Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. VOL. IX, PART IL. Issued June 16th, 1928. EDITED BY THE DIRECTOR, HEBER A. LONGMAN, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. i) PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR QUEENSLAND, THE HON. WM. McCORMACK. MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM, Vou. IX, Parr II. 127 THE CULT GF WAIET IN THE MURRAY ISLANDS, -TORRES STRAITS. By Acs C.-HAppON, SOD. *F_ RS. I HAVE given in vol. vi, pp. 277-280 of the ‘‘Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits,’?’ Cambridge, 1908, all the infor- mation then available about Waiet of Waier, the smallest of the three Murray Islands. Through the kindness of Mr. Heber A. Longman, Director of the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, I have received a most interesting description of the hitherto unrecorded cult of Waiet (accompanied by sketches of the effigy), written expressly for me in response to a request by the Director by Mr. A. O. C. Davies, formerly the schoolmaster on Mer and now in charge of a State school at Kalbar, S. E. Queensland. Mr. Davies collected the very fragmentary remains of Waiet and presented them to the Queensland Museum. I have transcribed, with minor unimportant omissions and modifications, the aeeount sent to me by Mr. Davies, and have clearly indicated my own remarks. Waiet lived at Mabuiag with his wife Weiba and their only daughter Gainau. Every day he went to the waterhole on the chance of meeting women or girls who came to draw water. On meeting some he would probably select one and have intercourse with her; if he was in a contrary mood he might order his attendant zogo-le or tanu-leb to cut off the girl’s head. One day, feeling indisposed, he did not go for his walk, but the zogo-le and tami-leb went as usual. On the way they met Weiba and Gainau and, being determined to emulate Waiet, seized and had intercourse with them and, moved by jealousy, cut off their heads. On hearing the news, Waiet decided to take his drum and leave Mabuiag, | and, erying and beating his drum, went to Nagai. The island of Nagai was not satisfactory, as his drum did not sound well, so he departed and came to Oidol. His drum did not sound well here, so he went to Mer. Like Malu, he went round the island and stopped at Kapeub on the other side, but as there was no -suitable harbour it was ‘“‘no good sitting down.”’ , 128 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. Hearing that. Malu was in possession of Mer, he took a canoe and went. across to Dauar. He landed at Giz, but the land was straight and did not appeal to him, so he went to Ouzes, at the sandspit called Teg. This was ‘‘no good,’’ so he went across to Wailer and, skirting the northern coast, came to the harbour on the eastern side called Nay (this is pronounced slightly differently from Nee, drinking water) [we write this word ni and the bay Ne]. At the head of the harbour is a nice beach of sand and pulverised pumice-stone, behind which a cliff rises to about 150 feet in height. This he climbed, and sitting down on a ledge of rock began to beat his drum. The sound echoed from the semicirele of cliffs, and pleased with the place he determined to settle there. He again beat his drum, but more loudly than before, and began to sing. Two women, Dumieb [these are the av kosker ‘*old women,’’ Reports, vi, p. 279,. pl. v, fig. 2], down at the point, heard him and began to danee. Waiet then took some yellow sprouting coconut palm leaves and put them round his head | Reports, iv, p. 35] and beat his drum still louder and sang. The two women approached him and he sat down on some coconuts (because of this the turtle- shell effigy of Waiet was placed in a sitting posture on some coconuts). When the women came up to him he had connection with them and said that he would abide there as it suited him. He micturated from the top of the cliff, which aceounts for the large lagoon and the abundanee of fish in it. The eult of Waiet thus took its rise, it being the emblem of fertility of mankind, the coconuts denoting abundanee of fruit and the lagoon of fish an abundant supply of fish for food. [The Nagai of Mr. Davies is Nagi, Oidol is probably Widul, but if so. the order of Waiet’s journey has been inverted. I also was informed that the arrival of Waiet at Mer was subsequent to that of Malu. I obtained three versions of the story of Wailat, as he is called by the Western Islanders. In the Tutu version (Reports, v, p. 48) Naga and Waiat (who acted as ‘‘crew’’ for Naga) went from the Katau River (Binaturi) (148 deg. E. long.) to Yaru (Daru) where they performed a death-danee, markai, and taught it to two Tutu visitors. Naga went to Augar [Uga] and showed the people there how to ‘‘make markaz,’’ and later settled at Tutu. In the Nagir tale (v, p. 49), Naga was a resident at Nagir who instructed. the men how to make masks in the form of animals, wrut