{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33524/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33524","id":"gutenberg_33524","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33524","summary":null,"tags":["Ancestor worship -- Oceania","Burial","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Funeral rites and ceremonies -- Oceania","Immortality -- Comparative studies","Oceania -- Religion","Oceania -- Social life and customs."],"text":"Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was made using scans of public domain works from the\nUniversity of Michigan Digital Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY\n VOL. II\n\n\n MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED\n LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MADRAS\n MELBOURNE\n\n THE MACMILLAN COMPANY\n NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO\n DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO\n\n THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.\n TORONTO\n\n\n\n THE\n BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY\n AND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD\n\n BY\n SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F.R.S., F.B.A.\n\n FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE\n\n HON. D.C.L., OXFORD; HON. LITT.D., CAMBRIDGE AND DURHAM;\n\n HON. LL.D., GLASGOW; DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF\n PARIS AND STRASBOURG\n\n\n\n VOL. II\n THE BELIEF AMONG THE POLYNESIANS\n\n\n MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED\n ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON\n 1922\n\n\n\n COPYRIGHT\n\n PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe first volume of this work, which comprised the Gifford Lectures\ngiven by me at St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, dealt with the\nbelief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found\namong the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New\nGuinea, and Melanesia. In the present volume I take up the subject at\nthe point at which I broke off, and describe the corresponding belief\nand worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbours\nthe Melanesians by language, if not by blood. The first chapter formed\nthe theme of two lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in 1916;\nthe other chapters have been written for lectures at Trinity College,\nCambridge, in 1921 and 1922. But in the book the lecture form has been\ndiscarded, and the treatment of the subject is somewhat fuller than\ncomports with the limits imposed by oral delivery.\n\nShould circumstances allow me to continue the work, I propose in the\nnext volume to treat of the belief in immortality and the worship of the\ndead among the Micronesians and Indonesians.\n\n\nJ. G. FRAZER.\n\nNO. 1 BRICK COURT, TEMPLE,\nLONDON, _19th July 1922_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGES\n\n PREFACE v\n\n TABLE OF CONTENTS vii-ix\n\n CHAP.\n I. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS 1-51\n\n Sec. 1. The Polynesians 1-5\n Sec. 2. The Maoris of New Zealand 5-10\n Sec. 3. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of\n the Living 10-19\n Sec. 4. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of\n the Dead 19-37\n Sec. 5. Taboo among the Maoris 37-50\n Sec. 6. Conclusion 51\n\n II. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS 52-147\n\n Sec. 1. The Tonga or Friendly Islands 52-57\n Sec. 2. The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of\n Life, and Government 57-63\n Sec. 3. The Tongan Religion: its General Principles 64-68\n Sec. 4. The Primary or Non-human Gods 68-73\n Sec. 5. The Temples of the Gods 73-77\n Sec. 6. Priests and their Inspiration 77-79\n Sec. 7. The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices 79-84\n Sec. 8. The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny\n after Death 84-91\n Sec. 9. The Souls of the Dead as Gods 91-98\n Sec. 10. Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments 99-132\n Sec. 11. Rites of Burial and Mourning 132-146\n Sec. 12. The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion 146-147\n\n III. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS 148-218\n\n Sec. 1. The Samoan Islands 148-156\n Sec. 2. The Samoan Islanders, their character 156-163\n Sec. 3. Houses, Agriculture, and Industries 163-169\n Sec. 4. Rights of Property 169-171\n Sec. 5. Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs 171-181\n Sec. 6. Religion: Gods of Families, Villages,\n and Districts 181-192\n Sec. 7. Priests and Temples 192-200\n Sec. 8. Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages,\n and Districts: Relation to Totemism 200-202\n Sec. 9. The High Gods of Samoa 202-205\n Sec. 10. The Samoan Belief concerning the Human\n Soul: Funeral Customs 205-213\n Sec. 11. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 213-218\n\n IV. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS 219-245\n\n Sec. 1. The Hervey or Cook Islands 219-220\n Sec. 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 220-223\n Sec. 3. Social Life: the Sacred Kings 223-225\n Sec. 4. Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism 225-229\n Sec. 5. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 229-231\n Sec. 6. Death and Funeral Rites 231-237\n Sec. 7. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 238-245\n\n V. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS 246-327\n\n Sec. 1. The Society Islands 246-248\n Sec. 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 248-256\n Sec. 3. The Religion of the Society Islanders 256-278\n Sec. 4. The Temples and Images of the Gods 278-291\n Sec. 5. The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders 291-296\n Sec. 6. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 297-299\n Sec. 7. Disease, Death, and Mourning 299-308\n Sec. 8. The Disposal of the Dead 308-313\n Sec. 9. The Fate of the Soul after Death 313-321\n Sec. 10. The Worship of the Dead 322-327\n\n VI. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS 328-374\n\n Sec. 1. The Marquesas Islands 328-331\n Sec. 2. Physical Appearance of the Natives 331-333\n Sec. 3. Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing 333-337\n Sec. 4. Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names 337-339\n Sec. 5. Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls 339-344\n Sec. 6. Social Ranks, Taboo 344-347\n Sec. 7. Religion and Mythology 348-352\n Sec. 8. The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs 352-363\n Sec. 9. Fate of the Soul after Death 363-374\n\n VII. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS 375-431\n\n Sec. 1. The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands 375-377\n Sec. 2. The Natives and their Mode of Life 377-380\n Sec. 3. Houses, Mechanical Arts 380-383\n Sec. 4. Government, Social Ranks, Taboo 383-390\n Sec. 5. Religion, the Gods 390-404\n Sec. 6. Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners 404-406\n Sec. 7. Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices 406-414\n Sec. 8. Festivals 414-416\n Sec. 9. Death and Funeral Rites 417-427\n Sec. 10. Fate of the Soul after Death 427-431\n\n INDEX 433-447\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Polynesians_\n\nThe Polynesians are the tall brown race of men who inhabit the widely\nscattered islands of the Pacific, from Hawaii on the north to New\nZealand on the south, and from Tonga on the west to Easter Island on the\neast.[1] Down to the eighteenth century they remained practically\nunknown to Europe; the first navigator to bring back comparatively full\nand accurate information concerning them was our great English explorer,\nCaptain James Cook. Thus at the date of their discovery the natives were\nquite unaffected by European influence: of our civilisation they knew\nnothing: of Christianity, though it had existed in the world for nearly\neighteen hundred years, they had never heard: they were totally ignorant\nof the metals, and had made so little progress in the arts of life that\nin most of the islands pottery was unknown,[2] and even so simple an\ninvention as that of bows and arrows for use in war had not been thought\nof.[3] Hence their condition was of great interest to students of the\nearly history of man, since it presented to their observation the\nspectacle of a barbaric culture evolved from an immemorial past in\ncomplete independence of those material, intellectual, and moral forces\nwhich have moulded the character of modern European nations. The\nlateness of their discovery may also be reckoned a fortunate\ncircumstance for us as well as for them, since it fell at a time when\nscientific curiosity was fully awakened among us, and when scientific\nmethods were sufficiently understood to allow us to study with profit a\nstate of society which differed so widely from our own, and which in an\nearlier and less enlightened age might have been contemplated only with\naversion and disgust.\n\n [1] Horatio Hale, _The United States Exploring Expedition,\n Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq_.,\n 9 _sqq._; J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 500\n _sqq._\n\n [2] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 154, 501;\n _British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_\n (1910), p. 147.\n\n [3] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), v. 416; W.\n Mariner, _Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_, Second\n Edition (London, 1818), i. 67; W. Ellis, _Polynesian\n Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. 220; E.\n Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_,\n Second Edition (London, 1856), p. 212; J. Deniker, _The Races of\n Man_, p. 501. In Polynesia \"the bow was not a serious weapon; it\n was found in some islands, _e.g._ in Tahiti and Tonga, but was\n principally used for killing rats or in shooting matches\"\n (_British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_,\n p. 153). As to the limited use of bows and arrows in Polynesia,\n see further E. Tregear, \"The Polynesian Bow,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, vol. i. no. 1 (April 1892), pp. 56-59; W.\n H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge,\n 1914), ii. 446 _sqq._\n\nThe question of the origin of the Polynesian race is still unsettled,\nbut the balance both of evidence and of probability seems to incline in\nfavour of the view that the people are descended from one of the yellow\nMongoloid races of South-Eastern Asia, who gradually spread eastward\nover the Indian Archipelago and intermingling to some extent with the\nblack aboriginal inhabitants of the islands formed the lighter-tinted\nbrown race which we call the Polynesian.[4] A strong argument in favour\nof this theory is drawn from the Polynesian language, which belongs\nessentially to the same family of speech as the Melanesian and Malay\nlanguages spoken by the peoples who occupy the islands that intervene\nbetween Polynesia and the south-eastern extremity of the Asiatic\ncontinent.[5] The black Melanesian race occupies the south-eastern\nportion of New Guinea and the chain of islands which stretches in a\ngreat curve round the north-eastern coasts of New Guinea and Australia.\nThe brown Malays, with the kindred Indonesians and a small admixture of\nnegritoes, inhabit the islands westward from New Guinea to the Malay\nPeninsula.[6] Of the two kindred languages, the Polynesian and the\nMelanesian, the older in point of structure appears unquestionably to be\nthe Melanesian; for it is richer both in sounds and in grammatical forms\nthan the Polynesian, which may accordingly be regarded as its later and\nsimplified descendant.[7]\n\n [4] Compare (Sir) E. B. Tylor, _Anthropology_ (London, 1881), p.\n 102; R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_ (Oxford,\n 1885), pp. 33 _sqq._; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki, the Original\n Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc., New Zealand, 1910), pp.\n 85 _sqq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge,\n 1919), pp. 34 _sqq._; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and Present_,\n revised by A. Hingston-Quiggin and A. C. Haddon (Cambridge,\n 1920), p. 552.\n\n [5] On the affinity of the Polynesian, Melanesian, and Malay\n languages, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_\n (Oxford, 1885), pp. 10 _sqq._; S. H. Ray, \"The Polynesian\n Language in Melanesia,\" _Anthropos_, xiv.-xv. (1919-1920), pp.\n 46 _sqq._\n\n [6] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, pp. 482 _sqq._\n\n [7] _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to\n Torres Straits_, vol. iii. _Linguistics_, by Sydney H. Ray\n (Cambridge, 1907), p. 528 (as to the relation of the Polynesian\n to the Melanesian language). As to the poverty of the Polynesian\n language in sounds and grammatical forms by comparison with the\n Melanesian, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, p.\n 11.\n\nBut whereas the three peoples, the Polynesians, the Melanesians, and the\nMalays speak languages belonging to the same family, their physical\ntypes are so different that it seems impossible to look on the brown\nstraight-haired Polynesians and Malays as pure descendants of the\nswarthy frizzly-haired Melanesians. Accordingly in the present state of\nour knowledge, or rather ignorance, the most reasonable hypothesis would\nappear to be that the Melanesians, who occupy a central position in the\ngreat ocean, between the Polynesians on the east and the Malays on the\nwest, represent the original inhabitants of the islands, while the\nPolynesians and Malays represent successive swarms of emigrants, who\nhived off from the Asiatic continent, and making their way eastward over\nthe islands partially displaced and partially blent with the aborigines,\nmodifying their own physical type in the process and exchanging their\noriginal language for that of the islanders, which, through their\ninability to assimilate it, they acquired only in corrupt or degenerate\nforms.[8] Yet a serious difficulty meets us on this hypothesis. For\nboth the Polynesians and the Malays, as we know them, stand at a\ndecidedly higher level of culture, socially and intellectually, than the\nMelanesians, and it is hard to understand why with this advantage they\nshould have fallen into a position of linguistic subordination to them,\nfor as a rule it is the higher race which imposes its language on its\ninferiors, not the lower race which succeeds in foisting its speech on\nits superiors.\n\n [8] This seems to be the hypothesis favoured by Dr. R. H.\n Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, pp. 33 _sqq._ Compare J.\n Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 505. On the other hand Sir E. B.\n Tylor says (_Anthropology_, pp. 163 _sq._), \"The parent language\n of this family may have belonged to Asia, for in the Malay\n region the grammar is more complex, and words are found like\n _tasik_ = sea and _langit_ = sky, while in the distant islands\n of New Zealand and Hawaii these have come down to _tai_ and\n _lai_, as though the language became shrunk and formless as the\n race migrated further from home, and sank into the barbaric life\n of ocean islanders.\" Dr. W. H. R. Rivers suggests that the\n Polynesian language \"arose out of a pidgin Indonesian\" (_The\n History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 584).\n\nBut these are intricate questions which await future investigation. I\ncannot enter into them now, but must confine myself to my immediate\nsubject, the beliefs of the Polynesians concerning the human soul and\nthe life after death.\n\nIn spite of their diffusion over a multitude of islands separated from\neach other by hundreds and even thousands of miles of ocean, the\nPolynesians are on the whole a remarkably homogeneous race in physical\ntype, language, and forms of society and religion. The differences of\nlanguage between them are inconsiderable, amounting to little more than\nsome well-marked dialectical variations: all dwell in settled homes and\nsubsist partly by fishing partly by the fruits of the earth, tilling the\nsoil and gathering coconuts and bread-fruit from the trees:[9] all are\nbold and expert mariners, making long voyages in large well-built\ncanoes: all possess a copious and comparatively well developed\nmythology; and all at the time of their discovery enjoyed, or perhaps we\nshould rather say suffered from, a singular institution, half social,\nhalf religious, which may be summed up in the single Polynesian word\ntaboo. Hence it would no doubt be possible to give a general account of\nthe belief in human immortality which would hold good in outline for all\nthe different branches of the Polynesian race; but such an account would\nnecessarily be somewhat meagre, inexact in detail, and liable to many\nexceptions. Accordingly I shall not attempt it, but shall describe the\ncreed of each group of islanders separately. As the beliefs of the\nvarious islanders on this momentous topic are characterised by a general\nsimilarity, the method I have adopted will no doubt involve a certain\nsameness and repetition, but for the serious student of comparative\nreligion I hope that these disadvantages may be more than outweighed by\nthe greater accuracy and fulness of detail which this mode of treating\nthe subject renders possible.\n\n [9] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 501. On the apparent\n homogeneity of the Polynesian race see W. H. R. Rivers, _The\n History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge, 1914), ii. 280, who,\n however, argues (ii. 280 _sqq._) that the race has been formed\n by the fusion of two distinct peoples.\n\nThe principal groups of islands included in Polynesia are New Zealand,\nthe Friendly or Tonga Islands, the Samoan or Navigators Islands, the\nHervey or Cook Islands, the Society Islands, including Tahiti, the\nMarquesas Islands, and Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands.[10] All of them,\nexcept New Zealand, are within the tropics; and all of them, except\nHawaii, lie to the south of the equator. I shall deal with them in the\norder I have mentioned, beginning with New Zealand.\n\n [10] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition,\n Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Maoris of New Zealand_\n\nThe Maoris of New Zealand are not aborigines of the islands which they\ninhabit: they possess long and apparently in the main trustworthy\ntraditions of their migration to New Zealand many generations ago. The\ncircumstances which led to the migration, the names of the canoes in\nwhich it was accomplished, the names and genealogies of the chiefs who\nconducted it, are all recorded, having been handed on by word of mouth\nfrom generation to generation, till they were finally written down from\nthe lips of the natives by English enquirers.[11] The place from which\nthe Maoris came is unanimously designated as Hawaiki, an island or\ngroup of islands lying far to the north or north-east of New Zealand.\nAmong English scholars there is some difference of opinion whether\nHawaiki is to be identified with Hawaii, that is, the Sandwich Islands,\nor with Savaii, one of the Samoan or Navigators Islands, since Hawaii\nand Savaii are both dialectical variations of the New Zealander's\npronunciation of Hawaiki.[12] Though Hawaii is more than twice as far as\nSavaii from New Zealand, being separated from it by almost the whole\nbreadth of the tropics and a great stretch of ocean besides, some good\nauthorities have inclined to regard it as the original home of the\nMaoris, but the balance of opinion appears now to preponderate in favour\nof the view that Savaii was the centre from which the Polynesians\ndispersed all over the Pacific.[13] However, the question is one that\nhardly admits of a positive answer.\n\n [11] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843),\n ii. 85 _sqq._; Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring\n Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp.\n 146 _sqq._; Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London,\n 1855), pp. 123 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._, 202 _sqq._; E.\n Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_,\n Second Edition (London, 1856), pp. 1 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika\n A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition\n (London, 1870), pp. 26, 27, 289 _sqq._; John White, _The Ancient\n History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions_ (London,\n 1887-1889), ii. 176 _sqq._; Elsdon Best, \"The Peopling of New\n Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 73-76. The number of\n generations which have elapsed since the migration to New\n Zealand is variously estimated. Writing about the middle of the\n nineteenth century Shortland reckoned the number at about\n eighteen; Mr. Elsdon Best, writing in 1914, variously calculated\n it at about twenty-eight or twenty-nine (on p. 73) and from\n eighteen to twenty-eight (on p. 74).\n\n [12] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 33.\n\n [13] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the U.S. Exploring\n Expedition_, pp. 119 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New\n Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 85 _sqq._; E. Shortland,\n _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 33\n _sqq._; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London,\n 1859), i. 57 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 26; E.\n Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington,\n N.Z., 1891), pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ \"Hawaiki\"; A. C. Haddon, _The\n Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36. Of these\n writers, Dieffenbach, Shortland, and Taylor decide in favour of\n Hawaii; Thomson, Hale, and Haddon prefer Savaii; Tregear seems\n to leave the question open, pointing out that \"the inhabitants\n of those islands themselves believe in another Hawaiki, neither\n in Samoa nor Hawaii.\"\n\nThe Maoris are not a pure-blooded Polynesian race. Among them even at\nthe present day two distinct racial types may be distinguished, one of\nthem the comparatively fair Polynesian type with straight nose and good\nfeatures, the other the swarthy, thick-lipped, flat-nosed,\nfrizzly-haired Melanesian type. They have a tradition that on their\narrival in New Zealand they found the country in the possession of a\ndark-skinned folk of repulsive appearance, tall, spare, and\nspindle-shanked, with flat faces, overhanging brows, and noses of which\nlittle but the upturned nostrils could in some cases be discerned. These\nsavages wore little clothing and built no good houses, nothing but rude\nshelters against the inclemency of the weather. They were ignorant and\ntreacherous, and the Maoris regarded them with dislike and contempt; but\ntheir women looked with favour on the handsome Maori men, and a mixture\nof the two races was the result. This tradition both explains and is\nconfirmed by the two different racial types which still exist side by\nside or blent together among the Maoris. It seems, therefore, highly\nprobable that before the advent of the Maoris the North Island of New\nZealand was occupied by a people of inferior culture belonging to the\nMelanesian stock, who may themselves have had a strain of Polynesian\nblood in their veins and some Polynesian words in their language. This\nat least is suggested by some features in the Maori traditions about\nthem. For these savages told the Maoris that they were the descendants\nof the crews of three fishing canoes which had been driven to sea from\ntheir own land in past times, and that their original home was a much\nwarmer country than New Zealand. All these various indications may\nperhaps be reconciled by supposing that the dark predecessors of the\nMaoris in New Zealand were a Melanesian people, who had accidentally\ndrifted from Fiji, the inhabitants of which have long been in contact\nwith their Polynesian neighbours on the east, the Tongans.[14] They\nreceived from the Maoris the name of Maruiwi,[15] and were perhaps of\nthe same stock as the Moriori of the Chatham Islands; for two skulls of\nthe Moriori type have been found in an old deposit at Wanganui, near the\nsouth end of the North Island of New Zealand.[16]\n\n [14] Elsdon Best, \"The Peopling of New Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv.\n (1914) pp. 73-76. The Melanesian strain in the Maoris was\n recognised by previous writers. See J. S. Polack, _Manners and\n Customs of the New Zealanders_ (London, 1840), i. 6, \"The nation\n consists of two aboriginal and distinct races, differing, at an\n earlier period, as much from each other as both are similarly\n removed in similitude from Europeans. A series of intermarriages\n for centuries has not even yet obliterated the marked difference\n that originally stamped the descendant of the now amalgamated\n races. The first may be known by a dark-brown complexion, well\n formed and prominent features, erect muscular proportions, and\n lank hair, with a boldness in the gait of a warrior, wholly\n differing from that of the second and inferior race, who have a\n complexion brown-black, hair inclining to the wool, like the\n Eastern African, stature short, and skin exceeding soft.\" The\n writer rightly connects the latter people with the stock which\n we now call Melanesian. Compare also R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_,\n pp. 13 _sqq._, who says (p. 13), \"The Melanesian preceded the\n Polynesian.... The remains of this race are to be seen in every\n part of New Zealand, especially among the Nga-ti-ka-hunu, to\n which the derisive name of Pokerekahu--Black Kumara--is applied.\n The Maori traditions preserve both the names of the canoes which\n brought them to New Zealand, as well as of the chiefs who\n commanded them; several of these records make mention of their\n having found this black race in occupation of the country on\n their arrival.\" The blending of two distinct races, a\n light-brown and a dark race, among the Maoris is clearly\n recognised by E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii.\n 8-11. The dark race, he says (pp. 9 _sq._), \"has undoubtedly a\n different origin. This is proved by their less regularly shaped\n cranium, which is rather more compressed from the sides, by\n their full and large features, prominent cheek-bones, full lips,\n small ears, curly and coarse, although not woolly, hair, a much\n deeper colour of the skin, and a short and rather\n ill-proportioned figure. This race, which is mixed in insensible\n gradations with the former, is far less numerous; it does not\n predominate in any one part of the island, nor does it occupy\n any particular station in a tribe, and there is no difference\n made between the two races amongst themselves; but I must\n observe that I never met any man of consequence belonging to\n this race, and that, although free men, they occupy the lower\n grades; from this we may perhaps infer the relation in which\n they stood to the earliest native immigrants into the country,\n although their traditions and legends are silent on the\n subject.\"\n\n [15] Elsdon Best, \"The Peopling of New Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv.\n (1914) pp. 73 _sq._\n\n [16] (Sir) Arthur Keith, \"Moriori in New Zealand,\" _Man_, xiii.\n (1913) pp. 171 _sq._\n\nAt the time of their discovery the Maoris had attained to a fair level\nof barbaric culture. They lived in comfortable houses ornamented with\ncarved work and with scrolls painted in red and white on the posts and\nbeams. Their villages were fortified with earthworks, palisades, and\ntrenches, and surrounded by large gardens planted with sweet potatoes,\ntaro, and melons.[17] \"They excel in tillage,\" says Captain Cook, as\nmight naturally be expected, where the person that sows is to eat the\nproduce, and where there is so little besides that can be eaten: when we\nfirst came to Tegadoo, a district between Poverty Bay and East Cape,\ntheir crops were just covered, and not yet begun to sprout; the mould\nwas as smooth as in a garden, and every root had its small hillock,\nranged in a regular quincunx, by lines, which with the pegs were still\nremaining in the field.[18] They understood the arts of irrigating their\ngardens[19] and of manuring them so as to render the soil light and\nporous and therefore better suited for the growth of the sweet potato,\ntheir favourite food. For this purpose they used sand, and in the\nWaikatoo district, where the root was formerly much cultivated, deep\nexcavations, like the gravel pits of England, may still be seen, from\nwhich the natives extracted sand to fertilise their gardens.[20]\nMoreover, they cultivated various species of native flax and used the\nfibre for the manufacture of garments, first scraping it and drying it\nin the sun, then steeping it in water, and afterwards beating it with\nwooden mallets. Thus prepared the flax was dyed black or reddish brown\nand woven into cloth with broad borders of neat and varied patterns. The\nstronger and coarser fibres were made into string, lines, and cordage of\nall sorts.[21] The Maoris also built large and magnificently adorned\ncanoes,[22] in which they made long voyages; for example, they invaded\nand conquered the Chatham Islands, which lie to the eastward across the\nopen sea about five hundred miles distant from the nearest coast of New\nZealand.[23] In hunting they had little opportunity to shine, for the\nsimple reason that in their country there were no beasts to hunt except\nrats;[24] even birds they could not shoot, because they had no bows and\narrows to shoot them with,[25] but they made some amends by catching\nthem in ingeniously constructed snares.[26] They caught fish both with\nnets, some of which were of enormous size, and with hooks made of bone\nor shell.[27] They displayed great skill and infinite patience in\nfashioning, sharpening, and polishing their stone implements and\nweapons.[28] In council they were orators, and in the battlefield\nwarriors whose courage has merited the respect, and whose military skill\nhas won the admiration of the British troops opposed to them.[29] In\nshort, the Maoris were and are one of the most highly gifted among the\nmany uncivilised peoples which the English race, in its expansion over\nthe world, has met and subdued. It is therefore of peculiar interest to\nlearn what conceptions they had formed of man's spiritual nature and his\nrelations to the higher powers.\n\n [17] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the Maoris_,\n p. 202. The elaborate system of fortification employed by the\n Maoris, of which the remains may be seen by thousands, seems to\n have no exact parallel in Polynesia. See Elsdon Best, \"The\n Peopling of New Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 75. These native\n forts or _pas_, as they were called, had often a double or even\n quadruple line of fence, the innermost formed by great poles\n twenty or thirty feet high, which were tightly woven together by\n the fibrous roots of a creeper. They were built by preference on\n hills, the sides of which were scarped and terraced to assist\n the defence. Some of them were very extensive and are said to\n have contained from one to two thousand inhabitants. Many of\n them were immensely strong and practically impregnable in the\n absence of artillery. It is believed that the habit of\n fortifying their villages was characteristic of the older race\n whom the Maoris, on landing in New Zealand, found in occupation\n of the country. See W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_\n (London, 1835), pp. 122 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and\n Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_ (London, 1847), i. 332\n _sq._; Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the\n Maoris of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_,\n vol. xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 204 _sqq._; W. H. Skinner,\n \"The Ancient Fortified _Pa_,\" _Journal of the Polynesian\n Society_, vol. xx. no. 78 (June 1911), pp. 71-77.\n\n [18] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), ii. 50.\n\n [19] The ruins of native irrigation works are to be found in New\n Zealand as well as in other parts of Polynesia (J. Deniker, _The\n Races of Man_, p. 501).\n\n [20] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 202 _sq._\n\n [21] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 30 _sq._, 40 _sq._; W.\n Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 157\n _sqq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 204 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 5.\n\n [22] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 47 _sq._; W. Yate, _op.\n cit._ pp. 161 _sqq._\n\n [23] A. Shand, \"The Occupation of the Chatham Islands by the\n Maoris in 1835,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. i.\n no. 2 (July 1892), pp. 83 _sqq._\n\n [24] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 496; A. R. Wallace, _Australasia_\n (London, 1913), pp. 442 _sq._\n\n [25] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 212; Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as\n conducted by the Maori of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, vol. xi. no. 4 (December 1902), p. 240.\n\n [26] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 212 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 442\n _sq._\n\n [27] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 49 _sq._; W. Yate, _An\n Account of New Zealand_, p. 160.\n\n [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 49; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A\n Maui_, p. 4.\n\n [29] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 4. The Maoris delivered set\n speeches composed according to certain recognised laws of\n rhetoric, and their oratory was distinguished by a native\n eloquence and grace. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and\n Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 186 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 3. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Living_\n\nLike most other peoples, whether savage or civilised, the Maoris\nexplained the mystery of life in man by the presence of an invisible\nspirit or soul, which animates his body during life and quits it at\ndeath to survive the separation for a longer or shorter time either in\nthis world or another. But like many others who have sought to fathom\nthis profound subject, the Maoris would seem to have experienced some\ndifficulty in ascertaining the precise nature of the human soul. When\nthe natural man, on the strength of his native faculties, essays to\nexplore these dark abysses and to put his vague thoughts into words, he\ncommonly compares his soul either to his breath or to his shadow and\nhis reflection, and not content with a simple comparison he is led, by a\nnatural confusion of thought, to identify more or less closely the\nimperceptible entity which he calls his soul with one or both of these\nperceptible objects. To this general rule the Maori is apparently no\nexception. He has two words which he specially uses to designate the\nhuman spirit or soul: one is _wairua_, the other is _hau_.[30] Of these\nwords, _wairua_, the more usual name, is said to mean also a shadow, an\nunsubstantial image, a reflection, as of a person's face from a polished\nsurface;[31] and we may surmise that these were the original and proper\nmeanings of the term. Similarly _hau_, which is described as \"the vital\nessence or life principle\" in man,[32] appears primarily to mean\n\"wind,\"[33] from which we may infer that in its application to man it\ndenotes properly the breath. The idea of the soul as a breath appears in\nthe explanation which was given to Dumont d'Urville of the Maori form of\nsalutation by rubbing noses together. The French traveller was told that\nthe real intention of this salute was to mingle the breath and thereby\nthe souls of the persons who gave each other this token of friendship.\nBut as his informant was not a Maori but a certain Mr. Kendall, the\ntruth of the explanation remains doubtful, though the Frenchman believed\nthat he obtained confirmation of it from his own observation and the\ntestimony of a native.[34] On the other hand the comparison of the soul\nto a shadow comes out in the answer given by a Maori to an Englishman\nwho had asked him why his people did not prevent their souls from\npassing away to the nether world. The Maori replied by pointing to the\nEnglishman's shadow on the wall and asking him whether he could catch\nit.[35]\n\n [30] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177\n _sqq._, 189 _sqq._\n\n [31] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp.\n 591 _sq._, _s.v._ \"wairua.\"\n\n [32] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 189.\n\n [33] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p.\n 52, _s.v._ \"hau\"; Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 190.\n\n [34] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la\n recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833),\n ii. 558 _sq._\n\n [35] William Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London,\n 1845), p. 81.\n\nThus far the Maori conception of the soul does not perhaps differ very\nmaterially from the popular notion of it current among ourselves. But\nwe come now to a marked difference between the Maori idea of the soul\nand our own. For whereas the European commonly believes his soul to be\nfixed during life immovably in his body, and only to depart from it once\nfor all at death, the soul of the Maori is under no such narrow\nrestrictions, but is free to quit its bodily mansion at pleasure and to\nreturn to it without prejudice to the life and health of its owner. For\nexample, the Maori explains a dream by supposing that the soul of the\nsleeper has left his body behind and rambled away to places more or less\ndistant, where it converses with the spirits of other people, whether\nalive or dead. Hence no well-bred Maori would waken a sleeper suddenly\nby shaking him or calling out to him in a loud voice. If he must rouse\nhim, he will do it gradually, speaking to him at first in low tones and\nthen raising his voice by degrees, in order to give the truant soul fair\nwarning and allow it to return at leisure.[36] Believing in the power of\nthe soul to wander far away and converse with other spiritual beings in\nsleep, the Maoris naturally paid great attention to dreams, which they\nfancied were often sent them by the gods to warn them of coming events.\nAll dreams were supposed to have their special significance, and the\nMaoris had framed a fanciful system for interpreting them. Sometimes, as\nwith ourselves, the interpretation went by contraries. For example, if a\nman dreamed that he saw a sick relative at the point of death, it was a\nsign that the patient would soon recover; but if, on the contrary, the\nsufferer appeared in perfect health, it was an omen of his approaching\nend. When a priest was in doubt as to the intentions of the higher\npowers, he usually waited for his god to reveal his will in a dream, and\naccepted the vagaries of his slumbering fancy as an infallible\nintimation of the divine pleasure. Spells were commonly recited in order\nto annul the effect of ill-omened dreams.[37]\n\n [36] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177\n _sq._\n\n [37] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 333-335. As to omens\n derived from dreams see Elsdon Best, \"Omens and Superstitious\n Beliefs of the Maori,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n vii. no. 27 (September 1898), pp. 124 _sqq._\n\nBut the departure of the soul from the body in life was not always\nvoluntary; it might take place under the compulsion of a hostile\nsorcerer or magician. In a Maori legend called _The curse of Manaia_ we\nread that \"the priests next dug a long pit, termed the pit of wrath,\ninto which by their enchantments they might bring the spirits of their\nenemies, and hang them and destroy them there; and when they had dug the\npit, muttering the necessary incantations, they took large shells in\ntheir hands to scrape the spirits of their enemies into the pit with,\nwhilst they muttered enchantments; and when they had done this, they\nscraped the earth into the pit again to cover them up, and beat down the\nearth with their hands, and crossed the pit with enchanted cloths, and\nwove baskets of flax-leaves to hold the spirits of the foes which they\nhad thus destroyed, and each of these acts they accompanied with the\nproper spells.\"[38]\n\n [38] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), pp.\n 168 _sq._\n\nThis mode of undoing an enemy by extracting and killing his soul was not\nwith the Maoris a mere legendary fiction; it was practised in real life\nby their wizards. For we are told that when a priest desired to slay a\nperson by witchcraft, he would often dig a hole in the ground, and\nstanding over it with a cord in his hand would let one end of the cord\nhang down into the hole. He then recited an incantation which compelled\nthe soul of the doomed man to swarm down the cord into the pit,\nwhereupon another potent spell chanted by the magician speedily put an\nend to the poor soul for good and all.[39]\n\n [39] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 187.\n\nIt seems obvious that spells of this sort may be used with great\nadvantage in war, for if you can only contrive to kill the souls of your\nfoes, their mere bodies will probably give you little or no trouble. Nor\ndid this practical application of the magic art escape the sagacity of\nthe Maoris. When they marched to attack an enemy's stronghold, it was an\nancient custom to halt and kindle a fire, over which the priest recited\ncertain spells to cause the souls of his adversaries to be drawn into\nthe fire and there to perish miserably in the flames. In theory the idea\nwas admirable, but unfortunately it did not always work out in\npractice. For magic is a game at which two can play, and it sometimes\nhappened that the spells of the besieged proved more powerful than those\nof the besiegers and enabled the garrison to defy all the attempts of\nthe enemy to filch their souls from their bodies.[40] But even when the\nassailants were obliged to retire discomfited, they did not always lose\nheart, the resources of the magic art were not yet exhausted. On their\nreturn home the priest, nothing daunted by a temporary discomfiture,\nmight betake himself again to his spells, and by crooning his\nincantations over a garment or a weapon belonging to one of his party,\nmight dash in pieces the arms of the enemy and cause their souls to\nperish. Thus by his ghostly skill would he snatch victory from defeat,\nand humble the pride of the insolent foe in the very moment of his\nimaginary triumph.[41] One way in which he effected his purpose was to\ntake a bag or basket containing some sacred food, hold it to the fire,\nand then opening the bag point the mouth of it in the direction of the\nenemy. The simple recitation of a spell then sufficed to draw the souls\nof the adversaries into the bag, after which nothing was easier for him\nthan to destroy them utterly by means of the appropriate\nincantation.[42]\n\n [40] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 181.\n\n [41] Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the\n Maori of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n xi. no. 3 (September 1902), p. 141.\n\n [42] Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the\n Maori of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n xii. no. 2 (June 1903), p. 72.\n\nBut valuable as are these applications of magic to practical life, the\nart, like every good thing, is liable to abuse; and even where it is\nemployed with the best intentions, the forces which it controls are so\npowerful that in spite of all precautions an accident will sometimes\nhappen. For example, in sickness the patient often had recourse to a\npriest, who would lead him down to the nearest water, whether a pool or\na stream, and there perform the magical rites necessary for the relief\nof his particular malady. While the wizard was engaged in this\nbeneficent task, all the people in the village kept strictly indoors,\nlest their souls should wander forth to the water-side and there\ncolliding, if I may be allowed the expression, with the mystic forces\nof the priest's spells be damaged or even annihilated by the\ncollision.[43] In such a case the fatal consequences were the result of\na pure accident, but sometimes they were intentional. For this fell\npurpose a malignant wizard would dig a hole, invoke the spirit of the\nman against whom he had a grudge, and when the spirit appeared over the\nhole in the form of a light, he would curse it, and the man whose soul\nwas cursed would be sure to die, sooner or later; nothing could save\nhim. The Uriwera, who dwelt dispersed among the forests and lonely hills\nof a wild mountainous region in the North Island, were reputed to be the\ngreatest warlocks in all New Zealand. When they descended from their\nmountains to the coast, the lowlanders scarcely dared refuse them\nanything for fear of incurring their displeasure. It is said that in\ntheir magical rites they made a special use of the spittle of their\ndestined victims; hence all visitors to their country were careful to\nconceal their spittle lest they should give these wicked folk a handle\nagainst them.[44] Another mode in which a Maori wizard could obtain\npower over a man's soul was by working magic on the footprints of his\nintended victim. The thing was done in this way. Suppose you are walking\nand leave your footprints behind you on the ground. I come behind you,\ntake up the earth from your footprints, and deposit it on the sacred\n_whata puaroa_, that is, a post or pillar set up in the holy place of a\nvillage and charged in a mysterious manner with the vitality both of the\npeople and of the land. Having laid the earth from your footprints on\nthe sacred post, I next perform a ceremony of consecration over it, and\nthen bury it with a seed of sweet potato in the ground. After that you\nare doomed. You may consider yourself for all practical purposes not\nonly dead but buried, like the earth from your footprints.[45]\n\n [43] Elsdon Best, \"Maori Medical Lore,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December 1904), p. 225.\n\n [44] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843),\n ii. 58 _sq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the\n New Zealanders_, pp. 116 _sq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and\n Mythology_ (London, 1882), p. 31.\n\n [45] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 194\n _sq._, 196.\n\nFrom some of the foregoing facts it seems to follow that the souls of\nthe Maoris are not, so to say, constitutionally immortal, but that they\nare of a brittle and perishable nature, and that in particular they are\nliable to be cut short in their career and totally exterminated by the\ninsidious arts of magicians. So frequently, indeed, did this happen in\nformer days that the Maoris of old apparently recognised no other cause\nof death, but imagined that every man and woman would naturally live for\never, if the thread of his or her life were not prematurely snipped by\nthe abhorred shears of some witch or wizard. Hence after every death it\nwas customary to hold an inquest in order to discover the wretch who had\nbrought about the catastrophe by his enchantments; a sage presided at\nthe solemn enquiry, and under his direction the culprit was detected,\nhunted down, and killed.[46]\n\n [46] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 51.\n\nThe Maoris tell a story to explain how death first came into the world,\nor at least how men were prevented from enjoying the boon of\nimmortality. The story runs as follows.\n\nThe great mythical hero of Polynesia is Maui, a demigod or man of\nmarvellous powers, who lived in the early ages of the world, and whose\nmighty deeds are the theme of tales of wonder told far and wide among\nthe islands of the Pacific.[47] In his childhood his mother prophesied\nthat he should thereafter climb the threshold of his great ancestress\nHine-nui-te-po, and that death should have no more dominion over men. A\nhappy prediction, but alas! never destined to be fulfilled, for even the\nwould-be saviour Maui himself did not escape the doom of mortality. The\nway in which he became subject to death was this. His father took him to\nthe water to be baptized, for infant baptism was a regular part of Maori\nritual.[48] But when the baptism was over and the usual prayers had\nbeen offered for making the lad sacred and clean from all impurity, his\nfather bethought him that through haste or forgetfulness he had omitted\nsome of the prayers and purifications of the baptismal service. It was a\nfatal oversight, and the anxious father was struck with consternation at\nthe thought, for too well he knew that the gods would punish the\nomission by causing his son Maui to die.[49] Yet did his son make a\nbrave attempt to rescue all men from the doom of death and to make them\nlive for ever. One day, after he had performed many feats and returned\nto his father's house, his father, heavy at heart and overcome with a\nforeboding of evil, said to him, \"Oh, my son, I have heard from your\nmother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded\nin all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they\nwere small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's\ncountry, you will perhaps be overcome.\" Then Maui asked his father,\n\"What do you mean? what things are there that I can be vanquished by?\"\nAnd his father answered him, \"By your great ancestress, by\nHine-nui-te-po, who, if you look, you may see flashing, and, as it were,\nopening and shutting there, where the horizon meets the sky.\" And Maui\nanswered, \"Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek\nwhether men are to die or live for ever.\" And his father said, \"My\nchild, there has been an ill omen for us; when I was baptizing you, I\nomitted a portion of the fitting prayers, and that I know will be the\ncause of your perishing.\" Then Maui asked his father, \"What is my\nancestress Hine-nui-te-po like?\" and he answered, \"What you see yonder\nshining so brightly red are her eyes, and her teeth are as sharp and\nhard as pieces of volcanic glass; her body is like that of a man, and\nas for the pupils of her eyes, they are jasper; and her hair is like the\ntangles of long sea-weed, and her mouth is like that of a barracouta.\"\n\n [47] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp.\n 233 _sqq._, _s.v._ \"Maui\"; Horatio Hale, _United States\n Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia,\n 1846), p. 23.\n\n [48] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_\n (London, 1817), i. 61 _sq._, \"The New Zealanders make it an\n invariable practice, when a child is born among them, to take it\n to the _Tohunga_, or priest, who sprinkles it on the face with\n water, from a certain leaf which he holds in his hand for that\n purpose; and they believe that this ceremony is not only\n beneficial to the infant, but that the neglect of it would be\n attended with the most baneful consequences. In the latter case,\n they consider the child as either doomed to immediate death, or\n that, if allowed to live, it will grow up with a most perverse\n and wicked disposition.\" Before or after sprinkling the child\n with water the priest bestowed on the infant its name. See W.\n Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 82-84; A.\n S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859), i. 118\n _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, Second Edition (London,\n 1870), pp. 184 _sqq_. Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage\n autour du Monde et a la recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du\n Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 443 _sq_. (who says that the\n baptism was performed by women); E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New\n Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 28-30 (who, in contradiction to all\n the other authorities, says that the naming of the child was\n unconnected with its baptism).\n\n [49] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), p.\n 32.\n\nNow Hine-nui-te-po was the Great Woman of Night, the Goddess of Death,\nwho dwelt in the nether world and dragged down men to herself. But Maui\nwas not afraid, for he had caught the great Sun himself in a snare and\nbeaten him and caused him to go so tardily as we now see him creeping\nacross the sky with leaden steps and slow; for of old the Sun was wont\nto speed across the firmament like a young man rejoicing to run a race.\nSo forth fared the hero on his great enterprise to snatch the life of\nmortals from the very jaws of death. And there came to him to bear him\ncompany the small robin, and the large robin, and the thrush, and the\nyellow hammer, and the pied fantail (_tiwakawaka, Rhipidura\nflabellifora_), and every kind of little bird; and these all assembled\ntogether, and they started with Maui in the evening, and arrived at the\ndwelling of Hine-nui-te-po, and found her fast asleep.\n\nThen Maui addressed them all, and said, \"My little friends, now if you\nsee me creep into this old chieftainess, do not laugh at what you see.\nNay, nay, do not, I pray you, but when I have got altogether inside her,\nand just as I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with\nlaughter if you please.\" But his little friends were frightened at what\nthey saw, and they answered, \"Oh, sir, you will certainly be killed.\"\nAnd he answered them again, saying, \"If you burst out laughing at me as\nsoon as I get inside her, you will wake her up, and she will certainly\nkill me at once; but if you do not laugh until I am quite inside her,\nand am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall live, and\nHine-nui-te-po will die.\" And his little friends answered, \"Go on then,\nbrave sir, but pray take good care of yourself.\"\n\nThen the young hero started off, and twisted the strings of his weapon\ntight round his wrist, and went into the house, and stripped off his\nclothes, and the skin on his hips was as mottled and beautiful as the\nskin of a mackerel by reason of the tattoo marks cut on it with the\nchisel of Uetongo, and he entered the old chieftainess. The little birds\nnow screwed up their little mouths to keep back their laughter when\nthey saw him disappearing into the body of the giantess; their cheeks\nswelled up and grew purple, and they almost choked with suppressed\nemotion. At last the pied fantail could bear it no longer, and he\nsuddenly exploded with a loud guffaw. That woke the old woman, she\nopened her eyes, and shut her jaws with a snap, cutting the hero clean\nthrough the middle, so that his legs dropped out of her mouth. Thus died\nMaui, but before he died he begat children, and sons were born to him,\nand some of his descendants are alive to this day. That, according to\nMaori tradition, is how death came into the world; for if only Maui had\npassed safely through the jaws of the Goddess of Death, men would have\ndied no more and death itself would have been destroyed. Thus the Maoris\nset down human mortality at the door of the pied fantail, since but for\nhis unseasonable merriment we might all have lived for ever.[50]\n\n [50] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 56-58; John\n White, _The Ancient History of the Maori_ (Wellington and\n London, 1887-1889), ii. 98, 105-107. For another version of the\n myth, told with some minor variations, see S. Percy Smith, _The\n Lore of the Whare-w[=a]nanga_, Part I. (New Plymouth, N.Z.,\n 1913), pp. 145 _sq._, 176-178. For the identification of the\n bird _tiwakawaka_ see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, p. 519, _s.v._ \"Tiwaiwaka.\"\n\n\nSec. 4. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Dead_\n\nWhen a chief died, a loud howl or wail announced the melancholy event,\nand the neighbours flocked to the scene of death to testify their\nsorrow. The wives and near relations, especially the women, of the\ndeceased displayed their anguish by cutting their faces, arms, legs, and\nbreasts with flints or shells till the blood flowed down in streams; it\nwas not wiped off, for the more the person of a mourner was covered with\nclotted gore, the greater was esteemed his or her respect for the dead.\nSometimes relatives would hack off joints of their fingers as a token of\ngrief. Mourners likewise cut their hair, the men generally contenting\nthemselves with clipping or shaving it on one side only, from the\nforehead to the neck. The eyes of the dead were closed by the nearest\nrelative; and the body dressed in the finest mats, decked with\nfeathers, and provided with weapons, lay in state for a time. After the\nfirst day a brother of the deceased used to beat the body with fresh\nflax gathered for the purpose; this he did to drive away any evil thing\nthat might be hovering about the corpse. In the olden time one or more\nof the chief's wives would strangle themselves, that their souls might\naccompany their dead lord and wait upon him in the other world, and with\nthe same intentions slaves were killed, lest the great man should lack\nattendants in the spirit land.[51]\n\n [51] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 135 _sqq._; J.\n Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de\n la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 541\n _sq._; Servant, \"Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande,\" _Annales de la\n Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. Dieffenbach,\n _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62, 118; W. Brown, _New Zealand\n and its Inhabitants_, pp. 15 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life\n and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 331; A. S. Thomson,\n _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 185 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A\n Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition\n (London, 1870), pp. 217 _sq._; E. Tregear, \"The Maoris of New\n Zealand,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix.\n (1890) pp. 104 _sq._\n\nThe body was kept for three days because, we are told, the soul was\nbelieved not to quit its mortal habitation till the third day.[52] The\nmode of disposing of the corpse differed in different districts and\naccording to the rank of the deceased. In some places a grave was dug in\nthe house and the body buried in a sitting posture, the legs being kept\nin that position by bandages or doubled up against the chest. In the\ngrave the dead man retained the fine garments in which he had been\ndressed together with the family ornaments of jade and shark's teeth.\nWith him also was usually interred his property, especially the clothes\nwhich he had worn and everything else that had touched him during his\nlast illness. The weapons of a warrior were laid near him that he might\nbe able to fight his battles in the spirit land. In other places the\ncorpse was laid in a box on a stage; or two pieces of an old canoe were\nset upright in the earth, and in the hollow between them the body was\nseated on a grating so as to allow the products of decomposition to drip\nthrough on the ground. In other places again, the corpse was laid in a\nsort of canoe-shaped coffin and deposited among the branches of a tree\nin a grove, where it remained for several months. This burial in the\nbranches of a tree seems to have been usually adopted for the bodies of\ncommoners; the corpses of chiefs, enclosed in coffins, were placed in\nmausoleums, carved and painted red, which were raised on pillars.\nWhether buried in the earth or placed in a tree or on a stage, the body\nwas left until the flesh had so far decayed as to permit of the bones\nbeing easily detached; there was no fixed time allowed for\ndecomposition, it might vary from three months to six months, or even a\nyear. When decay was thought to have proceeded far enough, the bones\nwere dug up or taken down from the stage or tree and scraped; the\nornaments also were removed from the skeleton and worn by the relatives.\nIn the south, where the custom was to bury the dead in the ground, this\ndisinterment took place four weeks after the burial; the bones were then\nburied again, but only to be dug up again after a longer interval, it\nmight be two years, for the final ceremony. When this took place, all\nthe friends and relatives of the dead were summoned to assist, and a\ngreat feast was given: the bones were scraped, painted red, decked with\nfeathers, and wrapped up in mats. The precious bundle was then deposited\nin a small canoe or a miniature house elevated on a pole; or it was\ncarried to the top of some sacred tree and there left on a small stage.\nSometimes the bones were concealed in a hollow tree in a secret place of\nthe forest, or hidden away in one of the numerous limestone caverns or\nin some lonely and inaccessible chasm among the rocks. The motive for\nsecret burial was a fear lest an enemy should get possession of the\nbones and profane them by making fish-hooks out of them or converting\nthe skull into a baler for his canoe. Such a profanation was deemed a\ndeadly insult to the surviving relatives. After a burial the persons who\nhad dressed or carried the corpse, and all indeed who had had anything\nto do with it, repaired to the nearest stream and plunged themselves\nseveral times over head in the water.[53]\n\n [52] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 541.\n\n [53] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543 _sq._; W. Yate,\n _op. cit._ p. 137; Servant, \"Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande,\"\n _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E.\n Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62 _sqq._; G. F.\n Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_,\n i. 331; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 188; R.\n Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 218 _sqq._; E. Tregear, \"The Maori\n of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,\n xix. (1890) p. 105; Elsdon Best, \"Cremation among the Maori\n Tribes of New Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 110.\n\nIn some districts the removal of the bones from their temporary to their\nfinal resting-place was the occasion of a grand annual festival in which\nseveral neighbouring tribes took part. The bones of all members of the\ntribes who had died within the year were taken down from the stages or\ntrees where the bodies had been temporarily deposited. The grave-clothes\nhaving been removed, the mouldering remains were wrapped in new blankets\nand carried in procession, attended by the crowd, to a place where they\nwere deposited on a carpet of leaves. Should any putrid flesh be found\nstill adhering to the bones, it was scraped off and buried on the spot.\nA few old women, dressed in their best, oiled from head to foot, and\nplastered with raddle, received the skulls into their laps. While they\nheld them thus, a funeral ode was sung and speeches, loud and long, were\ndelivered. Then the bones were tied up, decked with feathers of the\ngannet, rolled up in blankets, and carried to their last place of rest\nin a sacred grove, where they were left, securely fastened up and\ngaudily decorated with red and white. Having thus discharged their duty\nto the dead, the living gave themselves up to festivity; they ate and\ndrank, danced, sang, whistled, wrestled, quarrelled, bought and sold.\nThis Holy Fair, which went by the name of Hahunga, lasted several days.\nAt the end of it the mourners, or revellers, dispersed and returned to\ntheir homes, laden with food which had been made ready for them by their\nhosts.[54] Great importance was attached to the final disposal of the\nremains of the dead. According to one account, the soul of the dead man\ncould not rest till his bones were laid in the sepulchre of his\nancestors, which was often a natural cave or grotto. There they were\ndeposited on a shelf or platform a few feet above the floor of the\ncavern.[55]\n\n [54] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 137-139; Servant,\n \"Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande,\" _Annales de la Propagation de\n la Foi_, xv. (1843) pp. 26 _sq._ The name _Hahunga_ is doubtless\n connected with the verb _hahu_ which means \"to exhume the bones\n of dead persons before depositing them in their final\n resting-place.\" See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, p. 42, _s.v._ \"hahu.\"\n\n [55] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543, 545.\n\nNot uncommonly the bones of the dead, instead of being preserved, were\nburned.[56] But cremation, though not unusual, seems never to have been\na general custom with the Maoris. They resorted to it only in\nexceptional circumstances, for example, in order to stay the spread of\ndisease, or in cases where a tribe occupied open country and found no\nsuitable place where to lay the bones of their dead after exhumation.\nCremation for the latter reason is said to have been practised by the\nNgati-apa tribe in the Rangatikikei District, and also by the tribes who\noccupied the Waimate Plains. An old earthwork fort near the present\ntownship of Manaia was the scene of many cremations of the Maori dead in\nformer days. Again, it was a common custom for a raiding party to\ncremate their dead in the enemy's country, when there was no time to\ncarry them home for the usual obsequies. The intention of burning them\nwas to prevent the enemy from eating the bodies and making fish-hooks\nout of the bones. For a similar reason even the wounded, whom they could\nnot carry with them, were sometimes thrown into great fires and burnt\nalive. If the slain man was a chief, only his body would be consumed in\nthe flames; his head would be cut off, steamed, cured, and carried home,\nto be wept over by his friends. In the Bay of Plenty district the bodies\nof persons who died of a certain disease called _Kai uaua_, apparently\nconsumption, used to be burnt to prevent the spread of the malady, and\nall the ashes were carefully buried.[57]\n\n [56] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. This was called\n _tahunga_, \"burning,\" a word no doubt derived from _tahu_,\n \"to set on fire, kindle.\" See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian\n Comparative Dictionary_, p. 444, _s.v._ \"tahu.\"\n\n [57] Elsdon Best, \"Cremation amongst the Maori tribes of New\n Zealand,\" _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 110 _sq._\n\nOften enough the heads of dead relatives were cut off, dried, and\npreserved by the family for many years in order to be occasionally\nbrought forth and mourned over. Sometimes a widow would sleep with her\nhusband's severed head at her side. After a victory, too, it was\ncustomary to decapitate the slain foes and dry their heads, which were\nthen carried home and used as scarecrows or stuck on short stakes in the\nvillage, where they were jeered at and reviled. When the time came to\nplant the sweet potatoes, and the priests recited their spells for the\nsake of the crops, the dried heads were sometimes brought out and\nplaced at the edge of the field, for this was believed to promote the\ngrowth of the sweet potatoes.[58] Apparently the spirits of the dead\nwere thought able to quicken the fruits of the earth.\n\n [58] Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the\n Maori of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 195-197. Compare W. Yate, _An\n Account of New Zealand_, pp. 130 _sqq._; E. Dieffenbach,\n _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66.\n\nAt all events the Maoris undoubtedly believed that the souls of the\ndeparted survive the death of their bodies for a longer or shorter time\nand in their disembodied state can influence the living for weal or woe.\nThe belief in the survival of the soul is strikingly manifested in their\nold custom of killing widows and slaves to serve dead chiefs in the\nother world. It found expression in the more harmless custom of laying\nfood beside a dead person or burying it with him in the grave; but, as\nusually happens in such cases, the ghost only consumed the spiritual\nessence of the victuals, considerately leaving the gross material\nsubstance to be despatched by the priest.[59] A dying Maori, unable to\neat a loaf which a missionary had offered to him, begged that it might\nbe kept for his ghost, who, after his death, would come and fortify\nhimself with it for the journey to his long home.[60] At Tanaraki the\nchild of a chief was buried in its father's house, grasping in each of\nits little fists a taro for consumption in the other world. Over the\ngrave were laid boards, and the family slept on them. When they thought\nthat the child's body was sufficiently decayed, they dug it up, scraped\nthe bones, and hung them in the verandah, where from time to time the\npriest recited spells to assist the soul in its ascent to heaven. Every\nspell was supposed to raise the soul one stage nearer to the abode of\nbliss. But the ascent was long and tedious, for there were no less than\nten heavens one above the other; the tenth was believed to be the\nprincipal abode of the gods. When the parents of the child who had been\ndespatched to the happy land with taro in each hand were asked, \"Why\ntaro, if the little one is gone to heaven?\" they answered that they\nwere not quite sure whether it went up or down, and therefore as an\nadditional precaution they planted a seed of taro in the grave, so that\ntheir offspring might find something to eat either above or below.[61]\n\n [59] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 542; G. F. Angas,\n _op. cit._ ii. 71; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220.\n\n [60] J. Dumont d'Urville, _l.c._\n\n [61] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220.\n\nSimilar ceremonies were performed to facilitate the ascension of the\nsouls of chiefs and priests. Before the body was taken to the place of\nburial, it was laid out with its feet towards the north, and all the\nblood-relations of the deceased, men, women, and children, assembled\nround it. Then the priest, standing at the head of the corpse, between\nthe rows of the people, chanted two incantations, of which the second\nwas supposed to assist the soul to ascend to heaven. The priest next put\na bulb of taro in the left hand of the corpse and chanted another\nincantation. After that, flaxen cords were tied with a slip-knot to a\ntassel of the mat in which the body was enshrouded, and a cord was\nplaced in the hand of each child, boy and girl, present at the ceremony.\nWhen the priest had chanted one more incantation, each child pulled the\ncord with a jerk, to disconnect the soul from the body, lest it should\nremain and afflict the relatives.[62] This last rite, with the reason\nassigned for it, is significant at once of the dread which the Maoris\nfelt for departed spirits, and of the very materialistic conception\nwhich they entertained of the human soul, since they appear to have\nimagined that it could be detached from the body by jerking at a cord.\n\n [62] John White, \"A Chapter from Maori Mythology,\" _Report of\n the Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the\n Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, in\n January 1891_, pp. 362 _sq._\n\nThe wish to raise the soul to heaven was perhaps the motive for another\ncurious rite performed at the obsequies of a chief. When the body had\nbeen buried, the chief returned to the village; but the men who had\ncarried the body went to the nearest swamp, and having caught a\nswamp-sparrow (_matata_) sent word to the priest, who forthwith rejoined\nthem. Each of the bearers was then provided with a stick to which\ncertain of the feathers of the bird were tied. Then, holding the sticks\nin their hands, they sat on their heels in a row opposite the priest,\nwho stood facing the east with a stick similarly adorned in his left\nhand. Next he moved to the south end of the row of men and chanted, and\nas he chanted he gradually raised his stick, while at the same time all\nthe bearers, holding their sticks at arm's length, gradually raised them\nand their bodies simultaneously, keeping perfect time, till the priest\nhad concluded his chant, when they all stood erect with outstretched\narms. After that the priest collected the sticks and threw them down in\nfront of the _mua_, which seems to have been a kind of altar.[63] We may\nsurmise that the ceremony was intended to waft the soul of the dead\nchief upward, the feathers of the bird being naturally fitted to\nfacilitate its heavenward flight.\n\n [63] John White, \"A Chapter from Maori Mythology,\" _op. cit._\n p. 363. As to the meaning of _mua_, see E. Tregear,\n _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 267, _s.v._ \"mua.\"\n\nAt other times, however, with the inconsistency so common in such\nmatters, it appears to have been supposed that the soul set out on its\nfar journey across the sea, and steps were accordingly taken to equip it\nfor the voyage. Thus we hear of a _wahi tapu_ or sacred repository of\nthe property of a deceased chief, which contained, among other things, a\nlittle canoe with sail and paddles, \"to serve as a ferry-boat for the\nspirit to enter in safety into the eternal abodes.\" Nevertheless in the\nsame enclosure, which was fenced with a double set of palings,\n\"calabashes of food and water, and a dish prepared from the pigeon, were\nplaced for the ghost to regale itself when visiting the spot; and the\nheathen natives aver that at night the spirit comes and feeds from the\nsacred calabashes.\"[64]\n\n [64] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New\n Zealand_, ii. 70 _sq._\n\nMany people in the Taranaki district thought that souls went neither up\nnor down, but always stayed near their mouldering bodies. Hence the\nsacred grove in which their remains were buried was full of disembodied\nspirits; and when a man died a violent death his soul wandered about\ndisconsolate, till a priest by his spells and enchantments had brought\nthe poor ghost within the spiritual fold.[65]\n\n [65] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 220 _sq._\n\nWhen a chief was killed in battle and eaten by his foes, as often\nhappened, his departed spirit entered the stones of the oven in which\nhis body had been cooked, and the stones retained their heat so long as\nthe ghost was in them. Meanwhile his sorrowing friends at home recited\ntheir most potent spells to draw his soul out of the oven and back to\nthe sacred grove (_wahi tapu_) the burial-place of his people; for\notherwise the soul could find no repose, but must roam about for ever,\nwreaking its spite on the living, for all disembodied spirits were\ndeemed malicious. Hence after a battle, if people could not obtain the\nbody of a slain friend, they sought to procure at least some drops of\nhis blood or shreds of his raiment, that by crooning over them the\nappropriate spell they might draw home the vagrant spirit to his place\nof rest. The burial-grounds were regarded with awe and fear, for\nsometimes a restless ghost would break bounds and spread sickness among\nthe inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Within their sacred precincts\nstood altars or stages for offerings to the gods, and any living man who\nentered them did so at his peril. For the same reason no one would set\nfoot in a house where a dead man or woman had been buried. Hence in\nnearly every village half the houses stood empty and deserted, falling\ninto decay, tenanted only by ghosts. The living had constantly before\ntheir eyes the mansions of the dead.[66]\n\n [66] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 221.\n\nThe common belief of the Maoris seems to have been that the souls of the\ndead pass away to a region of the underworld, which was sometimes called\nPo and sometimes Reinga. Properly speaking, Po was night or the\nprimaeval darkness out of which all forms of life and light were evolved\nor created;[67] and Reinga was not so much the spirit land itself as the\nleaping-off place where the souls bade good-bye to earth and took their\ndeparture for the far country. This leaping-off place was at the North\nCape, the Land's End of New Zealand. The cape terminates in a steep\ncliff with a sea-cave at its foot, into which the tide rushes with a\nthunderous roar. There the evil spirit Wiro is thought to dwell, lurking\nfor his prey; for he battens on such of the passing souls of the dead as\nhe can get into his clutches. On their passage to the North Cape the\nghosts stop by the way at two hills; at the first, which is called\nWai-hokimai, they wail, cut themselves, and strip off their clothes; at\nthe second, which is called Wai-otioti, they turn their backs on the\nland of the living and set their faces to the land of the dead. Arrived\nat the cape they pass outward over a long narrow ledge of rock and then\nleap down on a flat stone. There they see a mass of sea-weed floating on\nthe water, its roots hidden in the depth, its upper branches clinging to\na _pohutukawa_ tree. When they perceive an opening in the sea-weed they\ndive and soon find themselves in the lower world. But before they reach\nthe abode of spirits they must cross a river by a plank; the river is\ncalled Waiorotane or the River of the Water of Life; and sometimes the\nwarden of the plank will not suffer the ghosts to pass the river, but\ndrives them back with friendly violence and bids them return to their\nfriends on earth. Such souls come back to the bright world of light and\nlife, and tell their friends what they have seen and heard on the\njourney to that bourne from which so many travellers return no more.\nHence when any one has recovered from a dangerous sickness or escaped\nsome great peril, they say of him that he has come back from the River\nof the Water of Life. Even if a soul has crossed that sombre stream, he\nmay still return to the land of the living, if only he refuses to\npartake of the food set before him by the ghosts; but should he taste of\nit, he cannot come back. They say that people living near the North Cape\ncan hear the spirits of the dead passing through the air on their way to\nthe spirit land; and in the old days, when a battle had been fought and\nbefore the news of it could reach them by word of mouth, the natives\nnear the cape were made aware of what had happened by the rushing sound\nof a great multitude flitting by overhead in the darkness.[68] Perhaps\nthe sighing of the night-wind or the clangour of birds of passage\nwinging their way out to sea may have contributed to create or foster\nthese fancies.\n\n [67] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_,\n p. 342, _s.v._ \"Po.\"\n\n [68] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 150 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and\n Mythology_, p. 45; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 52, 231;\n W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 140; E. Dieffenbach,\n _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66 _sq._; E. Tregear, \"The Maoris\n of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,\n xix. (1890) pp. 118 _sq._; _id._, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, pp. 407 _sq._, 591, _s.vv._ \"Reinga\" and \"Waiora\";\n John White, \"A Chapter from Maori Mythology,\" _Report of the\n Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the\n Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand,\n in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._\n\nOn the day after a burial the priest used to perform a ceremony to\nfacilitate the passage of the soul to its final rest. For this purpose\nsome men would go out in the morning and kill a small bird of the swamps\ncalled _kokata_ and pluck up some reeds of a certain sort (_wiwi_).\nThese they brought to the priest at the grave. He asked them, \"Whence\ncame ye?\" They answered, \"From the seeking, from the searching.\" He\nasked them again, \"Ah! what have you got? ah! what have you gained?\"\nThen the men threw the bird and the reeds on the ground. Next the priest\nchose a stalk of grass or fern and put it near the grave in a direction\npointing towards Hawaiki, the land far away from which the forefathers\nof the Maoris came long ago. Another stalk of grass or fern was laid\nnear the place of death, and along these stalks the soul of the dead man\ntravelled to rejoin his friends and kinsfolk who had gone before.[69]\n\n [69] E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p. 44. Such\n a stalk to aid the spirit on its passage was called a _tiri_.\n Compare E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_,\n p. 517, _s.v._ \"Tiri.\" The ceremony described in the text\n resembles in some points the one which seems intended to raise\n the soul of the deceased to heaven. See above, p. 25.\n\nAs might be anticipated, the accounts which the Maoris gave of the\nspirit world and of life in it were neither clear nor consistent.\nAccording to one account, while the heavens increase in beauty as they\nascend one above the other, the lower regions increase in darkness and\nhorror as they descend, each being darker and worse than the one above\nit, till in the lowest of all complete darkness reigns. There the souls,\ndeprived alike of light and food, wasted away and ultimately ceased to\nexist; or according to another account they assumed the shape of worms\nand in that guise returned to earth, where they died a second death and\nso finally perished. But it was only the souls of common folk which came\nto this melancholy end. Chiefs and priests were believed to be descended\nfrom the gods, and at death their souls ascended to heaven, there to\nlive for ever.[70]\n\n [70] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 232; John White, \"A Chapter\n from Maori Mythology,\" _Report of the Third Meeting of the\n Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held\n at Christchurch, New Zealand, in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._\n\nOther reports, however, paint the nether world in more cheerful\ncolours. We are told that the souls of the dead live there very much as\npeople do on earth, but all good things are more plentiful there than\nhere. The staple food of the ghosts is sweet potatoes, and the quality\nof the potatoes appears to be remarkably fine; for once a woman, who had\nthe good fortune to go to the spirit land and come back, received from\nher dead father in the nether regions two roots of sweet potatoes of a\nmost prodigious size. These the ghost told her to take back to earth and\nplant for the benefit of his grandchild. So she hurried away with them\nand arriving at the foot of the North Cape had begun to clamber up the\nface of the cliff, when two infant spirits overtook her and attempted to\ndrag her back to dead land by tugging at her cloak. To divert their\nattention she threw the two roots of sweet potato behind her, and while\nthe sprites were munching them she made good her escape up the cliff and\nsucceeded in reaching home. Her friends were very glad to see her again,\nbut they always lamented that she had not brought back at least one of\nthose gigantic roots of sweet potato, since it would unquestionably have\ndone much to improve the quality of sweet potatoes grown here on\nearth.[71]\n\n [71] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 48 _sq._, 67,\n 118; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 153 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 233\n _sq._\n\nBut the spirits of the dead are by no means strictly confined to the\nlower world; they can quit it from time to time and return to earth,\nthere to influence the actions and fortunes of the living and to\ncommunicate with them through the priest, who can hear their voices.\nThey speak in whistling tones, which even common folk can sometimes\ndistinguish as they walk about in the dark. Often their communications\nare made to the priest or chief in dreams, and he announces the glad or\nmournful tidings to other people in the morning. Any commands conveyed\nin this manner from the other world are, or used to be, implicitly\nobeyed and might decide the course to be pursued in the most important\naffairs of life.[72] In some tribes, especially among the natives of\nWangunui, it used to be customary to keep in the houses small carved\nimages of wood, each of them dedicated to an ancestor of the family, who\nwas believed occasionally to enter into the image in order to hold\nconverse with his living descendants.[73] But even without the\nintervention of such images the priest could summon up the spirits of\nthe dead and converse with them in the presence of the relatives or of\nstrangers; at these interviews, which were held within doors and in the\ndark, the voices of the ghosts, or perhaps of the priestly\nventriloquist, were sometimes distinctly audible even to sceptical\nEuropeans. Nor was the art of necromancy confined to men; for we read of\nan old woman who, like the witch of Endor, professed to exercise this\nghostly office, and treated an English visitor to an exhibition of her\npowers.[74]\n\n [72] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 67, 118; E.\n Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_,\n ii. 83, 84.\n\n [73] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 83.\n\n [74] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 84 _sqq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha\n Maori (London, 1884), pp. 122 _sqq._ As to the belief in the\n reappearance of the dead among the living compare R. A. Cruise,\n _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand_ (London,\n 1823), p. 186: \"The belief in the reappearance of the dead is\n universal among the New Zealanders: they fancy they hear their\n deceased relatives speaking to them when the wind is high;\n whenever they pass the place where a man has been murdered, it\n is customary for each person to throw a stone upon it; and the\n same practice is observed by all those who visit a cavern at the\n North Cape, through which the spirits of departed men are\n supposed to pass on their way to a future world.\"\n\nThe spirits of the dead were sometimes useful to the living, for\ncommonly enough they would appear to their kinsfolk in dreams and warn\nthem of approaching foes or other dangers. Again, they might be and were\ninvoked by spells and enchantments to avenge a murder or even to slay an\ninnocent person against whom the enchanter had a grudge.[75] But for the\nmost part the ghosts were greatly dreaded as malicious demons who worked\nharm to man.[76] Even the nearest and dearest relations were believed to\nhave their natures radically changed by death and to hate those whom\nthey had loved in life.[77] And so powerful were these malignant beings\nsupposed to be that they were confused with the gods, or rather the\nspirits of the dead became themselves gods to all intents and purposes,\nand played a much more important part in the religious life of the\nMaoris than the high primaeval deities, the personifications of nature,\nwho figured in Maori mythology and cosmogony.[78] The gods whom the\nMaoris feared, we are told, were the spirits of the dead, who were\nbelieved to be constantly watching over the living with jealous eyes,\nlest they should neglect any part of the law relating to persons or\nthings subject to the sacred restriction called taboo (_tapu_). These\nspirits, however, confined their care almost exclusively to persons\namong the living with whom they were connected by ties of relationship,\nso that every tribe and every family had its own worshipful ancestral\nspirit or god, whom members of the tribe or family invoked with\nappropriate prayers or spells (_karakias_). Ancestral spirits who lived\nin the flesh before the Maoris emigrated to New Zealand were invoked by\nall the tribes in New Zealand without distinction, so far as their names\nand memories survived in tradition. Thus the worship of these remote\nancestors constituted what may be called the national religion of the\nMaoris as distinguished from the tribal and family religions, which\nconsisted in the worship of nearer and better remembered progenitors.\nThe great importance attached by the Maoris to the worship of ancestors\nmay account, we are told, for the care with which they preserved their\ngenealogies; since the names of ancestors often formed the groundwork of\ntheir religious formulas (_karakias_), and any error or even hesitation\nin repeating these prayers or incantations was deemed fatal to their\nefficacy.[79] \"Ancestor worship, or rather the deification of\nancestors, was essentially a Maori cult. It was a form of necrolatry, or\nhero worship. A man would placate the spirit of his father, grandfather,\nor ancestor, and make offerings to the same, that such spirit might\nprotect his life principle, warn him of approaching danger, and give\nforce or effectiveness to his rites and charms of black or white\nmagic.\"[80]\n\n [75] Elsdon Best, \"Spiritual Concepts of the Maori,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 182.\n\n [76] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 184.\n\n [77] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 104.\n\n [78] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_\n (London, 1851), p. 294; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of\n the New Zealanders_, pp. 80, 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and\n Mythology_, pp. 10 _sq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 108,\n \"Maori gods are so mixed up with the spirits of ancestors, whose\n worship entered largely into their religion, that it is\n difficult to distinguish one from the other.\"\n\n [79] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p.\n 11. As to the _karakias_, which were prayers or invocations,\n spells or incantations, addressed to gods or ancestral spirits,\n see E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 28 _sqq._;\n E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 128,\n _s.v._ \"karakia.\" Apparently the _karakia_ partook of the nature\n of a spell rather than of a prayer, since it was believed to be\n so potent that the mere utterance of it compelled the gods to do\n the will of the person who recited the formula. See R. Taylor,\n _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 180 _sq._: \"The Maori, in his heathen\n state, never undertook any work, whether hunting, fishing,\n planting, or war, without first uttering a _karakia_; he would\n not even take a journey without repeating a spell to secure his\n safety; still he could not be said to pray, for, properly\n speaking, they had no such thing as prayer. As in war, they\n armed themselves with the most formidable weapons they could\n procure, and laid their plans with the greatest skill they\n possessed, so to secure the fruition of their desires, they used\n their most powerful means to compel the gods to be obedient to\n their wishes, whether they sought for victory over their foes,\n fruitful crops, successful fishings, or huntings, they called in\n the aid of potent incantations; when they planted their _kumara_\n [sweet potatoes], they sought to compel the god who presided\n over them to yield a good increase; when they prepared their\n nets and their hooks, they must force the ocean god to let his\n fish enter them; as the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and\n the violent take it by storm, so the heathen Maori sought, by\n spells and incantations, to compel the gods to yield to their\n wishes; they added sacrifices and offerings at the same time, to\n appease as it were their anger, for being thus constrained to do\n what they wished them. Their ancestors were addressed as\n powerful familiar friends; they gave them offerings, and if it\n can be said that any prayers were offered up, it was to them\n they were made. The word _karakia_, which we use for prayer,\n formerly meant a spell, charm, or incantation.\"\n\n [80] Elsdon Best, \"Maori Religion,\" _Report of the Twelfth\n Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of\n Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 459.\n\nThe ancestral spirits who particularly watched over the fortunes of a\ntribe were the souls of its dead warriors and great men. In war these\npowerful, though invisible, beings were thought to attend the army and\ndirect its movements on the march by communicating advice or warning\nthrough some one or other of their nearest living kinsmen. In battle\nthey hovered over the combatants and inspired courage into the hearts of\ntheir own tribe. Hence when, on the eve of battle, any young man showed\nsigns of the white feather, recourse was immediately had to the family\npriest, who repeated a charm, invoking the aid of his friendly spirit;\nfor the sensation of fear was ascribed to the baneful influence of a\nhostile spirit. If the friendly spirit prevailed, and the craven spirit\nwas expelled, the young man would rush into the thickest of the fight\nand prove himself the bravest of the brave.[81]\n\n [81] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 81 _sq._\n\nThe interest taken by the spirits of the dead in mundane affairs seldom\nextended beyond the limits of the tribe to which they belonged. Hence a\ncaptive in war, who was carried away and enslaved by another tribe,\nceased from that moment to be under the protection and care of any\nancestral spirit or god. For the ancestral spirits of his own tribe did\nnot trouble themselves to follow him among a hostile tribe and hostile\nspirits, and the ancestral spirits of the tribe whom he served as a\nslave would not deign to give him a thought. Hence being forsaken of\ngod and left to their own devices, slaves were relieved from many of\nthe burdensome restrictions which the Maori gods laid upon their\nworshippers; they were therefore free to perform many menial offices,\nparticularly in regard to carrying and cooking food, which no free Maori\ncould discharge without sinning against the sacred law of taboo and\nincurring the wrath of the ancestral spirits, who for such a\ntransgression might punish the sinner with sickness or death.[82]\n\n [82] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, pp. 82 _sq._; _id._, _The Southern Districts of New\n Zealand_, pp. 296 _sq._\n\nIn addition to their deified ancestors, who had lived as men of flesh\nand blood on earth, the Maoris believed in certain great primaeval\ndeities, who had existed before the human race came into being, and\nwhose doings were the theme of many mythical stories. These mighty\nbeings appear to have been personifications of the various forces or\nelements of nature, such as the sky and the earth. But though fancy wove\nround them a glistering web of myth and fable, they were apparently\nbelieved to stand aloof in cold abstraction from human affairs and to\ntake no interest in the present race of men. The practical religion of\nthe Maori was concentrated on the souls of his deceased kinsfolk and\nforefathers: \"neither in any existing superstition nor tradition, purely\nsuch, is there to be found internal evidence that an idea of God existed\nmore exalted than that of the spirit of a dead ancestor.\"[83]\n\n [83] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 80. Compare _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions\n of the New Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _The Southern Districts of\n New Zealand_, p. 294; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp.\n 10 _sq._ In Maori mythology Rangi is the personification of the\n sky, and Papa of earth. They were the primal parents, and the\n other great gods were their offspring. See Elsdon Best, \"The\n Maori Genius for Personification,\" _Transactions of the New\n Zealand Institute_, liii. (1921) p. 2. Among the great\n primordial deities who were worshipped by all tribes of New\n Zealand may be mentioned Tane, Tu, Tangaroa, and Rongo. Of the\n four, Tane was the origin and tutelary deity of forests and\n birds: no tree might be felled and no bird caught till certain\n rites had been performed to placate him. Tu was the god of war.\n Tangaroa was the god of the ocean, the origin and tutelary deity\n of fish. Rongo was the god of peace, and presided over\n agriculture. See Elsdon Best, \"Maori Religion,\" _Report of the\n Twelfth Meeting of the Australasian Association for the\n Advancement of Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 458. The\n same four gods, with names only dialectically different, were,\n as we shall see later on, the principal deities of the Sandwich\n Islanders, the most distant geographically from the Maoris of\n all the Polynesians. The coincidence furnishes an example of the\n homogeneity of religion which prevailed among the various\n branches of the Polynesian race.\n\nThe word which the Maoris applied to a god, whether a personification of\nnature or the spirit of a dead ancestor, was _atua_. The name is not\nconfined to the Maori language, but is the common word for god\nthroughout Polynesia.[84] When the Maoris attempt to define the nature\nof an _atua_, they have recourse to the same comparisons with a shadow\nand with breath which appear to underlie their conception of the human\nsoul.[85] But though \"god\" is the nearest English equivalent of the word\n_atua_, we must beware of assuming that the Maori idea of godhead\ncoincided with ours. On this subject one of our best authorities tells\nus that the term \"god\" is really not applicable to the _Atua Maori_, the\nso-called gods of the Maoris. For these beings, he says, \"were, with few\nexceptions, malignant demons, to be feared and placated or conciliated,\nbut not worshipped. Their principal task seems to have been the\ninflicting upon mankind of diverse evils, pains, and penalties. Of the\nfew good offices performed by them, the warning of the people in regard\nto coming troubles, seems to have been the most important. The vast\nmajority of the so-called gods of the Maori were simply deified\nancestors.\"[86]\n\n [84] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp.\n 30 _sq._, _s.v._ \"Atua.\"\n\n [85] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la\n recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833),\n ii. 516 _sq._\n\n [86] Elsdon Best, \"Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the\n Maori of New Zealand,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n xi. no. 2 (June 1902). pp. 63 _sq._\n\nIn order to illustrate the difference between the Maori conception of\ndeity and our own, I will quote the words of another eminent authority\non the native religion of the New Zealanders. He says, \"Before the\nmythology of the Maori is further considered, it will be necessary\nbriefly to state what were the ideas of God entertained by the natives.\nThe word _atua_, or spirit, which is used for God, formerly had various\nsignifications; a plague or disease was also _he atua_, or God; a thief\nwas an _atua_, thus also a thievish dog was _he kuri atua_, a god-like\ndog, so also _he tangata atua ki te muru_, a man equal to a god in\nstealing; a child who pilfered was _he tamaiti atua_, a divine child;\nthere were great spirits and small ones, a man's spirit was an _atua\npore pore_, a little spirit, but Maru Rongomai and other gods were _Atua\nnui_, great gods; there were _atua ika_, reptile or fish gods; a great\nchief was called _He ika_, a fish, sea monster, or reptile, and was\nregarded as a malignant god in life, and a still worse one after death;\nthere were likewise _Atua marau_, as the _toroa_, albatross, the _ruru_,\nowl; and _karu karu_, the film which shades its eye from the light, was\nalso an _atua_; male and female spirits presided over dreams, and were\nregarded as _atuas, Ko nga atua moe moea o te poko_, the gods of dreams;\n_Tunui a rangi_, a male, _Pare kewa_, a female deity, both were prayed\nto as gods; the _atua kore_ and _atua kiko kiko_ were inferior gods. The\n_Atua ngarara_ or reptile gods were very abundant, and were supposed to\nbe the cause of all diseases and death, being always ready to avail\nthemselves of every opportunity of crawling down the throat during\nsleep, and thus preying upon the lives of unfortunate creatures. _Atuas_\nor spirits of the deceased were thought to be able to revisit the earth\nand reveal to their friends the cause of their sickness. Everything that\nwas evil or noxious was supposed especially to belong to the gods; thus\na species of euphorbium, whose milk or juice is highly poisonous, is\ncalled _wai u atua_, the milk of the gods.\"[87] \"In fact, in the\naccounts which the natives give of their gods and their exploits, we\nhave but a magnified history of their chiefs, their wars, murders, and\nlusts, with the addition of some supernatural powers; they were\ncannibals; influenced by like feelings and passions as men, and were\nuniformly bad; to them were ascribed all the evils incident to the human\nrace; each disease was supposed to be occasioned by a different god, who\nresided in the part affected; thus, Tonga, the god who caused headache,\ntook up his abode in the forehead; Moko Titi, a lizard god, was the\nsource of all pains in the breast; Tu-tangata-kino was the god of the\nstomach; Titihai occasioned pains in the ankles and feet; Rongomai and\nTuparitapua were the gods of consumption, and the wasting away of the\nlegs and arms; Koro-kio-ewe presided over childbirth, and did his worst\nto unfortunate females in that state. In fact, the entire human body\nappears to have been shared out amongst those evil beings, who ruled\nover each part, to afflict and pain the poor creatures who worshipped\nthem.\"[88]\n\n [87] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 134 _sq._\n\n [88] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 137.\n\nAnything, indeed, whether good or evil, which excited the fear or wonder\nof the Maoris would seem in the old days to have been dubbed by them an\n_atua_ and invested with the attributes of divinity. For example, when a\ntraveller in the early years of the nineteenth century showed his watch\nto some Maoris, the ticking struck them with such astonishment that they\ndeemed it nothing less than the voice of a god; and the watch itself,\nbeing looked upon as a deity (_atua_) in person, was treated by the\nwhole of them with profound reverence.[89] Other travellers have had\nsimilar experiences among the Maoris,[90] and compasses and barometers\nhave also been accorded divine honours by these ignorant savages.[91]\n\n [89] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_\n (London, 1817), i. 254.\n\n [90] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la\n recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833),\n ii. 516.\n\n [91] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118.\n\n\nSec. 5. _Taboo among the Maoris_\n\nBut the most momentous practical consequence which flowed from their\nbelief in the spirits of the dead was the enormous influence which that\ncreed wielded in establishing and maintaining the system of taboo, the\nmost remarkable and characteristic institution in the life of the Maoris\nand of the Polynesians in general. I shall first give some account of\nthe taboo or _tapu_, as the Maoris called it, and afterwards show how\nthis extraordinary system of society and religion was directly based on\na belief in the existence of ghosts and their mighty power over human\ndestiny.\n\nFirst, then, as to taboo or _tapu_ itself. This curious institution, as\nI have said, prevailed throughout all the widely scattered islands of\nPolynesia, but nowhere to a greater extent than in New Zealand. It\npervaded the whole life of the natives, affected their plans, influenced\ntheir actions, and in the absence of an efficient police provided a\ncertain security both for their persons and their property. Sometimes it\nwas used for political, and sometimes for religious purposes; sometimes\nit was the means of saving life, and at other times it was the\nostensible reason for taking life away.[92] It may be defined as a\nsystem of consecration which made any person, place, or thing sacred\neither permanently or for a limited time.[93] The effect of this\nconsecration was to separate the sacred person or thing from all contact\nwith common (_noa_)[94] persons and things: it established a sort of\nquarantine for the protection not only of the sacred persons themselves,\nbut of common folk, who were supposed to be injured or killed by mere\ncontact with a tabooed person or object. For the sanctity which the\ntaboo conferred on people and things was conceived of as a sort of\ndangerous atmosphere, charged with a spiritual electricity, which\ndischarged itself with serious and even fatal effect on all rash\nintruders. A tabooed person might not be touched by any one, so long as\nthe taboo or state of consecration lasted; he might not even put his own\nhand to his own head; and he was most stringently forbidden to touch\nfood with his hands. Hence he was either fed like a child by another,\nwho put the food into his mouth; or he had to lap up his victuals like a\ndog from the ground, with his hands held behind his back; or lastly he\nmight convey the nourishment by means of a fern stalk to his mouth. When\nhe wished to drink, somebody else poured water into his mouth from a\ncalabash without allowing the vessel to touch his lips; for mere contact\nwith the lips of the tabooed man would have rendered the vessel itself\nsacred or tabooed and therefore unfit for common use. Similarly, when he\ndesired to wash his hands, water had to be poured on them from a\ndistance by his attendant. This state of consecration or defilement, as\nwe might be tempted rather to call it, was incurred by any person who\nhad touched either a young child or a corpse or had assisted at a\nfuneral. The taboo contracted by association with the dead was the\nstrictest and most virulent of all. It extended not only to the persons\nwho had handled the corpse or paid the last offices of respect to the\ndeparted; it applied to the place where the body was buried or the bones\ndeposited. So sacred, indeed, was deemed the spot where a chief had died\nthat in the old days everything upon it was destroyed by fire. Hence in\norder to avoid the destruction of a house, which a death in it would\nhave entailed, it was customary to remove a sick or dying man to a\ntemporary shed just large enough to shelter him from the sun or screen\nhim from the rain; for if the man died in it, the destruction of the\nwretched hovel was no great loss to the survivors.[95] A widow was\ntabooed and had to observe the aforesaid restrictions from the death of\nher husband until his bones had been scraped and deposited in their last\nresting-place; and the same rule applied to a widower.[96] These taboos\nwere temporary and could be removed by a priest, who performed certain\nrites and repeated certain spells (_karakias_), and thereby relieved the\ntabooed person from the state of sanctity or consecration under which he\nhad laboured. The performance of the ceremony put an end to the\nspiritual quarantine; the man ceased to be sacred, he became common\n(_noa_) once more, and could mingle freely with his fellows. One of the\nceremonies of desecration, as we may call it, was to pass a consecrated\npiece of wood over the right shoulder of the tabooed person, then round\nhis loins, and back again over the left shoulder, after which the stick\nwas broken in two and buried, burned, or cast into the sea.[97] Again, a\ntemporary taboo was laid on all persons who were engaged in planting\nsweet potatoes, or in sorting the seed, or in digging and preparing the\nground; they might not leave the fields where they were at work nor\nundertake any other labour. The fields themselves were sacred during\nthese operations; none but the persons who were tabooed for the purpose\nmight set foot on the ground or pluck up the weeds which grow rankly\nround the roots of the vegetable.[98] Similarly, in their great\nfishing-expeditions to catch mackerel, all concerned in making or\nmending the nets were under a taboo: the ground where the nets were made\nwas sacred, and so was the river on the banks of which the work went on.\nNo man but the tabooed persons might walk over the land or pass up or\ndown the river in a canoe: no fire might be lighted within a prescribed\ndistance: no food might be dressed while the taboo lasted. Not till the\nnet had been finished and wetted with the sacred water, and the owner\nhad caught and eaten a fish, did these burdensome restrictions come to\nan end by the removal of the taboo.[99] Once more, the men who took part\nin a warlike expedition were under a severe taboo and had to observe\nvery strictly the customs which that mysterious state of consecration\nrendered obligatory.[100] Even after their return home they were not\nallowed to enter their houses or to hold any direct communication with\ntheir families who had remained there, till they had been rendered\ncommon (_noa_) by a ceremony of desecration. Before that ceremony took\nplace, the warriors were obliged to throw away the remains of the bodies\nof their foes on which, as usual, they had been feasting; for being\nsacred food the flesh could only be touched by sacred or tabooed\npersons. One woman only, the _wahine ariki_, as she was called, that is\nthe elder female of the elder branch of the stock from which the tribe\ntraced their descent, was permitted to touch the sanctified meat;\nindeed, in order to carry out the ritual of desecration in due form she\nwas expected and required to swallow an ear of the first enemy killed in\nbattle.[101] A warlike expedition might lay even people at home under a\ntaboo; for all who remained behind, including old men, women, and\nslaves, were often required to observe a rigid fast and to abstain from\nsmoking till the return of the warriors.[102]\n\n [92] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 84 _sq._\n\n [93] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 84; R. Taylor, _Te\n Ika A Maui_, p. 163.\n\n [94] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp.\n 268 _sq._, _s.v._ \"Noa.\"\n\n [95] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 85 _sq._; R.\n Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 163, 164.\n\n [96] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40.\n\n [97] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la\n recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833),\n iii. 685; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 86; E.\n Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104 _sq._; Servant,\n \"Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande,\" _Annales de la Propagation de\n la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 23; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 166\n _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 104 _sqq._ The\n taboo could be got rid of more simply by the tabooed man\n touching his child or grandchild and taking food or drink from\n the child's hands. But when that was done, the taboo was\n transferred to the child, who retained it for the rest of the\n day. See E. Dieffenbach, _op. cit._ ii. 105.\n\n [98] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85; R. Taylor,\n _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 165 _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha\n Maori, pp. 103 _sq._\n\n [99] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85.\n\n [100] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 96, 114 _sq._\n\n [101] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp.\n 68 _sq._\n\n [102] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 114 _sq._\n\nBut in contrast to the temporary taboos which affected common folk and\ndebarred them for a time from familiar intercourse with their fellows, a\nperpetual and very stringent taboo was laid on the persons and property\nof chiefs, especially of those high hereditary chiefs who bore the title\nof _Ariki_ and were thought to be able at any time to hold visible\nconverse with their dead ancestors.[103] Strictly speaking, \"the _ariki_\nof a Maori tribe is the senior male descendant of the elder branch of\nthe tribe, that is, he is a descendant of the elder son of the elder son\nof each generation from the time of the original ancestor down to the\npresent day. As such, he was of old regarded almost as a god, inasmuch\nas he represented all that there was of _m[)a]na_ and sacredness of his\ntribe. That he should have been regarded in this light is not\nastonishing, for the Maoris believed he was something more than human,\nin that he was the shrine of an hereditary _Atua_, the guardian spirit\nof the tribe, and could therefore at any time communicate with the\ntribal gods.... Such a man was not only _tapu_ in person but he made\neverything he touched so dangerously sacred as to be a source of terror\nto the tribe. To smoke his pipe, or drink from any vessel he had\ntouched, was death speedy and certain at the hands of the gods, who\navenge breaches of the _tapu_.\"[104] \"The gods being no more than\ndeceased chiefs, the _arikis_ were regarded as living ones, and thus\nwere not to be killed by inferior men, but only by those who had more\npowerful _atuas_ in them; the victorious chief who had slain numbers,\nswallowed their eyes, and drunk their blood, was supposed to have added\nthe spirits of his victims to his own, and thus increased his _mana_ or\npower; to keep up this idea, and hinder the lower orders from trying\nwhether it were possible to kill such corporeal and living gods, was the\ngrand work of the _tapu_.\"[105] The godhead of a chief was thought to\nreside in his eyes, especially in his left eye; that was why by\nswallowing the eye or eyes of a slain chief a living chief was believed\nto absorb the divine spirit of the dead man and thereby to strengthen\nhis own divinity; the more eyes he swallowed, the greater god he\nbecame.[106]\n\n [103] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40, 112\n _sq._, 356; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the\n New Zealanders_, p. 104; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 149,\n 164, 212 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, pp. 23 _sq._, _s.v._ \"Ariki.\" The word _ariki_\n signifies properly the first-born or heir, whether male or\n female, of a family.\n\n [104] Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, \"Maori Religion,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 3 (September 1905), p.\n 130. Compare _id._, \"The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations of\n the Spirit World,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xv.\n no. 57 (March 1906), p. 38.\n\n [105] R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui_, p. 173. _Mana_ means\n authority, especially divine authority or supernatural power.\n See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p.\n 203, _s.v._ \"Mana\"; and for a full discussion of the conception\n see Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, \"Mana Tangata,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 2 (June 1905), pp. 49-66.\n \"_Mana_ plays a leading part in the ability of a leader, or\n successes in war of celebrated warriors. When a man frequently\n undertakes daring deeds, which ought under ordinary\n circumstances to fail, but none the less prove successful, he is\n said to possess _mana_, and thereafter is regarded as one\n peculiarly favoured by the gods, and in such cases it is held\n that he can only be overcome by some act or default; such as a\n disregard or neglect of some religious or warlike observance,\n which has been shown by experience to be essential to success in\n war, but which our warrior, spoiled by a long career of good\n fortune, had come to regard as necessary to ordinary mortals\n only and of but little consequence to men of _mana_\" (W. E.\n Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p. 62). \"There were cases in which the\n _mana_ of a man depended upon the facility with which he could\n communicate with the spirits of departed ancestors, that is,\n upon his capacity to enforce the aid and attendance of these\n minor deities. To this end every man with any pretension to\n _mana_ had a knowledge of certain forms of invocation by which\n he could summon the spirits of long departed heroes and\n ancestors, but it must not be supposed that these invocations\n would necessarily have power in the mouths of all men, for such\n was not the case. The efficacy of a _karakia_ or invocation\n depended in part on its method of delivery, and in part on the\n _mana_ of the man who used it\" (W. E. Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p.\n 50). Compare R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 172, 173; _Old New\n Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 100.\n\n [106] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 147, 352. The soul was\n thought to reside especially in the left eye; accordingly it was\n the left eye of an enemy which was most commonly swallowed by a\n victorious chief who desired to increase his spiritual power.\n See J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la\n recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833),\n ii. 527; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118, 128\n _sq._\n\nEvery such divine chief was under a permanent taboo; he was as it were\nsurrounded by an atmosphere of sanctity which attached to his person and\nnever left him; it was his birthright, a part of himself of which he\ncould not be divested, and it was well understood and recognised by\neverybody at all times. And the sanctity was not confined to his person,\nit was an infection which extended or was communicated to all his\nmovable property, especially to his clothes, weapons, ornaments, and\ntools, indeed to everything which he touched. Even the petty chiefs and\nfighting men, everybody indeed who could claim the title of _rangatira_\nor gentleman, possessed in some degree this mysterious quality.[107]\nHowever, in young people of rank the sanctity which appertained to them\nby virtue of their birth was supposed to be only latent; it did not\ndevelop or burst into full bloom till they had reached mature age and\nset up house on their own account. Hence noble boys and lads were under\nnone of the irksome restrictions to which in their adult years they were\nafterwards bound to submit; they mixed freely with the profane vulgar\nand did not even disdain to carry fuel or provisions on their backs, a\nthing which no man of any standing could possibly do; at all events, if\nhe did so demean himself, the food was thereby rendered taboo and could\naccordingly be used by nobody but himself. \"If he went into the shed\nused as a kitchen (a thing, however, he would never think of doing\nexcept on some great emergency), all the pots, ovens, food, etc., would\nbe at once rendered useless--none of the cooks or inferior people could\nmake use of them, or partake of anything which had been cooked in them.\nHe might certainly light a little fire in his own house, not for\ncooking, as that never by any chance could be done in his house, but for\nwarmth; but that, or any other fire, if he should have blown upon it\nwith his breath in lighting it, became at once _tapu_, and could be used\nfor no common or culinary purpose. Even to light a pipe at it would\nsubject any inferior person, or in many instances an equal, to a\nterrible attack of the _tapu morbus_, besides being a slight or affront\nto the dignity of the person himself. I have seen two or three young men\nfairly wearing themselves out on a wet day and with bad apparatus\ntrying to make fire to cook with, by rubbing two sticks together, when\non a journey, and at the same time there was a roaring fire close at\nhand at which several _rangatira_ and myself were warming ourselves, but\nit was _tapu_, or sacred fire--one of the _rangatira_ had made it from\nhis own tinder-box, and blown upon it in lighting it, and as there was\nnot another tinder-box amongst us, fast we must, though hungry as\nsharks, till common culinary fire could be obtained.\"[108]\n\n [107] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94.\n\n [108] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 98.\n\nThe head of a chief was always and at all times deemed most sacred, and\nin consequence he might not even touch it with his own hand; if he\nchanced to commit the sacrilege, he was obliged at once to apply his\nfingers to his sacred nose and to snuff up the odour of sanctity which\nthey had abstracted, thus restoring the holy effluvium to the place from\nwhich it had been taken.[109] For the same reason the cutting of a\nchief's hair was a most difficult and delicate operation. While it\nlasted neither the great man himself nor the barber who operated on him\nwas allowed to do anything or partake of any food except under the\nrestrictions imposed on all sacred or tabooed persons; to use the\nscissors or the shell, with which the operation was performed, for any\nother purpose or any other person would have been a terrible profanation\nof sacred things, and would have rendered the rash sacrilegious wretch,\nwho had dared so to appropriate it, liable to the severest punishment.\nThe severed hair was collected and buried or hung up on a tree,[110]\nprobably to put it out of the way of common folk, who might have been\nstruck dead by contact with the holy locks. But apparently the dangers\nincident to hair-cutting were by no means confined to chiefs, but\nextended to any one who was bold enough to submit his head to the\nbarber's shears; for one of the early writers on the Maoris tells us\nthat \"he who has had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the\n_Atua_; he is removed from the contact and society of his family and his\ntribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put into his mouth by\nanother person; nor can he for some days resume his accustomed\noccupations, or associate with his fellow-men.\"[111] The hair of the\nfirst-born of a family in particular, on account of his extreme\nsanctity, might be cut by nobody but a priest; and for many days after\nthe operation had been performed the priestly barber was in a state of\nstrict taboo. He could do nothing for himself, and might not go near\nanybody. He might not touch food with his hands, and no less than three\npersons were required to feed him. One of them prepared the food at a\nsafe distance, took it to a certain place, and retired; a second came\nforward, picked up the victuals, carried them to another spot and left\nthem; finally, a third, venturing into the danger zone, actually brought\nthe food to the priest and put it into his mouth.[112]\n\n [109] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; R. Taylor,\n _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165.\n\n [110] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; E.\n Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104.\n\n [111] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in\n New Zealand_ (London, 1823), pp. 283 _sq._ Compare J. Dumont\n d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de la\n Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 533.\n\n [112] Elsdon Best, \"Maori Religion,\" _Report of the Twelfth\n Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of\n Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 463.\n\nThe atmosphere of taboo or sanctity which thus surrounded Maori chiefs\nand gentlemen not only imposed many troublesome and inconvenient\nrestraints on the men themselves, it was also frequently a source of\nvery real danger, loss, and annoyance to other people. For example, it\nwas a rule that a chief should not blow on a fire with his mouth,\nbecause his breath being sacred would communicate its sanctity to the\nfire, and if a slave or a common man afterwards cooked food at the fire\nor merely took a brand from it, the chief's holiness would cause that\nman's death.[113] Again, if the blood of a high chief flowed on\nanything, though it were but a single drop, it rendered the thing sacred\nto him, so that it could be used by nobody else. Thus it once happened\nthat a party of natives came in a fine new canoe to pay their respects\nto an eminent chief; the great man stepped into the canoe, and in doing\nso he chanced to strike a splinter into his foot, which bled. That\nsufficed to consecrate the canoe to him. The owner at once leaped out,\ndrew the canoe ashore opposite to the chief's house and left it\nthere.[114] Again, a Maori gentleman, visiting a missionary, knocked\nhis head against a beam in the house, and his sacred blood was spilt.\nThe natives present thereupon told the missionary that in former times\nhis house would after such an accident have belonged to his noble\nvisitor.[115] Even the cast garments of a chief had acquired, by contact\nwith his holy body, so virulent a degree of sanctity that they would\nkill anybody else who might happen in ignorance to find and wear them.\nOn a journey, when a chief found his blanket too heavy to carry, he has\nbeen known to throw it very considerately down a precipice where nobody\nwould be likely to light on it, lest some future traveller should be\nstruck dead by appropriating the sacred garment. Once a chief's lost\ntinder-box actually caused the death of several persons; for having\nfound it and used it to light their pipes, they literally died of fright\non learning the sacrilege which they had committed.[116] Such fatal\neffects consequent on the discovery of a breach of taboo were not\nuncommon among the Maoris. For instance, a woman once ate some peaches\nwhich, though she did not know it, had been taken from a tabooed place.\nAs soon as she heard where the fruit had come from, the basket which she\nwas carrying dropped from her hands, and she exclaimed in agony that the\nspirit (_atua_) of the chief whose sanctuary had thus been profaned\nwould kill her. That happened in the afternoon, and next day by twelve\no'clock she was dead.[117] Again, a slave, a strong man in the prime of\nlife, once found the remains of a chief's dinner beside the road, and\nbeing hungry ate it up without asking any questions. No sooner, however,\ndid he hear to whom the food had belonged than he was seized with the\nmost extraordinary convulsions and cramps in the stomach, which never\nceased till he died about sundown the same day. The English eyewitness\nwho reports the case adds, that any European freethinker who should have\ndenied that the man was killed by the chief's taboo would have been\nlistened to by the Maoris with feelings of contempt for his ignorance\nand inability to understand plain and direct evidence.[118]\n\n [113] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165.\n\n [114] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 101; R.\n Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._\n\n [115] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165.\n\n [116] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._\n\n [117] W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845),\n p. 76.\n\n [118] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 95-97.\n\nIn order that a thing should be consecrated or tabooed to the exclusive\nuse and possession of a chief, it was not necessary that his sacred\nblood should flow on it, or that he should merely touch it; he had only\nto call it his head, or his back-bone, or any other part of his body,\nand at once the thing, by a legal fiction, became his and might be\nappropriated by nobody else under pain of violating the taboo which the\nchief had laid upon it. For example, when a chief desired to prevent a\npiece of ground from being cultivated by any one but himself, he often\nresorted to the expedient of calling it his back-bone; after that if any\nman dared to set foot on the land so consecrated, the transgression was\nequivalent to a declaration of war. In this simple and easy fashion a\nchief might acquire anything that took his fancy from an axe or a canoe\nto a landed estate, and the rightful owner of the property dared not\ncomplain nor dispute the claim of his superior.[119]\n\n [119] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New\n Zealanders_, p. 111; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp.\n 137 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 168.\n\nNevertheless in daily life even ordinary people used the taboo to secure\ntheir property or to acquire for themselves what had hitherto been\ncommon to all. For example, if a man found a piece of drift timber, he\ncould make it his own by tying something to it or giving it a chop with\nhis axe; he thereby set his taboo on the log, and as a general rule the\ntaboo would be respected. Again, with a simple piece of flax he might\nbar the door of his house or his store of food; the contents of the\nhouse or store were thus rendered inviolable, nobody would meddle with\nthem.[120]\n\n [120] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 171.\n\nIt is easy to see that this form of taboo must have greatly contributed\nto create and confirm respect for the rights of private property. The\nmost valuable articles might, we are told, under ordinary circumstances\nbe left to its protection in the absence of the owners for any length of\ntime.[121] Indeed so obvious and so useful is this function of taboo\nthat one well-informed writer supposes the original purpose of the\ninstitution to have been no other than the preservation of private\nproperty;[122] and another observer, after eulogising its beneficent\neffects, declares that \"it was undoubtedly the ordinance of a wise\nlegislator.\"[123] But to say this is greatly to overrate the wisdom and\nforesight of primitive man in general and of the Polynesians in\nparticular; it implies a fundamental misconception of the real nature\nand history of taboo. That curious institution was not the creation of a\nprudent and sagacious legislator, who devised this system of checks and\nrestrictions for the purpose of curbing the passions of a savage race\nand inducing them to submit to the salutary restraints of law and\nmorality. It was in its origin, I believe, simply a crude and barbarous\nform of superstition, which, like many other superstitions, has\naccidentally led to good results that were never contemplated by its\nignorant and foolish votaries. It is thus that in the long history of\nmankind things which to a contemporary spectator might seem to be almost\nunmitigated evils turn out in the end to be fraught with incalculable\ngood to humanity. This experience, often repeated, enables students of\nthe past to look forward, even in the darkest hours, with cheerful\nconfidence to the future.\n\n [121] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 97.\n\n [122] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94.\n\n [123] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 100,\n \"Ridiculous as this custom of the _tapu_ has appeared to some,\n and as many of its applications really are, it was,\n notwithstanding, a wholesome restraint, and, in many cases,\n almost the only one that could have been imposed; the heavy\n penalties attached to the violation of its laws serving in one\n tribe, or in several not in actual hostility with each other, as\n moral and legal commandments. It was undoubtedly the ordinance\n of a wise legislator.\" Compare G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and\n Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 330, \"Doubtless this\n law is the result of some wise regulation for the protection of\n property and individuals, and it has in many things a beneficial\n influence amongst a people who have no written or regularly\n established code of laws of their own.\" To the same effect\n another authority on the Maoris observes: \"The most politic and\n useful of all the superstitious institutions of the Maori people\n is that which involves the rites of _tapu_. It has always seemed\n to me that this institution, with its far-reaching\n ramifications, must have been the conception of a very gifted\n mind, for, as a governing factor, it is very superior to the\n Hindu institution of caste. It must, moreover, have been\n initiated during a period of civilisation, to which the\n Polynesians have long been strangers, but with which at one\n period of their history they were sufficiently familiar.\" See\n Lieut.-Colonel Gudgeon, \"The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations\n of the Spirit World,\" _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol.\n xv. no. 57 (March 1906), p. 49.\n\nThe particular superstition which lies at the root of taboo and has\nincidentally exercised a beneficent influence by inspiring a respect for\nlaw and morality appears to be a belief in the existence of ghosts and\ntheir power to affect the fortunes of the living for good or evil. For\nthe ultimate sanction of the taboo, in other words, that which engaged\nthe people to observe its commandments, was a firm persuasion that any\nbreach of these commandments would surely and speedily be punished by an\n_atua_ or ghost, who would afflict the sinner with a painful malady till\nhe died. From youth upwards the Maori was bred in the faith that the\nsouls of his dead ancestors, jealous of any infraction of the\ntraditionary rites, would commission some spirit of their kin to enter\ninto the transgressor's body and prey on a vital part. The visible signs\nof this hidden and mysterious process they fancied to be the various\nforms of disease. The mildest ailments were thought to be caused by the\nspirits of those who had known the sufferer on earth, and who\naccordingly were imagined to be more merciful and more reluctant to\ninjure an old friend and relation. On the other hand the most malignant\nforms of disease were attributed to the spirits of dead infants, who\nhaving never learned to love their living friends, would rend and devour\nthe bowels of their nearest kin without compunction. With these ideas as\nto the origin of disease the Maoris naturally did not attempt to heal\nthe sick through the curative properties of herbs and other drugs; their\nremedies consisted not in medicine but in exorcism: instead of a\nphysician they sent for a priest, who by his spells and incantations\nundertook to drive the dangerous sprite from the body of the patient and\nto appease the ancestral spirit, whose wrath was believed to be the\ncause of all the mischief. If the deity proved recalcitrant and\nobstinately declined to accept this notice to quit, they did not\nhesitate to resort to the most threatening and outrageous language,\nsometimes telling him that they would kill and eat him, and at others\nthat they would burn him to a cinder if he did not take himself off at\nonce and allow the patient to recover.[124] Curiously enough, the\nspirit which preyed on the vitals of a sick man was supposed to assume\nthe form of a lizard; hence these animals, especially a beautiful green\nspecies which the Maoris called _kakariki_, were regarded with fear and\nhorror by the natives.[125] Once when a Maori of Herculean thews and\nsinews was inadvertently shown some green lizards preserved in a bottle\nof spirits, his massive frame shrank back as from a mortal wound, and\nhis face betrayed signs of extreme horror. An aged chief in the room, on\nlearning what was the matter, cried out, \"I shall die! I shall die!\" and\ncrawled away on hands and knees; while the other man gallantly\ninterposed himself as a bulwark between the fugitive and the green gods\n(_atuas_) in the bottle, shifting his position adroitly so as to screen\nthe chief till he was out of range of the deities.[126] An old man once\nassured a missionary very seriously that in attending to a sick person\nhe had seen the god come out of the sufferer's mouth in the form of a\nlizard, and that from the same moment the patient began to mend and was\nsoon restored to perfect health.[127]\n\n [124] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp.\n 30 _sq._, 294 _sq._; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of the\n New Zealanders_, pp. 114 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and\n Mythology_, 31 _sq._; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp.\n 141 _sq._ Most malignant and dangerous of all appear to have\n been thought the spirits of abortions or still-born infants. See\n Elsdon Best, \"The Lore of the _Whare-Kohanga_,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, vol. xv. no. 57 (March 1906), pp. 12-15;\n _Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde,\n Anthropologischer Theil, Dritte Abtheilung, Ethnographie_,\n bearbeitet von Dr. Fr. Mueller (Vienna, 1868), pp. 59 _sq._ Even\n more dangerous than the spirits of dead infants were supposed to\n be the spirits of human germs, which the Maoris imagined to\n exist in the menstrual fluid. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and\n Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 115, 292; _id._,\n _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 107 _sq._ As to disease\n inflicted by ancestral spirits (_atuas_) for breaches of taboo,\n see further J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New\n Zealand_ (London, 1817), i. 272 _sq._, ii. 176 _sq._; E.\n Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 105, \"The breaking of\n the _tapu_, if the crime does not become known, is, they\n believe, punished by the _Atua_, who inflicts disease upon the\n criminal; if discovered, it is punished by him whom it regards,\n and often becomes the cause of war.\"\n\n [125] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in\n New Zealand_ (London, 1823), p. 320; J. Dumont d'Urville,\n _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de la Perouse,\n Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 517; W. Yate, _An\n Account of New Zealand_, pp. 141 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels\n in New Zealand_, ii. 117; Elsdon Best, \"Maori Medical Lore,\"\n _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December\n 1904), p. 228. As to the superstitious veneration of lizards\n among the peoples of the Malay-Polynesian stock, see G. A.\n Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iv. 125\n _sqq._\n\n [126] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New\n Zealand_, ii. 67.\n\n [127] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 142.\n\n\nSec. 6. _Conclusion_\n\nIf now we attempt to sum up the effects which the belief in human\nimmortality exercised on the life of the Maoris we may perhaps conclude\nthat these effects were partly good and partly evil. On the one hand by\nascribing to the chiefs the special protection of the powerful spirits\nof the dead, it invested the governing class with a degree of authority\nto which on merely natural or rational grounds they could have laid no\nclaim; hence it tended to strengthen the respect for government and to\nensure the maintenance of law and order. Moreover, by lending a\nsupernatural sanction to the rights of private property among all\nclasses it further contributed to abolish one of the most fruitful\nsources of discord and crime in the community and thereby to foster\neconomic progress, which cannot exist without some measure of peace and\nsecurity for life and possessions. These were great gains, and so far as\nthe faith in immortality helped to win them for the Maoris, it certainly\nameliorated their condition and furthered the cause of civilisation\namong them. But on the other hand the belief in the essential malignancy\nof the spirits of the dead and in their great power to harm the living\nadded a host of purely imaginary terrors to the real evils with which\nman's existence on earth is naturally and inevitably encompassed: it\nimposed a regular system of needless and vexatious restrictions on\nsocial intercourse and the simplest acts of daily life; and it erected\nan almost insuperable barrier to the growth of science, and particularly\nof that beneficent branch of science which has for its object the\nalleviation of human suffering, since by concentrating the whole\nattention of the people on a false and absurd theory of supernatural\nagency it diverted them from that fruitful investigation of natural\ncauses which alone can strengthen and extend man's control over matter.\nThis was a heavy toll to pay for the advantages incidental to a belief\nin immortality; and if we were asked to strike a balance between the\ngood and the evil which that belief entailed on the Maoris, we might\nwell hesitate to say to which side the scales of judgment should\nincline.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Tonga or Friendly Islands_\n\nThe Tonga or Friendly Islands form an archipelago of about a hundred\nsmall islands situated in the South Pacific, between 18 deg. and 22 deg. South\nlatitude and between 173 deg. and 176 deg. East longitude. The archipelago falls\ninto three groups of islands, which lie roughly north and south of each\nother. The southern is the Tonga group, the central is the Haabai or\nHaapai group, and the northern is the Vavau group. In the southern group\nthe principal islands are Tongataboo and Eua; in the central group,\nNamuka and Lifuka (Lefooga); in the northern group, Vavau. The largest\nisland of the archipelago, Tongataboo, is about twenty-two miles long by\neight miles wide; next to it in importance are Vavau and Eua, and there\nare seven or eight other islands not less than five miles in length. The\nrest are mere islets. Most of the islands are surrounded by dangerous\ncoral reefs, and though the soil is deep and very fertile, there is a\ngreat lack of flowing water; running streams are almost unknown. Most of\nthe islands consist of coral and are very low; the highest point of\nTongataboo is only about sixty feet above the level of the sea.[1]\nHowever, some of the islands are lofty and of volcanic formation. When\nCaptain Cook visited the islands in 1773 and 1777 there was apparently\nonly one active volcano in the archipelago; it was situated in the small\nisland of Tufoa, which lies to the west of Namuka. Cook saw the island\nsmoking at the distance of ten leagues, and was told by the natives that\nit had never ceased smoking in their memory, nor had they any tradition\nof its inactivity.[2] In the hundred and fifty years which have elapsed\nsince Cook's time volcanic action has greatly increased in the\narchipelago. A considerable eruption took place at Tufoa in 1885: the\nsmall but lofty island of Kao (5000 feet high) has repeatedly been in\neruption: the once fertile and populous island of Amargura, or\nFunua-lai, in about 18 deg. South latitude, was suddenly devastated in 1846\nor 1847 by a terrific eruption, which reduced it to a huge mass of lava\nand burnt sand, without a leaf or blade of grass of any kind. Warned by\nviolent earthquakes, which preceded the explosion, the inhabitants\nescaped in time to Vavau. The roar of the volcano was heard one hundred\nand thirty miles off; and an American ship sailed through a shower of\nashes, rolling like great volumes of smoke, for forty miles. For months\nafterwards the glare of the tremendous fires was visible night after\nnight in the island of Vavau, situated forty miles away.[3] Another\ndreadful eruption occurred on the 24th of June 1853, in Niua Fooeu, an\nisland about two hundred miles to the north-north-west of Funua-lai. The\nentire island seems to be the circular ridge of an ancient and vast\nvolcano, of which the crater is occupied by a lake of clear calm water.\nOn the occasion in question the earth was rent in the centre of a native\nvillage; the flames of a new volcano burst forth from the fissure,\nbelching a sea of molten lava, under which ten miles of country, once\ncovered with the richest verdure, have been encased in solid rock,\naveraging from eight to fifteen feet in thickness. The lake boiled like\na cauldron, and long after the more powerful action of the volcano had\nceased, the waters of the lake were often rent by tongues of flame,\nwhich shot up from them as well as from the clefts in the surrounding\nprecipices.[4] In the island of Late, lying to the west of Vavau, a new\nvolcano broke out with great violence in 1854; the roar of the volcano\nwas heard at Lifuka, fifty miles away; the immense pillar of smoke was\nvisible by day and the fire by night. The central portion of one side of\nthe mountain (about 2500 feet high) was completely blown out by the\nexplosion.[5]\n\n [1] Horatio Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and\n Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) pp. 497, 499. As\n to the scarcity of running water, see Captain James Cook,\n _Voyages_ (London, 1809), iii. 206, v. 389. He was told that\n there was a running stream on the high island of Kao. As to the\n soil of Tongataboo, see Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage\n to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1899), p. 280, \"The soil\n is everywhere prolific, and consists of a fine rich mould, upon\n an average about fourteen or fifteen inches deep, free from\n stones, except near the beach, where coral rocks appear above\n the surface. Beneath this mould is a red loam four or five\n inches thick; next is a very strong blue clay in small\n quantities; and in some places has been found a black earth,\n which emits a very fragrant smell resembling bergamot, but it\n soon evaporates when exposed to the air.