The following are transcriptions of the original documentation that accompanied the cylinders, presumably written by the recordist Eric Raff in 1924 and typed up by his wife Ruth Raff after his death in 1927.
There is some confusion over the correct order of the songs written down in the transcripts, and over which songs are included in the wax cylinder recordings. We hope that this will be clarified during participatory research.
Some text has been redacted due to cultural sensitivities identified during community consultation.
1. (a) The Song to Warn Iakokae-Iako
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
There was once a man named Iakoka͜e-iako who lived with his wife. But a bad man (motuama?) named Naseri wanted to have Iakoka͜e-iako’s wife, so he decided to kill Iakoka͜e-iako. So one day Iakoka͜e-iako’s wife saw Naseri waiting outside the door of their house and she knew that he was going to kill her husband. But she was afraid to speak or Naseri would hear her and would then rush inside. So she started to cry and sang this song, telling her husband to escape by the door other door of the house, to go by a certain brou-tree and then along a road till he would come to the ‘faria’.
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Naseri lao goro (repeat)
Iakoka͜e-Iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Namata toko atua
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Namata toko atua ba mafi tafeas
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba nafi tafeas
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba tete ki pilelu
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba laose nabua
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba laose nabua
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba-usi nabua bano
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba laose faria
Iakoka͜e-iako, iako, iako (repeat many times)
Ba laose faria.
Iakoka͜e-iako
Naseri stands up and blocks the door.
But there is a door on the other side.
But there is a door on the other side. You go outside, outside.
You go outside, outside.
You go on top of the brou-tree.
You come out on the road.
You come out on the road.
You follow the road till at last
You come to the faria.
You come to the faria.
1. (b) Miameliu
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
There was a chief of [redacted] known as Miameliu. One time he was invited by the chief of Meli to come and feast on a very fat pig. The pig’s name was FAGKINANU. Now the Meli chief had put something tabu into Fagkinanu, the pig, and so when Marikmiameliu eat it he died. His friends began to carry his body home on a bed over the mountains. They came to a village and the chief said, ‘Bury Marikmiameliu here’, but they said, ‘No, because if we did you would all die’, and they sang this song:
Miameliu, Miameliu, lape-a
Miameliu a͜e-ir koara nasani nasani mai
Miameliu a͜e-ir koara nasani nasani mai-ir
Koara nasani a͜eir koara tofea mai-ir (repeat)
Koara tofea a͜eir boanafakalo mae-ir (repeat)
Boanfakalo a͜eir nakelu gorokoasa (repeat)
Nakelu gorko ē-ir tagi Tuki Tuki bano (repeat)
E-ir uauota tagi ti-ir ti-ir (repeat)
Tagi ti-ir ti-ir a tagi ti-ir ti-ir.
(Great Miameliu, see why he came. Bonafakalo (?), you did a bad thing when he came to you. All the people cry along the road (past Tuki Tuki). Many men who carry him cry for him).
So the chief of the village killed a pig and they put it on the bed with the body of Marikmiameliu. Then they came to another village and the chief wanted them to bury the body there, but they made the same reply and sang the same song. And so the chief changed their pig for a bigger one. So it happened at many villages where the chiefs each gave them a bigger pig for the one they had.
The pig was now too big to be carried with the dead man and so they carried it separately. At last they arrived at [redacted] and they called the people and told them that Marikmiameliu had died at Meli. So they carried his body to the village and buried it.
NOTE ‘Marik’ has the meaning of ‘old’ hence an honourable prefix.
2. (a) The Motuama and the Suseli
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
A motuama and his wife had a child, a girl, but instead of being a motuama, it turned out to be a suseli. (A suseli = a kind of dwarf, practically human. A motuama = a cannibal devil).
This motuama was called Telamilami because it ate people. Now by-and-bye this Suseli girl had a child, a boy; but she was very frightened lest Telamilami would eat it, so she hid him in a hole in a stone. Every day she cooked the food, then she said to her father and mother, ‘Now I shall go for water.’ But when she filled her basket with the cocoa-nut-shell bottles she also put in some food for her son.
