Gibúma, who could not run away as his legs would not move. At last he got up and rushed on top of some people, who were sleeping beside him in the house, and they woke him up. If Gibúma had caught hold of the snake, he would have acquired the faculty of transforming himself into a snake. (Gibúma, Mawáta).

126. A Mawáta man named Dábu dreamt that he was hunting in the bush and saw there a large iguana with two wings and four legs. Having flown up into a tree, the iguana closed its wings and walked on its legs. It was an etengena (cf. Introduction to no. 102) who in the night assumed the shape of a man. This being taught Gibúma many things. He was forbidden to eat the meat of tame pigs but not that of wild pigs. The étengena also forbade him to taste dugong meat without first eating a piece of a star-fish, but as that fish is considered a "poison", Gibúma never dared to eat either the one or the other. Some men have died from neglecting the food directions given them by an étengena, and therefore Gibúma was careful that the same fate should not befall him. He was also taught how to find pigs when hunting in the bush and how to cause pigs to destroy an enemy's garden. In order to prevent pigs from ruining a garden he was to put a star-fish underneath the fence, for these fish have a mouth like a man and frighten pigs away by calling out to them, although nobody else can hear their voice. (Dábu, Mawáta).

127. A man named Wáboda dreamt this. He saw a large snake in the bush, and when he addressed it, the snake answered him by beating the ground with its tail. The man went home and asked the people to come and kill the snake, which they did. They cooked the dead reptile, and ate it, although some men were afraid to do so, lest the snake should have been an evil being. All those who had partaken of the snake's flesh died, and Wáboda saw how they were buried. He was so terrified that he woke up. (Biri, Ipisía).

128. Some wild pigs had destroyed Samári's garden. The next night he dreamt that a man came to him from the bush. The stranger carried his bow and arrows, he was painted with mud and held the tail of a pig in his mouth. Samári did not know who the man was. The new-comer handed him the pig's tail and a piece of earth, and told him to chew a little of the latter together with a small piece of a young taro root and spit the juice on the digging stick which he used when planting taro. This would give him a rich crop. If he wanted to destroy somebody's garden he was to chew a fragment of the pig's tail and spit in into the garden, telling the pigs to come. Samári still kept these medicines", which he had found on awakening.. (Samári, Mawáta).

129. Bídja, one of the leading men of Old Mawáta, once saw a wallaby while he was working in his garden. The animal did not allow him to come near but constantly kept at the same distance. Bídja tried to catch it but fell and hurt himself so that he fainted, and while he was unconscious some substance from the wallaby passed into him. He went home and his wife prepared him food, but he could not eat and soon fell asleep. The wallaby came to him and put in his hand a stone, which was a „medicine" to be used when shooting fish with a bow

and arrow. Bídja was the first man to catch fish, for up to that time the Mawáta people only collected shell-fish. They called ordinary fish ebihare (mysterious beings, cf. no. 131) and ran away from them.

In the morning Bidja went to shoot fish, carefully following the directions given him by the wallaby which was an etengena. Holding the stone in his hand he chewed a plant called mánabába and spat some of it on the stone, on his penis, and on his seaward leg. With that leg he kicked some water up on the beach, as if throwing up a fish, at the same time making a gesture towards the shore with the whole of his body, his penis, and the stone in his hand. This action would cause plenty of fish to come and be thrown up on the beach.

At first Bídja only shot a sting-ray, for he wanted to try what the taste of the fish was like. The others said, "You chuck away, that ebihare!" „No," he said, "I no chuck away, somebody been speak me along dream." He cooked the fish and ate some of it: „Oh, that Shell-fish good kaikai. another kind, this one he sweet." When he had eaten he lay

down to sleep.

Contrary to their expectation the people found in the morning that Bídja was none the worse for eating the ebihare. Then Bídja went to shoot many fish. When he returned to the village the people called their children away from the man who carried the ebíháre. Bídja said, "You fellow no call that ebihare, by and by you leave him garden, kaikai that thing." When the fish were cooked Bídja distributed them among the people. Some men did not want to eat them, but others tasted a little and said, "Oh, that good kaikai! More better leave him garden. This thing I kaikai, before (formerly) kaikai shell-fish, that's all."

Thenceforward the people discontinued their work in the gardens and went fishing. Gágu, Mawáta).

A. Bídja saw the wallaby in his garden, and in the night it came to him and taught him how to catch fish, which the Mawáta people did not know before. At first they were afraid to eat the fish which Bídja caught for them, but he persuaded them to try, and soon they took a great liking to the new food. After that they began to catch fish themselves. (Amúra, Mawáta).

THE DREAM-GIVER WHO WAS THE SON OF A CASSOWARY.

