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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33524-8.txt b/33524-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00e7ce4 --- /dev/null +++ b/33524-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21182 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Belief in Immortality and the Worship +of the Dead, by James George Frazer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead + Vol. II + +Author: James George Frazer + +Release Date: August 24, 2010 [EBook #33524] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was made using scans of public domain works from the +University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + VOL. II + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MADRAS + MELBOURNE + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO + DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO + + THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. + TORONTO + + + + THE + BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + AND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD + + BY + SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F.R.S., F.B.A. + + FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + + HON. D.C.L., OXFORD; HON. LITT.D., CAMBRIDGE AND DURHAM; + + HON. LL.D., GLASGOW; DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF + PARIS AND STRASBOURG + + + + VOL. II + THE BELIEF AMONG THE POLYNESIANS + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + 1922 + + + + COPYRIGHT + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + + + +PREFACE + + +The first volume of this work, which comprised the Gifford Lectures +given by me at St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, dealt with the +belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New +Guinea, and Melanesia. In the present volume I take up the subject at +the point at which I broke off, and describe the corresponding belief +and worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbours +the Melanesians by language, if not by blood. The first chapter formed +the theme of two lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in 1916; +the other chapters have been written for lectures at Trinity College, +Cambridge, in 1921 and 1922. But in the book the lecture form has been +discarded, and the treatment of the subject is somewhat fuller than +comports with the limits imposed by oral delivery. + +Should circumstances allow me to continue the work, I propose in the +next volume to treat of the belief in immortality and the worship of the +dead among the Micronesians and Indonesians. + + +J. G. FRAZER. + +NO. 1 BRICK COURT, TEMPLE, +LONDON, _19th July 1922_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGES + + PREFACE v + + TABLE OF CONTENTS vii-ix + + CHAP. + I. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS 1-51 + + § 1. The Polynesians 1-5 + § 2. The Maoris of New Zealand 5-10 + § 3. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of + the Living 10-19 + § 4. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of + the Dead 19-37 + § 5. Taboo among the Maoris 37-50 + § 6. Conclusion 51 + + II. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS 52-147 + + § 1. The Tonga or Friendly Islands 52-57 + § 2. The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of + Life, and Government 57-63 + § 3. The Tongan Religion: its General Principles 64-68 + § 4. The Primary or Non-human Gods 68-73 + § 5. The Temples of the Gods 73-77 + § 6. Priests and their Inspiration 77-79 + § 7. The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices 79-84 + § 8. The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny + after Death 84-91 + § 9. The Souls of the Dead as Gods 91-98 + § 10. Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments 99-132 + § 11. Rites of Burial and Mourning 132-146 + § 12. The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion 146-147 + + III. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS 148-218 + + § 1. The Samoan Islands 148-156 + § 2. The Samoan Islanders, their character 156-163 + § 3. Houses, Agriculture, and Industries 163-169 + § 4. Rights of Property 169-171 + § 5. Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs 171-181 + § 6. Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, + and Districts 181-192 + § 7. Priests and Temples 192-200 + § 8. Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, + and Districts: Relation to Totemism 200-202 + § 9. The High Gods of Samoa 202-205 + § 10. The Samoan Belief concerning the Human + Soul: Funeral Customs 205-213 + § 11. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 213-218 + + IV. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS 219-245 + + § 1. The Hervey or Cook Islands 219-220 + § 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 220-223 + § 3. Social Life: the Sacred Kings 223-225 + § 4. Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism 225-229 + § 5. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 229-231 + § 6. Death and Funeral Rites 231-237 + § 7. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 238-245 + + V. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS 246-327 + + § 1. The Society Islands 246-248 + § 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 248-256 + § 3. The Religion of the Society Islanders 256-278 + § 4. The Temples and Images of the Gods 278-291 + § 5. The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders 291-296 + § 6. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 297-299 + § 7. Disease, Death, and Mourning 299-308 + § 8. The Disposal of the Dead 308-313 + § 9. The Fate of the Soul after Death 313-321 + § 10. The Worship of the Dead 322-327 + + VI. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS 328-374 + + § 1. The Marquesas Islands 328-331 + § 2. Physical Appearance of the Natives 331-333 + § 3. Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing 333-337 + § 4. Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names 337-339 + § 5. Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls 339-344 + § 6. Social Ranks, Taboo 344-347 + § 7. Religion and Mythology 348-352 + § 8. The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs 352-363 + § 9. Fate of the Soul after Death 363-374 + + VII. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS 375-431 + + § 1. The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands 375-377 + § 2. The Natives and their Mode of Life 377-380 + § 3. Houses, Mechanical Arts 380-383 + § 4. Government, Social Ranks, Taboo 383-390 + § 5. Religion, the Gods 390-404 + § 6. Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners 404-406 + § 7. Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices 406-414 + § 8. Festivals 414-416 + § 9. Death and Funeral Rites 417-427 + § 10. Fate of the Soul after Death 427-431 + + INDEX 433-447 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS + + +§ 1. _The Polynesians_ + +The Polynesians are the tall brown race of men who inhabit the widely +scattered islands of the Pacific, from Hawaii on the north to New +Zealand on the south, and from Tonga on the west to Easter Island on the +east.[1] Down to the eighteenth century they remained practically +unknown to Europe; the first navigator to bring back comparatively full +and accurate information concerning them was our great English explorer, +Captain James Cook. Thus at the date of their discovery the natives were +quite unaffected by European influence: of our civilisation they knew +nothing: of Christianity, though it had existed in the world for nearly +eighteen hundred years, they had never heard: they were totally ignorant +of the metals, and had made so little progress in the arts of life that +in most of the islands pottery was unknown,[2] and even so simple an +invention as that of bows and arrows for use in war had not been thought +of.[3] Hence their condition was of great interest to students of the +early history of man, since it presented to their observation the +spectacle of a barbaric culture evolved from an immemorial past in +complete independence of those material, intellectual, and moral forces +which have moulded the character of modern European nations. The +lateness of their discovery may also be reckoned a fortunate +circumstance for us as well as for them, since it fell at a time when +scientific curiosity was fully awakened among us, and when scientific +methods were sufficiently understood to allow us to study with profit a +state of society which differed so widely from our own, and which in an +earlier and less enlightened age might have been contemplated only with +aversion and disgust. + + [1] Horatio Hale, _The United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq_., + 9 _sqq._; J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 500 + _sqq._ + + [2] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 154, 501; + _British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_ + (1910), p. 147. + + [3] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), v. 416; W. + Mariner, _Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_, Second + Edition (London, 1818), i. 67; W. Ellis, _Polynesian + Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. 220; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + Second Edition (London, 1856), p. 212; J. Deniker, _The Races of + Man_, p. 501. In Polynesia "the bow was not a serious weapon; it + was found in some islands, _e.g._ in Tahiti and Tonga, but was + principally used for killing rats or in shooting matches" + (_British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_, + p. 153). As to the limited use of bows and arrows in Polynesia, + see further E. Tregear, "The Polynesian Bow," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. i. no. 1 (April 1892), pp. 56-59; W. + H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge, + 1914), ii. 446 _sqq._ + +The question of the origin of the Polynesian race is still unsettled, +but the balance both of evidence and of probability seems to incline in +favour of the view that the people are descended from one of the yellow +Mongoloid races of South-Eastern Asia, who gradually spread eastward +over the Indian Archipelago and intermingling to some extent with the +black aboriginal inhabitants of the islands formed the lighter-tinted +brown race which we call the Polynesian.[4] A strong argument in favour +of this theory is drawn from the Polynesian language, which belongs +essentially to the same family of speech as the Melanesian and Malay +languages spoken by the peoples who occupy the islands that intervene +between Polynesia and the south-eastern extremity of the Asiatic +continent.[5] The black Melanesian race occupies the south-eastern +portion of New Guinea and the chain of islands which stretches in a +great curve round the north-eastern coasts of New Guinea and Australia. +The brown Malays, with the kindred Indonesians and a small admixture of +negritoes, inhabit the islands westward from New Guinea to the Malay +Peninsula.[6] Of the two kindred languages, the Polynesian and the +Melanesian, the older in point of structure appears unquestionably to be +the Melanesian; for it is richer both in sounds and in grammatical forms +than the Polynesian, which may accordingly be regarded as its later and +simplified descendant.[7] + + [4] Compare (Sir) E. B. Tylor, _Anthropology_ (London, 1881), p. + 102; R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_ (Oxford, + 1885), pp. 33 _sqq._; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki, the Original + Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc., New Zealand, 1910), pp. + 85 _sqq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge, + 1919), pp. 34 _sqq._; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and Present_, + revised by A. Hingston-Quiggin and A. C. Haddon (Cambridge, + 1920), p. 552. + + [5] On the affinity of the Polynesian, Melanesian, and Malay + languages, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_ + (Oxford, 1885), pp. 10 _sqq._; S. H. Ray, "The Polynesian + Language in Melanesia," _Anthropos_, xiv.-xv. (1919-1920), pp. + 46 _sqq._ + + [6] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, pp. 482 _sqq._ + + [7] _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to + Torres Straits_, vol. iii. _Linguistics_, by Sydney H. Ray + (Cambridge, 1907), p. 528 (as to the relation of the Polynesian + to the Melanesian language). As to the poverty of the Polynesian + language in sounds and grammatical forms by comparison with the + Melanesian, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, p. + 11. + +But whereas the three peoples, the Polynesians, the Melanesians, and the +Malays speak languages belonging to the same family, their physical +types are so different that it seems impossible to look on the brown +straight-haired Polynesians and Malays as pure descendants of the +swarthy frizzly-haired Melanesians. Accordingly in the present state of +our knowledge, or rather ignorance, the most reasonable hypothesis would +appear to be that the Melanesians, who occupy a central position in the +great ocean, between the Polynesians on the east and the Malays on the +west, represent the original inhabitants of the islands, while the +Polynesians and Malays represent successive swarms of emigrants, who +hived off from the Asiatic continent, and making their way eastward over +the islands partially displaced and partially blent with the aborigines, +modifying their own physical type in the process and exchanging their +original language for that of the islanders, which, through their +inability to assimilate it, they acquired only in corrupt or degenerate +forms.[8] Yet a serious difficulty meets us on this hypothesis. For +both the Polynesians and the Malays, as we know them, stand at a +decidedly higher level of culture, socially and intellectually, than the +Melanesians, and it is hard to understand why with this advantage they +should have fallen into a position of linguistic subordination to them, +for as a rule it is the higher race which imposes its language on its +inferiors, not the lower race which succeeds in foisting its speech on +its superiors. + + [8] This seems to be the hypothesis favoured by Dr. R. H. + Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, pp. 33 _sqq._ Compare J. + Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 505. On the other hand Sir E. B. + Tylor says (_Anthropology_, pp. 163 _sq._), "The parent language + of this family may have belonged to Asia, for in the Malay + region the grammar is more complex, and words are found like + _tasik_ = sea and _langit_ = sky, while in the distant islands + of New Zealand and Hawaii these have come down to _tai_ and + _lai_, as though the language became shrunk and formless as the + race migrated further from home, and sank into the barbaric life + of ocean islanders." Dr. W. H. R. Rivers suggests that the + Polynesian language "arose out of a pidgin Indonesian" (_The + History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 584). + +But these are intricate questions which await future investigation. I +cannot enter into them now, but must confine myself to my immediate +subject, the beliefs of the Polynesians concerning the human soul and +the life after death. + +In spite of their diffusion over a multitude of islands separated from +each other by hundreds and even thousands of miles of ocean, the +Polynesians are on the whole a remarkably homogeneous race in physical +type, language, and forms of society and religion. The differences of +language between them are inconsiderable, amounting to little more than +some well-marked dialectical variations: all dwell in settled homes and +subsist partly by fishing partly by the fruits of the earth, tilling the +soil and gathering coconuts and bread-fruit from the trees:[9] all are +bold and expert mariners, making long voyages in large well-built +canoes: all possess a copious and comparatively well developed +mythology; and all at the time of their discovery enjoyed, or perhaps we +should rather say suffered from, a singular institution, half social, +half religious, which may be summed up in the single Polynesian word +taboo. Hence it would no doubt be possible to give a general account of +the belief in human immortality which would hold good in outline for all +the different branches of the Polynesian race; but such an account would +necessarily be somewhat meagre, inexact in detail, and liable to many +exceptions. Accordingly I shall not attempt it, but shall describe the +creed of each group of islanders separately. As the beliefs of the +various islanders on this momentous topic are characterised by a general +similarity, the method I have adopted will no doubt involve a certain +sameness and repetition, but for the serious student of comparative +religion I hope that these disadvantages may be more than outweighed by +the greater accuracy and fulness of detail which this mode of treating +the subject renders possible. + + [9] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 501. On the apparent + homogeneity of the Polynesian race see W. H. R. Rivers, _The + History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge, 1914), ii. 280, who, + however, argues (ii. 280 _sqq._) that the race has been formed + by the fusion of two distinct peoples. + +The principal groups of islands included in Polynesia are New Zealand, +the Friendly or Tonga Islands, the Samoan or Navigators Islands, the +Hervey or Cook Islands, the Society Islands, including Tahiti, the +Marquesas Islands, and Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands.[10] All of them, +except New Zealand, are within the tropics; and all of them, except +Hawaii, lie to the south of the equator. I shall deal with them in the +order I have mentioned, beginning with New Zealand. + + [10] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq._ + + +§ 2. _The Maoris of New Zealand_ + +The Maoris of New Zealand are not aborigines of the islands which they +inhabit: they possess long and apparently in the main trustworthy +traditions of their migration to New Zealand many generations ago. The +circumstances which led to the migration, the names of the canoes in +which it was accomplished, the names and genealogies of the chiefs who +conducted it, are all recorded, having been handed on by word of mouth +from generation to generation, till they were finally written down from +the lips of the natives by English enquirers.[11] The place from which +the Maoris came is unanimously designated as Hawaiki, an island or +group of islands lying far to the north or north-east of New Zealand. +Among English scholars there is some difference of opinion whether +Hawaiki is to be identified with Hawaii, that is, the Sandwich Islands, +or with Savaii, one of the Samoan or Navigators Islands, since Hawaii +and Savaii are both dialectical variations of the New Zealander's +pronunciation of Hawaiki.[12] Though Hawaii is more than twice as far as +Savaii from New Zealand, being separated from it by almost the whole +breadth of the tropics and a great stretch of ocean besides, some good +authorities have inclined to regard it as the original home of the +Maoris, but the balance of opinion appears now to preponderate in favour +of the view that Savaii was the centre from which the Polynesians +dispersed all over the Pacific.[13] However, the question is one that +hardly admits of a positive answer. + + [11] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843), + ii. 85 _sqq._; Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring + Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. + 146 _sqq._; Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, + 1855), pp. 123 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._, 202 _sqq._; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + Second Edition (London, 1856), pp. 1 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika + A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition + (London, 1870), pp. 26, 27, 289 _sqq._; John White, _The Ancient + History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions_ (London, + 1887-1889), ii. 176 _sqq._; Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New + Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 73-76. The number of + generations which have elapsed since the migration to New + Zealand is variously estimated. Writing about the middle of the + nineteenth century Shortland reckoned the number at about + eighteen; Mr. Elsdon Best, writing in 1914, variously calculated + it at about twenty-eight or twenty-nine (on p. 73) and from + eighteen to twenty-eight (on p. 74). + + [12] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 33. + + [13] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the U.S. Exploring + Expedition_, pp. 119 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New + Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 85 _sqq._; E. Shortland, + _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 33 + _sqq._; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, + 1859), i. 57 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 26; E. + Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington, + N.Z., 1891), pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Hawaiki"; A. C. Haddon, _The + Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36. Of these + writers, Dieffenbach, Shortland, and Taylor decide in favour of + Hawaii; Thomson, Hale, and Haddon prefer Savaii; Tregear seems + to leave the question open, pointing out that "the inhabitants + of those islands themselves believe in another Hawaiki, neither + in Samoa nor Hawaii." + +The Maoris are not a pure-blooded Polynesian race. Among them even at +the present day two distinct racial types may be distinguished, one of +them the comparatively fair Polynesian type with straight nose and good +features, the other the swarthy, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, +frizzly-haired Melanesian type. They have a tradition that on their +arrival in New Zealand they found the country in the possession of a +dark-skinned folk of repulsive appearance, tall, spare, and +spindle-shanked, with flat faces, overhanging brows, and noses of which +little but the upturned nostrils could in some cases be discerned. These +savages wore little clothing and built no good houses, nothing but rude +shelters against the inclemency of the weather. They were ignorant and +treacherous, and the Maoris regarded them with dislike and contempt; but +their women looked with favour on the handsome Maori men, and a mixture +of the two races was the result. This tradition both explains and is +confirmed by the two different racial types which still exist side by +side or blent together among the Maoris. It seems, therefore, highly +probable that before the advent of the Maoris the North Island of New +Zealand was occupied by a people of inferior culture belonging to the +Melanesian stock, who may themselves have had a strain of Polynesian +blood in their veins and some Polynesian words in their language. This +at least is suggested by some features in the Maori traditions about +them. For these savages told the Maoris that they were the descendants +of the crews of three fishing canoes which had been driven to sea from +their own land in past times, and that their original home was a much +warmer country than New Zealand. All these various indications may +perhaps be reconciled by supposing that the dark predecessors of the +Maoris in New Zealand were a Melanesian people, who had accidentally +drifted from Fiji, the inhabitants of which have long been in contact +with their Polynesian neighbours on the east, the Tongans.[14] They +received from the Maoris the name of Maruiwi,[15] and were perhaps of +the same stock as the Moriori of the Chatham Islands; for two skulls of +the Moriori type have been found in an old deposit at Wanganui, near the +south end of the North Island of New Zealand.[16] + + [14] Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. + (1914) pp. 73-76. The Melanesian strain in the Maoris was + recognised by previous writers. See J. S. Polack, _Manners and + Customs of the New Zealanders_ (London, 1840), i. 6, "The nation + consists of two aboriginal and distinct races, differing, at an + earlier period, as much from each other as both are similarly + removed in similitude from Europeans. A series of intermarriages + for centuries has not even yet obliterated the marked difference + that originally stamped the descendant of the now amalgamated + races. The first may be known by a dark-brown complexion, well + formed and prominent features, erect muscular proportions, and + lank hair, with a boldness in the gait of a warrior, wholly + differing from that of the second and inferior race, who have a + complexion brown-black, hair inclining to the wool, like the + Eastern African, stature short, and skin exceeding soft." The + writer rightly connects the latter people with the stock which + we now call Melanesian. Compare also R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, + pp. 13 _sqq._, who says (p. 13), "The Melanesian preceded the + Polynesian.... The remains of this race are to be seen in every + part of New Zealand, especially among the Nga-ti-ka-hunu, to + which the derisive name of Pokerekahu--Black Kumara--is applied. + The Maori traditions preserve both the names of the canoes which + brought them to New Zealand, as well as of the chiefs who + commanded them; several of these records make mention of their + having found this black race in occupation of the country on + their arrival." The blending of two distinct races, a + light-brown and a dark race, among the Maoris is clearly + recognised by E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. + 8-11. The dark race, he says (pp. 9 _sq._), "has undoubtedly a + different origin. This is proved by their less regularly shaped + cranium, which is rather more compressed from the sides, by + their full and large features, prominent cheek-bones, full lips, + small ears, curly and coarse, although not woolly, hair, a much + deeper colour of the skin, and a short and rather + ill-proportioned figure. This race, which is mixed in insensible + gradations with the former, is far less numerous; it does not + predominate in any one part of the island, nor does it occupy + any particular station in a tribe, and there is no difference + made between the two races amongst themselves; but I must + observe that I never met any man of consequence belonging to + this race, and that, although free men, they occupy the lower + grades; from this we may perhaps infer the relation in which + they stood to the earliest native immigrants into the country, + although their traditions and legends are silent on the + subject." + + [15] Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. + (1914) pp. 73 _sq._ + + [16] (Sir) Arthur Keith, "Moriori in New Zealand," _Man_, xiii. + (1913) pp. 171 _sq._ + +At the time of their discovery the Maoris had attained to a fair level +of barbaric culture. They lived in comfortable houses ornamented with +carved work and with scrolls painted in red and white on the posts and +beams. Their villages were fortified with earthworks, palisades, and +trenches, and surrounded by large gardens planted with sweet potatoes, +taro, and melons.[17] "They excel in tillage," says Captain Cook, as +might naturally be expected, where the person that sows is to eat the +produce, and where there is so little besides that can be eaten: when we +first came to Tegadoo, a district between Poverty Bay and East Cape, +their crops were just covered, and not yet begun to sprout; the mould +was as smooth as in a garden, and every root had its small hillock, +ranged in a regular quincunx, by lines, which with the pegs were still +remaining in the field.[18] They understood the arts of irrigating their +gardens[19] and of manuring them so as to render the soil light and +porous and therefore better suited for the growth of the sweet potato, +their favourite food. For this purpose they used sand, and in the +Waikatoo district, where the root was formerly much cultivated, deep +excavations, like the gravel pits of England, may still be seen, from +which the natives extracted sand to fertilise their gardens.[20] +Moreover, they cultivated various species of native flax and used the +fibre for the manufacture of garments, first scraping it and drying it +in the sun, then steeping it in water, and afterwards beating it with +wooden mallets. Thus prepared the flax was dyed black or reddish brown +and woven into cloth with broad borders of neat and varied patterns. The +stronger and coarser fibres were made into string, lines, and cordage of +all sorts.[21] The Maoris also built large and magnificently adorned +canoes,[22] in which they made long voyages; for example, they invaded +and conquered the Chatham Islands, which lie to the eastward across the +open sea about five hundred miles distant from the nearest coast of New +Zealand.[23] In hunting they had little opportunity to shine, for the +simple reason that in their country there were no beasts to hunt except +rats;[24] even birds they could not shoot, because they had no bows and +arrows to shoot them with,[25] but they made some amends by catching +them in ingeniously constructed snares.[26] They caught fish both with +nets, some of which were of enormous size, and with hooks made of bone +or shell.[27] They displayed great skill and infinite patience in +fashioning, sharpening, and polishing their stone implements and +weapons.[28] In council they were orators, and in the battlefield +warriors whose courage has merited the respect, and whose military skill +has won the admiration of the British troops opposed to them.