A curious religion—Burying the dead, and some graveyards—Dancers and
music—Native artists, and how fire is made.
To try and discover the actual religious beliefs of a savage race is
even more difficult than attempting the same experiment on the religion
of any particular European sect. It is almost impossible to find two
people agreeing consistently on even the main principles. Exactly
the same trouble exists in savage races; if you are lucky enough
to discover a principle you will immediately get a dozen different
interpretations of it, and only where a sect follows implicitly the
ruling of one leader, and does not question or argue against his
teachings, can you gain any knowledge worth the trouble and time you
may expend on it; but in these cases I have found that neither reason
nor understanding play any part in the belief, and it therefore lacks
interest. But, strange to say, throughout the savage and civilised
races there seems to be a belief in a {125} heaven and a hell. These
two ideas, though varying in detail, are world wide, but notions of the
way to get there, however, differ considerably.
The Solomon islanders nearly all believe that when a man or woman dies
he goes to live with a good spirit (_nito drekona_) in a far off but
pleasant land, where his companions will be as good as he is, or nearly
so. The bad man, so judged by his companions, goes to a place of fire,
the abode of the Evil One (_nito paitena_), where he has anything but a
happy time. During his existence there he does his best to make things
unpleasant for the friends he has left behind him, by becoming one of
the many evil spirits who are supposed to do harm to the living.
To obtain any further information on this subject is extremely
difficult, and, as in other races, each man and woman has a different
idea of the future state, some of which are particularly quaint. The
Solomon islander’s idea of a heavenly condition would be anything but
heavenly to us, in fact some of our worst ideas of the other place
would pale before their crude notions of heaven.
Another fancy they all seem to hold is that the spirits of the departed
return to earth, some as fireflies, and some as birds, etc. They all
{126} believe that the Supreme Spirit is the embodiment of good, and
yet in the same breath they will tell you that He becomes angry and
needs that His anger should be appeased either by incantations or the
sacrifice of human beings.
On the death of a chief, a great personage, male or female, universal
mourning is adopted, accompanied by feasting, which they believe helps
the spirit on its journey to the better land—for all great people and
chiefs go there direct, a fact about which they seem to deplore, as
they will talk of the departed one as the “poor chief.” The names of
the dead are held in great reverence, and in some islands they are
never mentioned except under the breath, or in the greatest secrecy.
Funeral rites differ a good deal on the various islands, but the most
common ones constitute a feast which is celebrated when a powerful
personage dies. Directly the news of his death is announced the natives
of his tribe set about procuring a supply of food, and calling together
all the natives, and then they commence the feast, which is followed by
a dance and the last rites peculiar to these islands.
[Illustration 43: A SHRINE OR TOMB OF A CHIEF, AT SIMBO, SOLOMON
ISLANDS]
Most of the ceremonies take place round the house of the departed one,
who is laid out and covered with leaves; subsequently his head is cut
off {127} and prepared in the approved style, which is either by
placing it in the bush near an ant-hill until all the flesh is eaten
off, or skinning it and afterwards scraping it. This last horrible act
is enjoyed by the lucky native who is chosen to do it. After this the
skull is bleached to a perfect whiteness and adorned with rings, which
represent the chief’s worldly possessions, and are bound to the skull
by a kind of flax. Thus prepared the head is placed in a head house.
At Simbo there is a regular graveyard of these houses just above the
beach, a mile from the trader’s house. It looks horrible, but is rather
interesting. It consists of about a dozen small huts built on poles,
some three or four feet from the ground; in each of these are the heads
of important men. Those in front are elaborately decorated with rings,
whilst those at the back are bare. Most of the houses contain about a
dozen heads, but one, rather larger than the others, contains more, and
is partly built of stone, the front being barred like a rabbit hutch.
This contains the heads of the chiefs only, and is looked upon with
great reverence by the natives.
Luckily this weird cemetery is hidden by the dense bush which grows
almost to the water’s edge, {128} or visitors, unaccustomed to such
sights, might receive a ghastly shock, as a more uncanny spectacle to
come across on a moonlight night than these hutches, with white skulls
staring vacantly through the bars, cannot be realised. At the back of
them is the heavy dark bush, and before them the rocks and the sea.
The women play the part of the chief mourners, and show their grief
by plastering their faces with lime and chanting melancholy dirges.
The men in many parts shave their heads, some completely, some only
partially, but all cover their faces with lime.
The funeral dance which follows the feast in the Solomon Islands
differs considerably from the dances in the other islands for the same
occasion. A double circle of women is formed round four posts, between
which other women sit holding in their arms the possessions of the
departed one. Round these the dancers gather, and with slow, measured
steps, timed to the tune of a beating drum, they keep up an unearthly
row with their feet. Whilst these are marking time, the others and
younger ones, bearing the possessions, dance round the inner circle
and skip in and out of the posts, always keeping in time with the
beating of {129} the drum. It is not an interesting dance, nor is it
awe-inspiring like many others I have seen, whilst from an artistic
point of view it falls very short.
