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[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
14,6 MALEKULA rasped flakes on to a leaf, and heats this leaf over a fire to extract the oil. The girl is then rubbed all over with the oil, and some of it is given to a boy, who has been sent across from the bride- groom’s side to fetch it, that the bridegroom may anoint himself likewise. Both bride and bridegroom are then painted to make them " flash "1 the forehead is blackened with coco-nut ash, and the cheeks are striped alternately with red and white. The bride now takes the leaf of a breadfruit and of another plant called mzhalen, and, holding these over her head, she walks up to the large hanging basket of food and takes her stand beside it. Her fellow clanswomen then approach her and form a ring about her so that she is more or less hidden from view. Her brothers and male kinsmen and clansmen now set up a line of stakes along the track by which the clearing has been made. The bridegroom's male friends fonn a procession, each man carrying an arrow and in addition some present, such as an axe, some tobacco, cartridges, etc. This procession starts off from the bridegroom’s side of the ground and passes twice completely round the row of stakes. On the second circumambulation each man places his arrow on one of the stakes and his present _b_eside or on the same stake. The men of the bride’s side then come forward, and each takes the arrow and presents from the particular stake which he planted. The bridegroom’s relations now take two small mats, called nimbwanfl and stain them red by placing them close to a ï¬Åre, in contact with that variety of wood called Mai raw. When they are duly stained the mother's brother, grandfather, or other male relative of the bridegroom, takes one of these mats and steps out from the bridegroom’s side of the ground, trailing the mat behind him. Opposite him, on the other side of the ground, stands the bride's father. Reaching the middle of the ground the man trailing the nimbwan ï¬Åings it across to the former, saying as he does so : “ Nimbwom naai sismei " 1 (“ The mat for sweeping the house “). The bride’s father picks up the mat and hands it to his wife. This mat is kept as part of the marriage payment, and when the bride's father dies, his corpse is covered with the mats given by the bridegroom for his daughter. ‘ This mmbwan is similar to but smaller than the nimbwitar, the ordinary ma.c.—A. B, D. ' Nani siswei means literally, "the stick for sweeping," i.e, the bro0m.—— A. B. D. - 2 n E é ii i?>£‘i'¢-I».-so<_1_|1/a»-'<<—-f _4e.,.._-Mt..- .
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