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Samoan Story of Creation – A ‘Tala.’
The Polynesian Society is indebted to Dr. John Fraser of Sydney for permission to reproduce in this Journal his paper originally pnblished in the "Transactions of the Royal Society, N.S.W.," 1891, on the "Samoan story of Creation." With equal kindness be lent us the Rev. Mr. Powell's original MS. text in the Samoan language, which is reproduced here after correction by the Rev. S. Ella of Sydney and himself. The Samoan text was not published by the Royal Society, but we have been induced to produce it here, for the same reason that other papers have been printed in the native languages in this Journal, i.e. , in order that it may be read by the natives themselves. We thereby hope to induce members of the native races to contribute original matter bearing on their traditions, &c.
It appears to us that this "Story of Creation" is of a high order, and may be classed with the best of the creation myths of other branches of the Polynesian race.
The Rev. T. Powell in securing this valuable tradition, the Rev. G. Pratt in translating it, and Dr. J. Fraser in editing and annotating it, have conferred a lasting benefit on the Samoans in particular and the Polynesians in general, which the descendants of the present people will as time goes on, appreciate more and more when education and refinement increase amongst them.
The exalted supremacy ascribed to Tangaloa in this myth, is characteristic of the Western Polynesians, (and some others—no doubt derivative) but we venture to suggest that further researches will prove that other branches of the race ascribed the same high position to Tane, and that probably the latter are a distinct migration into the Pacific.—EDITORS.
TRANSLATION.
The god Tangaloa dwelt in the Expanse; he made all things; he alone was [there]; not any sky, not any country; he only went to and fro in the Expanse; there was also no sea, and no earth; but, at the place where he stood there grew up a rock. Tangaloa-fa‘a-tutupu-nu‘u was his name; all things were about to be made, by him, for all things were not yet made; the sky was not made nor any thing else; but there grew up a Rock on which he stood. [see note 1]
Then Tangaloa said to the Rock, 'Be thou split up.' Then was brought forth Papa-taoto; after that, Papa-sosolo; then Papa-lau-a‘au; then Papa-‘ano-‘ano; then Papa-‘ele; then Papa-tu; then Papa-‘amu-‘amu and his children. [see note 2]
But Tangaloa stood facing the west, and spoke to the Rock. Then Tangaloa struck the Rock with his right hand, and it split open towards the right side. Then the Earth was brought forth (that is the parent of all the people in the world), and the Sea was brought forth. Then the Sea covered the Papa-sosolo; and Papa-nofo [that is, Papa-taoto] said to Papa-sosolo, 'Blessed are you in [the possession of] your sea.' Then said Papa-sosolo 'Don't bless me; the sea will soon reach you too.' All the rocks in like manner called him blessed. [note 3]
Then Tangaloa turned to the right side, and the Fresh-water sprang up. Then Tangaloa spake again to the Rock, and the Sky was produced. He spake again to the Rock and Tui-te‘e-langi was brought forth; then came forth Ilu, 'Immensity,' and Mamao, 'Space,' came (that was a woman); then came Niuao. [note 4]
Tangaloa spake again to the Rock; then Lua‘o, a boy, came forth. Tangaloa spake again to the Rock, and Lua- vai, a girl, came forth. Tangaloa appointed these two to the Sā-tua-langi. [note 5]
Then Tangaloa spoke again, and Aoa-lālā, a boy was born, and [next] Ngao-ngao-le-tai, a girl; then came Man; then came the Spirit; then the Heart; then the Will; then Thought. [note 6]
That is the end of Tangaloa's creations which were produced from the Rock; they were only floating about on the sea*; there was was no fixedness there. [note 7]
Then Tangaloa made an ordinance to the rock and said:— [note 8]
(1) Let the Spirit and the Heart and Will and Thought go on and join together inside the Man; and they joined together there and man became intelligent. And this was joined to the earth ('ele-ele'), and it was called Fatu- ma-le-‘Ele-‘ele, as a couple,† Fatu the man, and ‘Ele-‘ele, the woman.
(2) Then he said to Immensity and Space, 'Come now; you two be united up above in the sky with your boy Niuao, then they went up; there was only a void, nothing for the sight to rest upon.