\"\n\n [2] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 277. For descriptions of\n the volcano see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, Second Edition\n (London, 1818), i. 240 _sq._; and especially Thomas West, _Ten\n Years in South-Eastern Polynesia_ (London, 1865), pp. 89 _sqq._\n Both these writers ascended the volcano.\n\n [3] Thomas West, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine,\n _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_\n (London, 1853), p. 120; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii.\n p. 497.\n\n [4] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 82 _sqq._; George Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 4 _sq._\n\n [5] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 88 _sq._\n\nBut not only have new volcanoes appeared or long extinct volcanoes\nresumed their activity within the last century in the existing islands,\nnew islands have been formed by volcanic action. One such island,\nemitting volumes of fire, smoke, and steam, issued from the surface of\nthe sea, and was discovered by the missionary ship _John Wesley_ in\nAugust 1857; its appearance had been heralded some years before by a\nstrange agitation of the sea and by fire and smoke ascending from the\nwater. This new volcanic island lies about midway between the two other\nvolcanic islands of Tufoa and Late.[6] A third new volcanic island seems\nto have been formed to the south of Tufoa in 1886.[7] Another new island\nwas thrown up from the sea about the beginning of the twentieth century;\nit was partly washed away again, but has again materially increased in\nsize.[8] It is noteworthy that the volcanoes, new or old, all occur in a\nline running roughly north and south at a considerable distance to the\nwest of, but parallel to, the main body of the Tongan archipelago. They\nclearly indicate the existence of submarine volcanic action on a great\nscale. Even in the coralline islands traces of volcanic agency have come\nto light in the shape of pumice-stones, which have been dug out of the\nsolid coral rock at considerable depths.[9] In the lofty island of Eua\nan extensive dyke of basalt is found inland underlying the coral\nformation.[10]\n\n [6] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 92-93.\n\n [7] I infer this from the entry \"Volcanic island, 1886,\" in Mr.\n Guillemard's map of the Pacific Islands. He does not mention it\n in the text (_Australasia_, ii. p. 497).\n\n [8] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 6.\n\n [9] T. West, _op. cit._ p. 94.\n\n [10] George Brown, _op. cit._ p. 4.\n\nThese facts lend some countenance to the view that the whole archipelago\nforms the summit or visible ridge of a long chain of submarine\nvolcanoes, and that the islands, even those of coralline formation, have\nbeen raised to their present level by volcanic action.[11] That very\nacute observer, Captain Cook, or one of the naturalists of the\nexpedition, noticed that in the highest parts of Tongataboo, which he\nestimated roughly at a hundred feet above sea-level, he often met with\n\"the same coral rock, which is found at the shore, projecting above the\nsurface, and perforated and cut into all those inequalities which are\nusually seen in rocks that lie within the wash of the tide.\"[12] Again,\non ascending the comparatively lofty island of Eua, Captain Cook\nobserves: \"We were now about two or three hundred feet above the level\nof the sea, and yet, even here, the coral was perforated into all the\nholes and inequalities which usually diversify the surface of this\nsubstance within the reach of the tide. Indeed, we found the same coral\ntill we began to approach the summits of the highest hills; and, it was\nremarkable, that these were chiefly composed of a yellowish, soft, sandy\nstone.\"[13] In the island of Vavau it was remarked by Captain Waldegrave\nthat the coral rock rises many feet above the present level of the sea,\nand he adds: \"The action of fire is visible on it, and we saw several\ninstances of its crystallisation.\"[14]\n\n [11] T. West, _op. cit._ 95.\n\n [12] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 344.\n\n [13] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 381.\n\n [14] Captain the Hon. W. Waldegrave, R.N., \"Extracts from a\n Private Journal,\" _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_,\n iii. (1833) p. 193.\n\nThe view that even the coralline islands of the Tongan archipelago have\nbeen elevated by volcanic agency is not necessarily inconsistent with\nDarwin's theory that coral reefs are formed during periods of\nsubsidence, not of elevation;[15] for it is quite possible that, after\nbeing raised ages ago by volcanic forces, these islands may be now\nslowly subsiding, and that it has been during the period of subsidence\nthat they have become incrusted by coral reefs. Yet the occurrence of\ncoral rocks, bearing all the marks of marine action, at considerable\nheights above the sea, appears indubitably to prove that such a general\nsubsidence has been in some places varied by at least a temporary\nelevation.\n\n [15] Charles Darwin, _Journal of Researches, etc., during the\n Voyage of the \"Beagle\"_ (London, 1912), pp. 471 _sqq._; Sir\n Charles Lyell, _Principles of Geology_, Twelfth Edition (London,\n 1875), ii. 602 _sqq._; T. H. Huxley, _Physiography_ (London,\n 1881), pp. 256 _sqq._\n\nIn thus postulating elevation by volcanic action, as well as subsidence,\nto explain the formation of the Tongan islands I am glad to have the\nsupport of a good observer, the late Rev. Dr. George Brown, who spent\nthe best years of his life in the Pacific, where his experience both of\nthe larger and the smaller islands was varied and extensive. He writes:\n\"I have seen islands composed of true coralline limestone, the cliffs of\nwhich rise so perpendicularly from the blue ocean that the natives have\nto ascend and descend by ladders in going from the ocean to the top, or\nvice versa. A large steamer can go so close to some of these cliffs that\nshe could be moored alongside of them in calm weather. It is not at all\nimprobable, I think, that in these islands we have the two factors in\nthe formation of islands, viz. subsidence, during which these immense\ncliffs were formed, and subsequent upheaval. This is the only way, I\nthink, in which we can account for these perpendicular cliffs in the\nmidst of deep blue ocean.\"[16]\n\n [16] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910),\n pp. 13 _sq._\n\nI have dwelt at what may seem undue length on the volcanic phenomena of\nthe Tonga islands because the occurrence of such phenomena in savage\nlands has generally influenced the beliefs and customs of the natives,\nquite apart from the possibility, which should always be borne in mind,\nthat man first obtained fire from an active volcano. But even if, as has\nbeen suggested, the Tonga islands formed the starting-point from which\nthe Polynesian race spread over the islands of the Pacific,[17] it seems\nvery unlikely that the Polynesians first learned the use of fire when\nthey reached the Tongan archipelago. More probably they were\nacquainted, not only with the use of fire, but with the mode of making\nit long before they migrated from their original home in Southern Asia.\nA people perfectly ignorant of that prime necessity could hardly have\nmade their way across such wide stretches of sea and land. But it is\nquite possible that the myth which the Tongans, in common with many\nother Polynesians, tell of the manner in which their ancestors procured\ntheir first fire, was suggested to them by the spectacle of a volcano in\neruption. They say that the hero Maui Kijikiji, the Polynesian\nPrometheus, first procured fire for men by descending into the bowels of\nthe earth and stealing it from his father, Maui Atalanga, who had kept\nit there jealously concealed.[18]\n\n [17] John Crawfurd, _Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay\n Language_ (London, 1852), _Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 253,\n quoted by Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_,\n pp. 248 _sqq._ But the more usual view is that the\n starting-point of the dispersal of the Polynesian race in the\n Pacific was Samoa.\n\n [18] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_ (London,\n 1855), pp. 134-137; Le P. Reiter, \"Traditions Tonguiennes,\"\n _Anthropos_, xii.-xiii. (1917-1918), pp. 1026-1040; E. E.\n Collcott, \"Legends from Tonga,\" _Folk-lore_, xxxii. (1921) pp.\n 45-48. Miss Farmer probably obtained the story from the Rev.\n John Thomas, who was a missionary in the islands for twenty-five\n years (from 1826 to 1850). She acknowledges her obligations to\n him for information on the religion of the natives (p. 125). For\n the period of Mr. Thomas's residence in Tonga, see Miss Farmer's\n book, p. 161. The story is told in closely similar forms in many\n other islands of the Pacific. For some of the evidence see my\n edition of Apollodorus, _The Library_, vol. ii. p. 331 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of Life, and\nGovernment_\n\nPhysically the Tonga islanders are fine specimens of the Polynesian race\nand generally impress travellers very favourably. Captain Cook, the\nfirst to observe them closely, describes them as very strong and well\nmade, some of them really handsome, and many of them with truly European\nfeatures and genuine Roman noses.[19] At a later date Commodore Wilkes,\nthe commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, speaks of them\nas \"some of the finest specimens of the human race that can well be\nimagined, surpassing in symmetry and grace those of all the other groups\nwe had visited\"; and farther on he says: \"A larger proportion of\nfine-looking people is seldom to be seen, in any portion of the globe;\nthey are a shade lighter than any of the other islanders; their\ncountenances are generally of the European cast; they are tall and well\nmade, and their muscles are well developed.\"[20] Still later, in his\naccount of the voyage of the _Challenger_, Lord George Campbell\nexpressed himself even more warmly: \"There are no people in the world,\"\nhe says, \"who strike one at first so much as these Friendly Islanders.\nTheir clear, light, copper-brown coloured skins, yellow and curly hair,\ngood-humoured, handsome faces, their _tout ensemble_, formed a novel and\nsplendid picture of the genus _homo_; and, as far as physique and\nappearance go, they gave one certainly an impression of being a superior\nrace to ours.\"[21] A Catholic missionary observes that \"the natives of\nTonga hardly differ from Europeans in stature, features, and colour;\nthey are a little sallower, which may be set down to the high\ntemperature of the climate. It is difficult to have a very fresh\ncomplexion with thirty degrees of heat, Reaumur, as we have it during\nfour or five months of the year.\"[22] In appearance the Tonga islanders\nclosely resemble the Samoans, their neighbours on the north; some find\nthem a little lighter, but others somewhat darker in colour than the\nSamoans.[23] According to the French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, who\npassed about a month in Tongataboo in 1827, the Polynesian race in Tonga\nexhibits less admixture with the swarthy Melanesian race than in Tahiti\nand New Zealand, there being far fewer individuals of stunted stature,\nflat noses, and frizzly hair among the Tongans than among the other\nPolynesians.[24] Even among the Tongans the physical superiority of the\nchiefs to the common people is said to be conspicuous; they are taller,\ncomelier, and lighter in colour than the lower orders. Some would\nexplain the difference by a difference in upbringing, noblemen being\nmore carefully nursed, better fed, and less exposed to the sun than\ncommoners;[25] but it is possible that they come of a different and\nbetter stock.\n\n [19] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 401 _sq._\n\n [20] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring\n Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 10, 25.\n\n [21] Quoted by F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. p. 488.\n\n [22] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_,\n xvii. (1845) p. 8.\n\n [23] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition,\n Ethnography and Philology_, pp. 10 _sq._; Charles Wilkes,\n _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 25;\n J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the\n Western Pacific_, pp. 116, 155. The naturalist J. R. Forster\n thought the Tongans darker than the Tahitians. See his\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London,\n 1778), p. 234.\n\n [24] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de la corvette Astrolabe,\n Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) p. 229.\n\n [25] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 155 _sq._; Sarah S. Farmer,\n _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 140.\n\nIntellectually the Tongans are reported to \"surpass all the other South\nSea islanders in their mental development, showing great skill in the\nstructure of their dwellings and the manufacture of their implements,\nweapons, and dress.\"[26] They are bold navigators,[27] and Captain Cook\nobserves that \"nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of their\ningenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, which, in\npoint of neatness and workmanship, exceed everything of this kind we saw\nin this sea.\"[28] However, the Tongans appear to have acquired much of\ntheir skill in the art of building and rigging canoes through\nintercourse with the Fijians, their neighbours to the west, who, though\ntheir inferiors in seamanship and the spirit of marine adventure,\noriginally surpassed them in naval architecture.[29] Indeed we are told\nthat all the large Tongan canoes are built in Fiji, because the Tongan\nislands do not furnish any timber fit for the purpose. Hence a number of\nTongans are constantly employed in the windward or eastern islands of\nthe Fiji group building these large canoes, a hundred feet or more in\nlength, a process which, it is said, lasts six or seven years.[30] The\ndebt which in this respect the Tongans owe to the Fijians was\nnecessarily unknown to Captain Cook, since he never reached the Fijian\nislands and knew of them only by report, though he met and questioned a\nfew Fijians in Tongataboo.[31]\n\n [26] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. pp. 498 _sq._\n\n [27] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 264.\n\n [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 197.\n\n [29] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 263 _sqq._\n\n [30] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 132.\n\n [31] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 396 _sq._\n\nWhen Captain Cook visited the Tonga islands he found the land almost\neverywhere in a high state of cultivation. He says that \"cultivated\nroots and fruits being their principal support, this requires their\nconstant attention to agriculture, which they pursue very diligently,\nand seem to have brought almost to as great perfection as circumstances\nwill permit.\"[32] The plants which they chiefly cultivated and which\nfurnished them with their staple foods were yams and plantains. These\nwere disposed in plantations enclosed by neat fences of reeds about six\nfeet high and intersected by good smooth roads or lanes, which were\nshaded from the scorching sun by fruit-trees.[33] Walking on one of\nthese roads Cook tells us, \"I thought I was transported into the most\nfertile plains in Europe. There was not an inch of waste ground; the\nroads occupied no more space than was absolutely necessary; the fences\ndid not take up above four inches each; and even this was not wholly\nlost, for in many places were planted some useful trees or plants. It\nwas everywhere the same; change of place altered not the scene. Nature,\nassisted by a little art, nowhere appears in more splendour than at this\nisle.\"[34] Interspersed among these plantations irregularly were\nbread-fruit trees and coco-nut palms, of which the palms in particular,\nraising their tufted heads in air above the sea of perpetual verdure,\nformed a pleasing ornament of the landscape.[35] There were no towns or\nvillages; most of the houses were built in the plantations, generally\nsurrounded by trees or ornamental shrubs, whose fragrancy perfumed the\nair.[36]\n\n [32] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 411 _sq._\n\n [33] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184, 195, v. 274, 316,\n 357, 416.\n\n [34] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184.\n\n [35] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 274, 357.\n\n [36] _Id._ iii. 196.\n\nWhen Captain Cook surveyed this rich and beautiful country, the islands\nwere and had long been at peace, so that the natives were able to devote\nthemselves without distraction to the labour of tilling the soil and\nproviding in other ways for the necessities of life. Unhappily shortly\nafter his visit to the islands wars broke out among the inhabitants and\ncontinued to rage more or less intermittently for many years. Even the\nintroduction of Christianity in the early part of the nineteenth\ncentury, far from assuaging the strife, only added bitterness to it by\nfurnishing a fresh pretext for hostilities, in which apparently the\nChristians were sometimes the aggressors with the connivance or even the\nencouragement of the missionaries.[37] In consequence cultivation was\nneglected and large portions of land were allowed to lie waste.[38]\n\n [37] This is affirmed by the Catholic missionary, Jerome Grange\n (_Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) pp. 15\n _sqq._), and though he writes with a manifest prejudice against\n his rivals the Protestant missionaries, his evidence is\n confirmed by Commodore Wilkes, the commander of the United\n States Exploring Expedition, who on his visit to Tongataboo\n found the Christians and heathens about to go to war with each\n other. He attempted to make peace between them, but in vain. The\n heathen were ready to accept his overtures, but \"it was evident\n that King George and his advisers, and, indeed, the whole\n Christian party, seemed to be desirous of continuing the war,\n either to force the heathen to become Christians, or to carry it\n on to extermination, which the number of their warriors made\n them believe they had the power to effect. I felt, in addition,\n that the missionaries were thwarting my exertions by permitting\n warlike preparations during the pending of the negotiations.\"\n See Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring\n Expedition_, iii. 7 _sqq._ (my quotation is from p. 16). The\n story is told from the point of view of the Protestant\n (Wesleyan) missionaries by Miss S. S. Farmer, _Tonga and The\n Friendly Islands_, pp. 293 _sqq._\n\n [38] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprise in the\n South Seas_ (London, 1838), p. 264; Charles Wilkes, _op. cit._\n iii. 32 _sq._\n\nLike all the Polynesians the natives of Tonga were ignorant of the\nmetals, and their only tools were made of stone, bone, shells, shark's\nteeth, and rough fish-skins. They fashioned axes, or rather adzes, out\nof a smooth black stone, which they procured from the volcanic island of\nTufoa; they used shells as knives; they constructed augers out of\nshark's teeth, fixed on handles; and they made rasps of the rough skin\nof a fish, fastened on flat pieces of wood. With such imperfect tools\nthey built their canoes and houses, reared the massive tombs of their\nkings; and did all their other work.[39] The wonder is that with\nimplements so imperfect they could accomplish so much and raise\nthemselves to a comparatively high level among savages.\n\n [39] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 199, v. 414 _sq._\n Captain Cook says that the only piece of iron he found among the\n Tongans was a small broad awl, which had been made of a nail.\n But this nail they must have procured either from a former\n navigator, perhaps Tasman, or from a wreck.\n\nA feature of the Tongan character in which the islanders evinced their\nsuperiority to most of the Polynesians was their regard for women. In\nmost savage tribes which practise agriculture the labour of tilling the\nfields falls in great measure on the female sex, but it was not so in\nTonga. There the women never tilled the ground nor did any hard work,\nthough they occupied themselves with the manufacture of bark-cloth,\nmats, and other articles of domestic use. Natives of Fiji, Samoa, and\nHawaii, who resided in Tonga, used to remark on the easy lives led by\nthe Tongan women, and remonstrated with the men on the subject, saying\nthat as men underwent hardships and dangers in war and other masculine\npursuits, so women ought to be made to labour in the fields and to toil\nfor their living. But the Tongan men said that \"it is not _gnale fafine_\n(consistent with the feminine character) to let them do hard work; women\nought only to do what is feminine: who loves a masculine woman? besides,\nmen are stronger, and therefore it is but proper that they should do the\nhard labour.\"[40]\n\n [40] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 287. Compare _id._ ii.\n 124, note *; Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 410 _sq._\n\nFurther, it is to the credit of the Tongans that, unlike many other\nPolynesians, they were not generally cannibals, and indeed for the most\npart held in abhorrence the practice of eating human bodies. Still young\nwarriors occasionally devoured the corpses of their enemies in imitation\nof the Fijians, imagining that in so doing they manifested a fierce,\nwarlike, and manly spirit. On one occasion, returning from such a\nrepast, they were shunned by every one, especially by the women, who\nupbraided them, saying, \"Away! you are a man-eater.\"[41]\n\n [41] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194; compare _id._ i.\n 317-320.\n\nThe government of the Tongan islanders was eminently monarchical and\naristocratic. A strict subordination of ranks was established which has\nbeen aptly compared to the feudal system. At the head of the social\nedifice were two chiefs who bore some resemblance to the Emperor and the\nPope of mediaeval Europe, the one being the civil and military head of\nthe State, while the other embodied the supreme spiritual power.\nNominally the spiritual chief, called the Tooitonga, ranked above the\ncivil chief or king, who paid him formal homage; but, as usually happens\nin such cases, the real government was in the hands of the secular\nrather than of the religious monarch. The Tooitonga was acknowledged to\nbe descended from one of the chief gods; he is spoken of by Mariner, our\nprincipal authority, as a divine chief of the highest rank, and he is\nsaid to have enjoyed divine honours. The first-fruits of the year were\noffered to him, and it was supposed that if this ceremony were\nneglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon\nthe people. Yet he had no power or authority in matters pertaining to\nthe civil king.[42] The existence of such a double kingship, with a\ncorresponding distribution of temporal and spiritual functions, is not\nuncommon in more advanced societies; its occurrence among a people so\ncomparatively low in the scale of culture as the Tongans is remarkable.\n\n [42] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sqq._; W. Mariner,\n _Tonga Islands_, ii. 74 _sqq._, 132 _sqq._; J. Dumont d'Urville,\n _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832)\n pp. 90 _sq._, \"_Si tout etait suivant l'ordre legal a\n Tonga-Tabou, on verrait d'abord a la tete de la societe le\n toui-tonga qui est le veritable souverain nominal des iles\n Tonga, et qui jouit meme des honneurs divins_.\"\n\nBelow the two great chiefs or kings were many subordinate chiefs, and\nbelow them again the social ranks descended in a succession of sharply\nmarked gradations to the peasants, who tilled the ground, and whose\nlives and property were entirely at the mercy of the chiefs.[43] Yet the\nsocial system as a whole seems to have worked well and smoothly. \"It\ndoes not, indeed, appear,\" says Captain Cook, \"that any of the most\ncivilised nations have ever exceeded this people, in the great order\nobserved on all occasions; in ready compliance with the commands of\ntheir chiefs; and in the harmony that subsists throughout all ranks, and\nunites them, as if they were all one man, informed with, and directed\nby, the same principle.\"[44] According to the American ethnographer,\nHoratio Hale, the mass of the people in the Tonga islands had no\npolitical rights, and their condition in that respect was much inferior\nto that of commoners in the Samoan islands, since in Tonga the\ngovernment was much stronger and better organized, as he puts it, for\nthe purpose of oppression. On the other hand, he admitted that\ngovernment in Tonga was milder than in Tahiti, and infinitely preferable\nto the debasing despotism which prevailed in Hawaii or the Sandwich\nIslands.[45]\n\n [43] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sq._, 429 _sq._; W.\n Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 83 _sqq._\n\n [44] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 426.\n\n [45] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition,\n Ethnography and Philology_, p. 32.\n\n\nSec. 3. _The Tongan Religion: its General Principles_\n\nFor our knowledge of the religion and the social condition of the\nTongans before they came under European influence, we are indebted\nchiefly to an English sailor, William Mariner, who lived as a captive\namong them for about four years, from 1806 to 1810.[46] His account of\nthe natives, carefully elicited from him and published by a medical\ndoctor, Mr. John Martin, M.D., is one of the most valuable descriptions\nof a savage people which we possess. Mariner was a good observer and\nendowed with an excellent memory, which enabled him to retain and record\nhis experiences after his return to England. He spoke the Tongan\nlanguage, and he was a special favourite of the two Tongan kings, named\nFinow, who reigned successively in Tonga during his residence in the\nislands. The kings befriended and protected him, so that he had the best\nopportunities for becoming acquainted with the customs and beliefs of\nthe people. His observations have been confirmed from independent\nsources, and we have every reason to regard them as trustworthy. So far\nas we can judge, they are a simple record of facts, unbiassed by theory\nor prejudice. In the following notice of the Tongan religion and\ndoctrine of the human soul I shall draw chiefly on the evidence of\nMariner.\n\n [46] Mariner was captured by the Tongans on December 1, 1806,\n and he escaped from the islands in 1810, apparently in November,\n but the exact date of his escape is not given. See W. Mariner,\n _Tonga Islands_, i. 43, ii. 15 _sqq._, 68, 69.\n\nAccording to him, the religion of the Tonga islanders rests, or rather\nused to rest, on the following notions.[47]\n\n [47] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 97 _sqq._\n\nThey believed that there are _hotooas_,[48] gods, or superior beings,\nwho have the power of dispensing good and evil to mankind, according to\ntheir merit, but of whose origin the Tongans formed no idea, rather\nsupposing them to be eternal.\n\n [48] The word is commonly spelled _atua_ in the Polynesian\n languages. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z. 1891), pp. 30 _sq._, who gives\n _otua_ as the Tongan form.\n\nThey believed that there are other _hotooas_ or gods, who are the souls\nof all deceased nobles and _matabooles_, that is, the companions,\nministers, and counsellors of the chiefs, who form a sort of inferior\nnobility.[49] The souls of all these dead men were held to possess a\npower of dispensing good and evil to mankind like the power of the\nsuperior gods, but in a lesser degree.\n\n [49] As to the _matabooles_ see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii.\n 84 _sqq._\n\nThey believed that there are besides several _hotooa pow_, or\nmischievous gods, who never dispense good, but only petty evils and\ntroubles, not as a punishment, but indiscriminately to anybody, from a\npurely mischievous disposition.\n\nThey believed that all these superior beings, although they may perhaps\nhave had a beginning, will have no end.\n\nThey believed that the world also is of uncertain origin, having\ncoexisted with the gods. The sky, which they regard as solid, the\nheavenly bodies, and the ocean were in being before the habitable earth.\nThe Tonga islands were drawn up out of the depth of the sea by the god\nTangaloa one day when he was fishing with a line and a hook.\n\nThey believed that mankind, according to a partial tradition, came\noriginally from Bolotoo, the chief residence of the gods, a fabulous\nisland situated to the north-west of the Tongan archipelago. The first\nmen and women consisted of two brothers, with their wives and\nattendants. They were commanded by the god Tangaloa to take up their\nabode in the Tonga islands, but of their origin or creation the Tongans\nprofessed to know nothing.[50]\n\n [50] According to a later account, \"on Ata were born the first\n men, three in number, formed from a worm bred by a rotten plant,\n whose seed was brought by Tangaloa from heaven. These three were\n afterwards provided by the Maui with wives from the Underworld.\"\n See E. E. V. Collocot, \"Notes on Tongan Religion,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 154.\n\nThey believed that all human evil was inflicted by the gods upon mankind\non account of some neglect of religious duty, whether the neglect is the\nfault of the sufferers or of the chief whom they serve. In like manner\nthe Tongans apparently referred all human good to the gods, regarding it\nas a reward bestowed by the divine beings on men who punctually\ndischarged the offices of religion.[51]\n\n [51] So apparently we must interpret Mariner's brief statement\n \"and the contrary of good\" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 98).\n\nThey believed that nobles had souls, which existed after death in\nBolotoo, not according to their moral merit, but according to their rank\nin this world; these had power like that of the original gods, but less\nin degree. The _matabooles_, or ministers of the nobles, also went after\ndeath to Bolotoo, where they existed as _matabooles_, or ministers of\nthe gods, but they had not, like the gods and the souls of dead\nnoblemen, the power of inspiring the priests with superhuman knowledge.\nSome thought that the _mooas_, who ranked next below the _matabooles_ in\nthe social hierarchy, also went after death to Bolotoo; but this was a\nmatter of great doubt. As for the _tooas_ or commoners, who formed the\nlowest rung in the social ladder, they had either no souls at all or\nonly such as dissolved with the body after death, which consequently\nended their sentient existence.\n\nThey believed that the human soul during life is not an essence distinct\nfrom the body, but only the more ethereal part of the corporeal frame,\nand that the moment after death it exists in Bolotoo with the form and\nlikeness of the body which it had on earth.\n\nThey believed that the primitive gods and deceased nobles sometimes\nappear visibly to mankind to warn or to afford comfort and advice; and\nthat the primitive gods also sometimes come into the living bodies of\nlizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake, hence these animals\nare much respected. When the gods thus entered into the bodies of\nporpoises, it was for the sake of safeguarding canoes or for other\nbeneficent purposes.\n\nThey believed that the two personages in the Tonga islands known by the\ntitles of Tooitonga and Veachi were descendants in a right line from two\nchief gods, and that all respect and veneration are therefore due to\nthem.\n\nThey believed that some persons are favoured with the inspiration of the\ngods, and that while the inspiration lasts the god actually exists in\nthe body of the inspired person or priest, who is then capable of\nprophesying.\n\nThey believe that human merit or virtue consists chiefly in paying\nrespect to the gods, nobles, and aged persons; in defending one's\nhereditary rights; in honour, justice, patriotism, friendship, meekness,\nmodesty, fidelity of married women, parental and filial love,\nobservance of all religious ceremonies, patience in suffering,\nforbearance of temper, and so on.\n\nThey believed that all rewards for virtue or punishments for vice happen\nto men in this world only, and come immediately from the gods.\n\nThey believed that several acts which civilised nations regard as crimes\nare, under certain circumstances, matters of indifference. Such acts\nincluded the taking of revenge on an enemy and the killing of a servant\nwho had given provocation, or indeed the killing of anybody else, always\nprovided that the victim were not a very superior chief or noble.\nFurther, among indifferent acts was reckoned rape, unless it were\ncommitted on a married woman or on one whom the offender was bound to\nrespect on the score of her superior rank. Finally, the list of venial\noffences included theft, unless the stolen object were consecrated\nproperty; for in that case the action became sacrilege and was, as we\nshall see presently, a very serious crime.\n\nThey believed that omens are the direct intimations of the future\nvouchsafed by the gods to men. \"Charms or superstitious ceremonies to\nbring evil upon any one are considered for the most part infallible, as\nbeing generally effective means to dispose the gods to accord with the\ncurse or evil wish of the malevolent invoker; to perform these charms is\nconsidered cowardly and unmanly, but does not constitute a crime.\"[52]\nOne such charm consisted in hiding on a grave (_fytoca_) some portion of\nthe wearing apparel of an inferior relation of the deceased. The person\nwhose garment was so hidden was believed to sicken and die. An equally\neffectual way of working the charm and ensuring the death of the victim\nwas to bury the garment in the house consecrated to the tutelary god of\nthe family. But when a grave was made use of for the malignant purpose,\nit was thought essential that the deceased should be of a rank superior\nto that of the person against whom the charm was directed; otherwise it\nwas supposed that the charm would have no effect.[53] In either case the\nfatal result was clearly held to be brought about by the power of the\nghost or of the god, who used the garment as an instrument for putting\nthe charm in operation. These charms or superstitious ceremonies are\nwhat we should now call magical rites, and they were apparently supposed\nto effect their purpose indirectly by constraining the gods to carry out\nthe malevolent intention of the magician. If I am right in so\ninterpreting them, we seem driven to conclude that in Tonga magic was\nsupposed to be ineffectual without the co-operation of the gods,\nalthough its power to compel them was deemed for the most part\nirresistible. Even so its assumed dependence on the consent, albeit the\nreluctant consent, of the deities implies a certain decadence of magic\nand a growing predominance of religion. Moreover, the moral reprehension\nof such practices for the injury of enemies is another sign that among\nthe Tongans magic was being relegated to that position of a black art\nwhich it generally occupies among more civilised peoples. Be that as it\nmay, certain it is that we hear extremely little about the practice of\nmagic among the Tongans.\n\n [52] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101.\n\n [53] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 424, note *.\n\n\nSec. 4. _The Primary or Non-human Gods_\n\nSuch are, or rather used to be, the principal articles of the old Tongan\ncreed. We may now examine some of them a little more at large. But first\nwe may observe that on this showing the Tongans were an eminently\nreligious people. They traced all the good and ill in human affairs to\nthe direct intervention of the gods, who rewarded or punished mankind\nfor their deeds in this life, bestowing the reward or inflicting the\npunishment in the present world and not deferring either to a distant\nand more or less uncertain future in a world beyond the grave. Thus with\nthe Tongans the fear of the gods was a powerful incentive to lead a\nvirtuous life; morality was placed under the immediate guardianship of\nthe deities. It is true that according to their notions morality\nconsisted largely in the performance of religious ceremonies, but it was\nby no means limited to a simple observance of the prescribed rites; for\nwe have seen that their conception of a virtuous life included\ncompliance with the dictates of justice, modesty, and friendship, the\nfidelity of wives to their husbands, the mutual affection of parents and\nchildren, patience in suffering, and other modes of conduct which we too\nshould not hesitate to rank among the virtues.\n\nWhen we consider the nature of the Tongan gods, we perceive that they\nare sharply discriminated into two classes, namely, the primitive and\nsuperior gods on the one side and the secondary and inferior gods on the\nother side. The primitive and superior gods are those who have always\nbeen gods and whose origin and beginning are unknown; the secondary and\ninferior gods are the souls of dead men, who consequently have not\nalways been gods, because they were human beings before death elevated\nthem to the rank of deities. The distinction between these two classes\nof gods is highly important, not merely for Tongan religion in\nparticular, but for the history of religion in general. For whatever we\nmay think of Euhemerism as a universal explanation of the gods, there\ncan be no doubt that in many lands the ranks of the celestial hierarchy\nhave been largely recruited by the ghosts of men of flesh and blood. But\nthere appears to be a general tendency to allow the origin of the human\ngods to fall into the background and to confuse them with the true\noriginal deities, who from the beginning have always been deities and\nnothing else. The tendency may sometimes be accentuated by a deliberate\ndesire to cast a veil over the humble birth and modest beginning of\nthese now worshipful beings; but probably the obliteration of the\ndistinction between the two classes of divinities is usually a simple\nresult of oblivion and the lapse of time. Once a man is dead, his\nfigure, which bulked so large and so clear to his contemporaries, begins\nto fade and melt away into something vague and indistinct, until, if he\nwas a person of no importance, he is totally forgotten; or, if he was\none whose actions or thoughts deeply influenced his fellows for good or\nevil, his memory lingers in after generations, growing ever dimmer and\nit may be looming ever larger through the long vista of the ages, as the\nevening mist appears to magnify the orb of the descending sun. Thus\nnaturally and insensibly, as time goes on, our mortal nature fades or\nbrightens into the immortal and divine.\n\nAs our subject is the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead,\nwe are not directly concerned with the original Tongan deities who were\nbelieved never to have been men. But since their functions and worship\nappear to have been in certain respects closely analogous to those of\nthe inferior deities, the souls of the dead, some notice of them may not\nbe out of place, if it helps to a fuller understanding of what we may\ncall the human gods. Besides, we must always bear in mind that some at\nleast of the so-called original gods may have been men, whose history\nand humanity had been forgotten. We can hardly doubt that the celestial\nhierarchy has often been recruited by the souls of the dead.\n\nThe original and superior gods, Mariner tells us, were thought to be\nrather numerous, perhaps about three hundred all told; but the names of\nvery few of them were known, and even those few were familiar only to\nsome of the chiefs and their ministers, the _matabooles_; \"for it may\neasily be supposed,\" says Mariner, \"that, where no written records are\nkept, only those (gods) whose attributes particularly concern the\naffairs of this world should be much talked of; as to the rest, they\nare, for the most part, merely tutelar gods to particular private\nfamilies, and having nothing in their history at all interesting, are\nscarcely known to anybody else.\"[54]\n\n [54] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 104.\n\nAmong these original and superior deities was Tali-y-Toobo, the patron\ngod of the civil king and his family. He was the god of war and was\nconsequently always invoked in time of war by the king's family; in time\nof peace prayers were sometimes offered to him for the general good of\nthe nation as well as for the particular interest and welfare of the\nroyal house. He had no priest, unless it was the king himself, who was\noccasionally inspired by him; but sometimes a whole reign would pass\nwithout the king being once favoured with the divine afflatus.[55]\n\n [55] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105.\n\nAnother god was Tooi fooa Bolotoo, whose name means \"Chief of all\nBolotoo.\" From this it might be supposed that he was the greatest god in\nBolotoo, the home of the gods and of the deified spirits of men; but in\nfact he was regarded as inferior to the war god, and the natives could\ngive no explanation of his high-sounding title. He was the god of rank\nin society, and as such he was often invoked by the heads of great\nfamilies on occasion of sickness or other trouble. He had several\npriests, whom he occasionally inspired.[56]\n\n [56] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105 _sq._\n\nAnother great god was Toobo Toty, whose name signifies \"Toobo the\nmariner.\" He was the god of voyages, and in that capacity was invoked by\nchiefs or anybody else at sea; for his principal function was to\npreserve canoes from accidents. Without being himself the god of wind,\nhe had great influence with that deity, and was thus enabled no doubt to\nsave many who were in peril on the great deep.[57]\n\n [57] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 106 _sq._\n\nAnother god was Alo Alo, whose name means \"to fan.\" He was the god of\nwind and weather, rain, harvest, and vegetation in general. When the\nweather was seasonable, he was usually invoked about once a month to\ninduce him to keep on his good behaviour; but when the weather was\nunseasonable, or the islands were swept by destructive storms of wind\nand rain, the prayers to him were repeated daily. But he was not\nsupposed to wield the thunder and lightning, \"of which, indeed,\" says\nMariner, \"there is no god acknowledged among them, as this phenomenon is\nnever recollected to have done any mischief of consequence.\"[58] From\nthis it would appear that where no harm was done, the Tongans found it\nneedless to suppose the existence of a deity; they discovered the hand\nof a god only in the working of evil; fear was the mainspring of their\nreligion. In boisterous weather at sea Alo Alo was not invoked; he had\nthen to make room for the superior god, Toobo Toty, the protector of\ncanoes, who with other sea gods always received the homage of\nstorm-tossed mariners. However, Alo Alo, the weather god, came to his\nown when the yams were approaching maturity in the early part of\nNovember. For then offerings of yams, coco-nuts, and other vegetable\nproducts were offered to him in particular, as well as to all the other\ngods in general, for the purpose of ensuring a continuation of\nfavourable weather and consequent fertility. The offering was\naccompanied by prayers to Alo Alo and the other gods, beseeching them to\nextend their bounty and make the land fruitful. Wrestling and boxing\nmatches formed part of the ceremony, which was repeated eight times at\nintervals of ten days. The time for the rite was fixed by the priest of\nAlo Alo, and a curious feature of the ceremony was the presence of a\ngirl of noble family, some seven or eight years old, who represented the\nwife of Alo Alo and resided in his consecrated house during the eighty\ndays that the festal season lasted.[59]\n\n [58] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 108.\n\n [59] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 205-208; compare _id._ 7,\n note *, 108.\n\nAnother god named Moooi was believed to support the earth on his\nprostrate body. In person he was bigger than any other of the gods; but\nhe never inspired anybody, and had no house dedicated to his service.\nIndeed, it was supposed that this Atlas of the Pacific never budged from\nhis painful and burdensome post beneath the earth. Only when he felt\nmore than usually uneasy, he tried to turn himself about under his heavy\nload; and the movement was felt as an earthquake by the Tongans, who\nendeavoured to make him lie still by shouting and beating the ground\nwith sticks.[60] Similar attempts to stop an earthquake are common in\nmany parts of the world.[61]\n\n [60] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sq._ Compare Captain James\n Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_\n (London, 1799), pp. 277 _sq._ Moooi is the Polynesian god or\n hero whose name is usually spelled Maui. See Horatio Hale,\n _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_,\n p. 23; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_,\n pp. 233 _sqq._ _s.v._ \"Maui.\"\n\n [61] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, i. 197 _sqq._\n\nTangaloa was the god of artificers and the arts. He had several priests,\nwho in Mariner's time were all carpenters. It was he who was said to\nhave brought up the Tonga islands from the bottom of the sea at the end\nof his fishing line;[62] though in some accounts of Tongan tradition\nthis feat is attributed to Maui.[63] The very hook on which he hauled\nup the islands was said to be preserved in Tonga down to about thirty\nyears before Mariner's time. It was in the possession of the divine\nchief Tooitonga; but unfortunately, his house catching fire, the basket\nin which the precious hook was kept perished with its contents in the\nflames. When Mariner asked Tooitonga what sort of hook it was, the chief\ntold him that it was made of tortoise-shell, strengthened with a piece\nof whalebone, and that it measured six or seven inches from the curve to\nthe point where the line was attached, and an inch and a half between\nthe barb and the stem. Mariner objected that such a hook could hardly\nhave been strong enough to support the whole weight of the Tonga\nislands; but the chief replied that it was a god's hook and therefore\ncould not break. The hole in the rock in which the divine hook caught on\nthe memorable occasion was shown down to Mariner's time in the island of\nHoonga. It was an aperture about two feet square.[64]\n\n [62] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 109, 114 _sq._; Horatio\n Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and\n Philology_, pp. 24 _sq._\n\n [63] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_,\n xvii. (1845) p. 11; Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United\n States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga\n and the Friendly Islands_, p. 133. According to this last writer\n it was only the low islands that were fished up by Maui; the\n high islands were thrown down from the sky by the god Hikuleo.\n\n [64] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 272, ii. 114 _sq._ The\n Catholic missionary Jerome Grange was told that the hook in\n question existed down to his time (1843), but that only the king\n might see it, since it was certain death to anybody else to look\n on it. See _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845)\n p. 11.\n\n\nSec. 5. _The Temples of the Gods_\n\nSome of the primitive gods had houses dedicated to them. These sacred\nhouses or temples, as we may call them, were built in the style of\nordinary dwellings; but generally more than ordinary care was taken both\nin constructing them and in keeping them in good order, decorating their\nenclosures with flowers, and so on. About twenty of the gods had houses\nthus consecrated to them; some of them had five or six houses, some only\none or two. For example, Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the royal\nfamily, had four houses dedicated to him in the island of Vavau, two in\nthe island of Lefooga (Lifuka), and two or three others of smaller\nimportance elsewhere.[65] Another patron god of the royal family,\ncalled Alai Valoo, had a large consecrated enclosure in the island of\nOfoo; he had also at least one priest and was very frequently consulted\nin behalf of sick persons.[66]\n\n [65] W. Mariner, _Tonga Island_, ii. 104 _sq._\n\n [66] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii, 107 _sq._\n\nTo desecrate any of these holy houses or enclosures was a most serious\noffence. When Mariner was in the islands it happened that two boys, who\nhad belonged to the crew of his ship, were detected in the act of\nstealing a bale of bark-cloth from a consecrated house. If they had been\nnatives, they would instantly have been punished with death; but the\nchiefs, taking into consideration the youth and inexperience of the\noffenders, who were foreigners and ignorant of native customs, decided\nthat for that time the crime might be overlooked. Nevertheless, to\nappease the anger of the god, to whom the house was consecrated, it was\ndeemed necessary to address him humbly on the subject. Accordingly his\npriest, followed by chiefs and their ministers (_matabooles_), all\ndressed in mats with leaves of the _ifi_ tree[67] round their necks in\ntoken of humility and sorrow, went in solemn procession to the house;\nthey sat down before it, and the priest addressed the divinity to the\nfollowing purport: \"Here you see the chiefs and _matabooles_ that have\ncome to thee, hoping that thou wilt be merciful: the boys are young, and\nbeing foreigners, are not so well acquainted with our customs, and did\nnot reflect upon the greatness of the crime: we pray thee, therefore,\nnot to punish the people for the sins of these thoughtless youths: we\nhave spared them, and hope that thou wilt be merciful and spare us.\" The\npriest then rose up, and they all retired in the same way they had come.\nThe chiefs, and particularly the king, severely reprimanded the boys,\nendeavouring to impress on their minds the enormity of their offence,\nand assuring them that they owed their lives only to their presumed\nignorance of the heinousness of the crime.[68]\n\n [67] The _ifi_ tree, of which the leaves were used by the\n Tongans in many religious ceremonies, is a species of chestnut\n (_Inocarpus edulis_) which grows in Indonesia, but is thought to\n be a native of America. It is supposed that the Polynesians\n brought the seeds of this tree with them into the Pacific, where\n it is said to be a cultivated plant. See S. Percy Smith,\n _Hawaiki, the Original Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc.,\n New Zealand, 1910), p. 146. To wear a wreath of the leaves round\n the neck, and to sit with the head bowed down, constituted the\n strongest possible expression of humility and entreaty. See E.\n E. V. Collocot, \"Notes on Tongan Religion,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 159.\n\n [68] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 163 _sq._\n\nAnother case of sacrilege, which occurred in Mariner's time, was\nattended with more tragic consequences. He tells us that consecrated\nplaces might not be the scene of war, and that it would be highly\nsacrilegious to attack an enemy or to spill his blood within their\nconfines. On one occasion, while Mariner was in the islands, four men,\npursued by their enemies, fled for refuge to a consecrated enclosure,\nwhere they would have been perfectly safe. One of them was in the act of\nscrambling over the reed fence, and had got a leg over it, when he was\novertaken by a foe, who struck him such a furious blow on the head that\nhe fell dead within the hallowed ground. Conscience-stricken, the slayer\nfled to his canoe, followed by his men; and on arriving at the fortress\nwhere the king was stationed he made a clean breast of his crime,\nalleging in excuse that it had been committed in hot blood when he had\nlost all self-command. The king immediately ordered kava to be taken to\nthe priest of his own tutelary god, that the divinity might be consulted\nas to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a sacrilege.\nUnder the double inspiration of kava and the deity, the priest made\nanswer that it was necessary a child should be strangled to appease the\nanger of the gods. The chiefs then held a consultation and determined to\nsacrifice the child of a high chief named Toobo Toa. The child was about\ntwo years old and had been born to him by a female attendant. On such\noccasions the child of a male chief by a female attendant was always\nchosen for the victim first, because, as a child of a chief, he was a\nworthier victim, and second, because, as a child of a female attendant,\nhe was not himself a chief; for nobility being traced in the female line\nonly those children were reckoned chiefs whose mothers were\nchieftainesses; the rank of the father, whether noble or not, did not\naffect the rank of his offspring. On this occasion the father of the\nchild was present at the consultation and consented to the sacrifice.\nThe mother, fearing the decision, had concealed the child, but it was\nfound by one of the searchers, who took it up in his arms, while it\nsmiled with delight at being noticed. The mother tried to follow but\nwas held back; and on hearing her voice the child began to cry. But on\nreaching the place of execution it was pleased and delighted with the\nbandage that was put round its neck to strangle it, and looking up in\nthe face of the executioner it smiled again. \"Such a sight,\" we are\ntold, \"inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and fear\nof the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, and its destroyer\ncould not help exclaiming, as he put on the fatal bandage, _O iaaoe chi\nvale!_ (poor little innocent!).\" Two men then tightened the cord by\npulling at each end, and the struggles of the innocent victim were soon\nover. The little body was next placed upon a sort of hand-barrow,\nsupported on the shoulders of four men, and carried in a procession of\npriests, chiefs, and _matabooles_, all clothed as suppliants in mats and\nwith wreaths of green leaves round their necks. In this way it was\nconveyed to various houses dedicated to different gods, before each of\nwhich it was placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it,\nexcept one priest, who sat beside it and prayed aloud to the god that he\nwould be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the\nheinous sacrilege committed, and that punishment might accordingly be\nwithheld from the people. When this had been done before all the\nconsecrated houses in the fortress, the body was given up to its\nrelations, to be buried in the usual manner.[69]\n\n [69] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 216-219. As to the rule\n that nobility descended only in the female line, through\n mothers, not through fathers, see _id._ ii. 84, 95 _sq._; J.\n Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_,\n iv. 239.\n\nThe consecration of a house or a piece of ground to a god was denoted by\nthe native word _taboo_, the general meaning of which was prohibited or\nforbidden.[70] It was firmly believed by the Tongans in former days that\nif a man committed sacrilege or broke a taboo, his liver or some other\nof his internal organs was liable to become enlarged and scirrhous, that\nis, indurated or knotty; hence they often opened dead bodies out of\ncuriosity, to see whether the deceased had been sacrilegious in their\nlifetime. As the Tongans are particularly subject to scirrhous tumours,\nit seems probable that many innocent persons were thus posthumously\naccused of sacrilege on the strength of a post-mortem examination into\nthe state of their livers.[71] Another disagreeable consequence of\nbreaking a taboo was a peculiar liability to be bitten by sharks, which\nthus might be said to act as ministers of justice. As theft was included\nunder the general head of breach of taboo, a simple way of bringing the\ncrime home to the thief in case of doubt was to cause the accused to go\ninto the water where sharks were known to swarm; if they bit him, he was\nguilty; if they did not, he was innocent.[72]\n\n [70] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220.\n\n [71] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194, note *; compare 434,\n note *.\n\n [72] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 221.\n\n\nSec. 6. _Priests and their Inspiration_\n\nPriests were known by the title of _fahe-gehe_, a term which means\n\"split off,\" \"separate,\" or \"distinct from,\" and was applied to a man\nwho has a peculiar sort of mind or soul, different from that of ordinary\nmen, which disposed some god occasionally to inspire him. Such\ninspirations frequently happened, and when the fit was on him the priest\nhad the same reverence shown to him as if he were the god himself; at\nthese times even the king would retire to a respectful distance and sit\ndown among the rest of the spectators, because a god was believed to\nexist at that moment in the priest and to speak from his mouth. But at\nother times a priest had no other respect paid to him than was due to\nhim for his private rank in society. Priests generally belonged to the\nlower order of chiefs or to their ministers, the _matabooles_; but\nsometimes great chiefs were thus visited by the gods, and the king\nhimself has been inspired by Tali-y-Toobo, the chief of the gods.[73]\nThe profession of priest was generally hereditary, the eldest son of a\npriest becoming, on his father's death, a priest of the same god who had\ninspired his deceased parent. In their uninspired moments the priests\nlived indiscriminately with the rest of the people and were treated with\nno special deference.[74]\n\n [73] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 80 _sq._\n\n [74] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 136-138.\n\nThe ceremony of inspiration, during which the priest was believed to be\npossessed by a god and to speak in his name, was regularly accompanied\nor preceded by a feast, at which the drinking of kava formed the\nprincipal feature. The priest himself presided at the feast and the\npeople gathered in a circle round him; or, to be more exact, the people\nformed an ellipse, of which the priest occupied the place of honour at\none of the narrow ends; while opposite him, at the other extremity of\nthe ellipse, sat the man who was charged with the important duty of\nbrewing the kava. At such sessions the chiefs sat indiscriminately among\nthe people on account of the sacredness of the occasion, conceiving that\nsuch humble demeanour must be acceptable to the gods. The actual process\nof inspiration was often witnessed by Mariner, and is described by him\nin his own words as follows:\n\n\"As soon as they are all seated, the priest is considered as inspired,\nthe god being supposed to exist within him from that moment. He remains\nfor a considerable time in silence, with his hands clasped before him;\nhis eyes are cast down, and he rests perfectly still. During the time\nthat the victuals are being shared out, and the cava preparing, the\n_matabooles_ sometimes begin to consult him; sometimes he answers them,\nat other times not; in either case he remains with his eyes cast down.\nFrequently he will not utter a word till the repast is finished, and the\ncava too. When he speaks, he generally begins in a low and very altered\ntone of voice, which gradually rises to nearly its natural pitch, though\nsometimes a little above it. All that he says is supposed to be the\ndeclaration of the god, and he accordingly speaks in the first person as\nif he were the god. All this is done generally without any apparent\ninward emotion or outward agitation; but on some occasions his\ncountenance becomes fierce, and, as it were, inflamed, and his whole\nframe agitated with inward feeling; he is seized with an universal\ntrembling; the perspiration breaks out on his forehead, and his lips,\nturning black, are convulsed; at length, tears start in floods from his\neyes, his breast heaves with great emotion, and his utterance is choked.\nThese symptoms gradually subside. Before this paroxysm comes on, and\nafter it is over, he often eats as much as four hungry men, under other\ncircumstances, could devour. The fit being now gone off, he remains for\nsome time calm, and then takes up a club that is placed by him for the\npurpose, turns it over and regards it attentively; he then looks up\nearnestly, now to the right, now to the left, and now again at the club;\nafterwards he looks up again, and about him in like manner, and then\nagain fixes his eyes upon his club, and so on, for several times: at\nlength he suddenly raises the club, and, after a moment's pause, strikes\nthe ground, or the adjacent part of the house, with considerable force:\nimmediately the god leaves him, and he rises up and retires to the back\nof the ring among the people.\"[75]\n\n [75] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 99-101. Compare E. E. V.\n Collocot, \"Notes on Tongan Religion,\" _Journal of the Polynesian\n Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 155-157.\n\n\nSec. 7. _The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices_\n\nThe worship offered to the gods consisted as usual of prayers and\nsacrifices. Prayers were put up to them, sometimes in the fields, and\nsometimes at their consecrated houses. On ordinary occasions a simple\noffering consisted of a small piece of kava root deposited before a\ngod's house.[76] But in the great emergencies of life the favour of the\ngods was sued with more precious offerings. When the younger daughter of\nFinow, a girl of six or seven years, was sick to death, the dying\nprincess was carried from her father's house into the sacred enclosure\nof Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the kings, and there she remained for\na fortnight. Almost every morning a hog was killed, dressed, and\npresented before the god's house to induce him to spare the life of the\nprincess. At the same time prayers were addressed to the deity for the\nrecovery of the patient; but as this particular god had no priest, the\nprayers were offered by a minister (_mataboole_), sometimes by two or\nthree in succession, and they were repeated five, six, or seven times a\nday. Their general purport was as follows: \"Here thou seest assembled\nFinow and his chiefs, and the principal ministers (_matabooles_) of thy\nfavoured land; thou seest them humbled before thee. We pray thee not to\nbe merciless, but to spare the life of the woman for the sake of her\nfather, who has always been attentive to every religious ceremony. But\nif thy anger is justly excited by some crime or misdemeanour committed\nby any other of us who are here assembled, we entreat thee to inflict on\nthe guilty one the punishment which he merits, and not to let loose thy\nvengeance on one who was born but as yesterday. For our own parts, why\ndo we wish to live but for the sake of Finow? But if his family is\nafflicted, we are all afflicted, innocent as well as guilty. How canst\nthou be merciless? Have regard for Finow and spare the life of his\ndaughter.\" When despite of prayers and the sacrifices of pigs, the girl\ngrew daily worse instead of better, she was removed to many other\nconsecrated enclosures of other gods, one after the other, where the\nlike fond prayers and fruitless offerings were presented in the vain\nhope of staving off the approach of death.[77]\n\n [76] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 224.\n\n [77] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 350-360.\n\nBut more precious sacrifices than the blood of hogs were often laid at\nthe feet of the angry gods. When a relation of a superior rank was ill,\nit was a very common practice for one or more of his or her inferior\nkinsfolk to have a little finger, or a joint of a finger, cut off as a\nsacrifice to induce the offended deity to spare the sick man or woman.\nSo common was the custom in the old days that there was scarcely a\nperson living in the Tonga islands who had not thus lost one or both of\nhis little fingers, or a considerable portion of both. It does not\nappear that the operation was very painful. Mariner witnessed more than\nonce little children quarrelling for the honour of having it performed\non them. The finger was laid flat upon a block of wood: a knife, axe, or\nsharp stone was placed with the edge on the joint to be severed, and a\npowerful blow with a hammer or heavy stone effected the amputation.\nSometimes an affectionate relative would perform the operation on his or\nher own hand. John Williams questioned a girl of eighteen who had hacked\noff her own little finger with a sharp shell to induce the gods to spare\nher sick mother. Generally a joint was taken off at a time; but some\npersons had smaller portions amputated to admit of the operation being\noften repeated in case they had many superior relations, who might be\nsick and require the sacrifice. When they had no more joints which they\ncould conveniently spare, they rubbed the stumps of the mutilated\nfingers till the blood streamed from the wounds; then they would hold up\nthe bleeding hands in hope of softening the heart of the angry god.[78]\nCaptain Cook understood that the operation was performed for the benefit\nof the sufferers themselves to heal them in sickness,[79] and the same\nview was apparently taken by the French navigator Labillardiere,[80] but\nin this they were probably mistaken; neither of them had an accurate\nknowledge of the language, and they may easily have misunderstood their\ninformants. Perhaps the only person in the islands who was exempt from\nthe necessity of occasionally submitting to the painful sacrifice was\nthe divine chief Tooitonga, who, as he ranked above everybody, even\nabove the king, could have no superior relation for whom to amputate a\nfinger-joint. Certainly we know that Tooitonga had not, like the rest of\nhis countrymen, to undergo the painful operations of tattooing and\ncircumcision; if he desired to be tattooed or circumcised, he was\nobliged to go to other islands, particularly to Samoa, for the\npurpose.[81] Perhaps, though this is not mentioned by our authorities,\nit would have been deemed impious to shed his sacred blood in his native\nland.\n\n [78] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._, ii. 210-212;\n Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific\n Ocean_, pp. 239, 278; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary\n Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 470 _sq._; Jerome\n Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845)\n pp. 12, 26; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_,\n p. 128.\n\n [79] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 204, v. 421 _sq._\n However, in a footnote to the latter passage Captain Cook gives\n the correct explanation of the custom on the authority of\n Captain King: \"It is common for the inferior people to cut off a\n joint of their little finger, on account of the sickness of the\n chiefs to whom they belong.\"\n\n [80] Labillardiere, _Relation du Voyage a la recherche de la\n Perouse_ (Paris, 1800), ii. 151.\n\n [81] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 79, 268.\n\nBut sacrifices to the gods for the recovery of the sick were not limited\nto the amputation of finger-joints. Not uncommonly children were\nstrangled for this purpose.[82] Thus when Finow the king was grievously\nsick and seemed likely to die, the prince, his son, and a young chief\nwent out to procure one of the king's own children by a female\nattendant to sacrifice it as a vicarious offering to the gods, that\ntheir anger might be appeased and the health of its father restored.\nThey found the child sleeping in its mother's lap in a neighbouring\nhouse; they took it away by force, and retiring with it behind an\nadjacent burial-ground (_fytoca_) they strangled it with a band of\nbark-cloth. Then they carried it before two consecrated houses and a\ngrave, at each place gabbling a short but appropriate prayer to the god,\nthat he would intercede with the other gods in behalf of the dying king,\nand would accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the sick man's\ncrimes.[83] When, not long afterwards, the divine chief Tooitonga, in\nspite of his divinity, fell sick and seemed like to die, one or other of\nhis young relations had a little finger cut off every day, as a\npropitiatory offering to the gods for the sins of the saintly sufferer.\nBut these sacrifices remaining fruitless, recourse was had to greater.\nThree or four children were strangled at different times, and prayers\nwere offered up by the priests at the consecrated houses and\nburial-grounds (_fytocas_) but all in vain. The gods remained deaf to\nthe prayers of the priests; their hearts were not touched by the cutting\noff of fingers or the strangling of children; and the illness of the\nsacred chief grew every day more alarming. As a last resort and\ndesperate remedy, the emaciated body of the dying man was carried into\nthe kitchen, the people imagining that such an act of humility,\nperformed on behalf of the highest dignitary of the Tonga islands, would\nsurely move the deities to compassion and induce them to spare a life so\nprecious to his subjects.[84] The same curious remedy had shortly before\nbeen resorted to for the benefit of the dying or dead king, Finow the\nFirst: his body was carried into the kitchen of the sacred chief, the\nTooitonga, and there placed over the hole in the ground where the fire\nwas lighted to cook victuals: \"this was thought to be acceptable to the\ngods, as being a mark of extreme humiliation, that the great chief of\nall the Hapai islands and Vavaoo, should be laid where the meanest class\nof mankind, the cooks, were accustomed to operate.\"[85]\n\n [82] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 208 _sq._\n\n [83] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 366.\n\n [84] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._; compare _id._\n ii. 214.\n\n [85] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367 _sq._\n\nThe custom of strangling the relations of a sick chief as a vicarious\nsacrifice to appease the anger of the deity and ensure the recovery of\nthe patient was found in vogue by the first missionaries to Tonga before\nthe arrival of Mariner. When King Moom[=o]oe lay very sick and his death\nwas hourly expected, one of his sons sent for a younger brother under\npretence of wishing to cut off his little fingers as a sacrifice to save\nthe life of their dying father. The young man came, whereupon his elder\nbrother had him seized, strangled, and buried within a few yards of the\nhouse where the missionaries were living. Afterwards the fratricide came\nand mourned over his murdered brother by sitting on the grave with his\nelbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. In this\nposture he remained for a long time in silence, and then departed very\nthoughtful. His motive for thus mourning over the brother whom he had\ndone to death is not mentioned by the missionaries and was probably not\nknown to them. We may conjecture that it was not so much remorse for his\ncrime as fear of his brother's ghost, who otherwise might have haunted\nhim.[86] Morality, or at all events a semblance of it, has often been\nthus reinforced by superstitious terrors.\n\n [86] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 238-240.\n\nIn recording this incident the missionaries make use of an expression\nwhich seems to set the strangling of human beings for the recovery of\nsick relations in a somewhat different light. They say that \"the prince\nof darkness has impressed the idea on them, that the strength of the\nperson strangled will be transferred into the sick, and recover\nhim.\"[87] On this theory the sacrifice acts, so to say, mechanically\nwithout the intervention of a deity; the life of the victim is\ntransfused into the body of the patient as a sort of tonic which\nstrengthens and revives him. Such a rite is therefore magical rather\nthan religious; it depends for its efficacy on natural causes, and not\non the pity and help of the gods. Yet the missionaries, who record this\nexplanation of the custom, elsewhere implicitly accept the religious\ninterpretation of such rites as vicarious sacrifices; for they say that\namong the superstitious notions of the natives concerning spirits was\none that \"by strangling some relations of the chief when he is sick, the\ndeity will be appeased, and he (that is, the sick chief) will\nrecover.\"[88] Perhaps both explanations, the religious and the magical,\nwere assigned by the Tongans: consistency of thought is as little\ncharacteristic of savage as of civilised man: provided he attains his\nends, he recks little of the road by which he reaches them. An English\nsailor named Ambler, who had resided for thirteen months in Tonga before\nthe arrival of the missionaries, told them, \"that when a great chief lay\nsick they often strangled their women, to the number of three or four at\na time.\"[89] Such a sacrifice is more likely to have been religious than\nmagical; we may suppose that the victims were rather offered to the gods\nas substitutes for the chief than killed to recruit his failing strength\nby an infusion of their health and vigour. A chief would probably have\ndisdained the idea of drawing fresh energy from the bodies of women,\nthough he might be ready enough to believe that the gods would consent\nto accept their life as a proxy for his own. It is true that elsewhere,\nnotably in Uganda, human beings have been killed to prolong the life of\nthe king by directly transferring their strength to him;[90] but in such\ncases it would seem that the victims have invariably been men and not\nwomen.\n\n [87] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 240.\n\n [88] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, p. 257.\n\n [89] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._, p. 278. This Ambler was a\n man of very indifferent, not to say infamous, character, but he\n rendered the missionaries considerable service by instructing\n them in the Tongan language, which he spoke fluently. See\n Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 98, 244 _sq._\n\n [90] See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Third Edition, ii. 219 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 8. _The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny after Death_\n\nThus far we have dealt with the primary or superior gods, who were\nbelieved to have been always gods, and about whose origin nothing was\nknown. We now pass to a consideration of the secondary or inferior gods,\nwhose origin was perfectly well known, since they were all of them the\nsouls of dead chiefs or nobles, of whom some had died or been killed in\nrecent years. But before we take up the subject of their worship, it\nwill be well to say a few words on the Tongan doctrine of the human\nsoul, since these secondary deities were avowedly neither more nor less\nthan human souls raised to a higher power by death.\n\nThe Tongans, in their native state, before the advent of Europeans, did\nnot conceive of the soul as a purely immaterial essence, that being a\nconception too refined for the thought of a savage. They imagined it to\nbe the finer or more aeriform part of the body which leaves it suddenly\nat the moment of death, and which may be thought to stand in the same\nrelation to the body as the perfume of a flower to its solid substance.\nThey had no proper word to express this fine ethereal part of man; for\nthe word _loto_, though it might sometimes be used for that purpose, yet\nrather means a man's disposition, inclination, passion, or sentiment.\nThe soul was supposed to exist throughout the whole of the body, but to\nbe particularly present in the heart, the pulsation of which they\nregarded as the strength and power of the soul. They did not clearly\ndistinguish between the life and the soul, but said that the right\nauricle of the heart was the seat of life. They took the liver to be the\nseat of courage, and professed to have remarked, on opening dead bodies,\nthat the largest livers belonged to the bravest men, in which\nobservation they were careful to make allowance for the enlargement of\nlivers consequent on disease.[91]\n\n [91] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 127 _sq._\n\nThey acknowledged that the _tooas_ or lower order of people had minds or\nsouls; but they firmly believed that these vulgar souls died with their\nbodies and consequently had no future existence. In this aristocratic\nopinion the generality of the commoners acquiesced, though some were\nvain enough to think that they had souls like their betters, and that\nthey would live hereafter in Bolotoo. But the orthodox Tongan doctrine\nrestricted immortality to chiefs and their ministers (the _matabooles_);\nat most, by a stretch of charity, it extended the privilege to the\n_mooas_ or third estate; but it held out no hope of salvation to\n_tooas_, who formed the fourth and lowest rank of society.[92]\n\n [92] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 419, ii. 99, 128 _sq._\n\nMariner's account, which I have followed, of the sharp distinction which\nthe Tongans drew between the immortality of chiefs and the mortality of\ncommon people is confirmed by the testimony of other and independent\nobservers. According to Captain Cook, while the souls of the chiefs went\nimmediately after death to the island of Boolootoo (Bolotoo), the souls\nof the lower sort of people underwent a sort of transmigration or were\neaten by a bird called _loata_, which walked upon their graves for that\npurpose.[93] The first missionaries, who landed in Tongataboo in 1797,\nreport that the natives \"believe the immortality of the soul, which at\ndeath, they say, is immediately conveyed in a very large fast-sailing\ncanoe to a distant country called Doobludha, which they describe as\nresembling the Mahometan paradise. They call the god of this region of\npleasure Higgolayo, and esteem him as the greatest and most powerful of\nall others, the rest being no better than servants to him. This\ndoctrine, however, is wholly confined to the chiefs, for the _tooas_ (or\nlower order) can give no account whatever; as they reckon the enjoyments\nof Doobludha above their capacity, so they seem never to think of what\nmay become of them after they have served the purposes of this\nlife.\"[94] One of these first missionaries was a certain George Veeson,\nwho had been a bricklayer before he undertook to convert the heathen to\nChristianity. Wearying, however, of missionary work, he deserted his\nbrethren and betook himself to the heathen, among whom he lived as one\nof them, adopting the native garb, marrying native women, and eagerly\nfighting in the wars of the natives among themselves. In this way he\nacquired a considerable knowledge of the Tongan language and customs, of\nwhich he made some use in the account of his experiences which he\npublished anonymously after his return to England. Speaking of Tongan\nideas concerning the immortality of the soul he says that he heard the\nchiefs speak much of Bulotu (Bolotoo). \"Into this region, however, they\nbelieved none were admitted but themselves. The Tuas, or lower class,\nhaving no hope of sharing such bliss, seldom speculate upon a futurity,\nwhich to them appears a subject lost in shadows, clouds, and\ndarkness.\"[95] The missionaries reported to Commodore Wilkes that the\nspirits of all chiefs were supposed to go to Bolotoo, while the souls of\npoor people remained in this world to feed upon ants and lizards.[96]\nWith regard to the fate of the soul after death, the Tongans universally\nand positively believed in the existence of a great island, lying at a\nconsiderable distance to the north-west, which they considered to be the\nabode of their gods and of the souls of their dead nobles and their\nministers (the _matabooles_). This island they supposed to be much\nlarger than all their own islands put together, and to be well stocked\nwith all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, always in a high state\nof perfection, and always bearing the richest fruits and the most\nbeautiful flowers according to their respective natures; they thought\nthat when these fruits or flowers were plucked, others immediately took\ntheir place, and that the whole atmosphere was filled with the most\ndelightful fragrance that the imagination can conceive, exhaled from\nthese immortal plants. The island, too, was well stocked with the most\nbeautiful birds, of all imaginable kinds, as well as with abundance of\nhogs; and all of these creatures were immortal, except when they were\nkilled to provide food for the gods. But the moment a hog or a bird was\nkilled, another live hog or bird came into existence to supply its\nplace, just as happened with the fruits and flowers; and this, so far as\nthey could ascertain, was the only way in which plants and animals were\npropagated in Bolotoo. So far away was the happy island supposed to be\nthat it was dangerous for living men to attempt to sail thither in\ntheir canoes; indeed, except by the express permission of the gods, they\ncould not find the island, however near they might come to it. They\ntell, however, of a Tongan canoe which, returning from Fiji, was driven\nby stress of weather to Bolotoo. The crew knew not the place, and being\nin want of provisions and seeing the country to abound in all sorts of\nfruits, they landed and proceeded to pluck some bread-fruit. But to\ntheir unspeakable astonishment they could no more lay hold of the fruit\nthan if it were a shadow; they walked through the trunks of the trees\nand passed through the substance of the houses without feeling any shock\nor resistance. At length they saw some of the gods, who passed through\nthe men's bodies as if they were empty space. These gods recommended\nthem to go away immediately, as they had no proper food for them, and\nthey promised them a fair wind and a speedy passage. So the men put to\nsea, and sailing with the utmost speed they arrived at Samoa, where they\nstayed two or three days. Thence, again sailing very fast, they returned\nto Tonga, where in the course of a few days they all died, not as a\npunishment for having been at Bolotoo, but as a natural consequence, the\nair of that place, as it were, infecting mortal bodies with speedy\ndeath. The gods who dwell in Bolotoo have no canoes, not requiring them;\nfor if they wish to be anywhere, there they are the moment the wish is\nfelt.[97]\n\n [93] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423.\n\n [94] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 278 _sq._\n\n [95] Quoted by Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly\n Islands_, p. 131. As to Veeson, see _id._ pp. 78, 85 _sqq._ The\n title of his book is given (p. 87) as _Authentic Narrative of a\n Four Years' Residence in Tongataboo_ (London: Longman & Co.,\n 1815). I have not seen the book. The man's name is given as\n Vason by (Sir) Basil Thomson in his _Diversions of a Prime\n Minister_ (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 326, 327, 329, 331;\n but his real name seems to have been George Veeson. See Captain\n James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_,\n pp. 6, 230.\n\n [96] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring\n Expedition_, iii. 22.\n\n [97] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101-103.\n\nIt is said that in order to people Bolotoo the god Hikuleo used to carry\noff the first-born sons of chiefs and other great men, whom he\ntransported to the island of the gods. To such lengths did he go in this\nsystem of abduction that men on earth grew very uneasy. Their ranks\nbecame thinner and thinner. How was all this to end? At last the other\ngods were moved to compassion. The two gods Tangaloa and Maui laid hold\nof brother Hikuleo, passed a strong chain round his waist and between\nhis legs, and then taking the chain by the ends they fastened one of\nthem to the sky and the other to the earth. Thus trussed up, the deity\nstill made many attempts to snatch away first-born sons; but all his\nefforts were thwarted and baffled by the chain, for no sooner did he\ndart out in one direction, than the chain pulled him back in another.\nAccording to another, or the same story, the excursions of the deity\nwere further limited by the length of his tail, the end of which was\ntethered to the cave in which he resided; and though the tail was long\nand allowed him a good deal of rope, do what he would, he could not\nbreak bounds or obtain more than a very partial view of what was going\non in the rest of the world.[98]\n\n [98] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 132\n _sq._ As to Hikuleo and his long tail, see also Charles Wilkes,\n _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23,\n \"Hikuleo is the god of spirits, and is the third in order of\n time; he dwells in a cave in the island. Bulotu is most\n remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from going\n farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will\n admit of.\" Here the god Hikuleo appears to be confused with the\n island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which he resided. Tradition wavers\n on the question whether Hikuleo was a god or goddess, \"but the\n general suffrage seems in favour of the female sex.\" See E. E.\n V. Collocot, \"Notes on Tongan Religion,\" _Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 152, 153.\n\nIn this curious story we may perhaps detect a tradition of a time when\namong the Tongans, as among the Semites, religion or superstition\ndemanded the sacrifice of all first-born sons, a barbarous custom which\nhas been practised by not a few peoples in various parts of the\nearth.[99]\n\n [99] As to a custom of putting the first-born to death, see _The\n Dying God_, pp. 178 _sqq._; and for other reported instances of\n the custom, see Mrs. James Smith, _The Booandik Tribe of South\n Australia_ (Adelaide, 1880), pp. 7 _sq._; C. E. Fox, \"Social\n Organisation in San Cristoval, Solomon Islands,\" _Journal of the\n R. Anthropological Institute_, xlix. (1919) p. 100; E. O.\n Martin, _The Gods of India_ (London and Toronto, 1914), p. 215;\n N. W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking\n peoples of Nigeria_, Part i. (London, 1913) p. 12. Compare E.\n Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_\n (London, 1906), i. 458 _sqq._\n\nThe human soul after its separation from the body at death was termed a\n_hotooa_ or _atua_, that is, a god or spirit, and was believed to exist\nin the shape of the body and to have the same propensities as in life,\nbut to be corrected by a more enlightened understanding, by which it\nreadily distinguished good from evil, truth from falsehood, and right\nfrom wrong. The souls dwelt for ever in the happy regions of Bolotoo,\nwhere they bore the same names as in life and held the same rank among\nthemselves as they had held during their mortal existence. But their lot\nin Bolotoo was in no way affected by the good or evil which they had\ndone on earth; for the Tongans did not believe in a future state of\nretribution for deeds done in the body; they thought that the gods\npunished crime in this present world, without waiting to redress the\nbalance of justice in the world to come. As many of the nobles who\npassed at death to Bolotoo had been warlike and turbulent in their life,\nit might naturally be anticipated that they should continue to wage war\non each other in the land beyond the grave; but that was not so, for by\na merciful dispensation their understandings were so much enlightened,\nor their tempers so much improved, by their residence in Bolotoo, that\nany differences they might have between themselves, or with the\nprimitive gods, they adjusted by temperate discussion without resort to\nviolence; though people in Tonga sometimes heard an echo and caught a\nglimpse of these high debates in the rumble of thunder and the flash of\nlightning.[100] In the blissful abode of Bolotoo the souls of chiefs and\nnobles lived for ever, being not subject to a second death, and there\nthey feasted upon all the favourite productions of their native country,\nwhich grew also abundantly in the happy island.[101]\n\n [100] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110 _sq._, 130, 131, 139,\n 140.\n\n [101] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423.\n\nA less cheerful picture, however, of the state of souls in the other\nworld was painted for Commodore Wilkes by the missionaries who furnished\nhim with information on the native religion of the Tongans. According to\nthem, the souls were forced to become the servants, or rather slaves, of\nthe long-tailed deity Hikuleo, whose commands they had no choice but to\nexecute. His house and all things in it were even constructed of the\nsouls of the dead; and he went so far as to make fences out of them and\nbars to his gates, an indignity which must have been deeply resented by\nthe proud spirits of kings and nobles.[102] How this gloomy picture of\nthe fate of souls in Bolotoo is to be reconciled with the bright\ndescriptions of it which I have drawn from the pages of Mariner and\nCook, it is not easy to say. Apparently we must acquiesce in the\ndiscrepancy. That savages should entertain inconsistent views on the\nlife after death need not surprise us, when we remember how little\naccurate information even civilised peoples possess on that momentous\nsubject.\n\n [102] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring\n Expedition_, iii. 23. The writer here speaks of Bulotu, where he\n should have said Hikuleo. See above, p. 89, note^1.\n\n\nSec. 9. _The Souls of the Dead as Gods_\n\nWe have seen that according to Mariner, our best authority on Tongan\nreligion, the souls of dead nobles ranked as gods, possessing all the\npowers and attributes of the primary or original deities, though in an\ninferior degree.[103] Thus, like the primary gods, they had the power of\nreturning to Tonga to inspire priests, relations, or other people.[104]\nFor example, the son of Finow, the King, used to be inspired by the\nspirit of Toogoo Ahoo, a former king of Tonga, who had been assassinated\nwith the connivance of his successor, Finow. One day Mariner asked this\nyoung chief how he felt when he was visited by the spirit of the\nmurdered monarch. The chief replied that he could not well describe his\nfeelings, but the best he could say of it was, that he felt himself all\nover in a glow of heat and quite restless and uncomfortable; he did not\nfeel his personal identity, as it were, but seemed to have a mind\ndiffering from his own natural mind, his thoughts wandering upon strange\nand unusual topics, though he remained perfectly sensible of surrounding\nobjects. When Mariner asked him how he knew it was the spirit of Toogoo\nAhoo who possessed him, the chief answered impatiently, \"There's a fool!\nHow can I tell you how I knew it? I felt and knew it was so by a kind of\nconsciousness; my mind told me that it was Toogoo Ahoo.\" Similarly Finow\nhimself, the father of this young man, used occasionally to be inspired\nby the ghost of Moomooi, a former king of Tonga.[105]\n\n [103] W. Mariner, _Tongan Islands_, ii. 97, 99, 103, 109 _sq._\n See above, pp. 64 _sq._, 66.\n\n [104] W. Mariner, ii. 130 _sq._; compare _id._ pp. 99, 103\n _sq._, 109 _sq._\n\n [105] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 104 _sq._\n\nAgain, the souls of dead nobles, like gods, had the power of appearing\nin dreams and visions to their relatives and others to admonish and warn\nthem. It was thought, for example, that Finow the king was occasionally\nvisited by a deceased son of his; the ghost did not appear, but\nannounced his presence by whistling. Mariner once heard this whistling\nwhen he was with the king and some chiefs in a house at night; it was\ndark, and the sound appeared to come from the loft of the house. In\nMariner's opinion the sound was produced by some trick of Finow's, but\nthe natives believed it to be the voice of a spirit.[106] Once more,\nwhen Finow the king was himself dead, a noble lady who mourned his death\nand generally slept on his grave, communicated to his widow a dream\nwhich she had dreamed several nights at the graveyard. She said that in\nher dream the late king appeared to her, and, with a countenance full of\nsorrow, asked why there yet remained so many evil-designing persons in\nthe islands; for he declared that, since he had been at Bolotoo, he had\nbeen disturbed by the plots of wicked men conspiring against his son;\ntherefore was he come to warn her of the danger. Finally, he bade her\nset in order the pebbles on his grave, and pay every attention to his\nburial-ground. With that he vanished.[107] In such dreams of the\nreappearance of the recent dead we may discover one source of the belief\nin the survival of the soul after death.\n\n [106] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110, 130 _sq._\n\n [107] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 423 _sq._\n\nBut the gods appeared to mankind to warn, comfort, and advise, not only\nin their own divine form but also in the form of animals. Thus the\nprimitive gods, according to Mariner, sometimes entered into the living\nbodies of lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake. Hence these\ncreatures were much respected. The reason why gods entered into\nporpoises was to take care of canoes. This power of assuming the form of\nliving animals, says Mariner, belonged only to the original gods, and\nnot to the deified souls of chiefs.[108] In thus denying that the\nspirits of the dead were supposed sometimes to revisit the earth in\nanimal shapes Mariner was perhaps mistaken, for a different view on the\nsubject was apparently taken at a later time by Miss Farmer, who had\naccess to good sources of information. She writes as follows: \"Bulotu\n(Bolotoo) was peopled with the spirits of departed chiefs and great\npersons of both sexes; and it was to these chiefly that worship was paid\nand that sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed\nto act as intercessors with the supreme gods, who were too highly\nexalted to be approached by men except in this way. The spirits were in\nthe habit of revisiting earth. They would come in birds, or in fish as\ntheir shrines. The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel,\nshark, whale, and many other animals were considered sacred, because\nthey were favourite shrines of these spirit-gods. The heathen never\nkilled any of these creatures; and if, in sailing, they chanced to find\nthemselves in the neighbourhood of a whale, they would offer scented oil\nor kava to him. To some among the natives the cuttle-fish and the lizard\nwere gods; while others would lay offerings at the foot of certain\ntrees, with the idea of their being inhabited by spirits. A rainbow or a\nshooting star would also command worship.\"[109]\n\n [108] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 99, 131.\n\n [109] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 126\n _sq._\n\nThis account seems to imply that the spirits which took the form of\nthese animals, birds, and fish were believed to be the souls of the dead\nreturning from the spirit world to revisit their old homes on earth. But\neven if we suppose that herein the writer was mistaken, and that, as\nMariner affirmed, only the original and superior gods were deemed\ncapable of incarnation in animal shape, the account is still valuable\nand interesting because it calls attention to a side of Tongan religion\non which our principal authority, Mariner, is almost silent. That side\ncomprises the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals,\nbirds, and fish, regarded as embodiments of spirits, whether gods or\nghosts. This worship of nature, and particularly of animated nature, was\nhighly developed among the Samoans; it would be natural, therefore, to\nfind the same system in vogue among their neighbours and near kinsmen\nthe Tongans, though our authorities on Tongan religion say little about\nit. The system may with some appearance of probability be regarded as a\nrelic of a former practice of totemism.[110]\n\n [110] See below, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._\n\nIn recent years a considerable amount of evidence bearing on the subject\nhas been collected by Mr. E. E. V. Collocot. He distinguishes the\nnational Tongan gods from the gods of tribes, clans, and small groups\nof allied households; such a group of households, it appears, formed the\nordinary social unit. Indeed, he tells us that there was nothing to\nprevent a man from setting up a tutelary deity of his own, if he were so\ndisposed; he might adopt almost any object for the religious reverence\nof his household and himself. Thus there was \"a gradation in the divine\nhierarchy from gods of populous tribes down to deities the private\npossession of a very few.\"[111] Further, Mr. Collocot found that most of\nthe gods had sacred animals or other natural objects associated with\nthem,[112] and that the worshippers were generally forbidden to eat the\nsacred animals of their gods. He concludes that \"in the period of which\nwe have information totemism has given way to a more highly developed\npolytheism, but there are indications that the development was by way of\ntotemism.\"[113] Among the facts which appear to support this conclusion\nwe may note the following.\n\n [111] E. E. V. Collocot, \"Notes on Tongan Religion,\" _Journal of\n the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 154 _sq._, 159.\n\n [112] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 160, 161.\n\n [113] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 159 _sq._\n\nThere was a great god called Boolotoo Katoa, that is, \"the whole of\nBoolotoo (Bolotoo),\" who had the dog for his sacred animal; while the\ndeity was being worshipped, a dog lay at the side of the priest. This\ngod had his principal shrine at Boha in the eastern part of Tongataboo:\nthe district was of old the centre of government and the residence of\nthe Tooitonga.[114] Another god, whose name was the King of the tribe or\nclan of Fonua (_Tui-Haafakafonua_), had for his sacred animal a lizard,\nand for the convenience of his departure, and presumably arrival, a tree\nor post was always provided for him to crawl along. A handy post or\ntree-stump was a regular part of his temple furnishings.[115] Another\ngod, whose name signifies \"Proud Boastfulness of the Season\"\n(_Mofuta-ae-ta'u_), had for his sacred animal a great sea-eel, which\ndwelt in an opening of the reef opposite the village. This deity used to\ntake it very ill if anybody appeared on the beach near his abode wearing\na turban or whitened with lime; and should a man rashly disregard the\nfeelings of the divine eel in these respects, it was believed that the\ndeity would carry him off to his hole in the rock.[116] Another god,\nnamed Haele-feke, used to manifest himself in the form of an octopus\n(_feke_). Whenever an octopus appeared in a certain pool, it was at once\nrecognised as the god, and the priestess immediately went and awaited\nhim at the shrine, which seems to have been a small raised platform.\nThither the people presently resorted, bringing bunches of coco-nuts and\ncoco-nut leaves and earth. The priestess thereupon spoke as in the\nperson of the octopus, and apparently imitated the creature, presumably\nby sprawling in the ungainly manner of an octopus. The worshippers of\nthis deity abstained from eating the flesh of the octopus, and even from\napproaching a place where other people were eating it. If any of them\ntransgressed the taboo, he was afflicted with complete baldness. Should\nany of the worshippers find a dead octopus, they buried it with all due\nceremony in Teekiu, their principal village.[117] The rail bird\n(_kalae_) was worshipped by some people, who used to tie bunches of the\nbirds together and carry them about with them when they travelled; and\nthe priest had a bunch of the sacred birds tattooed as a badge on his\nthroat.[118] The clan Fainga'a had for its sacred animal the mullet; and\nit is said that young mullets were tabooed to the men of the clan.[119]\nA family group in Haapai had the owl for their sacred creature; if an\nowl hooted near a house in the afternoon, it was a sign that there was a\npregnant woman in the household.[120] The god of Uiha in Haapai was the\nEel-in-the-Open-Sea (_Toke-i-Moana_); as usual, the worshippers might\nnot eat the flesh of eels or approach a place where an eel was being\ncooked.[121] The clan Falefa worshipped two goddesses, Jiji and\nFainga'a, whose sacred creature was the heron. Jiji was supposed to be\nincarnate in the dark-coloured heron, and Fainga'a in the light-coloured\nheron. When a pair of herons, one dark and the other light-coloured,\nwere seen flying together, people said that it was the two goddesses\nJiji and Fainga'a.[122] In the island of Tofua there was a clan called\nthe King of Tofua (_Tui Tofua_), which had the shark for its god;\nmembers of the clan might not eat the flesh of sharks, because they\nbelieved themselves to be related to the fish; they said that long ago\nsome of the clansmen leaped from a canoe into the sea and were turned\ninto sharks.[123] Another god who appeared in the form of a shark was\nTaufa of the Sea (_Taufa-tahi_); but in another aspect he was a god of\nthe land (_Taufa-uta_) and a notable protector of gardens. To secure his\naid the husbandman had only to plait a coco-nut leaf in the likeness of\na shark and to hang it up in his plantation; a garden thus protected was\nunder a taboo which no one would dare to violate. A Christian, who\nventured to thrust his hand in mockery into the maw of the sham shark,\nhad both his arms afterwards bitten off by a real shark.[124] Other gods\nwere recognised in the shape of flying-foxes, shell-fish, and little\nblue and green lizards.[125] We hear of two Tongan gods who had black\nvolcanic pebbles for their sacred objects,[126] and of one whose shrine\nwas the tree called _fehi_, the hard wood of which was commonly used for\nmaking spears and canoes.[127] The gods of Niua Fo'ou, one of the most\ndistant islands of the Tongan group, were three in number, to wit, the\noctopus, pig's liver, and a large lump of coral. The worshippers of the\ntwo former deities might not eat the divine octopus and the divine pig's\nliver.[128] Christianity itself appears not to have wholly extinguished\nthe reverence of the natives for the sacred animals of their clans. A\nmuch-respected native minister of the Methodist Church informed Mr.\nCollocot that to this day he gets a headache if he eats the sacred\nanimal of his clan, though other people may partake of the creature, not\nonly with impunity, but with relish.[129]\n\n [114] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 162.\n\n [115] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 227.\n\n [116] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._\n\n [117] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 231 _sq._\n\n [118] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 161, 233.\n\n [119] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234.\n\n [120] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234.\n\n [121] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._\n\n [122] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232.\n\n [123] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._\n\n [124] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 229.\n\n [125] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 231, 233.\n\n [126] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 233.\n\n [127] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232.\n\n [128] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239.\n\n [129] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 160.\n\nThus the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, fish,\nand birds, presents a close analogy to the Samoan system, as we shall\nsee presently;[130] and it is not without significance that tradition\npoints to Samoa as the original home from which the ancestors of the\nTongans migrated to their present abode.[131] On the question of the\nnature of the divine beings who presented themselves to their\nworshippers in the form of animals, the evidence collected by Mr.\nCollocot seems to confirm the statement of Mariner, that only the\nprimary or non-human gods were believed capable of thus becoming\nincarnate; at least Mr. Collocot gives no hint that the worshipful\ncreatures were supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead;\nin other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan worship of\nanimals was based on a theory of transmigration.\n\n [130] See below, pp. 154 _sq._\n\n [131] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239.\n\nThe statement of Miss Farmer, which I have quoted, that among the\nTongans the souls of the dead were the principal object of worship and\nreceived the most sacrifices, is interesting and not improbable, though\nit is not confirmed by Mariner. It may indeed, perhaps, be laid down as\na general principle that the worship of the dead tends constantly to\nencroach on the worship of the high gods, who are pushed ever farther\ninto the background by the advent of their younger rivals. It is natural\nenough that this should be so. The affection which we feel for virtue,\nthe reverence and awe inspired by great talents and powerful characters,\npersist long after the objects of our love and admiration have passed\naway from earth, and we now render to their memories the homage which we\npaid, or perhaps grudged, to the men themselves in their lifetime. For\nus they seem still to exist; with their features, their characteristic\nturns of thought and speech still fresh in our memories, we can hardly\nbring ourselves to believe that they have utterly ceased to be, that\nnothing of them remains but the lifeless dust which we have committed to\nthe earth. The heart still clings fondly to the hope, if not to the\nbelief, that somewhere beyond our ken the loved and lost ones are joined\nto the kindred spirits who have gone before in that unknown land, where,\nin due time, we shall meet them again. And as with affection, so with\nreverence and fear; they also are powerful incentives to this\ninstinctive belief in the continued existence of the dead. The busy\nbrain that explored the heights and depths of this mysterious\nuniverse--the glowing imagination that conjured up visions of beauty\nborn, as we fondly think, for immortality--the aspiring soul and\nvaulting ambition that founded or overturned empires and shook the\nworld--are they now no more than a few mouldering bones or a handful of\nashes under their marble monuments? The mind of most men revolts from a\nconclusion so derogatory to what they deem the dignity of human nature;\nand so to satisfy at once the promptings of the imagination and the\nimpulse of the heart, men gradually elevate their dead to the rank of\nsaints and heroes, who in course of time may easily pass by an almost\ninsensible transition to the supreme place of deities. It is thus that,\nalmost as far back as we can trace the gropings of the human mind, man\nhas been perpetually creating gods in his own likeness.\n\nIn a pantheon thus constantly recruited by the accession of dead men,\nthe recruits tend to swamp the old deities by sheer force of numbers;\nfor whereas the muster-roll of the original gods is fixed and\nunchangeable, the newcomers form a great host which is not only\ninnumerable but perpetually on the increase, for who can reckon up the\ntale of the departed or set bounds to the ravages of death? Indeed,\nwhere the deification of the dead is carried to its logical limit, a new\ngod is born for every man that dies; though in Tonga against such an\nextreme expansion of the spiritual hierarchy, and a constant\novercrowding of Bolotoo, a solid barrier was interposed by the Tongan\ndoctrine which opened the gates of paradise only to noblemen.[132]\n\n [132] We have seen (p. 70) that according to Mariner the number\n of the original gods was about three hundred; but as to the\n deified noblemen he merely says that \"of these there must be a\n vast number\" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 109). In his \"Notes on Tongan\n Religion\" (_Journal of the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p.\n 159) Mr. E. E. V. Collocot remarks: \"The number of the gods,\n moreover, was liable to constant augmentation by the deification\n of the illustrious or well-beloved dead.\" As a notable instance\n he cites the case of a certain chief named Fakailoatonga, a\n native of Vavau, who subdued or overran a large part of\n Tongataboo. He was a leper, but for a long time did not know the\n true nature of his malady. When he learned the truth, he in\n disgust buried himself alive, and after his death he was\n elevated to the godhead. But in this deification, if Mariner is\n right, there was nothing exceptional; as a chief he became a god\n after death in the course of nature.\n\n\nSec. 10. _Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments_\n\nOn the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that in Tonga the\ndistinction between the original superhuman deities and the new human\ngods tended to be obliterated in the minds of the people. More and more,\nwe may suppose, the deified spirits of dead men usurped the functions\nand assimilated themselves to the character of the ancient divinities.\nYet between these two classes of worshipful beings Mariner draws an\nimportant distinction which we must not overlook. He says that these new\nhuman gods, these souls of deified nobles, \"have no houses dedicated to\nthem, but the proper places to invoke them are their graves, which are\nconsidered sacred, and are therefore as much respected as consecrated\nhouses.\"[133] If this distinction is well founded, the consecrated house\nor temple, as we may call it, of an original god was quite different\nfrom the grave at which a new god, that is, a dead man or woman, was\nworshipped. But in spite of the high authority of Mariner it seems\ndoubtful whether the distinction which he makes between the temples of\nthe old gods and the tombs of the new ones was always recognised in\npractice, and whether the two were not apt to be confounded in the minds\neven of the natives. The temples of the gods, as we have seen, did not\ndiffer in shape and structure from the houses of men, and similar\nhouses, as we shall see, were also built on the graves of kings and\nchiefs and even of common people. What was easier than to confuse the\ntwo classes of spirit-houses, the houses of gods and the houses of dead\nkings or chiefs, especially when the memory of these potentates had\ngrown dim and their human personality had been forgotten? Certainly\nEuropean observers have sometimes been in doubt as to whether places to\nwhich the natives paid religious reverence were temples or graves. In\nview of this ambiguity I propose to examine some of the descriptions\nwhich have been given by eye-witnesses of the sacred structures and\nenclosure which might be interpreted either as temples or tombs. The\nquestion has a double interest and importance, first, in its bearing on\nthe theory, enunciated by Herbert Spencer, that temples are commonly, if\nnot universally, derived from tombs,[134] and gods from dead men; and\nsecondly, in its bearing on the question of the origin and meaning of\nmegalithic monuments; for not a few of the tombs of Tongan kings and\nsacred chiefs are constructed in part of very large stones.\n\n [133] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110\n\n [134] Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i\n (London, 1904) pp. 249 _sqq._\n\nI will begin with the evidence of Captain Cook, an excellent observer\nand faithful witness. He paid two visits to the Tonga islands, a short\none in 1773, and a longer one of between two and three months in 1777.\nSpeaking of his first visit to Tongataboo in 1773, he writes as follows:\n\n\"After sitting here some time, and distributing some presents to those\nabout us, we signified our desire to see the country. The chief\nimmediately took the hint, and conducted us along a lane that led to an\nopen green, on the one side of which was a house of worship built on a\nmount that had been raised by the hand of man, about sixteen or eighteen\nfeet above the common level. It had an oblong figure, and was inclosed\nby a wall or parapet of stone, about three feet in height. From this\nwall the mount rose with a gentle slope, and was covered with a green\nturf. On the top of it stood the house, which had the same figure as the\nmount, about twenty feet in length, and fourteen or sixteen broad. As\nsoon as we came before the place, every one seated himself on the green,\nabout fifty or sixty yards from the front of the house. Presently came\nthree elderly men; who seated themselves between us and it, and began a\nspeech, which I understood to be a prayer, it being wholly directed to\nthe house. This lasted about ten minutes; and then the priests, for such\nI took them to be, came and sat down along with us, when we made them\npresents of such things as were about us. Having then made signs to them\nthat we wanted to view the premises, my friend Attago immediately got\nup, and going with us, without showing the least backwardness, gave us\nfull liberty to examine every part of it.\n\n\"In the front were two stone steps leading to the top of the wall; from\nthis the ascent to the house was easy, round which was a fine gravel\nwalk. The house was built, in all respects, like to their common\ndwelling-houses; that is, with posts and rafters; and covered with palm\nthatch. The eaves came down within about three feet of the ground, which\nspace was filled up with strong matting made of palm leaves, as a wall.\nThe floor of the house was laid with fine gravel; except in the middle,\nwhere there was an oblong square of blue pebbles, raised about six\ninches higher than the floor. At one corner of the house stood an image\nrudely carved in wood, and on one side lay another; each about two feet\nin length. I, who had no intention to offend either them or their gods,\ndid not so much as touch them, but asked Attago, as well as I could, if\nthey were _Eatuas_, or gods. Whether he understood me or no, I cannot\nsay; but he immediately turned them over and over, in as rough a manner\nas he would have done any other log of wood, which convinced me that\nthey were not there as representatives of the Divinity. I was curious to\nknow if the dead were interred there, and asked Attago several questions\nrelative thereto; but I was not sure that he understood me; at least I\ndid not understand the answers he made, well enough to satisfy my\ninquiries. For the reader must know, that at our first coming among\nthese people, we hardly could understand a word they said. Even my\nOtaheitean youth, and the man on board the _Adventure_, were equally at\na loss: but more of this by and by. Before we quitted the house we\nthought it necessary to make an offering at the altar. Accordingly we\nlaid down upon the blue pebbles, some medals, nails, and several other\nthings; which we had no sooner done than my friend Attago took them up,\nand put them in his pocket. The stones with which the walls were made\nthat inclosed this mount, were some of them nine or ten feet by four,\nand about six inches thick. It is difficult to conceive how they can cut\nsuch stones out of the coral rocks.\n\n\"This mount stood in a kind of grove open only on the side which fronted\nthe high road, and the green on which the people were seated. At this\ngreen or open place, was a junction of five roads, two or three of which\nappeared to be very public ones. The groves were composed of several\nsorts of trees. Among others was the _Etoa_ tree, as it is called at\nOtaheite, of which are made clubs, etc., and a kind of low palm, which\nis very common in the northern parts of New Holland.\n\n\"After we had done examining this place of worship, which in their\nlanguage is called _a-fiat-tou-ca_, we desired to return.\"[135]\n\n [135] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 182-184.\n\nA little farther on, still speaking of his first visit to Tonga, Captain\nCook observes: \"So little do we know of their religion, that I hardly\ndare mention it. The buildings called _afiatoucas_, before mentioned,\nare undoubtedly set apart for this purpose. Some of our gentlemen were\nof opinion, that they were merely burying-places. I can only say, from\nmy own knowledge, that they are places to which particular persons\ndirected set speeches, which I understood to be prayers, as hath been\nalready related. Joining my opinion with that of others, I was inclined\nto think that they are set apart to be both temples and burying-places,\nas at Otaheite, or even in Europe. But I have no idea of the images\nbeing idols; not only from what I saw myself, but from Mr. Wales's\ninforming me that they set one of them up, for him and others to shoot\nat.\"[136]\n\n [136] Captain James Cook, _op. cit._ iii. 206.\n\nThus Captain Cook and his party were divided in opinion as to whether\nthe house on the mound, within its walled enclosure built of great\nstones, was a temple or a tomb. Captain Cook himself called it simply a\n\"house of worship\" and a \"place of worship,\" but he inclined to the view\nthat it was both a temple and a burying-place, and in this opinion he\nwas probably right. The native name which he applied to it, _afiatouca_,\nmeans a burial-place; for it is doubtless equivalent to _fytoca_, a word\nwhich Mariner explains to mean \"a burying-place, including the grave,\nthe mount in which it is sunk, and a sort of shed over it.\"[137]\nMoreover, the oblong square of blue pebbles, which Captain Cook observed\non the floor of the house on the mound, and which he regarded as the\naltar, speaks also in favour of the house being a tomb; for Mariner has\ndescribed how the mourners brought white and black pebbles to the house\nwhich stood over the grave of King Finow, and how they \"strewed the\ninside of the house with the white ones, and also the outside about the\n_fytoca_, as a decoration to it: the black pebbles they strewed only\nupon those white ones, which covered the ground directly over the body,\nto about the length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very\neccentric ellipse. After this, the house over the _fytoca_,\" continues\nMariner, \"was closed up at both ends with a reed fencing, reaching from\nthe eaves to the ground, and, at the front and back, with a sort of\nbasket-work, made of the young branches of the cocoa-nut tree, split and\ninterwoven in a very curious and ornamental way, to remain till the next\nburial, when they are to be taken down, and, after the conclusion of the\nceremony, new ones are to be put up in like manner.\"[138] This\ndescription of the house over King Finow's grave agrees so closely with\nCaptain Cook's description of the house in the _afiatouca_, that we may\nwith much probability regard the latter as a tomb, and suppose that the\n\"oblong square of blue pebbles,\" which Cook regarded as an altar and on\nwhich he laid down his offering, marked the place of the body in the\ngrave: it was at once an altar and a tombstone.\n\n [137] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 144, note *. However, in\n another passage (i. 392, note *) Mariner tells us that, strictly\n speaking, the word _fytoca_ applied only to the mound with the\n grave in it, and not to the house upon the mound; for there were\n several _fytocas_ that had no houses on them. For other mentions\n of _fytocas_ and notices of them by Mariner, see _op. cit._ i.\n pp. 386, note *, 387, 388, 392, 393, 394, 395, 402, ii. 214-218.\n\n [138] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 402. A little farther on\n (p. 424, note *) Mariner remarks that \"mourners were accustomed\n to smooth the graves of their departed friends, and cover them\n with black and white pebbles.\"\n\nOn his second and more prolonged visit to the Tonga islands, Captain\nCook expressed, with more confidence, his opinion that the _fiatookas_,\nas he calls them, were at once burial-grounds and places of worship.\nThus he says: \"Their _morais_ or _fiatookas_ (for they are called by\nboth names, but mostly by the latter), are, as at Otaheite, and many\nother parts of the world, burying-grounds and places of worship; though\nsome of them seemed to be only appropriated to the first purpose; but\nthese were small, and, in every other respect, inferior to the\nothers.\"[139] Again, in another passage he describes one of the more\nstately of these temple-tombs. He says: \"Some of us, accompanied by a\nfew of the king's attendants, and Omai as our interpreter, walked out to\ntake a view of a _fiatooka_, or burying-place, which we had observed to\nbe almost close by the house, and was much more extensive, and seemingly\nof more consequence, than any we had seen at the other islands. We were\ntold, that it belonged to the king. It consisted of three pretty large\nhouses, situated upon a rising ground, or rather just by the brink of\nit, with a small one, at some distance, all ranged longitudinally. The\nmiddle house of the three first, was by much the largest, and placed in\na square, twenty-four paces by twenty-eight, raised about three feet.\nThe other houses were placed on little mounts, raised artificially to\nthe same height. The floors of these houses, as also the tops of the\nmounts round them, were covered with loose, fine pebbles, and the whole\nwas inclosed by large flat stones of hard coral rock, properly hewn,\nplaced on their edges; one of which stones measured twelve feet in\nlength, two in breadth, and above one in thickness. One of the houses,\ncontrary to what we had seen before, was open on one side; and within it\nwere two rude, wooden busts of men; one near the entrance, and the other\nfarther in. On inquiring of the natives, who had followed us to the\nground, but durst not enter here, What these images were intended for?\nthey made us as sensible as we could wish, that they were merely\nmemorials of some chiefs who had been buried there, and not the\nrepresentations of any deity. Such monuments, it should seem, are seldom\nraised; for these had probably been erected several ages ago. We were\ntold, that the dead had been buried in each of these houses; but no\nmarks of this appeared. In one of them, was the carved head of an\nOtaheite canoe, which had been driven ashore on their coast, and\ndeposited here. At the foot of the rising ground was a large area, or\ngrass-plot, with different trees planted about it; amongst which were\nseveral of those called _etoa_, very large. These, as they resemble the\ncypresses, had a fine effect in such a place. There was also a row of\nlow palms near one of the houses, and behind it a ditch, in which lay a\ngreat number of old baskets.\"[140]\n\n [139] Captain Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424.\n\n [140] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 342 _sq._\n\nBetween the departure of Cook and the arrival of Mariner the first\nProtestant missionaries were fortunate enough to witness the burial of\na king of Tonga, by name Moom[=o]oe. Their description of it and of the\nroyal tomb entirely bears out the observations and conclusions of\nCaptain Cook. The _fiatooka_ or burial-ground, they tell us, \"is\nsituated on a spot of ground about four acres. A mount rises with a\ngentle slope about seven feet, and is about one hundred and twenty yards\nin circumference at the base; upon the top stands a house neatly made,\nwhich is about thirty feet long, and half that in width. The roof is\nthatched, and the sides and ends left open. In the middle of this house\nis the grave, the sides, ends, and bottom of which are of coral stone,\nwith a cover of the same: the floor of the house is of small stones. The\n_etoa_ and other trees grow round the _fiatooka_.\"[141] Into this grave,\nor rather stone vault, the missionaries saw the king's body lowered. The\nstone which covered the vault was eight feet long, four feet broad, and\none foot thick. This massive stone was first raised and held in suspense\nby means of two great ropes, the ends of which were wound round two\nstrong piles driven into the ground at the end of the house. The ropes\nwere held by about two hundred men, who, when the king's body had been\ndeposited in the grave, slowly lowered the great stone and covered the\nvault.[142] Some years later Mariner witnessed the funeral of another\nking of Tonga, Finow the First; and he similarly describes how the tomb\nwas a large stone vault, sunk about ten feet deep in the ground, the\ncovering stone of which was hoisted by the main strength of a hundred\nand fifty or two hundred men pulling at the two ends of a rope; when the\nbodies of the king and his daughter had been laid side by side in the\nvault the massive stone was lowered by the men with a great shout.[143]\nThe number of the men required to raise and lower these great stones\ngives us some idea of their weight.\n\n [141] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 240 _sq._\n\n [142] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 244.\n\n [143] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 387 _sq._\n\nThus far we have been dealing only with the tombs of the civil kings of\nTonga. But far more stately and massive are the tombs of the sacred\nkings or pontiffs, the Tooitongas, which still exist and still excite\nthe curiosity and admiration of European observers. The Tongan name for\nthese tombs is _langi_, which properly means \"sky,\" also \"a band of\nsingers\"; but there appears to be no connexion between these different\nmeanings of the word.[144] The tombs are situated in Tongataboo, not far\nfrom Mooa, the old capital of the island. They stand near the\nsouth-eastern shore of the lagoon, which, under the name of the Mooa\nInlet, penetrates deeply into the northern side of Tongataboo. Beginning\nat the northern outskirts of the village of Labaha, they stretch inland\nfor more than half a mile into the forest.[145] They are of various\nconstructions and shapes. Some consist of a square enclosure, on the\nlevel of the ground, the boundary walls being formed of large stones;\nwhile at each corner of the square two high stones, rising above the\nwall, are placed upright at right angles to each other and in a line\nwith their respective sides.[146] But apparently the more usual and\ncharacteristic type of tomb has the form of a truncated pyramid or\noblong platform raised in a series of steps or terraces, which are built\nof massive blocks of coral. The number of steps or terraces seems to\nvary from one to four according to the height of the monument.[147] It\nis much to be regretted that no one has yet counted and mapped out these\ntombs and recorded the names of their royal or divine occupants, so far\nas they are remembered; but a trace of the religious awe which once\ninvested this hallowed ground still avails to keep it inviolate. A\nproposal which Sir Basil Thomson made to clear away the forest and\npreserve the tombs was very coldly received; in the eyes of the natives,\nprofessing Christians as they are, it probably savoured of sacrilege.\nThe ancient custom was to clear the ground about every new tomb, and\nafter the interment to suffer the tropical undergrowth to swallow it up\nfor ever. Nowadays no holy pontiffs are borne to their last\nresting-place in these hallowed shades; so the forest is never cleared,\nand nature is left free to run wild. In consequence the tombs are so\novergrown and overshadowed that it is difficult to photograph them in\nthe gloomy and tangled thicket. Great _ifi_ trees[148] overhang them:\nbanyan-trees have sprouted on the terraces and thrust their roots into\nevery crevice, mantling the stones with a lacework of tendrils, which\nyear by year rend huge blocks asunder, until the original form of the\nterrace is almost obliterated. Sir Basil Thomson followed the chain of\ntombs for about half a mile, but on each occasion his guides told him\nthat there were other smaller tombs farther inland. The tombs increase\nin size and in importance as they near the shore of the lagoon, and to\nseven or eight of the larger ones the names of the occupants can be\nassigned; but the names of the sacred chiefs who sleep in the smaller\ntombs inland are quite forgotten. Some of them are mere enclosures of\nstones, not squared, but taken haphazard from the reef.[149]\n\n [144] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._\n\n [145] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 86.\n\n [146] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283 _sq._\n\n [147] The tomb described and illustrated by the first\n missionaries had four massive and lofty steps, each of them five\n and a half feet broad and four feet or three feet nine inches\n high. See Captain James Wilson, _l.c._, with the plate facing p.\n 284. One such tomb, rising in four tiers, is ascribed\n traditionally to a female Tooitonga, whose name has been\n forgotten. See (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities\n of Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 88 n.^2.\n\n [148] The Tahitian chestnut (_Inocarpus edulis_); see above, p.\n 74, note^2.\n\n [149] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_\n (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 379 _sq._; _id._ \"Notes upon\n the Antiquities of Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological\n Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 86. According to an earlier\n authority, the Tongans could name and point out the tombs of no\n less than thirty Tooitongas. See the letter of Mr. Philip\n Hervey, quoted in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of\n London_, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 77.\n\nThe tombs were built in the lifetime of the sacred chiefs who were to\nlie in them, and their size accordingly affords a certain measure of the\npower and influence of the great men interred in them. Among the largest\nis the tomb which goes by the name of Telea, though it is said to\ncontain no body, Telea himself being buried in the tomb next to it. We\nare told that, dissatisfied with the first sepulchre that was built for\nhim, he replaced it by the other, which is also of great size. The most\nmodern of the tombs is that of Laufilitonga, the last to bear the title\nof Tooitonga. He died a Christian about 1840 and was buried in the tomb\nof very inferior size which crowns the village cemetery. The most\nancient cannot be dated; but that some are older than A.D. 1535 may be\ninferred from the tradition that Takalaua, a Tooitonga, was assassinated\nabout that time because he was a tyrant who compelled his people to drag\ngreat stones from Liku, at the back of the island, to the burial ground\nat Mooa; the distance is about a mile and a half.[150]\n\n [150] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) pp. 86 _sq._, 88 n.^2. As to the legend of the tyrant\n Takalaua, see _id._ _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp.\n 294-302.\n\nThe first, so far as I know, to see and describe these remarkable tombs\nwere the earliest missionaries to Tonga about the end of the eighteenth\ncentury. Speaking of the burial ground at Mooa, where lay interred the\ndivine chiefs whose title was Tooitonga and whose family name was\nFuttaf[=a]ihe or Fatafehi, the missionaries observe that \"the\n_fiatookas_ are remarkable. There lie the Futtaf[=a]ihes for many\ngenerations, some vast and ruinous, which is the case with the largest;\nthe house on the top of it is fallen, and the area and tomb itself\novergrown with wood and weeds.\"[151] Later on they had the advantage of\nbeing conducted over the august cemetery by the Futtaf[=a]ihe or\nTooitonga of the day in person, who gave them some explanations\nconcerning these sepulchres of his ancestors. To quote their\ndescription, they say that the tombs \"lie ranged in a line eastward from\nhis house, among a grove of trees, and are many in number, and of\ndifferent constructions: some, in a square form, were not in the least\nraised above the level of the common ground; a row of large stones\nformed the sides, and at each corner two high stones were placed upright\nat right angles to each other, and in a line with their respective\nsides: others were such as the brethren describe that of Moom[=o]oe to\nbe: and a third sort were built square like the first; the largest of\nwhich was at the base one hundred and fifty-six feet by one hundred and\nforty; it had four steps from the bottom to the top, that run quite\nround the pile: one stone composed the height of each step, a part of it\nbeing sunk in the ground; and some of these stones in the wall of the\nlower are immensely large; one, which I measured, was twenty-four feet\nby twelve, and two feet thick; these Futtaf[=a]ihe informed me were\nbrought in double canoes from the island of Lefooga. They are coral\nstone, and are hewn into a tolerably good shape, both with respect to\nthe straightness of their sides and flatness of their surfaces. They are\nnow so hardened by the weather, that the great difficulty we had in\nbreaking a specimen of one corner made it not easy to conjecture how the\nlabour of hewing them at first had been effected; as, by the marks of\nantiquity which some of them bear, they must have been built long before\nTasman showed the natives an iron tool. Besides the trees which grow on\nthe top and sides of most of them, there are the _etooa_, and a variety\nof other trees about them; and these, together with the thousands of\nbats which hang on their branches, all contribute to the awful solemnity\nof those sepulchral mansions of the ancient chiefs. On our way back\nFuttaf[=a]ihe told us that all the _fiatookas_ we had seen were built by\nhis ancestors, who also lay interred in them; and as there appeared no\nreason to doubt the truth of this, it proves that a supreme power in the\ngovernment of the island must for many generations have been in the\nfamily of the Futtaf[=a]ihes: for though there were many _fiatookas_ in\nthe island, the brethren, who had seen most of them, said they were not\nto be compared to these for magnitude, either in the pile or the stones\nwhich compose them.\"[152]\n\n [151] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean,_ p. 252. As to Futtaf[=a]ihe, the Tooitonga or\n divine chief of their time, the missionaries remark (_l.c._)\n that \"Futtaf[=a]ihe is very superstitious, and himself esteemed\n as an _odooa_ or god.\" Here _odooa_ is the Polynesian word which\n is usually spelled _atua_. Mariner tells us (_Tonga Islands_,\n ii. 76) that the family name of the Tooitonga was Fatafehi,\n which seems to be only another way of spelling Futtaf[=a]ihe,\n the form adopted by the missionaries. Captain Cook similarly\n gives Futtaf[=a]ihe as the family name of the sacred kings or\n Tooitongas, deriving the name \"from the God so called, who is\n probably their tutelary patron, and perhaps their common\n ancestor.\" See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 425.\n\n [152] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283-285. The description is accompanied by\n an engraved plate, which illustrates the three types of tombs\n mentioned in the text. In the foreground is the stepped pyramid,\n a massive and lofty structure, its flat top surmounted by a hut.\n To the right, in the distance, is seen the square walled\n enclosure, with high stones standing upright at the corners of\n the walls, and with a hut enclosed in the middle of the square.\n In the background appears a mound enclosed by a wall and\n surmounted by a hut. Thus a hut figures as an essential part\n in each type of tomb. However, Mariner tells us that \"they\n have several _fytocas_ which have no houses on them\" (_Tonga\n Islands_, i. 392 note *).\n\n Top.\n ____________\n |\n | 3 ft. 9 in.\n |\n 5-1/2 feet. |\n _____________|\n |\n | 3 ft. 9 in.\n |\n 5-1/2 feet. |\n _____________|\n |\n | 3 ft. 9 in.\n |\n 5-1/2 feet. | PROFILE OF THE STEPS.\n _____________|\n |\n | 4 feet.\n |\n |\n |\n |\n\nSome thirty years later the tombs of the Tooitongas were visited and\ndescribed by the French explorer, J. Dumont d'Urville. His description\nis worth quoting. He says: \"I directed my steps to the splendid\n_fai-tokas_ of the Fata-Fais. As these monuments are essentially taboo,\nin the absence of the Tooi-tonga no one looks after their upkeep, and\nthey are now buried on every side among dark masses of trees and almost\nimpenetrable thickets. Hence we had some difficulty in approaching them,\nand it was impossible for us to get a single general view of the whole\nof these structures, which must have a somewhat solemn effect when the\nground is properly cleared.\n\n\"For the most part these mausoleums have the form of great rectangular\nspaces surrounded by enormous blocks of stone, of which some are as much\nas from fifteen to twenty feet long by six or eight broad and two feet\nthick. The most sumptuous of these monuments have four or five rows of\nsteps, making up a total height of eighteen or twenty feet. The interior\nis filled up with shingle and fragments of unhewn coral. One of these\n_fai-tokas_, which I measured, was a hundred and eighty feet long by a\nhundred and twenty broad. At one of the upper angles I observed a block\nof considerable size with a deep cutting in it. I was told that it was\nthe seat of the Tooi-tonga-fafine[153]; it was there that she sat to\npreside at the ceremony of the funeral of the Tooi-tonga.\n\n [153] The Tooi-tonga-fafine (or fefine) was the Tooitonga's\n sister and ranked above him. Her title means \"the lady\n Tooi-tonga.\" \"Her dignity is very great. She is treated as a\n kind of divinity. Her rank is too high to allow of her uniting\n herself in marriage with any mortal: but it is not thought wrong\n or degrading for her to have a family, and in case of the birth\n of a daughter the child becomes the _Tamaha_. This lady rises\n higher than her mother in rank, and is nearer the gods. Every\n one approaches her with gifts and homage. Her grandfather will\n bring his offerings and sit down before her, with all humility,\n like any of the common people. Sick people come to her for cure\"\n (Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 145,\n apparently from the information of Mr. John Thomas). Captain\n Cook learned with surprise that Poulaho, the Tooitonga of his\n time (whom Cook speaks of as the king) acknowledged three women\n as his superiors. \"On our inquiring, who these extraordinary\n personages were, whom they distinguish by the name and title of\n _Tammaha_, we were told that the late king, Poulaho's father,\n had a sister of equal rank, and elder than himself; that she, by\n a man who came from the island of Feejee, had a son and two\n daughters; and that these three persons, as well as their\n mother, rank above Futtafaihe the king. We endeavoured, in vain,\n to trace the reason of this singular pre-eminence of the\n _Tammahas_; for we could learn nothing besides this account of\n their pedigree. The mother and one of the daughters called\n Tooeela-Kaipa, live at Vavaoo. Latoolibooloo, the son, and the\n other daughter, whose name is Moungoula-Kaipa, reside at\n Tongataboo. The latter is the woman who is mentioned to have\n dined with me on the 21st of June. This gave occasion to our\n discovering her superiority over the king, who would not eat in\n her presence, though she made no scruple to do so before him,\n and received from him the customary obeisance, by touching her\n foot.\" See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 430 _sq._\n\n\"Some of these edifices were of an oval form, but they were much\nsmaller. Each of them was surmounted by a small hut, which served as an\noratory or house for the spirit of the dead; most of them have been\ndestroyed by the lapse of time, and only traces of them are left\nscattered on the ground.\n\n\"The enormous blocks of coral employed in the construction of these\nmonuments have all been brought by sea from Hifo to Mooa. They were got\non the shore of the sea at Hifo, were hewn on the spot, and were\ntransported in great canoes; then they were landed at Mooa and drawn on\nrollers to the place of their destination. These monuments are\nastonishing evidence of the patience which they must have demanded on\nthe part of these islanders; they were ocular testimony to me of the\nhigh degree of civilisation which the natives had reached. Man must have\nrisen to ideas of a much higher order than those of a simple savage\nbefore he would take so great pains for the single object of\nconsecrating the memory of his chiefs.\n\n\"Such tombs are no longer built in Tongataboo: people content themselves\nwith simple mounds surrounded by a row of posts or even an ordinary\npalisade. However, Singleton assured me that Finow the Younger had\nerected two great _fai-tokas_ of stone in Vavao, one for the last\nTooitonga, and one for his father.\"[154]\n\n [154] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du\n Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) pp. 106-108. Singleton was an\n Englishman, one of the crew of the _Port-au-Prince_, the ship in\n which Mariner sailed. When Dumont d'Urville visited Tonga,\n Singleton had lived as a native among the natives for\n twenty-three years; he was married and had children, and he\n hoped to end his days in Tongataboo. See J. Dumont d'Urville,\n _op. cit._ iv. 23 _sq._\n\nThe Frenchman, De Sainson, who accompanied Dumont d'Urville on his visit\nto Tongataboo, has also described the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa\nfrom personal observation. I will quote his description: \"It is in the\nheart of the forest that the ancient inhabitants of these countries, who\nidolized their Kings (Tooi-tongas), placed the tombs of that sacred\nrace. These monuments of a more enterprising age still astonish the\nbeholder by their mass and their extent. The _fai-tokas_, as these\nburial-places are called, are artificial eminences, on the top of which,\nin the form of a square, are three or four crosses of great granitic\nblocks arranged as steps, of which each block may be four or five feet\nhigh. If there is only a single step on the top of the mound, it is\nbecause only a single Tooi-tonga sleeps there in the grave; if the bones\nof a whole family are deposited in a common tomb, three or four steps,\none above the other, mark their union in death. Some of these monuments\nwhich contain only a single body are arranged in an oval. I counted more\nthan twelve of these immense structures, and yet we left a great many\naside. I counted more than one stone between eight and fifteen feet\nlong; and I conceived a high idea of those men of ancient days who\nerected over the remains of their kings these imperishable mausoleums,\nin an island based on coral, where it would be difficult to find a stone\nof two feet square. I imagined them to be very different from their\neffeminate descendants, those men of old who went in their canoes more\nthan a hundred and fifty leagues to look for the enormous blocks of\nwhich these tombs are built, who cut them without the help of iron, and\nsucceeded, by means unknown, in planting them on these hillocks, where\nby their own weight they are fixed for ever, like the Druidical\nmonuments of Brittany, which one would say were dropped on earth rather\nby the magic of talismans than by the power of man.\n\n\"The present inhabitants of Tonga contemplate with a pious awe the fruit\nof the labours and patience of their forefathers, without dreaming for a\nmoment of imitating them in their noble enterprises. A distant voyage\naffrights these degenerate scions of a hardy race, and the great canoes\nwhich still survive, sheltered under sheds very skilfully built, are\nlittle more than the useless encumbrance of chiefs grown languid in the\nlong peace which has infected the whole people with habits of indolence.