action or its effect. Thus, here we had a verb denoting the imparting of magic, that is the direct expression of the action; then two words figuratively expressing it, and the series of verbal key-words enumerating the effects of the magic, such as flying, speed, etc. In other canoe spells, not given in this book, there could be found similar types of key-words such as: * ‘the canoe flies’; * ‘the buriwada fish is poised on a wave’; * ‘the reef-heron wades’; * ‘the reef-heron skirts the beach …’ all of them expressing the aim of the spell in accordance with the magical trend of thought.
VIII
From the linguistic point of view, the final parts of the spells, the dogina, present, as a rule, fewer remarkable features. Phonetically the most outstanding trait is the purely onomatopoetic sound complexes, such as sididi or saidididi, or the three words sididi, tatata, numsa, found in the Kadumiyala spell. From the point of view of meaning, there are in some of the dogina interesting metaphorical turns of speech, such as the descriptions of time in the Kaygagabile spell, where the difference in speed between the magician and his companions is expressed by allusions to the morning and evening sun, couched in figurative speech. Some mythical allusions also find their way into the dogina. These parts of a spell are undoubtedly the least important in the natives’ eyes; very often the same dogina is used with a number of formulæ belonging to the one cycle, as we have noticed. Other spells have no dogina at all, for instance, that of Kapitunena Duku, where the onomatopoetic sound sidididi stands for the whole dogina. As said above, the manner of reciting these parts is more perfunctory, with fewer melodic modulations and phonetic peculiarities.
IX
I have given so far a short linguistic survey of the canoe spells, dealing first with their initial parts, u’ula, then with their main parts, tapwana, and lastly saying a few words about the dogina. In a still more summary manner, I shall give a short survey of the mwasila (Kula magic) spells, quoted or mentioned in this book, beginning with the u’ula.
In the Yawarapu spell (Chapter VII) we have the beginning:—
*Bu’a, bu’a, bovinaygau, vinaygu; bu’a, bu’a, bomwanaygu, mwanaygu* …
Here the word bu’a (areca-nut) is repeated and used as a prefix bo-, with the antithetic roots -vinay- (female), and -mwanay- (male) and with the suffix -gu (first possessive pronoun).
The Kaymwaloyo (Chapter VII) begins:—
*Gala bu’a, gala doga, gala mwayye* …
This is spoken in a solemn manner, and then follows the play on the root mwase, described above in the free translation of this spell.
Another rhythmic beginning, spoken with regular, strongly marked accent is to be found in the Kaykakaya spell (Chapter XIII):