[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

114 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

splinters, but both/are rapidly being replaced by
European knives.

On approaching a village we are first frightened
by a few pigs, which run away grunting and scolding
into the thicket. Then a pack of dogs announce our
arrival, threatening us with hypocritical zeal. A few
children, playing in the dirt among the pigs, jump up
and run away, then slowly return, take us by the
hand and stare into Our faces. At noon we will
generally find all the men assembled in the gamal
making “lap—lap." Lap-lap is the national dish of
the natives of the New Hebrides; quite one-fifth part
of their lives is spent in making and eating lap-lap.
The work is not strenuous. The cook sits on the
ground and rubs the fruit, yarn or taro, on a piece
of rough coral or a palm-sheath, thus making a thick
paste, which is wrapped up in banana leaves and
cooked between stones. After a few hours’ cooking
it looks like a thick pudding and does not taste at all
bad. For flavouring, cocoa-nut milk is poured over
it, or it is mixed with cabbage, grease, nuts, roasted
and ground, or occasionally with maggots. Besides
this principal dish, sweet potatoes, manioc, bread-fruit,
pineapples, bananas, etc., are eaten in season, and if
the natives were less careless, they would never need
to starve, as frequently happens.

The men are not much disturbed by our arrival.
They offer us a log to sit on, and continue to rub
their yam, talking us over the while. They seem to
be a very peaceful and friendly crowd, yet in this
district they are particularly cruel and treacherous,