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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 547
decays and falls to pieces. When the face has rotted away, the
skull is taken out and thrown into the clan ossuary}
It will have been noticed that in the decoration of the rumba-
ramp, the links of the dead man with all three societies, N imzmgki,
Nalawan, and Nevinbur, are recorded. This would seem to
suggest that the practice of making such efhgies was introduced
into the southern districts of Malekula by the same people who
introduced these associations, and it strengthens the supposition
that the latter are deï¬Ånitely connected with each other. The
origin of the mmbaramp is attributed, in mythology, to the
eldest of the ï¬Åve Arnbat brothers,“ the important culture heroes
of this district. The story runs as follows :—~
Rokoh Our. Nimwurien a1 imes. Ambat
They dwelt (on) Tomman Island. Brother their died. Ambat
irar ei imeur mial. En Awiram iomghot wut m'morot,
made him alive again. And Awirara did not want that man, that
tinin, nge mew. Iwu bingen Ambat : “ Hula 3
one, (that) he should live. He said unto Ambat: “ Brother
mmg’ot m'mo10t ngemeur, no rinmg ngemes
I dislike (that) man (that) he should live, I desire he dead
ngahal." Ambat iwn: “ Nu/ngow,â€ù en ingur nimomt
altogether." Ambat said : " All right," and he made man
nin imes mlal lis. En 1"/ar rambaramp. Iiaris
that dead back again. And he made mmbaramp. He set (it) up.
Imlmtmbut; m Awirara iwer: "Hula, ilz he/in."
It (is) dumb; and Awirara said: “ Brother, it (is) good indeed."
Beliefs Concerning the Soul or Spirit
Every person has one soul or spirit, the nimwinin. It is
not especially associated with the breath or shadow or any
part of the body. After death it continues to exist, and though
it departs to the Land of the Dead yet it can also return to the
land of the living, and in its visible form it is called a tames.
Even during life it is more or less separable from the body, and
one method of performing death magic is to entrap a man's spirit.
1 Acnording to Layard (P. 203), when the effigy has rotted the head is
attached to one of the roo1»beams of the amel. Presumably this would only be
done for a ruan of very great prestige. Deacon makes no reference to such
a custom.—C. I-I. W.
' See below, Chapter XXI.
' Considering that the ï¬Åve Arnbat were brothers it is curious that Awiraxa
should address Ambat by the classiï¬Åcatory term " hula ", and not by the term
“ lmm ".—C. H. W.
i is - >3