NATIVE CUSTOMS 55 



details of special tender regard paid to the bodies of such 

 women. 



After the washing and the insertion of the cotton-wads, the 

 body is wrapped seven times round with linen, and all the 

 jewellery that was worn during life is left upon the corpse and 

 goes to the grave with it. The actual funeral always takes 

 place by water, and the island upon which the burials are 

 made (Pulu Gangsa) is an uninhabited one, used for no other 

 purpose. The corpse is placed in a wicker coffin, and the 

 funeral cortege of boats follows it to the burial island, where 

 the ceremony is conducted by the native priest, who reads 

 verses from the Koran as the body is lowered by ropes into 

 the grave. The wicker coffin is not buried with the body, but 

 the corpse, swathed around with its linen wrappings, lies 

 stretched upon its back upon the bare coral sand ; a board is 

 placed over the features to protect them from the falling earth, 

 and the grave is filled in. In the case of a woman, it is the 

 custom to bury the body with the head resting upon a little 

 pillow made up of her own hair, for a Cocos woman never 

 throws away the hair that she combs out at her toilet. There 

 is a deep-rooted belief in all this : it is exceedingly unlucky 

 to leave hair lying about, since an enemy may obtain 

 possession of it and do Jamjpei, or witchcraft, with it. A 

 woman therefore always keeps her hair, and upon it she rests 

 at last in the grave. A wooden tombstone marks each grave, 

 and it is shaped differently in the case of men and women. 

 The tombstone which marks a man's grave is pointed as an 

 arch at the top, whilst that upon a woman's grave is square ; 

 and in neither case is it elaborate. There seems to be no 

 especial direction in which the grave is made, and the head 

 is not constantly pointed in the direction of Mecca ; but graves 

 lie at all angles on the island, being made more with regard 

 to the convenience of the site than to any geographical 

 orientation. Upon each grave is placed a Kcma (clam) shell 

 tilled with fresh water for the use of the spirit, and flowers 

 are strewn about the grave by relatives of the deceased. 

 The graves are carefully kept, and visits are paid to them at 



