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The girl is taught to be faithful to her husband and to try to bear children, and she is also taught the various arts and methods of making herself seductive and pleasing to her husband, and of thus retaining him in her power." These movements, of a rotatory character, are called Duk-Duk. To be ignorant of Duk-Duk is a great disgrace to a girl.
To take other instances of what we may call the conservation of energy in magic or religion by insulating sacred bodies from the ground, the natives of New Britain have a secret society called the Duk-duk, the members of which masquerade in petticoats of leaves and tall headdresses of wickerwork shaped like candle extinguishers, which descend to the shoulders of the wearers, completely concealing their faces.
M.C. Schadee, "Het familieleven en familierecht der Dajaks van Landak en Tajan," Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indié, lxiii. p. 433. As to the taboos to which warriors are subject see Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 157 sqq. As to the Duk-duk society, see below, vol. ii. pp. 246 sq.
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