[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
574 MALEKULA and a transverse pole, resembling miniature Rugby goalposts. One end of a long bamboo with perforated nodes is lashed to the transverse bar of each of these, and the other, which reaches the enclosing fence, is buried a few inches beneath the ground, so that it cannot be seen. The arrangement is such that when anyone blows down these bamboos from tl-lerend near the gongs the sound seems to proceed from the fence and the ï¬Ågures on the poles,‘ It was said that the reason for fastening the bamboo to the mlai wul/ulang, instead of allowing that end to lie free, is that in case of a raid on the village during the performance of nitemah the hostile visitors may not rush up to the screen, and, seizing the buried ends of the bamboos, be able to thrust them home dovlm the throats oi those who are blowing them. On the hundredth day after the death, the day of the niiamnh ceremony, the women retum to the village, and visitors from neighbourirlg villages assemble to wail. All the women remain outside the enclosure, sitting down in rows irl front of it; the men of the home village, and the male visitors if they wish, go inside, and all lift up their voices in lamenting. Presently an old man, the oldest relative of the deceased,“ steps out in front of the fence, and, all being hushed for ll time, he speallis dramatically as follows: " Nelang hwndu igh/us mwu, si mlang Lumuli ighus nnoul Naul nan mulerau itakh nnm, mbwetaulms, mbwetnvuns wut nail marmï¬Ågl " (“The wind of Black Sands beats me, or the wind of Lumuli beats me I ' The maggots of the old man they remain, they appear, they appear in this place to-day! â€ù). Ho repeats this, and as soon as he has ï¬Ånished, the men blow down the barnboos, thus making the ghosts “ sing out ", and the wailing begins once more. This continues for some time. When at last the singing of the ghosts is ended, the ï¬Ånal distribu- tion of pigs takes place. They are presented to the same people who received pigs at the earlier distribution, the ndmasian, but the number of animals given is larger than on that occasion.‘ 1 chrhprre this with the nrrangement oi buried bamboo! used in the Nauinbur rites,—C. H. w. I Presumably this Old Inafl 15 8 member of the deceased‘: clan, that is, a relative on the male side. Vvhethar his kinship to the am man is real OX classiflcatory is ho: stated.-—C. ll. W4 = It will be remembered that a. flilsmvlll is hot celebrated for every man who has died, for should the deceased be a member oi the Nimawgki Th! the ceremonies of this society will be performed in he hnnnur, the removal of his Skull. being the occasion 1hr them. The pigdistribution appears to bu curled out along the 521110 lins at the nmsensonggwiafl rite, which precedes the seclusion cl the Nimangki rm novices. (See above, p. 449.)-c. 1-1. w.
