SHARKS CONSIDERED SACRED. 329 
part the latter sustains in their tradition of the 
deluge, is not known; but their names are fre¬ 
quently mentioned. They were generally called 
atua mao , or shark gods ; not that the shark was 
itself the god, but the natives supposed the marine 
gods employed the sharks as the agents of their 
vengeance. 
The large blue shark was the only kind sup¬ 
posed to be engaged by the gods; and a variety 
of the most strange and fabulous accounts of the 
deeds they have performed are related by their 
priests. These voracious animals were said always 
to recognize a priest on board any canoe, to come 
at his call, retire at his bidding, and to spare him 
in the event of a wreck, though they might devour 
his companions, especially if they were not his 
maru, or worshippers. I have been repeatedly 
told by an intelligent man, formerly a priest of 
an atua mao, that the shark through which his 
god was manifested, swimming in the sea, carried 
either him or his father on its back from Raiatea 
to Huahine, a distance of twenty miles. The shark 
was not the only fish the Tahitians considered 
sacred. In addition to these, they had gods who 
were supposed to preside over the fisheries, and to 
direct to their coasts the various shoals by which 
they were periodically visited. Tahauru was the 
principal among these; but there were five or six 
others, whose aid the fishermen were accustomed 
to invoke, either before launching their canoes, or 
while engaged at sea. Matatini was the god of 
fishing-net makers. 
Next in number and importance to the gods of 
the sea, were those of the aerial regions, some¬ 
times worshipped under the figure of a bird. The 
chief of these were Veromatautoru and Tairibu , 
