691 



"which means, in a free translation, "Mafdu come !" They also 

 exclaim, ''Where are you ? Are you here ? Are you pre- 

 sent ?" On this the body rocks and sways, which is the sign 

 that the spirit, Bo'i, is there, and that it is paying attention 

 to the address. <^8^ Then comes the important part of the 

 invocation — that in which the spirit reveals the name of the 

 Barau (evil sorcerer) who has killed the deceased. The chief 

 Nandma again addresses the Bo'i (spirit) of the dead man, 

 enumerating a number of villages of bad repute for harbouring 

 -evil sorcerers : — 



''Borowai haran hd (long drawni) 



village name evil sorcerer 



Dohuopu hard'u gahd (long drawn) 



Manuhada bar an md 



Gadaism hard'u md 



Bina hard'u md 



Geagea hard'u md." 



Etc., etc. 

 A long list is thus named — these, of course, being only 

 Bard'u villages— z.e., such as were on bad terms with the 

 Mailu. When the name of the village that was guilty of the 

 murder by sorcery was called out, the man's Bo'i gave sign, 

 and the body swayed violently. (^9) The name of this proceed- 

 ing and of the address to the dead man's spirit is Vdga. 



Then the body is buried (Guri tsidu). As there are some 

 differences in the mode of burial, or, rather, of the disposal 

 of the dead in the various groups of villages in the Mailu 

 district, it is necessary to speak of these separately. On Mailu 

 Island, as well as in the adjoining villages of Larnoro and 

 Loupom^ and on those of the mainland from a point opposite 

 Mailu westwards, the body, wrapped up as just described, was 

 buried, extended on his back in a shallow grave, either under 

 his house or among his coconuts. 



Over the spot, if the grave was dug in the garden, a small 

 mortuary hut (KdpaJ, about two metres long, 1'50 m. high, 

 and 1 m. wide, was erected, but as such huts are no longer 

 made on Mailu Island, or, at least, very rarely, I did not 

 see one. On showing to my informants the grave hut of the 

 Sud'u natives, as reproduced on the plate facing p. 608 in 

 Professor Seligman's book, they said the Mailu Kdpa was 



i^8)Cf. sec. 1 of this chapter where the different ^'spiritual 

 parts" of a man are enumerated. 



(99) Though this is only a conjecture, I wish to add that it is 

 probable that the people holding the body were taking a bona fide 

 part in the ceremony. The ner^^ous tension at such a time must 

 have been intense indeed, so that it is not surprising that at a 

 certain moment the men swayed the body and believed it moved 

 by itself. 