There are many others in which both men and women take part, but none
particularly interesting. The war dance is done in crouching movements,
and should look impressive when carried out by a well-trained crowd,
but as few travellers have witnessed it it can only be surmised that it
is grand. It is danced by the natives bearing their shield and spears
in hand, and the performers sing a peculiar droning song during the
ceremony. The words of it, and two other native songs, were given in
a paper before the Anthropological Institute by Lieutenant Boyle T.
Somerville, R.N. They run thus:—
WAR SONG
Peka peka turo, Peka peka turo,
Po lo lu u asa na
Enoria chacharveli Turu sangi.
A FAVOURITE SONG
Kele mai Kolo moruna Kawo Konji Kili mai
Keli mai Kawo Tsa lu M—m—m—m—m—
JEW’S-HARP SONG
Koroso pe pa Koiro pipa
{130}
These Solomon Island natives appear to have fairly good ears for music,
and have many popular tunes and songs besides those quoted above.
The majority of them have only a few words and a simple air, but the
singers make the most of them by repetition, so that what appears to be
a long song or tune is often quite short, and contains only a few lines
as in the above instance.
The Jew’s-harp has become very popular on these islands, and both men
and boys become accomplished players on it. The native instrument of
the same class is made from a piece of bamboo with a narrow groove cut
out of the centre about six inches long. A string is passed over the
groove, or tongue, and the end is placed against the mouth, and the
sound is produced by jerking the string to make it vibrate.
The Pandean pipe, which is made on the same principle as the classic
pipe of that name, is of native origin, and it is composed of short,
hollow lengths of bamboo lashed together with vegetable fibre. Attached
to the ends of each pipe are streamers of the same substance.
[Illustration 44: SOLOMON ISLANDER PLAYING THE “IVIVU,” OR FLUTE
This instrument, when played by a native, has a very sweet tone.]
The native flute (_Ivivu_) is composed of a thick piece of bamboo
nearly three feet long, hollowed out but closed at each end. It
contains four holes. {131} The first one is about five inches
from the top and is made for the mouth of the player. At a distance of
another five inches is another hole for the first finger of the right
hand, and the remaining two holes are at the far end separated by a few
inches. The tone obtained from this peculiar instrument is not at all
unpleasant.
They possess still another instrument, known in England as the mouth
fiddle, which is roughly made of a bent stick and has two strings.
The player holds one end of it between his teeth and manipulates the
strings with his fingers after the style of a big Jew’s-harp.
Besides their musical accomplishments the natives are very fair
draughtsmen, and some of their drawings are surprisingly good. Shark
fishing, head-hunting, and scenes of murder, are amongst their
favourite pictures. The frigate birds and human heads figure in nearly
all their designs—especially the former, which are fish-hawks as large
as big seagulls, but somewhat darker in plumage. When soaring overhead
in search of prey to swoop down on, the frigate bird shows the peculiar
shape of its wings, which, roughly speaking, form the letter “M.” Like
the shark it is more or less sacred, and therefore not eaten and seldom
harmed. {132}
All the drawings are done on wood with a red-hot stick, in much the
same way as poker-work is done in England. There is no particular shape
or size or even design in the instruments used for drawing. Nowadays
the natives beg a little iron or wire, which they make red hot and go
to work with to burn out their designs.
Fire was produced in the old days, and still is in the bush, by rubbing
two pieces of wood together. One is a flat piece in which a small
groove has been made, and the other is a stick pointed at the end. The
operator holds the stick in his two hands and rubs steadily up and
down in the groove. This rubbing makes a small powder collect in the
end of the groove, and after a few minutes it begins to smoulder, and,
finally, with the aid of gentle blowing, it ignites sufficiently for
other dry wood to be lighted by it.
Wax matches and magnifying glasses have quite superseded this method in
the shore villages, and as traders get farther into the country, native
fire producing will die out, as many other customs have done and are
doing daily.
The making of war weapons is already on the wane, and old Winchesters
and modern rifles are quickly taking their places. Even for hunting
{133} purposes the natives prefer to purchase a weapon, rather than go
to the trouble of making one. The only sort of war weapon to be seen
to-day is a composition of the English axe-head, sold by the traders,
mounted on a handle of native manufacture. These are crude but useful,
and are as a rule well carved.
The bow and arrow are in pretty general use in the Solomon Islands,
though they are not seen so often in New Georgia. In Bougainville and
St. Christoval bows and arrows are used for all hunting purposes.
Spears and clubs form their other weapons; the spears are not poisoned,
only a few have barbs on them, and the majority are made with hard wood
points. Bougainville supplies most of the specimens showing barbs. The
clubs used in St. Christoval rather resemble in shape an Australian
boomerang with a straight handle. Other clubs belonging to different
islands are of the policeman’s truncheon order.
Shields are also carried, and are made generally on a bamboo frame
lashed together with native string and thatched. They are between three
and four feet long and one foot broad.
{134}