XII.] 



THE IDOL-HOUSES OF DOREI BAY. 



281 



the image is either placed on the grave or carried to the home of 

 the nearest relation, where it is treated with great respect. On 

 every occasion of importance — on fishing excursions, in sickness, on 

 undertaking a journey, and so forth — it is consulted, and if nothing 

 take place it is considered a sign 

 of the approbation of the deceased. 

 This is not always the case, as 

 might be supposed, for the consult- 

 ant sometimes holds the korowaar 

 in his hand while propounding 

 his question. Presently his arm 

 vibrates ; it shakes more and more 

 until the whole limb is in a state 

 of convulsive agitation. "He 

 speaks ; he speaks," is the cry, and 

 the disapproval of the departed 

 spirit is evident. Should the 

 answer turn out incorrect the 

 augur not infrequently loses his 

 temper, and the unlucky image 

 receives a blow which knocks him 



KOROWAAR. 



from one end of the hut to the 



other. But in spite of these disappointments the natives do not 

 lose their faith in their horowaar, and those that are brought for 

 barter have generally belonged to some one who has died, or are 

 old ones whose names have long ago been forgotten.^ 



Two Bum-slam or " idol-houses " were in existence until lately 

 in Dorei Bay, one at Mansinam and the other at Monokware, but 

 the former was destroyed by an earthquake and the latter by fire, 



^ Mr. "Wilfred Powell ("Wanderings in a Wild Country," p. 248) mentions tlie 

 existence of images similar to the korowaar in New Ireland. Unlike those of the 

 natives of North-west New Guinea they are of chalk, and are kept in a small "mor- 

 tuary chapel." The same superstition — " That the ghost must have some habitation 

 on earth or it will haunt the survivors of its late family " — is, however, the cause of 

 their construction. 



