a list of forbears; then more explicit and, at the same time more dramatic sentences; an invocation to ancestral spirits, the anticipated victory in speed, the reconstructed mythical incident.
IV
Let us pass now to the tapwana. This is always the longest part of a spell, since we have a whole list of words which have to be repeated with several key expressions, of which in the present case there are three. Moreover, the magician can ad libitum repeat the same words over and over again with a key word. He will not go in any fixed order over all the words of the list, but is allowed, in this part of the formula, to return and repeat with one key-word the various items of the list.
It will be best to say here a few words about the manner in which the magical formulæ are actually recited. The opening words are always intoned with a strong, melodious cadence which is not permanently fixed, but varies with the magician. The first words are repeated some several times. Thus here, kala bosisi’ula would be reiterated three or four times, and so would be the following two words (kala bomwalela). The words of No. 2 are recited slowly and ponderously but not repeated. The list of ancestors is run over quickly and perfunctorily. The rest of the u’ula, its dramatic part so to speak, is spoken with less melody, more with the ordinary speaking voice and more rapidly.
Then comes the last sentence of the u’ula, which in almost all spells links it up with the main part. This is always intoned slowly, solemnly and distinctly; the voice drops at the end by the interval of a tone. In the tapwana, the key word, or key expression, which forms always the concluding part of the u’ula, is taken up again. It is repeated several times, as if to fix or rub it well in. Then, dropping into a quick, continuous stream of utterance, the magician runs over one word of the list after the other. The key-word is inserted between each of them, said sometimes once, sometimes two or three times. It gives an effect as if the key-word were being rubbed in into every one of the other expressions. They as a rule spoken more slowly, mark the rhythm of this part. The reciting of the last part of a spell, the dogina or dabwana, is more perfunctory, usually it is rather spoken than chanted.
After this digression, let us return to the analysis of our spell. It is a rule that the tapwana, the main part of a formula, is easier to translate, expressed in less archaic and less condensed terms, than the u’ula. The tapwana