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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 563
with his foot.‘ In general people do not like to have
hanging about the villages. At the time oi the
visit to one village, he found all the inhabitants
as it was believed that the ghost of a man had
his widow, a woman of that village, back to her home.
THE LAND or "rm: DEAD
For all the people of Mewun, except the nemugh/at nogho of
the Land of the Dead is the same as that for the people
though call it Wikise, and not Wies. There are
thither, though it may probably
interred the souls from the south, so those
Mewun have to come before Temes Savsap and oomplete
drawing oi “the Path " before they can pass through to
ï¬Ånal resting-place.
clan magicians of Melpmes, however, and possibly other
of this clan also, go out to sea, to the reef Namalé. This
the reef to which the Kabat Butwanabaghap went when his
had killed him ' and it is now the Land of the Dead for his
lants. It is not absolutely clear whether it is all the
rnen of Melpmes who go thither, or only the " magicians ", that
is, the nemughut nogho, ot the ten " houses â€ù of Melpmes. One
leature of the ritual of the Nogho Tilabwa of Melpmes Suggests
ltllhat it is only these latter who dwell i.n Narnaliï¬Å after death;
.YVEv81'€ told that one of the objects at this rmgho is to prepare and
safeguard the passage oi the souls of the " magicians " of Melpmes
to the Land of the Dead, and these preparations include the
making of model canoes to transport them thither, and the
provision of puddings of coco—nut and other vegetables to sustain
them on the way. Mollol flying foxes, constructed of coco-nut,
are also made as vehicles for them and to enable them to fly
about like birds. On the other hand, during this same festival,
puddings are made in the shape of ï¬Åsh and eaten by all the men
of Melpmes in the club-house, so that when they die their spirits
will be able to swim about in the sea like ï¬Åsh; a power which
suggests a reef home for all of them,
There is no direct evidence concerning any cult of the dead
or of memorials erected in their memory. We only know that
the rambarangb of the southern district are not found in Mewun.
I The phrase used in the notes for this is: " Putting toot along man."-—
c. H. w. 1 sat below, Chapter xxl.