[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
,1 _ -. 682 K MALEKULA ' the same principle. A young and stark shoot of wild cane is used to represent the victim's penis. The magician puts a stone across the top of it, and as the shoot grows it is prevented by this stone from rising any further. At this period the victim becomes impotent. All these varieties of magic are still practised and form as it were a common accompaniment to every-day lite. There is also, however, a mysterious kind of magic called nemimmgh which, although it is believed in by the people of Lagalag, cannot from its very nature be more than a belief, for it involves the trans- formation oi a sorcerer into the semblance of awoman, in which shape he has intercourse with the man he wishes to kill and thereby brings about his death. An account of the proceedings has been preserved in the native dialect, and is to be found in Appendix B, but for convenience a free translation is given here. . A sorcerer who knows the magic of nevdnvugh says to another sorcerer: " You come here to me. I want to kill a man." The other, if he wisha to do so, goes to the ï¬Årst sorcerer and says : " What do you want me to do P " The latter replies : “ Stand upside-down beside that tree.â€ù The second sorcerer does so : his feet go uppennost, his hands are on the ground, his buttocks are in the place of his head, and his head is where his buttocks should be. He puts an oyster shell in his mouth to represent the vulva. Then the ï¬Årst sorcerer takes the magical leaf, squeezes it into some water and washes the other. He takes some leaves of the ml-vaml banana, makes them into a mat-skirt, puts it on to the second sorcerer, and says : “ Go and stand up over there.“ He does so and says: " Behold. Am I like that man's wife? " and the other replies: “ Yes you are like her. Now go.“ So off the disguised sorcerer goes and ï¬Ånds the man whom he is to kill. This man believes that it is his wife who is approachingr The sorcerer in disguise lets his skirt slip down and the husband, perceiving this, suggests that they retire into the bush. They do so; lie down and copulate. The oyster shell bites the man's penis and the supposed woman says: “ I’ve caught youl Go now! "’ The man feels bad ; he feels sorry for himself. Now he meets his real wife coming towards him and he says : " Goodness ! Have you only just come here ! I am already undone ! Let's go, I’ve caught a ghost 1 " Then they both go home. The man s P 1 I
