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

t I
DEATH AND DISPOSAL or THE DEAD 545
sacred, and no woman may ever speak its name ; it is used for
making most of the masks of the Nalawan and Nevinlmr. A
length of this creeper is taken and the rind scraped off for about
two-thirds of its length. Then a frond of tree-fern, mzai ira,
shorn of its leaflets and with the mid-rib stripped, is held over
a leaf of wild taro (mzhalomg) and the end of the nembriil from
which the rind has been removed is rubbed across it so that a
kind of sawdust of nembmil and tree-fern pith falls down on to
the nahalang leaf. When a large enough pile has accumulated it
is slaked with coco-nut milk, and if necessary some bread-fruit
juice is added to bind it. This is then smeared on to the body
of the effigy and, when dry, is painted according to the Nimamgki
rank of the dead man for whom it is being made. The same
mixture is used for modelling a face on to the skull, which is
made to resemble the deceased as nearly as possible. The head
is then ï¬Åxed on to the body (cf. Layard, p. 207). In the mmba-
mmgb of people of high rank there are long vertical projections
from each shoulder, producing the line of the arms upwards,
which are made of a number of canes bound together by lashings
at intervals along their lengths. To the shoulders and to these
vertical projections heads are often fastened, moulded of clay
and straw, with a pig’s tusk inserted in each corner of the mouth.
These are painted variously. They are replicas of the heads
on the dancing sticks which are used in the N evinlmr, and are,
of course, only put on to the vambammja if the deceased were :3.
member of this society. On the wrists are placed armlets of
turtle-shell (namba) and b0ar’s tusks, and the broad armbands,
mmbinben, worked in divers patterns according to the Nimdngki
rank of the dead man. On his head is set the mask of his N alawan
grade.
The ornaments of the mmbammp in the National Museum,
Melbourne (Pl. XX, 1), are those of a man of very high
status. The armlet on the right arm, called nimbinben mweil
(ma/ail = cycas) denotes him a member of the N imzmgki N imweil ;
that on the left arm is called nimbinben mahal and belongs to
Nimzmgki Neten M welip, as do also the two marks on the chest
stretching from shoulders to nipples. The white circles enclosed
with black, of which there are ï¬Åve on the elbow of the left arm
and three on the right, are called nimbengsingsmg, and symbolize
pigs’ tusks. The black round the eyes are the marks called
NI]