osed to
have, certain powers of divination, or actual causation, or both, of
certain things. So far as I could learn, the sorcerer's supernatural
powers would never be exercised in a hostile way against anyone of
his own village, or indeed of his own clan, or even, as a rule, of
his own community. Apparently the sorcerer's victim is nearly always
a member of some other community; and the sorcerers of a community do
not appear to be in any way either feared or shunned by the members of
that community. And, even as regards their acts of hostility against
members of other communities, these do not seem to be performed to
an extent in any way approaching what is found in Mekeo.

It seemed to me at first, as regards these sorcerers, that there was
a confusion in the Mafulu mind between divination and causation. The
question as to this arose specially in connection with the ceremony
for ascertaining whether a chief was or was not going to die. The
people of a clan and the ailing chief certainly assume that the
sorcerers who perform the ceremony under instructions, whether they
be of the same community or of some other community, will by their
magical powers merely divine the death or recovery of the chief;
and the idea does not enter their heads that these sorcerers may
actually cause the death. And yet they will accuse a hostile sorcerer
of causing the death by an exactly similar ceremony, and will go to
war over the matter. Probably, however, it is rather a question of
the sorcerer's assumed volition--that is, it is assumed that the
friendly sorcerer does not want the chief to die, and the people
rely upon him to confine himself to a divination ceremony, and not
to engage in hostile sorcery; whereas a hostile sorcerer might do the
latter. I may add that I was led to suspect that the burning test was
regarded as being only a matter of divination, and that the causation,
if it occurred, was effected by means of the previous incantation.

There are also, besides the sorcerers, a number of specialists, who
can hardly perhaps be called true sorcerers, but who have certain
specific powers, or are acquainted with certain specific forms of
incantation, and whose services are from time to time sought by
the people. It is impossible for me to point to any definite line
of demarcation between the true sorcerers and these smaller people;
and it cannot be doubted that the powers of the latter, like those
of the former, are, or have be