- Mahoroa,
- Murumbai,
- Uruti-Emilia?
- Mukandu,
- Muchatha-Emilia, sp.,
- Matei or Mitei,
- Ihurura, a creeping, vine-like plant.
He separated these into two bundles, and bound each at the base with the creeper ihurura; they resembled two hand brushes of green leaves.
The mother of the patient or person who was to be purified then fetched about a pint of water from the stream, carrying it in a couple of banana leaves laid over each other. A small depression was scooped in the ground, and the water, still in the banana leaves, was deposited therein. The medicine man and the patient squatted opposite each other. The former then put a variety of powders in the water. These were enumerated as follows:
- (1) Powder made from the stomach contents of the tree hyrax.
- (2) Ruthuku made from the muhokora root.
- (3) Umu, a reddish powder made from the root of a thorny plant. [[136]]
- (4) A powder made from the irura (papyrus) and the mahoroa plant.
He then produced the dried right black forefoot of a sheep, dipped it in the water, stirred up the contents, and placed the wetted foot in the mouth of the patient, who licked it vigorously and then expectorated the liquid on the ground. This was repeated some twenty or thirty times, the medicine man incessantly recounting all kinds of dangers and evils in a chanting voice with a general refrain, “May you be delivered from all these.” He then took one of the bundles of plants and dipped the lower end in the water. The patient licked it and expectorated, as above described, the medicine man chanting the whole time.
The same procedure was adopted with the second bundle of leaves.
The patient then stood up; the medicine man took one of the brushes, dipped it in the water, and sprinkled the patient’s head and wiped the front of his body with the wetted bundle of leaves. The patient now turned round and the back of his body was similarly treated.
The patient then knelt down and washed his face with the water and washed each foot and leg. This done, he wiped his face, feet, and legs, first with one bundle and then with the other. The patient then put his finger into the water and pierced the banana leaf basin, and the water soaked away into the earth. Thereupon the medicine man gathered up the banana leaves and his bundle of leaves and deposited them on the village manure heap, kiaraini.
There was still a final stage of the proceeding, viz., the anointing with white clay, ira. The patient still stood in front of the medicine man, who took from a small gourd some of the white earth, and smeared it down the line of the nose, on the upper lip, under the chin, on the right and left big toe, and on the palms of both hands. A little of the medicines called irura and [[137]]muhokora were then taken and a little placed in the palm of each hand of the patient, who crossed his hands and, holding them in this position, alternately licked each palm. The medicine man then licked a little of the above medicine, and the ceremony was finished.
The purification ceremony cannot be performed without payment; it is otherwise of no avail.