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

596 MALEKULA
of a maleï¬Åcent ghost who is by tradition associated with the
group. This ghost has generally as its particular abode a sacred
stone which is usually the principal object in the nembrmbrkon}
Thus the Ne11etNamar (“ Stone of Famine ") at Looru is inhabited
by a powerful evil spirit something like that of the cycas, who
is invoked in the performance of a certain sort of death magic;
Whether the Temes Mor Vaal, who lives in the sacred place of
Mbwilmbar, is ever actively rnaleï¬Åcent, We are not told. It is
said that he dwells in a spider’s web which extends right up a
tree, and there, it seems, men come occasionally to invoke him.
It is curious that Temes $avsap, who guards the entrance to the
Land of the Dead, should also be supposed to inhabit the nem-,
brmbvkon of Loorlanggalat, but such apparent inconsistencies
are not to be wondered at. That the beings connected with these
stones are regarded as having once been human is shown by the
fact that they are referred to as temes and that their spiritual
essence is called nimwinin which is the term used for the spiritual
part oi a man which leaves his body at death, Some such temzs
appear to take an active interest in the well~being of the clan
members, for it is reported of Malanggil Veo, the temes of the
sacred place of Looremew, that if a man neglects his family
Malanggil Veo will appear to him and warn him that it he continues
in his neglect he, Malanggil, will carry oft one of the children
as punishment.
The sacred stones themselves often form the centre of a
nmew ceremony and it would seem that they are considered to
he potent because of the temes which reside in them, but the
rites do not appear necessarily to include any invocation of these
beings. Thus the memo object of Looru is famine, which is
caused by the simple casting down of the “stoneâ€ù of famine
(Navel Namar). We have evidence, however, that in the nezrew
nivaal ("neemlz oi War") the Temes Mor Vaal is deï¬Ånitely
addressed. The names of a iew of the stones have been recorded.
Thus we have the N nut Lelembel of the clan Lelembel, the N :1/at
Nzmosi and Naval Nemll (the Star Stone and the Moon Stone)
of Rahulemp village, and the New/at Namar (the famine stones)
of Uraau, Mbwilmet, and Loom. These three villages are all
of difierent clans, but they have this in common, that in one
way or another they can produce famine in the district. In
Uraau and also in Mbwilmet famine is also regarded as the