In
front of Mavovo burned a number of little wood fires. I counted them
and found that there were fourteen, which, I reflected, was the exact
number of our hunters, plus ourselves. One of the hunters was engaged
in feeding these fires with little bits of stick and handfuls of dried
grass so as to keep them burning brightly. The others sat round
perfectly silent and watched with rapt attention. Mavovo himself
looked like a man who is asleep. He was crouched on his haunches with
his big head resting almost upon his knees. About his middle was a
snake-skin, and round his neck an ornament that appeared to be made of
human teeth. On his right side lay a pile of feathers from the wings
of vultures, and on his left a little heap of silver money--I suppose
the fees paid by the hunters for whom he was divining.
After we had watched him for some while from our shelter behind the
wall he appeared to wake out of his sleep. First he muttered; then he
looked up to the moon and seemed to say a prayer of which I could not
catch the words.
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