But why ?" "Have I not told you, Friend-from-the-Sea, that yonder hill which is called Orofena, whence this island takes its name, is sacred ?" "You said so, but what of it ?" "This: to set foot thereon is to die and, I suppose, great as you are, you, too, can die like others.

At least, although I love you, had you not come away from that canoe I was about to discover whether this is so." "Then for what are the canoes used ?" I asked with irritation.
"You see that flat rock, Friend, with the hole beyond, which is the mouth of a cave that appeared only in the great storm that brought you to our land?
They are used to convey offerings which are laid upon the rock.

Beyond it no man may go, and since the beginning no man has ever gone." "Offerings to whom ?" "To the Oromatuas, the spirits of the great dead who live there." "Oromatuas?
Oro! It is always something to do with Oro.

Who and what is Oro ?" "Oro is a god, Friend, though it is true that the priests say that above him there is a greater god called Degai, the Creator, the Fate who made all things and directs all things." "Very well, but why do you suppose that Oro, the servant of Degai, lives in that mountain?
I thought that he lived in a grove yonder where your priests, as I am told, have an image of him." "I do not know, Friend-from-the-Sea, but so it has been held from the beginning.

The image in the grove is only visited by his spirit from time to time.