MOURNING 305 



There is no belief in a future state, but it is thought that, 

 for a time, the ghost will haunt the vicinity. 



For some days after a death the tamiluanas institute cere- 

 monies for the purpose of expelling the ghost from the village. 



Tall bamboos, festooned with palm leaves and cotton, are 

 erected on the shore at Elpanavi, and the tmnihianas take their 

 place beneath. After scattering stones and ashes, they run 

 about, uttering a mouse-like squeak the while, until they cap- 

 ture the spirit and imprison it in a bunch of leaves. Several 

 men then grasp the bunch, and placing in it a small figure, 

 made in human likeness of coco-palm leaf, twist up the whole, 

 and throw it into the sea. 



From time to time villages go through ceremonials somewhat 

 similar, for the purpose of expelling such devils as may be 

 haunting the place. 



Shaving the head is sometimes indulged in as a sign of 

 mourning, together with frequent bathing and abstinence from 

 work. A man will also change his name to show grief at the 

 loss of a friend, and will take another title if it comes to his 

 knowledge that a namesake, even a comparative stranger, is 

 dead.* 



It was customary for widows to have one of their fingers 

 cut off, and if they refused to submit to the operation, the 

 posts and doorway of their houses were gashed and notched.f 



Accounts of two interments which differed somewhat from 

 the usual practice may be worth giving here. 



The first is that of " Distant," headman of Sawi, who was 

 buried with much pomp. 



The corpse was dressed in a good suit of English clothes, 

 and silver wire was wound about it from head to feet. This 

 was because he was once a viafai, and the usual ceremony of 



* In the matter of names, a Kar Nicobaiese tries to please everyone 

 with whom he is acquainted. There is often his own native appelhition, an 

 Enghsh one, another by which he is known to the Indian traders, and a fourth 

 under which he does business with the Burmese ! 



t G. Hamilton, Asiatic Researches^ vol. ii. 



U 



