THE MONSTER MAN AND THE SNAKE.

190. Formerly there lived at lása a man who was one of the ororárora (cf. Introduction to no. 102). He had no axe but used to kick down sago-palms with his foot when he wanted to make sago, and in the same way he felled te-palms for flooring and any other trees for firewood. In order to get coconuts he knocked down the whole tree and husked the nuts with his bare hands. He had no wife and lived underneath the ground. He caught fish with his bare hands and killed pigs simply by kicking them. As he had no fire he ate the meat raw, and the blood ran down the corners of his mouth. Once a snake came to him which had very long teeth and a body as large as the trunk of a coconut-tree. The man took fright and tried to escape underneath the ground, but was caught by the snake. He kicked it, but the snake coiled itself round his body and bit him. The reptile dragged him into the bush, but when it lay down exhausted to sleep thinking that the man was dead, the latter managed to run away, went into the water and made a house there, where he remained. (Támetáme, Ipisía).

GIGANTIC REPTILES.

191. In the neighbourhood of the Bódemúpa swamp between Drágeri and Másingára there live certain monsters which look like crocodiles but are as large as a house and have three pairs of legs. Some people have seen them. These reptiles have human faces, very large teeth and protruding ears which they can distend and contract at will. Their tails which are like those of snakes are provided with spines, and they can kill anything by lashing about with them. Their cry resembles a whistling or a deep bellowing sound like that of the útumu. These monsters send snakes to bite people. (Námai, Mawáta).

THE STRANDED MARINE ANIMAL.

192. A whale (it was also called g'riwúro, cf. no. 131) was once stranded on the reef which is called Mádjaía, and at Mawáta two or three old women are still living who saw it in their youth. It was as large as a house. Some people on seeing it for the first time from their canoes asked themselves, "What name (what is) that, like island?" When they came close up to it and saw it more distinctly they said, „Oh, that (is a) deep-water thing, skin all same dugong, tail all same dugong. Some devil (mysterious being) he been come, he dead." After a time the tail-part of the monster broke off and drifted to the mouth of the Bínatúri river where Mawáta village is situated. The stench was so strong that the people had to move to another place for a time, and some trees near by, even withered in consequence of it. The sharks bit off and ate the flesh, and at last the carcass fell to pieces. The vertebrae of the skeleton were enormous. The appearance of such a monster forebodes something evil, in this case it omened a devastating drought, which happened some time afterwards. (Námai, Mawáta).

THE TREE WHICH SERVES AS AN OMEN.

On the bank of the Ábere-óromo creek which runs through Kíwai island there grows

a large gúda tree. Once the Owósudái men went to fight the Díbiri people but were defeated

and many of them killed. On the same day those remaining at home noticed that the gúda tree bent down towards the ground and that the leaves began to tremble, and they concluded that many of their friends had been killed in Díbiri. the omen expressed by the tree had come true.

When the survivors returned, it was found that
Ever since then the people at home watch the

tree when some of them are on a journey, and the tree lets them know if any disaster befalls those who are away. After bending down the tree rises up again. (Káku, Ipisía).

V.

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE (no. 194-216; cf. Index).

CHANCE MEETINGS OF BOYS AND GIRLS AND THEIR MARRIAGE

༡

(no. 194-202; cf. Index, Courtship).

194. A long time ago there were many unmarried boys in Kiwai but no girls, and they saw the smoke rising over Dúdi where a number of girls lived by themselves. One day the boys said to their eldest brother", "Oh, brother, where me find road? Me see all time smoke along Dúdi, me fellow want go look." Then the eldest boy decorated a trumpet shell with leaves, making it look like a bird, and it became very large. The boys all passed into it, and in the night it flew with them over the water to Dúdi where it perched in a neére tree and started to eat the fruit. In the morning the girls came out of their house and found that someone had eaten their fruit. They discovered the bird and started to throw pieces of wood at it to kill it, but the bird flew away into the bush. The next night it came back and alighted in the same tree, and one of the boys came out, climbed down the tree and went into the girls' house. One of the girls woke up and asked him, "Who man? Where you come?" ,,Yesterday you think that pigeon (bird)," answered he, "I no pigeon, I man." She asked him whether he was alone, Then he stayed with her in the night.

and he lied and said that he was.

The next morning the bird flew away, leaving the boy behind. The girls got up and on seeing him exclaimed,,,Where he come that man?" ,,I no see that time he come," the one girl replied. She was very afraid that the other girls should take the boy from her.

The bird returned in the night, and another boy came down and was received by one of the girls exactly as his brother had been the preceding night. This went on night after night till all the boys had found their way into the house where they met the girls and married them (abbrev.). The boys remained in Dúdi, and so did the bird which also was a trumpet shell. (Mánu, Ipisía).

195. On one side of Bóigu lived a very handsome man named Báidam with his little brother Aváti, and on the other side of the island lived a number of girls. Báidam used to hear the drums of some people living on Danínikáva island not far off, and ornamenting himself with gay leaves he danced alone to the accompaniment of the sound. One day the girls on their way home from fishing came to Báidam's abode and picked up the leaves which he had used when dancing. They stuck them inside their grass-petticoats and went home to sleep, and from Báidam's smell" they all became pregnant. 56 Báidam wanted to go and see the people who

beat the drums but was stopped by Aváti who did not want to be left alone. In the night, however, when Aváti was asleep Báidam arose and went up on a washed-up nipa palm. He shoved it off, hoisted a mat for a sail, and the east wind carried him over to Danínikáva. There he was found in the morning by the women who summoned all the people, and Báidam was brought on shore and well received. Then follows a description of the dancing competition

during which the men tried to win the beautiful girl Mahéruo or Pónipóni (cf. no. 457 C).