[29] In +short, the Maoris were and are one of the most highly gifted among the +many uncivilised peoples which the English race, in its expansion over +the world, has met and subdued. It is therefore of peculiar interest to +learn what conceptions they had formed of man's spiritual nature and his +relations to the higher powers. + + [17] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the Maoris_, + p. 202. The elaborate system of fortification employed by the + Maoris, of which the remains may be seen by thousands, seems to + have no exact parallel in Polynesia. See Elsdon Best, "The + Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 75. These native + forts or _pas_, as they were called, had often a double or even + quadruple line of fence, the innermost formed by great poles + twenty or thirty feet high, which were tightly woven together by + the fibrous roots of a creeper. They were built by preference on + hills, the sides of which were scarped and terraced to assist + the defence. Some of them were very extensive and are said to + have contained from one to two thousand inhabitants. Many of + them were immensely strong and practically impregnable in the + absence of artillery. It is believed that the habit of + fortifying their villages was characteristic of the older race + whom the Maoris, on landing in New Zealand, found in occupation + of the country. See W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ + (London, 1835), pp. 122 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and + Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_ (London, 1847), i. 332 + _sq._; Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maoris of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, + vol. xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 204 _sqq._; W. H. Skinner, + "The Ancient Fortified _Pa_," _Journal of the Polynesian + Society_, vol. xx. no. 78 (June 1911), pp. 71-77. + + [18] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), ii. 50. + + [19] The ruins of native irrigation works are to be found in New + Zealand as well as in other parts of Polynesia (J. Deniker, _The + Races of Man_, p. 501). + + [20] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 202 _sq._ + + [21] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 30 _sq._, 40 _sq._; W. + Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 157 + _sqq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 204 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 5. + + [22] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 47 _sq._; W. Yate, _op. + cit._ pp. 161 _sqq._ + + [23] A. Shand, "The Occupation of the Chatham Islands by the + Maoris in 1835," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. i. + no. 2 (July 1892), pp. 83 _sqq._ + + [24] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 496; A. R. Wallace, _Australasia_ + (London, 1913), pp. 442 _sq._ + + [25] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 212; Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as + conducted by the Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xi. no. 4 (December 1902), p. 240. + + [26] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 212 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 442 + _sq._ + + [27] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 49 _sq._; W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, p. 160. + + [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 49; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A + Maui_, p. 4. + + [29] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 4. The Maoris delivered set + speeches composed according to certain recognised laws of + rhetoric, and their oratory was distinguished by a native + eloquence and grace. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and + Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 186 _sqq._ + + +§ 3. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Living_ + +Like most other peoples, whether savage or civilised, the Maoris +explained the mystery of life in man by the presence of an invisible +spirit or soul, which animates his body during life and quits it at +death to survive the separation for a longer or shorter time either in +this world or another. But like many others who have sought to fathom +this profound subject, the Maoris would seem to have experienced some +difficulty in ascertaining the precise nature of the human soul. When +the natural man, on the strength of his native faculties, essays to +explore these dark abysses and to put his vague thoughts into words, he +commonly compares his soul either to his breath or to his shadow and +his reflection, and not content with a simple comparison he is led, by a +natural confusion of thought, to identify more or less closely the +imperceptible entity which he calls his soul with one or both of these +perceptible objects. To this general rule the Maori is apparently no +exception. He has two words which he specially uses to designate the +human spirit or soul: one is _wairua_, the other is _hau_.[30] Of these +words, _wairua_, the more usual name, is said to mean also a shadow, an +unsubstantial image, a reflection, as of a person's face from a polished +surface;[31] and we may surmise that these were the original and proper +meanings of the term. Similarly _hau_, which is described as "the vital +essence or life principle" in man,[32] appears primarily to mean +"wind,"[33] from which we may infer that in its application to man it +denotes properly the breath. The idea of the soul as a breath appears in +the explanation which was given to Dumont d'Urville of the Maori form of +salutation by rubbing noses together. The French traveller was told that +the real intention of this salute was to mingle the breath and thereby +the souls of the persons who gave each other this token of friendship. +But as his informant was not a Maori but a certain Mr. Kendall, the +truth of the explanation remains doubtful, though the Frenchman believed +that he obtained confirmation of it from his own observation and the +testimony of a native.[34] On the other hand the comparison of the soul +to a shadow comes out in the answer given by a Maori to an Englishman +who had asked him why his people did not prevent their souls from +passing away to the nether world. The Maori replied by pointing to the +Englishman's shadow on the wall and asking him whether he could catch +it.[35] + + [30] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177 + _sqq._, 189 _sqq._ + + [31] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 591 _sq._, _s.v._ "wairua." + + [32] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 189. + + [33] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 52, _s.v._ "hau"; Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 190. + + [34] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la + recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 558 _sq._ + + [35] William Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, + 1845), p. 81. + +Thus far the Maori conception of the soul does not perhaps differ very +materially from the popular notion of it current among ourselves. But +we come now to a marked difference between the Maori idea of the soul +and our own. For whereas the European commonly believes his soul to be +fixed during life immovably in his body, and only to depart from it once +for all at death, the soul of the Maori is under no such narrow +restrictions, but is free to quit its bodily mansion at pleasure and to +return to it without prejudice to the life and health of its owner. For +example, the Maori explains a dream by supposing that the soul of the +sleeper has left his body behind and rambled away to places more or less +distant, where it converses with the spirits of other people, whether +alive or dead. Hence no well-bred Maori would waken a sleeper suddenly +by shaking him or calling out to him in a loud voice. If he must rouse +him, he will do it gradually, speaking to him at first in low tones and +then raising his voice by degrees, in order to give the truant soul fair +warning and allow it to return at leisure.[36] Believing in the power of +the soul to wander far away and converse with other spiritual beings in +sleep, the Maoris naturally paid great attention to dreams, which they +fancied were often sent them by the gods to warn them of coming events. +All dreams were supposed to have their special significance, and the +Maoris had framed a fanciful system for interpreting them. Sometimes, as +with ourselves, the interpretation went by contraries. For example, if a +man dreamed that he saw a sick relative at the point of death, it was a +sign that the patient would soon recover; but if, on the contrary, the +sufferer appeared in perfect health, it was an omen of his approaching +end. When a priest was in doubt as to the intentions of the higher +powers, he usually waited for his god to reveal his will in a dream, and +accepted the vagaries of his slumbering fancy as an infallible +intimation of the divine pleasure. Spells were commonly recited in order +to annul the effect of ill-omened dreams.[37] + + [36] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177 + _sq._ + + [37] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 333-335. As to omens + derived from dreams see Elsdon Best, "Omens and Superstitious + Beliefs of the Maori," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + vii. no. 27 (September 1898), pp. 124 _sqq._ + +But the departure of the soul from the body in life was not always +voluntary; it might take place under the compulsion of a hostile +sorcerer or magician. In a Maori legend called _The curse of Manaia_ we +read that "the priests next dug a long pit, termed the pit of wrath, +into which by their enchantments they might bring the spirits of their +enemies, and hang them and destroy them there; and when they had dug the +pit, muttering the necessary incantations, they took large shells in +their hands to scrape the spirits of their enemies into the pit with, +whilst they muttered enchantments; and when they had done this, they +scraped the earth into the pit again to cover them up, and beat down the +earth with their hands, and crossed the pit with enchanted cloths, and +wove baskets of flax-leaves to hold the spirits of the foes which they +had thus destroyed, and each of these acts they accompanied with the +proper spells."[38] + + [38] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), pp. + 168 _sq._ + +This mode of undoing an enemy by extracting and killing his soul was not +with the Maoris a mere legendary fiction; it was practised in real life +by their wizards. For we are told that when a priest desired to slay a +person by witchcraft, he would often dig a hole in the ground, and +standing over it with a cord in his hand would let one end of the cord +hang down into the hole. He then recited an incantation which compelled +the soul of the doomed man to swarm down the cord into the pit, +whereupon another potent spell chanted by the magician speedily put an +end to the poor soul for good and all.[39] + + [39] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 187. + +It seems obvious that spells of this sort may be used with great +advantage in war, for if you can only contrive to kill the souls of your +foes, their mere bodies will probably give you little or no trouble. Nor +did this practical application of the magic art escape the sagacity of +the Maoris. When they marched to attack an enemy's stronghold, it was an +ancient custom to halt and kindle a fire, over which the priest recited +certain spells to cause the souls of his adversaries to be drawn into +the fire and there to perish miserably in the flames. In theory the idea +was admirable, but unfortunately it did not always work out in +practice. For magic is a game at which two can play, and it sometimes +happened that the spells of the besieged proved more powerful than those +of the besiegers and enabled the garrison to defy all the attempts of +the enemy to filch their souls from their bodies.[40] But even when the +assailants were obliged to retire discomfited, they did not always lose +heart, the resources of the magic art were not yet exhausted. On their +return home the priest, nothing daunted by a temporary discomfiture, +might betake himself again to his spells, and by crooning his +incantations over a garment or a weapon belonging to one of his party, +might dash in pieces the arms of the enemy and cause their souls to +perish. Thus by his ghostly skill would he snatch victory from defeat, +and humble the pride of the insolent foe in the very moment of his +imaginary triumph.[41] One way in which he effected his purpose was to +take a bag or basket containing some sacred food, hold it to the fire, +and then opening the bag point the mouth of it in the direction of the +enemy. The simple recitation of a spell then sufficed to draw the souls +of the adversaries into the bag, after which nothing was easier for him +than to destroy them utterly by means of the appropriate +incantation.[42] + + [40] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 181. + + [41] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xi. no. 3 (September 1902), p. 141. + + [42] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xii. no. 2 (June 1903), p. 72. + +But valuable as are these applications of magic to practical life, the +art, like every good thing, is liable to abuse; and even where it is +employed with the best intentions, the forces which it controls are so +powerful that in spite of all precautions an accident will sometimes +happen. For example, in sickness the patient often had recourse to a +priest, who would lead him down to the nearest water, whether a pool or +a stream, and there perform the magical rites necessary for the relief +of his particular malady. While the wizard was engaged in this +beneficent task, all the people in the village kept strictly indoors, +lest their souls should wander forth to the water-side and there +colliding, if I may be allowed the expression, with the mystic forces +of the priest's spells be damaged or even annihilated by the +collision.[43] In such a case the fatal consequences were the result of +a pure accident, but sometimes they were intentional. For this fell +purpose a malignant wizard would dig a hole, invoke the spirit of the +man against whom he had a grudge, and when the spirit appeared over the +hole in the form of a light, he would curse it, and the man whose soul +was cursed would be sure to die, sooner or later; nothing could save +him. The Uriwera, who dwelt dispersed among the forests and lonely hills +of a wild mountainous region in the North Island, were reputed to be the +greatest warlocks in all New Zealand. When they descended from their +mountains to the coast, the lowlanders scarcely dared refuse them +anything for fear of incurring their displeasure. It is said that in +their magical rites they made a special use of the spittle of their +destined victims; hence all visitors to their country were careful to +conceal their spittle lest they should give these wicked folk a handle +against them.[44] Another mode in which a Maori wizard could obtain +power over a man's soul was by working magic on the footprints of his +intended victim. The thing was done in this way. Suppose you are walking +and leave your footprints behind you on the ground. I come behind you, +take up the earth from your footprints, and deposit it on the sacred +_whata puaroa_, that is, a post or pillar set up in the holy place of a +village and charged in a mysterious manner with the vitality both of the +people and of the land. Having laid the earth from your footprints on +the sacred post, I next perform a ceremony of consecration over it, and +then bury it with a seed of sweet potato in the ground. After that you +are doomed. You may consider yourself for all practical purposes not +only dead but buried, like the earth from your footprints.[45] + + [43] Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical Lore," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December 1904), p. 225. + + [44] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843), + ii. 58 _sq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, pp. 116 _sq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_ (London, 1882), p. 31. + + [45] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 194 + _sq._, 196. + +From some of the foregoing facts it seems to follow that the souls of +the Maoris are not, so to say, constitutionally immortal, but that they +are of a brittle and perishable nature, and that in particular they are +liable to be cut short in their career and totally exterminated by the +insidious arts of magicians. So frequently, indeed, did this happen in +former days that the Maoris of old apparently recognised no other cause +of death, but imagined that every man and woman would naturally live for +ever, if the thread of his or her life were not prematurely snipped by +the abhorred shears of some witch or wizard. Hence after every death it +was customary to hold an inquest in order to discover the wretch who had +brought about the catastrophe by his enchantments; a sage presided at +the solemn enquiry, and under his direction the culprit was detected, +hunted down, and killed.[46] + + [46] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 51. + +The Maoris tell a story to explain how death first came into the world, +or at least how men were prevented from enjoying the boon of +immortality. The story runs as follows. + +The great mythical hero of Polynesia is Maui, a demigod or man of +marvellous powers, who lived in the early ages of the world, and whose +mighty deeds are the theme of tales of wonder told far and wide among +the islands of the Pacific.[47] In his childhood his mother prophesied +that he should thereafter climb the threshold of his great ancestress +Hine-nui-te-po, and that death should have no more dominion over men. A +happy prediction, but alas! never destined to be fulfilled, for even the +would-be saviour Maui himself did not escape the doom of mortality. The +way in which he became subject to death was this. His father took him to +the water to be baptized, for infant baptism was a regular part of Maori +ritual.[48] But when the baptism was over and the usual prayers had +been offered for making the lad sacred and clean from all impurity, his +father bethought him that through haste or forgetfulness he had omitted +some of the prayers and purifications of the baptismal service. It was a +fatal oversight, and the anxious father was struck with consternation at +the thought, for too well he knew that the gods would punish the +omission by causing his son Maui to die.[49] Yet did his son make a +brave attempt to rescue all men from the doom of death and to make them +live for ever. One day, after he had performed many feats and returned +to his father's house, his father, heavy at heart and overcome with a +foreboding of evil, said to him, "Oh, my son, I have heard from your +mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded +in all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they +were small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's +country, you will perhaps be overcome." Then Maui asked his father, +"What do you mean? what things are there that I can be vanquished by?" +And his father answered him, "By your great ancestress, by +Hine-nui-te-po, who, if you look, you may see flashing, and, as it were, +opening and shutting there, where the horizon meets the sky." And Maui +answered, "Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek +whether men are to die or live for ever." And his father said, "My +child, there has been an ill omen for us; when I was baptizing you, I +omitted a portion of the fitting prayers, and that I know will be the +cause of your perishing." Then Maui asked his father, "What is my +ancestress Hine-nui-te-po like?" and he answered, "What you see yonder +shining so brightly red are her eyes, and her teeth are as sharp and +hard as pieces of volcanic glass; her body is like that of a man, and +as for the pupils of her eyes, they are jasper; and her hair is like the +tangles of long sea-weed, and her mouth is like that of a barracouta." + + [47] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 233 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Maui"; Horatio Hale, _United States + Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, + 1846), p. 23. + + [48] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 61 _sq._, "The New Zealanders make it an + invariable practice, when a child is born among them, to take it + to the _Tohunga_, or priest, who sprinkles it on the face with + water, from a certain leaf which he holds in his hand for that + purpose; and they believe that this ceremony is not only + beneficial to the infant, but that the neglect of it would be + attended with the most baneful consequences. In the latter case, + they consider the child as either doomed to immediate death, or + that, if allowed to live, it will grow up with a most perverse + and wicked disposition." Before or after sprinkling the child + with water the priest bestowed on the infant its name. See W. + Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 82-84; A. + S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859), i. 118 + _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, Second Edition (London, + 1870), pp. 184 _sqq_. Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage + autour du Monde et à la recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du + Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 443 _sq_. (who says that the + baptism was performed by women); E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New + Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 28-30 (who, in contradiction to all + the other authorities, says that the naming of the child was + unconnected with its baptism). + + [49] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), p. + 32. + +Now Hine-nui-te-po was the Great Woman of Night, the Goddess of Death, +who dwelt in the nether world and dragged down men to herself. But Maui +was not afraid, for he had caught the great Sun himself in a snare and +beaten him and caused him to go so tardily as we now see him creeping +across the sky with leaden steps and slow; for of old the Sun was wont +to speed across the firmament like a young man rejoicing to run a race. +So forth fared the hero on his great enterprise to snatch the life of +mortals from the very jaws of death. And there came to him to bear him +company the small robin, and the large robin, and the thrush, and the +yellow hammer, and the pied fantail (_tiwakawaka, Rhipidura +flabellifora_), and every kind of little bird; and these all assembled +together, and they started with Maui in the evening, and arrived at the +dwelling of Hine-nui-te-po, and found her fast asleep. + +Then Maui addressed them all, and said, "My little friends, now if you +see me creep into this old chieftainess, do not laugh at what you see. +Nay, nay, do not, I pray you, but when I have got altogether inside her, +and just as I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with +laughter if you please." But his little friends were frightened at what +they saw, and they answered, "Oh, sir, you will certainly be killed." +And he answered them again, saying, "If you burst out laughing at me as +soon as I get inside her, you will wake her up, and she will certainly +kill me at once; but if you do not laugh until I am quite inside her, +and am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall live, and +Hine-nui-te-po will die." And his little friends answered, "Go on then, +brave sir, but pray take good care of yourself." + +Then the young hero started off, and twisted the strings of his weapon +tight round his wrist, and went into the house, and stripped off his +clothes, and the skin on his hips was as mottled and beautiful as the +skin of a mackerel by reason of the tattoo marks cut on it with the +chisel of Uetongo, and he entered the old chieftainess. The little birds +now screwed up their little mouths to keep back their laughter when +they saw him disappearing into the body of the giantess; their cheeks +swelled up and grew purple, and they almost choked with suppressed +emotion. At last the pied fantail could bear it no longer, and he +suddenly exploded with a loud guffaw. That woke the old woman, she +opened her eyes, and shut her jaws with a snap, cutting the hero clean +through the middle, so that his legs dropped out of her mouth. Thus died +Maui, but before he died he begat children, and sons were born to him, +and some of his descendants are alive to this day. That, according to +Maori tradition, is how death came into the world; for if only Maui had +passed safely through the jaws of the Goddess of Death, men would have +died no more and death itself would have been destroyed. Thus the Maoris +set down human mortality at the door of the pied fantail, since but for +his unseasonable merriment we might all have lived for ever.[50] + + [50] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 56-58; John + White, _The Ancient History of the Maori_ (Wellington and + London, 1887-1889), ii. 98, 105-107. For another version of the + myth, told with some minor variations, see S. Percy Smith, _The + Lore of the Whare-w[=a]nanga_, Part I. (New Plymouth, N.Z., + 1913), pp. 145 _sq._, 176-178. For the identification of the + bird _tiwakawaka_ see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 519, _s.v._ "Tiwaiwaka." + + +§ 4. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Dead_ + +When a chief died, a loud howl or wail announced the melancholy event, +and the neighbours flocked to the scene of death to testify their +sorrow. The wives and near relations, especially the women, of the +deceased displayed their anguish by cutting their faces, arms, legs, and +breasts with flints or shells till the blood flowed down in streams; it +was not wiped off, for the more the person of a mourner was covered with +clotted gore, the greater was esteemed his or her respect for the dead. +Sometimes relatives would hack off joints of their fingers as a token of +grief. Mourners likewise cut their hair, the men generally contenting +themselves with clipping or shaving it on one side only, from the +forehead to the neck. The eyes of the dead were closed by the nearest +relative; and the body dressed in the finest mats, decked with +feathers, and provided with weapons, lay in state for a time. After the +first day a brother of the deceased used to beat the body with fresh +flax gathered for the purpose; this he did to drive away any evil thing +that might be hovering about the corpse. In the olden time one or more +of the chief's wives would strangle themselves, that their souls might +accompany their dead lord and wait upon him in the other world, and with +the same intentions slaves were killed, lest the great man should lack +attendants in the spirit land.[51] + + [51] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 135 _sqq._; J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la recherche de + la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 541 + _sq._; Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," _Annales de la + Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62, 118; W. Brown, _New Zealand + and its Inhabitants_, pp. 15 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life + and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 331; A. S. Thomson, + _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 185 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A + Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition + (London, 1870), pp. 217 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris of New + Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix. + (1890) pp. 104 _sq._ + +The body was kept for three days because, we are told, the soul was +believed not to quit its mortal habitation till the third day.[52] The +mode of disposing of the corpse differed in different districts and +according to the rank of the deceased. In some places a grave was dug in +the house and the body buried in a sitting posture, the legs being kept +in that position by bandages or doubled up against the chest. In the +grave the dead man retained the fine garments in which he had been +dressed together with the family ornaments of jade and shark's teeth. +With him also was usually interred his property, especially the clothes +which he had worn and everything else that had touched him during his +last illness. The weapons of a warrior were laid near him that he might +be able to fight his battles in the spirit land. In other places the +corpse was laid in a box on a stage; or two pieces of an old canoe were +set upright in the earth, and in the hollow between them the body was +seated on a grating so as to allow the products of decomposition to drip +through on the ground. In other places again, the corpse was laid in a +sort of canoe-shaped coffin and deposited among the branches of a tree +in a grove, where it remained for several months. This burial in the +branches of a tree seems to have been usually adopted for the bodies of +commoners; the corpses of chiefs, enclosed in coffins, were placed in +mausoleums, carved and painted red, which were raised on pillars. +Whether buried in the earth or placed in a tree or on a stage, the body +was left until the flesh had so far decayed as to permit of the bones +being easily detached; there was no fixed time allowed for +decomposition, it might vary from three months to six months, or even a +year. When decay was thought to have proceeded far enough, the bones +were dug up or taken down from the stage or tree and scraped; the +ornaments also were removed from the skeleton and worn by the relatives. +In the south, where the custom was to bury the dead in the ground, this +disinterment took place four weeks after the burial; the bones were then +buried again, but only to be dug up again after a longer interval, it +might be two years, for the final ceremony. When this took place, all +the friends and relatives of the dead were summoned to assist, and a +great feast was given: the bones were scraped, painted red, decked with +feathers, and wrapped up in mats. The precious bundle was then deposited +in a small canoe or a miniature house elevated on a pole; or it was +carried to the top of some sacred tree and there left on a small stage. +Sometimes the bones were concealed in a hollow tree in a secret place of +the forest, or hidden away in one of the numerous limestone caverns or +in some lonely and inaccessible chasm among the rocks. The motive for +secret burial was a fear lest an enemy should get possession of the +bones and profane them by making fish-hooks out of them or converting +the skull into a baler for his canoe. Such a profanation was deemed a +deadly insult to the surviving relatives. After a burial the persons who +had dressed or carried the corpse, and all indeed who had had anything +to do with it, repaired to the nearest stream and plunged themselves +several times over head in the water.