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82 MALEKULA
deference for his uncle which is not reciprocated. The nephew
will help himself to his metmm's property, " all same he father
belong him,â€ù even in the absenceof the latter; and this is not
in any way regarded as stealing. If a man comes to his garden
and sees that some of his yams are gone, and that there are
traces of a ï¬Åre, he will say to himself: “ My lawan (sister’s
child) must have been here." In former times, so the informants
stated, it was not uncommon for the sister’s son even to commit
adultery with his mother's hrother’s wife. When this happened
the mother's brother could do nothing, for it would have been
a violation of the mores of the community had he avenged his
honour on the person of his nephew. These rights of the sister's
son are reciprocal; should he need them, the maternal uncle
will take his nephew’: things. If the two go on a journey
together, the metmm must look after his lawan and see
that he comes to no harm; while the latter must do all the odd
jobs for his uncle, and in walking with him must always keep
to the rear. The mother's brother, however, has no real authority
over his nephew. Ii a boy is impertinent to his metmm, it is not
the latter but the boy's father who will punish him. s _
The maternal uncle plays an important part in thelearly
ritual life of a child. It is he who washes the baby when it is
ï¬Årst brought out of the house, and names it, though not necessarily
after himself ; later he cuts the boy's hair. For each of these
services the child's father gives him a pig, and a pig is also given
to him when the sister’s child, boy or girl, begins to lose its milk
teeth, and when the pig's tusk bracelet (an object of some ritual
importance) is ï¬Årst put on to its wrist. A further payment of
pigs is made to the metuan on the occasion of the ceremony of
incision for a boy and the knocking out of the incisor teeth for
a girl. It is, too, the general practice for a boy to purchase
his Nimamgke grades from his maternal uncle so long as the
latter is alive, and the ï¬Årst two of these, Naamb tileo and Nim-
binmben, are always bought from him or, failing him, from the
mother's father. Deacon states that from an economic point of
view, the pigs which a man gives to his child's maternal uncle
on these occasions are regarded by the people of Seniang as a
repayment of the gifts which the latter has from time to time
presented to his sister, the man’s wife. r
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