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

W 1
510 MALEKULA ' i
During the process of hollowing the gong one special stake
had been removed from the inside of the tree-trunk and had been
carefully preserved. This was now decorated with cordyline or
croton leaves, bound to it at intervals along its length, and was
inserted into an onion-shaped ball, which, it seems, was composed
of the chips cut from the gong when it was being shaped and
hollowed, these having been wrapped up in a leaf of the umbrella
palm. This object—the decorated stick and its bulbous end—
is called " the penis of the gong ".
Everything being ready, the dragging of the gong began. Some
sixty to seventy men seized hold of the liana rope and started
to haul upon it. They all tugged rhythmically, gradually in-
creasing the force of the pull and punctuating each effort with
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Fm. 33. Diagram illustratin the method of erecting e new gong. ‘
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R -= the rope of liaua passed through the eyes carved in the face of the
gong and used {or hauling the gong.
P = the transverse pole thrust under the loop of the rope, by means
of which the gong is steered.
H = the hole prepared to receive the gong.
S = the sticks set in the far side of the hole to prevent this from being
bmkendewn when the gong is levered into place.
G
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a wild shout given in unison. At last the gong began to move,
its base pointing in the direction towards which it was being
dragged. When it had shifted forward a short distance,’ one of
the men who was standing by and directing operations struck
upon it the rhythm of the gong-hauling song. Everyone took
this up, and allowing the liana to slacken, sang to the beat of
the gong with a wild, unforgettable virility and magniï¬Åcent
spontaneity. When the song had died away, the hauling on the
rope began once more, and thus alternatively tugging and singing
they moved towards the village. In front of the procession
walked asmall boy, struggling manfully with “the penis of
the gong This he had to hold pointing forward in a slanting
direction, and to thrust up and down rhythmically, in time
with the hauling of the men, while at the same time he made