WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

YSABEL AND ITS PEOPLE.

HOUSES IN TREES

(By A. T. PYCROFT.)

TIIO most northerly port of call of the Southern Cross was Maringe lagoon, Ysabel Island, where the vessel arrived on May 10. Wo were now about 450 miles from the equator. Ysabel was the first Melanesian land seen by Europeans. The Spanish voyager Mendana, who was dispatched by the viceroy of Peru on a voyage of discovery, sighted this island on February 7, 1567, and named it Santa Ysabel. At a harbour which lies nearly in the middle of the north coast of the island, Gallego, who was Mendana's chief pilot, landed and with the other captaina took possession of the island in the name of His Majesty Philip 11. Gallego named this port Santa Ysabel Del Estrella, and erected a cross. He also chose a convenient place for the building of a brigantine, which was successfully launched on April 4, $ the first European vessel built in the Solomons. In this vessel Gallego embarked with 18 soldiers and 12 sailors. Six months were spent by both vessels in further discoveries of other islands, to which Gallego gave the name of the Solomon Islands, to mark his conjecture, or to suggest the belief, that he had discovered the source of the riches of Solomon. High Living. Two centurics j-jaised' before the Solomon Islands we?e again visited by Europeans. Maringe v lagoon is a fine sheet of water, six miles in length and from one to two miles wide. It is formed between the mainland and a chain of five off-lying islands. The island of Ysabel is about 125 miles in length, with an average breadth of about 15 miles. A range of mountains extends its entire length, the highest, point being 3900 feet. The estimated population is 4000. Ysabel was declared a British Protectorate on August 7, 1900. When Bishop Patteson visited Mahaga village, on the south coast of Ysabel, in 18GG, he saw houses built as places of refuge in the tops of high trees. Desperate warfare some years previously, occurred between the Mahagan people and other tribes, which. had led to the almost total extinction of the people of Mahaga. When the few survivors who had escaped into the bush returned after some days and saw the general desolation, they decided to build these tree houses. Bishop Patteson visited one of these villages or forts, consisting of six houses perched on the boughs of enormous trees, which grew out of the sides of a hill, rising on steep, almost perpendicular, coral rocks, and surrounded by a high wall of stones, in which one • narrow entrance was left, approached by a fallen trunk, which lay over the hollow lefi ,by the clearance .of .the surrounding .forest. From the wall a ladder led up to one of these houses, the floor of which was 94 feet from the ground on the lower side. The ladder was formed of a pole from four to six inches in diameter, to which cross pieces of wood about two feet long were lashed, the whole being steadied by double shrouds of supplejack, the rungs themselves being at unequal distances and all more than a foot apart. Men, women and children were running up and down these ladders and walking carelessly about the bare branches above. It had been raining heavily, so the bishop decided not to ascend in his wet slippery shoes, but he saw a woman with a load on her back walking up one of the ladders as if it- were the most natural thin® in the world, and without in any way assisting herself with her hands. The Bishop Hp a Tree. A day or two after, the bishop made the ascent in company with Mr. Atkin and full measurements of some of these wonderful places. The floor of one whole house was 23 feet long, having room for a narrow verandah at each each. The breadth was ten feet. The floor was of bamboo matting and the roof and sides of palm leaf thatch. The huts wcr# low and steaming, crowded, dirty, and resonant with squalling babies. After a day and night passed among them, the bishop states that the Southern Cross seemed a palace of rest and cleanliness. A day was spent in the Maringe lagoon. Several large plank-built canoes without outriggers were seen and small canoes of the same type were plentiful. It was not uncommon to see natives wearing eye-shades of, palm leaf as they paddled past the ship. They resembled peak caps with the crown removed. During the afternoon a visit was paid to the village of Boala, from where several of us ascended through bush to a fine creek, where we bathed. Natives as 'well as Europeans never inies the pleasure of bathing in the cool fresh water of the mountain streams. The following morning we started on our return voyage, a rousing farewell being given us by the natives, led by Mrs. Sprott, the resident missionary in the lagoon. A Native. Opossum. While at Mara'na'tambu, a missionary station at the south end of Ysabel, a native brought me a young cuscus, or opossum, which } placed in my cabin, where it remained during the day, clinging to a curtain rod, round which its prehensile tail was fastened. This species' tail is naked at the tip and has a cold, clammy feeling. I was unable to keep this gentle little creature alive, although I gave it the young 6hoots and leaves of trees, but probably not of the right species. The cuscus is a common article of, food with the Solomon Islanders, who also sometimes keep it as a pet, while its teeth are prized as neck ornaments. The Solomon Islands are the extreme eastern limit of the of the marsupials, those remarkable pouched animals of which Australia and the adjacent Malayan Islands present so many examples. It is possible that the cuscus has been introduced by accidental means, or human agency. It is an animal that, from its habits, would be extremely likely to find its way either on floating timber or in native canoes. The adult is in size about as large as a cat and it is exclusively arboreal in its habits and displays great agility in springing from branch to branch, and even "from tree to tree, but when on the ground its awkward movements render ft an'easy capture. ■