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] the consequent authority to open the season, was handed down with the knowledge of the tindalo concerned. The man who has the knowledge observes the time, and some day in the early morning he is heard to shout. He climbs a tree, gets some nuts, cracks them, eats, and puts some on the stones in his sacred place for the tindalo. Then the people generally can gather for themselves; the chief sacrifices with food in which the new nuts are mixed on the stones of the village sanctuary; each man who has a tindalo does the same in his own sacred place. About two months after this there is another general sacrifice called the sukagi karango, when the food generally has been dug; a man who digs up his yams, or gets in whatever harvest he has, makes his private sacrifice besides. At the general sacrifice pig or fish is offered.

The private sacrifices of individuals are offered in the same way. A man has gained for himself, or had imparted to him, the knowledge of the leaves and bark and vines that some tindalo delights in, and with these he approaches him in the sacred place, vunutha, which is his own, and offers to him to keep himself in favour or to obtain something from him. There he invokes his familiar tindalo, joining with him some others, and offers in the fire his bit of food. A man will commonly have his keramo, a tindalo of killing, who will help him in fighting or in slaying his private enemy. He will pull up his ginger-plant, and judge from the ease with which it comes out of the earth whether he shall succeed or not; he will make his sacrifice, and with the ginger and leaves on his shield and in his belt and right armlet will go to fight. He curses his enemy by his keramo, 'Siria eats thee, and I shall slay thee;' and if he kills him, he cries, 'Thine is this man, Siria! and do thou give me mana.' Manslaughter without the help of a tindalo would be dangerous to the manslayer; the slain man's ghost would have power over him unless the mana of the keramo, a stronger ghost, were on his side. In case of failure the ghostly power on the enemy's side has been shewn to have the greater strength. A man must needs have his keramo, even if he had to buy one; if