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

Ti
494 MALEKULA
ground before her and lets the blood from the wound run on to it.
Meanwhile someone heats a leaf of the plant called m'h4 and this
is put against the gums to check the bleeding. When every-
thing is over the leaf containing the blood is buried in a hole
dug somewhere outside the hut.
After the operation the girl remains secluded for ten days
in her father's hut, at the end of which time she is decked out in
ï¬Ånery and led back to her husband's village. Her face is painted,
beads are hung around her neck, and on her head she puts the
head-mat, which is worn by women in this district. Then a large
concourse of men and women gathers. Anyone from the girl’s
own village and from neighbouring villages may join it, except
the people from the village of her maternal uncle. Her kinsfolk
on the mother's side are, it seems, debarred. All carry a branch
of some tree or shrub and line up to form a procession. In this
manner they proceed to the village of the girl's husband, calling
out as they go : E J 12 u I " When they have arrived there, they
gather in front of his house and lay down their branches, the
women putting theirs in one pile, the men theirs in another. Then,
giving one last cry of “ E I 12 u I â€ù they all step inside. Now some
man of this village, who has been asked by the husband to
perform the ceremony, gathers together a number oi objects of
value—poisoned arrows, clubs, mats, tobacco—which he proceeds
to distribute to the assembled guests. The mun and women
arrange themselves in two lines. The man who is acting for the
husband picks up a branch from the pile made by the men and
in his other hand taks a mat, a club, or some other of the objects
which he has collected. The branch he hands to the ï¬Årst man
in the line, who passes it on to the next, who passes it on again,
and in this way it is handed on down the line until it reaches the
man who carried it in the procession. He retains it and calls
out that it belongs to him, whereupon the gift which the
distributor held in his other hand is presented to him. In this
way the branches of all the men and women are retumed to them
together with a present. The people then disperse to their homes,
and the girl settles down to live with her husband again. After
this she is known by the title Lévseviis.
Once a. girl has had her teeth knocked out she is eligible for
membership of the women's secret association the Langambas.
There appear to be only two ranks in this. Members of‘ the