60 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 



crime of sexual connexion with one of the prohibited classes. 

 For adultery, the husband could spear his wife in the leg, etc., 

 but not kill her, or otherwise her friends and relations would 

 interfere. At other times, should a man prove particularly 

 brutal to his better half, the other women would " egg" their 

 male relatives on to him. 



Each family of the tribe had a more or less defined area of 

 country belonging to it — a kind of heritage : its rights over such 

 track were respected, and any infringements regarded in the 

 light of trespass. Even if an individual of the same tribe, yet 

 of a different family, had occasion to traverse it, he would only, 

 if obliged at all, take just enough to appease his hunger — t-jj., 

 one bird, or one egg, from a nest, leaving the remainder for its 

 rightful owners. And it was wonderful to note how these 

 owners knew exactly what was on their piece of land ; they 

 were never selfish about its products, but during the superabun- 

 dance of any food plants, game, fish, etc., at any particular sea- 

 son, would send round for neighbouring families to come and 

 make common property of what Nature had so plentifully sup- 

 plied them with. Thus nlso, when the swans were nesting, 

 or when a whale was cast ashore, other tribes would come along 

 by invitation. 



At puberty, when, as a part of the first initiation ceremony, 

 the young men's noses were bored, certain precepts of wrong 

 and right were inculcated ; they subsequently became respon- 

 sible for their actions, and other people would no longer fight on 

 their behalf. Win-dang expressed the idea of badness, as want- 

 ing in common sense, no good, a saucy fellow, one who was re- 

 garded rather in the light of a fool for noi; conforming to the 

 general usages of the tribe. As a sobriquet, or as a matter of 

 chafl', in drawing attention to any pet weakness, an individual 

 was sometimes spoken of as being stone-, or wooden- headed. 

 Kwob-ba was the opposite extreme, signifying goodness and 

 kindness. It was considered wrong to interfere with a non- 

 tribesman unless a fued were on, the stranger being always 

 welcome so long as he were well-behaved and courteous. Indeed, 

 hospitality was always very marked, but the recipient never 

 claimed it ; he would neither come up to the camp, nor even 

 light a fire in the close neighbourhood to cook his own raw 

 game at, unless invited so to do. A good deal of lying went 

 on, but then it must be remembered that they were not expected 

 to tell the truth, especially when against their own interests. 



