323232

PACIFIC ISLANDS MONOGRAPH SERIES
Robert C. Kiste
General editor
Linley Chapman
Manuscript editor
EDITORIAL BOARD
David Hanlon
Renée Heyum
Alan Howard
Brij V. Lal
Norman Meller
Donald Topping
Deborah Waite
Karen A. Watson-Gegeo
The Pacific Islands Monograph Series is a joint effort of the

University of Hawaii Press and the Center for Pacific Islands
Studies, University of Hawaii. The series includes works in the
humanities and social sciences that focus on the insular Pacific.
Pacific Islands Monograph Series, No. 7
Tungaru Traditions
WRITINGS ON THE ATOLL
CULTURE OF THE GILBERT
ISLANDS
ARTHUR FRANCIS GRIMBLE

Edited by H. E. Maude
Center for Pacific Islands Studies

School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies
University of Hawaii
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS • Honolulu
Open Access edition funded by the National
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Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book
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from University of Hawai‘i Press.
© 1989 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Cartography by
Manoa Mapworks
Honolulu, Hawaii
To the I-Kiribati
A treasury of their ancestral lore

to commemorate
the bicentenary of the first sighting of their
capital atoll of Tarawa
by I-Matang
in 1788
Sir Arthur Grimble, 1888–1956. (BBC, London)
vii
Tungaru Traditions
Editor’s Note
From the outset, the purpose of the Pacific Islands Monograph

Series (PIMS) has been to publish scholarly studies in the social
sciences and humanities that focus on the insular Pacific. By
chance and not design, the first six volumes have been studies
in Pacific history. This volume, the seventh, is the first anthro-
pological monograph in the series, and it brings together two
names that are well known to students of the Pacific, Sir Arthur
F. Grimble and Harry E. Maude.
Grimble and Maude have much in common. Both were lit-
erally sons of the British Empire. Grimble was born in the
British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, and Maude was born in
India in the heyday of the British raj. As students, both studied
anthropology at Cambridge University. Their careers in the
British Colonial Service began in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Colony, and both became fluent in the Gilbertese language and
accomplished ethnographers of the culture. Both men left the
colony with reputations of having sincere concern for the
welfare of the Islanders and only after earning its top executive
administrative position, that of Resident Commissioner. As
Maude tells us, their periods of service in the Gilberts over-
lapped for a period of nearly three years between 1929 and
1932.
As Maude also informs us, this monograph completes a work
that Grimble did not complete, and it is Maude’s hope that
it “will serve to establish Grimble’s reputation as the pioneer
ethnographer who discovered and recorded” many of the main
features of Gilbertese society It is clear that Maude has suc-
ceeded in the task he set for himself. The resulting monograph
is a meticulous piece of scholarship and an obvious labor of
love.
Maude tells us about Grimble’s career, but with his typical
self-effacement, he tells us little about himself. While Grimble
had a distinguished career in the Pacific, it is generally agreed
that Maude had a remarkable one. It had three chapters. Maude
and his wife Honor, a Pacific scholar in her own right, first
arrived in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in November
1929. During the years of World War II, Maude had assignments
outside the colony, mainly at the Western Pacific High Com-
mission in Suva, Fiji, but he returned to the Gilberts after the
war and soon became the Resident Commissioner.
Chapter two began when Maude was seconded to the young
and fledgling South Pacific Commission (SPC) to become its
Deputy Secretary-General in November 1948. By early 1949, he
had become the SPC’s first Executive Officer for Social Devel-
opment. In that capacity, he charted many of the SPC’s social
research programs, was involved with community development
and cooperative projects, and launched a substantial effort to
produce literature and visual aids for island schools.
In 1956 Maude resigned from the SPC and phase three of
his life’s work began when he joined Jim Davidson in the De-
partment of History, Research School of Pacific Studies, Aus-
tralian National University (ANU). There, with Davidson and
others, he was instrumental in founding The Journal of Pacific
History, the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, and the Pacific History
Series. In 1970 after a career of over forty years, Maude retired
from ANU.
Retirement provided a release from formal university com-
mitments and greater freedom. As this volume attests, Maude
has remained a very productive scholar. As the general editor
for PIMS, I am very pleased that the Center for Pacific Islands
Studies at the University of Hawaii has the privilege of pub-
lishing this work, which is a tribute to both Grimble and Maude.
The publication of PIMS is subsidized by private funds
raised by the University of Hawaii Foundation. From the outset,
the Foundation’s staff members have shown great interest and
support for the series, and their assistance and that of the Foun-
dation is sincerely appreciated.
ROBERT C. KISTE
Contents
Dedication vi
Editor’s Note x
Illustrations xiv
Figures 14
Photographs 14
Tables 15
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xx
About the Gilbert Islands xxii
A. F. Grimble as an Anthropologist i
The Grimble Papers x
Part 1. Notes on Gilbertese Culture 1

Adoption 3
Agricultural Rituals 7
Ancestor Cult 22
Ancestral Lands 31
Animals 41
Archaeology 43
Birth 48
Body Care and Adornment 52
Canoes and Navigation 57
Conveyance and Inheritance 69
Death 76
Gods 94
History 97
Magic 113
The Maneaba 133
Marriage 150
Medical Practices 154
xii
Contents
Names 161
Relationships 165
Social and Political Organization 173
Sorcery 192
Tinaba and Eiriki 201
Part 2. The Maneaba 221
The Function of the Maneaba in Gilbertese Society 223
Precedence and Privileges of the Clans in the Maneaba 247
Traditional Origins of the Maneaba 261
The Clan and the Totem 269
Part 3. Essays on Mythology, History, and Dancing 287
The Historical Content of Gilbertese Mythology 289
A Genealogical Approach to Gilbertese History 303
A History of Abemama, by Airam Teeko 334
A Discourse on Gilbertese Dancing 355
Abbreviations 377
Notes 378
Glossary 405
Bibliography 411
About the Editor 441
xiii
Illustrations
FIGURES
1. The Gilbert Islands 23
2. Marakei 4
3. Descendants of Uakeia who made tataro to
Kaburoronteun 29
4. Banaba 47
5. The descent of a bangabanga at Teba 75
6. Genealogy of the utu using burial in the sitting
position 84
7. Butaritari and Makin 102
8. Descendants of Tekewekewe 109
9. Generations from the Beruan conquest of Marakei 109
10. Positions of participating boti in a Tabiang-type
maneaba food distribution ceremony 137
11. Divisions of the ancient maneaba of Butaritari and
Makin 139
12. Inheritance of chiefship on Banaba 183
13. Plan of the Maungatabu-style maneaba 234
14. Plan of the Tabontebike-style maneaba 235
15. Plan of boti divisions in the maneaba of Butaritari
and Makin 236
The Pacific Islands 442
PHOTOGRAPHS
Sir Arthur Grimble 7
Marakei Atoll 5
A sheaf of Grimble’s original field notes 13
xiv
Illustrations
Grimble with his future editor 16

Carrying home the pandanus harvest 20
A ceremonial boua 23
The terrace of Aon Neina 44
Mother and child 49
A Tabiteuean baby 52
A girl from Beru, 1841 54
A 100-foot baurua under construction at Tabiteuea in
1939 63
Modem Tabiteuean baurua, showing outrigger 64
Two canoes in the Beru lagoon, 1931 67
HMS Royalist 111
A war party on Tabiteuea, 1897 118
Woman wearing the traditional short skirt 125
Married woman’s dress when walking abroad, Beru 126
The Maungatabu maneaba at Manriki on Nikunau 146
A nuclear family, Nikunau, 1851 151
A landed proprietor (inaomata), Tabiteuea, 1841 174
An Unimane, the head of a boti, Beru, 1931 175
A kainga ‘clan hamlet situated on its ancestral land’,
1865 178
A modern village on Makin, about 1931 179
Warriors (tani-buaka), Tabiteuea, 1841 190
The maneaba at Utiroa, Tabiteuea, 1841 223
The interior of the maneaba at Utiroa 224
A boti Elder (Unimane) dressed for a maneaba
ceremonial 231
The Tabontebike maneaba, Nukantewa, Beru 266
The high chief’s village at Binoinano, Abemama, 1897 336
Tem Bauro and his sisters, 1897 338
Te tirere ‘the stick dance’ 359
The traditional ruoia 364
A modern ruoia 365
Te rorobuaka ‘a young man’ in traditional dance
dress 371
Te tei aine ‘a young woman’ wearing the traditional
dance costume 372
TABLES
1. Gilbertese place names compared with those in the
East Indies 35
xv
Illustrations
2. Sea-marks and sailing directions 58

3. Genealogy of the early high chiefs of Tarawa 98
4. Lands taken by the Beru conquerors on Marakei 108
5. The Gilbertese clans 257
6. Totems associated with Gilbertese clans 270
7. Genealogy 1: Generations from the contemporaries of
Kaitu and Uakeia 309
8. Genealogy 2: The Beruan line 315
9. The Samoan invaders 332
xvi
Preface
If one draws a circle around the island world of the Pacific, at its
centre will be found the perfect models of the South Sea Islands
of romance: a necklace of sixteen low coral atolls straddling the
equator and almost touching the 180th meridian.
These are the Gilberts; where Melville found his Mardi and
Stackpole his exemplar of the Blue Lagoon. Lost in an immensity
of ocean they are blessed with a superb climate, pleasantly warm
without humidity, tempered by the constant bracing trade winds;
and inhabited by the friendly and lovable Micronesian people….
(Maude, in Sabatier 1977, v)
So I thought when for twenty years from 1929 to 1949 they

were my home, and so I remember them today, when thirty
years later I find myself still engaged in Gilbertese studies; for,
once bound in a net of affectionate remembrances to the place
and the people, there is no escape.
The islands were, and still are, on the route to nowhere
and as their remoteness suggests they were the last to be dis-
covered by Europeans, if we disregard some contested and soon
forgotten sightings by off-course Spanish galleons. There were
no resources to attract European residents, except a few beach-
combers seeking harbourage, traders after coconut oil, and mis-
sionaries in hope of converts.
Would-be visitors were discouraged by the absence of
shipping calls, other than occasional inter-island oil traders or
whalers seeking refreshment. Those with sufficient aptitude to
leave records of scientific value about the Islanders may be
counted on the fingers: Wilkes (1845), Hale (1846), Pierson
(1855), Gulick (1861/1943), Finsch (1893) and Krämer (1906).
These, with Parkinson (1889), a few missionary letters and
journals, and an occasional remark in a naval captain’s report,
or by the rare perceptive enquirer, are all the contemporaneous
xvii
Preface
written evidence available on the indigenous Gilbertese culture

before it underwent the changes that had their origins in the
last two decades of the nineteenth century.
Not surprisingly, these documentary sources seldom, if ever,
speak of culture change, for the beachcombers who constituted
the vanguard of European intrusion were no advocates of
change in any form, and the traders who followed were con-
cerned only with modifying a few economic procedures and cre-
ating demand for a limited range of exotic commodities.
The real catalytic agents were the missions and the gov-
ernment; but the former did not have much influence on cus-
tomary procedures on most islands until the 1880s, and the
latter did not begin to influence them, except in a few instances,
until the 1900s.
As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote on his sojourn on Butar-
itari and Abemama in 1889:
In the last decade many changes have crept in; women no longer
go unclothed till marriage; the widow no longer sleeps at night
and goes abroad by day with the skull of her dead husband; and,
fire-arms being introduced, the spear and the shark-tooth sword
are sold for curiosities. Ten years ago all these things and prac-
tices were to be seen in use; yet ten years more, and the old so-
ciety will have entirely vanished. (1900)
Stevenson wrote with discernment, but of two islands only;

there were others where the indigenous society was still func-
tioning virtually unchanged a decade later.
Nevertheless, it seemed that all we should ever know of the
pre-contact Gilbertese way of life would be unrelated odds and
ends, but for the work of Arthur Francis Grimble. Partly by his
successful use of the ethnohistorical technique of upstreaming,
Grimble recovered for the modern Gilbertese, as well as for the
rest of us, the past of their atoll society as it functioned before
the changes introduced by Europeans. He was just in time,
for another decade would have seen the death of the last of
his aged informants, and any reconstruction would necessarily
have been based on less detailed and more inaccurate hearsay
evidence.
Through what must surely have been the intervention of Clio
herself, Grimble’s manuscript field notes and unpublished ar-
ticles have been preserved from almost certain oblivion and are
at last being published.
xviii
Preface
In addition, Grimble wrote a basic study, “From Birth to

Death in the Gilbert Islands,” five articles on particular themes
in anthropological journals, and a number of sketches for the
Listener and other periodicals which formed the basis for his
main literary books on the Gilbertese, We Chose the Islands and
Return to the Islands. A complete list of his published works
is given in the Bibliography, and the first paper in particular
is essential reading for students of Gilbertese social organi-
zation, either as it first appeared in the Journal of the Royal An-
thropological Institute during 1921, or condensed in Rosemary
Grimble’s edited volume (1972).
xix
Acknowledgments
My thanks are due, first and foremost, to the late Sir Arthur
Grimble, the author of this work, who as Resident Commis-
sioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony enthused me with
his own love of Gilbertese studies during the nearly three years
from 1929 to 1932 that I served on his administrative staff.
The Gilbertese elders with firsthand knowledge of the pre-
colonial indigenous culture had by then almost all departed to
their ancestral lands in the west and I gained more information
on its nature from Sir Arthur’s field notes, which he generously
gave me to study, than I ever did from my own fieldwork.
Realizing the unique value of the notes I looked forward
keenly to their publication for the benefit of other students, and
increasingly of the Gilbertese themselves, who are in danger of
losing their cultural heritage. Little did I suspect that owing to
his other preoccupations and finally his death in 1956 the task
of editing them would eventually fall to me, a congenial task
that I owe to the kind permission of Lady Grimble, the Olivia of
Sir Arthur’s literary works.
My indebtedness to the Grimble family culminated in the
ready assistance given by Sir Arthur’s daughter Rosemary
Seligman, a well-known writer and illustrator in her own right,
who encouraged me to persevere with sorting and transcribing
the rather daunting piles of handwritten and typescript pages
of many shapes and sizes which arrived from England, and sent
me photocopies of any missing items which her father had given
her.
For the information on which the biographical sketch of Sir
Arthur Grimble is largely based I am indebted to Barrie Mac-
donald, author of the standard history of the Gilbert and Ellice
Islands, Cinderellas of the Empire. With characteristic gen-
erosity Macdonald sent me copies of the relevant notes which
he had made on Grimble when working in the Western Pacific
xx
Acknowledgments
High Commission Archives, as well as the text of Grimble’s

memorandum which I have titled “A Discourse on Gilbertese
Dancing” and reproduced in Part 3.
In the detail of editing my special thanks are due to the
expert collaboration of Reid Cowell, the author of two books on
the Gilbertese language, who provided felicitous English ver-
sions of some passages left untranslated by Sir Arthur, as well
as translating the whole of Airam Teeko’s invaluable history of
Abemama.
As with my own books my wife, Honor, worked untiringly to
produce an ordered text out of initial chaos, reading, correcting,
and calling over the various drafts until they met her exacting
standards.
Lastly my thanks go to Margaret Bacon who produced the
final typescript with professional ease on her awesome word
processor, unfazed by so much of the text being in an unintelli-
gible language.
xxi
About the Gilbert Islands
From 1892 the Gilbert Islands formed part of the Gilbert and
Ellice Islands Protectorate (of Great Britain), which became the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1917. In 1979 it became
the independent Republic of Kiribati, without the Ellice Islands,
which had become the Dominion of Tuvalu the previous year.
The Republic of Kiribati now consists of the sixteen Gilbert Is-
lands, Banaba, the eight Phoenix Islands, and eight of the ten
Line Islands, with a total land area of 690 square kilometres,
spread over an ocean area of a third to a half-million square kilo-
metres. Of the total of thirty-three islands, twenty are inhabited
by Gilbertese, and thirteen are at present uninhabited or only
temporarily occupied. In mid-1984 the total population was esti-
mated at 61,400, of whom approximately 90 per cent live in the
Gilbert Islands, and more than 30 per cent on Tarawa.
The Gilbertese formerly called themselves I-Tungaru but are
now usually known as I-Kiribati (Kiribati being a transliteration
of Gilbert).
PREFIXES
Nei is the Gilbertese prefix for females and Ten, or its euphonic
variations Tem or Teng (Te in the northern Gilberts and Na,
Nam, Nan, or Nang on Butaritari and Makin) for males.
CLANS AND ANCESTOR-SPIRITS

A detailed listing of the Gilbertese clans and associated gods,
ancestors, totems, and crests is given in Table 5. Other spirits
or ancestor figures may be traced through the index.
Figure 1. The Gilbert Islands
xxiii
A. F. Grimble as an
Anthropologist
H. E. MAUDE
Arthur Francis Grimble was born in Hong Kong on 11 June

1888, the son of Frank Grimble of Theydon Bois in Essex, a
partner in the London firm of Caird and Rayner, manufacturers
of marine engines and admiralty contractors, who had spent
much of his life in the Far East. In 1898 Arthur was sent to
Chigwell School in Essex and in 1907 became an undergraduate
at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he spent three years
and read law for his degree. 1
His academic achievements were undistinguished and at
college he was best known as a littérateur—a friend of A. C.
Benson and Robert Keable—becoming president of the Pepysian
Literary Club, a contributor on literary subjects to the contem-
porary reviews, and a poet with two works selected for publi-
cation in an anthology of Cambridge poetry. 2
Like many upper middle class Oxbridge graduates of the
Edwardian era, he was then sent to the Continent to perfect
his French and German, and hopefully to decide on a future
career. He had already spent his college vacations during 1908
and 1909 on the Continent, and these visits were followed by a
further two years in France and fifteen months in Germany, as a
result of which, as he wrote to the Colonial Office, he was “able
to speak, read and write French and German as easily as En-
glish.” 3 He had, in fact, a natural flair for languages which was
to prove a major asset in later years.
At Cambridge Grimble had met the anthropologist W. H. R.
Rivers, author of many works on Melanesia and then beginning
research on his best-known book, The History of Melanesian
Society. It was Rivers who turned his interests towards ethno-
graphic research in general and the Pacific Islands in particular
as a suitable locale for field studies; and it was Rivers who later
directed his studies in Pacific anthropology with reading lists,
tutorials, and expert advice. 4
1
Tungaru Traditions
As a result Grimble took the unprecedented step of applying

to the Colonial Office for one of the newly established cadet-
ships in the Western Pacific High Commission, which were in-
tended to provide an administrative staff for the protectorates
of the British Solomon Islands and the Gilbert and Ellice Is-
lands. 5 One cadet had already been appointed to the Solomons,
though not at his own request, and another transferred from
Fiji, but Grimble was the first to apply for such a post.
In the event he was not sent to the Solomons as expected,
but became the first cadet to work in the smaller Gilbert and
Ellice Islands service, where he arrived at protectorate head-
quarters on Ocean Island (Banaba) in March 1914. Here the
Resident Commissioner, E. C. Eliot, who had only recently come
himself, kept him in his office, ostensibly for training, for a year
and a half. This enabled Grimble to acquire a working profi-
ciency in Gilbertese and gain some knowledge of the local Ba-
naban culture, which in some respects deviated markedly from
the Gilbertese norm.
From the middle of 1916 until early in 1926, Grimble was
a District Officer in the Gilberts, initially at Tarawa, then at
Abemama and Beru, and later he was appointed the first Native
Lands Commissioner and lived on Makin, Butaritari, Marakei,
Abaiang, and again on Tarawa. Allowing for four periods
amounting to fourteen months as Acting Resident Commis-
sioner on Ocean Island and twenty-two months spent on leave,
his total residence in the Gilbert Islands was approximately six
and a half years.
When he left for England on leave in July 1920 it was with
his wife, Olivia, and four daughters, and as living conditions in
the Gilbert Islands precluded their return he had to go back
alone. 6 During the four years which followed, from 1922 to
1925, Grimble may be said to have spent his entire spare time
on ethnographic research, for he was lonely and for much of the
period ill with amoebic dysentery and at times colitis. Talking
of his period as Lands Commissioner, he told me that it was
only his complete absorption in the Gilbertese life surrounding
him and the kindness of his many Gilbertese friends, particu-
larly among the Old Men, that kept him going.
Marakei, a circular garland of coconut palms and coral sand
set around a sapphire lagoon, with a narrow boat passage to
connect its calm waters with the turbulent blue ocean, was
where Grimble spent his happiest months, with only a sor-
cerer’s spell to mar his halcyon stay. Here in 1922 he did his
finest fieldwork, helped by a co-operative and knowledgeable
2
A. F. Grimble as an Anthropologist
group of elders and the tacit support of his friend, the Roman
Catholic Father Vocat, who ruled the Islanders with wisdom and
benevolence.
It was unfortunate that the sorcerer, unsure of the efficacy
of his spells on a European, had reinforced them by adulterating
his coconut toddy with a liberal infusion of the cantharides
beetle that in small doses is an aphrodisiac but in large amounts
raises great blisters on the bladder causing, as in his case, days
and nights of excruciating pain. Through all this Grimble had
to perform his duties as though nothing was the matter, for any
sign of weakness would infallibly have been put down to the
power of magic, in this case the dreaded te wawi. 7
Before we can appraise the wealth of primary material in the
Grimble Papers and evaluate its reliability it is essential to know
something of Grimble himself, his motivations and competence
as an anthropologist, and his attitude towards and knowledge
of the Gilbertese people. As I served under him for three years,
several months being spent with him under the same roof, and
we had the additional bond of coming from the same university,
where I had obtained an honours degree in the discipline in
which he was then producing a thesis, I had a unique opportu-
nity to assess his scholarly calibre.
As an administrator Grimble was no innovator; he had
grown to maturity in the Edwardian age when it was customary
for the middle class of England to send their sons out to govern
the empire, and Grimble did not question our right to admin-
ister the Gilbertese: of course for their own good. But where
his predecessors had been bureaucratic transients or autocrats
like Telfer Campbell, Grimble became a benevolent partriarch.
There was never any question in his mind, however, that he, and
not the Gilbertese, knew what was best for them. “The Bana-
bans, like the Gilbertese,” he wrote officially in 1920, “demand
the paternal form of administration if anything is to be made of
them.” 8
The Gilbertese of his day, Grimble felt, were “children, and
at bottom very well-disposed children”; but while in the
northern islands years of government tutelage had inculcated
“discipline and obedience,” in the south the Islanders had been
left largely in the hands of the Protestant mission, resulting in
“the disappearance of the native gentleman with his primitive
yet perfectly clear cut standards of conduct” and the “birth of
the native snob; a being ashamed of his ancestry, ashamed of his
history, ashamed of his legends, ashamed practically of every-
3
Tungaru Traditions
Figure 2. Marakei
thing that ever happened to his race outside the chapel and the
class-room. … The fine courtesy and respect paid in pagan days
by young to old are dead with disuse.” 9
Here we have in essence why Grimble devoted himself so
assiduously to the ancestry, history, legends, and pre-contact
culture of the Gilbertese before it was lost forever; and why
he concentrated his researches on the northern islands. As he
4
Marakei Atoll, where Grimble found his best informants. (Whincup

1979, 22–23)
wrote to the Resident Commissioner, “the interests and the af-

fections which bind me to the Northern and Central Gilberts are
very much stronger than they could ever be in the south.” 10
Grimble had the polite and polished manners of an upper
class continental-bred European and he was delighted to dis-
cover the same sense of punctilio, the same emphasis on the
importance of traditional values and mores, in the pagan old
men and old women of the northern islands. Here on each
atoll he found an elite circle every one of whose members had
taken an active part in ceremonies and rituals now discarded
and ridiculed by the new generation of Christians as bain te ro
‘things of darkness’. They had been schooled in their youth by
their parents and grandparents until they were letter-perfect in
the traditions of their kainga and utu, and their main diversion
in their old age was to sit in their boti in the maneaba discussing
in intricate detail the niceties of immemorial usage.
This was Grimble’s Elysium. He sat hour after hour, pen
and paper in hand, the courteous disciple and rapporteur, ever
ready to learn and, by discreet questioning in the classical
Gilbertese of which he was by now a master, to ensure that what
he had recorded met with the critical approval of the elders. In
5
Tungaru Traditions
this way he was able to provide a unique picture, accurate and

detailed, of the Gilbertese way of life before it had been signifi-
cantly changed by contact with European innovators.
Grimble had arrived in the Gilberts at a propitious time,
when there were still a few elders alive who possessed this
first-hand knowledge and who had been saddened and humil-
iated by the lack of interest taken by the younger men and
women in their expertise. Small wonder then that their self-
esteem, and no less their prestige on their own islands, was
immeasurably raised when one of their fair-skinned race from
the land of Matang, which their legends spoke so much about,
valued and was eager to acquire the traditional wisdom that had
been spurned by their own kinsfolk. And so they told him gladly,
sometimes in the maneaba with their colleagues, but more often
closeted with him alone in his room, all that they knew of the
traditional lore of the Gilbertese people.
The Native Lands Commission which Grimble was then di-
recting was in essence an exercise in applied anthropology.
The Commissioners were the Old Men elected by their col-
leagues in the village maneaba, the land disputes were adjudi-
cated by them in strict conformity with immemorial customary
law, and the proceedings were conducted entirely in Gilbertese.
From first to last the commission was Grimble’s creation. He
had recommended its establishment in a series of reports from
1916 onwards; he had drafted the enabling legislation; devised
its working procedures; and mastered the intricacies of land
custom until he knew more about the subject than any Islander.
Once he had started work on the enormous number of disputes
which had accumulated since the establishment of the protec-
torate in 1892 (usually estimated at about 80,000) his work in
conducting the commission’s lands settlement on each island
was mainly to see that the decisions were arrived at after ad-
equate investigation, were unbiased, and were consistent with
both island custom and other decisions in similar cases.
It was congenial work and satisfying in that it was so clearly
something that the Gilbertese, and particularly the elders who
possessed most of the land, needed and appreciated. But it was
not long before he was alarmed to learn that the Pacific Science
Congress of 1923 had recommended that the Micronesian
region should be allocated to Japanese and American anthro-
pologists as a research field; in October 1924 he wrote to the
Resident Commissioner explaining that for the last eight years
he had been “engaged in an intensive survey of the Gilbertese
area,” that he hoped to have his work published by an English
6
university press, and that in the meantime his field notes were
“so complete and so classified that should an accident overtake
me they would be of hardly less value to anthropologists than
the completed work.” 11
His recommendation that to discourage intruders he should
be appointed to an honorary post of Government Ethnologist
did not, however, meet with Colonial Office approval and it was
not long before he was feeling that his talents were deserving
of a wider field of service and that London had forgotten him
in his extreme isolation when applications for promotion were
being considered. The possibility of an academic position was
beginning to loom as an enticing alternative, and the knowledge
that they could be losing him might well spur the Colonial Office
to offer him some position more commensurate with his abil-
ities.
When some members of the Sydney University senate urged
him to apply for the newly established chair of anthropology
during his vacation leave in 1925, he agreed and informed the
High Commissioner accordingly. Sir Eyre Hutson replied equiv-
ocally, “will regret loss but personally will be glad to learn of
success.” In the event the chair was given to the professionally
far better qualified A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. 12
The 1923 recommendation of the Pacific Science Congress
was not followed up until 1931, when an American anthro-
pologist wrote that he had been appointed by the Bernice P.
Bishop Museum of Honolulu to make a complete survey of the
Gilberts in six months and was looking forward to “an anthro-
pological scoop.” By this time Grimble was himself the Resident
Commissioner, and after some correspondence the scheme was
abandoned owing to the infrequency of inter-island shipping
communication, as was a second attempt to send Ian Hogbin
from Sydney
Until 1925 Grimble had been in touch only with Cambridge
anthropologists, but events had made him aware that he could
not expect to pre-empt even his remote field in the Gilberts for
long, or to compete against professionals with research doc-
torates in the discipline, unless he was better qualified and his
work better known.
He was now a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Anthro-
pological Institute and, Rivers having died, was being helped
by the veteran Cambridge ethnologist, A. C. Haddon. Grimble’s
new plan was to use his field notes as source material for a de-
finitive study of pre-European contact Gilbertese culture that
would be published in book form. Four superb chapters on the
7
Tungaru Traditions
Gilbertese maneaba were completed for this work, followed by

a draft of two introductory chapters on the reconstruction of
Gilbertese pre-contact history from oral tradition; this was pre-
sumably to form part of a second volume of what was clearly to
be a very comprehensive magnum opus.
In 1931 the Journal of the Polynesian Society was sent an ar-
ticle on “Gilbertese Astronomy and Astronomical Observances”
and the editor, Johannes Andersen, asked for more. In reply
Grimble wrote that “the material which I have collected has
been recognized by Haddon and the late Dr. W. H. R. Rivers as
quite extraordinarily important, and I am bent upon seeing the
whole of it in print within the next 18 months, for the particular
reason that it will form my thesis for the degree of Sc.D., Cam-
bridge.” In return for a promise to ensure early publication, he
sent Andersen all but the final chapter of a monograph entitled
“The Migrations of a Pandanus People.” Andersen commenced
publication in serial form in The Journal of the Polynesian So-
ciety and was promised further “occasional papers on Food-
stuffs and Foodgetting, Children’s Games and the like.” 13
In 1926 Grimble had been appointed Resident Commis-
sioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, but his health
deteriorated further and he continued to press for transfer to
“a position in which my expert knowledge of Law, European
languages and literatures, Anthropology, Men and international
manners may not be entirely wasted,” 14 pointing out later that
his “conditions of service for almost 16 years in this Colony have
been almost tantamount to exile. Time passed with my family
during the last 10 years is 9 months. Relief is urgently needed.”
15
Rather to his surprise, for he had written the Colonial Office

off, declaring in a speech that “the Colonial Service is like a
sluggish pond, where only the scum rise to the surface,” he was
promoted to be administrator of St. Vincent in August 1932 and
ultimately ended a distinguished administrative career as a gov-
ernor in the West Indies. The last part of his monograph was
consequently delayed and when it was finally sent to the Poly-
nesian Society the fact that excerpts from it had by then been
published in a popular work prevented the appearance of what
would have been a valuable study for Gilbertese scholars.
With his ever-increasing burden of official duties, Grimble’s
plans for his major work on the Gilbertese were inevitably post-
poned until his retirement. But when that day arrived he de-
cided to try his hand first at literary writing, which had been
the main interest of his undergraduate days and for which the
8
best of his official correspondence shows the talent had never

left him. As a result he soon found himself acclaimed throughout
Britain as a writer and broadcaster of radio scripts, all with the
Gilbert Islands as their motif, which were later to be collected
into two international best sellers: We Chose the Islands (1952a,
1952i) and Return to the Islands (1957a, 1957b). These rank
among the classic literary works on the South Seas and convey
to perfection the atmosphere of the coral atolls which is their
locale, but they are hazardous to use as ethnographic source
material, despite being based on fact, for the factual content is
subordinated to literary effect.
It is my hope that this book will serve to establish Grimble’s
reputation as the pioneer ethnographer who discovered and
recorded the main features of Gilbertese social organization. If
one works through the documentary sources from Hale’s initial
researches in 1841, it becomes apparent that before Grimble
virtually nothing was known about the Islanders apart from
their language and a few museum studies on their material
culture. It would not be too much to say that our first knowl-
edge of almost every other aspect of their culture is ultimately
traceable to Grimble. The fact that the gist of what he recorded
still stands as valid today as when he first penned it is a re-
markable tribute to the scrupulous care with which he con-
ducted his field research over sixty years ago.
9
The Grimble Papers
H. E. MAUDE
What have come to be known as the Grimble Papers comprise

the ethnographic field notes and other unpublished material on
the anthropology of the Micronesian people of the Gilbert Is-
lands (including Banaba). This information was recorded be-
tween the years 1916 and 1926 by Arthur Grimble when he
lived on the atolls of Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang,
Tarawa, Abemama, and Beru as District Officer or Native Lands
Commissioner. At the urging of W. H. R. Rivers, his anthropo-
logical mentor, Grimble was originally motivated to record in-
formation on the Gilbertese way of life before it had undergone
significant change. Rivers had himself collected similar data
from many Melanesian communities and was anxious to obtain
comparable material from other Pacific areas where investiga-
tions had not yet been undertaken.
Becoming increasingly interested in ethnographic work,
with the death of Rivers, Grimble decided to use his by now
extensive data to prepare a definitive book on the Gilbertese
people. He had finished six chapters for it, when he invited
my wife and me to stay at the residency with him for about
nine months during 1931 and 1932, while I was working on the
first census of the colony, and later on the lands settlement of
Banaba. During our visit he asked us to put his notes into some
sort of order; this we did, arranging, numbering, and listing
them.
In August 1932 Grimble left the Gilberts and from that day
until his death in 1956 he was occupied with other activities.
Soon after hearing of his death, I wrote to Lady Grimble and his
publisher, John Murray, suggesting that his field notes and other
manuscript material might be sent to me for publication under
his name, since I was the only survivor of those who had known
and worked with him in the Gilberts and I had been actively en-
gaged in Pacific studies ever since. They readily agreed, and the
x
The Grimble Papers
papers, which had been lying in a box in John Murray’s office,

were sent to Canberra through the good offices of the High
Commissioner for Australia in London. On arrival they proved
to be the identical manuscripts that my wife and I had last seen
in 1932.
The news of the existence and availability of the Grimble
Papers soon spread among the post-war generation of anthro-
pologists engaged on Gilbertese studies, and eight of them
came to Australia to work on them: six from the United States,
and one each from France and Germany. Most of them stayed
for several weeks, and all were enthusiastic about their value.
Copies of the Gilbertese and English versions of the extensive
collection of myths, legends, and oral traditions, including the
creation stories, were listed by titles and subject and issued by
the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau for the use of specialists who
needed to examine them over longer periods. 1 These are being
published separately for the Gilbertese of today, who are avid
for stories of their ancestors, as well as for others with an in-
terest in oral literature.
The remainder of the Grimble Papers have now been edited
and annotated. In preparing them for publication, I have some-
times had to change Grimble’s wording in the field notes, but
not in the articles. These changes have been made only to
clarify what was obscure and not to change his meaning.
(Grimble himself would have polished the notes before publi-
cation.) I have left untouched certain phrases or words that may
be considered archaic in modern usage, for example, the occa-
sional use of the word pedigree instead of genealogy. Where
Gilbertese names and phrases have been stylized in a particular
form, for example, Karongoa n Uea instead of Karongoan Uea,
Nareau for Na Areau, Naubwebwe for Na Ubwebwe or Noub-
webwe, I have followed modern usage. When in doubt I have
consulted Sabatier’s standard dictionary (1971).
The papers presented here fall naturally into three parts,
which have been retained for ease of reference:
Part 1 consists of the field notes, which have been classified
under twenty-two subject headings from Adoption to Tinaba.
Grimble originally transcribed them in English from the
Gilbertese narrative account given by his informants and then
checked them by questioning to ensure accuracy. Grimble
himself was completely bilingual in the classical Gilbertese
spoken by the Unimane and Unaine who gave him the material.
These informants were all mature people, and some of them al-
ready Unimane or Unaine in the latter part of the nineteenth
xi
The Grimble Papers
century, when they underwent the educational processes and

initiation procedures, participated in, or at least witnessed, the
community rituals and ceremonies, and generally took their
part in the life of their kindred, maneaba, and island. At that
time the social organization and way of life in the majority of the
northern Gilbert Islands were functioning relatively unimpaired
by European-induced culture change.
The four chapters on the maneaba that make up Part 2
were also written in the field and checked where necessary
from recognized authorities on maneaba construction, cere-
monial, and boti rights. Prepared by Grimble as part of his in-
tended doctoral thesis, they—particularly Chapter 1—represent
his finest anthropological writing. His reconstruction of possible
historical changes in institutions, and their causation—for ex-
ample, the effect of supposed matrilineal elements on boti orga-
nization—are however conjectural and subject to reassessment
in the light of later research. Since Grimble did not integrate
them with these essays, the notes on the maneaba that appear
in Part 1 have been kept separate here.
Part 3 contains two previously unpublished papers on oral
history. From internal evidence it would appear that they were
written after the maneaba chapters and probably before
Grimble began his monograph, “The Migrations of a Pandanus
People,” for the Polynesian Society. 2 The essays are in draft
form and intrinsically of a more controversial nature, being con-
cerned with eliciting the historical content in the Gilbertese
karaki n ikawai ‘traditional oral narratives’ he had gathered
over the years, and using it to construct a credible outline of
pre-contact history. Though ethnohistorians of today may have
reached some different conclusions, there is no question that
Grimble has in these two essays given a basic framework on
which they can build with confidence, even if parts of that
framework may be demolished in the process.
To these chapters has been added a valuable article by
Airam Teeko on the history of Abemama, which was written in
Gilbertese in a notebook acquired by Grimble when District Of-
ficer on Abemama, probably about 1916. Grimble seems never
to have referred to this work by a member of the Abemaman
royal family, who was regarded in his time as the leading au-
thority on the customs and traditions of his island, despite the
fact that it contains a wealth of information, for example on
the lodges of Auatabu and Teabike, which cannot be found else-
where.
xii
The Grimble Papers
A sheaf of Grimble’s original field notes, now preserved

in the archives of the University of Adelaide. (Maude
photo)
As a finale I have chosen an official letter on Gilbertese

dancing, written by Grimble in 1919 as a riposte to charges of
immorality made by the local representative of the London Mis-
sionary Society, the Reverend W. E. Goward. This was not part of
xiii
The Grimble Papers
the Grimble Papers but is, in my submission, worthy of preser-

vation, since it contains the best description of Gilbertese dance
known. At the same time it is a literary gem which foreshadows
the talent that was to culminate over thirty years later in We
Chose the Islands.
Since Grimble was a disciple of Rivers, one is not surprised
at his interest in tracing and using historical reconstruction to
account for alleged matrilineal elements in the predominately
patrilineal Gilbertese social organization, or his emphasis on
kinship rights and obligations. I remember him quoting in con-
versation from works by Rivers, Haddon, Elliot Smith, and
Perry, and he thought highly of Percy Smith’s Hawaiki, which he
lent me to read during my stay at the residency.
Though Gimble has been called the last of the old school of
Pacific diffusionists, the essays reproduced here show him to be
more akin to the ethnohistorians of today, who may be said to
date from the ethnohistorical symposium at the Pacific Science
Congress at Honolulu in 1961. Pre-contact history to him had to
be rigorously based on the evidence of oral tradition and could
not be safely extended further by hypothetical diffusions of cul-
tural traits from Egypt or anywhere else.
That Grimble’s terminology differs from that in use by
anthropologists today is to be expected—he had, for instance,
never heard of ramages, and his use of the term patrilineal is
apparently not always correct by modern usage—but as Ward
Goodenough stated, in acknowledging Grimble as an “out-
standing reporter” of Gilbertese custom, he used the best labels
available in the light of existing concepts at the time. 3
Apart from these two minor points, the Grimble Papers are
of even greater importance today than when they were first
written. Grimble’s departure from the Gilberts coincided with
the decline of diffusion theories and culture historicism and
the advent of an ahistorical period dominated by Malinowski
and the functionalists. The period since World War II has seen
the growth of acculturation studies and a renewed interest in
culture history.
Early studies of island societies by beachcombers, mission-
aries, and newly literate Islanders are today of especial value
for anthropologists as well as historians. On many aspects of
life, as Lowie pointed out, “missionaries, fur traders, and others
whose calling enforces long residence are often superior even
to modern specialists,” and the best results of all have been ob-
tained “when a talent for observation accompanies both pro-
tracted residence and contact with professional ethnography.” 4
xiv
The Grimble Papers
This is the exact case of Grimble, whose papers provide

an excellent baseline account of a fundamentally pre-contact
culture, from which the direction and extent of acculturation
may be assessed. The necessity for studies which refer to
“change” but give no indication of the preceding state from
which the change has taken place is obviated.
Although some excellent studies of modern Gilbertese so-
ciety have been written since World War II, the lack of
knowledge of some of the basic traits of the culture is exem-
plified by recent assertions on the alleged descent group oo, or
oi, now apparently an accepted tenet reproduced in textbooks
for students dealing with Pacific social structure, despite the
demurs of regional specialists. 5
Publication of the Grimble Papers should enable not only the
clearing up of past misconceptions but also the production of
a historical ethnography of the Gilbertese people. As Carmack
has shown, such works have already appeared on North
American Indian tribes, African societies, and Mesoamerican
cultures. The time is now opportune for a pioneer recon-
struction of the pre-contact past of a Pacific people. 6
However, one of my main considerations in preparing these
ethnographic manuscripts for publication is their importance
for the cultural renaissance of the Gilbertese themselves.
During a recent visit to Kiribati I was struck by the ignorance
concerning their former way of life shown by the modern elite
whom I met on Tarawa; yet at the same time I was heartened
by their intense interest in everything connected with their
culture, and particularly their past. Their fathers spurned the
wisdom of the unimane when it was available, for in the early
days of acculturation only European-derived knowledge seemed
worth acquiring. Now that the traditional sources of information
are no longer available a new generation—many of them high
school or university graduates—is realizing that they are be-
coming a rootless people without that pride in their own society,
its ethos and values, which characterizes, for example, the
Samoans and the Tongans. The Government recognizes the
danger and is endeavouring to devise a programme of
Gilbertese studies for use in schools; but there is a lack of
suitable material to form a basis for preparing courses on the
Gilbertese way of life (te katei ni Kiri bati).
Perhaps the most important benefit of all to accrue from
the publication of the Grimble Papers may prove to be the
restoration to the Gilbertese today of a valuable part of the in-
xv
The Grimble Papers
Grimble with his editors, H. E. Maude and Honor Maude, at the resi-
dency, Banaba, 1930. (Maude collection)
formation on how their culture used to function as an entity. It

is information which they are now seeking and which has, as it
were providentially, been kept in trust for them all these years.
xvi
PART 1
Notes on Gilbertese Culture
Adoption
ADOPTION AS NATI OR TIBU

If adopting a member of his own utu, a Gilbertese would never
adopt as his tibu ‘grandson or granddaughter’ a person who did
not stand to him already in that relation according to the classi-
ficatory principle. Likewise in adopting a nati ‘son or daughter’,
the person adopted must belong to the class to which he would
ordinarily apply the term nati.
SUCCESSIVE ADOPTIONS AS TIBU

If a man adopted another as his tibu it was the frequent custom
for his son later on to adopt as tibu the son of the person first
adopted. The process might be repeated through three or four
or more generations. For example:
The effect of such successive renewals of the adoptive contract

is evident. When Turekau was adopted by Teiaokiri he became
as the own brother of Kiboboua, the grandson of Teiaokiri. Had
3
Tungaru Traditions
no further adoptions taken place Takeuta, the son of Turekau,

would have become as the first cousin of Arawatau, the son of
Kiboboua; and so on through succeeding generations, the dis-
tance becoming wider and wider and the possibility of intermar-
riage between the two lines constantly increasing.
But by the renewal of the adoptive tie in successive genera-
tions, as illustrated, each descendant of Turekau is brought into
the first degree of brotherhood with one of Teiaokiri’s descen-
dants, thus making intermarriage unacceptable.
ADOPTION
BUTARITARI
Te toba ‘fosterage’
Under toba either a member of your family or a stranger could
be adopted. If a member of your family he must be one whom
you would classify as a nati or a tibu, on your father’s or your
mother’s side. A man could tobana either a girl or a boy.
Te tibutibu
If you adopted someone who was a tibu, he would be your tibu
and the brother or sister of your own grandchildren.
Te natinati
If you adopted someone who was your nati, he became your
child and the brother or sister of your own children.
If a stranger was adopted under toba, he became your nati
and the brother or sister of your children.
Your own children would be ashamed to prevent you from
adopting another’s child.
If you happened to be a very old man and adopted a stranger
who was young you would call him or her tibu, i.e. the brother
or sister of your grandchildren.
4
Adoption
ADOPTION
TAKEUTA, AGED 80, MARAKEI
When a child was adopted on Marakei the tabunea called kanan-
garaoi was performed for the adopted in order that he might be
well treated by the adopter, “e aonga n akoa te tei ” [in order
that he should treat the child well].
When a woman was pregnant and another person wished
to adopt the child, he often said no word but asked his wife
to make a new riri, which would then be sent to the pregnant
woman without any message. The acceptance of the riri by the
pregnant woman was equal to a promise that her child would be
given in adoption to the sender of the riri, “ai aron te rabu te riri
arei” [the riri was the equivalent of a reservation]. No answer
in word or gift was given to the sender. The riri was made of co-
conut leaves on Marakei.
The near kin of the adopted could not marry the near kin
(totem group) of the adopter. But distant totem sisters or
brothers of the adopted could marry near kin of the adopter, and
vice versa. 1
ADOPTION OF NATI AS TIBU

ABAIANG
An interesting exception to the rule that a man only adopts as
a tibu a child already standing to him in that relationship in the
utu was disclosed in the hearing of a land complaint.
Teauba was the adopter of Teangana, the grandson of his

father’s uterine brother, and Nei Kamba, the grand-daughter of
his mother’s uterine brother. These two children therefore stood
to him in the relationship of classificatory son and daughter re-
spectively. But he adopted them as his tibu, not his nati.
The point was proved by the evidence of dozens of wit-
nesses, as was necessary, because Teauba gave land to both
children and a matter of the registration of a reversion was in-
5
Tungaru Traditions
volved. Te aba n nati ‘land given to one adopted as a nati’ is

subject to no reversions, whereas te aba n tibu ‘land given to
one adopted as a tibu’ cannot be alienated by the beneficiary,
must be inherited by his own issue, and in default of issue must
revert to the descendants of the giver.
Neither of the adopted children procreated and it had to be
decided whether their brothers should inherit, as would happen
in the case of te aba n nati, or the children of the adopter should
take reversion, as would be correct if the land were te aba n
tibu.
So many old men were witnesses of the adoption that it was
impossible to doubt their evidence as to its nature. But never-
theless the case is without parallel in the experience of the old
men of the island, and I have not found its like elsewhere.
ADOPTION OF STRANGERS
BANABA
Though in the Gilberts only the son or grandson of a near rel-
ative was adopted, on Banaba the child of an absolute stranger
might be taken in adoption, and often was. Such an adopted
could inherit all the adopter’s lands, even to the entire exclusion
of begotten children. 2
Adoption from outside the family was indeed preferred, as
a rule. If possible the child adopted belonged to some other
island, because the son of a Banaban would tend, after the
adopter’s death, to carry on the name and fame of his true
parents, whereas a total stranger would be so far removed from
his place of origin that he would rely for his local prestige upon
the name of his adopter, and thus perpetuate his memory.
6
Agricultural Rituals
TE RABU (TE KAOANIKAI)

TABAUA, TARAWA
A very common practice to prevent the theft of fruit from co-
conut trees is to put a rabu 1 [taboo] upon them. This is done
by preparing sections of coconut leaf as described below, ar-
ranging them in front of you, and, with a circular motion (away
from the body) from right to left, sprinkling over them the water
of a drinking nut. At the same time you recite:
Matakakang, matakakang; mataoraora, mataoraora; ko

kana tera, au rabu te kaoanikai? Ko kana te aomata ane e
anana wan au ni. Ko kana rana? Ko kana baina. Ko kana
rana? Ko kana waena. Ko kana rana? Ko kana rabatana.
Ko kana rana? Ko kana matana. Ko kana rana? Ko kana
atuna. Ko a tiringa, ko a boia, ko a kama-tea. M’e a mate-
o-o!
Matakakang, matakakang; mataoraora, mataoraora; 2

thou eatest what, my rabu? Thou eatest the man who
continually takes the fruit from my coconut trees. Thou
eatest what part of him? Thou eatest his hands. [Re-
peated for his feet, body, eyes, and head.] Thou shall
smite him, thou shall beat him, thou shall kill him. So
shall he die-o-o!
This is repeated three times, sitting in the middle of the piece

of land to be treated, facing east. Each rabu is then tied around
the trunk of a tree.
7
Tungaru Traditions
When you wish to gather nuts yourself you have to release

the charm, so that you yourself do not suffer from its effects. You
go to one tree and undo the knot that you have made, reciting:
E matana, e matana au rabu aio te kaoanikai. E matana

baina, ao e matana waena, ao e matana unna, ma tiri-
tirina ma kakangina ma oraorana; e matana, e matana!
It is undone, it is undone, this my rabu. Its hand is

undone, its foot in undone, and its anger is undone, with
its violence, its eating of human flesh and its eating of
raw flesh; it is undone, it is undone!
Preparation of material for the rabu

a. Split a coconut leaf from the tip down its midrib into two
halves. Cut each of these halves into sections each con-
taining four pinnules. Each of these sections is a rabu for
one tree.
b. Take a pinnule from the topmost sprout of a coconut tree and
knot it around the trunk of the tree.
c. The rabu is then tied around the trunk of the tree.
d. When you have used all the pinnules that you need from the
topmost leaf of a tree, you take your empty drinking nut
(which you used for the charm) and plant it mouth up, in the
ground by a tree. In this you stand the base of a leaf which
you have used and rest the tip against the trunk of the tree,
where it remains as a sort of scarecrow for thieves. 3
TE RABU (TE BUE)

BUTARITARI
A special method of protecting a tree from use by another was
used at Butaritari by chiefs. The worn-out riri of a wife would
be tied around the trunk about twelve feet from the ground.
The tree then became exactly the same as the wife of the chief
to whom it belonged. If another passed near or under the riri,
he was therefore considered to have offended the modesty of
a married woman and had to pay the forfeit of land called te
bainaine, just as if he had committed adultery with her or had
insulted her modesty. This form of rabu was called te bue ‘the
heat’ because a man was considered to have burned himself by
approaching the forbidden object.
8
TE BITANIKAI ‘THE MAGIC STAFF’

MARAKEI
A man wishing to steal his neighbour’s fruit, in spite of the rabu
put upon it, protects himself from evil by the aid of a magic
staff called te bitanikai. Bita means change or reverse, the word
bitanikai thus signifying the reversal of the kaoanikai and ap-
plying not only to the magic staff but also to the whole ritual
concerned with the desecration of a rabu.
The performer cuts a straight wand, about six feet long and
an inch thick, from any convenient tree and peels it. Holding
this staff by the middle in his right hand, he stands by the east
side of his house, facing east, just clear of the eaves and in a line
with the central rafter, at any time between sunrise and noon,
4
but preferably on a day when both the sun and the moon are
seen together in the sky. Waving the staff over his head in a cir-
cular sweep and looking up towards the sun, he chants in a low
monotone:
Bitanikai, Bitanikai! Ma Nanonikai! I bitia ba N na rairia.

E teke karawa, e teke mone. E toki te ba, e toki te
nari, e toki te aubunga. Bubunge ma bonotai i tabon te
bike tanrio, tanrake. E na tei nako marawa; e na uboi
baina, e na tuatua…. nga! Bu-ba-ke! Ngaia! Ko kakang
i tari. Ngaia! Ko kakang i ana; bonobonota main te anti
temana, Auriaria ma Tabuariki; ba a ti bon airinako
touana ma aia antin wawi, ma aia antin aoraki, ma aia
antini karaka, 5 ma antini kawa e-e. Bonobonota main
te anti temana, Auriaria ma Tabuariki, i nanoni kawa
nakoiaki, nakoiang. Kanga-o, e mate te anti, e mate te
aomata. Bonobono-o-o! E mate te kua, e mate te aomata,
e tei i aontari, e uouota ribanimatena, te ikanangananga,
ba N na taebaeia, ba a taebainan au itera. Ba kam aki
taraia, Auriaria ma Tabuariki. Tiringani manawana, oroia
ni bobotona timtimu-e-e! Bitanikai, Bitanikai.
Bitanikai, Bitanikai with Nanonikai! 6 I reverse it (i.e., the

enemy’s magic) for I shall overturn it. Heaven is pierced,
the underworld is pierced (the performer stabs with his
staff towards heaven and the underworld); the rock is
struck, the clam-shell is struck. 7 Begin and protect me
at the point of the beach turning west, turning east. It
(my protection) shall stand firm over the sea; it shall clap
its hands; it shall speak warnings…. nga! Bu-ba-ke! So!
9
Tungaru Traditions
Thou eatest men at sea. So! Thou eatest men ashore.

Close the way of any spirit, Auriaria and Tabuariki. For
they (the collective enemy spirits) shall go where they
are sent. With their spirits of death magic, with their
spirits of sickness, with their new-created spirits, with
their spirits of misfortune e-e. Close the way of any
spirit, Auriaria and Tabuariki, in the villages to the south,
to the north. How now, the spirit is dead, the man is
dead. (I am) protected-o-o! The porpoise is dead, the
man is dead, he stands in the sea, he carries the colour
of his death, the peeling of skin (i.e., putrefaction), for I
shall rend off his arms, for his arms are rent off on my
behalf. For look not upon him, Auriaria and Tabuariki.
Smiting of his breast, striking at his vitals, drip (blood)
e-e! Bitanikai, Bitanikai.
This formula having been repeated three times, the performer

sharpens the staff at both ends and carries it with him to the
land where he desires to steal the fruit; there he plants it in
the ground while he desecrates the legitimate owner’s rabu.
Having done this, he takes the staff home with the stolen fruit
and plants it in the ground, up against the eastern side of his
house, where he performed the bitanikai ritual. There it must
remain until used again. It may on no account be used as an im-
plement or brought into the house, the belief being that sudden
death will visit the man who fails to observe these avoidances.
When you have performed the protective ceremony on the
staff it becomes your natural protector in all kinds of danger or
necessity. You carry it with you wherever you go, but you must
be careful never to use it as an implement. For example if you
use it as an amoamo, i.e., to sling a weight over your shoulder,
you will die a sudden death.
If a thief goes to the owner of a tree and confesses to having
desecrated a rabu, the owner may, if he wishes, save him from
the curse by waving over him a magic staff prepared according
to the above ritual. In such a case only the staff of the legitimate
owner is held to be effective, but even this will be of no avail
when once the curse has begun to work upon its victim. 8
10
A SPELL TO MAKE YOUR LAND FRUITFUL

If you wish your land to be fertile and rich, visit it alone and
walking over it from east to west wave your right hand before
you over it, as if distributing the blessing of your words upon it,
and chant aloud:
Tarai abau ba I a roko, ngai-e-e!

Kimarimari ma kitaba, kimarimari-e-e!
A na baka marin abau aio, te ari, te maritaba.
O kimarimari-e-e! Kimamau-e-e! Kimarimari-e-e!
Behold me my land for I have come, I-e-e!

Be fruitful in nuts and in pandanus, be fruitful in nuts-e-e!
The fruitfulness of my land shall fall here, the blossoms
and the drupes.
O be fruitful-e-e! Be abundant-e-e! Be fruitful-e-e!
This is repeated thrice. The time is the dark before dawn; the
season, any time of the year. No ornaments are used. You must
be careful to keep your eyes within the boundaries of your own
land.
THE FRUCTIFICATION OF THE PANDANUS

A highly interesting ritual, in which the Sun and the Moon
played a large part, was formerly used for the purpose of en-
suring a rich pandanus harvest. The ceremony could be per-
formed only by members of three clans, Karongoa, Ababou, and
Maerua. 9
The season for the fructification ritual is between July and
September, when the south-east trade winds are expected to
give way to the westerly rains. The seasonal arrival of these
rains is anxiously awaited, because upon it depends the quantity
and quality of the pandanus harvest, which is gathered towards
the beginning of October.
The ceremony is undertaken in two stages—the first on the
seventh night of the lunar month, and the second on about the
thirteenth night.
The time of commencement is the hour of sunset. For the
first stage, the moon must be approaching the meridian just as
the sun is over the western horizon. For the second stage, the
11
Tungaru Traditions
moon must be just risen as the sun is on the point of setting.

The essential point is that both luminaries should be visible in
the sky when the ritual is begun.
The place is a cleared space on the east side of the per-
former’s dwelling-house, in a straight line with the middle rafter
of the roof. 10
The material prepared for the ritual consists of the parts of
a magic tree—a trunk and two branches. The branches are two
round wands of pandanus wood, each a span long and as thick
as a man’s thumb. 11 The trunk is a rounded and tapered shaft
of coconut timber, two spans long and about two inches thick
at the base. The shaft is decorated at its point with a tuft of
five upstanding frigate-bird feathers; the string with which this
tuft is lashed on is made of alternate strands of coconut fibre
and human hair. Both the feathers and the string have the same
important underlying sun idea: the frigate-bird is believed to be
the bird of the sun and the spiral pattern of black hair running
through the string is believed to be pleasing to the sun. The
tuft, when lashed in place, is said to be “the body of the Sun
at the crest of the tree.” At equal intervals around the base of
the sun-tuft are attached four strings of hair and fibre, each a
span and a half long, in the manner of maypole strings. Each
string is then garnished with frigate-bird feathers in the fol-
lowing arrangement:
Near the top—a tuft of three;

In the middle—a tuft of two;
Near the free end—a single feather;
At the free end—a tuft of five.
These feather decorations are technically named buka; the

strings which carry them are destined to be draped over the
branches of the tree, when the moment comes to lash these
latter into position; the technical name of the branches is
therefore manga-ni-buka ‘branches of buka’.
When the decorated pole and the separate branches have
been prepared they are taken to the space made ready for
them on the east side of the maker’s dwelling. A small hole for
planting the magic tree is dug, andjustas the sun’s “lower limb”
is about to touch the western horizon, the first part of the ritual
begins.
12
Stage 1 (Moon’s seventh day)

The performer plants the trunk of the tree in the hole. Holding
the shaft upright with both hands before him, he throws his
head as far backwards as he can, and fixes his eyes upon the
sun-tuft above him. He stands silent in this posture for about
half a minute, then intones in a low voice the following formula:
Unikan au bitanikai aio. 12 E bung meang, e bung maiaki,

e bung maeao, ma mainiku-o-o-o! 13 E bung Tai ma Na-
makaina! Ba I ti namanamatia i aon Tai. Tera uotan Tai?
E uota te maiu. E uotia tera? Te taba mai buakon ron te
iti ma te ro. 14 Kimarimari, au buakonikai-o-o-o!
Planting of this my magic tree. The north gives birth, the

south gives birth, the west gives birth, and the east-o-
o-o! The Sun gives birth, and the Moon! For I prepare
it (the tree) on the overside of the Sun. 15 What is the
burden of the Sun? He bears life. What bears he? The
young pandanus bloom from the blackness of the rain-
cloud. Be abundant, my plantations-o-o-o!
The formula is recited three times, after which the performer

turns his face to the ground and remains immobile, holding the
shaft upright before him, for perhaps another half-minute. He
then proceeds to push loose soil with his feet into the hole at the
tree’s root, and to stamp it firm.
Only when the tree can stand alone does he release his hold
upon the stem, and seat himself at its base, still facing east. The
position of his legs is of great ritual importance. His right leg
lies doubled before him, knee to ground, tailorwise; but his left
thigh is thrust forward, and the lower leg doubled back beside
his hip, so that the sole of his foot is presented to the sunset. He
believes that, unless the left foot be thus “given to the Sun,” he
will incur the luminary’s displeasure by having the appearance
of wholly turning his back upon him.
The performer’s first business when seated is to finish with
his hands the practical work of making the tree firm in its hole.
When that is done, he holds the base of the stem and, throwing
back his head to regard the sun-tuft on high, intones:
Kanenean au bitanikai aei i an Tai ma Namakaina. E tio-

otoia, mangan au bita-bongibong aei! 16 E iti, m’e ruo
te ba ma te karau, ba katabaean au mataburo. 17 O, te-
13
Tungaru Traditions
manna te ataeinaine, ba kainan Abatang, ma Abatoa,

ma Abaiti-e-e-e! O, antin taberan au bita-bongibong: Au-
riaria, ma Nei Tewenei, ma anti ni Bouru, Riki, Riki-e-e!
I ti oboria, I ti wetei Nei Tituabine ma Riki, ma anti ni
Bouru, ba a na kamaurai i an au kai aei. Te mauri ao te
raoi. 18 Te mauri naba ngai i an au kai aei!
Setting firm of this my magic tree under Sun and Moon.

It flutters and bends, the branch of this my magic-tree-in-
the-twilight! The lightning flashes, and the thunder and
rain descends, even the fructifiers of my opening pan-
danus bloom. O, thou certain maiden even the pandanus
tree of Abatang and Abatoa and Abaiti-e-e-e! 19 O, spirits
of the crest of this my magic tree in the twilight: Auriaria
and Nei Tewenei, and the spirits of Bouru, Riki, Riki-e-e!
I only prepare the way, I only call Nei Tituabine, and Riki
and the spirits of Bouru, that they may prosper me be-
neath this my tree. Prosperity and peace. Prosperous am
I beneath this my tree!
After reciting this formula three times, the performer turns his
face towards the ground, remains still for a few seconds, and
then arises. The branches of the tree are now fixed in position:
they are first lashed middle to middle with hair and fibre string,
in the form of a symmetrical cross. The cross is made fast by
its middle to the trunk of the tree, shoulder high, so that its
branches are parallel to the earth, and point north, south, east,
and west, the orientation being controlled by the position of the
sun at its setting. Over the ends of the branches are draped the
four strings of buka ‘feathers’ attached to the sun-crest, with
their terminal tufts dangling earthwards. The completed tree
is left standing until the moon’s thirteenth night ushers in the
second stage of the ritual.
Stage 2 (Moon’s thirteenth day)

Just before sunset, the performer sits on the ground at a dis-
tance of about two paces from the tree, back to the sun and
face upturned as before, to gaze at the sun-tuft. The sitting at-
titude already described is once more adopted but, instead of
holding the base of the trunk, the performer stretches his arms
forward, and lays his loosely opened hands, palms upward, upon
the ground beside his thighs. He intones:
14
Au bita-bongibong aei, au bita-mataro. Ron Tai rio. E

bung i maeao, e bung i mainiku, e bung i taberan au
bitanikai aio, m’e a oboria te taba ma te mataburo, ba
uotan Tai ma Namakaina. Anti-ro, anti-rang, a
batetenako i taberan au bitanikai aei. I ti marimari-e-e, I
ti marimari-o-o! Taberan au kai ni kataba aei! 20
This my magic tree in the twilight, my magic tree in the

dusk. Darkness of Sun going west. He gives birth to west
of me, he gives birth to east of me, he gives birth at the
crest of this my magic tree, and he prepares the way for
the young pandanus bloom and the opening pandanus
bloom, for these are the burden of Sun and Moon. Spirits
of darkness, spirits of madness, they tumble down from
the crest of this my magic tree. I am fruitful-e-e, I am
fruitful-o-o! Crest of this my tree of fructification!
After three recitations of this formula, the performer remains

for a short period of time in his attitude of supplication, then
drops his head forward to look upon the ground, and finally
rises to his feet. The ceremony is complete. The magic tree may
be left where it stands for an indefinite time and may therafter
be used for other magico-religious purposes. Barren women
are brought to the place, to be rendered fertile; and persons
desiring to be blest with good luck (especially in love), good
health, and long life may there receive ritual treatment at the
hands of the owner. For such ceremonials, the persons receiving
attention sit facing eastwards towards the tree, while the per-
former sits before them in the position already described.
The tree may also be used to remove the curse of a dese-
crated rabu. There cannot be much doubt that the magic staff
(te bitanikai), which was used for the same purpose, is but a
simplified form of the tree. The ceremony of the magic staff
could be performed by anyone (if he can learn the ritual and
formula), but that of the magic tree was strictly reserved to
three privileged social groups. It is therefore probable that the
staff represents a popular attempt to achieve the benefits of the
tree without too dangerously trenching upon the form and sub-
stance of the Sun-Moon ritual.
15
Tungaru Traditions
THE KABUBU FIRST-FRUITS RITUAL

MARAKEI
After the pandanus harvest, which usually occurs during
September-October, it was formerly forbidden to partake of any
product of the new crop until first-fruits had been offered up,
and a ritual rneal eaten at the boua ‘stone pillar representing
the “body” of the ancestral deity’ of the totem group. Members
of the Karongoa, Ababou, and Maerua clans made the offering
to the Sun and Moon, but included the names of Auriaria and
other ancestral deities in their dedication. Other social groups
offered the first-fruits direct to their ancestral deities.
The boua of the Karongoa group on Marakei—now, like most
of its kind, unhappily destroyed by Christian iconoclasts—was
an upstanding monolith of coral rock hewn from the reef and
planted in the ground to eastward of the village of Rawanawi.
As described by elders who, in pre-Christian days, actually per-
formed the clan rituals, it “stood as high as a man’s shoulder”
and was about as “broad and thick as a man”; it was, moreover,
waisted like a man in the middle, although it seems to have had
no definitely marked head. This monolith stood in the centre
of a circle of flat stones set edgeways in the ground, so as to
form a kerb about a hand’s breadth high. The diameter of the
circle was, according to the account, “three or four paces”: its
exact size was not, as it would seem, a matter of importance.
The space within the circle was dressed with white shingle and
therein were buried the skulls of successive generations of clan
elders, all males. The crania of the skulls remained uncovered
by shingle, so that they might be anointed with oil on occasions
when the cult of the ancestral deity was being observed. Care
was taken to avoid burying any skulls due west of the boua, be-
cause this portion of the circle was reserved for food offerings.
For all everyday and overt purposes, including the normal
cult of ancestor, the boua represented the body of an ancestral
being named Teweia. 21 But for the particular and secret
purpose of the first-fruits ritual, it represented no longer
Teweia, but the spirit Auriaria. Upon its crest were then
perched three red coral blocks, each about the size of two fists,
one on top of the other. This addition was known as the bara
‘hat’ of Auriaria.
The date of the first-fruits offering was the second day of the
next new moon after the pandanus harvest had been gathered.
The hour of the ritual was that of sunset, when both sun and
moon were seen together in the sky, the moon setting almost
16
together with the sun. The material of the offering was a ball
of the sweet food called te korokoro made of boiled coconut
toddy and the desiccated pandanus product called kabubu. 22
The kabubu used for the purpose was, of course, manufactured
from the newly harvested crop.
The ball of korokoro was carried to the boua by the senior
male of the Karongoa clan, all the other men and women of his
group following him. The leader wore upon his head a fillet of
coconut leaf called the “fillet of the sun.” At the place of of-
fering, the whole company assumed the sitting posture adopted
by the performer of the fructification ritual, with their backs
to the sunset and faces to the stone. The leader took his place
a little in advance of the others, right up against the kerb of
the circular enclosure. Being seated in the ritual posture, he
leaned forward and set the ball of korokoro at arm’s length
before him on the shingle near the base of the stone. Throwing
back his head to gaze into the sky immediately above the boua,
and laying his open hands, palms upward, on the ground by his
knees, he intoned:
Kanami aei, Tai ma Namakaina, ba ana moan nati Nei

Kaina-bongibong. Auriaria, ma Nei Tewenei, ma Riki ma
antin rabarabani karawa, 23 kanami aei, ba moan taban
te bitabongibong. Te mauri ao te raoi. Te mauri naba
ngaira-o-o-o!
This is your food, Sun and Moon, even the first child of
the woman Pandanus-in-the-twilight. Auriaria, and Nei
Tewenei, and Riki, and spirits of the hidden places of
heaven, this is your food, even the first young bloom
of the magic tree in the twilight. Prosperity and peace.
Prosperous indeed are we-o-o-o!
The formula was recited three times. Through the entire

ritual that followed, the leader never for a moment ceased
to look up into the sky above the stone. Leaning forward, he
first groped for the ball of korokoro and, having taken it upon
the palm of his left hand, returned to an upright posture. Still
sitting, he plucked out with his right fingertips a piece of the
sticky ball and moulded it into a pellet, which he then laid on
the shingle before the stone as “the portion of the Sun and
Moon, and Auriaria.” This was called the tarika. 24 The first
portion having thus been given, he proceeded to mould a series
of similar pellets, passing each one as it was made back over his
17
Tungaru Traditions
right shoulder, where it was taken by the man behind him, and
sent along the ranks of sitting people, until every member of
the company had a portion. Absolute silence was observed until
the distribution was complete, when the man behind the leader
whispered, “A toa baia” (“Their hands are all full”). Thereupon
the leader made for himself a pellet of the food, and raised it in
his right hand above his still-upturned face. At once, the whole
company threw their heads back to gaze at the sky above the
boua and lifted their right arms in a similar attitude. Having
allowed time enough for everyone to adopt this posture, the
performer dropped the pellet into his mouth and swallowed it
whole. The company followed suit. It was essential to the ritual
that the bolus should not be bitten.
After a short pause with arm still uplifted, the leader, imi-
tated by the whole assembly, dropped his hand to his side and
turned his face to the ground. The “looking downward” lasted
for a few seconds only. Finally, the leader arose and, without
special ceremony, placed whatever remained of the ball of ko-
rokoro up against the boua, beside the small tarika, for the
remnant (nikira) was the “portion of the Sun, the Moon, and
Auriaria.” In a lesser degree, this nikira also belonged to the
other ancestral spirits, Riki, Nei Tewenei, Nei Tituabine, to-
gether with the ghosts of those clan elders whose skulls were
buried by the boua.
Before leaving the spot, the leader anointed the crania of
the buried skulls with oil. After he had performed this rite, any
other member of the group might do likewise, choosing at his
pleasure any or all of the skulls for anointment.
OFFERING OF PANDANUS FIRST-FRUITS TO

KARONGOA
TARAWA
On all islands of the northern Gilberts, and probably of the
southern Gilberts also, the various social groups sent a portion
of their newly collected pandanus harvest to the senior male of
the local Karongoa clan before offering first-fruits to their own
ancestral deities. On Tarawa this practice is associated with an
interesting local tradition concerning a very famous high chief
named Kirata the Eldest, a member of the Karongoa group, who
flourished between twenty-five and thirty generations ago. It is
said that Kirata’s favourite food was te kabubu, and that the
pandanus tree was his anti. This is held to be the reason why,
18
even nowadays, the first portion of every local clan’s pandanus

harvest is set aside each year as a gift to the senior living de-
scendant of Kirata in the male line. The fundamental reason,
of course, is that the line of Kirata represents the essence of
Karongoa on Tarawa.
No formalities were observed in submitting the first portion
of the first-fruits of Karongoa’s acceptance: it was enough to
send the gift (consisting of any product whatever of the new
pandanus harvest) in a basket, by the hand of a small boy, to
the house of the proper recipient. But the penalty for neglecting
to make such an offering, before the private clan ritual was un-
dertaken, was believed to be death by lightning-flash or thun-
derbolt, or other visitation from heaven.
A RITUAL MEAL IN TIME OF FAMINE

Each separate Gilbertese totem group, as a rule, practised the
cult of its own ancestral deities independently of all others;
but in time of famine, a form of ritual meal was practised. All
groups united, with the senior male of Karongoa n Uea as the
officiating priest, at a stone pillar representing the body of a
being named Tabakea, within a maneaba of a particular style
called Maungatabu. The Maungatabu name, meaning “sacred
mountain,” is also attached to a variety of pandanus tree, and to
a volcano, on which grew the Ancestral Pandanus of the head-
hunting Gilbertese forefathers.
The being called Tabakea, upon whom the ritual to be de-
scribed was centred, is associated with four totems: (1) A
mythical beast called te kekenu, described as “a lizard as big
as two men” (no doubt a crocodile or alligator); (2) the common
noddy; (3) a small tree called te ibi, which bears a scarlet
almond-like fruit; and (4) a turtle. Of these, the last is consid-
erably the most important, the name Tabakea itself meaning
“parrot-bill turtle.” In a widespread series of traditions, Tabakea
is represented as the Eldest of All Beings, the First of Things;
and in all the tales relating to the adventures and voyages of Au-
riaria, he appears as Auriaria’s father. This doubtless explains
why Auriaria’s name is linked with Tabakea’s in the prayer as-
sociated with this ritual.
When famine threatened the community, the elder of
Karongoa n Uea would fix a day when food offerings and tataro
‘supplication’ should be made to Tabakea. A stone monolith
about six feet high, representing the body of the god, would
19
Tungaru Traditions
Carrying home the pandanus harvest. (Maude photo)
be erected against the Karongoa sun-stone in the maneaba.

The monolith was wreathed with coconut leaves by the acolyte
group, Karongoa Raereke. Just before dawn on the appointed
day, the community would enter the building, bringing with
them offerings of food, and sit in their respective clan places.
Exactly at sunrise, a watcher posted to observe the eastern
horizon would call, “E oti Tai” (“The Sun appears”), and a
portion of food was laid by the elder of Karongoa n Uea before
the stone of the god, to the accompaniment of the following
tataro ‘prayer’:
Aora te amarake, ngkoe, Tabakea. Aora te amarake,

ngkoe, Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki. Tautaua maurira,
toutoua nako te rongo, te baki, te mate. Kakamauria
ataei aikai, karerekea karara. Tai-o, Namakaina-o! Kar-
erekea karara! Te mauri ma te raoi.
20
Our offering the food, thou, Tabakea. Our offering the

food, thou, Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki. Uphold our pros-
perity, tread away the drought, the hunger, the death.
Continue to prosper these children, continue to get our
food. Sun-o, Moon-o! Continue to get our food! Pros-
perity and peace.
During the ceremony, all present, whether of the clan of

Karongoa or not, wore the fillet of coconut leaf known as the
fillet of the Sun (bunan Tai). The formula having been recited
three times, the fillets were put off, and the remaining food was
eaten by the assemblage, which then dispersed.
21
Ancestor Cult
SIGNIFICANCE OF CEREMONIAL BOUA

All through the Gilberts, stone monoliths ranging from eighteen
inches to seven or eight feet in height were erected to the
various spiritual powers. Generally these powers may be con-
sidered to be gods; and they are the gods of the fair-skinned
race, for their names are Taburimai, Auriaria, Tituabine, etc.
But occasionally they are called not anti but bakatibu ‘an-
cestors’. When genealogical evidence is sought, however, it gen-
erally fails to lead back to any ancestor of the name given to the
stone. But a concrete case comes from Marakei, in which an an-
cestor who lived only five generations ago is definitely the atua
of a stone bearing his name near the village of Temotu. The fol-
lowing is a list of his lineal descendants (eldest sons of eldest
sons) until today:
Kaieti was a great fighter and traveller in his day. At one time,
he and his party were driven out of Marakei and had to take
refuge in Abaiang. Collecting his forces there, however, he was
soon strong enough to make war on his former conquerors and
return in triumph to Marakei. Soon after this he died and is said
22
Ancestor Cult
A ceremonial boua. (Wilkes 1845, 5:110)
to have appeared in a dream to his son Taoroba, and to have

told him to erect a boua ‘monolith’ to him. Whatever may be
the truth about the dream, it is certain that Taoroba erected the
boua, which stands to this day, and of which the origin was wit-
nessed by old men still living on Marakei. The worship at this
stone appears to be exactly the same in type as the cult of the
ancestral skull.
Either the collected utu or single individuals of the utu may
visit the place and, after laying karea ‘propitiatory offerings’ at
its base, present their petition to the ancestral spirit. If the cer-
emony is collective, the eldest male representative of the senior
branch of the utu makes his prayer on behalf of all; if an indi-
vidual performs alone, he prays for himself alone.
Kaieti is also said to have given his son a charm by which
he might be called to answer questions in the whistling speech.
But this call was made through the intermediary of the skull of
Kaieti, not the stone. While the worship at the stone continued,
the family also used the skull at home, thus duplicating the form
in which the ancestor cult was sustained.
23
Tungaru Traditions
SKULL CULTS
The removal of the skull from the grave of a buried father,
mother, grandfather, or grandmother was universal in the
Gilberts. The skull was kept on a little mat specially woven for
the occasion and was placed on a shelf in the house of the
owner. It was considered liable to affront and was therefore
never put on the floor of the house for fear that in standing
above it a member of the household might insult it with a view
of his sexual organs. Nor were children allowed to approach it,
lest some rough game of theirs might cause offence. The idea
underlying this anxiety to pay all respect to the skull was that
the ancestor to whom the skull belonged would, if ill-treated,
refuse to help his descendants when asked in time of trouble; he
might even punish them by visiting them with terrifying dreams,
from which they would awake insane and with wasting diseases
such as te kangenge ‘consumption’.
Some households would every day place a small portion of
food on the shelf beside the skull; it was the duty of the closest
or the most beloved relative of the deceased to eat his food on
his behalf at the day’s end. This was a universal practice, but
with most households it was less regularly performed.
When tobacco was introduced, it became the custom on
every island of the Gilbert Group to allow the skull to share the
household pipe. The skull was held between the palms before
the face of the smoker, who inserted the bowl of the pipe into his
own mouth and the stem into the jaws of the skull. He then blew
down the bowl so that the smoke was driven back through the
stem into the gaping jaws. He would address affectionate famil-
iarities to the skull while thus occupied: “E uara? E kangkang?”
(“How is that? Is it tasty?”) and so on.
This sort of conversation was typical of all the relations of
the household with the skull. It was a member of the family, as
susceptible of offence or pleasure, and as alive to conversations
and events beneath that roof, as any human being. It was their
friend. While busy about the house a man might throw it an oc-
casional remark as naturally as to his father or brother; or at
any time of the day he might take a little oil on his palm and rub
it on the cranium of the skull, just as he would perform such an
office with smiling yet deferential kindness to one of his living
senior relations.
The explicit reason in the native mind for this akoi
‘kindness’, or ‘deference’ accorded to the skull was that the
ghost of the ancestor was always near it—not precisely situated
24
Ancestor Cult
within it, but enveloping it as an atmosphere, watching it, and

feeling emotions of pleasure or pain in proportion as it was ho-
noured, fed, or abused.
When a particular need made itself felt in the household, the
help of the deceased ancestor was enlisted through the medium
of the skull. A day was appointed on which all the members of
the household should meet in the house.
The senior living descendant of the ancestor would anoint
the cranium with scented oil, and wreaths of flowers were hung
about it. Food was laid beside it as a karea ‘propitiatory of-
fering’, and probably a pipe and a stick of tobacco would ac-
company the food. Just after noon the senior member would lift
the skull from its shelf and elevate it above his face between his
palms; then drawing it close to his cheek he would whisper into
its ear the special request that he wished to make on behalf of
his people. The following is a typical example of such a prayer:
Toakai-o! tautau maurira; toutoua nako te aoraki; ba ti

mauri iroum; ti aki bua, ti aki taro; te mauri ao te raoi—te
mauri!
Toakai-o! Keep hold of our safety; trade away the

sickness; for we are safe through thee; we are not lost,
we are not deserted; safety and peace—safety!
There was no special form of words used in these prayers.

