POLYNESIAN LITERATURE. A few decades ago this title would have been deemed an anachronism, or worse, but since the publication of the Sacred Songs of the Hula by Dr. N. B Emerson under the title Unwritten Literature of Hawaii (1909), it has been generally conceded that the Polynesians, like other illiterate races, may have a literature in the truest sense of that term. The old Polynesian priests with their extraordinary mem ories held every word of the old traditions as flawlessly as papyrus or paper could have done; the proof of this lies in the presence, in texts taken down from native lips, of words so archaic that even the hierarchs have forgotten their meanings. It soon came to be realized that this wealth of literature was rapidly dying with the chiefs who were its last repositories, and numerous legends and collections of songs were taken down from the lips of the kahuna or sorcerers.
The literature of the Samoan islands is probably older than that of any other part of Polynesia and is wonderfully akin to the old Maori philosophical chants. The Creation Song in Samoan is not only interesting as folk-lore; it is a marvellously dignified piece of poetic literature. Long genealogies interspersed with legends of philosophic and historic import are now available in Roman script, providing much material for the study of the history and language development of the Pacific islanders. Many migration songs and legends are known and there is still time to collect others. The whole text of the lava ceremonial and similar ritual texts are now in our hands and there is reason to believe that a close study of others in process of being collected will prove of the greatest possible value in the solution of problems of migration and tribal mixing.
Maori literature is of two kinds, philosophic and traditional historical. The Maori Chant of Eternity is, in places, identical with the Samoan Creation Song but has a definite individuality. Speculation on life and its problems appears in many of the legends centred round Maui, the great common Polynesian Ances tor, the Divine Angler, whose hook caught on the islands of New Zealand and brought them to the surface as an abode for his children. Hawaiki, that mysterious, far land, renowned in Polynesian song, is vaguely glimpsed, now as a paradise to which men's souls shall go, now as the Eden from which the ancestors of the singers emerged countless centuries before. The stories of
the creation of the cosmos and its peopling are all before us in Maori speech, put together with a reverence and delicacy of phrase worthy of any literature.
Hawaiian literature is essentially romantic. The hula, a religious performance, was in its essence an ebullition of joyous animal spirits, outflowing toward Nature. The "abandonment" seen by some in the dance and in the words of the songs is largely imagi nary although it is undeniable that much of the hula and mele literature of Hawaii is made up of protracted double-entendres. In the Hawaiian one can observe a close love of nature through understanding; the trees wave in a warm breeze and the sunlight glints on azure waves because the singer is happy and because the gods are weaving anew their ancient spell of poetic song. Even the dread voice and searing tongue of Pele, the awful volcano goddess, can be wooed by song and dance, to rest. The allusions in the songs and prose of Hawaii point to a long cultural experi ence and deep reverence for tradition. The lyrics of Hawaii rank high among the pure rhapsodies of the world.
The literature of other Polynesian islands is largely a repetition of that outlined above. The traditions of Tonga supply lacunae in the stories of Samoa and New Zealand and those of Tahiti supplement those of Hawaii and the Gambier islands. In all, however, they are distinctive songs and chants, as full of beauty as they are of scientific interest.