\n\n\"The most recent tombs consist of a small house enclosed on all sides,\nbuilt on a rising ground, and shaded by a circle of mimosas, a tree\nsacred to the dead. Most of the illustrious graves are clustered\ntogether at Mafanga, a large village of which the whole territory is\nsacred on account of the hallowed relics which it contains. Along with\nthe corpse they bury at the depth of a few inches small wooden effigies\nrepresenting persons of both sexes. I had occasion to unearth a few of\nthese little statues, and I remarked in them an astonishing feeling for\nartistic design.\"[155]\n\n [155] \"Extrait du Journal de M. de Sainson,\" in J. Dumont\n d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv.\n (Paris, 1832) pp. 361 _sq._\n\nSome sixteen years later a Catholic missionary, living among the heathen\npopulation of Tongataboo, wrote thus: \"Nothing equals the care which\nthey take in the burial of their dead. As soon as a native has breathed\nhis last, the neighbours are informed, and immediately all the women\ncome to weep about the corpse. Here the men never weep. The body is kept\nthus for a day or two, during which they are busy building a tomb near\nthe dwelling of the deceased's family. The sepulchral house is neat,\nbuilt on an eminence, surrounded by a pretty fence of choice bamboos;\nthe enclosure is planted with all kinds of odoriferous shrubs,\nespecially evergreens. Finally, the monument is covered by a roof\nartistically constructed. For the tombs of kings and the greatest chiefs\nthey go to distant islands to find huge stones to crown the grave. I\nhave seen one twenty-four feet long by eight broad and at least eighteen\ninches thick. One of these tombs was built by the natives of Wallis\nIsland, who brought the enormous blocks in immense canoes. It is\nwonderful for these peoples.\"[156]\n\n [156] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_,\n xvii. (1845) pp. 12 _sq._\n\nCaptain Erskine, who visited Tongataboo in 1849, says that \"near the\nlanding-place at the village of Holobeka, off which we were lying, we\nsaw overshadowed with trees, one of the _faitokas_, or old burial-places\nof the country, which, although no longer 'tabu,' are still in some\ncases used as places of sepulture, and very carefully kept. This one was\nan oblong square platform a few feet high, surrounded by a stone wall,\nthe interior being beautifully paved with coloured corals and gravel;\nthe house or temple, which Captain Cook and others describe as occupying\nthe centre, having been, I suppose, removed. I saw but one other of\nthese monuments during our stay among the islands, the largest of which\nstands on several rows of steps, as described by all former\nvisitors.\"[157]\n\n [157] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of\n the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 130.\n\nThomas West, who lived as a missionary in the Tongan islands from 1846\nto 1855, tells us that \"chiefs were usually interred in tombs,\nconstructed of blocks of sandstone, cut from suitable localities by the\nseashore, where, at a little depth from the surface, layers of hard and\ndurable sandstone are found, even on many of the coralline islands. In\nseveral of the ancient burial-places, similar stones, arranged in\nterraces, surround the whole enclosure. Some of these are of immense\nsize, and seem to indicate the possession, on the part of former\ninhabitants, either of greater energy than the present race, or of\nbetter tools and appliances. The burial-places of the Tonguese are\nalways surrounded by the most imposing foliage of the tropics, and\nplaced in sequestered spots. A mound of earth is raised, of dimensions\nvarying with the necessities of the place; and, whenever a grave is\nopened within the limits of this mound, it is always filled up with\nbeautiful white sand, and never contains more than one body. No particle\nof clay or earthy mould is allowed to touch the remains of the dead. The\nsand is brought in baskets by the chief mourners, who sometimes sail or\njourney many miles to procure it; and each person pours the contents\ninto the grave until it is sufficiently filled up. The top of the grave\nis, afterwards, carefully tended and decorated with black pebbles and\nred coral, arranged in various devices, which have a very pretty effect.\nSmall houses are also placed over the tombs of the chiefs and\ngentry.\"[158]\n\n [158] Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_\n (London, 1865), pp. 268 _sq._\n\nIn more recent years the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa have been\nvisited by Sir Basil Thomson, who has described and discussed them.[159]\nFrom an anonymous pamphlet called _The Wairarapa Wilderness_, written by\nthe passengers of the s.s. _Wairarapa_ and published in 1884, Sir Basil\nThomson quotes a passage containing a description of the tombs, with\nmeasurements which, he tells us, are accurate as far as they go. From it\nI will extract a few particulars. The writers inform us that the tombs\nare built of blocks of coral which vary in length and thickness; some of\nthe largest they found to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long and from\none and a half to two feet thick. The largest measured by them is\ntwenty-two feet long and two feet thick and stands between seven and\neight feet above the ground. This great stone, now split in two, is at\nthe middle of the lowest step of one of the pyramidal tombs. The height\nof the steps varies much in the different pyramids; one step was found\nto be four feet high. The breadth of each step is three feet or more: it\nhas been carefully levelled and covered with coral gravel. The stones\nfit very closely and are very regular at top and bottom throughout the\ntiers. The corners of one pyramid observed by the writers are formed of\nhuge rectangular stones, which seem to have been put in position before\nthey were finally faced. On the upper surface of the largest stone is a\ndeep hollow about the size and shape of a large chestnut mortar. Sir\nBasil Thomson, who has examined this hollow, believes it to be a natural\ncavity which has been artificially smoothed by a workman. He suggests\nthat it may have been lined with leaves and used as a bowl for brewing\nkava at the funeral ceremonies. On one mound the writers of the\npamphlet remarked a large flat stone, some five and a half feet square;\nand in several of the tombs they noticed huge slabs of volcanic stone\nplaced indiscriminately side by side with blocks of coral. The writers\nmeasured the bases of three of the tombs and found them to be about two\nchains (one hundred and thirty-two feet) long by a chain and a half\n(ninety-nine feet) broad; the base of a fourth was even larger.[160]\n\n [159] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp.\n 379 _sq._; _id._ \"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga,\" _Journal\n of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 86-88.\n\n [160] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) pp. 87 _sq._\n\nSurveying these various accounts of the tombs of the Tooitongas or\nsacred chiefs, we may perhaps conclude that, while the type of tomb\nvaried in different cases, the most characteristic, and certainly the\nmost remarkable, type was that of a stepped or terraced pyramid built of\nsuch large blocks of stone as to merit the name of megalithic monuments.\nSo far as I have observed in the accounts given of them, this type of\ntomb was reserved exclusively for the sacred chiefs, the Tooitongas,\nwhom the Tongans regarded as divine and as direct descendants of the\ngods. The civil kings, so far as appears, were not buried in these\nmassive pyramids, but merely in stone vaults sunk in the summits of\ngrassy mounds.\n\nIt is natural, with Sir Basil Thomson,[161] to compare the pyramids of\nthe Tooitongas with the similar structures called _morais_ or _marais_\nwhich are found in Tahiti and the Marquesas islands. Indeed, the very\nname _morai_ was sometimes applied to them by the Tongans themselves,\nthough more usually they called them _fiatookas_, which was simply the\ncommon word for burying-ground.[162] In Tahiti and the Marquesas islands\nthese _marais_ were in like manner truncated pyramids, rising in a\nseries of steps or tiers, built of stones, some of which were large, but\napparently not so large as in the corresponding Tongan edifices; for in\ndescribing one of the largest of the Tahitian _morais_ or _marais_ Cook\nmentions only one stone measuring as much as four feet seven inches in\nlength by two feet four in breadth, though he found several three and a\nhalf feet long by two and a half feet broad. These dimensions can hardly\ncompare with the size of the blocks in the tombs of the Tooitongas, some\nof which, as we have seen, measure fifteen, eighteen, and even\ntwenty-two or twenty-four feet in length by eight or twelve feet in\nheight. These Tahitian and Marquesan pyramids are commonly described as\ntemples, and justly so, because the gods were worshipped there and human\nsacrifices were offered on them.[163] But they were also, like the\nsimilar structures in Tonga, used in certain cases for the burial of the\ndead, or at all events for the preservation of their embalmed bodies.\nCaptain Cook seems even to have regarded the Tahitian _morais_ primarily\nas burying-grounds and only secondarily as places of worship.[164] In\nthe island of Huahine, one of the Society Islands, the sovereign chiefs\nwere buried in a _marai_, where they lay, we are told, in more than\nOriental state.[165] William Ellis, one of our best authorities on the\nreligion of the Tahitians, tells us that \"the family, district, or royal\n_maraes_ were the general depositories of the bones of the departed,\nwhose bodies had been embalmed, and whose skulls were sometimes\npreserved in the dwelling of the survivors. The _marae_ or temple\nbeing sacred, and the bodies being under the guardianship of the gods,\nwere in general considered secure when deposited there. This was not,\nhowever, always the case; and in times of war, the victors sometimes\nnot only despoiled the temples of the vanquished, and bore away their\nidol, but robbed the sacred enclosure of the bones of celebrated\nindividuals.\"[166] Moerenhout, another good authority on the Tahitian\nreligion, informs us that the _marais_ which belonged to individuals\noften served as cemeteries and were only the more respected on that\naccount; but he says that in the public _marais_ almost the only persons\nburied were the human victims offered in sacrifice, and sometimes the\npriests, who were laid face downwards in the grave, for the curious\nreason that otherwise the gaze of the dead men would blight the trees\nand cause the fruit to fall to the ground.[167]\n\n [161] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p.\n 379.\n\n [162] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424. Elsewhere (v. 364)\n he speaks of \"a _morai_ or _fiatooka_\"; and shortly afterwards,\n referring to the same structure, he mentions it as \"this\n _morai_, or what I may as well call temple\" (p. 365). As to the\n equivalence of the words _morai_ and _marai_ (_marae_), see J.\n A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Iles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837),\n i. 466; and as to the significance of the word in its various\n dialectical forms, see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, p. 213, _s.v._ \"malae.\"\n\n [163] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._; J. R.\n Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_\n (London, 1788), pp. 543 _sqq._; Captain James Wilson,\n _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 207\n _sqq._; David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific\n Ocean_ (New York, 1822), ii. 38 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet,\n _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1831), i. 240-248, 265\n _sqq._, 271, 274, 529 _sq._, ii. 13 _sq._, 38 _sq._; W. Ellis,\n _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i.\n 340, 405; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Iles du Grand Ocean_,\n i. 466-470; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt\n am Mayn, 1812), i. 115, 134; H. Melville, _Typee_ (London,\n N.D.), pp. 166-169 (_Everyman's Library_); Matthias G----,\n _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 54 _sq._;\n C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig,\n 1875-1876), i. 49, ii. 180, 183 _sq._; G. Gerland, in Th. Waitz,\n _Anthropologie_, vi (Leipzig, 1872) pp. 376 _sqq._\n\n [164] Capt. James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sq._, \"Their name for\n such burying-grounds, which are also places of worship, is\n _Morai_.\" Compare _id._, i. 217, 219, 220, 224, vi. 37, 41; J.\n Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), p. 151, \"the\n _morais_, which serve the double purpose of places of worship\n and receptacles for the dead.\" Compare J. R. Forster,\n _Observations_, p. 545, \"To ornament the _marais_ and to honour\n by it the gods and the decayed buried there, the inhabitants\n plant several sorts of trees near them.\"\n\n [165] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271.\n\n [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 405. Elsewhere (p.\n 401), speaking of the Tahitian burial customs, Ellis observes\n that \"the skull was carefully kept in the family, while the\n other bones, etc., were buried within the precincts of the\n family temple.\"\n\n [167] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470. As to the Tahitian\n custom of burying the dead in the _marais_, see also C. E.\n Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 183 _sq._,\n according to whom only the bodies of persons of high rank were\n interred in these sanctuaries.\n\nIn the Marquesas islands the _morais_ appear to have been also used\noccasionally or even regularly as burial-places. Langsdorff, one of our\nearliest authorities on these islands, speaks of a _morai_ simply as a\nplace of burial.[168] He tells us that the mummified bodies of the dead\nwere deposited on scaffolds in the _morai_ or family burial-place, and\nthat the people of neighbouring but hostile districts used to try to\nsteal each other's dead from the _morais_, and deemed it a great triumph\nwhen they succeeded in the attempt. To defeat such attempts, when the\ninhabitants of a district expected to be attacked in force by their\nenemies, they were wont to remove their dead from the _morai_ and bury\nthem in the neighbourhood.[169] Again, in their monograph on the\nMarquesas islands, the French writers Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz\nrecognise only the mortuary aspect of the _morais_. They say: \"The\n_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are set up\non a platform of stone, which is the base of all Nukahivan\nconstructions. They are to be found scattered in the whole extent of the\nvalleys; no particular condition seems to be required in the choice of\nthe site. Near the shore of Taiohae is the _morai_ which contains the\nremains of a brother of the _atepeiou Patini_, an uncle of Moana, who\ndied some years ago, as they tell us.\"[170]\n\n [168] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115.\n\n [169] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134.\n\n [170] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou\n Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), p. 253.\n\nThus to some extent, in function as well as in form, these pyramidical\ntemples of Tahiti and the Marquesas islands corresponded to the\nmegalithic monuments of the Tooitongas or sacred chiefs of Tonga; in\nfact, they were mausoleums as well as temples. We are not at liberty to\nassume, with one authority on the Polynesians, that they were mausoleums\nfirst and foremost, and that they only developed into temples at a later\ntime.[171] It is possible, on the contrary, that from the outset they\nwere temples dedicated to the worship of the high gods, and that the\ncustom of depositing the dead in them was a later practice adopted for\nthe sake of the protection which these holy places might be expected to\nafford against the efforts of enemies to carry off and desecrate the\nremains of the departed. Dr. Rivers propounded a theory that the custom\nof building these megalithic monuments in the form of pyramids was\nintroduced into the Pacific by a people who brought with them a secret\nworship of the sun, and he apparently inclined to regard the monuments\nthemselves as at least associated with that worship.[172] The theory can\nhardly apply to the megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas in\nTongataboo; for the evidence which I have adduced seems to render it\ncertain that these monuments were erected primarily as tombs to receive\nthe bodies of the sacred chiefs. It is true that these tombs enjoyed a\nsacred character and were the scene of worship which justly entitles\nthem to rank as temples; but so far as they were temples, they were\ndevoted to the worship, not of the sun, but of the dead.\n\n [171] C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 180.\n\n [172] W. H. R. Rivers, \"Sun-cult and Megaliths in Oceania,\"\n _American Anthropologist_, N.S. xvii. (1915) pp. 431 _sqq._\n\nThus our enquiry into the meaning and origin of these interesting\nmonuments entirely confirms the view of the shrewd and observant Captain\nCook that the _fiatookas_, as the Tongans called them, were both places\nof burial and places of worship.\n\nFinally, the evidence which I have cited appears to render it highly\nprobable that these imposing monuments were built, not by a prehistoric\npeople, predecessors of the Tongans in the islands, but by the Tongans\nthemselves; for not only do the people affirm that the tombs were\nerected by their ancestors, but they have definite traditions of some of\nthe chiefs who built them, and are buried in them; and they still\nprofess to remember some of the islands from which the huge stones were\nbrought to Tongataboo in great double canoes.\n\nThat the graves of the great chiefs were, like temples, regarded by the\npeople with religious reverence appears plainly from a statement of\nMariner. He tells us that a place called Mafanga, in the western part of\nTongataboo, being a piece of land about half a mile square, was\nconsecrated ground. \"In this spot,\" he says, \"are the graves where the\ngreatest chiefs from time immemorial have been buried, and the place is\ntherefore considered sacred; it would be a sacrilege to fight here, and\nnobody can be prevented from landing: if the most inveterate enemies\nmeet upon this ground, they must look upon each other as friends, under\npenalty of the displeasure of the gods, and consequently an untimely\ndeath, or some great misfortune. There are several of these consecrated\nplaces on different islands.\"[173] Thus the reverence paid to the tombs\nof the chiefs was like the reverence paid to the consecrated houses and\nenclosures of the gods; we have already seen what a sacrilege it was\ndeemed to fight or to pursue an enemy within the consecrated enclosure\nof a god,[174] and we now learn that it was equally a sacrilege to fight\nwithin the ground that was hallowed by the graves of the chiefs.\n\n [173] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88.\n\n [174] Above, pp. 74 _sqq._\n\nMariner has described for us the worship paid by the king and his chiefs\nto one of the sacred graves at Mafanga. One morning Finow the king,\naccompanied by several of his chiefs and their ministers (the\n_matabooles_), landed at Mafanga and immediately proceeded to his\nfather's grave to perform a ceremony called _toogi_. Mariner attended\nthe party and witnessed the ceremony. All who went to participate in it\nassumed the attire of mourners or suppliants, that is, they wore mats\ninstead of their usual dress and they had wreaths, made of the leaves of\nthe _ifi_ tree, round their necks. They sat down before the grave, and\nthe king and all of them beat their cheeks with their fists for about\nhalf a minute without speaking a word. One of the principal ministers\n(_matabooles_) then addressed the spirit of the king's father to the\nfollowing effect: \"Behold the man (meaning Finow, the king) who has come\nto Tonga to fight his enemies. Be pleased with him, and grant him thy\nprotection. He comes to battle, hoping he is not doing wrong. He has\nalways held Tooitonga in the highest respect, and has attended to all\nreligious ceremonies with exactness.\" One of the attendants then went to\nthe king and received from him a piece of kava root, which he laid down\non the raised mount before the burial-place (_fytoka_). Several others,\nwho had pieces of kava root in their bosoms, went up to the grave in\nlike manner and deposited them there.[175]\n\n [175] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88 _sq._\n\nThus the king prayed to the spirit of his dead father at his grave and\nmade an offering at the tomb. What more could he do to a god at his\ntemple? And in general we are told that when a great blessing was\ndesired, or a serious evil deprecated, if the people wished to enjoy\nhealth or beget children, to be successful at sea, or victorious in war,\nthey would go to the burial grounds of their great chiefs, clean them\nup thoroughly, sprinkle the floor with sand, and lay down their\nofferings.[176] When Finow the king was dying, his friends carried him\non a bier, not only to the temples of the great gods Tali-y-Toobo and\nTooi-fooa-Bolotoo, where prayers for his recovery were offered; they\nbore him also to the grave of a chieftainess and invoked her spirit in\nlike manner to pity and spare the expiring monarch.[177] Apparently they\nthought that the ghost of the chieftainess was quite as able as the\ngreat gods to heal the sick and restore the dying.\n\n [176] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 127.\n\n [177] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367.\n\nBut on no occasion, perhaps, was the assimilation of dead men to gods\nso conspicuous as at the annual offering of first-fruits, which seems to\nhave been the most impressive of all the yearly rites observed by the\nTongans. The ceremony was observed once a year just before the yams in\ngeneral had arrived at a state of maturity; the yams offered at it were\nof a kind which admitted of being planted sooner than the others, and\nwhich consequently, ripening earlier, were the first-fruits of the yam\nseason. The object of the offering was to ensure the protection of the\ngods, that their favour might be extended to the welfare of the nation\ngenerally, and in particular to the productions of the earth, of which\nin Tonga yams are the most important. At this solemn ceremony the new\nyams, slung on poles, were brought from distant islands, carried in\nprocession to the grave of the late Tooitonga, and deposited in front of\nit, their bearers sitting down beside them. Thereupon one of the\nministers (_matabooles_) of the living Tooitonga arose, advanced, and\nsat down before the grave, a little in front of the men who had brought\nthe yams. Next he addressed the gods generally, and afterwards\nparticularly, mentioning the late Tooitonga and the names of several\nothers. In doing so he returned thanks for their divine bounty in\nfavouring the land with the prospect of a good harvest, and prayed that\ntheir beneficence might be continued in future. In this harvest\nthanksgiving the spirit of the dead Tooitonga seems to have ranked on an\nequality with the original or superhuman gods; indeed, in a sense he\ntook precedence of them, since the offerings were presented at his\ngrave. The first-fruits, we are told, were offered to the gods in the\nperson of the divine chief Tooitonga.[178]\n\n [178] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 196-202, compare p. 78.\n The ceremony was also witnessed, though not understood, by\n Captain Cook (_Voyages_, v. 363 _sqq._) and by the first English\n missionaries (Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the\n Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 264 _sq._).\n\nOn the whole we may conclude that, however sharp a distinction was drawn\nin theory between the old gods, who had always been gods, and the new\ngods, who had once been men, the line which divided them in practice was\nwavering and blurred. The dead men and women were fast rising, if they\nhad not already risen, to an equality with the ancient deities. We may\neven surmise that some of these old gods themselves were human beings,\nwhose original humanity was forgotten.\n\nThe tombs of the kings and sacred chiefs may be described as megalithic\nmonuments in so far as immense stones were often employed in the\nconstruction either of the enclosing walls or of the high steps which\nled up to the summit of the mound where the grave was dug. It is\npossible, and indeed probable, that great stones were similarly employed\nas ornaments or accessories of the consecrated houses or temples of the\nprimary gods, but of such an employment I have met with no express\nnotice among our authorities. So far as their descriptions allow us to\njudge, these megalithic monuments of the Tongans were purely sepulchral\nin character; they were dedicated only to the worship of the dead. But\nthere exists at least one other remarkable megalithic monument in these\nislands of which the original meaning is quite uncertain, and of which\nconsequently we cannot confidently say that it was erected for the sake\nof honouring or propitiating the spirits of the departed. The monument\nin question is situated near the eastern extremity of Tongataboo, at a\ndistance of three or four hundred yards from the beach and facing\ntowards the island of Eua. The land on which it stands was the private\nproperty of the Tooitongas, whose megalithic tombs are situated some\neight or nine miles away to the west. In the intervening country, which\nis perfectly flat and partly covered with forest, partly under\ncultivation, there are said to be no other monuments or ruins. It is\nremarkable that this imposing monument, which naturally impresses the\nobserver by its resemblance to the trilithons or gate-like structures of\nStonehenge, should have apparently escaped the observation of Europeans\ndown to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not mentioned by\nCook and Mariner, nor even by those who, like the first missionaries and\nDumont d'Urville, described in some detail the tombs of the Tooitongas\nnot many miles off. Perhaps the solitariness of the surrounding country\nmay partly account for their ignorance and silence; for there are said\nto be few inhabitants in this part of the island and none at all in the\nimmediate neighbourhood of the monument. It seems to have been first\ndiscovered by Mr. Philip Hervey of Sydney in 1850 or 1851, but his\ndescription of it was not published for some ten years. In August 1852\nit was seen by Dr. Charles Forbes, Surgeon of H.M.S. _Calliope_, and his\ndescription of it was published by the Society of Antiquaries of London\nin the following year. In 1865 it was seen and briefly described by Mr.\nFoljambe of H.M.S. _Curacoa_. Some twenty years later the passengers of\nthe s.s. _Wairarapa_, on a yachting cruise from New Zealand, visited the\nspot and published an account of the structure. Still later Sir Basil\nThomson examined the monument and discussed its history.[179]\n\n [179] See the letter of Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia, or\n Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity_, xxxv. (London,\n 1853) p. 496 (with a woodcut); _Proceedings of the Society of\n Antiquaries of London_ [First Series], iii. 19; _id._ Second\n Series, i. 287; letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by Kenneth R. H.\n Mackenzie, in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of\n London_, Second Series, ii. 75-77; Julius L. Brenchley,\n _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. \"Curacoa\" among the South\n Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), p. 132 (with a woodcut);\n (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_ (Edinburgh\n and London, 1894), pp. 380-382 (with a woodcut on p. 393); _id._\n \"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga,\" _Journal of the\n Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 81-84 (with a\n photograph). Views of the monument, taken apparently from\n photographs, have also been published by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard\n (_Australasia_, vol. ii. London, 1894, p. 501), Dr. George Brown\n (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, London, 1910, plate facing p.\n 410), and by Mr. S. Percy Smith (_Hawaiki_, Third Edition,\n Christchurch, N.Z., 1910, pp. 157 _sq._). Dr. W. H. R. Rivers\n spoke as if there were several trilithons in Tongataboo\n (_History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 430 _sq._; _id._ \"Sun-cult\n and Megaliths in Oceania,\" _American Anthropologist_, N.S.\n xvii., 1915, p. 444); but in this he seems to have been\n mistaken. So far as I can gather, there is only one of these\n remarkable monuments in Tongataboo or indeed in the whole of the\n Pacific.\n\nThe monument in question is a structure of the type known as a\ntrilithon; that is, it is composed of three large stones, of which two\nstand upright, while the third rests horizontally on their tops. All\nthree stones are monoliths of hardened coral, rough and much weathered\non the surface, and precisely similar to the coral of the neighbouring\nreefs. Indeed, about halfway between the monument and the beach the\ncoral rock is exposed in a hollow, from which it seems probable that the\ngreat blocks were hewn and brought to their present situation. The\nstatement of Mr. Brenchley, that the stone of which the monument\nconsists is not to be found elsewhere on the island, is erroneous. The\nuprights are quadrangular monoliths neatly squared. No measurements of\nthe stones appear to be on record, but the two uprights are variously\nestimated to measure from fourteen to sixteen feet in height; their\nbreadth or depth from front to back is variously given as from eight to\nten or even twelve feet; but they seem to taper somewhat upwards, for\nthe estimate which assigns twelve feet for the depth of the uprights at\ntheir base, mentions seven feet or probably more as their breadth at the\ntop. The thickness of the uprights seems to be four feet. The space\nbetween them is variously stated at ten and twelve feet. The\ncross-stone, which rests on the two uprights, is reported to measure\ntwenty-four feet in length, by four or five feet in depth, and two feet\nin thickness. Each of the uprights is estimated by Sir Basil Thomson to\nweigh not less than fifty tons. The tops of both are deeply mortised to\nreceive the cross-stone, the ends of which are sunk into them instead of\nbeing laid flat on the top. The cross-stone lies east and west, so that\nthe opening between the uprights faces north and south. On the upper\nsurface of the cross-stone, and at about the middle of it, is a cup-like\nhollow, very carefully cut, about the size of a coco-nut shell. A large\nbowl of the same material is said to have formerly stood on the\ncross-stone, but the statement is not made by an eyewitness and is\nprobably mistaken.[180]\n\n [180] For the authorities, see the preceding note. The\n measurements, to some extent discrepant, are given by Dr.\n Charles Forbes, Mr. Philip Hervey, and the passengers of s.s.\n _Wairarapa_, as reported by Sir Basil Thomson _Journal of the\n Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. 82 _sq._), who had\n unfortunately mislaid his own notes containing the measurements.\n The statement that the monument was surmounted by a large bowl\n is made by Mr. Brenchley, in whose sketch of the structure the\n bowl figures. But Mr. Brenchley did not himself see the\n monument, and nobody else appears to have seen the bowl. I\n suspect that the report of the bowl may have originated in a\n hasty reading of Mr. Hervey's statement that \"on the centre of\n it [the cross-stone] a small cava bowl is scooped out,\" though\n in Mr. Brenchley's account the bowl has seemingly increased in\n size. Similarly in his report the height of the uprights has\n grown to about thirty feet, which appears to be just double of\n their real size. Perhaps Mr. Brenchley's erroneous allegation as\n to the material of the monument similarly originated in a\n misunderstanding of Mr. Hervey's statement that \"the material is\n the coral rock, or coral rag which are formed of stone brought\n from Wallis's Island.\"\n\nThe name which the natives give to this megalithic monument is\n_Haamonga_ or _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_, which is said to mean \"Maui's\nburden.\" The name is explained by a story that the god or hero Maui\nbrought the massive stones in a gigantic canoe from Uea (Wallis Island),\nwhere the great holes in the rock from which he quarried them may still\nbe seen. From the canoe he bore them on his back to the spot where they\nnow stand.[181] This story can hardly be thought to throw much light on\nthe origin of the monument; for the natives are in the habit of\nreferring the marvels which they do not understand to the action of the\ngod or hero Maui, just as the ancient Greeks fathered many natural\nwonders on the deified hero Hercules.[182] But from Mateialona, Governor\nof Haapai and cousin of the King of Tonga, Sir Basil Thomson obtained a\ntradition of the origin of the stones which is at least free from the\nmiraculous element and connects the monument with Tongan history. The\naccount runs thus: \"Concerning the Haamonga of Maui, they say forsooth\nthat a Tui Tonga (the sacred line of chiefs), named Tui-ta-tui,\nerected it, and that he was so named because it was a time of\nassassination.[183] And they say that he had it built for him to sit\nupon during the Faikava (ceremony of brewing kava), when the people sat\nround him in a circle, and that the king so dreaded assassination that\nhe had this lordly seat built for himself that he might sit out of the\nreach of his people. And this, they say, is the origin of the present\ncustom of the Faikava, it being now forbidden for any one to sit behind\nthe king.\" At such wassails the presiding chief sits at the apex of an\noval. To this tradition Sir Basil Thomson adds: \"Mr. Shirley Baker told\nme that he believed the Haamonga to have been erected as a _fakamanatu_\n(memorial) to the son of some Tui Tonga, a view that finds support in\nthe fondness of Tongan chiefs for originality in the burial ceremonies\nof their near relations--witness Mariner's account of the funeral of\nFinau's daughter--but on the other hand native traditions generally\nhave a kernel of truth, and the legend of Tui-ta-tui and its\nconsequences finds an analogy in our own custom of guarding against an\nassassin's dagger at the drinking of the loving cup.\"[184] The tradition\nreceives some confirmation from the bowl-like hollow on the upper\nsurface of the cross-stone; for the hollow might have served as the\nking's drinking-cup to hold his kava at the customary wassails. Indeed,\nMr. Philip Hervey, the first to examine the monument, describes the\nhollow in question as \"a small cava bowl\";[185] and after giving an\naccount of the monument Mr. Brenchley adds: \"Its history seems to be\nentirely unknown, but it is very natural to suppose from its form that\nit was connected with some ancient kava ceremonies.\"[186]\n\n [181] Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. 496 (who gives\n _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_ as the name of the stones); (Sir) Basil\n Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. 382; _id._, \"Notes\n upon the Antiquities of Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological\n Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 81 (who gives _Haamonga_ as the\n native name of the stones).\n\n [182] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 81. Maui is the great hero of Polynesia, known in\n nearly every group of islands, generally regarded as a demigod\n or deified man, but sometimes and in some places rising to the\n dignity of full godhead. He appears, says Mr. E. Tregear, to\n unite the classical attributes of Hercules and Prometheus. See\n E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 233,\n _s.v._ \"Maui.\"\n\n [183] \"_Tui-ta-tui, lit._ 'King-strike-King.'\"\n\n [184] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 82.\n\n [185] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_,\n Second Series, ii. 77.\n\n [186] Julius L. Brenchley, _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S.\n \"Curacoa\" among the South Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873),\n p. 132.\n\nThe tradition which connects the erection of the monument with the reign\nof a Tooitonga named Tui-ta-tui is further countenanced, if not\nconfirmed, by a list of the Tooitongas, in which the name of Tui-ta-tui\noccurs as the eleventh in descent from the great god Tangaloa.[187] This\nTui-ta-tui is believed to have reigned in the thirteenth or fourteenth\ncentury of our era.[188] From the size and style of the masonry Sir\nBasil Thomson is disposed to assign the monument to a later date. He\npoints out that for the quarrying and mortising of stones that weigh\nsome fifty tons apiece the craft of stone-cutting must have been fully\ndeveloped; and from a comparison of the megalithic tombs of the\nTooitongas which can be approximately dated, he infers that the craft of\nstone-cutting in Tonga reached its culmination at the end of the\nseventeenth century, though it was still practised down to the beginning\nof the nineteenth century; for Mariner tells us that in his time a\nprofessional class of masons was set apart for building the stone\nsepulchral vaults of chiefs.[189] Yet on the whole Sir Basil Thomson\nconcludes that \"when one is left to choose between a definite native\ntradition on the one hand and probability on the other for the\nassignment of a date, I would prefer the tradition. If the Tongans had\ninvented the story as a mere expression for antiquity they would not\nhave pitched upon Tui-ta-tui, about whom nothing else is recorded, in\npreference to Takalaua, Kau-ulu-fonua-fekai, or any of the kings who\nloom large in traditionary history. Whether the Haamonga was built for a\nthrone or for a memorial, doubtless it is connected with the reign of\nTui-ta-tui, who lived in the fourteenth century.\"[190]\n\n [187] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p.\n 395. In this work the author prints a list of the Tooitongas \"as\n given by Mr. E. Tregear on the authority of the Rev. J. E.\n Moulton.\"\n\n [188] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 83; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, p. 158.\n\n [189] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 266. As to the size of\n the stones, Mariner says, \"The stones used for this purpose are\n about a foot in thickness, and are cut of the requisite\n dimensions, out of the stratum found on the beaches of some of\n the islands.\"\n\n [190] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) pp. 83 _sq._\n\nAs an alternative to the view that the hollow on the cross-stone was a\nkava bowl Dr. Rivers suggests that it \"may have been destined to receive\nthe skull and other bones of the dead, so often preserved in\nPolynesia.\"[191] The suggestion accords well with the opinion that the\nmonument is a memorial of the dead, and it might be supported by the\nSamoan practice of severing a dead chief's head from his body and\nburying it separately, to save it from being dug up and desecrated by\nenemies in time of war.[192] However, Dr. Rivers is careful to add that\nsuch a practice is not recorded in Tonga and appears to be incompatible\nwith the mode of sepulture which prevails there.\n\n [191] W. H. R. Rivers, _History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 431.\n\n [192] See below, p. 212.\n\nIn this connexion another megalithic monument of the Tonga islands\ndeserves to be considered, though it appears to have been commonly\noverlooked. It was observed by Captain Cook in the island of Lefooga\n(Lifuka). He says: \"Near the south end of the island, and on the west\nside, we met with an artificial mount. From the size of some trees that\nwere growing upon it, and from other appearances, I guessed that it had\nbeen raised in remote times. I judged it to be about forty feet high;\nand the diameter of its summit measured fifty feet. At the bottom of\nthis mount stood a stone, which must have been hewn out of coral rock.\nIt was four feet broad, two and a half thick, and fourteen high; and we\nwere told by the natives present, that not above half its length\nappeared above ground. They called it _Tangata Arekee_;[193] and said,\nthat it had been set up, and the mount raised, by some of their\nforefathers, in memory of one of their kings; but how long since, they\ncould not tell.\"[194]\n\n [193] \"_Tangata_, in their language, is man; _Arekee_, king.\"\n\n [194] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 298 _sq._ To this\n description of the monument Sir Basil Thomson has called\n attention; he rightly classes it with the tombs of the chiefs.\n See his \"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga,\" _Journal of the\n Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 85.\n\nWhen we remember that Tongan kings were commonly buried in such mounds\nas Captain Cook here describes, and further that these mounds were\ncommonly enclosed or faced with great blocks of hewn stone, we may be\ndisposed to accept as reasonable and probable the explanation which the\nnatives gave of this great monolith, which, if the reported measurements\nof it are correct, must have been no less than twenty-eight feet high.\nIf it was indeed a memorial of a dead king, it might be thought to\nstrengthen the view that the great trilithon was also set up as a\nmonument to a deceased monarch or Tooitonga.\n\nAnother possible explanation of the trilithon is, as Sir Basil Thomson\npoints out, that it served as a gateway to some sacred spot inland. But\nagainst this view he observes that he examined the bush for some\ndistance in the neighbourhood without finding any trace of ruins or\nstones of any kind. He adds that the memory of sacred spots dies very\nhard in Tonga, and that the natives do not believe the trilithon to have\nbeen a gateway.[195]\n\n [195] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) pp. 81 _sq._\n\nIt is natural to compare the trilithon of Tongataboo with the famous\ntrilithons of Stonehenge, which it resembles in plan and to which it is\ncomparable in size. The resemblance struck Dr. Charles Forbes, the first\nto publish a description of the monument based on personal observation.\nHe says: \"The route we pursued led us over a country perfectly level,\nwith the exception of occasional mounds of earth, apparently artificial,\nand reminding one very much of the barrows of Wilts and Dorset, which\nidea is still more strongly impressed upon the mind on coming in sight\nof the monument, which bears a most striking resemblance to the larger\ngateway-looking stones at Stonehenge.\"[196] But at the same time, as Dr.\nForbes did not fail to note, the Tongan trilithon differs in some\nrespects from those of Stonehenge. In the first place the interval (ten\nor twelve feet) between the uprights of the Tongan trilithon appears to\nbe much greater than the interval between the uprights of the trilithons\nat Stonehenge.[197] In the second place, the cross-stone of the Tongan\ntrilithon is mortised much more deeply into the uprights than are the\ncross-stones at Stonehenge. For whereas at Stonehenge these cross-stones\npresent the appearance of being laid flat on the top of the uprights,\nthe cross-stone of the Tongan trilithon is sunk deeply into the uprights\nby means of mortises or grooves about two feet wide which are cut into\nthe uprights, so that the top of the cross-stone is nearly flush with\ntheir tops, while its ends also are nearly flush with their outside\nsurfaces.[198]\n\n [196] Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. p. 496.\n\n [197] I have no measurements of these intervals, but write from\n the impression of a recent visit to Stonehenge.\n\n [198] (Sir) Basil Thomson, \"Notes upon the Antiquities of\n Tonga,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) p. 82, quoting the anonymous pamphlet _The Wairarapa\n Wilderness_.\n\nAs the origin and purpose of Stonehenge are still unknown, its massive\ntrilithons can hardly be cited to explain the similar monument of\nTongataboo. The rival theories which see in Stonehenge a memorial of the\ndead and a temple of the sun[199] are equally applicable or inapplicable\nto the Tongan monument. In favour of the mortuary character of this\nsolitary trilithon it might be urged that the Tongans were long\naccustomed to erect megalithic monuments, though of a different type, at\nthe tombs of their sacred kings, which are situated not many miles away;\nbut against this view it may be argued that there are no traces of\nburial or graves in the immediate neighbourhood, and that native\ntradition, not lightly to be set aside, assigns a different origin to\nthe monument. Against the solar interpretation of the trilithon it may\nbe alleged, first, that the monument faces north and south, not east and\nwest, as it might be expected to do if it were a temple of the sun or a\ngateway leading into such a temple; second, that, while a circle of\ntrilithons, as at Stonehenge, with an opening towards the sunrise may be\nplausibly interpreted as a temple of the sun, such an interpretation\ncannot so readily be applied to a solitary trilithon facing north and\nsouth; and, third, that no trace of sun-worship has been discovered in\nthe Tonga islands. So far as I have observed, the Tongan pantheon is\nnowhere said to have included a sun-god, and the Tongans are nowhere\nreported to have paid any special respect to the sun. Savages in\ngeneral, it may be added, appear to be very little addicted to\nsun-worship; it is for the most part among peoples at a much higher\nlevel of culture, such as the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and\nPeruvians, that solar worship becomes an important, or even the\npredominant, feature of the national faith.[200] Perhaps the impulse to\nit came rather from the meditations of priestly astronomers than from\nthe random fancies of common men. Some depth of thought was needed to\ndetect in the sun the source of all life on earth; the immutable\nregularity of the great luminary's movements failed to rouse the\ninterest or to excite the fear of the savage, to whom the elements of\nthe unusual, the uncertain, and the terrible are the principal\nincentives to wonder and awe, and hence to reflexion. We are all\nnaturally more impressed by extraordinary than by ordinary events; the\nfine edge of the mind is dulled by familiarity in the one case and\nwhetted by curiosity in the other.\n\n [199] Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, Seventh Edition\n (London, 1913), pp. 132 _sqq._; Sir Norman Lockyer, _Stonehenge\n and other British Stone Monuments astronomically considered_\n (London, 1906); C. Schuchhardt, \"Stonehenge,\" _Zeitschrift fuer\n Ethnologie_, xlii. (1910), pp. 963-968; _id._ in _Zeitschrift\n fuer Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 169-171; _id_., in\n _Sitzungsberichte der koenigl. preuss. Akademie der\n Wissenschaften_, 1913, pp. 759 _sqq._ (for the sepulchral\n interpretation); W. Pastor, \"Stonehenge,\" _Zeitschrift fuer\n Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 163-(for the solar\n interpretation).\n\n [200] Adolph Bastian observed that \"sun-worship, which people\n used to go sniffing about to discover everywhere, is found on\n the contrary only in very exceptional regions or on lofty\n table-lands of equatorial latitude.\" See his book, _Die Voelker\n des Oestlichen Asien_, iv. (Jena, 1868) p. 175. Nobody,\n probably, has ever been better qualified than Bastian to\n pronounce an opinion on such a subject; for his knowledge of the\n varieties of human thought and religion, acquired both by\n reading and travel, was immense. It is only to be regretted that\n through haste or negligence he too often gave out the fruits of\n his learning in a form which rendered it difficult to sift and\n almost impossible to digest them. Yet from his storehouse he\n brought forth a treasure, of which we may say what Macaulay said\n of the scholarship of Parr, that it was \"too often buried in the\n earth, too often paraded with injudicious and inelegant\n ostentation, but still precious, massive, and splendid.\"\n\nBearing in mind the numerous other stone monuments scattered widely over\nthe islands of the Pacific, from the Carolines to Easter Island, Dr.\nGuillemard concludes that some race, with a different, if not a higher\ncivilisation preceded the Polynesian race in its present homes, and to\nthis earlier race he would apparently refer the erection of the\ntrilithon in Tongataboo.[201] He may be right. Yet when we consider,\nfirst, the native tradition of the setting up of the trilithon by one of\nthe sacred kings of Tonga; second, the practice of the Tongans of\nbuilding megalithic tombs for these same sacred kings; and, third, the\nformer existence in Tonga of a professional class of masons whose\nbusiness it was to construct stone vaults for the burial of chiefs,[202]\nwe may hesitate to resort to the hypothesis of an unknown people in\norder to explain the origin of a monument which the Tongans, as we know\nthem, appear to have been quite capable of building for themselves.\n\n [201] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 500.\n\n [202] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 266.\n\n\nSec. 11. _Rites of Burial and Mourning_\n\nThe only mode of disposing of the dead which was practised in the Tonga\nislands seems to have been burial in the earth. So far as appears, the\ncorpse was not doubled up, but laid at full length in the grave; at all\nevents I have met with no mention of burying a corpse in a contracted\nposture; and Captain Cook says that \"when a person dies, he is buried,\nafter being wrapped up in mats and cloth, much after our manner.\" He\nadds that, while chiefs had the special burial-places called _fiatookas_\nappropriated to their use, common people were interred in no particular\nspot.[203] So far as I have observed, none of our authorities speak of a\npractice of embalming the dead or of giving the bodies any particular\ndirection in the grave.\n\n [203] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 421.\n\nAfter a death the mourners testified their sorrow by dressing in old\nragged mats and wearing green leaves of the _ifi_ tree round their\nnecks. Thus attired they would repair to the tomb, where, on entering\nthe enclosure, they would pull off the green twigs from their necks and\nthrow them away; then sitting down they would solemnly drink kava.[204]\nFurther, they accompanied their cries and ejaculations of grief and\ndespair by inflicting on their own bodies many grievous wounds and\ninjuries. They burned circles and scars on their bodies, beat their\nteeth with stones, struck shark's teeth into their heads till the blood\nflowed in streams, and thrust spears into the inner part of the thigh,\ninto their sides below the arm-pits, and through the cheeks into the\nmouth.[205] Women in wailing would cut off their fingers, and slit their\nnoses, their ears, and their cheeks.[206] At the funerals of the kings\nespecially the mourners indulged in frantic excesses of self-torture and\nmutilation. Of two such funerals we have the detailed descriptions of\neye-witnesses who resided in the islands at a time when the natives were\nas yet practically unaffected by European influence. King Moom[=o]oe\ndied in April 1797, and the first missionaries to Tonga witnessed and\ndescribed his funeral. They have told how, when the corpse was being\ncarried in procession to a temporary house near the royal burial-ground\n(_fiatooka_), it was preceded by relatives of the deceased in the usual\nmourning garb, who cut their heads with shark's teeth till the blood\nstreamed down their faces. A few days later, when the burial was to take\nplace, the missionaries found about four thousand people assembled at\nthe mound where the body was to be interred. In a few minutes they heard\na great shouting and blowing of conch-shells, and soon after there\nappeared about a hundred men, armed with clubs and spears, who, rushing\ninto the area, began to cut and mangle themselves in a most dreadful\nmanner. Many struck their heads such violent blows with their clubs that\nthe sound could be heard thirty or forty yards off, and they repeated\nthem till the blood ran down in streams. Others, who had spears, thrust\nthem through their thighs, arms, and cheeks, all the while calling on\nthe deceased in a most affecting manner. A native of Fiji, who had been\na servant of the late king, appeared quite frantic; he entered the area\nwith fire in his hand, and having previously oiled his hair, he set it\nablaze, and ran about with it all on flame. When they had satisfied or\nexhausted themselves with this manner of torment, they sat down, beat\ntheir faces with their fists, and then retired. A second party then\ninflicted on themselves the same cruelties. A third party next entered,\nshouting and blowing shells; four of the foremost held stones, which\nthey used to knock out their teeth, while those who blew the shells\nemployed them as knives with which they hacked their heads in a shocking\nmanner. A man who had a spear pierced his arm with it just above the\nelbow, and with it sticking fast in his flesh ran about the area for\nsome time. Another, who seemed to be a principal chief, acted as if\nquite bereft of his senses; he ran to every corner of the area, and at\neach station beat his head with a club till the blood flowed down on his\nshoulders. At this point the missionary, unable to bear the sight of\nthese self-inflicted tortures, quitted the scene. When his colleagues\nvisited the place some hours later in the afternoon, they found the\nnatives of both sexes still at the dreadful work of cutting and mangling\nthemselves. In the course of these proceedings a party of mourners\nentered the area, sixteen of whom had recently cut off their little\nfingers. They were followed by another party with clubs and spears, who\nbattered and wounded themselves in the usual fashion, and also\ndisfigured their faces with coco-nut husks, which they had fastened to\nthe knuckles of both hands. The missionaries noticed that the mourners\nwho were either related to the dead king or had held office under him,\nwere the most cruel to themselves; some of them thrust two, three, and\neven four spears into their arms, and so danced round the area, while\nothers broke off the spear-heads in their flesh.[207]\n\n [204] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 345 _sq._ As to the\n mourning costume of mats and leaves, see also Captain James\n Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p.\n 240; W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 380, 392, 431, ii. 214\n _sq._\n\n [205] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ v. 420.\n\n [206] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_,\n xvii. (1845) p. 13.\n\n [207] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, pp. 242-244.\n\nSimilar scenes were witnessed some years later by Mariner at the death\nand burial of Finow, another king of Tonga; and the Englishman has\ndescribed from personal observation how on this occasion the mourners\ncut and wounded their heads and bodies with clubs, stones, knives, or\nsharp shells. This they did on one or other of the _malais_[208] or\nceremonial grounds in the presence of many spectators, vying apparently\nwith each other in the effort to surpass the rest in this public\nmanifestation of their sorrow for the death of the king and their\nrespect for his memory. As one ran out into the middle of the ground he\nwould cry, \"Finow! I know well your mind; you have departed to Bolotoo,\nand left your people under suspicion that I, or some of those about you,\nwere unfaithful; but where is the proof of infidelity? where is a single\ninstance of disrespect?\" Then, inflicting violent blows and deep cuts on\nhis head with a club, stone, or knife, he would again exclaim at\nintervals, \"Is this not a proof of my fidelity? does this not evince\nloyalty and attachment to the memory of the departed warrior?\" Some more\nviolent than others cut their heads to the skull with such heavy and\nrepeated blows that they reeled and lost their reason for a time.[209]\nThe king's successor, Finow the Second, not content with the usual\ninstruments of torture, employed a saw for the purpose, striking his\nskull with the teeth so violently that he staggered for loss of blood;\nbut this he did, not at the time of the burial and in presence of the\nmultitude, but some weeks later at a more private ceremony of mourning\nbefore the grave.[210] At the public ceremony the late king's fishermen\nvaried the usual breaking of heads and slashing of bodies by a peculiar\nform of self-torment. Instead of clubs they appropriately carried the\npaddles of canoes, with which they battered their heads in the orthodox\nstyle; but besides every man of them had three arrows stuck through each\ncheek in a slanting direction, so that, while the points pierced through\nthe cheeks into the mouth, the other ends went over the shoulder and\nwere kept in position by another arrow, the point of which was tied to\nthe ends of the arrows passing over one shoulder, while the other end\nwas tied to the ends of the other arrows which passed over the other\nshoulder. Thus each fisherman was decorated with a triangle of arrows,\nof which the apex consisted of six arrow-heads in his mouth, while the\nbase dangled on his back. With this remarkable equipment they walked\nround the grave, beating their faces and heads with their paddles, or\npinching up the skin of the breast and sticking a spear right through\nit.[211]\n\n [208] Mariner defines a _malai_ as \"a piece of ground, generally\n before a large house, or chief's grave, where public ceremonies\n are principally held\" (_Tonga Islands_, vol. ii., \"Vocabulary\"\n _s.v._). It is the same word as _malae_ or _marae_, noticed\n above, p. 116, note^3.\n\n [209] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 379-384.\n\n [210] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 440-442.\n\n [211] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 404 _sq._\n\nThe grave of a chief's family was a vault paved with a single large\nstone, while the four walls were formed each of a single block. The\nvault was about eight feet long, six feet broad, and eight feet deep,\nand was covered at the top by one large stone.[212] So heavy was this\ncovering stone that, as we have seen, from a hundred and fifty to two\nhundred men were required to lift and lower it.[213] Mariner estimated\nthat the family vault in which King Finow was interred was large enough\nto hold thirty bodies. When the king's corpse was being deposited in it,\nMariner saw two dry and perfectly preserved bodies lying in the vault,\ntogether with the bones of several others; and he was told by old men\nthat the well-preserved bodies had been buried when they, his\ninformants, were boys, which must have been upwards of forty years\nbefore; whereas the bodies of which nothing but the bones remained had\nbeen buried later. The natives attributed the exceptional preservation\nof the two to the better constitution of their former owners; Mariner,\nor more probably his editor, Dr. Martin, preferred to suppose that the\ndifference was due to the kind or duration of the disease which had\ncarried them off. Apparently the natives did not suggest that the bodies\nhad been embalmed, which they would almost certainly have done if they\nhad known of such a custom.[214] No sooner was the king's body deposited\nin the grave, and the great stone lowered over it, than certain\nministers (_matabooles_) and warriors ran like men frantic round and\nround the burial-ground, exclaiming, \"Alas! how great is our loss!\nFinow! you are departed; witness this proof of our love and loyalty!\" At\nthe same time they cut and bruised their own heads with clubs, knives,\nand axes in the usual fashion.[215] Afterwards the grave was filled up\nwith earth and strewed with sand, which a company of women and men had\nbrought for the purpose in baskets from a place at the back of the\nisland; what remained of the sand was scattered over the sepulchral\nmound (_fytoca_), of which it was deemed a great embellishment. The\ninside of the burial-ground was then spread with mats made of coco-nut\nleaves.[216]\n\n [212] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 144 note *.\n\n [213] See above, p. 105.\n\n [214] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 note *.\n\n [215] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 _sq._\n\n [216] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 389-392.\n\nMeantime the company of mourners had been seated on the green before the\nburial-ground, still wearing their mourning garb of mats, with leaves of\nthe _ifi_ tree strung round their necks. They now arose and went to\ntheir homes, where they shaved their heads and burnt their cheeks with a\nlighted roll of bark-cloth, by applying it once upon each cheek-bone;\nnext they rubbed the place with an astringent berry, which caused it to\nbleed, and afterwards they smeared the blood in a broad circle round the\nwound, giving themselves a very ghastly appearance. They repeated this\nfriction with the berry every day, making the wound bleed afresh; and\nthe men meanwhile neglected to shave and to oil themselves during the\nday, though they indulged in these comforts at night. Having burnt their\ncheeks and shaved their heads, they built for themselves small temporary\nhuts, where they lived during the time of mourning, which lasted twenty\ndays.[217]\n\n [217] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 392 _sq._\n\nThe women who had become tabooed, that is, in a state of ceremonial\npollution, by touching the king's dead body, remained constantly within\nthe burial-ground for the twenty days of mourning, except when they\nretired to one of the temporary huts to eat,[218] or rather to be fed by\nothers. For it was a rule that no ordinary person, man or woman, could\ntouch a dead chief without being tabooed, that is ceremonially polluted,\nfor ten lunar months, during which time he or she might not touch food\nwith their own hands. But for chiefs the period of pollution was\nlimited to three, four, or five months, according to the superiority of\nthe dead chief. Only when the dead body which they had touched was that\nof the sacred chief, the Tooitonga, they were all tabooed for ten\nmonths, however high their rank; for example, the king's wife was\ntabooed for that length of time during the residence of Mariner, because\nshe had touched the dead body of the Tooitonga. During the time that a\nperson was tabooed, he might not feed himself with his own hands, but\nmust be fed by somebody else: he might not even use a toothpick himself,\nbut might guide another person's hand holding the toothpick. If he was\nhungry and had no one to feed him, he must go down on his hands and\nknees, and pick up his victuals with his mouth; and if he infringed any\nof these rules, it was firmly expected that he would swell up and\ndie.[219] Captain Cook observed this custom in operation at Tongataboo.\nOn one of his walks he met with a party of women at supper, and noticed\nthat two of them were being fed by others. On asking the reason, he was\nanswered _taboo mattee_, that is, \"Death taboo.\" It was explained to him\nthat one of the women had washed the dead body of a chief two months\nbefore, and that consequently she might not handle any food for five\nmonths. The other had performed the same office for the corpse of\nanother person of inferior rank, and was now under the same restriction,\nbut not for so long a time.[220] The tabooed women at Finow's grave were\nsupplied with food by the new king, Finow the Second. The food was\nbrought and placed on the ground at some distance from the grave, or\nelse it was deposited before the temporary house to which the chief of\nthe tabooed women retired to be fed. With the provisions was also sent\nevery day a supply of torches to light up the burial-ground by night.\nThe torches were held up by a woman of inferior rank, who, when she was\ntired, was relieved in her office by another. During the twenty days of\nmourning, if any one passed the burial-ground, he had to go at a slow\npace, with his head bowed down, and his hands clasped before him; and\nif he carried a burden, he must lower it from his shoulder and carry it\nin his hands or on his bended arms; but if he could not do so\nconveniently, he had to make a circuit to avoid the grave.\n\n [218] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 393.\n\n [219] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 141 note *.\n\n [220] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 336. The writer does not\n translate the expression _taboo mattee_; but _mate_ is the\n regular Tongan word for \"death\" or \"to die.\" See Mariner, _Tonga\n Islands_, Vocabulary, _s.v._ \"Mate.\" Compare E. Tregear,\n _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 228, _s.v._\n \"Mate.\"\n\nSuch were the regular observances at the death and burial of chiefs;\nthey were not peculiar to the obsequies of Finow the king.[221]\n\n [221] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 394 _sq._\n\nThe twentieth day of mourning concluded the ceremonies in honour of the\ndeceased monarch. Early in the morning all his relations, together with\nthe members of his household, and also the women who were tabooed on\naccount of having touched his dead body in the process of oiling and\npreparing it, went to the back of the island to procure a quantity of\nflat pebbles, principally white, but a few black, which they brought\nback in baskets to the grave. There they strewed the inside of the house\nand the outside of the burial-ground (_fytoca_) with the white pebbles\nas a decoration; the black pebbles they laid only on the top of those\nwhite ones which covered the ground directly over the body, to about the\nlength and breadth of a man, in the form of a very eccentric ellipse.\nAfter that, the house on the burial mound was closed up at both ends\nwith a reed fencing, which reached from the eaves to the ground; while\nat the front and the back the house was closed with a sort of\nbasket-work, made of the young branches of the coco-nut tree, split and\ninterwoven in a very curious and ornamental way. These fences were to\nremain until the next burial, when they would be taken down and, after\nthe conclusion of the ceremony, replaced by new ones of similar pattern.\nA large quantity of food and kava was now sent by the chiefs and the\nking to the public place (_malai_) in front of the burial mound, and\nthese provisions were served out among the people in the usual way. The\ncompany then separated and repaired to their respective houses, to\nprepare for the dances and the grand wrestling-match, which were to\nconclude the funeral rites.[222]\n\n [222] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 401-403.\n\nDuring the intervals of the dances, which followed, several warriors and\nministers (_matabooles_) ran before the grave, cutting and bruising\ntheir heads with axes, clubs, and so forth as proofs of fidelity to\ntheir late chief, the dead and buried King Finow. It was on this\noccasion that the deceased king's fishermen demonstrated their loyalty\nand attachment to his memory by the self-inflicted tortures which I have\nalready described.[223] When these exhibitions of cruelty were over, the\nday's ceremonies, which altogether lasted about six hours, were\nterminated by a grand wrestling-match. That being over, the people\ndispersed to their respective houses or occupations, and the obsequies\nof Finow, king of the Tonga islands, came to an end.[224]\n\n [223] Above, pp. 135 _sq._\n\n [224] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 403-405.\n\nThe wrestling-match which wound up the funeral honours paid to the\ndeparted monarch would seem not to have been an isolated case of\nathletic sports held at this particular funeral. Apparently it was a\ngeneral custom in Tonga to conclude burial-rites with games of this\nkind. At least we may infer as much from an expression made use of by\nthe first missionaries to Tongataboo. They say that the chief of their\ndistrict, after taking to himself a wife in the morning went in the\nafternoon \"to finish the funeral ceremonies for his brother, in\ncelebrating the games usual on that occasion.\"[225] The practice, which\nis apt to seem to us incongruous, of holding games at a funeral, was\nobserved by the Greeks in antiquity and by not a few other peoples in\nmodern times.[226]\n\n [225] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, p. 265.\n\n [226] _The Golden Bough_, Part III., _The Dying God_, pp. 92\n _sqq._\n\nOn the other hand the obsequies of the sacred or divine chief, the\nTooitonga, differed in certain remarkable particulars from the\nposthumous honours generally paid to chiefs. It is true that his\nburial-place was of the same form as that of other chiefs, and that the\nmode of his interment did not differ essentially from theirs, except\nthat it was customary to deposit some of his most valuable property with\nhim in the grave, including his beads, whale's teeth, fine Samoan mats,\nand other articles. Hence the family burying-place of the Tooitongas in\nthe island of Tongataboo, where the whole line of these pontiffs had\nbeen interred, must have become very rich in the course of time; for no\nnative would dare to commit the sacrilege of stealing the treasures at\nthe holy tomb.[227] However, the sacrifice of property to the dead seems\nnot to have been, as Mariner supposed, peculiar to the funeral of the\nTooitonga; for at the burial of King Moom[=o]oe, in May 1797, the first\nmissionaries saw files of women and men bringing bags of valuable\narticles, fine mats, and bales of cloth, which they deposited in the\ntomb expressly as a present for the dead.[228] Again, the mourning\ncostume worn for the Tooitonga was the same as that for any chief,\nconsisting of ragged old mats on the body and leaves of the _ifi_ tree\nround the neck; but in the case of the Tooitonga the time of mourning\nwas extended to four months, the mats being generally left off after\nthree months, while the leaves were still retained for another month;\nand the female mourners remained within the burial-ground (_fytoca,\nfiatooka_) for about two months, instead of twenty days, only retiring\noccasionally to temporary houses in the neighbourhood to eat or for\nother necessary purposes.[229]\n\n [227] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._\n\n [228] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, p. 243.\n\n [229] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 214 _sq._\n\nOne very remarkable peculiarity in the mourning for a Tooitonga was\nthat, though he ranked above the king and all other chiefs, the mourners\nstrictly abstained from manifesting their grief by wounding their heads\nand cutting their bodies in the manner that was customary at the\nfunerals of all other great men. Mariner was never able to learn the\nreason for this abstention.[230]\n\n [230] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213.\n\nOther peculiar features in the obsequies of a Tooitonga were the\nfollowing. In the afternoon of the day of burial, when the body of the\nTooitonga was already within the burial-ground, almost every man, woman,\nand child, all dressed in the usual mourning garb, and all provided with\ntorches, used to sit down about eighty yards from the grave; in the\ncourse of an hour a multitude of several thousands would thus assemble.\nOne of the female mourners would then come forth from the burial-ground\nand call out to the people, saying, \"Arise ye, and approach\"; whereupon\nthe people would get up, and advancing about forty yards would again sit\ndown. Two men behind the grave now began to blow conch-shells, and six\nothers, with large lighted torches, about six feet high, advanced from\nbehind the burial-ground, descended the mound, and walked in single file\nseveral times between the burial-ground and the people, waving their\nflaming torches in the air. After that they began to ascend the mound,\nwhereupon all the people rose up together and made a loud crashing noise\nby snapping their _bolatas_, which were pieces of the stem of a banana\ntree used to receive the ashes falling from lighted torches. Having done\nso, the people followed the torch-bearers in single file up the mound\nand walked in procession round about the tomb (_fytoca_). As they passed\nat the back of the tomb, they all, torch-bearers and people, deposited\ntheir extinguished torches on the ground; while the female mourners\nwithin thanked them for providing these things. Having thus marched\nround, the people returned to their places and sat down. Thereupon the\nmaster of the ceremonies came forward and ordered them to divide\nthemselves into parties according to their districts; which being done\nhe assigned to one party the duty of clearing away the bushes and grass\nfrom one side of the grave, and to another party a similar task in\nregard to another side of the grave, while a third party was charged to\nremove rubbish, and so forth. In this way the whole neighbourhood of the\nburial-ground was soon cleared, and when this was done, all the people\nreturned to the temporary houses which, as mourners, they were bound to\noccupy.[231]\n\n [231] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 215-217.\n\nSoon after darkness had fallen, certain persons stationed at the grave\nbegan again to sound the conches, while others chanted a song, or rather\nrecitative, partly in the Samoan dialect, partly in an unknown language,\nof which the natives could give no account. None of them understood the\nwords, nor could they explain how their forefathers came to learn them.\nAll that they knew was that the words had been handed down from father\nto son among the class of people whose business it was to direct burial\nceremonies. According to Mariner, some of the words were Tongan, and he\nthought that the language was probably an old or corrupt form of Tongan,\nthough he could make no sense out of it. Such traditional repetition of\na litany in an unknown tongue is not uncommon among savages; it occurs,\nfor instance, very frequently among some of the aboriginal tribes of\nAustralia, where the chants or recitatives accompanying certain dances\nor ceremonies are often passed on from one tribe to another, the members\nof which perform the borrowed dance or ceremony and repeat by rote the\nborrowed chants or recitatives without understanding a word of\nthem.[232]\n\n [232] W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the\n North-west-central Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London,\n 1897), pp. 117 _sq._; (Sir) Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen,\n _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1904), pp. 234,\n 235; _id._, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1899),\n p. 281 note; _id._, _Across Australia_ (London, 1912), i. 244.\n\nWhile the conches were sounding and the voices of the singers broke the\nsilence of night, about sixty men assembled before the grave, where they\nawaited further orders. When the chanting was over, and the notes of the\nconches had ceased to sound, one of the women mourners came forward, and\nsitting down outside the graveyard addressed the men thus: \"Men! ye are\ngathered here to perform the duty imposed on you; bear up, and let not\nyour exertions be wanting to accomplish the work.\" With these words she\nretired into the burial-ground. The men now approached the mound in the\ndark, and, in the words of Mariner, or his editor, performed their\ndevotions to Cloacina, after which they withdrew. As soon as it was\ndaylight the next morning, the women of the first rank, wives and\ndaughters of the greatest chiefs, assembled with their female\nattendants, bringing baskets and shells wherewith to clear up the\ndeposit of the preceding night; and in this ceremonious act of humility\nno lady of the highest rank refused to take her part. Some of the\nmourners in the burial-ground generally came out to assist, so that in a\nvery little while the place was made perfectly clean. This deposit was\nrepeated the fourteen following nights, and as punctually cleared away\nby sunrise every morning. No persons but the agents were allowed to be\nwitnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies; at least it would have been\nconsidered highly indecorous and irreligious to pry upon them. On the\nsixteenth day, early in the morning, the same women again assembled, but\nnow they were dressed in the finest bark-cloth and beautiful Samoan\nmats, decorated with ribbons and with wreaths of flowers round their\nnecks; they also brought new baskets, ornamented with flowers, and\nlittle brooms very tastefully made. Thus equipped, they approached and\nacted as if they had the same task to perform as before, pretending to\nclear up the dirt, and to take it away in their baskets, though there\nwas no dirt to remove. Then they returned to the capital and resumed\ntheir mourning dress of mats and leaves. Such were the rites performed\nduring the fifteen days; every day the ceremony of the burning torches\nwas also repeated.[233]\n\n [233] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 217-219.\n\nFor one month from the day of burial, greater or less quantities of\nprovisions were brought every day and shared out to the people. On the\nfirst day the quantity supplied was prodigious; but day by day the\nsupply gradually diminished till on the last day it was reduced to very\nlittle.[234] Nevertheless the consumption or waste of food on such\noccasions was so great that to guard against a future dearth of\nprovisions it was deemed necessary to lay a prohibition or taboo on the\neating of hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts for a period of eight or ten\nmonths, though two or three plantations were exempted from this rigorous\nembargo, to the end that in the meantime hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts\nmight be furnished for occasional religious rites, and that the higher\norder of chiefs might be able to partake of these victuals. At the end\nof the eight or ten months' fast the taboo was removed and permission to\neat of the forbidden foods was granted by the king at a solemn ceremony.\nImmense quantities of yams having been collected and piled up in\ncolumns, and some three or four hundred hogs having been killed, the\npeople assembled from all quarters at the king's _malai_ or public\nplace. Of the slaughtered hogs about twenty were deposited, along with a\nlarge quantity of yams, at the grave of the deceased Tooitonga. The rest\nof the provisions were shared out in definite proportions among the\ngods, the king, the divine chief (the living Tooitonga), the inferior\nchiefs, and the people, so that every man in the island of Tongataboo\ngot at least a mouthful of pork and yam. The ceremony concluded with\ndancing, wrestling, and other sports, after which every person retired\nto his home with his portion of food to share it with his family. The\nhogs and yams deposited at the dead Tooitonga's grave were left lying\ntill the pork stank and the yams were rotten, whereupon the living\nTooitonga ordered that they should be distributed to all who chose to\napply for a portion. In strict law they belonged to the principal\nchiefs, but as these persons were accustomed to feed on meat in a rather\nless advanced stage of decomposition they kindly waived their claims to\nthe putrid pork and rotten yams in favour of the lower orders, who were\nless nice in their eating.[235]\n\n [234] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220.\n\n [235] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 112 _sq._, 120-126, ii.\n 220.\n\nIt was customary that the chief widow of the Tooitonga should be\nstrangled and interred with his dead body.[236] But the practice of\nstrangling a wife at her husband's funeral was not limited to the widows\nof the Tooitongas. A similar sacrifice seems to have been formerly\noffered at the obsequies of a king; for at the funeral of King Moomoeoe\nthe first missionaries to Tonga saw two of the king's widows being led\naway to be strangled.[237]\n\n [236] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 135, 209 _sq._, 214.\n\n [237] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, p. 240.\n\nThe funeral and mourning customs which we have passed in review serve to\nillustrate the Tongan conceptions of the soul and of its survival after\ndeath. The strangling of widows was probably intended here as elsewhere\nto despatch their spirits to attend their dead husbands in the spirit\nland;[238] and the deposition of valuable property in the grave can\nhardly have had, at least in origin, any other object than to ensure the\ncomfort of the departed in the other world, and incidentally, perhaps,\nto remove from him any temptation to return to his sorrowing friends in\nthis world for the purpose of recovering the missing articles. The\nself-inflicted wounds and bruises of the mourners were clearly intended\nto impress the ghost with the sincerity of their regret at his departure\nfrom this sublunary scene; if any doubt could linger in our minds as to\nthe intention of these extravagant proceedings, it would be set at rest\nby the words with which, as we have seen, the mourners accompanied\nthem, calling on the dead man to witness their voluntary tortures and to\njudge for himself of the genuineness of their sorrow. In this connexion\nit is to be borne in mind that all dead noblemen, in the opinion of the\nTongans, were at once promoted to the rank of deities; so that it was in\ntheir power to visit any disrespect to their memory and any defalcation\nof their dues with the double terror of ghosts and of gods. No wonder\nthat the Tongans sought to keep on good terms with such mighty beings by\nsimulating, when they did not feel, a sense of the irreparable loss\nwhich the world had sustained by their dissolution.\n\n [238] This was the reason assigned for the strangling of widows\n at their husband's funeral in Fiji. See John Williams,\n _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_,\n pp. 478 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 12. _The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion_\n\nSurveyed as a whole, the Tongan religion presents a singular instance of\na creed which restricted the hope of immortality to the nobly born and\ndenied it to commoners. According to the doctrine which it inculcated,\nthe aristocratic pre-eminence accorded to chiefs in this world was more\nthan maintained by them in the next, where they enjoyed a monopoly of\nimmortality. And not content with sojourning in the blissful regions of\nBolotoo, their departed spirits often returned to earth to warn, to\ndirect, to threaten their people, either in dreams and visions of the\nnight, or by the mouth of the priests whom they inspired. Such beliefs\ninvolved in theory and to some extent in practice a subjection of the\nliving to the dead, of the seen and temporal to the unseen and eternal.\nIn favour of the creed it may at least be alleged that, while it looked\nto spiritual powers, whether ghosts or gods, for the reward of virtue\nand the punishment of vice, it did not appeal to another life to redress\nthe balance of justice which had been disturbed in this one. The Tongan\nreligion inculcated a belief that the good and the bad alike receive a\nrecompense here on earth, thus implicitly repudiating the unworthy\nnotion that men can only be lured or driven into the narrow way of\nrighteousness by the hope of heaven or the fear of hell. So far the\ncreed based morality on surer foundations than any faith which would\nrest the ultimate sanctions of conduct on the slippery ground of\nposthumous rewards and punishments. In this respect, if in no other, we\nmay compare the Tongan religion to that of the Hebrew prophets. It has\nbeen rightly observed by Renan that whereas European races in general\nhave found in the assurance of a life to come ample compensation for the\niniquities of this present life, the Hebrew prophets never appeal to\nrewards and punishments reserved for a future state of existence. They\nwere not content with the conception of a lame and laggard justice that\nlimps far behind the sinner in this world and only overtakes him in the\nnext. According to them, God's justice is swift and sure here on earth;\nan unjust world was in their eyes a simple monstrosity.[239] So too,\napparently, thought the Tongans, and some Europeans may be inclined to\nagree with them.\n\n [239] E. Renan, _Histoire du peuple d'Israel_, ii. 505.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Samoan Islands_\n\nAbout three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles nearly due north of\nTonga lies Samoa, a group of islands situated between 13 deg. 30' and 14 deg.\n30' South latitude and between 168 deg. and 173 deg. West longitude. The native\nname of the group is Samoa, which has this singularity, that it is\napparently the only name that designates a group of islands in the\nPacific; native names for all the other groups are wanting, though each\nparticular island has its own individual name. Samoa is also known to\nEuropeans as the Navigators' Islands, a name bestowed on them by the\nFrench explorer De Bougainville, who visited the group in 1768. The\nthree most easterly islands were discovered in 1722 by Jacob Roggewein,\na Dutch navigator, but he appears not to have sighted the principal\nislands of the group, which lie a good deal farther to the westward.\nThere is no record of any visit paid by a European vessel to the islands\nin the interval between the visits of Roggewein and De Bougainville. The\nwhole archipelago was not explored till 1787, when the French navigator\nLa Perouse determined the position of all the islands.[1]\n\n [1] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), ii. 117; J.\n B. Stair, _Old Samoa_ (London, 1897), pp. 21 _sq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p. 500; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 1, 360.\n\nThe islands are disposed in a line running from west to east. The most\nwesterly, Savaii, is also the largest, measuring about forty miles in\nlength. Next follow two small, but important islands, Apolima and\nManona. Then about three miles to the east of Manona comes Upolu, the\nsecond of the islands in size, but the first in importance, whether we\nregard population, harbours, or the extent of soil available for\ncultivation. The channel which divides Upolu from Savaii is from fifteen\nto twenty miles broad. About forty miles to the east, or rather\nsouth-east, of Upolu lies the island of Tutuila, with the fine and\nalmost landlocked harbour of Pangopango. It was in this island that the\nFrench navigator La Perouse lost his second in command and twelve men in\na fierce encounter with the natives. The place where the fight took\nplace is now known as Massacre Cove.[2] Some fifty miles to the east of\nTutuila is situated a group of three small islands, Tau, Ofu, and\nOlosenga, which are collectively known as Manua.\n\n [2] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 27 _sq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 500, 504.\n\nThe islands are of volcanic formation and for the most part surrounded\nby coral reefs, but the intervening seas are quite free from danger, and\nthe possession of good harbours renders Samoa politically important.\nViewed from the sea the islands are mountainous and for the most part\nwooded to the water's edge, except where a stretch of fertile plain is\ninterposed between the foot of the mountains and the sea. The whole\ngroup presents to the voyager a succession of enchanting views as he\nsails along the coast. The eye is delighted by the prospect of lofty and\nrugged mountains, their tops sometimes lost in clouds, their slopes\nmantled in the verdure of evergreen forests, varied here and there by\nrich valleys, by grey and lofty cliffs, or by foaming waterfalls\ntumbling from heights of hundreds of feet and showing like silvery\nthreads against the sombre green of the woods. Along the shore rocks of\nblack lava alternate with white sands dazzling in the sunlight and\nfringed by groves of coco-nut palms, their feathery tops waving and\ndancing in the breeze, while the brilliant cobalt blue of the calm\nlagoon contrasts with the olive-green of the deep sea, which breaks in a\nlong line of seething foam on the barrier reef. The scenery as a whole\ncombines romantic grandeur with wild and rank luxuriance, thus winning\nfor Samoa the reputation of being among the loveliest of the islands\nwhich stud like gems the bosom of the Pacific.[3]\n\n [3] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the\n Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 110; T. H.\n Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western\n Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 40; J. L. Brenchley, _Jottings\n during the Cruise of H.M.S. \"Curacoa\" among the South Sea\n Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), pp. 37-39, 61 _sq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; John B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, pp. 26 _sqq._\n\nThe island of Upolu in particular is wooded from its summit to the\nwater's edge, where in some places the roots of the trees are washed by\nthe surf, while in many places clumps of mangrove trees spread out into\nthe lagoon. The forests are dense and more sombre even than those of\nBrazil. The lofty trees shoot up to a great height before sending out\nbranches. At their feet grow ferns of many sorts, while climbing vines\nand other creepers mantle their trunks and sometimes even their tops.\nBut the gloom of the tropical forest is seldom or never relieved by\nflowers of brilliant tints; the few flowers that bloom in them are of a\nwhite or greyish hue, as if bleached for want of the sunbeams, which are\nshut out by the thick umbrageous foliage overhead.[4]\n\n [4] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._, 52 _sq._\n\nVery different from the aspect presented by this luxuriant vegetation is\na great part of the interior of Savaii, the largest island of the group.\nHere the desolate and forbidding character of the landscape constantly\nreminds the traveller of the dreadful forces which slumber beneath his\nfeet. Extinct volcanoes tower above him to heights of four and five\nthousand feet, their steep and almost perpendicular sides formed of\nvolcanic ashes and denuded of vegetation. For miles around these gloomy\npeaks the ground presents nothing to the eye but black rocks, scoriae,\nand ashes; the forlorn wayfarer seems to be traversing a furnace barely\nextinguished, so visible are the traces of fire on the sharp-pointed\nstones among which he picks his painful way, and which in their twisted\nand tormented forms seem still to preserve something of the movement of\nthe once boiling flood of molten lava. The whole country is a barren\nand waterless wilderness, a solitude destitute alike of animal and of\nvegetable life, alternately parched by the fierce rays of the tropical\nsun and deluged by hurricanes of torrential rain. Even the natives\ncannot traverse these dreary deserts; a European who strayed into them\nwas found, after five or six days, prostrate and almost dead on the\nground.[5]\n\n [5] Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel\n de Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 71 _sq._;\n F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; J. B. Stair,\n Old Samoa, p. 34; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 1\n _sqq._\n\nIn Samoa, as in Tonga, volcanic activity has ominously increased within\nless than a hundred years. Near the island of Olosenga, in 1866 or 1867,\na submarine volcano suddenly burst out in eruption, vomiting forth rocks\nand mud to a height, as it was estimated, of two thousand feet, killing\nthe fish and discolouring the sea for miles round.[6] Still later,\ntowards the end of 1905, another volcano broke out in the bottom of a\ndeep valley in the island of Savaii, and rose till it attained a height\nof about four thousand feet. Down at least to the year 1910 this immense\nvolcano was still in full action, and had covered many miles of country\nunder a bed of lava some ten or twelve feet thick, while with the same\nriver of molten matter it completely filled up the neighbouring lagoon\nand replaced the level shore by an iron-bound coast of volcanic\ncliffs.[7]\n\n [6] F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ ii. 504; J. B.\n Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 43.\n\n [7] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 3.\n\nA remarkable instance of these volcanic cliffs is furnished by the\nlittle island of Apolima between Savaii and Upolu. The islet, which is\nin fact the crater of an extinct volcano, is only about a mile long by\nhalf to three-quarters of a mile in width. On every side but one it\npresents to the sea a precipitous wall of basaltic rock some thousand\nfeet high, while the interior is scooped out in the likeness of a great\ncauldron. Only at one place is there a break in the cliffs where a\nlanding can be effected, and there the operation is difficult and\ndangerous even in fine weather. In bad weather the island is completely\nisolated. Thus it forms a strong natural fortress, which under the\nconditions of native warfare was almost impregnable.[8]\n\n [8] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 33 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 171.\n\nAs might be expected from their volcanic formation, the islands are\nsubject to frequent and sometimes severe shocks of earthquake. The\nveteran missionary, J. B. Stair, has recorded that the shocks increased\nin number and violence during the last years of his residence in Samoa.\nThe last of them was preceded by loud subterranean noises, which lasted\nfor hours, to the great alarm of the natives. At the north-west of Upolu\nalso, Mr. Stair used often to hear a muffled sound, like the rumble of\ndistant thunder, proceeding apparently from the sea under the reef. This\ncurious noise always occurred on hot, sultry days, and seemed to strike\na note of warning, which filled natives and Europeans alike with a sense\nof awe and insecurity.[9] Thus if, beheld from some points of view, the\nSamoan islands appear an earthly paradise, from others they present the\naspect, and emit the sounds, of an inferno.\n\n [9] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in\n the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 145; J. B. Stair,\n _op. cit._ pp. 41 _sq._\n\nAnd with all their natural beauty and charm the islands cannot be said\nto enjoy a healthy climate. There is much bad weather, particularly\nduring the winter months, when long and heavy rains, attended at times\nwith high winds and gales, are frequent. The air is more moist than in\nTahiti, and the vegetation in consequence is more rank and luxuriant.\nDecaying rapidly under the ardent rays of a tropical sun, it exhales a\npoisonous miasma. But the heat, oppressive and exhausting at times, is\nnevertheless tempered by the sea and land breezes, which blow daily,\nalternating with intervals of calm between them. Besides these daily\nbreezes the trade wind blows regularly from the east during the fine\nseason, when the sky is constantly blue and cloudless. Yet with all\nthese alleviations the climate is enervating, and a long residence in it\nis debilitating to the European frame.[10] Nor are the natives exempt\nfrom the noxious effects of an atmosphere saturated with moisture and\nimpregnated with the fumes of vegetable decay. The open nature of their\ndwellings, which were without walls, exposed them to the heavy night\ndews and rendered them susceptible to diseases of the chest and lungs,\nfrom which they suffered greatly; consumption in its many forms, coughs,\ncolds, inflammation of the chest and lungs, fevers, rheumatism,\npleurisy, diarrh[oe]a, lumbago, diseases of the spine, scrofula, and\nmany other ailments are enumerated among the disorders which afflicted\nthem. But the prevailing disease is elephantiasis, a dreadful malady\nwhich attacks Europeans and natives alike. There are many cases of\nepilepsy, and though idiots are rare, lunatics are less infrequent.\nHunchbacks are very common in both sexes, and virulent ophthalmia is\nprevalent; many persons lose the sight of one eye, and some are totally\nblinded; not less than a fifth part of the population is estimated to\nsuffer from this malady.[11] Curiously enough, hunchbacks, who are said\nto be very numerous on account of scrofula, used to be looked on as\nspecial favourites of the spirits, and many of them, on growing to\nmanhood, were accordingly admitted to the priesthood.[12]\n\n [10] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 118; Violette, \"Notes d'un\n Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions\n Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72 (who, however, affirms that the\n climate is not unhealthy); T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in\n H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 144\n _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 16, 35 _sqq._\n\n [11] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 124 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_,\n pp. 165 _sq._, 169 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 180 _sqq._\n\n [12] S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of\n the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,\n held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 622.\n\nDuring the stormy season, which lasts from December to April, hurricanes\nsometimes occur, and are greatly dreaded by the natives on account of\nthe havoc which they spread both among the crops and the houses. A\nsteady rain, the absence of the sun, a deathlike stillness of the birds\nand domestic animals, and above all the dark and lowering aspect of the\nsky, are the premonitory symptoms of the coming calamity and inspire\ngeneral consternation, while the thunderous roar of the torrents and\nwaterfalls in the mountains strike on the ear with redoubled\ndistinctness in the prevailing silence which preludes the storm. Warned\nby these ominous signs, the natives rush to secure their property from\nbeing swept away by the fury of the blast. Some hurry their canoes\ninland to places of comparative safety; others pile trunks of\nbanana-trees on the roofs of their houses or fasten down the roofs by\nhanging heavy stones over them; while yet others bring rough poles,\nhastily cut in the forest, and set them up inside the houses as props\nagainst the rafters, to prevent the roof from falling in. Sometimes\nthese efforts are successful, sometimes futile, the hurricane sweeping\neverything before it in its mad career, while the terrified natives\nbehold the fruits of months of toil, sometimes the growth of years, laid\nwaste in an hour. On such occasions the shores have been seen flooded by\nthe invading ocean, houses carried clean away, and a forest turned\nsuddenly into a bare and treeless plain. Men have been forced to fling\nthemselves flat on the ground and to dig their hands into the earth to\nsave themselves from being whirled away and precipitated into the sea or\na torrent. In April 1850 the town of Apia, the capital of the islands,\nwas almost destroyed by one of these cyclones. When the rage of the\ntornado is spent and calm has returned, the shores of a harbour are apt\nto present a melancholy scene of ruin and desolation, their shores\nstrewn with the wrecks of gallant ships which lately rode there at\nanchor, their pennons streaming to the wind. So it happened in the\nharbour of Apia on March 16th, 1889. Before the tempest burst, there\nwere many ships of various nations anchored in the bay, among them five\nor six American and German warships. When it was over, all were wrecked\nand their shattered fragments littered the reefs. One vessel alone, the\nBritish man-of-war, _Calliope_, was saved by the courage and skill of\nthe captain, who, seconded by the splendid seamanship of the crew,\nforced his ship, in the very teeth of the hurricane, out into the open\nsea, where he safely weathered the storm.[13]\n\n [13] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 72; Violette, \"Notes d'un\n Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions\n Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72; F. H. H. Guillemard,\n _Australasia_, ii. 504; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 38-41.\n\nA special interest attaches to Samoa in so far as it is now commonly\nbelieved to be the original seat of the Polynesian race in the Pacific,\nfrom which their ancestors gradually dispersed to the other islands of\nthat vast ocean, where their descendants are settled to this day.\nPolynesian traditions point to such a dispersal from Samoa as a centre,\nand they are confirmed by the name which the various branches of the\nrace give to their old ancestral home. The original form of that name\nappears to have been Savaiki, which through dialectical variations has\nbeen altered to Hawaiki in New Zealand, to Hawaii in the Sandwich\nIslands, to Havaii in Tahiti, to Havaiki in the Marquesas, and to Avaiki\nin Rarotonga. In the Samoan dialect, which of all the Polynesian\ndialects alone retains the letter S, the word presumably appears as\nSavaii, the name of the largest island of the group, which accordingly\nmay be regarded, with some probability, as the cradle-land of the\nPolynesians in the Pacific; though native traditions indicate rather\nUpolu or Manua as the place from which the canoes started on their long\nand adventurous voyages. On the other hand in favour of Savaii it has\nbeen pointed out that the island holds a decided superiority over the\nother islands of the group in respect of canoe-building; for it\npossesses extensive forests of hard and durable timber, which is much\nsought after for the keels and other parts of vessels; indeed, the large\nsea-going canoes were generally, if not always, built on Savaii, and\nmaritime expeditions appear sometimes to have started from its\nshores.[14] In proof that the Samoans have long been settled in the\nislands which they now occupy, it may be alleged that they appear to\nhave no tradition of any other home from which their ancestors migrated\nto their present abode. With the single exception of a large village\ncalled Matautu in Savaii, the inhabitants of which claim that they came\noriginally from Fiji, all the Samoans consider themselves\nindigenous.[15] The Samoans and Tongans, says Mr. S. Percy Smith,\n\"formed part of the first migration into the Pacific, and they have\nbeen there so long that they have forgotten their early history. All the\nnumerous legends as to their origin seem to express their own belief in\ntheir being autochthones, created in the Samoan Islands.\"[16]\n\n [14] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the\n United States Exploring Expedition_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp.\n 119 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the\n Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 102 _sq._; J. B. Stair,\n _Old Samoa_, pp. 271 _sqq._ (compare _id._ p. 34 as to the\n timber and canoe-building of Savaii); G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 358, 371 _sq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings\n of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and\n Present_ (Cambridge, 1920), p. 552. That the Samoan language,\n alone of the Polynesian dialects, retains the S sound, is\n affirmed by Ch. Wilkes (_Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 123). In some of the islands the name\n of the ancient fatherland of the race (Hawaiki, etc.) has been\n applied or transferred to the spirit-land to which the souls of\n the dead are supposed to pass as their final abode. See S. Percy\n Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 46 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian\n Comparative Dictionary_, pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ \"Hawaiki.\"\n\n [15] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 360\n _sq._ As to the Fijian colony in Savaii, compare T. H. Hood,\n _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western Pacific_\n (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 117 _sq._\n\n [16] S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 114 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Samoan Islanders, their character_\n\nIn spite of the many diseases prevalent among them, the Samoans are\ncommonly reckoned among the finest, as well as the purest, specimens of\nthe Polynesian race. Like the Tongans, whom they closely resemble, they\nare generally tall and shapely, with full rounded faces and limbs, but\nwithout that grossness and laxity of fibre common in the Tahitians. The\naverage height of the men is said to be five feet ten inches, but some\nof them are over six feet with the thews and sinews of a Hercules. Their\nfeatures, though not always regular, are commonly pleasing; and in\nparticular the forehead is remarkable for its ample development, which,\nwith the breadth between the eyes, gives to the countenance an\nexpression of nobleness and dignity. Some of the young men especially\nare models of manly beauty; we read of one who, having decked his hair\nwith the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an\nAntinous. The women are comely enough, but strikingly inferior to the\nmen in point of personal beauty. The prevailing colour is a light copper\nor olive brown, but the shade varies a good deal, deepening somewhat in\nfishermen and others who are much exposed to the sun; but it never\napproaches the dark chocolate tint, or Vandyke brown, of the\nMelanesians. Their hair is usually black and wavy, sometimes curly; but\nhardly a vestige is to be seen among them of the crisped and woolly hair\nand dusky complexion of the Melanesians, their neighbours on the\nwest.[17]\n\n [17] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the\n United States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 10 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes,\n _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 125\n _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of\n the Western Pacific_, pp. 41, 51; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln\n des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, 1875-1876), ii. 110 _sq._; G.\n Turner, _Samoa_, p. 3; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 58; G.\n Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 55 _sq._\n\nThe prepossessing appearance of the Samoans on the whole does not belie\ntheir character. They are reputed to be the most refined and civilised\nof all the native races of the Pacific, and this superiority is said to\nmanifest itself in their social and domestic life.[18] The Samoans, we\nare told, are a nation of gentlemen and contrast most favourably with\nthe generality of the Europeans who come among them.[19] They are said\nto carry their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than\nthe most fastidious of civilised nations;[20] and the Samoan women\nappear to be honourably distinguished by their modest behaviour and\nfidelity in marriage, qualities which contrast with the profligacy of\ntheir sex in other branches of the Polynesian race.[21] Equally\nhonourable to the men are the respect and kindness which, according to\nthe testimony of observers, they pay to their women, whom they are said\nto regard as their equals.[22] The aged were treated with respect and\nnever abandoned; and strangers were always received in the best house\nand provided with food specially prepared for them.[23] Infanticide,\nwhich was carried to an appalling and almost incredible extent among\nsome of the Polynesians,[24] was unknown in Samoa; abortion, indeed, was\nnot uncommon, but once born children were affectionately cared for and\nnever killed or exposed.[25] Wives and slaves were never put to death at\na chief's burial, that their souls might attend their dead lord to the\nspirit land[26], as was the practice in some of the other islands, even\nin Tonga. Again, human sacrifices were not offered by the Samoans to the\ngods within the time during which the islands have been under the\nobservation of Europeans; but in some of the more remote traditions\nmention is made of such sacrifices offered to the sun. Thus it is said\nthat in the mythical island of Papatea, somewhere away in the east, the\nsun used to call for two victims every day, one at his rising and\nanother at his setting. This lasted for eighty days. At such a rate of\nconsumption the population of the island was rapidly wasting away. To\nescape the threatened doom, a brother and sister, named Luama and Ui,\nfled from Papatea to Manua, the most easterly of the Samoan islands, but\nthey found to their consternation that there too, the sun was demanding\nhis daily victims. Every house had to supply a victim in succession,\nand, when all had yielded the tribute, it came to the first house in\nturn to renew the sacrifice. The victim was laid out on a pandanus tree,\nand there the sun devoured him or her. When the lot fell on Luama, his\nheroic sister Ui insisted on taking his place, and lying down, she\ncried, \"O cruel sun! come and eat your victim, we are all being devoured\nby you.\" But the amorous sun fell in love with her and took her to wife,\nat the same time putting an end to the human sacrifices. Another story\naffirms that the heroine was a daughter of the King of Manua, and that\nhe yielded her up as an offering to the sun in order to end the\nsacrifices by making her the saviour of the people.[27]\n\n [18] S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of\n the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,\n held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 634.\n\n [19] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in\n the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 59 _sq._\n\n [20] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 110\n\n [21] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 125; J. E. Erskine,\n _op. cit._ p. 110\n\n [22] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 148; Violette, \" Notes\n d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions\n Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 156; J. L. Brenchley, _op. cit._ p.\n 77; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 628 _sq._; G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp.\n 43, 410.\n\n [23] G. Brown, _op. cit._ p. 410.\n\n [24] For some evidence of the practice see John\n Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp. 363\n _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich\n Islands_ (London, 1828), pp. 251 _sqq._; P. Dillon, _Voyage in\n the South Seas_ (London, 1829), ii. 134; William Ellis,\n _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i.\n 248 _sqq._; J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in\n the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 479-486. According to\n Stewart, in those parts of Hawaii to which the influence of the\n missionaries had not penetrated, two-thirds of the infants born\n were murdered by their parents within the age of two years. In\n Tahiti three women, questioned by Mr. Williams, acknowledged\n that they had killed twenty-one of their children between them.\n Another, at the point of death, confessed to him, in an anguish\n of remorse, that she had destroyed sixteen of her children.\n\n [25] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79. Compare J. Williams,\n _op. cit._ p. 479; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 621; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 47.\n\n [26] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 219.\n\n [27] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 201 _sq._ Compare G.\n Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 230 _sq._; J.\n Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea\n Islands_, p. 471; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 210.\n\nThe Samoans, when they became known to Europe in the nineteenth century,\ndid not habitually indulge in cannibalism; indeed, according to John\nWilliams, one of the earliest missionaries to the islands, they spoke of\nthe practice with great horror and detestation.[28] But we have the\ntestimony of other early missionaries that in their wars they\noccasionally resorted to it as a climax of hatred and revenge, devouring\nsome portion of an enemy who had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious\nby his cruelty or his provocations. Traditions, too, are on record of\nchiefs who habitually killed and devoured their fellow-creatures. A form\nof submission which a conquered party used to adopt towards their\nconquerors has also been interpreted as a relic of an old custom of\ncannibalism. Representatives of the vanquished party used to bow down\nbefore the victors, each holding in his hands a piece of firewood and a\nbundle of leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven. This\nwas as much as to say, \"Kill us and cook us, if you please.\" Criminals,\ntoo, were sometimes bound hand and foot, slung on a pole, and laid down\nbefore the persons they had injured, like pigs about to be killed and\ncooked. Combining these and other indications we may surmise that\ncannibalism was formerly not infrequent among the ancestors of the\nSamoans, though among their descendants in the nineteenth century the\npractice had almost wholly died out.[29] It is further to the credit of\nthe Samoans that their public administration of justice was on the whole\nmild and humane. Torture was never employed to wring the truth from\nwitnesses or the accused, and there seems to be only a single case on\nrecord of capital punishment inflicted by judicial sentence. At the same\ntime private individuals were free to avenge the adultery of a wife or\nthe murder of a kinsman by killing the culprit, and no blame attached to\nthem for so doing. The penalties imposed by the sentence of a court or\njudicial assembly (_fono_) included fines, banishment, and the\ndestruction of houses, fruit-trees, and domestic animals. But a criminal\nmight also be condemned by a court to suffer corporal punishment in one\nform or another. He might, for example, be obliged to wound himself by\nbeating his head and chest with a stone till the blood flowed freely; if\nhe seemed to spare himself, he would be ordered by the assembled chiefs\nto strike harder, and if he still faltered, the prompt and unsparing\napplication of a war club to his person effectually assisted the\nexecution of the sentence. Again, he might be condemned to bite a\ncertain acrid and poisonous root (called in the native language _tevi_)\nwhich caused the mouth to swell and the culprit to suffer intense agony\nfor a considerable time afterwards. Or he might have to throw up a spiny\nand poisonous fish into the air and to catch it in his naked hand as it\nfell; the sharp-pointed spines entered into the flesh and inflicted\nacute pain and suffering. Or he might be suspended by hands and feet\nfrom a pole and in this attitude exposed to the broiling sun for many\nhours together; or he might be hung by the feet, head downward, from the\ntop of a tall coco-nut tree and left there to expiate his crime for a\nlong time. For certain offences the culprit was condemned to have his\nnose tattooed or his ears split. In sentences of banishment the term of\nexile was never specified, but when the sentence had been pronounced in\nfull assembly, and the offence was great, the culprit might live in\nexile for years. When the punishment consisted in the destruction of\nhouses, plantations, and live stock, it was immediately inflicted by the\nwhole force of the district, under the direction and superintendence of\nthe leading men, who had taken part in the assembly and passed the\nsentence. A whole family might suffer in this way for the offence of one\nof its members, and be driven into exile, after witnessing the burning\nof their house, the killing of their pigs, and the barking of their\nbreadfruit trees.[30] If such penalties seem to us in some cases\nneedlessly severe, they at least testify to a strong sense of public\njustice developed among the Samoans, who had thus advanced far enough to\ntransfer, in some measure, the redress of wrongs to judicial assemblies\ninstead of leaving it to the caprice of the injured individuals.\nNevertheless the transference was but imperfect: the administration of\njustice was loose and irregular: for the most part every man was a law\nto himself, and did what was right in his own eyes. An aggrieved party\nwould become his own judge, jury, and executioner. The thirst for\nvengeance was slaked only by the blood of a victim.[31]\n\n [28] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises\n in the South Sea Islands_, p. 456.\n\n [29] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 108-111; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 149 _sq._, 290; J. E.\n Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 39, 101 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard,\n _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 125 _sq._;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 168; J. B. Stair,\n _Old Samoa_, pp. 240 _sq._\n\n [30] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 91 _sqq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 288-291. Compare Violette,\n \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions\n Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119, 120.\n\n [31] S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of\n the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,\n held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 633.\n\nIt is another sign of the intellectual enlightenment of the Samoans that\nthey rose apparently superior to that system of malignant magic, which\nkept their neighbours the Melanesians in lifelong bondage. The\nexperienced missionary, Dr. George Brown, could not find in Samoa any\ntrace of the practice of that particular form of the black art with\nwhich he was familiar in New Britain and other Melanesian islands, the\npractice of procuring some object which has belonged to an enemy or been\ntouched by him, and taking it to a sorcerer, that he may perform over it\na ceremony for the purpose of injuring the person from whom the object\nhas been obtained. The proceeding is one of the commonest forms of\nsympathetic magic, but the Samoans appear to have ignored or despised\nit.[32] Again, the silence of our authorities on the subject of amulets\nand talismans leaves us to infer that the Samoans were equally\nindifferent to that branch of magic which seeks to ensure the safety and\nprosperity of the individual by attaching a miscellaneous collection of\nrubbish to his person, a system of ensurance against evil and misfortune\nwhich has attained a prodigious development among some savages, notably\nin Africa,[33] and is very far from being unknown in Europe at the\npresent day. Again, unlike most savages, the Samoans were close\nobservers of the stars, not only reckoning the time of night by the\nrising of particular stars, but steering by them when they were out of\nsight of land.[34]\n\n [32] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 245.\n Compare S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 638.\n\n [33] See, for example, E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The\n Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), i.\n 252 _sqq._\n\n [34] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 348.\n\nAgainst these amiable and enlightened traits in the Samoan character\nmust be set their cruelty in war. If they opened hostilities with a\ngreat deal of formal politeness, they conducted them with great\nferocity. No quarter was given to men in battle, and captives were\nruthlessly slaughtered. Women were sometimes spared for the use of their\ncaptors. Nor did death save the conquered from the insults and outrages\nof the insolent victors. The slain on the battlefield were treated with\ngreat indignity. Their heads were cut off and carried in triumph to the\nvillage, where they were piled up in a heap in the place of public\nassembly, the head of the most important chief being given the place of\nhonour on the top of the pile. However, they were not kept as trophies,\nbut after remaining for some hours exposed to public gaze were either\nclaimed by the relatives or buried on the spot. The headless trunks were\ngiven to children to drag about the village and to spear, stone, or\nmutilate at pleasure.[35] The first missionary to Samoa was told in\nManua that the victors used to scalp their victims and present the\nscalps, with kava, either to the king or to the relatives of the slain\nin battle, by whom these gory trophies were highly prized. He mentions\nas an example the case of a young woman, whose father had been killed. A\nscalp of a foe having been brought to her, she burnt it, strewed the\nashes on the fire with which she cooked her food, and then devoured the\nmeat with savage satisfaction.[36] But the climax of cruelty and horror\nwas reached in a great war which the people of A'ana, in Upolu, waged\nagainst a powerful combination of enemies. After a brave resistance they\nwere at last defeated, and the surviving warriors, together with the\naged and infirm, the women and children, fled to the mountains, where\nthey endeavoured to hide themselves from their pursuers in the caves and\nthe depths of the forest. But they were hunted out and brought down to\nthe seashore; and an immense pit having been dug and filled with\nfirewood, they were all, men, women, and children, thrown into it and\nburnt alive. The dreadful butchery went on for days. Four hundred\nvictims are said to have perished. The massacre was perpetrated at the\nmoment when the first missionaries were landing in Samoa. From the\nopposite shore they beheld the mountains enveloped in the flames and\nsmoke of the funeral pile. The decisive battle had been fought that\nvery morning. For many years a great black circle of charcoal marked the\nscene and preserved the memory of the fatal transaction.[37]\n\n [35] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 456; Ch. Wilkes, _op.\n cit._ ii. 150 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian\n Reminiscences_, p. 61; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 247 _sqq._;\n G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170, 172 _sq._ Dr.\n Brown here speaks as if captive women were regularly spared and\n married by the victors. As to the elaborate civilities which\n passed between the vanguards of two hostile armies at their\n first meeting, see Dr. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 166 _sq._\n\n [36] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 458.\n\n [37] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 286 _sq._, 456; J. B.\n Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 254-258.\n\n\nSec. 3. _Houses, Agriculture, and Industries_\n\nLike all the Polynesians, the Samoans are not nomadic, but live in\nsettled villages. The typical Samoan house is commonly described as oval\nor elliptical, though in fact it would seem to be of oblong shape with\nsemicircular ends. But many houses were circular in shape, and with\ntheir conical thatched roofs resembled gigantic beehives. From the\nTongans the Samoans also borrowed the custom of building oblong\nquadrangular houses, which were called _afolau_. The best houses, in\nparticular those of important chiefs, were built on raised platforms of\nstones about three feet high. One of the circular houses would measure\nabout thirty-five feet in diameter by a hundred in circumference. Two or\nthree posts in the centre of the house, some twenty feet high, supported\nthe roof, the lower end of which rested on a series of short posts, four\nor five feet high, placed at intervals of about four feet all round the\nhouse. The intervals between these posts were sometimes closed by thatch\nneatly tied to sticks, which were planted upright in the ground and\nfastened to the eaves; but more commonly, it would seem, the intervals\nbetween the posts were left open and only closed at night by blinds made\nof coco-nut leaves, which could be let down or pulled up like Venetian\nblinds. During the day these blinds were drawn up, so that there was a\nfree current of air all through the house. The roofs of the best houses\nwere made of bread-fruit wood carefully thatched with leaves of the wild\nsugar-cane; when well made, the thatch might last seven years. The\ncircular roofs were so constructed that they could be lifted clean off\nthe posts and removed anywhere, either by land or on a raft of canoes.\nThe whole house could also be transported; and as Samoan houses were\noften bartered, or given as presents, or paid as fines, it frequently\nhappened that they were removed from place to place. In the whole house\nthere was not a single nail or spike: all joints were made by exactly\ncorresponding notches and secured by cinnet, that is cordage made from\nthe dried fibre of the coco-nut husk. The timber of the best houses was\nthe wood of the bread-fruit tree; and, if protected against damp, it\nwould last fifty years. The floor of the house was composed of stones,\noverlaid with fine gravel and sand. In the centre of the floor was the\nfire-place, a circular hollow two or three feet in diameter and a few\ninches deep, lined with hardened clay. It was not used for cooking, but\nfor the purpose of lighting up the house by night. The cooking was never\ndone in the house, but always in the open air outside on an oven of hot\nstones. An ordinary Samoan house consisted of a single apartment, which\nserved as the common parlour, dining-room, and bedroom of the family.\nBut at night small tents made of bark-cloth were hung from the\nridge-pole, and under them the various members of the family slept\nseparately, the tents serving them at the same time as curtains to\nprotect them against the mosquitoes. Formerly, the houses of the\nprincipal chiefs were surrounded with two fences; the outer of the two\nwas formed of strong posts and had a narrow zigzag entrance, several\nyards long, leading to an opening in the inner fence, which was made of\nreeds. But with the advent of a more peaceful epoch these fortified\nenclosures for the most part disappeared. Houses constructed on the\nTongan model were often very substantially built: a double row of posts\nand cross-beams supported the roof. These houses were found better able\nto resist the high winds which prevail at one season of the year.[38]\n\n [38] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._. ii. 145 _sqq._; J. E.\n Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 45-47; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in\n H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 32;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, pp. 152 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 634 _sq._; J.\n B. Stair, _Old Samoa,_ pp. 105 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 24 _sqq._\n\nLike the rest of the Polynesians, the Samoans are an agricultural\npeople, and subsist mainly by the fruits of the earth, though the\nlagoons and reefs furnish them with a large supply of fish and\nshell-fish, of which they are very fond. They all, but especially\npersons of rank, occasionally regaled themselves on pigs, fowls, and\nturtle. But bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, and coco-nuts formed the\nstaff of life in Samoa. As the soil is very rich and the hot, damp\nclimate is eminently favourable to the growth of vegetation, food was\nalways abundant, and the natives could procure the necessaries and even\nthe luxuries of life at the cost of very little labour; if they tilled\nthe soil, it was rather to vary their diet than to wring a scanty\nsubsistence from a niggardly nature. Coco-nut palms, bread-fruit and\nchestnut trees, and wild yams, bananas, and plantains abound throughout\nthe islands, and require little attention to make them yield an ample\ncrop. For about half the year the Samoans have a plentiful supply of\nfood from the bread-fruit trees: during the other half they depend\nprincipally upon their taro plantations. While the bread-fruit is in\nseason, every family lays up a quantity of the ripe fruit in a pit lined\nwith leaves and covered with stones. The fruit soon ferments and forms a\nsoft mass, which emits a very vile smell every time the pit is opened.\nIn this state it may be kept for years, for the older and more rotten\nthe fruit is, the better the natives like it. They bake it, with the\njuice of the coco-nut, into flat cakes, which are eaten when the ripe\nfruit is out of season or when taro is scarce. For taro is on the whole\nthe staple food of the Samoans; it grows all the year round. The water\nof the coco-nut furnishes a cool, delicious, slightly effervescing\nbeverage, which is peculiarly welcome to the hot and weary wayfarer far\nfrom any spring or rivulet.[39]\n\n [39] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 147; W. T. Pritchard,\n _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 126-128;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 87 _sq._; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, pp. 105-107; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 53-55; G.\n Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._ According\n to Dr. Brown, there are generally three crops of bread-fruit in\n the year, one of them lasting about three months.\n\nTo obtain land for cultivation the Samoans went into the forest and cut\ndown the brushwood and creeping vines with small hatchets or large\nknives. The large forest-trees they destroyed by chopping away the bark\nin a circle round the trunk and then kindling a fire of brushwood at the\nfoot of the tree. Thus in the course of a few days a fair-sized piece of\nground would be cleared, nothing of the forest remaining but charred\ntrunks and leafless branches. Then followed the planting. The\nagricultural instruments employed were of the simplest pattern. A\ndibble, or pointed stick of hard wood, was used to make the hole in\nwhich the plant was deposited. This took the place of a plough, and a\nbranch served the purpose of a harrow. Sometimes the earth was dug and\nsmoothed with the blade of a canoe paddle. The labour of clearing and\nplanting the ground was done by the men, but the task of weeding it\ngenerally devolved on the women. The first crop taken from a piece of\nland newly cleared in the forest was yams, which require a peculiar\nculture and frequent change of site, two successive crops being seldom\nobtained from the same land. After the first crop of yams had been\ncleared off, taro was planted several times in succession; for this root\ndoes not, like yams, require a change of site. However, we are told that\na second crop of taro grown on the same land was very inferior to the\nfirst, and that as a rule the land was allowed to remain fallow until\nthe trees growing on it were as thick as a man's arm, when it was again\ncleared for cultivation. In the wet season taro was planted on the high\nland from one to four miles inland from the village; other kinds of taro\nwere planted in the swamps, and these were considered more succulent\nthan the taro grown on the uplands. The growing crops of taro were\nweeded at least twice a year. The natives resorted to irrigation, when\nthey had the means; and they often dug trenches to drain away the water\nfrom swampy ground. Yams also required attention; for sticks had to be\nprovided on which the plants could run. The fruit ripens only once a\nyear, but it was stored up, and with care would keep till the next\nseason. The natives found neither yams nor bread-fruit so nourishing as\ntaro.[40]\n\n [40] Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel\n de Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 188; S.\n Ella, _op. cit._ p. 635; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._;\n G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._, 338\n _sqq._\n\nThe degree of progress which any particular community has made in\ncivilisation may be fairly gauged by the degree of subdivision of labour\namong its members; for it is only by restricting his energies to a\nparticular craft that a man can attain to any perfection in it. Judged\nby this standard the Samoans had advanced some way on the road to\ncivilisation, since among them the division of labour was carried out to\na considerable extent: in their native state they had not a few separate\ntrades or professions, some of which may even be said to have developed\nthe stability and organisation of trade guilds. Among them, for example,\nhouse-building, canoe-building, tattooing, and the making of nets and\nfish-hooks were distinct crafts, which, though not strictly hereditary,\nwere usually confined to particular families. Thus by long practice and\nexperience handed down from generation to generation a considerable\ndegree of skill was acquired, and a considerable degree of reputation\naccrued to the family. Every trade had its particular patron god and was\ngoverned by certain well-known rules. The members formed, indeed, we are\ntold, a trade union which was remarkably effective. Thus they had rules\nwhich prescribed the time and proportions of payment to be made at\ndifferent stages of the work, and these rules were strictly observed and\nenforced by the workmen. For example, in the house-building trade, it\nwas a standing custom that after the sides and one end of a house were\nfinished, the principal part of the payment should be made. If the\ncarpenters were dissatisfied with the amount of payment, they simply\nleft off work and walked away, leaving the house unfinished, and no\ncarpenter in the whole length and breadth of Samoa would dare to finish\nit, for it would have been as much as his business or even his life was\nworth to undertake the job. Anyone so foolhardy as thus to set the rules\nof the trade at defiance would have been attacked by the other workmen\nand robbed of his tools; at the best he would receive a severe\nthrashing, at the worst he might be killed. A house might thus stand\nunfinished for months or even years. Sooner or later, if he was to have\na roof over his head, the unfortunate owner had to yield to the trade\nunion and agree to such terms as they might dictate. If it happened that\nthe house was almost finished before the fourth and final payment was\nmade, and the builder at that stage of the proceedings took offence, he\nwould remove a beam from the roof before retiring in dudgeon, and no\nworkman would dare to replace it. The rules in the other trades, such\nas canoe-building and tattooing, were practically the same. In\ncanoe-building, for example, five separate payments were made to the\nbuilders at five stages of the work; and if at any stage the workmen\nwere dissatisfied with the pay, they very unceremoniously abandoned the\nwork until the employer apologised or came to terms. No other party of\nworkmen would have the temerity to finish the abandoned canoe upon pain\nof bringing down on their heads the wrath of the whole fraternity of\ncanoe-builders; any such rash offenders against the rules of the guild\nwould be robbed of their tools, expelled from their clan, and prohibited\nfrom exercising their calling during the pleasure of the guild. Such\nstrides had the Samoans made in the direction of trade unionism.[41]\n\n [41] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 157 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._; J.\n B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 141 _sqq._, 145 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._,\n 157 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 268,\n 305-308. Compare Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 143 _sqq._;\n Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 134 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 635\n _sq._\n\nIn addition to their household duties women engaged in special work of\ntheir own, particularly in the manufacture of bark-cloths and of fine\nmats; but among them there seems to have been no subdivision of labour\nand consequently no professional guilds. In all families the making of\nbark-cloth and mats was carried on by the women indifferently, though\nsome no doubt excelled others in the skill of their handiwork. The cloth\nwas made from the bark of the paper-mulberry (_Morus papyrifera_), which\nwas beaten out on boards with a grooved beetle. The sound of these\nbeetles ringing on the boards, though not very musical, was a familiar\nsound in a Samoan village. The fine mats, on the manufacture of which\nthe Samoans particularly prided themselves, were worn as dresses on\nceremonial occasions. They were made from the leaves of a large plant\nwhich the natives call _lau ie_; the leaves closely resemble those of\nthe pandanus, but are larger. These mats were of a straw or cream\ncolour, and were sometimes fringed with tufts of scarlet feathers of the\nparoquet. They were thin and almost as flexible as calico. Many months,\nsometimes even years, were spent over the making of a single mat.\nAnother kind of fine mat was made from the bark of a plant of the nettle\ntribe (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_), which grows wild over the islands. Mats\nof the latter sort were shaggy on one side, and, being bleached white,\nresembled fleecy sheep-skins. These fine mats, especially those made\nfrom the leaves of the pandanus-like plant, were considered by the\nSamoans to be their most valuable property; they were handed down as\nheirlooms from father to son, and were so much coveted that wars were\nsometimes waged to obtain possession of them. The pedigrees of the more\nfamous mats, particularly those fringed with red feathers, were\ncarefully kept, and when they changed hands, their history was related\nwith solemn precision. Age enhanced their value; and their tattered\ncondition, deemed a proof of antiquity, rather added to than detracted\nfrom the estimation in which they were held. The wealth of a family\nconsisted of its mats; with them it remunerated the services of\ncarpenters, boat-builders, and tattooers. The mats formed, indeed, a\nsort of currency or medium of exchange; for while the Samoans were not\nin general a trading people, and there was little or no actual buying\nand selling among them, there was nevertheless a considerable exchange\nof property on many occasions; at marriage, for example, it was\ncustomary for the bride's family to give mats and bark-cloth as her\ndowry, while the bridegroom's family provided a house, canoes, and other\narticles. But though the fine mats were thus paid away or given in\nexchange, they had no fixed negotiable value, and thus did not serve the\npurpose of money.[42]\n\n [42] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 142 _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of\n a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 109\n _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 129-132;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, pp. 119-121; S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth\n Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of\n Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 636; J.\n B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 143 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 304 _sq._, 305, 315, 434.\n\n\nSec. 4. _Rights of Property_\n\nIn Samoa the rights of private property, both personal and landed, were\nfully recognised, but with certain limitations. The lands were owned\nalike by chiefs and by heads of families; the laws regulating their\npossession were very definite. In no case did the whole of the land\nbelong to the chiefs. Every family owned portions of land not only in\nthe village and adjoining gardens, but far away in the unreclaimed\nforests of the interior. The title, which passed by inheritance,\ngenerally vested in the family; but the family was represented by the\nhead, who often claimed the right to dispose of it by sale or otherwise.\nYet he dared not do anything without consulting all concerned; were he\nto persist in thwarting the wishes of the rest, they would take his\ntitle from him and give it to another. Sometimes, however, the title to\nlanded property vested in individual owners. The legitimate heir was the\noldest surviving brother, but occasionally he waived his right in favour\nof one of the sons. Women might hold land when the male side of a family\nwas extinct. The boundaries of land were well defined, being marked by\npathways, natural limits, such as a river, or by trenches and stones\nhalf buried in the ground. Every inch of ground had its owner, even to\nthe tops of the mountains. Trespass by a neighbouring village would be\nresisted, if necessary, by force of arms.[43]\n\n [43] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 176 _sq._; J. B. Stair,\n _Old Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 287 _sq._, 314, 339.\n\nIn regard to personal property it may be said that, like landed\nproperty, it belonged rather to the family than to the individual; for\nno Samoan could refuse to give, without an equivalent, anything which\nany member of his family asked for. In this way boats, tools, garments,\nand so forth passed freely from hand to hand. Nay, a man could enter the\nplantation of a relative and help himself to the fruit without asking\nthe owner's leave; such an appropriation was not considered to be\nstealing. Under this communistic system, as it has been called,\naccumulation of property was scarcely possible, and industry was\ndiscouraged. Why should a diligent man toil when he knew that the fruit\nof his labour might all be consumed by lazy kinsfolk? He might lay out a\nplantation of bananas, and when they were full-grown, bunch after bunch\nmight be plucked and eaten by his less industrious relations, until,\nexasperated beyond endurance, the unfortunate owner would cut down all\nthe remaining trees. No matter how hard a man worked, he could not keep\nhis earnings; they all soon passed out of his hands into the common\nstock of the clan. The system, we are told, ate like a canker-worm at\nthe roots of individual and national progress.[44]\n\n [44] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 160 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 247, 262 _sq._, 434.\n\n\nSec. 5. _Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs_\n\nThe native government of Samoa was not, like that of Tonga, a\ncentralised despotism. Under the form of a monarchy and aristocracy the\npolitical constitution was fundamentally republican and indeed\ndemocratic. The authority of the king and chiefs was limited and more or\nless nominal; practically Samoa consisted of a large number of petty\nindependent and self-governing communities, which sometimes combined for\ndefence or common action in a sort of loose federation.[45]\n\n [45] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises\n in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and\n Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; T.\n H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western\n Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 118; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173;\n S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the\n Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held at\n Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._, 89; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, p. 333.\n\nTo a superficial observer the aristocratic cast of Samoan society might\nat first sight seem very marked. The social ranks were sharply divided\nfrom each other, and the inferior orders paid great formal deference to\ntheir superiors. At the head of all ranked the chiefs (_alii_); but even\namong them the ordinary chiefs were distinct from the sacred chiefs\n(_alii paia_), who enjoyed the highest honours. These sacred chiefs\npreserved their pedigrees for twenty or more generations with as great\ncare as the oldest and proudest families in Europe, and they possessed\nmany feudal rights and privileges which were as well known and as fully\nacknowledged as are, or were, those of any lord of a manor in England.\nThe task of preserving a record of a chief's pedigrees was entrusted to\nhis orator or spokesman, who belonged to a lower social rank (that of\nthe _tulafales_).[46] The influence of chiefs was supported by the\nbelief that they possessed some magical or supernatural power, by which\nthey could enforce their decisions.