THROUGH HAWAII. 
75 
Tiha, a female idol, they said was also held in great 
veneration by the people of Maui, and received nearly 
the same homage and offerings as Keoroeva. 
The people of Ranai, an adjacent island, had a num^ 
ber of idols, but those best known by the chiefs with 
whom I was conversing, were Raeapua and Kaneapua, 
two large carved stone images, representing the deities 
supposed to preside over the sea, and worshipped chiefly 
by fishermen. 
Mooarii, (king of lizards or alligators,) a shark, was 
also a celebrated marine god, worshipped by the inha¬ 
bitants of Morokai, another island in the neighbour¬ 
hood. The chiefs informed me, that on almost every 
point of land projecting any distance into the sea, a 
temple was formerly erected for his worship. Several 
kinds of fish arrive in shoals on their coast, every year, 
in their respective seasons. The first fish of each kind, 
taken by the fishermen, were always carried to the 
heiau, and offered to their god, whose influence they 
imagined had driven them to their shores. In some 
remote period, perhaps, they had observed the sharks 
chasing or devouring these fish, as they passed along 
among their islands, and from this circumstance had 
been led to deify the monster, supposing themselves 
indebted to him for the bountiful supplies thus furnished 
by a gracious Providence. 
They had a number of sea gods, besides those whom 
they imagined directed the shoals of fishes to their 
shores. They had also gods who controlled the winds 
and changed the weather. During a storm, or other 
season of danger at sea, they offered up their paro, or 
pule Jcurana , a particular kind of prayer; but it is not 
known to what idol they addressed it. On these occa- 
