[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
560 - MALEKULA put on the head, knees, and buttocks of each, the pits being then ï¬Ålled in and surrounded by stones} It is this unusual type of burial which is used to-day for the disposal of the nmughm nogho, the “heads “ or clan magicians of the ten “ houses " or amwi into which the people of Melpmes are divided,“ the only difference being that these men are laid prone and not contracted into a sitting posture. This special treatment is due to the fact that they are regarded as the direct descendants, and to some extent as the reincarnations of, those mythical Kabat who were the great grandchildren of Butwanabaghap and were the founders of the Melpmes clan. It is said that the Kabul ' prepared in a special burying-place on the hill which rises behind the logho, a. grave for each of these magicians of the Mclpmes clan. Here they were buried lying on their backs and orientated so that they faced the east because it was in that direction that Butwanabaghap used to go every morning to see the sun. Over the mouth of each magician was placed a sacred pottery cylinder, one end of which rested on the mouth of the corpse, the other projecting a short distance above the surface of the ground. On the ï¬Ålth <‘lay_aiter the death the grave was supposed to be visited by a bird, the nambal hawk, which is regarded as being a temes. This bird sat down on the projecting edge of the sacred pot, reached its head and body down to the face of the dccezised, plucked out his eyes, and carried them away, presumably to eat them. After the ï¬Åfth day the relatives of the dead man came and closed up the open end of the cylinder (Pl. XXIIIB, 1).‘ The following is a very brief account of the funeral of Taghalut. I B1LWBDfl.l>8.§la.]), indeed, had a Isglllal dolmen iohih covered with essth. For 8-ll flCCO.fl1. oi the pols sico Chapter XX.-c. i-i. w. ' S62 below, Chlpfer xxx. = !t is 110! oieii whether this rders to Butwanabaghep or to the Kubat who were the oiisoiiog oi the taghu stones. Since the clan of ivisipihos WU DOC founded at the time oi Butwuiubcgha ‘s death it is probable that it is the children oi the stones that are ifltehdfld hero.-C. I-I. w. I According to I letter Written to Dr. Haddnn they were ~ hhiioii ih pits, sunoumled by i circle oi BCODE in ih. loglia ih the nsiu HD1568 1 CU! aha DO mmhos to these :ItQD€»S|l'rOlI;|ded pits, which apparently resemble in smiohiie the graves oi the sohs of Biiswshshsghsp. Other miehiehts ih this letter hie corrected or much modiï¬Åed by Later soooiihis, 3-Dd, since it is not easy to see how a corpse could be buried lying on its back in a pit (the two KB Bi wsis placed in u sitting position), and since a vsi-y tough sketch oi s mmuglwl naghrz ih his grave with I pot over his month shows ho iltdiciï¬Åflhi oi a pit, it isms possihio that the fllflllï¬Åflfl of pits 5!l'[DIDl'lBd by MODES givoh in this letter was due to in Gilly coniusion between the graves oi the two Khan: and the mmmghut naghc who bore the title oi KabnL—C. H. w.
