[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

VAC 8 7

prevent people from carrying carvings too fine for
their degree. Similarly, we find little sticks like
small seats fastened to the canoes, their number
indicating the caste of the owner. Under big sheds,
in the shade of the tall trees, lie large whale-boats of
EUROPEAN manufacture, belonging to the different
clans, in which the men undertake long cruises to the
other islands, Santo, Aoba, Ambrym, to visit “ sing-
sings ” and trade in pigs. Formerly they used large
canoes composed of several trees fastened together with
ropes of cocoa-nut fibre, and caulked with rosin, driven
by sails of cocoa-nut sheaths ; these would hold thirty
to forty men, and were used for many murderous
expeditions. For the inhabitants of Vao were regular
pirates, dreaded all along the coast ; they would land
unexpectedly in the morning near a village, kill the
men and children, steal the women and start for
home with rich booty. EUROPEAN influences have
put a stop to this sport, and with the introduction of
whale-boats the picturesque canoes have disappeared
from the water, and now lie rotting on the beach.
Their successors (though according to old tradition,
, women may not enter them) are only used for peace-
ful purposes.

In the early morning the beach is deserted, but
a few hours after sunrise it is full of life. The
different clans come down from their villages by
narrow paths which divide near the shore into one
‘ path for the men and another for the women, lead-
ing to separate places. The men squat down near
one of the boat-houses and stretch out comfortably