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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 consecutive manner. „I befog ...! I befog, I 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 Vakuta...” etc., etc.

„I befog, lead astray, the eyes of the witches; I befog, lead astray the eyes of the little crab!...” etc.

„I 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 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.

„I hit thy flanks; I fold over thy mat, thy bleached mat of pandanus; I shall make it into thy 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 mulukwausi. 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 commentary to this last part:

„The yoyova casts off her body (inini 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 (titolela 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 be added 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 mulukwausi, 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 „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 mulukwausi, 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 toliwaga, 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, I stand 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 Kasabwaybwayreta, 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. Sometimes a 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 ancestors79. The last words contained an expression typical of the kayga’u. Then comes the middle part.

„I arise, I escape from bara’u; I arise, I escape from yoyova. I arise, I escape from mulukwausi. I arise, I escape from bowo’u” etc., repeating the leading words „I arise, I escape from” with the words used to describe the flying witches in the various surrounding districts. Thus the word bara’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:

„I arise, I escape from the eyes of the bara’u. I 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):

„I am a manuderi (small bird), I am a kidikidi (small sea bird), I am a floating log, I 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, dissolving in mist am I. Clear is the sea, (the mulukwausi are) straying in mist”. This part also needs no special commentary.

This is again a long spell of the giyorokaywa type, that is, directed against the mulukwausi, and in this the spell is consistent, 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 night or 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.

Glyotanawa no. I (dakuna kayga’u)

„Man, bachelor, woman, young girl; woman, young girl, man, bachelor! Traces, traces obliterated by cobwebs; 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 evil 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:

Glyotanawa 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!”

„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:

„I 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 underneath and we shall swim on top”.

Little is needed as a commentary to this magic. Its beginning 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

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