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 will write wish (thing) if and not wish (thing) if yes
matakeda minaasin sena ngau ia ngau nel ⸺
all-the-same finish that my word, my name.

“I say, I tell you about what I want. What do you say, you
want to come with me? Best thing you come along with me.
What do you think about it? If you got something to answer
back, then you let me know. ’Spose you want to come with
me, let me know, then I know; ’spose you don’t, you let me
know, so I know. Best thing you come with me. My name
⸺.”

The answer might be—

“All right, I come along you” or “No, I no want to come along

you.”

Another proposal is a copy of an original letter which happened to

fall into my hands and which I still possess. It was from a Murray
Islander named Kimel, who was then in Mabuiag offering marriage to
Anuni, a Mabuiag girl.
Unfortunately I did not see her reply; but I know she received this
letter, and I have no reason to believe my possession of it hindered
the course of true love from running smoothly.
It is interesting to note that Kimel, being a Murray Islander,
followed his tribal custom of the man proposing marriage.

Januare 1, 1899.

Peike Anuni kara jiawali marim mama neur kaka

This Anuni (is) my writing to you you a girl I
makiriam nakö[2] ma kari lag nakö Ad emeret
young man (?) you me like (?) God formerly
detagem Adamu a Eba kosker a kimiar mokakalam
made Adam and Eve woman and man same way
kaka mari lag nakö ma kari lag nakö ma nole geum
I you like (?) you me like (?) you not afraid
kak makiria abkoreb marim ma kari abkoreb
nothing young man suitable for you you me suit.
Ad emeret detagem kosker abkoreb ko kimiar
God formerly made woman suitable for man
nagiri kimiar abkoreb ko kosker nagiri kaka
possessing man suitable for woman possessing I
mari laglag nako mer karim ma kari umele kaka nole
you like what word for me you me know I not
mokakalam nerut le kaka dorge le peike kara
like some other men I work man. This my
mer marim Sina Kara nei
word to you. The end. My name.

Cimell
Mabuiag.

“January 1, 1899.
“This, Anuni, is my letter to you. You are a girl, I am a
young man. Do you like me? God formerly made Adam and
Eve a similar man and woman. I like you, do you like me?
Don’t be afraid at all of a young man suitable for you. You suit
me. God formerly made woman suitable for having a man,
and man suitable for having a woman. I like you. What
message for me? You know me. I am not like some men, I am
a man of work. This is my message to you. The end. My
name
“Cimell
“Mabuiag.”
 STAR MYTHS
Most, perhaps all, peoples recognise certain groups of stars, or
constellations, about which they tell stories. As a rule these myths of
origin are not particularly instructive, except for the sidelight they
cast on the people who originated them.
The constellations themselves have a very definite and practical
value, as they constitute the universal sidereal almanack, by means
of which the majority of primitive peoples regulate their farming
operations or their festivals.
The Torres Straits islanders are no exception to this general rule,
and I offer the following three myths as examples of this kind of
traditional literature.
The Murray Islanders recognise a large constellation which does
not coincide with any one of those mapped by our astronomers,
though the canoe corresponds to part of our Scorpio.
A man named Tagai, with uplifted and outstretched hands bearing
a spear, is supposed to stand upon a canoe, which is represented by
the bowed row of stars that forms the scorpion’s tail. Below the front
end of the canoe is a single star, the anchor of the canoe, and near
its other end is a red star that represents a man named Kareg. A
cluster of stars is called Usiam, and another linear constellation is
named Seg.
Tagai is an important constellation, not only as an indication of the
approach of certain seasons, but also for navigation purposes. For
example, I was told, “Usiam he mĕk [that is, “sign” or “mark”] for new
yams.” “Seg he mĕk next kind of yam.” When Usiam is some way
from the horizon at sundown, men say, “Close up new yam time,”
and when it is at the horizon at sunset, “Yam time he come.”
“Tagai he mĕk for turtle season. Two hand he come first; all turtle
go to islands to leeward (to the west), and they (the natives) ‘kaikai’
(eat) turtle first. By-and-by face belong Tagai he come up; Dauarle
(the inhabitants of Dauar and of the southern end of Murray Island)
get turtle, and then all the rest of Murray Island.”
 In sailing by night from Erub (Darnley Island) to Mer (Murray
Island) they steer for the left hand of Tagai, “right hand he stop
outside Mer.”
The following is the reputed origin of the constellation. I give it in
my informant’s own words:—

