Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/191

Rh belong to captain. Tagai say, 'Why you no pole canoe good? I no spear fish.' By-and-bye he say, 'Where water-bamboo?' (2). He take bamboo and shake it; it empty. 'Who drink water?' Men no talk. Tagai get wild. He get one rope gogob (3), and make fast round neck of six men and chuck into sea; he put name to them, 'all you fellow "Usiam".' Tagai take two kĕf (4) and call other men in canoe, and kill plenty, and stick the kĕf through their necks and chuck them in the sea, and call them 'Sĕg'. Karĕg he live. Tagai tell Karĕg, 'You stop, you no steal my water, you push canoe all time.' Man stop in sky all the time. Tagai, Karĕg, and canoe stop in one place, Usiam stop in another place, and Sĕg stop another place."

The following legend is from Mr. E. Beardmore's paper on "The Natives of Mowat, Daudai, New Guinea":—"Eguon, described as a large bat, is fabled to have introduced fire to Mowat. A legend goes that a tribe once inhabited Double Island, one of whose members showed fire to come from the left hand, between the thumb and forefinger, whereupon dissension arose and the people were all transformed into animals, birds, reptiles, fish (including dugong and turtle). Eguon found his way to Mowat, the others to different places in the Straits and New Guinea. There appears to have been some friendly arrangement amongst the snakes whereby some took to the land and others to the water." (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xix, 1890.)

The Rev. Dr. S. MacFarlane has the following MS. note from Erub:—"A man named Sarkak took it from between his forefinger and thumb."

Dr. MacFarlane also gave me the following note:—"The moon belongs to two men at Erub, and is the