Religion and Superstitious Beliefs and Practices
Religion and Superstitions.
These are subjects which I should hardly have ventured to introduce
into this book if I had had to rely exclusively upon enquiries made
only during my stay among the Mafulu villages, without having the
benefit of five years' observation by the Mafulu Fathers of the
Mission. And, notwithstanding this additional facility, my notes
on these questions will be found to involve puzzles and apparent
inconsistencies; and there is no part of the book which should be
read and accepted with greater reserve and doubt as to possible
misunderstanding. Subject to this caution, I give the information as
I have obtained it.
I heard nothing to justify the idea of the Mafulu people having
any belief in a universal God or All Father; but there is a general
belief among them in a mysterious individual named _Tsidibe_, who may
be a man, or may be a spirit (they appear to be vague as to this),
who has immense power, and who once passed through their country in
a direction from east to west. Wherever you may be, if you speak of
this personage, and ask to be told in which direction he travelled,
they always point out one which is from east to west. They believe
that it was _Tsidibe_ who taught them all their customs, including
dancing and manufacture, and that he ultimately reached and remained
in the land of the white man, where he is now living; and that the
superior knowledge of the white man in manufacture, and especially
in the making of clothes, has been acquired from him. The idea of
his ultimate association with the white man can hardly, however, be
a very ancient tradition. One of the Fathers was seriously asked by a
native whether he had ever seen _Tsidibe_. They seem to think that he
is essentially a beneficent being. They regret his having left their
country; but they have no doubt as to this, and do not regard him as
still continuing to exercise any influence over them and their affairs,
have no ceremonies or observances with reference to him, and do not
address to him any supplications. As traces of his passage through
their country they will show you extraordinarily shaped rocks and
stones, such as fragments which have fallen from above into the valley,
and rocks and stones which have lodged in strange positions. But there
are no ceremonies with reference to these and the natives have no
fear of them, and indeed they will proudly point them out to you as
evidences of this mysterious being having been in their country, and
of his power. They would not hesitate to touch one of these stones,
but they would never injure it. I learnt nothing about him which
would justify me in suggesting that the Mafulu people deified him
as an ancestor, or even regarded him as being one, though some of
the matters attributed to him are perhaps not dissimilar from those
often attributed to deified ancestors. [108]
They certainly have a lively belief in ghosts of people who have
lived and died, and in spirits which have never occupied human form,
all of whom (ghosts and spirits) are evil disposed, and in sorcery.
Every human being, male and female, has during life a mysterious
ghostly self, in addition to his bodily visible and conscious self;
and this ghostly self will on his death survive him as a ghost. There
appears to be no idea of this ghostly self leaving the body in times
of sleeping or dreaming; though, if a man dreams of someone who is
dead, he thinks that he has been visited by that person's ghost.
At death the ghost leaves the body, and becomes, and remains, a
malevolent being. There is no idea of re-incarnation, or of the ghost
passing into any animal or plant, though, as will be seen hereafter,
it sometimes apparently _becomes_ a plant; and there is no difference
in their minds between the case of a person who has died naturally
and one who has been killed in battle or otherwise, or between persons
who have or have not been eaten, or who have or have not been buried,
though in case of burial there are the methods of getting rid of the
ghost; and there is no superstitious avoidance of graves or fear of
mentioning a deceased person by name, and no superstition as to the
shadows of living persons passing over graves and sacred places. Except
as above stated, I found no trace of any belief in a future state.
When on the death of a man or woman or child, the ghostly self leaves
the body, or at all events when the funeral pig-killing has been
performed, the ghost goes away to the tops of the mountains, where
apparently it exists as a ghost for ever. The shouting immediately
after the death, and afterwards at the funeral, are steps towards
driving it there; and the pig-killing ceremony completes the
process. On reaching the mountains the ghost _becomes_ one of two
things. The ghost of a young or grown-up person up to, say, forty or
forty-five years of age becomes the shimmering light upon the ground
and undergrowth, which occurs here and there where the dense forest of
the mountains is penetrated by the sun's beams. It is apparently only
the light which shimmers on the ground and undergrowth, and not that
in the air. The ghost of an elderly person over forty or forty-five
years of age becomes a large sort of fungus, which is indigenous to
the mountains, where alone it is found. Any native who on a hunting
expedition or otherwise meets with a glade in which this shimmering
light occurs will carefully pass round it, instead of going across
it; and any native finding one of these fungi will neither eat nor
touch, nor even tread upon it; though indeed, as regards the eating,
I understand that this particular fungus is one of the poisonous
non-edible forms. A native who, after the recent death of another,
is travelling in the mountains, and there finds a young fungus of
this species only just starting into growth, will think that it is
probably the ghost of the recently departed one.
