TRANS-PACIFIC SIf  LRITIES IN FOLKLORE: A RESEARCH LEAD

Edward Norbeck

Over a period of a good many years Nordenskidold, Wass6en and varioun

other scholars have directed attention to similarities in folklore between
tho Americas and various areas of the Pacific. The total number of closo-
ly similar myths they report, however, is not great and the geographical

areas concerned are fairly widely scattered.   Thero appears to be a strong
proba)hility that much of the similarity is the result of independent but
oonvergent development.

My attention has recently been called (by Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff

and Sol Tax, personal communications) to additional trans-Pacific similari-
ties or coincidences in folklore motifs which seem to suggest an interpre-
tation other than independent development. This report presents such new
data as are at hand with the intent of bringing the question to the atten-
tion of interested persons who may be able to pursue it further. The au-

thor also wishes to offer a suggestion to account for the similarities dis-
cussed.

The geographical areas concerned are mountain Luzon and inner Formosa
in the Pacific, and northern South Amorica and Central America in the

New World. A substantial body of very similar and sometimes virtually

i&entical folklore is found among the mountain tribes of Luzon and Formosa
(Norheck, 1950). Although there is no historical record of contact between
the various tribes of Luzon and Formosa, the close degree of similarity

in thoir mythology is not very surprising. The two areas lie close together
and are inhabited by peoples of essentially the same physical stock and
highly similar cultures. Similarities in folklore between such widely
separated and culturally divergent areas as Luzon-Formosa and South and
Central America, however, are not so easily understood.

The closest similarity noted between these two latter areas is in
a single tale which contains a number of motifs. No comprehensive sur-
vey to determine the distribution of the tale has been attempted, and

materials do not, in fact, allow a comprehensive survey. It may be noted
that data presented in this paper come partly from unpublished sources;

it appears highly probable that the distribution in the New World of talo
mOtifs here discussed is much greater than presontly available accounts
indicate. As reported among the Atayal tribe of Formosa, the folktale
in question is as follows:

In the time of our ancient forefathers there was a villago of the
Shiguts tribe whero the life of the people was naturally out of tho
ordinary, so it is said. This Shiguts tribe is said to have eaten
only the vapor of cooked rice and boiled vegetables.

A man named Sijuma went there and saw that, although they cooked
the- ricn and b<i.1e4 the vegtthhleR, they gtill did not eat the bulk

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and only inhaled the vapor. The Shiguts were surprised when they

saw that Sljum  swallowed the rice and vegetables Just as they were
and wondered from where he would elimnate the food he had eaten.

Thereupon Sijuma said, "My peoplo are not like you, who have no anus.
We successively eliminate the food wo conm."    Having said this
he showed thea by excreting right thero, l0 It ?8 eaid.

Then one of the Shiguts said., "We also certainly would like to
emulate you, who do not eat the vapor of the cooked food* I wonder

if there is any way to mce an    al opening."  Sijuma said, "In that
case I  a    make an anal opening for you. If that is done you can

eat rice and vegetables as I oan and will be able to eliminate succes-
sively."  The Shiguts man said, 'By all =mans please do mae an anal

opening for me," and waa very happy, so it is eaid.  Sijuma thereupon
heated an iron, and when the iron became very hot he mae the Shi-

guts turn his buttockJs toward him and. suddenly thrust the iron into
his buttocks. The Shiguts died at once and so Sijuma secrotly fled
away.

This Shiguts tribe had very light bodies and ran swiftly. That
is because they ate only vapor. When the other Shiguts awakened in
the morning they saw that the man whose anus was pierced by Sijum

and who had been left by him was dead. Because Sijuma had run away
they knew that he had killed the 8higuts.  They thereupon inediato-
ly pursued him.  Sijuma looked and saw that they were pursuing him

and that he was about to be overtaken. He therefore imediatoly climbed
a tree and hid in its branches.  In a few soconds the Shiguts, like
the rustling of the wind, cam  pursuing him, but since they did not
find his footprints, they went back. After the Shiguts had left,
Sijlma descended to the ground. Re was afraid, however, that the

Shiguts would agaln came searching for him, nld so he took some betel
nut and. stuffed it into the hole of an anteater, and also plastered
it around the hole. Then he himself Was able to get home safoly.

As was foreseen, after Sijuma had gone home tho Shiguts came

back to search and found the hole of the anteater. Seeing that there
was blood [betel Juioe] they thought he was undoubtedly in this hole
and thrust a spear in. They saw that the spearhead when withdrawn
was dripping with blood, and thinking that Sijuma wae without doubt
dead, they again returnod to their hoe, so It is said (Norbeck,
1950, pp. 14-15).