THE ORIGIN OF THE TAGAI CONSTELLATION

“One man, Tagai, he got a canoe. Tagai he stop in forehead

(the bow or front end of the canoe) and look out and spear
fish. Kareg he stop in stern. Plenty men crew.
“They go over reef; Kareg he pole canoe. Tagai he spear
fish. Sun hot on reef, all men thirsty, and steal water in canoe
belong captain.
“Tagai say, ‘Why you no pole canoe good? I no spear fish.’
By-and-by he say, ‘Where water-bamboo?’ He take bamboo
and shake it; it empty. ‘Who drink water?’
“Men no talk.
“Tagai get wild. He get one rope and make fast round neck
of six men and chuck into sea. He put name to them, ‘All you
fellow “Usiam.”’
“Tagai take two wooden skewers and call other men in
canoe, and kill plenty, and stick the skewers through their
necks and chuck them in the sea, and call them ‘Seg.’
“Kareg he live.
“Tagai tell Kareg, ‘You stop; you no steal my water, you
push canoe all time.’
“Man stop in sky all the time.
“Tagai, Kareg, and canoe stop in one place, Usiam stop in
another place, and Seg stop in another place.”
 The next story, which was told to me in Mabuiag in 1888, refers to
two constellations, one of which, a Dorgai, a sort of bogey, is
followed by a cluster of stars named Bu, but which we call Delphin,
or the dolphin, and certainly this cluster has a closer resemblance to
the large Fusus or Triton shell (bu) than to a dolphin. The Dorgai
corresponds to the star known to us as Altair, but which they call
gamu (the body), and the adjoining stars on each side, which they
name getal (the arms).

Fig. 19. Drawing by Gizu of Dorgai Metakorab and Bu

These constellations belong to the north-west monsoon, and when

“Dorgai he come up (from the east) that time make kap (dance).”

A DORGAI CONSTELLATION
 Once upon a time a man named Nadai, living on the Island
of Boigu, went into the bush to collect the eggs of the mound-
bird, a bird that lays its eggs in a great mound of earth which
it scratches up with its strong feet.
He found a large mound, and dug into it till he came to what
he thought was an egg. He tried to pull it up, but it stuck fast;
then he tried to get another, but neither would that come
away. It so happened that a Dorgai named Metakorab was
sleeping under the mound, and she was wearing several
large white cowry shells, and it was these that Nadai was
pulling at, mistaking them for eggs.
Nadai at last caught hold of the shell, which was tied on to
the Dorgai’s chin, and giving a tremendous pull he dragged
the Dorgai out of the ground. He was so terrified at her
appearance, that he fled back to the village and called out to
the inhabitants to arm themselves and kill the Dorgai, who
was sure to follow after him.
By-and-by a fly came, and behind it came the Dorgai; but
the men no sooner saw her terrible face than they threw down
their weapons and ran away in a fright.
Then Nadai went on to the next village, but the same thing
happened again. So he went on all round the island, but it
always happened as before.
At last Nadai came to a village called Kerpai, on the north
side of the island, and he begged the people to stand firm and
attack the Dorgai. They armed themselves, but when the fly
came, and after it the Dorgai, they all took to their heels, as
the others had done before, with the exception of one man
named Bu. He remained in the bachelors’ quarters, and
armed himself with a bow and with arrows that are used for
shooting wild pigs. When the Dorgai arrived, Bu shot her and
killed her.
Both are now in the sky; the Dorgai going first, being
continually followed by Bu.
 The last story is one which was given to me by my friend Mr.
Robert Bruce, who lives at Daru.
It is the story of Kabi, a man who did not believe in much talking
nor in accepting as true everything that people said; but he thought
for himself, and tried to find out the truth, even if he had to make a
long journey to do so. He was what we call a “scientific man.”

