The Kuma employ a special term, komugil tai, for the 
madness caused by the mushrooms. The original mean- 
ing of komugl is ‘ear’, but it can also mean deafness, and 
it also means all kind of madness, either permanent or 
temporary. An imbecile is komugl, the term being ex- 
plained by the fact that though he may not be deaf, he 
acts as though he might be. A person who is crazy is 
also komugls for he does not respond normally to what 
is said to him or in his presence. Komugil tai is a specific 
kind of madness, the one linked with the consumption 
of certain species of mushrooms.’ A man is struck with 
komugl tai when his madness is accompanied by shiver- 
ing. Yet taz by itself does not denote shivering. It is the 
name in Yuwi of the Raggiana, one of the most spectacu- 
lar of the birds of paradise. Miss Reay has raised with 
us the question whether tac might mean the way the 
Raggiana shakes his feathers when he takes part in his 
courtship dance, when he ‘displays’. Her suggestion is 
promis ng, and in fact it could hold the key to the prob- 
lem of the pretended madness caused by the mushrooms. 
Miss Reay gives examples of old women who developed 
madness, but not the madness caused by mushrooms; 
they were considered komugl but never komugi tai. 
In fact it is only the men who are afflicted with homugl 
tai through the power of the mushrooms. Women be- 
come ndaad/ from mushrooms, never komugl tat. They 
become delirious and irresponsible, begin to dance and 
sing, and order their husbands or sons to decorate them 
with their best feathers. Their men folk do so and give 
them weapons to hold. The women find at this time 
their only chance to dance in formation as the men and 
unmarried girls do. After this kind of quadrille they relax 
inside their houses while others gather to watch them. 
>The term komugl tai is also used for the madness that seized the 
Kuma during the ‘cargo cult’ of 1949, according to Miss Reay. 
[ 15 ] 
