MODES OF BURIAL. 51 



learned, was to intimidate the "devilo" in case the feasts of the 

 previous day had not propitiated him. 



The mode of burial employed by the natives of the islands of 

 Bougainville Straits varies according to the position of the deceased. 

 The bodies of the chiefs and of any members of their lamilies are 

 usually burned ; and the ashes are deposited together with the skull 

 and sometimes the thigh-bones in a cairn on some sacred islet, or are 

 placed in charge of the reigning chief The natives were always 

 reticent on this subject, a circumstance which prevented my ascer- 

 taining how the skull and thigh-bones were preserved from the 

 flames. In the villag-e of Treasury there are some memorials of de- 

 parted chiefs, one of which is shown in the accompanying engraving. 

 The one in best condition is that of the late chief, whose skull and 

 thigh-bones were deposited on one of the islets in the harbour. 

 They evidently mark the site of the funeral pyres. A wooden frame 

 of the dimensions of a large coffin is placed on the ground and con- 

 tains some young plants and the club of the deceased chief. Four 

 posts charred on their inner sides and decorated on their outer sides 

 with patterns in red, white, and black, are placed one at each corner 

 of the frame. They are rudely carved at the top in the form of a 

 face, and in all respects resemble those around which the funeral 

 dance was performed at Alu, as described, on page 49. A sprouting 

 cocoa-nut is placed at one end of the frame, and a club is placed 

 erect in the o-round at the other end. 



In the vicinity of Gorai's house, I noticed three small enclosures, 

 apparently graves, two of them round and one oblong, and all fenced 

 in by a paling of sticks. Lying on the ground within each enclosure 

 were such articles as strings of trade-beads, clay-pipes, betel-nuts 

 long since dried up, and dishes of palm leaves such as the natives 

 use for serving up their food. A communicative old man informed 

 me that a few months before a woman and a girl belonging to the 

 chief's household had died, and that their bodies had been fir.st 

 burned between four posts and the ashes had been placed in the 

 oblono- enclosure. They bore, so he told me, the pretty names of 

 £venu and Siali. On my asking the reason of placmg articles such 

 as beads and betel-nuts on the grave, he told me that in addition 

 cocoa-nuts and other food had been placed there previously in accor- 

 dance with the native custom, which the old man endeavoured to 

 explain by pointing his fingers towards the skies. I should here 

 mention that on the spot, where the body of Kaikahad been burned 



