(1.) ROMANZOFF ISLANDERS.
(See [page 1100].)
(2.) DYAK WARRIOR AND DUSUM.
(See [page 1112].)
From the structure of the island, it is evident that the present inhabitants are not aborigines, but came from other islands at no very remote period. They have kept up the nautical spirit to which they owe their presence on the island, and make long voyages from one island to another. Their canoes are well made, and are built of bread-fruit wood.
Bornabi is one of the largest and most important of these islands, being about seventy miles in circumference, and having a sufficient variety of soil to be very fertile. Instead of being as low-lying as some of these islands, it is of volcanic origin, shooting up to a considerable height in the middle, and surrounded by flat coral reefs.
In consequence of this structure, it affords excellent harborage, and has become a great place of resort for whaling vessels. Like some parts of America within the same zone, and having a somewhat similar contour, the island is a very wet one, so that the combined heat and moisture produce a wonderful fertility of vegetation. Even on the higher parts of the island, the fresh water nourishes various trees and shrubs, while on the coast the mangrove, which delights in salt water, absolutely grows into the sea, and, by its interlacing roots and branches forms a barrier which cannot be penetrated except through the apertures made by the mouths of rivers and creeks.
The inhabitants are of a fair average stature, the men being about five feet eight inches high, while the women are much shorter. They are, however, well proportioned, and not stumpy or clumsy, as is too often the case with the women of uncivilized races.
Like the Romanzoff Islanders, they tattoo themselves liberally, and both sexes wear their black hair very long, keeping it well oiled and carefully dressed, and, in the case of people of rank, adorning it with wreaths of flowers. They have the same odd passion for turmeric which is found in the Polynesian races generally, anointing themselves profusely with it, and thereby converting their naturally pleasing copper color into a repulsive yellow.
The men dress themselves very carefully, a Bornabi man of fashion spending a vast amount of time on his costume. He must not exhibit a vestige of hair on his face, but must painfully pluck out each individual hair by means of forceps made of a couple of cockle-shells, or a piece of tortoise-shell bent double. He must wear at least six aprons, one over the other. These aprons are made of strips of the cocoa-nut leaf bleached white and about two feet in length. He must have round his waist a belt or sash made of banana fibre, and dyed scarlet and yellow. He must have his necklaces, his head-band, and his scarlet tassels in his ears; and he finishes off his costume by a sort of parasol or sunshade made of leaves, which he ties round his head so as to preserve the face from the sun.