At a signal from the chief, several youths dashed forward and in a few seconds showered down from the cocoa-trees a hail of nuts, the pulp of which in the liquid state is the most agreeable drink imaginable for allaying thirst.
239.—YOUNG NATIVE OF NEW CALEDONIA.
The village of Hienghène is one of the most considerable in the island. Its dwellings are shaped like beehives, and are crowned with a rude statue surmounted by a quantity of shell-fish or sometimes by skulls of enemies slain in war.
These cabins have a single opening, very low and narrow. In the evening they are filled with smoke in order to banish the mosquitoes; the narrow aperture is then shut and the occupants lay themselves down to sleep on mats, whilst the smoke, by reason of its lightness, remains floating over their heads; but to sit upright without being half smothered by it is impossible.
Great numbers of aborigines dwell along the sea-coast. They came on board M. Garnier’s vessel in crowds, bringing provisions and shell-fish, and examining everything with the greatest attention.
The natives of this tribe are of a fine type. M. Garnier noticed among the visitors several men admirably built, and with a perfectly developed muscular system; but he nevertheless remarked as a general defect of the New Caledonians, that they have too thin legs in comparison with their bodies, and calves placed higher than in Europeans.