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MISSIONARY TOUR

row of large teeth, resembling in no small degree thecogs in the wheel of an engine, and adapted to exciteterror rather than inspire confidence in the beholder.Some of their idols were of stone, and many were con-structed with a kind of wicker-work covered with redfeathers.

In the evening our conversation at the governor’sturned on the origin of the people of Hawaii , and theother islands of the Pacific, a topic which often en-gaged our attention, and respecting which, in the variousinquiries we made, we often had occasion to regret thatthe traditions of the natives furnished such scanty in-formation, on a subject so interesting and important.This portion, however, though small, and surrounded byan incredible mass of fiction, is still worth preserving.

The general opinions entertained by the nativesthemselves, relative to their origin, are, either that thefirst inhabitants were created on the islands, descendedfrom the gods, by whom they w T ere first inhabited ; or,that they came from a country which they called Tahiti .Many, as w r as the case with the chiefs at Maui , andalso the governor at this place, suppose that, accordingto the accounts of the priests of Tane, Tanaroa, andother gods, the first man was made by Haumea, afemale deity. We have not, however, met with anywho pretend to know of what material he was formed.Others, again, suppose the chiefs to have descendedfrom Akea, who appears to have been the connectinglink between the gods and the men; but this supposesthe chiefs and the common people to have been derivedfrom different sources. The accounts they have oftheir ancestors having arrived in a canoe from Tahiti ,are far more general and popular among the people.