In seeking for an equivalent for, the first missionaries chose the word "anga" = made. Undoubtedly this is the best word; its original narrow sense being enlarged by the constant perusal of the Bible, etc. The magnificent conception of real creation is as unattainable to a heathen sage as the sublime conception of a Supreme Deity.

CHAPTER II.

DEIFIED MEN.

DERIVATION OF THE POLYNESIAN WORD

FOR GOD.

SOME five hundred years ago there lived on Tahiti two powerful chiefs the younger named Tangiia, the elder Tutapu. Now the lands of the younger adjoined those of their only sister, and it chanced that one or two branches of a bread-fruit tree of hers, growing close to the boundary line, extended themselves over the soil of the irritable Tangiia. As is frequently the case with this tree, one half of this bread-fruit was almost barren, whilst the branches extending over the land of her brother were heavily laden with fruit. Tangiia claimed the fruit as his, as it grew on his side of the boundary line: naturally enough the sister felt herself to be harshly dealt with.

The elder brother Tutapu hearing of the quarrel interfered on behalf of their sister. Thenceforth the brothers became deadly foes; and after many angry words, Tutapu resolved to collect his dependants, and upon a certain night to make a final end of his

brother and his family. Tangiia, obtaining timely notice of his intention, fled with wife, children, and friends to the neighbouring island of Huahine; but was pursued by the irate Tutapu. Tangiia was chased by his brother throughout the Leeward Islands, until finally finding that there was no rest for him in that group, he committed himself to the trackless ocean. Fortunately for him, he reached Atiu, where he stayed awhile. But the insatiate Tutapu followed him even to Atiu, many hundreds of miles from Tahiti. Tangiia again took flight—this time to Rarotonga, which was destined to become the home of this renowned chief.

Children were

Tutapu remained a considerable time on Atiu. born to him; some of his descendants afterwards reached Mangaia in a drift canoe, founding a tribe devoted to furnish human sacrifices.

Hearing that Tangiia was prospering on Rarotonga, Tutapu again manned his large double canoe, which is said to have had three masts, and to have carried 200 warriors, and started off once more in quest of his brother. Upon entering the harbour at Rarotonga, which bears the name of Nga-Tangiia,1 the brothers prepared for a final encounter. In the conflict which ensued, Tangiia, assisted by Karika's party, defeated the invaders, and slew Tutapu-aru-roa Tutapu-the-relentless-pursuer, whose body

=

was eaten by the victors.

Tangiia himself never landed on Mangaia, the island which is so intimately associated with the history of several of his children. It is needful to distinguish this Tangiia, who is unquestionably an historical character, from the mythical Tangiia descended from Vātea, and one of the gods of Mangaia, whose iron-wood form is deposited in the museum of the London Missionary Society.

The sages of Rarotonga erroneously assert that Mangaia was first discovered and inhabited by the famous brother of Tutapu. This is foreign and new. Unquestionably, Rangi and his friends were the first settlers on Mangaia from Savai'i. Other canoes came. In the presence of the new comers, the children of the original settlers, wishing to establish their pre-eminence, boldly asserted that Rangi, etc., came "up," not, as in truth, from the sun-setting, but out of the earth, from (S)avai(k)i, the original home of men and gods, a land in some places much like this, in others filled with horrors. It was, in their opinion, self-evident that all drift canoes were mere waifs predestined to destruction in the presence of a race who grew, as it were, out of the soil.

The Karika family at Rarotonga expressly state that their ancestor came from Manu'a, the easternmost island of the Samoan Group. The family marae of the Makea tribe is therefore named Rangi-Manuka, or "Manu'a (= Manuka) in the skies;" as we say New Britain, New Caledonia, New England, etc., etc. They even state that Karika's great canoe, in which he performed his wonderful voyage, had "two masts," and carried 170 people (okoitu ).

It has been already stated that Rangi1 requested the invincible warrior Tangiia to send him one of his sons as a god. Accordingly Motoro was sent, with two of his brothers, Ruanuku

1 The "Ruanuku" of Mangaian mythology is the "Uanuku" of Rarotonga. Uanuku is represented by their "wise men as the eldest son of Tangiia. "Motoro" signifies "to approach to (a woman);" so that it is equivalent to "Epws, in the sense of libido. He was so called by his father Tangiia, in allusion to his own passionate love for his wife Moetuma. Tangiia in his wanderings married two Mauke girls, Moetuma, and her younger sister Puatara.

and Kereteki. Utakea, the third son of Tangiia, started for Mangaia some time after his brothers. Motoro was the fourth and best beloved son of the great Rarotongan chief. When the three brothers-Ruanuku, Kereteki, and Motoro-were halfway on their voyage to Mangaia, a violent quarrel sprang up, the two elder brothers united in throwing Motoro into the sea, where he miserably perished. The fratricides safely landed opposite to the marae of Rongo, and were pleased to see a deep hole in the reef, through which the fresh water from the interior is poured into the ocean. It is surprising to find a large body of pure spring water gurgling up in the midst of the sea. Here they resolved to refresh themselves with a bath after their adventurous voyage. But as the aperture in the sharp coral will not admit of two large men bathing together, the point was hotly contested, who should get in first. It was finally settled that the first-born should enjoy the first bath. The instant Ruanuku's head was under water, his long hair was firmly grasped by Kereteki, to prevent him from raising it again. After a time Kereteki dragged ashore the dead body of the murdered Ruanuku, and buried it.

At a well-known spot on the south of the island afterwards landed Utakea, who lived peaceably with his brother Kereteki. Both lived and died on Mangaia. Very strangely indeed, the cruel Kereteki, twice a fratricide, and his brother Utakea, were worshipped as gods in the next generation. As if in penitence,

Kereteki set up the marae sacred to his slain brother Motoro. Here the spirit of Motoro was supposed to reside; and down to the destruction of idolatry, in 1824, this spot was regarded as being the most sacred in the interior; as the marae of Rongo was the most sacred on the sea-shore. A flourishing plantation of plantains now occupies the place of the idol grove.