| 
[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
418 MALEKULA Numbau Vivinsiengk Loofha Entrance to this grade is very similar to entrance to Nivifat which precedes and Numbou Timbamp which follows it. Unlike N1'vi/at, it is not one of the grades which is associated with the gongs, Nalau/an Nimbwilei, and it differs from Nu/mbou Timbamp in that no carved stone is set up. The characteristic structure is a pole carved with a number of faces, similar to the pole numbou timbarap of the grade oi that name. Nivinsimgk is the name of a certain kind of bread-fruit, and it seems probable, though it is not deï¬Ånitely stated, that this pole, the mbou vivinsiengk lo0r’ha, is made of this tree. It is set up just outside the amel, leaning against the wall, to the right-hand side of the entrance. Enclosing it is a circle of small upright stones (mmggob). During the ceremony of receiving the pig's tusk bracelet and turtle—shell armlet the candidate places his wrist against this pole. There is no record of the new name which the candidate receives, nor of the kind of mask associated with this grade. N umbou Timbamp ' According to the informant, the man who was entering this grade and the one preceding it would have already acquired the title Matelau, which belongs to members of Nimangki Neliwis. The rites of entrance to Numlwu Timbarap are somewhat more elaborate than those hitherto described, as are also the ceremonial objects associated with them, and it is noteworthy that this is the ï¬Årst Nalawan for which a monolith is set up. When arrangements have been made for some man to act as introducer, the candidate appoints a day when he and his friends will cut a tree-fern for making the numbou timbarap, and for hewing the stone new/at nambar. These are brought in and kept in the amel where, with the assistance of his introducer, the candidate carves and paints them, and payments of ï¬Åve nitavu pigs in all are made to the former in return for the objects and their preparation ; the ï¬Årst for the 11/umbzru timbamja as a whole ; the second for the faces carved upon it {this payment being called, as it is in the Nimangki rites, ikikina) ; the third for the paring or smoothing of these faces (this being termed semi t
"4 .~.] $- _| H s 1 D 1?} qr is . 'i E‘ 5 » » : , v v
|