part in the account, that I must begin with a detailed descrip-

tion of the various beliefs referring to them, though the subject has been touched upon once or twice before (Chapter II, Division VII, and other places). The sea and sailing upon it are intimately associated in the mind of a Boyowan with these women. They had to be mentioned in the description of canoe magic, and we shall see what an important part they play in the legends of canoe building. In his sailing, whether he goes to Kitava or further East, or whether he travels South to the Amphletts and Dobu, they form one of the main preoccupations of a Boyowan sailor. For they are not only dangerous to him, but to a certain extent, foreign. Boyowa, with the exception of Wawela and one or two other villages on the Eastern coast,
aee
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and in the South of the island, is an ethnographic district, where the flying witches do not exist, although they visit it from time to time. Whereas all the surrounding tribes are full of women who practice this form of sorcery. Thus sailing South, the Boyowanis travelling straight into the heart of their domain.
These women have the power of making themselves invisible, and flying at night through the air. The orthodox belief is that a woman who is a yoyova can send forth a double which is invisible at will, but may appear in the form of a flying fox or ofa night bird ora firefly. There is also a belief that a yoyova develops within her a something, shaped like an egg, or like a young, unripe coco-nut. This something is called as a matter of fact kapuwana, which is the word for a small coco-nut.* This idea - remains in the native’s mind in a vague, indefinite, undifferen- tiated form, and any attempt to elicit a more detailed definition by asking him such questions, as to whether the kapuwana is a material object or not, would be to smuggle our own categories into his belief, where they do not exist. The kapuwana is any- how believed to be the something which in the nightly flights leaves the body of the yoyova and assuines the various forms in which the mulukwaust appears. Another variant of the belief about the yoyova is, that those who know their magic especially well, can fly themselves, bodily transporting them- selves through the air.
But it can never be sufficiently emphasised that all these beliefs cannot be treated as consistent pieces of knowledge ; they flow into one another, and even the same native probably holds several views rationally inconsistent with one another. Even their terminology (compare the last Division of the fore- going chapter), cannot be taken as implying a strict distinction or definition. Thus, the word yoyova is applied to the woman as we meet her in the village, and the word mulukwausi will be used when we see something suspicious flying through the air. But it would be incorrect to systematise this use into a sort of doctrine and to say: ‘‘ An individual woman is conceived-as consisting of an actual living personality called yoyova, and of
* Professor Seligman has described the belief in similar beings on the North-East Coast of New Guinea. At Gelaria, inland of Bartle Bay, the flying witches can produce a double, or ‘“‘ sending,” which they call/abuni. ‘‘ Labunt exists within women, and can be commanded by any woman who has had children. . . . It wassaid that the /abuni existed in, or was derived from, an organ called ipona, situated in the flank, and literally meaning egg or eggs.” op. cil., p. 640. The equivalence of beliefs. here is evident.
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an immaterial, spiritual principle called mulukwaust, which in its potential form is the kapuwana.’’ In doing this we would do much what the Medieval Scholastics did to the living faith of the early ages. The native feels and fears his belief rather than formulates it clearly to himself. He uses terms and expressions, and thus, as used by him, we must collect them as documents of belief, but abstain from working them out into a consistent theory ; for this represents neither the native’s mind nor any other form of reality.
As we remember from Chapter II, the flying witches are a nefarious agency, second in importance to the bwaga’u (male sorcerer), but in efficiency far more deadly even than he himself. In contrast to the bwaga’u, who is simply a man in possession of a special form of magic, the yoyova have to be gradually initiated into their status. Only a small child, whose mother is a witch, can become a witch herself. When a witch gives birth to a female child, she medicates a piece of obsidian, and cuts off the navel string. The navel string is then buried, with the recital of a magical formula, in the house, and not, as is done in all ordinary cases, in the garden. Soon after, the witch will carry her daughter to the sea beach, utter a spell over some brine in a coco-nut cup, and give the child to drink. After that, the child is submerged in water and washed, a kind of witch’s baptism! Then she brings back the baby into the house, utters a spell over a mat, and folds her upinit. At night, she carries the baby through the air, and goes to a trysting place of other yoyova, where she presents her child ritually to them. In contrast to the usual custom of young mothers of sleeping over a small fire, a sorceress lies with her baby in the cold. As the child grows up, the mother will take it into her arms and carry it through the air on her nightly rounds. Entering girlhood at the age when the first grass skirt is put on a maiden, the little prospective witch will begin to fly herself.
Another system of training, running side by side with flying, consists in accustoming the child to participation in human flesh. Even before the growing witch will begin to fly on her own account, the mother will take her to the ghoulish repasts, where she and other witches sit over a corpse, eating its eyes, tongue, lungs, and entrails. There the little girl receives her first share of corpse flesh, and trains her taste to like this diet.
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There are other forms of training ascribed to mothers solicitous that their daughters should grow up into efficient yoyova and mulukwausi. At night the mother will stand on one side of the hut, with the child in her hands, and throw the little one over the roof. Then quickly, with the speed only possible to a yoyova, she will move round, and catch the child on the other side. This happens before the child begins to fly, and is meant to accustom it to passing rapidly through the air. Or again, the child will be held by her feet, head down, and remain in this position while the mother utters a spell. Thus gradually, by all these means, the child acquires the powers and tastes of a yoyova.
It is easy to pick out such girls from other children. They will be recognisable by their crude tastes, and more especially by their habit of eating raw flesh of pigs or uncooked fish. And here we come to a point, where mythical superstition plays over into something more real, for I have been assured by reli- able informants, and those not only natives, that there are cases of girls who will show a craving for raw meat, and when a pig is being quartered in the village will drink its blood and tear up its flesh. These statements I never could verify by direct observations, and they may be only the result of very strong belief projecting its own realities, as we see on every side in our own society in miraculous cures, spiritistic phenomena, etc., etc. If, however, the eating of raw flesh by girl children really occurs, this simply means that they play up to what they know is said and believed about them. This again is a phenomenon of social pyschology met with in many phases of Trobriand society and in our own.
This does not mean that the character of a yoyova is publicly donned. Indeed, though a man often owns up to the fact that he is a bwaga’u, and treats his speciality quite openly in con- versation, a woman will never directly confess to being a yoyova, not even to her own husband. But she will certainly be marked by everyone as such a one, and she will often play up to the rdle, for it is always an advantage to be supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers. And moreover, being a sorceress is also a good source of income. A woman will often receive presents with the understanding that such and such a person has to be injured. She will openly take gifts, avowedly in payment for healing someone who has been hurt by
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another witch. Thus the character of a yoyova is, in a way, a public one and the most important and powerful witches will be enumerated by name. But no woman will ever openly speak about being one. Of course to have such a character would in no way spoil matrimonial chances, or do anything but enhance the social status of a woman.
So deep is the belief in the efficacy of magic, and in magic being the only means of acquiring extraordinary faculties, that all powers of a yoyova are attributed to magic. As we saw in the training of a young yoyova, magic has to be spoken at every stage in order to impart to her the character of a witch. A full blown yoyova has to utter special magic each time she wishes to be invisible, or when she wants to fly, or acquire higher speed, or penetrate darkness and distance in order to find out whether an accident is happening there. But like everything referring to this form of witchcraft, these formule never come to light. Although I was able to acquire a whole body of spells of the bwaga’u sorcery, I could not even lift the fringe of the impene- trable veil, surrounding the magic of the yoyova. As a matter of fact, there is not the slightest doubt for me that not one single rite, not one single word of this magic, have ever existed.
