322 AUSTRALASIAN AND POLYNESIAN 
As a rule, the natives are well nourished, and have plenty to 
eat; but some seasons, such as this, there is a great scarcity of 
food in some districts, and hunger is known. 
WIZARDS (OR SORCERERS). 
Generally descend from father to son. Spirits are supposed to 
be their familiars. They cause sickness, and remove it. They 
withhold and give rain. They give fine weather at sea, and cause 
storms. They kill by their magic, and discover the causes of 
death. They are much feared, and large presents are given to 
them, such as large pigs, arm-shells, necklaces, tomahawks, 
tobacco, and food of various kinds. 
DEATH. 
Death occurs by some unseen agency. The sorcerer pronounces 
the tribe that is guilty, and sometimes the individual, and then 
the dead will be revenged, just as if they had been killed by the 
hand of an enemy. 
Spirits travel by night, and cause sickness and death. 
Mourning continues for a long time. The juice from the body 
is rubbed over the chest and back, and sometimes, mixed with 
black, it is rubbed over the whole body. Friends and relatives 
sleep over the grave. At stated times food is cooked, presented 
to the dead, and eaten by the living. At death they cut them- 
selves with shells and flint, and do so until the blood flows freely. 
In Eelema, for some time they besmear themselves with mud 
as a mark of mourning. Food is cooked, and they then use black. 
The dead are wrapped in old mats or native cloth, and laid in 
a grave covered with a plank. In some districts great mounds 
of earth cover the graves. 
The funeral is attended by friends and relatives, and these also 
dig the grave. The grave is dug under the house or in the 
village street. 
A chief will be buried with his finery on. Over the grave, if a 
man, the bow and arrows and spear used by him, also cooking 
pot and dish, and small bag containing lime calabash and betel 
nuts, will be placed. If a woman, her petticoat, cooking pots, 
and dishes, and any other article she used much. 
A year is very general for mourning for grown-up people, 
especially for husband or wife. I have known widows in 
mourning for three or four years, and widowers for two years. It 
is indecent to get married within a year or two. 
SPIRIT WORLD. 
Spirits go west towards the setting sun. On leaving the body 
they seek some point of land near to, and there await some 
