native text, is very condensed and impressionistic. A word or two indicates rather than describes whole scenes and incidents, and the traditional commentary, handed on in a native community side by side with the song, is necessary for a full understanding.
The Gumagabu Song I The stranger of Gumagabu sits on the top of the mountain. ‘Go on top of the mountain, the towering mountain ….’ ——They cry for Toraya …—— The stranger of Gumagabu sits on the slope of the mountain. ——The fringe of small clouds lifts above Boyowa; The mother cries for Toraya—— ‘I shall take my revenge.’ The mother cries for Toraya. II Our mother, Dibwaruna, dreams on the mat. She dreams about the killing. ‘Revenge the wailing; Anchor; hit the Gabu strangers!’ ——The stranger comes out; The chief gives him the *pari*; ‘I shall give you the *doga*; Bring me things from the mountain to the canoe!’ III We exchange our *vaygu’a*; The rumour of my arrival spreads through the Koya We talk and talk. He bends and is killed. His companions run away; His body is thrown into the sea; The companions of the *Kinana* run away, We sail home. IV Next day, the sea foams up, The chief’s canoe stops on the reef; The storm approaches; The chief is afraid of drowning. The conch shell is blown: It sounds in the mountain. They all weep on the reef. V They paddle in the chief’s canoe; They circle round the point of Bewara. ‘I have hung my basket. I have met him.’ So cries the chief, So cries repeatedly the chief. VI Women in festive decoration Walk on the beach. Nawaruva puts on her turtle rings; She puts on her *luluga’u* skirt. In the village of my fathers, in Burakwa, There is plenty of food; Plenty is brought in for distribution.
The character of this song is extremely elliptic, one might even say futuristic, since several scenes are crowded simultaneously into the picture. In the first strophe we see the Kinana, by which word all the tribesmen from the d’Entrecasteaux Archipelago are designated in Boyowa,