So the travelling party returned to earth again, carrying with them the spoils of heaven-taro and cocoa-nut, and breadfruit and kava, and kava bowls in which to make that drink.

VARIATIONS.

There can be little doubt, I think, that this myth is of the same origin as the Grecian story about the war of the gods and the giants-the same but different. It now remains for me to show the analogies and the contrast between the two, and, if possible, to account for their variations.

1. In the early days of mythology there was a coming and going between gods and men,-between heaven and earth In that, both Greek and Polynesians conspicuously agree.

There were giants on earth in these days, strong enough and daring enough to be at variance with the inferior gods and to make war on them, and to conquer them The Titans of Hesiod's Theogony correspond with the Sa-Tangaloa of the Samoans, for they are all gods, but of an inferior kind. In Greece the giants and the cy clops who assisted Zeus in the war against these Titan-gods were sprung from the union of heaven (Ouranos) and earth (Gaia). In Samoa, the father of Losi is a celestial (La, the sun), but his mother is one of the ancients of the human race. His comrades, too, are tremendous fellows; one of them, Le-Fanonga, that is, "Destruction," sweeps everything before him in battle, as he well may, if he was worthy of his name; another of them, Tie-tie, went down to Tartarus, fought with Mafusé, the fire-king there, broke his arm and his leg, conquered him, and brought fire to men on earth above.

3. The Sa Tangaloa occupy one hundred rooms. In the Grecian story the sons of Uranus and Gaia have each a hundred arms.

4. In the Samoan myth the war ends on the fourth night. The Grecian account makes the war last for ten years.

5. In Greece the legends about the Giants and the Titans and their doings are very confused; in Samoa, the whole is a plain, intelligible narrative, arising out of a practical joke of one of the giants a pastime to which giants are considered rather partial.

6. As spoils of war, taro and all other things good for food were brought down from heaven Losi had at first stolen a bit of taro from the Sa Tangaloa. Tie-tie, as a victor, carried fire up to earth, where-with to cook food. In contrast, the Greek Prometheus stele fire from heaven and brought it down to earth

7. In the Samoan language, the noun Losi means "envy, jealousy, emulation." This name may have some reference to the causes that led to the war. In Greece, the wily Titan, Kronos, had dethroned the aged Ouranos and set up a new

monarchy. Perhaps "envy and ambition" led him on to this. Zeus, with the help of his half-brothers, the cyclops, and the giants, warred on the Titans and recovered his father's throne.

8. The Tangaloan demi-gods are sensual in this respect, that they must have fish to eat and kava to drink, and thus the Samoans regard them as anthropmorphic; but the myths bring no charges of sensuousness against them, such as we find in the Greek tales about Poseidon, Hephaistos and Aphrodite. Like the Samoans themselves, the Tangaloans are swift to observe the laws of hospitality, for they at once prepare food for their visitors, although those have come on a hostile errand.

9. The Grecian war is founded on brute force: Pelion is piled upon Ossa, and attempts are made to take Olympus by storm; at last Zeus launches all his stores of thunder and lightning and thus quells the Titans. In Samoa, it is "diamond cuts diamond" in pretended trials of skill and strength, and at last an open fight.

10. In the Tangaloan sports, observe In how many points the myths correspond with legends current in the Old World: (a) The giants are prodigious gluttons. Le-sa ate up the whole supply of food and the baskets and the neck-yoke.

(b) There is single combat to settle the strife-a clubmatch.

(c) The conquered man is admitted to ransom, and the conqueror is highly honored.

(d) Some of the giants are very tall, as well as strong. Lau-tolo could stand in the middle of a swollen river, and rescue his friends.

In the Samoan language, Moso-moso is the name of a bir; and in the myth, the giant Moso covers himself with feathers. In our legends there are tales about giant birds, such as the Roc.

11. But in three other parts of the sports, the analogies are not European:

(a) In Australia, Polynesia and America there are professional rain-makers, and there are rain-medicines. The Samoans strongly dislike heavy rain; falling on their warm, naked bodies, it chills them through and through.

(b) Surf-swimming and floating is universal in Polynesia as a sport and trial of skill.

(c) There is a river in the heavens; the Milky Way is that river; it is called Aniva in Samoan,

12. The champion of the Tangaloan party had "eight livers." In classic language the liver is "courage." To be "white-livered" is to be a "coward."

13. The number eight is remarkable here, for it is evidently used as a "complete" number. I have found it similarly used in several other of the Samoan records. The word in Polynesian is valu, "twice four." Now, I do not know

any other part of the world, except India, in which the number eight is so used. I intend some day to write more fully on this point, for I think it proves that the ancestors of the Polynesians had some connection with India.

