SONDAGGIO ETNOLOGICO: CONOSCI IL "CANTO DELLE LUMACHE"? , Natura Mediterraneo

The major formulae are far too detailed for full examination here. I therefore take for analysis a few of the simpler types of fishing, in catching small crabs, in using a rod and line at the edge of the reef, in diving for greensnail, and in line fishing from a canoe. I went out one day with Seremata to be shown how to catch rukuruku, a small species of pink reef crab. This is not a common article of diet, but is sought for when the surf is so heavy that fishing on the reef edge or in canoes is impossible. First of all we looked for bait. A small univalve shell fish, te sisi, was broken with a stone and the flesh tied to a string which hung from a tiny wooden float. The end of the string, immediately beneath the bait, was made into a small slip knot. Walking along the reef at low tide, the fishermen selected a deep pool and threw the float into it. The float was termed the vaka, the same word as is used for a canoe. We were seeking small fish, raukatea and tukuku, to be used as further bait for the rukuruku. Before the float was thrown out, the fisherman told me the formula to be used. He explained that this float method was used principally by children for taking fish for food rather than by adults for getting bait. He said also, 'All the children know the formula.'

"Tou vaka tena raukatea
raukatea, Ukufaki ki raro
Fakateretere ki tai
Fakateretere ki uta
Oia ku ravea."

"That is your canoe
Dive down below
Speed to seawards
Speed to shore
Oia, it has been caught".

But although the formula was given to me in full, when he threw the float out, the fisherman recited only a part of it. The tiny fish which was finally snared was tied on to a stick and we went out to the edge of the reef where the crabs hide in holes in the coral rock. The bait was set before a hole into which a crab was observed to retreat and gently played to and fro. At the same time a formula was gently sung:

"Rukuruku e, rukuruku e,
Pakio au o kai e
Ngauroro ifea
Ngatorotoro io rauakoe".

"Rukuruku, rukuruku,
Be struck come out and eat
Whence are you crawling
Crawl from the reef"

which is sung after the fashion of a dance chant. As the crab crawls out to grasp the bait, it is grabbed with the other hand. It is said that if there is only one small crab in sight at the beginning of the song, by the time it is finished a number will be seen closing in from all sides (this, however, I did not observe). 'They have listened to the formula. If no crab emerges in response to these blandishments, it is said "it refuses". Here is the concept found generally in Tikopia fishing that the formula acts upon the fish through its sense of hearing. It is treated as a sentient thing, capable of acceding to or refusing the command. When a fisherman goes out with d and line to the edge of the reef he seeks a variety of fish, the commonest of which are api and nefunefu. Each of these has its appropriate formula. I consider only the first-named. The fisherman takes with him bait in the form of shell-fish or scraps of other fish. As he stands at the edge of the reef or channel, he scatters some morsels on the water and cries: "Climb hither the api of the channel here" then he baits his hook and casts his line. As he does so, he calls:

"Api na api uri ma na api tea
Mi ki roto vae tau fakapoke
Pe ruru, pe ruru, pe ruru
Riaki ki runga tou sukusuku
Kai ifo i te mata matau
Mori ki raro.

"Api, its dark api and its pale api
Gather together and divide your pudding
Eat quickly, eat quickly,
Turn up above your tail
Bite down on to the head of the hook
Bear it down below."