In nearly every example I collected, certain phrases appeared
again and again, such as the universal “te mauri ao te raoi. ”
But the form of words in which a request was made was entirely
at the will of the performer, whose duty it was to state as clearly
as he knew how the particular desire which he wished to convey
to the ancestor.
I have described here the procedure followed when a col-
lective request was made to protect a household from an epi-
demic sickness. In like manner a whole utu might be gathered
together in the maneaba to appeal for the ancestor’s protection
in time of war, for his help in famine or drought, or for his good
offices on any important occasion whatever in which the utu had
an interest.
At other times the simple ceremonial could be still further
simplified. A single individual might, if a member of the
household, go himself informally without preparation to the
skull, and after blowing a little tobacco smoke into its jaws as a
propitiatory offering, state in its ear whatever small request he
25
Tungaru Traditions
had to make. Any member of the household was at liberty, as the

wish seized him, to make a little private offering of food either
before or after his prayer and breathe an appeal into the ear of
the skull for the general protection of the house.
Sometimes the ancestor would appear in a dream to one of
his descendants and would tell him a form of words with which
his ghost might be made to converse in whistling noises. The
owner of such a charm would generally keep it secret from the
other members of the house, but on request, when advice was
needed by the household, he would consent to call up the an-
cestral ghost and ask it the desired questions. The skull was
the intermediary through which the ghost was called. Offerings
were made to it by the ibonga ‘medium’, and it was anointed
by him with oil in the usual manner. Then he lifted it from its
place and whispered the charm into its ear. Here is an example
of such a call:
O-o! N na weweteia Toakai mai abana, mai abana; e a

roko, ba e a roko ni maneabara aio, be a roko!
O-o! I shall call him Toakai from his land, from his land;
he arrives, for he arrives in our maneaba here, for he ar-
rives!
As soon as the charm is done, the ghost makes his presence

known by a gentle whistling under the ridge-pole of the
maneaba. It is the function of the ibonga to interpret the sounds
made to the onlookers. The ghost will answer in his musical lan-
guage all the questions put to him—the belief being that if an
answer proves afterwards to be wrong, it is certainly the fault
of the ibonga and not the ghost.
Sometimes the species of oracle thus instituted through the
medium of the skull became so famous for its infallibility that
people of other households and utu came to consult it. They
would bring propitiatory offerings of food and tobacco to the
ibonga, who after giving te moan tiba ‘the first share’ to the
skull would keep the rest as payment. In this way an ancestral
ghost would obtain prestige and reverence outside the circle of
his own utu. 1
26
Ancestor Cult
CULT OF TEWEIA OF BERU

TEITIRERE, MARAKEI
Teitirere, an old man of over eighty on Marakei, describes the
cult of his ancestor Teweia, who was the builder of the maneaba
for Tanentoa of Beru. On Marakei the utu descended from
Teweia had a stone, about half a man’s height, set up as a post
in the ground on the east side of the island. This stone was
called the body of Teweia. Nevertheless, it was not considered
to be the actual atua or spiritual power, which was the ghost of
Teweia, but it was the medium through which the ghost was ap-
proached, and was so inalienably connected with the ghost that
whosoever did it an insult or injury caused pain to the spiritual
power and was liable to sudden death or illness. On the top of
the monolith were perched three lumps of red coral, each about
as big as two fists, and one on top of the other. These were said
to be the head of Teweia. A flat stone was laid on the ground at
the western side of the base of the monolith. On this stone were
laid all offerings of food brought to the ghost.
On occasions of stress or danger, the senior member of the
utu would signify that a general assembly (te toa) of the utu
would be made at the stone for the purpose of offering gifts of
food to the ghost and tataro ‘prayers’ for his help. He would ap-
point the day.
The utu would arise in the early morning at about cock-crow
and gather before the stone before sunrise. They would squat in
a semi-circle on the west side of the stone, facing east towards
it. They brought food with them. First portions of this food, and
later also sticks of tobacco and a filled pipe, were laid on the flat
offering-stone. Then the utu would eat the remainder in silence.
When the meal was done the people put on their heads a fillet
each made of a single pinnule from the crest of a coconut tree,
knotted in front. The senior of the utu (but always a male) would
then go and squat before the stone and address to it, in his own
words, the particular request that he had come to make. After
this, the people dispersed, leaving the offerings on the stone of
offering.
27
Tungaru Traditions
CULT OF UAKEIA AND KABURORONTEUN

MARAKEI
On Marakei there is a stone that bears the name of the ancestor
Uakeia, who was the leader of the Beruan conquerors who in-
vaded and settled this island about nine generations ago. At this
stone the utu descended through the male and female line from
Uakeia made their tataro in time of need. A collection of the
whole utu for the sake of tataro was called te toa, a word which
since Christian times has been applied to any general gathering
for religious purposes.
The stone was broad and flat, being set in a recumbent po-
sition, not standing. Beneath the stone were buried the skull
of Uakeia himself and the skulls of ancestors subsequent to
Uakeia. These ancestors were called bouan te atibu, ‘the posts
of the stone’, the word boua being the name ordinarily applied
to the studs of a house or maneaba.
Although this stone bore the name of Uakeia, and although
all the ancestors were expressly believed to listen to the tataro
offered here, the prayers and offerings were made to the single
ancestor Kaburoronteun, who was (and still is) described as the
ancestor of Uakeia. The explanation of this is most probably that
Uakeia himself, whose name the stone bears, was its originator
and first instituted the cult of his ancestor on Marakei.
Before the tataro was made, the stone was encircled by
three fillets of coconut leaflet, one in the middle and one at each
end. The prayer offered was of the following character:
Aora te amarake, nkoe Kaburoronteun. Tautau maurira,

toutoua nako te aoraki, Kakamauria ataei aikai, Kar-
erekea karara.
Our offering the food, thou Kaburoronteun. Keep hold

on our safety, tread away the sickness, continue to save
their children these, continue to get our food.
The pedigree of some of the descendants of Uakeia who made

the tataro to Kaburoronteun is given in Figure 3.
28
Ancestor Cult
Figure 3. Descendants of Uakeia who

made tataro to Kaburoronteun. My three
informants, of whom the youngest was
not less than 65 years old, are indicated
by asterisks (*).
PRAYER TO NEI KANNA

NATAU, MARAKEI
At the tataro to the stone of the ancestress Nei Kanna, from
whom the Beruan conqueror Tetonganga on Marakei was de-
scended, the old man Natau used the same formula of words as
employed in connexion with the planting of the stone called Tai
‘Sun’ in the maneaba. Natau informed me that this formula was
always used by his ancestors for the double purpose:
Aora te amarake nkoe Nei Kanna. Toutoua nako te

mibuaka ma te aoraki; tautaua mauriu ma au
botanaomata.
29
Tungaru Traditions
Our offering the food thou Nei Kanna. Tread away the
evil dreaming with the sickness; keep hold upon my
safety with my collection of people.
The whole utu was gathered for such a tataro at dawn. Food
was brought by each member. A share was set on the flat stone
lying at the base of the monolith. The senior male officiated.
The people sat in a complete circle around the stone, wearing
fillets of coconut pinnules. The offering and prayer were made.
After this the people ate and then departed. Food was left by the
stone. The skull of the ancestor Tetonganga was buried by the
monolith.
PRAYER TO AN UTU ANCESTOR MADE AT HIS

BOUA
TAM, AGED ABOUT 52, MARAKEI
Aora te amarake, Kaieti-o! Buokira; Tautau maurira;
toutoua nako te buaka; oroia, bakarereia, itui matia; ti
aki bua, ti aki taro; te mauri ao te raoi; te mauri.
Our offering of food, Kaieti-o! Help us; Keep hold on our

safety; tread away the war; strike them, pierce them,
sew their eyes together (as fish); we are not lost, we are
not deserted; safety and peace; safety.
30
Ancestral Lands
BUTARITARI LAND NAMES: CLASSIFIED BY

ASSOCIATION
Names derived from natural accidents
Aonteba on the bedrock

Temanoku the bight
Nanonterawa the ocean passage
Tebokaboka the swamp
Tabontengea the place of the pemphis (ironwood)
Teaoraereke the narrow surface
Names derived from historical or legendary associations
EVENTS
Temaunginaomatathe putrefying of men (after a battle)
Temaungatabu the sacred hillock (after a taboo placed on a
piece of rising ground by an uea)
Tebukinibanga legendary
Tetaenibwe legendary
Tebora a gift for tinaba (a gift of land given by the
uea to a woman’s husband)
Tebuaka a war
Tennaniborau the voyaging fleet
MYTHICAL ASSOCIATIONS
Terarikiriki, Tebukintake, Rauta.
31
Tungaru Traditions
RELIGIO -MYTHICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Te Tabakea, Nan Tabakea, Te Aitabakea, Te Aikarewerewere.
RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS
Te Umananti, Te Abanimate, Tebangota, Tekauti.
ANCESTRAL LANDS
Onouna, Abaiti, Matang, Birewan, Bouro, Mwaiku, Beru, Tamoa,
Muribenua, Kiroro, Manra, Birewan, Bikara, Bangkai, Bangai,
Mone.
OTHER ISLANDS
Abaiang, Tarawa, Marakei, Abemama, Kuria, Abatiku,
Abariringa.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Nutiran (New Zealand), Watiniton (Washington), Terine
(Sydney), Biti (Fiji), Rotuma, Taiti (Tahiti).
BUTARITARI LAND NAMES

(ASSOCIATION, IF ANY, UNASCERTAINED)
Abaoti, Abarao, Ano, Antimai, Aonibei, Arauri, Autikia, Bankai,
Bankenna, Benuake, Bikewa, Bikou, Bino, Birewan, Boaki,
Bokiroro, Bunuaka, Buota, Ewena, Kabinea, Kaionobi, Kaitang,
Kamatao, Kiboru, Koiroa, Kotirawa, Mabutang, Manga, Man-
girere, Marake, Marieta, Marube, Mata, Mauriki, Mire,
Momokirang, Mwake, Nakiroro, Namoka, Namorara, Nangiro,
Natata, Neinauti, Neingongo, Nenearo, Ninobi, Nukuan,
Onawa, Onobaki, Onoiuna, Orawi, Oretenge, Otua, Rama, Ra-
nongana, Rarango, Renren, Tabei, Tabeibei, Tabokao, Tanabo,
Taribo, Taruoaieta, Taunata, Taunrawa, Tawaiti, Tebokiawai,
Teere, Teike, Teineita, Tekerau, Tenaeriki, Terabi, Terangaba,
Teukin, Tiaon, Tontonna, Tureia, Tuta, Tutara, Ubantakoto, Uee,
Umaia-ataei, Waki, Wikiki
32
Ancestral Lands
LANDS MENTIONED IN GILBERTESE ORAL

TRADITION
Southern lands
Tamoa, Tawai, Uboru, Nukumaroro (Aka-manono-aba), Butuna,
Tonga, Rotima, Nanumea, Nuku-betau, “eight islands to the
south of Abariringa.”
Eastern lands
Maiawa, Makaiao, Nangiro (NE of Banaba).
Western lands
a. Tabeuna, Ranga-aba (or Teranga-aba), Bu-kiroro (or Kiroro),
Onouna, Taiki, Matang, Ruanuna, Benua-kura, Mone, Bare,
Abaiti (or Aba-tiku), Aba-toa, Baban, Mao, Kita.
b. Tebongiroro (the “line of western islands”), according to
Nei Tearia of Banaba: Matairango, Bike-n-onioniki, Kabi-n-
tonga, Tanabai, Roro (SW of Banaba), Waituru, Nabanaba.
c. Tebongiroro, according to Na Ateke of Butaritari: Bikara,
Kabi-n-tonga, Maiawa, Tabo-n-noto, Ba-n-tongo, Aba-oraora,
Katatake-i-eta.
d. Lands of the departed spirits (also mentioned in the Song of
Moiua): Manra, Bouru, Neineaba, Marira, Mwaiku.
GILBERTESE PLACE NAMES COMPARED WITH

THOSE IN THE EAST INDIES
See Table 1.
PEOPLE FROM THE WEST

ONOTOA
There is a tradition of Onotoa that before the coming of the
people from Samoa, the island had one inhabitant whose name
was Teboi. When he had lived there for some time a canoe came
from a land in the west with two men in it, named Takeakea
and Kaibebeku. On arrival at Onotoa their canoe capsized: The
name of the canoe was Teranga, and so the place near which
it capsized was called Teranga-aba. Takeakea and Kaibebeku
33
Tungaru Traditions
settled on Onotoa and brought a wife named Nei Karabung from

Nikunau to live with them. They bred many children, who lived
on the island until the arrival of the people of Samoa.
The name of the canoe (and the land called after it) brings to
mind the name of the land next to Bouru in Indonesia—Serang.
If this is a memory of an old land called Serang or Teranga, it
is a good illustration of Max Müller’s hypothesis that myth is a
disease of language. The word ranga in Gilbertese happens to
mean “capsize.” The name having been applied to a district in
Onotoa as a memory of an ancient land name, its true signifi-
cance was lost; a myth of the capsizing of a canoe was then in-
vented to explain the meaning of the word.
THE STORY OF OBAIA-TE-BURAERAE

BUTARITARI
The Butaritari version of this story, which is similar in all salient
points to the Tarawa version, 1 gives an interesting list of the
lands in the west over which Obaia was blown by his brother
Tabuariki-the-Wind before he found a foothold on Onouna.
According to the Butaritari informant:
The wind beat him westward over Banaba, and over

Onaoru (Nauru) also. He wished to settle there, but his
feet found no hold. Indeed, he was beaten westward by
the wind over the island of Tebuariki also, and Bari-bari,
and Tabukin-anti. He wished to settle there, but his feet
found no hold. He was beaten westward again by the
wind. Then he stretched out his feet to settle on the
island of Ruaniwa (Lieueniua), but they found no hold,
for the wind carried him over to the west. And again he
saw a land below him; and lo, he floated above it, for the
wind abated; and he found foothold there. The name of
that land was Onouna; it was very far to the west.
After this the story coincides with the Tarawa account, but
gives the extra detail that the name of Nei Katura’s father was
Terabanga.
34
Ancestral Lands
Table 1. Gilbertese place names compared with those in the East

Indies
GILBERTESE INDONESIAN
Bankai Banka (Sumatra)

(Butaritari)
Bangai Bangka (N. Celebes), Banggai (E. Celebes)

(Tabiteuea)
Matang Mattang (Sarawak), Majang (SW Borneo), Matan

(general) (SW Borneo), Medan (NE Sumatra) Medang (NE
Sumatra), Mutan (Celebes)
Katabanga Ketapang (Java)

(general)
Bare (general) Bali, Pare-pare (Celebes)
Beru Berou (Borneo), Berou (N. New Guinea)
Birewan Palawan (Philippines)

(Butaritari)
Kuma Kumai (Borneo)

(Butaritari)
Tabanga Sabang (Sumatra)

(general)
Abaiti Sawai (Ceram)

(Butaritari)
Tawaiti Sawai (Ceram)

(Tarawa)
Tarawa Talowa (Celebes), Salawaiti (N. New Guinea)
35
Tungaru Traditions
Onouna Onin (NW New Guinea), Unauna (Celebes)

(Butaritari,
Tarawa
Tabiteuea)
Bouru Bouru Island, Pulu Babi (NW Sumatra)

(Banaba)
Mwaiku Weigiu (N. New Guinea)

(Tarawa)
Mwaikiu Weigiu (N. New Guinea)

(Butaritari,
Makin)
Bikati Bekasi (Java)

(Butaritari)
Banaba Palopa (Celebes)
Betio (Tarawa, Pidjiu (Lombok)

pronounced
Bedjio)
Kota (Makin) Kota Baru (Sumatra, Borneo)
Taribo (Makin, Taliabo Island

Nonouti)
Teranga Serang (Ceram)

(Marakei)
Terangaba Serang (Ceram)

(land of
Teranga)
Kiroro Gilolo
(Butaritari)
Obu (Makin) Obi Islands
36
Ancestral Lands
Manra Banda Islands

(general)
Balo, Baro Palu (Celebes)

(Makin)
Marira Manila (Philippines)
Mire Miri (Borneo)

(Butaritari)
Mangiree Mangerai (W. Flores)

(Makin)
LOCALITY OF MONE
BUTARITARI
Mone is said by the people of Butaritari and Makin to lie i
nano. This word has two meanings: either “down below”/“in the
depths,” or “in the west” (where the sun goes into the depths).
The Makin people and the Gilbertese generally apply i nano
to Mone, intending to signify that this land is in the depths, but
it is significant to note that Mone is not in the depths on the
eastern side of any island; it is on the western side.
If we assume that Mone is one of the ancestral lands in the
west, we have in all the tales concerning “Mone-in-the-depths”
another illustration of Müller’s hypothesis. The sense of the
word i nano was lost; another meaning has been attached to it,
and on this interpretation has been built up a whole series of
mythical details concerning a land under the sea.
Nei Momatie-ni-Mone is the spirit on the western side of the
island who sets up the wall of invisibility (kibenanimata) which
prevents people from seeing the spirits of Mone. On the eastern
side there is a spirit named Nei Teramera who prevents de-
parting shades from going east, saying “There is no land here.”
37
Tungaru Traditions
AURIARIA, NEI TITUABINE, AND THE LAND OF

MATANG
BANABA
Nei Tituabine was indeed an inhabitant of Matang, in the west,
and there was also a certain inhabitant of Matang, her brother,
whose name was Auriaria, and his wife was Nei Tewenei. That
company went on living in Matang; and the manner of them was
that they were High Chiefs.
Auriaria was of exceeding beauty, he was red-skinned and of
a giant’s stature, and he was courted by the women of that land.
Auriaria went abroad one day, and he met with Nei Titu-
abine. She was a woman of unequalled beauty, for she also was
red-skinned, and the pupils of her eyes flashed, even as it were
the lightning in heaven. The man went towards her, and when
he came to her he said thus: “Woman, how great in me is the
love of thee.” As for her, she answered saying thus: “Sir, I also
indeed love thee.” And behold! Auriaria committed incest with
that sister of his, Nei Tituabine.
And Nei Tewenei, the wife of Auriaria, was angry when
she heard, for she was jealous; and so she ran away from her
husband. She mounted on her canoe, she travelled eastwards,
she came to Tarawa. She stayed a while at Tarawa, and again
she set forth to Maiana; she settled on that land, and she named
the place where she settled Arinnanona. 2
And Auriaria did not cease to make love with Nei Tituabine,
but he begot no children upon her. And behold! Nei Tituabine
fell ill. She felt her death approaching and she spoke to that
man, saying: “How sad it is now that I am about to die, and
there is no child of mine to remain with thee as the comforter of
thy sorrow! But come, still thy heart, for there is a thing which
shall grow as a memorial of me with thee. When I die, thou shalt
bury me, and thou shalt await the tree which shall grow over
me; and if any [tree] grow, thou shalt care for it.”
She died and Auriaria buried her. A while passed, and a tree
grew from the top of her head, even the coconut. And a second
tree grew from her navel, the almond; 3 and the third grew from
her heels, the pandanus. These were the things that grew from
within the body of Nei Tituabine and they remained after her
as the comforters of Auriaria’s sorrow; for when he drank a co-
conut he rubbed noses with her; 4 and when he was wrapped
in his sleeping-mat he met her body; 5 and his food, the first-
fruits of the pandanus and the almond, was also the body of that
woman.
38
Ancestral Lands
And those trees, indeed, were carried by Auriaria wherever

he voyaged, as a memorial of Nei Tituabine forever.
We can recognize the western land of Matang pictured in
this myth as the place populated by the betel-chewing, fair-
skinned ancestral deities of the renga-Paradise traditions, 6 and
as the ancient fatherland of the head-hunting Tree-folk, the
tawny-skinned Breed of Matang, with their deities Auriaria and
Nei Tituabine. 7
According to one set of tales, concerned chiefly with the
voyages and adventures of Auriaria, Matang is a four-square
island, peopled by “old gods” (antin ikawai), unattainable by
human beings because when approached it either “flies to
heaven” or “sinks beneath the sea.” This Matang is believed
by some chroniclers to lie near Samoa, but others believe it
is placed next to the Land of Bouru in the west—an associa-
tion that is confirmed in the renga-Paradise traditions. The “old
gods” who rule the land are Tangaroa with his brothers Timirau,
Taubareroa, Rabaraba, Teborata, and Bwebwe-n-renga. All
these are the “fathers” of the heroine, Nei Tituabine, whose
picture (as already described in the text) is that of a beautiful
red-skinned girl with eyes as bright as lightning.
This association of Nei Tituabine with lightning is not merely
figurative. In traditional stories the red lightning of the westerly
storm-clouds is sometimes called “the renga of Nei Tituabine”;
8
both in the Matang stories and in general tradition, her ap-
pearance upon the scene is commonly pictured as being her-
alded by a lightning flash. The lightning is said by some to take
vengeance upon those who disturb her totem creature at sea,
the giant ray, 9 while any person (whatever his totem group may
be) who consistently abstains from molesting this creature is
believed to be safe from the lightning flash if any kind of ray ap-
pears in his vicinity during a storm. Although Nei Tituabine is
no longer recognized as a “departmental” deity of lightning, she
once occupied that position in the pantheon of the Gilbertese
forefathers. This serves to stress her family likeness to all those
other gods sprung from the Ancestral Tree—the red-skinned
eaters of renga in the land of Matang—whose astronomical and
meteorological associations are so plainly marked: Nei Tewenei,
the Meteor; Riki, the Milky Way; Tabuariki, the Thunderer; and,
above all, her brother-paramour, the presiding spirit of the Tree,
Auriaria, whom the evidence records as a Sun-god.
The tradition of redness, or fairness of skin, which has been
seen to cling so closely to the people and gods of Matang, is well
supported in our myth, and is further emphasized by two useful
39
Tungaru Traditions
pieces of social evidence. The first is that the tedious bleaching

process called te ko, 10 to which Gilbertese girls of high rank
were once subjected, was undertaken with the avowed intention
of reproducing the ancient fairness of the Matang people, and
the second is that when Europeans first appeared in the Gilbert
Group, they were immediately called, because of their fair com-
plexion, I-Matang (inhabitants of Matang), a name that they
bear today.
In the domain of material culture, the name of Matang is
found attached to the weapon known as te koro-matang, a heavy
cigar-shaped throwing stick, pointed at both ends, formerly
much used in war. As a land name it is ubiquitous, there being
no Gilbert island without its Matang. As a plant name, it belongs
to a variety of pandanus tree, te Ara-matang, still cultivated in
the Gilberts. 11
It is such small concrete facts which, linking themselves
with the evidence of tradition, help to set the original Matang
within the category of material realities.
40
Animals
CATS
BUTARITARI
When cats were new to Butaritari (they seem to have first been
brought by whalers in the 1840s) they were much prized. They
were treated as human beings and were adopted as children
and grandchildren. Land was given to the person who adopted
a cat, under the title of te ban uri, 1 exactly as in the case of
human beings. When two cats were mated, the full ritual of the
marriage ceremony was performed over them. 2
DOGS
The dog (te kiri) was considered a great delicacy, but under the
influence of European ideas it is no longer eaten, the Gilbertese
being now almost ashamed when reminded that dog-flesh once
formed part of their diet. 3
It is commonly believed that dogs were first introduced into
the Gilberts by Europeans, but this is an error. Island tradition
speaks of a dog being owned by a Beruan called Teikake when
Tewatu of Matang landed on Beru twenty or more generations
ago.
The warrior Uakeia is also reported to have owned a dog,
which he fed exclusively on fish. For this reason, when he had
conquered an island, he always seized the islets and the extrem-
ities of the land where fish were plentiful.
Six generations ago a Tarawan named Tokitoba is said to
have owned a dog, and there are still old men living who re-
member as children hearing of dogs before the first reintro-
duction of the species by Europeans.
41
Tungaru Traditions
It seems, however, that native dogs were becoming scarcer

and scarcer during the generations preceding the coming of the
Flag, so that at the arrival of the British Government in 1892 it
is doubtful if there were any animals of the indigenous breed in
the Gilbert Group.
42
Archaeology
THE TERRACES ON BANABA

On the eastern coasts of Banaba, where the land goes down to
the beaches, are to be seen long terraces or platforms perched
upon the bedrock. From the beaches (which they overhang) the
fronts of these terraces, always facing east, look like sea-walls.
The method of construction seems to have been first to build
walls of uncemented rocks along the edge of the bedrock, and
then to fill in the space behind them with stones and earth.
When the filling was brought flush with the tops of the walls it
was levelled and covered with a few inches of white shingle.
The platforms were made by the unmarried men of the
various villages. They do not seem to have been the property of
any single family or any particular village.
Here the boys of the island gathered, played, and slept, from
the age of about eight or nine until they married. No woman was
allowed in or near the neighbourhood.
The semi-banishment of the unmarried boys to the terraces
seems to have been the Banaban equivalent of the Gilbertese
practice of isolating the young men on the eastern side of the
island. But whereas, in the Gilberts, the boy’s only companion
and instructor was his grandfather or adoptive grandfather, a
Banaban youth had plenty of friends around him—in fact, a
whole colony of them.
So it was on the eastern side of the island, in a condition
of ordered seclusion, that the Banaban boy learned the arts of
life. His senior male relatives would visit him periodically and
instruct him in the use of weapons, the science of itau ‘boxing’
and the various forms of magic.
43
Tungaru Traditions
The terrace of Aon Neina, showing the Karieta canoe sheds and the
stone boua of the former Karieta maneaba. (Maude photo, repro-
ducedfrom Journal of the Polynesian Society, Maude and Maude 1932,
Figure 6)
Boys were not confined to the terraces for the whole period
of their adolescence. They might return from time to time to
their villages and sleep in their parents’ houses. Then at the
command of their father they would be sent off again for a
definite period, ranging from one to six months, rather as an
English boy is sent to boarding school.
During their residence on the terrace, the boys had no do-
mestic cares. Their food was brought from the villages by male
relations.
The sleeping houses were built on the terraces back from
the sea, leaving a clear space some twenty paces wide to the
edge of the containing wall.
One of the terraces is now overgrown with weeds, scrub,
and even large pemphis trees. Another is in much better con-
dition and, as I have found out, is kept in repair by the fast-dying
generation of old Banaban men who still remember past days. It
is by far the larger of the two I have examined.
Some ten feet back from the edge of the sea-wall is a line
of stone monuments, which at once excite attention. The middle
monument (there are seven in all) is composed of large blocks
44
Archaeology
or slabs of stone which seem to have become disarranged with

the passage of years. Their arrangement, however, still suggests
that formerly they formed a table-like group.
As they lie at present there are two slabs much wider and
longer than the rest lying upon a group of smaller and more ir-
regular stones, some five or six in number. Several slabs of a
containing wall are still to be seen.
Flanking this “table,” three on either side, are monuments
of uniform design. Each consists of a central stone—a small
monolith some two feet high—set on end in the earth and sur-
rounded by four flat stones lying about its base.
The flat stones are of irregular size, some much smaller than
others, but the number (four) is always uniform. The central
monolith is in every case larger at the top than at the base. The
shape recalls vaguely that of a human head and neck, or at least
it suggests the possibility that it might have been a head and
neck when the race was more skilled in stone work.
The ruins of a small hut still stand on the terrace. It is well
back towards the landward edge, immediately in line with the
central tablelike structure of flat stones. A few feet in front of
its northern corner-post lies a large flat slab of stone which was
probably a seat.
Perched among the rocky pinnacles by the sea, in the neigh-
bourhood of the terrace, are numerous small platforms, coun-
terparts in miniature of the terrace itself, but big enough only to
hold one sitting man. Sometimes these private magic platforms
were made of a single flat stone. These were the places where
the young men perched to do the magic called kauti.
This was performed at sunrise every morning, facing east. It
consisted of a ritual washing with salt water contained in a co-
conut shell. The main part of the ceremony was that the rising
sun must be faced, just as the main object in sending a boy to
the terrace was to make him face the sun in his sleep. From the
sun came the essential principles of health and strength, which
made him a good warrior. 1
STONE MONUMENTS
BANABA
Beside many Banaban houses are to be seen stones which are
pointed out by the Islanders as bakatibu ‘ancestors’. They all
have personal names, whether male or female. They often have
a very rough semblance to the human form, and whatever their
45
Tungaru Traditions
shape may be, they always have one end called definitely the
“head” and another the “feet.” The stones do not generally
exceed a couple of feet in length. Some of them simply lie on the
ground; others show only their upper parts above the soil. Many
of them seem to be merely the tops of pinnacles of the solid bed-
rock of the island.
Although these stones are called “ancestors,” direct ge-
nealogical enquiry always meets a blank wall. One may easily
trace a line back to the ancestor who carried (or is reputed to
have carried) a stone with him when his canoe first came to
Banaba. One may also find out that a particular stone was once
an actual person, who landed with a certain canoe’s crew and
was related to one of the crew who became a true ancestor. But
I have never yet succeeded in proving genealogically that one
of these ancestral stones was supposed to be an ancestor from
whom a particular local line sprang. If one asks a Banaban if he
or she is directly descended from such a stone, the answer will
always be in the negative.
In the village of Tabiang, on the south coast of Banaba, there
are two stones named respectively Ketoa (a man) and Kara-
makuna (a woman: Ketoa’s wife). In the traditional tale, these
two landed from a canoe near Tabiang with another man, whose
name was Bakauaneku. They both became stones on landing.
Bakauaneku underwent a similar change and can be seen on the
reef at low tide.
46
Archaeology
Figure 4. Banaba. Boundaries show village districts.
47
Birth
PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH

When a woman was known to be pregnant her condition was
kept secret, for fear of those who by sorcery [te wawi or te
wauna] might contrive the death of mother and child. 1 The re-
mains of all her food were retained, as was everything that
touched her body.
When it was visible to all that she was pregnant a piece
of land was prepared for her on the ocean beach. To this she
was taken for the ceremony called eremao ‘cutting of the mao
scrub’, with the incantations called eremao and marainai. She
was given to wear a girdle made of the bark of the kanawa tree
twisted into strands. This was when she was in her sixth month.
When the time of delivery arrived, a midwife came to
prepare her with tabunea known as te tobi. And when she was
in labour, she sat before another woman called the deliverer (tia
katoka) who also employed an appropriate tabunea. If the de-
livery was long or painful she was given a magic potion to drink
by a third woman, who awaited such an event.
When the child was born, it remained three days in the
house of its birth and was then said to have “completed its days
in the House of Spirits”—the chief spirit to appease with spells
being Nei Aibong of the horizon.
After three days the child was taken to another house and
was said to “enter the House of Man.” Its mats and coverings
were all changed for new. The clan welcomed the child with a
feast and a dance in which its luck was intoned.
The nursing mother was forbidden to walk in the sun, be-
cause it was considered bad for the milk. When, rarely, she went
out she covered her head with a mat and her breasts with a riri.
48
Birth
Mother and child. (Carmichael & Knox-

Mawer 1968, 20 pp. after p. 40)
Only two foods were allowed her: karuoruo [fresh toddy] and
fish. Of all fish, the beach crab was said to give the richest milk.
She would have no sexual connection for a year. 2
BIRTH ON BUTARITARI
The midwife cut the cord. The child was named by mother and
father (merely a matter of arrangement). The name was chosen
from among the ancestors of the man or woman.
49
Tungaru Traditions
BIRTH ON NONOUTI
When the fragment of umbilical cord falls from the child’s navel,
it is carefully preserved in an uri [Guettarda speciosa] leaf until
the child is old enough to walk. The leaf is then put into the
child’s hand, and he or she is told to throw it into the sea. If the
child throws it far out, he or she will be a great voyager.
The child’s stool is preserved in a leaf and buried in a hole
far from any fire. The belief is that if it is burned the child will
become a leper.
TE WAUNA ‘DEATH MAGIC’

NEI TEKOTARA (ABOUT 65), MARAKEI
A tikunei ‘small grey lizard’ was caught from a coconut trunk
and put alive into a binobino ‘coconut shell’. A cork was then
made from the midrib of a leaf, and the binobino stoppered with
it. This was held in the left hand and gently tapped on the cork
with the palm of the right hand. The accompanying tabunea was
as follows:
Tikunei, tikunei
E reke ran natin neienne?
E reke bain natin neienne!
E reke nukan natin neienne!
E reke waen natin neienne!
Tikunei, tikunei!
Tikunei, tikunei.
What part have you got of that woman’s child?
I have the hands of that woman’s child!
I have the waist of that woman’s child!
I have the feet of that woman’s child!
Tikunei, tikunei.
There is no orientation prescribed when reciting the tabunea,

which should be repeated three times at the point of dawn,
three times at noon, and three times after sunset, every day
until the child dies.
50
Birth
Bonotana ‘the antidote’

Te kora ae bukimangarua (string made from the bukiman-
garua—an insect with a forked tail) was tied round the mother’s
big toe in a double strand, just before sleeping. The tabunea, re-
peated three times, was:
Taeka ni Korariki, Koranaba. E rairaki newena,

ba Kabuaia; a baka Kanoannano n ana bai arei n
aki tiaia te wawi te buawarawara. Tiringa be
a ma. Tiringa, boia-o, taona-o, Kamate!
You should not eat or smoke if you awake at night. The charm
remained on until worn off; but the tabunea was not repeated.
51
Body Care and Adornment
BEAUTY TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN

On the day after birth the cheeks were pricked gently with a
piece of stiff grass to form dimples (maningare) at the corners
of the mouth.
A Tabiteuean baby. (Phelan 1958, 80)
52
The nose was gently pinched and stroked upwards on either

side every day for about two years in order to make it thin. Flat
noses were definitely not liked.
The baby was held with its body away from its mother’s body
and the feet on its mother’s chest and encouraged to push with
its feet to make the legs and thighs fat.
The fingertips were pinched to make them taper.
Lips were lifted and pinched so as to encourage a pout, flat
(babu) lips being disliked.
The pelvis of girls was massaged to make it broad.
EAR PIERCING
The ear-lobes of a boy or girl were not pierced until the subject
was twelve to fourteen years old. The operator was usually a
member of the family, on either the father’s or mother’s side,
but this was not essential. The instrument used was a skewer-
like piece of wood, called kangeri [“comb,” lit. “make-curl” be-
cause it was used also for teasing the hair into curls]. This was
generally made of pemphis wood and so could be sharpened to
a very fine, hard point. Early morning was the time for the op-
eration.
The operator sat facing the subject. As a pad to support the
lobe of
the ear, he used the half of a nimoimoi (a very young coconut,
just developed and not more than an inch in diameter).
He began on the right ear. Holding the “pad” in his left hand,
he inserted it behind the lobe so that the lobe lay on its flat
surface and was turned towards him. Then he pierced the flesh
with the kangeri. Immediately withdrawing the instrument, he
then introduced a stalk of smooth grass into the puncture, and
left it there. The same process was repeated on the left ear, the
pad being held now in the right hand of the operator.
In the evening, hot water was used to soften the clotted
blood and the stalks of grass were removed. It was recognized
that the fomentations had definite curative properties. When
the grass stalks had been taken out, they were replaced by
slightly thicker stalks. On the following morning, exactly the
same thing happened; and so on, morning and evening every
day, the grass being thickened at each sitting. When the largest
size of grass had been reached, the stalks of the leaves of the
bingibing [Thespesia populnea?] in ascending thickness were
inserted; and when the limit of these was arrived at, young
53
Tungaru Traditions
A girl from Beru, 1841. (Wilkes, 5:67)
babai [Cyrtosperma chamis sonis] stalks were employed. This

process gradually distended each lobe until, in about three
weeks’ time, the aperture would receive a stalk about as thick
as the thumb. This was the size generally recognized as the
normal standard by the Gilbertese.
The lobes of the patient’s ears were probably sore and fes-
tering at this point. Healing methods were now used. Leaves
of the mao [Scaevola tac cada] were picked and their midribs
removed; they were then rolled into cylinders of the requisite
size (a thumb’s thickness), heated at the fire, and inserted in
the apertures. The fomentations of hot water were continued
morning and evening, when these were replaced by new rolls.
When the outside edges of the wounds became clean, but
still a little rawness remained within the ring, the cylinders of
mao leaf were replaced by rolls of manibwebwe, which is the
glossy sun-dried skin taken from the underside of a pandanus
leaf. A week or so after this, the earlobes would be healed.
54
Those who wished to have larger apertures could proceed

from this point. The process of enlargement by the “wet” or un-
healed method was never carried further than that described
above. Any further distension must be effected by working on
the healed lobe.
It is said by the Islanders that some (but only a few) lobes
healed “soft,” free of fibrous lumps in the tissue. The majority
of lobes contained one such tumour (koran) which must be re-
moved before further distension could be achieved. The method
of removal was to cut down to the koran with a piece of shell,
making the incision inside the ring of the aperture; then with a
piece of coconut riblet the fibrous lump was fished up and ex-
posed, and cut away with the shell.
After this the lobe was simply stretched gradually by in-
serting articles of increasing size. The limit of size was usually
considered to have been reached when the loop of the lobe
could just be taken over the top of the ear. In this way it was
carried when not in use.
No magico-religious rituals or beliefs appear to be con-
nected with the piercing of the lobe. The old men of today, most
of whom have this personal adornment, consider it simply a
practical means of beautifying the person. Both men and women
used it, no particular size being reserved for one sex or the
other. Any object which appealed to the aesthetic taste of the
man or woman might be worn in the aperture. On Butaritari in
1922 I saw an old man carrying in one lobe his pipe and in an-
other a small red fish. Most generally seen as ear ornaments
among the elder people are rolls of golden-yellow pandanus leaf
burnished with scented oil, and the sweet-smelling sheath of the
pandanus bloom. Rosettes and ornaments made of the pith (uto)
of the Scaevola shrub were commonly used in the past.
There seems to have been no method of joining together the
ends of a ruptured lobe.
PUBIC HAIR
Everything possible was done by women to promote their pubic
hair. Those without were called biangenge, iku, or katimaran,
and the condition was felt to be so shameful that some were
known to have refused to be delivered of children and to have
died as a consequence. Pubic hair was, however, kept short.
55
Tungaru Traditions
INCISION
Incision was formerly unknown, and was introduced by
Gilbertese who had returned from the Mission School at Kusaie
[Kosrae]. It later became rather popular.
The prepuce was sometimes pierced on its upper side for
inserting a flower during pre-coital love-making; or a feather
might be inserted as a vaginal tickler during intercourse.
56
Canoes and Navigation
TERMS FOR LANDFALL

Certain terms were used to describe the appearance of the land
from a canoe. The general term for landfall was te mwi. There
were four kinds of mwi:
a. Te bono ‘the closed’: descriptive of the trees which, when

seen from close inshore, form an unbroken line.
b. Te rawarawa ‘the interspaced’: when more distant, the
smaller trees disappear, leaving gaps between those still
visible.
c. Te burabura ‘the similitude’: when just visible, sitting on a
canoe.
d. Te eko-mauna ‘the disappearing’: when visible only from the
crest of a wave.
SEA-MARKS (BETIA)
As Europeans use landmarks, so the Gilbertese ancestors relied
upon sea-marks to check their daily position. These signposts in
mid-ocean consisted of swarms of fish, flocks of birds, groups of
driftwood, or conditions of wave and sky, discovered—and once
discovered never forgotten—to be peculiar to certain zones of
the sea. Hundreds of such traditional betia were stored up in
the race memory as a result of the cumulative experience of
generations. It is difficult for us to appreciate how very con-
crete and significant to the native mariner were the signs of
sea and sky which to us seem so precarious. The people had, in
fact, a sea sense which we do not possess in anything like the
same degree, and it was obviously this gift more than any other
57
Tungaru Traditions
agency which guided their migrant ancestors safe to land across

a vast and strange ocean where their star lore could no longer
serve them.
The betia listed in Table 2 are relevant to travel between is-
lands of the Gilbert Group and should be read from the view-
point of a navigator whose home port was Butaritari, in the
extreme north. Although thus local in their application, they do
serve to suggest the bold technique, the shrewd observation,
which enabled the ancestors to undertake voyages of immensely
greater duration.
Table 2. Sea-marks and sailing directions, from a base at Butaritari
DESIGNATION OF SAILING DIRECTIONS
BETIA
Nao aika If the navigator, northward bound during the season of

uabwi ma SE trade winds, overshoots Butaritari or Little Makin,
itua he will come to a zone of ocean where a series of 27
(the waves rises from time to time as if from under the sea
twenty-seven and travels past him from north to south across any
waves) prevailing swell. From this, he will know that Little
Makin is half a day’s sail to southward.
Te tannang Farther north than the 27 waves, the trade wind will
(the change be found to change from SE to NE. This warns the
of wind) mariner that he is not less than two days’ sail to north
of Little Makin.
Te mabubu Farther still to northward, the voyager runs into a belt

(the mist or of low visibility which indicates that he is in the
low latitude of Taaruti—i.e. Jaluit Island, E Marshalls,
visibility) about 250 miles NW of Little Makin—and must run
west for two or three days before he can make land.
Eastward of Kosrae [called Kurae in the Gilberts] is
the fish called makeni karawa (species of garfish),
which leaps in great numbers from the sea. Farther to
eastward still, two days’ sail from land, are seen
turtles in pairs, one of which jumps from the sea when
approached while the other dives.
58
BETIA
Te kainiman This betia is a zone of the sea to eastward of

(the Butaritari, a day’s sail downwind to land; it is
swarming of recognized by the presence of extraordinary numbers
beasts) of the shark called te ngarei—a much dreaded variety
of the Grey Nurse family. Another name for the region
is Te onibakoa (the enclosure of sharks).
Te onibakoa A second onibakoa is recognized by the sailor to

(the eastward of Little Makin, half a day’s sail offshore.
enclosure of This betia is distinguished from the preceding one by
sharks) its numerous red-tailed tropic-birds (Phaeton
rubricauda).
Te To NE of Little Makin, a day’s sail from land, is a zone

baiburebure of sea teeming with the species of shark called
(the mottled baiburebure, the tips of whose fins are touched with
fin) ivory-white markings.
Te kiban SW of Little Makin, due west of Abaiang, and NW of

onauti Maiana, the navigator recognizes a region where the
(the leaping flying fish habitually leap in pairs from the sea, flying
of flying fish) one just below the other and ultimately plunging
together back into the waves.
Bikeni Due east of a middle point between Marakei and Little

Karakara Makin the navigator knows of a small sandy islet,
(the growing which he calls Bikeni Karakara. (The existence of this
islet) tiny uncharted island, about 60 miles to eastward of
the two islands named, is confirmed by European
master-mariners.)1
Wan Nareau A betia to westward of Abaiang, half a day’s sail, is a

(the canoe of zone frequented by innumerable jellyfish of the sort
Nareau) called wan Nareau.
59
Tungaru Traditions
BETIA
Unnamed The traveller knows that he is nearly in sight of the

betia of north end of Abaiang, but has fallen away to
birds westward, when he sees numerous terns flying in
pairs, of which one bird continually revolves about the
other.
Unnamed Farther to westward than the seabirds, a day’s beat

betia of away from land, is recognized a region frequented by
porpoise schools of a very large variety of porpoise (possibly
blackfish), each one four fathoms long.
Nei Roba Due south of Marakei, just out of sight of land, is

(a kind of encountered Net Roba—a large periodical wave,
wave) travelling due north, across any prevailing swell, with
curling crest as if ready to break.
Te kia Half a day’s sail farther south than Nei Roba, and NE
(a kind of of Tarawa, the traveller runs into Te kia—a series of
wave) large waves also passing north across the swell. These
waves are not crested, but have troubled flanks.
Unnamed Between Tarawa and Maiana the voyager encounters

betia porpoises in pairs, whose heads are always pointed in
the direction of the passage into Tarawa lagoon at the
place called Bairiki. (It is quite possible that these
porpoises would be feeding on some sort of food swept
out of Bairiki passage by the tide race of the lagoon at
falling water.)
Unnamed A betia to the west of Maiana, just out of sight of land,

betia was a submerged reef, some 6 fathoms below the
surface. This reef is said by old navigators to stretch
SW to the southern point of Aranuka, some 60 miles
away. It is a haunt of porpoises.
Te kaibaba Far to westward of Abemama, half a day’s sail

(cross-seas) downwind to Banaba, is found Te kaibaba—a frequent
succession of large waves sweeping from north to
60
BETIA
south across the swell. (This betia is estimated to lie

about 300 miles distant from the Butaritari navigator’s
home.)
Te The sea-mark known as Te arabungea lies far to

Arabungea westward of Tamana; it is described as a succession of
(a condition shining streaks upon the sea’s surface forming a great
of the sea’s V-shaped figure. One arm of the V is said to point
surface) towards Tamana, the other towards Tabiteuea. The
season of trade winds is here postulated as elsewhere.
(The island of Tamana lies about 350 miles distant
from Butaritari.)
Mani Kabaki This betia consists of a scattered line of leaves and

(the fish-trap other drift far to westward of Banaba, which stretches
of Kabaki) from the line of northern islands (Carolines) in a
south-easterly direction towards Samoa. It is said that
by following this line a navigator could reach as far
south as Samoa, but would find great difficulty in
beating up to land from the point where the drift
began to fail him. For purposes of local navigation, the
Mani Kabaki is called the toki, or safety limit, to
westward.2
1. In the sixty years during which I have been associated with

the Gilbert Islands I have never succeeded in authenticating a
sighting of Bikeni Karakara, nor have I seen it myself though I
have searched the area around its supposed location on
schooner passages from Butaritari to the southern islands.
During World War II, furthermore, innumerable U.S. planes
must have flown over the area without, so far as I have been
able to ascertain, anyone reporting a reef in the vicinity. Hence
I conclude that the atoll is now submerged. See also Heyen
1937, 1.—Ed.
2. For comments on Gilbertese betia see Lewis 1972, 114, 215,
249, 319–320.—Ed.
61
Tungaru Traditions
SAFETY LIMIT (TOKI) TO WESTWARD

There were certain traditional signs by which navigators judged
their distance westward of the land. The safety limit to leeward
(i.e., westward in the season of the trade winds) was the “fish-
trap of Kabaki.” It consisted of a line of leaves and rubbish scat-
tered over the sea from Makin to Samoa, far to the westward
of the land. This was possibly rubbish being carried by some
current.
The sea was said to slope sharply down to westward (batete
rio) beyond this limit, and return was difficult. If a craft fell
away farther to leeward it came eventually to a second limit
(toki), which was a region of ariki ‘dead calm’. The frequenter
of these waters was a gigantic fish called te Uu, which sucked
canoes and their occupants into its mouth and swallowed them
whole.
The third toki, farther west again, was called Wenei n Anti
‘shooting star of spirits’. In this place a man had two shadows.
If he looked at his sail his shadow was there, and if he looked at
the water his shadow was there too.
The fourth toki was recognized by the appearance of a bird,
te mataba, whose cry was continually “I a kawa, I a kawa” (“I
am unhappy, I am unhappy”). And in this place it was hopeless
to think of a return, for the sea sloped sharper still to westward
and the waves rushed like a river (karanga) downhill.
The fifth and last toki was called Te Uabuki te re ‘the
capsize’. Any craft coming so far was doomed. The water rose
in confused waves all around it with no direction, and it was
sucked down into the depths.
CHANGES IN CANOE TYPES

The ancestors made their wonderful migrations in canoes pre-
sumably of similar construction to the modern craft, 1 having
hulls built up of planks lashed together with string. When we
seek evidence from traditional tales [rather than from material
culture], the account of the building of the kaburoro canoe
leaves small room for doubt that, during their sojourn in the
southern land called Tamoa, the Gilbertese ancestors used the
built-up type of vessel having a single outrigger and float. 2 That
a craft composed of two hulls was once known to the race is im-
plied by the name baurua (Ellice Islands foulua ‘double canoe’)
given to deep-water vessels of the type pictured in my paper of
62
A 100-foot baurua under construction at Tabiteuea in 1939. (Maude

photo)
1924. 3 Until quite recently, the Gilbertese were in the habit of

removing the float of a large canoe and replacing it with the
hull of a smaller craft, for the purpose of giving the outrigger a
greater carrying capacity whenever necessary
A very characteristic feature of the Gilbertese hull-form is
its intentional asymmetry, ingeniously designed with a view
to counteracting the drag of the float. 4 An apparently similar
asymmetry has been noted in reports from other areas, but I
believe myself to have been the first to discover and explain
its mechanical significance. This feature of construction de-
serves further research, inasmuch as it involves a fundamental
mechanical principle which would tend to survive all material
changes dictated by accident or environment.
As far as general form is concerned, a multitude of varying
conditions (especially those connected with the quality and size
of available timbers) may have caused profound local modi-
fications of the original hull-construction since the race scat-
tered to different groups from Samoa. A splendid example of the
changes that environment can effect is afforded in the canoes of
the Gilbertese-speaking population of Nui, in the Ellice Group.
Fugitives from the Gilbert Islands of Tabiteuea, Beru, and
Nonouti, some ten generations ago, were forced to find a new
home upon Nui. And these people (though preserving their
original speech, traditions, and social organization remarkably
63
Tungaru Traditions
Modern Tabiteuean baurua, showing outrigger. (Maude photo)
intact) have, for the past four generations at least, entirely

abandoned the built-up type of canoe and adopted the dug-out
form. I am indebted to H. E. Maude, a Cambridge University an-
thropologist, for confirmation of my observation of this fact, and
for the extremely important additional information that the Nui
folk have not even preserved that most typical, effective, and
easily made adjunct of Gilbertese canoes—the Y-shaped stick
attachment between outrigger and float.
So much for the durability of material forms, when ordinary
common sense dictates their abandonment. The obvious reason
for the radical change effected at Nui was that the dug-out type
of craft seen in the Ellice Islands (with its strength of hull and
compact outrigger and float) was better suited to local reef con-
ditions than the Gilbertese vessel and its appurtenances—and
much more easily built, owing to the plentiful supply of fairly
soft and moderately large timber. Such ready response by
Oceanic races to local exigencies, and such eagerness to em-
64
brace new ideas—involving the wholesale replacement of one

form by another—are too seldom recognized by students of ma-
terial culture.
In making the following recantation, I shall not only correct
a piece of bad ethnography which I heartily deplore, but shall
also afford an excellent illustration of the manner in which im-
portant features of material culture can be obliterated. In 1924
I stated that both hulls and float attachments on the island of
Banaba (where the population is Gilbertese) assimilated closely
to those pictured by Hedley from Funafuti. 5 The notes and
sketches upon which I based this report were made early in
1920, in two of the island’s four villages. Further research has
shown that the craft that I observed were not of Banaban con-
struction at all, having been the imported canoes of Ellice Is-
lands labourers employed in the local phosphate industry. The
Banaban population learned in the course of twenty years to ap-
preciate the value of Ellice Islands canoes for reef work, and ac-
quired the habit of buying such craft from their owners when
the latter completed their indentures and went home. In this
manner, the true Banaban canoe was ousted from the two vil-
lages nearest to the settlement of the Ellice Islanders. In 1922,
however, Ellice labourers ceased to be employed at Banaba, and
the supply of new canoes consequently failed at its source. The
local timber being extremely hard, and so unsuitable for the
easy manufacture of dug-outs, the Banabans never learned to
make these craft for themselves. When the purchased canoes
wore out, they were therefore replaced by vessels of the built-
up type (boards being easy to buy), and the island reverted to
its own methods of construction.
When the example of Nui is considered, no reasonable doubt
can exist that, had there grown upon Banaba a timber from
which Ellice Islands canoes could have been easily made, the
Banabans would have adopted the new form in favour of their
own, because of its superior utility under the conditions set by
their lagoonless island.
Traditional evidence indicates that the Gilbertese appear
to have migrated into the Pacific from Indonesia. It therefore
seems very significant that the portion of Indonesia plotted out
by Haddon as the present focus of outrigger canoes is almost ex-
actly the area to which local tradition points as the pre-Oceanic
fatherland. Haddon’s commentary upon the evidence examined
by him is worth quoting in full:
65
Tungaru Traditions
It is legitimate to suppose that from Indonesia, if not actually

from the Moluccas, migrations took place at various times, each
with its special type of canoe or with some partial modification.
As a general rule one might expect to find that the earlier types
of canoes or of outriggers were those that went furthest, and
those that started last would have a more limited distribution;
but we must also remember that the later swarms would be more
civilised and have a better technical equipment, and thus some of
them may have passed over earlier layers and have reached a far
destination. 6
CEREMONIES OBSERVED AT LAUNCHING A NEW

CANOE
ABAIANG
At the point of dawn the new canoe was carried from its shed by
the builder and his helpers and laid out on the shoal, pointing
east and west, with its outrigger to the windward side.
If the tide was out, the keel of the canoe would be supported
on several green unhusked coconuts; if the tide was high, it
would merely float.
The fan-shaped ends of coconut leaves were then laid (one
each) on the stem, stern, and outrigger of the craft, so that their
tips were pointed outwards and overhung the water. These were
to frighten away the evil spirits and fish that might do it harm.
Upon the leaves were laid green coconuts, babai, and any
other sort of food available, in small quantities. These constitute
the food of the evil spirits, to divert their attention from the
canoe itself.
While these various objects were being laid on the craft, in-
cantations of the usual sort were muttered, the performers of
the ceremony facing eastward.
This done, the canoe was left to lie until just before sunset
on the same day. At this hour the same company proceeded to
the canoe and threw all the food thereon into the sea; the co-
conut leaves being also cast away. These were supposed to drift
away into the mouths of the various spirits and fishes that might
do the craft injury, thus acting as a peace offering.
The canoe was then lifted out of the water and carried
ashore. It was set down pointing east and west in a space pre-
pared for it near the lagoon shore.
66
Two canoes in the Beru lagoon, 1931. (Maude photo)
A large fire was built near its stem, which pointed towards
the lagoon; but if its orientation had happened to bring it par-
allel to the lagoon shore, the fire would have been lit at its
western end, i.e., the end nearest the setting sun.
While the fire was burning, coconuts and other food were
placed inside the hull at both stems and amidships, under the
outrigger booms. The food was to placate, and the fire to
frighten away, the unfriendly spirits that might inhabit the
canoe. Tania ni kabi ‘the frequenter of the keel’ and other such
names were attributed to these spirits. The idea was that a
canoe is “born in sin” (to use the terminology of another cul-
ture) and is the natural home of evil spirits which must be
purged by fire before it is fit to do its work or safe for human
use.
While the fire was burning itself out, a feast was started, of
which not only the builders but also their relations partook. The
canoe was then left overnight, with its food inside.
Next morning, at sunrise, the builders again carried the
craft to water. The mast was set up to one charm; its sail was
hoisted to another; its steering oar was lashed into place to a
third; its fore and aft mast stays were adjusted to a fourth; and
so on.
67
Tungaru Traditions
The canoe was then ready for its work.
68
Conveyance and Inheritance
LAND CONVEYANCES
BUTARITARI
Te tibatiba The division of lands by a father still living among
the children of his various wives. 1 Te bwena-mwi designate
the lands on which the issue of each wife are to subsist.
Te toba Land given to a person adopted as a toba [foster child]
by a particular utu. Such a person took the status of the
adoptor’s nati or tibu, although not necessarily of the utu
before adoption.
Te natinati Adoption of a person as a nati ‘son or daughter’, the
land given by the adoptor to the adopted being known as
te aban nati. It is subject to a reversion to the eldest de-
scendant in the male line of the giver should the line of the
person adopted become extinct.
Te tibutibu Adoption of a person as a tibu ‘grandchild’, the land
given by the adoptor to the adopted being known as te aban
tibu. Subject to a reversion as in the case of te aban nati.
Te banuri Land given to an adoptor as a reward for adopting a
child or adult in one of the three ways given above. It is con-
sidered a help towards the expenses of feeding the adopted.
Te bainaine A fine paid for adultery with a woman. This penalty
was also incurred by one who passed under a woman’s riri,
hung as a tabu on a tree or house.
Te nenebo A fine paid, by one who severely injured or killed an-
other, to the injured person or his family.
Te kuakua A reward given on recovery from sickness to one who
had nursed the sick person.
69
Tungaru Traditions
Te kainikibakiba 2 Land given as a wedding present to a wife

by her husband. If the wife died without issue, it did not
return to the giver’s utu but became the property of the
wife’s mother (not her father).
Te bururunrakaraka Land given as a wedding present to a
husband by his wife. It became his property and passed to
his father’s (not mother’s) utu should he die without issue.
Te bora Land given to a young wife (or possibly her husband) as
the price of tinaba.
Te kuo Land given to a tinaba, not as a reward for sexual inter-
course but for filial piety.
Te mumuta Land given by a person to someone not of his bu
who removed his vomit.
Te abanauki If a man stood up in a crowd and presented his ki
[posterior] to you, you did him great honour by prodding it
with the words “ e teke nukan Bangkai” (naming the land), 3
which he would then give to you.
Te abanikamama Land given in payment for the wet-nursing

of a child.
SUCCESSION OF ELDEST SON AND

DESCENDANTS
BUTARITARI
The eldest son, although not necessarily the eldest child, had
preference in rights of succession and inheritance. His descen-
dants inherited such rights in precedence to the descendants of
other brothers and sisters.
Thus it will happen that the title of Unimane [Old Man] of
an utu will descend upon a youngster, while members of other
branches, his senior in years and experience, will nevertheless
give him the right of speech before them in council and the right
of veto to proposals made by them in respect of family land.
Sometimes the eldest child, even though a girl, would be
given precedence to any others, whether boys or girls, born
after her.
70
INHERITANCE IN PLURAL MARRIAGE

BUTARITARI
A man with several wives would generally arrange long before
his death for the division of his land (posthumously) among his
progeny. He would allocate specific districts to each wife by
name. Each wife would then be the guardian of such lands on
behalf of her progeny. She would herself acquire no rights over
the land except as the mother of her husband’s children. These,
on attaining maturity, would take over the governance of the
land, but would be under an obligation of keeping their mother
thereon.
In such a case, each wife’s issue having been provided for
separately, the eldest-born child of such a father would have no
say in the future disposal of any of his half-brother’s or half-
sister’s lands. A nako ma aia bai [they have gone with their
shares].
TE BAINAINE
BUTARITARI
If one of a chief’s workers committed adultery with the wife of
another man, it was the chief who had to pay the land-forfeit
called te bainaine. He would have to pay it even if the offended
party were of the slave class; in this case it would be taken in
chief-right by the chief of the offended party, while the latter
would acquire the right of using it and farming it for his chief.
Ueaneita (chief) Ekeramatang (chief)

Tenneke (worker) Itineita (worker)
Boiaki (worker)
Ueaneita, a chief, committed adultery with the wife of Ekera-

matang, and forfeited two pieces of land as payment to the
latter. His worker Tenneke thus lost his hereditary usufruct,
which passed to Itineita, the worker of the offended chief.
But subsequently Itineita committed adultery with the wife
of Tenneke’s son Boiaki. Under the local custom Ekeramatang,
the offender’s chief, had to pay for the offence. The same piece
of land was therefore returned and Ueaneita reacquired the
chief-right, while Boiaki took the usufruct which his father had
formerly forfeited.
71
Tungaru Traditions
INHERITANCE
BANABA
Girls and boys were treated equally in the division of the pa-
ternal and maternal lands. That is to say that neither sex was
more favoured than another by custom. The eldest child,
whether girl or boy, generally inherited the greatest share of
land; but this again was not a hard and fast rule, for the parents
had the greatest freedom to make favourites and endow them
at will to the exclusion of other children.
The communal or family system of land tenure, so strongly
developed in the Gilberts, does not appear on Banaba. Land is,
and apparently always has been, the property of the individual.
Once given a piece of land, the Banaban is entirely the master
of it and can give it away to an utter stranger if he wishes to do
so. 4
Land was usually divided up among children before the
death of the parents, usually when the children became old
enough to fend for themselves. The formality of apportioning
land among children was called te katautau: it consisted of
collecting the various heirs and walking with them round the
parental lands to point out to them the boundaries of their
various allotments. This formality was rarely gone through in
the presence of but one of the children, as it was distinctly un-
derstood that all had the right to be present even though all did
not get their share at the same meeting. Furthermore, it seems
that even a child who was given no share at all in the paternal
or maternal lands could demand in justice that he be allowed to
attend the partition at which his brothers and sisters profited to
his exclusion.
Generally a husband and wife made their katautau on the
same day, but this was by no means an unbroken rule.
Again, it was the usual custom that each child should get
some of the paternal and some of the maternal lands, but a
special arrangement between the parents was often made by
which the children were divided into two groups, one of which
inherited the father’s estate and the other the mother’s estate.
The katautau was a final act. Once a child became thereby
endowed with land he was its unconditional master and could
dispose of it entirely as he willed.
Te abantara was the equivalent to te abanikuakua in the
Gilberts, being given to one who cared for you in sickness. A
stranger might thus acquire all your lands to the exclusion of
your children.
72
OWNERSHIP AND INHERITANCE OF

BANGABANGA
BANABA
The Banaban bangabanga, or water-caverns, numbering some
fifty in all, are scattered throughout the length and breadth of
the island. 5 They were formed probably by the fissuring of the
coral rock in times of volcanic disturbance. The majority have
only one or two chambers, but several are of great extent, con-
sisting of countless galleries and tunnels, that wind for miles
through the bedrock. Into these subterranean reservoirs the
rainfall trickles during the wet seasons, to form lakes or puddles
of various sizes. The combined contents of the water-caverns
are sufficient to support the native population through two
years of drought, if properly husbanded. The bangabanga are
therefore a valuable form of real property on Banaba. They are
usually kept closed throughout seasons of normal rainfall.
Ownership
Most of the bangabanga are privately owned. That is to say,
the right of declaring any given cave open for use is generally
vested in a particular individual. This person invariably claims
to be a lineal descendant of the ancestor reputed to have dis-
covered the cavern; he is called the Holder of the Rock. Only
at his bidding may the boulders that choke the entrance be re-
moved. Practically speaking, however, his privilege is an empty
one, for as soon as he declares his cavern open, all natives of
the island irrespective of family have a right equal to his own of
using its water; and though he may at any time exercise his priv-
ilege of closing the cave again he is then by his own act obliged
as much as any other to refrain from entering.
It is therefore clear that the system of ownership connected
with the water-caverns, though individualistic in its superficial
characters, is for every practical purpose strongly communistic
in tendency.
There are five large caverns on the island over which no
hereditary individual rights exist. Of these the two named
Banaba and Toakira, “have no rocks”—which is to say they are
never closed, whether the season be wet or dry. Nevertheless,
in times of severe drought, the elders of the whole island in con-
clave may assume the right of making rules for the husbanding
of the water supply in these two caverns.
73
Tungaru Traditions
The first named, Banaba, has been communally controlled

from time immemorial. Toakira was once in private hands, but
was perpetually opened to the public seven generations ago,
when the Holder of the Rock proved himself unworthy of his
privileges by murdering an enemy who insisted on his right to
use the cavern’s water.
The other three caves free from individual control “have
rocks,” which are removed (in time of drought only) by general
consent of the villagers of Tabiang.
Inheritance
As the possession of rights connected with bangabanga confers
no social status, the lineal transfer of such rights is to be con-
sidered as a matter of inheritance rather than succession.
The system under which the water-caverns pass from parent
to child is totally at variance with that associated with other
forms of real property on Banaba. Whereas the sentiment of
father-right dominates all usage connected with ordinary land,
the inheritance of the bangabanga is regulated mainly on matri-
lineal principles. The right of “holding the rock” descends from
mother to eldest daughter wherever possible. If a woman lacks
daughters, however, she passes the right on to her eldest son,
not to a brother’s or sister’s daughter. Failing female issue, the
bangabanga may descend through several generations of males;
but on the birth of a girl child it will inevitably revert to her.
So well established is the rule that a man who happens to have
come into possession of a bangabanga is said to be “holding it
in trust for his unborn granddaughter.”
Figure 5 shows the descent of a bangabanga on the gov-
ernment station, named Teba, through eight generations of men
and women.
Alienation of rights
There is no known case in which the rights over a bangabanga
have been alienated by the owner. The communistic ideas un-
derlying the system of course account for this. The Holder of the
Rock is a figurehead convenient for the purpose of organization;
as such, his hereditary rights are respected, but confer on him
or her no power of transfer.
74
Figure 5. The descent of a bangabanga at Teba. Asterisk (*) indicates

person inheriting the right to “hold the rock.”
Newly discovered bangabanga

The mining operations of the British Phosphate Commission
have disclosed several hitherto unknown bangabanga. Of these
a very extensive one in the central mining area has been the
subject of discussion before the Lands Commission.
This series of caverns, containing many thousands of gallons
of water, was discovered several years ago, its entrance being
a narrow shaft some forty to fifty feet deep. Later another en-
trance slightly less precipitous was disclosed about fifty yards
distant from the first. At a discussion between the Banabans
and the British Phosphate Commission representatives in 1921,
it was agreed that the water in these caverns should be used
both by the natives and the commission, during such time as the
commission was mining in that area, and should revert to the
sole use of the natives when mining operations should cease.
Some small misunderstandings having arisen since between the
parties to this agreement; an amicable settlement was made
by the Lands Commission. The natives now have the use of
the second entrance discovered, while the commission uses the
first.
75
Death
THE TABEATU CEREMONY

TAUTAM, NORTHERN GILBERTS
Tautam was taught by his father Te Iatake, then aged over 80.
On the third day after the death the ceremony of tabeatu ‘lifting
of the head’ was performed. Its object was to straighten the
path of the ghost to the land of shades and to secure it a good
reception there, in order that it might not return and “eat” the
younger members of its utu.
The tabeatu magic and ritual was the possession of the
clan of Ababou, and only men might perform it. The performer
brought with him an amulet of red shell called te nta , on a
necklet of bark stripped from the kanawa tree. This necklet was
called te nimarainai. He also brought a wreath of any sort of
flowers.
The performer sat on the left side of the corpse, which
lay with its head to the east. For this rite, the right arm of
the corpse was bent and the hand (folded) placed with fingers
upmost under the nape of the dead man’s neck. The left arm
was stretched straight out to the side of the corpse. The per-
former of the ceremony sat on it, and inserted his right knee
into the armpit of the dead man.
Sitting in this position, the performer thrust his right hand
under the occiput of the dead man; he held the amulet and
wreath in his left hand with his fingers loosely closed over them.
Bringing his left hand to the dead man’s face, he rubbed his
brow gently with the back of the same hand, and knocked gently
and repeatedly upon the brow of the dead, with the following
softly muttered words:
76
Death
N nangi tiba tabekia, kaetia, kawain Ten Naewa, ba e

nangi nako abana ba Innang, ma Roro, ma Bouru ma
Marira. Ao ko na toua Manra; ma kanoa ni wam te ungira
ma te taitai; kanoa ni bungi-bung; beibeti i ani Matang
ma Abaiti ma Atia rikiam aroa; te okiokiri matangam ma
uotam te nako n aki oki; ma tiakabo n tetannangina ma
uatannang, te okiakina ma uaokiaki, ma ko aki bibitake
Naewa, ba e a tau-o-o!
I am about to lift and straighten the path of Ten Naewa, 1

for he is about to go to his land of Innang, and Roro, and
Bouru, and Marira. And you will tread Manra, and the
contents of your canoe the pandanus [?] and the tattoo;
the contents of …[?]…; float under the lee of Matang and
Abaiti and Atia your lands of origin; the returning to your
homeland with your burden the going and not returning;
so farewell for a season and two seasons, a month and
two months, and you are not changed Ten Naewa, for it
is good-o-o!
This was repeated three times, after which the wreath was put
on the dead person’s brow and an amulet of kanawa bark bound
around his neck to another formula. The performer’s work was
then done and he departed.
THE AMULET OF KANAWA BARK

NORTHERN GILBERTS
The spell to which the amulet of kanawa bark was bound about
the neck of the deceased was as follows:
I ti namanamatia bunan Naewa te mane, be a tau ana

bong ba te angimainiku. Ao ko riaoni Karawa, ko toua
Matang ma Neineaba ririki, ko kabira am bong te oiaki
ma te tanibeabe, ko moa Naka ma Nei Aibong. Kanoa ni
bongira ma bongibuaka; tariu wana-wana, tai okirikaki
ba raom te nu ma ningoningo, ma abam Roro ma Innang
ma Rabaraba-ni-Karawa ao ko aki bibitaki ma n rairaki-
o!
I knot the amulet of So-and-so the man, for his day is

sufficient as the east wind. And you journey over the
Heavens, you tread Matang and Neineaba, you go to
77
Tungaru Traditions
meet your day of the moon-change and the dead-calm,

you visit Naka and Nei Aibong. Whatever your daily hap-
penings and bad days; my wise brother, do not come
back again for your companions are the shadows and the
crickets, and your land Roro and Innang and the side of
Heaven and you are not changed and turned back-o!
The phrase “your companions are the shadows and the crickets”
has a special meaning. It signifies a desire that if the ghost re-
turns it should return by day, when the sun casts shades, and
not by night; and that it should make itself known to relations
not in evil dreams but by crying like a cricket. If it does this,
it gives the living to understand that it has reached its ghostly
bourne safely and has not returned to trouble them, but simply
for the sake of their company.
THE AMULET FOR PERSONS OF HIGH BIRTH

TARAWA
When the dead man had lain for three days, an amulet was
made for him of sinnet and human hair, on which was threaded
a buangi ‘porpoise tooth’. This was tied about his neck to the
following incantation:
O namata ni maena, O Ten Naewa! Aie te buangi te

taberaitiai ni maen-o Ten Naewa. Ko a nako Ten Naewa-
o, ko a uotia te butu ma te manim te raoi ma te tabomoa.
E-e! anti n rabaraba ni Karawa meang a na butimaea-o
Ten Naewa, a na uotia te nikira te amarake. E-e! anti n
rabaraba ni Karawa maiaki a na butimaea-o Ten Naewa,
a na uotia te nikira te amarake. E-e! anti n rabaraba ni
Karawa maeao, Nei Tituabine, butimaea-o Ten Naewa;
kairia nakon te maneabaia uea, ma anti—ma-o-o!
O knotting of his garland, O So-and-so! This is the por-

poise tooth, the seven-pointed of the garland of So-and-
so. You shall go, So-and-so, you shall carry the butu 2
with gentleness, peace, and excellence. E-e! spirits of
the side of Heaven in the north shall meet him, So-and-
so, they shall bring their food offering. E-e! spirits of the
side of Heaven in the south shall meet him, So-and-so,
78
Death
they shall bring their food offering. E-e! spirit of the side
of Heaven in the west, Nei Tituabine, meet So-and-so;
lead him to the maneaba of kings and spirits—ma-o-o!
Three knots were tied to secure the necklet on the neck, and at
each successive knot the incantation was repeated.
THE BODY
BUTARITARI
The body was not suffered to lie in peace. Even in its most ad-
vanced state of decay it was nursed and fondled by the male and
female members of the utu.
Outside the house two fires were lit, one at the feet (west),
the other at the head (east), and these were tended by an old
man and an old woman of the utu. The fires were not allowed
to die until either the body had been buried or the process of
drying was complete. No ember of these fires was allowed to be
taken for lighting any domestic fire, nor was it permissible to
kindle any stick in their flames.
Food was laid at the dead man’s head as kanoan wana [pro-
visions for his canoe] to the land of shades. The food consisted
of babai, pulled whole from the pit, with leaves entire, and an
entire coconut tree with roots, stem, and crown complete. This
food was allowed to lie until the body was buried. If the babai
was still eatable it was cut up and cooked and eaten by the utu.
But no child was allowed to partake of this food.
MUMMIFICATION OF CHIEFS
BUTARITARI
On Makin and Butaritari only uea and chiefs were mummified
by drying. The brains remained in the head. Any fragments of
skin, flesh, hair, etc., that fell from the head were buried apart
in a hole dug near the eastern shore.
The intestines of a man were drawn out through the rectum.
A woman’s intestines were drawn through the rectum. Her re-
productive organs were drawn through the vagina.
The intestines were also buried separately, while refuse
from hands and arms, legs and feet, trunk and genitals, each
had their distinct burial places.
79
Tungaru Traditions
If an uea or a member of an uea’s utu died and lay in state,

the different parts of his body were allocated to the various
classes of mourners. The uea’s utu sat at his head and shoulders
and attended to them. The chiefs sat about his middle, which
was their care. At his feet sat his slaves, whose business was
to look after legs and feet. This custom was said to have been
brought by Rairaueana te I-Matang.
DISPOSAL OF THE BODY

REWI OF UMA, BANABA
Bodies were very seldom buried on Banaba, as graves were fre-
quently robbed for the large bones which were used to make
thatching tools and barbs of fish-hooks.
Most frequently, the body was kept inside the house where
the death occurred. The elder women (father’s sisters and
mother’s sisters) of the deceased’s family then took the sun-
dried flesh of coconuts, throwing away the hard brown outer
surface, and used the oily parts that remained to rub over the
body of the dead. This friction was kept up continuously day
and night all through the period during which the corpse was
decomposing. The body was practically rubbed to pieces, and
as the fragments of it were worn away with friction they were
thrown into the sea. So at last the skeleton alone remained.
Of this, the skull and smaller bones (fingers, toes, etc.) were
collected and hung from the roof in a basket. They were oc-
casionally anointed with oil and garlanded with flowers. The
larger bones were kept by the sons of the deceased, for the
manufacture of implements. No one else was allowed to use
them.
The people of Uma and Tabiang particularly, and the Ban-
abans in general, when they did bury a body laid it with its
feet to north; and they had a definitely expressed belief that the
reason for doing this was to set the feet of the departing spirit
on the northward road to Bouru, the land of shades, which lay
in the north.
80
Death
BURIAL
BUTARITARI
At burial the body lay invariably from east (head) to west (feet).
No other orientation was ever allowed. The body was buried at
any hour of the day, while it was still light. On the day of the
burial, just after sunset when the last of the day had died, the
ceremony of bomaki began.
Three times in succession the village was traversed by the
people in line from south to north. All chanted together, ad-
dressing the spirit of the dead:
Nako-o, nako-o!
Nako abam are i Annang, ao Roro, ao Rabaraba-ni-
Karawa!
Go-o, go-o!
Go to your land at Annang, and Roro, and Rabaraba-ni-
Karawa!
It was a deadly insult to a member of the utu to bury the dead

in his absence. Every member must look on the face of the dead
for a final moment before burial. A man was considered jus-
tified in killing or making war upon those who offended him in
this repsect. Such a war would be called ninimate [avenging the
dead].
BURIAL AT SEA OR IN ROCKS

BUTARITARI AND MAKIN
There is an utu of Kuma which habitually buries its dead at sea.
For this rite there is a deep shaft-like hole in the reef which
seems to connect by some subterranean passage with the sea.
The dead body is dropped feet first, in a standing position, into
this hole, and is said to sink feet first. No weights are used. If
the body floats to the surface after a few days, it is left to drift
away. This utu is descended from an ancestor who was a famous
voyager. It is the utu also connected with the calling of the por-
poise.
81
Tungaru Traditions
An utu of Butaritari village buried its dead in a cave-like

hollow under the shelf or rock that forms the base of the
flagstaff at the government station. When the dead man was laid
in the cave, its entrance was blocked with stones. The rising tide
penetrated and filled this cave every day.
At Kiebu village on Makin there is a stone set up in a
nikawewe ‘enclosure’ of rocks, which is called Beia-ma-Tekai.
This stone once had a rounded knob about the size and shape of
a head, and the neck and shoulders appeared above the ground.
The spot on which the stone stands is reputed to be the exact
place where Beia-ma-Tekai died: the stone itself is his real body,
according to popular accounts. 3 It was said to have been buried
in a standing position.
BURIAL IN THE SITTING POSITION

ABAIANG
On Abaiang Island sitting interment was commonly resorted to
by the various utu when the dead person was a tia wawi ‘sor-
cerer’. The definitely expressed intention of such a burial was
to “prevent the dead man from returning and working his sor-
ceries on the living.” The position was the characteristic sitting
position, with one foot and tibia superimposed on the other and
thighs on ground.
It has been argued that the wawi was characteristic of the
culture of the Nareau folk, and that they practised the dual
system. We may assume, therefore, that this form of sitting in-
terment was part of their culture.
Rivers’ hypothesis that sitting interment was practised to
prevent the return of the dead is definitely corroborated by this
evidence.
BURIAL IN THE SITTING POSITION

MARAKEI
There is an utu of Marakei whose custom it has been, “ever
since the first ancestor grew,” to bury its dead males in the
sitting position.
The land of the utu called Tawana, where the interments
have invariably been made, is situated on the eastern side of the
island. At burial the dead man’s face was turned towards otin
tai ‘the rising sun’. As the corpse sat, its legs were stretched
82
Death
straight forward, the heels being closed and the toes allowed to
fall outwards. The arms were pulled forwards, so that the backs
of the hands rested on the knees, with the open palms upwards.
The head was turned up so that the face looked to the skies.
The utu using this form of interment was that which per-
formed the rites connected with fructification of the pandanus
and the coconut. 4 The sitting method of interring the dead was
directly connected with this function of the utu, for the position
of the dead man’s hands, head, and legs was commemorative of
the attitude assumed by him when praying for a good pandanus
crop. It is worth noting that the women of this utu were con-
sidered incapable of performing this magic and therefore were
not buried in the sitting position, but in the usual extended po-
sition. So the exceptional disposition of the body was reserved
for men only.
The genealogy of this utu is imperfectly kept, its members
being now very few, and those who have cared to remember
anything of its history being very old. Figure 6 gives the ge-
nealogy collected by me from the old man Tatiba, aged 76 or
more, and an ancient woman named Nei Tanginibwebwe of
perhaps 86 or 88.
The last member of this failing utu to be buried in the sitting
position was the elder brother of Nei Tanginibwebwe, the man
Nimta. He died before the coming of the Flag in 1892, at an ad-
vanced age. His ancient sister related to me that when he was
dying he said to those about him: “I am about to die. Make me
sit when you bury me over there at Tawana. Turn my face to the
sun. If you do this you will have always good pandanus crops.
The day after my death you will see in the eastern sky a star
with a tail (i.e., a comet) and you will say, ‘That is Nimta’.”
According to the account of the old woman, it happened
as her brother had predicted, but this was not confirmed by
her son, who must have been an adult at his uncle’s death. I
think there can be no doubt that the tradition of a comet be-
longs to a period in the history of the utu far more distant than
Nimta’s, and that the old woman was relating as an experience
something she had inherited as a tradition of her forefathers.
That the comet idea is one of the ancient family traditions is
made practically certain by the fact that all the ancestors of the
utu are called Kai-ni-Karawa, inhabitants of heaven, which in
the minds of all the Gilbertese people, and indeed most of the
Oceanic races, would immediately connect them with the stars.
83
Tungaru Traditions
Figure 6. Genealogy of the utu using burial in the sitting

position
The appellation “inhabitants of heaven” is applied to the an-

cestors of this utu because it is believed that after death all of
them went to the skies. My informant, Nei Tanginibwebwe, who
has never been converted to Christianity, herself confidently ex-
pects that the heaven above Marakei is the ultimate destination
of her ghost. This belief in connection with sitting interment
is in sharp contrast with the tradition of the northward and
westward destination of the ghost of Bouru, Mone, or Matang,
which we have found connected with interment in the extended
position.
There were other special features in the practices connected
with the dead of this utu. The body was kept for only a single
night after death, being buried at sunrise the next day. A necklet
of knotted sinnet was tied round the neck of the dead, on which
was threaded te nta ‘a red shell’, or te ntabo‘an orange-coloured
shell’. After the burial it was strictly prohibited to touch the
grave as soon as it had been filled with earth; so definite was
this rule that people of the utu would never even reopen a grave
for the sake of interring a son or other close relation of the de-
ceased near his bones—which was a common practice in con-
84
Death
nection with extended burial. Lastly, there seems to have been

no idea among the sitting-interment folk of supplying food for
the journey of the ghost to the land of shades; nor was the cus-
tomary pair of shrivelled coconuts placed in his hands at burial.
The ceremony of bomaki was performed on the return of the
people from the grave site, for three nights.
SITTING INTERMENT
MARAKEI
The strict prohibition against the reopening of the grave by the
utu practising sitting interment might initially seem to indicate
an original intention, actuated by fear, of preventing the dead
from returning to the dwellings of his descendants. The absence
of any form of skull-cult in this utu, on an island where the skull-
cult was universal, seems to suggest that the folk who used this
sort of burial were prejudiced against communion with their an-
cestral ghosts.
Nevertheless, the people of the utu had a stone, of the usual
kind associated with the ancestor-cult in the Gilbert Islands,
erected close to their settlement, which was named after the
“first ancestor,” Kabora, and at which tataro and offerings, dif-
fering in no respect from the kind normally found, were made in
times of stress.
Again, although there is no evidence that the special prayers
for abundant crops, with which this utu is particularly asso-
ciated, were made to the ancestral stone, it was certainly to
the ancestors who lived in the skies that the “crop-maker” ad-
dressed his entreaties, and it was the ancestral ghost Kabora
who was supposed to appear to him in a dream, to tell him
whether the crop would fail or flourish.
The practices and beliefs thus connected with the dead by
this utu seem to invite two conflicting sets of ideas, one in which
the return of the dead is a matter to be prevented, and one in
which communication with the ghost is sought and ensured.
One way of explaining the presence of such a conflict is to
suppose that there was formerly on Marakei a sitting-interment
people who feared their dead and enforced a prohibition against
the reopening of graves in order to prevent their return. In this
case it would follow that the ancestor-cult which their descen-
dants have practised until modern times is the result of local
contact and fusion with another and quite distinct race.
85
Tungaru Traditions
Another possibility is that this particular form of sitting in-

terment was brought to the Gilbert Islands by the people who
practised the cult of the ancestor, being the peculiarity of one
branch of this people, who had acquired it by contact with some
other race in a former home.
Both the above explanations are based upon the supposition
that the practices and beliefs described are a complex of more
than one system. But a third possibility is that this particular
form of sitting interment was developed by a branch of the
people who practised the ancestor-cult, not on account of ex-
ternal influences but in pursuance of the special magico-reli-
gious functions performed by them in connection with the pan-
danus and the coconut. The attitude of the dead in his grave was
an exact representation of his attitude during life while praying
for good crops, and it is very easy to conceive that he should
be buried in this position in order that his continual gesture of
supplication might bring fruitfulness to the trees of his descen-
dants. If this fundamental idea is accepted, it is again simple
and natural to suppose that the continuity of the supplicatory
attitude of the dead became a matter of importance. From this
idea would spring the prohibition against the reopening of the
grave for any reason at all, and the consequent absence of the
skull-cult from the households of the utu.
Further, it we thus regard this form of interment to be a
special modification of the customs of a partrilineal community,
such as the people who had the ancestor-cult certainly were, we
find little difficulty in understanding why only the men of the
utu were buried in the sitting position.
If such burials were supposed to be the relic of a sentiment
once entertained against the return of the dead to the dwellings
of the living, it would become extremely hard to explain why
and how this sentiment, while lasting in respect of dead men,
so lost its force in respect of dead women that these eventually
came to be buried in the extended position.
For these reasons I incline to the belief that this form of
sitting burial cannot be connected with those forms in
Melanesia observed by Rivers and in his opinion practised by a
people who feared the return of the dead. The sitting position
used is not in my opinion an element introduced into the cus-
tomary burial practices of the patrilineal, extended-interment
people by a foreign race; it is a special development of the
burial customs of the ancestor-worshipping race whose usual
habit was extended burial; and this special development was
brought about by the idea that the dead lived after death and
86
Death
their bodies were capable of continual intercession for the living

if buried in the prayerful attitude assumed by the “crop-maker”
during life.
SITTING INTERMENT AND SUN CULT

The ritual connected with the fructification of the pandanus
and the coconut by the utu of Kabora is suggestive of a sun
cult, agricultural in character. The hour chosen was noon; the
performer of the ritual must sit clear of all shade so that the
sun covered his whole body; he turned his palms and his eyes
straight up to the sky, and used a form of words that was obvi-
ously a prayer and not magic.
However, the external evidence is not conclusive; his prayer
was addressed to the ancestor Kabora, and it may have been
with the idea of getting an uninterrupted view of heaven, where
Kabora lived, that he sat clear of all shade. Nevertheless it is
still difficult to explain why the sun should necessarily stand at
noon when he spoke to his ancestor. My feeling that the sun
played a leading part in the functions and rites connected with
fructification persists, and seems to be justified when we ex-
amine the sitting interment practised by the utu.
The attitude of the dead man was precisely similar to that
of the living “crop-maker” while performing his ritual under the
noon-day sun. And it has seemed natural to assume that the
care that was taken not to disturb the remains arose from a
desire that the continuity of this prayerful attitude should not
be broken.
But we have still to find an explanation for the orientation of
the body with feet to east in this sitting interment. In the vast
majority of cases it has been seen that the feet were laid south
to north, but in all these cases there has been found a definite
reason for the exception, invariably connected with the migra-
tions of the race. On one point every Gilbertese is agreed: that
it is an impossible thing to bury a man in the extended position
with feet east and head west.
Yet if what I am assuming about the origin of this sitting
burial is correct, it was evolved by a social group within the
very community which used extended burial. It must have been
some very strong reason indeed which induced this branch to
override the race prejudice in favour of the orientation with feet
west, head east. Only two kinds of reason suggest themselves as
important enough to work such a revolution: the first connected
87
Tungaru Traditions
with migration and the second with religion. The first we may
leave out of the question: there is no likelihood of any migration
from the east having come to the Gilbert Islands.
The only religious reason which could compel the orien-
tation of the dead with face and feet to the east would be neces-
sarily of a sort connected with the sun. The words of the dying
Nimta to his family, “Make me sit when you bury me … Turn my
face to the sun. If you do this you will have always good pan-
danus crops …” are in themselves good evidence in support of
the theory
ORIENTATION
ABAIANG
People who were buried with head to south were not treated
by magic. There was no tabeatu and no “straightening of the
path” for the ghost. A cross was drawn on the face with burned
coconut-husk—a line across the brow just above the eyebrows
and a vertical line down the forehead to the nose-bridge.
The ceremony of bomaki was performed as usual.
The ghost went to the usual place: Bouru.
This method was called te ruanrara ‘the grave of blood’. The
method of burying with head east was called te ruanuea ‘the
grave of kings’, so named because it was the method of burying
chiefs and securing the welcome of their ghosts among dead
chiefs.
Cremation was used by conquerors in war, who always
burned the bodies of the defeated.
The disposition of a body with head to the east was in order
that the ghost should arise facing west, whither it went to be
met by Nei Aibong, ghosts of chiefs, and Nei Karamakuna.
When a body was buried with head to the south the ghost
arose and went north, to Naka, without meeting Nei Kara-
makuna.
It is given as a fact that a corpse was buried with head to the
south whenever the family was ignorant of the magic accompa-
nying eastward orientation.
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Death
ORIENTATION
ABEMAMA
Abemama is the only island on which I have found extended
burial with head north and feet south. On this particular island,
any other orientation is exceptional, though sometimes the body
is laid with head east and feet west—the commonest of all posi-
tions on other islands.
Before burial, the body was treated on Abemama exactly as
elsewhere. It is particularly to be noted that while still in the
house, the body was kept with head east and feet west.
On Abemama is found the exceptional belief that the ghost,
before
going to the land of the departed, must first visit the goddess
Tituabine in a land called Matang-by-Samoa. Although it is not
expressly believed that the disposition of the body with the feet
to south was to set the ghost on the southward path to Samoa,
the existence of this exceptional method of disposal side by side
with an exceptional belief as to the path of the ghost seems very
significant of the real intention of this orientation.
DEPARTURE OF THE GHOST

NORTHERN GILBERTS
If a small sudden shower of rain came over a village, it was be-
lieved that a soul had just passed. The shower was called wan
te mate ‘the canoe of the dead’. If such a shower came when a
man lay dying, and passed on leaving him still alive, the people
beside him would say to each other, “ai Kawa-ra nke e aki oa
wana” (“how unfortunate that he did not catch his canoe”). If
another cloud was expected to arrive soon, the sick man would
be encouraged to release his ghost quickly, so that it might pass
easily with the rain.
A concrete example of this came to my attention in Tarawa
early in 1916. We had just completed the gruesome office of
hanging a murderer. As we quitted the gallows chamber a tiny
shower passed over the building. One of the native officials, who
had been particularly depressed by the distressing business, im-
mediately recovered his spirits and said cheerfully, “akea te bai
iai, be bon roko-raoi wana ” (“it’s quite all right, for his canoe
has certainly arrived well”).
89
Tungaru Traditions
DESTINATION OF A WOMAN’S GHOST

BUTARITARI
A woman’s shade at death was believed to go to Auriaria in the
land of Matang and lie with him; a man’s shade would lie with
Nei Tituabine. So real was this belief that men have been known
to commit suicide when they saw their wives dying, in order that
their spirits might be there to prevent Auriaria from enjoying
their wives.
LAYING THE GHOST

GILBERTS GENERALLY
If a dead man was buried without the preliminary ceremony of
tabeatu ‘lifting of the head’ it was believed that because the
path of the ghost had not been “made clear” before him, he
would often return, and could be made by the magic of enemies
to return, especially in dreams, to strangle the members of his
family and to terrify them with evil thoughts. A cure for this
was effected by the formula called bongira, which banished the
ghost to its proper home. These were the words:
Bongiraia, bongiraia, bongiraia, bongiraia! Ba i bongi-

raraia nakoia anti ni wawi nako maikoan te banna; ba I
bongiraraiko nakoia anti ni karake; na N nangi nako, ba
N nangi karabarabako i ani bain Auriaria ma Tabuariki.
Ko a ti ewewe i etan au kainga ikai? Ma buki, ma baka,
ma kakarabino ni mate i nanona. E rake ia? E rake i ani
bongiraeau; ba I a keiakinai ba I baka. Tai, Nama-kaina-
o! Ai ngkoe anne-o! Ai ngai aiei-o! E-e, N na kangi raia?
N na kangia ma antia, ma aia wawi, ma a bane, Bongira
riki, bongira naba, bongira n tabo! Ko nako!
Darken him, darken him, darken him, darken him! For I

darken him towards the spirits of sorcery in succession
on this side of the corpse; for I darken you towards the
spirits of raising ghosts; for I am about to go, for I am
about to make you hide under the hand of Auriaria and
Tabuariki. Why have you passed over my kainga here?
So tumble, and fall, and roll down to die below. He rises
where? He rises under my darkening of him; for I exert
myself for I fall. Sun, Moon-o! Just you there-o! Just I
here-o! E-e, I shall eat their what? I shall eat them with
90
Death
their spirits, with their sorcery, and so they are finished.

