nate enough to see one, he
waves the branch to and fro to make the cloud mount up in the sky, while
he also stretches out his arms to right and left to enlarge it so that
it may hide the sun and overcast the whole heaven.[540] Here again the
prayers and offerings are purely religious; while the placing of the
skull-shaped stones in pots full of water, and the waving of the branch
to bring up the clouds, are magical ceremonies designed to produce rain
by mimicry and compulsion.

[Sidenote: Stones to make or mar sea-voyages.]

Again, the natives have a stone in the shape of a canoe, which they
employ in ceremonies for the purpose of favouring or hindering
navigation. If the sorcerer desires to make a voyage prosperous, he
places the canoe-shaped stone before the ancestral skulls with the right
side up; but if he wishes to cause his enemy to perish at sea, he places
the canoe-shaped stone bottom upwards before the skulls, which, on the
principles of homoeopathic or imitative magic, must clearly make his
enemy's canoe to capsize and precipitate its owner into the sea.
Whichever of these ceremonies he performs, the wizard accompanies the
magical rite, as usual, with prayers and offerings of food to the
ancestral spirits who are represented by the skulls.[541]

[Sidenote: Stones to help fishermen.]

The natives of the Isle of Pines subsist mainly by fishing; hence they
naturally have a large number of sacred stones which they use for the
purpose of securing the blessing of the ancestral spirits on the
business of the fisherman. Indeed each species of fish has its own
special sacred stone. These stones are kept in large shells in a
cemetery. A wizard who desires to make use of one of them paints the
stone with a variety of colours, chews certain leaves, and then breathes
on the stone and moistens it with his spittle. After that he sets up the
stone before the ancestral skulls, saying, "Help us, that we may be
successful in fishing." The sacrifices to the spirits consist of
bananas, sugar-cane, and fish, never of taros or yams. After the fishing
and the sacrificial meal, the stone is put back in its place, and
covered up respectfully.[542]

[Sidenote: Stones to make yams grow.]

Lastly, the natives of the Isle of Pines cultivate many different kinds
of yams, and they have a correspondingly large number of sacred stones
destined to aid them in the cultivation by ensuring the blessing of the
dead upon the work. In shape an