Gebobo Spell. “My father, my mother … Kula, *mwasila*.” This short exordium, running in the compressed style proper to magical beginnings, is rather enigmatic, except for the mention of the Kula and *mwasila*, which explain themselves. The second part is less obscure: “I shall fill my canoe with *bagido’u*, I shall fill my canoe with *bagiriku*, I shall fill my canoe with *bagidudu*, etc.” All the specific names of the necklaces are enumerated. The last part runs as follows: “I shall anchor in the open sea, and my renown will go to the Lagoon, I shall anchor in the Lagoon, and my renown will go to the open sea. My companions will be on the open sea and on the Lagoon. My renown is like thunder, my treading is like earthquake.”
This last part is similar to several of the other formulæ. This rite is obviously a Kula rite, judging from the spell, but the natives maintain that its special virtue is to make the food stuffs, loaded into the canoe, last longer. After this rite is over, the loading is done quickly, the lilava is put into its place of honour, and with it the best food to be eaten in Dobu. Some other choice food to serve as pokala (offerings) is also put in the gebobo, to be offered to overseas partners; on it, the rest of the trade, called pari, is piled, and right on top of all are the personal belongings of the usagelu and the toliwaga in their respective baskets, shaped like travelling bags.
The people from the inland villages, kulila’odila, as they are called, are assembled on the beach. With them stand the women, the children, the old men, and the few people left to guard the village. The master of the fleet gets up and addresses the crowd on the shore, more or less in these words:
“Women, we others sail; you remain in the village and look after the gardens and the houses; you must keep chaste. When you get into the bush to get wood, may not one of you lag behind. When you go to the gardens to do work keep together. Return together with your younger sisters.”
He also admonishes the people from the other villages to keep away, never to visit Sinaketa at night or in the evening, and never to come singly into the village. On hearing that, the