THE TWO RACES WHICH PEOPLED POLYNESIA. 
53 
Amongst the Maori it was thought the body was held posses- 
sion of by a legion of demons, and noise also was a remedy 
with them. 
14. Meru, and Kopung Meru, are gods of the Khond 
tribes ; Meru is both the name of a Maori god and of a 
region in hades. In the Sandwich Islands, Milu or Meru is 
the king of hades ; it also figures in Egyptian mythology. 
15. Every village or cluster of hamlets has its grove 
sacred to the god of war ; it was precisely the same with the 
Maori. 
These are remarkable coincidences between races situated 
so wide apart, and indicate an ancient connection between 
them ; there are others also which might be mentioned — 
such as human sacrifice, infanticide, &c. 
The Khonds of Orissa have a complete religious system, 
acknowledging a self-existent Being, the source of good, the 
creator of all things and persons, who is termed the God of 
light or the sun god. Boora Pennu, or Bella Pennu, his 
first creation and consort, was the earth goddess ; Tari 
Pennu the source of evil, who, having been jealous of Boora 
Pennu^s intention to create man for happiness, and for the 
creators service, endeavoured to frustrate this creation, and 
failing to do so, spoiled it by the introduction of both phy- 
sical and moral evil.* 
Boora, as pronounced by a Maori, would be Pu-ra, perfect 
lights i. e. } the sun, and Pennu altogether. In Maori mytho- 
logy, Bangi the heaven was the husband of Papa, the earth, 
and their offspring were the first-born of the world. 
India must be viewed as one of the grand paths traversed 
by the earliest migrations on their way to the Pacific, and 
they have left their footprints wherever they have gone. 
Nor must several resemblances to the Hebrews be allowed 
to pass unnoticed; mention is only made of the striking 
personal likeness which the Polynesian bears to the Jew, 
but there are others which are more worthy of notice. 
1 . The Hebrews had no names for days, only distinguishing 
them as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. Their days 
* Ludlow’s British India , vol. i. p. 26. 
