764 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
he were a pig, and jet the pig go as if it were a man. ‘The pig 
went roaming about all day, and, caring only for itself, returned 
at night with its stomach well filled. It took no thought for the 
man, and cared not that he was hungry. Man tangisi nerei 
pitied man, seeing him in this evil case, and sundered the cords 
by which he was bound. He, seeing how inhumanly selfish and 
unfit to have authority over others the pig was, ordained that 
man should be man having the lordship, and that pig should be 
put in subjection, as we now see it. 
VII. THE ADVENT OF DEATH. 
At the first, it was not settled whether men should die (mate), 
or renewing their youth perpetually be immortal (m/w). Some 
said, ‘ Let us die” ; others said, “ Let us be immortal (mulw).” 
Man tangist neret wished this latter to prevail ; but Pilake burst 
in upon them while the deliberation was going on and exclaimed, 
“You are deliberating about what ? (the matter is practically 
settled). I have just buried my father and my mother. Beget 
offspring instead of them” (or to take their places). Man tangisi 
neret wept, bewailing us (tangisi ngita), so that his eyes are red 
to this day. Thus was established the existing order of things in 
which are set Death and Birth, the one over against the other, 
and in which as one generation eoeth another Aone dy 
There are two little birds in Efate called respectively Pilake 
and Man tangisi neret. The word Pilake signifies to be in mortal 
terror. Pilake is a dingy-looking bird, afraid of man, and keeping 
at a distance from him. Man tangist nerev denotes, literally, 
“bird bewailing man” —that is, loving, pitying, and weeping over, 
or bewailing them involved in misery and death. Man tangisi 
mere 18 a& bird something like robin red- breast, venturing near the 
dwellings of men. It has beautiful bright red marks “under its 
eyes ; these are the marks said to have been caused by “ weeping 
for men.” 
With respect to the word mulu in the above story it may be 
remarked that the Efatese explain its meaning in this connection 
in the following way :—The serpent, they say, casts its skin—that 
is, it mulus. By casting its skin it, so to speak, renews its youth. 
The old worn-out withered husk is slipped off and cast away, and 
the animal comes forth from it as if new-born, at once delivered 
from the effects of the wear and tear of time, and endowed afresh 
with youthful beauty, vigour, and life. If at the dawn of the 
world Man tangisi neret had prevailed, and the decision of the 
fates had been that men should m/z, they should have never died. 
The first man who buried the first dead in the beginning of the 
world is called Waka Tafaki. This, however, throws little light 
on the matter, as tafaki is from afaki, to bury. 
