80 GUNNAE Landtman. 



Ua-6grere parted from her people and went up into the sky, saying that she was going to look for some 

 other place to live in, and if she found one she would call it Mdsingle after her old home. The people 

 thought that she had gone to the land of the white men, and my informants asked me vvhether I did 

 not know of a place in England called Màsingle. (Some Mdsingära men). 



Versions of the same story told by Mâwata men: 



C. Two sisters, who lived together at Såreére (near the present Mâsingàra), were the beginning 

 of the Mâsingàra people. One day one of them naraed Ua-6grere killed a kangaroo, and shortly after- 

 wards the dead animal came in the night and bade her take care of the worms which had formed in 

 the carcase. Some of the worms remained in the bush, and they became étengena and sàtne (mythical 

 beings which live in trees and creeks, cf. n:o 102, foot-note), while others were brought home by the two 

 sisters, and became men and women. The two sisters could hear the murmur of their voices in the night. 

 The new people were well looked after, the men married the women, and the two sisters built them a 

 house and provided them with gardens. The new-comers, however, were very short of stature, but 

 through the practice of sodomy the men were made to grow very tall, except some who refrained from 

 joining in. The tall and short people constituted two distinct groups and took part in dances and other 

 festivities in separate formations. Ua-6grere reprimanded the short men for disregarding her directions, 

 and feeling themselves slighted they went away one night and hid themselves in the bush. One of them 

 transformed himself into a bird by means of a feather, another into a pig by means of a tooth and tail of 

 a pig, while a third became a kangaroo by means of an ear of that animal. The others in the same way 

 turned into snakes or i'tengena. When the tall men came to look for their short brothers, one of the 

 latter got up and addressed them, „You fellow man, me fellow belong devil (the spirit kind). Me leave 

 you (your) place now. You proper man walk about, me there alongside you. Afternoon (in the dusk) 

 you look me, you talk, 'I been see oboro (spirit).' Sometime I go steal garden belong coconut, leave 

 him." The tall men wanted to prevent them from going away, but could not. 



Since that time the Mâsingàra people at their dances always form the columns of dancers of 

 alternate pairs of tall and short men, and in other ways too they avoid separating the tall and short 

 people into différent groups. (Nâmai, Mawâta). 



D. The name of the woman who gave rise to the Mâsingàra people was Kuîn, and she lived 

 at Sareéve. The people grew up from worms which were formiiig in a dead kangaroo. Kufn determined 

 the men's and women's différent share in garden work. On returning from the chase the hunters 

 were singing, 



„Biiblubode e biiblubode lede midjigie piadiva.'"'' 



The practice of sodomy which was introduced by Kuin is described. After teaching the people various 

 customs and practices the old woman went up into the sky. (Gibüma, Mawâta). 



A version told by a Dfrimo man: 



E. A woman named M6le-ége lived by herself at Gliilu. She felt lonely and wanted to make 

 some people, so as to have company. One day a bird came flying and feil down dead before her, and 

 she put it in some water which she kept in a banana leaf. After a time worms began to appçar in the 

 bird, and she collected them in a bowl, expecting them to grow into men. But that did not happen, so 

 she threw them away. Another time a cassowary came up to her, and when she spöke to the bird it 

 feil down dead. She tried the same thing with the worms forming in its body, but could not make 

 them become men, and this was also the case with the worms which were bred in the carcase of a pig. 

 At last her attempts succeeded when she used worms from a dead kangaroo which she had killed by her 

 mere word. The worms turned into babies, and when they had grown up Möle-ége made the boys and 

 girls marry. The present bush tribes are the descendants of thèse people. (Cf. no. 36 F; Séggium, Dirimo). 



Tom. XLVir. 



