t.]

The Papuans of the Mimika district, on the southern coast of Dutch New
Guinea, sometimes bury their dead in shallow graves near the huts;
sometimes they place them in coffins on rough trestles and leave them
there till decomposition is complete, when they remove the skull and
preserve it in the house, either burying it in the sand of the floor or
hanging it in a sort of basket from the roof, where it becomes brown
with smoke and polished with frequent handling. The people do not appear
to be particularly attached to these relics of their kinsfolk and they
sell them readily to Europeans. Mourners plaster themselves all over
with mud, and sometimes they bathe in the river, probably as a mode of
ceremonial purification. They believe in ghosts, which they call
_niniki_; but beyond that elementary fact we have no information as to
their beliefs concerning the state of the dead.[511]

[Sidenote: Burial customs at Windessi.]

The natives of Windessi in Dutch New Guinea generally bury their dead
the day after the decease. As a rule the corpse is wrapt in mats and a
piece of blue cloth and laid on a scaffold; few are coffined. All the
possessions of the dead, including weapons, fishing-nets, wooden bowls,
pots, and so forth, according as the deceased was a man or a woman, are
placed beside him or her. If the death is attributed to the influence of
an evil spirit, they take hold of a lock of hair of the corpse and
mention various places. At the mention of each place, they tug the hair;
and if it comes out, they conclude that the death was caused by somebody
at the place which was mentioned at the moment. But if the hair does not
come out, they infer that evil spirits had no hand in the affair. Before
the body is carried away, the family bathes, no doubt to purify
themselves from the contagion of death. Among the people of Windessi it
is a common custom to bury the dead in an island. At such a burial the
bystanders pick up a fallen leaf, tear it in two, and stroke the corpse
with it, in order that the ghost of the departed may not kill them. When
the body has been disposed of either in a grave or on a scaffold, they
embark in the canoe and sit listening for omens. One of the men in a
loud voice bids the birds and the flies to be silent; and all the others
sit as still as death in an attitude of devotion. At last, after an
interval of silence, the man who called out tells his fellows what he
has heard. If it was the buzz of