christoval is at present called Bauro, and by this
name the whole island is often known to the natives of the islands
around. Thus, without suspecting it, Quiros had described to him
an island of the lost Solomon Group, and the very island which
had been more corapletely explored than any other by the expedition
of Mendana nearly forty years before. Had he been in possession
of Gallego's journal, in which the native name of Paubro is given to
St Christoval, he would have at once recognised in this Pouro of
the Taumaco natives the Paubro of Mendana's expedition. His
inforraant spoke to hira of silver arrows which had been brought
from Pouro, but this circumstance did not set him on the right
track ; and thus for the second time this enterprising navigator
unwittingly let the chance pass by of finding the Isles of Salomon.'
The opportunity had gone ; and, for this reason, the remainder
of this voyage of Quiros has no interest in connection with the
Solomon Group. The information which he had obtained of the
numerous islands and tracts of land in the vicinity of Taumaco
seems to have banished from his raind all thoughts of the missing
group. Steering southward, and passing without seeing the island
of Santa Cruz of which he had been in search, he reached the island
of Tucopia, of which he had previously obtained information from
the natives of Taumaco. Continuing his course, he finally anchored
in a large bay which indented the coast of what he believed was
the Great Southern Continent. The name Australia del Espiritu
Santo was given by him to this new land, when flushed with the
success of his discovery. In the hour of his supposed triumph,
fortune again frowned on the efforts of the Spanish navigator. A
mutiny broke out on board his ship, and Quiros was compelled by
his crew to abandon the enterprise. Without being able to acquaint
Torres of what had happened, he left the anchorage unperceived in
the middle hours of the night, and after making an ineffectual
attempt to find Santa Cruz, he sailed for Mexico. Torres, after
ascertaining that the supposed southern continent was an island,^
continued his voyage westward, and, passing through the straits
which bear his name, ultimately arrived at Manilla.
The results of the expeditions in which Quiros had been engaged
' The question of this narae of Pouro is further treated in Note XV. of the Geographical
Appendix, since an attemjit has been made by Mr. Hale, the Araerican phUologist, to identify
it with the Bouro of the Indian Archipelago.
^ This island is one of the New Hebrides, and still retains its Spanish name of Espiritu
Santo.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 253
could hardly have been looked upon with feelings of great satis
faction at the Spanish Court, where the veteran navigator in the
true spirit of Columbus now repaired to advocate the colonization
of the Australia del Espiritu Santo he had just discovered. The
Isles of Salomon had been also discovered, it is true ; but two
succeeding expeditions had failed to find them. Santa Cruz had
simUarly eluded the efforts of Quiros ; and his last discovery of the
supposed southern continent had been proved by his corapanion,
Torres, to be an island. Several years had passed away, and Quiros
was an old man before his wishes for a new expedition were
granted. In furtherance of the exploration of the Isles of Saloraon
and the Australia del Espiritu Santo, he is said to have presented
no less than fifty memorials to the king ; in one bf which, after
painting in the brightest colours the beauty and fertility of his last
discovery, he thus addresses his Sovereign : " Acquire, sire, since you
can, acquire heaven, eternal fame, and that new world with all its
promises." Such appeals coining frora one who raight fitly be called
the Columbus of his age could scarcely be rejected by the monarch.
In 1614, Quiros, bearing a comraissiou frora the king, departed frora
Spain on his way to CaUao, where he intended to fit out another
expedition. Death, however, overtook him at Panama on his way
to Peru ; and with Quiros died all the grand hopes, which he had
fostered, of adding the unknown southern continent to the dorainion
of Spain. Had he lived to carry out his project, Australia
might have becorae a second Peru. The spirit of enterprise
on the part of the Spanish nation never again extended itself
into this region of the Western Pacific. During the next century
and a half the large island-groups, which the Spaniards had dis
covered in these seas, were not visited by any European navigators;^
and it is surprising how few benefits have accrued to geography
from these three Spanish expeditions to these regions. Their dis
coveries have had to be rediscovered ; and it has been only by a
laborious process on the part of the geographer that the navigator
has been able to make any use of the imperfect information, which
the Spanish navigators have bequeathed to us of their discoveries
in these seas.
The death of Quiros deepened more than ever the mystery that
' In 1616, the Dutch navigator, Le Maire, when he discovered and named the Home
Islands m lat. 14° 56' S. and Hope Island in 16° S. thought that he had found the Solomon
Islauds ; but these islands lie more than a thousand miles to the eastward of this group-
Dalrymple's Hist. CoU., vol. II., p. 59.

254 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
was thrown over the Isles of Saloraon. Although Herrera^ had
published in 1601 a short description of these islands, which he
raust have derived from official sources, no account of the first
voyage of Mendana was published until nearly half a century after
the return of the expedition to Peru, when in 1613 a short narrative
appeared in a work written by Dr. Figueroa.^ However, the
exaggerated description, such as Lopez Vaz had given, obtained by
virtue of prepossession a stronger hold on the raeraories of the sea
faring world. The sarae spirit of jealousy against other nations,
which had compelled Gallego to suppress his journals, and had so
long withheld any account of Mendana's discoveries, now doomed to
destruction the several memorials and documents of Quiros; but
fortunately the work of destruction was not completed. The con
sequence of such proceedings was to greatly heighten the exaggerated
misconceptions relating to the Isles of Salomon. We learn from
Purchas^ that Richard Hakluyt was informed in London in 1604, by
a LLsbon merchant, of an expedition wbich had left Lima in 1600
and had fallen in " with divers rich countries and islands not far
frora the islands of Saloraon. One chief place they called Monte
de Plata, for the great abundance of silver there is like to be
there. For they found two crowns' worth of silver in two hand
fuls of dust, and the people gave them for iron as much and
more in quantity of silver."* Amongst the misconceptions which
prevailed is one which we find in a memorial addressed by Dr.
Juan Luis Arias to Philip III. of Spain,^ where he refers to the dis
covery of " New Guadalcanal" and "San Christoval" as quite distinct
from Mendana's subsequent discovery, as he alleges, of the Isles of
Saloraon ; and he alludes to the opinion of some that New Guadal
canal was a part of New Guinea. In Peru the actual existence
of these islands carae to be doubted ; and successive viceroj^s held it
a political raaxira to treat the question of the existence of the Solo
raon Islands as a roraance.*
The jealous attitude, assumed by Spain towards other nations
with reference to these discoveries, succeeded only too well in be-
>¦ Vide page 192.
2 Vide page 192.
3 " His PUgrimes," vol. IV., p. 1432.
* Geographical writers are not agreed as to whether this allusion refers to one of the
voyages of Quiros or not. From the date it would appear probable that it refers to Men
dana's second voyage, when Quiros was chief pilot.
^ A translation is given by Mr. Major in his " Barly Voyages to Terra Australis."
^ Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. XIV., p. 12.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 255
wildering the geographers who endeavoured to ascertain the true
position of the Soloraon Islands ; ancl so varied were the opinions on
the subject, that the latitude assigned to them varied from 7° to 19°
south, and the longitude frora 2400 miles to 7500 railes west of
Peru. Acosta, in 1590, ignorant of the materials several years after
placed at the disposal of Figueroa, located these islands about 800
leagues ^ west of Peru, and Herrera gives them the sarae position,^ a
longitude which Lopez Vaz had previously given them in the account
obtained frora him in 1586 by Captain Withrington. The dis
coverers themselves, if we raay trust the estimates given in the
accounts of Gallego and Figueroa, and in the meraorials of Quiros,
considered that the Soloraon Islands were removed about double
this distance from the coast of Peru. Their estimates vary between
1500 and 1700 Spanish leagues, whereas the true distance is about
2100 leagues or frora 1500 to 2000 miles west of the position
assigned by the discoverers. In his second voyage, Mendana was
misled by this sraall estimate when he at first mistook the Marquesas
for his previous discovery, the Isles of Salomon. I am inclined to
consider that the Spanish navigators purposely under-estimated the
distance of these islands from the coast of Peru, and that in so doing
they were actuated by two raotives. In the first place, they Avould
be desirous to bring their discoveries within the line of demarcation
fixed by the Papal Bull after the discovery of Araerica by Columbus,
by which the heraisphere west of a raeridian 370 leagues west of the
Azores was assigned to Spain, and that to the east of this meridian
to Portugal. Thus it was that Spain had had to deliver the Brazils
to Portugal ; andin possessing herself of the Moluccas she had appro
priated by a geographical fraud lands which should have belonged
to that nation.^ Their other raotive is probably to be found in that
jealousy of spirit which, in order to prevent Drake and the English
from finding their discoveries, caused the suppression of Gallego's
journal and the burning of many of the memorials of Quiros.
Similar confusion prevailed amongst the early cartographers as
to the position which they should assign to the Solomon Islands.
As M. Buache* points out, the first charts representing the Isles of
^ Spanish leagues, 17^ to a degree.
2 Herrera at the same time places them 1500 leagues from Lima !
Slam indebted to Mr. Dalrymple (Hist. CoUect. of Voyages, vol. L, p. 51) for this ex
planation of the smaU estimates of the Spanish navigators.
* "Memoir concerning the existence and situation of Solomon's Islands, " presented to
the Eoyal Academy ot Sciences in 1781. (Fleurieu's "Discoveries of the French in 1768 and
1769.")

256 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
Salomon, which were published at the end of the 16th century,
made a near approximation to their true position by placing them
to the east and at no great distance from New Guinea. Subsequent
cartographers, however, were less happy in their guesses at the
truth. In the " Arcano del Mare," published by Dudley, in 1646,
the Solomon Islands were transported to the position of the Mar
quesas, with which they were thought identical. This position was
generally received until early in last century, when Delisle adopted
a position much nearer to that given in the early maps. M. Dan
viUe, however, later on in the century, being unable to reconcile the
Spanish discoveries with the more recent discoveries in the South
Seas, suppressed altogether the Isles of Salomon in his map of the
world ; and his example was followed by several other geographers,
wbo were equally anxious to expunge the lost archipelago from their
maps and to relegate it to the class of fabulous lands.
After the death of Quiros, the Spanish nation ceased to favour
any further enterprise in search of the missing archipelagos, which
do not appear to have engaged the special attention of any nation.
Generations thus passed away, and the Solomon Islands were almost
forgotten. But there lingered amongst the sea-faring population in
Peru, raeraories of the raissing islands of Mendana and Quiros, which
were revived from tirae to tirae by sorae strange story told by men,
who had returned to Callao from their voyage across the Pacific to
Manilla. Even in the first quarter of last century, the mention of
the Isles of Salomon suggested visions of beautiful and fertile lands,
abounding in raineral wealth, and populated by a happy race of
people who enjoyed a climate of perfect salubrity. This we leam
from the narrative of Captain Betagh,^ an Englkshman, who, having
been captured by the Spaniards in 1720, was detained a prisoner in
Peru. He speaks of the arrival, not long before, of two ships at-
Callao, which, though cruising independently in the Pacific, had
both been driven out of their course and had raade the Solomon
Islands. A sraall ship was despatched to follow up their discovery:
but as she was only victualled for two raonths, I need scarcely add
that she did not find thera. It is very probable that the islands-
made by the two ships were the Marquesas.
Not very long after this attempt to find the missing group,
Admiral Roggewein,^ the Dutch navigator, in his voyage round the
1 Pinkerton's "Voyages and Travels," vol. XIV., p. 12.
' Dalrymple's "Hist. CoU. of Voyages," vol. II.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO, 257
world, siglited, in 1722, two large islands or tracts of land in the
We.stern Pacific, which he named Tienhoven and Groningen (the
Groningue of some writers). Behrens, the narrator of the expedition,
considered them to be portions of the Terra Australis. Geographers,
however, have differed widely in their atterapts to identify these
islands. Dalryraple and Burney held the opinion that these islands
were none other than the Solomon Islands ; but the question is of
little importance to us, as no coraraunication took place with the
natives. In his "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres j^.ustrales," which
was published in Paris, in 1756, De Brosses, after referring to the
circumstance that geographers differed a thousand leagues in locating
this group, inserts, as giving quite another idea of their position, the
story of Geinelli Careri, when on his voyage from Manilla to Mexico,
in command of the great galleon. It appears that when they were
in 34° north lat., a canary flew on board and perched in the rigging.
Careri at once inferred that the bird must have flown from the
Solomon Islands, which lay, as he learned from the seamen of his
vessel, two degrees further south. The source of the Spanish com
mander's information raight have suggested some rather odd re
flections: however, De Brosses, as if to justify this belief of the
sailors of the gaUeon, refers to two islands, Kinsima (Isle of Gold)
and Ginsima (Isle of Silver), lying about 300 leagues east of Japan,
which, ha-ving been kept secret by the Japanese, had been in
effectually sought for by the Dutch in 1639 and 1643.^ De Brosses,
it should be reraerabered, was writing when the Isles of Saloraon
were in the rainds of raany a myth. That this notion of the seamen
of the gaUeon should suggest to him two legendary islands placed
east of Japan, islands believed by the Dutch not to belie their names
in mineral wealth, sufficiently shows how wild speculation had be
come with reference to the position of this mysterious group.
In a few years, however, there was a revival of the spirit of
geographical enterprise in England, under the enlightened auspices
of George III. ; and the time was approaching when, in anticipation
of the transit of Venus in 1769, the attention of the English and
French astronomers and geographers was more specially directed to
the South Pacific, with the purpose of selecting suitable positions
for the observation of this phenomenon. M. Pingrd, in his memoir
on the selection of a position for observing the transit of Venus,
1 Tome I., p. 177.
E

-258 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
which was read before the French Academy of Sciences in De
cember, 1766, and January, 1767, gave a translation of the account
given by Figueroa of Mendana's discovery of the Solomon Islands;
but he did not throw rauch new light on their supposed position.
Whilst the attention of geographers was thus once more directed
towards this part of the Pacific, the two English voyages of circum
navigation under Comraodore Byron and Captain Carteret^ supplied
thera with inforraation, which pointed to the correctness of the view
of the old cartographers that the Solomon Islands lay to tbe east,
and not far removed from New Guinea. That Commodore Byron,
when sailing in the supposed latitude of these islands in 1765,
expected to fall in with them raore towards the centre of the Pacifie,
is shown by the circumstance that he at first believed one of the
islands of the group, subsequently named the Union Group, to be
the Malaita of the Spaniards, an island which actually lay more
than 1500 miles to the westward. However, he continued his
course in the track of the missing group, until he reached the longi
tude of 176° 20' E. in latitude 8° 13' S., a position raore than 800
railes to the eastward of that assigned to the Solomon Islands in his
chart. Giving up the search. Commodore Byron steered northward
to cross the equator, and ultimately shaped his course for the
Ladrones. His remark in reference to his want of success augured
ill for the future discovery of the Solomon Group, since he doubted
whether the Spaniards had left behind any account by which it
might be found by future navigators.
In August, 1766, another expedition consisting of two ships,
the " Dolphin," and the " Swallow," under the command of Captain
Wallis, and Captain Carteret, sailed from Plyraouth with the object
of raaking further discoveries in the southern heraisphere. After a
stormy passage through the Straits of Magellan, the two ships were
separated just as they were entering the South Sea. This accidental
circumstance proved fortunate in its results for geographical science,
as each vessel steered an independent course. Whilst Captain
Wallis in the " Dolphin " was exploring the coasts of Tahiti, Captain
Carteret in the " Swallow " followed a track more to the southward,
and ultimately brought back to Europe tidings of the long lost
lands of Mendana and Quiros. In July, 1767, Captain Carteret
being in 167° W. long, and 10° S. lat., kept his course westward in
the same parallel " in hopes " — as he remarks — " to have fallen la
' Hawkesworth's Voyages (vol. I.) contains the accounts of these expeditions.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 259
with some of the islands called Solomon's Islands." After reachint^
the meridian of 177° 30' E. long, in 10° 18' S. lat., a position five
degrees to the westward of that assigned to the Soloraon Islands in
his chart. Captain Carteret carae to the conclusion " that if there
were any such islands their situation was erroneously laid down." He
was afterwards destined to discover, unknown to himself, nearly a
thousand miles to the westward, the very group whose existence he
doubted. Continuing his westerly course, he arrived at a group of
islands, the largest of which he recognised as the Santa Cruz of
Mendana, which had not been visited by Europeans since the
disastrous attempt to found a Spanish Colony there raore than 170
years before. With a crazy ship, and a sickly crew. Captain Carteret
desisted from the further prosecution of his discoveries in those
regions; and shaping his course W.N.W., he sighted in the evening
of the second day a low flat island, one of the outlying islands of
the Solomon Group, which, without suspecting the nature of bis
discovery, he called Gower Island, a name still preserved in the
present chart.^ During the night, the current carried hira to the
south, and brought him within .sight of what he thought were two
other large islands lying east and west with each other, which he
named Sirapson's Island, and Carteret's Island. Captain Carteret
communicated with the natives, but did not anchor. These two
islands have proved to be the forked northern extreraity of the
large island of Malaita. Keeping to the north-west, he subsequently
discovered, off the north-west end of the group, a large atoll with
nine small islands, which are known as the Nine Islands of Carteret.
On the following morning he was fated, without being aware of it,
to get another glimpse of the Solomon Islands. A high island,
descried by hira to the southward, which is named Winchelsea
Island in his text, and Anson Island in bis chart of the voyage,
was in all probability the island of Bouka visited nearly a year
afterwards by BougainviUe, the French navigator. Thus the missing
group was at length found, but without the knowledge of the
EngUsh navigator who discovered it. He had, in truth, expected
to find it 20° further to the east. It was reserved, however, for
the geographer in his study to identify the discoveries of Carteret
with the Isles of Salomon of Mendana.
At the end of June, 1768, Bougainville the French navigator^^
1 Captain Carteret communicated with the natives, but did not anchor.
2 " Voyage autour du Monde en 1766-1769 : " second edit, augmentee : Paris 1772.

260 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
coraing northward frora his discovery of tbe Louisiade Archipelago
and of the Australia del Espiritu Santo of Quiros, made the west
coast of a large island, now known as Choiseul Island, one of the
Solomon Islands. When the ships were about twenty miles south
of the present Choiseul Bay, boats were sent to look for an
anchorage, but they found the coast almost inaccessible. A second
attempt was made to find an anchorage in Choiseul Bay, but, night
coming on, the number of the shoals and the irregularity of the
currents prevented the ships from coming up to the anchorage. In
this bay the boats were attacked by about 150 natives in ten
canoes who were dispersed and routed by the second discharge of
fire-arms. Two canoes were captured, in one of which was found
the jaw of a man half broiled. The island was named Choiseul by
its discoverer, and a river frora which the natives had issued into the
bay was called "la riviere des Guerriers." Passing through the strait
which bears his name, the French navigator coasted along the east
side of Bougainville Island, and passed off" the island of Bouka.
The natives who came off to the ship in their canoes displayed the
cocoa-nuts they had brought with them, and constantly repeated
the cry, " bouca, bouca, onelld." For this reason, Bougainville
naraed the island, Bouca, which is the name it still retains on the
chart. It is, however, evident frora the narrative that the French
navigator never regarded this name as that by which the island
was known to its inhabitants. Wben Dentrecasteaux, during his
voyage in search of La Pdrouse, lay off this island in his ships in
1792, the natives who carae off frora the shore, as Labillardifere
informs us,^ made use of the same expression of " bouka." This
eminent naturalist considered that the word in question was a term
in the language of these islanders ; and he refers to it as a Malay
expression of negation, except when a pause is made on the first
syllable when it signifies " to open." On leaving behind him the
island of Bouka, Bougainville quitted the Solomon Group ; bub
frora his account it is apparent tbat he had no idea of having found
the raissing archipelago. Referring to these islands in the intro
duction to his narrative, he writes : — " supposing that the details
related of the wealth of these islands are not fabulous, we are in
ignorance of their situation, and subsequent atterapts to find them
have been in vain. It merely appears that they do not lie between
the eighth and twelfth parallels of south latitude." In Bougain-
^ LabUlardiere's " Voyage a la rechprcho de la P jouse : " Paris 1800 : tome I., p. 227,

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 261
ville's plans and charts, these discoveries are referred to as forraing
part of the Louisiade Archipelago which he had found to the south
ward. In the general chart showing the track of his voyage, the
Solomon Islands are placed about 350 railes north-west of the
Navigator Islands ; and they are there referred to as " Isles Saloraon
dont I'existence et la position sont douteuse."
In June ofthe following year, 1769, there sailed frora Pondicherry
an expedition coramanded by M. de Surville,^ who was bound on
some enterprise with the object of which we are still to a great ex
tent unacquainted. It is, however, probable as we learn frora Abbd
Rochon,^ that some rumour of an island abounding in wealth and
inhabited by Jews, which was reported to have been lately seen by
the English seven hundred leagues west of Peru, had led to the
fitting out of this expedition. Not unlikely, stories of tho wealth of
the missing islands of Mendana had been revived by the arrival in
India of somo ship that had come upon thera in her track across the
Pacific ; and the reference to their being populated by Jews may be
readily understood when I allude to the fact that the form of the
nose in one out of every five Solomon Islanders, and in truth in
many Papuans, gi\'-es the face quite a Jewish cast. In October, 1769,
Surville discovered and named Port Praslin on the north-east coast
of Isabel, which was the same island of the Solomon Group that
Mendana had first discovered two hundred years before. Here he
stayed eigbt days, during which time his watering-parties carae into
lamentableconflict with the natives. Sailing eastward frora Port
Praslin, he sighted the Gower Island of Carteret, Avhich he named
Inattendue Island. Subsequently be reached Ulaua, which he
called, on account of the unfavourable weather which he experienced
in its vicinity. He de Contrariety. The attenipt to send a boat ashore
was the occasion of another unfortunate affray with the natives, who
were ultimately dispersed with grape-shot. It will be reraerabered
that just two centuries before, the Spaniards in the brigantine carae
into conflict with these same islanders, and that they named their
island La Treguada in consequence of their supposed treachery (vid.e
antea). In the neighbourhood of Contrariety, Surville sighted three
smaU islands, which he named Les Trois Soeurs (Las Tres Marias of
the Spaniards), and near them another island, which he called Iledu
lAu account of this expedition is given in Fleurieu's "Discoveries of the French in 17fiS
and 1769 to the south-east of New Guinea : " London, 1791.
2 " Voyages a Madagascar et aux Indes Orientales : " Paris, 1791.

262 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
Golfe, the Ugi or Gulf Island of the present chart. Sailing east
ward, he apprehendedfrorathetrendof theneighbouring St. Christoval
eoast that he would becorae erabayed ; but his apprehensions were
removed when he arrived at the extreraity of this land, which he
naraed Cape Oriental, and tbe two off-lying small islands of Santa
Anna and Santa Catalina were called lies de la Deliverance in token
of the danger from which he had apparently been delivered. In
total ignorance of the fact that he had been cruising among.'^t
the islands of the lost archipelago of Mendana, SurviUe now
directed his course for New Zealand ; and on account of sangu
inary conflicts with the natives of Port Praslin and Contrariety,
he named his discoveries Terre des Arsacides or Land of the
Assassins. In 1781, Maurelle, the Spanish navigator, in comraand ofthe
frigate " Princesa," during his voyage frora Manilla to San Bias on
the west coast of Mexico,^ came upon the Candelaria Shoals of
Mendana, which lie off the north coast of Isabel Island. I have
shown on page 200 that these Candelaria Shoals are no other than
the Ontong Java of Tasman, which was identified by M. Fleurieu^
with the discovery of Maurelle. To the south-east of these shoals
the " Princesa " approached another, which on account of tbe roaring
of the sea was naraed El Roncador : this has been erroneously
identified with the Candelaria Shoals by M. Fleurieu, and it is so
named on the present Admiralty charts. Thus it nearly fell to the
lot of the Spanish nation to be amongst the first to find the group
they had originally discovered ; but Maurelle was not acquainted
with his vicinity to the missing Isles of Salomon, and turning the
head of his ship eastward, he proceeded on his voyage.
In July, 1788, Lieutenant Shortland, when returning to England
from Port Jackson in convoy of a fleet of transports, made the
Solomon Group near Cape Sydney on the south coast of St. Chris
toval. He skirted tbe south side of the group until he arrived at
Bougainville Straits, and received the impression that he was coast
ing along an apparently continuous tract of land, to which he gave
the name of New Georgia. Passing through BougainvUle Straits,
which, in ignorance of the discoveries of the French navigator, he
naraed after himself. Lieutenant Shortland continued on his voyage.
^ An account of this voyage is given in " Voyage de la P6rouse autour du Monde,'' par
Milet-Mureau: London, 1799: vol. I., p. 201.
= " Discoveries of the French iu 1768 and 1769," eto. . pp. 179, IS .

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 263:
The names of the numerous headlands ^ onthe south side of the
Solomon Group, bear witness in the present chart to the accurate
observations of the English navigator : and from hira Mount Lammas,
the highest peak of Guadalcanar, received its name. Like Bou
gainvUle and Surville, Shortland was not acquainted with the nature
of his discoveries.^
It now remained for the geographers to avail themselves of the
materials placed at their disposal by the voyages of the French and
English navigators. M. Buache in a " Meraoir on the Existence and
Situation of Soloraon's Islands,"^ which was presented to the French
Academy of Sciences in 1781, deals with the discoveries of Carteret,
Bougainville, and Surville. Tho steps by which he arrived at the
conclusion that the groups of islands discovered by these navigators
were not only one and the sarae group, but that they were the long-
lost Isles of Saloraon of Mendana, afford an instructive instance of
how a patient and laborious investigator, endowed with that gift of
discrimination whicii M. Buache eraployed with such laudable im
partiality, may ultimately attain the truth he seeks, invested though
it be in clouds of mystery and contradiction. Groping along through
a maze of confiicting statements, to which both navigators and
geographers had in equal share contributed, M. Buache finally
emerged into the light of day, when he asserted in his meraoir that
between the extrerae point of New Guinea as fixed by Bougainville
and the position of Santa Cruz as determined by Carteret, there was
a, space of 12i. degrees of longitude, in which the Islands of Soloraon
ought to be found. In this space, as he proceeded to show, lay the
large group discovered by Bougainville and Surville which, he with
confidence asserted, would prove to be none other than the long-lost
islands of the Solomon Group.
But such a view of the character of the recent French discoveries
in these seas was received by English geographers with that spirit
of partiality from which the cause of geographical science has so
frequently suffered. Mr. Dalrymple in his " Historical CoUection
of Voyages," published in 1770, before he had become acquainted
¦with the discoveries of Carteret, BougainviUe, and Surville, stated
his conviction that there was no roora to doubt that what Mendana
^ Capes PhUip, Henslow, Hunter, Satisfaction, etc.
2 Shortland communicated with the natives of Simbo. An account of this voyage is
given in the " Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay : " London, 1789.
^ This memoir is given by Fleurieu in the appendix of his work.

264 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
called Salomon Islands in 1567, Darapier afterwards named New
Britain in 1700. In the introduction to the narrative of his second
voyage round the world, wben he foUowed up Bougainville's explora
tion of the Australia del Espiritu Santo of Quiros,^ Captain Cook
supported this view. The arguments, however, of M. Buache had
no weight with Mr. Dalrymple, who in 1790 re-stated his opinion
that the Soloraon Islands of the Spaniards and the New Britain
of Dampier were one and the sarae, and he referred to the discoveries
of Bougainville and Surville as showing no similitude in forra to the
Soloraon Islands of the old raaps.^
But in the minds of French geographers there was little doubt
as to the correctness of the views of M. Buache. Amongst the de
tailed geographical instructions given by Louis XVI. in 1785 to La
Perouse, when he was setting out on his ill-fated expedition, was
one which directed the attention of this illustrious navigator to the
examination of the numerous islands of the Solomon Group, and
especially to those which lay between Guadalcanar and Malaita.^ It
was considered almost indubitable, as M. Fleurieu informs us, that
the intended exploration by La Perouse of this archipelago would
convert probabUity into certainty. But when in the vicinity ofthe
islands he was never destined to behold, La Pdrouse experienced
that mysterious fate whicii has excited .sympathy throughout the
civilised world. On the reef-girt shores of Vanicoro bis ships were
wrecked, and the French commander and his men were never seen
again by any Europeans. As Carlyle wrote, . . .' " The brave navi
gator goes, and returns not ; the seekers search far seas for him in
vain, .... and only some mournful mysterious shadow of him
hovers long in aU heads and hearts."*
The orainous silence that had fallen over the doings of the absent
expedition, on account of the non-arrival of the long expected dis
patches, must have been, in a double sense, a cause of disappoint
ment to M. Fleurieu, who had hoped to demonstrate the correctness
of the views of the French geographers by the results of the explo
rations of La Perouse. It was with the object of showing that the
New Georgia of Shortland was one and the sarae with the Terre des
1 This group, which had been previously named by Bougainville, L'Archipel des grandes
Cyclades, was designated The New Hebrides by Cook, a name which it retains on the
present charts.
^ "Nautical Memoirs of Alexander Dalrymple.''
3 " Voyage de la Perouse," redige par M. L. A. Milet-Mureau ; London, 1799.
' Carlyle's "French Eevolution," ch. V., p. 37.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 265
Arsacides of Surville and the Choiseul of Bougainville, and that the
French and English navigators had independently of each other
discovered the lost Solomon Group, that M. Fleurieu published in
Paris in 1790 his "Decouvertes des Francois en 1768 et 1769 dans
le sud-est de la Nouvelle Guinde."^ " The desire of restoring to the
French nation its own discoveries, which an emulous and jealous
neighbour has endeavoured to appropriate to herself, induced us,"
thus the author wrote in his preface to his work, " to connect in one
view, all those that we have made towards the south-east of New
Guinea ; and particularly to prove, that the great land, which Short-
land imagined he discovered in 1788, and to which he gave the
name of New Georgia, is not a new land, but the southern coast of
the Archipelago of the Arsacides, the famous Islands of Soloraon,
one part of which was discovered after two centuries by M. de Bou
gainviUe in 1768, and another raore considerable by M. de Surville
in 1769." I need not refer to the detailed arguraents of this learned
geographical writer. Under his arguments, Surville's appellation of
Terre des Arsacides and Shortland's of New Georgia,^ finally gave
place to the original title given by the Spanish navigator. " It was
the work of M. de Fleurieu," thus writes Krusenstem,^ the Russian
voyager and hydrographer, " that reraoved once and for all any
doubt that might have been held about tho identity of the disco
veries of BougainviUe, Surville, and Shortland, with the Solomon
Islands." Another illustrious navigator, Dumont D'Urville,* thus
alludes to the successful labours of his countrymen, . . . " Le labo-
rieux Buache et I'habile Fleurieu travaillferent tour k tour a ^tablir
cette identite qui, depuis, est devenue un fait acquis a la science
gdographique ; les lies relevdes par Surville et par Bougainville sont
r^ellement I'archipel Salomon de Mindana." Thus the lost archi
pelago was found, not so much by the fortuitous course of the
navigator as by the patient investigations of the geographer in his
study. The result is intrinsically of little iraportance to the world
at large ; but, as an exaraple of the success of a laborious yet dis
criminate research, it raay afford encourageraent to all who endeavour
to add something to the sum of knowledge.
I will now refer briefly to the voyagers who subsequently visited
^ English translation published in London in 1791.
^ The designation of New Georgia has been retained in the modern charts for that portion
of tho group which is known as Eubiana.
•' "EecueU de Memoires Hydrographiques," St. Petersburgh, 1824. Part I., p. 157.
^ "Histoire Gfin^rale des Voyages," Paris, 1859; p. 228.

266 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
this group, after its identity had become established. In May 1790,,
Lieutenant BalV in the "Supply," when on his voyage to England
from Port Jackson via Batavia, made the eastern extremity of the
Solomonlslands. He sailed along the north side of the group until
opposite the middle of Malaita, when he headed more to the east
ward and clear of the land. He correctly surmised that he was
sailing along the New Georgia of Shortland, but on the opposite
side of it : though he looked upon the islands of Santa Anna, Santa
Catalina, and Ulaua as his own discoveries, and he naraed them
respectively Sirius's Island, Massey's Island, and Smith's Island. In
December 1791, Captain Bowen of the ship " Albemarle," during
his voyage frora Port Jackson to Bombay, sailed along the coast of
New Georgia, and reported that he had seen the floating wreck of
one of the vessels of La Perouse ; but this report was discredited -
by Captain Dillon in the narrative of his search after the missing
e;ipedition.2 In 1792, Captain Manning,* of the Honourable East
India Company's Service, during his voyage from Port Jackson to
Batavia in the ship " Pitt," made the south coast of the Solomon
Group off Cape Sidney, which was the headland first sighted by
Lieutenant Shortland. Sailing westward, he imagined St. Christoval
and Guadalcanar were continuous, and he thus delineates their coasts
in his track-chart much as Shortland did. The RusseU Islands he
naraed Macaulay's Archipelago, a narae which ought to be retained
as a corapliraent to their discoverer. He then passed between
Rubiana and Isabel, naming the high land of the latter island
Keate's Mountains. Passing through the strait between Choiseul
and Isabel, which bears his name. Captain Manning proceeded north
ward on his voyage.
At this time, a French expedition, under Admiral Dentrecasteaux,
was cruising in the same part of the Pacific with the object of ascer
taining the fate of La Perouse. Araongst the instructions embodied
in a "Memoire du Roi," which were given to the French admiral,
was the foUowing one referring to the Soloraon Islands : . . " Qu'il
s'occupe h, ddtailler cet archipel, dont il est d'autant plus intdressant
d'acqudrir une connoissance parfaite, qu'on peut avec raison le re-
garder comrae une ddcouverte des FranQois, puisqu'il dtoit restd
ignor^ et inconnu pendant les deux si^cles qui s' dtoient ^coul^s
1 Vide " An Historical Journal," &o., by Capt. John Hunter. London, 1793 ; pp. 417-419.
2 " Voyage in search of La P^rouse's Expedition." London, 1829.
3 " Chart of the track and discoveries of the ship 'Pitt,' Capt. Edward Manning, on the
western coast of the Solomon Islands in 1792. "

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 267
depuis que les Espagnols en avoient fait la premiere decouverte."^
In July 1792, when on his way frora New Caledonia to Carteret
Harbour in New Ireland, in prosecution of his search for the missing
expedition, Dentrecasteaux made the Eddystone Rock which had
heen thus named by Shortland, and passing by Treasury Island, he
skirted the west coast of Bougainville and Bouka. In May of the
following year, when on the passage from Santa Cruz to the Louisiade
Archipelago, the expedition sailed along the south coast of the Solo
mon Islands as far as Rubiana. Passing between St. Christoval and
Guadalcanar, Dentrecasteaux sailed close to the island of Contrariete
and communicated with the natives. Whilst one of his ships lay off"
the north-west part of St. Christoval, the natives of Gulf Island
(Ugi) discharged a flight of arrows frora their canoes and wounded
one of the crew. It is satisfactory to learn that her coramander
contented himself with firing a musket and discharging a rocket at
them without effect, and that no other retaliatory raeasures were
taken to intercept thera in their flight. Turning back on his course,
the French adrairal was alraost terapted to explore the group of
islands between Guadalcanar and Malaita, to which the work of
Fleurieu had directed his attention, and had he done so, he would
have cleared- up the confusion with which the vague description of
Figueroa has surrounded these islands ; but his instructions and the
object of his voyage led hira along the south coast of Guadalcanar
on his way to the Louisiade Archipelago.
To the voyagers who visited this group during the first half of
the present century, I can only briefly allude. The Soloraon Islands
were seldora visited during the early portion of it, except, perhaps,
by occasional trading-ships whose experiences have rarely been
made known, a loss which raay not be a subject for our regret.
However, in March, 1834, there sailed from New York the clipper
" Margaret Oakley," bound on a trading and exploring voyage in the
South Pacific.2 She was comraanded by Captain MorreU, who was
accompanied by a young Araerican, named Jacobs, to whom we are
indebted for a very singular narrative of the cruise, which, for
jirivate reasons, was not published till 1844. Into the extreraely
questionable proceedings of Captain MorreU,^ in his dealings with
^ "Voyage de Dentrecasteaux," redige par M. de Eossel. Paris, 1808 ; tom. i., p. xxxiii.
2 "Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean." By T. J. Jacobs. Now
York, 1844. "
3 When Dumont D'UrviUe was in London, shortly before he started on his last voyage,
he was asked his opinion of MorreU with reference to his cruises in the high southern lati-

2-68 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
the natives during his sojournings in the Western Pacific, I need
not here enter. It will be sufl&cient for me to remark that they had
better have been buried in the oblivion which is most fitting for
such deeds of heartless cruelty. Mr. Jacobs, in his atterapt to de
scribe the discoveries of the voyage with which we are raore par
ticularly concerned, exercises an amusing freedom in dealing with
the explorations of the faraous early navigators in this region. In
stead of adding to our knowledge of these seas, by his presumption,
he has thrown discredit on the whole of his narrative ; and it is
only by the insertion in his account of a rude sketch-map of New
Guinea and the islands south-east of it that he has rescued his
narrative frora utter confusion. There we see, that by Bidera he
means New Britain ; by Eraeno, New Ireland ; Bougainville is
honoured by the retention of his narae for the large island which
he discovered ; whilst the other large land-masses of the Solomon
Group would have had their identities hopelessly lost in the narra
tive under the appellations of Baropee, Soterimba, and Cambendo,
had it not been for the rude raap attached. References to dates are
systematicalljr avoided by Mr. Jacobs ; however, it would appear
that probably, in 1 835 or 1836, they extended their cruise to the
islands of the Soloraon Group. Coasting along the west side of
Bougainville Island, they sailed through the straits of that name,
and skirting the north coasts of Choiseul (Baropee) and Isabel
(S oteriraba), the}' turned Cape Prieto and steered S. b}'- E. Sailing
by a singular rock like a ship under sail (the Two Tree Islet of the
chart), their course lay through beautiful verdant islands ; and then
passing a volcanic island with steara issuing from the crater on its
surarait (the Sesarga of the Spaniai'ds and the Savo of the present
day), the lofty lands of Cambendo (Guadalcanar) appeared in view.
Coasting westward, along the north side of Guadalcanar, they were
visited by Tarlaro, the King(?) of Cambendo, who was accompanied
by a great number of natives. Gn the following day, they visited a
large viUage, where they were friendly received ; and shortly after
wards thej- left the group, steering southward and passing RenneU
Island. In November, 1838, Dumont D'UrviUe,^ the French navigator,
sighted the Soloraon Group, in his passage westward from Santa
tudes. His reply was that he was already acquainted with him as "un fabricateur du
eoutes." (" Voyage au Pole Sud." 1837-1840. Introduction, p. Ixvii.)
^ " Voyage au Pole Sud et dans I'Oceanie." 1837-40. Paris, 1841.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 269
Gruz. Coasting along the north side of St. Christoval and the south
side of Malaita, he recognised in Surville's Terre des Arsacides the
Malaita of the Spaniards. He then set hiraself to work to clear up
the difficulty with reference to the position of the islands named by
the Spaniards, Galera, Florida, Buena Vista, Sesarga, &c., islands
which had never been since explored, but he ultiraately contented
himself with viewing these islands frora off the north coast of Buena
Vista. After endeavouring imperfectly to identify them with the
description of their first discoverers, he anchored in Thousand Ships
Bay, which was originallj' discovered by GaUego and Ortega ; and
he named his anchorage Astrolabe Harbour, after one of his ships.
From the circumstance that the natives, who came off to the ships,
made use of such expressions as " veri gout," " captain," " manoa "
(man of war), D'Urville concluded that they had recently been
visited by other voyagers.^ Leaving Thousand Ships Bay, he sailed
along the south coast of Isabel, and passing through Manning Strait,
he skirted the north side of Choiseul and BougainviUe Islands and
then left the group.
Dumont D'UrviUe was the last of the French navigators to
whom the re-discovery and exploration of the Soloraon Islands are
in the main due. A singular fatality seeras to have attended the
careers of nearly all the French coraraanders who visited these seas.
With the exception of BougainviUe, who lived to superintend, in
1804, the fitting out of the flotiUa, at Boulogne, for the invasion of
England, all died during tbe voyage or shortly after their return.
SurviUe was drowned on his arrival at .Peru. La Pdrouse raet with
his untiraely fate at Vanikoro, and neither of the two coraraanders
of the expedition that was sent in search of hira survived the
voyage; Dentrecasteaux died frora scurvy off New Britain, and
Huon Kermadec died before the ships left New Caledonia. Lastly,
D'Urville was killed in a railway accident at Paris, whilst engaged
in the corapletion of the narrative of his expedition.
In July, 1840, Captain Sir Edward Belcher.^ whilst on his
voyage to New Ireland, in H.M.S. " Sulphur," made the south coast
of Guadalcanar ; but after looking in vain for an anchorage, he con
tinued his course. In 1844, Capt. Andrew Cheyne, in the trading-
schooner "Naiad," visited Sirabo Island and the neighbouring islands.
1 According to his narrative, Jacobs, in the "Margaret Oakley," anchored in the vicinity
ot Thousand Ships Bay, two or three years (?) before the visit of D'UrviUe.
2 "Narrative of a Voyage round the World in H. M.S. ' Sulphur : ' " voh II., p. 70.

