Field notes on the Small Nambas of the New Hebrides (suite)

Kal Muller
Field notes on the Small Nambas of the New Hebrides (suite)
In: Journal de la Société des océanistes. N°36, Tome 28, 1972. pp. 239-251.
Résumé
L'auteur n'est pas anthropologue de profession et son séjour dans la partie centre-sud de Malékula a été trop court pour que les
informations recueillies dans ces notes soient exhaustives. Elles pourraient, cependant, servir de point de départ à une étude
plus approfondie de la culture de cette région qui, jusqu'à présent, n'a fait l'objet que de rares publications.
Après un aperçu de la démographie, viennent quelques données sur les relations qu'ont les indigènes originaires de la région
avec ceux du bord de mer, aussi bien qu'avec le Condominium, la description des habitations et des endroits où ont lieu les
cérémonies. Plusieurs paragraphes traitent des ornements corporels et de l'alimentation. Cette région est la seule des NouvellesHébrides où subsiste encore un art parce qu'il est partie intégrante de la culture. Les termes de parenté et les tabous qui s'y
rattachent sont énumérés.
Les faits observés par l'auteur donnent lieu à une description plus complète. Une prise de grade dans la société nimangi avec
tous ses rituels. Une cérémonie nimangi chez les femmes. Les esprits des ancêtres mâles défunts qui avaient accédé au plus
haut grade nimangi jouent un rôle important dans cette culture, d'où l'élaboration des rituels funéraires qui leur permettent
d'atteindre le séjour des morts.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Muller Kal. Field notes on the Small Nambas of the New Hebrides (suite). In: Journal de la Société des océanistes. N°36, Tome
28, 1972. pp. 239-251.
doi : 10.3406/jso.1972.2382
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jso_0300-953X_1972_num_28_36_2382
Field
on
notes
the
Small
Nambas
of the New Hebrides (suite)
The belief in ancestral spirits and their influence on the lives of their
descendants is very strong among the Small Nambas. Anything unusual
is attributed to either sorcery or the ancestral spirits, although certain natu
ral phenomena such as hurricanes are considered exceptions. Various
creaking noises in the bush are attributed to spirits. Once, when a fairly
large whitish bird flew by the ceremonial ground, I was told that it could
not be shot because it was temporarily embodying the spirit of Ilabnimbinpin's father. The natives knew this to be the case because the bird
was nesting in a sacred spot behind the men's hut. Ancestral spirits can
have a detrimental effect on the living, and sometimes even cause death.
In the light of the power of the ancestral spirits to cause harm, it is to
the natives' interest to observe the funerary rites scrupulously lest the spirit
of the deceased become angered. Immediately after death, the body of a
man is washed. The various insignia of his rank in the nimangi are placed
on or around his body. It is left in his family hut for five days, but I do not
believe that this is an absolute figure, — it could be longer. During this
period a fire is kept burning next to the body to drive away the flies and to
kill some of the smell. A shallow ditch is dug around the body so that
things exuding from it will not contaminate the people sleeping next to
it. The male relatives of the deceased sleep on one side of the hut, the women
on the other. After five days, the body is placed on a stretcher, called
népété, and laid in its funerary shed, the natambotombo (see. above for des
cription).
For a woman, this structure is called nemangitines and for a girl,
nimanborangeh. If the deceased is a high man in the nalawan, there are
some drum-accompanied dances at the time his body is placed on the fune
rary platform and a pig is killed with an arrow.
An important man in the nimangi has several ceremonies, I think, per
formed
at regular intervals after his death. The one five days after the death
is called inétaluméyen, after ten days, nataugabliéne, after fifteen days néterébuê, and after twenty days, nétekmoyen. At these occasions, a pig is kil-
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SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES
led and consumed by everyone present except the dead man's brother. It
takes the spirit twenty days to get to the stage where it can travel to the
land of the dead, a place called Arroanbié which is located under the sea.
In early 1969 an old man called Tabwibalémbank died. The first pig sacrified to his spirit belonged to and was killed by his brother. The second
pig was killed by a man of the deceased's wife's line (it was too far away to
establish the exact kinship ties.) The third pig was killed by a man who
had married a woman in the deceased's line (again too far to compute exact
kinship ties.) The next pig was killed by a man of the deceased's mother's
line. All of the pigs were tuskers. Shortly after pigs have been killed for
a spirit, there are a series of night " serenades " for the deceased person.