In the Samoan pantheon the supreme god is Tanga-loa, which name I take to mean the lofty (loa) encompassing" (verb taa-i) heavens. The name thus corresponds with the Sanskrit "Varuna," the Greek "Ouranos.' He dwells in the Ninth Heavens and is a calm, quiescent being. In this he corresponds with the Indian Brahma. His palace there is called Fale-ula, the "bright house"; there is no noise or disorder there; all is calm, bright and pure. The councils of the great gods are held there. The upper gods have the right to assemble there, but the inferior gods come only on invitation. For analogy we have the Roman Dii consentes, the Dii majorum gentium, and Dii minorum gentium.

The distinguishing name of the Supreme Tangaloa is T.-i-lelangi, "Tangaloa-in-the-heavens," but there are many high Tangaloes, all of them, however, being functions or attribu es of that god. As creator of lands," he is called T.-faa-tutu-punuse; as the "immoveable, unchangeable one," he is called T.le-fuli; as "going to and fro to visit his creation and his creatures," he is called T. Savale or T. Asiasi-nuse, and so on. With all this compare the Indian Brahma and his emanations. Just as in the beginning the sole, self-causing spirit Brahma by his will created the waters, so Tangaloa-i-le-langi created the lands and men by his will alone. And Brahma in one of his aspects is Brahma Prajapati, the personal creator; as the preserver, he is Vishnu; as the destroyer, he is Siva, and so on.

The whole of the Samoan conception of Tangaloa and his heavens is somewhat like Buddhist ideas. To show this I quote the following from Childers:

Brahmaloko is the world or heaven of Brahma angels, the Brahmaworld It is divided into two parts: (1) Rupabrahmaioko, the world of corporeal Brahmas, and (2) Arupabrahmaloko, the world of formless Brahmas. The first consists of sixteen heavens, placed one above the other and inhabited by Brahma devas or angels of different sorts; the other consists of four heavens and is placed immediately above the Rupabrahmaloko. The Brahmas are a higher order of angels than the devas of the Devaloko, being free from kama, or sensual desire or passions. and insensible to heat and cold. In some of the worlds they are seitresplendent and have purely intel'ectual pleasures; those of Rupabrahmaloko have a form or body, but those of Arupabrahmaloko are mere etfulgences or spirits without form. The devas of Devaloko are super-human beings or angels, living a life of happiness and exempt from the ills of humanity.

NOTE-In another Samuan myth which I have cited-the Story of Creation--many paralle to these Saman beliefs about Tangaloa and his heavens, come out more early than in this one

In fact it would be easy for me to enlarge every one of the the fifteen para els I have given, but the space I have at my disposal for ids And so, at present, I give on'y an outline of what might be said of this myth about the Samoan malaga na niu i le agi.

SHRINES NEAR COCHITI, NEW MEXICO.

BY FREDERICK STARR.

In a recent visit to Cochiti, I desired to visit all the shrines or sacred places in the immediate vicinity of the pueblo. Some of these I already knew, but most of them were new to me. Apparently there are ten of these places. We visited eight of them: secret sacred dances were in progress near the others, and our guide dared not go with us thither at that time.

Cochiti is one of the seven Queres pueblos. It lies upon a gravel terrace, west of the Rio Grande at a short distance from that river. Back from it stretches a little plain, behind which, to the north and west, rises a series of gravel hills and ridges. These occupy a broad strip of country, and behind them rise the great rock mesas and potreros of the Rio Grande Cañon. The Rio Grande flows past the pueblo in a flat alluvial valley, nearly a mile wide, at a level of some fifteen or twenty feet below the town. Eastward from the river the gravel hills give way to a high plain, which stretches east and north to the rock mass forming the eastern side of the great cañon. The cultivated fields of the pueblo begin at the village and lie in the river valley, extending some distance up the river.

All pueblo Indians reverence the points of the compass. From the cardinal points come helpful or harmful influences. Toward them propitiatory offerings and prayers are made. To the Cochiti there are six cardinal points--North, West, South, East, Up, Down. The usual offering to the cardinal points is corn-meal, and in every household a little dish of sacred meal stands ready for use. A pinch sprinkled toward the points in the order named secures favor. Pounded sea-shells may be mixed with corn meal to be used in this way. On some occasions a special mcal-the pollen of corn-is used.

To a sacred place, to the influences of the place, or to the beings who are supposed to show their power there, objects are given. Commonest of these offerings are "prayer-sticks" or "prayer-feathers." To a little stick, of a size and character precisely regulated, feathers are tied. Single feathers are tied to bits of string. Two or more feathers are tied together. Any of these, properly placed at a sacred place, is at once a prayer and a sacrifice. All of them are prepared with attention to ceremonial details.

The nearest shrine to Cochiti lies a short half mile north* of the village, to the east of the road to Bland. It is at the base of the gravel terrace and at the edge of the alluvial flat

• The directions here given may not be accurate, as no compass was used in determining them.