270 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO.
We are indebted to him for much information concerning this part
of the group.i About 1847, Monsignor Epalle, a French Roman
Catholic Bishop, was landed, with eighteen priests, on the island of
Isabel, for the purpose of founding a mission. On first landing, the
bishop strayed frora the rest of the party and received his death-blow
at the hands of the natives, who are supposed to have been tempted
by his dress and ornaments. In April of 1847, three French mission
aries, living at Makira, were murdered by the hill-tribes of St. Chris
toval ; and in March of the following year, M. Dutaillis,^ in command
of the French corvette " L'Ariane," anchored at Makira, and sent an
expedition into the interior by which the villages of the murderers
were destroyed and raany of the natives killed and wounded.
In September, 1851, the ill-fated yacht " Wanderer," ^ with her
owner, Mr. Benjamin Boyd, on board, visited the Solomon Group.
Cruising along the south coast of St. Christoval, the yacht put into
Makira, where she lay at anchor nearly three weeks. Friendly
intercourse was established with the inhabitants and frequent shoot
ing excursions were made into the interior. Mr. Boyd thought so
highly ofthe advantages of Makira and its harbour, that he intended
to return there with the intention of entering into a treaty with the
principal natives of the locality for the purpose of acquiring it for
future coraraercial purposes. However, the careers, both of the
yacht and of its owner, were drawing to a close. Frora Makira,
they proceeded to Guadalcanar. Leaving his vessel anchored in
Wanderer Bay, as it has since been named, Mr. Boyd landed with
his gun, accorapanied by a native of Panapa. Neither of them were
ever seen again ; and they appear to have met with their deaths at
the hands of the natives soon after landing. A great number ofthe
natives attacked the yacht, but tbey were repulsed by tho crew of
the "Wanderer" with grape-shot and musketry. An ineffectual
search was made for Mr. Boyd and his companion : and before the
yacht left the locality, round and grape-shot were poured into the
viUages, canoes and houses were burned, and probably a large
nuraber of natives were killed and injured. The " Wanderer " now
left the group ; and in the following raonth she was totally lost on
the bar of Port Macquarie on the Australian coast.
^ " A Description of Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean." London, 1852.
- " Annales Hydrographiques ;" tome I. 1848-49. "Last Cruise of the 'Wanderer,'"
by John Webster, p. 73.
'-> " Last Cruise of the ' W&nderer. ' " By John Webster.

STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 271
In 1854, there were rumours in Sydney, that Mr. Boyd was still
alive and that his initials had been seen carved on trees in Guadal
canar. A skull, which had been bought from a chief by the captain
of a trading-ship as that of Mr. Boyd, proved, on exaraination, to
belong to a Papuan. However, in Deceraber of this year. Captain
Denham, in H.M.S. "Herald," visited the scene ofthe tragedy; and
after making inquiry into the matter, he came to the opinion that
the unfortunate owner of the " Wanderer " had been killed directly
after he landed, and that the various stories current respecting his
being alive were inventions of the natives.
I now bring to a close this short sketch of the history of the
Solomon Group since its identity was established by the French
geographers towards the end of the last century. During the last
thirty years there has been greatly increased intercourse with the
natives of these islands ; the Melanesian Mission has firmly estab
lished itself; numerous traders have resided in the more friendly
districts ; and the -visits of men-of-war and trading-ships have been
very frequent. But this increased intercourse with the outer world
of savage peoples, who can with difficulty distinguish between a
stranger and a foe, has been accompanied, as we might naturally
have expected, by many tragic episodes, some of which we can
deplore, most of which we can only reflect upon with mingled
feelings of shame and regret. The reprisals on the part of men-
of-war have not been always satisfactory in their results ; and the
effect of the labour-traffic has been to underraine the confidence
which the missionary and well-intentioned trader have been long
endeavouring to create. The quiet heroism of the raembers of the
Melanesian Mission, under circumstances often the most dispiriting
•and insecure, it would ill becorae rae to praise. It will be sufficient,
however, to remark that it has been the only redeeming feature in
the intercourse of the white raan with these islanders during the
last twenty-five years.

GEOGEAPHICAL APPENDIX.

NOTE L
The Accounts of Galleso and FiaCBKOA compaebd.— On carefuUy comparing these
two accounts, I have no doubt that Figueroa derived almost all his information from the
journal of Gallego. He, to a great extent, employs his own phraseology ; but in the descrip
tions of the islands and of the natives, the words and expressions employed are often
identical, and the mode and order of description are evidently supplied by the journal of
Gallego. An indirect proof of the source, whence Figueroa drew bis materials, is to be
found in the circumstance that, after the two vessels were separated during the voyage back
to Peru, he confines his account to the experiences of the " Capitana," which was Gallego's
vessel ; and here his account is substantially a condensed form of Gallego's journal which is
occasionally quoted literally. Figueroa, however, does not inform us of the source of his
information ; and he has evidently, in some measure, endeavoured to infuse his own method
of expression into the account. There are not wanting proofs, however, that he was assisted
from other sources, but only in a small degree. For instance, he occasionally intercalates a
circumstance to which Gallego does not aUude ; and he varies in the accounts of the conflicts
with the natives : thus he refers to s )me of the Spaniards having died at Estrella Harbour,
to there being a foot and a half of water in the hold of one of the ships during the retuni
voyage, to the ships being heaved-down at St. Christoval, and to a few other similar
occurrences unrecorded by Gallego. The account of Figueroa differs in tho date of the year
of the voyage. It contains only a bare reference to the cruise of the brigantine to St,
Christoval and its adjacent islands, whilst the vesssels lay at the Puerto de la Cruz on the
coast of Guadalcanar. It is from this cause that the names of all the islands visited and
named during this cruise of the brigantine are not given iu Figueroa's account. Herrera,
however, in his short description of these islands, gives a fuU list of the names of tha
islands, and, in this respect, his description is superior to that of Figueroa.
NOTE II.
DiscEEPAKCiES IN THE DATES OF THE Yeaes. — There is a strange discrepancy in the
dates of the yeara during whioh this expedition was away from Peru. The year 1.566, is
given on the title-page of the British Museum copy of Gallego's Journal ; and the author
expressly states that the expedition left Callao on November 19th, 1566 ; he carries this
year on, naming the following year, 1567 ; but in August he gives the year as 1568, and
makes the return to Peru to be in 1569. It is evident from the narrative that the ships were
absent from Peru about nineteen months, from November of one year to June ot the
second ensuing year ; and it is highly probable that the year of their departure was 1566,
and that of their return 1568. . . . Figueroa differs strangely in the dates he gives.i In the
first line of his account he says that the ships were dispatched in 1567 ; and in the succeed
ing paragraph he gives January 10, 1568, as the date of their departure from Callao, thus
being quite at variance with Gallego, both as regards the day, the month, and the year.
The ships reached the coast of Mexico on their return voyage in January 1568, according to
Figueroa. From this inconsistency it may be interred, that 1567 was intended as the date of
the departure from Peru. . . . Herrera,^ iu his description of these islands, states that
they were discovered in 1567, which accords with the narrative of Gallego. . . . Arias' in a
^ " Hechos de Don Garcia H. de Mendoza," por el Doctor Christoval S. de Figueroa. Madrid, 1613.
a " Descripcion de las Indias Oceidentales." (Madrid, about 1601.)
-. " Early Voyages to Terra Australis," by R. H. Major (p. 1). Hakluyt Society, 1859.

GEOGEAPHICAL APPENDIX. 273
oiemorial addressed to Philip III. of Spain, says that Mendana discovered San Christoval in
1505; but his account is both short and confused, and was evidently not derived from
original sources. . . . Notwithstanding the conflicting character of the dates, the probable
dates would ajipear to be as follows. — The ships left Peru on November 19tli, 15G6, dis-
¦covered the Isles of Salomon on February 7th, 1567, and arrived at Peru on Juno 19th, 1568.
NOTE HI. (Page 199.)
The Isle of Jesus. — Burney ' estimated the longitude of this island to be 172° 30' Bast
of Greenwich ; Krusenstem," on surer grounds, fixed it at 171° 30' ; but both estimates were
based on an erroneous longitude of the Candelaria Shoals. . . . 1 have shown irt note iv. that
these shoals are probably identical, not with the Honcador Reef as is implied in the present
-charts, but with the islands of Ontong Java, to the northward ; however, this correction
affects but little the question of longitude. Taking the longitude of the centre ot Ontong
Java at about 159° 30' E. (in lat. 5° 25' S.), the longitude of the Isle of Jesus, 107 Spanish
leagues to the eastward (in lat. 0° 45' S.), would be about 109° B. The only island shown on
¦tlio present charts in the vicinity of this position is Kennedy Island, also called Motuiti, the
existence of whicii is stated to be doubtful. Its position, as determined by the " Nautilus "
ill 1801, was 8° 36' S. 167° 50' E.3 However, in 18S3, the German war-vessel " Carola " failed
to find it in this position in the chart, and the initals E. D. are there attached to the name.
The difficulty may, I think, be explained by the existence in this region ot some atoll of no
great size, the position of which has been never correctly determined. It would appear that
i similar view is held by Captaiu Wharton, the present Hydrographer, since in the SaiUng
Directions for these seas issued ip 1885, the island is still given prominent mention.* Not
improbably the missing island wUl be found between the Oth and 7th parallels, and near the
position assigned to the Isle of Jesns.
Herrera gives the name of another island, "El Nombre de Dios,'' whioh is said by him to
lie in 7° S. lat., and to be 50 leagues distant from Santa Anna ; Gallego does not refer to any
island with this name ; and since Herrera makes no reference to the Isle of Jesus, ib is
possible that this isle may be here aUuded to, as its latitude corresponds somewhat with that
of " El Nombre de Dios." M. Fleurieu ^ identifies this island, however, not with the Isle of
Jesns, but with an island off the north end of Malaita which was named Gower I. by Captain
Carteret in 1767, and Inattendue 1. by M. Surville, iu 1709.
NOTE IV. (Page 199,)
The Candelaeia Shoals.— The shoals were identified by Fleurieu with the Eoncador
Eeef discovered by Maurelle in 1781 ; and Krusenstem subsequently confirraed this opinion.
Gallego, however, describes shoals trending N.E. and S.W. for more than fifteen leagues,
which cannot possibly be the Eoncador Eeef of the present chart, whicii is not more than
¦six miles across. These Candelaria Shoals, on tlie other hand, correspond in their size with
tlie large atoU of Ontong Java lying about 35 miles to the north of the Eoncador Eeef, and
being about 50 mUos in width. The apparent difference in latitude between Outong Java,
which lies in about 5° 25' S., and the Candelaria Shoals of GaUogo, which were placed by him
in 0° 15' S., may be explained by the circumstance that the majority of Gallego's observa
tions of latitude in the Solomon Group were about two-thirds of a degree in excess of the
true latitude.« By making this correction, the latitude of Ontong Java and of the Can
delaria Shoals wiU be found to closely approximate. The bearing and distance of the Can
delaria Shoals from the west end of Malaita (as given by Gallego on p. 202) and from Estrella
Harbour (as given on p. 205) go to support my view that the Candelaria Shoals of GaUego and
the Ontong Java of Tasman are one and the same.
1 " ChroDological History of Vovages and Discoveries in the South Sea." Vol. I. p. 2S9. London,
1803. 2 " Recueil de Memoires Hydrographiques." St. Petersburg, 1821.
3 Findlay's " Directory of the Pacillc Ocean." Part II 999. (London, 1B61.)
*" Pacitic Islands." VoL I. ].. 60. (Western Groups.) 1885. ,T™.i.,r, i7tn-i
" " Discoveries of the French, I76S-1769, to the S. E. of New Gumea, p. 181. (London, 17J1J.
" Firfe Note V. of Geographical Appendix. S

274 GEOGEAPHICAL APPENDIX.
NOTE
The Latitudes of Gallego in the Solomon Geoup.— On making fourteen comparisons:
of the latitudes obtained by Gallego with the latitudes of the same places in the most recent
Admiralty charts, places about which there can be no doubt as to their identity, I find that.
aU but two are in excess of the true latitude. The excess varies between 11' aud 1° T
(about) ; and since seven of the twelve latitudes vary between 38' and 46' iu excess, we may
take 40' plus as about the probable and average prevailing error of Gallego's observations of
latitude in this group. A constant error points to some constant defect of observation ;.
whether it may be instrumental or otherwise, I must leave to the judgment of my nautical
readers  It may be inferred from his journal that Gallego did not endeavour to-
make his latitudes by observation accord with his bearings, as they are so often at variance..
This circumstance should be borne in mind in order to explain the discrepancies that occur.
NOTE VI. (Page 206.)
The Isle of Eamos and the Island of Malaita. — On referring to the account of
Figueroa in the original Spanish, I find that, like Gallego, he applies the name of Eamos to-
Malaita. Pingre, who published a translation of Figueroa's account in 1767 at Paris.i asso
ciates the two names together. Dalrymple ^ in his translation, published in 1770, laid the-
ground for future misconception, by so pointing the sentence that the name of Eamos might
be taken as intended for one of the "two islets" in the middle of the passage between
Malaita and Isabel. Fleurieu,^ in his translation of Figueroa published iu Paris in 1790,,
ajiplies the name of Eamos to Malaita. Burney,-' in his version (1803), apparently apphes
this name to one of the islets above referred to. The authority of Dalrymple and Burney
would appear to su^iply an explanation of the circumstance that in the present Admiralty
charts this name of Eamos is applied to an islet between Malaita and Isabel ; but Dalrymple's
version is susceptible of two meanings, and may be urged with equal justice on either side.
GaUego and Figueroa both apply the two names to the same island ; so that circumstance
alone is sufficient to justify the restoration to Malaita of the Spanish name of "The Isle of
Eamos." The original cause of the mistake is to be attributed to the first discoverers, who>
gave their own name and were not content with the native name. Herrera^ has fallen into
the opposite error, since, in distinguishing betweeu Malaita and Eamos, he gives the atter a
circuit of 200 leagues. NOTE VII. (Pages 207-209.)
The 1SL.4.NDS between Cape Pkieto and Guadaloanae. — These islands which occu
pied the attention of Fleurieu and Burney, and excited the curiosity of Dentrecasteaux, and
which D'Urville had intended to have completely explored, have long baffled the efforts of
geographical writers, who have endeavoured to identify them with the islands mentioned by
Figueroa in his brief account of Mendana's discoveries in this region. His description is
evidently derived from that of GaUego, of which it is but an imperfect and erroneous ex
tract ; and I will therefore disregard it. The island of Galera is apparently a small island,
not named in the present chart, which lies close to the north-west coast of Buena Vista,
The neighbouring large island, a leagvie distant, to which Gallego only applies the native-
name of Pela,^ is, as I apprehend, the Buena Vista of the present chart : the Buena Vista
of the Spaniards is apparently an island, not named in the chart, whioh lies west of the pre
sent Sandfly Passage. The remaining four of the five islands may be in the future identified
¦with the inoomijletely surveyed intersected mass of land to which the general name of Florida
1 is applied in the present chart. The island of Sesarga is without doubt the volcanic island of
Savo : but I must refer the reader elsewhere for further information on this subject of Sesarga.'
1 " Memoire sur le choix et I'^tat des lieux ou le passage de Venus du, 3 Juin, 1769." (Paris, 1767.)-
-2 *' Hist. Coll. of Voy. and Discov.," London, 1770.
3 " Discoveries of the French in 1768 and 1769."
4 " Chronol. Hist. Voy and Discov.," vol. i.
s " Descripcion de las Indias Oceidentales."
6 At tliB present day the wliole of tlie Florida sub-group is known to the natives as Gela. (Codring
ton's " Melanesian Languages," p. 522.)
7 'lhe evidence is given in my volume of Geological Observations.

GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 275
NOTE VIII. (Page 220.)
The Excessive Dimensions of Guadalcanae.— How could such misconceptions have
arisen ? They are totally inconsistent with the rest of the journal ; and to suoh statements
must be attributed the exaggerated reports which long prevailed with reference to the size of
this island. The lengths of the islands of Isabel, Malaita, and St. Christoval, as given by
Gallego, are greatly overstated ; in the case of the two former islands they are at least
double the true dimensions, and they completely disagree with the latitudes and bearing,
whicii are noted in the journal. NOTE IX. (Page 233.)
The Consultation as to the Future Couese of the Expedition. — The ignorance in
which Mendana seems to have kept his officeis ¦A'ith regard to the character of his instruc
tions considerably hampered the captains and pilots iu their consultation. We learn sub
sequently (iiage 237) that it was originally intended to prosecute the voyage westward in order
to explore the extensive lands that lay in that direction. However, the iJrotest made by the
crews seems to have caused a change of plans. They were to steer northward for the Isle of
Jesus, where Gallego apparently expected to find more land, as they provided themselves
with natives as interpreters (page 233) before quitting the group. This northerly course found
favour, when Gallego pointed out that it was on the track of their return voyage.
NOTE X. (Page 234.)
Islands in the Solomon Geoup -vvhich do not at Peesent beae the Names given to
them by the Spaniards: —
Present name. Spanish name.
Ugi  San Juan
Three Sisters  Las Tres Maiias
Ulaua (Coiitrai-ict-)  La Treguada
Malaita  Eamos (Isle of )
Savo  Sesarga
Ontong Jav.i  Candelaria Shoals
Choiseul  San Marcos
XT r. ¦ I.,. ) San Nicolas
New Georgia (.1  < , , r> r -.
" * ' I iu-racises (Eeefs).
NOTE XI. (Page 237.) '
Inigo Oetez de Eetes and Been,4Edo de la Toeee. — We learn from Galvanos
"Discoveries of the World," ^ that in 1545 Captain Inigo Ortez de Eotha was dispatched
from Tidore to New Spain. He sailed to the coast of Papua, and not knowing that Saavedra
had discovered it in 1528, he assumed the honour of the discovery. Mr. Coutts Trotter in a
recent artio e ^ refers to him as Ortiz de Eetez or Eoda, and he informs us elsewhere '^ that
Antonio de Abreu was probably the first discoverer of New Guinea iu 1511. According to
Galvano (page 234), a Spanish officer named Bernaldo de la Torre started from the PhiU]i-
pines in 1543, on a voyage to New Spain.
NOTE XII. (Page 238.)
The islands of San Baetolomeo.— The Musquillo Islands of the MarshaU Group,
with which I have identified this discovery of the Spaniards, were thus named by Captain
Bond in 1792.^ They form a double atoU about 38 mUes in length and trending N.W. and
' Hakluyt Society's Publication, 1862, p. 238.
2 Encyelopsedia Britannica (Article on "New Guinea.")
3 Proceedings, Koyal Geographical Fociety, 1884, p. 196
< Purdy's " Oriental Navigator " p. 689

276 GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
S.E. The N.W. end is in latitude 8° 10' N„ and the S.E. end is in latitude 7° 46' N.
Captain Bond ranged along the coasts of above 20 small islands. At the N.W. ond and
solated from the rest are two small islands about three mUes apart. On comparing this
¦description with that given bv GaUego, the reader -wUl have little doubt as to the identity
of the Musquillo Islands with the Spanish discovery. It is probable that Gallego con
sidered this discovery to be near the position of an island discovered in 1536 in 14 °N lat.
by Toribio Alonzo de Salazar,! 328 Spanish leagues from the Mariana Islauds, and naraed
by him San Bartolomeo. This discovery of Salazar is marked in Krusenstern's General
Atlas of the Pacific. NOTE XIII. (Page 239.)
The Isle of San Feancisco.— Wake's Island, with which I have identified the Isle of
San Francisco, was discovered in 1796 by the "Prince William Henry." Commodore
Wilkes, who fixed its position in 1840 (lat. 19° 10' 54'- N. ; long 166° 31' 30" E. of G), thus
describes it. "Wake's Island is a low coral one, of triangular form and eight feet above
the surface. It has a large lagoon in the centre, which was well filled with fish of a
variety of species ; amongst these were some fine mullet. There is no fresh water on the
island, and neither pandanus nor cocoa-nut tree. It has upon it the shrubs, which are
usually found on the low Islands of the Pacific, the most abundant of which was
Tournefortia. The short-tailed albatross is found here; birds quite tame though not as
numerous as in other uninhabited islands. The appearance of the coral blocks and
vegetation leads to this conclusion that the island is at times submerged or that at times
the sea makes a complete breach over it."^ Wake's Island is about the size of the island
described by Gallego. Its latitude, its isolated position, and the close agreement of Wilkes'
description with that of Gallego, leave no room to doubt that Wake's Island and the Isle
of San Francisco are one and the same . . . Burney refers to a small island named San
Francisco which is placed in the chart of the Galleon in Anson's voyage in lat. 19i north and
.84° east of the Strait of San Bernardino ; but he ad Js that it is too far to the east to be
dentified with the island discovered by Meiidaua.3
NOTE XIV. (Page 251.)
The List of Islands inthe Vicinitt of Taumaco which was oet.4.ined bt Quikos in
1606 FEOM ONE OF THE N.4.TIVFS. — They are as follows, Chicayana, Guantopo, or Guaytopo,
Taucalo, Pilen, Nupan, Pupam, Fonfono or Fonofono, Mecaraylay, Manieolo, Tucopia,
Pouro. More than half of these islands can be identified with certainty, even after an
interval of nearly three centuries.
Chicayana may be without a doubt identified with Sikyana or Sikai-aua, the present
native name ot the Stewart Isles which lie about 250 miles to the north-west of Taumaco,
or as the Taumaco people reckoned, four days' sail in their large canoes. In fact, the
native from whom Quiros obtained his information was originally from Chicayana, having
been carried by contrary winds to Taumaco whilst endeavouring with a number ot his
fellow-islanders to reach the island ot Mecaraylay. The Chicayana natives were described
to Quiros as being very fair with long loose red hair, some, however, being darker like
mulattoes, but with hair neither curled nor quite straight. They possess much the same
characters at the present day.^
Guaytopo or Guantopo was a larger island than those of Taumaco and Chicayana.
Since it is placed three days' sail (native reckoning) from Taumaco and two days from
Chicayana, it raay have been one of the eastern islands of the Solomon Group. The iu-
1 Krusenstern's " Memoires Hydrographiques," St Petersburgh, 1827 : Part II, p. 49.
'.' " Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," vol V. p. 267.
3 " Chronol. History of Voy. and Disc. " vol I. p. 291.
¦i These islands, as far as is known, were not visited by Europeans until nearly two centuries after
the visit of Quiros, when Captain Hunter came upon them in 179-..

GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 277
habitants were said to havo skins as fair as Europeans and red or blaok hair. They
punctured their bellies in a pattern of a circle around the navel ; and painted theip
bodies red down to the waist. Tho women were very handsome and were clothed with
some light material from head to foot. The natives of Guaytopo, Taumaco, and
Chicayana, were on very friendly terms and spoke the same language.
The islands of Pilen and Nupan are evidently the PUoni and Nupani of the adjacent
Matema or SwaUow Islands, whicii lie to the northward of the large island of Santa Cruz,
Fonofono or Fonfono, which is stated to lie near Pilen and Nupan, may perhaps be the
Lomlom of the same small group. It was described to Quiros as being " many islands, small
and flat," with a good port. The inhabitants were said to be dun-ooloured, and very tall.
Tucopia was subsequently visited by the Spanish navigator. In later times it has obtained
a melancholy interest in connection with the fate of La Perouse. Mecaraylay is apparently
in the vicinity of Guaytopo, but possessing a different language, its inhabitants being noted
for the use of tortoise-shell ornaments. Its name suggests that of Makira, onthe south coast
of St. Christoval, in the neighbouring Solomon Group. Taucalo may jierhaps be the volcanic
island of Tinakula lying off the north coast of Santa Cruz Island. It is stated to be near
Taumaco. The " large country " called Manieolo is to be identified with the adjacent large island.
named Vanikoro in the present Admiralty charts, which lies about 100 miles to the south
ward of Taumaco. It is referred by Captain Cook^ to the Mallicolo of the New Hebrides,
lying 4° further south, which he visited in 1774 ; but this view cannot be sustained. In the
first place, it is stated to lie two days' sail from Tucopia. The following evidence, however,
is sufficient of itself to settle the point. When Captain Dillon^ was on his way to Vanikoro
in 1827, to ascertain the fate of La Perouse, he learned from the natives of the neighbouring
island of Tucopia that the island he was going to was called Malicolo : but he subsequently
ascertained on visiting the island in question, that it should be more correctly called Manni-
colo 01 Vannicolo. In his chart of the island, Captain Dillon calls it Mannicolo. The resem
blance in name between these two islands in the New Hebrides, and Santa Cruz Groups lias
been a frequent cause of misconception in references to the narratives of the early navigators.
NOTE XV. (Pages 100, 251.)
The Poueo of Quieos. — A native of Chicayana, whom Quiros had captured at Taumaco.
told the Spanish navigator that there dwelt in Taumaco "an Indian, agreat pilot," who
had brought from " a large conntry, named Pouro," certain arrows, with points, in the form
of a knife, which, from the native's description, Quiros concluded were of silver. Pouro, he
learned, was very populous, and its inhabitants were dun-complexioned.
When I first came upon this reference to Pouro, I at once recognised it as an allusion to
the Bauro (St. Christoval) of the Solomon Group, lying rather less than 300 miles to the
westward of Taumaco. Mr. Hale,^ the philologist of the United States Exploring Expedi
tion, under Commodore Wilkes, endeavours to identify the Pouro of the Taumaco nativc.i
with the Bouro in the Malay Archipelago, an island lying more than 2,000 miles further
westward : and he refers to the circumstance of the silver arrows that were brought to Tau
maco as supporting his view. Eegarding Bouro as the island referred to in the traditions of
the Fijians, Tongans, and Samoans, relating to the origin of their race, Mr. Hale finds in
the Pouro of the Taumaco natives an aUusion to this sacred island, and in the circumstance
of the sUver arrows he finds evidence of communication between these two regions. There
cau, however, be little doubt that by this Pouro the Bauro of the Solomon Group was meant.
The presence of the silver arrows may be easily explained, when we remember that about
forty years before, the Spaniards were exploring this island of Bauro, or Paubro as GaUego
gives it (page 229).
1 " Voyage towards the South Pole and round the -fforid," vol. II., p. 146.
2 " Discovery of the fate of La Perouse, ' Landon, 1829 : vol. I., p. 'ii.
3 " Ethnography and Philology of the V. S. Exploring lixijedition, p. 195.

278 GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
NOTE XVL
The Eddystone Eock and the Simboo of Lieutenant Shoetland. — For a consider
able time after the re-discovery of the Solomon Islands by the French and English navi
gators, few islands were better known in the group than Eddystone or Simbo Island. In
thus naming this ishind, however, there has been a singular misconception ; and since the
name of Simbo has been omitted in the latest Admiralty chart (August, 1884) of the group,
some explanatory remarks may be of interest.
In August, 1788, Lieutenant Shortland, ^ whilst sailing along the south coasts of the
Solomon Group on his voyage from Port Jackson to England via Batavia, approached "a
rock which had exactly the appearance of a ship under sail, with her top-gallant sails
flying; " and so striking was the resemblance that a signal was made to the supposed vessel.
The ships did not approach within three or four miles of this rock. It was named the
Eddystone and was placed in lat. 8° 12' S., bearing S.S.W. a league from two remarkable hills
which were named the Two Brothers. A point running south from these two hills waa
named Cape Satisfaction. Whilst the English ships were off the Eddystone, some natives
came to them iu their canoes, from whora Shortland learned that they had come from
*' Simboo," a place which lay, as they indicated by their gestures, near Cape Satisfaction. In
the chart of his discoveries, this officer assigns this name to some land lying east of the Two
Brothers near the i50sition of the island at present called Gizo, but it is evident both from his
chart and from his narrative that he considered Simboo as the general name for the land to
the east of Cape Satisfaction ; and Fleurieu, when remarking on his discoveries, made the
suggestion that the Simboo of Shortland might prove to be the Choiseul of BougainviUe.-
lu what manner, we may now inquire, have the discoveries of Shortland been identified with
the Islands that are laid down in the latest charts of this group ? For half a century and
more the name of Eddystone has been attached, not to a rock such as that to which it was
originally given, but to the adjacent volcanic island about four miles in length and about
1100 feet in height ; and the name of Cape Satisfaction has been given to the south end of
Eonongo which lies ten miles N.N.E. of Eddystone Island. This cape is stated by Short-
land to run south from the two remarkable hills which he named the Two Brothers. The is
land of Eonongo, however, has alongandlevel sumrait destitute of peaks ; and it is evident that
wc must look elsewhere for the Cape Satisfaction of Shortland. In Eddystone Island, there
ore two singular conical hills which might very fitly have been named the Two Brothers,
and it will be seen from the sequel that it must have been to the south extremity of ihis
island that the name of Cape Satisfaction was in the first place given. I shall also point out
thnt the original Eddystone rock is represented at the present day by a bare rock which
rises out of the sea at a distance of about a third of a mile from the south-west coast of
Eddystone Island, and that the Simboo, from which the natives came to visit Shortland,
was a diminutive island on the opposite or south-east side of this same island.
When, in July 1792, the French expedition under Dentrecasteaux arrived in this locality,
the Eddystone rock was at once recognised by the description of Shortland  " nous
aper^times " — thus wrote Labillardi&e ^ the naturalist of the expedition — " Ie rocher nomm^
Eddystone. De loin nous le primes, comme Shortland, pour un vaisseau t la voile.
L'illusion etoit d'autant plus grande, qu'il a S, peu pres la couleur des voiles d'un vaisseau ;
quelques arbustes en couronnoient la sommite. " In the Atlas of this voyage (carte 24), this
rock is placed off the south-west end of the island at preseut named Eddystone Island, and
exactly in the position of the bare rook above alluded to, which will be found marked in the
plan of this island raade by the surveying officers of H.M.S. " Lark " in 1882. Lieutenant
Malan tells rae that this rook at the time of the survey was quite bare of vegetation. It
rises in two conical masses from the water between which a boat can pass in calm weather.
Although it has a height of 30 feet, it is frequently washed over by the heavier seas. The
1 The narrative of Lieut. Shortland's voyage is given in " The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany
Bay in 1737 " : London, 1789.
2 " Discoveries of the French, 176S-1769, to the S.E. of New Guinea : " London, 1791 , p. 196.
^ " Voj'age a la recherche De la Perouse," par Labillardiere : Paris, 1800 : tom i, p. 215.

GEOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 279
change in the appearance ot this rook, since tho viait of Dentrecasteaux in 1792 when it
summit was crowned with shrubs, has been probably due to a raovement of subsidence which
has affected the adjacent coast of Eddystone Island in recent years (ride below). To such
-a change must be attributed the confusion which has arisen with reference to the Eddystone
rook ; and cartographers, failing to identify it, have applied its name to the adjacent
volcanic island on which they have also bestowed tho name ot Simbo. During his survey of
this island in 1882, Lieutenant Oldham ascertained that this name of Simbo actually be
longed to a small island bordering its south-east coast with which it was connfected by
-coral reefs, The true native name of Eddystone Island, he found to be Narovo, and in
the latest Admiralty charts it is thus designated ; the name of Sirabo is there attached to the
small adjacent island which is, I have no doubt, the Simboo from which the natives came,
who visited Shortland's ships in 1788 as they lay ofl the Eddystone rock. At the present
day the larger island of Narovo is but thinly populated, and its inhabitants are under the
sway of a powerful chief who resides on the small island of Simbo. There he rules over
¦a warlike and adventurous people who by their head-hunting raids have established the fame
of their diminutive island throughout a large portion of the Solomon GrouiJ.
[In my volume of Geological Observations I have described the movement of subsidence,
^ which is due the coufusion concerning the original Eddystone rock].

CHAPTER XIII.
BOTANICAL NOTES TN BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.
MY botanical collections were made during 1884 in the islands:
of Bougainville Straits ; and in order to add to the complete
ness of this section of my work, ,1 will briefly refer to the physical
character of this locality. The principal i.slands of this sub-group
are Treasury Island, the Shortland Islands, and Faro, or Fauro,
Island ; whilst around these lie numerous smaller islands and islets.
The largest is not more than twelve miles in length, and none of
them attain an elevation exceeding 2000 feet. Faro being about
1900 feet. Treasury about 1100, and Aiu, the principal of the Short-
land Islands, about 500 feet. In geological character they differ
widely, Treasury heing, for the most part, of recent calcareous
formations. Faro of volcanic formations, whilst Aiu is formed of
rocks of both these classes. Of the numerous smaller islands and
islets which dot these straits, some are of volcanic, and others of
coral rocks.
In my botanical excursions in these islands, I received the
greatest assistance from the natives ; and I was particularly struck
with the familiar knowledge of their trees and plants which these-
islanders possessed. They have names for not only nearly all the
trees, but for several of the grasses ; and, in the case of the former,
when I was uncertain as to -whether I had come upon any specimen-
before, they would obtain its flower, or fruit, or foliage, and point
out to me its compai'ative characters. The superior knowledge,
which these natives possess of each plant and its uses, has often led
me to reflect on the meagre acquaintance with the commonest trees,.
shrubs, and herbs, which the ordinary white man can claim. Had
my native companions asked me to instruct them in a similar man
ner on the vegetation of an English woodland — if such a rapid
change of scene were possible — they would probably have regarded

BOTANICAL NOTES. 28 li
me as a very ignorant and unobservant fellow. They havo names
for and display a familiarity with many plants that can be of no-
service to them, a somewhat puzzling circumstance, whicli may be
perhaps explained by their employing instinctively a method of
exclusion in the selection of those plants that are of service to them.
For the building of his house, the cultivation of his ground, the
construction of his canoe, the manufacture of his spears, clubs, and
other weapons, and for his many other wants, the native has to
resort to the vegetable kingdom for the requisite materials. An
extensive acquaintance with the vegetation of his island-home is-
unconsciously acquired by a native who has himself to provide for
all his necessities : but his knowledge extends far beyond that limit
which mere utility would appear to demand. In a paper published
recently in an American serial,^ Mr. Matthews combated the notion
that savages are versed only in the knowledge of plants and animals
that contribute to their wants. He found that the Indians are in
comparably superior to the average white man, or to the white man
who has not made zoology or botany a subject of study. In this
respect, his experience accords with my, own. The native of the
Solomon Islands will point out by name, in some remote inland dell,.
an insignificant plant, which, he says, is of no service to him : he
¦names all the weeds of his cultivated patches ; and he is similarly
acquainted with all the wild fruits, usually distinguishing them by
their edible or injurious qualities. Yet, in arriving at such a con
clusion, it behoves one to be wary, as I have sometimes found that
the native applies the name of a useful plant to all other useless-
plants (usually of the same genus or family) that resemble it in their
more conspicuous characters. Then, again, I have often been sur
prised at the singular holes and corners in the vegetable world whicii
the native ransacks to supply his wants. A fern that clothes the-
higher slopes of Faro Island, and which is known to the natives as
" sinimi," and to the botanist as a species of Gleichenia, furnishes the
material for their plaited armlets. For this purpose they employ
narrow strips of the vascular tissue that forms the firm central
portion of the stem. I had previously looked upon this fern as of
httle use to these islanders, and on learning of the ingenious-
purpose for which it was employed, I became veiy careful in the
future when pronouncing on the utility or inutility ofany familiar
plant. I "Bulietin of the Philosop;.ical Society of Washington," Vol. VIL

282 BOTANICAL NOTES.
With these preliminary remarks, I will proceed to describe the
-general characters of the vegetation of these islands ; and, in order to
¦connect my observations together, I will treat of them in the form of
a series of excursions made in different districts.
An ascent of one ofthe larger streams in the Shortland Islands. —
In the lower part of its course, the stream follows a circuitous course
¦a.midst the gloom and dismal surroundings of a mangrove swamp.
It is diflicult to convey in words a true idea of such a scene. The
features most imprinted on my memory are those of " a slow and
silent stream " of dark turbid water, traversing a swamp of black,
repulsive-looking mud, in which the crocodile finds a congenial home,
The light of day is subdued into a depressing gloom by the foliage
of the mangrove forest : the air, charged with the miasma of decay
ing vegetable life, is impregnated with a sour, unpleasant odour;
and the silence that prevails is interrupted only by the fall of a
branch, or by the startled cry of some wading-bird disturbed in its
haunt. Nipa palms line the banks in places, and occasionally
occupy the swamp for some distance on either side of the stream.
Overhead, perched high upon the branches of the tall mangroves,
occur the two singular epiphytes, Hydnophytum and Myrmeoodia,
¦both of which have been found to be species new to science (H.
Guppyanum, Becc. : M. salomonensis, Becc). From the following
remarks, my readers will be able to observe the peculiar features
of these interesting rubiaceous plants. The large swollen base of the
stem, sometimes eighteen inches in length, is occupied by cavities
which are usually infested by ants that actively resent any attempts
to carry off their home. It has been considered that this swollen
mass and its chambers are due to the irritation produced by the ants
gnawing at the base of the young growing stem, and that the plant
cannot thrive without the ants ; but from observations made by Mr.
H. 0. Forbes,! in Java, on the origin of " this curious-galleried struc
ture " in a sjiecies of Mynnecodia, it would seem that this swollen
mass and its chambers are produced without the presence of ants,
and that in their absence the plant raay thrive vigorously. Not
unfrequently, I found the ants in scanty numbers, and sometimes
they were absent altogether. In the case of Myrmecodia salorrvon-
en.ns, and Hydnophytum inervie,^ thej^ are found in considerable
numbers. The chambers of H. Guppyanum are usually nearly full
^ " A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago,'' p. 81. (1885.)
- This species was obtained at Ugi.

