The fountain source of the Mississippi has been discovered and
rediscovered. The origin of the Polynesian race has been a subject for
discovery and rediscovery. The older theory of Malay origin as set
forth in the earlier encyclopædias is now recognized as untenable. The
Malays followed the Polynesians rather than preceded them. The
comparative study of Polynesian legends leads almost irresistibly to
the conclusion that the Polynesians were Aryans, coming at least from
India to Malaysia and possibly coming from Arabia, as Fornander of
Hawaii so earnestly argues. It is now accepted that the Polynesians did
not originate from Malay parentage, and that they did occupy for an
indefinite period the region around the Sunda Straits from Java to the
Molucca Islands, and also that the greater portion of the Polynesians
was driven out from this region and scattered over the Pacific in the
early part of the Christian Era. The legends that cluster around Wakea
have greatly aided in making plain some things concerning the
disposition of the Polynesians. By sifting the legends of Hawaii-loa we
learn how the great voyager becomes one of the first Vikings of the
Pacific. His home at last is found to be Gilolo of the Molucca Islands.
From the legends we become acquainted with Wakea (possibly meaning
“noonday,” or “the white time”) and his wife Papa (earth), the most
widely remembered of all the ancestors of the Polynesian race. Their
names are found in the legends of the most prominent island groups, and
the highest places are granted them among the demi-gods and sometimes
among the chief deities. Their deeds belong to the most ancient
times—the creation or discovery of the various islands of the Pacific
world. Those who worshipped Wakea and Papa are found in such widely
separated localities that it must be considered impossible for even a
demi-god to have had so many homes. Atea, or Wakea, was one of the
highest gods of the Marquesas Islands. Here his name means “light.” The
Marquesans evidently look back of all their present history and locate
Atea in the ancient homeland. Vatea in the Society Islands, Wakea in
Hawaii and New Zealand, Makea, Vakea and Akea are phonetic variations
of the one name when written down by the students who made a written
form for words repeated from generation to generation by word of mouth
alone. Even under the name “Wakea” this ancient chief is known in most
widely separated islands. The only reasonable explanation for this
widespread reference to Wakea is that he was an ancestor belonging in
common to all the scattered Polynesians. It seems as if there must have
been a period when Wakea was king or chief of a united people. He must
have been of great ability and probably was the great king of the
United Polynesians. If this were the fact it would naturally result
that his memory would be carried wherever the dispersed race might go.
In the myths and legends of the Hervey Islands, Vatea is located near
the beginning of their national existence. First of all the Hervey
Islanders place Te-ake-ia-roe (The root of all existence). Then there
came upon the ancient world Te Vaerua (The breath, or The life). Then
came the god time—Te Manawa roa (The long ago). Then their creation
legends locate Vari, a woman whose name means “the beginning,” a name
curiously similar to the Hebrew word “bara,” “to create,” as in Gen. i.
1. Her children were torn out of her breasts and given homes in the
ancient mist-land, with which, without any preparation or introduction,
Hawaiki is confused in a part of the legend. It has been suggested that
this Hawaiki is Savaii of the Samoan Islands, from which the Hervey
Islands may have had their origin in a migration of the Middle Ages.
One of the children of Vari dwelt in “a sacred tabu island” and became
the god of the fish. Another sought a home “where the red parrots’
feathers were gathered”—the royal feathers for the high chiefs’
garments. Another became the echo-god and lived in “the hollow gray
rocks.” Another as the god of the winds went far out “on the deep
ocean.” Another, a girl, found a home, “the silent land,” with her
mother. Wakea, or Vatea, the eldest of this family, remained in Ava-iki
(Hawaii), the ancestral home—“the bright land of Vatea.” Here he
married Papa. This Ava-iki was to the Herveyites of later generations
the fiery volcanic under-world. When the long sea-voyages ceased after
some centuries, the islanders realized that Ava-iki was very closely
connected with their history. They had but a misty idea of far-off
lands, and they did know of earthquakes and lava caves and volcanic
fires—so they located Ava-iki as the secret world under their islands.
This under-world with legendary inconsistency was located on the
ocean’s surface, when it became necessary to have their islands
discovered by the descendants of Vatea. According to the Hervey
legends, Vatea was the father of Lono and Kanaloa, two of the great
gods of the Polynesians. They were twins. Lono had three sons, whom he
sent away. They sailed out through many heavens and from Ava-iki pulled
up out of the deep ocean two of the Hervey Islands. The natives of the
Hervey group supposed that the horizon around their group enclosed the
world. Beyond this world line were heavens and heavens. A daring
voyager by sailing through the sky-line would break out from this world
into an unknown world or a heaven bounded by new horizons. Strangers
“broke through” from heaven, sometimes making use of the path of the
sun. Thus about twenty-five generations ago Raa (possibly Laa, the
Hawaiian) broke down the horizon’s bars and established a line of kings
in Raiatea. So also when Captain Cook came to the Hervey Islands the
natives said: “Whence comes this strange thing? It has climbed up [come
up forcibly] from the thin land, the home of Wakea.” He had pierced the
western heavens from which their ancestors had come.