Once a mulukwausi is fully trained in her craft, she will often go at night to feed on corpses or to destroy shipwrecked mariners, for these are her two main pursuits. By a special sense, acquired through magic, she can ‘ hear,’ as the natives say, that a man has died at such and such a place, or that a canoe is in danger. Even a young apprenticed yoyova will have her hearing so sharpened that she will tell her mother : “Mother, I hear, they cry!’’ Which means that a man is dead or dying at some place. Or she will say: ‘‘ Mother, a waga is sinking!’”’ And then they both will fly to the spot.
When she goes out on such an errand, the yoyova leaves her body behind. Then she climbs a tree, and reciting some magic, she ties a creeper to it. Then, she flies off, along this creeper, which snaps behind her, Thisis the moment when we see the fire flying through the sky. Whenever the natives see a falling star, they know it is a mulukwaust on her flight. Another version is that, when a mulukwausi recites a certain spell, a tree which stands somewhere near her destination bends down towards the other tree on which she is perched. She jumps from one top to the other, and it is then that wesee the fire. According
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to some versions, the mulukwaust, that is, the witch in her flying state, moves about naked, leaving her skirt round the body, which remains asleep in the hut. Other versions depict her as tying her skirt tightly round her when flying, and beating her buttocks with a magical pandanus streamer. These latter versions are embodied in the magic quoted above in Chapter V.
Arrived at the place where lies the corpse, the mulukwaust, with others who have also flown to the spot, perches on some high object, the top of a tree or the gable of a hut. There they all wait till they can feast on the corpse, and such is their greed and appetite that they are also very dangerous to living men. People who collect round the dead body to mourn and wake over it often have a special spell against the mulukwaust recited over them, by the one who knows it. They are careful not to stray away from the others, and, during burial of the dead and afterwards, they believe the air to be infested with these dangerous witches, who spread the smell of carrion around them.
The mulukwausi will eat out the eyes, the tongue, and the ‘insides’ (lopouia) of the corpse; when they attack a living man they may simply hit him or kick him, and then he becomes more or less sick. But sometimes they get hold of an individual and treat him like a corpse and eat some of his organs, and then the man dies. It is possible to diagnose this, for such a person would quickly fail, losing his speech, his vision, sometimes suddenly being bereft of all power of movement. It is a less dangerous method to the living man when the mulukwaust instead of eating his ‘ insides ’ on the spot, simply remove them. They hide them in a place only known to them- selves, in order to have provision for a future feast. In that case there is some hope for the victim. Another yoyova, summoned quickly by the relations of the dying and well paid by them, will, in the form of a mulukwaust, go forth, search for the missing organs, and, if she is fortunate enough to find and restore them, save the life of the victim.
Kenoriya, the favourite daughter of To’ulawa, the chief of Omarakana, while on a visit to another village, was deprived of her internal organs by the mulukwausi. When brought home, she could neither move nor speak, and lay down asif dead. Her mother and other relatives already began their mortuary wailing over her, the chief himself broke out into loud lamentations.
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But nevertheless, as a forlorn hope, they sent for a woman from Wawela, a well-known yoyova, who after receiving valuables and food, flew out as a mulukwaust, and the very next night found Kenoriya’s insides somewhere in the raybwag, near the beach of Kaulukuba, and restored her to health.
Another authentic story is that of the daughter of a Greek trader and a Kiriwinian woman from Oburaku. This story was told me by the lady herself, in perfectly correct English, learnt in one of the white settlements of New Guinea, where she had been brought up in the house of a leading missionary. But the story was not spoilt by any scepticism ; it was told with perfect simplicity and conviction.
When she was a little girl, a woman called Sewawela, from the Island of Kitava, but married to a man of Wawela, came to her parents’ house and wanted to sella mat. They did not buy it, and gave her only a little food, which, as she was a renowned yoyova and accustomed therefore to deferential treatment, made her angry. When night came, the little one was playing on the beach in front of the house, when the parents saw a big firefly hovering about the child. The insect then flew round the parents and went into the room. Seeing that there was something strange about the firefly, they called the girl and put her to bed at once. But she fell iil immediately, could not sleep all night, and the parents, with many native attendants, had to keep watch over her. Next morning, added the Kiriwinian mother, who was listening to her daughter telling me the tale, the girl “‘ boge tkarige ; kukula wala ipipisi,” “ she was dead already, but her heart was still beating.’’ All the women present broke out into the ceremonial lamentations. The father of the girl’s mother, however, went to Wawela, and got hold of another yoyova, called Bomrimwari. She took some herbs and smeared her own body all over. Then she went out in the form of a mulukwausi in search of the girl’s lopoulo (inside). She searched about and found it in the hut of Sewawela, where it lay on the shelf on which are kept the big clay-pots, in which the mona (taro pudding), is cooked cere- monially. There it lay “red as calico.’’ Sewawela had left it there, while she went into the garden with her husband, meaning to eat it on her return. Had this happened, the girl could not have been saved. As soon as Bomrimwari found it, she made some magic over it then and there. Then she came
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back to the trader’s compound, made some more magic over ginger-root, and water, and caused the Jopoulo to return to its place. After that, the little girl soon got better. A substantial payment was given by the parents to the yoyova for saving their child.
Living in Oburaku, a village on the Southern half of Boyowa, I was on the boundary between the district where the yoyova do not exist, and the other one, to the East, where they are plentiful. On the other side of the Island, which is very narrow at this part, is the village of Wawela, where almost every woman is reputed to be a witch, and some are quite notorious. Going over the vaybwag at night, the natives of Oburaku would point out certain fireflies which would suddenly disappear, not to relight again. These were the mulukwaust. Again, at night, swarms of flying foxes used to flap over the tall trees, making for the big, swampy Island of Boymapo’u which closes in the Lagoon opposite the village. These too were muluk- waust, travelling from the East, their real home. They also used to perch on the tops of the trees growing on the water’s edge, and this was therefore an especially dangerous spot after sunset. I was often warned not to sit there on the platforms of the beached canoes, as I liked to do, watching the play of colours on the smooth, muddy waters, and on the bright mangroves. When I fell ill soon after, everybody decided that I had been ‘ kicked’ by the mulukwausi, and some magic was performed over me by my friend Molilakwa, the same who gave me some formule of kayga’u, the magic spoken at sea against witches. In this case his efforts were entirely successful, and my quick recovery was attributed by the natives solely to the spells.
