442 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 



properly come into the category of literature. That these 

 ancient writings are of a high literary standard is universally 

 admitted. It is acknowledged, for example, that no metrical 

 translation of the Book of Psalms does justice to the original. 

 In the earlier portion of Genesis we have a document of un- 

 known antiquity, which many critics hold was preserved in 

 the form of tradition before it was committed to writing. The 

 same view is held with regard to the ancient epics attributed 

 to Homer. In each instance we have work of a very high 

 literary quality — in fact, many would say, of the highest. 

 In their particular sphere they are unequalled. The Duke of 

 Buckingham's eulogy is well known : — 



Read Homer once, and you will read no more, 

 For all books else appear so mean, so poor ; 

 Verse will seem prose : but still persist to read, 

 And Homer will be all the books you need. 



Whether Mr. Gladstone would agree with such unqualified 

 praise, I cannot say ; but, omnivorous reader though he be, he 

 is said to read Homer daily, with an assiduity greater than 

 many devout folk give to their Bible. Yet I must say that 

 the offhand criticism which would reject Polynesian poetry as 

 worthless must, to be consistent, pass a similar verdict on the 

 " Iliad " and the " Odyssey." As giving an insight into primi- 

 tive society, one is as valuable as the other ; and, apart from 

 the difference that in one case we have a knowledge of metals, 

 we find a remarkable parallel. In the light of the civilisation 

 of to-day, one people appears as savage as the other. There 

 is the same interweaving of the natural and supernatural, of 

 history and myth ; the same exhibition of the fiercer aspects 

 of human nature ; and the resemblance is not only general, 

 but can be followed in details. The egotistical vaunting and 

 taunts with which Homer's chiefs go into battle have their 

 exact parallel in Maori legend and history. 



There are good reasons against quoting from poems and 

 proverbs already on record in the Transactions ; and to adopt 

 such a course would unduly expand this paper. There is the 

 less need, as in two separate papers read at last meeting 

 several highly poetical fragments were brought forward by 

 gentlemen well qualified to deal with the subject. 



I have already referred to the remarkable powers of 

 memory displayed by the chiefs and priests who were the 

 depositories of the national lore; and this is evidenced by 

 the literal accuracy with which genealogies, incantations, 

 songs, or proverbs were handed down from generation to 

 generation. This is proved by the retention of archaic words 

 and forms of expression ; by the fact of the same narratives 

 being the property of peoples remote and long separated, and 

 having survived great changes in language and conditions. 