SUN, MOON, AND NIGHT

“Plenty men sit down and yarn at Kadau (a village in the

island of Dauan). All man he yarn about Sun, and Moon, and
Night. All man speak, ‘Sun, Moon, and Night he all the same
one.’ One man called Kabi he speak, ‘No good you talk all the
same; suppose you look. You see, Sun he come up, that time
Moon he go down. Moon he come up, and Sun he go down.’
“Then all man too much wild; some man he speak, ‘Very
good, we kill Kabi; he talk no good.’ Kabi he hear, he afraid.
Kabi he then speak, ‘You fellow, look, I go to-morrow; I go
place belong Sun, and Moon, and Night.’
“At small daylight he go in his canoe, his woman stop
behind. He go across to Saibai.
“All man in Saibai speak, ‘Where you go, Kabi?’ He speak,
‘I go to look place where Sun he stop.’
“Him go—go—go. All islands he come up. He go big deep
water. He catch him place where Sun he stop.
“Kabi he look, Sun he come out house belong him. Kabi he
think, ‘Sun he no good, as Sun he no got good things on.’
Kabi pulled his canoe on beach and sat down. Sun then come
out of door of his house and looked at Kabi. Sun then go
inside house belong him and put on all flash things—one big
pearl-shell he put on breast and one big shell on body.
“Sun he walk along and come close to Kabi. Kabi he very
much afraid; he think inside, ‘Big man he come now. I think he
kill me.’ Sun he speak, ‘Kabi, come on, you and me go
house.’
“Sun he carry canoe belong Kabi in his one hand, all same
as boy carry canoe belong play; then he put canoe on top of
his house.
“Then Sun he speak, ‘Kabi, what name you come here for?’
“Kabi he speak, ‘All man he growl for you; he all speak,
“Sun, and Moon, and Night he one.” Me, one fellow, speak,
“No, Sun he one, Moon he one, and Night he one.” Then all
man he wild.’
“Sun he speak, ‘All right, you come house.’
“Kabi he speak, What you say? Sun, Moon, you all same
one?’
“Sun he speak, ‘Me one, Moon another one.’
“Then Sun and Moon he bring Kabi kaikai (food). Sun he
give kaikai belong Sun—bananas, yams, taro, sweet
potatoes, coconuts. Moon he give him all the same.
“Sun he speak, ‘All kaikai belong we fellow. Sun, Moon, and
Night he all the same. We all help to make them. Sun and
Moon he stop one house.’
“Sun he take canoe belong Kabi, and put it in the water;
then they put all kaikai in canoe. Kabi he get afraid when he
think of the long journey he got to take.
“Sun he speak, ‘Kabi, I make rope fast along your head,
then you and me go together; I tow you. When you come to
place belong you, you shake rope; by-and-by when you loose
rope, you shake it, then that time I pull up.’
“Kabi he then start in his canoe. Three big waves come;
one wave lift him half-way, the next lift him along to Saibai,
the next wave lift his canoe to Dauan.
“Kabi then went ashore and told all the people, ‘I been to
place where Sun and Moon he stop. You hear me now when I
speak. He no one fellow, he two fellow. Sun he pull me here.’
“Then Kabi got all people in one place. He speak, ‘You see
this rope fast on top of my head. You look when I take this
rope off my head. You look he go up to Sun.’
“Then all the people believe Kabi when he speak, ‘Sun,
Moon, and Darkness each got their own work to do.’”
 CHAPTER XII
VISITS TO VARIOUS WESTERN ISLANDS

