Note 91 — Chapter II
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Footnote 91
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The Rev. G. Brown, quoted by the Rev. B. Danks, "Marriage Customs of the New Britain Group," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 284. sq.; id., Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 105-107. Compare id., "Notes on the Duke of York Group, New Britain, and New Ireland," Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, xlvii. (1877) pp. 142 sq.; A. Hahl, "Das mittlere Neumecklenburg," Globus, xci. (1907) p. 313. Wilfred Powell's description of the New Ireland custom is similar (Wanderings in a Wild Country, London, 1883, p. 249). According to him, the girls wear wreaths of scented herbs round the waist and neck; an old woman or a little child occupies the lower floor of the cage; and the confinement lasts only a month. Probably the long period mentioned by Dr. Brown is that prescribed for chiefs' daughters. Poor people could not afford to keep their children so long idle. This distinction is sometimes expressly stated. See above, p. 30. Among the Goajiras of Colombia rich people keep their daughters shut up in separate huts at puberty for periods varying from one to four years, but poor people cannot afford to do so for more than a fortnight or a month. See F.A. Simons, "An Exploration of the Goajira Peninsula," Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, N.S., vii. (1885) p. 791. In Fiji, brides who were being tattooed were kept from the sun (Thomas Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, Second Edition, London, 1860, i. 170). This was perhaps a modification of the Melanesian custom of secluding girls at puberty. The reason mentioned by Mr. Williams, "to improve her complexion," can hardly have been the original one.