lutually intelligible among the several groups.
I : vious to tie- introduction of Christiajj-
ii\ in Polynesia, in the end of the last and beginning of
-it century, the Polynesians wen- involved in and Buperetition. Their ob- -f three Kind- their denied
-. their idols, Dnd their It,,. Their at
Tied into divinities nil account ofthl
which tin \ had conferred u| mankind, Tims one of
their progi nitora was believed to have created the sun. l -tars "Another tradition," says Mr. Will- iams, in hi, Vai rati ■ ./J/. , / nterprisu in the
South .v-/ [stands, "stated that the hi
I " the earth that men could not walk, bat were compelled to crawl This was a serious evil; but at length an individual conceived the sublimi idea of elevating the beav< ,, ; For this purpose he put forth In- utmost energy: and.
by the first effort, raised them to the top of a tender . about four feet high. There he de- posited them until he was refreshed: when, by a second lifted them to the height ofa tree called kaua~ tiki, which is as large as the sycamore. By the third attempt he carried them to the summits of the moun- tains: and. altera long interval of repose, and by a most prodigious effort, he elevated them to their pri nation. This vast undertaking, however, was greatly l by myriads of dragon-flies, which with their vered the cords that confined the heavens to the earth. Now this individual was deified; and up to the moment that Christianity was embraced, the de- luded inhabitants worshipped him as 'the elevator of ile heavens.'" The Polynesians had various other gods w ho were deified mi a. I he chief of these deities, to whom mothers dedicated their children, were lliri'. the god of thieves, and Oro, the god of war. The idols worshipped were different in almost every island and district. Besides the numerous objects of adoration, the islanders generally, and the Samoans in particular, hail a vague idea of a Supreme Being, to whom they gave the name of Tangaroa, The mode in which these gods were adored is thus described by Mr. Williams: ''The worship presented to these deities consisted in prayers, incantations, and offerings of pigs, lish, vegeta- ble food, native cloth, canoe-, and other valuable prop- erty. To these must be added human sacrifices, which, at some of the islands, were fearfully common. An idea may be formed of their addresses to the gods from the sentence with which they invariably concluded. Hav- ing presented the gift, the priest would say. -Now. if you are a god of mercy, come this way. and be propi- tious to this offering; but if you are a god of anger, go outside the world. you shall neither have temples, offer- ings, nor worshippers here.' The infliction of injuries upon themselves was another mode in which they wor- shipped their gods. Ii was a frequent practice with the Sandwich [slanders, in performing some of i heir rites, to knock out their front teeth, and the friendly Islanders to cut off one or two of the bones of their little fingers. This, indeed, was so common that scarce an adult could be found who had not in this way mutilated his hands. On one occasion, the daughter ofa chief, a line young woman about eighteen years of age. was standing by my side, and as I saw by the state of the wound that she had recently performed the ceremony, I look her hand, and asked her why she had cut oil' her linger. Ibr affecting reply was that her mother was ill. and that, fearful lest her mother should die. she had done this to induce the gods to save her. • Well.' said I, 'how did you do it ?' •( Hi.' she replied. • I took a sharp shell, and worked it about till the joint was separated, and then I allowed the blood to stream from it. This was my offering to persuade the god- to restore my mother.* When, at a future period, another offering is required, they sever the second joint of the same linger: and when a third or fourth is demanded, t hey amputate the same bones of the other little linger; and when they have no more joints which they can conveniently spare, they rub i be -tumps of their mutilated lingers with rough stones, until the blood again streams from the wound. Thus 'are their sorrows multiplied who hasten after other gods.'" The most affecting of the religious observances of the Polynesians was the sacrifice of human victims. This horrid custom did not prevail at the Navigator Islands;
but n was carried to a fearful extent at ihe Harvey group, and still more at the Tahiliau and Society l-lauds. At one ceremony, called the Feast ol Restora- tion, no fewer than seven human beings were offered in sacrifice. On the eve of war. also, it was customary to oiler human victims. Il may be interesting to notice the i ircumstances in which the last sacrifice of this kind was offered at Tahiti. "Pomare was about to fight a battle, which would confirm him in. or deprive him of, his dominions. I o propitiate the gods, then lore, by the most \alual.le offerings he could command, was with
POLYNESIA
371