My Friends the Savages Part 28

"Alas! Look at us, don't leave us! Who will take care of us now! Who will defend us? Thou has departed before us and we shall follow thee".

The first moments of grief over they quickly destroy the hut visited by Death, then taking up the corpse they carry it into a thick part of the forest.

Here a grave is dug, from five to six feet deep and the body is placed in it, sometimes lying on its back, and sometimes in a sitting posture but always with its face turned towards the west. Some tobacco, betel and personal objects of the deceased are put near and then it is covered up with the ground. Sometimes these articles are strewn on the top of the grave and sometimes too instead of interring the corpse it is laid upon pieces of wood placed horizontally across the branches of a large tree, close to the trunk.

But whether buried or not, for seven days the dead person's relatives carry water, fruit, tobacco and sirih to the spot, over or under the last resting-place of their lost one, taking care to always keep a bright fire burning within the vicinity.

It is however with fear and trembling that this duty is performed and they regularly implore:

"Here is thy portion, but don't hurt us!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tomb of a woman.

_p._ 194.]

Finished the seven days mourning the memory of the dead fades, only awakening afresh when somebody pa.s.ses by the burial place when they deposit there a part of whatever they have with them, game or fruit.

For the sake of truth, though, I must say that the grief of parents for a child is not so soon cancelled, for I have seen some moved to tears at the remembrance of one who had been dead perhaps for many seasons.

The immediate consequence of a Sakai's death is the forsaking of the village by all the survivors for fear that the evil spirit which has bereaved them of a kinsman may do the same with another.

Then follows the march in search of a desirable spot, as I have already described. Taking the children and the little domestic goods they possess upon their shoulders they troop away seeking suitable ground for the erection of their new huts. The Elder, as head of the immense family, gives the signal for stopping where he thinks best and if there is an _Ala_ in their midst he consults with him about the choice of position.

When the site seems favourable a fire is quickly lighted and if the smoke goes up straight they settle there otherwise they continue their wanderings for the Sakai thinks that his whereabouts will be betrayed if the smoke is dispersed in the forest and that it will serve as a guide to some bad spirit--eager to do harm--that will cast its fatal influence over the company fleeing from the cruel spell of another.

Once the decision is made, with wonderful rapidity trees, and bushes are cut down and the huts are raised.

As in civilized countries. Death amongst the Sakais exacts an exterior manifestation of mourning, with this difference perhaps that with them it is much more sincere because they have not the comfort of a long expected and coveted legacy to make it a farce.

All ornaments have to be put aside; ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, nasal sticks, flowers, tattooing etc, for a period of time determined by the Elder but generally for not less than six months.

Those in mourning are rigorously prohibited to sing, play, dance, marry and even (quite a Lenten sin) to eat fish and meat on the some day.

The Sakais observe all these prescriptions with the greatest strictness and are scandalized should any of them be infringed before the appointed time. Whoever violates them is judged a heartless being and if a woman loses all the consideration that was hers before.

The duration of mourning varies according to relations.h.i.+p. That for a father or a mother is the same, but it is shorter for brothers and sisters and for little children there is none at all.

In this respect the Sakais are not dissimilar to their civilized fellow-beings who measure their grief by the black clothes they wear and at the demise of a baby, notwithstanding its parents' desolation, make the church-bells ring out the liveliest tunes.[17]

When a little Sakai opens its eyes to the light of this world no religious ceremony greets its arrival.

The woman who is about to become a mother separates herself from the rest of the family and retires by herself to a hut apart, where the floor is very high. n.o.body a.s.sists her at her confinement because there is perhaps no other event in the existence of a Sakai so involved in tenacious and perilous superst.i.tion as is that of birth. Her own husband and the father of the new-born babe dare not cross the threshold of the hut or make the acquaintance of his child until a long time after, that is, until it has got some strength.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grave of a Sakai man.

_p._ 194.]

It is always feared that by entering the cabin the smell of the child may be carried into the forest by means of which the Evil Spirit would be able to trace it out and do it some mischief. And for the same reason the newly-made mother dare not have contact with any of the adults who go into the jungle to hunt or for other purposes, but has food and water taken her by the children.

It is superfluous to add that for a given time before and after a confinement the presence of a stranger in the village is not tolerated, worse still if he is a white man.

The _Ala_, seconded by all, both males and females, is inflexible about this, a.s.serting that it would be the death of the babe, and it is a prudent thing to accept the veto with a good grace and to obey the sorcerer's orders without hesitation. Sometimes a stranger is not even allowed to look upon a woman who is in an interesting state, as it once happened to me.

Another time upon arriving at a village where a child had been born a few hours before, I was flatly refused hospitality, some Sakais preferring to accompany me a long way off and there erect a hut for my use on the formal understanding that I should not for any motive whatever attempt to approach the settlement. Had I not kept to this condition I should probably have been killed.

One cannot reason with terror.

The hut in which the poor woman is fulfilling the n.o.blest of Nature's missions is jealously guarded by day and by night.

Woe to the unfortunate individual who is found loitering around it if he is not one of the village!

The floor of the hut does not touch the ground that the odour of excrements may not penetrate into the earth and proclaim to the Evil Spirit: Here a babe is born!

The mother herself, with extreme caution places everything of this sort in vessels of bamboo which she hangs high up on the bough of a tree.

There the torrid sun quickly dries it all up and the smell emanating from it being diffused in the upper air the spirit cannot find out the sick woman or her child.

As soon as the period of gestation commences neither the woman nor her husband must eat the flesh of monkey or serpent in order not to transfer to the unborn child the tendencies of a quadruped or reptile.

They must also abstain from eating fish and meat on the same day and are obliged to be very careful not to enter a hut whilst it rains, this being always a very bad omen but especially so when an increase is expected in the family.

Another very bad sign is when the _cep plu_ sings near the encampment.

The Sakais consider it quite as unlucky as the grating screech of the night owl (birds kept in awe by the Sakais as being in familiarity with the Evil Spirit) on the roof of a house, or the spilling of salt is believed to be in many countries we know.

A few days before her confinement the woman picks up some leaves of the _bakau_ which have fallen to the ground and makes a decoction with them.

She drinks a little every day, continuing the cure even after child-birth. I do not know the wherefore of this but the women seem to think it exercises a particular effect upon them at this period.

Immediately the child is born its mother takes the fruit of the _bua kaluna_ and squeezes out a few drops into the little thing's mouth.

I have never been able to understand the reason of such a practice but believe that it is inspired by some superst.i.tion or hygienic rule of the natives.

The fruit of the _bua kaluna_ is sweet but has also a rather tart flavour.

After seven days have pa.s.sed the newly made mother leaves the hut and makes abundant ablutions that have the same character and scope as the religious duty imposed upon the Israelite women; that of respect for elementary hygiene.

From this moment the wife may return to her husband but she is not allowed to go into the forest and is obliged to wear upon her stomach a hot stone, which serves her as a cure and exorcism.

She returns to her faithful mate but she does not abandon her child whose separation from all other human beings, including its own father, cannot last for less than six months.

The birth and death of a Sakai, as here seen, is devoid of every rite or ceremony, as in the case of matrimony or divorce and do not require even the intervention of the _Ala_.