I

LEGENDS RESEMBLING OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

_Rev. C. M. Hyde, D.D._


In the first volume of Judge Fornander's elaborate work on "The
Polynesian Race" he has given some old Hawaiian legends which closely
resemble the Old Testament history. How shall we account for such
coincidences?

Take, for instance, the Hawaiian account of the Creation. The
_Kane_, _Ku_ and _Lono:_ or, Sunlight, Substance, and Sound,--these
constituted a triad named _Ku-Kaua-Kahi_, or the Fundamental Supreme
Unity. In worship the reverence due was expressed by such epithets as
_Hi-ka-po-loa, Oi-e,_ Most Excellent, etc. "These gods existed from
eternity, from and before chaos, or, as the Hawaiian term expressed
it, '_mai ka po mia_' (from the time of night, darkness, chaos). By
an act of their will these gods dissipated or broke into pieces the
existing, surrounding, all-containing _po_, night, or chaos. By this
act light entered into space. They then created the heavens, three in
number, as a place to dwell in; and the earth to be their footstool,
_he keehina honua a Kane_. Next they created the sun, moon, stars,
and a host of angels, or spirits--_i kini akua_--to minister to