BOTANICAL NOTES. 283
¦of dirty rain-water, and contain scarcely any ants, a few cockroaches
being generally found in the cavities. Those specimens which I
-examined of another species of this genus (//. longistylum, Becc),
that occurs on the coast trees, contained a few cockroaches, but no
ants ; and, on the outer surface of one of the swollen masses, I found
a small crab. From my own cursory notes, it would therefore seem
probable that these epiphytes may thrive without the presence of
ants  With this digression, I return to my description of the
ascent of the stream.
Leaving behind the .slime and gloom of the swamp, the rising
ground is reached, at the base of which the vegetation is of the most
luxuriant character, and often have I lingered here in my Rob Roy
canoe to admire the luxuriance of plant-growth that surrounded me.
For on account of the lowness of the district, it shares the dampness
though not the infertilitj'^ of the swamps below. The soft clayey
rock, which is exposed in the banks of the stream, affords a rich and
even too productive soil. Nature runs riot and becomes prodigal in
her profusion ; and thus growth is too often associated with decay
to present on all occasions a pleasing picture to the eye. Here the
tree-fern, the croton, the wild plantain, and numerous areca palms
flourish; but the alpinias, heliconias, and other scitamineous plants
form the chief feature of the vegetation on this gently rising
ground. Higher up the stream, tall forest trees rise on each side often
enveloped partiall-y by a drapery of runners and climbing plants,
their leafy branches spreading over the water. Stout lianas hang in
festoons across the stream. Partly hidden amongst the greater
vegetation may be seen the fan-palm of the district (Licuala, the
^'fii-o'' of the natives), and another pretty little palm kno-s\'n as the
"sensisi," Cyrtostachys, together with the handsome foliage of a
Plerandra (" fo ") and numerous areca palms. An occasional
Bolicholobium ("lowasi") with white flowers distributes its frag
rance around. Ferns abound along the banks, varying in size
from the small Trichomanes to the tree-fern, twenty feet in
height, and the Angiopteris with its magnificent spreading fronds
fifteen feet and more in length. If one leaves the stream for a
few minutes at the foot of the hills, a moist, low-lying district is
tiaversed, the home of the scitamineas and the areca-palms, which
latter are distinguished amongst the natives as the " momo," " niga-
¦solu," " niga-torulo," and " au-au."

284 BOTANICAL NOTES.
Ascending the hill slopes towards the source of the streaia,.
numerous palms rise up oh either side. The Garyota (" eala ") with
its branches resembling the fronds of a huge adiantum, the hand
some " kisu "^ (probably a species of Drymophloeus) and a tall areca
known as the " poamau," are those which frequently meet the eye.
Interspersed among them we notice the lesser areca-palms and the
fan-palm before alluded to. On the crest of the hill, at a height of'
some 200 or 300 feet above the sea, are found tall forest .trees, some-
of them of gigantic size and attaining a height of 150 feet and
upwards. Amongst them occur the banjj-an (" chim "), other ficoid
trees with the flange-like buttresses, and the "katari," a species.
of Calophyllum which supplies the natives with a resin for
their torches. In the following description of the interior ofthe
forest in this region I have referred at some length to the larger
trees. The interior of the forest ... To obtain a true idea of the-
forest-growth in these islands, it is necessary to traverse one of the
more level districts in the interior, which is removed from the
vicinity of the cultivated patches of the natives. Entering the con
fines of the forest direct from the full glare of the tropical sun, one
experiences a peculiar and often oppressive sensation, which may
be attributed to the combined influences of the warmth, the humidity,.
and the effluvia arising from the decaying vegetation, to the impres
sive silence that reigns, and to the subdued light or dusky atmos
phere that there prevails. Meeting overhead at a height of some
150 feet from the ground, the foliage and the smaller branches of the
lofty trees form a dense leafy screen rooflng over, as it were, a series.
of lofty corridors in which the palms and the lesser trees flourish.
The gloom that there prevails is rarely lightened by the direct ray,^
of the sun, except here and there through the gap left by the down
fall of one of the huge trunks that now lies rotting on the ground.
Nor is the silence that reigns often broken, except by the cooing of
the fruit-pigeons overhead or by the rushing flight of the hornbiU
startled from its repose. Hero the steady blast of the trade is nc^
longer felt and is only perceptible in the movements of the foliage-
6f the tallest trees. Yet there is little in such a scene that would
strike the mind of tho merely sesthetic lover of nature. Flowers he-
rarely sees : they are only to be found where the sunlight can reach
thera in the partially cleared spaces in the raidst of the forest, or on
the sides of ravines, or along the coasts. On the other hand, how-

BOTANICAL NOTES. 285
¦ever, he cannot fail to be impressed by the luxuriance and magnifi-
¦cence ofthe vegetation in this conservatory of Nature.
Under such conditions the palms flourish. The Garyota, the
¦"kisu" palm, numerous areca-palms, withthe tree-fern, give the
character to the lesser vegetation. Huge climbing stems, such as the
"droau,'' the "aligesi" (Aleurites?), the " nakia " (Uvarla), the
" awi-sulu " (Lyonsia) lie in coils on the ground and rising vertically
reach the lower branches of the trees some fifty to a hundred feet
overhead. The large purple papilionaceous flowers of the " droau "
sometimes strew the ground at the bases of the tallest trees. If the
forest be situated on a hill-side, the slope is clothed by Selaginellce
which often display in the midst of their dark -green foliage pretty
•bleached fronds that form a striking contrast to the prevailing hue.
Mosses, small ferns, and fungi, such as the massive expansions of
Pohjporus and the more delicate plates of Ilexagona apiaria and
others, conceal in some degree the unsightliness of the decaying log.
A drapery of lycopods and of trailing and climbing ferns, such as
Trichomanes and Lygonia more or less completely invests the lower
portions of the trunks of the larger trees. Seventy or eighty feet
overhead the wide-spreading fronds of the birds-nest fern (Asplenium
nidus) appear half-suspended in mid-air, as they project from
their point of attachment to the tree. Lower down the trunk, the
handsome aroid Epipremnum may be observed. Epiphytic orchids
form no marked feature in this forest-scene, preferring, as they do,
those situations where the direct sunlight can reach them, as at the
s.'oast and on the sides of ravines. Terrestrial orchids, however, with
inconspicuous and sombre-coloured flowers thrive in the gloom and
moisture of the forest.
The larger trees, to whicii I have not yet referred, often attain
a height of 150 feet and over. Here the banyan and more than one
species of Canarium including the " ka-i" or Solomon Island Almond
tree, together with a Ratonia,, (_ " nekale "), a Vitcv "(fasala"), the
" katari " (Calophyllum) before mentioned, and numerous ficoid trees
known to the natives as the "uri,' ene "ilirao,"and tho "nie," figure
amongst the more conspicuous of the forest trees. Many of them
possess at the bas3 of the trunk large buttresses or flanges, which, as
¦in the " tobu," " ilimo," " nie," and " maranato " ( Sapoiacea ? ), may
rise twelve to fifteen feet up the trunk and extend some twenty
-feet away along the ground. Some of the ficoid trees throw off at
a height of from twenty to thirty feet, large flange-like buttresses.

286 BOTANICAL NOTES.
which, on reaching the ground, form natural arches. These lofty
trees, as I have already remarked, meet together overhead to form
a leafy screen, which, whilst it excludes the direct rays of the sun,.
admits and confines both the moisture and the heat. This con
servatory of nature contains within its own precincts the conditions.
for its preservation. Here the young tree grows up, its safety
ensured, until at length it becomes a pillar in the edifice in which it
was itself reared. The open character of the wood aud the absence
of scrub and undergrowth, more especially on level ground, have
often been a cause of surprise to me. I have often walked without
impediment through the gloomy corridors of such a forest, brushing
past the huge trunks of the tallest trees, and winding in and out
amongst the palms that number as many years in age as their
giant compeers count decades.
On first treading in such a forest, the visitor is much impressed
by the imposing appearance and size of the banyans and the
buttress-trees. With mingled feelings of awe and pity he will per
ceive that between these monarchs of the forest there is waged an
unequal struggle, in which the huge buttress-tree always succumbs
to the rough embraces of its foe. Ho will observe all the stages in
the struggle. Here the buttress-tree may be seen in its prime, hut
in part embraced at its lower part by the tightly clasping offshoots
of the young banyan. Further on, in the midst of the interlacing
columns of the banyan, the buttress-tree may be seen partially
strangled. Dry rot has attacked its trunk reaching almost to the core,
so that a sheath-knife sinks readily up to the handle in its substance;
yet, far overhead the wide-spreading branches of this forest potentate
are covered with green foliage, and still wave defiantly in. the trade.
In the prolonged contest the buttress-tree is dying hard, and in fact
it is the stout investing trunks of the banyan that alone hold its
victim erect. Near by may be another banyan of larger size and
presenting the appearance of a maze of columns whicii may cover
an area thirty to forty feet across. Its victim has long since dis
appeared, and a hollow in the centre of the maze of stems alone
marks the former situation of the huge buttress-tree.
What finer or more impressive simile could be employed to illus
trate the gradual degeneration and final downfall of a nation under
the choking influences of vice, corruption, luxury, and misgovernment?
A mighty forest tree is slowly strangled by the caresses of an insidi
ous creeper. With advancing decay its tottering stem is alone sup-

BOTANICAL NOTES. 28T
ported by the tightening grasp of its foe. Yet its higher branches
retain their vitality to the last ; and when the end comes, its ashes.
add fertility to the soil and vigour to the growth of its destroyer.
It is not to be surprised that this battle of the trees should be
included in the mythical lore of some of the inhabitants of tho Pacific
islands. Dr. George Turner, in his recent work entitled " Samoa, a
hundred years ago and long before," gives the following legend of
the banyan  "A report reached Samoa that the trees of
Fiji had fought with the Banian tree, and that it had beatea
them all. On this the Tatangia (Acacia laiirifolia) and another tree
went off from Samoa in two canoes to fight the Fijian champion.
They reached Fiji, went on shore, and there stood the Banian tree.
' Where is the tree,' they inquired, ' which has conquered all tho
trees?' 'I am the tree,' said the Banian. Then said the Tatangia,,
' I have come to fight with you.' ' Very Good, let us fight,' replied
the Banian. They fought. A branch of the Banian tree fell, but
the Tatangia sprung aside and escaped. Another fell — ditto, ditto — ¦
the Tatangia. Then the trunk foil. The Tatangia again darted
aside and escaped unhurt. On this the Banian tree ' buried its eyes
in the eartii ' and owned itself conquered."
An ascent to the .summit of the Faro Island  Ln making
an ascent to the higher districts of this island, which attains an
elevation of about 1900 feet above the sea, a little may be learned
perhaps of the vertical distribution of the coast flora in this portion
of the Solomon Group. The cycad (Gycas circinalis) grows most.
frequently just within the trees that immediately line the beach and
may be often observed at all heights up to 400 feet above the sea,
but it is not usually found at greater elevations.^ The following
large trees commonly occur on tho hill-slopes up to an elevation of
a thousand feet, the "fasala" (Vitex), the "toa" (Elwocarpus), the
" opi-opi," the " ka-i " (Canarium), the "katari" (Calophyllum), and
others ; whilst the palms such as the fan-palm (Licuala), the Caryota
(" eala"), the "kisu" (Pinanga) and the areca.s, fill up the intermediate
ground, the fan-palm growing in great numbers and often mono-
pohsing the slope.^ The smaller trees, of a height usually of sixty
1 At Treasury Island I found a solitary cycad at a height of a thousand feet above the
sea. As it was in the vicinity of a plantation of sago palms, it is probable that it had been
planted by the natives who employ the fruits for medicinal purposes.
2 This fan-palm, the "firo" of the natives, was in 1884 only represented in Treasury by a.
single individual.which had been brought a few years before from BougainviUe, where the>
leaves are employed in making a conical hat that is commonly worn.

-288 BOTANICAL NOTES.
•or seventy feet, which are more frequently observed during the lower
Jialf of the ascent, are, a species of Cerbera ("anumi"), the "kunuka'^
(Gnetum), the "palinoromus" (Couihovia), the " poporoko," and others;
whilst on the hill-slopes belovv' the elevation of 500 feet the small
-conifer Gnetum Gnemon ("meri-«'a") may be commonly seen. In
three different localities, at elevations of between 1,000 and 1,100
feet above the sea, I came upon brakes of fine bamboos (Schizosta-
¦chyum?) 35 to 40 feet in length which are employed as fishing-poles
by the natives. This bamboo, both in Treasury and Faro Islands,
does not ajopear to occur below this height ; whilst in the Shortland
Islands, although found at a lower elevation, it selects the higher
regions of the island.
Above a thousand feet, many of the trees and palms so frequent
below become less common or disappear. The fan-palm (Licuala)
which grows in such numbers in the lower levels did not come
under my notice above this elevation. On account of the absence
of large trees near the summit, the lesser vegetation receives more
of the sun's rays ; and thus at 1,G00 feet above the sea the alpinias,
-«uch as the " vitoko " and the " kokuru ", re-appear, plants which
usually abound in the lower levels in all open situations, as on the
¦banks of streams. For the same reason, we find near the summit
of the island at elevations of 1,GOO to 1,700 feet the tall com
posite shrub, Wedelia bifiora, which is one of the commonest of
the plants that grow at the margin of the beach. On account
of this absence of large trees, and the consequent increased ex
posure to the sun's rays, the smaller trees with conspicuous flowers
find a congenial situation at this elevation : here are found the
species of Dolicholobium ("lowasi"), which is common on the
banks of the streams in the lower levels, the Fagrcea Berteriana
("bubulata") which grows also at the coast, a wild nut-meg tree
(Myristica), a species of Ilarpullia (" wawaupoko), the "pakuri"
(Eugenia), the "baimoloi" and others. In these higher regions
tree-ferns grow to a height of thirty feet; and here the aieca-
p,alms, " momo " and " niga-torulo," are also found. Here flourishes
the Gleichenia, a fern which docs not usually grow at elevations
under 700 feet above the sea, and which is represented by two
common species: it is the "sinimi" of the natives who, as, I
have already remarked, work the fine strips of its vascular tissue
into armlets which they commonly wear. Near the summit and
all down the slopes is found a .species of Begonia, a genus, as I

BOTANICAL NOTES. 289
am informed by Baron von Mueller, not before recorded from islands
¦east of New Guinea.-^ A dense gro wth of the trailing stems of a
Freycinetia and of ferns clothes the rocky sides of the highest peak,
which is almost bare of trees. Here however I found a new germs
of the Pandanaceoe, which, like some other pandanus trees, is
known to the natives as " sararang." It grows to a height of fifty
feet, and was only observed by me on the highest peak of the
island and for two or three hundred feet below. It has a very
oonspicuous white "branching female spadix," three to four feet in
length ; and I learn from Professor Oliver that the same or a near
ally of it, though not in a condition to describe, was collected by
Signor Beccari in Jobi Island off the north-west coast of New
Guinea. Jhe coast vegetation of the larger islands. . . . It is in the
•coasts of such an island as Treasury or Faro Island, where the
strictly littoral and more inland plants become intermingled, that the
Solomon Island vegetation in some degree redeems its character.
Here the prevailing sombreness and inconspicuous inflorescences give
place to bright hues and to a variety of flowers. Here are seen the
handsome white flowers of a rubiaceous tree, a species of Biklcia ;
the yellowish flowers and bright red fruits of Hai-pullia cupanioides
¦(" koloa ") ; the crimson flowers of an Erythrina (perhaps indica) ;
the yellow flowers of Ccesalpinia Nuga ; the large pods of Pongamia
glabra ; and the fruits of a wild nutmeg (Myristica, sp.). Hernandia
pellata and Clerodendron inerme may also be here found. The con
spicuous flowers of Hibiscus tiliaceus, Thespesia populnea, and of
other littoral trees such as Cerbera Odollam and Guettarda speciosa,
add their brightness to the scene. Amongst the foliage of the trees
twine a species of Ipomcea with handsome white flowers, and here
are seen the wax-like flowers of more than one species of asclepiad
(Hoya, sp). Orchids, some of striking beauty, hang from the
trunks of the trees and form a conspicuous feature in the scene.
Among them occur species of Dendrobium, Coeloyyne, Gleisosioma,
¦etc. The littoral vegetation, as exhibited in a coralislet. . . . I will
take the case ofone of the many wooded islets that have been formed
on the coral reefs by the action of the waves. On the weather side
of such an islet, which may be termed its growing edge, the vegeta-
^ A species of Ophiorrhiza is in Treasury Island usually associated with this Begoni i and
is found at all elevations. T

:i90 BOTANICAL NOTES.
tion is scanty, and there are but few trees. A binding weed and
more than one species of Ipomcea loosely cover a surface composed
almost entirely of calca- eous sand, broken shells, coral debris, and
pumice pebbles ; and it is on such an unproductive soil that two or
more species of Pandanus and Casuarina angustifolia flourish.
Here at the margin of the beach may be seen in profusion the tall
composite shrub, Wedelia bifiora, and another coramon shrub, Sccevola
.Koinigii. Two climbing peas prefer the sandy soil in this situation,
one with yellow flowers, Vigna lutea, and the other with pink
flowers, Canavalia turgida ; whilst a dense growth of Flagellaria
indica often conceals from view any rocky slope overlooking tha
beach. Just within the line of vegetation immediately bordering the
beach, the following trees commonly occur, Ochrosia parviflora
(" pokosola "), Heritiera littoralis (" pipilusu ''), Terminalia catappa
(" saori "), Gycas circinalis, and one or raore species of Pandanus..
Here also a species of Grinum (the " papau " of the natives) and the-
Tacca pinnatifida (" mamago ") may be usually found. (I hoped to
have referred to the ferns of such a coral islet ; but my endeavours
to obtain any information of my collection have been unavailing).
On the lee side of such an islet, which is the oldest portion of its-
surface, the vegetation is much denser and of a different character.
Here, the trees form a thick belt, their branches overhanging the
rising tide. Those of most frequent occurrence are, Barringtonia
speciosa, Calophyllum inophyllum. Hibiscus tiliaceus, Thespesia^
p>opulne:i, Guettarda speciosa, Morinda citrifolia, Cerbera Odollam,.
Pongamia glabra, Tournefortia argentea, and other The trunks of
the larger trees often lean over the beach or lie partly procumbent on
the sand. Amongst the foliage of these coast trees, many of wliich
have large conspicuous flowers, climbing asclepiads of the genus
Hoya with their equally conspicuous flowers may be frequently
observed. Orchids, often of considerable beauty, hang from the
reclining trunks of the trees. Here, as in the case of the coasts-
of the large islands, we perceive how pleasant is the contrast which
the littoral vegetation presents when compared with the gloomy and
apparently flowerless forests, where the tallest trees possess but an
inconspicuous greenish inflorescence.
In the interior of such a coral islet, huge banyans and other trees
having wide-spreading buttresses are to be found. Many of them
attain a height of 150 feet and upwards, and afford a home to num
bers of fruit-eating pigeons which largely subsi.st on their fruits, and

BOTANICAL NOTES. 291
through -whose agency the interiors of coral islets are stocked with
these large trees. Conspicuous amongst tho trees is a species of
Canarium (the "ka-i " of the natives), the disgorged nuts of wiiich
frequently strew the ground beneath ; a banyan (Ficus) with large
oblong fruits and another species with small spherical fruits ; other
ficoid trees with large buttresses, such as the " uri " ; a species nf
Eugenia, probably a variety oi Eugenia jambos ; together with seveial
other trees.
This description of the vegetation of a coral islet brings me to
refer to the manner in which such an islet, which is usually of very
recent origin, has become stocked with its plants : and in so doing
I shall be treating of a very important matter, the oceanic dispersal of
plants. Fortunately for me, my notes and collections relating to this
subject had an increased value at the tirae of ray arrival in England,
and in this respect I have been able to accomplish one of the
principal aims of a young traveller, that of supplying trustworthy
materials to those engaged in the particular line of research to which
his notes and collections relate.^
The picturesquely wooded islets of these seas have been stocked
through two principal agencies. Winds and currents drift to their
shores the fruits and seeds of the littoral trees which ultimately
form the margin of the vegetation ; whilst the fruit pigeons disgorge
the seeds or fruits of those often colossal trees which occupy the
interior. I will first refer to the former of these agencies. Lines of vege
table drift, intermingled with floating pumice, are frequently obser
vable whilst cruising among the islands of the Solomon Group.
The floating fruits commonly found belong to the most familiar
littoral trees of this region, those of Barringtonia speciosa and
Galophyllum inophyllum being especially frequent ; and on more
than one occasion the solitary fruits of the former were noticed at
sea by Lieutenant Oldham and mvself at distances of from 130 to
150 miles to the southward of the group, being probably derived
from one of the islands of the New Hebrides to the eastward.
Other fruits or seeds occurring fi-equently in the drift are those of
Nipa fruticans and of two or more species of Pandanus; numerous
' Mr. Betting Hemsley was on the point of corapleting his report on the oceanic dispersal
of plants in connection with the Botany of the " Challenger "Expedition. Such of my collec
tions, as referred to his work, were placed at his disposal by Sir Joseph Hooker ; and ray
notes were incorporated in volume I. of the Botany of the " Challenger " (Part III, p, 309), ti>
which I must refer my readers who are more specially interested in this subject

292 BOTANICAL NOTES.
beans (species of Macuna, Canavalia, Dioclea), the long germinated
seeds of the mangrove (Rhizophora), an occasional cocoa-nut, the
cones of Casuarina equisetifolia, Terminalia catappa, Lumnitzera
coccinea, Guettarda speciosa, Ochrosia parviflora, Heritiera littoralis
and others.^
The foregoing seeds and seed-vessels with many others may be
observed washed up by the waves on the surface of the bare sandy
islets or sand-keys, which exhibit the flrst stage in the gi'owth of
those picturesquely wooded coral islets that are ultimately formed
on the reefs. On such a sand-key, not raore than sorae 25 or 30
yards across, I have counted as raany as 30 different kinds of seeds
and fruits, all collected together in the centre, which was only
washed over at spring-tides. One of the first trees to establish
itself is the mangrove (Rhizophora), which by its reclaiming agency
adds to the area of the islet and enables other trees, such as Lum-
mtzera coccinea, to take up their abode. Pari passu with the sea
ward extension of the reef, the islet increases in size ; and in time
the winds and currents bring other fruits and seeds which germi
nate and form ultimately the belt of littoral trees bordering the
beach. In this manner Barringtonia speciosa, Galophyllum inophyl
lum, Thespesia populnea, Hibiscus tiliaceus, Cerbera odollam, Ochrosia
parviflora, Heritiera littoralis, Terminalia catappa, different species
of Pandanus, Casuarina equisetifolia, and Gycas circinalis with many
others referred to on a previous page, becorae established. It is
worthy of note that the fruits of the great majority of trees which
form the margin of the vegetation, whether on the lee or weather side
of such an islet, float in salt water.^ The small cones of the Casuarina
however, require a certain amount of drying before they can be
transported by the waves. The green fruits of the Gycas usually
sink in salt water ; but I found that one out of ten specimens
floated, an exceptional circumstance which sufficiently accounts for
the occurrence of Cycas circinalis on these coral islets.
Whilst through the agency of the winds and currents the waves
liave stocked the islet with its marginal vegetation, the fruit pigeons
liave been unconsciously stocking its interior with huge trees, that
liave sprung from the fruits and seeds they have transported in
their crops frora the neighbouring coasts and islets. Perched up in
' other fruits found floating were a second species of Calophyllum, a species of Gon-
j'hranda, Ilarpullia sp,, and some SciCaminecc.
- The results of some experiments I made are given ou page 305.

BOTANICAL NOTES. 29»
the branches of the trees, these birds disgorge the seeds they have
brought from other localities ; and the rjjected seeds and .'^eed-
vessels He strewn on the ground beneath. The soft and often fleshy
fruits, on which the fruit pigeons subsist, belong to numerous
species of trees. Some of them are as large even as a hen's egg, as
in the case of those of the species of Canarium (" ka-i ") which
have a pulpy exterior that is alone digested and retrdned by the
pigeon. The fruits of the banyans and other ficoid trees, which
with the Canarium are amongst the most conspicuous trees in the
interior of the coral islets, are apparently preferred by the fruit
pigeons, since they occur commonly in their crops. A species of
Eugenia cominon in the interior of these islets possesses fruits found
in the crops of these bird.s. Amongst other fruits and seeds on
which these pigeons sub.sist, and which they must transport from
one locality to another, are those of a species of Elceocarpus (" toa "),
a species of laurel (Litsea), a nutmeg (Myristica), an ylchras,^ one or
more species of Areca, and probably a species of Kentia. There is,
however, another bird common on these coral islets, the ground
pigeon Geophilus nicobaricus, known commonly as the Nicobar
pigeon, which transports seeds in its gizzard cavity that on account
of their hardness are not fed upon by the ordinary fruit pigeon
(Carpophaga). The peculiar structure of the gizzard, which is de
scribed on page 323, enables the Nicobar pigeon to crack seeds that
can only be broken by a sharp blow with a stone. I have found
inside this organ, the hard red seeds of a leguminous plant, very
probably Adenanthera pavonina, of which one seed is occasionally
found to be cracked. We may therefore consider that manj^ small
hard seeds and seed-vessels, which would be refused by the common
fruit pigeon of these islands, are transported from one locality to
another in the gizzard cavity of the Nicobar pigeon.
From the foregoing remarks it may be inferred that the pigeons
in these islands play a very important part in the dispersal of plants,
to which, as Mr, Betting Hemsley remarks in his report (page 313),
they have perhaps contributed more than any other animal. In the
Solomon Lslands the fruit pigeons, as dusk approaches, frequent the
islets on the coral reefs in great numbers, and from their unwilling
ness to leave their roosts in the trees they fall an easy prey to the
sportsman, In one afternoon, on one of the islets of Choiseul Bay,
liam indebted to Mr, Charles Moore of Sydney N,S,W., for the identiiication ot this
fruit. (Vide also "Journal and Proceedings of .the Boyal Society,, N.S.W,," XVIL, p. 22G.)

294 BOTANICAL NOTES.
57 birds fell to the guns of Lieutenant Heming and Lieutenant
Leeper ; and it is to these two officers that I am indebted for my
opportunities of collecting the fruits taken from the crops of these
pigeons. In drawing my botanical reraarks to a close, it may be fitting to
recall the more lasting impressions which I have received of the
vegetation of these islands ; and I raay do so in a very few words.
The characteristic features of the vegetation are to be found in the
number and variety of the areca palms ; in the abundance of the
alpinias, heliconias, and other scitamineous plants ; in the imposing
size and form of the banyans and the buttress trees ; and in the pro
fusion of the ferns. I have not previously dwelt upon the important
part which the ferns take in the vegetation of these islands, because
I had hoped to have heard something of my collection which I pre
sented to the British Museum eighteen months ago ; but, to my
great chagrin, I have been unable, after repeated application, to
learn anything concerning it. I may here state that ferns abound
everywhere; in moist and dry situations ; in sheltered and exposed
districts ; now decking the tree-trunks with their draperies, or con
cealing the unsightliness of the decaying log ; here covering the bare
slopes of some lofty hill-top, or clothing the surface of some treeless
tract. The tree-fern and the wide-spreading Angiopteris are to be
found on the banks of streams or in some inland dell. The former
avoids the coast, and occurs at all elevations up to 2000 feet and
over : it flourishes at the heads of valleys.
LIST OF PLANTS COLLECTED IN THE ISLANDS OF
BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS, SOLOMON GROUP,
DURING 1884.1

ANONACEiT!.
Uvaria, sp. . . vulgo " Nakia." A stout climber.
GUTTlFEEiE.
Ochrocai-pus ovalifolius, T. And v. 0 (Calysaccioii) tinctormm. Seem, t
vulgo " Kokoilo." A littoral tree about thirty feet high.
€alophyllum Inophyllum, L., vulgo " Bogoau."
1 1 am mainly indebted to the kindness of Professor Oliver for the list of the plants col
lected by me in the Solomon Islands, most of which were sent to Kew. The ferns are in the
British Museum, but I can learn nothing of them. Fortunately, the fungi were not included ;
and for a list of them I am indebted to Mr. Baker. Most of the orchids, and some of tho
asclepiads, were given bv me to Baron von Mueller, who intends to examine them in connec

LIST OF PLANTS. 295
<Jalophyllum sp. . . vulgo "Katari," Two tall trees apparently distin
guished by the size of the fruits. (Flowers not obtained.) A dark
resm oozes from the bark, which the natives burn in torches.
MALVACBJ3.
Hibiscus tiliaceus, L. : vulgo " Dakatako."
Thespesia populnea, Corr. : vulgo "Kai-knia."
STERCULl.VCEiE.
Ivleinhovia Hospita, L. : vulgo " Lafai."
Heritiera an H. littoralis, var. angustifolia? vidgo " Pipilusu."
TILlACEiE.
Triumfetta procumhens, Forst.
Elceocarpus sp. . . vulgo "Toa" A tree about seventy feet high, witli
conspicuous blue fruits, eaten by fruit-pigeons.

¦O.xalis corniculata, L.
¦Soulamea amara, .Lam.

OXALIDACBJi

SIMAEUBE^

EUTACEiE.

Evodia hortensis, Porst. : vulgo " Liik-a-luk."
liutacea (§ Toddaliee '! ). Detached leaves and flowers picked up from the
ground at the foot. of a tall forest tree. Flowers " 4-meri ; petala
imbricata libera ; stamina 4 libera, pet. alterna, ovarium liberum
integrum, 4-loc 1 " BURSEEACEiE.
€auarium sp. . . No flowers obtained. A tall forest tree, a hundred feet
and ujjwards in height. Vulgo -'Kai" Known as the Solomon
Island almond tree. The kernels aflord a common article of food in
August and September.
Canarium ? vulgo " Nie." A tree, with buttresses, a hundred feet high.
-Canarium? vulgo "Nie." Atall forest tree, with buttresses, 100 to 150
feet high. OLACINEiE.
¦Gomphandra sp. . . vulgo "Ninilo," or "Ningilo." A tree thirty to forty
feet high. Fruit eaten by wild pigs.
Lasianthera sp. . . nov? vulgo " .Porut olo." A tree sixty to seventy feet
high.
Olaoinea (dub) : vulgo " Poporoko." A tree sixty feet high, having a light
reddish wood, and a dark red sap.
¦tion with subsequent coUeotions. I take this opportunity of expressing my sense of the great
kindness he showed me with reference to my plant collections. To Signor Beccari I ara also
indebted. Owing to my inexperience in botanical collecting, the specimens were often in
adequate for descriptive and specific determination ; but my deficiencies will appear more ex
cusable when I state that I devoted my attention raore particularly to the trees. Professor
Oliver, however, informs me that, in spite of its defects, ray coUection gives an excellent
conceiition of the flora of the islands visited. '

29G LIST OF PLANTS.
CELASTEINE.E.
Salacia sp. . . nov i EHAMNACE.ID.
Colubrina asiatica, Bngn. AMPELIDE^.
Leea sambuciua, L. (A Gr. U.S. Expl. Expn.)
SAPINDACE^}.
Schmidelia aff". S. obovatae, A Gr. A littoral tree, thirty feet high.
Harpullia cupanioides, Roxb. : vulgo " Koloa." Littoral.
Sapindacea an aflF. HarpuUise ? vulgo "Wawau-poko." Growing 1400 feet
above the sea.
Ratonia sp. . . vulgo " Nekale." A forest tree, a hundred feet high aud
over, with inconspicuous buttresses.
Ratonia sp. . . vulgo " Nekale." A forest tree, a hundred feet high and
over, with buttresses. AK-ACARDIACE.a!.
Mangifera indica, L. ? vulgo " Faise." Mango tree, growing in plantations.
Fruit ripens in August. Height, thirty feet.
LBGUMmOS.S!.
Crotalaria quinqiiefolia, L. : vulgo " Kokila."
Desmodium umbellatum, .D.C, vulgo " Meki," forma steiiocnrpa.
Desmodium ormocarpoides, D.C. ?
Desmodium polycarpum D.C.
Erythrina : flowers only. E. monosperma perhaps, or E. indica.
Mucuua gigantea, D.C? vulgo "Faso-gasuga."
Mucuna sp. . . vulgo " Wassa-wassawa."
Mucnna sp. . .
Papilionacea (dub) ; vulgo " Droau." A stout climber on forest trees, witb
large purple flowers.
Canavalia turgida. Grab.
Vigna lutea, A. Gray.
Pongamia glabra. Vent. 1 vulgo " Ausapo."
Sophora tomentosa, L.
Cfesalpinia Nuga, Ait.
Adenanthera Pavonina, L. (probably). Seeds only obtained.
Leucsena sp. . . ? ? vulgo "Gehala." A tree thirty to forty feet high.
CHRYSOBALANEJ!,
Parinarium laurinum, A. Gr. : vulgo "Tita." A tree about sixty feet high.
From tbe fruit is obtained a resin used by the natives for caulking
the seams of their canoes. E0SACB2B.
Rubus tilaceus, Sm. COM PEET ACE.E.
Terminalia Catappa, L. : vulgo " Saori." Seeds eaten by the natives.
Lumnitzera coccinea, W. and Am.

LIST OF PLANTS. 297
JiyETACE.iE.
Eugenia sp. . . vulgo "Pakuri." A tree thirty feet high, growino- 1600.
feet above the sea.
Eugenia clusisefolia, A. Gray (allied to E, Jambolana).
Eugenia sp. . . vulgo " Tsugi." A littoral tree.
Eugenia, aff. E. Richii, A. Gr. : vulgo "Malapo." A tree eighty feet high,.
with buttresses, growing on coral islets.
Barringtonia speciosa, F.
Barringtonia cf B. edulis, Seem, and B, excelsa, Huds. (New Hebrides) :
vulgo "Borolong." A tree thirty to thirty-five feet in hei-ht, grow
ing in plantations. Flowers gathered into very conspicuous pendent
yeUow spikes, two and a half feet long. Kernel of fruit edible,
Barringtonia aff. B. racemosse, Bl. : vulgo "Misioko." A tree forty feet
high, growing near coast.
Barringtonia ? ? vulgo " Sioko." A tree fifteen to twenty feet high, growing
in plantations. Fruit edible. "^
MELASTOMACEJi!.
Medinilla sp. . . A clirabling plant around the trunks of trees.
LTTHEACEiE.
Pemphis acidula, Forst. CUCtrEBITACE.E.
Cuoumis Melo, L,, forma? AEALIACEJi).
Panax fruticosum, L.
Plerandra, near Pickeringii, A. Gray : vulgo " Fo."
Arahacea (dub ?) : vulgo " Buboho." A littoral tree, fifteen feet high.
EUBIACE/E.
Hedyotis Aurioularia, L.
Ophiorrhiza affl 0. cantonensis, Hance.
Ophiorrhiza sp. . .
Dolicholobium aff. D. longissimo an D. longissiraum, Seem, forma raacran-
thus : vulgo " Lowasi." A tree fifty feet high and under, common
along the sides of streams.
Guophila reniformis, C. and S.
Morinda citrifolia, L. : vulgo " Ui-ati."
Guettarda speciosa, L. : vulgo " Orgoi,"
Myrmecodia salomonensis, Becc. A new species separated from M. samo-
ensis, Becc. Noticed commonly on tall mangrove trees bordering
the sides of streams in the lower part of their courses. The swollen
tuberous stem measures as much as one and a half feet in length,
and is usually occupied by many ants.
Hydnophytum longistylum, Becc. Found on coast trees. Those I exam
ined contained no ants, hut, instead, a few cockroaches. On the
outside of one of them 1 found a crab.
Hydnophytum Guppyanum, Becc. A new species. Noticed commonly on
the tall mangrove trees bordering- the sides of streams in the lower
part of their courses. The swollen tuberous portion of the stem has
a characteristic scaphoid form ; those I examined being nearly

298 LIST OF PLANTS.
full of dirty rain-water, and almost free from ants ; a few cockroaches
occurred in all ; some of them are oue and a half feet io length.
{Hydnophytum inerme, a specimen 1 obtained from Ugi Island at the east
end of the group in 1882, and identified by Mr. C. Moore of Sydney.)
Psychotria sp. . . vulgo " Popotu."
Psychotria, aff. P. Forsterinse, A. Gr.
Bikkia sp. . . A littoral tree, twenty feet high, with large handsome white
flowers. GOMPOSITiB.
Vernonia cinerea. Less,
Adenostemma viscosi-im, Forst.
Blumea aft. B. glandulosse, D.C.
Eclipta alba, Hassk.
Bid ens pilosa, L.
Wedelia bifiora, D.C. A very common littoral plant, but in one instance
I found it 1600 feet above the sea.
GOODEKlACEJi.
Scoevola Koenigii, Vahl. vulgo " Nauo." A very common littoral shrub.
SAPOTACBiE.
Sapotacea? Seeds only obtained.
Sapotacea (dub) : vulgo " Maranato.'' A forest tree, a hundred feet high
with large plank-like buttresses. APOCYNEJE.
Ochrosia parviflora, Hensl : vulgo " Pokosola."
Gchrosia aff. 0. (Lactaria) cal\ carpse (Miq.). Tree 30 feet high.
Ochrosia sp. . . vulgo " Bararai." A tree 30 to 40 feet high.
Cerbera Odollam, Goertn : vulgo " Lukapau."
Cerbera sp. . . vulgo "Anoumi." A tree about 50 feet high, growing
away from the coast.
Lyonsia??: vulgo "Awi-sulu." A stout climber: its bark supplies the
fibres used for making fishingdincs. ASCLEPIADE^.
Hoya australis, Br.? (H. bicarinata, A. Gr.) forma: vulgo " Alulu."
Hoya sp, . . (narrow-leaved species).
Hoya Guppyi, Oliv. sp. nov. Ramulis ultimis parce hirtellis dense
glabratis, folds petiolatis coriaceis late ellipticis breviter acuminatis
cuspidatisve base late rotundatis subcordatisve supra glabris, suhtus
prEecipue versus basin plus minus hirtellis, umbellis pedunculatis,
pedunculis pedicellisque glabris, calyce parvo tubo corolloe 2-4-plo
breviore 5-partito lobis ovatis obtusis ciliolatis, corolla rotata lobis
patentibus ovatis v. late ovato-lanceolatis acutatis medio depressis
intus hirtellis extus glabris sinubus reflexis, coronse foliolis cartila-
gineo-incrassatis disco ovato lanceolatis concavis obtusis basi angus-
tatis dorso profunde excavatis marginibus lateralibus utrinque cari-
natis, folliculis subteretibus parce hirtellis.
Folia 3-1-41 poll, longis, 2i-2i. poll, latis ; petiole hir-
tello i-f poll, longo; umbella 10-14 flora; pedunculo 2 poll. loni;o.

