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

568 MALEKULA
This being over the visitors return home once more, and
the relatives continue to moum until about sunset. Then the
body, still decked in its ornaments, is carried to a shallow grave
and buried by two men.‘ The grave is usually dug inside at
the back oi the dead man's house, but sometimes a man of very
high rank is interred in the club-house. The following day
marks the beginning of the hundred days’ mourning (itokh lm
nambmlg) which is punctuated by small feasts held every ï¬Åve
days.’ A fence oi wild canes is set up round the grave and a
ï¬Åre is made near to it. Here, hidden from public view, the sons,
grandsons, sisters and wife, or wives, of the dead man sleep.’
His father and brother (if the latter is incised) cannot remain
in the house with them on account of the presence of their
daughter- and sister-in-law respectively. This prohibition applies
just as stringently to the deeeased's younger brothers as to his
elder ones, although at the end of the mourning period it is very
probable that one oi the former will marry the widow‘ But
this marriage can only take place after the hundred days have
elapsed and the ceremony called nilsmah is concluded.
i Alter the fence of wild canes has been planted round the
grave a coco-nut is husked and decorated with cmtnn leaves;
through this one end of a. piece of wild cane is pushed, the other
end being inserted into one of the long horizontal hamboos
(ml/:1/ar) of the house, so that the coco-nut projects over the
grave. It is said that this is done for mete malu (meaning " the
eyes depart "); the only explanation of this which could be
obtained was that it is a “ sign â€ù for the eyes of the dead mun
to come out. This rite is performed at all burials, whether for
men, women, or children.
On the third night following the death a number of per-
formances, connected with the ghost of the deceased, take place
in or just outside the club-house. For the ï¬Årst of these several
crotons and a certain kind of reed (nimbmihlmi) are planted
round the front of thevclub-house, so as to form :1 sort oi enclosure.
1 We are not told whet!-iu: these two men are rel.-lull in any special wuy
to tho deceased, nor how they are selected. As will be seen below, they llB.V¢,
la} of this oflice, u duruilte part ho pluy in the succeeding funeral rim.-
' 5 It seems very probable, though there is not direct evidence on the subject,
that the lull hundred days‘ mourning with its periodic feasts, is only observed
on the dmh of a man of impm'tanec_—C. II. w.
' The lather-~ and brother!»-in-law do not go into mourning.*A. B. D.