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Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer



S >> Sir James George Frazer >> Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I.

Pages:
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[9] Rev. J. Roscoe, "Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the
Baganda," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp.
62, 67; _id., The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 154 _sq._ Compare L.
Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (London, 1898), p. 445 note:
"Before horses had been introduced into Uganda the king and his mother
never walked, but always went about perched astride the shoulders of a
slave--a most ludicrous sight. In this way they often travelled hundreds
of miles." The use both of horses and of chariots by royal personages
may often have been intended to prevent their sacred feet from touching
the ground.

[10] E. Torday et T.A. Joyce, _Les Bushongo_ (Brussels, 1910), p. 61.

[11] Northcote W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking
Peoples of Nigeria_ (London, 1913), i. 57 _sq._

[12] _Satapatha Brahmana_, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part iii.
(Oxford, 1894) pp. 81, 91, 92, 102, 128 _sq. (Sacred Books of the East_,
vol. xli.).

[13] A.W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 172.

[14] Letter of Missionary Krick, in _Annales de la Propagation de la
Foi_, xxvi. (1854) pp. 86-88.

[15] Pechuel-Loesche, "Indiscretes aus Loango," _Zeitschrift fuer
Ethnologie_, x. (1878) pp. 29 _sq._

[16] Edgar Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_ (Madras,
1906), p. 70.

[17] M.C. Schadee, "Het familieleven en familierecht der Dajaks van
Landak en Tajan," _Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indie_, lxiii. (1910) p. 433.

[18] James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), p.
382; _Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner_ (London,
1830), p. 123. As to the taboos to which warriors are subject see _Taboo
and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 157 _sqq._

[19] Etienne Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_ (Saigon, 1885), p. 26.

[20] _Die gestritgelte Rockenphilosophie_*[5] (Chemnitz, 1759), pp. 586
_sqq._

[21] Baldwin Spencer and F.J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central
Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 364, 370 _sqq._, 629; _id., Across
Australia_ (London, 1912), ii. 280, 285 _sq._

[22] C.G. Seligmann, M.D., _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_
(Cambridge, 1910), pp. 589-599.

[23] George Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910),
pp. 60 _sq._, 64. As to the Duk-duk society, see below, vol. ii. pp. 246
_sq._

[24] John Keast Lord, _The Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British
Columbia_ (London, 1866), ii. 237.

[25] Edwin James, _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky
Mountains_ (London, 1823), ii. 47; Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, "Omaha
Sociology," _Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_
(Washington, 1884), p. 226.

[26] James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), pp.
161-163.

[27] (Sir) Henry Babington Smith, in _Folk-lore_, v. (1894) p. 340.

[28] Miss C.F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_ (London, 1883), p. 211.

[29] W. Gregor, "Quelques coutumes du Nord-est du Comte d'Aberdeen,"
_Revue des Traditions populaires_, iii. (1888) p. 485 B. Compare
_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 158 _sq._

[30] R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and London,
1878), i. 450.

[31] E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_ (Edinburgh and London,
1888), ii. 7.

[32] F. Grabowsky, "Der Distrikt Dusson Timor in Suedost-Borneo und seine
Bewohner," _Das Ausland_, 1884, No. 24, p. 470.

[33] _Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition made by Charles F.
Hall_, edited by Prof. J.E. Nourse (Washington, 1879), pp. 110 _sq._

[34] See _Taboo and Perils of the Soul_, pp. 207 _sqq._

[35] Walter E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central
Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, 1897), p. 156, Sec. 265. The
custom of killing a man by pointing a bone or stick at him, while the
sorcerer utters appropriate curses, is common among the tribes of
Central Australia; but amongst them there seems to be no objection to
place the bone or stick on the ground; on the contrary, an Arunta wizard
inserts the bone or stick in the ground while he invokes death and
destruction on his enemy. See Baldwin Spencer and F.J. Gillen, _Native
Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 534 _sqq.; id.,
Northern Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1904), pp. 455 _sqq._

[36] Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 145 _sq._

[37] Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_ xxviii. 33 _sq._

[38] Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of
Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 184. As to the superstitions attaching to
stone arrowheads and axeheads (celts), commonly known as "thunderbolts,"
in the British Islands, see W.W. Skeat, "Snakestones and Stone
Thunderbolts," _Folklore_, xxiii. (1912) pp. 60 _sqq._; and as to such
superstitions in general, see Chr. Blinkenberg, _The Thunderweapon in
Religion and Folklore_ (Cambridge, 1911).

[39] Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_, xxix. 52-54.

