484 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
the ocean,’^ or the deep : from huri^ to turn over or 
up, the reduplication of the word denoting a repeti¬ 
tion or continuance of the action^ tia^ to erect or to 
stand upright; and maona^ the deep or ocean. Some¬ 
times they have approached the shore, and although 
I do not recollect any instance of their actually de¬ 
stroying persons at sea, I am inclined to presume 
such a calamity must have occurred, or they would 
not be such objects of terror to the people. 
During our abode in Huahine, a number of natives 
were on a voyage from the Leeward to the Windward 
Islands, in a boat belonging to Mr. Williams, when 
a waterspout approached them. They had heard that, 
when seen by navigators, they sometimes averted the 
threatened danger by discharging their artillery at the 
waterspout. Having a loaded musket in the boat, 
they at first thought of firing at the advancing 
column; but as it approached, the agitation of the 
water was so great, and the phenomenon so impos¬ 
ing and appalling, that their hearts failed; and when 
it was, according to their own account, within a 
hundred yards of their boat, and advancing directly 
upon them, they laid the musket down. The man at 
the helm now shut his eyes, and his companions threw 
themselves flat on their faces in the bottom of the 
boat. This is the exact position in which a captive, 
doomed to death, awaited the fatal stroke of a victor 
by whom he had been overcome in battle. After 
waiting in fearful suspense several minutes, the 
helmsman, hearing a rushing noise, involuntarily 
opened his eyes, and saw the column passing, with 
great velocity, a short distance from the stern of the 
boat. He immediately called his companions, who 
