276 JOHN FKASER. 



4. Le atua Tagaloa; this expression shows that this myth is not modern; 

 for the word atua, 'god/ was almost obsolete when the first missionaries 

 went to Samoa. 



Aether; some commentators on Gen. I., 1-2 assert that the ancient 

 Jews believed the sky to be a solid vault, but that in its original state 

 (verse 1) it was a liquid expanse ; the ' separation ' of the material of 

 heaven and earth took place on the second day of creation (verses 6-8). 



Envelopes ; the Polynesian conception of the Heavens does not seem to 

 include a belief that they encompass the world all round like a circle — 

 not spheres, but crescent-shaped vaults. This also is the Hebrew notion; 

 cf. "He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth ; that stretcheth out the 

 heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in'* 

 (Is. xl., 22). " He walketh in the circuit of heaven " (Job. xxii., 14). 



Fale-ula ; cf. the ' Solo o le Va.' 



5. Papa; not a ' rock' in our sense of the word, but merely 'something 

 flat and solid"; cf. Gen. I., 6-8. In the sense of ' foundation/ papa has 

 numerous correspondences in the Hebrew Scriptures ; cf. Isaiah xxxi., 17, 

 " the earth's foundation quake " — the foundations which support the vis- 

 ible frame of the earth. 



Separate fiats ; this cosmogony is thus theistical, not pantheistical. 



Prince-Prop-up-sTcy ; Tui-te'e-langi ; his place here, among the physical 

 creations of Tangaloa, shows that he is not a god — not a Tangaloa, — but 

 a sort of physical Atlas. 



The shy is lifted up ; cf. the English word ' heaven ' and the Scotch, 'lift/ 



6. Dull, inert mass ; it had the worm-life from the Fue-sa, but that was 

 all. 



7. Southern side ; the limited knowledge which the ancients had of 

 geography led them to regard the north as hyperborean ; and thus the 

 south was to them the habitable part of the globe. 



8. Sun and stars; so also in Genesis I., the sun does not appear till the 

 fourth day. In our myth, there is no mention of the moon till further on. 



9. Ninth Heavens ; ' three times three '; cf. the notes on this point in 

 the ' Solo o le Va/ In the " Records of the Past/' we read of the ' nine 

 gods, the masters of things/ and of a ' holy nine/ As the basis of their 

 numeration, the Polynesians have — one, two, three ; they have no know- 

 ledge of seven as a perfect number. 



Tranquillity and peace ; cf. the notes on this point in the ' Solo o le Va/ 

 For the occupation of man; it seems to me that whatever is essential to 

 the Polynesian idea of creation is contained in this verse — "He that 

 created {bard) the heavens " &c. (Is. xlii., 5) see below, note 13. 



11. Outside in the sun; cf. the reverence given to the scaraboeus, as a 

 product of the Nile mud under the heat of the sun. 



Fashioned, into men ; cf. Heb. bar a,, as above. 



12. Lrdo member' d forms ; see the 'Solo o le Va/ 



