  “Mwanita, Mwanita! Come there together; I will make you come there together! Come here together; I will make you come here together! The rainbow appears there; I will make the rainbow appear there! The rainbow appears here; I will make the rainbow here.” “Who comes ahead with the Kula? I” (here the name of the reciter is uttered), “come ahead with the Kula, I shall be the only chief; I shall be the only old man; I shall be the only one to meet my partner on the road. My renown stands alone; my name is the only one. Beautiful valuables are exchanged here with my partner; Beautiful valuables are exchanged there with my partner; The contents of my partner’s basket are mustered.” After this exordium there comes a middle part, constructed on the general principle of one word’s being repeated with a series of others. The keyword here is an expression denoting the state of excitement which seizes a partner, and makes him give generous Kula offerings. This word here is repeated first with a series of words, describing the various personal belongings of the partner, his dog, his belt; his tabooed coco-nut and betel-nut; and then, with a new series of terms denoting the different classes of Kula valuables which are expected to be given. This part could therefore be translated thus:— “A state of excitement seizes his dog, his belt, his gwara” (taboo on coco-nuts and betel-nuts) “his bagido’u The first word of this spell, mwanita, is the native name for a long worm covered with rings of black armour. I was told that it is mentioned here because of its similarity to the spondylus shell necklaces, which also consist of many rings. I obtained this formula in Sinaketa, hence this interpretation heeds only the necklaces, though the simile might also obviously be extended to armshells, for a number of armshells threaded on a string, as they can be seen on Plate LX, presents also a likeness to the mwanita worm. It may be added here that Sinaketa is one of these Kula communities in which the overseas expeditions are done only in one direction, to the South, from where only the spondylus necklaces are fetched. Its counterpart, Kiriwina, to the North, carries on again only one-sided overseas Kula. The formulÆ which I obtained in Kiriwina differ from those of Sinaketa in their main parts: whenever there is a list of spondylus necklaces in a Sinaketan tapwana (main part) a list of the several varieties of armshells would be used in a Kiriwinian tapwana. In Kitava, where, as in several other Kula communities, the overseas expeditions are carried out in both directions, the same formula would be used by the same man with two different main parts, according as to whether he was sailing East to fetch mwali, or West to fetch soulava. No changes, however, would be made in the beginning of a spell. The sentence ‘come here together’ refers to the collected valuables. The play on ‘there’ and ‘here,’ represented in the native language by the sounds ‘m’ and ‘w,’ which are used as interchangeable formatives, is very frequent in magic; (see Chapter XVIII, Division XII). The rainbow here invoked is a kariyala (magical portent) of this formula. When the conch shell is blown, and the fleet approaches the shore, a rainbow will appear in the skies. The rest of the exordium is taken up by the usual boasts and exaggerations typical of magic. The middle part needs no IIAfter the beauty magic and the spell over the conch shell are finished—and the whole performance does not take more than half an hour or so—every man, in full festive array, takes his place in his canoe. The sails have been folded and the masts removed, and the final stage is done by paddling. The canoes close in, not in any very regular formation, but keeping near to one another, the canoe of the toli’uvalaku as a rule moving in the van. In each canoe, the toliwaga sits at his proper place in the middle of the canoe near the gebobo (special erection made for cargo). One man sits in the front, right against the prow-board, and another at the stern on the platform. All the remaining members of the canoe wield the paddles, while the small boy or the junior member of the crew, sits near the front, ready to blow the conch shell. The oarsmen swing their leaf-shaped paddles with long, energetic and swift strokes, letting the water spray off them and the glistening blades flash in the sunlight—a ceremonial stroke which they call kavikavila (lightening). As the canoes begin to move, the three men, so far idle, intone a chant, reciting a special magical formula, each a different one. The man in the front, holding his hand on the tabuyo (oval prow-board), recites a spell, called kayikuna tabuyo (the swaying of the prow-board). The toliwaga in the middle recites the powerful formula called kavalikuliku (the earthquake spell), a formula which makes “the mountain tremble and subside.” The man at the stern recites what is called kaytavilena moynawaga, a name which I cannot very well explain, which literally means, “the changing of the canoe entrance.” Thus, laden with magical force, which is poured forth irresistibly on to the mountain, the canoes advance towards the goal of their enterprise. With the voices of the reciters mingle the soft, penetrating sounds of the conch shell, blending their various pitches into a weird, disturbing harmony. Samples of the three spells must be given here. |
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