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402 MALEKULA
notes, about three tones apart.‘ This weird and lugubrious piping
is the nemm singgew. The musicians enter the dancing ground
and change their notes to the noise called nemm—e. continuous
booming note of unvarying pitch interrupted by an eager, rapid
bubbling sound, produced by moving the tongue rapidly up and
down between the lips while at the same time maintaining the
booming note.“ Continuing to blow the tame: in this way, they
approach the houses of the village. Round these they go, still
blowing, until the candidates have become used to the sound,
when the Iemzs naainggol are put back into the amel. This is
the ï¬Årst time that the candidates have seen the lemes being blown ;
it is their introduction to the characteristic sacred sound of the
N alau/am, which subsequently, at entrance to higher grades, they
themselves will help to produce.
While the mbwirmbivir has been going forward, some of the
guests have been still dancing and at sunrise the candidate kills
a nitavu pig for their breakfast. Everyone then retires to the
bush to paint himself and put on the masks, tomes mbalmbal, of
his Nalawan grade. The candidates have their faces blackened
with charcoal and are marked with three red streaks, one down
the length of the nose and one on either cheek, starting at the
corner of the mouth and following the contour of the cheek-
bone. One old man of high rank, who comes from some village
other than that of the candidate, paints his face in the same
way, and draws lines of blue, black, white, and red down the
length oi his torso ; on his head he places the mask or hat called
lemzs najï¬Åal} decorated with liawk's and fowl's feathers, and in
his hands he takes a conch shell and a coco-nut. Others who
have purchased the right to wear such 'a hat and by having
entered ï¬Åve Naluu/an grades have performed the ceremony of
“ stoning the pig" also decorate themselves in this way and
provide themselves with coco-nuts. The rhythm iravmu is now
beaten ; the men all form into a procession and dance up to the
gongs. The beating stops. Everyone calls out twice : “ Nailing-
gal iliwr) lisimqbl Naainggal iliwii lisimp!â€ù and immediately
those carrying coco-nuts hurl them at the mminggol structure, the
old man of high rank leading the way. The candidate then
‘ " Like the opening bass of Holst’s suiimi."-A B. D.
1 " The net amt is not unlike the combination oi a. huge bumble bee and
hundred! of hubble~bubbles."~A. B. D,
I For an account of the Nnluwan mï¬Åï¬Ålcs, see p. 425.
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