I could not see how this was done, but I was able to tape it. It started about
7:30 P.M. with a distant sound resembling piping of four closely grouped
notes. It was repeated at 15 to 30 second intervals and was produced by
a man or several men approaching the village from the bush and going into
the men's hut. After five minutes of quiet, a group of instruments in the
men's hut started producing a haunting, bubbling, piping noise, essentially
a cacophony yet melodious in a strange way. I could recognize a conch shell
and I think that there were either coconuts or gourds with different levels
of water which were being blown into. I thought I also recognized some
type of piping instrument. The " serenade " lasted about two hours.
If a certain whistling noise is heard in the bush, the natives know that
it is a spirit which is trying to communicate with them. All the people
who have died in the last few years are named until the noise stops. Then
a sort of divination rite called temes rambu is used to determine what the
spirit wants. A series of questions which could be answered by yes or no
are asked and a man pulls on his index and middle fingers. If the cracks
in the index finger are stronger, the answer is yes, if the middle finger makes
more noise, the answer is no. This procedure is used for other things besides
communications with spirits, such as finding one's pig who has run away.
According to a legend, some spirits once came up from Arroanbié, the
land of the dead, to look at a nimangi. The spirits sang and danced all
night. In the morning, the men of the village gave them a pig, some yams,
and some taro. When the spirits started to leave, the sister of a man who
had died said that she wanted to go with them to look at her dead brother.
The spirits did not want her to come but she followed them anyway. As the
spirits moved through the bush toward the sea, they left a trail behind them
which was just like that left by a drum dragged through the undergrowth.
Again the spirits told her to go back, but she refused. Once on the seashore,
the spirits ate the pig, yams and taro, all uncooked. Only the bones of the
pig remained. After the meal, the spirits told the girl for the last time to
return to her village, but she refused again. The spirits then took some
wild cane with which they hit the water and the sea parted to let them pass
to the land of the dead. At Arroanbié there were many houses but the girl
finally succeeded in finding her brother. However some of the other spirits
smelled human flesh and wanted to find the living person in their midst so
they could eat him. The spirits whom the girl had followed told the others
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FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
that the smell of the living came from them as they had just returned from
the land of the living and smells clung to them. The girl's brother then gave
her some wild cane, told her to look after it and told her to go back. Using
the wild cane she made the water split so that she could return to land.
Once back at her village, she told her father and brothers of her adventure,
but they would not believe her. She told them to look at the pig's bones
which the spirits had left on the seashore. One of her brothers became
angry with her and hit her with the wild cane which her dead brother had
given her. This killed her. The wild cane was then put in the fire and
poison was made from it.
There are several different names for spirits. The spirit of a man is
called niméram ogutt, that of a woman, nimératéputt, that of a girl,
nimératnévilémpé, that of a boy, nimératnétai, and those of small children,
nimératemborai. The general name for spirits is nimwunwun and applies to
the spirits of plants and animals as well as to those of humans.
There are several kinship-related taboos. For men, they are the foll
owing : calling out by the given name, holding of the head, passing behind,
making lap-lap or " scratching " (scraping) the food of the members of his
wife's line *. For women, in addition to these taboos, they cannot eat any
thing carried by or shot with a bow and arrow (as a result of a recent " meet
" muskets are now acceptable) by her husband's paternal uncles.
ing,
These taboos for women are more rigidly applied to her relations with her
husband's brother. Until fairly recently a woman could not even talk to
her husband's brother and if she saw him in the bush, she would have to
run away or hide until he had passed. 2
In August 1970 I had the opportunity of witnessing a series of final
rituals, the nemborai nevimbur, which were performed for Tabwibalembank,
a high graded man who had died when the yams were " dry " in 1969. These
ceremonies covered a period of 11 days. Some aspects of the ceremonies,
above all the preparatory phases, were performed in secret, but I was able
to assist at some semi-secret phases (referred to as " taboo little bit " in
pidgin) and of course in all the " free " or public phases, performed on the
main ceremonial ground, the nasara or inbunsara. I was repeatedly told
that this was not a " big " ceremony as there were not enough pigs to per
form it fully.
The person responsible for the organization of the ceremony was Metaknambimp, referred to below as Metak. The kinship term of kamenman
1. The intensity and observance of the tabus varies with the kinship term used to
designate members of the wife's line. The strictest observation of these tabus is toward
the wife's brothers designated by the term mendausni who in turn calls ego kèlêlak. Next
is the wife's father, designated by the term, matwobungi. Other male members of the
wife's line are designated by the same term, but the tabus are less closely observed. The
wife's mother, designated as kêtbotarini is tabu to a lesser extent than the wife's father
but more so than the other male members of the wife's line, with the exception of the
wife's brothers. Other female members of the wife's line are also designated as kêtbota
rini
but with them the tabus are hardly observed.
