race of gods. Otaia is
killed, and Oroo marries a god, her son, called Teorrhaha, whom she
orders to create more land, the animals, and all sorts of food found
upon the earth; as also the sky, which is supported by men called
Teeferei. The spots observed in the moon, are supposed to be groves
of a sort of trees which once grew in Otaheite, and being destroyed
by some accident, their seeds were carried up thither by doves, where
they now flourish.

They have also many legends, both religious and historical; one of
which latter, relative to the practice of eating human flesh, I shall
give the substance of, as a specimen of their method. A long time
since there lived in Otaheite two men, called _Taheeai_, the only name
they yet have for cannibals; none knew from whence they came, or in
what manner they arrived at the island. Their habitation was in
the mountains, from whence they used to issue, and kill many of the
natives, whom they afterward devoured, and by that means prevented the
progress of population. Two brothers, determined to rid their country
of such a formidable enemy, used a stratagem for their destruction,
with success. These still lived farther upward than the _Taheeai_, and
in such a situation that they could speak with them without greatly
hazarding their own safety; they invited them to accept of an
entertainment that should be provided for them, to which these readily
consented. The brothers then taking some stones, heated them in a
fire, and thrusting them into pieces of _mahee_, desired one of the
_Taheeai_ to open his mouth; on which one of these pieces was dropped
in, and some water poured down, which made a boiling or hissing noise,
in quenching the stone, and killed him. They entreated the other to
do the same; but he declined it, representing the consequences of
his companion's eating. However, they assured him that the food was
excellent, and its effects only temporary; for that the other would
soon recover. His credulity was such that be swallowed the bait, and
shared the fate of the first. The natives then cut them in pieces,
which they buried; and conferred the government of the island on the
brothers, as a reward for delivering them from such monsters. Their
residence was in the district called Whapaeenoo; and to this day there
remains a bread-fruit tree, once the property of the _Taheeais_.
They had also a woman, who lived with them, and had two teeth of
a prodigious size. After they were