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598 MALEKULA . , '
There is a very close spiritual alliance between the peoplg
of a clan, their nembrmbrkon, and all things that live therein taken
collectively. - Thus if anyone passing by the sacred place of
Loormharap sees any bird, ï¬Åsh, pig, etc., lying dead néarthé
sacred stone, he will tell the people of that descent group, and
they will know thereby that one of their number will die shortly_
The sacred place of Looremewis by a small stream, and the eel;
inhabiting this stream are tabu. No man would catch, kill, or
eat one of them, though there is no restriction on behaviour
towards the same species of eel in other streams. The water;
too, of this stream has certain curative properties for the people
of this group. If any man falls sick, someone is sent to fetch
water from the stream for him to drink, If, however, the water
carrier sees a ï¬Åsh called mahal mbon approach while he is dipping
in his bamboo for the water, he desists, for the soul of the sick
man is in the ï¬Åsh} and it is therefore useless to try to save him,
Amanrantus, who gave this information," said that after death
the souls of men of Looremew entered or became the ï¬Åsh mahal‘
mban in the stream of the sacred place. On another occasion,
however, he made the apparently inconsistent statement’. that
if a man on going to the nembrmbrkun sees a red snake, he knows
that it is all up with him for the red snake is the residence
of his soul '(m'mwinin),1 and since his soul has departed from
him he is for all practical purposes doomed. This belief may have
a relation to the parallel one of Looremew, that if a man sees a
white‘ snake near the tabu-place’ it means that a child will be
born to his wife. The same snake appears to him later in a
dream, and tells whether it will be a boy or a girl. Whether
these two beliefs concerning the abode of the‘ soul are held
simultaneously or which is the more popularly accepted one ‘is
of relatively little importance. The signiï¬Åcant point is that
there is an association between the lives of men and of certain
or all creatures in the sacred place, an association which has
apparently nothing whatever to do with that between the
members of a clan and their totem. '
I Whether the ï¬Åsh and snake are regarded as being the nimwinin actually,
or merely that the soul has entered into them, Deacon was unable to make out.