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

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 583
olub-house. In this the corpse is placed in a kneeling position,
the head projecting above the surfacc of the ground, with leaves
or stones placed around the neck so that it may not come in
izontact with the soil. Two men then watch by the grave and
continually wash the head to hasten decomposition. On the third
day after death a coco-nut is husked at early dawn and set up
on a stick outside the house where the body is buried. It is said
that this is done " to make the eyes come out ".‘ On the ï¬Åfth
day all the mourners, including the close relatives of the deceased,
go to bathe in the sea. This is not done to remove the mourning,
but to prevent the sickness of the dead man from attacking
them. Two days later a big feast is held with much wailing, to
celebrate the separation of the lower jaw from the upper part
of the skull. This ceremony is called " nisan ill)‘ mg ", meaning
{‘.the_ jaw sunders ". Throughout this time the men who wash
the dead rnan’s head during the period of decaying eat by them-
selves and rcrnain in strict seclusion until the thirtieth day after
death.‘ The head, which has by now rotted from oft the body,
is then taken and put in the skull-house, naghamel tuji, whore it
is laid on a slab of stone at the far end in company with all the
other ancient skulls of notable men. This is the occasion of
the elaborate ritual, called nalaum by the Big Numbas (nilun
by the Small Nzunbas), in which the bull-roarcrs play-an important
part. The last rite takes place seventy clays later, when a feast
of BREAD-fruit is held, of which everyone partakes as zt sign of
the termination of mourning.
According to the other two accounts,â€ù recorded in the note
books, the body of a chief is not buried, but exposed on u platfonn.
The corpse is wrapped up in coco-nut ï¬Åbres in such a way that
the skin is nowhere visible and only the head projects. It is
then laid prone on a low platform of stones, built inside the club-
house, and a ï¬Åre is lighted at a little distance from it. Two
men constantly wash the face with water from coco-nuts or
certain leaves, in order to hasten decomposition. When all the
body has decayed and only the skeleton is left, the skull is removed
I ct. the coco-nut which is set up in Lemburnhu for mm mfllu " the eyes
aepm ac. 1-r. w.
-i I c1. the seclusion of the men who bury the corpse in Lamburnhu and
La;-avat.—C. i-1. w.
* rm» are mm found in the same note-book, separated only by some
twenty»ï¬Åve pages, and are substantially in agreement.-—C. H. w.