II
What interests us most about mulukwausi, is their associa- tion with the sea and shipwreck. Very often they will roam over the sea, and mect at a trysting place on a reef. There they will partake of a special kind of coral, broken off from a reef, a kind called by the natives nada. This whets their appe- tite for human flesh, exactly as the drinking of salt water does with the bwaga’u. They have also some indirect power over the elements in the sea. Although the natives do not quite agree on the point, there is no doubt that a definite connection
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exists between the mulukwausi and all the other dangers which may be met in the sea, such as sharks, the ‘ gaping depth’ (thapwagega wiwitu), many of the small sea animals, crabs, some of the shells and the other things to be mentioned presently, all of which are considered to be the cause of death of drowning men. Thus the belief is quite definite that, in being cast into the water by the shipwreck, men do not meet any real danger except by being eaten by the mulukwausi, the sharks, and the other animals. If by the proper magic these influences can be obviated, the drowning men will escape unscathed. The belief in the omnipotence of man, or rather, woman in this case, and of the equal power in antidoting by magic, governs all the ideas of these natives about shipwreck. The supreme remedy and insurance against any dangers lies in the magic of mist, called kayga’u, which, side by side with Kula magic, and the magic of the canoes, is the third of the indispensable magical equipments of a sailor.
A man who knows well the kayga’u is considered to be able to travel safely through the most dangerous seas. A renowned chief, Maniyuwa, who was reputed as one of the greatest masters in kayga’u as well as in other magic, died in Dobu on an expe- dition about two generations ago. His son, Maradiana, had learnt his father’s kayga’u. Although the mulukwausi are extremely dangerous in the presence of a corpse, and though the natives would never dream of putting a dead body on a canoe, and thus multiplying the probabilities of an attack by the witches, still, Maradiana, trusting to his kayga’u, brought the corpse back to Boyowa without mishap. This act, a testi- mony to the daring sailor’s great prowess, and to the efficiency of the kayga’u magic, is kept alive in the memory and tradition of the natives. One of my informants, boasting of his kayga’u, told me how once, on a return from Dobu, he performed his rites. Such a mist arose as a consequence of it that the rest of the canoes lost their way, and arrived in the island of Kayleula. | Indeed, if we can speak of a belief being alive, that is, of having a strong hold over human imagination, the belief in the danger from mulukwausi at sea is emphatically such a one. In times of mental stress, in times of the slightest danger at sea, or when a dying or dead person is near, the natives at once respond emotionally in terms of this belief. No one could live among these natives, speaking their language, and following their
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tribal life, without constantly coming up against the belief in mulukwausi, and in the efficiency of the kayga’u.
As in all other magic, also here, there are various systems of kayga’u, that is, there are various formule, slightly differing in their expressions, though usually similar in their fundamental wordings and in certain ‘ key’ expressions. In each system, there are two main types of spells, the giyotanawa, or the kayga’u of the Underneath, and the giyorokaywa, or the kayga’u of the Above. The first one usually consists of a short formula or formule spoken over some stones and some lime in a lime pot and over some ginger root. This gtyotanawa, as its name indicates, is magic directed against the evil agencies, awaiting the drowning men from below. Its spells close up ‘ the gaping depth ’ and they screen off the shipwrecked men from the eyes of the sharks. They also protect them from the other evil things, which cause the death of a man in drowning. The several little sea worms found on the beach, the crabs, the poisonous fish, soka, and the spiky fish, batba’i, as well as the jumping stones, whether vineylida or nu’akekepaki, are all warded off and blinded by the giyotanawa. Perhaps the most extraordinary belief in this connection is that the tokwalu, the carved human figures on the prow boards, the guwaya, the semi- human effigy on the mast top, as well as the canoe ribs would ‘eat’ the drowning men if not magically ‘ treated.’
The kayga’u of the ‘ Above,’ the giyorokaywa, consists of long spells, recited over some ginger root, on several occasions before sailing, and during bad weather or shipwreck. They are directed exclusively against the mulukwaust, and form therefore the more important class of the two. These spells must never be recited at night, as then the mulukwausi could see and hear the man, and make his magic inefficient. Again, the spell of the Above, when recited at sea, must be spoken so that the magician is not covered with spray, for if his mouth were wet with sea water, the smell would attract rather than disperse, the flying witches. The man who knows the kayga’u must also be very careful at meal times. Children may not speak, play about, or make any noise while he eats, nor should anyone go round him behind his back while he is thus engaged ; nor may they point out anything with the finger. Should the man be thus disturbed during his food, he would have to stop eating at once, and not resume it till the next meal time.
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Now the leading idea of kayga’u is that it produces some sort of mist. The mulukwaust who follow the canoe, the sharks and live stones which lie in wait for it, the depth with all its horror, and the débris of the canoe ready to harm the owner, all these are blinded by the mist that arises in obedience to these spells. Thus the paralysing effect of these two main forms of magic and the specialised sphere of influence of each of them, are definite and clear dogmas of native belief.
But here again we must not try to press the interpretation of these dogmas too far. Some sort of mist covers the eyes of all the evil agencies or blinds them; it makes the natives invisible from them. But to ask whether the kayga’u produces a real mist, visible also to man, or only a supernatural one, visible only to the mulukwausi ; or whether it simply blinds their eyes so that they see natin would be asking too much. The same native who will boast of having produced a real mist, so great that it led astray his companions, will next day perform the kayga’u in the village during a burial, and affirm that the mulukwausi are in a mist, though obviously a perfectly clear atmosphere surrounds the whole proceedings. The natives will tell how, sailing on a windy but clear day, after a kayga’u has been recited into the eye of the wind, they hear the shrieks of the mulukwausi, who, losing their companions and the scent of the trail, hail one another in the dark. Again, some expres- sions seem to represent the view that it is mainly an action on the eyes of the witches. ‘ Jdudubila matala mulukwaust,'— “It darkens the eyes of the mulukwausi,’ or ‘ 1guyugwayu ’— “It blinds,’ the natives will say. And when asked :
“What do the mulukwaust see, then?” they will answer: “‘ They will see mist only. They do not see the places, they do not see the men, only mist.”’
Thus here, as in all cases of belief, there is a certain latitude, within which the opinions and views may vary, and only the broad outline, which surrounds them, is definitely fixed by tradition, embodied in ritual, and expressed by the phraseology of magical formule or by the statements of a myth.
I have thus defined the manner in which the natives face the dangers of the sea; we have found, that the fundamental conceptions underlying this attitude are, that in shipwreck, men are entirely in the hands of the witches, and that from
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this, only their own magical defence can save them. This defence consists in the rites and formule of the kayga’u, of which we have also learnt the leading principles. Now, a consecutive description must be given of how this magic is performed when a ¢foliwaga sets out on an expedition. And following up this expedition, it must be told how the natives imagine a shipwreck, and what they believe the behaviour of the shipwrecked party would be.
