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

488 MALEKULA
Lambumbu
Further north, in Lambumbu, however, there is a ceremony
called nimbaghai or nimbarhai which resembles the nivopvvwien
of the south-west. It seems that although every woman must at
some time during her life undergo this ceremony, it is not necessary
for her to do so before her marriage. Indeed, sometimes a mother
and daughter may have their teeth knocked out at the same
time, but it is considered an asset if the operation has been done
before marriage, and it was stated that for such a girl a man
would be expected to give considerably more in bride-wealth
than he would were he marrying one who had not passed through
nimbaghai.
Usually several girls or women will undergo this rite together,
but this is not invariably so. When a man has decided that it is
time for his wife or daughters to be operated upon he plants a
special yam garden, and when the tubers are ready for eating he
appoints a day for nimbaghai to be held. He then builds a hut
like an open shed close to his own house. This hut is called
m'um lï¬Åmbwar. Some ï¬Åve days after it is ï¬Ånished the girl begins
to observe those restrictions and tabus which are associated with
the word v1'l1/all She may not have anything to do with salt
water—either directly or indirectly~she may not eat coco-nuts
or pigs and she may drink no water. Further, she has to be
careful when she goes out of doors not to step over a tree root,
since it is believed that were she to do so her incisor teeth would
be very diflicult to extract and her jaw might even be broken in
the effort to knock them out. After about another ï¬Åve days the
girl is secluded in the nium wmbwar and here she remains for
four days and nights, still observing her tabus. At the end of
the fourth day the ceremony of nimbaghai is introduced with
a dance. We do not know who partakes in it ; whether visitors
from other villages are invited for the occasion, nor whether men
as well as women are present. The dance takes place during the
night and on the following morning the candidate has her teeth
removed. This is done by an old woman skilled in the art,
who is called nimugh luau. She takes a leaf of the native cabbage
(nuhuver) and rubs the girl's gums with it, after which she hammers
out the teeth in the same Way as that employed in Seniang. Close
1 For the tabus and restrictions involved in the word mu, see below,
Chapter xxm,
1