[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

RITUAL LIFE OF WOMEN 481
mat head-dress nimban, the insignia by which a woman is
distinguished from a girl.
Generally several girls will go through m'vn;{>v0wien together,
though it rests with the father to decide when his daughter shall
have her teeth removed. The novices are taken away into the
bush to the house of the Lajms, and here they remain in seclusion
for about a week. The sacred head-dresses (metemet mnmd) which
are kept in this house are carefully hidden out of sight, for none
but the fully initiated may see them. During this period of
seclusion the girls are prepared in diverse ways for the ordeal
before them. They are made to lie down on the ground and are
covered over with leaves of nisivung, naaii mbuas, and a variety
of fern called mmr mbei mbei. One informant said that they were
covered with leaves and grass as sows are when they are about
to litter. It is desired that the girls shall remain very still under
their leafy coverlet ; according to one statement they simulate
death, but another note states that they are bedded down in this
manner so that they may sleep all the time and their muscles
become flabby thereby. Certainly all exercise is prohibited to
them, and whenever one of them is forced to leave the hut for
the purposes of nature her mother must carry her. It is believed
that this relaxation of the muscles and life of repose will have
the effect of loosening the n0vice’s teeth and making them come
out more easily. To this same end a certain leaf is rubbed on
the gums and the girl must at all costs avoid contact with men.
Her father in particular must remove himself from her neighbour-
hood for were he to remain anywhere near, his daughter's teeth
would become very ï¬Årmly ï¬Åxed and be very diï¬Åicult to knock
out‘ For the same reason no man must look at a girl while she
is in seclusion, and although young unincised boys may approach
her, they must for the time being put on a penis-wrapper (nambas),
for if a girl were to see the naked penis it would be bad for her
teeth.‘ During these seven days the candidate for nivajrvowizn
must fast. It is probable that this means that she observes certain
food tabus rather than that she abstaius from all food, but
unfortunately we have no details on this subject.
_On the evening preceding the operation, the women gather
1 According tu one note the candidate must also refrain mun walking nn
stony paths lest her teeth should become too ï¬Årmly rooted. Since, according
to other notes, she is not allowed to take any exercise, it it difficult to under-
stand why special mention should be made oi walking on stony phths.—C. H. w.
Xl
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