Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-01-11

]
found among barbarous nations-one in
which water was created first and then
land, and the other in which this priority
is reversed. These two classes have
been attributed to differences in the geo
logical formation Of the countries; but it
would seem that the traditions of barbar-
GUS nations could not be old enough to
remount to geological periods, and that it
would be doing them altogether too much
honor to suppose that they were the de-
bris of an ancient science. Most of the
cosmogonic traditions of the North A
merican Indians teach that the land was
made after the water, and commonly 1t |
is a great bird which comes up out of the |
depths of the sea in pursuit of a grain of
corn. The now extinct aborigines of the
West Indies supposed, on the contrary,
that their islands were formed by par
tial drowning of the continent, the over
flow leaving only the mountains and high
lands uncovered. The New Zealanders
incline to the original water hypothesis
and perhaps science underlies their cos
mogony. In the Pacific the most recent
creations of geological forces are very
abundant in the coral islands, which one
can almost see growing out of the ocean,
and it is possible that the observation of
this process may be the groundwork of
their cosmogony. This is the story that
they tell:
"Mawi came down from heaven and
wandered about over the sea until he
found rock, which then rose where now
the northern island, Ikana Mawi, lies.-
Here he stopped, and sat down TO fish,
and as he could find no better bait for
his hook, he killed the two children which
his wife Hina had borne him and took
their jaws. The right eye Of one O.
them was changed into the morning star
which is called Malariki, and the RICH
eye of the other was also taken to heav
en-, where it is still shining, the evenin;
star, Reyeahiahi. One day now, whel
Mawi was fishing with the jaw of hi
eldest son he felt noble bite. He trie,
for a long time to pull the thing out O
the water, but he could not. He suppos
ed it must be some sea-monster; so h,
fastened his line to the bill of dove, AM
then breathed his strength into the dove
The bird arose in the air and drew out
the deep monstrous fish. This was t
l.! he New Zealand. As soon as he ros
above the water the fsher-god and hi
brothers leaped upon him, transforme
him into solid land, and then dried it,
Afterward, as they were walking abor
the shore for pleasure, they made plain
. and hills, and mountains, and valley
eed and covered them with grass, and tree
the and all living things. During one
ex- these promenades Mawi saw fire for IL
d it first time. He thought it very beautiful
dis and put out his hands to take hold Of
half And it burned his fingers othat he coul
y is not bear it, and he rushed down into IL
rely sea. Straightway he came back lade
with with rhinestone, out of which the volci
t on noes grew. Mawipotiki and Taxi share
S of the labor and fame of their BROTHER
S at Taxi made the first man ont of CLAW. an
inIy when he died he was carried away
ants heaven on a spiders web and his eve w
ans changed into the South Polar Star"
] of In these three principal deities, adj
lose the piOus missionary, and in the way
rood which the first man and New Zealan
fore which before the arrival Of the Eur
eb- peans was thought to be the univers
erve were created, one can recognize di
Jointed fragment of an original reYel
ton, especially the dogma of the Trim
anne and the creation of the world and of A
cart am.
'"ue We DO not careto dispute the last poi
lor with the worthy missionary; we pref
inc to occupy ourselves with his Observable
ei'i- on the Maori language, which is so ca
NC to learn that after six months stu,
'an : among the natives, the missionaries a
cars able to preach in the vernacular. t
Maori has striking similarity to the la
'O guage of Tahiti, and in spite of the il
'ueu mense distance between the islands the
~ must have been migration among t
ner South Sea people either from west
'''' east or east TO west. The language h
neither eonjugation or declension. Ith
only fourteen letters, five vowels. a. 6.
O. and u, which are pronounced as in 1T
ian, and nine eonsonants, q, h, 4. m. n.
pre- p t. and &c. As in Italian, every wo
ends with a vowel, and, strange to sa