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as shown by him, the feather-crown (umalidi); the interior (itiano), containing the "spirit of the electric eel" (pulake-jumu; and the three pointed arrows1 (tukusi-wala).

Legends tell us that Thunder does not throw the stone-axe himself. His son Lightning (Kape-kape) 2 is the official hurler, but Thunder directs him. In the legend of the Rain-Spirits (Konopojumu), Thunder, full of wrath at the would-be ravisher of his daughters the RainMaidens, shouts to Lightning to hurl the axe. Lightning does so, splitting the tree under which the Indian had sought shelter, and driving him into the open, where his sisters the Rain-Maidens pursue their victim and pelt him unmercifully. No matter where he goes, they follow him. The land is threatened with a deluge. So the other Indians hide him under a large pot, where Thunder and his daughters cannot find him. And to this day Thunder, Lightning, and the Rain-Maidens wander about, appearing now here, now there, looking for the culprit; and they mistake other Indians for him, and then Lightning hurls the axe, and Thunder calls to his daughters, "Pelt him, pelt him! Spare him not, for he deserves it." "

The following Carib legend, explaining the origin of the axe, may be of interest here:

It was in the The heart had but

Very long ago men did not know anything about the axe. time when the heart spoke, and the only word was Se. to say "Se" ("desire"), and man had all he could wish. In those days the Indians wished only what God (Tamusi) willed; but gradually, as time went on, they wished what God did not want them to have, and then there came an end to the language of Se. And God punished them severely; and the punishment was that they had to invent the axe, and since that time they have been obliged to work very hard with it to supply the wants of daily life.

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1. Au Konomeru, nono tekekanie au weianiera.

2. Nono telengane no, au Konomeru.

3. Tonomu malole tekane, Konomeru au weianiera.

1 It is worthy of note that the feather-crown, as drawn by Saka, has very much the appearance of the upper portions of some of the more elaborate rock inscriptions to be found in Guiana. Compare especially with the petroglyph found near the Marlissa rapids in the Berbice River, reproduced on the cover of Timehri, Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana (see the lower figure at the extreme left).

2 Also Kabe-kabe, or Tiabe-tiabe.

F. P. and A. P. Penard, Indiaansche Legenden en verhalen. De Surinamer, 20 December, 1908.

The Aula (or "Word") of anything is its life description, its being. The above Aula is one of a large number communicated by the Kalinia priests or medicine-men (Pujais) to F. P. and A. P. Penard. They will all be published in a work of encyclopædic character on the Kalinias of Surinam. This work is now in manuscript form.

4. W-utolime ero maniali s-akoto janie.

5. Koi omia toko taulo to mame.

6. Kape-kape je maponombo.

7. Erembo au wokasan, au Konomeru.

WORD OF THE THUNDER.

1. I am the Thunder, the terror of the earth reflects my one-ness.

2. The earth I do vibrate, I the Thunder.

3. All flesh fears, that reflects the one-ness of the Thunder.

4. I pass along my field.

5. With swiftness all must move out of the way.

6. The lightning precedes me.

7. The thunder-axe I have made, I the Thunder.

In another Aula, the Okojumu-aula ("Word of the Snake-Spirit"), there is also a reference to the thunder-axe, and we quote here the portion bearing on the subject.

1. Au Pulake-jumu apotu moloman, Au ere-mbo, Au topu tano.

2. Au Puju potelu, konomeru maro kape-kape Au wokosan.

1. I am the force of the spirit of the Pulake,1 the thunder-axe, the stone. 2. I am the force of the firefly, thunder and lightning I have created.

A Carib medicine-man informed us that he was able to read in a stone axe the entire past of an Indian, as if it were a book.

Especially the Negroes regard the thunder-stones with superstitious awe, and attribute to them various wonderful properties. It is believed that the mere possession of these objects prevents sickness and disease, and even the slightest touch may restore an affected part to perfect health. Properly applied, they may be used to cure all kinds of diseases, especially those caused by evil spirits. Small pieces of the stone are broken off, ground into a fine powder, and mixed with legitimate medicines. Sometimes they are placed in drinkingwater; and the water is then considered excellent for persons suffering from convulsions, lameness, and other ailments, but especially is it considered an excellent tonic for building up the system and for developing strength.

A woman told us that she had completely cured herself of rheumatism by bathing every morning at five o'clock in a tub of thunder-stone water. Another woman said that she had cured three of her children of convulsions by means of powder made from a thunder-stone. A man said that he had cured himself of a severe lameness in his back, and congestion of the lungs, by the use of thunder-stone water mixed with some water in which an ass had snorted, and a little sand taken from the spot on which an ass had rolled, and that his back had not

1 Gymnotus electricus Linn.

only regained its original strength, but had become as strong as that of the ass.

Furthermore, the strength of thunder-stone water depends largely upon the color of the thunder-stone, and it is most powerful while it thunders. The darkest stones are of course the most potent; and the more violent the storm, the more efficacious the thunder-stone water. Thus a person who bathes in water containing a black thunder-stone may become so strong that he can kill another man with one blow of his fist; and the most remarkable thing about it is that the body of the person who meets his death in this manner is so heavy, that it requires three times as many men to lift it as would be necessary for an ordinary corpse.

