BURIAL AND WITCHCRAFT 
each other that the other Fi-fi has not heard, but 
they say, “‘ Gua-fua”—that is, “ Wait.” The girl 
wuistles again, and in a moment or two answers her- 
self; then the listeners round the fire exclaim, “ Oi- 
kai-yoi, Fi-fi-mai” (“ You hear, Fi-fi has come”). 
Occasionally we have said to them, “Tell Fi-fi to 
speak,” but they refused point-blank; and when we 
asked them why they did not bring Fi-fi, they said 
they could not. The priestess varied her whistle, and 
then interpreted her own messages. Once a woman 
is chosen to communicate with Fi-fi, she retains the 
office for life. This form of divination occurred most 
frequently at Waley. 
The priestess is not above the Delphic trick of 
framing her oracles to suit political necessity or 
her own inclinations and likings. One would think 
that people of such general common sense as the 
Papuans would see the possibility of deception, but 
they have implicit faith in Fi-fi’s manifestations. 
Certain insects, I noted, were also regarded as 
‘“Fi-fi.’” When a particular species of fire-fly entered 
the house at night the natives immediately predicted 
bad luck, or impending attack and extermination by 
hostile tribes. This failure of intelligence at one point 
is paralleled by their inability to grasp the simplest idea 
of number. Further than three they cannot count, 
although we often tried, by means of their ten fingers, 
to instil some notions of a higher calculus into them. 
On the march we observed the existence of a 
curious system of warnings. Now and then a green 
bough, newly broken off, would be found lying in the 
path, and the sight of this almost drives the natives out 
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