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

PEN TECOSTE 2 2 7

is the second largest island of the group, and its
interior is quite unexplored. I could not penetrate
inland, as I was unable to find boys and guides for a
voyage they all thought extremely dangerous. Mr.
Paton, who had traversed the island at various points,
consoled me by telling me that the culture inland was
much the same as along the coast. So I gave up
my plan, though with some regret.

Mr. Paton took me to the south end of Malekula,
and left me on one of the flat coral islands, which are
all connected under the surface by an extensive reef.
The landscape is charming, the sea above the reef
shining in all possible shades, and small flat islands
enlivening the View in all directions. In these islands
only Christians live, the few remaining heathen
having retired to the mainland.

Here on the south coast the strange fashion
obtains of deforming the head. This habit is very
rare in the Pacific, and restricted to two small dis—
tricts. It is now purely a matter of fashion or
vanity,——the longer the head, the handsomer the
individual is thought to be,—but probably there was
' originally some religious or hygienic notion at the
bottom of the peculiar custom. The operation is
begun about a month after birth, by rubbing the
child’s head with grease and soot, and then putting
on a small cap of braided pandanus fibre, which is
very tight and allows the head to develop only in the
direction of the crown. When the cap becomes too
tight, it is cut off, and another, a little larger, put on,
until the parents are satisfied with the shape of the