III
I shall give this narrative in a consecutive manner, as it was told to me by some of the most experienced and renowned Trobriand sailors in Sinaketa, Oburaku, and Omarakana. We can imagine that exactly such a narrative would be told by a~ veteran toliwaga to his usagelu on the beach of Yakum, as our Kula party sit round the camp fires at night. One of the old men, well-known for the excellence of his kayga’u, and boastful | of it, would tell his story, entering minutely into all the details, - however often the others might have heard about them before, or even assisted at the performance of his magic. He would then proceed to describe, with extreme realism, and dwelling graphically on every point, the story of a shipwreck, very much as if he had gone through one himself. As a matter of fact, no one alive at present has had any personal experience of such a catastrophe, though many have lived through fre- quent narrow escapes in stormy weather. Based on this, and on what they have heard themselves of the tradition of ship-_ wrecks, natives will tell the story with characteristic vividness. ) Thus, the account given below is not only a summary of native. belief, it is an ethnographic document in itself, representing the manner in which such type of narrative would be told over camp fires, the same subject being over and over again repeated by the same man, and listened to by the same audience, exactly as we, when children, or the peasants of Eastern Europe, will hearken to familiar fairy tales and Marchen. The only deviation here from what would actually take place in such a story-telling, is the insertion of magical formule into the narrative. The speaker might indeed repeat his magic, were he speaking in broad daylight, in his village, toa group of close kinsmen and friends. But being on a small island in the middle of the ocean, and at night, the recital of
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spells would be a taboo of the kayga’u ; nor would a man ever recite his magic before a numerous audience, except on certain occasions at mortuary vigils, where people are expected to chant their magic aloud before hundreds of listeners.
Returning then again to our group of sailors, who sit under the stunted pandanus trees of Yakum, let us listen to one of the companions of the daring Maradiana, now dead, to one of the descendants of the great Maniyuwa. He will tell us how, early in the morning, on the day of departure from Sinaketa, or sometimes on the next morning, when they leave Muwa, he performs the first rite of kayga’u. Wrapping up a piece of leyya (wild ginger root) in a bit of dried banana leaf, he chants over it the long spell of the giyorokaywa, the kayga’u of the Above. He chants this spell into the leaf, holding it cup- shaped, with the morsel of ginger root at the bottom, so that the spell might enter into the substance to be medicated. After that, the leaf is immediately wrapped round, so as to imprison the magical virtue, and the magician ties the parcel round his left arm, with a piece of bast or string. Sometimes he will medicate two bits of ginger and make two parcels, of which the other will be placed in a string necklet, and carried on his breast. Our narrator, who is the master of one of the canoes, will probably not be the only one within the circle round the camp fire, who carries these bundles of medicated ginger ; for though a ¢oliwaga must always perform this rite as well as know all the other magic of shipwreck, as a rule several of the older members of his crew also know it, and have also prepared their magical bundles.
This is one of the spells of the giyorokaywa, such as the old man said over the ginger root :
GIYOROKAYWA No. 1 (LEYYA KayGa’v).
“T will befog Muyuwa!”’ (repeated). ‘I will befog Misima!”’ (repeated). ‘‘ The mist springs up; the mist makes them tremble. I befog the front, I shut off the rear ; I befog the rear, I shut offthe front. I fill with mist, mist springs up; I fill with mist, the mist which makes them tremble.”’
This is the opening part of the formula, very clear, and easy to be translated. The mist is magically invoked, the word for mist being repeated with several verbal com- binations, in a rhythmic and alliterative manner. The
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expression tremble, maystsi, refers to a peculiar belief, that when a sorcerer or sorceress approaches the victim, and this man paralyses them with a counter spell, they lose their bearings, and stand there trembling.
The main part of this spell opens up with the word
aga’u,’ ‘1 befog,’ which, like all such leading words of a spell is first of all intoned in a long, drawn-out chant, and then quickly repeated with a series of words. Then the word ‘ aga’u’ is replaced by ‘ aga’u sulu,’ ‘1 befog, lead astray,’ which in its turn makes way for, ‘ aga’u boda,’ ‘I befog, shut off.’ The list of words repeated in
_ succession with each of these three expressions is a long one.
It is headed by the words ‘ the eyes of the witches.” Then, ‘the eyes of the sea-crab.’ Then, always with the word ‘eyes,’ the animals, worms and insects which threaten drowning men in the sea, are enumerated. After they are exhausted, the various parts of the body are repeated ; then finally, a long list of villages is recited, preceded by the word aga’u, forming phrases such as: ‘I befog the eyes of the women of Wawela, etc.”
Let us reconstruct a piece of this middle part in a con- secutive manner, “(I befog . 22. (4) Sle betopae befog, the eyes of the witches! I befog the eyes of the little crabs! I befog the eyes of the hermit crab! I
befog the eyes of the insects on the beach! . . . etc.” “I befog the hand, I befog the foot, I befog the head, I befog the shoulders . . . . etc.”
“I befog the eyes of the women of Wawela ; I befog the eyes of the women of Kaulasi; I befog the eyes of the women of Kumilabwaga, I befog the eyes of the women of WValkt tarts 2 awk ene CCr ss CLOw
“‘ T befog, lead astray, the eyes of the witches ; I befog,
lead astray the eyes of the little crab! . . . etc.” “T befog, shut off the eyes of the witches, I befog, shut off the eyes of the little crab . . . etc., etc.”
It can easily be seen how long drawn such a spell is, especially as in this middle part, the magician will often come back to where he has started, and repeat the leading word over and over again with the others. Indeed, this . can be taken as a typical tapwana, or middle part, of a long spell, where the leading words are, so to speak, well rubbed into the various other expressions. One feature of this middle part is remarkable, namely, that the beings from below, the crabs, the sea insects and worms are invoked, although the spell is one of the giyorokaywa type, the magic of the Above. This is an inconsistency
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frequently met with ; a contradiction between the ideas embodied in the spell, and the theory of the magic, as explicitly formulated by the informants. The parts of the body enumerated in the tapwana refer to the magician’s own person, and to his companions in the canoe. By this part of the spell, he surrounds himself and all his companions with mist, which makes them invisible to all the evil influences.
After the long tapwana has been recited, there follows the last part, which, however, is not chanted in this case, but spoken in a low, persuasive, tender voice.
“T hit thy flanks; I fold over thy mat, thy bleached mat of pandanus ; I shall makeitintothy mantle. I take thy sleeping doba (grass skirt), I cover thy loins ; remain there, snore within thy house! I alone myself’’ (here the reciter’s name is uttered) ‘I shall remain in the sea, I shall swim!”
This last part throws some interesting sidelights on native belief in mulukwaust. We see here the expression of the idea that the body of the witch remains in the house, whilst she herself goes out on her nefarious errand. Molilakwa, the magician of Oburaku who gave me this spell, said in com- mentary to this last part :
“The yoyova casts off her body (inint wowola—which really means ‘ peals off her skin’); she lies down and sleeps, we hear her snoring. Her covering (kapwalela that is, her outward body, her skin) remains in the house, and she herself flies (tttolela biyova). Her skirt remains in the house, she flies naked. When she meets men, she eats us. In the morning, she puts on her body, and lies down in her hut. When we cover her loins with the doba, she cannot fly any more.”
This last sentence refers to the magical act of covering, as expressed in the last part of the spell.
Here we find another variant of belief as to the nature of the mulukwausi, to beadded to those mentioned before. Previously we met the belief of the disassociation of the woman into the part that remains, and the part that flies. But here the real personality is located in the flying part, whereas what remains is the ‘ covering.’ To imagine the mulukwaust, the flying part, as a ‘ sending,’ in the light of this belief, would not be correct. In general, such categories as ‘agent,’ and ‘sending,’ or as
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‘ real self’ and ‘ emanation ’ etc., etc., can be applied to native belief as rough approximations only, and the exact definition ' should be given in terms of native statement.
