which we regard as inanimate. Every wooden object contains some of the soul-substance of the tree from which it comes, and every stone the soul-substance of the rock of which it is a fragment. Soul-substance is contained not only in the hair, nails, secreta of a man, but also in his look, his name, and all his actions. The efficacy of the utterance of names in magical formulas and of mimetic acts in rituals are believed to depend on this presence of soul-substance, which can be transmitted from one person to another or to an object, especially by contact. Measures by which soul-substance may be isolated are known, certain leaves being especially efficacious in this respect, and by this means a man can guard his own soul-substance or protect himself from the injurious influence of the soul-substance of another.
Another people of this part of New Guinea of whose beliefs concerning man’s spiritual nature we have been informed are the inhabitants of the small islands of Tami. The beliefs and customs of this people, who speak a Melanesian language, have been recorded by G. Bamler,[1] who seems to be unacquainted with the Indonesian evidence, for nowhere does he refer to “Seelstoff.” He tells us that the Tami believe in two kinds of soul, which they denote by terms he translates “short” and “long.” The short soul leaves the body at death and goes to the underworld of the dead. It, or rather the ghost which it there becomes, receives the offerings which are made to the dead, so that we can conclude with confidence that it represents the entity of the Kai which Keysser calls the soul.
The long soul, on the other hand, is identified with the shadow, and leaves the body to wander about in sleep, so that it resembles the more personal form of the soul-substance of the Kai. Bamler says that the concept corresponds with our “consciousness,” only personified. At death the long soul leaves the body and appears to the
- ↑ In Deutsch Neu-Guinea, vol. iii., p. 518.
