Teegeae. — Myths of Observation. 591 



was to be compared with that of a man's arm." I may add 

 to Mr. Tylor's remark that " the beast with a hand " is a 

 well-known ancient name for the elephant, and that in the 

 island of Java (west portion, Sunda) the elephant is called 

 "liman," a word derived from lima, the common word for 

 " hand " and " five " in Polynesia. 



Thus, then, we have the myths of observation divided into 

 two classes : one in which the natural object becomes sugges- 

 tive and gathers myth — for instance, the discovery of large 

 bones giving rise to the story that " there were giants in those 

 days," the war of the Titans, &c. ; the other class is that 

 wherein has perhaps been kept a dim record of events once 

 observed, but which without the tradition would have been 

 forgotten. If the stories both of the watery deluge and of the 

 destructive fire are not religious dramas portraying the earthly 

 punishment of the wicked, to which class of the myths of ob- 

 servation do they belong? I am strongly inclined to think 

 that they do not belong to the series of tales which have pre- 

 served the memories of things which once existed, or circum- 

 stances that really happened. They are not like those legends 

 in which is probably kept alive the memory of the elephant 

 among American Indians or of the great anthropoid ape in 

 Brazil. They are more likely to be partially-imperfect scien- 

 tific observations. Thus : the savage sees, as we see, sea-shells 

 on the top of a mountain, and he argues as we do, "This 

 place was once covered with water." But he does not go on, 

 as the geologist does, gathering fact after fact, and deducing 

 therefrom the knowledge that different portions of the earth's 

 surface, now solid land, were once submerged, and have been 

 upheaved. The untrained observer's imagination goes to work 

 and pictures a sudden and dreadful catastrophe — in fact, a 

 deluge. But what should such a deluge be for ? What could 

 such a drowning quantity of water have been needed for but 

 to extinguish a world-destroying flame? Around him his 

 watchful eye notices other rocks which have been subjected 

 to the action of fire. This is not to be denied, for he can 

 probably see in many places lava-flows actually in process of 

 being converted into stone, and those who think that the un- 

 educated mind is incapable of recognizing similar action in the 

 plutonic rocks know little of the acute powers of reasoning 

 (in some directions) possessed by primitive men. Here is the 

 water-worn rock, so once there was a deluge ; here is the fire- 

 fused rock, so once there was a conflagration in which the 

 whole earth was on fire. Given this idea, started in two or 

 three places, however widely separated, and interchange of 

 thought during the immense spaces of prehistoric time would 

 well account for the dissemination of the myths. 



I believe that the Maoris have many myths of observation 



