f the god was revealed to a priest, who,
wrapt up like a ball in a bundle of cloth, spoke in a sharp, shrill,
squeaky voice, saying, "I am angry; bring me hogs, kill a man, and my
anger will be appeased."[27]

[26] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 322 _sqq._ Compare J. R. Forster,
_Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 539
_sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 149 _sqq._; J.
Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp.
343 _sqq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and
Travels_, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux
Iles du Grand Ocean_, i. 416 _sqq._, 436 _sqq._, 442 _sq._ As to
Taaoroa and his counterparts in Polynesian mythology, see H.
Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and
Philology_, p. 22; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative
Dictionary_, pp. 463 _sq._, _s.v._ "Tangaroa."

[27] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 167 _sq._

Oro is sometimes described as the war-god.[28] The great seat of his
worship was at Opoa in the island of Raiatea: his principal image was
worshipped there "with the most bloody and detestable rites"; and
thither human victims, ready slain, were sent from every shore to be
offered on his altar.[29] Sometimes, instead of the bodies of the slain,
only their jaw-bones were sent to decorate the temple of Oro at Opoa;
long strings of these relics might be seen hanging about the sacred
edifice.[30] In the small island of Tahaa, off Raiatea, there was a
temple (_marae_) dedicated to Oro and his two daughters. It belonged to
the king and "was upheld for the convenience of finding a pretext to get
rid, from time to time, of obnoxious persons, of both sexes; the men
slain by assassination, or in war, being presented to the male idol, and
the women to his female progeny, who were held to be as cruelly
delighted with blood as their parent. But the human sacrifices brought
hither were not allowed to remain and infect the atmosphere. When they
had lain upon the altar till they became offensive, the carcases were
transported to Oro's metropolitan temple at Opoa, in Raiatea, which was
the common Golgotha of his victims."[31]

[28] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114, 529.

[29] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529.

[30] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 14. In a long
house in the southern part of Tahiti, Captain Cook saw, at one
end