Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/312



foregoing chapters have been, mainly at least, concerned with subjects to deal with which such knowledge of the thoughts and ways of Melanesian people as can only be gained by personal acquaintance with them, and familiarity with their language, is most required. The present chapter will contain notices of such matters as lie much more upon the surface of native life, and are open to the observation of the visitor and traveller; the arts, namely, in which the culture of the people expresses itself, by which they build and decorate canoes and houses, plant and cultivate their gardens, furnish themselves with weapons and implements for war and work, catch fish, prepare their food, furnish themselves with clothing and ornaments, make and use money as a medium of exchange. So long a catalogue of their arts of life shews that Melanesians do not take a very low place among the backward peoples of the world. To deal fully and adequately with these matters would require much space; it is the less necessary to do so since much information has been already made public, as by Dr. Guppy for example, concerning the Solomon Islands; but there is certainly room for additions, and even in these matters there is much value in what natives say about themselves.

(1) Canoes. The inhabitants of groups of islands are likely to be seafaring people, and canoes are naturally among the first objects that present themselves to a visitor. Hardly anything seems in my remembrance to have been more striking