Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/408

386 And on the day he bought his rank he said to them, Have you made all the return for my money? And they said, When you have completed your distribution of property we will make an end of our return; lest we should crush ourselves into poverty. So he went and loosed and brought out two rawe pigs and two boars, and he went into his house and carried out his money-bags on his backhand with that he made distribution; and they were amazed at those rawe and boars, all of them with their tusks curled round till they met, that Ro Som had given to him. And after five days again they broke up fire-wood, and on the tenth day again he bought his steps of rank, the avtagataga and the luwaiav. And on the fifth day again they broke up fire-wood, and on the tenth day he bought his steps, the tamasuria and the tavai suqe; and on the fifth day again he said, Let us break up fire-wood, and on the tenth day he bought the steps tavasuqelava and kerepue. And always he was buying food with large payments, and he paddled over to Vanua Lava and bought with large sums there, and to Mota and bought with large sums there: and he went on in the suqe till he reached the wemeteloa. Then he desired to make his suqe also at Mota, and he went and built his house at Tasmate, and they broke up firewood and danced the taqesara. But he appointed the tenth day for a sawae, and on the ninth day he prepared mashed yams; and at the sawae he appointed the tenth day for a kolekole. And at the kolekole, when the noise of the sawae was sounding like thunder, and the feast was at its height, they saw a woman walking up the sloping ground below the cliff, using a spear for a walking stick, with bracelets on her arms reaching to the elbow, and on her right arm a boar's tusk, and her head smeared with red earth, and pigs' tails fastened to her hair; and they thought that some visitors had just landed from a canoe. And she went straight to the house of Ganviviris and passed out of sight within it; and they went to see who it was and found no one there. And they told Ganviviris, We have seen a woman go into your kole house, with bracelets and boars' tusks on her arms; and he said, Don't