[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
670 MALEKULA ,
as is the flight of this bird when it swoops upon a ï¬Åsh. The
clan~ferti1ity rites of several Seniang and Wilemp villages see
to it that the creatures of the sea shall be proliï¬Åc. Hunting is an
occupation of little importance relatively to the Malekulan, but
for the purpose of being successful in snaring pigs, wild cats, and
other wild animals, a magic named mwelnggil nitum metim is
performed.
The making of sun and rain, calm and rough weather are,
as we have seen, the concern of the official magicians of certain
clans, although there is also a private magic for causing storms
and another, called in Seniang nevi/llvaravar, for bringing about
thunder. Whether there are also private means of making
sunshine and wet weather is not quite clear. Mention is made
of a leaf known as ningginggia nemar mbong, which is used for
creating rain in Seniang, and there is a note which tells that
a certain magician could bring about wet weather by pouring
water on to a certain stone. To bring an end to the rain he took
a coco-nut bowl, allowed the rain to ï¬Åll it and then retired into
his house where he kept as dry as possible, refraining from
drinking and from coming in contact with anything wet. The
coco-nut bowl he set down beside the ï¬Åre, and as the water
evaporated from out of it, so gradually the rain ceased. Unfor-
tunately We cannot be sure whether this rain-maker was the
nimbatin nowor of a rain-making clan, or whether a private
practitioner with a special rain-stone of his own. In Lambumbu
there are said to be two stones-one of which we have already
heard of as belonging to Sesai, the other kept at Lembelag—~
which are used to control the sun and rain. The latter is operated
by the " sun~magician " of Lembelag. This rnan cannot be the
clan magician who celebrates the noghura of this village, for this
has to do with the " making of man â€ù, but it is probable that
he is a deï¬Ånitely recognized oflicial oi the clan and not merely
a private individual possessing the sun- and rain-making stone.
We do not know what species or phenomenon was “ made â€ù by
the village to which Sesai belonged, but from the tact that
Wulvanu was able to purchase Sesai’s services -for his own private
ends we may infer that the latter was a private practitioner
and not a sun- and rain-magician for his clan. The stones both
work in the same way. They are coloured red on one side and
black on the other. When the sun is wanted the red side is
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