As regards the use by me with reference to both sunbeams and fungi of
the word "_becomes_" I recognise that it may justify much doubt and
questioning. The idea of actually _becoming_ the flickering light or
the fungus, as distinguished from that of entering into or haunting
it, is a difficult one to grasp, especially as regards the flickering
light. I tried to get to the bottom of this question when I was at
Mafulu; but the belief as to actual _becoming_ was insisted upon, and
I could get no further. I cannot doubt, however, that there is much
room for further investigation on the point, which is of a character
concerning which misapprehension may well arise, especially in dealing
with such simple and primitive people as are the Mafulu natives.
The foods of these ghosts in both their forms are the ghostly elements
of the usual native vegetable foods (sweet potato, yam, taro, banana,
and in fact every vegetable food) and the ghostly elements of the
excrement of the still living natives; and the ghosts come down from
the mountains to the villages and gardens to procure these foods. Here
again the difficulty as to meaning above referred to arises, as they
can hardly imagine that the flickering lights cease to flicker in their
mountain glades, or that the fungi cease to exist in their mountain
habitats during these food-seeking incursions; and yet, unless this
be so, the superstitious difficulty is increased. A ghost is also
sometimes for some reason or other dissatisfied with his mountain
abode; and he will then return to the village (not apparently in the
visible form of a flickering light or a fungus).
As the intentions of the ghost towards living humanity are always
evil, his visits, whether for procuring food or in consequence of
dissatisfaction with his habitat, are feared by the people; but I
could not ascertain what was the nature of the injuries by the ghost to
themselves of which they were afraid, nor could I hear of any actual
instance of a disaster or misfortune which had been attributed to the
machinations of such a ghost. When sleeping in their dark enclosed
houses, however, the people fill up all openings by which the ghost
might enter (this does not apply to the _emone_, the entrance openings
of which are not closed at night; but perhaps the fact that a number
of men are always sleeping together there gives them confidence);
and when the Mission Station at Mafulu was started the natives were
amazed at the missionaries daring to sleep alone in rooms with open
doors and windows, through which the ghosts might enter.
Having by the shouting prior to and at the dead man's funeral wholly
or partially driven his ghost to the mountains, and in some way,
as it would seem, further placated or influenced the ghost by the
subsequent pig-killing over or by his grave at the funeral feast, there
is no method of which I could gain information by which the people can
actually keep him there, or prevent his periodic returns to the village
and gardens for food, or his return from a mountain home with which
he is dissatisfied; and there are apparently no prayers, incantations
or other ceremonies for the purpose of placating, or intimidating, or
in any way influencing the ghost. This statement is subject, however,
to the existence of the practice of pig-killing at the various other
ceremonies before described (always apparently done under or by or
on the site of a chiefs grave), which is evidently superstitious in
character, and must have reference to the ghosts of the departed chiefs
and notables, being intended, or having originally been intended,
to placate or influence them in some way or other; and especially it
would seem that this must be so as regards the dipping of the mourner's
string necklace in dead pigs' blood at the mourning-removal ceremony,
and as regards the pig-killing at the big feast, at which the skulls
and bones of all the then departed chiefs and notables are carefully
collected, and made the objects of ceremonious dipping in blood, or
touching with bones so dipped, and after which these skulls and bones
may be thrown away, as not requiring further ceremony. And concerning
all these ceremonies, if we bear in mind the special fear which many
primitive people seem to have of the ghosts of their great men, as
distinguished from those of the unimportant ones, it seems, I think,
to be natural that the graves and the skulls and bones of the great
ones should be those which are specially dealt with, and the dealing
with which may possibly, so far as the big feasts are concerned,
have been the original purpose for which the feasts were held.
