A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Samuku travels to Tuhilagi seeking his deceased parents after a quarrel at home. He lands at the Ghosts’ Mangroves and meets a company who recognize that he is not yet dead. A house in which he spends the night disappears in the morning.
He makes a net and accompanies them fishing, seeing their forms during the outing. At daylight the whole company departs from him, leaving him to sleep on the sand. Living people then find and take him in until his eventual death. The tale presents a visit by a living man to this particular ghost company, without turning him immediately into a ghost or identifying the company with Ponaturi.
Origins & earliest records
R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1891), Chapter XIX, II.2, p. 367. Chapter XIX identifies islander-written manuscripts as its basis, without naming each individual contributor.
Records & interpretation
Complete relevant selected tale or explicitly abridged footnote read. Local identity, separate versions and unnamed narrator limitations retained.
In the literature
“You are not dead yet”
Chapter XIX II.2, p.367; company’s greeting · R. H. Codrington
Samuku seeks deceased parents after an argument with his wife and lands at the Ghosts’ Mangroves of Tuhilagi. The company of ghosts explicitly tells him he is not dead. The house where he sleeps disappears in the morning. His dead parents are not separately shown or individually identified among the company.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Melanesians, Chapter XIX, II.2, p. 367
Published collected witness; modern oral/community variants not exhausted.
- 02
The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore
R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891; University of Toronto historical scan/OCR. Complete selected Chapter XIX II.1–2 and III.14–17 narratives and the complete separately marked Qat-wuruga manuscript abstract independently read. Chapter XIX p356 says stories except the first derive from islanders’ manuscripts supplied to him; no individual writer supplied for these selected accounts. Original manuscripts not independently inspected.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore
R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891; University of Toronto historical scan/OCR. Complete selected Chapter XIX II.1–2 and III.14–17 narratives and the complete separately marked Qat-wuruga manuscript abstract independently read. Chapter XIX p356 says stories except the first derive from islanders’ manuscripts supplied to him; no individual writer supplied for these selected accounts. Original manuscripts not independently inspected.
- Samuku seeks deceased parents after an argument with his wife and lands at the Ghosts’ Mangroves of Tuhilagi. The company of ghosts explicitly tells him he is not dead. The house where he sleeps disappears in the morning. His dead parents are not separately shown or individually identified among the company.
Chapter XIX II.2 The Story of Samuku, Bugotu, Ysabel, p.367; living visitor
- Samuku makes a net, accompanies the ghosts fishing and sees their forms. At daylight they leave him; living people later find him asleep on the sand and keep him until his eventual death. This is a living visitor’s particular encounter, not immediate transformation into a ghost or identification with a different regional dawn-vanishing people.
Original island manuscript not inspected; unidentified narrators not invented. Specific local version, not present community consensus. No ceremonial formulas copied; facsimile not visually checked in this batch.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected textCodrington, Chapter XIX, II.2, p. 367Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.