212 ANNALS NEW YOBK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



a string or braid of hemp forming a mere temporary girdle to be 

 replaced when worn or broken, never comes to have the intimate 

 association with the human body that the chain of brass links 

 acquires. That is to say, the sinkali may become an ikut, while a 

 girdle of hemp, or of beaded cloth, may not become an ikut. Siye's 

 child had worn the sinkali for about five years, or from birth. 



The following conclusions may be drawn from the nature of the 

 rite. The child's chain girdle was an ikut, and its sale was under 

 tabu. By a magical device, the child's bracelet of brass links came 

 to be regarded as a substitute for the girdle of brass links, so that 

 the tabu was removed and the child freed from the curse of sickness. 



The general belief that the sinkali-bracelet becomes, after the 

 ceremony, an equivalent to the sinkali-girdle justifies my conclusion 

 that what is actually attempted is the coaxing of the gimokud 

 or spirit of the girdle into a bracelet of similar pattern, so that 

 only the material part of the girdle is sold — the accidents, to 

 borrow once more the same theological term — while the spiritual 

 substance remains in the family to which the girdle has always 

 belonged. The use of the mother's sinkali, in addition to that 

 of the child, possibly serves the purpose of a double substitution 

 ceremony. 



On another occasion, my purchase of a linked brass chain from 

 a young man who wore it round his waist to carry his short knife 

 was achieved only after a magical rite, which consisted in making 

 passes with water upon the brass chain, and on a bracelet of like 

 design worn by the same man. 



If no duplicate sinkali is in the possession of the owner, and a 

 sali' is desired, the sinkali must be cut in two. When Sehavan, 

 bin's daughter, made a trade with me. she divided her brass linked 

 girdle in the middle, after her father hail measured it exactly. 

 One half she sold to me, and the other half she kept, explaining 

 thai the part of the girdle retained by her took the place of the 

 whole sinkali. and kept her from being sick. 



In concluding this section on charms which work by a principle 

 of substitution, it should be stated that several elements in the 

 dative materia nin/ic(/, mentioned under the caption "Disease ami 

 Sealing, : " are of the nature of homeopathic cures, and are really 

 examples df association by resemblance or substitution, such as the 



""See pp. 223- 



