th special knowledge of
the curative properties of various plants, and who gather the plant,
make an incantation over it, boil it in water, and then with that
water wash the wound. There are also men who operate surgically on
wounds with knives made of stone or shell or bamboo.

Charms, probably of a poisonous nature, are used generally for the
warding off of sickness, these being carried in the little charm bags.

A general and universal cure for all ailments is a piece of bark,
tied with a piece of string to the neck or head, all neck ornaments
having been first removed.

I regret that as regards all these matters I am only able to indicate
shortly and generally the methods of cure, and can give no further
explanation concerning them.

Death and Burial.

_(Ordinary People.)_

When a man or woman is regarded as dying, he or she is at once attended
by a woman whose permanent office it is to do this, and who has other
women and girls with her to assist her, these others including, but
not necessarily being confined to, the females of the dying man's own
family and relatives. The house is full of women; but there is no
man there. This special woman and the others attend the dying man,
[97] nursing him, washing him from time to time, and keeping the
flies away from him; but they apparently do not attempt any measures
for curing him, their offices only beginning when he is regarded as
dying. In the meantime they all wail, and there are also a number of
other women wailing outside the house.

The special woman watches the dying person; and when she thinks he
is dead she gives him a heavy blow on the side of the head with her
fist, and pronounces him dead. She apparently does not feel his heart,
or do more than watch his face; and I should think it may often be
that in point of fact he is not dead when the blow is given, and
might perhaps have recovered.

Then the women inside the house say to one another that he is dead,
and communicate the news to the people outside; whereupon the men in
the village all commence shouting as loudly as they can. The reason
given for this shouting is that it frightens away the man's ghost;
but if so it is apparently only a partial intimidation of the ghost,
who, as will be seen hereafter, is subjected to further alarms at a
later stage. The men communicate the news in the ordinary way adopted
by these people of shouting it across the valleys; and so it spreads
to other vil