zenship among the savages of New Guinea. This
interpretation of the rite is supported by the notable fact that the
Bukaua, like the Yabim, give the name of _balum_ to the souls of the
dead as well as to the mythical monster and to the bull-roarer; this
shews how intimately the three things are associated in their minds.
Indeed not only is the bull-roarer in general associated with the souls
of the dead by a community of name, but among the Bukaua each particular
bull-roarer bears in addition the name of a particular dead man and
varies in dignity and importance with the dignity and importance of the
deceased person whom it represents. The most venerated of all are
curiously carved and have been handed down for generations; they bear
the names of famous warriors or magicians of old and are supposed to
reproduce the personal peculiarities of the celebrated originals in
their shape and tones. And there are smaller bull-roarers which emit
shriller notes and are thought to represent the shrill-voiced wives of
the ancient heroes.[429]

[Sidenote: The Kai tribe of Saddle Mountain in German New Guinea. The
land of the Kai. Their mode of cultivation. Their villages.]

The Bukaua and the Yabim, the two tribes with which I have been dealing
in this and the last lecture, inhabit, as I have said, the coast about
Finsch Harbour and speak a Melanesian language. We now pass from them to
the consideration of another people, belonging to a different stock and
speaking a different language, who inhabit the rugged and densely wooded
mountains inland from Finsch Harbour. Their neighbours on the coast call
these mountaineers by the name of Kai, a word which signifies forest or
inland in opposition to the seashore; and this name of the tribe we may
adopt, following the example of a German missionary, Mr. Ch. Keysser,
who has laboured among them for more than eleven years and has given us
an excellent description of their customs and beliefs. His account
applies particularly to the natives of what is called Saddle Mountain,
the part of the range which advances nearest to the coast and rises to
the height of about three thousand feet. It is a rough, broken country,
cleft by many ravines and covered with forest, bush, or bamboo thickets;
though here and there at rare intervals some brown patches mark the
clearings which the sparse inhabitants have made for the purpose of
cultivation. Water is plentiful. Springs gush forth everywhere in the
glen