The mental attitude and conduct of the people towards ghosts may have
originated in some form of ancestor worship, but I found nothing now
existing to indicate this; and in particular I could learn nothing
of any recognition of, or ceremonial observances with reference to,
the individual ghosts of known persons, as distinguished from the
ghosts generally.
I could find no direct information as to any belief in ghosts of
animals or plants; but the fact that the living edible plants have
a ghostly self, upon which the human ghosts feed, seems to involve
the idea during the life of those plants; and in that case one sees
no reason why the ghost of the plant should not survive the plant
itself, just as the ghost of the living person survives him at his
death. Also the existence of a ghostly element in human excrement
opens out a wide field of ghostly possibilities.
Spirits which have never been human beings are also malevolent;
though when we come to the operations of magic men or sorcerers,
and to incantations and the use of charms, the powers in connection
with all of which appear to be ascribed to spirits, it will be noticed
that these are by no means necessarily and invariably engaged or used
for malevolent purposes.
I was not able to obtain any satisfactory information as to these
spirits, or their supposed attributes, nor, except as regards illness
and death, as to the nature of, and ground for, the fears which the
natives feel concerning them; indeed, this is a subject upon which
most natives all over the world are inclined to be reticent, partly
or largely from fear. Even as regards the sacred places which these
spirits are supposed to haunt, though the natives are not unwilling
to pass them, and will mention the fact that they are sacred, they
are unwilling to talk about them. My notes as to spirits, other than
those in connection with sorcery producing illness and death, must
therefore be practically confined to the sacred places haunted by the
spirits, and the demeanour and acts of the natives with reference to,
and when they pass, these places.
Speaking generally, any place which has something specially peculiar
or unusual in its appearance is likely to be regarded as the abode of
a spirit. A waterfall, or a deep still pool in the course of a river
(but not the river itself), or a deep narrow rocky river ravine,
or a strangely shaped rock come under this category. There are also
certain trees and creepers which are regarded as implying the presence
of a spirit in their vicinity, although that vicinity has in itself
nothing unusual. I can, however, only give a few illustrative examples
of this general idea.
There are three special trees and two or three special creepers
which imply the presence of a spirit. What the creepers are I could
not ascertain; but the trees are a very large palm which grows
on the mountains and not on the coast, a form of pine tree, [109]
and the _gabi_ fig-tree, used for burial of chiefs. [110] It does
not necessarily follow that every specimen of any one of these trees
and creepers is spirit-haunted; but some are known to be so, and all
are apparently so much under suspicion that, though the natives will
speak of them and will pass them, they are afraid to cut them down.
At the time when the path near the newly erected Mission Station at
Mafulu was being opened some of these creepers had to be cleared away,
and the Mission Fathers had the utmost difficulty with the natives,
only two or three of whom could be persuaded to help in the work,
whilst the others stood aloof and afraid. In the same way, when
the Fathers wanted to cut down some of the special palms, only two
natives were induced to help in this, and even they only did so on the
condition that the Fathers themselves made the first strokes; and the
Fathers were warned by the natives that evil would befall them. It was
a curious coincidence that the Father who did this tree-cutting, being
then and having been for a long time past perfectly well in health,
was that evening taken ill with a bad sore, which nearly necessitated
his being carried down to the head Mission Station on the coast.
There is a very common ceremony performed when natives, in travelling
through the country, pass a spirit-haunted spot. The leader of the
party turns round, and in a low voice tells the others that they are
approaching the spot, whereupon they all become silent, though up to
that point they have been chattering. The leader then takes a wisp of
grass and ties it in a knot, and all the others do the same. They then
walk on in silence for a period, which may be anything from five to
fifteen minutes, after which, as they pass the spot, the leader turns
round and throws his bunch of grass on the ground, and the others do
the same. In this way they avert the danger and afterwards chatter
as before. [111] Another somewhat similar ceremony commences, like
the former one, with silence; but, instead of throwing grass down as
they pass the haunted spot, the visible sign of which in this case is
a hole in the ground, the leader stops and looks round at the others,
and then presses the palm of his hand down into the interior of the
hole, and the others do the same; and after this all is safe and well,
as in the former case. In travelling through the country these holes
with numerous impressions of hands in them are to be seen; and you may
in one day's journey pass several of these signs of haunted places,
of either or both sorts, within a comparatively short distance of one
another. The hole in which the people put their hands may not have
originally existed, and may have been produced by the oft-repeated
pressure of hands on the ground as natives passed the haunted spot;
but on this point I am unable to make any statement. Nor have I
been able to ascertain what the difference, if any, is, or has been,
between the places where they put grass and those in which they merely
press the hands.
