Notes on the Exhibition of an Ethnological Collection from Santa Cruz and the New HebridesAuthor(s): John JenningsSource: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 28,No. 1/2 (1899), pp. 164-165Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842945 .

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NOTES ON THE EXHIBITION OF AN ETHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION FROM SANTA CRUZ AND THE NEW HEBRIDES.

BY JOHN JENNINGS, Esq.

DURINcG a recent visit to Santa Cruz and the New Hebrides, Mr. Jennings was fortunate in obtaining an interesting collection of weapons and domiiestic imple- ments, used by the natives of those islands, and gaining much valuable information concerning their habits and customs. The bulk of this collection, numbering about 200 objects, was exhibited at a meeting of the Anthropological Institute on June 14th. Among the most important items from Santa Cruz is a specimen of the rare feather money, made from fibre in a double coil, 2 fathoiiis in length and 3 inches wide, on the outer side of which innumerable small red feathers in overlapping rows are attached by means of a resinous substailce; enclosed within the coils are placed a number of charms each supposed to possess distinctive protective properties, and invariably found associated with them. The whole is enveloped in a series of tappa wrappiligs, enclosed in a woveni bag or purse. So highly is this mnoney esteeimed that it is seldom to be procured or even seen. When being displayed by the fortunate possessor, it is loosely wound around a bamboo supported horizontally upon two upright posts and rarely is anyone but the owner permitted to handle it. It is usually kept with other valuables of a perishable nature upon a platform over the fire, the smoke and heat affording protection against damp and insects. The commoner form of money is made from small discs of shell and cocoa-nut wood, strung upon fine sinnet in two-fathom lengths. Specimens of " tappa " cloth having various oblong designs in black pigment are interesting; each pattern represents a natural object well understood by the natives, as " a yarn," "a river," "bananas," " bread-fruit," etc., and although these objects are but synmbolically depicted they afford a system of amusement combined with instruction. These pictographs are frequently met with upon other objects and invariably occur upon the light wood clubs used in ceremonial dances. Clubs are not used in Santa Cruz as weapons, neither is the spear known, every man being sufficiently equipped with a bow and a handful of arrows, the latter being highly carved and painted red, white and black. Examples of the men's dresses, betel bags, mats and other objects woven from banana fibre, exhibit great skill and care in their execution, the ornamentation being geometrical designs woven in black fibre, enhanced by braided openwork, fringes and tassels. These objects are all made with small hand looms by men only, the women and boys being permitted to make coarser articles, sails, etc. Ornaments of shell and tortoise-shell are only worn by the males. Large discs of ground "tridacna" shell having a pierced

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J. JENNINGS.-Notes on the Exhibition of an Ethnological Collection. 165

ornament of tortoise-shell attached to the centre are worn upon the breast suspended by a cord of sinnet; discs of tortoise-shell, sometimes exceeding 2 inches in diameter, are worn in the nose and are placed in the septum when the child is only a few weeks' old; small rings are also worn through the side of the nose. Earrings and pendants are made from tortoise-shell, and are worn in such numbers as to draw the pierced lobe down to the shoulder, often severing, it by their excessive weight. Armlets and bangles of strung shells and ground " tridacna" are frequent. The native fishing apparatus is both simple and ingenious:-sharks, attracted by halves of cocoanuts strung upon circles of cane rattled against the sides of the canoes, are caught by a looped rope being slipped over the tail and made taut. Kites made from tappa and cane are used for driving flying fish, which are caught by boomerang shaped hooks of tortoise-shell attached by short lines to weighted floats. Fishing lines and nets of very neat and strong sinnet are covered with a resinous waterproof substance. Models of canoes, hollowed from tree trunks by means of shell adzes and fitted with outriggers and platforms, represent the three types used for fishing within the reef; in deep water and for nmaking, long voyages, the last named, carrying a very large sail, is provided with a deck house as a store and reftuge in bad weather. Paddles are well finished and have long leaf-shaped blades with a mid rib for strength; they are often well carved with representations of the frigate bird. Adzes, having blades of regular shape and with a fine cutting edge, are made from shell of " tridacna," bound in a socket of light wood, and attached to long hlafts by sinnet. They are of " reversible " pattern and are used for all purposes, the smaller for hollowing food bowls, bailers and other small objects, the larger for cutting down and shaping the heavy timber used in their houses and canoes. These as well as the knives, scrapers and spoons niade from iiautilus shell are being superseded by the "trade " axe and knife Various tools, as described, as well as needles, lances and other small objects made from bone, shell, wood and tortoise- shell were exhibited. A tattooing implement deserves attention. It is made from a very small piece of tortoise-shell having a bifturcated point inserted in a thin section of bamboo; with this the flesh is punctured by a sharp fillip of the finger and thumb of the right hand, the implement being held lig,htly in the left; the wound thus made is rubbed with the soot of canidle nuts. The collections made in the New Hebrides, Torres and Banks Islands include dresses, ornaments, tools, ancd weapons from various localities; the clubs and spears used in the pig-killing ceremonies, as well as dresses and masks used on those occasions, will receive special attention at a later period. Various types of feathered arrows, as well as native " forgeries " of the same, are of too great an interest to here receive the attention they deserve. A fine collection of adzes -many hafted-as well as carvings, charms and numerous other specimens collected at a subsequent period in New Caledonia, were also shown. A forked stick used for taking oaths, from New Caledonia, and a sacred wood carving from the Loyalty Islands, as well as other sacred objects in stone from the same place, received special attenition.

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