78 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
of men, and cut down one of the trees, and carve 
it into an image. As they approached Kccrualcoi, a 
small valley on the side of one of the mountains in 
Morokai, they were surprised at beholding a clump of 
trees, where there had been none before, the gods 
having caused them to grow up in the course of the 
preceding night. Into these trees, Tane, and some 
other gods, are reported to hav^ entered. When they 
arrived at the spot, the gods, by some sign, directed 
Kaneakama which tree to cut down. They began to 
work with their short-handled stone hatchets ; but the 
chips flying on the bodies of one or two of them, they 
instantly expired. Terrified at the dreadful power of 
the wood, the others threw down their hatchets, and 
refused to fell the tree; being urged by Kaneakama, 
they resumed their work; not, however, till they cover¬ 
ed their bodies and faces with native cloth, and the 
leaves of the ti plant, leaving only a small aperture 
opposite one of their eyes. Instead of their hatchets, 
they took their long daggers, or pahoas, with which 
they cut down the tree, and carved out the image. 
From this circumstance, the natives say, the idol de¬ 
rived its name, Karai-pdhoa, which is literally, dagger 
cut or carved; from karai , to chip with an adze, or 
carve, and pahoa , a dagger. 
Excepting the deities supposed to preside over vol¬ 
canoes, no god was so much dreaded by the people as 
Karaipahoa. All who were thought to have died by 
poison, were said to have been slain by him. 
Before I left the party, I could not help stating to 
them the striking identity between some of their tradi¬ 
tions and those of the Tahitians ; and expressed my 
conviction that both nations had the same origin. They 
