618 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
suddenly fail, hurried back to the fountain to ascertain the cause. 
They discovered that the direction of the long wonder-working 
reed had been altered. They soon came upon the unblushing 
Toutika, and high words ensued. The lizard and cuttle-fish gods 
claimed the fountain as theirs. Toutika as positively claimed it 
as his. Toutika demanded proof. Said the Avaruan divinities, 
“We have appointed two servants of ours as guardians of this 
spring.” It was accordingly agreed that to them the final appeal 
should be made, and the party to whom these fairies might 
respond should be regarded as the true lord of the fountain. The 
lizard and the cuttle-fish gods then confidently and in unison 
chaunted to the guardians of the spring, but there was no response 
whatever. 
Toutika now exultingly exclaimed, “Did I not tell you that 
the water is not yours?” The Avaruan divinities faintly said to 
the interloper, “It is your turn to address the fairies of the 
spring.” Toutika sang these words— 
“Oh, Niu! oh, Nana! come forth from your hiding-place! 
Transform yourselves into a stream, a vast volume of water, 
And leap, leap with resplendent brilliancy, oh, Niu !” 
At this the waters, which had entirely ceased to flow during 
the long dispute of the gods, rushed forth from their secret hiding- 
place, and quickly moved on to the edge of the cliff towards 
Ngatangiia, to which the reed still kept pointing. Stung with 
disappointment and rage, the lizard and cuttle-fish gods chased 
the advancing stream in the vain hope of checking its progress. 
But without heeding their futile attempts, the stream rushed on 
and on, until, reaching the perpendicular cliff, it took a wild and 
defiant leap far down into the deep gorge at the base of the 
eastern side of the mountain. The angry Avaruan gods dared 
not follow the beautiful waterfall through fear of being dashed to 
pieces, so they slunk back as best they could to their own terri- 
tory near the sea. The dejected lizard god, Tonga-iti, was only 
too glad to sun himself after his long and bootless journey ; hence 
it has come to pass that all his descendants are yellow, sallow- 
looking, spiritless reptiles, who can find nothing better to do than 
to bask through the livelong day in the sun. Thus shamet has 
caused the pretty spots of their ancestor to change into a dirty 
yellow complexion. 
As for Rangatira (the cuttlefish god), she was so utterly 
wearied with travelling through fern and grass from the summit 
of “The Mist,” that she gladly rested in a shady spot, thenceforth 
named “ Parai,” or “ Resting-place.” 
Such is the myth connected with the fountain of ‘The Mist.” 
The “ Parai” referred to is the ancient “resting” or burial-place 
of the Makea kings, who, down to 1823, worshipped the cuttle-fish, 
t The Hervey Islanders speak of a person being “ yellow with shame”; and not without 
reason, as paleness thus shows itself on their dark skins. 
