'Like that of all the ancient idolatrous nations, the mythology of the South Sea islanders is but an assemblage of obscure fables, brought by the first settlers, or originating in remarkable facts of their own history, and handed down by tradition through successive generations. If so much that is mysterious and fabulous has been mingled with the history of those nations among whom hieroglyphics or the use of letters has prevailed, it might be expected to exist in a greater degree where oral communication, and that often under the fantastic garb of rude poetry, is the only mode of preserving the traditional knowledge of former times.

Distinguished, however, as the Polynesian mythology is, by confusion and absurdity, it is not more so than the systems of some of the most enlightened and cultivated pagan nations of the past or present time. It was not more characterized by mystery and fable than by its abominations and its cruelty. Its objects of worship were sometimes monsters of iniquity. The islanders had" lords many and gods many," but seldom attributed to them any moral attributes. Among the multitude of their gods, there was no one whom they regarded as a supreme intelligence or presiding spiritual being, possessing any moral perfections, resembling those which are inseparable from every sentiment we entertain of the true God.

Like the most ancient nations they ascribe the origin of all things to a state of chaos, or darkness, and even the first existence of their principal deities refer to this source. Taaroa, Oro, and Tane, with other deities of the highest order, are on this account said to be fanau po, born of night. But the origin of the gods, and their priority of existence in comparison with the formation of the earth, being a matter of uncertainty even among the native priests, involves the whole in obscurity. Taaroa, the Tanaroa of 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, pretend that, according to other traditions, Taaroa 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 doctrine 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 between Taaroa and Oro. As in the theogony of the ancients, a bird was a frequent emblem of deity; and in the body of a bird they supposed the god often approached the marae, where it left the bird, and entered the too, 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 god. 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 the po, or night. Oro, the great national idol of Raiatea, Tahiti, Eimeo, and some of the other islands, was the son of Taaroa and Ofeufeumaiterai. Oro took a goddess to wife, who became the mother of two sons. These four male and two female deities constituted the whole of their highest rank of divinities, according to the traditions of the priests of Tahiti-though the late king informed Mr. Nott that there was another god, superior to them all, whose name was Rumia; he did not, however, meet with any of their priests or bards who knew any thing about him. The tradition most generally received in the Windward Islands ascribed the origin of the world, and all that adorn or inhabit it, to the procreative power of Taaroa, who is said to have embraced a rock, the imagined foundation of all things, which afterward brought forth the earth and sea. It states, that soon after this, the heralds of day, the dark and the light blue sky, appeared before Taaroa, and solicited a soul for his offspring -the then inanimate universe. The foundation of all replied, It is done, and directed his son, the sky-producer, to accomplish his will. In obedience to the mandate of Taaroa, his son looked up into the heavens, and the heavens received the power of bringing forth new skies, and clouds, sun, moon, and stars, thunder, and lightning, rain, and wind. He then looked downward, and the unformed mass received the power to bring forth earth, mountains, rocks, trees, herbs, and flowers, beasts, birds, and insects, fountains, rivers, and fish. Raitubu, or sky-producer, then looked to the abyss, and imparted to it power to bring forth the purple water, rocks and corals, and all the inhabitants of the ocean. Some of the gods are said to have been produced in the same way, namely, by the god Taaroa looking at the goddess, his wife, who afterward became the mother of his children.

Raa was also ranked among the principal deities; although inferior to Taaroa and Oro, and he was supposed to be an independent being; but nothing of consequence is ascribed to him in the native fables.His wife, Otupapa, who was also a divinity, bore him three sons and two daughters. Tane, the tutelar idol of Huahine, was also numbered among the uncreated gods, considered as having proceeded from the state of night, or chaos. His goddess was called Taufairei. They were the parents of eight sons, who were all classed with the most powerful gods, and reccived the highest honors. Among the sons of Tane was Temeharo, the tutelar deity of Pomare's family.

