THROUGH HAWAII. 
899 
Nights’ Entertainments are tame. He is described as 
haying been so tall, that he could walk through the 
sea from one island to another; stand with one foot on 
the island of Oahu, and the other on Tauai, which is 
seventy miles distant. 
The tale which recounts his adventures, states, that 
the Hawaiians, on one occasion, offended a king of 
Tahiti; who, in revenge, deprived them of the sun; 
that after the land had remained some time in dark¬ 
ness, Kana walked through the sea to Tahiti, where 
Kahoaarii, who according to their traditions made the 
sun, then resided. He obtained the sun, returned, and 
fixed it in the heavens, where it has remained ever 
since. Various other adventures, equally surprising, 
are related. The numerous tales of fiction preserved 
by oral tradition among the people, and from the recital 
of which they derive so much pleasure, prove that they 
are not deficient in imagination; and lead us to hope, 
that their mental powers will be hereafter employed on 
subjects more consistent with truth, and productive of 
more pure and permanent gratification. 
In this part of the island there is another tradition 
very generally received by the natives, of a somewhat 
more interesting character; and as it may tend to illus¬ 
trate the history of the inhabitants, and the means by 
which the islands were peopled, I shall introduce it in 
this place. 
These traditions respect several visits, which in 
remote times some of the natives made to Nuuhiva and 
Tahuata, two islands in the Marquesian group, and to 
Tahiti, the principal of the Society Islands. One of 
these accounts the natives call, “ The Voyage of Karna- 
piikai,” in which they state that Kamapiikai (child 