Then she came to the stone and called to her son to come out. She sang these words,
Suselu, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai.
(Suselu, you come out. You come out.)
But her son was frightened and sang these words,
Kinau uase uase
Tamatak ki Telamilami.
(I am here. But I fear Telamilami.)
Then she sang again,
Telamilami uai
E bak i Bukora ba
Buelisei buelisei.
(This Telamilami has gone to Bukora. She is not here. She is not here.)
When he said he was frightened to come out, she said, ‘The motuama Telamilami has gone to Bukora village, she is away. So when he heard this he came out and eat. Every day the Suseli girl took food to her child in this way. Every day she sang to him and overcame his fear by telling him that Telamilami had gone to Bukora village.
But her mother’s suspicions were aroused and she said to her husband, ‘Why does our daughter stay a long time every day when she goes for water? She must be doing something that we do not know about’. So one day when her daughter went for water, she followed her. She watched her go to the water stone and heard her sing,
Suselu, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai.
(Suselu, you come out. You come out.)
And she heard a voice inside sing,
Kinau uase uase
Tamatak ki Telamilami.
(I am here. But I fear Telamilami.)
Then she heard her daughter sing again,
Telamilami uai
E bak i Bukora ba
Buelisei buelisei.
(This Telamilami has gone to Bukora. She is not here. She is not here.)
Suselu, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai.
(Suselu, you come out. You come out.)
And she heard a voice inside sing,
Kinau uase uase
Tamatak ki Telamilami.
(I am here. But I fear Telamilami.)
Then she heard her daughter sing again,
Telamilami uai
E bak i Bukora ba
Buelisei buelisei.
(This Telamilami has gone to Bukora. She is not here. She is not here.)
Then she saw a nice fat little Suseli come out of the hole and she saw her daughter feed him. Next day she said to her daughter, ‘You go to the gardens and dig a yam, but you must not take a strong stick to dig the ground. You must dig it up with some leaves of native cabbage’.
So the Suseli went to the garden and took some cabbage leaves and tried to dig the yam. But the leaves were not strong and it took many leaves and a long, long time before she succeeded. Meantime, as soon as she had left for the garden, her mother went to the hole in the stone and sang,
Suselu, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai.
The Suseli answered from within,
Kinau uase uase
Tamatok ki Telamilami.
Then she sang again,
Telamilami uai
E bak i Bukora ba
Buelisei buelisei.
So the suseli came out and she eat him. But as she eat him a piece of one of his fingers fell on the ground. She then went home and lay down in the house and pretended to be sick. By-and-bye her daughter came home with the yam and, seeing her mother in the house, was told that she was ill. So the Suseli cooked the food and then went off to get water taking with her as usual some food for her son. She came to the hole and sang,
Suselu, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai.
But there was no answer. She sang many times, but there was no answer. So she looked all round and at last she discovered the piece of her son’s finger and so she knew that her mother had eaten him.
She then went home and said to her mother, ‘What is the matter with you? In what way are you sick?’ And her mother said, ‘My belly is sore’. So Suseli gathered many cocoanut leaves and put them all around the house. Her mother heard her and asked her what she was doing and Suseli replied, ‘Oh, you are sick and it is cold. I’m making the house good’.
So she put many leaves and lastly placed some over the door and fastened them. Then she said to her mother, ‘You have eaten my son’, and she lit the cocoanut leaves with fire. Her mother cried, ‘No, don’t do that. I shall vomit up your son’. But the fire was already kindled and it consumed the house and the Telamilami.’
2. (b) Mapuli, the Pigeon
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
There was at one time a village at the mouth of the Norisau River in Havannah Harbour. The village was called Benipolo and its chief was [redacted]. One day [redacted] had been drinking kava and had fallen into a sleep. On the hills there was a pigeon called Mapuli who was chief of all the pigeons and he began to sing. His song awakened [redacted] who was very angry at being roused and said, ‘If it were a man who had wakened me, I would have killed him’.