The final sentence of this spell, containing the wish to remain alone in the sea, to be allowed to swim and drift, is a testimony to the belief that without mulukwaust, there is no danger to a man adrift on a piece of wreckage among the foaming waves of a stormy sea.
After reciting this lengthy spell, the ¢oliwaga, as he tells us in his narrative, has had to perform another rite, this time, over his lime-pot. Taking out the stopper of rolled palm leaf and plaited fibre from the baked and decorated gourd in which he keeps his lime, he utters another spell of the giyorokaywa cycle :
GIYOROKAYWA No. 2 (PWAKA KAyGA’U).
‘““ There on Muruwa, I arise, Istand up! Iwa, Sewatupa, at the head—I rumble, I disperse. Kasabwaybwayreta, Namedili, Toburitolu, Tobwebweso, Tauva’u, Bo’abwa’u, Rasarasa. They are lost, they disappear.”
This beginning, full of archaic expressions, implicit meanings and allusions and personal names, is very obscure. The first words refer probably to the head-quarters of sorcery ; Muruwa (or Murua—Woodlark Island), Iwa, Sewatupa. The long list of personal names following afterwards contains some mythical ones, like Kasabway- bwayreta, and some others, which I cannot explain, though the words Tobwebweso, Tauva’u, and Bo’abwa’u suggest that this is a list in which some sorcerers’ names figure. As a rule, in such spells, a list of names signifies that all those who have used and handed down this formula, are enumerated. In some cases the people mentioned are frankly mythical heroes. Sometimesa few mythical names are chanted, and then comes a string of actual people, forming a sort of pedigree of the spell. If these in this spell are ancestor names they all refer to mythical personalities, and not to real ancestors.* The last words contained an expression typical of the kayga’u. Then comes the middle part.
* Not all the spells which I have obtained have been equally well trans- {ated and commented upon. This one, although very valuable, for it is one of the spells of the old chief Maniyuwa, and one which bad been recited when his corpse was brought over from Dobu by his son Maradiana, was obtained early in my ethnographic career, and Gomaya, Maradiana’s son, from whom I gotit, is a bad commentator. Nor could I find any other competent informant later on, who could completely elucidate it for me.
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“T arise, I escape from bara’u ; I arise, I escape from yoyova. I arise, I escape from mulukwaust. I arise, I escape from bowo’u, etc.,’’ repeating the leading words “T arise, I escape from—- ’’ with the words used to describe the flying witches in the various surrounding districts. Thus the word bava’u comes from Muyuwa (Woodlark Island), where it describes the sorceress, and not, as in other Massim districts, a male sorcerer. The words yoyova, mulukwausi need no explanation. Bowo’u is an Amphlettan word. Words from Dobu, Tubetube, etc., follow. Then the whole period is repeated, adding ‘ eyes of ’ in the middle of each phrase, so that it runs:
“T arise, I escape from the eyes of the bara’u. JI arise, I escape from the eyes of the yoyova, etc.” The leading words, ‘I arise, I escape from’ are then replaced by~- ‘They wander astray,’ which, again, make way to ‘ the sea is cleared off’ This whole middle part of the spell is clear, and needs no commentary. Then comes the concluding period (dogina) :
“Tam a manudert (small bird), I am a kidtkidi (small sea bird), I am a floating log, 1 am a piece of sea-weed ; I shall produce mist till it encloses all, I shall befog, I shall shut off with fog. Mist, enveloped in mist, dissolv- ing in mist am I]. Clear is the sea, (the mulukwaus: are) straying in mist.’”” This part also needs no special com- mentary.
This is again a long spell of the gzyorokaywa type, that is, directed against the mulukwaust, ‘and in this the spell is consis- tent, for the mulukwausi alone are invoked in the middle period.
After the spell has been chanted into the lime pot, this is well stoppered, and not opened till the end of the journey. It must be noted that these two giyorokaywa spells have been spoken by our toliwaga in the village or on Muwa beach, and in day time. For, as said above, it is a taboo to utter them in the nightsor at sea. From the moment he has spoken these two spells, both medicated substances, the ginger root and the lime in the lime pot, remain near him. He has also in the canoe some stones of those brought from the Koya, and called binabina, in distinction to the dead coral, which is called dakuna. Over these stones, at the moment of the occurrence of danger, a spell of the Underneath, a giyotanawa will be recited. The following is a formula of this type, short as they always are.
254 SHIPWRECK
GIYOTANAWA No. 1 (DAKUNA KayGA’v).
“Man, bachelor, woman, young girl; woman, young girl, man, bachelor ! Traces, traces obliterated by cob- webs ; traces, obliterated by turning up (the material in which they were left) ; I press, I close down! Sharks of Dukutabuya, I press, I close down ; Sharks of Kaduwaga, I press, I close down,”’ etc., the sharks of Muwa, Galeya, Bonari, and Kaulokoki being invoked in turn. All these words are names of marked parts of the sea, in and around the Trobriand Lagoon. The formula ends up with the following peroration: ‘‘ I press down thy neck, I open up thy passage of Kiyawa, I kick thee down, O shark. Duck down under water, shark. Die, shark, die away.”
The commentary to the opening sentences given by my informant, Molilakwa of Oburaku, was :
“ This magic is taught to people when they are quite young. Hence the mention of young people.”
The obliterating of traces will be made clearer by the account which follows, in which we shall see that to obliterate traces, to put off the scent the shark and mulukwausi are the main concerns of the shipwrecked party. The middle part refers to sharks only, and so does the peroration. The passage of Kiyawa near Tuma is mentioned in several types of magical exorcisms, when the évil influence is being banished. This passage lies between the main island and the island of Tuma, and leads into the unknown regions of the North-Western seas.
It will be best to quote here another formula of the giyotanawa type, and a very dramatic one. For this is the formula spoken at the critical moment of shipwreck. At the: moment when the sailors decide to abandon the craft and to: plunge into the sea, the toliwaga stands up in the canoe, and! slowly turning round so as to throw his words towards all four: winds, intones in a loud voice this spell :
GIYOTANAWA No. 2.
“Foam, foam, breaking wave, wave! I shall enter into: the breaking wave, I shall come out from behind it. I) shall enter from behind into the wave, and I shall come out in its breaking foam ! ”’
“Mist, gathering mist, encircling mist, surround, surround me!”
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““ Mist, gathering mist, encircling mist, surround, surround me, my mast !
Mist, gathering mist, etc. . . . surround me, the nose of my canoe.
Mist, etc. . . . surround me, my sail,
Mist, etc. . . . surround me, my steering oar,
Mist, etc. . . . surround me, my rigging,
Mist, etc. . . . surround me, my platform,”
And so on, enumerating one after the other all the parts of the canoe and its accessories. Then comes the final part of the spell :
*“T shut off the skies with mist ; I make the sea tremble with mist; I close up your mouth, sharks, bonubonu (small worms), ginukwadewo (other worms). Go under- neath and we shall swim on top.”’
