A Trobriand song is always full of omissions and of allusions to events well known to the listeners, and can never be quite intelligible to a stranger. Even my native informants, however, were not able fully to interpret this song.
After two introductory lines, the first stanza describes the preparations for a dance in Tuma. In the second stanza we have the sudden abandonment of earthly interests, brought about by bubwayayta. In the third, a woman sings of a man beloved by her. She is obviously still on earth, and her husband or sweetheart—the composer of the song apparently—has passed into Tuma. She looks to the north-west where monsoon clouds gather, and weeps for him (stanza iv). In the last of the translated stanzas she herself has entered Tuma and describes her attire which, as with all spirits, seems to have become her main concern. It is to her credit that she has not forgotten her baby, though how such a sentimental reminiscence fits into the frivolous atmosphere of Tuma none of my interpreters could explain.
