I
When the Sinaketan fleet passes the two mythical rocks of Atu’a’ine and Aturamo’a, the final goal of the expedition has been already reached. For before them, there stretch in a wide expanse the N.W. shores of Dawson Straits, where on the wide beach, there are scattered the villages of Bwayowa, Tu’utauna and Deyde’i, at the foot of Koyava’u. This latter, the Boyowans call Koyaviguna—the final mountain. Immediately behind the two rocks, there stretches the beach of Sarubwoyna, its clean, white sand edging the shallow curve of a small bay. This is the place where the crews, nearing their final destination, have to make a halt, to prepare themselves magically for approaching their partners in Dobu. As, on their start from Sinaketa, they stopped for some time on Muwa and there performed the last act of their inaugurating rites and ceremonies, so in the same manner this beach is the place where they once more muster their forces after the journey has been accomplished.
Plate XLVIII
A Kula Fleet Halting to Perform the Final Rites of Mwasila.
This photograph was taken in the Trobriands, and it shows the Dobuan fleet just arriving and its final halt (cf. Chapter XVI, Division II). The scene on the beach of Sarubwoyna would present an identical picture. Note the two men in the forefront, wading ashore to produce the leaves for the Kaykakaya. (See [Div. I].)
Plate XLIX
The Beauty Magic of the Mwasila.
The whole fleet are preparing for the final approach; in each canoe magic is spoken over cosmetics and every man combs his hair, anoints his body, and paints his face. (See [Div. I].)
This is the place which was already mentioned in [Chapter II] when, in giving a description of the district, we imagined ourselves passing near this beach and meeting there a large fleet of canoes, whose crews were engaged in some mysterious activities. I said there that up to a hundred canoes might have been seen anchored near the beach, and indeed, on a big uvalaku expedition in olden days such a figure could easily have been reached. For, on a rough estimate, Sinaketa could have produced some twenty canoes; the Vakutans could have joined them with about forty; the Amphlettans with another twenty; and twenty more would have followed from Tewara, Siyawawa, and Sanaroa. Some of them would indeed not have taken part in the Kula, but have followed only out of sheer curiosity, just as in the big uvalaku expedition, which I accompanied in 1918 from Dobu to Sinaketa, the sixty Dobuan canoes were joined by some twelve canoes from the Amphletts and about as many again from Vakuta.
The Sinaketans having arrived at this beach, now stop, moor the canoes near the shore, adorn their persons, and perform a whole series of magical rites. Within a short space of time they crowd in a great number of short rites, accompanied by formulæ as a rule not very long. In fact, from the moment they have arrived at Sarubwoyna up to their entry into the village, they do not cease doing one magical act or another, and the toliwaga never stop incessantly muttering their spells. To the observer, a spectacle of feverish activity unfolds itself, a spectacle which I witnessed in 1918 when I assisted at an analogous performance of the Dobuan Kula fleet approaching Sinaketa.
The fleet halts; the sails are furled, the masts dismounted, the canoes moored (see [Plate XLVIII]). In each canoe, the elder men begin to undo their baskets and take out their personal belongings. The younger ones run ashore and gather copious supplies of leaves which they bring back into the canoes. Then the older men again murmur magical formulæ over the leaves and over other substances. In this, the toliwaga is assisted by others. Then, they all wash in sea-water, and rub themselves with the medicated leaves. Coco-nuts are broken, scraped, medicated, and the skin is rubbed with the mess, which greases it and gives it a shining surface. A comb is chanted over, and the hair teased out with it (see [Plate XLIX]). Then, with crushed betel-nut mixed with lime, they draw red ornamental designs on their faces, while others use the sayyaku, an aromatic resinous stuff, and draw similar lines in black. The fine-smelling mint plant, which has been chanted over at home before starting, is taken out of its little receptacle where it was preserved in coco-nut oil. The herb is inserted into the armlets, while the few drops of oil are smeared over the body, and over the lilava, the magical bundle of pari (trade goods).