Little is needed as a commentary to this magic. Its begin- ning is very clear, and singularly well depicts the situation in which it is uttered. The end refers directly to the primary aim of the magic, to the warding off of the Underneath, of the dangerous animals in the sea. The only ambiguity refers to the middle part, where the magical leading words of ‘ envelop- ing by mist’ are associated with a list of names of the parts of the canoe. I am not certain whether this is to be interpreted, in the sense that the toliwaga wants to surround his whole canoe with mist so that it may not be seen by the sharks, etc., or whether, on the contrary, just on the verge of abandoning his canoe, and anxious to cut himself off from its various parts which may turn on him and ‘eat him,’ he therefore wants to surround each of them with mist so that it may be blinded. The latter interpretation fits the above-quoted belief that certain parts of the canoe, especially the carved human figures on the prowboard and the mast, the ribs of the canoe, and certain other parts of its construction, ‘ eat’ the shipwrecked men. But again, in this spell, there are enumerated not certain parts, but every part, and that undoubtedly is not consistent with this belief, so the question must remain open.
IV
I have anticipated some of the events of the consecutive narrative of shipwreck, in order to give the two last mentioned magical formule first, and not to have to interrupt the tale of
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our toliwaga, to which we now return. We left it at the point where, having said his first two kayga’u formule over the ginger and into the lime pot, he embarks, keeping these two things handy, and putting some binabina stones within his reach. From here, his narrative becomes more dramatic. He de- scribes the approaching storm:
NARRATIVE OF SHIPWRECK AND SALVAGE.
‘“‘ The canoe sails fast ; the wind rises ; big waves come ; the wind booms, du-du-du-du. . . The sails flutter ;. the /amina (outrigger) rises high! All the usagelu crouch on the Jamina. I speak magic tocalm the wind. The big spell of the Sim-sim. They know all about yavata (North- Westerley Monsoon wind). They live in the eye of the - yavata. The wind abates not, not a little bit. It booms, it gains strength, it booms loud du-du-du-du-du. All the usagelu are afraid. The mulukwausi scream, u-t, u-t, - u-u, u; their voices are heard in the wind. With the wind they scream and come flying. The veva (sheet rope) is torn from the hands of the tokabinaveva. The sail flutters freely in the wind; it is torn away. It flies far into the sea; it falls on the waters. The waves break over the canoe. Istand up. I take the binabina stones ; I recite the kayga’u over them, the giyotanawa, the spell of the Underneath. The short spell, the very strong spell. I throw the stones into the deep. They weigh down the sharks, the vineylida ; they close the Gaping Depth. The fish cannot see us. I stand up, I take my lime pot; I break it. The lime I throw into the wind. It wraps us up in mist. Such a mist that no one can see us. The mulukwaust lose sight of us. We hear them shout near by. They shout u-d, u-f, u-a, u. The sharks, the bonubonu, the soka do not see us; the water is turbid.. The canoe is swamped, the water is in it. It drifts heavily, the waves break over us. We break the vatotuwa, (the sticks joining the float to the platform). The lamina (outrigger float) is severed ; we jump from the waga ; we catch hold of the lamina. On the lamina we drift. I utter the great Kaytaria spell; the big fish travtyaka comes. It lifts us. It takes the lamina on its back, and carries us. We drift, we drift, we drift.”
‘““ We approach a shore ; the trvaviyaka brings us there, the tvaviyaka puts us on the shallows. I take a stout pole, I lift it off; I speak a spell. The tvaviyaka turns back to the deep sea.”
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“We are all on the dayaga (fringing reef). We stand in water. The water is cold, we all shiver with cold. We do not goashore. Weare afraid of the mulukwaust. They follow us ashore. They wait for us ashore. I take a dakuna (piece of coral stone), I say a spell over it. I throw the stone on the beach; it makes a big thud; good; the mulukwausi are not there. We go ashore. Another time, I throw a stone, we hear nothing: muluk- waust are on the beach; they catch it; we hear nothing. We remain on the dayaga. I take some leyya (ginger). I spit it at the beach. I throw another stone. The mulukwaust do not.seeit. It falls down; wehearit. We go ashore; wesitonthesandinarow. Wesitin one row, one man near another, as on the /amina (in the same order as they drifted on the lamina). I make a charm over the comb ; all the usagelu comb their hair; they tease their hair a long time. They are very cold; we do not make the fire. First, I put order on the beach ; I take the piece of leyya, I spit it over the beach. One time, when the leyya is finished, I take some kasita leaves (the beach is always full of these). I put them on the shore, I put a stone on them, uttering a spell—afterwards, we make fire. All sit round and warm themselves at the fire.”
“At day time, we don’t go to the village ; the muluk- waust would follow us. After dark, we go. Like on the lamina, we march in the same order, one after the other. I go last; I chant a spell over a libu plant. I efface our traces. I put the bu on our track; I put the weeds together. I make the path confused. I say a charm to the spider, that he might make a cobweb. I say a charm to the bush-hen, that she might turn up the soil.”
“We go to the village. We enter the village, we pass the main place. No one sees us; we are in mist, we are invisible. We enter the house of my veyola (maternal kinsman), he medicates some leyya ; he spits (magically) on all of us. The mulukwausi smell us; they smell the salt water on ourskins. They come to the house, the house trembles. A big wind shakes the house, we hear big thuds against the house. The owner of the house medicates the leyya and spits over us; they cannot see us. A big fire is made in the house; plenty of smoke fills the house. The Jeyya and the smoke blind their eyes. Five days we sit in smoke, our skin smells of smoke; our hair smells of smoke ; the mulukwausi cannot smellus. ThenI medicate some water and coco-nut, the usagelu wash and annoint themselves. They leave the house, they sit on the
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kaukweda (spot before the house). The owner of the house chases them away. ‘Go, go to your wife;’ we all go, we return to our houses.”
I have given here a reconstruction of a native account, as I have often heard it told with characteristic vividness : spoken in short, jerky sentences, with onamatopoetic representations of sound, the narrative exaggerates certain features, and omits others. The excellency of the narrator’s own magic, the violence of the elements at critical moments, he would always reiterate with monotonous insistence. He would diverge into some correlated subject, jump ahead, missing out several stages, come back, and so on, so that the whole is quite incoherent and unintelligible to a white listener, though © the native audience follows its trend perfectly well. For it must be remembered that, when a native tells such a story, the events are already known to his listeners, who have grown up gradually becoming familiar with the narrow range of their tribal folklore. Our toliwaga, telling this story over again on the sandbank of Yakum, would dwell on such points as allowed him to boast of his kayga’u, to describe the violence of the storm, to bear witness to the traditional effects of the magic.
