. Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence; . awl between thefamilies. This, however, ceased as soonas a member of the bridegrooms peoplehad been marked —that is to say, assoon as a little blood had flowed; it was feltthen that enough had been done to showthe value the girls family put upon theirwomen. After this, the girl—now considereda bride—and the bridegroom were dressedin their best, and were seated at oppositeends of a mat, while an exchange of presentsof food took place between the two families. On tlie island of Saibai, which is o
. Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence; . awl between thefamilies. This, however, ceased as soonas a member of the bridegrooms peoplehad been marked —that is to say, assoon as a little blood had flowed; it was feltthen that enough had been done to showthe value the girls family put upon theirwomen. After this, the girl—now considereda bride—and the bridegroom were dressedin their best, and were seated at oppositeends of a mat, while an exchange of presentsof food took place between the two families. On tlie island of Saibai, which is only twelve miles from the New Guinea coast, each woman went through aMotherhood i • i i- 1 in Saibai most mterestmg ceremony when it was recognised that she was about to become a mother for the first time. A peculiar ornament, called bid—- 20 which, in fact, is a primitive rci)resinta-tion of a child—was made, and tliis tliewoman wore wiiile she ceremonially paradedabout the village. Tiie body of the hidwas made of strips of sago leaf, a bambooloop at one end represented the nose and. MERAUKE neck ornaments and method of dressing the hair. two bamboo knots the childs eyes. Thewhole thing was about twenty inches long,and was worn hanging from the neck, sothat the head end rested o\-er the lowerpart of the chest bone ; the two jiiecesof string which were knotted round theneck to prevent it falling represented thearms of the child, while two other pieces,which were passed round the waist andknotted behind to prevent the bid slippinground to the side of the body, representedits legs. On leaving the islands of Torres Straitsfor the mainland of New Guinea, a vast,scarcely explored region of low, swampy,and very unhealthy country is reached, and but little is known concerning the habits 154 WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS and customs of the natives of this part, the a man is ill, or about to die, he is, in some most interesting of whom are tlie Tugeri. cases, removed to
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