444 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the work. What therefore is considered to be a beauty in our 

 own literature can scarcely be a blemish in the lore or litera- 

 ture of other peoples whose habits of life and thought differ 

 from our own. 



I have referred to the Scriptures as embodying every form 

 of literature in the true sense of the term. This being ad- 

 mitted, there is very little which may not be paralleled in 

 Polynesian lore. There is the most ancient portion, contain- 

 ing a cosmogony and genealogies, no longer accepted as literal 

 history. To the rationalist it is pure myth ; to the theologian 

 it is a Divine allegory, for which each school of thought has 

 a different interpretation. Parallel with this, we have the 

 native cosmogony, beginning, as all others do, with Night and 

 Chaos. For aught we know, allegorical meanings may lie 

 concealed in these traditions, which have been handed down 

 for so many ages — at all events they are highly poetical in 

 form. It may be that the outward shell, still preserved and 

 venerated, has outlived the forgotten esoteric meaning it 

 conveyed to generations long past. From the mythical we 

 come to the firmer ground of the tribal and national chronicles ; 

 then we have the prophets and the psalms. These are to a 

 certain extent paralleled by the poetical lore of the natives. 

 Some of this was prophetical ; some devotional ; much of it 

 consisted of charms and incantations ; and, again, we have the 

 deeds of heroes, fables and apologues ; love-songs, not only 

 of the erotic order, but often expressing pure and tender affec- 

 tion, in refined and graceful language. This poetry constituted 

 what, if committed to writing, would certainly have every 

 claim to be called a national literature ; that it was highly 

 prized is evident from the enormous pains taken to commit 

 it accurately to memory. In the Eev. W. Colenso's paper on 

 the Ideality of the New-Zealanders, in which he gives typical 

 examples of Maori poetry (Trans., vol. xiii.), he states that 

 Sir George Grey had collected between five hundred and six 

 hundred songs, and that to these he could add an equal 

 number collected by himself. This does not by any means 

 exhaust the whole. 



From poetry we pass on to proverbs. This is a subject 

 which has received a good deal of attention from contributors 

 to the Transactions. The Eev. W. Colenso (vol. xiv.) has 

 written largely on Maori proverbs, and has quoted freely from 

 a store of twelve or fourteen hundred which he has systemati- 

 cally classified. It is not too much to say that in practical 

 worldly wisdom, in their recommendation of virtues and con- 

 demnation of vices, and in sententious force, they will bear 

 comparison with any other collection, sacred or secular. 



In drawing these parallels, I am not claiming for the 

 native lore the high spiritual character of the Hebrew canoni- 