It is necessary for an Ethnographer to listen several times to such a narrative, in order to have a fair chance of forming some coherent idea of its trend. Afterwards, by means of direct examination, he can succeed in placing the facts in their proper sequence. By questioning the informants about details of rite and magic, it is possible then to obtain interpretations and commentaries. Thus the whole of a narrative can be con- structed, the various fragments, with all their spontaneous freshness, can be put in their proper places, and thisis what I have done in giving this account of shipwreck.*
A few words of comment must now be given on the text of the above narrative. In it, a number of magical rites were mentioned, besides those which were described first with their spells. Something must be said more in detail about the spells of the subsequent magical performances. There are some eleven of them. First comes the ritual invocation of the fish
* Such reconstructions are legitimate for an Ethnographer, as well as for a historian. But itis a duty of the former as well as of the latter to show his sources as well as to explain how he has manipulated them. In one of the next chapters, Chapter XVIII, Divisions XIV-XVII, a sample of this method- ological aspect of the work will be given, although the full elaboration of sources and methods must be postponed to another publication,
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which helps the shipwrecked sailors. The spell corresponding to this, is called kaytaria, and it is an important formula, which every toliwaga is supposed to know. The question arises, has this rite ever been practised in reality ? Some of the actions taken by the shipwrecked natives, such as the cutting ot the the outrigger float when the boat is abandoned, are quite rational. It would be dangerous to float on the big, unwieldy canoe which might be constantly turned round and round by the waves, and if smashed to pieces, might injure the sailors with its wreckage. In this fact, perhaps there is also the empirical basis for the belief that some fragments of the canoe ‘eat’ the shipwrecked men. The round, symmetrical log of the lamina, on the other hand, will serve as an excellent lifebuoy. Perhaps a toliwaga, arrived at such a pass, would really utter the kaytaria spell. And if the party were saved, they would probably all declare, and, no doubt believe, that the fish had come to their summons, and somehow or other helped in the rescue.
It is less easy to imagine what elements in such an experi- ence might have given rise to the myth that the natives, landed on the shore, magically lift the fish from the shallow waters by means of a charmed pole. This indeed seems a purely imaginary incident, and my main informant, Molilakwa of Oburaku, from whom I obtained the kaytaria spell, did not know the spell of the pole, and would have had to leave the traviaka to its own fate in the shallows. Nor could I hear of anyone else professing to know this spell. The formula uttered over the stone to be thrown on the beach was equally unknown to the circle of my informants. Of course, in all such cases, when a man carrying on a system of magic would come to a gap in his knowledge, he would perform the rite without the spell, or utter the most suitable spell of the system. Thus here, as the stone is thrown in order to reconnoitre whether the mulukwaust are waiting for them, a spell of the giyorokaywa, the spell of the mulukwausi, might be uttered over the stone. Over the combs, as well as over the herbs on the beach, a gtyorokaywa spell would be uttered, according to my informants, but probably, a different spell from the one spoken originally over the ginger root. Molilakwa, for instance, knows two spells of the gzyoro- kaywa, both of which are suitable to be spoken over the ginger and over the beach respectively. Then there comes another
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spell, to be uttered over the /1bu plant, and in addressing the spider and the bush-hen. Molilakwa told me that the same spell would be said in the three cases, but neither he, nor anyone else, among my informants could give me this spell. The magic done in the village, while the shipwrecked men remained in the smoky hut, would be all accompanied by the leyya (ginger) spells.
One incident in the above narrative might have struck the reader as contradictory of the general theory of the mulukwaust belief, that, namely, where the narrator declares that the party on the beach have to wait till nightfall before they enter the village. The general belief expressed in all the mulukwaust
legends, as well as in the taboos of the kayga’u, is that the .
witches are really dangerous only at night, when they can see and hear better. Such contradictions, as I have said, are
often met in native belief, and in this, by the way, the savages .
do not differ from ourselves. My informant, from whom I had this version, simply said that such was the rule and the custom, and that they had to wait till night. In another account, on
the other hand, I was told that the party must proceed to the —
village immediately after having performed the several rites on the beach, whether night or day.
There also arises the main question, regarding this narrative, to which allusion has been made already, namely, how far does it represent the normal behaviour in shipwreck, and how far
is it a sort of standardised myth? There is no doubt that
shipwreck in these seas, surrounded in many parts by islands, is not unlikely to end by the party’s being saved. This again would result in some such explanation as that contained in our narra- tive. Naturally, I tried to record all the actual cases of ship- wreck within the natives’ memory. Some two generations ago, one of the chiefs of Omarakana, named Numakala, perished at sea, and with him all his crew. A canoe of another Eastern Trobriand village, Tilakaywa, was blown far North, and stranded in Kokopawa, from where it was sailed back by its crew, when the wind turned to the North-West. Although this canoe was not actually shipwrecked, its salvation is credited to kayga’u magic, and to the kind fish, trvavtyaka. A very intelligent informant of mine explained this point of view in answer to some of my cavillings: ‘If this canoe had been wrecked, it would have been saved also.”
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A party from Muyuwa (Woodlark Island) were saved on the shore of Boyowa. In the South of the Island, several cases are on record where canoes were wrecked and saved in the d’Entrecasteaux Islands or in the Amphletts. Once the whole crew were eaten by cannibals, getting ashore in a hostile district of Fergusson Island, and one man only escaped, and ran along the shore, south-eastwards towards Dobu. Thus there is a certain amount of historical evidence for the saving power of the magic, and the mixture of fanciful and real elements makes our story a good example of what could be called standardised or universalised myth—that is, a myth referring not to one historical event but to a type of occurrence, happening universally.
V
Let us now give the text of the remaining spells which belong to the above narrative, but have not been adduced there, so as not to spoilits flow. First of all there is the kaytarta spell, that which the toliwaga, drifting alongside his crew on the detached canoe float, intones in a loud, slow voice, in order to attract the tvaviyaka.
KAYTARIA SPELL.
“T lie, I shall lie down in my house, a big house. I shall sharpen my ear, I shall hear the roaring of the sea— it foams up, it makes a noise. At the bottom of Kausubiyai, come, lift me, take me, bring me to the top of Nabonabwana beach.”
Then comes a sentence with mythological allusions which I could not succeed in translating. After that follows the main part of the spell :
“The suyusayu fish shall lift me up; my child, the suyusayu shall lift me up ; my child’s things, the swyusayu shall lift me up; my basket, etc. ; my lime pot, etc. ; my lime spoon, etc.; my house, etc. ;’’ repeating the words “ the suyusayu fish shall lift me up ”’ with various expres- sions describing the toliwaga’s equipment as well as his child, presumably a member of the shipwrecked crew.
There is no end part to this spell, as it was given to me; only the beginning is repeated after the main part. It is not impossible that Molilakwa himself, my informant, did not
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know the spell to the end. Such magic, once learnt by a native, never used, and recited perhaps once a year during a mortuary ceremony, or occasionally, in order to show off, is easily for- gotten. There is a marked difference between the vacillating and uncertain way in which such spells are produced by infor- mants, and the wonderful precision and the easy flow with which, for example, the spells, year after year performed in public, will trip off the tongue of the garden magician.
I cannot give a correct commentary to the mythological names Kausubiyai and Nabonabwana, in the first part of the spell. What this part means, whether the reclining individual who hears the noises of the sea is the magician, or whether it represents the sensations of the fish who hears the calling for help, I could not make out. The meaning of the middle part is plain, however. Suwyusayu is another name for iraviyaka, indeed, its magical name used only in spells, and not when speaking of it in ordinary conversations.
The other formula to be given here is the other giyorokaywa spell, which would be used in spitting the ginger on the beach after rescue, and also in medicating the herbs, which will be put on the beach and beaten with a stone. This spell is associated with the myth of the origin of kayga’u, which must be related here, to make the formula clear.