Essentially the same tale is reported for the Apayao of Luzon, whose
folklore also includes various other myths which closely resemble those
of the Atayal (Norbeck, 1950, pp. 8-12; Wilson, 1947). The saxm motifs
are also found In the folklore of the Indian of Colambla. As reported
by Reichol-Dolzatoff (personal comnication), among the Cham1 Indian

of the Choco a similr tale recounts the adventure, of a youth who fell
into anther world, undaxgromund:

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...There wore Indians there) vory short In stature, who ate only
the smoke of their food and nothing more. They would then throw the
fish away. The youth began to eat the fish. "Why do you do that?"
they asked him. "Because it is delicious," he said. They replied,

"We can eat only the vapor becauso we have no anus."  'I can arrange
that for you," he said.  "Yes, help us," they said. Then the man
took a stick of chontaduro [a spocios of palm] and pierced them,

making a hole, but many died. Others were benefitted and recovered.
"Don't you know some other way?" they askod him. "I know no other

way," the man answered. Then they said, "We shall have to drive him
from here, for ho is killing us off this way." (The tale continues
with the flight of the youth and his escape from the underworld).

Another Chamf version of the forogoing tale (Chaves, 1945, p. 147)
differs chiefly in that none of those who are pierced by the palm stick
die. Still another Chamf version is as follows:

The son of Karagabi (a culture hero) know much. Below the earth
there was a country where there lived people called Aramuko. They

ate only the vapor of their food and they did not defocate. Tho son
of Karagabi said to them, "As you don't know how to defecate, I shall
make you an anus, and then you will be able to eat all sorts of food."
The Aramuko said, "Yes, do so."  The son said, "It is oasy."  He then
took a knife and cut each of them botweon the buttocks. But all of
the Aramuko died (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 19.53., p. 1t65)

Slightly variant forms of the tale are also reported for the Catfo, anoth-
er Choco tribe (Rochereau, 1933; Wassen, 1933).

Reichel-Dolmatoff (1951, pp. 61-64) reports the motif among the

Kogi of northern Colombia of a fleeing man imitating a spot of blood in
order to make his enemies think that he Is already dead, and states that

he believes the motif of vapor-eating pooples who have anuses made for them
may be found over a wide area of Colombia and perhaps also Venezuela
(personal communication).

A considerably divergent tale, containing however the motif of unworld-
ly people for whom anuses are made by a mortal, is roported among the

Warrau and Arawak of Guiana (Roth, 1915, pp. 126-27). This latter motif
also appears among the Barama River Carib in a still more divergent tale,
but other motifs of the complex dealt with here are not reported (Gillin,
1936, pp. 196-97).

Tax (1951, p. 2657) reports the following tale from Panajachol, Gua-
temala:

No. 149. The Totonicapeno who took a letter to heaven.

One time in Totonicapan, the parish priest sent an Indian with
a letter for God, not being certain that he would arrive since it
was practicaUy impossible to reach Him,

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The Indian, who was very faithful, tried to find a way to cross
the sea because in order to arrive there it was necessary to do so
and because they believe that the sky is Joined with the earth but

with the sea in between.  There were many difficulties in order for

the man to arrive at the other end of tho sea. Since many years passed
before he again encountered land, now he had no more to eat and he
was very hungry; seeing some beautiful fields of maize with very

good ears, he decided to pick one and he ate it. He had Just barely
cut it when he saw that the ear of corn cried out, crying for help

because of its theft, which produced a disturbance among the inhabi-
tants of the place, who quickly met and came to the place where the
hungry man was, in order to punish him, in their customary manner.

A strange thing that the traveller noticed about them was that thoy

could not look towards the sky but only toward the earth or the ground;
but finally they succeoded in catching the ovil doer and they took
him prisonor and conducted him to their king. Tho arms thLat they
carried wore strong polos and some iron arma. Neither could theso

men.stand very well but they walked samewhat stooped over like mon-
keys.

Finally, when they arrived before the king, ho examined or ques-
tioned him (the Indian) concerning the robbory, and the hungry man
told the truth. Then the king asked him if it was true that he ate

things. The other answored yes, which was useful to him in his crime
since they were thinking of killing him very soon. In order to find
out if what the Indian said was true, they brought him tortillas and
other things, and the man ate in front of the multitude which had

crowded around him. He was taken to where there was a cross, where

they piled tortillas after having smelled them, since they could only
eat in this way. Then the man ate more tortillas, there, saying that
in his land they did not do thus but that everything was introduced

(into the body). Then they asked him if he did not fill up and where
did everything that ho had eaten go? He answered that he had an

anus, which they did not have and they obliged him to show it to them
and he did so in front of all of them. Then the king was glad in
the presence of such new things and he asked him if he knew how to
cure them or make them the same (as he was) because it was better
to eat things and not do as they were doing. The man, in order to
save himself from them said yes, he could perform the operation.

