616 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
4.—THE FOUNTAIN OF “THE MIST.”—A RARO- 
TONGAN MYTH. 
By the Rev. Wittiam Wyarr Gixt, LL.D. 
THE central mountain of Rarotonga is about 3,000 feet above the 
level of the sea. On account of its being usually enveloped in 
cloud and mist, it is appropriately named “ Te kou,” z.e., “The 
Mist.” Unlike most of the other mountains of Rarotonga, which 
terminate in almost inaccessible peaks, ‘The Mist” seems per- 
fectly level, as if its summit had been sliced off. From the 
centre—a weird spot, shut in on all sides by rank vegetation— 
gushes forth a copious and never-failing fountain. Two species 
of fish are found in it; one, called the ‘“karaea,” about eighteen 
inches in length, of a yellow colour, and somewhat resembling a 
lizard; the other, a little fish known at Rarotonga as the 
“taputapu.” How did these fish get there? The natives 
absurdly imagine that there is a subterranean communication 
with the ocean, as both are found in salt water. 
To this day a hot controversy rages as to the real proprietor of 
this fountain. Makea, the queen on the northern side of Raro- 
tonga, asserts that it is hers, because it originally flowed down 
her side of “The Mist.” The Ngatangiia queens are content to 
point to the stream actually leaping over the cliff on their (the 
eastern) side of the majestic mountain. The true history of this 
ancient feud is supposed to be given in the following myth, which 
I derived from the sage Tearikitaraaere :— 
There once lived at Avarua, close to the sea, a divinity named 
“The Tongan” (Tonga-iti) and his wife Rangatira,{ usually 
known as “The Beauty” (Te Ari) One day “The Beauty” said 
to her husband, ‘“‘ What a lovely creature is yon spotted lizard! 
Would that you were like him !” 
Tn a moment the complaisant husband entered the lizard. But 
when the fickle beauty perceived that her once noble husband 
had actually changed into a crawling reptile, she vented her 
disgust in the well-known song— 
“The fair Rangatira is angry with the Tongan. 
Disgusted at his altered form. 
She will henceforth deem herself a widow 
At this the crafty husband remarked, “What a beautiful 
cuttle-fish is that I see yonder on the reef! I wish you would 
enter it!” Pleased at this fancy, Rangatira at once did so, but 
only to earn the disgust of her husband. In her turn she was 
greatly vexed, and, intent on immediate revenge, she dived to the 
{?? 
t Chief or chieftainess. 
