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principal deity among the South Americans 3 the atua^ or 
tua, of the South Sea islanders, and the tev, which is said 
to be the word for god in the Aztec or Mexican lan¬ 
guage, the deviyo of the Singhalese, and the deva of 
the Sanscrit. 
The objects of worship among the Tahitians, next to the 
atua or gods, were the oramatuas tiis or spirits. These 
were supposed to reside in the po, or world of night, and 
were never invoked but by wizards or sorcerers, who im¬ 
plored their aid for the destruction of an enemy, or the 
injury of some person whom they were hired to destroy. 
They were considered a different order of beings from 
the gods, a kind of intermediate class between them 
and the human race, though in their prayers all the 
attributes of the gods were ascribed to them. The ora¬ 
matuas were the spirits of departed fathers, mothers, 
brothers, sisters, children, &c. The natives were greatly 
afraid of them, and presented offerings, to avoid being 
cursed or destroyed, when they were employed by the 
sorcerers. 
They seem to have been regarded as a sort of demons. 
In the Leeward Islands, the chief oramatuas were spirits 
of departed warriors, who had distinguished themselves 
by ferocity and murder, attributes of character usually 
supposed to belong to these evil genii. Each celebrated 
tii was honoured with an image, through which it was 
supposed his influence was exerted. The spirits of the 
reigning chiefs were united to this class, and the skulls 
of deceased rulers, kept with the images, were honoured 
with the same worship. Some idea of what was re¬ 
garded as their ruling passion, may be inferred from 
the fearful apprehensions constantly entertained by all 
classes. They were supposed to be exceedingly irrita- 
u. 2 D 
