ABSTRACT
A cursory glance at the later sources suggests that firearms did change the character of local warfare and increase mortality in battle. A French ethnographer has recently argued that firearms turned the Loyalty Islanders' feuds into 'bloody wars' and gave them a 'desperate character' unknown in 'traditional' warfare. The people of Mare and Lifu had much more unpleasant introductions to firearms in their skirmishes with sandalwood traders. Many of the imported firearms were fowling pieces which fired shot instead of bullets and which enabled the islanders to hunt birds and flying foxes and even despatch their own fowls more effectively. The administration's paranoia was summed up by the resident official on Lifu when he scathingly reported that firearms were 'fraudulently introduced by small sea traders of that race which notably infects the south seas'. The assumption that firearms had a devastating effect when introduced into hostilities in the Pacific is not supported by events on the Loyalty Islands.
