; the spirit of a priest, of a
king, or of any of his relations, being an _etua_. They likewise
consider all Europeans as such; for as their ideas do not extend beyond
their own horizon, they are firmly convinced that their ships come from
the clouds; and they imagine that thunder is occasioned by the
cannonading of vessels which float in the atmosphere, on which account
they entertain a great dread of artillery."[72] The _atuas_ or deities
of the Marquesans, we are told by another writer, "are numerous and vary
in their character and powers. Besides those having dominion
respectively, as is supposed, over the different elements and their most
striking phenomena, there are _atuas_ of the mountain and of the forest,
of the sea-side and of the interior, _atuas_ of peace and of war, of the
song and of the dance, and of all the occupations and amusements of
life. It is supposed by them that many of the departed spirits of men
also become _atuas_: and thus the multiplicity of their gods is such,
that almost every sound in nature, from the roaring of the tempest in
the mountains and the bursting of a thunderbolt in the clouds, to the
sighing of a breeze through the cocoa-nut tops and the chirping of an
insect in the grass or in the thatch of their huts, is interpreted into
the movements of a god."[73]

[72] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 171.

[73] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare
Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 240; Radiguet,
_op. cit._ pp. 218 _sq._

But the Marquesans, not content with deifying some men after death,
deified others in their lifetime. Amongst them there is, or rather used
to be, a class of living men "who claim the title and attributes of the
Deity; not through a professed inspiration or possession by a
supernatural influence or power, but in their own right of godship as
those who control the elements, impart fruitfulness to the productions
of the earth or smite them with blasting and sterility, and who exercise
the prerogatives of the Deity in scattering disease and wielding the
shafts of death. They are few in number, not more than one or two at
farthest on an island, and live in a seclusion and mysticism somewhat in
unison with their blasphemous pretensions. There is none at present in
the near vicinity of Taiohae,[74] though the former abode of such an
individual is pointed out at the foot of a bold cliff, high in the
mountains. The Rev. Mr. Crook gives the f