Sentinels are
stationed around whilst business is transacted before a vestal
fire, which must burn for a fortnight or three weeks, in the awe-
compelling presence of a brass pipkin filled with herbs, and a
basin, both zebra'd like the human limbs. The Rev. William Walker
was once detected playing "Peeping Tom" by sixty or seventy
viragos, who attempted to exact a fine of forty dollars, and who
would have handled him severely had he not managed to escape. The
French officers, never standing upon ceremony in such matters,
have often insisted upon being present.
Circumcision, between the fourth and eighth year, is universal in
Pongo-land, and without it a youth could not be married. The
operation is performed generally by the chief, often by some old
man, who receives a fee from the parents: the thumb nails are
long, and are used after the Jewish fashion:[FN#10] neat rum with
red pepper is spirted from the mouth to "kill wound." It is
purely hygienic, and not balanced by the excisio Judaica, Some
physiologists consider the latter a necessary complement of the
male rite; such, however, is not the case.
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