ew minutes
about once an hour in the daytime, but not so often at night.

The funeral takes place probably about twenty-four hours after
death. The body is now wrapped up by the special woman attendant,
helped by the female relatives of the deceased, in leaves, especially
banana leaves, and bark of trees, and remains so wrapped up in
the house.

It is placed with the knees bent up to the chin, and the heels to the
buttocks. In the meantime men of the village dig a grave 2 or 3 feet
deep in the village open enclosure. When all is ready the funeral
song begins again, the singers this time being the female relatives
of the deceased and the women who have come from outside villages,
but not the other women of the village of the deceased. Men of the
village then carry the corpse, wrapped and doubled up, and place it,
lying on its back, in the grave. There is no real procession from the
house to the grave, though all the people assemble at the latter;
but during the whole of the time, until the body is in the grave,
the singing by the women of the funeral song continues. As soon as
the body is in the grave, all the men, both villagers and visitors,
shout again as before, and for the same purpose. The grave is then
filled up, the women in the meantime singing as before; and when this
is done the funeral is over.

The relatives of the deceased now go into mourning. The widow or
widower or other nearest relative wears the mourning string necklace
already described. He or she, and also the other near relatives,
smear their faces, and sometimes, but not always, their bodies, with
black, to which, as regards the face, but not the body, is added oil or
water. Some more distant relatives, instead of blackening themselves,
wear the mourning shell necklace. And all this will continue,
nominally without break, until the mourning is formally removed, in
the way to be explained hereafter. As a matter of fact, the insignia
of mourning are not worn without interruption, and the black smearing
is by no means so retained; but on any special occasion the person
would take care to appear in mourning. There is a custom under which
the widow or widower or other nearest relative may, instead of wearing
the mourning string necklace, abstain during the period of mourning
from eating some particular food, of which deceased was most fond. [98]

In connection with mourning, I should also mention a curious custom,
which I understand is common, thou