strange, and taking it into consideration that it was very difficult for any one to withstand a declaration of love from a young woman, they lost sight of the severe laws respecting the conduct of men towards married women, and determined that the offender should only pay a small fine, and advised the husband never again to leave his wife at home without provisions. The lady returned home with her husband, who was wise enough never to mention the subject, following up the old proverb-- "Men moet geene aude Koeijen uit de sloot halen." Among the Arafuras the treatment of their dead betrays, in the greatest degree, their uncivilized condition, and the uncertainty which exists among them as to their future state.[25] When a man dies all his relations assemble and destroy all the goods he may have collected during his life, even the gongs are broken to pieces and thrown away. In their villages I met with several heaps of porcelain plates and basins,[26] the property of deceased individuals, the survivors entertaining an idea that they have no right to make use of them. After death the body is laid out on a small mat, and supported against a ladder until the relatives of the deceased assemble, which seldom takes place until four days have elapsed; and as decomposition will have commenced before this, the parts where moisture has appeared are covered with lime. Fruitless endeavours to stop the progress of decay! In the meantime damar or resin is continually burnt in the house, while the guests who have already assembled regale themselves with quantities of arrack, and of a spirit they themselves prepare from the juice of a fruit, amid violent raving, the discord being increased by the beating of gongs and the howling and lamentation of the women. Food is offered to the deceased, and when they find that he does not partake of it, the mouth is filled with eatables, siri and arrack, until it runs down the body, and spreads over the floor. When the friends and relatives are all collected the body is placed upon a bier, on which had been laid numerous pieces of cloth, the quantity being according to the ability of the deceased; and under the bier are placed large dishes of China porcelain, to catch any moisture that may fall from the body. The dishes which have been put to this purpose are afterwards much prized, and it is for this reason that dishes of an enormous size are so much prized by the Arafuras. A portion of the moisture that has exuded, is mixed with arrack and drunk by the guests, who think that they thus show the true affection they bore to the deceased. During two or three days the house of the dead is constantly full of drunken and raving guests.