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bears to a fact recorded in Jewish history. It is related that Maui, one of their ancient priests or chiefs, was building a marae, or temple, which it was necessary to finish before the close of the day; but, perceiving the sun was declining, and that it was likely to sink before the work was finished, he seized the sun by his rays, bound them with a cord to the marae, or an adjacent tree, and then prosecuted his work till the marae was completed, the sun remaining stationary during the whole period. I refrain from all comment on this singular tradition; which was almost universally received in the islands.

Their ideas of the moon, which they called avae or marama, were as fabulous as those they entertained of the sun. Some supposed the moon was the wife of the sun; others that it was a beautiful country in which the aoa grew. I am not aware that they rendered divine homage either to the sun or moon. Theirs was a far less rational and innocent system than the worship of the host of heaven. They, however, supposed the moon to be subject to the influence of the spiritual beings with whom their mythology taught them to people the visible creation; and to the anger of those spirits, they were accustomed to attribute an eclipse. During an eclipse, the moon is said to be natua, bitten or pinched. The stars, which they call fetia or fetu, were by some considered as the children of the sun and moon. They are, however, generally supposed to be inhabited by spirits of the departed, or to be the spirits of human beings, several principal stars being designated by the names of distinguished men. The phenomenon called a shooting star, they supposed to be the flight of a spirit. Many of the constellations, and more of the single stars, have distinct names. Mars they call fetia ura, red star.

The morning star they call fetia ao, star of day; or horo poipoi, forerunner of morning. The Pleiades they call matarii, small eyes. But one of the most remarkable facts is, that the constellation called the Twins is so named by them; only, instead of denominating the two stars Castor and Pollux, they call them na ainanu, the two ainanus; and to distinguish the one from the other, ainanu above, and ainanu below. The nebulæ near the southern pole, called the Magellanic clouds, are denominated mahu, mist or vapour, and are distinguished in the same way, one being above, the other below.

Like most uninformed persons, they supposed the earth was stationary, being borne on the shoulders of a god, fixed upon a rock, which they called the rock of foundation supported by pillars, and that the sun, moon, and stars, moved from one side of the arched heavens to the other. When we at first endeavoured to impart to them more correct ideas of astronomy, and exhibited to their view a terrestrial globe, explanatory of the shape of our earth, and illustrative of those of the moon, of the planets, and other heavenly bodies, they were greatly surprised; but when we called their attention to a celestial globe, and represented to them the relative position of the heavenly bodies, and explained the motion of the planets of our system round the sun, they were invariably sceptical at first. It could not possibly be, they said, that the earth went round, as all things remained stationary during the twenty-four hours; which would not be the fact, if the earth on which they stood moved. Frequently they have said, if such was the fact, we should fall from our beds, and all our vessels of food, &c. would be upset. Finding, however, that we persevered in the expression of our sentiments to the contrary, they would

sometimes remark-we believe it because you say so, but we cannot understand it. These observations were made only when the subject was first brought under their notice. The intelligent among them now entertain far more consistent views.

Among the Harvey Islands, they worshipped a god of thunder; but he does not appear to have been an object of great terror to any of them. The thunder was supposed to be produced by the clapping of his wings.

The ignis fatuus, they considered as one of their most powerful gods, proceeding, in his tutelary visitations, from one marae to another.

The winds were presumed to be under the direction and control of the deities; by whom they were supposed to be kept in a cave, as by Eolus among the ancient pagans. Some contended that there was but one rua, hole or cavern, of the winds; others, that there were two, one in the east, the other towards the west, the two quarters whence the winds usually blew. Although they had but one, or at most two caverns, whence they supposed the winds to proceed, they had a distinct name for each wind, designating sometimes both its degree of strength, and its direction. The north wind they called Haapiti; the south, Maraamu; the east, Maoai; the west, Toerau. The east, with its variations from northeast to south-east, being the regular trade-wind, is most prevalent, and is seldom unpleasantly violent. Winds from the north are often tempestuous, more so than from the south, whence, although during the season of variable winds they are strong, and continue several days, they are not dangerous. The wind seldom prevails from the west, among the Society Islands, excepting in the months of December, January, and February. At this

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period they are sometimes violent, usually of short duration, and almost invariably accompanied with rain and heavy unsettled weather.

Though unacquainted with the compass, the islanders have names for the cardinal points. The north they call Apatoa; the south, Apatoerau; the east, Te hitia o te ra, the rising of the sun; and the west, the Tooa o te ra, the falling or sinking of the sun. The climate is warm to an European: the thermometer ranges between 70 and 80, the average height in the shade is 74 degrees.

Their genealogies and chronological traditions do not appear to have been so correctly preserved as those of the Hawaiians, one or two of which I have, that appear, at least for nearly thirty generations, tolerably correct, though they go back one hundred generations. They were, however, as correct in their methods of computing time as their northern neighbours, if not more so. One mode of reckoning time was by ui's, or generations; but the most general calculation was by the year, which they call matahiti, and which consisted of twelve or thirteen lunar months, by the tau or matarii, season or half-year, by the month of thirty days, and by the day or night. They had distinct names for each month; and though they all agreed about the length of the year, they were not unanimous as to the beginning of it, or the names of the months, each island having a computation peculiar to itself.

The following is a statement of their divisions of time, copied from a small book on arithmetic, &c. prepared by Mr. Davies, which I printed at Huahine in 1819. It is the method of computation adopted by the late Pomare and the reigning family.

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The new moon that appears about the summer solstice of Tahiti, and generally answers to the last ten days of December, or the beginning of January.

January, and part of February-The season of plenty.

February, and part of March.

March, and part of April-The season of scarcity.
April, and part of May.

May, and a part of June.

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June, and a part of July.

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6. Араара.

7. Paroro mua

8. Paroro muri

9. Muriaha

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10. Hiaia

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11. Tema

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12. Te-eri

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13. Te-tai

August, and a part of September

September, and part of October.

October, and part of November-The season of scarcity.

The whole, or a part of, November-The uru, or young bread-fruit, begins to flower.

The whole, or a part of, December-The uru, or bread-fruit, nearly ripe.

Their calculations, however, were not very exact. Thirteen moons exceed the duration of the solar year. But, in order to adapt the same moons to the same seasons as they successively occur, the moon generally answering to March, or the one occurring about July, is omitted; and in some years, only twelve moons are enumerated.

Another computation commenced the year at the month Apaapa, about the middle of May, and gave different names to several of the months. They divided the year into two seasons, of the Matarii, or Pleiades. The first they called Matarii i nia, Pleiades above. It commenced when, in the evening, these stars appeared on or near the horizon; and the half year, during which, immediately after sunset, they were seen above the horizon, was called Matarii i nia. The other season commenced when, at sunset, the stars were invisible, and continued until at that hour they appeared again above the horizon, This season was called Matarii i raro, Pleiades below.

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