[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

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' CHAPTER XXIII
MAGIC
The meaning of the term “ magic " has for long been a source
of dispute among anthropologists, but most commonly it is held
to include that body of ritual activities by means of which the
nativebelieves himself to be able to control nature without the
intervention of any spiritual beings. Such a deï¬Ånition of “ magic "
is not, however, applicable to the rites of the Malekulan natives,
for they class together under a single term a number of ritual
performances, some of which would be included as magical in
accordance with this interpretation of the word but of which
others because they are accompanied by invocations to a temes
(ghost) or other spirit would be excluded from it. It will be as
well, therefore, to set aside, any attempt to deï¬Åne magic and to
follow instead the classiï¬Åcation of their rites which the Malekulans
follow. -
The ï¬Årst thing to be appreciated when endeavouring to
understand the magical rites of the Malekulan Islanders is that
for them there are two fundamentally distinct types. The ï¬Årst
of these and, sociologically speaking, probably the more important
is the magic which is the inalienable property of a clan and is
exercised by one or two special men in that clan. This is the
magic referred to in the chapter on totemism, which is performed
on the occasion of a clan neerew or nogharo. Each clan has the
power and knowledge vested in the clan magician, the nimbatin
nuwor in Seniang, to increase and multiply some food-stuff or
natural phenomenon, and, in a few instances, such things as
war, famine, and drought. Those which control the food-stuffs
celebrate the necessary ritual annually for the beneï¬Åt of the
whole district; those which influence the sun and rain will
increase these whenever the district has special need of them.
The causing of war or famine seems an essentially anti-social
act, and it appears that the nimbatin nowor of the clan which
can create war will use his powers according to his own
discretion. In general, however, it may be said of this clan-magic
that it is deï¬Ånitely localized; that it is directed towards the
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