CHAPTER XII.

POLYNESIAN SUPERSTITIONS.

WHEN Captain Cook first visited those beautiful islands of the South Pacific

which are now included under the general name of Polynesia, he found their
inhabitants given over to the lowest and coarsest idolatry. Many of their rites and
ceremonies were as lewd as any practised in ancient times under the auspices of
the Paphian Venus. Gradually they were brought within the influence of the
missionary work of the Christian Church; and though, if we may credit the
testimony of recent observers, much heathenism still prevails, and gross
superstitions are still secretly nourished, there cannot be a doubt, that, on the
whole, their moral condition has been materially elevated.

Among the pioneers of the Cross in these “Summer-isles of Eden” one of the
most eminent and successful was the Rev. John Williams; a missionary of the
true type, of an enlightened mind and broad sympathies, who, after a long career
of noble labour, sealed his witness to the truth with his blood, and lives in the
Gospel record as the Martyr of Erromanga. From the plain, unvarnished, and
effective chronicle of his “Missionary Enterprises” we glean much interesting
information respecting the idolatrous ways of the islanders, revealing their
identity with the superstitions that from all times have dominated over
uncivilised man. In Rarotonga as in Mexico, for instance, the gods were
supposed to be propitiated by human sacrifices; and in many of the islands
cannibalism existed in its most disgusting form and under the sanction of a
religious ordinance.

From the chief of Aitutaki Mr. Williams obtained some curious relics of idolatry.
As for example:—an idol named Te-rongo, one of the great deities, called a
Kaitangata, or man-eater. The priests of this idol were supposed to be inspired
by the shark.

Tangarou, the great national god of Aitutaki, and of almost all the adjacent