ART on View The Radiance of the Shadows BLACK-AND-WHITE ART OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS 74 By Magali Mélandri Each large canoe had twenty-five to thirty men in it. They had the shape that I have already described, with finials at both extremities ten feet in height, which acted as shields against incoming arrows on both ends, both in retreat and in advance. All of them were made of light wood, with edges inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tufts of colored fiber, garlands, and red and white pine branches as decorations. A grimacing head, intended to frighten anyone and anything in the ship’s way, adorned the prow. Most of the canoes were so narrow that two could not sit abreast and the rowers were one behind the other. The natives moved their paddles in cadence. They brought them to the edges of the canoe after each pull, which they then struck all together in a certain rhythm. This is the way one rows for a headhunt. Other methods are used according to circumstance—funerary processions, feasts, or other ceremonies. We were moving along at about ten knots and, with their elegant sweeping curves and svelte profiles, all the canoes cutting through the foaming water made a beautiful spectacle to behold. They nosed up and down, their prows high above the water, resembling a herd of young horses cavorting in the fields, shaking their ornaments like manes in the wind. The robust and naked black bodies of the rowing crew all bent over and came back up at the same time and FIG. 1a–c: Canoe figure. Western Solomon Islands. 19th century. Wood, shell. H: 20 cm. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, inv. 71.1887.67.7. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Claude Germain. FIG. 3 (right): Shield. Santa Isabel. 19th century. Bark, shell, bamboo, resin. H: 87.5 cm. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, inv. 70.2003.4.1. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Patrick Gries.
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