lore of the last generation, and the stories may therefore be of any age previous to the influence of Europeans and South Sea men.
I have taken very great trouble in satisfying myself as to the sense of the narratives, and in appreciating and confirming incidental allusions to customs now passed away. There are, however, a certain number of phrases and customs which are obscure to me. On the other hand, one must remember that logical and connected accounts are, so to speak, unsavage, and such narratives from a savage race may justly be regarded with a certain amount of suspicion.
The legends are arranged, as far as possible, in geographical order, beginning with those islands nearest to New Guinea and passing southward to Muralug, the island nearest to Cape York, Queensland. Thus the first seventeen relate to the Western tribe. The legends of the Western tribe, “The Story of Gelam”, “The Fightings of Kwoiam”, and “The Six Blind Brothers”, I hope to publish shortly in a more popular form. Of the Eastern tribe, or that inhabiting the volcanic islands of Uga, Erub, and the Murray Islands, I have collected only a very few legends, having purposely left many others for my friend, the Rev. A. S. Hunt, the resident missionary on Mer, to record.
In vol. xix (Feb. 1890) of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute will be found a fairly complete record of the customs of the Western tribe of Torres Straits, and I hope to add an account of the Eastern tribe in about a year’s time. The two tribes differ considerably in their customs and language.
I have adopted the following vowel pronunciation:—a, as in ‘father’; ă, as in ‘at’; e, as a in ‘date’; ĕ, as in ‘deft’; i, as ee in ‘feet’; ĭ, as in ‘it’; o, as in ‘own’; ŏ, as in ‘on’; u, as oo in ‘soon’; ŭ, as in ‘up’; ai as in ‘aisle’; au as ow in ‘cow’.
The numbers in brackets refer to explanatory notes, which will be found at the end of the communication.
