[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
FIT
ll
. I 1
MAGIC 691
who is also Standing up, and, beginning from below, he rubs the
coc0~nut round his body in ascending spirals until he reaches his
head, and then down again in like manner. The coco-nut is
now opened the leaves unfolded and scanned carefully. In them
is supposed to lie the “ poison â€ù which had entered the patient.
On the occasion when Deacon was present at this rite a small
patch of grey powder, very much like gunpowder, was found,
and after examining it scrupulously the doctor announced that
it was a new kind of “ poison â€ù which he had never seen before.
It would seem from this account that this ceremony was not only
divinatory, but also curative, for it is said that the " poison " in
the leaves was that which the doctor had removed from the
patient’s body. The point is not quite clear, but in I/ambumbu
there is a rite called riavils which is vcry similar and which is
used only for discovering the cause of the disease. The doctor
takes a coco-nut, makes a small hole in the top, and thrusts into
it nesour and m't¢'tu-ng leaves, ï¬Ånely chopped up. A stone is now
heated and also put inside, together with some other leaf, of the
nature of which the informant was ignorant, As in the Seniang
rite, the doctor then faces the patient, but in this instance begins
to rub the body with the coco-nut in circles beginning at his
head, working down to the fcet, and then up to the head again,
the circles on the upward journey moving in the opposite dircction
to those on the downward. The coco»nut is then set aside for an
hour or so, after which its contents are examined. Inside is
found the fragment of hair, food, or excrement which was used
by the sorcerer as a medium for working his magic. By this
means the nature of the magic is discovered and consequently
the particular variety of counter-magic necessary to effect a cure.
It is important to notice here that although this fragment is
found in the coco-nut, and although it is “ real ", not u shadow
or double of it, yet at the same time this same fragment is still
in the Erythrina tree, ants’ nest, or other place where the sorcerer
put it, and the doctor must needs discover by a charm, in which
he mentions all the possible places where it might be, the spot
where tlic "poisoned " fragment actually is to be found. This
duplication the informant could not explain, but he was quite
clear as to its actuality. Another Lambumbu rite of diagnosis
presents the same difficulty. This rite is called rasuvwan. The
doctor takes a'm'siv1mg leaf and a nimumwmgk leaf, chops them
4,
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