. A naturalist's wanderings in the Eastern archipelago; a narrative of travel and exploration from 1878 to 1883. at last becoming excited also, dress themselves in their warfeathers and accoutrements, and brandishing their swords, joinin the drunken and demoniacal scene, which continues toincrease in fury till the wearied-out frames of the performerssink through utter exhaustion, which it often requires, so madis their frenzy, a whole circuit of the sun to produce. In sucha scene the Timorese appear as pure savages. When these orgies at last come to a close, the skulls andcheekbones of the sla
. A naturalist's wanderings in the Eastern archipelago; a narrative of travel and exploration from 1878 to 1883. at last becoming excited also, dress themselves in their warfeathers and accoutrements, and brandishing their swords, joinin the drunken and demoniacal scene, which continues toincrease in fury till the wearied-out frames of the performerssink through utter exhaustion, which it often requires, so madis their frenzy, a whole circuit of the sun to produce. In sucha scene the Timorese appear as pure savages. When these orgies at last come to a close, the skulls andcheekbones of the slain herds are strewn over the groundamong the stones heaped upon it at the time of burial; or in IN TIMOR. 437 the case of persons of rank or importance the jaw-bones andhorns are inserted into holes one above the other in a tallpole, whose number indicates the eminence of him who sleepsbelow. Such a memento stood within this Sauo homesteadenclosure to mark the resting-place of the Datos a king dies the chief officers of the kingdom aresummoned to pronounce that he is really dead. As soon as. GRAVE STICK IN THE HOMESTEAD OF SAUO. this declaration has been made the whole family, who havetill then preserved complete silence, break out into cries andlamentations. For seven days no work is permitted to bedone within the limits of the kingdom, no betel or sin may beused, and the people must cut their hair in token of weeks and even months the relatives of the defunct rulercontinue to arrive, and as each one must view the co^»e as it 438 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS died, it Las become by then a mass of putrefaction emitting apestilential odour, which to the Timorese gives no apparentdiscomfort. As during this period whoever arrives must befeasted, every buffalo, horse and pig that the family possesshave often to be slaughtered, reducing them to absolutepoverty. On the conclusion of these death ceremonies thefamily leave the house, but the body remains there
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