[53] + + [52] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 541. + + [53] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543 _sq._; W. Yate, + _op. cit._ p. 137; Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," + _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62 _sqq._; G. F. + Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, + i. 331; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 188; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 218 _sqq._; E. Tregear, "The Maori + of New Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, + xix. (1890) p. 105; Elsdon Best, "Cremation among the Maori + Tribes of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 110. + +In some districts the removal of the bones from their temporary to their +final resting-place was the occasion of a grand annual festival in which +several neighbouring tribes took part. The bones of all members of the +tribes who had died within the year were taken down from the stages or +trees where the bodies had been temporarily deposited. The grave-clothes +having been removed, the mouldering remains were wrapped in new blankets +and carried in procession, attended by the crowd, to a place where they +were deposited on a carpet of leaves. Should any putrid flesh be found +still adhering to the bones, it was scraped off and buried on the spot. +A few old women, dressed in their best, oiled from head to foot, and +plastered with raddle, received the skulls into their laps. While they +held them thus, a funeral ode was sung and speeches, loud and long, were +delivered. Then the bones were tied up, decked with feathers of the +gannet, rolled up in blankets, and carried to their last place of rest +in a sacred grove, where they were left, securely fastened up and +gaudily decorated with red and white. Having thus discharged their duty +to the dead, the living gave themselves up to festivity; they ate and +drank, danced, sang, whistled, wrestled, quarrelled, bought and sold. +This Holy Fair, which went by the name of Hahunga, lasted several days. +At the end of it the mourners, or revellers, dispersed and returned to +their homes, laden with food which had been made ready for them by their +hosts.[54] Great importance was attached to the final disposal of the +remains of the dead. According to one account, the soul of the dead man +could not rest till his bones were laid in the sepulchre of his +ancestors, which was often a natural cave or grotto. There they were +deposited on a shelf or platform a few feet above the floor of the +cavern.[55] + + [54] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 137-139; Servant, + "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xv. (1843) pp. 26 _sq._ The name _Hahunga_ is doubtless + connected with the verb _hahu_ which means "to exhume the bones + of dead persons before depositing them in their final + resting-place." See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 42, _s.v._ "hahu." + + [55] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543, 545. + +Not uncommonly the bones of the dead, instead of being preserved, were +burned.[56] But cremation, though not unusual, seems never to have been +a general custom with the Maoris. They resorted to it only in +exceptional circumstances, for example, in order to stay the spread of +disease, or in cases where a tribe occupied open country and found no +suitable place where to lay the bones of their dead after exhumation. +Cremation for the latter reason is said to have been practised by the +Ngati-apa tribe in the Rangatikikei District, and also by the tribes who +occupied the Waimate Plains. An old earthwork fort near the present +township of Manaia was the scene of many cremations of the Maori dead in +former days. Again, it was a common custom for a raiding party to +cremate their dead in the enemy's country, when there was no time to +carry them home for the usual obsequies. The intention of burning them +was to prevent the enemy from eating the bodies and making fish-hooks +out of the bones. For a similar reason even the wounded, whom they could +not carry with them, were sometimes thrown into great fires and burnt +alive. If the slain man was a chief, only his body would be consumed in +the flames; his head would be cut off, steamed, cured, and carried home, +to be wept over by his friends. In the Bay of Plenty district the bodies +of persons who died of a certain disease called _Kai uaua_, apparently +consumption, used to be burnt to prevent the spread of the malady, and +all the ashes were carefully buried.[57] + + [56] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. This was called + _tahunga_, "burning," a word no doubt derived from _tahu_, + "to set on fire, kindle." See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, p. 444, _s.v._ "tahu." + + [57] Elsdon Best, "Cremation amongst the Maori tribes of New + Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 110 _sq._ + +Often enough the heads of dead relatives were cut off, dried, and +preserved by the family for many years in order to be occasionally +brought forth and mourned over. Sometimes a widow would sleep with her +husband's severed head at her side. After a victory, too, it was +customary to decapitate the slain foes and dry their heads, which were +then carried home and used as scarecrows or stuck on short stakes in the +village, where they were jeered at and reviled. When the time came to +plant the sweet potatoes, and the priests recited their spells for the +sake of the crops, the dried heads were sometimes brought out and +placed at the edge of the field, for this was believed to promote the +growth of the sweet potatoes.[58] Apparently the spirits of the dead +were thought able to quicken the fruits of the earth. + + [58] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 195-197. Compare W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, pp. 130 _sqq._; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66. + +At all events the Maoris undoubtedly believed that the souls of the +departed survive the death of their bodies for a longer or shorter time +and in their disembodied state can influence the living for weal or woe. +The belief in the survival of the soul is strikingly manifested in their +old custom of killing widows and slaves to serve dead chiefs in the +other world. It found expression in the more harmless custom of laying +food beside a dead person or burying it with him in the grave; but, as +usually happens in such cases, the ghost only consumed the spiritual +essence of the victuals, considerately leaving the gross material +substance to be despatched by the priest.[59] A dying Maori, unable to +eat a loaf which a missionary had offered to him, begged that it might +be kept for his ghost, who, after his death, would come and fortify +himself with it for the journey to his long home.[60] At Tanaraki the +child of a chief was buried in its father's house, grasping in each of +its little fists a taro for consumption in the other world. Over the +grave were laid boards, and the family slept on them. When they thought +that the child's body was sufficiently decayed, they dug it up, scraped +the bones, and hung them in the verandah, where from time to time the +priest recited spells to assist the soul in its ascent to heaven. Every +spell was supposed to raise the soul one stage nearer to the abode of +bliss. But the ascent was long and tedious, for there were no less than +ten heavens one above the other; the tenth was believed to be the +principal abode of the gods. When the parents of the child who had been +despatched to the happy land with taro in each hand were asked, "Why +taro, if the little one is gone to heaven?" they answered that they +were not quite sure whether it went up or down, and therefore as an +additional precaution they planted a seed of taro in the grave, so that +their offspring might find something to eat either above or below.[61] + + [59] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 542; G. F. Angas, + _op. cit._ ii. 71; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. + + [60] J. Dumont d'Urville, _l.c._ + + [61] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. + +Similar ceremonies were performed to facilitate the ascension of the +souls of chiefs and priests. Before the body was taken to the place of +burial, it was laid out with its feet towards the north, and all the +blood-relations of the deceased, men, women, and children, assembled +round it. Then the priest, standing at the head of the corpse, between +the rows of the people, chanted two incantations, of which the second +was supposed to assist the soul to ascend to heaven. The priest next put +a bulb of taro in the left hand of the corpse and chanted another +incantation. After that, flaxen cords were tied with a slip-knot to a +tassel of the mat in which the body was enshrouded, and a cord was +placed in the hand of each child, boy and girl, present at the ceremony. +When the priest had chanted one more incantation, each child pulled the +cord with a jerk, to disconnect the soul from the body, lest it should +remain and afflict the relatives.[62] This last rite, with the reason +assigned for it, is significant at once of the dread which the Maoris +felt for departed spirits, and of the very materialistic conception +which they entertained of the human soul, since they appear to have +imagined that it could be detached from the body by jerking at a cord. + + [62] John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _Report of + the Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, in + January 1891_, pp. 362 _sq._ + +The wish to raise the soul to heaven was perhaps the motive for another +curious rite performed at the obsequies of a chief. When the body had +been buried, the chief returned to the village; but the men who had +carried the body went to the nearest swamp, and having caught a +swamp-sparrow (_matata_) sent word to the priest, who forthwith rejoined +them. Each of the bearers was then provided with a stick to which +certain of the feathers of the bird were tied. Then, holding the sticks +in their hands, they sat on their heels in a row opposite the priest, +who stood facing the east with a stick similarly adorned in his left +hand. Next he moved to the south end of the row of men and chanted, and +as he chanted he gradually raised his stick, while at the same time all +the bearers, holding their sticks at arm's length, gradually raised them +and their bodies simultaneously, keeping perfect time, till the priest +had concluded his chant, when they all stood erect with outstretched +arms. After that the priest collected the sticks and threw them down in +front of the _mua_, which seems to have been a kind of altar.[63] We may +surmise that the ceremony was intended to waft the soul of the dead +chief upward, the feathers of the bird being naturally fitted to +facilitate its heavenward flight. + + [63] John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _op. cit._ + p. 363. As to the meaning of _mua_, see E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 267, _s.v._ "mua." + +At other times, however, with the inconsistency so common in such +matters, it appears to have been supposed that the soul set out on its +far journey across the sea, and steps were accordingly taken to equip it +for the voyage. Thus we hear of a _wahi tapu_ or sacred repository of +the property of a deceased chief, which contained, among other things, a +little canoe with sail and paddles, "to serve as a ferry-boat for the +spirit to enter in safety into the eternal abodes." Nevertheless in the +same enclosure, which was fenced with a double set of palings, +"calabashes of food and water, and a dish prepared from the pigeon, were +placed for the ghost to regale itself when visiting the spot; and the +heathen natives aver that at night the spirit comes and feeds from the +sacred calabashes."[64] + + [64] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New + Zealand_, ii. 70 _sq._ + +Many people in the Taranaki district thought that souls went neither up +nor down, but always stayed near their mouldering bodies. Hence the +sacred grove in which their remains were buried was full of disembodied +spirits; and when a man died a violent death his soul wandered about +disconsolate, till a priest by his spells and enchantments had brought +the poor ghost within the spiritual fold.[65] + + [65] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 220 _sq._ + +When a chief was killed in battle and eaten by his foes, as often +happened, his departed spirit entered the stones of the oven in which +his body had been cooked, and the stones retained their heat so long as +the ghost was in them. Meanwhile his sorrowing friends at home recited +their most potent spells to draw his soul out of the oven and back to +the sacred grove (_wahi tapu_) the burial-place of his people; for +otherwise the soul could find no repose, but must roam about for ever, +wreaking its spite on the living, for all disembodied spirits were +deemed malicious. Hence after a battle, if people could not obtain the +body of a slain friend, they sought to procure at least some drops of +his blood or shreds of his raiment, that by crooning over them the +appropriate spell they might draw home the vagrant spirit to his place +of rest. The burial-grounds were regarded with awe and fear, for +sometimes a restless ghost would break bounds and spread sickness among +the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Within their sacred precincts +stood altars or stages for offerings to the gods, and any living man who +entered them did so at his peril. For the same reason no one would set +foot in a house where a dead man or woman had been buried. Hence in +nearly every village half the houses stood empty and deserted, falling +into decay, tenanted only by ghosts. The living had constantly before +their eyes the mansions of the dead.[66] + + [66] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 221. + +The common belief of the Maoris seems to have been that the souls of the +dead pass away to a region of the underworld, which was sometimes called +Po and sometimes Reinga. Properly speaking, Po was night or the +primaeval darkness out of which all forms of life and light were evolved +or created;[67] and Reinga was not so much the spirit land itself as the +leaping-off place where the souls bade good-bye to earth and took their +departure for the far country. This leaping-off place was at the North +Cape, the Land's End of New Zealand. The cape terminates in a steep +cliff with a sea-cave at its foot, into which the tide rushes with a +thunderous roar. There the evil spirit Wiro is thought to dwell, lurking +for his prey; for he battens on such of the passing souls of the dead as +he can get into his clutches. On their passage to the North Cape the +ghosts stop by the way at two hills; at the first, which is called +Wai-hokimai, they wail, cut themselves, and strip off their clothes; at +the second, which is called Wai-otioti, they turn their backs on the +land of the living and set their faces to the land of the dead. Arrived +at the cape they pass outward over a long narrow ledge of rock and then +leap down on a flat stone. There they see a mass of sea-weed floating on +the water, its roots hidden in the depth, its upper branches clinging to +a _pohutukawa_ tree. When they perceive an opening in the sea-weed they +dive and soon find themselves in the lower world. But before they reach +the abode of spirits they must cross a river by a plank; the river is +called Waiorotane or the River of the Water of Life; and sometimes the +warden of the plank will not suffer the ghosts to pass the river, but +drives them back with friendly violence and bids them return to their +friends on earth. Such souls come back to the bright world of light and +life, and tell their friends what they have seen and heard on the +journey to that bourne from which so many travellers return no more. +Hence when any one has recovered from a dangerous sickness or escaped +some great peril, they say of him that he has come back from the River +of the Water of Life. Even if a soul has crossed that sombre stream, he +may still return to the land of the living, if only he refuses to +partake of the food set before him by the ghosts; but should he taste of +it, he cannot come back. They say that people living near the North Cape +can hear the spirits of the dead passing through the air on their way to +the spirit land; and in the old days, when a battle had been fought and +before the news of it could reach them by word of mouth, the natives +near the cape were made aware of what had happened by the rushing sound +of a great multitude flitting by overhead in the darkness.[68] Perhaps +the sighing of the night-wind or the clangour of birds of passage +winging their way out to sea may have contributed to create or foster +these fancies. + + [67] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + p. 342, _s.v._ "Po." + + [68] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 150 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, p. 45; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 52, 231; + W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 140; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris + of New Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, + xix. (1890) pp. 118 _sq._; _id._, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 407 _sq._, 591, _s.vv._ "Reinga" and "Waiora"; + John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _Report of the + Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, + in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._ + +On the day after a burial the priest used to perform a ceremony to +facilitate the passage of the soul to its final rest. For this purpose +some men would go out in the morning and kill a small bird of the swamps +called _kokata_ and pluck up some reeds of a certain sort (_wiwi_). +These they brought to the priest at the grave. He asked them, "Whence +came ye?" They answered, "From the seeking, from the searching." He +asked them again, "Ah! what have you got? ah! what have you gained?" +Then the men threw the bird and the reeds on the ground. Next the priest +chose a stalk of grass or fern and put it near the grave in a direction +pointing towards Hawaiki, the land far away from which the forefathers +of the Maoris came long ago. Another stalk of grass or fern was laid +near the place of death, and along these stalks the soul of the dead man +travelled to rejoin his friends and kinsfolk who had gone before.[69] + + [69] E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p. 44. Such + a stalk to aid the spirit on its passage was called a _tiri_. + Compare E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + p. 517, _s.v._ "Tiri." The ceremony described in the text + resembles in some points the one which seems intended to raise + the soul of the deceased to heaven. See above, p. 25. + +As might be anticipated, the accounts which the Maoris gave of the +spirit world and of life in it were neither clear nor consistent. +According to one account, while the heavens increase in beauty as they +ascend one above the other, the lower regions increase in darkness and +horror as they descend, each being darker and worse than the one above +it, till in the lowest of all complete darkness reigns. There the souls, +deprived alike of light and food, wasted away and ultimately ceased to +exist; or according to another account they assumed the shape of worms +and in that guise returned to earth, where they died a second death and +so finally perished. But it was only the souls of common folk which came +to this melancholy end. Chiefs and priests were believed to be descended +from the gods, and at death their souls ascended to heaven, there to +live for ever.[70] + + [70] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 232; John White, "A Chapter + from Maori Mythology," _Report of the Third Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held + at Christchurch, New Zealand, in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._ + +Other reports, however, paint the nether world in more cheerful +colours. We are told that the souls of the dead live there very much as +people do on earth, but all good things are more plentiful there than +here. The staple food of the ghosts is sweet potatoes, and the quality +of the potatoes appears to be remarkably fine; for once a woman, who had +the good fortune to go to the spirit land and come back, received from +her dead father in the nether regions two roots of sweet potatoes of a +most prodigious size. These the ghost told her to take back to earth and +plant for the benefit of his grandchild. So she hurried away with them +and arriving at the foot of the North Cape had begun to clamber up the +face of the cliff, when two infant spirits overtook her and attempted to +drag her back to dead land by tugging at her cloak. To divert their +attention she threw the two roots of sweet potato behind her, and while +the sprites were munching them she made good her escape up the cliff and +succeeded in reaching home. Her friends were very glad to see her again, +but they always lamented that she had not brought back at least one of +those gigantic roots of sweet potato, since it would unquestionably have +done much to improve the quality of sweet potatoes grown here on +earth.[71] + + [71] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 48 _sq._, 67, + 118; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 153 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 233 + _sq._ + +But the spirits of the dead are by no means strictly confined to the +lower world; they can quit it from time to time and return to earth, +there to influence the actions and fortunes of the living and to +communicate with them through the priest, who can hear their voices. +They speak in whistling tones, which even common folk can sometimes +distinguish as they walk about in the dark. Often their communications +are made to the priest or chief in dreams, and he announces the glad or +mournful tidings to other people in the morning. Any commands conveyed +in this manner from the other world are, or used to be, implicitly +obeyed and might decide the course to be pursued in the most important +affairs of life.[72] In some tribes, especially among the natives of +Wangunui, it used to be customary to keep in the houses small carved +images of wood, each of them dedicated to an ancestor of the family, who +was believed occasionally to enter into the image in order to hold +converse with his living descendants.[73] But even without the +intervention of such images the priest could summon up the spirits of +the dead and converse with them in the presence of the relatives or of +strangers; at these interviews, which were held within doors and in the +dark, the voices of the ghosts, or perhaps of the priestly +ventriloquist, were sometimes distinctly audible even to sceptical +Europeans. Nor was the art of necromancy confined to men; for we read of +an old woman who, like the witch of Endor, professed to exercise this +ghostly office, and treated an English visitor to an exhibition of her +powers.[74] + + [72] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 67, 118; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + ii. 83, 84. + + [73] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 83. + + [74] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 84 _sqq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha + Maori (London, 1884), pp. 122 _sqq._ As to the belief in the + reappearance of the dead among the living compare R. A. Cruise, + _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand_ (London, + 1823), p. 186: "The belief in the reappearance of the dead is + universal among the New Zealanders: they fancy they hear their + deceased relatives speaking to them when the wind is high; + whenever they pass the place where a man has been murdered, it + is customary for each person to throw a stone upon it; and the + same practice is observed by all those who visit a cavern at the + North Cape, through which the spirits of departed men are + supposed to pass on their way to a future world." + +The spirits of the dead were sometimes useful to the living, for +commonly enough they would appear to their kinsfolk in dreams and warn +them of approaching foes or other dangers. Again, they might be and were +invoked by spells and enchantments to avenge a murder or even to slay an +innocent person against whom the enchanter had a grudge.[75] But for the +most part the ghosts were greatly dreaded as malicious demons who worked +harm to man.[76] Even the nearest and dearest relations were believed to +have their natures radically changed by death and to hate those whom +they had loved in life.[77] And so powerful were these malignant beings +supposed to be that they were confused with the gods, or rather the +spirits of the dead became themselves gods to all intents and purposes, +and played a much more important part in the religious life of the +Maoris than the high primaeval deities, the personifications of nature, +who figured in Maori mythology and cosmogony.[78] The gods whom the +Maoris feared, we are told, were the spirits of the dead, who were +believed to be constantly watching over the living with jealous eyes, +lest they should neglect any part of the law relating to persons or +things subject to the sacred restriction called taboo (_tapu_). These +spirits, however, confined their care almost exclusively to persons +among the living with whom they were connected by ties of relationship, +so that every tribe and every family had its own worshipful ancestral +spirit or god, whom members of the tribe or family invoked with +appropriate prayers or spells (_karakias_). Ancestral spirits who lived +in the flesh before the Maoris emigrated to New Zealand were invoked by +all the tribes in New Zealand without distinction, so far as their names +and memories survived in tradition. Thus the worship of these remote +ancestors constituted what may be called the national religion of the +Maoris as distinguished from the tribal and family religions, which +consisted in the worship of nearer and better remembered progenitors. +The great importance attached by the Maoris to the worship of ancestors +may account, we are told, for the care with which they preserved their +genealogies; since the names of ancestors often formed the groundwork of +their religious formulas (_karakias_), and any error or even hesitation +in repeating these prayers or incantations was deemed fatal to their +efficacy.[79] "Ancestor worship, or rather the deification of +ancestors, was essentially a Maori cult. It was a form of necrolatry, or +hero worship. A man would placate the spirit of his father, grandfather, +or ancestor, and make offerings to the same, that such spirit might +protect his life principle, warn him of approaching danger, and give +force or effectiveness to his rites and charms of black or white +magic."[80] + + [75] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 182. + + [76] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 184. + + [77] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 104. + + [78] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_ + (London, 1851), p. 294; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of + the New Zealanders_, pp. 80, 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, pp. 10 _sq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 108, + "Maori gods are so mixed up with the spirits of ancestors, whose + worship entered largely into their religion, that it is + difficult to distinguish one from the other." + + [79] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p. + 11. As to the _karakias_, which were prayers or invocations, + spells or incantations, addressed to gods or ancestral spirits, + see E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 28 _sqq._; + E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 128, + _s.v._ "karakia." Apparently the _karakia_ partook of the nature + of a spell rather than of a prayer, since it was believed to be + so potent that the mere utterance of it compelled the gods to do + the will of the person who recited the formula. See R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 180 _sq._: "The Maori, in his heathen + state, never undertook any work, whether hunting, fishing, + planting, or war, without first uttering a _karakia_; he would + not even take a journey without repeating a spell to secure his + safety; still he could not be said to pray, for, properly + speaking, they had no such thing as prayer. As in war, they + armed themselves with the most formidable weapons they could + procure, and laid their plans with the greatest skill they + possessed, so to secure the fruition of their desires, they used + their most powerful means to compel the gods to be obedient to + their wishes, whether they sought for victory over their foes, + fruitful crops, successful fishings, or huntings, they called in + the aid of potent incantations; when they planted their _kumara_ + [sweet potatoes], they sought to compel the god who presided + over them to yield a good increase; when they prepared their + nets and their hooks, they must force the ocean god to let his + fish enter them; as the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and + the violent take it by storm, so the heathen Maori sought, by + spells and incantations, to compel the gods to yield to their + wishes; they added sacrifices and offerings at the same time, to + appease as it were their anger, for being thus constrained to do + what they wished them. Their ancestors were addressed as + powerful familiar friends; they gave them offerings, and if it + can be said that any prayers were offered up, it was to them + they were made. The word _karakia_, which we use for prayer, + formerly meant a spell, charm, or incantation." + + [80] Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the Twelfth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 459. + +The ancestral spirits who particularly watched over the fortunes of a +tribe were the souls of its dead warriors and great men. In war these +powerful, though invisible, beings were thought to attend the army and +direct its movements on the march by communicating advice or warning +through some one or other of their nearest living kinsmen. In battle +they hovered over the combatants and inspired courage into the hearts of +their own tribe. Hence when, on the eve of battle, any young man showed +signs of the white feather, recourse was immediately had to the family +priest, who repeated a charm, invoking the aid of his friendly spirit; +for the sensation of fear was ascribed to the baneful influence of a +hostile spirit. If the friendly spirit prevailed, and the craven spirit +was expelled, the young man would rush into the thickest of the fight +and prove himself the bravest of the brave.