RELIGION". 287 



The Samoan sent down his daughter Toll in the shape of a 

 snipe to survey the world below. As she saw nothing but sea, 

 her father rolled down a stone, which became one island, and 

 another which became a second, and so on. The first growth 

 of such islands was wild vine. They were pulled out of the 

 ground and heaped up to rot, so that worms were produced. 

 Out of these worms grew men and women. 



Oro, the god of war, was the mighty protector of Tahiti. His 

 father, Taaroa, was the son of night, for here also, as among the 

 Grreeks, all originally proceeded from darkness. 



Hiro, the Polynesian Neptune, likewise played a considerable 

 part in legendary lore. Once the monstei-s of the deep had 

 lulled him with a profound sleep while the god of winds raised 

 a terrible storm to destroy a vessel in which his friends were 

 embarked. Their destruction seemed inevitable, but a good 

 spirit penetrated into the sea-grot where the god was dozing, 

 awoke him from his slumbers, and told him of the danger his 

 followers were in. Instantly he rose to the surface, where his 

 presence scared away the weaker storm-god, and his friends 

 were saved. 



In the Sandwich Islands, the chief divinities resided in the 

 burning craters of Mauna Loa, for no phenomenon of nature 

 was equal in terrific grandeur to these explosions of subter- 

 ranean fire, and the mysterious powers which caused them were 

 necessarily prominent in power. There dwelt Pele the supreme 

 goddess of fire, with a whole train of subordinate deities, such as 

 Kamoho ' the king of steam,' Teoahitamatana ' the fire-spitting 

 son of war,' Hiatawawahilani ' the sky-rending eloud-compeller.' 

 The roar of the volcano was the music to which their deities 

 danced, their delight w-as to swim in the waves of the fiery sea. 

 Never did these dreadful beings leave their abodes for a 

 beneficial purpose, but only to receive offerings or to wreak 

 vengeance : the quaking of the earth, the outpouring lava stream 

 announced their coming. This religion of dread placed of 

 course an enormous power in the handa of the priests, who pro- 

 fited largely by the terrors of a credulous people. 



As in Greece, the divinities of the Polynesian Pantheon were 

 worshipped under the palpable form of idols in large temples, 

 or inclosures ; but while Apollo or Jove fashioned by the hand 

 of a Phidias or Scopas still command the admiration of a world 



