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490 MALEKULA
A girl who is Vwitar Mbwil can now, by the holding of
successive lughlusghian feasts, obtain successively the titles
Vwitar Miliin, Vwitar Melmel, Vwitar Harden, Vwitar Sisien,
Vwitar Mbulmbul, Vwitar Morombon, and Vwitar Larau. It is
interesting to notice that these titles, bereft of their feminine preï¬Åx
Vwitar, are all to be found as Nimangki titles for the men, though
their “ prestige value “ in this association is in a different sequence.
These women's grades in Larnbumbu are wholly different
from the Lajaas grades of Seniang. In the ï¬Årst place there does
not seem to be any deï¬Ånite organization connected with them;
the purchase of a certain honoriï¬Åc title does not unite a woman
in any special way with others bearing the same title ; there is,
for instance, no evidence to suggest that all who are Vwitar
Mhulmbul are bound together into an association as are the
members of the same Lapas grade. Nor so far as we know are
there any insignia, or secret rites. Secondly, although it is said
that a woman " makes â€ù Vwitar Mhwil or Vwitar Miliin, it would
be more accurate to say that her father or husband " makes â€ù
them for her‘ It is he who organizes the gathering and who
supplies the pigs which are to be given away or exchanged,‘ and
though the woman is in a sense the focal point of the rites it is
the man as much as she who acquires prestige thereby. The
Seniang Lupus is a woman's society, organized by women and
bound up with the conception of ignh; a. woman of high Lapas
rank is of importance in virtue of the position which she has
acquired for herself, and even men stand in some awe of her.
A woman for whom many lughlughian have been held is indebted
for this to her men-folk, and though she is important amongst
others oi her own sex she is not regarded with any special
reverence by men, except i.n so far as they will pay her a certain
deference on account of her husband's position. The celebration
of a lughlughian is one of the ways by which a husband will
honour his chief wife and emphasize her authority over his
other wives. It will be remembered, too, that round the house
of a man of importance is a fence which may only be traversed
by a woman who has purchased the right to do so, and this right
he will acquire for his principal wife at the holding of a lughlughian
for her.
In addition to the acquisition of social prestige by means of a
lughlughian, there is another rite called mbat mew which serves
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