[47] Their persons were sacred or\ntaboo. They might not be touched by any one. No one might sit beside\nthem. In the public assemblies a vacant place was left on each side of\nthe seat of honour which they occupied. Some chiefs were so holy that\nthey might not even be looked at by day. Their food might not be handed\nto them, but was thrown to them, and it was so sacred that no one might\neat any of it which they had left over.[48]\n\n [46] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Violette, _op. cit._ p.\n 168; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_,\n pp. 283, 430.\n\n [47] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 431.\n\n [48] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280,\n 283, 285; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168 (as to chiefs too holy to\n be seen by day).\n\n\"The sacredness attributed to many chiefs of high rank gave rise to\nobservances which were irksome to their families and dependents, since\nwhatever they came in contact with required to undergo the ceremony of\n_lulu'u_, or sprinkling with a particular kind of cocoanut-water\n(_niu-ui_); both to remove the sanctity supposed to be communicated to\nthe article or place that had touched the chief, and also to counteract\nthe danger of speedy death, which was believed to be imminent to any\nperson who might touch the sacred chief, or anything that he had\ntouched; so great was the mantle of sanctity thrown around these chiefs,\nalthough unconnected with the priesthood. Thus the spot where such a\nchief had sat or slept was sprinkled with water immediately he had left\nit, as were also the persons who had sat on either side of him when he\nreceived company, as well as all the attendants who had waited upon him.\n\n\"This remarkable custom was also observed on other occasions. It was\nalways used on the occasion of deposing a chief, and depriving him of\nhis _Ao_, or titles, in which case the ceremony was performed by some of\nthose who had either conferred the titles or had the power to do so. In\nthe case of O le Tamafainga, the usurper who was killed in A'ana in\n1829, his body was first sprinkled with cocoanut-water, and his title of\n_O le Tuia'ana_ recalled from him, before he was hewn in pieces. The\nceremony consisted of sprinkling the body with cocoanut-water, and the\nofficiating chief or _Tulafale_ saying, 'Give us back our _Ao_,' by\nwhich means the title was recalled, and the sacredness attaching to it\nwas dispelled. It was also used over persons newly tattooed, and upon\nthose who contaminated themselves by contact with a dead body. In each\nof these cases the ceremony was carefully observed, and reverently\nattended to, as very dire consequences were considered certain to follow\nits omission.\"[49] Thus the sacredness of a chief was deemed dangerous\nto all persons with whom he might come, whether directly or indirectly,\ninto contact; it was apparently conceived as a sort of electric fluid\nwhich discharged itself, it might be with fatal effect, on whatever it\ntouched. And the sacredness of a chief was clearly classed with the\nuncleanness of a dead body, since contact with a dead body involved the\nsame dangerous consequences as contact with the sacred person of a chief\nand had to be remedied in precisely the same manner. The two conceptions\nof holiness and uncleanness, which to us seem opposite and even\ncontradictory, blend in the idea of taboo, in which both are implicitly\nheld as it were in solution. It requires the analytic tendency of more\nadvanced thought to distinguish the two conceptions, to precipitate, as\nit were, the components of the solution in the testing-tube of the mind.\n\n [49] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 127 _sq._ Compare\n Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 231, 280, 285. In this work Dr. Brown remarks\n (p. 231) that there is no clear explanation of the custom of\n sprinkling coco-nut water as a purificatory rite. But the\n explanation given by Stair, which I have quoted in the text, is\n clear and satisfactory, and elsewhere (p. 285) Dr. Brown\n implicitly adopts the same explanation, where he says that the\n man who had served kava to a sacred chief \"sprinkled himself all\n over to wash away the sacredness (_paia_).\"\n\nThe profound respect which the Samoans entertained for their chiefs\nmanifested itself in yet another fashion. A special form of speech was\nadopted in addressing a chief, in conversing in his presence, or even in\nalluding to him in his absence. Thus there arose what is called a\nchiefs' language, or polite diction, which was used exclusively in\nspeaking to or of a chief, whether the speaker was a common man or a\nchief of lower rank. But it was never used by a chief when he was\nspeaking of himself. Persons of high rank, in addressing others and\nalluding to themselves, always employed ordinary language and sometimes\nthe very lowest terms; so that it was often amusing to listen to\nexpressions of feigned humility uttered by a proud man, who would have\nbeen indignant indeed if the same terms which he applied to himself had\nbeen applied to him by others. Thus, for example, the actions of\nsitting, talking, eating, sleeping, and dying were expressed by\ndifferent terms according as the agent was a chief or a common man. The\nordinary word for a house was _fale_; but a chief's house was called\n_maota_. The common word for anger was _ita_; the polite term was\n_toasa_. To sleep in ordinary language was _moe_, but in polite language\nit was _tof[=a]_ or _toa_. To be sick in common speech was _mai_, but in\npolite language it was _ngasengase, faatafa, pulu pulusi_. To die was\n_mate_ or _pe_ (said of animals), or _oti_ (said of men); but the\ncourtly expressions for death were _maliu_ (\"gone\"), _folau_ (\"gone on a\nvoyage\"), _fale-lauasi, ngasololo ao_, and a number of others. The terms\nsubstituted in the court language sometimes had a meaning the very\nopposite of that borne by the corresponding terms in the ordinary\nlanguage. For example, in the court language firewood was called\n_polata_, which properly means the stem of the banana plant, a wood that\nis incombustible. If the use of an ordinary word in the presence of a\nchief were unavoidable, it had to be prefaced by the apologetic phrase\n_veaeane_, literally \"saving your presence,\" every time the word was\nspoken. Nay, the courtly language itself varied with the rank of the\nchief addressed or alluded to. For example, if you wished to say that a\nperson had come, you would say _alu_ of a common man; _alala_ of a head\nof a household or landowner (_tulafale_); _maliu_ of a petty chief;\n_susu_ of a chief of the second class; and _afiu_ of a chief of the\nhighest rank.[50] The same respect which was shown in the use of words\ndescriptive of a chief's actions or possessions was naturally extended\nto his own name, when he belonged to the class of sacred chiefs. If his\nname happened to be also the name of a common object, it ceased to be\nused to designate the thing in question, and a new word or phrase was\nsubstituted for it. Henceforth the old name of the object was dropped\nand might never again be pronounced in the chief's district nor indeed\nanywhere in his presence. In one district, for example, the chief's name\nwas Flying-fox; hence the ordinary word for flying-fox (_re'a_) was\ndropped, and that species of bat was known as \"bird of heaven\" (_manu\nlangi_).[51] Again, when the chief of Pango-pango, in the island of\nTutuila, was called Maunga, which means \"mountain,\" that word might\nnever be used in his presence, and a courtly term was substituted for\nit.[52] This is only one instance of the ways in which the dialects of\nsavages tend to vary from each other under the influence of\nsuperstition.\n\n [50] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United\n States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 28 _sq._; Violette, \"Notes\n d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions\n Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 190; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp.\n 67 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 380\n _sq._ Compare G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 175.\n\n [51] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280,\n 381.\n\n [52] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the\n Islands of the Western Pacific_, p. 44.\n\nYet despite the extraordinary deference thus paid to chiefs in outward\nshow, the authority which they possessed was for the most part very\nlimited; indeed in the ordinary affairs of life the powers and\nprivileges of a chief were little more than nominal, and he moved about\namong the people and shared their everyday employments just like a\ncommon man. Thus, for example, he would go out with a fishing party,\nwork in his plantation, help at building a house or a canoe, and even\nlend a hand in cooking at a native oven. So strong was the democratic\nspirit among the Samoans. The ordinary duties of a chief consisted in\nadministering the law, settling disputes, punishing transgressors,\nappointing feasts, imposing taboos, and leading his people in war. It\nwas in time of war that a chief's dignity and authority were at their\nhighest, but even then he could hardly maintain strict discipline.[53]\nHowever, the influence of chiefs varied a good deal and depended in\ngreat measure on their personal character. If besides his hereditary\nrank a chief was a man of energy and ability, he might become\npractically supreme in his village or district. Some chiefs even used\ntheir power in a very tyrannical manner.[54]\n\n [53] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 174 _sq._; S. Ella,\n \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian\n Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart,\n Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 631 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286.\n\n [54] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286.\n\nBut for the abuse of power by their nominal rulers the Samoans had a\nremedy at hand. When a chief rendered himself odious to his people by\ntyranny and oppression, the householders or gentry (_tulafales_) and\nneighbouring chiefs would not uncommonly depose him and transfer his\noffice to another; in extreme cases they might banish him or even put\nhim to death. The place of banishment for exiled chiefs was the island\nof Tutuila. Thither the fallen potentate was conveyed under custody in a\ncanoe, and on landing he was made to run the gauntlet between two rows\nof the inhabitants, who belaboured him with sticks, pelted him with\nstones, or subjected him to other indignities. He was lucky if he\nescaped with nothing worse than bruises, for sometimes the injuries\ninflicted were severe or actually fatal.[55] Chieftainship was\nhereditary in the male line, but did not necessarily pass from father\nto son; the usual heir would seem to have been the eldest surviving\nbrother, and next to him one of the sons. But a dying chief might\nnominate his successor, though the final decision rested with the heads\nof families. Failing a male heir, a daughter might be appointed to, or\nmight assume, the prerogative of chieftainship.[56]\n\n [55] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises\n in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and\n Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 28;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, p. 177; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 71 _sqq._\n\n [56] Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; G. Turner, _Samoa_,\n p. 174; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 631; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 282, 286, 430.\n\nIn addition to their hereditary nobility chiefs might be raised to\nhigher rank by the possession of titles (_ao_), which were in the gift\nof certain ruling towns or villages. When four or, according to another\naccount, five of these titles were conferred upon a single chief, he was\ncalled _o le tupu_, or King of Samoa. But if the constituencies were not\nunanimous in their choice of a candidate, the throne might remain vacant\nfor long periods. Thus the monarchy of Samoa was elective; the king was\nchosen by a hereditary aristocracy, and his powers were tempered by the\nrights and privileges of the nobility. Yet under the show of a limited\nmonarchy the constitution was essentially a federal republic.[57] The\nceremony of anointing a King of Samoa in ancient times appears to have\ncuriously resembled a similar solemnity in monarchical Europe. It took\nplace in presence of a large assembly of chiefs and people. A sacred\nstone was consecrated as a throne, or rather stool, on which the king\nstood, while a priest, who must also be a chief, called upon the gods to\nbehold and bless the king, and pronounced denunciations against such as\nshould fail to obey him. He then poured scented oil from a native bottle\nover the head, shoulders, and body of the king, and proclaimed his\nseveral titles and honours.[58]\n\n [57] Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 118 _sq._; J. B. Stair,\n _Old Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, p. 283. Compare H. Hale, _Ethnography and\n Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29.\n\n [58] S. Ella, \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of\n the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,\n held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631.\n\nNext below the chiefs ranked an inferior order of nobility called\n_tulafales_ or _faipules_, who are variously described as householders,\ncouncillors, and secondary chiefs. They formed a very powerful and\ninfluential class; indeed we are told that they generally exercised\ngreater authority than the chiefs, and that the real control of\ndistricts often centred in their hands. They usually owned large lands:\nthey were the principal advisers of the chiefs: the orators were usually\nselected from their number: the _ao_ or titles of districts were always\nin their gift; and they had the power, which they did not scruple to\nuse, of deposing and banishing an unpopular chief. Sometimes a chief\ncontrived to bring them into subjection to himself; but as a rule they\nwere a sturdy class, who did not shrink from speaking out their minds\nto their social superiors, often uttering very unpalatable truths and\nacting with great determination when the conduct of a chief incurred\ntheir displeasure. In short, they made laws, levied fines, and generally\nruled the village.[59]\n\n [59] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._\n ii. 152; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; S. Ella, _op. cit._\n p. 629; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 285 _sq._, 287.\n\nBelow the _tulafales_ ranked the _faleupolu_ or House of Upolu, and the\n_tangata nuu_ or Men of the Land. The former were considerable\nlandowners and possessed much influence; the latter were the humblest\nclass, bearing arms in time of war, and cultivating the soil, fishing,\nand cooking in time of peace. But they were far from being serfs; most\nof them were eligible for the position of head of a family, if, when a\nvacancy occurred, the choice of the family fell upon them.[60] For the\ntitle of head of a family was not hereditary. A son might succeed his\nfather in the dignity; but the members of the family would sometimes\npass over the son and confer the title on an uncle, a cousin, or even a\nperfect stranger, if they desired to increase the numerical strength of\nthe family.[61]\n\n [60] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 74 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 432.\n\n [61] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173.\n\nThe villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing and\nindependent communities, though every village was more or less loosely\nfederated with the other villages of its district. Each district or\nconfederation of villages had its capital (_laumua_) or ruling town.\nThese federal capitals, however, possessed no absolute authority over\nthe other villages of the district; and though great respect was always\nshown to them, the people of the district, or even of a particular\nvillage, would often dissent from the decisions of the capital and\nassert their independence of action.[62] Of this independence a notable\ninstance occurred when the Catholic missionaries first settled in Samoa.\nUnder the influence of the Protestant missionaries a federal assembly\nhad passed a decree strictly forbidding the admission of Roman Catholics\nto the islands, and threatening with war any community that should dare\nto harbour the obnoxious sect. The better to enforce the decree, prayers\nwere publicly offered up in the chapels that God would be pleased to\nkeep all Papists out of Samoa. To these charitable petitions the deity\nseems to have turned a deaf ear; for, in spite of prayers and\nprohibitions, two Catholic priests and a lay brother landed and were\nhospitably received and effectually protected by the people of a\nvillage, who paid no heed either to the remonstrances of the chiefs or\nto the thunders of the federal assembly.[63]\n\n [62] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians\n and Polynesians_, p. 333.\n\n [63] Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel\n de Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119\n _sq._\n\nThe population of a village might be from two to five hundred persons,\nand there might be eight or ten villages in a district. Throughout the\nSamoan islands there were in all eight of these separate districts. The\nunion of the villages in a district was voluntary; they formed by common\nconsent a petty state for their mutual protection. When war was\nthreatened by another district, no single village acted alone; the whole\ndistrict, or state, assembled at their capital and held a special\nparliament to concert the measures to be taken.[64] The boundaries of\nthe districts were well known and zealously guarded, if necessary, by\nforce of arms against the aggression of a neighbouring state. The\nwardenship of the marches was committed to the two nearest villages on\neither side, the inhabitants of which were called Boundary-Keepers.\nBetween two such villages in former days mutual ill-feeling constantly\nexisted and border feuds were frequent.[65]\n\n [64] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173, 180 _sq._ A third\n local division, intermediate between the village and the\n district, is mentioned by Stair, who calls it a settlement (_Old\n Samoa_, p. 83); but the other authorities whom I have consulted\n appear not to recognise such an intermediate division.\n\n [65] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 83.\n\nThe form of government both of the village and of the district was\nparliamentary. Affairs were discussed and settled in a representative\nassembly (_fono_), composed of the leading men of each village or\ndistrict. These representatives included the chiefs, together with the\nhouseholders or landowners (_tulafales_) and the inferior gentry (the\n_faleupolu_). The more weighty affairs, such as declaring war or making\npeace, or any matters of importance which concerned the whole district,\nwere debated in the general parliament of the district, while business\nof purely local interest was transacted in the parliament of the\nvillage. It was the privilege of the capital to convene the district\nparliament, to preside over its deliberations, to settle disputed\npoints, to sum up the proceedings, and to dismiss the assembly. These\nmeetings were usually conducted with much formality and decorum. They\nwere always held in the large public place (_malae_ or _marae_) of the\nvillage or town. It was an open green spot surrounded by a circle of\ntrees and houses. The centre was occupied by a large house which\nbelonged to the chief and was set apart as a caravansary for the\nentertainment of strangers and visitors. Members of all the three orders\nwhich composed the parliament had the right to address it; but the\nspeaking was usually left to the householders or landowners\n(_tulafales_). Each chief had generally attached to him one of that\norder who acted as his mouthpiece; and in like manner each settlement\nretained the services of a member of the order, who was the leading\norator of the district. Decisions were reached not by voting but by\ngeneral consent, the discussion being prolonged until some conclusion,\nsatisfactory to the greater part of the members, and particularly to the\nmost influential, was arrived at. One of the principal prerogatives of\nthe king seems to have been that of convoking a parliament; though, if\nhe refused to do so, when circumstances seemed to require it, the\nassembly would undoubtedly have met without him. The functions of these\nassemblies were judicial as well as legislative and deliberative.\nOffenders were arraigned before them and, if found guilty, were\ncondemned and punished.[66]\n\n [66] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United\n States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of\n the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 153 _sq._;\n Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa,\"\n _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, pp. 177 _sqq._, 180 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 632\n _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 84 _sqq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 286 _sq._, 288 _sqq._\n\nIt says much for the natural ability of the Samoans that they should\nhave attained to a level of culture so comparatively high with material\nresources so scanty and defective. Nature, indeed, supplied them with\nabundance of food and timber, but she denied them the metals, which were\nunknown in the islands until they were introduced from Europe. In their\nnative state, accordingly, the Samoans were still in the Stone Age,\ntheir principal tools being stone axes and adzes, made mainly from a\nclose-grained basalt which is found in the island of Tutuila. Of these\naxes the rougher were chipped, but the finer were ground. Shells were\nused as cutting instruments and as punches to bore holes in planks; and\ncombs, neatly carved out of bone, were employed as instruments in\ntattooing. A wooden dibble served them instead of a plough to turn up\nthe earth. The only skins they prepared were those of sharks and some\nother fish, which they used as rasps for smoothing woodwork. The art of\npottery was unknown.[67] Food was cooked in ovens of hot stones;[68]\nfire was kindled by the friction of wood, the method adopted being what\nis called the stick-and-groove process.[69]\n\n [67] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 319;\n G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 158; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 146,\n 149, 154, 159. As to the wooden dibbles, see Ella, _op. cit._ p.\n 635 (above, p. 166).\n\n [68] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 111 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 130.\n\n [69] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 129.\n\nWe now pass to a consideration of the religion of these interesting\npeople, especially in regard to the human soul and its destiny after\ndeath.\n\n\nSec. 6. _Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts_\n\nThe first missionary to Samoa, John Williams, was struck by the contrast\nbetween the religion of the Samoans and the religion of the other\nPolynesian peoples whom he had studied. \"The religious system of the\nSamoans,\" he says, \"differs essentially from that which obtained at the\nTahitian, Society, and other islands with which we are acquainted. They\nhave neither _maraes_, nor temples, nor altars, nor offerings; and,\nconsequently, none of the barbarous and sanguinary rites observed at the\nother groups. In consequence of this, the Samoans were considered an\nimpious race, and their impiety became proverbial with the people of\nRarotonga; for, when upbraiding a person who neglected the worship of\nthe gods, they would call him 'a godless Samoan.' But, although\nheathenism was presented to us by the Samoans in a dress different from\nthat in which we had been accustomed to see it, having no altars stained\nwith human blood, no _maraes_ strewed with the skulls and bones of its\nnumerous victims, no sacred groves devoted to rites of which brutality\nand sensuality were the most obvious features, this people had 'lords\nmany and gods many';--their religious system was as obviously marked as\nany other with absurdity, superstition, and vice.\"[70]\n\n [70] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary\n Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 465 _sq._\n\nThis account of the Samoan religion, written at a time when the islands\nwere not yet fully opened up to Europeans, must be modified by the\ntestimony of later writers, in particular with regard to the alleged\nabsence of temples and offerings; but in its broad outlines it holds\ngood, in so far as the Samoan ritual was honourably distinguished from\nthat of many other islands in the Pacific by its freedom from human\nsacrifice and from the gross and licentious practices which prevailed in\nother branches of the Polynesian race. The notion of the Rarotongans\nthat the Samoans were a godless people has proved to be totally\nmistaken. On closer acquaintance it was found that they lived under the\ninfluence of a host of imaginary deities who exercised their faith and\ndemanded their obedience. Among these deities the most numerous and\nperhaps the most influential were the _aitu_, which were the gods of\nindividuals, of families, of towns or villages, and of districts.[71]\nThese gods were supposed to appear in some visible embodiment or\nincarnation, and the particular thing, or class of things, in which his\ngod was in the habit of appearing, was to the Samoan an object of\nveneration, and he took great care never to injure it or treat it with\ncontempt. In the great majority of cases the thing in which the deity\npresented himself to his worshippers was a class of natural objects,\nmost commonly a species of animal, bird, or fish, less frequently a tree\nor plant or an inanimate object, such as a stone, the rainbow, or a\nmeteor. One man, for example, saw his god in the eel, another in the\nshark, another in the turtle, another in the owl, another in the lizard,\nand so on throughout all the fish of the sea, the birds, the four-footed\nbeasts, and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, such as the\nlimpets on the rocks, gods were supposed to be present. It was not\nuncommon to see an intelligent chief muttering prayers to a fly, an ant,\nor a lizard, which chanced to alight or crawl in his presence. A man\nwould eat freely of the incarnation of another man's god, but would most\nscrupulously refrain from eating of the incarnation of his own\nparticular god, believing that death would be the consequence of such\nsacrilege. The offended god was supposed to take up his abode in the\nbody of the impious eater and to generate there the very thing which he\nhad eaten, till it caused his death. For example, if a man, whose family\ngod was incarnate in the prickly sea-urchin (_Echinus_), were to eat of\na sea-urchin, it was believed that a prickly sea-urchin would grow in\nhis body and kill him. If his family god were incarnate in the turtle,\nand he was rash enough to eat a turtle, the god would enter into him,\nand his voice would be heard from within the sinner's body, saying, \"I\nam killing this man; he ate my incarnation.\" Occasionally, however, the\npenalty exacted by the deity was less severe. If, for instance, a man's\ngod was in cockles, and he ate one of these shell-fish, a cockle would\ngrow on his nose; if he merely picked up a cockle on the shore and\nwalked away with it, the shell-fish would appear on some part of his\nperson. But in neither case, apparently, would the kindly cockle take\nthe life of the offender. It was not a bloodthirsty deity. Again, a man\nwhose god was in coco-nuts would never drink the refreshing beverage\nwhich other people were free to extract from the nuts. But the\nworshipper who shrank from eating or drinking his god in the shape, say,\nof an octopus or of coco-nut water, would often look on with\nindifference while other people partook of these his divinities. He\nmight pity their ignorance or envy their liberty, but he would not seek\nto enlighten the one or to restrain the other.[72] Indeed this\nindifference was sometimes carried to great lengths. For example, a man\nwhose god was incarnate in the turtle, though he would not himself dare\nto partake of turtle, would have no scruple in helping a neighbour to\ncut up and cook a turtle; but in doing so he took the precaution to tie\na bandage over his mouth to prevent an embryo turtle from slipping down\nhis throat and sealing his doom by growing up in his stomach.[73]\nSometimes the incarnate deity, out of consideration perhaps for the\nweakness of the flesh, would limit his presence to a portion of an\nanimal, it might be the left wing of a pigeon, or the tail of a dog, or\nthe right leg of a pig.[74] The advantages of such a restriction to a\nworshipper are obvious. A man, for instance, to whom it would have been\ndeath to eat the right leg of a pig, might partake of a left leg of pork\nwith safety and even with gusto. And so with the rest of the divine\nmenagery.\n\n [71] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_\n (London, 1866), pp. 106 _sqq._; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise\n in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western Pacific_, p. 141; G. Turner,\n _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211, 215\n _sqq._\n\n [72] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises\n in the South Sea Islands_, p. 468; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the\n United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131 _sq._; T. H. Hood,\n _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. \"Fawn\" in the Western Pacific_, p.\n 141; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 106\n _sqq._; Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de\n Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 111; G.\n Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._, 40, 50 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, pp. 211, 216 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 137, 218. The account of these deities given\n by Dr. G. Turner is by far the fullest and best.\n\n [73] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 67 _sq._\n\n [74] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ p. 107. Similarly some\n people had pig's heart for their god, or the embodiment of their\n god, and they scrupulously avoided eating pigs' hearts lest\n pigs' hearts should grow in their bodies and so cause their\n death. See G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72.\n\nHowever, even if the worst had happened, that is to say, if the deity\nhad been killed, cooked and eaten, the consequences were not necessarily\nfatal to his worshippers; there were modes of redeeming the lives of the\nsinners and of expiating their sin. Suppose, for example, that the god\nof a household was the cuttle-fish, and that some visitor to the house\nhad, either in ignorance or in bravado, caught a cuttle-fish and cooked\nit, or that a member of the family had been present where a cuttle-fish\nwas eaten, the family would meet in conclave to consult about the\nsacrilege, and they would select one of their number, whether a man or a\nwoman, to go and lie down in a cold oven and be covered over with\nleaves, just as in the process of baking, all to pretend that the person\nwas being offered up as a burnt sacrifice to avert the wrath of the\ndeity. While this solemn pretence was being enacted, the whole family\nwould engage in prayer, saying, \"O bald-headed cuttle-fish, forgive what\nhas been done. It was all the work of a stranger.\" If they did not thus\nabase themselves before the divine cuttle-fish, they believed that the\ngod would visit them and cause a cuttle-fish to grow internally in their\nbodies and so be the death of some of them.[75] Similar modes of\nappeasing the wrath of divine eels, mullets, stinging ray fish, turtles,\nwild pigeons, and garden lizards were adopted with equal success.[76]\n\n [75] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._\n\n [76] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 38, 58, 59, 69 _sq._, 72.\n\nApparently the Samoans were even more concerned to defend their village\ngods or district gods against injury and insult than to guard the\ndeities of simple individuals. We are told that all the inhabitants of a\ndistrict would thus unite for the protection of the local divinity.[77]\nFor example, it happened that in a village where the first native\nChristian teachers settled one of them caught a sea-eel (_Muraena_) and\ncooked it, and two of the village lads, who were their servants, ate\nsome of the eel for their supper. But the eel was the village god, and\nwhen the villagers heard that the lads had eaten the god, they\nadministered a sound thrashing to the culprits, and dragged them off to\na cooking-house where they laid them down in the oven pit and covered\nthem with leaves in the usual way, as if the lads had been killed and\nwere now to be cooked as a peace-offering to avert the wrath of the\ndeity.[78] When John Williams had caused some Christian natives to kill\na large sea-snake and dry it on the rocks to be preserved as a specimen,\nthe heathen fishermen of the island at sight of it raised a most\nterrific yell, and, seizing their clubs, rushed upon the Christian\nnatives, saying, \"You have killed our god! You have killed our god!\" It\nwas with difficulty that Mr. Williams restrained their violence on\ncondition that the reptile should be immediately carried back to the\nboat from which the missionary had landed.[79] The island in which this\nhappened belonged to the Tongan group, but precisely the same incident\nmight have occurred in Samoa. In some parts of Upolu a goddess was\nbelieved to be incarnate in bats, and if a neighbour chanced to kill one\nof these creatures, the indignant worshippers of the bat might wage a\nwar to avenge the insult to their deity.[80] If people who had the\nstinging ray fish for the incarnation of their god heard that their\nneighbours had caught a fish of that sort, they would go and beg them to\ngive it up and not to cook it. A refusal to comply with the request\nwould be followed by a fight.[81]\n\n [77] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 216 _sq._\n\n [78] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 58.\n\n [79] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 469.\n\n [80] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57.\n\n [81] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 75.\n\nAccordingly, when the Samoans were converted to Christianity, they gave\nthe strongest proof of the genuineness of their conversion by killing\nand eating their animal gods. Thus when a chief named Malietoa renounced\nheathenism, he caused an eel to be publicly caught, cooked, and eaten by\nmany persons who had hitherto regarded the eel as their god. His own\nsons had a different sort of fish, called _anae_, for their private\ndeity, and to demonstrate their faith in the new religion they had a\nquantity of the fish caught, cooked, and served up in the presence of a\nlarge party of friends and relations. There, with trembling hearts, they\npartook of the once sacred morsel; but, their fears getting the better\nof them, they immediately retired from the feast and swallowed a\npowerful emetic, lest the divine fish should lie heavy on their stomachs\nand devour their vitals.[82] As nothing particular happened after these\ndaring innovations, the people took heart of grace, and concerted\nfurther plans for the destruction of their ancient deities. Among these\nwas a certain Papo, who was nothing more or less than a piece of old\nrotten matting, about three yards long and four inches wide; but being a\ngod of war and, in that capacity, always attached to the canoe of the\nleader when they went forth to battle, he was regarded with great\nveneration by the people. At the assembly convoked to decide on his\nfate, the first proposal was to throw him into the fire. But the idea\nwas too shocking to the general sense of the community, and by way of\nmaking death as little painful as possible to the deity, they decided to\ntake him out to sea in a canoe and there consign him to a watery grave.\nEven from this mitigated doom Papo was rescued by the efforts of the\nmissionaries, and he now adorns a museum.[83]\n\n [82] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 373 _sq._\n\n [83] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 375.\n\nBut even when the career of one of these animal gods was not prematurely\ncut short by being killed, cooked, and eaten, he was still liable to die\nin the course of nature; and when his dead body was discovered, great\nwas the sorrow of his worshippers. If, for example, the god of a village\nwas an owl, and a dead owl was found lying beside a road or under a\ntree, it would be reverently covered up with a white cloth by the person\nwho discovered it, and all the villagers would assemble round the dead\ngod and burn their bodies with firebrands and beat their foreheads with\nstones till the blood flowed. Then the corpse of the feathered deity\nwould be wrapped up and buried with as much care and ceremony as if it\nwere a human body. However, that was not the death of the god. He was\nsupposed to be yet alive and incarnate in all the owls in existence.[84]\n\n [84] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 21, 26, 60 _sq._ Compare\n W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 110 _sq._\n\nThe offerings to these deities consisted chiefly of cooked food,[85]\nwhich was apparently deemed as essential to the sustenance of gods as of\nmen, and that even when the gods were not animals but stones. For\nexample, two oblong smooth stones, which stood on a platform of loose\nstones near a village, were regarded as the parents of the rain-god, and\nwhen the people were making ready to go off to the woods for the\nfavourite sport of pigeon-catching, they used to lay offerings of cooked\ntaro and fish on the stones, accompanied by prayers for fine weather and\nno rain. These stone gods were also believed to cause yams to grow;\nhence in time of dearth a man would present them with a yam in hope of\nsecuring their favour.[86]\n\n [85] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20.\n\n [86] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 24 _sq._\n\nAt the feasts the first cup of kava was dedicated to the god, the\npresiding chief either pouring it out on the ground or waving it towards\nthe sky. Afterwards all the chiefs drank from the same cup according to\ntheir rank; then the food brought as an offering was divided and eaten\nthere before the god.[87] Even within the circle of the family it was\ncustomary to pour out on the ground a little kava as an offering to the\nfamily god before any one else drank of it.[88]\n\n [87] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20; W. T. Pritchard,\n _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 121 _sqq._\n\n [88] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229.\n\nAnnual feasts were held in honour of the gods, and the season of the\nfeast was often in May, but sometimes in April or June.[89] In some\ncases the feasts were regulated by the appearance of the bird which was\nbelieved to be the incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen,\nthe priest would say that the god had come, and he would fix upon a day\nfor the entertainment of the deity.[90] At these festivals all the\npeople met in the place of public assembly, where they had collected\nheaps of cooked food. First, they made their offerings to the god and\nprayed to him to avert calamity and grant prosperity; then they feasted\nwith and before their god, and after that any strangers present might\neat. Some of the festivals included games, such as wrestling,\nspear-throwing, club exercises, sham-fights, and nocturnal dances; and\nthey lasted for days.[91] At one of these annual festivals held in the\nmonth of June, the exercise with clubs assumed a serious and indeed\nsanguinary form. All the people, old and young, men, women, and\nchildren, took part in it, and battered their scalps till the blood\nstreamed down over their faces and bodies. This proof of their devotion\nwas supposed to be acceptable to the deity, who, gratified by the sight\nof their flowing blood, would answer their prayers for health, good\ncrops, and victory in war.[92] At the feast of the cockle god in May\nprayers were offered up to the divine shell-fish that he would be\npleased to cure the coughs and other ailments usually prevalent at that\nseason, which in Samoa forms the transition from the wet to the dry\nmonths.[93] At the festival of an owl god, which fell about the month of\nApril, the offerings and prayers were particularly directed towards the\nremoval of caterpillars from the plantations; for these insects were\nbelieved to be the servants of the owl god, who could send them as his\nministers of vengeance to lay waste the fields and orchards of the\nimpious.[94] Elsewhere the owl was a war god, and at the beginning of\nthe annual fish festivals the chiefs and people of the village assembled\nround the opening of the first oven and gave the first fish to the\ngod.[95] A family, who had the eel for their household god, showed their\ngratitude to him for his kindness by presenting him with the first\nfruits of their taro plantation.[96] Another family believed their deity\nto be incarnate in centipedes; and if a member of the family fell ill or\nwas bitten by a centipede, they would offer the divine reptile a fine\nmat and a fan, with a prayer for the recovery of the patient.[97] The\nutility of a fine mat and a fan to a centipede is too obvious to be\ninsisted on. Sometimes offerings were made to a god, not to persuade him\nto come, but to induce him to go away. For example, where gods or\nspirits were believed to voyage along the coast, offerings of food were\noften set down on the beach as an inducement to the spirits to take the\nvictuals and pass on without calling at that particular place.[98]\n\n [89] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29, 41, 44, 47,\n 53, 57.\n\n [90] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20 _sq._\n\n [91] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29; W. T.\n Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 123.\n\n [92] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57.\n\n [93] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 41.\n\n [94] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 47.\n\n [95] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._\n\n [96] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._\n\n [97] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 47 _sq._\n\n [98] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229.\n\nFormal prayers were offered to the god by the head of a family, and\npublic prayer was put up when the men were setting out for war. On such\noccasions they prayed that stones, stumps of trees, and other obstacles\nmight be taken out of the way of the warriors, and that their path might\nbe wet with the blood of their foes. All their prayers were for temporal\nbenefits, such as protection against enemies, plenty of food, and other\ndesirable objects. They attached great importance to confession of\nwrongdoing in times of danger, but, so far as appears, they expressed no\nrepentance, promised no amendment, and offered no prayer for\nforgiveness. If, for example, a canoe, crossing the channel between\nSavaii and Upolu, were caught in a squall and seemed likely to be\nswamped, the steersman would head the canoe to the wind, and every man\non board would make a clean breast of his sins. One would say, \"I stole\na fowl at such and such a village.\" Another would confess an intrigue\nwith a married woman somewhere else; and so on. When all had either\nconfessed their guilt or declared their innocence, the helmsman would\nput the helm about and scud before the wind, in perfect confidence of\nbringing the canoe and crew safe to land.[99]\n\n [99] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 229\n _sq._\n\nWhen a god was believed to be incarnate in a species of birds or animals\nor fish, omens were naturally drawn from the appearance and behaviour of\nthe creatures. This happened particularly in time of war, when hopes and\nfears were rife among the people. Thus, if their war god was an owl,\nand the bird fluttered above the troops on the march, the omen was good;\nbut if the owl flew away in the direction of the enemy, it was an evil\nomen, the god had deserted them and joined the foe;[100] if it crossed\nthe path of the warriors or flew back on them, it was a warning to\nretreat.[101] So in places where the war-god was a rail-bird, if the\nbird screeched and flew before the army, the people marched confidently\nto battle; but if it turned and flew back, they hesitated. If the\nplumage of the rail showed glossy red, it was a sign to go to war; but\nif the feathers were dark and dingy, it was a warning to stay at home.\nAnd if the bird were heard chattering or scolding, as they called it, at\nmidnight, it prognosticated an attack next day, and they would at once\nsend off the women and children to a place of safety.[102] In like\nmanner omens were drawn from the flight of herons, kingfishers, the\n_Porphyris Samoensis_, and flying-foxes, where these creatures were\nsupposed to incarnate the war god.[103] People who saw their war god in\nthe lizard used to take omens from a lizard before they went forth to\nfight. They watched the movements of a lizard in a bundle of spears. If\nthe creature ran about the outside of the bundle and the points of the\nspears, the omen was favourable; but if it crept into the bundle for\nconcealment, it was an evil sign.[104] The inhabitants of several\nvillages looked upon dogs, especially white dogs, as the incarnation of\ntheir war god; accordingly if the dog wagged his tail, barked, and\ndashed ahead in sight of the enemy, it was a good omen; but if he\nretreated or howled, their hearts failed them.[105] Again, where the\ncuttle-fish was the war god, the movements of that fish at sea were\nanxiously observed in time of war. If the fish swam inshore while the\npeople were mustering for battle, it augured victory; but if it swam far\naway, it portended defeat.[106]\n\n [100] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._\n\n [101] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 60.\n\n [102] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 52, 61, 65.\n\n [103] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 35, 51, 54 _sq._, 64.\n\n [104] G. Turner, pp. 46 _sq._\n\n [105] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49.\n\n [106] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 29.\n\nWhen a god was supposed to dwell in some inanimate object, the art of\ndivination was similarly employed to elicit a knowledge of the future\nfrom an observation of the object, whatever it might be. In several\nvillages, for example, the people viewed a rainbow as the representative\nof their war god. If, when they were going to battle by land or sea, a\nrainbow appeared in the sky right in front of them, with the arch, as it\nwere, straddling across the line of march or the course that the fleet\nwas steering, it was a warning to turn back. But if the bow shone on the\nright or left of the army or of the fleet, it meant that the god was\nmarching with them, and cheering on the advance.[107] Another village\nrevered its god in the lightning. When lightning flashed frequently in\ntime of war, it was believed that the god had come to help and direct\nhis people. A constant play of lightning over a particular spot was a\nwarning that the enemy was lurking there in ambush. A rapid succession\nof flashes in front meant that the foe was being driven back; but if the\nlightning flashed from front to rear, it was a signal to retreat.[108]\nIn one large village the war god resided in two teeth of the sperm\nwhale, which were kept in a cave and observed by a priest in time of\nwar. If the teeth were found lying east and west, it was a good omen;\nbut if they lay north and south, it prognosticated defeat.[109] In\nanother place the war god was present in a bundle of shark's teeth, and\nthe people consulted the bundle before they went out to fight. If the\nbundle felt heavy, it foreboded ill; but if it was light, it was an omen\nof victory, and the troops marched with hearts correspondingly\nlight.[110]\n\n [107] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35; compare p. 43.\n\n [108] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 59 _sq._\n\n [109] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35.\n\n [110] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55.\n\nWhen the god was incarnate in a live creature, it was an obvious\nadvantage to ensure his constant presence and blessing by owning a\nspecimen of his incarnation and feeding it. Hence some folk kept a tame\ngod on their premises. For instance, some people possessed a war god in\nthe shape of a pet owl;[111] others had a divine pigeon, which was\ncarefully kept and fed by the different members of the family in\nturn.[112] Yet others were so fortunate as to capture the thunder god\nand to keep him in durance, which effectually prevented him from doing\nmischief. Having caught him, they tied him up with pandanus leaves and\nfrightened him by poking firebrands at him. And lest, as an old\noffender, he should attempt to break prison and relapse into his former\ncareer of crime, they filled a basket with pandanus leaves and charred\nfirebrands and hung it up on a tree _in terrorem_, to signify what he\nmight expect to get if he took it into his head to strike houses\nagain.[113]\n\n [111] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._\n\n [112] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 64.\n\n [113] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 34.\n\nVegetable gods were much less plentiful than animal gods in Samoa. Still\nthey occurred. Thus, the god of one family lived in a large tree\n(_Hernandia peltata_); hence no member of the family dared to pluck a\nleaf or break a branch of that tree.[114] The household deity of another\nfamily dwelt in a tree of a different sort (_Conanga odorata_), which\nhas yellow and sweet-scented flowers.[115] In Savaii the special abode\nof a village god called Tuifiti or \"King of Fiji\" was a grove of large\nand durable trees (_Afzelia bijuga_). No one dared to cut that timber.\nIt is said that a party of natives from another island once tried to\nfell one of these trees; but blood flowed from the trunk, and all the\nsacrilegious strangers fell ill and died.[116] One family saw their god\nin the moon. On the appearance of the new moon all the members of the\nfamily called out, \"Child of the moon, you have come.\" They assembled\nalso, presented offerings of food, feasted together, and joined in\npraying, \"Oh, child of the moon! Keep far away disease and death.\" And\nthey also prayed to the moon before they set out on the war path.[117]\nBut in Samoa, as in Tonga, there seems to be no record of a worship of\nthe sun, unless the stories of human sacrifices formerly offered to the\ngreat luminary be regarded as reminiscences of sun-worship.[118]\n\n [114] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72.\n\n [115] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 71.\n\n [116] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 63.\n\n [117] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 67.\n\n [118] See above, p. 158.\n\n\nSec. 7. _Priests and Temples_\n\nThe father of a family acted as the priest of the household god. He\nusually offered a short prayer at the evening meal, begging the deity to\nguard them all from war, sickness, death, and the payment of fines.\nSometimes he would direct the family to hold a feast in honour of their\ngod, and on these occasions a cup of kava was poured out as a libation\nto the divinity. Such simple domestic rites were celebrated in the\nhouse, where the whole family assembled; for the gods were believed to\nbe present with men in a spiritual and invisible form as well as in the\nmaterial objects which were regarded as their visible embodiments. Often\nthe deity spoke through the father or other members of the family,\ntelling them what to do in order to remove a present evil or avert a\nthreatened one.[119]\n\n [119] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 18. For the offering of\n kava to the household god, compare _id._ p. 51.\n\nBut while every head of a family might thus act as a domestic priest and\nmouthpiece of the deity, there was also a professional class of priests\nset apart for the public worship of the gods, particularly of the war\ngods, who in their nature did not differ essentially from the gods of\nfamilies, of villages, and of districts, being commonly embodied either\nin particular material objects or in classes of such objects, especially\nin various species of birds, animals, and fish, such as owls, rails,\nkingfishers, dogs, lizards, flying-foxes, and cuttle-fish. Sometimes the\nruling chiefs acted as priests; but in general some one man in a\nparticular family claimed the dignity of the priesthood and professed to\ndeclare the will of the god. His office was hereditary. He fixed the\ndays for the annual feasts in honour of the deity, received the\nofferings, and thanked the people for them. He decided also whether the\npeople might go to war.[120] The priests possessed great authority over\nthe minds of the people, and they often availed themselves of their\ninfluence to amass wealth.[121] The gods were supposed from time to time\nto take possession of the priests and to speak through their mouths,\nanswering enquiries and issuing commands. Thus consulted as an oracle\nthe priest, or the god through him, might complain that the people had\nbeen slack in making offerings of food and property, and he would\nthreaten them with vengeance if they did not speedily bring an ample\nsupply to the human representative of the deity. At other times the god\nrequired a whole family to assemble and build him a large canoe or a\nhouse, and such a command was always obeyed with alacrity and a humble\napology tendered for past neglect. The priests were also consulted\noracularly for the healing of the sick, the recovery of stolen property,\nand the cursing of enemies. Thus they kept the people in constant fear\nby their threats and impoverished them by their exactions.[122]\n\n [120] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20. For a full account of\n the priesthood, see J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 220 _sqq._ As\n to the Samoan war-gods, see G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 23, 25\n _sq._, 27 _sq._, 28, 32, 33, 35, 42, 46 _sq._, 48, 49, 51, 52,\n 54 _sq._, 55, 57, 60, 61, 64, 65; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp.\n 215 _sq._\n\n [121] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70, 222 _sq._, 225;\n G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._\n\n [122] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 223-225; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 246 _sq._\n\nThe outward signs of divine inspiration or possession were such as\npriests or prophets have manifested in many lands and ages as conclusive\nevidence of their being the vehicles of higher powers. The approach or\npresence of the god was indicated by the priest beginning to gape, yawn,\nand clear his throat; but soon his countenance changed, his body\nunderwent violent contortions, and in loud, unearthly tones, which the\ntrembling and awe-stricken hearers interpreted as the voice of an\nindwelling deity, he delivered his message of exhortation or warning, of\nmenace, or comfort, or hope.[123]\n\n [123] J. B. Stair, p. 223; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._\n\nSpirit-houses (_fale-aitu_) or temples were erected for some, but not\nall, of the class of deities (_aitu_) which we are now considering. It\nwas chiefly the war gods who were thus honoured. Such temples were built\nwith the same materials and in the same style as the houses of men, with\nnothing to distinguish them from ordinary dwellings, except that they\nalmost always stood on platforms of stones, which varied in height and\nsize with the respect felt for the particular deity. They were usually\nsituated on the principal public place or green (_malae_) of the village\nand surrounded by a low fence. Sometimes they were mere huts; yet being\nviewed as the abode of gods they were held sacred and regarded with\ngreat veneration by the Samoans in the olden time. Whatever emblems of\ndeity were in possession of the village were always placed in these\nhouses under the watchful care of keepers.[124] In one temple, for\ninstance, might be seen a conch shell hung from the roof in a basket.\nThis shell the god was supposed to blow when he wished the people to go\nto war. In another a cup made of the shell of a coco-nut was suspended\nfrom the roof, and before it prayers were uttered and offerings\npresented. The cup was also used in an ordeal for the detection of\ntheft. In a trial before chiefs the cup would be sent for, and each of\nthe suspected culprits would lay his hand on it and say, \"With my hand\non this cup, may the god look upon me, and send swift destruction, if I\ntook the thing which has been stolen.\" They firmly believed that it\nwould be death to touch the cup and tell a lie.[125]\n\n [124] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 226-228.\n\n [125] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 19.\n\nThe temples were always built by the united exertions of a whole family,\nvillage, or district.[126] For example, when the inhabitants of a\nvillage whose god was the cuttle-fish erected a new temple to that\ndeity, every man, woman, and child in the village contributed something\nto it, if it was only a stick or a reed of thatch. While some of the\nvillagers were drafted off to put up the house, the rest engaged in a\nfree fight, which appears to have been considered as a necessary part of\nthe proceedings. On this occasion many old scores were settled, and he\nwho got most wounds was believed to have earned the special favour of\nthe deity. With the completion of the temple the fighting ended, and\nought not to be renewed for a year, till the anniversary of the building\nof the temple came round, when the worshippers were again at liberty to\nbreak each other's heads in honour of the divine cuttle-fish.[127]\n\n [126] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 227 _sq._\n\n [127] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 29 _sq._\n\nAt one place in Savaii there was a temple in which a priest constantly\nresided. The sick used to be carried to him in the temple and there laid\ndown with offerings of fine mats. Thereupon the priest stroked the\ndiseased part, and the patient was supposed to recover.[128] We hear of\nanother temple in which fine mats were brought as offerings to the\npriests and stored up in large numbers among the temple treasures. Thus\nin time the temples might have amassed a considerable degree of wealth\nand might even, if economic progress had not been arrested by European\nintervention, have developed into banks. However, when the people were\nconverted to Christianity, they destroyed this particular temple and\ndissipated the accumulated treasures in a single feast by way of\ncelebrating their adhesion to the new faith.[129] Where the bat was the\nlocal deity, many bats used to flock about the temple in time of\nwar.[130] Where the kingfisher received the homage of the people as the\ngod of war, the old men of the village were wont to enter his temple in\ntimes of public emergency and address the kingfisher; and people outside\ncould hear the bird replying, though, singularly enough, his voice was\nthat of a man, and not that of a bird. But as usual the god was\ninvisible.[131] In one place a temple of the great god Tangaloa was\ncalled \"the House of the Gods,\" and it was carefully shut up all round,\nthe people thinking that, if this precaution were not taken, the gods\nwould get out and in too easily and be all the more destructive.[132]\nSuch a temple might be considered rather as a prison than a house of the\ngods.\n\n [128] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49.\n\n [129] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55.\n\n [130] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 56 _sq._\n\n [131] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._\n\n [132] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 53.\n\nTo the rule that Samoan temples were built of the same perishable\nmaterials as ordinary houses a single exception is known. About ten\nmiles inland from the harbour of Apia, in the island of Upolu, are the\nruins of a temple, of which the central and side posts and the rafters\nwere all constructed of stone. The ground plan seems to have resembled\nthat of an ordinary Samoan house of the best style, forming an ellipse\nwhich measured fifty feet in one direction by forty feet in the other.\nTwo central pillars appear to have supported the roof, each fashioned of\na single block of stone some thirteen feet high, twelve inches thick one\nway and nine inches the other. The rafters were in lengths of twelve\nfeet and six feet, by four inches square. Of the outside pillars, which\nupheld the lower edge of the sloping roof, eighteen were seen standing\nby Pritchard, who has described the ruins. Each pillar stood three feet\nhigh and measured nine inches thick in one way by six inches in the\nother. Each had a notch or shoulder on the inner side for supporting the\nroof. Pillars and rafters were quarried from an adjoining bluff, distant\nonly some fifty yards from the ruins. Some squared stones lying at the\nfoot of the bluff seem to show that the temple was never completed. The\nsite of the ruins is a flat about three acres in area. The natives call\nthe ruins _Fale-o-le-Fe'e_, that is, the House of the Fe'e. This Fe'e\nwas a famous war god of A'ana and Faleata, two native towns of Upolu; he\nwas commonly incarnated in the cuttle-fish. As the Samoans were\nunacquainted with the art of cutting stones, and had no tools suitable\nfor the work, they thought that this temple, with its columns and\nrafters of squared stone, must have been built by the gods, and they\nexplained its unfinished state by alleging that the divine builders had\nquarrelled among themselves before they had brought the work to\ncompletion.[133]\n\n [133] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 119-121; Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de\n Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 112; G.\n Turner, _Samoa_, p. 31; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 228; G.\n Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 220.\n\nFor the sake of completeness I will mention another stone monument, of\nmore imposing dimensions, which has been discovered in Samoa, though its\norigin and meaning are unknown. It stands on a tableland in the high\nmountainous interior of Upolu and appears to be not altogether easy of\naccess. The discoverer, Mr. H. B. Sterndale, reached it by clambering up\nfrom what he describes as a broad and dangerous ravine. In making his\nway to the tableland he passed through a gap which from a distance he\nhad supposed to be a natural fissure in the rocks; but on arriving at it\nhe discovered, to his surprise, that the gap was in fact a great fosse\nformed by the hand of man, being excavated in some places and built up\nat others, while on one side, next to the rise of the hill, it was\nfurther heightened by a parapet wall. When, passing through the fosse,\nhe issued upon the tableland, which is a level space of some twenty\nacres in extent, he perceived the monument, \"a truncated conical\nstructure or _Heidenmauer_ of such huge dimensions as must have required\nthe labour of a great multitude to construct. So little did I expect,\"\nhe says, \"in this neighbourhood to meet with any example of human\narchitecture, and so rudely monstrous was the appearance of this\ncyclopean building, that from its peculiar form, and from the vegetation\nwith which it was overgrown, I might have passed it by, supposing it to\nhave been a volcanic hillock, had not my attention been attracted by the\nstonework of the fosse. I hastened to ascend it. It was about twenty\nfeet high by one hundred in diameter. It was circular with straight\n[perpendicular?] sides; the lower tiers of stone were very large, they\nwere lava blocks, some of which would weigh at least a ton, which must\nhave been rolled or moved on skids to their present places. They were\nlaid in courses; and in two places near the top seemed to have been\nentrances to the inside, as in one appeared a low cave choked with rocks\nand tree roots. If there had been chambers within, they were probably\nnarrow and still existing, as there was no sign of depression on the\ncrown of the work, which was flat and covered with flat stones, among\nwhich grew both trees and shrubs. It is likely that it was not in itself\nintended as a place of defence, but rather as a base or platform upon\nwhich some building of importance, perhaps of timber, had been erected,\nno doubt in the centre of a village, as many foundations of a few feet\nhigh were near it. The fosse, when unbroken, and its inner wall entire,\nwas probably crossed by a foot-bridge, to be withdrawn on the approach\nof an enemy; and the little gap, by which I had entered, closed, so that\nthis must have been a place of great security. The Samoan natives, as\nfar as I have been able to learn, have no tradition of what people\ninhabited this mountain fastness.\"[134]\n\n [134] H. B. Sterndale, quoted by R. A. Sterndale,\n \"Asiatic Architecture in Polynesia,\" _The Asiatic Quarterly\n Review_, x. (July-October 1890) pp. 347-350. The writer of this\n article reports the discoveries of his brother, Mr. Handley\n Bathurst Sterndale.\n\nOn an adjoining tableland, approached by a steep and narrow ridge, Mr.\nSterndale saw a great number of cairns of stone, apparently graves,\ndisposed in rows among huge trees, the roots of which had overturned and\ndestroyed very many of the cairns. Here, within the numerous trunks of a\ngreat spreading banyan tree, Mr. Sterndale found what he calls an inner\nchamber, or cell, about ten feet square, the floor being paved with flat\nstones and the walls built of enormous blocks of the same material,\nwhile the roof was composed of the twisted trunks of the banyan tree,\nwhich had grown into a solid arch and, festooned by creepers, excluded\neven the faint glimmer of twilight that dimly illuminated the\nsurrounding forest. Disturbed by a light which the traveller struck to\nexplore the gloomy interior, bats fluttered about his head. In the\ncentre of the chamber he discovered a cairn, or rather cromlech, about\nfour feet high, which was formed of several stones arranged in a\ntriangle, with a great flat slab on the top. On the flat slab lay a\nlarge conch shell, white with age, and encrusted with moss and dead\nanimalculae. The chamber or cell, enclosed by the trunks of the\nbanyan-tree, might have been inaccessible, if it were not that, under\nthe pressure of the tree-trunks, several of the great slabs composing\nthe wall had been displaced, leaving a passage.[135]\n\n [135] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ pp. 351 _sq._\n\nWhat were these remarkable monuments? Mr. Sterndale believed the stone\nchamber to be the tomb of some man of authority in ancient days, the\nantiquity of the structure being vouched for by the great banyan-tree\nwhich had so completely overgrown it. This view is likely enough, and is\nconfirmed by the large number of cairns about it, which appear to be\nsepulchral. But what was the massive circular monument or platform,\nbuilt of huge blocks of lava laid in tiers? From Mr. Sterndale's\ndescription it would seem that the structure closely resembled the tombs\nof the sacred kings of Tonga, though these tombs are oblong instead of\ncircular. But they often supported a house or hut of wood and thatch;\nand Mr. Sterndale may well be right in supposing that the circular\nSamoan monument in like manner served as a platform to support a wooden\nbuilding. In this connexion we must not forget that the typical Samoan\nhouse was circular or oval in contrast to the typical Tongan house,\nwhich was oblong. The openings, which seemed to lead into the interior\nof the monument, may have given access to the sepulchral chamber where\nthe bodies of the dead were deposited.\n\nSlight as are these indications, they apparently point to the use of the\nmonument as a tomb. There is nothing, except perhaps its circular shape,\nto suggest that it was a temple of the sun. As no such stone buildings\nhave been erected by the Samoans during the time they have been under\nEuropean observation, it may be, as Mr. Sterndale supposed, that all the\nruins described by him were the work of a people who inhabited the\nislands before the arrival of the existing race.[136]\n\n [136] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ p. 352.\n\n\nSec. 8. _Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts:\nRelation to Totemism_\n\nIf we ask, What was the origin of the peculiar Samoan worship of animals\nand other natural objects? the most probable answer seems to be that it\nhas been developed out of totemism. The system is not simple totemism,\nfor in totemism the animals, plants, and other natural objects are not\nworshipped, that is, they do not receive offerings nor are approached\nwith prayers; in short, they are not gods, but are regarded as the\nkinsfolk of the men and women who have them for totems. Further, the\nlocal distribution of the revered objects in Samoa, according to\nvillages and districts, differs from the characteristic distribution of\ntotems, which is not by place but by social groups or clans, the members\nof which are usually more or less intermixed with each other in every\ndistrict. It is true that in Samoa we hear of family or household gods\nas well as of gods of villages and districts, and these family gods, in\nso far as they consist of species of animals and plants which the\nworshippers are forbidden to kill or eat, present a close analogy to\ntotems. But it is to be observed that these family gods were, so to say,\nin a state of unstable equilibrium, it being always uncertain whether a\nman would inherit his father's or his mother's god or would be assigned\na god differing from both of them. This uncertainty arose from the\nmanner of determining a man's god at birth. When a woman was in travail,\nthe help of several gods was invoked, one after the other, to assist the\nbirth; and the god who happened to be invoked at the moment when the\nchild saw the light, was his god for life. As a rule, the god of the\nfather's family was prayed to first; so that generally, perhaps, a man\ninherited the god of his father. But if the birth was tedious and\ndifficult, the god of the mother's family was next invoked. When the\nchild was born, the mother would call out, \"To whom were you praying?\"\nand the god prayed to just before was carefully remembered, and his\nincarnation duly acknowledged throughout the future life of the\nchild.[137] Such a mode of selecting a divine patron is totally\ndifferent from the mode whereby, under pure totemism, a person obtains\nhis totem; for his totem is automatically determined for him at birth,\nbeing, in the vast majority of cases, inherited either from his father\nor from his mother, without any possibility of variation or selection.\nLastly, the Samoan system differs from most, though not all, systems of\ntotemism, in that it is quite independent of exogamy; in other words,\nthere is no rule forbidding people who revere the same god to marry each\nother.\n\n [137] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 17, 78 _sq._\n\nThus, while the Samoan worship of certain classes of natural objects,\nespecially species of animals, is certainly not pure totemism, it\npresents points of analogy to that system, and might easily, we may\nsuppose, have been developed out of it, the feeling of kinship for\ntotemic animals and plants having been slowly transformed and sublimated\ninto a religious reverence for the creatures and a belief in their\ndivinity; while at the same time the clans, which were originally\nintermixed, gradually sorted out from each other and settled down in\nseparate villages and districts. This gradual segregation of the clans\nmay have been facilitated by a change from maternal to paternal descent\nof the totem; for when a man transmits his totem to his offspring, his\ndescendants in the male line tend naturally to expand into a local group\nin which the totem remains constant from generation to generation\ninstead of alternating with each successive generation, as necessarily\nhappens when a man's children take their totem not from him but from\ntheir mother. That the Samoan worship of _aitu_ was developed in some\nsuch way out of simple totemism appears to have been the view of Dr.\nGeorge Brown, one of our best authorities on Samoan society and\nreligion; for he speaks without reserve of the revered objects as\ntotems.[138] A similar derivation of the Samoan _aitu_ was favoured by\nDr. Rivers, who, during a visit to Samoa, found some evidence\nconfirmatory of this conclusion.[139]\n\n [138] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 137,\n 218, 334.\n\n [139] W. H. R. Rivers, \"Totemism in Polynesia and\n Melanesia,\" _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,\n xxxix. (1909) pp. 159 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 9. _The High Gods of Samoa_\n\nBut besides these totemic gods of Samoa, as we may term them, which were\nrestricted in the circle of their worshippers to particular families,\nvillages, or districts, there were certain superior deities who were\nworshipped by all the people in common and might accordingly be called\nthe national divinities of Samoa; indeed the worship of some of them was\nnot confined to Samoa, but was shared by the inhabitants of other groups\nof islands in Polynesia. These high gods were considered the progenitors\nof the inferior deities, and were believed to have formed the earth and\nits inhabitants. They themselves dwelt in heaven, in the sea, on the\nearth, or under the earth; but they were invisible and did not appear to\ntheir worshippers in the form of animals or plants. They had no temples\nand no priests, and were not invoked like their descendants.[140]\n\n [140] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 111 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211 _sq._\n\nAmong these high gods the chief was Tangaloa, or, as he was sometimes\ncalled, Tangaloa-langi, that is, Tangaloa of the Skies. He was always\nspoken of as the principal god, the creator of the world and progenitor\nof the other gods and of mankind.[141] It is said that after existing\nsomewhere in space he made the heavens as an abode for himself, and that\nwishing to have also a place under the heavens he created this lower\nworld (_Lalolangi_, that is, \"Under the heavens\"). According to one\naccount, he formed the islands of Savaii and Upolu by rolling down two\nstones from the sky; but according to another story he fished them up\nfrom the depths of the sea on a fishing-hook. Next he made the _Fee_ or\ncuttle-fish, and told it to go down under the earth; hence the lower\nregions of sea or land are called _Sa he fee_ or \"sacred to the\ncuttle-fish.\" In its turn the cuttle-fish brought forth all kinds of\nrocks, including the great one on which we live.[142] Another myth\nrelates how Tangaloa sent down his son or daughter in the likeness of a\nbird called _turi_, a species of plover or snipe (_Charadrius fulvus_).\nShe flew about, but could find no resting-place, for as yet there was\nnothing but ocean; the earth had not been created or raised above the\nsea. So she returned to her father in heaven and reported her fruitless\nsearch; and at last he gave her some earth and a creeping plant. These\nshe took down with her on her next visit to earth; and after a time the\nleaves of the plant withered and produced swarms of worms or maggots,\nwhich gradually developed into men and women. The plant which thus by\nits corruption gave birth to the human species was the convolvulus.\nAccording to another version of the myth, it was in reply to the\ncomplaint of his daughter or son that the sky-god Tangaloa fished up the\nfirst islands from the bottom of the sea.[143]\n\n [141] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 212.\n\n [142] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 7.\n\n [143] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 7 _sq._; J. B. Stair,\n _Old Samoa_, pp. 212-214. The bird _turi_ or _tuli_ is spoken of\n by Turner as the daughter, but by Stair as the son, of Tangaloa.\n According to Turner, the bird is a species of snipe; according\n to Stair, a species of plover. As to Tangaloa and the stories\n told about him, compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary\n Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 469 _sq._; H. Hale,\n _Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring\n Expedition_, p. 22; Violette, \"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur\n l'archipel de Samoa,\" _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870)\n pp. 111 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, p. 463, _s.v._ \"Tangaroa.\"\n\nAnother of the national gods of Samoa was Mafuie, who was supposed to\ndwell in the subterranean regions and to cause earthquakes by shaking\nthe pillar on which the earth reposes. In a tussle with the hero\nTi'iti'i, who descended to the lower world to rob Mafuie of his fire,\nthe earthquake god lost one of his arms, and the Samoans considered this\nas a very fortunate circumstance; for otherwise they said that, if\nMafuie had had two arms, he would have shaken the world to pieces.[144]\nIt is said that during a shock of earthquake the natives used to rush\nfrom their houses, throw themselves upon the ground, gnaw the grass, and\nshriek in the most frantic manner to Mafuie to desist, lest he should\nshake the earth to bits.[145]\n\n [144] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States\n Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian\n Reminiscences_, pp. 112, 114 _sqq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp.\n 209-211; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 238 _sq._\n\n [145] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 379.\n\nIt seems to be doubtful whether among the Samoan gods are to be numbered\nthe souls of deceased ancestors. Certainly the evidence for the practice\nof a worship of the dead is far less full and clear in Samoa than in\nTonga. On this subject Dr. George Brown writes as follows: \"Traces of\nancestor worship are few and indistinct. The word _tupua_ is supposed by\nsome to mean the deified spirits of chiefs, and to mean that they\nconstituted a separate order from the _atua_, who were the original\ngods. The word itself is the name of a stone, supposed to be a petrified\nman, and is also generally used as the name of any image having some\nsacred significance, and as representing the body into which the deified\nspirit was changed. What appears certain is that ancestor worship had\namongst the Samoans gradually given place to the worship of a superior\norder of supernatural beings not immediately connected with men, but\nhaving many human passions and modes of action and life. There are,\nhowever, some cases which seem to point to ancestor worship in olden\ndays, as in the case of the town of Matautu, which is said to have been\nsettled by a colony from Fiji. Their principal deity was called Tuifiti,\nthe King of Fiji. He was considered to be the head of that family, and a\ngrove of trees, _ifilele_ (the green-heart of India), was sacred to him\nand could not be cut or injured in any way.\"[146] This god was supposed\nto be incarnate in a man who walked about, but he was never visible to\nthe people of the place, though curiously enough he could be seen by\nstrangers.[147]\n\n [146] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 223.\n See also above, p. 192.\n\n [147] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 62 _sq._ The town or\n village of Matautu is in the island of Savaii. According to G.\n Turner, the sacred tree of Tuifiti was the _Afzelia bijuga_.\n\nHowever, another experienced missionary, J. B. Stair, who knew Samoa a\ngood many years before Dr. Brown arrived in it, speaks apparently\nwithout hesitation of the _tupua_ as being \"the deified spirits of\nchiefs, who were also supposed to dwell in Pulotu,\" where they became\nposts in the house or temple of the gods. Many beautiful emblems, he\nsays, were chosen to represent the immortality of these deified spirits;\namong them were some of the heavenly bodies, including the Pleiades and\nthe planet Jupiter, also the rainbow, the marine rainbow, and many\nmore. He adds that the embalmed bodies of some chiefs were worshipped\nunder the significant title of \"sun-dried gods\"; and that people prayed\nand poured libations of kava at the graves of deceased relatives.[148]\n\n [148] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 210 _sq._, 215.\n\n\nSec. 10. _The Samoan Belief concerning the Human Soul: Funeral Customs_\n\nWhether the Samoans practised the worship of the dead in a developed\nform or not, they certainly possessed the elements out of which the\nworship might under favourable circumstances be evolved. These elements\nare a belief in the survival of the human soul after death, and a fear\nof disembodied spirits or ghosts.\n\nThe Samoans believed that every man is animated by a soul, which departs\nfrom the body temporarily in faints and dreams and permanently at death.\nThe soul of the dreamer, they thought, really visited the places which\nhe saw in his dream. At death it departed to the subterranean world of\nthe dead which the Samoans called Pulotu, a name which clearly differs\nonly dialectically from the Tongan Bolotoo or Bulotu. Some people\nprofessed to see the parting soul when it had quitted its mortal body\nand was about to take flight to the nether region. It was always of the\nsame shape as the body. Such apparitions at the moment of death were\nmuch dreaded, and people tried to drive them away by shouting and firing\nguns. The word for soul is _anganga_, which is a reduplicated form of\n_anga_, a verb meaning \"to go\" or \"to come.\" Thus apparently the Samoans\ndid not, like many people, identify the soul with the shadow; for in\nSamoan the word for shadow is _ata_.[149]\n\n [149] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 8, 16; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, p. 220; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 218\n _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p.\n 26, _s.v._ \"Ata.\"\n\nHowever, they seem to have in a dim way associated a man's soul with his\nshadow. This appears from a remarkable custom which they observed in the\ncase of the unburied dead. The Samoans were much concerned for the lot\nof these unfortunates and stood in great dread of their ghosts. They\nbelieved that the spirits of those who had not received the rites of\nburial wandered about wretched and forlorn and haunted their relatives\neverywhere by day and night, crying in doleful tones, \"Oh, how cold! oh,\nhow cold!\" Hence when the body of a dead kinsman was lost because he had\nbeen drowned at sea or slain on a battlefield, some of his relatives\nwould go down to the seashore or away to the battlefield where their\nfriend had perished; and there spreading out a cloth on the ground they\nwould pray to some god of the family, saying, \"Oh, be kind to us; let us\nobtain without difficulty the spirit of the young man!\" After that the\nfirst thing that lighted on the cloth was supposed to be the spirit of\nthe dead. It might be a butterfly, a grasshopper, an ant, a spider, or a\nlizard; whatever it might be, it was carefully wrapt up and taken to the\nfamily, who buried the bundle with all due ceremony, as if it contained\nthe body of their departed friend. Thus the unquiet spirit was believed\nto find rest. Now the insect, or whatever it happened to be, which thus\nacted as proxy at the burial was supposed to be the _ata_ or shadow of\nthe deceased. The same word _ata_ served to express likeness; a\nphotographer, for example, is called _pue-ata_, \"shadow-catcher.\" The\nSamoans do not appear to have associated the soul with the breath.[150]\n\n [150] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170\n _sq._, 218 sq.; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 150 _sq._; S. Ella,\n \"Samoa,\" _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian\n Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart,\n Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 641 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, p. 184. According to Brown and Stair the ceremony\n described in the text was observed when a man had died a violent\n death, even when the relatives were in possession of the body,\n and in that case the insect, or whatever it might be, was buried\n with the corpse. I have followed Turner and Ella in supposing\n that the ceremony was only observed when the corpse could not be\n found. As to the fear of the spirits of the unburied dead, see\n also W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 58 _sq._,\n 151.\n\nThey attributed disease and death to the anger of a god, to the agency\nof an evil spirit, or to the ghost of a dead relative who had entered\ninto the body of the sufferer. Epilepsy, delirium, and mania were always\nthus explained by the entrance into the patient of a god or demon. The\nSamoan remedy for all such ailments was not medicine but exorcism.\nSometimes a near relative of the sick person would go round the house\nbrandishing a spear and striking the walls to drive away the spirit that\nwas causing the sickness.[151] Hence when a member of a family fell\nseriously ill, his friends did not send for a doctor, but repaired to\nthe high priest of the village to enquire of him the cause of the\nsickness, to learn why the family god (_aitu_) was angry with them, and\nto implore his mercy and forgiveness. Often the priest took advantage of\ntheir anxiety to demand a valuable piece of property, such as a canoe or\na parcel of ground, as the best means of propitiating the angry deity\nand so ensuring the recovery of the patient. With all these demands the\nanxious and unsuspecting relatives readily complied. But if the priest\nhappened not to want anything in particular at the time, he would\nprobably tell the messengers to gather the family about the bed of the\nsufferer and there confess their sins. The command was implicitly\nobeyed, and every member of the family assembled and made a clean breast\nof his or her misdeeds, especially of any curse which he or she might\nhave called down either on the family generally or on the invalid in\nparticular. Curiously enough, the curse of a sister was peculiarly\ndreaded; hence in such cases the sister of the sick man was closely\nquestioned as to whether she had cursed him and thus caused his illness;\nif so, she was entreated to remove the curse, that he might recover.\nMoved by these pleadings, she might take some coco-nut water in her\nmouth and spurt it out towards or upon the body of the sufferer. By this\naction she either removed the curse or declared her innocence; a similar\nceremony might be performed by any other member of the family who was\nsuspected of having cursed the sick man.[152]\n\n [151] S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 639, 643; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 402.\n\n [152] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 146 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 140 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.\n cit._ p. 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 180 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 401.\n\nWhen an illness seemed likely to prove fatal, messengers were despatched\nto friends at a distance that they might come and bid farewell to the\ndying man. Every one who came to visit the sufferer in his last moments\nbrought a present of a fine mat or other valuable piece of property as\na token of regard, and to defray the cost of the illness and funeral.\nThe best of the mats would be laid on the body of the dying man that he\nmight have the comfort of seeing them before he closed his eyes for\never. Dr. George Brown thought that the spirits of the mats thus laid on\nthe body of the dying chief were supposed to accompany his soul to the\nother world. It is possible that their spirits did so, but it is certain\nthat their material substance did not; for after the funeral all the\nmats and other valuables so presented were distributed among the\nmourners and friends assembled on the occasion, so that every one who\nhad brought a gift took away something in return on his departure.[153]\n\n [153] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ pp. 147, 150 _sq._;\n G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 141 _sq._, 146; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p.\n 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians\n and Polynesians_, pp. 220, 401, 405 _sq._\n\nIf the dying man happened to be a chief, numbers crowded round him to\nreceive a parting look or word, while in front of the house might be\nseen men and women wildly beating their heads and bodies with great\nstones, thus inflicting on themselves ghastly wounds, from which the\nblood poured as an offering of affection and sympathy to their departing\nfriend or lord. It was hoped that, pleased and propitiated by the sight\nof their devotion, the angry god might yet stay his hand and spare the\nchief to his people. Above all the tumult and uproar would rise the\nvoice of one who prayed aloud for the life then trembling in the\nbalance. But if the prayer seemed likely to prove ineffectual, it was\nexchanged for threats and upbraiding. \"O thou shameless spirit,\" the\nvoice would now be heard exclaiming, \"could I but grasp you, I would\nsmash your skull to pieces! Come here and let us fight together. Don't\nconceal yourself, but show yourself like a man, and let us fight, if you\nare angry.\"[154]\n\n [154] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 181 _sq._\n\nImmediately after death, all the mats on the floor of the house were\nthrown outside, and the thatched sides of the house were either torn\ndown or knocked in with clubs; while the relatives and assembled crowds\nwrought themselves up to frenzy, uttering loud shrieks, rending their\ngarments, tearing out their hair by handfuls, burning their bodies with\nfirebrands, beating their faces and heads with clubs and stones, or\ngashing themselves with shells and shark's teeth, till the blood ran\nfreely down. This they called an offering of blood for the dead. In\ntheir fury some of the mourners fell on the canoes and houses, breaking\nthem up and tearing them down, felling the bread-fruit trees, and\ndevastating the plantations of yams and taro.[155]\n\n [155] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p.\n 148; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 144; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J.\n B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and\n Polynesians_, pp. 401 _sq._\n\nAs decomposition is rapid in the hot moist climate of Samoa, it was\ncustomary to bury commoners a few hours after death. The body was laid\nout on a mat, anointed with scented oil, and the face tinged with\nturmeric, to soften the cadaverous look. It was then wound up in several\nfolds of native cloth and the chin propped up, the head and face being\nleft uncovered, while for some hours longer the body was surrounded by\nweeping relatives, who kept constant watch over it, so long as it\nremained in the house. These watchers were always women, and none of\nthem might quit her post under any pretext till she was relieved by\nanother. A fire was kept burning brightly in the house all the time. If\nthe deceased had died of a complaint which had previously carried off\nother members of the family, they would probably open the body to\n\"search for the disease.\" Any inflamed substance which they happened to\nfind they would take away and burn, thinking thus to prevent any other\nmember of the family from being similarly afflicted. Such a custom\nbetrays an incipient sense of death from natural, instead of\nsupernatural, causes, and must have contributed to diffuse a knowledge\nof human anatomy.[156]\n\n [156] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 148 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 144 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402.\n\nSo long as a corpse remained in the house no food might be eaten under\nthe roof; the family had their meals outside or in another house. Those\nwho had attended to the deceased or handled the corpse were taboo: they\nmight not feed themselves or touch food with their hands. For days they\nwere fed by others as if they were helpless infants. Baldness and the\nloss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by the\nhousehold god for a breach of the rule. Many people fasted at such\ntimes, eating nothing during the day, but taking a meal in the evening.\nThe fifth day was a day of purification. The tabooed persons then washed\ntheir faces and hands with hot water and were clean; after that they\nwere free to eat at the usual time and in the usual manner.[157]\n\n [157] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 145; W. T. Pritchard, _op.\n cit._ p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J. B. Stair, _Old\n Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p.\n 402.\n\nThe ordinary mode of disposing of the dead was by interment either in a\nstone vault or in a shallow grave. But occasionally other modes were\nadopted, such as embalming, putting the corpse in a canoe and setting it\nadrift on the sea, or exposing it on a stage erected in the forest,\nwhere it was left to decay, the bones being afterwards collected and\nburied. Upon the death of a chief his body was generally deposited in a\nfamily vault, the sides and bottom of which were lined with large slabs\nof sandstone or basalt, while another large slab of the same material\nformed the roof. Such vaults were sometimes large and massive. The\nstones used in their construction were found in various parts of the\nislands. Commoners were buried in shallow graves.[158]\n\n [158] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 178 _sq._\n\nOrdinary people were usually buried the day after they died. As many\nfriends as could be present attended the funeral. Every one brought a\npresent, but on the day after the funeral all these presents, like those\nwhich had previously been made to the dying man, were distributed again,\nso that none went empty-handed away. The corpse was generally buried\nwithout a coffin; but chiefs were laid in hollow logs or canoes.\nHowever, even the bodies of common people were sometimes interred\nin rude coffins similarly constructed. There were no common\nburying-grounds; all preferred to bury their dead on their own land.\nOften the grave was dug close to the house. The body was laid in it with\nthe head to the east and the feet to the west. When it had been thus\ncommitted to its last resting-place, a near relative of the deceased, a\nsister, if one survived, seated herself at the grave, and waving a white\ncloth over the corpse, began an address to the dead. \"Compassion to\nyou,\" she said, \"go with goodwill, and without bearing malice towards\nus. Take with you all our diseases, and leave us life.\" Then pointing to\nthe west, she exclaimed, \"Misery there!\" Next pointing to the east, she\ncried, \"Prosperity there!\" Lastly, pointing to the grave, she said,\n\"Misery there; but leave happiness with us!\" With the body they\ndeposited in the grave several things which had been used by the\ndeceased during his illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup, and\nhis bamboo pillow. The wooden pickaxes and coco-nut shells employed as\nshovels in digging the grave were also carefully buried with the corpse.\nIt was not, we are told, because the people believed these things to be\nof use to the dead; but because it was supposed that, if they were left\nand handled by others, further disease and death would be the\nconsequence. Valuable mats and other articles of property were sometimes\nburied with the corpse, and the grave of a warrior was surrounded with\nspears stuck upright in the ground. Graves were sometimes enclosed with\nstones and strewn with sand or crumbled coral.[159]\n\n [159] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 150 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 146 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.\n cit._ pp. 640 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 179 _sq._,\n 182 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 403.\n\nThe obsequies of a chief of high rank were more elaborate. The body was\nkept unburied for days until his clansfolk had assembled from various\nparts of the islands and paraded the body, shoulder high, through the\nvillage, chanting a melancholy dirge.[160] The mourning and ceremonies\nlasted from ten to fifteen days. All that time the house of death was\nwatched night and day by men appointed for the purpose. After the\nburial, and until the days of mourning were ended, the daytime was\ngenerally spent in boxing and wrestling matches, and sham-fights, while\nthe nights were occupied with dancing and practising a kind of\nbuffoonery, which was customary at these seasons of mourning for the\ndead. The performance was called _O le tau-pinga_. The performers amused\nthemselves by making a variety of ludicrous faces and grimaces at each\nother, to see who could excite the other to laugh first. Thus they\nwhiled away the hours of night till the days of mourning were\nexpired.[161] So long as the funeral ceremonies and feasts lasted no\nwork might be done in the village, and no strangers might approach it.\nThe neighbouring lagoon and reefs were taboo: no canoe might pass over\nthe lagoon anywhere near the village, and no man might fish in it or on\nthe reef.[162] For a chief or man of distinction fires were kept burning\nday and night in a line from the house to the grave; these fires were\nmaintained for ten days after the funeral. The reason assigned for this\ncustom, according to Ella, was to keep away evil spirits. Even common\npeople observed a similar custom. After burial they kept a fire blazing\nin the house all night, and they were careful to clear the intervening\nground so that a stream of light went forth from the house to the grave.\nThe account which the Samoans gave of the custom, according to Turner,\nwas that it was merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and a\nmark of their tender regard for him. Dr. George Brown believed that the\noriginal motive for the custom was to warm the ghost, and probably at\nthe same time to protect the mourners against dangerous spirits.[163]\n\n [160] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 146\n\n [161] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 183 _sq._\n\n [162] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.\n 149 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 642; G. Brown, _Melanesians\n and Polynesians_, pp. 403 _sq._\n\n [163] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._\n pp. 640 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402.\n\nThe head was deemed a very sacred part, and in olden days the bodies of\nchiefs were often buried near their houses until decomposition had set\nin, when the head was cut off and interred in some family burying-place\ninland, to save it from insult in time of war. This interment of the\nhead was accompanied with feasts, dances, and sham-fights. The skull was\nborne to the appointed place on a kind of stage, attended by a troop of\narmed men. With these sham-fights Dr. George Brown, who records the\ncustom, compares the sham-fights which used to take place among the\nMelanesians of the Duke of York Island when the body of a chief was laid\non a high platform in front of his house, one company of warriors\nstriving to deposit the corpse on the platform, while their adversaries\nattempted to prevent them from doing so.[164] The meaning of these\ncurious sham-fights is obscure. Perhaps the attacking party represented\na band of evil spirits, who endeavoured to snatch away the chief's\nbody, but were defeated in the nefarious attempt.\n\n [164] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 388\n _sq._, 404 _sq._\n\nOne or two families of chiefs in the island of Upolu used to practise a\nrude kind of embalming. The work was done exclusively by women. The\nviscera having been removed and buried, the women anointed the body\ndaily with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids\nescape, they punctured the body all over with fine needles. Finally,\nwads of native cloth, saturated with oil or resinous gums, were inserted\nin the abdomen, the apertures were closed up, and the body wrapt in\nnative cloth. The face, hands, and feet were left exposed, and were\nrepeatedly anointed with oil, mixed with turmeric powder, to give a\nfresh and life-like appearance to the mummy. The whole process lasted\nabout two months. On its completion the mummy was placed in a house\nbuilt specially for the purpose, where, loosely covered with a sheet of\nnative cloth, it rested on a raised platform. Strangers were freely\nadmitted to see it. Four of these mummies, laid out in a house, were to\nbe seen down to about the year 1864. They were the bodies of a chief,\nhis wife, and two sons. Dr. George Turner judged that they must have\nbeen embalmed upwards of thirty years, and although they had been\nexposed all that time, they were in a remarkably good state of\npreservation. The people assigned no particular reason for the practice,\nfurther than that it sprang from an affectionate desire to keep the\nbodies of their departed friends with them, as if they were still\nalive.[165]\n\n [165] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 148 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.\n cit._ p. 641; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 184 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 405.\n\n\nSec. 11. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_\n\nWith regard to the fate of human souls after death the Samoans appear to\nhave believed in their immortality, or at all events in their indefinite\nsurvival. On this subject Dr. Brown observes: \"All souls survived after\ndeath, and so far as I know they had no idea of their dying a second\ndeath or being destroyed. I do not think that a Samoan could give any\nreason for his belief that the soul does not perish with the body, but\nhe certainly does believe this, and I never heard any one question\nthe fact.\"[166] Thus, according to Dr. Brown the Samoans, unlike the\nTongans, drew no invidious distinction between the souls of noblemen and\nthe souls of commoners, but liberally opened the doors of immortality to\ngentle and simple alike. So far, they carried their republican or\ndemocratic spirit into the world beyond the grave.\n\n [166] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 220\n _sq._\n\nHowever, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio Hale, some of\nthe Samoans agreed with the Tongans in taking an aristocratic view of\nthe destiny of souls after death; and as he had good opportunities for\nacquainting himself with the Samoan religion during the prolonged stay\nof the American Exploring Expedition at Samoa in 1839, when the islands\nwere as yet but little affected by European influence, I will quote his\naccount. He says: \"All believe in the existence of a large island,\nsituated far to the north-west called _Pulotu_, which is the residence\nof the gods. Some suppose that while the souls of the common people\nperish with their bodies, those of the chiefs are received into this\nisland, which is described as a terrestrial elysium, and become there\ninferior divinities. Others hold (according to Mr. Heath) that the\nspirits of the departed live and work in a dark subterraneous abode, and\nare eaten by the gods. A third, and very common opinion is, that the\nsouls of all who die on an island, make their way to the western\nextremity, where they plunge into the sea; but what then becomes of them\nis not stated. The rock from which they leap, in the island of Upolu,\nwas pointed out to us; the natives term it '_Fatu-asofia_,' which was\nrendered the 'jumping-off stone.'\"[167]\n\n [167] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United\n States Exploring Expedition_, p. 27.\n\nOf these various opinions described by Hale the third would seem to have\nbeen by far the most prevalent. It was commonly believed that the\ndisembodied spirit retained the exact resemblance of its former self, by\nwhich we are probably to understand the exact resemblance of its former\nbody. Immediately on quitting its earthly tabernacle it began its\nsolitary journey to Fafa, which was the subterranean abode of the dead,\nlying somewhere to the west of Savaii, the most westerly island of the\ngroup. Thus, if a man died in Manua, the most easterly of the islands,\nhis soul would journey to the western end of that island, then dive into\nthe sea and swim across to Tutuila. There it would walk along the beach\nto the extreme westerly point of the island, when it would again plunge\ninto the sea and swim across to the next island, and so on to the most\nwesterly cape of Savaii, where it finally dived into the ocean and\npursued its way to the mysterious Fafa.[168]\n\n [168] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 218 _sq._ Compare\n G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 643 _sq._\n\nAt the western end of Savaii, near the village of Falealupo, there are\ntwo circular openings among the rocks, not far from the beach. Down\nthese two openings the souls of the dead were supposed to go on their\npassage to the spirit-world. The souls of chiefs went down the larger of\nthe openings, and the souls of common people went down the smaller. Near\nthe spot stood a coco-nut tree, and if a passing soul chanced to collide\nwith it, the soul could not proceed farther, but returned to its body.\nWhen a man recovered from a deep swoon, his friends supposed that his\nsoul had been arrested in its progress to the other world by knocking\nagainst the coco-nut tree, and they rejoiced, saying, \"He has come back\nfrom the tree of the Watcher,\" for that was the name by which the\ncoco-nut tree was known. So firmly did the people of the neighbourhood\nbelieve in the passage of the souls near their houses, that at night\nthey kept down the blinds to exclude the ghosts.[169] The \"jumping-off\nstone\" at the west end of Upolu was also dreaded on account of the\npassing ghosts. The place is a narrow rocky cape. The Samoans were much\nastonished when a Christian native boldly built himself a house on the\nhaunted spot.[170] According to one account, the souls of the dead had\nnot to make their way through the chain of islands by the slow process\nof walking and swimming, but were at once transported to the western end\nof Savaii by a band of spirits, who hovered over the house of the dying\nman, and catching up his parting spirit conveyed it in a straight\ncourse westward.[171]\n\n [169] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 257 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.\n cit._ pp. 643 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p.\n 221.\n\n [170] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 219.\n\n [171] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._\n p. 643.\n\nThe place down which the spirits of the dead were supposed to descend to\nthe nether world was called by a native name (_Lua[=o]_), which means\n\"hollow pit.\" \"May you go rumbling down the hollow pit\" was a common\nform of cursing. At the bottom of the pit was a running stream which\nfloated the spirits away to Pulotu. All alike, the handsome and the\nugly, old and young, chiefs and commoners, drifted pell-mell on the\ncurrent in a dazed, semi-conscious state, till they came to Pulotu.\nThere they bathed in \"the Water of Life\" and recovered all their old\nlife and vigour. Infirmity of every kind fled away; even the aged became\nyoung again. The underworld of Pulotu was conceived on the model of our\nupper world. There, as here, were heavens and earth and sea, fruits and\nflowers; there the souls of the dead planted and fished and cooked;\nthere they married and were given in marriage, all after the manner of\nlife on earth.[172]\n\n [172] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 258 _sq._; G. Brown,\n _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 222.\n\nHowever, it appears that according to a widespread belief the world of\nthe dead was sharply discriminated into two regions, to wit, an Elysium\nor place of bliss called Pulotu, and a Tartarus or place of woe named\nS[=a]-le-Fe'e. The title for admission to one or other of these places\nwas not moral worth but social rank, chiefs going to Elysium and\ncommoners to Tartarus. The idea of the superiority of the chiefs to the\ncommon people was thus perpetuated in the land of the dead.[173] The\nking of the lower regions was a certain Saveasiuleo, that is, Savea of\nthe Echo. He reclined in a house in the company of the chiefs who\ngathered round him: the upper part of his body was human, the lower part\nwas like that of a fish and stretched away into the sea. This royal\nhouse of assembly was supported by the erect bodies of chiefs, who had\nbeen of high rank on earth, and who, before they died, anticipated with\npride the honour they were to enjoy by serving as pillars in the temple\nof the King of Pulotu.[174]\n\n [173] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 217 _sq._; G.\n Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221. On the question\n whether the Samoans held a doctrine of moral retribution after\n death, Dr. Brown observes: \"I do not remember any statement to\n the effect that the conduct of a man in this life affected his\n state after death. They certainly believe this now, but whether\n they did so prior to the introduction of Christianity I cannot\n definitely say. I am inclined, however, to believe that they did\n not believe that conduct in this life affected them in the\n future\" (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 261 _sq._).\n Elsewhere, however, Dr. Brown seems to express a contrary\n opinion. He says: \"It was generally understood that the\n conditions of men in this life, even amongst the common people,\n had an effect on their future conditions. A good man in Samoa\n generally meant a liberal man, one who was generous and\n hospitable; whilst a bad man was one who was mean, selfish, and\n greedy about food\" (_op. cit._ p. 222).\n\n [174] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 259 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.\n cit._ p. 644.\n\nBut the souls of the dead were not permanently confined to the lower\nworld. They could return to the land of the living by night to hold\nconverse with members of their families, to warn and instruct them in\ndreams, and to foretell the future. They could cause disease and death\nby entering into the bodies of their enemies and even of their friends,\nand they produced nightmare by sitting on the chests of sleepers. They\nhaunted some houses and especially burying-grounds. Their apparitions\nwere visible to the living and were greatly dreaded; people tried to\ndrive them away by shouts, noises, and the firing of guns. But the\nghosts had to return to the nether world at daybreak. It was because\nthey feared the spirits of the dead that the Samoans took such great\npains to propitiate dying people with presents; this they did above all\nto persons whom they had injured, because they had most reason to dread\nthe anger of their ghosts.[175] However, the souls of the departed were\nalso thought of in a more amiable light; they could help as well as harm\nmankind. Hence prayers were commonly offered at the grave of a parent, a\nbrother, or a chief. The suppliant, for example, might pray for health\nin sickness; or, if he were of a malignant turn, he might implore the\nghost to compass the death of some person at whom he bore a grudge. Thus\nwe are told that a woman prayed for the death of her brother, and he\ndied accordingly.[176] In such beliefs and practices we have, as I have\nalready observed, the essential elements of a regular worship of the\ndead. Whether the Samoans were on the way to evolve such a religion or,\nas Dr. George Brown preferred to suppose,[177] had left it behind them\nand made some progress towards a higher faith, we hardly possess the\nmeans of determining.\n\n [175] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 259; S. Ella, _op. cit._\n p. 644; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp.\n 219, 221, 222.\n\n [176] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 151.\n\n [177] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 245,\n 282.\n\nBut while the Samoans thought that the dead return to earth to make or\nmar the living, they did not believe that the spirits come back to be\nborn again in the form of men or animals or to occupy inanimate bodies;\nin other words they had no belief in the transmigration of souls.[178]\nThe absence of such a belief is significant in view of Dr. Rivers's\nsuggestion that Melanesian totemism may have been evolved out of a\ndoctrine of metempsychosis, human souls being supposed to pass at death\ninto their totem animals or plants.[179] We have seen that the Samoan\nsystem of family, village, and district gods bears strong marks of\nhaving been developed out of totemism; and if their totemism had in turn\nbeen developed out of a doctrine of transmigration, we should expect to\nfind among them a belief that the souls of the dead appeared in the\nshape of the animals, plants, or other natural objects which were\nregarded as the embodiments of their family, village, or district gods.\nBut of such a belief there is seemingly no trace. It appears, therefore,\nunlikely that Samoan totemism was based on a doctrine of transmigration.\nSimilarly we have seen reason to think that the Tongan worship of\nanimals may have sprung from totemism, though according to the best\nauthorities that worship was not connected with a theory of\nmetempsychosis.[180] Taken together, the Samoan and the Tongan systems\nseem to show that, if totemism ever flourished among the Polynesians, it\nhad not its roots in a worship of the dead.\n\n [178] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221,\n \"They had no belief in the transmigration of souls either into\n animals, inert bodies, or into different human bodies.\"\n\n [179] W. H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian\n Society_, ii. 358 _sqq._\n\n [180] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Hervey or Cook Islands_\n\nThe Hervey or Cook Archipelago is a scattered group of nine small\nislands situated in the South Pacific about seven hundred miles\nsouth-east of Samoa. The islands are either volcanic or coralline, and\napproach to them is impeded by dangerous reefs and the absence of\nharbours.[1] The two principal islands are Rarotonga and Mangaia, the\nmost southerly of the group. Of these the larger, Rarotonga, has a\ncircumference of about thirty miles. It is a vast mass of volcanic\nmountains, rising peak above peak, to a height of between four and five\nthousand feet above the sea; but from the foot of the mountains a\nstretch of flat land, covered with rich alluvial soil, extends for one\nor two miles to the coast, which is formed by a fringing reef of live\ncoral. The whole island is mantled in luxuriant tropical verdure. It is\ndifficult, we are told, to exaggerate the strange forms of beauty which\neverywhere meet the eye in this lovely island: gigantic and fantastic\ncolumns of rock draped with vines; deep valleys lying in the shadow of\noverhanging mountains; primaeval forest with its many shades of green;\nimmense chestnut trees, laden with fragrant blossoms; miles of\nbread-fruit groves, intermingled with coco-nut palms; and nearer the\nbeach plantains, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lastly, growing to the\nwater's edge, graceful iron-wood trees with hair-like leaves drooping\nlike tresses, all contribute to the variety and charm of the scenery.[2]\n\n [1] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p.\n 509.\n\n [2] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_ (London, N.D.), p.\n 11. Compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises\n in the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 16, 174-176.\n According to Dr. Guillemard (_loc. cit._), the height of\n Rarotonga is 2900 feet; according to W. W. Gill, our principal\n authority on the island, it is 4500 feet.\n\nVery different is the aspect of Mangaia. It is a complete coral island\nrising from deep water as a ring of live coral; there is no lagoon. A\nfew hundred yards inland from the rugged beach there rises gradually a\nsecond or inner ring of dead coral, which towards the interior falls\naway perpendicularly, thus surrounding the island like a cyclopean wall.\nThis belt or bulwark of dead coral is from one to two miles wide. To\ncross it is like walking on spear-points: to slip and fall on it may\nentail ghastly wounds. The streams of water from the interior find their\nway through it to the sea by subterranean channels. Imbedded in the\nhighest parts of this inland reef of coral are many sea-shells of\nexisting species, and it is honeycombed with many extensive caves, which\nwere formerly used as dwellings, cemeteries, places of refuge, or\nstorehouses. Scores of them are filled with desiccated human bodies. So\nvast are they that it is dangerous to venture alone into their recesses;\nthe forlorn wanderer might never emerge from them again. Some of them\nare said to penetrate far under the bed of the ocean. In these caverns\nstalactite and stalagmite abound, forming thick and fast-growing layers\nof limestone rock. The largest and most famous of the caves is known as\nthe Labyrinth (_Tuatini_). The interior of the island is formed of dark\nvolcanic rock and red clay, descending in low hills from a flat-topped\ncentre, called the Crown of Mangaia. The summit is not more than six\nhundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea.[3]\n\n [3] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_. pp. 7 _sq._;\n _id._, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_ (London, 1894), pp.\n 6 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp.\n 271 _sqq._, 274 _sqq._ (as to the caverns).\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_\n\nThough the natives speak a Polynesian language closely akin to the\nSamoan and have legends of their migration from Samoa, they appear not\nto be pure Polynesians. They say that they found black people on\nRarotonga; and their more pronounced features, more wavy hair, darker\ncomplexion, and more energetic character seem to indicate an admixture\nof Melanesian blood. In Mangaia, indeed, this type is said to\npredominate, the natives of that island being characterised by dusky\nbrown skin, wavy or frizzly hair, and ample beards: their features, too,\nare more prominent than those of the Rarotongans, and their manners are\nwilder.[4] Cannibalism prevailed in most of the islands of the group\ndown to the conversion of the natives to Christianity, which took place\nbetween 1823 and 1834, when, with the exception of a few pagans in\nMangaia, there did not remain a single idolater, or vestige of idolatry,\nin any one of the islands. However, many years afterwards old men, who\nhad partaken of cannibal feasts, assured a missionary that human flesh\nwas far superior to pork.[5]\n\n [4] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 509. Compare A.\n Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 257 _sq._, 269. The latter\n writer remarks on the great variety of types among the natives\n of these islands. In Mangaia he found the people darker than in\n Rarotonga, undersized, sturdy, with thick lips, noses broad and\n sunken at the bridge, which gave them a somewhat wild\n appearance. As to the tradition of an emigration of the Hervey\n Islanders from Samoa, see W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern\n Isles_, pp. 23 _sqq._ \"The Mangaians themselves trace their\n origin to Avaiki, or nether world; but Avaiki, Hawai'i, and\n Savai'i, are but slightly different forms of one word. The _s_\n of the Samoan dialect is invariably dropped in the Hervey Group\n dialects, whilst a _k_ is substituted for the break at the end.\n No native of these days doubts that by Avaiki his ancestors\n really intended Savai'i, the largest island of the Samoan Group.\n In Polynesia, to sail _west_ is to go _down_; to sail _east_ is\n to go _up_. To sail from Samoa to Mangaia would be 'to come up,'\n or, to translate their vernacular closely, 'to climb up.' In\n their songs and myths are many references to 'the hosts of\n _Uk_upolu,' undoubtedly the Upolu of Samoa\" (W. W. Gill, _op.\n cit._ p. 25). Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South\n Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 166 _sq._\n\n [5] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 13 _sq._;\n _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _Report of the Second Meeting\n of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science\n held at Melbourne, 1890_, p. 324. As to the date of the\n introduction of Christianity into the Hervey Islands, see John\n Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea\n Islands_, pp. 491 _sq._\n\nIn the larger islands the natives cultivated the soil diligently even\nbefore their contact with Europeans. The missionary John Williams, who\ndiscovered Rarotonga in 1823, found the island in a high state of\ncultivation. Rows of superb chestnut trees (_inocarpus_), planted at\nequal distances, stretched from the base of the mountains to the sea,\nwhile the spaces between the rows, some half a mile wide, were divided\ninto taro patches, each about half an acre in extent, carefully banked\nup and capable of being irrigated at pleasure. On the tops of the banks\ngrew fine bread-fruit trees placed at equal intervals, their stately\nfoliage presenting a pleasing contrast to the pea-green leaves of the\nordinary taro and the dark colour of the giant taro (_kape_) in the beds\nand on the sloping banks beneath.[6] In Rarotonga bread-fruit and\nplantains are the staple food; in Mangaia it is taro. On the atolls the\ncoco-nut palm flourishes, but no planting can be done, as the soil\nconsists of sand and gravel thrown up by the sea on the ever-growing\ncoral. The inhabitants of the atolls live contentedly on coco-nuts and\nfish; they are expert fishermen, having little else to do. But fresh\nfish are also eaten in large quantities on most of the islands.[7] In\nsome of the islands the planting was done by the women, but in others,\nincluding Rarotonga, the taro was both planted and brought home by the\nmen. Women cooked the food in ovens of hot stones sunk in holes, and\nthey made cloth from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which they stripped\nfrom the tree, steeped in water, and beat out with square mallets of\niron-wood. But garments were made also from the inner bark of the banyan\nand bread-fruit trees.[8] In the old days the native houses were flimsy\nquadrangular huts constructed of reeds and thatched with plaited\nleaflets of the coco-nut palm, which were very pervious to rain; but the\ntemples and large houses of chiefs were thatched with pandanus leaves.\nThe doors were always sliding; the threshold was made of a single block\nof timber, tastefully carved. There was a sacred and a common\nentrance.[9] Like all the Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders before their\ndiscovery were ignorant of the metals. When in a wrecked vessel they\nfound a bag of Californian gold, they thought it was something good to\neat and proceeded to cook the nuggets in order to make them juicy and\ntender.[10]\n\n [6] John Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 175 _sq._\n\n [7] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 12, 15; _id._,\n \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _Report of the Second Meeting of the\n Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at\n Melbourne, 1890_, p. 336.\n\n [8] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp. 332\n _sq._, 338.\n\n [9] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16; _id._,\n \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sq._\n\n [10] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16.\n\n\nSec. 3. _Social Life: the Sacred Kings_\n\nThe people were divided into tribes or clans, each tracing descent in\nthe male line from a common ancestor, and each possessing its own lands,\nwhich were inalienable. Exogamy, we are told, was the universal rule in\nthe olden time; but when a tribe was split up in war, the defeated\nportion was treated as an alien tribe. Polygamy was very common, and was\nnot restricted to chiefs. A man often had two or three sisters to wife\nat the same time. Distant cousins sometimes, though rarely, married each\nother; but in such cases they had to belong to the same generation; that\nis, they must be descended in the same degree, fourth, fifth, or even\nmore remote, from the common ancestor. If misfortune or disease overtook\ncouples linked even by so distant a relationship, the elders would\ndeclare that it was brought upon them by the anger of the clan-god. It\nwas the duty of parents to teach their growing children whom they might\nlawfully marry, but their choice was extremely limited. Children as a\nrule belonged to the tribe or clan of their father, unless they were\nadopted into another. However, parents had it at their option to assign\na child at birth either to the tribe of its father or to the tribe of\nits mother; this they did by pronouncing over the infant the name either\nof the father's or of the mother's god. Commonly the father had the\npreference; but occasionally, when the father's tribe was one from which\nhuman victims for sacrifice were regularly drawn, the mother would seek\nto save the child's life by having the name of her tribal god pronounced\nover it and so adopting it into her own tribe.[11] Circumcision in an\nimperfect form was practised in the Hervey Islands from time immemorial.\nIt was usually performed on a youth about the age of sixteen. The\noperation was indispensable to marriage. No woman would knowingly marry\nan uncircumcised husband. The greatest insult that could be offered to\na man was to accuse him of being uncircumcised. The rite is said to have\nbeen invented by the god Rongo in order to seduce the beautiful wife of\nhis brother Tangaroa, and he enjoined the observance of circumcision\nupon his worshippers.[12] In Rarotonga it was customary to mould a\nchild's head into a high shape by pressing the forehead and the back of\nthe head between slabs of soft wood. This practice did not obtain on\nMangaia nor, apparently, on any other island of the Hervey Group.[13]\n\n [11] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp. 323,\n 330, 331, 333.\n\n [12] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp.\n 327-329. In the operation the prepuce was slit longitudinally,\n and the divided pieces were drawn underneath and twisted, so as\n in time to form a small knot under the urethra. As to the\n ceremony of assigning a child either to its father's or to its\n mother's tribe, see W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South\n Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 36 _sq._\n\n [13] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 326.\n\nIn Rarotonga four ranks of society were recognised. These were the\n_ariki_, or king; the _mataiapo_, or governors of districts; the\n_rangatira_, or landowners; and the _unga_, or tenants. A man was\naccounted great according to the number of his _kaingas_ or farms, which\ncontained from one to five acres. These were let to tenants, who, like\nvassals under the feudal system, obeyed the orders of their superior,\nassisted him in erecting his house, in building his canoe, in making\nfishing-nets, and in other occupations, besides bringing him a certain\nportion of the produce of his lands.[14]\n\n [14] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the\n South Sea Islands_, pp. 183 _sq._\n\nThe kings were sacred men, being regarded as priests and mouthpieces of\nthe great tutelary divinities.[15] In Mangaia they were the priests or\nmouthpieces of the great god Rongo. So sacred were their royal persons\nthat no part of their body might be tattooed: they might not take part\nin dances or in actual warfare. Peace could not be proclaimed nor blood\nspilt lawfully without the consent of the king speaking in the name of\nthe god Rongo. Quite distinct from, and subordinate to, the sacred king\nwas the \"lord of Mangaia,\" a warrior chief who gained his lordship by a\ndecisive victory. He represented the civil power, while the king\nrepresented the spiritual power; but while the office of the king was\nhereditary, the office of the civil lord was not. It sometimes happened\nthat the civil lord was at enmity with the king of his day. In that\ncase the king would refuse to complete the ceremonies necessary for his\nformal investiture; life would remain unsafe; the soil could not be\ncultivated, and famine soon ensued. This state of turbulence and misery\nmight last for years, till the obnoxious chief had been in his turn\ndespatched, and a more agreeable successor appointed.[16] Thus the\nsacred king and the civil lord corresponded to the Tooitonga or sacred\nchief and the civil king of Tonga.[17]\n\n [15] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 335.\n\n [16] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 293.\n\n [17] See above, pp. 62 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 4. _Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism_\n\nYet though the king of Mangaia ranked above the civil or temporal lord,\nit devolved on that lord to install a new king in office by formally\nseating him on \"the sacred sandstone\" (_te kea inamoa_) in the sanctuary\nor sacred grove (_marae_)[18] of Rongo on the sea-shore facing the\nsetting sun. The ceremony took place in presence of the leading\nunder-chiefs. The special duty of the king was by offering rhythmical\nand very ancient prayers to Great Rongo to keep away evil-minded spirits\nwho might otherwise injure the island. For this end the principal king\n(_te ariki pa uta_) lived in the interior of the island in the sacred\nand fertile district of Keia. His prayers were thought to avert evil\nspirits coming from the east. On the barren sea-shore at O-rongo (the\nseat of the temple or grove of Rongo) lived the secondary king (_te\nariki pa tai_), who warded off bad spirits coming from the west. Besides\nthis primary ghostly function, many other important duties devolved upon\nthese royal personages. The secondary or shore king was not infrequently\na natural son of the great inland king. By virtue of their office all\nkings were high priests of Rongo, the tutelary god of Mangaia.[19]\n\n [18] In the Hervey Islands a _marae_ seems to have been a sacred\n grove. So it is described by W. W. Gill (_Myths and Songs from\n the South Pacific_, p. 14), who adds in a note: \"These _maraes_\n were planted with _callophylla inophylla_, etc., etc., which,\n untouched by the hand of man from generation to generation,\n threw a sacred gloom over the mysteries of idol-worship. The\n trees were accounted sacred, not for their own sake, but on\n account of the place where they grew.\"\n\n [19] W. W. Gill, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_, pp. 314\n _sq._ As to the installation of the priestly king by the\n temporal lord, see also _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op.\n cit._ pp. 339 _sq._\n\nBut Rongo was not peculiar to the Hervey Islands. He was a great\nPolynesian deity worshipped in almost every part of the Pacific, and\nthough his attributes differed greatly in different places, a universal\nreverence was paid to him. In the Hervey Islands, he and his twin\nbrother Tangaroa were deemed the children of Vatea, the eldest of the\nprimary gods, a being half man and half fish, whose eyes are the sun and\nthe moon. The wife of this monstrous deity and mother of the divine\ntwins was Papa, whose name signifies Foundation and who was supposed to\nbe a daughter of Timatekore or \"Nothing-more.\" The twin Tangaroa,\nanother great Polynesian deity, was specially honoured in Rarotonga and\nAitutaki, another of the Hervey Islands.[20] The famous Polynesian hero\nMaui was also well known in the Hervey Islands, where people told how he\nhad brought up the first fire to men from the under world, having there\nwrested it from the fire-god Mauike;[21] how he raised the sky--a solid\nvault of blue stone--to its present height, for of old the sky almost\ntouched the earth, so that people could not walk upright;[22] and\nfinally how he caught the great sun-god Ra himself in six nooses made of\nstrong coco-nut fibre, so that the motions of the orb of day, which\nbefore had been extremely irregular, have been most orderly ever\nsince.[23]\n\n [20] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 3\n _sqq._; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp. 348\n _sq._ As to Rongo and Tangaroa, see E. Tregear,\n _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z.,\n 1891), pp. 424 _sq._, 463 _sq._, _svv._ \"Rongo\" and \"Tangaroa.\"\n\n [21] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 51-58.\n\n [22] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 58-60.\n\n [23] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 61-63.\n\nBut besides the divine or heroic figures of more or less anthropomorphic\ntype, which the Hervey Islanders recognised in common with the rest of\nthe Polynesians, we may distinguish in their mythology traces of that\nother and probably older stage of thought in which the objects of\nreligious reverence are rather animals than men or beings modelled in\nthe image of man. We have seen that this early stage of religion was\nwell preserved in Samoa down to the time when the islands fell under the\nobservation of Europeans, and that it was probably a relic of\ntotemism,[24] which at an earlier period may perhaps have prevailed\ngenerally among the ancestors of the Polynesians. In the Hervey Islands\nthere was a god called Tonga-iti, who appeared visibly in the form of\nblack and white spotted lizards.[25] Another deity named Tiaio took\npossession of the body of the large white shark, the terror of these\nislanders, and he had a small sacred grove (_marae_) set apart for his\nworship. It is said that this shark-god was a former king of Mangaia,\nwho in the pride of his heart had defiled the sacred district of Keia,\nthe favourite haunt of the gods, by wearing some beautiful scarlet\nhibiscus flowers in his ears. Now anything red was forbidden in that\npart of the island as being offensive to the gods; and even the beating\nof bark-cloth was prohibited there, lest the repose of the gods should\nbe disturbed by the noise. Hence an angry priest knocked the proud and\nimpious king on the head, and the blood of the slain monarch flowed into\na neighbouring stream, where it was drunk by a great fresh-water eel. So\nthe spirit of the dead king entered into the eel, but subsequently,\npursuing its way to the sea, the spirit forsook the eel and took\npossession of the shark.[26] Nevertheless he continued occasionally to\nappear to his worshippers in the form of an eel; for we are told that in\nthe old heathen days, if a huge eel were caught in a net, it would have\nbeen regarded as the god Tiaio himself come on a visit, and that it\nwould accordingly have been allowed to return to the water\nunmolested.[27] It is quite possible that this derivation of the eel-god\nor shark-god from a former king of Mangaia may be historically correct;\nfor we are told that \"many of the deities worshipped in the Hervey Group\nand other islands of the eastern Pacific were canonised priests, kings,\nand warriors, whose spirits were supposed to enter into various birds,\nfish, reptiles, insects, etc., etc. Strangely enough, they were regarded\nas being, in no respect, inferior to the original deities.\"[28] Among\nthe creatures in which gods, and especially the spirits of deified men,\nwere believed permanently to reside or to be incarnate were reckoned\nsharks, sword-fish, eels, the octopus, yellow and black spotted lizards,\nas well as several kinds of birds and insects.[29] In Rarotonga the\ncuttle-fish was the special deity of the reigning family down to the\nsubversion of paganism.[30] In Mangaia the tribe of Teipe, whose members\nwere liable to serve as victims in human sacrifices, worshipped the\ncentipede: there was a shrine of the centipede god at Vaiau on the\neastern side of Mangaia.[31] Again, two gods, Tekuraaki and Utakea, were\nsupposed to be incarnate in the woodpecker.[32] A comprehensive\ndesignation for divinities of all kinds was \"the heavenly family\" (_te\nanau tuarangi_); and this celestial race included rats, lizards,\nbeetles, eels, sharks, and several kinds of birds. It was supposed that\n\"the heavenly family\" had taken up their abode in these creatures.[33]\nNay, even inanimate objects, such as the triton-shell, sandstone, bits\nof basalt, cinnet, and trees were believed to be thus tenanted by\ngods.[34] The god Tane-kio, for example, was thought to be enshrined in\nthe planets Venus and Jupiter, and also, curiously enough, in cinnet\nwork.[35] Again, each tribe had its own sacred bird, which was supposed\nto be sent by a god to warn the people of impending danger.[36] In these\nsuperstitions it is possible that we have relics of totemism.\n\n [24] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._\n\n [25] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 10 _sq._ 19. Another god called Turanga, who was worshipped at\n Aumoana, was also supposed to be incarnate in white and black\n spotted lizards. See _id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96.\n\n [26] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 29 _sq._\n\n [27] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 79 _sq._\n\n [28] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 349.\n\n [29] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 347.\n Yet in the same passage the writer affirms that \"there is no\n trace in the Eastern Pacific of the doctrine of transmigration\n of human souls, although the spirits of the dead are fabled to\n have assumed, temporarily, and for a specific purpose, the form\n of an insect, bird, fish, or cloud.\"\n\n [30] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 289.\n\n [31] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 96, 308, 309.\n\n [32] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96.\n\n [33] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 34\n _sq._\n\n [34] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 32.\n\n [35] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96.\n\n [36] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35;\n _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 349.\n\nOriginally, it is said, the gods spoke to men through the small land\nbirds, but the utterances of these creatures proved too indistinct to\nguide the actions of mankind. Hence to meet this emergency an order of\npriests was set apart, the gods actually taking up their abode, for the\ntime being, in their sacred persons. Hence priests were significantly\nnamed \"god-boxes\" (_pia-atua_) a title which was generally abbreviated\nto \"gods,\" because they were believed to be living embodiments of the\ndivinities. When a priest was consulted, he drank a bowl of kava (_Piper\nmethysticum_), and falling into convulsions gave the oracular response\nin language intelligible only to the initiated. The oracle so delivered,\nfrom which there was no appeal, was thought to have been inspired by the\ngod, who had entered into the priest for the purpose.[37]\n\n [37] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 35; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 349.\n\n\nSec. 5. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_\n\nLike other Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders believed that human beings\nare animated by a vital principle or soul, which survives the death of\nthe body for a longer or shorter time. Indeed, they held that nobody\ndies a strictly natural death except as an effect of extreme old age.\nNineteen out of twenty deaths were believed to be caused either by the\nanger of the gods or by the incantations of \"the praying people\" or\nsorcerers.[38] Hence, when a person fell ill, it was customary to\nconsult a priest in order to discover the nature of the sin which had\ndrawn down on the sufferer the wrath of the deity or the enmity of the\nsorcerer.[39] But besides its final departure at death, the soul was\nthought to quit the body temporarily on other occasions. In sleep it was\nsupposed to leave the sleeper and travel over the island, holding\nconverse with the dead, and even visiting the spirit-world. It was thus\nthat the islanders, like so many other savages, explained the phenomena\nof dreams. We are told that some of the most important events in their\nnational history were determined by dreams.[40] Again, they explained\nsneezing as the return of the soul to the body after a temporary\nabsence. Hence in Rarotonga, when a person sneezes, the bystanders\nexclaim, as though addressing his spirit, \"Ha! you have come back!\"[41]\n\n [38] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 342.\n Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35.\n\n [39] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 35; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 339; _id._,\n _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 70.\n\n [40] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 347.\n\n [41] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 177.\n\nHow exactly the Hervey Islanders pictured to themselves the nature of\nthe human soul, appears not to be recorded. Probably their notions on\nthis obscure subject did not differ greatly from those of the natives of\nPukapuka or Danger Island, a lonely island situated some hundreds of\nmiles to the north-west of the Hervey Group. These savages apparently\nconceived the soul as a small material substance that varied in size\nwith the dimensions of the body which it inhabited. For the sacred men\nor sorcerers of that island used to set traps to catch the souls of\npeople, and the traps consisted of loops of coco-nut fibre, which\ndiffered in size according as the soul to be caught in one of them was\nfat or thin, or perhaps according as it was the soul of a child or that\nof an adult. Two of these soul-traps were presented to Mr. W. W. Gill,\nthe first white missionary to land in Danger Island. The loops or rings\nwere arranged in pairs on each side of two cords, one of which was\ntwenty-eight feet long and the other fourteen. The mode of setting the\ntraps was this. If a person was very sick or had given offence to a\nsorcerer, the offended wizard or priest would hang a soul-trap by night\nfrom a branch of a tree overhanging the house of the sufferer or of the\nperson against whom he bore a grudge; then sitting down beside the snare\nhe would pretend to watch for the flight of the victim's spirit. If the\nfamily enquired the sin for which the soul-trap had been set, the holy\nman would probably allege some ceremonial fault committed by the sick\nman against the gods. If an insect or small bird chanced to fly through\none of the loops, the priest would allege that the man's soul was caught\nin the mesh, and that there was no hope for it but that the wretch must\ndie. In that case the demon Vaerua, who presided over the spirit-world,\nwas believed to hurry off the poor soul to the nether world, there to\nfeast upon it. The news that So-and-so had lost his soul would then\nspread through the island, and great would be the lamentation. The\nfriends of the unhappy man would seek to propitiate the sorcerer by\nlarge presents of food, begging him to intercede with the dread Vaerua\nfor the restoration of the lost soul. Sometimes the intercessions were\nsuccessful, and the patient recovered; but at other times the priest\nreported that his prayers were of no avail, and that Vaerua could not\nbe induced to send back the soul to re-inhabit the body. The melancholy\ntidings acted like a sentence of death. The patient gave up all hope and\nsoon pined away through sheer distress at the thought of his soul caught\nin the trap.