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

' ECONOMIC LIFE 187
After " ï¬Åve or six â€ù days, when it may be expected to see the
ï¬Årst shoots above ground, the owner of the garden visits it to
see how the plants are prospeï¬Ång. If he sees one coming up
wrongly, he digs it up, and replants it correctly ; if he sees several
vines springing from one tuber, he pulls a number of them up
until only one is left. These visits are paid from day to day.
When the vines begin to trail on the ground, the gardener sets
up a number of small sticks (called mmi nsinsil) for each one
and twines it along them, lest, lying on the ground, it should be
broken or injured in any way; When the vine is long enough
for training, he erects a large pole (mzsul ogai) near to the yam
hole, and close to it another small stick. Then he carefully
removes the vine from the mm‘ nsinsil, coils it round the small
stick just mentioned, and thence trains it up the nasul ogai.
It may be presumed that the tending of the young plants is not
left wholly to the men. The evidence suggests that the women
take their share of the weeding and help to keep the gardens as
free as may be of the nerep grass (lmgberata komigii) and wild
cane, which are constantly springing up.
Of the harvesting of yams we have unfortunately no records,
save that it takes place about six months after the planting.
Special yam houses, called nivetevet, are built for storing the
crop} Judging from a rough sketch they are little more than a
rectangular platform raised oï¬Å the ground by a post at each
corner, and roofed over in such a way that the eaves reach the
floor of the platform along the sides, while the two ends are
left open. We may suppose, though there is no direct evidence
for this, that each man who cultivates a garden has his own
yam house.
Of the other cultivated plants of the north, no mention is
made save of the coco—nut. In Lambumbu this fruit is very
sacred, associated as it is with the sacred being called Harnbat.
Traditionally it was introduced into Lamburnbu from Lagalag,
from the east, one pig being given for each nut. This sanctity
is partly exempliï¬Åed by the rich vocabulary which has grown
up around the coco-nut ; there are no less than seven different
technical terms to denote different stages in the growth of the
individual nut. Thus: nemer selianen stands for a nut which
1 Similar yam houses, called navetav/bl, are used in Seniang and other districts
of the south-west<—C. H. W.
ï¬Å r _, _._