TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION H. 676 



alphabet, which they contain fully written out, with the letters given first 

 singly and then in certain combinations (e.g., tr, tn, tl, pr, pn, pi). The history 

 of the alphabet is as yet by no means fully made out, but the alDsence of signs 

 for 6, d, and g, the compound symbol vh for /, and the placing of the symbol 

 for at the end of the list, make it practically certain that it reached the 

 Venetic through Etruscan channels. 



These alphabetic bronze tablets have many curious features. They measure, 

 roughly speaking, aboiit 8 in. by 5 in., and they are divided into horizontal 

 bands, generally ten or eleven, by straight lines along the length of the tablet, 

 the first, or lowest, five of which are of a fixed character. The first contain.s 

 the fifteen consonantal signs of the alphabet, followed by one vowel (e in two 

 examples, n in another, o in a fourth) ; the next four lines each contains, 

 sixteen times, a single letter, a sixteen times in 1. 2, k in 1. 3, e in 1. 4, and 

 in 1. 5. 



The nature of these tablets is unknown. Guesses were that they were school- 

 masters' offerings ; that they had some magical value — but what ? I am inclined 

 to ask whether any nearer parallel to them could be found than the boards used 

 by Greeks and Romans for playing a game of luck and skill combined like our 

 backgammon, called in Latin duodecim scripta, from the twelve lines on each 

 side of the board which marked it out ; unfortunately no specimens seem to 

 have survived. If so, they would be dedications either by professional players 

 or by lucky winners. 



7. Excavations on the Roman Site of Uriconium (Wroxeter). 

 By J. P. BusHE-Fox. 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



1. Ceremonial and Descent in Ambrim. 

 By Dr. W. H. E. Rivers, M.A., F.R.S.^ 



The ceremonies of the island of Ambrim in the New Hebrides fall into two 

 groups, those known to have been introduced from elsewhere and those believed 

 to be indigenous. 



The most important of the introduced ceremonies belong to a complex 

 institution called the ' Mangge,' which resembles in its main characters the 

 ' Sukwe ' of the Banks Islands." One of the chief features of the ritual of the 

 higher grades is the manufacture of an image in human form in which it is 

 believed that the ghost of the father's faflier comes to reside and to look after 

 the welfare of his descendant. Neither in this nor in any other of the intro- 

 duced ceremonies is any part taken by the mother's brother or the mother's 

 people. 



In several of the indigenous ceremonies, on the other hand, a leading part is 

 taken by the mother's brother and other people of the mother's village. Thus, 

 in the ceremonial accompanying incision the mother's brother holds a boy during 

 the operation and dresses his wound. Afterwards the boy visits his mother's 

 village and numerous gifts of pigs and food pass between the village of the boy 

 and that of his mother. 



In another ceremony called ' Wor ' a heap of stones is made for a man by 

 his mother's brother, and transactions in pigs and other objects of value take 



' To be published in full in Journ. R. Anfkrop. Inst. 



' Rivers, History of Mehmcsian Society, Cambridge, 1914, i. 61. 



1x2 