2. Generally, women must observe the tabus toward men who use the kinship term
of kablak toward them. (Brwi ; Sowi ; Mobrwi).
241
16
SOCIETE DES OCEANISTES
had been used by Metak when referring to Tabwibalembank. A " sister "
(woman of the line) of Metak's father was Tabwibalembank's mother. Nor
mally it would have been the job of Tabwibalembank's two sons to organize
this ceremony. However one of them is only about 8 or 9 years old and
the other one, Kamensump, who is adult, had gotten in trouble with the
other natives due to his several acts of adultery and he was not allowed
back in the " bush ". Metak was not sure if Tabwibalembank's spirit was
around to see the ceremony, but if it were present, Metak said " spirit he
glad too much, from something here, bambai he savy help em man ". All
told, Metak gave away 17 pigs in the course of the organization and perfo
rmance of the various phases of the nemborai nevimbur.
The ceremonial ground is somewhat oval in shape with its longer axis
running roughly east-west. All of the area north and northeast of the cer
emonial
ground is taboo to outsiders, including adult heathens from other
villages. Within this space is the men's hut (located behind a thick bushy
fence a few feet off the northeast end of the ceremonial ground) and the
secret nasara, the inbunsara ibilaowésé where most preparations for the
ceremonies take place as well as the construction of ritual objects such as the
rhambaramb, nembegi and temes nevimbur. All areas north of the ceremon
ial
ground are masked from view by banana-tree like plants, the nargai.
Boys from Lendombwey purchase their right of access to the nakamal with
several pigs during the initiation period following incision. Access to the
secret ceremonial ground is purchased subsequently with more pigs. It
is interesting to note that while adult males from Lendombwey are free to
go to the nakamal and other taboo areas in the other heathen villages, the
reciprocal is not true. Men from another village must purchase the right
to enter the Lendombwey nakamal, then pay more to have access te the
secret ceremonial ground. In addition to this, the men of Lendombwey
as well as other males, must pay additional pigs to see and/or take part in
preparations for any ceremony which they have not already " purchased ".
The principal beneficiaries of these payments are 5 elderly men, aged about
55 to 70 who form a sort of ceremonial gerontocracy and whose influence
extends to other phases of the natives' lives. The exact degree to which
these elders effectively " rule " the others is hard to determine since it is
practically impossible to divorce ceremonial life from the other aspects of
the natives' existence. All the men are dependent on the elders to " get
ahead " in life, that is to say, to acquire status. Thus it is safe to assume
that the wishes and opinions of these elders are respected in all matters.
My principal informant, Metak, regretted the fact that more pigs were
not available as the elders may die before they can sell their knowledge of
various rituals which are known only to them at the present. The lack
of pigs is probably due to the lack of women to take care of them. Metak
said that many girls died from " poison " in the last few fears. Although
money has been known and used for a long time, it can only supplement
payment of pigs, never replace them.
The first phase of the nemborai nevimbur consisted of dances and singing
performed among the nargai plants, a few yards from the northwest corner
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FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
of the ceremonial ground. This dance is called nebinbin, taking its name
from a large wooden plank, a large oval-shaped board 3 feet wide, 5 feet
long, and 2 inches thick, placed over a shallow hole. (The name nebinbin
is the free name which can be told and used in general conversation. In
addition, it has a taboo name, which is used when the men talk about it
among themselves. This principle applied to most native terms used in
this paper in connection with the preparatory phases of the ceremony.)
Those men who had " paid " could sing and dance on this board, often accom
panied by one or two of the three newly made drums, each about 4 feet long,
which where lying on te ground near the nebinbin. A payment of several
pigs was contributed by the group of those who wanted to dance on the
nebinbin. The five pigs were killed on the secret ceremonial ground. One
was eaten by all the men who were to participate in the dance while the
others became the property of the elders. Those men who had not contri
buted to this payment of pigs could still sing and dance with the others,
but not on the wooden board. The dancing started 10 days before the
" free " or public phase of the nemborai nevimbur. It was performed for
about one and a half hour every evening, starting around 7:30 the first
days then gradually earlier every subsequent day until the last day when
it started in mid-afternoon.
