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

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MAGIC 681
bamboo with its contents are then laid by in the men's club-house
and the man waits his opportunity for poisoning his victim.
When the latter is sitting in the clubahouse, eating, drinking, or
smoking, the sorcerer takes the mid-rib of the leaflet of arcoco-nut
frond which vhe has prepared beforehand, dips it into the
concoction in the bamboo, and allows some of the poisonous
drops to fall unobserved into his enemy’s food, drink, or pipe.
After this the unfortunate victim falls sick of what seems to be
dysentry, and after a short while he will die suddenly. In using
this magic care must oi course be taken that the food or drink
are not consumed by any but the man for whom the poison is
intended. One man having prepared a biscuit in this way for
his enemy, accidentally ate it himself, and so died by mistake.
The counter-~magic for this nevdgdn is to gather the flowers of
a' variety of hibiscus which has very large blossoms (mial songgoul
netï¬Åmlww), squeeze them into water and give this mixture to the
patient to drink. It is by no means clear whether the poison
used in this form of naai mih is " real " or “ magidafi The
natives themselves do not recognize any distinction, but from the
way in which the brew is prepared it seems very probable that
it would have at least an unpleasant effect upon a white man,
sceptical as to the powers of magic, as well as upon a native
believer.
The magic for protecting private property, knovim as itu
nambar wus mes in Seniang, by means of which a thief is rendered
impotent, is not recorded from Lambumbu, but here there are
two ways of bringing about the same result, which are employed
by a man if he wishes to commit adultery with the wife of another.
The most elaborate of these is called “ revi mbiangan, vevi mmsn
imah! " The lover digs a hole or tunnel underground until he
comes to the root of a certain variety of young creeper called
naau nggelat, which is standing up stark and erect. Then he kindles
a ï¬Åre of the wood known as noghor ambis, heats some round black
stories in this and places them against the root of the creeper.
This makes the plant droop, and in the same way the penis of
the woman's husband will also droop so that he does not desire
to have intercourse with his wife} The other method works on
‘ The iollowing is perhaps the spell which accompanies this rite : " Rrighlila
nuusfl it nesï¬Åli in‘, bsmuhl mbewsr mbav sag/um Imavï¬Ån nousin be sambelzwsi
navat mu-nur an bemahl "-—C. H. W.
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