of the prefix bo-, which carries with it the meaning of ‘tabooed,’ ‘belonging to magic,’ and of the two roots sisiula and mwalela, neither of which is a complete word. The first is the root part of the word visisi’ula, which designates a custom associated with this magic. At certain times, in connection with the performance of the wayugo rite, the magician has fits of trembling and then he has to be given some baked fish, and after partaking of it his trembling fit passes. The natives say that he trembles like a bisila (pandanus streamer) and that this shows that his magic is good, since the trembling of the pandanus is a symbol of speed. Mwalela is derived from olumwalela which means ‘inside.’ With the prefix bo- the word can be translated ‘the tabooed inside.’
It is even more difficult to interpret the general meaning of these two expressions, than to find out their literal equivalents. We have an allusion to a ritual eating of fish, associated with a trembling which symbolises speed, and we have an expression ‘tabooed inside.’
The custom of eating fish after trembling has a magical importance. It adds to the efficiency of magic, as all such observances do.
The force or merit of this observance, which, dissociated from the spell and the rite can have no direct effect, is made available by being mentioned in the formula; it is so to speak, magically discounted. This is the best way in which I can interpret the two words of ritual eating and of tabooed interior of the magician.
The three words of sentence 2 have each to tell its own story. The word papapa, ‘flutter,’ stands for a phrase: “let the canoe speed so that the pandanus leaves flutter.” Of course the word expresses much more than this sentence, because it is intelligible only to those who are acquainted with the part played by the pandanus leaves in the decoration of canoes, with the native ideas about magical association between flutter and speed, and with the ritual use of pandanus streamers. Therefore the word has a meaning only if taken with the context of this formula, in connection with its aim, with the various associated ideas and customs. To the native, who knows all this and in whose mind the whole context rises, when he hears or repeats ‘papapa’ the word quivers with magical force. The word silubida, an especial magical transformation of lilobida, stands for a certain variety of the betel pepper plant. The word monagakalava is again an elaborate compound carrying the meaning ‘to leave behind.’ The betel plant is a common magical ingredient, and in this spell, the ancestral spirits will presently be invited to chew betel-nut. ‘Leaving behind’ undoubtedly refers to the