The wooden board was fixed about 4-5 inches below the ground level
over a shallow hole so that a muted booming sound was produced when the
men danced in place on it. While dancing, they held on to the stalks of
near-by nargai plants or branches 4 feet high planted in the ground in front
of them especially for this purpose. A high pitched ululating sound marked
the beginning of the nightly ritual. The singing and dancing were divided
into approximately 10 minutes periods after which the performers would
rest for a minute or so. During each period a different song was sung over
and over with several men taking turns singing the few lead phrases by thems
elves.
They were then joined by the others as everyone started dancing.
The end of several of the periods, after everyone had stopped singing, was
marked by a very quick dance during which the toes and the balls of the
feet remained still and the heels bear a rapid stacatto on the wooden plank.
During some of the songs one of the men danced in front of the nebinbin,
blowing into a conch shell.
The last performance of the nebinbin started at 4 P.M. On this occasion
the men carried bows and arrows, shotguns, and warclubs while dancing.
If it had been a full scale ceremony with plenty of pigs available, these wea
pons could have been carried during all the previous performances. Around
5 P. M the women were allowed in a cleared area a few yards south of the
ceremonial ground. They could not see the nebinbin performers who were
concealed from them by the nargai plants. A few minutes later, Tabwibalembank's rhambaramb was brought out to the ceremonial ground (see
below) and put in place while the men kept up the singing and dancing on
the nebinbin. The women wailed when they saw the rhambaramb and kept
this up until the rhambaramb was put in place. The nebinbin continued
until about 4:30 A. M when the three newly made drums were brought out
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SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES
to the ceremonial ground, laid down horizontally, and beaten till daylight.
The second phase of the ceremony, parts of which took place during the
same time as the nebinbin was being performed, consisted of the decoration
of Tabwibalembank's netembotambo or funerary structure, located just off
the north side of the ceremonial ground. This was the mortuary shed (des
cribed
elsewhere) where the body of Tabwibalembank had lain and under
which his bones were now buried, five feet underground, still on the stret
cher. The decoration of the funerary shed was strictly taboo to all outsiders,
being conducted behind an 8 feet high barrier of palm branches and nargai
leaves which screened off the netembotambo from the ceremonial ground.
A semi-circular fence of split bamboo, three feet high, was erected under
the funerary shed and anchored to the front poles supporting the roof of the
netembotambo. The convex side of this curved fence was toward the cere
monial
ground. It was adorned with various flowers, leaves, and plants. Just
behind the bamboo fence, also in a semi-circle, were some modelled figures ;
5 temes nevimbur decorated with leaves, flowers, and feathers, alternating
with 4 nembegi — faces with long, protruding eyes and noses and a pig's
tusk extending out from the corner of the mouth as with temes nevimbur.
These figures were painted with slightly varying patterns which denoted
their relative importance. It looked as if these figures were peering over
the curved bamboo fence. (The technique of making modelled figures did
not originate in the Lendombwey area, but was brought in a long time
ago, from a region designated as Womboas, located in a valley between Len
dombwey
and the island of Accam. According to legend, a " devil " once
came up from the underground and in a dream showed a man how to make
these modelled figures.) Sometimes the temes nevimbur are referred to as
the children of the rhambaramb and the nembegi as the brothers of the temes
nevimbur, but not, as logic would dictate, also as the children of the rham
baramb.
The skull and modelled face of one of Tabwibalembank's " real "
sons, who had died some years ago when he was already an adult, was also
displayed over the bamboo fence.
The rhambaramb (see p. 9-10) made by Metak, had several unusual fea
tures to denote Tabwibalembank's high rank of nebat in the nimangi né
miélé and kanimwa in the nimangi barang. A small neck and head pro
jected
upward from each shoulder. The head over the right shoulder had
a curved pig's tusk coming up from each side of the mouth, going back in
the face in the upper cheek area. Each of these heads as well as the head of the
rhambaramb itself was decorated with black and white feathers. A face was
modelled in the lateral deltoid area of each shoulder, the face on the left side
having pigs' tusks much as the head over the right shoulder. Aside from
the high nimangi grades which are the sine qua non of these features, before
a man dies he must pay in pigs in order to have these faces and heads put
on his rhambaramb.
The rhambaramb was carried to the ceremonial ground by Ambial in
return for the payment of a pig by Metak. Preceeded by Ilabnimbinpin
he walked around the drums twice, then after some other men had torn down
the palm-branch and nargai-leaî fence in front of the netembotambo, Ambial
244
FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
placed the rhambaramb about one foot in front of the split bamboo fence
where it was still protected by the overhanging roof of the funerary struc
ture. Various leaves, similar to those already used to decorate the funerary
structure, were placed in front and to the sides of the rhambaramb. A 5
feet long stick supported a modelled face positioned back to back on either
side with two pig's tusks on each face and topped by four points, giving the
general appearance of a spear. It was placed in front and slightly to one
side of the rhambaramb. Called nemwésé, this also denotes high nimangi
rank of the deceased.
