470 



Gunnar Landtman. 



man, they alvvays brought part of his body to the old munster. A man 

 who vvanted to knovv the ways of crocodiles and other secret matters 

 wculd make a youngster who had not yet learnt to be afraid go and sleep 

 in a place where the crocodile had slept before as shovvn by the impression 

 in the ground. In the night the spirit of the crocodile would appeai- to 

 the bov in a dream, handing him some object, for mstance a pièce of 

 wood, and teaching him hovv to cause people to be taken by crocodiles. 

 On awakening the boy would inform the man of everything the crocodile 

 had said and done. One method imparted in this way was the use of 

 one of the edible roots called åtihi to Impersonale a fictitious crocodile. 

 A crocodiles tooth was inserted in a suitable part of the root to represent 

 its mouth, and after chewing a small quantity of the wood given by the 

 spirit, the man spät the juice at the root, mentioning the name of the 

 great crocodile and saying, „You send devil (spirit) belong you go catch 

 that man," giving his name. This done the åuhi was placed in the water 

 and left there. The root transformcd itself into a rea) crocodile, which 

 went and killed the man indicated and brought his body back to the 

 place. After that it resumed the shape of an åuhi. Some time aftervvards 

 the instigator would come to the place and tind what had been done : 

 „Oh, alligator been catch him now; man there, he dead, åuhi close to." 

 He would take out the tooth from the åuhi and keep it but replace the 

 root in the garden, where in some cases it would begin to grow again. 

 Whenever this method was to be put in practice an duhi from the 

 same garden would be used. In most cases, however, the man would not exécute the 

 scheme himself, but employ some sorcerer ,to do it for him, and vvhen the victim was dead, 

 they, together with some other sorcerers, would eat his body, as is often the habit of 

 such people. 



Once a Dirimo man, whose wife had been outraged by another man, wanted to take 

 revenge upon the offender. He thought to himself, „No good I shoot him that man, by-and-by 

 too much trouble. More better I go shoot that alligator: devil (ghost) belong him go kill all 

 people." Till then no one had ever thought of shooting the crocodile, for the people knew that it 

 was also a man who helped them in their sorcery. The crocodile was not even afraid of the 

 people but allowed them to come quite near. The Dirimo man took his bow and a 

 long bamboo-headed arrow, and at short range shot the beast in its side. The crocodile 

 jumped into the water and after a while came up at the place where it always used to sleep 

 and died there. 



The news spread over Dirimo, Türitüri, Mavvåta, Kunini, and Àripâra: „A man 

 has shot the crocodile!" AU the people wailed as over an old friend, saying, „Long time 

 thing, all time me look, father he look, pickaninny he look, no good that new man he 

 shoot him." 



The leading Dirimo and Kunini men said to a boy, „You go sleep close to that alligator 

 before he start smell — give you good dream." So the boy slept beside the dead crocodile. 



Tom. XLVIl. 



A crocodile. Drawn by 

 Bogéra of Ipisia. 