[81] + + [81] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 81 _sq._ + +The interest taken by the spirits of the dead in mundane affairs seldom +extended beyond the limits of the tribe to which they belonged. Hence a +captive in war, who was carried away and enslaved by another tribe, +ceased from that moment to be under the protection and care of any +ancestral spirit or god. For the ancestral spirits of his own tribe did +not trouble themselves to follow him among a hostile tribe and hostile +spirits, and the ancestral spirits of the tribe whom he served as a +slave would not deign to give him a thought. Hence being forsaken of +god and left to their own devices, slaves were relieved from many of +the burdensome restrictions which the Maori gods laid upon their +worshippers; they were therefore free to perform many menial offices, +particularly in regard to carrying and cooking food, which no free Maori +could discharge without sinning against the sacred law of taboo and +incurring the wrath of the ancestral spirits, who for such a +transgression might punish the sinner with sickness or death.[82] + + [82] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 82 _sq._; _id._, _The Southern Districts of New + Zealand_, pp. 296 _sq._ + +In addition to their deified ancestors, who had lived as men of flesh +and blood on earth, the Maoris believed in certain great primaeval +deities, who had existed before the human race came into being, and +whose doings were the theme of many mythical stories. These mighty +beings appear to have been personifications of the various forces or +elements of nature, such as the sky and the earth. But though fancy wove +round them a glistering web of myth and fable, they were apparently +believed to stand aloof in cold abstraction from human affairs and to +take no interest in the present race of men. The practical religion of +the Maori was concentrated on the souls of his deceased kinsfolk and +forefathers: "neither in any existing superstition nor tradition, purely +such, is there to be found internal evidence that an idea of God existed +more exalted than that of the spirit of a dead ancestor."[83] + + [83] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 80. Compare _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions + of the New Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _The Southern Districts of + New Zealand_, p. 294; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. + 10 _sq._ In Maori mythology Rangi is the personification of the + sky, and Papa of earth. They were the primal parents, and the + other great gods were their offspring. See Elsdon Best, "The + Maori Genius for Personification," _Transactions of the New + Zealand Institute_, liii. (1921) p. 2. Among the great + primordial deities who were worshipped by all tribes of New + Zealand may be mentioned Tane, Tu, Tangaroa, and Rongo. Of the + four, Tane was the origin and tutelary deity of forests and + birds: no tree might be felled and no bird caught till certain + rites had been performed to placate him. Tu was the god of war. + Tangaroa was the god of the ocean, the origin and tutelary deity + of fish. Rongo was the god of peace, and presided over + agriculture. See Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the + Twelfth Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 458. The + same four gods, with names only dialectically different, were, + as we shall see later on, the principal deities of the Sandwich + Islanders, the most distant geographically from the Maoris of + all the Polynesians. The coincidence furnishes an example of the + homogeneity of religion which prevailed among the various + branches of the Polynesian race. + +The word which the Maoris applied to a god, whether a personification of +nature or the spirit of a dead ancestor, was _atua_. The name is not +confined to the Maori language, but is the common word for god +throughout Polynesia.[84] When the Maoris attempt to define the nature +of an _atua_, they have recourse to the same comparisons with a shadow +and with breath which appear to underlie their conception of the human +soul.[85] But though "god" is the nearest English equivalent of the word +_atua_, we must beware of assuming that the Maori idea of godhead +coincided with ours. On this subject one of our best authorities tells +us that the term "god" is really not applicable to the _Atua Maori_, the +so-called gods of the Maoris. For these beings, he says, "were, with few +exceptions, malignant demons, to be feared and placated or conciliated, +but not worshipped. Their principal task seems to have been the +inflicting upon mankind of diverse evils, pains, and penalties. Of the +few good offices performed by them, the warning of the people in regard +to coming troubles, seems to have been the most important. The vast +majority of the so-called gods of the Maori were simply deified +ancestors."[86] + + [84] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 30 _sq._, _s.v._ "Atua." + + [85] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la + recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 516 _sq._ + + [86] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xi. no. 2 (June 1902). pp. 63 _sq._ + +In order to illustrate the difference between the Maori conception of +deity and our own, I will quote the words of another eminent authority +on the native religion of the New Zealanders. He says, "Before the +mythology of the Maori is further considered, it will be necessary +briefly to state what were the ideas of God entertained by the natives. +The word _atua_, or spirit, which is used for God, formerly had various +significations; a plague or disease was also _he atua_, or God; a thief +was an _atua_, thus also a thievish dog was _he kuri atua_, a god-like +dog, so also _he tangata atua ki te muru_, a man equal to a god in +stealing; a child who pilfered was _he tamaiti atua_, a divine child; +there were great spirits and small ones, a man's spirit was an _atua +pore pore_, a little spirit, but Maru Rongomai and other gods were _Atua +nui_, great gods; there were _atua ika_, reptile or fish gods; a great +chief was called _He ika_, a fish, sea monster, or reptile, and was +regarded as a malignant god in life, and a still worse one after death; +there were likewise _Atua marau_, as the _toroa_, albatross, the _ruru_, +owl; and _karu karu_, the film which shades its eye from the light, was +also an _atua_; male and female spirits presided over dreams, and were +regarded as _atuas, Ko nga atua moe moea o te poko_, the gods of dreams; +_Tunui a rangi_, a male, _Pare kewa_, a female deity, both were prayed +to as gods; the _atua kore_ and _atua kiko kiko_ were inferior gods. The +_Atua ngarara_ or reptile gods were very abundant, and were supposed to +be the cause of all diseases and death, being always ready to avail +themselves of every opportunity of crawling down the throat during +sleep, and thus preying upon the lives of unfortunate creatures. _Atuas_ +or spirits of the deceased were thought to be able to revisit the earth +and reveal to their friends the cause of their sickness. Everything that +was evil or noxious was supposed especially to belong to the gods; thus +a species of euphorbium, whose milk or juice is highly poisonous, is +called _wai u atua_, the milk of the gods."[87] "In fact, in the +accounts which the natives give of their gods and their exploits, we +have but a magnified history of their chiefs, their wars, murders, and +lusts, with the addition of some supernatural powers; they were +cannibals; influenced by like feelings and passions as men, and were +uniformly bad; to them were ascribed all the evils incident to the human +race; each disease was supposed to be occasioned by a different god, who +resided in the part affected; thus, Tonga, the god who caused headache, +took up his abode in the forehead; Moko Titi, a lizard god, was the +source of all pains in the breast; Tu-tangata-kino was the god of the +stomach; Titihai occasioned pains in the ankles and feet; Rongomai and +Tuparitapua were the gods of consumption, and the wasting away of the +legs and arms; Koro-kio-ewe presided over childbirth, and did his worst +to unfortunate females in that state. In fact, the entire human body +appears to have been shared out amongst those evil beings, who ruled +over each part, to afflict and pain the poor creatures who worshipped +them."[88] + + [87] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 134 _sq._ + + [88] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 137. + +Anything, indeed, whether good or evil, which excited the fear or wonder +of the Maoris would seem in the old days to have been dubbed by them an +_atua_ and invested with the attributes of divinity. For example, when a +traveller in the early years of the nineteenth century showed his watch +to some Maoris, the ticking struck them with such astonishment that they +deemed it nothing less than the voice of a god; and the watch itself, +being looked upon as a deity (_atua_) in person, was treated by the +whole of them with profound reverence.[89] Other travellers have had +similar experiences among the Maoris,[90] and compasses and barometers +have also been accorded divine honours by these ignorant savages.[91] + + [89] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 254. + + [90] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la + recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 516. + + [91] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118. + + +§ 5. _Taboo among the Maoris_ + +But the most momentous practical consequence which flowed from their +belief in the spirits of the dead was the enormous influence which that +creed wielded in establishing and maintaining the system of taboo, the +most remarkable and characteristic institution in the life of the Maoris +and of the Polynesians in general. I shall first give some account of +the taboo or _tapu_, as the Maoris called it, and afterwards show how +this extraordinary system of society and religion was directly based on +a belief in the existence of ghosts and their mighty power over human +destiny. + +First, then, as to taboo or _tapu_ itself. This curious institution, as +I have said, prevailed throughout all the widely scattered islands of +Polynesia, but nowhere to a greater extent than in New Zealand. It +pervaded the whole life of the natives, affected their plans, influenced +their actions, and in the absence of an efficient police provided a +certain security both for their persons and their property. Sometimes it +was used for political, and sometimes for religious purposes; sometimes +it was the means of saving life, and at other times it was the +ostensible reason for taking life away.[92] It may be defined as a +system of consecration which made any person, place, or thing sacred +either permanently or for a limited time.[93] The effect of this +consecration was to separate the sacred person or thing from all contact +with common (_noa_)[94] persons and things: it established a sort of +quarantine for the protection not only of the sacred persons themselves, +but of common folk, who were supposed to be injured or killed by mere +contact with a tabooed person or object. For the sanctity which the +taboo conferred on people and things was conceived of as a sort of +dangerous atmosphere, charged with a spiritual electricity, which +discharged itself with serious and even fatal effect on all rash +intruders. A tabooed person might not be touched by any one, so long as +the taboo or state of consecration lasted; he might not even put his own +hand to his own head; and he was most stringently forbidden to touch +food with his hands. Hence he was either fed like a child by another, +who put the food into his mouth; or he had to lap up his victuals like a +dog from the ground, with his hands held behind his back; or lastly he +might convey the nourishment by means of a fern stalk to his mouth. When +he wished to drink, somebody else poured water into his mouth from a +calabash without allowing the vessel to touch his lips; for mere contact +with the lips of the tabooed man would have rendered the vessel itself +sacred or tabooed and therefore unfit for common use. Similarly, when he +desired to wash his hands, water had to be poured on them from a +distance by his attendant. This state of consecration or defilement, as +we might be tempted rather to call it, was incurred by any person who +had touched either a young child or a corpse or had assisted at a +funeral. The taboo contracted by association with the dead was the +strictest and most virulent of all. It extended not only to the persons +who had handled the corpse or paid the last offices of respect to the +departed; it applied to the place where the body was buried or the bones +deposited. So sacred, indeed, was deemed the spot where a chief had died +that in the old days everything upon it was destroyed by fire. Hence in +order to avoid the destruction of a house, which a death in it would +have entailed, it was customary to remove a sick or dying man to a +temporary shed just large enough to shelter him from the sun or screen +him from the rain; for if the man died in it, the destruction of the +wretched hovel was no great loss to the survivors.[95] A widow was +tabooed and had to observe the aforesaid restrictions from the death of +her husband until his bones had been scraped and deposited in their last +resting-place; and the same rule applied to a widower.[96] These taboos +were temporary and could be removed by a priest, who performed certain +rites and repeated certain spells (_karakias_), and thereby relieved the +tabooed person from the state of sanctity or consecration under which he +had laboured. The performance of the ceremony put an end to the +spiritual quarantine; the man ceased to be sacred, he became common +(_noa_) once more, and could mingle freely with his fellows. One of the +ceremonies of desecration, as we may call it, was to pass a consecrated +piece of wood over the right shoulder of the tabooed person, then round +his loins, and back again over the left shoulder, after which the stick +was broken in two and buried, burned, or cast into the sea.[97] Again, a +temporary taboo was laid on all persons who were engaged in planting +sweet potatoes, or in sorting the seed, or in digging and preparing the +ground; they might not leave the fields where they were at work nor +undertake any other labour. The fields themselves were sacred during +these operations; none but the persons who were tabooed for the purpose +might set foot on the ground or pluck up the weeds which grow rankly +round the roots of the vegetable.[98] Similarly, in their great +fishing-expeditions to catch mackerel, all concerned in making or +mending the nets were under a taboo: the ground where the nets were made +was sacred, and so was the river on the banks of which the work went on. +No man but the tabooed persons might walk over the land or pass up or +down the river in a canoe: no fire might be lighted within a prescribed +distance: no food might be dressed while the taboo lasted. Not till the +net had been finished and wetted with the sacred water, and the owner +had caught and eaten a fish, did these burdensome restrictions come to +an end by the removal of the taboo.[99] Once more, the men who took part +in a warlike expedition were under a severe taboo and had to observe +very strictly the customs which that mysterious state of consecration +rendered obligatory.[100] Even after their return home they were not +allowed to enter their houses or to hold any direct communication with +their families who had remained there, till they had been rendered +common (_noa_) by a ceremony of desecration. Before that ceremony took +place, the warriors were obliged to throw away the remains of the bodies +of their foes on which, as usual, they had been feasting; for being +sacred food the flesh could only be touched by sacred or tabooed +persons. One woman only, the _wahine ariki_, as she was called, that is +the elder female of the elder branch of the stock from which the tribe +traced their descent, was permitted to touch the sanctified meat; +indeed, in order to carry out the ritual of desecration in due form she +was expected and required to swallow an ear of the first enemy killed in +battle.[101] A warlike expedition might lay even people at home under a +taboo; for all who remained behind, including old men, women, and +slaves, were often required to observe a rigid fast and to abstain from +smoking till the return of the warriors.[102] + + [92] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 84 _sq._ + + [93] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 84; R. Taylor, _Te + Ika A Maui_, p. 163. + + [94] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 268 _sq._, _s.v._ "Noa." + + [95] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 85 _sq._; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 163, 164. + + [96] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40. + + [97] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la + recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + iii. 685; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 86; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104 _sq._; Servant, + "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 23; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 166 + _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 104 _sqq._ The + taboo could be got rid of more simply by the tabooed man + touching his child or grandchild and taking food or drink from + the child's hands. But when that was done, the taboo was + transferred to the child, who retained it for the rest of the + day. See E. Dieffenbach, _op. cit._ ii. 105. + + [98] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85; R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 165 _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha + Maori, pp. 103 _sq._ + + [99] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85. + + [100] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 96, 114 _sq._ + + [101] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp. + 68 _sq._ + + [102] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 114 _sq._ + +But in contrast to the temporary taboos which affected common folk and +debarred them for a time from familiar intercourse with their fellows, a +perpetual and very stringent taboo was laid on the persons and property +of chiefs, especially of those high hereditary chiefs who bore the title +of _Ariki_ and were thought to be able at any time to hold visible +converse with their dead ancestors.[103] Strictly speaking, "the _ariki_ +of a Maori tribe is the senior male descendant of the elder branch of +the tribe, that is, he is a descendant of the elder son of the elder son +of each generation from the time of the original ancestor down to the +present day. As such, he was of old regarded almost as a god, inasmuch +as he represented all that there was of _m[)a]na_ and sacredness of his +tribe. That he should have been regarded in this light is not +astonishing, for the Maoris believed he was something more than human, +in that he was the shrine of an hereditary _Atua_, the guardian spirit +of the tribe, and could therefore at any time communicate with the +tribal gods.... Such a man was not only _tapu_ in person but he made +everything he touched so dangerously sacred as to be a source of terror +to the tribe. To smoke his pipe, or drink from any vessel he had +touched, was death speedy and certain at the hands of the gods, who +avenge breaches of the _tapu_."[104] "The gods being no more than +deceased chiefs, the _arikis_ were regarded as living ones, and thus +were not to be killed by inferior men, but only by those who had more +powerful _atuas_ in them; the victorious chief who had slain numbers, +swallowed their eyes, and drunk their blood, was supposed to have added +the spirits of his victims to his own, and thus increased his _mana_ or +power; to keep up this idea, and hinder the lower orders from trying +whether it were possible to kill such corporeal and living gods, was the +grand work of the _tapu_."[105] The godhead of a chief was thought to +reside in his eyes, especially in his left eye; that was why by +swallowing the eye or eyes of a slain chief a living chief was believed +to absorb the divine spirit of the dead man and thereby to strengthen +his own divinity; the more eyes he swallowed, the greater god he +became.[106] + + [103] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40, 112 + _sq._, 356; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, p. 104; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 149, + 164, 212 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 23 _sq._, _s.v._ "Ariki." The word _ariki_ + signifies properly the first-born or heir, whether male or + female, of a family. + + [104] Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, "Maori Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 3 (September 1905), p. + 130. Compare _id._, "The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations of + the Spirit World," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xv. + no. 57 (March 1906), p. 38. + + [105] R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui_, p. 173. _Mana_ means + authority, especially divine authority or supernatural power. + See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 203, _s.v._ "Mana"; and for a full discussion of the conception + see Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, "Mana Tangata," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 2 (June 1905), pp. 49-66. + "_Mana_ plays a leading part in the ability of a leader, or + successes in war of celebrated warriors. When a man frequently + undertakes daring deeds, which ought under ordinary + circumstances to fail, but none the less prove successful, he is + said to possess _mana_, and thereafter is regarded as one + peculiarly favoured by the gods, and in such cases it is held + that he can only be overcome by some act or default; such as a + disregard or neglect of some religious or warlike observance, + which has been shown by experience to be essential to success in + war, but which our warrior, spoiled by a long career of good + fortune, had come to regard as necessary to ordinary mortals + only and of but little consequence to men of _mana_" (W. E. + Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p. 62). "There were cases in which the + _mana_ of a man depended upon the facility with which he could + communicate with the spirits of departed ancestors, that is, + upon his capacity to enforce the aid and attendance of these + minor deities. To this end every man with any pretension to + _mana_ had a knowledge of certain forms of invocation by which + he could summon the spirits of long departed heroes and + ancestors, but it must not be supposed that these invocations + would necessarily have power in the mouths of all men, for such + was not the case. The efficacy of a _karakia_ or invocation + depended in part on its method of delivery, and in part on the + _mana_ of the man who used it" (W. E. Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p. + 50). Compare R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 172, 173; _Old New + Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 100. + + [106] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 147, 352. The soul was + thought to reside especially in the left eye; accordingly it was + the left eye of an enemy which was most commonly swallowed by a + victorious chief who desired to increase his spiritual power. + See J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la + recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 527; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118, 128 + _sq._ + +Every such divine chief was under a permanent taboo; he was as it were +surrounded by an atmosphere of sanctity which attached to his person and +never left him; it was his birthright, a part of himself of which he +could not be divested, and it was well understood and recognised by +everybody at all times. And the sanctity was not confined to his person, +it was an infection which extended or was communicated to all his +movable property, especially to his clothes, weapons, ornaments, and +tools, indeed to everything which he touched. Even the petty chiefs and +fighting men, everybody indeed who could claim the title of _rangatira_ +or gentleman, possessed in some degree this mysterious quality.[107] +However, in young people of rank the sanctity which appertained to them +by virtue of their birth was supposed to be only latent; it did not +develop or burst into full bloom till they had reached mature age and +set up house on their own account. Hence noble boys and lads were under +none of the irksome restrictions to which in their adult years they were +afterwards bound to submit; they mixed freely with the profane vulgar +and did not even disdain to carry fuel or provisions on their backs, a +thing which no man of any standing could possibly do; at all events, if +he did so demean himself, the food was thereby rendered taboo and could +accordingly be used by nobody but himself. "If he went into the shed +used as a kitchen (a thing, however, he would never think of doing +except on some great emergency), all the pots, ovens, food, etc., would +be at once rendered useless--none of the cooks or inferior people could +make use of them, or partake of anything which had been cooked in them. +He might certainly light a little fire in his own house, not for +cooking, as that never by any chance could be done in his house, but for +warmth; but that, or any other fire, if he should have blown upon it +with his breath in lighting it, became at once _tapu_, and could be used +for no common or culinary purpose. Even to light a pipe at it would +subject any inferior person, or in many instances an equal, to a +terrible attack of the _tapu morbus_, besides being a slight or affront +to the dignity of the person himself. I have seen two or three young men +fairly wearing themselves out on a wet day and with bad apparatus +trying to make fire to cook with, by rubbing two sticks together, when +on a journey, and at the same time there was a roaring fire close at +hand at which several _rangatira_ and myself were warming ourselves, but +it was _tapu_, or sacred fire--one of the _rangatira_ had made it from +his own tinder-box, and blown upon it in lighting it, and as there was +not another tinder-box amongst us, fast we must, though hungry as +sharks, till common culinary fire could be obtained."[108] + + [107] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94. + + [108] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 98. + +The head of a chief was always and at all times deemed most sacred, and +in consequence he might not even touch it with his own hand; if he +chanced to commit the sacrilege, he was obliged at once to apply his +fingers to his sacred nose and to snuff up the odour of sanctity which +they had abstracted, thus restoring the holy effluvium to the place from +which it had been taken.[109] For the same reason the cutting of a +chief's hair was a most difficult and delicate operation. While it +lasted neither the great man himself nor the barber who operated on him +was allowed to do anything or partake of any food except under the +restrictions imposed on all sacred or tabooed persons; to use the +scissors or the shell, with which the operation was performed, for any +other purpose or any other person would have been a terrible profanation +of sacred things, and would have rendered the rash sacrilegious wretch, +who had dared so to appropriate it, liable to the severest punishment. +The severed hair was collected and buried or hung up on a tree,[110] +probably to put it out of the way of common folk, who might have been +struck dead by contact with the holy locks. But apparently the dangers +incident to hair-cutting were by no means confined to chiefs, but +extended to any one who was bold enough to submit his head to the +barber's shears; for one of the early writers on the Maoris tells us +that "he who has had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the +_Atua_; he is removed from the contact and society of his family and his +tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put into his mouth by +another person; nor can he for some days resume his accustomed +occupations, or associate with his fellow-men."