452 MYSTIC ISLES 



Chaldeans had a similar legend. Ninkigal, goddess of 

 the regions of the dead, ordered Simtar, her attendant, 

 to restore hfe to Ishtar with the "waters of life." 



Naula-a-Maihea of Oahu, not far from Honolulu, 

 was upset from his canoe while paddling to Kauai, and 

 was swallowed hy a whale, which kindly threw him up 

 on the beach of Wailua. 



Kana-loa and Kane-Apua, prophets, walked about 

 the world, causing water to flow from rocks, as did 

 Moses, and in the ancient litany, recited by priest and 

 congregation, the responses of "Ilooia, e oia!" meant 

 "It is true!" as does Amen, the response of Christian 

 litanies to-day. The custom of using holy water pre- 

 vailed all over Polynesia. 



"The ocean which surrounds the earth was made salt 

 by God so it should not stink," said the legend, "and to 

 keep it salt is the special work of God." 



To celebrate God's act, the priests of Polynesia 

 blessed waters for purification, for prayer, and for pub- 

 lic and private ceremonies, and to exorcise demons and 

 drive away diseases, as the priests of America and 

 Europe do. Holy water was called ha wai hapu a 

 Kane, and from the baptizing of the new-born child to 

 the sprinkling of the dying its sacred uses were many. 

 To-day the older people use these pagan ablutions to 

 alleviate pain and cure maladies. The old Greeks used 

 salt water for the same purposes, and had holy-water 

 fonts at the temple gates, as do the Catholic churches 

 to-day. 



Levy and Woronick believed, or pridefully affected 

 to believe, that at a remote period a band of Israelites, 

 perhaps one of the lost tribes carried away by the 



