Note 291 — Chapter V · THE MOST PROMINENT FIGURES IN HEBREW MYTHOLOGY.

Aesch., Prom., vv. 505, 467, Dind. I must also refer to Tangaloa, the chief figure in the Polynesian mythology, who is described as the first navigator. This characteristic, and the fact that Tangaloa is regarded as the originator of every handicraft (see the chapter on the Myth of Civilisation), with other features on which Schirren lays stress in determining his nature, seem to claim for him a solar character. Gerland (Anthropologie der Naturvölker, VI. 242) disputes this interpretation.