266 Gunnar Landtman. 



THE MONSTER MAN AND THE SNAKE. 



190. Formerly there lived at Idsa a man who was one of the ororåroni (ef. Introduc- 

 tion to no. 102). He had no axe but used to kick dovvn sagopalms with his foot when he 

 wanted to make sago, and in the same way he felled /«-palms for flooring and any other trees 

 for firewood. In order to get coconuts he knocked dovvn the whole tree and husked the nuts 

 with his hare hands. He had no wife and lived underneath the ground. He caught fish with 

 his bare hands and killed pigs simply by kicking them. As he had no fire he ate the meat raw, 

 and the blood ran down the corners of his mouth. Once a snake came to him v.hich had very 

 long teeth and a body as large as the trunk of a coconut-tree. The man took fright and 

 tried to escape underneath the ground, hut was caught by the snake. He kicked it, but the snake 

 coiled itself round his body and bit him. The reptile dragged him into the hush, but when it 

 lay down exhausted to sleep thinking that the man was dead, the jatter managed to run away, 

 went into the water and made a house there, where he remained. (Tametäme, Ipisia). 



GIGANTIC REPTILES. 



191. In the neighbourhood of the B(')demüpa swamp between Drägeri and Mâsingâra there 

 live certain monsters which look like crocodiles but are as large as a house and ha\e three pairs 

 of legs. Some people hâve seen them. These reptiles bave human faces, very large teeth and 

 protruding ears which they can distend and contract at will. Their tails which are like those of 

 snakes are provided with spines, and they can kill anything by lashing about with them. Their 

 cry resembles a whistling or a deep bellowing sound like that ot the iltiimii. These monsters send 

 snakes to bite people. (Nåmai, Mawäta). 



THE STRANDED MARINE ANIMAL. 



192. A whale (it was also called grizvùro, cf. no. 131) was once stranded on the reef 

 which is called Mädjaia, and at Mawåta tvvo or three old women are still living who saw it in 

 their youth. It was as large as a house. Some people on seeing it for the first time from their 

 canoës asked themselves, „What name (what is) that, like Island.'" When they came close up 

 to it and saw it more distinctly they said, „Oh, that (is a) deep-water thing, skin all same du- 

 gong, tail all same dugong. Some devil (mysterious being) he been come, he dead." .After a 

 time the tail-part of the monster broke off and drifted to the mouth oï the Blnaturi river where 

 Mawåta village is situated. The stench was so strong that the people had to mo\'e to another 

 place for a time, and some trees near by, e\'en withered in conséquence of it. The sharks bit 

 off and aie the flesh, and at last the carcass feil to pièces. The vertebrae of the skeleton were 

 enormous. The appearance of such a monster forebodes something evil, in this case it omened 

 a devastating drought, which happened some time afterwards. (Ndmai, Maw.ita). 



THE TREE WHICH SERVES AS AN OMEN. 



193. On the bank of the Åbere-i'iromo creek wiiich runs through Kivvai Island there grows 

 a large gihfa ti'ee. Once the Ovvösudai men went to fight the Di'biri people but were defeated 



Tom. XL VII. 



