A Strange Custom 
To Mr. Brown we are indebted for a clear description of 
a very widespread custom among many of the South Seas 
peoples. In Fiji it is known as “tabusiga,’ which means, 
“forbidden to the sun or day.” By it girls of good families 
are held under strictest watchfulness in small cells, where 
no man is permitted to see them for four or five years before 
matriage. | 
Visiting a village in New Ireland, Mr. Brown heard 
from his Fijian teacher of this strange custom practiced 
there, and so he asked the chief to take him to the house 
where the girls were. The house was about twenty-five 
feet in length, and stood in a reed and bamboo inclosure, 
across the entrance to which a bundle of dried grass was 
suspended to show that it was strictly taboo (forbidden or 
sacred ). 
Inside the house were three conical structures about seven 
or eight feet in height, and ten or twelve feet in circum- 
ference at the bottom, and beginning at about four feet 
from the ground, they tapered off to a point at the top. 
These cages were made of the broad leaves of the pandanus, 
sewn quite close together, so that no light and little or no 
air could enter. On one side of each was an opening, which 
was closed by a double door of plaited coconut leaves and 
pandanus leaves. About three feet from the ground there 
was a stage of bamboos, which formed the floor. 
In each of these cages a girl or young woman was closely 
confined, and Mr. Brown was horrified to learn that each 
one was forced to remain there for at least four or five 
years without ever being allowed to go outside the house. 
He could scarcely credit the story when he heard it; the 
whole thing seemed too horrible to be true. 
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