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 of this spell has quite easy key-words, both in its first and in its second part. In the first one (phrase 11) the key-words are of mythical nature, referring to localities associated with the flying of one of the Kudayuri sisters. In the second tapwana, the key-word means: ‘I might heel over’ or ‘I shall heel over,’ that is with speed. And this expression stands here for: ‘I shall overtake,’ and the list of words pronounced with this verb denotes the various parts of a canoe. The second part of the tapwana (phrase 14) is much more typical than the first, because the key word is a verb, whilst the list words are nouns. It is typical also, in that the verb expresses, in a simple and direct manner, the magical effect of the spell (the overtaking of the other canoes) whereas the sum of the words of the list gives the object of the spell, that is, the canoe. Such tapwana, in which the magical action is expressed as a verb, while in the list of words we have mentioned the various parts of a garden or of fishing nets, or weapons or parts of the human body, are to be found in all classes of magic.

The first part of the tapwana (phrases 11, 12, and 13) is less typical, in so far that the verbs depicting various magical actions are relegated into the list, while the key-words are adverbial expressions of locality. The verbal links of the long chain express all and one in a metaphoric manner the speed of the canoe. ‘I shall fly, I shall become like smoke, I shall become invisible, I shall become as a wind eddy, etc,’ are all rather picturesque, concrete descriptions of surpassing speed. They present also a linguistic symmetry and singularity. The prefix ba- is the form of the future or potential tense, which I have literally translated ‘might,’ but which stands here for ‘shall.’ The formative prefix yo- is a causative, and stands for ‘become as’ or ‘become like.’ Then follows the root: kokoba- ‘smoke which trails in clouds above a burning garden.’ Hence the expression bayokokoba, in its full concrete meaning, could be translated: ‘I shall become like clouds of trailing smoke.’ Again, boyowaysula in its full meaning could be translated: ‘I shall become invisible as distant spray.’ The only abstract word in this list is tamwa’u, which literally means, ‘to disappear.’ So, in this tapwana, the list consists of a number of formally similar words, each expressing the same general meaning in a concrete metaphorical manner. The length of the whole tapwana (main body) of the spell can be imagined, since in the middle between its two sections the u’ula is recited once more.

The last part of this spell, the dogina, contains an explicit allusion to the Kudayuri myth and to several geographic localities, which are mentioned in that myth. It also shows the usual crescendo, characteristic of the conclusions of a spell. The final results are anticipated in exaggerated, forceful language.