ollowing account of an Atua, at
the island of Tahuata, in the Windward or Marquesan group, while he
resided there temporarily in 1797, as a missionary from the London
Missionary Society: 'He is now of great age, and has lived from early
life at Hanateiteina, in a large house surrounded by an enclosure called
the A. In the house is an altar, and from the beams within and upon the
trees around it are human carcasses, suspended with their heads downward
and scalped. No one enters the premises but his servant, except when
human sacrifices are offered. Of these, more are offered to him than to
any other of their gods, and he frequently seats himself on an elevated
scaffold in front of his house and calls for two or three at a time. He
is invoked in all parts of the island, and offerings everywhere are
made to him and sent to Hanateiteina.'"[75] Similarly a Catholic
missionary tells us that in the island of Nukahiva he was personally
acquainted with two living human deities, a priest and a priestess, both
of whom, it was said, had the right to demand the sacrifice of human
victims to themselves. He adds, however, that they did not abuse the
right, and that nobody in the world appeared more affable and polite
than these divinities; he even entertained hopes of one day baptizing
the priest.[76] Of the reverence in which the priestly class in general
was held by the people, Captain Porter remarks that "their priests are
their oracles; they are considered but little inferior to their gods; to
some they are greatly superior, and after their death they rank with the
chief divinity."[77]

[74] The principal harbour of Nukahiva.

[75] C. S. Stewart, _op cit._ i. 244 _sq._ Compare
Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 226, 240 _sq._
The missionary William Crook was landed in the Marquesas from
the missionary ship _Duff_ in 1797. See J. Wilson, _Missionary
Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 131 _sqq._

[76] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45.

[77] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 114.

Little seems to be recorded of the theology and mythology of the
Marquesans; but among their myths was the widespread Polynesian story of
the origin of fire. Of old, it was said, fire used to be jealously
guarded by Mahoike in the infernal regions. Hearing of its utility, Maui
descended into the nether world to steal some of the element; but he
failed to elude the vigilance of its guardian and was obliged to re