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THE NALAWAN SOCIETY 425
standing at the same time, and men will be celebrating the rites
f all these different Nalazwm over the same period. For this
0
reason an informant is liable to describe not only the ceremonies
' ' ' t b t all
of the grade of which he purports to be giving an accoun , u
that he saw going on in connection with the other grades as well.
For example, one man said that the candidate in killing pigs for
Naainggol stood at some distance from the numbuaimbamp,
but that those celebrating higher grades, such as Nww at, came
‘ ' ' i ' ' l 'ble
closer to it for the pig-killing rite. Clearly this is on y possi
hen some person is entering the grade Numbuaimbamp at the
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same time, for were no one doing so then there would be no such
' ‘ ' ' tand far
structure for the candidate of Naamggal or Nmr at to s
f or close to, Again, if anyone were entering Lelanguwal
rom
Nimbwilei Tonggar at the same time that some one else was
‘ d b a
entering Numbuamtbnmp the gongs would be enclose y
numlmaimbamp and not by the plain fence of the former grade.
In this event an informant in describing the oerernonial of
Lzlmgvlfnl Nimbwilei Tonggdr would very probably forget to
point out that the numbuoimbamp would not have been round
the gongs but for the fact that some one else was entering the
de of which it was the ceremonial structure. This is
GT3
particularly liable to happen with structures which are function-
b ' b mp for
ally identical, as are the fence and the num umm a ,
inevitably one must be sacriï¬Åced to the other. Concerning this,
Deacon writes :—
" I think I have succeeded fairly well in separating the rites
belonging to the different grades, but I may point out that it is
false to try and divide the diï¬Åercnt N alau/ans ton sharply. I suspect
that many ceremonies described by eye-witnesses are not, as the
eye-witness has thought, one ceremony, but a number of parallel
and concurrent ceremonies."
Tm; MASKS or rm: NALAWAN
The masks or hats oi the different Nalau/an grades, called
collectively tamer mbalmbal, are generally more or less conical in
shape. Typically a section of bamboo is taken and split in such
a way that it splays out into a number of strips held together
at one end by a node. The free ends of these strips are then
fastened to a ring of mangrove wood, and over them is spread
a compost made from the creeper nembral. This is painted with
divers designs, which are, it seems, usually based upon the human