Concerning love and grief—How love is made in New Guinea, and some of the charms used to ensure love and constancy—The grief of a New Guinea widow. To the marriageable young lady in civilised countries, leap year, and with it her chance of proposing, comes but a few times before she is “on the shelf,” but in some parts of New Guinea the proposal of marriage always comes from the girl. Some may think that this sort of love-making and marriage lacks romance, but to the Papuan it is the event of his or her life. It is in the hope of receiving a proposal that a man will go through endless adventures; it is to win the admiration of some good buxom girl that he risks his life head-hunting, and it is with pride and glory that he glances at his string of skulls which hangs from the poles of his hut, because he knows how brave the women will think him. {38} It is for this same object that he studies the art of dancing, that he cultivates his bushy hair (after he is married he often sells it) and the fine, healthy glow of his skin. His lithe limbs also come in for a deal of attention, and, as he struts proudly about, it is always with the hope that his superior charms and manhood may bring him the love and admiration of a young maiden. When a Papuan boy comes of age an interesting ceremony takes place. At about twelve years old, if he is of good stature, healthy and generally fit, his parents think it is time to prepare him for marriage, or, in their own language, make him _ibitoe_. The initial stage of this ceremony is merely a form of introduction to youths of his own age who are also _ibitoe_. In England more or less the same thing happens when a girl “comes out.” She is then supposed to be on a footing with “grown-ups,” and this is practically what happens to the youth of British New Guinea. From the day of his “coming out” he occupies his hours in pleasure-seeking and has a good time generally; this goes on for a certain period and then he sallies forth alone into the bush to make his drum. This drum-making is the most serious part of his “coming out,” and is conducted with a deal of {39} formality and ceremony which is quaintly mixed with superstition. Drums seem to be the most important possession a young Papuan has; in shape they are not unlike a golf bag on a somewhat larger scale. One end is covered with lizard skin drawn taut and bound round the end of the drum with fibre, leaving a frill below the binding; the other end is open, and at about the centre the instrument narrows off and a handle carved out of the wood protrudes. By this the drum is held when being beaten. The making of this musical instrument is an arduous task; it is hewn out from a solid block of wood by means of the crudest instruments, the hollow centre is made by burning it out with cinders of red-hot wood.