The Folk-Tates of t he Kiwai Papuans. 41 



without nuts and took revenge by becoming tvvo rats and ruining the nuts. They vvere disco- 

 vered, and a fight ensued, but by leaping up on the heads of the men they caused them to kill 

 each other instead of the rats. — At the time when the nuts were distributed among the people 

 each group was given a totem. 



THE FIRST YAM. 



264. A man made a hole in the ground and bad connection with it, but in reality he 

 had connection with a mythical woman who bad withdrawn underneath the ground. She became 

 pregnant and brought forth a number of yams. They made their présence known to the man in 

 a dream, and from him their use spread to many peoples. 



265. Two women became pregnant through swallowing a certain leaf, and they brought 

 forth some yams which they planted in a garden. 



THE FIRST TARO. 



266. An unmarried woman became pregnant through eating a certain fish and gave birth 

 to a bov. She went to another place, and in her absence a bird dropped some leax'es and other 

 parts of a certain plant on to the boy, and they fastened on to his body. He was gradually 

 transformed into a taro plant which started to grow there. The plant spoke to a man in a dream 

 instructing him how to cultivate taro. 



THE FIRST KOKEA (A KIND OF TARO?). 



267. The kokéa plants grew up from the decaying bodies of some people who had been 

 killed in a fight. They were found by a surviving friend of the dead people who had come to him 

 in a dream telling him how to plant the kokéa. He taught the people what he had dreamt. 



THE FIRST BANANA. 



268. A man who v\'anted a wife was visited in a dream by a crayfish which offered to 

 be his wife. The next day he caught the crayfish, but it died in the hot sun, and from its body 

 sprouted the stem of a banana. The man was informed in a dream how to plant the banana. 



THE ORIGIN OF GAMODA. 



269—271. The first gdmoda plant Sprung up from a kangaroo's semen which had run 

 out on the ground. The gdmoda is used by the people to promote the growth of their gardens. 

 — The gdmoda grew up from the dung of a kangaroo, and a man was instructed in a dream 

 how to use it. — The people were eager to taste the gdmoda, and some of them drank so much 

 of it that they died. 

 N:o 1. 6 



