SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FKOM SAMOA. 285 



Was walking ; eva-e va, not f e-alu-alu-mai ; eva means ' to walk by moon- 

 light/ ' to walk or go about leisurely/ His work was done, and so he 

 could now take a stroll, for recreation. 



Shred them; 'totosi'; tosi means ' to tear in strips/ though not so as 

 to separate ; ' to draw out'; ' to form/ 



Four persons ; a myth to account for the names Upolu tele and Tutuila. 



Fue-sd, ' the sacred climbing- vine/ Here called also Fue-tagata — an 

 additional particular, not mentioned in the ' Solo o le Va/ 



Flat lands ; lau-'ele'ele. Parting command ; ' mavaega/ 



42. Show respect to ; 'le sopoia'; lit., ' do not pass over/ 

 Do as he likes ; pule, ' have authority and full control/ 



43. As is usual, the poet, at the close of his tale, enforces the claim of 

 M anu'a to have glory and honour. 



Addendum. 

 The Mexican story of Creation may be compared with this Polynesian 

 1 tala ' ; I therefore quote a few points of resemblance from a French trans- 

 lation of the " Codex Ramirez," which was written in Spanish soon after the 

 conquest of Mexico : — " The first god and the first goddess were self-created 

 and dwelt in the Third Heavens ; of their four sons, one was born red, 

 another was born black.* Two of these sons, by appointment, proceeded to 

 create first fire, then a half-sun, then a man and a woman, then the days, 

 then a great fish* like a cayman, out of which they made the earth. As yet 

 there was no division of time into years ; so the creating gods now made a 

 full sun to shine on the earth. Then great giants were made who lived only 

 on acorns and could carry trees in their hands. Soon after, it rained *so 

 much that the sky fell down upon the earth. The gods then created four 

 men to help them to raise the sky again, and two of the gods changed them- 

 selves into trees* for the same end. The sun now resumed his place in the 

 sky, and, in order that he might have hearts to feed on* and blood to drink, 

 men were compelled to engage in perpetual war. One year after this, one of 

 the four gods took a rod and with it struck a rock from which sprang the 

 ' mountaineers,' who occupied the country before the Mexicans came there." 



In the introduction to this * tala/ I have offered a new derivation of 

 the name Tangaloa. I wish now to add that that derivation has some 

 support from what we know as to the Vedic god Varuna— the same word 

 as the Greek ouranos, ' heaven/ The name Varuna is derived from the 

 Sanskrit verb vri, 'to cover/ 'to surround'; and, in its compounds, 'to 

 enclose/ ' to overspread '; a participial noun from it means ' a wrapper/ 

 ' a cloak '; with these compare the Polynesian words already cited. In 

 the Veda, Varuna is one of the most ancient of deities ; he is sprung from 

 ' Space/ and is the god of the heavens ; in some of the later hymns, he 



* Parallels to these are found in others of our Samoan myths 



