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

MAGIC 695
also ; the ghost provides the power or efficacy, but the actual
rite is magical in character. The net result of this is to show the
impossibility of translating nimbatin nvwn by any one English term.
He is a kind of priestqnagician connected with the sacred place
of his clan." 1
The knowledge of private magic on the other hand, whether
mwelnggil or ninwsian, may be possessed by any one and may be
sold and resold at high prices. Generally Speaking only the
sons, and particularly the eldest son, of a sorcerer will receive
instruction from their father without making payment for it.
A younger brother or even a sister's son could claim no such
privilege, and would have to give the necessary number of pigs
in return, like any other man. This is true of Seniang and Lam-
bumbu alike. In the latter district sorcerers (nimbatin mlai mflh)
were, formerly, restricted to the class of chiefs, hilt to-day this
distinction docs not appear to be observed. _
The clairvoyant, who has been mentioned in connection with
diagnosing disease, is a very diflerent person from either the
nimbalin '/mwar or the private practitioner. In Seniang, such
a man is called nawan mwilmwil or mzwan malis. His activities
in discovering the cause of an illness have already been described.
This is, however, only one way in which he manifests his powers.
He will also tell whether the magic that u certain man is
peforming will be successful or whether it will be countered by
some more potent adverse magic; whether the fears of a man
who suspects that death-magic is being worked against him are
justified or baseless. Not infrequently a clairvoyant will get a
vision without specially seeking for it. Thus, on one occasion,
the men of Benaur made an expedition to Lambumbu i.n order
to buy the ï¬Ållet natal muluwun which is necessary for the rites of
a high Nimangki rank which were shortly to be celebrated.
Amongst the party there was a man who was a nail/a'n mwihnwil.
When the canoe reached Banggor it was dark, and while some of
the men went ashore, others, including this clairvoyant, stayed
‘ Willa reference to this same subject, Deacon writes : " I have been much
is-“eh by the similarity of the ‘organization' oi the clan magic in the island
0fYap w that at Malekula. (Frazer, Bela/in Immovlalily, vol. pp. I76 ct seq.)
Note that here it also SQBHIS uncertain whether the eï¬Åecte are pl'0d!CH‘l by prayers
Of oflerings to the spirits of the stones, or by magical practices (v. op. cit.,
pp, 179480). Note that clan and totem are said to descend in the maternal
line in Yap, while descent of magicianship is apparently patrilineal. r do not
qiiim see how one Squufci these two statementsi each ma-gicianship is connected
with fl sacred grove and each sacred grove with H. spirit which ‘presides ' over
a certain clan, as Flam seems to say."
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