LIST OF PLANTS. 299
pedioellis l-li poll, longis. Corolla 1-1| poll, diam, rubro-pur-
purea. Follioula 8-9 poll, longa.
Faro Island : Bougainvdle Straits : " A climber on coast
trees." LOGANIACEiE.
€outhovia, nearly allied to C Seemanni A.Gr., if not a variety with inflor
escence throughout tawny-puberulous. Vulgo "Palinoromus," A
forest tree 70 feet high.
Fagrsea Berteriana A.Gr. ? vulgo " Bubulata."
Fagreea morindsefolia, Bl. forma. Vulgo " Kirofe."
Fagrsea sp. . . vulgo " MamuU." A tree twenty-five feet high.
BOEAGINB^,
Tournefortia argentea, L. f. vulgo " Diave."
Cordia subcordata, Lam.
Gordia? (Corollas picked off ground.)
CONVOLVULACEiE,
Ipomsea denticulata, Chy.
Ipomaja (Calonyction) grandiflora, Lam ?
Ipomsea pes-caprse. Roth.
Ipomaea sp. . . SoLANACEiE.
¦Solanum repandum, F ? vulgo " Kirkami." )
•Solanum repandum, F ? vulgo " Kobureki." J
Natives distinguish these two plants, whioh grow in their planta
tions, as shrubs 4 to 6 feet high. Fruits edible when cooked.
¦Solanum vitiense, Seeni. vulgo " Koriele,"
Physalis angulata, L. SCROPHULAEISTBiB.
Vandellia Crustacea, Bth. CYETANDREiE.
¦Cyrtandra v. gen. nov. aff. ACANTHAOEiE.
Adenosma coerulea, R.Br. ?
Beea Commersoni, R.Br, fide F. von. Mueller.
Hemigraphis reptans, T. And.
Tiemigraphis reptans, forma.
Ruellia sp. R. arvensis. S, Moore var? v. sp. nov. aff. Growing beside a
stream, 1| feet high, with light-yellow flowers.
Acanthus ebracteatus, V.
Eranthemum variabile, Br. var. ? Very common in the waste ground of
plantations and by the sides of paths : IJ to 2 feet in height.
VEEBENACE/E.
Premna obtusifoha, R.Br, an P. taitensis Sehr ? vulgo " Demoko." A
littoral tree 12 to 15 feet in height. '

300 LIST OF PLANTS,
Vitex an V. acuminata, Br.? vulgo "Fasala." A large forest tree, a.
hundred feet and over in height, with small buttresses, supplying
wood for paddles and canoes.
Clerodendron inerme, Br.
Verbenacea dubia ? vulgo " Au-au." A tree fifty to sixty feet high.
LABIATiU.
Mosohosma polystachyum : Bth : vulgo " Pipituan."
Ocymum sanctum, L: vulgo " Kiramma.''
Plectranthus v. Coleus ? vulgo " Momauri." Leaves, when crushed, give a.
reddish-brown stain, and used for staining the skin. Height 1 J feet..
Plectranthus parviflorus, W. AMAEANTACE^.
Amarantus melancholicus, L.
Cyathula prostrata, Bl. PIPERACE^.
Piper Betel var. (Chavica Siriboa, Miq.) vulgo " Kolu."
MYEISTICACE.E.
Myristica sp. . . vulgo " Ito-ito," Coast tree fifteen feet in height.
Myristica sp. . . vulgo "Baimoloi." A tree fifty feet high, growing IGOO"
feet above the sea. I.AtJRACE/E.
Litssea sp. . . vulgo " Pitoponkano." A tall forest tree.
HEENANDIACEjE.
Hernandia peltata, Meiss : vulgo "Koli."
EUPHORBIACE.E.
Euphorbia pilulifera, L.
Euphorbia Atota, Forst.
Phyllanthus ( § Emblica) sp., allied to P, baBobotryoides, Wall? vulgo-
" Mefuan." A tree 15 to 20 feet high.
Mallotus tOisefolius, M. Arg. M. aouminatus, Juss? Tree twenty feet high,
growing at the coast on the border of swampy ground.
Macaranga sp. . . vulgo " Balako." A tree forty to fifty feet high, with
ringed trunk.
Aleurites? vulgo "Aligesi." A stout climber on forest trees. Kernels of
fruit edible.
Sapium indicum, Willd? vulgo "Aligesi." A tree seventy feet high, grow
ing on the verge of a mangrove swamp.
Excsecaria Agallocha, L.
CodisBum sp. . . (^)
Codiaeum variegatum, A. Juss : vulgo "Tiatakush."
UETICE./E.
Trema (Sponia) sp. . . : vulgo "Kio." A tree seventy to eighty feet high.

LIST OF PLANTS. 301
Ficus nr F. theophrastoides. Seem 1 vulgo " Tutubolo." Growing in plan
tations . Probably 10 to 12 feet high.
Ficus sp. . . vulgo " Uri." A tree eighty to ninety feet high, with buttress
roots. Growing on coral islets.
Ficus sp. . . vulgo " Sii." A banyan growing at or near the coast and ou
coral islets. Multiple trunks, some cylindrical and erect, others
plankdike and arching. Height eighty or ninety feet and over.
Ficus sp. . . vulgo " Chim." A banyan often growing on the crest of in
land ridges. The multiple trunks are all cylindrical and erect, and
individually smaller than in the case of the Sii : they .are also more
closely arranged. Height a hundred and fifty feet and over.
Ficus ? vulgo " Ilimo." A tall forest tree over a hundred feet in height,
with magnificent buttresses.
Artocarpus incisa, L. There appears to be but one variety of the Bread
fruit tree in the islands of Bougainville Straits, The fruit is
stalked, seedless, and rough externally, the leaves pinnatisect, wiiti
smooth surfaces. Fruit ripens in August. Vulgo " Balia."
Artocarpus sp. . . vulgo " Tafati." Perhaps a variety of the Jack-fruit Tree
(A, integrifolia). Sixty feet high. Fruit larger than the common bread
fruit, but more irregular in shape : seeded : edible.
Fleurya interrupta. Gaud. (F. spicata, var.)
Elatostemma integrifolium, Wedd. ?
Elatostemma ? vulgo " Obu-obu."
Procris integrifolia, Don ? ?
Pellionia sp. . .
Leucosyke an L. corymbulosa ? Coast tree fifteen feet high.
Pipturus velutinus, Wedd? v. P. argenteus? vulgo "Dihpoa," A trco
thirty to fifty feet high ; trunk partially ringed ; aerial roots.
CONIFERS.
Gnetum Gnemon, L. vulgo " Mariwa."
Gnetum sp. . . : vulgo " Kunuka." A tree sixty feet high, prominently
ringed. Kernels of fruits eaten by the natives.
OASUARINE.^.
Casuarina angustifolia F. ORCHIDB.(E.
Dendrobium hispidum, Rich, (fide F. v. Mueller).
Dendrobium sp. . . near D. dactylodes, R. fil ?
Coelogyne sp. . .
Cleisostoma sp. . . SCITAMINEM.
Alpinia sp. . . vulgo " Karu."
Alpinia sp. . . vulgo " Vitoko,"
Alpinia sp. . . vulgo " Konkoku,"
Costus or Alpinia sp . . vulgo " Makisa."
Alpinia Boia, Seem 1 v. sp. aff. vulgo " Pai-yang-pipiula."
Eiedelia curviflora, Oliv? vulgo "Kokuru."
Canna indica, L,? vulgo "Sati."
Maraiitacea aff. Phrynio? vulgo " SinoiU." Flowers in two collateral pairs
in each spathe with linear bracts between the pairs. Ovary shortly

302 LIST OF PLANTS.
stipitate, ovule erect. Fruit 3docular, cells 1-seeded, seeds witb
crustaceous muricate testa.
Heliconia ? vulgo " Kiari."
Clinbg-yne grandis Bth and Hook ? (near C dichotoma and' affs) vulgo-
" Nini."
Scitaminea (dub) : vulgo " Temuli." A plant 1 to li feet high growing
in the waste ground of plantations. The roots have medicinal pro
perties, according to the accounts of the natives, and they have a.
yellow juice whioh is used for staining,
Scitaminea (dubia) : vulgo " Nakia : " a wild ginger.
AMABTLLIDB.iE.
Crinum sp. . . vulgo " Papau." Grows near the beach. Heiglit four feet,
Curculigo sp. . vulgo " Bulami." Growing 2 to 2^ feet high on the banks-
of streams. LILIACE^.
Cordyline sp. . . vulgo "Dendiki." Tree twenty feet high; growing near
the coast, COMMELYNACEjE,
Commeh'na nud .flora, L. DIOSCOREiB.
Dioscorea sativa, L. ? vulgo " Alapa." JUNCACB^.
Flagellaria indica, L. var. TACCACEiB.
Tacca pinnatifida, Forst. : vulgo "Mamago." The natives do not appear to-
make use of the arrowroot-like starch obtainable from the tubers.
PANDANACEiE.
Pandanacea : genus novum,^( ^ flowers ouly and leaf collected). The only
locality where I found it was the summit of Faro Island, where it grows
to a height of fifty feet, and has along white female branching spadix,
three to four feet in length. The same, or a near ally, was obtained
by Signor Beccari in Jobi Island, off New Guinea. ( Vide page 289,)-
The natives distinguish several species of Pandanus trees, of which I
was only able to obtain the fruit. The "darashi" "sararang," and "pota,"
grow at the coast, and have a height of from thirty to forty feet. The
" darashi " has narrow leaves, and, if the ground is not rocky, aerial roots
are olten absent : the fruit is smaller than that of the two other littoral
pandanus trees. The " sararang " has broad leaves, and always aerial roots :
the fruit is often more than a foot in diameter. The "pota" has broad
leaves, with contracted acuminate apices, two inches long : the fruit is about
a foot in diameter : aerial roots are always present, and rise often fiftecu
1 1 learn from Professor Oliver that Count Solius confirms the generic distinctne s.

LIST OF PLANTS. 303

feet from the ground. The segments of these pandanus trees all contain
edible kernels. The broad leaves of the " pota " are employed iu makiu"-
mats. . . . There is another pandanus tree, the "samala" of the natives,
which often grows away from the coast, as on the banks of streams : it has.
an erect, stout trunk, thirty-fiva to forty leet high, without aerial roots,
aud does not branch.

Freycinetia sp.
Freycinetia sp.
Nipa fruticans.

PALMACEiE.

Cyrtostachys sp. . . vulgo " Sensisi," Growing up to fifty feet high on the-
banks of streams.
Palmacea dub. (cf. Drymophlorus) : vulgo " Kisu.'' Growing seventy to
eighty feet high. The tough sheathing ,at the bases of the branches
is employed for making the native dishes.
Pinanga sp. . . vulgo " Kisu " : conf. the " Kisu '' above. Growing up ta
seventy or eighty feet high.
Caryota sp, . . vulgo "Eala." Growing up to fifty feet high.
Licuala sp. . . vulgo " Firo." Grows up to thirty-five or forty feet in
height. More common on volcanic soils. Absent from Treasury
Island, with the exoeption of one imported tree. Said to be very
numerous in the large adjacent island of Bougainville, the leaves
being there used in making conical hats.
Palmacea dub. : vulgo " Poamau." Grows up to seventy or eighty feet
high. Its fruit, whioh is eaten by the women, is said to have a
stimulant effect like the betel-nut. Its wood supplies the material
for spears.
Areca sp, . . vulgo " Momo." Grows up to thirty-five or forty feet high.
Small fruits (i inch) sessile ou a branching stalk.
Aroca sp. , . vulgo " Niga-torulo," or " Torulo." Grows up to thirty-five
or forty feet high. Fruits larger (1 — 1|- inch) sessile, and gathered
thickly together on an undivided stalk.
Areca sp. . . vulgo " Niga-solu," Grows up to fifty feet high. Fruits
(1 — 11 inch) sessile, gathered thickly together on an undivided
stalk,
[Note. — The three kinds of areca palms just mentioned aro very com
mon on tho low ground at the foot of hills. They all have a general
resemblance, and their fruits are often chewed in lieu of " betel-nuts."
They are distinguished from eaoh other readily by the size and mode of
attachment of the fruits, and by the number of ribs on the lateral pinnae.]
Areca sp. . . vulgo " Poamau," Growing up to eighty feet high.
Areca sp. . . vulgo " Au-Au." Grows up to twelve feet high. Aerial roots
rising from stem l-i- feet above the ground.
Areca sp. . . vulgo '• Olega." The betel-nut palm of the Solomon Islands.
Planted by the natives in the vicinity of their villages. Height up
to thirty feet,
Sagus sp, . . vulgo " Bia," "Nami," Height up to sixty feet. Dry situa
tions. AE0IDE.3E.
Schizmatoglottis sp. . . vulgo " Kuraka," Growing wild along the banks
of streams. The natives make a savoury vegetable broth of the
leaves and unopened spathes.

304 LIST OF PLANTS.
Fpipremnum cf. E. mirabile, Sch. Fouud on trees.
¦Scindapsus sp. . . vulgo " Kurricolo." Grows on sandy soil near the coast.
Pothos ? CYPBEACEiE.
Cypcrus (Mariscus phleoides, Nees). Height two to two and a half feet.
Cyperus canescens, Vahl, .Height two feet.
Cyperus (Mariscus umbellatus, V.). Height one foot.
Kyllinga monocephala, Rottb. Six to eight inches high.
Mapauia sp. . . Three feet high. GRAMINEjE,
Eleusine indica, Gsertu.
Panicum (Digitaria) saiiguinale, L.
„ radicans, Retz. ?
„ carinatum, Presi.
„ neurodes, Soh.
Peimisetum (Gymuothrix Thouarsii Beauv. ? ). Also
Pennisetum macrostachys, Trin. (fide F. v. Mueller) : vulgo " Orsopa."
Growing iu waste ground of plantations to a height of eight or nine
feet.
¦Coix Lachryma, L. , vulgo Ken-ken." The natives do not appear to make
use of tiie seeds as beads. Growing in the waste ground of
plantations.
PoUinia obtusa, Munro ?
-Schizostachyum ? ? A bamboo usually found at elevations of 1000 or 1100
feet above the sea. The canes grow to a length of thirty -five to
forty feet, and are used as fishing-rods. MUSCI.
¦Gctoblepharum (Leucophanes) squarrosum, Brid.
HBPATICE.
Marchantia linearis, L. and L. ? FUNGI.
Agaricus (perhaps moUi:!, Schff.).
„ (Inocybe) maritimus, Fr.
Hygrophorus metapodius, Fr. prox,
Lentinus submembranaceus, B.
„ dactyliophorus. Lev.
,, velutinus, F"r.
Polyporus (Mes.) xanthopus, Fr.
,, (Pleur.) affinis, Nees.
„ (Pleur,) luteus, Nees.
,, (Pleur.) lucidus, Fr.
„ (Placo.) australis Fr.
Hcxagona apiaria, Fr.
„ similis, B.
Cladoderris dendritic;i, Fr
Thelephora lamellata, B.
Hirneola auricula-judse, Fr.
Lycoperdon gemmatum, Fr.
Bovista sp. . . (uncertain).
Wvnnea macrotis. Berk,

BOTANICAL NOTES. r.03
The Flotation of Fruits in Sea- Water. — I mado a few experiments on the
fruits of this region, the results of whioh I here append. The fruits wero
all ripe and not dried. (1.) Fruits th&t float in sea-water.^
Cocos nuoifera , Ochrosia parviflora.
Areca catechu (Betel-nut). Heritiera littoralis.
•Cycas circiriiils,'' Cerbera odollam.
Pandanus (three littoral species). Harpullia cupanioides.
Nipa fruticans. Myristica sp. (ito-ito).
Barringtonia speciosa. Riedelia curviflora, ?
Calophyllum inophyllum. Thespesia populnea.
Calophyllum sp. (katari). Gomphandra - sp. (ningilo).
(2.) Fruits that sink in sea-water.
Parinarium laurinum.^ Areca sp. (momo).
Licuala sp. (firo). Caryota sp. (eala).
Areca sp. (torulo).
The -weeds, rubbish-plants, and shrubs, commonly found in old clearings
and in the waste-ground of the cultivated 2Jatches in Bougainville
Straits.
One of the commonest plants in the islands of Bougainville Straits is tho
Erianthemum variabile, whioh is frequently found growing at the sides of tbe
paths. The spurges. Euphorbia pilulifera and E. Atolo, are usually found
in the waste-ground around villages. In the cultivated patches clumps of
the handsome flowering reed, Pennisetum macrostachys ("orsopa"), which
grows to a height of nine or ten feet, are often conspicuous. In one place
may be seen the tall shrub, Kleinhovia Hospita ("lafai "), the inflated fruits
of which are eaten by the cockatoos. In another place the botanist may
reoognise tbe Ga.nna indica (Inda&w Shot: "sat;i"), and near by perhaps
¦Coix Lachryma (Job's tears : " ken-ken"), both of which plants have been
probably introduced originally from the Malay Archipelago. Solomon
Islanders occasionally wear the seeds of Coix Lachryma as a personal orna
ment. They are also used for this purpose by the Admiralty Islanders,
and by the natives of some parts of New Guinea. Scented labiate plants
ure very frequent in the waste-ground of the plantations, and the natives
are fond of wearing them in their armlets. Amongst them I may mention
Moschosna polystachyu-in ("pipituan") Siud Ocymu-m sanctum ("lui-amvaa").
The "luk-a-liik" (Evcdia hortensis), which is a favourite scented phmt, is
•commonly found in the same situations. The tiny plant, Ox'alis cornicu
lata, may clothe a bare patch of ground ; whilst in another part of the
plantation, Commelyne nudifiora may similarly be observed. Numerous
composite plants, such as Vernonia cinerea, Adenostemma viscosum, etc..
form a conspicuous feature among the rubbish-plants in these cultivated
patches. The Godiceum variegatum (" tiatakush "), with its very singularly-
^ The foUowing fruits and seeds, taken from my dried collection of plants, float in sea-
-water. I did not experiment on them in the green condition, . . . Pongamia glahra : Coix
Lachryma : Scsevola Koenigii : Tournefortia argentea,
^ Out of ten fruits experimented on, only one floated.
• ' This tree is vfidely distributed throughout the group, which may he due to the tiroum
stance of its resin being generally employed in caulking canoes,
u

306 BOTANICAL NOTES
shaped leaves, is also to be seen : and, amongst other plants, I should
refer to Solanum vitiense and Crotalaria quinquefolia. Tall sedges, such
as Cyperus canescens and Mariscus phleoides, are to be commonly observed.
Lastly, I should notice two small scitamineous plants, the " ii'akia," a
wild ginger, and the "temuli," the root of which has medicinal proper
ties, whilst its yeUow juice is used for staining purposes.
A species of Pachyma 2 ?
Whilst at the island of Santa Anna in October, 1882, my attention was
directed by Mr. William Macdonald and Mr. Heughau to a curious veget
able substance, not unlike a yam in appearance, which is found lying loose
on the soil. The specimens 1 obtained varied between one and five pounds
in weight, but much larger examples have been obtained. The interior of
the substance is white in colour, and sometimes has a waXy look. A large
slab which had been whittled out by a native resembled a cake of com
pressed flour. There were many curious speculations as to the nature of
these growths. In the estimation ofthe inhabitants of the island, theyare
poisonous, and they have received from them the name of " testes diaboli ;"
but I could gather but little information from the natives on the subject
except to the effect that they are also commonly found on St. Christoval,'
However, somo time later I was informed by Mr. Stephens of Ugi that some
mushroom-like growths were borne by a specinien that he kept, which after
a few weeks fell away. I subsequently gave some of these singular masses
to Mr. Charles Moore, the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens.
• Three years passed away and I had almost forgotten about the matter,
when I accidentally came upon some substances, closely resembling thes&
- masses, which are exhibited in the Botanical Department of the British
Museum. They are libelled Pachyma Cocos (Fries) from China. On my
asking Mr. George Murray concerning their nature, I was pleased to learn
that lie had been taking a special interest in these growths ; and he showed
mc a specimen obtained by the Rev. Mr. Whitmee in Samoa, from which a
funnel-shaped fungus, about six inches, high, was growing. This specimen
was very similar to those of the Solomon Islands.
Very recently, Mr. G. Murray has embodied the results of his investiga
tious of these growths in a short paper read before the Linnean Society, in
which, Mr. Whitmee's specimen is figured (Trans. Linn. Soc., 2nd ser. Bot,,
vol. ii., part 11). From this source I learn that Rumphius was the first ta
describe these tuberous masses and their associated fungi from Amboina,
The former, which he named Tuber regium, were stated to afford remedies
lUsefiil in diarrhoea, fevers, &c. The fungi were said to shoot out from them
.during showers of warm rain ou a fine day, or when there was thunder in
the air. From the description and illustration given by Rumphius, Mr,
Fries regarded the growth as a fungus belonging to the genus Lentinus,
springing from a Pachyma (of which the Indian Bread of North America,
Pachyma cocos, is an example). Strange to say, however, theae tubers,
which are found .also in China and other parts of the world, have never
been found with a fungus attached since the time of Rumphius. Mr,
Whitmee's specimen, therefore, had considerable interest. It is shown
by Mr. Murray to correspond strikingly with Tuber regium and to have the
structure of a ttue " sclerotium " (not of Pachyma), with a fungus of a
species of Lentinus growing from it. All the facts go to prove that the
fungus and the tuberous mass do not form part of the same growth, but
' In the event of it proving edible, Mr, Hcughan cooked a specimen, but only a tasto'es»
BUhstauoo resulted.

Jlllii

BOTANICAL NOTES. 307
are distinct organisms. A spore having germinated on the surface of the
mass, its mycelium penetrates the interior, and becoming perennial, pro
duces successive crops of fungi.
Residents in the Indian Archipelago and in the Pacific Islands might
throw considerable light on the subjeot of these growths by careful notes
and collections. It is important to discover the origin of the tuberous
mass whioh become, so to speak, a convenient nidus for the fungus. How
do suoh masses perpetuate themselves ? A considerable number should be
kept under observation, and the mode of appearance ot the fungus carefully
noticed. Experiments might be made with the spores of the fungus by
dusting them over the surface of the masses. Such notes and collections
should be forwarded to Mr. Murray, at the British Museum of Natural
History.

CHAPTER XIV.
Reptiles and Batraohians.
IN a memoir on the Reptiles and Batraohians of the Solomon
Islands, which was read before the Zoological Society, on May
6tli, 1884,^ Mr. Boulenger remarked that very little was known
about the herpetology of these islands until two important collections,
which I sent to the British Museum in 1883 and lb84, brought to
light several new and interesting forms, such as could hardly have
been expected from this region. " The position of this group of
islands on the limits of two great zoological districts," — this author
proceeded to observe — " renders the study of its fauna of special
interest, as it is the point where many of the Papuasian and
Polynesian forms intermingle. Curiously, all the Batraohians be
long to species not hitherto found elsewhere, and one of them is
even so strongly modified as to be the type of a distinct family."
According to Mr. Boulenger, the Reptiles may be grouped under
four headings, viz. : —
1. Species belonging to both the Papuasian and Polynesian
districts. 2. Indo-Malayan or Papuasian species, not extending further
east or south-east.
3. Polynesian species, not extending further north and west than
New Ireland.
4. Species not hitherto found elsewhere than in the Solomons
(and New Ireland.) 1
Gymnodactylus pelagicus
Gehyra oceanica
Mabuia cyanura
Platurus fasciatus.
' Published in the Transactions of the Society ; vol. xii., part i,, 1886. The diagnoses of
most of the new species in my coUeotions were given In the Proceedings for 1884 : p. 210,
Vide also " Annals and Magazine of Natural History " (5) xii., 1883,

REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 309
2
Crocodilus porosus
Gecko vittatus
Varanus indicus
Keneuxia smaragdina
Enygrus carinatus
Dipsas irregularis. 3
Gonyocephalus godeffroyi
Mabuia carteretii
nigra
Enygrus bibronii. 4
Lepidodactylus guppyi, n sp.
Lipinia anolis, n sp.
Corucia zebrata
Dendro[)his solomonis
Hoplocephalus par, n sp.
All of these 19 Reptiles were included in my collection, with the
exception of Corucia zebrata, which, however, came under my
observation. I will now proceed to refer more particularly- to tho
Eeptile-fauna cf this region.
. Crocodiles. — The species of Crocodile (Crocodilus porosus,
Schneid,) which is so common in the Solomon Group, ranges from
India and South China through the Malay Archipelago and Papuan
Islands to North Australia. In these islands crocodiles appear fo
frequent in greatest numbers the swamps and sandy shores of un
inhabited coral islands, such as those of the Three Sisters, and the
coasts of the larger islands in the vicinity of the mouths of the
streams and rivers. I frequently surprised them basking on the
sand under the shade of a tree. On one occasion I was standing on
the spreading roots of a tree that were exposed on the beach, when
one of these reptiles darted out from under my feet and dived into
the sea. Of the marks that they make on the sand when lying at
rest, an oblong shallow impression corresponding to the head, and a
curved well-defined grove caused by the tail are alone specially re
cognisable. When they are not alarmed and move leisurely along.

310- CROCODILES.
they leave a double row of footprints on the sand, with a narrow
median furrow produced by the weight of the tail ; but when they
have been disturbed aud make a rush to escape, they raise their tail
and leave only tho tracks of their feet on the sand. These croco
diles are equally at home in salt and fresh water. I have frequently
passed them in my Rob Roy canoe when they have been floating as
though asleep at the surface of the sea ; and it was always in the
sea that they found a refuge when my little craft intruded itself
within their haunts. They came under my notice in the fresh
water lakes of Santa Anna and Stirling Island, and in the lower
courses of the streams in several localities. They are apparently in
no uncongenial conditions in the salt-water lagoon of Eddystone
Island, although its waters receive the hot sulphureous vapours of
submerged fumaroles.
These crocodiles do not apparently attain a greater length than
12 or 13 feet. Mr. Sproul shot one at Santa Anna which measured
9J feet. A female that I shot in the Shortland Islands, measured
11 feet. One of the seamen of the ''Lark," named Prior, obtained
from the natives the skull of a rather larger specimen. Out of half-
a-dozen individua,ls seen on the Three Sisters, not one measured
more than 7 or 8 feet.^ Mr. Bateman, a trader resident at Ugi,
told me that at Wano on the St, Christoval coast he saw a very
large crocodile which, from his description, appears to havo been
twice as long as any that I saw. It was, however, dusk at the time;
a.nd in connection with this circumstance I should add that I have
found actual measurement to reduce the apparent length of a
crocodile from 14 to 11 feet. ' '
Natives are rarely attacked by these reptiles, and they show
little or no fear of them, I have seen a fuU-g-rown crocodile dart
under a line of swimmers without causing any dismay. Of the
numbers I saw, all were but too anxious to get out of my way ; and
their cowardly nature is well shown in the account of my capture
of a specimen which is given below. However, I came upon a
man of Santa Anna who had had his lea" broken bv one of
these reptiles. The natives of Rubiana hold the crocodile in
veneration and work without fear in the places which it frequents.
They believe that only faithless wives are seized and carried
ofi" by the monster. Pigs are occasionally the prey of the crocodile ;
' A skull given to me by Mr, Nisbet, the government-agent of the "Redcoat^" at Ugi, was
12 inches long. It -was obtained from the natives of Guadalcanar.

CROCODILES. 311
but its usual diet appears to be opossums (Cusci), large lacertilian,s,
and fish.
The following account of the capture of a crocodile may interest
some of my readers. It was effected by no more formidable weapons
than by a number of long staves and a small " bull-dog " revolver.
Accompanied by six natives I was making the ascent of a large
stream on the north-west side of Aiu, when some of my companiona
espied a large crocodile at the bottom of a deep pool about 200
)'ards from-' the mouth of the stream. In setting to work to effect
its capture my men proceeded very methodically to work, and
evidently knew the tactics which the creature would employ.
Standing in the water just below the pool, we stood awaitino-
the descent of the crocodile down the stream, whilst one of the
natives was rousing it up with a long pole to make it leave its
hiding-place. After a little time it began to get uneasy, and
leaving the pool began to descend the stream. Where we were
standing, the .stream was only knee-deep, and as the reptile passed
us in the shallow water some natives hit it on the head with their
poles, whilst others hurled their poles sharpened at the ends, striking
it in several places, and I planted a bullet behind its neck. The
creature showed no fight and immediately^ hid itself in the pools
near the mouth of the stream. During two hours, after we had
been driving it from one pool to another by means of our pointed
jjoles aud staves, we seemed no nearer to its capture. At length
there was a loud out-cry from the natives. The crocodile was
making a final rush for life to cross the bar at the moutii of the
stream and escape into the sea. We all followed, some in the canoe
and some through the water ; and for a short time I thought that
the creature would escape. But being a little disabled by our
previous attacks, its progress across the bar was somewhat checked ;
^nd the foremost of my men caught hold of its tail just as it was
getting into deep water. Very quickly we all came up, and assisted
in drawing it high ancl dry on the beach ; and whilst two of our
number kept hold of its tail, the remainder belaboured its neck with
rocks and sticks until it died.^ Its length proved to be 11 feet.
Throughout thewhole chase the reptile made no outcry, and even
when we were belabouring it to death it only gave a kind of growl.
In its stomach I found a large quantity of partially digested food
/I An iUustration in Mr. Bates' "Naturalist on the Amazons" represents a, very similar

312; LIZARDS.
with the remains of an opossum (Cuscus) and a large lizard 1^ feet.
long (probably Corucia zebrata). It was a female, and in the
oviduct I came upon an egg, which my natives appropriated, saying
that it was very good food ; but they do not usually eat the flesh.
I was unable from want of space to keep more than the head of the
animal, whicii I cut off" and carried back in my canoe to the shiji.
The skull is novv in the British Museum.
Lizards. The Lacertilians are well represented in these islands.
Those at present described are given in the subjoined list.
Geckonidoe
Gymnodactylus pelagicus
Gehyra oceanica
Lepidodactylus guppyi. n. sp.
Gecko vittatus
„ var. bi vittatus
Agamidai
Gonyocephalus godeffroyi.
Varanidae
Varanus indicus
Scincidce,
Mabuia carteretii
„ cyanura
nigra
Keneuxia smaraofdina
Lipinia anolis n. sp.
Corucia zebrata.
The lizards, which most frequently meet the eyes of the visitor?
in the vicinity of the beaches, are the two skinks, Mabuia nigra
and cyanura. As a rule those species that are common at the coast
have a wide range, extending either into Polynesia or Papuasia or
into both these regions (vide page 307). The species peculiar to these
islands came less frequently under my observation. Thus, that of
fjepidodactylus guppyi,is founded on a single (female) specimeni found
in Faro or Fauro Island in Bougainville Straits. Corucia zebrata
never came under my notice alive ; it is said at Ugi to flnd its home
in the foliage of the higher trees. Doubtless if I could have

SNAKES. 313
penetrated to the higher regions of the large islands, I should have
obtained a large number of new species. My collections refer for
the most part to the sea-border and its vicinity. In the elevated
interior of .such an island as Guadalcanar there is a region of great
promise for the collector ; but I shall have a further occasion to
refer to this topic.
The Monitor, Varanus indicus, raay be often seen at the coast
basking in the glare of the mid-day sun on the trunks of pros
trate trees or on the bare rocks. It is considered edible by the
natives of Bougainville Straits. Whilst we were anchored at Oima
Atoll, Lieutenant Leeper captured a very large specimen (5 feet 7|
inches long)^ on the rocks close to the sea, and towed it off alive t&
the ship. After we had tried in vain to strangle it by a cord, a lead
was fastened to it and it was sunk overboard, but an hour passed
before we could say that the reptile was really dead. This Monitor
is probably able to swim considerable distances. It very likely owes
its wide range (from Celebes to the Solomon Group including Cape
York) to the agency of floating trees. On examining the stomach
and intestines, I found them empty. An enormous quantity of
fat, developed in two large lobes in connection with the omentum or
some other part of the peritoneum, almost filled the abdominal
cavity. With this store of sustenance and heat, these reptiles must
be able to live without food for a long time."
Snakes. Hitherto, the following six species of Ophidians have
been found in the Solomon Group. All of them were included in
my collection and one of them has been described by Mr. Boulenger
as a new species. Boidce
Enygrus carinatus
• „ bibronii
ColubridcB
Dendrophis solomonis
Dipsas irregularis
Elapidce
Hoplocephalus par n. sp.
1 A specimen shot in the Florida Islands measured 3 feet 8 inches.
^ As an instance ot the tenacity of life that some reptiles possess, 1 may refer to the case of
a young terrapin -which I kept inadvertently for nearly five months on the coast of China
-without any sustenance except the dry rust of a tin can.

314 SNAKES.
Hydrophiido} ( Water-snakes)
Platurus fasciatus ^
One of the commonest of snakes throughout these islands is
Enygrus carinatus, a harmless species of tho Boa family. It often
posse.sses considerable bulk ¦ in proportion to its length. One
specimen which I obtained in Treasury Island measured 3^ feet in
length and 6 inches in girth. I handled a good many living snakes
whilst in these islands, since the natives used to bring them in
numbers to me both on board and on shore. The statements of the
natives and of the white men resident in this region and the
general appearance of the snakes had led me to believe that there
were no poisonous species in the group. I was therefore somewhat
surprised when, on my arrival in England, I learned from Dr.
Giinther that I had found a new species as poisonous as the Cobra.
On being shown the specimen by- Mr Boulenger, I at once re
cognised an old friend which had been brought on board in a
bamboo by the natives at Faro Island and had got loose on the deck.
Whilst the men standing round were preparing to kill it wdth more
regard for their own safety than for my feelings, I caught it quickly
around the neck and held it under water until it was dead. The
natives certainly were not aware of its venomous character, nor was
Mr. Isabell, who was my right-hand raan in these matters, and used to
manage the ticklish progress of removing the snakes from their
bamboo-tubes in a nianner only suitable in the case of harmless
specie.s. I only obtained one specimen of tbis snake, which was
about 2^ feet in length. It is named Hoplocephalus par and belongs
to the Elapidw, a family of poisonous colubrine snakes which possess
the physiognomy of the harmless snakes of the same sub-order, and
include the Indian and African Cobras with other well known
venomous .species. In the footnote I have quoted Mr. Boulenger 's
description of its general appearance for the information of those
wbo visit the group.^
1 1 was indebted to Lieutenant Symonds of H.M.S, " Diamond " for this snake.
2 The upper surface of the head is uniform b ackish brown. The body is crossed above by
broad red brown bands separated by narrow white interspaces. The lower surface of the
head and body are uniform white, except on the posterior extremity of the body where the
red and black extend as lines along the sutures of the ventral shields. On the tail the red
forms complete rings. Nearly every one of the dorsal scales have a blackish brown border.
The head is depressed, moderately large, aud slightly widened posteriorly. The eye has a
vertical pupil.

BATRACHIANS. 315
Batrachiaks, — The Spanish discoverers in 1567 remarked that
the natives of Isabel worshipped the toad (vide page 203), and one of
the officers of Surville's expedition in 1769, described in his journal
a remarkable toad frora the same island ;^ yet it is only within
recent years that any Batrachians have been collected in this region.
Before I arrived in the group only two species were known to
science, and to this number my collections, which wore made in the
islands of Bougainville Straits, have added seven new .species, in
cluding a type of a new family. The following list 1-epresents the
Batrachian fauna of the Solomon Islands, as far as it is at present
known : Lianidai.
Rana buboniformis, n. sp.
Rana guppyi, n. sp.
Rana opistbodon, n. sp.
Rana kreff"tii,
Cornufer guppyi, n. sp.
Cornufer solomonis, n. sp.
Geratobatrachidoe.
(New family characterised by both jaws being toothed, and by the
diapophyses of the sacral vertebra not being dilated.)
Ceratobatrachus guen theri, n. sp.
Ilylidas (Tree-frogs.)
Hyla macrops, n. sp.
Hyla thesaurensis.
The natives of the islands of Bougainville Straits, where, as I have
just remarked, my batrachian collection was chiefly made, have given
frogs the general name of " appa-ajjpa " in imitation of their noise,
just as they have named the smaller lizards " Kurru-rupu " for the
same reason. Amongst the particular species of frogs, I may refer
to the large toad-like Rana buboniformis, which I found in Treasury
Island, and on the highest peak of the island of Faro. Rana guppyi,
according to Mr. Boulenger 's report, attains a larger size than any
1 "Discoveries of the French in 1768 and 1769,"&c., by M, Fleurieu: London, 1791;
p. 134.

316 BATRACHIANS.
other species of the genus, with the exception of the Bull- Frog of
Nortii America. Rana opisthodon affords an instance of a Batrachian^
which dispenses with the usual larval or tadpole stage, " the meta
morphoses being hurried through within the egg." On this subject
I made the following notes. Whilst descending from one of the
peaks of Faro Island, I stopped at a stream some 400 feet above the
sea, where my native boys collected from the moist crevices of the
rocks close to the water a number of transparent gelatinous balls
rather smaller than a marble.^ Each of these balls contained a
young frog about 4 lines in length, apparently fully developed, with
very long hind legs and short fore legs, no tail, and bearing on the
sides of the body small tufts of what seemed to be branchise. On
my rupturing the ball or egg in which the little animal v/as doubled
up, the tiny frog took a marvellous leap into its existence and dis
appeared before I could catch it. When I reached the ship an hour
after, I founcl that some of the eggs which had been carried in a tin
had been ruptured on the way by the jolting, and the liberated frogs
were leaping about with great activity. On placing some of them
in an open bottle 8 inches high, I had to put the cover on as they
kept leaping out. Mr. Boulenger remarking on this observation
says, that there are no gills, but that on each side of tho abdomen
there are regular transverse folds (-wdth an arrangement like that of
the gill-openings of Plagiostomous Fishes), the function of wliich
probably is that of breathing-organs. The tip of the .snout is, he
says, furnished with a small conical protuberance, projecting slightly
through the delicate envelope of the egg, and evidently used to per
forate that covering. In the instance also of Cornufer solomonis,
another new species included in ray collection, Mr. Boulenger re
marks that there is every reason to believe that the young undergo
the metamorphoses within the egg.
With regard to the interesting species, Ceratobatrachus gueiitheri,
which forms the type of a new family, Geratobatrachidoe, the same
writer observes that it is remarkable for the numerous appendages
and symmetrical folds whicii ornate its skin. It is, in fact, " all
points and angles," ancl may be truly termed a horned frog. There
is great variation both in the coloration and in the integuments.
" Out of the twenty specimens before me," thus Mr. Boulenger
writes, " no two are perfectly alike." The development is presumed
^Hylodes martinicensis afEords another instance. Mon, Berl. Ac, 187C, p. 714.
2 According to Mr. Boulenger, they measure from 6 to 10 mm. in diameter.

BATRACHIANS. 317
to be of the type in which the metamorphoses are hurried through
within the egg. These horned frogs are very numerous in the
islands of Bougainville Straits, and so closely do they imitate their
surroundings, both in colour and pattern, that on one occasion I
captured a specimen by accidentally placing my hand upon it when
clasping a tree.
It is particularly important to notice not only that the Batra
ohians of the Solomon Islands, as far as we at present know, do not
occur elsewhere, but also that in this region a distinct family has
been produced. These facts support the conclusions deducible from
the geological evidence that these islands are of considerable geo
logical age (vide pagex. ). The insular and isolated conditions have
been preserved during a period sufliciently extended for the develop
ment of a peculiar Batrachian fauna.
The modes of dispersal of frogs and toads, and, in truth, of the
whole Batrachian class, are matters of which we are to a great extent
ignorant. Frogs are usually stated to be absent from oceanic islands,
a peculiarity of distribution which apparently accords with the cir
cumstance that neither they nor their spawn can sustain submersion
in sea-water. The occurrence, however, of three species of Cornufer
in the Caroline and Fiji Islands, and of a species of Bato in the
Sandwich Islands,^ affiects the general application of this conclusion.
It may be suggested that these exceptions are due to human agency j
but if so, it is diflBcult to understand why they have not been found
in such a well explored island as New Caledonia.^
In concluding this chapter I will refer to the circumstance that
my coUections of the Reptiles and Batrachians of this large group
have only in a manner broken ground in a region whicii promises
the richest results to the collector. It cannot bo doubted that in
the elevated interiors of the large islands, such as those of Bougain
ville and Guadalcanar, there will be found a peculiar Reptilian and
Batrachian fauna, the study of which will be of the highest import
ance for the furtherance of our knowledge of these geologically
ancient classes of animals. I believe I am correct in stating that it
was on account of the highly interesting Batrachian collections I
sent to the British Museum, that I received a grant for further ex
ploration from the Royal Society, which, however, I was unfortu-
^Boulenger'a "Catalogue ofthe Batrachia Gradientia," &c,, 2nd edit., 1882.
^ Perhaps the peculiar geographical distribution of the Batrachia may throw light on this
subjeot. Ibid.

318 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS.
nately prevented from turning to account. The work has yet to be
done, and there can be little doubt that the man who is first able to
examine the lofty interior of such an island as Guadalcanar will
bring back collections, the importance of which will amply recom
pense him for any hardship or personal risk he may have endured.
My experience was confined to the sea-border and its vicinity. The
future explorer will find his field in the mountainous interiors and
on the highest peaks.

