Facsimile of Page 21 in Part 7. 
Customs of the World 21 
Next day the members of the dwk-duk commence a collection of native money, and this con- 
tinues daily for a month, or even two months, during which time every house in the neighbourhood 
is visited, and a present demanded from it, the members of the duk-duk living in the meantime on 
their dancing-ground. This collection is a true case of blackmailing, as the people well know that 
they would have a very bad time if they did not satisfy the demands. At the end of this period the 
high dignitary proclaims the duk-dwk dead, a final feast takes place, all masks, etc., are stored away, 
and the members return to their houses until the next initiation ceremony, when the duk-duk will 
come to life again. 
Some of the more important members of the duk-duk perform special dances in honour of the 
wealthy dead, for which they are well paid ; and, though they manage to accumulate wealth, they 
do not forget the other members of their society. 
There is in the Bismarck Archipelago another form of Secret Society, called igiat, the head 
of which is a great wizard, who is called upon to help in cases of sickness, and whose witchcraft is 
much believed in. He can, by means of lime spraying, eating of ginger and incantations, control 
the spirits, cause them to be offended, appease them when offended, and take the life of an 
enemy by entering into and using an animal as a destroying agent. An igiat society, like the duk- 
duk, has its secret place of assembly, which the uninitiated must not visit, death at the hands of 
the spirits being the punishment which will fall upon an intruder. Within the enclosure is a spot 
in which are placed images, roughly cut out of stone or wood and painted, representing human 
beings, pigs, crocodiles, sharks, birds and other animals ; and none but the head of the zgzat must enter 
From * Dreissig Jahre in der Siidsee.”) [By permission of Ween s. Strecker & Schroder. 
BETROTHAL CUSTOM IN THE BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO. 
Cone-shaped cage in which a girl of the Bismarck Archipelago, betrothed in infancy to an important person, is secluded 
generally for several years, prior to her marriage. These are sometimes so small that the girls have to sit in a crouching 
attitude, and they are only allowed to come out once a day, to bathe in a bowl placed close to the cage. 