(3) Then he said to Lua-‘o and Lua-vai, 'Come now, you two, that the region of fresh-water may be peopled.'
(4) But he ordains Aoa-lālā and Ngao-ngao-le-tai to the sea, that they two may people the sea.
(5) And he ordains Le-Fatu and Le-‘Ele-‘ele, that they people this side; he points them to the left-hand side, opposite to Tua-langi.
(6) Then Tangaloa said to Tui-te‘e-langi, 'Come here now; that you may prop up the sky.' Then it was propped up; it reached up on high. But it fell down because he was not able for it. Then Tui-te‘e-langi went to Masoa and Teve; he brought them and used them as props; then he was able. (The masoa and the teve were the first plants that grew, and other plants came afterwards). Then the sky remained up above, but there was nothing for the sight to rest upon. There was only the far-receding sky, reaching to Immensity and Space.
THE PRODUCTION OF THE NINE HEAVENS.
Then Immensity and Space brought forth offspring; they brought forth Po and Ao, 'Night and Day,' and this couple was ordained by Tangaloa to produce the 'Eye of Sky,' [the Sun]. Again Immensity and Space brought forth Le-Langi; that is the Second Heavens; for Tui-te‘e-langi went forth to prop it up and the sky became double; and Immensity and Space remained there, and they peopled the sky. Then again Langi brought forth, and Tui-te‘e-langi went forth and propped it up; that was the Third Heavens; that was peopled by Immensity and Space. Then Langi bore again; that was the Fourth Heavens. Tui-te‘e-langi went forth to prop it up; that heaven also was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Then Langi bore again; that was the Fifth Heavens. Then went forth Tui-te‘e-langi to prop it up; that heaven also was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Langi brought forth again; that was the Sixth Heavens. And Tui-te‘e-langi went and propped it up; that heaven was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Then Langi bore again; that was the Seventh Heavens. And Tui-te‘e-langi went forth and propped it up; that heaven was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Then Langi again brought forth; that was called the Eighth Heavens. Tui-te‘e-langi went to prop up that heaven; and that heaven was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Then again Langi brought forth; that was the Ninth Heavens; and it was propped up by Tui-te‘e-langi; and that heaven was peopled by Ilu and Mamao. Then ended the productiveness of Ilu and Mamao; it reached to the Ninth Heavens. [note 9]
THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER GODS.
Then Tangaloa sat [still]; he is well known as Tangaloa-fa‘a-tutupu-nu‘u; then he created Tangaloa-lē-fuli, and Tangaloa-asiasi-nu‘u, and Tangaloa-tolo-nu‘u, and Tangaloa-sāváli, and Tuli also, and Longonoa. [note 10]
Then said Tangaloa, the creator, to Tangaloa-lē-fuli, 'Come here; be thou chief in the heavens.' Then Tangaloa, 'the immoveable,' was chief in the heavens.
Then Tangaloa, the creator, said to Tangaloa-sāváli, 'the messenger,' 'Come here; be thou ambassador in all the heavens, beginning from the Eighth Heavens down to the First Heavens, to tell them all to gather together in the Ninth Heavens, where Tangaloa, the immoveable, is chief. Then proclamation was made that they should go up to the Ninth Heavens, and then visit below the children of Night and Day in the First Heavens. [note 11]
Then Tangaloa, the messenger, went back to the heavens, and said—'We have (now) got countries, the Eastern group and the Fiji group, and the Tongan group, and Savai‘i.' Then, as all these lands were grown up, Tangaloa, the creator, went down in a black cloud to look at the countries, and he delighted in them; and he said, 'It is good;' then he stood on the top of the mountains to tread them down, that the land might be prepared for people to dwell in. Then he returned [on high]. And Tangaloa, the creator, said [to Tangaloa, the messenger],—'Come now; go back by the road you came; take people to possess the Eastern groups; take Atu and Sasa‘e; that is a pair; they were called conjointly Atu-Sasae; these two people came from the heavens from among the children of Tangaloa. [note 20]
Then Tangaloa, the messenger, went again to the Fiji group; he also again took two persons, a pair—their names were Atu and Fiji—from among all the children of Tangaloa; so that group of islands was called Atu- Fiji.
