430 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
©f 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 com¬ 
mon 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. 
When some of our party were at Towaihae, the 
subject was discussed. Mr. Young said, among 
the many traditionary accounts of the origin of the 
island and its inhabitants, one was, that in former 
times, when there was nothing but sea, an im¬ 
mense bird settled on the water, and laid an egg, 
which, soon bursting, produced the island of Ha¬ 
waii. Shortly after this, a man and woman, with 
a hog, a dog, and a pair of fowls, arrived in a canoe 
from the Society Islands, took up their abode on 
the eastern shores, and were the progenitors of the 
present inhabitants. 
Another account prevalent among the natives of 
Oahu, states, that a number of persons arrived in 
a canoe from Tahiti, and perceiving the Sandwich 
Islands were fertile, and inhabited only by gods or 
spirits, took up their abode on one of them, having 
asked permission of the gods, and presented an 
offering, which rendered them propitious to their 
settlement. 
Though these accounts do not prove that the 
Sandwich Islanders came originally from the Geor¬ 
gian Islands, they afford a strong presumption in 
favour of such an opinion. 
