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one wishes to say that it is not allowed — as used to be the case 

 in intertribal wars, for instance — to go to another village, one 

 says this place is Gora. Thus this word is not only applied to 

 taboos with supernatural sanction, but to all interdictions in 

 general, even if they be imposed by the nature of things 

 and not by the will of men. The word Gora is used also to 

 <ienote the signs, usually consisting of coconut leaves, which 

 were put up i.. cannection with taboos. Such signs, however, 

 do not in all cases imply a taboo. Thus the term Gora has a 

 wider range than the word taboo. On the other hand, the 

 most important class of taboos — the food restrictions — are 

 •called Tora. Thus a spot is Gora, the coconut trees are Gora, 

 • fish is Gora — as long as the interdiction refers to fishing. But 

 the coconuts are said to be Tora, so is the fish and any other 

 form of food. Thus Atna tora means coconut taboo; Oribe 

 tora, fish taboo; Tsehere tora, a taboo on taro. 



I shall first describe all the facts comprised within the 

 native idea of Gora, and then shortly discuss them. 



The most important forms of Gora refer to the coconut. 

 'The coconut stands also in an especially intimate connection 

 with the Gora institution, since it is used almost exclusively 

 for the various Gora signs, or, at least, it forms the most 

 essential and characteristic element of almost all of them. 

 As mentioned before, the term Gora applies both to the con- 

 dition of the coconut plantations for the time being and to 

 the signs which indicate usually this condition. The coconut 

 palms become tabooed and Gora signs are erected on two 

 occasions — death and feast. 



For some time after the death of a man his own coconuts, 

 those of his family, and, in certain cases, of the whole clan 

 become taboo. But there was a strict distinction between the 

 trees belonging to the man and his relations (the actual 

 mourners) and the trees belonging to the other clansmen. In 

 the first place, whereas the former became taboo under any 

 •circumstances, the latter were tabooed only in the case of 

 un adult and influential male. And then there was a still 

 more important distinction — the dead man's own trees and 

 those of the mourners (the Nandnia and Do'cV e people ; comp. 

 •chap, v., sec. 4) were tabooed automatically by the presence 

 of the dead man's bodv. As will be described in detail here- 

 after, the body was buried either under the house of the 

 •deceased or among his coconut palms. The body and the 

 grave were the symbols of the taboo. They protected the nuts 

 magically, the dead man's spirit was angry when anybody 

 touched them, and he punished the culprit by the same penalty 

 which was attached to the other Gorafi — the man became 



