192 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCAES. 
The gods and men^ the animals, the air, earth, and sea, 
were by some supposed to originate in the procreative 
power of the gods. One of the legends of their origin and 
descent, furnished to some of the Missionaries, by whom 
it has been recorded, states, that Taaroa was born of 
Night, or proceeded from Chaos, and was not made by 
any other god. His consort, Ofeufeumaiterai, also un¬ 
created, proceeded from the joo, or night, Oro, the 
great national idol of Tahiti, Eimeo, and some of the 
Leeward Islands, was the son of Taaroa and Ofeufeu¬ 
maiterai. Oro took a goddess to wife, who became the 
mother of two sons. These four male and two female 
deities constituted the whole of their highest rank of 
divinities, according to the traditions of the priests of 
Tahiti—though the late king informed Mr. Nott that 
there was another god, superior to them all, whose name 
was Rumia^ he did not, however, meet with any of 
their priests or bards who knew any thing about him, 
Raa was also ranked among the principal deities; 
although inferior to Taaroa and Oro, he was supposed to 
be an independent being; but nothing of consequence is 
ascribed to him in the native fables. His wife, Otupapa, 
who was also a divinity, bore him three sons and two 
daughters, Tane, the tutelar idol of Huahine, was also 
numbered among the uncreated gods, considered as 
having proceeded from the state of Night, or Chaos. 
His goddess was called Taufairei. They were the parents 
of eight sons, who were all classed with the most power¬ 
ful gods, and received the highest honours. Among the 
sons of Tane was Temeharo, the tutelar deity of Pomare’s 
family. 
The most popular traditions in the Leeward Islands 
differed in several minor points from the above, which 
