m being in or crossing the village enclosure. A girl is allowed to
enter the _emone_, though she may not sleep there, prior to receiving
her band, but after that she must never enter it.
A young unmarried man, who has arrived at the marriageable age, must
not eat in the presence of women. He can eat in the bush, or inside
the _emone_, but he must not eat on the platform of the _emone_,
where women might see him. There appear to be no other customs
of mutual avoidance, as, for example, that between son-in-law and
mother-in-law, and with reference to other marriage relationships,
such as are found in some of the Solomon Islands, and among various
other primitive races.
Children and unimportant adults must always pass behind a chief,
not in front of him, and when a chief is speaking, everyone else,
old and young, must be silent.
Young men and girls associate and talk freely together in public
among other people, but no young man would go about alone with a girl,
unless he was misconducting himself with her, or wished to do so.
Visiting is purely friendly and social, and there is no personal
system of formal and ceremonial visiting, except as between communities
or villages.
There do not appear to be any forms of physical salutation, but there
are recognised ways in which men address one another on meeting and
parting. If A and B meet in the bush, A may say to B, "Where do you
come from?", and B will answer, "I come from----." A may then say,
"Where are you going to?", and B will reply to this. Then B may
put similar questions to A, and will be similarly answered. These
questions are not necessarily asked because the questioner is really
anxious for information, but are in the nature of a formality,--the
equivalent of our "How do you do?" The system of asking and answering
these questions, though well recognised as a social form, is not
in practice strictly adhered to. Also A, on coming to a village and
finding B there, and wishing to salute him, will call him by name,
and B will then call A by name. Then A will say, "You are here,"
and B will reply, "I am here." This form is more strictly carried
out than is the other one. Then when A leaves he will say to B,
"I am going," and B will answer, "Go." Then B will call A by his
name, and A will call B by name, and the formality is finished. If A,
being very friendly with B, comes to his village to see him, on A's
departure B, and probably B's family, will accompany A
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