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

704 MALEKULA
characterized by a distinct dialect or type of Melanesian language,
and that, closely correlated with the distribution oi this type,
though not identical with it, is the distribution of the mulmal;
the women's mat-skirt, the Tagaro mythology, the use oi a mat
currency, and taro~irrigatior1. The considerable distance which
separates North-West Santo and Omba leads to the supposition
that this light—skinned type is responsible for the introduction
oi these cultural elements, and to these we may probably add
the decimal system of numeration which is only found in Omba,
North-West Santo, Malo, North Raga, as well as North Malekula
and the Small Islands ; in all other parts of the New Hebrides,
so far as is known, there is a quinary system.‘ It is possible, too,
that the extreme development of male homosexuality, which is
prominent among the Big Nambas and in North Raga. may
belong to this culture complex, and also the practice of tattooing,
which is carried out in Omba and North Raga, and which in
the former island is an elaborate operation attended by much
ceremony.“ It will be noticed that there is a distinctly Polynesian
flavour about this people and much of their culture.
I would put forward, therefore, as an hypothesis, that into
the matrilincal area there was brought, probably by the light-
skinned type of people found in Omba and North-West Santo, a
culture characterized by mats (with red patterns stained on
them), which were used as clothing ; taro-irrigation; kava-
drinking ; tattooing ; Tagaro mythology ; andadistinct language
type. This culture did not penetrate into the patrilineal area
of Malckula except in the territory of the Big Nambas in the
north and in the Small Islands off the east coast and, as regards
the women's mat-skirts, into the coastal districts of this island
(with the exception of Mewun). All features of this culture are
absent from Ambrym, which I consider typical of the pure patri-
lineal culture, and in the interior of Malekula ; and this shows,
I believe, that where it is found in Malekula, its presence is a
sporadic intrusion. I do not regard the mat-skirt culture as the
same as that characterized by the dual organization, but as an
immigrant culture superimposed upon the latter. Thus in some
parts of the matrilineal area men and women go almost nude ;
* s. H. Ray, 1926. p. 245, 257, 969, 982, 400, 415, 41s, 419, 420; R. 1-1.
Codrington, 16-E5, p. 225,41; 1891, 17.358.
I In both these islands the tattooing is apï¬Åarently conï¬Åned to women.-—
c. 1-r. w. (A. B. Deacon, 1929, p. 49s ; R. . Oodrington, 1:291, p. zaz.)
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