Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/331

 The Poet)')' of the Khvai Papuafts. 309

we have seen, practically all the sonpjs are connected with some dance or ceremony, among which in a sense the death songs may be reckoned, and the only other kind of songs is that occurring in certain legends. Naturally the people sing on a great many occasions besides dances, but the songs are invariably borrowed from a dance, or possibly a legend. When the men are returning from a fight, it seems to be the rule to strike up a song from their war dance, and when walking together or travelling in a canoe they may choose a song suitable for that purpose, but on the whole almost any song seems to do for almost any occasion. The young people sing the songs belonging to the dances in which they take part, and the elder their dance songs. The people hardly ever sing while they are working. I often asked what a young man would sing when he wanted to be heard by the girl of his choice, and the answer was, invariably, " Mado]' " Madial' or some other dance sone. .

H. Rhyme and Alliteratiofi.

When considering the songs of the Kiwai people from a literary-aesthetic point of view, we cannot expect to find much which would appeal to us. But, in spite of all its general crudeness, the native poetry shows certain higher attributes which must strike us as rather remarkable.

Thus there is no doubt as to the existence of a sort of rhyme in the Kiwai songs, which is produced by the repeti- tion of the same word in a slightly different form so as to constitute the rhyme. They are therefore a sort of play upon the resemblance of sound in such words. The follow- ing verse, which shows rhyme of this sort, belongs to one of the serial songs describing a journey from Adiri, or Woibu, eastward : —

" Woibu gaiiatiia Soibu ganania ganauia orodoro." ("Adiri he go down now altogether [below the horizon]." ) Woibu