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

356 MALEKULA
On the eve of the Nimangki celebrations, if the occasion is
of suï¬Åï¬Åcient importance, niteur is sung and danced. In the
morning people from all about gather into the village. The seller
then presents the buyer with a pig,‘ which the latter hauls away
and fastens up. The buyer now fetches one of his own pigs with
which to pay the seller for the sacred thing which is to be
purchased. If, for instance, this is a penis sheath (aurlapl, the
seller stands up in the dancing ground with the object in his
hand, and the buyer approaches him, holding the tether of the
pig. The penis sheath is given to the buyer; he holds it against
the tether and afterwards passes both tether and wrapper back
to the seller, saying as he docs so, " naauaap tunggu nesnnbu.â€ù
The seller takes the rope, but leaves the avaap in the othcr's
hand. This pig payment does not conclude the payments, but
it is not quite clear whether the other pigs to be given are also
considered to be for the penis wrapper or for some other objects,
including the name.
The buyer looks about him to see how many men have come
to whom he will have to give animals ; makes a mental calculation
as to how many he will have left over to present to the seller for
the Nimangki objects ; then goes up to him and tells him oi the
number he can give, asking if this will be enough. If the seller
is satisï¬Åed, the pigs determined upon are fastened each one to
a stone and the gong-rhythm for pig-presentation, mbehnbal, is
beaten.
It seems that a penis wrapper is one of the sacred objects
which is always bought at a Nimangki, and in addition a man
may acquire a decorative girdle (naau), a hibiscus flower
(nivungon m'n sdnggoul), a hawk's feather, a string-and-shell
armlet, and a name. If he is purchasing a hibiscus flower the
seller thrusts it into the buyer's hair and then receives his pig.
He also paints the buyer's face, but for this payment is not made
at the time, but only after the buyer's death. When this occurs,
it is the duty of the seller, or ii he be dead of his brother, to paint
the face of the corpse in like manner in return for which he is
given pigs. For a man purchasing an object of low Nimangki
status the face is coloured red and a red V-shaped mark is made
on the chest ; for a man of rather greater importance the painting
I The words used to exgress the pig-pre5entati0n by the seller are
iv/wnguunggah sn1Imm'_—A. B. . It clearly corresponds to the presentation of
1 pig by the introduce: to the candidate in the Seuiaug NimflflgIti.—C. H. w.
J
';:?i‘=r