I found no evidence of any general idea of supernatural powers being
possessed by natural inanimate objects, such as rivers or rocks; but,
as already stated, fishers are in the habit of addressing the stream
in supplication for fish, and it is possible there are other examples
of the same sort of thing, which I did not discover.
Magic or sorcery, and those who practise it, and incantations and
charms, and those who supply charms, are naturally associated with
either ghosts or spirits, or both. Among the Mafulu people they are,
I was assured, associated solely with spirits, and not with ghosts;
and, though I have no confirmatory evidence of the accuracy of this
statement, I can only in these notes assume that it is correct. It
may well be, however, that in the minds of the people themselves the
distinction between the ghost of a person who has lived and died and
the spirit which has never lived in visible human form is not really
quite clearly defined; or that powers which are now regarded by them
as spirits have had an origin, possibly long ago, in what were then
believed to be ghosts. I shall revert to this point at a later stage.
Sorcery.
The Mafulu magic men or sorcerers are different from those of the
Mekeo plains. There is not among the Mafulu, as there is in Mekeo,
a large body of powerful professional sorcerers, who are a source of
constant terror to the other people of their own villages, and are
yet to a certain extent relied upon and desired by those people as
a counterpoise to the powers of sorcerers of other villages; and a
Mafulu native, unless prevented by a fear of outside hostility in
no way connected with the supernatural, will travel alone outside
his own community in a way in which fear of the sorcerers would
make a Mekeo native unwilling to do so. The Mafulu sorcerers are a
somewhat less powerful people; but they claim, and are supposed to
have, certain powers of divination, or actual causation, or both, of
certain things. So far as I could learn, the sorcerer's supernatural
powers would never be exercised in a hostile way against anyone of
his own village, or indeed of his own clan, or even, as a rule, of
his own community. Apparently the sorcerer's victim is nearly always
a member of some other community; and the sorcerers of a community do
not appear to be in any way either feared or shunned by the members of
that community. And, even as regards their acts of hostility against
members of other communities, these do not seem to be performed to
an extent in any way approaching what is found in Mekeo.
It seemed to me at first, as regards these sorcerers, that there was
a confusion in the Mafulu mind between divination and causation. The
question as to this arose specially in connection with the ceremony
for ascertaining whether a chief was or was not going to die. The
people of a clan and the ailing chief certainly assume that the
sorcerers who perform the ceremony under instructions, whether they
be of the same community or of some other community, will by their
magical powers merely divine the death or recovery of the chief;
and the idea does not enter their heads that these sorcerers may
actually cause the death. And yet they will accuse a hostile sorcerer
of causing the death by an exactly similar ceremony, and will go to
war over the matter. Probably, however, it is rather a question of
the sorcerer's assumed volition--that is, it is assumed that the
friendly sorcerer does not want the chief to die, and the people
rely upon him to confine himself to a divination ceremony, and not
to engage in hostile sorcery; whereas a hostile sorcerer might do the
latter. I may add that I was led to suspect that the burning test was
regarded as being only a matter of divination, and that the causation,
if it occurred, was effected by means of the previous incantation.
There are also, besides the sorcerers, a number of specialists, who
can hardly perhaps be called true sorcerers, but who have certain
specific powers, or are acquainted with certain specific forms of
incantation, and whose services are from time to time sought by
the people. It is impossible for me to point to any definite line
of demarcation between the true sorcerers and these smaller people;
and it cannot be doubted that the powers of the latter, like those
of the former, are, or have been, based upon the supernatural, even
though they themselves do not claim to be and are not regarded as
being magic men in the highest sense. I think I may regard them as
being more or less the Mafulu equivalents of the Roro individuals
whom Dr. Seligmann calls "departmental experts." [112]
Dealing first with the true sorcerers, they undoubtedly include
among their number the men who perform the special ceremonial already
described for ascertaining whether a sick chief is or is not destined
to die. They also seem to include the makers or providers of the
various charms, including those which are carried in the little charm
bags and the love charms used by young men, as already mentioned. There
are also two other matters which are regarded as coming within the
province of the true sorcerers, of which one relates to rain and the
other relates to illness and death. I will deal with them separately.
