64 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



a whale's tooth, which he will need to throw at a tree standing in the 

 way to the regions of the dead ; and they believe that to hit this tree 

 is an omen of future happiness. As soon as the breath is departed, 

 the friends and attendants of the deceased fill the air with cries and 

 lamentations. The grave-diggers are sent for to wash the body, they 

 being the only persons who can touch it without being subjected to a 

 tambu for several months. When washed, it is laid out on a couch 

 of mats and cloth, and carefully wiped, after which they proceed to 

 dress and decorate it as for a festival. The corpse is first anointed 

 with oil, and then the upper part, including the face, the arms down 

 to the elbows, the neck and breast, is daubed with a black substance 

 resembling soot. A white bandage of paper-cloth is wound round 

 the head, and tied on the temple in a graceful knot. A club is put in 

 the hand and laid across the breast, that he may appear as a chief 

 and warrior in the next world. 



The body being thus equipped and laid on a new bier, the friends 

 of the deceased, and the chiefs of the different tribes or clans in the 

 town assemble around it ; each tribe presents a whale's tooth, and the 

 chief or spokesman, holding it in his hand, says: "This is our 

 offering to the dead; we are poor, and cannot find riches." All the 

 persons present then clap their hands, and the king or a chief of rank 

 replies, " Ai mumundui ni mate" (the end of death), to which the 

 people respond, " Mana, e ndina /" (Amen ! it is true !) 



The female friends then approach and kiss the corpse ; after which 

 any one of his wives who wishes to die with him hastens to her 

 brother or nearest relative, and says, " I desire to die, that I may 

 accompany my husband to the land of spirits; love me, and make 

 haste and strangle me, that I may overtake him." Her friends 

 applaud her resolution, and aid her to adorn her person to the best 

 advantage. She is then seated in the lap of a woman, while another 

 holds her head and stops her nostrils, that she may not breathe 

 through them. The noose is then put round her neck, and four or 

 five strong men pulling at each end of the cord, her struggles are soon 

 over. The noose is then tied fast, and remains so until the friends of 

 her husband present a whale's tooth to her brother, saying " This is 

 the untying of the cord of strangulation." The knot is then slipped, 

 and the cord left loose around her neck. 



The grave-diggers now commence their labour. The first earth 

 taken up is called " sacred earth," and laid on one side. When the 

 grave is completed, the corpse of the chief is laid in it, with the 



