„The mountain is encountered in the Kula; we encounter the mountain in the Kula”.
The expression, kubara, takuba, kubara, which we have here translated by „the mountain is met in the Kula” etc., is then repeated with a long string of words denoting the various classes of valuables to be received in the Kula. It ends with the conclusion already quoted: „My renown is like thunder, my steps are like earthquake”.
The opening two sentences are clear; they contain a typical magical exaggeration, and equally typical permutation of words. Then comes the terrible verbal onslaught on „the mountain”, in which the dreadful upheaval is carried on in words. „The mountain” (koya) stands here for the community of partners, for the partner, for his mind. It was very difficult to translate the expression kubara, takuba kubara. It is evidently an archaic word, and I have found it in several formula of the mwasila. It seems to mean something like an encounter between the approaching fleet and the koya. The word for sea battle is kubilia in the Trobriand language, and kubara in that of the Amphletts and Dobu, and as often the words of the partner’s language are mixed up into these formulae, this etymology and translation seem to be the correct ones.
The third formula, that of the man in the stern, is as follows:
Kaytavilena Mwoynawaga
„Crocodile, fall down, take thy man! push him down under the gebobo! (part of the canoe where the cargo is stowed away)”.
„Crocodile, bring me the necklace, bring me the bagido’u”, etc.
The formula is ended by the usual phras : ”I shall kula, I shall rob my Kula”, etc., as in the two previously quoted spells (ta’uyo and kayikuna tabuyo).
This formula is obviously a pendant to the first of these three spells, and the crocodile is here invoked instead of the fish hawk, with the same significance. The rest of the spell is clear, the crocodile being appealed to, to bring all the different classes of the spondylus shell valuables.
It is interesting to reflect upon the psychological importance of this magic. There is a deep belief in its efficiency, a belief cherished not only by those who advance chanting it, but shared also by the men awaiting the visitors on the shore. The Dobuans know that powerful forces are at work upon them. They must feel the wave of magical influence slowly advancing, spreading over their villages. They hear the appeal of the conch-shell, wafting the magic to them in its irresistible note. They can guess the murmur of the many voices accompanying it. They know what is expected from them, and they rise to the occasion. On the part of the approaching party, this magic, the chant of the many voices blended with the ta’uyo (conch shell), expresses their hopes and desires and their rising excitement; their attempt to „shake the mountain”, to stir it to its very foundations.