130. Once at Djíbu a cassowary laid two eggs, from which a boy and a girl were hatched. In course of time the children grew up. The name of the boy was Émobáli. The man who used to look after the cassowary took him to live in the men's house. When the boy was grown up, he wanted to go and see his mother, but the man said, „No, you stop all time along man-house." Émobáli did not know who his mother was. The man who looked after him gave him a bow and arrows, and he began to hunt pig and other game in the bush, sometimes killing two pigs and sometimes as many as three. He also helped the people to work in the garden. Émobáli supposed that his mother was a woman, but his guardian would not allow him to go and see her.

From the legs and neck of the cassowary, who was the mother of the two children, short pegs like stumps of branches protruded. On these the people hung their water-vessels, and

the bird brought them water from the bush. One day Émobáli saw the tracks of the cassowary close to the water-hole and lay in wait for the bird. He shot it when it came to fetch water and bathe in the well. Pulling out a quill he showed it to the people and said, "One cassowary I been kill him, big one." The people wondered among themselves, „Where mother belong him? I think he been shoot him." Émobáli's sister went to see and found her mother dead, and she and all the other women began to wail. "What name (why) you fellow cry?" the boy asked them, and they said, "Oh, that's mother belong you, you been shoot him." Émobáli was sorry and vexed, and said to the people, "What for you fellow no been tell me, 'You no belong man, you belong cassowary?' I no been savy. Suppose you been tell me, I no shoot him." And they all wailed for the cassowary.

The cassowary was carried to the village, and Émobáli asked the people to cook it. He went alone to the men's house, which he cleaned carefully, he also cooked and ate some food and prepared black paint from the ashes of a coconut-skin with which he rubbed himself. Carrying all his belongings in a bundle he came out and again said to the people, who were there eating the cassowary, „What name (why) you no been tell me before, 'You no belong man, you belong cassowary?" They wanted to stop him from going away, but he left them. He sang on the way,

Along Mónguaro,

Je Mónguaro iriruo eh wiakorumo múluwodje mópowodje eh Dúgidoro. Dúgidoro, blood he come out from head belong cassowary, my mother." Émobáli went to Dúga and from there to Múdji where there is a creek (the Bínatúri river). He threw his dogs and all his things into the water, he himself plunging in after. There is still a large hole at the bottom of the river close to the bank, and it was made by Émobáli when he jumped into the water. Once more he came to the surface and said to his sister and the other people who were there,,,You no been tell me first time I belong cassowary, that's why I been kill him mother. I no want come back. Suppose you fellow sleep close to house belong me, I give you good dream what fashion you shoot him pig and plant him garden." 40

Émobáli's sister thought to herself, "What's way I do?" She took a bird-of-paradise feather, put it in her mouth and sucked it in. This made her turn into a bird-of-paradise, and the people tried to catch her, but she flew away crying out in the fashion of these birds, „Kóu, kóu, kou." Perching in a large tree she took out the feather and once more became a girl; and she said to the people, "You fellow stop. Me and my brother, me two no belong man, me belong cassowary." 40 Again she transformed herself into a bird and flew away for good.

Sometimes the Djíbu men go and sleep near the large hole in the riverbank at Múdji, Émobáli's place, for he gives them instructive dreams. They do not say or do anything to summon the spirit, only lie down there nude on a bed of grass. Émobáli, who in the water has the shape of a crocodile or fish, appears to the dreamer in his human form and gives him some „medicine" useful for hunting or for planting a garden. Those who have been visited by Émobáli in a dream never teach anyone else what they have learnt from him. (Tániba, Djíbu).

A. Pevámu, a long-time Dírimo man", after quarrelling with his sister, jumped into the Bínatúri river, making a large hole in the ground which can still be seen at low water. He became a crocodile. (Surópe, Dírimo).

THE BIHARE (cf. Index).

131. The words bihare, ebihare (in Kíwai obísare) and less commonly giriwiro are applied to all such mysterious beings, particularly those living in the sea, which are not known under a special At the same time the bihare are spoken of as definite beings, all more or less alike.

name.

A Kubíra man named Méuri, who had been put to shame before his people (cf. no. 224), on a fighting expedition to Daváre let himself be killed by the enemy, and his wife too was slain. Some time afterwards their children wanted to go to Daváre and set out in a canoe, but the canoe sank on the way and those on board were drowned. They were transformed into bihare.

The people are much afraid of places in the sea where the bihare dwell, as indicated by otherwise inexplicable breakers and eddies in the water. The bihare cause the sea to make noise“ and the water to come up all same saucepan he boil". (Gibúma, Mawáta).

THE OBOUBI (cf. Index).

