Orokaiva Magic

Abstract

IN this volume Mr. Williams has assembled three essays constituting Nos. 6, 7, and 8 of the Anthropological Reports issued by the Government of Papua. As indicated by the title, all three refer to the Orokaiva, the name applied by Europeans to the Binandele-speaking tribes of the lowlands of the Northern Division of Papua, that is, that portion of the great island until recently known as British New Guinea. Of these three essays, the first is by far the most important, the second rather slight, though it contains an interesting account of the rotation of garden areas and the native reasons for the practice. The third, apart from the new material it contains, is interesting as showing how near to a reasonable theory of magic an acute observer and careful reasoner can come, without any overt acknowledgment of recent work on the unconscious, or indeed recognition that it exists. In spite of this it is obvious, at least to the reviewer, that given the same opportunity, this essay could scarcely have been written prior to 1920, by which time ideas as to the importance of the processes of wish-fulfilment and rationalisation as offering reasonable explanations of native thought and customs were beginning to be appreciated. From this point of view such passages as the following are surely most instructive:

Orokaiva Magic.

By F. E. Williams. Pp. xii + 231 + 7 plates. (London: Oxford University Press, 1928.) 12s. 6d. net.