15 Kalubasisi (Untranslatable) kalubayo’u (flying(?) ); kuvaylise mayena (you hit his tongue), kuvaylise (you hit) bubuwala (his chest), kulakwoyse (you untie) kala (his) sibu (keel) waga (canoe).
16 Wagam (Canoe (thou art)) kousi (ghost), wagam (canoe, (thou art) ), vivilu’a (wind eddy), kuyokarige (thou vanish) Siyaygana (Siyaygana), bukuyova (thou fly).
17 Kwarisasa (Thou pierce) kamkarikeda (thy sea-passage) Kadimwatu (Kadimwatu); kwaripwo (thou break through) kabaluna (nose his) Saramwa (Saramwa); kwabadibadi (thou meet) Loma (Loma).
18 Kuyokarige (Thou become as dead), kuyotamwa’u (thou disappear), kuyovivilu’a (thou become as a wind eddy) kuyogugwa’u (thou become like mist).
19 Kusola (Thou mould) kammayamaya (the fine sand), kwotutine (thou cut) kamgulupeya (thy seaweed); kuna (thou go), kugoguna (thou put on) kambwoymatala (thy butia wreath).
We have here the native text, translated word for word, each expression and formative affix being rendered by its English equivalent. In obtaining such a verbatim translation and subsequently putting it into a free, intelligible English rendering, there are two main difficulties to be overcome. A considerable proportion of the words found in magic do not belong to ordinary speech, but are archaisms, mythical names and strange compounds, formed according to unusual linguistic rules. Thus the first task is to elucidate the obsolete expressions, the mythical references, and to find the present day equivalents of any archaic words. Even if we obtain a series of meanings corresponding to each term of the original text, there is often considerable difficulty in linking these meanings together. Magic is not built up in the narrative style; it does not serve to communicate ideas from one person to another; it does not purport to contain a consecutive, consistent meaning. It is an instrument serving special purposes, intended for the exercise of man’s specific power over things, and its meaning, giving this word a wider sense, can be understood only in correlation to this aim. It will not be therefore a meaning of logically or topically concatenated ideas, but of expressions fitting into one another and into the whole, according to what could be called a magical order of thinking, or perhaps more correctly, a magical order of expressing, of launching words towards their aim. It is clear that this magical order of verbal concatenations — I am purposely avoiding the expression „magical logic” for there is no logic in the case — must be known and familiar to anyone who wishes really to understand the spells. There is therefore a great initial difficulty in „reading” such documents, and only an acquaintance with a great number makes one more confident and more competent.
III
In the ordinary routine of working out such texts, I tried to obtain from the magician the equivalents, word for word, of the more cryptic expressions. As a rule the magician himself knows a good deal more than anyone else about the mythical references, and about certain esoteric expressions contained in the spell. There are some unintelligent old men, unfortunately, who rattle off a formula, and who evidently never were interested about its significance or else forgot all about it, and are no good as commentators. Often a fairly good informant, quite capable of reciting a spell slowly and intelligibly, without losing his thread, will be of no use as linguistic informant, that is in helping to obtain a definition of a word, in assisting to break it up into its formative parts; in explaining which words belong to ordinary speech, which are dialectic, which are archaic, and which are purely magical compounds. I had only a few informants who could help me in this way, and among them the previously mentioned Motago’i was one of the best.
The analysis to which I now proceed can be given only in an approximate manner, for in a full one, a long disquisition on grammar would have to be given first. It will be enough, however, to show in broad outline the main linguistic features of a spell, as well as the methods which have been used in constructing the free translation given in the previous chapters.
The formula here quoted, shows the typical tripartition of the longer spells. The first part is called u’ula. This word means the „bottom part” of a tree or post, the „foundation” of any structure, and in more figurative uses, it means „reason”, „cause” or, again, „beginning”. It is in this last sense that the natives apply it to the first strophe of a song, and to the exordium of a magical formula. The second part of the spell is called tapwana, literally: „surface”, „skin”, „body”, „trunk”, „middle part” of a tree, „main part” of a road, and thus „main part” of a spell or song. The word dogina, literally the „tip” or „end”, used for the „tip” of a tree or the „end” of a tail, is used to designate the „final part” or the „conclusion” of a spell. Sometimes the word dabwana, „top” or „head” (not human head) is substituted for dogina. Thus the spell must be imagined turned upside down, its beginning put at the basis, the u’ula, its main part where the middle trunk would be, and its end at the tip, the dogina.