236 Pomander Collection of Hatvaiian Folk-lore. 



tr_v of Kasi. on tlic Cannes. Tlie "Khasi" in Abyssinia, and the "Kasi" on tlie Ganges 

 were both of Cushitc oris^in. Again, in the Polynesian legends reference is made to a 

 country called Kua-i-helani and a king of that country called Tku or Aiku who had twelve 

 children, whose adventures and exjiloits are fully related in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku. 

 Now we know from Indian lore that, far ofif in the prehistoric times, a famous king 

 ruled over Arabia and upi)er Egypt whose name was It or Ait, and whom the Greek tra- 

 ditions called Actus. ■'^' We know that before the Aryans entered India, and long after, 

 thev called the country between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and Persian 

 Gulf by the name of "Cusha-dwipa," and that the same extent of country was by the 

 Semite Hebrews called "Cush." These words in Polynesian pronunciation would in- 

 fallibly become either "Kua" or "Ku,"" the suffixed "Helani" being merely an e])ithel of 



grandeur and glory. 



Again, Oro or Koro, of the Society and Hervey groups, was the terrible God of 

 War, on whose altars human sacrifices were offered. He was the son of Kangaloa, the 

 principal deity of these groups. His name and attributes forcibly recall Horns the son 

 of Osiris of Egyi)tian traditions and iiro the Egyptian hieroglyphic name for king, as 

 well as Hor the in\-incil)le War-God, from time immemorial, of the Raypoots in North- 

 western India. "Conrou" or "Goro," moreover, is an old Indian and Javanese word for 

 deity in general, and its modern meaning is "a religious instructor."" 



Unless, then, we concede the origin of the Polynesian family to have been, prox- 

 imately in the Asiatic Archipelago, more remotely in India, as one perhaps of the many 

 branches of the Dravidian family, certainly as one of the ante-Aryan peoples living 

 there and being more or less imjjregnated with the Arab blood and culture which in these 

 early days controlled India, the Indian Ocean and all the coasts and islands near it, from 

 Mozambique to Tapan, — unless we concede this, Polynesian myths, songs, traditions and 

 customs become unintelligible, and the people itself becomes an historical puzzle, an 

 ethnological accident. 



In one of the Marquesan legends or religious chants of the creation of the world^ 

 Te Pcna-pcna — by the God Atea, the then known world extended from Vavau to Hawaii, 

 "uic Favau i Hawaii:" and after the earth was made or, rather, brought to light, the 



order was given ; 



I'll te metaiii me \ evau 



.\ ami te tai o Hawa-ii 



Pii atu te metani me Hawa-ii 



A anu te ao o Vevau. 



(Blow winds from Va\;m and cool the sea of Hawa-ii; blow back winds from Ha- 

 waii and cool the air |or the region] of Va\-au ) ; and the burden of each stanza or 



act of creation is 



O Vevau me Hawa-ii. 



Again in the chant of the Deluge, it is said that after the ilood the ribs of the earth 



■■■Several places vet bear the name of Iku or Aiku; "It is of pre-Aryaii origin ; in aiicieiil Greek writers \ye 



among otliers .\itii-take, one of the Hervey group, and find the word korus or kourus applied to the infant gods. 



.•\fareaaitu, a village in Huahainc of the Society Islands. 



