r than pig, is proportionately increased.

At a subsequent date there will be a purification ceremony, at which
a wild pig or pigs will be killed and eaten by the villagers; though,
if the perineal band ceremony has taken place during a big feast,
the purification ceremony in connection with the latter will be the
only one to take place.

There is no system of seclusion of either boys or girls on attaining
puberty, or in connection with initiation, or on attaining a
marriageable age. Nor is there any initiation ceremony, or wearing
of ceremonial masks, or use of bull-roarers. The custom by which
chiefs' children, when assuming the perineal band, are made to stand
on a platform reminds one, however, of the Hood Peninsular custom
for girls to stand on a dubu platform for the initiation ceremony,
as referred to by Dr. Seligmann. [76]

Ceremony on Admission to Emone.

Both boys and girls must undergo a ceremony before being allowed
to enter the _emone_. It generally takes place when they are two,
three, or four years old. The preliminary decoration of the child
is similar to that adopted for the perineal band ceremony, except
that, if the child has lost either of its parents, this decoration is
omitted. The erection of receptacles and provision of food and pigs,
and the invitation of guests and dancing, and the killing of the pigs
are the same as in the case of the other ceremony; also each child
has to stand on the pig which his people provide for him.

There is, however, no putting on of a feather ornament, but instead
of it the following performance takes place:--Each child has been
carried by its mother or father or other relative, but is taken from
that person by the man who has bought the pig. This man places the
child on the dead pig; then he immediately picks the child up again,
and runs with it to one of the _emone_, upon the platform of which two
rows of men are sitting, and hands it to the man at the end of one of
the rows. The child is then rapidly passed from hand to hand along
that row, and then along the other row, after which it is returned
to its carrier, who runs with it to the other _emone_, on which
also two rows of men are sitting, and where a similar performance
takes place. During all this performance there is much shouting and
calling out to the child-carrier to hurry. Finally, when the child
is again handed back to this man, he returns it to its parents,
and the ceremony is finished.