Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/399

 Then the men of the reed utter another very loud cry and this gives the signal for the drummers to beat, for the conch-shells to blow, and for the dancers to begin their final performance.

We now pass to the most important system of magic connected with erotic life in the Trobriands, the magic of love. While the magic of beauty is always associated with ceremonial events, such as the kula (ceremonial exchange), first pregnancy celebrations, a kayasa (period of competitive activity), or an usigola, the magic of love is performed whenever occasion arises. While the magic of beauty, again, is always done openly and in public, that of love is a private matter and carried out on the individual's own initiative. This, of course, does not mean that there is anything illicit or clandestine about the magic of love. People who possess it boast about it, and talk about having put it in operation. Nor, from the nature of the rites, would it be possible to conceal it completely from its object. The magic of love becomes illicit only in so far as the love itself is illicit; as, for instance, when it is directed towards a chief's wife, or towards some other tabooed person.

It has been mentioned that this magic belongs to a system. A system of magic in the Trobriands is a series of spells, which accompany some chain of linked activities and are performed in a fixed order following the develop