DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 139 



him for half a minute or more, after which they walked 

 solemnly back to the village. 



Early in the morning of the day after the death of 

 the natoo of Wakatimi all the women and girls of the 

 viUage, to the number of sixty or seventy, came down 

 to the river, all of them without a vestige of clothing, 

 and in the shallow water a foot or two deep they swam 

 and crawled and wriggled up the river for a hundred 

 yards or more, waiUng loudly all the time. Sometimes 

 they came out on to the bank and rolled in the mud, 

 and finally they all went out of the water and stood 

 wailing in front of the dead man's house. 



Another method of disposing of the dead, which is 

 very frequently adopted, is to place the body wrapped 

 in mats in a rude coffin, which is usually constructed 

 from pieces of broken canoes. The coffin containing 

 the body is supported on a trestle of crossed sticks about 

 four feet from the ground (see illustration opposite), 

 and there it remains until decomposition is complete. 

 As these coffins are often placed within a yard or two 

 of the houses, it can be imagined that a Papuan village 

 is not always a pleasant place to visit. 



At the village of Nime we saw two or three pathetic 

 little bundles containing the remains of infants exposed 

 on racks within a few feet of the houses, from which 

 they doubtless came. 



When decomposition is complete no account is taken 

 of the bones, excepting the skull, which is taken and 

 preserved in the house. Sometimes it is buried in the 

 sand of the floor of the house, and sometimes it is tied 

 up in a sort of open basket-work of rattan and hung 



