On this platform a smaller one was erected, so as to leave a space of about four feet in width, and within this upper story were laid the bones of the many victims that had been slain in the worship of the god. The temple itself, called Fare no Oro, or the House of Oro, was quite a small building, eight feet long by six wide, and a little beyond this was the square stone on which the priest stood when about to offer a sacrifice, a higher stone behind it answering as a seat whereon the priest might rest himself when wearied.
Small as was this house, it had been the scene of many human sacrifices, and even its erection cost a number of lives, every post having been driven into the ground through a human body. Besides these victims, others had been sacrificed on many occasions, fourteen of whom were enumerated by an old man who had once officiated as the priest of Oro. When the chief of the island became converted to Christianity, this man tried to conceal the idol which he had so long worshipped, and to save it from destruction, hid it in a hole in the rock. The chief, however, very rightly feared that if the idol were allowed to remain its worship might revive, and accordingly insisted upon its destruction. Besides the priest who offered the sacrifice, Oro had another officer, whose special duty it was to kill the victims. He was officially termed the Mau-buna, or Pig-owner, a human body killed for sacrifice being named a “long pig.” When the victim was pointed out to him, the Mau-buna, having a round stone concealed in his hand, found an opportunity, of getting behind him, and, with a single blow, struck him senseless to the ground, where the murder was completed. He then packed the body in a basket of cocoa-nut leaves, and delivered it to the priest.
Next to Oro was Hiro, the Polynesian Mercury, or god of thieves. He was originally a man, but was elevated to the society of the gods in consequence of his wonderful deeds on earth, the chief of which seems to have been his daring in taking the image of Oro and flinging it to the ground with impunity.
The worship of Hiro extended through all ranks, from the highest chief to the lowest cook, and his votaries always asked for his help when they went on a plundering expedition, and promised him a share of the spoil. This promise they always performed, but as they were careful not to define the amount of booty which was to belong to the god, they contrived practically to have it all to themselves. For example, a thief would go out pig stealing, and promise Hiro a share of the stolen pork. Accordingly, if he had been successful, he would take home his ill-gotten booty, bake it, break off an inch of the tail, and go with it to the shrine of Hiro, where he would offer it with as much ceremony as if it had been half the pig, and at the same time beg the god not to divulge the theft of a votary who had kept his promise.
The natives are quite dexterous enough in the thieving way to be worthy of the protection of this god, having the most ingenious modes of stealing the goods of another. For example, if the objects are small, a hook is fastened to the end of a long bamboo, and the coveted article is slily withdrawn by the actual thief while a confederate directs the attention of the victim elsewhere. Sometimes the hook is tied to a line, and the thief literally angles for the property.
The apotheosis of Hiro was a very remarkable one. After his life of theft, rapine, and murder, in which he did not spare even the temples of the gods, and had, as we have seen, the hardihood to fling Oro’s image on the floor, and roll on it as if he had conquered Oro in wrestling, he was thought to have been so superhumanly wicked that he must have been a god. Accordingly, his skull was placed in a huge marae which he himself had erected, while his hair was put into an image of Oro, and both buried together, this act constituting the apotheosis. When Messrs. Bennett and Tyerman were at the Society Islands, this skull was still in existence, but it disappeared, together with the idols and other relics of the old religions.
The next god is Tane (pronounced tahneh), who was worshipped over a considerable range of country, and was in one or two islands considered as their supreme god. Such was the case with Huahine, in which Tane had a marae or malae of gigantic dimensions. I may here remark that in most Polynesian dialects the letters r and l are interchangeable, so that marae and malae are, in fact, the same word.
This marae is a hundred and twenty-four feet in length by sixteen in breadth, and is composed, like the marae of Oro, of two stories, the last being nearly ten feet in height, and built of coral blocks, some of which are ten feet in width, and correspondingly long and thick, so that their weight is enormous. As the marae is about a hundred yards from the shore, a prodigious amount of labor must have been expended in getting these huge stones out of the sea and fixing them in their places. The upper story is barely a yard in height, and has at each end an upright stone six feet high.
In the middle of the principal part is the idol’s bed, which he occupies once annually, and in which he ought to feel comfortable, as it is twenty-four feet long by thirteen wide. It is built, like the marae, of stone and earth, and is only eighteen inches high. This is a very ancient structure, as is shown by the trees that surround and spread their arms over it. Near the bed is a small house about twelve feet by six, in which rests the god Tane, together with lesser gods, each of whom is set over a district.
Tane himself—burned in 1817—was carved out of a great block of wood, and was about as large as a tall man. He was not remarkable for an elegant shape, having no neck and no legs, the body terminating in a cone. The head was furnished with apologies for eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, and the whole was covered with sinnet.