585 



•charm — and ail the coconuts arc invoked to congregate in 

 order that the supply at the feast may be plentiful. Subse- 

 quently the other small Goras are erected in the bush in the 

 same manner, and the same invocation is addressed to an 

 ancestral spirit, as is described above for the death Goras. 



The Tona (jora consists of a fairly high vertical pole, to 

 "which several coconut leaves are fastened. 



It is to be noted that the Tona <j6ra is not erected on 

 every occasion when a feast is given ; in fact, it does not seem 

 to be a very frequent feature. Whenever there is a fairly 

 important death in the clan, or in the clans, giving the feast, 

 and whenever the feast is at the same time one in the series 

 of mortuary feasts, there is no Tona tjora. For this the 

 Nehiiru is sufficient. Nor is it erected on the death of a 

 village notable. 



Thus in the autumn and winter of 1914 there were feasts 

 in preparation in Kiirere, Mdihi, Loiipom, and Laiuoro. 

 Amongst these I only saw a Tona gora in Larnoro, where the 

 feast was to take place in the winter of 1915-16. All the 

 other places had Nehurus. 



It is obvious that the real sanction of the feast Goras, 

 governed by the main Tona gora, are of the same nature as 

 the mourning Goras, since the same invocation is uttered to 

 the same agencies. But the Tona gora has no such sanction, 

 and from the nature of its spell it is evident that its function 

 is rather a magical one, to ensure a plentiful supply of coco- 

 nuts. In this it is analogous to those other arrangements at 

 a feast which aim at securing a plentiful supply of pigs for 

 the feast (comp. chap, v., sec. 3). 



Another form of Gora, erected in the street in front of 

 the master of the feast (Madiina) is the Jlofo gora. It con- 

 sists of a small square erection, composed of two sticks topped 

 by a horizontal and covered with young coconut leaves, to 

 which several of the large white shells (Ovulum ovum) are 

 bound. This Gora has nothing whatever to do with coconuts, 

 except as to the leaves with which it is wrapped. Neither has 

 it anything to do with any taboo or prohibition. It is simply 

 a pledge, each shell representing a pig promised to the master 

 of the feast by one of his relatives or friends. There is no 

 spell connected with it, and it is only a forecast of the future 

 splendour of the feast, which in its preliminaries and arrange- 

 ments is full of such glorifications. When several clans 

 arrange a feast a Mofo gora is placed in front of the houses 

 of head men of each clan. 



Besides the coconut, several other articles of food may 

 be Gora^ed . Betelnut fWeni) occupies a position in native 

 life in many ways analogous to the coconut. At a man's death 



