The woman left behind at Djégei was visited by a number of spiritual female beings, and she went fishing with them. She cooked her food but they ate theirs raw. The next day a canoe arrived from Yam in search of her, and at the sight of it the spirits retired into the bush. The woman's husband landed with the rest of the party, and she told him of her strange visitors. At his request she summoned some of the spirits, and he too saw them. When the Yam islanders were sailing away, the spirits came out on the beach, and the people called out, ,,Ui! man there stand up along beach?" But the woman said that they were spirits. After the return of the people a mourning feast was celebrated in Yam. (Sáibu, Mawáta).

FABULOUS AND MISCELLANEOUS FIGHTS (no. 359-364).

359. On Domóri island there lived a very strong man named Mádo, and once he challenged all the people to come and fight him. The Súmai people made themselves ready to go and punish Mádo and paddled over to Domóri. They arrived just before daylight, but Mádo was awake and called out, "Who you?" Me come now," they replied, me want fight you. You been sing out altogether people, you strong man." Mádo seized his bow and arrows and put on his arm-guard. He shot the Súmai leader in the leg and shouted, "You fellow look out I shoot you altogether!" They fought and fought, and the people all shot their arrows at Mádo, drawing nearer and nearer to him. Mádo was hit in the arm and the people called out, „You finish now this time, Mádo!" ,,No, me no finish yet," answered he and shot another Súmai man. Again he was hit, and then he called his wife and children to come and tried to limp away. The Súmai people shouted after him, "You woman, Mádo! You run away, you no man!" The fugitives on their flight had to swim across a large swamp, and reaching the other side Mádo sounded his trumpet-shell, for trumpet-shell, for some people lived there who were friends of his. They came to the rescue, and the Súmai men retired, but Mádo who had been wounded twice, was obliged to lie down. After the fight Mádo's friends said to him, „Next time you no sing out altogether people come fight. You no can fight altogether man."

360. On a hill in Mábuiag there lived a hawia (white heron) which was also a man. He married a female hawia, and they had a son, who was a well-shaped boy, not a bird. One day some people arrived from Bádu and Móa, and the hawia walking on the sand-beach invited them into his house, and there he killed them all. The Bádu people waited in vain for the return. of their friends, and one day they sailed over to Mábuiag looking for them. ,,Where all people he go?" the new-comers called out to the hawia, and he replied that he had killed them. Then he challenged all the Bádu men to come and fight him. In the night the hawa's little son went out to defecate and was captured by the Báduites who carried him off with them. They tied him up and placed him on a shelf over a hearth in their house lighting a large fire underneath. His skin gradually scorched, and he wriggled to and fro as the fire burnt him, and at length he managed to bite off the ropes with which he was tied up. He fell down, rushed out through the door and jumped into the sea. But while swimming away he was taken by a shark. (Nátai, Ipisía).

361. Once when the Kiwai people went to fight Kubíra, two men named Kabúa and Turúbe took part in it and brought with them their brother who had a bad ulcerated sore under one of his feet. He could not walk by himself but was lead between his brothers. The Kiwai people grumbled at the three men saying, "What's the matter you come? That man he got úma (ulcerated sore); fight he come."

After some Kubíra people had been killed in the fight the Kíwais went back but were pursued by the enemy. The three brothers came last and were overtaken by their pursuers. While Kabúa kept them back with his bow and arrows Turúbe carried the crippled brother some distance homeward, and then he changed place with Kabúa and the latter carried the brother. Thus they slowly retired after their friends, but at length the cripple said, „Brother, you go, you no can fight.". And his brothers were obliged to leave him and run after their people, and when they reached them at the canoes they wailed. „Oh, two fellow been leave him brother," the people said, „Kubíra man he kill him." And they went back to Kíwai. (Tom, Mawáta).