Then [redacted] asked all the fish in the sea to go and kill Mapuli but they said they could not. Then he asked Tsisa – a little shell-fish – and Tsisa said that he would try. He took a rope and climbed the hills to where Mapuli lived and he found Mapuli in his ‘faria’. They began to talk together and then Mapuli sent all the pigeons out to their gardens to gather food and firewood and kava, but he stayed at home and talked with Tsisa. When all the pigeons came home, they prepared the food and made the lap-lap and then Mapuli and Tsisa ate and drank kava.
Soon they both fell into a deep sleep. Tsisa awakened first and called to Mapuli but the latter was too much asleep to hear him. Then he came and shook him but still Mapuli slept soundly. So then Tsisa fastened the rope around Mapuli’s neck and dragged him out of the house and down the road singing,
Tsisa, Tsisa, ba taf i mai
Ba taf i mai
Tuekalo kaloriki
Tuekalo kalolapa
Nauaisei teuaisei
Uaise uaise (repeat two last lines).
The song seems to be a triumphal shout that Tsisa had captured Mapuli – ‘uase’ or ‘uaise’ = ‘he is here’.
This he sang many times and soon [redacted] heard him and thought that Ma Mapuli was dead. Then Tsisa dragged Mapuli into [redacted] ‘faria’ and [redacted] called all the fishes to come and they gathered around Mapuli who then woke up and they slew him.
Today the Mapuli pigeon has a mark on his head where Tsisa’s rope was tied.
2. (c) The Woman of Laosa
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
At Laosa there was a cannibal named Motuama who had killed and eaten all the people so that only one was left – an old woman. One day he saw this old woman’s fire and he came down and found her. He told her that he would return to her that night and she knew that that meant that he would eat her and she was very frightened and cried.
So she made ten beds in her house (mats on the floor) and she slept in the one furthest from the door. Soon down came the cannibal Motuama and he came to the first bed, but she was not there and so he cried and sang,
Na motuama i suo bakelao (repeat)
I sua bakelao, bakelao (repeat many times)
Bakofikofik.
Galiunanaora ni Tasmaoloki
Tasmaoloki usi bua laba (repeat)
Usi bua laba takin rognrogo (repeat)
Iga takinrognrogo nauaueli iga foro
Iga takinrognrogo nauaueli iga foro.
(Roughly – Motuama came along the white sand, past the passage of Tasmaoloki and along the big road and listened. He came to the bed and listened, but there was no one there).
Then Motuama came to the next bed and found it empty, so he sang again the same song. So with all the nine empty beds. And then he came to the tenth bed upon which the woman was lying, but just then daylight came and so he ran away.’
3. (b) Pango Song
A song that the children ask their mothers to sing to make the daylight come quickly so that they may play.
Supe uao uao riki
Supe uao uao laba
Sai beresi napogi
Napgi metaberesi
Buro uak i touru
Buro to i tari
Buro man fesa fesa
Fesa lua aliat
Supe, Supe, i aliat ia aliat.
God of little light
God of great light
Who breaks the dark night
The night is breaking
And makes the pigs grunt (?)
And makes the cocks crow
And makes the birds sing
Sing for the daylight
God, God. Here is light.
A free translation –
God of the tiny sunbeams!.
God of the mighty sun!
God who breaketh the darkness
And Night has gone!
Making the pigs to waken
Making the cocks to crow
Making the birds to warble
And sing for the blessed day.
God! Here is Light! Here is Light!
3. (c) Tariuiauia and the Ten Women
Told by the women of Pango (Efate).
