573 



and she wanted a child of the opposite sex, she would kill a 

 newcomer if it were of the undesired sex. If the mother dies 

 in childbed the offspring is buried alive alongside the 

 mother. The form of infanticide is, as a rule, strangulation 

 of the baby. 



In Mailu, as among all the races on that level of culture, 

 suckling goes on long after the child is able to eat other food — 

 till about three to four years after birth. 



In infancy children are carried about by their mothers 

 and very often by their fathers. The method of carrying 

 children by the women is to seat them astride upon the pro- 

 truding upper edge of the petticoat, the child clasping the 

 mother's body with both its legs and the mother holding it 

 with one arm (see pi. xxxiii., fig. 2). Both parents nurse the 

 child and fondle it. The operations of nose and ear piercing 

 are performed in infancy (comp. chap, iii., sec. 1). 



Childhood and Initiation of Boys. — Children live with 

 their parents. They are very independent, the parents inter- 

 fering little with their games and inclinations. In fact, I 

 observed, and my observation was endorsed by Mr. Saville, 

 that the elders hardly ever give commands to their children, 

 preferring to ask them to do what they wish, in fear lest 

 refusal should compromise their authority and prestige. 

 Chastisement, in any form, seems never to be used to children, 

 except perhaps in a fit of impatience. 



The stages of childhood and adolescence are marked by 

 few incidents. At the age of about three to four the girl 

 gets her first grass petticoat. At a slightly later stage the 

 process of tattooing (described in sec. 1) begins and ends with 

 the tattoo on the face which coincides with the marriageable 

 age. 



The boys go about without any garment for a much longer 

 time. They get their perineal band at the age of about eight 

 to ten years, and there is a small initiation ceremony (VaiC du) 

 connected with this event. The eldest ho^ is given liis Silii 

 (Motu name for perineal band) by his maternal uncle (Aue), 

 with whom the boy's father exchanges some gifts. The 

 younger boys get their Siliis from the first-born, and there is 

 no exchange of food. The initiation ceremony seems to have 

 been more elaborate in former days, when the Duhufi existed 

 and when the white man had not yet suppressed the institution 

 of head-hunting, with which this ceremony was apparently 

 connected in some way. I was told'by Pafdri, a fairly old man 

 and the best informant in Mailu, that in the olden days the 

 initiation was more elaborate, being performed when there 

 was an enemy's head available. In the preparation of the 

 head, the boy to be initiated used to lend a hand, and this 