Then he turned his face towards Tonga; he took [with him] a couple; their names were Atu and Tonga; these two peopled that group of islands; their names were the Atu-Tonga; these two were the people of Tangaloa.
Then Tangaloa, the messenger, came back to this Manu‘a, to Le-Fatu and Le-‘Ele-‘ele and their children; because the command of Tangaloa, the creator, [had gone forth] from the heavens, that Le-Fatu and Le-‘Ele- ‘ele should go there to people this side of the world. Then went out Valu‘a and Ti‘ăpă to people Savai‘i; these two are the children of Le-Fatu and Le-‘Ele-‘ele; these two people are from this Manu‘a; Savai‘i and this Manu‘a are one; these two were the parents of I‘i and Sava; I‘i was the girl, and Sava was the boy; that island was peopled by them, and was named Savai‘i. [note 21]
And Tangaloa, the messenger, went again to this Manu‘a; then he stood and faced the sky, as if he were making a prayer; then p. 180 Tangaloa, the creator looked down, and the land of Upólu sprang up. Then Tangaloa, the messenger, stood and again faced the heavens towards Tangaloa, the creator; and Tangaloa, the creator, looked down from the heavens, and the land of Tutuila sprang up. [note 22]
Then Tangaloa, the messenger, turned to the heavens, and said, 'Two lands are now gotten for me to rest in. And Tangaloa, the creator, said, 'Come now, go you with the Peopling-vine; take it and place it outside in the sun; leave it there to bring forth; when you see it has brought forth, tell me.' Then he took it and placed it in Salēa-au-mua, a council-ground, which is now called the Malae-of-the-sun. Then Tangaloa, the messenger, was walking to and fro; and he visited the place where the Fue was; he went there and it had brought forth. Then he went back again to tell Tangaloa, the creator, that the Fue had brought forth. Then Tangaloa, the creator, first went down; he went to it; he looked, and it had brought forth something like worms; wonderful was the multitude of worms; then Tangaloa, the creator, shred them into stripes, and fashioned them into members, so that the head, and the face, and the hands, and the legs were distinguishable; the body was now complete, like a man's body; he gave them heart and spirit; four persons grew up; so this land was peopled; there grew up Tele and Upólu, which are the children of the Fue; Tutu and Ila, that is a pair; these are the children of Fue; four persons, Tele and Upólu, Tutu and Ila. Tele and Upólu were placed to people the land of Upolu-tele; but Tutu and Ila, they two were to people the land now called Tutuila. [note 23]
Fue, the son of Tangaloa, that came down from heaven, had two names, Fue-tangata and Fue-sa; he peopled the two flat lands.
Then Tangaloa gave his parting command thus; 'Always show respect to Manu‘a; if any one do not, he will be overtaken by calamity; but let each one do as he likes with his own lands.' [note 24]
[Here] the story of the creation of Sāmoa finishes with this parting command, which was given at Malae-lā. [note 25]
NOTES TO THE STORY OF CREATION
- The god Tangaloa. He is the great god of the Polynesians; cf. the notes on 'Solo o le Va.'
The Expanse ; 'va-nimo-nimo' is the word used here. Va means space between any two things; it may be as small a space as that between two laths on a partition wall or the planking of a ship's deck; but it may include as much as the east is distant from the west; nimo-nimo means 'far, far distant.' I therefore take va-nimo-nimo to mean 'vastly extended space'—so vast that the mind cannot compass it. In Samoan, nimo-nimo is said of anything that has quite passed from the memory; and a lark soaring aloft, and thus going out of sight, would be said to be nimo-nimo. The word mamao , which occurs further on, also means 'space,' but it seems to differ from va-nimo-nimo in that it is used of a measurable distance between objects; it may be translated 'extension.' The difference may thus be translated, 'extension.' The difference may thus be that va-nimo-nimo is 'unlimited extension,' whereas mamao is 'limited extension.' In Genesis I., 6, the 'firmament' is the Hebrew rakíā , that which is 'spread out,' and seems to correspond with the 'expanse' here. In Genesis I., 2, "the Spirit of God moved ('brooded') on the face of the waters;" here it is said that Tangaloa fe-alu-alu-mai , 'goes backwards and forwards;' alu means to 'go;' the prefix fe has a reciprocal force; alu-alu is a reduplication of intensity; the - mai is a formative termination. In the 'Solo o le Va,' Tuli, which is the ata or spirit-emblem of Tangaloa-savali, is tired of moving to and fro, and desires a place to rest on; forthwith up sprang Manua's Rock. So also in this myth; where Tangaloa halted from his wandering to and fro, on that spot a Rock sprang up. In line 32 of that same Solo, the footstool of Tangaloa is called taa-tuga , 'that on which he stands;' with this compare "Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool,... what is the place of my rest?" Here comes in the ancient idea that the heavens were a solid vault; cf. Gr. 'stereoun,' 'stereoma;' Lat. 'firmamentum.'
