321; compare J. A. Moerenhout, _op.
cit._ i. 417.

[21] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 361.

[22] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 350.

Different gods were worshipped in different islands, and even in
different parts of the same island,[23] and if a deity failed to answer
the expectations of his worshippers, they did not scruple to change him
for another. In Captain Cook's time the people of Tiaraboo (Tairaboo),
the southern peninsula of Tahiti, discarded their two old divinities and
adopted in their place Oraa, the god of the island of Bolabola
(Borabora), apparently because the people of Bolabola had lately been
victorious in war; and as, after this change of deity, they themselves
proved very successful in their operations against their enemies, they
imputed the success entirely to their new god, who, they literally said,
fought their battles.[24] Again, when the prayers and offerings for the
recovery of a sick chief were unavailing, the god was regarded as
inexorable, and was usually banished from the temple, and his image
destroyed.[25]

[23] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148, 160; J. R. Forster,
_Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London,
1778), p. 539.

[24] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148 _sq._

[25] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 350.

The pantheon and mythology of the Society Islands were of the usual
Polynesian type; some of their chief gods were recognised and worshipped
under the same names, with dialectical differences, in other islands of
the Pacific. In the beginning they say that all things were in a state
of chaos or darkness, from which the principal deities, including
Taaroa, Oro, and Tane, at last emerged. Hence these high gods were said
to be born of Night or the primaeval darkness (_Po_). Among them all the
first place in time and dignity was generally assigned to Taaroa, who
appears in other parts of Polynesia as Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, and
so on. By some he was spoken of as the progenitor of the other gods and
as the creator of the heavens, the earth, and sea, as well as of men,
beasts, birds, and fishes; but others were of opinion that the land or
the world had existed before the gods. Oro, the great national god of
Tahiti, Raiatea, and other islands, was believed to be a son of
Taaroa.[26] To these three great gods, Oro, Tane, and Taaroa, the people
sacrificed in great emergencies, when the deities were thought to be
angry. At such times the wrath o