Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/396

356 swollen almost to bursting. Mrs. Baldock made her take it off. I saw old Mary, as she is called, with her head all tied up where debil-debil had pulled hold of her head, the following night; and yesterday again I saw her. She is very sick, and wanted to go about without her clothes. She certainly looked very ill, half-dead with fright. Johnnie, her man, and another of his wives, also a Mary, had other marks on them to show where debil-debil had taken hold of them. Mrs. Ellice's poor gin who was burnt died last Sunday, and was buried wrapped up in her blankets; the other two native men were terribly frightened at debil-debil taking Pollie. The girl wanted the Father from the Mission to baptise her, which he did; and he with some of the Christian gins did the burying of her. Not a man could be found who would take the body to the Binghi (Christian) burying ground. One of the names here for debil-debil is Woomba, which also means warrior; another is Wearown; still a third, Wearyomg. To complete this history of debil-debil, I find both Mrs. Baldock' s and Mrs. Ellice's natives have broken up their "pumpies," and moved them quite from where they were situated, as a final hope that debil-debil will not worry them again. I am told there has been a general removal.

Two shields were given to us the other day; one a new, the other an old one. The new one was given willingly, the other but very reluctantly. "He only old one. Master, he catchem plenty kylie cut 'em—he no good." But it was eventually obtained. Evidently the shield was held in veneration, possibly on account of the number of fights it had been in, probably for having been used during some of their ceremonies of blood, when the hollow made for the hand to go into to grasp it has been used for the blood collected, and afterwards passed round, and either drunk or their fingers dipped into it for