Note (April 19th, 1887). — Since I penned the above, further collections of reptiles and
batrachians, made in these islands by Mr. C. M. Woodford, have been described hy Mr,
Boulenger at a recent meeting of the Zoological Society. I had the pleasure of meeting
Mr. Woodford before he left England, and I hope that he has been able to accomplish his
purpose of penetrating into the interior of one of the larger islands of the group.

CHAPTER XV.
GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.
A MONGST the numerous strange acquaintances which I made in
-LJ- the Solomon Islands, was that of the well known cocoa-nut
crab, or Birgus latro ; and I take this opportunity of giving my
evidence towards the establishment of the fact of its cocoa-nut-eatino-
propensity, for the following reason. When I read my notes on the
subject before the Linnean Society of New South Wales on Dec.
27th, 1882, If was surprised at the incredulity shown with reference
to this extraordinary habit ; and on inquiry, I learned that the
evidence on the subject was deficient in one vital point, viz., the
.production of the writer who had witnessed this habit of the Robber
Crab. Accordingly! referred to the various authors who have recorded
this , habit of the Birgus, and in no single account could I find that
the writer had witnessed what he described. Neither Mr. Darwin,
Dr. Seeman, Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet, Mr. T. H. Hood, the Rev.
Wyatt Gill, nor the numerous authors whose accounts I also examined,
seem to have actually witnessed the • Birgus opening and eating a
cocoa-nut. Herbst ^ vvas among the first to refer to this habit ;
whilst, long ago, M. iM. Quoy and Gaimard ^ asserted, from their own
observation, that the crab was fond of cocoa-nuts, and could be
supported on them alone for many months, but they made no allusion
'to its capability of husking and opemng them. The evidence on
this point appears to have been alwa3's tendered by natives, except
ing the account given to Mr. Darwin by Mr. Liesk, which is conclusive
in itself.* Yet, credulous persons had fair grounds to retain their
doubts, although in various works on natural history, popular and
otherwise, this habit of the Birgus was described as an undoubted
fact. I therefore submit my evidence ; leaving to my reader to
1 Proc. Lin. Soc. N.S.W.
2 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1832, p. 17.
3 Freycinet's " Voyage autour du Monde," 1817-20 : Zoologie, p. 536. (Paris, 1824.)
" " Journal of Researches, " p. 402.

320 BIRGUS LATRO.
reply to the query— Can there be any reasonable doubt on the
subject ?
The Birgus was to be found in most of the islands we visited.
It is to be usually observed at or near the coast ; but on one occasion,
in St. Christoval, I found an individual at a height of 300 feet above
the sea. Whilst traversing, in September, 1882, the belt of screw-
pines, which borders the beach on the east coast of Malaupaina,
the southern island of the Three Sisters, I came upon one of these
large crabs, ensconced in the angle between the buttressed roots of a
tree, with a full sized cocoa-nut within the reach of its pair of big
claws. From the fresh-looking appearance of the shell, it had been
evidently, but recently, husked, which operation had been per
formed more cleanly than if a native had done it. There was an
opening at the eye-hole end of the shell of a somewhat regular
oblong form, which measured 2 by IJ inches, and was large enough
to admit the powerful claws of the crab.^ The white kernel, which
had the firra consistence of that of the mature nut, had been scooped
out to the extent of from 1 to 1 J inches around the aperture ; small
pieces of the kernel lay on the ground outside the nut, and others
were floating about in the milk inside, of whicii the shell was about
& fourth-part full.
I had, without a doubt, disturbed the Birgus in the middle of its
meal ; but, curiously enough, there were no cocoa-nut palms to be
seen within fifty paces of the spot where the crab was found in its
retreat. Not only had the shell been very recently husked, but it
was evident, from the fresh condition of the milk and kernel, that
an interval of less than a couple of hours had elapsed since the
opening had been made. There was no possible explanation of the
crab having got at the edible portion of the cocoa-nut, except through
its own agency. The island is uninhabited, being only occasionally
visited by fishing-parties of natives from St. Christoval, none of
whom were on the island during the ship's stay. There was, there
fore, the strongest presumptive evidence that the Birgus had not only
husked the cocoa-nut, but had also broken the hole at the end, in
order to get at the kernel,
I kept the crab alive on board on a diet of cocoa-nuts for three
weeks, when, one morning, to my great disappointment, I found it
dead. Other foods, such as bananas, were oflTered to it but were left
untouched, and its appetite for cocoa-nuts continued unimpaired to
1 This sheU was presenteil to the Australian Museum, Sydney.

BIRGUS LATRO. 32]
the last day of its life. Being desirous of observing the manner in
which the husk was removed, I had a cocoa-nut with its husk placed
in the coop in which the crab was kept. On one occasion the Birgus
was surprised with the nut between its large claws ; but, notwith
standing that no other food was oflTered to it for a day and a half, it
did not attempt to strip off" the husk. So the operation was done
for it, and a small hole was knocked in the top of the shell. On the
following day I found the shell — a young and somewhat thin one —
broken irregularly across the middle, with the soft white kernel
already removed and eaten. It was afterwards found necessary to
break the nuts for its daily food.
In 1884, when the " Lark " was in Bougainville Straits, three of
these crabs were kept on board with the intention of taking them
down to Sydney. Mr. W. Isabell, leading-stoker of the ship, looked
well after them, as he had also done in the case of the previous
crab, but within three or four weeks they had all died. The cocoa-
nuts had to be husked and broken for them, as they were in vain
tempted to do it for themselves. One crab, however, was frequently
observed clasping between its claws a full-grown unhusked nut, tho
upper end of which showed deep grooves and dents from the blows
of its claws ; and Mr. Isabell and I came to the conclusion that the
coop, in which these crabs were placed, was too low to allow of the
free play of the great claws.
My evidence alone would be sufficient to convict the Birgus of
this off'ence : for an offender it would certainly be in the eyes of the
owner of a plantation of cocoa-nut palms. I learned from Mr.
Isabell that the first crab we had on board consumed, on the average,
two cocoa-nuts in three days. A number of these crabs in a cocoa-
nut plantation, might therefore prove a . considerable pest : for, if
this betokens the quantity of food wbich the Birgus consumes in a
state of nature, a sing-le crab in the course of twelve months would
dispose of about 250 cocoa-nuts, which represent the annual produc
tion of three palms and between 20 and 30 quarts of oil.
As these crabs disliked observation, 1 was unable to gain rauch
knowledge of their habits by watching. During the day-time they
were sluggish, did not eat, and kept themselves in the further
corner of the coop, as far from the light as possible. At night they
moved about very actively and fed vigorously on the cocoa-nuts.
The natives of the Shortlands, who were well-acquainted with the
cocoa-nut eating habit of the Birgus, described to me the mode of

322 BIRGUS LATRO.
husking and breaking the nut, just as Mr. Liesk described it to Mr.
Darwin. They esteem as an especial luxury the fat which gives
the chief bulk to the abdomen of the crab.
The habit of the Birgus, when surprised away from its burrow,
is not to turn round and run away, but to retreat in an orderly manner
with its front to the foe. Having reached some root or trunk of a
tree which protects in the rear its less perfectly armoured abdomen,
it makes a regular stand, waves one of the long second pair of claws
in the air, and courageously awaits the attack. The attitude of de
fence is worthy of reniark. The two large claws are held up close
together to defend the mouth and eyes, but with the pincers point
ing downward — the posture reminding me of the guard for the
head and face in sword -exercise. One of the long second pair of
claws is planted firmly on the ground to give the crab additional
support ; whilst the other claw is raised in the air and moved up
and down in a sparring fashion. The whole attitude of the Birgus,
when on the defensive, is one of dogged and determined resistance.
The big pincers that point downward are ready to seize anything
which touches the unprotected under surface of the abdomen ; but
on account of the position of these claws in front of the eyes, it can
only foresee attacks from above, and it therefore cannot ward off" a
sudden thrust directed against the abdomen, although it may after
wards inflict severe injuries on the aggressor.
There seems to be some doubt whether the Birgus ascends the
tree to get the cocoa-nuts or whether it contents itself with those
that have fallen. Almost every author who refers to this crab
alludes to its climbing the tree, and it is also said to climb the pan
danus. The testimony in support of its climbing powers is almost
conclusive, yet Mr. Darwin was informed by Mr. Liesk that in
Keeling Atoll the Birgus lives only on the fallen cocoa-nuts, and
Mr. H. O. Forbes,^ who has recently visited this island, confirms
this stateraent.
My readers, after perusing the foregoing remarks, will agree
with me that from the lack of actual observation on the part of the
authors, who describe the cocoa-nut eating habit of this crab, there
has been fair grounds for scepticism. Even now, we are but imper
fectly acquainted with the mode of life of the Birgus, which is a
subject I would commend to the attention of residents in the Indian
and Pacific Oceans. 1 " A NaturaUst's -Wanderings," etc. ; London, 1885, p, 27.

THE NICOBAR PIGEON.

323

I may add that the Birgus is partial to other kinds of fruits be
side cocoa-nuts. DiflTerent writers mention candle-nuts, nutmegs
figs, and other rich and oily nuts and fruits. In some islands it
would seem that the Pandanus fruit is its only diet ; and for break
ing open these tough fruits, its heavy claws are well adapted, though
from personal experience, I should remark that the crab would have
its strength and ingenuity taxed almost as much as in the case of
the cocoa-nut.

CartilclgtTtoits body

Gizzard-cavity

The handsome ground-pigeon, known as the Nicobar pigeon
(Geophilus nicobaricus), is commonly observed in the wooded islets
(n the coral reefs of the Solomon Group. As I have remarked on
page 293, this bird is probably instrumental in transporting from
one locality to another the small hard seeds and fruits which the
common fruit-pigeon (Carpophaga) refuses. That it is able to crack
such hard seeds as those of the leguminous plant Adenanthera pav
onina^ is shown by the fact that I have found these seeds cracked
in the cavity of the gizzard, which is in its structure and mechanism
a veritable pair of nutcrackers. In this bird the muscular stomach or
gizzard is of a surprising thickness, and is provided with a very
singular mechanical contrivance to assist its crushing power. As
shown in the accompanying diagram, it is composed of two muscular
halves, each having a maximum thickness of five-eighths of an inch
and united with each other in front and behind by a stout dis
tensible membrane, whicii is the proper wall of the organ. Developed
in the horny epithelial lining merabrane there are two cartilaginous
bodies of hemispherical shape, one in each muscular segment of the
gizzard, -vi'hich measure about one-third of an inch in thickness and
' The Kuara tree of India, of whose hard seeds necklaces are made.

321 THE NICOBAR PIGEON.
three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The outer or convex surface
of each cartilaginous body fits into a cup-shaped cavity which is
lined by a semi-cartilaginous membrane, the whole constituting a
" ball-and-socket " joint with well lubricated surfaces. The two
surfaces of this pseudo-articulation are capable of easy movement
on each other, being retained in close apposition by the attachment
to the subjacent tissues of the horny epithelial lining membrane in
which the cartilaginous body is developed. The inner or free sur
face of each hemispherical body, that which looks into the gizzard
cavity, is somewhat concave, and projects a little above the surface
of the lining membrane ; it is much harder than the opposite con
vex side of the cartilage and has almost the consistence of bone,
the arrangement of the cells into densely packed rows with but
little intervening matrix indicating an approach towards ossification.
The firm consistence of these hemispherical cartilages combined
with the mechanism of a moveable articulation must greatly assist
the already powerful muscular walls of the gizzard ; but there is an
additional factor inthe crushing power in the constant presence ofa
small quartz pebble, usually about half-an-inch across. With such a
apparatus, I can well conceive that very hard seeds and nuts may
be broken, as in the case of the seeds of Adenanthera pavonina
already alluded to. The Nicobar pigeon is in fact possessed ofa nut-
cracking mechanism in its gizzard, by which nuts like those of our
hazel tree would be cracked with comparative ease.
With reference to the small quartz pebbles found in the gizzards
of these birds, I should remark that there is usually only one
present, and that it varies in weight between 30 and 60 grains. I
was sometimes able to say where the pigeon had obtained its
pebble. Thus, in Faro Island the bird often selects one of the
bipyramidal quartz crystals, which occur in quantities in the beds of
the streams in the northern part of the island, where they have been
washed out of the quartz-porphyry of the district. In other in
stances the pebble seems to have been originally a small fragment of
chalcedonic quartz, such as composes some of the flakes and worked
flints that are found in the soil whicii has been disturbed for
cultivation. Sometimes the pebble is of greasy quartz ; and now
and then in the absence of quartz the bird has chosen a pebble of
some hard volcanic rock. It is a singular circumstance that
although these pigeons frequent coral islets where they can easily
find hard pebbles of coral-rock, they prefer the quartz pebbles which

BUSH HENS. 325
are of comparatively rare occurrence. I never found any calcareous
pebble in their gizzards, and was often at a loss to explain how the
bird was able to ascertain for itself the different degree of hardness
between the two pebbles, when the quartz was of the dull white
variety  I learn from a recent work on New Guinea by the
missionaries, Messrs. Chalmers and Gill, that inside the gizzard of
each Goura pigeon there is a good-sized pebble much prized by the
natives as a charm against spear-thrusts and club blows.^ The
Goura pigeon resembles the Nicobar pigeon in habits ; and I think
it probable that its gizzard will be found to present a similar
structure and mechanism for cracking nuts and hard seeds. The
common fruit pigeons (Carpophaga) of the Solomon Islands, living'
as they do on soft fleshy fruits, and rejecting the hard seeds and
kernels, have no peculiar structure of the gizzard, the walls ofwhich
are comparatively thin, and are thrown into permanent rugse some
what warty on the surface.
One of the most familiar birds in these islands is the "bu,sli-hen,"
which belongs to the family of the mound-builders (Megapodiidof),
They bury their eggs in the sand at a depth of between three and
four feet. On one occasion in the island of Faro, Lieutenant Heming
and his party found eight eggs, in diff'erent stages of hatching, thus
buried : they were scattered about in the sand ; and according to
the account of the natives only one egg was laid by each bird. Tho
eggs are sometimes found on the surface of the sand. The young
birds are able to fly short distances soon after they are hatched.
One that was brought on board astonished us all by flying some
thirty or forty yards frora the ship and then returning to the rigging.
The account recently published by Mr. H. Pryer of his visit to
the birds' nest caves of Borneo ^ has opened up the discussion as to
the nature of the substance of which the edible bird's nest is com
posed. Many and varied have been the surmises as to the source of
this material ; but nearly all of them have been based on mere
speculation, and have been relegated to the limbo of sea-tales
Amongst the earlier explanations, I may allude to those which have
been given by early writers. The swif tiets (Collocalia), which build
their nests in this extraordinary fashion, were considered to gather
a gelatinous material from the ocean-foam, or from the bodies of
holothurians, or from the skin of the sun-fish. The Chinese fisher-
1 " Work and Adventure in New Guinea " (p. 317) : London, 1885.
2 Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1884 : p. 532.

326 EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS.
men assured Ksempfer that their nests were composed of the fle.sh
ofthe great poulpe. A more probable explanation, however, was
found by Rumphius in the occurrence on the sea-coasts of a soft
almost cartilaginous plant which he with confldence asserted was the
material from which these swiftlets constructed their nests; but
subsequently this naturalist inclined to the opimon that the sub
stance of which the edible birds' nests are composed is merely a
secretionary product. In these two views of Rumphius we have
the two sides of the controversy very much as it at present stand.s.
On the one hand, there are those who hold that this substance is a
secretionary product : on the other hand, the opinion is held that the
nest is constructed of a vegetable matter, usually resulting from the
growth of a microscopic alga, which is found in the caves and on the
faces of the cliff's where the nests occur. All the weight of experi
ment and of actual observation tends to negative the view of the
vegetable origin of this substance. Sir Everard Home in 1817 de
clared his opinion that certain peculiar gastric glands, which he
found in one of these birds, secreted the mucus of which the nest
was formed. In 1859, Dr. Bernstein,^ after having carefully studied
the habits of the birds in question, came to the conclusion that their
nests are formed from the secretion of certain salivary glands which
are abnormally developed during the nest-building season. M.
Trecul, who held the same opinion, showed that the bird constructs
its nest by raeans ofa mucus which flows abundantly from its beak
at the pairing time.^ This last view is strongly supported by Mr.
Layard, who unhesitatingly pronounces his opinion that these
swiftlets build their nests from the secretionary products of their
own salivary glands.^ However, when Mr. Pryer risited in March,
1884, the birds' nest caves in British North Borneo, he considered
that he had found the source of the raaterial of which the nests were
composed in the occurrence of a " fungoid growth," which incrusted
the rock in damp places, and which, when fresh, resembled half-
melted gum tragacanth. Without at present expressing an opinion
opinion as to the validity of the inference Mr. Pryer drew from his
observations in these caves, I may observe that the " fungoid growth"
has been determined by Mr. George Murray,* of the Botanical
Departraent of the British Museum, to be the result of the growth
•Journ. fur Ornithologie, 1859, pp. 112-115 ; also Proceed. Zoolog. Soc, 1885, p, 610,
2 "A General System of Botany," by Le Maout and Decaisne : London, 1873, p. 983.
3 " Nature," Nov. 27th, 1884.
<Proo. Zoolog, Soc, 1884: p, ,532.

EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS. 327.
of a microscopic alga, a species, probably new, of Glaiocupsa ; whilst
fche edible nests from these caves, according to a chemical and micro
scopical examination made by Mr. J. R. Green,^ have been shown to
be formed in the great mass of mucin, which is the chief constituent
of the mucous secretions of animals. After exaraining various
specimens of edible nests from other localities, Mr. Green subse
quently confirraed the results of his first experiments. The nest-
substance, as he unhesitatingly states, is composed of mucin, or of a
body closely related to it.^ So far, therefore, there would appear to
be but little evidence to support the view of Mr. Pryer that the
species of alga, which he found incrusting the rock in the vicinity
of the Borneo caves, supplied the material forthe construction of
the nests of the swiftlets. However, before proceeding to state my
own opinion on the matter, I will refer briefly to ray observations in
the Solomon Islands relating to this question.
A species of Collocalia, whicii usually frequents inaccessible sea-
caves and cliffs, is frequently to be observed on the coasts of the
islands of this group. The natives of Treasury Island call this bird
" kin-kin ; " but they have no knowledge of the nutrient qualities
of the substance of which it builds its nest, and they were rauch
amused when I told them of its being a Chinese luxury. I only
came upon the nests of this bird on one occasion, and that was in
some caves on Oiraa Atoll in Bougainville Straits. A description of
these caves will be here unnecessary. As in the instance of the
birds of the Borneo caverns, these swiftlets shared their retreats
with a nuraber of large bats, the accumulation of whose droppings
had produced a thick reddish-brown deposit on the floors of the
eaves. The nests, which were formed for the most part of fibres
derived evidently from the vegetable drift ^ at the mouths of the
caves, were thickly incrusted with the gelatinous incrustation whicii
projected as winglets from the sides and fastened them to the rock,
A reddish soft gelatinous incrustation occurred on the faces of
some of the cliffs in the vicinity of the caves. It was composed of
an aggregation of the cells of a microscopic unicellular alga which
measure -^^ of an inch in diameter. Unfortunately the specimens
of this growth which I collected have been mislaid, but there can
be Httle doubt that it is similar to the "fungoid growth " which Mr.
iProc Zool, Soc, 1884, p, 532.
2 ' Nature," Dec. Uth, 1884 and May, 27th, 18S6.
3 The husks of pandanus seeds more particularly.

y
J

328 EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS.

»

Pryer describes in connection with the Borneo caves, and which,
through the kindness of Mr. George Murray, I had the opportunity
of seeing at the British Museum. On the faces of the coral lime
stone cliff's of some islands, such as on the east coast of Santa Anna,
a like growth occurs in considerable quantity. In its freshest
condition, it may be described as a reddish-yellow, gum-like sub
stance forraing a layer | to |- of an inch in thickness. Where it
iiicrusts the overhanging face of a cliff", it is more fluid in consistence
and sometiraes hangs in little pendulous masses, one to two inches
in lenscth, the extreraities of which are often distended with water.
This alga decomposes the hard coral limestone, making the surface
of the rock soft and powdery. All stages in the growth of this
substance may be observed. The older portions are very dark in
colour and have a tough consistence ; and in the final stage it occurs
a3 a black powder covering the rock surface. On examining this
alga with the microscope, I found it to be formed almost entirely of
granular matter apparently resulting from the death of the cells ;
whilst the presence of a few cellular bodies alone gave me an indica
tion of its true nature.
From my observations relating to the subject of the edible bird's
nest, it raay be therefore inferred that in the Solomon Islands, as in
Borneo, the occurrence of these nests is associated with the presence
of a protophytic alga, whicii incrusts the rocks of the locality as a
gelatinous or gum-like substance. Whether or not the birds em
ploy this material in forming their nests, is a question which would
appear to have been already answered in the negative ; but it seems
to me that those who hold that this material is used for this pur
pose might justly claim that the final judgment should be suspended,
until a chemical examination of this vegetable substance has been
made with the object of determining whether it might not yield a
material closely resembling mucin. Amongst the nitrogenous
constituents of plants occurs the so-called vegetable albumen, which
in its chemical composition and in its behaviour with re-agents
does not differ materially from the blood-albumen of the animal
organism, of which in fact it is the source. In suggesting, there
fore, that a vegetable muci?i may be found in this low plant-growth,
1 do not pass beyond the bounds of probability,^
Small scorpions came under my notice in Faro Island. They
are not usually more than 1-J- in length and occur in narrow clefts of
' Vide a letter by the writer in "Nature," June 3rd, 1880.

MILLIPEDES. 329
rocks and in the crevices of trees. I was stung by one on the
thumb, but the pain was trifling and soon passed away.'-
A species of lulus or Millipede, which attains a length of from 6
to 7 inches, is commonly found in the eastern islands of the Solomon
Group on the trunks of fallen trees and amongst decaying vegetable
debris. It is often to be seen amongst the rotting leaves that have
gathered inside the bases of the fronds of the Bird's-nest Fern
(Asplenium nidus). These Myriapods seem to be less frequent in
the islands of Bougainville Straits towards the opposite end of the
group, as I do not remember seeing any large luli in that locality :
their place appears to be taken by another Myriapod, apparently a
Polydesmus, growing to a length of 2^ inches, which I found
amongst decaying vegetation at all elevations up to 1900 feet above
the sea, as on the summit of Faro Island. But to return to the luli,
I should remark that this genus of Myriapods evidently possesses
some means of transportal across wide tracts of sea, since, amongst
other islands similarly situated, it is found in Tristan da Cunha,^ in
the South Atlantic Ocean, and I have found it in the Seychelles, in
the Indian Ocean. The habits of these Millipedes would render it
highly probable that they have reached the oceanic islands on vege
table drift, such as floating logs. It is, however, a noteworthy cir
cumstance that they do not seem to be able to withstand immersion
in sea-water for an3'- length of time. In experimenting on the
Solomon Island species, I found that they were able to survive an
hour-and-a-half's complete immersion in sea- water, but that an im
mersion of three hours killed them. One individual, out of several
experimented on, survived for twelve hours after it was taken out,
but only in a half lifeless condition.* It may, therefore, have been
that the lulus has been transported to oceanic islands by such
agencies as canoes and ships, rather than by means of floating
trees.* Like other species of the genus, the Solomon Island lulus ex
hales a very pungent and disagreeable odour, which is caused by an
acrid fluid secreted by small vesicles, of which each segment of the
^ Specimens of these scorpions were given by me to the Australian Museum, Sydney.
2 Moseley's " Naturalist on the Challenger," p. 134.
5 This species of lulus was able to sustain a longer submersion in fresh-water, without
apparently any injurious efEects, Those experimented on recovered after being kept luider
water for four hours, but died after a submersion of six hours.
^ As bearing on this point, it raight be interesting to determine whether these large luli
occur on islands far from land which are believed never to have been inhabited.

330 MILLIPEDES,
body contains a pair.^ On holding my nose for a moment over the
mouth of a bottle, containing two of these large Millipedes, I ex
perienced a strong sensation in the nasal passages, reminding me
much of the effects of an inhalation of chlorine gas. I had pre
viously learned from resident traders that these Millipedes have a
habit of ejecting an acrid fluid when disturbed, which, if it entered
the eye, was liable to cause acute inflammation ; and the instance
was related to me of the captain of some ship, trading in these
islands, who lost the sight of one of his eyes from this cause. Mr,
C. F. Wood learned from the natives of St. Christoval, in 1873, that
these Myriapods "could squirt out a poisonous juice, which was
dangerous if it happened to touch one's eye;" but he adds, "there
seemed no great probability of their doing this."^ However, I
usually found that native testimony, in such matters, was very re
liable ; and in the instance of this reputed habit of the lulus, my
personal experience has convinced me of its reality. Whilst hand
ling one of these Millipedes as it lay on the trunk of a fallen tree in
Ugi Island, I felt a sudden smarting sensation in the right eye,
caused apparently by some fluid ejected into it. Remembering the
injurious eft'ect attributed to this habit of the lulus, I at once
plunged my head under the water of a stream, in which I happened
to be standing up to my waist, and I kept my eye open to wash
away the offending fluid. During the remainder of the day, there
was an uncomfortable feeling in the eye and somewhat increased
lachrymation ; but on the f oUo-wdng morning these effects had dis
appeared. At the time of this occurrence, my face was removed
about a foot from the Millipede; and, although I was uncertain
from what part of the body the fluid was ejected, I did not care,
under the circumstances, to continue the inquiry.
Amongst the first living creatures to greet the visitor as he lands
on the beach of a coral island in the Pacific, is a small species of
Hermit-Crab, belonging to the genus Coenobita, which frequents the
beach in great numbers. The crab withdraws itself just within the
mouth of the shell, where it forms a perfect operculum, by means
mainly of the large flattened chelcz of the left great claw which is
arched over by the left leg of the third pair, whilst the right claw
and the right leg of the second pair serve to complete the shield,
1 Hoeven's Zoology. (Eng. edit.) Vol. L, p. 291.
* "A Yachting Cruise in the South Seas," p. 131. (London, 1875.)

HERMIT-CRABS. 331
The most plucky and pugnacious of these little crabs are thoso
which occupy cast-off Nerita shells, a character which probably
arises from their consciousness of the solid strength of the home
they have chosen : and, strange to say, the tiny bosses on tho
surfaces of the large pincers, which are outermost in the impro-vised
operculum, resemble similar markings on the outer side of the oper
culum of the Nerita (N. viarinorata, Hombr and Jacq), whose shell
they often inhabit. Mr. Dar-win^ observed tbat the different species
of hermit-crabs, which he found on the Keeling Islands in the
Indian Ocean, used always certain kind of shells; but I could not
satisfy myself that such was the case in the instance of the Soloraon
Island hermit-crabs. In the case of the comraon beach species of
Coenobita, I found, after carefully examining a number of indi
viduals to satisfy myself of their being of the same species, that
shells of the genera Turbo, Nerita, Strombus, Natica, Distorsio.
Truncatella, Terebra, Melania, &c., &c., contained the same species
of Coenobita, whether the individual was large enough to occupy a
Turbo shell of the size of a walnut or sufficiently small to select the
tiny shell of the Truncafella for its home. Another species of the
same genus prefers usually the vicinity of the beach ; but it raay
occur at heights up to 200 feet above the sea. It is rather larger
than the beach species, and diff'ers araongst other characters in the
more globose form of the large claws and in the greater relative size
of the left one. It occupies shells of different kinds, such as those
of Nerita, Turbo, &c. A still larger species, which frequents the
vicinity of the beach, usually selects Turbo shells, apparently be
cause oftheir larger size. All the other species of Coenobita, which
I met with, used, when I touched them, to withdraw themselves
within their shells and close them up at once with their claws ; but
this kind, when I caught hold of the Turbo shell that it carried, left
the shell behind in my fingers with apparent unconcern and crawled
leisurely away, displaying, somewhat indecorously, the rudimentary
plates on the back of its abdomen. These are the plates that attain
their greatest development in the Cocoa-nut Crab (Birgus latro),
which is thus able to dispense with a shell altogether, The greatest
heights at which I found hermit-crabs were in the island of Faro on
the two highest peaks, which are elevated respectively 1600 and
1900 feet above the sea. In both these localities, the crab had
reached the very summit and could not have climbed higher. The
1 " Journal of the Beagle," p. 457.

332 HERMIT-CRABS.
species was apparently different from, though closely allied to, tne
cominon beach species, and frequented the shells of a land-snail
(Helix). I was indebted to Lieutenant Heming for directing my
attention to the hermit-crab, found 1900 feet above the sea. It
appears to me likely that these hermit-crabs will be found at much
greater heights in this group, since, in this island, their ambition to
i-ise had carried them up as far as they could go.
Other species of hermit-crabs, that are common in these islands,
belong to the genus Pagurus. They are conspicuously distinguished
from the species of Coenobita, above described, by their first pair of
claws, which are small and weak and ill-adapted for defensive pur
poses. For this reason, these species are less able to look after
tbemselves ; and since they cannot form the operculum-like shield
with their claws at the mouth of the shell, they always choose shells
which will permit of their retiring well within it, so as to be out of
the reach of their enemies. Some species are found in the stream-
courses and in the brackish water near their mouths, when they
often frequent cast-off Melania shells. Other species (?) prefer the
sea-water on the reef-flats. I noticed one individual that displayed
its eccentricity of disposition, in selecting, as its abode, the hollow
tube of a small water-logged stick, about six inches long, which it
dragged about after it during its peregrinations, and into which it
retreated when alarmed. On one occasion, I observed a large
Doliunt shell, moving briskly about in a pool of salt-water, which,
on picking up, I found to be tenanted by a Pagurus, so ridiculously
small, in comparison with the size of the shell, that when frightened
it retreated to.the very uppermost whorl, and, notwithstanding the
wide mouth of the shell, could not be seen. So light was the weight
of the crab, that, on account of the buoyancy of its shell, it floated
lightly on the surface of the water, on which I had placed it with
the mouth ofthe shell uppermost, and was blown by a slight breeze
across a pool of water, some twenty yards in width. While it was
afloat, the shrewd little occupant retired to the innermost recess of
its home ; but as soon as the shell had grounded, it protruded its
head and pincers and endeavoured to overturn the shell, which it
finally succeeded in accomplishing.
In the case of these two genera of hermit-crabs, Coenobita and
Pagurus, it was interesting to notice the relation existing between
the defensive capabilities of the crab, and the relative size of the
shell it selected as its home. The Pagurus, with its weak slender

HERMIT-CRABS. 333
pincers, chooses large shells within whicii it can retire well out of
reach when alarmed. The Coenobita, with its stout pincers, prefers
shells much smaller, relatively speaking, and ensconces itself snugly
in the body whorl, forming an operculum with its claws. As the
hermit-crab, Coenobita, crawls along the dry sand of a beach, it
leaves behind it characteristic pinnate tracks whicii may be often
traced for several feet. The lateral markings are produced by the
claws and legs working on each sideof the shell; whilstacentral groove
is formed by the weight of the shell itself As shown by the arrow in
the diagram, the lateral markings point in the direction of the course
which the hermit-crab has taken. Sometimes only a single row of
lateral tracks accompanies the grooves produced by the shell. Such
markings were produced by a
^ /?/?^y' hermit-crab when frightened by
^SflM/Ut^^^^^-:. my approach. It turne dits front
towards me, and crawled back
wards, by working most of his
claws and legs on one side of the
shell. In the case of the larger hermit-crabs, which are much less
frequent on the beach, each limb produces a distinct print on the
sand; but with the sraall species of Coenobita which infests the
Deach, each lateral marking, as shown in the diagram, is produced
hy a single movement of the claws situated on the same side of the
shell. The hermit-crabs only leave their tracks on the dry loose
sand. One individual, that I placed on sand, still wet frora the re
treating tide, crawled along without leaving any impression. I have
described these impressions with some care, as they bear on the
origin of the surface-markings of rocks of shallow-water formation,
a subject recently discussed in the geological world. It is highly
probable that some of the larger and heavier forms of the Anomura
(and, in fact, of the Decapoda generally) would produce prints
such as I have here described, both on mud-flats left dry by the
tide, and on the soft bottom in shallow depths. A cast of the
impressions thus produced would have an unmistakeable plant-like
form. Whilst examining the island of Sirabo, I noticed some singular
MedussB in a small mangrove-swamp, which is inclosed in the low
point that forms the south shore of the anchorage. Numbers of
these organisms of a large size (8 or 9 inches across the umbrella),
and of a dirtv-white colour, were lying on the mud with their

334 SCYPHO-MEDUSiE.
tentacles, uppermost in depths of from one to three feet of water.
I was struck by the handsome mass of arborescent tentacles which
they displayed, and by the peculiarity of their lying upside-down.
The dark mud which formed the bottom of the swamp was com
posed of decayed vegetable matter, confervoid growths, diatoms,
and a few infusoria : but when I raised up these Medusae, I found
underneath each a patch of white sand corresponding with the out
line of the organism, but completely concealed by the umbrella when
the Medusa lay in its usual position. The sand was derived from
corals, shells, and the volcanic rocks of the island ; and the light
patches formed a marked contrast with the dark mud around. I
was unable to find any satisfactary explanation of these curious
patches of sand; and I, therefore, proceeded to interrogate the
Medusae on the subject by watching them, but to no purpose. So I
had my revenge by turning them all over on their tentacles, when
each one immediately began to contract its umbrella in a most
methodical fashion, and, after swimming a short distance, dehber
ately resumed its forraer position of tentacles upward. I had an
extensive experience of mangrove-swamps after we left Simbo;
but these self-willed Medusse never came under my notice again.^
With regard to these Medusae, I should remark that they belong
to a species of Polyclonia, and are classed amongst the Scypho-
Medusae,^ Two species of Polyclonia seem to be known, P. frondosa
(Agassiz) and P. Mertensii (Brandt), the first found in the Florida
seas, and the latter in the Carolines. I am inclined to think that
the Solomon Island species is more nearly allied to P. Mertensii.
Both species, however, have similar habits, lying on the mud of
mangrove-swamps, with their tentacles uppermost.
The singular habits of these Scypho-Medusse were noticed by
Brandt in 1838. They have since been remarked by Mosely^ in
the Philippines, and bjr Archer* in the West Indies. L. Agassiz in
his " Contributions to the Natural History of the United States,"
describes and figures the Florida species (Polyclonia frondosa) ; and
1 I referred to the habits of these Medusa in "Nature," Nov. 9th, 1882.
2 1 compared my notes with the description and figures given by Agassiz in his " Contrib,
Nat, Hist. U.S.A." (1862 : vols, iii, and iv.). In the Solomon Island species, the dendriform
raass resolves itself iuto 8 principal branches, each ramose, and all united at their bases by
a common membrane. The umbrella, which was finely lobed or crenulated at its margin,
displayed about 40 radiating canals, each communicating by an anastomosing network with
the canal on either side of it.
s Mosely's "Notes by a Naturalist,'' p, 404.
* "Nature " Aug, 4th, 1881,

LEGENDS OP APES, 335
some additional notes on its habits have been raade by A, Agassiz,
to whose communication in " Nature " (Sept, 29th, 1881) I have
been much indebted.
-Whilst we lay at anchor in Treasury Harbour, in April, 188'i, a
cetacean, unknown to the natives and to ourselves, got partly
stranded in tbe shallow water, and was captured by the villagers.
It was nine feet long, and possessed this remarkable character that,
although no teeth showed through the gum.s, each lower jaw
possessed a .short, conical, hollow tooth an inch long, placed at the
anterior extremity. I obtained the head from the natives, and
placed it in a safe place, as I thought ; but when we returned to
Treasury a few weeks after, I found only portions of the skull with
the lower jaw-bones, the wild pigs having held a feast over it.
The remains, however, together with ray notes and a .sketch by
Lieutenant Leeper were sent to the British Museum. I there
learned that it is a species of Ziphius, probably unknown.
The Solomon Islanders believe in the existence of anthropoid
apes in the interiors of the large islands, regarding them, however,
like the D^^aks of Borneo in the case of the Orang-utan, as " wild
men of the woods." In Malaita they are said to be 4| to 5 feet
high, and to come down in troops to make raids on the banana
plantations. Captain Macdonald informed rae that the natives
allege that one of these apes was caught, and, after being kept for
some time, escaped. Taki, the St. Christoval chief, told Mr.
Stephens that he had seen one of these apes, and pointed out the
locality. Tanowaio, the Ugi chief, also made a similar statement.
In Guadalcanar, they are believed to live in the trees, and to attack
men. Dr. Codrington refers to the prevalence ofthese beliefs through
out Melanesia (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol, x. p. 261). Such beliefs,
as experience has shown in the case of the Gorilla and otiier
anthropoids, have undoubtedly some foundation ; but whether these
mysterious animals are apes is quite another question.

CHAPTER XVL ¦
LAND AND FEESH-WATER SHELLS.
DURING my numerous excursions in these islands, I had in the
majority of instances to follow up the_ stream-courses in
order to examine their geological structure. I had therefore good
opportunities in these regions of making a collection of the
fresh-water shells, which, together with the land shells I
collected, formed a total of between sixty and seventy species,
amongst which there were 11 new species and at least 5 new
varieties, whilst about 14 would appear to have been never previously
recorded frora the Solomon Islands, and there were in addition
several from new localities in the group. The collection was sent
to the British Museum and was examined and described by Mr. E,
Smith, to whose paper on the subject^ I am indebted for my
acquaintance with the shells in question, and through whose kind
ness I have been thus enabled to supplement my other observations
in these islands. A list of the shells with the descriptions of the
new species is given on page 344. For its size, my collection pre
sented a large amount of novelty, coining as it did from a region the
land and fresh-water shells of which were previously considered to
be fairly known. There can be no doubt, however, that in the
Solomon Islands the conchologist has much work that remains to be
done. Not only are the higher regions ofthe larger islands, entirely
unexplored, but it would appear from the collections made up to
the present date in this large group, that particular species may be
not only confined to a special sub-group of islands but may be re
stricted to a single island, and that other species more widely
distributed through the group may be represented in each island
and in different districts of the larger islands by different varieties.
1 " On a collection of shells from the Solomon Islands " by Edgar A, Smith. (Proceedings
of the Zoological Society: June 2nd, 1885,) This paper is illustrated with two coloured
plates of the new shells.

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 337
Had 1 been aware of the extent of the infiuence of locality in this
region, I might have made my collection of greater value. It would
therefore seem necessary for future collectors in this group to make
in eveiy small island and in different districts of the larger islands
special independent collections, disregarding the fact that they raay
have apparently met with the same shell very frequently before,
because many of the varieties and somo of the species can only be
distinguished by the practised eye of the specialist, and a new
locality for a previously well-known species may be often unwit
tingly found.
As an instance of the unexpected results, which raay fall to the
lot of others in this group, I may here add, that out of eleven land
and fresh-water shells that I collected in the small island of Santa
Anna, which is only 2} miles in length, four were nevv species, and
besides there were some new varieties. The stations of these four
species may be suggestive. Two of tbem — .Helix (Videna) sancto:
anncB and Helix (nanina) soliditiscula — were generally found on
the trunks of the cocoa-nut palms at the coast ; whilst the other
two occurred in situations far more likely to yield new species,
Melania sanctm annce being obtained from a small stream in the
interior of the island, and Melania guppyi heing found dead in tho
stomach and intestiaes ofa fish that frequents the fresh-water lake
of Wailava, This last shell would appear to live in the deeper
parts of the lake, as I oni}'- found one living specimen, all the others
being obtained from the stomach and intestines of these fish, Mr.
Sraith describes it as " a very remarkable and distinct species." Its
length is about li inches; and its sharp-pointed spire was to be
sometimes seen protruding through the vent of the fish, which
evidently digests the animal and ejects the shell. These fi.sh were
usuahy 9 or 10 inches long ; but the full-grown shells were found
also in fish half this size, wben the relation between the length of
the shell and the size of tbe fish was trul}' alarming. Since the
httle fish actually swallow sharp pointed shells measuring a fifth of
their own length and pass them out through the vent after they
have digested the animal, we must credit them with a remarkable
capacity for adapting their diet to circumstances.
To exemplify the variation which some species of shells display in
this group, I will take the instance of Helix (Geotrochus) cleryi,
Rdcluz. This species is probably distributed through the wiiole
group; but considerable variation prevails in different i.slaad.'^.

