by a goddess named O-Heena, "who
presides in the black cloud which appears in this luminary"; and
the statement is repeated by his son, George Forster, who adds:
"The women sing a short couplet, which seems to be an act of
adoration paid to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps because they
suppose her to have some influence upon their physical
[oe]conomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that cloud I love'"
(_Voyage round the World_, ii. 152). This so far seems to imply
a reverence for the moon; and there are some grounds for
thinking that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is usually spelt) was
in Eastern Polynesia a moon-goddess. See above, p. 267, note^2.

[136] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._, iii. 171. According to
another account, the sun and moon in eclipse were supposed to be
in the act of copulation. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346.

Temples such as have been described were erected on all important
occasions, such as a war, a decisive victory, or the installation of a
great chief or king of a whole island. In these latter cases the natives
boasted that the number of persons present was so great that, if each of
them only brought a single stone, the amount of stones thus collected
would have sufficed to build their largest temples and pyramids.[137]
One of the occasions when it became necessary to build new temples was
when the old ones had been overthrown by enemies in war. After such a
desecration it was customary to perform a ceremony for the purpose of
purifying the land from the defilement which it had incurred through the
devastations of the foe, who had, perhaps, demolished the temples,
destroyed or mutilated the idols, and burned with fire the curiously
carved pieces of wood which marked the sacred places of interment and
represented the spirits of the dead (_tiis_). Before the rite of
purification was performed the temples were rebuilt, new altars reared,
new images placed within the sacred precincts, and new wooden effigies
set up near the graves. At the close of the rites in the new temples,
the worshippers repaired to the seashore, where the chief priest offered
a short prayer and the people dragged a net of coco-nut leaves through a
shallow part of the sea, usually detaching small pieces of coral, which
they brought ashore. These were called fish and were delivered to the
priest, who conveyed them to the temple and deposited them on the altar,
offering at