24 TONGA TABOO. 



gods to deal with, and do not concern their more elevated natures. 

 The only crime against the higher gods is sacrilege, committed 

 towards their temples, or an improper use of the offerings. They 

 call their oldest god Maui, and say that he drew the world or islands 

 out of the sea with a hook and line : the first lie drew up he named 

 Ata, which is referred to Pylstart; the next was Tonga, with all 

 its group of islands ; then Lofanga and the other Hapai islands ; 

 and last, the Vavao Group. After he had finished his work, he came 

 and fixed his residence at Tonga. In those days the sky was so near 

 the earth that men were obliged to crawl. One day Maui is repre- 

 sented as having met an old woman with water in a cocoa-nut shell, 

 of whom he begged some drink, which she refused vmtil he promised 

 to send the sky up high, which he did, by pushing it up, and there 

 it has remained ever since. To Maui is ascribed the origin of that 

 most useful tree called toa, the iron-wood (Casuarina), which in time 

 reached the sky, and enabled the god called Etumatubua to descend. 

 Maui had two sons, the eldest called Maui Atalonga, and the younger 

 Kijikiji, but by whom is not known. Kijikiji obtained some fire from 

 the earth, and taught them to cook their food, which they found was 

 good, and from that day food has been cooked, which before was eaten 

 raw. In order to preserve the fire, Kijikiji commanded it to go into 

 certain trees, whence it is now obtained by friction. They further 

 say, that during the time old Maui was on the earth, the only light 

 was like that of the moon, and that neither day nor night existed; 

 that Maui and his two sons live under the earth, where he sleeps 

 most of his time ; that when he turns himself over, he produces 

 earthcpiakes, which they call " mofooeke." Maui is not now wor- 

 shipped by any tribe, nor is he loved or feared. 



Tangaloa, their second god, is thought to be nearly as old as Maui, 

 and equal to him in dignity. He resides in the skies, which the 

 Tongese believe to be very numerous. Hikuleo is the god of spirits, 

 and is the third in order of time; he dwells in a cave in the island. 

 Bulotu is most remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from 

 going farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will 

 admit of. In this cave he has feasts, and lives with his wives, by 

 whom he has many children ; he has absolute power over all, and all 

 are forced to go to him ; he is a being without love or goodness ; to 

 him the spirits of the chiefs and mataboles go, becoming his servants, 

 and are forced to do his will, and to serve for what purpose he pleases ; 

 he even uses them to make fences of, or as bars to his gates ; and 



