48 DR. H. B. GUPPY. 
and Long Before (p. 304), gives a tradition relating to the 
origin of Savage Island, an upraised atoll, about 100 feet high, 
which lies some 200 miles east of the Tonga Group. The 
present inhabitants trace their descent from two men, named 
Huanaki and Fao, who swam from Tonga. They found the 
island just above the surface, and washed by the ocean. ‘They 
got up on it, stamped with the foot, up it rose, the waters 
ran off, and the dry land appeared. ‘They stamped again, and 
up sprang the grass, trees, and other vegetation. Then they 
caused a man and a woman to grow from the J plant, and 
from these sprang the present inhabitants. 
An interesting Manguaian tradition, related by the Rev. 
Wyatt Gill, in his Life in the Southern Isles (p. 80), refers to 
the early condition of Mangaia, after its emergence above the 
waves. This island, one of the Hervey Group, is an upraised 
atoll rismg to a height of about 300 feet. According to 
the native tradition, “the surface of Mangaia originally 
was everywhere a gentle slope to the sea, without a single 
depression or valley.” Through the subsequent rivalry of the 
gods of the Wind, the Rain, and the Ocean, who endeavoured 
to overwhelm the island and its inhabitants in their strife, 
the present agreeable diversity of hill and vale was eventually 
produced. 
It is very remarkable that all these legends relate to living 
and upraised atolls (Aitutaki, as I hold, probably belonging 
to the latter class). This circumstance seemingly points to the 
comparatively modern age of these coral islands ; and it is to 
be noticed that all the stages in the formation of an upraised 
atoll island are here illustrated. First, we have the totally 
submerged or shoal-like condition, represented in the instance 
of Manahiki, which was brought up by Maui’s fish-hook to 
the surface of the ocean. Then we have the living atoll as 
represented in the early condition of Savage Island and 
Aitutaki, the stage at which the native legends begin. After- 
wards we have these two islands upraised by god-like heroes 
to their present elevation above the sea. ‘Then follows the 
carving out by the denuding agencies of the smooth slopes of 
the uplifted atoll, in the manner described in the Mangaian 
tradition. Lastly, there spring up “the grass, trees, and 
other vegetation.” From these old traditions we may at 
least learn that the Pacific Islanders regarded the origin of 
these living and upraised atolls as due to a movement of 
upheaval. The submerged coral shoal was raised to the sur- 
face, and formed the living atolls of Manahiki and Rakaanga. 
The living atoll was further upheaved and formed the 
upraised islands now known as Mangaia, Aitutaki, and 
Savage Island. 
