ore among the Yabim further to the east. However, not very much is
known about Mate; his worship, if it can be called so, flourishes
chiefly among the inland tribes, of whom the coast people stand so much
in awe that they dare not speak freely on the subject of this mysterious
being. Some of them indeed are bold enough to whisper that there is no
such being as Mate at all, and that the whole thing is a cheat devised
by sly rogues for the purpose of appropriating a larger share of roast
pork at their religious feasts, from which women are excluded. Whatever
may be thought of these sceptical views, it appears to be certain that
the name of Mate is also bestowed on a number of spirits who disport
themselves by day in open grassy places, while they retire by night to
the deep shades of the forest; and the majority of these spirits are
thought to be the souls of ancestors or of the recently departed. Again,
there is another class of spirits called _Nai_, who unlike all other
spirits are on friendly terms with men. These are the souls of dead
villagers, who died far away from home. They warn people of danger and
very obligingly notify them of the coming of trading steamers. When a
man dies in a foreign land, his soul appears as a _Nai_ to his sorrowing
relatives and announces his sad fate to them. He does so always at
night. When the men are gathered round the fire on the open square of
the village, the ghost climbs the platform which usually serves for
public meetings and banquets, and from this coin of vantage, plunged in
the deep shadow, he lifts up his voice and delivers his message of
warning, news, or prediction, as the case may be.[396]

[Sidenote: The creator Nemunemu. Sickness and death often regarded as
the effects of sorcery.]

However, ghosts of the dead are not the only spiritual beings with whom
these people are acquainted. They know of a much higher being, of the
name of Nemunemu, endowed with superhuman power, who made the heaven and
the earth with the assistance of two brothers; the elder brother
constructed the mainland of New Guinea, while the younger fashioned the
islands and the sea. When the natives first saw a steamer on the horizon
they thought it was Nemunemu's ship, and the smoke at the funnel they
took to be the tobacco-smoke which he puffed to beguile the tedium of
the voyage.[397] They are also great believers in magic and witchcraft,
and cases of sickness and death, which are not attributed to th