[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
444 MALEKULA p It will be noticed that both societies own the cuttle ï¬Åsh. This means that any person who has been initiated into Nimangki Tlel may eat it irrespective oi which society he belongs to, but that it is tabu to all women and uninitiates, as of course are all the other naui mih. With the dwindling and disappearance of the Nimangki Tlel (there has been no initiation for several years past), the tabus concerning these sacred species have almost FIG, 27:. A native drawing of two of the Maui M071 haï¬Å belonging to the Nimanght Misi. The geometrical designs shown in Fig. 27b are executed on the lozenges and ellipses. The cone at the bottom of each represents the hat itself which comes right over the head and rests on the shoulders. The line running horizontally across ths hat in (n) represents a slat of wood which is put through the hat when making it, so that the wearer can steady the latter by holding this slat of wood in his upliited hands. completely broken down. It is said that formerly some of them were very rigorous. Thus a member of Nani Mï¬Åriih who was found planting the yam belonging to Nimangki Misi, would have been liable to have been killed and would certainly have had the garden in which he had planted it torn up and destroyed by members oi the latter society. Again, in the past, if the members of one of the societies were in seclusion (preparatory to
