68 Gunnar Landtman. 



atéraro. Låter on some other people came and settled in the same place, („half he corne, half he stop 

 along Manåvete"). (Kåku, Ipisi'a). 



D. The atéraro lived' at Kubîra before any people were there. Once it vvent to another place 

 and caught a man there, whom it brought alive to Kubira, and on another occasion it brought över a 

 woman in the same way. It made them husband and wife and caught pigs for them. The atéraro was 

 very oid and wanted somebody to live in its place after it was dead. (Cf. no. 433; Japia, Ipisia). 



THE KIWAI PEOPLE MOVE FROM THE BUSH TO THE COAST. 



3. The Kiwai people lived at a place called Bârasâro which lay inland in the bush. 

 They did not know of the sea and spent all their time making their gardens. On hearing the 

 noise of the sea they thought, „That some fighting man make noise there, that some bisare 

 (mythical being, ef. no. 131)." 



At length a man named Kokéma made up his mind to go and find out vvhat the sea was; 

 he did not teil anybody but went alone. When he came out to the coast and saw the place 

 where låsa village is now situated, he thought to himself, „My God, vvhat name (why) you me 

 (we) stop along bush? More better me come this place stop hère." And he looked at the sea 

 and thought, „My God, me fellow been fright (afraid of) that thing — that (is the) sea (which) 

 make noise." On his return he said to the others, „Oh, no good you me (we) stop bush, I been 

 go look outside. What name (why) you fright? That's no bisare ^ that's sea make noise." And 

 the people ail said, „Ali right, to-morrow you me (we) go outside (to the shore)." 



The lâsa, Kubira, Dorôpo, Paâra, and Uûo people at that time lived together in one place, 

 and they launched their small canoës, put ail their things on board, and paddled down the Ôro- 

 motüri creek with their wives and children. On reaching the coast they first put up small huts 

 to live in while they built a men's house, and they also made gardens. (Gibiima, Mawàta). 



A. When the Kiwai people were living in the bush ignorant of the sea, one of their leading 

 men named Damera and his two brothers Mi'irau and Pärara one day decided to go and discover vvhat 

 the sea was. They paddled down the creek in a „half canoe" (cf. p. 9), and when they heard the sound 

 of the sea and wind they did not dare go further, so they landed, and Damera went to reconnoitre, 

 carrying his bow and peeping about stealthily. On arriving at the beach he discovered the secret of 

 the noise: „Oh, me been fright sea, that no other thing make noise, that sea!" He looked to the right 

 and left, and as the place pleased him, he sent Mûrau and Pârara to fetch the people to live there. 

 After a while they ail arrived in their canoës, and the men chose sites for the houses which they were 

 going to build. 



The Sun was very hot, so Damera built a small hut for a shelter and covered it with coconut- 

 leaves, saying, ,That (is) my miriimdra (totem), oi (coconut), I put him on top." Mi'irau and Pârara 

 thatched their hut with nipa-palm leaves, saying, „This mlrumâra belong me, sôko (nipa-palm)." Other 

 men used other leaves for roofîng, thus making the respective trees and plants their niinimàra, as for 

 instance the dûdtt {retà), dubôro (pandanus), and gesére (a kind of bush). One man had caught a certain 

 crab, korobe, and Damera said to him, „You no kill him, you no kaikai (eat), that niirumàra belong you 

 fellow." In exactly the same way Damera appointed the sibara (crocodile) and kaurla (cassowary) the 

 totems of two other men. Damera was a great man and leader of the lâsa people, and he taught them 

 many things; he also named the éra (fire) and éi (coconut). The black cockatoo had brought a flre- 



Tom. XLVII. 