It was sad to feel that the end of our stay in Torres Straits was
drawing near. On October 19th Rivers left us, and two days later
Wilkin also had to go. Ray, Seligmann, and myself alone were left.
On October 21st the Hon. John Douglas came in the White Star to
convey us away from Mabuiag, and we made an early start next
morning. Mr. Douglas made the valuable suggestion that before
going on to Saibai we should run down to Yam to pick up my old
friend Maino, the Mamoose of Tut and Yam, in order that he might
give us information. We did so, and Maino was very pleased to come
with us, and we shipped another Yam native named Kaikai.
We reached Saibai in the afternoon, and went ashore for a stroll.
Saibai is a relatively large low island, but it is scarcely more than a
ring-like, vegetated sandbank surrounding a huge swamp. The
natives, numbering about one hundred and fifty to two hundred, are
a quiet, industrious people, and grow a sufficient quantity of garden
produce. We found them very intelligent, and anxious to assist us in
gaining information.
We all went after breakfast on Sunday, October 23rd, to attend the
morning service, which should have been held at nine o’clock, but
was postponed till our arrival. This church was opened about two
years ago, and is a very creditable edifice, entirely built by the
natives. The walls and roof are of corrugated iron, and the
architecture is of the plainest; but the people are deservedly proud of
their effort, which not only represents time, energy, and money spent
by themselves, but it is also the outward and visible sign of their own
advance in civilisation, they feel it to be a bond of union between
themselves and white Christians. It is easy to sneer at the plainness
—ugliness if you will—of a tin tabernacle, but within an ungainly
chrysalis there may be enshrined an incipient butterfly; the psyche of
the savage, or barbarian, whether black or white, may similarly
emerge from the baldest and stiffest of meeting-houses.
It is often very pathetic to see the evident strivings of these people
to be like the white man; to my mind they are too ready to cast away
their past, for with the crudities and social unrest of savagery there
are flung aside also many of the excellent moral codes and social
safeguards of the old order of things. Much native wheat is rooted up
with the tares.
After the service I photographed the interior of the church, and
later showed the natives photographs and sketches and chatted on
various subjects, and altogether had a very profitable day. Before our
midday dinner I had completed a census of the island, with the totem
of every individual, and as I walked through the village the names of
the residents of every house were recorded. There was no time to
trace the genealogies as far back as Rivers did for Murray Island and
Mabuiag, but still, what was accomplished will enable one to get
some insight into the social organisation of the people. Rivers did not
enumerate the inhabitants of every house in Murray Island and
Mabuiag because the clans were all mixed up, but as we had found
in Kiwai the houses were clan-houses, I thought the same might
possibly occur here. We found that formerly this was the case, and
that the snake (Tabu) and wild sweet potato (Daibau) clans lived on
one side of the village, and the crocodile (Kodal), dog (Umai), and
cassowary (Sam) lived on the other side. This division of the village
into clan groups was said to tend to faction fights, and so the
missionary tried to mix them up. There are still, however, distinct
traces to be found of clan groupings in the village. I have previously
referred to the double grouping of the clans in Mabuiag and Pulu,
and a similar dual division is common throughout Australia. On the
mainland of New Guinea to the east there is often a dual grouping in
a village, about which more information is required, but in this case
there is at present no evidence to connect it with totemism.
Ten years ago Maino, the chief of Tut, who is a crocodile-man, as
a sign of friendship, exchanged names with me, and on the strength
of this, on arriving at Saibai, I claimed to be a crocodile-man also,
and in this assertion was supported by Maino. The other crocodile-
men at once acknowledged me, for a few minutes after I landed on
the island a crocodile-man made me a present of some coconuts,
and stated in doing so that we were relatives.
Later on when I was sitting among a group of natives showing
pictures and chatting, someone hinted a doubt as to whether an
Englishman could have a crocodile augŭd. Wherever one goes one
always finds some incredulous person who will not bow
unquestioningly to authority. I immediately rolled up my shirt sleeves
and showed my vaccination marks, which I happen to have on both
shoulders, and I pointed this out as a proof of my pretensions; the
evidence at once silenced all sceptical remarks, and carried
conviction. The whiteness of the skin of my upper arms, unburned as
it was by the hot sun, attracted much attention, especially from the
ladies.
I was chagrined to find that my clan, though formerly an important
one here, was on the decline, and that a plant clan was now the
most numerous. This appears to be the only true plant totem in
Torres Straits, and forms another interesting link with the Fly River
district. Intermarriage in the same clan is prohibited; but I believe
they now kill and eat their totems.
I wanted to obtain a special kind of yellow earth that is traded as
paint from this to the other islands and to New Guinea, but we were
told that snakes would bite anyone who went into the bush on a
Sunday. These snakes must be very degenerate subjects of the Old
Serpent, the Father of Lies, if they support so strict a
Sabbatarianism.
Unfortunately the triple-crowned coconut palm that I sketched on
my last visit here has died, so I could not photograph it as I had
hoped to do. When I was making the sketch I was, as usual,
surrounded by a bevy of onlookers, and one man said to me, “I wish
I could make a coconut palm grow as fast as you draw it!” As I
sketched in the neighbouring palms, the bystanders mentioned the
name of the owner of each, and thus I learned that every tree is
owned by somebody, and in a group of palms several men or women
may own various trees. It is common for a man to own land, but not
to own all the trees or plants that grow on it.
On the same occasion I sketched one of the houses, in which the
lower portion was roughly walled up with coconut palm leaves, so as
to make a second dwelling-place beneath the house proper. At this
particular time the natives of Boigu, an island some fifteen miles to
the west, had come to Saibai for safety. They had heard that the
Tugeri pirates were coming on a head-hunting raid, and knew they
could not withstand them unaided. There was not enough house
room in Saibai for these visitors, and so the under portion of this
house was roughly wattled for their accommodation. This was at that
time the only two-storied house in Torres Straits.

