the blue flies that he heard, some one
else will die. If it was the booming sound of a triton shell blown in
the distance, a raid must be made in that direction to rob and murder.
Why it must be so, is not said, but we may suppose that the note of the
triton shell is believed to betray the place of the enemy who has
wrought the death by magic, and that accordingly an expedition must be
sent to avenge the supposed crime on the supposed murderer. If the note
of a bird called _kohwi_ is heard, then the fruit-trees will bear fruit.
Though all the men sit listening in the canoe, the ominous sounds are
heard only by the man who called out.[512]

[Sidenote: Mourning customs at Windessi.]

When the omens have thus been taken, the paddles again dip in the water,
and the canoe returns to the house of mourning. Arrived at it, the men
disembark, climb up the ladder (for the houses seem to be built on piles
over the water) and run the whole length of the long house with their
paddles on their shoulders. Curiously enough, they never do this at any
other time, because they imagine that it would cause the death of
somebody. Meantime the women have gone into the forest to get bark,
which they beat into bark-cloth and make into mourning caps for
themselves. The men busy themselves with plaiting armlets and leglets of
rattan, in which some red rags are stuck. Large blue and white beads are
strung on a red cord and worn round the neck. Further, the hair is shorn
in sign of mourning. Mourners are forbidden to eat anything cooked in a
pot. Sago-porridge, which is a staple food with some of the natives of
New Guinea, is also forbidden to mourners at Windessi. If they would eat
rice, it must be cooked in a bamboo. The doors and windows of the house
are closed with planks or mats, just as with us the blinds are lowered
in a house after a death. The surviving relatives make as many long
sago-cakes as there are houses in the village and send them to the
inmates; they also prepare a few for themselves. All who do not belong
to the family now leave the house of mourning. Then the eldest brother
or his representative gets up and all follow him to the back verandah,
where a woman stands holding a bow and arrows, an axe, a paddle, and so
forth. Every one touches these implements. Since the death, there has
been no working in the house, but this time of inactivity is now over
and every one is free to resume his usual occupations. This ends the
prelimi