This story does not appear to contain any important fact, but in it we have mention made of two legendary heroes of Badu, Mănĭlbau and Săsălkadzi (the pronunciation of these two names varied slightly, hence the discrepancies in the spelling); in the two following legends these warriors are killed twice over under different circumstances.
(1) The sucker-fish (Echeneis naucrates) is used in catching turtle in a manner I have already described in the notes on the migration of Bia. They are suspended in the water, over the side of the canoe, by two pieces of string, one of which is passed through the tail and then lashed round, and the other is inserted through the mouth and out at the gills. (2) It appears that at night-time the gapu were kept in the canoe, probably in the bilge-water, in order to prevent their being seized by predatory fish, and when they began to show signs of asphyxiation the man in charge was to restore them by hanging them over the side of the canoe. (3) The dadu is a flag-like streamer made from the leaf of a coco-palm. (4) This is a common way of carrying baskets in New Guinea. (5) The earth-oven of the Papuans is very similar to that in use all over the Pacific. (6) This custom, which we shall meet with again, appears to have been a general practice when volunteers were required to avenge a death.
This legend illustrates many old customs, and I fancy that Upi is the ‘culture hero’ who invented the bamboo knife (upi).
(1) ‘What name’ is the local English jargon for an interrogation, meaning, who? what? who is it? what is it? etc. (2) This is the ordinary method of appropriating anything “(such and such) he belong me”; or even sometimes, when asking for anything, they will say, “It belong me?” or in giving anything one will say, “That belong you.” Thus the phrase here used does not imply previous possession. (3) Skull divination was very commonly practised; usually the skulls of relatives were preserved for this purpose, as in the legend of Sesere; but it appears from this legend that even a stranger’s skull could be thus utilised. (4) A mythical explanation of a well-known fact.
This legend relates the manner in which the dugong was first discovered to be an article of food, and how men were taught to hunt it.
(1) This is the only instance in which I heard of a bow and arrow being used for catching fish. I particularly inquired of my informant, and he assured me that so it was in the legend; whether it has been
