XII
In all this, we have been dealing with general characteristics of Boyowan (Trobriand) magic. This has been done mainly on the basis of the material presented in this volume, with only a few examples from other branches of magic. The result so far can be set down thus: magic to the natives represents a special department; it is a specific power, essentially human, autonomous and independent in its action. This power is an inherent property of certain words, uttered with the performance of certain actions by the man entitled to do it through his social traditions and through certain observances which he has to keep. The words and acts have this power in their own right, and their action is direct and not mediated by any other agency. Their power is not derived from the authority of spirits or demons or supernatural beings. It is not conceived as having been wrested from nature. The belief in the power of words and rites as a fundamental and irreducible force is the ultimate, basic dogma of their magical creed. Hence we find established the ideas that one never can tamper with, change or improve spells; that tradition is the only source from which they can be derived; that it has brought them down from times lying beyond the speculation of man, that there can be no spontaneous generation of magic.
We are naturally led now to inquire one stage further into the manner in which the magical words and rites act. Obviously the only way to obtain correct information on this point is to analyse and compare a great number of well authenticated formulae, and minutely recorded rites. Even the collection of Kula magic here partially given in free translation, would allow us to arrive at certain interesting conclusions. But we can go deeper still with the help of linguistic analysis, and we shall proceed to this inquiry in the next chapter.
Chapter XVIII. The power of words in magic — some linguistic data
I — Study of linguistic data in magic to throw light on native ideas about the power of words. II — The text of the wayugo spell with literal translation. III — Linguistic analysis of its u’ula (exordium). IV — Vocal technique of reciting a spell. Analysis of the tapwana (main part) and dogina (final part). V — The text of the Sulumwoya spell and its analysis. VI–XII Linguistic data referring to the other spells mentioned in this volume and some general inferences. VI — The tokway spell and the opening phrases of the canoe spells. VII — The tapwana (main parts) of the canoe spells. VIII — The end parts (dogina) of these spells. IX — The u’ula of the mwasila spells. X — The tapwana and the dogina of these spells. XI — The kayga’u spells. XII — Summary of the results of this linguistic survey. XIII — Substances used in these magical rites. XIV–XVIII Analysis of some non-magical linguistic texts, to illustrate ethnographic method and native way of thinking. XIV — General remarks about certain aspects of method. XV — Text No. 1, its literal and free translation. XVI — Commentary. XVII — Texts No. 2 and 3 translated and commented upon.
I
The aim of this Chapter is to show by a linguistic analysis of two magical texts, and by a general survey of a greater number, what sort of words are believed to exercise magical power. This, of course, does not mean that we are under the delusion that the composers or inventers of magic had a theory about the efficiency of words, and carried this theory into practice by inventing the formula. But, as the moral ideas and rules prevalent in society, though not codified, can be found out by analysing human behaviou; as we reach the underlying principles of law and social propriety by examining customs and manners; as in the study of rites, we see some definite tenets of belief and dogmas — so, in analysing the direct verbal expressions of certain modes of thinking in the magical formulae, we are justified in assuming that these modes of thinking must have somehow guided those who shaped them. The exact manner in which we must imagine the relation between a typical way of thinking in a society on the one hand, and the fixed, crystallised results of this thinking on the other, is a problem of Social Psychology. For this branch of science we are, in ethnography, under the obligation of gathering material, but we need not encroach upon its field of study.
Thus much may, however, be put down, that, in whatever manner we might imagine a spell to have come into existence, it cannot be considered as the creation of one man; for as has been said before, if we examine any one of them, not with the eyes of the natives, but as outside critics, each spell shows unmistakable signs of being a collection of linguistic additions from different epochs. There is in practically every one of them a good deal of archaic material, but not a single one bears the stamp of having come down to us in the same form in which it must have presented itself a few generations ago. So that it may be said that a spell is constantly being remoulded as it passes through the chain of magicians, each probably leaving his mark, however small, upon it. It is the general attitude in matters of magical belief common to all of the successive holders which will be at the bottom of all the regularities, all the typical features found in the spells.
I shall adduce a formula of canoe magic and one of the spells belonging to the mwasila, choosing two texts of which a translation and a commentary of average quality have been obtained, and which show clearly the several characteristic features of verbal magic. Those who are not interested in linguistic technicalities and details of method, may omit the following division, and take up the trend of our argument at division XII.