ANCIENT IDOLS. 
89 
One of the ancient gods of Maui, prior to its sub¬ 
jugation by Tamehameha, they said, was Keoroeva. 
The body of the image was of wood, and was 
arrayed in garments of native tapa. The head 
and neck were formed of a kind of fine basket or 
wicker work, covered over with red feathers, so 
curiously wrought in as to resemble the skin of a 
beautiful bird.* A native helmet was placed on 
the idol’s head, from the crown of which long 
tresses of human hair hung over its shoulders. Its 
mouth, like the greater number of the Hawaiian 
idols, was large and extended. 
In all the temples dedicated to its worship, the 
image was placed within the inner apartment, on 
the left-hand side of the door, and immediately 
before it stood the altar, on which the offerings of 
every kind were usually placed. They did not 
say whether human victims were ever sacrificed to 
appease its imagined wrath; but large offerings, of 
every thing valuable, were frequent. Sometimes 
hogs were taken alive, as presents. The large 
ones were led, and the smaller ones carried in the 
arms of the priest, into the presence of the idols. 
The priest then pinched the ears or the tail of the 
pig till it made a squeaking noise, when he ad¬ 
dressed the god, saying, “ Here is the offering of 
such a one of your kaku,” (devotees.) A hole 
was then made in the pig’s ear, a piece of cinet, 
formed of the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, was 
fastened in it, and the pig was set at liberty until 
the priest had occasion for him. In consequence 
of this mark, which distinguished the sacred hog, 
he was allowed to range the district at pleasure ; 
and whatever depredations he might commit, driv- 
* An idol of this kind is deposited in the Missionary 
Museum, Austin Friars, London. 
