The Harbour Shores--A Village--_Kanaia_--Canoe--Feeding the Animals--Collecting-ground--Mangrove Creeks--Preparations for a Festival--Burial Customs--Malacca Village--Houses--Visit Tanamara--Furniture--Talismans and "Scare-devils"--Beliefs-- Festivities--A Dance--An Educated Native--Tanamara and his Relations--Cigarettes--Refreshments--The Collections--Geology-- Flora--Population--Piracy. On the morning of the 5th we weighed anchor, and proceeded to Nankauri harbour. The entrance is about a quarter of a mile wide, and its northern coast, once the site of the Government settlement, is the only open grassy portion of the harbour shores. Just within the point stands the flag-staff, and above it, on the crest of a low hill, a little graveyard lies within the shade of casuarinas. A long jetty of coral blocks runs out from the shore, and near by is the house of the agent. Opposite, on either side of Mayo Point, are the villages of Malacca and Inúanga, and behind them the forest-clad slopes stretch to grassy uplands. We sailed into Spiteful Bay, which lies just behind the southern point of the harbour entrance, and anchored in 12 fathoms, mud and sand, close to a little village of a dozen houses standing above the beach.[38] In front of these and planted in shallow water, rose a number of tall poles, each made of several spars bound end to end with rattan, and ornamented at intervals with bunches of palm leaves. These the natives call _kanaia_: they have, we were told repeatedly, no superstitious significance; one is put up for each inhabited house in the village, and renewed periodically.[39] Landing at the village (_matai_) is easy, for below the water-level the sandy shore slopes downwards at an angle of 45°, a condition made possible by the tranquility of the harbour water. The houses, (_n'gi_) are less solidly built than those of Kar Nicobar, possess a small side-wall about 4 feet high, of boards, and a pointed finial crowning the conical roof; but do not have the protective discs on the supports: the door, too, and a number of small windows open in the sides, and the latter are all supplied with shutters that swing freely on a wooden hinge. A new and very large canoe was lying on the beach, the dug-out portion, without additions, measuring 42 feet long by 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The hull was charred, and decorated by grooved bands running at short intervals from gunwale to gunwale round the outside. Canoes are fitted, according to size, with from one to four short bamboo masts, each supported by four wide-spreading stays of rattan, and on these are hoisted lateen sails with a short tack of about 12 inches, made of cotton or pandanus leaves. The masts are never stepped on the floor of the canoe, but always on one of the crossbars or thwarts.