104 JOHN FKASER. 



queen of hell ; the Sirens, on the other hand were beautiful maidens, 

 "the entanglers"; for, sitting on rocks on the sea shore, they lured 

 sea-faring man to a miserable death by the sweetness of their song. In 

 other classic stories, he who goes down to the infernal regions alive on 

 pious errands, must eat nothing there, else he is numbered among the 

 dead and ne'er returns to the light above; so too in the Polynesian 

 mythology. And thus, as I think, myths prove themselves to have a 

 common origin, and seem to have been borne by the human race from 

 some central birth-land into the farthest regions of the globe — not merely 

 into the plains of India and to the shores of Greece and Rome, but to 

 Scandinavia and Finland and Lapland in the extreme north as well as to 

 the smallest islands of the eastern Pacific ; and thus even myths, simple 

 though they are, tend to prove that the whole world is akin. 



Mr. Powell's Summary. — This Sa'umani is the same person as in the 

 previous tale, but he is here associated with Pava, a man who comes 

 under the displeasure of Tangaloa. Mr. Powell in his MS. notes, states 

 that he received this tale from Palenga, a son-in-law of Taua-nu'u, the 

 legend-keeper of the island of Tau. The references in the ' solo ' are very 

 obscure, as is often the case in Samoan poetry, and Mr. Powell explains 

 the whole story thus : — 



" At a period when the place subsequently called Saua was known only 

 as Anga'e-tele, the god Tangaloa-le-Mana came down from heaven with 

 two attendants, named Telemu and Malifa'i. They went a-fishing for 

 him. There were no hooks, lines, or nets in those days ; the only way of 

 catching fish was by beating the hands together in the water, and so 

 seizing the fish. In this way, they caught a fish, the manini, and brought 

 it to Tangaloa. But he wished to have some Jcava to drink with it, and, 

 as there was then none on earth, he sent them up to heaven to fetch 

 down a root of it. They, however, pulled up the whole plant, brought 

 root, stem, branches and leaves down with them. Tangaloa then scat- 

 tered the superfluous pieces round about, on the spot where he was, and 

 they grew up luxuriantly among the rocks and stones. Then the god 

 desired water to mix the hava with, and immediately rain poured down 

 from all quarters in such quantities as to cause a continual stream — a 

 flood— of water. They had also brought down from heaven a cup (ipu), 

 a bowl (tanoa) , and a strainer (tau-aga). Thus Jcava, the drink of the 

 gods, was first introduced to earth." 



" The subsequent part of the ' solo ' has reference to Tangaloa-a-Ui. 

 After this god, who was the child of a human mother, Ui, had in his 

 youth been tended by Tuli and the other servants of Tangaloa-i-le-langi, 

 he resided till manhood near the spot where he had been adopted, having 

 the heavens for a house and a cocoa-nut tree for shelter. From this cir- 

 cumstance, the place of his early sojourn was called Fale-niu, that is, 



