[126] A. Baessler, op. cit. pp. 130, 131.
[127] A. Baessler, op. cit. p. 119.
[128] A. Baessler, op. cit. pp. 117 sq.
[129] A. Baessler, op. cit. pp. 130 sq.
[130] A. Baessler, op. cit. p. 140.
[131] A. Baessler, op. cit. p. 127.
[132] A. Baessler, op. cit. pp. 124, 141.
[133] A. Baessler, op. cit. pp. 127 sq., 144 sq.
[135] Ellis says, "I am not aware that they rendered divine homage either to the sun or moon" (Polynesian Researches, iii. 171). Speaking of the Areois, Moerenhout says that "it seems to me clear that though they did not adore directly the sun and the other stars, nevertheless their worship was little else than sabeism or the adoration of the visible and animated universe" (op. cit. i. 503). He interpreted both Oro and Maui or Mahoui (as he spells the name) as the sun-god (op. cit. i. 484, 502, 503, 560 sq.); but these interpretations appear to be his own guesses, unsupported by any statement of the natives. Maui was the great Polynesian hero, one of whose most famous exploits was catching the sun in a snare and compelling him to move more slowly (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, pp. 234 sqq., s.v. "Maui"; see above, p. [275]); but this story, far from favouring the identification of Maui with the sun, seems fatal to it. According to J. R. Forster, the great god Taroa (Taaroa) was thought to have created the sun and to dwell in it (Observations, p. 540); but even if this statement is correct, it hardly implies a worship of the sun. With regard to the moon, the same writer tells us (l.c.) that it was supposed to be procreated by a goddess named O-Heena, "who presides in the black cloud which appears in this luminary"; and the statement is repeated by his son, George Forster, who adds: "The women sing a short couplet, which seems to be an act of adoration paid to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps because they suppose her to have some influence upon their physical œconomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that cloud I love'" (Voyage round the World, ii. 152). This so far seems to imply a reverence for the moon; and there are some grounds for thinking that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is usually spelt) was in Eastern Polynesia a moon-goddess. See above, [p. 267, note2].