________________
260
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1899.
The blades and prongs of the spears retained by the mourners are, like those sacrificed at the grave, bent or rendered otherwise - at least temporarily - upserviceable. They are, however, sometimes after the laneatla, or final memorial feast, which brings the mourning period to a close, repaired and again brought into use. In the meantime, as will be found mentioned in a subsequent paper dealing with Memorial Feasts, they form part of the display of property which is made by the chief monrner on each of the kornák (or memorial feast) days, which occur at stated times during an interval of two or more years.
Domestic pets (if any), such as paroquets, minahs and monkeys, owned by the deceased, are given away to friends. Dogs were formerly killed at the death of their master and buried in the jungle, but now-a-days they are spared and appropriated by some other member of the family.
Any money possessed by a dead person, over and above that buried with him,76 is kept till nearly the close of the mourning-period, when it is expended in the purchase of rice and other articles which have to be provided for the final feast; or -- and this of conirse refers only to silver coins - is converted into personal ornaments, which are worn for the first time on that occasion.
At the termination of the ceremonies at the grave the mourning party return to their hut, where one or two women cover their heads with cloths and, leaving the face exposed, turn to the wall which is between them and the direction of the grave and weep silently.77 This is said to be in token that the general body of mourners, whose representatives they are, although compelled to be otherwise engaged, are equally grief-stricken and would fain indulge their sorrow by refraining from every kind of employment.
While this scene is taking place within, outside the hat the demonstrations of woe assume more serious form, and the grief and despair at the bereavement felt by the community in general and the family in particular are shewn by hacking almost in hall one of the supporting posts at the entrance of the hut. Although the injury is not so great as to endanger ile stability of the dwelling it is sufficient to necessitate the substitution of a new pile ; bat this renewal is deferred till the celebratioa of the last of the memorial-feasts, called lu-nedt-la (from leüt signifying " finished, enough ").79
Under every dwelling-hut there is a light wooden platform, called itäha, on which are. kept various articles, e. g., one or more pomál-on/70 (ante, Vol. XXIV. p. 186) also bundles of tire wood, freshly-gathered bunches of Pandanus fruit, vegetables, etc. After the partial
6 The late Mr. de Röcpstorff stated that "the silver things are laid on the chest of the corpse, but they are afterwards recovered when the skuil is dug up." The mistake hero made probably arose from his having seen the ornameute taken out of the grave, as is sometimes done at the exhumation, in order to clean them. They are, however, invariably restored in the course of a few hours, or at any rate as soon as the skull is re-interred at the close of the Festival. It would be entirely opposed to all their views and sentiments in this matter to re-appropriate anything that has been sacrificed or offered in honor of the dead. - A Dictionary of the Nancovery Dialect, Home Dept. Press, Calcutta, 1884, page 261.
11 This is termed the ha-chij.anthare, in allusion to the self-imposed Int and abstention from social enjoy ments on the part of the disconsolato mourners.
15 If a death oceara whilo a festival is being held the body is usually removed to the nearest villagt for intermout, but under these circumstances it is generally brought back at the la-net-la feast, and interred in the family burial-place.
These are largo cylindrical bundles, generally about three feet in diameter and about a foot thick, having all the appearance of being firewood, but each billet is so neatly trimmed and shaped that one might expect even casual observer to entertain a doubt as to its being really intended for such an ordinary purpose. They are always kept in readiness for offering on the grave of a relative or friend at the celebration of the first memorial feast (entoin), and are never burnt. They entail no little timo and trouble in their construotion, and therein lies the inerit of the uffering. It is recorded by the late Mr. do Roepstorff (A Dictionary of the Nancowry Dialect, Home Dept. Press, Calcutta, 1884, p. 90) that Pastor D. Rosen, a Danish Lutheran minister who conducted a mission in Nancowry Harbour in 1831-34, wrote as follows regarding these singular objects : -" It has amused me to watch tho pedantry shown by the Nicobareso in their choice and treatment of firewood," showing that he, like
any subsequent visitors, misapprehended the real use for which the pomák-dith is intended.
