The latter received mythical representation in that most interesting god (but originally rather culture-hero) Maui, who, in NewZealand practically supplants Tangaloa, and becomes the god of the air and of the heaven, the creator and the causer of the flood.2 Speculation opened the usual deep problem; whence came the gods?
The main island of Hawaii and Maui at the east end are practically without reefs; which, however, are abundant farther west.
Prometheus resembles the Polynesian Maui, who went down to fetch fire from the volcano of Mahuika, the fire-god.
That the mountainous mass of western Maui is much older is shown by the destruction of its crater, by its sharp ridges and by deeply eroded gorges or valleys.
The koa (Acacia koa), from the wood of which the natives used to make the bodies of their canoes, and the only tree of the islands that furnishes much valuable lumber (a hard cabinet wood marketed as " Hawaiian mahogany "), forms extensive forests on Hawaii and Maui between elevations of 2000 and 4000 ft.
