TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION II. 789 



spirited and unruly tribe than the more industrial Motuans, who have been called 

 the 'British' of New Guinea, while the others have been likened to the Irish. 

 Nor is the comparison in the latter case without titness also ; for not only in their 

 excitability and impatience of control, but also in their light-hearted gaiety and 

 wit, the resemblances are not far to seek. 



The social arrangements here are different from those at Port Moresby, where 

 the people live enfamille in their cottages; for in Motu-motu the men congregate 

 in large club-houses or dubus, while the women and children live in smaller 

 houses. Even married men live in these clubs, and, although they may visit their 

 families, they must always return to the dubu before daybreak, otherwise they 

 commit a serious breach of Papuan etiquette. These dubus are curious structures 

 built on platforms 14 to 16 feet from the ground, and shaped like the open mouth 

 of a sharls:. Under the great projecting upper jaw or gable the men lounge and smoke 

 in the daytime, and have their food brought to them here by the women, who are 

 strictly forbidden to enter the interior, which is helaga, sacred, or tapu to the men. 

 In each village there are several dubus, occupied by different clans or families. At 

 a certain age the boys of the clan are taken into the dubu to undergo initiation, 

 have their heads shaved, and remain in seclusion till their hair is fully grown. 



The remainder of the paper dealt in a similar way with inhabitants of Movi-avi 

 and Kerepuna. 



5. On the Tohas of Gran Chaco, South America. By J. Graham Kerb. 



The author gave a short account of the manners and customs of the Natokoi or 

 Tobas of the Gran Ohaco. This region is inhabited by very numerous nations of 

 American Indians, differing markedly in language, customs, and in minor physical 

 characters. The Tobas are exclusively nomadic in their habits, living entirely on 

 the products of the chase. They usually go about in small hunting parties, larger 

 tribal encampments being only formed occasionally, e.g., at particular seasons. In 

 regard to their mental characters, it was pointed out that they appeared to believe 

 only in the existence of numerous minor evil spirits, who were the causes of disease, 

 accidents, defeats in battle, and other misfortunes ; and that their arithmetical 

 powers were very limited, the limit of counting being usually about five. 



6. On the Maya Indians of Chicken Itzd, Yucatan. 

 By Alfred P. Maudslay. 



In this paper the author gave an account of some excavations of a burial-mound 

 in the Vera Paz of Guatemala, and the discovery of little jars containing the bones 

 of the little fingers probably deposited by mourners. 



The earliest notices of the great Maya ruins at Chichea Itza, in Yucatan, were 

 discussed, and extracts given from a document lately found by Dr. Marimon in 

 Seville, describing the ceremonies still performed by the Mayas at the great 

 Cenote at Ghich^n at the time of the Spanish conquest, although the town was 

 already abandoned and the buildings in ruins. 



A description was given of the great tennis-court, and a model of it exhibited. 

 The paper concluded by calling attention to some photographs of a hitherto 

 unknown Maya monument at Ixkum, in which the supporters of the Maya figures 

 are captives bound with cords, who are altogether unlike the Mayas in appearance, 

 and probably belong to another race. 



7. On the Loochooan Language. By Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain. 



Hitherto only two languages have been generally recognised as spoken in the 

 Japanese Empire — viz. Japanese proper, and Aino or Ainu, the language of the 

 hairy aborigines of the north. Professor Chamberlain's paper contains a prelimi- 

 nary sketch of his analysis of a third language — Loochooan — known hitherto, or 

 one might better say suspected, only from a short and exceedingly imperfect 

 vocabulary by the late Lieutenant Clifford, R.N., appended to Captain Basil Hall's 



