sorrow, the others sing songs, and, as the night goes on, people will stand up and recite fragments of magic in honour of the departed, chanting them over the heads of the crowd.
The body is not allowed to remain long in peace — if the weird, noisy, and discordant din of singing, wailing, and haranguing can be so described. On the following evening, the body is exhumed, and inspected for signs of sorcery (see pl. 33). Such an inspection yields most important clues, as to who caused the death by witchcraft and for what motive this was done. I have assisted at this ceremony several times; the photograph for plate 33 was taken during the first exhumation of Ineykoya, wife of Toyodala, my best informant in Oburaku.[1]
Before daybreak after the first exhumation, the body is taken out of the grave, and some of the bones are removed from it. This anatomical operation is done by the man's sons, who keep some of the bones as relics and distribute the others to certain of their relatives. This practice has been strictly forbidden by the Government — another instance of the sacrifice of most sacred religious custom to the prejudice and moral susceptibilities of the "civilized" white. Yet the Trobrianders are so deeply attached to this custom that it is still clandestinely performed, and I have seen the jaw-bone of a man with whom I had spoken a few days before dangling from the neck of his widow (see pls. 34, 35, and 36).
The excision of the bones and their subsequent use as
- ↑ For further information about the signs of sorcery, see Crime and Custom, pp. 87-91.
