NOTES ON THE LOYALTY ISLANDS. 681 



o-irl's parents ; this giviiif^ of property was again repeated on 

 the birth of her first child; from that time, on Marr par- 

 ticularly, the woman is no longer called by her own name, 

 but by that of her child's name — the "mother of Ada;" the 

 father's name also is dropped, and after the birth of his first 

 child he becomes, say, " father ot Ada." This custom also 

 obtains in South Africa. You may have observed it in 

 Livingstone's work, the " Zambesi and its Tributaries." In- 

 deed the woman's name is dropped before the birth of her 

 child ; as soon as it is observed that she is enciente (and that 

 was seen very soon in a place where they wore no clothing 

 whatever), she was called by that appellation — " enciente." 

 The husband is expected to make frequent presents of pro- 

 perty or of food to his wife's relations ; he never gets any 

 dowry ; he may be said to purchase his wife, as it is supposed 

 that he is the only gainer by the connection ; he is always 

 liable to be called upon to perform any service which may be 

 demanded of him by his wife's friends. Daughters were con- 

 sidered a sonrce of profit to their parents ; and yet boys are 

 always preferred to girls. According to the native idea you 

 would suppose that every child born ought to ])e a male ; if 

 the child happens unfortunately to be of the other sex it is a 

 mistake ; the sex has been changed through the wantonness 

 of the mother after she became enci.ente. 



No tutelary animals or birds employed. The presence of 

 certain birds and lizards was supposed to indicate the near- 

 ness of a spirit or god ; the kingfisher was one such bird, 

 the owl another ; no one had the courage to eat these birds. 



The numerals are : — 



Mare. 



] sa. 2 rewe, 3 tini, 4 eche. 



five and one 



5 sedongo, 6 sedongo ne sa. 



five and two. five and tlirep. 



7 sedongo ne rewe, 8 sedongo ne tini. 



five and tbnr. two bunches of fingers. 



9 sedongo ne eche, 10 rue tubenin. 



two bunches of fingers and one. 



11 rnetubenine ne sa. 



ditto and two. 



12 ruetubenine ne rewe. 



ditto and three. 



13 ruetubenine ne tini, 



ditto and four. 



14 ruetubenine ne eche. 



