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THE AMBAT, KABAT; IAND HAMBAT 629
1-Kalviene, Kruas, and Nanggundem, and these (as in Seniang) are
also the names of the ï¬Åve ï¬Ångers, Baghalapwe being the thumb;
Unlike the Ambat brothers, however, it is said that it was the
youngest 'who'was the strongest and clever-est. The mythology
typical of the'Ambat brothers has become attached in Mewun
to one single Kabat who seems to correspond to Ito-sornbon.
Both appear to be regarded as the ï¬Årst beings to exist, and while
Ito-somboniis the Ambat of Iumoran, Kabat belongs primarily
to Melpmes,‘the village with which Iumoran is linked by a nahal
temes (ghost path).1 This Kabat is called Tokhtuei “ He remains
for a long time â€ù, or more commonly Butwanablaghapi “' The
High Mountain "; He is regarded as a creator‘ of men, women,
domestic animals, and magic, and it is with him, his sons, and his
sons’ sons that the most important ritual in Mewun, that of
“ Making Manâ€ù, is associated. There is one -link between this
K abut and‘ the ï¬Åve K abut brothers. This is the name Baghalajawe,
which is the titled held by one oi the principal performers in the
dance belonging -to this ritual. The only legend recorded about
the-'Ka'blzt Butwanabaghap runs as follows. '
V The Kabat dwelt at what is now the ruined village of Melpmes.
Every morning he‘ used to climbup to the east, to be in the
sunshine because he was cold. And every day he followed the
sun round until it sank into the sea in the west. One day, going
south; he-came at last to the small island of Milip off the south
coast- Here, looking out at night he saw a giant clam which
opened its mouth and as it shut it again sent up a great spout
of light.’ -Thereupon he took a stake of hard lnator wood, and
wentiorth to thrust it into ‘the giant clam's mouth when it
opened it. He tried to do this on four successive clays, but
missed his mark each time. At last on -the ï¬Åfth‘ day he succeeded
andreturned to Melpmes carrying the giant clam. The rocks
and bluffs along the coast from Milip to Melpmes are the tracks
left by his footsteps, for he was a giant and one oi his paces was
the width of South-West Bay. 1
_ On. arriving at Melpmes he put the clam on a pandanus leaf
and left it there. Returning the next day he ‘found that it had
1 Information concerning the Kabul was obtained from a man of Melpmes.
One cannot but suspect that, had it been possible to ‘obtain information about
the Ambat from a man of Inmoran, more might have been learnt of Ito~sornbon
End that the similarities between the two would have been more numerous,-
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