[111] The hair of the +first-born of a family in particular, on account of his extreme +sanctity, might be cut by nobody but a priest; and for many days after +the operation had been performed the priestly barber was in a state of +strict taboo. He could do nothing for himself, and might not go near +anybody. He might not touch food with his hands, and no less than three +persons were required to feed him. One of them prepared the food at a +safe distance, took it to a certain place, and retired; a second came +forward, picked up the victuals, carried them to another spot and left +them; finally, a third, venturing into the danger zone, actually brought +the food to the priest and put it into his mouth.[112] + + [109] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [110] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104. + + [111] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in + New Zealand_ (London, 1823), pp. 283 _sq._ Compare J. Dumont + d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la recherche de la + Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 533. + + [112] Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the Twelfth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 463. + +The atmosphere of taboo or sanctity which thus surrounded Maori chiefs +and gentlemen not only imposed many troublesome and inconvenient +restraints on the men themselves, it was also frequently a source of +very real danger, loss, and annoyance to other people. For example, it +was a rule that a chief should not blow on a fire with his mouth, +because his breath being sacred would communicate its sanctity to the +fire, and if a slave or a common man afterwards cooked food at the fire +or merely took a brand from it, the chief's holiness would cause that +man's death.[113] Again, if the blood of a high chief flowed on +anything, though it were but a single drop, it rendered the thing sacred +to him, so that it could be used by nobody else. Thus it once happened +that a party of natives came in a fine new canoe to pay their respects +to an eminent chief; the great man stepped into the canoe, and in doing +so he chanced to strike a splinter into his foot, which bled. That +sufficed to consecrate the canoe to him. The owner at once leaped out, +drew the canoe ashore opposite to the chief's house and left it +there.[114] Again, a Maori gentleman, visiting a missionary, knocked +his head against a beam in the house, and his sacred blood was spilt. +The natives present thereupon told the missionary that in former times +his house would after such an accident have belonged to his noble +visitor.[115] Even the cast garments of a chief had acquired, by contact +with his holy body, so virulent a degree of sanctity that they would +kill anybody else who might happen in ignorance to find and wear them. +On a journey, when a chief found his blanket too heavy to carry, he has +been known to throw it very considerately down a precipice where nobody +would be likely to light on it, lest some future traveller should be +struck dead by appropriating the sacred garment. Once a chief's lost +tinder-box actually caused the death of several persons; for having +found it and used it to light their pipes, they literally died of fright +on learning the sacrilege which they had committed.[116] Such fatal +effects consequent on the discovery of a breach of taboo were not +uncommon among the Maoris. For instance, a woman once ate some peaches +which, though she did not know it, had been taken from a tabooed place. +As soon as she heard where the fruit had come from, the basket which she +was carrying dropped from her hands, and she exclaimed in agony that the +spirit (_atua_) of the chief whose sanctuary had thus been profaned +would kill her. That happened in the afternoon, and next day by twelve +o'clock she was dead.[117] Again, a slave, a strong man in the prime of +life, once found the remains of a chief's dinner beside the road, and +being hungry ate it up without asking any questions. No sooner, however, +did he hear to whom the food had belonged than he was seized with the +most extraordinary convulsions and cramps in the stomach, which never +ceased till he died about sundown the same day. The English eyewitness +who reports the case adds, that any European freethinker who should have +denied that the man was killed by the chief's taboo would have been +listened to by the Maoris with feelings of contempt for his ignorance +and inability to understand plain and direct evidence.[118] + + [113] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [114] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 101; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._ + + [115] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [116] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._ + + [117] W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845), + p. 76. + + [118] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 95-97. + +In order that a thing should be consecrated or tabooed to the exclusive +use and possession of a chief, it was not necessary that his sacred +blood should flow on it, or that he should merely touch it; he had only +to call it his head, or his back-bone, or any other part of his body, +and at once the thing, by a legal fiction, became his and might be +appropriated by nobody else under pain of violating the taboo which the +chief had laid upon it. For example, when a chief desired to prevent a +piece of ground from being cultivated by any one but himself, he often +resorted to the expedient of calling it his back-bone; after that if any +man dared to set foot on the land so consecrated, the transgression was +equivalent to a declaration of war. In this simple and easy fashion a +chief might acquire anything that took his fancy from an axe or a canoe +to a landed estate, and the rightful owner of the property dared not +complain nor dispute the claim of his superior.[119] + + [119] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 111; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. + 137 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 168. + +Nevertheless in daily life even ordinary people used the taboo to secure +their property or to acquire for themselves what had hitherto been +common to all. For example, if a man found a piece of drift timber, he +could make it his own by tying something to it or giving it a chop with +his axe; he thereby set his taboo on the log, and as a general rule the +taboo would be respected. Again, with a simple piece of flax he might +bar the door of his house or his store of food; the contents of the +house or store were thus rendered inviolable, nobody would meddle with +them.[120] + + [120] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 171. + +It is easy to see that this form of taboo must have greatly contributed +to create and confirm respect for the rights of private property. The +most valuable articles might, we are told, under ordinary circumstances +be left to its protection in the absence of the owners for any length of +time.[121] Indeed so obvious and so useful is this function of taboo +that one well-informed writer supposes the original purpose of the +institution to have been no other than the preservation of private +property;[122] and another observer, after eulogising its beneficent +effects, declares that "it was undoubtedly the ordinance of a wise +legislator."[123] But to say this is greatly to overrate the wisdom and +foresight of primitive man in general and of the Polynesians in +particular; it implies a fundamental misconception of the real nature +and history of taboo. That curious institution was not the creation of a +prudent and sagacious legislator, who devised this system of checks and +restrictions for the purpose of curbing the passions of a savage race +and inducing them to submit to the salutary restraints of law and +morality. It was in its origin, I believe, simply a crude and barbarous +form of superstition, which, like many other superstitions, has +accidentally led to good results that were never contemplated by its +ignorant and foolish votaries. It is thus that in the long history of +mankind things which to a contemporary spectator might seem to be almost +unmitigated evils turn out in the end to be fraught with incalculable +good to humanity. This experience, often repeated, enables students of +the past to look forward, even in the darkest hours, with cheerful +confidence to the future. + + [121] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 97. + + [122] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94. + + [123] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 100, + "Ridiculous as this custom of the _tapu_ has appeared to some, + and as many of its applications really are, it was, + notwithstanding, a wholesome restraint, and, in many cases, + almost the only one that could have been imposed; the heavy + penalties attached to the violation of its laws serving in one + tribe, or in several not in actual hostility with each other, as + moral and legal commandments. It was undoubtedly the ordinance + of a wise legislator." Compare G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and + Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 330, "Doubtless this + law is the result of some wise regulation for the protection of + property and individuals, and it has in many things a beneficial + influence amongst a people who have no written or regularly + established code of laws of their own." To the same effect + another authority on the Maoris observes: "The most politic and + useful of all the superstitious institutions of the Maori people + is that which involves the rites of _tapu_. It has always seemed + to me that this institution, with its far-reaching + ramifications, must have been the conception of a very gifted + mind, for, as a governing factor, it is very superior to the + Hindu institution of caste. It must, moreover, have been + initiated during a period of civilisation, to which the + Polynesians have long been strangers, but with which at one + period of their history they were sufficiently familiar." See + Lieut.-Colonel Gudgeon, "The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations + of the Spirit World," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xv. no. 57 (March 1906), p. 49. + +The particular superstition which lies at the root of taboo and has +incidentally exercised a beneficent influence by inspiring a respect for +law and morality appears to be a belief in the existence of ghosts and +their power to affect the fortunes of the living for good or evil. For +the ultimate sanction of the taboo, in other words, that which engaged +the people to observe its commandments, was a firm persuasion that any +breach of these commandments would surely and speedily be punished by an +_atua_ or ghost, who would afflict the sinner with a painful malady till +he died. From youth upwards the Maori was bred in the faith that the +souls of his dead ancestors, jealous of any infraction of the +traditionary rites, would commission some spirit of their kin to enter +into the transgressor's body and prey on a vital part. The visible signs +of this hidden and mysterious process they fancied to be the various +forms of disease. The mildest ailments were thought to be caused by the +spirits of those who had known the sufferer on earth, and who +accordingly were imagined to be more merciful and more reluctant to +injure an old friend and relation. On the other hand the most malignant +forms of disease were attributed to the spirits of dead infants, who +having never learned to love their living friends, would rend and devour +the bowels of their nearest kin without compunction. With these ideas as +to the origin of disease the Maoris naturally did not attempt to heal +the sick through the curative properties of herbs and other drugs; their +remedies consisted not in medicine but in exorcism: instead of a +physician they sent for a priest, who by his spells and incantations +undertook to drive the dangerous sprite from the body of the patient and +to appease the ancestral spirit, whose wrath was believed to be the +cause of all the mischief. If the deity proved recalcitrant and +obstinately declined to accept this notice to quit, they did not +hesitate to resort to the most threatening and outrageous language, +sometimes telling him that they would kill and eat him, and at others +that they would burn him to a cinder if he did not take himself off at +once and allow the patient to recover.[124] Curiously enough, the +spirit which preyed on the vitals of a sick man was supposed to assume +the form of a lizard; hence these animals, especially a beautiful green +species which the Maoris called _kakariki_, were regarded with fear and +horror by the natives.[125] Once when a Maori of Herculean thews and +sinews was inadvertently shown some green lizards preserved in a bottle +of spirits, his massive frame shrank back as from a mortal wound, and +his face betrayed signs of extreme horror. An aged chief in the room, on +learning what was the matter, cried out, "I shall die! I shall die!" and +crawled away on hands and knees; while the other man gallantly +interposed himself as a bulwark between the fugitive and the green gods +(_atuas_) in the bottle, shifting his position adroitly so as to screen +the chief till he was out of range of the deities.[126] An old man once +assured a missionary very seriously that in attending to a sick person +he had seen the god come out of the sufferer's mouth in the form of a +lizard, and that from the same moment the patient began to mend and was +soon restored to perfect health.[127] + + [124] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp. + 30 _sq._, 294 _sq._; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, pp. 114 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, 31 _sq._; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. + 141 _sq._ Most malignant and dangerous of all appear to have + been thought the spirits of abortions or still-born infants. See + Elsdon Best, "The Lore of the _Whare-Kohanga_," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xv. no. 57 (March 1906), pp. 12-15; + _Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde, + Anthropologischer Theil, Dritte Abtheilung, Ethnographie_, + bearbeitet von Dr. Fr. Müller (Vienna, 1868), pp. 59 _sq._ Even + more dangerous than the spirits of dead infants were supposed to + be the spirits of human germs, which the Maoris imagined to + exist in the menstrual fluid. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and + Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 115, 292; _id._, + _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 107 _sq._ As to disease + inflicted by ancestral spirits (_atuas_) for breaches of taboo, + see further J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New + Zealand_ (London, 1817), i. 272 _sq._, ii. 176 _sq._; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 105, "The breaking of + the _tapu_, if the crime does not become known, is, they + believe, punished by the _Atua_, who inflicts disease upon the + criminal; if discovered, it is punished by him whom it regards, + and often becomes the cause of war." + + [125] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in + New Zealand_ (London, 1823), p. 320; J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage autour du Monde et à la recherche de la Pérouse, + Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 517; W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, pp. 141 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels + in New Zealand_, ii. 117; Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical Lore," + _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December + 1904), p. 228. As to the superstitious veneration of lizards + among the peoples of the Malay-Polynesian stock, see G. A. + Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iv. 125 + _sqq._ + + [126] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New + Zealand_, ii. 67. + + [127] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 142. + + +§ 6. _Conclusion_ + +If now we attempt to sum up the effects which the belief in human +immortality exercised on the life of the Maoris we may perhaps conclude +that these effects were partly good and partly evil. On the one hand by +ascribing to the chiefs the special protection of the powerful spirits +of the dead, it invested the governing class with a degree of authority +to which on merely natural or rational grounds they could have laid no +claim; hence it tended to strengthen the respect for government and to +ensure the maintenance of law and order. Moreover, by lending a +supernatural sanction to the rights of private property among all +classes it further contributed to abolish one of the most fruitful +sources of discord and crime in the community and thereby to foster +economic progress, which cannot exist without some measure of peace and +security for life and possessions. These were great gains, and so far as +the faith in immortality helped to win them for the Maoris, it certainly +ameliorated their condition and furthered the cause of civilisation +among them. But on the other hand the belief in the essential malignancy +of the spirits of the dead and in their great power to harm the living +added a host of purely imaginary terrors to the real evils with which +man's existence on earth is naturally and inevitably encompassed: it +imposed a regular system of needless and vexatious restrictions on +social intercourse and the simplest acts of daily life; and it erected +an almost insuperable barrier to the growth of science, and particularly +of that beneficent branch of science which has for its object the +alleviation of human suffering, since by concentrating the whole +attention of the people on a false and absurd theory of supernatural +agency it diverted them from that fruitful investigation of natural +causes which alone can strengthen and extend man's control over matter. +This was a heavy toll to pay for the advantages incidental to a belief +in immortality; and if we were asked to strike a balance between the +good and the evil which that belief entailed on the Maoris, we might +well hesitate to say to which side the scales of judgment should +incline. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS + + +§ 1. _The Tonga or Friendly Islands_ + +The Tonga or Friendly Islands form an archipelago of about a hundred +small islands situated in the South Pacific, between 18° and 22° South +latitude and between 173° and 176° East longitude. The archipelago falls +into three groups of islands, which lie roughly north and south of each +other. The southern is the Tonga group, the central is the Haabai or +Haapai group, and the northern is the Vavau group. In the southern group +the principal islands are Tongataboo and Eua; in the central group, +Namuka and Lifuka (Lefooga); in the northern group, Vavau. The largest +island of the archipelago, Tongataboo, is about twenty-two miles long by +eight miles wide; next to it in importance are Vavau and Eua, and there +are seven or eight other islands not less than five miles in length. The +rest are mere islets. Most of the islands are surrounded by dangerous +coral reefs, and though the soil is deep and very fertile, there is a +great lack of flowing water; running streams are almost unknown. Most of +the islands consist of coral and are very low; the highest point of +Tongataboo is only about sixty feet above the level of the sea.[1] +However, some of the islands are lofty and of volcanic formation. When +Captain Cook visited the islands in 1773 and 1777 there was apparently +only one active volcano in the archipelago; it was situated in the small +island of Tufoa, which lies to the west of Namuka. Cook saw the island +smoking at the distance of ten leagues, and was told by the natives that +it had never ceased smoking in their memory, nor had they any tradition +of its inactivity.[2] In the hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since Cook's time volcanic action has greatly increased in the +archipelago. A considerable eruption took place at Tufoa in 1885: the +small but lofty island of Kao (5000 feet high) has repeatedly been in +eruption: the once fertile and populous island of Amargura, or +Funua-lai, in about 18° South latitude, was suddenly devastated in 1846 +or 1847 by a terrific eruption, which reduced it to a huge mass of lava +and burnt sand, without a leaf or blade of grass of any kind. Warned by +violent earthquakes, which preceded the explosion, the inhabitants +escaped in time to Vavau. The roar of the volcano was heard one hundred +and thirty miles off; and an American ship sailed through a shower of +ashes, rolling like great volumes of smoke, for forty miles. For months +afterwards the glare of the tremendous fires was visible night after +night in the island of Vavau, situated forty miles away.[3] Another +dreadful eruption occurred on the 24th of June 1853, in Niua Foöu, an +island about two hundred miles to the north-north-west of Funua-lai. The +entire island seems to be the circular ridge of an ancient and vast +volcano, of which the crater is occupied by a lake of clear calm water. +On the occasion in question the earth was rent in the centre of a native +village; the flames of a new volcano burst forth from the fissure, +belching a sea of molten lava, under which ten miles of country, once +covered with the richest verdure, have been encased in solid rock, +averaging from eight to fifteen feet in thickness. The lake boiled like +a cauldron, and long after the more powerful action of the volcano had +ceased, the waters of the lake were often rent by tongues of flame, +which shot up from them as well as from the clefts in the surrounding +precipices.[4] In the island of Late, lying to the west of Vavau, a new +volcano broke out with great violence in 1854; the roar of the volcano +was heard at Lifuka, fifty miles away; the immense pillar of smoke was +visible by day and the fire by night. The central portion of one side of +the mountain (about 2500 feet high) was completely blown out by the +explosion.[5] + + [1] Horatio Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) pp. 497, 499. As + to the scarcity of running water, see Captain James Cook, + _Voyages_ (London, 1809), iii. 206, v. 389. He was told that + there was a running stream on the high island of Kao. As to the + soil of Tongataboo, see Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage + to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1899), p. 280, "The soil + is everywhere prolific, and consists of a fine rich mould, upon + an average about fourteen or fifteen inches deep, free from + stones, except near the beach, where coral rocks appear above + the surface. Beneath this mould is a red loam four or five + inches thick; next is a very strong blue clay in small + quantities; and in some places has been found a black earth, + which emits a very fragrant smell resembling bergamot, but it + soon evaporates when exposed to the air." + + [2] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 277. For descriptions of + the volcano see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, Second Edition + (London, 1818), i. 240 _sq._; and especially Thomas West, _Ten + Years in South-Eastern Polynesia_ (London, 1865), pp. 89 _sqq._ + Both these writers ascended the volcano. + + [3] Thomas West, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine, + _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ + (London, 1853), p. 120; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. + p. 497. + + [4] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 82 _sqq._; George Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 4 _sq._ + + [5] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 88 _sq._ + +But not only have new volcanoes appeared or long extinct volcanoes +resumed their activity within the last century in the existing islands, +new islands have been formed by volcanic action. One such island, +emitting volumes of fire, smoke, and steam, issued from the surface of +the sea, and was discovered by the missionary ship _John Wesley_ in +August 1857; its appearance had been heralded some years before by a +strange agitation of the sea and by fire and smoke ascending from the +water. This new volcanic island lies about midway between the two other +volcanic islands of Tufoa and Late.[6] A third new volcanic island seems +to have been formed to the south of Tufoa in 1886.[7] Another new island +was thrown up from the sea about the beginning of the twentieth century; +it was partly washed away again, but has again materially increased in +size.[8] It is noteworthy that the volcanoes, new or old, all occur in a +line running roughly north and south at a considerable distance to the +west of, but parallel to, the main body of the Tongan archipelago. They +clearly indicate the existence of submarine volcanic action on a great +scale. Even in the coralline islands traces of volcanic agency have come +to light in the shape of pumice-stones, which have been dug out of the +solid coral rock at considerable depths.[9] In the lofty island of Eua +an extensive dyke of basalt is found inland underlying the coral +formation.[10] + + [6] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 92-93. + + [7] I infer this from the entry "Volcanic island, 1886," in Mr. + Guillemard's map of the Pacific Islands. He does not mention it + in the text (_Australasia_, ii. p. 497). + + [8] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 6. + + [9] T. West, _op. cit._ p. 94. + + [10] George Brown, _op. cit._ p. 4. + +These facts lend some countenance to the view that the whole archipelago +forms the summit or visible ridge of a long chain of submarine +volcanoes, and that the islands, even those of coralline formation, have +been raised to their present level by volcanic action.[11] That very +acute observer, Captain Cook, or one of the naturalists of the +expedition, noticed that in the highest parts of Tongataboo, which he +estimated roughly at a hundred feet above sea-level, he often met with +"the same coral rock, which is found at the shore, projecting above the +surface, and perforated and cut into all those inequalities which are +usually seen in rocks that lie within the wash of the tide."[12] Again, +on ascending the comparatively lofty island of Eua, Captain Cook +observes: "We were now about two or three hundred feet above the level +of the sea, and yet, even here, the coral was perforated into all the +holes and inequalities which usually diversify the surface of this +substance within the reach of the tide. Indeed, we found the same coral +till we began to approach the summits of the highest hills; and, it was +remarkable, that these were chiefly composed of a yellowish, soft, sandy +stone."[13] In the island of Vavau it was remarked by Captain Waldegrave +that the coral rock rises many feet above the present level of the sea, +and he adds: "The action of fire is visible on it, and we saw several +instances of its crystallisation."[14] + + [11] T. West, _op. cit._ 95. + + [12] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 344. + + [13] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 381. + + [14] Captain the Hon. W. Waldegrave, R.N., "Extracts from a + Private Journal," _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, + iii. (1833) p. 193. + +The view that even the coralline islands of the Tongan archipelago have +been elevated by volcanic agency is not necessarily inconsistent with +Darwin's theory that coral reefs are formed during periods of +subsidence, not of elevation;[15] for it is quite possible that, after +being raised ages ago by volcanic forces, these islands may be now +slowly subsiding, and that it has been during the period of subsidence +that they have become incrusted by coral reefs. Yet the occurrence of +coral rocks, bearing all the marks of marine action, at considerable +heights above the sea, appears indubitably to prove that such a general +subsidence has been in some places varied by at least a temporary +elevation. + + [15] Charles Darwin, _Journal of Researches, etc., during the + Voyage of the "Beagle"_ (London, 1912), pp. 471 _sqq._; Sir + Charles Lyell, _Principles of Geology_, Twelfth Edition (London, + 1875), ii. 602 _sqq._; T. H. Huxley, _Physiography_ (London, + 1881), pp. 256 _sqq._ + +In thus postulating elevation by volcanic action, as well as subsidence, +to explain the formation of the Tongan islands I am glad to have the +support of a good observer, the late Rev. Dr. George Brown, who spent +the best years of his life in the Pacific, where his experience both of +the larger and the smaller islands was varied and extensive. He writes: +"I have seen islands composed of true coralline limestone, the cliffs of +which rise so perpendicularly from the blue ocean that the natives have +to ascend and descend by ladders in going from the ocean to the top, or +vice versa. A large steamer can go so close to some of these cliffs that +she could be moored alongside of them in calm weather. It is not at all +improbable, I think, that in these islands we have the two factors in +the formation of islands, viz. subsidence, during which these immense +cliffs were formed, and subsequent upheaval. This is the only way, I +think, in which we can account for these perpendicular cliffs in the +midst of deep blue ocean."