EÜmc^aphy of Micronesia. 2.09 



same superstition is found in New Guinea, where among the Motu 

 tribe, says J. Chalmers, " any one dying with unpierced nose goes 

 in tlie other state to Tageani, a bad place, where there is I'ttle 

 food and no betel- nuts. Children are well grown, about six years 

 old, before the nose is pierced, and any dying before that age 

 will have his nose pierced after death by his parents. All pierced 

 noses go to Raka, the place of plenty." ^ 



Van der Sande, too, observes a similar custom existing among 

 the natives on Geelvink Bay, Dutch New Guinea. He says : 

 " Missionaries in Geelvink Bay heard that Papuans whose nose and 

 ears are not pierced, cannot enter into their heaven. Therefore, 

 sometimes, always in early youth, the septum of the children is 

 pierced.'"^ Though the origin or meaning of this custom is difficult 

 to ascertain, yet the prevalence of the same superstition among 

 those tribes may possibly be taken as indicating their racial con- 

 nections. 



III. Adoknment with Objects fixed to the Body 

 WITHOUT Mutilating. 



Tn the following pages, I shall deal with the head-dress, neck- 

 lace and other ornaments which are attached to the body without 

 involving the mutilation of the body itself, 



1. Hair-dressing and Head Ornaments. — Men of Yap and Palau, 

 unlike the inhabitants of the East Carolines who often wear their 

 hair short, let it grow long, though some take the trouble to bind 

 it on the back of the head in a most simple fashion. In this 

 connection, it should be noted that some of the islanders of Yap 

 and Palau have frizzy hair unlike the natives of the East Carolines, 



1 J. Chalmers, " Pioneering in New Guinea,," London, 1887, p. 168. 



2 G. A. J. Van der Sande, " Nova Guinea. III. Ethnog. and Anthr.," p. 75. 



