Note 3 — Illness, Death, and Burial

I was told of this Mafulu practice as being adopted only on the death of the woman’s child. But the custom is referred to by the Mekeo Government Agent (Mr. Giulianetti) in the Annual Report for June, 1900, pp. 73 and 78; and, according to him, its adoption applies also to deaths of other relatives—husband, father, and mother being especially mentioned by him—and he suggests that there are rules as regards these amputations, and says he understood that a mother would cut off the first joint for her children, and the second for her husband, father, or mother. He also gives information as to the way in which the amputation is effected.