[16] + + [16] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), + pp. 13 _sq._ + +I have dwelt at what may seem undue length on the volcanic phenomena of +the Tonga islands because the occurrence of such phenomena in savage +lands has generally influenced the beliefs and customs of the natives, +quite apart from the possibility, which should always be borne in mind, +that man first obtained fire from an active volcano. But even if, as has +been suggested, the Tonga islands formed the starting-point from which +the Polynesian race spread over the islands of the Pacific,[17] it seems +very unlikely that the Polynesians first learned the use of fire when +they reached the Tongan archipelago. More probably they were +acquainted, not only with the use of fire, but with the mode of making +it long before they migrated from their original home in Southern Asia. +A people perfectly ignorant of that prime necessity could hardly have +made their way across such wide stretches of sea and land. But it is +quite possible that the myth which the Tongans, in common with many +other Polynesians, tell of the manner in which their ancestors procured +their first fire, was suggested to them by the spectacle of a volcano in +eruption. They say that the hero Maui Kijikiji, the Polynesian +Prometheus, first procured fire for men by descending into the bowels of +the earth and stealing it from his father, Maui Atalanga, who had kept +it there jealously concealed.[18] + + [17] John Crawfurd, _Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay + Language_ (London, 1852), _Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 253, + quoted by Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_, + pp. 248 _sqq._ But the more usual view is that the + starting-point of the dispersal of the Polynesian race in the + Pacific was Samoa. + + [18] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_ (London, + 1855), pp. 134-137; Le P. Reiter, "Traditions Tonguiennes," + _Anthropos_, xii.-xiii. (1917-1918), pp. 1026-1040; E. E. + Collcott, "Legends from Tonga," _Folk-lore_, xxxii. (1921) pp. + 45-48. Miss Farmer probably obtained the story from the Rev. + John Thomas, who was a missionary in the islands for twenty-five + years (from 1826 to 1850). She acknowledges her obligations to + him for information on the religion of the natives (p. 125). For + the period of Mr. Thomas's residence in Tonga, see Miss Farmer's + book, p. 161. The story is told in closely similar forms in many + other islands of the Pacific. For some of the evidence see my + edition of Apollodorus, _The Library_, vol. ii. p. 331 _sqq._ + + +§ 2. _The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of Life, and +Government_ + +Physically the Tonga islanders are fine specimens of the Polynesian race +and generally impress travellers very favourably. Captain Cook, the +first to observe them closely, describes them as very strong and well +made, some of them really handsome, and many of them with truly European +features and genuine Roman noses.[19] At a later date Commodore Wilkes, +the commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, speaks of them +as "some of the finest specimens of the human race that can well be +imagined, surpassing in symmetry and grace those of all the other groups +we had visited"; and farther on he says: "A larger proportion of +fine-looking people is seldom to be seen, in any portion of the globe; +they are a shade lighter than any of the other islanders; their +countenances are generally of the European cast; they are tall and well +made, and their muscles are well developed."[20] Still later, in his +account of the voyage of the _Challenger_, Lord George Campbell +expressed himself even more warmly: "There are no people in the world," +he says, "who strike one at first so much as these Friendly Islanders. +Their clear, light, copper-brown coloured skins, yellow and curly hair, +good-humoured, handsome faces, their _tout ensemble_, formed a novel and +splendid picture of the genus _homo_; and, as far as physique and +appearance go, they gave one certainly an impression of being a superior +race to ours."[21] A Catholic missionary observes that "the natives of +Tonga hardly differ from Europeans in stature, features, and colour; +they are a little sallower, which may be set down to the high +temperature of the climate. It is difficult to have a very fresh +complexion with thirty degrees of heat, Réaumur, as we have it during +four or five months of the year."[22] In appearance the Tonga islanders +closely resemble the Samoans, their neighbours on the north; some find +them a little lighter, but others somewhat darker in colour than the +Samoans.[23] According to the French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, who +passed about a month in Tongataboo in 1827, the Polynesian race in Tonga +exhibits less admixture with the swarthy Melanesian race than in Tahiti +and New Zealand, there being far fewer individuals of stunted stature, +flat noses, and frizzly hair among the Tongans than among the other +Polynesians.[24] Even among the Tongans the physical superiority of the +chiefs to the common people is said to be conspicuous; they are taller, +comelier, and lighter in colour than the lower orders. Some would +explain the difference by a difference in upbringing, noblemen being +more carefully nursed, better fed, and less exposed to the sun than +commoners;[25] but it is possible that they come of a different and +better stock. + + [19] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 401 _sq._ + + [20] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 10, 25. + + [21] Quoted by F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. p. 488. + + [22] Jérôme Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 8. + + [23] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_, pp. 10 _sq._; Charles Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 25; + J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the + Western Pacific_, pp. 116, 155. The naturalist J. R. Forster + thought the Tongans darker than the Tahitians. See his + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1778), p. 234. + + [24] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de la corvette Astrolabe, + Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) p. 229. + + [25] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 155 _sq._; Sarah S. Farmer, + _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 140. + +Intellectually the Tongans are reported to "surpass all the other South +Sea islanders in their mental development, showing great skill in the +structure of their dwellings and the manufacture of their implements, +weapons, and dress."[26] They are bold navigators,[27] and Captain Cook +observes that "nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of their +ingenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, which, in +point of neatness and workmanship, exceed everything of this kind we saw +in this sea."[28] However, the Tongans appear to have acquired much of +their skill in the art of building and rigging canoes through +intercourse with the Fijians, their neighbours to the west, who, though +their inferiors in seamanship and the spirit of marine adventure, +originally surpassed them in naval architecture.[29] Indeed we are told +that all the large Tongan canoes are built in Fiji, because the Tongan +islands do not furnish any timber fit for the purpose. Hence a number of +Tongans are constantly employed in the windward or eastern islands of +the Fiji group building these large canoes, a hundred feet or more in +length, a process which, it is said, lasts six or seven years.[30] The +debt which in this respect the Tongans owe to the Fijians was +necessarily unknown to Captain Cook, since he never reached the Fijian +islands and knew of them only by report, though he met and questioned a +few Fijians in Tongataboo.[31] + + [26] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. pp. 498 _sq._ + + [27] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 264. + + [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 197. + + [29] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 263 _sqq._ + + [30] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 132. + + [31] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 396 _sq._ + +When Captain Cook visited the Tonga islands he found the land almost +everywhere in a high state of cultivation. He says that "cultivated +roots and fruits being their principal support, this requires their +constant attention to agriculture, which they pursue very diligently, +and seem to have brought almost to as great perfection as circumstances +will permit."[32] The plants which they chiefly cultivated and which +furnished them with their staple foods were yams and plantains. These +were disposed in plantations enclosed by neat fences of reeds about six +feet high and intersected by good smooth roads or lanes, which were +shaded from the scorching sun by fruit-trees.[33] Walking on one of +these roads Cook tells us, "I thought I was transported into the most +fertile plains in Europe. There was not an inch of waste ground; the +roads occupied no more space than was absolutely necessary; the fences +did not take up above four inches each; and even this was not wholly +lost, for in many places were planted some useful trees or plants. It +was everywhere the same; change of place altered not the scene. Nature, +assisted by a little art, nowhere appears in more splendour than at this +isle."[34] Interspersed among these plantations irregularly were +bread-fruit trees and coco-nut palms, of which the palms in particular, +raising their tufted heads in air above the sea of perpetual verdure, +formed a pleasing ornament of the landscape.[35] There were no towns or +villages; most of the houses were built in the plantations, generally +surrounded by trees or ornamental shrubs, whose fragrancy perfumed the +air.[36] + + [32] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 411 _sq._ + + [33] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184, 195, v. 274, 316, + 357, 416. + + [34] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184. + + [35] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 274, 357. + + [36] _Id._ iii. 196. + +When Captain Cook surveyed this rich and beautiful country, the islands +were and had long been at peace, so that the natives were able to devote +themselves without distraction to the labour of tilling the soil and +providing in other ways for the necessities of life. Unhappily shortly +after his visit to the islands wars broke out among the inhabitants and +continued to rage more or less intermittently for many years. Even the +introduction of Christianity in the early part of the nineteenth +century, far from assuaging the strife, only added bitterness to it by +furnishing a fresh pretext for hostilities, in which apparently the +Christians were sometimes the aggressors with the connivance or even the +encouragement of the missionaries.[37] In consequence cultivation was +neglected and large portions of land were allowed to lie waste.[38] + + [37] This is affirmed by the Catholic missionary, Jérôme Grange + (_Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) pp. 15 + _sqq._), and though he writes with a manifest prejudice against + his rivals the Protestant missionaries, his evidence is + confirmed by Commodore Wilkes, the commander of the United + States Exploring Expedition, who on his visit to Tongataboo + found the Christians and heathens about to go to war with each + other. He attempted to make peace between them, but in vain. The + heathen were ready to accept his overtures, but "it was evident + that King George and his advisers, and, indeed, the whole + Christian party, seemed to be desirous of continuing the war, + either to force the heathen to become Christians, or to carry it + on to extermination, which the number of their warriors made + them believe they had the power to effect. I felt, in addition, + that the missionaries were thwarting my exertions by permitting + warlike preparations during the pending of the negotiations." + See Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 7 _sqq._ (my quotation is from p. 16). The + story is told from the point of view of the Protestant + (Wesleyan) missionaries by Miss S. S. Farmer, _Tonga and The + Friendly Islands_, pp. 293 _sqq._ + + [38] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprise in the + South Seas_ (London, 1838), p. 264; Charles Wilkes, _op. cit._ + iii. 32 _sq._ + +Like all the Polynesians the natives of Tonga were ignorant of the +metals, and their only tools were made of stone, bone, shells, shark's +teeth, and rough fish-skins. They fashioned axes, or rather adzes, out +of a smooth black stone, which they procured from the volcanic island of +Tufoa; they used shells as knives; they constructed augers out of +shark's teeth, fixed on handles; and they made rasps of the rough skin +of a fish, fastened on flat pieces of wood. With such imperfect tools +they built their canoes and houses, reared the massive tombs of their +kings; and did all their other work.[39] The wonder is that with +implements so imperfect they could accomplish so much and raise +themselves to a comparatively high level among savages. + + [39] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 199, v. 414 _sq._ + Captain Cook says that the only piece of iron he found among the + Tongans was a small broad awl, which had been made of a nail. + But this nail they must have procured either from a former + navigator, perhaps Tasman, or from a wreck. + +A feature of the Tongan character in which the islanders evinced their +superiority to most of the Polynesians was their regard for women. In +most savage tribes which practise agriculture the labour of tilling the +fields falls in great measure on the female sex, but it was not so in +Tonga. There the women never tilled the ground nor did any hard work, +though they occupied themselves with the manufacture of bark-cloth, +mats, and other articles of domestic use. Natives of Fiji, Samoa, and +Hawaii, who resided in Tonga, used to remark on the easy lives led by +the Tongan women, and remonstrated with the men on the subject, saying +that as men underwent hardships and dangers in war and other masculine +pursuits, so women ought to be made to labour in the fields and to toil +for their living. But the Tongan men said that "it is not _gnale fafíne_ +(consistent with the feminine character) to let them do hard work; women +ought only to do what is feminine: who loves a masculine woman? besides, +men are stronger, and therefore it is but proper that they should do the +hard labour."[40] + + [40] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 287. Compare _id._ ii. + 124, note *; Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 410 _sq._ + +Further, it is to the credit of the Tongans that, unlike many other +Polynesians, they were not generally cannibals, and indeed for the most +part held in abhorrence the practice of eating human bodies. Still young +warriors occasionally devoured the corpses of their enemies in imitation +of the Fijians, imagining that in so doing they manifested a fierce, +warlike, and manly spirit. On one occasion, returning from such a +repast, they were shunned by every one, especially by the women, who +upbraided them, saying, "Away! you are a man-eater."[41] + + [41] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194; compare _id._ i. + 317-320. + +The government of the Tongan islanders was eminently monarchical and +aristocratic. A strict subordination of ranks was established which has +been aptly compared to the feudal system. At the head of the social +edifice were two chiefs who bore some resemblance to the Emperor and the +Pope of mediaeval Europe, the one being the civil and military head of +the State, while the other embodied the supreme spiritual power. +Nominally the spiritual chief, called the Tooitonga, ranked above the +civil chief or king, who paid him formal homage; but, as usually happens +in such cases, the real government was in the hands of the secular +rather than of the religious monarch. The Tooitonga was acknowledged to +be descended from one of the chief gods; he is spoken of by Mariner, our +principal authority, as a divine chief of the highest rank, and he is +said to have enjoyed divine honours. The first-fruits of the year were +offered to him, and it was supposed that if this ceremony were +neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon +the people. Yet he had no power or authority in matters pertaining to +the civil king.[42] The existence of such a double kingship, with a +corresponding distribution of temporal and spiritual functions, is not +uncommon in more advanced societies; its occurrence among a people so +comparatively low in the scale of culture as the Tongans is remarkable. + + [42] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sqq._; W. Mariner, + _Tonga Islands_, ii. 74 _sqq._, 132 _sqq._; J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) + pp. 90 _sq._, "_Si tout était suivant l'ordre légal à + Tonga-Tabou, on verrait d'abord à la tête de la société le + toui-tonga qui est le véritable souverain nominal des îles + Tonga, et qui jouit même des honneurs divins_." + +Below the two great chiefs or kings were many subordinate chiefs, and +below them again the social ranks descended in a succession of sharply +marked gradations to the peasants, who tilled the ground, and whose +lives and property were entirely at the mercy of the chiefs.[43] Yet the +social system as a whole seems to have worked well and smoothly. "It +does not, indeed, appear," says Captain Cook, "that any of the most +civilised nations have ever exceeded this people, in the great order +observed on all occasions; in ready compliance with the commands of +their chiefs; and in the harmony that subsists throughout all ranks, and +unites them, as if they were all one man, informed with, and directed +by, the same principle."[44] According to the American ethnographer, +Horatio Hale, the mass of the people in the Tonga islands had no +political rights, and their condition in that respect was much inferior +to that of commoners in the Samoan islands, since in Tonga the +government was much stronger and better organized, as he puts it, for +the purpose of oppression. On the other hand, he admitted that +government in Tonga was milder than in Tahiti, and infinitely preferable +to the debasing despotism which prevailed in Hawaii or the Sandwich +Islands.[45] + + [43] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sq._, 429 _sq._; W. + Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 83 _sqq._ + + [44] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 426. + + [45] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_, p. 32. + + +§ 3. _The Tongan Religion: its General Principles_ + +For our knowledge of the religion and the social condition of the +Tongans before they came under European influence, we are indebted +chiefly to an English sailor, William Mariner, who lived as a captive +among them for about four years, from 1806 to 1810.[46] His account of +the natives, carefully elicited from him and published by a medical +doctor, Mr. John Martin, M.D., is one of the most valuable descriptions +of a savage people which we possess. Mariner was a good observer and +endowed with an excellent memory, which enabled him to retain and record +his experiences after his return to England. He spoke the Tongan +language, and he was a special favourite of the two Tongan kings, named +Finow, who reigned successively in Tonga during his residence in the +islands. The kings befriended and protected him, so that he had the best +opportunities for becoming acquainted with the customs and beliefs of +the people. His observations have been confirmed from independent +sources, and we have every reason to regard them as trustworthy. So far +as we can judge, they are a simple record of facts, unbiassed by theory +or prejudice. In the following notice of the Tongan religion and +doctrine of the human soul I shall draw chiefly on the evidence of +Mariner. + + [46] Mariner was captured by the Tongans on December 1, 1806, + and he escaped from the islands in 1810, apparently in November, + but the exact date of his escape is not given. See W. Mariner, + _Tonga Islands_, i. 43, ii. 15 _sqq._, 68, 69. + +According to him, the religion of the Tonga islanders rests, or rather +used to rest, on the following notions.[47] + + [47] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 97 _sqq._ + +They believed that there are _hotooas_,[48] gods, or superior beings, +who have the power of dispensing good and evil to mankind, according to +their merit, but of whose origin the Tongans formed no idea, rather +supposing them to be eternal. + + [48] The word is commonly spelled _atua_ in the Polynesian + languages. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z. 1891), pp. 30 _sq._, who gives + _otua_ as the Tongan form. + +They believed that there are other _hotooas_ or gods, who are the souls +of all deceased nobles and _matabooles_, that is, the companions, +ministers, and counsellors of the chiefs, who form a sort of inferior +nobility.[49] The souls of all these dead men were held to possess a +power of dispensing good and evil to mankind like the power of the +superior gods, but in a lesser degree. + + [49] As to the _matabooles_ see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. + 84 _sqq._ + +They believed that there are besides several _hotooa pow_, or +mischievous gods, who never dispense good, but only petty evils and +troubles, not as a punishment, but indiscriminately to anybody, from a +purely mischievous disposition. + +They believed that all these superior beings, although they may perhaps +have had a beginning, will have no end. + +They believed that the world also is of uncertain origin, having +coexisted with the gods. The sky, which they regard as solid, the +heavenly bodies, and the ocean were in being before the habitable earth. +The Tonga islands were drawn up out of the depth of the sea by the god +Tangaloa one day when he was fishing with a line and a hook. + +They believed that mankind, according to a partial tradition, came +originally from Bolotoo, the chief residence of the gods, a fabulous +island situated to the north-west of the Tongan archipelago. The first +men and women consisted of two brothers, with their wives and +attendants. They were commanded by the god Tangaloa to take up their +abode in the Tonga islands, but of their origin or creation the Tongans +professed to know nothing.[50] + + [50] According to a later account, "on Ata were born the first + men, three in number, formed from a worm bred by a rotten plant, + whose seed was brought by Tangaloa from heaven. These three were + afterwards provided by the Maui with wives from the Underworld." + See E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 154. + +They believed that all human evil was inflicted by the gods upon mankind +on account of some neglect of religious duty, whether the neglect is the +fault of the sufferers or of the chief whom they serve. In like manner +the Tongans apparently referred all human good to the gods, regarding it +as a reward bestowed by the divine beings on men who punctually +discharged the offices of religion.[51] + + [51] So apparently we must interpret Mariner's brief statement + "and the contrary of good" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 98). + +They believed that nobles had souls, which existed after death in +Bolotoo, not according to their moral merit, but according to their rank +in this world; these had power like that of the original gods, but less +in degree. The _matabooles_, or ministers of the nobles, also went after +death to Bolotoo, where they existed as _matabooles_, or ministers of +the gods, but they had not, like the gods and the souls of dead +noblemen, the power of inspiring the priests with superhuman knowledge. +Some thought that the _mooas_, who ranked next below the _matabooles_ in +the social hierarchy, also went after death to Bolotoo; but this was a +matter of great doubt. As for the _tooas_ or commoners, who formed the +lowest rung in the social ladder, they had either no souls at all or +only such as dissolved with the body after death, which consequently +ended their sentient existence. + +They believed that the human soul during life is not an essence distinct +from the body, but only the more ethereal part of the corporeal frame, +and that the moment after death it exists in Bolotoo with the form and +likeness of the body which it had on earth. + +They believed that the primitive gods and deceased nobles sometimes +appear visibly to mankind to warn or to afford comfort and advice; and +that the primitive gods also sometimes come into the living bodies of +lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake, hence these animals +are much respected. When the gods thus entered into the bodies of +porpoises, it was for the sake of safeguarding canoes or for other +beneficent purposes. + +They believed that the two personages in the Tonga islands known by the +titles of Tooitonga and Veachi were descendants in a right line from two +chief gods, and that all respect and veneration are therefore due to +them. + +They believed that some persons are favoured with the inspiration of the +gods, and that while the inspiration lasts the god actually exists in +the body of the inspired person or priest, who is then capable of +prophesying. + +They believe that human merit or virtue consists chiefly in paying +respect to the gods, nobles, and aged persons; in defending one's +hereditary rights; in honour, justice, patriotism, friendship, meekness, +modesty, fidelity of married women, parental and filial love, +observance of all religious ceremonies, patience in suffering, +forbearance of temper, and so on. + +They believed that all rewards for virtue or punishments for vice happen +to men in this world only, and come immediately from the gods. + +They believed that several acts which civilised nations regard as crimes +are, under certain circumstances, matters of indifference. Such acts +included the taking of revenge on an enemy and the killing of a servant +who had given provocation, or indeed the killing of anybody else, always +provided that the victim were not a very superior chief or noble. +Further, among indifferent acts was reckoned rape, unless it were +committed on a married woman or on one whom the offender was bound to +respect on the score of her superior rank. Finally, the list of venial +offences included theft, unless the stolen object were consecrated +property; for in that case the action became sacrilege and was, as we +shall see presently, a very serious crime. + +They believed that omens are the direct intimations of the future +vouchsafed by the gods to men. "Charms or superstitious ceremonies to +bring evil upon any one are considered for the most part infallible, as +being generally effective means to dispose the gods to accord with the +curse or evil wish of the malevolent invoker; to perform these charms is +considered cowardly and unmanly, but does not constitute a crime."[52] +One such charm consisted in hiding on a grave (_fytoca_) some portion of +the wearing apparel of an inferior relation of the deceased. The person +whose garment was so hidden was believed to sicken and die. An equally +effectual way of working the charm and ensuring the death of the victim +was to bury the garment in the house consecrated to the tutelary god of +the family. But when a grave was made use of for the malignant purpose, +it was thought essential that the deceased should be of a rank superior +to that of the person against whom the charm was directed; otherwise it +was supposed that the charm would have no effect.