The rain sorcerer is apparently merely a diviner. Dr. Seligmann would
perhaps include him among the departmental experts, but the Fathers
of the Mission regard him as being a true sorcerer. He is the man
to whom the people go in anticipation of a proposed important event,
such as a big feast, or perhaps a fighting or large hunting expedition,
to ascertain and inform them whether the period in which it is proposed
that the event shall occur will be fine or wet; but he does not profess
to be able to do more than this, and they never expect him to prevent
or bring about the rain, or in any way hold him responsible for the
weather as it may in fact eventually occur.
The sorcery connected with illness and death is not so simple; and
there is no doubt that it is not confined to powers of divination,
but includes powers of actual causation. This department of
sorcery obviously includes the ceremonial in connection with the
supposed dying chief. But it is not confined to this ceremony,
as it is generally believed by the Mafulu people that sickness,
which does not necessarily end in death, and death itself, can be,
and commonly is, brought about by the operation of sorcerers in one
way or another through the medium of certain things. The only things
of this nature concerning which I was able to obtain information are
(1) the inedible part of some vegetable food which the victim has
recently eaten (_e.g.,_ the outside part of a sweet potato or banana
or the cane part of a sugar cane), and (2) the victim's discharged
excrement or urine. I found no trace of any use for purposes of
sorcery of the edible remnants of the victim's food, nor (except
as regards a woman's placenta, to which I shall refer presently)
of any part of his body, such as his hair or nails; and, in fact,
the free way in which the natives throw away their hair when cut is
inconsistent with any belief as to its possible use against them.
First, the inedible remnants of recently consumed vegetable food. The
use of this as a medium for causing illness and death is apparently
confined to the case of a victim who has passed the stage of very
young childhood. Why this is so I could not learn; though in point
of fact a mere infant would hardly be eating such things as a regular
practice. A man or woman, however, never carelessly throws aside his
own food remnants of this character; and his reason for this is fear
of sorcery. He carefully keeps them under his control until he can
take them to a river, into which he throws them, after which they
are harmless as a medium against him. The fear concerning these
remains is that a sorcerer will use them for a ceremony somewhat
similar to that described in connection with the death of a chief,
but in a hostile way. No such precautions are taken with reference
to similar food eaten by very young children.
Secondly, the discharged excrement and urine. This, for some reason,
only applies to the case of an infant or quite young child. Here again
I could not learn the reason for the limitation; but it is confirmed
by the fact that grown-up persons take no pains whatever to avoid
the passing of these things into the possession of other people,
whereas, as regards little children, the mothers or other persons
having charge of them always take careful precautions. The mother
picks up her little child's excrement, and wraps it in a leaf, and then
either carefully hides it in a hole in the ground, or throws it into
the river, or places it in a little raised-up nest-like receptacle,
which is sometimes erected near the house for this purpose, and where
also it is regarded as being safe. One of these receptacles, shaped
like an inverted cone, is shown in Plate 91, and a somewhat similar
one is seen in Plate 64. As regards the urine, she pours upon it,
as it lies on the ground or on the house floor or platform, a little
clean water which she obtains from any handy source, or sometimes from
a little store which, when away from other water supply, she often
carries about with her for the purpose. I could get no information as
to the way in which the sorcerer would use the excrement or urine as
a medium for hostile purposes; though there is apparently no process
similar to that of the fire used in connection with the inedible food
remnants of the adult.
