656 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



the hands of a class, but every Nuruker is a chief, because 

 he is a Nuruker. He may also be a governing- chief. These 

 supernatural powers are widely distributed. One man is a 

 Nilruker, another makes rain, another fish, and so on. 

 Women sometimes are " tubahaners." The knowledge of 

 these things is handed down from father to son. The owner 

 of the Nurfik stones now in my possession died suddenly, with- 

 out a successor ; hence, it was not known where they were 

 buried, till unearthed accidentally, and hence, the loss of the 

 name at present. Natives to whom I have shown these stones 

 shudder with terror at beholding them. All Nuruk stones 

 are not equally powerful. There is uncertainty in the native 

 mind as to the sex of these Nuruk stones, or rather the in- 

 dwelling spirits. Natives are of the opinion that they are 

 male gender. Yet they feel that there must be something of 

 the female about them. They bring forth Nfiruk stones. 

 The terms used to describe the burning of the Nuruk suggest 

 that the stones or spirits are feminine. But I suspect that the 

 idea of sex does not apply to superhuman beings. They are 

 not limited as human beings are. A monster that can fish 

 up a great island out of the sea can weather a storm, in 

 which sky and sea are mingled, in a frail bamboo canoe a 

 few inches long. So it is with sex as applied to superhuman 

 beings. To the belief in these we now turn. 



(5.) Belief in superhuman beings. It is common to speak 

 of these as gods. To my thinking this is a mistake and 

 altogether misleading : they are human monsters possessing 

 superhuman attributes. They are the Noahs and Samsons 

 of the Bible run to unhmited extravagance. They are the 

 heroes of Homer and Virgil. Diomede is said to have 



" . . . . Seized in his grasp a hand-stone 

 A huge aftair, -which no two men could carry, 



Such at least as mortals are now " 



— //. V. 302. 



This exactly describes the feats of these ancient " heroes " of 

 our Tannese. These " heroes " are not all of equal importance. 

 Some of them are quite local such as Nupi'ia, the ancestor of 

 the Numanagusimini, and Doligia the ancestor of the 

 Numakasarumini. Others again are not so local ; such as 

 Karapanumei, who is known on Aneityum as Inhujeraig. 

 Still less local is Matikitki, known on Aneityum, Tutuna, and 

 Aniwa. Indeed he is a character known throughout the 

 Pacific. We give below a tradition of Matikitki's feats set 

 over against a local hero of Tanna, Teramsamus. It is 



