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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF Tl~ll£ DEAD 527
entered the village, wailing as they came.‘ Those of them who
were members oi the Nulawan grades to which Apwil Naandu
belonged went to the outskirts of the village to the matrmhal,
and here they formed a procession, in the middle of which walked
two men carrying a bow and arrow and a croton branch. They
moved forward to the Mai save, where they halted. Then
Ailivere, Apwil Naar1du’s grandson, dragged two of the dead
mans pigs up to where the procession was standing and the
two men in the centre thereof stepped forward and shot at the
animals.“ After this the procession returned to the matanhal,
and ï¬Åve of its members who belonged to high Nalazmm grades
were decorated for the funeral feast. Their bodies were painted
white all over, spider's web hats set on their heads, wanamngk
anklets around their legs, and a coco-nut placed in each hand.
Once more these guests lined up and processed towards the
gongs on which the rhythm of the grade Lelengvdal was being
executed. When they reached the gongs the ï¬Åve decorated men
threw the coco-nuts which they were holding at the amel, the
gangs, the mlmmp, and the numbouaimbamp, in turn, just as is
done at entrance to a N alawan grade. While this was going on,
Vinmewun Ailiit, son of the deceased, hauled ï¬Åve small pigs up
to the gangs and stood ready beside them with a spear. Each
of the ï¬Åve men who had thrown the coco~nuts had brought with
him a special friend. These friends, in turn, stepped forward,
took the spear from Vinmewun Ailtit, and with it killed a pig,
which was then cut up into a number of pieces, approximately
equal to the number of villages represented at the funeral feast.
Ari old man, who must have performed the crying of â€ù litamate â€ù
in the ceremonial of the N alawzm, was then asked by Vinrnewun
Ailiit to come forward and perform the ritual distribution of the
pigs. The guests all seated themselves, and the old man stood
up by the gongs, facing them, a croton branch (mbile) in his
right hand and the pieces of the pigs which had been out up
lying before him in a row. Beside him there stood, to act as his
assistant, one of those who had previously speared the pigs
1 It is, presumably, to this death-feast that LayarLl‘s intormant was referring
when he said that " On the third day people assembled from the surrounding
‘villages, bringing yams and other food " (p. 201). Elsewhere in his notes Deacon
calls the death-feast nimbangmasinn, but nimzsian is the word must commonly
used for it.—C. H. W.
* Cf. the ceremonial of the Nulawu».—A. B. D.
1