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

206 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

Representations of the whole body are frequent, so
are female statues; these I have only found again in
Gaua, where they are probably modern inventions.
Sometimes a fish or a bird is carved on the statue,
probably as a survival of old totemistic ideas, and
meant to represent the totem animal of the ancestor
or of his clan. The meaning of these carvings is
quite obscure to the natives, and they answer
questions in a very vague way, so that it is
probable that totemistic ideas are dying out in the
New Hebrides.

Most of the statues are meant to represent an
ancestor. If a native is in trouble, he blows his
whistle at nightfall near the statue, and if he hears a
noise, he thinks the spirit of the ancestor has
approached and entered the statue, and he proceeds
to tell the statue his sorrows and ask the spirit for
help. Occasionally sacrifices are made to the figures,
as is shown by the pigs’ jaws frequently found tied
to them.

The Ambrymese conceptions of the spirit world
are very similar to those of other islanders. The
native likes to wear on his back or chest or arm the
tusks of the most valuable pigs he has sacrificed, and
has them buried with him, so that in the other world
he may at any time be able to prove how much he
respected his ancestors.

The centre of the dancing grounds is generally
occupied by the big drums, not quite so numerous but
better made than those of Malekula. By the drums,
too, the caste of the proprietor may be recognized: