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

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I MAGIC ~ 669
magical means of “ making " yams, consist in burying certain
objects in the garden, the act being accompanied as always
by a spell. Thus, one method is to thrust a yam into a hole,
plug it with nisivung and other leaves, and mutter while doing so :
" Guher mah mmbaai timewun my en tihmtes ar, an tisip ar, m
tiwien ar, guher mah bweleng lenhm eingk.â€ù Another method
involves the use of certain stones which are wrapped in nisivung
leaves and buried i.n the garden with the formula: " Nitamat,
nimbaai galampl Navel nitemes nggau, en Wong we/maâ€ù Some of
these stones are of very peculiar form: they are black, highly
polished and cylindrical, with a curious pointed end ridged with
ooneentric circles (v. Fig. 40). Such stones are handed down
from father to son. Should a man possess no son, then they
will go to somenear kinsman in the male line, for they must
never pass out of the clan. It seems, indeed, that they are more
Pic. 40. A black polished stone used in garden magic to ensure a proliï¬Åc yield
of yams. (After a. drawing by the author.)
than mere objects used in magic ; they are treated with a certain
veneration, and, as is apparent from the use of the word
“ m'temes“ in the formula given above, they are addressed as
" ghosts â€ù.
The cultivation of yarns is the most important food-producing
activity in Malekula, and it is natural, therefore, that magic
should be used extensively in connection with it. Fishing, too,
is important, but there is little reference to magical rites performed
to ensure a good catch. The name of one type of ï¬Åshing magic
in Seniang is mwelnggil seselnggarien, but unfortunately this is
all that has been recorded of it. It is said, too, that if a man
is going out to shoot fish, he takes the feather of a sea-bird
(limbanwi), burns it, and fastens it to the end of his ï¬Åsh arrow.
This ensures that the flight of the arrow shall be unerring, even
these are the same as those mentioned above and that their scent performs the
double function of encouraging the plants to grow and protecting them against
supernatural interference.-C. H. W.