h the croton
leaves, which are intended for chiefs. Of the rest the better yams
are hung up higher on the posts, and the poorer ones lower down. The
lowest of them will probably be 5 or 6 feet from the ground.

After hanging the yams, the next step is to erect in the ground all
round the village enclosure and in front of the houses a number of
tall young slender straight-stemmed tree poles, with the top branches
and leaves only left upon them. These poles are connected with one
another by long stems, fixed horizontally to them at a height of 7
or 8 feet from the ground, the stems thus forming a sort of long line
or girdle encircling the village enclosure.

The men then go to their gardens and bring in the sugar-canes,
singing as they do so, and these they hang to the horizontal stems,
but without ceremony. The sugar-canes are all in thick bundles, perhaps
12 or 18 inches thick, and these bundles are hung horizontally end
to end immediately under the line of stems, so as also to make a
continuous encircling line.

Next they bring in the bananas, again singing, and these they hang up
on the tall, slender tree poles, and on the platforms of the houses,
and under the view platforms, but without ceremony.

Lastly, again singing, they bring in the taro, and hang these up,
mixed with the yams (not below them) on the posts, again without
ceremony. The hanging up of the taro is left to the last, and, in
fact, is not done till it is known that the guests are on their way,
as the taro would be spoilt by bad weather.

In hanging the yam and the taro the people all work
simultaneously--that is, they are all hanging yams at the same time and
all hanging taro at the same time. But as regards the sugar cane and
banana each man works in his own time without waiting for, or being
waited for by, the others. Women may help the men in all these things,
except the ceremonious hanging up of the yams.

They do not, however, hang all the yam, sugar-cane, banana and taro,
some of each being kept back in the houses for a purpose which will
appear hereafter.

The _ine_ and _malage_ fruits are not hung up at all, but are kept
in the _avale_ of the village _emone_ until the day of the actual
feast, when the various vegetables and fruits are, as will be seen,
put in heaps for distribution among the guests.

They then further decorate the posts with human skulls and bones,
which are hung round in circles below the yams and taro, but not
rea