332 THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY vill 



In Tahiti and the adjacent islands, Moerenhout 

 (t. i. p. 471) makes the very interesting obser- 

 vation, not only that idols were often absent, but 

 that, where they existed, the images of the gods 

 served merely as depositories for the proper 

 representatives of the divinity. Each of these 

 was called a maro aurou, and was a kind of girdle 

 artistically adorned with red, yellow, blue, and 

 black feathers the red feathers being especially 

 important which were consecrated and kept as 

 sacred objects within the idols. They were worn 

 by great personages on solemn occasions, and con- 

 ferred upon their wearers a sacred and almost 

 divine character. There is no distinct evidence 

 that the maro aurou was supposed to have any 

 special efficacy in divination, but one cannot fail to 

 see a certain parallelism between this holy girdle, 

 which endowed its wearer with a particular 

 sanctity, and the ephod. 



According to the Rev. R. Taylor, the New 

 Zealanders formerly used the word Jcarakia (now 

 employed for " prayer ") to signify a " spell, charm, 

 or incantation," and the utterance of these karakias 

 constituted the chief part of their cult. In the 

 south, the officiating priest had a small image, 

 "about eighteen inches long, resembling a peg 

 with a carved head," which reminds one of the 

 form commonly attributed to the teraphim. 



The priest first bandaged a fillet of red parrot feathers under 

 the god's chin, which was called his pahau or beard ; this 



