During her lonely
confinement, which often lasts seven years, the girl occupies
herself in weaving mats or with other handiwork. Her bodily growth
is stunted by the long want of exercise, and when, on attaining
womanhood, she is brought out, her complexion is pale and wax-like.
She is now shown the sun, the earth, the water, the trees, and the
flowers, as if she were newly born. Then a great feast is made, a
slave is killed, and the girl is smeared with his blood. In Ceram
girls at puberty were formerly shut up by themselves in a hut which
was kept dark. In Yap, one of the Caroline Islands, should a girl be
overtaken by her first menstruation on the public road, she may not
sit down on the earth, but must beg for a coco-nut shell to put
under her. She is shut up for several days in a small hut at a
distance from her parents' house, and afterwards she is bound to
sleep for a hundred days in one of the special houses which are
provided for the use of menstruous women.
In the island of Mabuiag, Torres Straits, when the signs of puberty
appear on a girl, a circle of bushes is made in a dark corner of the
house.
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