THE NIMANGKI SOCIETY 337 all came from Lambumbu. This appears to have been the rule, and in olden days the introducer would have been the owner of a nimbembew canoe in which he and his fellows would have travelled southwards. The rites themselves followed, seemingly, the usual course until almost the end, with the exception that there is no ceremony of “ opening the door â€ù. The usual orna- ments are purchased with pigs ; the penis sheath, string-and-shell armlet, pig's tusk bracelet, hawk's feather, and turtle-shell armlet; a.s well as the spider's web head-dress (nikambat), the SACRED netel muluwam or ï¬Ållet, and the bandolier called mzmbzm vflruep which is worn by members of Namu as it is by those of Naamal Eu/rm. The last two insignia were brought by the visitors from Lambumbu, and with them they had also a third object which was spoken of as mtel sits. This was of the very greatest sanctity; the men from Lambumbu would not even carry it on land from the canoe in which it had been brought dovim the coast lest it should kill the women and children by its too close proximity. The candidate to Namu purchased the privilege of looking at it as it lay in the boat, and he described it afterwards as being a mat shaped like a man. Apparently it was the temporary abode of some powerful ghost. The payment tor this mat is called tevsim mial, but such payment does not ever entitle the candidate to keep the netel siis; after he has seen it, it is always taken back to Lambumbu once more. At the close of the Namu rites there was a marked difference in the proceedings from what is customary at entrance to other N imzmgki grades. The candidate, painted all in white as beï¬Åtted his rank, entered the amel namu and there kindled a ï¬Åre, using the " plough â€ù method} This is the only occasion on which the amel namu is entered and the candidate is the only man to go in. When the ï¬Åre is well alight, a pig is burnt upon it and then the whole structure is reduced to ashes. The informant could give no reason for this destruction by ï¬Åre save that the amel namu was “ an amzl that is bad â€ù (aml tihet), being apparently the residence of evil, or perhaps only very powerful, ghosts." At the time of Deacon’s stay in Seniang, it was so long since ‘ The "hearth " was of a wood celled nivsaruwi; the stick or " plough " of nilaI.—-A. B. D. ‘ This peculiar quality oi the aml mzmu may erhaps account for the {act that, as mentioned above, there is one note which states that for this grade the rite oi "opening the door ", which is performed for every other Nimangki grade of Whltzh we have any knowledge, ls 0mitted.—C. I-I. W. 2 ‘ I