Aváti woke up in his brother's absence and wondered where he had gone. In vain he called Báidam by name and at length concluded from the tracks that his brother had left the island. In the morning the girls all came to him, bringing with them the babies which they had given birth to in the meantime. Where you (your) brother?" they asked Aváti. „My brother he go away night-time." „Here, pickaninny belong you two fellow here,“.said they, „you brother make that pickaninny." But Aváti did not believe them and sent them back.

When Báidam came back from Danínikáva, the girls again came to his place with the babies. Pickaninny belong you fellow," they said, "you been make him. All same you, that pickaninny all same you (are like you)." Báidam would not believe them but at length he said, „All right, I take you all lot, all my wife." Aváti was however not content to be left alone and said, "What's the matter you no give me some woman?" Then Báidam gave him two girls and kept seven for himself. They prepared a feast, and Aváti went alone and speared two dugong for himself and seven for Báidam. Each woman cut up and cooked one dugong, and they ate them.

A little later the two men and their wives went to the place where the girls had lived and settled down there. They are the ancestors of the Boigu people. (Menégi, Mawáta).

"12

196. On Bóigu island there lived a man named Débo and his brothers but no woman, whereas a number of girls lived in Búdji. One day Débo and his brothers speared a dugong which they cut up, threw the intestines away into the water, and they floated over to Búdji. The eldest sister, on finding them, said, "I think man there along Bóigu. Me go see him by and by.“ Another day when Débo and his brothers went to spear dugong the youngest boy was left in the house wrapped up in a mat, and was told not to come out. On the same day the Búdji girls climbed a large bamboo tree which fell with them over to Bóigu and was caught in a tree there. What name (what) noise? I no been hear before," wondered the little boy in the mat, but he was too frightened to come out. After a while the Búdji girls went back in the same fashion, but a great number of leaves had been shaken down around the house. On their return the boys asked their little brother angrily where the leaves came from, but he said, ..Oh, brother, where you put me I stop there. I no go outside, I no savy who make that thing."

Another day, in the absence of Débo and the elder boys, the girls came again, and the little boy on hearing the noise of the falling bamboo came out of the mat in which he was hiding. „Oh, plenty girl he stop along tree, all nice girl!" he exclaimed. Then he counted them and thought to himself, „Big girl belong big brother (Débo) belong other brother belong other brother. Oh, belong me one small one he stop on top."

Just before daylight the bamboo went back to Búdji with the girls, and Débo and his comrades returned from fishing. Débo grumbled at the boy on account of the leaves which were

.

lying all over the place. In the night the boy took him aside and told him what he had seen (abbrev.), and Débo sharpened his stone axe and determined to keep a strict watch. Towards dawn he heard a strange noise, and at the same time the tree fell. Oh, good (good looking) girl there on top," Débo said. He cut off the bamboo which was lying along the ground except at the top end. "Ah! I catch you fellow now!" he exclaimed, and then he understood where the leaves had come from. He told the girls to come down, and they did so weeping, and asked him not to kill them. At the return of his brothers he gave each of them a girl, the youngest boy received the youngest girl whereas Débo himself kept the eldest. All sat down and ate, and the next day they prepared a great feast.

Débo asked each of his brothers to build a separate house, and his own house as well as that of his little brother was built apart from the rest. He wanted the little brother to look after him. Débo impressed upon his brothers strictly to obey him. One day they all went to see the place where the girls had lived at Búdji. (Geróva, Mawáta)..

197. A number of boys lived by themselves at Bibi, between Mawáta and Másingára, and their names were Óea, Túbe, Läni, Úbududúru and Giwe. At Ngrúbe, not far away, lived a number of girls named Áuie, Búmeni, Dádeva, Dádue, and Dúdu. The boys used to make gardens at Káiwáte, and after finishing their work they returned home, drank gamoda and went to sleep. In the night the girls all came to the boys' garden and started to dance there, trampling down the crop, and at daylight they returned into a large kapáro tree where they lived.

On seeing their garden the boys exclaimed, „Uéi! Oi! who been spoil him garden? All he along foot smash him." As the trespassing was repeated every night the boys determined to watch the garden at night. The eldest brother, Óea, remained there alone in hiding, while the rest went home and slept.

After sunset the girls put in an appearance, and they were all nude except for a few branches of croton with which they had decorated themselves. "My God," Óea thought, „no got no grass (petticoat) that woman! Oh, big de (vulva)! Come humbug all time along garden!" He counted them and thought to himself, "What woman he come along head, that my woman close up him, that belong Túbe next him, that belong Läni close up him, that Giwe last one Úbududúru." At the rise of the morning star the girls finished dancing and went back. They were very sleepy and did not notice Óea who followed them. On their arrival at the large tree the youngest girl went in first and then the rest in turn, the eldest girl being the last. After dancing all night they slept in the day.

Óea did not tell his brothers what he had seen but said that he had slept all night after drinking too much gámoda. At his request they made a number of women's grass petticoats, the elder brothers large ones. and the younger brothers smaller ones. Then he sent his brothers to place the petticoats at the tree in which the girls lived, and he promised each boy a girl. On arriving at the tree the boys heard the heavy breathing of the girls who were sleeping inside. They knocked at the tree, and the girls woke up. You fellow all time humbug garden belong me," said the boys. ,,You fellow altogether wife belong me fellow now. You come down." The girls came out, and Túbe handed each of them a petticoat. Oéa had remained at home, and the eldest girl was considered to belong to him. But on seeing her Giwe, the youngest brother,