Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/219

Rh spirit lays the child on the woman's head. The words of Niyova, here quoted verbatim, imply an insertion per vaginam. Ibena, a clever old man of Kasana'i, gave me a similar explanation—in fact, it was he who first made it clear to me that virginity mechanically impedes spirit impregnation. His method of explanation was graphic. Holding out his closed fist, he asked: "Can anything enter?" Then, opening it, he continued: "Now, of course, it is easy. Thus it is that a bulabola (large orifice) conceives easily, and a nakapatu (small or closed entrance, a virgin) cannot do it."

I have quoted these two statements in extenso, as they are telling and characteristic; but they are not isolated. I received a great number of similar declarations, all expressing the view that the way must be open for the child, but this need not necessarily be brought about by sexual intercourse. The point is quite clear. The vagina must be opened to remove the physiological obstacle, called simply kalapatu (her tightness). Once this has been done, in the normal way by sexual intercourse, there is no need for male and female to come together in order to produce a child.

Considering that there are no virgins in the villages—for every female child begins her sexual life very early—we may wonder how the natives arrived at this conditio sine qua non. Again, since they have got so far, it may appear difficult to see why they have not advanced just a little further and grasped the fertilizing virtue of seminal fluid. Nevertheless, there are many facts to prove that they have not made this advance: as certainly Rh