676 



Varatseva. In former days, when the Duhus were in existence, 

 the Udini men slept in these ; nowadays they sleep in the upper 

 thatched apartment of a house (comp, description of house, 

 chap, ii., sec. 4). In this room there is a corner set apart, and 

 it is Gora (tabooed), nobody being allowed to enter it. (^^) 



The most important element in the arrangement of the 

 Varatseva is the folded mat (Eba) containing the cut-up 

 mango and the O'd'u creepers. Besides these, some additional 

 leaves, possessing magic properties, are usually inserted. Of 

 such a nature are the leaves of a fruit-bearing tree Gamelay 

 of a large tree called Fo, and some aromatic herbs, called Gdu. 

 All these plants were emphatically affirmed to be Bord'a idpa — 

 pig charm. The Madwia master sleeps on the mats. I was 

 not able to ascertain for certain whether, or how, the articles 

 of native wealth are displayed in the Varatseva place, though 

 I was informed that it was decorated with native ornaments. 

 ■The three analogous arrangements that I saw in the Southern 

 Massim district, where the taboo arrangements (called there 

 Soho'i'o) axe almost identical with those of the Mailu, were 

 all richly decorated, or, rather, hung over with all sorts of 

 native jewellery (arm-shells, strings of shell discs, ceremonial 

 stone axes, etc.). 



It is clearly and unanimously understood that the whole 

 Udini proceedings are a charm for attracting pigs to the feast. 

 Now, pigs are at the present time reared in all the villages 

 and brought to the feast, so that it would seem as if the magic 

 ought to be supposed by the natives to act upon the owners of 

 the pig, rather than directly upon the animals themselves. 

 Careful inquiry, however, proved that this is not the case. 

 The charm is a pig charm, ensuring that plenty of pigs shall 

 be brought to the feast. The questions as to the modus 

 operandi of the charm were dismissed as useless sophistications. 

 Again, a native in the course of discussion pointed out to me 

 on his own initiative that some pigs in the coastal villages are 

 practically living in the bush, and that they have to be caught 

 by their owner before they are brought to the feast. This 

 informant simply hinted that things are not so simple as I 

 implied, but he refused to draw any conclusion. It is, there- 

 fore, clear that the natives universally believe that the Udini 



(93) While I was visiting Naicddu, in Farm Bay (in the Sua' u 

 district of the Southern Massim), I inspected a recently-built house 

 in which the master of an approaching feast used to sleep. The 

 natives did not like my entering it, and whilst I approached one 

 corner which was partitioned off with a plaited coconut mat and 

 decorated with arm-shells and Bag I (heavy necklaces of ground- 

 she]! discs), I was earnestly requested to keep away. I did not 

 kr.ow at that time tlie Udini customs, and I was not aware that 

 the corner was tabooed. 



