302 HAWAIIAN ROMANCE OF LATEIKAWATI [ETH. ANN. 383 
at will, of seeing what is going on at a distance, and of bringing the 
dead to life. As a man on earth he is often miraculously born or 
miraculously preserved at birth, which event is heralded by por- 
tents in the heavens. He is often brought up by some supernatural 
guardian, grows with marvelous rapidity, has an enormous appetite— 
a proof of godlike strain, because only the chief in Polynesian eco- 
nomic life has the resources freely to indulge his animal appetite— 
and phenomenal beauty or prodigious skill, strength, or subtlety in 
meeting every competitor. His adventures follow the general type 
of mythical hero tales. Often he journeys to the heavens to seek some 
gift of his ancestors, the ingenious fancy keeping always before it 
an objective picture of this heavenly superstructure—bearing him 
thither upon a cloud or bird, on the path of a cobweb, a trailing 
vine, or a rainbow, or swung thither on the tip of a bamboo stalk. 
Arrived in the region of air, by means of tokens or by name chants, 
he proves his ancestry and often substantiates his claim in tests of 
power, ability thus sharing with blood the determining of family 
values. If his deeds are among men, they are of a marvelous nature. 
Often his godlike nature is displayed by apparent sloth and indo- 
lence on his part, his followers performing miraculous feats while 
he remains inactive; hence he is reproached for idleness by the un- 
witting. Sometimes he acts as a transformer, changing the form of 
mountains and valleys with a step or stroke; sometimes as a culture 
hero bringing gifts to mankind and teaching them the arts learned 
from the gods, or supplying food by making great hauls of fish 
by means of a miraculous hook, or planting rich crops; sometimes he 
is an avenger, pitting his strength against a rival demigod who has 
done injury to a relative or patron of his own, or even by tricks out- 
witting the mischievous akua. Finally, he remains on earth only 
when, by transgressing some kupua custom or in contest with a supe- 
rior kupua, he is turned into stone, many rock formations about the 
islands being thus explained and consequently worshiped as dwelling 
places of gods. Otherwise he is deified in the heavens, or goes to 
dwell in the underworld with the gods, from whence he may still 
direct and inspire his descendants on earth if they worship him, 
or even at times appear to them again on earth in some objective 
form. 
4. THE EARTHLY PARADISE; DIVINITY IN MAN AND NATURE 
For according to the old myth, Sky and Earth were nearer of 
access in the days when the first gods brought forth their children— 
the winds, the root plants, trees, and the inhabitants of the sea, but 
1 With the stories quoted from Fornander may be compared such wonder tales as 
are to be found in Kriimer, pp. 108, 116, 121, 413-419; Fison, pp. 32, 49, 99; Grey, p. 
59; Turner, Samoa, p. 209; White 1, 82, etc. 
