Note 5 — Chapter III · RELIGIOUS AND MAGICAL BELIEFS

As regards the waxing and waning of the moon, Mr Man says that these are explained by the Aka-Bea “by saying that they are occasioned by ‘his’ applying a coating of cloud to his person by degrees, after the manner of their own use of ko̱iob (red paint) and tala-o̱g (white clay) and then gradually wiping it off5.” In the Aka-Kede tribe the natives say that as Maia Čirike (Sir Moon) goes across the sky, his tongue hangs out of his mouth, sometimes more, sometimes less, and that it is the tongue that is visible, that gives the light. I did not hear any explanation of the waxing and waning of the moon in the tribes of the North Andaman. In these tribes the new moon is called Dula e-tire, i.e. the “baby moon,” the word e-tire denoting the young offspring of an animal or a human being.