Show aaa US te 1 g vf A nw 4 X R IN r 41 AM 1 A south sea islands penthouse prepared bythe bv the National geographic society washington D C bernice sen Ser NIce ice have alian changed ed little in CUSTOMS C some of the south sea islands despite frequent visits by white men on the island of antong java a natives power is based upon his wealth the wealthy native pays higher prices than his poor neighbors As a vaughter daughter becomes old enough for marriage the parents bedeck her with colored dyes first they smear the youthful bod body y with coconut oil and then rub on the dyes forming gay patterns A string of sharks teeth then Is placed on her head and ornaments of turtle shell suspended from the lobes of her ears holes in the two alae the outer portions of the he nostrils and the septum of her nose are made during babyhood small shell ornaments hang bring from the septum and feathers plucked from birds adorn the nostrils and ha hair 1 ir around her neck is a necklace 0 of f human hair and her belt and bracelet are of white coconut leaves thus adorned od orned and with a bright yellow skirt covering the lower portion of her body she parades with her father ard and senior relatives around the village at this time the prospective husband knows it is time for him to go to his wife that evening he be visits her in her house for a time the young wife stays with her parents the groom grogul visits the wife i at her parents house but lie he leaves his fishing paraphernalia at his fath fathers ers house he must provide her with w ith a certain amount of raw food and she gives him cooked food and taro when priests were in power the mother at the birth of the f first born child went to the house of one of them to preserve both herself and the child from evil influences influence 9 she was and still is assisted by her mother mother in law and a midwife the husband was present until the child was actually born but then lie he had to leave the house and remain away for about a year this custom is still followed I 1 two days of noise shortly after the birth the mother inlaw in law strikes a wooden pillow this Is tile the signal for everyone in the house to make a noise by beating on anything available the din Is kept up for as without ceasing it is the expression pres slon of joy that a new life has been added to tile the comm community unit v on this and the subsequent evening the relatives of the young g mother and father assemble outside the house in semi festal dress that Is to say oiled and adorned with sweet smelling herbs and flowers they sing sin the birth song son then march around tile the streets singing sin ging at every corner the first born is always named for a dead priest but subsequent children receive names danles of ancestors ce the ceremonies described are performed fr amed only for the first born other children come into tile the world almost without ceremony except that the mother must remain within doors for about two months after tile the birth when the lie child is a first born the mother must remain within the hou house e for the next nest year and must keep the child with her during tills this period the husband may not visit his wife all tills time and consequently lie he does not see his child until it has its first birthday no written record of a persons age ag g 0 Is kept the young father amther while he Is 11 e excluded from his wife has two holes boles cut in the alae of tile nose nos e each about half an inch long this is an extreme 4 1 painful process but most men are willing willin to submit to it because bee ause it Is a sign that they are now fathers and therefore men of some standing ft pieces of coconut shell are cut into rings about one inch across and one fifth of an inch wide A cut 1 made through the ring and the two ends are forced apart by means of a small stick placed diametrically across four of the rings are fitted on each side of the nose and tied into place the pieces of stick are then knocked out the result is that the two ends of the ring ring bite into the flesh of the nose and in two or three days a hole has bee been a cut through the flesh the rings are left in for about ten days they are then removed and the holes are stuffed with folded coconut leaf to prevent them from closing up on special occasions ornaments of turtle shell are bun hung in the holes after marria marriage gend and birth the most important c customs relate to death there are elaborate funeral rites and ceremonies which are practically identical for both men and women funeral rites As soon as the ayin dying persons heart ceases to beat tile the moths mother er cifes daughters and other female relatives give way to long drawn out walls wails at the top of their voices the walls wails never cease except in pauses for breath until the corpse is under ground the louder the walls the more the other relatives are pleased indeed if the ulula eions are not loud elou enough gh neighbors and villagers are nolsie noisily y critical and foretell that the ghost of the dead man will be annoyed and send sickness natives of antong java do not conceive of any causes of illness except the supernatural all diseases a and not deaths are caused by the evil intervention of the spirits of those already dead the corpse Is taken into the road in front of the house and washed it is then returned inside the hair Is cut and the body is rubbed thoroughly with coconut oil turtle shell ornaments are put in the e ears irs and if the dead person is a man larger specimens of these ornaments are hung hun from the holes in the alae of the nos nose e in the case of a woman a small shell ornament is hung from the hole in the septum garlands are hung around th the C neck and bound on the brow ceremony of mourning after the evening meal which Is taken about 7 p m or slightly sll later the mourning ceremony begins the corpse is laid on a new mat in the center of the house at its feet with their backs back to it and their faces to tile the fire sit the sons and dau daughters r in n law the rest of tile the house is filled filed with the other relatives of the dead person if he was a roan man of wealth and importance as many of tile the villagers villa ers as can possibly squeeze in will do co so and many others crowd arond the doors in a climate like that of which Is only five degrees south of tho equator a small house conta containing containing inin a corpse and a huge hu ge fire and packed with people and with all the normal ventilation blocked by othe others rs the atmosphere soon becomes almost almos t intolerable the relatives and friends except the closer female relatives who continue weeping aloud frequently drowning the other voices sing sin dirges all through ill the night the latter embrace the corpse and at intervals rub it with wath oil in the course of the wake the family of the lead dead man give tobacco to all and sundry almost everyone in the village will come to the wake held field for a wealthy man sure of getting a few free sticks of tobacco for a clr dirge e with the dawn all i save the imme i diate relatives depart ireba preparations rational are then made for burial |