.503 Traii>ia<:tion>i. — Misccllaueoiis. 



first in Fijian rank. The number saved — eight — exactly ac- 

 cords with the ' few ' of the Scripture record. By this flood 

 it is said that two tribes of the human family became extinct. 

 One consisted entirely of women, and the other were distin- 

 guished by the appendage of a tail like a dog. The highest 

 point of the island of Koro is associated with the history of the 

 Flood. Its name is Nyyinggi-tangithi-koro, which conveys the 

 idea of a little bird sitting there and lamenting the drowned 

 island. In this bird the Christians recognize Noah's dove on 

 its second flight from the ark. I have heard a native, after 

 listening to the incident as given by Moses, chant ' Na Qiqi 

 (Nggimjgi) sa tagici (taiiglthi) Koro niyali ' — ' The Qiqi laments 

 over Koro because it is lost.' " 



I believe that this quotation establishes some connection 

 between the word " Korotangi " and the bird which wailed 

 {tangi) over Koro. When we also find that in Samoan the word 

 which corresponds to Koro means " to coo, as a dove," and 

 in Hawaiian is " to make a great sound of wailing, as of many 

 wailing together," and also " to roar and rush as the sound 

 of water," the connection of Koro with the Deluge legends 

 appears unmistakable. If this stone carving is a representation 

 of the bird of Chaldean and Hebrew Flood-tradition, it is pro- 

 bably of immense antiquity (perhaps brought even from the 

 very source of Deluge-stories in far-ofl^ Asia) : it may be quite 

 the oldest relic of primitive men and their beliefs now in 

 ■existence. 



