howling and finally collapsed on the trail from fright and 
fatigue. Frank Porter and one of his colleagues were 
conversing with a group of natives when the arrows of a 
madman hit the top of the table, but no one was touched. 
Jeff Broomhead, Mr. White, and Mrs. Mansur were 
frightened by natives possessed by this madness, yet 
none of them was wounded. One day, finally, a person 
was injured, slightly, in the course of an episode at Banz; 
but in this case the aggressor admitted that he had been 
pretending all along, and a feast of pig meat restored 
peace among all concerned. In the writings of Miss Reay 
and Stanley Christian,’ asin those of the missionaries, it 
is frequently stated that the natives, in certain particu- 
lar circumstances, have simulated the mushroom mad- 
ness. ‘These are probably cases where the individuals 
were actors acting without conviction. A man accused 
of having set fire to a hut suggests a more interesting 
situation. If, having eaten the mushrooms, he had been 
genuinely struck with komugl tai, he was not, according 
to native custom, responsible for his actions, and there- 
fore merited no punishment. According to the white 
man’s law, he was on the contrary responsible and liable 
to punishment. It is probable that he had done his deed 
expecting the adults who were looking at him to inter- 
vene in time to prevent all damage. It is to be noted 
that if Europeans were involved, ignorant of the role 
they were supposed to play in this little drama, that 
ignorance would relieve them of any responsibility. But 
if the man was not in astate of homugl tai, and if no one 
was present to stop him in case of need, his guilt becomes 
positive and his method of defense is only a device, and, 
by the same token, a deceit. One can see the difficulties 
7 Letter of Stanley Christian to Dr. Dorothy E. Shaw dated De- 
cember 10, 1957 included in the compilation forwarded by Dr. Shaw 
to Roger Heim with her letter of August 20, 19638. 
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