[40] W. Borlase, _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County
of Cornwall_ (London, 1769), pp. 142 _sq._; J. Brand, _Popular
Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 322; J.G. Dalyell,
_Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 140 _sq._;
Daniel Wilson, _The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_
(Edinburgh, 1851), pp. 303 _sqq._; Lieut.-Col. Forbes Leslie, _The Early
Races of Scotland and their Monuments_ (Edinburgh, 1866), i. 75 _sqq._;
J.G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands
of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 84-88; Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and
Folk-stories of Wales_ (London, 1909), pp. 170 _sq._; J.C. Davies,
_Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76. Compare
W.W. Skeat, "Snakestones and Stone Thunderbolts," _Folk-lore,_ xxiii.
(1912) pp. 45 _sqq._ The superstition is described as follows by Edward
Lhwyd in a letter quoted by W. Borlase (_op. cit._ p. 142): "In most
parts of Wales, and throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it
a common opinion of the vulgar, that about Midsummer-Eve (though in the
time they do not all agree) it is usual for snakes to meet in companies;
and that, by joining heads together, and hissing, a kind of bubble is
formed, which the rest, by continual hissing, blow on till it passes
quite through the body, and then it immediately hardens, and resembles a
glass-ring, which whoever finds (as some old women and children are
persuaded) shall prosper in all his undertakings. The rings thus
generated, are called _Gleineu Nadroeth_; in English, Snake-stones. They
are small glass amulets, commonly about half as wide as our
finger-rings, but much thicker, of a green colour usually, though
sometimes blue, and waved with red and white."

[41] Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_ xxiv. 12 and 68, xxv. 171.

[42] Marcellus, _De medicamentis_, ed. G. Helmreich (Leipsic, 1889),
preface, p. i.: "_Nec solum veteres medicinae artis auctores Latino
dumtaxat sermone perscriptos ... lectione scrutatus sum, sed etiam ab
agrestibus et plebeis remedia fortuita atque simplicia, quae
experimentis probaverant didici_." As to Marcellus and his work, see
Jacob Grimm, "Ueber Marcellus Burdigalensis," _Abhandlungen der
koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaft zu Berlin_, 1847, pp. 429-460;
_id._, "Ueber die Marcellischen Formeln," _ibid._. 1855, pp. 50-68.

[43] Marcellus, _De medicamentis_, i. 68.

[44] Marcellus, _op. cit._ i. 76.

[45] Marcellus, _op. cit._ xxviii. 28 and 71, xxix. 35.

[46] Marcellus, _op. cit._ xxix. 51.

[47] Edward Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," _Folklore_,
xvi. (1905) pp. 32 _sq._; _id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with
Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in
Morocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 75 _sq._

[48] E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," _Folk-lore_, xvi.
(1905) p. 35 _id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture,
certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in Morocco_
(Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 88 _sq._

[49] Matthaeus Praetorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_, herausgegeben von Dr. W.
Pierson (Berlin, 1871), p. 54.

[50] H.H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,
1875-1876), ii. 142; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations
civilisees du Mexique et de l'Amerique Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859),
iii. 29.

[51] Kaempfer, "History of Japan," in J. Pinkerton's _Voyages and
Travels_, vii. 717; Caron, "Account of Japan," _ibid._ vii. 613; B.
Varenius, _Descriptio regni Japoniae et Siam_ (Cambridge, 1673), p. 11:
_"Radiis solis caput nunquam illustrabatur: in apertum acrem non
procedebat."_

[52] A. de Herrera, _General History of the vast Continent and Islands
of America,_ trans, by Capt. John Stevens (London, 1725-1726), v. 88.

[53] H. Ternaux-Compans, _Essai sur l'ancien Cundinamarca_ (Paris,
N.D.), p. 56; Theodor Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturvoelker_ iv.
(Leipsic, 1864) p. 359.

[54] Alonzo de Zurita, "Rapport sur les differentes classes de chefs de
la Nouvelle-Espagne," p. 30, in H. Ternaux-Compans's _Voyages, Relations
et Memoires originaux, pour servir a l'Histoire de la Decouvertede
l'Amerique_ (Paris, 1840); Th. Waitz, _l.c._; A. Bastian, _Die
Culturlaender des alten Amerika_ (Berlin, 1878), ii. 204.

[55] Cieza de Leon, _Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru_ (Hakluyt
Society, London, 1883), p. 18.

