RELIGION. 297 



recalls the holy number 4 of the Brahmans. On the occasion of a service, or at feasts held 

 in the temple of Tobâdi, two men, who took their places near the door opening, at a given 

 moment, blew on the flûtes, amidst deep silence and attention on the part of the others; scarcely 

 had the last note resounded when a number of men ran outside, fetched the baskets with sago 

 which were standing ready, carried thèse inside the temple, and instantly the blowing of the 

 flûtes and the singing recommenced. When a pig is being eut up the flûtes are also played. 

 Several times also, when the double tones of the flûtes inside the temple were heard as far 

 as the house of the expédition, the answer to the question why they were blowing the flûtes 

 was, that the ki'irewari (the spirit) indicated in this way that he was hungry, that the men 

 were not allowed to go out fishing and that the women had to prépare food for the inhabi- 

 tants of the temple. Perhaps it must be concluded from this that the flûtes are blown 

 in order to obtain food or to show gratitude for having obtained it. Hère again, there 

 is a striking resemblance to the temple service in the parâk of Tumleo, of which ERDWEG 

 [1902, 297] also reports that the sound of the flûtes indicates that the spirit is in the temple, 

 and desires sago and fish to be prepared by the women and consumed by the men. 



In the temple of Tobâdi I found a couple of cérémonial staves (elsewhere they 

 may hâve escaped my notice on account of the darkness), provided near one of the ends 

 with a wreath of cassowary feathers, which I found only mentioned by RoBIDÉ VAN DER Aa 

 [1879, 272]. In order to show the object of the staves a couple of handfuls of fine ashes 

 from one of the fire places was thrown out through the opening made in the roof at man's 

 height on the north-west side (MEYER and PARKINSON [1900, PI. I and II]), which caused 

 in and near the opening a thick cloud of dust. Immediately afterwards one of the men 

 caught with both hands one of the said staves, and pointing it towards the opening, and 

 moving towards the wall with bent knees, stamping in a tempo of 120 — 140 per minute, 

 he stuck the feathered end through the opening and moved the staff several times in and 

 out. After this two of thèse staves were used, when two men, each carrying a staff, during 

 the singing and rythmical stamping of others, thrust the sticks first parallel and then cross- 

 ways backwards and forwards, through the cloud of dust, and far outside the opening. They 

 laughed at the interest I took in this ceremony, and they also laughed when I tried to imitate 

 it exactly, but I am certain that this also is a serious, religious act. Apparently it is intended 

 to keep back imaginary enemies from this opening, or to chase them away or even by 

 thrusting in ail directions, to try and hit them outside. 



Of the proceedings at a service inside the temple of Tobâdi, witnessed on the 

 21 st of Alarch 1903, I can report as follows. It was afternoon, and, whilst the sound of the 

 flûtes in the temple was already heard, the older men were sitting outside the fence, apparently 

 indiffèrent to the feast, chewing their siri. Novices of the temple were sitting behind the 

 fence, colouring each other's hair with red clay, and pulling it up into a very regular 

 mop. Proceeding into the temple, to the left a number of young men were seen, who were 

 busy dividing the méat of a pig, whilst round the centre pôle a couple of men were walking 

 round in the manner described on p. 295, playing the longest kind of flûtes. This was repeated 

 a few times, and in between ail présent stamped on the floor now and then without walking 

 round, with somewhat bent knees, standing still on the same spot and keeping time in an ever 

 increasing tempo, ending each time with two loud stamps. After this the act with the cere- 

 Nova Guinea. III. Ethnograpky. 38 



