mushroom madness, Konda said that it passed from par- 
ent to offspring, but only to one child in the family, 
usually tne eldest, or if not, then the second or third but 
never the last of a long line of children. He said that 
mushroom madness is transmitted from parent to off- 
spring,—-the rdaad/ manifestation in women and related 
behavior in men; but that Amogul tai was different : when 
mushroom madness took someone who did not come by 
it through heredity, then it assumed the form of komugl 
tat, and the man ran around with an axe, or bow and 
arrow, or spear, threatening everyone on his path with 
sudden cleath. 
Ginga added a significant thing: not only are children 
never subject to mushroom madness, but moreover when 
the time comes for the madness to strike, those ordained 
to succumb to it will succumb whether they eat the mush- 
rooms or not, whether they eat the nut of the Castanopsis 
tree or not. 
Europeans have been living in the Wahgi Valley and 
around Mount Hagen for 30 years, and all old-timers 
know many stories that hinge on the ‘mushroom mad- 
ness’ of the natives. We find no report of a death caused 
by these ‘madmen’, no report of even a serious personal 
injury. Such serious material damage and minor injuries 
as have occurred seem to have been accidents due to 
misunderstandings of Europeans. This absence of serious 
injury and damage after decades of experience is a start- 
ling fact. After all, maniacs do not always miss their 
aim. We think that one of the keys to the mystery has 
found its lock opening the door to the explanation. 
In summing up the testimony of our European infor- 
mants, we recall that on five occasions our missionary and 
his wife met natives in the crisis stage and suffered no 
injury. On another occasion, when dogs had been let 
loose against a manin a state of komugl tai, he ran away 
[ 19 ] 
