sea out of their canoes, and the children in the canoes would be sprinkled with sea-water. This is done to prevent disease. A man who would go for the first time to kula in Dobu would not be allowed to eat food in the vicinity of these rocks. A pig, or a green coco-nut would not be placed on the soil in this neighbourhood, but would have to be put on a mat. A novice in the Kula would have to make a point of going and bathing at the foot of Atu’a’ine and Aturamo’a.
The Dobuans pokala some other stones, to which the Boyowans do not give any offerings. The previously mentioned Gurewaya rock receives its share from the Dobuans, who believe that if they passed it close by without making a pokala, they would become covered with sores and die. Passing Gurewaya, they would not stand up in their canoes, nor would they eat any food when camping on a beach within sight of Gurewaya. If they did so, they would become seasick, fall asleep, and their canoe would drift away into the unknown. I do not know whether there is any myth in Dobu about the Gurewaya stone. There is a belief that a big snake is coiled on the top of this rock, which looks after the observance of the taboos, and in case of breach of any of them would send down sickness on them. Some of the taboos of Gurewaya are also kept by the Boyowans, but I do not exactly know which.
I obtained from a Dobuan informant a series of names of other, similar stones, lying to the East of Dobu, on the route between there and Tubetube. Thus, somewhere in the district of Du’a’u, there is a rock called Kokorakakedakeda. Besides this, near a place called Makaydokodoko there is a stone, Tabudaya. Further East, near Bunama, a small stone called Sinada enjoys some Kula prestige. In a spot Sina’ena, which I cannot place on the map, there is a stone called Taryadabwoyro, with eye, nose, legs and hind-quarters shaped like those of a pig. This stone is called ‘the mother of all the pigs,’ and the district of Sina’ena is renowned for the abundance of these animals there.