Most of the day preceeding the bringing of the rhambaramb was spent
by both the men and the women making lap-lap. The women made laplaps from taro and the men from yams. The men worked on the edge of
the ceremonial ground and in the passage leading to the nakamal. One
man grated coconuts, another peeled yams, three others scraped them out
and packed the resulting paste into nargai leaves and the rest of the men
took care of the fires and the cooking of the lap-laps in the nakamal. Various
types of meat were incorporated into these lap-laps : pork, pigeon, fresh
water shrimp, and chicken, but only one type of meat was put into each
lap-lap. During the morning following the all-night dances the men made
some more lap-laps, this time just off the western end of the ceremonial
ground. After wrapping each packet of paste in the nargai leaves, it was
finished off with four red croton leaves tied on to form a cross.
Metak and Masing (one of the elders mentionned above) then carried
in the yams and taro which had been placed on a raised platform just off
the southern edge of the ceremonial ground during the last 3 weeks. Most
of the taro had been gathered by Metak from his gardens and most of the
yams by Metak and Masing from their respective gardens. All the other
men who participated in the ceremonies helped out by bringing a few yams
or taro. Some of these tubers had already been used for the various laplaps. The remaining taros and yams, carried by Metak and Masing were
then laid in front of the rhambaramb. The taros were laid down first, then
the yams on top. The two men decorated the top 6 yams with various
leaves and red petals, nélangalanga (perhaps ginger ?). The package of
uncooked lap-lap which had been prepared earlier in the morning were laid
on some nargai leaves in front of the piles of yams and taro. An old bone
belonging to a man killed and eaten a long time ago was brought out of the
nakamal. It was decorated with leaves, and passed from hand to hand
until Metak finally gave it to old Bailo who cut the tops of the yams with
it. These tops are subsequently replanted by the recipients of the yams.
The sequence of passing the bone from hand to hand and the cutting off
the tops of the yams is referred to as anémasnbarr. It is done to insure a
good yam crop for the following year. One half of the pile of yams and
taro and lap-lap was for those who could eat some of the pig to be killed
later on ir the ceremony. The other half was for those prevented by kinship
ties from doing so (see below). The new drums were then beaten along with
the old ones for about twenty minutes.
It was the next part of the ceremony, referred to as amburré, which was
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SOCIETE DES OCEANISTES
the most unusual. This particular aspect of the ritual originated many
years ago in Lendombwey but had not been performed for at least 30 years
(sometime before). For several days elements of the costumes had
been gathered and brought to the secret ceremonial ground to be prepared.
Whenever any of the items to be used in the costumes were brought from the
surrounding bush, the men carrying them were preceeded by others blowing
into a sort of piping instrument which meant that all women, children and
men not connected with the ceremony (i.e, who had not " paid " for it) had
to get off the trail so that they would not see what was being brought. The
" free " name for this taboo-announcing sound is nembegi bépan. It is made,
I think, by blowing a sort of slender bamboo. It took the 6 men who were
" costumed " one and a half hour to get ready after the tops of the yams
had been cut. The prepared moss-like decorations were brought from the
secret ceremonial ground and were put on about 50 feet from the west end
of the nasara, but out of sight of the spectators.
Three of the men, each referred to as amburré rabun, had similar cos
tumes.
Their bodies were covered with many layers of smoked fern bran
ches which formed an extremely thick coat down to their knees. Bamboo
and other leaves were stuck in the back of these coats. The arms and legs
were also wrapped with thick layers of smoked fern. Numerous bits of coco
nutmeat, speared on the tips of slender sticks were also stuck into all parts
of the coats as well as the arms and the legs. The faces were covered with
matted and smoked spiders' webs. Each man held a long branch of nangaria in his right hand. Another man, referred to as amburré miélé, was
dressed similarly but on top of the smoked fern there was another layer
of a sort of dried greenish-white moss, called nébélémawiss. On his head
he wore a tall conical mask. Two other men, referred to as ahuilap, had
half of their bodies painted red and the other half a whitish gray. One of
them had the colors reversed on his face from that on his body. Each wore
a leaf of nargai as a sort of visor and carried nargai stalk in his right hand.
