200 Appendix. 



minor feasts held, before the main feast, while certain 

 forms of Gora^^ or taboo, are exclusively practised in 

 connection with the same. The most important ceremo- 

 nial role of one of the smaller feasts is the erection of a 

 small gallows, ornamented with a large white shell called 

 by the natives Moto [Ovulwii ovum : the " so-called " 

 white cowry). This is an indication that the Gt}vz dance 

 (the most important and most sacred dance) will be per- 

 formed at the JMadiina. It is also a token that as many 

 pigs are already pledged for the feast as there are shells 

 on the G6ra, each shell representing one pig promised by 

 a man of the Madi'ma giibina (master of the feast). The 

 association of this shell with pigs is remarkable and per- 

 haps significant, when it is recalled that cowries are widely 

 known as pig-shells. By the French they are called 

 Porcellana, or " pou-de-mer," and by the Romans porci 

 and porcuUy^ 



Following this ceremony, according to Malinowski 

 " comes the Oilobo feast, apparently the most important 

 preliminary event, which certainly contains the greatest 

 amount of magico-religious element, and probably even 

 more than the main feast. It marks the beginning of 

 the fasting or Udini period, and is held some two months 

 before the main feast * * * This feast also is called 

 Boroa evaur^, Boroa meaning mango. In the morning of 

 the feast-day a dance called Laige is performed in the 

 village, both men and women taking part in it. The 

 women hold * * Eldki^^ in their hands, the men beat 

 the drums and blow the conch-shells while dancing."" 

 The later ceremonies take place in the afternoon, when 

 the men go out into the bush, bringing back with them 

 mango saplings and creepers, which form part of the pig 

 magic. " They come in state, forming a procession, which 

 is headed by a man blowing the conch {Bogigt) made of 

 a Triton-s\\^\\. He is followed on both sides by two men, 

 also with conch shells." The remainder of the procession 



' ' G6ra, in its broadest and most abstract meaning, means taboo, rule, 

 prohibition ; it is distinctly the conception covering what we call law in our 

 society. (Malinowski, p. 587). 



'^ See also Chapter IV., p. 126, re this subject. 



^' Eldki: folded mats of pandanus leaves. 



'* Malinowski, op. cit., p. 670. 