132. At Kímúsu reef there live some of the water beings which are called óboúbi. They kill and eat dugong, the bones of which they leave on the reef. At low water lots of these bones may be seen there, some old ones belonging to dugong killed long ago, and some quite fresh. They are placed in circles, in the same way as people arrange skulls which they have captured from enemies.

There are both males and females among the oboúbi. They look like ordinary people, but their females have no grass skirt on. Their language is the same as that of men. The óboúbi are the masters of crocodiles and other water animals. If a crocodile has been killed and cut up somewhere, the óboúbi will appear there the next night, guided by the traces of blood, and will wail, „Oh, man been kill him, he cut him here, cook him. Oh, what name (why) he been kill him, me been make him grow?" This wailing can be heard in the night. If a canoe gets lost at sea the people on board will be caught by the óboubi, with whom they remain ever after; sometimes the oboúbi eat them. (Námai, Mawáta).

THE BUSERE-BUSERE CAUSE SAGO TO GROW IN KIWAI (cf. Index).

133. The beings called busére-busére in Kíwai and buhere-buhére in Mawáta are unmarried mythical girls who live together in the bush. They do not do harm to anybody and are always willing to marry any man who would come to them.

At Wági in Purútu there lived a number of busére-busére with their father, whose name was Básimu (cf Index). The girls used to make sago, pounding the pith of the palms which Básime cut down for them. One day he felled a sago palm, cutting off the top, and it got into the water and floated over to Kíwai. There the fruit of the tree fell on the ground and began to grow. There have been sago palms in Kíwai ever since, but their original home is Purútu. One variety of the sago palm (dou) is still called Básimu dóu. (Káiku, Ipisía).

AN ADVENTURE WITH AN UTUMU (Spirit of a beheaded person; cf. Index).

134. At Iása there lived a handsome boy whom all the girls were fond of. Once when some of the people went over to Míbu to catch crabs, he stayed behind in the village, for two girls, who also remained at home, had said to him, „Night-time you come along me two fellow." But as all their people had gone away, the two girls did not want to sleep in their empty house, so they shut the door and went to stay with friends in another house. They forgot to tell the boy about the change.

In the night two útumu, a man and woman, went into the deserted house although the door was closed, („, fashion belong devil, he go small hole"). Some time afterwards the boy came. The two útumu shone like fire, and the boy thought, "Oh, two fellow (the girls) make fire inside, light he come out along small hole." He opened the door and went in, and on seeing the lights of the two útumu more distinctly thought, "That fireplace belong one girl, that fireplace belong one (the other) girl." After closing the door he went up to the útumu, and the two evil beings sprang up like two flames (,,what place he been cut him head, blood he come out all same fire"). The útumu roared out, „Bm-bm!" like a drum, which is the yarn" of those who have no head. The boy made a rush for the door, but while he was trying to open it they fell over him.

One of the girls hearing the tumult thought to herself, „Oh, I think devil (spirit) been find him boy now, that's him make noise."

The boy was trying to wrench himself free, and the two útumu were struggling with him. The first girl woke up her companion: "You hear," she cried, "make noise - that's him, devil he run behind." The girls could not sleep that night, „Uí!" they were thinking, „me two been sing out (summon) that boy, that's why he been go house belong me fellow." As they felt ashamed they did not tell anybody. The noise of the fight could be heard for a good while from the empty house. At last the boy became exhausted, breathing heavily, and the two útumu caught hold of his ankles and knocked him over. They bored a hole through his temples with their tusks, and when he was dead, each of them set to gnaw at one of his legs which they ate except the bones. They picked out his eyes and swallowed them, and also devoured the flesh, intestines, skin, and hair of the body, only leaving the bones (,,all same hawk he kaikai fish, bone he leave him"). The hands and feet only were left intact up to the wrists and ankles. 29 When daylight came the two girls ran to look for the boy. „Uéi!" they cried on seeing the footmarks near the ladder, for they had smoothed the ground carefully outside the empty house, so that anybody unlawfully entering the house should leave his tracks behind. „Oh," they exclaimed, looking at the ground, that track belong boy that time he come. That other track belong útumu." The footprints of the latter are very short but otherwise like those of men. Opening the door they shouted, „Uí! blood inside!" for there lay all the bones. Oí!" the girls cried, "that devil (spirit) been kaikai husband belong me!" The one girl began to wail, but was stopped by the other who said, „Eí, what name (why) you cry, make him people he come, more better you keep quiet. That boy he no come self, that fault belong you me (us)." The two girls sat down in the house and wept quietly so that nobody should hear. At last the elder girl said, "More better you me leave cry, you follow what name (what) I make him." They fastened the boy's bones together, placed them on a mat, and decorated them with rings and feather