338 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS.
Amongst the several forras which 1 obtained, three were named as
new varieties, var. meridionalis from Santa Anna, var. simboana from
Simbo or Eddystone Island, and var. septentrionalis from the i.slands
of Bougainville Straits, the localities of the two last varieties being
only 80 miles apart. Mr. Smith remarks that this species is " subject
to considerable variation in size, colour, and form, apparently re-
sultino- from difference of habitat  Whether these several
varieties should take specific rank is questionable, for, although there
is a considerable difierence between the extreme forms, even in the
series of nearly one hundred specimens under examination, the
gradual transition from one form to another is observable.''
Amongst the more singular in appearance of the land shells, I
may refer to the large Bulimus (B. cleryi) which I found on the
north coast of St. Christoval. It attains a length of four inches. I
was never able to get a living specimen, as they are said by the
natives to live in the foliage of the high trees. The specimens
which I obtained were empty shells which the natives of the Koofeh
district on the nortii coast of St. Christoval are in the habit of
throwing into heaps, each man when he picks up a shell throwing it
into the next heap he passes. I was unable to learn the reason of
this practice and the natives did not seem willing to tell me. . . .
Two other Bulimi I commonly met with. One was the pretty Bulimus
miltoclieilus (Reeve), which, when the animal is j'oung and the shell
delicate, has a greenish-yellow hue resembling the colour of the
leaves it feeds upon : as it grows older the shell becomes thicker and
stronger, and in proportion as there is less need for protective resem
blance, the greenish-yellow hue fades away, leavinga dull white colour
behind. This species is found in St. Christoval and the adjacent
island.s. The other Bulimics (B. founaki, Homb. Jacq.J which I
found in Faro Island, Bougainville Straits, and which had been only
previously obtained at Isabel Island, attains a length of rather under
three inches.
I come now to refer to the fresh-water shells of these regions. ¦o
Stated in their order of frequency, the A''^/'-?^?//^, Melanice,&x\A Navi-
cellcea,\-e the common fresh- water shells of the e islands. The Neritince
were especially interesting to me. They abound in the streams :
some of them preferring the moist rocks above the water, others
finding their home in the waters of a quiet pool, whilst others, like
the Navicellce, prefer to buffet the lull rush of the torrent. An
important feature with reference to these fre.'-h-water Nerites or

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 339
Neritince is their wide dispersal, " Some of these species " — as Mr.
Smith remarks in respect of those in my collection — " range not only
through most of the islands of the Solomon Group, but have a con
siderably wider distiibution," Thus, Neritina subsulcata (Sowerby)
and N. cornea (Linn^), are not only found in the Solomon Islands,
but also occur in the Philippines : N. macgillivrayi (Reeve) and N.
petiti (R^cluz) alike exist in the Fiji and in the Solomon Groups ;
while N. porcata (Gould) has been found in Samoa and in Fiji as
well as in the oppos'ite extremities of the group with which I am at
present concerned. Being interested in the question of the mode of
dispersal of these Nerites, I made the following experiment to test
their powers of sustaining submersion in salt-water. One individual
belonging to the species Neritina subsulcata ^ — a species which is
also found as above stated in the Philippines, and at the sarae time
is the most widely dispersed fresh-water Nerite in the Solomon
Group — survived a submersion of twelve hours ; but not one out of
a dozen individuals was found ahve after a submersion of fi\e daj^s,
although the water was changed from time to time. The result was
a surprise to me, as I inferred from the result of Baron Aucapi-
taine's experiments as related by Mr, Darwin,^ that their close-fitting
stony opercula would have enabled them to resist the action of salt
water. Their death could have been scarcely due to want of food,
since I have kept shells of this species for several months on a very
scanty diet, and since the powers of endurance of other fresh-water
shells are well known. The matter passed out of my mind until
after my arrival in England, when Mr. Smith put the question to me,
as to their mode of dispersal I then i-emembered that their calcare
ous egg-capsules, which are so commonly seen on the rocky sides of
the streams, are in all probability sufliciently thick to resist the
action of salt-water. Here is therefore a probable raode of dispersal,
and I see it is one which Mr. Suiith refers to as such in his paper.
These egg-capsules " if attached to floating timber, might be carried
to considerable distances." They are often to be observed on the
outside ofthe shells of living A^az;/-:^//^, and I bave seen them on the
backs of the valves of a Unio which I discovered in the Shortland
Islands. One common feature of these fresh-water shells, whether
1 In his paper Mr. Smith refers to the species experimented on as N. cornea -. but in my
own list he named a shell belonging to one of the Nentina: iu question as N. subsulcata.
2 Cydostor.-a eler/ans was the species tested ; ride " Origin of Species," p. 353, Gth edit.

310 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS.
Neritince, Navicellce, or Melanice, is the extensive erosion of the apices
and surrounding parts of the shells. In some instances I have
noticed that almost the entire exterior of the shell has been exten
sively eroded, particularly in the case of Neritina subsulcata, but I
always found that the erosion was greatest in non-calcareous districts,
where the free carbonic acid in the water is not all consumed in the
solution of the limestone rock^. In volcanic islands the ero.sion of
the fresh-water shells is greater than in islands of calcareous forma
tion ; and in streams, which, like those of the nortii coast of St.
Christoval, flow in the upper portion of their course through a district
of volcanic rocks and in the lower portion through a district of
calcareous rocks, the same difference in the degree of erosion may be
observed. I learn from a recent work by Prof essor Semper ^ that it
is the boring of a minute fungus which first exposes the calcareous
substance to the action of the carbonic acid, and that the mechanical
action of the stream in forming tiny whirl-pools in the cavity
probably assists in the erosion.
There are two coramon species of Neritina in these islands which
I often confounded, viz., N. subsulcata and N. cornea; and I learn
from Mr, Smith's paper that these two species very closely ajiproacli
each other. They, however, are usually to be found in different
stations, N. cornea occurring on the trunks of palms and other trees
away from the streams,^ a^cl N. subsulcata preferring the moist rocky
sides of the streams a foot or so above the water.^ Now and then
they raay be found encroaching on each other's domain ; for I have
found them together on the trunks and branches of areca palms and
tree-ferns in low lying moist districts, -wdiilst, as at Choiseul Bay, I
found thera together in the streams,* Now it is a significant cir
cumstance, that the specimen of N. cornea in my collection which
was found by Mr. Smith to make tho nearest approach to N. subsul
cata was one which I obtained from a stream in C'hoiseul Bay. It
had, in this case, not only intruded on the station of N. subsulcata,
but had also assumed some of the distinctive characters of that
species. It, therefore, seems to me probable that a graduated series
of the shells of these two species raight be formed, which would pre-
1 " The Natural Conditions if Existence, eto : " London 1881 : p. 212, circa,
2 In St. Chri.3toval I found this species on one occasion 150 feet above the nearest stream,
3 This species often takes to the vvater. Some individuals that I kept alive on board used
to spend a quarter of an hour at a time iu the water eating voraciously all the while.
^ According to Prof. Semper, these two species in the Philippines live a large portion of
the year high up on the trees in mangrove swamps, (Ibid.)

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 341
sent the stages of transition from the one species to the other. If
this be possible, then I would sugge,st that the fresh-water Nerite
(Neritina subsulcata) may have been transformed into the tree Nerite
(Neritina cornea) in the following manner,
I have already referred to the circumstance that in the higher
portions of the St. Christoval streams, where the rocks are entirely
volcanic, the fre.sb-water shells— and I may here add, especially
those of Neritina subsulcata — suffer rauch more erosion than do
shells of the .same species in the lower parts of the streams where
they flow through calcareous districts. Now, the geological structure
of this island being mainly ancient volcanic rocks incrusted near the
coast by recent calcareous formations, the tirae will corae when these
calcareous envelopes will have been entirely stripped off' by denuda
tion. How this will influence the Nerites of the streams may be
thus explained. At present the normal characters of the species are
preserved in the calcareous portions of the streams ; but when all
the calcareous rocks have been stripped off by denudation, the Nerite
through its whole lifetime will be subjected to that extensive process
of erosion, which now often denudes almost the entire surface of tbe
shells of those individuals that live in the volcanic portion of the
stream's course. Here, Natural Selection may step in to favour thp
survival of any slight variation that raakes the Nerite more suited
to lead an entirely arboreal existence. Such a geological agency
may in trutb. lead finally to the expulsion of the Nerite from the
stream's course. Varieties -will survive only in proportion to their
capability of adapting themselves to the new condition ; and they
alone will perpetuate their kind until a tree Nerite of distinct specific
character is produced. . . . On this reasoning, tree Nerites ought
to be more numerous in islands of volcanic formation : but this is a
point on which I cannot pronounce from the lack of sufficient
evidence,^ According to Professor Semper, we have vnNavicella " a, modified
form oi Neritina" which genus it resembles in all essential anatomi
cal characters, but " by long inurement to living in rushing mountain
streams, it has had its shell modified in the way most suited to those
conditions, while the opeixulum, in consequence of long disuse, has
become a peculiar degenerate or rudimentary organ," ^
iProf, Semper's observations in the Philippines bear on this matter. ("Natural Con
ditions of Existence," &c,, p. 188.)
Ibid, p. 212.

342 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS.
Tbe growth of the fresh-water Nerites would apjiear to be slow.
I kept a young individual of Neritina subsulcata for seven months
in a bottle partly filled with rain-water, and supplied it with decay
ing leaves for food which it used to eat. Its weight was 37 grains
both at the beginning and the end of the experiment, having only
varied half a grain during the whole time ; and its dimensions, as
determined by measurement, were unaltered. This species, when it
is flrst picked off the rock, ejects a watery fluid with a powerful
musky odour, which effect accompanies the clcsure of the shell by
the opercitlum. I kept sorae individuals of this species in rain-water,
containing varying proportions of lime-water, for about three months.
The lime-water was of the medicinal strength of the British Phar
macopeia. I began with water containing 64 parts of rain-water
to one part of the lime-solution. By the end of the flrst month the
proportion was increased to 32 to 1 ; by the end of the second
month it was 16 to 1 ; towards the end of the third month the
Nerites, having lived for over three weeks in the last solution, began
to die ; the survivors were placed in a solution containing the pro
portion of 8 to 1, but this amount of the lime-solution proved too
much for tbem. It should be remarked that throughout the experi
ment, the Nerites used to descend to the water to get their food just
as frequently as in the state ofnature: they did not avoid the water;
and after the experiment was over, there was no apparent alteration
in the appearance of the shells. These observations were made in
the north part of New Zealand during the latter part of the summer
and the beginning of the autumn, a circumstance which may parti
ally explain the death of the shells. The temperature there was
about 20° below the temperature they are accustomed to in the
Solomon Islands ; this difference is of interest when it is remembered
that Neritince are mostly found in the streams of tropical regions ;
and I may, therefore, infer that this species is capable of adapting
itself to temperatures much lower than that to which it is accus
tomed, since some individuals survived the voyage to New Zealand
from the Solomon Islands and lived in the climate of the former
region for three months under very unfavourable conditions.
Professor Semper'- remarks that some Neritince have the habit
of detaching themselves from rocks on the slightest touch, by this
means, as he considers, escaping the pursuit of their enemies. Some
of them, however, as I observed, detach themselves spontaneously
1 Ibid, p, 210,

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 343
and independently of any alarm. The individuals of Neritina sub
sulcata that I kept in a large bottle in my cabin, used frequently
in the course of a night to detach themselves from the sides and
drop down into the water below. On one occasion when tbe noise
woke me up, I found the culprit voraciously eating a portion of de
cayed leaf. In the daytime they sometimes dropped, and at other
times crawled, down to the water  It is probable that the
musky water, which this Nerite ejects when it is picked off a rock,
maj'- cause a bird to drop it from its beak and thus save its life.
Amongst the new fresh-water shells that I found in this group
was a species of JJnio, to which Mr. Smith did rae the honour of
attaching my name, it being the first species of this genus of river-
mussels that has been found in the Solomon Group. But its occur
rence there means something raore than a new locality, since, as I
believe, I am correct in asserting, we haye in it the first record of
this widely distributed genus having reached the Pacific islands.
I do not think that this species can be generally spread through the
Solomon Group. I only found it in one locality, namely the Short-
land Islands, near the western end of the group.
A very familiar shell, in low-lying moist and marshy situations
throughout the Solomon Islands, is that of the auriculoid, Pythia
scarabwus, Linnd Being usually accustomed to find it in the low-
lying districts, I was surprised on one occasion to find it in the
Iiigher parts of Faro Island, which attains an elevation of 1,900 feet
above sea. In the mangrove swamps and in the lower parts of the
streams at Choiseul Bay, I found a species of Cyrena which has not
yet been described, together with Cerithidea cornea (A. Adams: var.)
and Pyrazus palustris, the last species occurring also in India. On
the moist ground of the taro patches in the islands of Bougainville
Straits thrives a species (S. simplex, var,) of that ubiquitous genus
Succinea, The operculated land-snails, of which the Helicinw are
the most numerous, are found more frequently in calcareous district.".

344 LAND AND FRESH- WATER SHELLS.

LIST OF LAND AND FRESH- WATER SHELLS COLLECTED IN
IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS' DURING 1882 AND 1883.
(EXTRACTED FROM MR. E. SMITH'S PAPER IN THE PRO
CEEDINGS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,
JUNE, 2nd, 1885.) THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE NEW
SPECIES AND VARIETIES FOLLOW:
(1) Helicarion planospira (Pfeiffer) Hab. Santa Auna, Ugi, St. Christoval,
Guadalcanar.
(2) Helix (Nanina) nitidissima (nov. spec.) Hab. Treasury Island, a
variety iu Guadalcanar.
(3) Helix (Nanina) solidiuscida (nov. spec.) Hab. Santa Anna, found
generally on the trunks of cocoa-nut palms.
(4) Helix (Corasia) tricolor (Pfeiffer) Hab. St. Christoval, Ugi, Santa
Anna.
(5) Helix (Corasia) anadyomene, A (Adams & Angas) Hab. Guadalcanar,
Ugi.
(6) Helix (Geotrochus) acmella (Pfeiffer) Hab. Faro Island, Bougainville
Straits ; Florida Islands, vide original paper.
(7) Helix (Geotrochus) gamelia (Angas) Hab. Isabel, Stephen Island,
Siiortlaiid Islands, Treasury Island, Choiseul Bay.
(8) Helix (Geotrochus) hargreavesi (Angas) Hab. Faro Island in Bougain
ville Straits.
(9) Helix (Geotrochus) mendana (Angas) Hab. Shortland Islands, vide
original paper.
(10) Helix (Geotrochus) motacilla (Pfeiff'er) Hab. Simbo or Eddystone
Island, also called Narovo.
Note. — In the original paper, Simbo and Eddystone are referred to as
two different islands. This mistake arose from the omission of tho name of
Simbo in the latest charts ; it is, however, the name usually employed.
(11) Helix (Geotrochus) guppyi (nov, spec) Hab. Faro Island in Bougain
ville Straits.
(12) Helix (Geotrochus) dampie7-i (Angas) var. Hab. Choiseul Bay.
(13) Helix (Geotrochus) eras (Angas) Hab. Isabel, Stephen Island, Short-
land Islands.
(14) Helix (Geotrochus) cleryi (R^cluz) Hab. Santa Anna, Ugi, St. Chris
toval, Guadalcanar, Rua Sura Islets, New Georgia, Simbo or
Eddystone, Treasury, Shortlands, Choiseul Bay. Three new
varieties, var meridionalis (Santa Anna), var simboana (Simbo or
Eddystone), var septentrionalis (Shortlands, Treasury, Choiseul Bay.)
'The habitats given are confined to the Solomon Groujj. I have added the new habitats
of species in my collection to those previously ascertained from the collections of Brenchley,
Maogillivray, Hombron and Jaoquinot, etc.

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 345
(1.5) Helix ( Videna) merziann (Pfeifler) Hab. St. Cliristoval, Now
Georgia, Ugi ; vide original paper.
(16) Helix ( Videna) sanctce annce (nov. spec.) Hab. Santa Anna, living on
the trunks of cocoa-nut palms.
Note. — This species, or a closely similar form, was observed by mo in
many other islands ; but I neglected to collect it in any other locality than
Santa Anna.
(17) Helix (Rhytida) villandrei (Gassies) Hab. St, Christoval, Ugi,
(18) Helix (Camaina) hombroni (PhiR'cr) Hab. Shortland and Faro Islands
in Bougainville Straits, Isabel.
(19) Helix (Ghloritls) eustoma (Pfeiff'er) Hab. New Georgia, Ugi, Faro
Island (Bougainville Struits.)
(20) Bulimus (Placostylus) cleryi (Petit) Hab. St. Christoval.
(21) Bulimus (Placostylus) founaki (Hombron and Jacquinot) Hab. Isabel,
Faro Island (Bougainville Straits).
(22) Bulimus (Placostylus) milfocheilm' (Reeve) Hab. St. Christoval (S,E.
part), Ugi, Santa Anna : vide original paper.
(23) Partula., spec. 7/a6. Guadalcanar, Ugi, Treasury Islaud, Choiseul Bay :
vide original paper.
(24) Succinea simplex (Pfeiffer) var. Hab- Treasury Island, Shortland
Islands : living- on the moist ground in the taro patches.
(2.5) Cyclostoma (Adelostoma) triste (Tapparone Caneiri), var? Hab.
Guadalcanar; Santa Anna; Faro and Shortland Islands and
Choiseul Bay in Bougainville Straits.
(26) Leptopoma facquinoti (Pfeiffer) Hab. Rua Sura Islets off the north
coast of Guadalcanar : vide original paj)er,
(27) Leptopoma vitreum (Lesson) Hab. Santa Anna, Simbo or Eddystone;
Shortland Island.s.
(28) Omphalotropis nebulosa (Pease) Hab. St, Christoval, Guadalcanar,
Ugi. 1 found this shell living- on trees clothing a low tract of land
skirting the beach.
(29) Pupina salomonensis (nov. spec.) Hab. Shortland and Treasury Islands
iu Bougainville Straits : living in the decayed trunks of fallen
trees,
(30) Hargravesia polita, H. (Adams), var. iZa6, Fiiro Island in Bougainville
Straits : vide original paper,
(31) Helicina moquiniana (Reoluz) Hab. St, Christoval, Guadalcanar,
Ugi.
(32) Helicina egregia (Pfeiff'er) Hab, Guadalcanar, Florida Islands.
(33) Helicina modesta (Pfeiff'er) Ilab. Guadalcanar, Shortland Islands,
Treasury Islands, Choiseul Bay,
(34) Helicina salomonensis (nov, spec) Hab. The Islands of Bougainville
Straits (Faro, Shortlands, Treasury),
(35) Pgthia scarabwus (Linne) Hab. Santa Anna, St. Christoval, which
were the localities of my specimens ; but I observed tbis species
and its varieties iti every island I visited. Stat : Moist ground
usually war the sea,
(36) Melampus fasciatus (Deshayes) Hab. Isabel, Rua Sura Islets off the
nortii coast of Guadalcanar. I found these shells in the crevices of
a log on the beach.
(37) Melania amarula (Linne) Hab. Ugi, in the streams.
(38) Melania scabra (M-uUer) Hab. Ugi, in a stream.
(39^ Melania salatnanis (Brot.) Hab. Ugi, in a stream.
(40) Melania fulgurans (Hinds) Hab. Ugi, in a stream.

346 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS,
(41) Melania fastigiella (Reeve) Hab. Imbedded in a dark calcareous
loam exposed in the banks of a large stream near its mouth at Sula
gina, on the north coast of St. Christoval. 1 could not find any
living specimens.
(42) Melania spec Hab. The same as Mel. fastigiella.
(43) Melania verrucosa (Hinds) Hab. The same as Mel. fastigiella.
(44) Melania subgradata (nov. spec) Hab. The same as Mel fastigiella.
(45) Melania ugiensis (nov. spec.) Hab. From a stream in Ugi.
(46) Melania sanctce annae (nov. spec.) Hab. A stream in the interior of
Santa Anna,
(47) Melania guppyi (nov. spec.) Hab. From the stomach and intestines
of a fish living in the fresh-water lake of Wailava in the island of
Santa Anna. This species probably frequents the deeper parts of
the- lake, as I only found one living individual.
(48) Cerithidea cornea A. (Adams) var. Hab. Mangrove swamps in Choiseul
Bay.
(49) Pyrazus palustris Hab. Mangrove swamps in Choiseul Bay.
Nate. — Not referred to in original paper.
(50) Nerita marmorata (Hombron and Jacquinot) Hab. Living just above
high-water level on the surface of the coral-limestone coast, St.
Christoval.
(51) Neritina cornea (Linne) Hab. Star Harbour, St. Christoval, on the
trunks of trees 150 feet above the nearest stream; Choiseul Bay,
from a stream ; Shortland Islands, on the steras of tree-ferns and
areca palms in a marshy district. I found this species in many
otber islands ; but did not collect it except in the above three
localities.
(52) Neritina subsulcata (Sowerby) Hab. Streams in St. Christoval and in
the islands of Bougainville Straits, In the Shortland Islands I found
this species on the stems of tree-ferns and areca palms in a marshy
district. I only collected it in these localities ; but I found it in
many otber islands. When first picked off the rock, it ejects a
watery fluid possessing a powerful musky odour.
(53) Neritina dubia (Chemnitz) Hab. Shortland Islands, in a stream.
(54) Neritina adumbrata (Reeve) Hab. A stream in Choiseul Bay, and the
rocky sides of a stream-course in Ugi.
(55) Neritina pulligera (Linn6) Hab. Guadalcanar, St. Christoval, Ugi,
Choiseul Bajr, in the streams.
(56) Neritina petiti (R6oluz) Hab. Treasury and Faro Islands, in the
streams.
(57) Neritina alivacea (Le Guillou) Hah. Streams in Treasury Island and
at Sulagina, St. Christoval.
(58) Neritina macgillivrayi (Reeve) Hab. Streams in Guadalcanar and in
Faro Island, Bougainville Straits.
(59) Neritina asperulata (Reoluz) Hab. Rocky sides of a stream-course in
Ugi,
(60) Neritina porcata (Gould) Hab. St. Christoval, and Faro Island, Bou-
g.dnville Straits, in streams.
(61) Neritina variegata (Lesson) Hab. St. Christoval^ Ugi ; Simbo or
Elddystone ; Faro Island, Bougainville Straits ; Choiseul Bay ; in
streams.
(62) Neritina turtani (Reoluz) Hab. A stream in the Shortland Islands ;
streams in Guadalcanar ; imbedded in a dark calcareous loam ex
posed in the banks of a large stream near to its mouth at Sulagina
on the north coast of St. Christoval,

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 347
(63) Neritina brevispina (Lamarck) Hab. Streams in Shortland, Treasury,
and Ugi Islands. The specimens from Treasury Island were desti
tute of spines.
(64) Neritina squarrosa (R^cluz) Hab. Streams in Treasury Idand.
(65) Navicella sanguisuga (Reeve) Hab. Streams in Faro Island, Bougain
viUe Straits.
(66) Navicella subarbicularis (Sowerby) Hab. Guadalcnnar, St, Christoval,
Ugi, Treasury aud Faro Islands in Bougainville Straits,
(67) Unio guppyi (nov, spec.) Hab. Streams in the Shortland Islands.
(68) Cyrena, spec Hab. In the lower parts of streams and in mangrove
swamps, Choiseul Bay. Nate. — This species ia not referred to in the
original paper.
Descriptions ofthe new species and varieties,^ by Mr. E. Smith.
(2) Helix (Nanina) nitidissima. (Plate XXXVI. figs. 1, 1 h.) Shell thin,
transparent, very glossy, depressed, narrowly perforate, pale hrownish
horn-colour above, whitish towards the umbilicus, sculptured with
very faint lines of growth. Whorls 4-5, slightly convex, impressed
and marginate above at the suture ; last whorl large, rounded at
the periphery. Aperture obliquely lunate ; peristome simple, thin,
slightly thickened and reflexed partly over the perforation. Spire
low, but very little raised above the last whorl, obtuse at the apex.
Greatest diameter 14 millim,, smallest 12 ; height 9.
(8) Helix (Nanina) solidiuscula. (Plate XXXVI,, figs, 2, 2 b.) Shell very
narrowly perforate, depressed, somewhat solid, dark oliestnut-brown
and a little glossy above, more shining and paler beneath, becoming
almost white at the umbilical region ; whorls 6J, convex, separated
by a deepish suture, and, with the exoeption of two or three at the
apex which are smooth, sculptured with strong, close-set, arcuate,
aud oblique strise on the upper surlace, crossed with a few more or
less distinct spiral lines. Body-whorl rounded at the periphery, or
sometimes with the faintest indication of an angle, convex, and only
exhibiting fine lines of growth below. Aperture obliquely semi-
lunate ; peristome simple, but, owing to the solidity of the shell,
seeming slightly thickened, especially on tbe very oblique coUumellar
margin, which is shortly reflexed above over the perforation. Spire
depressed-conoid, having the least convex outlines and nn obtuse
apex. Greatest diameter 18 millim., smallest 16-|-, height 12; aper
ture 8 long, 41 wide.
This species is well distinguished by its comparative solidity and
strong sculpture on the upper surface.
(4) Helix (Corasia) tricalar (Pfeiff'er). (Plate XXXVL, figs, 3, 3 b.) A
specimen obtained on the north coast of the same island of St, Chris
toval, by Mr, Guppy, is w-orthy of special mention, and may be
termed vio:. pieta, on account ofthe undulating reddish-brown stripes
which ornament botli the upper and lower surfaces.
A simdar example was also collected by Dr. A. Corrie and pre
sented to the Museum. The mMi-kings on these two shells ure very
striking and distinctly visible within the aperture.
(11) Helix (Geotrochus) guppyi. (Plate XXXVI. fig. 4,) Shell elevately
conical, thin, pale yellow, ornamented with conspicuous nearly
black or black-brown spiral bands, one above and one below the
The numbers refer to the plates in Mr, Smith's paper (Proc. Zool. Soc, June 1885).

348 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS.
sutures of the upper whorls, and three upon the last, one sutural,
the second peripheral, and the third basaL Volutions 6, rather
slowly enlarging, a little convex, sculptured wifh fino oblique strire
of growth, not glossy. Three first whorls livid purplish, the last
rather sharply angled at the middle, not descending in front, having
the basal band broad around the almost concealed perforation,
and oljsolete within the aperture. The latter is oblique, somewhat
narrowed and pouting in front, banded within with three almost
black and two white bands, the central one of the former being
squarely truncate at the end, only the lower corner of it touching
the margin of the lip, whicli is pale oblique, receding, a little ex
panded and reflexed in front and at the columellar margin, tho
upper end of whioh is spread over and nearly conceals the small
umbilicus. Height 22|- millim., greatest diameter 19, smallest 16.
This species is remarkable for the striking- contrast of its colour-
bands and the angular character of tho last whorl.
(12) Helix (Geotrochus) dampieri, Angas, var. (Plate XXXVI. fig, 5,)
Shell imperforate, subglobose, conoid, light brown or fawn-colour,
here and there minutely dotted with dark-grey specks, with a broad
white band around the middle of the penultimate whorl and two
upon the last, one above and the other below the middle, also a
narrow white line revolving- up the spire beneath the suture, and a
dark brown zone surrounding the pale or yellowish umbilical
region. Whorls 5, a little convex above, somewhat glossy, obliquely
and very finely striated bythe lines of growth, the last more orless
concentrically stratied beneath, shortly descending at the aperture
w-hich is white within. Lip a little thickened, edged with reddish
brown, only slightly expanded on the right side, more dilated below,
produced into a thin transparent callosity over the umbilical region,
united above to the upper extremity of the peristome. Columellar
margin oblique, white or partly tinged with reddish brown, thickened
and terminating below withi ii the edge of the lip. Ileight 19
millim,, greatest diam. 22, smallest 19.
The specimens from the Solomon Islands are smaller than thu
type with whioh, through the kindness of Mr G. F. Angas, I have
compared them. They also have the peristome brown, aud the basal
band is darker,
(14) Jhelix (Geotrochus) cleryi, Ri^cluz (Plate XXXVI. figs 6, 6 b). Tho
specimens from Santa Anna (var, meridionalis fig. 6 b) are smaller
than the type, pale birown above, with a white thread-like line at
the suture, and the acutely keeled periphery, paler beneath,
especially towards the centre, aud have the aperture particularly
acuminate at the termination of tho keel.
The specimens from Simbo (var. simboana, fig, 6 a) are uniformly
pale horn-colour, rather sharply carinate at the middle, and have the
peristome white, considerably thickened and almost notched at the
upper end of the columella, and the body-whorl is more contracted
than in the typical form. The examples from Choiseul Bay, Shortland
and Treasury Islands (var. septentrionalis, fig. 6) are all alike, of
snialler dimensions than the normal form, thin pale brownish horn-
colour, with rather more convex whorls than usual, the carina at the
periphery being acute and threaddike as in the variety simboana.
Whether these several varieties should take specific rank is ques
tionable, for, although there is considerable difference between the
extreme form seven in the series of nearl-y^ one hundred specimens

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 349
under examination, the gradual transition from one form to another
is observable.
(16) Helix ( Videna) sanctce annce. (Plate XXXVL figs. 7. 7 b.) Shell
depressed-conoid, deeply umbilicated, very acutely keeled at the
periphery, light brown, sometimes with a few radiating pale streaks
on the upper surface, sculptured with oblique lines of growth.
Whorls 5, rather slowly increasing, slightly convex, depressed aud
margined above the suture, last not descending, compressed abovo
and below the keel, a little convex towards the umbilicus, which is
moderately large. Aperture transverse, flesh-tinted within. Peris
tome simple, a little thickened along tbe basal margin, with the ex
tremities united hy a thin callus. Height 7 millim.; greatest
diameter 17, smallest 15.
(2o) Vyclastoma (Adelostoma) triste, Tapparone Canefri, var. ? Dr.
Tapparone Caiicfri has kindly compared specimens from these
islands with his G triste, and is of opinion that thoy may be con
sidered a variety of it ; and observes that the New-Guinean form
is a little smaller, its spire a little more slender, its surf.'ice more
glossy, the colour redder, and tho apex of the spire darker.
The shells under examination are clothed with a very thin
epidermis when in a fresh condition, exhibiting numerous very fine
spiral thread-like lines, which entirely disappear in worn shells and
can easily be rubbed off with a brush. For several species having a
similar epidermis and an incomplete peristome. Dr. Tapparone Canfri
has proposed the subgenus Adelostoma.
(29) Pupina solamanensis. (Plate XXXVI. fig. 9, 9 a.) Shell small and
very like P- difficilis. Semper, and P. heraudreni, Viguard. It is
of a reddish tint, espeoi.illy the body-whorl ; consists of h\ whorls,
which are the least convex and exhibit a pellucid line, frequently
brown, immediately beneath the suture. Last whorl very obliquely
descending behind, narrowed below, and flattened somewhat abovc
the aperture. Columella thickened with callus, white, parted oft
from the whorl above by an oblique circumscribing red line, trun
cated rather low down. Outer lip slightly thickened and effuse,
and a little paler than the rest of the whorl, produced somewhat at
its junction with the body-whorl, which in consequence bas the
appearance of rising suddenly after an oblique descent. Length 7
millims., diam. 3|, aperture 2 long and wide.
(34) Helicina solamanensis. (Plate XXXVL figs. 11, 11 b.) Shell small,
globose-conical, reddish or yellowish, pale at the apex. Whorls 4 —
4^, the least convex above, sculptured with lines of growth and fine
spiral stria> both on the upper and lower surfaces, very faintly
margined above at the suture ; last whorl rounded at the periphery,
obsoletoly angled near the junction of the outer lip and the least
descending in front, so that the faint angulation is visible for a short
distance above the sutural line. Aperture somewhat semicircular
and oblique, small; peristome shghtly expanded ; um hili cal callosity
yellowish or pellucid whitish, defined towards tho base of the
columellar margin. Greatest width 4f millim,, smallest 4; height
(44) Melania subgradata. (Plate XXXVII. fig. 3, 3 a). Shell elongate,
turreted, rather solid, covered with an (olive?) epidermis, and
marked with fine longitudinal oblique red lines which extend from
suture to suture. Whorls probably about 10, flat or even a little

350 LAND AND FRESH- WATER SHELLS,
concave at tbe sides, shouldered above, usually vvith a spiral shallow
groove and a few strise near the shoulder, and marked with fine in
cremental strise. Suture deep, slightly oblique. Last whorl long,
finely transversely striated, most distinotiy at the base. Aperture
elongate-pyriform, acute above, effuse at the base. Outer lip thin,
sharp, accurate, and prominent at the middle. Columellar margin
rather thickly covered with callus, united above to the outer lip.
Length of two specimens, oonsistingof five whorls 30 and 25 millim,;
diameter 11 and lOi; aperture 14 and 12 long, 6 aud 5 wide.
(45) Melania ugiensis. (Plate XXXVII. fig. 4.) Shell subulate, acuminate,
beneath the epidermis (which is wanting in the specimens at hand),
of a dirty, pale, livid, or purplish tint. Whorls probably about 14
in number ; the eleven remaining are a little convex, rather slowly
enlarging, and sculptured -with close-set, obliquish, fine riblets, which
are crossed by crowded spiral striae. Last whorl large, with the
riblets rather obsolete below the middle, and very close together,
much more numerous than those upon the upper whorls. Aperture
obliquely pear-shaped. Length 25 millim., diameter 8 ; aperture
8^ long, 4i wide.
(46) Melania sanctce annce. (Plate XXXVII. figs. 5, 5 a.) Shell small,
acuminately pyramidal, somewhat eroded towards the apex, covered
with a yellowish-olive epidermis, and sometimes marked with a few
indistinct, reddish, irregular spots, and lines near the middle of the
body-whorl. Whorls 5-6 remaining, flattish at the sides, divided by
a sligtitly, oblique, distinct suture, all with the exception of the last
one or two more or less distinotiy, longitudinally, finely plicate ; the
plicEe are more conspicuous in some specimens than in others, being
at times entirely eroded. The other sculpture consists of fine lines
of growth, and a few rather distant spiral strise, whioh cut across
the incremental lines and produce a puckered appearance. Aperture
elongate, pyriform, pale bluish witbin. Length of specimen consis-
ing of six whorls 13 millim., diameter 5 ; aperture 5 long and 2^
wide.
(47) Melatiia guppyi- (Plate XXXVII, figs. 6, 6 a.) Shell slenderly
acuminate, covered with an olive-brown epidermis. Whorls about
14, divided by a very oblique, deepish suture, concave above the
middle and somewhat convex below it, and then contracted ; orna
mented witb a few spiral series of nodules (about five on the upper
whorls) and rather 'ndistinct, very oblique and flexuous, longitudinal
ridaes, upon whioh the nodules rests, also exhibiting very sloping
and flexuous linea of growth ; the most conspicuous rows of granules
are near the middle of the whorls. Aperture pyriform. Outer lip
thin, remarkably sinuated above towards the suture, and arcuately
prominent below. Columellar margin oblique, straightish, covered
with a callus, curving^ into the broad basal sinus. Length 31
millim., diameter 7 ; aperture 9 long, 4 wide.
This is a very remarkable and distinct species, with a very
drawu-out spire, peculiar granuled sculpture, and a deeply sinuated
labrum. I have much pleasure in naming it after Mr. Guppy.
(66) Unio guppyi. (Plate XXXVII. figs. 8-8 b.) Shell elongate, very
inequilateral, usually a little longer than twice the height, com
pressed, covered with a blackish-brown epidermis, exhibiting strong
lines of growth, and very faint radiating substriation, and marked
with fine wrinklings at the eroded beaks, which are small and placed
quite near the anterior extremity. Dorsal margin behind the um-

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 351

bones almost straight or the least excurved for some distance, then
at an obtuse angle becoming oblique before rounding into tbo ex
tremity, wbich is a little more sharply curved than the anterior end.
Ventral outline either faintly excurved, straight, orthe least concave.
Interior bluish-white, most iridescent at the binder extremity,
generally stained in parts with olive-brown. Cardinal tooth of the
right valve moderately, large, four or five-lobed at the top, situated
just in front of umbo. Between it and the outer margin is a short
ridge, the space between the tooth and the ridge receiving the single,
smaller, roughened, and striated tooth of the left valve. Lateral
tooth of the right valve long, obliquely truncate behind, fitting in
between two teeth in the opposite valve. Anterior adductor scar
deep, posterior superficial, squarish in front. Pedal scar in both
valves under the cardinal tooth very deep. Ligament elongate,
prominent. Length 80 ram. ; height 38 ; diaraeter 21.
„ 70 mm. ; „ 35 ; ,, 18.
This species recalls to mind some of the forms from Australia and
New Zealand. Its principal features are the elongate compressed
form, dark brown colour, wrinkled apices, and coarse incremental
lines. It is the only species as yet recorded from the Solomon
Islands.

ADDITIONAL NOTE. (H. B. GUPPY.)
A species of the Litaritinidce (Littarina scabra) is commonly found in
this group on the leaves and trunks of mangroves, Barringtonias, and othcr
littoral trees, the branches of which overspread the rising tide. These
molluscs occur at heights varying from one or two feet to eight or nine
feet above the high-water level; and they possess an unusually delicate
.iperculum as compared with those of other species of tbe same family.
They do not seem to be able to withstand immersion in salt water for any
length of time, since out of six individuals kept submerged for twenty-four
hours, three died. When first placed in the water, they were evidently
very much out of their element, and tried in vain to creep out of the vessel.
The delicate character of the operculum indicates a transitional stage be
tween marine and terrestrial molluscs ; and the experiment above referred
to, throws a little light on this subject, since only tbe younger of the six
individuals survived. One would have expected that the younger individ
uals would have been less able to withstand immersion in sea-water, but
such was not the case, since they recovered from an immersion which killed
the older individuals. In explanation of this unexpected result, 1 would
infer that, on the theory of tbe inheritance of peculiarities at corresponding
ages, the younger individuals would retain more of the marine habits of tiic
original parent of the species, because in the first plaoe only the adults of
this parent species would have been modified to suit the new condition.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE CLIMATE OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
AMONGST the matters to whicii I devoted some attention in
this group of islands, -was the annual rainfall. As far as I
know, there have been no continuous observations previously made
there ; and the only record of rain-measurement, -which I have been
able to find referring to this region, was an observation made on
board the Austrian frigate "Novara'' in the middle of October, 1858,
whilst to the northward of St. Christoval, -when three inches of rain
were registered in five hours.^ I therefore set myself to -work to do
what I could in this matter, making rain-guage stations at Santa
Anna and Ugi and keeping a register myself on board. Mr. Fred
Howard undertook to raake these observations at Ugi, and I sup
plied him with a rain-guage for this purpose. His register, which
extended over a peiiod of fifteen months from October, 1882, to the
end of the following year, was kept with great regularity ; and as I
was able to compare his observations -with my own on board for a
few clays, I have every confidencs in the accuracy of his observa
tions. At Santa Anna, Mr. William Henghan, to whom I had sup
plied a guage, undertook at first to keep the record, beginning in
the last week of October, 1882 ; but he left the island two months
after, when Mr. Charles Sproul voluntarily undertook to measure
the rainfall, which he did with great regularity until the end of the
following year. I regret to learn that Mr. Sproul has recently died
at Sydney. He was one of those men who in a quiet inofi'ensive
way have done much towards preparing the way for future settlers
in this group, I have the greatest confidence in his observations,
since for a few days at Santa Anna we were able to compare our
dail}' measurements.
Before proceeding to consider the results of these rain-measure-
1 Soherzer's " -Voyage of the 'Novara,'" Eng, edit,, 18G1.

