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

242 MALEKULA .
an attempt by the father to settle the uncle's claims by a lump
payment of a pig, regarded as equivalent to the use the uncle
would enjoy of his nephew's goods, by the privilege of free access
to them. Since the payment curtails the uncle's liberties, he would
probably demand similar curtailment of his nephew's with regard
to his own property. The recognition of this demand of his would
require him to make some gift to the nephew to balance things
up again. All this is, of course, entirely theoretical.â€ù
INFANCY 4
This completes the account of the ceremonies connected with
birth. During the period of infancy the father continues to
observe certain tabus for the protection of his child. He is
careful to keep all his bows slackened and to have no other tight
cords or strings inside the house ; nor does he touch bow or arrows
while within doors. This is done from a belief that any such
things will cause the child’s back to be " tight ", will make it
feel pain or cause it to be uncomfortable and to cry continually.
The transition from infancy to childhood is almost unmarked,
but there are one or two stages in growth which are the occasion
for a small rite in which the maternal uncle plays a part. Thus
in Lambumbu a child’s ï¬Årst drink and ï¬Årst solid food are given
to it by the mother's brother, and in Seniang, but not in Lam-
bumbu or Lagalag, this man cuts the child's hair for the ï¬Årst
time, and receives a pig for his services; another pig is given
to him when the milk teeth begin to come out. In the north-
west districts these events are not celebrated in any way, but
if any man notices the appearance of the child's ï¬Årst tooth
before the father does, the latter gives him a head-mat, or yam,
or some other trifling present. It is said that another gift should
be made in like manner for every succeeding tooth, but it would
seem that this is not often actually done.
In Seniang and along the south coast of Malekula, it is the
fashion to deform the heads of all boys (see Pl. III, No. 4), and
this process is begun in infancy. The fruit of a tree called mun’
molei is put into the ï¬Åre and partly burnt ; the charred remains
are rubbed on to the hands so that they become black, and
this black is then scraped off on to a shell (netu) to be used as a
paint. Some branches of a certain variety of banana (m'tam-
bwingk nenngit) are now rubbed into a pulp, and a rope is plaited
from the bark of a tree called nimangar. These, together with a