ETHNOGBAPHICAL NOTES OF TOBBES S TBAI T . — EAMLYN-EABBIS. 5 
leaving its tracks on tlie shore to proceed along the public road wandering about, 
calling at the front doors of houses, and finally returning to the place from 
whence it came. 
The apparition is said to have been seen by other native races of the South 
Seas, who also go so far as to say that it is 4 ‘ as true as god,” but dare not 
molest it for fear of misfortune. 
Dr. Tosh gives the following version obtained from Speah, the Erub native 
before mentioned: — 
“ Baexis is a beast like a dog, as big as a cow, spotted black and white, 
■ one side of face white, one side black: thought to be a devil or spirit that comes 
for the souls of the departed. 
“ The men who owned this dog were two brothers, Imai and Dowai, sons 
of Kanorr, who used to live at the village of Apro, or Gibbo, or Zighis on 
Stephen Island. Baexis is invisible when not on duty, no one knowing where 
he lives. Speah has seen him twice here (Darnley) ; once as he passed, and once 
on the occasion of the death of a native at Stephen Island. The woman died 
in the evening, and all through the night three men watched by the door of the 
grass house where she lay. One of these was Speah. At midnight the dogs 
barked as they became aware of the presence of Baexis. He came right up to 
the door where the men sat, then quickly turned his tail to the door and stood 
looking seawards. The men beheld him in fear and trembling. At last he 
•departed along the sand-beach. When in the morning the people came out of 
their houses, the tracks of Baexis were visible on the sand.” 
A SUPPOSED AEROLITE FROM SAIBAI. 
Through the instrumentality of His Excellency the Governor of 
Queensland, Sir William MacGregor, a large stone weighing just upon 4 cwt. was 
sent to the Queensland Museum for examination and report. According to local 
tradition the stone was supposed to be an aerolite, which had fallen on the hard 
ground (formed of pisolite, iron, etc.), near the sea on the island of Saibai. 
Subsequently it was rolled away to assist in the reclamation of the swamp area, 
and when taken it was nearly covered with soil. The presence of this stone was all 
the more noticeable owing to the fact that there is no stone of any kind on Saibai. 
It is common belief in the island amongst the oldest men that, in the days of 
their fathers, it fell from Heaven near a man sitting on the hard ground on 
which the village now stands ; he rose and fled. It is said that a second one fell 
in Danan and killed a number of people there (Danan, I believe, is granitic). 
Mr. Charles Niebel, the Government Teacher on Saibai, sends me the following 
particulars relating to this supposed aerolite, and I here reproduce them for 
what they are worth: — 
“ Moigi, a man of about sixty years of age, says that when he was a boy 
his father Kubid told him the story, which he had heard from his father Ausi, 
.that the stone in question had fallen from the sky, and did not belong to this 
