[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

Y.
u
E
M.
,.
l!
.~. A .. ...,.‘
iii.
THE NALAWAN SOCIETY 433
go forth with bull-roarers to carry out this rite. At the sound
of the vomu all the women-folk keep within doors for they are
afraid lest “ a ghost should come â€ù. After the skull has been
safely lodged, the masked men return to the dancing ground and,
with the women and uninitiated rncn and children as audience,
perform the Nalaum dance mu/zl. The whole ceremony is called
N alauen, the bull-roarers ('/(mm) are also nalaum, and, according
to one informant, this word is also used for the ghost of the dead
chief. This account of the Nalauen rites, brief and incomplete
as it is, brings out certain similarities between the Nakwan of
Mewun and the Nulawn of the north. In both the bull-roarer
is the sacred instrument for producing the secret sound, and in
both the ceremonies are connected with the last disposal of the
skull of a dead man. Further, it is signiï¬Åcant that the word
mzlauen is used not only for the society itself, but also for the
ghost or spirit of the dead man on whose behalf the rites are
being celebrated, and also for the bull-roarers. Everything
suggests that the sound of the bullaroarers is regarded as being
the voice of ghosts, in much the same way as is the sound of the
tmux naainggol of Seniang, and that the ceremonies of the
Nalaum as a whole are connected with a cult oi the dead as are
those of the Nalawan. It seems probable, therefore, that the
Nalawan of Seniang and Mewun, the Nel/irm of Ucrik, Nalaum
lot BigiNambas, and Nilnn oi Small Nambas are fundamentally
ioneend the same institution.‘
m 3iA10llglth¢ cast coast, i.n the district of Senbarei, there is an
'fl<§0ci€t~i0n-iwvhose ceremonies are known collectively as Ruan.
-'I.lie.'Razm, it is:said,.consists of an initiation into various secret
rS0lJl1d5 and “ghosts Y’ ,1a.nd involves the beating oi the candidates
with the leaves of the nettle tree. Mystiiying andvterrifying
performances are shown to the uninitiated, such as a man without
a head, or holding his head in his hand. Clam shells are ï¬Ålled
with water, covered with leaves and unseen bamboos are blown
into this water, thus producing a bubbling note which is the
»voice of a ghost.’ Especially associated with the Ruan is the
i It is curious, however, that among Lha Big Nambas the masks 0! the
Nalnuan (Iamu)_mi1st be purchased from 1 mun of high Nimmlgka rink, lor in
tho S0lChE."n district membership oi grades in the Nimangh and Nalmr/1m are
apparently enhzaly indeyendznt oi each other.—C. H. W.
I with these may he compared the C0c0pl'OdlCl.Ig a_secret‘sound, to which Layard rulers (P. 206) in Seflifllg, which
were hihwh in Cflnjunctiml with the lama: flaainggnl, 5-Ed which in thererei-e
must probably connected with the Nalnnnm in um district.—C. H. w.
hi
1
i l
l l
1