PREFACE.

—and has now been the leader of the native clergy of that group for many years. The results of these first inquiries appeared briefly in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute in February 1881. I carefully reviewed these during my last stay on Norfolk Island in 1886 and 1887. At that time, I was fortunate enough to meet several old friends and pupils there who had returned for their health or other reasons after living as teachers among their own people. They had been living on their various islands in positions and at ages that made them familiar with the views and habits of their fellow islanders. They were able—and, I believe, entirely willing—to communicate what they knew freely.

Consequently, I was able to examine the subjects treated in this book with native instructors from the Solomon Islands, the Banks Islands, and the Northern New Hebrides. These included Marsden Manekalea from Ysabel Santa Isabel Island in the Solomon Islands., Benjamin Bele from Florida Nggela Islands., Joseph Wate from Saa, Walter Woser from Motlav, Arthur Arudulewari from Aurora Maewo Island., Lewis Tariliu from Pentecost, and Martin Tangabe from Lepers' Island Now known as Ambae Island in Vanuatu.. In my opinion, every one of them was a competent and trustworthy witness, though they were not all equally intelligent.

My goal has been to present as much as possible what the native people say about themselves, rather than what Europeans say about them. For this reason, although I have included the results of my own personal observations, I have refrained from asking for or recording the information that my colleagues in the Mission would have willingly and abundantly shared—except in a few instances where I have given credit. No one is more aware than I am of the incompleteness and inadequacy of what I am venturing to publish. I know I must have made many mistakes and missed much that I could have learned. I have felt the truth of what Mr. Fison Lorimer Fison (1832–1907), an Australian anthropologist and missionary., a former missionary in