[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
246 MALEKULA of each triplet: l,.R.L.—lZ.L.R.-—ls.R.L. This seemingly monotonous performance is continued throughout the night until sunrise. , At dawn the novices are awakened and taken down to the sea, or if that is too far away, to a river nearby. With each boy goes his maternal uncle, who is to perform the operation, and his elder brother by thesame mother, if he have one. Gener- ally a number of other men will also join the procession. When they have arrived by the water’s edge, the elder brother, or failing him, some other relative, sits down on the beach with outstretched legs, and the candidate lies down in his lap, in a half-sitting position. At the request of the 'mother’s brother some one else will hold the lad’s feet and sometimes a third man will be asked to hold his head. The maternal uncle now takes a piece of bone, or some other hard, slender object, thrusts it under the upper side of the foreskin and with a knife of pig's bone cuts down on this, making a longitudinal slit. The piece of bone is then removed and the boy at once squats down in the water so that the blood from the wound is washed away. When the bleeding has decreased somewhat, a dry nivinu leaf is wound round the penis and ï¬Åxed in position. During this operation no woman may be present, but a few old Women who are past childbearing are allowed to stand at a little distance from the beach and observe the proceedings from there. When all the novices are ready, a procession is formed once more and the company returns to the village. As they go the gongs strike up the rhythm called Maui noromt, which runs as follows :