They are potent factors in driving away evil spirits, and give satisfactory protection against "bad things" (takroe sani) of all descriptions. For this purpose they are also worn around the neck, suspended by means of a suitable string or necklace. One of the specimens in the writers' collection has apparently been used in this manner. The specimen is of the notched type; it is not a large one, measuring 72 mm. in length, 69 mm. in width, and 16 mm. in thickness; it weighs 147.5 grams. Near the edge there is a small hole 9 mm. in diameter, intended for the string. The stone is covered with a dark patina, the entire surface being very smooth and highly polished from constant rubbing.

We have heard of a mason who, while working in a cemetery, found a basket containing seven stone axes, where they had probably been placed to prevent some spirit or other from leaving the cemetery to haunt elsewhere.

The so-called "thunder-stone mother" (onweri-ston mama) is conceded to be the most potent of all thunder-stones. A man who occasionally bought specimens for the writers, once told them that a very old woman who lived just outside the city possessed one of these wonderful stones, and kept it in a white bowl filled with water. She would not sell it at any price, because she said her good health and old age were due to drinking this thunder-stone water. He described the stone as a six-pointed star about two inches in diameter. The edges of the triangular (?) rays were, on both sides of the star, as sharp as a knife; it was of very dark color and beautifully polished. We did not put much faith in this account, assuming that it was probably an object of European make. Indians with whom we consulted in regard to stones of this nature had never seen any like it; but some time afterwards we met an old medicine-man who said that he had seen such a stone, but in describing it he said there were only five points instead of six. We immediately took steps to secure the one in the old woman's possession; but unfortunately she had

died in the mean time, and the bowl with its contents had been buried with her "so that her spirit might not return to look for it."

Not only do thunder-stones drive away the bad things, but they attract the good. An acquaintance once saw a man fishing, who used, instead of the usual lead weight or common stone, a thunderstone, which he believed attracted the fish to his line. He would not sell the stone, although he was offered a good price for it.

The scarcity of these objects is accounted for by some who say that a person, having found one of these onweri-ston, cannot find another for a period of seven years. Of course, a number are destroyed in preparing powders for medicines, as we have just mentioned; but another factor in the destruction of these relics is the belief that they contain precious metals or gems, and many are destroyed in the vain attempt to secure the treasure. De Booy found this same notion in the West Indies, and ascribed it to the suspicion the natives have that the white man collects these relics in order to extract from them the precious metals they contain.

1

This is true in Surinam also. The natives cannot understand why the white man, who is not superstitious, will pay out perfectly good money for these stones unless they contain something of value. Indeed, we have been definitely informed that the treasures for which the white man seeks must have their origin in the celestial nature of these objects.

The collector must be constantly on his guard to distinguish between true popular notions, and the ridiculous, valueless statements made by the vendor with the deliberate intention of deceiving the buyer. For example, one morning a man brought us a very big field-stone which he pretended was a real thunder-stone. The deception was obvious. Putting one hand upon it, we said sarcastically, "This stone is warm, and thunder-stones are always cold, are they not?" Without a moment's hesitation the man answered, "That is true, sir, but this is not an ordinary thunder-stone; in fact, it is a so-called 'sun-stone.' You see, I understood that you bought all kinds of stones that fall from the sky, and, although this particular stone was not thrown down by the lightning, nevertheless it fell out of the sun in the sky. On my way over I carelessly carried the stone in the sun, and it just naturally attracted the sun's rays to itself and became warm, as you now perceive."

ARLINGTON, MASS.,

Ост. 16, 1916.

1 Theodoor de Booy, "Certain West Indian Superstitions pertaining to Celts” (JAFL 28: 81).

BANTU TALES.

BY R. H. NASSAU.

THE following tales correspond to the English tales published in Volume 28, pp. 32-36, of this Journal. They are given here in the Bantu dialects as told to the author.

ALPHABET.

The consonants are pronounced as in English, except that g is always hard.

The vowels are pronounced as in the languages of southern Europe:—

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Every syllable is closed with a vowel. The accent is on the penult. When a final vowel is followed by an initial vowel, either the vowels coalesce, or one of them is elided.

In the case of two or more initial consonants, a slight vowel-sound is permitted to precede: e.g., Mpongwe uMpongwe (ng is nasal).

=

HO TIMBAKENI O MAKODO ("LET US GO BACK TO THE PLACE THAT WAS LEFT").1

(Benga Dialect.)

Ba diyakindi bamo babale, mbweyi na balongi. Wa umbâkâ,

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o ivala jamě, mbi dikanakandi na nâvě with you,

I

leave

of far-off to travel; and, in going my, ekamu ulega mwamě mwa sitânye. Tataka mwâ bwam', o

this

barrel my

of sitânye.

Take care it

pěl good, for sake 'amě." (Sitânye ekaně e diyakindi beja ba jakindi o ehe ti.) (Sitânye this it food they ate in land that.)

mine."

was

1 See JAFL 28: 32.

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