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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 561
v the head and hence oflicial magician of one of the
I of the clan of Melpmes.
A, ,Taghalut was ill, and one day, when rnost of the people were
flown on the beach, ï¬Åshing and eating their catch, someone called
down from the village telling them that they tarried too long
for their " father â€ù was dead. This happened at sunset and
throughout that night the people heard the ghosts throwing
stones and shells at the dead man's house. In the morning the
funeral rites began. The gangs were beaten with the rhythms
pt the Nimangki grades of which Taghalut had been a member,
and pigs were killed and distributed as they were at the funeral
of Apwil Naandu in Seniang.‘ The corpse was then covered
with nnrovu leaves, imd carried to the grave, in which it was
laid with the feet pointing to the cast, the head to the west.“ N0
food might be placed withit, for should anything, as, for instance,
:1 coco~nut, have even fallen into the grave, then all the coco—nuts
of the district would have rotted away as the body rotted. One
of the sacred cylindrical pots, was placed over the [ace of the
corpse so that the upper edge projected above ground. The
grave was then ï¬Ålled in, the mouth of the cylinder alone being
left open. Five days later, when the nambal hawk was supposed
to have peeked out and carried off the eyes of the deceased, the
relatives of Taghalut returned and closed this opening.
The men of Mclpmes, other than the namughut nagho, or heads
of the ten “ houses ", are apparently exposed upon a bier in the
usual way, and every year at the celebration of the N ngho T ilabu/0
or “ Making of Man â€ù the skulls of thosc who have died during
the past twelve months are gathered together and added to the
heap which lies just outside the building known as “ The House
of Butwanabaghap ", a hut standing in the sacred place (logho)
of Melpmes. -
BELIEFS CONCERNING THE Soul.
The people of Mcwun recognize a distinction between the
soul which they call niridilmane, and which is said to dwell in
p I Sn runs the note. It is a. little vague, since pigs were killed at diflerent
mtetvals during Apwil Nasiidirs rims; presumably this l't!fH!§ to the ï¬Årst ol
these distributions Unfortunately no flirt]-Km‘ details no given mini Mew|n.—
c. H. w '
' - -rs; statement in uis notes is to the eflect that the mi-pss laced casts
l <1
Since it is prone, it seems pmbnblo um what is meant is that the body is p ace
in such 1 position um on arising it Wmlld face the east so as to see the morning
sun rise, even IS Binwsiinssghip had dune. See ciispcsi xx_r._c. n. w.