362. A certain Túritúri man named Madávi once shot the dog of another man named Áuda and roasted the meat. A friend of his named Áumádja was attracted by the smell of cooking, and Madávi gave him part of the meat. Áumádja brought it to his wife and said to her, "You no speak nobody, Madávi me two steal that dog," but he did not tell her whose dog it was. Áuda searchedj in vain for his dog, and lastly concluded that it had been killed by a crocodile or snake. He returned home just when Áumádja's wife was warming the meat on the fire, and his suspicions were aroused by the peculiar smell, Oh, that no other thing, that no kangaroo," he thought, that smell belong dog. I find him now: that no other man, that Madávi.“ And he asked the woman, "Where you get him that thing?" and she not knowing that he was the owner of the dog told him everything. Áuda did not say a word but went into his house and returning with a piece of firewood hit her on her shoulder. „Somebody fight me!" she called out, „I dead now! Madávi, you come run now!" Another woman caught hold of Áuda, and there was a great commotion, and the children were so terrified that they relieved themselves unintentionally. Madávi ran up, and a great fight ensued in which many people joined. At length the tumult ended, but Madávi who was still furious went into the bush and returned with some „poison-medicine" which, however, the people prevented him from using. Then he and his family left Túritúri and went to live in Mawáta, for he belonged to both villages. On his way he killed another dog belonging to a Túritúri man, and after his wife had cooked it he invited some people to come and eat it with him. The story came out, and on hearing it the owner of the dog sent word to Madávi saying that he would come and break his head with his stone club. „Oh, hat my boy," said Madávi scornfully, „I kill him to-morrow." The next day when the Túritúri man arrived they made friends instead of fighting, and Madávi gave payment for the dog. The other man said, "No good you steal something. You want him, you ask him; give you. No good you steal."

Nowadays the people do not eat dogs. The reason is that the dogs quickly get out of breath when running and that they do not live long. These deficiencies make the people unwilling to eat dogs. (Sáibu, Mawáta).

N:o 1.

33

53

363. The ĺpidárimo people in Dúdi were once holding a dance when a visitor arrived from Ágidai in Kiwai. At that time the Ipidárimo and Ágidai people were at war with each other, but covered by the darkness the visitor crept up to a man who was a personal friend of his. The Ipidárimo man received him kindly and hid him in a dark corner of the house telling his wife not to light a fire there. She was set to watch the place lest anybody should come. The dance lasted all night, and when the birds began to cry at dawn the Ágidai man was sent home. He was out of reach when the people got to know of his visit, and the only thing they could do was to shoot off their arrows into his foot-tracks, thus trying to hurt him. (Mamatúa, Súmai).

364. A certain Áuti man named Turúbia and his wife whose name was Gáiba once went to Díbiri to buy a canoe. In the night Turúbia slept in the men's house, but Gáiba was taken out of the house where she slept, and a great number of Díbiri men had connection with her, one after another. 66 The next day Turúbia and Gáiba made their way home, and on their landing at a certain small island she was so sore that she could not go on shore. She told her husband what the Díbiri people had done to her, and the two hurried on home. There he summoned the men and asked them to come and take revenge upon the Díbiri people. The warriors prepared for fight and set sail, and while resting on the way they did not dare to light a large fire lest it should forewarn the enemy. The attack was made at dawn, and many heads were brought home to Áuti. (Duába, Oromosapúa).

VIV. PEOPLE WITH GROTESQUE AND MONSTROUS BODIES

(no. 365-313; cf. Index.)

DAGI OF THE LONG ARM.

365. At Sásasáree, the old home of the Másingára people, there lived long ago a man named Dági. His left arm was of ordinary length, but the right one was enormously long, as long as the distance from Mawáta to Dáru island. Dági always remained in his house, but at night he stretched out his long arm which crawled along the ground like a snake, and in this way he stole food from other people's gardens. On finding a fruit tree the hand crept up to the top, groping round for the fruit, and if there was none, it came down and climbed another tree. At length the hand returned home with its find. Dági lived in a house on the ground (not built on piles) and slept inside a large drum, which the narrator had seen once before. Dági's hair grew all over his face and body, so he looked like a cassowary or pig. Every night before going to sleep he called out, „Háárúbi púra mo Dági no. — No man he stop (is nobody here)? Me Dági here." 55 He killed pigs, and other spoil by winding his arm round them and crushing their bones, and water and firewood too were brought home by the hand. Dági broke down dead trees for firewood, but on finding a leafy tree he left it to stand.

