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THE NIMANGKI AND NELEMEW . 341
Lagalag for as long a time as in Seniang, and his nota on the
Nimnngki of these districts are correspondingly less detailed,
though, in his opinion, the society in Lamburnbu played an
even more important part in the social life of the people there
than it did in the south-west.
The grade system in Lambumbu is to so great an extent
disintegrated into its component elements as to be scarcely
comparable with the strict divisions of other areas. There are
very strong indications, however, that this was not always so.
To-day there are, strictly speaking, no grade names, but only a
numbervof titles or personal names which a man can purchase
by the ceremonial payment of pigs. In fact in this area there
are a number of different things, such as objects, ornaments,
privileges and names, the possession of which confers prestige
or “ rank â€ù in a rather general, vague sense of the word. Each
one of these has a number of varieties which can be listed in
order of value, from the lowest to the highest. Thus, there are
some twenty to thirty personal names or titles, which can be
arranged in groups; within any one group all the names are
equally important, but those of one group are of higher value
than those of the group which precedes it, of lower value than
those of the succeeding one. Similarly there are four types of
penis wrapper, which can be arranged serially in accordance with
their " prestige value ". In general there is no particular corre-
spondence between objects in the different series. Thus it cannot
be said that any one variety of penis wrapper is equal iniimportance
to any given group of narnes, ‘or that, where several objects are
purchased at the same time, these will be regarded as being of
equal prestige each in its own series. As we shall see later-,~there
is actually a certain connection between certain names and
certain objects, but this is by no means rigid nor in any way
essential to the structure of the institution. When a man wishes
to acquire a new name, penis wrapper, or other object of ‘higher
value than that which he possesses, he celebrates a mlemew.
This is the word used for any formal ceremonial, involving the
transference of pigs in connection with the acquisition of rights
or dignities, or simply in settling accounts.’ Should the‘ man
purchase several of the highest valued objects at one and the
same nelemew, then this would be regarded as an occasion for a
Nimangki. This differs from the ordinary ml:-rnew only in the