A CANOE SHOWING THE “TOTOISHU,” NEW GEORGIA, SOLOMON ISLANDS
The idea of this carved wooden head on the prow is to frighten off the evil spirits, or kesoko, of the waters and look out for dangerous reefs.
Dr. H. B. Guppy, in giving an account of his acquaintance with him, says, that on his (Dr. Guppy’s) arrival at Santa Anna he learned that Mai had just been out on one of his raids. He had led a war party across to Fanarita, on the opposite coast of St. Christoval, to avenge the death of a fugitive from a labour vessel, who, having escaped at Santa Anna, subsequently found his way to Fanarita, where he was killed.
The excuse, although somewhat circuitous, was quite sufficient for Mai, who really thought more of this chance of gaining new laurels than of the untimely end of a native whose death he pretended to be so eager to avenge. Having reached the part of the coast where this man was killed, the war party lay in ambush and slaughtered a chief and two women as they were returning from their yam patches, whilst they severely wounded another woman who escaped into the bush with a spear through her back.
Mai had a knack of keeping his followers up to the mark by working on their superstitions and never letting old feuds die out.
The islands of Isabel and Guadalcanar were the {102} hunting grounds for the New Georgia chiefs, whilst occasional visits to Florida Island helped them along. From ninety to a hundred heads were often brought in by some of these chiefs, the result of a long and successful raid, and many travellers who visited these islands between forty and fifty years ago state frankly that the lives of the natives in the less powerful islands were not worth a day. They never knew when a canoe might land with a force superior to theirs and wipe them all out; the wonder is that there are so many still alive. It is only owing to the falling off of these ghastly expeditions that they have had time to recover and repopulate their villages.
With such massacres going on and the practice of infanticide always in vogue, the present state of the natives is almost marvellous, and only shows the hardiness and regenerating powers of these islanders.
Nowadays head-hunting, as I have already stated, is only resorted to on certain occasions, and when a head is needed a sum of money will often be offered for one, and the chiefs of different villages are acquainted with the fact. A hunt round is immediately made, and any native who has made himself objectionable to his neighbours is sold for the purpose.
