INTRODUCTION.

The here given collection of folktales were related to me by natives of New Guinea during my two years' sojourn in the country, from April 1910 to April 1912. All the tales originate from the territory of the Kíwai speaking Papuans, with the exception of those from Másingára (called by the local inhabitants Másingle), Dírimo (Drímu), Djíbu, and Bóigu. The folktales were told in pigeon English, or in Kíwai, only those from Másingára in the tongue of that village, which latter I imperfectly understood, and therefore I was obliged to employ interpreters for noting down the tales of those so called „bushmen“. All my informants were men, but some of them had learnt certain of the tales from women. Only one person at a time was allowed to be present at our meetings, as it was observed that the communicativeness of a native suffered from the presence of others. In a very few cases several persons took part in the relating of a tale, which for instance was the case with some of those from Másingára.

On the whole the Kíwai Papuans were remarkably good narrators, and when they had accustomed themselves to my note taking, they told their tales with entertaining fluency, evidently themselves enjoying the telling. In many cases I had no occasion to make a single question while a narrative was in progress, and if the teller paused, it was as a rule sufficient simply to ask him to continue. Therefore the anthropological incidents occurring in the tales came about spontaneously from the natives' side. Many of the narrators had a great mastery over their language, crude as it was, and with regard to the modes of expression they could vary their tales in no small degree. If during my writing it chanced that some interesting expression escaped me, it was in most cases in spite of every effort well nigh impossible to make the teller repeat himself in the same diction, his phrases nearly always taking a new form. Sometimes when a narrator related a legend which I had heard before I was able to notice that some such circumstance as gathering darkness or an approaching meal time tempted him to shorten his account in order to bring the whole to a speedier conclusion, but one could

not observe that he in any way expressed himself with less fluency than usual. If I enjoined him to relate the legend in its entirety he as a rule expanded the same with equal ease.

One singularity common to many of my informants was their disposition at the beginning of a story to so to speak fumble about with the subject for a good while before coming to the plot. It sometimes happened, that when they began a story they comprised the whole argument into a few broken sentences, absolutely unintelligible, if the legend was not familiar to one before. In other cases the same uncertainty expressed itself in a long drawn out introduction which for instance included a description of the people engaged in their every day occupations, first in the home, and then in the plantations over and over again, till at length the action began. Once however the story was properly started it was pursued with good observance to coherency. Repetitions came about often, when certain episodes reoccurred in the same tale and all the details were delineated each time with the same fullness.

The folktales served as a good guidance for my other research work among the natives. In the beginning I devoted a good deal of time to the so called genealogical method of research, but at least in the case of the Kíwais, who live in very populous communities, this method did not prove very satisfactory, as it demanded much time and hardly lead to any other results than an insight into the system of kinship of the natives. The genealogies, in the recording and analysing of which the method consists, could not either in spite of every effort be made as complete or exact as one would have wished. One difficulty in my work among the natives was to avoid secret or otherwise forbidden subjects in order not to frighten my informants before they had accustomed themselves to me. For this purpose I used to begin with asking them to relate folktales which they themselves should choose. This method, which I later followed in every place I visited, could be used so much the better as the natives possessed an inexhaustible store of folklore of that description, and imparted legends both better and more readily than anything else. Episodes which arose in the legends served as stepping stones to other questions. Even certain legends were secret, for instance those concerning the great ceremonies, but such the informants themselves avoided in the beginning.

The reader will find much in the contents of the legends which is illogical and inconsequent. I have however purposely omitted in this respect to revise the text in any way. For it was part and parcel of the natives way of narrating that they did not trouble themselves about any logical deficiency in the tales. The legend numbered 62 thus speaks of a dumb woman who yet talks. The útumu, to give another instance, is the headless ghost of a man whose head has been cut off, but no. 134 deals with

such a ghost who killed a person by boring its tusks into the victim's head, and finally eat him. Such instances are numerous.

The names of persons and places in some tales appear to have been invented by the narrators who may have forgotten the original names, if there were any. The natives knew that I was desirous of hearing all the names belonging to a tale. The names of the islands in the Torres straits, whether of native or European origin, are quoted exactly as they were given in the tales, and I have not in every case been able to authenticate them.

All numbers and calculations concerning the length of time periods and such like, are very uncertain, and in many cases impossible, which is not to be wondered at, as the natives originally only had two words to indicate numbers, náo = one and nettóva = two. Three was expressed by nettóva náo, and by a similar addition they could reckon up to five or six but scarcely higher.

The songs which come into the legends were sung during the narrating. The text of the songs is somewhat uncertain, as the narrators generally found a great difficulty in saying the words, although they could sing them fluently. Also the translations of the song-texts only give their approximate meaning; the singers themselves did not in many cases understand what they sang.

Certain features in the tales were expressed by pantomimic gestures without the use of words, and even otherwise gestures played a great part in the narrating. In a few cases mention has been made of them in the text.

The tales are given here as strictly as possible according to the natives' own words, but I beg however to draw attention to the following circumstances. In general my rendering of the tales has tended to make them slightly more concentrated than they originally were. Thus all pure and unnecessary repetitions, etc., have been abridged and are in the more apparent cases marked thus in the text. This has also been the case with detailed and lengthly descriptions of magical practices, etc., as it is my intention to publish them in a systematic account of the Kiwais.

Alterations and additions which the natives made themselves while narrating a tale have as a rule been inserted in the places where they properly belong.

The following is the system of spelling native words:

DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON THE KIWAI PAPUANS.

Habitation and Language. The Kiwai speaking Papuans inhabit Kíwai island and some other islands in the delta of the Fly river, a couple of villages on the left bank of the river, the right bank near the mouth, and the coast west of the river, including Mábudaváne village. The neighbouring tribes in the west and north speak languages totally different from Kíwai, whilst along the coast eastward of the Kiwai territory dialects are spoken which show an unmistakable relation to Kíwai. The Kíwai language itself is divided into two related dialects, one of which is spoken on Kíwai island and the other on the mainland, for instance in the village of Mawáta. The Vocabularies of the two dialects are somewhat different, and also the pronunciation; thus