ISLAND CURIOS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 149, 25 June 1932, Page 11

ISLAND CURIOS.

SECURED IN MELANESIA.

AUCKLAND "" MUSEUM

purchases;

NATURALIST RETURNS LADEN.

"Come inside and have a look." The man who issued the invitation was Mr. A. T. Pycroft, the Auckland naturalist, who returned this morning after making a 7000 miles cruise of the Western Pacific in the Melanesian Mission steamer Southern Cross: .llis little cabin on the' bridge deck of the steamer provided an excellent example of "orderly confusion." Spears and fishing nets were hung on the walls, large wooden; bowls, baskets, strings of shells, and'native fishing lines w'cre among a wide variety of curious that littered his bunk and settee, and cases and rough cages occupied the greater part of the floor space.

As a naturalist, Mr. Pveroft, who writes the "Ways of the Wild" notes in the "Star" magazine section, was, of course, keenly interested in all that lie saw and learnt during the voyaging of the mission steamer. The many curious that lie brought back with him will eventually find their way to tlie shelves of the Auckland 'Museum, for they were bought by him on behalf of the museum authorities. The hundreds of curios— Mr. Pycroft has no idea just how many there are-—were purchased not with money, but with tobacco, fishing hooks, calico, clay pipes, knives and other things taken from Auckland. Tobacco, Mr. Pycroft found, was highly prized among the natives in all the groups.

Shell Money Mint. To describe in detail all the articles that Mr. Pycroft brought back with him would occupy a full page. Chiefly the collection comprised shells, birds, native implements of peace and war, ornaments and fishing gear. At the Bina Lagoon, on the west coast of Malata, he was fortunate enough to secure a complete red shell money mint —a number of shells and all the implements necessary for the making of the native money. In the Santa Cruz group he purchased two coils of red feather money. The feathers, he explained, aro plucked from small biids slightly. larger than the green blight birds common to New Zealand, which are caught with native bird lime. When the birds have been robbed of their led feathers they are liberated.

From underneath the mattress of his bunk Mr. Pycroft produced one of those finely-made kites that the natives in the Santa Cruz and Solomon Islands use for lisliing. A bob of cobweb is used as "bait," and often the lines are merely dried vines. A wicker arrangement in the form of a dunce's cap, Mr. Pycroft explained, was also used for fishing. The traps nre kept on the sea bed with stones, and a piece of bait is tied inside. When a fish pokes its head inside the trap it cannot withdraw it, and trap and fisli are hauled up. When after sharks, said Mr. Pycroft, the natives use a number of coconut rings on 'a piece of cane. When these arc rattled they attract the fish, and the natives arc able to lasso the sharks and haul them to the surface, where they are killed with clubs. A "rattler" is among the collection of curios that Mr. Pycroft has brought back for the museum.

Crude Native "Razor." Among the small curios secured by Mr. Pycroft is a shell used by the natives for "shaving." Actually the offending whiskers are pulled out by the root. Then there is an arrow, the head of which was fashioned from a piece of human bone.

Before Mr. Pycroft sailed he was supplied with two large milk cans containing preserving spirit. These he has brought back filled with snakes, birds and small crocodiles.

At the Bina Lagoon the Aucklander visited the artificial islands. These were made many years ago by coast dwellers who wanted to be safe from the attacks of the ferocious bush tribes. Piece by piece coral was taken out in canoos and tipped into the water where the islands were to be made, and when the tops of the islands showed above water earth was tipped on to them. On these hand made islands the natives built their huts, and to-day some of them even sport coconut trees" The Bina Lagoon is now the only place in the Solomons where the valued shell money is made.

For himself, Mr. Pycroft securer! two parakeets, a dove and a white cockatoo, all of which stood the lon# voyage well. The cockatoo was perched on its owner's shoulder when the Southern Cross berthed this morning.