The Savage South Seas. E. Way Elkington

than be without them.

      The masks, which vary in shape and size, are {50} generally not shorter than three or four feet, and occasionally they run to six or seven. They are held in position on the man’s head by a cross-bar which he grips between his teeth, and they are constructed on canework frames, and shaped like an enormous hock bottle. A thin bark covering is stretched over the frame, which is then completely smeared with white lime, and a hideous face is generally worked or painted on the front of it, with the mouth and eyes enormously big and distorted. When one considers that these masks and their attendant costumes are also used for blackmailing dances their thorough ugliness is warranted.

      Blackmailing is a favourite pastime, and when they are intent on it they don their ugliest masks and steal round to the hut of the man or woman from whom they wish to extort money, or frighten, and in the dim moonlight begin a weird and unearthly dance accompanied by horrible noises, which they continue until the desired effect has been obtained, and the man is frightened out of his wits and ready to agree to his assailant’s proposals. This dance is closely allied to the dook-dook dance of New Britain. In New Guinea when the mask and cape are worn the steps of the dance are slow, and the movements are supposed to be majestic and {51} awe-inspiring, making the performances more like stately processions than dances. One of the most interesting of these is the festival dance for a successful agricultural season. It is considered a kind of prayer to the gods of agriculture, and it generally takes place once a year and is conducted by different tribes on each anniversary.

      HARVEST DANCE, NEW GUINEA

      When the yams and bananas are ripe, the natives hold a celebration, in which as a rule men dance in close formation with the girls on the flanks. Occasionally a girl edges her way in and takes the arm of a man, as is seen in the illustration, where the red head-dresses are those of women. The white plumes of the men denote that they have slain an enemy in single combat. The streamers down the back of the man on the left are those of his head fillet. Behind the dancers are the bananas suspended on a scaffold. The celebration takes place in the summer.