tasnump

n. A reclusive band of persons, found in lower Tasmania. Fond of keening odes to a long remembered object or living thing, or person named spoltays, beginning "O, wailly wailly, spoltays come to the reeds, dear spoltays." Thought to be related to Scots origin by language patterns, but inconsistencies in the historic record also note a Pacific voyage on rafts of reed mentioned in the same songs as above (See also songs of Numpi-Tiki in the repertoire of the tasnumpi.) Hypotheses as to the meaning of spoltays range from 1) the name of a female human who refused to set foot on the raft of reed, 2) a drink with hallucinatory effects, or 3) a revered iconic agricultural species or possibly even a sacred animal, perhaps related to canus spoltalus of Argentina.