Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/195



is almost certain that idols find no place in the account which I now proceed to give of sacred places and objects as I am acquainted with them in Melanesia. It is true that the word is commonly enough used to describe any kind of image of native workmanship, whether there be really something of a sacred character attached to it, or none whatever. The people of San Cristoval, Ugi, and Ulawa were conspicuous for their fondness for carving and the skill with which they worked; a man among them would amuse himself by shaping a soft stone or bit of wood into a figure of a man or bird, or fish, as well as in carving by way of decoration what he made for use. I have seen at Fagani (Ha'ani) in San Cristoval a remarkably clever group over the apex of a gable, which represented a man climbing up to shoot an opossum, and the animal looking down upon him from the top of the pole in the most natural attitude. This would hardly be taken for an idol, but is as much an idol as many figures which have found their way into museums as such. The canoe-houses, common halls, public-houses, called in those parts oka, were full of carvings in the constructive as well as decorative parts. Some of these, the posts for example which support the ridge-pole and purlins, are often figures of men, who would be loosely called ancestors by the principal people of the village, and these would be treated with respect; sometimes food and betel-nuts would be seen laid before them. But these had no sacred character, further than that they were memorials of