694 



mourning with mats drawn over their heads, they walk slowly, 

 with their bodies bent, and move from the spot merely when 

 compelled by natural necessities. They w^ail and cry and 

 address the deceased by kinship terms, not by his personal 

 name. They also talk to him, expressing grief: — 



"Aieni ine; onioni dema; gdna urura; haihai dema; gcina 

 nahn; ena varora; am'i loifsaifsi; ddbae kdokao ofsiba." 



Which, in a free translation, means : — "Don't go ; let us go 

 together to your house (return) ; come back to your younger 

 brother; if you go, let us go together to another house." These 

 and similar expressions are used, all showing the great grief 

 and the desire of the bereft ones to keep the deceased with 

 them. 



Some three days or so after the burial the first small feast 

 (called B(V'U or Boivara fseifse) is given. It consists of vege- 

 table food, coconuts, bananas, taro, sago, etc., the coconuts 

 being supplied by people who do not observe the Nehuru, and 

 the other food by the mourners. The latter, however, do not 

 partake of the feast, but only give the food away to others. 



After this feast the mourners pull the mat from over 

 their heads, though they still wear it on their shoulders. 



At the expiration of the next eight days or so another 

 small feast, Deni hau, is held, similar in its social aspect and 

 in the food eaten to the previous feast, and at its close the 

 mats are thrown away altogether, the wailing ceases, and the 

 expression of grief becomes less acute. I am inclined to think 

 that the number of these small feasts which are held depends 

 upon the status of the deceased person, and that very probably 

 the one just mentioned is normally the last. Names, however, 

 for one or two more small BcVu feasts were mentioned to me 

 by my informants, which seem to me to have been observed 

 only in the case of important men. There w^as, for instance, 

 the Baiha' e bd'u or Baiha'e tseifsei, after w^iich the mourners 

 were said to leave their watch by the grave and to return to 

 their usual occupations. So also the Aria?'?, fseitsff, after 

 which custom demands that the deep mourners should leave 

 the village for a time and sail to other places. This custom 

 was mentioned to me by several informants, and it was said 

 to have been in the past rigorously observed in the case of 

 deceased notables. 



The account of these feasts is, I fear, not satisfactory, for 

 I failed to ascertain what are the beliefs underlying them. I 

 was, however, told by one of my native friends that the feasts 

 were in some manner meant to feed the spirit, but my in- 

 formant was not clear on the matter, and, indeed, confessed 

 that he did not understand it himself. 



