NOTES FROM RAROTONGA. December 13.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 33

NOTES FROM RARO TONGA. December 13.

There has been quite an unusual amount of shipping since last month's steamer left on the 18th ult On the 18th the threemasted American timber sohooner, the O. W. Kellog, 700 tons register, arrived from Puget Sound, via Tahiti, with a quantity of timber " and general merchandise for a local firm. A portion of the cargo was landed at Tahiti. After discharging here she took a cargo of 400 tons of copra and 20,000 coeoanute, and sailed direct for San IVanciSco on November 27. On the 22nd the local schooner Vaite arrived from the group, and after taking a full load of supplies left on the 7th inst. for Penrhyn and the northern islands, where she will remain for the next two months in order to escape the hurricane season, whicli is due about this time of the year. The Taviuni arrived on her due date, the sth inst., and left the same day for Tahiti, and should be back again on the 14th. On the. 28th ult. the schooner Tahitienne, Captain Winchester, put in an appearance from Tahiti, and after clearing at the Customs proceeded on her way north, also to escape the hurricane time. Another small Tahiti sohooner, the Ina, arrived on the 10th. The Countess of Ranfurly was to have left Auckland for this island, via Niue, on November 29, according to advices received by the steamer, so that we shall not be likely to see anything of her before the end of the year. As usual, she ' is a full month behind her time-table, but no one thinks 1 anything of that now. We have got into the habit of always reckoning at least four weeks on to any date set down by the Schooner Department for her arrival or departure, and even that is not always sufficient allowance This delay will bring her right into the hurricane months for the trip round the group which ehe takes after arrival here ; but hurricanes of late years have, fortunately, been conspicuotis only by their absence, though there have been occasional fairly strong gales. The weather since laet st-eainer has been quite remarkably dry, there .beine no rain from her departure till the- night before her return-, which is most unusual for this time of the year, when the rainy season is supposed to be on. However, the last few days have been very wet, and the heat is becoming rather oppressive also, although tho shade temperature seldom rises above 66deg Fah. The Wgh prices paid for banana and copra last month" do not appear to have been, justified, by the return*, so that buyers have decided not to pay nearly so much this trip, with the result that matters are at present at a kind of dead-lock, for the native growers having once got such a high price are not inclined to take less, andi nave decided on their p»rt not to cell for less than lost time. They are qui^a capable of letting their produce rot rather than sell at a lower figure than they make up their minds to. So that it is probable that the export of fruit thi-i trip will be considerably smaller than usual. As usual in the spring, here as well as elsewhere, there has been a much larger number of deaths than at any other part of the year^ the strange thing being the mimber of young people- who have died recently. The natives here, after SO years of missionary influence, are supposed to be fairly well civilised, but it is all on. the surface, and underneath they retain a great deal of their old heathen manners and 1 customs. One of the most foolish of these Is that, although there is a qualified medical officer and a properlyequipped hospital provided absolutely free for their benefit by the Government, they still pfefep {o do their own doctoring, and pea.dily, infuse to. take, advantage of bis

services. Their own method of treatment has, as a rule, disastrous results for the patient, who is certainly well named, seeing the complaisant manner he submits to being poisoned and tortured in the course of their treatment. They arc at last, however, getting sufficiently civil'sed to call the doctor in at the last moment, when they have just < about killed ths patient, and then, because | the man is too far gone to save, say the j doctor is no good, as his patients always i d ; e ! Truly, civilisation is advancing rapidly ! As a result of this excessive mortality there has been a considerable quantity of white calico paraded about the settle- ' inent. White calico, it may be mentioned, j is the correct thing to take 'for a present when attending a " tangi," and it is •etiquette not to have it wra-pped in paper, but to carry it over one's arm along the road ; so that, on seeing a man or woman walking down the road with a piece of calico over their arm, you can at once conclude that they are going to a tangi. Much the same proceeding takes place with these so-called presents as takes place at a ' wedding, and 1 the stuff is divided up and : distributed amongst the numerous near relations of the deceased, so that no one gets very much out of it. Of course in this case one does not expect the principal person at the ceremony to mateiially benefit by the presents — he being a " tangata mate" — i.e., a corpse, — but, according to our notions, the widow and orphans should be the recipients of the whole; as it is they get a ' very small portion. In other respects a ' Rarotongan tangi bears a striking resemblance Jo an old-time Irish wake. Starting . early in the morning a batch of women carrying each their piece of white calico — | from three to five yards each, as a rule — will arrive at the house, and after delivering up their " presents " Avill go and have aquarter of an hour's weeping and howling match over the body. When this is satis- , factorily accomplished they go outside and '. s : t about, talking and laughing together 1 in a surprisingly cheerful manner, while another batch has its innings at the weeping performance. As each party finishes its part their place is taken by still another, while they join the others outside, and by , the middle of- the day there is quite a crowd waiting abaut outside enjoying themselves in a decidedly noisy and cheerful manner. The next part of the programme, , and a very important one, is the distribution of 'food, mostly pork, to all these mourners ! This is provided by the widow, end when each has got a share they all go off home, satisfied that they have done a good day's work. The same thing- continues all the rest of the- day, and the night is also made hideous by the unmelodious .noises by which they give expression to their grief. The next day comes the actual burying, when there is another distribution of food, an extra large chare going to the men who have dug the grave and made the coffin. The- most notable personage to die recently was a man named Putaura. He came very much to the fore at the time of changing the Sunday here, so es to bring it into conformity with the rest of the civilised . world — some five or six years ago. He was then a native preacher connected with the London. Mission Society, and" vehemently opposed the change- of day. He was exceedingly bitter against the resident missionary, to whom he looked in vain for ! support in opposing the change. A large j number left the church for this reason, and > among these was old Putaura. He had, ; however, recently been received back into the fold, so that he died in the full odour of sanctity. There will be no mail from here, after j this one, till Bth February. 1905, as the j Union Steam Ship Company misses a trip jat the end of the year. We shall look anxiously for news of the war, as much can hatipen between this and 30ch January next, which is the date for our next steamer from New Zealand.