370 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
—and if the demon employed by the second party 
was equally powerful with that employed by the 
first, and their presents more valuable, it was gene¬ 
rally supposed that they were successful. 
How affecting is the view these usages afford, of 
the mythology of these rude untutored children of 
nature ! How debasing their ideas of those beings 
on whom they considered themselves dependent, 
and whose service they regarded as the principal 
business of their lives !—how degrading and bru¬ 
talizing such sentiments, and how powerful their 
effect must have been, in cherishing that deadly 
hatred which often found but too congenial a home 
in their bosoms ! They were led to imagine that 
these super-human beings were engaged in per¬ 
petual conflict with each other, employing their 
dreadful powers, at the instigation of their, priests, 
in afflicting with deepest misery, and ultimately 
destroying, the devotees of some rival demon. 
A mythology so complicated, and a system of 
idolatry so extensive and powerful, as that which 
prevailed in the South Sea Islands, led the people 
not only to consider themselves as attended and 
governed by the gods, but also induced to seek 
their direction, and submit to their decision, in 
every event of interest or importance. Every 
island had its oracle; and divination, in various 
forms, was almost universally practised by the 
priests. 
In many respects, the oracles of the Polynesians 
resembled those of the ancients; in some they 
differed. Oro, the great national idol, was gene¬ 
rally supposed to give the responses to the priests, 
who sought to know the will of the gods, or the 
issue of events ; and at Opoa, this being con¬ 
sidered as the birth-place of the god, was the 
