112 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
prayers were addressed. The tiis of Tahiti were 
aiso considered a kind of inferior deities, to whom, 
on several occasions, prayers were offered. The 
resemblance of this term to the demons or dii of the 
ancients, is singular, and might favour the con¬ 
jecture that both were derived from the same 
source. 
The origin of the islands, as well as their inha¬ 
bitants, was generally attributed to Taaroa, or the 
joint agency of Taaroa and Hina; and although one 
of their traditions states that all the islands were 
formerly united in one fenua nui, or large con¬ 
tinent, which the gods in anger destroyed, scatter¬ 
ing in the ocean the fragments, of which Tahiti is 
one of the largest; yet others ascribe their forma¬ 
tion to Taaroa, who is said to have laboured so hard 
in the work of creation, that the profuse perspi¬ 
ration induced thereby, filled up the hollows, and 
formed the sea; accounting, by this circumstance, 
for its transparency and saltness. Others attribute 
the origin of the world, the elements, the heavenly 
bodies, and the human species, to the procreative 
powers of their deities; and, according to their 
account, one of the descendants of Taaroa, and the 
son of the sun and moon, and, in reference to his 
descent, the Manco Capac of their mythology, 
embracing the sand on the sea shore,—begat a son, 
who was called Tii, and a daughter, who was called 
Opiira. These two, according to their tradition, 
were the father and mother of mankind. 
But the most circumstantial tradition, relative to 
the origin of mankind, is one for which, as well as 
for much valuable information on the mythology 
and worship of the idols of the South Sea Islanders, 
I am indebted to the researches of my esteemed 
friend and coadjutor, Mr. Barff. According to this 
