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

< ‘"1 *1
672 MALEKULA -
It is practised by both married and unmarried men, and though
it is perhaps usually the unmarried girls who receive these
attentions, young matrons are by no means ignored. More risk
attends their seduction but also more glory. As has already
been mentioned, a man is rather proud of the number of his
conquests, and an intrigue with someone else’s wife, particularly
if she be a mother, is a matter which brings a man a good deal
of prestige among his fellows.
One method of charming a woman, which is much used at
dances by the men of Seniang, is called nimbwi tartar (in Laus
nimbai tartar). The man takes a piece of that kind of wood which
bears this name, and covers it with nisivung leaves so that it
glitters. Then he places it in the fowl’s feather which he wears
in his hair as part of his festal array. When he sees the girl
whom he desires, he lowers his head in such a way that the sun's
rays are reflected from the glittering object and fall upon her.
When this has happened it is believed that the woman cannot
resist, but must needs reciprocate the man's passion. Another
method, called mbat mtm, which can only be used by the men
of Batnetamp however, is to go to a certain stone near this village
and spit on it, after which a man can go to the woman whom he
wants in the conï¬Ådent expectation that she will not reject his
advances. The people of Looremew also have special means
whereby they may gain a woman's favours. There is a stone
lying near the stream which flows through Wikise (Wei Lamp)
which is inhabited by a spirit who was never a man and who
possesses the power of appearing in the form oi a cock or a snake.
If a man of Looremew wants a woman he pum nisivwng leaves
and roasted nikakal tubers on this stone and thereby gains
his desire. Ii a man of any other village were to do this, the
spirit in the stone would turn into a snake and bite and kill
him. There are two other stones which can be used for love-magic
and to which any man can resort. One of these is a monolith
near Ndawu village, which, owing to its shape, is called "The
Vulva". The other is the famous stone which stands near
Inrnoran in Tomman Island, known as “ The Penis of the Amlmt ".
Both are treated in the same way. A man goes to the stone,
mbs it with nisivung leaves, and says the name oi the woman
whom he desires. He then lays theleaves on the stone and goes
away in the assurance that she will come to him. Q .
YI
‘l
1