CLIMATE. 353
ments, I will endeavour to convey to the mental eye of my readers
a general idea of the most striking atmospheric phenomenon in
connection with the rainfall of these regions. I refer to the oncom
ing of the black squall.
A clear and sereno sky at first gives no token of the sudden
change that is to quickly follow ; but the stillness of the air and its
increased dryness, together with the consequent greater scorching
power of the sun's rays and the apparent nearness of surrounding
shores, give sufScient warning of the onset of the rain squall to those
acquainted with these seas. In a short tirne a low black arch
appears above the horizon, often in an unexpected quarter, and
rising rapidly it sweeps majestically with great swiftness until it
appears to span the heavens. Onward it rushes, quicker far than
one imagines ; and now must the navigator beware. Under yonder
advancing arch a white line of foam marks its van. There, away
towards one of its corners, a waterspout rises in fantastic shape ; sea
and cloud meet in mid-air and become intermingled in the whirling-
column. Lightning plays about beneath the arch and within its
black mass, illuming lor the moment its dark recesses and leaving
it in the next far blacker than before. Peals of thunder herald on
the advance of the black squall.
"Clear lower deck!" "Hands aloft!" "Shorten sail!"
Such were the words of command which v/ere almost daily
issued during our cruises in these islands. In a few brief
minutes, the ship is prepared to meet the squall. The tempera
ture falls very perceptibly, and the officer of the watch gives
a slight shiver as he dons his oilskins. The wind is freshening,
a few large drops of rain fall, the raen crouch under the bul
warks, and now the arch is overhead and we are in the thick of the
squall. Down comes a deluge of rain which in less than a minute
wets all who are unprotected through and through. The ship heels
well over, even with her scanty canvas. There is nothing more to
be done. We listen to the whistling of the wind in the rigging
and patiently wait until the weather clears. In half-an-hour the
arch has swept over u.s, and is pursuing its rapid course towards the
neighbouring mountain-peaks, perhaps of Bouga.inville or it may be
of Guadalcanar. The blue sky begins to show itself ; and in less
than an hour all is as before. With reefs shaken out and more sail
made, the ship proceeds, plunging cheerily on under a fresh breeze
as though glad to shake herself clear of the squaU. The sea losing its

354 CLIMATE.
murky colour reflects the bright hue of the sky now serene ; and its
-w:hite-topped waves sparkle in the sun. The wizard of the storm
has shaken his wand, and the scene is changed, as though by magic.
All nature seems invigorated by this short battle of the elements
and to be indebted to the bounty of the black squall. Whilst
everything before was depressed ancl lowering, all is now bright
and cheerful. Nature has in truth had its accustomed shower-
bath, and the reaction that ensues does good to all ; makes men the
happier and the stronger, elicits a loud chorus from the lower
creation in which bird, reptile, and insect, before hushed in the
depressing gloom, now combine in strange medley ; and the inani
mate world shares in the bright change which has followed the
storm. If it be night, the increased luminosity of the sea may be the
warning of the arched squall. The ship throws offa bright wave
of phosphorescence on either side of the bow, and leaves a luminous
track in her wake. Overhead the cloudless star-lit sky conveys its
warning ; for the stars shine with increased brilliancy, those of less
raagnitude usually invisible with the naked eye are now distinctly
seen ; and if the navigator, who has often tried in vain to count the
six stars in the Pleiades, can do so now, let him look out for the
black squall. Such are the warning.s. Then sweeps along the
lowering arched mass with its rain and its waterspouts, its wind
and its thunder and lightning. On it comes, looking all the blacker
as it spreads athwart the heavens and turns the .star-lit night into a
lightless gloom. Overtaken in the night b\^ such a squall, unable to-
see more than half a cable's length on either side, and perhaps in
the vicinity of sunken reefs the position of which is uncertain, a
sailor has need of all his wits. On one occasion, when in this situa
tion, we came unexpectedly in soundings, whilst, as we thought, a
hundred good fathoms and more lay beneath our keel. The time
was anxious, but nothing coulcl be done until the squall was over.
When the arch has passed, the stars begin to show themselves, and
in a short time they shine out with all their lustre.
With this description of the rain-squall, or black-squall, or arched-
squall, as it may be also conveniently termed, I return to the con
sideration of the rainfall of this region ; and first with regard to
the observations at the east end of the Solomon Group. During
1888, 1 25-03 inches of rain were measured at Santa Anna, a small
island lying at the extreme eastern limit of these islands. Two-

CLIMATE. 355
thirds of the total amount fell in the five months between the
beginning of April and the end of August. At Ugi, which lies
nearly 60 miles north-east of Santa Anna, 146-24 inches of rain were
registered during the same year. About one-third of the total rain
for the year fell in the two months of April and July. On compar
ing the totals for each month at these two localities, there will be
found to be but little agreement, which is due to the circumstance
that the daily rainfalls of these two places have little relation one
with the other, a heavy fall at one island being often only indicated
by a slight fall of rain at the other. It is thus evident that locality
has a great influence on the rainfall in this part of the group ; and
probably Ugi owes its greater rainfall to the proximity of the high
land of St. Christoval. Here, as in other parts of this group, I often
had opportunities of observing how the contiguity of land affected
the rainfall in a single shower. I might have been in the interior
of an island exposed to a deluge of rain for a couple of hours, and
have found, as I did once in the Shortland Islands, that there had
been very little rain on board. Another time, when in my Rob Roy
canoe on the south side of Treasury harbour and not more than
a mile from the ship, a rain-squall passed over me leaving scarcely a
-drop behind ; but as it swept over the ship and was approaching the
steep slopes of the island, a smart shower of ^% of an inch fell on
the deck.
I cannot gather from the observations made in this eastern part
of the group, that one season of the year has a heavier rainfall than
another. On comparing the two records for 1883 of Ugi and Santa
Anna, it might be thought that the closing months of the year would
usually prove to be the driest ; but on referring to the register kept
on board the ship in this locality in the latter part of 1882 (page 365),
which is one of the heaviest records we had in the Solomon Group,
such an inference would be negatived. Nor do I find from these
registers of rainfall that there appears to be any relation between
the amount of rain and the prevalence or non-prevalence of the
south-easterly trade, which usually becomes well established in May
and lasts till the end of Noveraber or the beginning of December^
when the north-westerly and westerly winds set in. These observ
ations point towards the inference, therefore, that the distribution
of rain through the seasons in this part of the group is capricious ;
and they do not warrant the conclusion tliat one season is wetter
than another.

356 CLIMATE,
Perhaps a comparison of the number of rainy days, or days on
which not less than -j^^ of an inch of rain were measured, may help
us to form a more definite conclusion. It will be seen that at Santa
Anna and Ugi there were much the same number of rainy days, 182
in the former island and 178 in the latter, or in round numbers about
half the total number of days in the year were rainy.^ At Santa
Anna, during the prevalence of the trade wind, there were on the
average 15 rainy days per month, and at Ugi 13 per month ; whilst
during the months from December to April inclusive, when westerly
and variable winds prevailed, there were 18 rainy days per month at
Santa Anna, and 19 per month at Ugi ; so that we may infer that in
this year of 1883 there were fewer rainy days per month during the
prevalence of the south-east trade, i.e., from May to November, than
during the period of -westerly and variable winds, i.e., from Decem
ber to April. \
I come now to the subject of the greatest daily fall of rain in this
eastern end of the group. On the 13th of June, 1883, 7'73 inches
were registered at Santa Anna ; whilst at Ugi on the same day only
an inch and a half of rain fell, a circumstance showing how confined
in their areas some heavy rainfalls may be. At Ugi the heaviest
daily fall of 5-75 inches was recorded on the 28th of January of this
«ame year ; whilst at Santa Anna only a little more than two inches
ell on this day ; and here is another proof of the restricted locality
of heavy rainfalls. On the 20th of November, 1882, when H.M.S.
" Lark " was off the east end of St. Christoval, 5 •74 inches of rain
fell on the ship ; whilst only a small amount of rain was measured
at Santa Anna and Ugi  With reference to the character
of the rain in this part of the Solomon Group, I may remark that
ns in other tropical regions it is very heavy. A fall of an inch in an
hour is very frequent during a rain-squall; but not uncommonly the
rain falls far more heavily. Thus, on one occasion on board H.M.S.
" Lark," when in this part of the group, 2-90 inches fell in an hour ;
and at another time 1-03 inches i'ell in 25 minutes, and on another
occasion an inch fell in half-an-hour.
But inasmuch as heavy falls of rain are not peculiar to the
tropics, since far greater falls than those above named have occurred
in temperate Europe, we can only judge of the character of the
^ From the record of the rainy days during the six months from June to Novemher of the
previous year (1882), it appears that at least 110 days were rainy. During the same raouths
of the following year, only 84 days were rainy.

CLIMATE. 357
rainfall in this region by the total annual fall and by the frequency
of heavy falls. Thus we find that at Ugi, in 1883, on 66 days the
fall exceeded an inch ; and that at Santa Anna, more than an inch
of rain fell on -41 days. At Ugi, the daily records on eighteen occa
sions exceeded two inches ; at Santa there was a lesser number of
falls of over two inches, viz. 11.
If I were to estimate the probable annual rainfall at the coast in
this part of the Solomon Group, I should place it at not far under
150 inches. Although only possessing the rain- register for a small
portion of 1882, I am of the opinion, from having spent a large part
ofthe year in this eastern end of the group, that the fall for 1882
was heavier than the rainfall actually registered for 1883 ;i although
this is but a conjecture, it enables me to estimate the probable
annual fall with some confidence at about 150 inches at the coast in
this eastern end of the group.
The observations made on board the ship amongst the islands of
Bougainville Straits (Treasury, Shortlands, Faro, etc.) during por
tions of the year 1883 and 1884 now claim our notice. As shown
on page 365, 60-43 inches of rain fell in the five months from June
to October of 1883, this amount being a little under that which fell
at Ugi (6o'70 inches) and at Santa Anna (6772 inches) in the same
period, the two regions lying towards the opposite ends of the
group. During the same period of the following year, we measured
67'G6 inches of rain in Bougainville Straits, an amount a little in
excess of that of the previous year. During the same periods, i.e.,
from June to October inclusive, in 1883 and 188 !•, there were the
following number of rainy days, 120 in the one year and 118 in
the other. At Santa Anna and Ugi, at the opposite end of the
group, the total of rainy days for the same period in 1883, numbered
only two-thirds of the amount in Bougainville Straits. During
these five months in 1883 there were 16 daily records of over an
inch of rain in Bougainville Straits ; at Santa Anna and Ugi, in the
same period, there were 23 and 26 daily records exceeding an inch.
In the same period of 1884, in Bougainville Straits, there were 22
such daily records, but the total fall was about 7 inches greater than
in the previous year.
I may now draw sorae inferences from the above observations.
In the first place, it is probable that the annual coast rainfall of
Bougainville Straits and that of the eastern end of the Solomon
' 'Vide footnote referring to number of rainy days in 1882 on p. 3.';6,

3,58 CLIMATE,
Group are rauch about the same, viz,, about 150 inches : the chief
difference between the two regions being, that in the former region,
there are a greater number of rainy days and fewer heavy falls.
The heavy falls, when they do occur, are not easily forgotten ; thus,
at Treasury we measured, in July, 1884, 11 incbes of rain in 10
.successive hours ; but the daily record was only 8-09 inches, since
the rain began in the evening of one day and lasted well into the
following morning.
During the heavy rainfalls in these regions the streams swell in
an astonishingly quick manner. Rivulets become turbid streams,
the whole hill-slope discharges a continuous sheet of water, and the
water rushes down the permanent stream-courses with the roar of a
mountain-torrent. Large blocks of stone are swept some distance
along the lower courses of the streams ; and the trunks of trees
are carried by each successive flood further and further towards the
moutii of the stream.
It should be now remarked that the average rainfall for the
year, which I have estimated from observations made in different
parts of the Solomon Group at about 150 inches, only applies to
the coast. It is probable that this estimate is generally applicable
to the coasts of these islands, except on the lee sides of the loftier
islands.^ This brings me to the question of the rainfall in the bigber
regions. The rainfall will increase with elevation until a certain
height is reached, where the clouds attain their maximum density ;
at such a level the greatest rainfall will occur. I learn from an in
teresting paper by Mr. Bateman on this subject,^ that it may be
inferred that in the Lake District of England the greatest rainfall
'occurs at an elevation of 2,000 feet, which is the level of maximum
eloud density. In India, an elevation of 4,500 feet represents the
level at -which the greatest rainfall occurs. In the Solomon Islands,
a greater height will have to be attained before the level of maxi
mum cloud density or that of the greatest rainfall will be attained.
Probably I shall not greatly err if I assurae it to be between 5,000
and 6,000 feet. I have already observed that the south-east trade,
subject to its usual variations, is the prevailing wind in the eastern
part of the group for nearly two-thirds of the year. Coming laden
with its watery burden, it first strikes the eastern slopes of St.
I ^ By the lee sides, I mean those sheltered from the prevailing S.E. trade. '
- Journal of the -Victoria Institute. Vol, X^V, No. 59.

CLIMATE. 359
Christoval ; but although the higher regions of this island mu.st
cause the rain-clouds to precipitate a large amount of their moisture,
the higher peaks do not rise in sufficient mass to a height that
would receive the greatest rainfall, the extreme height being 4,100
feet. The rain-clouds, with the bulk of their moisture, would there
fore be driven over the higher regions of this island, and would de-
posit the greater part of their bui-den on the higher slopes of the
mountainous eastern portion of Guadalcanar. Since this island, in
its eastern portion, rises in mass to a height of some 5,000 feet and
attains a maximum elevation of 8,000 feet, it does not seem pro
bable that, during the prevalence of the trade for nearly two-tl.drds
of the year, a considerable quantity of rain would be deposited on
the western side of the island ; and, that such is the case, is shown
in the fact that - the dense forest-growth that clothes the steep
eastern and southern slopes of the island gives place, on the lee or
west side of the mountains, to a vegetation which gives to the
western portion of Guadalcanar, when viewed from seaward, the
appearance of a savannah or a prairie.
The lof ty mountain-masses of the east end of Guadalcanar, which
forms one of the finest specimens of coast-scenery in the world,
a,re usually enveloped in rain-clouds at their summits. But occa-
,sionally one of the peaks is visible above the thick cloud-covering,
raarking by its elevation, as it were, the line of greatest rainfall
lying below. In the same manner the high peaks at the east end
¦of BougainvUle, which have an elevation of between 7,000 and 8,000
feet, raay be seen occasionally to project above the rain-clouds ; but
there is, probably, a smaller quantity of rain deposited on the higher
slopes of this island than on those of Guadalcanar, because the
mountains are more isolated, possess for the most part the tapering
volcanic profile, and do not rise " en masse," as in the case of the
high lands of Guadalcanar. The greatest rainfall in the Solomon
Grou]) takes place on the steep southern and eastern slopes of this
island of Guadalcanar. Huge mountain-masses appear to rise
directly from the sea to a height of some 5,000 feet, ultimately
attaining a height of 8,000 feet. The fall there must be tremend
ous, especially when, as is frequently the case, the land of St.
Christoval does not interpose itself in the path of the moisture-
laden trade-wind. Then, loaded with vapours after its passage
across a wide expanse of ocean, and with but a thin tract of inter
vening lowland to rob it of its moisture, the trade strikes at once

in

360 CLIMATE.
upon the precipitous mountain-slopes as against some Cyclopean
rampart. There is no ravine or breach in the mountain-mass to
ease the tension. There, on those mountain-slopes, a terrific
precipitation must occur, which, if the annual rainfall of the coast
is 150 inches, will here be three or four times that amount. This
is no exaggerated language, but is the opinion I have formed, after
having carefully considered the physical geography of these regions.
The subjoined rainfalls of a few localities in other parts of the
world may be interesting to compare with that of the Solomon
Grcmp : ^
England  32 inches.
Sing.apore  97 „
Atlantic Doldrums  225 „
Western Ghats  302 „
Cherraponj ee  610 „
Solomon Islands.
(a.) at the coast  150 „
(b.) on the higher slopes of Guadalcanar 400 to 500 inches probably.
Comparing the rainfall of the Solomon Islands with some results
obtained in other parts of the Pacific, I would draw attention to
the small rainfall of Port Moresby on the south-east coast of New
Guinea, where 34'44 inches were registered at the Mission Station
in 1875.^ In Fiji the rainfall appears to vary between 60 and 250
inches per annum, according to the degree of elevation above the
sea, and to the position of the station on the lee or weather sides
of the islands, the greatest annual falls occuring in the interior of
the laige islands,* In Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, during
1873, the rainfall at the coast was S7'85 inches; whilst at a distance
of 2|- miles in the interior, it was 134-06 inches, the elevation being
only 550 feet above the sea.*
I will now make a few reraarks on the barometric pressure,
temperature, and other features of the meteorology of this group.
They are based on the results of the observations made by Lieu
tenant Leeper on board the ship, and by Mr. F. Howard at Ugi.
(Tables appended.)
1 SomervUle's " Physical Geography," 7th edit, pp, 331-334.
- Stone's "A Few Months in New Guinea," p. 143.
" Eain-guagers have been numerous in this colony, and their list -would extend beyond
the limits of a foot-note. (Vide Horne's " Year in Fiji," &o., &c,)
" Mosely's " Naturalist on the ' Challenger,'" p, 497.

CLIMATE. 361
As is usual in these regions of the Pacific, the fluctuation of the
barometer, whether daily, yearly, or monthly, is very small. Thus,
the range during the 22 months we passed in the group, was from
29'83 to 30-18 inches, or about a third of an inch ; whilst the
average monthly range was rather under a quarter of an inch, and
the usual diurnal variation about -04 of an inch.
Whilst endeavouring to compare the temperatures of the different
seasons, I have mainly used the Ugi register, since it gives a con
tinuous record for more than a year. At Ugi in 1S83, tho
portion of the year from June to September inclusive was slightly
the coolest, but the difference in the means was not 2° ; and, in
truth, taking all the thermometric observations into consideration,
the seasons are scarcely distinguished by their temperatures. As
Lieutenant Leeper^ remarks in his report, the temperature varies
but little all the year round, the monthly mean varying between
80° and 85°. The annual raean temperature may be placed at 82°
to 83°, and the range from 75° to 95°. The daily variation is
considerably affected by the exposed or protected position of any
locality at the coast. Judging, however, from the data at my
disposal, it is usually less than 10°, e.g., 79° at night, and 88° at
mid-day. From the hygroraetrical observations, it raay be inferred that
the climate of these islands is generally very moist. The relative
humidity, taking 100 as saturation, ranged at Ugi in 1883 from 54
to 100 ; but the monthly range was usually from 72 to 95, the mean
for the year being 83.^ This mean degree of relative humidity is
much greater than that of Levuka in Fiji which would seem to
average about 70 ;* but in truth there is little necessity for me to
remark further on this well-known feature of the climate of these
islands. Yet, I should add that this proportion of aqueous vapour
would not necessarily be oppressive in a temperate latitude. In a
tropical climate, however, any influence that retards the evaporation
from the skin of the normally excessive perspiration, is a cause of
personal discorafort, such as would not be experienced in a drier
1 Vide Quart. Journ. Eoy. Met, Soc, vol, XL, p, 309. The instruments used on board
were previously verified at Kew. From -want of leisure, Lieut. Leeper was unable to do
much more than tabulate his observations. I have therefore extracted from them such
general facts and inferences as they sustain,
= There are no observations for January, but since the mean relative humidity varies with
the rainfall, I have approximately estimated that for January to be 83.
= Iieut, Lake's observations for 1876 and 1877. (Quart, Journ. llet, Soc.)

'362 CLIMATE.
locality lying in the same latitude. The effects of this combination
of heat and moisture are to be seen inthe rankness of the vegetation,
and in the rapid rusting of steel. Although the foregoing remarks
may be taken as generally applicable to the group, it should be
stated that on the lee side of a mountainous island, such as the
western ^nd of Guadalcanar, there is a comparatively dry atmosphere,
and the difference is also shown in the character of the vegetation.
The raoderate intensity of the sun's rays in these islands is to be
ascribed to the presence of aqueous vapour in quantity in the
atmosphere. When, however, a thunderstorm and its accompanying
rain-squall are portending, the air is unusually dry, and the sun's
rays are very fierce. At such tiraes it often hajipens that the sky
is overcast ; and thus it comes about that the unwary traveller, by
rashty baring his legs and arras, suffers severe sun-burns when he
least expects it. Waterton and other travellers have, through
ignorance of this fact, been laid up for several days, and even weeks.
I was unable to walk any distance for about ten days, after experi
encing a severe sun-burn of the legs as the result of baring them
during an overcast day. The affection is peculiarly painful, though
it often excites but little syrapathy.
My reraarks on the meteorology of this group will not be
complete without a short reference to the prevailing winds. The
South-east Trade Wind and the North-west Monsoon carry on a
continual struggle for the mastery in these islands. However, for
two-thirds of the year the Trade prevails, viz., from April to
November. The appended record of winds, which extends over a
considerable period, I have prepared from the observations made on
board H.M.S. "Lark " in different parts of the group, and from the
registers kept by Mr. Sproul and Mr. Howard at Santa Anna
and Ugi. It will be there seen that at the eastern extremity of
these islands, viz., in the vicinity of St. Christoval, the Trade
announces its onset in April by unsettled weather, and frequent
thunderstorms. In May, it becomes established, but, as Lieutenant
Leeper remarks, it blows in fits and starts, is interrupted by calms,
variable winds, and heavy rain-squalls, and does not blow home as
in Fiji and the groups to the eastward. At tbo opposite end of the
group, in Bougainville Straits, the Trade appears a month later, and
does not becorae established until June. In this locality, however,
it is rnore fitful than in tbe eastern islands, blows lighter, and is less
to be depended on by the navigator.

CLIMATE.

363

It may be generally stated that the north-west and west winds
set in about the end of Noveraber or the beginning of Deceraber,
and prevail until the end of March. Although heavy gales accom
pany the frequent shiftings of the wind, especially when it is from
the S.W., these islands are beyond the sweep of the hurricanes
whicii in this season of the year occasionally devastate the groups
to the eastward. The period of the westerly winds in the Soloraon
Islands is also characterised by calms and variable winds. The
exhilarating freshness of the Trade then gives place to the enervating
influence ofthe Monsoon ; and, in consequence, the period of westerly
winds is the sickly season.

RAIN-REGISTER AT SANTA ANNA.
(Kept by Mr. Charles Sproul ^ between October 25th, 1882, and December 31st, 1883.)
The rain-guage used was of the common round funnel pattern (5-7
inches). The observations were made at Port Mary on the west side of the
island. The elevation of the guage was somo four or five feet (or less) above
the high tide level.

1882,
October, 25th— 31st
November 
December  1883.
January 
February 
March 
April 
May 
June 
•Tuly 
August 
September 
October 
November 
December 

Total in inches and

hundredths.

3

06

7

60

13

96

Total,

24

62

5
23
9
63
4
40
14
96
11
28
26
88
18
61
11
74
4
81
5
68
6
57
5
24
Total,
125-03
Number of rainy
5
15
24
Total, 44 12
20 13
241619
231512 9
11
Total, 182
Greatest daily fall.
1-70
1-972-24
2-032-00 -84
3-22
3-33 7-73
3-452-022-52
1-671-201-68
1 1 am indebted to Mr, William Heughan for commencing this register,
2 By rainy days are meant those days on which not less y?,- of an inch of rain were
measured.
364

CLIMATE.

Results for l?,?>'i.— Total rainfall for 1883 -, 125-03 inches. Two-thirds.
of the total fall, i.e., 83-47 inches, were recorded during the five months
from April to August. Greatest daily fall, 7-73 inches. Total number of
rainy days 182, i.e., one half of the year. Ou 41 days, more than au
inch of rain fell.

RAIN-REGISTER AT UGI.
(Kept by Mr. Fred Howard betweeu October 1st, 1882, and December 31st, 1883,)
The rain-guage used was of the round funnel pattern (about 5-J inches).
The observations were made at the residence of Mr. John Stephens at Selwyn
Bay on the west side of the island. The elevation of the g-uage was from
four to six feet above the high-tide level.

MONTH.

Total in inches
and hundredths.

Number of rainy
days.

Greatest daily
£aU.

Eelative
humidity taking
100 as
saturation
(see table, p. 367)

1882.
October 

10-68 10-16 9-57
Total, 30-41 13-4613-8910-02
23-28 6-39
12-83
24-60 15-76 7-36 5-155-308-20

18
16
215516171626 9
12251514 7
1110
178

2-454-60
1-365-75
4-003-003-001-653-702-854-76 1-50
1-751-101-30

(83) 82
8388
83 84
898381767983

December 

1883.
January 

March 

April 

May 

Julv 

September 
November 
Total, 146-24
Results. — During the last quarter of 1882, the rainfall was 30-41 inches -,
and the number of rainy days was 55.
During 1883, the total rainfall was 146-24 inches. The greatest
monthly records were those of April and July : during these two months
47-88 inches fell, or about one-third of the total fall for the year. The
greatest daily fall was 5-75 inches. The total number of rainy days was
178, or about one half of the number of days in the year. On 56 days.
more than an inch of rain fell ; and in 18 days more than two inches fell.
RAIN-REGISTER KEPT ON BOARD H.M.S. "LARK,"
(I am indebted to Lieutenant Leeper for assistance in keeping this register,)
The rain-guage was raised about eleven feet above the water-level, I
did not commence these observations until towards the close of the first
CLIMATE. 365
season; and since, during the two following years, we spent about two-
thirds of each year in this region, the record is, in consequence, not con
tinuous.
(A) OFF THE NORTH COAST OF ST. CHRISTOVAL AND THE
NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS IN 1882.
Total in inches and Number of rainy Greatest daily
1882. hundredths. days. fall.
Sept. (from the Oth), 18-40 15 3-32
October, 10-84 21 2-38
Nov. (to the 21st), 18-31 12 5-74

Total, 47-55 48
Results. — Total Rainfall for this interval of 74 days from Sept. 9th to
Nov. 21st, 1882, was 47-55 inches. The greatest daily fall was 5-74
inches. The number of rainy days was 48, or about two-thirds of the
whole. On 17 days, more than an inch of rain fell; and on 8 days, more
than two inches feU.
(B) OFF THE NORTH COAST OF ST. CHRISTOVAL AND THE
NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS IN 1883.

Total in niches and Number of rainy
1883. hundredths. days.

Greatest daily
fall.

April 13th— 30th, 10-43 15

1-62

(C) BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS IN 1883.

Total in inches and Number of rainy
1883. hundredths. days.

Greatest daily
fall.

June, 16-32 26
July, 10-25 24
August, 7-78 23
September. 15-07 22
October, 1101 25

2-23 2-12
1-102-202-10

Total, 60-43 120
Results. — During these 153 days, there fell 60-43 inches of rain. The
greatest fall in one day was 2-23 inches. The total number of rainy days
was 120, or about four-fifths of the whole. On 14 days, more than an
inch of rain fell ; and on 7 days, more than two inches fell.
(HJ BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS IN 1884.
1884.
AprU (from the Sth),
May,June,
July, August,September,October, Total, 79-50 137

Total in inches and

Number of rainy

Greatest dai

hundredths.

daya.

fall.

7-82

12

4-32

4-02

17

1-02

9-22

22

1-58

18-16

19

8-09

11-87

21

2-58

17-46

23

3-76

10-95

23

1-84

366

CLIMATE.

Results. — During these 207 days, there fell 79-50 inches of rain. The
greatest daily fall was 8-09 inches. The total number of rainy days
was 137, or about two-thirds of the whole. On 24 days, more than an
inch of rain fell ; and on 7 days, more than two inches fell.

OBSERVATIONS' OF THE BAROMETER AND THERMOMETER IN
THE SOLOMON GROUP, BY LIEUT. LEEPER, RN.
(Taken on board H.M.S. " Lark,")

MONTH,

1882.
April, 
May, 
June, 
July, 
August, 
September, 
October, 
Nov. 1st to 22d,,.

THEEMOMETEE.

Highest. Lowest, ^^l

94
94929094
9289

747877
7575
76 77
78

84-4

30-

84-5

30-

83-7

30-

81-8

30-

81-1

30-

80-9

30-

81-4

30-

81-5

30-

BAROMETEE.

Highest.

In. )-093-09)-18)-14)-16)-14)-18)13

Lowest,

In.

29
29 292929
29 2929

888986929693
88 84

Daily Mean.

In.
30-04129-99430-01330-05
30-067 30-04130-021
29-981

1883.
April 14th to 30th,
May, 
June, 
July, 
August,  -,.,
September, 
October, 
Nov, 1st to 12th,

92

75

82,1

93

78

81-8

94

75

82-3

92

78

83-6

95

76

82-6

95

75

83-3

90

76

81-5

30-0830-0830-1230-0830-1030-12
30-08

29-86 29-9129-8829-92
29-91 29-8629-91

29-974
29-99 29-9629-992
29-992 29-993
29-982

1884.
April 5th to SOth,
May, 
June, 
July, 
August, 
September, 
October, 

90

76

82-2

30-15

29-83

95

78

84-5

30-13

29-86

94

77

82-2

30-14

29-93

87

76

81-5

30-10

29-87

87

76

81-0

30-15

29-85

90

75

82-3

30-15

29-92

96

75

81-1

30-12

29-85

29-98429-99230-02329-98530-009 30-02530-007

^ The observations were taken at 4 a,m,, 8 a.m,, 4 p,m., and 8 p.m.

CLIMATE.

367

Eesults calculated from observations of the temperature in the shade, and
of the wet and dry bulb thermometers taken at Ugi at 9 a.m., by
Mr, F. Howard,!

THEEMOMETEE IN SHADE.

HYGEOMETEE.i

MONTH. Highest

878484
8685

1882,
October 
November, .
December,, 1883,
January 
February,..
March  1 86
AprU  ' 83
May  i 85
June  ' 84
July  ! 83
August  84
September . 84
October  85
November, . S6
December.. 84

Lowest,

7678 80
79 79
787678777777
7776 77
79

Mean.

Mean

Wean

Mean

Dry

Wet

Dew

Bulb.

Bulb.

Point.

8'l-'6

78-0

75-6

81-7

i 6't>

76-0

80-1

77-8

76-2

81-6

78-2

75-9

80-6

77-5

75-4

80-2

78-0

76-4

80-3

76-9

74-6

80-9

76-9

74-2

82-0

77-0

73-6

82-0

77-8

74-9

81-4

78-0

75-7

Mean Elastic
Force of Aque
ous Vapour.

885
898904895
880 912
857 846830817891

Mean Keiutiv,;
Humiitity,
Saturation IUO.

83
8883
84
8983 81
767983

81-:

-ilean for 1883.

WIND-RECORD FOR EACH MONTH.
Prepared from the observations taken ou board H.M.S, "Lark," and by Messrs, Sproul
and Howard, at Santa Anna and Ugi.

Janu

ry.

1883. At Ugi, S.W. to AV, in first half; variable in latter half; S,E. 1 day.
At Santa Anna, X.W. and W,; S,E. 5 days ; occasional squalls.
February.
1333. At Ugi and Santa Auna, N.W. to S,"W. ; no S.E. ; latter part, fresh
whids and squalls March.
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, N.W. to W, in first half, with strong winds
and thunderstorms; latter part variable; S,E. 4 days at Ugi,
none at Santa Anna.
1 The instruments were suppUed by me. The Thermometerwas by Negretti and Zambra :
and the wet and dry bulbs were good reKable instruments. They were a'l flrst compared
mth the ship's instruments, which were supplied by the Meteorological Office after beiug
verified at Kew.
= Calculated from Glaisher's Tables.

588 CLIMATE.

April.

1882. Amongst the eastem islands (east of Florida) ; first part, calms and
light northerly winds ; latter part, calms and light S.E. winds ;
thunderstorms frequent.
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, first part, N.W. and S.E. ; latter part, calms
and E. to S.E. ; S.E. for 7 days at Ugi ; heavy rain ; squalls in
middle of month.
1884. In BougainviUe Straits, light northerly and westerly winds, with
calms ; easterly during the last few days.
May.
1882. Between Bougainville Straits and west eud of Guadalcanar, numerous
calms and light winds from N.W. through S. to S.E. ; thunder
storms frequent.
1883 At Ugi and Santa Anna, E. to S.E. ; usually strong.
1884 In Bougainville Straits, light N.E. and easterly winds, with a great
deal of calm weather. June.
1882. At the north coast of St. Christoval, Ugi, and Santa Anna ; calms,
N.N.E. and easterly winds ; average iorce 2.
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna. S.E. often strong, with variable winds.
In Bougainville Sfraits ; first part light E. and S.E. winds ; latter
part, S.E. ; very squally ; frequent thunderstorms.
1884. In Bougainville Straits; first half, light E. and E.S.E. winds; latter
half, light S.E. and S,S,E. July.
1882. At the north coast of St. Christoval and Ugi, first part S.E,, witli
frequent heavy squalls ; latter part, light S.E. and S.W. winds,
though squally.
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, E.S.E, to S,E. ; fresh and squally, some
times blowing hard, interrupted by calms and varying winds.
In Bougainville Straits, light varying winds from N.E. to S.E.
1884. In Bougainville Straits, first part light S.E. winds and calms; latter
part fresh easterly winds and bad weather.
August.
1882. At the north coast of St. Christoval and Ugi, E.N.E, to S, ; average
foroe, 3 to 4 ; frequent rain-squalls,
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, S.E. strong ; in latter part heavy squalls,
interrupted by calms.
In Bougainville Straits, E.NE, to S,E, ; force 2 to 3.
1884. In Bougainvdle Straits, S.S.E. to S. ; thiok weather with rain-
squalls in first part. September.
1882. At Ugi and the Three Sisters, S.E. and S.S.E, ; in latter part of
month heavy, and accompanied by thick weather and violent
squalls.

CLIMATE. 369
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, E.S.E. to S.E, strong.
In Bougainville Straits, calms, and light E. to S.E, winds
1884. Iu BougainviUe Straits, first part hght S.E. winds aud heavy rain-
squalls from N.E. ; latter part fresh S.S.E. aud dirty weather,
foUowed by light N. to E. winds.
October.
1882. At Ugi, Santa Anna, and off the north coast of Guadalcanar ; in first
part, strong S.E. ; in latter part, easterly winds with calms.
At Ugi, S.E. in first half, variable with calms in latter half
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna, S.E,, fresb.
In Bougainville Straits, first part S.E. to S. ; latter part N.E, to
S,E,, squalls and tliunderstorms,
1884. In Bougainville Straits ; first week, light NE. to S.E, winds ; seoond
week, S.S,E. to S,, force 2 to 4 ; third week, N,W. to N.N.E., force
3 to 8, rain-squalls and thunderstorms ; last part, variable and
E.S.E. winds. November.
1882. At Ugi and Santa Anna; first half, N.W. and S,E, ; latter half, S,E.
and variable.
1883, At Ugi and Santa Anna, fresh E.S,E. to S,E ; northerly towards end
of month with squalls and thunderstorms.
December,
1882. At Ugi and Santa Anna, westerly and variable; S.E. for 6 days:
latter part, squally.
1883. At Ugi and Santa Anna ; in first half, E, to S,E. ; in latter half,
N,W. to S.W. and squally.

THE EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE ON THE WEIGHT
OF THE BODY.
During the last two surveying-seasons in these islands, the officers and
cjew wero weighed with the object of determining the etfect of service in
this climate on tho body-weight. The period spent in this region during
eaoh year extended from April to November.
After eliminating various sources of error, such as sickness, immaturity,
etc., I find that during the surveying-season of 1883, which occupied be
tween 64- and 7 months, eighteen out of twenty persons lost weight, the
average loss being 6|- Ib.^., and the range of the loss 1 to 1 2 lbs. Of the
two exceptions, one gained 3 lbs. and the other experienced no change. On
returning to the coloines, we spent between 3 and 4 months in the geniai
chmate of northern New Zealand, at the end of which period I fiad that
the average gain of weight was about 6|- lbs. In other words, the loss was
regained. During the season of 1884, which lasted 7 months, eleven out of the
twenty persous weighed in the previous year were alone available for these
observations. All of them lost weight, the average loss being 5§ lbs,, and
the range 1 to 8 lbs. This diminution in the average loss of weight dur-
2a

370 CLIMATE,
ing this season sbould be noted  I should add that five individuals,
who had not been on bpard in the jprevious year, lost during this season on
thiei average 5 lbs, per man,
I may therefore conclude that the eff'ect of seven months' service iu this
region on the body-weight is, on the average, a loss of from 6 to 7 lbs.
Although this loss of weight is mainly attributable to the climate, it is
evident that the character of the diet has an important influence in the
matter. For the greater part of the time spent in these islands, the crew
were on preserved and salt rations, a diet which reduces the weight of the
body. One of the results of an elaborate series of observations made by
Dr. A, Eattray of H.M,S. " Salamander," whilst serving in the Western
Pacific from 1864-07, was to show that salt diet in a tropioal climate is an
important factor in reducing weight, aud that other influences, such as that
of hard « ork, increase the loss. During various cruises in the tropics,
usually lasting about three months, he weighed between 70 and 100 men
with the following results. The effect of a tropical climate alone was to
reduce the weight of 64 per cent., the average loss being 5 lbs. When the
unfavourable conditions of a wet season and salt diet were added, 76 per
¦cent, lost weight, the average loss being 7 lbs. By the further addition of
hard work, 91 per cent, lost weight, the average loss beitig about the
same. The loss of weight after each cruise was regained in 7 or 8 weeks
during the stay in Sydney.^
1 Proc, Roy. Soc, vol, XIX,, p, 295 (1870-71), In this paper Dr. Eattray treats at length
of the effects of a tropical climate on the various organs and functions of the body.

GENERAL INDEX,

A.

AoHKAS, 293.
Acosta, 255.
Adenanthera pavonina, 293.
Agassiz, A.,onscypho-medusse, 335.
Agassiz, L., ou scypho-medusaj,
334.
Aleurites, 88.
AlgiB, edible, 89 ; microscopic, on
cliffs, 327.
Alpinias, 283, 288, 294.
Aiu, see Shortland Islands.
Angiopteris, 283, 294.
Aimexation in the Western Pacific,
remarks upon, xi.
Anoga resin, 66.
Anson Island, 259.
Anumi,. 25.
Apes, anthropoid, legends of, 335.
Archer, H., 334.

Areca palms, their frequency, 294 ;
their station, 283, 285, 287;
growing tops, edible, 88 ; fruits
substitutes for betel-nuts, 95 ;
trunks used for beds, 61 ; dis
persal of fruits, 293, 305 ; list of
palms, 303.
Arias, Dr. J. L., 254,
Armlets, 132, 133,
Arracises Island, 211, 275.
Arrowroot, South Sea, 89.
Arrows, 72.
Asclepiads, 289, 290, 298.
Asplenium nidus, 285, 329.
Assent, gesture of, 126.
Astonishment, gesture of, 125.
Atkin, Eev. J., 15.
Australia del Espiritu Santo, 252.
Awisulu, 154, 285.

