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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 551
and saw that they were ï¬Årmly ï¬Åxed up in a tree with a deep pool
of water below. The ghost had abandoned them because one
had opened his eyes, so they had to climb down and return to
their village as best they could. This rite of divination is called
temes rambu. It appears from this account that the temes who
conducts the men on their wild journey is not necessarily that
of the man who has just died and whose murderer the living are
seeking out. In Lambumbu, where there is an almost identical
ceremony, it is deï¬Ånitely stated that though the ghost of the
deceased may pull the bamboo, it does not necessarily nor even
properly do so. g
Besides the ordinary ghosts of the dead, there are certain
other spiritual beings who are deï¬Ånitely regarded as temes and
as having once been human, but who have attained an individual
importance and continue to interest themselves actively in the
affairs of the living. Two of these are women, called Lirew
Mbetep and Lisa Wut, who visit men in their sleep in erotic
dreams. In particular they haunt a spot on the road to Looru.
They are bad ghosts, for, should a man marry after he has had
connection with one of them in his dreams, they will cause his
wife to fall sick and die. There are other ghosts which are men.
These counterfeit the appearance of a woman’s husband and
make her lie with them under the impression that it is her husband
whom she is embracing. Though not entirely approved of by
the husband, such a ghost is accepted by him with a good grace,
for it is recognized that these male temes are benevolent since
they cause a woman to bear a man child. One whose wife is
barren welcomes their attentions, therefore. The following is
an actual example of such a. visitation.
A certain man and his wife went up, with others of their
village, to work in the yam gardens. The man went into the
bush to gather sticks. A short while after his wife saw him
come towards her and, when the others were not looking, break
a stick purposely so that she could see. This indicated that he
wanted to have intercourse with her. (It is the general way of
conveying this to a woman when other people are about and a
man does not wish them to know.) He then left the garden
,by one path and she by another, and they lay together. The
woman then came back by herself along the same path and met
her husband again in the garden. Nowhe took a. stick and
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