Guba is the sudden violent squall or thunderstorm of the Papuan coast, the most feared hazard of the open-water crossings on which the hiri depended. As a named power of the Motu seascape it is distinguished from the steady seasonal winds, being abrupt, dark and destructive. Sources differ on the degree to which guba was treated as an agentive being to be turned aside by ritual as against a named condition of sky and sea.