Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/155

Rh were still alive in the minds of the people. He visited some secluded parts of the western coast, and "took down personally a large body of myths and stories, some very long, others not so long. This collection of materials," he says, "is sufficient to fill a couple of 12mo. volumes, and will give some idea of what yet remains in the Celtic mind of Ireland. It is, however, but a small part of the mental treasure still in possession of the people."

At a recent meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society of New Zealand Mr. E. Tregear read a most interesting paper on the "Origin of Fire in relation to Polynesian Folk-lore." The following is an abstract of it:—

Mr. Tregear said that, in bringing forward the story of Maui's procuring fire for men, he had collated the different New Zealand versions with those to be found in the Polynesian Islands. The legends possessed, far more than any other of the Maori traditions, a verisimilitude and consistency which were astonishing—the names, incidents, &c., having been preserved through the long lapse of time (which must have elapsed since the dispersion of the Polynesian tribes) in a curiously complete manner. The Maori legend of the procuring fire from the old fire-goddess Mahuika had to be prefaced by that portion of the Maui story which related his power to become a bird at will, as this had an important bearing on the sister traditions. Beading the legend in Sir George Grey's work, and noticing briefly the story as told by Wohlers, White, and others, Mr. Tregear then passed on to the Samoan version, in which the fire-deity is a male personage with whom Maui has a personal encounter, but the hero achieves his object. With brief mention of the story as told at Tokelau, and by the natives of Savage Island, the paper then related the Rarotongan tradition, one of much detail and value. The Manikiki legend differs, in that the great Polynesian deity, Tangaroa, takes the place of Mahuika as fire-divinity. The version from Nukuhiva, in the Marquesas Islands, was last dealt with: a story of rugged simplicity, but agreeing generally with the other stories. Mr. Tregear suggested that the scene being laid in Hawaiki appeared to give great age to the legends, and that, as the pathway was always downward