272 



G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



and coloured red, white and black, were noticeable, cocoa-nut shells had been suspended in 

 garlands along the vertical walls, and at the roof empty turtle eggs had been stuck on midribs 



of sago leaves. A similar 

 hut-like tomb, burèjâ, still 

 more richly ornamented, was 

 standing in Nâcheibe be- 

 tween the houses; amongst 

 the coloured wooden figures 

 a hammerhead, tsija, could 

 clearly be recognised, and 

 another large fish, àrèbo, 

 «/<?£<?, which had a quadruped, 

 wauniï,, stuck on to the point- 

 ed snout. A very peculiar 

 tomb, a hollow tree trunk 

 (fig. i68), about a man's 

 height, is standing in front 

 of a house at Sâgeisârâ, and 

 covered vvith a couple of 

 water-buckets, like N°. 93, 

 turned upside down, pro- 

 bably to prevent the rain from entering. Two saplings are bound against it, on one of which 



a turned-up cocoa-nut shell 



Fig. 167. Tomb; Sâgeisârâ. 



is fastened. It contains the 

 body of a child and is called, 

 *tabu". The man standing 

 near this tomb is the father 

 of the deceased child. 

 Thomson [1892, 67] reports 

 a similar tomb, consisting 

 of a hollow trunk, but only 

 for the skeleton of a corpse 

 of which the fiesh has been 

 previously removed. What 

 I hâve never seen anywhere 

 in H.B. and on Lake Sentâni, 

 namely the ornamenting of 

 a grave with skulls of pigs, 

 presumably intended as a 

 hunting trophy, has been 

 met with amongst the Nim- 

 bûran (fig. 171). On Wiak, four-sided wooden tombs are made, shaped like a small house, covered 

 with a roof, carved and painted, and placed on one or more pôles, sometimes large (fig. 169), 



: ■ ■ . •-.:■ ■ - 



Fig. 168. ChilcTs tomb (hollow trunk); Sâgeisârâ. 



