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

CHAPTER II
THE VILLAGE AND VILLAGE LIFE
THE VILLAGES »
Apart from those of the district of Seniang, Deacon left no
record of the general plan of Malekulan villages, but what he
noticed in the south-west is of considerable interest and
importance, for here the arrangement of the houses reflects
certain fundamental ideas of the people. According to them
there are two hostile qualities or properties—igah and ileo—the
former belonging especially to women, and by analogy to the
female of all species, as, for instance, a sow; the latter belonging
to men and all things male. Ileo has been translated “ sacred â€ù,
but it would be a great misapprehension to translate igah as
" profane â€ù. The true signiï¬Åcance of these words will be
considered in a later chapter, suflice it to say here that they are
believed to be strongly antipathetic and for this reason things
igah must be kept separate from things ileo. For this reason the
Seniang village is divided into two parts. At one end are the
dwelling-houses, occupied for the most part by the women and
children. The houses are not, it seems, arranged in any particular
order, but according to the whim of the owner; there is no
central street or square. At the other end of the village is the
men's club-house or amel. Here numerous sacred objects are
kept,‘ and here the men sit and yarn, engage in the making of
tools andweapons, eat together, and discuss matters of state,
safe -from interruption by their womenfolk. Between the amel
and the ‘dwelling-houses is the dancing ground, in the centre of
which stand and lie the carved wooden gongs which play so
important ‘a part in the ceremonial and in the everyday life of
the people. Separating the dancing ground from the dwelling-
houses is a boundary called the naai save, “ the wooden barrier,"
which is made‘ of a bamboo fence or a line of trees and shrubs.
On ordinary occasions, this barrier does not hide the dancing
ground from view, but when the men are engaged in the celebra-
tion of religious rites from which the women are wholly barred
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