Darkening more, darkening withal, darkening of places!
Go!
This ceremony was performed at the point of dawn, facing

east, in any place but preferably by the burial place of the
dead person whose ghost was causing the trouble. The formula
was repeated three times, while fresh water from a coconut
shell was sprinkled over the head and shoulders with a circular
sweep of the right arm, counter-clockwise in relation to a dial
facing downwards.
RETURN OF THE GHOST

GILBERTS GENERALLY
If a cricket (ningoningo) sang continually by a man’s house, it
was believed that the ghost of a dead relative was speaking
to the inmates. Small pieces of food would be thrown without
any magic formula towards the sound, and in later days whiffs
of tobacco smoke would be puffed in the same direction. The
ghost, usually thought to be that of the latest deceased in the
utu, would be addressed with familiar and affectionate words,
and it would be thanked for returning to visit its people by day
and not during the night, and begged to come again in the same
manner. Its return during the hours of daylight was taken as a
sign that the tabeatu ceremony had successfully “straightened
its path” to the land of the departed, and as an assurance that it
was pleased and would not visit them in evil dreams or strangle
their children.
DEATH MYTHS
MAKIN
1. Nam Barereka had two wives: one on land, Nei Teramira; and
one at sea, Nei Mamatenimone. Neither knew that the other
woman existed. But once, when he was with his wife ashore Nei
Mamatenimone called him to come to her at sea. He left Nei
Teramira hurriedly and went to Mone under the sea, from where
his other wife had called him. Nei Teramira was surprised that
he left her so hurriedly, so she followed him. And at last she
91
Tungaru Traditions
found out that he had another wife. The two women quarrelled
over the man, but in time they grew friendly and decided to-
gether to punish him for his duplicity.
Then Nei Teramira went east, and cast off the shoulder
mat she wore and set it up as an invisible barrier past which
her husband could not penetrate. And Nei Mamatenimone went
back westward under the sea to Mone and closed the door of it
forever against the man. He grieved for a long time, but could
never again find either of his wives. At last he died of grief, and
so death came into the world.
2. A second myth from Makin explains the feasting at deaths as

follows:
Tebongimatengaina (night and day) lived with his sons and
daughters on Makin. As yet death was unknown among them.
But one day the father said to his children: “Prepare food for a
feast; bring great plenty of babai and fish, and coconut.” So they
prepared the feast, and he said, “I am about to die tomorrow
morning, so make a merry feast tonight, and when I am dead
continue to feast.” The next morning, as they were still eating
and laughing, he died. They buried him and continued with their
feast. To this day, therefore, people feast when a man dies.
3. A third death myth is as follows:

Nan Kineuei lived on Makin. He heard a rumour that people
were going to be visited by death, so he went to the land of
spirits to ask what this new thing was. They told him; and he
asked them to give him some of their food to eat, by which he
might be rendered deathless. They gave him some of their food
(te atimata); but they said, “This will only render you deathless
if you abstain from your wife when you return.” He said he
would abstain, but when he got home he was unable to contain
his desire. He lay with his wife. Shortly afterwards he died, and
all people have been subject to death ever since.
4. Na Kaa was a man of Makin who attempted to count the

waves of the sea as they broke on the northern end of the land.
His tongue fell out after a time, because it had no rest. Its end
split into two ribbons and it became a rock which can now be
seen by the islet of Nantaubai. Na Kaa died. He was the first
man to die. His ghost went and was caught in the strand of the
Gatekeeper of the Land of Shades. If a man can avoid this net,
he may return to his body.
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Death
5. Te Tabanou (Auriaria) loved a girl. He died for love of her, and

the coconut grew from his body. His face may be seen in the end
of the nut when it is husked.
93
Gods
THUNDER-GODS
Tribes of the Andes and the Australian continent symbolize
thunder as a bird, “the flapping of whose pinions causes the re-
verberation of the storm.”
This character comes out clearly in the Nauruan tale of
Areau the Elder and his bird, whose wing was broken by Areau
the Younger. In the Nui version, the giant whose right arm was
broken is no longer a bird, but he is called te Ba ‘the Thunder’.
It is obvious that in these stories also, as in the Promethean
myth, there is a distinct connection between the thunder-bird
and the fire-stealing myth.
These conceptions are animistic. There is an anthropo-
morphic idea of the thunder-god also in the belief that the man-
like god Tabuariki is the thunderer and rain-giver. But the fact
that the sign of this god is a stone is a clear indication that
the anthropomorphic idea of him is evolved from the animistic
concept. Curiously enough there is a conception of Tabuariki
recorded from Nauru that he was a frigate bird.
In the Gilberts the stone representing Tabuariki would in-
variably be a piece of coral, but it is probable that formerly the
stone was a fire-producing stone, such as flint; and from this
we may connect the Tabuariki idea with the Western concept
of such a god as Brounger or Brunger. If such a connection is
apparent the Gilbertese complex of Thunder-Rain-Stone is but
the reflection of a universal set of ideas, shared by the Kiches of
Central America, the Algonquins, the Navaho Indians, the Egyp-
tians (with Hathor the sky goddess, the Lady of Turquoise), and
the Scandinavian and Irish folk.
94
Gods
NEI TITUABINE
It is probable that Tituabine, the giant ray, was originally only a
totem deity, who was exalted by the fortunes of her human utu
into the position of eminence which she now holds. Being repre-
sented by a fish it was easy and natural to call her the “daughter
of Tangaroa, or Tinirau,” who throughout Polynesia are known
as the fathers of fish.
CULT OF TABAKEA
A form of religious observance correlating very closely in ex-
ternals to the cult of an ancestor at the monolith was the cult of
the spirit Tabakea, whose body is said to be the turtle. Tabakea
in myth was the father of Nareau and Auriaria, both of whom
appeared as chief actors in the creation drama. On Banaba and
Nui, Tabakea has the title Moanibai ‘First of Things’, usually
accorded in other islands to Nareau. Throughout the Gilberts
this being is closely connected with the origin of fire. Evidence
seems to show that he was one of the gods of the aboriginal race
of the Gilbert Islands, the dark-skinned people who were settled
here before the invasion of the fairer people from the west.
The cult of Tabakea approaches nearer to the idea of a tribal
cult than any other noted heretofore. On occasions of stress,
disease, or necessity, when a group of utu allied for political
or warlike purposes felt the approach of a common danger, a
stone about 6 to 9 feet high would be erected in the maneaba,
over against its eastern side, and halfway between the north
and south ends. The senior man of Karongoa n Uea, the clan in
the maneaba whose privilege it was to speak the first and the
last word in assembly, would decide upon a day when all the
utu should be gathered together to make offerings (karea) and
prayers (tataro) at the stone.
The stone was wreathed with coconut leaves by the people
of Karongoa raereke, the workers of acolytes of Karongoa n
Uea. Before dawn on the given day the utu would gather,
wearing fillets of coconut pinnules around their foreheads, and
bringing food with them. The first portion would be taken by the
spokesman of Karongoa n Uea and laid before the stone. The
people would then eat their food, putting off their fillets while
eating. When this was done, the fillets would be resumed and
the spokesman would offer his prayer on behalf of the whole as-
sembly.
95
Tungaru Traditions
SKILL OF THE GODS IN DANCING

Nareau is reported by current tradition up and down the
Gilberts to have been ignorant of the ruoia or any form of dance.
Taburimai, Auriaria, Tituabine, and their associates were the
dancers, and their favourite gibe at Nareau was his ineptitude
in this pastime.
Tabakea, who lived ashore (i eta) on Tarawa, was a dancer.
He and his people used flowers and plants as wreaths for head
and body while dancing.
Bakoa, who lived in the sea (i nano) in the west with his
people, was also a dancer. He used porpoise-and whale-tooth or-
naments, as well as human teeth.
96
History
GENEALOGY OF THE EARLY HIGH CHIEFS OF TARAWA
This genealogy (Table 3) was not taken from the authorities of any
single island. As it stands, it represents a far more comprehensive
knowledge than any individual school of Gilbertese genealogists
now commands, having been built up out of a host of separate
(and jealously segregated) narratives collected in the course of
twelve years’ research from island to island of the group.
Each separate detail of the genealogy, however, represents
a point of view on which half a dozen authorities, whatever
else may be their differences, agree, and the whole may, I
think, be regarded as the greatest common factor of Gilbertese
knowledge about the Kiratas today.
It is obvious that the early names given in the pedigree are
merely figurative and represent individuals only by reference to
the groups or countries to which they belonged. By the “Trees of
Nabanaba” in column 1 we are to understand the distinguishing
mark, perhaps the totem, of a race or clan that inhabited Na-
banaba; by Nareau Tekikiteia in column 2 is meant a person
claiming descent from the separator of heaven and earth. In
column 3 the name of Tabuki-n-Tarawa, the man “created by
Nareau on Tarawa,” means “The Eminent Man of Tarawa” and
signifies the chiefly representative of an autochthonous group
considered to have grown with the land. In column 4 Taburimai
is the name of a clan deity and stands for all the members of his
clan who migrated from the north to Samoa.
It is still a common Gilbertese practice to designate a whole
group of people by the clan deity’s name. Taburimai te koraki
aei (lit., “Taburimai the company this”) in modern speech means
“These people belong to a Taburimai clan.” E roko Taburimai i
abara (lit. “He arrives Taburimai at land-our”) signifies “Some
people of the Taburimai clan have arrived at our island.”
97
Tungaru Traditions
Table 3. Genealogy of the early high chiefs of Tarawa
98
History
SETTLEMENT OF BUTARITARI BY RAIRAUEANA

NEI BIRIA, BUTARITARI
When Rairaueana’s son Teimauri was grown up, he married Nei
Rakentai, the daughter of Beia-ma-Tekai with Nei Kirirere, on
Tabiteuea.
Teimauri and his wife went to live at Tarawa, the home of
Beia-ma-Tekai. They had three children there: Rairaueana II,
Mangkia, and Na Atanga.
Rairaueana II grew up cruel and hot-headed: his amusement
was to kill the people of Tarawa and to threaten his own
brothers with death. So his mother reproved him, saying that
Tarawa was not great enough to hold his insolence, and telling
him that he had better set out and conquer another land. He de-
cided to make war on Butaritari. It was arranged that when he
had subdued the island his mother and brothers should follow
him.
He set forth with a fleet of Tarawa canoes, manned by
his mother’s people. His captains were named Karibantarawa,
Toanuea, Teauoki-ni-bong, and another whose name is lost. Tra-
dition calls them his brothers on his mother’s side.
They landed at Ukiangang (the south end of Butaritari),
fought a battle at Tennewe, and defeated the inhabitants. From
there they swept up the island, by land and lagoon at the same
time, to Keuea, where another battle was won by them. A third
engagement was won at Kuma, and a fourth at Makin. On this
last island Rairaueana settled down to rule as high chief.
99
Tungaru Traditions
When news of the victory came to Tarawa, Nei Rakentai,

with her husband and sons, sailed for Butaritari. But when
Rairaueana saw his brothers coming, he hated them and made
ready to kill them. But his mother reproved him again saying,
“If you cannot ever be at peace with your brothers then go again
and find another land that will contain your insolence.” So he
left in anger and set sail northward until he came to Mire (Mille
[Mili], in the Marshall Group). He conquered it, and his descen-
dants are there until now. Some of these came back to Butaritari
about ten years ago and established their relationship with the
local descendants of Rairaueana’s brothers.
So Na Atonga and Mangkia stayed on Butaritari and Makin
when their brother left. Na Atonga was the elder and became
high chief. He called the warriors who had conquered the is-
lands and distributed the land among them. The captains were
his brothers on his mother’s side.
To Karibantarawa he gave the chiefship of Makin; and these
were his instructions to him: “Your perquisite there shall be the
bauarereke and deep-sea fish, and the binobino ni kamai; none
but you shall use them. And you shall remember to supply me
with food, for that is my right over you.”
To Toanuea he gave Kuma; and these were his instructions:
“Your perquisite there shall be the inner parts of the porpoise,
and the fish called okaoka, and the bauarereke, and the bi-
nobino ni kamai; none but you shall use them. And you shall re-
member to supply me with food, for that is my right over you.”
To Teauoki-ni-bong he gave Keuea; and these were his in-
structions: “Your perquisite there shall be the bobo-n-tewe, and
the fish called nini mai and the okaoka, and the binobino ni
kamai and the bauarereke; none but you shall use them. And
you shall remember to supply me with food, for that is my right
over you.”
To the fourth chief, whose name is lost, he gave Tanimaiaki
and these were his instructions to him: “Your perquisite there
shall be the aua and deep-sea fish, and the bobo-n-tewe, the
okaoka, the bauarereke and the kamai; none but you shall use
them. And you shall remember to supply me with food, for that
is my right over you.”
So they all went to their districts and collected the con-
quered people to work on their lands, and they subdivided their
lands among their own companions.
Na Atonga and his brother Mangkia took all of the island of
Butaritari south of Tanimaiaki as their private share, and they
lived in the village called Butaritari.
100
History
At that time the chieftains of Beru, Kaitu and Uakeia, had set
out with a great host and conquered every island of the group
as far north as Marakei. They were preparing to set out from
Marakei to overcome Butaritari and Makin. Na Atonga grew
alarmed.
Mangkia, the brother of Na Atonga, had grown into a ter-
rible man. He was a giant; his teeth were as long as a child’s
fingers; and his chief pleasure was to eat human flesh. Everyone
hated and feared him. So Na Atonga said to him: “You shall go
as a messenger to Kaitu and Uakeia, taking gifts with you; and
you shall prevent them from making war upon our land.”
So Mangkia set out in a canoe, with a crew of giant stature.
They did not sail, but paddled the whole sixty miles to Betio. And
when they came to Betio they learned that the chiefs were at
Taratai; so they paddled another fifteen miles to Taratai. There
they landed, and so amazed the Beruans by their stature and
fierce manners that they were willing to promise not to invade
Butaritari, for they said to themselves, “Are all the warriors of
Butaritari like these?” So Mangkia gave them the presents he
had brought: te baraitoa ‘the hood’ and te kie ni karaba ‘the
mat of invisibility’, which caused a man wearing it to become in-
visible to his fellows.
Then Mangkia and his men set forth to the southward. They
never returned to Butaritari but went to Abemama, where they
settled. Mangkia became the ancestor of the high chiefs of
Abemama.
Na Atonga lived and died the high chief of Butaritari and
Makin. He had three children: the eldest Kourabi, a man; the
second Kakiaba, a man; and the third Nei Mauri-te-uea, a girl.
Kourabi lived at Tongaieta; he was disliked by women, and
few people cared to live in his settlement. Kakiaba lived at
Tebukintake and had a large harem and settlement, for he was
beloved. Kourabi was bitterly jealous and made war on his
brother, but he was defeated and fled to Abaiang, where his de-
scendants still live.
Kakiaba remained as high chief on Butaritari and Makin.
Bunatao was the eldest son of Kakiaba. The descendants of
the various chiefs who had been appointed by his grandfather
began to be too powerful and restless; so he decided to exter-
minate them. First he made war on Makin and conquered the
descendants of Karibantarawa. He killed every man, woman,
and child of the family, to the latest born. Next he wiped out
the Kuma chiefs, the descendants of Toanuea. Only two were
saved alive, Tebai and Mataianti, because they alone knew the
101
Tungaru Traditions
Figure 7. Butaritari and Makin
magic connected with a man’s initiation ceremonies. Then fol-

lowed the extermination of the Keuea and Tanimaiaki chieftains,
in the same manner.
When this was done Bunatao went to live at Makin, while
his father, Kakiaba, remained on Butaritari with his six other
children.
102
History
One of Kakiaba’s favourite resting places was the islet of

Bikati, on the lagoon reef of Butaritari. He spent long months
there and neglected the affairs of Butaritari more and more as
he grew older. This gave the opportunity needed by the slave
class to make a conspiracy to overthrow the ruling chiefs.
A slave named Itinua was leader of the plot. During one
of Kakiaba’s absences the people rose and, entering the king’s
settlement, speared all the occupants, including the wives and
children of the king. Only two of his children escaped the
slaughter, Tetabakea and Teitibonuea, who had been adopted by
some of the slaves and were hidden by them.
So the insurgents took possession of the whole island, while
Kakiaba remained in fear on Bikati.
When Bunatao, his eldest son, heard the news on Makin he
collected all his people and made a swift descent by night on
the settlement of Keuea. He found Itinua in the maneaba all un-
ready for battle; he himself had few people with him; neither
side dared to force the issue, and the meeting resulted only
in the exchange of a few words. Then Bunatao returned un-
molested to his canoes and sailed to the village of Butaritari.
Thence he sent messengers to Ukiangang and in twelve hours
had gathered together a formidable army to meet the forces of
Itinua.
He began by searching out every relation and friend of
Itinua who could be found in Ukiangang and Butaritari settle-
ments and putting them to death. Then he and his men marched
up to the northern part of Tanimaiaki district. Itinua, with his
hastily gathered faction, came south from Keuea to meet him,
and a battle was fought between the two places. A crushing
defeat was inflicted on Itinua; every member of his utu, on both
the male and female sides, was put to death.
After this, Kakiaba asked Bunatao to remain as high chief
of Butaritari, but he preferred Makin and abandoned his claim
to the kingship of the larger island, which reverted then to his
younger brother Teitibonuea.
But after a while Bunatao began to be jealous of his brother;
he chafed when he saw the food of Makin being sent as high
chief-right to Teitibonuea. So he decided to make war upon him.
When he came to Butaritari his father met him and using
fair words persuaded him to go and make war upon another
island instead of his own flesh and blood. After a hot discussion
Bunatao consented to attempt the conquest of Marakei.
103
Tungaru Traditions
Once arrived at Marakei he does not seem to have made war

upon the people. Tradition says that he landed and persuaded
many warriors to join him in a war against his brothers. After
a short time he led his force northward and made for the land
at a place called Nakiroro on Butaritari. His canoes had been
sighted long before, and a force descended upon the shoal to
prevent his landing. A bloody battle was fought in the shallows
called Tebikenimone. Both sides fought to exhaustion without
a definite result. Then Bunatao consented to parley with his
father and brothers. As a result, he sent the remnant of his host
back to Marakei and stayed in peace with his people. Eventually
he returned to Makin. Teitibonuea continued to be high chief,
and his descendants in the male line remain so until this day.
Teauoki, son of Teitibonuea, seems to have ruled in peace,
and so did his descendants, Teatumateatata and Teitimaroroa
(although Teitimaroroa had conflict with his wife’s people). But
family jealousy was again aroused in the fourth generation from
Teitibonuea.
Kaiea I, the son of Teitimaroroa, was high chief when Ibeatu,
his father’s brother’s son, began to make trouble. He went
about the island boasting that he would soon be king. Kaiea
went to Ibeatu’s father and attempted to make peace, but the
old man was powerless to restrain his son. So Kaiea decided on
war. He led a small host to Buariki, the home-place of Ibeatu,
and attacked him in daylight. Guns had lately arrived in Bu-
taritari. One of Kaiea’s men, named Roroa, with his first shot
put a bullet through Ibeatu’s head. The high chief’s people then
went forward to make an end of the whole faction. But when
Ibeatu’s father saw his son fall, he ran forward and, setting his
heel upon the dead man’s head, said, “You have killed the of-
fender, my son and your brother. I am your father’s brother, I
beg you to stay your anger.” At this Kaiea was ashamed to go
further: he slew no more; but he took possession of the lands
of Ibeatu, with those of the rest of that branch except one, Nei
Kabutibo, whom he married. Their descendants, who number
sixty or more, are slaves to this day, although quite closely re-
lated to the high chief. The last scene in this drama was enacted
before the Lands Commission in 1922, when the descendants of
Ibeatu claimed to re-enter as chiefs upon their lost lands. They
lost their case.
Kaiea I died without issue, and was succeeded by his
younger brother Bureimoa, who was ruling in the 1880s when
Stevenson visited Butaritari, and his distant kinsman Binoka
was high chief of Abemama. Bureimoa saw the coming of the
104
History
British flag in 1892 and was the first native magistrate to be

appointed by Swain, the British resident commissioner. His son
Tabu succeeded him but did not live very long. Tabu’s son is now
high chief: a man of about forty, who is childless. The chiefship
will pass, if he dies without issue, to his brother Akoi, who is
also childless; and after him to the third brother Koriri and his
male issue.
SECRECY OF CLAN TRADITIONS

The traditional stories concerning the origin and ancestry of all
Gilbertese clans are more or less secret. But there is a vast dif-
ference in the degree of secrecy with which they are guarded,
as between the clan of Karongoa n Uea and all the other social
groups of the islands. The traditions of most Gilbertese clans
are not, and were never, very jealously concealed. Although a
man would not go so far, perhaps, as to coach a stranger in the
lore of his clan, he would have no objection against discussing it
openly before the old men of the maneaba. It was not sacred to
him, nor was it kept hidden from any member of his own social
group.
But with Karongoa n Uea it was different. Not only was it
forbidden for a member of his clan to discuss the ancestry and
early history of his group before an audience of outsiders, he
must also keep it secret from his fellow clansmen. Only the
senior branch was supposed to possess this information, and al-
though the elder might pass it on to several people of his own
generation he had the power of forbidding these to commu-
nicate it even to their children. He himself would pass it, as a
rule, only to his eldest son; or if he had no sons, to the senior
representative of the collateral line who would succeed to the
eldership of the clan. He might, however, communicate it to his
daughter, generally the youngest, to “console her for a small in-
heritance of land.” In this case the daughter would be sure of
honour in her generation, for she would have to be referred to
as an authority when her father died. But on pain of becoming
maraia ‘accursed’ she might not impart the tradition to her own
children, since these by their father would be members of an-
other clan.
Only the traditions of Karongoa n Uea, therefore, among all
the Gilbertese clans, may be regarded as truly secret. These are
most difficult of access, even today, when the ancient reserves
are fast dying, and the old teachings discarded as valueless.
105
Tungaru Traditions
Members of Karongoa n Uea assert that their secretiveness

is intended as a protection against imposture. They say that
everyone would like to belong to their clan if he could, since its
prestige in the maneaba gives it a special place in the regard of
all Islanders. If the clan traditions were not concealed, strang-
ers from other islands might dishonestly use them, both to
impose upon the hospitality of a local branch and to usurp priv-
ileges not belonging to them by right of birth.
But the same explanation is given by members of other clans
of their unwillingness to divulge the traditions of their ancestry.
They also do not wish to be hoodwinked into entertaining a
stranger not entitled by birth to their hospitality; and they have
enough of clan pride to resent the thought of sharing their
minor privileges in the maneaba with an outsider. Yet the se-
crecy of their traditions is infinitely less than the privacy which
enwraps those of Karongoa n Uea.
I think that the true explanation of the especial secrecy of
Karongoa n Uea is suggested by the concealment of the clan
traditions even from the majority of its own members. I be-
lieve that certain aspects of boti organization, marriage, and
totemism can best be explained by supposing that when the
Karongoa n Uea people invaded the Gilbert Group from Samoa,
they found in possession of the islands a folk having fundamen-
tally the same social system as themselves. They found, in fact,
people of their own clan and ancestry. These, as a consequence
of the invasion, became a subject community, and it was not
compatible with the pride of the conquerors to receive them on
the footing of clan brotherhood, which might otherwise have
been expected. In other notes, I argue that this set of condi-
tions was probably at the root of the ability of clan members
having the same totems and ancestors to intermarry. I suggest
now that it also caused the extra secretiveness of the Karongoa
n Uea concerning their origins and ancestors. Although the
people they conquered possessed the same original traditions
as themselves, they had not lived in Samoa and therefore lacked
a knowledge of Samoan generations. The Samoa tradition was
therefore made the standard of Karongoa n Uea membership by
the invaders, and all who failed to qualify by that test were ex-
cluded from clan brotherhood. Secrecy as to the Samoan tradi-
tions, it follows, would have been the first precaution taken to
keep the exclusion permanent.
106
History
THE BERU CONQUERORS ON MARAKEI

The names of the invading warriors in the war of Kaitu and
Uakeia who settled on Marakei, and the lands taken by them
from the defeated Islanders are given in Table 4.
Ten Rinouna, with a small company of the original inhabi-
tants, remained at sufferance at Tabonteaba. There were also a
few others left on the east side of the island, but most of them
fled in their canoes and were never seen again.
The descendants of Tekewekewe, the first of the Beru con-
querors on Marakei, are given in Figure 8, and the generations
from the Beru conquest in Figure 9.
THE ADVENT OF EUROPEANS

WRITTEN IN ENGLISH BY AN ANONYMOUS
GILBERTESE BUTARITARI
About eighty to one hundred years ago there were no Euro-
peans on Butaritari or Makin. During the reign of Teitimaroroa
the first European is said to have arrived. At this time, although
the people were cannibals, they lived fairly peaceably and did
not practise cannibalism unless forced to by lack of food.
A ship arrived, and a member of the crew was purposely
put ashore and left while the ship sailed away. This man was
known by the natives as Bob. 1 He had no possessions of any
kind, not even stores, and he was forced to live with the natives
in Takarakintonga. Perhaps the natives held him in awe because
of his long beard, which is said to have reached nearly to his
waist. He soon learned how to cut toddy and it was apparently
not long before he discovered that toddy allowed to ferment
made a potent alcoholic beverage. 2
In return for the hospitality of the natives he is said to have
taught them three things. Probably he taught them many more,
but the following three seemed to have stuck in the mind of my
old story-teller:
How to make a mosquito net;

How to make a lamp;
How to drink sour toddy.
Before Bob’s arrival, the Gilbertese idea of a mosquito net was

a small erection like a tent, with a ridge-pole made of a sleeping
mat, and which accommodated only one person. Bob apparently
107
Tungaru Traditions
Table 4. Lands taken by the Beru conquerors on

Marakei
NAME RELATIONSHIP LAND
Kataueana Awiang
Taukoriri Onabike
brothers
Tetabea Onabike
Tekatabanga Marena
brothers
Tekabengu Marena
Kairo Terokoniborau
Tekewekewe Teboitu
Tatonga Tenimano
Rangatao Bino
brother and sister
Nei Temai Tekitantano
Beru Abantaua
Kaotira* Raweai
Kaotinuea Aontetia
brother and sister
Nei Tabiria Nanonteo
Tetonganga Teabike
*Kaotira was a Marshall Islander settled on

Abemama, who accompanied the war party.
manufactured a large square affair which allowed room for two

or more people. The only means of illumination the Islanders
had was by keeping fires going all the time. If the fire died there
was no light. Bob made fire by rubbing two pieces of wood to-
108
History
Figure 8. Descendants of Tekewekewe, the first conqueror on Marakei

from Beru. Numbers in parentheses are the approximate ages of
living persons, c. 1922.
Figure 9. Generations from the Beruan

conquest of Marakei
109
Tungaru Traditions
gether. And he used a half-clam shell, filled with coconut oil in

which was the pounded-up dried sheath of the spathe of the co-
conut (te roro), which was weighted at one end by means of a
stone serving as a wick. Bouts of drinking sour toddy seemed to
pass away a lot of spare time.
After some considerable time, another ship arrived looking
for Bob. They gave him clothing and took him away off the
island. Before he went, in return for the kindness he had re-
ceived, he gave a small iron ring to the man with whom he had
lived in order that he might make a knife to cut his toddy. Up
to this time toddy was cut by means of a small shell sharpened
on coral stone. This toddy cutter was known as te katati, a word
still used for a toddy-cutting knife. For working coconut wood,
for building canoes, making weapons, etc., a piece of sharpened
clamshell was used.
Later, a third ship arrived with a captain whose name the
natives remember as Kabunare. 3 This ship brought tobacco to
Butaritari, and traded it for coconut oil. The king, Teitimaroroa,
was the first to have tobacco, and it was made a law that if any
native acquired tobacco that person was to bring it to the king
to sample first. The custom was known as totomataniwi. This
was all right when the people of the king’s village came singly to
his house. But a crowd of people from faraway villages arrived
with their tobacco one day, and the king had so much smoke
that he was violently sick and fainted. Thereupon he abolished
the custom of totomataniwi.
After this, many ships arrived for the purpose of trading and
acquiring oil. The pots that are now at Kiebu were first landed
at Butaritari so that the natives could prepare coconut oil. Later
copra was wanted; and the pots, no longer required, were taken
to Kiebu for the purpose of holding rain-water on account of the
difficulty in getting good well-water.
From one visiting vessel a man whom the natives called Koa
Koa, and who informed the natives that he came from Parra-
matta [Sydney], was left ashore at the small island of Tikurere
in the Butaritari lagoon. 4 Here he opened a trading store. For
copra he traded such things as rifles and ammunition, food,
cannons, whiskey, gin, and rum. There was, thereafter, much
drunkenness and fighting, and many people were killed. The
cannons, some of which were quite big affairs, were used for
making a noise and frightening people.
On one occasion a ship came to Ukiangang, and many Butar-
itari people went on board. A sailor prepared to fire a cannon,
and when the people saw this they jumped overboard and
110
History
HMS Royalist (Captain E. H. M. Davis), which toured the Gilbert

Group in 1892 declaring the islands a British protectorate. (Maude
collection)
stayed under water in order not to hear the explosion. One man,
Tokamau, stayed on the ship. After the explosion the natives
came to the surface, except one man, Naekauti, who was slow
in coming up. Tokamau dived into the water and met Naekauti
under the surface, and intimated to him that the cannon was
to be fired again, whereupon Naekauti stayed under water and
was drowned. Tokamau and all the other natives climbed back
on board and while there stole as much as they were able before
going ashore in their canoes.
Tokamau and another native, Temwemwe, went ashore in
one canoe and proceeded to show the things they had stolen
to one another. Temwemwe produced an earthenware cup,
whereupon Tokamau said it was a poisonous thing and ran away
and hid himself in such a position as to be able to spy on
Temwemwe. Temwemwe believed that the cup was poisonous
and also ran away, whereupon Tokamau returned and stole the
cup for himself.
111
Tungaru Traditions
The flag was brought to Butaritari by Captain Davis, who

hoisted it at the king’s residence. Mr. Campbell was the first Ad-
ministrative Officer. 5
112
Magic
TYPES OF MAGIC
There are two very distinct types of magic in the Gilberts: te
kawai and te tabunea.
Te kawai is purely ritual, being unaccompanied by incanta-
tions or spoken spells of any kind. An example is the simple
burning of a fire in a circle surrounded by a square in the prepa-
rations of a poet to compose his song.
Te tabunea is an incantation or spell. It is generally found
in combination with ritual, in which case the ritual is called te
kawai and the spoken charm te tabunea. Both ritual and words
are equally important to success in such an event, the one being
considered powerless for good or evil without the other.
In a few cases a pure tabunea is found—simply spells
without ritual—an example being the exhortation to the Sun
and Moon made by a poet before his song is first raised in the
maneaba.
MAGIC AND PRAYER

It is obvious that there is a vast difference between such ex-
amples of magic as the wawi and the appeal to the moon; and
between the tabu of a coconut tree and the address to an an-
cestor.
The word ‘magic’ is used to designate such actions, whether
of word or gesture, as are so secret in character that their
benefit is definitely limited to the individual performing them;
which depend for their efficacy upon what is called te manewe
and te kawai (the precise word of power and the exact ritual
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Tungaru Traditions
used); and which claim to control or command the obedience of

the spiritual being (if any) addressed, and therefore lack any el-
ement of appeal.
On the other hand the word ‘prayer’ is used to designate
that class of actions which, while being addressed towards a
spiritual power, is open in character at least to the extent that
an individual may perform the ceremonial for the benefit of
other spectators beside himself; which is not dependent for its
success upon a stereotyped form of words or gestures; and
which is characterized by the element of appeal or propitiation
of a superior being.
Between magic and prayer thus defined is to be found in
the Gilberts a third form of magico-religious ceremonial, in-
variably (so far as I know) connected with the cult of the sun,
which seems to partake of the elements of both. In some cases,
it seems to be secret in the essential sense that its benefit is
limited to the performer, but it is at other times of an open and
even a public character; and like magic, it is stereotyped in its
formulae, but it has the nature of prayer in that it is addressed
as an appeal or supplication to a power held in awe and fear.
If my definitions of magic and prayer are sound, then we have
here a type of ritual which is neither the one nor the other, but
a hybrid of both.
A very definite distinction exists in the Gilbertese mind be-
tween magic and prayer. Magic is called generically by them
tabunea, while prayer is called tataro. I do not wish to imply that
the Gilbertese native more than any other primitive man has
reached the stage of defining the precise nature of his mental
attitude towards the spiritual powers that he recognizes. But
if you give him concrete examples of tabunea and tataro he is
quite incapable of confusing the one with the other, of calling by
the name tabunea that which is tataro, or vice versa.
It is certainly indicative of a pretty clear realization of values
when an old woman of about seventy, on being asked outright
what was the difference between a tataro and a tabunea in her
view, answered immediately and in a tone of expostulation, as if
the question was absurd: “Kai, a kaokoro, a kaokoro! Te bubuti
te tataro, ao te tabunea bon tiaki te bubuti! Aongkoa!” (“Why,
they are different, they are different! The tataro is a begging,
and the tabunea is certainly not a begging! Forsooth!”).
This answer is striking, particularly because it plunges right
to the heart of the psychological difference between the two
things. The old woman might have been expected, if she saw
any distinction at all, to have given salience to the material
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Magic
rather than the psychological factor. She might have answered,

for example, that in a tataro you give propitiatory offerings to
the power addressed, whereas in a tabunea you do not. This she
certainly knew, because she referred to it in the course of the
conversation that followed; but there can be no doubt from the
vigour of her first answer that it was the difference of mental
attitude above all which struck her as the salient difference dis-
tinguishing the tataro from the tabunea.
TE KANANGARAOI: TO BRING GOOD LUCK TO AN

ENTERPRISE
This is an incantation to bring good luck to any enterprise. A
bunia ‘sweet husked coconut’ is taken, and a fire made with the
husk. Oil is made from the flesh and the remains of the flesh
burned. The person crosses his or her arms, with elbows well
pressed down, and the hands reaching round to the opposite
shoulder-blades, having been first laid in the oil. With a slow
rubbing movement of the hands, the man or woman speaks:
Ngaia borae borau,

Boran Tabakea—ai—ee.
Ngaia ti akoakoi naba,
Ngaia ‘nne ti boningai
Tebutinang i nanoni win Ten Tibaua.
Ngaia te akoakina
Ngaia buroto.
Anangau tera, anangau te anangaraoi.
Anangau tera, anangau te bakatauraoi.
I naku teinaki; wau te wa;
Kanau te amarake.
This is performed at daybreak, noon, and sunset for three days

in succession.
TE TAIBENAU: FOR GOOD FORTUNE

This is a very useful spell for bringing good luck in love; for
turning indifference to affection; or for averting the evil effects
of eating forbidden or unlucky food such as te rerebuki ‘pointed
end of a coconut’, te atu ‘head of a fish’, or te buare ‘silver
bladder in the intestine of a fish’.
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Tungaru Traditions
The rite is performed in the lagoon shallows or the washing

pool at sunset. The man or woman sits in the shallows facing
west, elbows bent and palms downward, stroking the surface of
the water. With eyes fixed on the setting sun, the following spell
is whispered:
Tebo tebo i tari ngai

Ma e a nanako buakakau
Ma e a nanako i benau
Ma e a nanako buritarikau.
Mawa nako tabon au roro
Mawa nako.
Mawa nako.
Mawa nako-e-e-e.
Mawa nako!
Another spell of the same order is also performed sitting to-

wards the west. In this instance the hands are placed sideways
in the water, elbows bent. Both together the hands are then
used to scoop the water towards the breast, with the following
chant:
O katikan narean
Au te wa e kanikan
O katikan narean
Au te wa tabunio.
Manen etao tarai.
Unimane nao tarai.
Rorobuaka nao tarai.
Bitaki ma tarai.
Ba ti ngai aine n te aba aei,
Betio aei—ngaia-o-o!
Ti ngai naba,
Ti ngai naba,
Ti ngai naba-o-o!
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Magic
TE KAUTI: TO MAKE ONE BRAVE AND STRONG IN

WAR
Go to the eastern beach in the dark before dawn, taking any
weapon of war with you. Sit facing the east on the beach and
wait for the sunrise. Hold the weapon in your right hand, to-
gether with three pinnules plucked from the crest of a coconut
tree growing on the eastern shore.
As the sun rises beat the weapon and the pinnules against
your breast, chanting:
Boa ni manawau aio! Tabwena ni ngaina mainiku.

Ba I arakina tera? Ba I arakina te un.
Ba I arakina tera? Ba I arakina te tau.
Ba I arakina te ba are e rebwerebwe i rarikini karawa
mainiku.
Ba I aki bubu, ba I aki rawarawa, ba I aki mamao, ma un-
ee:
Te un, te tau, te mauri!
Strike of my breast here! Breaking of light in the east.

For what do I approach? For I approach anger.
For what do I approach? For I approach readiness.
For I approach the thunder which rolls on the side of
heaven in the east.
For I am not cowardly, for I am not unwilling, for I am not
slow in war, but angry-ee:
Anger, readiness, safety!
MAGIC FOR PROTECTION IN BATTLE

This is a charm to turn away the weapons of your enemies in
battle. Just before the fight you make a necklace of a single
pinnule from the leaf of a coconut, and while holding it in your
hands you say:
E bungi te kai, e a ra bungi te kai!

Ma N na bitia ni katanrio-ia, ni katanrake-ia.
E bungi te kai, e maku te kai, bu-u-u!
Te mauri!
The weapon is descending, it has nearly descended!

But I shall deflect it downwards or upwards.
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Tungaru Traditions
A war party on Tabiteuea, 1897. (Kramer

1906, 273)
The weapon is descending, it is afraid, a coward-u-u!

All is well!
Note that in this incantation there is no spiritual being of any

sort addressed. 1
MAGIC FOR PROTECTION AT SEA

If you are travelling between islands and see a rereba ‘kingfish’
swimming by your canoe, you know that it has been sent from
mone ‘the underworld’ to warn you of the approach of violence
from the spirits under the sea. You can protect yourself by the
following magic spell, which is said three times, leaning over
and looking down at the fish:
Na rereba tabaniban-o,
Wairio, wairio-o.
Tuangia uea n aoni Mone
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Magic
Ba antai ba-aweawe
Tabuna karawa, tabuna Mone?
Nako i mwi ma nako i moa ma e-e!
E ieie nan te anti-a!
Striped kingflsh go,

Go westwards go.
Take counsel with the lords of Mone
For who would disregard
The warnings sent by heaven and the underworld?
Slip back astern, forge on ahead-e-e!
The spirit host sails o’er the sea-a! 2
CALLING THE PORPOISES

KITINA, BUTARITARI
There is an utu at Kuma on Butaritari, whose unimane is called
Kitina (Kitchener), which claims the power of calling the por-
poise at will.
This utu belongs to Mone, the land under the sea. When a
member dies he does not go to the land of Bouru or Matang, to
which other people go, but to Mone, his spiritual home.
A member of this utu claims the power of bringing the por-
poise to shore at any season of the year. Having been asked by
the high chief to call the shoal, the “caller” goes and lies down
with feet to westward. He passes into a natural sleep, during
which he claims that his spirit quits his body and goes westward
to the islet of Bikati; there it dives under the sea, straight down
to the spiritual replica of Bikati in Mone. Here live the por-
poises. When the caller’s spirit comes among them, they are
men in the bodies of men, and wear men’s clothes.
They greet him kindly, and the king of the place receives him
as one of that utu. After feasting and talking with the people,
he begs the king that some of them may accompany him ashore
to the maie ‘game’ or ‘dance’. The king permits this, and those
who are willing arise from the assembly, go to a sandpit a little
distance apart, and doff all their clothes. Immediately their gar-
ments fall from them they are converted into porpoises.
All set out together for the village of Kuma, the caller
leading them with dancing movements. When they are well on
their way the caller leaves them and hurries back to his sleeping
body. His eyes open, he awakes from sleep, and says to the
people who await him: “E tau, a roko raomi, nakoni katauraoi te
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Tungaru Traditions
maie” [All right, your friends are coming, go and get ready for
the dance]. The whole village, both members and non-members
of the utu, then go and deck themselves out with mats, gar-
lands, and scented oils, exactly as if a dance were toward. The
whole company then repairs to the beach.
While awaiting the porpoises, it is sternly forbidden to talk
or even to think of food. The porpoises must be referred to as
“our friends,” and their visit is alluded to as a gathering to the
“dance.” If there is any mention of a killing, the porpoises will
hear and turn away in fear.
The animals swim straight to the beach, the caller standing
knee deep in the shoal water to welcome them. He goes through
the gesture of the dance, and repeats the incantation of the
binekua, and entreats his “brothers,” the porpoises, to come
and “dance” ashore.
When the fish are close in, the whole population descends
into the sea. Each one chooses a porpoise and standing beside
it, fondles and embraces it, and leads it ashore.
Whatever may be the truth of the caller’s descent into Mone,
there is absolutely not the shadow of a doubt that if you ask
one of this utu to call the porpoises, the porpoises can be made
to arrive that very day. Also it is borne out by hundreds of wit-
nesses that, whatever may be the cause of their arrival, they
swim into the shallow water in such a condition that a man may
go down and clasp them in his arms without difficulty.
The magic connected with the binekua (as that concerning
navigation) may be inherited by women as well as men. Kitina is
the only man in his utu who has inherited the spells.
MAGIC FOR COCKFIGHTERS

If you want your cock to be a good fighter, hold the bird to your
left breast in the crook of your left arm; then with your right
hand stroke it gently and continuously as you repeat:
Nan Tebu, Nan Tebu; Nan Temaku, Nan Temaku. Nako

Nan Tebu, nako Nan Temaku. Nakomai te un, nakomai te
tau, nakomai te mauri.
Weakling, weakling; coward, coward. Go away weakling,

go away coward. Come back fighting, come back on top.
Come back to me alive and well. 3
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Magic
Say this three times, without any particular orientation. When

finished, throw the bird down.
SUN MAGIC (TE KANANGARAOI)

TAKEUTA, MARAKEI
If an Islander wishes to be received with especial favour by his
fellows, to be loved by the other sex, or to be treated with gen-
erosity by his kin, he performs the following magic:
Urioai, urakeai, neaneai, akoai!

B‘e rio maia akoau,
Ngai aio, ti boni ngai, Takeuta?
B‘e rio mai nanon win Ten Naene.
I batete mai aon angan Neienne. 4
Umai, akoai.
Put me down, pick me up, take care of me as if I were a

child, be good to me!
Whence shall kind words of welcome fall to greet me?
I who am lonely, I Takeuta.
May they fall from the lips of Ten Naene. 5
I am coming with the warm rays of the sun.
Come out to meet me, come to greet me.
At the last words, cross your hands on your breast and rub
yourself with oil which has already been spread on your palms.
This is done facing east on any day of the month, just before
sunrise.
SUN AND MOON MAGIC: TO BE POPULAR

TAKEUTA, AGED ABOUT 70, MARAKEI
The following is an alternative formula for the same purposes as
the previous one:
Mauna matanikabi, e-e! Mauna matanikabi, a-u! Na-

mataia Taburimai ma Auriaria; ba a nangi nako namatau,
ba a nang rimoau nakea? Nakoia tabon rorou, I rimwiia,
ke! I rimoaia, ke! I tekateka i taubuki ni bataia ma
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Tungaru Traditions
tekatekau ma kakanangabou i aon te aba aio. Ia?

Marakei! E-e, I ringa Tai! E-e, I babakoa Nama-kaina! E-
e, te mauri naba ngai-o-o!
The edge of the reef is out of sight, e-e! The edge of the
reef is out of sight, a-u! Tie the knots of Taburimai and
Auriaria; for my knots are about to go, they are about
to precede me, where? To the position of my generation,
I follow them—ke! I precede them—ke! I sit upon the
ridgepole of their houses with my fame over this land,
Where? Marakei! E-e, I touch the Sun! E-e, I clasp the
Moon! E-e, I am blessed, o-o!
The tying of knots in the second line refers to the threefold

knotting of a young coconut pinnule held in the hands of the
performer. A single knot was tied for each of the three repeti-
tions of the formula.
The place for this ritual was on the ocean beach, on the
eastern shore, clear of all trees. The orientation eastward; the
position sitting. The time, the hour of sunrise; the day, when the
moon was seen on the meridian at sunrise.
When the names of the sun and the moon were recited, the
finger was pointed first at one, then at the other.
Takeuta was unable to tell me what bearing the opening al-
lusion to the edge of the reef had upon the subject or object of
the formula.
SUN MAGIC: A FISHERMAN’S INVOCATION TO

THE SUN
NEI TAURE, AGED BETWEEN 50 AND 60,
MARAKEI
If a fisherman has bad luck, he takes the hook with which he
is fishing between both palms, presses the radial sides of his
hands against his breast, and as he sits on the canoe he turns
his face towards the sun (at any hour of daylight) and repeats
the following:
Tai-e, Tai-o! I butiko, Ngai! Ko atai ngke

I kabubura, 6 Ngai!
I waira, 7 Ngai!
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Magic
I beeua, 8 Ngai!
I mairierie 9 -o!
Sun-e, Sun-o! I beg you, I! You knew when

I failed to catch, I!
I was unlucky, I!
I was perplexed, I!
I was faint-hearted-o!
After three repetitions the fisherman resumes his fishing with

the same hook.
MAGIC TO CAUSE AN ECLIPSE

The clan of Maerua was believed to have the power of causing
eclipses of the sun and moon at will, by means of the following
ritual. The eclipse-maker built a small thatched hut on the
eastern shore of the island, and hung mats about it in such a
way as to exclude all light from the interior. Towards moonrise
or sunrise, as the case might be, he entered this hut and left
outside a member of his clan to shout to him as soon as the edge
of the luminary’s disc appeared above the horizon.
As soon as he received the signal he began to mutter:
I ti bwerebwereia matan Tai (ke Namakaina) te iterana;

I ti bwerebwereia matan Tai ua itera; I ti bwerebwereia
matan Tai ten itera.
I only enclose it in a fence face of the Sun (or Moon) one

side; I only enclose it in a fence face of the Sun two sides;
I only enclose it in a fence face of the Sun three sides.
This simple formula was repeated thrice. There was no other

ritual. After the third repetition, the performer immediately lay
down and slept. During his sleep the eclipse was alleged to take
place. He would bring it to an end by awakening and emerging
from the hut into the open. 10
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Tungaru Traditions
NA KIMOA MAGIC TO PROCURE WOMEN

Take an onibua ‘fallen coconut’ and sprinkle the contents over
your head, while reciting the following and looking in the di-
rection of the woman you want:
Ko rie ni katua ma ko rie ni karoko, ma ko rie ni kabaka

ma ko rie ni kamate. Ko rio ni karangirang, O! e rang-
o, a-a e a rangiro neienne, a-a e a rangi ni kanana aroa
i marenan rangau ikai. Te ika n tangirio, te ika n tangi-
rake, tangi nako aikai-o-o!
This is done three times. Then you throw away the nut and
watch it come to rest. If the mouth is turned towards you it is a
sign of luck; if turned away success is not yet.
A WOMAN’S SPELL TO PROCURE A PARTICULAR

MAN
A woman who wished to procure the love of a particular man
would invoke the spirit Na Kuau.
The fruit of the tree called non (Morinda citrifolia) was taken
in the right hand at the point of dawn, and the following incan-
tation was whispered:
Na Kuau, Na Kuau, bu-u,

Na Kuau, Na Kuau, ba-a,
Ko a nako ngkoe anne Ten Naene.
Ko anaia kanam aro ae marenan rangana,
Marenan rangau Ten Naene,
Matai-e, matau-o.
Ko ira n tangitang, ko ira n tangitang,
Ko ira ni keakea, ko ira ni keakea.
Ko tang ngkai, ko rang ngkai;
Ko a tang ao ko a rang,
A ko a kaka, ko a uamarawa-o.
Ko a kana tabun-io. Ko a mate-o.
The fruit is then worn against the body until noon, when the
spell is repeated. It is again worn until sunset, and again re-
moved for the incantation. After the first day the fruit is worn
continually until it drops off, being rotten.
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Magic
Woman wearing the traditional short skirt

(riri-kororo). (Wilkes 1845, 5:51)
TE KATEBO N RARA: WOMEN’S SPELL TO

PROCURE A CONSTANT LOVER
A woman who wants to procure a constant lover invokes the
spirit Taokarawa in this chant.
For three days after menstruation the woman does not wash
her body. On the fourth morning at point of dawn she picks a
young frond from the opening leaf of the coconut. Entering the
shallow water, she draws the frond backward and forward be-
tween her thighs to the following incantation:
I kere kangkang, I kere kangkang.

I kere boiarara, I kere boiarara.
Buti rio, buti rake.
Ko ria raon—baon—Taokarawa.
Ko itau rikaki, ngkoe anne Ten Naena.
Ko ki iai, ko ka iai, ko uringa baei.
She then bites the leaf along its whole length, twists it into a
cord, and binds it on her right ankle, where it remains for three
days.
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Tungaru Traditions
Traditional married woman’s dress when

walking abroad, Beru. (Maude photo)
TE AONIKIE: WOMEN’S SPELL TO ASSURE A

LOVER’S CONSTANCY
A spell for blessing the mat on which a woman is to receive her
lover. The woman sits cross-legged and draws the mat over her
knees. Holding and shaking it with both hands, she whispers:
Takina ni kie, ni kietibu, ni kierang.

Ko ti rangirang iai naba ngkoe anne Ten Naene.
Ko ti rangirang iai naba,
Ko ti rangirang iai naba,
Ko ti rangirang iai naba-o!
The lover arrives, and she makes him lie on his back with his
head supported in the crook of her left arm. Looking down, as
she sits, at the middle finger of her left hand, she jerks it back
and forth with this accompaniment:
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Magic
Te aita ma, te aita ma.

Te bonota ma, te bonota ma. Te ngurengure-e i manokau,
Te ngurengure-e i manokau.
Ko ti ngurengureai.
Rake riki, rake naba, ngkoe anne Ten Naene. E oti tai.
This also she says a second time but replaces “e oti tai ”
(“sunrise”) with the words “e tawanou tai” (“noon”), and a third
time finishing with “e bungitai” (“sunset”).
Intercourse then takes place, during which the woman
whispers to herself the following spell:
Karinnani kabangan,
Ko ta ringiring, ko ta rongorongo.
Iaia. Aia ngaia. Iaia. Ngaia ngaoua.
When intercourse is completed the woman must take care

not to stir from her place, but must sleep as she lies. At the point
of dawn she goes to bathe in the lagoon. Rhythmically splashing
water with her right hand over her left arm she intones:
Tiribo neinei, tarabo neinei;

Titibo tariu e kangkang.
E rae mam kareiwe-e.
I raira aba, I rairi nanoia.
Aine n abana, ma ataeina,
Ma manena. Me aitua te tang ngkoa-o.
I toua te nei ae a maitorotoro.
Nim tang, nim reke.
Ten Naen-o tangirai riki rake, rake naba-o.
This is said twice over while washing the left arm, and a third
time while washing the right arm. At the end of the third repe-
tition she scoops a palmful of water in her left hand and with a
circular sweep sprinkles it over her head.
The rites attending a happy union are then complete, and
the constancy of her lover is assured for all time—or until the
woman is tired of him.
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Tungaru Traditions
TE KAIWA: TO TEST IF YOU ARE LOVED

If you want to know whether a girl loves you or not it is nec-
essary to do the kaiwa or divination of Te Rakunene. You pick
a pinnule of coconut leaf and tearing a strip about half an inch
broad from the side, but not yet separating it from the base of
the pinnule, you hold it between the finger and thumb of your
right hand and, compressing them gently, draw them away from
you along the length of the strip. Repeating this action again
and again, you whisper the following words:
Tera, ua, ten, a, nima, ono, iti, wan, rua; tuangai ngkoe
Te Rakunene ke e tangai Neierei (name of girl); tuangai
ke e ribai; tuangai ke e tangirai Neierei (name of girl);
tuangai ao tuangai, ao tuangai.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight, nine, tell me
Te Rakunene does that girl (name of girl) desire me; tell
me does she hate me; tell me does that girl (name of girl)
love me; tell me, and tell me and tell me.
Repeat this three times. There is no special time of the day or

night for this; nor is there any particular orientation.
When this is done detach the strip from the base of the
pinnule by tearing the end off straight.
Measure three fingers (index, middle, and ring) from one
end of the strip and make a crease by folding. Lay the creased
end of the strip across the palmar aspect of the same three
fingers, so that the crease comes to the radial side of the index
finger. Then take three turns of the rest of the strip round these
fingers and tear the strip off at the point where it completes the
third turn.
Now you must unwind the strip and split it into two tongues
by tearing it down the middle as far as the crease.
Make a series of four knots in one of the tongues, with a fifth
knot at the extreme end. Repeat for the second tongue. If the
two end knots are level with one another, the girl does not love
you; if one projects beyond the other, she does.
Finally you must repeat the whole process with another
pinnule. But this time the girl loves you if the knots come level
with each other; she does not love you if they do not.
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Magic
TE KAIMAIRA: SPELL TO SEPARATE LOVERS

This spell was for use by a jealous or intriguing person to sep-
arate two lovers in order to procure the love of one for himself
or herself.
At sunset the scheming man or woman goes to the beach or
to a shoal on the reef and, having found a human excrement,
stands before it facing either north or south, with back to the
land. Passing the left foot over the excrement and touching the
ground alternately to east and west of it with the toe, he or she
mutters the following spell:
Rakai-e, Rakai-o!
Rakainaine Ten Naene, Nei Ioa.
Ba I rakaia rio, ba I rakaia rake.
E maira rio, e maira rake.
E maira, e maira, e maira!
This rite is performed three times over for three days, and the
result is then awaited.
SUN AND MOON MAGIC: TO BRING BACK A

DISSATISFIED WIFE
TEN TOMI, MARAKEI
If your wife leaves you in anger and refuses to return in spite
of your entreaties, you should invoke the Sun and the Moon to
help you and to bring her back. I learnt the ritual from Ten Tomi,
who was taught it by his mother Nei Kakaua on her death-bed
in 1920; she was then aged about 70.
You fill a binobino ‘coconut shell container’ or an onibua ‘co-
conut fallen before maturity’ with fresh water and, holding it
in the right hand, you sprinkle the water on your head with a
clockwise sweep, at the same time intoning:
Tai, Namakaina, riomai nakomai nakon natimi aio, Nei

Koiu ma Nei Kamwenti ko na nako. Ko na rimwin te aran
aine temanna teuana man tangaia. O neienne, katika
baina, karikakia, katikia ma unna ma butona, kaoua,
katanga, kaeaeai nanon au kainga ikai.
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Tungaru Traditions
You perform this ceremony once at sunrise, facing the rising

sun, once at noon, and once at sunset. At the end of each incan-
tation you throw your binobino or onibua a short distance away
from you; it should stop rolling with its aperture away from you
(i.e., pointing east) in the morning. At noon it should point either
north or south (i.e., neither towards you nor away from you),
and you must look up at the sun.
At sunset you face the setting sun. Your coconut shell should
now point towards you when thrown away. If the shell falls in
the above positions it is a sign that you will be successful.
The striking difference between this ritual and the majority
of Gilbertese incantations is that it is not muttered or intoned
in a low voice, but chanted aloud. It has a well defined tune,
similar to that of an ordinary ruoia chant. This is also a mark
of the dancing charms, in which the Sun and the Moon are sim-
ilarly addressed. The ceremony is carried out in public—or at
least no special effort is made to hide it.
TE BINOBINO: TO REINFORCE THE EFFECT OF

OTHER SPELLS
If a spell is long in taking effect, or if failure is feared, an in-
cantation of great power called te binobino is used. It gives
additional force to the good or evil influence that is said to em-
anate from the performer of magic and ensures the success of
his spells. It is often used immediately after the incantation of a
spell in order to press it home. “Tanaran te tabunea be a ibe i
aom. ”
The rite takes place at the dark before dawn, on land, in any
deep place such as an old babai pit. The performer sits facing
the east where the sun will rise. He has three small coconut
shells known as binobino filled with fresh water and graduated
in size. These are placed on the ground at his right side or left,
depending on whether he is right or left handed, in the order
of their size and parallel with his thigh as he sits cross-legged.
Bowing his head he takes the largest shell and slowly emp-
ties the water over his head and neck with a circular motion,
rhythmically intoning:
Matana ra-e-e, matana ra-o-o;

Tana tanari tabunea-o.
Ba a tukai, ba a bono bonotai nako.
Me ti uki Toane ma Teriawane.
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Magic
Ma ti-e buno buno

N na bita mwin au tabunea, mwina moana.
Ma e na aki tangitangirai Ten Naene,
Ma e na aki uringuringai Ten Naene,
Ma e na aki auauai Ten Naene.
Ma au mwini kiriri-kiriri
Ma au mwini kiriri-kiriri
Kamarannako
Kabate te nako.
He then throws away the empty shell and repeats the spell
in the same manner with the second and third, throwing each
away when empty. This is done three days successively.
PRAYER TO THE MOON

Old men and women would go at moonset, on the first day of the
young moon, to the western beach, and address the moon in the
following manner:
Namakaina-o! Namakaina-o! Tautaua rorou!
Namakaina-o! Namakaina-o! Ko na anganai au oiaki,

teoiakina ma uaoiaki, tenoiaki, aoiaki, nimaoiaki,
onoiaki, itioiaki, wanoiaki, ruaoiaki, tengaun e-e!
Namakaina-o! Namakaina-o! Ko na anganai au ririki,

teririkina ma uaririki, …, [etc.] … tebubua e-e!
Namakaina-o! Namakaina-o! Ko na anganai au tannang,

tetan-nangina ma uatannang, …, [etc.] … tenga e-e!
Moon-o! Moon-o! Hold back my age!
Moon-o! Moon-o! You shall give me my month, one

month with two months, three months, four months, five
months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine
months, ten e-e!
Moon-o! Moon-o! You shall give me my years, one year

with two years, …, [etc.] … one hundred e-e!
131
Tungaru Traditions
Moon-o! Moon-o! You shall give me my age, one age with

two ages, …, [etc.] … one thousand e-e!
While going down the beach to the edge of the sea, where this is
recited, the old man [or woman] opens his arms with palms up
towards the moon and does the movements of the ruoia. When
he begins the chant he claps his hands at each repetition of
“moon” and does ruoia movements to the rest. The prayer is
done three times.
132
The Maneaba
SUCCESSION TO THE BOTI

MARAKEI
The succession to the boti was in the vast majority of cases
traced in the male line (i.e., through the father), but the boti
of the mother or father’s mother was sometimes allotted to
several children (generally the juniors) of a numerous family.
The mother’s boti was considered a tabo ni kamawa ‘a place
to make room’ if the father’s boti in a particular family group
seemed to be in danger of overcrowding.
An adopted child would nearly always transfer to the boti
of his adopter. Supposing the adopter to be of the same utu as
himself, but on the mother’s side, a child would thus leave the
paternal boti.
Or again, if the adoptor was of the paternal utu, but had
himself by adoption or other circumstance changed his boti at
an earlier date, the adopted child would leave the paternal boti.
1
FUNCTIONS OF BOTI IN TABIANG-TYPE

MANEABA
Karongoa n Uea
Te moan taeka [the first word]; to motin taeka [the decision].
When he went to the maneaba to an assembly, the head of this
boti wore a bunna ni kamaraia made from te kakoko. None
might contradict him. Before the council he made a tabunea
called the taematao to clear the way (kaitiaka i main) for his
words. The tabunea was done sitting, while rubbing the palms
133
Tungaru Traditions
together. When it was over the palms were thrown out towards
the people with the words, “Anaia, ba N na ongo” (“Speak for I
will hear”). He had the first share of the feast (te moan tiba) and
the first thatch was placed over his boti. “Iai Tai n te maneaba ”
[the Sun is in the maneaba].
Karongoa Raereke
Te inai: the women of the village in general made these coconut
mats, but the men of Karongoa Raereke brought them to the
maneaba and put them on the floor with appropriate tabunea.
The first inai were laid in a line down the west side of the central
pillars, and the second down the east side. The rest followed
in any order. The laying down began at the south. Karongoa
Raereke brought te kuo n aine and te ba ni kamaimai for their
tabunea, which was done with the object of preventing all dis-
sension among those who sat on the inai. They were thatchers
of the maneaba and coverers of the ridge-pole, but they super-
vised this work only, deputing the men of Nukumauea to climb
on the rafters and do the work.
Nukumauea
When Nukumauea 2 climbed the ridge-pole to sew on the cov-
ering all people sat in absolute silence in their places. The work
began at the northern end. If the thatching awl broke during the
sewing, it was the sign of war or an arrival from the sea, such
as stranded porpoises or strangers. If an awl broke at the north
end, the event was a long way off (e ingira Tabiang). If the awl
broke in the middle of the roof, the porpoises would come, or an
ikabuti ‘shoal of migratory fish’. If the awl lasted whole until the
south end, the event would happen very soon. The covering was
done at noon exactly, in order that the sun might look straight
down on the work. The sun was the helper (rao ‘friend’ or ‘com-
panion’) of the builder of the maneaba, and filled him with skill
at his work. It was thus necessary for him to be near (e makiki
Tai ba kamaraia), for the maneaba would not be mauri ‘blessed’
or ‘healthy’ if the sun was not his companion.
A babou
Ababou were the first dividers of the food and kept the first rem-
nants. Also the “killers of the sun” (masters of eclipses).
134
The Maneaba
Tabukaokao, Karumaetoa, and Tekirikiri

Tabukaokao were the lifters of the food, the receivers and dis-
tributors for the north end; Karumaetoa performed the same
functions for the south end. Tekirikiri shared this function.
Tabukaokao were also the messengers.
Tabiang
Tabiang had the second share in the feast: the head of the por-
poise.
Tekua
Tekua had the tail of the porpoise.
Tebakabaka
Tebakabaka had the third share in the feast.
Maerua
Maerua were the restorers of the sun, and in the maneaba the
coverers of the ridge-pole.
Kaburara
Kaburara were te boti ni kaiwa [the boti of diviners]. If war was
imminent these people divined the lucky day.
Taurawaka
These people had the same functions as Karumaetoa and
Tewiwi.
Keaki
Keaki had the right of first entry into the maneaba.
135
Tungaru Traditions
DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD IN TABIANG-TYPE

MANEABA
MARAKEI
Every man sits in his boti with his contribution before him
(Figure 10).
Tabukaokao is the divider of the feast. He stands and makes
remarks, either complimentary or otherwise, about the food
brought by the various boti. He picks up the contribution of
each householder and, choosing an old man belonging to a boti
distant from him (so that voices may be audible to all), he says,
“This is the babai of So-and so.” The old man thus addressed
passes appropriate comments, and the next man’s contribution
is then considered. Young men of the Tabukaokao boti carry the
contributions individually to their spokesman in the middle of
the maneaba, where the food is piled.
The order in which food is taken from the various boti is as
follows: 1, Karongoa; 2, Tabiang; 3, Te Bakabaka; 4, Taunnamo;
5, Tabuariki te Bakoa; 6, Tekua; 7, Tabokaokao; 8, Nukumauea.
3
NORTHERN ACCOUNT OF THE BUILDING OF

MANEABA ON BERU
MAKIN
When Tetake came from Samoa and was killed, it was sought
by Nei Tituabine whose bird it was. She it was who planted the
coconut over the dead bird’s body. Nei Baraerae grew from the
coconut and procreated with the maggot of Tetake. The utu of
Koura grew from the union: Koura, Koura-ura, Koura-iti, Koura-
n-uea, Koura-rang, Koura-mai.
The utu migrated to Beru and lived as kings on the north
end. When Tanentoa came to their maneaba they leapt into the
rafters and tingiting from overhead. This means that they be-
haved in an overbearing manner to the other chiefs of Beru. So
Tanentoa burned their maneaba and destroyed them with it.
There was now no maneaba on Beru. A new one was built:
the original maneaba ni Beru used to the present day, according
to Makin traditions by the spirits Bonriki and Bontabo from
Matang of Samoa under the direction of Towatu of Matang.
But Beru tradition tells us that it was Teweia and Teweianti,
the sons of Tematawarebwe who did the work. 4
136
The Maneaba
Figure 10. Positions of participating boti

in a Tabiang-type maneaba food distrib-
ution ceremony
SANCTITY OF THE MANEABA

The maneaba was an object of the greatest reverence when fi-
nally completed. No one was allowed to kick or chip or strike
with a stick the curb of coral stones that stood around it; nor
might a man strike either with his hand or stick one of the studs
of the roof. If he did so he would be thrashed and trampled on by
any present. No offence could be taken by his family, even if he
were killed, because it was said that in any case he was maraia
after his offence and would probably die of some sickness in a
short time. “Iai Tai i nanon te maneaba” [There is Sun in the
maneaba]. 5
137
Tungaru Traditions
MANEABA DIVISIONS
BUTARITARI AND MAKIN
The divisions of the ancient maneaba of Butaritari and Makin
were only four, as in Figure 11.
This was the maneaba of Koura and his people, who are re-
puted to have been a large-bodied, red-skinned folk. They came
first to Makin from Samoa, and the account of their arrival is
given in the Tarawa and Beru stories of the bird te take ‘the
red-tailed tropic-bird’, which was their totem. This folk had only
one deity, the goddess Tituabine, whose creature at sea was
the stingray, on land the ladybird, and in the air the red-tailed
tropic-bird.
The coming of the Koura people from Samoa seems to be
a totally different race movement from the coming of the
Karongoa people to the more southerly islands of the Gilbert
Group; this will seem evident from a study of their maneaba.
There are stated to have been only four divisions in the an-
cient maneaba because there were only four utu among the
Koura people. It is said vaguely that a person of one division
never married within his own group, but was obliged to marry
into one of the other three divisions. It is not known whether a
child succeeded to a place in his mother’s or father’s division.
There were certain personal ornaments or badges by which
the members of the different divisions were recognized:
TABOKORORO wore a star-shaped badge of oyster-shell and neck-

laces of porpoise or whales-teeth. Their special weapon in
war was the unun, a lance with shark’s teeth (double edged).
TE INAKI N UEA wore a necklet of pierced shell called te uba, and
another called te tangoniwae. Their weapon was the tau-
mangaria, a double-edged shark’s tooth lance with a curved
guard.
MANKEIA wore the red shell called te nta at the throat, and an-
other ornament called karenawa. Their weapon was a lance
called te rairai with a double point.
TE ANIKABAI wore a necklet of plaited hair, rather like a necktie,
called te taobo. Their weapon was the smooth lance.
The general weapon used by the four divisions was the koro-
matang ‘throwing club’.
A traditional story is that all the canoe crests of the Gilbert

Group originated in this maneaba. The deity of the Koura
people, Nei Tituabine, invented them at Makin and gave them
138
The Maneaba
Figure 11. Divisions of the ancient

maneaba of Butaritari and Makin
to the four divisions. The original crests given to each division

are not known. These crests were made general when the Koura
people left Butaritari and Makin to “return with their goddess
Tituabine to Samoa.” On their voyage they stopped at Beru,
where they colonized the northern end of the island. They built
their maneaba there, but were afterwards all killed by Tanentoa
of Beru and their crests divided up among Tanentoa’s people,
who until then had no divisions to their maneaba and no crests.
6
COVERING THE RIDGE-POLE

MARAKEI
This is done at midday with the sun directly overhead, and as
the ridge-capper works with his thatching awl he chants:
Ba N nangi tiba—I ti ewaria ririka ni maneabaia
139
Tungaru Traditions
Tai ma Namakaina. E toki tera? E toki te mate.

E toki tera? E toki te aoraki. E toki te anangan
taetae mai aon te aba aio. Ia? Marakei. I aki bua
ao I aki taro. Te mauri naba, maneabau-o-o-o!
I am about to pierce the topmost purlin of the maneaba of

the Sun
and Moon. What ceases? Death ceases. What ceases?
Sickness
ceases. The talk of forebodings ceases on this island.
Where?
Marakei. I have not gone astray and I have not stumbled,
May my maneaba also be safe and sound-o-o-o!
The capper climbs up to his place on the ridge-pole at the north

end, from the east side, and he climbs down at the south end on
the west side.
COVERING THE RIDGE-POLE BY THE PEOPLE OF

MAERUA
The people of the Maerua clan claimed equally with those of
Karongoa n Uea and Tabukaokao the privileged duty of super-
vising the covering of the maneaba’s ridge-pole. This was the
last work in the construction of the maneaba, save only the
shaving of the eaves and the burning of the ends of thatch cut
off in giving them a straight edge.
The people of Maerua, unlike the Karongoa Raereke folk,
did not consider it necessary to wait until the sun was precisely
at noon before beginning the ceremonial “covering.” Any hour
between sunrise and noon was permissible with them, their
opinion being that the sun was matoa ‘strong’ at this period
of the day. But the ceremonial must be finished before the sun
passed the zenith, because he became marau ‘weak’ as soon as
he entered the western half of the heavens, and his preserving
influence on the maneaba and the workers began to wane in
strength.
The Maerua workers mounted the roof of the maneaba from
the north-east corner of the edifice, taking with them their tools
and the woven coconut leaves to be used for the ridge-capping.
The first man to mount proceeded along the ridge-pole to the
southern end; the rest followed in single file and took up their
stations at intervals along the ridge from south to north. When
140
The Maneaba
all were in place, the senior male of the clan climbed up to

the apex of the northern gable and straddled the ridge with his
face to southward: he carried three new thatching awls in his
right hand, made of pandanus wood which had grown on the
eastern side of the island. He instructed the most northerly of
his workers to lay a piece of capping in position before him.
All the people gathered then in the maneaba below, sitting
in their boti. Absolute silence was preserved. Aloft on the ridge-
pole the master-capper raised one of his thatching awls in his
right hand and, stabbing the piece of ridge-capping before him,
first on the east side of the ridge and then on the west side in
slow alternation, recited the following words:
Ba N nangi tiba—I ti ewaria taubukin umaia Taburimai

ma Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki ma Nei Tituabine. Ririkan
umau tera? Te karau. Ririkan umau te buaka; ririkan
umau karawa. Ba rokirokin umaia Tai ma Namakaina te
ririka-e-e, te ririka-o-o.
For I am about to—I only pierce the ridge-pole of their

house Taburimai and Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki and
Nei Tituabine. The covering of my house (from) what?
The rain. The covering of my house (from) storm; the
covering of my house (from) heaven. Even the screen
of their house Sun and Moon the covering-e-e, the
covering-o-o.
He uttered these words three times in a loud voice at the

northern end; then proceeding to the middle he repeated the
ceremony there, this time facing east; and last of all he went
through the ritual a third time at the south end, facing north.
If the whole ceremony could be completed without the
breaking of one of the ceremonial thatching awls, it was a sign
of prosperity and peace. The master-capper would call aloud to
the assembled people below, “Te mauri ma te raoi mane-o. Kam
na kara i ani maneabami aio” (“Safety and peace, men. You shall
grow old beneath this your maneaba”).
But often an awl would break off short as the master-capper
stabbed against the ridge-pole, and the part of the ridge against
which it snapped was important in the prognostication. If it
broke at the north end, some important event in the distant
future might be expected; this might be sickness, famine or
war, or it might be something exceedingly fortunate such as the
stranding of a shoal of porpoises. If the awl broke in the middle
141
Tungaru Traditions
of the roof, a calamity might be expected in the near future.

In the south end the snapping of the awl predicted a trouble
that would be overcome. These rules of divination apply to a
maneaba built at the north end of an island; they were exactly
reversed if the maneaba was at the south end, or southward of
the maneaba of the hereditary enemies of the builders.
When the ceremonial was done, the master-capper de-
scended from the roof by way of the south-west corner of the
building, while the workers proceeded with the sewing of the
ridge-capping. When this was done, the master-capper again
mounted to the ridge carrying with him four unhusked co-
conuts. The “face” of one of these he struck off at the northern
end of the ridge, and sprinkling the water over the ridge-cap-
ping there he muttered the following words:
Bubunai aba, bubunai aba. Bubunai irou, bubunai irou,

bubunai irou. Ko kangikang kanam rara. Matu, matu,
anti ni kaaoraki; matu, matu, anti ni kamamate; matu,
matu, anti ni kamibuaka; matu, matu. Baraki te unene,
b‘e a bungi te aba.
Smoke of fire, smoke of fire. Smoke of fire with me,

smoke of fire with me, smoke of fire with me. Thou eatest
thy food the blood. Sleep, sleep, spirits of sickness;
sleep, sleep, spirits of killing; sleep, sleep, spirits of evil
dreaming; sleep, sleep. Overturned is the foundation, for
the land is ready.
There seems little doubt from the wording of this spell that the
coconut represents the head of a man and the water his blood,
which is sprinkled upon the capping as its food, in the nature
of a sacrificial offering to bring good fortune. The practice of
human sacrifice and especially the sacrifice of heads at the
building of houses and canoes, in the betel region of Melanesia,
is exceedingly common.
When the first sprinkling was done, the empty nut was rolled
down the northern gable of the maneaba to the ground. A
second nut was cut and emptied over the ridge a little north of
the middle and rolled down the eastern side of the roof; a third
was similarly treated a little south of the middle, but was rolled
west; and the fourth was rolled south from the south end. If the
mouths of all these nuts as they lay on the ground pointed away
142
The Maneaba
from the edifice it was a sign of peace and good fortune, but if
the majority were turned towards the maneaba trouble was to
be expected.
Last of all, the edges of the eaves of the maneaba were
trimmed by the people of Maerua. All uneven ends of thatch
hanging down were cut off to the straight-edge of a stretched
cord. The north end was first trimmed and the trimmings col-
lected in the middle of the northern side, a little clear of the
eaves. Similarly, the south, east, and west sides were treated.
When all four heaps of trimmings were gathered in the respec-
tive positions, the senior male of Maerua set light to them in
the order of their cutting, and their combustion was carefully
watched. If all the fires died together, neither good nor evil
might be expected: if the south or the west fire remained alight
while the others died, it was a sign of either war or heavy
weather; but if either the north or east fire remained alight after
all others, peace and plenty were prognosticated.
CEREMONY AT THE ERECTION OF THE BOUA TAI

The erection of the middle monolith or stud (boua), in the
eastern side of the maneaba, which is called Tai (Sun), was at-
tended by a special ceremony in which the senior male member
of the clan of Karongoa n Uea officiated. The stone was stood
upright in its hole. All the people working on the maneaba left
their occupations and formed a complete circle around it. The
officiator then with his hands scooped the loose earth into the
hole around the base of the stone, and when this was done he
seated himself up against the base, facing east, with the stone in
front of him. Patting the earth with the open palms of his hands,
he intoned:
I kaneenea, I kanenea Tai i aon ati ni kaneneana; I ka-

neenea, I kanenea Tai i aon ati ni kaiboana; I kaneenea,
I kanenea Tai i aon ati ni kamakana. I kanenea, I kaibo; I
kanenea, I karoko; Ikane-nea, I kamaka.
I make vigorous, I make vigorous the Sun upon the rock

of his vigour; I make vigorous, I make vigorous the Sun
upon the rock of his separation from the horizon; I make
vigorous, I make vigorous the Sun upon the rock of
143
Tungaru Traditions
his blazing. I make vigorous, I make separate from the

horizon; I make vigorous, I make to arrive; I make vig-
orous, I cause to blaze.
This was repeated three times. The workers then broke their
circle and returned to their various occupations.
The ritual performed is evidently closely connected with
ideas in the story of Bue’s visit to the sun, in which six rocks
are mentioned as the “stopping places” of the sun in his course
through the heavens: three are below the horizon, and three
are above. The incantation reproduced here refers only to three
rocks: the first “the rock of his vigour‚” which is the rock on
which he acquires his first strength for the day’s journey; the
second, “the rock of his separation from the horizon;” and the
third “the rock of his blazing.” 7
COVERING THE RIDGE-POLE

KAKEIA OF BETIO, AGED ABOUT 60, TARAWA
When the interior of the maneaba was complete and the roof
finished, the ridge-pole was covered, as on Marakei. The master
thatcher mounted on the roof and sat on the ridge-pole facing
east, in the middle first. The time must be high noon. Stabbing
the ridge-pole with his awl [as described for Marakei], he re-
peated the following:
N nangi tiba—I ti ewaria taubukini maneabaia Tai, Na-

makaina. Angangaia tan-tituo ma tan-omaneaba ba te
ukeukenanti. E tei ona ba te nari, e baraki ba te ba
i nukan te aba. Ia? Betio: ni karoko roro, ma uaroro,
tenroro, aroro, nimaroro, onororo, itiroro, wanroro, ru-
aroro; e toki, e aki bua maneabau. I aki bua, I aki maraia
mai nanoni bain te anti-n-uea, Nei Tituabine; te kai mai
karawa, ba aia kai Nawai ma Aorao, te I-Aoniman, te kai
taukarawa; te rika ni kamauri. Karaoia, karaoia, nanon
Tabuariki; karaoia, karaoia, nanon Auriaria; karaoia,
karaoia, nanon Taburimai. A raoi; e aki bua maneabaia.
I am just about to—I only stab it the ridge-pole of their

maneaba Sun, Moon. The givers of gifts and the en-
closers of the maneaba the whirlwind. It stands its en-
closure even the smooth stone, it is protected even the
rock in the midst of the land. Where? Betio: until a gener-
144
The Maneaba
ation, with two generations, three generations, four gen-

erations, five generations, six generations, seven gener-
ations, eight generations, nine generations; it is ended,
it is not lost my maneaba. I am not lost, I am not ac-
cursed from within the hand of the ruler of spirits, Nei
Tituabine; the instrument from heaven, even their in-
strument Nawai and Aorao, the inhabitants of Aoniman,
the instrument ruling heaven; the thatching awl of
making safe. Do it, do it, in (the name of) Tabuariki; do
it, do it, in (the name of) Auriaria; do it, do it, in (the
name of) Taburimai. They are at peace; it is not lost their
maneaba.
NOTES ON THE TABIANG-STYLE MANEABA

1. The first corner-stone was Tabakea at the north-east corner.
Second, Tituabine at the south-east.
Third, Teangebo at the north-west.
Fourth, Teangang at the south-west.
Fifth, Tai in the middle of the east side.
Sixth, Namakaina in the middle of the west side.
2. The tatanga [roof-plate] at the west is called Bakoa.

That at the east is called Tabakea.
That at the north is called Tabiang.
That at the south is called Taboiaki.
3. The inai ‘coconut-leaf mats’ were hung first at Tabiang.

Second, at Karongoa.
Third, at Bakabaka.
After that, in any order.
4. First in importance in the maneaba was Karongoa.

Second in importance was Tabiang.
5. Keaki and Karongoa Raereke are the thatchers.

