278 JOHN FEASER. 



T.-fa'a-tutupu-nu'u ; here fa'a (dialects, ba-ka,fa-ka,wha-ka) is a causa- 

 tive prefix to verbs, very abundantly used in Polynesian; tupu, as a 

 verb, means ' to grow,' ' to spring up '; tutupu is its plural form ; nu'u 

 means 'a country/ 'a district.' The whole name thus means 'Tangaloa, 

 the creator of lands.' 



A rock grew up; 'tupu ai le papa.' 



14. Be thou split open; ' mavae ia,' said of parturition ; mdvae, ' to open 

 as a crack'; hence mdvava, 'to yawn.' 



Brought forth ; the word is fanau, which is also applied to the extrusion 

 of gum from trees. The next acts of creation are in the text expressed 

 in each case, by toe fanau, ' again it brought forth,' but, for brevity, our 

 translation says only ' after that '; ' then.' 'With, fanau compare : — " Before 

 the mountains were brought forth " (Heb. yullad) — Psalm xc, 2. 



Papa, ' rock '; it also means ' plain, level, flat,' and that meaning is in 

 harmony with the ' spread out ' of the note above. To the Polynesian 

 myth-makers, their mountains, being mostly volcanic, do not belong to 

 the earliest stages of creation. The various kinds of ' papa ' are indicated 

 by the epithets attached, viz., ta'oto, 'to lie down'; sosolo, 'to run,' 'to 

 spread like creeping plants'; lau-a'au, 'resembling a flat reef (a'au is a 

 'reef,' and to ' swim'; lau denotes uniformity); 'ano-'ano is 'honey-comb'; 

 'ele is a sort of volcanic mud or shale, so soft that it can be cut with an 

 axe ; tu means 'to stand' (its derivative, tugd, means ' standing in the 

 way,' as a rock in the middle of the road) ; 'amu-'amu is a kind of ' branch- 

 ing coral,' branching like fingers. 



Children ; the word here is pau, not fanau, ' offspring.' 



15. Facing the west ; in the ancient auguries and other ceremonials, the 

 position of the celebrant was important. 



Towards the right. Mr. Powell says here — " in the direction of tualagi, 

 'the back of the sky ' the north," cf. Ovid Meta. I. 2, 45. ' Eight ' and 

 ' left ' are equivalent to ' north ' and ' south ', cf. Ps. lxxxix., 12 ; Is. liv., 3. 

 To the Kelts of Scotland and Ireland, the ' right ' hand is still the ' south' 

 hand (deas for deaks, 'right'; cf. Gh\ dex-ios, Lat. dex-ter, 'right'); 

 because, when the face is turned towards the east, the south is on the 

 right. An old custom among them — said to have come down from the 

 Druids — is called d e a s-i u i 1, 'a turn to the right '; because, in all their 

 solemn processions, the company, in order to secure a blessing, turns to 

 the right, and, keeping the object on the right, marches round it 'three 

 times ' in the same direction as the daily course of the sun. The motion 

 in a contrary way is c a r-t u a 1, and is considered unlucky ; in Lowland 

 Scotch this is called a widder-sins motion. 



World; lalo-lagi, 'under-the-sky.' 



Earth; 'ele'ele; this is a reduplication of 'ele, ' red-earth,' ' rust/ ' dirt/ 

 * blood'; see 'ele'ele. It is interesting to remember here that the Hebrew 

 word ado.mdh (cf. Adam), 'the earth/ ' the tilled ground/ comes from a 



