Besides the great gods there was a host of inferior deities, such as the god of the sea, the god of the fishermen, the shark god, the goddess of the tapa beaters, Laka, the goddess of song and dance, who was very popular, and Pele, the goddess of volcanoes. Still lower in the scale were the demi-gods and magicians of marvelous power, like Maui, for whom the island of Maui is said to be named, who pulled New Zealand out of the sea with his magic fish hook and stole the secret of making fire from the wise mud hens. His greatest achievement was that of lassoing the sun and forcing him to slacken his speed. He was a hero throughout Polynesia, and his hook is said to have been still preserved on the island of Tonga in the eighteenth century. Like most primitive peoples, the Hawaiians danced in order that their gods might smile upon them and bring them luck, or to appease the dreaded Pele and the other gods of evil. The much-talked of _hula_ began in this way as a sacred dance before the altar in a temple inclosure, while the girls, clad in skirts of grass and wreaths of flowers, chanted their songs. There was grace in some of the movements, but on the whole the dances are said to have been "indescribably lascivious." After the missionaries arrived, the hula was modified, and to-day it has almost died out. [Illustration: _A Hula Dancer_ _With some concession in costume to Western conventions_] Many of the old chants were addressed to Laka, sometimes called the "goddess of the wildwood growths." These meles had neither rime nor meter and were more like chants or recitatives, as the singers used only two or three deep-throated tones. Curiously enough the verses suggest the modern _vers libre_. The chants include love songs, dirges and name songs--composed at the birth of a child to tell the story of his ancestors--besides prayers to the gods and historical traditions. As some of these early songs have real vigour and charm, I give a few examples. The following is a very old chant of Kane, Creator of the Universe: "The rows of stars of Kane, The stars in the firmament, The stars that have been fastened up, Fast, fast, on the surface of the heaven of Kane, And the wandering stars, The tabued stars of Kane, The moving stars of Kane; Innumerable are the stars; The large stars, The little stars, The red stars of Kane. O infinite space! The great Moon of Kane, The great Sun of Kane Moving, floating, Set moving about in the great space of Kane. The Great Earth of Kane, The Earth squeezed dry by Kane, The Earth that Kane set in motion. Moving are the stars, moving is the Moon, Moving is the great Earth of Kane."[6] I find the meles to Laka especially pretty, such as these, taken from Emerson's "Unwritten Literature of Hawaii": "O goddess Laka! O wildwood bouquet, O Laka! O Laka, queen of the voice! O Laka, giver of gifts! O Laka, giver of bounty! O Laka, giver of all things!"