Bakoa are the blowers of the horn.
Karongoa Raereke lay the inai.
6. Types [or styles and heights] of maneaba:

Tabiang—narrow [maki].
Maungatabu—broader.
Tokamamao—broader still.
145
Tungaru Traditions
The Maungatabu maneaba at Manriki on Nikunau. (Lenwood 1917,

110)
Teriamatan—broader still.
Tetabakea—broader still.
Tabontebike—square (tabanin).
THE MAUNGATABU-STYLE MANEABA

The Maungatabu maneaba is called by the Karongoa group “the
enclosure of the Sun and Moon,” and the sun is believed to
take vengeance upon any who violate or offend its precincts.
Supporting the roof-plate in the middle of the eastern side of
this building is a stud named Sun, against which the people
of Karongoa n Uea (Karongoa of kings) have their hereditary
sitting place. Opposite the Sun, in the middle of the western
side, is the stud named Moon, against which the clans of Aba-
bou and Maerua are seated. Karongoa, Ababou, and Maerua
have the Sun-totem in common, and they share the monopoly of
the Sun-Moon pandanus fructification ritual.
146
The Maneaba
All ceremonial and all speech in the Maungatabu maneaba

are subservient to the will of Karongoa n Uea, as enunciated
by the senior male of the group. This individual is called, at
Marakei, when taking part in a ceremonial “the Sun in the
maneaba,” an epithet more usually found applied to the whole
Karongoa group, collectively considered. It is, however, a
matter of general belief that the sun “is over” the individual
head of the Karongoa spokesman, and will pierce the navel of
any who contradicts him, questions his judgment, expresses the
least doubt about his rendering of any tradition, or attempts to
usurp any of his privileges within the sacred building.
The spokesman wears on his head, while officiating in the
maneaba, a fillet of coconut leaf called bunan Tai ‘the fillet
of the Sun’. He sits alone, slightly in advance of his fellow
clansmen, upon occasions of a ceremonious nature, and opens
proceedings by muttering the magico-religious formula called
te taematao whose object is “to clear the path of his words” and
to protect him from interruption or contradiction. The formula
is recited with the head bowed, while the hands are slowly
rubbed together, palm on palm; after three repetitions, the per-
former throws his hands forward, palms up, elbows against
body, and raising his head exclaims, “E oti Tai” (“the Sun ap-
pears”), after which the debate or ceremonial proceeds.
The clan of Karongoa Raereke is the companion and acolyte
(taboni bai ‘finger’ or ‘servant’) of Karongoa n Uea in the Maun-
gatabu building: its members carry messages from the sacred
clan to other groups and, in the northern Gilberts, its elder
“lifts the word from the mouth of Karongoa n Uea,” that is, pub-
lishes to the assembly the whispered oration or judgment of the
Karongoa n Uea spokesman. The privilege of Karongoa Raereke
is to take a share of the first portion of any feast, which is the
perquisite of Karongoa n Uea. Its duty is to supervise the laying
and maintenance of the coconut-leaf mats (inai) with which the
floor of the maneaba is covered, and to perform magico-reli-
gious rituals for preventing dissension in the sacred edifice. The
time for such rituals is the hour when the sun is approaching its
zenith; among the material used is a kuonaine—a cup made of
half a coconut shell wherein oil has been boiled—which vessel is
considered highly important because it formed the magic boat
of the sun-child named Bue, the ancestor of the Ababou clan,
when he visited his burning sire in the east.
147
Tungaru Traditions
Ababou and Maerua

The Ababou and Maerua groups claim both the sun and the
moon as their totems, and are seated about the stud called
Moon in the middle of the western side of the maneaba. The
ceremonial function of Ababou is to separate the first portion of
Karongoa n Uea from any food brought to the maneaba for the
purpose of a feast, and to hand it over to Karongoa Raereke, for
conveyance to the sacred clan.
Outside the maneaba, Ababou and Maerua claim the powers
of making and unmaking eclipses of the sun and the moon, or
rain-making, and of raising or stilling the wind. These powers
are said to be inherited from the traditional clan-ancestor, a
hero named Bue, who, by a virgin mother, was a child of the
Sun, together with his sister Nei Teraiti. Bue’s chief exploit, ac-
cording to the tradition, was to visit his father in the east, and
catch him in a noose for the purpose of obtaining knowlege from
him. It was then that the Sun gave him the magic rituals now
used by the Ababou and Maerua groups. A whole series of solar,
lunar, and stellar myths are now grouped about the name of
Bue.
But the Sun’s greatest gift to Bue was the craft of building
maneaba: “The maneaba of kings, which is called Te Namakaina
(Moon); and that called Te Tabanin (The Foursquare); and the
long maneaba called Maungatabu; and the maneaba whereof
the breadth is greater than the length, called Te Ketoa.” 8 It is by
virtue of this gift that the clans of Ababou and Maerua lay claim
to what is their pre-eminent function, namely, that of being, on
behalf of Karongoa n Uea, the master architects of the Maun-
gatabu building. Their duties are to find a suitable site for the
edifice, to lay out its ground plan, to order the position of all its
timbers, and with their own hands to cap its ridge with a cov-
ering of plaited leaf or matting. Their acolytes in these works
are the Eel-totem group of Nukumauea and the Crab-totem
group of Tabukaokao. In all their building rituals, the names of
Sun and Moon are prominent; they believe that the Sun dwells
in the Maungatabu maneaba because he was the originator of
that style of building, and that he will take vengeance upon any
person who either offends the edifice or attempts to usurp the
functions or imitate the rituals of the builder clans.
148
The Maneaba
Maungatabu building rituals

The first timbers of the maneaba to be cut and dressed are the
tatanga ‘roof-plates’. The heavy work is done by the acolyte Eel
and Crab totem-groups, but before the dressing of the rough
logs begins they are heaped in a pile for ritual treatment by the
master architect of Ababou. Before noon, on a day when the sun
and the moon are seen together in the sky, this person mounts
the pile and, facing east, taps one of the logs lightly with an
adze, intoning:
Ba N nangi tiba koroia, tatangani maneabaia Tai, Na-

makaina; ba maneabaia Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki, Nei
Tituabine. E toki tera? E toki te bakarere. E toki tera? E
toki te kainanti. E toki tera? E toki te maraia. E toki tera?
E toki te tiringaki. E toki-i-i-i, e toki, e toki-e-e-e, e toki.
Te mauri ao te raoi.
For the time has come for me to cut the roof-plate of the
maneaba of the Sun and the Moon; even the maneaba of
Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki, Nei Tituabine. What ceases?
Violence ceases. What ceases? Evil magic ceases. What
ceases? Being under a curse ceases. What ceases? Being
smitten ceases. It ceases-i-i-i, it ceases, it ceases-e-e-e, it
ceases. Prosperity and peace.
The cutting of the rafters and other scantlings is preluded by

exactly the same ritual and formula, the word tatanga being re-
placed in the chant by the appropriate term. 9
149
Marriage
BETROTHAL
The bethrothed of a Gilbertese man, when taken to live in his
parents’ house, is considered to be under the mother’s pro-
tection and supervision, not the father’s.
This is a custom that would naturally follow upon a dual
organization of society with matrilineal descent. The mother
would be of the same moiety as the son, while the father would
be of that of the daughter-in-law. On Pentecost Island where the
dual system is still in force, a future wife is always in the charge
of her future mother-in-law.
Marriage by rape in the southern Gilberts again points to
the former existence of a dual organization.
CONSANGUINITY
MARAKEI
When a marriage between persons descended from a common
ancestor was proposed on Marakei, a more or less ceremonial
visit was made by the old men of the utu to the bangota where
the ancestral skulls of the respective branches concerned were
buried. The skulls of the ancestors through whom descent was
traced by each branch from the common source were then
counted, and on the return to the house it was decided whether
enough generations intervened to render the proposed union
permissible.
The following marriage of third cousins caused some heart-
burning among the old men of Marakei:
150
Marriage
A nuclear family, Nikunau, 1851. (Maude

1981, 89, from Webster Collection,
Auckland)
In spite of the widespread maxim that “the fourth generation of

descendants from a common ancestor go free” for purposes of
marriage, the general opinion among the old people of Marakei
was that the parties to this union were too closely related for
151
Tungaru Traditions
decency, being descended through males into the same clan,

and that in pre-government days they would never have been
allowed to marry.
INTERFAMILY EXCHANGE MARRIAGE

It was a common practice throughout the Gilberts for a man and
his sister to marry a woman and her brother. Such marriages,
where conditions of age permitted, were celebrated on the same
day. In fact, the marriage of a girl might be delayed until her
brother was old enough to take part in such a marriage. I have
never heard, however, of a case in which the marriage of a boy
was postponed for the sake of his sister.
MARRIAGE TO SISTERS
BUTARITARI
On Butaritari it was a common practice for three or four sisters
to marry a single man:
When a man thus married three sisters, one of them was called
moa ni kie, or rao ni kie, and the rest eiriki. 1 But their children
had exactly the same status. Thus if an eiriki had the first child,
it had the privileges of the eldest, even though the rao ni kie
procreated later on.
MARRIAGE OF CHIEFS
BUTARITARI
On Butaritari, among high chiefs [uea] and chiefs [toka] the
marriage of first cousins and others classified as brothers or
sisters was encouraged. Such a marriage helped to keep the
chief’s family and family lands consolidated.
152
Marriage
Such marriages had no connection in the Gilbertese mind with

the cross-cousin idea. In fact, the above example shows a mar-
riage between the children of two brothers. Thus incest on
Butaritari was not necessarily the copulation of classificatory
brothers and sisters. Incest was the connection of one in a po-
sition of child with one in a position of parent, that is, out of
one’s own generation.
As a rule only the class of chiefs indulged in cousin mar-
riage. All others adhered to the principle of e ewe te karoro [the
fourth generation goes free].
CARRYING OF BRIDE
ABAIANG AND TARAWA
On these islands the bride was carried by the bridegroom’s re-
lations from her father’s house to that in which the ceremony of
marriage was to take place. She must not set foot on the ground
between her old home and the new one.
DEATH OF MOA NI KIE

If a man’s moa ni kie died and he chose one of her sisters as
her successor, the new moa ni kie would often take the name of
the deceased first wife. Ten Tenaobure of Marakei married a girl
named Nei Taonari; she died, and her sister called Nei Rakera,
who was also married to the man, took the name of Taonari.
153
Medical Practices
DIAGNOSIS
If there is a burning of the skin over a fracture, it is a pain
caused by the flesh and the blood.
If there is an itching and stabbing pain, it is caused by the
flesh and the veins.
If the pain is a maraki ae waewaerake [lit. “pain going up-
wards,” i.e., one that runs up the leg], it is caused by the flesh
and the bones.
REMEDIES
Sore eyes (wai mata)

The juice of the ripe berries of the mao [Scaevola taccada] was
squeezed into the inflamed eye.
Sore ears (wai taninga)

To half a shell full of coconut oil were added the tips of five
saplings of the ango (Premna taitensis), chopped up finely. The
mixture was heated and stirred on the fire. While still hot it was
poured into the ear.
Cystitis and urethritis

Acute inflammation of the bladder and urethra were often
caused by drinking coconut toddy in which cantharides flies had
been drowned.
154
Medical Practices
One method of treating this was to mix sea-water, coconut

water, and coconut oil in equal parts, and drink copiously of the
mixture.
Another method was to drink large quantities of kamaimai
[coconut molasses] and water. And a third treatment was to give
the patient to drink a mixture in equal parts of fresh water and
coconut cream (i.e., cream squeezed from the grated flesh of a
nut).
Sore gums (wira); infants cutting teeth

The most usual treatment was to chew up pieces of coconut root
until soft, wring out the juice, and rub it with a finger into the
sore gums. The juice is certainly a good astringent.
Also used in this was the juice of a chewed nimoimoi ‘co-
conut in the first stage’. 1
A third remedy was the bark of the kanawa (Cordia sub-
cordata) tree. The bark was taken from a young sapling,
scraped into shreds with a shell, and the juice wrung out of it.
This juice was applied with the finger.
Poisoned foot through treading on a nou

[Scorpionide: a poisonous fish]
A clearly modern remedy is to mix coconut oil and kerosene,
and heat on a fire. Powder a little pumice stone, wrap it in
the fibrous “cloth” of the coconut crest and immerse this in
the hot liquid. Let it boil. Take the soaked pumice powder out
in its wrapping and while it is still very hot squeeze its liquid
on the part wounded by the fish’s spine. Then hold the hot
“sponge” against the wound. When the skin has been thor-
oughly softened, take the gall bag of a nou and squeeze its con-
tents over the wound.
Inflammatory condition of buttocks and genitals among

infant girls‚ (ba)
Take the tips of hanging pandanus roots that have not yet
reached the ground and mash them up into a paste with berries
of the bero [Ficus tinc toria]. Apply this as an ointment.
155
Tungaru Traditions
Boils and sprains

For boils and sprains the heated leaves of the non (Morinda cit-
rifolia) and the kiebu (Crinum asiaticum) were applied. The non
leaves were especially used to bring the boil to a head. Another
styptic was the ren [Messerschmi dia argentea] leaf.
Poisoned sores
The non [Morinda citrifolia] leaf, heated, was used for septic
sores.
Splinters or thorns
If a splinter or thorn were deeply embedded in the sole of the
foot, the foot was first incised and the incision plastered with
pulp made by pounding up very young coconuts just formed
from the blossom.
BONE-SETTING
TEM MAERE, SON OF EREATA AND GRANDSON
OF TERURUAI, MARAKEI
The art of bone-setting as practised by the Gilbertese is entirely
free from magic or ritual of any kind. It has no ceremonial
aspect whatever, being an art or science pure and simple; the
work itself is the important matter, and upon the deftness of
the bone-setter’s fingers alone depends the success of his en-
deavours. I have no details at all about the local origin or history
of bone-setting; there is no myth known to me in which the art
of karikaki is mentioned. Maere of Marakei, who gave me the
information here recorded, knew nothing beyond the fact that
his father and his father’s father had handed their knowledge
down to him.
From the absence of myth, magic, ritual, or superstition con-
nected with karikaki I am inclined to infer that it is of foreign
origin, and of very recent importation. It is almost impossible to
conceive that a practice which had been for many generations
known to the Gilbertese should be entirely unaccompanied by
magico-religious formulae of any sort. But it is easy to conceive
that if the art were introduced by some foreigner, say from the
Ellice Islands or the Marshalls, himself imperfectly acquainted
with the language, it would take its place in the local culture
156
Medical Practices
unaccompanied by incantations, because such, if any, would be

in a foreign language. Even thus implanted in Gilbertese soil, I
cannot think that many generations would elapse before some
sort of magical formulae became attached to it. I therefore think
that the importation must have come at a quite recent period.
The following bones were recognized by Gilbertese bone-
setters:
1. Forearm, two bones, called kinati because they run par-
allel. Upperarm, one bone. One ria ‘artery’;
2. Leg, two bones below knee; one thigh bone; one artery;
3. Shoulder blades, two; between them the part of the spine
called nei ni bakoa; two arteries (rin aku);
4. Nine ribs on left and ten on right side (rini kaokao);
5. Twelve sections of spine (rini bakoa);
6. Coccyx, one (rini ki);
7. Collar bones, two (rin roroa).
The splints used for broken bones are made of coconut slivers
and the strong outer skin of the babai stalk. There are six
lengths of coconut wood: (1) tip of the right middle finger to
crease of hand and wrist; (2) tip to middle crease of hand; (3)
tip to base of middle finger; (4) tip to middle crease; (5) first
phalanx; (6) finger-nail.
The breadth is an inch and a quarter.
The bandage of babai bark is cut to the same length as the
splints.
Size 1, there are always six lashings to fasten the splints, all
separate; if any other number is used the bone will be painful
and will not set. Size 2, four lashings; Size 3, three; Size 4, two;
Sizes 5 and 6, the babai skin was not used, and the splint was
wrapped in a bandage made of babai stalk material and bound
against injury.
Before applying the splint the “blood” was always driven to-
wards the fracture by massaging from each side towards the
injury. Hot water was used for fomentations. For injuries to
the trunk, a bed was made of the spathes of coconut blossom,
stripped and flattened.
For a single, simple fracture (ri banin), three massages a
day: just after sunrise; at noon; just before sunset.
The splints are bound on for three days. Some fractures like
splints, others do not. If a fracture is uncomfortable in splints
you hold the fractured place and press gently on the part which
is painful. The splints are intended primarily not so much to
support the fractured bone as to relieve pain.
157
Tungaru Traditions
At your first visit to a man with a fractured bone, you

massage his stomach.
The following is the doctor’s timetable for complicated frac-
tures (ri mai), regulated by the sun:
Sunrise (about 6 A.M.): Massage of te iriko ‘flesh’, te rara

‘blood’, te ia ‘veins’;
About 9 A.M.: Gently rubbing along limb from each side in to-
wards fracture (te torotorobi);
Noon: Te tai ni kaokiri ‘the time to put back the bone’. All the
manipulation of the fractured bone is made at this hour;
About 3 P.M.: Te torotorobi again;
Sunset (about 6 P.M.): Massage of flesh, blood, and veins;
About 9 P.M.: Ditto;
Midnight: Manipulation of bone;
About 3 A.M.: Massage of flesh, blood, and veins.
This treatment lasts for three days. After the third day the
doctor visits only at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight,
working on the bone only at noon and midnight, and massaging
at the other hours.
On rainy days no massage is performed. In case of pain on
these days, the doctor exerts gentle pressure on the injured part
to reduce the pain.
For long-standing disability caused by an old imperfectly
mended fracture the patient was taken to the sea and massaged
there; gentle pressure was applied sometimes for many weeks
to straighten the limb. The patient was taught to walk in the sea
and gradually on shore. When this had been accomplished the
treatment was continued ashore.
If the patient has had no motion for three days since the
injury, he or she is given a copious drink of boiled coconut
toddy, very hot with water. If constipation continues the patient
is given more molasses with hot water and cream of coconut
flesh.
FEVERISHNESS (TE KABUOKI TE MARIRI)

All sweet-smelling trees are considered good by Gilbertese
practitioners; any part of a tree may be used for fever-medicine
if it produces a sweet-smelling flower or leaf. The uri (Guettarda
158
Medical Practices
speciosa) and the ango (Premna taitensis) are chiefly favoured,

while the keangi ni Makin (Microso rium scolopendrium) and
kaura (Sida fallax) are used when procurable.
The bark, roots, flowers, and tips of young branches are
gathered: a handful of each. These are chopped up finely and
boiled in a giant clam-shell with well-water—one coconut-shell
full for each handful of ingredients. When it is cold, the patient
both drinks it and washes his body with it.
GONORRHOEA: A POST-CONTACT TREATMENT

Ingredients: the bark stripped from suckers of the uri (Guet-
tarda speciosa) and mao (Scaevola taccada).
The inner surface of the bark is scraped into a mixture
in equal parts of sea-water and well-water, and boiled until a
sodden pulp is left. This is squeezed of its liquid into a coconut
shell, mixed with about a table-spoonful of stockholm tar, and
then drunk by the patient.
The stockholm tar was probably added at the suggestion
of some European sailor, possibly a whaler of the nineteenth
century. In the 1920s it is still commonly believed in the fore-
castles of island ships that gonorrhoea may be cured with this
medicine.
CURES FOR RIKINIBIROTO ‘DISTENDED

STOMACH’, I.E., DYSPEPSIA
NUI
Choose a kiaou creeper (Triumf etta procumbens) that grows
a short distance from the house; it must have three branches.
Then go back to your house and draw a deep breath: Run
without breathing to the kiaou and pluck one of its branches.
Hold this in the right hand, and still without breathing run
thrice around the plant. You may then draw breath again and
walk slowly back to the house with the branch you have picked.
Pick a nut in the moi stage before it has fallen from the tree.
2
Grate the flesh and mix the gratings with the curd-like sub-
stances contained in the moi. Put the mixture into a kumete
‘wooden bowl’ and pound it up with the stalk, leaves, flowers,
and seeds of the kiaou plant, until it makes a soft mash. Turn
the mash out upon a piece of the fibrous material that grows at
159
Tungaru Traditions
the base of the coconut leaf; wrap it up in this and wring it dry
of juice into a coconut shell. Boil the juice in its shell, and let the
patient drink it as hot as possible.
FOR EXPECTANT MOTHERS

This draught is given to an expectant mother who fears that
a fall or a blow has injured her child, or who thinks that it is
moving too much in the uterus.
Ingredients: one nut in the moi stage, and two in the ura
stage (with brown flesh). 3 The flesh of these is grated and
mixed. The gratings are wrung in the fibrous coconut “cloth,”
and the cream from them allowed to drip into a wooden bowl.
The cream is then heated over a fire in a vessel of coconut
shell until a frothy scum rises, which is skimmed and thrown
away. After a little more heating, the coconut oil begins to
appear. The vessel is taken from the fire at this point, and the
contents mixed with an equal quantity of water.
The mixture is heated again until it is just too hot to bear
on the finger. After it has been let cool off a little, it is given
to the patient to drink. Immediately afterwards, she must drink
the water of as many coconuts as she can manage, and then eat
their flesh.
The next day, the physician goes and gathers from the bush
one handful of each of the following ingredients: the tips of
young kanawa shoots (Cordia subcordata); flowers of the bin-
gibing (Thespesia populnea); tips of mangrove suckers; and
trailers of the kiaou (Triumf etta procumbens). These ingre-
dients are first pounded together, and then their juice is
squeezed into the water of five drinking nuts. This mixture is
given to the patient, to be finished at a single sitting.
The treatment continues, the draughts alternating, for as
long as the symptoms demand.
160
Names
EXCHANGE OF NAMES
It was, and still is, a common practice for two people of the
same age and sex to exchange names as a sign of affection.
Analagous to such an exchange was the practice of taking the
name of a person superior in social rank as a mark of respect. A
concrete example of this custom came directly under my notice
in 1923, on the island of Marakei.
Talking one day on the veranda of my house with half a score
children of the island, I passed around for inspection the photo-
graph of one of my own small daughters, aged 8. I noticed that
one girl, of about 14, considered the picture for a long while
with an expression of rapt contemplation. At last she handed it
back to me with the simple remark, “Ai bia arau aran te tei aei ”
(“Would that my name was the name of this child”).
Some days later a deputation of elderly and old men waited
on me with copious presents of native food. They informed me
that they were elders of both the father’s and mother’s side
of the utu of the young girl, whose name was Teabuaka. They
brought their presents of food with a formal request that their
daughter might be allowed to assume the name of my child. On
consent being given, they appointed the next Sunday afternoon
as the day for the ceremonial assumption of the name, and in-
vited me to attend, with every servant, orderly, and clerk em-
ployed in my service.
On Sunday therefore I repaired at the appointed hour to
the house of the girl’s parents; my servants, etc., had preceded
me to the reunion. In a small clearing to the west of the house
I saw the guests gathered. My own people were seated in a
161
Tungaru Traditions
half-circle to southward of an enormous pile of native food of

every description. The utu of the girl completed the circle on the
northern side.
When I arrived, the child, led by her adoptive grandmother,
approached me and, taking me by the right hand, begged me to
be seated. Had my daughter been present, it would have been
she to whom this welcome would have been addressed.
Presents of mats and native produce were then brought and
laid at my feet, to be conveyed to my child. At this moment also,
it was incumbent upon me (on behalf of my daughter) to make
return gifts to the girl who was taking her name. I noticed too
that in accordance with native custom all my own servants (who
may be regarded as representing the utu of my daughter) had
brought a gift of some sort, which was now presented.
The exchange of courtesies being over, the ceremonial
katenua ara ‘making-to-fit name’ began. The senior old man of
the girl’s father’s utu approached the pile of food in the midst
of the circle. Choosing at random a piece of the food, he held
it aloft on the palm of his right hand, and facing north called
aloud: “Te bun anti meang” (“The breed of spirits of the north”).
On behalf of the spirits of the north, the whole concourse an-
swered “O!”
Turning south, the officiator then cried again: “Te bun anti
maiaki” (“The breed of spirits of the south”). And again the
people answered “O!” In like manner were then addressed the
eastern spirits, the western spirits, and the spirits of Karawa
‘the sky’ and Mone ‘the underworld’, the assembly answering
“O!” to each successive call.
All the spirits being now called, the officiator addressed
them as follows: “Here is your food! Do not come here. We are
casting off the name Teabuaka and we are taking the name of
Joan. Here is your food. Do not come here. Health and peace!”
This address being finished, the old man gave the food to
a boy of the utu, who took it and laid it on the ground outside
the circle. There it remained untouched, the food of the spirits,
a propitiatory offering to keep them from bringing evil chance
within the circle and thus upon the new name.
After this ceremony the food was distributed among the
guests, and the meal became informal. From that moment the
girl concerned was called by her new name of Joan. 1
162
Names
USE OF TIKI AS NAMES

In making an adopted child or grandchild his ingoa ‘namesake’
a Gilbertese very often did not give away his real name, but
what was called tikina, its affinity or extension. 2 A single name
might have many such affinities, which were obtained by
playing variations upon its vowel sounds as a rule, but some-
times upon its consonants. A simple example of tiki is Timea,
which is the affinity of the original name Temea; in like manner
Tokintekai becomes Tekatekai; and Tekabu becomes Tikabu. In
other cases the tiki was arrived at by adding a syllable, as by
changing Tekai into Tekairo, or by duplicating a syllable, as by
making Beia into Bebia.
This practice of giving the namesake a slight variation of the
adoptor’s name is said to be intended to avoid confusion of ref-
erence, and it thus seems a very sensible institution.
Sometimes a Gilbertese wished to confer his name on
several persons, in which case he would have to find two, three,
or even more tiki. Under such circumstances the affinities dis-
covered seem to a European ear to have departed sometimes
very far from the original. For example, during his lifetime an
old man called Nauoko of Tarawa used no fewer than five vari-
ations of his name. Starting from the original, in order of dis-
covery, they were as follows: Nauoko, Teuoki, Teaboka, Uakeia,
Uakeanga, and Uare. Even the first of these, closest in sound
to the original, seems to our ear rather far-fetched, while the
last three sound not in the least like the real name. But to
the Gilbertese, I am assured, the first four at least have pre-
served pretty well the tonal qualities of the original, especially
as they preserve the k sound. The last, Uare, it is explained, is
a secondary extension, through the intermediate forms Uakeia
and Uakeanga, and is intended to be reminiscent of these two
variants rather than the original.
There was no rule for the guidance of those who wished
to find their name-variants. The sounds that appealed to the
ears of an individual as suggestive of a particular name were
those selected. It was generally the actual owner of the name
who invented the tiki, but the choice might also be made by
an intimate relation or friend. Sometimes the variant seems to
have been the result of pure accident. For example, it was the
adoptive granddaughter of Nauoko who furnished the first tiki
of his name, by persistently calling him Teuoki when she was a
very small child. As a matter of sentiment he actually took the
name of Teuoki for several years after this, but later on reverted
163
Tungaru Traditions
to the original Nauoko, and gave the variant to the little girl,
who is now a middle-aged woman and still bears the name of
Nei Teuoki, being considered the namesake of her tibu.
It is interesting to show what Nauoko did with the other tiki
of his name:
Teaboka, the second variant, he gave to his household cat; and

when this pet died he assigned the name to a dog, which is
still living;
Uakeia, together with his real name of Nauoko, he gave away
to the great-grandson of his father’s sister (i.e., his own
grandson in a classificatory sense), whom he adopted as his
tibu;
Uakeanga he kept for himself, as a term of endearment to be
used by those especially intimate with him. This variant and
its use thus correspond precisely with our own practice of
using diminutives (e.g., Bill for William) in a familiar way;
Uare he gave away as a sign of pity and affection to a lad who
was mentally deficient. This boy was not a relation but was
always kindly treated by Nauoko and conceived a dog-like
affection for him; though never adopted he practically lived
in Nauoko’s household and fed from his lands. The variant
Uare represents the cretinous lad’s attempt to pronounce
the affectionate term Uakeanga.
164
Relationships
TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP
There is no Gilbertese word that expresses the idea of family in
its narrower sense of household. The fundamental word is utu
(old Gilbertese baronga), which includes the blood relations, on
both male and female sides, of any man or woman. Thus, any
son belongs to both his father’s and his mother’s utu, but his
father does not belong to his mother’s utu, nor his mother to
his father’s. Terms of relationship, except in one or two special
cases, are only given by courtesy to those outside the utu.
Blood relations are known as te bu, which may be translated
as “the breed.” Courtesy relations are known as te koraki ‘the
circle’.
1. Father (Tama)
Real father (in the Southern Gilberts also called karo, which
word in the Northern Gilberts is collective and means
“parents”).
All those blood relations whom the real father and mother
would call brothers.
By courtesy, the father’s sister’s husband; mother’s sister’s
husband; husband’s fathers; wife’s fathers.
2. Mother (Tina)
Real mother; mother’s sisters; father’s sisters.
By courtesy, the mother’s brother’s wives; father’s brother’s
wives; wife’s mothers; husband’s mothers.
165
Tungaru Traditions
The special terms to indicate the real father and mother are
oin tama and oin tina. The prefixed word oi means “the trunk
of the tree.” Parents’ brothers and sisters are called, when
clearness is necessary, ai tama and ai tina. A rarely used word
for ai tina is auma.
3. Child
(a) Nati
Begotten son or daughter; sons or daughters of all those blood
relatives whom a husband and wife would call brother or sister.
By courtesy, begotten son’s wife; begotten daughter’s
husband.
The eldest child is called te karimoa; the middle child te kar-
inuka; and the youngest te bina. These terms are merely de-
scriptive, and not terms of relationship. There are no words
denoting the relationship of elder and younger brothers and
sisters.
(b) Tinaba
The tinaba of a man is his son’s or his brother’s son’s wife. 1 The
relationship is sexual. The tinaba calls his or her partner in the
relationship by the ordinary title tama or tina, as the case may
be.
4. Brother-brother or sister-sister (Tari) and Brother-sister or

sister-brother (Mane)
Begotten children of father and mother; begotten children of
father’s and mother’s uterine brothers and sisters.
Grandchildren of grandparents’ uterine brothers and sisters
on both sides; great-grandchildren correspondingly, and so on
as far as the line can be traced.
Husbands of two sisters, and wives of two brothers, are
called brothers and sisters by courtesy (i.e., they are not con-
sidered to belong to the same utu).
I have seen brotherhood established between two Gilbertese
hailing from different islands, on the strength of a common an-
cestry so old that it was no longer possible to say whether the
so-called brothers were in the same generation removed from
the ancestor quoted. Nevertheless, there is a distinction in the
Gilbertese mind between te utu ae kan ‘the blood kin which is
near’, and te utu ae raroa ‘the blood kin which is distant’. The
near kin is included within the first three generations of descent
from a common ancestor; its members may not intermarry. The
fourth generation, for purposes of marriage theoretically “goes
166
Relationships
free.” But not until collaterals stand in the fifth generation of

removal from the common ancestor do they call one another
distant kinsmen.
5. Father’s sister (Tina) (see 2 above).
6. Father’s sister’s husband (Tama) (see 1 above).
7. Father’s sister’s child (Tari or Mane) (see 4 above).

To distinguish between uterine and other classes of brother and
sister the more distant are sometimes called ai tari or ai mane.
8. Mother’s brother (Tama) (see 1 above).
9. Mother’s brother’s wife (Tina) (see 2 above).
10. Mother’s brother’s child (Tari or Mane) (see 4 above). When

exactitude is desired, called ai tari or ai mane (see 7 above).
11. Sister’s son (Nati) (see 3 above). When exactitude is desired,

called ai nati.
12. Brother’s son (Nati) (see 3 and 11 above).
13. Grandfather or grandmother (Tibu)

This term is applied to all grandparents, on the father’s and
mother’s side, and to those whom they would call brother and
sister. To denote gender the words te mane ‘the man’, or te aine
‘the woman’, are added, thus: tibuna te mane ‘his grandfather’.
The term tibu is reciprocal between grandparent and grand-
child.
Adoptive grandparents are called by the same name; but the
adopter is usually a member of the utu, to whom the title of tibu
would in any case be given by the adopted.
Other possible meanings of tibu are: “ancestor to the nth
degree,” though the title of bakatibu ‘ancestor’ more clearly ex-
presses this; “descendant to the nth degree.”
The term is sometimes applied collectively to a whole
branch of an utu to denote its seniority. Thus, tibura te manga
aei, “this branch is our grandparent,” which is to say “this
branch of the utu is senior to ours.”
14. Grandchild (Tibu) (see 13 above).
167
Tungaru Traditions
15. Father-in-law (Tama) and Mother-in-law (Tina) (see 1 and

2 above). The parents of a man and his wife call one another
butika.
16. Son-in-law or daughter-in-law (Nati) (see 3 above).
17. Husband (Bu, Kainaba, Rao)

In the northern Gilberts bu is the term used. It is never without
the possessive pronoun, which is suffixed. Thus: buna ‘her
husband’; bum ‘your husband’. The word bu also means kin, but
does not then take the possessive pronoun as a suffix. Thus: ana
bu ‘her kin’; am bu ‘your kin’. In the southern Gilberts the term
for husband or husband’s sister is kainaba.
The word rao is sometimes heard, but I think that it is only
used in its everyday sense of “companion.”
18. Wife (Bu, Rao ni kie, Kainaba)

The term rao ni kie means “companion of the sleeping mat.”
19. Wife’s brother (Butika)
20. Wife’s sister (Tauanikai, Eiriki, Nganibu—Banaba)

The wife’s sister owed the duty of concubitancy to the husband,
even where he elected to give her away in marriage to another.
21. Husband’s brother (Eiriki)
22. Husband’s sister (Kainaba, Kainuma—Banaba) (see 17

above).
BUTIKA
The term butika is used to describe the reciprocal relationship
between two distinct sets of people:
1. the husband and the brothers of a woman;

2. the fathers-in-law of a married couple.
The application of the same term to these two groups of persons

becomes logical if it be considered as a remnant of the dual
system of social organization with matrilineal descent.
168
Relationships
Here a, a woman of one moiety, marries B, a man of the

other moiety. Her brother, A, and her husband, B, then stand to
each other in the reciprocal relationship of butika.
The reciprocity so different as the husband and the brother
of a woman strikes one. It would not have been so surprising,
under different circumstances, to see these two people re-
ferring to each other by distinct and separate terms. But under
the dual organization of marriage, reduced to its simplest terms
as in the diagram, A, the brother of B’s wife, naturally at mar-
riage becomes the husband of B’s sister. Hence the relationship
between A and B through A’s sister is exactly balanced by their
relationship through B’s sister. Thus the reciprocity in terms of
relationship.
In a matrilineal community it is obvious that the children
of a and B will have to find their husbands and wives among
the children of b and A. A and B already stand in the relation
of butika to each other, and they do not lose that relationship
on the marriage of their children. It is therefore in accordance
with the conditions of the dual system with matrilineal descent,
which I suppose to have existed, that fathers-in-law as well as
a woman’s husband and brother refer to each other as butika,
because under that system it was possible that the same group
of persons might unite in themselves all these functions.
ANIMOSITY BETWEEN BUTIKA

It is a recognized fact among the Gilbertese that when a man
and a woman marry their families are at once at variance. This
is expressed in the proverb, E aki toki te kakaiun ma te iteran
aine (“Causes of anger with the woman’s side never cease”).
The people themselves have no idea why this animosity should
exist between the respective utu. They simply say, “It is so. We
are surprised, but it has always been so.”
The unfriendly feeling seems to begin as soon as a young
couple is betrothed. It does not show itself in deeds or words; it
is rather a deep-seated convention, which by force of ancestral
custom the Islanders feel themselves obliged to obey.
169
Tungaru Traditions
“You must not be rude to your butika (i.e., wife’s brother or

sister’s husband), but you must not be very friendly with him,”
is another saying which expresses this evasive but very deep-
seated feeling.
In old times the aversion to relations-in-law was very much
more pronounced than it is now; one old man told me that it was
caused by the constant desire of the wife’s family to prey on the
possessions of the husband. I verified this opinion on several is-
lands, but although it certainly exists in the minds of many old
men, none was able to give me an actual illustration of how a
woman’s people could “prey upon” the husband’s lands.
The accusation is obviously an inherited catchword, and
the conventional aversion a matter of long-established custom.
There seems to be little doubt that it had its origin at a period
when there was some cause of enmity between the class which
we may call the husband-class and that which may be named
the wife-class.
Such classes could only exist at a time of invasion, when
the conquerors landed on the islands without women. They
would be obliged to seek wives among the local people and the
aversion between the two groups would not fail to colour the at-
titude towards marriage. It is a memory of this aversion which
has, I conceive, caused the conventional hatred of the present
day.
RELATIONSHIP
BUTARITARI
The mother’s brother and the father’s sister were the objects of
much greater reverence than the father and mother. An order
from one of these relations was considered absolute, whereas
the father or mother could be disobeyed without great insult.
There was, however, no rule by which a man’s sister’s child or a
woman’s brother’s child should inherit possessions.
In all ceremonial connected with a man, the mother and
her sisters and brothers were the chief participants. This lends
support to the supposition, based on an examination of the
tinaba relationship, that a dual system of social organization
with matrilineal descent was once practised in the Gilbert Is-
lands.
170
Relationships
RELATIONSHIP
BANABA
The duty of the kainuma ‘husband’s sister’ was to “be jealous

for her brother.” She watched over the conduct of her brother’s
wife and was considered especially to have the duty of pre-
venting sexual relations between her kainuma and her un-
married brothers.
RELATIVES
PONGA OF NANOMANGA, ELLICE ISLANDS
No conversation that was not essential was allowed to take
place between brother and sister (classificatory), ma and tu-
atina.
If a man heard someone else entering into a casual con-
versation with his sister, his sister’s son (tuatina) or his wife’s
brother (ma), he must listen only so far as to satisfy himself that
it was not sexual or loose talk. If he considered it suggestive it
was his duty to stop it; if it was harmless he must either go away
or turn his attention to other things.
If a visitor made loose jokes with a man’s wife, the husband
would not prevent him, but join in.
If a man met his sister, sister’s child, or wife’s brother on the
path, it was the duty of both parties to turn aside and avoid one
another.
However, relatives calling one another tuangane (brother-
sister), ma, or tuatina had strong obligations of kindness to each
other. This was especially marked in the tuatina relationship. If
a man’s sister’s child made a request to him (which was gen-
erally conveyed by his wife from her ma) he must not refuse; on
171
Tungaru Traditions
the other hand, if he conveyed an order to his sister’s child it

must be implicitly obeyed. “I honour my tuatina more than my
father.”
FUNCTIONS OF RELATIVES
PINE OF NANUMEA, ELLICE ISLANDS
Father’s sister and brother and mother’s sister and brother
were called Tuatina, which was a reciprocal term.
In the marriage of a son or daughter it was the father’s
sister who prepared the food and supervised the ceremony.
There was a strict avoidance between the mother’s and the
father’s brother and the sister’s or brother’s child. No conver-
sation took place except that which was absolutely necessary. If
the sister’s or brother’s son asked the father’s or the mother’s
brother for his property it could not be refused. On the other
hand the duty of obedience from junior to senior relative was
absolute. “I should obey my father’s or mother’s brother more
than my father.”
Except for urgent matters there was avoidance between
male relatives who called each other ma. The wife (or sister)
was approached to convey messages between them. “You treat
your ma the same as your tuatina.”
There was avoidance between tuangane, not being own
brother and sister.
Husbands and wives of tuatina were called by courtesy
“father” and “mother.”
Children were always adopted by the father’s cousins, not
by his own brothers or sisters. The wife’s relatives had no right
of adoption.
Land went to sons from mother and father. Daughters were
given only one piece if there were sons; but if there were no
sons the daughter might inherit everything. The daughter would
have prior claim over sister’s or brother’s sons.
A man was allowed two or three wives, but they had to be
drawn from different families. He avoided marriage with the
sister of his wife.
172
Social and Political
Organization
POLITICAL STRUCTURE
Political structure in the Gilbert Group was sharply divided.
In the southern islands there were democracies, with elected
chiefs for purposes of war; in the north there were aristocracies
founded on conquest. But such aristocracies may be again di-
vided into two classes: those that submitted to a single overlord,
or high chief, which may be called feudal systems; and those
that submitted to no overlord or high chief, which we may call
democratic aristocracies.
It was among the pure democracies and the feudal pop-
ulations that government was most highly developed. In the
former, councils of the elders known for their wisdom held the
reins and punished offenders. Under high chiefs all obeyed a
single voice. But among the democratic aristocracies there was
no general cohesion in times of peace. Each clan, with its slaves,
owed obedience to its own chief, with his councillors drawn
from the clan. Every chief was equal, and a separate entity.
The divisions of society under the three systems were as
follows:
1. Under pure democracies there were neither chiefs nor
slaves: all were known as inaomata ‘free men’. 1
2. Under limited aristocracies there were:
toka ‘chiefs’;
inaomata ‘landed proprietors’; and
toro (or kaunga) ‘slaves’.
3. Under feudal systems there were:
uea ‘high chief’;
banuea ‘blood relations of the high chief’;
173
Tungaru Traditions
A landed proprietor (inaomata), Tabi-

teuea, 1841. (Wilkes 1845, 5:79)
toka ‘subsidiary chiefs’;

inaomata ‘landed proprietors’; and
toro (or kaunga) ‘slaves’.
Character of democratic government

If there were no conflicting interests on an island the entire pop-
ulation was subject to a single council of Old Men. It is not to
be supposed that this was a highly organized body, nor that its
meetings were regular or periodical.
If a crisis arose or a public danger needed discussion, the
council would drift together and consider it. Meetings and deci-
sions were secret. The council dealt with varied matters—war,
amusements, morality. If a man was addicted to violence the
council would try his case in private conclave, but the accused
would hear nothing of the matter. If he was found to be an unde-
sirable character the Old Men’s word would go forth to secret
agents. These would seize the offender by night, bind him to a
174
Social and Political Organization
An Unimane, the head of a boti, taken on

Beru about 1931. (Maude photo)
log, and float him from the ocean reef out to sea. Or he would
be put in a canoe with a few nuts and a sail and told to find an-
other home for himself.
Purely domestic matters were left to family councils. An-
other less drastic form of punishment was exclusion for fixed
periods of time on the ocean side, away from the village. Only
the offender’s mother was allowed to bring him food: he must
not leave his prison. His wife must not accompany him.
Usually there were two or three different factions on an
island, in which case each faction would have its own council of
elders. In case of war the council elected a general. The council
was called manenriri ‘the old riri’‚ this being the usual dress
given to a virgin before puberty. It signifies absolute inviolability
and suggests the honour in which such councils were held. If
someone disappeared overnight no one dared to ask where he
had gone.
Private violence within a faction was especially a matter for
the council. As it tended to disrupt the faction, it was held in
great detestation and almost always punished by death.
175
Tungaru Traditions
If there was a quarrel, a fight was arranged—a sort of

jousting. 2 Death or killing was not the object of such fights; they
were more of the nature of sporting matters. It was considered
disgracefully clumsy to kill the opponent, whereas it was a sign
of skill to wound him so that he would live and carry the marks.
When angry blood was spent the council would stop the fight
and the quarrel was thus settled. There were very few real wars
on democratic islands; and for several centuries, conquest and
slavery were abolished.
Character of aristocratic government

Under high chiefs the system was precisely feudal. All land was
held at will and by favour of the high chiefs, who commanded
absolute obedience from the blood royal, the chiefs, and their
underlings. He had the power to make or unmake all laws.
It was necessary to enter his presence in a stooping attitude,
with face always towards him. Old men of royal and chiefly
rank aided him in council, and although he might override them
he would not do so in small matters. Conclaves were secret.
The high chief’s executioners would carry out his sentences at
night.
But the high chief in council would as a rule not interfere
with private matters unless he felt himself offended thereby. A
chief in his own family would hold power of life and death over
slaves and members. His authority was limited but seldom ques-
tioned by the high chief. His duties were to pay certain tributes
of food, to lend slaves as workmen, and to do feoff-service to the
high chief.
The class of inaomata, or landed proprietor, corresponded to
our own middle class. It consisted of slaves rewarded for good
services, and of the poor relatives of chiefly families. Members
of it might intermarry with chiefs according to their circum-
stances.
The slaves had theoretically no rights. They were things and
were considered less valuable than canoes or land. However,
by good work they might obtain land of their own, and their
children might marry into better families. Their position was
therefore not irremediable. Slaves were originally those whose
lands had been taken in war, or the survivors of the beaten side.
A conquered man whose sister belonged to a conqueror by mar-
riage might come out of the disaster rather well. Theoretically
176
he was a slave, but the favour of his married sister might obtain
for him several pieces of land. If he pleased the high chief there-
after he might rise to chiefly rank.
Services by which a slave might acquire land were: good cul-
tivation, canoe building, curing the sick by magic, or fighting.
High chiefs and chiefs might have many wives. The high
chief decided the fitting limit for the chiefs, according to the
possessions of each. The middle classes were limited to two
wives each at the most. A slave might take only one.
The political development of the island influenced the
manner of living on the land. Under the democracies there
were few villages. Landowners lived on their own land scattered
about the district of the faction to which they belonged. There
was a central maneaba (or council and dance house) for their
faction district.
Under high chiefs there was a royal village complete with
the central maneaba of the island. This village included the
king’s dwellings and his wives’ houses, the dwellings of
members of the royal blood, and the slave quarters.
Under divided chiefs there were clan villages.
RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OVER LAND OF THE

VARIOUS SOCIAL GROUPS ON BUTARITARI
Te uea ‘the high chief’

The high chief was, in theory at least, the overlord of all lands
on the island. His status gave him the right to demand as
tribute the produce of any land. As need on occasion arose,
he would send his messenger out to carry his orders to those
in possession of the land: this messenger, if of the slave class,
would probably remain on the land in question, both to help the
workers in their task and to supervise the carrying out of the
order. More usually, this duty of katangi bai was performed by
a member of the chiefly class, who would pass the uea’s word
on to the workers, and probably have one of his own servants
supervise the task.
The uea could limit his own rights over the whole island,
by giving away the high chiefship in respect of different lands
or districts. It was perfectly understood that the people on the
lands in respect of which he seceded his rights owed no further
obligation to him; they owed the land tribute to the chief, who
received such authority from the uea.
177
Tungaru Traditions
A kainga ‘clan hamlet situated on its ancestral land’, 1865. (Angas

1866, 390)
It was to a member of the uea’s own utu alone that such

status of high chiefship was ceded. The privilege must have
been sparingly granted at all times, for at present [i.e., c. 1922],
after generations of high chiefs on Butaritari, the uea preserves
his rights over 886 out of 1093 pieces of land.
Te toka ‘the chief’

High chiefship was an accident of war. A dynasty of high chiefs
was established only by force. It followed that the various family
groups, who succeeded by force of arms in establishing such
a dynasty, must receive some sort of reward for their services.
The reward they did receive was the chiefship over blocks of
land which varied in size according to the services rendered.
178
A modern village on Makin, with its siting, alignment, and size and
style of housing as prescribed by the government, about 1931.
(Maude photo)
The chief-right of a toka over the land allotted to him was ex-
actly the same in character as the high chief-right of the uea
over all Butaritari: he exacted dues from the workers on the
land, and there appears to have been no limit set to his power of
extortion except the premier right of the high chief to the fruits
of all land. Having seen that the demands of the high chief were
satisfied, a toka could take what he liked from his own holdings.
The toka might fight among themselves, undisturbed by
the uea, for their various holdings. The chief-rights might thus
pass from hand to hand, according to the fortunes of war, in
quick succession. It might happen that a chief had two separate
holdings: one at the north end of the island, and one, say, in the
middle. From his northern holding he might be driven by some
other family group. Then he might approach the victors in pa-
cific spirit, and beg to be allowed to remain with his family on
the land as a worker (tia makuri). This request being granted,
he would take the status of a serf in respect of his northern
lands. But in the middle, never having been driven from his
holdings, he would retain the status of toka. A chief in one dis-
179
Tungaru Traditions
trict might become a worker in another district by inheriting the

rights of a party that had fallen in war and thus been reduced to
the status of worker.
It was often the policy of the high chief to provoke quarrels
among the toka. Having a grudge against some chief—which
might have been born, for example, from a suspicion that the
uea’s interests were being neglected on the holdings of the
chief—he would incite other chiefs to drive him from the land. If
the dispossessed chief happened to be related by a marriage-tie
to the high chief, the latter would see that he was not reduced to
serfdom. But if there was no bond of blood or marriage between
victor and vanquished, and therefore no danger of the victor’s
losing prestige by having a slave as a relative, the deposed chief
would have to work for a living—probably on the very land over
which he once held chief-right.
Often, if war seemed imminent, the workers or serfs on the
land of a chief might turn against him and invite some more
powerful toka to be their rabuna ‘covering’. Such an invitation
would usually be made to the very man who threatened their
chief. Thus war was avoided, and the deserted chief, having no
one to fight for him, would lose his rights without a blow.
It often happened that some small and solitary toka was sur-
rounded by powerful enemies and, rather than risk his fortunes
to war, he would ask one of his strong neighbours to be his
rabuna. In this manner he got protection and safety, but he for-
feited his chief-rights to his protector and became a toro ‘serf’,
or ‘worker on the land’. Nevertheless, the social status of such
a seceding chief was always superior to that of one who had
become a serf by true conquest. The women of his family could
be taken in marriage by other chiefs, and the dues exacted from
him as a worker were never so heavy as those levied upon a true
slave.
Another class of chiefs were the ba n uea, or members of
the uea’s utu. These had no lands or rights over land in the
concrete. They were “fed by the uea.” Generally, they acted
as the uea’s messengers when a levy was to be raised for the
uea’s benefit. They carried the royal word to the various res-
ident chiefs and saw that the order was passed on and obeyed.
As a reward they were generally given a share of the uea’s reve-
nues and were allowed to raise levies of their own with the royal
permission.
180
Te toro ‘the serf’

The serf acquired his status by belonging to the vanquished
party in any war. The chief of yesterday is the serf of today.
The unfailing custom of war in Butaritari, and all the other
Gilbert Islands where chiefship prevails, was to set the van-
quished chief as a serf or tia makuri on his own land. As the
worker, he was entitled to all the fruits of the land that might
remain after the levies of uea and toka had been paid. On Butar-
itari, the serf, being the original owner of the land, was always
considered to have an inalienable right to remain there, and his
issue inherited this right in the usual course. The toka respected
his right, and seldom, if ever at all, was a case known where the
toro or his issue were dispossessed in time of peace. In time of
war, it was different. A victorious chief would take possession,
and the fallen chief would then have the first claim to work on
his lost lands. Thus he would oust the people who had formerly
been his toro, and these would be landless. Generally, they
would find some sort of menial work to do for one chief or an-
other, especially if they were skilled fishermen, canoe builders,
or healers. Often, however, they preferred to seek their fortune
on another island and would migrate en masse in their canoes.
If a worker acquired land from an outside source, it came
under the chief-right of the worker’s chief. Conversely, if his
chief acquired land from outside, he had the right of working
on this extra land. If a worker committed an offence, his chief
paid the penalty incurred, e.g., bainaine ‘land in compensation
for assaulting a man’s wife or daughter’.
HIGH CHIEF-RIGHTS
BUTARITARI
The high chief could either transfer or abandon his high chief-
right in respect of land.
A transfer of the high chief-right would most usually be
made from the uea to one of his own utu. It was hardly likely
that the uea would care to disperse the utu’s possessions by
giving away its powers to one of another utu. Transfers of high
chief-rights from the uea to one of his near relatives were made
when the uea desired to have a man of influence residing in
a particular district for political or other reasons. Such trans-
fers were sometimes made only in favour of particular persons,
and not of their issue. In any case, if the recipient of the high
181
Tungaru Traditions
chief-right, or his successors, should die without issue, the right

passed not to the next of kin, but back into the high chief’s
hands.
The uea would often abandon his high chief-right over a single
piece, or a few pieces, of land in favour of one of his workers, who
held such land direct from the uea without an intermediary chief.
In effect, such a favour amounted to the installation of a worker
on the land, free from “taxation.” The grant would be made in
return for favours received: for example, it could be conferred as
a bainaine or a bainikuakua. In these cases also, if the lineal de-
scendants of the first recipient die without issue, the high chief-
right lapses into the hands of the uea.
SLAVE, OR WORKING CLASS

BUTARITARI
By the use of a legal fiction, members of the working class on
Butaritari could improve their status. They would agree with
their chief to adopt him as their toba. 3 For this they would ac-
quire land under the title of te ban uri.
This would not have the effect of obliterating the chief’s
chief-right over such land, but it would bring the chief theoreti-
cally into such relations of filial piety towards his adopters that
the status of the latter would be considered equal to his own on
that piece of land.
Further, the transaction had the definite effect of differenti-
ating the land from the other possessions of the chief. Thence-
forward only he and his issue had the right of sharing pos-
session with his adopters and their issue.
If at any time the direct issue of the chief died out, the land
became the property of the adopter’s utu, with only the uea’s
high chief-rights upon it.
CHIEFSHIP
BANABA
Men and women had equal treatment in the inheritance of chief-
ships, which depended generally on primogeniture.
But primogeniture was subject to the will of the parent who,
if he had some objection to the eldest child, might appoint a
younger to follow him as chief (aomata). An eldest son might be
displaced for a younger daughter.
182
It is stated that a chief might give his adopted child the suc-
cession, but I have found no genealogical evidence to support this.
Chiefship could be inherited from either father or mother,
or from both. For example, when Nei Kabuabai, the chiefess
of Uma, married Na Kamaraia, the chief of Buakonikai, their
only child Nei Tiara n uea became the chiefess of Uma and
Buakonikai (Figure 12).
Chiefship passes lineally. If there are children, the brother of
the chief cannot succeed, although he may become regent until
a young chief is old enough to take control.
But if a chief prefers his brother’s or sister’s child, he can
give him succession to the exclusion of his own children.
In the Buakonikai district there is a second chief whose au-
thority is just less than that of the first. 4 The second chief has
the privilege of “speaking second” in council and assembly. The
second chief did not belong originally to the same family as the
first, but is descended from one of the same canoe crew which
originally came from Beru. In Figure 12, Nan Tabau, the chief of
Buakonikai, was descended from Na Maninimate, and Nei Biriata,
the second chiefess, from Nei Teborata, both of whom accom-
panied Nei Angi ni maeao in the fleet which came from Beru.5
Figure 12. Inheritance of chiefship on Banaba
183
Tungaru Traditions
RECONCILIATION OF A FAMILY QUARREL

BANABA
In about 1913 the people of the families descended from the
ancestors Na Maninimate and Anteiati (who call themselves
a single utu, because their ancestors made a pact of broth-
erhood) quarrelled over the rights claimed over a bangabanga
‘waterhole’ in the district of Uma. The waterhole belonged an-
cestrally to the Na Maninimate folk and to the collaterals de-
scended from Na Maninimate’s “brother” Na Kainnako. On a
point of proper pride, the Anteiati people, who really had no
blood-relationship with the real owners, refused to participate
any further in the use of the waterhole. In every other family
affair they continued to share as brothers and sisters of the
Na Maninimate people; they danced and fished, and played to-
gether as theretofore. Only in the matter of the waterhole they
seceded.
This lasted until 1922, when a reconciliation was effected.
To signalize this a small ceremony took place in the village
maneaba. On a given day, in the afternoon, the parties to the
quarrel—men, women, and children—collected, the one at the
northern end of the maneaba, the other at the southern end.
The senior of the Na Maninimate people was a man, the senior
of the Anteiati group, a woman. The daughter of the senior Na
Maninimate man arose with a wreath of flowers in her hand,
crossed over to the Anteiati chiefess, and sitting before her put
the wreath about her neck. No words were spoken on either
side. I was informed at the time that any sort of wreath might
have been used, so long as it was sufficiently handsome of its
kind.
After the wreath had been adjusted the girl returned in si-
lence to her place. A feast immediately began. Heaps of food,
which both parties had brought with them, were set out in the
middle of the maneaba and distributed.
EDUCATION OF BOYS
From the moment of weaning, a boy was regarded as a potential
warrior, and from first to last the ceremonies which he un-
derwent were performed with that idea predominating, the
system of education known as tuangaona being the one gen-
erally preferred for preparing him for future success.
184
At about two years his hair was cut for the first time, being
sawn through close to the scalp with the edge of a large shark’s
tooth while the ends were grasped in the father’s hand. During
the operation (which was performed by father, father’s brother,
or father’s father), a charm was recited many times over, by
which the infant’s heart was hardened against the love of
women. Only the closest male relatives of the boy were present
at this kabaka-ira ‘haircutting’, as it was called. The hair was
burned in a small fire on the eastern side of the house by him
who had cut it, the child being held by one of the other assis-
tants in close proximity to the flames. A second charm was re-
cited, again with the object of protecting him from the wiles of
the other sex, for all communication with women before ritual
should have made him fit for marriage was considered liable to
make a coward of him.
After this, until about his fifth year, he remained much in
the company of his mother, and might play with little girls of
his own age, for as yet he was not wana wana ‘reasonable’. But
at five he was taken by his father and, after being washed with
fresh water from a wooden bowl (te kumete) as a sign that his
infancy was done, he was set apart from his mother and sisters,
forbidden the fellowship of all girls of his age, and obliged to
sleep thereafter only beside boys and men.
During the next three years the little boy was allowed to
eat as much as he could get or, as the natives say, “to carry a
well-rounded stomach.” But at about eight his diet began to be
strictly regulated, though not so much in kind as in quantity. He
was now approaching the age at which betrothal was usually
arranged, and a girl’s parents would not look favourably upon
him if he were fat and sluggish; he was therefore put on very
meager fare, and from that time onwards helped his father in
all hard manual exercise that food-getting by sea and land en-
tailed. Before he was ripe for the next ceremonies to be un-
dergone, a period of fifteen years would have to elapse, and
in the meantime we must imagine him absorbing all that the
various members of his family cared to teach him of their skill in
dancing and the art of composing chants; in fishing and canoe
building; in the use of dagger, lance, and throwing-stick; in the
craft of the housebuilder; and in endless other useful things that
a native must know. All these accomplishments had their at-
tendant magic, allied to simple forms of ritual, for nothing of im-
portance was done, or thought, or said, or, as it would appear,
even dreamed, without a preliminary charm. As the boy accu-
185
Tungaru Traditions
mulated practical skill he must therefore keep abreast in the es-

oteric science, lest the work to which he turned his hand should
be unblest and fruitless.
At about ten years old he would probably leave his father’s
house for that of his paternal grandfather or grandfather’s
brother, to whom he had been promised in adoption. Arrange-
ments for this transfer had very likely been made before his
birth. He called his new guardian tibu, and owed to him the
most particular devotion, becoming his food-getter, constant
companion, and, in time of sickness, unwearying nurse. From
him he learned much of the arts and crafts of his people, and
above all the old man was his sole tutor in the jealously guarded
tradition of the family—the generations, the heroic deeds, and
the voyages of his ancestors; the cult of the ancestral spirit or
spirits; the star-lore, the weather-lore, the geography, and the
mythology of the race.
The boy would discard his baptismal name at this time and
assume the name of his grandfather; but that would not prevent
him at a later date from taking yet another, and another after
that, if he willed. In addition to all the knowledge of his tibu
he would also inherit a large piece of the old man’s land under
a special title known as te aban tibu ‘the land of the adopted’,
which constituted the reward for his faithful care. This was left
to him and to the issue of his body. If at any time his lineal
descendants became extinct, even after three of four genera-
tions in theory, the land returned to the lineal descendants of
the giver or, failing such, to the nearest collateral.
The object of the Gilbertese father in giving his son in
adoption to an elder of his family was to provide for his aged re-
lation a companionship and support which he, as a busy bread-
winner, had no leisure to afford. It was a very sensible
arrangement, calculated to promote high reverence in the
young for the old and responsible for a great family solidarity.
But it had some curious results, not the least strange of which
was the decay of the local genealogies for, as these have been
handed down from grandparent to grandchild since very early
days, alternate generations have often been skipped, and it is a
very tedious business to build up a complete record of any given
line today.
When the boy’s pectoral and axillary hair began to grow
strongly, which would be between the ages of twenty and
twenty-five in a normal subject, he was considered ready for
the succession of trying ordeals called collectively te kanna ni
mane, which name may be interpreted “the diet of a full-grown
186
man,” and alludes to the increase of rations allowed to one who

reached this stage. For the fifteen years that he had been liv-
ing thin, his hair had been allowed to grow untouched, so that
by the time the kanna ni mane era arrived he was the owner of
a plentiful mop. When the star Rimwimata (Antares) appeared
above the eastern horizon at sunset, the elders of his family ap-
pointed a day for the cutting of his hair.
Just before sunrise on the chosen day a large fire was lit
on the eastern side of his father’s house, and the boy sat down
before it, facing east, after having eaten a full meal of coconut
flesh. On either side of him stood a father’s brother, urging him
to stare unblinking into the flames; behind him stood his father,
armed with a large shark’s tooth, with which he cut through the
boy’s tangled hair. The operation was long and painful, but if
the subject winced he was mocked by his watchful uncles, and
if he attempted to turn his face from the scorching blaze of the
fire they beat his cheeks with fans of coconut leaf until he gazed
again into the flames. At the point of dawn the cut hair was di-
vided into two portions, of which the smaller was thrown into
the fire and the greater kept for future use.
This part of the ceremony was called te kaura ‘the red-
dening’ or ‘scorching’; the second part, known as te kabue-ari
‘the burning of the eyebrows’, then began. The lad’s adoptive
grandfather approached, bearing a large shrivelled coconut leaf
in his hand. This he set ablaze in the fire and, standing behind
his grandson, shook over his naked shoulders and head a con-
tinuous shower of burning morsels. The heaviest of these were
fanned away by the uncles, but the lesser sparks were allowed
to burn themselves out on the bare skin, and if the lad flinched
or attempted to wipe his streaming eyes he was taunted,
pushed, and thrashed by his stern guardians. When the leaf was
burned out the rite was at an end, and all care was then taken
to soothe the unfortunate and smarting subject. For two more
months at the same phase of the moon this ceremony was re-
peated. At the fourth moon took place the ordeal named te ati
ni kana.
Again at the dark before dawn, a fire was lit up against
the eastern side of the house, but this time only timbers giving
the hottest flame were used, the iron-hard Pemphis acidula (te
ngea) being preferred. Close beside the fire was set a large
stone, whereon the boy sat, facing east. There he was given to
drink a mixture of fresh water, sea water, and coconut oil in
equal parts, stirred together in a coconut shell with the barb of
a sting ray. This disgusting potion, administered to the recita-
187
Tungaru Traditions
tion of a charm, was supposed to give him a courage that lasted

not only through his ordeal but for the rest of his life. His
father’s brothers being beside him, his father stood behind, and
with the point of a shark’s tooth proceeded to lacerate his scalp
about the cranium until the blood streamed over his eyes and
cheeks. Thus they left him sitting on the stone from sunrise to
sunset, only returning to replenish the scorching fire or to beat
him about the face with coconut leaf fans if he turned his head
away or allowed his shoulders to droop in faintness. At the same
phase of the moon for three successive months the ordeal was
repeated.
During the time occupied by these observances the boy’s
adoptive grandfather was engaged in making his first manly
weapon—a lance of seasoned coconut timber from ten to twelve
feet long, with a double edge serrated by shark’s teeth. The
teeth were lashed into place with thin two-ply sinnet, of which
one strand was of coconut fibre and the other of the lad’s hair
saved over from the initial ceremony of cutting. The lance being
finished, it was slung to the roof of his father’s house to await
the time when it might be claimed as of right by the full-fledged
warrior.
A month after the third repetition of the rite of te ati ni
kana, and as usual at the same phase of the moon, the novice
was taken to the eastern side of the island, where a small hut
thatched with pandanus leaf had been built for him among the
trees fringing the ocean beach. Accompanied by his adoptive
grandfather, he was obliged to live in this dwelling until the
thatch began to rot and leak above his head. This, in a succes-
sion of droughty seasons, might take four or even five years;
in normal times it could hardly take less than two and a half
years. The strictest watch was kept on him during this period.
No woman, not even his mother or grandmother, might ap-
proach the place, and he was never permitted to go near the
western or lagoon side of the island, where settlements were
built. Youngsters were forbidden to have conversation with him;
the senior members of his family brought his daily ration. He
owed the most implicit obedience to the commands of his grand-
father, who would set him tasks of strength, hardihood, and
endurance to perform. If ordered by the old man to go on an
errand—perhaps, for example, to bring in some heavy stone
on his shoulder from among the breaking surf on the ocean
reef—he must walk straight to the task, turning his eye neither
to right nor left, pausing at no impediment, wincing at no hurt,
and shrinking from no danger. Every time he wished to leave
188
his abode, he must ask the old man’s leave, perform the per-
mitted work, and return to his tutor. Nothing in the nature of
amusement was allowed him; he was instructed to put away all
soft and frivolous thoughts, and think only of deeds of strength,
the day’s task, the valour of his forbears, and all things befitting
a worker and a warrior.
When the old man saw that the thatch came near to leaking,
he put the physical strength of the young man to a series of
severe tests. Logs of wood must be hewn with an adze of tri-
dacna shell, in a given time; heavy boulders must be lifted and
borne on the shoulder for certain distances; and saplings must
be torn by the roots from the ground. If the pupil failed in his
first effort, he was charmed by his tutor and given another trial,
and another, until he succeeded, or until it was apparent that
he could not succeed. Should he eventually not come up to
the standard of strength required, a second house with a new
thatch was built for him, and he was obliged to pass through
the whole course again, from beginning to end. But failure was
unusual, as I am informed. If a lad lacked strength, the efficacy
of the family magic and the ancestral spirits might be relied
upon, and such was the might of the spells whispered upon him
that even with the puniest of arms he could easily perform the
labours set.
So, when the thatch began to leak, the novice once more
returned to his family; the new lance of manhood’s estate was
given him; a great dance and feast was held, and thus, without
further ceremony, he was endowed with the title of roro-buaka
‘warrior’ Often his marriage followed hard upon his release
from confinement. 6
Two other methods were used by the Gilbertese for bringing
up a boy and preparing him for the estate of warrior.
Ukeukenei
This system is said to have produced the most violent and
quarrelsome spirit in a young man. Those who were brought
up by the method are said to have brooked no contradiction
whatever; they returned violent answers to peaceful questions;
they showed anger on the slightest excuse; and they seized the
nearest weapon to break everything in sight. Further, they ate
lizards, human flesh, and filth of every sort without showing
disgust, and could not be made ashamed or nauseated by any
sight, word, or deed.
189
Tungaru Traditions
Warriors (tani-buaka), Tabiteuea, 1841. (Wilkes, 5:48)
Baremau
The method most in vogue at Butaritari and Makin was called
baremau and is said to have been handed down from
Rairaueana te I-Matang, the son of Batiku who came from
Samoa.
At about the age of four a boy’s hair was first cut. When
it grew long again there came the second cutting, which was
usually a year or two afterwards. The third cutting came when
once more the hair was long.
For three days after each cutting the boy’s food was only
coconut. The nut was laid on the palm and cracked into halves
with a single blow. The two halves fell to the ground. Only the
halves that fell with the cup upwards could be eaten by the boy.
Those that fell with face downwards were given to the girls and
women of the utu.
190
When the boy’s third haircutting was done he was put on

short rations. He might eat nothing but what was given him by
his tibu. He must touch no food that had not been prepared by
the hand of his own utu. He must sleep apart from all women.
At about sixteen years the boy was given his kanna ni mane.
A coconut tree was sought on the east shore of the island on
which grew three nuts alone on one stalk, facing the east. These
nuts were not cut, but torn off the stalk. For a period of three
days the boy’s sole food was the water of these nuts, at the rate
of one a day.
For three days after this he returned to a full diet; on the
fourth day he was given sea-water in a coconut shell, stirred
with the barb of a sting ray. One such drink of sea-water per day
for a space of three days was his sole diet.
He was then a man, but not yet fit for a wife. When the pec-
toral and axillary hair was well grown he was taken by his tibu
to the eastern shore of the island and there taught the incan-
tation called kauti, made to the rising sun. This was magic for
the stiffening of the heart and the awakening of courage, and it
completed the lad’s education.
IMPORTANCE OF SISTER’S SON

Throughout the Gilberts, the relationship between a man and
his sister’s son is held in particular regard. It is generally the
sister’s son whom a man adopts as his nati or tibu; and even if
no special relationship of adoption has been contracted, a man
will consider it his particular duty to be kind in every way to
his sister’s son. If asked by the boy for a prized possession or
secret, such as a canoe or an incantation in magic, he would be
ashamed to refuse.
There is no special terminology to differentiate the sister’s
son and mother’s brother relationship from the other classifi-
catory fathers and sons of the utu, but the difference in personal
relations between them is well marked in practice. I have myself
applied the test in a practical manner, for if ever a piece of in-
formation was difficult to extract from a Gilbertese, I have made
a rule of approaching his sister’s son who, being a member of
the modern generation, is usually easier to handle than his se-
niors. Once having made a friend of the youngster, one has only
to persuade him to beg his mother’s brother for the information
needed, and it is almost invariably available.
191
Sorcery
TE WAWI: BY MEANS OF TE KEKETI

TAKEUTA, AGED 68–75, MARAKEI
Takeuta informed me that he once killed a man by the sorcery
known as te keketi ‘the dragon-fly’. Just before sunset he went
with a small-meshed riena ‘scoop net’ to a babai pit which
he knew to be the haunt of the terracotta-coloured dragon-fly
called te keketi. He waited about the banks of the pit until
he recognized one of these insects distinguished by spots on
the wings (baiburebure ‘wing-spotted’). He caught this in the
net. Without hesitation he clapped the mouth of the net to the
ground and muttered the following words three times over:
Ba N nang tiba—I ti tieria keketi n te ara ni mane, te-

manna, teuana man tangaia—Ten Naewa. E rangi rana?
E rangi baina. E rangi rana? E rangi wena. E rangi rana?
E rangi nanona. E rangi rana? E rangi matana. E rangi
rana? E rangi atuna. E rangi rana? E rangi, ngaia, te
aomata Ten Naewa. E rangi, e rangi. E baba, E baba. E
mate, E a mate.
For I am just about to—I only catch it in a net dragon-fly

in the name of a man, one person, one from among their
host—So and so. It is mad his what? It is mad his hand. It
is mad his what? It is mad his foot. It is mad his what? It
is mad his heart. It is mad his what? It is mad his eye. It
is mad his what? It is mad his head. It is mad his what?
He is mad, he, the person So and so. He is mad, he is
mad. He is foolish, He is foolish. He is dead, he is dead.
192
Sorcery
When this was said three times Takeuta put his left hand under
the net and closed it upon the dragon-fly. Thus he carried it
home. Near his living house was a small hut used for storing
odds and ends of fishing gear and lumber. This hut he had care-
fully prepared in advance for the reception of the insect, closing
up all visible chinks in the roof and hanging mats around the
sides, so as to render egress impossible. He had also deposited
rotten fish, excrement, and all sorts of other filth upon the floor.
Carrying the dragon-fly into this hovel, he carefully bit off its
two “beards” (buai), and spat them out on the floor. Then he let
the insect go free in the darkness and standing there clapped
his hands slowly together while muttering the following words:
Ba N nang tiba—I ti uboia keketi n te ara ni mane …

(etc., as before).
For I am just about to—I only clap it dragon-fly in the

name of a man …
After three repetitions of the whole formula he left the hut, care-
fully closing it behind him. He told me that as soon as he left,
the dragon-fly began to search for a way of escape from the hut;
if it had found egress Takeuta’s enemy would have lived. But as
it found none it gradually weakened and died. As it approached
its end so did Takeuta’s victim sicken and lose his reason, his
death eventually coinciding with that of the insect, which is ob-
viously thus a “life-index.” 1
In Takeuta’s possession was also the counter magic to this
death spell. He told me that he could at any stage of his victim’s
sickness undo the effects of the wawi by muttering three times
the following formula:
O, Nei Terang—o ma Nei Temnao! Kam a tian taua ma

n tokonono ma n ibetutu ma n ibetangatanga i roun te
aomata aei. An, teirake; an nako! An, teirake; an, nako!
Oh, woman Terang—o with woman Temnao! You have

held him and made disorder and made confusion and
made tumult with the person this. Come, arise; come,
begone! Come, arise; come, begone!
193
Tungaru Traditions
This might be said anywhere, but preferably by the side of the

sick man, whose symptoms thereafter would gradually leave
him. Generally a man would demand a heavy payment of land
before he would consent to undo the effects of his sorcery.
The names of the women addressed in this formula mean
respectively “Mad One” (te rang) and “Crayfish (te mnao). It
seems safe to assume that although their names are not men-
tioned in the two original incantations, they are the spiritual
powers who carry them into effect. The terms of the curative
formula clearly show that the attitude of the sorcerer towards
the spirits is as that of a master to a servant: commanding, and
not suppliant.
TE WAWI: ON A COOKING FIRE

If you had an enemy, you watched him until he made a fire of
embers for cooking his fish. When he had taken his food from
the fire and left it smouldering you secretly approached with
a fragment of wood broken from the midrib of a shrivelled co-
conut leaf. Stirring the embers with this in a counter-clockwise
direction, you recited as follows:
Ewaran ai ni kanana! Boario boarake, boamate,

boatabwe! A bung kanoan nanoia! A bung, ao a rai, ao a
mate, ao a tabwenaua. Mamaia, bekebekeia, raira atona:
e a tia be a mate-o! Kokonna konie! Kokonna konae! A
bung kanoan nanoia, a bung ao a rai, a mate, ao tab-
wenaua. Kokonna konie, kokonna konae! A bung kanoan
nanoia! A bung, ao a rai, ao a mate, ao a tabwenaua.
Mamaia, bekebekeia, raira atona! E a tia, be a mate-o!
Stabbing of the fire of his food! Strike west, strike east,

strike death, strike rending apart! They begin to be in
pain his bowels! They begin to be in pain, they are
overturned, they die, they are rent apart. Shame him,
confuse him, overturn his liver: it is finished for he is
dead! Strangle him (euphonic)! Strangle him (euphonic)!
They begin to be in pain his bowels, they begin to be in
pain and they are overturned, and they die, and they are
rent apart. Strangle him (euphonic), strangle him (eu-
phonic)! They begin to be in pain his bowels! They begin
194
Sorcery
to be in pain, they are overturned, they die, they are rent

apart. Shame him, confuse him, overturn his liver! It is
finished, for he is dead!
This was repeated three times. It was claimed that the enemy
on eating the fish cooked in the fire would begin to vomit and
be seized with sudden contractions of the muscles, and would
eventually die. 2
TE WAWI: ON A VICTIM’S FOOD

Takeuta told me of a method by which the death of an enemy
may be caused by cursing his food. You took a piece of the
food he was to eat in your right hand; then folded your arms
to your breast as if you were rocking a child to sleep. Swaying
gently backwards and forwards, you muttered the following,
three times, with your eyes fixed on your right hand:
Tabeka ni kana n Ten Naewa ae-i-ee! Kanana n ra?

Kanana ni bo. Kanana n ra? Kanana ni mate. Kanana n
ra? Kanana ni betinako. Ba abana Bainang, ao Roro, ao
Rabaraba-ni-Karawa.
Lifting of food of So-and-so this! His food to do what? His

food to be smitten. His food to do what? His food to die.
His food to do what? His food to drift away. For his land
is Bainang, and Roro, and side of heaven.
After eating the food from which the cursed piece was taken,
the victim sickened and died.
Bainang, Roro, and Rabaraba-ni-Karawa ‘the horizon’ were
places to which the ghost of a newly dead person was driven
in the ceremony following death called bomaki throughout the
Gilberts.
TE WAWI: TO KILL YOUR SON’S ENEMY

If your son came to you and complained that he had an enemy
who always got the better of him, you made him sit at your
feet as you stood behind him facing east. You filled a coconut
195
Tungaru Traditions
shell with a mixture of sea-water and fresh water. You sprinkled

the contents of this shell over the head of your son as he sat,
reciting meanwhile the following incantation:
Bokei ma bokio, bwerebwere i mwin ma bwerebwere i

moan, I aki tabwenabwena ba te ba ngai! I aki raingingi
ba tiaki! Te nari ngai! I aki riaku ma riratau e ria te aba,
e toro te aba, e baba te aba-ee. Kaira, kaira kain waia
Timine te iriko, te rara, te mama te aomata. Ninia ewatia
ke e ing, ke e wa, ke e mate, ke e tabwe. Antai te aomata
ae ti ananangai man tataekinai? Ninia ewatia, ke e ing.
Ke e wa, ke e mate, ke e tabwe. Ai ko na ira, kena ruana,
tiringa, tauna, kamatea, be a tia, e a mate-o-o!
This was repeated three times; your water had to last for all rep-
etitions. When the third was done, you kicked your son in the
back with your right foot, and he immediately rose and ran to
find his enemy and give him battle. You at once flung the co-
conut shell on the ground where he had been sitting, so that
it smashed into fragments. You picked up the fragments and
burned them, took the ashes to the ocean beach, and carried
them on a canoe out to sea, where you cast them into the waves
as the food of the fishes. Just as the ashes were consumed and
eaten, so would your son’s enemy fall.
DEATH MAGIC AGAINST AN ENEMY WHO

WOUNDS YOU
If you are wounded by an enemy, so that the wound bleeds, you
must not eat but go to bed fasting until the next sun rises. In the
dark before dawn you go to the sea-shore (either east or west)
and fill a binobino ‘coconut-shell container’ with sea-water.
You then return to your house and stand outside it, on the
east side and facing east, just under the end of the central
rafter. You hold the shell in either your right or left hand and
sprinkle its contents on the earth with a circular movement of
the arm. If your right hand is used the movement is first away,
then across, then towards, then back across your body.
As you sprinkle you mutter:
Tiana eweewe, tanaria eweewe, tanaria, tanatanaria. Ti

tokia-e; tierebua-e; ma tierebua nakea raran te aomata;
ma tierebua nakon noun Tarawa, Tabakea, be na aki
196
Sorcery
unun raran te aomata aio; ti a tiringa irina, tia kabeti

nakoa; e bo ma rabaraba ni karawa. Ti a tiringa, ti a
boia, ti a kamatea, to wa ni maoto, ti a tii bubuna, ti a tii
bubuna Nanimoimo, Terane, ko memena iroun te aomata
anne, Nanimoimo ke ti na momoti ri ni baina, ri ni waena,
ri n tabanou, taba-nounou, te aran-ra te aran noua, te
aran tabwe; kenna nuana, tauna bannaia, me a mate o-o!
Your water in the shell must last for three repetitions of this
charm. When you have done, you throw the empty shell over the
roof of the house so that it falls on the west side. A friend, either
a man or a woman, waits there. He picks up a stick or stone and
beats the shell to fragments. Together you gather the broken
pieces and burn them in a fire made for the purpose. Then you
take the ashes and put them on a flat piece of wood or anything
else that will float. You make a sail out of a leaf or twig and set
the craft adrift. As it gets farther and farther from the land, so
your enemy will progressively pine away, and at last die.
TE WAWI: AN ANTIDOTE
KATUTU OF TUARABU, AGED ABOUT 60, TARAWA
Food that has been cursed by an enemy may be rendered
harmless. Lay the food upon a leaf on the ground or on the floor
of a dwelling, and cover it with a mat of any description. Sit
before it (no particular orientation is necessary), holding in the
right hand the fan-like tip of a dried coconut leaf. Wave this ex-
actly in the manner of a fan, to and fro and up and down, over
the covered food. Occasionally tap the covering mat lightly with
the fan’s tip. While thus occupied, repeat the following three
times:
Unaunauna ni matan anti. Kang anti, taba anti; kang

anti, taba anti. Anti ni mauere-mauere, o-o-o! O, nako!
Nako te anti, o-o-o! Ko ninibao ni bong, ko ninibao ni
ngaina! Anti ni meangira, maiakira, mainikura, maeaora,
maieta, mainano. Ko na kanane-wenewe, ko na kana te
boka, ko na kana te buni barabara. Anti ni mauere-
mauere, o-o-o! O, nako! Nako, ma ko a tai rikaki maikoa.
Kanga-o, anti-o, nako.
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Tungaru Traditions
Decoration of face of spirit. Eat up spirit, choked with

food spirit; eat up spirit, choked with food spirit. Spirit
of [?] [?] o-o-o! O, go away! Go away the spirit o-o-o! You
are shrivelled up at night, you are shrivelled up in the
day! Spirit of north of us, south of us, east of us, west of
us, above, below. You shall eat [?] [?], you shall eat the
rottenness, you shall eat the poison-fish [?]. Spirit of [?]
[?], o-o-o! O, go away! Go away, and you must not come
back to this side. Verily-o, spirit-o, go away.
As soon as the third repetition is done, you rise and go quickly

to the sea-shore. There you throw the leaf, fan-handle first, like
a dart, into the water. You may then return and eat the cursed
food with impunity.
It is claimed that this ritual will also preserve the eater from
the evil effects of poison. 3
PROTECTIVE MAGIC AGAINST TE WAWI

The bonobono ‘protection’ or ‘antidote’ against te wawi ‘death
magic’: Take a coconut shell full of fresh water and sprinkle it
over your head while saying the following (or else you may take
a paddle and stab the air);
Tabeki te bwe, karoa te bwe i au batikutiku, i au

batikutiku, ba a mananga anti n abau, ba a anaiai, ba
N nangi nako, ba N nangi ewa te wawi aei aio. Ma tai
teteitei ma tai ngongoa ma tai nibangutungutu nkami
akanne aomata, ma kam na inging, ma kam na bo, ma
kam na mate, ma kam na tabwe. Tabaingina ma
Nainginno, bobo i tari ma bobo i anna. Ewaia i atina
kororobung me a ing; ewaia i atina kororobung me a
tawenaua.
Lift the paddle, hold up the paddle of my ancestor, of my

ancestor, for they set forth spirits of my land, for they
take me, for I am about to go, for I am about to stab this
wawi here. But do not stand, but do not speak, but do
not [?] you those people, but you shall stir, but you shall
be struck, but you shall die, but you shall be rent apart.
Tabaingina and Nainginno, meet at sea and meet ashore.
Thrust it on its stone [?] so it stirs; thrust it on its stone
[?] so it is split apart.
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Sorcery
Say this three times. There is no special time prescribed, and no

particular orientation.
PROTECTIVE MAGIC (BONOTAN TE WAWI)

If a man feared that the food which he was about to eat might
have been cursed with the death magic [te wawi], he first took a
pinch of the suspected food in his right hand and quickly whis-
pered to himself the following:
Taua ni kanaia Taburimai ma Auriaria, Nei Tewenei, Riki

ma Nei Tituabine, ai-e-i!
I aki bua, I aki taro; te mauri, te raoi, te tabomoa ngai-o!
Holding of their food Taburimai and Auriaria, Nei

Tewenei, Riki and Nei Tituabine, this-e-i!
I am not lost, I am not dismayed; health, peace, excel-

lence am I-o!
After repeating this three times he might eat the food with con-
fidence.
The names of the beings cited in this protective spell are
those of the famous ancestral deities of the Gilbertese clans.
These are all reputed to have been fair-skinned beings. Being
clan deities they are closely associated with the patrilineal or-
ganization and totem exogamy. It is a remarkable fact that prac-
tically all the protective magic in the group cites the names
of these beings, whereas the destructive magic never mentions
them. 4
SUN MAGIC: TO PROTECT AGAINST AN ENEMY’S

MAGIC
If you fear the magic of an enemy, your strongest protector is
the sun.
You should go to the eastern shore just before dawn and
pluck a kakoko ‘young coconut pinnule’ from the crest of one of
the coconut trees that grow there. You say the following charm
over it:
199
Tungaru Traditions
Ko na ingingi bonotau, ko na kakangi bonotau;

ko na ingingi bonotau, ko na kakangi bonotau.
Buabua ni manga, buabua ni manga.
E ing, e ewa, e tabwena.
This is repeated three times. You then await the sunrise. When
half the disc is above the sea you hold your kakoko with its tip
towards the sun looking down its length as down the barrel of
a gun. Then you put your fingers in its loop and keeping the
kakoko taut you revolve your hands round each other to the fol-
lowing charm:
Auao niria i aon waia Kantaubua, mai mate buabua, e

wati, e tabwena. Te ririki maeao. Uboiario, uboiarake.
Tai-o-o, tei iaou ikai: kakangi oraoraia, ko na kana te
wawi, ma ko na kana te wan-Tonga, ma ko na kana te
kabetinako, ma ko na kana te bobouan wai naba. Ko na
kana te anti te aomata, bu-u ba-a, e a mate konau ba te
aomata.
After three repeats of this you wear the kakoko on your head.
You do not eat until noon. When you take your meal, you lay the
headress aside and resume it when you have finished.
In the evening do the same. If you awake at night do not
eat, and do not lie with a woman for three days, this being the
time during which you perform the ceremony. The magic is done
fasting.
200
Tinaba and Eiriki
PREFERENCE FOR THE MOTHER-IN-LAW’S

BROTHER (1)
The genealogy below illustrates a concrete case in which the
uterine brother of the mother-in-law was preferred to a distant
classificatory brother of the father-in-law, as the tinaba of a
young wife: 1
Timara, a third cousin of Nauoko’s father, approached

Nauoko with the request that he should supply his wife Batiauea
as a tinaba. In actual practice such a connection is very general
between persons standing to each other in the relation of
Timara and Batiauea, especially on Tarawa. But Nauoko refused
to supply his wife to Timara on the ground that he was a father’s
brother and therefore the union would be kamara ‘filthy’.
Nauoko refused this request of Timara with great shame,
because a Gilbertese owes almost implicit obedience to his
father’s classificatory brothers. The fact that his sentiment
against the act of tinaba proposed was stronger than even his
sense of filial piety shows how powerful is still the aversion
against tinaba between a girl and her father-in-law’s brothers.
201
Tungaru Traditions
On the other hand Nauoko, although a Christian, informed

me that if Rabangaki, his mother’s own brother, made a similar
request, he would be unable to refuse to give Batiauea as his
tinaba. It need hardly be pointed out how valuable is such a con-
crete instance as proof that, before the generalization of tinaba,
a young wife could enter into this relation only with the brothers
of her mother-in-law.
There is an opinion among the old men that tinaba is
“easier” on the part of the mother’s brother than the father’s
brother. Their explanation is that the sister of a man is his in-
ferior and will easily consent to procure her daughter-in-law
for him; whereas a man’s brother will not, on account of his
equality of sex, be so complaisant. This may not be the funda-
mental explanation of the origin of tinaba, but it is valuable in
that it denotes the recognition by the Gilbertese of the greater
ease with which a tinaba may be arranged between a girl and
her mother-in-law’s brother.

BROTHER (2)
The custom of tinaba, as practised in the later stages of
Gilbertese social development, has undergone a process of gen-
eralization, in which the essential difference between the rela-
tives of a girl’s father-in-law and those of her mother-in-law has
become less and less clear. 2 Nevertheless, it is clear from the
concrete examples collected that still in the majority of cases a
young wife was taken as tinaba by her mother-in-law’s brothers
in preference to her father-in-law’s brothers.
My cases were necessarily obtained entirely at random,
their collection depending upon the willingness of the informant
to speak in concrete terms of a relation which is now prohibited
under the penal code. Thus they are the more valuable as evi-
dence because they cannot be suspected of having been given
as the material for any ex parte argument.
Assuming the spontaneity with which my examples were
given by the various informants it is possible, without weak-
ening their value, to admit that for each case given in which
the girl became the tinaba of her mother-in-law’s brother, there
may have been a case hidden in which she was involved with
her father-in-law’s brother. In fact such an admission would
tend only to enhance the value of my illustrations, because
that which a person admits in sexual matters is that which
202
Tinaba and Eiriki
causes him no shame, and that which he hides is that which, for
some reason or another, is shameful to him. Generally speaking
he will be unashamed of a relation which is established upon
popular consent, and he is ashamed of that which is contrary to
generally accepted practices. I assume therefore that my con-
crete cases of tinaba, collected from nearly every island of the
Gilberts, are a true reflection of the open practice of the custom
as permitted by public opinion.
When I noticed in my examples the increasing majority of
cases in which a girl became the tinaba of her mother-in-law’s
brother, I determined to make my enquiries by some method
whereby, without informing anyone of my intention, I might find
out whether they were guided by some prejudice in favour of
the mother-in-law relations. My method was first to get into
conversation with an old man about some subject, such as a
land claim or a matter of inheritance, during the discussion
of which it was possible to get the names of his father’s and
mother’s brothers, both distant and nearly related. These I
would write down in my note-book. A few days later I would
open the general subject of tinaba with the same old man, and
at a favourable moment would name one of his father’s brothers
and one of his mother’s brothers, both related to him in an equal
degree, and ask him which of the two he considered the more
suitable tinaba of his wife.
I applied this test to more than one hundred old men: in
every case the answer was in favour of the mother’s brother. We
may therefore say with absolute certainty that when the choice
is to be made between men who stand close, and in an equal
degree of relationship, the one to the girl’s father-in-law and the
other to her mother-in-law, it is the mother-in-law’s brother who
will be chosen.
It is important to note that this opinion was adhered to even
by old men who in actual experience had seen it overridden. For
example, more than one of my witnesses admitted that his own
wife had been taken as a tinaba by his father’s own brother;
but all were nevertheless definite in the opinion that such a
practice was against decency. None, on the other hand, had any
objection in principle to the submission of his wife as the tinaba
of his mother’s own brother.
In cases where the distant brother of the father-in-law was
mentioned together with a uterine brother of the mother-in-
law there was less certainty. Many old men said that there was
little or nothing to choose between the two, and they invariably
gave as an answer that “both were distant.” The majority of
203
Tungaru Traditions
these made the distance referable to the daughter-in-law. This

is a very remarkable thing. We are studying a marriage system
of which the salient feature is its regulation by means of ge-
nealogy. And the essence of such a system is that the utu of
the wife is separate and distinct from the utu of the husband.
Consistently then with such ideas, there never could come into
being a standard of measuring the nearness of distance of a
young wife from the brothers either of her father-in-law or her
mother-in-law, because she should be utterly unconnected with
both groups of people. If we wish to find the origin of so in-
consistent an idea, we shall have to look for it outside the
genealogical system. In other words, we shall have to regard the
ideas connected with tinaba as foreign to the leading principles
of the marriage organization we are studying, if we are to ex-
plain their presence.
Several of my informants, however, in stating that the
daughter-in-law might be taken as a tinaba by either a distant
brother of the father-in-law or a uterine brother of the mother-
in-law, “because both were distant,” definitely made this dis-
tance referable to the young husband. From this point of view
it seems that a boy’s wife must not become the tinaba of the
nearly related brothers of his father: the relationship is permis-
sible only with distant brothers of the father, while no imped-
iment is set in the way of mother’s brothers. The prohibition of
sexual intercourse between a daughter-in-law and her father-
in-law’s closer brothers might be the result of the essential
intimacy deemed to exist between father and son; while the
absence of restriction in connection with the mother-in-law’s
brothers might be the outcome of the small consequence in
which relatives on the female side were held.
But such an explanation is far too indefinite. It offers no so-
lution to the question as to how the practice of tinaba origi-
nated; and in suggesting that it was an internal development
of the patrilineal idea it is open to the grave objection that the
practice of tinaba is utterly foreign to the spirit in which patri-
lineal societies in Polynesia, possessing a genealogical system
of regulating marriage, regarded the institution of marriage.
I think that there can be little doubt indeed that patrilineal
ideas played a part in the more recent development of the
custom, and to such ideas I attribute the process of general-
ization to which I have referred, whereby the distinction be-
tween mother-in-law’s and father-in-law’s brothers began in
practice, if not in theory, to break down.
204
Tinaba and Eiriki
But as to the actual origin of tinaba, we must regard it as

an element foreign to the genealogical and patrilineal system in
which it is embedded; and we must, on the evidence before us,
look outside this system for a mechanism whereby the brothers
of a girl’s mother-in-law were able to acquire sexual rights over
her. Such a mechanism will also have to explain the attitude of
mind of the majority of my informants who, in discussing the
persons with whom a girl might fitly enter into the relation of
tinaba, adopted a standard of measuring her nearness or dis-
tance from an utu with which, under a logical and consistent
application of the genealogical system, she could have no pos-
sible connection either near or distant.