Near Pango village there lived an old man called Tariuiauia who had white hair. This Tariuiauia went down to the beach to sharpen his axe and ten old women from Erakor who were called Nauoreare happened to see him. Some of them said it was Tariuiauia whom they saw but others said, ‘No, it is just the white flowers of a tree that you think is his white hair’. So they decided to swim across and look. When they came he said, ‘I am Tariuiauia’. Then he climbed up into a Talia tree to get fruit for them, but a branch broke and he fell down and was killed. Then the women cried and sang this song,
Tariuiauia ku be turi gami sese
Ku bi turi gami Senauoreare sesea sese
Ku bi turi gami Senauoreare sese
Senauoreare teauia mau sese a sese
Tariuiauia you have married us a little while
You have married us Senauoreare a little while
You have married us Senauoreare a little while
Senauoreare all old women a little while.
4. (a) Abialo – Hymn to the Sun
Sung by Tavero of Meli (Efate).
A Song the children sing to the Sun when they have been swimming and they want the sun to dry and warm them.
Akialo alo riki
Akialo alo lapa
Bialo bialo
Bisara uokiuok
Vatu sake vatu lae
Vatu lae lae goro
Bialo bialo
Bisara uokiuok
Atasi a mala
Bialo bialo
Bisara uokiuok.
Sun, little sun,
Sun, big sun,
Sun, sun,
Shine strong.
Come out from the rock
The rock of gladness.
Sun, sun,
Shine strong.
Send out your rays,
Sun, sun,
Shine strong.
Another version given by Soppi of Pango who married a Meli woman,
Bialo alo riki
Bialo alo laba
Pa sake fatu lae
Fatu lae lae goro
A bitosia malo malo
Bialo bialo
Pa sera uoki uoki
Sun, little sun,
Sun, big sun,
Come out from the rock
The rock of gladness
Send out your sun-rays.
Sun, sun,
Shine strong.
At Meli when the children are swimming they sing this song, then they hold their hands straight up and sink down to the bottom of the sea.
4. (b) Marieriki
Told by Tavero of Meli (Efate).
There was once an old man on Meli Island who had two sons whose names were [redacted]. One day these two boys went in their canoe across to the mainland of Efate, and the elder climbed a Talia tree. But when he got to the top he fell down and broke his neck. The younger cried over him and then, taking his body, he began to carry him home. When he had gone some way he rested awhile and as he rested he sang,
[redacted], aru tok
Kito maro bikitalo aru bano
Bogi kitaliatau
Meli language Aruchi ba puli
Kasua na chikoli
Alusi alusi sensen sensen
Alusi alusi sensen sensen.
Then he carried the body a little further and again he rested and sang the same song. This he did a third time and then he reached the beach and rested and sang again. The father on the small island saw them coming out of the bush. When they arrived at Meli, he asked [redacted] what had happened and when he heard he and his son cried and sang again the same song.
4. (c) Cradle Song
Sung by Tavero of Meli (Efate).
Leiboni’s version –
Jibaka tuile tuile
Tiesa teauui
Ru tumena tuile.
Hawk, rock, rock,
Children and old folks
They all rock together.
Tavero’s version –
Tibaka tuile tuile
Tanou tule tule
Tuletano tule
Tiesa teauia ru tumena
Tiesa teaui ru tumena
Tule.
‘Tuile’ or ‘tule’ expresses the motion of rocking a baby. It is not used in conversation.
Jibaka=hawk. Tibaka=owl.
5. (a) Teromairaga
Sung by Turi (Leleppa), Tavero (Meli), Leiboni (Meli)
Teromairaga na Teriki tofanimai tausia tagata kaia
Iova teuira go batiri teruru matagita tuaro boulaba
Tofoei tematok foki gaia i maramana iaro.
Tagat nean ra samsama toulak-ani Master nrafa kufatu
Soina mai Agel neana raf tosuia trambete gaia mai maramau
Tagata naneaku kafte romai gaivau kinei
Taga sa raf to mataku tonlakan sar tebolo ki taia
To fanimai takuag ki reafa kaf teroro gaia ki mao
Uepigo i kouafa tefenua na kouafa tetagi etu gani
Go etu mau.
