438 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
row of large teeth, resembling in no small degree the 
cogs in the wheel of an engine, and adapted to excite 
terror rather than inspire confidence in the beholder. 
Some of their idols were of stone, and many were con¬ 
structed with a kind of wicker-work covered with red 
feathers. 
In the evening our conversation at the governor’s 
turned on the origin of the people of Hawaii, and the 
other islands of the Pacific, a topic which often en¬ 
gaged our attention, and respecting which, in the various 
inquiries we made, we often had occasion to regret that 
the traditions of the natives furnished such scanty in¬ 
formation, on a subject so interesting and important. 
This portion, however, though small, and surrounded by 
an incredible mass of fiction, is still worth preserving. 
The general opinions entertained by the natives 
themselves, relative to their origin, are, either that the 
first inhabitants were created on the islands, descended 
from the gods, by whom they were first inhabited; or, 
that they came from a country which they called Tahiti. 
Many, as was the case with the chiefs at Maui, and 
also the governor at this place, suppose that, according 
to the accounts of the priests of Tane, Tanaroa, and 
other gods, the first man was made by Haumea , a 
female deity. We have not, however, met with any 
who pretend to know of what material he was formed. 
Others, again, suppose the chiefs to have descended 
from Akea, who appears to have been the connecting 
link between the gods and the men; but this supposes 
the chiefs and the common people to have been derived 
from different sources. The accounts they have of 
their ancestors having arrived in a canoe from Tahiti, 
are far more general and popular among the people. 
