[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
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DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 525
is of any use,â€ù they say, " let our gardens become a wilderness,
let us block the way to the outer world, so that none may pass
through our village or come to visit us." The broken trees and
shrubs are not cleared away until weeks or months after the
period of mourning is at an end, and no man journeying to or
from the village would dare to remove these obstacles from the
public ways. It is not on the death of all men, or even of all
men of importance, that this devastation is wrought. The
privilege of being honoured in this way is purchased optionally
at entrance to certain N alawzm grades, as, for instance, N alawan
Nimbwilei Tonggar.
The period between the laying of the corpse on the stretcher
and the holding of the death-feast (nimesian) varies; in the
ceremonies for Apwil Naandu ï¬Åve days elapsed. On the fourth
day the men of his village went out and gathered bushes of four
plants, croton, nmbrï¬Å nembangk, tomes mmbumbal, and nimbangk.
A fence was erected round the gongs, and these bushes were
planted outside it. This was done because Apwil Naandu was a
member of the Nalawam Nimbwilei. In honour of his belonging
also to the Nala-wan grades Nisamp and Numbuaimbamp, the
structures which bear these names were built on the dancing-
ground close to the amel, and round these and outside the amel
more of these bushes were planted together with bamboos some
twenty feet high‘ The newt nambar of the deceased was then
removed once more and set up close to his house outside, with
mahmdr muhmmm, nimbangk, hibiscus, and nisisal bushes planted
close by, these being tokens of the higher Nimangki grades, the
last two belonging especially to Newt Nambar.
Just inside the screen which runs along the mmi save another
stand (naai var) was made for the stretcher similar to that which
had been set up in the house, with only two upright “ davits â€ù ;
like the ï¬Årst naai var, erected near the gongs, this one was
decorated with unpainted skulls placed one on each of the
uprights. Crotons, mbwingmbwingamb, malamir luhlt, and neru
wivar bushes were planted round it. The amel was decorated
with mbwingmbwingamb bushes, the croton nembini and other
shrubs, just as it is for entrance into the grades Naamel Sesmamim
and Nimbatm Naamel of the Nalawau, and uprooted banana
trees were laid against its roof. Whilst all these preparations
were going forward, the tamer mainggol were blown continuously