VARIOUS TUTELARY DIVINITIES. 333 
The most benevolent of their gods were Roo or 
Tane, Temaru, Feimata, and Teruharuhatai. These 
were invoked by the tahua faatere, or expelling 
priests; and were supposed to be able to re¬ 
strain the effects of sorcery, or expel the evil 
spirits, which, from the incantations of the sor¬ 
cerer, had entered the sufferer. They had also 
patron deities of the healing art. Tama and 
Tetuahuruhuru were the gods of surgery; and their 
assistance was implored in reducing dislocations, 
healing fractures, bruises, &c.; while Oititi, or 
Rearea, was their Esculapius, or god of physic. 
In addition to these, there were gods who presided 
over the mechanic arts. The first was Oihanu, or 
Ofanu, the god of husbandry; the chief of the 
others was Taneetehia, the god of carpenters, 
builders, canoe-wrights, and all who wrought in 
wood. Nenia and Topea, the gods of those who 
thatched houses, and especially of those who 
finished the angles where the thatch on each side 
joined. With these, others of a more repulsive 
character might be associated, but I shall only 
mention Heva, the god of ghosts and apparitions, 
and Jliro the god of thieves. To the list, from 
which the greater part of the above are taken, in¬ 
cluding nearly one hundred of the objects formerly 
worshipped by the nation, a number of the prin¬ 
cipal family idols of the king and chiefs might be 
added, as every family of any antiquity or rank 
had its tutelar idol. 
The general name by which their objects of 
worship were designated was atua , which is perhaps 
most appropriately translated god. This word is 
totally different in its meaning, as well as sound, 
from the word varua , spirit, although that is 
sometimes applied to the gods: when the people 