[42]\n\n [42] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 180-183;\n _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 171.\n\n\nSec. 6. _Death and Funeral Rites_\n\nThe moment a sick person expired, his near relatives cut off their hair,\nblackened their faces, and slashed their bodies with shark's teeth, so\nthat the blood might stream down; in Rarotonga it was customary also to\nknock out some of the front teeth in token of sorrow. During the days of\nmourning people wore only native cloth, dyed red in the sap of the\ncandle-nut tree and then dipped in the black mud of a taro-patch. The\nvery foul smell of these garments is said to have been symbolical of the\nputrescent state of the corpse;[43] perhaps at the same time, though we\nare not told so, it helped to keep the ghost at arm's length.\n\n [43] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 181; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 344.\n\nThat the mourners were not anxious to detain the departed spirit appears\nfrom a custom observed by the Rarotongans and described by the\ndiscoverer of the island, John Williams. He tells us that in order to\nsecure the admission of a departed spirit to future joys, the corpse was\ndressed in the best attire the relatives could provide, the head was\nwreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A pig was then\nbaked whole and placed on the body of the deceased, surrounded by a pile\nof vegetable food. After that, supposing the departed to have been a\nson, the father would thus address the corpse: \"My son, when you were\nalive I treated you with kindness, and when you were taken ill I did my\nbest to restore you to health; and now you are dead, there is your\n_momoe o_, or property of admission. Go, my son, and with that gain an\nentrance into the palace of Tiki,[44] and do not come to this world\nagain to disturb and alarm us.\" The whole would then be buried; and, if\nthey received no intimation to the contrary within a few days of the\ninterment, the relatives believed that the pig and the rest of the\nvictuals had obtained for the deceased an entrance to the abode of\nbliss. If, however, a cricket was heard to chirp in the house, it was\ndeemed an ill omen, and they would immediately break into loud laments,\nsaying, for example, \"Oh, our brother! his spirit has not entered the\nparadise; he is suffering from hunger; he is shivering with cold!\"\nForthwith the grave would be opened and the offering repeated. This\nusually effected the purpose.[45]\n\n [44] The name of the god of the Rarotongan paradise.\n\n [45] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the\n South Sea Islands_, pp. 477 _sq._\n\nIn Rarotonga the provisions which were buried with the dead person as an\noffering to Tiki sometimes consisted of the head and kidneys of a hog, a\nsplit coco-nut, and a root of kava; in the island of Aitutaki it was\nusual to place at the pit of the stomach of the corpse the kernel of a\ncoco-nut, and a piece of sugar-cane; in Mangaia the extremity of a\ncoco-nut frond served the same purpose of propitiating Tiki and ensuring\nthe entrance of the ghost into paradise.[46]\n\n [46] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 170 _sq._\n\nThe bodies of the dead were anointed with scented oil, carefully wrapt\nup in a number of cloths, and so committed to their last resting-place.\nThey were never disembowelled for the purpose of embalming, but some\nwere desiccated by being kept for about a month and daily anointed with\ncoco-nut oil. A few were buried in the earth within the precincts of a\nsacred grove (_marae_); but by far the greater number were hidden in\ncaves which were regarded as the private property of certain families.\nThe bodies of warriors were in general carefully concealed by their\nfriends, lest foes should find and burn them in revenge. If a body were\nburied in the earth, it was always laid face downwards, with chin and\nknees meeting, and the limbs well secured with coco-nut fibre. A thin\ncovering of earth was spread over the corpse, and large heavy stones\nwere piled on the grave. \"The intention,\" we are informed, \"was to\nrender it impossible for the dead to rise up and injure the living.\" The\nhead of the corpse was always turned to the rising sun. It was customary\nto bury with the dead some article of value: a woman would have her\ncloth-mallet laid by her side, while a man would enjoin his friends to\nbury with him a favourite stone adze or a beautiful white shell (_Ovula\novum_, Linn.) which he had worn in the dance. Such articles were never\nafterwards touched by the living. Many people were buried in easily\naccessible caves, that their relatives might visit the mouldering\nremains from time to time. On such visits the corpse might be again\nexposed to the sun, anointed afresh with oil, and wrapt in new cloth.\nBut as the sorrow of the survivors abated, these visits became less and\nless frequent, and finally ceased.[47]\n\n [47] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 72-76; _id._,\n \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 343.\n\nA death in a family was the signal for a change of names among the near\nrelatives of the deceased. The greatest ingenuity was exercised in\ndevising new appellations. Sometimes these names were most offensive to\ngood taste. This custom of changing names after the death of a relative\nhas survived the conversion of the natives to Christianity;[48] probably\nit originated in a desire to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the\nghost, who might be thought to be attracted by the sound of the familiar\nnames.[49]\n\n [48] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 78 _sq._;\n _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 344.\n\n [49] See _The Golden Bough_, Part II., _Taboo and the Perils of\n the Soul_, pp. 356 _sqq._\n\nAs soon as the corpse was committed to its last resting-place, the\nmourners selected five old coco-nuts, opened them one after the other,\nand poured the water on the ground. These nuts were then wrapt up in\nleaves and native cloth and thrown towards the grave; or, if the corpse\nhad been let down by cords into the deep chasm called Auraka, the nuts\nand other food would be cast down successively upon it. Calling loudly\neach time the name of the departed, they said, \"Here is thy food; eat\nit.\" When the fifth nut and the accompanying pudding were thrown down,\nthe mourners cried, \"Farewell! we come back no more to thee.\"[50]\n\n [50] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 187; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 344.\n\nImmediately after a decease a remarkable custom was observed in Mangaia.\nA messenger was despatched to bear the tidings round the island. On\nreaching the boundary of each district, he paused to give the war-shout\npeculiar to the people of the district, adding, \"So-and-so is dead.\"\nThereupon near relatives would start off at once for the house of the\ndeceased, each carrying a present of native cloth. Most of the athletic\nyoung men of the entire island on the day following united in a series\nof sham-fights called _ta i te mauri_ or \"slaying the ghosts.\" The\ndistrict where the corpse lay represented the _mauri_ or ghosts. The\nyoung men belonging to it early in the morning arrayed themselves as if\nfor battle, and, well armed, started off for the adjoining district,\nwhere the young men were drawn up in battle array under the name of\n_aka-oa_ or \"friends.\" Having performed the war-dance, the two parties\nrushed together, clashing their spears and wooden swords, as though\nfighting in good earnest. The sufferers in this bloodless conflict were\nsupposed to be malignant spirits, who would thus be deterred from doing\nfurther mischief to mortals. After the mock battle the combatants\nunited, and, being collectively called _mauri_ or \"ghosts,\" passed on to\nthe third district. Throughout the day their leader carried the sacred\n_iku kikau_, or coco-nut leaf, at the pit of his stomach, like a dead\nman. Arrived at the third village, they found the younger men ready for\nthe friendly conflict and bearing the name of _aka-oa_ or \"friends.\" The\nbattle of the ghosts was fought over again, and then with swelling\nnumbers they passed on to the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts, in\nevery one of them fighting and thrashing the ghosts afresh. Repairing at\nlast with united forces to the place where the corpse was laid out in\nstate, the brave ghost-killers were there entertained at a feast, after\nwhich all, except the near relatives, returned to their various homes at\nnightfall. So similar to actual warfare was this custom of fighting the\nghosts that it went by the name of \"a younger brother of war.\"[51]\nApparently every death was attributed to the action of ghosts who had\ncarried off the soul of the departed brother or sister; and in order to\nprevent a repetition of the catastrophe it was deemed necessary to repel\nor even to slay the ghostly assailants by force of arms.\n\n [51] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 268 _sq._\n\nThe mourning ceremonies lasted from ten to fifteen days according to the\nrank and age of the deceased. During the whole period no beating of bark\nfor the manufacture of the native cloth was permitted in the district\nwhere the death had occurred. A woman who wished to beat out her\nbark-cloth must go to another part of the island. This rule is said to\nhave been dictated by a fear of offending the female demon Mueu, who\nintroduced the beating of bark-cloth into the world, but who herself\nbeats out cloth of a very different texture; for her cloth-flail is the\nstroke of death.[52]\n\n [52] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 182.\n\nSome months after the decease of a person of note funeral games called\n_eva_ were performed in honour of the departed. These ceremonies\ninvariably took place by day. They were of four sorts.\n\nFirst, there was the _eva tapara_, or \"funeral dirge.\" In this the\nmourners appeared with blackened faces, shaved heads, streaming blood,\nand stinking garments. This, we are told, was a most repulsive\nexhibition.[53]\n\n [53] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 271.\n\nSecond, there was the _eva puruki_ or \"war dirge.\" In this the people\narrayed themselves in two columns facing each other, both sides armed\nwith spears made of a brittle kind of wood instead of the fatal\niron-wood (_Casuarina equasitifolia_), out of which the spears used in\nreal warfare were made. The performance began with an animated\nconversation between the leaders of the two squadrons of supposed\nenemies as to the grounds for war. When this was concluded, the person\nmost nearly related to the deceased began the history of the heroic\ndeeds of the clan by slowly chanting the introductory words. At the\nappointed pause both companies took up the strain and chanted it\nvigorously together, the mighty chorus being accompanied by the clash of\nspears and all the evolutions of war. Then followed a momentary pause,\nafter which a new story would be introduced by the musical voice of the\nchief mourner, to be caught up and recited in full chorus by both\ncompanies as before. These war-dirges were most carefully elaborated,\nand they embodied the only histories of the past known to these\nislanders.[54]\n\n [54] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 272.\n\nThird, there was the _eva toki_ or \"axe dirge.\" In this ceremony the\nperformers, armed with mimic axes of iron-wood instead of stone, used\nto cleave the cruel earth which had swallowed up the dead; and as they\nsmote the ground, with tears streaming down their cheeks, they expressed\na vain wish that so they might open up a passage through which the\nspirit of the departed might return. This axe-dirge was appropriate to\nartisans only, who enjoyed great consideration because their skill was\nbelieved to be a gift of the gods.[55]\n\n [55] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 272 _sq._\n\nFourth, there was the _eva ta_ or \"crashing dirge.\" In this ceremony two\nsupposed armies were arrayed against each other as in the \"war dirge,\"\nbut differed from it both in the style of composition and in the weapons\nemployed, the combatants being armed with flat spears or wooden swords.\nIn the dialogue or songs the death of their friends was explained by the\nanger of the gods, for which reasons were assigned. These performances\ngenerally concluded with a sort of comedy, the nature of which has not\nbeen described.[56]\n\n [56] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 273.\n\nSometimes, instead of these funeral games or ceremonies, a grand tribal\ngathering was held for the sake of reciting songs in honour of the\nillustrious dead. Such an assembly met in a large house built for the\npurpose and well lighted with torches, for the doleful concert always\ntook place at night. As many as sixty songs might be prepared for the\noccasion and mournfully chanted to the accompanying drone of the great\nwooden drum. Every adult male relative was bound to recite a song; if he\ncould not compose one himself, he had to pay a more gifted person to\nfurnish him with the appropriate words. Some of the songs or ballads of\na touching nature were much admired and long remembered. Several months\nwere needed for the preparation of such a performance or \"death-talk,\"\nas it was called. Not only had the songs to be composed and the dresses\nmade, but a liberal supply of food had to be provided for the\nguests.[57]\n\n [57] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 269-271; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 345.\n\nIn general all mourning ceremonies were over within a year of the death.\nBut we hear of a chief of the island of Atiu who mourned for seven years\nfor an only child, living all that time in a hut near the grave, and\nallowing his hair and nails to grow, and his body to remain unwashed. He\nwas the wonder of all the islanders.[58]\n\n [58] W. W. Gill, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 345.\n\nAmong the caverns in which, in the island of Mangaia, the dead used to\nbe deposited, two are particularly famous. One of them, at Tamarua, is\nthe chasm called Raupa or \"leafy entrance\" on account of the dense\ngrowth of hibiscus which formerly surrounded this supposed entrance to\nthe shades. It was the ancient burial-place of the Tongan tribe, the\ndescendants of a band of Tongans, who had landed in Mangaia and settled\nthere. The chasm is a hundred and fifty feet deep and has two openings,\nthe smaller of which was used only for chiefs and priests. The other\nfamous sepulchral cavern, called Auraka, is situated on the western side\nof the island. It was the grand depository of the dead of the ruling\nfamilies, who claimed to be descended from the great god Rongo. This\nchasm is not nearly so deep as Raupa, but, like it, has two entrances;\nthe one sacred and the other profane; the former was reserved for the\nbodies of the nobility, the latter for the bodies of commoners. Besides\nthese ceremonial entrances there are many natural openings into the vast\nsubterranean cave, for the rock is everywhere perforated. It is possible\nby torchlight to explore the gloomy recesses of the cavern, which in\nsome places contracts to the narrowest dimensions, while in others it\nexpands till the roof is almost lost to sight. Hundreds of\nwell-preserved mummies may be seen lying in rows, some on ledges of\nstalactite, others on wooden platforms. Mr. Gill, who thrice visited the\ncave, judged that some of the bodies were over fifty years old. The\nwhole neighbourhood of the great cavern was deemed sacred to wandering\ndisembodied spirits, who were believed to come up at midnight and\nexhibit the ghastly wounds by which they had met their fate.[59]\n\n [59] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 71 _sq._ As\n to the settlement of a Tongan colony in Mangaia, see _id._,\n _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 287 _sq._ In\n native tradition the colonists were spoken of as \"Tongans\n sailing through the skies\" (_Tongaiti-akareva-moana_). Their\n leader was the first high-priest of the god Turanga.\n\n\nSec. 7. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_\n\nThe home of the departed spirits was believed to be a vast subterranean\nregion called Avaiki. The natives of Mangaia believed that this\nmysterious region was situated directly under their island. \"As the dead\nwere usually thrown down the deepest chasms, it was not unnatural for\ntheir friends to imagine the earth to be hollow, and the entrance to\nthis vast nether world to be down one of these pits. No one can wonder\nat this who knows that the outer portion of Mangaia is a honeycomb, the\nrock being pierced in every direction with winding caves and frightful\nchasms. It is asserted that the Mission premises at Oneroa are built\nover one of these great caverns, which extends so far towards the sea\nthat the beating of the surf can be distinctly heard, whilst the water,\npurified from its saline particles, continually drips from the stony\nroof.\" The inland opening into the infernal regions was believed to be\nthe great cavern of Auraka, in which, as we have just seen, so many of\nthe dead were deposited.[60]\n\n [60] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 152-154.\n\nHowever, Avaiki was not the home of the ghosts alone; it was tenanted\nalso by the gods, both the greater and the lesser, with their\ndependants. There they married, and multiplied, and quarrelled, just\nlike mortals. There they planted, cooked, fished, and inhabited\ndwellings of exactly the same sort as exist on earth. Their food was no\nbetter than that of mortals. There might be seen birds, fish, and rats,\nlikewise the mantis, centipedes, and beetles. There the coco-nut palm,\nthe pandanus, and the myrtle flourished, and yams grew in abundance. The\ngods committed murder and adultery; they got drunk; they lied; they\nstole. The arts and crafts were also practised by the deities, who\nindeed taught them to mankind. The visible world, in short, was but a\ngross copy of the spiritual and invisible world. If fire burns, it is\nbecause latent flame was hidden in wood by the god Mauike in Hades. If\nthe axe cleaves, it is because the fairy of the axe is present unseen in\nthe blade. If the ironwood club kills its man, it is because a fierce\ndemon from Tonga lives in the weapon.[61]\n\n [61] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 154.\n\nThe old high-road to the spirit-land used to start from a place called\nAremauku, on a cliff overhanging the western ocean. By this road a\nregular communication was formerly kept up with the infernal regions. It\nwas by this route, for example, that the hero Maui descended in ancient\ndays to the home of the fire-god Mauike and brought up fire for the use\nof men. However, the denizens of spirit-land in time grew very\ntroublesome by constantly coming up and afflicting mankind with disease\nand death; they also created a dearth by stealing people's food, and\nthey even ravished their wives. To put an end to these perpetual\nannoyances a brave and beautiful woman, Tiki by name, rolled herself\nalive down into the gloomy chasm which led to the infernal world. The\nyawning abyss closed on her, and there has been no thoroughfare ever\nsince. The spirits have not been able to come up from Avaiki by that\nroad, and the souls of the dead have been equally unable to go down by\nit; they are now obliged to descend by a different route.[62]\n\n [62] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 154 _sq._\n\nAfter their departure from the body the spirits of the dead wandered\ndisconsolately along the seashore, picking their steps painfully among\nthe sharp spikes of the coral and stumbling over the bindweed and thick\nvines which caught their feet. The fragrant smell of the heliotrope,\nwhich grows luxuriantly among these barren and rugged rocks, afforded\nthem a little relief, and they wore a red creeper, like a turban, round\ntheir heads; the rest of their costume was a miscellaneous collection of\nweeds which they had picked up in the course of their wanderings. Twice\na year, at the summer and winter solstices, they mustered to follow the\nsetting sun down into the under world. They gathered at the two points\nof the island which face towards the rising of the sun at these two\nseasons of the year. At the summer solstice, in January, he seems to\nrise out of the sea opposite to Ana-Kura, that is, the Red Cave, so\ncalled because it receives the red rays of the morning. It was there\nthat by far the greater number of the ghosts gathered for their last\nsad journey with the sun: they all belonged to the southern half of the\nisland. The other point of ghostly muster was called Karanga-iti or \"the\nLittle Welcome\"; it faced towards the rising of the sun at the winter\nsolstice in June, and it was there that the ghosts born in the northern\nhalf of the island assembled. Thus many months might elapse between a\ndeath and the final departure of the soul from the land of the living.\nThe weary interval was spent by the spirits in dancing and revisiting\ntheir old homes. As a rule they were well disposed to their living\nrelatives, but the ghost of a mother would often grow vindictive when\nshe saw her pet child ill-treated by its stepmother. Sometimes, weary of\nwandering, the poor ghosts huddled together in the Red Cave, waiting for\nthe midsummer sun and listening to the monotonous moan of the great\nrollers, which break there eternally.[63]\n\n [63] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 155-157.\n\nThe exact moment of departure was fixed by the leader of the band. As\nthe time drew near, messengers were despatched to call in the stray\nghosts who might be lingering near their ancient haunts. Tearfully they\ngathered at the Red Cave or on a grassy lawn above it, out of reach of\nthe foam and the billows. All kept their eyes on the spot of the horizon\nwhere the sun was expected to appear. At the first streak of dawn the\nwhole band took their departure to meet the rising orb of day. That\ndone, they followed in his train as nearly as might be, flitting behind\nor beneath him across the rolling waters or the rocks and stones of the\ncoast, till towards the close of day they all mustered at Vairo-rongo,\n\"the Sacred Stream of Rongo,\" facing towards the setting sun. The spot\nis so named from a little rivulet which there rushes out of the stones\nat the sacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo: none but priests and kings might\nbathe there in days of old. At the moment when the sun sank beneath the\nhorizon, the entire band of ghosts followed him along the golden track\nof light across the shimmering sea and descended in his train to the\nnether world, but not like him to reappear on the morrow.[64]\n\n [64] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 157 _sq._\n\nThere were three such points of departure for the spirit-land in\nMangaia, all facing the setting sun. Each of them was known as a\n_Reinga vaerua_ or \"leaping-place of souls.\" One of them was at Oneroa,\nwhere a rocky bluff stands out by itself like a giant looking towards\nthe west. To it a band of souls from the great cavern of Auraka used to\ngo in mournful procession, and from it they leaped one by one to a\nsecond and much smaller block of stone resting on the inner edge of the\nreef; thence they passed to the outer brink of the reef, on which the\nsurf beats ceaselessly, and from which at sunset they flitted over the\nocean to sink with the great luminary into the land of the dead.\n\nSuch appears to have been the general notion of the people concerning\nthe departure of human souls at death in Mangaia. Similar ideas\nprevailed in the other islands of the group, in all of which the\n\"leaping-place of souls\" was regularly situated on the western coast of\nthe island.[65]\n\n [65] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 159 _sq._\n\nThe teaching of the priests added many particulars to this general\naccount of the journey of the soul to the nether world. According to\nthem the souls of the dying, before life was quite extinct, left their\nbodies and travelled towards the edge of the cliff at Araia, near the\nsacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo, which faced westward. But if on its way\nto this fatal bourne the soul of the dying chanced to meet a friendly\nspirit who cried to it, \"Go back and live,\" the departing soul would\njoyfully return to its forsaken body, and the sick man or woman would\nrevive. This was the native explanation of fainting. But if no friendly\nspirit intervened to save the passing soul, it pursued its way to the\nedge of the cliff. On its arrival a great wave of the sea washed the\nbase of the crag, and a gigantic _bua_ tree (_Beslaria laurifolia_),\ncovered with fragrant blossoms, sprang up from Avaiki to receive the\nghost. The tree had as many branches as there were principal gods in\nMangaia, and every ghost had to perch on the particular branch allotted\nto members of his or her tribe; the worshippers of the great gods, such\nas Motoro and Tane, had separate boughs provided for their\naccommodation; while the worshippers of the lesser deities huddled\ntogether on a single big branch.[66]\n\n [66] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 160 _sq._; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 346.\n\nNo sooner had the ghost perched on the place appointed for him than down\nplumped the tree with him into the nether world. Looking down to see\nwhere he was going, what was the horror of the ghost to perceive a great\nnet spread by Akaanga and his assistants to catch him at the foot of the\ntree! Into this fatal net the doomed spirit inevitably fell to sink in a\nlake of fresh water and there to wriggle like a fish for a time. At last\nthe net was pulled up with the ghost in it, who, half-drowned, was now\nushered trembling into the presence of the grim hag Miru, generally\nknown as \"the Ruddy,\" because her face reflected the glowing heat of the\never-burning oven in which she cooked her ghostly victims. At first,\nhowever, she fed, and perhaps fattened, them on a diet of black beetles,\nred earth-worms, crabs, and small blackbirds. Thus refreshed, they had\nnext to drain bowls of strong kava brewed by the fair hands of the hag's\nfour lovely daughters. Reduced to a state of insensibility by the\nintoxicating beverage, the ghosts were then borne off without a struggle\nto the oven and cooked. On the substance of these hapless victims Miru\nand her son and her peerless daughters regularly subsisted. The leavings\nof the meal were thrown to the servants. Such was the fate of all who\ndied what we should call a natural death, and therefore of all cowards,\nwomen, and children. They were annihilated.[67]\n\n [67] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 161 _sq._; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ pp. 346\n _sq._\n\nNot so with warriors who fell fighting on the field of battle. For a\ntime, indeed, their souls wandered about among the rocks and trees where\ntheir bodies were thrown, the ghastly wounds by which they met their\nfate being still visible. The plaintive chirping of a certain cricket,\nrarely seen but heard continually at night, was believed to be the voice\nof the slain warriors sorrowfully calling to their friends. At last the\nfirst who fell would gather his brother ghosts at a place a little\nbeyond Araia, on the edge of the cliff and facing the sunset. There they\nwould linger for a time. But suddenly a mountain sprang up at their\nfeet, and they ascended it over the spears and clubs which had given\nthem their mortal wounds. Arrived at the summit they leaped up into the\nblue expanse, thus becoming the peculiar clouds of the winter or dry\nseason. During the rainy season they could mount up to the warriors'\nparadise in the sky. In June, the first month of winter, the atmosphere\nwas pervaded by these ghosts, to whom the chilliness of death still\nclung. For days together their thronging shapes hid the sun, dimming the\nsky and spreading among men the heaviness and oppression of spirits\nwhich are characteristic of the season. But with the early days of\nAugust, when the coral-tree puts forth its blood-red blossoms and the\nsky grows mottled with light fleecy clouds, the ghosts of the brave\nprepare to take flight for heaven. Soon the sky is cloudless, the\nweather bright and warm. The ghosts have fled away, and the living\nresume their wonted avocations in quiet and comfort.[68]\n\n [68] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 162 _sq._\n\nIn their celestial home the spirits of the slain are immortal. There, in\nmemory of their deeds on earth, they dance their old war dances over\nagain, decked with gay flowers--the white gardenia, the yellow _bua_,\nthe golden fruit of the pandanus, and the dark crimson, bell-like\nblossom of the native laurel, intertwined with myrtle; and from their\nblissful heights they look down with pity and disgust on the wretched\nsouls in Avaiki entangled in the fatal net and besmeared with filth. For\nthe spirits of the slain in battle are strong and vigorous, their bodies\nnever having been wasted by disease; whereas the spirits of those who\ndie a natural death are excessively feeble and weak, like their bodies\nat the moment of dissolution. The natural result of such beliefs was to\nbreed an utter contempt for a violent death, nay even a desire to seek\nit. Many stories are told of aged warriors, scarcely able to hold a\nspear, who have insisted on being led to the battlefield in the hope of\nfinding a soldier's death and gaining a soldier's paradise.[69]\n\n [69] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 163 _sq._\n\nBeliefs of the same general character concerning the fate of the dead\nprevailed in other islands of the Hervey Group. Thus in Rarotonga the\ngreat meeting-place of the ghosts was at Tuoro, facing the sunset. There\nat a stately tree, called \"the Weeping Laurel,\" the disembodied spirits\nused to bewail their hard fate. If no pitying spirit sent him back to\nlife, the ghost had to scramble up a branch of an ancient _bua_ tree\nwhich grew on the spot. Should the bough break under his weight, the\nghost was precipitated into the net which Muru had spread out for him in\na natural circular hollow of the rock. A lively ghost might break the\nmeshes of the net and escape for a while, but passing on to the outer\nedge of the reef, in the hope of traversing the ocean, he inevitably\nfell into another net artfully concealed by Akaanga. From this second\nnet escape was impossible. The demons drew the captive ghosts out of the\nnets, and ruthlessly dashing out their brains on the sharp coral they\ncarried off the shattered victims in triumph to devour them in the lower\nworld. Ghosts from Ngatangiia ascended the noble mountain range which\nstretches across the island, dipping into the sea at Tuoro.\nInexpressibly weary and sad was this journey over a road which foot of\nliving wight had never trod. The departed spirits of this tribe met at a\ngreat iron-wood tree, of which some branches were green and others dead.\nThe souls that trod on the green branches came back to life; but the\nsouls that crawled on to the dead boughs were at once caught in the net\neither of Muru or of Akaanga.[70]\n\n [70] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.\n 169 _sq._; _id._, \"Mangaia (Hervey Islands),\" _op. cit._ p. 346.\n\nIn Rarotonga, as in Mangaia, the lot of warriors who died in battle was\nmuch happier than that of the poor wretches who had the misfortune to\ndie quietly in bed or to be otherwise ignominiously snuffed out. The\ngallant ghosts were said to join Tiki, who in Rarotonga appears to have\nbeen a dead warrior, whereas in Mangaia, as we saw, Tiki was a dead\nwoman. In the Rarotongan Hades, which also went by the name of Avaiki,\nthis Tiki sat at the threshold of a very long house built with walls of\nreeds, and surrounded by shrubs and flowers of fadeless bloom and\nnever-failing perfume. Each ghost on his arrival had to make an offering\nto the warder Tiki, who, thus propitiated, admitted him to the house.\nThere, sitting at their ease, eating, drinking, dancing, or sleeping,\nthe brave of past ages dwelt in unwithering beauty and perpetual youth;\nthere they welcomed newcomers, and there they told the story of their\nheroic exploits on earth and fought their old battles over again. But\nghosts who had nothing to give to Tiki were compelled to stay outside in\nrain and darkness for ever, shivering with cold and hunger, watching\nwith envious eyes the joyous revels of the inmates, and racked with the\nvain desire of being admitted to share them.[71]\n\n [71] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.\n 170; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in\n the South Sea Islands_, pp. 476 _sq._\n\nSuch beliefs in the survival of the soul after death may have nerved the\nwarrior with fresh courage in battle; but they can have contributed but\nlittle to the happiness and consolation of ordinary people, who could\napparently look forward to nothing better in the life hereafter than\nbeing cooked and eaten by a hideous hag.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Society Islands_\n\nThe Society Islands are a large and scattered archipelago in the South\nPacific, situated within 16 deg. and 18 deg. of South latitude, and between 148 deg.\nand 155 deg. of West longitude. They lie some three hundred miles from the\nHervey or Cook Islands, from which they are separated by the open sea.\nThe islands form a chain nearly two hundred miles in length, extending\nfrom north-west to south-east, and fall into two groups, an eastern and\na western, which, on account of the prevailing wind, are known\nrespectively as the Windward and Leeward Islands. The Windward or\neastern group includes Eimeo or Mooerea in the west, Maitea in the east,\nand Tahiti, the principal island of the whole archipelago, in the\ncentre. In the Leeward or western group the chief islands are Huahine,\nRaiatea, Tahaa, and Borabora. The islands appear to have been first\ndiscovered by the Spanish navigator Fernandez de Quiros in 1606 or 1607,\nbut after him they were lost sight of till 1767, when they were\nrediscovered by Wallis. A few years later they were repeatedly visited\nby Captain Cook, who gave the first full and accurate description of the\nislands and their inhabitants.[1]\n\n [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 6 _sq._; A. v.\n H[uegel], \"Tahiti,\" _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, Ninth Edition,\n xxiii. 22, 24; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_,\n ii. 151 _sqq._; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 510. As\n to Wallis's discovery of the islands see J. Hawkesworth,\n _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) pp. 433 _sqq._; R. Kerr, _General\n History and Collection of Voyages and Travels_, xii. (Edinburgh,\n 1814) pp. 164 _sqq._\n\nThe islands, with the exception of a few flat lagoon islands, are of\nvolcanic formation, high and mountainous, consisting for the most part\nof a central peak or peaks of bold and striking outline, which descend\nin steep ridges towards the sea, sometimes reaching the coast, but\noftener leaving a broad stretch of flat and very fertile land between\ntheir last slopes and the beach. Between the ridges lie deep and\nbeautiful valleys, watered by winding streams and teeming with luxuriant\nvegetation. The rocks of which the islands consist are all igneous,\nchiefly trachyte, dolerite, basalt, and lava. They are considered by\ngeologists to present perhaps the most wonderful and instructive example\nof volcanic rocks to be seen on the globe. Yet, though the islands are\njudged to be of comparatively recent formation, there are no traces of\nvolcanic action in them at the present time. The craters have\ndisappeared: hot springs do not exist; and earthquakes are rare.[2]\n\n [2] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 11 _sqq._; C. E.\n Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 152 _sq._; A. v. H[uegel], _op. cit._\n p. 22; F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ p. 513.\n\nThe Society Islands, and Tahiti in particular, are famous for the beauty\nof their natural scenery; indeed, by general consent they appear to rank\nas the fairest islands in the Pacific. Travellers vie with each other in\npraise of their enchanting loveliness. Tahiti, the largest island of the\ngroup, may be taken as typical of them all. It consists of two almost\ncircular islands united by a very low and narrow neck of land: the\nnorthern and larger island is known as Tahiti the Great (Tahiti nui),\nthe southern and smaller island is known as Tahiti the Little (Tahiti\niti). In the centre of each island the mountains rise in craggy peaks,\nsometimes in the shape of pyramids or sugar-loaves, their rocky sides\nclothed with every variety of verdure, and enlivened here and there by\ncataracts falling from lofty cliffs, while the shore is washed by the\nwhite-crested waves of the Pacific breaking in foam on the coral reefs\nor dashing in spray on the beach. The scene is especially striking when\nbeheld for the first time from the sea at sunrise on a fine morning.\nThen the happy combination of land and water, of precipices and plains,\nof umbrageous trees drooping their pendent boughs over the sea, and\ndistant mountains shown in sublime outline and richest hues, all blended\nin the harmony of nature, produces in the beholder sensations of\nadmiration and delight. The inland scenery is of a different character,\nbut not less impressive. There the prospect is occasionally extensive,\nbut more frequently circumscribed. There is, however, a startling\nboldness in the towering piles of basalt, often heaped in picturesque\nconfusion near the source or margin of some crystal stream that flows in\nsilence at their base, or plashes purling over the rocks that obstruct\nits bed; and there is the wildness of romance about the deep and lonely\nglens, from which the mountains rise like the steep sides of a natural\namphitheatre till they seem to support the clouds that rest upon their\nsummits. In the character of the teeming vegetation, too, from the\nverdant moss that drapes the rocks to the rich foliage of the\nbread-fruit tree, the luxuriance of the pandanus, and the waving plumes\nof the coconut palm, all nurtured by a prolific soil and matured by the\ngenial heat of a tropical climate, there is enough to arrest the\nattention and to strike the imagination of the wanderer, who, in the\nunbroken silence that reigns in these pleasing solitudes, may easily\nfancy himself astray in fairyland and treading enchanted ground.[3]\n\n [3] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 14-18. Compare J.\n Cook, _Voyages_, i. 172 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the\n World_ (London, 1777), i. 253 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary\n Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 321 _sqq._; D.\n Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London,\n 1831), i. 58 _sq._, 108 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 206 _sq._, 234\n _sq._, 316 _sq._, 555 _sq._, ii. 51-53, 59-61; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 511 _sqq._ C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._\n ii. 152 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900),\n pp. 29 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_\n\nThe islanders are, or were at the date of their discovery by Europeans,\nfine specimens of the Polynesian race, being tall, well-proportioned,\nand robust. Captain Cook described them as of the largest size of\nEuropeans. Their complexion varies from olive to bronze and\nreddish-brown, frequently presenting a hue intermediate between the\nyellow of the Malay and the copper-colour of the American Indians. The\nhair is shining black or dark brown, usually straight, but often soft\nand curly; never lank and wiry like that of the American Indians, and\nonly in rare cases woolly or frizzly like that of the Papuans. The men\nhave beards, which they used to wear in a variety of fashions, always,\nhowever, plucking out the greater part. The shape of the face is comely,\nand the facial angle is often as perpendicular as in Europeans. The\ncheek-bones are not high; the nose is either straight or aquiline, often\naccompanied by a fulness about the nostrils; it is seldom flat, though\nit was formerly the practice of mothers and nurses to press the nostrils\nof the female children, a broad flat nose being by many regarded as a\nbeauty. The mouth in general is well formed, though the lips are\nsometimes large and protuberant, yet never so much as to resemble the\nlips of negroes; the chin is usually prominent. The general aspect of\nthe face very seldom presents any likeness to the Tartar or Mongolian\ncast of countenance; while the profile frequently bears a most striking\nresemblance to that of Europeans. A roundness and fulness of figure, not\nusually extending to corpulency, is characteristic of the race,\nespecially of the women. In general physique they resemble the Sandwich\nIslanders and Tonga Islanders; according to Ellis, they are more robust\nthan the Marquesans, but inferior in size and strength to the Maoris.[4]\n\n [4] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 175 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 79\n _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171; F. H. H. Guillemard,\n _op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._\n\nTheir diet is chiefly vegetable; when Captain Cook visited the islands,\nthe only tame animals were hogs, dogs, and poultry. Bread-fruit, taro,\nyams, bananas, and coconuts are their staple food; the bread-fruit in\nparticular has been called their staff of life. Taro and yams are\ncarefully cultivated by the natives, and they also grow the sweet potato\nas an article of food, though to a less extent than the other two roots;\nin quality the sweet potato of Tahiti is far inferior to that of the\nSandwich Islands. The sea affords a great variety of fish and\nshell-fish, which the natives catch and eat; nothing that the sea\nproduces is said to come amiss to them. Hogs and dogs were in olden\ntimes the only quadrupeds whose flesh was eaten by the Tahitians; but\nfor the most part they rarely tasted meat, subsisting almost exclusively\non a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish.[5]\n\n [5] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 185 _sq._ vi. 139 _sqq._; W. Ellis,\n _op. cit._ i. 36 _sqq._, 70 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages\n aux Iles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837), ii. 93 _sqq._; C. E.\n Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171 _sq._\n\nThe common houses were of an oblong shape, usually from eighteen to\ntwenty-four feet in length, by eleven feet in width, the long sides\nbeing parallel to each other, but the two ends commonly rounded,\nespecially in the houses of chiefs. The thatched roofs were supported on\nthree parallel rows of wooden posts, and there being no outer walls and\nno partitions, the wind blew freely through them. The floor was covered\nwith mats, forming a single cushion, on which the people sat by day and\nslept at night. In some houses there was a single stool appropriated to\nthe use of the master of the family; otherwise an ordinary dwelling\ncontained little or no furniture except a few small blocks of wood,\nhollowed out on the upper surface so as to form head-rests or pillows.\nThe houses served chiefly as dormitories and as shelters in rain: the\npeople took their meals in the open air. Chiefs, however, often owned\nhouses of much larger dimensions, which were built and maintained for\nthem at the common expense of the district. Some of these chiefly\ndwellings were two hundred feet long, thirty feet broad, and twenty feet\nhigh under the ridge; one of them, belonging to the king, measured three\nhundred and seventy feet in length. We read of houses which could\ncontain two or three thousand people;[6] and of one particular house in\nTahiti we are informed that it was no less than three hundred and\nninety-seven feet long by forty-eight feet broad, and that the roof was\nsupported in the middle by twenty wooden pillars, each twenty-one feet\nhigh, while the sides or eaves of the roof rested on one hundred and\ntwenty-four pillars, each ten feet high. A wooden wall or fence enclosed\nthe whole. This great house was used for the celebration of feasts,\nwhich sometimes lasted for days together, and at which nearly all the\nhogs in the island were consumed.[7]\n\n [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 181 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp.\n 341 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 170 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ ii. 84 _sqq._ As to the wooden head-rests see W.\n Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 188 _sq._\n\n [7] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 213 _sq._\n\nLike all the Polynesians down to the date of their discovery by\nEuropeans, the inhabitants of the Society Islands were totally ignorant\nof the use and even of the existence of the metals, and they had to\nemploy substitutes, chiefly stone and bone, for the manufacture of their\ntools and weapons. Of their tools Captain Cook gives the following\naccount: \"They have an adze of stone; a chisel, or gouge, of bone,\ngenerally that of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; a rasp of\ncoral; and the skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, as a filer or\npolisher. This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with these\nthey build houses, construct canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve,\nand polish timber. The stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a\nkind of basaltes, of a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of\nconsiderable toughness: they are of different sizes; some, that are\nintended for felling, weigh from six to eight pounds; others, that are\nused for carving, not more than so many ounces; but it is necessary to\nsharpen both almost every minute; for which purpose, a stone and a\ncocoa-nut shell full of water are always at hand. Their greatest\nexploit, to which these tools are less equal than to any other, is\nfelling a tree; this requires many hands, and the constant labour of\nseveral days.\"[8] The earliest missionaries expressed their astonishment\nthat with such simple tools the natives could carve so neatly and finish\nso smoothly; our most ingenious workmen, they declared, could not excel\nthem.[9]\n\n [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 204 _sq._\n\n [9] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 400.\n\nThe principal manufacture of the Society Islanders was the making of the\ncloth which they used for their garments. The material for the cloth was\nfurnished by the bark of several trees, including the paper-mulberry,\nthe bread-fruit tree, and a species of wild fig-tree. Having been\nstripped from the tree and soaked in water, the bark was spread out on a\nbeam and beaten with heavy wooden mallets, till it was reduced to the\nproper degree of thinness and flexibility. The finest and most valuable\nkind of cloth was made chiefly, and sometimes entirely, from the bark of\nthe paper-mulberry and was bleached pure white. But vegetable dyes were\nalso commonly employed to stain the cloth with a variety of hues\narranged in patterns. The favourite colours were a brilliant scarlet and\na bright yellow; Captain Cook described the scarlet as exceedingly\nbeautiful, brighter and more delicate than any we have in Europe; it was\nproduced by a mixture of the juices of two vegetables, the fruit of a\nspecies of fig and the leaves of the _Cordia sebastina_ or _etou_ tree.\nThe patterns were in this bright scarlet on a yellow ground; formerly\nthey were altogether devoid of uniformity or regularity, yet exhibited a\nconsiderable degree of taste. The bales of bark-cloth were sometimes as\nmuch as two hundred yards long by four yards wide; the whole bale was in\na single piece, being composed of narrow strips joined together by being\nbeaten with grooved mallets. A chief's wealth was sometimes estimated by\nthe number of bales which he possessed; the more valuable sort, covered\nwith matting or cloth of an inferior sort, were generally hung from the\nroof of his house. The manufacture of cloth was chiefly in the hands of\nwomen; indeed it was one of their most usual employments. Even women of\nhigh rank did not disdain this form of industry; the wives and daughters\nof chiefs took a pride in manufacturing cloth of a superior quality,\nexcelling that produced by common women in the elegance of the patterns\nor the brilliance of the dyes. Every family had a little house where the\nfemales laboured at the making of cloth; but in addition every district\nhad a sort of public factory, consisting of a spacious house where\nimmense quantities of cloth were produced on the occasion of festivals,\nthe visits of great chiefs, or other solemnities. In such a factory the\nwomen would often assemble to the number of two or three hundred, and\nthe monotonous din of their hammers falling on the bark was almost\ndeafening; it began early in the morning, only to cease at night. Yet\nheard at a distance in some lonely valley the sound was not\ndisagreeable, telling as it did of industry and peace.[10]\n\n [10] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 196 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage\n round the World_ (London, 1777), i. 276 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op.\n cit._ pp. 389-392; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 179 _sqq._; J. A.\n Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sqq._\n\nAmong the other articles manufactured by the Society Islanders before\nthe advent of Europeans were fine mats, baskets of many different\npatterns, ropes, lines, and fishing-tackle, including nets, hooks, and\nharpoons made of cane and pointed with hard wood. In every expedient for\ntaking fish they are said to have been exceedingly ingenious.[11] They\nmade bows and arrows, with which, as an amusement, they shot against\neach other, not at a mark, but to see who could shoot farthest. Like the\nrest of the Polynesians, they never used these weapons in war.[12]\n\n [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 202 _sq._\n\n [12] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 368; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i.\n 217-220; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 148-150.\n\nSociety among these islanders was divided into three ranks; first the\nroyal family and nobility (_hui arii_); second, the landed proprietors,\nor gentry and farmers (_bue raatira_); and third, the common people\n(_manahune_). Of these, the landed gentry and farmers were the most\nnumerous and influential class, constituting at all times the great body\nof the people and the strength of the nation, as well as of the army.\nThe petty farmers owned from twenty to a hundred acres. Some of the\ngreat landowners possessed many hundreds of acres, and being surrounded\nby retainers they constituted the aristocracy of the country and imposed\na restraint upon the king, who, without their co-operation, could carry\nbut few of his measures. They also frequently acted as priests in their\nfamily temples. The common people comprised slaves and servants. The\nslaves were captives taken in war. Their treatment was in general mild,\nand if peace continued, they often regained their freedom and were\nallowed to return to their own country.[13]\n\n [13] W. Ellis, _op. cit._. iii. 94-98. Compare J. Cook,\n _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._\n\nThe government of the Society Islands, like that of Hawaii, was at least\nin form an arbitrary monarchy. The supreme authority was vested in the\nking and was hereditary in his family. It partook of a sacred character,\nfor in these islands government was closely interwoven with religion;\nthe king sometimes personated the god and received the homage and\nprayers of the worshippers; at other times he officiated as high-priest\nand transmitted the vows and petitions of the people to the superior\ndeities. The genealogy of the reigning family was usually traced back to\nthe first ages of the world: in some of the islands the kings were\nbelieved to be descended from the gods: their persons were always\nsacred, and their families constituted the highest rank recognised by\nthe people.[14]\n\n [14] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 93 _sq._\n\nIndeed, everything in the least degree connected with the king or\nqueen--the cloth they wore, the houses in which they dwelt, the canoes\nin which they voyaged, the men who carried them when they journeyed by\nland--became sacred and could not be converted to common use. The very\nsounds in the language which composed their names could no longer be\nappropriated to ordinary significations. If on the accession of a king\nany words in the language were found to resemble his name, they were\nabolished and changed for others; and if any man were bold enough to\ncontinue to use them, not only he but all his relations were immediately\nput to death; and the same severity was exercised on any who should dare\nto apply the sacred name to an animal. Thus in process of time the\noriginal names of most common objects in the language underwent\nconsiderable alterations. No one might touch the body of the king or\nqueen; nay, any person who should so much as stand over them, or pass\nhis hand over their heads, was liable to pay for the sacrilege with the\nforfeiture of his life. The very ground on which the king or queen even\naccidentally trod became sacred; and any house belonging to a private\nperson which they entered must for ever be vacated by the owner and\neither set apart for the use of the royal personages or burnt down with\nevery part of its furniture. Hence it was a general rule that the king\nand queen never entered any dwellings except such as were specially\ndedicated to their use, and never trod on the ground in any part of the\nisland but their own hereditary districts. In journeying they were\nalways carried on men's shoulders.[15]\n\n [15] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 155 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p.\n 329; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 101 _sq._\n\nThe inauguration of a king consisted in girding him with a sacred girdle\n(_maro ura_) of red, or red and yellow, feathers, which not only raised\nhim to the highest earthly station, but identified him with the gods.\nThe red feathers were taken from the images of the gods and interwoven\nwith feathers of other colours. A human victim was sacrificed when they\nbegan to make the girdle, and another was sacrificed when it was\nfinished; sometimes others were slaughtered at intermediate stages, one\nfor each fresh piece added to the girdle. The blood of the victims was\nsupposed to consecrate the belt.[16]\n\n [16] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 108 _sqq._ Compare J. Wilson,\n _op. cit._ pp. 327 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 22\n _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and\n Travels_, i. 526 _sq._, ii. 56. Another singular ceremony\n observed at the installation of a king was this. The king\n advanced into the sea and bathed there. Thither he was followed\n by the priest of Oro bearing a branch plucked from a sacred tree\n that grew within the precincts of the temple. While the king was\n bathing, the priest struck him on the back with the holy bough,\n at the same time invoking the great god Taaoroa. This ceremony\n was designed to purify the monarch from any defilement or guilt\n he might previously have contracted. See W. Ellis, _op. cit._\n iii. 110.\n\nThe deification of kings in their lifetime would seem not to have been\nconfined to Tahiti, but to have prevailed in the other islands of the\nSociety Archipelago. We hear particularly of the divinity of the kings\nof Raiatea. In that island a place called Opoa is said to have been the\nmetropolis of idolatry for all the South Pacific Islands within a\ncompass of five hundred miles. Hither, from every shore, human victims,\nalready slain, were sent to be offered on the altar of the war-god Oro,\nwhose principal image was there worshipped. There, too, was the\nresidence of the kings of the island, \"who, beside the prerogatives of\nroyalty, enjoyed divine honours, and were in fact living idols among the\ndead ones, being deified at the time of their accession to political\nsupremacy here. In the latter character, we presume, it was, that these\nsovereigns (who always took the name of Tamatoa) were wont to receive\npresents from the kings and chiefs of adjacent and distant islands,\nwhose gods were all considered tributary to the Oro of Raiatea, and\ntheir princes owing homage to its monarch, who was Oro's hereditary\nhigh-priest, as well as an independent divinity himself.\"[17] Of one\nparticular monarch of this line, Tamatoa by name, we read that he \"had\nbeen enrolled among the gods,\" and that \"as one of the divinities of his\nsubjects, therefore, the king was worshipped, consulted as an oracle,\nand had sacrifices and prayers offered to him.\"[18]\n\n [17] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_,\n i. 529 _sq._\n\n [18] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 524.\n\nIn the succession to the throne the law of primogeniture prevailed, and\nin accordance with a singular usage, which was invariably observed, the\nking regularly abdicated on the birth of his first son and became a\nsubject of his infant offspring. The child was at once proclaimed the\nsovereign of the people: the royal title was conferred on him; and his\nown father was the first to do him homage by saluting his feet and\ndeclaring him king. The public herald was despatched round the island\nwith the flag of the infant monarch: in every district he unfurled the\nbanner and proclaimed the accession of the youthful sovereign. The\ninsignia of royalty and the homage of the people were at once\ntransferred from the father to the child: the royal domains and other\nsources of revenue were appropriated to the maintenance of the household\nof the infant ruler; and the father paid him all the marks of reverence\nand submission which he had hitherto exacted from the people. However,\nduring the minority of his son the former king appears to have filled\nthe office of regent. This remarkable rule of succession was not limited\nto the royal house, but prevailed also in noble families: no sooner did\na baron's wife give birth to a child than the baron was reduced to the\nrank of a private man, though he continued to administer the estate for\nthe benefit of the infant, to whom all the outward marks of honour were\nnow transferred.[19]\n\n [19] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii.\n 99 _sq._ Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 180 _sq._, 327, 330,\n 333; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp.\n 134, 137, 188 _sq._, 344; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 13\n _sq._\n\n\nSec. 3. _The Religion of the Society Islanders_\n\nIf religion consists essentially in a fear of gods, the natives of the\nSociety Islands were a very religious people, for they believed in a\nmultitude of gods and stood in constant dread of them. \"Whatever\nattention,\" says Ellis, \"the Tahitians paid to their occupations or\namusements, and whatever energies have been devoted to the prosecution\nof their barbarous wars, the claims of all were regarded as inferior to\nthose of their religion. On this every other was dependent, while each\nwas alike made subservient to its support.\"[20] \"No people in the world,\nin ancient or modern times, appear to have been more superstitious than\nthe South Sea Islanders, or to have been more entirely under the\ninfluence of dread from imaginary demons, or supernatural beings. They\nhad not only their major, but their minor demons, or spirits, and all\nthe minute ramifications of idolatry.\"[21] \"Religious rites were\nconnected with almost every act of their lives. An _ubu_ or prayer was\noffered before they ate their food, when they tilled their ground,\nplanted their gardens, built their houses, launched their canoes, cast\ntheir nets, and commenced or concluded a journey. The first fish taken\nperiodically on their shores, together with a number of kinds regarded\nas sacred, were conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their\norchards and gardens were also _taumaha_, or offered, with a portion of\ntheir live-stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was\nsupposed death would be inflicted on the owner or the occupant of the\nland, from which the god should not receive such acknowledgment.\"[22]\n\n [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 321; compare J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 417.\n\n [21] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 361.\n\n [22] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 350.\n\nDifferent gods were worshipped in different islands, and even in\ndifferent parts of the same island,[23] and if a deity failed to answer\nthe expectations of his worshippers, they did not scruple to change him\nfor another. In Captain Cook's time the people of Tiaraboo (Tairaboo),\nthe southern peninsula of Tahiti, discarded their two old divinities and\nadopted in their place Oraa, the god of the island of Bolabola\n(Borabora), apparently because the people of Bolabola had lately been\nvictorious in war; and as, after this change of deity, they themselves\nproved very successful in their operations against their enemies, they\nimputed the success entirely to their new god, who, they literally said,\nfought their battles.[24] Again, when the prayers and offerings for the\nrecovery of a sick chief were unavailing, the god was regarded as\ninexorable, and was usually banished from the temple, and his image\ndestroyed.[25]\n\n [23] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148, 160; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London,\n 1778), p. 539.\n\n [24] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148 _sq._\n\n [25] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 350.\n\nThe pantheon and mythology of the Society Islands were of the usual\nPolynesian type; some of their chief gods were recognised and worshipped\nunder the same names, with dialectical differences, in other islands of\nthe Pacific. In the beginning they say that all things were in a state\nof chaos or darkness, from which the principal deities, including\nTaaroa, Oro, and Tane, at last emerged. Hence these high gods were said\nto be born of Night or the primaeval darkness (_Po_). Among them all the\nfirst place in time and dignity was generally assigned to Taaroa, who\nappears in other parts of Polynesia as Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, and\nso on. By some he was spoken of as the progenitor of the other gods and\nas the creator of the heavens, the earth, and sea, as well as of men,\nbeasts, birds, and fishes; but others were of opinion that the land or\nthe world had existed before the gods. Oro, the great national god of\nTahiti, Raiatea, and other islands, was believed to be a son of\nTaaroa.[26] To these three great gods, Oro, Tane, and Taaroa, the people\nsacrificed in great emergencies, when the deities were thought to be\nangry. At such times the wrath of the god was revealed to a priest, who,\nwrapt up like a ball in a bundle of cloth, spoke in a sharp, shrill,\nsqueaky voice, saying, \"I am angry; bring me hogs, kill a man, and my\nanger will be appeased.\"[27]\n\n [26] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 322 _sqq._ Compare J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 539\n _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 149 _sqq._; J.\n Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp.\n 343 _sqq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and\n Travels_, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux\n Iles du Grand Ocean_, i. 416 _sqq._, 436 _sqq._, 442 _sq._ As to\n Taaoroa and his counterparts in Polynesian mythology, see H.\n Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and\n Philology_, p. 22; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, pp. 463 _sq._, _s.v._ \"Tangaroa.\"\n\n [27] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 167 _sq._\n\nOro is sometimes described as the war-god.[28] The great seat of his\nworship was at Opoa in the island of Raiatea: his principal image was\nworshipped there \"with the most bloody and detestable rites\"; and\nthither human victims, ready slain, were sent from every shore to be\noffered on his altar.[29] Sometimes, instead of the bodies of the slain,\nonly their jaw-bones were sent to decorate the temple of Oro at Opoa;\nlong strings of these relics might be seen hanging about the sacred\nedifice.[30] In the small island of Tahaa, off Raiatea, there was a\ntemple (_marae_) dedicated to Oro and his two daughters. It belonged to\nthe king and \"was upheld for the convenience of finding a pretext to get\nrid, from time to time, of obnoxious persons, of both sexes; the men\nslain by assassination, or in war, being presented to the male idol, and\nthe women to his female progeny, who were held to be as cruelly\ndelighted with blood as their parent. But the human sacrifices brought\nhither were not allowed to remain and infect the atmosphere. When they\nhad lain upon the altar till they became offensive, the carcases were\ntransported to Oro's metropolitan temple at Opoa, in Raiatea, which was\nthe common Golgotha of his victims.\"[31]\n\n [28] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114, 529.\n\n [29] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529.\n\n [30] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 14. In a long\n house in the southern part of Tahiti, Captain Cook saw, at one\n end of it, a semicircular board, from which hung fifteen human\n jaw-bones, apparently fresh; not one of them wanted a tooth. He\n was told that they \"had been carried away as trophies, the\n people here carrying away the jaw-bones of their enemies, as the\n Indians of North America do the scalps.\" See J. Cook, _Voyages_,\n i. 152, 160.\n\n [31] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549.\n\nOro was said to have instituted the notorious Society of the Areois, a\nlicentious fraternity of strolling players and mountebanks, who roamed\nabout in troupes from island to island, everywhere entertaining the\npopulace by their shows, which comprised recitations, songs, dramatic\nperformances, wrestling matches, and especially dances, which were often\nof a lascivious character.[32] These exhibitions, which were witnessed\nby crowds and appear to have been the most popular amusement of the\nislanders, were given in large, substantial, sometimes highly\nornamented, houses, which were erected chiefly for the purpose of\nlodging these itinerant performers, and providing them with suitable\nplaces for their performances.[33] The first missionaries describe how,\nin a long native house where they lodged for the night, they saw the\nAreois men and women dancing and singing till near midnight: so great\nwere their numbers that they made the house appear like a village.[34]\nSometimes, apparently, the performances took place in front of the\nhouse, the musicians, singers, and reciters occupying a sort of stage,\nwhile the actors or dancers performed on a place marked out for them on\nthe ground or on the floor.[35] The subject of their songs or\nrecitations was often a legend of the gods, or of some distinguished\nmember of the Society, which was chanted or recited by the performers in\nchorus seated in a circle on the ground, while the leader stood in the\ncentre and introduced the recitation with a sort of prologue,\naccompanied by antic gestures and attitudes.[36] In these recitals the\ntales often turned on romantic and diverting episodes in the lives of\nancestors or of deities. \"Many of these were very long, and regularly\ncomposed, so as to be repeated verbatim, or with such illustrations only\nas the wit or fancy of the narrator might have the skill to introduce.\nTheir captain on public occasions, was placed cross-legged on a stool\nseven feet high, with a fan in his hand, in the midst of the circle of\nlaughing or admiring auditors, whom he delighted with his drollery, or\ntransported with his grimaces, being, in fact, the merry-andrew of the\ncorps, who, like a wise fool, well knew how to turn his folly to the\nbest account.\"[37]\n\n [32] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193-195; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp.\n 411-414; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 128-135; J.\n Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 56, 57, 59, 65 _sq._, 153, 154, 174, 194\n _sq._, 209, 331, 335; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_\n (London, 1813), p. 364; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i.\n 326-328; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 229-247; Waitz-Gerland,\n _Anthropologie_, vi. 363-369.\n\n [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._\n\n [34] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 209.\n\n [35] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 133 _sq._\n\n [36] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 235.\n\n [37] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 327 _sq._\n\nThe Society of the Areois was wealthy and highly esteemed; members were\ndrawn from all social ranks and greatly prided themselves on belonging\nto it.[38] Indeed, they were regarded as a sort of superhuman beings,\nclosely allied to the gods, and were treated with a corresponding degree\nof veneration by many of the vulgar and ignorant.[39] They were divided\ninto seven ranks or classes, the members of which were distinguished\nfrom each other by their tattoo marks; the greater the amount of the\ntattooing, the higher the rank of the person.[40] Admission to the\nSociety was attended by a variety of ceremonies; a protracted noviciate\nfollowed, and it was only by progressive advancement that any were\npromoted to the higher dignities. It was imagined that those who became\nAreois were prompted or inspired by the gods to take this step. A\ncandidate for admission, therefore, repaired to one of the public\nexhibitions in that apparent state of frenzy which is commonly supposed\nto indicate divine inspiration. His face was dyed scarlet; his hair was\nperfumed and adorned with flowers, and he wore a girdle of yellow\nplantain leaves. Thus arrayed, he rushed through the crowd assembled\nround the house in which the actors or dancers were performing, and,\nleaping into the circle, joined with seeming frantic wildness in the\ndance or pantomime. If the Society approved of him, they appointed him\nto wait as a servant on the principal Areois, and after a period of\nprobation he might be inducted into the Society as a full-fledged\nmember. At his induction, which took place in a great assembly of the\nbody, the candidate received a new name, by which he was thenceforth\nknown in the Society.[41] When a member was advanced from a lower to a\nhigher grade, the ceremony was performed at a public festival which all\nthe members of the Society in the island were expected to attend. The\ncandidate was then taken to a temple, where he was solemnly anointed\nwith fragrant oil on the forehead, and offered a pig to the god.[42]\n\n [38] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 245; G. Forster, _op. cit._\n ii. 130; J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 411 _sq._\n\n [39] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 244; J. Turnbull, _op. cit._\n p. 364; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 492.\n\n [40] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._\n i. 238; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 491.\n\n [41] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 491 _sqq._\n\n [42] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 241 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 493 _sq._\n\nWhen a member of the Society died his body was conveyed by the Areois to\nthe grand temple, where the bones of the kings were deposited. There the\npriest of Oro, standing over the corpse, offered a long prayer to his\ngod. This prayer, and the ceremonies accompanying it, were designed to\ndivest the body of all the sacred and mysterious influence which the\ndeceased was thought to have received from the god at the moment when,\nin the presence of the idol, the perfumed oil had been sprinkled on him,\nand he had been raised to the order or rank in which he died. By this\nact they supposed that the sacred influence was restored to Oro, by whom\nit had been imparted. The body was then buried, like that of a common\nman, within the precincts of the temple, in which the mortal remains of\nchiefs were interred.[43] But if for any reason the corpse were buried\nin unconsecrated ground, the ghost would appear to a survivor next day\nand remonstrate with him, saying, \"You have buried me in common earth,\nand so long as I lie there, I cannot go to heaven. You must bury me with\nceremonies, and in holy ground.\" After that the corpse was disinterred,\nand having been doubled up by tying the arms to the shoulders and the\nknees to the trunk, it was buried in a sitting posture in a hole so\nshallow that the earth barely covered the head. This was esteemed the\nmost honourable form of sepulture, and was principally confined to\npersonages of high rank.[44]\n\n [43] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 244 _sq._\n\n [44] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 273 _sq._\n\nThe Areoi Society comprised women as well as men,[45] but the accounts\ngiven of the proportion of the sexes and their relations to each other\nare conflicting. According to one account, the male members outnumbered\nthe women as five to one.[46] The first missionaries reported that the\nAreois were said to have each two or three wives, whom they exchanged\nwith each other.[47] According to Cook, every woman was common to every\nman[48]; and Turnbull affirmed that the community of women was the very\nprinciple of their union.[49] On the other hand, the naturalist George\nForster, who accompanied Captain Cook, observes: \"We have been told a\nwanton tale of promiscuous embraces, where every woman is common to\nevery man: but when we enquired for a confirmation of this story from\nthe natives, we were soon convinced that it must, like many others, be\nconsidered as the groundless invention of a traveller's gay fancy.\"[50]\nAgain, Ellis observes that, \"although addicted to every kind of\nlicentiousness themselves, each Areoi had his own wife, who was also a\nmember of the Society; and so jealous were they in this respect, that\nimproper conduct towards the wife of one of their own number, was\nsometimes punished with death.\"[51] Yet the same writer speaks of \"the\nmysteries of iniquity, and acts of more than bestial degradation\" to\nwhich the Areois were at times addicted; and he says that \"in some of\ntheir meetings, they appear to have placed their invention on the rack,\nto discover the worst pollutions of which it was possible for man to be\nguilty, and to have striven to outdo each other in the most revolting\npractices.\"[52]\n\n [45] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128.\n\n [46] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326.\n\n [47] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 174.\n\n [48] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193 _sq._\n\n [49] J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p. 364.\n\n [50] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 132.\n\n [51] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239.\n\n [52] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 243.\n\nIt was a rule of the Society that no member should have any children;\nhence the first injunction given to a new member was to murder his\noffspring. Any infant that might afterwards be born to him was strangled\nat birth.[53] If a woman spared her child and could induce a man to\nfather it, \"both the man and the woman, being deemed by this act to have\nappropriated each other, are ejected from the community, and forfeit all\nclaim to the privileges and pleasures of Arreoy for the future; the\nwoman from that time being distinguished by the term _whannow-now_,\n'bearer of children,' which is here a term of reproach.\"[54] The\npretext alleged by the Areois for this cruel practice was that, on\nthe institution of the Society by the god Oro, the first two members,\nOrotetefa and Urutetefa, brothers of the god, had been celibate and\nchildless, and that therefore the members of the Society were bound to\nimitate them by being also without offspring.[55]\n\n [53] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 194; J. R. Forster, _Observations_,\n pp. 413 _sq._; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 129 _sq._; J. Wilson,\n _op. cit._ pp. 154 _sq._, 174, 194 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._\n i. 230 _sq._, 233, 240. Moerenhout says that when a chief was an\n Areoi, his first-born son was spared, but all the rest were\n sacrificed; but immediately afterwards he adds, with apparent\n inconsistency, that \"the first (by which he seems to mean the\n principal) Areois only killed their first sons and all their\n daughters; the other male infants were spared.\" See Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 495, 496. These statements, so far as I have\n observed, are not confirmed by other writers.\n\n [54] J. Cook, i. 194.\n\n [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230 _sq._, 232 _sq._\n\nIn the constant repetition of their often obscene exhibitions the Areois\npassed their lives, sailing from island to island or strolling from one\nchief's house to that of another, where they renewed the same round of\ndances, wrestlings, and pantomimic performances.[56] But the labour and\ndrudgery of dancing and performing for the amusement of the spectators\ndevolved chiefly on the lowest members of the Society, who were the\nprincipal actors in all their shows, while the higher orders, though\nthey plastered themselves with charcoal and stained themselves scarlet\nlike their humbler brethren, were generally careful not to contribute to\nthe public hilarity by any exhausting efforts of their own. Thus they\nled a life of dissipation and luxurious indolence.[57]\n\n [56] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236, 237.\n\n [57] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 238, 241.\n\nThey seem to have moved about in great troupes. As many as seventy\ncanoes, with more than seven hundred of these vagabonds on board, have\nbeen seen steering from island to island.[58] The approach of such a\nfleet to the shore with drums beating, flutes playing, and streamers\nfloating on the wind, was a picturesque sight, and as the canoes neared\nthe land the dancers might be seen jigging it on stages erected on\nboard, while the voices of the singers mingled with the roll of the\ndrums, the shrill music of the flutes, and the roar of the surf on the\nbeach in a confused but not unmelodious babel of sound.[59]\n\n [58] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 412; G. Forster,\n _Voyage_, ii. 128.\n\n [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._ Compare J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ ii. 132 _sq._ According to the latter writer there\n were traditions of as many as a hundred and fifty canoes sailing\n at once, each one seldom containing less than thirty or forty,\n and sometimes a hundred persons.\n\nOn landing in an island their first business was to take a small\nsucking-pig to the temple and present it to the god as a thank-offering\nto him for having brought them safe to shore. This, we are told, was the\nonly sacrifice ever offered in token of gratitude by any of the South\nSea Islanders to their imaginary divinities.[60] While they were\neverywhere welcomed by the vulgar for the merriment they carried with\nthem, and were everywhere countenanced and liberally entertained by the\nkings and chiefs, who found them convenient tools of fraud and\noppression, they were not received with equal enthusiasm by the farmers,\nwho had to furnish them with provisions, and who durst not refuse them\nanything, however unreasonable and extortionate their demands. For the\nAreois lived on the fat of the land. When they alighted, like a swarm of\nlocusts, on a rich district, they would send out their henchmen to scour\nthe neighbourhood and plunder the miserable inhabitants; and when they\nmoved on to their next halting-place, the gardens which they left behind\nthem often presented a scene of desolation and ruin.[61] Such havoc,\nindeed, did they spread by their feastings and carousings on even a\nshort visit of a few days, that in some parts of Tahiti the natives were\ncompelled to abandon the fertile lowlands and retreat up the mountains,\nsubmitting to the trouble of clambering up almost inaccessible slopes\nand cultivating a less fruitful soil rather than expose much of the\nproduce of their labour to the ravages of these privileged robbers.[62]\n\n [60] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._\n\n [61] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 237 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G.\n Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326-328. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p.\n 174, \"Wherever they go they exercise power to seize what they\n want from the inhabitants. They smite their hand on their breast\n and say '_Harre_, give,' whenever they covet any thing, and none\n dares deny them. They never work; live by plunder; yet are\n highly respected, as none but persons of rank are admitted among\n them.\" This last statement, however, is contradicted by Ellis,\n who says (_op. cit._ i. 239) that \"the fraternity was not\n confined to any particular rank or grade in society, but was\n composed of individuals from every class.\"\n\n [62] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 197.\n\nNot the least of the privileges, real or imaginary, enjoyed by the\nAreois was that after death their spirits were believed to pass without\ndifficulty to that paradise of delights to which otherwise none but the\nnoble and wealthy could hope to attain.[63]\n\n [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._\n\nIn spite of the profligate life which the Areoi led and their addiction\nto a round of frivolous amusements and entertainments, it seems likely\nthat the Society was originally founded for some serious purpose, though\nthe accounts which have come down to us hardly enable us to determine,\nor even to conjecture with a fair degree of probability, what that\npurpose was. That its aim was religious might be inferred on general\ngrounds, and is confirmed by the close relation in which the Society\nstood to the national god Oro. Not only is Oro said to have founded the\nSociety, but before a troop of Areois set out on their peregrinations\nthey were obliged to kill many pigs in sacrifice to him and to offer\nlarge quantities of plantains, bananas, and other fruits on his altars.\nMoreover, temporary shrines were erected in their canoes for the worship\nof Oro's two divine brothers, Orotetefa and Urutetefa, who were\ntraditionally said to have been the first members of the Society and\nwere regarded as its tutelary deities. In these shrines the principal\nsymbols were a stone for each of the brothers taken from Oro's temple,\nand a few red feathers from the inside of his sacred image. Into these\nsymbols the gods were supposed to enter when the priest pronounced a\nshort prayer immediately before the sailing of the fleet.[64]\n\n [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 234.\n\nWe might be better able to understand the purpose and the functions of\nthe Areoi Society if we were acquainted with the nature and meaning\nwhich the natives ascribed to the god Oro, the reputed founder of the\nSociety; but on this subject our authorities shed little light. He is\ndescribed as the war-god[65] and as \"the great national idol of Raiatea,\nTahiti, Eimeo, and some of the other islands,\" and he was said to be a\nson of the creator Taaroa, who at first dwelt alone up aloft, but who\nafterwards, with the help of his daughter Hina, created the heavens, the\nearth, and the sea.[66] By European writers Oro has been variously\ninterpreted as a god of the dead or of the sun; and accordingly the\nSociety of the Areois has been variously explained as devoted either to\na cult of the Lord of the Dead for the sake of securing eternal\nhappiness in a world beyond the grave, or to a worship of the sun-god;\nbut the grounds alleged for either interpretation appear to be extremely\nslight.[67]\n\n [65] Above, p. 258.\n\n [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324, 325.\n\n [67] Gerland takes the former view, Moerenhout the latter. See\n Waitz-Gerland, _Anthropologie_, vi. 368 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 484. The only evidence adduced by Moerenhout for\n his interpretation of Oro as a sun-god is a statement that in\n the Marquesas Islands the Areois suspended their performances\n and went into retreat from April or May till the vernal equinox\n (which in the southern hemisphere falls in September), and that\n during their retreat they assumed the style of mourners and\n bewailed the absence or death of their god, whom they called\n Mahoui. This Mahoui is accordingly taken by Moerenhout to be the\n sun and equated to Oro, the god of the Areois in the Society\n Islands. But Mahoui seems to be no other than the well-known\n Polynesian hero Maui, who can hardly have been the sun (see\n below, p. 286 note^5); and Moerenhout's statement as to the\n annual period of mourning observed by the Areois in the\n Marquesas Islands is not, so far as I know, confirmed by any\n other writer, and must, therefore, be regarded as open to doubt.\n His statement and his interpretation of Oro and Mahoui were\n accepted by Dr. Rivers, who made them the basis of his\n far-reaching theory of a secret worship of the sun introduced\n into the Pacific by immigrants from a far northern country, who\n also built the megalithic monuments of Polynesia and Micronesia.\n See W. H. R. Rivers, \"Sun-cult and Megaliths in Polynesia,\"\n _American Anthropologist_, xvii. July-September 1915, pp. 431\n _sqq._ In proof of the supposed connexion between these\n megalithic monuments and a worship of the sun, Dr. Rivers says\n (p. 440) that the Areois \"held their celebrations in an\n enclosure called _marae_ or _marai_, at one end of which was\n situated a pyramidical structure with steps leading to a\n platform on which were placed the images of the gods during the\n religious celebrations of the people.\" But if by \"their\n celebrations\" Dr. Rivers means the ordinary dramatic, musical,\n and athletic performances of the Areois, he seems to be in\n error; for it appears to be certain that these exhibitions were\n regularly given, not at the _maraes_, but in or before large\n houses built or specially set apart for the purpose. See above,\n pp. 259 _sq._\n\nPerhaps a faint gleam of light may fall on the mystery of the Areois\nfrom an examination of their traditionary first members and guardian\ndeities, the two divine brothers, Orotetefai and Urutetefai. The\nsimilarity of the names of the brothers suggests that they may have been\ntwins; for it is a common custom to bestow either the same or a similar\nname on each of a pair of twins in order to indicate their close\nrelationship to each other.[68] If they were twins, there are some\ngrounds for thinking that they were Heavenly Twins; for their father or\ncreator, Taaroa, seems certainly to have been a sky-god, and their\nmother, Hina, is by some authorities regarded as the moon; moreover, the\ntwo brothers are said to have first descended from the sky to the earth\non a rainbow.[69] If the twinship of the divine brothers could be made\nout, it might perhaps explain some of the peculiar features of the Areoi\nSociety. For example, their remarkable custom of not allowing any of\ntheir offspring to live; for it has been a common custom in many parts\nof the world to put twins to death.[70] Further, the superhuman rank\naccorded to the Areois becomes more intelligible on this hypothesis. For\namong many savage peoples twins are credited with the possession of\npowers superior to those of ordinary humanity; in particular, they are\nthought to be able to influence the weather for good or evil, as by\ncausing rain or drought and the wind to blow or be still.[71] Among the\nBaronga of South-Eastern Africa the supposed relation of twins to the\nsky is very clearly marked. They call the mother of twins by a name\nwhich means \"Heaven\" (_Tilo_), and consistently they style the twins\nthemselves \"Children of Heaven\" (_Bana ba Tilo_).[72] The mother is even\nsaid to have \"made Heaven,\" to have \"carried Heaven,\" and to have\n\"ascended to Heaven.\"[73] The connexion which is believed to exist\nbetween her and the twins on the one side and the sky on the other is\nbrought out plainly in the customs which the Baronga observe for the\npurpose of procuring rain in time of drought. Thus they will take a\nmother of twins, put her in a hole, and pour on her water which they\nhave drawn from all the wells, till the hole is half full, and the water\ncomes up to her breast. This is thought to make the rain fall.[74] Or\nagain, in order to get rain, the women will strip themselves naked\nexcept for a girdle and head-dress of grass, and thus attired will go in\nprocession, headed by a mother of twins, and pour water on the graves of\ntwins. And if the body of a twin has been buried in dry ground, they\nwill dig it up and bury it again near a river; for the grave of a twin,\nin their opinion, should always be wet. Thus they hope to draw down rain\non the thirsty ground.[75] Again, when a thunderstorm is raging and\nlightning threatens to strike a village, the Baronga will say to a twin,\n\"Help us! you are a Child of Heaven! You can therefore cope with Heaven;\nit will hear you when you speak.\" So the child goes out of the hut and\nprays to Heaven as follows: \"Go away! Do not annoy us! We are afraid. Go\nand roar far away.\" When the thunderstorm is over, the child is thanked\nfor its services. The mother of twins is also supposed to be able to\nhelp in the same way, for has she not, as the natives express it,\nascended to Heaven? They say that she can speak with Heaven, and that\nshe is at it or in it.[76] Among the Kpelle, a negro tribe of Liberia,\ntwins are regarded as born magicians, and as such are treated with\nrespect, and people sometimes make them presents in order to ensure\ntheir goodwill; in doing so they are careful never to make a present to\nthe one twin without the other, and the twin who was born last gets his\npresent first, for he is regarded as the first-born. Twins are thought\nby the Kpelle to do wonders; they even say that \"a twin surpasses every\nmedicine-man.\"[77] Among the Fan or Fang, a tribe of the Cameroons in\nWest Africa, there is a curious superstition that a twin ought not to\nsee a rainbow. Should he by accident have caught sight of one, he must\nshave his eyebrows and dye the place of the one black and the place of\nthe other red.[78] This superstition seems to imply a special relation\nbetween twins and the sky, and it reminds us of the Tahitian tradition\nthat the two divine brothers, the first members of the Areoi Society,\ndescended to earth on a rainbow.[79]\n\n [68] J. Rendel Harris, _The Dioscuri in the Christian Legends_\n (London, 1903), pp. 1 _sqq._ _id._, _The Cult of the Heavenly\n Twins_ (Cambridge, 1906), pp. 58 _sqq._; _id._, _Boanerges_\n (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 291 _sqq._\n\n [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230, 232. Ellis does not admit that\n Orotetefa and Urutetefa were, strictly speaking, the sons of\n Oro. He writes: \"According to the traditions of the people,\n Taaroa created, and, by means of Hina, brought forth when full\n grown Orotetefa and Urutetefa. They were not his sons; _oriori_\n is the term employed by the people, which seems to mean\n _create_\" (_op. cit._ i. 230). With regard to Hina (Heena),\n interpreted as the moon, or the goddess of the moon, see J. R.\n Forster, _Observations_, p. 549; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 152;\n J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._. i. 428 _sq._, 458, 472; E.\n Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 69.\n _s.v._ \"Hina,\" \"Hina is by far the best known of all Polynesian\n legendary personages. In the more easterly islands she is a\n goddess, and is almost certainly the Moon-goddess.\" Similarly\n Mr. E. E. V. Collocot observes that Hina \"is generally regarded\n as the Moon-goddess, and this view was spontaneously put forward\n by a Tongan; in conversation with me\" (_Journal of the\n Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 238).\n\n [70] Abundant evidence of the custom is produced by Dr. Rendel\n Harris in his learned works, _The Cult of the Heavenly Twins_\n and _Boanerges_.\n\n [71] _The Golden Bough_, Part I., _The Magic Art and the\n Evolution of Kings_, i. 262 _sqq._\n\n [72] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), p. 412;\n _id._, _Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel, 1912-1913),\n ii. 394.\n\n [73] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 398.\n\n [74] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399.\n\n [75] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_, pp. 417 _sq._; _id._, _Life of\n a South African Tribe_, ii. 296.\n\n [76] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399 _sq._\n\n [77] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_\n (Goettingen, 1921), pp. 68, 212, 355. The Bambara, another tribe\n of West Africa, similarly regard the last-born of twins as the\n elder of the two. See Jos. Henry, _Les Bambara_ (Muenster i. W.,\n 1910), p. 98. So, too, with the Mossi of the Sudan. See E.\n Mangin, \"Les Mossi,\" _Anthropos_, x.-xi. (1915-1916) p. 192.\n\n [78] L. Martrou, \"Les 'Eki' des Fang,\" _Anthropos_, i. (1906) p.\n 751; H. Trilles, _Le Totemisme chez les Fan_ (Muenster i. W.,\n 1912), p. 593. Compare H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African\n Tribe_, ii. 400, note^1, who reports the same superstition among\n the Fan on the testimony of his wife, who was for years a\n missionary in the tribe.\n\n [79] Above, p. 267.\n\nAnother notion about twins which may possibly help to throw light on\nsome of the practices of the Areoi Society, is that they or their\nparents or both are endowed with a fertilising or prolific virtue, which\nenables them to multiply animals or plants and thereby to increase the\nfood supply. Thus, for example, some tribes of Northern Rhodesia keep\npigeons in their villages, and in erecting a pigeon-cote they take care\nthat the first stakes \"are driven in by a woman who has borne twins, in\norder, they say, that the pigeons may multiply.\"[80] Some Bantu tribes\nof this region ascribe a similar virtue to both the father and the\nmother of twins. They think that such parents exert a beneficial or\nprolific influence at laying the foundations of pigeon-cotes,\nchicken-houses, goat-pens, or any other building used for the purposes\nof breeding; a certain woman who had borne twins thrice was lately in\ngreat request at these functions.[81] The Zulus think that all goats\nbelonging to a twin bring forth young in couples.[82]\n\n [80] C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, _The Great Plateau of Northern\n Nigeria_ (London, 1911), pp. 307 _sq._\n\n [81] D. Campbell, _In the Heart of Bantuland_ (London, 1922), p.\n 155.\n\n [82] Dudley Kidd, _Savage Childhood_ (London, 1906), p. 49.\n\nIn the Central District of Busoga, Central Africa, when a woman has\ngiven birth to twins, the people of her clan do not sow any seed until\nthe twins have been brought to the field. A pot of cooked grain is set\nbefore the children with a cake of sesame and all the seed that is to be\nsown. The food is eaten by the assembled people, and afterwards the\nfield is sown in presence of the twins; the plot is then said to be the\nfield of the twins. The mother of twins must sow her seed before any\nperson of the clan will sow his or hers.[83] These customs seem clearly\nto imply a belief that twins and their mother possess a special power of\nfertilising the seed. Among the Baganda of Central Africa twins were\nsupposed to be sent by Mukasa, the great god whose blessing on the crops\nand on the people was ensured at an annual festival. The twins were\nthought to be under the protection of the god, and they bore his name,\nthe boys being called Mukasa and the girls Namukasa. And a series of\ncustoms observed by the parents of twins among the Baganda indicates in\nthe plainest manner a belief that they were endowed with a fertilising\nvirtue which extended, not only to the crops and the cattle, but also to\nhuman beings. Thus the parents of twins were supposed to make people\nfruitful by sprinkling them with a mixture of water and clay from pots,\nof which each of the parents had one. Again, some time after the birth\nthe parents used to make a round of visits to relations and friends,\ntaking the twins with them. At every house they danced, the father\nwearing a crown made from a certain creeper, and the mother wearing a\ngirdle of the same material. At these dances offerings were made to the\ntwins. These dances were most popular \"because the people believed that\nthereby they obtained a special blessing from the god Mukasa, who\nfavoured the parents of twins, and through them dispensed blessing\nwherever they went.\" The persons whom the twins and their parents\nhonoured with a visit \"thought that, not only they themselves would be\nblessed and given children, but that their herds and crops also would be\nmultiplied.\" A ceremony performed by the father and mother of twins over\na flower of the plantain indicated in the plainest, if the grossest,\nfashion the belief of the Baganda that parents of twins could magically\nfertilise the plantains which form the staple food of the people. No\nwonder, then, that among them a mother of twins is deemed a source of\nblessing to the whole community, and that for some time after the birth\nboth she and the father were sacred and wore a distinctive dress to\nprevent any one from touching them. The father, in particular, \"could do\nwhat he liked, because he was under the protection of the god\"; for\nexample, he was free to enter anybody's garden and to take the produce\nat will. Special drums, too, were made for the parents, one for the\nfather and one for the mother; and for some time after the birth these\nwere beaten continually both by day and by night.[84]\n\n [83] J. Roscoe, _The Northern Bantu_ (Cambridge, 1915), p. 235.\n\n [84] J. Roscoe, \"Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the\n Baganda,\" _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii.\n (1902) pp. 32-34, 80; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp.\n 64-72. These two accounts to some extent supplement each other.\n I have drawn on both. As to the annual festival of the god\n Mukasa, see _id._, _The Baganda_, pp. 298 _sq._\n\nAmong the Hos of Togo, in West Africa, in like manner, special drums are\nbeaten for the parents of twins, and the parents dance publicly to the\nmusic in the main street of the village, after going nine times round\nit. Some days later the parents go the round of all the Ho towns,\neverywhere executing the same dance to the same music at noon; but\nshould one of the twins have died in the meantime, the parents dance at\nnight. It is believed that, if the customary rites were not performed at\nthe birth of twins, the parents of the twins would be crippled.\nCuriously enough, the drums, to the music of which the parents dance,\nmay not be beaten by any one without special reason; and no one else may\ndance to their music except such as have slain either a man or a\nleopard. Among these people the birth of twins is the occasion of very\ngreat rejoicing. They say that \"the road which the mother of twins goes\nis better than the road which the rich man goes.\"[85] The saying\nsuggests that the Hos, like the Baganda, regard a mother of twins as\ndiffusing fertility wherever she goes; and, on the analogy of the dances\nof parents of twins among the Baganda, we may conjecture that in like\nmanner among the Hos the parents of twins are supposed to confer the\nblessing of fruitfulness on all the towns where they dance.\n\n [85] J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 202-206.\n\nAmong the Barundi of East Africa the birth of twins is celebrated with\nrites, songs, and ritual dances, which last for days and even for weeks.\nAs soon as the news spreads, the neighbours, friends, and relations\nflock to the house to sing, bringing with them presents for the parents\nor offerings to the spirits. The amount of provisions thus accumulated\nis enormous, but the parents of the twins benefit little by it; the\ngreat bulk disappears as by magic among the self-invited guests.\nFestivity, dancing, and singing are now the order of the day. Dancers,\nmale and female, their faces painted red and white or yellow, dance like\nfuries in a circle for hours together, singing ritual hymns at the top\nof their voices, while an old sorceress besprinkles the troop with\nlustral water. It is commonly believed that if these rites were omitted,\nthe twins and their parents would die. At the birth of twins it is\ncustomary to buy two black sheep or lambs and to dedicate them to the\ntwins, one to each. These sheep are then left at liberty to run about as\nthey like by day and night, and to enter the fields and browse at will.\nIf one of them dies it is replaced by another. The animals are described\nas the guardians of the children, the receptacle or symbol of their\nspirits, in short, as their fetish.[86] To some extent, they are\nanalogous to the pig which an Areoi used to offer to the god at the\nceremony of his consecration; for, though sometimes the animal was\nkilled, at other times it was liberated, and, being regarded as sacred\nor belonging to the god to whom it had been offered, was allowed to\nrange the district uncontrolled till it died.[87] Among the Baluba, a\ntribe of the Belgian Congo, there is great joy at the birth of twins,\nand special ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The twins are\ninvariably named Kyunga and Kahya, after the spirits of two ancient\nkings, and to these spirits the twins are consecrated. After being\nwashed and decorated they are placed side by side in a winnowing-basket\nand carried by the women of the family in procession through the\nvillage, headed by the proud father. Dancing and singing they go to the\nash-heap of the village. There they all rub themselves with ashes and\nperform another dance. After that, still led by the father of the twins,\nthey go to the houses of the chief people, and in front of each house\nthe father dances, while the women beat time with their hands. Wherever\nthe procession halts, the householder is expected to come and admire the\ntwins, to compliment the father, and to deposit a small present in the\nwinnowing-basket.[88] Among the Herero of South-West Africa the parents\nof twins are looked on as sacred, and for a time they may not speak to\nany one, and no one may speak to them. But after the lapse of some days\nthe family goes the round of the village, visiting three or four huts\nevery day. The father of the twins sits down on the right side of the\nhut, and the inmates make him offerings of beads, oxen, and so forth.\nWhen he has thus gone the round of the village, he repairs to the\nneighbouring villages, where the same ceremonies are repeated. It is\noften a year before he returns to his own village, and when he does so\nhe brings back with him a great quantity of offerings. Henceforth the\nfather of the twins enjoys all the privileges of a priestly chief; he\nmay sacrifice at the holy fire, and he may represent and even succeed\nthe chief in the office of priest for the village. The twins themselves\nare eligible for the same office. If a chief dies a natural death, he is\nsucceeded in his priestly function by his twin son; whereas the\nchieftainship passes to the chief's legal heir, who is properly the son\nof his eldest sister, and who thenceforth assumes the name of the twin.\nA twin is bound by no taboo; he may eat of all flesh offered in\nsacrifice; he may drink of the milk of every holy cow, just like the\nchief and the priest themselves.[89]\n\n [86] J. M. M. van der Burgt, _Dictionnaire Francais-Kirundi_\n (Bois-le-Duc, 1903), pp. 324 _sq._; H. Meyer, _Die Barundi_\n (Leipzig, 1916), pp. 110 _sq._\n\n [87] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 242.\n\n [88] Colle, _Les Baluba_ (Brussels, 1913), i. 253-255.\n\n [89] J. Irle, _Die Herero_ (Guetersloh, 1906), pp. 96-99.\n\nIn these cases we are not told that twins and their parents are supposed\nto be endowed with a power of multiplying the herds and generally of\nincreasing the supply of food by the prolific influence which they\ndiffuse about them; but the analogy of the customs and beliefs of the\nBaganda concerning the birth of twins renders the supposition probable.\nAt least on this hypothesis we can readily understand the round of\nvisits which the parents, or one of them, pay to the surrounding towns\nor villages, and the presents which are made to them. If they indeed\npossess a power of imparting fertility and abundance wherever they go,\nit is obviously in everybody's interest to be visited by them, and\nclearly, on the same supposition, it is everybody's duty to make some\nreturn to them for the wonderful benefits which they have conferred.\n\nSimilarly we may perhaps suppose that the rounds which the Areois went\nfrom island to island, dancing, singing, and playing their tricks\nwherever they stopped, were believed to quicken the fruits of the earth,\nand possibly also to multiply the pigs and the fish. On that assumption,\nthe unlimited right which these vagabonds enjoyed of appropriating and\nconsuming the produce of the gardens was probably accorded to them as a\nnatural and proper remuneration for the inestimable services which their\nmere presence was believed to render to the crops. The sexual excesses,\nin which they appear to have indulged, would also be intelligible, if it\nwas imagined that, on the principle of sympathetic magic, such\nindulgences actually promoted the multiplication and growth of plants\nand animals. But this explanation of the extravagant rites observed by\nthe Areois, and of the quaint beliefs entertained concerning them, is\noffered only as an hypothesis for what it is worth. It may be worth\nwhile noting that among the Kpelle, a tribe of Liberia in West Africa,\nthere is reported to exist a Secret Society of Twins,[90] but whether\nit bears any resemblance to the Society of the Areois I do not know.\n\n [90] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_\n (Goettingen, 1921), p. 228.\n\nA familiar figure of the Polynesian pantheon, who meets us in the\nmythology of the Society Islanders, was the famous god or hero Maui.\nMany stories of his exploits were told in the islands. It is said that\noriginally the sky lay flat upon the face of the earth and ocean, being\nheld down by the legs of a huge cuttle-fish. But Maui dived into the\nsea, and, grappling with the monster, utterly dismembered him; whereupon\nthe sky flew up and expanded into the beautiful blue vault which we now\nsee above us, with the noonday sun for the keystone of the arch.[91]\nAgain, the natives told how, one day, sitting in his canoe, Maui let\ndown his line with a hook at the end of it and fished up the earth,\nwhich had hitherto lain at the bottom of the sea.[92] Also he is said to\nhave held the sun with ropes to prevent him from going too fast.[93] For\nit happened that Maui was hard at work, building a temple, when he\nperceived that the day was declining and that the night would overtake\nhim before he had accomplished his task; so hastily twining some ropes\nof coco-nut fibre, he laid hold of the sun's rays and tethered them by\nthe ropes to a tree, so that the sun could not stir till Maui had\nfinished the task he was at.[94] Further, Maui is said to have invented\nthe mode of kindling fire by rubbing the point of one stick in the\ngroove of another,[95] which was the way in which the Society Islanders\nregularly made fire.[96] Maui was also supposed to be the cause of\nearthquakes.[97] In Tahiti a curious image of Maui was seen and\ndescribed by Captain Cook. \"It was the figure of a man, constructed of\nbasket-work, rudely made, but not ill-designed; it was something more\nthan seven feet high, and rather too bulky in proportion to its height.\nThe wicker skeleton was completely covered with feathers, which were\nwhite where the skin was to appear, and black in the parts which it is\ntheir custom to paint or stain, and upon the head, where there was to be\na representation of hair: upon the head also were four protuberances,\nthree in front and one behind, which we should have called horns, but\nwhich the Indians dignified with the name of _Tate Ete_, little men. The\nimage was called Manioe, and was said to be the only one in Otaheite.\nThey attempted to give us an explanation of its use and design, but we\nhad not then acquired enough of their language to understand them. We\nlearnt, however, afterwards that it was a representation of Mauwe, one\nof their _Eatuas_, or gods of the second class.\"[98]\n\n [91] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526.\n\n [92] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 449 _sq._\n\n [93] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 167.\n\n [94] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 40 _sq._; W.\n Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 170 _sq._\n\n [95] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526.\n\n [96] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 141; J. Wilson,\n _op. cit._ p. 357; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p.\n 349; Wallis, in R. Kerr's _General History and Collection of\n Voyages and Travels_, xii. 212; _id._, in J. Hawkesworth's\n _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) p. 483.\n\n [97] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 540; G. Forster, _Voyage\n round the World_, ii. 151. These writers spell his name O-Maouwe\n and O-mauwee.\n\n [98] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 156 _sq._\n\nBesides the high primaeval deities, born of the Night, the Society\nIslanders believed in a host of inferior divinities, many of whom were\nsaid to have been created by Taaroa, the supreme god. Thus, between the\nhigh gods and the deities of particular places or of particular\nprofessions, there was a class of intermediate deities, who were not\nsupposed to have existed from the beginning or to have been born of\nNight. Their origin was veiled in obscurity, but they were often\ndescribed as having been renowned men, who, after death, were deified by\ntheir descendants. They all received the homage of the people, and on\nall public occasions were acknowledged among the gods.[99] Again, there\nwere many gods of the sea, among whom the principal seem to have been\nTuaraatai and Ruahatu. These were generally called shark gods (_atua\nmao_), not that the shark was itself deemed a god, but that it was\nsupposed to be employed by the marine gods as their minister of\nvengeance. It was only the large blue shark which was believed to act in\nthis capacity; and it is said that these voracious creatures always\nspared a shipwrecked priest, even when they devoured his companions;\nnay, they would recognise a priest on board any canoe, come at his call,\nand retire at his bidding. A priest of one of these shark gods told Mr.\nEllis that he or his father had been carried on the back of a shark from\nRaiatea to Huahine, a distance of twenty miles. Other gods were thought\nto preside over the fisheries, and to direct the shoals of fish to the\ncoasts. Their aid was invoked by fishermen before they launched their\ncanoes and while they were busy at sea. But these marine deities were\nnot supposed by the people to be of equal antiquity with the great\nprimordial gods, born of the Night (_atua fauau po_).[100] Again, there\nwere gods of the air, who were sometimes worshipped under the figure of\nbirds. The chief of these aerial deities were thought to be a brother\nand sister, who dwelt near the great rock, which is the foundation of\nthe world. There they imprisoned the stormy winds, but sent them forth\nfrom time to time to punish such as neglected the worship of the gods.\nIn tempests their compassion was besought by mariners tossed on the sea\nor by their friends on shore.[101] To the minds of the islanders there\nwere also gods of hill and dale, of precipice and ravine. \"By their rude\nmythology each lovely island was made a sort of fairy-land, and the\nspells of enchantment were thrown over its varied scenes.... The\nmountain's summit, and the fleecy mists that hang upon its brows--the\nrocky defile--the foaming cataract--and the lonely dell--were all\nregarded as the abode or resort of these invisible beings.\"[102]\n\n [99] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._ As to the inferior gods,\n see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 451 _sqq._\n\n [100] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 327-329.\n\n [101] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._ As to the worship of\n birds, Captain Cook says: \"This island [Tahiti indeed, and the\n rest that lie near it, have a particular bird, some a heron and\n others a king's fisher, to which they pay a peculiar regard, and\n concerning which they have some superstitious notions with\n respect to good and bad fortune, as we have of the swallow and\n robin-redbreast, giving them the name of _eatua_, and by no\n means killing or molesting them; yet they never address a\n petition to them, or approach them with any act of adoration.\"\n See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224.\n\n [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._, 331.\n\nThe general name for \"god\" in the Society Islands, as throughout\nPolynesia, was _atua_.[103] The word was also applied, in the expression\n_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, to the spirits of departed relatives, who\nwere also worshipped and ranked among the deities.[104] To these we\nshall return presently; meantime it may not be out of place to give some\nnotice of the worship of the other gods, since in the religion of the\nSociety Islanders, as of other branches of the Polynesian race, it was\nclosely interwoven with the worship of the dead.\n\n [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 333 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 440 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, pp. 30 _sq._, _s.v._ \"atua.\" Captain Cook and the\n first missionaries spelled the word _eatua_ or _eatooa_. See J.\n Cook, _Voyages_, i. 221, vi. 149; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343.\n\n [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 454 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 4. _The Temples and Images of the Gods_\n\nThe sacred place dedicated to religious worship was called a _morai_,\nor, as it is also spelled, a _marai_ or _marae_, which may be translated\n\"temple,\" though all such places were uncovered and open to the sky. The\nnational temples, where the principal idols were deposited, consisted of\nlarge walled enclosures, some of which contained smaller inner courts.\nThe form was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram, with sides\nforty or fifty feet long. The area was paved with flat stones, and two\nsides of it were enclosed by a high stone wall, while the front was\nprotected by a low fence, and within rose in steps or terraces a solid\npyramidical structure built of stone, which usually formed one of the\nnarrow sides of the area, either at the western or at the eastern end.\nThese pyramids, which were always truncated so as to form a narrow\nplatform or ridge on their upper surface, were the most striking and\ncharacteristic feature of the _morais_; indeed the name _morai_ or\n_marae_ appears to have been sometimes confined, at least by European\nobservers, to the pyramid. In front of the pyramid the images were kept\nand the altars fixed. The houses of the priests and of the keepers of\nthe idols were erected within the enclosure.[105] Of these interesting\nmonuments, which seemed destined to last for ages, only a few\ninsignificant ruins survive; the rest have been destroyed, chiefly at\nthe instigation of the missionaries.[106]\n\n [105] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 339 _sqq._ Compare\n J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._, 217, 219, 220, 222, vi. 37,\n _sq._, 41; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage\n round the World_, pp. 543 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the\n World_, i. 267, ii. 138 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207\n _sq._, 211 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267\n _sq._, 271, 280 _sqq._, 549, ii. 13 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 466-470; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp.\n 111 _sqq._; S. and K. Routledge, \"Notes on some Archaeological\n Remains in the Society and Austral Islands,\" _Journal of the\n Royal Anthropological Institute_, li. (1921) 438 _sqq._\n According to J. R. Forster (_l.c._), the _marais_ (_morais,\n maraes_) \"consist of a very large pile of stones, generally in\n the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, with large steps; sometimes\n this pyramid makes one of the sides of an area, walled in with\n square stones and paved with flat stones: the pyramid is not\n solid, but the inside is filled with smaller fragments of coral\n stones.\"\n\n [106] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, p. 135. This writer has\n given us a survey and description of some of the principal\n remains which existed at the end of the nineteenth century (pp.\n 111-148). The ruins of two _maraes_ in the island of Moorea are\n described by Mr. and Mrs. Routledge (_l.c._). In one of them the\n pyramid stood at the western end of the enclosure, and in the\n other at the eastern end.\n\nSome of the pyramids erected within these sacred enclosures were of\ngreat size. In Tahiti an enormous one was seen and described by Captain\nCook as well as by later observers. It was of oblong shape and measured\ntwo hundred and sixty-seven feet in length by eighty-seven feet in\nwidth. It rose in a series of eleven steps or terraces, each four feet\nhigh, so that the total height of the structure was forty-four feet.\nEach step was formed of a single course of white coral stone, neatly\nsquared and polished. The steps on the long sides were broader than\nthose at the ends, so that at the top it terminated, not in an oblong of\nthe same figure as the base, but in a ridge like the roof of a house.\nThe interior of the pyramid was solid, being filled up with round\npebbles which, from the regularity of their figure, seemed to have been\nwrought. Some of the coral stones were very large; one of them was three\nand a half feet long by two and a half feet wide. The foundation of the\npyramid was built not of coral, but of what Captain Cook called rock, by\nwhich he probably meant a volcanic stone. These foundation stones were\nalso squared; one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet\nfour inches. \"Such a structure,\" says Captain Cook, \"raised without the\nassistance of iron tools to shape the stones, or mortar to join them,\nstruck us with astonishment: it seemed to be as compact and firm as it\ncould have been made by any workman in Europe, except that the steps\nwhich range along its greatest length are not perfectly strait, but sink\nin a kind of hollow in the middle, so that the whole surface, from end\nto end, is not a right line, but a curve.\" All the stones, both rock and\ncoral, must have been brought from a distance, for there was no quarry\nin the neighbourhood. The squaring of these blocks with stone tools\nmust, as Captain Cook observes, have been a work of incredible labour;\nbut the polishing of them could have been effected more easily by means\nof the sharp coral sand, which is found everywhere on the seashore in\ngreat abundance. On the top of the pyramid, and about the middle, stood\nthe wooden image of a bird; and near it lay the image of a fish carved\nin stone. This great pyramid formed part of one side of a spacious area,\nnearly square, which measured three hundred and sixty feet by three\nhundred and fifty-four, and was walled in with stone as well as paved\nwith flat stones in its whole extent. Notwithstanding the pavement,\nseveral trees were growing within the sacred enclosure. About a hundred\nyards to the west was another paved area or court, in which were several\nsmall stages raised on wooden pillars about seven feet high. These\nstages the natives called _ewattas_. Captain Cook judged them rightly to\nbe altars, observing that they supported what appeared to be offerings\nin the shape of provisions of all sorts, as well as whole hogs and many\nskulls of hogs and dogs.[107]\n\n [107] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157-159. The great pyramid was\n afterwards visited and described by the first missionaries.\n Their measurements confirm, while slightly exceeding, those of\n Captain Cook. They speak, however, of ten steps instead of\n eleven, and say that the lowest step was six feet high and the\n rest about five. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207 _sq._, with\n the plate.\n\nThe pyramids within the sacred enclosure were not usually so large or so\nlofty. In the island of Huahine the pyramid of the chief god Tani or\nTane was a hundred and twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet broad, and\nit had only two steps or stories. The lower step or story was about ten\nfeet high and faced with blocks of coral, set on their edges: some of\nthese blocks were as high as the step itself. The upper step or story\nwas similarly faced with coral, but was not more than three feet high.\nThe interior of both stories was filled with earth. In the centre of the\nprincipal front stood the god's bed, a stone platform twenty-four feet\nlong by thirteen feet wide, but only eighteen inches high. The style and\nmasonry of this pyramid, as well as its dimensions, appear to have been\nvery inferior to those of the great one in Tahiti. The blocks were\napparently unhewn and unpolished, the angles ill formed, and the walls\nnot straight. Venerable and magnificent trees overshadowed the\nsanctuary. One of them measured fifteen yards in girth above the roots.\nIt is said that the god often wished to fly away, but that his long tail\nalways caught in the boughs of this giant tree and dragged him down to\nearth again.[108]\n\n [108] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 265 _sq._\n\nThese sacred pyramids \"were erected in any place, and at any time, when\nthe priests required, by the slavish people. On such occasions the\nformer overlooked the latter at their work, and denounced the most\nterrible judgments upon those who were remiss at it. The poor wretches\nwere thus compelled to finish their tasks (burthensome as they often\nwere, in heaving blocks from the sea, dragging them ashore, and heaping\nthem one upon another) without eating, which would have desecrated the\nintended sanctuary. To restrain the gnawings of hunger they bound\ngirdles of bark round their bodies, tightening the ligatures from time\nto time, as their stomachs shrank with emptiness. And, when the drudgery\nwas done, it was not uncommon for the remorseless priests to seize one\nof the miserable builders and sacrifice him to the idol of the\nplace.\"[109]\n\n [109] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 13 _sq._\n\nTemples of this sort were found scattered over the islands in every\nsituation--on hill-tops, on jutting headlands, and in the recesses of\ngroves.[110] They varied greatly in size: some were small and built in\nthe rudest manner, mere squares of ill-shapen and ill-piled stones. In\nthe island of Borabora the missionaries found not less than two hundred\nand twenty of these structures crowded within an area only ten miles in\ncircumference.[111] The trees that grew within the sacred enclosure were\nsacred. They comprised particularly the tall cypress-like casuarina and\nthe broader-leaved and more exuberant callophyllum, thespesia, and\ncardia. Their interlacing boughs formed a thick umbrageous covert, which\noften excluded the rays of the sun; and the contrast between the bright\nglare of a tropical day outside and the sombre gloom in the depths of\nthe grove, combined with the sight of the gnarled trunks and twisted\nboughs of the aged trees, and the sighing of the wind in the branches,\nto strike a religious horror into the mind of the beholder.[112] The\nground which surrounded the temples (_morais_) was sacred and afforded a\nsanctuary for criminals. Thither they fled on any apprehension of\ndanger, especially when many human sacrifices were expected, and thence\nthey might not be torn by violence, though they were sometimes seduced\nfrom their asylum by guile.[113]\n\n [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341.\n\n [111] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 13.\n\n [112] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341 _sq._\n\n [113] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 351.\n\nThese remarkable sanctuaries were at once temples for the worship of the\ngods and burial-places for the human dead. On this combination of\nfunctions I have already adduced some evidence;[114] but as the point is\nimportant, I will cite further testimonies as to the custom of burying\nthe dead in these enclosures.\n\n [114] Above, pp. 116 _sqq._\n\nThus Captain Cook writes: \"I must more explicitly observe that there are\ntwo places in which the dead are deposited: one a kind of shed, where\nthe flesh is suffered to putrefy; the other an enclosure, with erections\nof stones, where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called\n_tupapow_, and the enclosures _morai_. The _morais_ are also places of\nworship\".[115] Again, after describing how a dead body used to be placed\nin the temporary house or shed (_tupapow_) and left there to decay for\nfive moons, Captain Cook tells us that \"what remains of the body is\ntaken down from the bier, and the bones, having been scraped and washed\nvery clean, are buried, according to the rank of the person, either\nwithin or without a _morai_: if the deceased was an _earee_ or chief,\nhis skull is not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in\nfine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is\nalso placed in the _morai_. This coffer is called _ewharre no te\norometua_, the house of a teacher or master\".[116]\n\n [115] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 217.\n\n [116] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 219.\n\nAgain, after describing the human sacrifice which he witnessed at the\ngreat _morai_ at Attahooroo, in Tahiti, Captain Cook proceeds as\nfollows: \"The _morai_ (which, undoubtedly, is a place of worship,\nsacrifice, and burial at the same time), where the sacrifice was now\noffered, is that where the supreme chief of the whole island is always\nburied, and is appropriated to his family, and some of the principal\npeople. It differs little from the common ones, except in extent. Its\nprincipal part is a large oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each\nother, about twelve or fourteen feet high, contracted toward the top,\nwith a square area on each side, loosely paved with pebble stones, under\nwhich the bones of the chiefs are buried.... The human sacrifices are\nburied under different parts of the pavement.\"[117]\n\n [117] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 37.\n\nAgain, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the victors used to\ncollect all the dead that had fallen into their hands and bring them to\nthe _morai_, where, with much ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all\nthe bodies in it as so many offerings to the gods; but the skulls of the\nslain were never afterwards taken up. Their own great chiefs who fell in\nbattle were treated in a different manner. Captain Cook was informed\nthat the bodies of the late king and two chiefs, who were slain in\nbattle, were brought to the _morai_ at Attahooroo. There the priests cut\nout the bowels of the corpses before the great altar, and the bodies\nwere afterwards buried at three different spots in the great pile of\nstones which formed the most conspicuous feature of the _morai_. Common\nmen who perished in the same battle were all buried in a single hole at\nthe foot of the pile. The spots where the bodies of the king and chiefs\nreposed were pointed out to Captain Cook and his companions.[118]\n\n [118] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 40 _sq._\n\nAgain, in the island of Tahiti, the naturalist George Forster, who\naccompanied Captain Cook, saw a stone building, \"in form of the frustum\nof a pyramid,\" constructed in terraces or steps, and measuring about\ntwenty yards in length at the base. \"This the native said was a\nburying-place and place of worship, _marai_, and distinguished it by the\nname of _marai no-Aheatua_, the burying-place of Aheatua, the present\nking of Tiarroboo.\"[119]\n\n [119] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, i. 267.\n\nAgain, in the island of Huahine, the missionaries Tyerman and Bennet saw\n\"a pagan _marae_ hard by, where the sovereigns of Huahine were\nburied--and where, indeed, they lay in more than oriental state, each\none resting in his bed, at the foot of the Sacred Mountain, beneath the\numbrage of the magnificent _aoa_ [tree], and near the beach for ever\nwashed by waters that roll round the world.... The great _marae_ itself\nwas dedicated to Tani, the father of the gods here; but the whole ground\nadjacent was marked with the vestiges of smaller _maraes_--private\nplaces for worship and family interment--while this was the capital of\nthe island and the headquarters of royalty and idolatry.\"[120] A little\nlater, speaking of the same sacred place, the missionaries observe, \"The\nfirst _marae_ that we visited was the sepulchral one of the kings of\nHuahine, for many generations. It was an oblong inclosure, forty-five\nfeet long by twenty broad, fenced with a strong stone wall. Here the\nbodies of the deceased, according to the manner of the country, being\nbound up, with the arms doubled to their shoulders, the legs bent under\ntheir thighs and both forced upwards against the abdomen, were let down,\nwithout coffins, into a hole prepared for their reception, and just deep\nenough to allow the earth to cover their heads.\"[121]\n\n [120] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271.\n\n [121] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 280.\n\nOne of our best authorities on these islands, William Ellis, speaks of\nthe _maraes_ (_morais_), whether they belonged to private families, to\ndistricts, or to the kings, as being \"the general depositories of the\nbones of the departed, whose bodies had been embalmed\"; and as a motive\nfor the practice he alleges the sanctity which attached to these places,\nand which might naturally be supposed to guard the graves against\nimpious and malicious violation.[122] However, the first missionaries\nsay of the islanders that \"they bury none in the _morai_, but those\noffered in sacrifice, or slain in battle, or the children of chiefs\nwhich have been strangled at the birth--an act of atrocious inhumanity\ntoo common.\"[123] According to Moerenhout, the _marais_ (_morais_)\nbelonging to private families were often used as cemeteries; but in the\npublic _marais_ none but the human victims, and sometimes the priests,\nwere interred.[124] Thus there is to some extent a conflict of testimony\nbetween our authorities on the subject of burial in the temples. But the\nevidence which I have adduced seems to render it probable that many at\nleast of the _morais_ served as burial-grounds for kings and chiefs of\nhigh degree, and even for common men who had fallen fighting in the\nservice of their country.\n\n [122] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405. See above, pp. 117 _sq._\n\n [123] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364.\n\n [124] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470.\n\nIn more recent years the German traveller, Arthur Baessler, who examined\nand described the existing ruins of these sacred edifices, denied that\nthe _maraes_ (_morais_) were places of burial, while he allowed that\nthey were places of worship.[125] He distinguished a _marae_ from an\n_ahu_, admitting at the same time that they closely resembled each\nother, both in their structure and in the ritual celebrated at\nthem.[126] According to him, a _marae_ was a sort of domestic chapel,\nthe possession of which constituted the most distinctive mark of a noble\nfamily. Every chief, high or low, had one of them and took rank\naccording to its antiquity.[127] It was an oblong area, open to the sky\nand enclosed by walls on three sides and by a pyramid on the fourth:\nwalls and pyramid alike were built of blocks of stone or coral.[128] The\n_ahu_, on the other hand, was a monument erected to the memory of a\ndistinguished chief, whose mortal remains were deposited in it. But\napart from the grave which it contained, the _ahu_, according to\nBaessler, hardly differed from a _marae_, though it was mostly larger:\nit was a great walled enclosure with a pyramid, altars, and houses of\nthe priests. And the ritual celebrated in the _ahu_ resembled the ritual\nperformed in the _marae_: there, too, the faithful assembled to pray,\nand there the priests recited the same liturgy.[129] Thus both the form\nand, to some extent at least, the function of the two types of sanctuary\npresented a close similarity. The islanders themselves, it appears, do\nnot always clearly distinguish them at the present day.[130] And the\nsingle distinction on which Baessler insisted, that the dead were buried\nin the _ahu_ but not in the _marae_, seems not to hold good universally,\neven on Baessler's own showing. For he admits that, \"if ever a chief was\nburied in his own _marae_, it must have been in most exceptional cases,\nbut probably statements to that effect rest only on a confusion of the\n_marae_ with the _ahu_; such a practice would also run counter to the\nhabits of the natives, who sought the most secret places for their dead,\nand certainly concealed the heads in caves difficult of access and\nunknown to others. On the other hand, the _maraes_ of humbler families\nmay more frequently, if not as a rule, have served as places of\nburial.\"[131] And even in regard to the holiest _marae_, dedicated to\nthe great god Oro, in the island of Raiatea,[132] Baessler himself cites\na tradition, apparently well authenticated, that a great number of\nwarriors slain in battle were buried in it.[133] The argument that the\npeople buried their dead, or at all events their skulls, only in remote\ncaves among the mountains seems untenable; for according to the evidence\nof earlier writers the practice of concealing the bones or the skulls of\nthe dead in caves was generally, if not always, a precaution adopted in\ntime of war, to prevent these sacred relics from falling into the hands\nof invaders; the regular custom seems to have been to bury the bones in\nor near the _marae_ and to keep the skulls either there or in the\nhouse.[134] On the whole, then, it is perhaps safer to follow earlier\nand, from the nature of the case, better-informed writers in neglecting\nthe distinction which Baessler drew between a _marae_ (_morai_) and an\n_ahu_. In any case we have Baessler's testimony that an _ahu_ was at\nonce a place of burial and a place of worship. There seems to be no\nevidence that any of these sacred edifices, whether _maraes_ or _ahus_,\nwere associated with a worship of the sun. On the other hand, it is\ncertain that some at least of them were dedicated, partly or chiefly, to\na cult of the dead, which formed a very important element in the\nreligion of the Society Islanders, whereas there is little or nothing to\nshow that they adored either the sun, or any other of the heavenly\nbodies, with the possible exception of the moon.[135] This did not,\nhowever, prevent them from entertaining absurd notions concerning these\ngreat luminaries. At an eclipse they imagined that the moon or the sun\nwas being swallowed by some god whom they had offended; and on such\noccasions they repaired to the temple and offered prayers and liberal\npresents to the deity for the purpose of inducing him to disgorge the\nluminary.[136]\n\n [125] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 116 _sq._, 127\n _sq._, 144 _sq._\n\n [126] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130, 131.\n\n [127] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 119.\n\n [128] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._\n\n [129] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130 _sq._\n\n [130] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 140.\n\n [131] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 127.\n\n [132] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 124, 141.\n\n [133] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 127 _sq._, 144 _sq._\n\n [134] See below, p. 311.\n\n [135] Ellis says, \"I am not aware that they rendered divine\n homage either to the sun or moon\" (_Polynesian Researches_, iii.\n 171). Speaking of the Areois, Moerenhout says that \"it seems to\n me clear that though they did not adore directly the sun and the\n other stars, nevertheless their worship was little else than\n sabeism or the adoration of the visible and animated universe\"\n (_op. cit._ i. 503). He interpreted both Oro and Maui or Mahoui\n (as he spells the name) as the sun-god (_op. cit._ i. 484, 502,\n 503, 560 _sq._); but these interpretations appear to be his own\n guesses, unsupported by any statement of the natives. Maui was\n the great Polynesian hero, one of whose most famous exploits was\n catching the sun in a snare and compelling him to move more\n slowly (E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_,\n pp. 234 _sqq._, _s.v._ \"Maui\"; see above, p. 275); but this\n story, far from favouring the identification of Maui with the\n sun, seems fatal to it. According to J. R. Forster, the great\n god Taroa (Taaroa) was thought to have created the sun and to\n dwell in it (_Observations_, p. 540); but even if this statement\n is correct, it hardly implies a worship of the sun. With regard\n to the moon, the same writer tells us (_l.c._) that it was\n supposed to be procreated by a goddess named O-Heena, \"who\n presides in the black cloud which appears in this luminary\"; and\n the statement is repeated by his son, George Forster, who adds:\n \"The women sing a short couplet, which seems to be an act of\n adoration paid to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps because they\n suppose her to have some influence upon their physical\n [oe]conomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that cloud I love'\"\n (_Voyage round the World_, ii. 152). This so far seems to imply\n a reverence for the moon; and there are some grounds for\n thinking that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is usually spelt) was\n in Eastern Polynesia a moon-goddess. See above, p. 267, note^2.\n\n [136] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._, iii. 171. According to\n another account, the sun and moon in eclipse were supposed to be\n in the act of copulation. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346.\n\nTemples such as have been described were erected on all important\noccasions, such as a war, a decisive victory, or the installation of a\ngreat chief or king of a whole island. In these latter cases the natives\nboasted that the number of persons present was so great that, if each of\nthem only brought a single stone, the amount of stones thus collected\nwould have sufficed to build their largest temples and pyramids.[137]\nOne of the occasions when it became necessary to build new temples was\nwhen the old ones had been overthrown by enemies in war. After such a\ndesecration it was customary to perform a ceremony for the purpose of\npurifying the land from the defilement which it had incurred through the\ndevastations of the foe, who had, perhaps, demolished the temples,\ndestroyed or mutilated the idols, and burned with fire the curiously\ncarved pieces of wood which marked the sacred places of interment and\nrepresented the spirits of the dead (_tiis_). Before the rite of\npurification was performed the temples were rebuilt, new altars reared,\nnew images placed within the sacred precincts, and new wooden effigies\nset up near the graves. At the close of the rites in the new temples,\nthe worshippers repaired to the seashore, where the chief priest offered\na short prayer and the people dragged a net of coco-nut leaves through a\nshallow part of the sea, usually detaching small pieces of coral, which\nthey brought ashore. These were called fish and were delivered to the\npriest, who conveyed them to the temple and deposited them on the altar,\noffering at the same time a prayer to induce the gods to cleanse the\nland from pollution, that it might be as pure as the coral fresh from\nthe sea. It was now thought safe to abide on the soil and to eat of its\nproduce, whereas if the ceremony had not been performed, death would\nhave been, in the opinion of the people, the consequence of partaking of\nfruits grown on the defiled land.[138]\n\n [137] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 468.\n\n [138] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 348 _sq._\n\nThe temples were sacred. When a man approached one of them to worship or\nto bring his offering to the altar, he bared his body to the waist in\nsign of reverence and humility.[139] Women in general might not enter a\ntemple, but when their presence was indispensable for certain\nceremonies, the ground was covered with cloth, on which they walked,\nlest they should defile the holy place with their feet.[140] For\nexample, some six weeks or two months after the birth of a child the\nfather and mother took the child to a temple, where they both offered\ntheir blood to the gods by cutting their heads with shark's teeth and\nallowing the blood to drip on leaves, which they laid on the altar. On\nthis occasion the husband spread a cloth on the floor of the temple for\nhis wife to tread upon, for she might not step on the ground or the\npavement.[141] Similarly at marriage bride and bridegroom visited the\nfamily temple (_marae_, _morai_), where the skulls of their ancestors\nwere brought out and placed before them; but a large white cloth had to\nbe spread out on the pavement for the bride to walk upon. Sometimes at\nthese marriage rites the female relatives cut their faces and brows with\nshark's teeth, caught the flowing blood on cloth, and deposited the\ncloth, sprinkled with the mingled blood of the mothers of the married\npair, at the feet of the bride.[142] At other times the mother of the\nbride gashed her own person cruelly with a shark's tooth, and having\nfilled a coco-nut basin with the blood which flowed from her wounds, she\npresented it to the bridegroom, who immediately threw it from him.