MYTHOLCGY. 323 
Taaroa, the Tanarca cf the Hawaiians, and the 
Tangaroa of the Western Isles, is generally spoken 
of by the Tahitians as the first and principal god, 
uncreated, and existing from the beginning, or 
from the time he emerged from the po, or world of 
darkness. 
Several of their taata-paari, or wise men, pre- 
tend that, according to other traditions, Taarea 
was only a man who was deified after death. By 
_ some he is spoken of as the progenitor of the other 
gods, the creator of the heavens, the earth, the 
sea, man, beasts, fowls, fishes, &c.; while by 
others it is stated, that the existence of the land, 
or the universe, was anterior to that of the gods. 
There does not appear to be any thing in the 
Tahitian mythology corresponding with the doc- 
trine of the Trinity, or the Hindoo tradition of 
Brahma, Vishnou, and Siva. Taaroa was the 
former and father of the gods; Oro was his first 
son: but there were three classes or orders be- 
tween Taaroa and Oro. As in the theogony of 
the ancients, a bird was a frequent emblem of 
deity; and in the body ofa bird they supposed 
the god often approached the marae, where it left 
the bird, and entered the ¢oo, or image, through 
which it was supposed to communicate with the 
priest. 
The inferior gods and men, the animals, the 
air, earth, and sea, were by some supposed to 
originate in the procreative power of the supreme 
geod. One of the legends of their origin and 
descent, furnished to some of the Missionaries, by 
whom it has been recorded, states, that Taaroa 
was born of Night, or proceeded from Chaos, and 
was not made by any other god. His consort, 
Ofeufeumaiterai, also uncreated, proceeded from: 
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