Jan. i, 1SS0] 



NATURE 



;o5 



upon the skin until it is entirely consumed to ashes, 

 and so on with each mark. This procedure, too, must 

 demand great patience and self-control. The women, 

 curiously enough, ornament their bodies much less than 

 do the men. their costume being not infrequently re- 

 duced to a minimum. In Billi-13i!li, Maclay saw a 

 marriageable maiden in the most singular costume that 

 could possibly be conceived, consisting, as it did, of a 

 single large shell (a white Cypreed) upon the lower part 

 of the Hions Veneris. 



The men employ four or five hours in the combing of 

 their hair and in smearing it with a decoction of the fruit 

 of the Subari (Caiophyllum inophyllnni), also in adorn- 

 ing it with feathers and flowers, and in painting their faces 

 and backs. The only decorations, on the other hand, in 

 which the females indulge on festal occasions is in a little 

 dye with which they smear their hair, cheeks, and fore- 

 head, and a number of necklaces composed of shells of 

 various sizes and gaily-coloured fruit kernels. 



With regard to the social position of the women. 

 Although it can hardly be said that the Maclay Coast 

 Papuans ill-treat their wives, or that these latter have no 

 influence upon the men, it is nevertheless the case that 

 the women in almost every particular play an inferior 

 role; for even when they are not overworked they 

 have always enough employment throughout the year, 

 while the men, with the exception of a few weeks spent 

 in heavy work — the laying-out of plantations and culti- 

 vation of the ground — can for three-fourths of the time 

 enjoy a dolce far nicnte. The women, moreover, have a 

 worse diet, and dare not take their meals in company 

 with the men, and in comparison with the latter wear 

 scarcely any ornaments, nor do they take any part in 

 their feasts. 



Neither the marriage nor the birth of children are 

 celebrated with any particular festal observance. Cir- 

 cumcision, on the other hand, is a somewhat important 

 rite. This is performed at the age of twelve years, in 

 the forest, at a distance from the village, and, as Zipporah 

 did it, with a sharp Hint, and after the ceremony the 

 neophyte is escorted with songs back to the village. He 

 is now no longer regarded as a boy, but as having come 

 to man's estate, and enjoys, accordingly, many privileges 

 which are not accorded to mere children. 



The mode of salutation is somewhat laconic. When a 

 neighbour comes into a village he says to the children, 

 " E-Wau / " "Hey, children!" while the men and 

 women are greeted respectively with a "E-Nangelif" 

 and " E-Mcm '. " "Hey, you women !" and "Hey, 

 fathers ! " The greeting of the Tamo among themselves 

 is '" E-Aba!" " Hey, brothers!" Relations, however, 

 and friends are not accustomed to greet one another. 

 The Papuans reach out their hands one to another, with 

 a kind of movement, but without any mutual pressure. On 

 departure the guest says "Adi-angarmem," " I am going," 

 to which the host and any others who may be present 

 reply "E-Aba" or "E-MeM" and the guest answers in 

 corresponding terms. Upon this the host says, " Glembe" 

 — "Depart, then" — and escorts his guest as far as the 

 entrance of the village, carrying with him the presents 

 and the remnants of the feast. "Hereupon the guest fre- 

 quently remarks, "Stay you here, but I must be off." If 

 the parting be of a particularly feeling character, one 

 presses the other on the left side of the breast, embracing 

 him at the same time with one arm, while with the other 

 hand he pats him gently on the back. In the village 

 Bogat, and in the Archipelago of Contentment, Maclay 

 remarked that the people greeted a particularly honour- 

 able guest by squatting in a particular position on the 

 ground. 1 



The custom of mutual exchange of names is pretty 

 widely spread throughout the coast, and Maclay was 



1 " Xiederhocken. " This position has been already described in the first 

 raper on the Papuans of Maclay coast.* Nature, vol. ix. p. 329. 



frequently begged to change his name with that of one of 

 the natives whom he might have distinguished in some 

 way or other. In order, however, to avoid any misunder- 

 standing, he always refused this request, and only as a 

 particular favour allowed his name, " Maclay," to be 

 borne by the newly-born boys, whose fathers' regarded 

 themselves as his special friends. He was, moreover, 

 frequently requested to choose a name for newly-born 

 boys and girls. 