It will have been noticed that the mode of rendering the inedible
food remnants of a grown-up person immune from sorcery, and one
of the methods of making the infants' excrement immune, is that of
throwing them into the river; and even as regards infants' urine,
which apparently is not, and as a rule hardly could be, actually
thrown into the river, the protection is obtained by pouring water
upon it. I think that the belief among the islands of the Pacific in
the power of water to protect against the machinations of spirits or
ghosts is not confined to the Mafulu natives, or indeed to those of
New Guinea. Dr. Codrington mentions its existence as regards human
excrement in Melanesia. [113] I would also refer to a custom of the
Mafulu women after childbirth of throwing the placenta into the river,
a practice which is similar to that of the Koita women, who drop the
placenta into the sea. [114] Probably these practices relating to
placenta are also based upon some idea of protection from sorcerers
and spirits, although I was informed that among the Mafulu there is
no superstitious fear connected with the matter now. If the custom
is in fact superstitious in origin, the list of media for the use of
sorcery already given by me requires enlarging. [115]
Serious illness or death of either an adult or an infant, if not
caused by visible accident, is by the Mafulu, as by other natives,
generally attributed, subject to limitations, to the sorcerers. The
belief of the Mafulu as to this arises if the victim, being an ordinary
person, is comparatively young, or in the strength of life, say under
forty or forty-five, or if the victim, being a chief or a member of
a chief's family or a person of very high position, is even over that
age, unless he is very old, and old age is recognised as the natural
cause of his illness or death.
If the belief arises that the calamity, especially that of death,
has been brought about by spiritualistic influence, the family will
probably go to some person who is believed to be in touch with spirits
and able to designate the culprit. I cannot say whether or not the
person so employed is regarded as being a sorcerer in the full sense
of the word, or as merely one of the inferior types of magic men
above referred to. Probably he is only the latter, as I do not think
there are any juvenile sorcerers among the Mafulu, and this particular
person may be quite a young boy; indeed, there is in a village near to
the Mafulu Mission Station a young boy who is supposed to have this
power. As a matter of fact this boy is not quite right in his head;
but this state of mind is not among the Mafulu in any way a necessary,
or indeed a usual, qualification for a sorcerer or magic man of any
sort. The person appealed to will perhaps tell them who has done the
deed, or will make some oracular statement which will lead to his
identification. The culprit identified by him will in any case be a
member of another clan, and most probably of another community. When
he has been discovered, there will probably be a fight, in which
the members of the victim's clan, or even, especially if the victim
be a chief or big person, the whole of his community, will join the
injured relatives, this question of suspected causing of death being,
like that of non-repayment of the price paid for a runaway wife,
one of the frequent causes of intercommunity fighting.
Reverting here to the matter of ghosts and spirits, one cannot help
noting a similarity between, on the one hand, the ghostly element
of living food plants and the ghostly element of human excrement,
which constitute the food of the ghosts, and, on the other hand, the
physical inedible remnants of food recently eaten by an adult victim
and the physical excrement and urine of an infant victim, which are the
media used for hostile sorcery through the power of spirits; though,
as regards the latter, I have no evidence of a belief that the spirits
eat them. I tried to get further into this matter, but was unable to
do so. Again one is struck by the fact that the special _gabi_ tree,
which is the tree used for the interment of chiefs and notables, is
one of the trees whose presence is regarded as indicating a place
inhabited by spirits. These elements of similarity tend, I think,
to suggest the possibility of some confusion in the native mind as
to the difference between ghosts and spirits, or of some originally
ghostly origin in what are now regarded as spirits.
The class of magic men who are something less than sorcerers,
and whose powers are perhaps confined to the knowledge of certain
specific forms of incantation, would probably include the person who
does the nose-boring, and perhaps the person who detects the causes
of death above referred to. It would also, I think, include the
men who ascertain the whereabouts of a stolen article and discover
the thief, and who perform the ceremony in connection with hunting,
and the persons who effect, or profess to effect, cures of a more or
less superstitious nature, all of whom are probably not regarded as
full sorcerers.
The professional pig-killer is not, as such, either a sorcerer or
a magic man in the minor sense; and, if there has originally been
anything of a superstitious or magic character associated with him or
his functions, I was unable to find any trace of it, except perhaps
as regards the ceremony and incantation in connection with hunting,
which apparently is commonly performed by him.
Charms.
The Mafulu people believe in charms. I have already referred to those
used by young men desirous of marrying. But there are many other more
important charms for various purposes, such as averting illness and
death, success in hunting and fishing, and perhaps preservation in
time of war. These charms may be stones, small pieces of different
sorts of bark, flowers, or various kinds of poisons, though the
poisons appear to be only used for averting illness and death. They
are all procured from sorcerers, who may be of the same or of some
other village, or of another community, and there are sorcerers who
have specialities in certain sorts of charms. These charms are often
carried inside the small charm bags already mentioned.