[143]\nWhile certain festivals were being celebrated at the temples the\nexclusion of women from them was still more rigid. Thus in the island of\nHuahine, during the celebration of the great annual festival, at which\nall the idols of the island were brought from their various shrines to\nthe principal temple to be clothed with new dresses and ornaments, no\nwoman was allowed to approach any of the sacred edifices under pain of\ndeath, which was instantly inflicted by whoever witnessed the sacrilege.\nEven if the wives and children of the priests themselves came within a\ncertain distance, while some particular services were going on, they\nwere murdered on the spot by their husbands and fathers with the utmost\nferocity.[144]\n\n [139] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224; J. R. Forster, _Observations\n made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 547; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 469. Elsewhere (vi. 149) Captain Cook mentions\n that the baring of the body on the approach to a temple was\n especially incumbent on women, who otherwise had to make a\n considerable circuit to avoid the sacred edifice.\n\n [140] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 469 _sq._; A. Baessler,\n _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 126 _sq._\n\n [141] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 536 _sq._\n\n [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 271 _sq._\n\n [143] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 558.\n\n [144] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267 _sq._\n\nSome of these sacred edifices are still impressive in their ruins and\ndeserve the name of megalithic monuments. Thus the temple (_marae_,\n_morai_) of Oro at Opoa, which was the holiest temple in the island of\nRaiatea and perhaps in the Society Islands generally,[145] is about a\nhundred and thirty-eight feet long by twenty-six feet broad. It is\nenclosed by a wall of gigantic coral blocks standing side by side to a\nheight of about six feet seven inches. The blocks have been hewn from\nthe inner reef; the outer surfaces were smoothed, the inner left rough.\nOne of the blocks stands over eleven feet high, without reckoning the\npart concealed by the soil; it is twelve feet wide, by two and a half\nfeet thick. Another block is about ten feet long by eight feet broad and\none foot thick.[146] In the ruined temple of Tainuu, situated in the\ndistrict of Tevaitoa, one block is about eleven and a half feet high by\neleven feet wide, with a thickness varying from twenty inches to two and\na half feet.[147]\n\n [145] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 124, 141; D.\n Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529 _sq._\n\n [146] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 142.\n\n [147] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 146.\n\nThe idols or images of the gods were usually made of wood, but sometimes\nof stone. Some were rudely carved in human shape; others were rough\nunpolished logs, wrapped in many folds of cloth or covered with a\nmatting of coco-nut fibre.[148] The image of the god Oro was a straight\nlog of casuarina wood, six feet long, uncarved, but decorated with\nfeathers. On the other hand Taaroa, the supreme deity of Polynesia, was\nrepresented by a rudely carved human figure about four feet high, with a\nnumber of little images studding his body to indicate the multitude of\ngods that had proceeded from him as creator. The body of the god was\nhollow, and when it was taken from the temple, where it had been\nworshipped for many generations, it was found to contain a number of\nsmall idols in the cavity. It is supposed that these petty gods had been\nplaced there by their worshippers and owners that they might absorb some\nof the supernatural powers of the greater divinity before being removed\nto the places where they were to commence deities on their own\naccount.[149] With a similar intention it was customary to fill the\ninside of the hollow images with red feathers in order that the plumes\nmight be impregnated with the divine influence and might afterwards\ndiffuse it for the benefit of the owner of the feathers, who had placed\nthem in the image for that purpose. The red feathers, plucked from a\nsmall bird which is found in many of the islands, thus became an\nordinary medium for communicating and extending supernatural powers, not\nonly in the Society Islands, but throughout Polynesia. The beautiful\nlong tail-feathers of the tropic or man-of-war bird were used for the\nsame purpose. The gods were supposed to be very fond of these feathers\nand ready to impart their blessed essence to them. Hence people brought\nthe feathers to the priest and received from him in exchange two or\nthree which had been sanctified in the stomach of the deity; on\nextracting them from that receptacle, the priest prayed to the god that\nhe would continue to inhabit the red feathers even when they were\ndetached from his divine person.[150] The feathers thus consecrated were\nthemselves regarded as in some sense divine and were called gods\n(_atuas_, _oromatuas_); the people had great confidence in their\nsovereign virtue, and on occasions of danger they sought them out,\nbelieving that the mere presence of the feathers would afford them\nadequate protection. For example, when they were threatened by a storm\nat sea, they would hold out the feathers to the menacing clouds and\ncommand them to depart.[151]\n\n [148] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 471. According to Ellis, the wooden images were made\n from the durable timber of the _aito_ or casuarina tree, and the\n stone images were mostly rude uncarved angular columns of\n basalt, of various sizes, though some were of calcareous or\n siliceous stone. Some stone images, however, were rudely carved\n in human form. See A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 128\n _sq._\n\n [149] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 354.\n\n [150] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 338 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 471 _sqq._\n\n [151] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 473 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 5. _The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders_\n\nThe offerings presented to the gods included every kind of valuable\nproperty, such as birds, fish, beasts, the fruits of the earth and the\nchoicest native manufactures. The fruits and other eatables were\ngenerally, but not always, dressed. Portions of the fowls, pigs, or\nfish, cooked with sacred fire in the temple, were presented to the\ndeity; the remainder furnished a banquet for the priests and other\nsacred persons, who were privileged to eat of the sacrifices. The\nportions appropriated to the gods were placed on the altar and left\nthere till they decayed. In the public temples the great altars were\nwooden stages, some eight or ten feet high, supported on a number of\nwooden posts, which were sometimes curiously carved and polished. But\nthere were also smaller altars in the temples; some of them were like\nround tables, resting on a single post. Domestic altars and such as were\nerected near the bodies of dead friends were small square structures of\nwicker-work. In sacrificing pigs they were very anxious not to break a\nbone or disfigure the animal. Hence they used to strangle the animal or\nbleed it to death.[152]\n\n [152] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 344 _sq._\n\nHuman victims were sacrificed on many occasions, as in time of war, at\ngreat national festivals, during the illness of their rulers, and at\nthe building of a temple. William Ellis was told that the foundations of\nsome of their sacred edifices were laid in human sacrifices, and that at\nleast the central pillar, which supported the roof of one of the sacred\nhouses at Maeva, had been planted on the body of a man. The victims were\neither captives taken in war or persons who had rendered themselves\nobnoxious to the chiefs or the priests. In the technical language of the\npriests they were called \"fish.\" When once a man had been chosen for\nsacrifice, the family to which he belonged was regarded as taboo or\ndevoted to the altar, and when another victim was wanted, he was more\nfrequently taken from that family than from any other. Similarly, a\ndistrict which had once furnished victims was thenceforth devoted.\nHence, at the approach of ceremonies which were usually accompanied by\nhuman sacrifices, the members of certain families and the inhabitants of\ncertain districts used to flee to the mountains and hide in caves till\nthe ceremony was over. But the doomed man was seldom apprised of his\nfate beforehand. A sudden blow with a club or a stone on the nape of the\nneck was the usual way of despatching him, lest the body should be\nmangled or a bone broken. If the blow had only stunned him, he was soon\nkilled, and the corpse, placed in a long basket of coco-nut leaves, was\ncarried to the temple and offered to the god by being set before the\nidol. In dedicating it the priest took out one of the eyes and handed it\non a leaf to the king, who made as if he would swallow it, but passed it\non to a priest or attendant. After the ceremony the body, still wrapt in\ncoco-nut leaves, was often deposited on the branches of a neighbouring\ntree, where it remained some time. Finally, the bones were taken down\nand buried under the pavement of the temple (_marae_).[153]\n\n [153] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 345-348. Compare J. Cook,\n _Voyages_, iii. 168 _sqq._ vi. 28-41; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp.\n 350 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549, ii. 38\n _sq._\n\nIn the family, according to patriarchal usage, the father was the\npriest, but the priests of the national temples formed a distinct class;\ntheir office was hereditary. The high priesthood was often held by a\nmember of the royal family, and sometimes the king himself acted as the\nnational priest. The duties of the priests were to recite prayers, to\npresent offerings, and to sacrifice victims. Their prayers, usually\nuttered in shrill, chanting tones, were often exceedingly long and full\nof repetitions.[154] They had plenty of employment, being called in to\nofficiate on all occasions, whether at birth or at death, at feasts or\nin sickness; for they were the physicians as well as the clergy of the\ncountry. They professed to possess extraordinary powers, such as to\npromote conception or to effect abortion, to cause or to heal disease,\nto pray the evil spirit into food, and even to kill men outright. Hence\nthey were greatly feared.[155] Of the little knowledge that existed in\nthe islands the priests are reported to have possessed the largest\nshare, but it consisted chiefly in an acquaintance with the names and\nranks of the various subordinate deities (_atuas_); however, according\nto Captain Cook, they excelled the rest of the people in their knowledge\nof navigation and astronomy: indeed, the very name for priest (_tahowa_)\nsignified nothing more than a man of knowledge.[156] In the island of\nHuahine the priest whose duty it was to carry the image of the god Tani\n(Tane) \"was a personage of such superhuman sanctity that everything\nwhich he touched became sacred; he was, therefore, not suffered to\nmarry, as the honour of being his wife was too much for any mortal\nwoman. But this was not all; he would himself be so defiled by such a\nconnection that he would be disqualified for his office, and must\nimmediately resign it; nay, if he did not repent, and return with a\ngreat peace-offering to Tani's house, he might expect to be first struck\nblind, and afterwards strangled in his sleep. He was not allowed to\nclimb a cocoa tree, because, if he did, it would be so hallowed that\nnobody else durst afterwards ascend it.\"[157]\n\n [154] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 342 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 545\n _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 474 _sqq._\n\n [155] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 348.\n\n [156] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 223.\n\n [157] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 279.\n\nOne of the most important functions of the priests was to act as\nmouthpieces of the gods. In the discharge of this duty they were\nbelieved to be inspired and possessed by the deity, who spoke through\nthem to the people. When the time came for them to consult the god, they\nassumed an odd fantastic dress, enriched with red and black feathers,\nto which the deity was so partial, that when the priests approached him\nin this array, he descended to earth at their call in one of the sacred\nbirds that frequented the temples (_morais_) and fed on the sacrifices.\nAs soon as the bird lighted on the sacred edifice, the god left the fowl\nand entered into the priest. The holy man, thus inspired, now stretched\nhimself, yawned, and rubbed his arms, legs, and body, which began to be\ninflated, as if the skin of the abdomen would burst; the eyes of the\nseer were thrown into various contortions, now staring wide, now\nhalf-shut and sinking into stupor, while at other times the whole frame\nwas convulsed and appeared to have undergone a sudden and surprising\nchange. The voice sank to a low pitch, and grew squeaky and broken; but\nat times it would suddenly rise to an astonishing height. The words\nuttered by the possessed man were regarded as oracular, and nothing that\nhe asked for the god or for himself in this state was ever refused him.\nOf all this the priest himself affected to be entirely unaware, but a\ncolleague was regularly at hand to record the divine message and the\ndivine requirements, which were often very large. When the deity took\nhis departure from the priest, he did so with such convulsions and\nviolence as to leave the man lying motionless and exhausted on the\nground, and the oracle was so timed that this happened at the very\nmoment when the sacred bird, the vehicle of the god, flew away from the\ntemple. On coming to himself the priest uttered a loud shriek and seemed\nto wake as from a profound sleep, unconscious of everything that had\npassed.[158] Sometimes, however, the priest continued to be possessed by\nthe deity for two or three days; at such times he wore a piece of native\ncloth, of a peculiar sort, round one arm as a sign of his inspiration.\nHis acts during this period were deemed to be those of the god; hence\nthe greatest attention was paid to his expressions and to the whole of\nhis deportment. Indeed, so long as the fit of inspiration lasted he was\ncalled a god (_atua_); but when it was over, he resumed his ordinary\ntitle of priest.[159]\n\n [158] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 349 _sq._\n\n [159] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373-375.\n\nWe are told that in his fine frenzy the priest \"often rolled on the\nearth, foaming at the mouth, as if labouring under the influence of the\ndivinity, by whom he was possessed, and, in shrill cries, and violent\nand often indistinct sounds, revealed the will of the god.\"[160] It\nwould probably be a mistake to assume that on such occasions the frantic\nbehaviour was deliberately assumed and the wild whirling words were\nconsciously uttered for the purpose of deceiving the people; in short,\nthat the whole performance was a mere piece of acting, a bare-faced\nimposture. It is far more likely that, bred from childhood to believe in\nthe reality of divine inspiration, the priest often sincerely imagined\nhimself to be possessed by a deity, and that, under the excitement which\nsuch an imagination was calculated to produce, he honestly mistook his\nown thick-coming fancies for a revelation from the gods. A chief, who\nhad formerly been a prophet of the god Oro, assured the missionaries\n\"that although he sometimes feigned his fits of inspiration, to deceive\nthe credulous multitude, yet, at other times, they came upon him\ninvoluntarily and irresistibly. Something seemed to rush through his\nwhole frame, and overpower his spirit, in a manner which he could not\ndescribe. Then he frothed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, and distorted\nhis limbs with such violence that it required five or six strong men to\nhold him. At these times his words were deemed oracles, and whatever he\nadvised respecting state affairs, or other matters, was implicitly\nobserved by king and chiefs.\"[161] Thus on the ravings of these crazy\nfanatics or deliberate impostors often hung the issues of life or death,\nof war or peace.[162] It appears to have been especially the priests of\nOro who laid claim to inspiration and contrived to shape the destinies\nof their country through the powerful sway which they exercised over the\nmind of the king. In their fits of fanatical frenzy, while they\ndelivered their oracles, they insisted on the sovereign's implicit\ncompliance with their mandates, denouncing the most dreadful judgments\non him if he should prove refractory.[163]\n\n [160] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373 _sq._\n\n [161] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 124.\n\n [162] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114 _sq._\n\n [163] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 121.\n\nApart from the priests there was a class of men whose business it was to\npreserve and hand down to their successors the lists of the gods, the\nliturgical prayers, and the sacred traditions. As these liturgies and\nlegends were often very lengthy and couched in a metaphorical and\nobscure language, a prodigious memory and long practice were\nindispensable for their preservation and transmission among a people to\nwhom the art of writing was unknown. Since the slightest mistake in the\nrecitation of a liturgy was deemed the worst of omens and necessitated\nthe suspension of the religious service, however costly and important\nthe service might be, the sacred recorders, as we may call them, were\nobliged, for the sake of their credit, to practise continually the\nrecitation of the prayers, legends, and traditions of which they were\nthe depositories. To aid them in their task they made use of bundles of\nlittle sticks of different sizes, one of which they drew from a bundle\nat the conclusion of each prayer. It was their duty on solemn occasions\nto recite these liturgies or sacred poems while they paced slowly by\nnight round the temples (_morais_) and other holy places; hence they\nwent by the name of _harepo_, which means \"Walkers by night.\" We are\ntold that if at these times they made a mistake in a single word or\nhesitated for a moment, they stopped and returned home; and if the\nsubject of their prayers chanced to be some enterprise in which they\ndesired to enlist the favour of the gods, such a mistake or hesitation\nwas enough to cause the undertaking to be abandoned irretrievably, since\nsuccess in it was believed to be impossible. Nothing, it is said, could\nbe more astonishing than the memory displayed by these men, while they\nrecited, word for word, and for nights together, the ancient traditions\nof which the mutilated and mangled remains would demand the assiduous\nstudy of several years. The office of sacred recorder (_harepo_) was\nhereditary in the male line; the sons were trained in the duties from\ntheir earliest years, but only such as were endowed with an excellent\nmemory could satisfy the requirements of the profession. They believed\nthat a good memory was a gift of the gods.[164]\n\n [164] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 504-507.\n\n\nSec. 6. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_\n\nOf the Society Islanders we are informed that \"they believe every man to\nhave a separate being within him, named _tee_, which acts in consequence\nof the impression of the senses, and combines ideas into thoughts. This\nbeing, which we would call the soul, exists after death, and lodges in\nthe wooden images which are placed round the burying-places, and which\nare called by the same name, _tee_.\"[165] When they were asked in what\npart of the body the soul resides, they always answered that it was\nseated in the belly or in the bowels (_I roto te obou_). They would not\nadmit that the brain could be the seat of thought or the heart of the\naffections; and in support of their opinion they alleged the agitation\nof the bowels in strong emotion, such as fear and desire.[166] Hence,\ntoo, they called thoughts by a phrase which signifies \"words in the\nbelly\" (_parou no te oboo_).[167]\n\n [165] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 151 _sq._\n Compare J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round\n the World_, pp. 534 _sq._, 542 _sq._, where the word for soul is\n given as _E-teehee_ or _Teehee_.\n\n [166] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431.\n\n [167] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 151 note *.\n\nBut the Society Islanders did not regard the possession of a soul as a\nprivilege peculiar to humanity. According to Captain Cook, \"they\nmaintain that not only all other animals, but trees, fruit, and even\nstones, have souls, which at death, or upon being consumed or broken,\nascend to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass\ninto the mansion allotted to each.\"[168] Their word for soul was\n_varoua_, according to Moerenhout, who adds that, \"It appears that they\naccorded this _varoua_ (spirit, soul) not only to man, but even in\naddition to the animals, to plants, to everything that vegetates, grows\nor moves on the earth.\"[169]\n\n [168] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 151.\n\n [169] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 430.\n\nThey thought that the soul of man could be separated for a time from the\nbody during life without causing immediate death. Thus, like many other\npeoples, they explained dreams by the supposed absence of the soul\nduring slumber. We are told that \"they put great confidence in dreams,\nand suppose in sleep the soul leaves the body under the care of the\nguardian angel, and moves at large through the regions of spirits. Thus\nthey say, My soul was such a night in such a place, and saw such a\nspirit. When a person dies, they say his soul is fled away, _h[=a]rre\np[=o]_, gone to night.\"[170] But they also believed that a man's soul or\nspirit could be conjured out of his body by magic art or demoniacal\nagency. Thus, when people had been robbed, they would sometimes call in\nthe help of a priest to ascertain the thief. In such a case the priest,\nafter offering prayers to his demon, would direct them to dig a hole in\nthe floor of the house and to fill it with water; then, taking a young\nplantain in his hand, he would stand over the hole and pray to the god,\nwhom he invoked, and who, if he were propitious, was supposed to conduct\nthe spirit of the thief to the house and to place it over the water. The\nimage of the spirit, which they believed to resemble the person of the\nman, was, according to their account, reflected in the water and\nperceived by the priest, who was thus able to identify the thief,\nalleging that the god had shown him the reflection of the culprit in the\nwater.[171] From this it appears that in the opinion of the Society\nIslanders, as of many other peoples, a man's soul or spirit is a\nfaithful image of his body.[172]\n\n [170] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346. In the Polynesian languages\n _po_ is the word both for \"night\" and for \"the shades,\" the\n primaeval darkness from which all forms of life were evolved,\n and to which the souls of the dead return. See E. Tregear,\n _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 342, _s.v._ \"po.\"\n\n [171] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 378 _sq._\n\n [172] Compare W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396, \"What their precise\n ideas of a spirit were, it is not easy to ascertain. They\n appear, however, to have imagined the shape or form resembled\n that of the human body, in which they sometimes appeared in\n dreams to the survivors.\"\n\nThey believed that in the pangs of death the soul keeps fluttering about\nthe lips, and that, when all is over, it ascends and mixes with or, as\nthey expressed it, is eaten by the deity.[173] When one of their sacred\nrecorders (_harepo_), who had been famous in his life for his knowledge\nof the ancient traditions, was at the point of death, it was customary\nfor his son and successor to place his mouth over the mouth of the dying\nman, as if to inhale the parting soul at the moment of quitting the\nbody; for in this way he was supposed to inherit the lore of his father.\nThe natives, it is said, were convinced that these sages owed their\nlearning to this expedient, though none the less they studied day and\nnight to perfect themselves in their profession.[174]\n\n [173] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 150.\n\n [174] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 507.\n\n\nSec. 7. _Disease, Death, and Mourning_\n\nEvery disease was supposed to be the result of direct supernatural\nagency, and to be inflicted by the gods for some crime committed against\nthe law of taboo of which the sufferer had been guilty; or it might have\nbeen brought upon him by an enemy, who had compassed his destruction by\nmeans of an offering. They explained death in like manner: according to\nthem, it was invariably caused by the direct influence of the gods.[175]\nThey acknowledged, indeed, that they possessed poisons which, taken with\nfood, produced convulsions and death, but these effects they traced to\nthe anger of the gods, who employed the drugs as their material agents\nor secondary causes. Even when a man was killed in battle, they still\nsaw in his death the hand of a god, who had actually entered into the\nweapon that inflicted the fatal blow.[176]\n\n [175] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._\n i. 433, 538 _sqq._\n\n [176] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395 _sq._\n\nThe gods who were thus supposed to afflict human life with sickness and\ndisease and to bring it to an untimely termination in death were not\nalways nor perhaps usually the high primaeval deities; often they were\nthe souls of the dead, who ranked among the domestic divinities\n(_oromatuas_). And, like the Maoris,[177] the natives of the Society\nIslands are said to have stood in particular fear of the souls of dead\ninfants, who, angered at their mother for their too early death, took\ntheir revenge by sending sickness on the surviving members of the\nfamily. Hence when a woman was ill-treated by her husband, she would\noften threaten to insult the ghost of a dead baby; and this threat, with\nthe deplorable consequences which it was calculated to entail, seldom\nfailed to bring the husband to a better frame of mind; or if he happened\nto prove recalcitrant, the other members of the family, who might be\ninvolved in the calamity, would intercede and restore peace in the\nhousehold. Thus we are told that among these islanders the fear of the\ndead supplied in some measure the place of natural affection and\ntenderness in softening and humanising the general manners.[178]\n\n [177] See above, p. 49.\n\n [178] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 538 _sq._\n\nDisease and death were also attributed to the malignant charms of\nsorcerers, who, hired by an enemy of the sufferer, procured for the\npurpose the clipped hair or the spittle of their intended victim, the\nflowers or garment he had worn, or any object which had touched his\nperson. But the real agents who were thought to give effect to the\ncharms were the minor deities, whom the sorcerer employed to accomplish\nhis nefarious ends. For this purpose he put the hair or other personal\nrefuse of the victim in a bag along with the images and symbols of the\npetty divinities, and buried the bag and its contents in a hole which he\nhad dug in the ground. There he left it until, applying his ear to the\nhole, he could hear the soul of the sufferer whimpering down below,\nwhich proved that the charm was taking effect. If the intended victim\ngot wind of these machinations, it was always in his power to render\nthem abortive, either by sacrificing to the gods or by sending a present\nto the sorcerer, who thus was feed by both sides at the same time.[179]\n\n [179] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 539-541. Compare W. Ellis,\n _op. cit._ i. 363 _sqq._\n\nHowever, most cases of sickness apparently were set down not to the\nwiles of sorcerers, but to the displeasure of the deified spirits of the\ndead.[180] On this point the evidence of the early missionaries is\nexplicit. Speaking of the Society Islanders, they say that \"they regard\nthe spirits of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into\n_eatooas_ [_atuas_, deities], and their favour to be secured by prayers\nand offerings. Every sickness and untoward accident they esteem as the\nhand of judgment for some offence committed; and therefore, if they have\ninjured any person, they send their peace-offering, and make the matter\nup: and if sick, send for the priest to offer up prayers and sacrifices\nto pacify the offended _eatooa_; giving anything the priests ask, as\nbeing very reluctant to die.\"[181] \"As it is their fixed opinion, that\nno disease affects them but as a punishment inflicted by their _eatooa_\n[_atua_] for some offence, and never brought on themselves by\nintemperance or imprudence, they trust more to the prayers of their\npriests than to any medicine.\"[182]\n\n [180] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 543.\n\n [181] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345.\n\n [182] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 404.\n\nThey imagined that at death the soul (_varua_) was drawn out of the head\nby a god or spirit (_atua_) as a sword is drawn out of its scabbard, and\nthat the spirits of the dead often waited to catch it at the moment when\nit issued from the body. Sometimes the dying man would fancy that he saw\nthe spirits lurking for him at the foot of the bed, and would cry out in\nterror, \"They are waiting for my spirit. Guard it! Preserve it from\nthem!\"[183]\n\n [183] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396.\n\nWhen the last struggle was over, a priest or diviner (_tahua tutera_)\nwas called in to ascertain the cause of death. For this purpose he\nentered his canoe and paddled slowly along on the sea, near the house in\nwhich the dead body was lying, in order to watch the passage of the\ndeparting spirit; for they thought that it would fly towards him with\nthe emblem of the cause through which the person had died. If he had\nbeen cursed by the gods, the spirit would appear with a flame, fire\nbeing the agent employed in the incantations of the sorcerers, who had\npresumably drawn down the curse upon the deceased. If some enemy had\nbribed the gods to kill him, the spirit would come with a red feather,\nas a sign that evil spirits had entered into his food. After a short\ntime the diviner returned to the house, announced the cause of death to\nthe survivors, and received his fee, the amount of which was regulated\nby the circumstances of the family. After that a priest was employed to\nperform ceremonies and recite prayers for the purpose of averting\ndestruction from the surviving members of the family; but the nature of\nthe ceremonies has not been recorded.[184]\n\n [184] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 398 _sq._\n\nWhen it was manifest that death was approaching, the relatives and\nfriends, who had gathered round the sufferer, broke into loud\nlamentations and other demonstrations of sorrow, which redoubled in\nviolence as soon as the spirit had departed. Then they not only wailed\nin the loudest and most affecting tone, but tore out their hair, rent\ntheir garments, and cut themselves with shark's teeth or knives in a\nshocking manner. The instrument usually employed was a small cane, about\nfour inches long, with five or six teeth fixed into it on opposite\nsides. Struck forcibly into the head, these instruments wounded it like\na lancet, so that the blood poured down in copious streams. Every woman\nat marriage provided herself with one of these implements and used it\nunsparingly on herself on the occasion of a death in the family. Some\npeople, not content with this instrument of torture, provided themselves\nwith a sort of mallet armed with two or three rows of shark's teeth; and\nwith this formidable weapon, on the demise of a relative or friend, they\nhammered themselves unmercifully, striking their skulls, temples,\ncheeks, and breast, till the blood flowed profusely from the wounds. At\nthe same time they uttered the most deafening and agonising cries; and\nwhat with their frantic gestures, the distortion of their countenances,\ntheir torn and dishevelled hair, and the mingled tears and blood that\ntrickled down their bodies, they presented altogether a horrible\nspectacle. This self-inflicted cruelty was practised chiefly by women,\nbut not by them alone; for the men on these occasions committed the like\nenormities, and not only cut themselves, but came armed with clubs and\nother deadly weapons, which they sometimes plied freely on the bodies of\nother people. These dismal scenes began with the nearest relatives of\nthe deceased, but they were not confined to them. No sooner did the\ntidings spread, and the sound of wailing was heard throughout the\nneighbourhood, than friends and kinsfolk flocked to the spot and joined\nin the demonstrations of real or affected sorrow. The pageant of woe\nreached its climax when the deceased was a king or a principal chief. It\nwas then, above all, that the tenants and retainers came armed with\nbludgeons and stones, with which they fought each other till some of\nthem were wounded or slain; while others operated on themselves by\ntearing their hair and lacerating their bodies in the usual manner till\ntheir bodies were bedabbled with blood. After the introduction of\nfirearms into the islands, these lethal weapons lent variety and noise\nto the combats, as well as adding to the number of the slain. At the\ndeath of a person of distinction these exhibitions of frenzied sorrow\nsometimes lasted two or three days in succession, or even longer.[185]\nOn such occasions a body of armed men, composed of friends and allies,\nused to arrive from a neighbouring district and request to be allowed\naccess to the body of the chief, in order that they might mourn for him\nin due form. The request was always refused by the bodyguards, who kept\nthe last vigil over their departed lord; and in consequence a fight\nensued in which several warriors were generally wounded or killed. Yet\nit was only a sham fight, which seems to have always ended in a victory\nfor the mourners who had come from a distance; and when it was over,\nvictors and vanquished regularly united in performing the usual\nsanguinary rites of mourning. In all the islands wrestling matches,\ncombats, and assaults-at-arms were ordinary features of the obsequies of\nchiefs.[186]\n\n [185] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 407-409; J. Wilson,\n _op. cit._ p. 352; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 546 _sq._\n\n [186] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 551 _sq._\n\nThe blood which women in the paroxysms of grief drew from their bodies,\nand the tears which flowed from their eyes, were received on pieces of\ncloth, which were then thrown upon or under the bier as oblations to the\ndead.[187] Sometimes for this purpose a woman would wear a short apron,\nwhich she held up with one hand, while she cut herself with the other,\ntill the apron was soaked in blood. Afterwards she would dry it in the\nsun and present it to the bereaved family, who kept it as a token of the\nestimation in which the departed had been held.[188] Some of the younger\nmourners used also to cut off their hair and throw it under the bier\nwith the other offerings.[189] When the deceased was a child, the\nparents, in addition to other tokens of grief, used to cut their hair\nshort on one part of their heads, leaving the rest long; sometimes they\nshaved a square patch on the forehead; sometimes they left the hair on\nthe forehead and cut off all the rest; at other times they removed all\nthe hair but a lock over one or both ears; or again they would clip\nclose one half of the head, while on the other half the tresses were\nsuffered to grow long; and these signs of mourning might be continued\nfor two or three years.[190]\n\n [187] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 135, 218; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560.\n\n [188] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410.\n\n [189] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218; J. R. Forster, _Observations\n made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560.\n\n [190] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 352 _sq._\n\nCaptain Cook tells us that the custom observed by mourners of offering\ntheir own blood, tears, and hair to their departed relative or friend\n\"is founded upon a notion that the soul of the deceased, which they\nbelieve to exist in a separate state, is hovering about the place where\nthe body is deposited: that it observes the actions of the survivors,\nand is gratified by such testimonies of their affection and grief.\"[191]\nThis explanation, in perfect harmony with the vigilance, vanity, and\njealousy commonly ascribed to ghosts, is in all probability correct. Yet\nit deserves to be noticed that the custom of voluntarily hacking the\nbody with shark's teeth to the effusion of blood was singularly enough\npractised by the Society Islanders on occasions of joy as well as of\nsorrow. When a husband or a son returned to his family after a season of\nabsence or exposure to danger, his arrival was greeted, not only with\nthe cordial welcome and the warm embrace, but with loud wailing, while\nthe happy wife or mother cut her body with shark's teeth, and the\ngladder she was the more she gashed herself.[192] Similarly many savage\npeoples weep over long-absent friends, or even over strangers, as a\npolite form of greeting in which genuine sorrow can hardly be supposed\nto play a part.[193] It is difficult to see how such observances can be\nbased on superstition; apparently the emotion of joy may express itself\nin very different ways in different races.\n\n [191] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218 _sq._\n\n [192] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp.\n 196, 362.\n\n [193] See _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, ii. 82 _sqq._\n\nThe natives stood in great fear of the spirits of the dead, which were\nsupposed to haunt the places of their former abode and to visit the\nhabitations of men, but seldom on errands of mercy or benevolence. They\nwoke the survivors from their slumbers by squeaking noises to upbraid\nthem with their past wickedness or to reproach them with the neglect of\nsome ceremony, for which the ghosts were compelled to suffer. Thus the\npeople imagined that they lived in a world of spirits, which surrounded\nthem night and day, watching every action of their lives and ready to\nrevenge the smallest slight or the least disobedience to their\ninjunctions, as these were proclaimed to the living by the priests.\nConvulsions and hysterics, for example, were ascribed to the action of\nspirits, which seized the sufferer, scratched his face, tore his hair,\nor otherwise maltreated him.[194]\n\n [194] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 406.\n\nThis fear of the spirits of the dead induced the Society Islanders to\nresort to some peculiar ceremonies for the protection of the living\nagainst the ghosts of persons who had recently died. One of these quaint\nrites was performed by a priest, who went by the name of the\n\"corpse-praying priest\" (_tahua bure tiapa-pau_). When the corpse had\nbeen placed on a platform or bier in a temporary house, this priest\nordered a hole to be dug in the earth or floor, near the foot of the\nplatform, and over this hole he prayed to the god by whom the spirit of\nthe deceased had been summoned to its long home. The purport of the\nprayer was that all the dead man's sins, and especially that for which\nhis soul had been called to the region of Night (_po_), should be\ndeposited in that hole, that they should not attach in any degree to the\nsurvivors, and that the anger of the god might be appeased. The priest\nnext addressed the corpse, usually saying, \"With you let the guilt now\nremain.\" The pillar or post of the corpse, as it was called, was then\nplanted in the hole, earth was thrown over the guilt of the departed,\nand the hole filled up. After that, the priest proceeded to the side of\nthe corpse, and taking some small slips of plantain leaf-stalk he fixed\ntwo or three of them under each arm, placed a few on the breast, and\nthen, addressing the dead body, said, \"There are your family, there is\nyour child, there is your wife, there is your father, and there is your\nmother. Be satisfied yonder (that is, in the world of spirits). Look not\ntowards those who are left in this world.\" The concluding parts of the\nceremony were designed to impart contentment to the deceased, and to\nprevent his spirit from repairing to the places of his former resort,\nand so distressing the survivors. This was considered a most important\nceremony, being a kind of mass for the dead and necessary as well for\nthe peace of the living as for the quiet of the departed. It was seldom\nomitted by any who could pay the priest his usual fees, which for this\nservice generally took the form of pigs and cloth, in proportion to the\nrank or possessions of the family.[195]\n\n [195] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 401-403. Compare J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 552.\n\nSoon after the decease of a chief or person of distinction, another\nsingular ceremony, called a _heva_, was performed by the relatives or\ndependants, who personated the ghost of the departed. The principal\nactor in the procession was a priest or kinsman who wore a curious dress\nand an imposing head-ornament called a _parae_. A cap or turban of thick\nnative cloth was fitted close to the head; in front were two broad\nmother-of-pearl shells that covered the face like a mask, with only a\nsmall aperture through which the wearer could look in order to find his\nway. Above the mask were fixed a number of long, white, red-tipped\nfeathers of the tropic bird, diverging like rays and forming a radiant\ncircle; while beneath the mask was a thin yet strong board curved like a\ncrescent, from which hung a sort of network of small pieces of brilliant\nmother-of-pearl, finely polished and strung together on threads. The\ndepth of this network varied according to the taste or means of the\nfamily, but it was generally nine inches or a foot, and might consist of\nten to fifteen or twenty perfectly straight and parallel rows. The\nlabour of making this mother-of-pearl pendant must have been immense;\nfor many hundred pieces of the shell had to be cut, ground down to the\nrequisite thinness, polished and perforated, without the use of iron\ntools, before a single line could be fixed upon the head-dress. Fringed\nwith feathers, the pendant formed a kind of ornamental breastplate or\nstomacher. Attached to it was a garment composed of alternate stripes of\nblack and yellow cloth, which enveloped the body and reached sometimes\nto the loins, to the knees, or even to the ankles.[196] On his back the\nmasker wore an ample cloak or mantle of network covered with glossy\npigeon's feathers of a bluish colour. The costume appears to have been\nintended as a disguise to prevent the spectators from recognising the\nwearer; for George Forster, who has given us an elaborate description of\nit, observes that \"an ample hood of alternate parallel stripes of brown,\nyellow, and white cloth descends from the turban to cover the neck and\nshoulders, in order that as little as possible of the human figure may\nappear.\"[197]\n\n [196] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 412 _sq._ Compare J. Cook,\n _Voyages_, i. 135 _sq._, 138, 219; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._\n i. 547-549.\n\n [197] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 74. For the full\n description of the garb, see _id._, ii. 71-75; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp.\n 450-453.\n\nIn this strange garb the chief mummer, who was usually the nearest\nrelation of the deceased, carried in one hand a formidable weapon,\nconsisting of a staff about five feet long, one end of which was rounded\nto serve as a handle, while the other end broadened out into a sort of\nscythe, of which the inner or concave side was armed with a row of large\nstrong shark's teeth fixed in the wood. In the other hand he bore a kind\nof clapper formed of two pearl-oyster shells, beautifully polished. Thus\nattired and equipped, he led a procession either from the house of the\ndeceased, or, according to another account, from a valley to which, as\nif under a paroxysm of grief, the party had retired at the death of the\nperson for whom the ceremony was performed; and as he walked along he\ncontinued to rattle or jingle the shells against each other to give\nnotice of his approach. With him walked a number of men and boys, naked\nexcept for a girdle, armed with cudgels, their faces and bodies painted\nblack, red, and white with charcoal and coloured earths. In this\nimpressive style the mummers marched through the district, the people\neverywhere fleeing in terror at the sight of them, and even deserting\nthe houses at their approach. For whenever the leader caught sight of\nany one, he ran at him, and if he overtook the fugitive, belaboured him\nwith his sharp-toothed club, to the grievous mauling of the unfortunate\nwretch; while, not to be behind their leader, the assistants plied their\nbludgeons on the bodies of all and sundry who chanced to fall into their\nhands. At such times safety was only to be found in the king's temple,\nwhich served on this as on other occasions as a sort of sanctuary or\nplace of refuge. Having thus scoured the country, the mummers marched\nseveral times round the platform where the body was exposed, after which\nthey bathed in a river and resumed their customary apparel. This\nperformance was repeated at intervals for five moons, but less and less\nfrequently as the end of the time approached. The longer it lasted, the\ngreater was the honour supposed to be done to the dead. The relatives\ntook it in turn to assume the fantastic dress and discharge the office\nof leader. Throughout the ceremonies the performers appeared and acted\nas if they were deranged. They were supposed to be inspired by, or at\nall events to represent, the spirit of the deceased, to revenge any\ninjury he might have received, or to punish those who had not shown due\nrespect to his remains.[198] Hence we may infer that the whole of this\nquaint masquerade was designed to appease the anger of the ghost, and so\nto protect the survivors by preventing him from returning to take\nvengeance on them for any wrongs or slights he might have suffered at\ntheir hands.\n\n [198] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 138 _sq._, 219; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 560\n _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 413 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 549 _sq._ According to Ellis, the mummers were supposed\n to be inspired by the spirit of the deceased; according to\n Moerenhout, they were not inspired by, but merely represented,\n the ghost. The difference between spiritual representation and\n inspiration is somewhat fine; too fine perhaps to be apprehended\n by Tahitian intelligence. Forster says that the procession\n started from the house of the deceased, Ellis that it started\n from a valley.\n\nThe same fear of the returning ghost is clearly expressed in a prayer\nwhich the natives used to address to a dead relative at burial. They put\nblossoms of bread-fruit and leaves of the edible fern under the arms of\nthe corpse, and as they did so, they prayed, saying, \"You go to the Po\n[Night, the World of Shades], plant bread-fruit there, and be food for\nthe gods; but do not come and strangle us, and we will feed your swine\nand cultivate your lands.\"[199]\n\n [199] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and\n Travels_, i. 322.\n\n\nSec. 8. _The Disposal of the Dead_\n\nThe heat of the climate, by hastening the decomposition of dead bodies,\nrendered it necessary that corpses should be speedily removed or treated\nso as to preserve them for a time from decay. As such treatment was\ngenerally too costly for the poor and even the middle ranks of society,\nfamilies belonging to these classes were usually obliged to inter their\ndead on the first or second day after the decease. During the short\nintervening period the body, resting on a bed of fragrant green leaves,\nwas placed on a sort of bier covered with white cloth and decorated with\nwreaths and garlands of sweet-smelling flowers. Round it sat the\nrelatives, giving vent to their grief in loud and continued\nlamentations, and often cutting their temples, faces, and breasts with\nshark's teeth, till they were covered with blood from their\nself-inflicted wounds. The bodies were frequently committed to the grave\nin deep silence; but sometimes a father would deliver a pathetic oration\nat the funeral of his son.[200] The grave was generally shallow and the\ncorpse was deposited in a bent posture, with the hands tied to the knees\nor to the legs.[201]\n\n [200] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 399 _sq._\n\n [201] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 553 _sq._\n\nBut in the families of chiefs the custom was to submit the bodies of the\ndead to a sort of embalming and to preserve them above ground for a\ntime.[202] The Tahitians had a tradition of a rude or unpolished period\nin their history, when the bodies of the dead were allowed to remain in\nthe houses in which they lived, and which were still occupied by the\nsurvivors. A kind of stage or altar was erected in the dwelling, and on\nit the corpse was deposited. But in a later and more polished age, which\nlasted till the advent of Europeans, the practice was introduced of\nbuilding separate houses or sheds for the lodgment of corpses.[203]\n\n [202] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400.\n\n [203] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404.\n\nThese houses or sheds (_tupapows_) were small temporary buildings, often\nneatly constructed. The thatched roof rested on wooden pillars, which\nwere seldom more than six feet high. The body was laid on a bier or\nplatform raised on posts about three feet from the ground. This bier was\nmovable, for the purpose of being drawn out, and of exposing the body to\nthe rays of the sun. The body was usually clothed or covered with cloth,\nand for a long time it was carefully rubbed with aromatic oils once a\nday. The size of these charnel-houses varied with the rank of the\npersons whose bodies they contained; the better sort were enclosed by\nrailings. Those which were allotted to people of the lower class just\nsufficed to cover the bier, and were not railed in. The largest seen by\nCaptain Cook was eleven yards long. Such houses were ornamented\naccording to the taste and abilities of the surviving kindred, who never\nfailed to lay a profusion of good cloth about the body, and sometimes\nalmost covered the outside of the house.[204]\n\n [204] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135, 217, 218; J. Wilson,\n _op. cit._ pp. 84, 212 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404; J. A.\n Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 547.\n\nBut before the corpse was deposited in one of these temporary\nstructures, it was shrouded in cloth and carried on a bier to the\nsea-shore, where it was set down on the beach at the water's edge. There\na priest, who accompanied the procession, renewed the prayers which he\nhad offered over the body both at the house and on its passage to the\nshore. Further, he took up water in his hands and sprinkled it towards\nthe corpse, but not upon it. These prayers and sprinklings he repeated\nseveral times, and between the repetitions the body was carried back\nsome forty or fifty yards from the sea, only to be brought back again to\nthe water's edge. While these ceremonies were being performed, the\ntemporary house or shed was being prepared, in which the corpse was to\nremain until the flesh had wholly wasted from the bones. Thither it was\nthen carried from the beach and laid upon the bier.[205]\n\n [205] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 217 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 559.\n\nThe practice of embalming appears to have been long familiar to the\nnatives of the Society Islands. The methods employed by them were\nsimple. Sometimes the juices were merely squeezed out of the corpse,\nwhich was then exposed to the sun and anointed with fragrant oils. At\nother times, and apparently more usually, the bowels, entrails, and\nbrains were extracted, and the cavities filled with cloth soaked in\nperfumed oils, which were also injected into other parts of the body.\nScented oils were also rubbed over the outside daily: every day the\ncorpse was exposed to the sun in a sitting posture: every night it was\nlaid out horizontally and often turned over, that it might not remain\nlong on the same side. By these means, combined with the heat of the sun\nand the dryness of the atmosphere, the process of desiccation was\neffected in the course of a few weeks: the muscular parts and the eyes\nshrivelled up; and the wizened body resembled a skeleton covered with\nparchment or oilcloth. Thus reduced to a mummy, it was clothed and fixed\nin a sitting attitude: a small altar was erected before it; and\nofferings of fruit, food, and flowers were daily presented by the\nrelatives or by the priest who was appointed to attend to it. For if the\ndeceased was a chief of high rank or great renown, a priest or other\nperson was set apart to wait upon the corpse and to present food to its\nmouth at different hours of the day. They supposed that the soul still\nhovered over the mouldering remains and was pleased by such marks of\nattention. Hence during the exposure of the body in the temporary house\nthe mourners would sometimes renew their lamentations there, and,\nwounding themselves with shark's teeth, wipe off the blood on a cloth,\nand deposit the bloody rag beside the mummy as a proof of their\naffection. In this state the desiccated body was preserved for many\nmonths till the flesh had completely decayed; Ellis was of opinion that\nthe best-preserved of these mummies could not be kept for more than\ntwelve months. The bones were then scraped, washed, and buried within\nthe precincts of the family temple (_morai_), if the deceased was a\nchief; but if he was a commoner, they were interred outside of the holy\nground. However, the skull was not buried with the bones; it was\ncarefully wrapt in fine cloth and kept in a box by the family, it might\nbe for several generations. Sometimes the box containing the skull was\ndeposited at the temple, but often it was hung from the roof of the\nhouse.[206] At marriage the skulls of ancestors were sometimes brought\nout and set before the bride and bridegroom in order, apparently, to\nplace the newly wedded pair under the guardianship of the ancestral\nspirits who had once animated these relics of mortality.[207] In time of\nwar victorious enemies would sometimes despoil the temples of the\nvanquished and carry off the bones of famous men interred in them; these\nthey would then subject to the utmost indignity by converting them into\nchisels, borers, or fish-hooks. To prevent this sacrilege the relations\nof the dead conveyed the bones of their chiefs, and even the bodies of\npersons who had lately died, to the mountains and hid them in caverns\namong the most inaccessible rocks and lofty precipices of these wild\nsolitudes.[208] Where the mountains advance to the coast, many of these\ncaves exist in the face of cliffs overhanging the sea; for the most part\nthey are situated in places which Europeans can reach only with the help\nof ropes and ladders, though the natives, it is said, can clamber up the\nsteepest crags with ease. Few even of the islanders know the situation\nof the caverns, and fewer still will consent to act as guides to the\ncurious stranger who may wish to explore their recesses; for the fear of\nthe ghosts, who are supposed to haunt these ancient depositories of the\ndead, is yet deeply rooted in the native mind. Moreover, the mouths of\nthe caves are generally so low and overgrown with shrubs and creepers\nthat they may easily be overlooked by an observer standing in front of\nthem. Some of the grottos are said to be still full of skulls, or were\nso down to the end of the nineteenth century.[209] The mummies as well\nas the bones were liable to be captured by an invader, and were esteemed\ntrophies not less glorious than foemen slain in battle. Hence during an\ninvasion the mummies were generally the first things to be carried off\nfor safety to the mountains.[210]\n\n [206] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135 _sq._, 218, 219, vi.\n 47 _sq._; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage\n round the World_, pp. 561 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 212\n _sq._, 363 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400 _sq._, 404 _sq._,\n 405 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 554.\n\n [207] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 272, who observes that the\n survivors \"considered the spirits of the proprietors of these\n skulls as the guardian spirits of the family.\"\n\n [208] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405.\n\n [209] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 37\n _sq._, 81 _sq._, 83.\n\n [210] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364.\n\nA dangerous pollution was supposed to be contracted by all who had\nhandled a corpse. Hence the persons employed in embalming a body were\ncarefully shunned by every one else so long as the process lasted,\nbecause the guilt of the crime for which the deceased had died was\nsupposed to attach in some degree to such as touched his mortal remains.\nThe embalmers did not feed themselves, lest the food, defiled by the\ntouch of their polluted hands, should cause their death; so they were\nfed by others.[211] This state of uncleanness lasted for a month, during\nwhich the tabooed persons were forbidden to handle food as well as to\nput it into their own mouths.[212]\n\n [211] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403.\n\n [212] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 363.\n\nAgain, when the ceremony of depositing the sins of the deceased in a\nhole[213] was over, all who had touched the body or the garments of the\ndeceased, which were buried or destroyed, fled precipitately into the\nsea to cleanse themselves from the pollution which they had incurred by\ncontact with the corpse; and they cast into the sea the garments they\nhad worn while they were engaged in the work. Having bathed, they\ngathered a few pieces of coral from the bottom of the sea, and returning\nwith them to the house, addressed the dead body, saying, \"With you may\nthe pollution be.\" With these words they threw down the pieces of coral\non the top of the hole that had been dug to receive all the objects\ndefiled by their connexion with the deceased.[214]\n\n [213] See above, p. 305.\n\n [214] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403.\n\nWhen a person had died of an infectious disorder, the priests entreated\nhim to bury the disease with him in the grave and not to inflict it upon\nother people, when he revisited them as a ghost. They also threw a\nplantain into the grave, and either buried with him or burned all his\nutensils, that nobody might be infected by them.[215]\n\n [215] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364.\n\n\nSec. 9. _The Fate of the Soul after Death_\n\nThe natives of the Society Islands believed in the immortality of the\nhuman soul, or at all events in its separate existence after death[216];\nthey thought that no person perishes or becomes extinct.[217] On its\ndeparture from the body the spirit, now called a _tee_, _teehee_, or\n_tii_, was supposed to linger near its old habitation, whether the\nmouldering remains exposed on the bier, or the bones buried in the\nearth, or the skull kept in its box. In this state the spirits were\nbelieved to lodge in small wooden images, seldom more than eighteen\ninches high, which were placed round about the burial-ground.[218] These\nimages are variously said to have borne the same name (_tee_, _teehee_)\nas the spirits which inhabited them,[219] or to have been called by a\ndifferent name (_unus_)[220]. Specimens of these images were seen by\nGeorge Forster in Tahiti. He says that round about the _marai_ (_morai_)\nof Aheatua, at that time King of Tiarroboo, \"were placed\nperpendicularly, or nearly so, fifteen slender pieces of wood, some\nabout eighteen feet long, in which six or eight diminutive human figures\nof a rude unnatural shape were carved, standing above each other, male\nor female promiscuously, yet so that the uppermost was always a male.\nAll these figures faced the sea, and perfectly resembled some which are\ncarved on the sterns of their canoes, and which they call _e-tee_.\"[221]\nTo the same effect George Forster's father, J. R. Forster, observes that\n\"near the _marais_ are twenty or thirty single pieces of wood fixed into\nthe ground, carved all over on one side with figures about eighteen\ninches long, rudely representing a man and a woman alternately, so that\noften more than fifteen or twenty figures may be counted on one piece of\nwood, called by them _Teehee_.\"[222] But the souls of the dead, though\nthey inhabited chiefly the wooden figures erected at the temples or\nburial-grounds (_marais_, _morais_), were by no means confined to them,\nand were dreaded by the natives, who believed that during the night\nthese unquiet spirits crept into people's houses and ate the heart and\nentrails of the sleepers, thus causing their death.[223]\n\n [216] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 222, vi. 150.\n\n [217] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345.\n\n [218] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round\n the World_, pp. 552, 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_,\n ii. 151 _sq._\n\n [219] J. R. Forster and G. Forster, _ll.cc._\n\n [220] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 348, \"the _unus_, or\n curiously carved pieces of wood marking the sacred places of\n interment, and emblematical of _tiis_ or spirits.\"\n\n [221] G. Forster, _op. cit._ i. 267. Compare J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 461, \"_Les images des Tiis etaient placees aux\n extremites des marais et gardaient l'enceinte des terres\n sacrees_.\"\n\n [222] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 544 _sq._ In the southern\n peninsula of Tahiti, both on the coast and inland, Captain Cook\n saw many sepulchral buildings, and he described them as\n \"decorated with many carved boards, which were set upright, and\n on the top of which were various figures of birds and men: on\n one in particular there was the representation of a cock, which\n was painted red and yellow, to imitate the feathers of that\n animal, and rude images of men were, in some of them, placed one\n upon the head of another.\" See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 150 _sq._\n These \"carved boards\" were no doubt of the same sort as the\n _tees_ or _teehees_ described by the two Forsters. No other\n writer seems to mention the figures of birds carved on them.\n\n [223] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ p. 543.\n\nHowever, the Society Islanders appear to have been by no means\nconsistent in the views which they held concerning the fate of the soul\nafter death. Like many other people, they seem to have wavered between a\nbelief that the souls of the dead lingered invisible near their old\nhomes and the belief that the disembodied spirits went away to a distant\nland, where all human souls, which have departed this life, met and\ndwelt together. Or perhaps it might be more correct to say, that instead\nof wavering between these two inconsistent beliefs, they held them both\nfirmly without perceiving their inconsistency. At all events these\nislanders believed that either at death or at some time after it their\nsouls departed to a distant place called _po_ or Night, the common abode\nof gods and of departed spirits.[224] Thither the soul was conducted by\nother spirits, and on its arrival it was eaten by the gods, not all at\nonce, but by degrees. They imagined that the souls of ancestors or\nrelatives, who ranked among the gods, scraped the different parts of the\nnewly arrived spirit with a kind of serrated shell at different times,\nafter which they ate and digested it. If the soul underwent this process\nof being eaten and digested three separate times, it became a deified or\nimperishable spirit and might visit the world and inspire living\nfolk.[225] According to one account, the soul was cooked whole in an\nearth-oven, as pigs are baked on earth, and was then placed in a basket\nof coco-nut leaves before being served up to the god whom the deceased\nhad worshipped in life. \"By this cannibal divinity he was now eaten up;\nafter which, through some inexplicable process, the dead and devoured\nman emanated from the body of the god, and became immortal.\"[226] In the\nisland of Raiatea the great god Oro was supposed to use a scallop-shell\n\"to scrape the flesh from the bones of newly deceased bodies, previous\nto their being converted into pure spirits by being devoured by him, and\nafterwards transformed by passing through the laboratory of his cannibal\nstomach.\"[227] This process of being devoured by a god was not conceived\nof as a punishment inflicted on wicked people after death; for good and\nbad souls had alike to submit to it. Rather, Captain Cook tells us, the\nnatives considered \"this coalition with the deity as a kind of\npurification necessary to be undergone before they enter a state of\nbliss. For, according to their doctrine, if a man refrain from all\nconnexion with women some months before death, he passes immediately\ninto his eternal mansion, without such a previous union; as if already,\nby this abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from the general\nlot.\"[228] A slightly different account of this process of spiritual\npurification is given by the first missionaries to Tahiti. They say that\n\"when the spirit departs from the body, they have a notion it is\nswallowed by the _eat[=o]oa_ (_atua_) bird, who frequents their\nburying-places and _morais_, and passes through him in order to be\npurified, and be united to the deity. And such are afterwards employed\nby him to attend other human beings and to inflict punishment, or remove\nsickness, as shall be deemed requisite.\"[229]\n\n [224] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._\n p. 346; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431; D. Tyerman and G.\n Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 330.\n\n [225] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.\n cit._ i. 433.\n\n [226] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and\n Travels_, i. 273; compare _ib._ pp. 330 _sq._\n\n [227] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 521 _sq._\n\n [228] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150.\n\n [229] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 345 _sq._\n\nIn spite of the purification which the souls of the dead underwent by\npassing through the body of a god or of a divine bird, they were\nbelieved to be not wholly divested of the passions which had actuated\nthem in life on earth. If the souls of former enemies met in the world\nbeyond the grave, they renewed their battles, but apparently to no\npurpose, since they were accounted invulnerable in this invisible state.\nAgain, when the soul of a dead wife arrived in the spirit land, it was\nknown to the soul of her dead husband, if he had gone before, and the\ntwo renewed their acquaintance in a spacious house, called _tourooa_,\nwhere the souls of the deceased assembled to recreate themselves with\nthe gods. After that the pair retired to the separate abode of the\nhusband, where they remained for ever and had offspring, which, however,\nwas entirely spiritual; for they were neither married nor were their\nembraces supposed to be like those of corporeal beings.[230]\n\n [230] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150 _sq._\n\nIn general the situation of _po_ or the land of the dead seems to have\nbeen left vague and indefinite by the Society Islanders; apparently they\ndid not, like the Western Polynesians, imagine it to be in some far\nwestern isle, to reach which the souls of the departed had to cross a\nwide expanse of sea.[231] However, the natives of Raiatea had very\ndefinite ideas on this mysterious subject. They thought that _po_ was\nsituated in a mysterious and unexplored cavern at the top of the highest\nmountain in the island. This cavern, perhaps the crater of a volcano,\nwas said to communicate, by subterranean passages, with a cave on the\ncoast, the opening of which is so small that a child of two years could\nhardly creep into it. Here an evil spirit (_varu iino_) was said to lurk\nand, pouncing out on careless passers-by, to drag them into the darkest\nrecesses of his den and devour them. After the conversion of the natives\nto Christianity the missionaries were shown the spot. Near it were the\nruins of a temple of the war god, where multitudes of the corpses of\nwarriors slain in battle had been either buried or left to rot on the\nground. The missionaries saw many mouldering fragments of skeletons. Not\nfar off a cape jutted into the sea, up the lofty and precipitous face of\nwhich the souls of the dead were said to climb on their way to their\nlong home in the cavern at the top of the mountain. A native informant\nassured the missionaries that he had often seen them scaling the dizzy\ncrag, both men and women.[232]\n\n [231] See above, pp. 87 _sq._, 214 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._\n\n [232] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 537 _sq._\n\nIn the island of Borabora the fate even of kings after death was\nbelieved to be a melancholy one. Their souls were converted into a piece\nof furniture resembling an English hat-stand; only in Borabora the\ncorresponding utensil was the branch of a tree with the lateral forks\ncut short, on which bonnets, garments, baskets, and so forth were\nsuspended. The natives very naturally concluded that in the other world\na similar stand was wanted for the convenience of the ghosts, to hang\ntheir hats and coats on. Kings who shrank from the prospect of being\nconverted into a hat-stand after death made interest with the priest to\nsave them from such a degradation. So when a king who had been great and\npowerful in life saw his end approaching, he would send to the priests\nthe most costly presents, such as four or five of the largest and\nfattest hogs, as many of the best canoes, and any rare and valuable\nEuropean article which he happened to possess. In return the priests\nprayed for him daily at the temples till he died; and afterwards his\ndead body was brought to one of these sacred edifices and kept upright\nthere for several days and nights, during which yet larger gifts were\nsent by his relatives, and the most expensive sacrifices offered to the\nidols. The decaying corpse was then removed, placed on a canoe, and\nrowed out on the lagoon as far as an opening in the reef, only to be\nbrought back again in like manner; while all the time the priests\nrecited their prayers and performed their lugubrious ceremonies\nover it on the water as well as on the land. Finally, the mouldering\nremains were laid out to rot on a platform in one of the usual\ncharnel-houses.[233]\n\n [233] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._\n\nConversion into a hat-stand was not, perhaps, the worst that could\nhappen to the soul of a Society Islander after death. In the island of\nRaiatea there is a lake surrounded by trees, the tops of which appear\ncuriously flat. On this verdant platform the spirits of the newly\ndeparted were said to dance and feast together until, at a subsequent\nstage of their existence, they were converted into cockroaches.[234] The\nsouls of infants killed at birth were supposed to return in the bodies\nof grasshoppers.[235]\n\n [234] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 522.\n\n [235] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 455.\n\nBut the Society Islanders were far from thinking that the souls of the\ndead herded together indiscriminately in the other world. They imagined\nthat the spirits were discriminated and assigned to abodes of different\ndegrees of happiness or misery, not according to their virtues or vices\nin this life, but according to the rank which they had occupied in\nsociety, one receptacle of superior attractions being occupied by the\nsouls of chiefs and other principal people, while another of an inferior\nsort sufficed to lodge the souls of the lower orders. For they did not\nsuppose that their good or bad actions in this life affected in the\nleast their lot in the life hereafter, or that the deities took account\nof any such distinction. Thus their religion exerted no influence on\ntheir morality.[236] Happiness and misery in the world beyond the\ngrave, we are told, \"were the destiny of individuals, altogether\nirrespective of their moral character and virtuous conduct. The only\ncrimes that were visited by the displeasure of their deities were the\nneglect of some rite or ceremony, or the failing to furnish required\nofferings.\"[237]\n\n [236] J. Cook, i. 222. Compare _id._, vi. 150; J. R. Forster,\n _Observations made on a Voyage round the World_, pp. 553 _sqq._\n\n [237] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 397. Compare J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 433.\n\nThe Society Islanders, especially the natives of the Leeward Islands,\nbelieved that some of the souls of the dead were destined to enjoy a\nkind of heaven or paradise, which they called _Rohutu noanoa_,\n\"sweet-scented Rohutu.\" This blissful region was supposed to be near a\nlofty and stupendous mountain in the island of Raiatea, not far from the\nharbour Hamaniino. The mountain went by the name of _Temehani unauna_,\n\"splendid or glorious Temehani.\" It was probably the same with the lofty\nmountain on whose summit popular fancy placed the _po_ or common abode\nof the dead.[238] But the paradise was invisible to mortal eyes, being\nsituated in the regions of the air (_reva_). The country was described\nas most lovely and enchanting in appearance, adorned with flowers of\nevery shape and hue, and perfumed with odours of every fragrance. The\nair was pure and salubrious. Every sort of delight was to be enjoyed\nthere; while rich viands and delicious fruits were supplied in abundance\nfor the celebration of sumptuous festivals. Handsome youths and women\nthronged the place. But these honours and pleasures were only for the\nprivileged orders--the chiefs and the members of the society of the\nAreois--for only they could afford to pay the heavy charges which the\npriests exacted for a passport to paradise; common folk seldom or never\ndreamed of attempting to procure for their relatives admission to the\nabode of bliss. Even apart from the expense of getting to heaven, it is\nprobable that the sharp distinction kept up between chiefs and commoners\nhere on earth would be expected to be maintained hereafter, and to\nexclude every person of the humbler sort from the society of his betters\nin the future life.[239] The other less exclusive, and no doubt less\nexpensive, place for departed spirits, in contrast to \"sweet-scented\nRohutu,\" went by the significant name of \"foul-scented Rohutu\"; but over\nthe nature of the substances which earned for it this unsavoury\nappellation our missionary authority preferred to draw a veil.[240]\n\n [238] See above, p. 317.\n\n [239] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout,\n _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._\n\n [240] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the\n South Sea Islands_, p. 476.\n\nAccording to one account, the souls of the dead were supposed to gather\nin the sun, where they feasted with the god Maouwe or O-Mauwee (Maui) on\nbread-fruit and the flesh of pigs or dogs, and drank never-ending\ndraughts of kava.[241]\n\n [241] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round\n the World_, p. 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii.\n 151.\n\nBut wherever the souls of the dead were imagined to dwell, we may infer\nthat they were credited with the power of returning to earth for a\nlonger or shorter time to benefit or injure the living. For we have seen\nthat sickness and death were commonly ascribed to the action of these\nspirits,[242] which seems to imply that they revisited this sublunary\nworld on their errands of mischief. Accordingly, whenever the natives\napproached by night one of the charnel-houses in which dead bodies were\nexposed, they were startled \"in the same manner that many of our\nignorant and superstitious people are with the apprehension of ghosts,\nand at the sight of a churchyard.\" Again, the souls of the departed were\nsometimes thought to communicate with their friends in dreams and to\nannounce to them things that should afterwards come to pass, thus\nenabling the dreamer to foretell the future. Foreknowledge thus\nacquired, however, was confined to particular persons, and such favoured\ndreamers enjoyed a reputation little inferior to that of the inspired\npriests. One of them prophesied to Captain Cook on the strength of a\ncommunication vouchsafed to him by the soul of his deceased father in a\ndream; but the event proved that the ghost was out in his reckoning by\nfive days.[243]\n\n [242] See above, pp. 299 _sqq._\n\n [243] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 152.\n\nThe fear of ghosts in the minds of the Society Islanders has long\nsurvived their conversion to Christianity; indeed, we are informed that\nit is as rampant as ever. No ordinary native would dare to visit one of\nthe lonely caves where the mouldering bones or skulls of his forefathers\nwere deposited for safety in days of old.[244] At one point on the\nwestern coast of Tahiti, where the mountains advance in precipices close\nto the sea, the road which skirts their base is a place of fear to the\nnatives. For in these precipices are caves full of skulls, and the\nghosts who reside in the caverns are reported sometimes to weary of\ntheir own society and to come down to the road for company, where in a\nsportive vein they play all sorts of tricks on passers-by. Not so long\nago three Tahitians were riding home at dusk from Papeete, where they\nhad been drinking rum. Just at the pass under the cliff they were\nsurprised by ghosts, who threw them into the ditch at the side of the\nroad. So great is the dread which the natives entertain of apparitions\nat this spot that the Government has been compelled to divert the road,\nso that it no longer skirts the foot of the haunted mountain, but gives\nit a wide berth, and runs in a long sweep by the edge of the sea.[245]\n\n [244] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, p. 37.\n\n [245] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 83 _sq._\n\nAgain, at another point on the west coast of Tahiti, where mighty\nmountains, a glorious sea, and little coral islands with their groves of\npalms, offer a view of enchanting beauty, there is said to be a cave\ncontaining the skulls of chiefs in a jutting cliff half-way up the\nmountain. The cave was in charge of an old man in whose family the\noffice of guardian was hereditary. It had been entrusted to him by his\nfather on his deathbed, and the son had kept the secret faithfully ever\nsince. In vain did a traveller seek to persuade the old man to guide him\nto the cave; in vain did the chief himself beg of him to reveal the\ngrotto which concealed the mouldering relics of his forefathers. The\nguardian was obdurate; he believed that the world was not wide enough to\nhold two men who knew the holy place. He assured the traveller that\nnobody could reach the cave without the help of the ghosts, so\nperpendicular and so smooth was the face of the cliff that led up to it.\nWhen he himself wished to make his way to it, his custom was to go to\nthe foot of the crag and pray, till the spirits came and wafted him\nlightly up and down again; otherwise it would have been a sheer\nimpossibility for him to ascend and descend.[246]\n\n [246] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 81 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 10. _The Worship of the Dead_\n\nThe belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead, and in their\npower to help or harm the living, naturally led the Society Islanders,\nlike so many other peoples of the world, to propitiate these powerful\nbeings, to sue their favour, or to appease their anger by prayer and\nsacrifice, in short, to worship them. On this subject the first\nmissionaries to these islanders tell us that, in addition to the greater\ngods, \"for general worship they have an inferior race, a kind of _dii\npenates_. Each family has its _tee_ or guardian spirit: he is supposed\nto be one of their departed relatives, who, for his superior\nexcellences, has been exalted into an _eatooa_ (_atua_). They suppose\nthis spirit can inflict sickness or remove it, and preserve them from a\nmalignant deity who also bears the name _tee_, and is always employed in\nmischief.\"[247] \"Every family has its _tee_, or guardian spirit, whom\nthey set up, and worship at the _morai_.\"[248] \"They regard the spirits\nof their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into _eatooas_ (_atuas_)\nand their favour to be secured by prayers and offerings. Every sickness\nand untoward accident they esteem as the hand of judgment for some\noffence committed.\"[249] As for the mischievous spirit who bore the same\nname as the worshipful spirit of a dead ancestor, the missionaries say\nthat \"the evil demon named _Tee_ has no power but upon earth; and this\nhe exercises by getting into them with their food, and causing madness\nor other diseases; but these they imagine their tutelar saints, if\npropitious, can prevent or remove.\"[250]\n\n [247] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 344.\n\n [248] T. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343.\n\n [249] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. \"The general name for deity,\n in all its ramifications, is _eatooa_\" (_id._ p. 343).\n\n [250] J. Wilson, p. 346.\n\nWe may suspect that the missionaries were mistaken in thus sharply\ndistinguishing between an \"evil demon\" and a \"tutelar saint,\" both of\nwhom went by the same name (_tee_). Probably the \"evil demon\" and the\n\"tutelar saint\" were alike supposed to be souls of dead persons, with\nthis difference between them, that whereas the one had been good and\nbeneficent in his life, the other had been bad and maleficent; for it\nis a common belief that the dead retain in the other world the character\nand disposition which they manifested on earth, and that accordingly as\ndisembodied spirits they may benefit or injure their surviving\nrelatives.[251] Thus according to his character and behaviour in this\npresent state of existence a person's ghost may naturally develop either\ninto a god or into a devil.\n\n [251] In confirmation of my conjecture that the missionaries\n mistook a general name (_tee_, otherwise spelled _tii_) for the\n name of a particular demon, I may point out that the naturalist\n J. R. Forster before them seems to have fallen into precisely\n the same mistake with regard to another general name for\n departed spirits (_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_). Thus he writes:\n \"Besides these divinities of the second class, there are others\n of a still inferior rank, and though called _Eatooas_, are no\n more than what the Greek or Roman mythologists would have called\n _Genii_, or _Dii minorum gentium_: one of them, called\n _Orometooa_, is of a malignant disposition, resides chiefly near\n the _Marais_ and _Toopapous_ (places of burial) and in or near\n the boxes, or little chests, including the heads of their\n deceased friends, each of which, on that account, is called\n _Te-wharre no te Orometooa_, the house of the evil genius\n _Orometooa_, The people at Taheitee are of opinion, that if\n their priests invoke this evil genius, he will kill, by a sudden\n death, the person on whom they intend to bring down the\n vengeance of this divinity.\" See J. R. Forster, _Observations\n made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 541 _sq._ In this\n passage we can hardly doubt that \"this evil genius,\" Orometooa,\n is simply the _oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, the spirits of the\n dead, by means of whom sorcerers were supposed to injure or\n destroy any one at whom they or their employers had a grudge.\n See above, p. 299, and below, pp. 323 _sqq._\n\nIt is to be feared that in the case of Tahitian ghosts the course of\nspiritual evolution was rather in the direction of devilry than of\ndeity. At least this conclusion seems forced on us by the account which\nWilliam Ellis, perhaps our best authority on Tahitian religion, gives of\nthe character of these worshipful beings. I will reproduce it in his own\nwords.\n\n\"The objects of worship among the Tahitians, next to the _atua_ or gods,\nwere the _oramatuas tiis_ or spirits. These were supposed to reside in\nthe _po_, or world of night, and were never invoked but by wizards or\nsorcerers, who implored their aid for the destruction of an enemy, or\nthe injury of some person whom they were hired to destroy. They were\nconsidered a different order of beings from the gods, a kind of\nintermediate class between them and the human race, though in their\nprayers all the attributes of the gods were ascribed to them. The\n_oramatuas_ were the spirits of departed fathers, mothers, brothers,\nsisters, children, etc. The natives were greatly afraid of them, and\npresented offerings to avoid being cursed or destroyed, when they were\nemployed by the sorcerers.\n\n\"They seem to have been regarded as a sort of demons. In the Leeward\nIslands, the chief _oramatuas_ were spirits of departed warriors, who\nhad distinguished themselves by ferocity and murder, attributes of\ncharacter usually supposed to belong to these evil genii. Each\ncelebrated _tii_ was honoured with an image, through which it was\nsupposed his influence was exerted. The spirits of the reigning chiefs\nwere united to this class, and the skulls of deceased rulers, kept with\nthe images, were honoured with the same worship. Some idea of what was\nregarded as their ruling passion, may be inferred from the fearful\napprehensions constantly entertained by all classes. They were supposed\nto be exceedingly irritable and cruel, avenging with death the slightest\ninsult or neglect, and were kept within the precincts of the temple. In\nthe _marae_ of Tane at Maeva, the ruins of their abode were still\nstanding when I last visited the place. It was a house built upon a\nnumber of large strong poles, which raised the floor ten or twelve feet\nfrom the ground. They were thus elevated, to keep them out of the way of\nmen, as it was imagined they were constantly strangling, or otherwise\ndestroying, the chiefs and people. To prevent this, they were also\ntreated with great respect; men were appointed constantly to attend\nthem, and to keep them wrapped in the choicest kinds of cloth, to take\nthem out whenever there was a _pae atua_, or general exhibition of the\ngods; to anoint them frequently with fragrant oil; and to sleep in the\nhouse with them at night. All this was done, to keep them pacified. And\nthough the office of calming the angry spirits was honourable, it was\nregarded as dangerous, for if, during the night or at any other time,\nthese keepers were guilty of the least impropriety, it was supposed the\nspirits of the images, or the skulls, would hurl them headlong from\ntheir high abodes, and break their necks in the fall.\"[252]\n\n [252] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_. i. 334-336.\n\nThe difference in power and dignity between the great national gods\n(_atuas_) and the spirits of deceased relations (_oramatuas tiis_) might\nbe measured by the size of their images; for whereas the images of the\ngods were six or eight feet long, those of the spirits were not more\nthan so many inches.[253] But while these malignant and irritable\nspirits--the souls of dead fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and\nchildren--resided generally either in their little images or in their\nskulls, they were not strictly confined to these material vehicles; they\nresorted occasionally to the shells from the seashore, especially to a\nbeautiful kind of murex, the _Murex ramoces_. These shells were kept by\nthe sorcerers, and the peculiar singing or humming sound that may be\nheard when the valve is applied to the ear was imagined to proceed from\nthe demon in the shell.[254]\n\n [253] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337.\n\n [254] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363.\n\nIt was these malignant and dangerous demons whom the sorcerer employed\nas his agents to execute his fell purposes. But to effect them he had to\nsecure something connected with the body of his intended victim, it\nmight be the parings of his nails, a lock of his hair, his spittle or\nother bodily secretions, or else a portion of the food which he was\nabout to eat. Over this material substance, whatever it was, the\nsorcerer recited his incantations and performed his magical rites either\nin his own house or in his private temple (_marae_). The result was\nbelieved to be that the demon entered into the substance, and through it\npassed into the body of the man at whom the enchanter aimed his elfish\ndarts. The wretched sufferer experienced the acutest agonies; his\ndistortions were frightful to witness; his eyes seemed starting from his\nhead; he foamed at the mouth; he lay writhing in anguish on the ground;\nin short, to adopt the native expression, he was torn by the evil\nspirit. Yet his case was not hopeless; the demon could be mollified by a\nbribe, or defeated by the intervention of a more powerful demon. Hence,\nwhen any one was believed to be suffering from the incantations of a\nsorcerer, if he or his friends were rich enough they engaged another\nsorcerer for a fee to counteract the spells of the first and so to\nrestore the health of the invalid. It was generally supposed that the\nefforts of the second sorcerer would be crowned with success if only the\ndemon whom he employed were equally powerful with that at the command of\nhis rival, and if the presents which he received for his professional\nservices were more valuable. In order to avoid the danger of being thus\nbewitched through the refuse of their persons, the Tahitians used\nscrupulously to burn or bury their shorn hair, lest it should fall into\nthe hands of enchanters.[255]\n\n [255] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363-370.\n\nIt is possible that some even of the great national gods were no more\nthan ghosts of dead men, whose human origin was forgotten. There is some\nreason for supposing that this was true of Hiro, the god of thieves. On\nthe one hand, this deity was reputed to be the son of the great god\nOro;[256] and when a mother desired her child to grow up a clever thief,\nshe repaired to a temple, where the priest, on receipt of the requisite\nofferings, caught the spirit of the god in a snare and infused it into\nthe infant, thus ensuring the future proficiency of the infant in the\narts of theft and robbery.[257] Yet, in spite of these claims to\ndivinity, there are some grounds for thinking that Hiro was himself\noriginally no better than a thief and a robber. He is said to have been\na native of Raiatea, from whose sacrilegious fingers not even the\ntemples and altars of the gods were safe. His skull was shown in a large\ntemple of his own construction in that island down to the early years of\nthe nineteenth century. His hair, too, was stuffed into the image of his\nreputed father, the god Oro, and perished when that image was committed\nto the flames by the early converts to Christianity.[258]\n\n [256] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 112, 125.\n\n [257] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the\n South Sea Islands_, pp. 466 _sq._\n\n [258] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 254 _sq._ As to\n Hiro, the god of thieves, see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._\n i. 447-449.\n\nOnce a year the Society Islanders celebrated a festival accompanied by\nrites, of which one has been compared to the Roman Catholic custom of\nperforming a mass for the benefit of souls in purgatory. The festival\nwas called \"the ripening of the year,\" and the time for its observance\nwas determined by the blossoming of reeds. It was regularly observed in\nthe island of Huahine, and vast multitudes assembled to take part in it.\nAs a rule, only men engaged in the pagan festivals, but at this\nparticular one women and children were also present, though they were\nnot allowed to enter the sacred enclosure. The celebration was regarded\nas a kind of annual acknowledgment made to the gods. Prayers were\noffered at the temple, and a sumptuous banquet formed part of the\nfestival. At the close of the festival every one returned to his home,\nor to his family temple (_marae_), there to offer special prayers for\nthe spirits of departed relatives, that they might be liberated from the\n_po_, or state of Night, and might either ascend to paradise\n(\"sweet-scented Rohutu\") or return to this world by entering into the\nbody of one of its inhabitants. But \"they did not suppose, according to\nthe generally received doctrine of transmigration, that the spirits who\nentered the body of some dweller upon earth, would permanently remain\nthere, but only come and inspire the person to declare future events, or\nexecute any other commission from the supernatural beings on whom they\nimagined they were constantly dependent.\"[259]\n\n [259] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 351 _sq._ Compare\n J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 502 note^1, 523.\n\nHence we learn that the spirits of the dead as well as the gods were\nbelieved to be capable of inspiring men and revealing to them the\nfuture. In this, as in other respects, the dead were assimilated to\ndeities.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Marquesas Islands_\n\nThe Marquesas are an archipelago of eleven or twelve chief islands in\nthe South Pacific, situated about nine hundred miles to the north-east\nof Tahiti. They fall into two groups, which together stretch in a\ndirection from north-west to south-east, from 8 deg. to 11 deg. of South\nlatitude. The south-eastern group, of which Hivaoa (Dominica) is the\nlargest island, was discovered by the Spanish Admiral Alvaro Mendana de\nNeyra in 1595, but, so far as appears, it was not again visited by\nEuropeans until 1774, when Captain Cook touched at the islands on his\nsecond voyage. Curiously enough, the north-westerly group, of which\nNukahiva is the largest and most important island, remained unknown\nuntil 1791, when it was discovered by the American Captain Ingraham, who\nnamed the group the Washington Islands. About a month later, in June\n1791, the French navigator Marchand visited the same islands, and in\n1797 the first missionary, William Crook, was landed from the missionary\nship _Duff_. The whole archipelago is now known as the Marquesas, a name\nwhich the Spanish Admiral Mendana bestowed on the islands discovered by\nhim in honour of the Marquess de Canete, Viceroy of Peru, by whose order\nthe voyage had been undertaken.[1]\n\n [1] Captain J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274 _sqq._; G. Forster,\n _Voyage round the World_, ii. 5 _sqq._; C. P. Claret Fleurieu,\n _Voyage round the World performed by E. Marchand_ (London,\n 1801), i. 27 _sqq._, 55 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to\n the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. lxxiii. _sqq._, 127 _sqq._; A.\n J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), i.\n 136; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou\n Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._, 12 _sq._; Le P. Mathias\n G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 7\n _sqq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles\n Marquises_ (Paris, 1877), pp. 1 _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die\n Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 235 _sq._; F. H. H. Guillemard,\n _Australasia_, ii. 522.\n\nThe islands are of volcanic formation, lofty and mountainous. The\ninterior consists generally of a range of mountains some three thousand\nfeet high, from which a series of spurs descend steeply to the coast,\nterminating for the most part in tremendous cliffs, at the foot of which\nthe great rollers break in foam; for with a single exception there are\nno coral reefs, and a ship can sail in deep water within a cable's\nlength of the rocks. Viewed at a distance from the sea, the aspect of\nthe islands is somewhat stern and forbidding. Bare mountains, jagged\npeaks, sometimes lost in the clouds, and an iron-bound coast of black\nand beetling crags, buffeted eternally by the surf, make up a gloomy\npicture; but a nearer view discloses verdant valleys nestling between\nthe ridges which radiate from the central mountains. These valleys are\nwatered by mountain streams and clothed with dense tropical vegetation,\ntheir luxuriant green offering an agreeable contrast to the bareness and\naridity of the frowning precipices and sharp peaks which soar above\nthem. Cascades tumbling from high cliffs into the depths of the glens\nadd to the beauty and charm of the scenery. So steep and precipitous are\nthe ridges which divide these smiling vales from each other that the\nascent and descent are in many places both difficult and dangerous even\nfor the natives; European mountaineers need to have stout limbs and\nsteady heads to accomplish them in safety. Hence in former days each\nvalley contained a separate tribe, which was commonly in a state of\npermanent hostility towards its neighbours across the mountain\nbarriers.[2] Of these tribes the most famous were the warlike and\ndreaded Taipiis or Typees, who occupied a beautiful valley at the\neastern end of Nukahiva, and in their mountain fastness deemed\nthemselves inaccessible to their enemies. However, in the early part of\nthe nineteenth century an American naval officer, Captain David Porter,\nsucceeded, not without great difficulty, in carrying havoc and\ndevastation into these sylvan scenes.[3] Later in the century a runaway\nAmerican sailor, Hermann Melville, spent more than four months as a\ncaptive in the tribe, and published an agreeable narrative of his\ncaptivity; but never having mastered the language, he was not able to\ngive much exact information concerning the customs and beliefs of the\nnatives.[4] As there is no maritime plain interposed between the\nmountains and the shore, the only way of passing from one valley to\nanother is either to go by sea or to clamber over the intervening\nridges. It would be materially impossible, we are told, unless at\nenormous and ruinous cost, to make a road or even a mule-path round any\nof the Marquesas Islands, as has been done in Tahiti.[5]\n\n [2] As to the formation and scenery of the islands, see\n Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110; C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the\n South Seas_ (London, 1832), i. 193 _sqq._; F. D. Bennett,\n _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840),\n i. 299 _sqq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 8 _sq._, 17 _sq._, and\n _passim_ (_Everyman's Library_); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes,\n _op. cit._ pp. 84 _sq._; Clavel, _Les Marquisiens_ (Paris, 1885)\n pp. 1 _sq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 236 _sq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 522 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue\n Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 192 _sq._, 220 _sqq._ As to\n the extreme difficulty of scaling the mountains and precipices\n to pass from one valley to another, see particularly M.\n Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 101 _sq._,\n note.\n\n [3] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the\n Pacific Ocean_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 86 _sqq._\n\n [4] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_, no\n date). The first edition of this book was published in 1846.\n Melville's residence among the Taipiis (Typees) fell in the year\n 1841.\n\n [5] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 85.\n\nDespite their situation in the heart of the tropics, the Marquesas enjoy\nan extremely healthy climate subject to none of the inconveniences\nusually incidental to countries in the same latitude; endemic and\nepidemic diseases are alike unknown. European soldiers can work in the\nsun without accident and without exhaustion.[6] The climate has been\ndescribed as an eternal spring, without winter or even autumn; though a\nperpetual succession of ripe fruits may seem to lend an autumnal air to\nthe landscape, which yet is never chilled by hoar frosts or saddened by\nthe sight of bare boughs and fallen leaves.[7] Even in the hottest days\na cool wind blows from the sea, and at night there is a breeze from the\nland. Rain falls during some months of the year, especially from May or\nJune to August or September; but on the whole there is little variation\nin the seasons;[8] the Marquesan year has been described as one long\ntropical month of June just melting into July.[9] Yet we are told that\nthe northern islands sometimes suffer from droughts which may last for\nyears; at such times vegetation languishes, till a fresh cloud-burst\nrestores the verdure of the trees and grass as by magic.[10] It is then,\ntoo, that the cascades everywhere enliven the landscape by the glitter\nand roar of their tumbling waters, which, after dropping from the\nheight, flow rapidly down their steep beds into the sea.[11]\n\n [6] M. Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 304\n _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57.\n\n [7] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 94.\n\n [8] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. Compare M.\n Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, pp. 304 _sq._\n\n [9] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 220.\n\n [10] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 222 _sq._\n\n [11] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 304.\n\n\nSec. 2. _Physical Appearance of the Natives_\n\nObservers are generally agreed that from the purely physical point of\nview the Marquesan islanders are, or used to be, the noblest specimens\nof the Polynesian race. Captain Cook remarked that \"the inhabitants of\nthese islands collectively are, without exception, the finest race of\npeople in this sea. For fine shape and regular features, they perhaps\nsurpass all other nations.\"[12] To the same effect the naturalist George\nForster, who accompanied Captain Cook, gives his impression of a crowd\nof Marquesan men, among whom were no women. He says: \"They were tall,\nand extremely well limbed; not one of them unwieldy or corpulent like a\nTaheitian, nor meagre and shrivelled like a native of Easter Island. The\npunctuation\" (by which he meant the tattooing) \"which almost entirely\ncovered the men of a middle age, made it difficult to distinguish their\nelegance of form; but among the youths, who were not yet marked or\ntattooed, it was easy to discover beauties singularly striking, and\noften without a blemish, such as demanded the admiration of all\nbeholders. Many of them might be placed near the famous models of\nantiquity, and would not suffer in the comparison:\n\n \"_Qualis aut Nireus fuit, aut aquosa\n Raptus ab Ida.\"_\n HOR.\n\n\"The natural colour of these youths was not quite so dark as that of the\ncommon people in the Society Isles; but the men appeared to be\ninfinitely blacker, on account of the punctures which covered their\nwhole body, from head to foot. These punctures were disposed with the\nutmost regularity; so that the marks on each leg, arm, and cheek, and on\nthe corresponding muscles, were exactly similar. They never assumed the\ndeterminate form of an animal or plant, but consisted of a variety of\nblotches, spirals, bars, chequers, and lines, which had a most motley\nappearance.\"[13]\n\n [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 284.\n\n [13] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 14 _sq._ Compare\n Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 152 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage\n round the World_ (London, 1814), p. 85; G. H. von Langsdorff,\n _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812), i. 92 _sqq._;\n Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 96 _sqq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 216 _sqq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op.\n cit._ p. 39.\n\nSimilarly, speaking of the Taipiis or Typees, Melville observes, \"In\nbeauty of form they surpassed anything I had ever seen. Not a single\ninstance of natural deformity was observable in all the throng attending\nthe revels. Occasionally I noticed among the men the scars of wounds\nthey had received in battle; and sometimes, though very seldom, the loss\nof a finger, an eye, or an arm, attributable to the same cause. With\nthese exceptions, every individual appeared free from those blemishes\nwhich sometimes mar the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their\nphysical excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from these\nevils; nearly every individual of their number might have been taken for\na sculptor's model.\"[14] As to their stature, the same writer affirms\nthat \"the men, in almost every instance, are of lofty stature, scarcely\never less than six feet.\"[15] Similarly Captain Porter tell us that\n\"they are far above the common stature of the human race, seldom less\nthan five feet eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three\ninches, and every way proportioned. Their faces are remarkably handsome,\nwith keen, piercing eyes; teeth white, and more beautiful than ivory;\ncountenances open and expressive, which reflect every emotion of their\nsouls; limbs which might serve as models for a statuary, and strength\nand activity proportioned to their appearance.\"[16] Another observer\nremarks of them that \"the natives bear the palm for personal beauty\nfrom most other of the Polynesian tribes. The men are tall and muscular,\nthough rather slightly framed; their deportment is graceful and\nindependent; their features are handsome, and partake more of the\nEuropean regularity of profile than is usual with Polynesian\nislanders.\"[17] The nose is straight or aquiline, sometimes short or\nslightly flattened, but never ill-shaped: the mouth is never large nor\nthe lips thick: the forehead is rather low and somewhat retreating.[18]\nThe hair is almost always straight or wavy; men or women with frizzly\nhair are very seldom seen, especially in the north-western group. The\ncolour of the skin, where it is not darkened by tattooing, is a clear\nbrown, resembling the bronzed appearance acquired by Europeans through\nexposure to a tropical sun.[19] The women are both absolutely and\nrelatively shorter than the men; indeed Melville describes them as\n\"uncommonly diminutive.\" Their complexion is lighter; in the parts of\nthe body which are seldom exposed to the sun they are even said to\nappear as white as European women. Their features are good, but rather\npretty than beautiful; their hands and feet are very shapely. Unlike the\nmen, who are, or used to be, tattooed from head to foot, the women were\ntattooed very little, and that chiefly on the lips.[20] They took pains\nto whiten their skin by avoiding exposure to the sun and by washing\nthemselves with the juice of a small native vine,[21] or by smearing\nthemselves with a cosmetic in which the yellow of the turmeric root\npredominated.[22]\n\n [14] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 194.\n\n [15] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 195.\n\n [16] David Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 58 _sq._\n\n [17] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 304.\n\n [18] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 169.\n\n [19] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 39.\n\n [20] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 39 _sq._; H. Melville,\n _Typee_, p. 195.\n\n [21] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, i. 231 _sq._, who\n speaks highly of the beauty of the women. But the general\n opinion appears to be that the Marquesan women are much less\n handsome than the men. See Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 94-96;\n Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 59.\n\n [22] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 308 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 3. _Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing_\n\nThe Marquesans subsist chiefly on a vegetable diet. Their staple food is\nthe bread-fruit, and their national dish is a paste called _popoi_,\nwhich is prepared from bread-fruit after it has been subjected to a\nprocess of fermentation. Fish is also a common article of diet; the\nnatives usually eat it raw, even when it is rotten and stinking. They\nkeep pigs, but seldom kill them except for a festival or at the\nreception of a stranger. Hence pork is not a regular or common article\nof diet with them; and apart from it they hardly taste flesh. Other\nsorts of food, such as bananas, taro, and sugar-cane, are entirely\nsubsidiary to the great staples, bread-fruit and fish. The natives do\nnot readily accustom themselves to a European diet; indeed when the\nexperiment has been made of feeding them exclusively in our manner, they\nhave wasted away and only recovered their health when they were allowed\nto return to their usual nourishment. Their ordinary beverage was water,\nbut they were also addicted to the drinking of kava, which was extracted\nfrom the root of the _Piper methysticum_ in the usual fashion.[23]\nDrawing their sustenance chiefly from the bread-fruit tree, the\nMarquesans paid little attention to the cultivation of the soil;\nhowever, they grew a certain amount of taro, sweet potatoes, and\nsugar-cane; and they had plantations of the paper-mulberry,[24] the bark\nof which was manufactured by the women into cloth in the ordinary way.\nBut the bark of other trees was also employed for the same purpose.\nSince the natives were able to procure European stuffs, the indigenous\nmanufacture of bark-cloth has much declined.[25] Hence agriculture\nengaged the men very little; fishing, though it was part of their\nbusiness, they are said to have neglected; the only work of consequence\nthey did was to build their houses and manufacture their arms, but these\nemployments occupied them only occasionally.[26]\n\n [23] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 42-44; Clavel, _Les\n Marquisiens_, pp. 3 _sqq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 27\n _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 106-108; Fleurieu, _op. cit._\n i. 115 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 50-55; F. D. Bennett, _op.\n cit._ i. 316 _sq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 120-124, 179;\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 277 _sq._;\n Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._, 144 _sq._; A. Baessler,\n _op. cit._ pp. 208-211. As to the preparation and drinking of\n kava among the Marquesans, see also M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.\n 64-66.\n\n [24] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 53;\n C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 213 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op.\n cit._ i. 345 (who says that the only root the natives cultivate\n for food is the sweet potato); Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp.\n 148, 149; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 18.\n\n [25] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 122 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii.\n 116; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp.\n 158-160, 210; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 137 _sq._; Radiguet,\n _op. cit._ pp. 53 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ 55\n _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ 19.\n\n [26] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164.\n\nThe weapons of the warriors were clubs, spears, and slings. The slings\nwere made of coco-nut fibre, and the natives were very expert in the use\nof them. Bows and arrows were unknown.[27] Like the rest of the\nPolynesians, the Marquesans were totally ignorant of the metals until\nthey acquired them from Europeans. Their tools were made of stone, bone,\nand shell. Thus they employed a pointed stone to bore holes with, and an\naxe of black, hard stone for cutting. The axe-head was shaped like an\nelongated wedge or mortise-chisel, and was fastened to the haft by\ncoco-nut fibre. Some of these axes weighed as much as twenty-five\npounds. The natives also used sharp-edged or toothed shells as cutting\nimplements, and borers made of pointed bones; while rough fish-skins\nserved them as polishers.[28] Like the rest of the Polynesians, they\nkindled fire by the method known as the stick-and-groove, that is, by\nrubbing the sharp point of one stick against the flat surface of\nanother, so as to form a groove in it and, by continued friction, to\nelicit smoke and a glow, which, with the help of dry leaves, is nursed\ninto a flame. Contrary to the usage of some peoples, the Marquesans\nemployed the same kind of wood for both the fire-sticks, either a\nspecies of hibiscus (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_) or a species of poplar\n(_Thespesia populnea_); for this purpose they split a branch in two,\nlengthwise, and used the two pieces as the fire-sticks. In former days\nthese fire-sticks were regularly kept in every native house.[29]\n\n [27] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 118 _sq._; Krusenstern, _op. cit._\n i. 162; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 88; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i.\n 152 (bows and arrows unknown); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz,\n _op. cit._ pp. 282 _sq._\n\n [28] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 121; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i.\n 162.\n\n [29] H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 118 _sq._; Clavel, _Les\n Marquisiens_, pp. 11 _sq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii.\n 20; D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 116; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p.\n 143.\n\nThe Marquesan houses are regularly built on stone platforms, oblong or\nsquare in shape, and raised above the ground to heights varying from one\nto four, eight, or even ten feet. The higher platforms are approached\nfrom the ground by ladders or notched poles. The houses, constructed of\ntimber and bamboo, are oblong in shape, and comprise a high back wall,\ngenerally inclined forward at an angle, from which the thatched roof\nslopes down steeply to a low front wall, while two short walls close the\nhouse at either end. The door is in the middle of the front wall, and\nis so low that it is necessary to stoop in entering. Sometimes the\nfronts of the houses are entirely open except for the low pillars which\nsupport the roof. The interior of the house forms a single chamber\nundivided by partitions. Two trunks of coco-nut palms extend parallel to\neach other along the whole length of the floor at an interval of four or\nfive feet; the innermost log, a foot or two distant from the back wall,\nforms a pillow on which the heads of the sleepers rest, while the other\nsupports their feet or legs. The space between the two logs is paved\nwith stone, and spread with mats. In the single apartment the whole\nfamily live and sleep. Such at least were the domestic arrangements in\nthe old days. The size of the houses naturally varies. Some of them\nmeasure eighty feet by forty, others only twenty-five feet by ten, or\neven less.[30]\n\n [30] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 285 _sq._; G. Forster, _op. cit._\n pp. 21, 24; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 131, 134 _sq._; Lisiansky,\n _op. cit._ p. 84; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 159; Langsdorff,\n _op. cit._ i. 109-111; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 39 _sq._; C. S.\n Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 209-211, 212, 267 _sq._; Bennett, _op.\n cit._ i. 302 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. 81-83;\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 274-276;\n Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 122-129; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.\n 36-38; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._; Clavel,\n _op. cit._ pp. 15 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 200-208.\n\nThe platforms on which the houses are built consist often of large\nblocks of stone neatly and regularly laid without mortar or cement, in a\nstyle which would do no discredit to European masons.[31] Sometimes the\nstones are described as enormous blocks of rock,[32] some of which would\nrequire ten or twelve men to carry or roll them.[33] Water-worn\nboulders, washed down from the mountains in the bed of torrents, were\nespecially chosen for the purpose.[34]\n\n [31] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 109 _sq._\n\n [32] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 129.\n\n [33] Langsdorff, _l.c._\n\n [34] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 15.\n\nSometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses were raised above\nthe ground on posts from eight or ten to sixteen feet high. Such houses\nwere lightly built of wood and thatched; the floor was an open work of\nsplit bamboos. Sometimes these raised dwellings resembled the ordinary\nMarquesan house in structure; at other times they were quadrangular,\nwith perpendicular walls and an ordinary roof. They were approached by\nladders and resembled the habitations in use among the Malay tribes of\nthe Indian Archipelago. No dwellings of this type have been noticed in\nNukahiva, the principal island of the archipelago; but they have been\nseen and described in Tauata (Santa Christina) and Hivaoa\n(Dominica).[35]\n\n [35] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 303 _sq._; Baessler, _op.\n cit._ pp. 207 _sq._\n\nThe Marquesans built canoes of various sizes, the smaller for fishing,\nthe larger for war. These latter might be from forty to fifty feet long.\nThey were fitted with outriggers. The prow had an ornamental projection\nrudely carved to represent the head of an animal. Sometimes the prows of\nwar canoes were decorated with the skulls of slaughtered enemies. But in\ngeneral the Marquesans appear to have been inferior to the other South\nSea islanders in the arts of canoe-building and navigation.[36] This\ninferiority may perhaps have been partly due to the absence of those\nlagoons which, formed by coral reefs, elsewhere enabled the natives to\nacquire confidence and skill in sailing on smooth and sheltered waters.\nThe same cause may also, perhaps, explain why fishing was comparatively\nlittle practised by the Marquesans. We are told that as an occupation it\nwas despised by such as owned a piece of land of any extent, and that\nonly the poorer class of people, who depended on the sea for a\nlivelihood, addicted themselves to it. They caught fish by means both of\nnets and of lines with hooks neatly made of mother-of-pearl; also they\nstupefied the fish by a certain mashed root, which the fisherman\ndistributed in the water by diving, and then caught the fish as they\nrose to the surface.[37]\n\n [36] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 287; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i.\n 163 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 150; Porter, _op. cit._,\n ii. 12-14; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 338; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 280-282.\n\n [37] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 163.\n\n\nSec. 4. _Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names_\n\nThe social life of the Marquesan islanders presented some peculiar\nfeatures. Thus they are said to have practised the rare custom of\npolyandry. On this subject Stewart observes: \"We have yet met with no\ninstance, in any rank of society, of a male with two wives, but are\ninformed that for one woman to have two husbands is a universal habit.\nSome favourite in the father's household or retinue at an early period\nbecomes the husband of the daughter, who still remains under the\npaternal roof till contracted in marriage to a second individual, on\nwhich she removes with her first husband to his habitation, and both\nherself and original companion are supported by him.\"[38] Melville\ndescribes the custom in substantially the same way, and adds, \"No man\nhas more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two\nhusbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not\nfrequent.\" He seems to have attributed the practice to a scarcity of\nwomen; for he tells us that \"the males considerably outnumber the\nfemales.\"[39] The same view was taken at a later date by Dr. Clavel, who\nobserves: \"In the islands where the women are in a minority we may to\nthis day observe tolerably numerous cases of polyandry. Thus at Ua-Una I\nmet some women who had each two husbands, almost always one of them\nyoung and the other old. Such households of three are not worse than the\nrest and never give rise to intestine dissensions.\"[40] According to\nRadiguet, the right of having more husbands than one was not general and\nhardly belonged to any but chieftainesses,[41] but this limitation is\ndenied by a good authority.[42] The Russian navigator Lisiansky, who\nvisited the Marquesas in 1804, seems to have supposed that the custom\nwas restricted to wealthy families. He says: \"In rich families, every\nwoman has two husbands; of whom one may be called the assistant husband.\nThis last, when the other is at home, is nothing more than the head\nservant of the house; but, in case of absence, exercises all the rights\nof matrimony, and is also obliged to attend his lady wherever she goes.\nIt happens sometimes, that the subordinate partner is chosen after\nmarriage; but in general two men present themselves to the same woman,\nwho, if she approves their addresses, appoints one for the real husband,\nand the other as his auxiliary: the auxiliary is generally poor, but\nhandsome and well-made.\"[43]\n\n [38] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 317.\n\n [39] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 203 _sq._\n\n [40] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 60.\n\n [41] Radiguet, _op. cit._ 173.\n\n [42] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 111.\n\n [43] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 83. As to polyandry in the\n Marquesas, see further E. Westermarck, _History of Human\n Marriage_, Fifth Edition (London, 1921), iii. 146 _sqq._\n\nAnother peculiar habit of the Marquesans was to give away their children\nto be adopted by other people soon after their birth. When a woman was\npregnant, she and her husband would discuss to whom they should give the\nchild that was about to be born. They received offers from neighbours,\nand often knocked down the infant to the highest bidder; for the\nadopting parents regularly made presents to the child's family,\nconsisting of cloth, tools, and pigs, according to the fortune of the\ncontracting parties. After birth the child remained with its mother for\nsome months till it was weaned, upon which it was sent away to its\nparents by adoption, who might inhabit a different district and even a\ndifferent island. It is said to have been exceptional for parents to\nbring up their own offspring.[44]\n\n [44] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._; Clavel, _op.\n cit._ pp. 56, 61 _sq._\n\nAnother mode by which the Marquesans created artificial relationships\nwas the exchange of names. Such an exchange was equivalent to a\nratification of amity and good-will between the persons, who thereby\nacquired a claim to mutual protection and the enjoyment of each other's\nproperty and even of their wives, if they happened to be married men.\nThe custom was not limited to the natives; they readily exchanged names\nwith Europeans and granted them the privileges which flowed from the\npact. It is even said that some natives gave their own names to animals,\nwhich thenceforth became sacred for them and for the rest of the tribe.\nThis led to so many inconveniences that the priests had to forbid the\npractice of exchanging names with animals.[45]\n\n [45] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 16 _sq._, 158 _sq._; Clavel, _op.\n cit._ pp. 61 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 5. _Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls_\n\nA favourite amusement of the islanders was racing or combating on\nstilts. A stilt was composed of two pieces, a pole of light wood which\nthe runner held in his hand, and a step or foot-rest of hard wood, on\nwhich he planted one of his feet. The step or foot-rest was often\nadorned with human figures curiously carved, which are said to have\nrepresented gods. The races or combats took place on the paved areas\nwhich were to be seen in most villages, and which formed the scene of\npublic entertainments. In these contests each runner or combatant tried\nto get in the way of his adversary, and, balancing himself on one stilt,\nto strike his rival with the other, so as to bring him to the ground\namid the laughter and jeers of the spectators. It has sometimes been\nsupposed that the use of stilts in the Marquesas originated in the\npractical purpose of enabling people to cross a stream without wetting\ntheir feet. But the supposition is highly improbable. For, on the one\nhand, the streams in the islands are mere rivulets, which dry up for the\ngreater part of the year; and, on the other hand, the natives are almost\namphibious, often spending whole days in the water, and swimming for\nhours without fatigue. Hence it is absurd to imagine that they invented\nstilts simply to keep their feet dry at crossing a shallow stream.[46]\n\n [46] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 119 _sq._, 124; Langsdorff, _op.\n cit._ i. 146; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 124-126; Vincendon-Dumoulin\n et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 284; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p.\n 96. As for the ability of the natives to swim in the sea for\n hours without fatigue, compare J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to\n the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. 129.\n\nBut perhaps the most popular recreation of the Marquesans was dancing\nand singing, which formed a leading feature of their festivals. Every\ninhabited district had its dancing-place, a sort of public square, where\nplaces were set apart for the use of the performers, the musicians, and\nthe spectators. These have been described by the missionary, C. S.\nStewart, from personal observation. He says, \"Our walk terminated at\nwhat may be called the _theatre_ or _opera house_ of the settlement, a\nlarge rectangular platform of stone pavement, surrounded by low terraces\nalso laid with stone; the first designed for the public exhibitions of\nthe song and the dance, and the last for the accommodation of the\nspectators who assemble to witness the performance. Entertainments of\nthis kind are the most fashionable and favourite amusements at the\nWashington and the Marquesan groups. Every inhabited district has its\n_Tahua_, or public square of this kind; some of them so extensive, it is\nsaid, as to be capable of accommodating ten thousand people.\"[47] Again,\nspeaking of another of these dancing-places, the same writer observes,\n\"This _Tahua_, or theatre, is a structure altogether superior to that\nvisited by us yesterday, and so massive and well built as to be capable\nof enduring for ages. It is a regular oblong square, about sixty feet in\nlength and forty broad. The outer wall consists of immense stones, or\nslabs of rock, three feet high, and many of them four or six feet long,\njoined closely together and hewn with a regularity and neatness truly\nastonishing, in view of the rude implements by which it must have been\naccomplished. On a level with the top of this outer wall, a pavement of\nlarge flat stones, several feet in width, extends entirely round,\nforming seats for the chiefs, warriors, and other persons of\ndistinction, and singers performing the recitatives and choruses\naccompanying the dance. Within this, and some inches lower, is another\npavement still wider, having large flat-topped stones fixed in it at\nregular intervals of six or eight feet, used as seats by the beaters on\nthe drums, and other rude instruments of music, and immediately within\nthis again, an unpaved area, some twenty feet long by twelve broad,\nconstituting the stage on which the dancers exhibit their skill.\"[48]\n\n [47] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 214 _sq._\n\n [48] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 233 _sq._ Compare\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 265 _sq._\n\nSome of these dancing-places appear to have been much larger than those\nseen by Stewart. According to Langsdorff they were sometimes not less\nthan a hundred fathoms in length, and the great smooth pavement\nconsisted of blocks of stone, several feet broad, laid so neatly and so\nclose together that you might have imagined it to be the work of\nEuropean master-masons.[49] Radiguet describes one such dancing-place as\na rectangular area eighty metres (about two hundred and sixty feet) long\nby thirty metres (about one hundred feet) broad, and surrounded by a\nterrace paved with stone, on which the spectators were seated.[50]\n\n [49] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138.\n\n [50] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 195.\n\nThe festivals (_koikas_) celebrated at these places were either\nperiodical or occasional. Among the periodical perhaps the most\nimportant was that held at the ingathering of the bread-fruit harvest in\nFebruary and March. Among the occasional were those held after a\nsuccessful fishing, at the ratification of peace, and after the death\nof a priest or chief, who had been raised to the rank of a deity. A\nmessenger decked in all the native finery repaired to the surrounding\nvillages inviting the inhabitants to attend the festival. Immense\nnumbers of hogs were killed and huge troughs filled with bread-fruit\nwere provided by the hosts for the banquet. The festivals were attended\nnot only by the people of the particular valley in which they were held,\nbut by the inhabitants of other valleys and even of other islands; for\nso long as a festival lasted, a special taboo forbade the natives to\nharm the strangers in their midst. A general truce was observed; members\nof hostile tribes came to share the pleasures of the festival with the\nfoes whom they had recently fought, and whom they would fight again in a\nfew days.[51] Yet such visitors were careful to observe certain\nprecautions: they never came unarmed, and they always kept together on\none side of the festival ground, in order that they might rally the more\neasily for mutual defence, if they should be suddenly attacked.[52]\n\n [51] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op.\n cit._ i. 318; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp.\n 264 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 69 _sqq._; Radiguet,\n _op. cit._ pp. 192 _sq._\n\n [52] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138.\n\nThe performers who sang and danced at these festivals for the\nentertainment of the public were called _Hokis_ or _Kaioas_: they are\ndescribed as a sort of wandering troubadours or minstrels, who went from\ntribe to tribe, seeking their fortune. They took great care of their\npersons, which they artificially whitened. At once poets, musicians, and\ndancers, they nevertheless did not enjoy the public esteem; on the\ncontrary, their effeminate habits incurred the contempt of a people who\nhad small taste for the fine arts.[53] Thus these wandering minstrels\nand mountebanks would seem to have corresponded to the Areois of the\nSociety Islands.[54] The dances were accompanied by the beating of drums\nand the songs of a chorus, it might be of a hundred and fifty singers,\nwho sat on the upper platform along with the chiefs and warriors.\nSometimes in the intervals between the dances a choir of women, seated\non an adjoining and elevated platform, would chant in dull monotonous\ntones, clapping their hands loudly in unison with their song. The\nsubjects of the songs were various and were often furnished by some\npassing event, such as the arrival of a ship or any less novel incident.\nNot unfrequently, like ballads in our own country, the songs caught the\npopular fancy and became fashionable, being sung in private by all\nclasses of society. So passionately addicted were the Marquesans to\nthese entertainments that they undertook the longest and most fatiguing\njourneys from all parts of the island in order to be present at them,\ncarrying their food and suffering great hardships by the way; they even\ncame in their crazy canoes, at the hazard of their lives, from other\nislands, and accepted the risk of being knocked on the head at one of\nthe brawls with which such gatherings usually ended.[55]\n\n [53] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 231.\n Compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 237, who calls the\n performers _Kaioi_.\n\n [54] See above, pp. 259 _sqq._\n\n [55] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 234, 236, 237.\n\nClosely connected with the festivals were the banqueting-halls, as they\nmay be called. These were houses, or rather sheds, thatched with leaves\nand open in front, where the lower end of the sloping roof was supported\non short wooden pillars, of which the upper parts were rudely carved in\nthe likeness of the god Tiki, thus forming a sort of Caryatids. These\nsheds varied in length from thirty to sixty and even two hundred feet in\nlength. They stood on quadrangular stone platforms of the usual type,\nranging from three or four to six, eight, twelve, and even fifteen feet\nin height. The blocks of stone put together to form the platforms were\nsometimes enormous, many of them measuring eight feet long by four feet\nthick and wide; and they were hewn and polished into such perfect form\nas to excite the wonder of the European beholder, who reflected with\nastonishment on the vast labour requisite to bring these huge rocks from\nthe sea and to chisel them into shape without the help of iron tools.\nAccess to the platforms was afforded by sloping trunks of trees notched\ninto steps. In these open sheds the men feasted and prayed. Before each\nrepast it was customary to offer to the deity a small portion of food\nwrapt in leaves. Sometimes the priests would thrust the morsels into the\nmouths of Tiki's grotesque images. No woman might enter these\nbanqueting-halls or mount the platforms on which they stood. The place\nwas strictly tabooed to them, and the taboo was signified in the usual\nway by long pennants of white cloth attached to the posts of the\nhouse.[56]\n\n [56] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 38 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._\n i. 317 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 54-56; Melville,\n _Typee_ pp. 93-95. Of these writers it is Porter who gives the\n dimensions of some of the blocks of stone composing the\n platforms and expresses his amazement at the labour involved in\n their construction. He concludes his description as follows (ii.\n 39): \"When we count the immense numbers of such places, which\n are everywhere to be met with, our astonishment is raised to the\n highest, that a people in a state of nature, unassisted by any\n of those artificial means, which so much assist and facilitate\n the labour of the civilized man, could have conceived and\n executed a work, which, to every beholder, must appear\n stupendous. These piles are raised with views to magnificence\n alone; there does not appear to be the slightest utility\n attending them: the houses situated on them are unoccupied,\n except during the period of feasting, and they appear to belong\n to a public, without the whole efforts of which they could not\n have been raised, and with every exertion that could possibly\n have been made, years must have been requisite for the\n completion of them.\" Of one of these structures seen by him in\n the anterior of Nukahiva, Stewart observes, \"The stones, bearing\n marks of antiquity that threw the air of an old family mansion\n around the whole, were regularly hewn and joined with the\n greatest nicety, many which I measured being from four to six\n feet in length, nearly as wide, and two or more deep\" (_Visit to\n the South Seas_, i. 267 _sq._).\n\n\nSec. 6. _Social Ranks, Taboo_\n\nSocially the Marquesans were divided into chiefs or nobles and\ncommoners; but the chiefs seem to have possessed very little authority,\nand to have received few outward marks of deference and respect. A\nmonarchical government in any proper sense of the word was unknown.[57]\nThe power of the chiefs, such as it was, rested mainly on their superior\nwealth, particularly on their landed property; for the larger their\nestates, the greater the number of the tenants whose services they could\ncommand. Hence the government has been called aristocratic and compared\nto the feudal system.[58] In a fruitful season the chiefs had a right to\na fourth part of the produce, and in other seasons a share according to\ncircumstances. Their dignity was hereditary.[59] There was no general\ngovernment of the archipelago as a whole. Each island was quite\nindependent of all the rest; and in every island there were several\nindependent tribes, which were generally at war with each other.[60]\n\n [57] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 165; Langsdorff, i. 112 _sq._;\n Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 132-134; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 64;\n Melville, _Typee_, p. 199; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz,\n _op. cit._ p. 225; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 24 _sq._\n\n [58] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ 101 _sq._\n\n [59] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 80.\n\n [60] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ p.\n 62.\n\nA powerful instrument in the hands of the nobles was the taboo or\n_tapu_, which, though it seems to have been originally a religious\ninstitution,[61] was turned to political and economic account by the\nchiefs and priests acting in conjunction. One of our best authorities on\nthe Marquesans describes the institution as a tool of despotism for the\ngratification of the passions and caprices of such as could wield\nit.[62] But this is a somewhat one-sided and imperfect view to take of\nits scope. There is no doubt, as other good authorities on the\nMarquesans have pointed out, that in the absence of a strong government\nwhich could maintain order and protect life and property, the taboo to a\ngreat extent served the purposes which in more civilised society are\nfulfilled by laws.[63] The taboo was a sacred interdiction, a breach of\nwhich was believed of itself to entail disastrous consequences on the\ntransgressor. The interdiction might be either public or private. To\ngive examples of public interdictions, when the quantity of breadfruit,\non which the people depended for their subsistence, was from any cause\nseriously diminished in a district, the chief had the right to impose a\ntaboo on bread-fruit trees for twenty months, during which no one might\ngather the fruit. This close time allowed the trees to recover their\nstrength and fertility. Similarly, if fish were scarce, the chief might\npronounce a taboo on the neighbouring bay, or a part of it, in order to\nallow the fish to multiply undisturbed and replenish the sea in the\nneighbourhood of human habitations. Again, in the prospect of a great\nfestival, a chief might lay an interdict on pigs for two or three years\nin advance, in order that, when the time came, there might be plenty of\npork for the multitude at the banquet. Similarly, when the\npaper-mulberry, from which the Marquesans made their bark-cloth,\nthreatened to give out, the chief might lay the trees under an\ninterdict for five years, at the end of which the crop was sure to be\nmagnificent.[64] In these and similar cases the taboo was of public\nutility by ensuring a proper supply of the necessaries of life. However,\nits imposition was not always guided by rational considerations, and\nhence it sometimes failed of its purpose. For example, so long as the\nbread-fruit was unripe, almost all kinds of fish were taboo and\ntherefore might not be eaten, and this interdiction, instead of\nalleviating, tended naturally to aggravate the scarcity of food. The\nreason for the taboo was a curious superstition that if any one were to\neat fish while the bread-fruit was unripe, the fruit would fall from the\ntrees.[65]\n\n [61] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 47 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin\n et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 259.\n\n [62] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153.\n\n [63] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._;\n Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._\n\n [64] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 35 _sq._ Compare\n Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 155.\n\n [65] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 118.\n\nBut the taboo also served a useful purpose by ensuring respect for\nprivate property, which is a fundamental condition of social prosperity.\n\"The priests only,\" we are told, \"can impose a general taboo, but every\nindividual has a right to pronounce one upon his own property: this is\ndone by declaring, if his wish be to preserve a breadfruit, or a cocoa\ntree, a house or a plantation, from robbery and destruction, that the\nspirit of his father or of some king, or indeed of any other person,\nreposes in this tree, or house, which then bears the name of the person,\nand nobody ventures to attack it. If any one is so irreligious as to\nbreak through a taboo, and should be convicted of it, he is called\n_kikino_; and the _kikinos_ are always the first to be devoured by the\nenemy, at least they believe it to be so, nor is it impossible that the\npriests should so arrange matters as that this really happens.\"[66]\nAgain, if a man's pig had been stolen, and he suspected who had done the\ndeed, he would lay a taboo on the swine or other property of the thief\nby giving his own name, or the name of somebody else, to the animals or\nthe trees or whatever it might be. After that, in the opinion of the\npeople, the property so named was bewitched or haunted by the spirit of\nthe person, whether alive or dead, whose name it bore; and this belief\nsometimes sufficed to compel the thief to abandon his possessions and to\nsettle elsewhere.[67] A wreath of leaves or a strip of white cloth\nattached to a house, a canoe, a fruit-tree, or other piece of property,\nwas the symbol of taboo, and in ordinary circumstances was enough to\nprotect it.[68]\n\n [66] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172. In this quotation I have\n altered the spelling _tahbu_ into _taboo_.\n\n [67] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 116.