Fig. 20. House on Piles at Saibai

With the lower portion screened with leaves (1888)

The ancient pile dwellings of Switzerland were built in the lakes for
safety from attack by enemies. When the country became more
settled, the pile dwellings were built on the shore instead of in the
water, which is the present condition of most of the coastal villages in
New Guinea. Later the Swiss put stones round the outer posts that
supported their houses, and the ground floor, thus formed, was used
as a shed. This is what one still finds so often in Switzerland. The
real dwelling-house is supported on posts as in the prehistoric days,
and the staircase is still outside the house, as was the original log
ladder.
This Saibai house was temporarily in an intermediate condition
between the ancient pile dwelling and the modern Swiss chalets. Not
only was the final step never taken, but when the immediate need of
increased accommodation was not felt, the house reverted to its
previous state.
On Monday morning we measured ten natives pretty thoroughly
and took a number of photographs. Ray exhibited the phonograph,
and obtained some new records, whilst Seligmann worked hard at
native medicine. Altogether we got through a great deal of work
during these two days.
We made an early start on Tuesday in the White Star, and
anchored off Tut in the forenoon, as I wished once more to go over
the old sacred sites with Maino. No one lives on the island now, and
the sacred spots are overgrown with bush, and most of the old
stones are removed or broken up. This was very disappointing, and I
was able to add only a very little to my previous information. It was
an intensely hot day, and we were parched with thirst and soaked
with perspiration.
The natives of Yam and Tut are one people. In olden days they
resided part of the year in one island, and the rest in the other; now
the greatly reduced population is permanently quartered on Yam.
The people occasionally come across from Yam to look after their
gardens, and we photographed the simple huts they had erected,
which, we were informed, were like the old houses before the natives
had adopted the South Sea type of house.

