whilst there are indications that in ancient days the cult of the sun prevailed to a certain extent. But so ancient is it, and so little known about it, that it seems never to have prevailed to any large extent—that this cult in fact was learned from some outside race influencing the more ancient cult of Rangi and Papa—the Heaven and Earth cult, traces of which are found in the most ancient of races.[1] The influence of a Semitic connection, on the Polynesians, is very obvious to anyone who will study the language and the customs. Nearly all those who have dealt with the grammars of the various dialects of Polynesia have been struck with the many similarities in structure to be found between them and Semitic forms, but perhaps Dr. A. Macdonald of the New Hebrides has shown this most clearly in his papers published in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society." But the number of Semitic customs to be found prevailing among the Polynesians, is, perhaps, more striking than the lingual connection. The Rev. R. Taylor in his "Te Ika-a-Maui" mentions many of these, and his list might be very considerably augmented.[2]
- ↑ A possible connection between the Egyptian God Horus may be suggested in the Polynesian (Maori) name Horu, for clay coloured by, and impregnated by iron. "L'Anthropologie," August 1891, says, "There is no doubt that in certain myths of Egypt, there is a connection between Horus and iron."
- ↑ As a suggestion to Philologists I offer the following: Tāne, was probably at one time the principal god of the Polynesians, superseded, with some branches, at a later date by Tangaroa. There is a strong accent on the letter "a" of Tāne, denoting that a consonant has been dropped, or that it is a compound word with a prefix Ta. The word would then become Ta-ane. Now "n" and "l" are transposable letters in many languages, of which numerous illustrations from the Polynesian language might be adduced. Therefore, the root word may be "Ale," the Hebrew for the oak, and "Ta" is god, in more than one
