It is a strange custom and difficult to fathom, but the belief in it is so strong that the most daring native would not dream of testing its powers. There are various kinds of “hopes,” some will result in the death of any one trespassing on them, whilst others will only bring sickness upon him. A death “hope” will have a skull on it, or a piece of shell, or part of an ant’s nest, and on seeing these signs the intruder knows what to expect—that he will die as the man {135} has died whose skull is there, or die as surely as the fish which once lived in the shell has died, or as the ants which inhabited the nest. A “hope” in which coral takes the place of the above objects announces sickness to the trespasser. A chief’s house and the grounds adjoining it are nearly always “hope,” and only his wives are allowed to go into them, other intruders will either die or fall sick. Certain animals and places are also “hope,” and little altars are built on some of the small islands which make them sacred. In fact, “hope” is a most extraordinary thing and can be used in the most eccentric ways. I heard of one place which was once “hope,” and yet had the “hope” taken away from it for no particular reason. Then, again, crocodiles are in some parts “hope” and are not allowed to be killed; but in one of the rivers where crocodiles abound a youth was killed by them, and the chief took the “hope” off until the boy’s father had slain a sufficient number to satisfy his anger, and then back went the “hope.” Another kind of “hope” was seen by Lieutenant B. T. Somerville, and was made by putting a festoon of a certain creeper across the entrance to a cocoa-nut grove, with pieces of the same material along it {136} at regular intervals, hanging perpendicularly downwards and secured to the ground. “I had two natives with me at the time,” he states, “and at first they did not like to land on the islet bearing this mark as it had been ‘hoped’ by their chief, Bera. They did land eventually, however, and one of them went under the hope barricade, picked the central tiny shoot of a large fern—in appearance like the English hart’s-tongue fern—from which he nibbled a little bit, and then handed it to the other man who did the same. They assured me that now the hope would have no effect as long as they did not steal any nuts.” There seem to be various methods of overcoming “hope,” the chief being by a payment to the owner of it. He will extort what he considers a sufficiently large sum of money to take away the ill effects which would otherwise have followed if the “hope” had been scouted. “Hope” altars are also built in various parts of the bush as a means of warding off certain evil spirits. On these food and other things are placed, such as broken pots, shells, old pipes, and worn-out musical instruments, and the evil spirit dare not come near them. [Illustration 45: A TAPU VIRGIN, BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS