matai (cut), matake’i (cut at), meyova (fly), etc.
These verbs are used in this spell with the prefix ma- or me-, which represents the tense of indefinite duration. This prefix, although, as far as I know, found in several Melanesian languages in full vigour, has in Kiriwina a distinctly archaic flavour, and is only used in certain locutions and in magic. Some of the verbs used in this spell are metaphorical in their meaning, describing the speed of the canoe in a figurative manner. The list of the complimentary words repeated with the key-words contains the enumeration of the different parts of the canoe. It is typical that the key-words are in their form archaic and in their meaning figurative, while the complimentary terms are just ordinary words of everyday speech.
Another regular tapwana has been given in the Kadumiyala spell in Chapter IX, where the only key-word, napuwoye, has been translated: „I impart speed magically”. The prefix na- is that of the definite tense. The formative pu- I was unable to translate, while the root woye means literally „to beat” and in a somewhat more remote sense, „to impart magic”. In the Kayikuna veva spell, the pair bwoytalo’i, bosuyare, meaning „paint red in a ritual manner”,and „wreathe in a ritual manner”, are given formal resemblance by the alliterative prefix bo-, which carries with it the meaning of „ritual”.
We see that the number of the tapwana is smaller, since only three spells out of seven have got it. In form, the tapwana are simpler than the u’ula, and an examination of a greater number of key-words would show that they also express directly or figuratively the magical action or its effect, Thus, here we had a verb denoting the imparting of magic, that is the direct expression of the action; then two words figuratively expressing it, and the series of verbal key-words enumerating the effects of the magic, such as flying, speed, etc. In other canoe spells, not given in this book, there could be found similar types of key-words such as: „the canoe flies”; „the buriwada fish is poised on a wave”; „the reef-heron wades”; „the reefheron skirts the beach”..., all of them expressing the aim of the spell in accordance with the magical trend of thought.
VIII
From the linguistic point of view, the final parts of the spells, the dogina, present, as a rule, fewer remarkable features. Phonetically the most outstanding trait is the purely onomatopoetic sound complexes, such as sididi or saidididi, or the three words sididi, tatata, numsa, found in the Kadumiyala spell. From the point of view of meaning, there are in some of the dogina interesting metaphorical turns of speech, such as the descriptions of time in the Kaygagabile spell, where the difference in speed between the magician and his companions is expressed by allusions to the morning and evening sun, couched in figurative speech. Some mythical allusions also find their way into the dogina. These parts of a spell are undoubtly the least important in the natives’ eyes; very often the same dogina is used with a number of formulae belonging to the one cycle, as we have noticed. Other spells have no dogina at all, for instance, that of Kapitunena Duku, where the onomatopoetic sound sidididi stands for the whole dogina. As said above, the manner of reciting these parts is more perfunctory, with fewer melodic modulations and phonetic peculiarities.
IX
I have given so far a short linguistic survey of the canoe spells, dealing first with their initial parts, u’ula, then with their main parts, tapwana, and lastly saying a few words about the dogina. In a still more summary manner, I shall give a short survey of the mwasila (Kula magic) spells, quoted or ment[...] in this book, beginning with the u’ula.
In the Yawarwpu spell (Chapter VII) we have the beginning:
Bu’a, bu’a, bovinaygau, vinaygu;