imated by Captain King at four hundred
thousand; whose colour, form, language, and manners, testify their
relationship with the other islanders of this great ocean, though they
have very little knowledge of them. Their earliest history consists of
traditions of truths interwoven with fables, which ascend to the first
peopling of the islands, and are not yet embodied in the relation of any
voyage. I have collected them carefully from the accounts of the most
distinguished and intelligent man in Hanaruro, my friend Karemaku, a
Spaniard named Marini, who had long resided here, assisting as
interpreter.

According to a belief not long ago universally prevalent, the mighty
spirit Etua-Rono reigned over these islands before they were inhabited
by men. Ardently desirous of seeing his country peopled, he was
melancholy, and shed torrents of tears on the mountain Mou-na-roa,
because he had no offspring; and his loving wife, the beautiful goddess
Opuna, was not in a situation to console him. At length Fate heard his
prayers. On the south-east point of the island of O Wahi two boats were
stranded, having on board some families, who brought with them hogs,
fowls, dogs, and several edible roots. To the present day are the first
footsteps of man on this land to be seen. Rono was at that time absent,
catching fish on the northern islands for his wife. The fire-god, his
subject, unpropitious to man, taking advantage of this circumstance,
made an effort to repulse the new-comers. He approached them with
terrible gestures, and asked whence they came. They answered--"We come
from a country which abounds in hogs, dogs, cocoa-nuts, and bread-fruit.
We were overtaken by a violent storm when on a voyage to visit some
neighbours; and the moon changed five times before we reached this
land." They then begged permission to remain, which the fire-god cruelly
refused, and continued inexorable, although they offered to sacrifice a
hog to him.

Rono, however, observing that a strange smell proceeded from O Wahi,
suddenly returned, and was greatly surprised at the sight of the men.
Encouraged by his friendly deportment, they made their petition to him,
relating the harsh treatment they had endured from the fire-god. Rono,
enraged at this intelligence, threw the fire-god into the crater Kairuo,
on the side of the mountain Mou-na-roa, where he still chafes in vain.
The men now lived tranquilly on O Wahi, increased in numbers, and
sought, by great sac