[56] _The Grihya Sutras_, translated by H. Oldenberg, Part ii. (Oxford,
1892) pp. 165, 275 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxx.). Umbrellas
appear to have been sometimes used in ritual for the purpose of
preventing the sunlight from falling on sacred persons or things. See W.
Caland, _Altindisches Zauberritual_ (Amsterdam, 1900), p. 110 note 12.
At an Athenian festival called Scira the priestess of Athena, the priest
of Poseidon, and the priest of the Sun walked from the Acropolis under
the shade of a huge white umbrella which was borne over their heads by
the Eteobutads. See Harpocration and Suidas, _s.v._ [Greek: Skiron];
Scholiast on Aristophanes, _Eccles._ 18.

[57] Mrs. Bishop, _Korea and her Neighbours_ (London, 1898), ii. 248.

[58] J.L. van Hasselt, "Eenige aanteekeningen aangaande de bewoners der
N. Westkust van Nieuw Guinea," _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Landen
Volkenkunde_, xxxi. (1886) p. 587.

[59] A. Bastian, _Die Voelker des oestlichen Asien_, v. (Jena, 1869) p.
366.

[60] W.M. Gabb, "On the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica,"
_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at
Philadelphia_, xiv. (Philadelphia, 1876), p. 510.

[61] L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), p. 194.

[62] H.H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, i. 553. See
_Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 182.

[63] L. Heuzey, _Le Mont Olympe et l'Acarnanie_ (Paris, 1860), pp. 458
_sq._




CHAPTER II

THE SECLUSION OF GIRLS AT PUBERTY


Sec. 1. _Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Africa_


[Girls at puberty forbidden to touch the ground and to see the sun;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the A-Kamba; seclusion of girls at
puberty among the Baganda.]

Now it is remarkable that the foregoing two rules--not to touch the
ground and not to see the sun--are observed either separately or
conjointly by girls at puberty in many parts of the world. Thus amongst
the negroes of Loango girls at puberty are confined in separate huts,
and they may not touch the ground with any part of their bare body.[64]
Among the Zulus and kindred tribes of South Africa, when the first signs
of puberty shew themselves "while a girl is walking, gathering wood, or
working in the field, she runs to the river and hides herself among the
reeds for the day, so as not to be seen by men. She covers her head
carefully with her blanket that the sun may not shine on it and shrivel
her up into a withered skeleton, as would result from exposure to the
sun's beams. After dark she returns to her home and is secluded" in a
hut for some time.[65] During her seclusion, which lasts for about a
fortnight, neither she nor the girls who wait upon her may drink any
milk, lest the cattle should die. And should she be overtaken by the
first flow while she is in the fields, she must, after hiding in the
bush, scrupulously avoid all pathways in returning home.[66] A reason
for this avoidance is assigned by the A-Kamba of British East Africa,
whose girls under similar circumstances observe the same rule. "A girl's
first menstruation is a very critical period of her life according to
A-Kamba beliefs. If this condition appears when she is away from the
village, say at work in the fields, she returns at once to her village,
but is careful to walk through the grass and not on a path, for if she
followed a path and a stranger accidentally trod on a spot of blood and
then cohabited with a member of the opposite sex before the girl was
better again, it is believed that she would never bear a child." She
remains at home till the symptoms have ceased, and during this time she
may be fed by none but her mother. When the flux is over, her father and
mother are bound to cohabit with each other, else it is believed that
the girl would be barren all her life.[67] Similarly, among the Baganda,
when a girl menstruated for the first time she was secluded and not
allowed to handle food; and at the end of her seclusion the kinsman with
whom she was staying (for among the Baganda young people did not reside
with their parents) was obliged to jump over his wife, which with the
Baganda is regarded as equivalent to having intercourse with her. Should
the girl happen to be living near her parents at the moment when she
attained to puberty, she was expected on her recovery to inform them of
the fact, whereupon her father jumped over her mother. Were this custom
omitted, the Baganda, like the A-Kamba, thought that the girl would
never have children or that they would die in infancy.[68] Thus the
pretence of sexual intercourse between the parents or other relatives of
the girl was a magical ceremony to ensure her fertility. It is
significant that among the Baganda the first menstruation was often
called a marriage, and the girl was spoken of as a bride.[69] These
terms so applied point to a belief like that of the Siamese, that a
girl's first menstruation results from her defloration by one of a host
of aerial spirits, and that the wound thus inflicted is repeated
afterwards every month by the same ghostly agency.[70] For a like
reason, probably, the Baganda imagine that a woman who does not
menstruate exerts a malign influence on gardens and makes them
barren[71] if she works in them. For not being herself fertilized by a
spirit, how can she fertilize the garden?

[Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes of the Tanganyika
plateau.]

