784 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F, 
dances in which his village was engaged. As aman who knew 
the different forms of witchcraft, his services were often secured 
by some one who wished either to kill or to extort money from 
someone else. To do this he would secure a piece of yam, 
banana, areca nut, or anything indeed which had been touched 
by the obnoxious party, or which formed any part of his body, 
such as hair, skin, blood, or indeed almost anything. Tepang 
would then take this and bury it in a hole in the ground together 
with small pieces of sharpened bamboo and poisonous plants. 
He would then utter some incantation over the lot, and would 
probably specify the particular manner in which he wished the 
misfortunes to fall upon the man. Then he would cover all up, 
and perhaps place some sacred stone of the Iniat Society upon it, 
receive his fee, and go to his board bed with a clear conscience, 
fully assured that so long as that spell was not removed its power 
would be felt, and until that stone was removed the man affected 
would be pressed down by disease, and nothing that he did 
would prosper. Of course, it soon got known that the agagara 
had been made, and if the unfortunate fellow concerned was 
not sick he soon got sick from fear, and the consequence was 
that he had to come and pay Tepang diwara in order that 
the spell might be removed. This was one of the ways in 
which my friend began to make his money, and develop into a 
capitalist, for nearly every native believes when he is sick that 
someone has bewitched him. Death, in the opinion of those 
people, rarely, if ever, happens from what are called natural causes. 
Tepang was also a doctor. In the course of his education he had 
been taught the medicinal properties of many of the plants and 
vines which grew in the bush, how to prepare them as medicine, 
what quantities of each he might safely use, and above all the 
proper prayers which were to be said if the remedy was to be 
successful. He was very skilful in the preparation of decoctions 
of leaves, over which certain prayers to the spirits of the dead 
were uttered. The patient’s body was then carefully dusted with 
lime. Then Tepang uttered more prayers over the medicine, which 
the man at once drank, so that he might get the full benefit both 
of the medicine and the prayers. The lime was then blown off 
the body of the patient, taking (so Dr. Tepang informed them) a 
good deal of the disease with it. When he got a patient with 
plenty of money my friend would vary the latter part of the cure. 
In order to drive the disease away, and also the evil spirit who 
caused it, Tepang would prepare a steam bath by mixing ina 
large bowl a lot of cocoanut juice, burnt cocoanut kernel, ginger 
roots, and leaves of various plants and trees. The patient was 
seated over this bowl and covered up with broad leaves. Then 
hot stones were put into the mixture, some were also put under 
his feet, and he had to hold two others in his hands, and so he 
