Her presence in a
boat is said to raise storms.
Thus the object of secluding women at menstruation is to neutralise
the dangerous influences which are supposed to emanate from them at
such times. That the danger is believed to be especially great at
the first menstruation appears from the unusual precautions taken to
isolate girls at this crisis. Two of these precautions have been
illustrated above, namely, the rules that the girls may not touch
the ground nor see the sun. The general effect of these rules is to
keep her suspended, so to say, between heaven and earth. Whether
enveloped in her hammock and slung up to the roof, as in South
America, or raised above the ground in a dark and narrow cage, as in
New Ireland, she may be considered to be out of the way of doing
mischief, since, being shut off both from the earth and from the
sun, she can poison neither of these great sources of life by her
deadly contagion. In short, she is rendered harmless by being, in
electrical language, insulated. But the precautions thus taken to
isolate or insulate the girl are dictated by a regard for her own
safety as well as for the safety of others.
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