Regarding the permanency of marriage-unions. Among the “Savages of the North”--the Taiyal and Saisett--the separation of husband and wife is almost unknown, with the exception of those few unions, already referred to, where the woman is apparently of mixed pigmy blood. With the tribes of the South, however, separation is more frequent, based apparently--in many cases certainly--on “mutual incompatibility.” In such cases the separation is usually a peaceful one, both husband and wife frequently remarrying. It is among the Ami that the frequency of separation and remarriage reaches its height, marriages in this tribe often not lasting more than two years; that is, among young people. A marriage that occurs between people of thirty-five years or over (in which case, naturally, according to the custom of this tribe, both have been married before) is usually a lasting one. The children of temporary unions, such as have been described, go sometimes with one parent, sometimes with the other. The arrangement seems always an amicable one, the grandparents of the children often deciding the matter. Priestesses are also usually consulted on this point, as on others that affect either individual or tribal welfare. FOOTNOTES: [78] _Melia japonica._ [79] Or “the low-born,” her words might also be translated. [80] Hesiod, _Works and Days_, verse 825 (as translated by Miss E. J. Harrison). [81] The different methods of house-building will be dealt with under ARTS AND CRAFTS. [82] Among a few groups living in the eastern section of the territory inhabited by the Taiyal, there is a special “bride-house,” i.e. a hut erected on piles, some twenty feet above ground. In this “bride-house” every newly married couple of the tribal group must spend the first five days and nights after marriage. The house is exorcised by the priestesses before the entrance of the bridal pair. [83] The newly married couple among the Paiwan--the tribe adjoining the Piyuma--live for a short time only with the parents of the bride, before building a home of their own. According to tradition, this tribe was once altogether matrilocal, as the Piyuma still are. Among certain groups of the Ami also, the newly married couple live for a time with the parents of the bride. CHAPTER IX CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH ILLNESS AND DEATH Belief that Illness is due to Evil _Ottofu_--Ministrations of the Priestess--A Seventeenth-century Dutch Record of the Treatment of the Dying by the Formosan Aborigines--The “Dead Houses” of the Taiyal--Burial of the Dead by the Ami, Bunun, and Paiwan Tribes beneath the Hearth-stone of the Home--“Green” and “Dry” Funerals.