[Note: this transcription was produced by an AUTOMATIC OCR engine]
THE "MAKING OF MAN" 657 in two mission stations on the coast} There is also inside this house a sacred stone called Navel Maul, but nothing could be learnt about it. THE RITES or THE Nogham Nomur As with the clan nagham of Lambumhu district, the Nogharo Niimur takes place only once every eight years. There is no evidence to suggest that the Lembelag clan is divided into “ houses " such as those of Melpmes, and it is not wholly clear who are the principal performers in this N ogharo. It is stated that all adult males of Lembelag may “ make nogharoâ€ù and that having done so they receive the title of Hambat and join in the performance of the Nog/mm Nomur. But we are not told whether it is customary for all men to go through this ceremony and attain to this title, or whether in practice it is limited to only a few of high social standing. That some men bearing this title were more important than others is suggested by the note that “ the last magician of the Nogharo Niimur â€ù was called Harnbat Mial, the “ Red I-Iambat â€ù. It is interesting to notice, too, that just as the men of Melpmes who officiated in the rites of Nogho Tilabwe, so in Lambumbu those who bear the title Hambat are distinguished from common people in their funeral rites. For these Hambat like the clan magicians of Ran Nembew who perform the nogharo of pigs, are buried in such a way that the head is left exposed.‘ Unfortunately we do not know why this is done, but it seems possible, if not probable, that the protection of the head from contact with the earth is associated with the fear that such contact would cause sickness and mis- fortune among rnen. Eventually, as we have seen, the skull is placed in the back wall of the mzamel timoull Preparation for the N oghllro N iimur begins about a year before the actual ceremonies, with the planting of a special yam garden, in order that the performers may be well supplied with yams 1 In another account it is said that the tabu on cutting coco-nuts is only in force for one or twn years before performing the Nagham Nomm. Since this like other nogharv has an eight-year cycle such a restriction would not mean that cocwnuts were always tabu. The account in which this statement is made is. however. evidently a less accurate and probably an earlier one than that from which the above description has been taken, and since the traders say that it is a fact that, apart from the mission stations, they get practically no copra from this district, a permanent tabu on cutting the coco-nuts seems perhaps the more pr0bable.»——C. H. w. uu F‘ =
