native clothing and ornaments—their arts and industries, their canoes and weapons, and their way of fishing.
in malekula, efaté, and tanna the natives wear as many adornments and cram as many ornaments on their bodies as they can, and since this weakness of theirs has been found out, both visitors and missionaries trade on it, when endeavouring to get on the right side of them. everybody going to these places nowadays takes with him a good supply of trumpery adornments, and exchanges them for native things of ten times their value. ivory rings and shell rings were the most precious ornaments the new hebrideans originally wore, but the less wealthy covered themselves with armlets, fibre belts, flowers, and if they could get a comb to stick in their hair they fancied themselves immensely superior to those who had not such a mark of distinction. trade beads are now added to their possessions, and they work them into most artistic {173} patterns and wear them round their necks. a small mirror will often be seen hanging from a native’s ear-ring, and many other strange combinations of savagedom mixed with civilisation are met with in these islands to-day. a native wearing a calico loin-cloth and a top-hat poised on his woolly head and kept in position by a string round his chin is not an uncommon sight. another may be seen wearing a pair of knee-breeches, a tennis shirt, with the collar turned up, and a trader’s hat. another, perhaps dispensing with the breeches, will wear only the hat and shirt. altogether they seem to do their very best to imitate an english clown, though of course they are not aware of the fact.
to meet a burly native with elaborate ear-rings, an ivory spike through his nose, and his face well marked, with a collar and dickey hanging round his neck, seems absolutely ridiculous, but the proud possessor of such a costume will strut about as if he were the best-dressed man in the islands. as may be supposed they look particularly coy, some of them, and only require a banjo and a pair of trousers to make ideal christy minstrels. the humour of their costumes, needless to say, does not strike them, and their less-clothed neighbours look on them with envy, whilst the girls bill and coo at the {174} sight of them—such is fashion. a tappa loin-cloth, similar to the fijian cloth, was originally the fashion amongst the women in parts of this group of islands, prior to the coming of the white man, and it was held round the waist by a belt of fibre and ornamented with coloured or stained grass. but, back in the bush, the married women were the only ones who wore anything that could be really called a costume, the younger women’s attire being only flimsy grass mats made of streamers, and tied round their waists—which from a point of decency would be equal to a piece of mosquito netting. the men were always clothed to a certain extent, owing to a peculiar belief they hold that they must not be seen naked.
feathers play a prominent part in head dress on special occasions, such as at the dance i have already mentioned. the hair is never shaved off the men’s heads but left to grow wild, and some of them possess very fine beards and moustaches, but all cannot boast such growth. i have seen a good few with moustaches like boarding-house tooth-brushes.
tattooing is not common, but cicatrices are, and most men bear curious marks on their bodies. these are made when they are quite young by cutting a pattern on the skin and then continually {175} removing the scab until a deep kind of scar is formed. it takes a long time to become perfect, but when it is they are exceedingly proud of it.
type of man from the island of tanna, new hebrides
paint is sometimes used for decorating their faces and bodies in place of tattooing, but it is very ugly and disfigures both the men and women. red, black, and white are the chief colours used, and no particular design characterises the work; the painter generally puts what his fancy suggests, and no meaning is attached to it, as is generally the case with the native markings.
the women are the workers here as elsewhere, and at basket-making and mat-plaiting they are splendid hands. clothes used to be made by them and bartered for food to villagers on the coast. the mats are made from fibre, which in its turn is made from the pandanus leaf by cutting it into long shreds with a piece of shell and then allowing it to dry. most of the mats have some sort of a pattern on them, and are now greatly prized by collectors. in the new hebrides they are put on the floor of the huts, and are also used as screens to cut off the sleeping apartments from the day room. some more artistic than others are fringed with feathers or tassels of discoloured grass. these, however, are generally made to sell to the tourist. {176}
baskets are also manufactured in some of the islands. pottery, however, is a forgotten art here, and a legend accounting for the number of old and broken pieces which may still be found in the bush is worth relating.
the natives believe that their islands at one time in the world’s history were brought up out of the sea by a beautiful goddess, li maui tukituki; they say that when the world was quite new she was carrying home some water in jars, but, owing to the rocky state of the land she spilled the water, which made her so angry that she threw the jars at the ground and in that way punished it and made it still. from that day to this it has not moved. so tradition says, and these broken pieces of pottery are known as the water jars of li maui tukituki and are held in great reverence by the natives.
finishing off a canoe, british new guinea
the tools used for hut-building and canoe-building are made of stone, shell, and iron, but there are very few of the real stone adzes to be found now, except in the museums, as the trade articles have taken their place and are in use all over the islands. exactly the same kind of canoe is made here as in new guinea, and the same methods of making it are adopted. the largest canoes are made in malekula, from whence the natives go {177} long voyages to trade with other islands, and, i suppose, in the old days went hunting heads; some of the canoes are made out of the trunks of the bread-fruit trees. the poles supporting the outrigger are run through holes in the side of the canoe and lashed into position. there are no fine lines in the curves of these boats, they are roughly made and have very little decoration about them. the outrigger itself is just a heavy log of wood pointed at each end.
