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THE AMBAT, KABAT, AND HAMBAT 633
numeration which is found throughout South Malekula (as it is,
too, in the Banks). Why the intrusive number twelve should
have ‘been introduced into the Qat-Kabul; mythology is a problem
which has never been discussed, nor probably is it possible to do
so with any proï¬Åt with our present scanty data.
How long the sons of Butwanabaghap survived their father
or what they did during their lite-time, we do not know, but
eventually they died, and like their father were buried in the
logho at Melpmcs. Their graves were two pits surrounded by
stones into which they were ‘put in a sitting position. On the
knees, head, and buttocks of each was placed one ‘oi the sacred
pots, and to~day some specimens of this sacred pottery mark
the spot where they rest} Their’ bodies like the body of But-
wanabaghap, are supposed to have suffered no corruption, and
it is believed that were they to be dug up to-day they would
be as fresh as at the moment of death.
This story falls naturally into three parts : the ï¬Årst concerns
the capturing of the clarn and its changes into a woman whom
Butwanabaghap marries ; the second deals with the slaying of
Butwanabaghap, and the “originâ€ù of death; the third with
the procreation oi the sacred stones (and from them of the
people of Mclpmes) and the death of Butwanabaghap’s two
sons. It will be convenient to discuss each part separately.
'1' he story of the catching of the clam resembles very closely
that told of the Ambat brothers; the same method is employed,
and it will he noticed that Butwanabaghap sees the clam out to
sea when he is standing on Milip, which would locate the clam
inthe direction of Tomman Island, the island into which according
to the Seniang story the giant clam turned utter its death.
Finally, the ï¬Åve attempts made by Butwanabaghap to catch the
clam, of which only the last was successful, would seem to
correspond to the efforts made in turn by the ï¬Åve Ambat brothers.‘
In the latter story, however, the clam dies and the island
During I visit to this luglm Deacon saw this pottery, but mentions nothing
oi any stones around the graves. It is just possible min the wording oi the
sentence that it was not the graves but the ‘bodies which were surrouniled by
stones, i.e. that the graves were lined with stones.-C. H. W,
- lt is noteworthy that the number nvu is signiï¬Åcant throughout: The
hnys rind their father-on the ï¬Åfth iiuy of their wanderings ; they are commanded
to Visit him in the land ni the dead on the imh day after his death; and there
is reason to suppose that the nunibrr of stones procrcated may have been ten,
which would indicate ï¬Åveapiece. It is to be remembered that both Seniang and
Me'vun have a qlliflary Sy5t¢m Qi numaati0n.i. n. w. I _
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