krar, and taught them the sones and dances and everything relating to the kwod, and how to ‘‘make taiat,’’ or funeral ceremonies. Wailat of Mabuiag came to Nagir to learn how to beat the drum, and Naga taught him. Then Waiat stole a famous mask. The Mabuiag story (v, p. 49) is much longer: There was a woman named Kuda who had two boys; they, Waiat (or Naga or Izalu) and some other people, lived on Widul, a small island off Mabuiag (I have an additional note that Kuda taught everybody how to make an earth-oven, amar). Kuda dressed her boys up and taught them to dance. Waiat used to play by himself, hauling up and letting down a goa rattle (v, p. 50). [This performance resembles an incident in the THE CULT OF WAIET—HADDON., 129 uruba ceremony of Kiwai deseribed by Riley (1925, p. 236). The uruba is a kind of memorial service for the dead and a farewell to the spirits of the dead who were returning to their home in the west.] Once Waiat went to the Fly River and thence to Mer. Waiat persuaded the woman to put the boys under: his care that he might instruct them in dancing. He heard a drum sounding, and in order to find out about it went first to Badu; he was sent on to Moa and thence to Nagir. Arriving at Nagir he went to the kwod and saw some theriomorphie dance masks; he went behind the waus (v, pl. xix, fig. 2) and saw a debu (king-fish) mask. He then went to the village and persuaded the men to show him everything, and he commandeered the debu mask and took it to Gumu on Mabuiag. One evening Waiat sent the women to get some water, but Goinau his wife, and their daughter Wiba, refused to go. Waiat had previously sent some men to fetch the mask from Gumu to Widul, and evidently Goinau and Wiba saw what the men were doing. The women came back with the water, and Goinau and Wiba then went to get water. Waiat said to all the men, ‘‘If any man meets any woman in the bush he must kill her, for by-and-by the women will talk in the house about what we have been doing.’’ The men went along the road that the two women had taken and met them. The men. said Waiat had told them to kill anyone they met and they would have to kill them, so they cut off their heads. On their return Waiat was informed of what had happened, and then felt very differently about the matter. In the middle of the night he killed his ‘‘mate,’’ Manari, and the two brothers. Next morning before sunrise, as her sons were not dancing as was their wont, Kuda came to Waiat’s house and asked the men to wake up her sons, but they found them dead under their mats. Kuda upbraided Waiat, who swore at her. Then her folk came; some hauled Waiat this way and some hauled him that way, and they broke his hmbs, and eut off his arms at the elbows and his legs at the knees; and Waiat eried, ‘‘Please leave me alone; I am a big place, I am like the sun and the moon. Every place knows me. Leave me alone. U, u, u, u.’’ They gouged out his eyes, cut off his ears, plucked out his whiskers, tore out his lower jaw, and he moaned ‘‘U, u, u, u,’’ till he died. They took off all his black skin and rolled him about like a cask till the raw meat alone was left and he looked like a white man. It is not at present possible to co-ordinate all these various stories. | Pasi told Mr. Davies that he was the only white man who had seen Waiet; his seeing the remains and collecting them caused considerable consterna- tion, and for three nights he was apprehensive of his own safety, Barsa coming along at daylight to see if he were still alive. The effigy of Waiet was in a recess of a ledge of the cliff of Waier about 150 feet above sea-level. Below this was another ledge with a number of recesses containing numerous clam-shells, which had been used for cooking purposes, and the marks of fires were still visible in several of the recesses. There were: 130 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. also some small clam-shells painted with red earth, and a number of the shells which are used by the natives for scraping coconuts; these were also painted red and were held in the mouth during the ceremony. As no. ceremonies had taken place since the coming of the missionaries, the effigy had fallen into disrepair, owing to the decay of the coconut-string fastenings. . The effigy represented the head and trunk of a man, and was about 4 feet high. It had no legs and squatted on a heap of coconuts, and was made of pieces of turtle-shell neatly sewn together with coconut line. A wangar stake passed through the effigy and held it upright, and another stick at right angles to it supported the outstretched arms. The face was made from a large piece of turtle-shell with a border of finely carved chevrons.. There was a dari of tern feathers which had been dipped in a mixture of blood and red earth. The mass of hair contained remains of organic tissue. Around the forehead was a string of rib-bones painted with blood and red earth. Pasi said