At some distance from Dági lived two women, and he stole from their gardens. His finger-nails were like hooks, and in one go he brought home a kangaroo with the little finger nail, a cassowary with the ring finger nail, a pig with the middle finger nail, some fruit with the index nail, and some other garden produce with the thumb nail.

The two women noticed that someone had plundered their garden, but they thought that some flying foxes or other animals were responsible. Dági cooked his stolen food in the evening and uttered his usual cry, but nobody heard him. To-morrow I go bush," he then called out, ,,another man go kill kangaroo, another man go kill cassowary, another man go kill pig, another man go take fruit, another man go look out garden," - he meant his fingers. In the night he sent out his hand, and it reached the two houses in which the two women lived. Feeling its way about, the hand tapped at the walls of the two huts, but the women were asleep and heard nothing. The hand passed into the house of the elder sister and stole a bunch of bananas and a bowl of mábusi which is a mixture of mashed taro, fish, and coconut milk, which the woman had prepared for her pig.. Dági brought home the stolen food, and eating the mábusi he thought, „Oh, good thing that, sweet; I think man he been make him. I leave him pig, kangaroo; every

night I go pick him up that thing." The next night he found the same house and stole some more mábusi, and bringing it home and smelling at it he said, "First time I hard work for find that kaikai, this time I pick him up quick."

The elder sister who found her mabusi missing accused her younger sister of taking it, but the latter said, "What's way (how) I been take him? I got garden, you got garden, you make mabusi, I make mabusi." But the elder sister saw from the finger-marks that somebody had taken the mabusi, and they quarrelled.

The next night the elder sister did not sleep but kept watch, meaning to find out who the thief was. In the middle of the night she heard how Dági's arm came crawling along, slapping the ground with the hand nearer and nearer each time, and she thought that it was a frog hopping along. After a while the hand groped its way into the house and seized the basin of mabusi, returning with it the same way. The woman kindled a light and looked at the hand, exclaiming, "Oh, that no man come inside, that hand come inside." In the morning she called her younger sister and said, "You me (we) growl for nothing. I been find hand he take mabusi. You leave house belong you, come stay my house; you me watch what thing take that kaikai." The next day while the two women were working in their garden they provided themselves with two long,,bush-ropes" (creepers), and at night the younger sister shut up her house and joined the elder sister. They kept watch and split the creeper into pliable ropes. The elder sister said, ,,Another (the one) end you make him big ring; you watch that ring, that time hand he come inside you make him tight, make fast hand."

In the middle of the night the hand came jumping along, and the elder sister whispered, ,,Him he come now." After a while the hand entered the hut ready to seize the basin, and at the same moment the younger sister pulled the loop tight round the wrist, and both the sisters secured the other end of the rope round a post. Dági tried to draw in his arm but could not and thought, ..Oh, something he catch me now, who make fast?" The two women lighted a torch and looked at the hand: „Oh, full up hair along hand!" Next to the ground the hair had worn off from the arm. The two women wanted to find out where the arm led to and followed it some distance, but as it was too dark they returned and awaited daylight in the hut. Dági kept on pulling at his arm, but could not get it free.

In the morning the two sisters loosened the rope from the post and the elder sister said, ,,Leave him rope along hand, you catch hold that rope, I catch hold proper hand. What road he go, you me (we) follow. Suppose middle road he kick, you make fast along tree." The hand pulled them gently nearer and nearer to Dági. The younger sister said, "I think that man sing out, want me fellow come; he no kick." Drawing in his hand Dági thought, ,,He heavy, man he come now, follow." He coiled up the arm in the corner of the house like a snake, and when that corner was full he coiled it up in another. ,House he here!" the elder sister said. At first they were frightened, and looking into the house they said, "What name (what is) that, house he full all same rope?" They said to Dági, "Who you? you man?" "I man, that my name Dági. Where you come?" "Me stop along bush, two woman, no got no man. Kaikai belong me, you fellow been pick him up, that's why me come." Dági said, "I got garden, I no look, that's all I plant him along hand. You go find him, that's kaikai belong you." The two women went and. fetched food, and they were very glad. The garden had been very irregularly planted with wide empty