ORDINARY MEETING,* 
Tue Presipent, Sir Grorce Gasrien Sroxes, Bart., 
D.C.L. P.R.S., M.P., my tHe CHarr. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :— 
Mempers.—The Right Hon. Lord Penzance, P.C., Godalming ; T. Cogs- 
well, Esq., Kent ; Rev. L. W. Hayhurst, A.B., M.A., United States; A. 
Norman Tate, Esq., F.1.C., F.C.8., Liverpool. 
AssociatEes.—Faris Nimr, Esq., Cairo; H. C. Nisbet, Esq., London ; 
Rev. J. C. Walker, Esq., Wymondham ; Rev. W. Andrews, M.A., Camb., 
Japan ; Rev. C. S. Green, Buxton ; Rev. R. R. Kane, LL.D., &c., Belfast ; 
Madame Z. A. Ragozin, United States. 
The following paper, illustrated by diagrams, was then read by the 
author :— 
CORAL ISLANDS AND SAVAGE MYTHS. 
By HB. Gurry, MB. 
PART. YT. 
AM not aware whether much stress has ever been laid 
on the important bearing which the traditions of some 
of the Pacific Islands possess in connexion with the first 
emergence of coral islands above the waves. Since this 
subject is of interest in relation to the origin of coral reefs, 
I will commence my paper by gathering together a few of 
these legends. 
The Rev. Wyatt Gill in his Myths and Songs from the South 
Pacific (pp. 72-74), refers to the legendary origin of the atolls 
of Manahiki (Humphrey I.) and Rakaanga (Reirson I.), two 
coral islands lying to the northward of the Society Group. 
A Rarotongan fisherman, having brought news back 
to his island of a vast block of stone which he had discovered 
at the bottom of the ocean, at a great distance from his home, 
the three brothers Maui sailed away to the northward for a 
distance of between 600 and 700 miles in search of the 
* March 19, 1888. 
