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

AMBRYM :97

In sun and shower, the natives work in the plan-
tations in long rows, the women together with their
husbands or with other women at some lighter task.
The men dislike to be separated from their wives,
for they are very jealous; neither do they approve
of the women discussing their husbands among them-
selves. For light work the women are more useful,
as they are more accustomed to regular work from
their youth up than the men, who are used to spending

their days in easy laziness.
Towards sunset, the “Bubu” announces the end

of work, and the natives stroll towards their quarters,
simple huts of straw, where each man has his couch,
with a trunk underneath containing his belongings.
Meals are prepared by a cook, and the men go to fetch
their rations, rice, yam, or taro. Sometimes there is
meat, but not often, except in places where wild pig is
plentiful. In that case, it is simplest for the master
to send his boys shooting every Sunday, when it
depends on themselves if they are to have meat
during the coming week or not. After the meal, the
natives sit round the fires chatting, gossiping and
'telling fairy-tales. They know stories of all sorts of
monsters and demons, and excite each other by tales
of these horrors to such a degree, that bad dreams or
even a general panic are often the consequence, and
the whole crowd turns out in the middle of the night,
declaring that the place is haunted, and that they have
seen a devil, who looked thus and so. If someone
suddenly dies in a hut, it is worst of all. Death is
invariably caused, so they all believe, by poison or