The most popular traditions in the Leeward Islands differed in several minor points from the above, which prevailed in the Windward group. According to one, for which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Barff, Taaroa, who was supreme here as well as in Tahiti, was said to be toivi, or without parents, and to have existed from eternity. He was supposed to have a body, but it was invisible to mortals. After innumerable seasons had passed away, he cast his paa, shell or body, as birds do their feathers, or serpents their skins; and by this means, after intervals of innumerable seasons, his body was renewed. In the reva, or highest heavens, he dwelt alone. His first act was the creation of Hina, who is also called his daughter. Countless ages passed away, when Taaroa and his daughter made the heavens, the earth, and the sea. The foundation of the world was a solid rock; which,

with every part of the creation, Taaroa was supposed to sustain by his invisible power. It is stated, that the Friendly islanders suppose that the earth is supported on the shoulders of one of their gods, and that when an earthquake takes place, he is transferring it from one shoulder to the other.

Having, with the assistance of Hina, made the heavens, earth, and sea, Taaroa oriori, or created the gods. The first was Rootane, the god of peace. The second was Toahitu, in shape like a dog; he saved such as were in danger of falling from rocks and trees. Te fatu (the lord) was the third. Te iria, (the indignant,) a god of war, was the fourth. The fifth, who is said to have had a bald head, was called Ruanuu. The sixth was a god of war. The seventh, Tuaraatai, Mr. Barff thinks was the Polynesian Neptune. The eighth was Rimaroa, (long arms,) a god of war. The ninth in order were the gods of idiots, who were always considered as inspired. The tenth was Tearii tabu tura, another Mars. These were created by Taaroa, and constituted the first

order of divinities.

A second class were also created, inferior to these, and employed as heralds between the gods and men. The third order seem to have been the descendants of Raa; these were numerous and varied in their character; some being gods of war, others among the Esculapiuses of the nation.

Oro was the first of the fourth class, and seems to have been the medium of connection between celestial and terrestrial beings. Taaroa was his father. The shadow of a bread-fruit leaf, shaken by the power of the arm of Taaroa, passed over Hina, and she afterward became the mother of Oro. Hina, it is said, abode in Opoa at the time of his birth; hence that was honored as the place of his nativity, and became celebrated for his worship. Taaroa afterward created the wife of Oro, and their children were also gods.

After the birth of Oro, Taaroa had other sons, who were called brothers of Oro, among whom were the gods of the Areois. These were the four orders of celestial beings worshipped in the Leeward Islands. The different classes only have been mentioned; an enumeration of the individual deities, and their offices or attributes, would be tedious and useless.

These objects of fear and worship were exceedingly numerous, and may be termed the chief deities of the Polynesians. There was an intermediate class between the principal divinities and the gods of particular localities or professions, but they are not supposed to have existed from the beginning or to have been born of night. Their origin is veiled in obscurity, but they are often described as having been renowned men, who after death were deified by their descendants. Roo, Tane, Teiri, probably Tairi, the principal idol of the Sandwich islanders, Tefatu, Ruanuu, Moe, Teepa, Puaua, Tefatuture, Opaevai, Haana, and Taumure: these all received the homage of the people, and were on all public occasions acknowledged among Tahiti's gods.

Their gods of the ocean were not less numerous; this was to be expected among a people almost amphibious in their habits, dwelling in islands, and deriving a great part of their sustenance from the sea. The names of fourteen principal marine divinities were communicated

by the first missionaries; others have been subsequently added, but it is unnecessary to enumerate them here. They are not supposed by the people to be of equal antiquity with the atua fauau po, or nightborn gods.

They were probably men who had excelled their contemporaries in nautical adventure or exploit, and were deified by their descendants. Hiro is conspicuous among them, although not exclusively a god of the sea. The most romantic accounts are given in their aai, or tales, of his adventures, his voyages, his combat with the gods of the tempests, his descent to the depth of the ocean, and residence at the bottom of the abyss, his intercourse with the monsters there, by whom he was lulled to sleep in a cavern of the ocean, while the god of the winds raised a violent storm to destroy a ship in which his friends were voyaging. Destruction seemed to them inevitable-they invoked his aid—a friendly spirit entered the cavern in which he was reposing, roused him from his slumbers, and informed him of their danger. He rose to the surface of the waters, rebuked the spirit of the storm, and his followers reached their destined port in safety.

