Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 9 (Oceanic).djvu/17



N the following pages we shall seek to present an outline of the mythology of the Oceanic peoples. Although certain aspects of the mythic system of this area, as well as the myths of separate portions of it, have been treated by others, the present writer does not know of any recent endeavour to gather all available materials from the whole region, or to discuss the relationship of the mythologies of the various portions of Oceania to one another, and to the adjacent lands. The attempt has been made to go over all the myths of worth which have been published; but it is not impossible that valuable and important material has been overlooked. Some omissions, however, have been due to circumstances beyond control. A number of volumes containing material, probably of considerable value, were not to be found in the libraries of the United States, and disturbances consequent upon the European War have made it impossible to secure them; while other gaps are due to the author's insufficient knowledge of Malay languages, which prevented the use of some collections of tales, published without translations.

The selection of the legends to be presented has offered considerable difficulty, this being especially marked in the class of what may be denominated, for convenience, miscellaneous tales. No two persons would probably make the same choice, but it is believed that those which are here given serve as a fair sample of the various types and include those which are of widest interest and distribution. In the majority of cases the tales have been retold in our own words. For strictly scientific purposes exact reproductions of the originals would, of course, be required; but the general purpose of this series,