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

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RITES OF BIRTH AND INITIATION- 251
may they eat anything taken from the sea. The only man that
a lad may see besides his guardian is his mother's brother ; his
father would not think of visiting him, nor even of going near
the place of seclusion. At the end of these ten days the operation
is performed. The faces of the 1zii'val'i are painted black and,
each one accompanied by his guardians, they are marched down
to the sea or to a neighbouring stream. A number of men from
the nearby villages, those who choose to do so, have lined up
along either side of the path down which the little procession
is to go, and as it passes by these onlookers thrash the wmbat}
When all have been given a beating and have gone on their way,
these same men arm themselves with branches of the mlang
tree and repair to the house of seclusion, where they await the
return of the novices. The boys meanwhile, having arrived at
the water’s edge, sit down in a line on a. long horizontal bamboo,
and are prepared for Hie ordeal. A leaf called is wrapped
around the head of each and over this is wound a woman's
head-mat, so that the eyes and face are completely covered.
At the same time two other men thrust into the boy’s mouth,
one from either side, a leaf called nimbang lam. This he chews,
and it is said to act as an anaesthetic. When the vwvali is thus
blindfolded and drugged, the operator, who may be any man
skilled in the work, pushes a bone or some other hard substance
up under the foreskin, slits the latter with a bamboo knife, and
lets the blood fall to the ground. The penis is then washed in
running water, and a certain decoction is poured over the wound
to promote healing. This liquid is prepared by taking two leaves,
one of a plant called nughunsaah, the other called nitdmbweli,
hammering them till they are soft, roasting them over a ï¬Åre,
and then pounding them once more. The juice thus extracted
is now squeezed out. When all the boys have been treated in this
way, they are taken back to their amel. Here fresh ordeals and
terrors await them. The men who beat the guardians on the
way down to the water have torn the ends of their nelang branches
into strips, and thus made for themselves very painful whips.
Armed with these they have lined up in two rows just inside
the house in such a way that on entering they cannot at ï¬Årst be
seen. If there are many men these lines may stretch the whole
length of the building. Each candidate returning from the water
1 This is probably regarded as equivalent to U‘l‘ZLS]lll‘lg the uovicos.—A. B. D.