in two places.
Jos. Roberts (Oriental Illustrations, London, 1835) makes the following observations: To look back after leaving a house or to be called after, was an unfortunate sign in India and in Hawaii (p. 22). “In India, as in Polynesia, salutations between people are made by smelling of each other,” (p. 32). And “whenever a favor has to be solicited, peace made or an interview desired, presents are always sent before. On Hawaii and elsewhere in Polynesia presents always accompanied the visitor or were sent before,” (p. 39). “In India priests and people shave the head, leaving only a tuft on the crown. In Hawaii the heads were frequently shaven so as to leave only a ridge or crest on the top of the head” (p. 91). “Shaving the head is a sign of mourning common in the East as well as among the Polynesians—also among the Arabs, according to Herodotus,” (p. 471). “In India tatooing, by puncturing the skin, is practiced. Tatooing prevails throughout Polynesia.” (p. 91). “An unhealthy country is said to ‘eat up the inhabitants,’ a victorious or oppressive rajah is said to ‘eat up the country’. In Hawaii the expression ai-moku, ‘eating up the land,’ is an epithet of chiefs. The expression ‘to live in the shadow’ of another is common. So also in Hawaii” (p. 101). “To propose riddles and hard questions for solution at entertainments in India is a common amusement. Such custom obtained also in Hawaii when chiefs entertained each other” (p. 199). “The sacred groves, or trees, invariable accessories of India temples and sacred places, have their counterpart in most of the Polynesian heiaus and morais; the sacred aoa tree in Raiatea, Society Islands. Females in India eat apart from their husbands or men generally. Under the Hawaiian kapu system females not only ate apart, but were also forbidden many kinds of food of which men ate freely” (p. 255).
“Nearly all the females (of India) wore jewels of gold in their nostrils, or in the septum of the nose. In Hawaii this custom was not in use, but in other parts of Polynesia it was customary to have a ring or a bone inserted in the septum” (p. 367).
“The Hawaiian sooth-sayers or kilokilo turned to the north when observing the heavens for signs and omens. So did the ancient Hindus: so did the Iranians before the schism, when they placed the Divas in the north; so did the Greeks; so did the ancient Scandinavians before their conversion to Christianity.” “Hawaiians turned to the west when naming the cardinal points, Aryans to the east. With the former, left was south.” (Excerpts from Pictet, Vol. II.)
According to the researches of J. Grimm (Über das Verbrennen der Leichen), all the Aryan peoples, with one exception, practiced incremation at their funerals from time immemorial, in place of interment. The Indians, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Ancient Germans, Lithuanians and Slavs during heathen times, burned their dead with ceremonies which present evident traces of resemblance, notwithstanding their diversity. The Iranians alone at an early time abandoned this ancient custom on account of the radical difference which arose in their religious creed. The Hebrews and Arabs never practiced incremation (p. 504). The Egyptian Cushites practiced embalming. The [[349]]Polynesians never followed incremation, they practiced exposure and preserved the bones of the dead, or a species of embalming and interment in caves. Did they separate from the Iranian branch after the schism, or did they follow the training and customs received from the Cushite teachings?
“The Polynesians like the ancient Aryans divided the night into four portions” (p. 591). “The Hindus call the last night of the old moon, in Sanskrit, kuhu (la lune caché), and amaoasi, dwelling with (the sun). The Hawaiians called the 30th day [of the] month, and the Tahitians the 29th day, muku, cut off, shortened, ceased” (p. 598).
Warua (Tah.) and wailua (Haw.), spirit, ghost, have phonetic resemblance to Vedic Sanskrit Varuna, one of the oldest Vedic deities. It is not improbable however that “Varuna” derives from warua. The Polynesian word is evidently a composite, but as it does not occur in the other dialects, so far as I know, or in a different form, I am unable to analyze it. The Sanskrit Varuna, however, which is so confidently ascribed to the root or, var., to cover, surround, may by consulting the Polynesian remnant of Old-world languages, be found to differently and equally appropriately refer itself to the Polynesian wa, span, and runa or luna, above.
“The ancient Aryans distinguished three heavenly regions, 1st, the upper heavens, Dio; 2d, the heaven of clouds, Nabhas; and 3d, the atmosphere, Autariksha (transparent)” (p. 665). “The Polynesians had the distinction of three heavens, viz: that of Kane, Ku, Lono. Of origin of fire, E. Aryan and W. Aryan” (p. 679).