A WELCOME OF TEARS 41 



but rather a pas sail executed by each woman inde- 

 pendently of the others, and it is a pecuharly ungrace- 

 ful exhibition. The body is bent forward from the 

 hips, the hands rest on the knees or on the hips, and 

 then with a shuffling movement of the feet the woman 

 swings herself from side to side or up and down, always 

 presenting her back and the narrow strip of barkcloth, 

 which usually hangs down like a tail behind, to the 

 astonished gaze of the spectator. She sings all the 

 while a monotonous whining chant and occasionally 

 looks back over her shoulder, as if to see that the 

 onlooker is properly appreciative of her charms. Many 

 of the people both men and women on this and other 

 occasions of great excitement were so overcome with 

 emotion that they actually shed tears of rapture.* 

 For many days after this boats were constantly coming 

 up the river from the ship, and they were always 

 welcomed in a similar manner by the natives. 



The river was explored for a few miles further up, 

 but the only suitable place for a camp was found to 

 be on the left bank of the river immediately opposite 

 to Wakatimi. Lieut. Cramer and a party of his 

 soldiers established themselves there the same after- 

 noon and the work of clearing the ground and landing 

 the stores was immediately begun. The Nias was 

 anchored about two miles outside the river and the 



* A note in the Geographical Journal, Vol. xxxviii. p. 211, points 

 out the interesting fact that this custom of shedding tears in wekome 

 was observed by some of the early travellers in many places on the 

 American Continent, both North and South. It has also been noticed 

 among the Andamanese and other Negroid inhabitants of South- 

 Eastern Asia and Australasia. 



