Mushroom Madness

e middle-Wahgi natives of New ea, who at certain times of the eat fungus and go berserk, have quite a lot of publicity in Aus i and overseas, and the mush s themselves have been analysed arious learned scientific bodies, her book, The Kuma. reviewed age 88. Dr. Reay has some in ting things to say about this so -1 Mushroom Madness, which leaves layman wondering if the mush s are not more an excuse for nd-games than anything else.

Kuma name for this behaviour is ites Dr. Reay: “Men decorated selves in exaggerated bustles (of 5), seized their weapons and set o terrorise the community . . . were tense and excited and ;ed by shivering. Minor wounds sometimes be inflicted by men ing arrows at clansmen but during vo days I witnessed this behaviour e arrows fell short of their mark. ?n attacked their clansmen at close *rs only when others were present strain them. They ignored one er and menaced only those people were not themselves affected by tadness . . . >men and youths deliberately en *ed the men to be aggressive, ing from behind trees and houses safe distance and withdrawing y with excited shrieks and giggles a madman caught sight of r people not affected by the s the event is an exciting diver for the chief actors, it is a de •e from the normal to be joked in retrospect . . . imen danced in formations cor iding to the subclans of their nds and sons. This is the mar omen’s only opportunity to dance rmation as the men and un ;d girls do . . The women uncontrollably, flirting and ng of real or imaginary sexual Lures.” all the Kuma are affected by the fungus. In the year Dr. was there, only 39 out of over sre daad. The Kuma themselves [ it as a matter of heredity—a whose mother or father had fits of abnormal behaviour after the fungus, is more likely to be id himself. fungus is a type of mushroom he people eat it all the year It is only at certain times of ar that it produces its odd effect ne. As there is no compulsion eating the mushrooms, it can be ed as self-inflicted madness—and of fun.