ABSTRACT
When journeying overseas, as soon as the canoe is launched, and before any bag or spear or cargo is put into it, the priest performs the ceremony called lude olo. This ceremony consists in putting areca nuts into the bows of the canoe, along with a dedication to a shark incarnation. The nuts are sacred and are set apart for the ghost. Along with the areca nuts coconuts are also placed in the stem and the stern ; these are to be used in a ceremony on arrival. Before they start all the crew call on their ghosts. At Ulawa they use these incantations on starting :—
