Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/329

 Correspondence. 3 1 1

according to the kind of information sought and the people under examination. Usually different methods are necessary in investi- gations among people with whom you have had previous dealings, and who look upon you as a friend, and people in new villages to whom you are a stranger. In the latter case every effort should be made to pay your first visit in the company of a white man, — by preference a government official or a missionary of the best type, — in whom the villagers have confidence. Under these cir- cumstances a very few minutes will often see you and your hosts on friendher terms than could be reached by your own unaided efforts in a much longer time.

When seeking information about games, arts, and crafts, etc., among people who know you, I believe the best way is to pay the most approved exponents liberally, saying something to the effect that "different folk do these things differently, and I want to see how your method differs from ours."

With information bearing on secret beliefs or ceremonies more care is necessary, and usually it is only when the enquirer is well known to his informants that open enquiry is likely'"to succeed, although even without this, showing a general knowledge of the facts you expect to elicit will often produce useful information. Thus I have found the telling of true or spurious variants of stories or ceremonies under investigation a valuable aid, and this will often be sufficient to start a discussion. If this occurs, and a capable interpreter, who will remember without interrupting, is available, many valuable hints may often be picked up.

In investigating native magic and medicine a medical training is a great advantage. A few doses of some simple laxative or tonic, or a httle ointment, distributed about the tribe, will often prove useful, even if the drug produces no very marked effect. A curious feature I noted more than once among Papuans was that it was not necessary for treatment to be successful for the patients to appear pleased and satisfied. Again a little midwifery talk immensely pleases some of the older women, and on one occasion enabled me easily to obtain an account of a female puberty ceremony, the very existence of which had been previously denied.

Natives themselves are usually the best judges of whom to question to elicit particular information, and will often, when friendly terms have been established, volunteer information as to