[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 13
string. (See Plate IVE.) There are, indeed, two varieties of
these: the one is of more or less equal length all the way round
and hangs doom sufficiently far to cover the genitals ; the other
is hoisted up on to the belly so that it is long at the back but
very short in front, the genitals being thus partially exposed.
The former manner of wearing the skirt is found in Mewun and
Laus; the latter among the Naan Bugoi and among some of
the Laus people living on their borders, and probably among
the more northerly tribes of Bangasa, Uerik, etc. It is interesting
to note that in the eyes of the men of Mewun and Laus a certain
stigma of indecency attaches to the Naan Bugoi women for
thus exposing themselves.
It may seem that in thus selecting the clothing of the women
as the primary criterion of differentiation, we are dividing the
country up into culture areas whose bounds would have been
entirely different _had some other criterion been chosen. This is
not the case, however. The distribution of other culture elements,
so far as they are known, gives support to the division already
made. Thus -the practice of knocking out the two upper incisor
teeth of ‘a. girl as a part of her initiation into womanhood, is
ioundin the southern districts, in-Lambumbu, Lagalag, and in
all places north of this, while it is deï¬Ånitely known to be absent
in Mewun and Laus. 'Its presence _or absence has not been
recorded alongrthe east coast, nor is anything known of the
female initiation rites of the Naan Bugoi and their bush
neighbours. Again, the important graded society of the men
which corresponds to the Sukwe of the Northern New Hebrides,
and which is called here Nimomgki, is found with a similar
distribution as the mat-skirt. Its form and ritual are not every-
where the same, but the word nimangki and the principle of
purchasing insignia and rank in a progressive series are found
throughout the northern part of the island as far south as the
range of hills from Pacey Point to Bushman’s Bay ; are present
in Lambumbu, in all the southern districts including the adjoining
islets, in the Maskelync archipelago, and all down the east coast
as well as invthe islands lying oft it. In the interior it is not
known, and in Mewun it did not exist until recently-—that is,
well within the memory of the inhabitants who were still alive
"at the time of.Deacon’.s visit—~when the people acquired it from