TUT
Tut, or Tud, or Warrior Island as it is now generally called, is
situated at the southern end of the great Warrior Reefs. The island is
very low, not more than ten feet above sea-level in any part, and is a
true coral island, having been formed by the sea heaping coral sand
and detritus on the reef, till these formed barriers which keep the sea
itself at bay. As is usually the case in these parts, the soil is rendered
fertile by the disintegration of pumice drifting on to the island from
distant volcanoes.
Tut is evidently an island in process of formation, and is, roughly
speaking, hook-shaped, the curved space being a lagoon, which is
filled during the whole of the north-west monsoon, but dry except at
high tide, during the south-east trade, i.e. during the greater portion
of the year. This lagoon is evidently gradually silting up, and will
ultimately form a permanent part of the island.
The vegetation is scrubby, but there are some old trees near the
middle of the island. In old times the people were often short of food.
At my visit in 1888 they were comfortably off, owing to the fact that
most of the men were engaged in the fishing industries of the Straits,
and were therefore able to buy provisions. On that occasion Maino
met us, and after visiting a house and noticing a woman playing at
cat’s cradle, we walked across the island to the village. There was a
good deal of orange-coloured dodder festooning the shrubs and
grass; one coconut palm bore the inscription of BILI FIJI, to
announce the fact of that tree being owned by Billy, a native of Fiji. A
coconut lying on the ground was sending up two vigorous sprouts.
After passing the mouth of the lagoon we reached the village, and
after a little persuasion the natives got up a kŏpa-kŏpa, or native
dance, for our entertainment.
It was, however, too hurriedly arranged, and there were not
enough performers for it to be very effective. Two men and about
eight women and girls danced. The latter, obeying a message sent
on by Maino in advance of us, had donned their garments of
civilisation, from a mistaken wish to show us due honour; but after
some difficulty they acceded to our request, and with much laughing
and chattering retired to take off their ugly long calico gowns, and
reappeared more suitably clad in their pretty native leaf petticoats,
but they had added coloured girdles and wraps round their chests.
 Maino played the drum for the dance, and was surrounded by his
wife and children and other women and children who joined in
singing a chant and encouraging the dancers. A largess of tobacco
closed the proceedings.
Mr. Milman, who was then Acting Resident Magistrate, offered to
take Maino to Mawatta on the New Guinea coast, as that was his
wife’s native place. At daybreak next morning Maino came to the
steamer, and we paid him a tomahawk, five yards of calico, and
some tobacco for a mask and other articles he brought us. He
remarked he should give the tomahawk and calico to his mother-in-
law, as he had not yet “paid” for his last baby!
The anchorage at Tut is at the opposite end of the island from
Maino’s camp, and a few bêche-de-mer fishermen and their staff of
Australian blacks then occupied that part of the island. Tom Randolf,
a Dane, kindly lent me a small galvanised iron shed with a thatch
roof; part of it was occupied by sacks of flour, rice, and
miscellaneous stores. At the other end he put a couch for me, and
two native mats formed a mattress, on which I was comfortable
enough. The door of the shed was fastened with handcuffs, of which
I kept the key, and so did not feel a prisoner. Randolf gave me some
fowls, eggs, and a chunk of turtle-meat, which formed a pleasant
change after a long course of tinned meats. He also allowed me to
use his fresh water, of which there is a very scanty supply, there
being only a very little brackish water on the island, which Europeans
cannot use. The natives as well as the settlers procured their
drinking water from the island of Yam, some fifteen miles away.
Maino gave me a good deal of valuable information respecting the
initiation of boys into manhood, and took me into the bush to show
me where their ceremonies formerly took place. With Maino’s
assistance I could fairly well conjure up the past appearance of this
tabooed kwod.
On entering manhood the boys were secluded in the kwod for one
month, and might on no account see a woman, or be seen by any. A
large stone was shown me, with which a long time ago seven boys
had been killed for breaking this rule. These misguided youths, tired
of the irksomeness of the discipline, broke away from the kwod, and
seeing their mothers carrying some yams and sweet potatoes
shouted out to them, and holding their left arms to attract attention,
asked for food.
During the month of their seclusion the boys daily had charcoal
made from charred coconuts rubbed into them; they might eat
anything, except fat, and were in charge of their mother’s brother.
During the day the boys were covered with mats, sewn together to
form little tents; so that when the boys sat down only the tents were
seen, and when they walked their legs alone were visible. The whole
day was spent in the sacred camp. After sunset the uncles took the
boys to a house set apart for them, and before sunrise, when the
“pigeon whistles,” they were marched back to the clearing.
The old men taught the lads what they might and might not do as
men. The code of morality so far as it went was very high, one quaint
instruction being, “You no like girl first; if you do, girl call you
‘woman’!” For it is the custom here for the women to propose
marriage to the men.
The accompanying sketch is an attempted restoration of the
sacred area, or kwod, of about thirty years ago. The four large mats
in the centre belonged respectively (from the foreground backwards)
to the Shark, Crocodile, Dog, and Cassowary clans. The fires of the
first two were close together at one end, the Cassowary’s fire at the
opposite end, and the Dog’s fire on one side; on the side opposite
the latter was placed the chief’s mat. The fireplaces are still to be
seen. At one end of each mat was a large crocodile-head mask;
besides these were some leaf coverings used in initiatory rites. The
drums occupied the centre. The fires were tended by lads already
initiated; the men sat on their mats, or sat and stood around; the
boys to be initiated were grouped at each end of the kwod.
 Fig. 21. Restoration of the Kwod in Tut during the Initiation Period