the sails of the larger boats are now made of trade canvas, though they were originally made of matting. the rowers or paddlers sit in the boat upon the cross beams of the outrigger poles which pass through the gunwale. the steersman sits right aft, and can swing the boat round with marvellous rapidity.
on rano, a little island near malekula, are three or four very fine specimens of large war canoes lying on the beach. i mention this, as it has been said by many writers, who have visited these parts, that the new hebrides natives never possessed large canoes, whereas these are far larger than any in the solomons, but, judging by their appearance, they have not been in use for ages and ages, nor can the natives there tell anything of their history. {178} there is, of course, a possibility that they may have been stranded there in a storm, but it is not likely, as the stern of one of them is protected by a shed, which looks as if it had always been its resting-place, also, the whole construction is of the hebridean style. the larger of the two is considerably over thirty feet from stem to stern, and the bow rises up to a height of over ten feet, and is made of a solid dug-out log curved and tapering off to a point, where evidently a figure-head of some sort has been, but now only a rudimentary bird’s head remains, and suspended from the bird’s neck are a pair of boar’s jaws.
the boat prow is ornamented and boxed and laced with sinnet. the depth inside allows more room than is usually found in like structures, and to get this depth the sides have been built up by lacing planks to each other in a curious and ingenious way. the crew to man one of them must have consisted of thirty or forty men at the very least. the stem of the canoe is a high peaked one, curving gently outwards and elaborately carved.
the outrigger is an enormous log, and is attached in the ordinary way, though, of course, owing to its great size, nearly a dozen pegs help to keep the poles in position.
old war canoes, near malekula, new hebrides
{179}
though reliable information regarding these relics cannot be obtained, it is evident that they are highly prized, as periodically they are covered with freshly fallen leaves to keep the sun from warping them. they are evidently the last of their kind, and show signs of having been occasionally used as sailing canoes with a great mat sail, probably after the style of the smaller craft of similar construction often seen around pentecost island. rano island, where these boats are, is a pretty little place with a fine beach running up on one side to a densely wooded shore. the village lies back behind a line of scrub, and is completely hidden from the view of the sea. this method of building villages is common in the new hebrides, and is done to enable the inhabitants to get the first sight of an attacking party.
the weapons of war used by these islanders differ in many respects from those in the other groups. here the bow and arrow play a conspicuous part in warfare and in hunting. the bows are between six and eight feet long on some islands, whilst at malekula they are seldom more than five feet; most of them are very roughly made, neither the manufacturers nor owners seemed to mind if the curve of the bow was exact or not. {180} but in malekula, again, both the workmanship and artistic taste are more advanced.
the arrows are similar all over the group, and measure about three feet in length; they come to a sharp point at the end, which is charred to make it harder. they are each composed of a piece of hard wood pointed at the end, about a foot long, let into a cane shaft and bound at the junction with grass.
on aoba island the points of the arrows are very long and are composed of sharpened human bone. it was the custom in the old days to poison the arrows before use, but what method was adopted is not known, possibly they were dipped in rotten fish or human flesh, the favourite method of many savages.
the arrow used for fishing is a much longer one and has three prongs, others of different design are used for shooting birds.
havannah harbour, rathmoy, new hebrides
fish, birds, and a few small animals form the only wild diet for which hunting is necessary. neither lines nor hooks are used in the new hebrides for fishing, they scorn this method, in spite of the demonstrations by the whites, and the greater chance they would have of securing big catches. sometimes, however, they use a small hand-net, but {181} only for small fish, and they are not keen on its use. they stick to their spears, and as a rule they choose a bright moonlight night when the tide is going out, and armed with spears, bows and arrows, they crowd down to the reefs with torches, and dart in and out of the pools where fish are sure to be; then, with a sharpness that is almost incredible, the spears are seen to dart into the water, and come out again an instant after with fine, struggling fish on them. it is great sport, and there is little wonder they enjoy it. both sight and feeling are brought into play during this pastime. the large fish can be seen and are speared easily, but others which just skim past the fisher’s legs are not as quickly taken, and try the skill of the natives. others occasionally need a deal of chasing, for once a native has felt his prey he will not rest until he has secured it. he seems to be untiring, and does not stop fishing until he has quite a good haul.
turtle fishing is not gone in for much, as the natives are superstitious about the turtle, and civilisation has not yet been able to dispel their fears. one of the chief ones is that the eggs are sacred and may not be eaten. but one by one their superstitions are going, for they see how the white man prospers in spite of scorning all their sacred ideas, and that now and then makes them courageous enough to break through the barrier, and when once a superstition has been found untrue, they are not slow in testing another, if by challenging it they can see any gain for themselves.
