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

222 MALEKULA '
Ndawu women, but that the general anger caused by the death,
and the more speciï¬Åc anger caused by the adulteries, coupled
with the fact that one of the injured parties was a muluwun
and that he was ready to lead and direct the raid, brought
matters to a head, and ï¬Åghting broke out. The killing of a
man of Loorlangalat naturally led to attempts at reprisals, and
the people of this village selected a certain man of Ndawu,
called Mangke, as their victim. They knew that Mangke was
going shortly to attend a Nimzmgki festival at a near-by village.
Two of the brothers of Aisir, the murdered man, arranged there-
fore to kill him at this festival. When they were gathered
together at the Nimzmgki, Mangke, in accordance with the
custom, danced all night, and by the morning was so tired out
that he could scarcely keep his eyes open. Aisir's brothers, on
the other hand, had taken care not to dance too much and so
overtire themselves, and thus when dawn came, and Mangke
lay down exhausted to refresh himself with sleep, they came close
up and sat beside him, with their muskets ready, Mangke, how-
ever, became aware of what they were doing, but, thinking it
better not to move at that moment, he feigned sleep. The two
brothers now winked at each other, this being the sign agreed
upon for shooting their victim, But now that the moment for
action had come, the courage of one of the conspirators failed
him, and, his penis contracting with fear, his penis sheath slipped
down. All this Mangke perceived through his half-closed eyes ;
he realized that the man was afraid and that the sheath slipping
off would betray this fact to his oompanion, He judged that it
was therefore the moment to act. Making a sudden dash for
his musket, which was lying close by, and calling to his maternal
uncle, who was also at the gathering, for aid, he covered his two
opponents. The tables being thus turned on them, Aisir-'s brothers
fled as fast as they could and returned to Loorlangalat. When
they got there, their sister came out to meet them in order
that she might hear their good news. Instead they had to confess
to her that they had failed ; that Mangke had become aware of,
and had frustrated their plan before they could shoot ; and that
their brother Aisir was still unavenged. Unfortunately the
account of this affair terminates at this point, and we do not
know anything of the further history of this vendetta save that
peace was ultimately made between the two villages. '