Stone men of Malekula : Vao

Part 1 - Introduction. Part 2 - Social organisation and kinship. Part 3 - Ritual life. Part 4 - General suurvey of the public graded society complex in the New Hebrides and Banks Islands

'This book deals chiefly with the small coral islet of Vao off the northeastern coast of Malekula, where [the elaborate religious ritual cycle] lasts fifteen years and revolves round the twin concepts of re-birth and the resulting life after death in a land of the dead situated in the crater of an active volcano--a sort of Hades above ground....'

Hardcover