The coming of the Lord will come as thiefs
With it lightning, thunder, earthquake, hurricane, big rain,
Will frighten the world below.
His people will glad because their Master comes.
With Him His angels, they shall blow the trumpets towards the world
My people come near me.
Bad men, they will be afraid, because they believe Him not
Your home crying there, the evermore cry.
(Nganga’s translation)
5. (b)? A Song – Avau Elusi
Sung by Turi (Leleppa), Tavero (Meli), Leiboni (Meli)
Avau elusi staierigi marie na naneaku
Etiro temoso ifea temoso i Suango
Nomata emea metau temuri Tepukoa.
Eia esira kitai mitama tamaroa
Etu msilikina musua norimata merigi
Tagsia tamaroa ifea tamaroa Tamtautu
Tama fanumui etasi takua tamaroa
Taba ka te tu ma sinasina tiba tematega
Taearaga neau nanei tokoto tlialaba.
I have lost my good earring with star
Thrown into the sea at Suango
Red eye at the mouth of Tepukoa
Look toward west, young men,
Stand waving handkerchief, tear falling,
Crying for young men from Tematautu
One girl cursing young boys
Says, ‘Stay till you go gray and die
Your knowledge to-day is known.
(Nganga’s translation)
5. (c) New Year Song
Sung by Turi (Leleppa), Tavero (Meli), Leiboni (Meli)
Temata tefare gasae foki nanei mateafa
Sara tagata go matakatoa euru fare gain
Efei temutiararga teafa euru fare foki tefare gani
Tnoigoa efe January uani
January uani January uani abi nuia January uan January abi
Happy New Year.
The door of the house open to-day for us all
Every man, and all things to enter in
The sake of mercy we all enter into that house
Whose name is January one
January one, January Happy New Year. January one, January
Happy New Year.
(Nganga’s translation)
7. (a) The Ragged Prince
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
A man and his wife once sent their daughter to a river called Matanoia-riki (Little spring of water) to draw water. When she got there she saw the reflection of a beautiful man in the water. She thought it was the man himself and she tried to catch him with her hand but she caught only water. Then she saw the feather stuck in his hair and she tried to catch him again but again she caught only water, because the man was in a tree and it was only his reflection that she saw. Then she began to cry and the man in the tree laughed. She turned and saw him and said, ‘Why do you pretend to me like this?’ She then said that she would come back and see him the next day. But really she was not sure whether he was a man or a devil (suseli).
Next day she made two lap-laps (native puddings). For these she killed two fowls. One of the fowls she cleaned, but the other she left with its inside intact. Into one lap-lap she put the cleaned fowl and into the other she put the uncleaned fowl and she carried both lap-laps to the river.
Here she saw the man and offered him the lap-lap – the one with the uncleaned fowl. He looked at it and then he said, ‘Do you eat this? I cannot eat this.’ So she knew that he was not a Suseli, for if he had been he would have liked the unclean lap-lap. She knew that he must be a real man so she gave him the good lap-lap. On the road home she sang this song,
Teti go mama rosuakiau (repeat)
Rosuakiau sei nau uta ana (repeat)
Ago fanouta matanoiariki
Matanoiariki
Seluseluki uatinuginau (repeat)
Uatinuginau Nauotimiela (repeat)
Bakiorariki bakioralapa (repeat)
Mother and father sent me
Sent me to get water
I went to Matanoiariki
Matanoiariki
Devil or (?) man
That man was Nauotimiela
Go a little way, go a long way (?)
When she arrived home she told her mother and father about this beautiful young man and said that she wanted to marry him. She suggested that they should go to a dance and there they would see him. So they all three went to a dance and they saw all the young men beautifully adorned dancing but the girl said, ‘No, he is not amongst these’.
