SOUTH SEA GIANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11842, 20 December 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOUTH SEA GIANTS.

The- Bishop of ■ Melanesia,. who controls a!

diocese extending from the Island of Ka<;a

to the end of the Solomons, lias some ■. curious specimens of humanity ' among his flock. In the last instalment of his journal, published in the New Zealand Church News, Bishop Wilson: describes', a visit to » ' . the Island of Tikopia, " a home of giants." Ine tallest man lie saw on the island was about 6ffc 7in, and all the men were huge, ■ with square jaws and tawny hair reaching down to their waists, and. such frames'" The Bishop gives a graphic account of his _ reception at the hands of the Tikopians, : who had not had a visit from -,the missionary steamer Southern Cross -for 10 years. When we went ashore," writes /ha Bishop, " and a giant came on each side - of us, and assisted us over the reef, we -v.--felt like mannikins in their hands. When • -f-ii; the word was passed round that we were 'missionary,' •. they were >"much excited. Ihey quite understood after, that why we had come, and perhaps they would like a school, but, just now they wanted pipes. They were mad for pipes, and- their great hands were frequently found exploring our pockets and. trade bags on the chance of finding some. It was no easy matter to remove such hands as those. ■ Neither was • it an easy matter to remove these giants m. , c hose to get into - the boat, ihey filled her until she nearly sank with ' ' their weight. We tried all arts of per- , . suasion to make them, get out, and failed , to move them. At last those on the reef {. helped us by pulling them out by the hair.' Ihe Bishop, however, does not advise any {§5 friend of his to try experiments with a Tikopian's hair! Curiously enough, while the men wear their hair so long that it ■ ' ">*> reaches to their waists, the women 1 of Tikopia crop theirs very short. .The araiK*fj|§§;* tecture on the island, like the reoplc them- ,■ i selves, is primitive. Although the Tikopians are so huge, „ their houses are ah- ' . surdly small. It .is impossible to stand up . . r 't inside, except just under- the ridgepole, ■ \ and the "doorway" is so low that "you - have to creep through it on your stomach." V- v." i ' But the Tikopians, if they cannot build good houses,- can at any rate turn * out r good canoes, those which" the Bishop saw"; ■, being beautifully made. The Southern ' Cross left a couple of Motolavan teachers', on the island—the first ever left there— before bidding good-bve to the Tikopians, ■ - 11 > ' 1 •