[53] In either case the +fatal result was clearly held to be brought about by the power of the +ghost or of the god, who used the garment as an instrument for putting +the charm in operation. These charms or superstitious ceremonies are +what we should now call magical rites, and they were apparently supposed +to effect their purpose indirectly by constraining the gods to carry out +the malevolent intention of the magician. If I am right in so +interpreting them, we seem driven to conclude that in Tonga magic was +supposed to be ineffectual without the co-operation of the gods, +although its power to compel them was deemed for the most part +irresistible. Even so its assumed dependence on the consent, albeit the +reluctant consent, of the deities implies a certain decadence of magic +and a growing predominance of religion. Moreover, the moral reprehension +of such practices for the injury of enemies is another sign that among +the Tongans magic was being relegated to that position of a black art +which it generally occupies among more civilised peoples. Be that as it +may, certain it is that we hear extremely little about the practice of +magic among the Tongans. + + [52] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101. + + [53] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 424, note *. + + +§ 4. _The Primary or Non-human Gods_ + +Such are, or rather used to be, the principal articles of the old Tongan +creed. We may now examine some of them a little more at large. But first +we may observe that on this showing the Tongans were an eminently +religious people. They traced all the good and ill in human affairs to +the direct intervention of the gods, who rewarded or punished mankind +for their deeds in this life, bestowing the reward or inflicting the +punishment in the present world and not deferring either to a distant +and more or less uncertain future in a world beyond the grave. Thus with +the Tongans the fear of the gods was a powerful incentive to lead a +virtuous life; morality was placed under the immediate guardianship of +the deities. It is true that according to their notions morality +consisted largely in the performance of religious ceremonies, but it was +by no means limited to a simple observance of the prescribed rites; for +we have seen that their conception of a virtuous life included +compliance with the dictates of justice, modesty, and friendship, the +fidelity of wives to their husbands, the mutual affection of parents and +children, patience in suffering, and other modes of conduct which we too +should not hesitate to rank among the virtues. + +When we consider the nature of the Tongan gods, we perceive that they +are sharply discriminated into two classes, namely, the primitive and +superior gods on the one side and the secondary and inferior gods on the +other side. The primitive and superior gods are those who have always +been gods and whose origin and beginning are unknown; the secondary and +inferior gods are the souls of dead men, who consequently have not +always been gods, because they were human beings before death elevated +them to the rank of deities. The distinction between these two classes +of gods is highly important, not merely for Tongan religion in +particular, but for the history of religion in general. For whatever we +may think of Euhemerism as a universal explanation of the gods, there +can be no doubt that in many lands the ranks of the celestial hierarchy +have been largely recruited by the ghosts of men of flesh and blood. But +there appears to be a general tendency to allow the origin of the human +gods to fall into the background and to confuse them with the true +original deities, who from the beginning have always been deities and +nothing else. The tendency may sometimes be accentuated by a deliberate +desire to cast a veil over the humble birth and modest beginning of +these now worshipful beings; but probably the obliteration of the +distinction between the two classes of divinities is usually a simple +result of oblivion and the lapse of time. Once a man is dead, his +figure, which bulked so large and so clear to his contemporaries, begins +to fade and melt away into something vague and indistinct, until, if he +was a person of no importance, he is totally forgotten; or, if he was +one whose actions or thoughts deeply influenced his fellows for good or +evil, his memory lingers in after generations, growing ever dimmer and +it may be looming ever larger through the long vista of the ages, as the +evening mist appears to magnify the orb of the descending sun. Thus +naturally and insensibly, as time goes on, our mortal nature fades or +brightens into the immortal and divine. + +As our subject is the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, +we are not directly concerned with the original Tongan deities who were +believed never to have been men. But since their functions and worship +appear to have been in certain respects closely analogous to those of +the inferior deities, the souls of the dead, some notice of them may not +be out of place, if it helps to a fuller understanding of what we may +call the human gods. Besides, we must always bear in mind that some at +least of the so-called original gods may have been men, whose history +and humanity had been forgotten. We can hardly doubt that the celestial +hierarchy has often been recruited by the souls of the dead. + +The original and superior gods, Mariner tells us, were thought to be +rather numerous, perhaps about three hundred all told; but the names of +very few of them were known, and even those few were familiar only to +some of the chiefs and their ministers, the _matabooles_; "for it may +easily be supposed," says Mariner, "that, where no written records are +kept, only those (gods) whose attributes particularly concern the +affairs of this world should be much talked of; as to the rest, they +are, for the most part, merely tutelar gods to particular private +families, and having nothing in their history at all interesting, are +scarcely known to anybody else."[54] + + [54] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 104. + +Among these original and superior deities was Tali-y-Toobo, the patron +god of the civil king and his family. He was the god of war and was +consequently always invoked in time of war by the king's family; in time +of peace prayers were sometimes offered to him for the general good of +the nation as well as for the particular interest and welfare of the +royal house. He had no priest, unless it was the king himself, who was +occasionally inspired by him; but sometimes a whole reign would pass +without the king being once favoured with the divine afflatus.[55] + + [55] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105. + +Another god was Tooi fooa Bolotoo, whose name means "Chief of all +Bolotoo." From this it might be supposed that he was the greatest god in +Bolotoo, the home of the gods and of the deified spirits of men; but in +fact he was regarded as inferior to the war god, and the natives could +give no explanation of his high-sounding title. He was the god of rank +in society, and as such he was often invoked by the heads of great +families on occasion of sickness or other trouble. He had several +priests, whom he occasionally inspired.[56] + + [56] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105 _sq._ + +Another great god was Toobo Toty, whose name signifies "Toobo the +mariner." He was the god of voyages, and in that capacity was invoked by +chiefs or anybody else at sea; for his principal function was to +preserve canoes from accidents. Without being himself the god of wind, +he had great influence with that deity, and was thus enabled no doubt to +save many who were in peril on the great deep.[57] + + [57] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 106 _sq._ + +Another god was Alo Alo, whose name means "to fan." He was the god of +wind and weather, rain, harvest, and vegetation in general. When the +weather was seasonable, he was usually invoked about once a month to +induce him to keep on his good behaviour; but when the weather was +unseasonable, or the islands were swept by destructive storms of wind +and rain, the prayers to him were repeated daily. But he was not +supposed to wield the thunder and lightning, "of which, indeed," says +Mariner, "there is no god acknowledged among them, as this phenomenon is +never recollected to have done any mischief of consequence."[58] From +this it would appear that where no harm was done, the Tongans found it +needless to suppose the existence of a deity; they discovered the hand +of a god only in the working of evil; fear was the mainspring of their +religion. In boisterous weather at sea Alo Alo was not invoked; he had +then to make room for the superior god, Toobo Toty, the protector of +canoes, who with other sea gods always received the homage of +storm-tossed mariners. However, Alo Alo, the weather god, came to his +own when the yams were approaching maturity in the early part of +November. For then offerings of yams, coco-nuts, and other vegetable +products were offered to him in particular, as well as to all the other +gods in general, for the purpose of ensuring a continuation of +favourable weather and consequent fertility. The offering was +accompanied by prayers to Alo Alo and the other gods, beseeching them to +extend their bounty and make the land fruitful. Wrestling and boxing +matches formed part of the ceremony, which was repeated eight times at +intervals of ten days. The time for the rite was fixed by the priest of +Alo Alo, and a curious feature of the ceremony was the presence of a +girl of noble family, some seven or eight years old, who represented the +wife of Alo Alo and resided in his consecrated house during the eighty +days that the festal season lasted.[59] + + [58] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 108. + + [59] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 205-208; compare _id._ 7, + note *, 108. + +Another god named Móooi was believed to support the earth on his +prostrate body. In person he was bigger than any other of the gods; but +he never inspired anybody, and had no house dedicated to his service. +Indeed, it was supposed that this Atlas of the Pacific never budged from +his painful and burdensome post beneath the earth. Only when he felt +more than usually uneasy, he tried to turn himself about under his heavy +load; and the movement was felt as an earthquake by the Tongans, who +endeavoured to make him lie still by shouting and beating the ground +with sticks.[60] Similar attempts to stop an earthquake are common in +many parts of the world.[61] + + [60] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sq._ Compare Captain James + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ + (London, 1799), pp. 277 _sq._ Móooi is the Polynesian god or + hero whose name is usually spelled Maui. See Horatio Hale, + _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_, + p. 23; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + pp. 233 _sqq._ _s.v._ "Maui." + + [61] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, i. 197 _sqq._ + +Tangaloa was the god of artificers and the arts. He had several priests, +who in Mariner's time were all carpenters. It was he who was said to +have brought up the Tonga islands from the bottom of the sea at the end +of his fishing line;[62] though in some accounts of Tongan tradition +this feat is attributed to Maui.[63] The very hook on which he hauled +up the islands was said to be preserved in Tonga down to about thirty +years before Mariner's time. It was in the possession of the divine +chief Tooitonga; but unfortunately, his house catching fire, the basket +in which the precious hook was kept perished with its contents in the +flames. When Mariner asked Tooitonga what sort of hook it was, the chief +told him that it was made of tortoise-shell, strengthened with a piece +of whalebone, and that it measured six or seven inches from the curve to +the point where the line was attached, and an inch and a half between +the barb and the stem. Mariner objected that such a hook could hardly +have been strong enough to support the whole weight of the Tonga +islands; but the chief replied that it was a god's hook and therefore +could not break. The hole in the rock in which the divine hook caught on +the memorable occasion was shown down to Mariner's time in the island of +Hoonga. It was an aperture about two feet square.[64] + + [62] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 109, 114 _sq._; Horatio + Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_, pp. 24 _sq._ + + [63] Jérôme Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 11; Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga + and the Friendly Islands_, p. 133. According to this last writer + it was only the low islands that were fished up by Maui; the + high islands were thrown down from the sky by the god Hikuleo. + + [64] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 272, ii. 114 _sq._ The + Catholic missionary Jérôme Grange was told that the hook in + question existed down to his time (1843), but that only the king + might see it, since it was certain death to anybody else to look + on it. See _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) + p. 11. + + +§ 5. _The Temples of the Gods_ + +Some of the primitive gods had houses dedicated to them. These sacred +houses or temples, as we may call them, were built in the style of +ordinary dwellings; but generally more than ordinary care was taken both +in constructing them and in keeping them in good order, decorating their +enclosures with flowers, and so on. About twenty of the gods had houses +thus consecrated to them; some of them had five or six houses, some only +one or two. For example, Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the royal +family, had four houses dedicated to him in the island of Vavau, two in +the island of Lefooga (Lifuka), and two or three others of smaller +importance elsewhere.[65] Another patron god of the royal family, +called Alai Valoo, had a large consecrated enclosure in the island of +Ofoo; he had also at least one priest and was very frequently consulted +in behalf of sick persons.[66] + + [65] W. Mariner, _Tonga Island_, ii. 104 _sq._ + + [66] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii, 107 _sq._ + +To desecrate any of these holy houses or enclosures was a most serious +offence. When Mariner was in the islands it happened that two boys, who +had belonged to the crew of his ship, were detected in the act of +stealing a bale of bark-cloth from a consecrated house. If they had been +natives, they would instantly have been punished with death; but the +chiefs, taking into consideration the youth and inexperience of the +offenders, who were foreigners and ignorant of native customs, decided +that for that time the crime might be overlooked. Nevertheless, to +appease the anger of the god, to whom the house was consecrated, it was +deemed necessary to address him humbly on the subject. Accordingly his +priest, followed by chiefs and their ministers (_matabooles_), all +dressed in mats with leaves of the _ifi_ tree[67] round their necks in +token of humility and sorrow, went in solemn procession to the house; +they sat down before it, and the priest addressed the divinity to the +following purport: "Here you see the chiefs and _matabooles_ that have +come to thee, hoping that thou wilt be merciful: the boys are young, and +being foreigners, are not so well acquainted with our customs, and did +not reflect upon the greatness of the crime: we pray thee, therefore, +not to punish the people for the sins of these thoughtless youths: we +have spared them, and hope that thou wilt be merciful and spare us." The +priest then rose up, and they all retired in the same way they had come. +The chiefs, and particularly the king, severely reprimanded the boys, +endeavouring to impress on their minds the enormity of their offence, +and assuring them that they owed their lives only to their presumed +ignorance of the heinousness of the crime.[68] + + [67] The _ifi_ tree, of which the leaves were used by the + Tongans in many religious ceremonies, is a species of chestnut + (_Inocarpus edulis_) which grows in Indonesia, but is thought to + be a native of America. It is supposed that the Polynesians + brought the seeds of this tree with them into the Pacific, where + it is said to be a cultivated plant. See S. Percy Smith, + _Hawaiki, the Original Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc., + New Zealand, 1910), p. 146. To wear a wreath of the leaves round + the neck, and to sit with the head bowed down, constituted the + strongest possible expression of humility and entreaty. See E. + E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 159. + + [68] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 163 _sq._ + +Another case of sacrilege, which occurred in Mariner's time, was +attended with more tragic consequences. He tells us that consecrated +places might not be the scene of war, and that it would be highly +sacrilegious to attack an enemy or to spill his blood within their +confines. On one occasion, while Mariner was in the islands, four men, +pursued by their enemies, fled for refuge to a consecrated enclosure, +where they would have been perfectly safe. One of them was in the act of +scrambling over the reed fence, and had got a leg over it, when he was +overtaken by a foe, who struck him such a furious blow on the head that +he fell dead within the hallowed ground. Conscience-stricken, the slayer +fled to his canoe, followed by his men; and on arriving at the fortress +where the king was stationed he made a clean breast of his crime, +alleging in excuse that it had been committed in hot blood when he had +lost all self-command. The king immediately ordered kava to be taken to +the priest of his own tutelary god, that the divinity might be consulted +as to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a sacrilege. +Under the double inspiration of kava and the deity, the priest made +answer that it was necessary a child should be strangled to appease the +anger of the gods. The chiefs then held a consultation and determined to +sacrifice the child of a high chief named Toobo Toa. The child was about +two years old and had been born to him by a female attendant. On such +occasions the child of a male chief by a female attendant was always +chosen for the victim first, because, as a child of a chief, he was a +worthier victim, and second, because, as a child of a female attendant, +he was not himself a chief; for nobility being traced in the female line +only those children were reckoned chiefs whose mothers were +chieftainesses; the rank of the father, whether noble or not, did not +affect the rank of his offspring. On this occasion the father of the +child was present at the consultation and consented to the sacrifice. +The mother, fearing the decision, had concealed the child, but it was +found by one of the searchers, who took it up in his arms, while it +smiled with delight at being noticed. The mother tried to follow but +was held back; and on hearing her voice the child began to cry. But on +reaching the place of execution it was pleased and delighted with the +bandage that was put round its neck to strangle it, and looking up in +the face of the executioner it smiled again. "Such a sight," we are +told, "inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and fear +of the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, and its destroyer +could not help exclaiming, as he put on the fatal bandage, _O iaaoé chi +vale!_ (poor little innocent!)." Two men then tightened the cord by +pulling at each end, and the struggles of the innocent victim were soon +over. The little body was next placed upon a sort of hand-barrow, +supported on the shoulders of four men, and carried in a procession of +priests, chiefs, and _matabooles_, all clothed as suppliants in mats and +with wreaths of green leaves round their necks. In this way it was +conveyed to various houses dedicated to different gods, before each of +which it was placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it, +except one priest, who sat beside it and prayed aloud to the god that he +would be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the +heinous sacrilege committed, and that punishment might accordingly be +withheld from the people. When this had been done before all the +consecrated houses in the fortress, the body was given up to its +relations, to be buried in the usual manner.[69] + + [69] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 216-219. As to the rule + that nobility descended only in the female line, through + mothers, not through fathers, see _id._ ii. 84, 95 _sq._; J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, + iv. 239. + +The consecration of a house or a piece of ground to a god was denoted by +the native word _taboo_, the general meaning of which was prohibited or +forbidden.[70] It was firmly believed by the Tongans in former days that +if a man committed sacrilege or broke a taboo, his liver or some other +of his internal organs was liable to become enlarged and scirrhous, that +is, indurated or knotty; hence they often opened dead bodies out of +curiosity, to see whether the deceased had been sacrilegious in their +lifetime. As the Tongans are particularly subject to scirrhous tumours, +it seems probable that many innocent persons were thus posthumously +accused of sacrilege on the strength of a post-mortem examination into +the state of their livers.[71] Another disagreeable consequence of +breaking a taboo was a peculiar liability to be bitten by sharks, which +thus might be said to act as ministers of justice. As theft was included +under the general head of breach of taboo, a simple way of bringing the +crime home to the thief in case of doubt was to cause the accused to go +into the water where sharks were known to swarm; if they bit him, he was +guilty; if they did not, he was innocent.[72] + + [70] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220. + + [71] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194, note *; compare 434, + note *. + + [72] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 221. + + +§ 6. _Priests and their Inspiration_ + +Priests were known by the title of _fahe-gehe_, a term which means +"split off," "separate," or "distinct from," and was applied to a man +who has a peculiar sort of mind or soul, different from that of ordinary +men, which disposed some god occasionally to inspire him. Such +inspirations frequently happened, and when the fit was on him the priest +had the same reverence shown to him as if he were the god himself; at +these times even the king would retire to a respectful distance and sit +down among the rest of the spectators, because a god was believed to +exist at that moment in the priest and to speak from his mouth. But at +other times a priest had no other respect paid to him than was due to +him for his private rank in society. Priests generally belonged to the +lower order of chiefs or to their ministers, the _matabooles_; but +sometimes great chiefs were thus visited by the gods, and the king +himself has been inspired by Tali-y-Toobo, the chief of the gods.[73] +The profession of priest was generally hereditary, the eldest son of a +priest becoming, on his father's death, a priest of the same god who had +inspired his deceased parent. In their uninspired moments the priests +lived indiscriminately with the rest of the people and were treated with +no special deference.[74] + + [73] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 80 _sq._ + + [74] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 136-138. + +The ceremony of inspiration, during which the priest was believed to be +possessed by a god and to speak in his name, was regularly accompanied +or preceded by a feast, at which the drinking of kava formed the +principal feature. The priest himself presided at the feast and the +people gathered in a circle round him; or, to be more exact, the people +formed an ellipse, of which the priest occupied the place of honour at +one of the narrow ends; while opposite him, at the other extremity of +the ellipse, sat the man who was charged with the important duty of +brewing the kava. At such sessions the chiefs sat indiscriminately among +the people on account of the sacredness of the occasion, conceiving that +such humble demeanour must be acceptable to the gods. The actual process +of inspiration was often witnessed by Mariner, and is described by him +in his own words as follows: + +"As soon as they are all seated, the priest is considered as inspired, +the god being supposed to exist within him from that moment. He remains +for a considerable time in silence, with his hands clasped before him; +his eyes are cast down, and he rests perfectly still. During the time +that the victuals are being shared out, and the cava preparing, the +_matabooles_ sometimes begin to consult him; sometimes he answers them, +at other times not; in either case he remains with his eyes cast down. +Frequently he will not utter a word till the repast is finished, and the +cava too. When he speaks, he generally begins in a low and very altered +tone of voice, which gradually rises to nearly its natural pitch, though +sometimes a little above it. All that he says is supposed to be the +declaration of the god, and he accordingly speaks in the first person as +if he were the god. All this is done generally without any apparent +inward emotion or outward agitation; but on some occasions his +countenance becomes fierce, and, as it were, inflamed, and his whole +frame agitated with inward feeling; he is seized with an universal +trembling; the perspiration breaks out on his forehead, and his lips, +turning black, are convulsed; at length, tears start in floods from his +eyes, his breast heaves with great emotion, and his utterance is choked. +These symptoms gradually subside. Before this paroxysm comes on, and +after it is over, he often eats as much as four hungry men, under other +circumstances, could devour. The fit being now gone off, he remains for +some time calm, and then takes up a club that is placed by him for the +purpose, turns it over and regards it attentively; he then looks up +earnestly, now to the right, now to the left, and now again at the club; +afterwards he looks up again, and about him in like manner, and then +again fixes his eyes upon his club, and so on, for several times: at +length he suddenly raises the club, and, after a moment's pause, strikes +the ground, or the adjacent part of the house, with considerable force: +immediately the god leaves him, and he rises up and retires to the back +of the ring among the people."[75] + + [75] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 99-101. Compare E. E. V. + Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the Polynesian + Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 155-157. + + +§ 7. _The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices_ + +The worship offered to the gods consisted as usual of prayers and +sacrifices. Prayers were put up to them, sometimes in the fields, and +sometimes at their consecrated houses. On ordinary occasions a simple +offering consisted of a small piece of kava root deposited before a +god's house.[76] But in the great emergencies of life the favour of the +gods was sued with more precious offerings. When the younger daughter of +Finow, a girl of six or seven years, was sick to death, the dying +princess was carried from her father's house into the sacred enclosure +of Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the kings, and there she remained for +a fortnight. Almost every morning a hog was killed, dressed, and +presented before the god's house to induce him to spare the life of the +princess. At the same time prayers were addressed to the deity for the +recovery of the patient; but as this particular god had no priest, the +prayers were offered by a minister (_mataboole_), sometimes by two or +three in succession, and they were repeated five, six, or seven times a +day. Their general purport was as follows: "Here thou seest assembled +Finow and his chiefs, and the principal ministers (_matabooles_) of thy +favoured land; thou seest them humbled before thee. We pray thee not to +be merciless, but to spare the life of the woman for the sake of her +father, who has always been attentive to every religious ceremony. But +if thy anger is justly excited by some crime or misdemeanour committed +by any other of us who are here assembled, we entreat thee to inflict on +the guilty one the punishment which he merits, and not to let loose thy +vengeance on one who was born but as yesterday. For our own parts, why +do we wish to live but for the sake of Finow? But if his family is +afflicted, we are all afflicted, innocent as well as guilty. How canst +thou be merciless? Have regard for Finow and spare the life of his +daughter." When despite of prayers and the sacrifices of pigs, the girl +grew daily worse instead of better, she was removed to many other +consecrated enclosures of other gods, one after the other, where the +like fond prayers and fruitless offerings were presented in the vain +hope of staving off the approach of death.[77] + + [76] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 224. + + [77] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 350-360. + +But more precious sacrifices than the blood of hogs were often laid at +the feet of the angry gods. When a relation of a superior rank was ill, +it was a very common practice for one or more of his or her inferior +kinsfolk to have a little finger, or a joint of a finger, cut off as a +sacrifice to induce the offended deity to spare the sick man or woman. +So common was the custom in the old days that there was scarcely a +person living in the Tonga islands who had not thus lost one or both of +his little fingers, or a considerable portion of both. It does not +appear that the operation was very painful. Mariner witnessed more than +once little children quarrelling for the honour of having it performed +on them. The finger was laid flat upon a block of wood: a knife, axe, or +sharp stone was placed with the edge on the joint to be severed, and a +powerful blow with a hammer or heavy stone effected the amputation. +Sometimes an affectionate relative would perform the operation on his or +her own hand. John Williams questioned a girl of eighteen who had hacked +off her own little finger with a sharp shell to induce the gods to spare +her sick mother. Generally a joint was taken off at a time; but some +persons had smaller portions amputated to admit of the operation being +often repeated in case they had many superior relations, who might be +sick and require the sacrifice. When they had no more joints which they +could conveniently spare, they rubbed the stumps of the mutilated +fingers till the blood streamed from the wounds; then they would hold up +the bleeding hands in hope of softening the heart of the angry god.[78] +Captain Cook understood that the operation was performed for the benefit +of the sufferers themselves to heal them in sickness,[79] and the same +view was apparently taken by the French navigator Labillardière,[80] but +in this they were probably mistaken; neither of them had an accurate +knowledge of the language, and they may easily have misunderstood their +informants. Perhaps the only person in the islands who was exempt from +the necessity of occasionally submitting to the painful sacrifice was +the divine chief Tooitonga, who, as he ranked above everybody, even +above the king, could have no superior relation for whom to amputate a +finger-joint. Certainly we know that Tooitonga had not, like the rest of +his countrymen, to undergo the painful operations of tattooing and +circumcision; if he desired to be tattooed or circumcised, he was +obliged to go to other islands, particularly to Samoa, for the +purpose.