48 CORAL AND ATOLLS 



One of the oldest retainers of the Clunies-Ross family — a 

 fine man of mixed Zulu blood — whom I always knew as Ali, 

 began life as " Tredin," but the " Tredin " was dropped, and never 

 used again, after he had narrowly escaped death from fever. 



The recovery from sickness is not, however, the only 

 occasion upon which a Cocos native indulges in a change of 

 name, for when the first child is born to a man and woman 

 they straightway drop their names and take as their own the 

 name they bestow upon their infant. The man prefixes " Pah " 

 to his child's name and the woman prefixes " Mah " ; and by 

 the compounded names they are known henceforth. For 

 instance, a man named Jenal married a woman named Itam, 

 but when their child was born and had been named Angas, 

 the father was ever after known as " Pah Angas " and the 

 mother as " Mah Angas." 



It might be imagined that this custom would create con- 

 fusion, and lead to a great deal of uncertainty as to an 

 individual's real name, but as a matter of fact it works out 

 quite well in practice, and leads to no inconvenience. More- 

 over it possesses the advantage of conferring a desirable dignity 

 on parenthood. 



A child that has survived the chances of spirit inter- 

 ference during its babyhood has no important event to look 

 forward to until the rite of circumcision is carried out. This 

 ceremony takes place as a rule at about the age of ten, and the 

 time of its performance depends upon the boy's proficiency 

 in reciting from the Koran. Since the Koran is learned in 

 Arabic, a language foreign to the Malay, the performance is 

 not a test of great scholarship or great piety, and the recital 

 consists merely of committing a certain number of verses to 

 memory. The boy is gaudily dressed for the occasion, and 

 he is decked out as only brides and bridegrooms are : like 

 them he has his face painted, and his eyes adorned with a 

 monstrous pair of black eyebrows. The feasting and cele- 

 brations are kept up . for three days, and at the end of the 

 rejoicings the boy is considered a man, who henceforth must 

 wear trousers. The transition to trousers is more abrupt 



