r which came from their heads, and all the scurf which came
from their bodies to the end that when he came again he might make more
people. As time passed there came to be a great many people, and they
lived in a village having plenty to eat and no labor but the gathering
of such fruits as they desired.

"One day when the rest of the people were about the village and the near
country, a man and woman who had been left behind fell to gazing, one
upon the person of the other, and after a little while they went away
apart from the rest and were gone many days, and when they returned the
woman carried a child in her arms, and the people wondered and were
afraid. When MElu came again soon, knowing what had taken place, he was
very angry and he went away abandoning them, and a great drought came,
when for two seasons no rain fell and everything withered up and died.
At last the people went away, two by two, one man and one woman
together, and MElu never again came to visit his people on earth."[61]

[61] Recorded by Mr. H. S. Wilson.

The writer did not hear the foregoing tale, but the following, with more
or less variation, was told to him by several Bila-an:

"In the beginning four beings, MElu and Fiuweigh-males, and Dwata and
Saweigh (or sEwE or sEweigh)-females, lived on a small earth or island
as large as a hat and called _salnaon_. There were no trees or grass on
this island, but they had one bird called Baswit. They sent this bird
across the waters to secure some earth, the fruit of the rattan and of
trees. When it returned MElu took the earth and beat it the same as a
woman beats pots until he had made the land, then he planted the seeds
in it and they grew. When he had watched it for a time he said: 'Of what
use is land without people'; so the others said, 'Let us make wax into
people.' They did so, but when they put the wax near to the fire it
melted, so they saw they could not make man that way. Next it was
decided that they should use dirt, and MElu and Fiuweigh began to make
man. All. went well until they were ready to make the nose. Fiuweigh who
was making this part put the nose on upside down and when MElu told him
that the people would drown if he left it that way he became very angry
and refused to change it. When he turned his back, MElu seized the nose
quickly and turned it as it now is, and you can see where, in his haste,
he pressed his fingers (at the root).

"The people they made were Adnato and An