Then they all remained until the following day when he was going to
proceed with a few (of them).  The king was the first to submit to
him and a few others followed him: with a kind of knife which ho

made out of wood.  When he had finished, he asked them to take him
quickly to the other side of the sea in order for him to bring them
the remedy with which he would heal the wounds he had given them;

which they did promptly and he went toward the sea again, in the di-
rection of the end of the world and not In the return direction be-
cause he was going to heaven. He was going into the sea with his

beast of burden when the men who did not eat came after him because
the king had died because of his wound; they cried out to him and
told him to return, but he pressed his guide forward in order to

65

put more distance botween them. Finally he succeeded in arriving
at the place where the sky joins the earth.... (The tale continues
with a recounting, which shows strong Christian influence, of the
man's, visit to hoaven and subsequent return to his oarthly home.)
Among the Chamf, Kogi and Kankuama of Colombia, Reichel-Dolmatoff

(personal communication) finds another myth with motifs similar to tihose
of a tale reported from the Nabaloi of Luzon (Moss, 1924, pp. 341-47)

and the Atayal of Formosa (Norbeck, 1950, pp. 17-19).  This is a tale of
a giant with skin so thick it cannot be pierced by arrows, who extends

his arms or his immense penis across rivers to serve as a bridge, who vio-
lates and thus kills women., and who is himseolf finally put to death (Ata-
yal version).

No attempt at a comprehensive comparison of the folklore of the areas
in question has beon made. Such a study might we11 prove worthwhile,

but it is a project better undertaken by specialists in the ethnology and
post-Columbian history of South and Central America. Dealing only with
the scanty d.ata presented herein, however, it seems improbable that the

coincidences in motifs are simply fortuitous. The motif of a people who
live by inhaling only the vapor of cooking food seems to be uncomon,
appearing only once in Thompson's comprehensive indox of folk-motifs

(Thompson, 1932-36, P. 137). Moreover, the total complex of motifs in
the first tale here discussed seems unlikely to recur in toto in widely
separated areas if the tale Is of independent origin.

In this connection, the transporting of American Indians from one
area to another of the old Spanish colonies seems pertinent. Various

Indian groups under Spanish control woro transported as laborers, slaves

or exiles from their homelands to other, sometimes widely separated aroas.

of the old Spanish possessions. Spanish documents dealing with the trans-
porting of Colombian Indians to the Philippines during the eighteenth cen-
tury have recently been discovered in BogotA (Juan Friede and Reichel-

Dolmatoff, personal communications).  Reichel-Dolmatoff (personal commu-
nication) states that "As early as 1540 s    Indians from the Sierra Ne-
vada ?Colombia] were exiled to Mbxico." To the knowledge of the writer,

no thorough investigation of this subject has ever been made, but it appoars
to be a study that might shed considerable light upon the question of dif-
fusion of culture traits within the New World and also between the New
World and the Pacific islands.

Although supporting data assombled here are few, an hypothesis that
repatriated American Indians served as the agency of diffusion of theso

tales seoms at least worthy of examination. Colombian Indians transported
to the Philippines as laborers on Spanish plantations might over a period
of years of contact with peoples of the Philippines assimilate many cul-
ture traits including folklore. It may be noted that tho tale motifs in
question are reported only from the isolatad interior tribes of Luzon,

peoples with whom plantation laborers would not ordinarily have come in

66

close contact. The published mythology of lowland Christianized tribes

of Luzon differs considerably from that of the mountain, "pagan" peoples.
It is probable, however, that much the same folklore existed among both

mountain and lowland peoples at the time of first Spanish contact and that
ma.ny of the folktales vanished with acculturation, especially with Chris-
tianization. It is worthy of note that both of the tales dealt with here
would be considered obscono by a Spaniard or a Christianized Filipino.

Assuming that the similaritios in folklore are not simply fortuitous,
it seems most unlikely that the motifs in question reached the mountain
peoples of Luzon through the agency of Colombian Indians. Such an hypo-
thesis would shed no light on Formosan folklore, and the similarity in

mythology between Formosa and mountain Luzon appears very much closer than
between either of these areas and Colombia. It seems more reasonable to
conJecture that at least some of the American Indians transported to the
Philippines were later returned to South America and resumed life with
their own or other American tribal groups (or that Filipinos got to Co-
lonbla). I do not know that this happoned, but I think it is a matter
worthy of investigation.

The major problems which the foregoing suggests can be answered only
by a thorough comparison of the folklore of the two areas and an investi-
gation of the matter of the transportation of aboriginal groups from one
area to another of both the Pacific islands and the New World in Spanish
colonial times.

67

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chaves Ch., Milciades

1945     Mitos, tradiciones y cuentos de los indios Cham{. Boletfn

de Arqueolog{a, vol. 1, tomo 2, pp. 133-159.  Bogota.
Gillin, John

1936     The Barama River Caribs of British Guiana. Papers of the

Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology,
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Moss, C. R.

1924     Nabaloi tales. University of California Publications in

American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 17, no. 5, pp.
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Norbeck, Edward

1950     Folklore of the Atayal of Formosa and the mountain tribes

of Luzon. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology,
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Reichel-Dol atoff, Gerardo

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:Rochereau, Henry

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del occidente de Antioquia. Journal de la Societ6 des

Americanistes de Paris, n.s., tome 21, pp. 71-105. Paris.
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Thompson, Stith

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Wass6n, Henry

1933     Cuentos de los indios Choo6s. Journal de la Societe des

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