The period of his adventures is probably the most recent of any thus preserved, as there are more places connected with his name in the Leeward Islands than with any other. A pile of rocks in Tahaa is called the Dogs of Hiro; a mountain ridge has received the appellation of the Pahi, or ship of Hiro; and a large basaltic rock near the summit of a mountain in Huahine is called the Hoe, or Paddle of Hiro.

Tuaraatai and Ruahatu, however, appear to have been the principal marine deities. Whether this distinction resulted from any superiority they were supposed to possess, or from the conspicuous part the latter sustains in their tradition of the deluge, is not known; but their names are frequently mentioned. They were generally called atua mao, or shark gods; not that the shark was itself the god, but the natives supposed the marine gods employed the sharks as the agents of their vengeance.

The large blue shark was the only kind supposed to be engaged by the gods and a variety of the most strange and fabulous accounts of the deeds they have performed are related by their priests. These voracious animals were said always to recognize a priest on board any canoe, to come at his call, retire at his bidding, and to spare him in the event of a wreck, though they might devour his companions, especially if they were not his maru, or worshippers. I have been repeatedly told by an intelligent man, formerly a priest of an atua mao, that the shark through which his god was manifested, swimming in the sea, carried either him or his father on its back from Raiatea to Huahine, a distance of twenty miles. The shark was not the only fish the Tahitians considered sacred. In addition to these, they had gods who were supposed to preside over the fisheries, and to direct to their coasts the various shoals by which they were periodically visited.— Tahauru was the principal among these; but there were five or six others, whose aid the fishermen were accustomed to invoke, either before launching their canoes, or while engaged at sea. Matatini was the god of fishing-net makers.

Next in number and importance to the gods of the sea were those VOL. V.-January, 1834.

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of the aerial regions, sometimes worshipped under the figure of a bird. The chief of these were Veromatautoru and Tairibu, brother and sister to the children of Taaroa; their dwelling was near the great rock which was the foundation of the world. Hurricanes, tempests, and all destructive winds, were supposed to be confined within them, and were employed by them to punish such as neglected the worship of the gods. In stormy weather their compassion was sought by the tempest-driven mariner at sea, or the friends of such on shore. Liberal presents, it was supposed, would at any time purchase a calm. If the first failed, subsequent ones were certain of success. The same means were resorted to for procuring a storm, but with less certainty. Whenever the inhabitants of one island heard of invasion from those of another, they immediately carried large offerings to these deities, and besought them to destroy by tempest the hostile fleet whenever it might put to sea. Some of the most intelligent people still think evil spirits had formerly great power over the winds, as they say there have been no such fearful storms since they abolished idolatry as there were before. There were also gods of the peho te moua te pari e te faa, the valleys, the mountains, the precipices, and the dells or ravines. The names of twelve of the principal of these are preserved by the missionaries; but as few of them are indicative of the character or attributes of these gods, their insertion is unnecessary.'

The belief in such a multitude of deities, led, as a matter of course, to idolatry properly so called, and to all those vices which are generally associated with it. And that we may see the beneficial effects of Christianity on the hearts and lives, the individual and domestic manners, and enjoyments of these people, we need only contrast their present with their former condition. That they were formerly slaves to the very vilest of the human passions and animal appetites; -to infanticide-murder in its most appalling forms-to the practice of human sacrifices to appease the anger of their gods—to indolence, rolling in filth, and living by mutual depredations upon each others' rights, has been attested by all who have visited them. And though some interested European navigators, highly prejudiced against all missionary operations, have endeavored to prove that these islanders were much injured by their conversion to Christianity, yet we have the most incontestable evidence in favor of its happy results upon their individual and domestic enjoyments. That our readers may see that Christian principles are productive of the same results wherever they operate, whether on the heart and conduct of a savage or a civilized man, we will present them with the following account of Pomare, the king of Tahiti. In consequence of a civil war fomented in his dominions by some of his influential subjects, Pomare had been driven from his dominiors in Tahiti, and was forced to take refuge in the island of Eimeo. He was followed by some of the missionaries, whose instructions were blessed to his awakening and conversion. The following is Mr. Ellis's account of this important event :