DOBUAN BELIEFS AND FOLK-LORE. 425 



much longer the land would have been cut into two, but the hill of 

 Mwatebu was too strong and thick. At last the tree found its mis- 

 sing chip at the village of Ainowa, and was satisfied. Exhausted, 

 the tree sank to the bottom of the sea which had been made b\^ a 

 great fish called Watuwatuke. When the tree fell at first a big 

 flat fish hammered the earth to the north out flat, but the fish 

 Watuwatuke spoiled this by smiting the earth with its body and 

 cutting it up into islands, so forming the sea. Watuwatuke then 

 made the passage at Dobu, and tried to cut the mountain of Soro- 

 monai into two, but was stopped by rattan cane, where it remains 

 caught unto this day. 



The person Tobwaritoni, who was turned into a fish, still holds 

 on to the tree as it lies under the sea, and is called The Earth's 

 Salvation, because if he should let go the whole world would be 

 flooded by the sea. 



The second individual, Tomodawa, is lying down, and turns 

 occasionally, thus causing earthquakes. 



The third, Tobebesa, travels along the trunk of the tree, and 

 when he gets near Dobu and Boio there is a plentiful season at those 

 places, but when he is near Sawatupwa there is famine at the two 

 places named, but plenty where he is near. 



The descendants of those who cut down the tree live at Sawa- 

 tupwa, and have grey hair, and are dwarfs. (I have seen children 

 at Sawatupwa with light grey hair. — W.E.B). 



Where the roots of the famous tree were there is a fresh water 

 spring. 



It was from Sawatupwa that the original inhabitants of the 

 world came, so when the natives of other parts come near the scene 

 of this story they must always paddle their canoes for fear that in 

 poling they might strike one of their ancestors on the submerged 

 trunk. 



The Origin of Fire. — Our ancestors ate food raw. They hunted 

 for pigs, the flesh of which they also ate raw. An old woman was 

 left alone one day in the village while the whole of the inhabitants 

 went on a hunt. She put the yams for the hunters aside in a dish 

 by itself, and then took out of her vagina that which made a fire 

 and boiled her own yams in a pot. Then she put the fire out, 

 threw the ashes away, and gave the hunters raw food when they 

 returned. By mistake she put one cooked piece amongst the rest, 

 which they liked so much on tasting it that they determined to 

 watch the old woman. So the next day one of the hunters returned 

 to the village and saw the fire, whereupon he gathered leaves 

 together to make a torch, and lit it. He then set fire to the grass, 

 though the woman called out, " Kaiagu, kaiagu, 'u da ilenama !" 

 My fire ! My fire ! Bring it back ! She then fell dead. The 

 fire burned much grass and bush, until a big rain fell and put it all 

 out. They looked for the fire, but could find none until they came 

 across a snake coiled round with fire underneath it ; therefore the 

 underside of that snake is as if it were scorched until this day. 



