The natives seldom hunt them, and do not hold them in fear. They will even bathe in a river known to be frequented by them. Whereas in Queensland rivers no sensible man would dream of such a thing, his life would not be worth more than the first two strokes. The crocodiles there are of a far more ferocious disposition, and have been known to chase men a considerable distance on land, while such a thing has never been heard of in these islands. Beyond these few forms of sport there is nothing to attract the tourist sportsman to the Solomons, as the country is devoid of all other animals worthy of the chase, and the fishing is such that any island far nearer and less dangerous will supply; but being in these quarters these few sports help to pass the time, and give one opportunities of seeing the bush at its best. Its grandeur cannot be appreciated unless one gets right into it, and feels its solitude and silence, then and then only does the bush speak and show itself. {124} CHAPTER XII A curious religion—Burying the dead, and some graveyards—Dancers and music—Native artists, and how fire is made. To try and discover the actual religious beliefs of a savage race is even more difficult than attempting the same experiment on the religion of any particular European sect. It is almost impossible to find two people agreeing consistently on even the main principles. Exactly the same trouble exists in savage races; if you are lucky enough to discover a principle you will immediately get a dozen different interpretations of it, and only where a sect follows implicitly the ruling of one leader, and does not question or argue against his teachings, can you gain any knowledge worth the trouble and time you may expend on it; but in these cases I have found that neither reason nor understanding play any part in the belief, and it therefore lacks interest. But, strange to say, throughout the savage and civilised races there seems to be a belief in a {125} heaven and a hell. These two ideas, though varying in detail, are world wide, but notions of the way to get there, however, differ considerably. The Solomon islanders nearly all believe that when a man or woman dies he goes to live with a good spirit (_nito drekona_) in a far off but pleasant land, where his companions will be as good as he is, or nearly so. The bad man, so judged by his companions, goes to a place of fire, the abode of the Evil One (_nito paitena_), where he has anything but a happy time. During his existence there he does his best to make things unpleasant for the friends he has left behind him, by becoming one of the many evil spirits who are supposed to do harm to the living.