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

r78 MALEKULA
Nilena Nawi (Nimbavwi) . . P
Nilenc S1/elovime . . leaves are lull grown.
Nilane M brï¬Åsndamime . P
Nilene Miulï¬Å . . . P
Nilane mm maringganggï¬Å . . take out yarns.
Lambumbu
The system of land tenure in Lambumbu appears to be some-
what different from that of Seniang, though the facts are by no
means clear. As in the south~west, all the land is owned by
some clan or village. The boundaries demarcating these clan
lands are not, it seems, erected specially as they are in Seniang,
but consist of natural objects which are pointed out to the
rising generation by the old men. Nevertheless, property marks
are evidently put up occasionally, for it is recorded that each
place has a deï¬Ånite plant~—generally that from which the locality
is named—which the villagers use as a sign or mark of ownership.
Such marks are, however, probably employed as a warning to
strangers, and it is, of course, possible that they are used only
for safeguarding plants and trees growing on the land, not to
ward off trespassers.
The land belonging to every clan is subdivided, each male
member “ owning " a deï¬Ånite portion. Thus it is said that a
certain man of Lenelok village " owned â€ù some land which at
his death passed to his three sons in, theoretically, equal portions ;
each of these three had one son who in turn inherited their
fathers’ land rights. Unfortunately we know nothing of the
nature of these rights and we cannot therefore tell how to interpret
correctly the English word “ own " as it is used in this context‘
It is probable that they are not very easy for the European to
perceive or comprehend, for at ï¬Årst Deacon was himself under
the impression that no such individual rights existed.
No piece of ground is cultivated for two seasons successively.
A man will have four or ï¬Åve plots of land which he works in
succession, an interval of tour to ï¬Åve years elapsing between the
raising of one crop and the next on the same soil. The density
of population in Lamburnbu is so small that each man can clear
the necessary ground for himself without interfering with his
neighbours. Nevertheless, a man does sometimes clear a new
garden on the plot “ belonging to â€ù a fellow villager or. even
“ll
is
3
LI-3-Q‘.
'ii
‘ii
1
'9