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

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294 MALEKULA
Naamb Loh
It appears that Noam‘ Mbnmgk, the grade which succeeds
Naamb Tileo on the list, is, in actual fact, one which may be
and often is omitted in the Nimanglzi series. Indeed, nothing
save its name has been recorded, and we pass on therefore to
the rites of N aamb Loh. For this a temes of more elaborate type
is made. It is carved with three male human ï¬Ågures, one above
the other, the bodies as well as the faces being represented;
the latter are painted red. On this occasion a father gives his
son ï¬Åve or six pigs with which to make the necessary payments.
Of these, one is paid for the carving of the faces on the temes ;
one for their painting; one for the turtle-shell armlet which is
wom on the right Wrist ; and one pig, the principal one, is given
as usual for membership of the grade. The introducer to this
grade may he the candidate’s maternal uncle or maternal grand-
father, but by preference he is a rnan who is himself a member
of Naamb Lah.1 As before it is the introducer who, at the close
of the rites, confers the title oi Barangbie on the newly-admitted
member.’ ‘ 1
one of the coco-nut trees belonging to the candidate’: lather, either in the village
or the garden, â€ù Then the iather says: ‘ Vlfhen the coco-nuts on this tree are
dry, we will make s. feast for this little boy.‘ when they are dry the father calls
together all those who are Ambkon, Mweliwsal, Barangbie, Andal, Noulas, and
Tarlenunggor . . . A feast is made and pigs are paid to the mother-‘s brother
and mother's father for : the image ; ikilzma, the iace of the image ; the rope
surrounding the image ; I na amp, i.e. the right to make the ï¬Åre, This appears
to he the only case in which the ceremonial ‘ circling ' for the stwtiï¬Åcial pig . . ,
is not performed. The pig killed in honour of the image is dispatched by the
novice with s wooden pigekiller. The image remains at the foot oi the coco-nut
tree until it rots, when the fabu imposed on the tree is lifted."—C. H. W,
1 This seems a strange statement, for throughout the Nimzmgki it is an
understood thing that only a member of a. certain grade can act as introducer
to a candidate for that grade. The implication seems to be that for Naamb Loh
this is not necessarily so, and further that not every person enters this mnk
during his progression through the Nimangki series.—C, H. W.
1 Again, Layard gives a. more full account of the proceedings: “A bundle
of wild canes (flauwi) is planted and pigs are paid for these and for a head ï¬Ållet
made of the leaf called nnzi lislis. A sacriï¬Åcial pig is ‘ circled ' for and killed
with a. spear ‘iu honour of the wild canes’. Some ten days later an image
of Mater wood or perhaps mbetzp (bread fruit) wood is erected on a sacred spot
near to the am! and surrounded by a cane rope as was the tamas of Naamb
Tilea. It is said to be carved with two faces on a single body; the eyes are
painted white, the middle 01 the body black, and there is also a good deal of red.
The carving, painting, and setting up of the nmes are done by the brothers,
rather, maternal uncles, and maternal grandfather of the candidate, but in
this grade the last two are no more important than the others. Barnboos, called
nnmbyu or iemes, and the shrubs nnai 1610 and naari mbuns (Cardylins terminalis)
are planted on either side of and behind the image. Pigs are then paid for the
image, the iaces oi the image, and the objects planted around it. The, candidates
,
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