238 Gunnar Landtman. 



carried away by a high tide, the baby turned into a dugong. Kiba speared tlie animal, and it towed 

 the canoe on to the open sea. Kiba plunged into tlie water, niaking his people believe that he was 

 trying to tie a rope round llie dugong's tail in the usual way, but instead he said to the animal, „Sup- 

 pose you man, you take me go along Daväne." And the dugong swam to the Island tovving the canoe 

 along. „1 catch him again," said Kiba and jumped into the water, and there he asked the animal to 

 take them to Måbuiag. In the same way Kiba caused the dugong to tow the canoe to Mùralâgo, thence 

 to Miiri, and lastly back to Boigu (abbrev.). There the dugong ran on shore and died. The people 

 eut it up and cooked the meat. Kiba loaded the canoe with the meat and sailed with his people to- 

 wards Påbo. When they came near, Kiba speared a turtle which went straight to the bottom without 

 Coming up again. I-le dived down and said to the turtle, „I go back, sing out (summon) my people." 

 „Go on, you sing out all people," said the turtle, „good place, you me (we) stop along bottom." Kiba 

 fetched his people down to the bottom of the sea where they were received by the turtles who said, 

 „Place there, all you fellow sit down, sleep." Kiba's people all abandoned their human forms and 

 became turtles.*' (Gibuma, Mawäta). 



B. The wife of a certain Mawâta man named Dàivarnga was „humbugged" by one of the 

 villagers, and shortly afterwards the injured husband went to spear dugong. On mounting the plat- 

 form the harpooners generally unwind the coil of the rope in order to see whether it is clear. Dài- 

 varnga omitted to do so, for after learning of the infidelity of his wife he wanted to end his life in 

 the water. Everybody speared a dugong e.xcept him, and the reason was that owing to a presentiment 

 of his impending death, his spirit passed out of his body beforehand and stopped the dugong from 

 Coming to him. At length he saw a female dugong which was pregnant, and he speared it. His leg 

 became entangled in the rope, and he was carried far away by the dugong. They stranded for a while 

 on the Tâbaiâni sandbank, but the rising tide brought the dugong afloat, and sitting on the animal's back 

 Dàivarnga was carried to the Ngådji sandbank between Moa and Two Brothers, and thence to Émbren or 

 Dånikawa. There they stranded and Dàivarnga hauled the dugong on shore and eut it up. He placed 

 the meat in the sun and ate the surface parts when they became dry. After four days he was found 

 by some Boigu people who came in a canoe. They guessed how he had got there and contem- 

 plated to kill him.^^ „Suppose he come from Måbuiag, Sdibai, Yam Island, we kill him," said they, 

 „suppose he come from Mawåta, Päräma, me no kill him; that's road belong canoe (from that side the 

 people obtained their canoës)." Eventually he was saved and brought to Boigu, but he did not want 

 to return to Mawâta. He remained in Boigu and married there. It was only after his wife had born 

 him four children that he wanted the Mawåta people to know that he had escaped and was alive. 

 Since his time the Mawåta and Boigu people have been fricnds. (Gamca, Mawåta). 



THE ADVENTURE OF A LITTLE GIRL WITH A BAD WOMAN AND THE ATTEMPTS OF 



HER MOTHER TO PROTECT HER.»- 



154. A Djîbu man named Diie had two wives, Mugfma and Jesdnga. Mugfma was a 

 bad-tempered woman and every day used to upbraid Jesanga, who at last made a small house 

 for herself and went to live there with her little girl Wîawi'a. 



An „old woman'' used to fish every day in the Bfnatiirl river, and this is how she did 

 it. Her home was at Sâusâu, and from there she started her work. Fishing from the river-bank 

 she proceeded downstream, and when she had finished in the evening she marked the place with a 

 stick in the ground. Next day she began from the place marked, pulled out the stick, and continued 



Tom. XLVU. 



