4- 



Shells (IS evidoicc of tJie Alii^-yatioiis. 



as a signal, especially in the ceremonies which accompany 

 the return from a successful expedition, and this suggests 

 either that it is an element of culture common to the 

 kava- and betel-peoples, or that it was taken over by the 

 betel-people from the earlier inhabitants. 



" The onl\' place in Melanesia where we know of the 

 existence of the conch-shell blown at the end is Efate 

 [New Hebrides], and its association here with a special 

 form of totemism suggests that it is connected with a 

 special development of the kava-culture which has bee;i 

 responsible for the form of totemism found in this 

 region." " 



In discussing the material culture of the inhabitants 

 of the l^ismarck .Archipelago, Rivers further relates that 

 '• the conch made of the shell of the Triton is not only 

 definitely present in New Britain and New Ireland, but it 

 has that place in the ritual of the secret organisation^ 

 which we should expect if it were introduced 1)\- the 

 kava-pcoplc When the members of the Tngict take one 

 of their stone linages from one place to another, it-, 

 approach is heralded b\- the_ sound of the conch whicl 

 warns all iminitiated persons to—g'et out of the way. 

 When an iminitiated person hears the'CP'^ch, he says, 

 ' Here comes an image from Nakanai." thus associating 

 the instrument with one of the" more sacrea^ images 

 Another indication of the importance of the conch i" "^^^ 

 higict is that it ma>- be shown to an initiate in placo <^^ ^ 

 stone image if one of these is not available, thus sugges-ti"t: 

 that the conch may once have formed one of the myste.''^^-^ 

 of the society, comparable with the iccreiuere or nicreUP^t^ 

 of the Hanks Islands or the bullroarcr of the MiXtaviln'^" 

 and Rnknik." '''' 



"' ^'"''^- •'•' P- 459- J 



•••« /Hd. ii., p. 535. 



