Plate 87 is a _gabi_ fig tree, used for tree burial, near to the village of Seluku, and Plate 88 shows the remains of an old burial box in one of its forks. The bones are still in this box, and indeed one of them may be just discerned at the extreme left, close to the upright stem of the tree.
Plate 89 illustrates what I have said as to what is done when a burial platform falls down from decay. The skull and larger arm and leg bones of the body have been buried underground, and upon these have been heaped first stones and then the remains of the collapsed platform, and one little foliage plant and dried-up looking specimens of others can be seen around it. This picture was taken in the village of Seluku, and the actual position of the grave in the village enclosure is seen in Plate 55. Plate 90, of an _emone_ in the village of Voitele (community of Sivu) illustrates the alternative plan of hanging the skull and bones up in the _emone_.
At the funeral all the women present, those of the village and of the whole community and the guests, join in singing the funeral song; but here again there is no actual procession, and the carrying of the body is not necessarily entrusted to any particular person. When the grave, whether on a platform or on a tree, is reached, all the men present begin to shout loudly, and there is a terrible noise. They all have their spears, but there is no brandishing of them. Then some men (anyone may do this) climb up to the box, and others hand the wrapped body up to them, and they place it lying on its back in the box. This ends the actual burial ceremony.
The black mourning face, and sometimes body-staining is then adopted by all the people of the community, and perhaps also by chiefs from other communities who have been friends of the dead chief. The special string necklace worn by the nearest relative and the other family emblems of mourning are the same as in the case of an ordinary person, except that the chiefs widow will probably also wear the special mourning network vest already described, and that the mourning shell necklace, which in the case of an ordinary man is only worn by distant relatives, is worn by all the married men and women of the clan who have or can procure it.