96 JOHN FKASER. 



SOME FOLK-SONGS and MYTHS from SAMOA. 



Translated by the Rev. G. Pratt. 



With Introductions and Notes by John Fraser, ll.d. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, September 2, 1891.] 



Six Solos about the Kava (plant and drink). 



Introduction. — From this bunch of Solos, and from the narrative which 

 precedes them, it is clear that the Polynesian gods, like those of Olympus, 

 are anthropopathic ; for they have in heaven above the same rules of 

 precedence and the same ceremonious deference to authority which are 

 observed among chiefs and ordinary mortals on earth below ; indeed the 

 gods are called 'chiefs' in these myths, and, when they speak, they them- 

 selves use, and are addressed in, chiefs' language, that is, words which 

 the Polynesians reserve exclusively for their chiefs. Then the gods eat 

 and drink as mortals do ; they have fish up there and taro and yams ; 

 and when they want to drink, have they not the famous kava plant, and 

 a bowl, strainer and cup of their own, and near by is the heavenly ' vai- 

 tina/ with its never-failing supply of fresh water. For a time, these 

 possessions were theirs alone to enjoy, but when the worm-progeny of 

 the Fue-sa had been fashioned into men by the supreme Tangaloa, and 

 when the Sa-Tangaloa, — the kith and kin of this supreme god — had begun 

 to visit the earth below, and the sons of men had learned how to ascend 

 to heaven above, the privileges and possessions of the gods came down to 

 men and were shared by them ; certain fishes were given to them ; taro 

 was surreptitiously conveyed from above ; and in these solos we learn how 

 the Jcava drink became known to mortals. 



It happened in this way. In the Polynesian heaven, there is only one 

 god, Tangaloa, a quiescent being, who loves peace and tranquillity ; but 

 he has many ways of manifesting himself, according to the nature of the 

 work which he purposes to do. Each of these manifestations is a Tangaloa, 

 with an attribute added to the name to show his special function. Others 

 again are his sons by mortal mothers — not sons of the supreme Tangaloa, 

 who rests in the Ninth Heavens, — but begotten by those energizing part- 

 ners of his nature whose duties or inclinations sometimes took them down 

 to earth. All of these gods, whether human or divine, had the right to 