\n\n [68] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 157; Melville, _Typee_, p. 230;\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 264.\n\nBut the taboo was an instrument which could be used capriciously to\nthwart, as well as to further, the course of justice. Thus we read how,\nunder the French government of the islands, a wife set out for the\npolice-office to complain of the ill-treatment to which she had been\nsubjected by her husband. But scarcely had she put her foot outside the\ndoor, when her husband, aware of her intention and determined to\nfrustrate it, called out after her, \"The road from here to the\npolice-office is your father.\" On hearing that, the woman at once\nstopped short, for under no circumstances would she dare to trample on\nthe author of her being. On the contrary, she immediately roasted two\nlittle pigs and carried them to the tomb of her father as an offering to\nappease his ghost, which might reasonably be supposed to fret at the\nmere thought of being trodden under foot by his own daughter.[69] This\ninstructive example shows how closely the taboo was associated with the\nfear and worship of the dead; by bestowing the name of a dead person on\na thing you rendered the thing inviolate, since thereby you placed it\nunder the immediate protection of the ghost.\n\n [69] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 68.\n\nAmong the multitude of taboos which were religiously observed by the\nMarquesans it is perhaps possible to detect a trace of totemism. Thus\nthe sting ray fish was taboo to the tribe of Houmis. Not only would they\nnot eat the fish, but they fled in horror if it were even shown to them.\nTheir horror was explained by a tradition that once on a time a great\nchief of the tribe had been out fishing with his people, when a gigantic\nsting ray upset their canoes and gobbled them all up.[70] This aversion\nto eating and even looking at a certain species of animal, together with\na traditionary explanation based on an incident in the past history of\nthe tribe, is very characteristic of totemism.\n\n [70] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 7. _Religion and Mythology_\n\nThe consideration of taboo introduces us to the subject of religion;\nfor, on the one hand, the foregoing evidence tends to establish a\nconnexion between the institution of taboo and the doctrine of the human\nsoul, and on the other hand some of our best authorities on the\nMarquesans have stated that the taboo was believed to be an expression\nof the will of the gods conveyed to the people through the mouth of a\npriest.[71] The definition may be accepted, if under gods we include the\nspirits of the dead, who were worshipped by the Marquesans and lent\ntheir sanction, as we have just seen, to the taboo.\n\n [71] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 258;\n Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 48; Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153;\n Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 65.\n\nThe Marquesan term for a god was the usual Polynesian word _atua_ or, as\nit is sometimes spelled, _etua_. But their notion of divinity, as\ncommonly happens, was vague. One of the earliest writers on their\nreligion, the Russian navigator Krusenstern, informs us that \"a confused\nnotion of a higher being, whom they call _Etua_, does indeed exist among\nthem, but of these there are several kinds; the spirit of a priest, of a\nking, or of any of his relations, being an _etua_. They likewise\nconsider all Europeans as such; for as their ideas do not extend beyond\ntheir own horizon, they are firmly convinced that their ships come from\nthe clouds; and they imagine that thunder is occasioned by the\ncannonading of vessels which float in the atmosphere, on which account\nthey entertain a great dread of artillery.\"[72] The _atuas_ or deities\nof the Marquesans, we are told by another writer, \"are numerous and vary\nin their character and powers. Besides those having dominion\nrespectively, as is supposed, over the different elements and their most\nstriking phenomena, there are _atuas_ of the mountain and of the forest,\nof the sea-side and of the interior, _atuas_ of peace and of war, of the\nsong and of the dance, and of all the occupations and amusements of\nlife. It is supposed by them that many of the departed spirits of men\nalso become _atuas_: and thus the multiplicity of their gods is such,\nthat almost every sound in nature, from the roaring of the tempest in\nthe mountains and the bursting of a thunderbolt in the clouds, to the\nsighing of a breeze through the cocoa-nut tops and the chirping of an\ninsect in the grass or in the thatch of their huts, is interpreted into\nthe movements of a god.\"[73]\n\n [72] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 171.\n\n [73] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 240; Radiguet,\n _op. cit._ pp. 218 _sq._\n\nBut the Marquesans, not content with deifying some men after death,\ndeified others in their lifetime. Amongst them there is, or rather used\nto be, a class of living men \"who claim the title and attributes of the\nDeity; not through a professed inspiration or possession by a\nsupernatural influence or power, but in their own right of godship as\nthose who control the elements, impart fruitfulness to the productions\nof the earth or smite them with blasting and sterility, and who exercise\nthe prerogatives of the Deity in scattering disease and wielding the\nshafts of death. They are few in number, not more than one or two at\nfarthest on an island, and live in a seclusion and mysticism somewhat in\nunison with their blasphemous pretensions. There is none at present in\nthe near vicinity of Taiohae,[74] though the former abode of such an\nindividual is pointed out at the foot of a bold cliff, high in the\nmountains. The Rev. Mr. Crook gives the following account of an Atua, at\nthe island of Tahuata, in the Windward or Marquesan group, while he\nresided there temporarily in 1797, as a missionary from the London\nMissionary Society: 'He is now of great age, and has lived from early\nlife at Hanateiteina, in a large house surrounded by an enclosure called\nthe A. In the house is an altar, and from the beams within and upon the\ntrees around it are human carcasses, suspended with their heads downward\nand scalped. No one enters the premises but his servant, except when\nhuman sacrifices are offered. Of these, more are offered to him than to\nany other of their gods, and he frequently seats himself on an elevated\nscaffold in front of his house and calls for two or three at a time. He\nis invoked in all parts of the island, and offerings everywhere are\nmade to him and sent to Hanateiteina.'\"[75] Similarly a Catholic\nmissionary tells us that in the island of Nukahiva he was personally\nacquainted with two living human deities, a priest and a priestess, both\nof whom, it was said, had the right to demand the sacrifice of human\nvictims to themselves. He adds, however, that they did not abuse the\nright, and that nobody in the world appeared more affable and polite\nthan these divinities; he even entertained hopes of one day baptizing\nthe priest.[76] Of the reverence in which the priestly class in general\nwas held by the people, Captain Porter remarks that \"their priests are\ntheir oracles; they are considered but little inferior to their gods; to\nsome they are greatly superior, and after their death they rank with the\nchief divinity.\"[77]\n\n [74] The principal harbour of Nukahiva.\n\n [75] C. S. Stewart, _op cit._ i. 244 _sq._ Compare\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 226, 240 _sq._\n The missionary William Crook was landed in the Marquesas from\n the missionary ship _Duff_ in 1797. See J. Wilson, _Missionary\n Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 131 _sqq._\n\n [76] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45.\n\n [77] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 114.\n\nLittle seems to be recorded of the theology and mythology of the\nMarquesans; but among their myths was the widespread Polynesian story of\nthe origin of fire. Of old, it was said, fire used to be jealously\nguarded by Mahoike in the infernal regions. Hearing of its utility, Maui\ndescended into the nether world to steal some of the element; but he\nfailed to elude the vigilance of its guardian and was obliged to resort\nto force to extort the boon from him. In the struggle which ensued\nMahoike lost an arm and a leg, and to save his remaining limbs he\nconsented to give fire to the victorious Maui. At the same time he\noffered to rub it on Maui's leg; but Maui was too cunning to agree to\nthat, for he knew that in that case the fire which he took to earth\nwould not be sacred. Finally, Mahoike rubbed the fire on Maui's head,\nand said to him, \"Go back to the place you came from and touch with your\nforehead all the trees except the _keika_: all the trees will yield you\nfire.\"[78]\n\n [78] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 223 _sq._ For the names of the\n Marquesan deities, among whom Tiki appears to have been the most\n famous, and for some myths concerning them, see Mathias G----,\n _op. cit._ pp. 40 _sqq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 221 _sqq._;\n Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xix. (1847)\n pp. 23 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 27 _sqq._\n\nIn the Marquesas there was a class of men called _tauas_, who were\nsupposed to possess an hereditary gift of inspiration and to become\ndeities after their death. They could cause a god to dwell within them.\nOften at night they might be heard conversing with the divinity in their\nbodies, the deity crying out in a shrill voice, while the man answered\nhim in his own ordinary voice. Sometimes they would make a rustling\nnoise with their fingers in the leaves, and say that they had been\nmiraculously taken through the thatch of the house and brought back\nagain by the door. In their fits of inspiration they became convulsed\nand glared fiercely with their eyes; then, with their hands quivering\nviolently, they would run about, while they prophesied death to their\nenemies in squeaky tones, or demanded human victims for the god by whom\nthey were possessed. With the function of prophecy they combined the\noffice of physician or rather of exorciser. For every internal disorder\nwas believed to be inflicted by some god, who had taken possession of\nthe sufferer's person; and the _tauas_, or high priests, as we may call\nthem, were called in to heal the patient by ridding him of the divinity\nwho had entered into him. This they commonly did by feeling for the\nmischievous deity till they found him, when they smothered him between\nthe palms of their hands.[79] Sometimes the good physician would\nconverse with the spirit whom he had thus caught between his hands, and\nwould elicit from him in conversation the cause of the sickness, which\nusually consisted in some breach of taboo, such as a theft of\nbread-fruit or coco-nuts from a sacred tree. At the same time the\naffable spirit would reveal to the physician the penalty which the sick\nman must pay in order to expiate his crime and thereby ensure his\nrecovery. A sacrifice of pigs would appear to have been usually deemed\nindispensable for the patient's complete convalescence; the animals were\nconveyed to a temple and there consumed by the priests for the benefit\nof the sufferer.[80] The _tauas_ or high priests were supposed to become\ngods after death; when one of them departed this life, it was essential\nfor his deification that human victims should be sacrificed. The number\nof victims varied with the rank of the new deity; it was never less than\nseven, but oftener ten. Each victim was sacrificed for the sake of a\nparticular part of the deity's body, as for his head, or his eyes, or\nhis hair. To procure the necessary tale of victims, predatory\nexpeditions were undertaken against the tribes in neighbouring\nvalleys.[81]\n\n [79] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin\n et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._\n\n [80] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 136. The writer's language seems\n to imply that the spirit whom the priestly physician caught in\n his hands and interrogated was the patient's own soul.\n\n [81] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._\n i. 247; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 228\n _sq._\n\n\nSec. 8. _The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs_\n\nLike most savages, the Marquesans thought that they possessed souls\nwhich could quit their bodies and wander far away in dreams. Thus a\nyoung girl once related how, the night before, she had sailed in a\nsplendid canoe to Tiburones, a mythical paradise to the west of\nNukahiva; there she had seen beautiful things such as do not exist here\non earth. \"There,\" said she, \"the trees are very tall, and the people\nvery handsome; there they sing songs to music sweeter than ours. Ah!\nwhen shall I be able to return to Tiburones?\" On another occasion a\nwoman's soul appeared to a priest to inform him that she had committed\nthe heinous crime of eating a fowl, but that she would expiate the\nsacrilege by an early death. The French authorities summoned both the\npriest and the woman to the bar of justice. There the priest stuck to it\nthat he had received the revelation, and the woman expressed her regret\nfor the escapade of which her soul had been guilty without her\nknowledge. It was necessary to reassure her on the subject of her soul's\nrash act and melancholy prediction, otherwise she might have fulfilled\nthe prophecy by refusing food and dying outright.[82]\n\n [82] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._\n\nAt death the soul was supposed to depart from the body by the mouth or\nthe nose; hence in order to delay its departure and so to prolong the\nlife of its owner, affectionate relatives used to stop his mouth and\nnostrils, thus accelerating the event which they wished to retard.[83]\n\n [83] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 245; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 44,\n note^1. Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 115.\n\nThe Marquesans have, or used to have, a sovereign contempt for death,\nand do not fear its approach. When a native felt that he must die, he\ntook it calmly and ordered his coffin, which he caused to be brought to\nthe house while he was still in life. The coffin is hollowed out of a\nsingle log and resembles a canoe. If the sick man after all recovered,\nthe coffin was kept in a corner of the house till it was wanted. No\nattempt was made to hide it or to disguise its purpose. Should a\nstranger ask, \"What is that?\" he would be told, \"It is So-and-so's\ncoffin\"; though So-and-so might be present and within hearing.[84]\nNevertheless, when it was clear that a serious illness was about to\nterminate fatally, and that all the efforts of the priestly physician or\nsorcerer to avert the inevitable end were fruitless, the house would be\nfilled by wailing women, who danced naked round the mat of the dying\nman, cutting themselves with sharp stones or shark's teeth as in a\nfrenzy, and uttering the most piercing lamentations. This lasted till\nthe moment of death, when all united in a terrific and prolonged\nhowl.[85] Similar demonstrations of sorrow were continued or renewed\nafter the decease. If the departed was a married man and his widow\nsurvived him, she would bruise her flesh with a stone, scratch it with\nher nails, and cut her forehead, cheeks, and breast with shark's teeth\nor splinters of bamboo till the blood trickled down.[86] Captain Porter\nsaw a woman with deep wounds still unhealed, which she had inflicted on\nher neck, breast, and arms for the loss of her husband, who had been\ndevoured by a shark.[87] After the death, too, the widow would place\nherself in front of the corpse, and three or four girls would surround\nher; whereupon they would all engage in a lascivious dance, with\noutstretched arms, tripping in cadence to the accompaniment of a funeral\nhymn or lamentation, which was chanted by a choir in honour of the dead.\nAfter executing the dance, which would seem to have been intended to\nattract the attention of the deceased and recall his wandering spirit,\nthey would stoop over the corpse, and cry, \"He has not stirred! He\nstirs not. Alas! alas! he is no more.\" It was only after they had thus\npractised their seductions in vain on the dead man that the widow gave\nway to her frantic outburst of sorrow by mauling herself with a sort of\nsaw.[88] This funeral dance a widow was apparently expected to renew in\npublic at every festival for months after the death. At a festival,\nwhich he called the Feast of Calabashes, Melville saw four or five old\nwomen, stark naked, holding themselves erect and leaping stiffly into\nthe air, with their arms pressed close to their sides, like sticks\nbobbing up and down in water. They preserved the utmost gravity of\ncountenance, and continued their strange movements without a single\nmoment's cessation, though they did not appear to attract the\nobservation of the crowd around them. The American was told that these\ndancing or leaping figures \"were bereaved widows, whose partners had\nbeen slain in battle many moons previously; and who, at every festival,\ngave public evidence in this manner of their calamities.\"[89] When the\ndeceased was a chief, the lamentations and the dances went on day and\nnight for some time. A priestess or sorceress, in festal costume, led\nthe choir of female mourners and vaunted the exploits of the dead\nwarrior, recalling his mighty deeds and the incidents of his life. The\ndances were accompanied by the music of drums. The crowd of spectators,\nin their best array, ate and drank to repletion, and, flushed with\nliquor, abandoned themselves to excesses which transformed the mortuary\nchamber, lit up at night by smoky torches, into a scene of low\ndebauchery. From time to time remarks of a gross nature were addressed\nto the dead man on the helpless condition to which he was reduced; and\nnow and then the women would slash their faces and breasts with\nsplinters of bamboo in the usual fashion. The orgy went on till the\nprovisions were completely exhausted, which might not be for a\nconsiderable time, since hecatombs of pigs were sometimes slaughtered\nfor the purpose of celebrating the obsequies of a chief in a manner\nworthy of his rank.[90]\n\n [84] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 114. _sq._; Eyriaud des\n Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 58. Compare Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 260\n _sqq._\n\n [85] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 263; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 249 _sq._\n\n [86] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 284; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 39.\n\n [87] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 121.\n\n [88] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 283 _sq._ Another writer mentions\n that at the moment of death it was customary for a number of\n matrons to strip themselves naked and execute obscene dances at\n the door of the house, crying out at the pitch of their voices,\n \"Father! father!\" See Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116.\n\n [89] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 180, 201.\n\n [90] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._\n\nThe soul of the dead was believed not to abandon the corpse definitely\nfor two days after the death. In the interval it was thought to haunt\nthe house, watching the conduct of the survivors, and ready to act as a\nfriend or a foe according as the mourners behaved towards the deceased\nand his remains. Hence, to keep the ghost in good humour it was\ncustomary to offer him food, in the shape of breadfruit paste and other\ndainties, which were wrapped up in leaves, hung on the edge of the\ncoffin, and frequently renewed.[91] On the third night after the death a\npriest, stepping out on the terrace in front of the house, implored the\nwandering soul of the deceased to depart; and by way of enforcing the\nrequest a band of men, armed with spears and other lethal weapons, went\nabout in the outer darkness, beating the bushes and stabbing the\nthatched roofs of the houses in order to drive the lingering ghost away.\nIf, roused by the clamour, the dogs began to bark, the priest would say,\n\"The soul is departing.\"[92]\n\n [91] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46.\n\n [92] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 284 _sq._\n\nFrom the moment of death till the priests had completed the litany or\nsongs chanted on such occasions, all the assembled people fasted, no one\ntouched the provisions collected for the funeral feast, and no fire\nmight be kindled within sight of the house.[93] The litany consisted in\nthe mumbling of a long speech in an unintelligible language accompanied\nby the constant beating of drums.[94] Among the victuals provided for\nthe funeral feast special importance appears to have been attached to\nthe head of a pig, which was cut off and attached to the bier.[95] We\nare told that the professed intention was thereby \"to propitiate the\ngods, and obtain for the deceased a safe and peaceable passage through\nthe lower regions.\" But, in point of fact the priest took possession of\nthe pig's head and devoured it secretly, leaving only a small piece of\nit under a stone.[96]\n\n [93] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251.\n\n [94] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 133.\n\n [95] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 285.\n\n [96] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. Compare Langsdorff, _op.\n cit._ i. 133; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265;\n Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251.\n\nWhen death had taken place, the body was washed, neatly dressed in\ngarments of new cloth, and laid on a bier constructed of bamboos or of\nspears and other warlike weapons, fastened together with wicker-work and\nspread with mats.[97] If the deceased was a chief and a warrior, his\nbody would be arrayed in his finest ornaments, and his club, plumed\nhelmet, necklaces of whale's teeth, and skulls of the enemies he had\nkilled, would be laid beside him. Thus exposed, the corpse might be kept\nfor weeks in the house, where, in spite of the stench, the family\ncontinued to eat, drink, and sleep beside it. Sometimes, however, and\nperhaps more usually, the body was transferred to a small house or shed\nadjoining the dwelling of the deceased, where it received the necessary\nattentions. Finally, it was removed to a little hut or shed, where the\nbier was supported on posts under a thatched roof. To be buried in the\nearth was a mark of ignominy reserved at most for a young girl of the\nlowest rank who had died childless. Beside the corpse food was hung for\nthe use of the ghost, it might be fish, roast pork, or coco-nuts, and\nthere it was allowed to remain till it rotted and fell to the ground;\nnone but children would be greedy or impious enough to partake of the\nsacred victuals, and that only in the greatest secrecy. Often the house\nin which the death had taken place was tabooed and abandoned after the\nremains had been deposited in their last home.[98]\n\n [97] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op.\n cit._ i. 133; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 81; C. S. Stewart, _op.\n cit._ i. 264.\n\n [98] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._ As to the\n decoration of the corpse, see Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ As\n to the temporary house or shed in which the body was kept for\n some time after death, compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 264,\n 266; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 250. As for\n the custom of keeping the body for months in the ordinary house,\n surrounded by the family, see Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 286. As to\n the practice of hanging food beside the body, even after its\n removal to its last place of rest, see J. Dumont d'Urville,\n _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Oceanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv.\n (Paris, 1842), p. 33; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46.\n\nThe bodies of the dead were regularly subjected to a kind of embalmment,\nwhich had the effect of preserving them for a longer or shorter time. As\nsoon as decomposition appeared imminent, the corpse was stripped of its\nornaments and placed in the usual canoe-shaped coffin, the trunk being\npropped up so as to facilitate the work of the embalmers. The task of\nembalming was entrusted to women, relations of the deceased, who rubbed\nthe body daily with coco-nut oil and perfumes. They had no intercourse\nwith the rest of the family, and took their meals apart without ever\nwashing their hands. According to one account, the anointment was\nperformed by night, while during the day the body was exposed to the sun\non the stone platform of the house. The products of decomposition were\ncarefully received in vessels and carried away to the place of\nsepulture; and the corpse was gradually eviscerated through the rectum.\nThe friction was continued until the desiccated body was reduced to the\nstate of a mummy, though sometimes, in spite of all precautions, it\ncrumbled into dust. If the operation was successful, the mummy, wrapt in\nmany bandages, was covered by a second canoe attached to the first, and\nwas then placed on a scaffold in a _morai_ or sanctuary specially\nconsecrated to it. But sometimes the mummy was fastened up to the roof\nor wall of the house wherein the person had died; and it might be kept\nthere even for years. When it was deposited in a _morai_, no woman was\nallowed to approach it under pain of death.[99] Sometimes the head was\ndetached from the body and kept in the house, where it was treated with\nrespect. Sometimes it was carried away and hidden in some almost\ninaccessible cave in the mountains or beside the sea. This was done as a\nprecaution to save the skulls from falling into the hands of enemies,\nwho were eager to bear them off as trophies.[100]\n\n [99] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i.\n 133 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, p. 206; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.\n 286 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._ In a house in\n Nukahiva the missionary Stewart saw a canoe-shaped coffin\n containing the remains of a man who had died many years before.\n It was raised on a bier of framework, at a height of two or\n three feet above the ground. Stewart adds, \"The dead bodies of\n all persons of high distinction are preserved in their houses\n for a long period in this way.\" See C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i.\n 259.\n\n [100] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 45 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp.\n 233 _sq._\n\nEach family had its own _morai_ or burial-place, where the mouldering\nbones or mummies were finally deposited and left to decay.[101] Such\nfamily cemeteries were scattered about the valleys; the choice of a\nsite seems to have been determined by no special rule.[102] The _morai_\nor burial-place of ordinary people was near their houses, and not far\nfrom it was a taboo-house, where the men feasted on the flesh of\npigs.[103] But the cemeteries of chiefs were situated in the interior of\nthe valleys, often so deeply imbedded in dense foliage that it was not\neasy to find them without the guidance of a native.[104] Similarly we\nare told that the cemeteries (_morais_) of priests lay quite apart from\nall dwellings.[105]\n\n [101] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 127, 173; Langsdorff, _op.\n cit._ i. 115, 134. Other writers on the Marquesas in like manner\n speak of a _morai_ simply as a place of burial. See Porter, _op.\n cit._ ii. 114 (\"the gods at the burying-place, or morai, for so\n it is called by them\"); Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 52 (\"un _morai_\n (sepulchre) en ruine\"); Melville, _Typee_, p. 168 (\"the 'morais'\n or burying-grounds\"). So, too, the term was understood by the\n French navigator, J. Dumont d'Urville. See his _Voyage au Pole\n Sud, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 27, 33.\n\n [102] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253.\n\n [103] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. According to Krusenstern\n (_op. cit._ i. 127), the _morais_ in general \"lie a good way\n inland upon hills.\"\n\n [104] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 329.\n\n [105] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115.\n\nThe ordinary form of a Marquesan _morai_ or burial-place seems to have\nbeen a thatched shed erected on a square or oblong platform of stones,\nexactly resembling the stone platforms on which the Marquesan houses\nwere regularly built. Thus Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz say that \"the\n_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are erected\non a stone platform, the base of all Nukahivan edifices.\"[106] Again,\ndescribing what he calls \"a picturesque _morai_,\" Radiguet observes,\n\"Four posts, erected on a platform, supported a small plank covered with\na roof of leaves. Under this roof could be seen the remains of a\nskeleton, perhaps that of the daughter-in-law of the neighbouring\nhouse.... At the two ends of the platform two upright stones, about ten\nfeet high, and resembling the Breton _menhirs_, formed an exceptional\nornament to this _morai_, which the bushes were in course of invading\nand the storms of demolishing.\"[107] Again, Stewart describes as follows\nwhat he calls \"a depository of the dead\": \"It stands in the midst of a\nbeautiful clump of trees, and consists of a platform of heavy stone\nwork, twenty feet or more square and four or five high, surmounted in\nthe centre by eight or ten posts arranged in the shape of a grave, and\nsupporting at a height of six or seven feet a long and narrow roof of\nthatch. Close beneath this was the body enclosed in a coffin.\"[108]\nAgain, in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), Bennett describes a\nchief's burial-place as follows: \"A low but extensive stone platform,\nbeneath the shade of a venerable _fau_-tree, marks the more consecrated\nground; and on this is erected a wooden hut, containing an elevated\ntrough, shaped as a canoe, and holding the perfect skeleton of the late\nchief. In front of the sepulchre are two hideous wooden idols, and\nseveral bundles of coco-nut leaves.\"[109] The shed, which was erected on\nthe stone platform, and under which the body rested on a bier, seems to\nhave consisted for the most part simply of a thatched roof supported on\nwooden posts.[110] Sometimes, however, instead of a simple shed, open on\nall sides, a small house resembling the ordinary houses of the natives\nappears to have been erected for the reception of the corpse or mummy.\nThus in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina) Bennett describes a\nburial-place as follows: \"The most picturesque mausoleum we noticed was\nthat which contained the corpse of one of Eutiti's children. It was\nplaced on the summit of an isolated hill, rising from the bosom of a\nwell-wooded savannah, and was covered entirely with the leaves of the\nfan-palm. The posterior, or tallest wall, was twelve feet high, the\nanterior was low, closed by a mat, and decorated with six wooden\npillars, covered with stained cinnet and white cloth. Strips of tapa\n[bark-cloth], fixed to a wand, fluttered on the roof, to denote that the\nspot was tabooed; and for the same purpose, a row of globular stones,\neach the size of a football, and whitened with coral lime, occupied the\ntop of a low but broad stone wall which encircled the building. The\ninterior contained nothing but the bier on which the corpse was\nlaid.\"[111] From the sketch which Bennett gives of this particular\nmausoleum, as he calls it, we gather that the sepulchral hut containing\nthe body was not raised on a stone platform, but built on the flat.\n\n [106] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253.\n\n [107] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 92. One of these stones was said\n to have been erected by the French navigator, Captain Marchand,\n and to have formerly borne an inscription recording his taking\n possession of the island. Hence it would be unsafe to draw any\n conclusion from the supposed antiquity of these two tall upright\n stones.\n\n [108] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 260.\n\n [109] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 329.\n\n [110] Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud, Histoire\n du Voyage_, iv. 33, \"Sous un hangar se trouvent quelques\n supports formant, a 2 metres au-dessus du sol, une estrade sur\n laquelle est depose le _toui-papao_. C'est le nom que les\n naturels donnent au cadavre enveloppe d'herbes et de _tapa_\n (etoffes de papyrus faites dans le pays). On n'apercoit du corps\n ainsi habille que les extremites des doigts des pieds et des\n mains.\"\n\n [111] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 331.\n\nThere seems to be no evidence that the stone platforms on which the\nsepulchral sheds or huts of the Marquesans were erected ever took the\nshape of stepped or terraced pyramids like the massive stone pyramids of\nTahiti and Tonga. So far as the mortuary platforms of the Marquesans are\ndescribed, they appear to have been quadrangular piles of stone, with\nupright sides, not stepped or terraced. Megalithic monuments in the form\nof stepped or terraced pyramids seem to have been very rare in the\nMarquesas Islands; indeed, it is doubtful whether they existed at all.\nWith regard to the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), it is positively\naffirmed by Bennett that none of the valleys contain \"any _morais_ or\nother buildings devoted to religious purposes, nor any public\nidols\";[112] and by _morais_ he probably means stepped pyramids like\nthose of Tahiti and Tonga. However, in the valley of Taipii (Typee), in\nNukahiva, a megalithic monument, built in terraces, was seen by Melville\nin 1842. He describes it as follows:\n\n [112] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 322.\n\n\"One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon\na scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of\nthe Druids. At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all\nsides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step by\nstep, for a considerable distance up the hillside. These terraces cannot\nbe less than one hundred yards in length and twenty in width. Their\nmagnitude, however, is less striking than the immense size of the blocks\ncomposing them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to\nfifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are\nquite smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation, they\nbear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without cement, and\nhere and there show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower one\nare somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have both a\nquadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace\nelevated several feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense\ntrees have taken root, and their broad boughs, stretching far over and\ninterlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun.\nOvergrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from one to another,\nis a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy embrace many of the stones lie\nhalf-hidden, while in some places a thick growth of bushes entirely\ncovers them. There is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of\nthese terraces, and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation,\nthat a stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of\ntheir existence.\n\n\"These structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity, and\nKory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters of scientific research,\ngave me to understand that they were coeval with the creation of the\nworld; that the great gods themselves were the builders; and that they\nwould endure until time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's prompt\nexplanation, and his attributing the work to a divine origin, at once\nconvinced me that neither he nor the rest of his countrymen knew\nanything about them.\"[113] Melville was accordingly disposed to\nattribute the erection of these remarkable terraces to an extinct and\nforgotten race.[114] The hypothesis is all the more probable because the\nmonument appears to have been entirely abandoned and unused by the\nnatives during the time when they have been known to Europeans. But it\nis doubtful whether the edifice was a pyramid; all that Melville's\nsomewhat vague description implies is that it consisted of a series of\nterraces built one above the other on the hillside.\n\n [113] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 166 _sq._\n\n [114] Melville, _Typee_, p. 167.\n\nAccording to some accounts the remains of the dead, instead of being\ndeposited in sheds or huts erected on stone platforms, were buried in\nthe platforms themselves. Thus, according to William Crook, the first\nmissionary to the Marquesans, \"they have a _morai_ in each district,\nwhere the dead are buried beneath a pavement of large stones.\"[115]\nSimilarly, in Nukahiva two or three large quadrangular platforms\n(_pi-pis_), heavily flagged, enclosed with regular stone walls and\nalmost hidden by the interlacing branches of enormous trees, were\npointed out as burial-places to Melville, and he was told that the\nbodies \"were deposited in rude vaults beneath the flagging, and were\nsuffered to remain there without being disinterred. Although nothing\ncould be more strange and gloomy than the aspect of these places, where\nthe lofty trees threw their dark shadows over rude blocks of stone, a\nstranger looking at them would have discerned none of the ordinary\nevidences of a place of sepulture.\"[116] To the same effect, perhaps,\nPorter observes that, \"when the flesh is mouldered from the bones, they\nare, as I have been informed, carefully cleansed: some are kept for\nrelics, and some are deposited in the _morais_.\"[117] Again, Krusenstern\nsays that twelve months after the death \"the corpse is broken into\npieces, and the bones are packed in a small box made of the wood of the\nbread-fruit tree, and carried to the _morai_ or burial place, where no\nwoman is allowed to approach under pain of death.\"[118] However, these\nstatements do not necessarily imply that the bones were buried under the\nstones of the platform at the _morai_.\n\n [115] Quoted by J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_, p. 144.\n\n [116] Melville, _Typee_, p. 205.\n\n [117] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 123.\n\n [118] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173.\n\nBut whether deposited on biers or buried under the pavement, the remains\nof the dead were liable to be carried off in time of war by foes, who\nregarded such an exploit as a great deed of heroism. Hence when an\ninvasion of the enemy in force was expected, the custom was to remove\nthe bodies from the _morai_ and bury them elsewhere.[119] The heads of\nenemies killed in battle were invariably kept and hung up as trophies of\nvictory in the house of the conqueror. They seem to have been smoked in\norder to preserve them better.[120] It is said that they were used as\ncups to drink kava out of.[121]\n\n [119] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134.\n\n [120] Melville, _Typee_, p. 206.\n\n [121] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 47.\n\nAfter ten months or a year the obsequies were concluded by another\nfuneral feast, which might last from eight to thirty days according to\nthe rank of the deceased and the opulence of his family. At the same\ntime offerings of food were presented afresh at the tomb, and the\ndecorations were renewed, consisting of branches and leaves and strips\nof white bark-cloth, which waved like flags at the end of little white\nwands. At these anniversary feasts, to which, if the deceased was a man\nof quality, only chiefs were in many cases admitted, great quantities\nof pigs were consumed.[122] The intention of the feast is said to have\nbeen to thank the gods for having permitted the dead person to arrive\nsafely in the other world.[123]\n\n [122] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._\n\n [123] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173.\n\n\nSec. 9. _Fate of the Soul after Death_\n\nThe souls of the dead were supposed to depart either to an upper or to a\nlower world, either to heaven or to a subterranean region called\nHavaiki. The particular destination of a soul after death was\ndetermined, not by moral considerations, not by the virtue or vice of\nthe deceased, but by the rank he had occupied in this life: people of\nquality went to the upper world, and common people went to the lower, to\nHavaiki.[124] According to a more precise account, heaven was inhabited\nby deities of the highest order, by women who had died in childbed, by\nwarriors who had fallen on the field of battle, by suicides, and\nespecially by the aristocratic class of the chiefs. This celestial\nregion was supposed to be a happy land, abounding in bread-fruit paste\n(_popoi_), pork, and fish, and offering the companionship of the most\nbeautiful women imaginable. There the bread-fruit trees dropped their\nripe fruit every moment to the ground, and the supply of coco-nuts and\nbananas never failed. There the souls reposed on mats much finer than\nthose of Nukahiva; and every day they bathed in rivers of coco-nut oil.\nIn that happy land there were plenty of plumes and feathers, and\nboars'-tusks, and sperm-whale teeth far better than even white men can\nboast of. The nether world, on the other hand, was peopled with deities\nof the second class and by ordinary human beings, who had no pretensions\nto gentility. But it was not a place of misery much less of punishment\nor torture; on the contrary, we are told that both the upper and the\nlower regions were happier than the earth which the living inhabit.[125]\nThe approach to the lower world, curiously enough, was by sea. The soul\nsailed away in a coffin shaped like a canoe (_pahaa_). When it came\nnear the channel which divides the island Tahuata from the island\nHivaoa, it was met by two deities or two opposing influences, one of\nwhich tried to push the soul into a narrow strait between Tahuata and a\ncertain rock in the sea, while the other deity or influence endeavoured\nto contrive that the soul should keep the broad channel between the rock\nand Hivaoa. The souls that were thrust into the narrow strait were\nkilled; whereas such as kept the open channel were conducted safe by a\nmerciful god to their destination.[126]\n\n [124] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 44.\n\n [125] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 220; Melville, _Typee_, p. 185.\n Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40.\n\n [126] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 220 _sq._\n\nSometimes the land of the dead was identified with a happy island or\nislands called Tiburones lying somewhere in the ocean to the west of\nNukahiva. Not uncommonly natives of the Marquesas sailed away in great\ndouble canoes to seek and find these happy isles, but were never heard\nof again. On one occasion, for example, forty men in the island of\nUa-pu, who had revolted against their chief and been defeated, embarked\nsecretly by night and put to sea, hoping to discover the Fortunate\nIslands, where they would be beyond the reach of their offended lord,\nand where they might pass the remainder of their days in liberty and\nbliss. What became of them is unknown, for they were seen and heard of\nno more in their native island.[127]\n\n [127] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 51 _sq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.\n 238 note, 239, 269, 270; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op.\n cit._ pp. 238 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._\n\nBut even the souls that went to heaven were supposed to stand in need of\na canoe in order to reach the place of bliss. On this point Porter\nwrites: \"I endeavoured to ascertain whether they had an idea of a future\nstate of rewards and punishments, and the nature of their heaven. As\nrespects the latter article, they believed it to be an island, somewhere\nin the sky, abounding with everything desirable; that those killed in\nwar and carried off by their friends, go there, provided they are\nfurnished with a canoe and provisions; but that those who are carried\noff by the enemy, never reach it, unless a sufficient number of the\nenemy can be obtained to paddle his canoe there. For this reason they\nwere so anxious to procure a crew for their priest, who was killed and\ncarried off by the Happahs. They have neither rewards nor punishments\nin this world, and I could not learn that they expected any in the\nnext.\"[128]\n\n [128] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 113.\n\nIn the valley of Taipii (Typee), in the island of Nukahiva, Captain\nPorter visited \"the chief place of religious ceremony.\" It was a\nplatform of the usual sort situated in a fine grove at the foot of a\nsteep mountain. On the platform was an idol of hard stone, rudely\nrepresenting a deity in human shape of about life size and in a\nsquatting posture. Arranged on either side of this idol, as well as in\nfront and rear, were several other images of about the same size and of\nthe same model, but better carved out of bread-fruit wood. The place was\ndecorated with streamers of white cloth. A few paces from the grave were\nfour fine war canoes, furnished with outriggers, and decorated with\nhuman hair, coral shells, and many white streamers. In the stern of each\ncanoe was the effigy of a man with a paddle, steering, in full dress,\ndecked with plumes, ear-rings, and all the usual ornaments. On enquiring\nof the natives, Captain Porter was informed that the dignified effigy\nseated in the stern of the most splendid canoe represented a priest who\nhad been killed not long before by their enemies the Happahs. In the\nbottom of the priest's canoe Captain Porter found the putrefying bodies\nof two Taipiis (Typees) whom he and his men had recently killed in\nbattle; and lying about the canoe he saw many other human carcasses,\nwith the flesh still on them. The other canoes, he was told, belonged to\ndifferent warriors who had been killed or had died not long since. \"I\nasked them,\" continues Captain Porter, \"why they had placed their\neffigies in the canoes, and also why they put the bodies of the dead\nTypees in that of the priest? They told me (as Wilson interpreted) that\nthey were going to heaven, and that it was impossible to get there\nwithout canoes. The canoe of the priest being large, he was unable to\nmanage it himself, nor was it right that he should, he being now a god.\nThey had, therefore, placed in it the bodies of the Happas and Typees,\nwhich had been killed since his death, to paddle him to the place of his\ndestination; but he had not been able yet to start, for the want of a\nfull crew, as it would require ten to paddle her, and as yet they had\nonly procured eight. They told me also that the taboo, laid in\nconsequence of his death, would continue until he had started on his\nvoyage, which he would not be able to do until they had killed two more\nof their enemies, and by this means completed the crew. I inquired if he\ntook any sea stock with him. They told me he did, and pointing to some\nred hogs in an enclosure, said that they were intended for him, as well\nas a quantity of bread-fruit, coco-nuts, etc., which would be collected\nfrom the trees in the grove. I inquired if he had far to go; they\nreplied, no: and pointing to a small square stone enclosure, informed me\nthat was their heaven, that he was to go there. This place was tabooed,\nthey told me, for every one except their priests.\"[129]\n\n [129] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 109-111. A similar, or the same,\n effigy of a dead chief seated in his canoe was seen by Melville\n in the same valley (_Typee_, pp. 183 _sq._). He says that \"the\n canoe was about seven feet in length; of a rich, dark-coloured\n wood, handsomely carved, and adorned in many places with\n variegated bindings of stained sinnate [cinnet], into which were\n ingeniously wrought a number of sparkling sea-shells, and a belt\n of the same shells ran all round it. The body of the figure--of\n whatever material it might have been made--was effectually\n concealed in a heavy robe of brown tappa [bark-cloth], revealing\n only the hands and head; the latter skilfully carved in wood,\n and surmounted by a superb arch of plumes.\"\n\nBut it was deemed necessary to provide a dead priest or chief with human\nvictims for other purposes than to paddle his canoe to heaven. When a\ngreat chief died, two commoners were sometimes sacrificed for the\npurpose of escorting him to the abode of bliss; one of them carried the\nchief's girdle, and the other bore the head of the pig that had been\nslaughtered for the funeral feast. The head was intended as a present to\nthe warden of the infernal regions, who, if he did not get this\nperquisite, would revile and stone the ghost, and shut the door in his\nface.[130] The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a\npriest varied with the respect and fear which he had inspired in his\nlifetime;[131] a common number seems to have been three.[132]\n\n [130] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 163.\n\n [131] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 228.\n\n [132] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i, 170.\n\nThe runaway English sailor, Roberts, who had long resided in the\nislands, assured the Russian explorer Lisiansky \"that, on the death of a\npriest, three men must be sacrificed; two of whom are hung up in the\nburying-ground, while the third is cut to pieces, and eaten by\nvisitors; all but the head, which is placed upon one of the idols. When\nthe flesh of the first two are wasted away, the bones that remain are\nburnt. The custom of the country requires, that the men destined for\nsacrifice should belong to some neighbouring nation, and accordingly\nthey are generally stolen. This occasions a war of six, and sometimes of\ntwelve, months: its duration, however, depends upon the nearest relation\nof the deceased priest; who, as soon as he is acquainted with his death,\nretires to a place of taboo; and till he chooses to come out, the blood\nof the two parties does not cease to flow. During his retirement, he is\nfurnished with everything he may require, human flesh not\nexcepted.\"[133]\n\n [133] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 81 _sq._\n\nA curious mode of preparing a dead man to appear to advantage before the\ngods in the other world was to flay his corpse. A Catholic missionary\ntells us that when a dead body began to swell up, in consequence of\ninternal putrefaction, it was customary to flay it and to preserve the\nskin as a precious relic in the family treasury, where the eye of a\nprofane stranger could never fall on it.[134] The reason for observing\nthe custom is not mentioned by this missionary, but it is explained by\nanother missionary, Father Amable. It happened that the king or head\nchief of the island of Tahuata died, and that his body was brought to\nthe house of the queen on the bay where Father Amable resided. For\nthirty days she kept the corpse in the house and occupied herself with\nskinning it with her fingers. Questioned by the missionary as to her\nreasons for this strange procedure, she answered that her husband's body\nmust be without spot or stain, in order that the great goddess Upu might\ngive him leave to dwell in her land and to bathe in her lake. For this\ndeity rules over a sort of submarine Eden, planted with all sorts of\nexcellent fruits and beautified by the calm waters of an azure lake. The\nnatives of Tahuata believe that the souls of all who die in the\narchipelago assemble on the top of a high mountain called Kiukiu. When a\ngreat multitude of souls is there gathered together, the sea opens and\nthe souls fall plump down into the paradise of the goddess Upu.\nHowever, not all of them are permitted to enter the happy land and to\nenjoy the pleasures which it offers. Only such are admitted as have\nowned in their lifetime many servants and many pigs and have not been\nwicked. Further, none may enter in who bear on their body any marks of\ntattooing.[135] Hence the reason for flaying dead bodies seems to have\nbeen to efface, by removing the skin, the tattooed marks which would\nhave acted as a fatal bar to the entrance of the ghost into paradise. As\nto the souls of slaves and the poor, in the opinion of the natives of\nTahuata they go to a gloomy land, which is never illumined by the sun,\nand where there is nothing but muddy water to drink.[136] Nevertheless\nthe people would seem to have believed that the souls of the dead\nlingered for a time beside their mouldering bodies before they took\ntheir departure for the far country. In this belief they sacrificed to\nthem pigs, some baked, and some alive. The baked pigs they put in a\nhollow log and hung from the roof of the hut, and they said that a god\nnamed Mapuhanui, who in the beginning had bestowed pigs on men, used to\ncome and feast on the carcasses in company with the ghost. But when they\noffered live pigs, they tethered the animals to the hut in which the\ndead body lay, and they fed them till the flesh dropped from the\nskeleton; after that they allowed the pigs to die of hunger.[137]\nPerhaps, like some other peoples, they imagined that the ghost hovered\nabout his remains so long as the flesh adhered to the bones, but that\nwhen even that faint semblance of life had vanished he went away and had\nno further occasion for pigs, whether alive or dead.\n\n [134] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116.\n\n [135] Lettre du R. P. Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de\n la Foi_, xix. (1847) pp. 22 _sq._, 24.\n\n [136] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24.\n\n [137] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ pp. 23 _sq._\n\nHowever, the souls of the dead were not supposed to be permanently\nconfined to the other world. After a long sojourn in it, all alike,\nwhatever the region they inhabited in their disembodied state, could\nreturn to earth and be born again.[138] Indeed, according to the natives\nof Nukahiva, the interval between death and reincarnation was not unduly\nlong; for \"every one here is persuaded, that the soul of a grandfather\nis transmitted by Nature into the body of his grandchildren; and that,\nif an unfruitful wife were to place herself under the corpse of her\ndeceased grandfather, she would be sure to become pregnant.\"[139]\nOccasionally the soul of a dead person might even inhabit the body of an\nanimal. Once when a whale was stranded on one of the islands, a\npriestess declared that it was the soul of a certain priest, which would\nwander until eight human victims were sacrificed to the gods. In vain\nher son would have substituted turtles for human beings; the people\nwould not hear of it; the prescribed victims were captured from a\nneighbouring tribe and put to death in order to lay the ghost of the\nwhale, or rather of the priest who had animated the whale's body.[140]\n\n [138] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24.\n\n [139] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 89.\n\n [140] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 161 _sq._\n\nBut the souls of the dead were also believed to return from the spirit\nland for other purposes than to be born again in the flesh. They might\ncome as ghosts to haunt and torment the living, and as such they were\ngreatly dreaded by the people.[141] The first watch of the night was the\nhour when they were supposed especially to come on errands of\nmischief.[142] Particularly dreaded were the ghosts of high priests and\ngreat chiefs, who retained in their spiritual form the passions and the\nrancours which they had nursed in life, and who returned in ghostly\nshape to earth to meddle with the affairs of the living, and to punish\neven trivial offences. To guard against these dangerous intrusions, the\nintervention of a priest or priestess was deemed indispensable; it was\nhis or her business to counteract a spell cast on a family, or to heal a\nsickness inflicted on an individual by one of these ghostly\nvagrants.[143] Such was the fear of wandering ghosts that no Marquesan\nwould dare to stir a step abroad at night without the light of a torch;\nfor well he knew that evil spirits lurked beside the path to knock down\nand throttle any rash wayfarer who should dare to leave his footsteps\nunillumined.[144] Indeed, we are told that, of all beliefs in the minds\nof the natives, the belief in ghosts was the most deeply rooted. It is\nimpossible to express the dread which they felt of spectres and\napparitions; nobody was exempt from it. But it was only at night that\nthese phantoms were to be feared. Though they remained invisible, they\nrevealed themselves to the terror-stricken wanderer by sound and touch;\nthe least noise heard in the darkness disclosed their presence; the\nleast contact with them was a sentence of death, sudden or slow, but\nsure. Hence, if a man was obliged to go out after sunset, he would\nalways take somebody with him to bear him company, even if he had to\nwake a comrade for the purpose. Among the women the fear of ghosts was\nyet greater, many of them would not stir abroad on a moonless night even\nin company. In passing by a burial-ground or a solitary tomb, people\nused to throw food towards it for the purpose of appeasing the ghost,\nwho otherwise would have attacked them.[145]\n\n [141] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40.\n\n [142] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 210.\n\n [143] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 224 _sq._\n\n [144] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227, 240.\n\n [145] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 31 _sq._\n\nThis deep-seated fear of the dead has survived the conversion, real or\nnominal, of the Marquesans to Christianity. No native would even now\nventure into a cave where the remains of the dead have been deposited,\nnot though the greatest treasures were to be found there, for such spots\nare believed to be constantly haunted by the ghosts of the departed.\nNobody, it is said, would live in a house in which somebody has died;\nevery such dwelling is immediately burnt down. Hence, when a person is\ngrievously sick, a little primitive hut is erected beside the house, and\nhe is carried out to die in it, and when he is dead, the hut is in like\nmanner destroyed with fire.[146] A woman will sometimes commit suicide\nin order that her ghost may haunt and torment her unfaithful\nhusband.[147]\n\n [146] Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 234.\n\n [147] Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 193 _sq._\n\nOn the other hand, ghosts in the olden time had also their utility, for\nthey could be summoned up by a priest or priestess to give information\non various subjects, such as the issue of an illness. On these occasions\nthe wizard would hold a conversation with the spirit, whose voice could\nbe heard by the listeners, though his or her shape, as usual, was\ninvisible in the darkness. Sceptics thought that such communications\nwere made by means of ventriloquism, and indeed a priestess, who had\nprofessed to evoke the soul of a dead chieftainess, solemnly maintained\nthat she could make the voice of anybody, whether dead or alive, to\nspeak from her stomach.[148]\n\n [148] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227-238.\n\nIn such beliefs and customs are contained as in germ the whole theory\nand practice of the worship of the dead.\n\nNOTE.--We possess no thorough account of the native Marquesan society\nand religion as these existed before they were transformed by European\ninfluence. Some of the writers who have described the islanders and\ntheir customs spent only a few days or at most a few weeks among them.\nCaptain Cook was at the Marquesas only five days, from the 6th to the\n11th of April 1774.[149] The French explorer Marchand spent eight days\nin the islands from the 13th to the 21st of June 1791.[150] The Russian\nexplorers Krusenstern and Lisiansky were with their two ships, the\n_Nadeshda_ and _Neva_, at Nukahiva for ten days, from the 7th to the\n17th of May 1804; along with them was the naturalist Langsdorff, who\nwrote an independent account of the voyage.[151] But though their stay\nwas short, they had the advantage of meeting with two Europeans, an\nEnglishman named E. Roberts, and a Frenchman named Jean (or Joseph)\nBaptiste Cabri, who had lived long in the islands and spoke the native\nlanguage. These men acted as interpreters to the Russians and supplied\nthem with most of the information which they give in their books\nconcerning the customs and beliefs of the Marquesans. Roberts told them\nthat he had been seven years in Nukahiva and two years previously in\nSanta Christina (Tau-ata); that he had been put ashore on the latter\nisland out of an English merchant ship, the crew of which had mutinied\nagainst their captain and could not prevail upon him to join their\nparty; and that in Nukahiva he had lately married a relation of the\nking's, by which he acquired great consideration, so that it would be\neasy for him to be of assistance to them. At the same time he earnestly\nwarned them against the Frenchman, who had also resided for some years\nin Nukahiva, but whose character he painted in very dark colours. The\ntwo Russian captains, Krusenstern and Lisiansky, accordingly put their\ntrust in Roberts and drew most of their information concerning the\nnatives from him. On the other hand their naturalist, Langsdorff, made\nmost use of the Frenchman. He admitted, indeed, that the Englishman was\na man of better character, greater natural intelligence, and much higher\neducation; but on the other hand he tells us that the Frenchman had\nbeen longer in the island and possessed a more thorough mastery of the\nlanguage and a greater intimacy with the natives, among whom he had\nlived as a savage among savages so long that he had almost forgotten his\nown native tongue. But Langsdorff took care to question both these men\nand only accepted as true statements in which they agreed with each\nother, and to this agreement he naturally attached the greater weight\nbecause his two informants were bitterly hostile to each other and\ntherefore were unlikely to unite in deceiving him.[152] On the whole,\nthen, the account which Langsdorff gives of Marquesan society and\nreligion is perhaps more trustworthy as well as fuller than that of his\ntwo compatriots and companions, Krusenstern and Lisiansky.\n\n [149] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274-281; compare G. Forster,\n _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1777), ii. 5 _sqq._\n\n [150] C. P. Claret Fleurieu, _Voyage round the World performed\n during the years 1790, 1791, and 1792 by Etienne Marchand_\n (London, 1801), i. 31, 51. Marchand's brief account is\n supplemented from other sources by his editor Fleurieu (_op.\n cit._ i. 55 _sqq._).\n\n [151] A. J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World in the\n years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806_ (London, 1813), i. 108 _sq._,\n 133 _sqq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_ (London,\n 1814), pp. 62, 95; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Bemerkungen auf einer\n Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1803 bis 1807_ (Frankfurt am\n Main, 1812), i. 75, 161.\n\n [152] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110-112; Lisiansky, _op. cit._\n p. 79; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 77, 83-85. As to the subsequent\n history of Roberts and Cabri, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp.\n 356-359.\n\nCaptain David Porter of the United States Navy was with his ship the\n_Essex_ at Nukahiva from October 24th till December 9th, 1813.[153] A\ngreat part of his time was spent on shore and in close contact with the\nnatives, and though he did not learn the language, he was able to employ\nas an interpreter an Englishman named Wilson, who had lived for many\nyears in the islands, spoke the language of the natives with the same\nfacility as his own, and had become a Marquesan in every respect except\nin colour. He proved indispensable to the American as an organ of\ncommunication with the people; and much of the information which Porter\ngives concerning the customs of the Marquesans was derived by him from\nthis man.[154]\n\n [153] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the\n Pacific Ocean in the United States frigate Essex in the years\n 1812, 1813, and 1814_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 5,\n 141.\n\n [154] D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 17 _sq._\n\nThe American naval chaplain, the Rev. C. S. Stewart, paid about a\nfortnight's visit to Nukahiva, from July 27th to August 13th, 1829,\nwhile his ship, the _Vincennes_, was anchored at the island. But he\nreceived much information from the Rev. W. P. Crook, who spent nearly\ntwo years (1797 and 1798) in the Marquesas, having been the first\nmissionary landed in the islands by the missionary ship _Duff_. During\nhis residence in the islands Mr. Crook kept a journal, which he allowed\nMr. Stewart to consult. The contents of the journal corroborated Mr.\nStewart's own observations as to the inhabitants, and the account which\nhe gives of the religion of the islanders is based mainly on the\ninformation derived from Mr. Crook[155] and is therefore valuable; for\nat the time when Mr. Crook landed in the Marquesas the customs and\nbeliefs of the islanders were still practically unaffected by contact\nwith Europeans.\n\n [155] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832),\n i. pp. x _sq._, 193, 331. The writer speaks (p. 331) of his stay\n of \"a fortnight at the Washington Islands.\" Mr. Crook first\n landed in the island of Santa Christina (Tau-ata) on June 6th,\n 1797. See James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern\n Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), pp. 129 _sqq._ As to his\n subsequent history in the islands, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.\n Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_, pp. 35-40.\n\nThe surgeon F. D. Bennett, on a whaling voyage spent a few days in\nSanta Christina (Tau-ata), from February 28th to March 4th, 1835; and\nhis descriptions of what he saw are good so far as they go; but\nnaturally he could collect but little accurate information as to the\nhabits and ideas of the people in so short a time.[156]\n\n [156] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the\n Globe from the year 1833 to 1836_ (London, 1840), i 296, 346.\n\nOne of the early Catholic missionaries to the Marquesas, Father Mathias\nG----, spent two years in the islands and has given us, in a series of\nletters, an account of the native customs and beliefs, which, though far\nfrom complete or systematic, is based on personal observation and is\namong the best that we possess.[157]\n\n [157] Le P. Mathias G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_\n (Paris, 1843). The writer is not explicit as to the dates of his\n residence in the Marquesas; but he tells us that he spent two\n years in habitual intercourse with the natives (p. 49), and from\n other allusions which he makes in his narrative (pp. 28 _sq._)\n it would seem that the years were 1839 and 1840. The first\n Catholic missionaries landed in 1838 (_ib._ p. 22), and others\n in 1839 (_ib._ pp. 23 _sq._). Among the latter were Fathers\n Garcia and Guilmard (_ib._ p. 24). Father G----may have been one\n of them.\n\nHermann Melville lived among the Taipiis (Typees) in Nukahiva for more\nthan four months,[158] and wrote a lively narrative of his experiences.\nHis personal observations are valuable, but as he did not master the\nnative language, he was not able to throw much light on the inner life\nof the people, and in particular on their religious ideas.\n\n [158] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_), p.\n 254.\n\nOn the 1st of May, 1842, the Marquesas Islands were taken possession of\nfor France by the French Admiral, Du Petit-Thouars;[159] and next year,\nto satisfy the interest of the French public in their new possession, a\ncomprehensive work on the islands and their inhabitants was published by\nMM. Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz.[160] The authors had visited the\nislands with the expedition of the French navigator, J. Dumont\nd'Urville, in his ships the _Astrolabe_ and the _Zelee_. But as the\nexpedition stayed only about a week at Nukahiva, from August 26th to\nSeptember 3rd, 1838,[161] the writers had little opportunity of making\npersonal observations. Their work is mainly a careful compilation from\nearlier sources, and as such it is a useful and trustworthy summary of\nwhat was known about the archipelago and its inhabitants down to the\ndate of publication.\n\n [159] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 119\n _sqq._\n\n [160] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou\n Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843).\n\n [161] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans\n l'Oceanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 5, 49.\n\nMax Radiguet, one of the members of the expedition to the Marquesas\nunder Admiral Du Petit-Thouars, passed a considerable time in the\nislands and wrote a graphic account of his experiences, which contains\nsome valuable information as to the natives, their customs, religion,\nand mythology.[162] In the part which concerns the mythology he was\nassisted by an officer of artillery, M. Rohr, who had lived for several\nyears in Nukahiva and was familiar with the language and customs of the\npeople.[163]\n\n [162] Max Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, Nouvelle Edition\n (Paris, 1882). The author does not inform us as to the exact\n length of his stay in the islands.\n\n [163] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 221 note.\n\nIn 1877 a good general account of the archipelago and its inhabitants\nwas published at Paris. The author was a naval lieutenant, P. E. Eyriaud\ndes Vergnes, who having lived in the islands in the official capacity of\nResident for about six years (from 1868 to 1874) had ample time and\nopportunity for obtaining accurate information on the subject.[164] His\nwork, though somewhat slight, is valuable so far as it goes; but it does\nnot tell us much about the native religion, which in his time had\nprobably lost a good deal of its original character through the\ninfluence of the missionaries and of civilisation.[165]\n\n [164] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles Marquises_\n (Paris, 1877).\n\n [165] Some years previously a naval lieutenant, M. Jouan, who\n had been in command of the French military post at Nukahiva,\n published in the _Revue Coloniale_ (1857-1858) some notes on the\n Marquesas, which are said to contain some useful information on\n the archipelago. See M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 310 note. I have\n not seen the work of M. Jouan; but according to Radiguet it\n shows that in the twelve years and more which had elapsed since\n the French occupation of the islands the presence of French\n missionaries and of a French garrison had done little to\n civilise the natives.\n\nSome years later, in 1881 and 1882, a French naval doctor, Clavel by\nname, passed six months in the Marquesas. During his stay he made\npersonal observations and collected information on the natives. These he\nsubsequently published in a little work, which contains much of\nvalue;[166] but when he wrote almost all the natives had been nominally\nconverted to Christianity and their ancient religion was practically\nextinct.[167]\n\n [166] _Les Marquisiens_, par M. le Docteur Clavel (Paris, 1885).\n\n [167] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 68-71.\n\nTowards the end of the nineteenth century the German traveller Arthur\nBaessler paid a short visit to the Marquesas. In his book of travel in\nthe South Sea he has given us descriptions of the islands and the people\nas he saw them, including some account of the scanty remains of their\nstone monuments and images.[168]\n\n [168] Arthur Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp.\n 189-242. The writer omits to mention the date of his visit to\n the islands, and the length of his stay in them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS\n\n\nSec. 1. _The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands_\n\nThe Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands form an archipelago lying in the North\nPacific Ocean just within the northern tropic. They stretch in a\ndirection from north-west to south-east for more than four hundred miles\nand include eight inhabited islands, of which the most important are\nHawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Of these Hawaii is by far the largest;\nindeed it is the largest island in Polynesia with the exception of New\nZealand. The islands are all mountainous and of volcanic formation. In\nHawaii two of the mountains are between 13,000 and 14,000 feet in\nheight, and two of them are active volcanoes; one of them, named\nKilauea, possesses the greatest active crater in the world, a huge\ncauldron of seething lava, which presents a spectacle of awe-inspiring\ngrandeur when seen on a moonless night. The other and much loftier\nvolcano, Mauna Loa, was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1877 and of\nanother in 1881. Craters, large and small, hot springs, and other\nevidences of volcanic activity, abound throughout the archipelago. One\nof the craters on the island of Maui is said to be no less than fifteen\nmiles in circumference and about two thousand feet deep. The islands\nappear to have been known to the Spaniards as early as the sixteenth\ncentury; but they were rediscovered in 1778 by Captain Cook, who was\nafterwards killed in a fight with the natives in Hawaii.[1]\n\n [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 4 _sqq._; J. J.\n Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands_ (London,\n 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._; J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_\n (Paris and Leipzig, 1862), pp. vii _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die\n Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 271 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia\n Britannica_, Ninth Edition, xi. 528 _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die\n Hawaiischen Inseln_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 1 _sqq._; F. H. H.\n Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 533 _sqq._\n\nViewed from the sea the islands are apt to present an appearance of\nbarrenness and desolation. The mountains descend into the sea in\nprecipices often hundreds of feet high: their summits are capped with\nsnow or lost in mist and clouds; and their sides, green and studded with\nclumps of trees in some places, but black, scorched and bare in others,\nare rent into ravines, down which in the rainy seasons cataracts rush\nroaring to the sea. With the changes of sunshine and shadow the\nlandscape as a whole strikes the beholder now as in the highest degree\nhorrid, dismal, and dreary, now as wildly beautiful and romantic with a\nsort of stern and sombre magnificence.[2] Inland, however, in many\nplaces the summits of the ridges crowned with forests of perpetual\nverdure, the slopes covered with flowering shrubs or lofty trees, the\nrocks mantled in creepers, the waterfalls dropping from stupendous\ncliffs, and the distant prospects of snowy peaks, bold romantic\nheadlands, and blue seas, all arched by a summer sky of the deepest\nazure, combine to make up pictures of fairy-like and enchanting\nloveliness.[3]\n\n [2] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 94; W. Ellis, _Polynesian\n Researches_, iv. 34, 379; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the\n Sandwich Islands_, Fifth Edition (Boston, 1839), pp. 69 _sqq._,\n 140; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_,\n i. 366, 391; Ch. Wilkes, _United States Exploring Expedition_,\n New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 373.\n\n [3] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 13 _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._\n pp. 213 _sqq._, 229 _sqq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i.\n 426 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xiv _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op.\n cit._ iii. 390 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling\n Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840), i. 198 _sqq._ The vale\n of Anuanu, which runs up into the mountains from the plain of\n Honululu in the island of Oahu, is especially famed for its\n natural beauty.\n\nThe climate naturally varies with the height above the sea. On the\ncoasts, though warm, it is remarkably equable, and perhaps no country in\nthe world enjoys a finer or healthier climate than some parts of Hawaii\nand Maui. On the mountains all varieties of climate are to be found,\nfrom the tropical heat of the lowlands to the arctic cold of the two\ngreat peaks of Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa with their perpetual\nsnows, which are not, however, always visible from the sea or from the\nfoot of these giants. In the lowlands frost is unknown. The fresh\nbreezes, which blow from the sea during the day and from the mountains\nat night, temper the heat of the sun, and render the evenings delicious;\nnothing can surpass the splendour and clearness of the moonlight. Rain\nfalls more abundantly on the windward or eastern side of the islands\nthan on the leeward or western side. Thus at Hilo, on the eastern side\nof Hawaii, it rains almost every day, whereas in Kena, on the western\nside, rain hardly ever falls, and along the coast not a single\nwater-course is to be seen for many miles. In general it may be said\nthat the archipelago suffers from drought and hence occasionally from\ndearth.[4]\n\n [4] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xvi _sqq._ Compare J. Cook,\n _Voyages_, vii. 99 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 21 _sq._; Ch.\n Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 283 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp.\n 12 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th edition, xi. 530.\n\n\nSec. 2. _The Natives and their Mode of Life_\n\nThe natives of the Sandwich Islands are typical Polynesians. In general\nthey are rather above the middle stature, well formed, with fine\nmuscular limbs, open countenances, and features frequently resembling\nthose of Europeans. The forehead is usually well developed, the lips\nthick, and the nostrils full, without any flatness or spreading of the\nnose. The complexion is tawny or olive in hue, but sometimes reddish\nbrown. The hair is black or brown and occasionally fair or rather ruddy\nin colour, in texture it is strong, smooth, and sometimes curly. The\ngait is graceful and even stately. But in these islands, as in other\nparts of Polynesia, there is a conspicuous difference between the chiefs\nand the commoners, the superiority being altogether on the side of\nthe chiefs. \"The nobles of the land,\" says Stewart, \"are so strongly\nmarked by their external appearance, as at all times to be easily\ndistinguishable from the common people. They seem, indeed, in size and\nstature to be almost a distinct race. They are all large in their frame,\nand often excessively corpulent, while the common people are scarce of\nthe ordinary height of Europeans, and of a thin rather than full\nhabit.\"[5] And the difference between the two ranks is as obvious in\ntheir walk and general deportment as in their stature and size, the\nnobles bearing themselves with a natural dignity and grace which are\nwanting in their social inferiors. Yet there seems to be no reason to\nsuppose that they belong to a different race from the commoners; the\ngreater care taken of them in childhood, their better living, sexual\nselection, and the influence of heredity appear sufficient to account\nfor their physical superiority. The women are well built and \"beautiful\nas ancient statues\" with a sweet and engaging expression of countenance.\nYet on the whole the Hawaiians are judged to be physically inferior both\nto the Tahitians and to the Marquesans; according to Captain King, they\nare rather darker than the Tahitians, and not altogether so handsome a\npeople. On the other hand they are said to be more intelligent than\neither the Tahitians or the Marquesans. Captain King describes them as\nof a mild and affectionate disposition, equally remote from the extreme\nlevity and fickleness of the Tahitians, and from the distant gravity and\nreserve of the Tongans.[6] They practised tattooing much less than many\nother Polynesians, but their faces, hands, arms, and the forepart of\ntheir bodies were often tattooed with a variety of patterns.[7]\n\n [5] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 104.\n\n [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 112 _sq._, 115 _sq._; U. Lisiansky,\n _Voyage round the World_, pp. 123 _sq._; L. de Freycinet,\n _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. Deuxieme partie\n (Paris, 1839), p. 570; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 23; C. S.\n Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 104, 106; J.\n J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 77 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp.\n xxxvii _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 209. The last of\n these writers speaks in unfavourable terms of the personal\n appearance of the women, whom he found less handsome than the\n men and very inferior to the women of the Society Islands.\n\n [7] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 213 _sq._, vii. 121; W. Ellis, _op.\n cit._ iv. 23.\n\nThe staple food of the Hawaiians consists of taro (_kalo_), sweet\npotatoes, and fish, but above all of taro. That root (_Arum_ or\n_Caladium esculentum_) is to the Hawaiians what bread-fruit is to the\nTahitians, and its cultivation is their most important agricultural\nindustry. It is grown wherever there is water or a marsh, and it is even\nplanted on some arid heights in the island of Hawaii, where it yields\nexcellent crops. Artificial irrigation was practised and even regulated\nby law or custom in the old days; for it was a rule that water should be\nconducted over every plantation twice a week in general, and once a\nweek during the dry season. The bread-fruit tree is not so common, and\nits fruit not so much prized, as in the Marquesas and Tahiti. The\nnatives grew sweet potatoes even before the arrival of Europeans. Yams\nare found wild, but are hardly eaten except in times of scarcity. There\nare several sorts of bananas; the fruit for the most part is better\ncooked than raw. In the old days the cooking was done in the ordinary\nnative ovens, consisting of holes in the ground lined with stones which\nwere heated with fire. After being baked in an oven the roots of the\ntaro are mashed and diluted with water so as to form a paste or pudding\ncalled _poe_ or _poi_, which is sometimes eaten sweet but is more\ngenerally put aside till it has fermented, in which condition it is\npreferred by the natives. It is a highly nutritious substance, and\nthough some Europeans complain of the sourness of taro pudding, others\nfind it not unpalatable. Fish used to be generally eaten raw, seasoned\nwith brine or sea-water. But they also commonly salt their fish, not for\nthe sake of preserving it for a season of scarcity, but because they\nprefer the taste. They construct artificial fish-ponds, into which they\nlet young fish from the sea, principally the fry of the grey mullet, of\nwhich the chiefs are particularly fond. Every chief has, or used to\nhave, his own fish-pond. The natives are very skilful fishermen. In the\nold days they made a great variety of fish-hooks out of mother-of-pearl\nand tortoise shell as well as out of bone, and these they dragged by\nmeans of lines behind their canoes, and so caught bonettas, dolphins,\nand albicores. They took prodigious numbers of flying fish in nets. At\nthe time when the islands were discovered by Captain Cook, the natives\npossessed pigs and dogs. The flesh of both of these animals was eaten,\nbut only by persons of higher rank. Fowls were also bred and eaten, but\nthey were not very common, and their flesh was not very much esteemed.\nThe sugar-cane was indigenous in the islands, and the people ate it as a\nfruit; along with bananas and plantains it occupied a considerable\nportion of every plantation. Captain Cook found the natives skilful\nhusbandmen, but thought that with a more extensive system of\nagriculture, the islands could have supported three times the number of\nthe existing inhabitants.[8] He remarked that the chiefs were much\naddicted to the drinking of kava, and he attributed some of the\ncutaneous and other diseases from which they suffered to an immoderate\nuse of what he calls the pernicious drug.[9]\n\n [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 215 _sq._, 219, 224 _sq._, vii. 126\n _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 126; Archibald\n Campbell, _Voyage round the World_ (Edinburgh, 1816), pp.\n 161-63, 182 _sq._, 194-197; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 61, 215\n _sq._, 420 (as to irrigation); C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the\n Sandwich Islands_, pp. 111-113; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._\n i. 412, 426, 428, 430, 472; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die\n Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 96; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 68\n _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxiv _sq._, xliii; F. D. Bennett,\n _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the World_, i. 213 _sqq._\n As to the system of irrigating the taro fields, see especially\n O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and\n Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 340 _sq._\n\n [9] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 113 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 3. _Houses, Mechanical Arts_\n\nCaptain King observed that in some respects the natives of the Sandwich\nIslands approached nearer in their manners and customs to the Maoris of\nNew Zealand than to their less distant neighbours of the Society and\nFriendly Islands, the Tahitians and the Tongans. In nothing, he says, is\nthis more observable than in their method of living together in small\ntowns or villages, containing from about one hundred to two hundred\nhouses, built pretty close together, without any order, and with a\nwinding path leading through them. They were generally flanked towards\nthe sea with loose detached walls, intended for shelter and defence.[10]\nThe shape of the houses was very simple. They were oblong with very high\nthatched roofs, so that externally they resembled the top of hay-stacks\nor rather barns with the thatched roof sloping down steeply to two very\nlow sides, and with gable ends to match. The entrance, placed\nindifferently in one of the sides or ends, was an oblong hole, so low\nthat one had rather to creep than walk in, and often shut by a board of\nplanks fastened together, which served as a door. No light entered the\nhouse but by this opening, for there were no windows. Internally every\nhouse consisted of a single room without partitions. In spite of the\nextreme simplicity of their structure, the houses were kept very clean;\nthe floors were covered with a large quantity of dried grass, over which\nthey spread mats to sit and sleep upon. At one end stood a kind of bench\nabout three feet high, on which were kept the household utensils. These\nconsisted merely of a few wooden bowls and trenchers, together with\ngourd-shells, serving either as bottles or baskets. The houses varied in\nsize with the wealth or rank of the owners. Those of the poor were mere\nhovels, which resembled the sties and kennels of pigs and dogs rather\nthan the abodes of men. The houses of the chiefs were generally large\nand commodious by comparison, some forty to sixty feet long by twenty or\nthirty feet broad, and eighteen or twenty feet high at the peak of the\nroof. Chiefs had always a separate eating-house, and even people of the\nlower ranks had one such house to every six or seven families for the\nmen. The women were forbidden to eat in company with the men and even to\nenter the eating-house during the meals; they ate in the same houses in\nwhich they slept. The houses of the chiefs were enclosed in large yards,\nand sometimes stood on stone platforms, which rendered them more\ncomfortable.[11]\n\n [10] J. Cook, vii. 125.\n\n [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 214 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage\n round the World_, p. 127; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_,\n pp. 180-182; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_,\n p. 107; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 320-322; Tyerman and Bennet,\n _op. cit._ i. 371 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._\n\nIn the mechanical arts the Hawaiians displayed a considerable degree of\ningenuity and skill. While the men built the houses and canoes and\nfashioned wooden dishes and bowls, the women undertook the manufacture\nof bark-cloth (_kapa_) and mats. Bark-cloth was made in the usual way\nfrom the bark of the paper-mulberry, which was beaten out with grooved\nmallets. The cloth was dyed a variety of colours, and patterns at once\nintricate and elegant were stamped on it and stained in different tints.\nThe mats were woven or braided by hand without the use of any frame or\ninstrument. The materials were rushes or palm-leaves; the mats made of\npalm-leaves were much the more durable and therefore the more valuable.\nThe coarser and plainer were spread on the floor to sleep on; the finer\nwere of white colour with red stripes, rhombuses, and other figures\ninterwoven on one side. Among the most curious specimens of native\ncarving were the wooden bowls in which the chiefs drank kava. They were\nperfectly round, beautifully polished, and supported on three or four\nsmall human figures in various attitudes. These figures were accurately\nproportioned and neatly finished; even the anatomy of the muscles\nstrained to support the weight were well expressed. The fishing-hooks\nmade by the men, especially the large hooks made to catch shark, are\ndescribed by Captain Cook as really astonishing for their strength and\nneatness; he found them on trial much superior to his own.[12]\n\n [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 218 _sq._, vii. 133-135; L. de\n Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 611 _sq._;\n A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 192-195; W. Ellis,\n _op. cit._ iv. 109-113; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the\n Sandwich Islands_, pp. 114-116; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 66\n _sq._\n\nThe mechanical skill of these people was all the more remarkable because\nof the extreme rudeness and simplicity of the tools with which they\nworked. Their chief implement was an adze made of a black or\nclay-coloured volcanic stone and polished by constant friction with\npumice-stone in water. They had also small instruments made each of a\nsingle shark's tooth, some of which were fixed to the forepart of a\ndog's jawbone and others to a thin wooden handle of the same shape.\nThese served as knives, and pieces of coral were used as files. Captain\nCook found the natives in possession of two iron tools, one of them a\npiece of iron hoop, and the other an edge-tool, perhaps the point of a\nbroadsword. These they could only have procured from a European vessel\nor from a wreck drifted on their coast. No mines of any kind are known\nto exist in the islands.[13]\n\n [13] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 220-224; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p.\n 198; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 322; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise\n um die Welt_, ii. 97 (as to the kava bowls); J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ p. 66. As to the absence of mines in the Hawaiian Islands,\n see J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xvi.\n\nTheir weapons of war included spears, javelins, daggers, and clubs, all\nof them made of wood. They also slung stones with deadly effect. But\nthey had no defensive armour; for the war-cloaks and wicker-work\nhelmets, surmounted with lofty crests and decked with the tail feathers\nof the tropic bird, while they heightened the imposing and martial\nappearance of the wearers, must have proved rather encumbrances than\nprotections. Captain Cook found the natives in possession of bows and\narrows, but from their scarcity and the slenderness of their make he\ninferred that the Hawaiians, like other Polynesians, never used them in\nbattle.[14]\n\n [14] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 227 _sq._, vii. 136 _sq._; W.\n Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 156 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 56\n _sq._\n\n\nSec. 4. _Government, Social Ranks, Taboo_\n\nThe government of the Hawaiian Islands was an absolute monarchy or\ndespotism; all rights of power and property vested in the king, whose\nwill and power alone were law, though in important matters he was to a\ncertain extent guided by the opinion of the chiefs in council. The rank\nof the king and the chiefs was hereditary, descending from father to\nson; but the appointment to all offices of authority and dignity was\nmade by the king alone. Nevertheless posts of honour, influence, and\nemolument often continued in the same family for many generations. Nor\nwere hereditary rank and authority confined to men; they were inherited\nalso by women. According to tradition, several of the islands had been\nonce or twice under the government of a queen. The king was supported by\nan annual tribute paid by all the islands at different periods according\nto his directions. It comprised both the natural produce of the country\nand manufactured articles. But besides the regular tribute the king was\nat liberty to levy any additional tax he might please, and even to seize\nand appropriate any personal possessions of a chief or other subject.\nNot infrequently the whole crop of a plantation was thus carried off by\nhis retainers without the least apology or compensation.[15] However,\nthe government of the whole Hawaiian archipelago by a single monarch\nwas a comparatively modern innovation. Down to nearly the end of the\neighteenth century the different islands were independent of each other\nand governed by separate kings, who were often at war one with the\nother; indeed there were sometimes several independent kingdoms within\nthe same island. But towards the close of the eighteenth century an\nenergetic and able king of Hawaii, by name Kamehameha (Tamehameha),\nsucceeded in extending his sway by conquest over the whole archipelago,\nand at his death in 1819 he bequeathed the undivided monarchy to his\nsuccessors.[16]\n\n [15] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._; A. Campbell, _op.\n cit._ pp. 169 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 411 _sq._; C. S.\n Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 102; Tyerman\n and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 380; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 30\n _sqq._ According to Jarves (_op. cit._ p. 33), \"Rank was\n hereditary, and descended chiefly from the females, who\n frequently held the reins of government in their own right. This\n custom originated in the great license existing between the\n sexes; no child, with certainty, being able to designate his\n father, while no mistake could be made in regard to the mother.\"\n\n [16] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 101;\n J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 30; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. lxi\n _sq._; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th Edition, xi. 528.\n\nThe whole body of chiefs fell into three classes or ranks. The first\nincluded the royal family and all who were intimately connected with it.\nThe second included such as held hereditary offices of power or\ngovernorships of islands, after the time when the whole archipelago was\nunited in a single kingdom. The third class embraced the rulers of\ndistricts, the headmen of villages, and all inferior chiefs. The members\nof the first two classes were usually called \"high chiefs\"; they were\nfew in number and closely related both by blood and marriage. The\nmembers of the third class were known as \"small\" or \"low\" chiefs. They\nwere by far the most numerous body of chiefs in any island, and were\ngenerally called _haku aina_ or landowners, though strictly speaking the\nking was acknowledged in every island as the supreme lord and proprietor\nof the soil by hereditary right or the law of conquest. When Kamehameha\nhad subdued the greater part of the islands, he distributed them among\nhis favourite chiefs and warriors on condition of their rendering him\nnot only military service, but a certain proportion of the produce of\ntheir lands. In this he appears to have followed the ancient practice\ninvariably observed on the conquest of an island.[17] For \"from the\nearliest periods of Hawaiian history, the tenure of lands has been, in\nmost respects, feudal. The origin of the fiefs was the same as in the\nnorthern nations of Europe. Any chieftain who could collect a sufficient\nnumber of followers to conquer a district, or an island, and had\nsucceeded in his object, proceeded to divide the spoils, or 'cut up the\nland,' as the natives termed it. The king, or principal chief, made his\nchoice from the best of the lands. Afterwards the remaining part of the\nconquered territory was distributed among the leaders, and these again\nsubdivided their shares to others, who became vassals, owing fealty to\nthe sovereigns of the fee. The king placed some of his own particular\nservants on his portion as his agents, to superintend the cultivation.\nThe original occupants who were on the land, usually remained under\ntheir new conqueror, and by them the lands were cultivated, and rent or\ntaxes paid.\"[18]\n\n [17] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ p. 97; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv.\n 412 _sq._, 414; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 33. Compare J. Cook,\n _Voyages_, vii. 137 _sqq._\n\n [18] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 34.\n\nBelow the chiefs or nobles were the commoners, who included small\nfarmers, fishermen, mechanics, such as house-builders and\ncanoe-builders, musicians and dancers, in short, all the labouring\nclasses, whether they worked for a chief or farmer or cultivated patches\nof land for their own benefit.[19] According to one account, \"the common\npeople are generally considered as attached to the soil, and are\ntransferred with the land from one chief to another.\"[20] But this\nstatement is contradicted by an earlier and perhaps better-informed\nwriter, who spent some thirteen months in Oahu, while the islands were\nstill independent and before the conversion of the people to\nChristianity. He tells us that commoners were not slaves nor attached to\nthe soil, but at liberty to change masters when they thought proper.[21]\nOn this subject Captain King observes: \"How far the property of the\nlower class is secured against the rapacity and despotism of the great\nchiefs, I cannot say, but it should seem that it is sufficiently\nprotected against private theft, or mutual depredation; for not only\ntheir plantations, which are spread over the whole country, but also\ntheir houses, their hogs, and their cloth, were left unguarded, without\nthe smallest apprehensions. I have already remarked, that they not only\nseparate their possessions by walls in the plain country, but that, in\nthe woods likewise, wherever the horse-plantains grow, they make use of\nsmall white flags in the same manner, and for the same purpose of\ndiscriminating property, as they do bunches of leaves at Otaheite. All\nwhich circumstances, if they do not amount to proofs, are strong\nindications that the power of the chiefs, where property is concerned,\nis not arbitrary, but at least so far circumscribed and ascertained, as\nto make it worth the while for the inferior orders to cultivate the\nsoil, and to occupy their possessions distinct from each other.\"[22] Yet\non the other hand we are told by later writers that \"in fact, the\ncondition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold nothing\nwhich may not be taken from them by the strong hand of arbitrary power,\nwhether exercised by the sovereign or a petty chief.\" On one occasion\nthe writers saw nearly two thousand persons, laden with faggots of\nsandal-wood, coming down from the mountains to deposit their burdens in\nthe royal store-houses, and then departing to their homes, weary with\ntheir unpaid labours, yet without a murmur at their bondage.[23] When at\nlast, through contact with civilisation, they had learned to utter their\ngrievances, they complained that \"the people was crushed by the numerous\nforced labours and contributions of every sort exacted from them by the\nchiefs. It was, indeed, very hard to furnish the chiefs, on every\nrequisition, with pigs, food, and all the good things which the folk\npossessed, and to see the great despoiling the humble. In truth, the\npeople worked for the chiefs incessantly, they performed every kind of\npainful task, and they paid the chiefs all the taxes which it pleased\nthem to demand.\"[24]\n\n [19] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413.\n\n [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 417. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ p. 34.\n\n [21] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 169. As to the length of\n Campbell's residence in Wahoo (Oahu), see _id._, p. 153 note.\n The date of his residence was 1809-1810. Compare O. von\n Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's\n Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 246: \"The people are almost\n subject to the arbitrary will of the lord, but there are no\n slaves or vassals (_glebae adscripti_). The peasant and the\n labourer may go wherever they please. The man is free, he may be\n killed, but not sold and not detained.\"\n\n [22] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 141 _sq._\n\n [23] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 415.\n\n [24] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 167.\n\nCertainly commoners were bound to pay great outward marks of deference\nto their social superiors, the chiefs, or nobles. Indeed, the respect\nalmost amounted to adoration, for they were on no occasion allowed to\ntouch their persons, but prostrated themselves before them, and might\nnot enter their houses without first receiving permission.[25] Above\nall, the system of taboo or _kapu_, as it was called in the Hawaiian\ndialect,[26] oppressed the common people and tended to keep them in a\nstate of abject subjection to the nobles; for the prescriptions of the\nsystem were numerous and vexatious, and the penalty for breaches of them\nwas death. If the shadow of a subject fell on a chief, the subject was\nput to death; if he robed himself in the cloth or assumed the girdle of\na chief, he was put to death; if he climbed on the wall of a chief's\ncourtyard, he was put to death; if he stood upright instead of\nprostrating himself when a vessel of water was brought for the chief to\nwash with or his garments to wear, he was put to death; if he stepped on\nthe shadow of a chief's house with his head smeared with white clay, or\ndecked with a garland of flowers, or merely wetted with water, he was\nput to death; if he slept with his wife on a taboo day, he was put to\ndeath; if he made a noise during public prayers, he was put to death; if\na woman ate pig, or coco-nuts, or bananas, or lobster, or the fish\ncalled _ulua_, she was put to death; if she went in a canoe on a taboo\nday, she was put to death; if husband and wife ate together, they were\nboth put to death.[27]\n\n [25] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp.\n 33 _sq._ Compare J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 137.\n\n [26] In the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian T is\n pronounced K, and the Tongan B is pronounced P. Hence the Tongan\n _taboo_ becomes in Hawaiian _kapoo_ (_kapu_). See E. Tregear,\n _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. xxiii.\n\n [27] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 159, 161, 167.\n\nIn Hawaii, as in other parts of Polynesia, the taboo formed an important\nand essential part both of the religious and of the political system, of\nwhich it was at once a strong support and a powerful instrument. The\nproper sense of the word taboo (in Hawaiian _kapu_) is \"sacred.\" This\ndid not, however, imply any moral quality; it expressed rather \"a\nconnexion with the gods, or a separation from ordinary purposes, and\nexclusive appropriation to persons or things considered sacred\";\nsometimes it meant devoted as by a vow. Chiefs who traced their\ngenealogy to the gods were called _arii taboo_, \"chiefs sacred\"; a\ntemple was a _wahi taboo_, \"place sacred\"; the rule which prohibited\nwomen from eating with men, and from eating, except on special\noccasions, any fruits or animals ever offered in sacrifice to the gods,\nwhile it allowed the men to partake of them, was called _ai taboo_,\n\"eating sacred.\" The opposite of _kapu_ was _noa_, which means \"general\"\nor \"common\"; for example, _ai noa_ signifies \"eating generally\" or\n\"having food in common.\" Although it was employed for civil as well as\nsacred purposes, the taboo was essentially a religious ceremony and\ncould be imposed only by the priests. A religious motive was always\nassigned for laying it on, though it was often done at the instance of\nthe civil authorities; and persons called _kiaimoku_, \"island keepers,\"\na kind of police officers, were always appointed by the king to see that\nthe taboo was strictly observed.[28]\n\n [28] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 385 _sqq._ Compare L. de\n Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597.\n\nThe application of the restriction implied by taboo was either general\nor particular, either permanent or occasional. To take examples of\npermanent taboos, the idols and temples, the persons and names of the\nking and other members of the royal family, the persons of priests,\ncanoes belonging to the gods, the houses, clothes, and mats of the king\nand priests, and the heads of men who were the devotees of any\nparticular idol, were always taboo or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls,\nturtles, and several sorts of fish, coco-nuts, and almost everything\noffered in sacrifice were taboo or consecrated to the use of the gods\nand the men; hence women were, except in cases of particular indulgence,\nforbidden to partake of them. Particular places, such as those\nfrequented by the king for bathing, were also permanently taboo. As\nexamples of temporary taboos may be mentioned those which were imposed\non an island or district for a certain time, during which no canoe or\nperson was allowed to approach it. Particular fruits, animals, and the\nfish of certain places were occasionally taboo for several months,\nduring which neither men nor women might eat them.[29] The predecessor\nof Kamehameha, king of Hawaii, \"was taboo to such a degree that he was\nnot allowed to be seen by day. He only showed himself in the night: if\nany person had but accidentally seen him by daylight he was immediately\nput to death; a sacred law, the fulfilment of which nothing could\nprevent.\"[30]\n\n [29] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387.\n\n [30] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea\n and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247.\n\nThe seasons generally kept taboo were on the approach of some great\nreligious ceremony, immediately before going to war, and during the\nsickness of chiefs. Their duration was various, and much longer in\nancient than in modern times. Tradition tells of a taboo which lasted\nthirty years, during which men might not trim their beards and were\nsubject to other restrictions. Another was kept for five years. Before\nthe reign of Kamehameha forty days was the usual period; but in his time\nthe period was shortened to ten or five days, or even to a single day.\nThe taboo seasons might be either common or strict. During a common\ntaboo the men were only required to abstain from their usual avocations,\nand to attend morning and evening prayers at the temple. But during a\nstrict taboo every fire and light in the district or island must be\nextinguished; no canoe might be launched; no person might bathe or even\nappear out of doors, unless his attendance was required at the temple;\nno dog might bark, no pig grunt, and no cock crow; for if any of these\nthings were to happen the taboo would be broken and fail to accomplish\nits object. To prevent this disaster the mouths of dogs and pigs were\ntied up, and fowls were put under a calabash, or a cloth was fastened\nover their eyes.[31]\n\n [31] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387 _sq._\n\nThe prohibitions of the taboo were strictly enforced; every breach of\nthem was punished with death, unless the delinquent had powerful friends\namong the priests or chiefs, who could save him. The culprits were\ngenerally offered in sacrifice, being either strangled or clubbed at the\ntemple; according to one account, they were burnt.[32]\n\n [32] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 389. As to the taboo in Hawaii,\n see also J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 146 _sq._; L. de Freycinet,\n _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597; C. S. Stewart,\n _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31 _sq._; J. J. Jarves,\n _op. cit._ pp. 50-52; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxxviii _sq._, 159\n _sqq._\n\nThe system seems to have been found at last too burdensome to be borne\neven by the king, who under it was forbidden to touch his food with his\nown hands, and had to submit to having it put into his mouth by another\nperson, as if he were an infant.[33] Whatever his motive, Liholiho, son\nof Kamehameha, had hardly succeeded his father on the throne of Hawaii\nwhen he abolished the system of taboo and the national religion at a\nsingle blow. This remarkable reformation took place in November 1819.\nWhen the first Christian missionaries arrived from America, some months\nlater, March 30th, 1820, they were astonished to learn of a peaceful\nrevolution, which had so opportunely prepared the way for their own\nteaching.[34]\n\n [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 388.\n\n [34] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 603; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 109 _sqq._;\n W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 30, 126 _sqq._, 137, 204, 312; C. S.\n Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31, 32 _sq._;\n Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 378 _sq._, 397 _sq._, 442\n _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 197 _sq._, 201; J. Remy,\n _op. cit._ pp. lxv, 133 _sqq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of\n Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), pp.\n 69 _sqq._ King Kamehameha the First died 8th May 1819.\n\n\nSec. 5. _Religion, the Gods_\n\nOf the native Hawaiian religion, as it existed before the advent of\nEuropeans and the conversion of the people to Christianity, we possess\nno adequate account. The defect is probably due in great measure to the\nreadiness with which the islanders relinquished their old faith and\nadopted the new one. The transition seems to have been effected with\ngreat ease and comparatively little opposition; hence when the\nmissionaries settled in the islands a few months after the formal\nabolition of the ancient religion, paganism was already almost a thing\nof the past, and the Christian teachers were either unable or perhaps\nunwilling to record in detail the beliefs and rites which they regarded\nas false and pernicious. Be that as it may, we possess no such\ncomparatively full and accurate records of the old Hawaiian religion, as\nwe possess, for example, of the old pagan religion of the Tongans and\nthe Samoans, who clung much more pertinaciously to the creed of their\nfathers than their more enlightened or more fickle kinsfolk in the\nSandwich Islands. Hence we are obliged to content ourselves with some\nmore or less meagre and fragmentary notices of the ancient Hawaiian\nsystem of religious belief and practice. But as the Hawaiians are, or\nwere, pure-blooded Polynesians, we may assume with a fair degree of\nprobability that in its broad lines their religious system conformed to\nthe ordinary Polynesian type.\n\nOn this subject Captain King, the colleague and successor of Captain\nCook in his last voyage, observes as follows: \"The religion of these\npeople resembles, in most of its principal features, that of the Society\nand Friendly Islands. Their _Morais_, their _Whattas_, their idols,\ntheir sacrifices, and their sacred songs, all of which they have in\ncommon with each other, are convincing proofs that their religious\nnotions are derived from the same source. In the length and number of\ntheir ceremonies this branch indeed far exceeds the rest; and though in\nall these countries there is a certain class of men to whose care the\nperformance of their religious rites is committed, yet we had never met\nwith a regular society of priests, till we discovered the cloisters of\nKakooa in Karakakooa Bay [in the island of Hawaii]. The head of this\norder was called _Orono_; a title which we imagined to imply something\nhighly sacred, and which, in the person of Omeeah, was honoured almost\nto adoration.... It has been mentioned that the title of _Orono_, with\nall its honours, was given to Captain Cook; and it is also certain that\nthey regarded us generally as a race of people superior to themselves;\nand used often to say that great _Eatooa_ [_atuas_, spirits] dwelled in\nour country. The little image, which we have before described as the\nfavourite idol on the _Morai_ in Karakakooa Bay, they called\n_Koonooraekaiee_, and said it was Terreeoboo's god, and that he also\nresided amongst us. There are found an infinite variety of these images\nboth on the _Morais_, and within and without their houses, to which they\ngive different names; but it soon became obvious to us in how little\nestimation they were held, from their frequent expressions of contempt\nof them, and from their even offering them to sale for trifles. At the\nsame time there seldom failed to be some one particular figure in\nfavour, to which, whilst this preference lasted, all their adoration was\naddressed. This consisted in arraying it in red cloth, beating their\ndrums, and singing hymns before it, laying bunches of red feathers, and\ndifferent sorts of vegetables, at its feet, and exposing a pig or a dog\nto rot on the _whatta_ that stood near it. In a bay to the southward of\nKarakakooa, a party of our gentlemen were conducted to a large house, in\nwhich they found the black figure of a man, resting on his fingers and\ntoes, with his head inclined backward, the limbs well formed and\nexactly proportioned, and the whole beautifully polished. This figure\nthe natives call _Maee_; and round it were placed thirteen others of\nrude and distorted shapes, which they said were the _Eatooas_ [spirits]\nof several deceased chiefs, whose names they recounted. The place was\nfull of _whattas_, on which lay the remains of their offerings. They\nlikewise give a place in their houses to many ludicrous and some obscene\nidols, like the Priapus of the ancients.\"[35]\n\n [35] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 142-144.\n\nThe general Hawaiian name for god was _akua_, corresponding to the more\nusual Polynesian form _atua_.[36] The four principal Hawaiian deities\nwere Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, and Lono.[37] Their names are only dialectically\ndifferent forms of Tu, Tane, Tangaroa or Tagaloa, and Rongo, four of the\ngreatest Polynesian gods.[38] Of these deities it is said that Ku, Kane,\nand Lono formed the original Hawaiian triad or trinity, who were\nworshipped as a unity under the name of Ku-kau-akahi, \"the one\nestablished.\"[39] The meaning or essence of the three persons of the\ntrinity is said to be Stability (Ku), Light (Tane), and Sound\n(Lono).[40] \"These gods,\" we are told, \"created the three heavens as\ntheir dwelling-place, then the earth, sun, moon, and stars, then, the\nhost of angels and ministers. Kanaloa (Tangaroa), who represented the\nspirit of evil, was a later introduction into the Hawaiian theology; he\nit was who led the rebellion of spirits, although Milu is in other\ntraditions credited with this bad pre-eminence.\"[41] We read that when\nthe trinity were at work on the task of creating the first man, the bad\nspirit Kanaloa, out of rivalry, also made an image, but he could not\nendow it with life. So, in a rage, he cried to Kane, \"I will take your\nman, he shall die!\" And that, it is said, was the origin of death. The\nreason why the spirits, under the leadership of Kanaloa, rebelled was\nthat they had been denied the sacrifice of kava. For their rebellion\nthey were thrust down to the lowest depth of Darkness or Night\n(_Po_).[42]\n\n [36] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian\n Comparative Dictionary_, p. 30, _s.v._ \"Atua.\"\n\n [37] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p.\n 40; H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London,\n 1851), p. 11; A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_\n (Leipzig, 1881), p. 131; _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_\n (Berlin, 1883), p. 225; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_,\n pp. 97 _sq._\n\n [38] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ 425, 461, 464, 540, _s.vv._ \"Rongo,\"\n \"Tane,\" \"Tangaroa,\" \"Tu.\"\n\n [39] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ \"Rongo.\"\n\n [40] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ pp. 461, 540, _s.vv._ \"Tane,\" \"Tu.\"\n\n [41] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 540, _s.v._ \"Tu.\"\n\n [42] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 464, _s.v._ \"Tangaroa.\" According\n to another account, the evil spirit was not Kanaloa, but Ku;\n Kanaloa was a younger brother of Kane, and helped him in his\n beneficent labours. See A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_,\n pp. 97 _sq._ This latter version agrees with the view of Kane\n and Kanaloa as divine twins. See below, pp. 394 _sq._\n\nA fuller account of these momentous transactions presents a close,\nperhaps a suspicious, resemblance to the Biblical narrative of the same\nevents. It runs as follows:\n\n\"According to ancient Hawaiian traditions, there existed in the chaos\nthree mighty gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono. By their common action light was\nbrought into the chaos. Then the gods created three heavenly spheres, in\nwhich they dwelt, and last of all the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Out\nof their spittle they thereupon created a host of angels, who had to\nrender service to the three original deities. Last of all came the\ncreation of man. His body was fashioned out of red earth, and his head\nout of white clay, and Kane, the highest of the gods, breathed into this\nHawaiian Adam the breath of life. Out of one of his ribs the Hawaiian\nEve was created. The newly formed pair, by name Kumuhonua and\nKeolakuhonua, were placed in a beautiful paradise called Paliuli, which\nwas watered by the three rivers of life, and planted with many fine\ntrees, among them the sacred bread-fruit tree. The mightiest of the\nangels, Kanaloa, the Hawaiian Lucifer, desired that the newly created\nhuman pair should worship him, which was forbidden by God the Father,\nKane. After vain attempts to create a new man devoted to himself,\nKanaloa, out of desire for vengeance, resolved to ruin the first human\npair created by the gods. In the likeness of a great lizard he crept\ninto Paradise and seduced the two inhabitants of the same into\ncommitting sin, whereupon they were driven out of Paradise by a powerful\nbird sent by Kane. Then follow, as in the Bible, the legends of the\nHawaiian Cain (Laka) and the Hawaiian Noah (Nuu), by whom the ancestors\nof the Hawaiian people are said to have been saved from the universal\nflood.\"[43] The story of the creation of the first woman out of a rib of\nthe first man appears to have been widespread in Polynesia, for it is\nreported also from Tahiti,[44] Fakaofo or Bowditch Island,[45] and New\nZealand.[46]\n\n [43] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 97.\n\n [44] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 110 _sq._; Tyerman\n and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 312 _sq._\n\n [45] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 267 _sq._\n\n [46] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_\n (London, 1817), i. 59. Compare _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_,\n i. 9 _sq._\n\nOf the three persons in the Hawaiian trinity, Kane (Tane) is said to\nhave been the principal. He was especially associated with light; in a\nfragment of an ancient liturgy he is called Heaven-father (_Lani-makua_)\nand in a very ancient chant he is identified with the Creator. When\nafter the great flood the Hawaiian Noah, who is called Nuu, left his\nvessel, he offered up sacrifice to the moon, saying, \"You are doubtless\na transformation of Tane.\" But the deity was angry at this worship of a\nmaterial object; nevertheless, when Nuu expressed his contrition, the\nrainbow was left as a pledge of forgiveness.[47]\n\n [47] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 461, _s.v._ \"Tane.\"\n\nAccording to one account, the two great gods Kane and Kanaloa were\ntwins. In Hawaii twins are regarded as superior to ordinary mortals both\nin mind and body; hence it was natural to conceive of a pair of divine\ntwins, like the Dioscuri in Greek mythology. And, like the Dioscuri, the\ndivine Hawaiian twins sometimes appeared together to their worshippers\nas helpers in time of need. Thus, in a season of dearth, when people\nwere dying of hunger, a poor fisher lad in the island of Lanai set up a\ntiny hut on the sea-shore, and there day by day he offered a little from\nthe scanty store of fish which his family had caught; and as he did so\nhe prayed, saying, \"Here, O god, is fish for thee.\" One day, as he sat\nthere, racked with unsatisfied yearning for the divine assistance, two\nmen came walking that way and rested at the hut; and, taking them to be\nweary wanderers, the fisher lad willingly gave them what little food he\nhad left over. They slept there that night, and next day, when they were\ndeparting, they revealed themselves to him as the two gods Kane and\nKanaloa, and they told him that his prayer had been heard, and that\nsalvation would follow. Sure enough, plenty soon returned to the land,\nand on the spot where the little hut had stood, a stone temple was\nbuilt in stately terraces.[48] Again, we hear how when drought had\nlasted long in the island of Oahu, and death stared the farmers in the\nface for lack of water, the gods Kane and Kanaloa appeared in the\nlikeness of two young men and showed them a spring, which was afterwards\nconsecrated to the divine twins.[49] Once more, it is said that, when\nthe two deities were in Oahu, it chanced that they could find no water\nwith which to moisten their dry food. Then at Kane's direction Kanaloa\nstruck a stone with his spear, and from the stone there sprang a\nfountain, which bears the name of Kane to this day, and still it rises\nand sinks on the day of the moon which is sacred to that divinity.[50]\n\n [48] A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_, pp. 131,\n 132.\n\n [49] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ pp. 132 _sq._\n\n [50] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 133. As to the divine twins in\n Hawaii, see also _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 243.\n\nThe god Lono was, as we have seen, no other than the great Polynesian\ndeity Rongo, the two names being the same word in dialectically\ndifferent forms. He was one of the most popular gods of Hawaii;[51] the\nseasons and other natural phenomena were associated with him, and\nprayers for rain were particularly addressed to him.[52] According to\none account, he was an uncreated, self-existent deity;[53] but according\nto another account he was an ancient king of Hawaii, who rashly killed\nhis wife on a suspicion of infidelity, and then, full of remorse,\ncarried her lifeless body to a temple and made a great wail over it.\nThereafter he travelled through Hawaii in a state of frenzy, boxing and\nwrestling with every one whom he met. The people in astonishment said,\n\"Is Lono entirely mad?\" He replied, \"I am frantic with my great love.\"\nHaving instituted games to commemorate his wife's death, he embarked in\na triangular canoe for a foreign land. Before he departed, he\nprophesied, saying, \"I will return in after times, on an island bearing\ncoco-nut trees, swine, and dogs.\" After his departure he was deified by\nhis countrymen, and annual games of boxing and wrestling were instituted\nin his honour.[54] When Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, the natives\ntook him to be their god Lono returned according to his prophecy. The\npriests threw a sacred red mantle on his shoulders and did him\nreverence, prostrating themselves before him; they pronounced long\ndiscourses with extreme volubility, by way of prayer and worship. They\noffered him pigs and food and clothes, and everything that they offered\nto the gods. When he landed, most of the inhabitants fled before him,\nfull of fear, and those who remained prostrated themselves in adoration.\nThey led him to a temple, and there they worshipped him. But afterwards\nin a brawl, when they saw his blood flowing and heard his groans, they\nsaid, \"No, this is not Rono,\" and one of them struck him, so that he\ndied. But even after his death, some of them still thought that he was\nRono, and that he would come again. So they looked on some of his bones,\nto wit his ribs and his breastbone, as sacred; they put them in a little\nbasket covered all over with red feathers, and they deposited it in a\ntemple dedicated to Rono. There religious homage was paid to the bones,\nand thence they were carried every year in procession to several other\ntemples, or borne by the priests round the island, to collect the\nofferings of the faithful for the support of the worship of the god\nRono.[55]\n\n [51] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 41.\n\n [52] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 98.\n\n [53] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ \"Rongo.\"\n\n [54] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 135; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise\n um die Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 88 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ pp. 41 _sq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one Years\n in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), p. 32; A. Bastian,\n _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 246.\n\n [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 134-136; Tyerman and Bennet, _op.\n cit._ i. 376; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 29-37; O. von Kotzebue,\n _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98 _sq._\n\nThe great Polynesian god or hero Maui was known in Hawaii, where the\nstories told of him resembled those current in other parts of the\nPacific. He is said to have dragged up the islands on his fishing-hook\nfrom the depths of the ocean, and to have brought men their first\nfire.[56] One day, when his wife was making bark-cloth and had not time\nto finish it before night, Maui laid his hand on the sun and prevented\nit from going down till the work was completed.[57]\n\n [56] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p.\n 236, _s.v._ \"Maui\"; A. Marcuse, _Die Haiwaiischen Inseln_, p.\n 98.\n\n [57] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 433; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ p. 26.\n\nThe national war-god of Hawaii was named Tairi (Kaili). In the evening\nhe used to be seen flitting about near his temple in the form of a sort\nof luminous vapour, like a flame or the tail of a comet. A similar\nappearance is also occasionally seen in the Society Islands, where the\nterrified natives formerly identified it with their god Tane, and\nsupposed that the meteor was the deity flying from temple to temple or\nseeking whom he might destroy.[58] The image of the war-god Tairi used\nto be carried to battle by the priest, who held it aloft above the\nranks. It was four or five feet high; the upper part was of wicker-work,\ncovered with red feathers; the face grinned hideously; the mouth\ndisplayed triple rows of dog's or shark's teeth; the eyes gleamed with\nmother of pearl; and the head was crowned with a helmet crested with\nlong tresses of human hair. In the battle the priest used to distort his\nface into a variety of frightful grimaces and to utter appalling yells,\nwhich were supposed to proceed from the god whom he bore or attended.\nBut the national war-god was not the only deity whose image was borne to\nbattle. Other chiefs of rank had their war-gods carried near them by\ntheir priests; and if the king or chief was killed or taken, the god\nhimself was usually captured also. The presence of their deities\ninspired the warriors with courage; for they imagined the divine\ninfluence to be essential to victory.[59] The diviners were consulted\nimmediately before a battle. They slew the victims, and noticed the face\nof the heavens, the passage of clouds over the sun, and the appearance\nof a rainbow. If the omens were favourable, the image of the principal\nwar-god was brought out in front of the whole army and placed near the\nking. The priest then prayed to the gods, beseeching them to prove\nthemselves stronger than the gods of the enemy in the ensuing\nengagement, and promising them hecatombs of victims in the event of\nvictory. The bodies of foes slain in the battle were dragged to the king\nor priest, who offered them as victims to his gods.[60]\n\n [58] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 119.\n\n [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 158 _sq._\n\n [60] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 157 _sq._, 159.\n\nThe gods of Hawaii fell into two classes, according as they were\nbelieved to have been primaeval deities born of Night (Po), or the souls\nof men who had been deified after death. For it was believed to be\npossible to detain the soul of a beloved or honoured person at death by\nkeeping his clothes or his bones; and the soul could thereafter be\ninvoked and could speak through the mouth of the person into whom it had\nentered. Both classes of deities, the primaeval and the human, were\ncredited with the power of making people ill.[61] One way of obtaining a\nguardian deity for a family was to take the body of a still-born child\nand throw it into the sea or bury it in the earth; in the former case\nthe embryo was supposed to turn into a shark, in the latter case into a\ngrasshopper. When it was deemed necessary to obtain the help of a deity\n(_akua_) for a special purpose, such as success in fishing or in\ncanoe-building, the divine spirit could be conjured into an image\n(_kii_), and could thereafter appear in a dream to his worshipper and\nreveal to him what food he desired to have dedicated to him, and what\naccordingly the worshipper must abstain from eating. Often the god\nshowed himself to the dreamer in the shape of a stone or other object;\nand on awakening the man was bound to procure the object, whatever it\nwas, and to honour it with prayer and sacrifice, in order to ensure the\nprotection of the deity. Prayers addressed to private gods were usually\nthe property of the owner, who was commonly also their author; whereas\nprayers addressed to a public god, such as Kane, had to be learned from\na priest or other adept.[62]\n\n [61] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 269 _sq._\n\n [62] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 271 _sq._\n\nAmong the deities who had once been men would seem to have been the god\nof medicine, the Hawaiian Aesculapius. It is said that many generations\nago a certain man named Koreamoku received all medicinal herbs from the\ngods, who also taught him the use of them. After his death he was\ndeified, and a wooden image of him was placed in a large temple at\nKairua, to which offerings of hogs, fish, and coco-nuts were frequently\npresented. Oronopuha and Makanuiairomo, two friends and disciples of\nKoreamoku, continued to practise the healing art after the death of\ntheir master, and they too were deified after death, particularly\nbecause they were often successful in driving away the evil spirits\nwhich afflicted the people and threatened them with death. To these\ndeified men the priests addressed their prayers when they administered\nmedicine to the sick.[63]\n\n [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 335 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ p. 71.\n\nOf all the deities of Hawaii the most dreaded was Pele, the goddess of\nthe volcanic fire, whose home was in the great and ever active volcano\nof Kilauea. There she dwelt with the other members of her family,\nbrothers and sisters. They were all said to have come to Hawaii from a\nforeign country called Tahiti after the great deluge had subsided. The\ncones which rise like islands from the vast sea of boiling lava,\nvomiting columns of smoke or pyramids of flame, were the houses where\nthese volcanic deities lived and amused themselves by playing at\ndraughts: the crackling of the flames and the roaring of the furnaces\nwere the music of their dance; and the red flaming surge was the surf\nwherein they sported, swimming on the rolling fiery waves.[64] The\nfilaments of volcanic glass, of a dark olive colour and as fine as human\nhair, some straight, some crimped or frizzled, which are to be seen\nabundantly on the sides of the crater, and on the plain for miles round,\nare called by the natives \"Pele's hair\"; in some places they lie so\nthick as to resemble cobwebs covering the surface of the ground.[65]\nNear the crater grow bushes bearing clusters of red and yellow berries\nresembling large currants; of these the natives formerly would never eat\ntill they had thrown some of the clusters into the thickest of the smoke\nand vapour as an offering to the goddess of the volcano.[66] Vast\nnumbers of hogs, some alive, others cooked, used to be cast into the\ncraters when they were in action or when they threatened an eruption;\nand when they boiled over, the animals were flung into the rolling\ntorrent of lava to appease the gods and arrest the progress of the fiery\nstream. For the whole island had to pay tribute to the gods of the\nvolcano and to furnish provisions for the support of their ministers;\nand whenever the chiefs or people failed to send the proper offerings or\nincurred the displeasure of the dreadful beings by insulting them or\ntheir ministers, or by breaking the taboos which had to be observed in\nthe vicinity of the craters, the angry deities would spout lava from the\nmountain or march by subterranean passages to the abode of the culprits\nand overwhelm them under a flood of molten matter. And if the fishermen\ndid not offer them enough fish, they would rush down, kill the fish with\nfire, and, filling up the shoals, destroy the fishing-grounds\nentirely.[67] People who passed by the volcano of Kilauea often\npresented locks of hair to Pele by throwing them into the crater with an\nappropriate address to the deity.[68] On one occasion, when a river of\nlava threatened destruction to the people of the neighbourhood, and the\nsacrifice of many hogs, cast alive into the stream, had not availed to\nstay its devastating course, King Kamehameha cut off some of his own\nsacred locks and threw them into the torrent, with the result that in a\nday or two the lava ceased to flow.[69] In the pleasant and verdant\nvalley of Kaua there used to be a temple of the goddess, where the\ninhabitants of Hamakua, a district of Hawaii, formerly celebrated an\nannual festival designed to propitiate the dread divinity and to secure\ntheir country from earthquakes and floods of lava. On such occasions\nlarge offerings of hogs, dogs, and fruit were made, and the priests\nperformed certain rites.[70] Worshippers of Pele also threw some of the\nbones of their dead into the volcano, in the belief that the spirits of\nthe deceased would then be admitted to the society of the volcanic\ndeities, and that their influence would preserve the survivors from the\nravages of volcanic fire.[71] Nevertheless the apprehensions uniformly\nentertained by the natives of the fearful consequences of Pele's anger\nprevented them from paying very frequent visits to the vicinity of the\nvolcano; and when on their inland journeys they had occasion to approach\nthe mountain, they were scrupulously attentive to every injunction of\nher priests, and regarded with a degree of superstitious veneration and\nawe the appalling spectacle which the crater, with its sea of molten and\nflaming lava, presented to their eyes.[72] They even requested strangers\nnot to dig or scratch the sand in its neighbourhood for fear of\ndispleasing the goddess and provoking her to manifest her displeasure by\nan eruption.[73]\n\n [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 237, 246-249; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ pp. 42 _sq._\n\n [65] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 363 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._\n iv. 129.\n\n [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 234-236.\n\n [67] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 250.\n\n [68] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350.\n\n [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 59. _sq._\n\n [70] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350.\n\n [71] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361.\n\n [72] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 275.\n\n [73] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 239.\n\nThe service of Pele was regularly cared for by an hereditary steward\n(_kahu_) and an hereditary priestess. The duty of the steward was to\nprovide the materials for the public sacrifices, including the food and\nraiment for the goddess; it was for him to furnish the hogs and fowls,\nto cultivate the taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane which were to\nserve her for nourishment, to tend the plants from which her garments\nwere to be made, and to have all things in readiness for the offerings\nat the appointed seasons. Of the plantations sacred to this use, one was\non the sea-shore, and another in the broken ground within the precincts\nof the crater; and the steward with his family resided sometimes in the\none place and sometimes in the other. When the time came for offering\nthe sacrifice, the priestess descended into the depths of the volcano,\nand there approaching as near as possible to the spot where the fire\nburned most furiously, she cast into it her gifts, saying, \"Here, Pele,\nis food for you, and here is cloth,\" whereby she mentioned each article\nas she flung it into the flames.[74] Sometimes the priestess claimed to\nbe inspired by Pele and even to be the goddess in person. One of the\npriestesses, in an interview with the missionary William Ellis, assumed\na haughty air and declared, \"I am Pele; I shall never die; and those who\nfollow me, when they die, if part of their bones be taken to Kilauea,\nwill live with me in the bright fires there.\" In a song she gave a long\naccount of the deeds and honours of the goddess, who, she said, dwelt in\nthe volcano and had come in former times from the land beyond the sky.\nThis song she chanted or recited in a rapid and vociferous manner,\naccompanied by extravagant gestures, working herself up to a state of\nexcitement in which she appeared to lose all self-command. She also\nclaimed to be able to heal the sick through the indwelling spirit of the\ngoddess.[75] But the goddess was served also by priests. We read of one\nsuch who offered prayers to her and assured the people that thereafter\nshe would do them no harm.[76]\n\n [74] C. S. Stewart, _A Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832),\n ii. 104.\n\n [75] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 309-311. For other interviews with\n priestesses of the goddess see _id._, iv. 275 _sq._; C. S.\n Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, ii. 100-103.\n\n [76] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 378.\n\nThe Hawaiians also paid religious reverence to certain birds, fish, and\nanimals. In a village Captain King saw two tame ravens which the people\ntold him were _eatooas_ (_atuas_, _akuas_), that is, gods or spirits,\ncautioning him at the same time not to hurt or offend them.[77] The\nnative authors of a work on the history of Hawaii, speaking of the\nancient religion of their people, tell us that \"birds served some as\nidols; if it was a fowl, the fowl was taboo for the worshippers, and the\nsame for all the birds which were deified. The idol of another was a\nfour-footed animal, and if it was a pig, the pig was taboo for him. So\nwith all the animals who became gods. Another had a stone for his idol;\nit became taboo, and he could not sit upon the stone. The idol of\nanother was a fish, and if it was a shark, the shark was taboo for him.\nSo with all the fish, and so they deified all things in earth and\nheaven, and all the bones of men.\"[78] Further, the same writers observe\nthat \"the trees were idols for the people and for the chiefs. If a man\nhad for his idol the _ohia_ tree, the _ohia_ was taboo for him; if the\nbread-fruit tree was the idol of another, the bread-fruit tree was taboo\nfor him. The taboo existed likewise for all the trees out of which men\nhad made divine images, and it was the same also for food. If taro was a\nperson's idol, taro was taboo for him. It was the same for all the\neatables of which they had made gods.\"[79] This deification of birds,\nfish, animals, plants, and inanimate objects resembles the Samoan system\nand may, like it, be a relic of totemism.[80] Among the living creatures\nto which they thus accorded divine honours were lizards, rats, and\nowls.[81]\n\n [77] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 144.\n\n [78] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 165.\n\n [79] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 163, 165.\n\n [80] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._\n\n [81] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 594.\n\nAmong the deified fishes it would seem that the shark held a foremost\nplace. On almost every cape jutting out into the sea, a temple used to\nbe built for the worship of the shark. The first fish of each kind,\ntaken by the fishermen, were always carried to the temple and offered to\nthe god, who was supposed to have driven them towards the shore.[82]\nWhen the king or the priests imagined that the shark wanted food, they\nsallied forth with their attendants, one of whom carried a rope with a\nrunning noose. On coming to a group or crowd of people, they threw the\nrope among them, and whoever happened to be taken in the snare, whether\nman, woman, or child, was strangled on the spot, the body cut in pieces,\nand flung into the sea, to be bolted by the ravenous monsters.