190 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
with the people of Maeva^ at the meeting for inquiries, 
these were frequent topics of conversation. 
It may, perhaps, be well, in this place, to introduce 
some account of the mythology of the islanders, and the 
principal features of their system of idolatry, although 
so many incidental notices of the same have already 
occurred, that it has been in some degree anticipated. 
Like that of all the ancient idolatrous nations, the my¬ 
thology of the South Sea Islanders is but an assemblage of 
obscure fables brought by the first settlers, or originated 
in remarkable facts of their own history, and handed down 
by tradition through successive generations. If so much 
that is mysterious and fabulous has been mingled with 
the history of those nations among whom hieroglyphics 
or the use of letters has prevailed, it might be expected 
to exist in a greater degree, where oral communication, 
and that often under the fantastic garb of rude poetry, 
is the only mode of preserving the traditional knowledge 
of former times. 
Distinguished, however, as the Polynesian mythology 
is by confusion and absurdity, it is not more so than the 
ancient systems of some of the most enlightened and 
cultivated pagan nations, of the past or present time. 
It was not more characterized by mystery and fable, than 
by its abominations and its cruelty. Its objects of wor¬ 
ship were sometimes monsters of iniquity. They had 
lords many and gods many,’’ but seldom attributed to 
them any moral attributes. Among the multitude of 
their gods, there was no one whom they regarded as a 
supreme intelligence or presiding spiritual being, pos¬ 
sessing any moral perfections, resembling those which 
are inseparable from every sentiment we entertain of the 
true God, 
