POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
483 
whole of which appeared almost stationary^ until 
at length we lost sight of them altogether^ when the 
spirits of our native voyagers evidently revived. 
The natives of the South Sea Islands^ although 
scarcely alarmed at thunder and lightning, are at sea 
greatly terrified by the appearance of waterspouts. 
They occur much more frequently in the South than 
in the North Pacific, and although often seen among the 
Society Islands, are more rarely met with in the Sand¬ 
wich group. But throughout the Pacific, waterspouts 
of varied form and size are among the most frequent 
of the splendid phenomena, and mighty works of the 
Lord, which those behold who go down to the sea 
in ships, and do business upon the great waters. They 
are sublime objects of unusual interest, when viewed 
from the shore; but when beheld at sea, especially 
if near, and from a small and fragile bark, as 
we have seen them, it is almost impossible so to 
divest the mind of a sense of personal danger, as 
to contemplate with composure or with satisfaction 
their stately movement, or the rapid internal circular 
eddy of the waters. 
Nor is it easy for an individual, who has never be¬ 
held them in such a situation, to realize the sensa¬ 
tion produced, when the solitary voyagers, from their 
light canoe, or their deckless boat, dancing on every 
undulating wave, descry these liquid columns,” tower¬ 
ing from the surface of the water, uniting the ocean 
and the heavens, while the powerful agitation of the 
former indicates the mighty process by which they 
are sustained. By the natives of the Society Islands 
they are called huri huri tia moana^ the meaning of 
which probably is, turning, turning perpendicularly 