All the magic which is spoken over the native cosmetics is the mwasila (Kula magic) of beauty. The main aim of these spells is the same one which we found so clearly expressed in myth; to make the man beautiful, attractive, and irresistible to his Kula partner. In the myths we saw how an old, ugly and ungainly man becomes transformed by his magic into a radiant and charming youth. Now this mythical episode is nothing else but an exaggerated version of what happens every time, when the mwasila of beauty is spoken on Sarubwoyna beach or on other similar points of approach. As my informants over and over again told me, when explaining the meaning of these rites:
“Here we are ugly; we eat bad fish, bad food; our faces remain ugly. We want to sail to Dobu; we keep taboos, we don’t eat bad food. We go to Sarubwoyna; we wash; we charm the leaves of silasila; we charm the coco-nut; we putuma (anoint ourselves); we make our red paint and black paint; we put in our fine-smelling vana (herb ornament in armlets); we arrive in Dobu beautiful looking. Our partner looks at us, sees our faces are beautiful; he throws the vaygu’a at us.”
The bad fish and bad food here mentioned are the articles which are tabooed to those who know the mwasila, and a man may often unwittingly break such a taboo.
There is no doubt that a deep belief in the efficacy of such magic might almost make it effective. Although actual beauty cannot be imparted by spells, yet the feeling of being beautiful through magic may give assurance, and influence people in their behaviour and deportment, and as in the transaction it is the manner of the soliciting party which matters, this magic, no doubt, achieves its aim by psychological means.
This branch of Kula magic has two counter-parts in the other magical lore of the Trobrianders. One of them is the love magic, through which people are rendered attractive and irresistible. Their belief in these spells is such that a man would always attribute all his success in love to their efficiency. Another type closely analogous to the beauty magic of the Kula is the specific beauty magic practised before big dances and festivities.
Let us now give one or two samples of the magic which is performed on Sarubwoyna beach. The ritual in all of it is exceedingly simple. In each case the formula is spoken over a certain substance, and then this substance is applied to the body. The first rite to be performed is that of ceremonial washing. The toliwaga brings his mouth close to the big bundles of herbs, brought from the shore and utters the formula called kaykakaya (the ablution formula) over them. After an ablution, these leaves are rubbed over the skins of all those in the canoe who practise Kula. Then, in the same succession as I mention them, the coco-nut, the comb, the ordinary or the aromatic black paint or the betel-nut are charmed over.[1] Only one, as a rule, of the paints is used. In some cases the toliwaga does the spell for everybody. In other cases, a man who knows, say, the betel-nut or the comb spell, will do it for himself or even for all others. In some cases again, out of all these rites, only the kaykakaya (ablution) and one of the others will be performed.
Kaykakaya Spell
“O katatuna fish, O marabwaga fish, yabwau fish, reregu fish!”
“Their red paint, with which they are painted; their red paint, with which they are adorned.”
“Alone they visit, together we visit; alone they visit, together we visit a chief.”
“They take me to their bosom; they hug me.”
“The great woman befriends me, where the pots are boiling; the good woman befriends me, on the sitting platform.”
“Two pigeons stand and turn round; two parrots fly about.”
“No more it is my mother, my mother art thou, O woman of Dobu! No more it is my father, my father art thou, O man of Dobu! No more it is the high platform, the high platform are his arms; no more it is the sitting platform, the sitting platform are his legs; no more it is my lime spoon, my lime spoon is his tongue; no more it is my lime pot, my lime pot is his gullet.”
This formula then passes into the same ending as the sulumwoya spell, quoted previously, [Chapter VII], which runs: “Recently deceased spirit of my maternal uncle, etc.”
