1769 RELIGION 173 
nothing far surpasses their comprehension. They observed, 
however, that every animal and every plant produced others, 
and adopted the idea; hence it is necessary to suppose two 
original beings, one of whom they called £ttoomoo, and the 
other, which they say was a rock, Tepapa. These, at some 
very remote period of time, produced men and women, and 
from their children is derived all that is seen or known to 
us. Some things, however, they imagine, increased among 
themselves, as the stars, the different species of plants, and 
even the different divisions of time—the year, say they, 
produced the months, who in their turn produced the days. 
Their gods are numerous, and are divided into two 
classes, the greater and the lesser gods, and in each class 
some are of both sexes. The chief of all is Tarroatiettoomoo, 
the father of all things, whom they emphatically style the 
“Causer of Earthquakes”; his son, Zane, is, however, 
much more generally invoked, as he is supposed to be the 
more active deity. The men worship the male gods, and 
the women the females; the men, however, supply the 
office of priest for both sexes. 
They believe in a heaven and a hell: the first they call 
Tavirua Porat, the other tiahoboo, Heaven they describe as 
a place of great happiness, while hell is only a place enjoy- 
ing less of the luxuries of life: to this, they say, the 
souls of the inferior people go after death, and those of 
the chiefs and rich men go to heaven. This is one of the 
strongest instances to show that their religion is totally 
independent of morality, no actions regarding their neigh- 
bours are supposed to come at all under the cognisance of 
the diety: a humble regard only is to be shown him, and 
his assistance asked on all occasions with much ceremony 
and some sacrifice, from whence are derived the perquisites 
of the priests. 
The Yahowa, or priest, is here a hereditary dignity. 
These priests are numerous: the chief of them is generally the 
younger brother of some very good family, and ranks next 
to the king. All priests are commonly more learned than 
the laity: their learning consists chiefly in knowing well 
