Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/245

Rh himself and his youngest son, Dipapa (see pl. 41). Especially were the five favourite sons of himself and Kadamwasila each said to be exactly like his father. When I pointed out that this similarity to the father implied similarity to each other, such a heresy was indignantly repudiated. There are also definite customs which embody this dogma of patrilineal similarity. Thus, after a man's death, his kinsmen and friends will come from time to time to visit his children in order to "see his face in theirs." They will give them presents, and sit looking at them and wailing. This is said to soothe their insides because they have seen once more the likeness of the dead.

How do the natives reconcile the inconsistency of this dogma with the matrilineal system? When questioned they will say: "Yes, maternal kinsmen are the same flesh, but similar faces they have not." When you inquire again why it is that people resemble their father, who is a stranger and has nothing to do with the formation of their body, they have a stereotyped answer: "It coagulates the face of the child j for always he lies with her, they sit together." The expression kuli, to coagulate, to mould, was used over and over again in the answers which I received. This is a statement of the social doctrine concerning the influence of the father over the physique of the child, and not merely the personal opinion of my informants. One of my informants explained it to me more exactly, turning his open hands to me palm upwards: "Put some soft mash {sesa) on it, and it will mould like the hand. In the same manner, the husband remains with the woman and the child is moulded." Rh