Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/203

Rh of corpses, and visits among their overseas cannibal neighbours supply them with an exact knowledge of the homologies of the human and animal organism. Their physiological theories, on the other hand, are remarkably defective; there are many notable gaps in their knowledge about the functions of the most important organs, side by side with some fantastic and strange ideas.

Their understanding of sexual anatomy is, on the whole, limited in comparison with what they know about other parts of the human body. Considering the great interest which they take in this matter, the distinctions which they make are superficial and rough, and their terminology meagre. They distinguish and name the following parts: vagina {wila), clitoris {kasesa), penis {kwila), testes {puwala). They have no words to describe the mons veneris as a whole, nor the labia majora and minora. The glans penis they describe as the "point" of the penis {matala kwila) and the prepuce as the skin of the penis {kanivinela kwila). The internal female organs are called generically bam, and this comprises the uterus and the placenta. There is no special word for the ovaries.

Their physiological views are crude. The organs, of sex serve for excretion and for pleasure. The excretive urinary processes are not associated with the kidneys. A narrow duct (wotuna) leads from the stomach directly to the bladder, from which it passes through the male and female genitals. Through this canal the water which we drink passes slowly till it is expelled, and on its way it becomes discoloured and sullied in the stomach by contact Rh