[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
16 MALEKULA history of Malekula as well as upon that of the Northern and North-Central New Hebrides in general, will be discussed in a later chapter. For purposes of convenience the division of this island into the culture areas outlined above will be adhered to and will be rnade the basis of the arrangement of the material in the following pages. < Tl-{E MALEKULAN Moos or LIFE Although we can distinguish clearly betwecn the mat—skirt and the fringe-skirt culture areas, as well as between subdivisions of these, the general way in which the Malekulans live is every- where much the same. The people dwell in small villages or hamlets, which, though their ground-plans differ in certain respects, always comprise a roughly circular dancing ground with a club-house forrthe men somewhere at its edge, and a number of dwelling huts, usually scattered rather irregularly, near by. The principal occupation of the people is gardening, for their diet is predominantly a vegetarian one, yarns being the staple food-stufi. In the coastal villages, however, ï¬Åsh are caught and shell-ï¬Åsh and crabs are collected, while everywhere wild pig is hunted ; but the products of these activities are regarded as tasty extras to the usual vegetable dish, never as the basis of a meal. Apart from the wild pig little meat food is obtained from the bush. Snakes and lizards are only eaten in times of scarcity, and birds are shot for their plumage not their flesh.‘ Of domestic animals, the pig and fowl appear to have been known to the Malekulans before the coming of the whites, and they both play a considerable part in the life of the natives. Cattle and goats have since been introduced by the Europeans, but these have never been really taken up by the indigenous inhabitants, and have not yet become an important factor in their economic life. Dogs, on the other hand, which were also introduced by the Europeans, are kept and are used to some slight extent in hunting. It must be appreciated that the importance of the domesticated pig and fowl does not lie primarily in their being sources of food. Fowls indeed do not seem to be eaten to any great extent, if at all, nor apparently are their eggs, but like the wild birds they are chiefly valuable for their