OF THE SOUTH SEAS 345 



whom the Polynesians had long ago driven out of the 

 Asiatic archipelago, were stronger than the emigrants. 

 They next tried Fiji, and tarried there longest, leaving 

 those powerful imprints on the Papuans in appearance 

 and language that make Fiji the anomaly of Melanesia. 

 But the Fiji-Papuans at last drove them out, and they 

 left with blood in their eyes. When the whites found 

 the Marquesans in the sixteenth century, they were 

 building at Vaitahu great war-canoes to "attack the 

 black people who used bows and arrows." No living 

 Marquesan had ever seen them nor could they have at- 

 tained Fiji in any strength, yet the historical hate per- 

 sisted. 



The Marquesans of the north said their race came 

 from Hawaii, and those of the south from Vavao. 

 Seventeen places they had stopped at in their great mi- 

 gration eastward, they said. 



Pu te metani me Vevau 

 A anu te tai o Hawa-ii ! 

 Pu atu te metani me Hawa-ii 

 A anu te ao e Vevau ! 

 Blow winds from Vavao 

 And cool the sea of Hawaii! 

 Blow back, winds from Hawaii, 

 And cool the air of Vavao ! 



That was the Marquesan legendary chant, the primal 

 command of their God after creation. Vevau and 

 Hawaii were placed in their former abode toward India 

 (Hawaii being undoubtedly Java; and Vevau being 

 Vavao, in Malagasy) ; but they had brought the names 

 with them, and when they reached the present Ameri- 



