II
After the beauty magic and the spell over the conch shell are finished—and the whole performance does not take more than half an hour or so—every man, in full festive array, takes his place in his canoe. The sails have been folded and the masts removed, and the final stage is done by paddling. The canoes close in, not in any very regular formation, but keeping near to one another, the canoe of the toli’uvalaku as a rule moving in the van. In each canoe, the toliwaga sits at his proper place in the middle of the canoe near the gebobo (special erection made for cargo). One man sits in the front, right against the prow-board, and another at the stern on the platform. All the remaining members of the canoe wield the paddles, while the small boy or the junior member of the crew, sits near the front, ready to blow the conch shell. The oarsmen swing their leaf-shaped paddles with long, energetic and swift strokes, letting the water spray off them and the glistening blades flash in the sunlight—a ceremonial stroke which they call kavikavila (lightening).
As the canoes begin to move, the three men, so far idle, intone a chant, reciting a special magical formula, each a different one. The man in the front, holding his hand on the tabuyo (oval prow-board), recites a spell, called kayikuna tabuyo (the swaying of the prow-board). The toliwaga in the middle recites the powerful formula called kavalikuliku (the earthquake spell), a formula which makes “the mountain tremble and subside.” The man at the stern recites what is called kaytavilena moynawaga, a name which I cannot very well explain, which literally means, “the changing of the canoe entrance.” Thus, laden with magical force, which is poured forth irresistibly on to the mountain, the canoes advance towards the goal of their enterprise. With the voices of the reciters mingle the soft, penetrating sounds of the conch shell, blending their various pitches into a weird, disturbing harmony. Samples of the three spells must be given here.
Kayikuna Tabuyo “Moruborogu, Mosilava’u!” “Fish-hawk, fall on thy prey, catch it. My prow-board, O fish-hawk, fall on thy prey, catch it. This key expression, the invocation of the fish-hawk, is repeated with a string of words, denoting, first, the ornamental parts of the canoe; afterwards, certain of its constructive parts; and finally, the lime-pot, the lime stick, the comb, the paddles, the mats, the *lilava* (magical bundle), and the *usagelu* (members of the crew). The spell ends with the words:— “I shall *kula*, I shall rob my Kula, etc.,” as in the previously given formula of the conch shell.
The first two words of this spell are personal names of men, as the initial syllable Mo- indicates, but no information about them was available. The allusion to the fish-hawk in the main part suggests a connection between the action of the rite, that is, the moving of the tabuyo, with this part of the spell, for the ornamental prow-boards are called synonymously buribwari (fish-hawk). On the other hand, the expression: “Fish-hawk, fall on thy prey,” is no doubt also a magical simile, expressing the idea: “As a fish-hawk falls on his prey and carries it off, so let this canoe fall on the Kula valuables and carry them off.” The association of this simile with the act of shaking the prow-boards is very suggestive. It may be an attempt to assimilate the whole canoe and all its parts to a fish-hawk falling on its prey, through the special mediation of the ornamental prow-board.
The spell recited by the toliwaga in the middle of the canoe runs thus:—