504 



A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER. 



>3 



and Moon and ocean gods which they had in common with 

 other Polynesians, but the offspring of the active volcanos, the 

 Goddess Pele and her train. I sounded our guides to see 

 whether they had still any reverence for Pele, the ancient god- 

 dess of the mountain, but apparently, according to the teaching 

 of the missionaries I suppose, Pele and all other Deities of old 

 Hawai were completely identified in the guides' minds with 

 the Devil of Scripture. There are, however, I was told on 

 good authority, plenty of Hawaians still existing, who have a 

 lurking reverence for, or fear of the old gods. 



It cannot but be a source of regret that more of the old 

 Hawaian gods were not preserved, and sent to European 

 Museums, instead of having been burnt and destroyed, a 

 course which the missionaries found necessary. Of most of 

 them, there remain only imperfect drawings. 



One of the ornaments of the Hawaians, well-known to ethno- 

 logists, is a pendent of a curious shape, 

 something like that of a fish-hook. It 

 is usually cut out of a Sperm-Whale's 

 tooth, and is worn by both men and 

 women, susrjended round the neck by 

 means of a necklace composed of small 

 strands of plaited human hair. The 

 reason for the peculiar form of the or- 

 nament has not been understood. I 

 believe, from the examination of various 

 drawings extant, representing the 

 ancient temples of the Sandwich Is- 

 lands, that the hook represents a sym- 

 bol for the head of a god. 



In Ellis's account of the Sandwich 

 Islands, is a figure of the Hare o Keave, or House of Keave, the 

 sacred depository of the bones of departed kings and princes, at 

 Honaunau in Hawai.* Besides the obviously human-like gods, 

 represented as set up around this building, there are also shown 

 in the sketch posts of wood, near the tops of which are carved 



* "Narrative of a Tour through Hawai, &c," p. 153. By William 

 Ellis. 2nd Ed. London, Fisher & Son, 1827. 



HOOK-SHAPED HAWAIAN ORNAMENT. 



Made of Sperm- Whale's tooth. 



