[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
»
.»
§
1.
1*-
~
1
1
.
;,
:
1
1.
,‘
,1
v
K,
l:
.»
THE NIMANGKI AND NELEMEW 351
with others that have gone before and others which will take
place later, almost every male mcmber of the community being
indebted to or i.n expectation of receiving pigs from every other
member.
One important pig transaction which is carried out on the
occasion oi some one nimangki is the payment of an animal to
the buyer's maternal uncle. This is not in return for any service
or any sacred object, but to ensure that at his death the buyer's
soul shall go to the village of his MOTHER's people. Should his
maternal uncle be dead then the pig is given to this man’s son.
It seems that the pig may be given during the celebration of any
nimangki or nekmsw, but if by chalice such a payment should
not have been made during a man's lifetime it is done during his
funeral ceremonies. For a woman a similar pig must be given,
but this is always done after her death by her husband. Such a
payment is known as 1'w' nambung, and the formula which
accompanies it runs: “ nelml nilemah wehzt '/an nggul’
As may be deduced from what has been said about the
complexity of the pig exchanges, a nakmew or a nimangki is a
most severe test of the art of giving. N0 one witnessing a chief
distributing some mo or 150 pigs, many of which have only
been brought to him that day, to the general satisfaction of the
recipients, can fail to be impressed by the very ï¬Åne tact and
judgment which are demanded. To this aristocratic art of giving,
quite as much as to generosity in its unadorned sense, a chief
owes his popularity and prestige. A chief's son, acting together
with his father, and instructed by him in the most important
ceremonies, acquires the judgment and keen sense of social
status necessary for the exercise of this art. He launches with
conï¬Ådence on a big nimangki where :1 man without this training
is afraid to venture beyond a. small one, or makes a big one
only after he has become sure of himself through his experience
in many small ones, The children of a man of importance arc,
it seems, introduced at an early age to the complicated ritual of
pig-giving. Thus, when Filin Mal of Vevenah was making a great
nimangki for himself he also purchased new names for his two
sons, and in the ceremonies these boys were made to take an
active part. For instance, when the time came tor the principal
seller to receive a bundle of torches as an indication of the number
of valuable pigs which he was about to be given, the younger of