622 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



New Hebrides and Loyalty Islands. On Tanna,and other 

 volcanic islands of" the ISew Hebrides, the women would 

 l)athe in the hot sulphurous springs for this jnirposo. Deformed 

 and sickly children are in nowise objects of aversion to their 

 pai'ents ; such often receive more affectionate attention on that 

 account. In Samoa, hunchbacks, who are very numerous 

 through scrofula, were looked upon as special favourites of 

 the spirits {aitu). Many of these, when grown to manhood, 

 were received as priests of the spirits (iaulaitu).^' 



Naming. — The child was often named after the household 

 god, or from some special attribute or legend connected with 

 the god. Generally the name of an iniiuential member of 

 the family, by permission or ajipointment of such member, 

 was given to the child. Frequently from some public event, 

 or even a trivial circumstance occurring at the time of its 

 birth, the child would receive a name bearing on the subject. 

 In the Loyalty Islands, as in some parts of South Africa, 

 after the naming of the child the mother drops her own name, 

 and is thenceforth known by the name of " Mother of 

 so-and-so," whatever the child may be called. Names were 

 frequently changed during a lifetime. 



In infancy the babe is borne in the arms of the mother, 

 leaning on her bosom, or carried in a girdle suspended from 

 the neck of the nurse ; and when strong enough to sit up, 

 the child is carried outside on the mother's hip supported by 

 her arm. The Samoan mother and relatives are anxious that 

 their children's nose and forehead should be Hat, which is 

 considered by them a mark of beauty, and the reverse a 

 defect, and they repeatedly use pressure to secure the desired 

 effect, by compressing the child's nostrils with their thumbs, 

 and bearing the thick end of their ])alms on the centre of the 

 forehead. The father often nurses the babe and lavishes 

 caresses on it. The Papuan father, as in the Loyalty Islands, 

 took the chief charge of the bal)e, for the mother was required 

 to cultivate tlie plantations and do all other drudgery for the 

 household, leaving the babe in the father's care: he would 

 nurse the child, feed it with cocoa-nut juice or sugar-cane 

 syrup, and otherwise attend to its wants. 



Parents manifest great affection for their offspring, and are 

 particularly careful and anxious about their physical health 

 and development, but very little concern is shown for their 

 moral training. Children were left to follow "their own 



* During the whole time of my residence in Samoa, I had such a one in my 

 employ, wlio formei'ly Avas considered a veiy sacred being. 



