NAMING OF CHILDREN. 11 



fatlier-in-law. Thus the mother of a person called 

 Nuki — which means water— is oblig"ed to call water 

 by another name ; in like manner as the names of 

 the dead are never mentioned without g-reat reluc- 

 tance SO; after the death of a man named Us^ or 

 quartz^ that stone had its name chang-ed into nattam 

 ure, or the thing- which is a namesake^ althoug-h the 

 oriofinal will oTaduallv return to common use. 



The population of Muralug- is kept alwa3^s about 

 the same numerical standard by the small number of 

 births^ and the occasional practice of infanticide. 

 Few women rear more than three children, and 

 besides, most of those born before marriag-e are 

 doomed to be killed immediately after birth, unless 

 the father — which is seldom the case— is desirous of 

 saving" the child — if not, he g-ives the order marama 

 teio (throw it into the hole) and it is buried alive 

 according'ly. Even of other infants some, especially 

 females, are made away with in a similar manner 

 when the mother is disinclined to support it. 



An infant is named immediately after birth : — 

 and, on Muralug-, these names for the last few years 

 have been chosen b}" a very old man named Guig-wi. 

 Many of these names have a meaning- attached to 

 them : thus, two people are named respectively 

 AVapada and Passei, sig-nifying- particular trees, one 

 woman is called Kuki, or the rainy season, and her 

 son Ras, or the driving- cloud. Most people have 

 several names, for instance, old Guig'wi was also 

 called Salg-ai, or the firesticks, and Mrs. Thomson 



