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wife. A date is then fixed for the exchange, and each man performs the following rites in order that his sister (in the classificatory sense) may remain happily with her husband: The man takes his sister to the family shrine in the bush. (If he is himself [32] the son of a woman married under the exchange system the shrine will be that of his father's family, but if he is the son of a woman married under the purchase system the shrine will be that of his mother's family.) The shrine consists of three stones, one large and two small. The large stone represents the senior ancestor of the family, while the smaller stones represent a deceased grandfather and grandmother respectively. The man then produces fire (by drilling [33] ), and lighting a bundle of grass places it on the large stone and says: "My forefathers, I follow the custom of ancient times. From you we derive all our welfare in life. My sister's daughter is about to go to her husband's house. Do you care for her there. Grant that she may reside there happily, protected from witchcraft and other evils." He then places another bundle of smouldering grass on each of the other stones and offers a similar prayer. The couple now close their eyes and place their hands on the smouldering grass and extinguish the fire, the man blowing an antelope's horn and shouting "Kaukau, kaukau, kaukau[34] the son of a woman married under the exchange system the shrine will be that of his father's family, but if he is the son of a woman married under the purchase system the shrine will be that of his mother's family.) The shrine consists of three stones, one large and two small. The large stone represents the senior ancestor of the family, while the smaller stones represent a deceased grandfather and grandmother respectively. The man then produces fire (by drilling [33] ), and lighting a bundle of grass places it on the large stone and says: "My forefathers, I follow the custom of ancient times. From you we derive all our welfare in life. My sister's daughter is about to go to her husband's house. Do you care for her there. Grant that she may reside there happily, protected from witchcraft and other evils." He then places another bundle of smouldering grass on each of the other stones and offers a similar prayer. The couple now close their eyes and place their hands on the smouldering grass and extinguish the fire, the man blowing an antelope's horn and shouting "Kaukau, kaukau, kaukau[34] ", i.e. "good luck, good luck, good luck". The idea of the fire is to give warmth to the ancestors, and the idea of blowing the horn is to drive the ancestral ghosts to accompany the girl. The man then takes a chicken, slits its lips with a knife, and presses the bleeding mouth against each of the stones, repeating his former prayer. He holds the chicken to the mouth of the girl, who licks a little of the blood, and he then places the chicken's bleeding mouth against her forehead and each temple. Plucking out three small feathers from the chicken's head he sticks one on each of the bloody patches on the girl's face. He also pulls out four larger feathers and sticks two on the large stone and one each on the smaller stones. The girl now goes home and prepares some porridge which she brings back to the shrine, the man in the meantime killing the chicken by twisting its neck, and parching it over a fire which has to be produced by the drill method. He takes some of the flesh and porridge and, closing his eyes, throws it to the west, saying: "May our forefathers who have gone West look after this girl in her married life." A similar offering is thrown Eastwards

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