fe, or sound in the world; that a boundless night, Po, enveloped
everything, over which Tanaoa, (Darkness), and Mutu-hei, (Silence),
ruled supreme. Then the god of light separated from Tanaoa, fought
him, drove him away, and confined him to night. Then the god Ono,
(Sound), was evolved from Atea, (Light), and banished Silence. From
all this struggle was born the Dawn, (Atanua). Atea married the Dawn,
and they created earth, animals, man.

In most of Polynesia there are legends of a universal flood from
which few escaped. In Fiji it was said that two races were entirely
wiped out, one of women, and the other of men and women with tails. A
little bird sat on the top of the uncovered land and wailed the
destruction. The Marquesans built a great canoe like a house, with
openings for air and light, but tight against the rain. The ark was
stored with provisions, and the animals of the earth were driven in
two by two, fastened in couples. Then the family of four men and four
women entered the ark, sacrificed a turtle to God, and retired to rest
amidst the terrific din of the confined animals. The storm burst, and
the waters covered the entire land. The storm ceased and a black bird
was sent over the sea of Hawaii. It returned to the ark, and a wind
set in from the north. Another bird was loosed, and alighted on the
sea-shore. It was recalled, and a third bird brought back twigs. The
ark soon grounded, and the four men and four women released the beasts,
and went ashore. These repopulated the earth.

The Samoans believed that the earth was once covered with water and the
sky alone was inhabited, until God sent his only begotten daughter in
the form of a kuri, or snipe, to look for dry land. She found a spot,
and brought down to it earth, and a creeping plant, which grew and
decomposed into worms, and, lo! the worms turned into men and women.

In Hawaii Nuu was saved from a similar flood, and with him his
three sons and their families. Ten generations later Kanehoalani
was commanded by God to introduce circumcision. He went to a far-off
country, had a son by a slave woman and one by his wife. He was then
commanded, this descendant of Nuu in the tenth generation, to go up
on a mountain and perform a sacrifice. He sought a mountain, but none
appeared suitable; so he communed with God, who told him to travel
to the east, and he would find a precipice. He departed with his son
and a servant. The Hawaiians still call the mountains