This is a very typical fishing formula. First of all, it calls upon the fish by name, specifying different varieties. It then commands the fish to assemble and tempts them by speaking of the bait figuratively as "pudding”. That food is very agreeable to the Tikopia; fish are credited with the same tastes. The expression pe ruru is said in a shrill falsetto tone, and is heard more as "prmm prmm prmm". It means that the fish are invited to bite quickly and the words convey an analogy with tying up (ruru) a leaf package of pudding when a person has eaten his fill. They are uttered when the fisherman sees that the api are attracted by the bait. He then goes on to adjure them to turn their heads towards it, bite and strain on the hook (so that they may be securely caught). he man who gave me this formula, Pa Nukutai, said, 'Men of Namo, men of Ravenga, men of Faea speak in the one formula.' A father makes known to his son the one formula.' This suggests a rigidity, an invariability in the Tikopia ritual. But this is by no means the case. There is no belief in Tikopia that the form of the words is so exact that a slip in the recital will invalidate their effect or bring misfortune upon the reciter. The Tikopia use in all cases what I have termed free formulae , not fixed formulae.1 There is a great deal of individual variation in the words recited. Two days later I was given by the same man the api formula again But this time he inverted the order of the first two phrases, substituted another word (mangai) for 'tail' and left the words pe ruru till the last. From another man, Pa Teva, I received a much longer version, which embodied the same points but elaborated them, stressing particularly the theme of the provision of food for the apt. He added another theme 'Te tapu has been long in its standing Seize your staff, bind up your hair, The tapu stands to be breached And strike your lips down below there Where is the man who will breach That your belly may be secured.' the tapu} Here the api is represented as having been prohibited from partaking of food by reason of a taboo, but is told that the time is come for this to be temporarily laid aside.2 Carrying invited to prepare himself and rush off to a feast, to fill his belly. Pa Teva concluded his formula, saying 'It goes and goes thus, but the point to which it is fixed is 'pe ruru pe ruru'. By this he meant that these words form a central phraseology of the formula and should not be omitted though the reciter can go on elaborating figurative expressions as he wishes. I obtained these two formulae in ordinary discussion on shore. In actual practice, as with the rukuruku, the fishermen did not use every one of the expressions which they gave when talking, but recited only a selection of them, and sometimes contented themselves with merely a brief phrase. Thus the words pe ruru are basic to the api formula in that the fisherman may frequently recite them alone.

[... qui non sono riuscito a crackare il seguito

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that this was a ritual pratice, but it was explained as fakamarino, "sea smoothing". The oil of the coconut does in fact give a more glassy surface through which one may look down to the sea bottom. As the canoe drifts, the crew look keenly down.
One cries "There is an alili (greensnail)" and jumps overboard. Competition is keen to secure the shell fish. During one of these expeditions in which I participated I was given at sea the formula to be used. It is as follows:

"Tu fatu kanofi
Takitu tarua, takitu tatoru
Matou mataki i ei
Ko ai te uku ka nai ukufia
Ngaoro pe te sisi
Fakasa fakataata tou fau i katea
Tou vaerangi taurekareka
Ariki tautai
Furifurisia o fatu akau
O raro no
Ke tu ma fatu kanofi."

„Stand a fleshy shell
Standing each in twos,
standing each in threes,
May we look
Who will dive and bring it up?
Crawl like a sisi (small shell);
Appear and make pale your whorls
to starboard,
Your beautiful sky
Sea-expert chief!.
Let there be turned up stones of the reef
Below there To stand with fleshy shells."

The expression "fleshy shell" is a synonym for the greensnail. It is adjured to be in groups on the sea floor, crawling like the sisi, which small mollusc is found in great numbers in the reef waters. The reference to the sky is supposed to be an aesthetic inducement to the snail to allow itself to to be brought up (diving needs calm weather). Here again, though I was given a complete formula on the spot, when the members of the crew were actually looking over the side they at no time recited the full set of phrases. From time to time they called out "Alili O, light be whorls"; "Friend, alili O, crawl over", and similar expressions. I asked if the snail and fish listened to the words that were spoken. Pa Teva replied "We do not know it lives in the ocean. The speech is simply made. One fish hears, another not." But here comes in an extra element. Introduced into this formula is a mention of the Sea-expert chief, the generic term for the tutelary spirit of the canoe. The spirit is being asked to turn the snails upwards so that the white under-surface may be more easily visible from the canoe. (Apparently snails are often seen to occur in such position.)

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