214 JOHN FRASER. 



11. All the legends agree in giving priority to Manuka, and its bards 

 continually assert this priority (c/. line 72). ' Thy mountains ' are the 

 mountains of Manuka. 



His footstool. Warriors sat on a wooden stool, and an armour-bearer 

 carried this about for their use, when required. 



12. ' Thy group in the west ' may be Fiji. 



13. It was the duty of Tangaloa, as the Great ' Artificer ' (line 114), to 

 see that the islands were all at their proper distances from each other, 

 and that everything was in order. 



By a poetical ellipsis, line 41 implies that he is flying towards the west, 

 and describes his experience while doing so. 



14. Two of the islands of the Samoan group. 



15. ' Pinched for room,' i.e., the islands are too small for the dignity of 

 the gods. At all feasts, the gods received the first share of the food and 

 the drink. 



16. The 'vine' here is a native climbing-plant called fue. The Samoan 

 tradition asserts that from this vine came the worms or maggots, which 

 ultimately were turned into men and women. It is described in the text 

 as fue-tagata, lit., the ' mankind-vine,' and one variety is called by the 

 Samoans fue-sa, the ' sacred ' fue. In another legend, the fue is repre- 

 sented as the special gift of Tangaloa ; he causes it to be brought down 

 from heaven and set in a place exposed to the sun ; there ' it brought 

 forth something like worms, a wonderful multitude of worms '; these he 

 fashioned (see line 64, infra) into men and women. 



I think that the fue bears some relation to the sacred Soma plant of 

 India, or its more modern substitutes. Like the Soma, the fue is a creeper 

 and climber, and is a sacred plant; one variety of it in Samoa is a Hoya, 

 and this belongs to the same natural order, the Asclepiads, as the Sarco- 

 stemma, which is generally considered now as the nearest approach to the 

 original Soma. Another variety of the fue is full of a refreshing juice 

 which the natives drink ; so also the Soma juice was used as a drink in 

 the Yedic sacrifices. The Soma had reference to the generative power of 

 the sun ; so also the fue in the Samoan legend here. The word Soma comes 

 from the Sanskrit root su, ' to bear, bring forth, squeeze out juice,' and, 

 from it, suta means 'a son, daughter, children'; so also the Samoan word 

 fue is allied to fua, 'to produce fruit,' /ua, 'fruit, a child/ and sua, 'juice 

 of any kind.' 



17. These are the three portions of the island of Upolu. 



18. Tangaloa comes down to the west on the declining rays of the sun. 



19. Fetalaiga, in the text, means a decisive decree spoken by one having 

 the highest authority ; it is a word which none but chiefs may use. With 

 this compare ' Let there be light, and there was light.' 



20. The ' fashion ' here corresponds with the meaning of the French 

 verb tailler, and equals 'to cut and shape into form and limbs.' 



21. The word here is loto, 'the heart,' 'the inward parts'; this, as in 

 the Homeric age, was taken to be the seat of the affections and desires. 



22. Literally — ' Let your bodies be darkness, let your eyes (face) be 

 light.' Mata, ' the face/ comes from a root which means ' to shine.' 



23. This is Tagaloa-savali, ' T. the walker.' See note 3, supra. 



24. Fiti-tele. This is the largest of the islands in the Fiji group. The 

 Fijians themselves call it Viti Levu (levu = ' great '). 



'To Great Manuka look/ i.e., they cannot overshadow the importance 

 of Manuka. See note 6, supra. 



25. There is such a rock on Tutuila ; boys slide on it. 



26. The Masoa is the arrow-root tree of Tahiti, found there and in all 

 the other islands. As it grows up, its leaves spread out like the surface 



