Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/198

192 relative's bones in this manner, so far as I could learn, was not at all characteristic of the Torres Straits Islanders. Macgillivray (Voyage of the "Rattlesnake", 1852, vol. ii, p. 32) says that a Muralug widow would carry about with her, in a bag, the skull of her husband during her widowhood. The inhabitants of Moa (Aukwum was a native of that island) were closely connected by marriage and trade with the people of Muralug, more so than with any of the other islanders. This will, perhaps, explain the similarity of this practice. I suspect that it will be found that this custom has been introduced from Cape York, as it is common in Australia. (2) Baigoa had an enormously long development of part of his body, which he kept coiled up, like a rope, by his side. This he took in his hand and tried to fling across to Aukwum, but it fell far short, and a shoal still marks the spot where it first fell into the water. A second and a third attempt was made, each trial reaching further than its predecessor, as the shoals still testify. At last a cast was successful, and, Aukwum having been made "fast", was hauled across. (3) In the story of the six blind brothers the Dorgai also had the power of walking on the water.

It is evident that this legend perpetuates the memory of a true culture-hero. Naga appears to have been the reputed inventor or introducer of the initiation ceremonies, for such I believe taiai to mean. He appears to have improved the arts of dancing and singing, and the accessories to the kap or dance.

(1) The large turtleshell masks (krar) of the Torres Straits Islanders are well-known objects. They were only worn on certain occasions, and had a distinctly religious significance. I have described one of the dances, in which masks were worn, in my paper to the Anthropological Institute. (2) The akul is a small clam shell, which was used as a knife in the making of masks and other objects. The only reason I could gather for his giving the shell was that, by showing other islanders how to make masks, they could in future make them for themselves.

This short legend is as unsatisfactory as it could well be, my informant being a bad story-teller. "Tabu" is the name of a kind of snake. Possibly this legend is connected with a kap ordinance of the Tabu clan. I sketched and photographed a snake-woman in Mabuiag who had the representation of her token (augŭd) cut on her back.(See fig. 15, pl. vii, Jour. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xix.)

(1) The time specified is probably untrustworthy. (2) I cannot now discover what these are.