| caption: |
Chapter One. The Material Background |
| caption: |
carving and ornamentation of the log-gongs ; feasting |
| text: |
The following day, the best craftsmen in the morung began to work on the carving and ornamentation of the gong. On the fifth day after the elapse of one lunar month, the gong was dragged to the place where it was to be housed, either in a gong house or in the porch of the morung. Again a pig was sacrificed and prayers were intoned for the long life of the men of the morung. Where head-hunting persisted, it was customary for the men of the morung to capture a human head at the time of the installation of a log gong, and it was laid on top of the new instrument. In Wakching and other administered villages raiding was replaced by a hunting expedition, and the leg of an animal slain in the chase served as a substitute for a head trophy. |
