660 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



by side. A cord, generally made of cocoa-nut fibre, is used 

 to bind these together. Beginning at one end — tlie top — 

 the cord is wound round the bundle of strips of cloth. When 

 about half wound the penis is inserted in the free end of the 

 bundle, and the winding completed. The belt is then put on so 

 as to hold the whole against the lower part of the belly. To 

 void urine, and to bathe, this bundle has to be untied (about 

 half way) and taken off. When once these ceremonies are 

 over, it would be a shame and disgrace to let anyone see 

 the penis. The boys are kept in confinement till the penis 

 completely heals, which it generally does in about a month ; at 

 least that is the normal length of confinement. If the wound 

 does not heal, as sometimes happens, there is a farther 

 detention ; when once healed the boy is ready to come out. 

 But should it happen, through bad weather or anything else, 

 that tiie things desired for the final feast cannot be got, the 

 boys will be kept in until these can be got. There is a feast 

 when they are brought out. If the father or guardian of a 

 boy is so minded he can make the feast a very important 

 one. I have had the exceptional opportunity of examining 

 two subjects. Circumcision as here practised is no safeguard 

 against disease. The knob below the penis is of service for 

 suspending it with the belt, but it must be more or less an 

 obstacle in cohitioii. I should mention that the boys are 

 taken out of the enclosure daily to bathe in the sea. While 

 this is being done conchs are blown to warn off" females, who 

 must not see these boys at this time ; and, generally the 

 night before the final feast, the blowing of conchs is kept up 

 nearly the whole night. There is no single term for circum- 

 cision in our dialect of Tanna. Kos nitfim (nitum is name 

 of penis wrapper), " one takes the nitfim," is a common 

 expression ; others are — kahngijir'n tatamc^hli noa manpanga, 

 "shut up to lie within the manpanga;" lawal, "he feeds on 

 pudding," — probably having reference to the mode of cooking 

 the food for the boys. On Aneityum, Futuna, and Aniwa 

 the practice was the same as now on Tanna ; but on 

 Eoromanga the practice differs. There the rite is delayed 

 till manhood is reached. Then it is a matter of individual 

 choice, an exhibition of heroism, and a challenge of purity. 



An operation is performed on girls when very young, but 

 its exact nature I do not knoAv. It is supposed to make 

 coition, easier and in the case of common prostitution, where 

 a woman must receive scores in a day, it is supposed to make 

 coition tolerable. 



