118 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS—SECTION F. 
Here, again, the magic relation between the individual and 
something worn by her is clearly seen. 
If the native feels drawn towards matters of magic, he may 
realise that he has a call to the medical profession. In that 
event his long silent and solitary broodings, and frequent fits 
of absentmindedness will prepare the members of the camp 
to hear some morning that he has disappeared, and cannot be 
found. What has happened is that probably with considerable 
trepidation he has gone alone to the mouth of a cave inhabited 
by the spirits. He must not venture inside, or he would be 
spirited away, and never return again, but lies down close to the 
entrance. At break of day one of the spirits comes to the 
‘mouth of the cave, and throws at him a spear, which passes in 
at the back of the neck and out at the tongue, making a perma- 
nent hole in the latter, which actually remains throughout life 
as the outward and visible sign that the man is in reality a 
qualified medical practitioner. A second spear pierces his head 
from ear to ear, and then the spirit carries the insensible body 
into the cave, and far away underground, to where he lives, 
amidst perpetual sunshine and running water. Here the spirit 
removes all the internal organs, and provides the man with a 
new set. When this delicate operation has been successfully 
performed the man comes to life again, but is scarcely for some 
time in possession of his full senses; however, he gradually 
recovers, and then the spirit takes him out of the cave into the 
open, and guides him unseen to his people, unless it be, per- 
haps, to some special individual who has the rare gift of seeing 
and communing with the spirits. For a few days the man is 
more or less strange in his behaviour, sitting silently by him- 
self, evidently brooding over something, but one morning it is 
noticed that he has painted across the bridge of his nose a 
broad band of charcoal, and then it is at once recognised that a 
new medicine man has arisen amongst them. However, it will 
be quite a year before he will practise his profession, and if 
during this time the hole in his tongue should close up, then he 
will regard this as an indication that he is not qualified. 
Meanwhile, however, he mingles especially with the members of 
the craft, learning their secrets, such as they are, practising 
sleight of hand tricks, and not least in importance accustoming 
himself to looking preternaturally solemn, as if he knew, and 
were constantly dealing with things hidden from the knowledge 
of ordinary men. The most important thing which the spirits 
do is, however, to place in his body a number of small stones 
called Atnongara, to the possession of which he really owes his - 
magic power. It is by means of these that he is able to 
combat the evil magic which an enemy has planted in the body 
of his patient. These stones he can, unseen by any ordinary 
being, project into the patient’s body. In certain respects the 
