IDNO

P.98449.LAY

Description

On Catalogue Card for related image P.3837.ACH1: Hollow cone used in ‘Menggi’ rites (Pl. XV fig. 1). Malekula, South West Bay, Seniang district. (references to J. R. A. I. LVIII, 1928).

“224. S. W. Bay.”
“Object used for Mbalmbal (degree)
[Layard's caption, 1914 - 1915]

“Small hollow cone used in the degree of Mbalmbal” [Layard's caption, 1928, JD 28/4/2009]

“Malekula.
erection. [?feather cane]”
[Layard's caption, 1914 - 1915]

View of a man, wearing white shirt and trousers, standing next to a cone shaped of leaves and bound together with cord, reaching higher than he is. [H. Geismar 24/02/03]

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Vanuatu; Malakula; South West Bay; Seniang District [New Hebrides; Malekula]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Layard, John Willoughby

Collector / Expedition

Date

1914 - 1915

Collection Name

Layard Collection

Source

Layard, Richard

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.98437.LAY to P.98452.LAY were found in the envelope now numbered C523/1/, which was loose in the wooden box now numbered C523/ with N.98453.LAY to N.98589.LAY.

Related Image: See notes for P.3835.ACH1.

Publication: This image is reproduced by Layard in JRAI (1928, plate XV. 1) with the caption:
Small hollow cone used in the degree of Mbalmbal”
Layard tells us that in this grade:
“ A plain stake of nator wood about 10 feet high is planted inclined toward the gongs. Hanging by a rope of coco-nut sinnet from the top of this is an object called navanuvu. This is a hollow cone about 8 feet long, manufactured on a bamboo frame, open at the lower end, covered with certain shiny leaves, and bound with coco-nut sinnet.” (1928: 164).

Bibliographical Reference: Deacon describes the navanuvu as “long balloon-shaped structures, pointed at either end. They are made of a framework of four or five hoops, with a number of pieces of split bamboo running lengthwise, at right angles to them, and lashed together at either end. Over this framework is a coating of some thin, paper-like substance called neuleul which gives the navanuvu a shiny appearance. One of these is fastened to the end of each tortor pole so that it sways in the breeze.” (1934: 299, see illustration as well). According to Deacon these structures are not the circular cones, but ritual artefacts attached to a wider cone.

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund.

This catalogue record has been updated to incorporate information published in Geismar and Herle, 2008. Descriptions by Haidy Geismar have been updated to incorporate place and peoples' name and indigenous words. [Jocelyne Dudding 28/4/2009]