Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/491

 DECENCY AND DECORUM

The broad bleached leaf of the pandanus or areca palm which covers the male genitals is always put in place so precisely and securely that no instance of disarrangement has occurred within my knowledge. No person must ever touch it when it is in position. The word for it, yavigu, used with the pronoun of nearest possession as if it were a part of the body, is also an improper word which must not be uttered save in intimacy. It is interesting, however, that when it is necessary for practical reasons for men to take off the pubic leaf, as during the fishing or diving activities, this is done without either false shame or the slightest symptom of improper interest. The natives convey clearly by behaviour and comment that nakedness is not shameful when it is necessary, but becomes so when due to carelessness or lewdness (see ch. iii, sec. i, and secs. 3 and 4 of this chap.). Though the taboos surrounding female dress and its name are less stringent, it is just as carefully used as an instrument of modesty.

I have assembled these facts from certain aspects of intimate life, from the physiology of eating and excretion and from the treatment of anatomical aspects of the body, to illustrate native manners; and to demonstrate that, in spite of certain things which shock us profoundly, the natives show a delicacy and restraint in others which not only is elaborate and well defined, but is expressive of real moral attitudes: a substantial consideration for the feelings of others and certain sound biological principles. We may be shocked at a savage who tears his meat with his fingers, smacks his lips, grunts and belches in the enjoyment of his food; while the custom of eating each

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