posts, which include the skulls and other special bones
of all the chiefs and members of their families and other prominent
people buried in and by the villages of the community since the last
previous big feast was held there. After this all the bones are again
hung up on the posts. I may say here in advance that, when the feast
is over, all the bones are removed from the posts; and, the ceremony
as regards those bones having been performed, they will never again
be the subject of ceremonial observance. They, or some of them, may
be hung up in the _emone_, but if so it is known that they are not
to be used again for ceremonial purposes; or they may be put in a
box in a tree, or hung up on a tree, not necessarily of the special
species used for burying; or they may be simply flung away anywhere
in the bush. Whilst the bodies of the slain pigs lie in a line, and
before the cutting up, it is the duty of each man who has had a pig
fed up for him to pay the man who has done so, the payment probably
being a string of dogs' teeth, or head feather ornaments. Next, the
hosts set to work to cut up the pigs. This is not done by a chief or
special person, nor is there any ceremony connected with it. Each pig
is cut into seven parts, namely, (1) the head, (2-5) the four legs,
(6) the bowels and internal parts, and (7) the back and sides. I was
told that each part of each pig is destined for a certain person, as
arranged beforehand. It follows that, if there are, say, 100 pigs,
there are 700 predestined pieces, which are known and remembered,
though there are no means of recording them. It is difficult to believe
the truth of this, but I was assured that it was correct. The pieces
of each pig are placed on banana leaves, by the side of the spot where
the body had lain, and all the pieces are distributed among the male
guests. Everybody who has given a pig knows the length of each part
of it, though he could not express it in numerals. Each male guest
has a piece given to him, which, if the feast be a return feast,
will correspond in some way, which I could not understand, with what
he had himself provided at the previous feast. But dancers receive
larger and better portions than do mere singers. People who have fed
up pigs for members of the hosts' community also receive portions. In
the distribution of pig each man is called in turn as before, and in
the same order of priority, and runs up and gets his piece of pig, and
runs back wi