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

286 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

improve them, as, like most aborigines, they have
a pronounced sense of propriety, justice and polite—
ness. There is very little disputing or quarrelling,
and differences of opinion are usually settled by a
joke, so that in this respect the savages show a
behaviour far superior to that of many a roaring
and swearing white.

I found neither drums nor statues here, and of
the local religion I could learn nothing. There is a
skull-cult, similar to that on Malekula: a man will
paint the skull of a favourite wife or child yellow,
shut all the openings with wooden stoppers and carry
the relic about with him. Towards the end of my
stay I obtained possession of some of these interest-
ing skulls. The idea in shutting the holes is
doubtless to preserve the spirit of the dead inside
the skull.

One evening I crossed the bay to attend a dance.
The starless sky shone feebly, spotted with dark,
torn clouds. A dull silver light lay on the sea, which
was scarcely lighter than the steep shores. In the
silence the strokes of our oars sounded sharp and
energetic, yet they seemed to come from a distance.
In the darkness we felt first the outrigger, then the
canoe, lifted by a heavy swell, which glided away out
of sight in monotonous rhythm. Then light began to
play around us, indistinct at first, then two silver
stripes formed at the bow and ran along the boat.
They were surrounded by bright, whirling sparks,
and at the bow of the outrigger the gayest fireworks
of silver light sprang up, sparkling and dying away