170 REV. T. POWELL ON THE 



only to one of them. These legends seem to me to commence with the 

 Creation and to end with the captivity in Babylon, and the conviction on my 

 mind is that the people who have thus preserved them are of Israelitish 

 origin — that they have come through Babylon. You may trace in their 

 language very important Chaldaic forms, and find them recurring in prefer- 

 ence over and over again to the Hebraic form. In these things, and in 

 the habits and customs of the people, we discover so vast an amount of 

 likeness to what we find in the Bible, that we seem to have in reality 

 very like a parallel history to that of the Bible, from Genesis to the 

 Babylonian Captivity. Then, the Maories have in their traditions a 

 representation of an individual which would seem to find a counterpart in 

 Jesus Christ. My idea is that the people I have spoken of are of Israelitish 

 origin ; that they were in Babylon, and have been enabled to preserve their 

 history in the form in which we find it. I regard them as a people who 

 have clothed their history in this mystic way, and so handed it carefully 

 down from generation to generation. I asked the man who gave me this 

 tradition, " When did you get it ? " and his reply was, " Oh, we cannot tell 

 that ; it has been handed down from one generation to another, and that is 

 how we have retained it." The house is always guarded when they relate 

 these legends among their families. If God spare my life, and afford me the 

 opportunity — for the work is only a recreation, as I have my missionary 

 labour to attend to— I am in hopes I shall be able to furnish such 

 an amount of evidence as eventually to establish the position I have 

 suggested. Here is a little book full of Hebrew words in Samoan, and 

 they are put down just as I have come across them. There are many of 

 these similarities, and when we find that they are so numerous, and that if 

 we used the Hebrew instead of the Roman character we should see at once 

 that the language is triliteral, I think I have said enough to give some pro- 

 bability to my view until the opportunity is given me of submitting further 

 evidence to philologists and scientists. I simply put the proposition for- 

 ward in this hypothetical way, considering, as I do, that these myths which 

 I have procured are of the greatest value to science, and especially to the 

 objects of this Institute. I am much obliged to the Council for having 

 given me the opportunity of presenting this paper. 



The Chairman. — Is it found that the language varies at all ? Are these 

 myths preserved in an antiquated language ? 



The Author. — Most of them are, and I know many words in them 

 that some of the present generation do not know. 



The Chairman. — But is the language of this myth a very antiquated one, 

 or is it intelligible to the people 1 



The Author. — I think it would be understood by the people. There 

 are a few recondite words, the exact meanings of which are difficult to deter- 

 mine, and which are not known to the present generation. 



The Chairman. — Do they not change their diction from time to time ? 

 Because we find that unwritten languages show a great tendency to change. 



The Author. — But this has not. Some specimens were given to me 



