Tlic Folk-Taldi of Ihc Kiwai Papuans. 3 



such a ghost who killed a person by boring its tusks into the victimes 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 helonging 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 veiy uncertain, and in many cases impossible, which is not to be wondered 

 at, as the natives original ly only had two words to indicate numbers, ndo = one and 

 nettôva = two. Three was expressed by nettöva ndo, and by a similar addition they 

 could reckon up to live or six but scarcely higher. 



The songs which come into the legends were sung during the navrating. The 

 text of the songs is somewhat uncertain, as the narrators gene)-ally found a great difti- 

 culty 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. Thas 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 inten- 

 tion to publish them in a systematic account of the Kiwais. 



Altérations 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: 

 a as in „father" 

 e as in „ten" 

 i as in „it" 

 o as in „on" 



^<mri 



^à^ 



g as in „get". - 



N:o 1. i w ♦ 



1Ü 



X 



