ABSTRACT
In the following chapters I discuss what the Momington Islanders think about sorcery, or more accurately what they say about sorcery, and how sofcery is used in the struggle for power and domination. I examine case histories and people’s accounts of what they believe happened in particular instances of sickness, misfortune, and death. Approximately 240 case histories of sorcery were recorded (see Appendix).1 Some cases are complex while others are no more than a simple reference to the belief that someone died from sorcery. Sometimes a case is an isolated event unconnected to any other sorcery incident and is simply the outcome of a quarrel or fight between two men, or of a man reputedly killing his wife with sorcery because of infidelity. At other times, several cases are linked and a sociohistorical chain can be traced; each is a separate event, but they all have their origins in past cases. Some cases are so closely connected that it is debatable how many we are dealing with - there may be one or several.
