RELIGION.
The religious system of the ancient Hawaiians was very similar to that of other Polynesians. It consisted in a great measure of nature worship. To their minds all the powers of nature, especially those that are mysterious and terrible, were conceived of as living and spiritual beings. Thus the volcano, the thunder, the whirlwind, the meteor and the shark were feared as being either the embodiment or the work of malevolent spirits (akuas).
The four great gods, Kane, Kanaloa, Ku and Lono, who were worshiped throughout Polynesia, originally belonged to
this class, as is shown by the cosmogony of the New Zealand Maoris. Among these four Kane held the primacy. The souls of great chiefs went to his abode after death.
Pele, the dread goddess of volcanoes, and her numerous family, dwelt in the crater of Kilauea, but also caused the eruptions of Mauna Loa and Hualalai. In Hawaii she was feared more than any other deity.
One large class of akuas were supposed to be incarnated in certain species of animals, which were feared or believed to have a supernatural character, as the shark.
Another class of deities, which included most of the professional gods, consisted of deified spirits of the dead. The Aumakuas were tutelar deities, attached to particular families, who were often deified ancestors. Sickness and disease were generally caused by their displeasure.
CEREMONIAL SYSTEM.
There were two hereditary orders of priests, endowed with lands, who kept up the elaborate liturgy and ritual of the temples, and also preserved whatever knowledge of astronomy, history, medicine, etc., had been handed down to them.
The tabu