Among the Amambwe, Winamwanga, Alungu, and other tribes of the great
plateau to the west of Lake Tanganyika, "when a young girl knows that
she has attained puberty, she forthwith leaves her mother's hut, and
hides herself in the long grass near the village, covering her face with
a cloth and weeping bitterly. Towards sunset one of the older
women--who, as directress of the ceremonies, is called _nachimbusa_--
follows her, places a cooking-pot by the cross-roads, and boils therein
a concoction of various herbs, with which she anoints the neophyte. At
nightfall the girl is carried on the old woman's back to her mother's
hut. When the customary period of a few days has elapsed, she is allowed
to cook again, after first whitewashing the floor of the hut. But, by
the following month, the preparations for her initiation are complete.
The novice must remain in her hut throughout the whole period of
initiation, and is carefully guarded by the old women, who accompany her
whenever she leaves her quarters, veiling her head with a native cloth.
The ceremonies last for at least one month." During this period of
seclusion, drumming and songs are kept up within the mother's hut by the
village women, and no male, except, it is said, the father of twins, is
allowed to enter. The directress of the rites and the older women
instruct the young girl as to the elementary facts of life, the duties
of marriage, and the rules of conduct, decorum, and hospitality to be
observed by a married woman. Amongst other things the damsel must submit
to a series of tests such as leaping over fences, thrusting her head
into a collar made of thorns, and so on. The lessons which she receives
are illustrated by mud figures of animals and of the common objects of
domestic life. Moreover, the directress of studies embellishes the walls
of the hut with rude pictures, each with its special significance and
song, which must be understood and learned by the girl.[72] In the
foregoing account the rule that a damsel at puberty may neither see the
sun nor touch the ground seems implied by the statement that on the
first discovery of her condition she hides in long grass and is carried
home after sunset on the back of an old woman.

[Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes of British Central
Africa.]

Among the Nyanja-speaking tribes of Central Angoniland, in British
Central Africa, when a young girl finds that she has become a woman, she
stands silent by the pathway leading to the village, her face wrapt in
her calico. An old woman, finding her there, takes her off to a stream
to bathe; after that the girl is secluded for six days in the old
woman's hut. She eats her porridge out of an old basket and her relish,
in which no salt is put, from a potsherd. The basket is afterwards
thrown away. On the seventh day the aged matrons gather together, go
with the girl to a stream, and throw her into the water. In returning
they sing songs, and the old woman, who directs the proceedings, carries
the maiden on her back. Then they spread a mat and fetch her husband and
set the two down on the mat and shave his head. When it is dark, the old
women escort the girl to her husband's hut. There the _ndiwo_ relish is
cooking on the fire. During the night the woman rises and puts some salt
in the pot. Next morning, before dawn, while all is dark and the
villagers have not yet opened their doors, the young married woman goes
off and gives some of the relish to her mother and to the old woman who
was mistress of the ceremony. This relish she sets down at the doors of
their houses and goes away. And in the morning, when the sun has risen
and all is light in the village, the two women open their doors, and
there they find the relish with the salt in it; and they take of it and
rub it on their feet and under their arm-pits; and if there are little
children in the house, they eat of it. And if the young wife has a
kinsman who is absent from the village, some of the relish is put on a
splinter of bamboo and kept against his return, that when he comes he,
too, may rub his feet with it. But if the woman finds that her husband
is impotent, she does not rise betimes and go out in the dark to lay the
relish at the doors of her mother and the old woman. And in the morning,
when the sun is up and all the village is light, the old women open
their doors, and see no relish there, and they know what has happened,
and so they go wilily to work. For they persuade the husband to consult
the diviner that he may discover how to cure his impotence; and while he
is closeted with the wizard, they fetch another man, who finishes the
ceremony with the young wife, in order that the relish may be given out
and that people may rub their feet with it. But if it happens that when
a girl comes to maturity she is not yet betrothed to any man, and
therefore has no husband to go to, the matrons tell her that she must go
to a lover instead. And this is the custom which they call _chigango_.
So in the evening she takes her cooking pot and relish and hies away to
the quarters of the young bachelors, and they very civilly sleep
somewhere else that night. And in the morning the girl goes back to the
_kuka_ hut.[73]

[Abstinence from salt associated with a rule of chastity in many
tribes.]

