CH. xn SONGS AND BOMANCE IN OLD MINAHASSA 305 



children, namely, that if any one of my offspring shall wish to 

 cross the mouth of the river, let him not be afraid, for he has 

 only to cry, ' my grandfather, take care of your grandson,' 

 and he shaU be safe. 



And so it happened that whenever one of the descendants 

 wished to cross the river, and there were many crocodiles about, 

 he was not afraid to swim across, for he remembered the promise 

 of his forefather Koingotan. Thence comes the story that if a 

 crocodile has four toes on its feet, then it has always been a 

 crocodile ; but if it has five, then it is a descendant of Koingotan, 

 the father of Eumambi. 



This story reminds us rather of the legends of some 

 races of the world accomiting for their totems or crests. 

 But it is rather remarkable that in this region of the Malay- 

 archipelago totems are never used, and there is very little 

 evidence to show that they ever were. It has been sug- 

 gested from the meaning of the word that the bamboo 

 was the totem of the Tombulus, and that some other tribal 

 names have had a plant-totem origin ; but these facts are 

 capable of another explanation. 



Stoey op a Widow and heb Two Sons (41) 



There was once a very poor widow, who Hved in a miserable 

 hut she had made with her own hands and covered with melon 

 leaves. She had two children ; one was named Lakamalang 

 and the other Lakasian. She collected the rags she found under 

 the houses of other people to make clothes for her sons, so that 

 she could dress them sufficiently to send them to school. When 

 they were old enough they became the servants of a certain 

 famous hunter named Prins. 



Not long afterwards they went on a hunt with Prins, but 

 found nothing until the evening, when they saw a cackling hen 

 in a tree. 



They passed the night there, and the following morning 

 Prins shot at it several times, but always missed it ; so at last 

 he chmbed up into the tree, and shot at it again. This time he 

 hit the bird, and it fell to the ground. 



