  “Man, bachelor, woman, young girl; woman, young girl, man, bachelor! Traces, traces obliterated by cobwebs; traces, obliterated by turning up (the material in which they were left); I press, I close down! Sharks of Dukutabuya, I press, I close down; Sharks of Kaduwaga, I press, I close down,” etc., the sharks of Muwa, Galeya, Bonari, and Kaulokoki being invoked in turn. All these words are names of marked parts of the sea, in and around the Trobriand Lagoon. The formula ends up with the following peroration: “I press down thy neck, I open up thy passage of Kiyawa, I kick thee down, O shark. Duck down under water, shark. Die, shark, die away.” The commentary to the opening sentences given by my informant, Molilakwa of Oburaku, was:
The obliterating of traces will be made clearer by the account which follows, in which we shall see that to obliterate traces, to put off the scent the shark and mulukwausi are the main concerns of the shipwrecked party. The middle part refers to sharks only, and so does the peroration. The passage of Kiyawa near Tuma is mentioned in several types of magical exorcisms, when the evil influence is being banished. This passage lies between the main island and the island of Tuma, and leads into the unknown regions of the North-Western seas. It will be best to quote here another formula of the giyotanawa type, and a very dramatic one. For this is the formula spoken at the critical moment of shipwreck. At the moment when the sailors decide to abandon the craft and to plunge into the sea, the toliwaga stands up in the canoe, and slowly turning round so as to throw his words towards all four winds, intones in a loud voice this spell: |
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