At the beginning of this spell, we find enumerated a series of fish names. These fishes all have red markings on their bodies, and they are tabooed to the people, who recite the mwasila magic and do the Kula. If eaten, they would give a man an ugly appearance. The above quoted saying of one of my informants: “we eat bad fish, we are ugly,” refers to these fishes amongst others. In this formula, the invocation is partly an appeal for assistance, and partly a sort of exorcism, which is meant to undo the evil effects of breaking the taboo of eating these fish. As this formula is associated with the ritual washing, the whole proceeding possesses a sort of magical consistency, which obtains within an exceedingly obscure and confused concatenation of ideas: the redness of the fish, the red painting on the human bodies for beauty, the invocation of the fishing magic, the taboo on this fish. These ideas hang together somehow, but it would be unwise and incorrect to attempt to put them into any logical order or sequence.[2] The sentence about ‘visiting,’ in this spell could not be made clear by any of my native informants. I venture to suggest that the fish are invited to assist the adventurer on his Kula visit, and to help him with their beauty.
The next few sentences refer to the reception he anticipates at Dobu, in the forcible and exaggerated language of magic. The words which have been here translated by ‘take to his bosom,’ ‘hug,’ ‘befriend,’ are the terms used to describe the fondling and rocking and hugging of small children. According to native custom, it would not be considered effeminate or ridiculous for men to put their arms round each other and walk or sit about thus. And it must be added, this is done without any homo-sexual intention, at least of the grosser type. None the less, no such fondling would really take place between the Dobuans and their Kula partners. The mention of the ‘great woman,’ the ‘great good woman’ refers to the wife and sister of the partner, who, as we have said before, are considered to wield great influence in the transactions.
The two pigeons and the two parrots express metaphorically the friendship between the reciter of this magic and his partner. The long list that follows expresses the exchange of his ordinary relations for his Dobuan friends. An exaggerated description follows of the intimacy between him and his partner, on whose arms and legs he will sit, and from whose mouth he will partake of the betel chewing materials.
I shall give a sample of another of these spells, associated with adornment and personal beauty. This is the spell spoken over the betel-nut with which the toliwaga and the members of his canoe draw lines of vermilion red on their faces. Young betel-nut, when crushed with lime in a small mortar, produces pigment of wonderful brightness and intensity. Travellers in the countries of the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific know it well, as the paint that colours the lips and tongues of the natives.
Talo Spell
“Red paint, red paint of the udawada fish! Red paint, red paint, of the mwaylili fish! At the one end of the aromatic pandanus flower-petal; at the other end of the Duwaku flower. There are two red paints of mine, they flare up, they flash.”
“My head, it flares up, it flashes; my red paint, it flares up, it flashes,
My facial blacking, it flares up, it flashes;
My aromatic paint, it flares up, it flashes;
My little basket, it flares up, it flashes;
My lime spoon, it flares up, it flashes;
My lime pot, it flares up, it flashes;
My comb, it flares up, it flashes.”
And so on, enumerating the various personal appurtenances, such as the mat, the stock-in-trade, the big basket, the charmed bundle (lilava) and then again the various parts of his head, that is his nose, his occiput, his tongue, his throat, his larynx, his eyes, and his mouth. The whole series of words is again repeated with another leading word instead of “it flares up, it flashes.” The new word, ‘mitapwaypwa’i’ is a compound, expressing a desire, a coveting, nascent in the eyes. The eyes are, according to native psycho-physical theories, the seat of admiration, wish and appetite in matters of sex, of greed for food, and for material possessions. Here, this expression conveys that the Dobuan partner, will, on beholding his visitor, desire to make Kula with him.
The spell ends: “My head is made bright, my face flashes. I have acquired a beautiful shape, like that of a chief; I have acquired a shape that is good. I am the only one; my renown stands alone.”
At the beginning we have again the mention of two fishes; evidently the redness of the fish is the right redness for the Kula! I am unable to explain the meaning of the second sentence, except that the petals of the pandanus flower are slightly coloured at one end, and that they are considered as one of the finest and most attractive ornaments. The middle part and the end of this spell need no commentary.
