583 



a-nd boys of his clan. Then the Gora is erected, and the 

 following spell is pronounced by the owner : — 



"Bo'i era gora emegi 6m ncima dma 



spirit this gora man a some coconut 



itsi hdna bo'i fseiba ho'i ore' ore tseiha." 



eat time spirit do (act) spirit angry act 



Which in free translation would mean : — ''O spirit ! When 

 a man eats this tabooed coconut, O spirit, act; O spirit, be 

 angry and punish him!" The spirit thus invoked would be 

 ■one of the ancestral spirits of the owner. His role in protect- 

 ing the tabooed coconuts is quite analogous to that of the 

 recently deceased man towards his Nehuru palms. The 

 spirits in both cases get angry (Bo'i ore'ore, an expression 

 Tised often to design ill-luck in general ; in Motu, 



Dirdva clika) 

 spirit bad, angry). 



(corap. chap, v., sec. 1), and to prevent the offender from 

 •doing good fishing, particularly with the big nets (Gauma), 

 \>v.t also with the smaller ones (Ord'i) (comp, chap, iv., 

 sec. 3). 



Thus in both cases the taboo is enforced by a supernatural 

 ■sanction — by the fear of the evil results, automatically follow- 

 ing the offence. It is to be noted that no spells are uttered 

 to the spirit of the deceased in order to make him protect 

 his own coconuts ; evidently he takes very good care that 

 nobody touches those which are to be eaten at his feast, or 

 are at any rate associated with his family's mourning duties. 

 On the other hand, the spirit who is not personally interested 

 in the proceedings must be invoked to play his parf. The 

 role of both spirits seems anyhow a very impersonal one ; they 

 are merely mechanical factors, bringing about, as an inter- 

 mediate agency, the evil results inherent in the breaking of 

 the taboo. They have no initiative in dealing out the 

 punishment, nor is there anything left to their personal choice, 

 and, on the other hand, a man violating the taboo would have 

 no personal fear of the anger of the spirit. The natives are 

 in general very little afraid of ghosts, though they dread dark- 

 ness and its evil powers (comp. chap, v., sees. 1 and 2). The 

 men are afraid to break the taboo purely and simply in order 

 not to lose their fishing capacity, and from any other point 

 t)f view the personal insult to the spirit, and its consequent 

 annoyance, would not apparently matter. No man would with 

 full knowledge violate a taboo, either a Nehuru or a Gora; 

 if he unwittingly does so the punishment strikes him in the 

 same form, without regard to his motives. The cu.lprit would. 



