n, "Die Jabim," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch
Neu-Guinea_, iii. 315 _sq._]

[Footnote 470: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 518.]

[Footnote 471: G. Bamler, _l.c._]

[Footnote 472: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 518 _sq._]

[Footnote 473: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 519-522.]

[Footnote 474: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 518.]

LECTURE XIV

THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF GERMAN AND DUTCH NEW
GUINEA

[Sidenote: The Tami doctrine of souls and gods. The Tago spirits,
represented by masked men.]

At the close of the last lecture I dealt with the Tami, a people of
Melanesian stock who inhabit a group of islands off the mainland of New
Guinea. I explained their theory of the human soul. According to them,
every man has two distinct souls, a long one and a short one, both of
which survive his death, but depart in different directions, one of them
repairing to the lower world, and the other being last sighted off the
coast of New Britain. But the knowledge which these savages possess of
the spiritual world is not limited to the souls of men; they are
acquainted with several deities (_buwun_), who live in the otherwise
uninhabited island of Djan. They are beings of an amorous disposition,
and though their real shape is that of a fish's body with a human head,
they can take on the form of men in order to seduce women. They also
cause epidemics and earthquakes; yet the people shew them no respect,
for they believe them to be dull-witted as well as lecherous. At most,
if a fearful epidemic is raging, they will offer the gods a lean little
pig or a mangy cur; and should an earthquake last longer than usual they
will rap on the ground, saying, "Hullo, you down there! easy a little!
We men are still here." They also profess acquaintance with a god named
Anuto, who created the heaven and the earth together with the first man
and woman. He is a good being; nobody need be afraid of him. At
festivals and meat markets the Tami offer him the first portion in a
little basket, which a lad carries away into the wood and leaves there.
As usual, the deity consumes only the soul of the offering; the bearer
eats the material substance.[475] The Tami further believe in certain
spirits called Tago which are very old, having been created at the same
time as the village. Every family or clan possesses its own familiar
spirits of this class. They are represented by men who disguise their
bodies in dense masses of sago leaves and their faces