Hina answered, I have heen inland, and he is n o t/ Taaroa
then said, (t Go to the sea, perhaps he is on the JMfeJjj When
the goddess bad departed , Taaroa ruminated within himself as
to the means by which man should be formed, and wént to thé
land, where he assumed the appearance ;>of mein-1’ Hina*
entering from her unsuccessful search for Tiimaaraatai at sea,
met him* but not knowing him said, “ Who are you V’—
% I am Tiimaaraatai,” he replied.—« Where have you.beep V ’
said the^geddess ; “ I have sought for you here, and yon were
pot. I went to the sea to look for Tiimaaraatai, and he was
n o t/W “ I have been here in my house or abödêy* answered
Tiimaaraatai, “ and behold, you have arrived; my sister*
come tome.” They became man and wife, and the son that
Hina afterwards bore was called Til. He was the firstfrbrn
of mankind. Afterwards Hina had a daughter who was
eailled Hipaereeremonoi • she became the wife bf Tip and bore
to him a son, who was called Taata, the general name* with
slight modification for man throughout the Pacific, r They
wore the progenitors of the human race. Another tradition
stated that the first inhabitants of the South Sea Islands
originally came from a country in the direction of the netting
sun, to which they say several names were given, though none
of them are remembered by the present inhabitants^
Intimately connected with these mythological notions are
the customs of the Tahitians in funeral ceremonies and all
that relates to thej disposal of the dead. The following
account collected from Forster and Anderson, the companions
of Captain Cook, will sufficiently point out this relation.1
Spiritual beings* who are very numerous, are by the Tahi-r
tians called Eatooas. The first Eatooa was the father of all
the rest» His wife was Tupapa, the Materia Prima. Their
offspring are gods or genii* who made and preside over the
gun, the moon, and various departments of nature. Two of
these Eatooas were the parents of mankind. The soul of
man, or that which feels and thinks, is also an Eatooa* and
after death issues from the lips and hovers round the corpse
or the morai where it is deposited, and after a time takes its
abode in a certain wooden image, of which there are many
fixed up around the places of interment. These are termed
Taboes, divfeceptaelfesnof the invisible Tehees or souls. “ The
body is at first laid1 in a> house »c^nstoaeted for the purpose,
and after the flesh has rotted away the bones are buried.
After* a;?ti*ae, notv deimidelyï fixed*uriie )S0uls of persons of
rank,? or chiefs; ascend to5 heaven, to tonreglon .of the• su~
perior.gods. There, accordingito some -statements, they are
to bé absorbed intof the? essences of the i chief daily, or eaten
by him, as the Tahitians express it,.; The fate, of the soul
after death has. no dependence on theiconduct of the individual
j-tto souls of bad and good mén fare alike;iyet- there is
a morion that the gods watch over human actions | and punish
the wicked ; hut dbe fears of the guilty have respect to some
immediate vengeance ©f the offended godi’f
The Tahitians as well apTmany othesr .-Polynesian tribes heM
in veneration a mythical personage named Maui, a sort of
Prometheus, of the South Sea. Maui issa,prophet or.somerinies
aguardian genaus»; fitoe ©ftoe. most celebrated persons who
bore' this name JA resided at Raiatea* and. foretold that in
future? ages la *W® am& w$i literally an )$f, outriggerfess . irtan^aftj,
would arrive in the island from some foreign-land. Accustomed
autbey were to; consider an outrigger essential; to a
canoe, they charged the prophet with foretelling an impossi*-
bifity, He persisted, i howeyer* in his predictions, and in
order.,to remove their scepticism .Ias ,to.its >practicability,
launched his urmte, or oval wooden dish, upon the water* and
declared that the. strange vessel would swim in the same
manner.
“ The period when this predictipnwas delivered is unknown.
It had been handed down by oral tmdition until the time? of
Captain Willis’ and Captain Cookfs arrival* .Hie natives : at
first supposed thear ships? to b e islands, inhabited by supernatural
beings* who diiected dhe thunder and lightning- at
their will. But when, on a nearer inspection, they diseo>-
vered them to he floating fabrics of timber, born© on by toe
winds and waves* they unanimously exclaimed that the prediction
of Maui - was accomplished*| and that the canoes
without outriggers,(Were arrived. They, wem. fwftrmH;
their interpretation, by seeing the small boats, approaching
their own, canoes in size, proceeding inc safety from the ships
to the shore.