CUSTOMS AND GOVERNMENT. 267 



girls of the coast villages are never given in marriage to men of the interior, because the 

 latter are considered too uncivilised for this ; — the insuit to the family of a young girl 

 and her tribe by such a marriage, was (MOOLENBURGH [1903, 2]) the cause of a war between 

 the peoples of Wendèsi and Karwan. The men of the inland Sekanto tribe marry girls of 

 other inland tribes: Toba, Djangu and Djangusu (MOOLENBURGH [1904, 186]). 



At Angâdi I was told that no purchase money is paid, but that, with exogamous 

 marriages, as are apparently the rule hère, a girl from one village is ceded to a man from the 

 other village, which is therefore the sarae institution as mentioned by HADDON [1901, 103] 

 of Kiwai Island. In British N. G. ([1. c. m], MACGREGOR [1897, 44]), and also, according to 

 ERDWEG [1902, 279], very often on the island of Tumleo, the bridegroom cèdes his sister to 

 the brother of his bride. With other marriages, there is on Tumleo no question of a forced 

 payment, although possibly the young man may now and then make small présents to the 

 parents of his wife. It is also a rule for the married couple to fix their résidence in the 

 village of the husband. The son-in-la\v of the village chief of Angâdi had taken up his résidence 

 hère, othenvise it is hère also the rule that the wife follows the husband. Where the purchase 

 money for a woman must be paid, this, as far as I am aware, takes place in one payment 

 and not by instalments. At Asé, where the son of the village chief was to be married to 

 the daughter of the village chief of Poë, the dowry, consisting of currency beads and stone 

 hatchets, was exhibited for some days, and on the wedding day the whole of it was handed 

 over to the father of the bride. The father of the bridegroom had to work for a long 

 time on thèse stone hatchets (on fig. 163 such a hatchet lies under his right hand), and 

 no doubt the bridegroom did not contribute the whole of the numerous beads himself. 

 Indeed it appeared that part of the family possessions, belonging to the relatives of the 

 husband, were used to pay the purchase money, and this explains not only that thèse relatives 

 hâve a right, later on, to a share of the amount obtained for the daughters boni of the 

 marriage, as is the case in West N. G. (Van DlSSEL [1904a, 639]), but also that at the 

 death of the husband, his brother takes the widow to himself. 



On Lake Sentâni, as well as in Humboldt Bay, it is the custom, that the young man, 

 by way of receipt, receives an abacus, a stalk of a sago leaf, into which a certain number of 

 pegs hâve been stuck, indicating by their length and number the quality and quantity of 

 the valuables paid. Judging by the greasy dirt which adhères to both objects (N°. 1270, 

 PI. XXIX, fig. 23, and N°. 1271), thèse receipts are preserved for a long time, probably to 

 be used afterwards, should the wife die early, as documents for a claim of restitution. 



The wedding ceremony at Asé began by the weeping of women being heard on 

 a certain evening in one of the houses. Thèse women had arrived from Poë in the course of 

 the day with the bride, and were now, as the interpréter said, venting their sorrow at the 

 approaching loss of the bride, who, in future, would hâve to live in her husband's village. 

 The nature of the lamentations was like a song of despair, as SCHELLONG [1889, 22] describes 

 of the mourning for deceased persons, namely, that every verse was started loudly and in a 

 high key and, gradually decreasing in strength, ended in low, suppressed tones. The number 

 of voices increased gradually during the night, and at 3 o'clock the screams quite filled the air 

 and I could not sleep at ail. By the end of the night, when the bride had to prépare herself to 

 proceed to her bridegroom, the noise was terrible. The sun had scarcely risen, when a great 



