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TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 641 
First Dynasty, a diminution of eight per cent. Then they increase again about 
six per cent. up to the Sixth Dynasty. 
These changes are not due to gradual evolution, but to racial mixture, as 
shown by the sudden appearance of a much smaller type superposed on the others 
in the First Dynasty. The later invasions of Hyksos and Arabs show historic- 
ally how such changes occur; a gradual infiltration goes on for many centuries— 
probably impelled by drought elsewhere—until at last a small, compact tribe of 
invaders enters by force and conquers the already mixed population. 
This minority of invaders was about one-ninth of the males in the capital. 
In the first generation each had three native females, and in the next generation 
two, in excess of the normal female numbers. 
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Ideas of the Kiwai Papuans regarding the Soul. 
By Dr. G. Lanprman. 
The Kiwai Papuans use the same word for ‘soul,’ ‘shadow,’ ‘ reflection in 
the water,’ and ‘picture’; of these the shadow in particular is associated with 
the soul. A man can steal the soul of somebody else by catching his shadow at 
night in a piece of bamboo open at one end which he afterwards plugs, and if he 
wants to kill the other man he burns the bamboo in the fire. Soul and body are 
to a considerable extent independent of each other; the soul is situated in the head, 
eye, stomach, or back, or fills up the whole body; different accounts are also 
given as to the way by which it leaves or enters the body. During a swoon it 
either withdraws from the body or takes refuge in one of the limbs. 
The soul when separated from the body appears, sometimes at any rate, as 
rather a corporeal being, which can be seen and touched, and in the legends a 
ghost is often mistaken for a living person. Some malevolent spirits are accom- 
panied by a bad smell, and can be chased away by physical means, and it has 
even happened that the ghost of a murdered man has been killed a second time. 
Spirits are, on the other hand, endowed with faculties of their own; they can 
disappear whenever they choose and suddenly transfer themselves from one 
locality to another. 
The soul can leave the body, which in certain circumstances may for a 
time live on to outward appearance as if there had been no change. Dreams, 
which are attributed to the soul wandering about and seeing various things, are 
implicitly believed in and play a very important part in the life of the natives, 
as spirits of the dead and other supernatural beings often impart their advice 
and directions to mortals in this way. Even presents and ‘medicines’ are at 
times handed over by the dream-givers to the dreamers. In many cases spirits 
have passed into men, who have thus become temporarily possessed. 
The souls of sick people in particular are in a danger of being removed by 
malevolent spirits or otherwise, for which reason the sick are watched over by 
their friends, and certain rules have to be observed for their protection. In a 
case of a very severe illness the spirit of the sick person is thought to wander 
about, and several means exist for bringing it back. The soul of a woman in 
child-bed is often seen to move about of its own accord and may cause mischief 
to her husband. While a woman is confined her husband may not as a rule go 
out hunting or fishing, and if he does go he must at any rate first take special 
measures to prevent the spirit of his wife from following him. In the excite- 
ment of a fight the soul of a man may jump out of his body, as shown by the 
fury of those fighting, and it has in certain cases to be brought back. For the 
same reason the soul of a murderer comes out of his body and is thought to follow 
the ghost of his victim at night. People who have the faculty of seeing spirits 
watch the two apparitions and are sometimes even able to recognise the features 
of the murderer. His soul can be shot on the spot, which will cause the man’s 
death without any possibility of detecting how it has taken place. People who 
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