sacrifice of human victims. The close connection between the Hawaiian
and the Marquesan legends indicates a common origin, and that origin
can be no other than that from which the Chaldean and Hebrew legends
of sacred trees, disobedience, and fall also sprang." In comparison of
"the Hawaiian myth of Kanaloa as a fallen angel antagonistic to the
great gods, as the spirit of evil and death in the world, the Hebrew
legends are more vague and indefinite as to the existence of an evil
principle. The serpent of Genesis, the Satan of Job, the Hillel of
Isaiah, the dragon of the Apocalypse--all point, however, to the
same underlying idea that the first cause of sin, death, evil, and
calamities, was to be found in disobedience and revolt from God. They
appear as disconnected scenes of a once grand drama that in olden
times riveted the attention of mankind, and of which, strange to
say, the clearest synopsis and the most coherent recollection are,
so far, to be found in Polynesian traditions. It is probably in vain
to inquire with whom the legend of an evil spirit and his operations
in Heaven and on earth had its origin. Notwithstanding the apparent
unity of design and remarkable coincidence in many points, yet the
differences in coloring, detail, and presentation are too great to
suppose the legend borrowed by one from either of the others. It
probably descended to the Chaldeans, Polynesians, and Hebrews alike,
from a source or people anterior to themselves, of whom history now
is silent."




II

EXPLOITS OF MAUI