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THE’ NIMANGKI SOCIETY 271
1to;membership~. (in the lower grades several men usually enter
at the same time), kept for a while in the amel, and later brought
gziultf/“a;1‘1id_':set_11_p‘,iI1 the dancing ground, where it remains until it
é1ia_s§~;:otiiied.away.., Generally trees and shrubs of certain species
E-aiiiliguapietiesivplayantimportant part in the ritual of entrance,
tQ0';"a_'ppeari;l20.b&~iI1 some way sacred. Particularly
/notiééa}-ble inut'h»is-.oonnection are thetcycas, the cordylines, and the
<,t‘/lroi;hn's,: %the"latter“beingi,classed generically in South Maleklllfl
23$. nakli ilimb1¢~;"ï¬Å-the;Iholyitree ’,’. Sometimes grades take their
enairenesiromithese plants -:¢,thus in Mota there is one called M wele
_=,(=oycas)!,-rwhichprobably corresponds to the Nimweil (the cycas)
50ft So11thI~West Bay._ In_Arnbryrn it is said that the cycas is
'1the< {badger of; »'.‘. chieftainship '-’,
1;./§'Unlike,the Sukwe of the Banks Islands, there is no secret
sound, especially connected with the Nimangki of Malekula,
4nor=a.re there any masks or head-dresses, but the society has its
--own song-and-dance, nitem, which is performed as a necessary
ipart-"of the ritual, to the accompaniment of the village
,gong5_: .
In certain areas this graded association is not the only one
of itsnkind; other “ secret societies " co-exist with it. These
are generally more secret in their nature, and in some instances
there appears to be a deï¬Ånite connection between the two.
In the Banks Islands, for instance, there are the Sukwe and the
Tamate Societies; the former usually claimed as members the
‘e"ntire».adul-tirnale population and had its house, the ghamal, in
lthetvillage-;»1::the==latter were more restricted in their membership
sandihad tlieirvheadquarters in private places in the bush. To
>‘attain1=hi’gh".rank in-ithe' Sukwe itiwas necessary to have become a
.Hl6Iï¬Åb6ll!»’Of1'TdWLdi8 Liwoa, and conversely -to become a member
of any but the most inferior group of Tamate Societies it was
ï¬Årst -necessary to belong to the Sukzv/0.1 In Malekula there
exists as a parallel society to the more or less secular Nimangki,
the secret and sacred Nalawzm. Although these two are said
not to be interdependant, there are, as will be shown later, certain
indications which suggest that they are allied, and that the
Nalawam may possibly be a variant of the Tamale of the northern
islands. This becomes particularly apparent when we compare
the ritual of Tamate Lil!//aa with that of Nalazv/am Vinlmmji of
‘ W4 H. R. Rivers, 1914, vol. i, pp. 64, B7.