off a formula, and who evidently never were interested about its significance or else forgot all about it, and are no good as commentators. Often a fairly good informant, quite capable of reciting a spell slowly and intelligibly, without losing his thread, will be of no use as linguistic informant, that is in helping to obtain a definition of a word, in assisting to break it up into its formative parts; in explaining which words belong to ordinary speech, which are dialectic, which are archaic, and which are purely magical compounds. I had only a few informants who could help me in this way, and among them the previously mentioned Motago’i was one of the best.
The analysis to which I now proceed can be given only in an approximate manner, for in a full one, a long disquisition on grammar would have to be given first. It will be enough, however, to show in broad outline the main linguistic features of a spell, as well as the methods which have been used in constructing the free translation given in the previous chapters.
The formula here quoted, shows the typical tripartition of the longer spells. The first part is called u’ula. This word means the ‘bottom part’ of a tree or post, the ‘foundation’ of any structure, and in more figurative uses, it means ‘reason,’ ‘cause,’ or, again, ‘beginning.’ It is in this last sense that the natives apply it to the first strophe of a song, and to the exordium of a magical formula.
The second part of the spell is called tapwana, literally: ‘surface,’ ‘skin,’ ‘body,’ ‘trunk,’ ‘middle part’ of a tree, ‘main part’ of a road, and thus ‘main part’ of a spell or song.
The word dogina, literally the ‘tip’ or ‘end,’ used for the ‘tip’ of a tree or the ‘end’ of a tail, is used to designate the ‘final part’ or the ‘conclusion’ of a spell. Sometimes the word dabwana, ‘top,’ or ‘head,’ (not human head) is substituted for dogina.
Thus the spell must be imagined turned upside down, its beginning put at the basis, the u’ula, its main part where the middle trunk would be, and its end at the tip, the dogina.
The opening words of the u’ula in this spell are short, cutting, pithy expressions, each standing for its own cycle of ideas, for a sentence or even a whole story. In this they are typical of the beginnings of Kiriwinian spells. They are also typical, in the great difficulty which they present to the interpreter. Out of the seven words contained in phrases 1 and 2, four do not belong to ordinary speech, and are obscure compounds. Thus the words bosisi’ula and bomwalela are made up first