[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
32 MALEKULA up until they are nearly parallel, and the whole is lifted with the stick on to the ridge pole. In this way one continuous piece of bamboo is used to pass up one side, over the ridge pole, and down the other side of the house. Sometimes instead of splitting the cane by steam pressure, a small notch is cut out of the central internode, but this is not usually done since it makes the bamboo much less strong than does the other method. When all these bamboos have been ï¬Åxed into place, bestriding the ridge pole along its length, thinner strips of bamboo are lashed trans- versely to them, each one running the whole length of the house, parallel to the ground. The skeleton of the building is now ï¬Ånished and the next step is to make the thatch. For this fronds of the ivy-nut palm (mmriet) are gathered and pinned to thin pieces of bamboo of about 3ft. 6in. to 4 feet long. Before putting these on to the roof an important ceremony is performed to ensure that the material thus prepared shall prove adequate. All the lengths of thatch are gathered together and put up on a platform. In the evening a magical potion, infused beforehand, is poured 1 over the pile which is then left undisturbediuntil the morning. The aim of this is. to increase the actual number of lengths of thatching. No remarkable increase is believed possible, but to every twenty lengths or so one or two will be added. It is important for the proper functioning of the magic that the number of lengths should not be counted while they are lying on the platform before the potion is poured over them ; were this prohibition disregarded no increase would take place. At cock-crow the men get up, take the lengths of thatch from where they are lying, and hide them all about the village and neighbouring bush. While doing so they make a cry regarded as being characteristic of a certain mythological ogress called Nevinbumbaau and they themselves are called by the female title Vinburnbaau and not by their own proper names during this part of the rite. The reason for making this cry seems to be that Nevinbumbaau was a giantess who did everything on a big scale, and that, through association with her, the lengths of thatching will increase in size somewhat, thus ensuring that they will be large enough to cover the roof of the house. Some- 1 This rite is spoken as isu namiet or isusu -ran nuuml from isu'su meaning “be pokesâ€ù.—A. B. D.