that they were those of a white boy, but he would not say why he was killed. Around the neck hung a string of human rib-bones, also painted red, and above this a crescentric pearl- shell, maz. Around the waist was a string of arm and leg bones, and below this a groin-shell ebnoa [eb eneop or ebeneaup|. A string of white cowry shells (the large sacred ones) [bubuam, Amphiperas ovum| was suspended from each shoulder and hung down in front to the waist; while down the back hung two strings of small white cowry shells painted red and joined together in the middle by a jawbone, apparently that of a young person; this was the only jawbone attached to the effigy, and in this it differed totally from the Malu mask. Both arms were extended level with the shoulders, with the palms upwards. On the left forearm was a carved turtle-shell bracer or arm-guard, kadik, and under the left upper arm was hung a gabagaba (stone-headed elub) with a triangular stone head, but the handle had rotted. Under the right arm was a basket, which also had rotted. In front of the effigy were several clam-shells. [Mr. J. Bruce, formerly living in Mer, had a model made of Waiet which he presented to the Cambridge Museum. It is described and figured in the Reports (vi, p. 277, pl. xxii, fig. 6), but it bears no resemblance to Mr. Davies’ deseription and sketch, so it must be regarded as worthless. Mr. Bruce said that round the brow of the original was a headband to which were fastened the ribs of men and women, eud lera bir lid, ‘‘dead men’s ribs.’’ In the model there is a necklet of three wooden pendants in front and one behind; these represent the pieces of bamboo and bones of dead people of the original; these rattled with a peculiar noise wherever he went. Mr. Bruce also presented to the Museum a model of the sal or sale (railings of the platform of a eanoe) which formed the shrine of Waiet (1.¢. pl. xxi, fig. 1).] The Waiet ceremonial took place annually and lasted for: eight days. No women or children were allowed to be present, and any woman who was caught trying to look at Waiet was immediately killed, or, if the ceremony. was to take place in the near future, she would be kept to form one of the sacrifices. THE CULT OF WAIET—HADDON. 131 At the time of the ceremonial all the families concerned went over to Dauar, where they camped. The men then formed a procession, and with the novices, captives, and a supply of food crossed over. to Waier; the evening was spent in making preparations. The three zogo-le and the three tami-leb had come over previously, and, while the tam-leb cleared away any vegetable growth about the two ledges and gathered fresh coconuts for Waiet to sit down on, the zogo-le repaired any part of Waiet that needed attention. The tami-leb were also responsible for cleaning the clam-shells, bringing coconut oil and turtle grease for the anointing of Waiet, and preparing the vine rope used for hauling the captives up the cliff. . The next. day the zogo-le took Waiet out of his recess and set him on the coconuts. Two zogo-le took up their position on either side of Waiet, and the tanu-leb sat on the ledge below, and at the command of the chief zogo-le began to beat their drums, then the chief zogo-le danced. Everyone held in his mouth a red-painted shell, and instead of singing said, ‘‘Ha-ha, Ha-ha.’’ The men below formed a grand procession; all who held office of any description came first with the regalia, then followed the novices, next the captives, and the last year’s initiates formed the rear. When the procession was over, the captives were placed under a guard. Then followed the presentation of peace offerings, and next the novices were brought forward to the foot of the cliff and were duly initiated. (Pasi would not tell Mr. Davies what took place, but.denied that circumeision was a part of the ritual.) The young men were next taught the appropriate dances and songs. The new initiates were taken to the place where the fire was to be made, then brought back, and hot coals from the sacred fire burning in front of Waiet — were lowered down the cliff in a clam-shell by a vine. Each initiate was given some of the sacred fire, which he placed in a coconut shell, and then they were marched back to the cooking place, where they solemnly lighted the big fire to be used for cooking. It was their duty to see that this fire was kept ready for use, and also to get a supply of fuel. The captives were then divided into five - groups, one for each day. They included prisoners exchanged for others from Erub or from New Guinea so as to avoid eating more relatives than they could help, men who had done wrong, and women who had been caught trying to look at Waiet. The chief zogo-le ordered a tattoo of the drums, and then cried out, ‘‘Prepare the sacrifice!’’ The day’s quota of captives was brought to the foot of the cliff and the zogo-le ordered that he (or they) should be cleansed.