These costumed and decorated men each paid 2 to 4 pigs (depending on the
tusk development) to the elders for learning about and participating in this
phase of the ceremony. The reason given for the fact that the Amburré
had not been performed for over 30 years was that not enough pigs had been
available to " pay " for the knowledge of the elders. The amburré figures
were supposed to represent spirits so brightful in appearance that the ahui
lap were needed to reassure the spectators that nothing would happen to
them.
Slowly, one after the other, the decorated men made their way to the cer
emonial
ground. Often they turned around and walked back before going
forward again. After they had circled the drums they stopped. The two
ahuilap then stepped out of the ranks and whipped each of the non-decorated
men who had participated in the ceremony. These men were scattered
around the periphery of the ceremonial ground. They were whipped quite
hard, but only once, with the nargai stalks carried by the painted figures.
The men being whipped made no move to defend themselves but stoically
bore the lashing across the shoulders. When this was completed each of
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FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
the costumed and painted men were given one of the decorated yams from
the pile in front of the rhambaramb. The bits of coconut were then removed
from their costumes and they left the ceremonial ground, going toward the
men's hut. The bits of coconut were to be eaten later by the men partici
pating in the ceremonies. All of the amburré was performed in silence.
A large tusker pig was brought to the ceremonial ground and killed by
Metak with an old bayonet from a muzzle loader stuck on the end of a branch.
Three pigs were then led out and held by Metakténélempeh, Tabwibalembank's 8 years old son. Ilabnimbinpin then spoke, saying that these pigs
were for Masing from Metak. After Tabwibalembank's death Metak had
made a meat-less lap-lap for Masing and these pigs were to make up for
the fact that he could not give pigs at that time. A pig and an Australian
pound was then given to Siawn, Metak's 3 years old son, by Kamanwilémpé,
who is Tabwibalembank's brother. Ilabnimbinpin spoke again, saying
that this pig was given since Metak's line had " lost " plenty of pigs during
the course of the ceremonies. The pig which Metak had killed was then
cut up and the meat distributed along with the yams and taro. All the men who
used the kinship terms of kaméva, kélélak, kétasunk and kétawank when
addressing Tabwibalembank could not eat of the pig. Those using the terms
of kamanman, kiénank, kétambunk, kémambunk and kélawank to Tabwiba
lembank could eat the pig which had been killed.
On the morning of the fifth day after the ceremonies two large taro
lap-laps were laid in front of the rhambaramb on some nargai leaves. Each
of the lap-laps had three yams and a stalk with reddish petals, perhaps gin
ger, lying on top of it. The lower tusked jaw of the pig which Metak had
killed on the last day of the ceremonies was laid on one of the lap-laps. Each
stalk with reddish petals was then picked up successively and passed fron
hand to hand until all the men and boys present had held it, whereupon it
was put back on the yams. Five ancestral skulls with modelled faces were
brought out of the nakamal and put on sticks in a line behind the lap-laps
in front of the rhambaramb. Masing then brought the rhambaramb forward
and placed it between the two lap-laps. Each man and boy then held it
or touched it. When everyone had done so, Metak picked up the rhambaramb and carried it to the secret ceremonial ground. The ancestral skulls
were taken away and the lap-laps carried to the men's hut to be consumed.
Later in the day the new drums, which had been lying on the ground, were
set up in an upright position.
Relations between the Small Nambas and the condominium adminis
tration are quite unfrequent. The first time that an administrator had ever
been into the area was in March, 1969. Shortly thereafter, there was some
trouble which might occur again because of the lack of women, mentioned
above. The village of Mawark had four unmarried adult males and no
women. One of the men, Kamensump, had intercourse with three different
women : the wives of Kamensowanfo and Ambial (who was working on a
plantation at Tisman at the time) both from Lendombwey, and Lindrimp,
the widow of Kailaprar who had moved to Lawa after the death of her hus
band but had not yet become converted to Christianity. When it became
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common knowledge that Kamensump had committed adultery, he was
asked to pay a fine of a pig to each of the injured husbands. He refused
to do so. At this, Kamensowango and his son-in-law, Eamendrilawan,
enlisted the help of Atitmara, a man from Abukamawis, who was a good
shot. The three of them ambushed and shot Kamensump, who was car
rying
a pig at the time. The shot went through the pig, cut Kamensump's
finger, and entered his side. He was, however, able to make his way to Lawa
and was evacuated to the hospital at Lamap. Having heard about the
trouble, the French administrator from Lamap decided to take care of the
case. An initial meeting was held during which it was decided to have the
court at the river near the village of Melleyendua on a certain day. The
morning of the day of the court, the administrator arrived quite early.
