[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
24 MALEKULA a closely woven high fence is erected, through and over which they cannot see. In passing from the mzai seve towards the umel the ground becomes more and more ileu until the most ileo spot of all is reached—the patch ot dense bush lying a little distance behind the amel which is known as the nimbimb lemwenei, “ the tangled undergrowth â€ù (from nimwinzi meaning “ grass " or “undergrowthâ€ù, and imbimb meaning " it bindsâ€ù or “ it twines around â€ù). In accordance with the principle that the further from the naai save the more ileo the place, we ï¬Ånd that in the amel itself, which is divided up into a number of compart- ments, one for each of the ranks in the graded society called tear‘
Fm. 1. Ground Plan of a Seniang Village. A A = Dwe1ling~h0uses. B B = Bush surrounding the village. N = The mm save. G G = The village gangs, Nimangki (which corresponds to the Sukwe of the Banks Islands), the compartment belonging to the highest grade is situated at the back, while that of the lowest lies nearest the door. Further, when, as frequently happens, the women come on to the dancing ground to be present at and sometimes even to take part in a dance or other ceremony, they generally conï¬Åne themselves to that part which is nearest the naai save and probably never approach closer to the amel than the gongs. Thus the plan of a village takes something of the form of the segment of a circle, with the amsl as a sort of “ dead end " in which the village, its
