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434 MALEKULA
bull-roarer, tamegh zwuwxp, and at initiation the candidates are
instructed in its use. A Rmm celebration may also accompany
the transference of a dead man's skull to its last resting-place
in the clan charnel-house, as is done in Mewun in connection
with the Nalauwm. The Rmm is equated by the natives them-
selves with the Nelian of Uerik, which in tum is said to be the
same as the Nalawan of Mewun.
In Ambrym there exists besides the Mangge (which is the
same as the Nimangki of Malekula) a group of ceremonies called
the Lmm, which is recognized by the people as being identical
with the Rmm of the east coast of Malekula and is said to have
been introduced thence into Ambrym.‘ " Batteries â€ù of wooden
cylinders like the Seniang tame: naainggul, are kept in the men's
club-houses in this island (cf. Speiser, 1923, p. 38I, pl. I02, ï¬Åg. 4),
and coco-nuts half ï¬Ålled with water into which men blow through
bamboos are found there similar to those found by Layard in
Seniang and to the clam shells reported by Deacon from Senbarei.
It seems very probable that the feast called Rom in Ambrym is
connected with the Luau. At Port Sandwich certain masks
called Rupi, Pato, and Gulzmg are kept in the men‘s- house; in
Ambrym also masks called Ram, Pato, and Gulong are kept in
the men's house. The close correspondence of the names makes
it almost certain that the masks of both places are the same.“
It was deï¬Ånitely stated in Seniang that all masks (which again
are kept in the amel) belong to the Nalawan, and since we know
that this society also exists as far east as Port Sandwich it is
-probably safe to deduce that the three masks mentioned above
are Nalau/an masks. If this is so, then the Rom, Pato, and Gulong
of Ambrym belong to the Lmm in that island. Further, Lamb
(1905, pp. 125-6) states that rom is the name of the dancers who
perform at the Rum feast in Ambrym and that at this feast the
candidate mounts a platform and is received by a shower of
missiles, which he dodges. This is strongly reminiscent of the
rites of entrance to Nalav/an Numbou ai mbamp in Seniang during
which the candidate climbs on to the structure of this name and
‘ Speiser, London, 1918, p. 212, collected a bull-1-eater in Ambrym. Deacon
says the Temya uya, bull-roarer, is a separate institution byitself; the ceremony
of swinging of bull-roarers takes place at the funeral of a man belonging to the
cult and new members are then initiated. The bull-roarers are not made in
Ambrym but are brought over from Malekula. (MS.)—A. C. H.
' It is tempting to see a connection between these Rom masks and the word
rvmu, used by the Big Nambas for the bull-roarer, which -is among them the
secret sound-producer belonging to the Nalauen.—C. H. W.
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