BROTHER (3)
In general support of the inference that tinaba was originally
practised only between a girl and her husband’s mother’s
brother is the following example. A man who either is already
engaged in an affair with a girl, or wishes to be so, will approach
any one of his (classificatory) sisters who has a son, and arrange
with her that her son shall take the desired girl as his wife.
When the union has been accomplished, the young wife of
course becomes the tinaba of her lover.
The strong connection of tinaba with the brother of a
woman’s mother-in-law is here evident. If the relationship could
originally be established by the brother of the father-in-law, it
is difficult to understand why a lover in the situation above de-
scribed should not be able to approach his brother’s son with a
view to arranging the desired marriage.
It is clear that the practice of tinaba by a girl with her
mother-in-law’s brothers can have no connection with a patri-
lineal organization of society. Under the patrilineal system the
father-in-law and his brothers, being of the same social group
as the girl’s husband, would be her natural mates in the tinaba
relationship. But, as the evidence shows, these were not con-
sidered to be the fitting persons to take her as tinaba, the
brothers of the mother-in-law being preferred. We may conclude
from this that the custom is part of a system that was not patri-
lineal but matrilineal in character.
205
Tungaru Traditions
TINABA RELATIONS WITH THE WIFE’S MOTHER

The existence of the tinaba relationship between a girl and her
husband’s own father is described by the Gilbertese as “a cause
for vomiting.” It is regarded with the greatest contempt and
loathing. In past times a man suspected of sexual relations with
his own daughter-in-law might be killed with impunity by one or
more of his brothers; or he might be taken by his utu and floated
away to sea without food. It is therefore a very remarkable fact
that a boy could perfectly well enter into relations of tinaba with
his wife’s own mother. 3 This was of quite frequent occurrence.
Public opinion was not in great favour of the practice in later
times, but this element of disfavour cannot be regarded as fun-
damental, because if a boy took his mother-in-law as tinaba her
husband was bound neither by demeanour nor word to show his
son-in-law that he objected. The most he might do was to talk to
his wife in the matter, but even thus, if she insisted on pursuing
the relationship, he might not lift a finger to prevent her.
During 1922 this duty of the father-in-law towards his
daughter’s husband was well illustrated in its breach. The fol-
lowing pedigree will explain the situation:
Terabwena = Nei Tetake
Nei Bakaiti = Tika
Tika took his mother-in-law, Nei Tetake, as his tinaba, and Ter-
abwena, the father-in-law, objected. His remedy was to report
to the government, which has prohibited this relationship; he
did not, however, take this obvious means of prevention, but
brooded on the matter for a long time, and after trying to per-
suade his wife to break off the connection, determined to kill his
son-in-law. On a suitable occasion he stabbed the boy, though
not mortally, and the whole affair became public. I discussed
the incident with many old men, who were unanimous in their
opinion that Terabwena was a churl, and that he had absolutely
no grounds according to Gilbertese custom for his jealousy.
I was informed that in cases where a young man took as
tinaba the mother of his wife and had a daughter by her, this
child was treated as the child of his father-in-law in all matters
pertaining to inheritance, and was treated by the real father as
the sister of his wife. But the young man could not then take the
child as his eiriki, as he could with any other sister of his wife.
206
Tinaba and Eiriki
TINABA
BUTARITARI
Three distinct classes of persons were called tinaba on Butar-
itari:
1. If a woman’s brother married, his wife became that
woman’s tinaba (called kainaba south of Butaritari). 4
2. If the daughter of a woman’s sister married, her husband
became the woman’s tinaba. 5
3. A woman’s own son-in-law sometimes became her
tinaba.
Some strange relationships arose out of the custom of tinaba
at (3), as shown below:
Na Ueaneita was Nei Kobuti’s son-in-law. He entered into a

tinaba alliance with her. She bore him a son, Bataua. Bataua
was then the son of Nei Abaiti in respect of her husband and the
brother of Nei Abaiti in respect of her mother. 6
If we imagine an exogamous tribe of two moieties, it is
clear how the name tinaba can be applied to both a man and a
woman.
TINABA
MARAKEI
207
Tungaru Traditions
All the wives of the three children of Teirei (by his two wives)
were taken in tinaba by Kieura, their mother-in-law’s brother.
Nei Tebaibure was tinaba of her mother-in-law’s brother

Kabaea.
Nei Ereti became tinaba of Teitirere, her husband’s mother’s

brother. 7 Temate took as tinaba both his father-in-law’s wife and
his father-in-law’s sister Nei Kakia. 8
TINABA
ABAIANG
Nei Kanonga was given in tinaba to Teauba by Temare, the

classiflcatory sister’s child of Teauba.
TINABA RELATIONS WITH SON’S WIFE

TARAWA
There is a case, well-known on Tarawa, in which the actual
father of a man entered into the relation of tinaba with his son’s
wife, or rather bride-elect.
208
Tinaba and Eiriki
In the above pedigree the girl Manoua had not yet become the
wife of Kautuntarawa, but had been taken into the house of
his father, according to custom, after betrothal, to await the
coming-of-age of her pledged husband. Before the boy was ripe
for marriage, Taie, his father, contrary to the accepted standard
of decency, took the girl and begot a child on her. This child was
Kamatie.
Later, Kautuntarawa married his betrothed and had several
children by her. For the sake of appearances Kamatie has
always been called the brother of these children, although in re-
ality he is their father’s half-brother, and therefore their classi-
flcatory father.
TINABA RELATIONSHIPS IN CASES OF ADOPTION

AS TIBU
1. If a man adopted a boy as his tibu, the wife of the
adopted became the tinaba of the adopter’s son.
2. If a man adopted a girl as his tibu, the husband of the
adopted took the adopter’s daughter as his tinaba.
3. If a woman adopted a boy as her tibu, her son took the
wife of the adopted as his tinaba.
4. If a woman adopted a girl as her tibu, the husband of the
adopted took the daughter of the adopter as his tinaba.
If this were evolved from a dual system with matrilineal descent
we should expect the tinaba relationship to be permissible only
if a man adopted either (a) his sister’s son’s son, or (b) his
brother’s daughter’s son. And in the case of a woman she would
have to adopt either (a) her brother’s son’s son, or (b) her
sister’s daughter’s son.
In the case of a girl being adopted she would, to fulfill con-
ditions, have to be, if a man was the adopter, (a) his brother’s
daughter’s daughter, or (b) his sister’s son’s daughter. If a
woman was the adopter, the girl must be either (a) her brother’s
son’s daughter, or (b) her sister’s daughter’s daughter.
209
Tungaru Traditions
Examples
To illustrate the various situations, let us take people from moi-
eties A and B.
1. Man adopts a boy, whose wife becomes tinaba of adopter’s

son:
If this were founded on a dual system, Harry, the adopted,

would have to be of the same moiety as Dick, so that his wife
should be of the other moiety and thus capable of sexual inter-
course with Dick. We should expect Harry to have sexual rights
with Sara, the wife of Dick.
2. Man adopts a girl, whose husband becomes tinaba of

adopter’s daughter:
Emma must be of Sara’s moiety in order that Harry may have

intercourse with Sara. Harry should also have the right of inter-
course with Ruth, and Emma with Dick and Tom.
3. Woman adopts a boy, whose wife becomes tinaba of adopter’s

son:
210
Tinaba and Eiriki
Harry must be of the same moiety as Dick, and therefore (as

above) ought to have sexual rights over Sara.
4. Woman adopts a girl, whose husband becomes tinaba of

adopter’s daughter:
Harry should have rights over Mary as well as Sara, and Emma
should be subject to tinaba with Dick and John.
TINABA RELATIONSHIPS: SIMILARITY WITH

LALAGI ON PENTECOST
On Pentecost Island there are relationships similar to tinaba.
The wife of the sister’s son is distinguished from other persons
called mabi and is classed with the brother’s wife (m.s.), the
mother’s brother’s wife (m.s.), and the wife’s sister, by the term
lalagi.
TINABA: A CONJECTURAL HISTORICAL

RECONSTRUCTION
It has been shown that though it was a heinous offence for a
father-in-law to take as tinaba his son’s wife, yet there was no
corresponding objection to the establishment of such a rela-
tionship between a boy and his wife’s mother. In tracing the
origin of tinaba, we must remember this important distinction.
And in seeking for some mechanism through which the custom
was embedded in a patrilineal and genealogical system of or-
ganizing marriage, we must also bear in mind the other pecu-
liarities of the practice: first, that tinaba is a relationship con-
tracted essentially between a woman and her mother-in-law’s
brothers to the exclusion of her father-in-law’s brothers; and
secondly, that in connection with the regulation of the custom
211
Tungaru Traditions
a standard of measurement, foreign to the ideas of the ge-

nealogical system, is used to measure the nearness or the dis-
tance of a girl from the utu into which she marries.
The mechanism sought will have to explain all these pecu-
liarities and inconsistencies, and in so far as it is able to asso-
ciate them all as the logical consequences of a single system,
in just so far will it appeal to us as the true explanation of the
facts.
The following hypothetical reconstruction is an attempt to
summarize the historical circumstances which could give rise
to the customary procedures relating to tinaba which we have
found by observation and interrogation to be practised by the
Gilbertese.
First stage
During the period of gerontocracy a young man went to beg a
wife from his mother’s brother.
The mother’s brother granted one or two of his wives, but
retained sexual rights over them. This was the basis of tinaba.
Second stage
Gradually the old men’s power waned and the young men’s in-
creased. The young men were now in a position to demand
younger wives, that is, the daughters of their mother’s brothers.
Having taken these daughters to wife, they were sufficiently
in power to retain still their sexual rights over their mothers-
in-law. It is probable that a young man went to his mother’s
brother and demanded one of his younger wives who had a
girl child. He would remove the mother and child to his own
house and enjoy sexual relations with the mother until the child
was old enough to cohabit with him. His mother’s brother still,
however, retained sexual rights over the elder woman.
Third stage
At this stage the race practising this custom was overtaken by
the invasion of a patrilineal race, having a genealogical system
of marriage organization. In the fusion of systems a young
man no longer went to his mother’s brother’s household for
his wives, the idea of the cross-cousin marriage in particular
being alien to the system of a genealogical people. He therefore
sought his wives outside his circle of relations. But the other
212
Tinaba and Eiriki
characteristics of the habit remained. As the imported wives

and mothers-in-law would then have no blood ties with the
father’s or mother’s side of the young husband there was no
reason why the same scheme of sexual relations as had before
existed should not continue. A young man continued to claim
sexual relations from his mother-in-law, and his mother’s
brothers continued to enjoy relations with his wife or wives,
being now no longer restricted by the presence of their own
daughters among these women.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF EIRIKI

The eiriki of a man are (a) his brother’s wives, and (b) his wife’s
sisters. The eiriki of a woman are (a) her sister’s husband, and
(b) her husband’s brothers. The relationship is illustrated in the
following pedigree:
In this pedigree, Nauoko and Batiauea are husband and wife.

The eiriki of Nauoko are (a) Nei Kiebu (brother’s wife), and (b)
Raua, Teue, and Ema (wife’s sisters). The eiriki of Batiauea are
(a) Kaburoro (husband’s brother) and (b) Karawaia and Iakoba
(sisters’ husbands). 9
Before government intervention, sexual relations were gen-
erally permissible between persons who called each other eiriki.
The term was and still is, applied by men to women, or women
to men, whether sexual relations have been established or not.
Eiriki relations between brother’s wife (m.s.) and

husband’s brother (w.s.)
In the eiriki relationship a man could enter into sexual relations
with a woman only if she was actually domiciled as a wife in the
house of his brother. Thus Nauoko might approach his brother’s
wife Nei Kiebu, but not her sisters because they never lived with
Kaburoro. Until the fact of domicile was established, Kaburoro
was entitled to sexual relations with his wife’s sisters to the ex-
213
Tungaru Traditions
clusion of all (even his eldest) brothers. But as soon as he might

take one of them into his household as a companion to his cer-
emonial wife, she would become potential concubitant of his
brothers, particularly of his eldest brother.
Eiriki relations among brothers and their wives

The rather complicated rights of concubitancy owned by men
over their brothers’ wives are best explained by a pedigree:
In this pedigree, the names are arranged in descending order

of seniority, from left to right. The eight men calling each other
brothers in the third generation are descended from a common
grandfather, the eldest branch being descended through a
woman, Nei Areau, the rest through men. I shall deal first with
a single branch as a separate entity.
While Iakoba, the eldest son of Nei Areau, might, and in
spite of all edicts still may, demand the right of concubitancy
with the wives of Titau and Karawaia, his younger brothers
may exact no such privilege from him in return. As the eldest
brother, he will at his father’s death become the Unimane ‘Old
Man’ of this branch, and will then stand in a relation of quasi-
parenthood to the rest of his father’s issue. This raises his wife
to the position and esteem of a potential mother in respect of
the younger brothers of Iakoba, and although she is never ac-
corded the title of tina, her status immunizes her from sexual
relations or any other kind of familiarity with her husband’s ju-
niors.
As between junior brothers, no importance is attached to
primogeniture. Thus, Karawaia may without shame make ad-
vances to the wife of Titau, his elder. Even should Iakoba die
childless and Titau thus become Unimane in his stead, Karawaia
would not break off the relations once established. But under
these circumstances, Titau would infallibly in the old days have
taken Iakoba’s widow into his household, and she would be re-
served for himself alone, thus maintaining the dignity of the
214
Tinaba and Eiriki
Unimane status. Similar rights and obligations of eiriki would

be observed between uterine brothers in the other branches of
the pedigree exhibited.
I have now to deal with the relations of branch to branch.
The first observation to be made is that the eldest branch of
Boutu’s grandchildren traces descent through a woman. Its
members therefore cannot belong to the same clan as the male
branches because clan descent is patrilineal. And this debars
Iakoba from assuming the title and prestige of Unimane of the
whole group, as he would have done had he been descended
through the eldest male. This status belongs to Boutu, the eld-
est son of the first-born male child of the common grandfather.
According to the custom of eiriki, Boutu’s wife is immune
not only from the advances of his uterine brother Tanea, but
also from the solicitations of any other member of the group, in-
cluding Iakoba. On the other hand, there is no single member
whose wife he may not approach in sexual relations: none may
deny him, on account of the filial respect that is due to the
prospective head of the group.
Subject to this restriction, the junior members of the group
may make whatever arrangements they please between them-
selves in the disposal of their wives. Primogeniture of parents
is not taken into account among them. As a result of this, it
follows that while Nauoko’s wife is immune within the branch
of her husband from the advances of Kaburoro, his uterine
younger brother, she may yet be approached by Tika, a member
of a junior branch, actually born some years after Kaburoro.
The principle underlying this arrangement is very definite. It is
that the native, while willing to admit the seniority of a uterine
brother, will not acknowledge any other master of his own gen-
eration within his group except the one man upon whom the
mantle of family Unimane has fallen.
I have often heard it questioned whether the issue of a
woman, such as Iakoba and his brothers in the pedigree before
us, have any right at all to claim eiriki rights over the wives
of their cross-cousins (i.e., their mother’s brothers’ children).
According to a good number of old men on more than one
island, a man should strictly “follow his father”: that is to say,
he should enter into relations only with the wives of brothers on
his father’s side. And this reduces itself to a rule that the wives
of clan-brothers are the only legitimate concubitants under the
eiriki system.
215
Tungaru Traditions
A very striking thing has been said to me more than once in

discussing the point: it was that “a man’s mother would speak
angrily” if her son’s wife were approached by the boy’s cross-
cousin. Thus, for example, Nauoko’s mother would speak an-
grily if his wife were approached by Iakoba. Now a man’s father,
and not his mother, is usually the spokesman when quarrels are
forward in the Gilbertese family group. It is therefore worth
enquiring why, in this particular set of conditions, the mother
should thus exceptionally be the disputant on her son’s behalf.
If we imagine a society organized into two exogamous moieties
with matrilineal descent, we have at once before us a set of cir-
cumstances in which the mother becomes of prime importance
in the regulation of relations such as we are discussing. Because
her son is descended through her into the moiety to which they
both belong, she is the best judge of the wife he should marry,
and the logical censor of the other people, if any, with whom
such a wife should have relations. Whatever relations of do-
mestic affection might exist between her husband and her son,
the man, socially speaking, will have no voice in such matters,
because he will be of the opposite moiety to the boy. Thus the
mother is the only natural ally of her son when his wife’s social
virtue is threatened.
Looking at the matter now from another angle, we seem to
find circumstances that fit in well with the picture of a dual
system of social organization with matrilineal descent. Under
such an organization the mother of Iakoba and the father of,
let us say, Nauoko would belong through their mother to the
same moiety; in the next generation Iakoba would descend into
his mother’s moiety again, but Nauoko into the opposite one,
through his mother. Thus, when Nauoko married, he would take
a girl from Iakoba’s moiety, who could consequently never have
sexual relations with Iakoba.
I suggest then that the widespread objection in the Gilberts
against the entry of a man into sexual relations with the wife
of his cross-cousin supports a reasonable conclusion that the
custom of eiriki had its origin in a dual organization of society;
and that the important part played by the mother in the regu-
lation of the eiriki relation strongly indicates that descent in the
supposed moieties was matrilineal.
216
Tinaba and Eiriki
Procedure
To illustrate the procedure of a man who wished to enter into
sexual relations with his brother’s wife, I will quote from the
actual course adopted by Nauoko. This man desired Nei Kiebu,
the wife of his younger brother Kaburoro. He did not speak
to his brother; such a course would have made them both
ashamed, the theory being that the eldest would lose dignity in
making a direct request to his junior. So Nauoko confessed his
desire to his own wife, who carried a message to Nei Kiebu. His
wife was not angry or jealous, because he spoke openly to her
and did not hide his desire. Nei Kiebu refused the first request,
as a matter of form, upon which Nauoko asked his mother to in-
tercede. His mother spoke to Kaburoro himself, who said, “Tell
my wife; it lies with her.” So the mother spoke to her daughter-
in-law, who accepted. Upon the establishment of these relations,
Kaburoro pretended to know nothing about it. It would have
been considered unsocial in him to have given a sign that he
knew, as it might tend to make his elder brother feel ashamed.
Further, his brother’s name was never mentioned before him;
and this was not to spare his feelings, but to avoid for him the
temptation of feeling jealous and thus incurring the reproach of
undutifulness towards his Unimane.
Eiriki relations between wife’s sisters and sister’s

husband
As I have indicated before, the word eiriki is primarily a term
of relationship, as now used, and does not necessarily connote
sexual relations. Thus, although Nauoko calls Ema, his wife’s
first cousin (see the pedigree on page 188), eiriki and is so
called by her, he is not considered to possess rights of inter-
course with her; under the old law he would have to pay the
usual land-forfeit for adultery to her husband if he made ad-
vances of a sexual nature to her.
The only persons in the pedigree (within the class which we
are now discussing) over whom Nauoko can claim sexual rights
are the uterine sisters of his wife, Raua and Teue. If his wife Ba-
tiauea had been the only child of her parents, he would, in the
opinion of a few old men, have had nobody in this class of eiriki
over whom he could strictly enforce a right of concubitancy. But
on this point, I have heard a great deal of discussion, which
luckily may be illustrated by a slight extension of the pedigree
that I am using:
217
Tungaru Traditions
It is agreed by all, as I have already said, that Nauoko has no

rights of concubitancy over Ema, his wife’s first cousin through
her mother’s brother. I shall discuss the alleged reasons for
this later. The point at issue is whether Nauoko is equally de-
barred from sexual relations with Maria, his wife’s first cousin
through her mother’s sister. The enormous majority of old men
say at once that he is not so debarred. They assert that, having
married Batiauea he has the entire disposal of all the daughters
of her mother’s sister.
In the ordinary course of events, this would be perfectly
natural, because Batiauea’s mother and maternal aunt, being
sisters by one father, would generally be the wives of a single
man. Thus the children of the aunt would be Batiauea’s half-
sisters, and not her cousins. Under such conditions, Nauoko
would without any doubt be entitled to hold them all as concu-
bitants.
But as it happened, Tebabanna, the sister of Batiauea’s
mother, married separately; her husband and therefore her
children belonged to a different clan from that of Tawara’s
husband and children. And there can be no doubt that in cases
like this, the patrilineal habit of thought associated with clan
organization has influenced public opinion to the extent of cre-
ating among the minority a feeling of uncertainty whether it is
permissible or not for a man to have sexual relations with eiriki
outside the clan of his wife. Nevertheless, if one takes a majority
vote of old men to decide the issue, and makes a count of con-
crete cases available, there is not the slightest doubt that a man
might and most frequently did claim concubitant rights with
the daughters of his mother-in-law’s sisters, even when they be-
longed to a different clan from that of his wife. And at the same
time he refrained from sexual relations with the daughters of
his mother-in-law’s brother.
This brings us back to the matter which I reserved for dis-
cussion. If Nauoko may have relations with Maria, his wife’s
cousin through a maternal aunt, why is he debarred from the
same relations with Ema, his wife’s cousin through a maternal
uncle? The answer generally given by an old man is rather du-
bious: “because Ema follows her father.” This seems to have
218
Tinaba and Eiriki
reference again to the clan organization. Ema is descended

through her father into a certain clan: Nauoko’s wife is de-
scended into another through hers. Therefore let Nauoko seek
his concubitants among his wife’s clan-sisters. But this, as we
have seen, is inconsistent; for Maria is no more than Ema the
clan-sister of Nauoko’s wife, yet he may enforce his sexual
rights upon her. Obviously, this again is a case in which a patri-
lineal mode of thought and an organization of society into clans
have supervened upon some other scheme and caused a certain
amount of incoherence. If the patrilineal clan system alone were
responsible for the custom of eiriki, it is clear that there could
be no confusion at all: Nauoko would be entitled neither to Ema
nor to Maria; if Ema “follows her father,” then equally Maria
follows hers, and both are inaccessible.
Admittedly, the following is just possible. It may be that the
marriage of two sisters, such as Tawara and Tebabanna, to a
single husband was in earlier days an absolute rule; that public
opinion then gradually changed so far as to permit them to
marry different men, but that it still recognized a particularly
close link of sisterhood between their daughters. But in such
circumstances, it is difficult to understand why there is no
special term to classify together the daughters of such sisters,
and also why there is no corresponding link of intimacy between
their sons.
I think that the fewest objections are encountered, and the
clearest reconciliation of all inconsistencies is achieved, on the
hypothesis that the custom of eiriki owes its origin to a system
foreign to the patrilineal clan organization. Consistently with
former conjectures, I suggest again that it belongs to a dual
organization of society into moieties with matrilineal descent.
Under such a system, the three parents Tawara, Kourabi, and
Tabebanna, being brother and sisters, belong let us say to
moiety A. The children of the two women, Batiauea and Maria,
will descend through their mothers into the same moiety. But
the man must seek his wife in moiety B, to which Ema will
therefore belong. Now Nauoko must also necessarily belong to
B, otherwise he could not marry Batiauea of A: thus he is ab-
solutely debarred from sexual relations with Ema; while nothing
prevents him from approaching Maria, since she is of the same
moiety as his wife.
Thus inconsistencies, which appear illogical when examined
from the standpoint of a patrilineal clan organization, cease to
be inconsistencies at all in respect of a society having matri-
lineal moieties.
219
Tungaru Traditions
The full suggestion, then, that I feel justified in making

after an examination of the practices connected with eiriki is
that a certain section of the Gilbertese ancestors once lived
in a society which was divided into two exogamous moieties,
in which descent was matrilineal. Impinging upon this order
came a band of immigrants, whose social organization was
based upon the clan, into which descent was patrilineal. The
two races thus brought into contact by the immigration even-
tually fused, and during the fusion the social organization of
the conquerors suffered modification through the absorption of
indigenous practices. Nominally, the clan organization and pa-
trilineal descent were still supreme, but, probably on account
of the scarcity of women among the immigrants, many of the
customs connected with marriage were adopted from the dual
people. These, though long assimilated into the patrilineal
system, have never been so well digested as to make a perfect
mixture; thus inconsistencies are apparent still, which become
only the more salient when attempts are made to explain them
according to patrilineal modes of reasoning.
Tauanikai and eiriki

While the term eiriki includes persons who can have no sexual
relations with each other, the name tauanikai is applied by a
man to that class of eiriki who are his potential wives. The
tauanikai of a man are the own sisters of his wife, and the
daughters of her mother’s sister. 10
220
PART 2
The Maneaba
The Function of the
Maneaba in Gilbertese
Society
The importance of the maneaba in the life of a Gilbertese com-

munity could not escape the most casual observer. This great
thatched edifice is patently the focus of social life in every
village. 1 It is the meeting house where two, or twenty, or two
hundred villagers will naturally foregather to discuss any sort
of project; it is the common ground where the conflicting in-
terests of individual households or factions are debated and ar-
bitrated; it is the dancing lodge, the amusement hall, the news
market of the community; and it is the resort of the aged men
and women of the race, who daily repair to that sanctuary of
peaceful gloom, and there, each seated on his mat with fly-
whisk busily flicking, exchange in interminable mumbles their
reminiscences of a bygone day.
The maneaba at Utiroa, Tabiteuea, 1841. (Wilkes, 5:52)
223
Tungaru Traditions
The interior of the maneaba at Utiroa, Tabiteuea, 1841. (Wilkes, 5:56)
This is all on the surface. As evidence of the general social

importance of the maneaba, it is not misleading; but as an in-
dication of the special uses of the edifice in past days it is de-
ceptive and inadequate. The gradual decay of native custom,
and its generalization, under the influence of foreign ideas for
the past thirty years, is responsible for a change in the
maneaba’s “centre of gravity.” While it has gained in breadth
of meaning to the modern native, it has lost in depth of special
significance. For example, its application to modern uses has
enhanced its character of convenience, and reduced almost
to nothing its sacred quality. Employed nowadays as an
amusement hall, where crowds of noisy youngsters sit down to
cards or skittles, it is robbed of that awe, which not long ago in-
hibited all loud-voiced talking under the venerable roof. In these
modern times, children of all ages run shouting in bands in and
out of the building, at any hour of the day. In the old days, it
was unthinkable that a child of any age under puberty should
be allowed to set foot even upon the marae ‘shingled open
space’, which surrounded the maneaba. “E rawa te maneaba
ni matauninga irouia ataei” (“The maneaba refuses to be of-
fended by children”) was the expression used by seniors; for all
shouting, all unseemly behaviour, every attitude or word that
was not marked by decency and decorum, was considered a
224
The Function of the Maneaba in Gilbertese Society
cause of offence to the edifice and a danger to the community

at large, upon whom some misfortune would fall if the dignity of
the maneaba suffered through their negligence.
The maneaba was indeed an assembly room and, in some
sense, an amusement hall before the government; but the as-
semblies and amusements held therein were of a most formal
character, ordained not carelessly for a few people, on a light
occasion, but after debate by the senior men, for the whole
community of adults, and for some motive that touched the
social life of an important group of people. “Nnen te taeka ma
te kimareirei ae kakannato te maneaba” (“The maneaba is the
container of exalted words and amusements”): games having
a definite social significance such as the katikiao, performed
when an important man’s daughter had reached the age of pu-
berty, were fit to be shown in the maneaba; feasts at a birth, a
marriage, or a death were held there, as were also debates on
war or peace; and there would take place any discussions con-
cerning the interests of individuals or groups, which threatened
to become troublesome to the community. In the maneaba too
would be considered matters of general interest, such as the
preparations for a harvest of coconuts or pandanus fruit or the
steps to be taken on the stranding of a shoal of porpoises—a
most prized delicacy—on the foreshores of the district. And all
these amusements, feasts, and debates were conducted in ac-
cordance with a fixed and rigid ceremonial. There was only one
side, the west, from which the building might be entered. There
was a first speaker and a second speaker; there was a hered-
itary blower of the conch that called the assembly; a divider of
the feast; a carrier of portions, and so on.
All these duties and privileges were the sacred inheritances
of the various social groups which took their seats in the
maneaba. Any man who assumed a function that did not belong
to his group was believed to be liable to sudden and mortal
sickness: the maneaba was matauninga ‘offended’ with him; he
was maraia ‘accursed’; he would die before the moon changed.
Everything therefore that took place in the maneaba was
subject to the strictest ceremonial rules under the most definite
religious sanctions; and everything that carried with it an in-
formal atmosphere, such as the sports of wrestling, of hide-and-
seek, or other games of their nature, was banned from those
precincts. It may be said that only such acts as lent themselves
to a solemn ritual and possessed a definite social significance
were permissible in the maneaba. And in this narrow sense
alone can the building be described as a social hall.
225
Tungaru Traditions
A few remnants of the respect once paid to the maneaba are

still to be discovered. A child kicking the kerb of coral that is set
up under the eaves is reproved by its parents: “Don’t offend the
maneaba. You will fall sick and die.” Not many natives would yet
dare to strike with stick or hand any of the posts that support
the roof, for fear of the same fate. In the days before the gov-
ernment, if a man were seen to lift his hand against any part of
the edifice, it was the duty of all bystanders to thrash him and
trample him underfoot. If they failed to perform this duty, they
would be considered accessory to the sacrilege and subject to
any misfortune that might result from it. Even were the offender
beaten to death, his relations would not dare to object; for it
was believed that had the dead man been suffered to live by his
assailants, he would in any case most probably have died later
on as a result of his crime.
On most islands of the Gilbert Group there is at least one
maneaba used as a bange ‘common sanctuary’, where any man
beaten in battle may be safe from his enemies. No aggressor
would dare to violate such sanctuary, the belief having been that
should he so outrage the peace of the place his skin would be
stricken with tumid swellings (te rabarabataki) and he would
die in pain.
But it is to be observed that the buildings around such a
maneaba generally shared this character of inviolability, and
even for a man to stand on the ground in their neighbourhood
was enough to save him from his pursuers. Further, there are
many plots of land in the Gilberts, whereon neither house nor
maneaba ever stood, which were common sanctuaries in past
times. For these reasons it seems probable that maneaba, which
came to be recognized as refuges, acquired their inviolability
not as a result of their own special sanctity but as a conse-
quence of some tradition connected with the ground on which
they stood. On the islands of Butaritari, Abaiang, and Abemama,
where there were dynasties of high chiefs, it is certain that
extraneous circumstances did actuate the conversion of par-
ticular maneaba into refuges for the pursued; for on those is-
lands it was always the high chief’s maneaba that served as the
asylum; and it acquired this character not because of its inher-
ently sacred character as a building but because it belonged to
the chief, whose peace and clemency must, in theory, be as a
covering to all men.
Nevertheless, any and every maneaba was in a more limited
sense a sanctuary. Among people of the same settlement, who
shared the same maneaba, no violence must be done within the
226
revered precincts (with the exception, of course, of such vio-

lence as might be visited on an offender against the building
itself). And so, if matter of bitter dispute arose within that com-
munity, a man or woman in fear of injury might take refuge
there. Advantage was often taken of this protection by children
who stubbornly set their face against a marriage planned by
their parents and feared the evil (even to the point of being
beaten to death) that might result. Wives of jealous husbands
would also often escape harm by remaining in the maneaba
until their lord’s anger was abated. For whatever the strength
of the motive that might incite a man to violence, his awe of the
maneaba would certainly inhibit him.
On the islands of Marakei, Abaiang, Maiana, Beru, and Tabi-
teuea, this duty of seemly and reverential deportment towards
the building is explained by the Old Men in a single phrase:
“Iai Tai i nanon te maneaba” (“There is Sun in the maneaba”).
On Marakei a variant was given by the old man Takeuta, who
said: “Bon rokin Tai ma Namakaina te maneaba” (“The maneaba
is indeed the screened enclosure of Sun and Moon”). In other
words, the maneaba is the House of the Sun, according to the
majority; and of the Moon as well, according to the report of
a single authority. It was believed that all sanctions that might
ensue upon an act of disrespect against the structure were
visited upon the offender direct from the Sun himself, who
pierced the navel of his victim with fire.
In view of the researches that are being continually made
into the sun-cults of Oceania, and of the only partial success
with which they are crowned, this is a vitally interesting series
of beliefs. It would be sufficiently arresting if it stood alone, but
it is far from being the only evidence connecting the maneaba
with the sun. In the ceremonial magic used during the con-
struction of this building we have direct evidence of a most in-
dubitable nature associating it with the sun. There seems to be
little room for doubt that the maneaba, as an original part of the
culture of the Gilbertese forebears, was a temple, and a temple
of the sun. 2
VARIOUS TYPES OF MANEABA

The usual type of maneaba now seen in the Gilbertese villages
is a building whose breadth is rather less than half its length,
having a height not quite equal to its breadth. It consists of an
enormous thatch, with gable ends, supported on studs of coral
227
Tungaru Traditions
rock from three to five feet high. The eaves come down to within
two or three feet of the ground, so that a man has to bend in
order to enter the building. The ridge-pole is supported by a row
of posts running down the centre of the building (the middle of
the interior). In a large maneaba the rafters are also supported
half-way up their length by a beam raised on a row of shorter
posts.
In pre-government days the gables of this building were
invariably north and south, the long sides being thus to east
and west: no other orientation was ever used. Nowadays, the
government having concentrated the villages along the lagoon
shores, the orientation of the edifice varies according to locality.
Frequently, indeed, the north-south position is possible, as the
islands themselves lie as a rule roughly north and south, with la-
goons to westward; maneaba must needs lie east-west in order
to follow the line of their villages where the end of the land
curves westward. Nevertheless, I shall hereafter speak as if the
building was always in its ancient orientation.
Though the usual ratio of breadth to length in the maneaba
now seen is roughly 1 to 2, there was more diversity in the old
days. There were three chief styles, each having its own name,
and each distinguished by the proportion of its breadth to its
length. They were as follows:
Tabiang, the narrowest, about half as broad as it was

long; Maungatabu, with a breadth about three-quarters
of its length; Tabontebike, foursquare, with a “hip” roof,
not conical.
It is said that on Beru were built the first three maneaba of

historical times, by the newly arrived conquerors from Samoa,
some twenty generations ago. Before that date, the inhabitants
of the Gilbert Islands had “other sorts of maneaba.” Tradition
leaves no doubt that the Samoan invasion also affected many
other islands besides Beru, but history is silent concerning the
maneaba built by the conquerors on them. It was the wholesale
conquest of the group, from Arorae in the south to Marakei in
the north, some eight or nine generations afterwards by Beru
warriors, which led to the obliteration of most other names
and styles that may have existed elsewhere, and to the estab-
lishment of the three Beru styles now known. 3
There were, however, three islands of the group that were
left untouched by the Beru warriors, namely Butaritari, Makin,
and Banaba, and on these we should expect to find variant
228
types. It is quite certain that the Banaban maneaba had char-

acteristics differing from the Beru styles, although the differ-
ences were not so much of construction as of internal economy.
But there is not now living a single Banaban native who can
give an intelligible account of the maneaba used on this island
in the old days. On Butaritari and Makin, though the modern
native is now much influenced by traffic with other islands, it is
still remembered that the ancient maneaba was a Maungatabu
building with a “hip” roof, not a conical thatch, and was called
Makua-te-rara ‘the high tide of blood’. Further allusion will be
made to this style later on.
The maneaba of Beru were classified not only according to
the ratio borne by breadth to length; there were also nine dif-
ferent styles of roof, differentiated solely by the height of their
pitch. Of these the lowest was called Tauata, and the rest, in
ascending order of height Tokaboua, Tokamaomao, Ngaoniio,
Numawete, Kariaba, Teieta, Taberan te Kai, and Kariamatang
respectively. The correct allocation of a maneaba to its par-
ticular class is therefore effected by an association of the term
connoting its pitch of roof with the name connoting the pro-
portion of its breadth to its length. Thus the narrowest style of
maneaba with the highest type of roof would be called Tabiang-
Kariamatang, and so on.
THE MANEABA AS AN INDEX TO SOCIAL

GROUPINGS
A survey of Gilbertese social organization outside the maneaba
would lead us to the conclusion that the utu, consisting of blood
relations on both the father’s and mother’s side, is the unique
basis of the structure. 4 Within this group, though inheritance
and succession are clearly dominated by patrilineal ideas, an
examination of the functional aspects of relationship seems to
indicate a development upon which the preponderant influence
has been matrilineal.
In the utu, therefore, we have a distinct compromise be-
tween the elements of mother-right and father-right. We shall
find very little of such a compromise in the social groupings con-
nected with the maneaba. These groupings, which evidence will
show to be underlaid by the idea of descent from the totem, are
unmistakably controlled by the patrilineal idea.
229
Tungaru Traditions
If one frequents the maneaba to talk to the old people who

are always to be found there, a few visits acquaint one with
the fact that the same man always sits in the same part of
the building. It was the physical inconvenience of this that first
brought the circumstances to my attention. It seemed strangely
inconsistent that a few old men, repairing to the maneaba ap-
parently for the sake of companionship, should separate at
entrance and habitually assume seats in positions so widely sun-
dered that conversation became difficult or impossible. What
stimulated my earliest questions was to observe, on the island of
Onotoa, that a particular elder, well known to me, would regu-
larly take his place within a few feet of an especial enemy, while
his ingoa ‘namesake’ and therefore sworn friend, just as regu-
larly sat at a distance of twenty yards from him.
It was explained that these old men were sitting in their boti,
the hereditary sitting-places of their fathers and fathers’ fa-
thers, under the prescribed inaki ‘thatch-rows’ of the maneaba.
And it appeared that to sit in any other place would be to court
sickness and death.
It was unquestionably as nen te boti ‘the container of the
sitting-places’, that the maneaba was most vitally significant to
the Gilbertese people. Far more than a place of social festivities
or a hall of debate, it was a tabernacle of the ancestors in the
male line, a sort of social map, where a man’s group or clan
could be recognized the moment he took his seat, his totem and
his ascendants known, and his ceremonial duties or privileges
discovered.
There is still plenty of information available as to the distri-
bution of the boti. This is one of the branches of knowledge still
valued by modern generations, for it is found to be extremely
useful in inter-island travel. A native having no near relations on
an island where he is on a visit, will go to the nearest maneaba
and sit in his ancestral room. There he will continue to seat
himself daily, until the local members of that boti “lift up the
word to him.” Then, the following conversation will take place:
“Sir, whence come you?”
“I come from such and such an island.”

“Where are you sitting?”
“I am sitting in such and such a boti.”
“Why do you do that?”
“It is our boti.”
“Whose boti?”
“My father’s and my grandfather’s.”
230
A boti Elder (Unimane) dressed for a

maneaba ceremonial. Note whale’s teeth
necklace and fine mat. (Maude photo)
“Who is your father?”

“So and so.”
“Aia” (equivalent to “Ah, yes, I see”).
After a silence, the questionnaire proceeds:
“Perhaps this is not your father’s boti?”
“Sir, it is indeed my father’s boti.”
“Ata. ”
Another silence, and then:
“For what was the riki ‘origin’ of your father?”
“So and so was his ancestor.”
“Anaia ‘take it up’, for we listen.” 5
Then the stranger must tell the tale of his father’s generations
back to the common ancestor of the boti, while his audience
gravely attends. Having satisfied them that he has not com-
mitted the offence of trespass upon their sitting-room, he is ac-
231
Tungaru Traditions
cepted as taria ‘their brother’ for the duration of his stay on

the island; very often, a married couple of riper years, one of
whom is a member of the boti, will appoint themselves his karo
‘parents’ and may make him a member of the household. In any
case, having established his group membership, he will be fed
by his clansmen until he leaves and probably provided with a re-
spectable present of money at departure.
So keenly were the obligations of boti-relationship felt in
past days, that Islanders would strip their plantations and
empty their babai pits for visiting clansmen from other atolls
rather than risk the reproach of having failed in the duty of
karokaro. 6 This spirit is still very strong in the race. Such is
the pauperizing effect of the native’s lavish bounty under its
dictates, that the government has found it necessary to make
special regulations for the curtailment of inter-island visits.
It is the utility of the institution, no doubt, that has caused it
to resist better than others the inroads of civilization. Its persis-
tence makes it a fairly easy task on most islands to find the posi-
tions of the various boti in the maneaba. These may be far more
clearly indicated in a sketch-plan than in words (Figure 13).
In Figure 13, the shaded margin represents the overhang
of the eaves outside the building. The short strokes crossing
the margin are the ends of the rafters projecting over the roof-
plates. The roof-plates themselves are indicated by the straight
inner lines of the margin, the small rectangles over which these
pass being the studs of coral rock upon which they rest.
It will be noted that some of the studs have names. That
in the middle of the east side is called Tai ‘the Sun’; directly
opposite which, in the west side, is Namakaina ‘the Moon’. At
the south-east corner is Nei Tituabine, who was one of the
chief goddesses of the Gilbertese pantheon and an ancestress.
At the north-east corner is Tabakea, also a god and ancestor.
Teikake, in the middle of the south end, is the representative
of the person of that name who appears in the story of Tewatu
ni Matang. Tabiang, in the middle of the north end, takes the
name of the boti within which it stands. These named studs
were the particular care and pride of the members of those boti
possessing them.
The limits of the various boti, each of which is named, are
indicated in Figure 13 by the dotted lines running inwards from
the roof plates. Notice that the distribution of the boti is based
upon the rafters in this particular case. Thus, Tabiang has three
rafter intervals allotted to it, Te Bakabaka five, and so on. But,
if the maneaba were a small one and the rafters consequently
232
fewer, the allocation of boti would be established upon the inaki

‘thatch-rows of the roof’, or simply “fitted in,” according to the
space requirements of the various clans. 7 But the actual order
of distribution would not change in either maneaba nor would
considerations of spacing ever be strong enough to separate a
clan from one of the named studs, if it possessed one. Thus,
however numerous might happen to be the representatives of
the three boti between Keaki and Karongoa n Uea at a par-
ticular reunion, they would have to crush themselves somehow
into that space, for Keaki remained unshakably anchored to its
corner-stone of Tituabine, and Karongoa n Uea to its Sun stone
by the middle rafter. The actual maneaba from which Figure
13 was taken, is a building faithfully constructed in the Maun-
gatabu style, on the island of Marakei. The master-architect was
Takeuta, an old man of about seventy years, who built as he
had been taught by his grandfather and whose knowledge of
the building craft brought disciples from islands as far south
as Nonouti to learn from him. The authorities responsible for
the allocation of the boti in the order pictured were thirty-five
elders of the island, elected by the inhabitants as native dele-
gates on a Lands Commission. The chart therefore represents
the collective knowledge of the island’s chosen spokesmen,
every man of whom was of fighting age in the wars preceding
the hoisting of the British flag in 1892. The distribution of the
boti in the Tabiang style of maneaba is identical with that in the
Maungatabu. 8
It is obvious that all the boti shown may not necessarily be
found on every island, and conversely those exhibited in the
diagram do not completely exhaust the tale of the divisions
discoverable; for a given ancestor may not have descendants
in the male line on every island. If a gap is made by the ex-
tinction of a clan on an island, the members of the boti on
either side of it will naturally close up and efface the scar, and
gradually the name of that clan-place will be forgotten. Some
secondary migration, after centuries, may again bring people
of this group to the island; they will look for their place in
the maneaba. Suppose then that the groups that have drawn
together over their clan-place are unfamiliar to the returned
people. The result may be that instead of claiming the ancient
position between them, the newcomers will take a place to one
side or the other, which more or less coincides with the spot
they have been used to on their own islands. From causes of
such a nature, no doubt, spring the slight variations in rel-
ative position of the lesser-known boti, noticed from island to
233
Tungaru Traditions
Figure 13. Plan of the Maungatabu-style maneaba
island. But the situations of the better-known sitting-places in

the Tabiang and Maungatabu maneaba are changeless:
Karongoa n Uea is unfailingly under the middle rafter of the
eastern side; Te Bakoa always flanks it on the south, and
Karongoa Raereke on the north. Tabiang, Keaki, Ababou, Te
Kua, Kurumaetoa, and Kaburara will everywhere be found in the
places allocated to them on the diagram.
The Tabontebike maneaba, however, has a different
arrangement of its boti. The most striking point of variation,
as will be seen by the boti plan (Figure 14), is that the sitting-
places of Karongoa n Uea, with several of its nearer neighbours,
are not on the eastern side but under the northern gable of the
234
Figure 14. Plan of the Tabontebike-style maneaba
edifice. 9 Another notable difference is that the boti of Tabiang,

Te Kirikiri, and Te Ba, which occupy the northern gable in the
other two types of maneaba, are non-existent in the Tabon-
tebike building. This is not to be explained by a parallel non-
existence of these clans on the island of Beru where the plan
was made: all three are strongly represented there. 10 There
is simply no place for them in the maneaba of Tabontebike. It
would therefore appear probable that, whatever branch of the
235
Tungaru Traditions
race-forefathers it may have been that introduced the Tabon-

tebike syle of edifice into the Gilberts, it was a swarm that did
not contain representatives of these three clans.
THE BOTI IN THE MANEABA OF BUTARITARI AND

MAKIN
In the maneaba on the islands of Butaritari and Makin there are
but four divisions, as shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15. Plan of boti divisions in the maneaba of Butaritari and

Makin
According to local tradition the maneaba was divided into these

quarters to provide sitting-rooms for the four different grades
of society.
1. Te Botin uea ‘the-boti-of kings’ was allocated to the uea,
or high chief, with all the members of his utu descended
through males. It was the south-east quarter. South of
the middle of the east side (the shaded spot in the di-
agram) was the sitting-place especially reserved for the
uea himself, with his own brothers and sisters. The po-
sition of this spot corresponds with that of Karongoa
n Uea in the maneaba of Tabiang and Maungatabu on
other islands, except that it is to the south instead of the
north of the central stone stud. This central stud is in
the uea’s sitting-place and is called Nei Tituabine. It will
be remembered that the stone called Tituabine in other
maneaba is in the south-east corner, being contained in
the boti of Keaki. This is important.
236
2. Tabokororo in the north-east quarter, was reserved for

toka ‘chiefs’ and their utu through male lines.
3. Teanikabai was given over to “people who were con-
quered,” that is, those of the slave class, through male
lines.
4. Mangkeia was called “the boti of aba- tera,” the boti of
“what-land?” which is to say that it was the sitting-place
of any stranger who came and settled upon the islands.
It is obvious that, whatever may have been the origin of
the grouping revealed, its organization was fundamentally pa-
trilineal.
DESCENT IN THE BOTI

As I have already indicated in a general way, descent, deter-
mining membership of the social group possessing a given boti,
is reckoned patrilineally in all islands. This was well illustrated
by a dispute submitted to my arbitration when I was on Beru.
An elderly man named Rioiti claimed membership of the boti
Karongoa n Uea, which had consistently been denied his ascen-
dants in the male line for several successive generations. He
provided me with a list of twenty lineal ascendants, alleged to
be males back to his ancestor Kirata the First, a semi-mythi-
cal chief of Tarawa, known to be of the Karongoa n Uea group.
None disputed the authenticity of the names he furnished; issue
was joined on a point of sex. It was argued by the opposition
that an ascendant in the sixth generation back from Rioiti,
named Tearoko, was not a man but a woman. Under these
circumstances, it was insisted, Rioiti must count his boti de-
scent, not from Tearoko, but from her husband, who belonged
to the Ababou group. Rioiti himself admitted that such rea-
soning would have been perfectly just had Tearoko been indeed
a woman; his whole argument was limited to showing that this
person had been a man.
This brings out very clearly the predominance of the patri-
lineal idea in matters relating to boti descent.
There are certain exceptions in practice, but one of these at
least serves only to emphasize the importance of descent in the
male line. If a man has only girl children he may legitimately
arrange that one or several of his male grandchildren through
237
Tungaru Traditions
these daughters be made a member of his boti. In the pedigree

shown below, Boutu was a near relation of the high chiefs of
Abemama, whose boti is Kaburara.
Boutu’s sole child was a girl, Kaneakia, who married

Tabomao of the Maerua clan. Under ordinary circumstances,
the single grandchild of Boutu’s male representatives in this
group, the grandson Karotu, was nominated a member of
Kaburara. This, while being an exception to the rule that a man
descends into the boti of his father, still lays peculiar stress
upon the patrilineal idea, in that it is a special expedient for
keeping a male line intact, even in default of sons. Another ex-
ceptional practice is resorted to when a man has a large family
of children. If the members of his boti are already numerous,
and there is danger of overcrowding, it will be arranged that
several of his children take the boti of their mother. Te tabo ni
kamawa botin tinam ‘a place to make room, the boti of your
mother’, is a well-known phrase throughout the Gilberts. But al-
though there have been occasions when sons have been nomi-
nated, under such conditions, to their mother’s boti, the general
practice has always been to transfer the daughters by pref-
erence, and in no case would the eldest son be removed from his
father’s group for the mere purposes of making room. The at-
tendant conditions of this practice are therefore seen to accent
the importance of the patrilineal idea.
A boy or girl adopted either as nati ‘child’ or tibu ‘grand-
child’ sometimes, though rarely, takes the boti of the adopter. If,
as was generally the case formerly, the adopted was of the utu
of the adopter, he would often be already a member of the same
group; but he might be a relation descended through a female
branch and so into a different boti. In this case, after adoption,
he would become in the maneaba to all intents a stranger to
his own father’s clan and a full member of his adopter’s. But if
the bond of adoption was broken, as sometimes happened, by
238
some serious quarrel, he could return to his father’s group, and

such a return constituted the best outward and visible sign of
the rupture.
Another case in which the mother’s boti becomes of impor-
tance must be noted. When a native on his travels comes to an
island or village where his father’s group is not represented,
he will often use his mother’s as a “second string,” if he de-
sires to establish relations with people of that place. Having
proved his mother’s right of membership in the given boti he
will usually be received hospitably by her clansmen, but the
obligation will not be felt nearly so keenly by the latter as it
would have been felt in the case of a paternal link; the enter-
tainment provided will not as a rule (though there are excep-
tions) be of a lavish sort, and indeed no great reproach seems
to be incurred if the newcomer is entirely neglected. This holds
good even though the candidate for their hospitality has on his
own island definitely gone over from his father’s to his mother’s
boti. The transfer of children from the paternal to maternal
groups is therefore seen to be of only local effect; thus viewed,
this modification of the patrilineal scheme seems to have its
origin in a motive of pure convenience, namely, the provision
of decent sitting-space in the maneaba. No doubt such a mod-
ification became possible only as the result of an extraneous
influence, which overcame the original conservatism of the pa-
trilineal idea; and this influence was probably the conception of
mother-right which seems to have affected the functional aspect
of relationship in the Gilbertese utu. But only in this indirect
way has the matrilineal system interfered with the organization
of the boti, of which the essentially patrilineal mould seems to
contain hardly any relic of the customs of a folk who practised
mother-right.
Nevertheless, a fact of apparent significance will be noted
from the table of Gilbertese clans (see Table 5). In this table no
fewer than six groups are seen to claim a female ancestry. Te
Bakabaka, Kaburara, and Keaki have Nei Tituabine; Tabukaokao
has Nei Tenaotarai; Bakarawa has Nei Moaine; and Katannaki
has Nei Tamaiti. At first sight this would seem to indicate that
matrilineal ideas made themselves felt at some early period in
the history of the boti organization, which I have supposed to
be almost purely patrilineal. But certain considerations suggest
that this may not be the true meaning of the facts.
It must be observed that these ancestresses are also re-
garded as deities, as indeed are all except three or four of the
ancestors recorded. In the traditions connected with the early
239
Tungaru Traditions
arrivals from Samoa, the names of gods are often obviously

used instead of the names of the actual persons who arrived.
Thus we are told that Taburimai came to Tarawa, Tituabine to
Nikunau, Tabuariki to Beru, and so on, whereas what is meant
is that groups of people linked together by a common cult of
these beings came from Samoa to the Gilbert Islands. That such
a meaning is indeed intended to be conveyed is clear from nu-
merous parallelisms of tradition, where there exist side by side
two accounts of the same migration story, one told in terms of a
deity and the other about a man and his followers. For example,
there is a well-known story of an ancestor called Baretoka,
the son of a man named Kourabi in Samoa, who fled with his
people in very early days to Tarawa after a domestic quarrel,
and there married a woman named Batiauea. This tale has a
parallel version, recounting exactly the same facts, but making
the god Taburimai the hero, instead of the human Baretoka.
As a result of the same tendency, without a doubt, it is still
the common practice among older natives of today, to refer to
groups of people, and individuals also, by the names of their
deities. “Tabuariki te koraki aei” (“this group is Tabuariki”), or
“Nei Tituabine teuarei” (“that man is Nei Tituabine”) are idioms
used to indicate that this group or that individual observe the
cult of such and such a god. More pertinently still to our subject,
one may hear “E tekateka Tituabine i Bairiki” (“Tituabine sits at
Bairiki”), meaning that the people who “sit” or live in the village
of Bairiki observe the cult of the goddess Tituabine. Very clearly
in this last example is the name of the deity used to connote a
whole group of living people who practise her cult.
A striking and, I think, essential characteristic of the modern
use of a god’s name to connote a single individual is that the
person thus designated is nearly always the senior living repre-
sentative of his cult. As such, he is the officiator at all ceremo-
nials connected with the worship of the god, and the inheritor
of the maka ‘power’ which emanates from such a being. As a
medium between the spirit and its devotees he therefore as-
sumes the personality of godhead; for the time being he actually
is the god. It is a perfectly natural result of such intimacy of as-
sociation that he should frequently be designated by the name
of the deity. 11 This, I believe, is the explanation of the use in
tradition of the name of a god instead of the name of the actual
ancestor who performed a given series of feats.
We are now in a position to suggest an explanation of the
fact, apparently at variance with patrilineal ideas, that not a few
boti in the Gilbertese maneaba claim descent from women. The
240
names of these women are the same as those of the deities of

the boti. It seems to me highly probable that just as heroes of
tradition are often designated by the names of their gods, and
just as a man of today may be alluded to by the name of a con-
fessedly female deity, so the names of what were in reality male
ancestors may be veiled by those of the respective goddesses
whom they represented on earth in the early days of boti orga-
nization. This is the solution which, I feel, certainly applies to
the goddess Tituabine, but an alternative mechanism suggests
itself by which it was possible for women to become boti an-
cestresses in a patrilineal organization without the intrusion of
matrilineal elements into the system. We have only to suppose
that the people who introduced the boti organization into the
Gilberts brought with them on their migration a limited number
of women belonging to their own race (which is in itself a highly
probable surmise), and a very simple scheme at once presents
itself. If we imagine that several of these immigrant women
were given away as wives to men of the indigenous race and
had children by them, we can picture a new problem arising.
To what boti should the children be nominated? Their mothers
and, without a doubt, the whole immigrant community would
naturally wish to see them identified with the social system of
the invaders, but yet they could inherit no sitting-place through
their indigenous fathers. The only way of retaining them as
members of the immigrant group would be to allow them to
reckon descent through their mothers, and the natural method
of arranging this would be to create new boti in the maneaba
with immigrant women as ancestresses.
A circumstance that would conspire to abet a new departure
of this sort springs at once to the imagination. If the social
system to which the indigenous fathers of such children be-
longed were a matrilineal organization, it is clear that from the
paternal side no place in the aboriginal community could be in-
herited by the half-blood progeny. By all the precepts of a ma-
trilineal community the child looks to the mother to establish
membership of the group. Thus every circumstance would con-
spire to thrust the children back into the immigrant camp and
to oblige the patrilineal community to think of some expedient
to meet the situation.
It is true that if matrilineal ideas thus contributed an im-
pulse towards the establishment of this new feature of boti
organization, they cannot be wholly ignored as agents in the
mutation; but their agency was catalytic, in that they left none
of their own elements embedded in the system whose change
241
Tungaru Traditions
they stimulated. Thus, if my alternative suggestion to account

for the presence of women among the ancestors of patrilineal
groups is true, we have before us an example of social modi-
fication under external pressure, rather than the absorption of
the constituent parts of one system into another.
It is possible that this modification of the scheme of male an-
cestors may be due to a combination of both series of causation
which I have proposed. In some cases it may have been brought
about by the substitution of a goddess’s name for that of the
male ancestor who observed her cult; in others by the problems
facing an immigrant people after the marriage of their women
with aboriginals. If this double origin is considered probable
(and I myself incline to this opinion) we are offered interesting
food for thought concerning the cult of the god and the an-
cestor, for it is clear that in the one set of circumstances the god
has become, to all intents and purposes, the ancestor, while in
the other the ancestor must have developed into the god.
MARRIAGE AND THE BOTI ORGANIZATION

At first sight it would seem that the only consideration of rela-
tionship affecting marriage in the Gilberts emanated from the
broad conception of the utu, as a member of which a man
reckoned kinship through both his father and his mother. As a
generalization, this surmise would be correct, because the utu
of any individual must necessarily also contain all the members
of his boti who are connected with him on his father’s side;
but it serves to conceal the special importance of the clan in
the regulation of marriage. Since we have seen that the orga-
nization of the utu has been affected by matrilineal influence,
it is all the more necessary that we should disengage the ideas
concerning marriage that are attributable to the patrilineal clan
system alone.
A general dictum througout the group on the subject of
consanguineous marriages is: “E ewe te karoro” (“the fourth
generation goes free”), that is, persons in the fourth generation
of descent from a common ancestor may marry each other.
Though the marriage of such close connections was by no
menas favourably regarded by everyone, the principle of con-
sanguineous alliances was at least so well established as to
make them possible in the fifth and sixth generations. But un-
derlying and restricting the application of this doctrine was an
absolute prohibition of any marriage between members of the
242
same boti. This did not preclude the possibility of a man’s mar-
riage with every relation on the paternal side, for provided that
they were sufficiently distant in degree, he could still contract
alliances with connections of his father descended through a
male ancestor’s sister and so into another boti, as the following
simplified diagram shows.
The boy of the Keaki boti could marry his Teba paternal
cousin but not the girl who had descended into the Keaki group,
although one was no more distant from the common ancestor
than the other. Similarly, it could easily happen that while he
could take as a wife a moderately close paternal relation from
another boti, he would be debarred from union with a collateral
in his own group so distantly removed from him that the
common ancestry was a matter of mere tradition. It was
membership of the same group that constituted the bar, above
any other consideration.
The next diagram will show that relations through the
mother also could be disqualified as wives by the boti organi-
zation.
243
Tungaru Traditions
The important consideration would be the male ancestry of

the boy and the girl, by virtue of which both had descended into
the same group.
There was no impediment under ordinary conditions to the
marriage of a man with a woman of his mother’s group outside
the forbidden degree of relationship. But if a boy, for one of the
reasons already described, took the boti of his mother, he was
at once debarred from union with any member of it; at the same
time, he still remained under the prohibition of contracting al-
liances with women of his father’s clan. These conditions lay
particular emphasis on the importance of clan membership as
a regulator of marriage. But it must be remarked that this im-
portance seems to vary in degree from island to island. On
the seven most southerly islands of the group it is most pro-
nounced: going northwards, one finds that on Abemama, Kuria,
and Aranuka it is absolutely non-existent; on Maiana, Tarawa,
and Abaiang it is again very evident; on Marakei it seems to lose
in strength; while on Butaritari and Makin it again disappears.
On Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka, I think there can be
little doubt as to the reason for the disappearance of the clan’s
importance in the regulation of marriage. The decay and the
subversion of nearly every ordinary native standard of sexual
morality on those islands is indubitably attributable to a single
powerful and sinister individual, not very long dead. This was
the infamous Tem Binoka, high chief of the three atolls, whom
Stevenson described. It is almost impossible for us to con-
ceive the terror which this remarkable man inspired among his
people. One of his methods of asserting ascendancy was to ride
deliberately roughshod over the customs of his ancestors. He al-
lowed no bar of consanguinity to balk his sexual appetite and
thus laid the foundations of a promiscuity for which Abemama
244
is famous to this day. And he deliberately disorganized the cer-

emonials and the rules of precedence in the maneaba, in order
that his boti should have a pre-eminence to which tradition
did not entitle it. These are known facts, and it seems to me
that we have in them the explanation of the disappearance of
the clan regulation of marriage on Abemama and its tributary
islands. First, there was the complete predominance of the
high chief, tending to obliterate the significance of all social
groupings. This was an influence that had probably been at
work through the six generations of the dynasty preceding Tem
Binoka. Second came the subversion of every previous standard
of sexual morality, and as a finishing touch the scrapping of all
traditions connected with the boti in the maneaba.
If my proposed explanation is correct, we have a remarkably
clear example of the rapidity with which native institutions may
under certain circumstances decay and an illustration of how
purely local and individual conditions may profoundly modify a
social organization.
There is no evidence from Butaritari and Makin that the
organization of the boti had any connection with the control
of marriage. The four divisions of the maneaba were according
to tradition made to provide sitting-room for four respective
grades of society; namely, chiefs, free landowners, slaves, and
strangers. One feels that the spirit that led to such distinctions
of caste might lean rather towards endogamy than exogamy. But
while admitting such a possibility, it must be borne in mind that
the purely patrilineal character of boti descent on Butaritari and
Makin, and the general underlying similarity of the boti scheme
there with that of other islands, suggest that the dissociation of
the clan from marriage has been the result of some special mod-
ification of the social organization under influences unknown to
us.
On Ocean Island (Banaba) no detailed information about
clan groups is available, but some of the old people can still re-
member that there were boti in the maneaba. The vagueness
that exists cannot be the result of European influences alone,
as this island was little visited before 1900. It is probable that
the clan grouping had been in process of decay for some long
period, probably as a result of the tendency towards purely local
groupings. Banaban descent is patrilineal, but succession is an
exact compromise between patrilineal and matrilineal methods.
A survey of our material thus shows that eleven out of the
seventeen Gilbertese-speaking communities, for which there is
evidence, 12 have a system of clan organization plainly exog-
245
Tungaru Traditions
amous in character. Out of the six communities that show no

sign of having practised clan exogamy, three have been shown
to have come under a late influence entirely calculated to result
in its disappearance; these three have kept entire their patri-
lineal mode of descent, succession, and inheritance, and to a
certain extent their boti organization, as have also two other
exceptional islands, Butaritari and Makin. Only one, Banaba,
seems to give no sign whatever of having practised clan ex-
ogamy. In the future, I shall refer to clan exogamy as an es-
sential part of the social organization of the Gilbertese people.
246
Precedence and Privileges
of the Clans in the Maneaba
Many clans had hereditary privileges or duties connected with

the ceremonial of the maneaba, which they most jealously
prized and guarded. Among these, the group of Karongoa n Uea
‘Karongoa of Kings’, as its name suggests, was foremost in rank.
Karongoa n Uea was king of the maneaba; at all ceremonial
gatherings within the edifice, its chief man —the senior de-
scendant through eldest sons of the original ancestor—assumed
“the first word and the last word” in debate. 1 This meant in
practice that none would open the subject of discussion until
he spoke the introductory word, while the summing up or
judgment, as the case might be, was entirely in his hands.
As a badge of supremacy in council and ceremonial, he
wore a fillet about his head made of a single kakoko, a coconut
pinnule plucked from the ivory-white topmost shoot of the tree,
which was knotted above the middle of his forehead. This fillet
had to be made of a leaflet that had grown facing the sunrise
on the eastern shore of the island, and was called buna n Tai
‘the amulet of the Sun’. It rendered the wearer kama raia, which
meant that he could cause to be maraia ‘accursed’ or ‘in dan-
ger of sudden death’ any person who contradicted him or oth-
erwise offended his dignity while he performed his ceremonial
functions. It seems, however, that this quality of “perilousness”
was attached to the person of the senior Karongoa n Uea man
even without the presence of the amulet of the sun, as will be
seen later. This amulet, sometimes called alternatively te buna
ni kamaraia ‘the amulet of making accursed’, merely enhanced
the sacredness that was already inherent in the individual as a
consequence of his birth and function.
Having taken his seat in his boti a little in advance of the
rest of his clan members, as was the practice of all seniors of
clans in ceremonial gatherings, the elder of Karongoa n Uea
first assumed his sun-amulet and then, in a low voice, mut-
247
Tungaru Traditions
tered the magico-religious formula called taematao, of which

the object was to “make clean the path of his words.” 2 I have
been unable to obtain a specimen of this formula, but it is said
to have been recited with the head lowered 3 while the hands
were slowly rubbed together, palm on palm. After three consec-
utive repetitions, the hands were thrown out with palms upward
and elbows against the body, and lifting his head the performer
said, “Anaia, ba N na ongo” (“Take it up, for I will hear”). The
debate or ceremony might then begin.
Attached to Karongoa n Uea was a very clear-cut doctrine of
infallibility concerning certain race traditions. This clan is con-
sidered still to be the only genuine authority on the myths of the
people, especially the creation myth with its appendices, and on
the legends of the immigration from Samoa. This does not mean
that no other clans are in possession of myths and traditions;
many people outside the Karongoa n Uea group can give ver-
sions of the creation story and the arrival from Samoa, which
are the more interesting because they sometimes differ con-
siderably from the Karongoa n Uea rendering; but they would
never dream of putting up their versions in competition with
those of Karongoa n Uea, nor indeed even of mentioning them
in the presence of an elder of that clan. In the more informal dis-
cussion of tradition that a little gathering of old men will often
set going, it was, and still is, considered a grave impropriety to
question a detail given by a member of Karongoa n Uea, or to
point out an omission, even though it may be glaringly patent to
all present. To dispute such a matter in the past was considered
to render a man maraia and liable to mortal sickness; this ap-
plied whether the discussion took place in the maneaba or in a
private dwelling.
This infallibility in matters of tradition seems to indicate that
Karongoa n Uea may have been an organization closely allied to
the wharekua of the Maoris, and the priestly colleges of Poly-
nesia, which were also the repositories of such knowledge. It is
very far from my purpose to oppose the idea that this was orig-
inally a priestly clan, but one of its principal differences from
the sacred organizations of New Zealand and Polynesia is that it
seems never to have performed the office of public genealogist.
While pretending to absolute knowledge of the names of the
ancestors who arrived from Samoa, and of the social groups to
which they belonged, it does not claim to be an authority upon
the generations locally descended from them.
248
Precedence and Privileges of the Clans in the Maneaba
Thus the members of a clan will decide for themselves upon

the validity of any man’s claim to belong to their group, and they
would go to Karongoa n Uea only for information concerning
their legendary ancestor who took part in the Samoan immi-
gration. Nevertheless, it seems possible that all genealogical
information may at one time have been in the keeping of
Karongoa n Uea; for it is certainly a fact that the meager details
that now subsist concerning the Samoan forebears of those clan
ancestors who took part in the migration to the Gilberts are ob-
tainable from members of this clan alone. That it does not now
perform the function of public genealogist may be due to the
scattering of the clans piecemeal over sixteen islands, which
was the immediate result of the migration from Samoa to the
Gilbert Group.
At all ceremonial feasts, when the food was divided formally
between the clans in the manner to be described later,
Karongoa n Uea was given the first portion (te moan tiba),
which it then shared with the groups of Karongoa Raereke,
Katanrake, and, on Beru, Antekanawa. These clans had the
same totems and ancestors as Karongoa n Uea; the other two
groups claiming the same progenitors and sacred creatures, Te
Bakoa and Taunnamo, had their own separate portions.
On the island of Marakei, I was told that after the pandanus
harvest had been gathered in, which in a normal year would
be about the time of the autumnal equinox, no Islander was al-
lowed to taste the various products made with the fruit until
a feast had been held in the maneaba of his settlement and
Karongoa n Uea had eaten the first-fruits. But there seems to
be some doubt about this on the island named, and I have been
unable to confirm it elsewhere.
In the construction of the maneaba, the first file of thatches
to be laid on the roof was that covering the middle rafter of the
eastern side, whereunder the people of Karongoa n Uea were
grouped.
A Gilbertese explanation of the pre-eminence of this clan
in the ceremonial of the maneaba is that “it is Samoa”; 4 that
is to say, it represents the victorious immigration from Samoa
into the Gilbert Islands. It is not asserted that Karongoa and
its allied groups were the only clans whose ancestors took part
in the invasion, or the series of invasions, from Samoa; but it
is stated that the progenitors of Karongoa n Uea were kings
on Upolu before the migration and the ancestors of those leg-
endary dynasties of kings that were established on Tarawa,
Beru, and Nonouti as a result of the successive waves of in-
249
Tungaru Traditions
vasion from the south. That all the evidence of tradition sup-
ports this claim will be shown in later sections in which the
legends of the coming from Samoa are analysed. What seems
to be fairly well substantiated by analysis of those traditions is
that the final immigration from the south was made by a swarm
in which Karongoa was very strongly represented. It is true
that an earlier movement from Samoa had already implanted
on Tarawa a dynasty of kings called Kirata, whose clan is also
known to have been Karongoa n Uea; but this movement seems
to have immediately affected only that single island, whereas
the later swarm is shown by direct evidence to have settled
upon at least eleven out of the sixteen islands.
Coming as conquerors to the group, covering so large an
area, and having the prestige of a kingly ancestry upon Samoa,
it is easy to understand how the people of Karongoa n Uea were
able to assume all their hereditary privileges in the maneaba
of their new homes, and to establish them so securely as part
of the imported social system. Even when the political organi-
zation became modified, to the extent that the kingly and chiefly
regime developed into something approaching a democracy, as
happened on many islands, the clan still continued to enjoy its
ancient pre-eminence in the social and magico-religious cere-
monial of the maneaba.
Beside the title Samoa, which is known throughout the
group, common consent on several islands, especially Marakei
and Maiana, also confers the epithet Sun on the clan of
Karongoa n Uea. It has already been seen that the fillet worn
on ceremonial occasions by the elder of the group is called the
amulet of the Sun; that the stone stud of the maneaba which
is included within the clan’s sitting space is named Sun; and
that an inhibition upon one who behaves in an unseemly manner
within the edifice is the expression, “Iai Tai i nanon te maneaba”
(“The Sun is in the maneaba”).
In the Gilbertese mind of Marakei and Maiana the various
components of this complex of ideas connected with the sun are
so dependent one upon the other that they must be regarded si-
multaneously. We cannot afford to examine them separately and
individually if we are to obtain a true view of their significance,
since the Gilbertese himself does not methodically distinguish
between the elemental parts of any given compound of beliefs,
but regards them, however conflicting and contradicting they
may seem in detail to us, as one and indivisible. It is their very
quality of togetherness that gives them vital meaning to him.
For example, in the complex of beliefs connected with the sun,
250
he does not evaluate the force of the sun-title as applied respec-

tively to a clan and a stone in the maneaba; he does not say to
himself, “The stone is so-named because it is a representation of
the sun’s body, and the clan because it is a representative of his
power”; he does not even wonder why; he simply accepts and
states what to him is a perfectly satisfying fact, that both stone
and clan are the sun. And because the fact is so, the one is per-
manently and indissolubly bound up in his mind with the other.
Similarly, in his use of the expression, “the Sun is in the
maneaba,” he does not stop to ask himself whether he refers
to the luminary itself, or its invisible emanation, or the clan, or
the stone bearing its name. As he speaks, he means all these
things; for just as an unscientific mind will view a complicated
mixture of chemical solutions as one simple liquid, so does he
embrace in a single thought and evoke in a solitary word the
triple unity of sun, clan, and stone. Only by realizing this do we
obtain a true view of the significance of the sun-title bestowed
upon Karongoa n Uea.
On Marakei and Maiana, though the kingly ancestry of this
clan connoted in its appellation Samoa contributes towards its
pre-eminence in the ceremonial of the maneaba, its title to
precedence is considered to rest chiefly upon its identification
with the sun. On Abaiang and Tarawa this is still apparent,
though not so generally known; on Tabiteuea and Beru it is
claimed by a few very old men who are themselves members of
the clan; on other islands it seems to be the Samoa connection
that now entitles Karongoa n Uea to its privileges, in the estima-
tion both of its own members and that of the general public.
Though there can be no doubt that the people of Karongoa n
Uea came as conquerors and chiefs to the group, their prestige
in the maneaba is now entirely divorced from the idea of tem-
poral power, and their privileges are largely independent of po-
litical vicissitudes.
On Abemama, indeed, where the high chiefs belong to the
clan of Kaburara, the insolently despotic Tem Binoka of fifty
years ago, whose particular pleasure it was to override all
Gilbertese custom and so display his power, became jealous of
Karongoa’s ceremonial prerogatives and deliberately assumed
them to himself. Since then Kaburara has performed on
Abemama all the offices in the maneaba that used to be in the
hands of Karongoa n Uea. This is an exceedingly interesting
illustration of the modification in a social system that may take
place in a single generation as a result of local politics. This
coup d’état of the high chief of Abemama affected also the two
251
Tungaru Traditions
tributary islands of Aranuka and Kuria. Had an enquirer been

able to conduct his researches only on these three islands of the
Gilbert Group, he would have entirely missed the importance of
the Karongoa clan in the social organization of the Gilberts; he
would have heard nothing of its connection with the sun; and
he would have failed to find any of the Karongoa immigration
myths, which throw so much light on the coming from Samoa,
for these two faded out of memory with the passing of the privi-
leges of the clan. 5
The deliberate stroke of disorganization which Binoka was
obliged to effect on Abemama, in order to rob Karongoa of its
precedence, only serves to throw into greater relief the durable
character of its privileges, for before their spoliation they had
subsisted intact through six successive generations of powerful
high chiefs. Their eventual loss for political reasons was quite
exceptional, being without parallel on any other Gilbert island.
Elsewhere, whatever may have been the accidents of war or
other material circumstances, Karongoa remained supreme in
the maneaba from the time of the Samoan immigration right
up to the coming of the British flag in 1892. A Karongoa man
might be stripped of all his lands and forced to do menial work
for the victorious chief of another clan, but in the maneaba he
spoke with all the old authority; his chief listened meekly to his
words and forbore to contradict lest he should become maraia.
This was recognized on every island (except Abemama and its
tributaries) where the chiefly system prevailed. 6 Furthermore,
a chief could not save his face by excluding a Karongoa menial
from his maneaba, for the members of this clan held the sacred
right of demanding entry on any ceremonial occasion, to refuse
which was to become immediately maraia.
Neither did the accidents of war affect the internal organi-
zation of the clan. Several times during the past two centuries
of Tarawa political history a younger branch of Karongoa was on
the victorious side, while the senior branch had joined the con-
quered faction and consequently became the “eater out of the
clan” of its junior. But this had no effect upon its rights of primo-
geniture for ceremonial purposes: its eldest representative still
remained the spokesman of the entire group in the maneaba.
The application of the genealogical method of enquiry on five is-
lands has shown me no exceptions to this rule.
With reference to temporal power, there is a saying current
throughout the group that only a dynasty of uea ‘high chiefs’
descended from Karongoa can stand firm for very long on any
island. This theory is but feebly supported by facts on
252
Abemama, where perhaps the most powerful of the three lines

of high chiefs found in the Gilberts belongs to the clan of
Kaburara, and is connected with Karongoa only through an an-
cestress of ten generations back. 7
It is true, however, that on Abaiang the Uea Kaiea, the fourth
of his dynasty, is one of the Karongoa n Uea group; while on Bu-
taritari, though this clan is not an entity of the local social or-
ganization, the high chiefs, of whom an individual also named
Kaiea is now ninth in succession, are known to be descended in
the male line from the ancient Karongoa kings of Tarawa.
Certainly when temporal power is added to the ceremonial
prestige of Karongoa (as on Abaiang), the respect paid to the
clan is most patent; and this is natural, as its functions are no
longer confined to the maneaba but embrace also the duties
and privileges of physical kingship. It is natural, too, that when
both ritual and temporal pre-eminence are vested in the same
person, a certain amount of confusion should be apparent as
to the exact limits of his title to respect on the one ground
or the other. On Abaiang, the high chief’s membership of the
Karongoa clan seems in the past to have endowed his person
with a sacredness not enjoyed by the infinitely more despotic
Kaburara kings of Abemama. Not only within but also outside
the maneaba it was an offence to discuss the lightest word of
the uea, and a man was considered to be maraia if he made the
smallest of impatient references to his peculiarities of habits or
person. Thus it seems that the accident of temporal kingship
on Abaiang extended to political and mundane life the scope of
those sanctions by which Karongoa was ordinarily surrounded
only in the maneaba during the performance of its ceremonial
functions.
We have also an example of this in the legend of Nei Ni-
manoa and Beia-ma-Tekai. Beia-ma-Tekai were kings and at
the same time members of Karongoa; therefore, according to
the tradition, they were kama raia both inside and outside the
maneaba; and when Tabutoa on Nonouti expressed his impa-
tience that the heroes should have chased him and his folk to
that island, he fell dead on the spot. It may be mentioned here
that all the Karongoa clans in the Gilbert Group trace their de-
scent from Beia-ma-Tekai through one or another of the Beruan
conquerors, who settled upon their islands nine or ten genera-
tions before.
The precedence and privileges enjoyed by Karongoa n Uea
appear to have been the same in all the three styles of maneaba
known to the Gilbertese; 8 the functions of the other clans,
253
Tungaru Traditions
however, varied according to the type of building in which the

feast or other ceremony took place. The differences between
the Tabiang and Maungatabu styles, as far as the precedence
of clans and the nature of their duties were concerned, were
not very pronounced; I shall therefore deal with them together,
taking the Maungatabu maneaba as the basis of my description,
and mentioning in the text any divergence noticed in the
Tabiang building. The organization of the ceremonial in the
Tabontebike maneaba was markedly different in detail, al-
though similar in general character.
PRECEDENCE OF THE CLANS IN THE

MAUNGATABU AND TABIANG MANEABA
The clan of Karongoa Raereke was considered the companion
(rao) and the acolyte (tabonibai) of Karongoa n Uea in the cer-
emonial of both these maneaba. Its members carried messages,
generally in whispers, from the sacred clan to the other groups;
and in the northern islands its elder often “lifted the word” from
the lips of a Karongoa n Uea spokesman, which is to say that the
latter whispered his oration or his judgment into the ear of the
Karongoa Raereke man who then published it to the maneaba
at large. The privilege of the group was to “partake of (katonga)
the portion” of Karongoa n Uea in the feast, and for this rea-
son it received no individual share in the distribution of food. Its
duty was to supervise the laying of the first inai ‘mats of green
plaited coconut leaf’ on the shingled floor of the maneaba. The
“first inai” consisted of a single file of these mats, laid end to
end from the southern extremity of the building to the northern
gable, up against the western side of the central pillars sup-
porting the ridge-pole, and a second file laid from north to south
up against their eastern side. While these were being laid by
junior men of the clan, the elder stood in the middle of the
building, facing east, and recited a magic formula of which the
object was to prevent dissension among those who were to sit
in the building.
By a stroke of ill-fortune, the only Old Man of Abaiang who
remembered this formula died suddenly two days before an in-
terview at which he had promised to give it to me. From a con-
versation I had with him in public, it appears that the materials
used in the ceremony were the leaf of a newly sprouted coconut,
whose pinnules had not yet separated (te ba ni kamaimai), and
a kuo n aine ‘a cup made of half a coconut shell wherein oil
254
had been boiled’ and which had subsequently been taken for
magical purposes. A potion was made in this vessel and drunk
by the officiator before the laying of the inai; while the work was
in progress he recited his formula, at the same time waving the
coconut leaf towards the four sides of the building. The time for
this ceremony was any hour of the morning before the sun had
passed its zenith.
The inai thus laid by Karongoa Raereke were furnished not
by members of the clan, but by the women of the settlement at
large. After the feast two files were laid; the rest were intro-
duced in any order by any clan.
The clan of Katanrake shared with Karongoa Raereke the
privilege of partaking of the portion allocated to Karongoa n
Uea in the feast. Its duty was to fetch this portion from the
middle of the maneaba where the food was divided, to subdivide
it into three shares, and, keeping one for itself, to hand the
other two to their respective owners, giving the choicest bits
always to Karongoa n Uea. In payment for this office, it had the
privilege of using the nikira ‘remnant’ and the mange ‘waste’ of
the food, the nikira being any odd one out left after counting
round such things as puddings or babai roots, and the mange
the broken bits that might fall during the process of subdivision.
The Tabiang clan had the privilege of receiving the second
share of the feast in a Maungatabu maneaba. If a porpoise were
included in the food, the head of the creature belonged by right
to this clan. In debate its elder “used the second word”—he
spoke as soon as Karongoa n Uea had opened the discussion.
With reference to these privileges of following hard on the heels
of Karongoa n Uea, and to its position in the northern gable of
the maneaba, Tabiang is sometimes called Uea ni Meang (king
of the north).
The groups of Te Kirikiri and Te Ba partook of the portion of
Tabiang in the feast, the former fetching it from the middle of
the maneaba and setting it before the latter, which subdivided
it and handed out the shares. In reward for its office of subdi-
vision, Te Ba had the perquisites of nikira and mange, exactly as
Katanrake in the case of the Karongoa groups.
The third portion of the feast and the “third word” in debate
were taken by the people of Te Bakabaka; the fourth by Te
Bakoa; the fifth by Taunnamo; the sixth by the clan of Te Kua,
which also took the tail of the porpoise when it was included in
the food.
255
Tungaru Traditions
The seventh portion and the “seventh word” belonged to

Tabukaokao. It was the elder of this clan who supervised the col-
lection of food in the middle of the maneaba, making scathing
or complimentary remarks upon it as it arrived, and it was he
who made the general division from the central point. This was
a highly prized function, the officiator being the cynosure of all
eyes. He had the right of the most absolute freedom of speech
in respect of the donations of the various people, and it was ex-
pected of him that he should pour forth a stream of humorous
remarks during the performance of his duties. One of his chief
methods of being funny was to make inept allusions to race tra-
dition, such as the legends of the coming from Samoa, in il-
lustration of his points, the humour lying in the inconsequence
or the gross incorrectness of his quotations. It was said of the
Tabukaokao people that “they knew no traditions but they were
clever in causing laughter,” and it is certainly a fact to this day
that the most successful raconteurs of humorous stories on the
various islands are generally found to be Tabukaokao men.
The young men of this clan did the manual labour of dividing
the food, under the direction of the elder, and they handed out
the portions to those sent to fetch them. In payment for its
work, the clan took the nikira and the mange left over from the
general division.
The eighth share and “eighth word” belonged to Niku-
mauea. This group had the very important function of covering
the ridge of the maneaba with its capping of plaited pandanus
or coconut leaf.
After the eighth portion of the feast had been given, the
other clans appear to have followed in any order; similarly, after
the eighth speaker in debate the discussion became general.
The clan of Karumaetoa was architect of the maneaba called
Tabiang, its ancestor being the Tewatu of Matang who built the
first edifice of that type on the north end of Beru, twenty-odd
generations ago. In its possession are all the magic formulae
connected with the Tabiang style of construction.
The clans of Ababou and Maerua shared between them the
method and the magic of the Maungatabu architectural style.
But although in theory it was admitted that a Karumaetoa man
was the best architect for Tabiang, and a member of Ababou or
Maerua for Maungatabu, a certain amount of confusion existed
in practice.
When the people of a settlement wished to build a new
maneaba in a particular style, say that of Tabiang, a Karumaetoa
man might not be available; they might then obtain the services
256
Table 5. The Gilbertese clans
Boti CLAN Anti GOD Bakatibu Atua TOTEMS Man CREST

ANCESTOR
Karongoa n Tabuariki Teuribaba Cockerel Te-bou-teuana

Uea Tabuariki Shark Wind
Matawarebwe Kanawa tree
Kanawa tree
Karongoa Tabuariki Teuribaba Cockerel Te-bou-uoua

Raereke Tabuariki Shark Wind
Kanawa tree
Te Bakoa Tabuariki the Tabuariki the Shark Te-ra-tabito

Shark Shark
Antekanawa Tabuariki the Tabuariki Shark Te-bou-uoua

(Beru) Shark Matawarebwe Cockerel
Kanawa tree Wind Kanawa
tree
Katanrake Tabuariki the Tabuariki Shark Te-bou-uoua

Shark Matawarebwe Cockerel
Kanawa tree Wind Kanawa
tree
Nikumauea Riki the Eel Riki the Eel The Te-man-riki

Centipede
The Eel
Teborauea Tabakea the Tabakea the The Ladybird Te Kekenu (a

Turtle Turtle The Turtle Saurian) A bush
The Noddy called Ibi
Tabukaokao Nei Tenaotarai Nei Tenaotarai A Crab called Te Atu

Nei
Tenaotarai
257
Tungaru Traditions

ANCESTOR
Te Ba Taburimai Taburimai Te Kun, a Te Atu

carangoid
fish
Tabiang Taburimai Taburimai Te Kun, a Te-man-uoua

carangoid
fish
Te Kua Kaburoronteun Kaburoronteun ? Te-Kai-ni-katiku
Te Tabuariki Nei Tabuariki Nei Cockerel Te-ra-tabito

Bakabaka Tituabine Tituabine Shark
Thunder
Sting ray
Ababou Bue Rirongo Sun Bue Porpoise Sun Te

Rirongo Coral called Kai-ni-Kamata
rirongo
Maerua Bue Rirongo Sun Bue Porpoise Sun Te

Rirongo Coral called Kai-ni-Kamata
Rirongo
Kaburara Nei Tituabine Nei Tituabine Sting ray Te

Nabiri Creeper Tarai Man-n-aon-rama
Taurawaka Taokarawa Taokarawa ? ?
Te Wiwi Te I-Mone Te I-Mone Uri tree A ?

conch
Karumaetoa Bakoa the Bakoa the The Shark Te-ra-tabito

Shark Shark Tewatu
of Matang
258

ANCESTOR
Bakarawa Nei Moaine Nei Moaine Brittle Te Kikannang

Fools and Fools and starfish
deaf-mutes deaf-mutes
Keaki Nei Tituabine Nei Tituabine The Te buki ni

The tropic-bird tropic-bird banga
Kouraiti The sting ray
Bêche-de-mer
Te O Auriaria Auriaria The tern The ?

pemphis tree
Uma ni Auriaria Auriaria The tern The Te-ra-tabito

Kamauri pemphis tree
Taunnamo Tabuariki Teuribaba Cockerel Te-bou-teuana

Tabuariki Shark Wind
Kanawa tree
Benuakura A man-eating Teibiaro, the Bird called Niuitawawa (a

mythical bird brother of the Aromatang representation
called bird of the bird’s
Aromatang feathers)
Kaotirama Buatara the Buatara Sting ray Mataaua

sting ray called
buatara
Bangauma Te Mamang Te Mamang Sting ray ?
Tekokona Kotua Kotua Porpoise Kainikamata
Nei Ati Kieunari Kieunari Octopus Man-nei-ati

