ANOTHER TRIP TO THE SOLOMONS 147 



of a native from the village on the Bartholomew 

 Range, there was evidence of a curious custom that 

 the natives of this place used to find out if the native 

 had died by sorcery or not. The body is placed on 

 a platform in the centre of the village, and a leaf 

 placed on the breast; the feet are then pointed in 

 the direction of a village, and the body asked if any 

 man or woman in the village pointed at caused the 

 death. If the leaf falls off the body, the people are 

 sure that the person who caused the death was a 

 native of the village pointed at; if the leaf does not 

 fall off the body at the first attempt, the body is 

 pointed to another village, and so on until the leaf 

 falls or is blown off. The natives blame almost 

 every death to sorcery. In particular the inland 

 people are eaten up with superstition, and any " magic " 

 man can terrorise them into doing what he wishes. 



But in this case of the accusation against the people 

 of Farn it would seem that the charge broke down 

 whatever the method of trial for within half an 

 hour after the accusation was made I learnt that this 

 accusation of magic against the Farn people had been 

 conveyed to them, and that they had answered that 

 they knew nothing at all of the man's death, and that 

 in order to prove their good faith and innocence they 

 would come over to the village of which he had been an 

 inhabitant and take part there in a ceremonial dance. 



If anybody is travelling in that part of New Guinea 

 the natives will know of his arrival in a village many 



L2 



