[Note: this traNscriptioN was produced by aN automatic OCR eNgiNe]

20 MALEKULA
by the BurNs Philp boat, ravaged the whole district a few years
ago, huNdreds dyiNg. The mortality from whoopiNg cough aNd
measles is also very high.“
AgaiN he writes of the same district iN the May of the sarNe
year :-—
“INteNsive study here is impossible—there is No iNteNsive
lite. . . . You have scarcely aN idea of the terrible depopulatioN
here duriNg the last teN years. Layard told me that accordiNg to
KiNg, the late commissioNer, there was a virile mummyfyiNg popula-
lioN ‘ here. Well, the total Number of survivors of the Wi emp
district . . . is tweNty-two, from/My claNs withiN liviNg memory ;
the goNg rhythms ‘ of tweNty-six of the claNs were remembered by
oNe adult, but Not old, survivor, so that they were all existiNg say
tweNty years ago at the most. Ot the tweNty-two, eight are
womeN. As for a ‘virile rNummyiyiNg populatioN ', I very much
doubt whether a siNgle ‘mummy ’ has beeN made iN S. Malekula
for several years. . . . The more or less coastal district, SeNiaNg,
has 125 adult iNhabitaNts, aNd that is where I have doNe most
work. There has beeN a coNstaNt gravitatioN from the iNterior
to the coast, so that there is Now Not a siNgle village remaiNiNg
iN the whole of Wilemp aNd Nahate districts, whereas upwards
of sixty existed some years ago. ONe dyseNtry aNd SpaNish
iNï⫬‚ueNza epidemic, Boyd the missioNary calculated, reduced the
populatioN by 62 per ceNt. The SpaNish iNï⫬‚ueNza of post-war
days simply wiped out whole villages.
"The oNly remaiNiNg ‘heatheN’ are druNkards. . . . For
some reasoN alcohol seems absolutely to kNock the bottom out
of a Native. MaNy a time I have come to it place iN the morNiNg
to ï⫬&AriNg;Nd everyoNe iN a sort of seNseless coma, capable oNly of ï⫬&AriNg;lchiNg
aNythiNg you give them the chaNce to. You go iNto the meN’s
houses to try aNd ï⫬&AriNg;Nd masks, etc., aNd all you ï⫬&AriNg;Nd are empty giN
bottles. As tor the ChristiaN coNverts, they form a small baNd,
correspoNdiNg iN fuNctioN aNd temper to the (idealistic) social
revolutioNaries of the BakuNiN type lu Europe ;—they are out for
the destructioN aNd recoNstructioN of Native society. Depopula-
tioN aNd alcoholism sum up the situatioN."
IN other parts of the islaNd coNditioNs seem to have beeN
little better, for, some moNths later, wheN he was workiNg iN
1 This ~ mhmmyiyim; populatioN“ refers to the people ht the !0uth~West
aiiiiihm of Malekï⫬‚lï⫬‚ who lSQd Q0 make etï⫬&AriNg;gies 01 the meN who died. After
the fuNeral these were kept iii the meN‘: club-house IS memorials hr the deceased.
Such cï⫬&AriNg;igics, which are commoNly but wroNgly termed " mummies BIS called
iii the mime laNguage mmlmmp. For B ull descriptioN oi them iNd oi the
W2)‘ ih which they are made, S06 below, Chap. xvru.-c. H. w.
1 The Malï⫬&AriNg;kullï⫬‚s have large Wbï⫬&AriNg;deï⫬‚ gaNgs made from hollowed tree-truNks.
oN which they beat out complicated rhlythrNs, by meaNs of which simple messages
caN be seNt iroxN village to village. ach Eli-I1 has its OWE distiNctive rhythm
hy which it aNd its members caN be iNdicated. For 1 hill accouNt oi these 5»
below, Chap. xvu.-c. I-I. w.