o are not in
the house wail outside it.

In this case, however, there is a special ceremony for ascertaining
whether or not the chief is in fact going to die--a ceremony which is
usually performed at his own request. Some vegetable food, probably
sweet potato, or perhaps sugar-cane or taro, is given him to eat;
and this he will do although he may be very ill, and may not have been
taking food, though of course, if he were insensible or unable to eat,
this special ceremony could not be carried out. The inedible portions
of this food, _e.g.,_ the peel of the potato or the hard fibres of
the sugar-cane, are then handed to certain magical persons of the
community, whose special duty it is to perform the ceremony about to be
described, but as to whom I was unable to ascertain who and what they
are, and whether they have any other special functions besides those
of this ceremony. Some of these portions of food may even be sent to
some similar magic person of high reputation in another community,
in order that he also may perform the same ceremony. Each of these
magic persons also has handed to him a portion of a perineal band
belonging to, and recently worn by, the ailing chief.

Each of the magic men then wraps up the portion of food which has
been given to him in the piece of band; and this he again wraps up in
leaves, and continues doing so until the parcel has become a round
ball 4 or 5 inches in diameter. The men then separate, and each of
them goes off alone to a spot outside the village, where he collects
some very dry firewood, and heaps it up against the trunk of a tree
to a height of, say, 6 feet. He then engages in an incantation, after
which he puts the ball inside the bottom of the wood pile, and lights
the pile at the bottom. Then he lies down by this fire and closes his
eyes. After an interval of perhaps two to five minutes he gets up,
as though awakening from a bad dream, and hears the wailing in the
adjoining village, and asks himself what all this wailing is about;
and he then appears to remember for what purpose he is there, goes to
the fire, and takes out the ball. If the fire has burnt or scorched
the food wrapped up in the ball, it is an indication that the chief
is to die. If not, it indicates that he will live. These magic men
then return to the village, and report the result. If their report
be that the chief is going to live, the people cease their wailing,
but if it be that he is to die, the waili