[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 567 lithe belief that at death a man returns to the village of his mother's _-,»_bi'other.1 The Mmusian rite is always one of considerable -,5;-riportance. In 1926 there was a bad outbreak of Spanish > giinfluenza which swept through the district like a veritable gplague, so that all the men abandoned the villages to the dogs, ._Pig5, and women, and built ior themselves shelters in the bush. jiKukan, a man oi Lowag, died while being nursed in the bush, hand his death was the signal for a general return to that village. ,iThither the chief, Wulvanu, had already gone, and was now ‘lying sick and almost delirious in his hut. On the day following 'Kuka.n's burial, the visitors arrived for the nimasian. By this .;tin1e everyone was extremely run-down, nevertheless the iutraditional funeral ceremonial was carried through as convention ;prescribed. It was plain that the performance was a. great strain upon all in their condition, and after it was over the son of the deceased, the principal oï¬Åiciator, was found relaxed and exhausted, shunning the presence of others. A most striking moment was when the dead man's son and some three or four other principal men retired to the chief's house for the con- sultation, leaving the small multitude of visitors and home ;villuge1's outside. The chief, propped up by a man behind --him, was informed in turn of the pig or pigs brought by each visitor. Then when he had all this knowledge before him, -all sat waiting for him to say what pig or pigs should bc given -to each in return. He spoke with great difficulty, catching for breath and in :1 scarcely audible whisper. Nevertheless he ‘succeeded in getting through the list and even in attending .to suggestions and objections on the part of the deceascd’s son, with whom hc engaged in short discussions and explanations, 21' no common feat for a sick man. When all the pigs have been received and repaid, the master of -the ceremonies asks some man to pronounce the funeral ioration. This funeral oration is by no means always laudatory, Thus at the death of a man called Tes, his overtures to " Christianity " at the Mission on the east coast were the subject of virulent denunciation on the part of him who made the speech, and at the end all present cried out : " Yea, all wished him ill I â€ù “ _- I The exact signiï¬Åcance of this is not clear, i0! at death all men go to Iambi, -nie Land ol the need.-c. H. w. r siriiinr fl1l'¢IJi.lOXfliflOfl.S are recorded from other parts of the New Hebrides. See R. 1-1. Codringtull, rm Mslanerirms, p. zas.
