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

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MAGIC 665
Lamburnbu, one of which was owned by Sesai, who used it on
the above occasion. If either of these is operating for sun, rain-
magic is powerless. Only when both stones are neutral can rain-
magic act.
An interesting example of the difference between public and
private magic may be seen in connection with the control of wind.
In Seniang, the clan whose principal village is Nembiirii, possesses
the magic of raising and calming the wind, and this is performed
by the clan magician. There is, however, also a magic for causing
a hurricane which will destroy a man’s house, gardens, and
coco-nuts. This is privately owned. If it is believed that some
enemy has been practising this hurricane magic, and as a result
"a storm or tornado is feared in the district, the nimbatin nowor
of Nernbiirii, in virtue of his ofï¬Åce, must go to the sacred place
of his clan and perform the wind-calming magic which belongs
to it. This causes a calm to fall over the whole district, thus
averting the local or general storm or hurricane which was
expected as the result of private malevolence. It is only when
one clan is at war with another that the clan-magician will
exercise his powers for harm.
This example illustrates another characteristic of Malekulan
magic 1 that nearly every magical act has also its counter-magic.
Thus, the nimbatin mwor of Nembiirii has the power to raise
wind and to still it ; similarly the clan magician of Uraau can
cause famine and conversely cause people's bellies to feel full.
Those clans which have the power to increase yams, pigs, ï¬Åsh,
and other food-stuffs do not, it is true, have equally a power to
cause a dearth of these things except by refraining from
celebrating the neerew rites, but this is not surprising since such
c0unter—magic is in no way desirable for the community. It is
strange, however, that such places as Mbwilmbar which can make
war, Mbwilrnet which can cause the pigs to eat up the gardens,
and Looru which, like Uraau, can create a famine, are not stated
to be able also to undo their work. It must be remembered,
nevertheless, that this is not evidence that they do not possess
this power ; the general statement that “ a clan owning a certain
kind of magic always owns the counter-magic where there can
be such " may be strictly true.
In the matter of private magic, at least of the malevolent
kind, there is always a second rite to counter the effects of the
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