Note 1155 — Chapter VI

G. Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 1 ff.; Taylor, New Zealand, chap. vi; cf., for Polynesia, W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, chap. xiii. The abstract ideas reported by Taylor are remarkable: from conception came increase, from this came swelling, then, in order, thought, remembrance, desire; or, from nothing came increase and so forth; or, the word brought forth night, the night ending in death. The significance of this scheme (supposing it to be correctly stated) has not been explained. The rôle assigned to "desire" in the Rig-Veda creation-hymn (x, 129) is the product of learned reflection (cf. Schopenhauer's "blind will"), and sounds strange in the mouth of New Zealand savages.