POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
61 
we endeavoured to direct them to the records of that great 
event preserved in the Scriptures ^ in the traditionary ac¬ 
counts of which^ perpetuated, as they were likely to he, 
by the descendants of the family of Noah for many 
generations, their own traditions, with those of the Sand¬ 
wich Islanders, and other neighbouring tribes, had pro¬ 
bably originated. I have frequently conversed with the 
people on the subject, both in the northern and southern 
groups, but could never learn that they had any accounts 
of the windows of heaven having been opened, or the 
rain having descended. In the legend of Ruahatu, the 
Toamarama of Tahiti, and the Kai of Kahinarii in 
Hawaii, the inundation is ascribed to the rising of the 
waters of the sea. In each account, the anger of the 
god is considered as the cause of the inundation of the 
world, and the destruction of its inhabitants. The 
element employed in effecting it is the same as that 
mentioned in the Bible ; and in the Tahitian tradition, 
the boat or canoe being used, as the means of safety to the 
favoured family, and the preservation of the only domestic 
animals found on the islands, appear corrupted fragments 
of the memorial of Noah, the ark, and its inmates. 
These, with other minor points of coincidence between 
the native traditions and the Mosaic account of the 
deluge are striking, and warrant the inference, that 
although the former are deficient in many particulars, 
and have much that is fabulous in their composition, 
they yet refer to the same event. 
The memorial of an universal deluge, found among all 
nations existing in those communities, by which civiliza¬ 
tion, literature, science, and the arts, have been carried 
to the highest perfection, as well as among the most 
untutored and barbarous, preserved through all the 