When the sons of Lono unexpectedly saw a speck of land far away over
the sea, they cried out that here was a place created for them by their
deified ancestors. As they came nearer they “pulled up” the islands
until they grew to be high mountains rising from the deep waters. In
these mountains they found the lava caves and deep chasms which they
always said extended down under the seas back to Ava-iki. They made
their caves a passageway for spirits to the fairy home of the dead, and
therefore into certain chasms cast the bodies of the dead, that the
spirit might more easily find the path to the under-world.
Vatea was a descendant of “the long ago,” according to the Hervey
legend. Wakea of Hawaii was a son of Kahiko, “the ancient.” Wakea’s
home is more definitely stated in the Hawaiian than in the Hervey
legends. He lived in O-Lolo-i-mehani, or The Red Lolo, a name
confidently referred by Fornander in “The Polynesian Race” to Gilolo,
the principal island of the Moluccas. The Red Lolo, as suggested by
Fornander, would refer not alone to volcanic action and its decaying
debris, but would fittingly designate the largest and most important
island of the group. The fire bursting from many volcanoes in the
region of the Sunda Straits was “royal” to the beholders, who felt that
divine power was present in the mysterious red flames. Hence all the
Polynesian tribes invested the red color with especial dignity as a
mark of royalty and pre-eminence. It was on the banners allowed only to
chiefs when their boats sailed away to visit distant lands. It was the
color of the war cloaks of chiefly warriors. In the recent days of the
monarchy of Hawaii, the richest crimson was the only color allowed in
upholstering the great throne room. Gilolo might worthily bear the name
“The Red Lolo” in Hawaiian story. Here Hawaii-loa, the first of the
Polynesian Vikings, had his home. Here the Chieftainess Oupe, a
Polynesian princess, dwelt. In O-Lolo Wakea married the granddaughter
of Oupe, whose name was Papa. She is almost as widely known in legends
as her husband. Papa was said to be a tabued descendant of Hawaii-loa
and therefore superior in rank to Wakea. Papa is described as “very
fair and almost white.” Her name means “earth,” and Wakea’s name might
mean “noonday.” This, with the many experiences through which they both
passed, would lay the foundation for a very pretty sun-myth, but we
cannot avoid the human aspect of the legends and give them both a more
worthy position as ancestors of a scattered people.
Kahiko, the ancient, is recorded as having had three sons, from whom
descended the chiefs, the priests and the common people,—the
husbandmen,—almost a Shem, Ham and Japheth division. Other legends,
however, give Kahiko only two sons, the eldest, Wakea, having power
both as chief and priest. All the legends unite in making Wakea the
head of the class of chiefs. This would very readily explain the high
place held by Wakea throughout Polynesia and also the jealous grasp
upon genealogical records maintained by the royal families of the
Pacific.
Wakea and Papa are credited with being the creators of many island
kingdoms of the Pacific. Sometimes the credit is given partly to a
mischievous fisherman-god, Maui, after whom one of the Hawaiian Islands
is named. One of the Hawaiian legends goes back to the creation or
discovery of Hawaii and ascribes the creation of the world to Wakea and
Papa. The two were living together in “Po”—“darkness,” or “chaos.” Papa
brought into existence a gourd calabash including bowl and cover, with
the pulp and seeds inside. Wakea threw the cover upward and it became
heaven. From the pulp and seeds he made the sky and the sun and moon
and stars. From the juice of the pulp he made the rain. The bowl he
fashioned into the land and sea. Other legends limit the creative
labors of Wakea to the Hawaiian group. With the aid of Papa he
established a portion of the islands; then discord entered the royal
family and a separation was decided upon. The Hawaiian custom has
always been for either chief or chiefess to exercise the right to
divorce and to contract the marriage ties. Wakea is said to have
divorced Papa by spitting in her face, according to an ancient custom.
