[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
690 MALEKULA Malekulans have of eating in the dark lest a ghost should touch the food. Such an accident would result in hysteria or one of some other unspeciï¬Åed illnesses. In Lambumbu or Lagalag it is believed that if a man were to climb a tree in the early morning, there would be danger of his being shot at by a ghost with shadows resembling poisoned arrows. The arrow is thought to stick in his ribs, and to make him fall sick with a pain in this region. To effect a cure for this the “ doctor " takes a young coco-nut and into it pours an infusion made from the juice of a certain leaf. The patient now squats on the ground, bends forward and holds the oriï¬Åce of the coco-nut close to his mouth. The " doctor " takes two small sticks (nesum4>) and with them hammers on the back of the patient's head in iour " bursts ", muttering a chami (wusï¬Ås) as he does so. When this is over the coco-nut is taken away, its contents are poured out on to a leaf and examined. Something black is seen in the liquid; this is the arrow which the ghost shot and which has now been safely extracted from the patient’s body. After this a recovery is assured, and the patient gives the doctor a pig for his trouble. The methods employed for the treatment oi other illnesses are such as would be expected from the beliefs as to their cause. In the beginning a clairvoyant is generally summoned to diagnose the root of the malady. This man is not a doctor in any sense of the word, nor is he a magician; he is only one who has the power oi looking back into the past, or iorward into the future, or ol seeing that which is happening in distant places. His role is a purely passive one in many cases. He may sink himself in a. trance and pronounce the nature of the malevolent magic which is being worked—whether for instance it be nambangsian nimbwunu, etc.—a.nd the quarter whence it is coming; some- times he is even able to tell the name of the sorcerer responsible. But often some deï¬Ånite rite of divination or diagnosis will be performed, and this it seems is not necessarily done by a clairvoyant, but may he done by a " doctor " who “ knows how ". A common method in Seniang is for the doctor to take a husked coco-nut, split it in two so that the milk runs out, and then turning his back on the people so that they cannot see, he places certain loaves inside the empty shell} Now he faces the patient, ‘ The leaves used in this form of divination are probably #11059 called nimbï¬Ånbsr--—C. H. W.
