5dd 



and season naming they are used in an adjectival form : 

 Bodea aura meaning the south-eastern side or direction, 

 Bodea wdna the south-eastern season, A vara aura the north- 

 western side or direction, and A vara wdna the north-west 

 monsoon season. '28) 



The Mailu seasons are not related to the changes of 

 the moons, though some of my informants designated them as 

 moons (Dovere). This seems, however, to be due to the 

 influence of the Motu language, which I used in talking with 

 the Mailu natives, the Motuans having names for the thirteen 

 moons (lunar months). '29) 



The proper word to designate the Mailu year divisions is 

 Wcina (time, season), and not Dovert (moon). These divi- 

 sions are only loosely defined, being determined by winds, 

 flowering of certain plants, and by other phenomena which, 

 though regularly occurring, lack the precision of astronomical 

 phenomena. 



The Mailu natives seem to place the beginning of the 



year somewhere about the end of December and the beginning 



of January, at least they usually start the enumeration of 



their seasons with that time, which is the period w4ien the 



first gusts of the monsoon set in.*30) The season is nam.ed 



(28) It is the same in the Motuan language. The substantives 

 Laurahdda and Lahdra mean the south-east trades and the 

 north-west monsoon respectively; adjectively, the words are 

 used in Laurahdda kdha, the south-eastern side or direction, and 

 Lahdra kdha, the north-western direction. Also Laurahdda or 

 Lahdra neganai, the south-eastern or north-western season ; 

 literally, in the time of the Laurahdda or L^ahdra. 



(29) The Motu divide their year into 13 moons, the beginning 

 -of the year being somewhere in January. It is determined by 

 the position of Pleiades, so that the first moon usually falls into 

 its right place in the astral j^ear. 



(30) This coincidence between our, European, beginning of the 

 year and what I am calling here "the native beginning' 

 is hardly due to the influence of missionaries or of other white 

 men. In the mind of the native there is good reason for calling 

 this time the beginning of the year, for this is the time when they 

 commence making new gardens — the most important activity among 

 the majority of the inland tribes, who are agriculturists. Again, 

 on the sea, this time marks the beginning of the monsoon ; the 

 shorter, but more interesting period. All along the coast this is 

 also the period when important sailings take place. Thus among 

 the Motu the Hiri, or great expedition to the gulf, returns with 

 sago; the HukVa make their Hiri to Hanuahada and the Mailu 

 make their departure for Aroma. Again, at that time the big 

 feast is either over (Southern Massim, Mailu mainland) or 

 (exceptionally, as in Mailu village) it is in immediate approach. 

 This change of seasons (December-January) is decidedly much 

 more likely to appeal to the natives' imagination than the other 

 one (April-May). 



