Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/576

 534 Reviews.

sign of mourning. When a village chief dies, those belonging to his totem from all the neighbouring villages bring food to the burial feast; members of any other totem bring no food, although they come to the feast. The widow's hair is cut, her mourning costume being provided by her lubai^ — in this instance the sisters of her dead husband, who also shorten her petticoat and cut her armlets and leglets at the conclusion of her term of mourning. When a woman dies, her lubai, — in this case her husband's brothers, — dig the grave and bury her, after which the usual feast takes place. A widower blackens himself and wears mourning for his wife, his mourning gear being provided by his female bibai^ — dead wife's sisters. On the night following the burial the body is exhumed by the dead man's father, or, if he is absent, the dead man's sister's husband may perform the duty. The bones of the legs and arms are then removed, and these are made into spatulge by the father, brother-in-law, and children, who alone are allowed to use them, ceremonially. The terminal joints of the phalanges are worn by the children, and in some cases the jaw is worn as a bracelet by the widow. In the case of the death of a paramount chief, his father or his sister's husband removes the bones from the arms and legs, and perhaps even some of the ribs ; these bones are distributed to people of all the totems except that of the dead man, each village chief in his district receiving one bone. Enough bones would be reserved for making lime spatulas for the ceremonial use of the father, children, and sister's husband. The skull would be made by the children of the deceased into a lime pot, which they, and perhaps also their father's widows, might use. In every case it is the relations-in-law or the liibai who remove the bones and make the spatulae, and who also perform the office of burying the dead.

In the Marshall Bennets the widow almost invariably keeps the skull of her husband in the house, and wears his jaw as a bracelet, while his vertebrae and phalanges are worn by her brothers and her children. A widower also keeps the skull of his late wife in his house, and wears her lower jaw as a bracelet, while her vertebrae are worn by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. In some parts a dead man's jaw will be worn by his son. In