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

280 ‘MALEKULA
in much the same way as sacred objects connected with the
Nimangki had to be bought. It is possible, therefore, that these
large canoes were the principal vehicle for the diffusion of the
Nimangki, and, provisionally, we may regard Tomman Island
and Larnbumbu as the two diffusion centres for West Malekula.
- The highest grade of all is generally agreed to be Nam Wenoung,
though one mandid maintain that Namu was the last to be taken.
This discrepancy is probably to be explained by the fact that
for very many years few men have amassed sufficient wealth
or received sufï¬Åcient stimulus to climb to the most exalted ranks,
and that in saying that Nam/14 was the last to be purchased, the
informant was thinking of a special instance, in which someone
did attain to Namu and no further.
Apart from the general distinction between " high " and
" low â€ù degrees, each of the ranks mentioned is clearly marked
off from those above and below it by the possession of a special
variety of croton, by its own form of decoration and the ornaments
which are worn by its members, and, as already indicated, by
its own type of image or efï¬Ågy (see Pl. XIA). The generic name
for these efï¬Ågies is temes, and it was deï¬Ånitely stated that they
are so called because they are the visible forms of spirits (nim~
winin). This is true also of the temes set up in the Momgge of
Ambrym, where, according to Rivers, each one is supposed to
house the paternal grandfather of the man who erected it.‘ In
after Laymrd had been there, the existence oi this grade had been forgotten,
no one having {or many years amassed sulï¬Åcient wealth t_o purchase membership
of.it; or it may be that this is an alternative name for Nsflsl Imbal. V
With reierence to the order in which the grades were usually taken it is
interesting to compare the rather detailed study of Layard with Deacon's notes;
The former writes (P. 152); " Arnbkon must be taken em. Then there is a
certain choice 0! order up to Mew-langawul, Ni~rnweil Muluwun and Mbalias
(Na-arnslwon) must be taken in correct order. After this the order is again
subject to a certain amount of change." On p. 192 he gives a table showing
the actual order in which ï¬Åve men had entered the diflerent grades, and shows
that in general the following are interchangeable as to order of precedence:
Naamb Loh a.nd'Nimb'inbm; Nlzhavmrial and NUKIES; Mbat Ru and Nzirn
Mu/slip. Further, one of the men entered Nimew before Naliwis, and another
Nzliil/is before Mbalmbal. The latter also entered Nzvzt, not fourth as is usual‘,
but between Nzliwis and Mbalmbal. A third man, too, entered Muluwun
Sumbunm before, instead of after, Naams! Eu/rm. In a note to these lists Layard
writes : “ In lists I and 2 N e-welwel and Muluwun were given as the names of
two separate degrees, whereas in my account Muluwun is the title and Ne-welwel
the descriptive name of the same degree, and as such I have treated them. In
Atchin (formerly) and in Wala. they are the names of two degrees." It is possible,
in the light of Deacon's list, that ‘these two iniorrnants were correct in their
distinction between Na/ah/Al and Mulmmm, the latter being the title of members
of the grade Tsvsï¬Ån Amzl, while the title for men of Na/aloe! is Muluwun Nevelvel
Mbon. See Layard, 1925, pp.~152, 1914,
‘ See W. H. R, Rivers, I915, p. 230. - ‘
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