Tobi Then: Ifiri Mosuwe

Ifiri MosuweAudio symbol 


Spirit Boat

Spirit boat used as an altar in the cult house, fare kikak.
Click on image to access large jpg.
Watercolor by E. Kramer,
Eilers, 1936: Plate 1


Thoughts about Mosuwe by Peter Black

Old Stories

The legend of Ramoparuhe
Possible Fais origin for Ramoparuhe.

The people of Fais Island also used spirit canoes. These four photographs were taken by Donald Rubinstein in 1977. They show Tangwethip from Faluch house compound holding the sacred "waal Yalofath" spirit canoe that was kept in his house and belonged to the compound.

Fais spirit canoe  Fais spirit canoe  Fais spirit canoe  Fais spirit canoe
Click on images to access large jpg

Archaeology of TobiTobi Island Artifacts by Peter Black, D. Osborne and Patricio M.  Appendix 7 to Douglas Osborne, Archaeological Test Excavations, Palau Islands, 1968-1969.  Micronesica: Supplement 1,1979, pp. 349-353.

StoneworTobi Stone Figurine  Tobi Stone Figurine
Photographs by Douglas Osborne

In 2007 Sandra Purton drew the Tobi Stone Figurine in its case at the Belau National Museum, Koror, Palau.

Tobi Stone Figurine drawn by Sandra Purton
Drawing by Sandra Purton

The Archaelogy of the Palau Islands: An Intensive Survey.   Introduction & Chapter 1 (The Southern Islands) by Douglas Osborne. Bishop Museum, Bulletin 230. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1966.

Illustrations
drawn by members of the Thilenius expedition in 1908-1910, taken from Eilers, Anneliese, Westkarolinen:  Tobi und Ngulu.  Ergebnisse der Sudsee-expedition 1908-1910 (II B9, Part I.).  G. Thilenius, ed.  Hamburg:  Friederichsen, De Gruyter & Co. m.b.H., 1936.   

Part I Part II  Part III Part IV
Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII

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Updated: October 21, 2013