Garfish
259
Tungaru Traditions

ANCESTOR
Namakaina Taburimai Taburimai Te Kun, a Namakaina

carangoid
fish
Katannaki Nei Temaiti Nei Temaiti Nei Temaiti, Manintaiki

a stone
NOTE: For other lists, differently arranged, see Table 6, and

Grimble 1933–1934, facing p. 20.
of a Maerua or Ababou architect, who would copy the Tabiang

style, but use the magic associated with Maungatabu. This
would be considered satisfactory, the magic and the ritual con-
nected with it being the essential thing. Takeuta of Marakei was
a Karongoa Raereke man, and therefore strictly the architect of
the Tabontebike style. But his constructive ability was so great
in Gilbertese estimation that he has been called upon to build in
all of the three styles, in preference to experts whose clan gave
them in theory the prior claim to consideration. In all cases, he
used the magic connected with the maneaba of Taobontebike.
Te Wiwi had the duty and the sole privilege of blowing the
conch, at whose signal the people gathered in the maneaba. The
order to sound it was sent by the elder of Karongoa n Uea, who
transmitted it first to the elder of Karongoa Raereke, who in his
turn deputed a junior of his clan to carry the message. As noted
elsewhere, the conch was one of the totems of Te Wiwi, being
the invention of the clan ancestor and god Te I-Mone, king of
the underworld.
Members of Keaki had the right of prior entry into the
maneaba, not in the sense that they took their places before
anyone else went in, but that when one or more arrived in a
crowd at the western side of the building their companions be-
longing to other clans would stand aside to let them pass first.
260
Traditional Origins of the
Maneaba
It is convenient to open this section with the tradition con-

cerning the origins of the maneaba on Butaritari and Makin, be-
cause it leads to the narrative relating to the establishment of
the southern styles of maneaba. 1
Accounts of the migration from Samoa to the Gilberts show
that when the ancestral tree of Samoa was broken, the red-
tailed tropic-bird, which lived on its crest, flew northwards to
Tetoronga and began to eat the people of that place. Tetoronga
is the ancient name of the northernmost island in the Gilbert
Group, now called Makin; it is still attached to a desolate stony
point at the northern end of the atoll. A detailed Butaritari
version of this tradition relates that the bird settled among the
branches of a tree called Tarakaimate, on a small islet called
Te Maungatabu ‘the holy hill’, where there was a beautiful
bathing pool. Beside the bathing pool stood a maneaba, where
the Makin Islanders went to dance. When people went down to
bathe in the pool, they were eaten by the tropic-bird.
After a time the goddess Nei Tituabine arrived from Samoa
looking for the tropic-bird, which belonged to her. On hearing
from the people of the place how it was behaving, she told them
how to kill it, and when it was dead she went to bury it herself.
Over the grave she planted a young coconut palm and, when
this was done, went with all the people to dance in the maneaba.
There came a night, after many days of rejoicing, when the
inmates of the maneaba were astonished and terrified to see a
red light glowing in the eastern side of the building. They saw
that it was a man of gigantic stature, whose body and hair gave
out a meata. Te meata is the name of the dull copper-coloured
glow, when the last of the sunset goes.
They tried to catch him, but he ran away. After this had hap-
pened several nights in succession they chased the visitor and
found that he lived with a host of brothers in the branches of
261
Tungaru Traditions
the tree where the tropic-bird had dwelt. He told the people
that he and all his brood had grown from the head of the bird
when it was buried. They took him to the maneaba, where the
goddess Tituabine named him Koura (Ko ‘thou’, ura ‘red’ or
‘brown’). At the same time, she named his brothers Koura-iti,
Iti-ni-Koura, Rube-ni-Koura, Koura-mwe, Koura-Tamoa, Kouran-
te-take, Kouran-Tarawa. All these were ribaura ‘red in com-
plexion’.
It was found later that a race of women had also grown from
the young coconut palm planted by Tituabine over the grave of
the tropic-bird. Their names were Nei Riki, Nei Temarewe, Nei
Tebarae, Nei Nowi, and Nei Tarabainang. With these women,
the red people married and procreated.
Koura was made uea of the island, and in commemoration of
this the old maneaba standing on Te Maungatabu was destroyed
and a new one of immense size (more than a hundred fathoms
long and more than fifty fathoms wide) was erected on the same
spot.
The new building was called Koura’s maneaba, and had the
special name of Makuanterara ‘the high-tide of blood’ in remi-
niscence of the tropic-bird’s slaughter of the inhabitants. By this
name the style is known at the present day.
Thus far, the tradition accounts for the establishment of the
type of building now used on the two islands, Makin and Bu-
taritari. According to the evidence, the inhabitants of Makin
already had some sort of maneaba before the arrival of the
tropic-bird from Samoa. From the account of the doings of this
bird, we are obviously to understand that the island was in-
vaded by a party of immigrants from Samoa, whose totem and
ancestor was the red-tailed tropic-bird, and whose skin was of a
red or copper colour.
The link between the original inhabitants and the immi-
grants seems to have been a common cult of the goddess Titu-
abine. This is at least suggested by the friendly relations of the
deity with both parties.
The immigrants gained the ascendancy over the aboriginals;
their chief Koura became uea; and a new maneaba, in the style
of the invaders, was erected on the site of the old one. Thus it is
the maneaba of the people from Samoa which we see today on
the two islands.
It was Koura, according to the account, who divided the
maneaba into four boti, and allocated these quarters to the four
different grades of society.
262
Traditional Origins of the Maneaba
In the tradition, it seems possible to discern the mechanism

by which these four groupings came into being. The disposition
of the boti appears to have been the logical result of the con-
quest of Makin and Butaritari by the immigrant population.
Clearly the Botin uea [see Figure 11] was taken by the chief of
the immigrants, Koura, and his circle; and it is again explicitly
stated that the third boti, Teanikabai, was given to those “who
were conquered,” a phrase that must refer to the original inhab-
itants of the islands. The intermediate boti of Tabokororo was
allocated to the toka ‘chiefs’, who with very little doubt may be
supposed to have been immigrant warriors not qualifying for a
seat among the royal group. The fourth division, for strangers,
would be the natural outcome of a later desire to provide a place
for peaceful comers, who would be otherwise excluded from the
social scheme by a strict adherence to the original plan.
If the evidence of tradition has led us to the right conclusion,
we are faced with a serious difficulty: to explain why the in-
vasion of the Gilbert Islands by a people from Samoa resulted in
so simple a scheme of social divisions on Butaritari and Makin,
while on the southerly islands it had no such effects. The multi-
plicity of boti in the southern maneaba is in strong contrast with
the simplicity of the Makin plan.
If the immigration into Butaritari and Makin was part of
a general contemporaneous swarming into the group from
Samoa, it would seem that only the members of a single social
group out of the whole swarm—the tropic-bird group—reached
these two most northerly islands. It is possible that this affords
the explanation of the simple organization of society according
to grade. The basic division into an upper and a lower class
would be a result of a war of conquest. And a pre-existing ten-
dency among the upper class to subgrouping in the maneaba
would easily lead to the separation of the leading chief and his
nearest kin from the group of immigrants who were not of his
kin. Thus the three clans may have originated; the stranger’s
clan would follow.
Another solution may be that the migration from Samoa to
Makin was not a part of the general invasion of the group,
but a separate movement. In this case, while the culture of
the tropic-bird folk included the maneaba and boti scheme, and
was therefore probably allied to that introduced by the immi-
grants into the southern islands, it is possible that its social or-
ganization was in a different stage of development. Thus again
might be explained the difference of character between the
social groupings of the south and those of the two northern is-
263
Tungaru Traditions
lands; and there is evidence of other kinds which seems to in-

dicate that the tropic-bird folk were members of an immigration
distinct from that into the southern islands.
Proceeding with the tradition of the tropic-bird maneaba,
when Koura had apportioned sitting-places to all the four
classes of people, it was decided to make a voyage to
southward. Koura’s son and namesake, with a host of other
Kouras and their wives, launched their canoe called Te Bukini
Benebene ‘the tip of a coconut leaf’ and set out. Butaritari was
settled and the maneaba erected there. Missing the islands of
Marakei, Abaiang, and Tarawa, these people then visited the six
islands southward as far as Beru. Everywhere, they landed, pro-
created, and left a maneaba.
On Beru they stayed; they built their maneaba on the north
end of the island, and therein they exalted (neboa) their brother
Koura. The process of exaltation seems to have been materially
manifested, if the tradition is reliable. Koura was seated upon
a square platform, slung by ropes from the ridge-pole of the
maneaba, high above the heads of his people.
After a peaceful residence (of unknown duration) on Beru,
the tropic-bird folk were disturbed by the immigration of a
group of people from Samoa, whose leader was named
Matawarebwe ‘broad-face’ or ‘wide-eye’. Apparently, some sort
of peaceful settlement was arranged, for we are told that Koura
and his people continued to live in their maneaba until the son
of Matawarebwe, Tanentoa the First, ruled in his father’s stead.
Then dissension broke out. It is related that the insolence of
the tropic-bird folk grew beyond the endurance of Tanentoa.
The story relates that Koura the chief would sit upon his raised
platform (bwia) and break wind before the people, at which they
would say “E tingiting Koura; e rebwerebwe ki ni Koura.” This
custom, maintained even when Tanentoa and his brothers came
as guests to visit Koura’s maneaba, caused such offence that
Tanentoa decreed the destruction of the tropic-bird people. This
was achieved by burning them all in their maneaba. Everyone
was killed except Koura-iti, who was saved by one of the
Beruans, and adopted as his child. 2
There was now, tradition runs, no maneaba on Beru.
Therefore Tanentoa the king ordained that a large one should
be built at the place called Tabontebike, in honour of his father
Matawarebwe, who had led the Samoan immigrants to the
island. 3 With the help of two spirits, Bouriki and Boutabo, called
especially from Samoa, the edifice was erected, and straight
away the allocation of sitting-places was begun. Tanentoa [and
264
therefore his ancestor, Matawarebwe] took the boti of Karongoa

n Uea. Tabuariki was placed at Te Bakoa. Te I-Mone was given
Te Wiwi; and so on, until all the ancestors knew their sitting-
places. There remained Koura-iti, the stranger from Butaritari
and Makin who had been saved alive from the killing of the
tropic-bird people; he was given the boti of Keaki in the south-
east corner, and there his descendants remain until the present
day. It seems therefore that the social group sitting at Keaki is
representative of the submigration of the tropic-bird folk from
the northern islands to Beru.
From the traditions reviewed above we can assume with
some certainty that the maneaba called Tabontebike, a four-
square building, was brought to Beru by the folk who came from
Samoa under the lead of Matawarebwe, who was a member of
the Karongoa clan. Tales of the coming from Samoa, analysed
elsewhere, show that at the period of Matawarebwe, Karongoa
people must have poured from the south into nearly every
island of the Gilberts. It is therefore reasonable to suppose
that the four-square maneaba was introduced almost univer-
sally throughout the Gilbert Group at about this time.
It remains now to discuss the origins of the narrow Tabiang
style and the intermediate Maungatabu type. The name Maun-
gatabu ‘holy hill’ seems to have been taken from the spot on
Makin where the tropic-bird settled, and so it appears probable
that the Koura people spread it through the northern islands of
the group as they migrated from Makin to Beru. But although
I believe this to be the case, we cannot as yet attribute it with
certainty to the tropic-bird folk, for we are told that the abo-
riginal inhabitants of Makin already had a maneaba at Maun-
gatabu before the arrival of the tropic-bird. The doubtful point
seems to be settled, however, by the evidence of the tradition
connected with a man named Tewatu of Matang. 4
When the tropic-bird came to Makin, many of the inhabi-
tants fled, in fear of being eaten. According to a tradition of
Tarawa and Nonouti, Tewatu was one of these refugees. He
fled to Tabiteuea, settling in the district called Teotirababa ‘the
broad stone’, and married Nei Tebai-bunnanikarawa. By her he
had a son named Tautua. Tautua quarrelled with his parents
and in anger sailed away to a land in the west called Matang.
In Matang, he married Nei Abunaba, the daughter of Rake and
Nei Touna. She bore him a child whom they named Tewatu of
Matang.
265
Tungaru Traditions
The Tabontebike maneaba, Nukantewa, Beru—the prototype of all

Gilbertese maneaba, built originally with timber from Samoa. (Maude
photo)
When Tewatu of Matang was a man, his parents died. He

buried them and took their skulls as drinking vessels. Then he
set forth in his canoe Kaibo to eastward. He made land at Beru,
and going ashore at Teteirio in the middle of the island, started
to make war on the people and to eat the flesh of his victims.
This happened in the time of Tanentoa the First.
So Tanentoa sent a message to Tewatu, asking him to come
to the maneaba. Tewatu went, but as he entered the building
a dog belonging to a man, Teikake, flew at him and bit his
leg. Picking up the dog, he tore it apart and with the bleeding
remains turned to smite the owner. But Tanentoa stayed him,
saying “Smite him not. He shall be your slave. Take the seat in
the south gable: it shall be your boti, and its name Karumaetoa.
Your food shall be the tail of the porpoise, for you are late for the
feast, and the people of Tabiang have already eaten the head.”
Thus Tewatu of Matang took the clan-place of Karumaetoa
in the Tabontebike maneaba.
266
After a while he began to desire a maneaba of his own, and

he proposed to Tanentoa the king that he should build one in his
own fashion. The king allowed it to be done, and so there was
erected at Tabiang, the north end of Beru, Tewatu’s maneaba in
the style called Tabiang, which stands to this day.
It therefore seems reasonably certain that the narrow
maneaba named Tabiang was introduced into the southern
Gilberts by the man Tewatu and his immigrant party, who came
from a land in the west traditionally called Matang. In this
case, we are faced with two possibilities: either the Tabiang
maneaba was a style of building known to Tewatu’s ancestor
and namesake, who had been driven out of Makin by the tropic-
bird folk; or else it was an entirely new type of building, ac-
quired by Tewatu in the western land called Matang, and freshly
imported thence into Beru. If this second possibility is the
truth—if the Tabiang maneaba was a new import from
Matang—there should be islands in the neighbourhood of
Melanesia where this type of building is seen today.
But if the Tabiang style was that of Tewatu’s an-
cestor—which is the more likely possibility—it was obviously the
type of building used on Makin before the invasion of the tropic-
bird folk: the edifice that stood on the holy hill, at the north
end of the land, until the period when the fierce bird began to
eat the people of the place. In favour of this possibility, is the
circumstance that he chose as a site the northern end of Beru
—a surprising choice in view of that fact that he owned no land
there, for the property that he had acquired by his invasion was
all in the centre of the island. It may be that in this northern
site of the Tabiang maneaba we have a link with the building
that stood on the northern tip of Makin, so Tewatu’s rather sur-
prising choice of a site on Beru was influenced by some tra-
dition connected with this style of building which dictated that
it should always stand in the north. What is quite certain is
that until recently no native would dream of erecting a maneaba
of the Tabiang style anywhere save towards the northern ex-
tremity of an island. But the tradition of the first building on
Beru might be enough to account for this.
We have now seen that tradition connected with the various
styles of maneaba in the group are definite on these points:
1. The Tabontebike style was introduced by the Karongoa
group of people, represented by the names of
Matawarebwe and Tanentoa, who invaded Beru from
Samoa some twenty to twenty-five generations ago.
267
Tungaru Traditions
2. The Tabiang style was imported by the man Tewatu,

whose clan was Karumaetoa, and whose ancestors were
pre-Samoan inhabitants of Makin.
3. As for the third type of maneaba, called Maungatabu, it
is probable that this may be attributed to the tropic-bird
invaders from Samoa, who carried their maneaba with
them to Beru when they migrated thither from Makin.
268
The Clan and the Totem
Each clan in the Gilberts is connected with some plant, animal

or object which it holds in particular esteem. For convenience
of reference, I shall at once apply the term totem to these crea-
tures and things; I do not think that the epithet will be found to
have been misused after the exhibition of my material.
A few clans have only a single creature or object associated
with them, but most have a minimum of two, some three or
four, and one even five. Sometimes several clans share the same
totem or totems; in such cases the clans concerned, although
having different names, are seen to possess the same ancestor
and god.
Table 6 provides a list of the totems which I have been able
to identify. Information about the totems is difficult to get. It
is by no means every old man who can tell one the animal or
object associated with his clan, from which it appears probable
that totemism as an institution was falling into decay for a long
period before the arrival of civilization in the Gilbert Islands.
This is emphasized by the comment of many old men, when
asked whether all the members of their clans in former days
refrained from eating the flesh of their sacred animals. Their
usual answer to this question is, “Those who took notice of such
things were afraid to eat.” This implies that many disregarded
the restriction. There were one or two clans, however, in which
respect for the totem seems always to have retained its full
force. Of these, the most striking example is the clan of Keaki.
This social group has preserved even to the present day an un-
conquerable aversion to eating the flesh of the giant ray or the
red-tailed tropic-bird. Its members will still refuse even to share
a pipe or a drinking vessel with a person who has been known
to partake of the flesh of either of these creatures. The belief
is that an offence against the totem will be visited by swellings
of the skin called te rabarabataki. Among all the clans which
269
Tungaru Traditions
have a variety of ray as a totem, esteem for the sacred creature

seems to have preserved its full strength, and those groups
whose totem is the shark are also notable in this respect. The
regard for other creatures varies from island to island. For ex-
ample, the carangoid fish called te rereba, a creature associated
with four of the groups listed above, is still held in the greatest
deference on Beru, Nikunau, and other southern islands, while
in Abaiang, Tarawa, and the northern Gilberts generally, it is
hardly remembered in connection with these clans. On the other
hand the sand-snipe, a second totem of the same groups, retains
a good deal of esteem in the north, while more or less disre-
garded (though still remembered) in the south.
Table 6. Totems associated with Gilbertese clans
CLAN TOTEM
Korongoa n Sun (secret); Shark; kanawa tree; Cockerel; Wind

Uea
Karongoa
Raereke
Taunnamo
Shark; kanawa tree; Cockerel; Wind
Antekanawa
Katanrake
Te Bakoa Shark (Tabuariki)
Karumaetoa Shark (Bakoa)
Tebakabaka Giant ray; Shark
Keaki Tropic-bird; Giant ray; Bêche-de-mer
Kaburara Giant ray; Creeper called tarai
Kaotirama Sting ray (small grey) called buatara
Bangauma Sting ray (called “man-headed”)
270
CLAN TOTEM
Te Ba
Te Kirikiri
Sand-snipe; a fish called rereba
Tabiang
Namakaina
Te O
Tern; Pemphis tree
Umanikamauri
Ababou
Porpoise; Sun; Coral called rirongo
Maerua
Tekokona Porpoise
Nei Ati Octopus; Garfish
Benuakura A red bird of myth called aromatang
Katannaki A stone called Nei Temaiti
Te Wiwi Fragraea tree; Conch
Nikumauea Eel; Centipede
Bakarawa Brittle Starfish
Tabukaokao Crab called Nei Tenaotarai
Teborauea Turtle; Noddy; Ladybird; a bush called Ibi; and a

legendary creature called Te Kekenu, which is
described as a “lizard three fathoms long with a
very hard skin,” almost certainly alluding to an
alligator or other saurian.
NOTE: For other Totem Lists, differently arranged, see Table 5,

and Grimble 1933–1934, facing p. 20.
271
Tungaru Traditions
The cause of such local inequalities as these may perhaps

be found in the marked tendency of all the clans to pitch upon
one particular creature or object among a group of perhaps
several associated totems for especial veneration above the
others. With this eclectic tendency working towards the classi-
fication of totems into principal and subsidiary grades, it would
need nothing more than some purely local circumstance to sway
the preference in favour of this totem or that, and in such a
way it might happen that mere accidents of environment would
establish the precedence of the sand-snipe (to take a concrete
example) over the rereba in the north, and reverse the order of
prestige in the south.
The form of respect paid to the totem naturally differed ac-
cording to its nature. A living creature must not be killed or in-
jured; an edible creature must not be eaten. The theory about
eating the totem was that it resulted in incest. The totem was
flesh of a man’s flesh, it was a permanent member of his clan;
it was, in fact, the clan. If a man was sufficiently shameless to
eat his own clan, he would not scruple afterwards to have con-
nection with his own sister. This is the explanation exactly as
given to me by the old man Teata of Abaiang, and corroborated
by about thirty others present at the same time.
If the totem were a tree, it must not be climbed, for fear of
offending it; nor must its flowers be picked.
A stone or a piece of coral must not be trodden upon. The
wind or the sun must not be alluded to disrespectfully by those
who claimed them as totems. For example, in waiting at sea for
a breeze, a Karongoa man must not make an impatient remark
about its tardy arrival. And this obligation of respectful speech
also applied to such mythical totem creatures as the bird Aro-
matang of the Benuakura clan, and the Kekenu of Teborauea,
which necessarily had to be honoured in absence.
In accordance with the patrilineal nature of descent in the
clan, it was the father’s totem which received the greatest def-
erence, but a man would also respect the totem of his mother,
and generally that of his wife too.
Although one might not pick the flowers of the totem tree,
it was permissible to gather up those which fell to the ground
and to make wreaths of them. Such wreaths constituted in fact
the badge of a man’s social group, since no other clan was per-
mitted to use the flowers of that species of tree for personal
adornment. This rule was, however, modified on the northern
islands to the extent that the right to use such flowers could
be inherited through the mother. But no such relaxation of the
272
custom was made in respect of the feathers cast from the tail of
the red-tailed tropic-bird, which might only be worn by the clan
of Keaki.
There seems to have been no occasion in the life of a
Gilbertese native when the totem was ceremonially eaten or
sacrificed.
The physical connection between the clan and the totem
varies in degree. It has been seen above that in connection with
edible creatures it is very evident, the animal being flesh of the
clan’s flesh. Sometimes there is a direct tradition of descent
from a totem; at other times there is a belief in descent from
some person closely allied to it; in a third class of cases there
is only a vague ancestral link with the creature or object; and
occasionally there is none at all discoverable.
a. Of the four totems of the Karongoa groups, although
the shark seems always to have been the most universally
prominent, it is from the kanawa tree that direct descent is
the more explicitly traced. Tradition states that in the darkness
of chaos grew two kanawa trees, a male and a female. Their
branches intertwined in the darkness, and from the union
sprang the first ancestors of Karongoa, who eventually migrated
from Samoa to the Gilbert Islands.
Another tradition which clearly reflects a belief in descent
from the totem is the migration story of the tropic-bird folk,
which is examined in the section dealing with the origins of
the various maneaba. After relating the manner of the invasion
of Makin by the tropic-bird from Samoa, and the death of this
creature, the tradition describes the birth of Koura and his red-
skinned brothers from its decaying head. It is from the Koura
breed that the clan of Keaki is descended and the tropic-bird is
one of the totems of this group.
A third clear case of totem-descent is that of the Ababou and
Maerua clans. The ancestors of these groups were Bue and his
brother Rirongo, who were themselves the sons of the Sun by
their mother Matamona. The Sun is the most important of the
three totems of these two clans.
b. In a slightly different category are the five clans of Nuku-
mauea, Teborauea, Te Bakoa, Karumaetoa, and Buatara. The
ancestors, and at the same time the gods, of these groups
are respectively Riki-the-Eel, Tabakea-the-Turtle, Tabuariki-the-
Shark, Bakoa-the-Shark, and Buatara-the-Sting ray. These
ancestor-gods are anthropomorphically conceived by Gilbertese
of the present day, but they are reputed to have had the power
of assuming the forms of the creatures connected with their
273
Tungaru Traditions
names. In every case, the beast thus physically associated with

the ancestor is the totem of the clan, clearly suggesting a fun-
damental belief in descent from the sacred creature, or to be
more exact from the ancestor in the form of the sacred creature.
Tabuariki-the-Shark is also the ancestor-god of the Karongoa
groups, and it is in conjunction with this being that the shark
totem is venerated by them. As I have already shown, these
groups have also a tradition of direct descent from the kanawa
tree; we therefore have here an example of duplication of be-
liefs, in which the same clans trace lineal descent from two sep-
arate and distinct totems.
c. The tradition of the clan of Benuakura gives us an in-
stance in which the sacred creature, while not a lineal ancestor,
is believed to have been a close relation of the group-progenitor.
The following is a translation of the myth as given to me by the
old man Rarawete of Beru:
Nei Rarobu was a woman of Nabanaba in the west. She lay with
the man Tangata; their first child was the bird Aromatang, the
man eater, and their second child was Teibiaro. Teibiaro was born
before his time and his mother threw him away into the sea with
the afterbirth. He floated away, and was stranded on the island of
Roro. He grew up and lay with a woman of Roro, whose name was
Nei Arotaing. She bore him two children, Komwenga, a man, and
Nei Arotiurenga, a woman.
When Komwenga and Nei Arotiurenga grew up, a canoe was
built for them, and they sailed eastwards away from Roro. As they
went, the woman was snatched away from the canoe by a great
fish called Ikati-neaba, and she went to live in Mone under the
sea. But Komwenga sailed the southern sea and came to the land
of Samoa. There he lived, and he caused his hair to be cut and he
did magic to make him a fierce fighter. And when he was ready, he
sailed back to Nabanaba, where his grandmother lived; and there
he slew the bird Aromatang, the man-eater, who was his father’s
brother. And he took its feathers, which were red, and its head
also, as a crest for his canoe. He called his canoe crest Te Nimta-
wawa 1 : it is the crest of the people of Benuakura; and their totem
(atua) is the bird Aromatang; and their ancestors are Komwenga,
and Teibiaro the brother of Aromatang.
According to this tradition, therefore, the totem of the Benu-

akura clan is held to have been the own brother of the ancestor,
a form of belief which still clearly emphasizes the physical con-
nection between the creature and the social group.
274
d. The next category of totems consists of those creatures

or objects which are said to have been particularly beloved or
esteemed by the ancestor-gods of the various clans, but from
which there is no tradition of direct descent. These are as
follows:
GIANT RAY of Keaki and Tebakabaka; the creature of the an-

cestral goddess Tituabine.
COCKEREL of Karongoa clans; beloved of the ancestor-god
Tabuariki.
TERN of Te O and Umanikamauri groups; belonging to the
ancestor-god Auriaria.
SAND-SNIPE and CARANGOID FISH (rereba) of Te Ba, Tekirikiri,
Tabiang, and Namakaina; the messengers of the ancestor-
god Taburimai.
CRAB of Tabukaokao; beloved of the ancestral-goddess Nei
Tenaotarai.
WIND of Karongoa clans; one of the instruments of Tabuariki
the ancestor-god. It is difficult to understand why, on the
same grounds, thunder and lightening are not also totems
of this clan, since they too were believed to be directed by
Tabuariki.
CONCH of Te Wiwi; held as a totem because the ancestor-god Te
I-Mone, who is sovereign of the region under the sea, is be-
lieved to have made the first conch and to have used it for
summoning to assembly the spirits of the underworld.
NODDY and the mythical saurian called Te Kekenu of Teborauea;
used as messengers by the ancestor-god Tabakea-the-Turtle.
LADYBIRD of the same group; supposed to be the terrestrial
counterpart of the turtle, which is the principal totem of this
clan.
Ibi- B USU of the same group; reputed to have been the favourite
plant of Tabakea-the-Turtle.
e. We now come to a class of totems which tradition vaguely

connects with a god or an ancestor, but concerning which any
suggestion of physical association with the clans that might
once have existed, has been finally submerged. To this class
belong:
PORPOISE of Ababou and Maerua. This creature is associated

with the ancestor Bue, the story of whose visit to his father,
the Sun, is exhibited elsewhere. 2 One of the gifts made
by the Sun to Bue was a ringstraked staff called the kaini
275
Tungaru Traditions
kamate ‘the staff-to-kill’, together with a complete set of in-

cantations for the subjugation of the porpoise at sea. Since
then the descendants of Bue have refrained from killing the
porpoise, and have made it one of their totems.
BRITTLE STARFISH of Bakarawa. Tradition says that this totem
was taken in commemoration of the foolishness of the twin
ancestors Baba-ma-Bono (Fool and Deaf-mute). On a day
when the people of Samoa were indulging in the sport of
Kaunibatua, that is, the matching of small fierce fish called
Batua, these two ancestors brought a brittle starfish
(kikonang) to fight for them, since when their descendants
have used this creature as a totem in reminiscence of the an-
cestral foolishness.
PEMPHIS TREE of Te O and Umanikamauri. To the Gilbertese
mind, the small wizened leaves of the Pemphis acidula (te
ngea) are comparable to the hair of the ancestor-god Au-
riaria. The hair of this god and his companions, Taburimai
and Tabuariki, is described in tradition as standing out from
the head with small thick curls at the tips. The ngea is taken
as a totem in commemoration of this.
f. The last category of totems is composed of creatures and

plants which seem to have no connection at all with either gods
or ancestors. I have no doubt that defective enquiry and the for-
getfulness of informants are at least partly responsible for this
lack of association. The following list may serve as a guide to
others more skilled in eliciting facts:
BÊCHE-DE-MER (kereboki) of Keaki

CENTIPEDE (roata) of Nikumauea
A CREEPER (tarai) of Kaburara
Uri TREE (Fragraea sp.) of Te Wiwi
STING RAY (atun aomata or “man-headed”) of Bangauma
PORPOISE of Tekokona. In connection with this, it may be re-
marked that the clan ancestor, Kotua, is said by tradition
to have accompanied the ancestor Bue of Ababou on a mi-
gration from Tarawa to Beru. As we have seen, the porpoise
is one of the totems of Bue’s descendants. It may be that
Kotua was a member of Bue’s group and established a sep-
arate clan on Beru, taking the porpoise of Bue as a totem.
OCTOPUS and GARFISH of Nei Ati
276
This survey of our material has therefore shown us three

totems from which direct descent in the clan is explicitly traced
and five more which are hardly less clearly recognizable as
group ancestors. Of a type very closely allied to these eight
is the totem of Benuakura from whose own brother the clan
shows descent. Ten other creatures and objects venerated by
various groups were seen to be closely attached by tradition to
the person of ancestor-gods, while a further group of three was
found, though more vaguely, to be associated with clan progen-
itors. Only eight remain out of thirty which cannot in one way
or another be connected with the ancestor idea. It is thus clear
that the totemism of the Gilberts was underlaid by the belief in
descent from the creature, plant, or other object that was the
object of esteem, or from some person or being to whom the
totem stood in an intimate relation.
The services, if any, expected from the totem by the clan,
were usually of a negative order, and in all cases were supposed
to be conditional upon the individual’s observance of a proper
respect towards the creature concerned. A man of Nukumauea
who habitually refrained from injuring the centipede expected
exemption from the sting of this creature, and would even claim
the power of handling it without harmful results to himself. In
like manner he would be fearless of injury from the eel, another
totem of his clan, while swimming in a conger-infested part of
the lagoon. Members of clans possessing the shark totem had
not the horror of this fish evinced by other folk, and the im-
munity from its attack to which they pretended seems to have
extended to all the species of man-eating sharks known in these
waters. The Ababou, Maerua, and Tekokona clans similarly be-
lieved that they were not liable to the assault of the porpoise
on the high seas; they also claimed the faculty of calling the
sacred mammal to swim by their canoes and protect them from
other fierce creatures of the ocean. This protective capacity of
the porpoise is an example of active services rendered by the
totem. Another illustration of direct help is seen in the story
of Nareau’s voyage to Samoa, with his three sons, exhibited
elsewhere. 3 In this story the heroes were given as food by the
people of Samoa a heap of coconut husks and stalks, and were
told that if they failed to eat it they would be killed.
To surmount this difficulty, Na Areau said to his sons, “Hide
it until tonight, and then the kekenu will eat it.” When night
came the kekenu consumed the unsavoury food and so saved
their lives. As we have seen, this mythical creature is described
277
Tungaru Traditions
as a “lizard three fathoms long with a very hard skin,” that is,
almost certainly an alligator or other saurian, and is the totem
of the clan Teborauea.
Another example of totem helpfulness is shown in a belief
of three clans, whose creature is the sand-snipe. These groups
claim that the bird constantly watches their coconut plantations
and will fly to warn them when any thief comes to steal their
nuts or toddy. But of all the creatures which are supposed to
help their clansmen in danger or trouble by far the best known
is the ray.
It is still emphatically claimed by the people of Keaki and
Tebakabaka (giant ray), Kaotirama (small grey sting ray), and
Bangauma (“man-headed” sting ray) that, if one of the clan
members is in danger of drowning, an immense ray will float
to the surface beside him and, after he has taken his seat upon
it, will carry him safe to shore. There is hardly a native in the
Gilberts who does not know of this belief, though there are a
great many who are ignorant of the totems of their own clans.
There seems to be no trace in the group of a belief in the
entry of the ghost after death into the body of the totem, but
throughout the islands there is a very intimate association of the
sacred creature with death. It was believed that, providing the
proper ceremonial for “straightening the path” of the departing
soul had been performed, it would be met by the ancestral
shades and the clan totems and conducted by them safely to
the other world of Bouru and Matang. Some of the sacred crea-
tures —the three species of ray, the turtle, the eel, and the
rereba—were considered to be the actual vehicles of the ghost,
upon which it was transported to the land of shades; others—the
tern, the noddy, the sand-snipe, and the tropic-bird—did not
carry the departed, but flew before him as he followed in the
company of his ancestors.
These beliefs only applied, however, if the body was buried
in the extended position with feet to westward. And this orien-
tation of the body, on the great majority of islands, was only
permissible when the relations of the deceased knew how to
perform, or could pay an expert to perform, the magic tabe-
atu ‘lifting-the-head” by which the path of the ghost was
“straightened.” The orientation of the body with feet to
westward enabled the departed to arise from his grave facing
the west, and so to proceed without confusion to the western
horizon where the totems and ancestors awaited him. Those
who were buried with feet to north were not met by the totem.
We thus seem to have evidence of a culture complex in which
278
belief in the totem is associated with interment of the dead in

an extended position, with feet to westward, and with the magic
called tabe-atu. To this complex we may also add the organi-
zation of society into exogamous clans with patrilineal descent,
and the cult of the ancestor.
A striking feature of the totemism of the group is the fre-
quency with which several clans together are seen to share the
same set of totems. Thus, no fewer than five groups—the two
Karongoa, Taunnamo, Antekanawa, and Katanrake—share be-
tween them the shark, kanawa, cockerel, and wind totems. A
sixth, Te Bakoa, links itself with these by its possession of the
shark. 4 Three other clans—Te Ba, Te Kirikiri, and Tabiang—have
in common the sand-snipe and the carangoid fish called rereba;
while two more—Ababou and Maerua—share porpoise, sun, and
coral. To these latter a third attached itself by its porpoise
totem, namely the clan of Tekokona. And lastly, the two groups
called Te O and Umanikamauri have in common the tern and the
pemphis tree.
Almost invariably, when the totems coincide, the names of
the clan-ancestors are the same. The five groups having the
shark, kanawa, cockerel, and wind totems in common, all claim
Tabuariki and Matawarebwe as their progenitors. Te Bakoa,
which shares the shark totems with these clans also shares
the ancestor-god Tabuariki. The three groups linked together
by sand-snipe and rereba all claim descent from the same
ancestor-god Taburimai. Those sharing porpoise, sun, and coral
also trace their lines back to the same pair of brothers, Bue and
Rirongo. The two tern and pemphis groups have the common
god-ancestor Auriaria. There is, in fact, only one exception to
this rule—that of the clan Tekokona, which has the porpoise-
totem of Ababou and Maerua, but a different ancestor. But in
this case, too, tradition supplies an ancestral link, for the prog-
enitor of Tekokona, Kotua, is named as a companion of Bue and
Rirongo, forefathers of Ababou and Maerua, on their migration
from Tarawa to Beru. It seems evident therefore that some close
tie existed in early days between these groups.
Another noticeable feature connected with clans which
share the same totems is that their sitting-places (boti) in the
maneaba are almost invariably grouped together. This was
found to be the case, for instance, in a Maungatabu-style
Marakei maneaba checked by me where, however, the sitting-
place of Antekanawa did not appear, as that clan had no rep-
resentative on the island. In a Maungatabu maneaba on Beru,
Antekanawa had its boti on the north side of Katanrake and
279
Tungaru Traditions
the five clans Karongoa n Uea, Karongoa Raereke, Katanrake,

Antekanawa, and Taunnamo—which share the same totems and
trace their descent from the same ancestors—have their sitting-
places ranged in a solid and continuous block along the eastern
side of the edifice. The sixth clan of Te Bakoa, which has the
shark totem in common with these, is also included in the
compact array.
In the same manner the three clans of Tekirikiri, Teba, and
Tabiang, descended from a single ancestor and venerating the
same creatures, sit in an unbroken line under the northern
gable; while Maerua and Ababou, whose totems and ancestors
are identical, are together in the middle of the western side.
The boti of the clan Tekokona is unrepresented on Marakei, but
in the southern islands it is placed on the northern flank of
Ababou, which is what we should have expected in view of the
fact that it shares the porpoise totem with Ababou and Maerua.
Last of all, the clans of Te O and Umanikamauri, who share the
ancestor-god Auriaria and the tern and pemphis totems, though
not side by side in the Marakei maneaba, are separated only by
the clan of Keaki, while in the Tabiteuea and Beru maneaba they
may be seen actually united, the Umanikamauri group on those
islands taking its seat between Te O and Keaki.
The possession of common ancestors, gods, and totems ob-
viously indicated that the closest of relations once existed be-
tween the clans concerned. It seems a reasonable inference that
whencesoever a group of two or three or more clans thus in-
timately associated may have come, they came from the same
place, shared the same culture, and took part in the same mi-
gration. The compact arrangement of their sitting-places in the
maneaba suggests further the most deliberate intention of keep-
ing together in order to show, as it were, a solid front in all
public or ceremonial gatherings. This of course connotes a clear
recognition of common ties and a definite will to keep them in
mind.
It is therefore rather surprising to find that each of these
groups is an independent exogamous unit. One would have ex-
pected that marriage would be prohibited between members of
clans sharing the same totems and ancestors. But there is no
such restriction. A man of Karongoa n Uea may as easily marry
a woman of Karongoa Raereke as a woman of some group with
totally different ancestors and totems.
This is so much at variance with the ideas underlying the
strict organization of society into exogamous totemic groups
that it would seem at first sight to indicate that these ideas
280
in the Gilbert Islands were in an advanced stage of decay. But

this certainly does not agree with the facts. For although the
totemism of the group is not so clear-cut as it may have been
originally, in that a certain laxity with regard to the sacred crea-
tures or objects is sometimes apparent, the information col-
lected in this section shows that it still retained a considerable
force of social significance up to the arrival of European civi-
lization. The dominance of the idea of clan exogamy in the regu-
lation of marriage is still one of the most striking features in the
organization of the boti system.
Yet it is obvious that intermarriage between clans using the
same sacred creatures must be the result of some modification
of the original system—that is to say if, as I am assuming to be
the case, the original system of Gilbertese totemism was gener-
ically the same as the most typical examples to be found in
Oceania, and particularly in Melanesia. There are three primary
processes through which such modifications might possibly
have arisen. One is the fusion of cultures, in the course of which
a certain number of the elements of two systems blend to form
a hybrid structure, while a certain number are discarded and
lost. A second possible process is that of the progressive decay
or abrasion of a system under the external influence of a foreign
mode of thought, which while acting as the catalytic agent
giving impetus to the change, leaves no concrete elements em-
bedded in the organization thus affected. And a third process of
social modification may take its inception from the action of ma-
terial and physical necessity upon the organization of a migrant
people.
It seems to be just within the range of possibility that the
intermarriage of clans having the same sacred creatures may
have come about, under rather special conditions, through the
fusion of two social systems. Suppose the Gilbert Islands to have
been overrun by an immigrant people having a culture very
similar to that of the invaded folk, and being, in fact, a branch of
the same original race, with its social institutions only slightly
differentiated by residence elsewhere. In such circumstances,
both invaders and invaded might be found to acknowledge the
same ancestors and gods, to venerate the same totems, and to
have preserved approximately the same sitting-places in their
respective maneaba. In the settling down that would follow the
immigration, a reorganization of the boti in the maneaba would
take place; the conquering immigrants would wish to keep their
own hereditary status, and they would also desire to keep their
clans separate and distinct from the corresponding clans of the
281
Tungaru Traditions
conquered; at the same time, it would be the aim of the con-

quered to retain as far as possible their ancient boti, and they
would take places as near to them as the space needs of the
immigrants permitted. In this way it might happen that groups
of several clans having identical totems and ancestors would
be found sitting side by side in the maneaba. Intermarriage be-
tween such clans would be rendered possible by the refusal of
the immigrants to recognize such close relationship with the
clans of the conquered as would be implied by an admission of
the strict prohibitions of exogamy. An incentive to such an at-
titude of the immigrants would be their need for a wide scope
in the selection of wives, since probably but few women would
have accompanied their migration.
That such an explanation of the problem is within the range
of possibility appears from an examination of Gilbertese tra-
dition, which leads us to the conclusion that the Samoan in-
vaders of the group, some twenty-five generations ago, were but
the returning remnant of a swarm which had passed through
and colonised these islands centuries earlier on its way to
Samoa. Such a return after some centuries of separate social
development, of a people having the same ancestry as the in-
vaded, gives us the conditions postulated in the foregoing hy-
pothesis.
Nevertheless, although a duplication of clans owning iden-
tical totems, accompanied by a possibility of intermarriage be-
tween them might be satisfactorily explained by such a combi-
nation of circumstances as I have suggested (and actually did
take place), it is difficult to see how the same conditions can
have been wholly responsible for a multiplication into six, as il-
lustrated by the Karongoa and associated groups. While bearing
in mind, therefore, that the return from Samoa of a body of
people having a social organization closely related to that of
the autochthonous Gilbertese may have been one of the causes
of an increase in the number of clans reverencing the same
totems, and may at the same time have contributed towards the
facilitation of intermarriage among them, we cannot regard it
as the sole cause of such social phenomena, nor indeed, I think,
as the principal one.
The second process suggested by which the modification
of totemic exogamy might have been set in motion is that of
the progressive decay of a social scheme under the external
influence of a foreign mode of thought. But as I have already
282
pointed out, the vigour of totemic idea in the Gilberts up to the

coming of European civilization seems to have put this proposal
out of court.
We are left with the third suggestion, that the condition
under our observation came about in answer to the pressure of
material and physical necessity upon the social existence of a
migrant people. If it was indeed due to such causes, it seems
to follow that it must have been a deliberately adopted social
expedient—in fact, a primitive sociological experiment—since a
material and physical necessity is consciously felt, and as con-
sciously remedied.
The suggestion that I offer is that the multiplication of social
groups having the same totems and ancestors, together with
the permissibility of marriage between them, were modifica-
tions of the social system deliberately adopted to evade diffi-
culties connected with marriage. Two difficulties of this kind
would face a not very numerous swarm of people with a mar-
riage system based on totem exogamy, such as I suppose the
immigrants of Samoa into the group to have been. First, it is
almost certain that only a limited number of women would ac-
company them; and second, if such immigrants were only a
fragment of the race that was dispersed from Samoa, it is also
probable that only a limited number of clans reached the group.
A strict adherence, under such conditions, to the rigid system
of totem exogamy would render it impossible for many of the
young men to find wives at all. This difficulty would have an
easy solution if the people found by the immigrants were of
another race, with a different social organization; for in this
case there would be no restriction on the choice of wives from
among the autochthonous folk. But our traditional evidence has
led us to the conclusion that the invaders from Samoa were a
returned branch of the same race as that which inhabited the
Gilbert Islands. They therefore must have found on arrival many
of the exogamous clans which they themselves represented, and
with which they consequently could not contract marriages, if
they adhered strictly to custom. It may be argued that this
again would constitute no real difficulty, as there were probably
plenty of other local clans with which alliances would be per-
missible. But in answer to this, particular emphasis must be laid
upon the point that the present clan system, of which we are
analysing the peculiarities, is essentially a one-island system: it
was developed on the single atoll of Beru and spread through
the whole group (with the exception of Butaritari and Makin),
by the Beru swarm which, ten generations ago, established con-
283
Tungaru Traditions
quering chiefs on every unit of the archipelago. Without a sin-

gle exception, the clans of the thirteen islands thus conquered
trace their descent from a Beru conqueror. Our task is thus to
search for the possible causes that led to certain social modifi-
cations on a single unit of the group, namely Beru, as a result of
the immigration from Samoa some twenty-five generations ago.
Within the narrow limits of a single island, it is easy to con-
ceive that only a restricted number of the social groups then
existing (if many did exist) up and down the group were repre-
sented. We have only to imagine the arrival on such an island of
a relatively numerous body of immigrants, whose own women
were very few, and whose social groups coincided with most
of those found in occupation, in order to discover a possible
reason for the multiplication of clans having the same totems
and ancestors, and for the breaking down of prohibitions on
intermarriage between them. First, the large addition to the
male population would create an immediate local shortage of
potential wives: there would not be enough women to go round
invaders and invaded. And second, among the few local clans
into which marriage, by strict custom, would be permissible,
the immigrants alone would find little scope for the selection of
wives. If the principles of rigid totem exogamy were adhered to,
there would be no cure for the difficulty.
I suggest that deliberate expedients were adopted to meet
the emergency. The first may have been that suggested earlier
in this discussion, namely, the refusal of the immigrants to rec-
ognize such close relationship with the clans of the invaded as
would prohibit the members of their own corresponding clans
from intermarriage with them. Such a resource would result in
the duplication of intermarriageable totem-groups; and these
groups would probably acquire different names in the course of
time, if indeed their separate local histories had not already re-
sulted in a disparity of names at the epoch of the return from
Samoa.
This artificial enlargement of the scope within which a wife
could be sought might possibly satisfy the immediate wants of
the immigrants, but only if they monopolized the women of the
island at the expense of the marriageable men among the au-
tochthones. And we can hardly suppose that it was only the
new newcomers who entered into a marriage relation at this
time. Further, even if they did create such a monopoly the great
surplus of men over women would make itself felt not only in
that but in the succeeding generation, while the prohibitions
attaching to consanguinity, as a concept entirely distinct from
284
that of clan organization, would interact with totem exogamy to

create further impediments to easy marriage. It would require
some additional expedient to adjust the organization to local re-
quirements, and I suggest that the contrivance adopted was the
breaking up of the clans into separate septs, still linked together
by the same totems and ancestors, and still massed together on
ceremonial occasions in the maneaba, but regarded for the pur-
poses of marriage as independent exogamous units. 5
285
PART 3
Essays on Mythology,
History, and Dancing
The Historical Content of
Gilbertese Mythology
The universal belief of the modern Gilbertese race is that its

forefathers came from Samoa: they grew up on the branches of
the ancestral Tree in Upolu, and lived in the land until the Tree
was broken. When that catastrophe came upon them they scat-
tered over the ocean to populate other islands. The adventures
and the canoe names of a few who reached the Gilbert Islands
have been preserved.
The Samoan tradition is set out clearly in their myths and
legends—a huge mass of material indicating that Samoa was
the last home of the race before it reached the Gilbert Islands
and that Samoa, and Samoa alone, was the ancestral land of the
race.
There are, indeed, preserved in these traditions a few faint
memories of a remoter fatherland, such as the opening phrase
of a Tabiteuean myth: “The First Tree was called Te Bakatibu
Tai ‘The Ancestor Sun’ and it stood on the land of Abatoa.” But
words of this sort, though pregnant with meaning for us, are
repeated parrot-wise, without understanding, by modern island
chroniclers, whose answer to all queries is “we do not know
what it means; we learned it from our ancestors,” or at the most
“the lands before Samoa were slave lands and spirit lands.”
And following on such digressions almost invariably comes an
unqualified statement of the race creed: “Samoa was the first
human land; there grew our ancestors.”
There is reason to conclude, however, that the Gilbertese
race was in the Gilbert Islands long before it ever reached
Samoa; that before it migrated to Upolu it became a mixture
of brown-skin and black-skin on the atolls of Micronesia. If this
was so, then the planting of the ancestral Tree on Upolu was
merely an invasion of Samoa from the north by this Taburimai-
Nareau folk; and the coming of the Tree-people from Samoa to
the Gilbert Group was but a reflux along the invasion track.
289
Tungaru Traditions
It is my view that we can, indeed, go back even further

in the traceable history of the Gilbertese, to a time when we
find a black people for centuries alone in its occupation of the
Gilbert Islands, or at least of the northern half of the group.
Furthermore, it is possible to trace even these autochthons to a
homeland in the west.
Sweeping down upon these original inhabitants, also from
the west, came a brown folk who, with numbers perhaps no
greater than those of the Melanesian indigenes, contrived to
win a foothold on the atolls. Then came the rivalries and bit-
terness recorded in the Nareau-Taburimai traditions.
The result of this strife, or more probably of the over-pop-
ulation caused by the amalgamation of the two races, was a
general exodus southwards. Down the chain of central oceanic
islands sailed a now-mixed Taburimai-Nareau folk, searching for
new homes, until it came to Upolu of Samoa. There they settled
for a long period, long enough indeed for them to style them-
selves autochthons of that land, yet not for so long that they
had forgotten the way back to their home in the atolls, for when
their Tree on Upolu was shattered and their families were dis-
persed, some of them were able to return on the old track and
repopulate the Gilbert Group. But that was only after a struggle
with their own ancestral kin, whose forebears had not joined in
the migration to Samoa.
Such, stripped of all detail, is the series of events in Gib-
ertese race history which I shall try to illustrate from the frag-
ments of tradition wrung, in six years’ delightful toil, from the
Islanders. Without pausing to comment upon its possible con-
nections with general migration movements in the Pacific, I
shall pass at once to an examination of the material collected,
attempting to assign to each set of traditions its period of origin
and to indicate the inferences that may be drawn therefrom.
THE STRATA OF GILBERTESE MYTH

It is evident that the fragmentary theogonies given in the cre-
ation myths are composites of more than one system, and that
the alternative traditions connected with the land of shades and
the origin of fire have been inherited from diverse sources. They
have been stratified by the impingement of race on race, and
the superposition of the conqueror’s creed upon that of the con-
quered.
290
The Historical Content of Gilbertese Mythology
The manner in which two systems blend, and the nature

of the resultant stratification, depend upon the circumstances
under which they have come into contact. The most complete
and wholesale results are, no doubt, achieved by migration, fol-
lowed by conquest or absorption of races; but striking innova-
tions may be wrought in the religion of a people by accidents of
which history takes no cognisance.
The arrival of some far-wandered castaway, who has a tale
to tell or a trick of magic to display, may be responsible for
the adoption of a new god or a series of new gods. This would
be more especially possible in the Gilbert Islands, where
priesthood is a purely family matter, and where the matriar-
chate seems to be so evenly balanced against the patriarchate.
A castaway there would only need to take a wife, and teach her
all his craft, for the new cult to be established. Their children,
both male and female, would inherit and pass it on in their
turn, thus launching it on its progress through the generations
as part of the ever-spreading family traditions, and the god or
gods concerned would automatically take a place in the village
pantheon. Further they would follow the womenfolk in their al-
liances with other families, and gradually permeate the race-
tradition.
This is strikingly illustrated in the Gilbert Group at the very
moment of writing. A mere handful of Fijians, imported for con-
stabulary purposes and married to Gilbertese wives, has already
succeeded in establishing a new form of medicinal art, with its
paraphernalia of magic and mummery, which bear in their train
the usual array of deities and devils. One of the gods concerned
has been allotted a role in the creation drama by a chronicler of
Abaiang Island.
Again, under mission influence, the persons of Ieowa
‘Jehova’ and Ietukirito ‘Jesus Christ’ are beginning, even among
pagan families, to rank among the deities of the creation myth,
though no active parts are yet assigned to them—“They stood
on a high place and looked on.” But the name of Mary is already
being confused, in villages of the north, with that of Tituabine,
the blonde ancestral goddess whose creature, the giant ray, is
believed to have cut heaven and earth asunder. Here we have a
curious glimpse at the vicissitudes of the gods, when they are
bandied from system to system. Mary, by reason of a chance
resemblance to a local deity, looms larger in her new setting
than the Christian Father and Son, though all three were trans-
posed at the same period.
291
Tungaru Traditions
Even the names of the Apostles figure in charms and incan-

tations of modern growth. They are invoked by pagan natives
in rites connected with house-building, navigation, agriculture,
and even love-making. Given time and the apposite accidents
of history, they would have every chance of ultimate promotion
to a place in the Darkness and Cleaving Together—that waste-
paper basket of beings whose antecedents are forgotten.
So much for fortuitous accretions to island mythology. They
are important because they can well prove misleading, by acci-
dentally achieving a local salience out of proportion with their
origins.
The most fruitful cause of stratification is certainly the war
of conquest. A victorious invader in the Pacific is seldom ac-
companied by his women; therefore, although he may have re-
duced some local population to a state of serfdom or outlawry,
wherein its traditions are in danger of obliteration, he must still
depend upon it for his wives. These wives keep alive in the
household of the conqueror many autochthonous rites, customs,
and traditions that would otherwise have suffered oblivion. This
intramural process must necessarily be affected by the social
relations of conqueror and conquered. If, as might happen on
a large island, the beaten people retired to the interior, and
a long period of feud preceded the ultimate fusion of the two
peoples, the composite theology of the united folk would in after
times reflect the ancestral hatred, and show some very distinct
lines of cleavage. The gods of victors and vanquished would not
dwell together in unity. The former would usurp the realms of
heavenly space and light; the latter would be deposed therefrom
and, perhaps, thrust into the infernal regions. A good illus-
tration of both cases is to be found in the single person of Poly-
nesian Tangaroa. In the western groups he is a son of Heaven,
a sun-god, a lord of light, even light itself—in short, the god of a
conquering race. In the eastern groups he is a spirit of the un-
derworld, a lord of darkness, an evil and fearsome being—the
god of a race conquered indeed, but terrible still in conquest.
But if the invasion of an island or group is followed, not by
a long-drawn feud, but by a more or less peaceful absorption of
races, one into the other, the result is likely to be a confusion
rather than a sharply defined stratification of theogonies. This is
what would almost certainly happen on small islands like those
of the Gilbert Group. On such atolls, devoid of geographical ac-
cidents and having no interior to which a conquered race might
flee, victor and vanquished must live cheek by jowl, and under
such conditions it would take very few generations for the two
292
peoples to interpermeate one another, while their theogonies

would suffer a like fusion. As a result, the distinction between
gods of heaven and the underworld would lack clearness; a
medley of deities would rather be found, vaguely set in chaos,
and mutually tinged so strongly, after centuries of association,
with one another’s colours, that it would be difficult to dis-
engage them into their original groupings.
Yet there cannot exist a complete amity from the outset
between two rival races brought thus into intimate contact.
However complete the fusion of blood in after days, there must
be an initial period of hate and intrigue, perhaps the more bitter
because of the confined space into which invader and invaded
are crammed. Such rivalry would almost certainly become the
subject of a race-tradition subsisting long after the amalga-
mation of the conflicting stocks, and an excellent example of it
is to be seen in the Nareau exploits.
THE NAREAU EXPLOITS

In these tales, we have a clear-cut picture of the feuds carried
on, up and down the Gilbert Islands, between two entirely dis-
tinct races: the one of stunted physique, black skin, strong
odour, and woolly head, with huge ears and face “covered with
scars,” which is to say, cicatrised instead of tattooed—the
typical Melanesian, terrible in war and skilled in the black arts;
the other of great stature and fair skin, having the hair curly at
the ends and trained to stand high on the head—a Melano-Pol-
ynesian type, as it would seem.
In spite of a tendency, which the Gilbertese have in common
with most Polynesian races, to confuse the geographical milieu
of their ancient traditions, and to relate events as if they had
happened locally, I think we need have no suspicion that these
feud stories were transported from some former home to Mi-
cronesia. The rivalry between black-skin and brown-skin, as re-
spectively typified by Nareau and the people of Taburimai, arose
in the Gilbert Islands, as its intimate association with local place
names alone suggests. Further, all the Gilbertese-speaking com-
munities remember these Nareau exploits and all are agreed as
to the names of the particular islands on which the events took
place.
The narratives show clearly that black-skinned Nareau was
the original settler, while brown-skinned Taburimai was the in-
truder; and these are notable facts for, in the ultimate blend of
293
Tungaru Traditions
race theogonies and traditions, it is Nareau, the invaded, whose

vile tricks upon the invaders are always successful. From this
we are to gather that, though Taburimai and his light-skinned
companions were strong enough to force a footing on the is-
lands, they eventually lost their preponderance, and were ab-
sorbed into the darker indigenes, whose creating spirit thus tri-
umphed over that of the conquerors. Nevertheless, the balance
of power could never have swung very violently from party
to party, for though the creator of the black people reigned
supreme, he reigned in a universe otherwise constructed on
a Polynesian model: the Beginning was a darkness (Bo) and a
cleaving together (Maki) of the elements, in true Maori style.
Presuming this basic concept to belong to the races classified
as Polynesian, it is safe to suppose that Taburimai the brown-
skin and his people contributed it as their share of the confused
cosmogony before us. Further, it was the paradise of the brown
man that the amalgamated races eventually accepted, and it
is Taburimai, Tabuariki, and the like who are now the objects
of the ancestral cult from end to end of the group. Why, then,
should the black Nareau reign supreme? The answer seems
to be that the brown folk, having invaded the islands with a
power sufficient to establish their religious system, were never-
thesless at a later date forced to admit the ascendancy of the
Nareau people, whose god was then enthroned on the apex of
the structure.
Such a process might have been caused by some local up-
heaval, which reversed the fortunes of the respective peoples;
or it may have been brought about by the mere cramming of the
two races into the narrow confines of the islands and the impor-
tation of black wives into the households of the invaders.
NAUBWEBWE TRADITIONS
That a black folk was once in subjection to a brown seems to
be clearly shown by the Naubwebwe traditions, where we see
Naubwebwe portrayed as one of the bogeys who block the way
of the departed souls to the land of Matang. Matang is pal-
pably a paradise of the brown men, for it is inhabited by the
blonde Tituabine, whose fathers were Tangaroa and Timirau,
well known as fair-skins throughout Polynesia. 1 Naubwebwe,
on the other hand, is an old black man, evidently no relation
of the beings in Matang. His look is slavish; his occupation of
cleaning up rubbish on the road is that of a slave; he grins
294
and grimaces like an idiot—or a slave, for the word rang ap-
plied to him in the context has both significations in Gilbertese;
and he is dumb, which is the first mark of slavery in the es-
timation of the Islanders. Yet evidences of a former greatness
still cling about him: his art is the wau ‘cat’s-cradle’, of which
he is the presiding deity, and in the changing patterns of the
wau, as old men assert, an expert could portray the successive
stages of creation. By his cat’s-cradle, then, we may connect
Naubwebwe with some forgotten creation myth, and it is quite
possible that we have in him the creating spirit (or the high
priest of a creating spirit) of a black people, flung into Hades
and branded with slavery by the brown Matang-race. Evidently
of the same complexion, and probably of the same obliterate
theogony as Naubwebwe, are those dark-skinned, huge-eared,
red-eyed, and cannibalistic hags who collaborate with him in
barring the soul’s progress to Paradise.
Turning now from the account of the spirit Naubwebwe to
that of the man, or rather the eponymous clan, we see him first
pictured as the uncouth slave of the king of Tarawa, burning
his fingers at the cooking fire (a menial post), and getting his
head broken for his pains. This is very much in keeping with
the colours in which the Naubwebwe bogey is painted in the
Matang myth; the condition of a god reflects the fate of his
people.
But eventually, as the story shows, Naubwebwe made a
lucky marriage, and with the help of his sons threw off the yoke
of serfdom; he fled from island to island, relentlessly chased
by his masters. At last, on the island of Tabiteuea, he was
no longer persecuted by them, for the erstwhile slave and his
sons “were very strong, and their family was mighty on Tabi-
teuea. So it is until this day.” It would be very pertinent if we
could now show the god of the Naubwebwe folk elevated, by
this reversal in the fortunes of his eponyms, into a position
of honour in the Gilbertese pantheon. But we cannot, first,
because the successes of the clan were not of a scope far-
reaching enough to affect the religious system of the Gilbertese
race, and secondly, because the gods of Nimanoa, with whom
Naubwebwe made his fortunate alliance, are those which their
descendants have adopted. Nevertheless, in Nareau himself,
the supreme, I apprehend that we see the god of people to
whom the Naubwebwe clan was originally related. His ascen-
dancy, and the amalgamation of the black and brown races
in the Gilbert Group, had been accomplished at a date much
earlier than the Nimanoa-Naubwebwe alliance, which happened
295
Tungaru Traditions
in about A.D. 1250; but to just such turnings of the table be-
tween the conflicting peoples as those now under discussion, I
think we may attribute the pre-eminence of Nareau.
The Naubwebwe clan was, as I believe, a fraction of the
black Nareau race, which had been reduced to slavery early in
the struggle between autochthon and invader and therefore had
not taken part in the fusion of the two stocks. Thus it remained
of pure blood, and in subjection to the kings of Tarawa, until an
alliance with the Nimanoa clan from Samoa gave it power, in the
thirteenth century, to break its bonds and establish itself even-
tually on the island of Tabiteuea.
THE FOOLS AND DEAF-MUTES (BABA MA BONO)

A most interesting litter of personalities is the Company of
Fools and Deaf-mutes, who, in nearly every creation story of
the Gilbert Group, are said to have been Nareau’s assistants
or slave spirits in the lifting of heaven. Their confusion forms
a notable commentary on the postulate that interpermeation
rather than stratification of theogonies takes place when two
alien races are cribbed together within very narrow areas.
Sandwiched between heaven and earth in the first darkness
lie the Baba ma Bono, huddled, as it were, into that convenient
limbo without respect for colour or association. Some are
plainly related to the brown-skins, others as clearly to the dark
race. Several have the rags of a former prestige still clinging to
them, but of the vast majority all distinguishing features save
the bare names have been swallowed up in forgetfulness. Their
names are legion (hundreds are known to the native historians
of the group), but dark or fair, obscure or distinguished in the
parts they are said to have played in creation, they are united
by a common brand: they were slaves; they were senseless and
inert in their dark places between heaven and earth until their
master Nareau bade them arise and do his work. 2
The commonest form of tale in which one hears of the Fools
and Deaf-mutes is exemplified by the Nonouti creation myth.
According to this typical account, they were not created by
Nareau, but were found asleep by him when he entered be-
tween heaven and earth. Their position reminds us at once of
the children of Rangi and Papa in the Maori myth, and it is
very interesting to note that the epithets applied to them by
Nareau are precisely Rang and Baba. These words, in modern
Gilbertese, mean respectively “mad” (or “slavish”) and
296
“foolish.” The inference is that the names of Rangi the Clear

Sky and Papa the Earth Mother have fallen into such contempt
with this race that they are now only applied to slaves, madmen,
or idiots, and this seems to point to the subjugation of a Rangi
and Papa people at some remote period in the history of one an-
cestral branch of the Islanders. Some faint reminiscence of the
grief of Rangi and Papa when separated seems still to lurk in a
song of Nareau, of which the opening words are, “Hark, hark!
How it groans.”
A curious Maiana account of creation, which goes nearer to
an idea of an absolute Nareau than any other version, shows us
how the Fools and Deaf-mutes were made from maggots by the
creator. The same idea is presented in one of Turner’s Samoan
tales of how men and women grew from maggots on the creeper
planted by Turu, daughter of the heavenly Tangaloa.
Accounts of the Baba ma Bono become confusing in the cre-
ation myths remaining for reference. A Beru version makes no
mention of them in its rough prefatory cosmology, but places
Riki the Eel, who by all other records was the chief of their
number, under the Tree of Abatoa as Nareau’s earliest ancestor.
In an equally rude cosmology constructed on Polynesian
lines, a second Beru version descends the Baba ma Bono from
Sand and Water in two successive generations. The elder gen-
eration consists of Riki the Eel, Tabakea the Turtle, two Sting
Rays, and an unnamed multitude of others. These are born
without senses, but their senior brother and sister, Na Atibu
and Teakea (who are not Deaf-mutes) beget a second generation
consisting of Teikawai ‘The Eldest’, Nei Marena ‘The Woman Be-
tween’, Te Nao ‘The Wave’, and Na Kika ‘The Octopus’, who also
remain senseless until raised by Nareau the Younger. The most
important of these will now be discussed.
NA ATIBU AND NEI TEAKEA

Evidently in the account of Na Atibu and his wife Nei Teakea
we have a form of the eastern Polynesian myth of Vatea, the
noonday god, whose name is also variously rendered Avatea,
Atea, and Wakea, according to dialect, and of whom the right
eye is the Sun and the left eye the Moon. But a curious trans-
position has taken place in the Gilbertese tradition: Na Atibu’s
eyes make the luminaries, while Vatea, under the name Akea,
becomes his sister-wife.
297
Tungaru Traditions
In another myth we find that the Sun and the Moon are
believed by some to have been made from a sting ray’s eyes,
and this concatenates that fish and Vatea for us. Now the sting
ray in Gilbertese story is essentially the creature of Tituabine
the blonde, and she was the daughter of one Timirau and Tan-
garoa. Turning to Mangaian myth, we learn that Timirau was
the younger brother of Vatea.
We can hardly avoid the inference that there must have ex-
isted a close relation between Gilbertese Tituabine and Poly-
nesian Akea, Vatea, Atea, or Wakea. And as Tituabine and
Timirau are the centre of the fair-haired and fair-skinned group
of beings, we would attach Akea to the same company and con-
jecture that the ideas connected with this personality were a
legacy to Gilbertese myth from the brown-skinned folk.
It is worth pointing out that our account invests the persons
of Akea and Na Atibu with a particular dignity. They are not
classed as Fools and Deaf-mutes; they were the only children
of Water and Sand who had senses at birth. They profit by
the peculiar prestige of the fair-skinned deities. But it seems
probable that Akea as a god was already on the decline when
the mythologies of brown and black folk blended, being over-
shadowed by Tituabine, the most venerated ancestral deity of
the brown race, who has plainly also superseded Timirau, her
so-called father, in the sovereignty of Motu-tapu ‘the Sacred
Isle’ or, as it is called by the Gilbertese, Matang.
I think it probable that the brown-skinned invaders of the
Gilbert Islands arrived with only Akea and Tituabine in the fair-
skinned department of their pantheon, the former as a vague
memory, the latter as their most glorious goddess. Timirau was
not yet included. Percy Smith seems to show that Timirau (or
Tinirau) was an historical personage, who flourished c. A.D. 450,
and lived for a time on Upolu. In the view of that great Poly-
nesian scholar, it may have been Tinirau’s connection with a
famous fishpond on Upolu which caused him, when later he
came to be deified, to be called King-of-all-fish. But Tituabine is
also called Queen-of-all-fish in the Gilbert Islands; and in view of
two further coincidences—the similarity of Tinirau’s Sacred Isle
and Tituabine’s Isle of Matang, and the reputed fairness of skin
distinguishing each alike—it seems to me that Tinirau’s mirac-
ulous attributes were inherited by him from no local sources in
Polynesia, but from the same ancient race-memory whence Titu-
abine derived hers. It appears that the race memory of Matang,
at least, can be traced back to Indonesia.
298
When the brown invaders of the Gilbert Group had amalga-

mated with the black autochthones, they migrated to Samoa,
where they stayed for a very long time. There most probably
they absorbed the Tinirau tradition, the more easily because
of the similarity of its salient features with those of their Akoa
(Vatoa)-Tituabine records; thus we account for the god’s resi-
dence in the Isle of Matang, and his position as father or uncle,
but still the subject, of the glorious Tituabine.
NA KIKA THE OCTOPUS

I cannot with certainty place Na Kika. In the Gilbert Group, he
is still associated with a white shell (one of the Cypraea) used
for personal adornment and for garnishing the ridge-pole of
houses. This shell is said to ward off evil fortune. In Samoa, the
Fe‘e ‘Octopus’ was a village god of eminence, also connected
with a white shell (Cypraea ovula), which was suspended in the
house of the priest, according to Turner. If through this link we
are to identify Na Kika with the Fe‘e of Samoa, we have in him
a very ancient Polynesian deity, because, rightly or wrongly, the
Samoans connect the octopus god with those archaic megalithic
remains on Upolu called le fale o le fe‘e ‘the house of the oc-
topus’. But even if this is so, I am inclined to think that Na Kika
is a deity borrowed from the Samoans during the sojourn of the
Gilbertese ancestors on Upolu, because there appears to be no
genealogical connection between him and any of the families at
present in the Gilbert Islands.
TABAKEA THE TURTLE

Tabakea may almost certainly be classed as one of the chief
gods of the black race. He appears in two myths as the origi-
nator of the fire-sticks; he is mentioned generally up and down
the Gilbert Group as one of the Fools and Deaf-mutes; he is
known as the patron of several forms of divination, formerly
much used; and again, by a widespread tradition reflected in a
Butaritari myth, he is reputed still to haunt the eastern shore
of every island, where the souls of all dead men come to him
to be directed to the land of shades. His name is attached to
many island landmarks, especially to rocks and stones of more
than usual size, which predisposes one to believe that his people
were early settlers. In the history of the ancestor Temamanng,
299
Tungaru Traditions
we have a pertinent support to such a belief. The tale begins,

“The man Naunge and the woman Riaua grew on the island of
Beru; they had been there for all time, for they were not of
the Samoan breed.” The grandchild of these people was the an-
cestor Temamanng; to find a name for him his parents took him
to the various gods of the sea-shore in turn, until they came to
Tabakea on the northern tip of Beru.
Tabakea was clearly, therefore, a god of the earliest known
inhabitants of the islands. In one fire myth, and in many another
tradition, he was called the father of Nareau. I think we may be
fairly certain that he was a god of the dark-skinned folk, which
is all that need be shown at present.
RIKI THE EEL

The evidence that we have of Riki the Eel seems to show that he
was an ancestral god of the dark race, but I would not care to
dogmatize on this. There are hosts of major and minor eel gods
all over the Pacific. From Turner’s account of Samoa we gather
that many village deities, quite unrelated to one another, were
associated with this creature, whose widespread cult among the
Islanders is not surprising—as a seafaring folk they could hardly
fail to be impressed by the qualities of the Pacific conger.
Riki’s affinities with Polynesia are rather vague, but as the
lifter of heaven he seems to have some relationship with the
eel god of Samoa called Fuai Langi, the Beginner of Heaven. In
Ru, the sky supporter of Mangaian myth, there are also some
faint reminiscences of his personality; Ru dwelt in Avaiki, the
ancestral homeland, and he was the father of Maui. Riki dwelt
in the First Land under the First Tree and was the ancestor of
Nareau. Between the characters of Nareau and Maui, as also
between some of their exploits, we shall later observe some
remarkable similarities. This, then, is the first affinity between
Ru and Riki. In the myth of Manihiki, Ru and Maui raised the sky
by lying, kneeling, standing, and pushing with their arms in suc-
cession, and this reminds us of the Nonouti account of the lifting
of heaven, in which Riki played so large a part. Maui flung Ru
into the sky; Nareau did the same for Riki. It seems just possible
that in the Riki-Nareau stories we have a set of traditions de-
rived from the same source as the Ru-Maui tales.
North of the Gilbert Group, in the Marshall Islands, there
is a belief that the worm Ullip enlarged the vault of heaven by
pushing it with sticks; from a swelling in his brow was then born
300
a progeny of star-gods. The form of Ullip the Worm is analogous

to that of Riki the Eel; his instrument for expanding heaven
is reminiscent of the beam used by the Fools and Deaf-mutes,
according to the Nonouti account; while the birth of his sons
from a swelling in the brow is the same as that of Nareau from
Tabakea’s forehead in the fire myth and other tales. Lastly, Ullip
was the father of star-gods; Riki’s body became the Milky Way.
But the most considerable information about Riki comes
from the Gilbert Group. His name, like that of Tabakea, is at-
tached to many landmarks, which argues, as I believe, a very an-
cient associatior with the place. On Beru, Nikunau, and Aranuka
are famous fish and eel ponds, of natural configuration, reputed
to have been made by Riki’s convulsions on falling from heaven.
The island of Tarawa is said to have been cut up by him into its
numerous component islets when, his work of lifting the skies
completed, he wriggled back to the sea; another tradition re-
lates how, when his task was finished, “He fell slanting, as a
coconut tree” and, lying in the ocean, solidified, to become the
island of Nikunau.
There is a notable reference to this ancestral being, or his
clans, in the opening words of a Beru tale: “When Nareau had
begotten children on the Woman of the South, he went over
the ocean and lay with … the Woman of the North; and he
begot children on her, a slavish breed, Taburimai and Riki,
the children of the northern Woman.” The tale, it must be re-
membered, is told by a modern Gilbertese race whose forefa-
thers were so long on Samoa that they believed themselves
autochthons of that land. It is somewhat startling, therefore,
to hear from them, a Taburimai folk, that there was another
Taburimai in the north, who with Riki shared the brand of
slavery. In my submission this means that the Taburimai folk of
the north were the ancestors of the Taburimai folk who went
to Samoa; when the latter were driven out of Upolu, they re-
turned to the Gilbert Islands, fought with their own ancestral
kin, enslaved them, and thus stigmatized them in subsequent
traditions with a servile name.
The coupling together of Taburimai’s and Riki’s names in the
text is significant: each represents a people. Taburimai was of
one racial type, Riki of another—in fact, of the dark-skinned folk
who produced Nareau and Naubwebwe. We seem to find some
confirmation of this conjecture in the cosmology introducing the
Beru myth which sets Riki under the first ancestral tree on the
land of Abatoa, and names him as the lineal ancestor of Nareau.
Taken in conjunction with the suggestion of the Tabiteuean
301
Tungaru Traditions
version which descends Nareau from Nanokai and Nano-maka,

the two great eels, it affords reasonable grounds for believing
that Riki the Eel was an ancestral god of the dark-skinned race,
and possibly a submerged creating spirit of the Nareau clans.
Nevertheless, it must be remembered that the brown people
of Taburimai did not arrive from Indonesia as a pure race. From
the description of their physique already commented upon, it
is plain that they had a good deal of the Melanesian in them
and therefore their pantheon must have contained an element
of dark gods before the intrusion of the Nareau-Tabakea deities.
It is possible that Riki was one of these. If he was, he must
have had some affinities with the new gods with whom he came
in contact—certainly a likeness of complexion, and perhaps a
common origin—because in the mixture of systems now before
us he seems, by his own essential characteristics, to ally himself
with the dark-skins.
From the chaos of the Darkness and Cleaving Together, we
have thus in a cursory fashion attempted to allocate to their
respective people two groups of gods. The Akea-Tituabine-Tan-
garoa class belongs unquestionably to the brown Taburimai
race and is essentially Polynesian in character; the Tabakea-
Nareau-Riki element appears to go to the Melanesians. Of the
many Fools and Deaf-mutes mentioned by name through the
Gilbert Group, some are called plainly beroro ‘black’, while
others are said to have uraura ‘red’ or ‘brown’. Everything in
our evidence goes to show that these colours were character-
istic of the races to whom they belonged. So black man and
brown man did indeed meet, and fight, and ultimately mingle on
the islands of the Gilbert Group.
302
A Genealogical Approach to
Gilbertese History
It is very difficult indeed to get a reliable genealogy in the

Gilbert Islands. Even the elders of the race, who now alone care
to remember the family traditions for more than nine or ten
generations back, admit that they themselves have forgotten
much and that their grandfathers before them were often at
fault. There are several good reasons for this process of decay.
First, social development in the atolls appears to have stopped
at the primitive patriarchal stage. If the race ever did, in the
course of its Samoan sojourn, produce a priestcraft (and there
seems a possibility that it did) its ultimate settlement among the
rustic surroundings of the scattered Micronesian islands very
quickly set back the social and religious clock. The difficulty of
wringing a bare subsistence from the sandy soil, the absence
of barbaric colour in flower and bird, the scarcity and crudity
of building material, the want of decorative stuffs, the lack of
river, rock, mountain, and valley, all had their effect on the
minds and methods of the people, and in the course of centuries
must certainly have narrowed their interests, provincialized
their outlook, disembellished their ritual, and profoundly sim-
plified their every religious observance. Again, the distribution
of the families piecemeal over a score of incoherent atolls could
not fail to disrupt any tribal cult which a priestcraft may have
established, and the result was a return to the only possible
system that could live for long in these rural and isolated com-
munities: the patriarchal regime and the cult of the ancestral
god. Thus tribal gods disappeared and with them went the
priests. It was the decay of the sacred caste that, in all proba-
bility, first endangered the purity of the island genealogies, for
throughout Polynesia the priestly college has always been the
repository of family and tribal tradition. It is true that the elders
of every household had the family generations also by heart, so
as to keep a check upon the accuracy of the priests, but the test
303
Tungaru Traditions
was mutual and the record a double one. When the sacred caste
disappeared the individual families had no referee in cases of
doubt, and the genealogies soon suffered.
But the event that most profoundly affected the purity of
the family records was a local war of nine generations ago,
in which a host of warriors from the island of Beru, aided
by numerous allies from Nikunau, swept forth to conquer the
whole group from south to north. Beginning with the utter con-
quest of Onotoa, Tabiteuea, and Nonouti, this swarm under the
victorious leadership of two heroes named Kaitu and Uakeia,
proceeded to win a footing and leave powerful chiefs in resi-
dence upon every unit of the archipelago northward as far as
Marakei. It is not to be supposed that a host emanating from
two islands of such dimensions as Beru and Nikunau could
have entirely subjugated the rest in its own generation. But the
chiefs it left established in the various districts of each unit
were powerful and skilful enough to consolidate their positions;
and within a few generations their descendants were the prin-
cipal landowners on every island of the group. On Abaiang and
Abemama they succeeded in wrecking the ancient democratic
scheme of the Islanders and erecting on its ruins a dynastic
system of kings or high chiefs who have held power until today.
And so sweeping was the final effect of the war of Kaitu and
Uakeia on land ownership throughout the Gilbert Group that
the native of today needs only to prove his descent from one of
those victorious chiefs of Beru in order to establish his title to
any given plot of land.
The traditions of every island, after the conquest from Beru,
naturally underwent a gradual levelling process. On Onotoa and
Tabiteuea, where defeat had been sudden and overwhelming,
local myths and genealogies must have been obscured almost at
once, for defeat means slavery and slaves have no family honour
left them to preserve. On other islands, such as Abemama,
where the dominance of the invaders took several generations
to spread from a single occupied district, the decay was slower
but not the less sure. In the course of time the traditions of
all the invaded atolls took their colour from Beru alone, and
thus we are left today with what amounts generally to the trans-
planted traditions of a single unit. This generalization is not
absolute, of course; there were certain groups of villages up
and down the islands which never actually admitted defeat by
the warriors of Kaitu and Uakeia, and although intermarriage
with victorious families has gradually dimmed their original
records, some few fragments of these are still to be found. Nev-
304
A Genealogical Approach to Gilbertese History
ertheless, such traditions are neither typical nor authoritative in

the native mind, and the genealogies of which they once formed
the prelude are gone forever.
It was the overthrow of all preceding land tenures
throughout the group by the war of Kaitu and Uakeia that
gave impetus to the decay of Gilbertese genealogy. For the very
foundation of the social scheme was land ownership, and the
very raison d’être of the genealogy in these small and crowded
islands was its proof of a clear title to possession. The last
judgment on land ownership was delivered (in the mind of the
modern Gilbertese) by the war of Kaitu and Uakeia, nine gener-
ations ago. Nine generations are therefore all that a man need
essentially remember today of his ancestry.
With the greybeards indeed it is rather different. They still
retain some sentimental regard for the lore of their grandsires,
but even to them the war from Beru is so epochal an event that
they use it as a dividing line between historic and legendary
times. All that has happened since they call Aomata ‘Human’;
all that went before was Anti ‘Ghostly’. Of the Ghostly period
there is only one series of events in which they take any vivid
interest at all, and that is the coming of their ancestors from
Samoa, together with the doings of their more immediate de-
scendants in the group. As a matter of fact, these events, as we
shall see later, occupied at least ten generations, and in their
history we may trace the bitter turmoil that reigned in the is-
lands while the Samoan invaders and their children were set-
tling down. During such a period of unrest, when every chieftain
strove to keep or to expand the possessions won by his Samoan
ancestor, and when the ambitious kings of Tarawa were stalking
through the group with intent to subjugate every unit to their
sway, great deeds of war were naturally performed and great
heroes arose of whose names and exploits a later age has found
it easy to remember some scraps. The old men are still able,
therefore, to record a little true history of the first ten genera-
tions that succeeded the Samoan invasion, though (it must be
added at once) their accounts are garbled and obscured by the
wonderful, while no one chronicler has in his single possession
the complete tale of generations. Nevertheless, the latter can be
recovered by cross-checking accounts from island to island, for
they fell within a period of which everyone remembers some-
thing.
But it was historically natural that a time of comparative
quietude should supervene upon that era of initial unrest. The
ambitious families were either satisfied or defeated; wars on a
305
Tungaru Traditions
large scale ceased; the population had been shuffled and sorted;
it settled down to consolidate its possession; an age of agri-
culture followed. No great heroes arose because nothing hap-
pened to evoke a hero; nothing in fact happened to recommend
this period with its generations to the memory or imagina-
tion of the modern race. It seems almost by accident that any
records of it are preserved at all. Militating against the ac-
curacy of those that have indeed survived is the native habit
of handing traditions, not from father to son, but from grand-
father to grandson. Among races which have priestly colleges,
or possess a system of land-tenure which obliges them to keep
their genealogies pure for many dozens of generations, this
habit would not necessarily cause confusion. But the Gilbert Is-
lands have neither the one nor the other. In order to prove titles
to land they need to go back only nine generations with exac-
titude. Beyond that point it seems that their genealogies have
a tendency to skip backwards from grandson to grandfather,
omitting alternate generations.
Thus, in surveying the family trees back from the war of
Kaitu and Uakeia through the quiet agricultural period, and
indeed also through the era of unrest to the coming from
Samoa, we must be prepared for a loss of anything up to fifty
per cent of the names as recorded by any one authority. Very
often the loss is far greater than this, as a single example will
show. In the final paragraph of the tale of Naubwebwe are
given one or two generations of the descendants of Beia and
Tekai. 1 Their son was Teboi, whose wife Komao “bore him the
girl Tabiria, the greatest of all the chieftainesses of Nonouti.”
Turning to a better-preserved genealogy of the same line from
Nui [Ellice Islands] we find that Tabiria was not the daughter
but the great-great-granddaughter of Teboi and Komao. 2 Thus
three generations are found to have been cleared in one leap by
the Tarawa chronicle.
But the Nui authority would not necessarily condemn the
Tarawa historian for such a lapse; he would argue that the chief-
tainess Tabiria was correctly called natin Teboi ‘the child of
Teboi’, because she was descended from him in the direct line.
If pressed for his definition of a “direct line” he would then
uphold (and have the backing of every competent native au-
thority in his contention) that this not only includes steps from
father to son and mother to daughter, but also from uncle to
nephew, aunt to niece. In examining our genealogies we must
therefore accept these titular sons and daughters, fathers and
mothers with a great deal of reserve. The same applies to our in-
306
terpretation of the word tibu, which may mean equally well: an-
cestor or ancestress, grandparent or grandchild, adoptive child
or grandchild, or merely “descendant to the nth degree.” It has
a more puzzling sense still when used to indicate the relative
seniority of two collateral lines descended from a common an-
cestor. Supposing one of these lines to have sprung from the
eldest son of such an ancestor and the other to have branched
off through a younger great-grandson or great grand-nephew,
any member of the former may call himself tibu to any member
of the latter. Tibu may thus be translated “belonging to the
parent stock” when the relation is clear; but when the word
crops up without explanation as a commentary on a frag-
mentary list of names purporting to be some family’s genealogy
for six or seven centuries, its many possible meanings are con-
fusing, not only to the foreigner, but also to the Gilbertese, who
learned to use it parrot-wise in a certain place from his long-
dead grandsires.
It may be laid down as an absolute rule that no one man
or family of modern days is in possession of a genealogy that
will lead us back without a break to the days of the Samoan in-
vaders. A couple have been given me that bridge the gap be-
tween now and then in twelve generations—nine to the war of
Kaitu and Uakeia, and three beyond! The lists of names gen-
erally number between eighteen and twenty-one; I have one
that gives twenty-three generations. But fortunately, by com-
paring local records of the same ancestral lines from island to
island we are able to build up a fuller tale, which, if not all that
might be desired, is still a better account than any individual
Gilbertese could give, and capable of proof so far as it goes.
The history of the race as we know it at present has been
seen to fall naturally into three chief periods:
The Age of Unrest, an era of legends immediately following
upon the arrival from Samoa and continuing until the invaders
and their descendants had finished fighting among themselves
for their footholds in the group. This was succeeded by:
The Rustic Age, of which we have hardly any records, and
during which the people settled down to the humdrum of petty
island life, until their peace was again destroyed by the war of
Kaitu and Uakeia;
The Modern Age, called Human by the Gilbertese, which fol-
lowed the conquest of the group by the swarm from Beru and
lasted until the coming of the British flag in 1892. Of this era
the Gilbertese records are clear.
307
Tungaru Traditions
Genealogically speaking, the first of these ages began with

the names of the ancestors who arrived from Samoa and ended
with the accession to power of a certain famous Beru chieftain
named Tanentoa. The last, or Modern, age began with the
names of the conquering chieftains of Beru, who established
their families on the various islands; it ends with the present-
day inhabitants of the group.
The middle, or Rustic, age must therefore be filled in with
the generations still preserved for us between Tanentoa of Beru
and the chieftains of Kaitu and Uakeia.
For purposes of analysis the genealogies of the islands may
thus be examined in three groups of generations, classified in
accordance with the historical periods above indicated. Our en-
quiry will begin with the modern group and work backwards to
the comers from Samoa.
THE MODERN GENERATIONS

