226 Foniaudcr Collection of Hazvaiiaii Folk-lore. 



Other indications of the relationship of the Polynesian and Aryan races are not 

 wanting to tliose who are more competent than I am to pursue the comparison. The 

 Greek "Ouranos" is evidently a congener or descendant of the Polynesian Rangi or Lani 

 (Heaven). I am inclined to think that the name of "Siwa," one of the Hindu Tri- 

 murti, owes its origin or tinds its explanation in the Polynesian word "hiwa," primarily 

 "dark-colored, black or blue," secondly "sacred" as a sacrificial offering — though I am 

 unable to say why the dark-colored, black or blue should have been considered sacred, 

 unless we take the Anglo-Saxon "Hefen" or "Heofen," the elevated firmament, the 

 heaven, the dark-blue sky, ;as an explanation offered by a cognate dialect. In the 

 Samoan, "Siwa," in the Tahitian, "Heiwa," signify dancing; but in all the Polynesian 

 dialects the idea of sacredness underlies and characterizes the derivative meanings. 

 Thus Nuku-Hiwa (one of the Marc[uesas Isls.), vmdoubtedly meant originally "the dark, 

 or sacred island," Fatu-Hiwa. "the sacred rock or stone;" and in Hawaiian we find the 

 same expression in Puaa Hiwa, "the sacred hog" offered in sacrifices. In the Hindu 

 Trimurti the figure of Vishnu is represented in a black or blue color, and thus we find 

 that the same idea of sacredness was by the Sanskrit speaking Hindus attached to that 

 color, as by the Polynesian tribes. The Hindu gods "Varuna" and "Vhani" find their 

 etymological solution and origin in the Polynesian ( Tab. ) "\^arua" and in the Haw. 

 "Uhanc," both signifying "spirit," a ghost. In the Sanskrit "Saka" was a distinctive 

 appellation of kings, chiefs and lords. I am not aware that any such single word in 

 the Polynesian dialects expresses that meaning, but we find it in a comjjound form in the 

 Marquesas dialect as "Haka'iki," Haka-a-iki, a chief. The Polynesian word "ariki" 

 (chief) itself, undoubtedly springs from the same root as the Latin "rego," to rule, — 

 the Gothic "reiki," dominion, — the Saxon "rie," noble, (see comparative catalogue of 

 words in the Polynesian and Aryan families of speech). 



I am, further, disposed to believe that the Polynesian family left India before 

 the Brahma religion attained its full development among the Sanskrit speaking Aryans. 

 There undoubtedly were certain modes of thought, certain customs, common to both, but 

 I have reason to believe that they were anterior to the establishments of Brahmanism, 

 [The Polynesians were not acquainted with the Hindu 'i'rimurti. They had a Cha- 

 murti, if I may use the expression, a quaternity of gods — Kane, Ku, Kangaloa and 

 Lono or Ro'o, the latter however being the son of Kangaloa, and some others who were 

 born of Po, the night, chaos, but their attributes were indefinite and promiscuous,] and 

 their worship did not harden into a religious system or cult until long after their settle- 

 ment in the Pacific. They retained the original idea of the Suttee, for with them it was 

 not limited to the wives of a deceased, but embraced the dearest and best beloved 

 friends of either sex ; and instead of being obligatory it was optional among the relatives 

 and friends, and only obligatory upon the slaves and dependants. Their division of 

 castes show no derivation from the Brahman arrangement. The latter, at first, con- 

 sisted probably only of three, the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas ; the Sudras being 

 a subsequent division: the Polynesians placing the Kshatriyas, the warrior caste, the 

 ariki first; the Brahmans, the priesthood, the kahuna second; and the incnchnne or 

 makaainana, the Vaisyas, the commonalty or plebs last. It is natural, and more con- 

 formable to the development of the actual society of savage people, that valor or man- 



