Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 9 (Oceanic).djvu/26

xiv fascinating a field Oceania presents to the student of anthropology. In the following pages we are concerned, however, with one aspect only of the whole complex of human culture, namely, mythology. In order to make clear the differences between the various portions of the area, each of the five subdivisions will be considered by itself alone, and also in its relation to the others, while, in conclusion, an attempt will be made to sum up these results and to point out their wider bearings. Throughout the purpose has been, not only to sketch the more important types of myths, but to draw attention to resemblances and similarities between the myth-incidents of one area and another. In the present state of our knowledge the conclusions which are drawn are, it cannot be too strongly emphasized, only tentative—they must stand or fall according as they are substantiated or disproved by further material, both mythological and other.

A word may be said in regard to the method of treatment and point of view here adopted. In indicating similarities and suggesting possible relationships, individual incidents in myths have been largely taken as the basis. The author is well aware how easily such a method may lead to wild and impossible conclusions; the literature of mythology and folk-lore affords only too many examples of such amazing discoveries; but where caution is observed, and due regard is paid to known or probable historical associations, the evidence to be derived from a study of the distribution of myth-incidents is often reliable and corroborated by collateral information derived from other fields. It should also be pointed out that in the following pages we have endeavoured to present only the myths themselves, and have purposely refrained from all attempts at rationalizing them or explaining this as a lunar, that as a solar, myth. Such attempts are, we believe, almost wholly futile in the present state of our knowledge of Oceanic mythology, culture, and history. A dextrous imagination can evolve either a lunar or a solar explanation for any myth, and one needs to