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

NEVINBUR, NELENG, AND NIMBEEI 477
that it is indeed the heart which is meant here, for it is described
as beating in the chest.) A small coco-nut is then thrust up
through the wide-open anus, and set in the place of the heart.
This being done another variety of leaf is rubbed on the opening,
so that it gradually closes up. Long wooden nails, made of tree-
fern (naai im),1 are now taken and thrust up the long veins of
the arms, a slit having been made in the arm through which
they are passed. The blood is wiped away and a leat applied to
the wound which causes it to draw together and heal. Up to this
stage in the proceedings all the men of N1'mbe’u' have been
present ; now all save one depart. The member who has remained
behind, waits beside the victim, from whose eyes the bandage
has been taken, until he regains consciousness. Though it seems
impossible but that he should be dcad after the operations which
have been performed on him, three independent informants were
positive in their statements that he would be alive, though
breathing very heavily and with great difficulty. As soon as he
shows signs of becoming conscious, the man watching beside
him fetches water and forces it down his throat. The victim
awakes in a kind of stupor, and the other asks him : " In which
direction is the sea? " If the men of Nimbiei have done their
work well, the victim is dazed and in reply to the question he
points weakly inland, towards the bush. This is satisfactory
and the unfortunate man is left alone. He cannot move from
where he lies, but continues to linger there, getting weaker and
weaker and breathing with ever-increasing difficulty. At the
end of a day he is usually dead, though he may survive for as
lung as two days. The members of the N1‘mb;’ei then return,
cut up the corpse and cat it.
These strange practices, fabulous though they sound, were
related with scarcely any variation in the telling by two
iridependent informants. One of these was Aipeno, a
"Christian"; the other was Tota's father, Aimbong, an old
heathen who had the evil reputation among the natives of having
himself actually participated in a Nimbe'ei performance. A spot,
densely overgrown, at the head of the lagoon, was pointed out
as a place where several men had mct their death as victims of
this secret society.
1 Deacon has Shown some 01 these nails in the amol at Hur Mbflr Village.