Now this young man whose name was Nauotimiel had taken a plant named Nakauk (a red coleus) and had squeezed the sap over his leg so that it had the appearance of a running sore. Then he came out into the dance and immediately the girl recognised him and cried, ‘That is he’. But her mother and father said, ‘No, this man is no good. Look at his sores’. But the girl replied, ‘Before he had no sores. I think he is just pretending. I want him.’
The mother and father said, ‘No, he is no good’, but the girl said, ‘I want him’. Then Nauotimiel (Red Chief) went to the river and washed and the sap of the nakauk was washed away. Then he shut his eyes and said, ‘When I open my eyes all my father’s things will come to me’. He opened his eyes and behold! he was arrayed in all his father’s ornaments. Then he shut his eyes again and said, ‘When I open my eyes my father’s head-feathers will come to me’. And when he opened his eyes his hair was decked with his father’s head-feathers.
Then the people at the dance saw lightning flash and thought that rain was coming, but it was Nauotimiel come back to the dance gorgeously arrayed. The girl cried, ‘See, here is my man’. And so he married her.
8 or 9 (?) Drum Dance Song
Meli
1. A mataku, a mataku, a mataku, mataku, a mataku, a mataku,
A mataku, a mataku, a mataku, a mataku, a mataku, mataku, a mataku, a mataku.
A mataku ku bi pule ku paraki au, mosova rerue eae
Aga vasale a sikei tu, ko, a mataku, a mataku.
2. A mataku manairia kisoa, mataku, a mataku, a mataku,
A mataku nauaga vatili, tili navata maau, mataku, a mataku, a mataku.
3. A mataku tili navara maau, mataku, a mataku, a mataku,
A mataku tili navara maau, maau Lovilovi mataku, a mataku, a mataku.
4. A mataku ba sai seve rarua mataku, a mataku, a mataku,
A mataku sai Kauatabau rarua mosa nauota mataku, a mataku, a mataku.
(Words like ‘manairia kisoa’ are meaningless, put in for the sake of the music)
1. I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear,
I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear, I fear.
I fear you giant will come for me, on the open sea as prey
I am alone, so I fear, I fear.
2. I fear, I….. I fear, I fear, I fear.
I fear …. the thought of the giant, I fear, I fear, I fear.
3. I fear… because of the giant, the giant Lovilovi, I fear, I fear, I fear.
I fear…because of the giant, the giant Lovilovi, I fear, I fear, I fear.
4. I fear. What canoe are you bringing? I fear, I fear, I fear.
I fear. Take the Kauatapau, the canoe of the chiefs, I fear, I fear, I fear.
8 or 9 (?) Drum Dance Song
Meli
Lagi ni Vate, or North Wind.
1. Lagi ni vate lagi lagi ni vate lagi ni vate tavara goro ae
Lagi lagi ni vate lagi ni vate tavara goro
E lagi ni vate, lagi ni vate, lagi ni vate ae
Rogoa rogo mai ago vano lagi ni vate tavara goro
2. Lagi ni vate ae manairia kisoa, lagi ni vate tavara goro ae
Malalani napatira, lagi ni vate tavara goro
3. Lagi ni vate ae patira ni Mataso lagi ni vate tavara goro ae
Mataso liuliu lagi ni vate tavara goro
4. Lagi ni vate ae Mataso liuliu liuliu lagi ni vate tavara goro ae
Ki liuliu naure lagi ni vate tavara goro.
(Words like ‘manairia kisoa’ are meaningless, put in for the sake of the music)
1. North Wind, North Wind, North Wind, North Wind, blow gently,
North Wind, North Wind, North Wind, blow gently.
Yes, North Wind, North Wind, North Wind,
I hear it come, I will go, North Wind blow quietly.
2. North Wind,… North Wind, blow quietly,
(Over the) hill, North Wind, blow quietly.
3. North Wind (on the) hill of Mataso, North Wind, blow slowly,
(Over) high Mataso, North Wind, blow quietly.
