This was perhaps a modification of the Melanesian custom of secluding girls at puberty. The reason mentioned by Mr. Williams, "to improve her complexion," can hardly have been the original one. [92] Rev. R.H. Rickard, quoted by Dr. George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 107 _sq._. His observations were made in 1892. [93] R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der Südsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), p. 272. The natives told Mr. Parkinson that the confinement of the girls lasts from twelve to twenty months. The length of it may have been reduced since Dr. George Brown described the custom in 1876. [94] J. Chalmers and W. Wyatt Gill, _Work and Adventure in New Guinea_ (London, 1885), p. 159. [95] H. Zahn and S. Lehner, in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch New-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 298, 418-420. The customs of the two tribes seem to be in substantial agreement, and the accounts of them supplement each other. The description of the Bukaua practice is the fuller. [96] C.A.L.M. Schwaner, _Borneo, Beschrijving van het stroomgebied van den Barito_ (Amsterdam, 1853-1854), ii. 77 _sq._; W.F.A. Zimmermann, _Die Inseln des Indischen und Stillen Meeres_ (Berlin, 1864-1865), ii. 632 _sq._; Otto Finsch, _Neu Guinea und seine Bewohner_ (Bremen, 1865), pp. 116 _sq._. [97] J.G.F. Riedel, _De sluik--en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_ (The Hague, 1886), p. 138. [98] A. Senfft, "Ethnographische Beiträge über die Karolineninsel Yap," _Petermanns Mitteilungen_, xlix. (1903) p. 53; _id._, "Die Rechtssitten der Jap-Eingeborenen," _Globus_, xci. (1907) pp. 142 _sq._. [99] Dr. C.G. Seligmann, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxix. (1899) pp. 212 _sq.; id._, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 203 _sq._ [100] Dr. C.G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) p. 205. [101] L. Crauford, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxiv. (1895) p. 181. [102] Dr. C.G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ v. 206. [103] Walter E. Roth, _North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5, Superstition, Magic, and Medicine_ (Brisbane, 1903), pp. 24 _sq._ [104] Walter E. Roth, _op. cit._ p. 25. [105] Dr. C.G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904), p. 205. [106] From notes kindly sent me by Dr. C.G. Seligmann. The practice of burying a girl at puberty was observed also by some Indian tribes of California, but apparently rather for the purpose of producing a sweat than for the sake of concealment. The treatment lasted only twenty-four hours, during which the patient was removed from the ground and washed three or four times, to be afterwards reimbedded. Dancing was kept up the whole time by the women. See H. R. Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia, 1853-1856), v. 215.