In mentioning the native eyesight, personally, I don’t think any of the savage races are better equipped in this respect than we are. What appears to be keenness of vision is only training, and I have noticed the same keen-sightedness amongst cattle-men in the Colonies. They will recognise a cow miles away in the scrub, which unaccustomed eyes cannot even see when the animal and place in which it is are pointed out. A little practice, however, soon overcomes this, and in a very short time the new chum is as quick as the old Colonial in spotting cattle. I mention this experience, as I have seen a good deal of nonsense written on the subject, and the extraordinary strength of the natives’ eyesight in these parts has been commented on. I know that, with a little practice, any one possessing average good sight can equal these so-called extraordinary creatures.
The same thing applies to the power shown by natives of throwing the voice. Necessity has made these men speak to each other from long distances, and so they have unconsciously dropped into the { 120} right method of doing it. They cannot tell you how it is done—they just do it.
To return to island sports, there is nothing from an Englishman’s point of view to beat a good pig-hunt, and in the Solomons it can be enjoyed better than in most places. In all parts of the bush pigs can be found, in fact, the one thing the traveller has to look out for more particularly than anything else, is the sudden rush of an angry boar. There are no dangerous snakes or ferocious animals inhabiting the bush, and you can pass a night under a tree with perfect safety, and sleep as securely as in your own bunk, provided, of course, you are on friendly terms with the natives. Pigs are the only things that need watching. When a sow has a litter and you accidentally come too close to her haunt, then there is trouble, and the nearest tree is the safest spot to make for.
In hunting pigs the native dogs come in useful, but only for starting and rounding them up, for it is seldom they will actually attack and kill them. That part of the business, including the long chase over fallen trees and through masses of vines and the thousand and one other obstructions, is left to the hunters. The natives themselves are keen on { 121} the game, and are very smart with their spears and tomahawks. The white men tackle them as a rule with gun or knife. One of the most exciting pig-hunts I was ever in was when our whole party was armed with sheath knives only. The pig was bailed up against a big tree and we closed in on him, knives in hand, and, whilst his attention was being attracted by one of the party, another rushed in and struck the fatal blow.