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

THE “,MAKING OF MAN " 645
district. It appears to be deï¬Ånitely connected with the Neerew
Rahulemp, for it is celebrated fourteen days after the latter,
when the moon, whose appearance heralded the ceremony in
Seniang, is full. As in Seniang, men look out eagerly for the ï¬Årst
glimpse of the moon and go to places where the horizon is low
they they may catch sight of her the sooner. The sky on this
night is said to consist of long calm parallel bars of clouds and
passing slowly behind these, now disappearing and now reappear-
ing, the full moon climbs to the upper heavens. Beyond this
there are no details of the ceremony, but from the fact that the
Neerew Mbatiar is regarded as the Wilemp equivalent to the
N eerew Rahulemgp it is perhaps safe to assume that it, too, has its
calendrie, commemorative, and harvest festival aspects.
THE Nogho Tilabwe or Mewun
just as a ceremony for the preservation of the life of the
whole of the Southern district was associated with the village of
Iumoran, so in Mewun the Nogho Tilabwe or Great Nogho is
associated with Melpmes, the village with which Iurnoran is
connected by a ghost path (nahal temes). It is clear, indeed,
that the Nogho Tilabwe is regarded as being linked with the
rites of Iumoran, and in this connection it is interating that
Telvusuaga, the son of one of the clan fertility magicians of
Melpmes, was taken when a child by his father on a visit to
the clan magician of Iumoran. .
It will be remembered that before Mwelnggil Veo and Ravaai,
the two sons of Butwanabaghap, died, they procreated a number
of stones, each of which gave birth to a man who was a kabat
with an individual name, and further, that the people of Melpmes
are divided into a number of “ houses â€ù or amwi, each one of
which claims as ancestor one of these stones. Belonging to every
" house “ is a magician, nemughui nogha (“ the man of nagho "),
who assists in the performance of the “ Great N agho â€ù. This man
in his official capacity bears the name of the Kabat child‘ who
sprang from the stone of his " house and who is therefore the
human ancestor of that " house â€ù. No complete list could be
obtained of these stones with the names of their children and
the " houses " which they founded, but the informant managed
to remember ï¬Åve of them. In addition to the title of the Kabat,
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