He made all things , 'na faia mea uma;' with this compare, "And without him was not anything made that was made."
No earth ; the word here is lau-‘ele‘ele , which means 'land spread out;' ‘ele‘ele elsewhere is merely 'earth, soil, dirt,' the lau here prefixed denotes 'breadth;' cf. the 'broad-bosomed earth' of Hesiod. With the meaning of lau- ‘ele‘ele compare Isaiah xlii., 5, "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created ( cf. Heb. bârâ ) the heavens, and stretched them out ( cf. Samoan va-nimo-nimo and Heb. rakía ); he that spread forth the earth ( cf. lau-‘ele‘ele ) and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it ( cf. 'Solo o le Va'), and spirit ( cf. anga-anga ) to them that walk therein." The Hebrew verb there, ' rākâ ,' properly signifies to spread out by 'trampling' on with the feet, or 'beating' into thin plates. In Samoan, lau has a similar reference; for, of its compounds, lau-lelei means 'even, level,' lau-papa is a 'board, a plank,' lau-tele is 'wide,' and lāu itself, as a prefix to verbs, denotes 'uniformity' and 'universality' as if 'spread out.'
T.-fa‘a-tutupu-nu‘u ; here fa‘a (dialects ba-ka , fa-ka , wha-ka ) is a causative prefix to verbs, very abundantly used in Polynesian; tupu , as a verb, means 'to grow,' 'to spring up;' tutupu is its plural form; nu‘u , means 'a country,' 'a district.' The whole name thus means 'Tangaloa, the creator of lands.'
A rock grew up ; 'tupu ai le papa'
- Be thou split open ; 'māvae ia,' said of parturition; māvae , 'to open as a crack;' hence māvava , 'to yawn.'
Brought forth ; the word is fanau , which is also applied to the extrusion of gum from trees. The next acts of creation are in the text expressed in each case, by toe fanau , 'again it brought forth,' but, for brevity, our translation says only 'after that;' 'then.' With fanau compare: "Before the mountains were brought forth." ( Heb. yullād)—Psalm xc., 2.
Ilu , &c.; these three, Ilu, Mamao, and Niuao do not come into existence till after the sky is propped up: hence mamao , as I think, must mean 'limited extension' or 'space' from horizon to horizon, from sunrise to sunset; niuao is formed from niu , 'a cocoa-nut tree;' the Samoans say of a very tall man that he 'a walking cocoa-nut tree;' of smoke they say fa‘a-niu tu , 'it stands like a cocoa-nut tree;' and in the Samoan Bible the missionaries have applied the expression to the 'pillar of fire' in the wilderness; and so, I think, that niuao must mean 'height.' The Samoan word ilu means 'innumerable,' 100,000, or any vast number; in its place in the text it cannot well refer to the stars in the sky; we may translate it 'immensity,' and apply it to distance from north to south. Ilu , Mamao , and Niuao would thus be the three dimensions formed by the bounding sky—viz., Length, Breadth, and Height, each of them, however, limited by the sky. Cf. the note on the Expanse.
- Lua‘o and Luavai ; lua-vai means 'two fresh-waters;' lua‘o should, I think, be luao , for luā-ao , 'two clouds.'
Sā-tua-lagi ; the 'race' at the 'back' of the 'sky;' the north.
- Ngao-ngao-le-tai. 'the desolate sea.'
' Came ;' ' came forth ;' the text has still the same toe fanau , 'again was brought forth.'
