The sinnet work and the
parquetry of split bamboo, which comprise the highest handicraft of the
present-day islander, could hardly be classed with the exceedingly
beautiful work upon the blade.
Holman turned up the end of the haft, pointed to a delicate design of a
centipede, and then looked down at the back of the savage upon the
ground. The similarity of the two designs was immediately apparent, but
while the one on the greenstone had been executed by an artist, the
figure upon the back of the dancer was a crude example of scar-tattooing
that required some imagination to puzzle out what object it was supposed
to represent. As we glanced at each other the significance of the
serpentlike dance, the marks upon the bodies of the dancers and on the
knife and stone table, was plainly evident. The island was sacred to the
centipede, and in some way Leith had made himself a chief wizard amongst
the few savages who still performed the rites which had once made the
Isle of Tears a place of particular importance to the surrounding
groups.
Holman took the long greenstone knife, and we crept quietly away in the
direction taken by Kaipi.
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