B.

Bagana, volcano of, vii, 39, 53.
Baker, J. G., on the fungi, 294.
Balalai Island, 53.
Baldness, 119.
Ball, Lieut,, 266.
Bamboos, brakes of, 288.
Bananas, see Plantains.
Banyans, 284, 285, 286, 290, 293,
294, 301.
Barometrical observations, 361,
366,
Barringtonia edulis, 85.
Barringtonia speciosa, 101, 156,
158, 188, 290, 291, 292, 305.
Bateman, Mr., 18.
Batrachians, 308; new family of,
315 ; dispersal of, 317.

Bats, 82, 211.
Bauro, St, Christov.al, 100, 229,
252, 277,
Bea 37.
Beaumont, Dr., E,N., 114.
Beccari, Signor, 289, 295.
Beckoning, mode of, 125.
Beds, 61.
Begonia, 288.
Behrens, 257.
Belcher, Capt. Sir E,, K,N., 269.
Beliefs, religious, 53,
Bennet, Mr, G., 71, 319.
Bennet, Dr, G,, 187.
Bernstein, Dr,, 326,
Betagh, Capt,, 256.
Betel-chewing, 95.

372

INDEX.

Betel palm, 81, 95.
Betel-pepper plaut, 95.
Bikkia, 289.
Bird's-nest, edible, 325.
Bird's-nest fem, 285, 329.
Birgus latro, 92, 319.
Bita, sister of Gorai, 23, 31, 50.
Biu Island, 222,
Blanche, H.M.S., 23.
Boar's tusks, 76.
Bond, Captain, 275.
Botanical notes, 280.
BougainviUe, M., 26, 38, 149, 259,
269.
Bougainville Island, vi., 21, 27,
34, 39, 53, 91, 120, 136, 138.
Bougainville Straits, Islands of, 38,
56, 94, 123, 124, 139; chiefs, 20,
27 ; position of women, 44 ;
modes of burial, 51 ; dweUings,
58 ; pottery, 62 ; tambu-houses,
71; weapons, 72, 74; cultivation,
81, 84; modes of cooking, 86;
physical characters of natives,
103, 113, 114, 118-120; dress,
ifec, 130, 133; cicatriobs, 136 ;
tunes and songs, 141 ; canoes,
147 ; modes of fishing, 155 ; voc
abulary, 180 ; botany, 280 ; geo
logical characters, vi,, vii,, 280.
Bouka Island, 34, 118, 138, 259,
260.

Boulenger, Mr., on the reptiles and
batrachians, 308, 313, 316.
Bouro Island, 100, 277.
Bow-driU, 76.
Bowen, Captain, 154, 266.
Bower, Lieut., K.N., murder of, 11,
17.
Bows, 72.
Boyd, Mr. B., murder of, 270.
Brachycephaly, 111, 114.
Brady, Mr. H. B., on tho Solomon
Island deposits, ix. ; on the New
Ireland chalk, 79.
Brains, human, as food, 224.
Brandt on scypho-medusEe, 334.
Breadfruit trees, 81, 82, 84, 190.
Brenchley, J. L,, 16, 36, 70, 75, 79,
344,
Broca, M,, 111, 114, 118, 120,
Broth, vegetable, 25.
Bua tree, 188.
Buache, M., 192, 234, 255, 263.
Buenavista Island, 207, 274.
Bulimus cleryi, 338.
Burial, modes of, 51.
Burney, 234, 273, 274.
Burning-glasses, 66.
Bush-hens, 325.
Bush-men, 14, 32, 91, 120.
Buttress-trees, 285, 286, 290,
294.
Byron, Commodore, 258

o.

Cabbage, mountain, 88, 90.
Cabo de Cruz, 237.
Cabo de Fortunas, 239, 241.
Cacones, Isles of, 243.
Cfesalpinia nuga, 289.
Ccdifornia, Old, 243.
Calophyllum, 66, 189, 237, 295,
305.
Calophyllum inophyllum, 290, 291,
, 292, 305.
Calvert, Rev. J., 63.
Canarium, 85, 87, 189, 285, 287,
291, 293, 295.
Canarium commune, 85, 189.
Candelaria Shoals, 199, 262, 273,
275.
Canna indica, 305.

Cannibalism, 35, 260.
Canoes, 67, 71, 146 ; cauoe-deitiea,
149.
Cap Oriental, 262.
Cape Prieto, 206.
Cape Satisfaction, 278.
Capron, Mr. Rand, on the visual
powers of savages, 123.
Careri, Gem-Ui, 257.
Carter, Mr. Brudenell, on the
visual powers of savages, 122,
Carteret, Captain, 80, 258.
Cartographers, the early, 255.
Caryota, palm, 284, 285, 287, 305 ;
edible top or cabbage, 88 ; sago-
yielding, 91.
Casuarina trees, 290, 292.

INDEX.

373

Catarrhal diseases, 176.
Caulerpa, 89.
Cerbera, 25, 288.
Cerbera odoUam, 289, 290, 292.
Ceratobatrachida), 315.
Cetacean, a rare, 335.
Chalcedony, 78.
Chalk, 79.
Chalmers, Rev. J., 325.
Chamisso, 90 ; on the Radack
Islanders, 128.
Chest-girth, 105.
Chevrondine pattern, 139.
Cheyne, Capt., 16, 39, 185, 269.
Choiseul Island, viii, discovery of,
212, 275 ; native shields, 75.
Choiseul Bay, visit of Bougainville
to, 200 ; physical characters of
natives, 103 ; chiefs, 26 ; canni
balism, 38.
Cicatrices, 136.
Circumcision, ] 37.
Clerodendron inerme, 289.
Climate, si, 352 ; rainfall, 355 ;
temperature, 361 ; winds, 362;
humidity, 361 ; influence on
body-weight, 369.
Clothing, 130.
Clubs, 73.
Cccoa-nut palms, 84, 305, 321 ;
mode of cliuibing, 82 ; dwarf
trees, 52.
Cocoa-nut Cr.ab, 92, 319.
Codioeum variegatum, 305.
Codrington, Rev, Dr,, 53, 71, 137,
335; on the Solomon Island
languages, 185; on head-hunting
raids, 16,
Coenobita, 330, 333.
Coix lachryma, 131, 305.

Collocalia, 325,
Colours, names of, 124,
Colour-sense, 123.
Combs, 137.
Comrie, Dr., R,N,, on Tokelau ring
worm, 173,
Conches, 143,
Constellations, names ot, 56,
Contrariety Island, 221, 261, 275.
Cook, Capt, on the supposed posi
tion of the Solomon Islands, 264.
Cooking, modes of, 86, 92; cooking-
stones, 56, 86 ; cooking vessels,
62, 86.
Coral islet, vegetation of, 289.
Coral reefs, viii.
Cord, knotted forrecordingtime, 56,
Cornelian, 78.
Corucia zebrata, 312,
Couches, 61,
Crawfurd, Mr,, 88, 189 : onthe in
troduction of tobacco, 95.
Crinum, 290.
Crocodiles, 6, 9 ; habits of, 309 ;
captures of, 91, 311 ; impress
ions on sand, 309,
Cucumis melo, 84,
Cultivation, 81,
Cumming, Miss Gordon, on Fijian
pottery, 63.
Curacoa, H.M,S, 16,
Cuscus, 91, 92, 311 ; habits, 161 ;
hunting, 160,
( !ycas circinalis, station of, 287, 290,
292 ; sago yielding, 90 ; edible
top or cabbage, 90 ; fruits edible,
90; medicinal use, 169; dispersal
of fruits, 292, 305,
Cyrente, 76, 91.
Cyrtostachys, 88, 283.

D.

D'Albertis, Signor, 76, 141,
Dalrymple, 192, 234, 263, 274,
Dampier, 264,
Dances, 48, 143,
Danville, 256.
Darwin, 179, 319, 331, 339.
Davies, Mr. T, on the rocks of St
Christoval, vi.

Davis, Dr, Barnard, on the hair of
Papuans, 117,
De Brasses, 257,
Decaying flesh, taste for, 92,
Deformities, spinal, 175 ; of feet,
177 ; haredip, 177.
Delight, gesture of, 1 25,
Delisle, 256.

374;

INDEX.

Delivrance, lies de la, 262.
Denham, Capt;, R. N., 271.
Dentrecasteaux, 149, 174, 260,
266, 269, 278.
Deposits, deep-sea, upraised, viii., ix.
DUlon, Capt P., 266.
Dioscorea sativa, 84.
Diseases, 163; epidemics, 176.
Dispersal of plants, 291, 303 ; of
batraohians, 317; of luli, 329;
of Neritinse, 339.
Disposition, 127.
Dogs, 159, 191.
Dolichocephaly, 111, 114.
Dolicholobium, 283, 288.

Domestic utensils, 62.
Drake, Sir Francis, 247, 244.
Dress, 130.
Drinking-vessels, 62.
Drums, 143.
Dudley, 256.
Duff' Group, 251.
Dugongs, 6.
Dug-out canoes, 146, 150.
D'Urville, 16, 103, 265, 268, 269;
his opinion of the Solomon Islan
ders, 129.
DutaUlis, M., 270.
Dyed Grass, 74, 132, 138.
Dynamite, use of, in fishing, 158.

E.

Ear ornaments, 133,
Earl, G. W,, 189 ; on tbe hair of
Papuans, 117; ou the prevailing
skin eruption, 172,
Echoes, superstition concerning,
54,
Eddystone Island, see Simbo Island.
Elfeocarpus, 287, 293.
Elephantiasis, 176.
Elevation, see Upheaval.
Ellis, 153, 175 ; on the deification
of sharks, 71.
Emerald, H.M.S,, 26,
Emotions, expressions of, 125.

Epalle, Monsignor, murder of, 270.
Epidemic diseases, 176.
Epiphytes, 282, 285, 289.
Epilation, 118.
Erianthemum variabile, 305.
Erosion of freshwater shells, 340.
Erythrina, 289.
Escondido Harbour, 219.
Esjiiritu Santo, 252.
Estrella Harbour, 202.
Eugenia, 291, 293.
Eugenio, Point, 243.
Evored, Mr., 106.
Evodia hortensis, 135, 305.

P.

Facial angle, 115.
Fagrsea Berteriana, 188, 288.
Fanarite, distriot of St. Christoval,
19,
Fan-palms, see Licuala.
Fans, 66.
Faro Island, ,see Fauro Island.
Farquhar, Dr., on Tokelau ring
worm, 171.
Fat, fondness of, 92,
Fauro Island, chiefs of, 25, 46 ;
viUages, 60, 82 ; tambu-houses,
71 ; canoes, 149; physical char

acters of natives, 103, 113;
vegetation, 287, 289 ; geology,
vii, 280.
Feasts, 50, 68, 93.
Features, 115.
Female sex, their drudgery, 41 ;
tbeir chastity, 43; polygamy, 44.
Ferguson, Captain, murder of, 21,
54.
Ferns, 283, 294 ; edible, 89.
Ficus, 190, 301.
Figueroa, Dr., 192, 234, 254, 272,
274.

INDEX,

375

Figure-heads of ships, probable
origin of, 150,
Filet, G. J., ou the Malay names
of plants, 186.
Fire, mode of producing, 65.
Fishing, 151 ; nets and lines, 154;
hooks, 156 ; snares, 157 ; fish-
spear, 153.
Flagellaria indica, 290.
Fleurieu, M,, 192, 234, 262, 263,
273, 274, 278,
Flints, worked, 77,
Florida Islands, discovery of, 208,
274; natives, 114, I'lO, 130;
head-hunting, 17; dances, 143;
pile-dwellings, 60 ; weapons, 73,
75 ; geological structure of, vii.
Flotation of fruits and seeds, 292,
305.
Flower, Prof., on the varieties of
the human species, 98.
Flowers, used in decorating the per
son, 134; rare in the forests, 284;
conspicuous at the coast, 289.

Flying-fish, superstitions concern
ing, 153 ; wounds caused by,
153.
Fonfono Island, 277.
Food, vegetable, 84 ; animal, 91.
Forbes, H, 0., on ringworm in the
Malay Archipelago, 172 ; on
Myrmecodia, 282 ; on the Bir
gus, 322,
Forrest, Captain, on Port Dory
pottery, 64 ; on pig-hunting in
New Guinea, 159.
Forster, J. R., 87.
Forster, G,, 135,
Fox, Dr, Tilbury, on Tokelau ring
worm, 171.
Freycinetia, 289.
Fries, Mr., on Pachyma, 306.
Frogs, 8, 190, 308 ; new famdy of,
3i5 ; development of, 316.
Frontlets, 131.
Fruits, 84, 87, 89.
Fumaroles, vii,, 66, 86.
Fungi, 89, 285, 304.

G.

Galera Island, 207, 274.
GaUego, suggested compliment to,
234 ; supposed discoverer of tbe
Southern Continent, 248 ; error
in latitudes, 274.
Gallego's journal, 192; unpub
lished, 247 ; compared with
Figueroa's account, 272.
Galvano, 275.
Games, boyish, 76, 145,
Gar-fish, superstition conceming,
153; wounds caused by, 153.
Gatah, 189.
Geological structure of the Solomon
Islands, gen eral remarks upon, vi.
Gestures, 125.
GiU, Rev, Wyatt, 187, 319, 325.
Ginsima Island, 257.
Gleeocapsa, 327.
Gleichenia. 5, 95, 132, 281, 288.
Gnetum, 88, 28S.
Gnetum gnemon, 89, 2S8.
Gomphandra, 295, 305,
Gorai, the Shortland chief, 6, 27,

28, 47 ; his power, 14, 21 ; his
wives, 44 ; his residence, 59.
Goura pigeon, pebbles in gizzard,
325,
Gourds for betel-lime, 95.
Government, system of, 13,
Gower Island, 80, 259, 261,
Graves, 51,
Green, Mr, J. R,, on edible birds'
uests, 327.
Grinding-stones, 6, 77.
Groningen Island, 25/.
Guadiilcanar, di.scovery of, 210, 214,
220 ; reported mineral wealth,
247 ; excessive Spanish estimate
of its size, 275 ; characters of
natives, 104, 120; weapons, 74,
75 ; head-hunting and cannibal
ism, 18, 35; murder of Mr.
Boyd, 270; legends of apes, 333;
fine coast scenery, 359 : heavy
raiufaU, 359 ; probable geologi
cal structure, vi.
Guadalupe Island, 209.

376

INDEX. Gulf Island, 262,- 267;

(Juali, 210 ; see Sesarga.
Guantopo (Guaytopo) Island, Island,
276. Gums, see Resins
Guettarda speciosa, 289, 290. Gunther, Dr., 314.

Ugi

H.

Hair, characters of and mode of
wearing, 116, 137; cut in mourn
ing, 49 ; staining, 118.
Hakhiyt, Richard, 254.
Hale, Mr., on the Pouro of Quiros,
100, 277.
Hare-lip, 177.
Harpullia cupanioides, 289, 305.
Hats, 138.
Head-hunting, 16, 27.
Head-money, 17, 20.
Height, see Stature.
HeUconias, 283, 294.
Hemino-, Lieut, R.N," 23, 28, 114,
294,''332.
Hemsley, Mr. Betting, on the dis
persal of plants, 291, 293.
Herbst, on the Birgus, 319.
Heritiera littoralis, 290, 292, 305.
Hermit-Crabs, 330.
Hernandia peltata, 289.
Herrera, 192, 235, 254, 273, 274.
Heughan, Mr. W., 306, 352,
Hibiscus tiliaceus, 131, 289, 290,
292.

Hombron, Dr,, vi.
Home, Sir E., on the edible birds'
nests, 326.
Home-sickness, 167
Honey, wild, 93.
Hood, Mr. T. H,, 319.
Hoplocephalus par, 314.
Hornbills, 191, 284.
Home, Mr., 83, 87 ; on South Sea
arrowroot, 89.
Hot-stone treatment for injuries,
166.
Houses, dwelling, 57; on piles, 60.
Howard, Mr. F., 77, 352, 360;
meteorological register, 364,
367.
Howe, Hon. J. Curzon, 113, 158.
Hoya, 289, 290 ; H. guppyi, 298.
Human sacrifices, 33, 35, 67.
Humidity of climate, 361, 367.
Hunger, gesture indicating, 125.
Hydnopiiytum guijpyauum, 282 ;
H. inerme, 282.
Hydrographical features, ix.
Hygrometrical observations, 367.

Ill-wishikg, 54.
Impressions on sand; of crocodiles,
309, of hermit-crabs, 333.
Inattendue Island, 261 : see Gower
Island,
Infanticide, 35, 42,
Injuries, treatment of, 165 ; won
derful recoveries from, 165.
Insanity, 1 79.
Ipoaiffia, 289, 290.

Isabel Island, discovery of, 202,
211, 213, 275 ; visit of Surville,
261 ; visit of D'Urville, 269;
murder of Monsignor Epalle,
270; characters of natives, 103,
129; slavery, 33; tattooing,
136 ; canoes, 149.
IsabeU, Mr. W., 24, 141, 314, 321.
lulus, 329; singular habit of, 330;
means of dispersal of, 329.

Jacobs, Mr., 267,
Jesus, I.do of, 199, 273,
Jews, island inhabited by, 261.

Jew's harps, 142.
Judd, Prof., vii.

INDEX.

377

K.

Ka-i (Canarium), 85, 87, 189, 285,
291, 293.
Kaika, wife of Gorai, 23 ; her
death, 47.
Ka;mpfer, 326.
Kalikona, 17.
Kauary-nut, 85, 87, 189.
Katari (Calophyllum), 189, 295;
resin of, 66.
Kauri pine, origin of name, 190.
Kava plant, 96.
Keane, Prof., on the Pacific races.

99 ; on a vocabulary of Bougain
ville Straits, 186.
Kennedy Island, 273.
Kermadec, Capt. Huon, 269.
Kinsima Island, 257.
Kite-fishing, 151.
Kleiuhovia hospita, 305.
Kopana, 28 ; fate of his wives, 30.
Kotzebue, 128.
Krepas, chief of Choiseul Bay, 26.
Krusenstem, 265, 273.
Kurra-kurra, Faro chief, 25.

Labillardiere, 86, 118, 125, 260.
278.
Labour-trade, 42.
Lammas, Mount, 263.
Lane Fox, see Pitt Rivers.
Languages of Solomon Islands, 185.
Latitudes of Gallego, 274.
Lawa, St. Christoval, 14, 39, 68.
Lawes, Rev. Mr., 139.
Layard, Mr. 326.
Leeper, Lieut, R,N., 48, 114, 125,
180, 294, 335 ; meteorological
observations, 361, 360.
Leprosy, 176.
Licuala, 283, 287, 288, 303, 305.
Limbs, measurements of, 106.
Lime, for betel-chewing, 95 ; for
the hair, 118 ; for sickness, 163 ;
as a token of mourning, 48.

Lime-tree, 81, 85.
Litsea, 293.
Littoral trees, 289 ; native names
widely spread, 101, 186.
Littorina scabra, experiment on,
351.
Liversidge, Prof, on the worked
flints, 78, 79.
Lizards, 8, 191, 312; monitors,
91,313.
bomlom Island, 277.
Longmore, Prof,, on testing vision,
122.
Lopez Vaz, 246, 247.
Lumnitzera coccinea, 292.
Luther, Dr., R,N., 158.
Lycopods, 285.
Lygonia, 148, 285.
Lyonsia, see Awi-sulu.

M.

Macaulay's Archipelago, 266.
Macdonald, Capt. J., vii., 15, 17,
36, 79, 131, 163, 335.
Macdonald, Mr. W., 42, 70, 306,
MacgiUivray, Mr., 135, 344.
Maclay, Miklouho, 86, 97 ; anthro-

on tbe introduction of tobacco,
94,
Maclay Coast, 86, 94, 105, 111,
189.
Mai, Santa Anna chief, 17-20, 36,
39.

pological observations and mea- Maize, 84.
surements, 105, 111, 116, 118; Makira, 36, 147, 277: canmbab

378

INDEX.

ism, 36 ; murder of missionaries,
270.
Malaita, head-hunting, 18 ; char
acters of natives ot north coast,
103, 113, 114, 120, 136; h'gends
of . apes, 335 ; first discovery of
the island, 205, 219, 220, 274,
275,
Malan, Lieut, R.N,, 24, 52, 53,
180.
MaUicolo Island, 277.
Man, Mr,, on the Andaman potterj-,
64.
Mana, supernatural power, 16.
Mango, 85,
Mangrove swamps, 282.
Manieolo Island, 277.
Manning, Capt., 266,
Maramasiki Passage, discovery of,
220.
Marau Sound, discovery of, 219.
Markham, Commander, R.N., 235.
Marquesas Group, discovery of,
249.
Marsden, Mr., 88, 90, 172.
Marshall Group, discovery of, 238,
275.
Matches, wax, 65.
Mate, 210,
Matema Islands, 277.
Mats, 58, making mats, 61.
Matthews, Mr,, 281,
Maurelle, 262,
Mayer, on the height of Papuans,
105,
Meals, 93.
Mecaraylay Island, 277.
Medicine-men, 55, 163.
Medusa; in mangrove-swamps, 333.
Megapodiidfe, 191, 216, 325.
Melanesian Mission, 15, 140, 271.
Melanesians, see Papuans.
MelanitB, 338, 345 ; Melaniaguppyi,
337, 350,
Mendana, his first expedition, 195,

235, 275 ; his second expedi
tion, 246, 248.
Mesocephaly, 111, 114.
Meta Island, 204, 205.
Meteorology, chapter on, 352.
Migration of Pacific races, lines of,
99, 101, 186.
Millipedes, 329.
Missionaries, murder of, 270 ; see
Melanesian Mission.
MoUusca, land and fresh water,
336 ; Ust of, 344.
Monitor lizards, 91, 313,
Moon, eclipse of, in 1568, 244.
Moore, Mr. C, 293, 306.
Morinda citrifolia, 89, 124, 188, 290.
MorreU, Capt, 267.
Morse, Prof., on arrow-release, 73,
Mosely, Mr. H. N,, 73, 137, 334,
Motuiti Island, 273.
Mourning customs, 48,,69, 133, 137
MueUer, Baron F. von, 289, 294.
Mule, the Treasury chief, 27, 28,
55, 76 ; his power, 23; his wives,
45 ; his residence, 59.
Mullen, Dr,, R,N,, on Tokelau ring
worm, 171.
Mumps, 176.
Murders: of Mr. Boyd, 270; of
Monsignor Epalle, 270; of Lieut,
Bower, R,N., 11, 17 ; of Captain
Ferguson, 21, 54 ; of Roman
Catholic missionaries, 270; of
the crew of the Superior, 23, and
the Zephyr, 26.
Murray Island, vii., 16.
Murray, Mr. G., on Tuber regium,
306 ; on Glseocapsa, 326.
Murray, Dr, John, on the Solomon
Island deposits, ix.
Muskets, introduction of, 75.
Musquillo Islands, disooveryof, 238,
275.
Myristica, see Nutmeg-tree.
Myrmecodia salomonensis, 282.

N.

Names of men, 184 ; of women,
184 ; curious custom concerning
the names of the dead and of
women, 47, 49,

Narovo Island, see Simbo.
Natica mamdla, 132, 147.
Nautical surveying, nature of the
work, 11,

INDEX.

379

Navicellaj, 338, 341,
Necklaces, 131,
Negrito race, 79, 99.
Neritina}, 338, 346 ; dispersal of,
339 ; origin of tree-nerites, 341 ,
Nets, fishing, 154; netting-stitch,
154.
New Georgia, vi., 120 ; head-hun
ters of, 16; cannibals, 39 ; dis
covery by the Spaniards, 211,
275 ; Shortland's visit, 262.
New Guinea, flints in, 80; reference
by Gallego to its first discoverer,
237, 275 ; see Maclay Coast,

Nicobar pigeon, 293, 323.
Nipa i'ruticans, 87, 282, 291, 305.
Nisbet, Mr., 168.
Nito paitena (evil spirit), 50, 53.
Nixon, Mr. L., 35.
Nombre de Dios Island, 273.
Nose ornaments, 133.
Nostalgia, 167.
Nouma-nouma, 21, 54.
Numerals, 183.
Nupani Island, 277.
Nutmeg-tree, 288, 289, 293, 305.
Nuts, edible, 85, 87.

0.

OcHBE, red, for staining hair,
118.
Ochrosia parviflorn, 87, 292, 305.
Ocymum sanctum, 135, 305,
Oima Island, 52
Oldham, Lieut,, ix,, 24, 29, 36, 55,
279, 291.
Ohver, Prof, 289, 294.
Onomatopoeia, 190.

Ontong-Java,92,200, 262, 273, 275.
Opossums, see Cuscus,
Orchids, 285, 289.
Orika Island, see Santa Catalina,
Orion's Belt, 56,
Omaments, personal, 131,
Ortega, 195, 203,
Outrigger-canoes, 146, 147, 149,
Ovulurn ovum, 131, 147,

P.

Pachyma, 306,
Pacific races, see Polynesians,
Paddles, 150; modes of paddling,
150,
Pagurus. 332,
Palms, 285, 303 ; palm-tops as
food, 88.
Pandanus trees, 290, 291, 292, 305;
difl'erent species, 302 ; native
names widely spread, 101, 186 ;
new genus, 289, 302 ; fruits
eaten by natives, 87, and by
the Birgus, 323 ; leaves mado
into mats, 61.
Pandean-pipes, 141.
Papal Bull, 255.
Papaw-tree. 84.
Papuans, 98, 105, 117.
Parinarium laurinum, 62, 146, 148,
296, 305.

Parrot, M, on syphilis in prehistoric
times, 178.
Path-finding, 162,
Patterns, decorative, 139,
Patterson, Bishop, 15, 148,
Paubro, St. Christoval, 100, 229,
252, 277,
Perouse,128, 155, 178,264,266,269,
Phalangers, see Cuscus.
Phosphorescence, as a guide to
coral reefs, 205.
Physical characters of Solomon
Islanders, chapter on, 98,
Pigeons, Fruit, 85, 292, 293, 325 ;
Nicobar pigeon, 293, 323.
Pigments, 124.
Pigs, 7; hunting wild pigs, 159;
jaws hung inside dweUings and
tambu-houses, 58, 68 ; pork
eaten. 91, 92, 93.

380

INDEX.

Pile-dwellings, 60,
Pileni Island, 277,
Pingr6, M,, 234, 257, 274.
Piper Betel, 95.
Pipes, tobacco, 94.
Pitt-Rivers, Major-Gen., 73, 74.
Plantains, 82 ; mountain, 89.
Plants, dispersal of, 291 ; list of,
294 ; rubbish-plants, 305.
Pleiades, 56,
Plerandra, 283.
Poisoned arrows, 73.
Poisonous snake, 314.
Polyclonia, 334.
Polygamy, 44.
Polynesians, source of, 99 ; line of
migration, 101.
Pongamia glabra, 289, 290, 305.
Port La Palma, 232,
Port Praslin, 33, 56, 66, 75, 80,
149, 261.

Potato, sweet, 82, 84.
Pottery-making, 62,
Pouro, St. Christoval, 100, 229,
252 277.
Powell, Mr.' WUfred, 173, 191. '
Prichard, Mr., on the hair of
Papuans, 117.
Pritchard, Mr., 90.
Protective resemblances, 317, 338.
Pruner-Bey, Dr., on the hair of
Papuans, 117.
Pryer, Mr. H., on edible birds' nests,
325.
Puerto de la Cruz, discovery
of, 214 ; massacre at, 224,
235.
Puerto de Nuestra Senora, 232.
Pumpkins, 84.
Pustular disease of children, 175
Pyrazus palustris, 91, 343.
Pythia scarabseus, 343.

Q.

Qmru, elementary, 56. Quoy, M,, 319.
Quiros, 100, 248, 251, 253, 276.

R.

Races, Pacific, 98.
Rainbow, sujierstition concerning,
124.
Rainfall, 355 ; registers of, 363.
Ramos, Isle of, 205, 219, 274, 275.
Rana guppyi, 315.
Ratonia, 285.
Rayleigh, Lord, on the visual
powers of savages, 122,
Redociat, labour-vessel, 39.
Redlich, Capt, 36
Religion, 53.
ReptUes, 308.
Resins, 66, 78 ; native names of
res in-yielding trees widely spread,
189.
Rotes, Inigo Oriez de, 237, 275.
Riedelia curviflora, 305.
Ringworm, see Tokelau ringworm,
Rio Gallego, 214.

Rio-Ortega, 210, 214, 216.
Rio San Bernardino, 216.
Rio Santa Elena, 217.
Rob Roy canoe, 9,
Roberts, Mr. C, on the visual
powers of savages, 121.
Rochon, Abbe, 261.
Rocks, volcanic, vi.; calcareous, vii,;
of deep-sea formation, viii., ix.
Roggewein, Admiral, 256.
Rollin, M., 178.
RomUly, Mr. H., 167. 168.
Roncador Reef, 199, 262, 273.
Ronongo Island, viii., 278.
Rora, chief of Ugi, 20.
Rubbish-plants, 305.
Rubiana, see New Georgia.
Rumphius, on Tuber regium, 306 J
on edible birds' nests, 326.
RusseU Islands, 266.

INDEX.

381

S,

Sabo, Guadalcanar, 215.
Sago palms, station of, 83 ; native
names of, 189 ; leaves for thatch
ing, 58, 71 ; extraction and pre
paration of sago, 83, 87, 90;
sago also yielded by the Cycas,
90, and Caryota, 91.
St. Christoval, discovery of, 222
2£7, 229, 248, 275; native
names of island, 100; physical
character of natives, 103, 112,
114,118,119,120; bush-tribes,
14; head-hunting, 15, 18; can
nibalism 35-38 ; female chastity,
43; dweUing-.s, 57 ; tambu-houses
67-69 ; weapons, 72-75 ; worked
flints, 77 ; cooking, 86; vegetable
food, 84 ; legends of apes, 335 ;
geological structure, vi.
St, George's Island, 211, vi.
Sau Bartolomeo Islands, 238, 275,
Sandfly, H.M.S., 11, 17.
San Francisco, Isle of, 239, 276.
San German Islaud, 209.
San Juan Island, 222, 227, 275.
San Lucas, Cape, 243.
San Marcos Island, 212, 275.
San Nicolas Island, 211, 275.
Santa Anna Island, discoverv of,
231, 262, 266; physical char
acters of natives, 1 03, 1 1 2 ; chiefs,
19; viUages at war, 18; trad
ing in human flesh, 36 ; mode of
burial, 53 ; tambu-house, 70 ;
grinding slabs, 77; crocodUes,
91 ; land and freshwater shells,
337 ; geological structure, viii.
Santa Catalina Island, discovery
of, 230, 262, 266; physical
characters of natives, 103, 112,
120; chiefs, 42; tambu-house,
69.
Santa Cruz Islands, discovery of,
249 ; lost, 252 ; re-discovered,
259.
Santiago Island, 222, 227, 229.
San Urban Island, 222, 223.
Sapium indicum, 88.
Sapuna, village of, 18, 53, 67, 70,
93.
Savo Island, 73, 132; identical

with Sesarga, 209, 215, 268, 274,
275 ; language, 185 ; geological
characters, vii.
Scsevola Koenigii, 290, 305.
Schizmatoglottis, 25, 88.
Scitaminea', 283, 288, 294.
Scorpions, 328.
Seasons, temperature of, 361.
Sebastian Vizcaino, Bay of, 243.
Seemann, Dr., 90, 91, 319.
Selaginellse, 285.
Selwyn, Bishop, 15, 141.
Semper, Prof,, on erosion of fresh
water shells, 340 ; ou Neritinse,
341.
Serpentines, vi., vii.
Sesarga, 209, 210, 215, 268, 274,
275.
Sham fight, 75.
Sharks, 9; deification of, 70; carved
figures of, 53, 68, 70.
Shell-fish as food, 91.
Shell-money, 38, 134.
Shells, land and fresh-water, see
MoUusca.
Shields, 75.
Shortland Islands (see also under
Gorai and Kaika), physical char
acters of natives, 103, 113;
dwellings, 58; tambu-houses, 71 ;
cultivation, 81 ; modes of burial,
51; pit containing flints, 80;
canoes formerly with sails, 149;
excursion to the north - west
coast, 6 ; geological structure,
viii.
Shortiand, Lieut, 262, 278.
Sick, treatment of, 164.
Sikyana Islands, 187, 276.
Simbo Island (Eddystone Island),
59, 66, 72, 86, 134; chief, 14;
vocabulary, 185 ; head-hunting,
16; fish-hooks, 150; measure
ments of natives, 113; mode of
burial, 52 ; misconception of the
names Eddy.stone and Simbo,
278 ; fumaroles, 86 ; geological
charactor, vii.
Simp.son, Capt., R.N, visit to Trea
sury Island, 23.
Sinasoro, 4, 25, 59, 71.

8.-82

1NDEX.I

Sinimi, see Gleichenia.
Skin, colour of, 120; prevailing
disease of, 169.
Skull measurements. 111.
Slavery, 32.
-Smith, Mr. E., on the land and
fresh-water shells, 336, 344.
Snakes, 313.
•Soil, characters of, x.
Solomon Islander, typical charac
ters of a, 102, 110.
Songs, 140.
Sorcery, 54, 163.
Southern continent, supposed dis
covery by Gallego, 248 ; by
Quiros, 252 ; by Roggewein,
257.
Span of arms, 109.
Spears, 72.
Spinal disease, 175.
Spirits, evil, 50, 53.
Sproul, Mr., 91, 310 ; his wind and
rain records, 362, 363.
Spurges, 305.
Squall, black, 353.
Stature, 104,' 115.
Stephens, Mr., 18, 37, 56, 92, 124,
157, 176, 306, 335.

Stewart Islands, see Sikyana.
Stirling Island, viii.
Stone, Mr. 0. C, 80, 135.
Stone-boiling, 86.
Stone implements, polished, 76,
120.
Stones, grinding, 6, 77 ; cooking-
stones, 58, 77.
Strabismus, 177.
Submersion, experiments on, of luli,
329 ; of NeritinEB, 339 ; of Lit
torina scabra, 351 ; of a monitor-
Hzard, 313.
Suenna, 57.
Sugar-caue, 84.
Sulagina Bay, 38.
Sun-burns, 362.
Sun-shades, 139.
Superior, barque, massacre of crew
of, 23.
Superstitious, 53, 78, 124, 153,
165.
SurviUe, 33, 56, 80, 149, 261,
269.
Suspicion, an inherent quality, 31.
Swallow Islands, 277.
Symonds, Liout, 314.
SyphiUs, 177.

T.

Taboo or Tambu bau, 32 ; tarabu
marks, 32.
Tacca pinnatifida, 89, 290.
Tactics in war, 75.
Taki, the Wano chief, 15, 20.
Tambu-house, 35, 53, 67.
Taro, 82, 84.
Tattooing, 135.
Taucalo Island, 277.
Taumaco Island, islands in the vic
inity of, 251, 276.
Temperature, 361, 366, 367 ; sus
ceptibility of natives to slight
changes, 178.
Temples, see Tambu-house.
Terminalia catappa, 85, 87, 290,
292.
Torre des Arsacides, 262, 265, 269.
Thermometrical observations, 361,
366, .367.
Thespesia populnea, 124, 289, 290,
292, 305.

Thigh-twisting, 154.
Three Sisters' Islands, viii.. 58; dis
covery of, 222, 261, 27.5.
Tienhoven Island, 257.
Tin, discovery of, vii.
Tinakula Island, 277.
Tita, see Parinarium laurinum.
Tobacco-smoking, 94 ; introduction
of tobacco, 94.
Tokelau Ringworm, 169; its dis
tribution, 172.
Toma, village of, 25, 59, 71.
Tomahawks, 75.
Tomimas, Faro chief, 25, 46.
Tonali Harbour, 28.
Topinard, M., 102, 105, 109.
Torches, 66.
Torre, Bernardo de la, 237, 275.
Torres, 251, 252,
Tournefortia argentea, 290, 305.
Trading amongst natives, 27.
Tragedy, a dotnestic, 28.

INDEX.

383

Treasury Island, 53, 54, 66, 77,
78, 133, 144; .see also under
Mule ; excursion to. the summit,
7 ; physical characters of natives,
103, 113; change in their dis
position, 23 ; dwellings, 58 ;
tambu-houses, 71 ; mode of
burial, 51; slaves, 34; cultiva
tion, 81, 83; geological structure
of, vui.
Tree-ferns, 283, 294.
Treguada island, 221, 261, 275.

Tres Marias Islan da,see Three Sisters.
Trichomaues, 283, 285.
Tridacna gigas, 76, 91, 132.
Trotter, Mr. Coutts, 275.
Tuber regium, 306.
Tucopia island, 252, 277.
Tuluba Islet, fightiug at, 30.
Turner, Rev. Dr. G., 76, 154, 171,
287.
Turner, Rev. Dr. W., 64.
Tyerman, Rev. D., 71, 319.
Tylor, Dr., 49, 77, 171.

U.

Ugi Island, 52, 54, 55, 56, 124,
137, 139; discovery of, 222,
262, 267, 275: physical char
acters of natives, 103, 112;
cannibalism, 38 ; infanticide, 35,
42 ; dwellings, 57 ; tambu-houses,
68, 70 ; flints, 77 ; geological
structure, viii.
Ulaua or Ulawa Island, 71 ; dis

covery of, 221, 261, 266, 275 ;
flints, 78, 79; probable geological
structure of, viii.
Ulcers, 168.
Unio guppyi, 343.
Unios as food, 91.
Upheaval, evidence of great, ix., x.
Uraba Island, 221 ; see Ulaua.
Uri, 190.

V.

Vanikoro Island, 277.
Varanus indicus, 91, 313.
Vegetable drift, 291.
Vegetables, cultivated, 82, 84.
Vegetation, of the stream-courses,
282 ; of the forest, 284 ; of the
slcpes of Faro Island, 287 ; of
the coast, 289 : of a coral is et,
289; of waste ground and of old
clearings, 305.

Vella-la vella, vii.
Venereal diseases, 177.
Venus, transit of, in 1769, 257.
Veru Island, 210.
Vision, powers of, 121.
Vitex, 285, 287, 300.
Vocabulary of Bougainville Straits,
180.
Volcanoes, active, quiescent, and
extinct, vii.

w.

Waitz, Prof., 165.
AVake's Island, 239, 276.
WaUace, Mr, A., 1 , 2.
WaUis, Capt., 258.
Walsch, Capt., 24.
Wanderer, yacht, 270.
Wano, village of, ,15,36. 57 ,68.

Wate.vtou, 362.
AVax, 93.
Weapons, 71.
Wedelia biflora, 288, 290.
Weeds of plantations, 305.
Weight of body of Solomon Is
landers, 106; iufluence of the

384 INDEX,
climate on the weight of Euro- Wind.s, 362 ; registers of, 367.
peans, 369. Wind-prophets, 55.
Wharton, Capt., R,N,, 273, Withrington, Capt,, 248.
Wilkes, Commodore, 63, 76, 170, Women, measurements of, 102,
173, 276. 115.
Williams, Mr., 63. Wood, Mr, C, F,, 69, 330.
Winchelsea Island, 259. Wounds, see Injuries.

Yams, 82, 84, 88.

Zbphyr, massacre of portion of crew of, 26.

THE BN-D.

S. Cowan A Co., Strathmore Printing Worh, Perth.