204 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
I had repeated conversations with a tahua-tarai-too^ a 
maker of gods, whom I met with on a visit to Raiatea. 
As he appeared a serious inquirer after truth, and I could 
place some confidence in what he related, I was anxious 
to know his own opinion as to the idols it had been his 
business to make,—whether he really believed they were 
the powerful beings which the natives supposed 5 and 
if so, what constituted their great power over the other 
parts of the tree from which they were hewn ? He 
assured me, that although at times he thought it was ail 
deception, and only practised his trade to obtain the 
property he received for his work; yet at other times 
he really thought the gods he himself had made, were 
powerful beings. It was not, he said, from the altera¬ 
tion his tools had effected in the appearance of the 
wood, or the carving with which they were ornamented, 
but because they had been taken to the temple, and 
were filled with the atua, that they became so power¬ 
ful. The images of aito-wood were only exceeded in 
durability by those of stone. Some of the latter 
were calcareous or siliceous, but the greater part were 
rude, uncarved, angular columns of basalt, various in 
size, and destitute of carving or polish; they were 
clothed or ornamented with native cloth. 
The sacred flag was also used in processions, and 
regarded as an emblem of their deities. 
Throughout Polynesia, the ordinary medium of com¬ 
municating or extending supernatural powers, was the 
red feather of a small bird found in many of the islands, 
and the beautiful long tail-feathers of the tropic^ or man- 
of-war bird. For these feathers the gods were supposed to 
have a strong predilection; they were the most valuable 
offerings that could be presented; to them the power or 
