SAVAGE LIFE IN NEW BRITAIN. 455 



into which the spirit of a man has entered be killed while he is in it, 

 then the man's body dies. On one occasion in my town a man 

 was wounded by a spear thrust in the shoulder during the night. Next 

 morning he was questioned about it, and declared that he had entered 

 into a fish, and happening to come near the reef on which were some 

 men with a torch and fishing spears, the fish was wounded close to 

 the fore fin, and so his body received the wound. How this could 

 be one cannot explain, but whatever his people may have thought, 

 they accepted the stoiy, and no more was said. In this way men 

 are supposed to take long journeys as birds into the bush, and come 

 back and tell ti*avellers' stories to their people as to what they have 

 seen. Dreams are, of course, responsible for this belief, for dreams 

 are to them real occurrences in the spirit world, hence the grotesque- 

 ness of many savage superstitions. 



Charms are a great power with the people, and there are as many 

 of tliem as there are clever or wealthy men. Every man may have 

 (i.e. — buy) his own malira, or charm. These are believed to come 

 originally from Ingal to some person who sells it to those who 

 can buy. It is dear or cheap, according to its reputation. They are 

 used for any pui-pose the pui'cliaser desires. Now a love charm, now 

 to secure acquiescence to indecent proposals, now to inflict disease, 

 now to prevent recoveiy, or any other pui-pose in view. They mostly 

 consist of leaves, bark, or sap of trees, and are sometimes adminis- 

 tered in the food of the person to be influenced and at other times 

 are counted effective through the simple incantation of the wizard. It 

 will, of course, be seen by this that the same charm may serve many, 

 and even opposite pui-poses, according to the desire of the owner. It 

 may be used to guard himself and hurt his foe. There are, however, 

 specific charms for special purposes, such as the iquora, which consists 

 in pricking in a cei-tain manner the footprints of a person, with the 

 barbed bone of a ray fish. This brings upon the person thus treated 

 by a Tenaquaquar (wizard) the sickness or evil desired. Tlh.B dokadoko 

 is a charm placed at the entrance of a fishtrap, and is supposed to 

 induce fish to enter. Sometimes they, the malira or charms, are 

 made out of anything that has had connection or contact with a 

 person, such as remains of food of which she or he has partaken; 

 earth from a footprint, excrement, spittle, hair, or clothing. Any 

 of these things may be buried with incantation ceremonies, and thus 

 through the process afflict the people concerned in various ways. The 

 name of this custom is putO: and the articles used putaputana. This 

 last kind of mrdira is much guarded against. I^xpectoration is in the 

 form of infinitesimal spray. (Stooling is always in absolute secrecy, 

 and witli the greatest care.) When shaving or cutting the hair, every 

 scrap of hair is carefully burnt, and the crumbs of one's food also 

 humed. Now, all these charms work by the power of the spirit world, 

 and through the spiritual connection of things and men, and day and 

 night people live and move and have their being in a spiritualistic 

 atmosphere. They fear each other less as men than they do as men 

 possessed of a powerful malira. To us this is ridiculous, but not so 

 to them. There is no doubt with them ; all is true, even the most 

 incongruous and unreasonable statements in regard to these matters. 

 They never think of the strife of spirit and power against spirit and 

 power if these things are true, and, indeed, perhaps seeing they them- 



