[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
Pi 262 MALEKULA _ , _ than his own, but he must be careful that no genealogical relation- ship can be traced between them. To have intercourse with a boy of 0ne’s own clan to whom one is allied by known kinship bonds is to be guilty of incest. Further, sexual relations with the- sister's son or with any boy to whom one isrelated by marriage is similarly condemned. Should a man cohabit with a boy of his own clan who is known to be kin to him, the death penalty is not inflicted on the guilty pair as it would be in the event of such incestuous intercourse between a man and a woman, but both parties concerned must kill and exchange a pig. Whether it is the mlagh sen who is asked to play the part of dubut during the circumcision rites is not certain, but after the arrangements for circurncising the lad have been made, the dubut has exclusive sexual rights over him. He is now the boy's "husband" and is extremely jealous of any other man, not excepting the guardians of other boys, securing his mugh val and having intercourse with him. So much is this the case that he will not allow him out of his sight. The dubut himself, however, cannot have sexual access to the boy throughout all the thirty days’ seclusion which accompanies the circumcision rites. From the time of the operation until the wound is healed, intercourse is forbidden, and the dubut only plays the part of a guardian who cares for the novice's physical needs. But when the wound has healed he resumes his "marital " rights and continues to have relations with the boy until some time later the latter purchases his bark-belt. The reason, or rather the rationalization, which the natives put forward for their homosexual practises is that the boy-lover's male organ is caused to grow strong and large by the homosexual acts of his " husband â€ù. This growth of the penis is supposed to be complete by the time that the bark-belt is assumed. When the father of each novice has chosen a guardian for his son for the forthcoming ceremonies, the men of the village proceed to construct a special house for the candidates, called naghamal bagho. This is set up at a little distance from the village and, like the amel naavavien of Lambumbu, is a very large building, measuring as much as twenty-ï¬Åve or more feet in height. Round about it a fence or enclosure of wild canes is planted to ensure privacy. On the day before the novices go into seclusion, in the early afternoon, all the mugh uel are lined up
