[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

550 MALEKULA
bow and arrows he goes out during the night and shoots in the
direction whence the ghost is believed to come. The other
method is to burn inside the house the leaves and fruit of the
wild orange tree (nuclei) and other strongly scented leaves.
Ghosts very much dislike the smell of these, and keep away
from it. This is also done in the yam gardens to cause the yams
to yield well, and to make a coco-nut tree to bear much fruit
nisivung leaves are burnt at its foot that their smell may ascend,
the implication being apparently, in both cases, that in this way
hostile ghosts may be kept at a distance and so do no harm to
the plants.
If a man has died and it is not known who is responsible for
his death, a special ceremony is performed, in which a spirit
discovers the murderer to the friends and relatives of the dead
man. About sixteen men take part. First they select a long
bamboo which is sharpened to a point at one end. Then the
leader of the party takes some bread-fruit leaves, and with them
blindfolds all his companions and ï¬Ånally himself. The men
now stand facing one another in two lines and hold the bamboo
between them, the hands of each being placed alternately with
those of his vis-it-vis. All then wait thus patiently standing
until presently they feel a tug on the bamboo. Should the tugs
be in the form of sharp triplets, â€ù' 'â€ù â€ù', then the ghost
which is pulling is a woman. This is no use, so they tell her
to go away. Later a male ghost comes and tugs at the bamboo
with the beat of his clan gong-rhythm. Then gradually the
bamboo is pulled away, with all the men holding on to it. It
passes along paths, through the bush, up over the trees, careering
with its ghost helmsman throughout the length and breadth of
the land. As it passes through the thickest part of the bush not
a twig nor a leaf touches the men hanging on to it, and they pass
along magically intact. To the blindfolded men it seems that
they are marking time on the one spot, and when the bamboo
comes to rest and they ï¬Ånd themselves where they were in the
beginning they cannot believe that they have traversed the
country. But in the morning, on going to look, they see the
track which they have made through the bush leading, supposedly,
in the direction of the murderer's house. Once when this blind-
fold journey was in progress, the bandage over one man’s eyes
came off and the bamboo stopped dead. All the men then looked