Man ; 'tangata,' the human race. Last to be created was man, and the elements which are joined together to make up his composite being. These are— anga-nga , 'the spirit,' probably from the same root as nga‘e , 'to breathe hard;' hence the 'breath,' the 'spirit,' in the same sense as the Heb. ruāch , Gr. psuche , Lat. spiritus , animus , Sans. âtman ; in Samoan anga-nga also means 'a disembodied spirit'— loto , the 'heart or affections,' not the physical heart— finagalo 'the will,' also the 'liver;' finagalo is a word used only to chiefs; finagaloa means, 'to be angry,' 'choleric.' The next name, masalo , properly means 'doubt,' but this appears to be a secondary meaning, for 'doubt' arises from that power which enables the mind to cast things to and fro in reflection, and hence to deliberate; masalo is therefore here taken to be 'thought,' 'the power of thought.' These four Tangaloa causes to go within man's physical frame, and combine there; and thus man becomes 'intelligent, wise,' See also Ovid, Meta i., 1.
In Is. xlii., 5—the verse already quoted—the breath and the spirit ( neshâmâh and ruāch ) are distinguished; the one is the animal spirit or life; the other is the spirit which gives consciousness. Similarly, the Melanesians and Polynesians believe that man has two spirits—the one may leave him for a time when he is dreaming or in a faint; the other finally leaves his body at death.
- No fixture ; ua leai se mea a mau ai, 'there was no thing to be fast to;' ope-opea, 'they floated about.' Cf. "The earth was without form and void;" cf. also Ovid, Meta, i., 1.
- An ordinance ; 'tofiga.' This word comes from the verb tofi , 'to divide an inheritance,' 'to apportion a father's property among children.' Tangaloa's tofiga is thus the exercise of his sovereign pleasure in allotting to his children their several stations and spheres of action, as indicated in the five paragraphs which follow.
Intelligent , 'atamai.' As a verb this word means 'to understand;' as an adjective, 'clever, intelligent, sensible;' as a noun, 'the mind.' The Samoan ata denotes the incorporeal shadow or spirit, as opposed to the substance of a thing; and atamai may be a derivative from it; so also the French esprit and spirituel are related. The Sanskrit âtman also means 'the breath, the soul, the undertanding,' p. 185 and its derivative âtmavant means 'sensible,' 'self- controlled;' âtman is supposed to be derived from a root ava , vâ ; with which compare the Heb. hâvâ 'to breathe.'
Fatu-ma-le-‘ele‘ele ; 'seed-stone and earth.' Fatu is a word which, in various forms, is found in all Malaysia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, in the sense of 'hard,' 'anything hard,' 'the hard kernel or seed-stone of fruit.' For the meaning of le-‘ele‘ele , see above; but Le-‘Ele‘ele is here regarded as a woman, who, by the ordinance ( tofiga ) of Tangaloa is united ( fa‘a-tasi , 'joined,' lit. 'made-one') to Fatu, the completed man. Fatu is the seed-giving
principle, and Le ‘Ele‘ele is the receptacle of the seed. With this compare the tales in classic authors about De- métér ('Mother-earth') and Zeus.
A void ; 'va-nimo-nimo;' see note above. To rest upon ; lit. 'to reach to.' All this corresponds with the Heb. 'tohu' (chaos) of creation—a waste in which nothing was defined.
Region ; itu, 'a side,' 'a district;' itu i matū, 'the north;' cf. Heb. 'the sides of the north,' yârekâthaim tzâphôn (Isaiah xiv., 13) where tzâphôn is the region of 'darkness' ( cf. Homer, pros zophon , Odys. ix., 25) 'the north quarter,' and yârekâthaim is a dual form to mean 'both sides,' hence 'the buttocks,' 'the back,' 'the remotest parts of a country.' This agrees with the idea conveyed by tua-lagi 'the back of the sky,' to which Lua‘o and Luavai were appointed, to be regents there. Fresh-water is 'vai.' In the 'Solo o le Va,' line 21, the creation of vai and tai is mentioned. The Polynesians believed that there were reservoirs of fresh-water up in the sky. In the Biblical account of the great Flood, it is said that 'the windows of heaven were opened.'
Le Fatu : see note above. Ordains ; 'tofia;' cf. ordinance , 'tofiga.'