These two spells will be sufficient to indicate the general character of the beauty magic of the Kula. One more spell must be adduced here, that of the conch shell. This shell is as a rule medicated at this stage of the Kula proceedings. Sometimes, however, the toliwaga would, before departure from home, utter the formula into the opening of the conch shell, and close this up carefully, so that the virtue might not evaporate. The conch shell is made of a big specimen of the Cassis cornuta shell, at the broad end of which the apex of the spiral windings is knocked out, so as to form a mouth-piece. The spell is not uttered into the mouthpiece, but into the broad opening between the lips, both orifices being afterwards closed with coco-nut husk fibre until the shell has actually to be blown.
The Spell of the Ta’uya (Conch Shell)
“Mwanita, Mwanita! Come there together; I will make you come there together! Come here together; I will make you come here together! The rainbow appears there; I will make the rainbow appear there! The rainbow appears here; I will make the rainbow here.”
“Who comes ahead with the Kula? I” (here the name of the reciter is uttered), “come ahead with the Kula, I shall be the only chief; I shall be the only old man; I shall be the only one to meet my partner on the road. My renown stands alone; my name is the only one. Beautiful valuables are exchanged here with my partner; Beautiful valuables are exchanged there with my partner; The contents of my partner’s basket are mustered.”
After this exordium there comes a middle part, constructed on the general principle of one word’s being repeated with a series of others. The keyword here is an expression denoting the state of excitement which seizes a partner, and makes him give generous Kula offerings. This word here is repeated first with a series of words, describing the various personal belongings of the partner, his dog, his belt; his tabooed coco-nut and betel-nut; and then, with a new series of terms denoting the different classes of Kula valuables which are expected to be given. This part could therefore be translated thus:—
“A state of excitement seizes his dog, his belt, his gwara” (taboo on coco-nuts and betel-nuts) “his bagido’u necklace, his bagiriku necklace, his bagidudu necklace, etc.” The spell ends in a typical manner: “I shall kula, I shall rob my Kula; I shall steal my Kula; I shall pilfer my Kula. I shall kula so as to make my canoe sink; I shall kula so as to make my outrigger go under. My fame is like thunder, my steps are like earthquake!”
The first word of this spell, mwanita, is the native name for a long worm covered with rings of black armour. I was told that it is mentioned here because of its similarity to the spondylus shell necklaces, which also consist of many rings. I obtained this formula in Sinaketa, hence this interpretation heeds only the necklaces, though the simile might also obviously be extended to armshells, for a number of armshells threaded on a string, as they can be seen on [Plate LX], presents also a likeness to the mwanita worm. It may be added here that Sinaketa is one of these Kula communities in which the overseas expeditions are done only in one direction, to the South, from where only the spondylus necklaces are fetched. Its counterpart, Kiriwina, to the North, carries on again only one-sided overseas Kula. The formulæ which I obtained in Kiriwina differ from those of Sinaketa in their main parts: whenever there is a list of spondylus necklaces in a Sinaketan tapwana (main part) a list of the several varieties of armshells would be used in a Kiriwinian tapwana. In Kitava, where, as in several other Kula communities, the overseas expeditions are carried out in both directions, the same formula would be used by the same man with two different main parts, according as to whether he was sailing East to fetch mwali, or West to fetch soulava. No changes, however, would be made in the beginning of a spell.
The sentence ‘come here together’ refers to the collected valuables. The play on ‘there’ and ‘here,’ represented in the native language by the sounds ‘m’ and ‘w,’ which are used as interchangeable formatives, is very frequent in magic; (see [Chapter XVIII, Division XII]). The rainbow here invoked is a kariyala (magical portent) of this formula. When the conch shell is blown, and the fleet approaches the shore, a rainbow will appear in the skies.
The rest of the exordium is taken up by the usual boasts and exaggerations typical of magic. The middle part needs no commentary. It is clear that the sound of the conch shell is meant to arouse the partner to do his duty eagerly. The magic spoken into the conch shell heightens and strengthens this effect.