152 EEV. T. POWELL ON THE 



to any sphere. Theii' names are Manuka and Samoa,* and 

 the Sun and the Moon/^f 



The Messenger informed them that these four must ascend 

 to the ninth heaven to attend a council of Tagaloa the 

 Unchangeable, who was now their king, and to receive their 

 appointments, and that they themselves must accompany them. 



The council was held in the ninth heaven, and its seat is 

 called the Forum of Tranquillity. 



At the council, the progeny of Immensity and Space, who 

 occupied the eighth heaven, were appointed architects. There 

 were some ten thousand of them, and they were all named 

 Tagaloa. They then erected a palace, for Tagaloa the 

 Unchangeable, which was named '^ Le-Fale-'Ula'^ [the 

 Crimson Palace or Palace of Joy] . 



Then said Tagaloa the Creator to Night and Day, '' Let 

 those two youths, Manu'a and Samoa, descend and be the 

 rulers of the progeny of Fatu-ma-le-Eleele, and their names 

 shall be appended to the royal title of Tagaloa the Unchange- 

 ble, who is king of the ninth heaven. He was, therefore, 

 entitled King of Manua-tele and all Samoa. J 



* These names, Samoa and Manua, it is stated, were given on account of 

 difficulties attending the birth of these two, offspring of Day and Night. 

 The one was arrested in its birth just below the thorax at the part called 

 the moa ; hence he was named Satia-i-le nioa ; i.e. arrested or torn at the 

 moa ; contracted into Samoa, and still f;\rther contracted into Moa, which 

 is the ancient hereditary name of the king of Manua. Hence has arisen the 

 statement which has been already published in the Chronicle of the London 

 Missionary Socidy, April, 1868, p. 66, that since Sa is a particle which, 

 prefixed to a proper name, means " The Family of," therefore Samoa 

 means " The Family of Moa." This is, doubtless, the true meaning of the 

 name, indicating that the first party of the progenitors of this people, who 

 arrived at these islands, was headed by a chief named Moa. It is stated at 

 Manua, that the name Samoa belongs also to surrounding groups, since all 

 are the family of Moa. This is probably true to a, certain extent. 



There are other accounts on Upolu of the origin of the name which are 

 much more mythic, and which need not be given here. They may have 

 been concocted on Upolu. ^ 



When the other child of Day and Night was born, one of its sides was 

 found much abraded, which, Avhen observed by the parents, led them to 

 exclaim, "How much this child is wounded !" and they called it Manu'a- 

 TELE, i.e. Great-wound. 



Of course, much confusion attaches to the origin and meaning of these 

 names ; and, although there are other myths about them, yet the legend- 

 keeper at Manua assured me that the above are the correct ones as handed 

 down from his ancestors. 



+ La = Ra, Sun ; Masina and Malama, Moon. Scholars will here 

 recognise at once a Semitic origin. 



+ Both the palace and the title were eventually brought down to earth 



^ See these accounts in Dr. Turner's Samoa a Hundred Years Ac/o, 

 &c., pp. 10-15. 