As a basis for the discussion of the modern generations we may
take the names in columns 1 and 2 of Genealogy 1 (Table 7).
The first list is from an account given to me on Tabiteuea by a
certain Kabua; the second came from Ten Teeko of Abemama, a
cousin to the present high chief, Bauro, and it was corroborated
on the island by a specially convened council of family elders.
Both records give an identical account, name for name, back to
Tem Mwea, who established the line on Abemama. 3 This per-
sonage was one of the warriors in Kaitu and Uakeia’s host from
Beru.
The similarity of the records from two separate islands and
the unanimity of evidence among the local authorities of
Abemama itself invite our special confidence in this account
of Tem Mwea’s generations. So compact and clear also is the
detail still remembered of his descendants in the chiefly line,
including their deeds, personalities, marriages, deaths, and the
circumstances under which each one succeeded to power, that
no reasonable doubt can arise as to the completeness of the line
as given by Abemama and Tabiteuea alike. I have three records
of collaterals to the main stock exhibited. One of these shows
nine adult male generations back to the common ancestor Tem
Mwea; the other two show ten generations each, consisting of
eight males and two females. As women married considerably
younger than men the discrepancy is not only understandable
but a guarantee of accuracy.
308
Table 7. Genealogy 1: Generations from the contemporaries of Kaitu

and Uakeia
ABEMAMAN GENERATIONS [BY SOURCE] KABUA’S ANCESTORS
KABUA ON TABITEUEA TEN TEEKO ON ABEMAMA KABUA ON TABITEUEA
Tem Mwea Tem Mwea Kauatoro I
Teannaki Teannaki Karibatataua
Tetabo Tetabo Kauatoro II
Namoriki Namoriki Teraeua
Teng Karotu Teng Karotu Tekirara I
Tem Baiteke Tem Baiteke Teekawa
Tem Binoka Tem Binoka Tekirara II
Bauro Bauro Kabua
Tokatake Tokatake Kaikai
Kabua, the Tabiteuean chronicler who furnished me with

the list of Abemaman chiefs at column 1 of Table 7, also gave
me his own line of descent, which appears in column 3. This
shows the name of Kauatoro I at the ninth generation back, and
Kauatoro I was one of the warriors of the Beruan host, who
succeeded in establishing himself on the northern end of Tabi-
teuea. Men only appear in this list. Another male Tabiteuean
line shows at the ninth generation back the name of Taoroba
of Beru, another warrior of the conquering swarm, as his name
and title indicate. This last genealogy actually shows only seven
names from Taoroba of Beru to Te Kawakawa, my authority,
but Te Kawakawa is a very old man with a great-grandson who
has reached puberty, so that two generous generations may be
added to the list. 4 Last of all, a Beruan line again shows nine
generations back to Tenangibiri, who was a contemporary and
kinswoman of the hero Kaitu himself. She certainly makes a
female ninth, but it is quite possible that she bore her first child
309
Tungaru Traditions
later in life than the average Gilbertese woman. 5 It would be

tedious to pile up instances. I have seen genealogies leading
back to that period from Tarawa, Nonouti, Maiana, Nikunau,
and Abaiang, and all of them give a like testimony. Where the
lists were of males only, there were nine names; where either
one or two women were named there were sometimes nine,
sometimes ten generations.
I have had in my possession a list from Nui, an Ellice Island,
which tells the same tale. This island was populated by fugitives
from Tarawa, Nonouti, and Tabiteuea when they were over-
whelmed by the Beruan warriors, and the speech used there to
this day is Gilbertese. The generations of those fugitives (given
to me by the old man Anetipa) are nine in total. 6
It remains to add that in nearly every line exhibited, the last
name shown is that of a man or woman of over thirty-five, who
has a child already arrived at the age of puberty, and so for
the purpose of reckoning time another half generation must be
added to the nine which have been established. In multiplying
9½ by the number of years in a Gilbertese generation we shall
therefore be able to find approximately what was the date of the
war of Kaitu and Uakeia.
The age at which a male Gilbertese married and procreated
lay somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years. The actual
date of a young man’s marriage depended upon the length of
time it took him to pass through his initiation into full manhood,
while the inception of that initiation depended again on the lad’s
physical development. A healthy, lusty boy might begin younger
than a weakling, but as a rule it was not muscular development
that was watched so much as the growth of axillary and pectoral
hairs. When these were well in evidence and not before, the boy
was considered ripe enough to be “made into a man,” and this,
among a people not given to great hairiness, would not normally
be until he was twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Taking his
age to be twenty-three at the beginning of the initiation period,
we must allow a minimum of three years for the completion of
the various rites he must undergo. At one stage, for example,
the youth was sent to live on the eastern side of the island in
a new hut, of which the pandanus thatch must begin to rot and
leak ere he could leave it. This might, in a succession of dry
seasons, take four or five years; in rainy periods it might not
take half that time; normally it would occupy about two and a
half years. Reckoning three years to cover this isolation stage
together with its preliminary and subsequent rites, our youth
of twenty-three emerges as a rorobuaka ‘fully grown warrior’
310
at the age of twenty-six and, supposing him to marry and pro-

create within a year of his “coming of age,” he is already twenty-
seven years old by the time his first child is born.
Twenty-seven years may thus be taken as the average length
of a male Gilbertese generation, and if we were dealing with ex-
clusively male genealogies we might safely multiply the number
of our generations by twenty-seven in reckoning back to any
given period. But many Gilbertese names may be given equally
well to men or women, and where sex is not definitely specified
in the lines recorded, we cannot be sure whether we are dealing
with male or female ancestors. Pains have been taken to exhibit
genealogies in which men preponderate, and females have been
indicated where possible, but chances of error have not been
eliminated altogether. There may be other names of women
among them; and women married and bore children a great
deal earlier than men. We must make a general provision for
this in our reckoning by somewhat reducing the length of a gen-
eration, and we shall not be very far out in taking the convenient
figure of twenty-five years as a standard for future calculations.
In fact, even when we are dealing with lines in which the names
of women admittedly do not appear, we shall find the twenty-
five standard a very good one to handle, and, as we shall not be
called upon to apply it to more than thirty generations in all, our
result will in the end be only sixty years out with that which we
should have obtained in multiplying by twenty-seven.
At the present day, two years after writing the above [c.
1926–1928], I have read Percy Smith’s Hawaiki, in which the
author for somewhat similar reasons assumes a twenty-five-
year generation for his analysis of Polynesian genealogies. I
agree with Percy Smith that Fornander’s thirty-year basis is ill
adapted to conditions of marriage among Pacific peoples and
am glad in this matter to quote his great authority on my side.
Nine and a half generations of twenty-five years take us
back about 240 years; for purposes of chronology the war of
Kaitu and Uakeia may therefore be dated A.D. 1680. 7 Already
in two and a half centuries, tales of the marvellous begin to
gather about that conflict. The form of the warrior Kaitu looms
enormous in the mists of legend; he was as tall as a coconut-
tree; he could trample a host underfoot; his eyelids were so
huge and heavy that two warriors must sit on his shoulders to
prop them open as he went forth to battle. Even his dog is glo-
rified! Kaitu’s dog was fond of fish, and for that reason alone
the hero is said to have seized as his peculiar property all islets
at lagoon entrances where fish abounded, and all those parts
311
Tungaru Traditions
of the mainland in many islands where fishermen might easily

pursue their calling. It may be true; nothing is unreasonable in
the wars of the Islanders. But such is the strange tendency of
island thought that through his dog the heroic Kaitu now comes
nearest to godhead. For his dog loved fish; therefore he loved
fishermen; therefore the fishermen of Tarawa and the northern
Gilberts to this day propitiate his spirit with offerings ere they
go forth to their labour. Also deified is Kaitu’s kinsman and col-
league Uakeia. No such wizard was ever known in the islands;
unfailingly could he predict the lucky day for a venture; he
spoke with the united wisdom of all ancestral spirits; he never
gave an erring counsel. So today he is the patron spirit of div-
ination and diviners, second only to Nareau in prestige.
THE RUSTIC AGE

Thus already with the personages who ushered in the modern
age we begin to walk among the mists. Yet the genealogies
leading back to their time are clear enough and would remain
so until the land-titles established on all islands by the warriors
from Beru were swept away by another war of equal scope.
Then a new era would begin. The record of Kaitu and Uakeia’s
generations would decay, while the lines springing from the
latest conquerors would be carefully preserved.
Stepping back beyond the war of Kaitu and Uakeia we are
at once in obscurity. However, we have one general direction
for our guidance onward into the remoter past, and this is that
all the lines take us now to the single island of Beru. This is
naturally so: every genealogy on every island leads us back
to one of the conquering Beru families. Certainly, there were
allies from Nikunau in the victorious host, but many of them
returned to their home after the war, and all of them were
kinsmen to their Beruan colleagues. They were, as it would
seem, junior branches of Beru families, who had not been long
settled on Nikunau when the war began and still called them-
selves Beruans. Those of them who settled on the vanquished
islands carried on the Beruan tradition; those who returned to
Nikunau after the war at once set about subjugating the stay-
at-homes on that island, and thus the traditions to be had there
also lead us back to Beru.
The Rustic Age lay between the times of Kaitu and Uakeia
and of a certain famous chieftain on Beru, named Tanentoa.
Judged by the poverty of its records, it was an absolutely
312
eventless period. The only happening of importance that may

definitely be attributed to it is the birth of a bastard child to the
daughter of Tewatu of Matang. We may place this event in the
period under review because we know, by the evidence of the
story, that Tewatu of Matang was a contemporary of Tanentoa
the king, while the bastard child of his so-called daughter was
Te Tonganga, one of the greatest warriors of Kaitu and Uakeia,
who eventually became a chief on Tarawa. Here is the whole
line as given by the Tarawa chronicle: 8
TEWATU OF BEBERIKI: driven from his home by the invasion from

Samoa; went to Tabiteuea and married Tebaibunanikarawa.
TAUTUA OF TABITEUEA: son of the above; quarrelled with his
parents and went to Matang the wonderful, where he
married Abunaba.
TEWATU OF MATANG: son of the above; invaded Beru in the time
of Tanentoa, settled there, and married Tauranga.
TAKEITI OF BERU: daughter of the above; mother of a bastard
who became the famous chieftain whose name follows.
TE TONGANGA: one of Kaitu and Uakeia’s warriors, settled on
Tarawa in A.D. 1680.
If we are to believe the testimony of the Tarawa chronicle

there was only one generation, and a female one at that, be-
tween Tanentoa’s time and that of the Great War. But we must
first test this against the evidence of other genealogies in which
the name of Tewatu of Matang appears. From Tabiteuea we
have a line in which he figures as Tewatu te Baron-atu ‘Tewatu
of the Forelock’—a name sometimes given to him on Tarawa
also. This line shows three generations between Tewatu of the
Forelock and Kauatoro I, who was a collateral and contem-
porary of Te Tonganga; thus the Tarawan list must have dropped
at least two generations belonging to the Rustic Age.
Three generations to this period is the number most usually
found in the records of the chroniclers. For another example of
this, we turn to a line that has already been referred to—that of
the Abemaman high chiefs (see Table 7, columns 1 and 2). Be-
tween the Tem Mwea there shown, who was a warrior in Kaitu
and Uakeia’s invading force, and another Tem Mwea who is
known to have been a contemporary of Tanentoa on Beru, there
are three known generations in both the Abemaman and Tabi-
teuean genealogies, as shown below:
313
Tungaru Traditions
By comparing the Abemaman and Tabiteuean records, we

shall be able to add to our knowledge. First of all, we observe
that the names of Merimeri and Tearauatao appear in both.
Their chronological order is inverted, indeed, from version to
version, and the names of their wives are interchanged, but they
with their womenfolk form so solid a block that we dare not
make more than a couple of generations out of them. However,
besides showing these two generations in common, each ac-
count has a name peculiar to itself alone: the Abemaman, that of
Nakibae after Merimeri; the Tabiteuean, that of Teannaki before
Merimeri. Either account has, in fact, retained a name dropped
by the other. We may thus add to the Abemaman list a late
generation remembered by Tabiteuea, and to the Tabiteuean an
early one remembered by Abemama. The synthetic record of
this line then shows four generations to cover the Rustic Age.
It has already been remarked that we must be prepared
for a loss of anything up to fifty per cent of the names in any
genealogy emanating from a single authority. An example was
given which indicated that in certain cases the loss might be
even greater than this. Our examination of specific lines so far
has shown very clearly that the genealogies have suffered at-
trition. If the loss ever did at any time amount to fifty per cent
or more of the names, it is much more likely to have occurred
in this obscure and unheroic period than in any other age of the
island history. Let us apply the theory, taking three generations
as the average number accorded to the period between the
Great War and Tanentoa. Three is fifty per cent of six; therefore
according to our reckoning, six generations, and possibly more,
should be attributed to the period in question. We may check
the result and the theory against the Beruan line in Genealogy
2 (Table 8), which allocates the unprecedented number of eight
generations to this period.
314
The Beruan list came into my hands during the course of a

dispute (in which I was invited to be arbitrator) between two
families descended from Tanentoa, about their respective se-
niority in public assemblies and feasts. Its generations are at-
tested to, not only by the old man Rioiti, whose name is the
last but one, but also by a council of seven other greybeards
of his family. As will be seen, it gives a sequence of seventeen
names from Tanentoa’s time to the present day. From the other
side in the dispute came a list of names covering the same
period in eleven generations, of which nine could be placed in
the Modern Age, leaving two for the Rustic Age. Inasmuch as
these two branches of Tanentoa’s line have lived for centuries
in the same village on Beru, the divergence of their records,
represented by the difference of six 25-year generations, is a
very striking example of the incoherence of island genealogies
in general.
Examining the eight generations in Genealogy 2 (Table 8)
belonging to the Rustic Age, we see that they fall into two
groups of four generations each, the names in the second being
a repetition of those in the first, except that all the wives are dif-
ferent. This duplication of names might seem rather suspicious,
and to the argument that the different wives sufficiently disso-
ciate the groups it might be answered that most Gilbertese men
had several wives in the old days. Are we, then, to suspect that
this is a corrupt record of only four men with two wives each? I
think not. First, it was, and is, by no means uncommon for suc-
cessive Gilbertese generations to bear certain ancestral names
in due rotation. Secondly, the two groups of persons were care-
fully differentiated by my council of greybeards, by attaching
the title Te Ataei ‘The Younger’ to each name in the second set.
Thirdly, we are face to face with genealogies whose tendency is
to waste away, certainly not to increase by gathering to them-
selves illegitimate material. Fourthly, our reckoning on the basis
of a fifty per cent loss in the average genealogy prepares us to
allocate six or more generations to this period. We may, in fact,
accept these eight generations as authentic. In the symmetrical
repetition of the names lies the secret of their preservation; had
they been all different, a good half of them would probably have
been forgotten.
Table 8. Genealogy 2: The Beruan

line
315
Tungaru Traditions
Tanentoa = Nei Beiarung
Ueakau
Bointeora
Raomakang
Teokua
Ueakau II
Bointeora II
Raomakang II
Teokua II
Te Nangibiri
Te Aroko
Baia
Te Maiana
Terenga
Mange
Tama
Rioiti
Tama
There is no evidence known to me indicating that the Rustic

Age lasted for more than eight generations. It may have been
longer, but I am inclined to believe that in the Beru line just ex-
amined the full tale has been told. 9 It will therefore be used for
purposes of reckoning time. Eight generations are 200 years;
316
back to Tanentoa of Beru carries us into a ninth—225 years

before the war of Kaitu and Uakeia. Thus we may date him at
approximately A.D. 1450.
THE AGE OF UNREST

The generation of Tanentoa will keep us still on Beru. But
when we begin to climb past him up the genealogies, we shall
be carried out again into the islands, for he was descended
from a line of Tarawan kings, whose wars of conquest estab-
lished branches of the family on many units of the Gilbert
Group. Some representatives of those branches, notably the
chieftainess Tabiria of Nonouti, achieved a fame no doubt as
great in its day as that of Tanentoa, but the war of Kaitu and
Uakeia threw a shadow over all save Beruan reputation, and
their glory is now obliterated. Tanentoa the Beruan stands forth
pre-eminent among his contemporaries, and through him
mainly speaks the past.
It must, however, be carefully observed that there were
two distinct Tanentoas of Beru, the first of whom, the son of
Matawarebwe, was an ancestor on the distaff side of the second,
as shown in the genealogy below. He married a lady called
Teareintarawa, and by her had a daughter named Teweia. She
married the famous Tarawan, Beia-ma-Tekai, and by him
became the ancestress of the second Tanentoa.
The names and deeds of the two Tanentoas have been so

sadly confused throughout the group that it is hardly possible
to disengage their personalities. But I think there can be no
doubt that the second of the name, whom we are using for our
317
Tungaru Traditions
chronology, was the more illustrious of the two, because he was

a son not only of the ruling house of Beru, but also of the kingly
family of Tarawa.
In the time of this chieftain, that is, about A.D. 1450, came
that remarkable invasion of Beru by a cannibal folk, of which
we have an account in the tale of Tewatu of Matang. 10 That
tale contains a good deal of detail about the invasion and its an-
tecedent history. Stripped of the marvellous, it may be summa-
rized as follows:
When the people of the Tree were scattered from Samoa,

the clans whose totem was the tropic-bird fled to the
Gilbert Islands, as far north as Beberiki or, as it is now
called, Butaritari. There they settled down to a career
of cannibalism, having driven a great many of the in-
digenous people out of the island. But a few of the latter
survived; led by the man Tewatu, they succeeded at
last in gaining a victory over the invaders, by burning
their village, as it would seem. Nevertheless, the Tropic-
bird clans recovered from that defeat and established a
line of warriors (Koura being the first named), who at
last beat Tewatu and his folk out of Butaritari. These
fled southward to Tabiteuea, where they settled for a
while. But in the next generation, they were split up by
a family quarrel, and some of them left the island with
Tautua, son of Tewatu, in search of a new home. They
came at last to Matang, of which land a description is
given in the text. There, Tautua married and had a son,
Tewatu of Matang; it was this personage who invaded
Beru and, according to the story, practised cannibalism
during Tanentoa’s epoch.
The most striking part of the story is its indication of the first
Tewatu’s connection with the land of Matang. This place was
one of the bournes of departed souls, and it was also the home
of Tituabine, the great ancestral goddess of the Gilbertese.
Either one of these traditions is enough to label Matang as one
of the ancient fatherlands of the race. Furthermore, it is essen-
tially a race memory belonging to the people who came from
Samoa, because there was supposed to be a second or sub-
sidiary Matang in the sea by that land, to which the departed
spirit must first turn before proceeding to the first or original
Matang. Now Tewatu did not come from Samoa; he was an au-
tocthon of Butaritari who resisted the Samoan tropic-bird clans
318
when they arrived. Had his ancestors ever come from Samoa,
they would certainly have been remembered, for however poor
the family records may be in the islands the glory of being de-
scended from Samoan stock is never forgotten.
If then Tewatu’s son was able to use Matang as a sanctuary
in time of stress, there is only one inference to be made, which
is that Matang was an ancestral land, not only of the Samoan in-
vaders, but of the people whom they found in the Gilbert Group
when they came. This suggests strongly that invaders and in-
vaded were of the same race, and that the invasion was merely
a return of part of the Samoan offshoot to its older home in Mi-
cronesia.
Returning now to the genealogy of Ten Tanentoa II we find
a gap of three generations left blank between the name of
Tanentoa II and that of his reputed father Beia-ma-Tekai. This
void needs justification. Certainly, the Tarawan tale of Naub-
webwe, 11 which represents the vast majority of group opinion
concerning Beia-ma-Tekai, makes him the actual begetter of
Tanentoa. Further, I know of no coherent set of traditions that
shows any intermediate generations in the direct line between
the two persons. Nevertheless, there is a very persistent
rumour among certain families of the northern Gilberts, that
there were three successive Beia-ma-Tekais, just as there were
three Kiratas before them. From a much considered authority
on Butaritari, named Na Kee, I had it that there were three
Beias, named respectively Beia-ma-Tekai, Beia-raba-raba, and
Beia.
No notable deeds are attributed to the second or third of
the name; if they ever did exist, they were unremarkable per-
sonalities. Sandwiched between the glorious Tanentoa II on one
side and the no less mighty Beia-ma-Tekai on the other, it is
easy to see how they might have lost whatever lustre was theirs,
and how their names might have been absorbed into that of
their more illustrious predecessor. On the strength of mere in-
choate rumour, I have not presumed to use the names of these
persons to reconstruct two of those three generations left blank
on the table, but I cite their reported existence to show that we
cannot be too sure that Tanentoa immediately followed Beia-ma-
Tekai. This prepares our mind the more readily to accept further
evidence that will now be advanced, which emanates from an
examination of the line of Tabiria, a celebrated chieftainess of
Nonouti.
319
Tungaru Traditions
Tabiria’s glory throughout the Gilbert Group is partly es-

tablished on the fact that she was the daughter of Tanentoa’s
sister, Tongabiri. This is recorded in the Tarawan tale of Obaia
the Bird-man and is supported by the unanimous consent of all
competent authorities in the islands. 12 The Nui record, which I
am using to show Tabiria’s parentage, really represents the tra-
dition of the whole group in respect of this line. Its showing is
that on the distaff side our chieftainess was a direct descendant
of Beia-ma-Tekai. This is an essential fact to have established.
Here follows, for more convenient reference, an extract
from the Nui record of Tabiria’s descent on both male and
female sides: 13
From this extract we see that Tabiria was descended, not only
through her mother, but also through her father Kekeia, from
Beia-ma-Tekai. The latter had, in fact, two wives, the one
Teweia, the other Kirirere: from the first sprang the line of
Tanentoa and his sister Tongabiri, from the second that of
Kekeia. The story of Beia-ma-Tekai’s union with both women is
circumstantially given in the Tarawan tale already referred to,
14
of which the details may be corroborated on practically any
island of the group; the story must be regarded as an authentic
account of actual facts.
We observe from the line of Tabiria’s father Kekeia that he
was the great-great-grandson of Beia-ma-Tekai. Is it possible for
us to believe that his wife Tongabiri was the daughter of that
common ancestor? On the mere grounds of disparity in age,
we must rule the idea out. Also, in the Gilbert Islands, no de-
scendants of a common ancestor might marry out of their gen-
eration. Given the fact that Kekeia and Tongabiri did marry,
we must therefore assume the same number of generations to
have removed each of them from Beia-ma-Tekai. Further, the
320
number of intermediate generations could not have been fewer

than three, for not until the fourth had been born could the ban
of consanguinity have been lifted, according to native custom.
15
The line of Kekeia shows the minimum number required,
namely, three; it follows that no fewer than three must have
been forgotten between Tongabiri, his wife, and the common an-
cestor. 16
What applies to Tongabiri applies equally to her brother
Tanentoa. Thus, the rumours on Tarawa and other islands that
at least two more Beias should be shown between him and
Beia-ma-Tekai, are probably well founded, and, whatever the
missing names may have been, we are safe in reckoning the
number of intermediate generations by the standard set in the
line of Tongabiri’s husband. We therefore put Beia-ma-Tekai in
the fourth generation back from Tanentoa, and date him at A.D.
1350. 17
Again, two blank generations should properly be left be-
tween Beia-ma-Tekai and his ancestor Kirata III, but as every
chronicler of repute in the Gilbert Group would have a bone
to pick with me on this point, justification of no uncertain kind
must be sought.
First, we must turn to the line of Teweia, the first of Beia-
ma-Tekai’s wives. Her so-called grandfather was Matawarebwe
who, as will be shown more clearly later, was a contemporary of
Kirata III. If she herself is to be placed by Beia-ma-Tekai, as she
must, we have to leave an intermediate space between the two
chieftains to correspond with the generation of Tanentoa I, her
father. Thus, one of the blanks is accounted for.
Now we know that Tanentoa I was a contemporary of Tewatu
of Matang. Further, as will be proved in a short time, Tewatu’s
grandfather Tewatu was a contemporary of Kirata III. Therefore
between the generation of Tanentoa and that of Kirata III, we
should leave another blank to correspond with that of Tewatu of
Matang’s father Tautua. Collating these lines in tabular form we
have the following results:
321
Tungaru Traditions
Thus both the spaces left blank between Beia-ma-Tekai and

Kirata III can be justified. We therefore date Kirata III at A.D.
1275. But, while we have reasonable grounds for believing that
he lived not later than that, we cannot with certainty claim that
his period was not somewhat earlier: another intervening gen-
eration may easily have evaded our reckoning.
Our study of the Gilbert Group genealogies, as such, must
now come to an end. They have brought us to the threshold of
the era that saw the invasions from Samoa. We shall be able
to trace them back through a few more generations of Tarawa
chiefs, and shall continue to use them for chronological pur-
poses, but our attention will henceforward be principally di-
rected towards the Samoans, to whose respective arrivals they
enable us to affix dates.
THE COMING FROM SAMOA

Placing Tanentoa I in the generation before Beia-ma-Tekai, we
assume his date to have been A.D. 1325. It was a very important
epoch in the history of Beru, for if, as it seems we have a right
to believe, the chief Kirata n Tarawa, whom we are calling more
shortly Kirata III, flourished about A.D. 1250–1275, he lived at
a period of intense activity in the Pacific. The forefathers of the
Maori-Rarotonga branch of the Polynesian race, the so-called
Tonga-fiti, who had already for centuries been troubling the
peace of the islands, had been driven by the first Malietoa from
Samoa in about 1250, 18 and were now thrusting forth branches
into numerous other groups. They colonized Tahiti and the Mar-
quesas before 1300; they settled on Rarotonga a little later; and
by 1350 they had sent forth a swarm to New Zealand. It is sig-
nificant that the flooding of the Gilbert Group by swarms of
warriors from Samoa took place, according to our genealogies,
within a very short time of the expulsion of the Tonga-fiti from
the coasts of Savai‘i and Upolu.
In the tales of Nimanoa, we have a very fair account of the
arrival of one of the Samoan family groups. These Nimanoa tra-
ditions are of very great importance, for the genealogies con-
nected with them on Beru and Nui contain the names of two an-
cestors, Kanii and Taito-kara-nanaro, both of Samoa, and these
can hardly be other than the Karii and Taito-rangi-ngunguru
who appear in Percy Smith’s Rarotongan genealogies, forty-
322
eight and fifty generations back respectively. But, for the mo-
ment, only the coming of Nimanoa to the Gilbert Islands will be
dealt with. 19
The Tarawan version places the arrival in the time of Beia-
ma-Tekai, but it stands alone in doing so; all other versions
known to me, of which the Beru and Nui tales quoted are ex-
amples, are united in dating Nimanoa’s coming in the time of
Kirata III, and as that chief can be shown to have married into
one of the families that accompanied her, she would not have
arrived later than his period.
A true karaki ‘story’ has been made of the matter by the
Tarawan chroniclers, whose version is by far the most lively,
and is, by the way, the only one to give the name of Nimanoa’s
canoe, Te Akabutoatoa. 20 Nevertheless, two other versions give,
in their more matter-of-fact manner, a clearer idea of the effect
of the invasion of the Gilbert Group.
The Nui tale shows how part of Nimanoa’s company, while
still en route from Samoa to Tarawa, separated itself at Tabi-
teuea and there, under the leadership of Einibatangitang and
Atuararango, founded a family that afterwards spread to
Nonouti. Nimanoa sailed on with the rest of her people to
Tarawa, broke away there from the fleet, settled, and married
Kirata’s slave Naubwebwe, by whom she had children—a breed
of giants, who grew too powerful for the chief’s liking and
were driven out by him. This story deals, in the true Gilbertese
manner, with whole branches of a family under the name of a
single person. It is possible, of course, that a woman named
Nimanoa married a man named Naubwebwe on Tarawa, but it
is infinitely more probable that Nimanoa was the name of a
certain family branch, one or several of whose members allied
themselves with a family called Naubwebwe and thereby
founded a faction that grew over-strong for Kirata’s peace of
mind.
The Nui tale does not mention the fate of the people who
accompanied Nimanoa as far as Tarawa and left her there, for
the chronicler admits explicitly, “We know not what became of
them.” But the historians of the southern Gilberts know: the
strangers sailed, as the Beruan account tells, to the islands of
Beru, Nikunau, and Nonouti, “begetting children in all those
places.” The story goes on to say that “the children are there
still; their place in the meeting-house is called Karongoa, the
place of kings,” and this I have found to be correct by reference
to separate authorities on all the three islands mentioned.
323
Tungaru Traditions
Thus, by synthesizing the details of the three accounts, we

see that five islands—Tabiteuea, Tarawa, Beru, Nonouti, and
Nikunau—felt the effects of the Nimanoa influx from Samoa,
which must therefore have been of considerable dimension. To
have installed on islands communities that, to this day, have
been able to hold the lands they settled, was not the feat of a
migratory band weak in numbers. The numerical strength of the
invaders is indicated, indeed, in the events that took place on
Tarawa alone; for there, the slave people Naubwebwe, hitherto
crushed under the heel of Kirata, found in the Nimanoa alliance
so great an addition to their power that they were able to make
things unpleasant for the chief himself.
Fortunately we have in the Beruan story a good deal of ad-
ditional light thrown on the arrivals from Samoa at this period.
There we learn how the descendants of Nareau and the woman
Kobine came, in three distinct but contemporary family groups,
to various Gilbert islands. We are told in the story how the
women Beia and Kabwebwe came from Samoa to Tarawa in the
canoe called Ata-ata-moa and married the third Kirata. This con-
veniently dates the arrival for us. We may safely assume that
their company was of considerable size because, before arriving
at Tarawa, they “planted their tree, the kanawa, on the island of
Arorae,” which is to say, they founded a settlement there whose
totem was the kanawa tree. 21 No small errant band this, that
could afford to detach from itself a company large enough to
settle on a strange island, whether inhabited or barren.
With the Beia-Kabwebwe group, as the text relates, sailed
its kinsmen, the “Children of Teuribaba” and the “Children of
Teritua.” The former were on the canoe Itimarube, and landed
contingents at Tarawa, Tabiteuea, and Beru. The latter were
aboard the Ataata, their destinations are not specified, and I did
not have the time to locate them by independant enquiry, but
undoubtedly they came to one or more of the Gilbert Islands.
The genealogical detail given by the story is set out below,
and from this we get an idea of the relationship of the three
groups to each other:
324
Not for a moment is the above to be read as a “human” ge-

nealogy; in the Gilbertese sense it only approaches humanity
in the generation of Beia and Kabwebwe. These are probably
the names of two women who actually did become the wives
of Kirata III, and hence they have been remembered, but they
also stand for a family group, which came to Tarawa at that
time. The earlier names are those of ancestors deified before
the people left Samoa, who lived we cannot tell when. Thus,
we cannot regard the three groups as literally related to each
other in the second degree of cousinship, but we certainly may
use the record as proof that there was an ancestral link be-
tween them, and this is again definitely indicated by the fact
that each of them carried on its canoes a variant of the family
crest which is generically known as Te Bou ni Karon goa ‘The
Tuft of Karongoa’. 22
The “Children of Teuribaba” are not mentioned by name
in the text under reference, because the main theme is not
concerned with them, but there seems to be little doubt that
they and the Nimanoa folk mentioned above were one and the
same party: firstly because Nimanoa is definitely called, in the
Tarawan chronicle, “a daughter of Teuribaba” and her descen-
dants to this day have the same canoe-crest as the “Children of
Teuribaba”; and secondly because, according to our accounts,
this “Daughter” and these “Children” of the same ancestor
came to the Gilbert Group in the reign of the same chieftain,
Kirata III, and are recorded to have left settlements on the same
islands, Tarawa, Beru, and Tabiteuea. It is true that the names
of their canoes are different— one the Akabutoatoa, the other
the Itimarube—but this only indicates that the invasion was
large enough to require more than one, possibly many, craft for
the transport of the folk.
If Nimanoa was identical with the “Children of Teuribaba,”
she must, of course, have been related to the Beia-Kabwebwe
group, and searching for some external proof of this we find that
her descendants in the Gilbert Islands have as their totem the
325
Tungaru Traditions
kanawa tree, which, as we have just seen, was also the totem
of the folk who broke away from the Beia-Kabwebwe group at
Arorae, and which is still cherished by descendants of Kirata III
and his two wives throughout the group. 23
The kanawa totem appears again in the invasion traditions
connected with the ancestor Te I-Mone, which now come under
discussion. The Tarawan tale tells us that this personage, or
rather, family group, came to Beru, but so sadly confuses the
persons of the invaders with the ancestral being of whom they
were the eponyms, that none of its other details are to the point.
But we can fix the date of Te I-Mone’s arrival in the Gilbert Is-
lands from a Beruan record:
Te I-Mone was the child of the Samoan Kiro-kiro. When

the Tree was broken, he came with his sister Matannang
to Beru, and there he stayed. But Matennang went on to
Tarawa, where she lay with Kirata, the son of Kirata te
Reirei; she bore a child named Bakoa, and sent him back
to Te I-Mone at Beru. There he lived, and was the an-
cestor of Tem Mwea and the chiefs of Abemama. With Te
I-Mone came from Samoa Tematawarebwe, and Kourabi,
and Buatara. They landed at the southern end of Beru
and stayed there a while to rest, for they were weary
with their voyage. But after a little, Tematawarebwe
went to the northern end of the island, where he planted
his ancestors, the two kanawa trees, and lived by them.
24
The union of Te I-Mone’s “sister” Matennang with Kirata, the

“son of Kirata te Reirei‚” whom we know to have been Kirata III,
clearly dates this invasion.
I was tempted to believe, at one time, that this name
Matennang was merely a family name of the other two wives of
Kirata III, Beia and Kabwebwe, but I have since found out that
it could not have been so, because Matennang’s totem was an
uri tree, not a kanawa, while the canoe on which she reached
Tarawa was the Atanimone, and not the Ataatamoa. 25
But, as we have seen in the short tradition just exhibited,
the kanawa certainly was the totem of Tematawarebwe and his
people, who came to the Gilbert Islands at the same time as
Te I-Mone, and this fact alone is enough to establish a family
connection between the Matawarebwe group and the Nimanoa-
326
Beia-Kabwebwe folk. The Beruan tale called “The Breed of

Tamoa” throws a good deal of light upon the subject, 26 by giving
a sketch-genealogy, which may be tabulated thus:
It certainly is only a sketch, but it is enough for our purpose,

for firstly it establishes an ancestral tie between all the persons
concerned, and secondly it gives the names of Nei Ariki, Akau,
and Tira, who have already been before us as the ancestors of
Beia and Kabwebwe. Thus it forms a connecting link between all
the invasions we have hitherto discussed, showing them to have
been but component parts of a great, composite, and concerted
movement, made by an aggregate of family groups all more or
less closely related to one another.
Again, this Beruan text enlarges our view of the invasion
by showing how, when the Tematawarebwe and Te I-Mone folk
sailed for Beru, the birds te Take and te Ngutu left Samoa
with them and fell upon the island of Makin (another name
for Butaritari). As we have already seen, when discussing the
tale of Tewatu of Matang, these two creatures, the red-tailed
tropic-bird and the yellow-billed tropic-bird, were the totems
of those invading folk who committed acts of cannibalism on
Butaritari, and succeeded after much strife in beating the au-
tochthon Tewatu off the island. Their object in singling out Bu-
taritari as their destination is, I think, clearly to be inferred from
the fact that Tewatu’s folk were also cannibals, the suggestion
being that both invaders and invaded, having the man-eating
habit in common, were connected by family ties, and that the
tropic-bird folk expected to find harbourage with its ancestral
kin when it fled from Samoa to the northern Gilberts. Under-
lying this is the further suggestion, often to be met under dif-
ferent guises in the course of our subject, that this invasion of
the Gilberts was but a return of certain families from a long so-
journ in Samoa to an older home of their race.
What was the link between these tropic-bird people and the
other family groups of which there has been talk? Genealogi-
cally, no relationship can be traced, save that we know that all
327
Tungaru Traditions
of them are said to have sprung from the Tree of Samoa. But
the cannibalism of te Take and te Ngutu, on which the traditions
lay such emphasis, definitely connects them with their fellow in-
vaders, as will now appear.
It will be remembered that each of the Beia-Kabwebwe and
allied groups carried on its canoe a crest bearing a specific
name, and that these crests are generically called the Tufts of
Karongoa. Here follows a translation of the tradition connected
with the Tufts, which will show how they enter into the dis-
cussion: 27
The Tufts of Karongoa are memorials of Teuribaba, the

king of the Tree of Samoa. Human heads were his
favourite food, and he was forever eating the heads of
the people of Samoa. Therefore, when he left Samoa on
his canoe Ata-atai-moa, he wore on the peak of his sail a
crest that was the likeness of a man’s head, in memory
of his favourite food. It was called Te Bou-teuana ‘The
Single-Tuft’, but there is another called Te Bou-uoua
‘The Double-Tuft’, and another still, called Tim-tim-te-
rara (lit. “Drip-drip-the-blood”). All these are used by the
families of Karongoa, because they are the children of
Teuribaba.
In this deliberate insistence of the people of Karongoa upon the

man-eating habit of their ancestor lies the link that connects
them with the tropic-bird families.
But a very important distinction must be drawn between the
cannibal habits of the two sets of family groups. Whereas the
tropic-bird folk, either in the fury of conquest or in the desire
for this special kind of food, appear to have devoured the flesh
of their victims on Butaritari, there is absolutely no evidence
to show that the people of Karongoa, who were much more nu-
merous, indulged such an appetite on any one of the islands
they invaded. All we learn from the crest tradition is that the
god of Karongoa was anthropophagous, and while this connotes
the idea of cannibalism among his people, it indicates that the
habit was not promiscuous but sacrificial in character.
The impression of human sacrifice is emphasized for us in
the Beruan tale wherein we read that the food of the king of the
Tree of Samoa whom we know to have been Teuribaba, was the
first-born infants of Nikumaroro. This choice of victims from a
class so confined and so set apart by peculiar tradition as the
first-born, gives excellent grounds alone for assuming its reli-
328
gious intent and, in conjunction with the evidence of the crest

tradition, leaves us with very little doubt that Teuribaba was a
god, or the priest of a god, to whom human sacrifices were ha-
bitually made.
The human heads that are said to have been the favourite
food of the deity were probably the heads of victims, hoisted
upon stakes that stood around his marae. Certainly, the Bou-
teuana canoe crest, with its pole surmounted by a single tuft of
leaf, is an excellent replica of such trophies, while the name of
that other crest, Tim-tim-te-rara ‘Drip-drip-the-blood’ suggests
too well the grisly sight of the freshly elevated spoils. 28
The picture thus evoked reminds us at once, and forcibly, of
the cult of the god Rongo, to whom human sacrifice was made
in nearly every group of Polynesia, and I think we can hardly
avoid the inference, when all facts are taken into account, that
the being called Teuribaba was indeed Rongo, or else a priest
of that deity. The appellation Teuribaba is but a title, and sug-
gests nothing to the purpose, but in the family name Karongoa
we seem to have Rongo clearly written. For further clues we
must consider the duties and prerogatives of Karongoa in the
Gilbertese maneaba, or house of assembly.
The maneaba, though locally regarded for the past two or
three centuries much more as a council hall and public meeting
house than as a place of worship, was primarily a temple, and
until quite recent times was held in particular veneration by
the Gilbertese. It might be erected only by those who had the
hereditary right of attending to one or other of its component
parts, and the work of construction was initiated with the most
careful ritual. A man might enter it only at a certain point, and
with bent back. When the clans were convened therein, they
were called together by the blowing of the sacred conch of Te
I-Mone and, on arrival, might pass into the building only in a
particular order of precedence. They sat in allotted places; in
the rafter over each family sitting-place (boti or botu) hovered
the ancestral god, ready to visit with death or disease the in-
truder who trespassed where he had no right, or usurped a pre-
rogative that did not belong to his family, or otherwise behaved
with wilful indecorum. And at every time of public assembly in
the maneaba, each stage in the preceedings—whether of dance,
feast, or council —was marked by a prescribed and unalterable
ceremonial.
Master-builders of this edifice, arbiters of the ceremonial,
ultimate referees in all cases of dispute, sat the elders of
Karongoa, under the northern gable. Theirs was the sitting-
329
Tungaru Traditions
room of life and death (boti n te maiu ma te mate), for, in the

belief of the Samoa-Gilbertese forefathers, the north was the
bourne whence the souls of the new-born came, and whither the
dead departed. Karongoa was king of the maneaba. The tem-
poral king, whose status was a mere accident of successful war,
must bow to the decisions of its elders. Its chief claimed for his
folk the first portion of the feast; its spokesman uttered the first
and the final word in debate. Above all, upon the Yea or Nay of
Karongoa depended the declaration of war, and upon an orator
of the clan invariably fell the duty of pronouncing laudatory ad-
dresses on warriors and their deeds.
Here then we have a building, piously erected, wherein
a man might not carelessly enter at any time; whither, for
matters of weight, the people were summoned by the blast of
a sacred instrument; where every assembly was governed by
the most meticulous ceremonial rules; where the people did not
indeed worship any longer, but wherein the ancestral gods cer-
tainly lived—in fact, a building that was undoubtedly by origin
a temple. In this converted temple, a clearly defined clan (or
caste) presides, master of the ceremonies, with prerogatives
overbearing the rights of temporal kings; who can these folk be
but the descendants of a priestly craft, whose privileges were
inviolable within the sacred precincts?
Assuming, therefore, that we have identified a temple and
a priestcraft, what was the cult? The supreme authority of the
people in the matter of declaring war, and their privileged duty
of extolling heroic deeds, seem in themselves to answer the
question, for War and Fame were the peculiar associations of
the Polynesian Rongo. Add to this the facts already brought
to light—that the people were addicted to human sacrifice and
bore the significant clan name of Karongoa—and, as I believe,
very little doubt will remain that the god of Karongoa, Teuri-
baba, was that Rongo whose cult scattered blood on the marae
of so many Pacific islands.
The cult of Rongo was a tribal cult, and I apprehend that
the families who accompanied the Karongoa clans to the Gilbert
Group were component members of a single Rongo-worshipping
tribe. Each of them remembered its own domestic gods, to be
sure, and hence every rafter of the maneaba to this day con-
tains an ancestral shade, installed by the newcomers. But that
all the diverse island communities accorded a very particular
reverence to the god of Karongoa is an inference that cannot
possibly be avoided, and it is precisely the elevation of a single
330
common deity over the heads of a multiplicity of private or do-

mestic gods that welds an inchoate system of patriarchal com-
munities into a systematic tribal group.
Residence in the Gilbert Islands soon modified the religious
organization. Scattered over a dozen incohesive atolls, inter-
married with older residents whose economy was patriarchal,
and thoroughly disintegrated by the new circumstances under
which they were obliged to live, there was little chance for
them to keep alive anything like a tribal cult. The result was a
return by each family to the worship of the ancestral being from
whom it was descended. Karongoa still kept its privileges in the
maneaba, because they had been established when Rongo was
paramount with the invaders, because in that edifice the con-
vened clans still had a chance to remember their ancient co-or-
dination, and because the people of Karongoa still lived on to
demand, at least in form, its old prerogatives. But as the descen-
dants of the Samoans lost the meaning of the tribal cult, so the
god of Karongoa dwindled in importance, until at last he faded
from the scheme, to become the mere ancestral deity of his own
clan. All that we are now left with, therefore, is a framework of
ceremonial in feast and council which, while still presided over
by a particular group of people and still eloquent to us of its
religious origins, is far removed from the Rongo-worship upon
which it was founded. 29
To show at a glance the scope of the invasion of the Gilbert
Group by this Rongo tribe, the particulars and names given in
the stories hitherto analysed have been tabulated in Table 9.
One need have little hesitation in accepting this evidence, as
the authorities quoted show a unanimity which, considering the
time elapsed since the invasion, is remarkable. According to the
details before us, seven islands were certainly affected by the
coming of the Samoans—Beru, Tarawa, Tabiteuea, Butaritari,
Nonouti, Nikunau, and Arorae. It must have been a considerable
swarm that arrived. The first four of the islands named seem to
have been more or less flooded; of the last three, less is said
in the traditional texts. A family-to-family quest would probably
elicit further information, and by exhaustive enquiry it could,
no doubt, be proved that the whole group felt the influx from
Samoa. Indeed, I have in my possession the accounts of one or
two other arrivals at this period, which show that Abemama and
Marakei were affected, but beyond this they do not materially
add to our knowledge, and no object would be served by the
exhibition of long and unessential stories. All that we need to
331
Tungaru Traditions
know seems to emanate clearly from the texts examined: the in-
vaders came about A.D. 1250–1275; they were of Samoa; they
were numerous; they were a tribe; their cult was Rongo.
Table 9. The Samoan invaders
NAME OF FAMILY GROUP ISLAND INVADED
Nimanoa Tarawa
Nimanoa relatives Beru, Nikunau,

Nonouti
Einibatangitang and Atuararango Tabiteuea
Beia and Kabwebwe Arorae, Tarawa
Children of Teuribaba (same as Tarawa, Tabiteuea,

Nimanoa) Beru
Children of Teritua Not located
Te I-Mone, Akau and Tira Tabiteuea
Te I-Mone Beru
Matennang Tarawa
Tematawarebwe, Kourabi, Beru

Buatara
Moa-aine Beru
Tropic-bird clan Butaritari
Several of the islands to which they came were inhabited, as

we have seen: Beia and Kabwebwe married the third of a line of
kings established on Tarawa; the tropic-bird clan had to fight for
a footing on Butaritari. Here to conclude this study is a song of
Nonouti which, in showing how the newcomers were received
on that island, clearly gives us to understand that it was a pop-
ulous place.
332
E maotoua te Bakatibu, te Kai!

E raranakoa abaia I-Matangi mai Tamoa;
E na kateke unana ian te tawanou: e bono taina.
…
Te Kabaraki, 30 te aine, e nako maiaon Angitano inano.
E maena win te kua, Teurukamere;
E na bakaria tava inanon namaotin Nei Tewenei! 31
N na korokoria, N na taenakoia, N na bakarereia ni kaiu
te tara ni
Matang; e butaki maiaon te wa!
…
Te wa maia wam?
E tikuroba ian te maneaba i Taribo; a taua tabona I-
Umantewenei; a kaeakia I-Temotu ma I-Rurutei;
A katangi-rongorongo: Akea! Be a bua te bai; e a mate te
aomata iani karawa!
Be Tiringaki Weneina, be boaki takanoina.
Ma a baka ni mate iaontano-o o-o; Inano-o-o-a -a-e-e-a tie!
The Ancestor, the Tree is broken!

It is fallen across the land of the people of Matang by
Samoa;
I shall wear its flowers as ornaments in the noonday: its
hour is struck.
…
The (people of) Kabaraki, the ancestress, come from An-
gitano in the depths.
She wears a necklet of porpoise teeth, Teurukamere;
I shall fall upon her, seize it in the secret sea-places of Nei
Tewenei!
I shall cut (her people) in pieces, I shall put them to rout,
I shall
pierce them with my barbed spear of Matang; it is lifted
from its place on my canoe!
…
Whence cometh thy canoe?
Its sail is furled in the lee of the maneaba at Taribo; the
people of Umantewenei hold its stem; the people of
Temotu and Rurutei give it welcome;
They cry aloud the news: Alas! A great defeat; far away
the warriors lie slain!
The pursuit is hot on the wake of the flyer, it is hard on
their track.
They fall dead on the ground; Low lie they!
333
A History of Abemama
AIRAM TEEKO
TRANSLATED BY REID COWELL
The traditional stories of our ancestors assert that all the

Gilbert Islands have been inhabited for a long time. But it is not
at all clear from the stories whence the people came.
OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR

So many people lived on the island of Beru that every bit of land
was used. Among them were a number of strong and vigorous
men who took the decision to wage a great war throughout
Kiribati. One of these men was exceptionally powerful—Kaitu
who lived at Maetoa—and the people put their trust in him for
the conduct of the campaign. Another of the men was Uakeia,
the caster of lots, who was chosen to predict the fortunes of
war. Even today, the campaign is known in Kiribati as the War
of Kaitu and Uakeia.
The force set sail for Onotoa where no opposition was met;
so they simply annexed and portioned out land. They travelled
on to Tabiteuea where, in a fierce battle, they defeated the Tabi-
teueans, some of whom escaped by canoe. (One story claims
that they discovered the Ellice Islands). After the battle, land
was seized and portioned out. Stones on the sea-bed near the
land known as Teabuaeroa south of the village of Kabuna mark
the site of the battle.
The pattern of the war on Tabiteuea was repeated on
Nonouti and then on Abemama, Maiana, and Tarawa—each time
with the same result. Coral-stone cairns were erected on
Tarawa to commemorate the war. The voyage was continued to
Abaiang and, after it was conquered, east to Marakei and an-
other victory.
334
While Kaitu and Uakeia and their warriors were on Marakei,

they were surprised to receive a visit from an emissary from Bu-
taritari, Mangkia, who came in his canoe Takaburoro. He sought
peace and his request that the campaign should not be extended
to Butaritari was granted.
DEMOBILIZATION AND THE RETURN FROM WAR

When the warriors were free to return home from the war,
some of them and their families settled on all of these islands.
This is why tradition records that the Beruans were the forefa-
thers of the Gilbertese. The lands which the diviner Uakeia ac-
quired were Noumatang on Nonouti, Bike on Abemama, Betio
on Tarawa, and Nuotaea on Abaiang. They were all fishing
grounds. 1
ABOUT THE ABEMAMAN PEOPLE

Descendants of those returning from the war who settled on
Abemama had neither chief nor king; their way of life was
marked by family feuds, rivalry, the pursuit of glory and power,
and pillage. They gave allegiance only to their ancient gods and
magic, in which they followed the customs of their Beruan an-
cestors.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF

ABEMAMA
One of the men who had come from Beru was Tem Mwea and he
was the ancestor of the Abemaman kings:
Tem Mwea was the father of Ten Teannaki and other

children; Ten Teannaki was the father of Ten Tetabo and
others.
It was Ten Tetabo who became a power in the land and ad-
vanced the fortunes of the Tuangaona family. The people were
resentful and would have liked to kill him but they were too
weak and feeble to do so.
335
Tungaru Traditions
The high chief’s village at Binoinano, Abemama, 1897. (Kramer 1906,

289)
Ten Namoriki was the son of Ten Tetabo who had other children
also.
Teng Karotu was the son of Ten Namoriki and there were other
children.
It was Teng Karotu who first established a government on

Abemama, and the whole population recognized his pre-emi-
nence in the land. He shrewdly set about accumulating property
and his enterprise bore good fruit. While his son, Tem Baiteke,
was still a boy, he was crowned king of the three islands of
Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka. And the kingdom continued in
existence throughout the days of Tem Binoka and Tem Bauro. 2
THE ROYAL FAMILY

The eldest son was head of the royal family and was recognized
as king. He was held in honour and respect by the people. This
respect was extended to members of his family, including his
cousins and their families.
336
THE NOBILITY
The families of nobles or chiefs were next in rank to royalty.
They helped to maintain the king’s peace. Some of their heads
would assist the royal family in administering the law, con-
trolling civil disturbance, feuds, fraud, and the like; and gen-
erally in dispensing justice.
THE COMMONERS
This group of people were next below the nobles in the social
order. They owed respect to the nobles, lived a frugal but com-
fortable and generally contented life, and were subject to pun-
ishment only if they offended the nobles or royal family. But
this kind of problem rarely arose for, in times gone by, everyone
feared the law of the land knowing they could be put to death if
they were to commit an offence.
THE SERFS
These were the landless people who lived on the land of their
masters. Most of them served the king and his family, but some
worked for nobles. They lived peacefully and were generously
cared for by their masters. If any one of them were to give of-
fence, he could be put to death. They were not allowed to take
part in government or administration. Their way of life was pre-
scribed by their masters, for whom they were providers of food.
MARRIAGE ON ABEMAMA
The kings normally took wives from among the noble families.
It could create problems for a king and the royal line if any of
them were to wed a commoner and it was rarely done because
the consequences might be unhappiness and ill fortune. None
of them would marry a landless serf on pain of death, although
nowadays some elderly people do so.
The kings used to take as many wives as they liked, as would
members of the royal family on a smaller scale. The common
people and serfs were not allowed to do so.
337
Tungaru Traditions
Tem Bauro, the last independent high

chief of Abemama, and his sisters,
1897. (Kramer 1906, 305)
When a marriage was about to be celebrated, the families

of the betrothed would announce the wedding feast by loudly
sounding a conch-horn. The relatives of the bride provided a
sleeping mat, and those of the groom a grass skirt and coconut
oil. When the sun was setting, an old woman would perform
magical rites for the couple.
Divorce was allowed if serious trouble developed between
man and wife, but any man who deserted a wife just before her
child was delivered was put under a spell. This spell, to bring
back the unfaithful man, was called te ana ni bung. 3
It could be a grave matter if members of the royal or noble
families were divorced. The relatives of the woman would
resent it and warfare could break out. The war on Maiana in
support of a woman delivered of a child is well known.
338
GOVERNMENT BY THE KING’S DEPUTIES

It was not possible for the king alone to govern the land and its
people. Elders [Unimane] were therefore appointed from among
the noble families who were able to take up matters of common
and royal interest within their villages. It was these elders, in
council, who considered questions brought before meetings in
the public halls of assembly [maneaba]. The whole population
would look to the elders to give guidance in all matters, for they
were well versed in the law of the land and, because of the
depth of their experience, were able to make fair decisions.
The king and his family did not participate much in gov-
ernment and usually the decisions of the deputies were con-
firmed. Great pains were taken not to arrive at a hasty decision,
for it might stir passions or cause resentment and thereby bring
government into disrepute. Anyone who came to a quick and
arbitrary decision was marked as being inept in the ways of
government. All rulings were reported to the king, who could in-
terfere only on grounds of equity. Even so, he could not overrule
a judgment but only seek to conciliate in a friendly and helpful
manner. Anyone who was justly convicted would be repri-
manded or fined. For a serious offence, the death penalty could
be imposed.
There were limits on the authority of the elders—over
homicide, armed conflict, and similar serious offences,
judgment on which was reserved for the king himself. Homicide
was proscribed on Abemama, and an offender could be put to
death. It was therefore embarrassing if members of the royal
family were involved in homicide, because only the king had the
power to judge them. This law was introduced during the reign
of Tem Baiteke.
THE ANCIENT LAW OF HOMICIDE

Before the king’s rule was established, the family of a man killed
by another would claim land and goods in compensation. The
settlement was a piece of land and a large canoe or, if there
were no canoe to surrender, another piece of land. These acqui-
sitions were called “the coffin and the grave.” 4
339
Tungaru Traditions
ABOUT SERFS
Serfs were low in status, but they were well looked after by their
masters and the law of the land. They could be put to death by
their noble masters for a serious offence. The law of the land did
not apply to a noble who beat or killed a serf. This practice was
altered when Tem Baiteke was king. He would dismiss from his
favour anyone who killed a serf; he forbade the spilling of blood
throughout the land. It was the task of serfs to provide food
and labour for their masters. Like pieces of land, they could be
shared out by a father dividing possessions among his children.
SPIRITS (ANTI) AND SPELLS (TABUNEA)

The people used to have an unshakeable faith in spells and
spirits which alone, they believed, were able to help them in
times of disputation, conflict, or any kind of hardship. Each
family had its god (atua) and was in close communication with
its spirit. The spirits were all equal; they made no distinction be-
tween king and serf, held no rank, nor gave favours; they acted
freely and as they pleased. Neither chief nor king could invoke
rank in the spirit world to help his cause or magic spells.
Many spirit-gods were revered on Abemama, but to the best
of our knowledge the following list is complete:
Male Female
Tabuariki Nei Tituabine
Auriaria Nei Tewenei
Taburimai Nei Rui
Teweia Nei Tenaotarai
Riki Nei Tereitaburi
Kaobunang Nei Karua
Kaoioti
Te Rakunene
Tabuariki was the most renowned of the male spirits. He was

the controller of lightning and thunder, rain, and the winds. Nei
Tituabine was the most revered of the female spirits.
340
FISH TABOOS
Every family acknowledged a spirit deity and was constrained
from eating the fish which represented the material body of the
spirit. The following list is known to us:
Ray Nei Tituabine

Kingfish Nei Tewenei
Trigger-fish Nei Rui
Crab Nei Tereitaburi
THE SUN
The only story about the Sun among the old people is that long
ago it was a woman, Queen Nei Tai. The old people said that
formerly the Sun Queen in the heavens was sacred, could cause
sudden death, and was able to cast stronger spells than other
famous spirits. It is said that the Sun is burning.
THE MOON
The ancient ones used to say that the moon was cold and dark
inside, and that Nei Nibarara and Nei Matanoko were busily
weaving mats in there! Old women and old men used to cast
spells when the moon was new and perform a dance before it,
asking that their generation might be blessed and not grow old
too quickly, and that they might be spared sickness. This is not
done nowadays.
When the sun and moon set in the sky, it was said that they
went to Maerua to die and then to rise again.
ABOUT FOOD
In former times, there used to be a good deal of hardship be-
cause food was scarce. There were not many coconut trees, for
only the pandanus was common in those days. There was no
taro, and toddy was not cut. Fish was rarely eaten for fear that
one would become too peaceable to bother about quarrels and
war. 5 It was difficult to find ripe coconuts, and some people had
to eat wild herbs of various species in times of hardship and
famine. 6
341
Tungaru Traditions
THE CREATING OF THE EARTH

When the earth and sky were one, the universe was called te bo-
matemaki ‘the Darkness and Cleaving Together’ by our forefa-
thers. 7 Nareau alone existed long before anything else, and who
his parents were is not known. He lived outside te bomatemaki
and roamed over the top of the sky like rolling thunder. He came
across a hollow space which he pierced and prized open. He
went inside and found there a monstrous eel, Riki, whom he
ordered to lift up the sky. Nareau then sat on the sky and in-
structed Riki and his companions to lift it up. Those who took
part in this labour were: Nareau who exercised supreme power
and authority; Riki, who straightened out his long body to do the
lifting; and those who cut the restraining roots—Uka, Karitoro,
Nabawe, Ngkoangkoa, Bakauaniku, and Utoaba, and perhaps
others as well.
When the sky had been raised into position under his di-
rection, Nareau remained there. He decided to cleanse it by
putting all that was imperfect into a basket called te ketenaiwa
which he lowered to earth where it still is. 8 The contents were
death, sickness, old age and gray hairs, toothache, hunger, and
other sorrows.
After the sky had been lifted up, Riki fell down and became
the island of Nikunau. But, from time immemorial, there has
been wrangling among Gilbertese sages about this tale of
Nikunau, for the stories have become confused in the
telling—probably because no true course was set in the first
place. There is agreement about one thing only—that Nareau
was the Beginning, the first among the spirits and the gods, and
that he would rule over them for ever.
When Naka saw the basket that fell from the sky, he fled
north with his wife Nei Nibongibong, for they were frightened
by the moaning, old age, and its other contents. Naka fled to the
distant lands of Bouru and Neineaba to which the dead travel to
join him. 9
THE CREATION OF KIRIBATI

Some people claim that the islands were created by Nei Nibon-
gibong when she and Naka fled. This story, too, has been long
disputed by others who hold the view that the islands existed
long before Nei Nibongibong, whose part lay in the planting of
Te Uekera on Tarawa. 10 Which story should we accept?
342
ABOUT THE SEA

There are no old stories about the sea, except that it was made
when the sky was separated from the land below. Neither is
there anything recorded about fishes, nor other things that
must have been in the ocean when it was made.
FURTHER TALES OF SPIRITS (ANTI) AND GODS

(ATUA)
It is acknowledged that Nareau was first among the spirits. No
one alive today claims him as an anti, nor are there any totem-
stones or magic attributed to him. But he is accorded pride of
place for wisdom and knowledge.
Nothing is known about the origin of the anti, who probably
were created after the heavens were raised at Nareau’s
command.
Tabuariki is the best known of the anti but the others were
not subservient to him. He was the lord of lightning and of the
thunder which rolled through the skies when he was angry. Like
all anti he could heal the sick, and he ruled the winds and the
rain also. Our ancestors believed that he used to hurl fiery thun-
derbolts from the skies.
Nei Tituabine displayed prowess in maintaining the good
health and fortune of those whose anti she was, and in pro-
tecting them from war and other troubles.
We should probably be only wasting time to give an account
of each and every anti. Their powers were no different from
those of the two we have just mentioned. They did not make any
distinction between women and men.
There was one anti whose habits were different from the
others: he was Ten Terakunene, an anti of Abaiang. This is
the way he carried on. He healed the sick, it is true, but he
would also creep up on women and make passionate love to, and
seduce, those who encouraged him. On occasions when he had
intercourse with a woman she became foolish, her belly would
swell up, she lost her senses and babbled nonsense, and so on.
To tell the truth, one sees this kind of thing even today. A good
many reverend fathers have seen it with their own eyes. 11
Terakunene was in fact a well-known man whose heritage
was Te Bakabaka at Koinawa, but because he was extremely vi-
olent he was banished to the ocean coast where, far away from
women, he lived alone (it was the practice of the ancients to
343
Tungaru Traditions
banish those who were violent). He was no ordinary mortal, for

a wild spirit had entered into him, and when folk brought him
food he would fill them with fear. When they tried to get nearer,
he ran away, bounded into the sea, disappeared, and became an
anti. The whole story is known to the people of Abaiang.
There is also a story from Abaiang about a female anti called
Nei Karua. She had the same sort of habits as Terakunene
except that she liked to seduce men and boys, though she did
not drive them crazy. 12 She wasn’t an ancient anti, only a bony
one like Terakunene. The spirit of an anti who used to be mortal
was called a skeleton or bony anti.
ABOUT THE RUOIA

It is not known exactly when the ruoia was invented, but it is
said by our forefathers to be very old indeed. 13 It seems to
have been performed only infrequently in the old days, being
reserved for such occasions as when everyone was working up
courage for the battles which ravished the land in the time of
our ancestors. That was also a time when everyone was busy
collecting food, for there was a large crowd to feed when people
poured into all the meeting places.
It was only in the days of Tem Baiteke that the ruoia became
as popular as it was with the northern Gilbertese.
It was accorded pride of place among all entertainments and
games—in fact it was the supreme entertainment. It was never
performed for the purpose of bringing good luck or health but
only for acclaim and honour. The king and royal family used to
take part and would be the first to get up and dance.
This is the kind of thing that happened. The people of one
village would get together to rehearse their songs, and other vil-
lages would do likewise. Everyone would come together when
the day appointed for the festival drew near, and all of them
would be brim full of good spirits as they prepared to perform
their ruoia. A festival could not be held in any out-of-the-way
place—it had to be in a maneaba; it was considered proper that
the maneaba should be full of spectators to watch the dances.
It was not the done thing for a man to dance the ruoia in
the bush or inside his house, either alone or in the presence
of his wife and children. He would be regarded as a fool. But
there was no objection to practising in the bush or some other
secluded spot under the instruction of relatives or a
344
friend—especially if the purpose were to improve the elegance

of a girl so that it would be good to watch her when the contest
in the maneaba was in full swing.
If a maewe [ghost or apparition] were seen, the ruoia or any
sport would be stopped so that the people might at once make
tabunea. 14
The ruoia did not have the power to confer good luck,
victory, courage, wealth, or other benefit but it could bring
honour and glory to any man who could dance it well—and what
a hero he would be! A good contest fought to the end was the
goal, and no one would dispute it when a fine dancer received
acclaim.
A person who was too shy to dance was not despised, nor
was he prevented from entering the maneaba as a spectator.
Some nobles did not dance, and, although sly remarks would be
made about a member of the royal family who did not partic-
ipate, they would be flippant and not vindictive.
People from some islands of Kiribati used to travel to other
islands by large canoe to join in ruoia festivals, and there are
famous stories about this.
TABUNEA
There was a kind of tabunea connected with the ruoia which
was used to attract the attention of women and men to the
dances. But then tabunea was a part of everyday life, and
nothing was exempt from it—joy and sorrow, work, marriage,
burial, and many other things had tabunea attached to them. We
say that “Tabunea is master of the iango [thoughts, ideas, plans,
solutions, wisdom] and the gateway to all things. Tabunea can
be cruel: Tabunea can be kind; Tabunea is effective. It can cure
the sick, and so on.”
THE STORY OF TERAKUNENE, ANTI OF ABAIANG

A long time ago, there lived on Abaiang a man called Ter-
akunene who was the son of Te Bonginako and Nei Tinanika-
mauri. 15 One day, the people were preparing for a boxing
contest, and the young men, who were all expected to take
part, were in training. They trained on the ocean beaches to get
themselves into good shape and slept alone there. Terakunene
345
Tungaru Traditions
took part in the training and used the beach east of the fam-
ily land which was called Tebakabaka and which lay north of
Koinawa village. His parents brought him his meals from home.
On one occasion when he was asleep on the beach, three
women who came from the island of Marakei appeared to him
in a dream. The women’s names were Nei Rotebenua, Nei
Tekukurei, and Nei Babananti, and their mission was to enchant
Terakunene by anointing him with a bad-smelling lotion from
a coconut shell. 16 Three nights they came and repeated their
spell, the purpose of which was to instil in him the desire to see
anti.
After that, two more anti came again to Terakunene—Nei
Kanna and Nei Tekukurei. They also cast spells on him for three
nights and thoroughly cleansed his eyes so that he could pierce
the veil that separated anti from man. 17 At once, Terakunene’s
character changed and he felt like an anti. He could see the
dwellings of the anti far, far away, and to all intents and pur-
poses he had in truth become an anti. Meanwhile, his mother
still brought him his food and was troubled when she saw the
changes in him: he had no appetite and simply sat staring out
over the seas. He knew his mother all right, but when she tried
to take him in her arms, he evaded her. She went after him, and
he jumped down onto the reef, then, as she followed, he stepped
upon the surface of the sea and walked away across it. On his
journey Terakunene visited the abodes of all the anti under the
heavens and also in Mone. When he returned from the lands of
anti, he passed through all the islands starting at Arorae. He
went about his daily chores and behaved in a normal manner,
hiding his change in character from other people.
On the island of Tabiteuea, there was a gathering in the
village of Utiroa to choose one of two brothers as king. The
elder was a leper who lived alone on the ocean coast, and the
other was about to be chosen when Terakunene decided to stay
on in Tabiteuea. He stayed, invisible to the people, and visited
the leper, whom he befriended and cured. The two of them went
down to the maneaba on the western side of the island and
everyone was amazed to see the leper cured and accompanied
by a handsome and healthy companion. The two brothers were
crowned and Terakunene married their sister, who bore him
a daughter. In due course, Terakunene set off on his travels
leaving his wife and daughter behind, and when he walked away
over the surface of the sea they realized he was an anti. He went
to Nonouti first, and then to Abemama and Maiana, and in each
he left his mark.
346
At Tarawa, he mounted a swordfish which took him to Mone

where he discarded his body. He next went to Marakei to see
the two women who had guided him when he first set off on
his travels, and then went back to Abaiang, his home. He ar-
rived there at night, bringing lavish presents with him, in-
cluding flying fish and baskets of babai, to the great surprise
of his parents when they awoke next morning. Terakunene had
of course turned into an anti by then. His powers became in-
creasingly respected in Tebakabaka, and he was a great help to
his parents. For example, if there were food to be carried either
ashore or by canoe, he spirited it away and put it down in their
home. The fame of this anti spread far and wide, but since he
spent most of his time seducing women he came to be greatly
feared.
NEI KARUA
Once upon a time, there was a woman called Nei Karua who
lived south of Ewena with her husband Ten Roroa and their
newborn son Biribirinnang. Roroa used to attend entertain-
ments in the village leaving his wife, of whom he was jealous, at
home. So Terakunene would take the opportunity of visiting Nei
Karua and having intercourse with her.
The time came when Terakunene decided to carry off the
woman, and he took it into his head to mark her breasts with
his hands and teeth. When her husband saw this he threatened
to beat her, but she flew aloft and perched on one of the ceiling
beams. He threatened her again, and she moved to the ridge-
pole of the roof. The third time he threatened her he had so
lost his temper that he forgot to be astonished when she flew
up on to a coconut frond which did not even sway beneath her
weight. She took her son with her. (She had become an anti be-
cause Terakunene had cast the same spell on her as the women
of Marakei had cast on him long before.)
That is the story of Nei Karua. She became the inseparable
companion of Terakunene wherever they went. Terakunene
chased women, and Nei Karua enticed men. But men were not
driven mad by Nei Karua; they only chanced on her in dreams
or when they were sick in bed. These two anti roam all over the
Gilberts.
347
Tungaru Traditions
MALODOROUS COCONUT OIL

This may be made with any old thing lying about on the ground,
anything we might throw out as rubbish. It becomes valuable
only when it is used in sorcery, for those things that are so used
take on magical properties. It is used in black magic and in all
kinds of harmful and immoral sorcery, as well as in countering
spells cast to make one vulnerable to death or injury.
The concoction may be taken on board ocean-going canoes
to give protection against whales, which can threaten and
become a danger to canoes far out at sea. It is said that even
the anti are scared at the sight of it.
THE USE OF MANENRIRI

This is a riri ‘skirt’ made from coconut leaves which women
wear at work and which is on the point of being thrown away be-
cause it is filthy and worn out. It is also carried around in much
the same way as magic oil.
These things are not used in magic associated with the ruoia
or for attracting women or for any kind of good-luck spell.
PREGNANCY UP TO PARTURITION
When it is known that a woman has conceived, care is taken
to hide the fact lest those who practise sorcery on pregnant
women should cast an evil spell on her. Any food left over, any
used towel, or anything else with which she has had contact is
also safely guarded. When the good news about the pregnancy
is broken, everyone gets ready for her eremao. 18
This is what happens at the eremao. The woman is led into
the low bush on the ocean edge. Her bunna, 19 made of plaited
strands of kiaiai fibre, is tied around her. This is done at the
sixth new moon after she has become pregnant. A tia tobt would
have been summoned a long time before the due date of birth,
and, when labour begins, the pregnant woman sits in front of
the tia katoka. 20 If the birth is delayed, she is given a potion to
drink by a person previously chosen.
When the child has been delivered, it remains in the hut
or out-house where it was born, which is called the umananti.
It stays there for three days to receive a welcome from Nei
Aibong, whose home is in the heavens near the horizon. 21
348
After the third day, the child is taken to another hut or into
a maneaba. The ceremony is called tebonako umanaomata. 22
The child’s sleeping mat, and all things used by it while it was
in the first hut are disposed of. It is given things of its own, in-
cluding a sleeping mat, on arriving in the umanaomata and it is
welcomed with such a feast as the family can give without in-
curring hardship.
The ruoia is performed around the child’s fire while it lies in
the umananti.
THE NURSING MOTHER

A nursing mother 23 is not allowed to walk about in the hot sun
lest her breast-milk should dry up. She may go out from time
to time well wrapped up in a sleeping mat and with an old riri
thrown over her shoulders. Only two kinds of food are reputed
to sustain the nursing mother’s milk—fresh toddy and fish. The
best fish is said to be the crabs which can be dug out of the sand
near the water’s edge. She must abstain from intercourse with
her husband for a long time lest her child should be weak and
puny—it could be for up to a year or even longer.
DEATH AND THE SOUL

After death, the body is laid out for three days and is buried on
the fourth. Royalty and nobles are laid to rest in the maneaba
and common folk under their houses.
Everyone gathers round the corpse, which is turned and
cared for by the women. Ears and teeth, hands, and the rest
of the body are anointed with oil and perfume. Peeling skin is
stripped off the corpse and put into a bowl of coconut oil called
the mangko ni kanei.
Each and every corpse is laid out with head to the east,
and everyone around wails in lamentation. The smell is awful,
and no one likes the decay or the nausea it causes. But anyone
who feels upset hides the fact from fear of humiliation. Two
wae [dried-up coconuts] are fetched and placed in the corpse’s
hands as a distraction “lest his spirit should,” it was said,
“return to haunt his grandchildren or children.” The spirit of
the dead squats down a little distance away from the village.
It watches the corpse and is frightened when the fire flames
brightly. It stays in that place for three whole days.
349
Tungaru Traditions
When the time comes to dispose of the corpse, a tia tabe-

atu [kaeta kawaina] is called. 24 Then everything that has been
in contact with the corpse during the three days of waiting is
thrown away—sleeping mat, pulverized coconut leaves used to
swab the decomposing flesh, and all other things.
The corpse is wrapped in a new sleeping mat, having first
been garlanded with such fine objects as might be appropriate.
This is the time when the soul prepares to leave and enter into
the crowded maneaban anti.
All is tidied up and the bomaki ceremony is held to speed the
spirit on its way Lamentation is forbidden at this moment, lest
the spirit should return. All corpses are decked with necklaces
of nta shells.
THE BURIAL
The grave for the corpse is dug within the village or underneath
a hut. There are two alignments for burial—north-south and
east-west; a west-east alignment is rare. The grave would be as
deep as the length of the foot or perhaps one-and-a-half times
the length of a foot. Family and friends then reassemble for a
further three days of feasting while the burial ceremony pro-
ceeds. It is rather like the ceremonies which attend a birth or
wedding!
DEPARTURE OF THE SOUL

After burial, the soul travels south to Nei Tituabine and then
north to the land of spirits called Bouru and Neineaba, from
which it never returns. Naka the ancient one went to live in
these places when he ran away, and he became their ruler. Naka
has a pond there stocked with a single mon and a coconut tree
which bears a single fruit. These provide sustenance to the soul
and are called tarakaimaiu for they grow again as often as they
are taken. 25
Naka sits facing north, never turning around, and endlessly
weaving a riena ‘fishing net’. When a soul arrives, it approaches
him on the left side so that it will not be enmeshed.
When the soul has eaten of tarakaimaiu, memory fades
away. In truth, the soul has come home.
350
A celebrated woman who is a companion to Naka also lives

there. She is a ruler too, and her name is Nei Karamakuna. She
examines each spirit that enters for the tattoos which are her
sustenance and is well fed by the spirits of those who have been
tattooed in life. But she pecks the pupils of the spirits of those
who have not been tattooed, though the stories say that the
spirits were not really hurt by it.
Bouru and Neineaba lie to the north of Makin. Marira is also
close by. They are the abodes of Gilbertese souls.
DEATH IN BATTLE OR OF CRIMINALS

When a death has been caused by violence or in battle, the
corpse is quickly buried, burnt by fire or thrown away for fish or
animals to eat. We do not know what happens to the souls.
MONE OR TEMAMATANNANA
It has always been said that Mone was created by Nareau at the
same time as earth and sky. Bakoa is recognized as the ruler of
Mone and Nei Wiriki and Nei Tinanimone are his wives. There
is also mention of Enganaba, but he is inferior to Bakoa. There
are many more inhabitants of Mone belonging to families of anti
quite different from the families on earth.
SUPPOSED DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE

ANTIMAOMATA AND THE SPIRITS
There is not a great deal of difference between the antimaomata
26
and the anti, though people differ on this point. It is commonly
held that the anti cannot be seen by human beings, or reveal
themselves only occasionally, because they are separated from
mankind. They have been important throughout the Gilbert Is-
lands from time immemorial.
351
Tungaru Traditions
ANTI WHICH HAVE LONG BEEN PARTICULARLY

WELL KNOWN
Anti which have been famous from the earliest times are:
Taburimai, Auriaria, Riki, Nei Tewenei, and Nei Tituabine;
others included Nei Rei, Nei Tereitaburi, Nei Tenaotarai,
Teweia, and Kaobunang. 27 These anti were well known in the
early days before the beginning of the historic war [of Kaitu and
Uakeia], after which every utu had its own anti. It was the moti
‘decree’ from Beru, and it was spread through the Gilberts after
the war; for that decision from Beru was observed, as were their
laws on all matters.
THE ANTIMAOMATA
The belief in antimaomata arose later, for they were normally
invisible and would only show themselves occasionally to a few
people. The anti maomata were Terakunene, Nei Karua, Ten
Tekai, and perhaps a few more, but the belief was unreliable,
and its truth was not proven.
THE BARRIER (OR VEIL)

It is difficult for men and anti to come face to face, for there
is a veil between them which is called the kibenanimata. 28 It
is said that perhaps a man who tries to pierce the veil may oc-
casionally succeed, or else that probably he is discovered by
chance by some anti and is thereupon reputed to be able to see
all of them. Not all anti can be seen, even by those skilled in
magic who have acquired clear sight, for most of them remain
invisible, such as those concerned with fishing, canoes, and all
types of magic rituals.
ABEMAMA AND WAR

It was the decree from Beru that there should be two lodges of
Auatabu and Teabike formed to assist in training for war and
with the ritual for preparing young men to become warriors. 29
And so it came about on all islands except those where war was
352
not waged; they became famous institutions on islands where

warfare was endemic. Tarawa was the most warlike island, fol-
lowed by Abemama.
BY CHOICE OR BY FAME?
One could not choose a lodge: it was a matter of chance, for
different lodges prevailed in different places. 30 Teabike was
dominant on Tarawa, Abaiang, and Maiana. This was a cause
of endless friction and enmity between Abemama and Tarawa
and, when Auatabu was supreme on Abemama and Teabike on
Tarawa, in the days of Ten Namoriki—the son of Ten Tetabo—the
Abemamans often invaded Tarawa.
In Teng Karotu’s time there were a number of Tarawans and
Maiana people living on Abemama who plotted constantly but
unsuccessfully to overthrow Auatabu. The war of Kunroro, or
Kenna, was fought by Te Itinaibo in alliance with the Tarawa and
Maiana people living on Abemama.
THE FALL OF THE LODGE OF TEABIKE ON

ABEMAMA
Auatabu was powerful on Abemama and at this time it over-
threw Teabike to establish a supremacy which lasted to the
present time. On Kuria too Teabike was defeated after several
battles.
The ancestors of the royal family and the nobility of
Abemama were all adherents of Auatabu. Peace and friendship
between Abemama and Tarawa were consolidated only recently
[just before British rule was established], during the reigns of
Tem Binoka on Abemama and Tem Matang on Tarawa.
KENNA, OR TE KUNRORO
Teng Karotu went west to Aranuka in pursuit of Ten Tebiria, who
had taken offence and left. A bloody war began which, starting
at Kenna, was waged from the northern villages of Abemama
to south of Tokamauea. The people of Tokamauea gave battle
south of their village so that its soil would not be stained by
blood. The action took place at Teitai, where signs of it can still
be seen in the pits of Kaokateun and Mabutonga.
353
Tungaru Traditions
Teabike won this battle, which was the first major action of
the war, while Teng Karotu was still on Aranuka.
Teng Karotu was head (or chief) of the lodge of Auatabu and,
returning from the west, he landed on the islet of Bike, where
he was joined by those who had retreated after the first action.
He waged a vigorous campaign, and his skill won him victory.
This is how Teng Karotu did it. He camped with his followers
on Bike, and his enemies gathered in the village of Kenna,
where they waited for uncommitted forces from Tabiang and
Aonibuaka to join them. A strong southerly blew up which en-
abled Karotu and his men to reach Baretoa, but his arrival
caused friction with the forces there. So Karotu and his army
went farther south and prepared for battle at Otaao [Terian-
iboti]. Te Itinaibo and his men were defeated and, retreating
under pressure, sailed away.
So Teabike fell and has never since been re-established.
Those of its followers who stayed behind became serfs, and
remain so to this day.
SECURING THE LAND

After this conflict the conquerors divided up the land, and the
division still holds good. Many descendants of those who fled
may be found in both the northern and southern Gilberts. Kuria
and Aranuka were annexed at the same time and became de-
pendencies of Abemama.
354
A Discourse on Gilbertese
Dancing
EDITOR’S NOTE: This memorandum on dancing, dated February

1919, though not included in the Grimble Papers, is reproduced
here because it is not only the best exposition of an important
aspect of Gilbertese life but also an excellent example of the
way in which Grimble used his unique local knowledge to
defend island culture from would-be traducers, whether they
were government officials, traders, or, as in this case, mission-
aries.
Grimble is clearly writing on a subject on which he was
already an expert, though he had been only five years in the
colony and had not yet commenced his period of anthropo-
logical fieldwork in the northern Gilberts, which resulted in
nearly all his other essays and notes.
Apart from the factual information which it contains, the
memorandum represents applied anthropology at its best;
further, for those interested in Grimble as a littérateur, it pro-
vides the earliest example of a literary style that culminated
more than thirty years later in We Chose the Islands; moreover,
in the intensity of feeling evinced it will bear comparison with
Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous letter on Father Damien to an-
other Pacific missionary, the Reverend Dr. Hyde.
Grimble is commenting on charges alleging the immoral
character of Gilbertese dancing that had been prepared, trans-
lated, typed, and forwarded by the Reverend W. E. Goward, the
local representative of the London Missionary Society, on infor-
mation provided by two Gilbertese pastors from hearsay evi-
dence—they themselves had not attended a dance since they
were children.
Goward had long forbidden all forms of dancing (as well as
smoking) for Christians, but as this edict tended to inhibit po-
tential converts to his particularly dour brand of puritanism,
he had battled for over twenty years to have the government
355
Tungaru Traditions
prohibit the popular pastime for Christians and non-Christians

alike, and thus aid his efforts at proselytizing the recalcitrant
heathen.
As Grimble’s defence of the rights of the pagan majority
would be meaningless without knowing the charges made
against them they are set out verbatim below. Words or phrases
in brackets were inserted by Grimble.
THE MISSIONARIES’ CHARGES

Description of the evils of the ruoia in its unclean aspects, for the
information of the Chief Commissioner, in order that it may be
suppressed by his ruling
(1) When a ruoia 1 chant is to be made it is done with magic.

And the words of the chants are based upon the evil doings of
women with men, and descriptions of their eyes, the things of
their bodies or breasts.
(2) The clothing of dancers. Women wear a kilt of coconut leaf

or water-weed, very short, and the things of their bodies may
be seen when they dance, and they also discard their clothes so
that their breasts are uncovered and may be seen. 2
(3) The place where the ruoia is danced. At the times permitted
by law they dance in the maneaba and outside, near it. And on
various other days not allowed by law they dance in the houses
of Government Officials, or in the bush, wherever they like, and
they do evil things, such as having sexual intercourse or making
sour toddy
(4) How they dance at night in the maneaba. They have only
one lamp when they dance, and the lamp is such that only those
who dance in the front rank are in the light, and those in the
rear are not in the light, so that men and women do just as they
like, either rubbing noses, or tickling one another, or touching
the things of their bodies, or the breasts of the women. And if
they are in agreement to lie together they get up and leave the
dance. And if they dance outside the maneaba, they do the same
sort of thing. And if a man has a sweetheart, he gets up and
dances with her.
356
A Discourse on Gilbertese Dancing
(5) What is done by Kaubure 3 and Policemen who supervise

the ruoia. There are several Kaubure and Policemen who su-
pervise the dance, and they are aware of the things done by the
people who dance, that is to say, unclean things, and they do
not prevent or suppress them because they do the same things
themselves; for some among them in these days are makers
of love and doers of evil; for example, the following officials
have been caught in these days: Buteua had connection with
Tearikaete, Eketi with Nei Take, Tetekaia with Nei Tiare, and
several other cases. There are also some who have not yet been
punished in these days, who are in office although they mis-
conduct themselves in love affairs.
(6) If a man is ashamed [shy] of dancing a charm is put on him

and he is given to drink of ignorance, in order that he may not
be ashamed.
(7) If a man is to be made beautiful in the dance so that all

eyes may be drawn towards him and his name famous among
dancers, an incantation and a charm are made upon him.
(8) If dancers are to face competitors, a man from one company

goes and stamps upon the place where the adversaries will sit
so that their song may be unresponsive [unsuccessful].
(9) When the dance takes place these things are done:
(a) Sour toddy drinking.
(b) Adultery of uncles with their nephews’ wives. When
the old man starts to dance his nephew’s wife gets
up and anoints him with oil; and in the same way,
if the woman dances her uncle at law anoints her.
And if another man stands by someone’s “tinaba,”
strife and bitter jealousy arise. If a woman who has
a “tinaba” wishes to relieve herself, she cannot do
it at a distance, but relieves herself by her “tinaba.”
Another aspect of this offence: if a woman is to be
anointed by her “tinaba,” he rubs noses with her and
sucks her breasts, and may also lie with her. And
great jealousy can be fostered by her “tinaba,” so
that murder may sometimes be done, as in the case
of Temauriki of Nikunau who murdered his “tinaba.”
Some women object to this practice, for they perhaps
see that their “tinaba” are old men, or have other ob-
357
Tungaru Traditions
jections, and refuse to give in to them. In such cases

of refusal, great anger is caused, or else the sepa-
ration of children with their fathers.
(c) Love making. When a man dances, he is capable of
standing opposite his sweetheart quite unashamed
before the people. And when they dance the women
take off their clothes and wear only short “riri”
which, when shaken, show the things [organs] of
their bodies. In this manner jealousy arises, and
adultery, for the lust of the body overcomes all self-
restraint.
(10) Games arising from the ruoia:
(a) Te Karanga. Men and women who are sweethearts
stand face to face in ranks: they catch hands and
catch feet, they rub noses and touch the organs of
their bodies. Also, they are addicted to drunkenness,
and anger and violence arise from it, such as the
affair of Uerei, the Chief Kaubure of Beru, when
he was angry with the Policeman Neaki who took
Uerei’s dancing-partner.
(b) Te Tirere. The chants of this game are about love-
making of men and women: and the woman’s name
is mentioned as Nei Tire, and the man’s as Ten Tire.
And the words of the songs are about the unclean
doings of men and women in love, and anger arises
from it [the dance] if a man’s dancing-partner is
taken away by another, in the same way as the
Karanga.
(c) Te Kamo. The procedure in this game is the same as
in the Tirere, but no sticks are used, but the hands
are moved.
(11) Abortion by striking. This is one of the things done by

women pregnant by their lovers. If a woman is pregnant by her
lover she is afraid that the people will know her conduct with
her lover. So she goes to a woman who knows how to abort
her child by tapping so that the people may not know of her
conduct with her lover. Aborted children have been stranded on
the beach at Beru, which is known by Tuari, Iuta, and Taweti.
Not only this; there is another method used by women to obtain
premature birth; they rub their stomach and are given medicine
to drink. And all these things arise from the ruoia now that men
are gathered together for it.
358
Te tirere ‘the stick dance’ disapproved of by the Protestant Mission.

