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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 559
DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD IN MEWUN
From this district, as from Seniang, no clear myth of the
origin of death has been reported, but there is one incident in
the mythology of the beings called Kabat which may very
probably be a death myth. When the ï¬Årst K abai, Butwanabaghap,
died he told his two sons to come to him in the land of the dead
after ï¬Åve days had elapsed. The elder of the two sons miscounted
the days, and so they went to seek their father one day too late.
For this reason he could not return to life again, and We may
perhaps deduce that for this reason, too, ordinary humans die and
cannot be resurrected}
Allowing for the fact that the N evinlmr society and the mm»
bammjz are not found in Mewun, the beliefs conceming death and
the dead and the methods of disposal are very much the same
in the northern district as they are in Seniang. The body is
placed on a stretcher near a ï¬Åre until it has decomposed, after
which the skull is removed. It is kept until the next Nalau/an
ceremony“ is performed, when it is carried to the logho, the
sacred place of the clan. Here it is put in a shallow hole, with a
circle of small stones around it, and one big stone slab over the
top. The other bones are gathered together and placed in the
logho at the annual fertility ceremony or Nogho of the clan
which corresponds to the clan neerew of South-West Bay.
This method holds good for all the inhabitants of Mewun,
except for certain of those belonging to the village of Melprnes,
which from its peculiar association with the mythical beings
called Kabat and with the Big Nogho or Nogha Tilabwe (the
ceremony for the Making of Man in this district), is the most
important locality in Mewun. In the chapter which gives an
account of these Kabat, a brief description will be given of the
Way in which it is believed that the ï¬Årst K abat, Butwanabaghap
the Creator, and his two sons were buried. They were not exposed
on a bier according to the usual south Malekulan custom, but
were placed in a sitting position in holes in the ground with one
of the sacred prehistoric pots which are found in this district
1 See Chapter XXI.
' The Nalawan of Mewun is, as we have seen, very diï¬Åerent in many respects
from the Nalawam society of Seniang, but it is very closely associated with the
rites connected with deat11.—C. H. W. »