Part 7 (1/2)

Compare E. Jacottet, _etudes sur les Langues du Haut-Zambeze_, Troisieme Partie (Paris, 1901), pp. 174 _sq._ (as to the A-Louyi).

[82] E. Beguin, _Les Ma-rotse_ (Lausanne and Fontaines, 1903), p. 113.

[83] Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel, 1912-1913), i. 178 _sq._

[84] G. McCall Theal, _Kaffir Folk-lore_ (London, 1886), p. 218.

[85] L. Alberti, _De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika_ (Amsterdam, 1810), pp. 79 _sq._; H. Lichtenstein, _Reisen im sudlichen Africa_ (Berlin, 1811-1812), i. 428.

[86] Gustav Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Sud-Afrika's_ (Breslau, 1872), p.

112. This statement applies especially to the Ama-Xosa.

[87] G. McCall Theal, _Kaffir Folk-lore_, p. 218.

[88] Rev. Canon Henry Callaway, _Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus_ (Natal and London, 1868), p. 182, note 20. From one of the Zulu texts which the author edits and translates (p. 189) we may infer that during the period of her seclusion a Zulu girl may not light a fire. Compare above, p. 28.

[89] E. Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 268.

[90] J. Merolla, ”Voyage to Congo,” in J. Pinkerton's _Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), xvi. 238; Father Campana, ”Congo; Mission Catholique de Landana,” _Les Missions Catholiques_, xxvii. (1895) p.

161; R.E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man's Mind_ (London, 1906), pp. 69 _sq._. According to Merolla, it is thought that if girls did not go through these ceremonies, they would ”never be fit for procreation.”

The other consequences supposed to flow from the omission of the rites are mentioned by Father Campana. From Mr. Dennett's account (_op. cit._ pp. 53, 67-71) we gather that drought and famine are thought to result from the intercourse of a man with a girl who has not yet pa.s.sed through the ”paint-house,” as the hut is called where the young women live in seclusion. According to O. Dapper, the women of Loango paint themselves red on every recurrence of their monthly sickness; also they tie a cord tightly round their heads and take care neither to touch their husband's food nor to appear before him (_Description de l'Afrique_, Amsterdam, 1686, p. 326).

[91] The Rev. G. Brown, quoted by the Rev. B. Danks, ”Marriage Customs of the New Britain Group,” _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xviii. (1889) pp. 284. _sq.; id., Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 105-107. Compare _id._, ”Notes on the Duke of York Group, New Britain, and New Ireland,” _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, xlvii. (1877) pp. 142 _sq._; A. Hahl, ”Das mittlere Neumecklenburg,”

_Globus_, xci. (1907) p. 313. Wilfred Powell's description of the New Ireland custom is similar (_Wanderings in a Wild Country_, London, 1883, p. 249). According to him, the girls wear wreaths of scented herbs round the waist and neck; an old woman or a little child occupies the lower floor of the cage; and the confinement lasts only a month. Probably the long period mentioned by Dr. Brown is that prescribed for chiefs'

daughters. Poor people could not afford to keep their children so long idle. This distinction is sometimes expressly stated. See above, p. 30.

Among the Goajiras of Colombia rich people keep their daughters shut up in separate huts at p.u.b.erty for periods varying from one to four years, but poor people cannot afford to do so for more than a fortnight or a month. See F.A. Simons, ”An Exploration of the Goajira Peninsula,”

_Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society_, N.S., vii. (1885) p.

791. In Fiji, brides who were being tattooed were kept from the sun (Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition, London, 1860, i. 170). This was perhaps a modification of the Melanesian custom of secluding girls at p.u.b.erty. The reason mentioned by Mr. Williams, ”to improve her complexion,” can hardly have been the original one.

[92] Rev. R.H. Rickard, quoted by Dr. George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 107 _sq._. His observations were made in 1892.

[93] R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der Sudsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), p.

272. The natives told Mr. Parkinson that the confinement of the girls lasts from twelve to twenty months. The length of it may have been reduced since Dr. George Brown described the custom in 1876.

[94] J. Chalmers and W. Wyatt Gill, _Work and Adventure in New Guinea_ (London, 1885), p. 159.

[95] H. Zahn and S. Lehner, in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch New-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 298, 418-420. The customs of the two tribes seem to be in substantial agreement, and the accounts of them supplement each other. The description of the Bukaua practice is the fuller.

[96] C.A.L.M. Schwaner, _Borneo, Beschrijving van het stroomgebied van den Barito_ (Amsterdam, 1853-1854), ii. 77 _sq._; W.F.A. Zimmermann, _Die Inseln des Indischen und Stillen Meeres_ (Berlin, 1864-1865), ii.

632 _sq._; Otto Finsch, _Neu Guinea und seine Bewohner_ (Bremen, 1865), pp. 116 _sq._.

[97] J.G.F. Riedel, _De sluik--en kroesharige ra.s.sen tusschen Selebes en Papua_ (The Hague, 1886), p. 138.

[98] A. Senfft, ”Ethnographische Beitrage uber die Karolineninsel Yap,”

_Petermanns Mitteilungen_, xlix. (1903) p. 53; _id._, ”Die Rechtssitten der j.a.p-Eingeborenen,” _Globus_, xci. (1907) pp. 142 _sq._.

[99] Dr. C.G. Seligmann, in _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xxix. (1899) pp. 212 _sq.; id._, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp.

203 _sq._