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348 MALEKULA
central feature, and thus gains admission to the company of
those who eat at n/lamb mwelevarl
Owing to the rather aberrant nature of this Nimamgki, in
which the purchase of distinct objects has taken the place
of purchase of membership of a deï¬Ånite grade, the terminology
employed for the principal actors in Seniaug is hardly applicable
to those in Lambumbu. Instead, therefore, of speaking of the
“candidate " and the “ introducer ", it will be better to refer
to these rhen as the “buyerâ€ù and the "seller" respectively,
though it must be borne in mind that the giving of pigs in retum
for a name or sacred object is by no means a merely commercial
transaction.
The interest of the people attending a mlmuw is centred
in the giving and receiving of pigs. The number of an-ii.mals
involved is on the whole greater than in the Nimangki of the
south. Thus it is recorded that for Harten, Tesragh, and Ruhvaru
Mial the buyer pays ten live pigs; for Laghau, ï¬Åfteen; for
Metenmal, twenty ; and so on, increasing by ï¬Åve for each grade
up to Tes. For Taviin Ma], however, he has to provide as many
as one hundred. These numbers are apparently exclusive of the
pigs which are killed and distributed as incidentals to the actual
rites. They are all led on to the dancing ground on the morning
of the festival and fastened up there to await the ceremony of
presentation. If the candidate is buying one of the lower titles,
from Ncvilvil to Tiivtop, a number oi stakes are planted in a
straight line, and to each of those one of the animals is tied 1 ; for
Ruaru and higher titles a number of small monoliths take the
place of the stakes. It is said that on the hills to the south
oi Lambumbu, lines oi upright stones are to be seen which are
used for this purpose during the ceremonies for the titles above
and including Metenmar, while for the two lower names in this
district, Harden and Tesra, a row of cycas trees (nim/ule) is set
up and the pigs attached to these.‘ Some idea of the large
1 wh irniy perhaps Compare this with the $0rliclng practice whereby B, hay
who has entered the Nimangki Naamb rim eats at a ï¬Åre oi his own in his father’:
house rpm from the women, ind only at entrance to the next grade is admitted
irltb the n1n¢l._C. H. w.
I It is said by the people Of larnhirinhn that when they ï¬Årst began celebrating
Mlamlsu/, 8 rnw oi irihlrs was put up, is it is nnw, but that R pig was ma only
to the ï¬Årst post, birds being iiï¬Åtclmd to the others. Thi! was donls because in
those diys pigs were much less plentiiul than they now ara._h. B. D.
» “In VIQW of the wnshint association of cycas and stuns work in the
Nimangki, it is inharusting to ï¬Ånd here the cycas replacing the monolith
irinmnnn1iy."_h. J3. D.