Points ; tusi, 'to point out' with the index finger.
Masoa and Teve are both referred to in the 'Solo o le Va,' lines 73, 75. The Masoa ( Tacca pinnatifida ) is the arrow-root tree; growing on a succulent stem, with leaves only at the top, where they spread out like the surface of a round table. The Teve ( Tacca amorphophallus ) is another kind of arrow-root tree, very like the Masoa. From their shape they are well fitted for the purpose to which they are applied in these myths. See also Sir Geo. Grey's "Polynesian Mythology."
There was nothing, &c. ; 'a na leai se mea e taunu‘u i ai le va‘ai.'
Far-receding sky; 'va-nimo-nimo.' See notes above.
- They brought forth ; the text has 'ua fanau Ao, toe fanau Po;' another reading is, 'ua fanau Po ma Ao, ua fa‘a-tagata-ina ai le lagi,' 'they brought forth Night and Day, who caused-to-be-peopled the sky.' The order Po ma Ao , 'Night and Day,' is more consonant with the ideas of the Polynesians who counted by nights. The word fa‘atagataina consists of fa‘a the causative prefix already noticed, and tagata , 'man,' 'mankind,' which in another dialect is kanaka , now commonly applied to the 'labour-men' who are brought from the islands of the South Seas to the northern parts of Australia.
The eye of the sky ; 'le mata o le lagi.' The Malays call the Sun mata-ari , 'the eye of the day.' The Egyptian City, On, ( Heb. ‘Ir-ha-Heres, Gr. Heliopolis) 'the city of the Sun,' got its name from Ain, Oin, 'the eye'—the emblem of the Sun.
The second heavens. Here the Polynesians believe, like other nations of old, that the sky originally lay flat on the earth, and covered it; by the aid of the Masoa and the Teve , Tui-te‘e-lagi props it up, and this gives room for Ilu and Mamao to work; this is the First Heavens; in it are placed the Sun, and Night, and Day. Ilu and Mamao then bear again, and the Sky ('le lagi'), according to myth, is produced; this probably means the region above the clouds, for the Polynesian myth-makers must have noticed the difference between cloud-land and higher sky; this Tui propped up, and it was the Second Heavens.
Remained there — i.e. , in the Third Heavens, which they peopled. The heavens above the Third are, in the myth, produced ( fanau ) by Langi, the 'sky' personified, but they were all peopled by Ilu and Mamao. The notion that the stars in the heavens are gods, and men, and beasts, and trees, &c., is a very old one.
- Tangaloa sat still. In the 'Solo o le Va,' he is represented as a quiet, contemplative god, who delights in tranquillity and peace—the Polynesian Brahmā, the origin and source of all things. In his active manifestations
Tui, &c. , 'King of great Manu‘a and all Sāmoa.' Tui also means 'king,' 'high chief.'
- Follow. The sun and the moon are not here the cause of day and night; they only follow them. The day breaks, then comes the sun; darkness falls, and ere long the moon rises.
Shades ; ata, 'shade,' 'emblem.' The 'ata' or 'spirit' of Tangaloa resides in them, as in the Tuli.
Portion of the heavens ; itu, 'side,' see. The moon and the stars always pass along the sky in the same direction.
- Went to and fro ; 'fe-alu-alu-mai'. To visit the lands ; 'asi-asi i nu‘u.' Here Savali performs the functions Tangaloa asi-asi nu‘u , another manifestation of the supreme god; in visiting these lands he assumed the form of the Tuli; cf. the 'Solo o le Va.'
The Eastern groups ; that is, Tahiti and the adjacent islands.
The space between ; 'vasa,' that is, the ocean-space between two islands.
Walk it ; 'savali,' in allusion to his name.
Turned his face ; fa‘asaga, 'to direct to,' 'to face to.'
The Tongan group ; which is placed as a steppings-stone between the Eastern group and Fiji. That land ; 'lau- ‘ele‘ele'; see note on par. 13.
- This Manu‘a ; the land of the poet's birth.
Move about ; 'fe-alu-mai,'—not the frequentative form this time. The meaning is that Manu‘a was too small an island, and so the land ('lau-‘ele‘ele') of Savai‘i was created. Therefore in poetry, these two islands are regarded as proceeding from the same act of creation.
