2/0 G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



slaves". The great many séparations must not be put down to the heavy work, i s ', because 

 many separated wives remarry, and 2^ because the woman, having returned to her parents, 

 has to work equally hard. Nowhere did I notice spécial days of rest, as reported by CHALMERS 

 [1885, 41] and MACGREGOR [1897,44] of British N.G. — Incompatibility of temper is sufficient 

 reason to part from each other. A woman from Asé, married to, but run away from, a man of Ajâpo, 

 was, evidently with the consent of her relations, one day just after sunset, seized and forcibly 

 carried back in a boat to her lord and master, to the great hilarity of the boys and men, 

 but under loud lamentations on her part. Nothing has become known to me, with regard to 

 the dissolution of marriage and the questions then cropping up as to the restitution of the 

 dowry, or the allotment of ail the children to the father, or the boys going with the father, 

 the girls with the mother, as it is the custom on the S. W. coast (Van DER GOES [1858, 126]), 

 or the remarrying, etc. It does, however, appear that further intimate or even friendly inter- 

 course between the separated persons and their relations is no longer possible ; the village 

 chief of Tobâdi, whose first wife now lives at Asé, declared that, if he ate of the fruits 

 provided to the expédition by that woman, he would certainly die. 



No case of death was witnessed, and possibly the expédition may be glad of this; 

 for the opinion is generally held that death is always caused by the evil désire of other 

 persons and by means of an atmospherical poison. This is also mentioned by D' Albertis 

 [1880, I, 122], CHALMERS ]io,c>3, 119] and Pratt [1906, 312], as the Papuan does not believe 

 in a natural death. Even at the beginning of illness, somebody is considered to be the cause of 

 this. Thus the chief of Nimbûran was very anxious to see the expédition leave his village, 

 because one of our Tarfia carriers had grown ill. In différent ways they try to discover the 

 guilty person. SCHELLONG [1S89, 19] heard the same from people of Finsch Harbour, and 

 HaGEN [1899, 254, 256] from the Jabim, and how the flickering of the fire at the mentioning 

 of a naine indicates the culprit. On the island of Ron the hair, eut off from the mourners, 

 is used to detect the guilty person (Van Balen [1886, 559]). From this, murders and even 

 wars arise. Thus the people of Mapâr stated that only two years ago they were still living 

 at another place, called Morâu, situated in a north-westerly direction, at a distance of a good 

 hour's walk, in the neighbourhood of another house : Dudubâi, and how one of the inmates 

 of the same had died and the présent Major of Mapâr had then been accused of it. 

 Dudubâi only amounted to ten heads, it would, however, hâve received assistance from 

 other settlements and thus hâve been stronger. For this reason and no other, the large house 

 and the gardens belonging to it, were then abandoned ; a new building had to be constructed 

 on the hill Worôwi, which had to be cleared of the trees, and new gardens had to be laid 

 out ! — The people of Mapâr hâve the same superstitions about the cause of death. 



With them only children below three years are buried in the soil. When an older person 

 dies, matési, the body is dried above a moderate fire ; but the moisture which drips out 

 during the first days is collected and preserved in order to be placed before visitors, 

 and if thèse begin to vomit in conséquence, their guilt is considered proved and they 

 are put to death. THOMSON [1892, 53] also reports, of the district to the south of Port 

 Moresby, the collection of this moisture, but states, that it is only used hère as a stimulant. 

 On Dampier Island, the skin is rubbed in with this moisture, as a preventative of dangers. 

 At Mapâr a part of the bones is also taken out of the body and crushed into powder; 



