SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FROM SAMOA. 77 



Notes. — 1. Atea is the god of Day in the Eastern Islands. Other 

 dialect-forms of the name are Yatea and Wakea . In Mangaia (Hervey 

 Islands), Tangaloa is the son of Atea. In Samoa, the common noun ao- 

 atea means ' noonday'; in Tahiti, atea means 'clear/ To me, therefore, 

 Vatea is the ' clear daylight/ from the ancient root-word bha, 'to shine'; 

 he thus corresponds with Dyaus, Zeus, Jupiter, in the Aryan mythology. 



2. Buna'auia is a place in Tahiti, about thirteen miles S.W. from Pape- 

 ete Harbour. At Opoa, a place in Eaiatea — another island in the Society 

 group — there is a very sacred and famous ' marae/ 



3. Temple, sacred place. This is usually a high platform of stones where 

 the bodies of those offered to the gods were placed; in fact, it is any 

 * malu-malu/ where a god is worshipped. In Tahiti, the whole was sur- 

 rounded with a palisade. A grove of trees threw a weird shade over the 

 place. 



4. Tangaloa ; thus in Samoan ; but in Rarotongan and other dialects 

 Tangaroa. 



5. Group of islands. We speak of the ' mountains ' in the Moon ; the 

 Tahitians call them the atu, ' group of islands/ 



6. Three nights. Three and three times three are perfect numbers ; cf. 

 the myth of " Tingilau and Sina," note 10. 



VIII. — Ma-fui*e 1 and his sister Ulu-le-papa. 



The Samoan Vulcan; how Fire was brought from the Underworld; 

 Introduction of the Art of Cooking. 



Introduction. — This story has many points of interest for us. Mafui'e 

 is the god of earthquakes in Samoa ; his abode is down below one of the 

 volcanic islands there ; the fire and smoke come from a huge tree which 

 is always burning ; he has ' taro/ yams and other good things to cultivate 

 and feed on ; but he prefers to shake the earth when others are making 

 an oven of food ; for then the earth cracks, and the food rolls down to 

 him. His classical compeer, Hephaistos or Vulcan, also has fiery work- 

 shops down below some islands, and the tops of the mountains, acting as 

 chimneys or vents, show how busy he is, forging thunderbolts for Jupiter, 

 or making a wondrous shield for Hercules. As to earthquakes in classic 

 lands, the giants who made war on heaven are responsible for them ; to 

 keep one of the biggest of these quiet, the island of Sicily was placed on 

 his prostrate body, his feet to the west, and his extended arm stretching 

 to the two other extremities of the island ; the earthquakes are his strug- 

 gles to free himself from the load that lies so heavy upon him. But this 

 Polynesian myth knows nothing of the working of metals, or of the wars 



