Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/304

 264 The Religion of the Andaman Islanders.

other bank. Her husband walked across her leg, and so reached home.

Bilika, the same man told me, made the earth and sky and sea, but it does not seem that she was the creator of men. She made, or at any rate discovered the use of, all the edible roots which are known to the Andamanese, and she is very angry if any one gathers these roots in the rainy season. Her anger shows itself in lightning and thunder, rain and heavy wind. The sun owes its origin to her, though acci- dentally. One day, being very angry, she started throwing fire about. The fire was Purum-at, that is, fire made from the wood of the Purum tree. One large firebrand she threw into the sky, and there it has remained to this day.

The following is a story told to me in the Jeru language. " In the time of the ancestors Biliku lived with them at Ar Kol. One day the people caught a turtle, and brought it into the village. Biliku was sitting there. They asked her if she would eat some, but she said No ! They put the turtle-flesh in the roof of the hut, and went away. When they had gone, Biliku ate the whole turtle, and went to sleep. The people came back, and found the turtle meat gone. They said, — " Biliku has eaten it." So they left the camp, and all went away to Tebi-chiro. They left Biliku behind, asleep.

" Some of the people went to hunt for turtle. Their canoe passed near Ar Kol. Biliku saw the people in the canoe, and called to them, and asked to be taken into the canoe. The people refused, saying, — "You ate up all the turtle." Biliku had a round stone and several pearl shells {Be). She threw the shells at the people in the canoe. The first shell did not hit them, but came back and fell at her feet. And so with the second. Then Biliku got very angry, and threw a third time. The shell cut off the heads of the Andamanese and sank their canoe, and so they all died.^

^ There is said to be a reef of rocks at the place, which represents the Andamanese and their canoe.