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

RITUAL LIFE OF WOMEN 483
(from neium = the house ; and ilimlrwelimja = he deceives), this
being the name also of the hut which is set up at entrance to
this grade. The performance oi the entrance rites to all these
ranks of the Lapas lasts some ï¬Åve or six days, during which time
all the women who are taking part remain secluded in the bush.
They live in the Lupus house, nivaual, and throughout this period
thcy do not go into the gardens and do not touch any trees. The
reason for these prohibitions is that at this time these women
are very potently igah and anything which they touch becomes
infected likewise and therefore untouchable by men. For supply-
ing them with food and drink one coco-nut tree is selected by an
old woman and the nuts of this alone are used. Should these
become exhausted before the end of tho seclusion, the women
in the niuaval will ask those who are not taking part in the rites
to gather coco-nuts for them from other trees. In this way there
is no shortage of coco-nut milk, and yct no more trees are rendered
igah. At the termination of the Lapas rites all those who have
participated wash in milk from the selected tree and in this
way make themselves less potently igah so that they can return
to nOIm£l life. This excess oi igah is, it seems, transferred in
some way to the tree whose fruit was used. As a result it becomes
intensely igah, so much so that no man can approach it with
safety. In order that men may be wamed of its identity, trees
and shrubs " belonging to " the Lupus, such as nalav lupus and
the croton mzai nggemi are planted on either side of the path
leading to it. Eventually this tree, too, is rendered harmless.
The women wait until a dry cuco~nut falls from it. Then they
make a pudding and strangle a fowl, covering it with the leaves
of the niur 0'01. The pudding is eaten but the fowl, still with its
leaf covering, is hung up on a post by the track near to the tree.
When the fowl has rotted the state of igah is at an end, and the
tree may be used by men.
At entrance to the lowest grade of the Lapas a small hut is
built in the clearing near to the nivm/al house. This hut is knoum
as nzium limbwehmp. It is very rudely constructed ; two posts,
one of tree-fern, the other of the nettle tree, forked at the top,
are set up at a little distance from each other and joined by a
horizontal pole resting upon them. This last servos as the ridge-
pole. Wild canes, plaited in criss-cross fashion, with the leaves
projecting at the top, are leaned up against it, and so form a