"The young woman prepares a mat for her lover, and after dark he comes to visit her. The parents are, of course, aware that their daughter is receiving a visitor, and are indeed proud that she should be thus so sought after; but at the same time they warn her to be cautious. The lover departs again before daybreak, in order that there may be no gossip in the village about their engagement until all is settled. These visits extend over some weeks, and at last one morning he remains until the day has broken, as a sign that the engagement may be formally announced." [168] _Cf._ Malay custom during the marriage ceremony, of the bride's female friends trying to prevent the entrance of the bridegroom and his companions. [169] In some places in the south it is said that coconut plantations are held in common by all in the village. [170] "With regard to _takoia_, there is an observance of tabu when a death occurs. The coconut and pandanus plantation of the deceased is banned, the fruit being allowed to drop and germinate where it lies. The trees are marked by having coconut fronds fastened round their trunks, so no one, even a stranger, can appropriate the fruit through ignorance. As in the case of a large plantation it would be too great a task to mark each tree in this way, only the most conspicuous trees along the boundary are so distinguished, as this suffices to indicate that all within the boundary are included in the _tabu_."--E. H. Man. [171] Dr Guillemard on "The Papuans," _Australasia_, vol. ii., 1894. [172] The only place where the domestication of the megapode is recorded is the island of Savo in the Solomons. Here the birds may be seen sitting quietly on the fences about the villages, and the laying-grounds are regularly portioned out amongst the inhabitants.--Vide _Among the Man-eaters_, by John Gaggin; London, Fisher Unwin. [173] "Their favourite weapons are javelins, which they throw fifty yards; they often poison the point with a subtle drug."--Chopard, _J. I. A._, 1847. "Lances with points of iron or hardened wood."--Scherzer, _Cruise of the Novara_, 1858; and see p. 281. [174] _Cf._ "The large quadrangular nut is a 'common object of the sea-shore' in the Malay Islands, and is much used by the natives to catch fish. The fruit is pounded and thrown into the water, and the fish, rising to the surface in a stupefied condition, are easily secured."--P. 188, _Cruise of the Marchesa_, by F. H. H. Guillemard; London, John Murray, 1889. Also used for the same purpose by natives of the Solomons.--_Vide_ H. B. Guppy's _Solomon Islands_; London, Swan, Sonnenschein. [175] _Vide_ item 2 of plate facing p. 94. [176] In some of the islands a pot-cover is made by sewing together a special kind of leaf with long slips of rattan, until a pad quite an inch in thickness is obtained.