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

THE SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS 281

Eumpean eye the natives’ faces often seem to have
a brutal expression. The men of Santa Cruz, too,
wear disfiguring nose-rings of tortoise-shell hanging
down over their mouths, so large that when eating
they have to be lifted up out of the way with the left
hand. Another ugly habit is the chewing of betel,
the nut of the areca palm, which is mixed with pepper
leaves and lime. The lime is carried in a gourd,
often decorated with drawings and provided with an
artistically carved stopper. The leaves and this bottle
are kept in beautifully woven baskets, the prettiest
products of native art, made of banana fibre inter-
woven with delicate designs in black. Betel-chewing
seems to have a slightly intoxicating effect; my
boys, at least, were often strangely exhilarated in the
evening, although they had certainly had no liquor.
The lime forms a black deposit on the teeth, which
sometimes grows to such a size as to hang out of the
mouth, an appendage of which some natives seem
rather vain.

The dress of the men consists of a narrow belt
of bark and a strip of tapa worn between the legs.
lAround their knees and ankles they wear small,
shiny shells, and on their chests a large circular plate
of tridacna—shell, to which is attached a dainty bit
of carved tortoise-shell representing a combination
of fish and turtle. This beautiful ornament is very
effective on the dark skin. In the lobes of the
ears are hung large tortoise-shell ornaments, and
on the arms large shell rings or bracelets braided
with shell and cocoa-nut beads are worn.