As regards the treatment of the c 

 death of a man is announced to th 

 by a fixed succession of strokes on thp '"'rum. ' 

 same or the next day the whole ma! semb'es 



in complete war equipment in the 



village. To the sound of the ts stream 



into the village, and are awaited ir 



the hut of the deceased by a cro- a warlike 



accoutrements. After a short palavi 



into two opposite camps, after whic he per;-, nuance of 

 a sham fight takes place. They go to work, however, 

 somewhat carefully in that they make no use of their 

 spears ; dozens of arrows, however, are shot off, so that 

 not a few are somewhat seriously wounded in this make- 

 believe encounter. The relations and friends of the 

 deceased seem in particular to get excited and behave 

 like madmen. After all are tired out, and all arrows have 

 been shot away, the quasi enemies sit down in a circle and 

 comport themselves merely as lookers-on. The nearest 

 relations of the deceased then bring a pair of mats and 

 the sheaths of the petioles of the fronds of the sago-palm, 

 and lay them in the midst of the open space. Next they 

 bring the corpse out of its hut, maintained in the stooping 

 posture, with the chin resting upon the knees, and the 

 arms embracing the legs, by means of strips of rattan. 

 Close to the corpse are placed its property, gifts of its 

 neighbours, and a couple of bowls (tabir) full of freshly- 

 cooked food, while the men sit in a circle round the 

 open space, the women, but only those nearest re- 

 lated to the deceased, merely look on at a distance. The 

 corpse is then, with great neatness and art, wrapped in 

 the mats and palm leaves, and tied up fast with a quan- 

 tity of rattan and lianas, so that the whole finally resem- 

 bles a well-made parcel. This, after being fastened to a 

 strong stake, is brought into the hut and the stake is 

 fastened under the roof; finally, after arranging all the 

 property, presents, and food in the neighbourhood of 

 the corpse, the guests leave the hut and return to to their 

 respective villages. 



Some days later, when the corpse has become 

 very decomposed, it is buried in the hut itself, a pro- 

 ceeding which in no wise hinders the relations from 

 continuing to use it as a dwelling-place. About a year 

 afterwards the skull is dug up and separated from the 

 body of the corpse ; but it is not the whole skull, but 

 only the lower jaw which is preserved, and that by the 

 nearest relation of the deceased, being carried, not 

 infrequently, in the £ii/i, or worn as a kind of armlet. ' 

 This bone is most carefully preserved as a souvenir of 

 the deceased, and it was only by the help of much per- 

 suasion, backed by numerous presents, that Dr. M. 

 Maclay prevailed upon its possessor to part, under the 

 seal of secresy, with this treasured memento. The burial 

 of a child or of a woman is attended with much less 

 ceremony, being heralded by the sound of no barum, 

 and accompanied by no assembly of neighbours, nor 

 martial pomp and circumstance. 



■This is not the only instance of the bones of the dead being worn by 

 their surviving; relatives. For instance, the Tasmanians (vn& Nature, 

 v„l. xiv. p. =11). according to Dr. Barnard Davis, carry as necklaces frag- 

 ments of the bones of their relatives; and it is moreover stated by Prof. 

 Allen Thomson, that the widows among the Andaman Ishnders— the 

 Mincopies according to Dr. B. Davis— actually wear the skulls of their 

 late husbands upon their shoulders (Nature, vol. xiv. p. 489). Prof. 

 Flower, in a recent lecture on ethnology at the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 showed the skull of an Andamanese man, to which was attached a very 

 elegant webbed sling by which it had been suspended from the neck of th« 

 widow.— J. C. G. 