[83]\nFishermen sometimes wrapped their dead in red native cloth, and threw\nthem into the sea to be devoured by the sharks. They thought that the\nsoul of the deceased would animate the shark which had eaten his body,\nand that the sharks would therefore spare the survivors in the event of\na mishap at sea.[84] It was especially stillborn children that were thus\ndisposed of. The worshipper of the shark would lay the body of the\ninfant on a mat, and having placed beside it two roots of taro, one of\nkava, and a piece of sugar-cane, he would recite some prayers, and then\nthrow the whole bundle into the sea, fully persuaded that by means of\nthis offering the transmigration of the soul of the child into the body\nof a shark would be effected, and that thenceforth the formidable\nmonster would be ready to spare such members of the family as might\nafterwards be exposed to his attack. In the temples dedicated to sharks\nthere were priests who, at sunrise and sunset, addressed their prayers\nto the image which represented the shark; and they rubbed themselves\nconstantly with water and salt, which, drying on their skin, made it\nappear covered with scales. They also dressed in red cloth, uttered\npiercing yells, and leaped over the wall of the sacred enclosure;\nmoreover they persuaded the islanders that they knew the exact moment\nwhen the children that had been thrown into the sea were transformed\ninto sharks, and for this discovery they were rewarded by the happy\nparents with liberal presents of little pigs, roots of kava, coco-nuts,\nand so forth.[85] The priests also professed to be inspired by sharks\nand in that condition to foretell future events. Many people accepted\nthese professions in good faith and contributed to support the\nprofessors by their offerings.[86]\n\n [82] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 90; compare _id._, pp. 129 _sq._\n\n [83] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 422 _sq._; J. J. Jarves,\n _op. cit._ p. 45.\n\n [84] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361.\n\n [85] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 595 _sq._\n\n [86] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 65.\n\nFrom the foregoing account it appears that some at least of the\nworshipful sharks were supposed to be animated by the souls of the\ndead. Whether the worship of other sacred animals in Hawaii was in like\nmanner combined with a theory of transmigration, there seems to be no\nevidence to decide. We have seen that a similar doubt rests on the\nworship of animals in Tonga.[87]\n\n [87] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._\n\n\nSec. 6. _Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners_\n\nThe priesthood formed a numerous and powerful body. Their office was\nhereditary. They owned much property in people and lands, which were\nheavily taxed for their support. Each chief had his family priest, who\nfollowed him to battle, carried his war-god, and superintended all the\nsacred rites of his household. The priests took rank from their gods and\nchiefs. The keeper of the national war-god, who was immediately attached\nto the person of the king, was the high priest.[88] In the inner court\nof the great temple dedicated to Tairi, the war-god, stood a lofty frame\nof wicker-work, in shape something like an obelisk, hollow within and\nmeasuring four or five feet square at the base. Within this framework\nthe priest stood and gave oracles in the name of the god, whenever the\nking came to consult the deity on any matter of importance, such as a\ndeclaration of war or the conclusion of peace; for the war-god was also\nthe king's oracle. The oracular answer, given by the priest in a\ndistinct and audible voice, was afterwards reported by the king,\npublicly proclaimed, and generally acted upon.[89] When the villages\nfailed to pay their tribute punctually to the king, he used to send\nforth a priest bearing the image of the great god Rono, who scoured the\ncountry of the defaulters for twenty-three days and obliged them to pay\ndouble tribute. The priest who bore the image was strictly tabooed;\nduring his peregrination he might not touch anything with his hands; his\nfood had to be put into his mouth either by the chiefs of the villages\nwhere he halted or by the king himself, who accompanied him.[90]\n\n [88] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 48.\n\n [89] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 97.\n\n [90] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 596.\n\nDistinct from the regular priests were the diviners or sorcerers who\nformed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. Their services were\nemployed for various purposes, such as to discover the cause of illness\nor to detect a thief. The people generally believed that all deaths,\nwhich were not due to acts of violence, were wrought either by the\naction of a deity or by the incantations of a sorcerer. Hence in cases\nof protracted illness the aid of one of these inferior clergy was almost\ninvariably sought by all who could procure a dog and a fowl for the\nnecessary sacrifice to the god, and a piece or two of cloth as a fee for\nthe priest. But the offerings to the god and the fees to the priest\nnaturally varied with the rank or wealth of the sufferer. After\nsacrificing the victims the priest lay down to sleep, and if his prayers\nwere answered, he was usually able to inform the invalid of the cause of\nhis illness, which had been revealed to him in a dream. But the same\nmen, who could thus heal the sick by ascertaining and removing the cause\nof sickness, were supposed to possess the power of praying or enchanting\npeople to death by the recitation of spells or incantations. The prayers\nor incantations which they employed for these beneficent or maleficent\npurposes varied with the individual: every practitioner had his own\nformulas, the knowledge of which he carefully confined to his own\nfamily; and he who was thought to have most influence with his god was\nmost frequently employed by the people and derived the greatest\nemoluments from his profession.[91] Of this class of men the most\ndreaded were those who invoked the god Uli as their patron deity. Their\nspecial business was to kill people by their spells, which they recited\nsecretly, and for the most part by night; but to render these effectual\nit was necessary for them to obtain some of the personal refuse of their\nvictim, such as his spittle, the parings of his nails, or the clippings\nof his hair, which they buried or burned with the appropriate\nincantations.[92] Hence the king of Hawaii was constantly attended by a\nservant carrying a spittoon in which he collected the royal saliva to\nprevent it from being used by the king's enemies for his injury or\ndestruction.[93] Ordinary chiefs seem to have adopted the same\nprecaution; a confidential servant deposited their spittle carefully in\na portable spittoon and buried it every morning.[94]\n\n [91] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 293-295. Compare U. Lisiansky,\n _op. cit._ pp. 120 _sq._; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_,\n pp. 171 _sqq._; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich\n Islands_, pp. 202 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 414;\n J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 36 _sq._, 71 _sq._; A. Marcuse,\n _op. cit._ pp. 103-105.\n\n [92] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 104.\n\n [93] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea\n and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 313.\n\n [94] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 365.\n\nA form of divination or magic was employed to detect a thief. The person\nwho had suffered the loss used to apply to a priest, to whom he\npresented a pig and told his story. Thereupon the priest kindled a fire\nby rubbing two pieces of wood together, and having taken three nuts he\nbroke the shells and threw one of the kernels into the fire, saying,\n\"Kill or shoot the fellow.\" If the thief did not appear before the nut\nwas consumed in the flames, the priest repeated the ceremony with the\nother two nuts. Such was the fear inspired by this rite that the culprit\nseldom failed to come forward and acknowledge his guilt. But if he\npersisted in concealing his crime, the king would cause proclamation to\nbe made throughout the island that so-and-so had been robbed, and that\nthe robber or robbers had been prayed to death. So firm was the belief\nof the people in the power of these prayers, that the criminal, on\nhearing the proclamation, would pine away, refuse food, and fall a\nvictim to his own credulity.[95]\n\n [95] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 171-173.\n\n\nSec. 7. _Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices_\n\nOf the Hawaiian temples, as they existed before the abolition of the\nnative religion, we seem to possess no good and clear description. When\nCaptain Cook first visited Hawaii and was sailing along the coast, he\nnoticed from the ship at every village one or more elevated white\nobjects, like pyramids or rather obelisks; one of them he judged to be\nfifty feet high. On landing to examine it, he could not reach it on\naccount of an intervening pool of water. However, he visited another\nstructure of the same sort in a more accessible situation, and found\nthat it stood in what he calls a burying-ground or _morai_ closely\nresembling those which he had seen in other Polynesian islands and\nespecially in Tahiti. This particular _morai_ was an oblong space, of\nconsiderable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about four feet\nhigh. The area enclosed was loosely paved with smaller stones; and at\none end of it stood the pyramid or obelisk, measuring about four feet\nsquare at the base and about twenty feet high. The four sides were\ncomposed, not of stones, but of small poles interwoven with twigs and\nbranches, thus forming an indifferent wicker-work, hollow or open within\nfrom bottom to top. It seemed to be in a rather ruinous state, but\nenough remained to show that it had been originally covered with the\nlight grey cloth to which the natives attached a religious significance.\nIt was no doubt with similar cloth that the white pyramids or obelisks\nwere covered which Captain Cook beheld in the distance from the deck of\nhis ship. Beside the particular pyramid which he examined Captain Cook\nfound a sacrificial stage or altar with plantains laid upon it. The\npyramids or obelisks which he thus saw and described were presumably the\nstructures in which the priests concealed themselves when they gave\noracles in the name of the god. On the farther side of the area of the\n_morai_ of which Captain Cook has given us a description stood a house\nor shed about ten feet high, forty feet long, and ten broad in the\nmiddle, but tapering somewhat towards the ends. The entrance into it was\nat the middle of the side, which was in the _morai_. On the farther side\nof the house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden images, each cut\nout of a single piece, with pedestals, in all about three feet high, not\nbadly designed nor executed. They were said to represent goddesses\n(_eatooa no veheina_). On the head of one of them was a carved helmet,\nand on the other a cylindrical cap like the head-dress worn at Tahiti.\nIn the middle of the house, and before the two images, was an oblong\nspace, enclosed by a low edging of stone and covered with shreds of the\nsame grey cloth which draped the pyramid or obelisk. Within this\nenclosure seven chiefs lay buried; and outside the house, just on one\nside of the entrance, were two small square spaces in which a man and a\nhog were buried respectively, after being killed and sacrificed to the\ndivinity. At a little distance from these, and near the middle of the\n_morai_, were three more of these square enclosed places, in which three\nchiefs had been interred. In front of their graves was an oblong\nenclosed space in which, as Captain Cook was told, three human victims\nwere buried, each of them having been sacrificed at the funeral of one\nof the three chiefs. Within the area of the _morai_ or burying-ground,\nas Captain Cook calls it, were planted trees of various kinds. Similar\nsanctuaries appeared to Captain Cook to abound in the island; the\nparticular one described by him he believed to be among the least\nconsiderable, being far less conspicuous than several others which he\nhad seen in sailing along the coast.[96]\n\n [96] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 183-187. The cloth-covered pyramid\n or obelisk was called a _henananoo_ (_ib._ p. 187).\n\nFrom his description we may infer that the temples (_morais_) observed\nby him did not contain stone pyramids like those which formed such\nprominent features in the Tahitian sanctuaries and in the burial grounds\nof the Tooitongas in Tongataboo; for the pyramids, or rather obelisks,\nof wicker-work seen by Captain Cook in the Hawaiian sanctuaries were\nobviously structures of a wholly different kind. But there seem to be\nsome grounds for thinking that stone pyramids, built in steps or\nterraces, did occur in some of the Hawaiian temples. Thus Captain King\nsaw a _morai_, as he calls it, which consisted of a square solid pile of\nstones about forty yards long, twenty broad, and fourteen [feet?] in\nheight. The top was flat and well paved, and surrounded by a wooden\nrail, on which were fixed the skulls of captives who had been sacrificed\non the death of chiefs. The ascent to the top of the pile was easy, but\nwhether it was a staircase or an inclined plane is not mentioned by\nCaptain King. At one end of the temple or sacred enclosure was an\nirregular kind of scaffold supported on poles more than twenty feet\nhigh, at the foot of which were twelve images ranged in a semicircle\nwith a sacrificial table or altar in front of them. On the scaffold\nCaptain Cook was made to stand, and there, swathed in red cloth, he\nreceived the adoration of the natives, who offered him a hog and chanted\na long litany in his honour.[97]\n\n [97] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5-7.\n\nWhen Kamehameha was busy conquering the archipelago in the last years of\nthe eighteenth century, he built a great temple (_heiau_) for his\nwar-god Tairi in the island of Hawaii. Some thirty years later the\nruined temple was visited and described by the missionary William Ellis.\nHe says: \"Its shape is an irregular parallelogram, 224 feet long, and\n100 wide. The walls, though built of loose stones, were solid and\ncompact. At both ends, and on the side next the mountains, they were\ntwenty feet high, twelve feet thick at the bottom, but narrowed in\ngradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, six feet\nwide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the sea were not more than\nseven or eight feet high, and were proportionally wide. The entrance to\nthe temple is by a narrow passage between two high walls.... The upper\nterrace within the area was spacious, and much better finished than the\nlower ones. It was paved with flat smooth stones, brought from a\ndistance. At the south end was a kind of inner court, which might be\ncalled the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol\nused to stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities....\nOn the outside, near the entrance to the inner court, was the place of\nthe _rere_ (altar) on which human and other sacrifices were offered. The\nremains of one of the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the\nnatives, and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men and\nanimals, the mouldering remains of those numerous offerings once\npresented there. About the centre of the terrace was the spot where the\nking's sacred house stood, in which he resided during the season of\nstrict _tabu_, and at the north end, the place occupied by the houses of\npriests, who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons\npermitted to dwell within the sacred enclosures. Holes were seen on the\nwalls, all around this, as well as the lower terraces, where wooden\nidols of varied size and shape formerly stood, casting their hideous\nstare in every direction.\"[98]\n\n [98] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 96-98. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ pp. 45 _sq._\n\nFrom this somewhat indistinct description we gather that the temple was\na large oblong area enclosed by high stone walls and open to the sky,\nand that at some place within the enclosure there rose a structure in a\nseries of terraces, of which the uppermost was paved with flat stones\nand supported the king's house, while the houses of the priests stood in\nanother part of the sacred enclosure. If this interpretation is correct,\nwe may infer that the temple resembled a Tahitian _morai_, which was a\nwalled enclosure enclosing a sort of stepped and truncated pyramid built\nof stone.[99] The inference is confirmed by the language used by Captain\nKing in speaking of the temple which he describes, for he calls it a\n_morai_,[100] and the same term is applied to the sacred edifices in\nHawaii by other voyagers.[101]\n\n [99] See above, pp. 278 _sqq._\n\n [100] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5.\n\n [101] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 89 _sq._;\n A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 175.\n\nAnother ruined temple (_heiau_) seen by Ellis in Hawaii, is described by\nhim as built of immense blocks of lava, and measuring a hundred and\nfifty feet long by seventy feet wide. At the north end was a smaller\nenclosure, sixty feet long and ten wide, partitioned off by a high wall,\nwith but one narrow entrance. The places where the idols formerly stood\nwere apparent, though the idols had been removed. The spot where the\naltar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of\nearth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava.\nThe adjacent ground was strewn with bones of the ancient offerings.[102]\nAnother temple (_heiau_), in good preservation, visited by Ellis,\nmeasured no less than two hundred and seventy feet in one direction by\ntwo hundred and ten in another. The walls were thick and solid; on the\ntop of them the stones were piled in a series of small spires. The\ntemple was said to have been built by a queen of Hawaii about eleven\ngenerations back.[103] Once more in one of the _puhonuas_ or cities of\nrefuge, which in Hawaii afforded an inviolable sanctuary to fugitives,\nEllis saw another temple (_heiau_), which he describes as \"a compact\npile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, and ten feet\nhigh. Many fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, of two or more tons\neach, were seen in several parts of the wall, raised at least six feet\nfrom the ground.\" Ellis was told that the city of refuge, of which this\ntemple formed part, had been built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii\nabout two hundred and fifty years before the time when the missionary\nwas writing.[104] From his descriptions we may infer that some at least\nof the Hawaiian temples deserved to rank among megalithic structures,\nand that the natives had definite traditions of the kings or queens by\nwhom the temples had been built.\n\n [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 116.\n\n [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 117 _sq._\n\n [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 169.\n\nIn the island of Oahu a temple (_heiau_) visited by the missionary\nStewart was forty yards long by twenty yards broad. The walls, of dark\nstone, were perfectly regular and well built, about six feet high, three\nfeet wide at the level of the ground, and two feet wide at the top. It\nwas enclosed only on three sides, the oblong area formed by the walls\nbeing open on the west; from that side there was a descent by three\nregular terraces or very broad steps.[105] This brief account confirms\nthe inference which I have drawn from the more detailed description of\nEllis, as to the terraced structure of some Hawaiian temples.\n\n [105] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp.\n 226 _sq._\n\nIn the mountains of Hawaii, at a height of about five thousand feet\nabove the sea, Commodore Wilkes saw the ruins of an ancient temple of\nthe god Kaili (Tairi), round about which stood eight small pyramids\nbuilt of compact blocks of lava laid without cement. These pyramids were\nsaid to have been erected at the command of Umi, an ancient king, to\ncommemorate his conquests. They seem to have measured each some ten or\ntwelve feet square. The temple which they surrounded was about\nninety-two feet long by seventy-two feet wide; the outer walls were\nabout seven feet high and as many thick. Internally the edifice was\ndivided by partition walls three feet high. The building was said to\nhave been formerly covered with idols, of which no traces remained at\nthe time of Wilkes's visit.[106]\n\n [106] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 99 _sq._, with the plate.\n\nOften, apparently, a Hawaiian temple consisted of little more than a\nwalled or palisaded enclosure containing a number of rudely carved\nimages and a place of sacrifice in the form of a platform raised on\npoles. Such a temple is described by the Russian navigator Lisiansky.\nThe images in it were grouped and arranged so as to form a sort of\nsemicircle. The chief priest of the temple informed the Russians \"that\nthe fifteen statues wrapped in cloth represented the gods of war; the\ntwo to the right of the place of sacrifice, the gods of spring; those on\nthe opposite side, the guardians of autumn; and that the altar was\ndedicated to the god of joy, before which the islanders dance and sing\non festivals appointed by their religion.\" With regard to the temples in\ngeneral, Lisiansky observes that they \"were by no means calculated to\nexcite in the mind of a stranger religious veneration. They are suffered\nto remain in so neglected and filthy a condition, that, were it not for\nthe statues, they might be taken rather for hog-sties than places of\nworship.\"[107]\n\n [107] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 105-107. He says (p. 106)\n that the temple was \"called by the natives _Heavoo_, not\n _Morai_, as some navigators have said.\" The word _Heavoo_ is\n probably identical with the word _heiau_, which other writers\n give as the Hawaiian name for a temple. As to the form of the\n temples see also A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 175\n _sq._: \"Their Morais, or places of worship, consist of one large\n house or temple, with some smaller ones round it, in which are\n the images of their inferior gods. The tabooed or consecrated\n precincts are marked out by four square posts, which stand\n thirty or forty yards from the building. In the inside of the\n principal house there is a screen or curtain of white cloth,\n hung across one end within which the image of Etooah [_atua_,\n _akua_] is placed.\" Remy (_op. cit._ p. xl) describes the\n Hawaiian temples as \"simple enclosures of stones, roofless,\n where the religious ceremonies were performed.\"\n\nThe images of the gods were usually carved of wood. When a new idol was\nto be made, a royal and priestly procession went forth, with great\nceremony, to the destined tree, where the king himself, with a stone\naxe, struck the first blow at the root. After the tree was felled, a man\nor a hog was killed and buried on the spot where it had grown.[108]\nSometimes, apparently, the direction to carve an idol out of a\nparticular tree was given by a god in a dream. There is a tradition that\nonce when the woodmen were felling such a tree with their stone axes,\nthe chips flew out and killed two of them; whereupon the other woodmen\ncovered their faces with masks, and cut down the tree with their\ndaggers.[109] Another famous idol was said to be made of wood so\npoisonous, that if chips of it were steeped in water, and anybody drank\nof the water, he would die in less than twenty-four hours.[110] The\nHawaiians seem to have made their idols hideous on purpose to inspire\nterror.[111] The features of some of the images were violently\ndistorted, their mouths set with a double row of the fangs of dogs,\ntheir eyes made of large pearl oysters with black nuts in the middle;\nsome had long pieces of carved wood, shaped like inverted cones, rising\nfrom the top of their heads;[112] some had tongues of a monstrous size,\nothers had no tongues at all; some had mouths that reached from ear to\near; the heads of some were a great deal larger than their bodies.[113]\nSome of the idols were stones. In the island of Hawaii there is a pebbly\nbeach from which pebbles used to be carried away to be deified or to\nrepresent deities. They were generally taken in couples, a male and a\nfemale, and having been wrapt up very carefully together in a piece of\nnative cloth, they were conveyed to a temple (_heiau_), where ceremonies\nof consecration or deification were performed over them.[114]\n\n [108] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 450.\n\n [109] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 92 _sq._\n\n [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 91.\n\n [111] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 101.\n\n [112] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 6, 15; compare A. Campbell, _op.\n cit._ p. 76.\n\n [113] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 107.\n\n [114] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 212 _sq._\n\nThe human sacrifice offered at the making of an idol was intended to\nimpart strength to the image.[115] But human sacrifices were offered on\nmany other occasions, such as on the approach of war, on the death of a\nchief, and so forth. There is a tradition that Umi, a famous king of\nHawaii, once offered eighty men to his god as a thank-offering for\nvictory. The victims were generally prisoners of war, but in default of\ncaptives any men who had broken taboos or rendered themselves obnoxious\nto the chiefs were sacrificed. It does not appear that they were slain\nin the presence of the idol or within the temple, but either on the\noutside or where they were first taken; in all cases an attempt seems to\nhave been made to preserve the body entire or as little mangled as\npossible. Generally the victims were despatched by a blow on the head\nwith a club or stone; sometimes, however, they were stabbed. Having been\nstripped naked, the bodies were carried into the temple and laid in a\nrow, with their faces downwards, on the altar immediately before the\nidol. The priest thereupon, in a kind of prayer, offered them to the\ngods; and if hogs were sacrificed at the same time, they were\nafterwards piled on the human bodies and left there to rot and putrefy\ntogether.[116]\n\n [115] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 161.\n\n [116] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 150-152; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._\n pp. 47 _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xl _sq._ Compare U.\n Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 121 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op.\n cit._ i. 423 _sq._\n\nWhen a new temple was about to be dedicated, some of the people used to\nflee into the mountains to escape being sacrificed. The last human\nsacrifices are said to have been offered in 1807, when the queen of the\nislands was seriously ill.[117] Whenever war was in contemplation, the\ndiviners used to sacrifice animals, generally hogs and fowls, and to\ndraw omens from the manner in which they expired, from the appearance of\ntheir entrails, and from other signs. Sometimes, when the animal was\nslain, they disembowelled it, took out the spleen, and, holding it in\ntheir hands, offered their prayers. But if the contemplated expedition\nwas of any importance or the danger was imminent, human sacrifices were\noffered to ensure the co-operation of the war-gods in the destruction of\ntheir enemies.[118]\n\n [117] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 103.\n\n [118] W. Ellis, iv. 150 _sq._\n\n\nSec. 8. _Festivals_\n\nIn every lunar month the people celebrated four festivals. The festival\nof the new moon lasted three nights and two days; the three others\nlasted two nights and one day. These nights and days were taboo or\nsacred: men who took part in the festivals might not speak to a woman\nunder pain of death, and all the people were forbidden to sail the sea,\nto fish, to make bark-cloth, and to play games.[119] Besides these\nmonthly festivals there was one called Macahity, which lasted for a\nwhole month and seems to have celebrated the end of the old year. It\nfell in November, and has been compared by Lisiansky to our festival of\nChristmas. He tells us that \"it continues a whole month, during which\nthe people amuse themselves with dances, plays, and sham-fights of every\nkind. The king must open this festival wherever he is. On this occasion,\nhis majesty dresses himself in his richest cloak and helmet, and is\npaddled in a canoe along the shore, followed sometimes by many of his\nsubjects. He embarks early, and must finish his excursion at sun-rise.\nThe strongest and most expert of the warriors is chosen to receive him\non his landing. This warrior watches the royal canoe along the beach;\nand as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off his cloak, he darts\nhis spear at him, from a distance of about thirty paces, and the king\nmust either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer from it: there is no\njesting in the business. Having caught it, he carries it under his arm,\nwith the sharp end downwards, into the temple or _heavoo_. On his\nentrance, the assembled multitude begin their sham-fights, and\nimmediately the air is obscured by clouds of spears, made for the\noccasion with blunted ends. Hamamea [the king, Kamehameha] has been\nfrequently advised to abolish this ridiculous ceremony, in which he\nrisks his life every year; but to no effect. His answer always is, that\nhe is as able to catch a spear, as any one on the island is to throw it\nat him. During the Macahity, all punishments are remitted throughout the\ncountry; and no person can leave the place in which he commences these\nholidays, let the affair requiring his absence be ever so\nimportant.\"[120] The ceremony of throwing a spear at the king during the\nfestival of Macahity has been described also by the Scotch sailor\nArchibald Campbell, who may have witnessed it. He says: \"The king\nremains in the _morai_ for the whole period; before entering it, a\nsingular ceremony takes place. He is obliged to stand till three spears\nare darted at him: he must catch the first with his hand, and with it\nward off the other two. This is not a mere formality. The spear is\nthrown with the utmost force; and should the king lose his life, there\nis no help for it.\"[121] This curious rite may perhaps have been a relic\nof an old custom which obliged the king to submit once a year to the\nordeal of battle, in order to prove his fitness for a renewed tenure of\noffice, death being the penalty of defeat and the kingdom the reward of\nvictory in the combat.[122] During the continuance of the festival the\npriests were employed in collecting the taxes, which were paid by the\nchiefs in proportion to the extent of their territories; these taxes\nconsisted of mats, feathers, and the produce of the country. The people\ncelebrated the festival by dancing, wrestling, and other\namusements.[123] The victor in the boxing matches and martial evolutions\nwas crowned and treated as king of the festival, which was held in\nhonour of the god Rono.[124]\n\n [119] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 595. Compare U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 118.\n According to the latter writer, there were no taboos (festivals)\n in the eleventh month.\n\n [120] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 118 _sq._ From\n A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 178, we learn that the\n festival fell in November, and from a brief native notice we may\n gather that the New Year celebration was the festival of\n Macahity. See J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_, pp.\n 167, 169, \"_a la celebration de la nouvelle annee, les citoyens,\n les chefs, les femmes, les enfants se livraient a des boxes\n furieuses, et plusieurs recevaient dans ces jeux des blessures\n tres graves_.\"\n\n [121] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 179.\n\n [122] Compare _The Golden Bough_, Part III. _The Dying God_, pp.\n 117 _sq._\n\n [123] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 178 _sq._\n\n [124] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 88 _sq._\n\nNo one might go to war during the New Year festival; all the people had\nto repair to the temples (_morais_). Three kinds of idols were\nworshipped at this season; the principal of them, called Kekou-Aroha,\nwas carried round the island by a priest; everything that he could seize\nwith his left hand he had the right to appropriate, whether it was dogs,\npigs, vegetables, or what not; and any person on whom he in like manner\nlaid a hand was bound to assist him in carrying or leading to the temple\nthe tribute or booty he had thus taken possession of.[125]\n\n [125] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 596.\n\nOf the rigour with which the laws of taboo were enforced during one of\nthese festivals we may gather an idea from a statement of the Russian\nnavigator von Kotzebue. He says: \"As Kareimoku's guests, we were present\nat the celebration of a _Tabu pori_, which lasted from the setting of\nthe sun to sunrise on the third day. It is already known what degree of\nsanctity is imparted to him who joins in this communion with the gods\nduring the time. Should he accidentally touch a woman, she must be\ninstantly put to death. Should he enter a woman's house, the flames must\nimmediately consume it.\"[126]\n\n [126] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea\n and Beering's Straits_, iii. 248 _sq._ Compare A. von Chamisso,\n _Reise um die Welt_ (Leipzig, 1836), ii. 312.\n\n\nSec.9. _Death and Funeral Rites_\n\nThe Hawaiians explained life as usual by the hypothesis of a soul\n(_uhane_), which animated the whole body, but had its seat especially in\nthe sockets of the eyes, and above all in the lachrymal gland. During\nsleep the soul quits the body, wanders away, and sees the places and\nthings which appear to it in dreams; usually it returns in time to\nresume its functions in the body without endangering the health of the\nsleeper. Occasionally, however, it happens that in its rambles it loses\nits way through falling in with a ghost or spectre, who frightens it;\nbut even then it may be brought back with the help of a familiar spirit\ndespatched to seek out and guide home the wanderer. When a man falls\nsick, his soul begins to feel ill at ease in his body, and if the\nsickness proves fatal, the soul quits him never to return.[127]\nAccording to another account, the Hawaiians held that every man had two\nsouls in his body, of which one never left him in life, while the other\nwent forth from time to time in dreams or ecstasy, but only to return to\nits corporeal tabernacle. Sometimes a diviner would warn a man that he\nhad seen his dream-soul roaming about, and that perhaps it might never\ncome back, because a certain deity was angry with him. Upon that the\nterrified owner of the soul would naturally engage the diviner to\nrecover his spiritual property by propitiating the angry deity with a\nvaluable offering.[128]\n\n [127] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 272 _sq._\n\n [128] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 39 note; A. Marcuse, _Die\n Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 105.\n\nSickness was commonly explained by the presence in the sufferer of an\nevil spirit, who must be exorcised if the patient was to be restored to\nhealth. For this purpose the services of a priest (_kahuna_) were\nengaged, who by the recitation of a suitable incantation invited or\ncompelled the demon to declare through the mouth of the sick man why he\nhad entered into him, and on what terms he would consent to take his\ndeparture. Sometimes, the demon was induced to perch on the head or\nshoulders of one of the bystanders, and from that coign of vantage to\nanswer the interrogatory of the priest. But at other times he burrowed\nso deep into the patient's body and held his tongue so obstinately, that\nthe priest had no alternative but to prick the sick man's body with\nbamboo needles and to drop water into his eyes in order to drive out the\nevil spirit.[129]\n\n [129] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 269.\n\nWhen all remedies had proved vain and death had followed, the bodies of\ncommon people were buried in a crouching position. The upper part of the\nbody was raised; the face was bent forwards to meet the knees; the hands\nwere put under the hams and passed up between the knees; then head,\nhands, and knees were bound together with cinnet or cord. Afterwards the\ncorpse was wrapt up in a coarse mat and interred on the first or second\nday after death. But the corpses of chiefs and priests were not thus\ndoubled up; they were laid out straight, wrapt up in many folds of\nnative cloth, and buried in that posture. Priests were generally\ncommitted to the earth within the precincts of the temple in which they\nhad officiated. A pile of stones or a circle of high poles marked their\ngrave. But it was only the bodies of priests or of persons of some\nimportance that were thus interred. For ordinary people natural graves\nwere preferred, where suitable places could be found, such as caves in\nthe face of cliffs or large subterranean grottos. Sometimes the\ninhabitants of a village deposited their dead in one great cavern, but\ngenerally each family had a distinct sepulchral cave. Their artificial\ngraves were either simple pits dug in the earth or large enclosures,\nwhich might be surrounded with high stone walls so as to resemble the\nordinary temples (_heiaus_). Occasionally they buried their dead in\nsequestered spots near their dwellings, but often in their gardens, and\nsometimes in their houses. The graves were not deep, and the bodies were\nusually placed in them in a sitting posture.[130] A rude method of\nembalming by means of the flower of the sugar-cane was often practised,\nwhereby the entrails and brains were extracted and the body\ndesiccated.[131] When the dead was interred in the dwelling, the house\nwas not uncommonly shut up and deserted, the survivors seeking for\nthemselves a new habitation.[132] The custom no doubt sprang from a fear\nof the ghosts, which were supposed to linger about their final\nresting-places and to injure such as came within their reach; hence\ntheir apparitions were much dreaded. For the same reason burials were\nconducted in a private manner and by night. If people were seen carrying\na dead body past a house, the inmates would abuse or even stone them for\nnot taking it some other way; for they imagined that the ghost would ply\nto and fro between the grave and his old home along the path by which\nhis corpse had been carried.[133] Sometimes, apparently, to prevent the\nghost from straying, his grave was enclosed by a sort of fence composed\nof long poles stuck in the ground at intervals of three or four inches\nand fastened together at the top. At all events Ellis saw a priest's\ntomb thus enclosed, and he received this explanation of the fence from\nsome people; though others merely said that it was a custom so to inter\npersons of consequence.[134] Nightmare was believed to be caused by a\nghost attempting to strangle the dreamer; under the influence of this\nbelief a strong man has been seen to run shrieking down the street,\ntugging with both hands at his throat to tear the incubus away, till he\nreached the door of a neighbour's house and, bursting in, fell fainting\non the floor. He thought that the ghost of a chief, who had died the day\nbefore, had a grip on his throat and was trying to throttle him.[135]\nSometimes, however, affection for the dead sufficed to overcome the fear\nof the ghost, and the mouldering bones were carried about as relics by\nrelations and friends.[136] When the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell\nwas in the islands in the early years of the nineteenth century, his\npatroness the queen kept by her the bones of her father wrapt up in a\npiece of cloth. Whenever she slept in her own house, the bones were\nplaced by her side; in her absence they were set on a feather-bed which\nshe had received from the captain of a ship, and which she used only for\nthis purpose. On being asked by the Scotchman why she observed this\nsingular custom, she replied that it was because she loved her father so\ndearly.[137] More usually, however, the bones of a beloved chief were\ncarefully hidden to prevent his enemies from finding them and making\narrow-heads out of them, with which to hunt rats, or otherwise profaning\nthem. Hence there was a proverb to the effect that the bones of bad\nchiefs were not concealed. When the great King Kamehameha died in 1819,\nhis bones were hidden and disappeared completely in some secret\ncave.[138]\n\n [130] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 359 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ pp. 73 _sq._\n\n [131] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 73; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p.\n xlvii.\n\n [132] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 429.\n\n [133] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 360 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op.\n cit._ p. 74; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inslen_, p. 109.\n\n [134] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 129.\n\n [135] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London,\n 1851), pp. 11 _sq._, quoting Sheldon Dibble, _History of the\n Sandwich Islands_, p. 99.\n\n [136] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98; A.\n Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 261.\n\n [137] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 206 _sq._\n\n [138] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 153.\n\nThe death of a king or great chief in former days was the occasion for\nthe observance of some singular ceremonies and customs. The grief, real\nor pretended, of the people found expression in many extravagant forms.\nMen and women knocked out some of their front teeth with stones; but the\ncustom seems to have been observed even more extensively by men than by\nwomen. The kinsmen or friends of the deceased chief set the example, and\ntheir retainers were obliged to imitate them. Sometimes a man broke out\nhis own tooth with a stone, but more usually the service was rendered\nhim by another, who fixed one end of a stick against the tooth and\nhammered the stick with a stone till the tooth broke off. If the men\ndeferred the operation, the women would perform it on them in their\nsleep. More than one tooth was seldom sacrificed at one time; but as the\nmutilation was repeated at the decease of every chief of rank or\nauthority, few men of mature years were to be seen with a whole set of\nteeth, and many lost all their front teeth both in the upper and the\nlower jaw. Another mutilation practised at such times was to cut one or\nboth ears, but it seems to have been comparatively rare. Much commoner\nwas the custom of burning circles or semi-circles on the face or breast\nby means of strips of burning bark. The mourners also polled their hair\nin various ways. Sometimes they made bald a small round piece on the\ncrown of the head, like the tonsure of Catholic priests; sometimes they\nshaved or cropped close the whole head except round the edge, where a\nshort fringe was left to hang down; sometimes they made their heads\nquite bald on one side and allowed the hair to remain long on the other;\noccasionally they cut out a patch in the shape of a horse-shoe either at\nthe back of the head or above the forehead; sometimes they shore a\nnumber of curved furrows from ear to ear or from the forehead to the\nneck. When a chief who had lost a relative or friend had his own hair\ncut after any particular pattern, his followers and dependants usually\ncropped their hair in the same style. Not to clip or shave the hair in\nmourning was regarded as disrespectful to the dead, but the particular\nmanner of cutting it was left to the taste of the individual.[139] Some\npeople in their frenzy knocked out their eyes with clubs and stones and\ncut as well as burned their flesh.[140] Another peculiar badge of\nmourning, adopted principally by the chiefs, was a black spot or line\ntattooed on the tongue. The painful operation was performed by\npuncturing the tongue with sharp fish-bones dipped in colouring\nmatter.[141] But though these personal mutilations were popular and\nalmost universal on the decease of chiefs, they appear not to have been\npractised by the common people among themselves. Thus a wife did not\nknock out her teeth on the death of her husband, and a son did not thus\nexpress his grief for the loss of his parents, nor they for the death of\na child.[142]\n\n [139] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 175 _sqq._, 181. Compare U.\n Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 123; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 142\n _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii.\n\n [140] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p.\n 166; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._\n\n [141] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 177, 180 _sq._\n\n [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 180.\n\nSimilar extravagances in the expression of grief were commonly exhibited\nby mourners, as we have seen, in other parts of Polynesia; but in Hawaii\nthe rites observed at the death of a king or high chief were in so far\npeculiar that they assumed the character of a Saturnalia or orgy of\nunbridled lust and crime. On this subject the Russian navigator\nLisiansky, who visited the islands while the ancient system of\nsuperstition was still in full vogue, reports as follows: \"On the death\nof the king, a scene of horror takes place that is hardly credible.\nTwelve men are sacrificed; and shortly after the whole island abandons\nitself for a month to the utmost disorder and licentiousness. During\nthis period, both sexes go entirely naked, and men cohabit with women\nwithout any distinction: the woman who should dare to make resistance,\nwould be considered as violating the laws of the country. The same\nlicentiousness is observed on the death of a noble; but it does not\nextend beyond the domains of the deceased, and is of a much shorter\nduration, not continuing, as Mr. Young informed me, more than a few\ndays, though attempts are made by the youth of the party to prolong the\nperiod. Those who are put to death on the demise of the king, or any\ngreat personage, are such as have offered themselves for the purpose\nduring the life of their master; and they are in consequence considered\nand treated by him as his best friends, since they have sworn to live\nand die with him. When I reflect upon the horrid nature of this\nceremony, I hardly know how to credit its existence amongst a race of\nmen so mild and good as these islanders in general appear to be; but Mr.\nYoung, whose veracity I had no reason to doubt, assured me of the\nfact.\"[143]\n\n [143] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 122 _sq._\n\nThis John Young, who gave Lisiansky information as to the customs and\nreligion of the Hawaiians, was an Englishman who had resided in the\nislands for many years at the time of the Russian navigator's visit in\n1804. Originally a sailor, born at Liverpool, he had been compulsorily\ndetained by the natives when he landed from his ship in Hawaii in March\n1790. But from the first he received the kindest treatment from the\nking, Kamehameha, whose full confidence and high esteem he enjoyed and\ndeserved. The king gave him a fine estate and appointed him to several\nresponsible offices; in particular Young was governor of Hawaii for no\nless than nine years during the king's absence. He married a native\nwoman of rank, by whom he had six children. While he remained warmly\nattached to his native country and rendered essential services to\nEnglish vessels touching at the islands, he remained a voluntary exile\nfor forty-five years in Hawaii, where he died at the patriarchal age of\nninety-two in December 1835. During this long period he enjoyed the\nfavour of the kings, chiefs, and people, and was highly respected and\nesteemed for his intelligence and good offices by European voyagers to\nthe islands.[144] Thus he had the best opportunities for acquainting\nhimself with the customs and beliefs of the natives, and it is much to\nbe regretted that of the ample store of knowledge which he thus acquired\nnothing remains but a few scattered notices recorded by travellers to\nwhom he had verbally communicated them.\n\n [144] G. Vancouver, _Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific\n Ocean and round the World_ (London, 1798), ii. 135 _sq._; W.\n Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 96; Tyerman and Bennet,\n _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, i. 377 _sq._; F. D. Bennett,\n _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 238 _sq._\n\nIn 1809, some five years after Lisiansky's visit to Hawaii, the Scotch\nsailor Archibald Campbell witnessed one of these Saturnalia held on the\noccasion of the death of the king's brother. He says: \"The public\nmourning that took place on this occasion was of so extraordinary a\nnature that had I not been an eye-witness, I could not have given credit\nto it. The natives cut out their hair, and went about completely naked.\nMany of them, particularly the women, disfigured themselves, by knocking\nout their front teeth, and branding their faces with red-hot stones, and\nthe small end of calabashes, which they held burning to their faces till\na circular mark was produced; whilst, at the same time, a general, I\nbelieve I may say an universal, public prostitution of the women took\nplace. The queens, and the widow of the deceased, were alone exempted.\nWhen the captain of a ship that lay in the harbour remonstrated with the\nking upon these disgraceful scenes, he answered, that such was the law,\nand he could not prevent them.\"[145]\n\n [145] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 142 _sq._\n\nTo these enormities the French navigator L. de Freycinet bore similar\ntestimony a few years later. He says: \"The despair which is affected\nafter the loss of royal personages or great nobles presents also a\nremarkable resemblance to what takes place under similar circumstances\namong the inhabitants of the Marianne Islands. When we landed in Owhyhi\n[Hawaii], signs of sorrow everywhere presented themselves to our eyes\nand witnessed to the excesses that had been committed at the recent\ndeath of Tamehameha. At such a crisis anarchy displays all its horrors:\nthe laws and the rules of taboo are broken without shame: the prohibited\nfoods are devoured without scruple, chiefly by the women: the rights of\nproperty are ignored; force becomes the supreme law: the voice of chiefs\nis powerless: old enmities are avenged by blood or pillage: in a word,\nincredible scenes of disorder, of cruelty, and of lust are everywhere\nrenewed under the stimulus of impunity. Calm does not begin to reign\nagain until the heir is definitely invested with the royal power. Such\nis the mode in which the common people, freed for the moment from all\nrestraint, express the grief which they are supposed to feel at the\ndeath of their sovereign.\"[146]\n\n [146] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 602.\n\nThe early missionaries to Hawaii also testified to the disorders which\nprevailed on these occasions, though they seem not to have witnessed\nthem. From their accounts we gather that at such times the rights of\nproperty were as little respected as the chastity of women. \"On such an\noccasion,\" says Stewart, \"every restraint was cast off, and all were in\nthe habit of following the impulse of any and every wild passion that\nmight seize them. Rights of person or of property were no longer\nregarded; and he who had the greatest muscular powers committed whatever\ndepredation he chose, and injured any one he thought proper. Even the\nchiefs lost their ordinary pre-eminence, and could exert no influence of\nrestraint on the excesses of their subjects. It was the time of\nredressing private wrongs, by committing violence on the property and\nperson of an enemy; and everything that any one possessed was liable to\nbe taken from him. Their grief was expressed by the most shocking\npersonal outrages, not only by tearing off their clothes entirely, but\nby knocking out their eyes and teeth with clubs and stones, and pulling\nout their hair, and by burning and cutting their flesh; while\ndrunkenness, riot, and every species of debauchery continued to be\nindulged in for days after the death of the deceased.\"[147] To the same\neffect Ellis writes that \"as soon as the chief had expired, the whole\nneighbourhood exhibited a scene of confusion, wickedness, and cruelty,\nseldom witnessed even in the most barbarous society. The people ran to\nand fro without their clothes, appearing and acting more like demons\nthan human beings; every vice was practised, and almost every species of\ncrime perpetrated. Houses were burnt, property plundered, even murder\nsometimes committed, and the gratification of every base and savage\nfeeling sought without restraint. Injuries or accidents, long forgotten\nperhaps by the offending party, were now revenged with unrelenting\ncruelty.\"[148] According to Jarves, the early historian of Hawaii, on\nthese occasions no women were exempt from violation except the widows of\nthe deceased.[149]\n\n [147] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp.\n 165 _sq._\n\n [148] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 177.\n\n [149] J. J. Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich\n Islands_, p. 66. Compare J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii.\n\nSuch outbursts of passion, released from all restraints of custom or\nlaw, are not unknown elsewhere on the occasion of a death. Among the\nBa-ila of Northern Rhodesia it is customary at funerals for the women to\nsing lewd songs. \"Under ordinary circumstances it would be reckoned\ntaboo for women to utter such things in the presence of men; but at\nfunerals all restraints are removed. People do as they like. Grass may\nbe plucked out of the thatched roofs; the fields may be robbed of the\ngrowing corn; all passions are let loose; and no complaint for damage,\ntheft, or adultery can be made. This last item used to be the case;\nnowadays fines are claimed.\"[150]\n\n [150] E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The Ila-speaking Peoples of\n Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), ii. 113 _sq._\n\nThe number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a chief varied\nwith his rank. For a king of Hawaii the general number would seem to\nhave been ten or twelve.[151] But when King Kamehameha died in 1819, the\npriest declared somewhat differently the custom in regard to human\nsacrifice on such an occasion. When the corpse had been removed from the\nking's own dwelling to a consecrated house for the performance of the\nproper rites, a sacred hog was baked and offered to it by the priest;\nfor the dead king was now deemed to be a god. Then addressing the chiefs\nand the new king, the priest spoke as follows: \"I will now make known to\nyou the rules to be observed respecting persons to be sacrificed on the\nburial of his body. If you obtain one man before the corpse is removed,\none will be sufficient; but after it leaves this house four will be\nrequired. If delayed until we carry the corpse to the grave, there must\nbe ten; but after it is deposited in the grave, there must be fifteen.\nTo-morrow morning there will be a tabu, and if the sacrifice be delayed\nuntil that time, forty men must die.\" However, on this occasion, no\nhuman blood was shed, but three hundred dogs were sacrificed.[152] The\nvictims who were killed at the death of the king, princes, and\ndistinguished chiefs, and were buried with their remains, belonged to\nthe lowest class of society. In certain families the obligation of dying\nwith the different members of such or such a noble house was hereditary,\nso that at the birth of a child it was known at whose death he must be\nsacrificed. The victims knew their destiny, and their lot seems to have\nhad no terror for them.[153]\n\n [151] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 145; U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p.\n 122.\n\n [152] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 189, 190. Compare J. Remy,\n _op. cit._ pp. 125, 127; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one\n Years in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 71.\n\n [153] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea\n and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247.\n\nAt Honaunau, in the island of Hawaii, there was a sort of mausoleum in\nwhich the bones of dead kings and princes were deposited. For some\nreason it was spared in the general destruction of pagan monuments which\ntook place in 1819, and it was still almost intact when the missionary\nEllis visited and described it a few years later. It was a compact\nbuilding, twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet wide, built of the most\ndurable timber, and thatched with leaves. It stood on a bed of lava\njutting out into the sea, and was surrounded by a strong fence, leaving\na paved area in front and at the two ends. Several rudely carved male\nand female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure,\nsome on low pedestals under the shade of a tree, others on high posts\nplanted on the jutting rocks which overhung the edge of the water. A\nnumber of effigies stood on the fence at unequal distances all around;\nbut the principal assemblage of idols was at the south-east end of the\nenclosed space, where twelve of them stood in a semicircle on a\ncrescent-shaped basement of stone raised about two feet above the\npavement. Some of them rested on small pedestals, others on pillars\neight or ten feet high. The principal idol, distinguished by the\nvariety and superiority of the carving on its body and especially\non its head, stood in the middle, the others on either side of it,\n\"as if perpetual guardians of 'the mighty dead' reposing in the house\nadjoining.\"[154]\n\n [154] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 164 _sq._\n\nWhen a death had taken place, the house in which it occurred, was deemed\ndefiled, and continued in that state until after the burial. But if the\ndeceased was a chief, the whole land was polluted, and the heirs sought\na residence in another part of the country, until the corpse was\ndissected and the bones tied in a bundle; for when that was done the\nseason of defilement terminated. Hence on the death of King Kamehameha,\nhis son and successor, Liholiho, had to retire for a time to another\ndistrict.[155]\n\n [155] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 191; H. Bingham, _Residence of\n Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 71 _sq._; J.\n Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 127, 129.\n\n\nSec. 10. _Fate of the Soul after Death_\n\nThe Hawaiians in general believed that the human soul exists after\ndeath, but their notions on the subject were, as usual, vague, confused,\nand contradictory. Some said that all the souls of the departed went to\nthe Po, or place of night, and were there annihilated or eaten by the\ngods.[156] According to another account, the souls of the dead that had\nno claim to divinity fluttered about their old homes till the moment\narrived when they became the food of the gods. It is not certain, adds\nde Freycinet, that they recognised the immortality of the soul in the\ncase of persons of the lowest class.[157] Others said that some souls\nwent to the regions of Akea (Wakea) and Miru (Milu), two ancient kings\nof Hawaii. Of these two, Akea was reported to have been the first king\nof the island. When he died, he descended into the nether world and\nthere founded a kingdom. His successor on the throne of Hawaii, by name\nMiru or Milu, also descended into the underworld at death, and shared\nthe government of the infernal realm with his predecessor Akea. Their\nland is a place of darkness, their food, lizards and butterflies. But\nthere are streams of water of which they drink, and wide-spreading trees\nunder which they recline.[158] Milu is described as the Hawaiian Pluto,\nthe lord of the lower world to whose dominions departed spirits go. His\nabode was in the west, hence the ghosts of such as died on the eastern\nshore of an island always had to cross to the western shore before they\ncould set out for their final place of rest in the spirit land. Some\nsaid that Milu had his dwelling under the ocean, and that he was the\nprince of wicked spirits.[159] However, according to some accounts, the\ntwo ancient kings, Milu and Akea, ruled over separate regions in the\nspirit land, which were tabooed to each other, so that nobody could pass\nfrom the one to the other. Akea or Wakea dwelt in the upper region, and\nthere the souls of chiefs dwelt with him; whereas Milu occupied the\nmuddy lower region, and there the souls of common folk abode with him.\nIn the upper region all was peaceful and orderly, and there persons who\nhad faithfully complied with the precepts of religion in life were\nreceived after death. On the other hand the lower region, ruled over by\nMilu, was noisy and disorderly; evil spirits played their pranks there,\nand the souls of the dead subsisted on lizards and butterflies.[160]\nWhen persons recovered from a death-like swoon, it was supposed that\ntheir souls had gone to the underworld and been sent back to earth by\nMilu. The best account of the spirit land was given by one who had spent\neight days in it, and on returning to life reported to his family what\nhe had seen. According to his observations, the spirit land is flat and\nfruitful, it is tolerably well lighted, and everything grows there\nspontaneously, so that, contrary to some reports, the palace of Milu is\na really delightful place. Milu himself is not married to any one\nparticular wife; but from time to time he chooses for his consorts the\nmost beautiful of the female ghosts when they arrive in deadland, and\nthe women thus honoured are naturally taboo for the male ghosts. All\nsouls live there in exactly the same state in which they quitted their\nbodies. The souls of those who died young, especially of those who fell\nin battle, are hale and strong; whereas the souls of those who perished\nof disease are sickly and weak, and weak, too, are the souls of such as\ndied in old age.[161]\n\n [156] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 365 _sq._\n\n [157] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 594.\n\n [158] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 366; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p.\n 38; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 262. Ellis gives\n Miru as the form of the name, but the correct Hawaiian form is\n Milu; for in the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian R is\n replaced by L. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative\n Dictionary_, p. xxiii. In New Zealand and Mangaia the name Miru\n was given to the goddess of hell or of the dead. See E. Tregear,\n _op. cit._ pp. 243, 244, _s.v._ \"Miru.\"\n\n [159] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp.\n 243 _sq._, _s.v._ \"Miru.\"\n\n [160] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London,\n 1851), p. 12; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 264\n _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99.\n\n [161] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 264.\n\nThere were three places in the islands from which the ghosts took their\ndeparture for the other world. One was at the northern extremity of the\nisland of Hawaii; one was at the western end of Maui; and one was at the\nsouthern point of Oahu.[162] According to one account, the ghosts on\ntheir passage to Milu's subterranean realm went westward in the\ndirection of the setting sun, and either leaped from a rock into the sea\nor vanished into a hole in the ground.[163]\n\n [162] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 12; A.\n Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99.\n\n [163] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 265.\n\nBut before bidding a last farewell to earth, the soul of the deceased\nwas believed to linger for a time in the neighbourhood of the grave or\nof the house. It had now become an _akua_ or divine spirit, but during\nits stay on earth it was dreaded as an _akua-lapu_ or \"terrifying\nspirit,\" because it appeared to the living as a spectre or ghost. In\ntime, however, it grew weaker and weaker and gradually disappeared\naltogether, like the other spirits (_akuas_). By that time it had found\na guide to show it the way to Milu's realm, from which there is no\nreturn. Sometimes, however, the guardian god of a family would oppose\nthe passage of a soul to the other world, and send it back to life, so\nthat the seemingly dead man recovered.[164] It is said to have been a\nfirmly established belief that the dead appeared to the living and\ncommunicated with them in dreams.[165] The priests in particular were\nfavoured with such messages from the other world.[166]\n\n [164] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 266.\n\n [165] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.\n 594.\n\n [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 367.\n\nA legend tells how a certain chief of Hawaii, sorrowing for the death of\nhis wife, applied to a priest, who furnished him with a god called\nKane-i-kou-alii (God of Chiefs), to guide him to the nether world of\nMilu, whither his beloved spouse had departed. Journeying together, the\ngod and the man came to the end of the world, where grew a tree, which\nsplit open and allowed them to glide down into the depths. There the god\nhid behind a rock and allowed the chief to go on alone, but first he\nrubbed stinking oil over the chief's body. On arriving at Milu's palace\nthe chief found the whole court full of spirits engaged in such noisy\nand tumultuous sports, that he could steal in among them unobserved, all\nthe more because the nearest spirits mistook him for a ghost newly\narrived with the stench of his dead body still on him, so that they\nturned away from him in disgust and made uncomplimentary remarks on his\nunsavoury condition. When they had played all sorts of games, the chief\nsuggested that, as a new form of sport, they should all take out their\neyes and throw them in a heap. The suggestion was accepted, and every\none hastened to comply with it. But the chief took care to mark where\nthe eyes of Milu fell, and snatching them up he hid them in the coco-nut\nbeaker which he carried with him. As all the spirits were now blind, it\nwas easy for the chief to make his way to the neighbouring realm of Akea\nor Wakea, which was tabooed to the spirits that swarmed in Milu's\nkingdom and might not be entered by them. However, after long\nnegotiations, Milu was allowed to recover his eyes, on condition that\nthe soul of the chief's wife should be sent back to earth and reunited\nto her body, which was happily accomplished.[167]\n\n [167] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 265 _sq._\n\nThe Hawaiians were not without some notion of a general resurrection of\nthe dead. When the missionary William Ellis was conversing with some of\nthe natives on that subject, they said that they had heard of it before\nfrom a native priest named Kapihe, who had lived at their village in the\ntime of King Kamehameha. The priest told the king that at his death he\nwould see his ancestors, and that hereafter all the kings, chiefs, and\npeople of Hawaii would live again. When Ellis asked them how this would\nbe effected, and with what circumstances it would be attended, whether\nthey would live again in Hawaii or in Miru (Milu), the Hades of the\nSandwich Islands, they replied that there were two gods, who conducted\nthe departed spirits of their chiefs to some place in the heavens, where\nthe souls of kings and chiefs sometimes dwelt, and that afterwards the\ntwo divine conductors returned with the royal and princely souls to\nearth, where they accompanied the movements and watched over the\ndestinies of their survivors. The name of one of these gods was\nKaonohiokala, which means the eyeball of the sun; and the name of the\nother was Kuahairo. Now Kapihe was priest to the latter god, and\nprofessed to have received a revelation, in accordance with which he\ninformed King Kamehameha that, when the monarch should depart this life,\nthe god Kuahairo would carry his spirit to the sky and afterwards\naccompany it back to earth again, whereupon his body would be restored\nto life and youth; that he would have his wives again and resume his\ngovernment in Hawaii; that at the same time the existing generation\nwould see and know their parents and ancestors, and that all the people\nwho had died would rise again from the dead.[168] It is to be feared,\nhowever, that the priest was a deceiver; for King Kamehameha has not yet\ncome to life again, and up to the present time the general resurrection\nhas not taken place in Hawaii.\n\n [168] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 144 _sq._\n\nThat must conclude what I have to say about the belief in immortality\nand the worship of the dead in Polynesia, The notions which the\nPolynesians entertained on this subject cannot but strike a civilised\nEuropean as childish, while the customs which they based on them must\nappear to him in great part foolish, even where they were not barbarous\nand cruel. How far such childish notions and foolish customs tend to\nconfirm or to refute the widespread, almost universal, belief in the\nsurvival of the human soul after death, is a question which I must leave\nmy readers to answer for themselves.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE\n\nTABOO AMOUNG THE MAORIS\n\n\nThe power which Maori chiefs possessed of imposing, or at all\nevents of enforcing, a taboo seems not to have been quite so absolute\nas might perhaps be inferred from the statement in the text.[1] We\nare told that the power of the taboo mainly depended on the influence\nof the person who imposed it. If it were put on by a great\nchief, it would not be broken, but a powerful man often violated the\ntaboo of an inferior. A chief, for example, would frequently lay one\nof these sacred interdicts on a road or a river, and then nobody\nwould dare to go by either, unless he felt himself strong enough to\nset the chief's taboo at defiance. The duration of the taboo was\narbitrary, and depended on the will of the person who imposed it.\nSimilarly with the extent to which the prohibition applied: sometimes\nit was limited to a particular object, sometimes it embraced\nmany: sometimes it was laid on a single spot, at other times it\ncovered a whole district.[2]\n\n [1] Above, p. 47.\n\n [2] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its\n Inhabitants_, Second Edition (London, 1870), p. 168. Compare J.\n Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de\n la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 530.\n\nTo render a place taboo a chief had only to tie one of his old\ngarments to a pole and stick it up on the spot which he proposed\nto make sacred, while at the same time he declared that the prohibited\narea was part of his own body, such as his backbone, or\nthat it bore the name of one of his ancestors. In the latter case\nall the persons descended from that particular ancestor were in\nduty bound to rally to the defence of the chief's taboo, and the\nmore distant the ancestor, and the more numerous his descendants,\nthe greater the number of the champions thus pledged to the\nsupport of the family honour. Hence the longer a man's pedigree,\nthe better chance he stood of maintaining his taboo against all\ncomers, for the larger was the troop of adherents whom he enlisted\nin its defence. Thus chiefs, with family trees which reached backward\nto the gods, were in a far better position to make good\ntheir arbitrary interdicts than mere ordinary mortals, who hardly\nremembered their grandfathers. In this as in other respects the\ntaboo was essentially an aristocratic institution.[3]\n\n [3] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 169.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n Abortions, spirits of, dreaded, 49 _n._^1\n\n Adam, the Hawaiian, 393\n\n Adoption among the Marquesans, 339\n\n Aesculapius, the Hawaiian, 398\n\n _Afiatouca_, burial-place, 102, 103\n\n Agriculture of Maoris, 8 _sq._;\n of the Tongans, 59 _sq._;\n Samoan, 164 _sqq._;\n of the Hervey Islanders, 221 _sq._;\n of the Society Islanders, 249;\n of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._\n\n Air, gods of the, 277\n\n _Aitu_, Samoan gods embodied in visible objects, animals, birds, etc.,\n 182, 201, 207\n\n Akaanga, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 242, 244\n\n Akea (Wakea), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 430\n\n _Akua_, god, in the Hawaiian dialect, equivalent to _atua_, 392, 398\n\n _Akuas_, spirits, 429\n\n Alai Valoo, a Tongan god, 74\n\n Alo Alo, a Tongan god, 71 _sq._\n\n Altars in the Society Islands, 291\n\n Amable, Father, Catholic missionary, 367\n\n Ambler, English sailor, 84\n\n Amusements of the Marquesans, 339 _sqq._\n\n Ancestors worshipped by Maoris, 32 _sqq._;\n skulls of, brought out at marriages, 288, 311\n\n Ancestral spirits watch over the living, 33;\n do not follow their kinsfolk among strangers, 34;\n cause disease, 49;\n worshipped by Society Islanders, 300, 315;\n guardians of newly wedded pairs, 311\n\n Angas, G. F., 48 _n._^1\n\n Animals, gods in form of, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._;\n deified spirits of men resident in, 227 _sq._;\n worshipped in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._\n\n Anointing a king of Samoa, 177\n\n Anuanu, vale of, 376 _n._^2\n\n _Ao_, titles of chiefs in Samoa, 172 _sq._\n\n Apolima, Samoan island, 149, 151\n\n Apparitions dreaded, 205, 217\n\n Araia, 241, 242\n\n Aremauku, starting-place for spirit-land, 239\n\n Areois, Society of the, 259 _sqq._\n\n _Arii taboo_, sacred chiefs, 387\n\n _Ariki_, sacred chief, 41;\n king, 224\n\n Astronomy of priests, 293\n\n _Atua_, the Polynesian word for god or spirit, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 44,\n 46, 64 _n._^3, 89, 277, 322, 323, 348, 349.\n _Compare akua, eatooa, etua_\n\n _Atuas_, consecrated feathers called, 291;\n inspired priests called, 294;\n great national gods, distinguished from _oramatuas tiis_, the\n spirits of dead relatives, 324\n\n Auraka, a burial cavern, 233, 237, 238, 241\n\n Avaiki, subterranean region, home of the dead, 238, 239, 241, 243, 244\n\n Axes or adzes of stone, 61, 180, 233, 251, 335, 382\n\n\n Ba-ila, their licence at funerals, 425\n\n Baessler, A., 221 _n._^1, 279 _n._^1, 285, 286, 374\n\n Baganda, superstition as to twins among the, 270 _sq._\n\n Baldness as penalty of impiety, 95;\n the penalty of breach of taboo, 209 _sq._\n\n Baluba, of the Congo, customs as to twins among the, 273\n\n Banishment of chiefs in Samoa, 176\n\n Banqueting-halls of the Marquesans, 343 _sq._\n\n Baptism among the Maoris, 16\n\n Bark-cloth, manufacture of, 61, 168, 222, 251 _sq._, 334, 381;\n not made in time of mourning, 234 _sq._\n\n Baronga, of S.E. Africa, their superstitions concerning twins,\n 268 _sq._\n\n Barundi, of E. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 272 _sq._\n\n Bastian, Adolf, on sun-worship, 131 _n._\n\n Bathing after burial, 21;\n of king at installation, 255 _n._^1;\n after contact with a corpse, 313\n\n Bats, goddess incarnate in, 185;\n local deity, 196\n\n Bay of Plenty, 23\n\n Bennett, F. D., 332 _sq._, 359, 360, 372\n\n Best, Elsdon, 6 _n._, 33, 35\n\n Birds, gods incarnate in, 187 _sq._;\n sacred, 228;\n small land birds formerly oracular, 228;\n gods in the form of, 277, 294;\n worshipped in Hawaii, 402\n\n Birth, a man's god determined at, 200 _sq._, 223;\n ceremonies after a, 288\n\n Blackened faces in mourning, 231, 235\n\n Blood of chief sacred, 45 _sq._;\n human, acceptable offering to deity, 188;\n offered to the dead, 209;\n of relatives offered to bride at marriage, 289;\n of bride's mother offered to bridegroom, 289;\n of mourners offered to the dead, 303, 304, 311\n\n Bolotoo (Boolotoo, Bulotu), fabulous island, residence of Tongan gods\n and of noble dead, 65, 66, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 _sq._,\n 92, 93, 98, 135\n\n Bones of Captain Cook worshipped, 396\n\n ---- of dead dug up, 21;\n painted red, 21;\n concealed, 21;\n profaned, 21;\n festival at removal of, 22;\n burned, 23;\n of sacrificial victims not broken, 291;\n of famous men carried off by enemies, 311;\n thrown into volcano, 400;\n carried about by relatives, 419 _sq._;\n hidden to prevent profanation, 420\n\n ---- of dead chiefs buried in temples (_morais_), 311;\n hidden in caves, 312, 420\n\n Boolotoo Katoa, a Tongan god, 94\n\n Borabora, one of the Society Islands, 246, 281, 317\n\n Bows and arrows, unknown to Maoris, 10;\n used by the Society Islanders as an amusement, 252 _sq._;\n unknown to the Marquesans, 335;\n found among the Hawaiians, 383\n\n Boxing-matches in mourning, 211\n\n Branch plucked from sacred trees, 255 _n._^1\n\n Bread-fruit the staple food of the Society Islanders, 249;\n of the Rarotongans, 222;\n and of the Marquesans, 333, 334\n\n Breath of chief sacred, 45\n\n Brenchley, J. L., 124, 125 _n._^1\n\n Brown, Dr. George, 56, 161, 173 _n._^1, 201, 204, 206 _n._^1, 212,\n 213, 214, 216 _n._^2, 218\n\n Buffoonery in mourning for the dead, 211\n\n Burial, Maori modes of, 20 _sq._;\n in house, 20, 27;\n on a stage, 20, 21;\n on a tree, 20 _sq._;\n secret, 21;\n and mourning, rites of, in Tonga, 132 _sqq._;\n by night, 419\n\n Burial customs in Samoa, 209 _sqq._;\n in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._;\n in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._;\n in the Marquesas, 356 _sqq._;\n in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._\n\n ---- ground dreaded, 27\n\n ---- places (_morais_) of the Marquesans, 357 _sq._\n\n Burying the sins of the dead, 305\n\n Busoga, superstition as to twins in, 270\n\n\n Cabri, J. Baptiste, 371\n\n Cain, the Hawaiian, 393\n\n Campbell, A., 385, 412 _n._^1, 415, 419, 423\n\n Cannibalism, 26, 62, 158 _sq._;\n in the Hervey Islands, 221\n\n Canoe-shaped coffins, 20, 353, 356, 363\n\n Canoes, Maori, 9;\n Tongan, 59;\n Marquesan, 337;\n provided for the dead to enable them to reach the spirit land,\n 364 _sqq._\n\n Caterpillars, servants of owl-god, 188\n\n Caves, bones or bodies of dead deposited in, 22, 232, 233, 237, 312,\n 320 _sq._, 357, 418\n\n Centipedes, family god in, 188 _sq._;\n worshipped in Mangaia, 228\n\n Ceremonies, magical, of Maoris, 13 _sq._;\n observed at death, 19 _sqq._;\n to facilitate passage of soul to other world, 24 _sqq._, 29;\n magical, of Tongans, 67 _sq._;\n observed for unburied dead, 205 _sq._;\n of mourning in the Hervey Islands, 234 _sqq._;\n at the inauguration of a king, 254 _sq._, 255 _n._^1;\n over dead Areoi, 261;\n after childbirth, 288;\n at marriage, 288 _sq._;\n for the protection of the living against ghosts, 305 _sqq._\n _See_ Rites\n\n Ceremony of anointing a king of Samoa, 177;\n performed by parents of twins to fertilise plantains, 271\n\n Chiefs descended from the gods, 29;\n their souls immortal, 29;\n tabooed, 41 _sqq._;\n physical superiority of, 58 _sq._, 377 _sq._;\n Samoan, 171 _sqq._;\n deified, 204;\n embalmed, 205;\n in the Marquesas, 344;\n in Hawaii, 384 _sq._\n\n Chiefs' language in Samoa, 173 _sqq._\n\n Chieftainship hereditary in Samoa, 176\n\n Children sacrificed, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._\n\n Christianity in Tonga Islands, 60\n\n Circumcision, in the Tonga Islands, 81;\n in the Hervey Islands, 223 _sq._;\n invented by god Rongo, 224\n\n Civil lords and sacred kings in Mangaia, 224 _sq._\n\n Clans, gods of, in animals or other natural objects, 94, 95 _sq._\n\n Clavel, Dr., 338, 374\n\n Cockles, god in, 183; prayers to cockle-god, 188\n\n Coco-nuts, god in, 183; offered to the dead, 233\n\n Coffins shaped like canoes, 20, 353, 356, 363\n\n Collocot, E. E. V., 65 _n._^2, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98 _n._^1, 267 _n._^2\n\n Comedies acted in mourning, 236\n\n Commoners, the question of their souls, 66, 85\n\n Communistic system in Samoa, 170 _sq._\n\n Confession of sins, 189\n\n Cook, Captain James, 1, 9, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61 _n._^2, 63, 81, 86,\n 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 111 _n._, 117, 123, 128,\n 129, 132, 246, 248, 249, 251, 257, 258 _n._^5, 262,\n 275, 277 _n._^2 and ^4, 279, 280, 282, 283, 293,\n 297, 304, 310, 314 _n._^3, 315, 321, 328, 331, 371,\n 375, 379, 382, 383, 391, 395 _sq._, 406, 407, 408\n\n ---- or Hervey Islands, 219 _sq._\n\n Cooking in ovens of hot stones, 222, 379\n\n Coral reefs, their formation, 55 _sq._\n\n Corpses, sent adrift on the sea or exposed on stages, 210;\n broken in pieces, 362;\n flayed, 367 _sq._\n\n Courage seated in liver, 85\n\n Cousin marriage, 223\n\n Creation, Hawaiian tradition of the, 393\n\n Cremation among the Maoris, 23\n\n Crickets, omens from, 231\n\n Crimes, Tongan ideas about, 67\n\n Crook, William P., first missionary to the Marquesas, 328, 349, 361,\n 372\n\n Cruise, R. A., 31 _n._^2\n\n _Curse of Manaia_, 12\n\n Curses, Maori, 15;\n Tongan, 67;\n of sisters specially dreaded, 207\n\n Customs observed at the birth of twins, 268 _sqq._\n _See_ Burial customs, Ceremonies, Rites\n\n Cuttings in mourning for the dead, 19, 208 _sq._, 231, 302, 309, 311,\n 353;\n in Tonga, 133 _sqq._;\n intention of the, 145 _sq._\n\n Cuttle-fish, household god in, 184;\n omens from, 190;\n temple of, 195;\n myth of the, 202 _sq._;\n a god in Mangaia,228;\n myth of Maui and the, 275\n\n\n Dances at the birth of twins, 270 _sqq._;\n funeral, 139, 353 _sq._;\n of widow, 353, 354\n\n Dancing among the Marquesans, 340 _sq._\n\n ---- -places of the Marquesans, 340 _sq._\n\n Danger Island, 230\n\n Darwin, Charles, on coral reefs, 55\n\n De Sainson, 112\n\n D'Urville, J. Dumont, 11, 58, 110, 123, 357 _n._^3, 359 _n._^3, 373\n\n Dead, disposal of the bodies of the (Maori), 20 _sqq._;\n buried in sitting posture, 20;\n spirits of, appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._;\n spirits of the dead become gods, 31;\n taboo entailed by contact with the, 39,137 _sq._;\n buried in _morais_, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._, 311;\n worship of the, in Samoa, 204 _sq._;\n blood offered to the, 209;\n buried with head to the east, 210;\n buried with the head to the rising sun, 232;\n songs sung in honour of the, 236;\n buried in sitting posture, 262;\n images of spirits of the, 287 _sq._, 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._;\n blood of mourners offered to the, 303, 304, 311;\n fear of the spirits of the, 304 _sq._;\n disposal of the, in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._;\n souls of the, in images, 313 _sq._;\n worship of the, in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._;\n assimilated to deities, 327;\n disposal of the, among the Marquesans, 356 _sqq._;\n in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._;\n evocation of the, 370 _sq._;\n buried in crouching posture, 418.\n _See_ Ghosts\n\n ---- men deified, 276\n\n Death, Maori notion as to the cause of, 16;\n stories as to the origin of, 16 _sqq._, 392;\n Maori goddess of, 18;\n fate of the soul after, 24 _sqq._, 85 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._,\n 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._, 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq._;\n the second, 29;\n theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._;\n Marquesan contempt for, 352 _sq._;\n Hawaiian beliefs and customs concerning,417 _sqq._\n\n Deaths caused by the anger of the gods or by sorcery, 229;\n traced to the agency of gods or sorcerers, 405\n\n Decadence of magic, 68\n\n Deification of ancestors, 33, 35;\n of kings in their lifetime, 255;\n of dead men, 276;\n of men after death, 351 _sq._, 397;\n of animals, 402\n\n Deified kings, priests, and warriors, 227\n\n ---- men, 276, 349;\n the spirits of,resident in animals, 228\n\n ---- spirits of chiefs, 204\n\n Deities, primaeval, personifications of nature, 32, 34\n\n Deity, Maori conception of, 35 _sq._\n\n Democratic spirit of Samoans, 171, 175\n\n Desgraz, C., 118, 358, 373\n\n Despotism in Hawaii, 63\n\n Dieffenbach, E., 6 _n._^2, 8 _n._, 48 _n._^1\n\n Diet of the Samoans, 164 _sq._;\n of the Hervey Islanders, 222;\n of the Society Islanders, 249;\n of the Marquesans, 333 _sq._;\n of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._\n\n Dirges in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._\n\n Disease, caused by souls of ancestors, 49;\n and death ascribed to agency of gods, spirits, or ghosts, 206 _sq._,\n 217;\n theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._;\n of the Marquesans concerning, 325.\n _See_ Sickness\n\n Disorders, internal, supposed to be caused by entrance of a god into\n the patient, 351\n\n District gods, 182, 185\n\n Divination, in Samoa, 190 _sq._;\n to detect thieves, 298, 406;\n to ascertain the cause of death, 301\n\n Diviners consulted before battle, 397, 414;\n Hawaiian, 404 _sq._, 414, 417\n\n Division of labour among the Samoans, 166 _sqq._\n\n Dogs, sacred, 94;\n omens from, 190;\n eaten, 379;\n sacrificed, 405, 426\n\n Doobludha, land of dead, 86\n\n Dramatic performances of the Areois, 259 _sq._, 263, 266 _n._^4\n\n Dreamers held in repute, 320\n\n Dreams, Maori theories of, 12;\n souls of the dead appear in, 31, 91 _sq._;\n Samoan theory of, 205;\n ideas of the Hervey Islanders concerning, 229;\n ideas of the Society Islanders concerning, 297 _sq._;\n souls of the dead communicate with the living in, 320, 429;\n Marquesan ideas about, 352;\n revelations to priests in, 405, 429;\n Hawaiian ideas about, 417\n\n Drums, special, beaten after the birth of twins, 271;\n accompanying dances, 342, 354\n\n Du Petit-Thouars, 373\n\n Duke of York Island, 212\n\n\n Earth cleft with axes, as a mourning rite, 235 _sq._;\n fished up from the sea by Maui, 275\n\n Earthquakes, Tongan theory of, 72;\n caused by Maui, 275\n\n _Eatooas_, gods, spirits of the dead, 277 _n._^4, 300, 322, 391, 392,\n 402.\n See _Atua_\n\n Eclipses, superstitions as to, 287\n\n Eel-god, 227\n\n Eels sacred, 95, 182, 184, 185\n\n Eimeo or Mooerea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 266\n\n Ella, S., 206 _n._^1, 212\n\n Ellis, William, 117, 118 _n._^1, 247, 249, 256 _sq._, 262, 265 _n._,\n 267 _n._^2, 276, 277, 284, 286 _n._^5, 290 _n._^3,\n 292, 295, 298 _n._^2, 308 _n._^1, 311, 314 _n._^1,\n 315, 319, 323, 327, 401, 409, 410, 411, 419, 424,\n 426, 430, 431\n\n Embalmment of the dead, 117, 205;\n in Samoa, 210, 213;\n in the Society Islands, 309, 310 _sqq._;\n in the Marquesas, 356 _sq._;\n in Hawaii, 418\n\n Erskine, J. E., 114\n\n Ethical influence of the Tongan religion, 146 _sq._\n\n _Etua_, a god, 348.\n Compare _Atua_\n\n Eua, one of Tonga Islands, 52, 123\n\n Euhemerism, 69\n\n Eve, the Hawaiian, 393\n\n Evocation of the dead, 370 _sq._\n\n Exogamy, Samoan religious system independent of, 201;\n in the Hervey Islands, 223\n\n Exorcisers, 351\n\n Exorcism practised for the healing of the sick, 206 _sq._, 417 _sq._\n\n Expiation for sacrilege, 74 _sqq._;\n for eating sacred animal, 184, 185\n\n Eye, spirit or soul thought to reside in, 42, 417;\n of human victim presented to king, 292\n\n\n Fafa, subterranean abode of the dead, 215\n\n Fakaofo or Bowditch Island, 394\n\n Family gods embodied in visible objects, 182 _sqq._;\n analogous to totems, 200\n\n Fan or Fang, of West Africa, their superstition about a twin, 269\n\n Farmer, Sarah S., 57 _n._^1, 61 _n._, 92, 97, 111 _n._\n\n Fasting after a death, 210, 355\n\n Fate of the soul after death, 213 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._,\n 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq_.\n\n Fear of the dead, its humanising influence, 300;\n of ghosts, 369 _sq._, 419.\n _See_ Ghosts\n\n Feast of Calabashes, 354\n\n Feasts, funeral, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366;\n annual, in honour of the gods, 187 _sq._\n _See_ Festivals\n\n Feathers, sacred red, 254;\n gods conjured into, 265;\n placed in images of the gods, 290 _sq._;\n called gods, 291\n\n Female line, nobility traced in, 75\n\n Ferry-boat for souls of dead, 26\n\n Fertilising virtue attributed to twins, 269 _sqq._\n\n Festival, great annual, 289;\n called \"the ripening of the year,\" 326 _sq._\n\n Festivals, of the Samoans, 188;\n of the Marquesans, 341 _sq._;\n Hawaiian, 414 _sqq._\n _See_ Feasts\n\n _Fiatooka_, place of burial and of worship, 103, 104, 105, 109, 116,\n 120, 132, 133\n\n Fijian influence in Tonga, 59\n\n Fingers mutilated in mourning, 19;\n sacrificed, 80 _sq._\n\n Finow, king of Tonga, 79, 80, 81, 82, 91, 92, 103, 105, 120, 121, 135,\n 136, 137, 139, 140;\n obsequies of, 135 _sqq._\n\n Finow the Second, king of Fiji, 135\n\n Fire, Polynesian knowledge of, 56 _sq._;\n kindled by friction of wood, 181;\n robbed by Ti'iti'i from Mafuie, 203;\n kept up in house after a death, 209, 212;\n first brought to men by Maui, 226, 239;\n hidden in wood by Mauike, 238;\n stick and groove method of kindling, invented by Maui, 275, 335;\n stolen by Maui, 350;\n first given to men by Maui, 396\n\n Fires not kindled near house of death, 355;\n extinguished during periods of strict taboo, 389\n\n First-born sons, sacrifice of, 89\n\n First-fruits, offerings of, in Tonga, 122;\n in the Society Islands, 257;\n of taro presented to eel-god, 188\n\n Fish, sacrifices of, 257, 291;\n human victims called fish, 292;\n worshipped, 402;\n offered to shark god, 402\n\n ---- hooks made out of bones of dead, 21, 23, 311 _sq._\n\n Fishing, modes of, 252, 337, 379\n\n Flax cultivated by Maoris, 9\n\n Flaying the dead, custom of, 367 _sq._\n\n Flood, tradition of a great, 393, 394\n\n Flying-foxes, gods in, 96;\n incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190\n\n _Fono_, representative assembly, parliament, 159, 179\n\n Food buried with the dead, 24, 232;\n not to be touched by tabooed person with his hands, 38, 44, 45, 137,\n 138, 209, 312;\n not eaten in a house so long as a corpse is in it, 209;\n offered at tomb, 362\n\n Footprints in magic, 15\n\n Forbes, Dr. Charles, 12\n\n Forster, George, 262, 283, 287 _n._, 397, 314, 331\n\n Forster, J. R., 117 _n._^1, 278 _n._^1, 287 _n._, 314, 323 _n._^1\n\n Foundation sacrifices, 292\n\n Fowls bred and eaten, 379\n\n Freycinet, L. de, 423, 427\n\n Friendly Islands. _See_ Tonga\n\n Funeral dances, 139, 353 _sq._;\n feasts, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366\n\n ---- games in Tonga, 140, 144;\n in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._\n\n ---- rites in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._\n\n Futtafaihe or Fatafehi, family name of the Tuitongas, 108, 109\n\n _Fytoca_, grave, burial-place, 67, 82, 102, 103, 137, 139, 141\n\n\n G----, Father Mathias, 373\n\n Games, funeral, in honour of the dead, 140, 144, 235;\n athletic, at religious festivals, 188\n\n Garment, evil magic wrought through, 67\n\n Gerland, G., 266 _n._^4\n\n Ghost personated by priest or kinsman, 306 _sqq._\n\n Ghosts, fear of, 27, 31, 304 _sq._, 320 _sq._, 369 _sq._, 419 _sq._;\n their passage to nether world, 27 _sq._;\n live on sweet potatoes, 30;\n slaying the, 234;\n journeying with the sun, 239 _sqq._;\n caught in nets, 242, 244;\n eaten by Miru, 242;\n driven away by force of arms, 355;\n food offered to, 355, 356\n\n Gill, W. W., 221 _n._^1, 225 _n._^1, 227, 228 _n._^1, 237, 238\n\n Girdle, sacred, of kings, 254\n\n God, patron, determined at birth, 200 _sq._, 223\n\n \"God-boxes,\" inspired priests, 228 _sq._\n\n Godless, the Samoans called, 181 _sq._\n\n Gods, chiefs and priests descended from the, 29;\n confused with spirits of the dead, 31;\n the great Polynesian, 35 _n._;\n of the Maoris, 36 _sq._;\n of the Tongans, 64 _sqq._;\n souls of dead men as, 64 _sq._, 66, 69, 70, 84, 91;\n men descended from, 66;\n omens sent by, 67;\n in form of animals, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._;\n the primary or non-human, of Tonga, 68 _sqq._;\n national and tribal, of Tonga, 93 _sq._;\n temples of, in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._;\n worship of, 79 _sqq._;\n annual feasts in honour of, 187 _sq._;\n tame, 191;\n vegetable, 192;\n totemic, 202;\n high gods, 202 _sqq._;\n the life of the, 238;\n punished, 257;\n born of Night (_Po_), 258, 277;\n of the sea, 276 _sq._;\n of the air, 277;\n worship of the gods in the Society Islands, 277 _sqq._;\n the causes of disease and death, 299, 351;\n Hawaiian, two classes of, 397\n\n Government, monarchical and aristocratic, of the Tongans, 62 _sq._;\n democratic, of Samoans, 171 _sqq._;\n of the Society Islands, 253;\n in the Marquesas, 344 _sq._;\n in the Hawaiian Islands, 383 _sq._\n\n Grandfather, soul of, reborn in grandchild, 368 _sq._\n\n Grange, Jerome, 60 _n._^5, 113 _sq._\n\n Grasshoppers, souls of dead children in, 318\n\n Graves, sacred, 99;\n in relation to temples, 99 _sqq._;\n of Tongan kings, 103, 105;\n prayers at, 121, 217;\n of great chiefs religiously revered, 120;\n enclosed with stones, 211;\n in Society Islands, 309;\n in Hawaii, 418.\n _See_ Tombs\n\n Guardian deity, how obtained, 398\n\n Gudgeon, W. E., 41, 42 _n._^1, 48 _n._^1\n\n Guillemard, F. H. H., 132\n\n\n _Haamonga_, megalithic monument in Tonga, 125, 126\n\n Haapai (Haabai), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 95, 126\n\n Haddon, A. C., 6 _n._^2\n\n Hahunga, Maori festival, 22\n\n Hair cut in mourning, 19, 303 _sq._, 420_sq._;\n ceremonies at cutting the, 44 _sq._;\n used in evil magic, 300, 325, 405;\n offered by mourners to the dead, 303, 304;\n sacrificed to volcano, 400\n\n Hale, Horatio, 6 _n._^2, 63, 214\n\n Hands tabooed, 38, 45, 137, 138, 209, 312, 404\n\n Happahs (Happas), a tribe of Marquesans, 364, 365\n\n _Harepo_, sacred recorder, 296, 298\n\n Harris, J. Rendel, 267 _n._^1\n\n Havaiki, subterranean region of the dead, 363. _Compare_ Avaiki\n\n Hawaii, 375, 376, 378, 394, 400, 406, 409, 410, 411, 413, 426, 429\n\n Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, 375 _sqq._\n\n Hawaiians or Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._\n\n Hawaiki, original home of Maoris, 5 _sq._, 29, 155\n\n Head, sanctity of the, 44, 212, 388\n\n Heads of dead dried and preserved, 23 _sq._;\n of chiefs cut off and buried separately, 212;\n of children moulded, 224;\n of pigs attached to biers, 355;\n of slain enemies kept as trophies, 362\n\n Heart the special seat of the soul, 85\n\n Heaven, ascent of souls to, 24 _sqq._, 29\n\n \"Heavenly family,\" gods incarnate in animals, 228\n\n Hebrew prophets, Renan on the, 147\n\n _Heiau_, temple, 409, 410, 411, 412 _n._^1, 418\n\n Herero, of S.W. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 273 _sq._\n\n Herons sacred, 95;\n omens from, 190;\n superstition about, 277 _n._^2\n\n Hervey, Philip, 123, 125 _n._^1, 127\n\n Hervey or Cook Islands, 219 _sq._\n\n Hervey Islanders, 220 _sqq._\n\n _Heva_, ceremony observed after a death, 306\n\n Higgolayo, god of the dead, 86\n\n Hikuleo, god of the dead, 88 _sq._, 90\n\n Hina (O-Heena), a goddess, perhaps of the moon, 266, 267, 287\n\n Hine-nui-te-po, the Maori goddess of death, 17 _sq._\n\n Hiro, god of thieves, 326\n\n Hivaoa (Dominica), one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 364\n\n Hogs, sacrificed, 79;\n to volcano, 399.\n _See_ Pigs\n\n Holiness and uncleanness blent in taboo, 173\n\n Honolulu, 376 _n._^2\n\n Hos of Togo, customs as to twins among the, 271 _sq._\n\n _Hotooas_ (_atuas_), gods, 64\n\n Houmis, a tribe of Marquesans, 347\n\n House, dead buried in, 20, 27, 418;\n dying people removed from the, 39;\n abandoned after a death, 356\n\n Houses, Maori, 8;\n Samoan, 163 _sq._;\n in the Society Islands, 250;\n of the Marquesans, 335 _sqq._;\n of the Hawaiians, 380 _sq._\n\n Huahine, one of the Society Islands, 117, 246, 280, 283, 284, 289,\n 293, 326\n\n Human sacrifices at burials, 24;\n to the sun, tradition of, 158;\n not offered by Samoans, 158;\n at making king's girdle, 254;\n offered to Oro, 258 _sq._;\n in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._;\n offered to living men, 349 _sq._;\n at deification of men, 351 _sq._;\n at the death of chiefs and priests, 365 _sqq._, 421 _sq._;\n to sharks, 402 _sq._;\n in Hawaii, 413 _sq._, 421 _sq._, 425 _sq._\n\n Hunchbacks thought to be favourites of spirits, 153\n\n Hurricanes in Samoa, 153 _sq._\n\n\n Idols, Hawaiian, 412 _sq._ _See_ Images\n\n _Ifi_ tree, 74, 121, 133, 137\n\n Image of basket-work, 275 _sq._;\n wooden, of deified man, 398\n\n Images of the gods, 290, 391 _sq._;\n in which the souls of the dead were supposed to lodge, 287 _sq._,\n 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._;\n carried to battle, 397;\n spirits conjured into, 398;\n of the gods, Hawaiian, 411 _sqq._\n\n Immortality, belief in, its effect on the Maoris, 51;\n restricted to chiefs and their ministers, 85;\n of the human soul, 313. _See_ Soul\n\n Incantations, Maori, 13 _sqq._;\n of sorcerers, 325;\n Hawaiian, 405, 417\n\n Incarnation of gods in animals, 182 _sqq._\n\n Inconsistency of savage thought, 84, 90 _sq._\n\n Indonesians, 3\n\n Infanticide, in Polynesia, 157;\n among the Areois, 263\n\n Infants, souls of dead, cause disease, 49, 299\n\n Inspiration by drinking kava, 75, 77 _sqq._;\n by souls of dead, 91;\n of Samoan priests, 194;\n of priests, in the Society Islands, 293 _sqq._;\n of men by deities, 351\n\n Inspired men, 350 _sqq._\n\n Iron in Tonga, 61 _n._^2\n\n ---- tools among the Hawaiians, 382\n\n Irrigation practised by Maoris, 9;\n artificial, in Hawaii, 378 _sq._\n\n\n Jarves, J. J., 383 _n._^2, 425\n\n Jaw-bones of human victims hung in temple, 258\n\n Jumping-off stone of souls of the dead, 214, 215.\n _See_ Leaping-off place\n\n Jupiter, the planet, emblem of deified chiefs, 204;\n the shrine of a god, 228\n\n Justice, administration of, in Samoa, 159 _sq._\n\n\n _Kahuna_, priest, 417\n\n Kaili. _See_ Tairi\n\n Kamehameha (Tamehameha), king of Hawaii, 384, 388, 389, 400, 409, 415,\n 420, 422, 425, 427, 430, 431\n\n Kanaloa, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395\n\n Kane, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395, 398\n\n Kaonohiokala, \"eye-ball of the sun,\" a Hawaiian god, 431\n\n Kapihe, a priest, 430, 431\n\n _Kapu_, taboo, in Hawaiian dialect, 387\n\n Karakakooa Bay in Hawaii, 391\n\n _Karakias_, prayers or spells (Maori), 32, 39\n\n Kauai, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375\n\n Kava as source of inspiration, 75, 78, 229;\n offered to the gods, 79, 187;\n offered to whales, 93;\n offered at graves, 121, 205;\n drunk by the Marquesans, 334;\n by the Hawaiians, 380\n\n Keolakuhonua, the first woman, 393\n\n Kilauea, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 399, 401\n\n King, Captain, 378, 379, 385 _sq._, 391, 402, 408, 410\n\n King, of Samoa, 176 _sq._;\n customs observed on the death of a king in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._\n\n \"King of Fiji,\" a Samoan family god, 192\n\n Kingfisher sacred, 93;\n superstition about, 277 _n._^2\n\n Kingfishers, incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190;\n gods of families, villages, or districts, embodied in, 193;\n consulted oracularly, 196\n\n Kings, two, in Tonga, one civil, the other religious, 62 _sq._;\n the priests or mouthpieces of a god, 224;\n sacred, in the Hervey Islands, 224 _sq._;\n primary and secondary, in Mangaia, 225;\n as gods or descended from gods in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._;\n as high-priests, 253, 255;\n in Hawaii, 383 _sq._\n\n Kingship, double, 63\n\n Kitchen, dying chief carried into the, 82\n\n Koreamoku, a deified man, 398\n\n Kotzebue, O. von, 385 _n._^4, 388 _sq._, 416\n\n Kpelle, of Liberia, their superstitions about twins, 269, 274\n\n Krusenstern, A. J. von, 346, 348, 362, 371, 372\n\n Ku, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393\n\n Kuahairo, a Hawaiian god, 431\n\n Kumuhonua, the first man, 393\n\n\n La Perouse, 149\n\n Labillardiere, 81\n\n Langsdorff, G. H. von, 118, 341, 351 _n._^2, 371, 372\n\n Language, Polynesian, 2;\n special form of, used in speaking of chiefs, 173 _sqq._\n\n Leaping-off place for souls of dead, 27, 241.\n _See_ Jumping-off stone\n\n Leeward Islands, 246, 319\n\n Lifuka (Lefooga), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 73, 109\n\n Lightning, omens from, 191\n\n Lipolipo, king of Hawaii, 389 _sq._, 427\n\n Lisiansky, U., 338, 366 _sq._, 368 _sq._, 371, 372, 411, 412, 414,\n 421, 422, 423\n\n Litany chanted after a death, 355\n\n Liturgies, in the Society Islands, 296\n\n Liturgy, ancient Hawaiian, 394\n\n Liver, the seat of courage, 85;\n a disease of, attributed to breach of taboo, 76 _sq._;\n of pig a god, 98\n\n Lizard, the tempter in the form of a, 393\n\n Lizards feared as causes of disease, 50;\n gods in, 66, 92, 94, 96, 182, 227, 228;\n omens from, 190\n\n Lono (Rono), a great Hawaiian deity, the equivalent of Rongo, 392,\n 393, 395;\n Captain Cook identified with, 396\n\n Lord of Mangaia, 224\n\n Lucifer, the Hawaiian, 393\n\n\n Macahity, a Hawaiian festival, 414 _sqq._\n\n Mafanga, burial-place of chiefs in Tongataboo, 120, 121\n\n Mafuie, god of earthquakes, 203\n\n Magic, among the Maoris, 13 _sqq._;\n among the Tongans, 68;\n black, not practised in Samoa, 161;\n in the Society Islands, 300, 325 _sq._;\n in Hawaii, 405 _sq_.\n _See_ Sorcerers\n\n Magicians (Maori), 13 _sqq._\n\n Mahoike, god of the infernal regions, original possessor of fire, 350\n\n Mahoui, a god, apparently identical with Maui, 266 _n._^4, 286 _n._^5\n\n Maitea, one of the Society Islands, 246\n\n Malays, how related to the Polynesians, 2 _sqq._\n\n Man, the creation of, 393\n\n _Mana_, 42\n\n Manaia, 13, 23\n\n Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 228,\n 232, 233, 237, 238, 239, 240, 244\n\n Manona, Samoan island, 149\n\n Manua, group of Samoan islands, 149, 155, 158, 162, 215\n\n Maoris, 5 _sqq._;\n their culture, 8 _sqq._;\n beliefs concerning the souls of the living, 10 _sqq._;\n beliefs concerning the souls of the dead, 19 _sqq._;\n their notion as to the cause of death, 16;\n their story of the origin of death, 16 _sqq._;\n mourning, 19 _sq._;\n disposal of the dead, 20 _sqq._;\n their conception of deity, 35 _sq._;\n taboo among the, 37 _sqq._, 432\n\n Mapuhanui, a Marquesan god, 368\n\n _Marae_. _See Morai_\n\n _Marae_, a sacred grove, 225 _n._^3, 240, 241\n\n _Marai_. _See Morai_\n\n Marchand, Captain E., 358 _n._^6, 371\n\n Marcuse, A., 393\n\n Mariner, William, 62, 64, 67, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78 _sq._, 80,\n 82, 83, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98 _n._, 99, 102,\n 103, 110 _n._^1, 127, 135, 136, 138, 141, 142, 143\n\n Marquesan islanders, 331 _sqq._\n\n Marquesas Islands, 328 _sqq._;\n _morais_ (_marais_) in the, 116 _sqq._\n\n Marriage rites, 288 _sq._, 311\n\n Martin, John, 64\n\n Maruiwi, primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, 8\n\n Mask worn by an actor personifying a ghost, 306\n\n Masons in Tonga, 127\n\n _Matabooles_, minister of Tongan nobles, 65, 66, 74, 85, 76, 77, 79,\n 85, 87, 121, 136, 139\n\n Mateialona, Governor of Haapai, 126\n\n Mats, fine Samoan, 168 _sq._;\n Hawaiian, 381 _sq._\n\n Maui, mythical Polynesian hero, 266 _n._^4;\n his contest with the goddess of death, 16 _sqq._;\n said to have drawn up the Tongan Islands on a fish-hook, 72;\n puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88;\n said to have brought great stones from Uea, 125;\n a kind of Polynesian Hercules, 126;\n brought fire to men, 226, 239;\n his exploits, 275, 287 _n._, 396;\n his image, 275 _sq._;\n steals fire from Mahoike, 350\n\n ---- one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 429\n\n ---- Atalanga, mythical first owner of fire, 57\n\n ---- Kijikiji, the Polynesian Prometheus, 57\n\n Mauike, the fire-god, 226, 238, 239\n\n Mauna Kea, mountain in Hawaii, 376\n\n ---- Loa, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 376\n\n Mausoleum of the kings of Hawaii, 426\n\n Medicine, the Hawaiian god of, 398\n\n Megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas, 119;\n in the Pacific, Dr. Rivers's theory as to, 119;\n of the Tongans, 123;\n in Lefooga (Lifuka), 128 _sq._;\n their supposed relation to sun-worship, 266 _n._^4;\n in the Marquesas, 360 _sq._\n\n Megalithic tombs, 119, 123, 132\n\n Meinicke, C. E., 118 _n._^2\n\n Melanesian blood, admixture of, in the Hervey Islands, 221\n\n ---- type, 6;\n population of New Zealand, 6 _sq._\n\n ---- totemism, 218\n\n Melanesians, now related to Polynesians, 2 _sq._;\n magic among the, 161;\n sham-fights at funerals among the, 212\n\n Melville, Hermann, 330, 332, 333, 338, 354, 357 _n._^3, 360 _sq._,\n 361 _sq._, 373\n\n Men deified in their lifetime, 349;\n deified after death, 351 _sq._, 397\n\n Metals unknown to the Polynesians, 61, 222, 250, 335\n\n Metempsychosis, theory that Melanesian totemism has been developed out\n of, 218\n\n Milu (Miru), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 429, 430.\n _See_ Miru\n\n ----, a rebel spirit, 392\n\n Minstrels, wandering, in the Marquesas, 342\n\n Miru, king of the nether world, 427;\n goddess of hell or of the dead, 428 _n._^1;\n the Hades of the Sandwich Islanders, 431.\n _See_ Milu\n\n ----, an infernal hag, devours ghosts, 242\n\n Moerenhout, J. A., 118, 263 _n._^2, 264 _n._^3, 266 _n._^4, 284,\n 286 _n._^5, 297, 308 _n._^1\n\n Monarchy, absolute, in Hawaii, 383\n\n Mooa, old capital of Tongataboo, 106, 108, 111, 112\n\n _Mooas_, middle-class in Tonga, 66, 85\n\n Moomooe (Moomooi), king of Tonga, 83, 91, 108, 133, 141, 145\n\n Moon, family god in, 192;\n tradition of sacrifice to the, 394;\n festival of the new, 414\n\n Moon-goddess, 267, 287 _n._\n\n Mo'ooi (Maui), Tongan god, 72\n\n _Morai_ (_marai_, _marae_), burial-place, temple, 103, 116, 117, 118,\n 119;\n dead buried in, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._;\n in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq_.\n\n _Morais_, bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311;\n burial-places, 357 _sq._, 361 _sq._;\n mummies deposited in, 357;\n in Hawaii, 391, 406 _sqq._;\n dead chiefs buried in, 407 _sq._\n\n Morality reinforced by superstitious terrors, 83;\n not influenced by religion, 318\n\n Mortality of souls of commoners, 66, 85\n\n Motoro, a great god in the Hervey Islands, 241\n\n Mourning for death of divine owl, 186 _sq._\n\n ---- customs of Maoris, 19 _sq._;\n in Tonga, 132 _sqq._;\n in Samoa, 208 _sq._;\n in the Hervey Islands, 231;\n among the Society Islands, 301 _sqq._;\n of the Marquesans, 353 _sqq._;\n in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._\n\n Mouth and nostrils of dying stopped to prevent the escape of the soul,\n 352\n\n Mueu, a female demon of death, 235\n\n Mukasa, great god of the Baganda, 270\n\n Mullets sacred, 95, 184\n\n Mummies kept in the house or deposited in a _morai_, 357\n\n Muru, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 244\n\n Mythology of the Society Islanders, 257 _sq._, 277;\n of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._\n\n\n Nails, parings of, used in evil magic, 325, 405\n\n Names of relatives changed after a death, 233;\n of kings sacred, 254;\n new, given at admission to the Society of the Areois, 261;\n exchange of, 339\n\n Namuka, one of the Tonga Islands, 52\n\n Nature, personifications of, 32, 34;\n worship of, 93\n\n Necromancy among the Maoris, 30 _sq._\n\n Negritoes, 3\n\n Net to catch ghosts, 242, 244\n\n New Zealand, the Maoris of, 5 _sqq._;\n Melanesian population of, 6 _sq._\n\n Neyra, Alvaro Mendana de, 328\n\n Ngati-apa, a Maori tribe, 23\n\n Nicholas, J. L., 16 _n._^3\n\n Night, or the primaeval darkness (_Po_), 258, 276, 277, 298 _n._^1,\n 305, 315, 323, 393, 397, 427;\n burials by, 419\n\n Nightmare caused by a ghost, 419\n\n _Noa_, common, 38, 39, 40;\n general, as opposed to _taboo_, sacred, 388\n\n Noah, the Hawaiian, 393, 394\n\n Nobility traced in female line in Tonga, 75\n\n Nobles, souls of dead, as gods, 64, 66, 84, 91\n\n North Cape of New Zealand, place of departure for souls of the dead,\n 27, 28, 30\n\n Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 350, 352, 360, 361,\n 364, 368, 371, 372\n\n Nuu, the Hawaiian Noah, 393, 394\n\n\n O-Heena, a goddess, 287 _n._\n _See_ Hina\n\n O-rongo, in Mangaia, 225\n\n Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 376 _n._^2, 385, 395, 411, 429\n\n Obsequies of kings and chiefs in Tonga, 133 _sqq._;\n of the Tooitongas, 140 _sqq._;\n of Samoan chiefs, 211 _sq._;\n of chiefs, in the Society Islands, 303\n\n Octopus, god in, 95, 96, 183\n\n Offerings to gods, 79;\n to Samoan deities, 187, 188, 189;\n to priests, 195;\n to the dead, 311;\n of food at tombs, 362;\n to volcanic goddess, 401.\n _See_ Sacrifices\n\n Omens sent by gods, 67;\n from sacred birds, animals, or fish, 189 _sq._;\n from sacrificial victims, clouds, and rainbow, 397, 414\n\n Opoa, metropolis of idolatry in the Society Islands, 255, 258, 259,\n 289\n\n Oracles delivered by priests, 295;\n given by priests in the name of gods, 404\n\n _Oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, worshipful spirits of departed relatives,\n 277, 299, 323 _sq._;\n sacred feathers called, 291\n\n Origin of Samoan gods of families, villages, and districts, 200 _sqq._\n\n Oro, war-god in the Society Islands, 255, 255 _n._^1, 258, 259, 261,\n 263, 265, 266, 289, 295, 315, 326\n\n Orono, head of a priestly order in Hawaii, 391\n\n Orotetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267\n\n Ovens, souls of dead in, 26 _sq._;\n of hot stones, 222, 379\n\n Owl god, festival of, 188;\n kept tame, 191\n\n Owls sacred, 95, 182;\n mourning for dead, 186 _sq._;\n omens from, 190\n\n\n Pantheon recruited by dead men, 98\n\n Papa, goddess of earth, 34 _n._^2;\n wife of Vatea, 226\n\n Papatea, mythical island, 158\n\n Papo, Samoan war-god, 186\n\n Paradise of the Society Islanders, 319, 327\n\n Parliamentary form of government in Samoa, 179 _sq._\n\n _Pas_, Maori forts, 8 _n._^3\n\n Pele, goddess of the volcano Kilauea in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._\n\n Personifications of nature, 32, 34;\n of ghost by an actor, 306\n\n Pied fantail in Maori story of origin of death, 18 _sq._\n\n Pigeons, divine, 184;\n kept tame, 191\n\n Pigs' liver a god, 96\n\n Pigs offered to the dead, 231;\n sacrificed, 264, 265, 291;\n for recovery of sick, 351;\n to the dead, 368.\n _See_ Hogs\n\n Planets, the shrine of a god, 228\n\n Pleiades, emblems of deified chiefs, 204\n\n Po, region of departed souls (Maori), 27\n\n _Po_, Night or the primaeval darkness, the abode of the gods and of\n the dead, 258, 277, 298 _n._^1, 305, 308, 315, 316,\n 317, 323, 393, 397, 427\n\n Pollution caused by death, 312 _sq._, 427\n\n Polack, J. S., 7 _n._^1\n\n Polyandry among the Marquesans, 337 _sq._\n\n Polygamy in the Hervey Islands, 223\n\n Polynesians, 1 _sqq._;\n their origin and language, 2 _sqq._;\n mode of life, 4;\n dispersal from Savaii (Hawaiki), 6, 154 _sq._;\n or from Tonga, 56;\n their knowledge of fire, 56 _sq._;\n ignorant of metals, 61, 250\n\n Polytheism developed out of totemism, 94\n\n Porpoises, gods in, 66, 92\n\n Porter, Captain David, 330, 332, 344 _n._^1, 350, 353, 357 _n._^3,\n 362, 364 _sq._, 372\n\n Pottery unknown to the Samoans, 181\n\n Prayers to the gods, 79;\n to the dead, 121;\n to animal gods, 182;\n for temporal benefits, 189;\n before going to war, 189;\n for the dying, 208;\n offered to souls of dead relatives at their graves, 217;\n rhythmical and ancient, 225;\n offered to kings, 255;\n of the Society Islanders, 257;\n for the recovery of the sick, 257, 398;\n to Oro, 261;\n liturgical, 295 _sq._;\n over the dead, 310;\n for the dead, 318;\n at temples, 327;\n before battle, 397\n\n \"Praying people,\" sorcerers, 229\n\n Presents brought to dying people, 207 _sq._\n\n Priestess claiming to personify goddess, 401\n\n Priests practise enchantments, 13 _sq._;\n descended from the gods, 29;\n their souls immortal, 29;\n summon up spirits of dead, 31;\n Tongan, their inspiration, 77 _sqq._;\n Samoan, 192 _sq._;\n inspired, 194;\n consulted as to cause of sickness, 207;\n inspired, called \"god-boxes,\" 228 _sq._;\n speaking in name of gods, 258, 293 _sqq._;\n of shark gods, 276;\n in the Society Islands, 292 _sqq._;\n inspired by sharks, 403;\n Hawaiian, 404\n\n Property buried with the dead, 20, 140 _sq._, 211, 232 _sq._;\n private, in relation to taboo, 47 _sq._;\n rights of, in Samoa, 169 _sqq._\n\n Prostitution, general, of women at the death of a great chief, 423\n\n Pukapuka, Danger Island, 230\n\n Pulotu, Samoan name for abode of the dead and of the gods, 204, 205,\n 214, 216, 217.\n _Compare_ Bolotoo\n\n Punishments in Samoa, 159 _sq._\n\n Purification of king at installation, 255 _n._^1;\n of land after defilement, 287 _sq._;\n after contact with the dead, 210, 313;\n of the souls of the dead, 316\n\n Pyramidal tombs, 115\n\n Pyramidical temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas, 119\n\n Pyramids, stepped or terraced, 116, 117, 278 _sqq._;\n of stone, stepped or terraced, in Hawaii, 408 _sqq._\n\n\n Quiros, Fernandez de, 246\n\n\n Ra, the sun-god, caught by Maui in nooses, 226\n\n Radiguet, M., 338, 341, 357 _n._^1, 358, 373\n\n Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 255, 258, 259, 266, 289,\n 315, 317, 318, 319\n\n Rail-bird sacred, 95;\n omens from, 190\n\n Rainbow worshipped, 93, 182;\n omens from, 191, 397;\n emblem of deified chiefs, 204 _sq._;\n superstitions about, 267, 269\n\n _Rangatira_, gentleman, 43, 44;\n landowners, 224\n\n Rangi, god of sky, 34 _n._^2\n\n Rarotonga, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 221, 222, 224, 226, 228,\n 232, 243, 244\n\n Raupa, a burial cave, 237\n\n Recorders, sacred, 295 _sq._, 298\n\n Red, bones of dead painted, 21;\n tabooed, 227;\n feathers regarded as divine, 290 _sq._\n\n ---- Cave, 239, 240\n\n Reincarnation of the dead, 368 _sq._\n\n Reinga, leaping-off place of souls (Maori), 27\n\n Religion of Maoris concentrated on worship of dead kinsfolk, 34;\n homogeneity of Polynesian, 35 _n._;\n the Tongan, 64 _sqq._;\n ethical influence of the Tongan, 146 _sq._;\n of the Samoans, 181 _sqq._;\n of the Hervey Islanders, 225 _sqq._;\n early stage of, 226;\n of the Society Islanders, 256 _sqq._;\n without influence on morality, 318;\n of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._;\n of the Hawaiians, 390 _sqq._\n\n Remy, J., 412 _n._^1, 415 _n._^1\n\n Renan, Ernest, on the Hebrew prophets, 147\n\n Respect for chiefs in Samoa, 171 _sqq._\n\n Resurrection of the dead, Hawaiian notions about the, 430 _sq._\n\n Rewards, posthumous, no belief in, 67, 146\n\n Rhodesia, Northern, belief as to mother of twins in, 269\n\n Rib of the first man, the first woman created out of the, 393 _sq._\n\n Rites, of burial and mourning in Tonga, 132 _sqq._;\n funeral, in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._;\n religious, of the Society Islanders, 257;\n of purification, 288.\n _See_ Ceremonies\n\n River of the Water of Life (Maori), 28;\n in the nether world, 216\n\n Rivers, W. H. R., 4 _n._^1, 119, 124 _n._^1, 128, 202, 218, 266 _n._^4\n\n Roberts, E., 371\n\n Rohutu, the abode of the dead, 319 _sq._, 327\n\n Rongo, god of peace and agriculture, 35 _n._;\n a great Polynesian god, 224, 225, 226, 392, 395;\n his sacred stream and grove, 240, 241;\n god, inventor of circumcision, 224\n\n Rono, a great Hawaiian god, 404, 416.\n _See_ Lono\n\n Roscoe, J., 271\n\n Routledge, S. and K., 279 _n._^1\n\n Ruahatu, a sea-god, 276\n\n\n S[=a]-le-Fe'e, the Samoan Tartarus, 216\n\n Sacredness of chiefs, 172 _sqq._\n\n Sacrifice of children, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._;\n of hogs, 79;\n of fingers, 80;\n of first-born sons, 89;\n as magical, 83;\n of pigs to the dead, 368;\n of hogs to volcano, 399\n\n Sacrifices in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._;\n of pigs for the recovery of the sick, 351.\n _See_ Human sacrifices\n\n Sacrilege, 67;\n its expiation, 74 _sqq._, 183 _sqq._\n\n Samoa, general name for the group of islands, 148;\n original seat of Polynesian race, 154\n\n Samoan Islands, 148 _sqq._;\n volcanic activity in, 151 _sq._;\n climate, 152 _sqq._\n\n ---- Islanders, their appearance and character, 156 _sqq._;\n houses, agriculture, and industries, 163 _sqq._;\n rights of property, 169 _sqq._;\n government, 171 _sqq._;\n religion, 181 _sqq._\n\n ---- worship of natural objects, 93, 96 _sq._;\n of animals and other natural objects developed out of totemism,\n 200 _sqq._, 218\n\n Sanctity of kings in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._;\n of priest of Tani (Tane), 293\n\n Sanctuaries for criminals, 282\n\n Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, 375 _sqq._\n\n Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._;\n their four chief gods, 35 _n._\n\n Saturnalia at the death of a king or high chief in Hawaii, 421 _sqq._\n\n Savage thought inconsistent, 84, 90 _sq._\n\n Savages not addicted to sun-worship, 131\n\n Savaii, one of the Samoan islands, centre of Polynesian dispersion, 6,\n 148 _sq._, 150 _sq._, 154 _sq._, 192, 195, 202, 215\n\n Saveasiuleo, the king of the lower regions, 216 _sq._\n\n Scalps of slain foes taken, 162\n\n Sea, gods of the, 276 _sq._\n\n ---- eels sacred, 93, 94, 185\n\n ---- gull sacred, 93\n\n ---- -snake as god, 185\n\n ---- -urchin, family god in, 183\n\n Second death, 29\n\n Secret burial, 21\n\n Semites sacrifice first-born sons, 89\n\n Serfdom, alleged, in Hawaii, 385\n\n Shadow, soul associated with, 205 _sq._\n\n Sham fights at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211, 212;\n at Melanesian funerals, 212;\n after a death, 234, 235, 236, 303\n\n Shark-gods, 227, 276\n\n Shark's teeth, omens from, 191\n\n Sharks as ministers of justice, 77;\n gods in, 96, 182;\n sacred, 93;\n still-born children turned into, 398, 403;\n worshipped in Hawaii, 402 _sqq._\n\n Shells (_Murex namoces_) in which the souls of the dead were supposed\n to lodge, 325\n\n Shortland, E., 6 _n._^2\n\n Sick people carried to temple, 195\n\n Sickness supposed to be caused by evil spirits, 417.\n _See_ Disease\n\n Sinnet tenanted by a god, 228\n\n Sins of the dead buried in a hole, 305\n\n Sisters, curses of, specially dreaded, 207\n\n Skins of the dead preserved as relics, 367\n\n Skulls of dead kept in houses, 118;\n of ancestors kept in temple or house, 288, 311;\n of dead rulers worshipped, 324;\n of dead hidden in caves, 357\n\n Sky raised by Maui, 226, 275\n\n Slaves killed to accompany their dead lords, 24;\n in the Society Islands, 253\n\n \"Slaying the ghosts,\" 234\n\n Smith, E. W. and Dale, A. M., 425\n\n ----, S. Percy, 155\n\n Snakes, water, gods in, 66, 92\n\n Sneezing, Hervey Islanders' theory of, 229\n\n Social ranks in Samoa, 171 _sqq._;\n in Rarotonga, 224;\n in the Society Islands, 253;\n among the Marquesans, 344;\n in Hawaii, 383 _sqq._\n\n Society Islanders, 248 _sqq._\n\n Society Islands, 246 _sqq._\n\n Songs in honour of the dead, 236.\n _See_ Dirges\n\n Sorcerers (Maori), 13 _sqq._;\n disease and death ascribed to arts of, 300, 325 _sq._;\n Hawaiian, 405.\n _See_ Magic\n\n Soul, Maori ideas concerning the, 10 _sqq._;\n as shadow, 11;\n as breath, 11;\n departure of soul from body, 12 _sqq._;\n its fate after death, 24 _sqq._, 66, 86 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._,\n 238 _sqq._, 313 _sq._, 427 _sqq._;\n survival of, 24;\n ascent to heaven, 24 _sqq._, 29;\n Tongan theory of, 66, 84 _sqq._;\n Samoan belief concerning the, 205 _sq._;\n associated with shadow, 205 _sq._;\n of the same shape as body, 205;\n belief of the Society Islanders concerning the, 297 _sqq._;\n beliefs of the Hervey Islanders concerning the, 229 _sqq._;\n beliefs of the Marquesans concerning the, 352;\n Hawaiian beliefs concerning the, 417\n\n Souls of commoners mortal, 29;\n souls of chiefs and priests immortal, 29;\n of the dead appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._;\n of ancestors cause disease, 49;\n of dead infants cause disease, 49, 299;\n of dead nobles as gods, 64 _sq._, 66, 84, 91;\n of dead men as gods, 64, 66, 69, 85, 91, 351 _sq._, 397;\n of Tongan commoners mortal, 66, 85;\n caught in traps, 230 _sq._;\n leaping-place of, 27, 241;\n ascribed to animals, trees, and stones, 297;\n of the dead eaten by the gods, 315, 427;\n of children supposed to transmigrate into sharks, 403\n\n Spells (Maori), 13 _sqq._\n\n Spencer, Herbert, his theory that temples are derived from tombs, 100\n\n Spirit world, Maori ideas of, 29 _sq._\n\n Spirits of the dead become gods, 31 _sq._;\n threatened, 208.\n _See_ Gods, Souls\n\n Spittle used in magic, 15, 300, 325, 405;\n collected to prevent its use in magic, 405 _sq._\n\n Stair, J. B., 152, 173 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1\n\n Star, shooting, worshipped, 93\n\n Stars observed by the Samoans, 161\n\n Sterndale, H. B., 197, 198, 199\n\n Stewart, C. S., 157 _n._^7, 337 _sq._, 340 _sq._, 344 _n._^1,\n 348 _sq._, 349 _sq._, 358, 372, 377, 424\n\n Stick-and-groove mode of kindling fire, 181\n\n Stilts, racing or combating on, 339 _sq._\n\n Stinging ray fish, divine, 184, 185;\n taboo to some Marquesans, 347\n\n Stone-cutting in Tonga, craft of, 127\n\n Stone monuments in Samoa, 197 _sqq._\n\n Stone temple, ruins of, in Samoa, 196 _sq._\n\n Stone tools and weapons, 10, 61, 180, 250 _sq._, 335, 382;\n in Tonga, 61;\n in Samoa, 180\n\n Stonehenge, trilithons at, 123, 129, 130\n\n Stones worshipped, 182, 187;\n piled on graves to prevent the dead from rising, 232\n\n Succession of eldest sons at their birth, 255 _sq._\n\n Sugar-cane cultivated, 379\n\n Suicides, their fate after death, 363\n\n Sun, supposed secret worship of the, in the Pacific, 119;\n Stonehenge supposed by some to be a temple of the, 130;\n Tongans not worshippers of the, 131;\n tradition of human sacrifices to, 158;\n not worshipped in Samoa, 192;\n ghosts journeying with the, 239 _sqq._;\n caught and stopped by Maui, 275, 287 _n._, 396;\n not worshipped by the Society Islanders, 286;\n souls of the dead gather in the, 320\n\n Sun god caught by Maui, 226;\n supposed worship of, 266, 286 _n._^5\n\n Sun worship, savages not addicted to, 131\n\n \"Sun-dried gods,\" title applied to embalmed bodies of chiefs, 205\n\n Superstitious terrors reinforce morality, 83\n\n\n Taaroa (Taroa), a great god, 255 _n._^1, 258, 266, 267, 276, 287 _n._;\n supreme god of Polynesia, 290.\n _Compare_ Tanaroa, Tangaloa, Tangaroa\n\n Taboo (_tapu_) among the Maoris, 32, 34, 37 _sqq._, 432;\n contracted by contact with the dead, 39, 209;\n of sacred chiefs, 41 _sqq._;\n its effect in confirming the rights of private property, 47 _sq._;\n ultimate sanction of, 49;\n supposed effects of breaking a, 76 _sq._;\n consequent on touching a dead body, 137 _sq._;\n comprises ideas of holiness and uncleanness, 173;\n signified by white cloth, 344;\n in the Marquesas, 345 _sqq._;\n a definition of, 348;\n in Hawaii, 387 _sqq._;\n breaches of, punished with death, 389;\n abolished in Hawaii, 389 _sq._;\n rigour of, 416;\n an aristocratic institution, 432\n\n Tabooed priest, 404\n\n Taboos imposed by chiefs, 175, 432\n\n Tahaa, one of the Society Islands, 246, 258\n\n Tahiti, 246, 247, 255, 266, 279, 282, 283, 314, 321;\n _morais_ in, 116 _sqq._, 279 _sqq._\n\n _Tahowa_, priest, 293\n\n Tahuata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas, 349, 359, 360, 364,\n 367\n\n Taipii (Typee), valley of, in Nukahiva, 360, 365\n\n Taipiis or Typees, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332, 365, 373\n\n Tairi (Kaili), the national war-god of Hawaii, 396, 397, 404, 411\n\n Takalaua, a Tooitonga, 108\n\n Tali-y-Toobo, Tongan god of royal family, 70, 73, 77, 79, 121\n\n Tame gods, 191\n\n Tamehameha, king of Hawaii, 384, 423.\n _See_ Kamehameha\n\n Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, Taaroa, dialectically different names of\n a great Polynesian god, 258, 392\n\n Tane (Tani), a great Polynesian god, 35 _n._, 241, 258, 280, 284, 293,\n 392, 394, 397\n\n Tane-kio, a god, enshrined in the planets Venus and Jupiter, 228\n\n Tangaloa, god, drew up Tonga Islands on a fishing-hook, 65, 72 _sq._;\n god of artificers, 72;\n puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88;\n ancestor of Tui-ta-tui, 127;\n temple of, 196;\n principal god of Samoans, the creator, 202 _sq._;\n said to have fished up the islands, 202, 203\n\n Tangaroa, god of ocean, 35 _n._;\n a great god, brother of Rongo, 226\n\n _Tapu_. _See_ Taboo\n\n Taro the staple food of the Samoans, 165;\n of the Mangaians, 222;\n and of the Hawaiians, 378\n\n Tattooing, not applied to the Tooitonga, 81;\n nor to the sacred kings of Mangaia, 224;\n as a punishment in Samoa, 160;\n of the Marquesan islanders, 331 _sq._;\n marks of, removed from corpse, 368;\n of the Hawaiians, 378;\n of the tongue in mourning, 421\n\n _Tauas_, inspired men, 350 _sq._\n\n Tauata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas Islands, 337\n\n Taylor, R., 7 _n._^1, 32 _n._^1, _n._^2, 36, 42\n\n _Tee_, _teehee_, _tii_, spirit of the dead, guardian spirit, 313, 322,\n 323 _n._^1\n\n Teeth, loss of, penalty for breach of taboo, 209 _sq._;\n knocked out in mourning, 231, 420, 423, 424\n\n Tekuraaki, a god, incarnate in the woodpecker, 228\n\n Temple, dead Areois buried in, 261;\n bones of human victims buried in, 292;\n bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311\n\n Temples of the gods in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._;\n and graves, question of, 99 _sqq._;\n and tombs, 99 _sqq._;\n Samoan, 194 _sqq._;\n in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq._;\n dedicated to sharks, 402, 403;\n Hawaiian, 406 _sqq._\n\n Theft, ordeal for detection of, 77\n\n Thieves, Hiro the god of, 326;\n divination to detect, 406\n\n Thunder and lightning, no Tongan god of, 71;\n Tongan idea concerning, 90\n\n Thunder-god kept in captivity, 191 _sq._\n\n Thomas, Rev. John, 57 _n._^1, 111 _n._\n\n Thomson, A. S., 6 _n._^2\n\n Thomson, Sir Basil, 87 _n._^1, 106, 107, 115, 116, 124, 125, 126, 127,\n 128, 129\n\n Tiaio, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 227\n\n Tiaraboo (Tiarroboo, Tairaboo), the southern peninsula of Tahiti, 257,\n 283\n\n Tiburones, a mythical paradise, 352, 364\n\n Ti'iti'i, hero, robs Mafuie of fire, 203\n\n _Tii_, a worshipful spirit of the dead, 324.\n Compare _Tee_\n\n Tiki, the god of the dead, 231, 232\n\n ----, a heroine, 239;\n warder of the land of the dead, 244 _sq._\n\n ----, a Marquesan god, 343, 350 _n._^4\n\n Timatekore, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 226\n\n Tofua, Tongan island, 96\n\n Togo, in West Africa, 271\n\n _Tohunga_, Maori priest, 16 _n._^3\n\n Tombs, megalithic, of the Tooitongas, 99 _sqq._, 105 _sqq._, 119,\n 123, 132;\n and temples, 99 _sqq._\n\n Tonga or Friendly Islands, 52 _sqq._\n\n ---- Islanders, 57 _sqq._;\n their religion, 64 _sqq._;\n their national and tribal gods, 93 _sq._\n\n Tongataboo, 52, 86, 94, 106, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120, 123\n\n Tonga-iti, a god in the Hervey Islands, 227\n\n _Tooas_ (_tuas_), Tongan commoners, 66, 85, 86, 87\n\n Toobo Toty, a Tongan god, 71\n\n Toogoo Ahoo, king of Tonga, 81\n\n Tooi fooa Bolotoo, a Tongan god, 70 _sq._\n\n Tooitonga, sacred chief or king of Tonga, 62, 66, 73, 81, 82, 94,\n 106, 107, 108, 110, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121,\n 122, 123, 126, 127, 144, 145;\n tombs of the Tooitongas, 105 _sqq._;\n obsequies of the, 140 _sqq._\n\n Tooi-tonga-fafine, sister of the Tooitonga, 110\n\n Totemic gods of Samoa, 202\n\n Totemism, Tongan polytheism developed out of, 94;\n Samoan worship of animals developed out of, 200 _sqq._, 218;\n theory that it has been developed out of metempsychosis, 218;\n relics of, in the Hervey Islands, 227 _sq._;\n traces of, among the Marquesans, 347;\n relics of, in Hawaii, 402\n\n Trade guilds among the Samoans, 167 _sq._\n\n Transmigration of souls not believed in by the Samoans, 218;\n of souls of children into sharks, 403\n\n Traps set for souls, 230\n\n Tree, family god in, 192;\n on which ghosts perch, 241\n\n Trees, dead deposited on, 20 _sq._;\n tenanted by gods, 228;\n sacred, 281 _sq._;\n worshipped, 402\n\n Tregear, E., 6 _n._^2, 126 _n._^2, 392\n\n Tribes or clans among the Hervey Islanders, 223\n\n Trilithon in Tongataboo, 123 _sqq._\n\n Trilithons at Stonehenge, 123, 129, 130\n\n Trinity, the Hawaiian, 392\n\n Triton-shell, god in, 228\n\n Tropic-bird sacred, 93\n\n Tu, Maori war-god, 35 _n._;\n a great Polynesian deity, 392\n\n Tuaraatai, a sea god in the Society Islands, 276\n\n Tufoa, volcanic island, 53\n\n Tui-ta-tui, a Tooitonga, 127, 128\n\n _Tulafales_, householders or gentry in Samoa, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180\n\n Tuoro, in Rarotonga, the meeting-place of ghosts, 243, 244\n\n Turnbull, J., 262\n\n Turner, Dr. George, 183 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1, 212, 213\n\n Turtles, family god in, 183 _sq._\n\n Tutuila, Samoan island, 149, 175, 176, 180, 215\n\n Twins, divine, 226;\n heavenly, 267;\n customs and superstitions concerning, 267 _sqq._;\n thought able to influence the weather, 267 _sq._;\n fertilising power ascribed to, 269 _sqq._;\n divine Hawaiian, 394\n\n Tyerman and Bennet, 260, 281, 283, 295, 315, 386\n\n Tylor, E. B., 3 _n._^3\n\n Typee. _See_ Taipii\n\n Typees or Taipiis, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332 365, 375\n\n\n Uea (Wallis Island), 125\n\n Uganda, human sacrifice in, 84\n\n _Uhane_, soul, 417\n\n Ui, a heroine, beloved by the sun, 158\n\n Uli, a Hawaiian god, 405\n\n Umi, king of Hawaii, 411, 413\n\n Unburied dead, Samoan ceremonies for, 205 _sq._\n\n Uncleanness, and holiness blent in taboo, 173;\n caused by contact with a corpse, 312 _sq._, 427\n\n Underworld, home of the souls of the dead, 27\n\n Upolu, Samoan island, 149, 152, 155, 162, 185, 196, 202, 214, 215\n\n Upu, a Marquesan goddess of the dead, 367, 368\n\n Uriwera, a Maori people, 15\n\n Urutetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267\n\n Utakea, a god incarnate in the woodpecker, 228\n\n\n Vatea, a primary god, 226\n\n Vavau, a Tongan island, 52, 53, 73\n\n Veachi, sacred personage in Tonga, 66\n\n Veeson, George, 86\n\n Vegetable gods in Samoa, 192\n\n Ventriloquism, 370\n\n Venus, the planet, the shrine of a god, 228\n\n Vergnes, P. E. Eyriaud des, 374\n\n Village gods, 182, 185\n\n Villages, Samoan, self-governing, 178 _sq._\n\n Vincendon-Dumoulin, 118, 358, 373\n\n Virtue, Tongan ideas of, 66 _sq._, 146 _sq._\n\n Volcanic activity in Tonga Islands, 53 _sqq._;\n in Samoa, 151;\n in Hawaii, 375\n\n Volcano, goddess of, in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._;\n offerings to, 399 _sq._\n\n\n _Wahi taboo_, sacred place, temple, 387 _sq._\n\n _Wahine ariki_, 40\n\n Waimate Plains in New Zealand, 23\n\n Wakea. _See_ Akea\n\n Wallis Island (Uea), 125\n\n Wallis rediscovers Society Islands, 246\n\n War gods, Samoan, 186, 188, 189 _sq._\n\n War-gods, images of, carried to battle, 397\n\n Warriors tabooed, 40 _sq._\n\n Warriors, fate of souls of dead, 242 _sq._, 244 _sq._\n\n Water of Life, River of the, 28;\n in the nether world, 216\n\n Weaving practised by Maoris, 9\n\n West, Thomas, 114\n\n Whale, soul of dead priest in a, 369\n\n Whales worshipped, 93\n\n _Whattas_, altars, 391, 392\n\n White cloth as mark of taboo, 344;\n flags as marks of property, 386\n\n Widowers tabooed, 39\n\n Widows killed to accompany their dead husbands, 24;\n tabooed, 39;\n strangled and buried with their husbands, 145;\n dances of, 353, 354\n\n Wilkes, Charles (Commodore), 57, 61 _n._, 87, 89 _n._^1, 90,\n 155 _n._^1, 384 _sq._, 411\n\n Williams, John, 80, 157 _n._^7, 158, 181, 185, 221, 231\n\n Wilson, James, 264 _n._^5\n\n Winds imprisoned by two gods, 277\n\n Windward Islands, 246\n\n Wiro, evil spirit, 27\n\n Woman, the first, created out of a rib of the first man, 393 _sq._\n\n Women well treated by Tongans, 61 _sq._;\n well treated by the Samoans, 157;\n excluded from temples, 288 _sq._;\n forbidden to eat with men, 381;\n forbidden to partake of sacrifices, 388\n\n Woodpecker, gods incarnate in the, 228\n\n Worms, souls of the dead in the shape of, 29\n\n Worship of ancestors among the Maoris, 32 _sqq._;\n of the Tongan gods, 79 _sqq._;\n of nature, 93;\n of the dead tends to encroach on the worship of the high gods,\n 97 _sq._;\n of animals and other natural objects in Samoa, 182 _sqq._,\n 200 _sqq._;\n of the dead in Samoa, 204 _sq._;\n of the dead, elements of the, 205;\n of the sun, supposed, 266, 286 _n._^5;\n of the dead in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._;\n of animals in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._\n _See_ Religion\n\n Wrestling matches as funeral rite, 140, 144, 211;\n at obsequies of chiefs, 303\n\n ---- and boxing matches at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211;\n in honour of Lono (Rono), 395, 416\n\n\n Yam festival in Tonga, 71 _sq._\n\n Yams, new, offered at grave, 122\n\n Young, John, 422 _sq._\n\n\n Zulu superstition as to twins, 270\n\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n_Printed in Great Britain by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.\n\n\n\n\nWORKS BY SIR J. G. FRAZER\n\n\n THE\n BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY\n AND THE\n WORSHIP OF THE DEAD\n\n VOL. I.\n\n THE BELIEF AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA, THE TORRES STRAITS\n ISLANDS, NEW GUINEA, AND MELANESIA.\n\n THE GIFFORD LECTURES, ST. ANDREWS, 1911-1912.\n\n 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.\n\nMr. EDWARD CLODD in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--\"'If a man die, shall he\nlive again?' is a question asked chiliads before Job put it, and the\ngenerations of mankind repeat it. In this profoundly interesting volume,\nProfessor Frazer, out of the treasury of his knowledge, and with\nconsummate art of attractive presentment, gives the answers devised by\nthe Lower Races.\"\n\n_FOLK-LORE_.--\"It displays all the best qualities, both in respect of\nstyle and matter, that characterise Dr. Frazer's former works.\"\n\n_NEW STATESMAN_.--\"Dr. Frazer does not profess to explain the ultimate\nsource of religion, but only to attempt to follow the steps of its\ngrowth among the races of men. It is his aim to set before us a\ncontinent of facts known, or partly known, to the anthropologists, not a\nsolution of the mystery of the Universe. That aim he has achieved with\nmasterly success and lucidity.\"\n\nMr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--\"The analysis of belief and practice\namong the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits, New Guinea, and\nMelanesia, which occupies nearly 400 pages of this volume, is a masterly\nperformance.\"\n\n_GUARDIAN_.--\"The bare facts which Dr. Frazer sets before us are of an\nabsorbing interest.... The Biblical student may gain much from the\nperusal of Dr. Frazer's work.\"\n\n_OBSERVER_.--\"The importance of the work which Dr. Frazer has undertaken\ncannot be overrated. His study of religion is a contribution to human\nknowledge of such quality that the country to which he belongs may well\nbe proud of him.... Dr. Frazer has arranged the mass of detail from\nwhich he has had to draw with a skill and judgment which in the work of\nanother man would be surprising; and he tells each story with the point\nand clarity of an artist, so that, apart from the book's high mission,\nit could be read as a storehouse of good tales. His comments, moreover,\nare always brief and decisive.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n THE GOLDEN BOUGH\n\n A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION\n\n Third Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo.\n\n Part I. THE MAGIC ART AND THE EVOLUTION OF KINGS. Two volumes.\n 25s. net.\n\n II. TABOO AND THE PERILS OF THE SOUL. One volume.\n 12s. 6d. net.\n\n III. THE DYING GOD. One volume. 12s. 6d. net.\n\n IV. ADONIS, ATTIS, OSIRIS. Two volumes. 25s. net.\n\n V. SPIRITS OF THE CORN AND OF THE WILD. Two volumes.\n 25s. net.\n\n VI. THE SCAPEGOAT. One volume, 12s. 6d. net.\n\n VII. BALDER THE BEAUTIFUL: THE FIRE-FESTIVALS OF EUROPE\n AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE EXTERNAL SOUL. Two volumes.\n 25s. net.\n\n Vol. XII. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GENERAL INDEX. 25s. net.\n\n_TIMES_.--\"The book is a great book, in just the sense in which the work\nof Darwin, Zola, or Balzac is great. It has explored and mapped out a\nnew world. But it combines artistry with science. Not only does it\ndescribe the greater part of the magical and religious beliefs and\npractices of the lower races and peasant peoples of the world, with\na scientific precision and completeness superior to those of the\nencyclopaedic biologist; it also narrates, with greater truth and\nvividness than has ever been essayed, the tragi-comedy of human\nsuperstition.\"\n\nMr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--\"This new edition is something more than\na mere enlargement. It is a new book, or a series of books; yet it is\nthe same 'Golden Bough.' The reader will find it full of good things,\nnew and old. He will also realise that 'The Golden Bough' is a great\nbook, one of the great books of our time.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION.\n Abridged Edition. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 18s. net.\n\nThis abridgment has been prepared in response to numerous requests that\nthe work should be issued in a more compendious form. While the book has\nbeen greatly reduced in bulk, by omission of all the notes and\noccasional condensation in the text, all the main principles of the\ncomplete work are retained, together with a sufficient amount of\nevidence to illustrate them clearly. Nothing has been added, and no\nchange has been made in the author's views. It is hoped that in this\nabridged form the book may prove welcome to students and general readers\nwho cannot afford to buy and read the complete edition.\n\n * * * * *\n\n FOLK-LORE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Studies in Comparative Religion,\n Legend, and Law. Three vols. 8vo. 37s. 6d. net.\n\n_TIMES_.--\"The idea of illustrating the Old Testament by analogies drawn\nfrom the myths, customs, and superstitions of various primitive peoples\nis not, of course, a new one ... but no one has hitherto published\nanything to be compared with the vast and varied store of information\nwhich Sir James Frazer now places before us.... His book is a mine of\ninstructive facts for which all future students of the subject will be\ngrateful.\"\n\n_NATURE_.--\"These three volumes should be the household companion of\nevery religious teacher, nay, of every one who cares or dares to see\nwhat that latest daughter of science, folk-lore, has to say about the\ncherished beliefs from the Old Testament, absorbed in infancy, and\nrarely visualised differently in later life.\"\n\n_SPECTATOR_.--\"We may say at once that Sir James Frazer's new work is\nprofoundly interesting, and that it throws a flood of light on many\nfamiliar episodes and references.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY. A Treatise on Certain Early Forms of\n Superstition and Society. With Maps. Four vols. 8vo. 50s. net.\n\nMr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--\"That portion of the book which is\nconcerned with totemism (if we may express our own belief at the risk of\noffending Prof. Frazer's characteristic modesty) is actually 'The\nComplete History of Totemism, its Practice and its Theory, its Origin\nand its End.'... Nearly two thousand pages are occupied with an\nethnographical survey of totemism, an invaluable compilation. The maps,\nincluding that of the distribution of totemic peoples, are a new and\nuseful feature.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF KINGS. (Formerly published as \"Lectures on\n the Early History of the Kingship.\") 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.\n\n_ATHENAEUM_.--\"It is the effect of a good book not only to teach, but\nalso to stimulate and to suggest, and we think this the best and highest\nquality, and one that will recommend these lectures to all intelligent\nreaders, as well as to the learned.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n PSYCHE'S TASK. A Discourse concerning the Influence of\n Superstition on the Growth of Institutions. Second Edition,\n revised and enlarged. To which is added \"The Scope of Social\n Anthropology.\" 8vo. 6s. 6d. net.\n\n_OUTLOOK_.--\"Whether we disagree or agree with Dr. Frazer's general\nconclusions, he has provided us with a veritable storehouse of\ncorrelated facts, for which, and for the learning that has gone to their\ncollection, and for the intellectual brilliance that has gone to their\narrangement, we can never be sufficiently grateful.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n PAUSANIAS'S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. Translated with a Commentary,\n Illustrations, and Maps. Second Edition. Six vols. 8vo. 126s.\n net.\n\n_ATHENAEUM_.--\"All these writings in many languages Mr. Eraser has read\nand digested with extraordinary care, so that his book will be for years\nthe book of reference on such matters, not only in England, but in\nFrance and Germany. It is a perfect thesaurus of Greek topography,\narchaeology, and art.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n STUDIES IN GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND AND HISTORY. Selected from Sir\n J. G. FRAZER'S Commentary on Pausanias. Globe 8vo. 5s. net.\n\n_GUARDIAN_.--\"Here we have material which every one who has visited\nGreece, or purposes to visit it, most certainly should read and\nenjoy.... We cannot imagine a more excellent book for the educated\nvisitor to Greece.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, AND OTHER LITERARY PIECES. Crown 8vo. 8s.\n 6d. net.\n\n_DAILY TELEGRAPH_.--\"These various studies, biographical, fantastic, and\nromantic, are the fine flower of scholarship and taste, touched\ncontinually by the golden light of imagination, and full of that\ninterpretative sympathy which is half-sister to creation.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. Chosen and Edited, with a Memoir and\n a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. l0s. net.\n [_Eversley Series._\n\nMr. CLEMENT SHORTER in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--\"The introductory Memoir,\nof some eighty pages in length, is a valuable addition to the many\nappraisements of Cowper that these later years have seen.... Dr. Frazer\nhas given us two volumes that are an unqualified joy.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n ESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. Chosen and Edited, with a Preface and\n a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. 10s. net.\n [_Eversley Series._\n\n_NATION_.--\"Sir James Frazer, who writes a Preface, quite in the Addison\nmanner, has done his work of selection as only a scholar of his breadth\nand distinction could achieve.\"\n\n\n\nLONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\n\n1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.\n\n2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest\nparagraph break.\n\n3. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the paragraph\nin which they are referenced.\n\n4. The original text has certain words which use \"oe\" ligature which is\nindicated by [oe] within this text.\n\n5. There are certain letters with diacritical marks in the original text\nwhich are indicated in this e-text version using:\n\n [=a] letter a with macron above\n [=o] letter o with macron above\n [)a] letter a with breve\n\n6. In the original text, the words lulu'u, A'ana and Tuia'ana use single\nhigh-reversed-9 quotation mark which has been replaced by plain single\nquotation mark in this e-text version.\n\n7. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies\nin spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been\nretained.","title":"The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 2 (of 3): The Belief Among the Polynesians","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":192688}