The Yaos have another very curious tale, in which the Chameleon is directly concerned in the introduction of Man into the world. At first Man was not—only Mulungu and the beasts. Apparently the Chameleon has been forced by changed circumstances to alter his mode of living, for, in those days he used to set traps for fish in the river—wicker arrangements on the principle of the lobster-pot—as natives do now. One morning, on visiting his trap, he found two unknown beings in it—no other than the first man and woman, who had somehow blundered into it during the night. (I have seen a _mono_ big enough to contain one person, with his knees drawn up, but the size of the First Parents is not stated.) He consulted Mulungu as to what he should do with them, and was told, ‘Place them here, they will grow.’ They did grow, and developed various activities—among others that of making fire by twirling a hard stick on a bit of soft wood (_kupeka moto_), as is done to this day. But in the end they set the grass alight, and thus drove Mulungu from his abode on this earth. The Chameleon escaped by climbing a tree; but ‘Mulungu was on the ground, and he said, “I cannot climb a tree.” Then Mulungu set off and went to call the Spider. The Spider went on high and returned again and said, “I have gone on high nicely,” and he said, “You now, Mulungu, go on high.” Mulungu then went with the spider on high. And he said, “When they die, let them come on high here.” And behold, men on dying go on high in order to be slaves of God, the reason being that they ate his people here below.’ That is, as soon as they had found out the use of fire, they began to kill and cook buffaloes and other animals. No hint is given here as to where or how these human beings originated. Mulungu evidently knows nothing about them (while the animals, with which they have been interfering, are ‘his people’), and makes the Chameleon responsible for them, just as a chief at the present day would hold any man who introduced strangers into a village responsible for their conduct. Two other points are noteworthy—the region into which Mulungu makes his escape is ‘above’; and the Spider, who helps him, is a conspicuous figure in West African folk-lore and mythology. This is the only instance except one where I have met with him in an Eastern Bantu story; but we have numerous examples in Duala, and one at least from the Congo. This tale seems to be a very crude form of the myth in which a divine being is driven from earth by the wickedness of mankind—like Astræa and the Kintu of the Baganda. The curious, and, to us, inconsistent limitations of his power are just what one may expect to find in stories of this kind. Perhaps we might include among legends of creation a story told at the mysteries (to which we shall recur later on) to account for the origin of Lake Nyasa.