4. North Wind (over) high Mataso, North Wind, blow quietly,
High above the other islands, North Wind, blow quietly.
10. (a) Leimaron – [redacted]
Told by Miriam of Malavau (Efate)
There was a woman on Emai named Leimarona who was soon to have a child. She set out in a long canoe rowed by ten boys and in the canoe she had ten mats. Now it was the old custom when a woman was about to have a child to tie a mat around herself to delay its coming. When they came near Makura she felt that she would soon give birth to her child, so she tied a mat around her and sang,
Ai nuia ai Leimarona
Ai nuia ai Leimarona
Komaromaeu
Aia Leimarona
Kumaramatuee
Roperope ke uakei sapo [redacted] kumarierier
E [redacted] kumarierier.
Soon the canoe came near Mataso and she though that she would go ashore there, but when she saw the Mataso men some of them knew her and she said, ‘I can’t go ashore there’, and she tied another mat around her, so that now there were eight mats left and she sang again the same song. Then they drew near Nguna, but when she saw the Nguna people she said, ‘Nobody knows me there. I cannot go ashore here’, and so she tied another mat around her, and sang again the song. And there were seven mats left.
Then the canoe came near Siviri and here again she saw that she was unknown, so she tied another mat around her and sang again. And then there were six mats left. Then they came near Moso, but she saw she was still unknown and so she tied another mat around her and sang again. And there were five mats left.
Then they came near Samoa and here again she saw that she was a stranger so she tied another mat around her and sang again. Then there were four mats left. She next came to Laosa, but here again she saw that she was unknown, so she said that she could not go ashore there and she tied another mat around her and sang again. So there were now three mats left. Then she came to Leleppa but saw again that she was unknown, so she tied another mat around her and sang again and there were two mats left. They came to a village at Tuki Tuki, but she said she was unknown there and she tied another mat on and sang again.
The last mat she tied around herself at Devil’s Point and sang again. But the chief of Meli was looking out to sea and he saw her and said, ‘That is Leimarona’s canoe’ So he commanded his young men to put a big mat from the houses to the beach. And when Leimarona’s canoe came she walked along this mat to the house. In the canoe with her there was a stick of fire and this also she brought to Meli. The canoe they carried to the ‘faria’ where a piece still remains. Leimarona then took off the ten mats and gave birth to a child [redacted].
NOTE: This is another version of the coming of the Meli people. Some of the people of Emai are Polynesians and thus kin to the people of Meli.
10. (c) The Twin Boys
A Pentecost story told by Wari to Miriam.
There was once a woman who gave birth to twin sons, but she did not care for them so she took them into the bush to a place where there was a Naromai tree. If the roots of this tree are cut they give out clear water. So she put the twin boys near the roots of the Naromai tree and cut two roots and placed the children so that the water fell into their mouths. Then she left them.
By-and-bye the two boys drank the water and began to grow strong. Then they were able to move and they realized that they had no mother and no other food save the water of the Naromai tree. So they continued to grow. One day their mother came to see them and found them growing strong, so she returned to her house and made two small mats. These she took back to the Naromai tree and said to the two boys, ‘Let us go down to the sea to wash these mats’. So the three of them went down to the sea.
While the mother washed the mats the two boys went into the sea to swim. When they had gone a little way their mother called them to come back lest they should drown, but they replied that she had not cared for them when they were small so they would not listen to her now and they would go a little further out into the sea. They sang this song,
Seseunror unror uare uare (repeat)
Unror se nesa͜ii (repeat)
Nea soror nanrigir
Nanrigir.
Then they went deeper into the water and their mother called to them to come ashore, but they replied as before and sang the same song. Then they went a little deeper into the water and their mother called out to them to come ashore, but they replied as before and sang again.
Then their mother took the mats ashore and put them in the sun to dry. She heard her two boys whistle and turning round saw only their fingers above the water. She swam out into the sea to bring them ashore but when she reached them she found them both drowned.