From the foregoing account it appears that among these tribes no sooner
has a girl attained to womanhood than she is expected and indeed
required to give proof of her newly acquired powers by cohabiting with a
man, whether her husband or another. And the abstinence from salt during
the girl's seclusion is all the more remarkable because as soon as the
seclusion is over she has to use salt for a particular purpose, to which
the people evidently attach very great importance, since in the event of
her husband proving impotent she is even compelled, apparently, to
commit adultery in order that the salted relish may be given out as
usual. In this connexion it deserves to be noted that among the Wagogo
of German East Africa women at their monthly periods may not sleep with
their husbands and may not put salt in food.[74] A similar rule is
observed by the Nyanja-speaking tribes of Central Angoniland, with whose
puberty customs we are here concerned. Among them, we are told, "some
superstition exists with regard to the use of salt. A woman during her
monthly sickness must on no account put salt into any food she is
cooking, lest she give her husband or children a disease called _tsempo_
(_chitsoko soko_) but calls a child to put it in, or, as the song goes,
'_Natira nichere ni bondo chifukwa n'kupanda mwana_' and pours in the
salt by placing it on her knee, because there is no child handy. Should
a party of villagers have gone to make salt, all sexual intercourse is
forbidden among the people of the village, until the people who have
gone to make the salt (from grass) return. When they do come back, they
must make their entry into the village at night, and no one must see
them. Then one of the elders of the village sleeps with his wife. She
then cooks some relish, into which she puts some of the salt. This
relish is handed round to the people who went to make the salt, who rub
it on their feet and under their armpits."[75] Hence it would seem that
in the mind of these people abstinence from salt is somehow associated
with the idea of chastity. The same association meets us in the customs
of many peoples in various parts of the world. For example, ancient
Hindoo ritual prescribed that for three nights after a husband had
brought his bride home, the two should sleep on the ground, remain
chaste, and eat no salt.[76] Among the Baganda, when a man was making a
net, he had to refrain from eating salt and meat and from living with
his wife; these restrictions he observed until the net took its first
catch of fish. Similarly, so long as a fisherman's nets or traps were in
the water, he must live apart from his wife, and neither he nor she nor
their children might eat salt or meat.[77] Evidence of the same sort
could be multiplied,[78] but without going into it further we may say
that for some reason which is not obvious to us primitive man connects
salt with the intercourse of the sexes and therefore forbids the use of
that condiment in a variety of circumstances in which he deems
continence necessary or desirable. As there is nothing which the savage
regards as a greater bar between the sexes than the state of
menstruation, he naturally prohibits the use of salt to women and girls
at their monthly periods.

[Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes about Lake Nyassa and on
the Zambesi.]

With the Awa-nkonde, a tribe at the northern end of Lake Nyassa, it is a
rule that after her first menstruation a girl must be kept apart, with a
few companions of her own sex, in a darkened house. The floor is covered
with dry banana leaves, but no fire may be lit in the house, which is
called "the house of the Awasungu," that is, "of maidens who have no
hearts."[79] When a girl reaches puberty, the Wafiomi of Eastern Africa
hold a festival at which they make a noise with a peculiar kind of
rattle. After that the girl remains for a year in the large common hut
(_tembe_), where she occupies a special compartment screened off from
the men's quarters. She may not cut her hair or touch food, but is fed
by other women. At night, however, she quits the hut and dances with
young men.[80] Among the Barotse or Marotse of the upper Zambesi, "when
a girl arrives at the age of puberty she is sent into the fields, where
a hut is constructed far from the village. There, with two or three
companions, she spends a month, returning home late and starting before
dawn in order not to be seen by the men. The women of the village visit
her, bringing food and honey, and singing and dancing to amuse her. At
the end of a month her husband comes and fetches her. It is only after
this ceremony that women have the right to smear themselves with
ochre."[81] We may suspect that the chief reason why the girl during her
seclusion may visit her home only by night is a fear, not so much lest
she should be seen by men, as that she might be seen by the sun. Among
the Wafiomi, as we have just learned, the young woman in similar
circumstances is even free to dance with men, provided always that the
dance is danced at night. The ceremonies among the Barotse or Marotse
are somewhat more elaborate for a girl of the royal family. She is shut
up for three months in a place which is kept secret from the public;
only the women of her family know where it is. There she sits alone in
the darkness of the hut, waited on by female slaves, who are strictly
forbidden to speak and may communicate with her and with each other only
by signs. During all this time, though she does nothing, she eats much,
and when at last she comes forth, her appearance is quite changed, so
fat has she grown. She is then led by night to the river and bathed in
presence of all the women of the village. Next day she flaunts before
the public in her gayest attire, her head bedecked with ornaments and
her face mottled with red paint. So everybody knows what has
happened.[82]

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