FISHrGODS OF HAWAII.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19904, 25 September 1926, Page 26

FISHrGODS OF HAWAII.

IdMCI!IMAM BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS. On the Mokapu Flats, near Honolulu, is the abode of the ■ Fish-Gods. Here are the Pyramid Bocks of black lava, and the Fish-Gods are blocks of black lava, roughly hewn, about two feet high, standing upright upon a rock platform The ancient Hawaiian fishermen formed a distinct community of their own and had peculiar beliefs and customs. Their email temples used to etand on almost every rocky promontory along the coast. Oahu meie rude piles of coral blocks, aud not. a .>retentions stone structure like the usual tlawaiian “heiau,' 1 or temple. The Fish-Gods are called “Au-Maka,” and the chief Fish-God is "Kanla.” He was ■-vorshipped at an altar, or “ko-a ; otlermgs md sacrifices were brought to him, and the Uawaiians prayed to him for abundant ■atchcs. Ai-ai, the sou of ICa-ula, was the ■me who first revealed tho location of the deep-sea fishing grounds to the fishermen. Undoubtedly tho same beliefs prevailed among the Polynesians, ns is seen even today in the Dance of the Waves in 1‘ ip which ie tho survival of an ancient cers mnnial rlar.ee of the fishermen, held at timec of festivals and sacrifices to the Fish-Gods.