ty though belated retreat.

In the afternoon about sixty pigs were tied to poles in front of
the gamal, and the chief took an old gun-barrel and smashed their
heads. They represented a value of about six hundred pounds! Dogs
and men approached the quivering victims, the dogs to lick the blood
that ran out of their mouths, the men to carry the corpses away for
the feast. This was the prosaic end of the great "sing-sing."

As it is not always easy to borrow the number of pigs necessary to rise
in caste, there are charms which are supposed to help in obtaining
them. Generally, these are curiously shaped stones, sometimes carved
in the shape of a pig, and are carried in the hand or in little baskets
in the belt. Such charms are, naturally, very valuable, and are handed
down for generations or bought for large sums. On this occasion the
"big fellow-master" had sacrificed enough to attain a very high caste
indeed, and had every reason to hold up his head with great pride.

Formerly, these functions were generally graced with a special feature,
in the shape of the eating of a man. As far as is known, the last
cannibal meal took place in 1906; the circumstances were these: Some
young men were walking through the forest, carrying their Snider
rifles, loaded and cocked as usual, on their shoulders. Unluckily,
one of the rifles went off, and killed the man behind, the son of
an influential native. Everyone was aware that the death was purely
accidental, but the father demanded a considerable indemnity. The
"murderer," a poor and friendless youth, was unable to pay, and fled to
a neighbouring village. He was received kindly enough, but his hosts
sent secretly to the offended father to ask what they were to do with
him. "Kill him and eat him," was the reply. They therefore prepared a
great feast, in honour, as they said, of their beloved guest, and while
he was sitting cheerfully near the fire, in anticipation of the good
meal to come, they killed him from behind with an axe. The body was
roasted, and the people of his village were asked to the feast. One
man had received the forearm and hand, and while he was chewing the
muscles and pulling away at the inflectors of the fingers, the hand
closed and scratched his cheek,--"all same he alive,"--whereupon the
horrified guest threw his morsel away and fled into the forest.

On my return to Port Olry I found that the Father had gone to visit
a colleague, as his duties did not take up