Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

NORTH MELANESIA. 327As a rule the slaves owned by the chiefs are well treated ; but the terribleprospect constantly stares them in the face of being at any moment clubbed andeaten in honour of some tribal victory, the launching of a canoe or other festiveoccasion. According to Romilly one of the most appreciated dishes of the NewIreland cuisine is a mixture of sago, cocoanut and human brains. Cannibalism isprobably nowhere more rampant than in Arossi (San Cristobal), where as many astwenty people are at times cooked and consumed in a single day. A chief visitedby Brown had a cocoanut palm on which seventy- six notches indicated the numberof human beings devoured up to that time (1883).Anthropophagy regarded as a religious rite is still almost universally practisedin the Melanesian Archipelagoes ; in Santa-Ana, however, it has fallen into abeyanceever since it was tabooed by the chief after an epidemic. In some otherislands, also, the influence of the whites has caused it to disappear, and the nativeswho still indulge are at least so far ashamed of doing so that they deny it in thepresence of strangers. Human remains are also being gradually replaced in manyplaces by the bones of swine in the decoration of houses and war canoes.The Melanesian villages, mostly composed of two rows of huts built stoutlyenough to stand the climate for five or six jears, jjresent every type of constructionprevalent in the oceanic world. Isolated groups raised on jjiles arecharacteristic of one district, dwellings standing on the ground of another, whileelsewhere, notably in Yzabel, the people live in fortified trees accessible only byladders or notched beams. Everj' village has its tamhu, a sort of " town-hall,"built with the greatest care, embellished with curious wood-carvings, and set apartfor public assemblies, for the reception and entertainment of strangers, and forhousing the chief's war canoes.In New Britain this mansion is at times decoratedwith statues sculptured in a chalky stone, which is .said to be cast ashore by thetidal and earthquake waves.Of all the large Melanesian islands New Ireland appears to be the mostdensely peopled, especially on the west side. Coasting along the seaboard, seafarerseverywhere observe the smoke rising from human habitations, and in someplaces the shore is thickly fringed by cocoanut palms, which supply the staj^le offood. The population may be roughly estimated by the number of these trees, twentyof which represent on an average one person.The cabin of every native is consideredas a sacred place by his neighbours, who dare not enter it except at therisk of their lives.Like some of the Micronesian islanders, the Melanesians construct admirable andhighly decorated boats, most of which carry a square instead of a pointed sail asin Polynesia. Thej' are daring and skilful navigators, as well as intelligenthusbandmen.In the forest clearings, generally at some distance from the villages,the fields planted with yams, sweet potatoes, taro, bananas, and sugar-cane arewell tilled by the women. The produce of these plantations is supplemented byother alimentary plants, such as the sago, cocoanut palm, and bread-fruit tree.The women also weave the matting with, pandanus leaves, and make the earthenware,while the men manufacture the agricultural implements, clubs, spears, bows