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

xxiv PREFACE
the cylindrical wooden resonators, also M ansip (of the N21/inbur).
. . . Ambrym culture can be analysed into : (I) a strongly matri-
lineal, indigenous, (2) a.n immigrant culture from Malekula, with
no matrilineal elements and essentially patrilineal in tradition
and custom." He also found pottery sherds but no whole pots,
and discovered that geometrical drawings are made there as in
Malekula.
In a letter to his mother he says: " I like Amhrym very
much, chiefly because of its freedom from malaria mosquitoes.
. . . Life here is very pleasant . . . the natives of Ambrym
and their life are very interesting. . . . It is rather amusing
here, there are three missionaries sidc by side, within about a
mile of each other-—Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Seventh
Day Adventist, all ï¬Åghting each other and trying to convert
natives from the other missions. All the R.C.s wear crosses round
their necks and have names like Augustine, Benedict, etc,
though the Presbyterians have names like Moses, Jacob, Isaac,
etc., both Presbyterians and R.C.s keep Sunday, of course, the
Seventh Day Adventist natives keep Saturday instead of Sunday,
and consider both Presbyterians and R.C.s heathen, and they
do not eat meat, smoke, or drink tea. They are on the look out
for Christ's return any day. Presbyterians and Adventists both
regard the R.C.s as heathen worshippers of graven images.
Imagine what confusion! Poor natives! There are also, in
other districts, Church of Christ Missions, beside the Melanesian
Mission in the north."
From Ambryrn, Deacon returned to Bushman’s Bay. During
his three visits to this spot, while staying with a planter, Mr. E.
Corlette, he also collected some relationship systems from
natives of Epi, Oba, and Raga (Pentecost), but these have
not been found. In a letter to his mother during his ï¬Årst
visit, dated rst November, I926, he draws a pleasant
picture of his visit here. His host was a highly cultivated
and well-travelled University man, and possessed a. good library
of modern books—Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy, Wells, Dean
Inge, and the like, as well as scientiï¬Åc books. One can well
imagine what an oasis this must have proved to Deacon, where
for the only time during his stay in Malekula he could indulge
in literary conversation and discuss matters of world-wide