Ethnologist

Tuamotu Lore

Valuable New Work by Famous Ethnologist

From Our Own Correspondent.

Papeete, Nov. 28.

AVERY valuable contribution to the ethnology of Polynesia is the work entitled “Tuamotuan Religion,” by Mr. J.

Frank Stimson, just published as Bulletin No. 103 of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu.

Mr. Stimson, who comes from a dis tinguished American family, and who has been a resident of Tahiti for more than 20 years, has a natural flair for linguistics, and probably has a more extensive know ledge of the various Polynesian dialects than any other living authority on such matters.

During his researches in the Tuamotu

archipelago, Mr. Stimson discovered traces of an ancient cult or religion which flourished there prior to the evangelisa tion of the islands by Christian mission aries, in which the supreme god “Kiho” was recognised as the original source of all things and creator of the universe of three spheres. In this conception, Ragi po was the lower sphere, or world of darkness, Ragi-marama the earth-sphere, and Ragi-ao the upper or sky-sphere.

Eventually, Mr. Stimson succeeded in collecting enough of this fast-disappear ing lore, mostly in the form of chants and invocations, to present the reader with a good idea of the esoteric knowledge taught by the Tuamotuan sages in ancient days. The work undoubtedly will bring fame to the author, and be received with the deepest interest by all Polynesian scholars and by those who are engaged along various lines of research work throughout the Pacific. Other works by Mr. Stimson are now in process of publi cation.