140 president's address — SECTION F. 



Comparisons in this direction will give some clue to the relationship 

 existing among the various races of Polynesia. Records of folk- 

 lore vpill be found in some books of travels and voyages, missionary 

 works, and notices of native legends, &;c. The late Kev. Thos. 

 Powell made a large collection of these in Samoa, a portion of 

 which has been published by the Royal Society of N.S.W. The 

 Folklore Society of Great Britain is publishing in extenso all that 

 is brought before it. One may discover a resemblance, if not an 

 exact parallel, in Polynesian folklore to some well-known folklore 

 of Scandinavian and Noi'man origin, as well as to many of the 

 Hindoo, Japanese, and Malagasy contributions. An opinion 

 expressed 300 years ago by the poet Edmund Spenser will denote 

 the value of this study in elucidating the inquiry placed before 

 you. He says, " By these old customs, and other like conjectural 

 circumstances, the descent of nations can only be proved where 

 other monuments of writings are not remaining." 



A few monuments of archaeological remains are found in the 

 Pacific Islands, which may serve as landmarks denoting the advance 

 of a people accustomed to erecting gigantic structures, either as 

 temples to their deities or shrines for their dead — perhaps for both 

 purposes. Some of these structures have a pyramidal form, some 

 are stone terraces spreading over a wide surface, others are massive 

 stone platforms, probably the base of a superstructure which has 

 long since been destroyetl. In certain places there are still found 

 some colossal statues, hewn and sculptured with evidences of 

 skill. The most remarkable of these, which have attracted the 

 attention of travellers and others, exist on Easter Island. Similar 

 structures were found on Tahiti, and in the Marquesas and other 

 islands. Captain C ok was much struck with the gigantic statues 

 on Easter Island, somewhat resembling Egyptian sphinges. The 

 sculpture was rude, but not void of skill. Some of the figures stood 

 in groups on massive platforms of stone, tenoned, but witnout 

 cement. One statue measured 27ft. by 8ft. In 1868 one of the^e 

 statues was conveyed to the British Museum, and weighed five 

 tons. The platforms in some places contain inscriptions in 

 hieroglyphics. In Mexico and Peru there exist remains of very 

 ancient architecture ot the same character, and the hieroglyphics 

 have been translated and found to have reference to the worship of 

 the sun and moon deities. The pyramids in South America were 

 appropriated as biu-ying-places of chiefs, and, so far as can be 

 gathered from native traditions, these in Polynesia were used for 

 a similar object. A platform of huge stones which I saw on the 

 island of Manono, Samoa, was pointed out to me as the tomb of 

 one of their old chiefs. The teocalli of South America evidently 

 bear a close relationship to the heiaus and maraes of Eastern 

 Polynesia and the dubus of New Guinea, and may also be 

 considered as possessing some affinity Avith similar pyramidal 

 •constructions in China and India. 



