[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 557 conception of two regions to one oi which a ghost goes, according as it was " good " or “ bad " when alive. A " bad " man is said to go underground, where beings called vinkirkirtamb dance about him, prodding his sides and belly with their ï¬Ångers, so that he writhes continually with the tickling (ikirkip). “ Good â€ù men, on the other hand, remain above ground, bin/zm mehep (meaning " up above “), and a colourless happiness appears to be their lot. The characteristic of a “goodâ€ù man are that he is genial and generous; he does not instigate or foster war or any kind of hostility, does not desire to kill men, and refrains from practising death or sickness magic. It is not clear from the notes whether these two regions are distinct from the land of Wies and represent an entirely separate belief, or whether they are different parts of Wies itself. one below and the other above ground. A further theory concerning the abode oi the dead was put forward by a famous man, Atcs Vinbamp of Nemep, a noted " prophet â€ù, the magician (nimbatin nuwar) of his clan. He taught that the route to the other world lay through the sacred place (nzmbrmbrkvn) of Nemep, and that the name of that other world was not Wies but one which, though he knew it, he might not speak, so sacred was it. Although Ates Vinbamp had been dead some years, yet Deacon found that this belief still persisted among some people.‘ Apart from the fact that both Layard and Deacon give Wies (or Embw) as the name of one of the homes oi the Dead, there is little agreement between their accounts. According to Layard, Lembwil is a bamboo grove where the dead remain ; according to Deacon, Lembwil Song is the rock through which they pass, corresponding to Layard's Bong Eru. Layard’s sky-world, Lenamap, is probably the same as Deacon's liuum mehep (“ up above ") which he describes as being not a sky-world but an above- ground region, in contradistinction to the underground region where the vinkirkirtamb dwell. There is no mention in any of 1 Deacon adds: ~ xiii possibly this belief that was recorded by Lnylrd, who says that ' good mon_’ go to Lenlmï¬Åg, tiiepiiy; so far as r have found, the belief in 3 sky alter-world ll a product oi htlsflinitg. ‘In any case the moral quill- ï¬Åcatwn for it would he Mlsplfllfllll. Among n0n- hrlstlansltdoes not seem to have been heard oi‘, or onlyfrmn Mission teachers.“ This note was nppai--ntiywiimn before Deacon was told about Lifluxn mrhs? and the vinhirhirlninb. The home oi a ghost being dependent upon mural qualiï¬Åcations is not almgether unusual in Melanesia (VA C. H. Wedgwood, 1927, ‘pp. 3924;).
