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5:
RITUAL LIFE OF WOMEN 487
which he gives to the man acting as his introduce: ; in the lower
grades the animal is dispatched with a wooden pig-killing hammer
(naai mutmot), in the higher with a spear. In the same way at
entrance to a Lupus grade a woman kills a pig “ for the Lupus â€ù ;
when she is celebrating the rites oi Neium Limbwzlimp and
N eiu-m Limgalamg she uses a pig-killing hammer for the purpose,
but at entrance to Nevin Ta’/1' a truncheon made of the wood
naawus mbala, which is sacred to the Lupus is 6mpIOy8K1.1 It is
not clear whether a candidate to a certain degree in the Lapas
has an ofï¬Åcial introdllcer to whom this " sacriï¬Åcial " pig is given,
but it is interesting that one woman from whom Deacon obtained
his information had paid this pig to her own mother at entrance
to Neium Limbwelimp, and for the higher grades to her husband’s
brother's wife, to a classiflcatory mother, and to a classiï¬Åeatory
mother’s brother's daughter (nevutungk wewei)? In one notable
respect do the Lajaas rites differ from those of the Nimangki;
it was said that stones were never erected in connection with
those oi even the highest status.
The attitude of the men towards this women's secret society
is, as may be expected, somewhat ambivalent. Because it is a
woman's affair they profess a certain contempt for it, but because
oi their belief in the opposed qualities of igah and ileu they
actually stand in no little awe of its sacred objects and oi women
who are members oi its higher grades. It is said that this mingling
oi respect and {ear of a woman who bears the title of, for instance,
Nevin Tari is on account of her association with the tomes mun‘ im
and tame: ninggulat of this grade which are most potent with
harm for men, having the power both to destroy their quality
of {lea and even to kill them.
In Mewun the custom of knocking out the incisor teeth of
girls is not practised, nor does there appear to be in this district
anything corresponding to the Lupus society oi Seniang.
1 The evidence of the notes on this point is not absolutely cluar. There
is Abme indication that the flflnwus mlmla lrunchcon my be used for killing
the sacriï¬Åcial pig in all grades and that the midi molmot is never employed by
Wvrnen ï¬Åe. H. w.
I The gram taken by this w0ma'n, who almost certainly did not belong
to Seniang district, had as titles: Lika», Like» Vfldm, Lmin Mimi, and
Nevin rm. Strangely enough she pmhnisa Lilian Vlzam twice, the Wbrna-ll
to Wh01'n she gave the ~ sacriï¬Åcial " pig being on the ï¬Årst Occasion her husband's
brother's wife and on the imnil occasion a claï¬Åsiï¬Åcatnry mother‘ The
classiï¬Åcattlry li|0LIE'! lnnn whom she purchased N21/in Tnvi wns a diï¬Åerent
woman again.-C. n. w.