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 3i6 A. C. H addon.

obtained in Ireland itself. In this respect it is interesting to observe that all the ' wonders', with the exception of that of Inishglory, are localised in the east of Ireland. Thus this Norse version of Irish stories furnishes interest- ing examples of the peculiar characteristics attaching to all merely oral tradition, such as confusion of names, sub- stitution of different details, different localisation, different working out of the same motive, etc. But on the whole the stories have in their Norse dress well preserved some peculiarly Irish features, such as the wild grotesqueness in the story of Clessan's skull, or the natural magic in that of the ships in the air.

LEGENDS FROM THE WOODLARKS, BRITISH NEW

GUINEA.

BY A. C. HADDON.

Having recently had occasion to consult a number of references to British New Guinea, I have come across the following legends, which may interest some of our readers as they come from a part of the world about which little is known.

The Woodlarks, the largest of which is called Murua, are a group of islands lying about 150 miles north-east of the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea. They have recently been visited and described by Sir William Macgregor, the Administrator of British New Guinea ; a clue to the literature on the group will be found in my forthcoming paper, " The Decorative Art of British New Guinea : a Study in Papuan Ethnography." Cunningham, Memoir X., Royal Irish Academy. The first three legends are recorded by R. P. Montrouzier, Provicaire Apostolique de la Societe de Marie, from " He Woodlark", 18 Janvier, 1 849, Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, xxiii, 185 1. On p. 369 he writes, "You can judge by this mythological sketch if you wish to know what superstitious prejudices we have