NOTES ON THE TANNESE. 659 



whose red breast i^* thus afconrited for) ; it o'oes and stoops 

 and passes right throiio-h the body. They see blood stains on it. 

 They exclaim, ' He is dead verily!' They come down and 

 go and behold. Matiktiki takes a bamboo fishinc^-rod (from 

 which he makes a knife) that he may lance the body. One 

 by one they rise till eveiy one who had been eaten all came 

 to life." 



i. Circumcision. — This is performed on boys after they 

 are five years of age, bnt generally before the boy reaches 

 his teens. The boy must be old enough to be easily con- 

 trolled, but if it has not been circumcised early, no age wonld 

 exempt liim. So universal is the rite that no male escapes 

 circumcision. 1 do not know of any legend as to the oi-igin 

 on Tanna. The objects in view are various. It is thought 

 to make a man fi'uitful. It makes the boy a real Tannaman, 

 and a man in the same sense as Latin rir. Only certain 

 persons can perform the I'ite. A man who can cn-cujncise 

 may have to be bronght from a considerable distance. A 

 temporary house is made in some secluded spot near the sea, 

 preferably for the sake of the bathing. A single boy may be 

 done, but generally boys are kept until several can be done 

 at one time, generally about March. The operator holds 

 the penis with a leaf of g]-ass pur. round the glans, the fore- 

 skin is divided on top lengthwise. The foreskin is then cut 

 down each side of penis so as to leave a wing of skin each 

 side. This appears to be gathered under the penis, where, 

 after it is healed, it forms a lump nearly as large as the gland 

 of the penis. The larger the operation, the more of a man 

 does it make the boy. There is a small feast when this is 

 done, and the boys are kept in an enclosure. The details 

 vary during this confinement. The men of the village keep 

 about the place, but two or three virgin youths are told ofi' 

 to attend to the boys. Their food is prepared by a virgin 

 girl. The boys get fiesh of no kind during their confinement. 

 The food is eaten by the ])oys in perfect silence. If a boy 

 were to speak, then his food would be taken from him and 

 thrown away. I have seen the boys feeding in separate 

 stalls. The boys are taught to put on the belt and tie up the 

 penis. Strips of cloth, or leaves, or grass even, are taken and 

 made into a bundle about as thick as a boy's Avrist and about 

 eight inclies long. That is, the strips of cloth are laid side 



