ABSTRACT
As usual, the land of the dead of the Wagawaga resembles the land of the living, except that it is day there when it is night on the world. Tumudurere, a mythical being, receives the ghosts on their arrival in the spirit land, and directs them how to make their gardens.1 The Motu, a tribe of fishermen and potters of British New Guinea, believe that the spirits of the dead dwell in a happy land where former friends meet and no hunger is ever experienced. They carry on the same activities to which they were accustomed when in this world. These spirits are subjected to a most peculiar ceremony when they arrive in the realms of the blest. They are laid over a slow fire with the object of causing the gross ness of the body to disappear, and thus they become light as it behoves spirits to be.2 The Koita5 or Koitapu, who live side by side with the Motu, believe that the human spirit leaves the body and goes to live with other ghosts on a mountain called Idu. Here again, the life they lead is very similar to that they have lived on earth. Their entire elimina tion of moral values is what interests us, for they make no distinction between the righteous and the wicked ; all fare alike with the exception of those who have had no holes bored in their noses during life and those guilty of a few other social infractions. However, these ghosts do not live forever; gradually they grow weaker and weaker and finally they die a second death, never to revive. Although the residence of ghosts is on a mountain called Idu, yet they often return to their natives villages to haunt the survivors.3