At the end of the month the boys were washed, gaily decked, and
anointed with a pungent scent, thereby hoping to gain favour with the
girls. They were marched towards the village with a large mat raised
in front of them. On reaching an open space the mat was lowered,
and the lads were then seen for the first time by their fathers, female
relations, and friends. The mothers and aunts rushed forward,
hugged, and cried over the lads. There were great rejoicings and
feastings, for the boys were then acknowledged as men.
Amongst the relics Maino showed me the navel shrine (kupai or
kupor) of Sigai, a great warrior and traveller of long ago. Before
going to fight the men would stand around the shrine of large shells
and dig their bows and arrows into the ground there, so that virtue
might pass into them. The men also took a coconut, and broke it. If it
broke evenly in two halves, they would have a successful foray; if the
fracture was not straight, they would kill only a few men. Should a
piece of the coconut shell break off, a close relative of the man who
broke it would die soon. All the men who were consulting the oracle
ate a small piece of the kernel of the broken coconut, and took up
the broken halves and put “medicine” inside.
I believe I was the first European to whom these revered relics of
the past had been shown, and I felt quite sorry for my friend when,
looking at one of the memorable stones with tears in his eyes, he
said, “I think of old men, and I sorry. All finish now.”
Later Maino gave me the head-dress his father, “king” Kebiso,
wore when on the war-path, and a boar’s tusk ornament which he
stuck in his mouth to render his appearance yet more terrible.
Like a true gentleman, Maino did not let me know at the time of his
reluctance to part with these relics of his famous father. I did not ask
him for them, seeing how highly he valued them, but he offered them
freely to me. I then asked what he wanted in return, and gave him
what he asked for—a small oval looking-glass, a pocket-knife, a blue
bead necklace, and seven sticks of tobacco for the head-dress; and
for the tusk ornament a pocket-knife, two clay pipes, and four sticks
of tobacco. He wanted me to have these mementoes of his father,
partly because of our real friendship for each other, but also partly
because he wanted them exhibited in a big museum in England,
where plenty of people would see them and would know to whom
they once belonged. They are now in the British Museum.

YAM
To return to the narrative of the present Expedition. We reached
Yam in the afternoon, and all landed to have a look round. Maino
took me to the old kwod, and I made a rough plan of it, and obtained
a description of what it looked like formerly. After dinner I sketched a
restoration, and later, when Maino and Jimmy Tut came off to the
steamer, I got them to criticise it; and Maino made some sketches to
elucidate details, the result being that I can with confidence restore
what possibly no white man ever saw, or, at all events, no one has
recorded it. The following day I returned to the kwod to take some
photographs, and further information was given me.
There was in the kwod a low fence surrounding a space of about
thirty-five feet square, in which were the shrines of the two great
augŭds of the island. All that now remains are three heaps of shells,
mainly of the gigantic Fusus.
 Two of the heaps are about twenty-five feet long; the third is
relatively small. Formerly, at the southerly end of each long row was
a large turtle-shell mask, representing a crocodile and a hammer-
headed shark respectively. These were decorated in various ways,
and under each was a stone in which the life of the augŭd resided;
stretching from each mask was a cord to which numerous human
lower jawbones were fastened; at the opposite end was a stone on
which a skull rested.

Fig. 22. Restoration of the Kwod in Yam

The small heap is the shrine of the augŭd Ger, or sea-snake,

which originated from the hammer-headed shark (Kursi). These
shrines were formerly covered over by long low huts decorated, like
the fence, with Fusus shells.
Outside the fence were two heaps of shells which had a mystical
connection with the shrines. These were the augŭdau kupar, or
navel shrines of the augŭds.
Of course women and children might not come near the place,
and, further, they did not know what the augŭds were like. They only
knew of the crocodile (Kodal) as “Maiau” and of the hammer-headed