On several occasions I noticed these consultations with Fatumak, but had no idea of their meaning; I supposed that the tying of knots in a strip of leaf was mere frivolity to fill up the time. One day, however, a seeker for truth happened to sit close beside me and I heard him earnestly talking to himself, or to the knots, as each one was tied; when the four strips were finished, he adjusted them carefully in his hand and showed them to Fatumak, who merely glanced at them and murmured a reply. This was repeated several times; then the man arose and went away contented. Of course, I asked Fatumak what it all meant and he informed me that the man wished to find out whether or not a friend of his, in the northern end of Uap, who was very sick, was going to get well; the answers had been favourable.

Whoever wishes to consult the omens in this manner provides himself with eight or ten strips of green palm leaf, preferably the narrow leaves of the coconut, and in the presence of the soothsayer, proceeds to tie at random in each strip a series of single knots about a half inch apart, not counting the knots as he ties them, but all the time murmuring to himself the question which he wishes answered. When four strips bear many knots thus tied, he takes the first strip and, counting off the knots by fours, beginning at the broad end of the leaf, catches the strip between his thumb and the base of the index finger of the right hand in such a way that all the knots which are over an even division by four, stick up above the back of the hand. On the second, third and fourth strips he counts off the knots in the same way, and catches them in turn between the index and middle finger, the middle finger and ring finger, and the ring finger and little finger, thus leaving the uneven number of knots sticking up close to the knuckles. If there happens to be, on any strip, an even number of fours, then four knots are left projecting. The seer then reads the omen from the combinations of knots in the two pairs of strips, composed of the thumb and index strip, and the index and middle finger strip for one pair; and the middle and ring finger strip, and the ring and little finger strip for the other. Each pair signifies a different kan, or demon, and it is in accordance with the union of these kan, that the omens are good or bad. As may be seen, there are sixteen combinations of the number of knots possible in each pair; consequently, there are sixteen valuable kan which assist at this form of mach-mach. For instance, the thumb strip may have four knots left over and the index strip have two, this is the sign that the female kan, Vengek, is present for one; the middle finger strip may have one and the ring finger strip have three knots left projecting above the knuckles, this is the sign that Nebul, a male kan, is associating with Vengek, and this indicates a certain answer according to the drift of the question; which would be also affected by the appearance of Vengek or Nebul in the first or second pair of knots, the time of day, conditions of the weather and many other influences, which Fatumak declared it would be useless to tell me, as I could not possibly understand them all. I had made the grave error of showing too rapid a comprehension of one of the mysteries of the art when he was giving me the signs of the various kan, their sex, and to whom they were married. This is the list, as he gave it to me, before explaining anything about sex or marriage among the kan:

Of course, he had to give a practical demonstration of each combination, he could not carry the numbers in his head; and when he had finished the last one, Liverr, he vouchsafed the additional information, while the knots were still between his fingers, that this kan was a woman and was married to Wunumerr. This led me to ask about the next to the last, Vengek; this also proved to be a woman, married to Trunuwil; the next, Nafau (four-and-two) also a woman and married to Namen (two-and-four),—this gave me the key,—the descending numerical combinations were women and they were married to their ascending reverse combinations.

Three-and-two would be a woman and married to two-and-three; three-and-one the wife of one-and-three, etc., etc. Foolishly exultant over my guessing these combinations, I forestalled Fatumak in telling off the remaining combinations and named the husbands and wives; he first eyed me with astonishment, and then became unmistakably provoked and sullen. But my pride had its fall; I could not determine the even combinations of four-and-four, three-and-three, two-and-two, and one-and-one, so I had to appeal to his superior knowledge again; whereupon he told me rather gruffly that four-and-four was the chief Sayuk, and his lesser half was Nagaman (two-and-two), and one-and-one was their son Thilibik, and three-and-three was the bachelor youth Thugalup; and then he added that I might be very clever and guess just as shrewdly about the Bei, but that I would never know any more than what he had just told me, and that no white man could ever understand it; we had our glasses that looked beyond the sight of man into the distance, but the men of Uap had Bei wherewith they could see things that had not yet happened that were beyond the thoughts of man. With that he gathered up his betel basket and solemnly walked away. I had lost for ever a golden opportunity by my vanity,—but I incline to think it was somewhat pardonable.

I did learn, however, a little more about the mach-mach, or momok men, from the chief, Ronoboi, also a noted seer and dealer in charms. Those who practice the art must be aged widowers, or widows, from whose lives all thoughts of love for the opposite sex have vanished; they may never eat food that has been prepared the previous day; they must always be scrupulously careful that the “quids” of betel nut, which they have finished chewing, are destroyed either by fire or by throwing them into the sea, where no profane hands can find them and thereby work charms (consequently their betel basket is provided with an extra compartment wherein the exhausted “quids” are deposited to await their destruction); the parings of their nails and the hair cut from their head must likewise be burned or thrown into the sea; if they spit upon the ground, they must always wipe it out with the foot. All this is done so that no counter spells may be worked against them. The aim of the regulation in regard to warmed-over food is, we may surmise, that no stale food shall be proffered as a compensation for their fortune-telling or, possibly, it may be to avoid the risk of poisons. Whoever takes counsel of the Bei, must himself make the knots in the strips of palm leaf and hold them in his right hand. He cannot force his fortune by pre-arranging the combinations of kan; there are so many controlling circumstances, of which only the soothsayer has knowledge, that it would be futile for any one to try to deceive the Fates.

Fatumak’s Account
For Trade in Coconuts

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1. Bag of Flour800
2. Tins of Beef200
3. Tobacco400
4. Matches200
5. Rice200
6. Two Iron Pots200
7. A Lamp200
8. Sardines200
9. Sugar100
10 Tea100
11 An Axe200
12 Knives200
13 An iron Pot100
14 Tobacco300