September, 1913. Wild Tribes of Davao District — Cole. 137 



MElu said: 'Of what use is land without people'; so the others 

 said. 'Let us make wax into people.' They did so, but when they put 

 the wax near to the fire it melted, so they saw they could not make 

 man that way. Next it was decided that they should use dirt, and 

 M£lii and Fiuweigh began to make man. All went well until they 

 were ready to make the nose. Fiuweigh who was making this part 

 put the nose on upside down and when MElu told him that the people 

 would drown if he left it that way he became very angry and refused 

 to change it. When he turned his back, MElu seized the nose quickly 

 and turned it as it now is, and you can see where, in his haste, he pressed 

 his fingers (at the root). 



"The people they made were Adnato and Andawi, male and female. 

 These two had children, Tap! (or Mastafi) and Lakarol. (Informants 

 disagreed here, part insisting that MEsa, Lakbang, and Mangarang 

 were part of the first people made.) Their descendants were Sinudal 9 , 

 Moay 6 / Limbay 9 , Madinda 9 , Sinnamoway 6 , Kamansa 6 , Gilay 9 , 

 Gomayau 6 , Salau 6 , Slayen 9 , BaEn 9 , Kanfal 9 , Latara 6 ." 



The last was the father of Alimama, the chief informant of this tale. 

 Inok, dato of Labau, is also of this line, tracing his descent from Lak- 

 bang. 



It is said that MElu and Saweigh now live below, Dwata and Fiu- 

 weigh in the sky. 



A variation of this story credits MElu and Dwata with being the 

 creators of Fiuweigh and S£ weigh. They were the ancestors of men, 

 for they took earth and made it into the form of people and then whipped 

 it until it moved. The first people they made were Otis 6 and Lak- 

 bang 9 • Two of their children were Mastaf 1 6 and Lakarol (or 

 Landol) 9 • From these two eame all the Bila-an. "These two lived 

 in a small distant place and their one animal was Baswit — -a bird. 

 They sent him on a long journey and when he returned he brought a 

 piece of earth and the fruit of a panda g tree. Lakarol planted the 

 fruit in the piece of earth and when it grew the leaves fell down and 

 finally made the earth." 



From these tales and later questioning we learn the MElu, or 

 MElE, is the most powerful of all the natural spirits and that his help 

 is sought in times of calamity and at very important occasions. 



Duwata (Duata, Dwata, Adwata, Diwata) is generally considered to 

 be the wife of MElu and of equal strength with him. She is sometimes 

 identified with a female spirit called Kalalokan. 



1 6 male, 9 female. 