(Bermond: n.d.)
One more thing that we wish to expose is that the people

change the name of the ruoia in these days and call it the
‘Batere’, because [under cover of that name] they wish to do
evil: the things they do are the same as in the ruoia. So that it is
known by people accustomed to the ruoia that the things done
in it are evil.
GRIMBLE’S RESPONSE
Memorandum on the Gilbert ruoia, with especial reference to
the charges brought against dancing by the mission teachers of
the southern Gilberts
359
Tungaru Traditions
I. GENERAL
(1) As a general defence of the ruoia against the charge that it
promotes evil living, the question may be asked, “How is it that,
in the pagan, dancing North, there is less immorality, less sour-
toddy drinking, and less crime than in the puritan, danceless
South?” One hesitates to answer the question as one has no will
to appear an opponent of Christian endeavour. Yet one is equally
averse to pass in silence a slanderous attack on what is best in
paganism.
We have been given the views of (one hopes) but a few fa-
natics on the question of the Gilbert dance—and, as it would
appear, of very ill-informed fanatics. Their utterances, and no
doubt their consciences, have been misguided by the bitterest
sectarian feelings. In their sphere, these are truly upright and
sincere men—nobody would wish to deny it. But it becomes the
government to regard the matter in a broader, perhaps more
Christian, and certainly truer light than they.
The memorandum under notice appears to demand an
answer charge by charge. But before doing this, for the sake of
clearness, it is necessary to deal shortly with the foundations of
Gilbert dancing, an art which in the opinion of R. L. Stevenson
is rivalled nowhere else in the Pacific.
First, any Gilbert dance presupposes two creators—one the
poet, who composes the chant, another the “raiser of hands,”
who accommodates the movements of the dancers to the words.
(2) The Poet, about whom more will be said in answer to the
first charge brought by the mission teachers, is a much-con-
sidered personage who, in Gilbert phrase, “comes from a high
place under the sun and the moon,” and treats with a technique
the most exacting and complicated.
Beyond mere happiness of diction, with its very precise rules
as to the mot juste, and beyond the exigencies of a beautiful
system of cadences, he must observe his “greater and lesser
pauses”; his solos and his duos; his phone and antiphone; his
very curious relations of fact and metaphor; his oblique intro-
duction, which blossoms into the central argument; and his
finale which, like the sestet of a sonnet, brings to a point the an-
tecedent ideas, and in addition finds room for the personal boast
of the poet, being ended as a rule in a high strain of panegyric.
Thus much, in an unhappily short space, for the poetic canons.
360
(3) The Raiser of Hands may be an individual, but so exquisitely

difficult and so minutely exact are the movements of torso,
head, eyes, and arms in the dance, that it is usually a committee
of past masters who preside at the adaption of gestures to
words. When the poet has made his song he submits it to such
a committee, and, unless he too be an expert in gesture, the
matter then passes out of his control.
The village dancers assemble in the maneaba, having duly
pronounced charms for quickness of tongue and grace of body,
and phrase by phrase learn the new song. As each phrase be-
comes known, the experts consult and sketch the appropriate
attitudes, which are tried and retried until satisfaction is
reached. There are interminable repetitions, recommence-
ments, alterations, night after night, until the flesh is weary
and the chant sickeningly familiar. But from a ragged perform-
ance of ill-timed voices and uncertain movements, the ruoia be-
comes a magnificent harmony of bodies, eyes, and arms—even
of hands and fingertips—swinging, undulating, and poising in
perfect attunement, through a thousand graceful attitudes to
the organ-note of fifty voices chanting in absolute rhythm. When
such a point is reached the Raisers of Hands pronounce the
dance ready for production at the next gathering of the people,
on such occasions as New Year, King’s Birthday, or Empire Day.
(4) The Dancers. One notices always on the faces of the dancers
an expression of total preoccupation, as of people busy with in-
trospection. This is due to the conscious effort of memory im-
posed upon them. The dance is of such extreme complication
that without unremitting attention it becomes ragged (or in
native phrase “hung up”) and falls to pieces. An error of three
inches in the transitory position of a hand is considered a grave
mistake; yet the hand must describe hundreds of swift move-
ments before a dance is done.
These facts alone discount the comic assertion of the
teachers that the natives find time during their dance to commit
indiscretions together. One who makes the smallest error in the
ruoia, sit he in the remotest corner even, is immediately de-
tected by the audience of specialists and “roasted” publicly. And
such is the Gilbert man’s reverence for his dancing that it is
absolutely impossible to conceive one who, having sat down to
take his part, would commit the offence of dividing his atten-
tion.
361
Tungaru Traditions
(5) Classification of Dances. There are many kinds of dance, of

which the ruoia (whose name is generically applied to all) is
but one. Those permitted by government at present are such as
would give rise neither to jealousy nor immorality among the
natives. Those chiefly practised are:
(a) Te bino, the most popular of all: a sitting dance
arranged either in a crescent or in a circle of several
rows. There are various arrangements of the
dancers, which are called generically “canoes” or
“vessels.” The “canoe of Tarawa,” the “canoe of
Abemama,” the “canoe of Banaba” are three well-
known dispositions. Either one, two, or three dancers
sit isolated between the horns of the crescent, or in
the middle of the circle, leading the dance. These are
called the “keel of the canoe.” The bino is concerned
with what may be called the lyric poetry of the group.
Themes of love are its chief pre-occupation. They are
dealt with in a manner which impresses one with its
extraordinary delicacy. It may be observed that this is
remarkable among a folk whose conversation is not
noted for its cleanliness. Left for an evening in his
home, with a mind unoccupied, the native will infal-
libly find his chief delight in conversations of a very
high colour relating to the “one subject.” The same
native, permitted to dance, will have neither time nor
desire to talk filth, or think filth. His Wednesday and
Saturday evenings will be occupied in the practice of
an art which keeps mind and body healthily busy The
intervening nights are taken up by private practising
and consideration of the particular dance which en-
gages his attention. In this perhaps lies the expla-
nation of the curious moral and domestic superiority
of the dancing north over the danceless south, as
shown by statistics.
The latter remarks apply to all legal dances, but
particularly to the bino, which presumably on ac-
count of its connection with the unholy sentiment of
love is anathema to the mission teachers.
Besides treating of purely lyric matter, the bino
may be heroic or elegiac in nature. It is particularly
used to do collective honour to distinguished com-
panies, for example, winning sides in great wars. In
such a case, after a fitting choral introduction, the
chief general would be lauded in a solo, and the
362
lesser leaders celebrated in chorus name by name

thereafter. So great is such an honour considered
that an old man will weep for joy in hearing his name
pronounced in song. For the bino is the only his-
toric vehicle of the islands; only by famous chants
handed down from generation to generation, from
century even to century, can the memory of a man’s
deeds live. What is more important springing from
this—only by preserving this dance can the gov-
ernment keep alive among the natives a pride in
the great actions of their forefathers. It is the sole
ground upon which the native sense of nationality
may be established.
(b) Te ruoia. This is the most popular of the standing
dances. Men only take part. It is of heroic nature,
dealing with wars and voyages of humans and
heroes. It is guided, as the bino and all other dances,
by the most stringent rules of deportment and
composition. In contradistinction to the bino, the
ruoia deals not with companies of heroes but with in-
dividuals.
(c) Te kamei. A standing dance for men, dealing with
deeds of gods and spirits. It is closely connected with
the now extinct ritual games of these islands.
(d) Te buata. A sitting dance for small numbers of men,
celebrating solely the voyages of the gods.
(e) Te tangi ni wenei. Dirges to the newly dead. These
may be performed solo or in the setting of the bino in-
terspersed with solos. Some such chants are of great
beauty of diction and betray a depth of genuine sym-
pathy for which one’s daily experience of apparent
native callousness does not prepare one.
There are several other forms of dance permitted by the gov-
ernment, among which must not be forgotten the exclusively
Banaban karanga ‘stick dance’; or the chants for one, two,
three, or four voices in honour of particular achievements (but
unaccompanied by gesture); or, last of all, the kabure, in which
two couples sit face to face in the form of a cross and, clapping
one another’s hands in complicated sequence, chant songs of
which often the race has forgotten the meaning.
Of the illegal dances, very rightly suppressed by the gov-
ernment and, in the writer’s experience, little regretted by the
native, it is unnecessary to speak, as they will be mentioned in
answer to explicit charges.
363
Tungaru Traditions
The traditional ruoia. (Carmichael and

Knox-Mawer 1968, 40 + 35)
(6) The Mission Teachers. Speaking generally, the plan followed

by the mission in the preparation of teachers is as follows. Boys
who have learned all that the village schools can teach them are
selected, with a view to their good behaviour and intelligence,
for further training at the excellently organised Central Schools
at Beru. Here they spend, as a rule, not less than four years. If
by character and studies during that period they seem to show a
true vocation, they are after their final tests drafted out into vil-
lages as teachers. They are picked men, generally of excellent
morals and behaviour.
But it must never be forgotten that they are natives, having
the psychology of natives. That is to say, they are incapable
of seeing two sides of a question; very jealous and therefore
very bigoted; very malleable, trained for at least eight years
to certain intransigent views, and therefore entirely one-sided.
What is not Protestant to them is not only worthless but wicked
(with certain individual exceptions).
364
A modern ruoia, in which women form the front row of dancers.

(Phelan 1958, facing p. 96)
The wise government policy of tolerating and protecting all

rituals, even pagan rituals, alike, so long as decency and order
permit, has probably never been apparent to them—even if it
were it would be deplored as a catastrophe by these really
earnest and lovable men.
In nothing are these points so well illustrated as in their at-
titude towards the dance. To them, as a remnant of paganism, it
is automatically anathema. Their Christian zeal knows no such
thing as toleration. As a pagan thing the ruoia is anti-Christ:
as anti-Christ it should be abolished by government. One sees
in their attitude the proof of a true and sincere love of their
own cause, which cannot escape admiration, but it would be a
sad day for justice if their very limited views were adopted. Let
us not forget that they represent the feelings of but one sec-
tion of the Gilbert people and not the only Christian section.
The Catholic Church, which has a larger following in the group
than the Protestant, permits the legal ruoia, even in [the area
surrounded by] its fences. And for every two Christians in the
Gilbert Islands there are three pagans. If the dance is of such
shocking immorality as the teachers suppose, how is it that no
complaints have emanated from Catholic missionaries also, who
365
Tungaru Traditions
are no less sincere in their faith? And how is it that these good
men can allow the dance to take place by the very precincts of
their churches?
The accusation of the teachers reflect unfavourably not only
on the sincerity of all Catholic missionaries; they are equally
wounding to the government. The flag has been established for
twenty-seven years in these islands, and there have been num-
bered among the official staff men of unrivalled knowledge in
native affairs. The integrity of these is now called into question.
Had there been such leprous abuses they would have seen
them. Is it to be supposed that having seen, they suppressed
their knowledge—every one of them, without exception? It is
indeed hard to believe.
And lastly, one would question the knowledge of the
teachers. These are Gilbert men who speak, it is true. But they
are Gilbert men trained from an early age to abhor the dance
and to keep away from it.
Starting in infancy, it takes a Gilbert man, according to
experts, from fifteen to twenty years to learn all he should
know about the dance. Generally speaking, a Protestant teacher
would not have been more than fourteen to sixteen years old
when removed from the influence of the ruoia. At that age
he would know little or nothing about it. Whatever he may
have known would subsequently become hateful to him by care-
ful teaching. It may be argued that the memorandum of the
teachers was compiled on evidence received from converted
dancers. But it will be realised that the forsaking of the dance
was the first article in the conversion of such witnesses. Having
become Protestants, and wishing to call themselves true Protes-
tants, they say what they know they are expected to say. They
are natives, and natives rarely have the moral courage to testify
contrary to authority. Above all, they hope to acquire favour by
loading the ruoia with the stereotyped calumnies.
The following notes will treat under separate heads with the
abuses mentioned by the teachers:
II. Witchcraft, paragraphs (1), (6), (7), and (8).

III. Immorality, paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (9).
IV. Forbidden Games, paragraphs (9) and (10).
V. Abortion, paragraph (11).
366
II. WITCHCRAFT
The charge in para. (1) is that when a dancing song is to be
composed, it is done by the aid of tabunea, that is, magic.
This is perfectly true. Why not? Such magic has no connection
whatever with those forms prohibited in Law 19 of the Native
Code. By that law is prohibited sorcery, which has been rightly
and comprehensively rendered into Gilbert as “Praying to death
and other bad magic.” 4 In other words the law forbids any sort
of magic which might threaten peace, person, or property. Is it
suggested that tabunea, of which the following is an exact ren-
dering, falls into such a class?
May my words take wing, may they fly.

May they take wing and fly.
O Taburimai, O Auriaria,
May no evil spirit come near, only let no evil spirit arise
and come upon me.
May my song soar and fly.
Behold a frigate-bird flying!
I shall not fall, I shall not be deserted.
Good fortune be mine; good words be mine. Peace!
Apart from its beauty, could anything be less menacing to peace

and good morals? It is the poet’s simple prayer, probably some
centuries old, to the spirits Taburimai and Auriaria, that he may
be the writer of a soaring song.
In para. (6) it is said, with that air of grave honour which
pervades the report, “If a man be ashamed to dance a spell is
cast upon him and he is given to drink of the drink of igno-
rance.” This is picturesquely put, but inaccurate. It is the drink,
not the man, that undergoes the spell. If a native suffers from
stage-fright, his mother or grandparent will mix him a magic
potion. It consists of the water of a young coconut into which
are thrown the orange-coloured flowers of the kaura, a certain
weed. The philtre is charmed by an incantation, and the nervous
young person drinks it. The belief is that the warm colour of the
flower distils confidence in the veins of the drinker.
In para. (7) is condemned the magic of the dancer who de-
sires to attract attention. This is called te kaeke ‘the making dis-
tinguished’. Two slips of coconut leaf are knotted together to
form a slim necklace. The whole is then held in the left hand
and stroked with the right to the following whispered accompa-
niment (supposing the speaker a youth):
367
Tungaru Traditions
By my tying of the knots, by this tying, let them (i.e., the

spirits) come, let them come.
Let them overturn the hearts of the dancing girls; of the
girls who are the delight of their homes.
By my tying of the knots, I am goodly.
I am beautiful; clearly seen; the first to be beheld.
By my stroking of the leaf from once to ten times, all the
dancers and people fall before me.
They shall gaze on my finger-tips; they shall hasten and
crowd; they shall eagerly speak my name.
Only my name; only mine, mine, mine.
Calling his name once aloud the speaker then slips the necklace
in place and departs full of hope to the dance.
Charge (8) deals with an equally harmless tabunea. Pre-
cisely as stated by the teachers, if two sets of performers are
to compete before an audience, each company will delegate a
representative to “darken” the place of its adversary. The “dark-
ening” is effected by treading the ground where the adversary
is to sit and muttering the following words:
Breed, darkness, breed!

May their hands be hidden.
May their faces be unseen.
May the skin of their bodies be hidden.
May their song be unheard.
May they be conquered,
May we have victory; only we; only we, only we, only we.
Dark, dark, dark.
Dark, dark, dark.
Such a charm is often performed amid roars of laughter before

the whole assembly, by the village humorist. Even when per-
formed seriously and in private it could by no possibility cause
trouble, as all parties are fully aware that it takes place and in-
variably believe in the superior efficacy of their own magic.
It is hoped that the above illustrations, directly bearing on
the accusations made by the native teachers will serve to show
both the insufficiency of the charges and the innocuous nature
of magic in general, as practised in the islands. The tabunea is
certainly not a Christian institution, but it breaks no law, and
not by the wildest stretch of imagination could it be accused
of endangering public or domestic peace. Under a government
whose policy is religious tolerance so far as decency and peace
368
permit, it is intolerable to think that any harmless pagan ritual

whatever should be interfered with. Since when has Christianity
enjoyed a monopoly of government protection? While a single
pagan subsists in the group, observing the peaceful rites in-
augurated by his forefathers, he has an equal claim upon our
courtesy, our tolerance, and our justice. His religious practices
are protected by the Pacific Order in Council, a fact which
has not saved him from the interruption and insult of his cere-
monies. In cases known to the writer only the wise self restraint
of the so-called ignorant heathen averted murder, on the rude
desecration of his sacred places by over-zealous evangelists. It
is not always the pagan whose persuasion has led him to en-
danger peace.
A fact not shown in the charge-sheet of the teachers is that
no single business of pagan life is without its attendant tabunea.
If we are to prohibit the ruoia because it encourages magic, we
must logically for the same reason forbid fishing, food-getting,
canoe-building, sleeping, dreaming, and in fact even the acts of
birth and death; because none of these can take place without
tabunea.
III. IMMORALITY
(a) Immorality of songs. The second half of para. (1) asserts
that the words of the ruoia chants “are based upon the evil
doings of women and men, and deal with their eyes and things
of their bodies and their breasts.”
Reference will now be made solely to those forms of dancing
permitted by government. The accusations of the teachers are
levelled at all dancing. To the illegal forms they make special
reference, and that will be discussed later.
For three years the writer has collected popular dance songs
from all parts of the Gilberts. Only on the island of Abemama
has he found indecent wording, but that island is an exception
to all that is best in the group.
Let it be admitted that hundreds of songs are indeed “based
upon the doings of women and men”—they are, in fact, love-
songs. But why “the evil doings,” so styled by the teachers? Is it
evil for example to sing:
I lay awake with watchful eye: my heart was torn in two.

I wondered how again I should contrive to lie in the arms
of my beloved.
369
Tungaru Traditions
“How deep,” I thought, “will be her words, how swift her

sighs. When again I lie in her arms.”
Is this evil? It is a good example of the usual love-strain of the

island songs. To some it would appear beautiful.
And most assuredly, as the teachers say, the native poetry
“deals with the eyes” of women. Are we seriously asked to
condemn it?
As for the “breasts” so dismally mentioned, they are also
fitly celebrated, but the unpoetic word mamma given by the
teachers is never used; it is always manawa, which is properly
not breast but bosom and refers to the space between the
breasts where the lover’s head lies. And always may it be re-
membered that the breast was never a thing of shame until the
mission made it so.
The teachers have forgotten to mention the thigh of the
woman, which is a favourite object of the poet’s praise, while
the navel often excites his admiration. As for that ambiguous
phrase of the teachers, “the things of their bodies”—they have
pitched upon an idiom more suggestive of nastiness than ever
appeared in the songs they condemn.
(b) Immorality of dress. In para. (2) are called in question
the costumes of the dancers—“women wear a short riri of co-
conut leaf or water-weeds … and put off the covering of their
breasts, which are then seen”.
The teachers here have the temerity to invite government
condemnation of the Gilbert national costume, to which the Is-
landers have been accustomed for hundreds of years.
Only one remark need be made: all government officials
have noticed that one hears of least immorality and least
adultery from those villages where the simple national costume
is still retained. The more we Europeanise clothing the more
vitiated do native morals become. Vide the case of licentious
Abemama, where the women have reached the stage of under-
clothes and aphrodisiac vice. In the five southern islands, where
the national dress is almost extinct, there is more immorality
than in all the rest of the Gilberts, excepting Abemama.
Needing special attention is the teachers’ statement that the
women who wear riri in the dance expose the “things of their
bodies.” If this horrible phrase be taken (as it must) to mean
their pudenda it is a foul-minded slander, not the less beastly
because uttered in ignorance. In respect of the sex-organ no
woman in the world is more sensitively modest than the Gilbert
woman. Be her morals and behaviour never so sluttish, she will
370
Te rorobuaka ‘a young man’ in traditional

dance dress and ornaments, Beru.
(Maude photo)
rather die than expose herself as stated by the teachers. It is

impossible to condemn too strongly this unwarrantable defama-
tion, which indicates a deep-seated prurience of mind.
(c) Immorality of conditions. Paras (3) and (4) deal with the
locality and extraneous conditions under which the ruoia takes
place. The government times for ruoia are from 6 P.M. to 90 P.M.
on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the maneaba. The people are
allowed to practise at home in companies of not more than four
in a house, provided they make no noise. The teachers assert
that “on days not allowed by law the people dance in the houses
of Government officials.” They probably refer to the perfectly
legal practising above noted. This should be enquired into.
The teachers further state, “the people dance in the bush,
where they please, doing evil things such as making love and
sour toddy.”
371
Tungaru Traditions
Te tei aine ‘a young woman’ wearing the

traditional dance costume, Beru. (Maude
photo)
Cases do indeed come to court where a few people have

danced in prohibited places. Cases also arise when Christians
play cards, for example, in prohibited places. But only a rabid
anti-Christian would blame the creed for the offence. Every per-
suasion has its lawbreakers.
To attribute “making love” to the ruoia alone is amusingly
insufficient. Making love is the national pastime. It is not be-
lieved that there exist a hundred virgins over sixteen in the
whole group. Of these the vast majority will be found among the
daughters of pagan chieftains in the north, who adhere to the
old, stern moralities. Making “sour toddy” cannot by any effort
of imagination be attributed to the ruoia. In the southern is-
lands perhaps five per cent of the people dance; in the northern
islands, ninety per cent. Yet sour-toddy drinking is practically
confined to the south.
372
In para. (4) a confused list of offences is attributed to the

absence of illumination. The fact is, the native cannot afford
kerosene for more than one lamp. They delight in brilliant il-
lumination, which displays their skill. A white official is con-
stantly embarrassed by requests for kerosene. To insinuate that
dancers desire darkness for evil purposes is false. They do not
desire but deplore darkness.
Para (5) contains a general accusation against members of
the native governments, of misbehaviour and condonement of
offences at the dance. Special cases are cited in which indi-
vidual officials have been found out and punished for their of-
fences. This was as it should be. But the teachers have left their
general charges vague and should be called upon to substan-
tiate them in more definite form.
One freely admits that the dancing public commit all manner
of sexual offences; but so does the Christian population. It is
as fair to say that dancing is a cause of offence in the former
as that Church-going is in the latter. No Gilbert community is
immune from sexual faults. But, let it never be forgotten, there
is more of this crime in the convert South than in the pagan
North.
(d) Sour-toddy drinking, etc.. Under para (9) it is stated,

When the Ruoia takes place, the following things are done: (a)
sour toddy drinking, (b) tinaba (i.e., adultery with niece by mar-
riage).
Sour-toddy drinking has already been mentioned. It is prac-
tically confined to the almost danceless south.
Tinaba, or adultery with a nephew’s wife, was in the old days
the common native practice. A newly wedded wife would ap-
proach her “uncle-at-law” with gifts of scented oil, mats, and
dancing-wreaths, and would occasionally lie with him, in return
for which she received land under the title known as te bora. If
her uncle-at-law vomited after drunkenness, it was her duty to
remove the vomit, and she would acquire for such service more
land called te aba ni mumuta ‘vomit land’.
Nowadays only the name of tinaba exists; by it is meant “a
niece at law.” She is still expected to make dancing wreaths for
her husband’s uncle and to anoint him with oil. But it is a mere
mark of filial respect and, as such, desirable. It is evil-minded to
suppose that it leads to illicit or illegal practices. The teachers
have cited one case; no doubt more could be found, for a na-
tional custom dies hard. The ruoia certainly does not encourage
373
Tungaru Traditions
it any more than the marriage of a girl and boy could be said to
encourage it. It would be considered silly to blame marriage; it
is equally silly to blame the ruoia.
IV. FORBIDDEN GAMES

Para. (9c) describes dancers in the ruoia as being “face to
face with their sweethearts” and standing thus with them
“unashamed before the People.” This must refer to the prohi-
bited forms of dancing; there is no formation at present allowed
by government which could bring a man and woman face to face
(except the kabure, for four people, which has nothing to do
with love). If the teachers, however, deny this they should be
asked to specify the dance. Para. (10) details certain of the pro-
hibited forms of dancing. It will be noted that the karanga here
mentioned has nothing to do with the Banaban form of stick-
dance already referred to.
All these dances (or rather games) were prohibited by gov-
ernment fifteen years ago, and remained in abeyance until an
officer, who has now left the group, recently permitted them
to be revived for a period of a few months. It is without doubt
true that they were in old times particularly designed for men
and their mistresses, and as such were conducive to jealousy.
They were again prohibited in October 1918 by Mr. Anderson,
throughout the southern Gilberts. There is therefore no need for
further action in this matter.
V. ABORTION
The final paragraph of the teachers deals with the very grave
matter of abortion. This, according to the explicit statement of
the teachers, “grows from the ruoia, now that the people are
gathered together for it.” One remains appalled by the igno-
rance and malice of this assertion.
As for the existence of abortion in the group, there can un-
fortunately be little doubt that it is here and there practised, al-
though cases are exceedingly difficult to bring home. But fear
of the severe punishment provided by Law 3 of the Native Code
has greatly limited the incidence of this offence. This is one of
the few cases in which law has indeed improved native morals.
The crime would be committed by a girl pregnant with her
lover, either to avoid shame for herself or to be rid of a child
which would inherit no land from its father. It might also be
perpetrated by the mother of a large family unwilling to bear
374
more children. It may be said that while sexual desire exists and
women remain fertile there will always be danger of occasional
offences of this kind. They are the byproducts of love and mar-
riage, just as tyranny may be the by-product of law, or bigotry
of virtue.
An individual case is cited by the teachers, as follows:
“aborted children have been stranded on the beach, as is known
to Tuari, Iuta, and Teweti.”
Tuari, the magistrate, and Iuta, the chief kaubure, of Beru
have been called and examined. It appears that some five years
ago the foetus of a child was found on the lagoon beach at Beru.
Very strict enquiries were made, but no evidence of any sort was
obtainable. The foetus was not more than three months old (the
native has a very exact knowledge of such matters).
A perfectly probable explanation is that a woman three
months pregnant had a miscarriage. The Gilbert woman is
strangely ashamed of such an accident, first from a natural
native horror of the abnormal and secondly because she fears
to be accused of abortion. She will always do her best to hide a
miscarriage.
The teachers’ assumption that this was an aborted child is
maliciously sweeping. In this case, as elsewhere in their mem-
orandum, they show an unchristian readiness to believe the
worst of their countrymen.
Most iniquitous of all is the charge that abortion springs
from the ruoia. It has been made without possible evidence of
any sort and is of the nature of a grave slander. The teachers
have made what amounts to a direct accusation against the
dancers, that they alone are guilty of an abominable crime. This
is a universal defamation of a well-defined community. To that
community is due the protection of government as of right. We
should fall short of our duty if we failed to guarantee them
against such recklessness; we should certainly endanger public
peace if by failing to call the offenders to justice we encouraged
a repetition of their methods.
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE: E. C. Eliot, the Resident Commissioner at

Ocean Island, read these documents when visiting the Western
Pacific High Commission in Suva. Accustomed to the formalised
officialese of his professional colleagues, he was no admirer
of Grimble’s literary prose and had already asked Sir Cecil
Rodwell, the High Commissioner, “not to allow the somewhat
pedantic expression of his reports to detract from the
soundness of the views expressed”! On this occasion, however,
375
Tungaru Traditions
Eliot, while supporting his District Officer’s submission, was

mainly concerned that both memoranda should be kept locked
up “as they are not suitable for the Girl Clerks to see”—autres
temps autres moeurs.
The eventual outcome of the dispute was that the Reverend
W. E. Goward, with his antediluvian attitude towards most
Gilbertese recreational activities, retired on pension and was
replaced by the more modern-minded G. H. Eastman, who in
1926 persuaded the Protestant Island Church Councils to re-
scind the prohibition on Christians dancing.
Once again the ruoia, together with the more modern and
easily learnt batere, became immensely popular pastimes
throughout the Gilberts, and it was soon obvious that should
any further attempt be made to prohibit dancing to church ad-
herents it would be the number of Christians rather than the
number of dancers that would decline.
376
Abbreviations
ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign

Missions
ANU Australian National University
HMSO Her/His Majesty’s Stationery Office, Great Britain
NSW New South Wales
PMB Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
RSPS Research School of Pacific Studies
WPHC Western Pacific High Commission
377
Notes
All references have been inserted by the Editor. Substantive

notes are by Grimble, except where indicated by “Ed.”
A. F. GRIMBLE AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST
1. Grimble 1913.
2. Grimble 1926; 1952a, 3; Rosemary Grimble 1972, 5.
3. Grimble 1913, 1926.
4. Grimble 1926.
5. Grimble 1913.
6. Grimble 1957a, 6.
7. Grimble 1952a, 128–133.
8. Grimble 1920.
9. Grimble 1918.
10. Ibid.
11. Grimble 1924.
12. Grimble 1925.
13. Grimble 1931.
14. Grimble 1926.
15. Grimble 1930.
THE GRIMBLE PAPERS
1. Grimble 1964.
2. Grimble 1933–1934.
378
Notes
3. Goodenough 1955, 74.

4. Lowie 1937, 6.
5. Goodenough 1955, 73–76; Lundsgaarde and Silverman
1972; Latouche 1984, 24n.
6. Carmack 1972, 238–242.
ADOPTION
For research studies on Gilbertese adoption published since

Grimble’s time see Maude and Maude 1931; Lambert 1964,
1970; Lundsgaarde 1970b; Silverman 1970.—Ed.
1. The meaning of these statements is not quite clear to me
but I surmise that Grimble was considering the possibility
of marriage between the near kin of an adopted person and
the near kin of the adopter as affected by their being clan
members of the same totem group; or more precisely by
their being clan co-members, since the Gilbertese recog-
nized clan exogamy rather than exogamy between members
of the same totemic group: a Karongoa Raereke man could
marry a Taunnamo woman regardless of their sharing the
same totems, as their clans were different. Grimble’s con-
clusion here seems to be that members of the same clan as
an adopted person could marry the near kin of the adopter
provided they did not come within the prohibited degrees
of consanguinity, i.e., possessing a common ancestor up to
the generation of tibu toru ‘great grandparents’. See also
Maude 1963, 42–43, 63.—Ed.
2. Maude and Maude 1932, 288–289.
AGRICULTURAL RITUALS
1. There are many other forms of rabu, and the most usual
method of indicating that a tree is protected by a rabu is to
put an old riri around it.—Ed.
379
Notes
2. These are the names of the spiritual powers who carry into
effect the curse of the formula. They are in no sense sup-
plicated or invoked, their obedience being procured by the
declamation of the correct spell and the completion of the
ritual. Kakang means to eat human flesh; oraora, to eat un-
cooked food; and mata, face or eyes.
3. Rosemary Grimble 1972, 17–18 has a differently worded
and abridged version.—Ed.
4. From his rising until noon the sun is said to be marau
‘agile or active’, and therefore helpful for the purpose of
magic rituals. After noon he becomes makanakana ‘soft or
unhelpful’. [The popular story current on all islands holds
that the Sun was male, but a probably older and less widely
known story tells us that the Sun was originally female and
called Nei Tai; see Rosemary Grimble 1972, 132–135; and
Teeko p. 301.— Ed.]
5. Antini karaka may be translated as “new-fangled spirits,” or
more literally “spirits to increase number.” The word raka
always means a surplus: an addition either to number or
knowledge.
6. The name Bitanikai is here given to the spiritual power be-
lieved to reside in the staff. Nanonikai means heart-of-staff,
i.e., “He-who-lives-within-the-staff.” The attitude is purely
animistic and, as such, sharply contrasted with that adopted
a little later, when the protection of Auriaria and Tabuariki
is invoked. An example of syncretism.
7. The rock that forms highest heaven; the hard coral that is
the foundation of the underworld; the clam-shell of Auriaria,
King of Heaven.
8. Rosemary Grimble 1972, 18–21.
9. See Death: Burial in the Sitting Position (Marakei), where
it is stated that only one utu actually performed this cer-
emony.—Ed.
10. Most Gilbertese dwellings are built with gables north and
south and sides facing east and west.
380
Notes
11. A span (te nga) is the full stretch of a man’s outspread arms,
from tip to tip of the middle fingers.
12. Bitanikai ‘magic tree’. Bitanikai in this context means to the
performer changing-of-trees, with reference to the fructifi-
cation of his pandanus trees, which would otherwise not be
productive.
13. Bung ‘gives birth’. This is the usual meaning of bung, but
the word is also used to denote the setting of sun or moon.
Those who use the ritual state that the meaning of birth is
here intended, the idea being that the north, south, east, and
west are made fruitful by the ceremony. The fact that the
sun is setting at the same moment gives a punning effect to
the word. Puns are not infrequent in Gilbertese magic, their
force to the mind of the Islander being always esoteric.
14. Te iti ma te ro ‘the rain-cloud’. The words literally mean “the
lightning-with-the-darkness”, and refer to the alternate flick-
ering of lightning and blackness which is seen in the rain-
clouds of the westerly winds.
15. On the overside of the sun: the performer believes that, as
the sun sinks below the horizon, the roots of his magic tree
become planted upon its overside.
16. Bita-bongibong ‘magic-tree-in-the-twilight’. Bita is the first
component of bitanikai, and stands for the whole word; bon-
gibong signifies “growing dark.”
17. Mataburo ‘opening pandanus bloom’. A technical word of
the same family as taba ‘young, i.e., unopened, pandanus
bloom’. Both these words are inapplicable to any other kind
of flower.
18. Mauri, rendered “prosperity and prosperous,” is difficult to
interpret in a single word. It indicates a condition of being
free from the influence of all evil magic and so in a state of
peace, health, or general prosperity.
19. The allusion here is to the First Pandanus of Abatoa and
Abaiti, called the Ancestress Sun.
20. Tabera ‘crest’: the crest is “the body of the Sun.”
381
Notes
21. Teweia is said to have been the mother’s father of Tanentoa

II, the Karongoa High Chief of Beru. He is reputed to have
been the builder of Tanentoa’s maneaba and, as such,
adopted by the Chief as a deity after his death. [Teweia was
surely the mother’s brother of Tanentoa II; see Maude 1963,
11–12.—Ed.]
22. For the making of kabubu and korokoro see Grimble
1933–1934, 36–39, 42.—Ed.
23. Rabarabani karawa ‘hidden places of heaven’. This phrase
is commonly used to indicate, not the zenith, but the sides of
heaven hidden below the horizon. In this context it refers to
the far lands of the ancestral deities.
24. Grimble 1933–1934, 44–45.
ANCESTOR CULT
1. See also Grimble 1921b, 46–47.
ANCESTRAL LANDS
1. The Butaritari version has not been found, but the Tarawa
narrative is in Grimble 1964, A(5)(c), and is reproduced in
Rosemary Grimble 1972, 226–228.—Ed.
2. There is a sudden transition in this paragraph from myth
to history. The chronicler uses the dramatic opportunity of-
fered by the quarrel of Nei Tewenei with her husband to in-
troduce the sketch of a migration out of Matang into the
Gilbert Group.
3. The wild almond (te kunikun—Terminalia catappa), grows
only on Banaba. —Ed.
382
Notes
4. The allusion is to the “face” of the coconut, which is be-

lieved to be the face of Nei Tituabine, and from which a man
(though not a woman) is obliged to drink. The rubbing of
noses—or rather nostrils—is the love greeting in the Gilbert
Islands.
5. All Gilbertese sleeping mats are manufactured of pandanus
leaf.
6. Grimble 1933–1934, 55–59.
7. Grimble 1933–1934, 71.
8. Grimble 1933–1934, 56.
9. All kinds of rays are associated with Nei Tituabine, but the
giant ray is the variety used as a totem by the clan of Keaki,
whose totem is the tropic-bird. [See Grimble 1933–1934,
table facing 20, 72.]
10. Grimble 1921b, 42–44.
11. Bouru, that other renga paradise associated with Matang,
has also given its name to a pandanus tree, te Ara-bouru.
A third variety of the plant to be called after a western fa-
therland is te Annabanaba. The name of Nabanaba is also
attached to a form of cooking oven and to a variety of Malay
custard apple. [Grimble 1933–1934, 9, 29.]
ANIMALS
1. Grimble and Clarke 1929, 32.

2. For a description of Gilbertese marriage ritual see Grimble
1921b, 29–34. —Ed.
3. For other animals used as food in the Gilberts see Grimble
1933–1934, 28.—Ed.
383
Notes
ARCHAEOLOGY
1. A more detailed account of the construction, use and lo-

cation of the seventeen Banaban terraces is in Maude and
Maude 1932, 278–283, figures 3–6, appendixes 1, 6, 7.—Ed.
BIRTH
1. For various forms of te wawi see Magic; te wauna is merely

a variety of te wawi directed against pregnant women. The
British colonial government’s attitude towards both is set
out in Grimble and Clarke 1929, 6–7.—Ed.
2. There is a similar, but in some respects more detailed, ac-
count in Grimble 1921b, 34–36, and another by Airam Teeko
in this volume.—Ed.
CANOES AND NAVIGATION
1. Described in Grimble 1924.—Ed.

2. Grimble 1933–1934, 87–89.
3. Kennedy 1931, 98; Grimble 1924, plate 21.
4. Grimble 1924, 107–108. Kennedy (1931, 78) records a
similar “bulge” in the hull of Vaitupuan canoes. The possi-
bility of Gilbertese influence emanating from Nui should be
considered in this connection.—Ed.
5. Grimble 1924, 123; Hedley 1897, plate 15.
6. Haddon 1920, 131.
CONVEYANCE AND INHERITANCE
For recent research on te toba on Butaritari see Lambert

1964, 1970.—Ed.
1. See also the following two sections.—Ed.
2. Called elsewhere by Grimble kaonikibakiba.—Ed.
384
Notes
3. Lit. “The middle of the named land (in this case Bangkai) is
prodded.” —Ed.
4. This was written before the lands settlement of Banaba in
1931–1932, when it was found that land could in fact only be
transmitted to someone other than the next-of-kin by a con-
veyance recognized by Banaban custom (these are detailed
in Maude and Maude 1932, 288–291.—Ed.
5. This item was extracted from the “Interim Report on the
Progress of the Native Lands Commission from the 1st
January to the 30th April, 1925.” It was written by Grimble
on 13 May 1925, and is the only note on this interesting
subject known to exist. The Banaban people now live on Rabi
Island in the Fiji Group.—Ed.
DEATH
1. “Ten Naewa” is the equivalent of “Mr. So-and-so,” and the

real name of the deceased would be used in the actual cer-
emony.—Ed.
2. A small hand weapon with a single tooth-point (usually a
shark’s tooth). —Ed.
3. For the probability of Beia-ma-Tekai being two individuals
see p. 35, in which case the story would seem to be a pious
fraud.—Ed.
4. See Agricultural Rituals: The Fructification of the Pandanus
where, however, it is stated that the clans of Karongoa,
Ababou, and Maerua have the right to perform the fructifi-
cation ritual. It seems probable that, as recorded here, only
one utu had the necessary expertise to undertake the work,
at least on Marakei in the early 1920s when the fructifi-
cation ceremony was obsolescent.—Ed.
385
Notes
HISTORY
1. Robert Wood, alias Grey, a Scotsman who was put ashore on

Butaritari at his own request by the captain of the English
whaler Janie in 1834 and left on the USS Peacock in 1841
(Wilkes 1845, 5:72).—Ed.
2. The making of fresh toddy from the coconut tree and its
fermenting to make sour toddy is described in Grimble
1933–1934, 33–34.—Ed.
3. Kabunare is the Gilbertese rendition of the captain’s name
(Maude 1968, 244).—Ed.
4. Koakoa was the name given to Richard Randall, the first
resident trader in the Gilbert Islands, who landed at Butar-
itari in March 1846 with his partner George Durant (Ibid.,
245).—Ed.
5. The British flag was hoisted by Captain H. M. Davis of HMS
Royalist on 12 June 1892. C. R. Swayne was actually the first
British Resident, in October 1893, and W. Telfer Campbell
succeeded him in November 1895.—Ed.
MAGIC
1. Rosemary Grimble 1972, 15.

2. Ibid. A more literary translation of this spell is given on her
pp. 16–17.—Ed.
3. For an alternative translation see ibid., 16.—Ed.
4. Neienne refers to the sun as it (or she, for the Gilbertese)
rises.
5. Ten Naene So-and-so’. A person using this spell would sub-
stitute the name of the person from whom welcome was
sought.
6. Kabubura. This word is popularly used in reference to the
hook or the bait, not the fisherman himself. I have heard a
fisherman say to a crowd of children, “Don’t come staring
at my fishing tackle, or you will cause it to be kabu bura
386
Notes
(i.e., in a condition to fail of its catch).” Bubura means bulky:

the idea seems to be that if the bait or tackle is stared at, it
will seem larger to the fish and will therefore frighten them
away.
7. Waira, means unlucky in consequence of hostile magic. The
maniwaira is a particular kind of magic intended to bring ill
fortune to the enterprise of an enemy.
8. Beeua is allied to beo, which means tangled. The latter word
is more commonly applied to objects, the former to ideas.
9. Marierie. The meaning of this is doubtful. I assume that it
is either a corruption or an obsolete allied form of the word
matiketike, which is applied to a rope that is not hauled taut.
It is also used as a term of reproach to a fisherman who fails
to catch, or to a man whose lands are badly cared for; it sig-
nifies faintness of effort, or half-heartedness.
10. Grimble 1931a, 219–221.
THE MANEABA
Relevant excerpts from notes in this section concerned with

maneaba building are reproduced or epitomized in Maude
1980, which is a general account of maneaba construction
written for the Gilbertese.—Ed.
1. The principles governing succession to the boti and its
headship are discussed in Maude 1963, 25–28, and those
concerned with the special case of adopted persons in
Maude and Maude 1931, 232 and Maude 1963, 28.—Ed.
2. I.e., the men of the boti Nukumauea. Referring to a group
by the name of its deity or boti is a common practice in
Gilbertese speech.—Ed.
3. For the ceremony of distribution in a Tabontebike maneaba
see Maude 1963, 57–59.—Ed.
4. For Tetake and Nei Tituabine on Makin see Grimble
1933–1934, 109. The Makin narrative concerning the
original maneaba on Beru appears garbled, since from Beru
387
Notes
tradition, which is quite explicit, we find that the first

maneaba was built by Teweia at Tabontebike; the second
later by Koura at Aoniman; and the third by Tewatu (or
Towatu) of Matang later still at Tabiang (see Maude 1963,
11, 17–18; Maude 1980, 6). In later years Grimble accepted
Beru tradition as correct (p. 202).—Ed.
5. The best account of maneaba sanctity is given by Grimble
on pp. 200–201.—Ed.
6. By far the best description of boti divisions in the Butaritari
and Makin maneaba is on p. 217. The rest of this field note
has been ignored by Grimble, presumably because he con-
sidered that his informant was wrong: it is hardly likely
that boti allocations based on rank would be exogamous,
and traditions affirm that canoe crests originated in various
places but that Makin was not one of them (Grimble 1921a).
The boti badges are, however, interesting and may perhaps
be verified by further research. For the weapons used see
Murdoch 1923, 174–175.—Ed.
7. Grimble 1931a, 212; Rosemary Grimble 1972, 132–135.
8. The styles of construction called Te Namakaina and Te
Ketoa are now unknown; that called Te Tabanin ‘The
Foursquare’ may correspond with the style now called
Tabontebike. That called Maungatabu is the only one of the
four in respect of which I have been able to collect partic-
ulars.
9. Grimble 1931a, 219.
MARRIAGE
1. For the position of moa ni kie, or rao ni kie, see Grimble

1921b, 27–28; eiriki is discussed later.—Ed.
388
Notes
MEDICAL PRACTICES
1. Grimble 1933–1934, 31.

2. At this stage the water in the nut begins to dry up quickly,
and the sweet spongy substance called te bebe takes its
place.
3. For the stages of the coconut see Grimble 1933–1934,
31–32.—Ed.
NAMES
1. Joan (or, in Gilbertese, Tion) was visiting Grimble at Banaba

in 1931 when my wife and I were also staying at the resi-
dency She was then about twenty-two, and there is a photo-
graph of her in Grimble 1933–1934, figure 3.—Ed.
2. Tiki ‘stretched’, ‘taut’, extended’; katika ‘pull’. Thus tiki as
applied to a name means its extension or derivative.
RELATIONSHIPS
1. See Tinaba and Eiriki, note 1.—Ed.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
1. Kaunga, toru, or teru are usually translated as “slaves”

by Grimble but are perhaps more correctly described as
“serfs,” as they almost invariably became caretakers on
their owner’s land and as such had certain customary rights
of user. Grimble is mistaken in thinking that there were no
slaves, or serfs, in the so-called pure democracies of the
southern islands. Most of the kaunga found there had been
captured in inter-maneaba conflicts or had lost their land
through being convicted of some crime, usually theft.—Ed.
2. Maude 1981, 317.
389
Notes
3. For further data concerning te toba on Butaritari see

Lambert 1964, 1970. —Ed.
4. The fact that there were two chiefs of Buakonikai resulted
from the amalgamation of the old districts of Te Aonoanne
and Toakira to form the single district of Buakonikai,
whereupon the chief of Toakira became the so-called second
chief of the combined district.—Ed.
5. On the Banaban chiefs and chiefesses see Maude and
Maude 1932, 266, 273–275, 293–298, and appendix 1,
where it is stated that a chiefess inherited the title only, the
work being performed by a male relative until the title was
again inherited by a male.—Ed.
6. Grimble 1921b, 37–40.
SORCERY
1. Rosemary Grimble 1972, 26–27.

2. Ibid., 27–28.
3. Ibid., 29–30.
4. Ibid., 29.
TINABA AND EIRIKI
1. The exposition on tinaba may be found confusing in that

Grimble did not provide a single list of customary tinaba re-
lationships in his text but merely mentioned particular rela-
tionships incidentally when discussing other features of the
custom.
Thus, under Relationships, Grimble stated that a man’s
tinaba were his son’s wife and brother’s son’s wife, while in
this section he said that a man’s sister’s son’s wife was con-
sidered preferable as a tinaba sexual partner to his brother’s
son’s wife, though intercourse with the latter was becoming
a more frequent practice.
390
Notes
Later, he added to a man’s list of tinaba his wife’s mother

and in discussing relationships on Butaritari mentioned a
man’s wife’s mother’s sister.
When investigating tinaba relationships on Beru in con-
nection with Lands Commission proceedings I found that a
man’s tinaba were considered to be:
(1) his son’s wife;
(2) his brother’s son’s wife;
(3) his wife’s mother; and
(4) his wife’s mother’s sister.
Lundsgaarde, whose fieldwork was conducted on Nonouti,
Tabiteuea and Tamana, agrees with the above list (Lunds-
gaarde 1966, 83). In view of their close historical relation-
ships we can affirm, therefore, that the whole of the
Southern Gilbert Islands from Nonouti to Arorae conform to
the Beru pattern, which differ from Grimble’s only in his ad-
dition of the sister’s son’s wife.
I considered the custom of tinaba relationship with a man’s
sister’s son’s wife to be a Northern Gilbert Islands variation
until I referred the matter to Mautake, Tarawa’s foremost
expert on the niceties of custom and one of Grimble’s former
informants (Grimble 1952, 194–203), who wrote across the
genealogy which I had shown to him: E aki katauaki i aon
Tarawa ma e kariaiaki n tai tabe tai ma e ngareakina te aba
‘It was not permitted on Tarawa, though agreed to occa-
sionally, when it was the cause of ribaldry’—(Maude 1963,
60).
Until further research can be made in the northern islands it
is suggested that the tinaba relationship between a man and
his sister’s son’s wife, in preference to his brother’s son’s
wife, may be regarded as an anomaly confined to Marakei,
though no doubt occasionally found as a deviant practice
elsewhere.
391
Notes
For a discerning account of the emotional feelings of

Gilbertese men and women towards the custom of tinaba see
Grimble 1957, 100–108.—Ed.
2. See note 1, above.—Ed.
3. Ibid.
4. Grimble may be correct in maintaining that two persons
of the same sex may be classified as tinaba, but the term
would have no sexual implications, nor presumably involve
any privileges or obligations. I have never come across an
example of such a use of the term myself.—Ed.
6. But see the final paragraph of the preceding section.—Ed.
8. This is almost certainly an idiosyncratic anomaly contrary
to any known custom and may be disregarded.—Ed.
9. Batiauea, Raua, and Ema are also the wife’s sisters, and
therefore the eiriki, of Karawaia.
10. Grimble 1921b, 28, where the classification of tauanikai is
not, however, identical.—Ed.
THE FUNCTION OF THE MANEABA IN

GILBERTESE SOCIETY
1. I use the term village here to mean any settlement of house-

holds concentrated by the government since 1892.
2. Rosemary Grimble 1972, 208; Maude 1980, 4–5.
3. Grimble changed his views on this point later and it is
generally agreed that only the Tabontebike maneaba orig-
inated on Beru, while the Maungatabu type was first built
on Tarawa by Bue and the Tabiang style brought to Beru
by Tewatu ni Matang either from Makin or Matang (Maude
1980, 4–6)—Ed.
4. For a description of the utu see Maude 1963, 61–62.—Ed.
392
Notes
5. This is a translation of an actual conversation noted. I ac-

companied the interrogators when they “lifted the word” to
a new arrival.
6. Babai (Cyrtosperma chamissonis) [Small 1972, 65].
Karokaro: Karo in the northern Gilberts is collective,
meaning parents; but in the southern islands it is masculine
and singular, meaning father. It is used in the latter sense
interchangeably with the word tama; but while tama takes
the suffixed possessive, karo is preceded by the pronoun.
Karo also means, throughout the Gilberts, “a member of
the same boti,” evidently connoting the idea of common an-
cestry. The word karokaro denotes recognition of clan rela-
tionship and its duties.
7. The inaki is a single row of thatch, laid in ascending order
from the eaves to the ridge of the roof.
8. More recent research has disproved this statement.—Ed.
9. As there was no boti plan for the Tabontebike maneaba in
the Grimble papers the one published in Maude 1963, 19
has been reproduced.—Ed.
10. I did not find these boti represented in any of the maneaba
on Beru, Nikunau, or Onotoa for which I made plans, from
which I concluded that they were peculiar to the northern
islands.—Ed.
11. In view of the frequency with which names of spiritual
beings are, and always were, bestowed upon living persons,
the possibility must not be ignored that the god names of
tradition may in many cases have been the actual names of
human ancestors.
12. I have no details of the Nui boti organization.
PRECEDENCE AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CLANS

IN THE MANEABA
1. E baina te moan taeka ma te motin taeka (lit. “He uses the

first word with the judgment of words”).
393
Notes
2. Kaitiaka main ana taeka (lit. “Make clean the front of his
words”).
3. The head was possibly bowed only to prevent those around
from hearing the words of the formula, which in this position
would be muttered into the chest.
4. Bon Tamoa Karongoa (lit. “Indeed Samoa Karongoa”).
5. Owing to the disruptive influence of the same high chief, he
would also have come to the conclusion that the clan system
was very weakly developed, and exogamy almost non-ex-
istent.
6. I.e., Marakei, Abaiang, Tarawa, Maiana, and Nonouti. Bu-
taritari had the chiefly and high-chiefly systems but, as
shown elsewhere, did not possess the same clan organi-
zation as the other islands.
7. Grimble has not made allowance here for the effect of in-
troduced firearms, which the temporal Uea Binoka was able
to monopolize. Faced with death the sacred but defenceless
maneaba chiefs of Karongoa n Uea had no choice but to ac-
quiesce.—Ed.
8. This could only have been true for those maneaba in which
Karongoa had a seat; there were many where the boti was
not represented.—Ed.
TRADITIONAL ORIGINS OF THE MANEABA
1. For an interlinear translation of the earlier part of this tra-

dition see Grimble 1933–1934, 104–108.—Ed.
2. Grimble is here quoting from a Keaki tradition emanating
from the northern island but, as he often said, the most
reliable accounts are those of the Karongoa elders; and
from these we learn that Koura came to Beru not before
Matawarebwe but in the time of his great grandson, Ten
Tanentoa, the grandson of Tanentoa I (or as he is usually
called, Tanentoa ni Beru), who was summoned from a visit
to Nonouti to defeat him.—Ed.
394
Notes
3. Keaki tradition almost certainly errs here for the Karongoa

elders on Beru, who should know best, affirm that the Tabon-
tebike maneaba was built at the request of Matawarebwe
by his grandson Teweia, with timbers brought from
Samoa.—Ed.
4. Slightly variant accounts of the well-known story of Tewatu
are given elsewhere in this volume; see also Grimble
1933–1934, 110–112, and Rosemary Grimble 1972,
274–276. From these it is clear that he arrived in Beru
during the time of Tanentoa II and not, as here stated,
Tanentoa I.—Ed.
THE CLAN AND THE TOTEM
1. A brief account of the crest Nimta-wawa is given in Grimble

1921a, 81; and a more detailed one, which includes the tra-
dition, in Rosemary Grimble 1972, 181–182.—Ed.
2. Grimble 1964, C13(a)E; Grimble 1921a, 81–83; Rosemary
Grimble 1972, 132–134, 182–183.
3. Grimble 1964, A(2)(g)E, E(39)(f)G; Grimble 1921a, 84;
Rosemary Grimble 1972, 107.
4. The shark totem of Karumaetoa cannot be bracketed with
that of Te Bakoa. The two creatures are distinguished tradi-
tionally by their names, the former being called Bakewa-the-
Shark and the latter Tabuariki-the-Shark.
5. Grimble’s hypotheses as to why marriages were permitted
between members of clans possessing the same totems are
not substantiated by subsequent historical research (Maude
1963, 10–13, 64). This shows that the two groups of au-
tochthones on Beru were allotted their own boti by Tem-
atawarebwe in the maneaba at Tabontebike built by the
immigrants from Samoa—Te Bakoa, the boti of Tabuariki,
on the east side, and Tenguingui (or Te Wiwi) the boti of
Nainginouti, on the south—and although the shark totem of
the Te Bakoa group of boti was one of the four belonging to
395
Notes
the Karongoa group this was not considered to be a barrier

to intermarriage between them. In fact Tematawarebwe
himself married Nei Teareinimatang of the boti Te Bakoa,
descended like him from the ancestral deity Tabuariki.
There was in fact no reason to subdivide boti in order to fa-
cilitate marriage since the immigrants were free to marry
local girls. The rule of exogamy which is said by Grimble
to have once existed would seem therefore to have prohi-
bited intermarriage not between persons sharing the same
totems or ancestors but between persons belonging to the
same boti.—Ed.
THE HISTORICAL CONTENT OF GILBERTESE

MYTHOLOGY
1. The Gilbertese Timirau is better known as the Mangaian

Tinirau. The characteristics of his home Motu-tapu—Sacred
Isle in Mangaian myth—are the same as those of Gilbertese
Matang: it sinks and floats as the god wills; but in the
Gilbertese tales, his daughter Tituabine usurps his su-
premacy.
2. I think that many of those names are late additions, the
imagination and ingenuity of the chroniclers having been ap-
plied to the devising of apposite or humorous titles, e.g., Ko-
ba, You eructate; Ko-ting, You pass wind; Ten Kaminimin,
Masturbator; and so on. It is, however, possibly significant
that these beings with highly indecent names are all reputed
to have been black.
A GENEALOGICAL APPROACH TO GILBERTESE

HISTORY
1. Grimble 1964, H(71)E, I(82)G.

2. Ibid., E(41).
396
Notes
3. Airam Teeko’s genealogy is given elsewhere in this volume,

but Kabua’s identical list has not been found. My own
records suggest that Grimble’s informants may have missed
three generations between Tem Mwea and Teannaki, and
should have inserted, though this is perhaps arguable, Ten
Tawaia between Karotu and Baiteke (on the latter point see
Maude 1970, 205). If these are added the thirteen gener-
ations from Tem Mwea to Tokatake would then agree with
those found in the Beru Karongoa genealogy from Bakarer-
enteiti (a contemporary of Kaitu) and Tione (a contemporary
of Tokatake; Maude 1963, 23).—Ed.
4. Te Kawakawa’s genealogy is in Grimble 1964, E(36).—Ed.
5. Only the genealogy is extant and it is possible that there
never was any explanatory text with it.—Ed.
6. Grimble has recorded that Anetipa’s genealogy was
mislaid.—Ed.
7. A dating based on more recent research makes it thirteen
generations from 1900, or A.D. 1600 (see note 3).—Ed.
8. Grimble 1964, A(5)(e).
9. The more recently recorded Karongoa genealogy of Beru
also gives eight generations from Kaitu’s time to Tanentoa II
(Maude 1963, 21, 23).—Ed.
10. Grimble 1933–1934, 109–112; Rosemary Grimble 1972,
274–276.
11. Grimble 1964, A(5)(d); Rosemary Grimble 1972, 268–270.
12. Grimble 1964, A(5)(c).
13. Ibid., E(41).
14. Ibid., A(5)(d); Rosemary Grimble 1972, 268–270.
15. Grimble 1921b, 26; Rosemary Grimble 1972, 59; Maude
1963, 63. But these rules of consanguinity did not apply in
the case of high chiefs, where even the marriage of first
cousins was permitted.—Ed.
16. The question of consanguinity also arises in respect of
Tanentoa’s marriage. As related in the Tarawan tale, his wife
Beiarung was a daughter of Kirirere by Beia-ma-Tekai. If
397
Notes
Tanentoa was a “son” of the same father by another wife,

he married his half-sister—which is unthinkable. The only
possible inference is that several generations between the
pair and their common ancestor have been forgotten. The
Nui record quoted in the text is thus supported by the nature
of the case, as well as by many reliable chroniclers. [Not
necessarily several generations, as Tanentoa was a High
Chief, but certainly more than one.—Ed.]
17. It is probable that Beia-ma-Tekai, which means “Beia with
Tekai,” is a collective name for two individuals. This is indi-
cated in a Beruan tale where Kirata III’s wife Beia is said to
have been the mother of the man Beia, while Kirata’s second
wife Kabwebwe bore Tekai. If this was so, the common
ancestor of Tongabiri and Kekeia was not Beia-ma-Tekai but
Kirata III. This does not affect the correctness of our ar-
gument or our dating, which has a firm foundation on the
generations of Kekeia, as given by my Nui authority and
corroborated by other chroniclers of the group. As Beia-
ma-Tekai appear to have had their wives in common, and
are nearly always referred to in Gilbertese story as a single
person, it has been more convenient to discuss their com-
posite character in the singular.
[Leading Karongoa historians were quite unequivocal in af-
firming to me that Beia and Tekai were two persons, though
usually thought to have been one by those not versed in the
correct tradition. They did not even have the same mother
for Nei Beia, who was Kirata’s raoni kie (senior wife), had
two children, Tekai and the celebrated chieftainess Nei Rak-
entai, while Nei Kabwebwe had only one, whom she called
Beia after her co-wife. It is true that Ten Tanentoa was te
natini buoka (a child jointly begotten, and not only by Beia
and Tekai but also Uamamuri, Nanikain, and Ten Tabutoa)
but when Tekai returned to Nonouti to live with Nei Teweia,
Beia stayed with Nei Kirirere on Tabiteuea where they had
398
Notes
three children—Nei Beiarung, Ten Teboi, and Obaia II

(usually called Obaia-te-kerikaki)—quite independently of
Tekai.—Ed.]
18. The struggle of the Samoans to free themselves from
foreign domination was ended by the Battle of Matamatame
and a modern ethnohistorian, Brother Fred Henry, esti-
mated that this took place about A.D. 1250 (Henry 1980,
43).—Ed.
19. Tarawa: Grimble 1964, A(5)(d); Rosemary Grimble 1972,
268–270. Beru: Grimble 1964, A(2)(b)E, E(39)(b)G;
Rosemary Grimble 1972, 43. Nui: Grimble 1964, E(40); S.
Percy Smith 1921, 289.
20. Aka, a word frequently appearing in the names of Gilbertese
craft, is doubtless a form of the Polynesian vaka, wangga,
wa‘a ‘a canoe’; wa is the modern Gilbertese equivalent. With
bu (breed) and toa ‘giant’ the name thus means “Canoe
of the giant breed,” in allusion to the boasted stature and
strength of the family.
21. This colonization of Arorae on the way north indicates that
the real motive of the migration from Samoa was not the
marriage of Beia and Kabwebwe with Kirata III.
22. For an account of Gilbertese canoe crests see Grimble
1921a.—Ed.
23. It is notable that the totem of Beia and Kabwebwe has been
preserved rather than Kirata’s, for that of the male generally
goes down to posterity.
24. This tradition, said to have been given to Grimble by
Teiaoniman of Beru, can no longer be found among his
papers, but there is a less detailed account of Te I-Mone’s
arrival at Beru in Grimble 1964, E(29).—Ed.
25. I do not think that it is even necessary for us to believe that
a woman named Matennang married a chief named Kirata
III. All that I would read into the tradition is that a member
of the family group Matennang married a member of the
Kirata family in the time of Kirata III.
399
Notes
26. The tradition is reproduced in Grimble 1964, A(2)(c).—Ed.

27. Given to me by Tiare, a member of the Karongoa families
on Beru. In this tradition Teuribaba appears as the ancestral
god of all Karongoa folk, which is in accordance with the ev-
idence of general opinion in the Gilbert Group, as typified in
a Tarawan story [reproduced in Grimble 1964, A(5)(a)—Ed.]
of his growth from the surface root of the Tree of Samoa.
His canoe Ataataimoa is the one which was allocated to Beia
and Kabwebwe in the Beruan account of this invasion, but
as an ancestral god he was present on all the craft of the
Karongoa families. Note the slight difference: “Ataataimoa”
in the one version and “Ataatamoa” in the other.
28. For more on the symbolism of the Gilbertese canoe crests
see the account of a return from a head-hunting expedition
on the canoe Te Kaburoro during the sojourn in Samoa,
given in Grimble 1933–1934, 89.—Ed.
29. In alluding to Karongoa as the priestly clan, I wish to imply,
not that its males were once upon a time all priests, but that
it was the group of families which supplied the priests of
Rongo when needed. The clan is made up at present of a
dozen component families, each with its particular name. Of
these, the family of Karongoa n Uea (Karongoa of the King)
is paramount. It sits in the middle of the northern end of the
maneaba and directs the ceremonies of the place through
the medium of a spokesman, who is chosen from one or an-
other of the Karongoa family branches. These sit to right and
left of the senior branch. It is the people of Karongoa n Uea
who, as I believe, represent the priests of Rongo.
30. Te Kabaraki is a title of Tituabine, the fair-haired goddess
of the Gilbertese.
31. Nei Tewenei is a cognate of Tituabine, the goddess of the
meteorite, also blonde.
400
Notes
A HISTORY OF ABEMAMA
1. For the popular explanation that this was because Uakeia’s

dog loved fish see p. 275 where, however, Grimble states
that the dog belonged to Kaitu, who took the lands.—Trans.
2. For Ten Teeko’s genealogy of the Abemama dynasty see
Table 7, Column 2; there is a general history of Abemama
under Tern Binoka and his father Tem Baiteke in Maude
1970.—Trans.
3. Sorcery to bring back an unfaithful partner.—Trans.
4. The Gilbertese text states that the compensation payable
is a piece of land or a canoe, but that, if no canoe could be
handed over, another piece of land should replace it. The
general sense implies that the compensation was land plus a
canoe, or two lands. Cf. similar laws on Banaba and Beru in
Maude and Maude 1932, 289; and Maude 1963, 47.—Trans.
5. Presumably the belief was that fish made one unaggressive.
See also “Foods avoided by adults in time of war” (Grimble
1933–1934, 22–23).—Trans.
6. The wild plants mentioned by Teeko are wao (pigweed,
Boerhavia diffusa); mtea ‘purslane’—Portulaca quadrifida;
and boi ‘seaside purslane’— Saesuvium portu lacastrum;
‘broad-leaved purslane’—Portulaca lutea; ‘purslane’—Por-
tulaca tubero sa. Identifications are from Overy, Polunin, and
Wimblett 1982; see also Grimble 1933–1934, 29; Luomala,
1953a, 71, 95–96, 121; Turbott 1954.—Trans.
7. For traditional accounts of te bomatemaki see Grimble
1922–1923, 91–112; Rosemary Grimble 1972, 39–54; Talu et
al. 1979:1–9.—Trans.
8. te ketenaiwa, from kete, a small basket with a lid, and aiwa,
to disturb, upset.—Trans.
9. A song of the voyage of Naka and Nei Nibongibong when
fleeing from the basket is in Grimble 1964, H(70).—Trans.
401
Notes
10. The story of the great Tree of Tarawa, Te Uekera, is in

Grimble 1964, A(5)(b) and reproduced in Rosemary Grimble
1972, 264–266. A version crediting Nei Nibongibong with
the growing of Te Uekera is in Grimble 1964, C(15).—Trans.
11. For a Roman Catholic father’s view of the Gilbertese anti
in general see Sabatier 1977, 55–79, and on Terakunene in
particular pp. 71–72. Teeko’s “The Story of Terakunene” is
on pp. 305–306.—Trans.
12. Sabatier 1977, 71–72.—Trans.
13. The ruoia, and Gilbertese dancing in general, is the subject
of Grimble’s memorandum reproduced in Part 3. See also
Laxton and Kamoriki 1953; Laxton 1953; and for dance
songs Grimble 1964, Series J, and Whincup and Whincup
1981.—Trans.
14. Presumably the meaning of this sentence is that if the
presence of anyone from the spirit world was sensed it
could indicate that some anti was displeased with an aspect
of the proceedings and had to be placated or induced to
depart.—Trans.
15. The translation is revised from a preliminary draft by
Grimble [1964, I(66)(y)].—Trans.
16. For its manufacture and use see p. 307.—Trans.
17. See kibenanimata in Glossary.—Ed.
18. Eremao: a feast held just before or after birth, so called be-
cause the mao bush (Scaevola taccada) was uprooted to pre-
serve the child from harmful spells. For more on this feast
and care during pregnancy see Grimble 1921b, 34–35, and
Birth.—Trans.
19. Bunna: a belt made from the kiaiai ‘seacoast mallow’—Hi-
biscus tiliaceus, possessing magical properties to preserve
the mother and child from evil spells and sorcery (Grimble
1921b, 35).—Trans.
402
Notes
20. Te tia tobi ‘the midwife’, an old woman skilled in massage

and any magical procedures necessary; te tia katoka, a
woman sitting behind the mother, who assists with the de-
livery.—Trans.
21. Nei Aibong: a female anti of the northern horizon hostile to
pregnant women and their babies, who may be pacified by
three days of feasting at the birth. Hence the sojourn in the
umananti ‘house of spirits’.—Trans.
22. Figuratively, “launch out into the adult world.”—Trans.
23. Either the mother or a wet nurse.—Trans.
24. The tia tabu-atu means “the lifter of the head,” so called
because she held the dead person’s head on her lap while
reciting a spell to kaeta kawaina “straighten the path” of
the deceased’s soul so that it could overcome the hazards en
route to its final destination in the Land of Shades. For the
function of the tia tabe-atu see Grimble 1921b, 46.—Ed.
25. Mon, fish of genus Priacanthus, possibly var. myrippustis.
Tarakaimaiu, source of fruitfulness or abundance.—Trans.
26. The antimaomata are usually described as “semi-deified an-
cestors,” i.e., boti founders and other human beings who
lived long ago (ngkoangkoa) and were raised to their new
status by the magical processes possessed by themselves, or
by others operating on them.—Trans.
27. This list of anti is only illustrative.—Trans.
28. Kibenanimata appears to be derived from kibena ‘a scoop
net used for fishing by torchlight’ and mata ‘eye’, ‘sight’. Veil
is perhaps a better translation than barrier or shield, the
meanings usually applied to otanga. Grimble called it “the
wall of invisibility.”—Trans.
29. The Gilbertese call them the bata, ‘houses’, of Auatabu
and Teabike, but Grimble used the word lodges (1933–1934,
112) and this seems a better term.—Trans.
30. Airam Teeko’s heading to this section is concerned with
how a lodge is joined, by application or selection on merit,
and he indicates that it was in fact neither, but on where
403
Notes
one lived. He goes on to discuss lodge predominance on

Abemama, with its northern neighbours, and the historical
consequences.—Ed.
A DISCOURSE ON GILBERTESE DANCING
For further information on Gilbertese dancing see Laxton

and Kamoriki 1953; Hughes 1957; Koch and Christensen
1965, 1967.—Ed.
1. Under the term ruoia ‘the classical Gilbertese dance’ the
pastors evidently included all forms of dancing.—Ed.
2. “The things of their bodies” is a mission euphemism for
sexual organs. —Ed.
3. The kaubure (Samoan faipule) were village headmen ap-
pointed by the government.—Ed.
4. See Magic and Sorcery in Part 1.—Ed.
404
Glossary
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following definitions represent, whenever

possible, my understanding of the meaning which Grimble gave
to some important terms used by the Gilbertese to express tra-
ditional concepts in their culture when it was in an intrinsi-
cally pristine state; definitions of less frequently used words and
phrases will be found when they occur in the text. Extensive
changes in the Gilbertese way of life introduced since the period
Grimble was considering, mainly caused by government and
mission pressures, have made some terms archaic, while others
are used more imprecisely today as the observance of once-
functioning cultural traits has changed or ceased.
There is a perceptive study of the use of these terms when
describing pre-European-contact social organization and the ne-
cessity for their amendment when referring to modern condi-
tions in Lundsgaarde (1966, 83–96), and a good résumé of the
effect of change on the social structure of the Tabiteueans in
Geddes (1983, 28–44). In the case of kinship terms in particular,
the growth of courtesy and other extensions make precise de-
finitions difficult to formulate concisely—see, for example, the
various meanings of the term utu today in Lundsgaarde and Sil-
verman (1972, 97–100).
abani kuakua land transferred in return for caring for a sick

or aged person.
anti spirit. Every utu had its anti whose help was invoked when
necessary; some had always been spirits and others became
spirits.
antimaomata (lit. “human spirit”) ancestors or other human
beings who had become spirits either in their lifetime or
after death.
405
Glossary
atua god. Among the principal gods in the Gilbertese pantheon

were Nareau, Tabuariki, Auriaria, Nei Tituabine, Teweia,
Riki, and Nei Tewenei.
Auatabu one of the two bata ‘houses’ or ‘lodges’, the other
being Teabike, founded by Kaitu and Uakeia as military col-
leges for training young men in martial prowess. They soon
became rival contenders for dominance on those northern
and central islands where war was endemic, or at least cus-
tomary.
babai the great swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis), a
much-prized food.
bainaine land transferred as a penalty for adultery with a
woman.
bainikuakua synonym for abani kuakua.
bangabanga water caverns, about 50 of which are scattered on
Banaba; used for emergency water supplies.
ba ni kamaimai perfumed oil.
banuri land given to an adopter as a help with the expenses of
feeding the adopted.
Beia-ma-Tekai ‘Beia and Tekai’ were the sons of the High
Chief Kirata III of Tarawa, Tekai by his first wife, Nei Beia,
and Tem Beia, who was named after her, by his second
wife, Nei Kabwebwe. They are usually mentioned together
in Gilbertese tradition, as they played a joint part in so many
well-known events.
betia sea marks used in navigation.
bingibing (Thespesia populnea) Umbrella tree.
binobino coconut shell used as gourd or container.
bitanikai a magic staff which can enable a man to reverse the
effects of a rabu and protect himself in other kinds of danger
or necessity.
bomaki ceremony performed for three nights after a burial;
the soul is chased from the corpse by tapping the ground or
trees round about with a stick.
boti the sitting places traditionally assigned to individual clans
in a maneaba, and by extension, the name given to the clan
itself. See also clan, inaki.
boua a pillar, post, stake, prop, or column.
bouan anti an erect stone pillar representing an ancestral
deity.
bunna a belt or girdle made from the inner bark of the kanawa
tree (Cordia sub cordata) or kiaiai (Hibiscus tiliaceus, sea-
coast mallow) possessing magical powers to preserve a
406
Glossary
mother and child against te wauna and other forms of

sorcery. It also served as abdominal support during preg-
nancy.
bunna ni kamaraia (lit. “the amulet of making-accursed”). An
amulet worn by the uea of a Tabontebike maneaba enabling
him to cause any person to become maraia ‘accursed’ or ‘in
danger of sudden death’, who contradicted him or otherwise
offended his dignity when he was performing his ceremonial
functions.
bunnan tai (lit. “the amulet of the sun”). Synonym for bunna ni
kamaraia.
butika the reciprocal relationship between (a) the husband and
brother of a woman; and (b) the fathers-in-law of a married
couple.
clan an exogamous, totemic, and normally patrilineal kin group
composed of persons descended from a known common an-
cestor and possessing the same atua, kainga, and other at-
tributes, the members being usually referred to by the name
of their boti.
eiriki relationship in which sexual relations were generally per-
missible, but not always established. The eiriki of a man are
(a) his brother’s wives and (b) his wife’s sisters; the eiriki of
a woman are (a) her sister’s husband and (b) her husband’s
brothers.
eremao a feast held when it was visible to all that a woman was
pregnant, usually about the fifth month. It was so called be-
cause the mao bush (Scaevola taccada) was cleared on the
eastern side of an island for the feast and the accompanying
incantations eremao and marainai to preserve the mother
and child from harmful magic.
inai a mat made of coconut leaves.
inaki (lit. “thatch row”). Synonym for boti commonly used on
Tabiteuea and some other islands.
inaomata freedom, independence, a free man.
ingoa homonym, namesake.
kainga ancestral home site. The land, usually adjacent to a
district maneaba, on which the mwenga of the boti atu
(headmen) were located. The kainga were usually called by
the same name as the boti.
kakoko young, central leaves of coconut tree.
kamaraia to cause a person to be maraia.
kanawa a tree (Cordia subcordata).
407
Glossary
kana ni mane (lit. “the food of a man”). Collective name for a

succession of ordeals and rites inducting a young male into
the full status of an adult.
kutati knife, especially one used for cutting toddy.
kaunga slave, serf, landless servant. Kaunga were usually cap-
tured in war or enslaved for some crime and worked as care-
takers of their owner’s land.
kete a small basket with a lid.
kibenanimata the veil of invisibility that prevents living people
from seeing the spirit world.
kuonaine a half-coconut shell used for holding perfumed oil.
maneaba district meeting house. The communal building which
provided the focus for the social and political activities of
a district. In it the members of each boti represented sat
under their prescribed inaki while the debates, feasts, or
other activities were conducted in accordance with tradi-
tional ceremonial.
mao a bush (Scaevola taccada).
marae open space, public place, the area on which a maneaba
stands, including the surrounds covered with atama ‘small
white coral pebbles or shingles’.
maraia the condition of being accursed or in danger of sudden
death.
Matang one of the lands in the west, said to be situated near
Bouru and to be the home of the fair-skinned ancestors, no-
tably Auriaria and Nei Tituabine. According to other tradi-
tions there is another Matang not far from Samoa.
mauri well-being, good fortune.
Mone the underworld. It is conceived as a parallel to the real
world under the land and sea and is inhabited by men and
anti as is the earth. Like the earth, the society of Mone en-
compasses good and evil.
mwenga dwelling house. By extension, used to denote the site
on which the house stands and its occupants, whether a nu-
clear or extended family.
nati son, daughter, child adopted as son or daughter.
Nei prefix to names of females.
nikira remnant.
nta shells of a small red bivalve used for amulets and necklets.
rabu covering, protection, mark on tree to indicate its reser-
vation or protection from use by taboo.
rao friend or companion.
riena scoop net for fishing.
408
Glossary
riri woman’s skirt, usually made from coconut leaves.

ruoia the classical Gilbertese dance. See “A Discourse on
Gilbertese Dancing” and “A History of Abemama” and the lit-
erature cited there for more detail.
tabeatu ceremony of lifting the head, performed on the third
day after a death.
tabu prohibition, taboo.
tabunea an incantation or spell; magical rites. Invocations to
one or more anti for some specific purpose, dependent for
their efficacy on the accuracy of the words used in the
manewe (incantation) and the action used in the kawai
(ritual) in compelling compliance.
taematao a tabunea recited by the uea of a Tabontebike
maneaba, as a prelude to the general debate, designed to fa-
cilitate his opening address and final decision.
tataro prayer. Supplications to atua or anti involving an el-
ement of appeal to, or propitiation of, a spiritual power, in
contrast to tabunea.
Ten or its euphonic variations Tem or Teng (Te in the northern
Gilberts and Na, Nam, Nan, or Nang on Butaritari and
Makin)—prefix to names of males.
tibu grandparents and their ancestors, grandchildren and their
descendants, child adopted as grandchild.
tinaba a category of potential concubines comprising on most
islands a man’s sons’ wives, brothers’ sons’ wives, wife’s
mother, and wife’s mother’s sisters; and conversely for a
woman. Any sexual relationship was permissible only by
agreement.
toba to have as foster child, fosterage.
toddy an alcoholic drink made from fermented coconut sap.
toka chief. The ruler over a separate political district or an
island subordinate to a high chief.
toro slave, serf, landless person. Synonym for kaunga.
uea high chief. The ruler over an island or islands, or a politi-
cally separate part of an island.
uea (maneaba) the ceremonial head of a maneaba; in the case
of a Tabontebike maneaba, invariably the head of the boti
Karongoa n Uea.
Unaine (lit. “old woman”) title of respect given to female clan
elders regardless of age.
Unimane (lit. “old man”) title of respect for male clan elders
regardless of age.
uri a tree (Guettarda speciosa).
409
Glossary
utu kindred. Consanguineal relatives (bilateral kindred), di-

vided into te utu ae kan (the near kindred), who included all
descended from common tibu mamano (great great grand-
parents), and te utu ae raroa (the distant kindred), who com-
prised all others with whom a degree of consanguinity could
be traced.
wae dried-up coconut.
wauna a form of sorcery similar to te wawi but generally di-
rected against pregnant women.
wawi a form of sorcery in which the victim is “prayed to death”
by the use of a symbol such as a dragonfly or lizard, or by
using remnants of his food, nailparings, hair, excreta, etc.
410
Bibliography
Works by Sir Arthur Grimble

These include all the published works that I have been able to trace
and are probably complete except for one or two brief articles in
the Sydney Morning Her ald written when Grimble was on vacation
in Australia. A few items from Grimble’s unpublished correspon-
dence, which were used in preparing this book, have been listed.
1913 Application for Colonial Employment, 17 Nov. WPHC Archives.
1918 Letter to Resident Commissioner, no. 27, 20 Nov. WPHC Archives.
1920 Despatch to High Commissioner, no. 81, 27 May. WPHC Archives.
1921a Canoe Crests of the Gilbert Islanders. Man 21:81–85.
1921b From Birth to Death in the Gilbert Islands. Journal of the Royal
Anthro pological Institute 51:25–54.
1921c Gilbert Islands: A Remarkable People, Civilisation and Morality.

Sydney Morning Herald, 29 Dec.
1922 The Sun and Six. Man 22:54–56.
1922–1923 Myths from the Gilbert Islands. Folklore 33:91–112;

34:370–374.
1924 Canoes in the Gilbert Islands. Journal of the Royal Anthropo-

logical Insti tute 54:101–139.
1925a Ocean Island: Remarkable Droughts, Seven-year Cycles. Sydney

Morning Herald, 21 March.
411
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1925b Savages and Songs: Poetry of an Island Race. Sydney Morning

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1926 Application for Promotion in the Colonial Service, 27 Jan. WPHC

Archives.
1928 Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony: Report for 1924 –26, pp. 3–4.
Colonial Reports—Annual, no. 1369. London: HMSO. Epitome of
Gilbertese Prehistory.
1931a Gilbertese Astronomy and Astronomical Observances. Journal of

the Polynesian Society 40:197–224.
1931b Report on the Population Problems of the Gilbert and Ellice Is-
lands Colony…. In Papers relating to the Health and Progress of
Native Popula tions in certain parts of the Empire. Colonial no. 65.
London: HMSO.
1933– The Migrations of a Pandanus People: As traced from a prelim-

inary
1934 study of Food, Food-traditions, and Food-rituals in the Gilbert Is-

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1940 Witchcraft in the South Sea Islands. Wide World Magazine

85:119–127.
1943 War Finds Its Way to Gilbert Islands. National Geographic Mag-
azine 83:71–92.
1948 Assignment with an Octopus. Listener (London), 40:933–934.
1949a The Calling of the Porpoise. Listener 42:680–681.
1949b The Limping Man of Makin Meang. Listener 41:497–498.
1950a Fishing for Man-eating Sharks. Clipper Travel, April: 18–20.
1950b Fishing for Man-eating Sharks. Listener 43:74–75.
1950c Pacific Cadet. Corona 2:226–227, 262–264.
1950d Priest and Pagan. Listener 44:197, 200.
1950e The Whistling Ghosts. Listener 44:504–505.
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1951a A Gilbertese Creation Myth. Listener 45:624–625.
1951b Introduction to Sorcery. Listener 45:505–506.
1951c The Sorcerer’s Revenge. Listener 45:549–550.
1951d The Spell on the Oven. Listener 45:586–587.
1952a A Pattern of Islands. London: John Murray.
1952b Old Man of the Colonial Office. Tales from the Pacific Islands, 1.
Listener 48:225–226.
1952c Mr. Cadet Grimble. Tales from the Pacific Islands, 2. Listener 48:
306–307.
1952d Obliging Lunatic. Tales from the Pacific Islands, 3. Listener

48:344–345.
1952e Island Frenzy. Tales from the Pacific Islands, 4. Listener 48:429,
431.
1952f The Faith of Father Choblet. Tales from the Pacific Islands, 5. Lis
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lands.
1953b J’ai choisi les Iles. Paris: Amiot-Dumont. French edition of A

Pattern of Islands.
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1955 The Curse of Nakaa. Listener 54:221–222.
413
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PMB 69.
Grimble, Arthur F., and S. G. Clarke

1929 Instructions and Hints to District Officers, Deputy Commis-
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Other Works on the Gilbertese

These include the published works relating to the culture of the
Gibertese people, apart from a few items in museum periodicals
concerned with specific artifacts. The observations of 19th century
and other visitors have been excluded unless they are of particular
value to students and others interested in Gilbertese social studies.
As well as the usual Ph.D. and M.A. theses in the social sciences,
including history, I have included B.D. and Diploma theses of the
Pacific Theological College in Fiji written on Gilbertese subjects,
as these often contain material of value on the local culture. Other
items consist in the main of bibliographies, grammars, dictionaries,
and other miscellaneous works.
ABCFM (American Board of Commissioners for

Foreign Missions)
1852- Papers, 1852–1907. ABC 19.4, vols. 1–13, parts of 14 through
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MA. Microfilm copies (25 reels) at ANU Library, Canberra, and at
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About the Editor
H. E. Maude has been connected with the Pacific ever since

1927, when he read for honours in anthropology at Cambridge
University. Fascinated by the romance of the south seas por-
trayed in literature, he joined the British Colonial Service in
1929 and, trained by Arthur Grimble, became a district officer
in charge of the southern Gilberts. He eventually succeeded
Grimble as administrator of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Colony (now the Republic of Kiribati and Dominion of Tuvalu),
the only anthropologist ever to administer a British territory.
Anticipating the collapse of colonialism Maude then joined
the newly founded international South Pacific Commission.
Upon retirement he realized his ultimate ambition by being
appointed a Senior (later Professorial) Fellow in the Research
School of Pacific Studies of the Australian National University,
where he assisted in the development of the Department of Pa-
cific Islands History.
Maude’s work has taken him to all the main groups in Poly-
nesia and most of those in Micronesia and Melanesia. This
has resulted in over a hundred publications on Pacific history,
ethnography, literature, and bibliography, including Of Islands
and Men and Slavers in Paradise.
OTHER VOLUMES IN THE
PACIFIC ISLANDS MONOGRAPH SERIES
No. 1 The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline

and Marshall Islands in Pre-Colonial Days, 1521 –1885, by
Francis X. Hezel, 1983
No. 2 Where the Waves Fall: A New South Sea Islands History
from First Set tlement to Colonial Rule, by K. R. Howe, 1984
No. 3 Wealth of the Solomons: A History of a Pacific Archi-
pelago, 1800 –1978, by Judith A. Bennett, 1987
No. 4 Nan’yō: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia,
1885 –1945, by Mark R. Peattie, 1988
No. 5 Upon a Stone Altar: A History of the Island of Pohnpei to
1890, by David Hanlon, 1988
No. 6 Missionary Lives: Papua, 1874 –1914, by Diane Langmore,
1989

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PACIFIC ISLANDS MONOGRAPH SERIES

The Pacific Islands Monograph Series is a joint effort of the

ARTHUR FRANCIS GRIMBLE

Center for Pacific Islands Studies

Licensed under the terms of Creative Commons

Open Access ISBNs:

Please visit www.hawaiiopen.org for more Open Access works

© 1989 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS

A treasury of their ancestral lore

From the outset, the purpose of the Pacific Islands Monograph

Part 1. Notes on Gilbertese Culture 1

Grimble with his future editor 16

2. Sea-marks and sailing directions 58

So I thought when for twenty years from 1929 to 1949 they

written evidence available on the indigenous Gilbertese culture

Stevenson wrote with discernment, but of two islands only;

In addition, Grimble wrote a basic study, “From Birth to

High Commission Archives, as well as the text of Grimble’s

CLANS AND ANCESTOR-SPIRITS

Arthur Francis Grimble was born in Hong Kong on 11 June

As a result Grimble took the unprecedented step of applying

Marakei Atoll, where Grimble found his best informants. (Whincup

wrote to the Resident Commissioner, “the interests and the af-

this way he was able to provide a unique picture, accurate and

Gilbertese maneaba were completed for this work, followed by

Rather to his surprise, for he had written the Colonial Office

best of his official correspondence shows the talent had never

What have come to be known as the Grimble Papers comprise

papers, which had been lying in a box in John Murray’s office,

century, when they underwent the educational processes and

A sheaf of Grimble’s original field notes, now preserved

As a finale I have chosen an official letter on Gilbertese

the Grimble Papers but is, in my submission, worthy of preser-

This is the exact case of Grimble, whose papers provide

formation on how their culture used to function as an entity. It

ADOPTION AS NATI OR TIBU

SUCCESSIVE ADOPTIONS AS TIBU

The effect of such successive renewals of the adoptive contract

no further adoptions taken place Takeuta, the son of Turekau,

ADOPTION OF NATI AS TIBU

Teauba was the adopter of Teangana, the grandson of his

volved. Te aba n nati ‘land given to one adopted as a nati’ is

TE RABU (TE KAOANIKAI)

Matakakang, matakakang; mataoraora, mataoraora; ko

Matakakang, matakakang; mataoraora, mataoraora; 2

This is repeated three times, sitting in the middle of the piece

When you wish to gather nuts yourself you have to release

E matana, e matana au rabu aio te kaoanikai. E matana

It is undone, it is undone, this my rabu. Its hand is

Preparation of material for the rabu

TE RABU (TE BUE)

TE BITANIKAI ‘THE MAGIC STAFF’

Bitanikai, Bitanikai! Ma Nanonikai! I bitia ba N na rairia.

Bitanikai, Bitanikai with Nanonikai! 6 I reverse it (i.e., the

Thou eatest men at sea. So! Thou eatest men ashore.

This formula having been repeated three times, the performer

A SPELL TO MAKE YOUR LAND FRUITFUL

Tarai abau ba I a roko, ngai-e-e!