ying to induce her to run
away with him, was discovered by the husband, when a fight took
place. Mityan was beaten and ran away, and has been wandering
ever since. [98] We are indebted for another suggestion to Bishop
Wilkins, who wrote over two centuries ago: "As for the form of
those spots, _Albertus_ thinks that it represents a lion, with his tail
towards the east, and his head the west; and some others have
thought it to be very much like a fox, and certainly 'tis as much like
a lion as that in the _zodiac_, or as _ursa major_ is like a bear." [99]
This last remark of the old mathematician is "a hit, a very palpable
hit," at those unpoetical people who catalogue the constellations
under all sorts of living creatures' names, implying resemblances,
and then "sap with solemn sneer" our myths of the moon.

We have now seen that the moon is populated with men, women,
and children,--hares and rabbits, toads and frogs, cats and dogs, and
sundry small "cattle"; we observe in making our exit that it is also
planted with a variety of trees; in short, is a zoological garden of a
high order. Even among the ancients some said the lunar spots were
forests where Diana hunted, and that the bright patches were plains.
Captain Cook tells us that in the South Pacific "the spots observed
in the moon are supposed to be groves of a sort of trees which once
grew in Otaheite, and, being destroyed by some accident, their seeds
were carried up thither by doves, where they now flourish." [100]
Ellis also tells of these Tahitians that "their ideas of the moon,
which they called _avae_ or _marama_, were as fabulous as those
they entertained of the sun. Some supposed the moon was the wife
of the sun; others that it was a beautiful country in which the aoa
grew." [101] These arborary fancies derive additional interest, if not
a species of verisimilitude, from the record of a missionary that "a
stately tree, clothed with dark shining leaves, and loaded with many
hundreds of large green or yellowish-coloured fruit, is one of the
most splendid and beautiful objects to be met with among the rich
and diversified scenery of a Tahitian landscape."

Our collection of lunar legends is now on exhibition. No thoughtful
person will be likely to dispute the dictum of Sir John Lubbock that
"traditions and myths are of great importance, and indirectly throw
much light on the condition of man in ancient times." [102] But they
serve far more purposes than this.