[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
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610 MALEKULA .
The Alaviemp group arrived next, carrying a yam and pig
in the same way. But the Alaviemp men wore their anklet;
dyed red, not yellow. Further, they bore conical red head~
dresses of straw and clay plastered over split bamboo, with.
fowls’ feathers at each temple, projecting forward. This head-
dress is called nikuk nevogih “the cicadais nest ", which it is
thought to resemble. After the Alaviemp men had given up the
yam and pig, the Venebubu yam magicians repaired to tlie logho,
where an image of the " baby Kabat " had been fashioned.‘
A procession of the men of Venebubu Was then_formed, most
of them carrying bananas oi the sort called nesawonggolu and-
having umbrella palms on their heads, The ï¬Årst four men oi the
procession, however, carried a bow and arrow, the last man along
bamboo which he held vertically before him like a long candle
or a musket at thc “ present â€ù. On the top of this bamboo was
the image of a fowl and a cluster of certain leaves. The principal
yam magician came in the middle of the procession. lie was
dressed in a woman's skirt, and carried the “baby Kabul! " which
was wrapped around with cloths like an infant, and held in the
appropriate attitude. It, too, was surmounted by an image
of a rod fowl. As the procession advanced, the four leaders
pranced from side to side alternately, drawing and slacking
their bows (the arrows being in position), as though they were
shooting at something all about them. Meanwhile the bamboo‘
bearer in the reur, facing towards the rear, made sweeping half-
circles first to the right and then to the left, bringing the bamboo
to the " present " at the completion of each semi-circle.‘ ,
Here the account breaks oft but, brief as it is, one signiï¬Åcant
point emerges. In the South-West district it was seen that several
clans had the same nzeuw object, but it was not stated whether
in the celebration of the nemzw they worked in conjunction or
not. Here it is clear that three distinct villages all take part in
the nogho miam together, but apparently not all those having
this nvgho are present for Lokhbangalou and Mbriilies are not
included ; their omission may, however, be due to the incompleter
ness of the account. Unfortunately, it is not stated whether the
nogho is also performed in the loghol of those villages which
assisted in its celebration at Venebubu. ' g
I Except for some slight verbal alterations, this account is a. transcript or
rm in the note-books. ‘The Kribnt are rnythical beings corresponding to the
Ambat of SeIiang,—C. H. w. r