Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/217

Rh cause death. Having succeeded with some difficulty in purchasing one of these at Tesemboko, a friendly native cautioned me against allowing any one to touch a point even with the finger, saying that, if any person did, "My word! he die quick."

New Britain is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The contours of the lofty mountains are very graceful, and the variety of tints of the rich tropical verdure is as attractive as it is unusual. The dense foliage is interspersed with patches of grass of an emerald hue. At Matupi in Blanche Bay there is an active volcano, a curious volcanic island, and a region of hot springs. I traveled by land once from Nodup to Blanche Bay, and the heat and fatigue were more than compensated by the beauty and varied character of the scenery traversed. The New Britain people go entirely naked. They are not a fine race, and want the activity and vigor of the Solomon-Islanders. Foreigners have introduced a good many fire-arms among the inhabitants of Blanche Bay and Kambeirah, but as a rule the spear, usually adorned with brightly colored feathers, is their weapon. They build good houses and make excellent nets and ingenious fishing-baskets. They are the only cannibals I know who are not ashamed of their fondness for human flesh. A German settler told me that overtures were made to him to arrange the purchase of the body of a man who had been accidentally killed by a neighboring tribe with whom the would-be buyers were not friendly. The reason given was a desire to eat what otherwise might be wasted in a commonplace interment.

The curious and little understood ceremonies of the duk-duk are extensively performed in New Britain and the neighboring Duke of York group. One thing about them is certain, and that is, that those who are initiated into the mysteries obtain considerable influence over the rest of their tribesmen. There is another very remarkable custom, about which I was given information by the Rev.Mr.Rooney of the Wesleyan Mission, which labors in this part of Melanesia. It may be described as follows: If A injures B, B burns down C's hut, or makes a hole in his canoe, or sticks a spear in the pathway so that C is nearly sure to run against it. B lets C know that he has injured him, and the reason of it; when C is expected to settle the account with A, the first aggressor. On the whole, the New Britain people are the least attractive of all Melanesians whom I know. They are very dirty, and do not possess the skill in fashioning pottery, or carving wooden bowls, of their neighbors in the Solomons and the Admiralty Islands. Yet among them I had some very worthy friends. One of them I specially remarked from having been struck with the persistence with which he insisted on the observance of the curious Melanesian etiquette, that a person should never be asked his name. The savage has no objection to his name being known, but politeness requires that it should be asked of some one else. The New Britons have a curious money called dawarra, made of small shells perforated and strung on fibers of some