TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE. 393 
and the Kai of Kahinarii in Hawaii, the inunda¬ 
tion is ascribed to the rising of the waters of the 
sea. In each account, the anger of the god is 
considered as the cause of the inundation of the 
world, and the destruction of its inhabitants. The 
element employed in effecting it is the same as 
that mentioned in the Bible ; and in the Tahitian 
tradition, the boat or canoe being used, as the 
means of safety to the favoured family, and the 
preservation of the only domestic animals found 
on the islands, appear corrupted fragments of the 
memorial of Noah, the ark, and its inmates. These, 
with other minor points of coincidence between 
the native traditions and the Mosaic account of 
the deluge, are striking, and warrant the inference, 
that although the former are deficient in many 
particulars, and have much that is fabulous in their 
composition, they yet refer to the same event. 
The memorial of an universal deluge, found 
among all nations existing in those communities, 
by which civilization, literature, science, and the 
arts, have been carried to the highest perfection, 
as well as among the most untutored and barba¬ 
rous, preserved through all the migrations and 
vicissitudes of the human family, from the remote 
antiquity of its occurrence to the present time, is a 
most decisive evidence of the authenticity of reve¬ 
lation. The brief yet satisfactory testimony to 
this event, preserved in the oral traditions of a 
people secluded for ages from intercourse with 
other parts of the world, furnishes strong addi¬ 
tional evidence that the scripture record is irre¬ 
fragable. In several respects, the Polynesian 
account resembles not only the Mosaic, but those 
preserved by the earliest families of the postdilu¬ 
vian world, and supports the presumption that 