The accused was not yet present. Metaknambinp, the " chief blong capman " (pidgin for government chief), hurried to get the others. However,
the administrator left, setting another day for the trial before the others
returned. The last " court " which concluded the case took place at Lawa.
When the natives arrived, the administrator told them that it was a good
thing that they had showed up as he had some planes loaded with bombs
ready to take off from Port Vila which were going to bomb the village of
Lendombwey. Although he had intended the remark to be facetious, the
natives took him literally. The three men who had conducted the ambush
had to give 75 Australian pounds to Kamensump, the equivalent of about
$ 83. Kamensump had to give two pigs, one to Ambial and one to Kamenso
wango. The natives also decided that they never wanted to have Kamen
sumpreturn to the " bush ". The above version is that of Metaknambinp,
the " chief blong capman. "
During various trips to the Small Nambas area I was able to assist at
two " courts " during which the natives passed judgement on some cases
of poisoning. The first one I saw took place in November 1968 just out
side the village of Kamalweever. It was an attempt to pin the responsi
bility
for the poisoning of Metagloan, the adult son of Wirowarat from Thepbaramen, a satellite village of Kamalweever with no men's hut of its own
on someone. The meeting was conducted by Marak, a " man-bush " (pid
gin for someone who lives according to tradition) who had been converted
and had settled at the coastal community of Lawa some 40 yeajs previously,
when he was about 10 years old. At times he acts as a contact between
the condominium government and the remaining " men-bush ". Marak
opened the meeting with a Bible reading and a prayer during which he
made all the natives close their eyes. After several hours of discussion,
no conclusions had been reached and the meeting broke up.
There was another " meeting " held at the village of Abgatas in July
1970 dealing with another case of poisoning. For a week previous to the
trial word had gone out to all the heathen villages inviting everyone to
come and hear the evidence so that a collective judgment could be passed.
Yausntaonassua, an eight-year-old girl, had died about a month earlier
at the village of Abgatas. Her father, Kabangalamandroo, said that he
had seen old Bialo throw some " poisoned " leaves which struck his daughter on
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FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
the chest. About a week later she had died. Among the Small Nambas
any premature death has to have an explanation, and it is usually attributed
to sorcery. Old Bialo was an easy target : he already had the reputation
of a " poison man ", having been convicted by a previous gathering of nati
ves of having poisoned several persons and he had been sent to prison in
Lamap. A " court " or " meeting " was called at Abgatas to determine
if old Bialo was responsible for the little girl's death.
As an interested observer, immediately after my arrival at Abgatas
I was taken to see Yausntaonassua's funerary structure. It was located in
the cleared space near her father's hut, about 30' away. Her body was
resting on a bamboo stretcher, 5' long and 3' wide, 10' off the ground. It
was covered with some dry leaves and what appeared to be a bark cloth
which was lashed to the stretcher with a coconut fiber rope. The stretcher
was held up by four corner posts, branches of burao, which reached 4' above
it. Under the funerary platform, between the corner poles, there was an
open latticework of cane grass stalks enclosing the space under the stretcher.
These long stalks were tied together in groups of six. Their numerous inter
sections
formed diamond shaped windows, 8" long and 4" wide. On the
ground directly under the funerary platform there was a wooden statue,
somewhat cylindrical in shape, about 2' high and 8" in diameter. It was
a stylized female form, painted red and white. There were some greenishwhite moss-like strands of fiber on its head. Three 10' bamboos were stuck
through the funerary structure 2' under the stretcher. The ends of these
bamboos nearer Kabangalamandroo's hut had been shredded the following
way : the first knot served as a hub for two fringed bamboo canes, conti
guous at the base, the bamboo having been cut in thin strips and bent back
at a 45° angle. This proceedure was repeated at the third knot. The two
inside cones emenating from the first and third knots came together over the
second knot. In front and slightly to each side of the funerary structure
there were two nargai trees whose banana-like leaves are usually used for
wrapping lap-lap before it is baked over hot stones. Around the trunks
of these trees were more long stalks of cane grass, tied together on a flat
plane in groups of four and forming open diamonds at their intersections,
somewhat smaller than the windows on the side of the funerary structure.
