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Volume 5 42 |
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A–Z |  |
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EXERCISING THE PROFESSION OF HIS ANCESTORS |
A FIGHTER TO THE BACKBONE |
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| He is practising his skill on an imaginary enemy, but in many ways this practice would seem superfluous, for heredity has bestowed on him gratis what many another South Sea Islander would take years of strenuous endeavour to acquire. The skill of the spearman of Malayta is proverbial, and this, coupled with another and less enviable character, causes no surprise that the neighboring islanders should seek him as friend rather than foe | This man's spears have more than once tasted enemy blood, but with all their treachery and cruelty, their cannibalism and head-hunting, the men of Malayta, or Mala, are the bravest and the strongest in the Solomons |