196 JOHN FRASER. 



the island of Tutuila, but had also under his charge the island Tail, the 

 largest of a cluster of three islands — Manu'a — which forms an eastern 

 portion of the Samoan group. Tau is visible from the top of a mountain 

 in Tutuila, and is about 70 miles distant. All Samoan traditions centre 

 around Manu'a as the first resting place of the race, and there alone 

 dwelt the sacri vates, whose duty it was to preserve in their memories 

 and to recite the old legends and myths. Mr. Powell was thus on classic 

 ground ; and, having gained the confidence of the bards, he wrote down 

 from their lips many of the ' traditions which they had received from 

 their ancestors,' and he assures us that, if the whole had been written 

 down and printed, the book thus made ' Avould be larger than the Bible/ 

 One of these, a long one — 'A Samoan tradition of the Creation' — was com- 

 municated by him to the Victoria Institute of Great Britain, and is pub- 

 lished in the Journal of the Institute, Vol. xx. On Mr. Powell's death, 

 his widow sent his Samoan MSS. to Mr. Pratt of Sydney, as the only 

 man who understood the old Samoan language thoroughly and could trans- 

 late the manuscripts. Mr. Pratt had been Mr. Powell's fellow-labourer 

 in the Samoan islands, having gone to Samoa in 1839 and remained 

 there for forty years. 



In conjunction with Mr. Pratt, I am now endeavouring to preserve 

 these old traditions and songs. As they were collected many years ago, 

 before Europeans had become numerous on the islands, they seem to me 

 to be very valuable as illustrating the thoughts and the manner of life 

 of the Samoans long ago. And here, before reading the four, which I 

 have selected for your consideration to-night, I may be permitted to 

 express to this Society my regret that, in these colonies, we have no 

 means of giving permanency to the literary labours of our missionaries 

 and others, except through the Journal of such a Society as this. Our 

 colonies, and especially the port of Sydney, are now gaining thousands 

 of pounds annually from their trade with the islands of the Pacific, and 

 this trade is rapidly increasing. They have to thank the work of the 

 missionaries for all that ; the preaching of the gospel, and the civilization 

 and peace flowing from it, have alone made such a trade possible. If each 

 of our colonial Governments, or our own Legislature singly, would devote 

 to literature a small pittance every year from the direct advantages of 

 this commercial connection, I am sure I could name at once half-a-dozen 

 men able and willing to write as many volumes on the history, the social 

 institutions, the customs, the traditions, the languages, the physical 

 phenomena of the islands, past and present, — volumes which would con- 

 vey to the next generation a faithful record of a state of things there 

 which is now fast passing away ; the men too are passing away who can 

 give such a record of the old times. In fact, I know of two or three MS. 

 volumes in private hands, which could at once be printed, were it not for 

 the cost involved. The testimony and the knowledge of those who have 

 been thirty or forty years on the islands, and in trustful contact with the 



