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

TOTEMISM 595
st for the whole clan and the fruits of his labours beneï¬Åt
only his own people but the whole district. Such a specialist
called the nimbatin mm/or, and there is always one and
one only in every clan.‘ The narne may perhaps be
" head magician " (nimbutin = " his head " ; nowor
“ magician â€ù). His ofï¬Åee is essentially a public one, and in
the normal course of events would pass from a 1-nan to his eldest
son, to whom the necessary instructions would be given. It
3,PpeaIS that this instruction comprises notionly the rites which
must be periorrned for the neerew ceremony, but also the secret
or " true " names of a large nlimberof objects such as bananas,
the sea, the sun, and the moon, What the purpose oi these
5‘ true â€ù names may be, or on what occasions they are used, there
is nothing to tell us, but they are evidently held to be very sacred,
for no wimbaiin nawar may ever reveal them save to 'his
successor.’ It is said, too, that to his successor is also revealed the
nahal temps, that is presumably the actual route of the “ ghost
path ", which links his village to another village in Mewun. The
identity of the villages so associated is, of course, known to all.
In addition to his public functions, a nimbalin nowor may also
have knowledge oi death and sex magic, etc., but he will trafï¬Åc
in these purely as a private individual and such knowledge is in
no way necessary to his official position as clan lerti1ity—m:lgician.
The chief or " parent " village of every descent-group is
associated with a sacred place, called in Seniang the newut tisumjr
and in Wilcmp the newut bilian or alternatively to both these
the mmbrmbrklmï¬Å All subsidiary villages have apparently the
same one as their parent village. Such a place is the chamel-
vhouse of the clan, and is also usually regarded as the residence
' 1 The statements are not absolutely clear.‘ 1: is possible that there is one
to each village of n clan, but this is improbable since it is elsewhere stated that
villages which have separated no lnnn the pflfflllt village all have thlfsame
lnorea place as the latter.-- c. H. w.
, 1 In one homo Deacon says um 8. lliml/uliyl nowor mi ht In return for a gm
of pigs give the necessary instruction to other men vim wished to become
m‘mbntl'1l mm/0'/, but this does not equate with what appears to he 1 later smo-
ment contrasting Lhe knowledge necessary for one holding this position with
the knowledge of death and sex magic. otc., which latter ho describes as a
" saleable commodity He Writes further: “The not that most nimbalin
rlowny (but not all) are also private aosl.lHn,nglo; etc., sol'ce.rers led me at ï¬Årst
lo wnillse their ‘public and private characters. The distinction is, however,
tial M '
essen (v. 1 so aglc.)
" 1' Kan = tabu.~ -A. B, l). This is the Word most commonly used by Deacon
in referring to the sacred place. It is not clear whether 1; is a Scniang or Wilemp
Wpfl‘l, though he uses it for both districts alike, a.nLl in the following account
his example will be Icll0wed.—C. H. W. >
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