586 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



by Water. Before all was over, however, everything on earth 

 had melted." The story of Maui having procured fire from 

 celestial sources, and in doing so setting the world in flames, 

 is the most widely distributed of all the Polynesian legends. 

 The Mangaian (Cook Islands) version says that Maui re- 

 solved to be revenged for his trouble by setting fire to his 

 fallen adversary's abode. In a short time all the nether 

 world was in flames, which consumed the fire-god and all he 

 possessed. Even the rocks cracked and split with the heat : 

 hence the ancient saying, " The rocks at Orovaru are burn- 

 ing," equivalent to saying, "The foundations of the earth are 

 on fire."* In Hawaii (Sandwich Islands) was preserved a 

 distinct tradition that, on account of the wickedness of the 

 people then living, the god Tane destroyed the world by fire, 

 and afterwards organized it as it is now, the first man of the 

 new race being called Wela-ahi-lani (Burning fire of heaven).! 

 They have also a distinct tradition of the watery deluge. 



Before leaving Polynesia, we may also notice that the 

 Maoris speak of the deluge as " the overturning of the world." 

 So the Ngaitahu relate that " Puta was the cause of the land 

 being turned upside down,"} and the flood spoken of in the 

 legend of Tawhaki, when the earth was overwhelmed with 

 the waters, is called "the overturning by Mataaho."§ Now, 

 the Greenlanders have the same expression as this. They are 

 very much afraid of certain spirits called Inguersoit, who are 

 supposed to be the souls of those people that died when " the 

 world was turned upside down " in the days of the deluge. 

 They are thought to have become flames of fire, and to have 

 found shelter in* the clefts of the rocks. j| 



Having thus collected a certain number of facts as material 

 for reasoning upon, let us consider if they contain any material 

 worthy of study. Of course, when I speak of facts I do not 

 allude to the substance of the stories as being facts, but to 

 the convergence of certain lines of tradition. The first point 

 to consider is the truthfulness of the idea contained in the 

 old legends. Are they sheer, profitless lies, or are they 

 merely veils for the truth ? That they are lies, in the sense 

 of being made with the intention to deceive, I do not think 

 possible. The field for lying is so vast and originality so rare 

 that I do not think it reasonable to suppose that pure false- 



* " Myths and Songs of the South Pacific," by the Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, 

 LL.D., p. 56. 



t Fornander's " The Polynesian Race," vol. i., 63. 



I White's " Ancient History of the Maori," i., 181. 



§ In Grey's " Polynesian Mythology " (edition 1885) this is translated 

 "the overwhelming of the Mataaho." It is a mere clerical error for 

 " overturning," as can be seen by reference to the Maori text, p. 47. 



!| Crantz, vol. i., p. 208. 