The meeting was convened around 1 P.M. by a man blowing several times
on a whistle. There were about 25 adult males present, some of whom were
gathered around a fire since it was cool. A group of 8 adult women and the
smaller children were gathered within earshot, about 30 feet away. The
meeting was opened with a short speech in pidgin delivered by Kamenlik,
a young man from Lendombwey who had only recently assumed the role
of chief " blong capman ". He expressed how glad he was that everyone
had come to hear the talk-talk. Then proceedings began in earnest, in the
local language. From the very beginning, there was a direct confrontation
between Kabangalamandroo, the father of the girl who had been poisoned,
Yausntaonasua, and the old man accused of having done the poisoning,
Bialo, from the village of Maisole. (The meeting was held at Abgatass,
the village of the dead girl.) Sitting on a pig barrier, Kabangalamandroo
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SOCIETE DES OCEANISTES
said that he was at the spot from which he saw Bialo throw some leaves
which struck his daughter on the chest. He maintained that he was sure
that these were poisoned leaves because his daughter had died a week or so
later. He gesticulated frequently, pointing to various spots where he had
seen the " crime " committed as well as generally expressing himself with
his hands. His eyes were very expressive and he seemed to be employing
much sarcasm. Bialo, however, was not impressed and calmly denied the
accusations, saying that he did not have or know of any poisons. Very few
people spoke, aside from the two protagonists. By 3 P.M. all of the argu
ments seemed exhausted and it appeared that almost everyone except
Bialo's sons was convinced that the poisoning had in effect taken place.
Upon realizing this, Old Bialo staggered, fell, and crawled to a spot about
twenty feet from the fire next to which he had been standing. Kamenlik,
alone at first, then joined by Ilabnimbinpin and Metaknimbin, shuttled
back and forth between Bialo and Kabangalamandroo. This lasted for
over one hour and during this time the penalty was decided. It amounted
to a tusker pig and five Australian pounds. Bialo did not take losing grace
fully ; he gave the money to Kabangalamandroo along with some coconut
leaves tied together in some leaves of nowulgai, which symbolized the pig
Bialo eventually had to give to the father of the dead girl, then started to
rush off, saying that this was the last time that he was going to be seen in
Abgatas. Kamenlik called him back and made him shake hands with Kaban
galamandroo.
Bialo did this reluctantly, barely touching fingertips, then
stalked off to get back to his own village as quickly as possible.
There had been a substantial amount of prejudice against Bialo even
before the meeting occurred. He had a reputation of being a " poison
man " and was not liked at all. Some men to whom I had talked before
the " court " said that they were convinced that Bialo was guilty. I was
told that Bialo had killed many people before. Apparently there had been
a similar " court " held at Lendombwey about two and a half years ago for
Bialo at which time he had been convicted of several poisonings. The men
had then decided to give him up to the " capman ". The French districtagent held trial for him at Lawa after which he was taken to prison at Lamap
for 18 months. He had been back in the bush for only one year. At a
certain stage of the meeting some of the men had wanted to give up old Bialo
to the capman again. They were dissuaded, however, by others who thought
that Bialo would die in jail. Perhaps another factor in this decision was
that had Bialo gone to jail, Kabangalamandroo would not have received
the money and the pig which were roughly equivalent to the bride price
he would have received for his daughter had she lived to a marriageable
age.
Kal MULLER
University of Arizona, Tucson.
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FIELD NOTES ON THE SMALL NAMBAS
SOMMAIRE
L'auteur n'est pas anthropologue de profession et son séjour dans la
partie centre-sud de Malékula a été trop court pour que les informations
recueillies dans ces notes soient exhaustives. Elles pourraient, cependant,
servir de point de départ à une étude plus approfondie de la culture de cette
région qui, jusqu'à présent, n'a fait l'objet que de rares publications.
Après un aperçu de la démographie, viennent quelques données sur les
relations qu'ont les indigènes originaires de la région avec ceux du bord
de mer, aussi bien qu'avec le Condominium, la description des habitations
et des endroits où ont lieu les cérémonies. Plusieurs paragraphes traitent
des ornements corporels et de l'alimentation. Cette région est la seule des
Nouvelles-Hébrides où subsiste encore un art parce qu'il est partie inté
grante
de la culture. Les termes de parenté et les tabous qui s'y rattachent
sont énumérés.
Les faits observés par l'auteur donnent lieu à une description plus comp
lète. Une prise de grade dans la société nimangi avec tous ses rituels. Une
cérémonie nimangi chez les femmes. Les esprits des ancêtres mâles défunts
qui avaient accédé au plus haut grade nimangi jouent un rôle important
dans cette culture, d'où l'élaboration des rituels funéraires qui leur permet
tent
d'atteindre le séjour des morts.
251