1. Now I can see my reflection in the pools on the reef.
2. You cut the shoot of the coconut palm for me.
3. Farewell, dead coconut palm leaves. Ho! there’s the lightning.
4. Fish now approach the shore, and we must build fish-weirs in their route.
The following notes may serve to explain the allusions. The first line refers to the glassy surface of the sea during the calms of the “nor’-west.” At this season vegetation becomes rampant, the dead leaves falling off at the end of the dry south-east monsoon. The sprouting leaf of the coconut palm is split into long narrow bands, of which frontlets, crossed shoulder-belts, and anklets are made; these are worn in the dances. The dance petticoats of the men are also made from these blanched leaves: so this is equivalent to saying that preparations for dances must now be made. Sheet lightning at night is a very characteristic feature of the rainy season, and it occurs only then. Sometimes the lightning is so frequent that there is a continuous glare in the north-west, recalling certain manifestations of the Northern Lights of higher latitudes. This is also the season when shoals of fish approach the shore. These are entrapped at some islands by means of large areas on the flat fringing reefs being inclosed by low walls which are about two feet or so in height, and are composed of loose stones. The fish come inshore with the high night tides, and, as the water recedes, are caught within the weirs.
There can be no doubt that this dance was not got up for amusement, but was a serious ceremony. As there was no invocation to or recognition of a spiritual being of any kind, this act cannot be strictly called “religious,” but it was designed to directly influence the fish in the sea. It was thus a magical ceremony to ensure a good fishing season.
We brought Maino on with us from Yam to Thursday Island, so as to get further information from him in our spare time, and we “worked” him as much as possible; but the seductions of Thursday Island were too great for him to withstand, as they also prove to so many other men of varied nationalities. This was a great disappointment, as we had hoped during these last few days in the Straits to clear up some doubtful points, with the help of further information from Maino, but we were not able to do much, owing to the false kindness of his self-styled “friends.”
Ray, however, got hold of a Prince of Wales Islander named “Wallaby”; he was a native policeman, and we obtained some interesting information from him. There was, unfortunately, no old man handy as a referee, for many things that interest us are known fully only to the older men.
We again saw something of our friends of the Sacred Heart Mission, as Archbishop Navarre and Father Cochard were here from Yule Island; apart from these no one in Thursday Island knows or cares anything about native customs.
