A missionary in Batavia states that the people of the Island of Sumba, in the residence of Timor, drape the corpses of their dead, and bind them in a sitting posture to a post which is planted in front of the house of the deceased. The body of a chief is allowed to remain there till it decays; but the bodies of other persons, after two or three days, are buried in a grave which is dug in the shape of a well, and is afterward covered with a heavy stone. The clothes of the deceased and his jewelry are buried with him. The friends of the dead man are expected, while the body is exposed, to visit it, bringing gifts of clothing and other articles of value. The graves are situated in the midst of the towns, and are carefully attended to by the inhabitants.
According to the descriptions of a Dutch missionary, the funeral feasts of the Island of Halmahera are quite elaborate affairs. The ceremonies begin, after the deceased has been put in his coffin, with a rope-dance between the young men and the maidens, in which either party tries to pull the rope away from the other, to the music of a monotonous antiphonal chant, and which is continued through several evenings, with complete freedom from interference by the old people. Then follow four or five days of feasting, to which the whole neighborhood is invited to contribute in provisions and services, marchers and dancers, the men and the women taking the prominent part in the ceremonies on alternate days. On the last day of the feast, as large a company as possible is collected, to give effect to the final ceremonies. The body is placed in the grave, and is adorned with ornaments, lights, and garlands, and supplied with dishes of betel and provisions. Another banquet is served, the rope-dance is repeated, and a new ceremony, called the toku, is performed. For this, the young men and the girls take places in opposite rows, each confronting pair joining hands. A child, festively dressed, is lifted up and made to walk upon the road formed by the pairs of hands, singing a refrain, to which the partners in the files chant a response. Each hand-joined couple in the rows withdraws as soon as the child has passed it, and takes a new place at the farther end, so as to prolong the walk to the extent that the occasion may seem to call for. As soon as this play is over, the rope-dance is transferred to the sea-beach, and the funeralends with a ducking-match between the boys and the girls.
Dr. Miclucho Maclay describes the Orang-Sakai tribes of New Guinea as having a terrible fear of the dead. As soon as any one among them becomes critically sick, he is carried out into the forest and left there with a small supply of food. His hut is immediately destroyed, and no one will ever build again on the place where it stood. The remains of abandoned unfortunates are frequently met in the wilderness, as well as the ruins of huts which have been given up on account of the occurrence of death among their inmates.
Herr J. C. Dieterle has published an account of the curious royal
