792 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
at the cocoon and are then unable to let it go. The fisherman at 
once backs his canoe quietly, winding up the string as he does so, 
until he gets the fish on board, when the kite is flown again. I 
have not seen this mode adopted in any other group. 
CIRCULATING ADORNMENTS. 
At Dobu I saw in the possession of the Rev. W. E. Bromilow 
some large armlets and a very valuable necklace. Similar ones 
are in the possession of a number of chiefs who are members of a 
circle, entry into which is gained by the possession of some large 
and valuable armlet or “baggi.” These adornments then become 
the property of the circle and are passed on from one to another 
and go the round of every individual member of it. So far as I 
could learn there is no specified time in which the article remains 
in the possession of a chief. The man may perhaps wish to have 
a change in the coveted article of which he is the temporary 
possessor, and this, of course, will necessitate a change all round. 
Mr. Bromilow is, so far as I know, the only European who has 
been admitted to this circle, and he may probably give us some 
idea of the meaning and use of the custom which I have never 
before known in any of the Polynesian Groups. 
BURYING CHILDREN ALIVE. 
At the Mission Station, Dobu, there may be seen several bright 
and happy children who were rescued from this horrible death. 
The case of the oldest may be taken as typical of them all. His 
father and mother were dead, and on the mother’s death, as there 
was no one who would take care of the baby boy she had left, 
they were preparing to follow out their usual custom, and the 
child was actually put into the grave to be buried with his dead 
mother when he was rescued by Mrs. Bromilow, and has since 
grown to be a bright, intelligent lad. In the case of a girl child, 
some one would probably have been found to take charge of it, as 
girls are a source of income when they are sought in marriage ; 
but to the New Guinea mind boys are only a source of trouble, 
and no profit can be gained for the trouble of rearing other 
people’s children. 
A MOTHER’S OPINION ABOUT THE MOON. 
A Kiriwina mother always lifts up her child to the first full 
moon after its birth. This is to make it grow fast, and that it 
may talk soon. I could get no reason for this singular custom, 
one which I have never before met with, and which is (so far as I 
know) a new instance of moon worship. 
