706 THE MYSTERY OF THE PEPE. 



I desire to take this opportunity of qualifying my former statements concerning 

 the structure of the endodenn in post-natal and in prae-natal (i.e. immediately prior 

 to birth) stages of P. novae-britanniae (Part I. Zool. Results, pp. 29 and 30). This 

 seemed to afford ground for comparison with certain histolytic phenomena which have 

 been observed to take place in the intestine of insects and some other animals. In 

 his recent detailed description of the Malayan genus Eoperipatus (published in the 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science (1901), Vols. 44 and 45), Mr Richard Evans 

 finds no confirmation of the observations which I recorded, and gives reasons for 

 supposing that the appearances were the result of the method of preservation. After 

 renewed consideration and re-examination of my preparations I have come to the 

 conclusion that he is probably right. This qualification has no reference to the 

 " trophocytes " which I described in an earlier stage (op. cit. p. 22), to which I adhere. 



Being desirous, as occasion offered, of acquiring some personal acquaintance with 

 one or two of the native sorceries I brought my mind, in the Easter of 1895, to 

 consent to be initiated into the mystery of the " pepe." The details had been very 

 kindly arranged for me by Mrs Parkinson by negotiation with a native petty chief 

 named Taipuk. 



From information which Mrs Parkinson 1 obtained from the natives, the " pepe " is 

 somewhat vaguely described as a preparation made by native doctors to be partaken 

 of by others for the purpose of causing the spirits which dwell in certain trees to 

 enter their bodies for specific purposes. There are several trees which are frequented 

 by the spirits, notably the banyan tree, " a giau." 



The " pepe " is prepared once a year during the south-east season when it is 

 dry, because in north-west weather the spirits are driven from the trees by the rain. 

 At the right time, as ascertained by the behaviour of the tides, the man who prepares 

 the "pepe" scrapes the aromatic bark from certain trees, adds to it Areca-nut and 

 lime, and wraps the whole in the " Aier " or betel leaf, making a number of small 

 bundles which he spreads out in the less frequented parts of the bush. When the 

 " pepe " is laid out in this way, i.e., in the manner of a repast, the people who intend 

 to partake of it gather round it and the master gives each communicant a small 

 parcel. They eat their parcel and then fall down in a trance as if intoxicated, and 

 go to sleep on the spot. When they awake in the morning, they start off by twos 

 or threes to find the spirit-haunted trees, and to sleep under them until they discover 

 by the nature of their dreams a tree inhabited by a good spirit, i.e., a male spirit, 

 as the female spirits are reputed bad. The information which they desire to obtain 

 from the good spirit relates to personal ornaments, waistbands made with shells, chaplets, 

 tattoo-marks, feather-tufts for the head, scented leaves for the neck, dyes for the hah-, 

 pig's bristles for the hair, cassowary quills and opossum-teeth for the nose, painting 

 of the body and so forth. Further information is desired upon the important matter 

 of charms, chiefly of the nature of love-philtres, fern-seed and rain-making. All this 

 knowledge is imparted by the good spirits in dreams to him who has taken the "pepe." 

 The spirits have different names and different functions. One is called " Tutana Vuragit " 



1 Mrs Parkinson was kind enough to present me with a description of the " pepe " which she reduced 

 to writing for the occasion. The general account which I give in the text is largely derived from this document. 