- Got countries ; nu‘u, 'lands.' Tangaloa, the supreme god, now goes down to examine the lands just created. Cf. "And behold every thing that he had made was very good." Delighted in them , 'fia-fia,' intensive; said , 'fetala‘i,' a chief's word.
Black cloud ; 'ao-uli-uli'; this is not a rain-cloud; in the book of Isaiah (c. iv., 5), the day-cloud, which is a manifestation of Jehovah's presence, a cloud of smoke ( ’anân v’âshân ); cf. also 1 Kings, viii., 10.
Trample upon ;† 'soli-soli,' reduplication. As man is now about to come on the scene, the supreme god prepares the land for him to dwell in and to cultivate.
People to possess ; lit ., 'people to people,' tagata e fa‘a-tagata.
Atu-sasae ; 'atu' means 'group,' and 'sasae' means 'eastern.' Atu, Sasae, Fiji, Tonga, are all personified here and become mythical personages. Here, as elsewhere, Fiji, although Melanesian, is included in the realms of Tangaloa, the Eastern God.
- Valu‘a and Ti‘apa ; these heroes are celebrated in another Solo.
I‘i and Sava ; a myth to account for the name Savai‘i. Mr. Powell's notes add:—"Such is the account given me by Taua-nu‘u of Manu‘a, the legend-keeper p. 188 (Oct. 21, 1870). He also stated that Fatu and ‘Ele‘ele were the first pair who came from heaven; they came down at a place called Malae-a-Vavau, near the east end of the
village of Taū; they gave birth to a boy and a girl named Ti‘apa and Valu‘a who went and peopled Savai‘i; for they became the parents of a girl named I‘i and a boy Sava; hence the name Savai‘i."
This side of the world ; 'lenei itu lalolagi.'
- As if he were making a prayer ; 'peiseai se talo-talo ua fai'; talo-talo is an intensive reduplication of the verb tatalo , 'to pray'; talo-saga is 'a prayer'; talo means 'to make signs to,' 'to beckon'; hence 'to stretch out the hands in prayer.'
Land of Upolu ; Tutuila ; 'land' here is lau-‘ele‘ele, not n‘u.
To rest ; malolo, 'to be quiescent,' 'to rest,' not 'to rest from work'; lands , nu‘u.
- The Peopling Vine ; le Fue-tagata; cf. the 'Solo o le Va,' (note 16). Evidently this vine has some connection with the Sun.
A council ground ; that is, a malae.
Was walking ; eva-eva, not fe-alu-alu-mai; eva means 'to walk by moonlight,' 'to walk or go about leisurely.' His work was done, and so he could now take a stroll for recreation.
Shred them ; 'totosi;' tosi means 'to tear in strips,' though not so as to separate; 'to draw out,' 'to form.'
Four persons ; a myth to account for the names Upolu tele and Tutuila
Fue-sā , 'the sacred climbing-vine.' Here called also Fue-tagata —an additional particular, not mentioned in the 'Solo o le Va.'
Flat lands ; lau-‘ele‘ele. Parting command ; 'mavaega.'
- Show respect to ; 'le sopoia;' lit. 'do not pass over.'
Do as he likes ; pule, 'have authority and full control.'
- As is usual, the poet, at the close of his tale, enforces the claim of Manua, to have glory and honour.
ADDENDUM.
The Mexican story of Creation may be compared with the Polynesian 'tala;' I therefore quote a few points of resemblance from a French translation of the "Codex Ramirez," which was written in Spanish soon after the conquest of Mexico: "The first god and the first goddess were self-created, and dwelt in the Third Heavens; of their four sons, one was born red, another was born black.* Two of these sons, by appointment, proceeded to create first fire, then a half-sun, then a man and a woman, then the days, then a great fish* like a cayman, out of which they made the earth. As yet there was no division of time into years; so the creating gods now made a full sun to shine on the earth. Then great giants were made, who lived only on acorns, and could carry trees in their hands. Soon after it rained* so much that the sky fell down upon the earth. The gods then created four men to help them to raise the sky again, and two of the gods changed themselves into trees* for the same end. The Sun
