TRADITIONS. 
395 
double canoes. After an absence of fifteen years, 
they returned, and gave a most flattering account 
of Haupokane, the country which they had visited* 
We know of no island in the neighbourhood called 
by this name, which appears to be a compound of 
Haupo, sometimes a lap, and Kane , one of their 
gods. Among other things, they described the 
one rauena, a peculiar kind of sandy beach, well 
stocked with shell-fish, &c. The country, they 
said, was inhabited by handsome people, whose 
property was abundant, and the fruits of the earth 
delicious and plentiful. There was also a stream 
or fountain, which was called the wai ora roa , 
(water of enduring life.) 
Kamapiikai made three subsequent voyages to 
the country he had discovered, accompanied by 
many of the Sand wich Islanders. From the fourth 
voyage they never returned, and were supposed to 
have perished at sea, or to have taken up their 
permanent residence at Tahiti. Many were 
induced to accompany this priest to the country 
he visited, for the purpose of bathing in the life- 
giving waters, in consequence of the marvellous 
change they were reported to produce in those 
who used them ; for it was said, that however 
infirm, emaciated, or deformed they might be, 
when they went into the water, they invariably 
came out young, strong, and handsome. 
Without making further remarks, these tradi¬ 
tions furnish very strong evidence that the Sand¬ 
wich Islanders were acquainted with the existence 
of the Marquesian and Society Islands long before 
visited by Captain Cook; and they also warrant 
the inference, that in some remote period the 
Sandwich Islanders have visited or colonized other 
islands in the Pacific. 
