POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
191 
Like the most ancient nations^ they ascribe the ori¬ 
gin of all things to a state of chaos^ or darkness^ and 
even the first existence of their principal deities refer 
to this source. Taaroa^ Oro^ and Tane^ with other 
deities of the highest order^ are on this account said to 
be fanau po^ born of Night. But the origin of the gods, 
and their priority of existence in comparison with the 
formation of the earth, being a matter of uncertainty 
even among the native priests, involves the whole 
in the greatest obscurity. Taaroa, the Tanaroa of 
the Hawaians, and the Tangaroa of the Western Isles, 
is generally spoken of by the Tahitians as the first 
principal god, uncreated, and existing from the begin¬ 
ning, or from the time he emerged from the po^ or 
world of darkness. 
Several of their taata-paari, or wise men, pretend that, 
according to other traditions, Taaroa was only a man 
who was deified after death. By some he is spoken of 
as the progenitor of the other gods, the creator of the 
heavens, the earth, the sea, man, beasts, fowls, fishes, &c.; 
while by others it is stated, that the existence of the 
land, or the universe, was anterior to that of the gods. 
There does not appear to be any thing in the Tahitian 
mythology corresponding with the doctrine of the Tri¬ 
nity, or the Hindoo tradition of Brahma, Vishnou, and 
Siva. Taaroa was the former and the father of the gods ; 
Oro was his first son: but there were three classes or 
orders between Taaroa and Oro* As in the theogony 
of the ancients, a bird was a frequent emblem of deity; 
and in the body of a bird they supposed the god often 
approached the marae, where it left the bird, and entered 
the too, or image, through which it was supposed to 
communicate with the priest. 
