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

:58 MALEKULA
to his companions} Then they all proceeded to the village
of the bride and with them went a number of the women of
their clan.
The latter carried empty baskets, mats, cartridges, arrows,
tobacco, and other gifts, as well as two yams from which the
ends had been cut off, and the pigs which comprised the bride-
price. On arriving at Liviisuag’s house, the women gave all
these presents to Likan, Liviisuag’s wife, who in her turn handed
them to her husband. Then all the women of the bride’s group
ï¬Ålled the empty baskets, which the bridegroom's women had
brought, with a large number of yams. Meanwhile the bride,
Liviin, had been decorated with coco-nut oil and paint. When
all was ready, Livusuag led her out of the house and up to a basket
of food which her clanswomen had prepared for her beforehand.
This she handed to Gastog. Then the bride and bridegroom
separated for a time, while the women of Gastog's group took
the yams from the basket which Livï¬Ån had given him and
placed them in their own. Whilst this was being done, Liviisuag
gathered together some small yams, placed them in a small
basket as food for his sister's immediate use, and gave it to her,
as a parting gift. A procession was then formed; leading it
were the women of Gastog’s group with the bride in their midst ;
behind them followed the bridegroom and his male companions.
In this way they all returned to Gastog’s house. Here he took
out all the yams which had been given by the bride's people and
laid them out in rows on the ground. He then instructed the
men and women who had helped him during the ceremony to go
and take a yam, or yarns, for themselves in payment for their
services.
If the bride's father is alive, then the pigs and other gifts
brought by the bridegroonfs companions are given to the
bride’s mother, who hands them to her husband, who in his
turn distributes them among the people of his group. When a
brother takes the place of the dead father in the ceremony, his
wife takes the place of the girl’s mother, even though the latter
be alive. Should the father be dead and the brother unmarried,
then the gifts are handed to the b1ide’s mother, who passes
them on to her son. Thus, at the time when Gastog’s youngest
sister Ligot was married, their father was dead and Gastog was still
1 " No reason could be found for this ceremony."-——A. B. D. -
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