Kavalikuliku

“I anchor at the open sea beach, my renown reaches the Lagoon; I anchor at the Lagoon, my renown reaches the open sea beach.”

“I hit the mountain; the mountain shivers; the mountain subsides; the mountain trembles; the mountain falls down; the mountain falls asunder. I kick the ground on which the mountain stands. I bring together, I gather.”

“The mountain is encountered in the Kula; we encounter the mountain in the Kula.”

The expression, kubara, takuba, kubara, which we have here translated by “the mountain is met in the Kula, etc.” is then repeated with a long string of words denoting the various classes of valuables to be received in the Kula. It ends with the conclusion already quoted: “My renown is like thunder, my steps are like earthquake.”

The opening two sentences are clear; they contain a typical magical exaggeration, and equally typical permutation of words. Then comes the terrible verbal onslaught on “the mountain,” in which the dreadful upheaval is carried on in words. “The mountain” (koya) stands here for the community of partners, for the partner, for his mind. It was very difficult to translate the expression kubara, takuba kubara. It is evidently an archaic word, and I have found it in several formulæ of the mwasila. It seems to mean something like an encounter between the approaching fleet and the koya. The word for sea battle is kubilia in the Trobriand language, and kubara in that of the Amphletts and Dobu, and as often the words of the partner’s language are mixed up into these formulæ, this etymology and translation seem to be the correct ones.

The third formula, that of the man in the stern, is as follows:—