Chapter XII In Tewara and Sanaroa—Mythology of the Kula

The Myth of the Flying Canoe of Kudayuri. “Mokatuboda of the Lukuba clan and his younger brother Toweyre’i lived in the village of Kudayuri. With them lived their three sisters Kayguremwo, Na’ukuwakula and Murumweyri’a. They had all come out from underground in the spot called Labikewo, in Kitava. These people were the *u’ula* (foundation, basis, here: first possessors) of the *ligogu* and *wayugo* magic.” “All the men of Kitava decided on a great Kula expedition to the Koya. The men of Kumwageya, Kaybutu, Kabululo and Lalela made their canoes. They scooped out the inside of the *waga*, they carved the *tabuyo* and *lagim* (decorated prow boards), they made the *budaka* (lateral gunwale planks). They brought the component parts to the beach, in order to make the *yowaga* (to put and lash them together).” “The Kudayuri people made their canoe in the village. Mokatuboda, the head man of the Kudayuri village, ordered them to do so. They were angry: ‘Very heavy canoe. Who will carry it to the beach?’ He said: ‘No, not so; it will be well. I shall just lash my *waga* in the village.’ He refused to move the canoe; it remained in the village. The other people pieced their canoe on the beach; he pieced it together in the village. They lashed it with the *wayugo* creeper on the beach; he lashed his in the village. They caulked their canoes on the sea-shore; he caulked his in the village. They painted their canoes on the beach with black; he blackened his in the village. They made the *youlala* (painted red and white) on the beach; he made the *youlala* in the village. They sewed their sail on the beach; he did it in the village. They rigged up the mast and rigging on the beach; he in the village. After that, the men of Kitava made *tasasoria* (trial run) and *kabigidoya* (visit of ceremonial presentation), but the Kudayuri canoe did not make either.” “By and by, all the men of Kitava ordered their women to prepare the food. The women one day put all the food, the *gugu’a* (personal belongings), the *pari* (presents and trade goods) into the canoe. The people of Kudayuri had all these things put into their canoe in the village. The headman of the Kudayuri, Mokatuboda, asked all his younger brothers, all the members of his crew, to bring some of their *pari*, and he performed magic over it, and made a *lilava* (magical bundle) of it.” “The people of other villages went to the beach; each canoe was manned by its *usagelu* (members of the crew). The man of Kudayuri ordered his crew to man his canoe in the village. They of the other villages stepped the mast on the shore; he stepped the mast in the village. They prepared the rigging on the shore; he prepared the rigging in the village. They hoisted the sail on the sea; he spoke ‘May our sail be hoisted,’ and his companions hoisted the sail. He spoke: ‘Sit in your places, every man!’ He went into the house, he took his *ligogu* (adze), he took some coco-nut oil, he took a staff. He spoke magic over the adze, over the coco-nut oil. He came out of the house, he approached the canoe. A small dog of his called Tokulubweydoga jumped into the canoe.² He spoke to his crew: ‘Pull up the sail higher.’ They pulled at the halyard. He rubbed the staff with the coco-nut oil. He knocked the canoe’s skids with the staff. Then he struck with his ligogu the *u’ula* of his canoe and the *dobwana* (that is, both ends of the canoe). He jumped into the canoe, sat down, and the canoe flew!” “A rock stood before it. It pierced the rock in two, and flew through it. He bent down, he looked; his companions (that is, the other canoes of Kitava) sailed on the sea. He spoke to his younger brothers, (that is to his relatives in the canoe): ‘Bail out the water, pour it out!’ Those who sailed on the earth thought it was rain, this water which they poured out from above.” “They (the other canoes) sailed to Giribwa, they saw a canoe anchored there. They said: ‘Is that the canoe from Dobu?’ They thought so, they wanted to *lebu* (take by force, but not necessarily as a hostile act) the *buna* (big cowrie) shells of the Dobu people. Then they saw the dog walking on the beach. They said: ‘Wi-i-i! This is Tokulubweydoga, the dog of the Lukuba! This canoe they lashed in the village, in the village of Kudayuri. Which way did it come? It was anchored in the jungle!’ They approached the people of Kudayuri, they spoke: ‘Which way did you come?’ ‘Oh, I came together with you (the same way).’ ‘It rained. Did it rain over you?’ ‘Oh yes, it has rained over me.’ ” “Next day, they (the men of the other villages of Kitava), sailed to Vakuta and went ashore. They made their Kula. The next day they sailed, and he (Mokatuboda) remained in Vakuta. When they disappeared on the sea, his canoe flew. He flew from Vakuta. When they (the other crews) arrived in Gumasila, he was there on the promontory of Lububuyama. They said: ‘This canoe is like the canoe of our companions,’ and the dog came out. ‘This is the dog of the Lukuba clan of Kudayuri.’ They asked him again which way he came; he said he came the same way as they. They made the Kula in Gumasila. He said: ‘You sail first, I shall sail later on.’ They were astonished: ‘Which way does he sail?’ They slept in Gumasila.” “Next day they sailed to Tewara, they arrived at the beach of Kadimwatu. They saw his canoe anchored there, the dog came out and ran along the beach. They spoke to the Kudayuri men, ‘How did you come here?’ ‘We came with you, the same way we came.’ They made Kula in Tewara. Next day, they sailed to Bwayowa (village in Dobu district). He flew, and anchored at the beach Sarubwoyna. They arrived there, they saw: ‘Oh, look at the canoe, are these fishermen from Dobu?’ The dog came out. They recognised the dog. They asked him (Mokatuboda) which way he came: ‘I came with you, I anchored here.’ They went to the village of Bwayowa, they made Kula in the village, they loaded their canoes. They received presents from the Dobu people at parting, and the Kitava men sailed on the return journey. They sailed first, and he flew through the air.” On the return journey, at every stage, they see him first, they ask him which way he went, and he gives them some sort of answer as the above ones. “From Giribwa they sailed to Kitava; he remained in Giribwa; he flew from Giribwa; he went to Kitava, to the beach. His *gugu’a* (personal belongings) were being carried to the village when his companions came paddling along, and saw his canoe anchored and the dog running on the beach. All the other men were very angry, because his canoe flew.” “They remained in Kitava. Next year, they made their gardens, all the men of Kitava. The sun was very strong, there was no rain at all. The sun burned their gardens. This man (the head man of Kudayuri, Mokatuboda) went into the garden. He remained there, he made a *bulubwalata* (evil magic) of the rain. A small cloud came and rained on his garden only, and their gardens the sun burned. They (the other men of Kitava) went and saw their gardens. They arrived there, they saw all was dead, already the sun had burned them. They went to his garden and it was all wet: yams, *taitu*, taro, all was fine. They spoke: ‘Let us kill him so that he might die. We shall then speak magic over the clouds, and it will rain over our gardens.’ ” “The real, keen magic, the Kudayuri man (i.e. Mokatuboda) did not give to them; he gave them not the magic of the *ligogu* (adze); he gave them not the magic of *kunisalili* (rain magic); he gave them not the magic of the *wayugo* (lashing creeper), of the coco-nut oil and staff. Toweyre’i, his younger brother, thought that he had already received the magic, but he was mistaken. His elder brother gave him only part of the magic, the real one he kept back.” “They came (to Mokatuboda, the head man of Kudayuri), he sat in his village. His brothers and maternal nephews sharpened the spear, they hit him, he died.” “Next year, they decided to make a big Kula expedition, to Dobu. The old *waga*, cut and lashed by Mokatuboda, was no more good, the lashings had perished. Then Toweyre’i, the younger brother, cut a new one to replace the old. The people of Kumwageya and Lalela (the other villages in Kitava) heard that Toweyre’i cuts his *waga*, and they also cut theirs. They pieced and lashed their canoes on the beach. Toweyre’i did it in the village.” Here the native narrative enumerates every detail of canoe making, drawing the contrast between the proceedings on the beach of the other Kitavans, and of Toweyre’i building the canoe in the village of Kudayuri. It is an exact repetition of what was said at the beginning, when Mokatuboda was building his canoe, and I shall not adduce it here. The narrative arrives at the critical moment when all the members of the crew are seated in the canoe ready for the flight. “Toweyre’i went into the house and made magic over the adze and the coco-nut oil. He came out, smeared a staff with the oil, knocked the skids of the canoe. He then did as his elder brother did. He struck both ends of the canoe with the adze. He jumped into the canoe and sat down; but the *waga* did not fly. Toweyre’i went into the house and cried for his elder brother, whom he had slain; he had killed him without knowing his magic. The people of Kumwageya and Lalela went to Dobu and made their Kula. The people of Kudayuri remained in the village.” “The three sisters were very angry with Toweyre’i, for he killed the elder brother and did not learn his magic. They themselves had learnt the *ligogu*, the *wayugo* magic; they had it already in their *lopoula* (belly). They could fly through the air, they were *yoyova*. In Kitava they lived on the top of Botigale’a hill. They said: ‘Let us leave Kitava and fly away.’ They flew through the air. One of them, Na’ukuwakula, flew to the West, pierced through the sea-passage Dikuwa’i (Somewhere in the Western Trobriands); she arrived at Simsim (one of the Lousançay). There she turned into a stone, she stands in the sea.” “The two others flew first (due West) to the beach of Yalumugwa (on the Eastern shore of Boyowa). There they tried to pierce the coral rock named Yakayba—it was too hard. They went (further South on the Eastern shore) through the sea-passage of Vilasasa and tried to pierce the rock Kuyaluya—they couldn’t. They went (further South) and tried to pierce the rock of Kawakari—it was too hard. They went (further South). They tried to pierce the rocks at Giribwa. They succeeded. That is why there is now a sea passage at Giribwa (the straits dividing the main island of Boyowa from the island of Vakuta).” “They flew (further South) towards Dobu. They came to the island of Tewara. They came to the beach of Kadimwatu and pierced it. This is where the straits of Kadimwatu are now between the islands of Tewara and Uwama. They went to Dobu; they travelled further South, to the promontory of Saramwa (near Dobu island). They spoke: ‘Shall we go round the point or pierce right through?’ They went round the point. They met another obstacle and pierced it through, making the Straits of Loma (at the Western end of Dawson Straits). They came back, they returned and settled near Tewara. They turned into stones; they stand in the sea. One of them cast her eyes on Dobu, this is Murumweyri’a; she eats men, and the Dobuans are cannibals. The other one, Kayguremwo, does not eat men, and her face is turned towards Boyowa. The people of Boyowa do not eat man.”