Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/590

 242 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in the strict sense, as dealing with persons who have actually received divine worship, and as connected with a lost ritual. It is concerned also with divinities of nature, with spirits of the moon, sun, and mountain. But these appear and act as human personages. How far the story is founded on elements of natural symbolism, how far it is only a fanciful elaboration of tribal life, is difficult to determine ; in this respect the legend presents the difficulties which belong to all mythological systems, even the most primitive. Most striking is the manner in which virtue and faithfulness exalt the human agent, not only into the place of the gods but above them. The way in which earth and heaven are finally left in feminine control savors of the matriarchate ; to women belonged at least an equal share in magical knowledge and consequent authority ; clearly in old Hawaii there could be no question concerning their rights.

From a literary point of view, the story, possessing the compass of a modern novel, is remarkable. It is easy to understand what ob- stacles are thrown in the way of comprehending the excellence of a tale known only by outlines, and where even the force of the signifi- cant names is lost, to leave only long and unintelligible appellations for the understanding of the foreigner. Yet among the barbaric ideas and practices belonging to all ancient (or mediaeval) thought, a spirit of gentleness and culture seems to breathe. To this amiable race the course of modern change brought a people of sterner and more energetic quality, whose iron hand brought them into subjuga- tion, who dispossessed them of their territory, and who forced on them a civilization, manners, customs, and modes of thought for which they were unprepared, and which they may be unable to sur- vive. Their language at least will perish, and the loss of language is the loss of everything. There will be no descendants to regard these histories with the honor which a German concedes to the poems of the poetic Edda, or which modern scholarship, nourished on the literature of Greece, accords to Hellenic myth. Yet surely in ful- ness of imagination and delicacy of conception the Hawaiian legend need not fear comparison.

It can only be hoped that now that the islands are definitely con- nected with the United States, as a matter of national honor, steps may be taken to complete, so far as possible, a record still unhappily so imperfect. Perhaps at least a full and correct text can be obtained of the present narrative.

My hypothesis that the Polynesians are the remnants of a people who were great in the remote day in which they flourished, and from whom other races have sprung, seems to be receiving support from various quarters. I hear that the Governor of New Zealand has

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