28 THE PEOPLE OF NEW GEORGIA 



old and helpless, and tlie man required someone to do the 

 work for him — for the women are always the drudges of 

 tlie men. In the Shortlands, and in the Islands of 

 Bougainville Straits, however, the chiefs and leading men 

 almost without exception have more than one wife, and 

 some as many as ten or twelve. As a rule, the wishes of 

 the girl are not consulted in the matter, if her friends decide 

 that an alliance with a certain young man is desirable, 

 and if she causes any trouble they get very angry with her. 

 Sometimes, however, the youth refuses to pay the amount 

 agreed upon until the girl consents, and sometimes if the 

 fickle lady changes her mind after the payment, which 

 sometimes happens, there is a big row, for there is no law 

 compelling the return of the money. When everything 

 runs smoothly they hold the marriage feast, the men 

 taking charge of the bridegroom and the girls of the 

 bride, and decked in all their finery they are led to the 

 bridal feast, and from that time the man becomes a member 

 of the women's tribe. 



Female chastity is not a very common virtue among 

 the unmarried women and girls. It is not true, however, 

 as has often been stated by travellers, that it does not 

 exist at all. After marriage, however, the severest punish- 

 ment alwa3''s follows any unfaithfulness on the part of 

 the woman — the guilty couple being put to death as soon 

 as their crime is proved against them. I have never known 

 a case of exchange of wives, as reported by Dr. Guppy 

 and others, taking place in the Eastern part of the Group. 



The birth customs of the New Georgian people are 

 very peculiar. When the time of a woman draws near, 

 she is considered ceremonially unclean. She is taken aw^ay 

 to a little house in the bush, built by the women themselves 

 — no man being allowed to touch it — there to await the 

 birth of her child. No man is allowed to come near the 

 place for at least fourteen days after the birth of the child. 

 At the birth a sacrifice is made to the spirits, and blood 

 sprinkled round and on the child, in order to propitiate 

 the evil spirits, and incline them favourably towards the 

 infant. Infant mortality is very great, and under the 

 circumstances it is not to be wondered at. It is rather 

 the result of carelessness, however, than the custom of 



