22 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



MYTHOLOGY. 



The religious belief of the Polynesians reminds us of the classical 

 mythology. There is a small number of gods of the first class, com- 

 monly not more than ten, who have various attributes. One is the 

 creator of the islands, another the god of war, another of thieving, 

 another the ruler of the region of departed spirits, &c. After these 

 come a multitude of inferior deities, gods of the sea and the winds ; 

 tutelar divinities of islands, towns, and families, with malignant 

 sprites haunting the woods, caves, and desert places, whose delight it 

 is to torment and annoy the human race. Many of the gods are said 

 to have been men deified after death, or sometimes, perhaps, during 

 life. The first rulers of a country frequently received divine honours. 

 This was the case with 'Oro at Raiatea, Tangiia at Rarotonga, and 

 Atea at the Sandwich Islands. 



With one, or perhaps two exceptions, there was no deity who was 

 the object of worship throughout the greater part of Polynesia. The 

 gods of Samoa were unlike those of New Zealand, nor did the latter 

 country have the same objects of worship as the Society Islands. The 

 eastern groups, however, (Tahiti, Rarotonga, Hawaii, &c.,) had several 

 of their gods in common. Tane, Tu, Rongo, (Rono or Roo,) were wor- 

 shipped in most of them, and appear to have been of Tahitian origin. 



The exception alluded to, is in the case of Tangaloa, (or Tarawa, 

 Tanaloa, Taaroa,) who is worshipped in all the islands, except, per- 

 haps, New Zealand. He is regarded as self- existent, and as the creator 

 of the earth, or at least the islands of the sea, and of the human 

 race. His usual epithet at Samoa is Tangaloa layi, heavenly Tanga- 

 loa. At Tahiti and Rarotonga he is termed Taaroa or Tangaroa nui, 

 great Taaroa. At the little newly discovered island of Fakaafo, the 

 natives spoke of him with great awe, as " Tangaloa i lunga i te langi," 

 Tangaloa above in the heavens. At Depeyster's Group the natives 

 at first refused to pronounce the name, and then said that Tangaloa 

 was sacred or tabu on their island. It seems likely that this was the 

 original deity of the Polynesians, perhaps, before they left their pris- 

 tine seat in the East Indian Archipelago. In the Tongan traditions, 

 he is represented as living at Bulotu, a kind of terrestrial paradise, 

 situated far to the northwest, and sending thence his two sons to 

 people the islands. 