Near the beginning of time, there lived in Kwayawata, one of the Marshall Bennetts, a family strange to our ideas of family life, but quite natural in the world of Kiriwinian mythology. It consisted of a man, Kalaytaytu, his sister, Isenadoga, and the youngest brother, a dog, Tokulubweydoga. Like other mytho- logical personages, their names suggest that originally they must have conveyed some sort of description. Doga means the curved, almost circular, boar’s tusk used as ornament. The name of the canine member of the family might mean some- thing like Man-with-circular-tusks-in-his-head, and his sister’s name, Woman-ornamented-with-doga. The eldest brother has in his name the word ¢aytu, which signifies the staple food. (small yams) of natives, and a verb, kalay, signifying ‘ to put on ornaments.’ Not much profit, however, can be deduced from this etymology, as far as I can see, for the interpretation of this myth. I shall quote in a literal translation the short version of this myth, as I obtained it first, when the information was volunteered to me by Molilakwa in Oburaku.
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MyTH OF TOKULUBWAYDOGA.
“ They live in Kwayawata; one day Kalaytayta goes to fish, gets into a small canoe (kewo’u). Behind him swims the dog. He comes to Digumenu. They fish with the older brother. They catch fish! The elder brother paddles ; that one again goes behind; goes, returns to Kwayawata. They died ; came Modokei, he learned the kayga’u, the inside of Tokulubwaydoga. The name of their mother, the mother of Tokulubwaydoga, is Tobunaygu.”’
This little fragment gives a good idea of what the first version is, even of so well fixed a piece of narrative as a myth. It has to be supplemented by inquiries as to the motives of the behaviour of the various personages, as to the relations of one event to the other. Thus, further questions revealed that the ~ elder brother refused to take the dog with him on this fishing expedition. Tokulubwaydoga then determined to go all the same, and swam to Digumenu, following the canoe of his brother. This latter was astonished to see him, but none the less they went to work together. In fishing, the dog was more successful than his brother, and thus aroused his jealousy. The man then refused to take him back. Tokulubwaydoga then jumped into the water, and again swam and arrived safely in Kwayawata. The point of the story lies in the fact that the dog was able to do the swimming, because he knew the kayga’u, otherwise the sharks, mulukwausi, or other evil things would have eaten him. He got it from his mother, the lady Tobunaygu, who could teach him this magic because she was a mulukwausi herself. Another important point about this myth, also quite omitted from the first version volunteered to me, is its sociological aspect. First of all, there is the very interesting incident, unparalleled in Kiriwinian tradition : the mother of the three belonged to the Lukwasisiga clan. It wasa most incongruous thing for a dog, who is the animal of the Lukuba clan, to be born into a Lukwasisiga family. However, there he was, and so he said :
“Good, I shall be a Lukuba, this is my clan.”
Now the incident of the quarrel receives its significance in so far as the dog, the only one to whom the mother gave the kayga’u, did not hand it over to his brother and sister who were
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of the Lukwasisiga clan, and so the magic went down only the dog’s own clan, the Lukuba. It must be assumed (though this was not known to my informant) that Madokei, who learnt the magic from the dog, was also a Lukuba man.
Like all mythological mother-ancestresses, Tobunaygu had no husband, nor does this circumstance call forth any surprise or comment on the part of the natives, since the physiological aspect of fatherhood is not known among them, as I have repeatedly observed.
As can be seen, by comparing the original fragment, and the subsequent amplification by inquiries, the volunteered version misses out the most important points. The concatenation of events, the origin of the kayga’u, the important sociological details, have to be dragged out of the informant, or, to put it . more correctly, he has to be made to enlarge on points, to roam over all the subjects covered by the myth, and from his state- ments then, one has to pick out and piece together the other © bits of the puzzle. On the other hand, the names of the people, the unimportant statements of what they did and how they > were occupied are unfailingly given.
Let us adduce now the kayga’u, which is said to be derived from the dog, and ultimately from his mother :
KAYGA’U OF TOKULUBWAYDOGA.
‘“ Tobunaygu (repeated), Manemanaygu (repeated), my mother a snake, myself a snake; myself a snake, my motherasnake. Tokulubwaydoga, Isenadoga, Matagagai, Kalaytaytu ; bulumava’u tabugu Madokei. I shall befog the front, I shall shut off the rear ; I shall befog the rear, I shall shut off the front.”
This exordium contains at first the invocation of thename of the mulukwausi, who was the source of the spell. Its pendant Manemanaygu is, according to my informant, derived from an archaic word nema, equivalent to the present day yama, hand. “ As the right hand is to the left one, so is Tobunaygu to Manemanaygu,” which was expressed as a matter of fact in the less grammatically worded form; “this right hand, this left’ (clapped together) “so Tobunaygu, Manemanaygu.”
Whether this analysis of my informant is correct must remain an open question. It must be remembered that magic is not taken by the natives as an ethnographic
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document, allowing of interpretations and developments, but as an instrument of power. The words are there to act, and not: to teach. Questions as to the meaning of magic, as a rule, puzzled the informants, and therefore it is not easy to explain a formula or obtain a correct com- mentary upon it. All the same there are some natives who obviously have tried to get to the bottom of what the various words in magic represent.
To proceed with our commentary, the phrase ‘‘ My mother a snake, etc.,” was thus explained to me by Molilakwa: ‘“‘ Supposing we strike a snake, already it vanishes, it does not remain ; thus also we human beings, when mulukwaust catch us, we disappear.”’ That is, we disappear after having spoken this magical formula, for in a formula the desired result is always expressed in antici- pation. Molilakwa’s description of a snake’s behaviour is, according to my experience, not sound Natural History, but it probably expresses the underlying idea, namely the elusiveness of the snake, which would naturally be one of the metaphorical figures used in the spell.
The string of words following the invocation of the snake are all mythical names, four of which we found mentioned in the above myth, while the rest remain obscure. The last-named, that of Modokei, is preceded by the words bulumavau tabugu, which means, ‘ recent spirit of my ancestor,’ which words are as a rule used in spells with reference to real grandfathers of the reciters.
The middle part of the spell proceeds :—
““T shall cover the eyes of the witches of Kitava; I shall cover the eyes of the witches of Kumwageya ; I shall cover the eyes of the witches of Iwa; I shall cover the eyes of the witches of Gawa, etc., etc.,’’ enumerating all the villages and islands renowned for their witches. This list is again recited, substituting for the expression ‘‘ I shall cover,’ in succession, “I shall befog,’ and “ dew envelopes.”’ This middle part needs no commentary.
The end of this formula runs as follows:
“‘T shall kick thy body, I shall take thy spirit skirt, I shall cover thy buttocks, I shall take thy mat, a pandanus mat, I shall take thy mantle. I shall strike thee with my foot, go, fly over Tuma, fly away. I myself in the sea- (here the reciter’s name is mentioned), I shall drift away, well.” This last part of the spell is so much-alike to the end of the spell first quoted in this chapter, that no com- mentary is needed.
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The mythological and magical data presented in thi chapter all bear upon the native belief in flying witches an dangers at sea, a belief in which elements of reality are strangel: blended with traditionally fixed fancies, in a way, however, no uncommon to human belief in general. It is time now ti return to our party on the beach at Yakum, who, after havin spent the night there, next morning rig up their masts, and witl a favourable wind, soon reach the waters of Gumasila ani Domdom.