Omens.
They believe in omens; but of these I was only able to hear of two
examples--namely, flying foxes, [116] and fireflies, the latter,
though common in the plains, being rare on the mountains, and both of
these are bad omens. Any person or party starting off on a journey,
or on a hunting or fishing expedition, and meeting either of these
creatures would probably at once turn back; and I was told that even a
full war party starting off on a punitive expedition would turn back,
or at least halt for a time, if it met one or other of them. I cannot
help thinking there must be some other omens, which I have failed
to discover.
General.
Referring generally to supplications, incantations, and acts
of propitiation, the only examples of them which I was able to
discover were the above-mentioned supplication to the river prior
to fishing, which is apparently spoken by the fishers themselves,
and not merely by a sorcerer or magic man, and the incantations in
connection with nose-piercing, with hunting, with a dying chief,
with the stone operation for stomach complaints, and with the plant
remedies for wounds, and the acts of propitiation, if such they are,
in connection with ceremonious pig-killing, and especially with the
ceremonies performed at a big feast and at or following a funeral; and
as regards the incantations I could learn nothing as to their nature,
nor as to the specific spiritual powers for the influencing of which
they are intended, nor the way in which those powers are moved by them.
In fact, concerning the whole question of ghosts, spirits, sorcery,
charms, omens and superstitions, I cannot imagine that I have
accomplished more than the mere touching of the fringe of it; and I am
sure that, when the Mafulu people have got rather more into touch with
civilisation, and become more accessible and communicative about these
things, there will be much more to be learnt. It may perhaps be that
some of the apparently superstitious acts are, like many such acts
performed in England, based upon beliefs which have long since been
forgotten, and have themselves become mere formalities, to which the
natives do not attach serious superstitious importance; though their
fear of ghosts and spirits is undoubtedly a very real and general one.
There are no secret societies or mysteries, such as are met with
in some of the Solomon Islands, and they have no superstition as
to sneezing.
Taboo.
The subject of taboo may perhaps be referred to under the present
heading, for, though there appear to be no totemic taboos, and
though I have no material showing that the Mafulu taboos are based on
superstitious ideas, it may, I imagine, be assumed that, while some
of these taboos are possibly partly based on medical common sense,
the element of superstition enters more or less into many of them. I
have already referred to a few general restrictions connected with
etiquette, and what I now propose to mention are food taboos.
Young men are not supposed to eat wild pig until they have married,
but this is the only food restriction which is put upon them. [117]
A woman who is about to give birth to a child must eat no food
whatever for a day or rather longer (never more than two days),
before the child is born. I have already referred to the food taboo
on persons undergoing the nose-piercing operation, and the optional
food taboo to which the nearest relative of a deceased person may
submit, in lieu of wearing the mourning string. There is also a
general taboo against any food other than sweet potato and chewing
of betel-nuts, with its condiments of lime and pepper, upon any male
person who intends to take part, either as a dancer or singer, in any
ceremonial dance. This latter term includes the dance at a big feast
and the women's dance on the eve of it, but not the dancing during
the six months' interval before it. It also includes the dance at
any of the various minor ceremonies above described, and at a funeral
ceremony. The period of restriction in the case of the big feast begins
when the formal croton-leaf invitation has gone out to the guests,
about a month before the date of the feast. In the case of a funeral
it is necessarily only quite short, and in cases of other ceremonies
it varies, being largely dependent on the length of period during
which the approach of the ceremony is known. During the period of
restriction the people avail themselves largely of the privilege of
betel-chewing, and prior to a big feast their mouths get very red. In
connection with personal ceremonies upon assumption of the perineal
band, admission to the _emone_ (excepting, as regards this, the case
of a child of very tender years), qualifying for drumming and dancing,
devolution of chieftainship and nose-piercing, the person concerned,
male or female, is under the same food restriction for a day prior
to that of the ceremony, and as regards nose-piercing this taboo
is prior to the actual piercing, and is quite distinct from the
subsequent taboo already referred to. There does not appear to be
any taboo connected with fishing, hunting or war.
The observance of all these taboos is secured only by superstitious
belief or public opinion, or both, there being no method of enforcing
them by punishment or by any exercise of authority by the chiefs.