404 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Marriage among them, as far as I could learn, was the simple 

 purchase of a woman for a large sum in all manner of trade 

 articles, and is celebrated by a feast. Very often she is pur- 

 chased when yet a child, and is reared in the house of her 

 master and husband, who may have as many wives as he 

 can afford. If the husband cannot pay the full price at once, 

 his family have to undertake part of the responsibility of 

 payment, and. till then the woman is in servitude to the whole 

 family. On the death of the man she is reckoned as part 

 of his goods, and falls with his other property to his heirs, 

 who may sell her again to another suitor for a price not 

 less than she has cost. Tiie children of the union are the 

 father's exclusive property and thereafter of his relations. If 

 no suitor desires to marry his widow she remains in the 

 cheerless lot of a menial slave and concubine of the husband's 

 family. 



Their death rites are also curious and interesting as being 

 in some respects similar to those practised in different parts 

 of Australia. As soon as life is extinct the man's body is 

 brought out on a bier in front of his house and laid on the 

 ground, with the head in front of a stake driven into the ground. 

 The bier is struck several times and the questions put, " Have 

 you died by the will of Allah Stalla?" or "Has death been 

 the result of the machinations of mortal man ? " If the body 

 move forwards to strike the stake, the reply is supposed to be 

 in the affirmative. If the intimation is that death has not 

 been natural, the corpse is questioned in order to find the 

 delinquent through all the Rajah-ships, till the correct one is 

 indicated ; then through all the Soas or villages, and through 

 all the individuals of the selected Soa, till the culprit's name is 

 obtained, who is at once seized and condemned to pay a death 

 fine, for the backbone a certain price, for each right and left 

 rib, for each hand and foot, for the head and the contents of 

 the body, each a. fixed sum ; altogether a large amount in 

 every species of trade article. 



The Buruese are firm believers in Swangies, or spirits of 

 their fellows endowed with the power to go about disembodied, 

 working evil (generally) to their neighbours.. An individual 

 with this power is greatly dreaded, and derives not a few 

 presents, for the purpose of retaining his goodwill, as also 