Wakea selected a chieftainess named Hina, from whom the island Molokai
(the leper island) received the name “Molokaihina”—the ancient name of
the island. Morotai was also an island lying near Gilolo in the Molucca
group, and might be the place from which Wakea secured his bride. Papa
selected as her new husband a chief named Lua. The ancient name of Oahu
(the island upon which Honolulu is located) was “Oahu-a-lua” (The Oahu
of Lua). One of the Celebes Islands bears a name for one of its
districts very similar to Oahu—“Ouadju.” Papa seems to have been
partially crazed by her divorce. She marries many husbands. She voyages
back and forth between distant islands. In an ancient island, Tahiti,
she bears children from whom the Tahitians claim descent. In the
Celebes she and her people experience a famine and she is compelled to
send to O-Lolo for food. In New Zealand legend she becomes the wife of
Langi (Hawaiian Lani, or heaven), a union of “earth” and “heaven.” They
have six children. Four of these are the chief gods of ancient Hawaii:
Ka-ne, “light”; Ku, “the builder”; Lono, “sound”; and Kanaloa. Two of
the children are not named in Hawaiian annals, unless it might be that
one, Tawhirri, should be represented in Kahili, the tall standard used
for centuries as the insignia of very high chief families. The other
name, “Haumia,” might possibly be Haumea, a second name given to Papa
in the legends. The Maoris of New Zealand deify all of these six sons
of Lani and Papa.
Ka-ne was “father of forests.” He was very strong. In ancient days the
sky was not separated from the earth. He lifted up the heavens and
pushed down the earth—and thus made space for all things to grow. It
was while the sky rested its full weight upon the earth that the leaves
started into life, but were flat and thin because there was no chance
to become plump and full like the fruit which came later. Here is the
foundation for another sun-myth of the Pacific, wherein it might be
said light came and separating darkness from the earth brought life
into the world. Light could well be “the father of forests.” The second
son was Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” A part of his name
was “matea,” which might possibly be referred to Wakea. He dwelt in the
skies with his father Lani.
The third son was Lono, who was “the father of all cultivated food.”
The fourth was Haumia, “the father of uncultivated food”—such food as
grew wild in the forests or among the herbs or in the midst of the
edible sea-mosses.
The fifth son was Kanaloa, “the father of all reptiles and fishes,” at
first dwelling in Hawaiki on the land with all his descendants.
The sixth son was Ku “with the red face,” “the father of fierce or
cruel men.” Ku was easily made angry, and after a time waged war
against his brothers and their followers. There was great destruction,
but Ku could not win the victory alone. He was compelled to call upon
Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” Fierce men and fierce
storms made it difficult for the remainder of the household to escape.
The “father of forests” bowed to the earth under the terrific force of
hurricanes and tornadoes. The “fathers of foods” buried themselves deep
in the ground to escape destruction at the hands of cruel mankind and
tempestuous nature. Then came the bitter conflict between the family of
Kanaloa and their combined enemies. Cruel men were without pity in the
blows dealt against their inferior kindred. At last the fish fled to
the sea and sought safety in distant waters, finding homes where the
children of Ku did not care to follow. The reptiles fled inland to the
secret recesses of the mountains and forests. There they have kept
their wild savage life through the centuries even to the present day,
as in Sumatra, Borneo, the Celebes, the Philippines and other sections
of the region around the Sunda Straits. They are not now ocean lovers
any more than in the ages past. They do not “go down to the sea in
ships.” Neither do they love the coming of Dutch or Spanish or American
civilization. They seem to have an hereditary dislike for strange and
cruel men.
The sea rovers became great wanderers, carrying with them the name of
“Kanaloa” and planting it in almost all the Pacific islands to be
worshipped as one of the supreme gods.
How much these domestic troubles surrounding the name of Papa may have
had to do with an early migration of the Polynesians we do not know. It
may be that while the household was engaged in war the Malays came from
the north and with tornado power scattered the divided family,
compelling swift flight to distant lands. It is now understood that the
great dispersion of the Polynesians came from the incursions of the
powerful Malays during the second century of the Christian Era. Some of
the Hawaiian and New Zealand legends imply that for a number of
generations a part of the Polynesians remained in the old family home,
Hawaiki. The New Zealanders enter quite fully into the account of the
troubles attending the coming of their ancestors from Hawaiki. They
mention battles and domestic discords. They tell of the long journeys
and wearisome efforts put forth until their ancestors find Northern New
Zealand, Ke-ao-tea-roa (The great white land). This was pulled up out
of the sea for them by Maui with his wonderful fish-hook. This story of
the magic fishing of the disobedient and mischievous Maui is common in
Polynesia.
After the discovery of New Zealand, boats were sent back to Hawaiki to
induce large companies of colonists to leave the land of warfare and
trouble and settle in rich lands bordering the beautiful bays of New
Zealand.
Like stories of discovery of new lands and return for friends adorn the
legends of all Polynesia. Wakea’s descendants were clannish and stood
by each other in that great migration of the second century as well as
in the better-remembered journeys of later years. There seems to have
been a continued migration of the Polynesians. Sometimes they were
apparently fought off by the black race, as in Australia; sometimes
they held their own for a time, keeping the black men inland, as in
Fiji; and sometimes they struck out boldly for new lands, as when they
sailed long distances to the Hawaiian and Easter Islands. It is said
that the purest forms of the Polynesian language, most harmonious with
one another, were carried by the children of Wakea to the far distant
islands of New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island.