[81] Perhaps, though this is not mentioned by our authorities, +it would have been deemed impious to shed his sacred blood in his native +land. + + [78] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._, ii. 210-212; + Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific + Ocean_, pp. 239, 278; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 470 _sq._; Jérôme + Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) + pp. 12, 26; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, + p. 128. + + [79] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 204, v. 421 _sq._ + However, in a footnote to the latter passage Captain Cook gives + the correct explanation of the custom on the authority of + Captain King: "It is common for the inferior people to cut off a + joint of their little finger, on account of the sickness of the + chiefs to whom they belong." + + [80] Labillardière, _Relation du Voyage à la recherche de la + Pérouse_ (Paris, 1800), ii. 151. + + [81] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 79, 268. + +But sacrifices to the gods for the recovery of the sick were not limited +to the amputation of finger-joints. Not uncommonly children were +strangled for this purpose.[82] Thus when Finow the king was grievously +sick and seemed likely to die, the prince, his son, and a young chief +went out to procure one of the king's own children by a female +attendant to sacrifice it as a vicarious offering to the gods, that +their anger might be appeased and the health of its father restored. +They found the child sleeping in its mother's lap in a neighbouring +house; they took it away by force, and retiring with it behind an +adjacent burial-ground (_fytoca_) they strangled it with a band of +bark-cloth. Then they carried it before two consecrated houses and a +grave, at each place gabbling a short but appropriate prayer to the god, +that he would intercede with the other gods in behalf of the dying king, +and would accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the sick man's +crimes.[83] When, not long afterwards, the divine chief Tooitonga, in +spite of his divinity, fell sick and seemed like to die, one or other of +his young relations had a little finger cut off every day, as a +propitiatory offering to the gods for the sins of the saintly sufferer. +But these sacrifices remaining fruitless, recourse was had to greater. +Three or four children were strangled at different times, and prayers +were offered up by the priests at the consecrated houses and +burial-grounds (_fytocas_) but all in vain. The gods remained deaf to +the prayers of the priests; their hearts were not touched by the cutting +off of fingers or the strangling of children; and the illness of the +sacred chief grew every day more alarming. As a last resort and +desperate remedy, the emaciated body of the dying man was carried into +the kitchen, the people imagining that such an act of humility, +performed on behalf of the highest dignitary of the Tonga islands, would +surely move the deities to compassion and induce them to spare a life so +precious to his subjects.[84] The same curious remedy had shortly before +been resorted to for the benefit of the dying or dead king, Finow the +First: his body was carried into the kitchen of the sacred chief, the +Tooitonga, and there placed over the hole in the ground where the fire +was lighted to cook victuals: "this was thought to be acceptable to the +gods, as being a mark of extreme humiliation, that the great chief of +all the Hapai islands and Vavaoo, should be laid where the meanest class +of mankind, the cooks, were accustomed to operate."[85] + + [82] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 208 _sq._ + + [83] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 366. + + [84] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._; compare _id._ + ii. 214. + + [85] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367 _sq._ + +The custom of strangling the relations of a sick chief as a vicarious +sacrifice to appease the anger of the deity and ensure the recovery of +the patient was found in vogue by the first missionaries to Tonga before +the arrival of Mariner. When King Moom[=o]oe lay very sick and his death +was hourly expected, one of his sons sent for a younger brother under +pretence of wishing to cut off his little fingers as a sacrifice to save +the life of their dying father. The young man came, whereupon his elder +brother had him seized, strangled, and buried within a few yards of the +house where the missionaries were living. Afterwards the fratricide came +and mourned over his murdered brother by sitting on the grave with his +elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. In this +posture he remained for a long time in silence, and then departed very +thoughtful. His motive for thus mourning over the brother whom he had +done to death is not mentioned by the missionaries and was probably not +known to them. We may conjecture that it was not so much remorse for his +crime as fear of his brother's ghost, who otherwise might have haunted +him.[86] Morality, or at all events a semblance of it, has often been +thus reinforced by superstitious terrors. + + [86] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 238-240. + +In recording this incident the missionaries make use of an expression +which seems to set the strangling of human beings for the recovery of +sick relations in a somewhat different light. They say that "the prince +of darkness has impressed the idea on them, that the strength of the +person strangled will be transferred into the sick, and recover +him."[87] On this theory the sacrifice acts, so to say, mechanically +without the intervention of a deity; the life of the victim is +transfused into the body of the patient as a sort of tonic which +strengthens and revives him. Such a rite is therefore magical rather +than religious; it depends for its efficacy on natural causes, and not +on the pity and help of the gods. Yet the missionaries, who record this +explanation of the custom, elsewhere implicitly accept the religious +interpretation of such rites as vicarious sacrifices; for they say that +among the superstitious notions of the natives concerning spirits was +one that "by strangling some relations of the chief when he is sick, the +deity will be appeased, and he (that is, the sick chief) will +recover."[88] Perhaps both explanations, the religious and the magical, +were assigned by the Tongans: consistency of thought is as little +characteristic of savage as of civilised man: provided he attains his +ends, he recks little of the road by which he reaches them. An English +sailor named Ambler, who had resided for thirteen months in Tonga before +the arrival of the missionaries, told them, "that when a great chief lay +sick they often strangled their women, to the number of three or four at +a time."[89] Such a sacrifice is more likely to have been religious than +magical; we may suppose that the victims were rather offered to the gods +as substitutes for the chief than killed to recruit his failing strength +by an infusion of their health and vigour. A chief would probably have +disdained the idea of drawing fresh energy from the bodies of women, +though he might be ready enough to believe that the gods would consent +to accept their life as a proxy for his own. It is true that elsewhere, +notably in Uganda, human beings have been killed to prolong the life of +the king by directly transferring their strength to him;[90] but in such +cases it would seem that the victims have invariably been men and not +women. + + [87] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 240. + + [88] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 257. + + [89] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._, p. 278. This Ambler was a + man of very indifferent, not to say infamous, character, but he + rendered the missionaries considerable service by instructing + them in the Tongan language, which he spoke fluently. See + Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 98, 244 _sq._ + + [90] See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Third Edition, ii. 219 _sqq._ + + +§ 8. _The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny after Death_ + +Thus far we have dealt with the primary or superior gods, who were +believed to have been always gods, and about whose origin nothing was +known. We now pass to a consideration of the secondary or inferior gods, +whose origin was perfectly well known, since they were all of them the +souls of dead chiefs or nobles, of whom some had died or been killed in +recent years. But before we take up the subject of their worship, it +will be well to say a few words on the Tongan doctrine of the human +soul, since these secondary deities were avowedly neither more nor less +than human souls raised to a higher power by death. + +The Tongans, in their native state, before the advent of Europeans, did +not conceive of the soul as a purely immaterial essence, that being a +conception too refined for the thought of a savage. They imagined it to +be the finer or more aeriform part of the body which leaves it suddenly +at the moment of death, and which may be thought to stand in the same +relation to the body as the perfume of a flower to its solid substance. +They had no proper word to express this fine ethereal part of man; for +the word _loto_, though it might sometimes be used for that purpose, yet +rather means a man's disposition, inclination, passion, or sentiment. +The soul was supposed to exist throughout the whole of the body, but to +be particularly present in the heart, the pulsation of which they +regarded as the strength and power of the soul. They did not clearly +distinguish between the life and the soul, but said that the right +auricle of the heart was the seat of life. They took the liver to be the +seat of courage, and professed to have remarked, on opening dead bodies, +that the largest livers belonged to the bravest men, in which +observation they were careful to make allowance for the enlargement of +livers consequent on disease.[91] + + [91] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 127 _sq._ + +They acknowledged that the _tooas_ or lower order of people had minds or +souls; but they firmly believed that these vulgar souls died with their +bodies and consequently had no future existence. In this aristocratic +opinion the generality of the commoners acquiesced, though some were +vain enough to think that they had souls like their betters, and that +they would live hereafter in Bolotoo. But the orthodox Tongan doctrine +restricted immortality to chiefs and their ministers (the _matabooles_); +at most, by a stretch of charity, it extended the privilege to the +_mooas_ or third estate; but it held out no hope of salvation to +_tooas_, who formed the fourth and lowest rank of society.[92] + + [92] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 419, ii. 99, 128 _sq._ + +Mariner's account, which I have followed, of the sharp distinction which +the Tongans drew between the immortality of chiefs and the mortality of +common people is confirmed by the testimony of other and independent +observers. According to Captain Cook, while the souls of the chiefs went +immediately after death to the island of Boolootoo (Bolotoo), the souls +of the lower sort of people underwent a sort of transmigration or were +eaten by a bird called _loata_, which walked upon their graves for that +purpose.[93] The first missionaries, who landed in Tongataboo in 1797, +report that the natives "believe the immortality of the soul, which at +death, they say, is immediately conveyed in a very large fast-sailing +canoe to a distant country called Doobludha, which they describe as +resembling the Mahometan paradise. They call the god of this region of +pleasure Higgolayo, and esteem him as the greatest and most powerful of +all others, the rest being no better than servants to him. This +doctrine, however, is wholly confined to the chiefs, for the _tooas_ (or +lower order) can give no account whatever; as they reckon the enjoyments +of Doobludha above their capacity, so they seem never to think of what +may become of them after they have served the purposes of this +life."[94] One of these first missionaries was a certain George Veeson, +who had been a bricklayer before he undertook to convert the heathen to +Christianity. Wearying, however, of missionary work, he deserted his +brethren and betook himself to the heathen, among whom he lived as one +of them, adopting the native garb, marrying native women, and eagerly +fighting in the wars of the natives among themselves. In this way he +acquired a considerable knowledge of the Tongan language and customs, of +which he made some use in the account of his experiences which he +published anonymously after his return to England. Speaking of Tongan +ideas concerning the immortality of the soul he says that he heard the +chiefs speak much of Bulotu (Bolotoo). "Into this region, however, they +believed none were admitted but themselves. The Tuas, or lower class, +having no hope of sharing such bliss, seldom speculate upon a futurity, +which to them appears a subject lost in shadows, clouds, and +darkness."[95] The missionaries reported to Commodore Wilkes that the +spirits of all chiefs were supposed to go to Bolotoo, while the souls of +poor people remained in this world to feed upon ants and lizards.[96] +With regard to the fate of the soul after death, the Tongans universally +and positively believed in the existence of a great island, lying at a +considerable distance to the north-west, which they considered to be the +abode of their gods and of the souls of their dead nobles and their +ministers (the _matabooles_). This island they supposed to be much +larger than all their own islands put together, and to be well stocked +with all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, always in a high state +of perfection, and always bearing the richest fruits and the most +beautiful flowers according to their respective natures; they thought +that when these fruits or flowers were plucked, others immediately took +their place, and that the whole atmosphere was filled with the most +delightful fragrance that the imagination can conceive, exhaled from +these immortal plants. The island, too, was well stocked with the most +beautiful birds, of all imaginable kinds, as well as with abundance of +hogs; and all of these creatures were immortal, except when they were +killed to provide food for the gods. But the moment a hog or a bird was +killed, another live hog or bird came into existence to supply its +place, just as happened with the fruits and flowers; and this, so far as +they could ascertain, was the only way in which plants and animals were +propagated in Bolotoo. So far away was the happy island supposed to be +that it was dangerous for living men to attempt to sail thither in +their canoes; indeed, except by the express permission of the gods, they +could not find the island, however near they might come to it. They +tell, however, of a Tongan canoe which, returning from Fiji, was driven +by stress of weather to Bolotoo. The crew knew not the place, and being +in want of provisions and seeing the country to abound in all sorts of +fruits, they landed and proceeded to pluck some bread-fruit. But to +their unspeakable astonishment they could no more lay hold of the fruit +than if it were a shadow; they walked through the trunks of the trees +and passed through the substance of the houses without feeling any shock +or resistance. At length they saw some of the gods, who passed through +the men's bodies as if they were empty space. These gods recommended +them to go away immediately, as they had no proper food for them, and +they promised them a fair wind and a speedy passage. So the men put to +sea, and sailing with the utmost speed they arrived at Samoa, where they +stayed two or three days. Thence, again sailing very fast, they returned +to Tonga, where in the course of a few days they all died, not as a +punishment for having been at Bolotoo, but as a natural consequence, the +air of that place, as it were, infecting mortal bodies with speedy +death. The gods who dwell in Bolotoo have no canoes, not requiring them; +for if they wish to be anywhere, there they are the moment the wish is +felt.[97] + + [93] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423. + + [94] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 278 _sq._ + + [95] Quoted by Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly + Islands_, p. 131. As to Veeson, see _id._ pp. 78, 85 _sqq._ The + title of his book is given (p. 87) as _Authentic Narrative of a + Four Years' Residence in Tongataboo_ (London: Longman & Co., + 1815). I have not seen the book. The man's name is given as + Vason by (Sir) Basil Thomson in his _Diversions of a Prime + Minister_ (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 326, 327, 329, 331; + but his real name seems to have been George Veeson. See Captain + James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, + pp. 6, 230. + + [96] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 22. + + [97] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101-103. + +It is said that in order to people Bolotoo the god Hikuleo used to carry +off the first-born sons of chiefs and other great men, whom he +transported to the island of the gods. To such lengths did he go in this +system of abduction that men on earth grew very uneasy. Their ranks +became thinner and thinner. How was all this to end? At last the other +gods were moved to compassion. The two gods Tangaloa and Maui laid hold +of brother Hikuleo, passed a strong chain round his waist and between +his legs, and then taking the chain by the ends they fastened one of +them to the sky and the other to the earth. Thus trussed up, the deity +still made many attempts to snatch away first-born sons; but all his +efforts were thwarted and baffled by the chain, for no sooner did he +dart out in one direction, than the chain pulled him back in another. +According to another, or the same story, the excursions of the deity +were further limited by the length of his tail, the end of which was +tethered to the cave in which he resided; and though the tail was long +and allowed him a good deal of rope, do what he would, he could not +break bounds or obtain more than a very partial view of what was going +on in the rest of the world.[98] + + [98] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 132 + _sq._ As to Hikuleo and his long tail, see also Charles Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23, + "Hikuleo is the god of spirits, and is the third in order of + time; he dwells in a cave in the island. Bulotu is most + remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from going + farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will + admit of." Here the god Hikuleo appears to be confused with the + island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which he resided. Tradition wavers + on the question whether Hikuleo was a god or goddess, "but the + general suffrage seems in favour of the female sex." See E. E. + V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 152, 153. + +In this curious story we may perhaps detect a tradition of a time when +among the Tongans, as among the Semites, religion or superstition +demanded the sacrifice of all first-born sons, a barbarous custom which +has been practised by not a few peoples in various parts of the +earth.[99] + + [99] As to a custom of putting the first-born to death, see _The + Dying God_, pp. 178 _sqq._; and for other reported instances of + the custom, see Mrs. James Smith, _The Booandik Tribe of South + Australia_ (Adelaide, 1880), pp. 7 _sq._; C. E. Fox, "Social + Organisation in San Cristoval, Solomon Islands," _Journal of the + R. Anthropological Institute_, xlix. (1919) p. 100; E. O. + Martin, _The Gods of India_ (London and Toronto, 1914), p. 215; + N. W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking + peoples of Nigeria_, Part i. (London, 1913) p. 12. Compare E. + Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_ + (London, 1906), i. 458 _sqq._ + +The human soul after its separation from the body at death was termed a +_hotooa_ or _atua_, that is, a god or spirit, and was believed to exist +in the shape of the body and to have the same propensities as in life, +but to be corrected by a more enlightened understanding, by which it +readily distinguished good from evil, truth from falsehood, and right +from wrong. The souls dwelt for ever in the happy regions of Bolotoo, +where they bore the same names as in life and held the same rank among +themselves as they had held during their mortal existence. But their lot +in Bolotoo was in no way affected by the good or evil which they had +done on earth; for the Tongans did not believe in a future state of +retribution for deeds done in the body; they thought that the gods +punished crime in this present world, without waiting to redress the +balance of justice in the world to come. As many of the nobles who +passed at death to Bolotoo had been warlike and turbulent in their life, +it might naturally be anticipated that they should continue to wage war +on each other in the land beyond the grave; but that was not so, for by +a merciful dispensation their understandings were so much enlightened, +or their tempers so much improved, by their residence in Bolotoo, that +any differences they might have between themselves, or with the +primitive gods, they adjusted by temperate discussion without resort to +violence; though people in Tonga sometimes heard an echo and caught a +glimpse of these high debates in the rumble of thunder and the flash of +lightning.[100] In the blissful abode of Bolotoo the souls of chiefs and +nobles lived for ever, being not subject to a second death, and there +they feasted upon all the favourite productions of their native country, +which grew also abundantly in the happy island.[101] + + [100] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110 _sq._, 130, 131, 139, + 140. + + [101] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423. + +A less cheerful picture, however, of the state of souls in the other +world was painted for Commodore Wilkes by the missionaries who furnished +him with information on the native religion of the Tongans. According to +them, the souls were forced to become the servants, or rather slaves, of +the long-tailed deity Hikuleo, whose commands they had no choice but to +execute. His house and all things in it were even constructed of the +souls of the dead; and he went so far as to make fences out of them and +bars to his gates, an indignity which must have been deeply resented by +the proud spirits of kings and nobles.[102] How this gloomy picture of +the fate of souls in Bolotoo is to be reconciled with the bright +descriptions of it which I have drawn from the pages of Mariner and +Cook, it is not easy to say. Apparently we must acquiesce in the +discrepancy. That savages should entertain inconsistent views on the +life after death need not surprise us, when we remember how little +accurate information even civilised peoples possess on that momentous +subject. + + [102] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 23. The writer here speaks of Bulotu, where he + should have said Hikuleo. See above, p. 89, note^1. + + +§ 9. _The Souls of the Dead as Gods_ + +We have seen that according to Mariner, our best authority on Tongan +religion, the souls of dead nobles ranked as gods, possessing all the +powers and attributes of the primary or original deities, though in an +inferior degree.[103] Thus, like the primary gods, they had the power of +returning to Tonga to inspire priests, relations, or other people.[104] +For example, the son of Finow, the King, used to be inspired by the +spirit of Toogoo Ahoo, a former king of Tonga, who had been assassinated +with the connivance of his successor, Finow. One day Mariner asked this +young chief how he felt when he was visited by the spirit of the +murdered monarch. The chief replied that he could not well describe his +feelings, but the best he could say of it was, that he felt himself all +over in a glow of heat and quite restless and uncomfortable; he did not +feel his personal identity, as it were, but seemed to have a mind +differing from his own natural mind, his thoughts wandering upon strange +and unusual topics, though he remained perfectly sensible of surrounding +objects. When Mariner asked him how he knew it was the spirit of Toogoo +Ahoo who possessed him, the chief answered impatiently, "There's a fool! +How can I tell you how I knew it? I felt and knew it was so by a kind of +consciousness; my mind told me that it was Toogoo Ahoo." Similarly Finow +himself, the father of this young man, used occasionally to be inspired +by the ghost of Moomooi, a former king of Tonga.[105] + + [103] W. Mariner, _Tongan Islands_, ii. 97, 99, 103, 109 _sq._ + See above, pp. 64 _sq._, 66. + + [104] W. Mariner, ii. 130 _sq._; compare _id._ pp. 99, 103 + _sq._, 109 _sq._ + + [105] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 104 _sq._ + +Again, the souls of dead nobles, like gods, had the power of appearing +in dreams and visions to their relatives and others to admonish and warn +them. It was thought, for example, that Finow the king was occasionally +visited by a deceased son of his; the ghost did not appear, but +announced his presence by whistling. Mariner once heard this whistling +when he was with the king and some chiefs in a house at night; it was +dark, and the sound appeared to come from the loft of the house. In +Mariner's opinion the sound was produced by some trick of Finow's, but +the natives believed it to be the voice of a spirit.[106] Once more, +when Finow the king was himself dead, a noble lady who mourned his death +and generally slept on his grave, communicated to his widow a dream +which she had dreamed several nights at the graveyard. She said that in +her dream the late king appeared to her, and, with a countenance full of +sorrow, asked why there yet remained so many evil-designing persons in +the islands; for he declared that, since he had been at Bolotoo, he had +been disturbed by the plots of wicked men conspiring against his son; +therefore was he come to warn her of the danger. Finally, he bade her +set in order the pebbles on his grave, and pay every attention to his +burial-ground. With that he vanished.[107] In such dreams of the +reappearance of the recent dead we may discover one source of the belief +in the survival of the soul after death. + + [106] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110, 130 _sq._ + + [107] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 423 _sq._ + +But the gods appeared to mankind to warn, comfort, and advise, not only +in their own divine form but also in the form of animals. Thus the +primitive gods, according to Mariner, sometimes entered into the living +bodies of lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake. Hence these +creatures were much respected. The reason why gods entered into +porpoises was to take care of canoes. This power of assuming the form of +living animals, says Mariner, belonged only to the original gods, and +not to the deified souls of chiefs.[108] In thus denying that the +spirits of the dead were supposed sometimes to revisit the earth in +animal shapes Mariner was perhaps mistaken, for a different view on the +subject was apparently taken at a later time by Miss Farmer, who had +access to good sources of information. She writes as follows: "Bulotu +(Bolotoo) was peopled with the spirits of departed chiefs and great +persons of both sexes; and it was to these chiefly that worship was paid +and that sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed +to act as intercessors with the supreme gods, who were too highly +exalted to be approached by men except in this way. The spirits were in +the habit of revisiting earth. They would come in birds, or in fish as +their shrines. The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel, +shark, whale, and many other animals were considered sacred, because +they were favourite shrines of these spirit-gods. The heathen never +killed any of these creatures; and if, in sailing, they chanced to find +themselves in the neighbourhood of a whale, they would offer scented oil +or kava to him. To some among the natives the cuttle-fish and the lizard +were gods; while others would lay offerings at the foot of certain +trees, with the idea of their being inhabited by spirits. A rainbow or a +shooting star would also command worship."[109] + + [108] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 99, 131. + + [109] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 126 + _sq._ + +This account seems to imply that the spirits which took the form of +these animals, birds, and fish were believed to be the souls of the dead +returning from the spirit world to revisit their old homes on earth. But +even if we suppose that herein the writer was mistaken, and that, as +Mariner affirmed, only the original and superior gods were deemed +capable of incarnation in animal shape, the account is still valuable +and interesting because it calls attention to a side of Tongan religion +on which our principal authority, Mariner, is almost silent. That side +comprises the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, +birds, and fish, regarded as embodiments of spirits, whether gods or +ghosts. This worship of nature, and particularly of animated nature, was +highly developed among the Samoans; it would be natural, therefore, to +find the same system in vogue among their neighbours and near kinsmen +the Tongans, though our authorities on Tongan religion say little about +it. The system may with some appearance of probability be regarded as a +relic of a former practice of totemism.[110] + + [110] See below, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + +In recent years a considerable amount of evidence bearing on the subject +has been collected by Mr. E. E. V. Collocot. He distinguishes the +national Tongan gods from the gods of tribes, clans, and small groups +of allied households; such a group of households, it appears, formed the +ordinary social unit. Indeed, he tells us that there was nothing to +prevent a man from setting up a tutelary deity of his own, if he were so +disposed; he might adopt almost any object for the religious reverence +of his household and himself. Thus there was "a gradation in the divine +hierarchy from gods of populous tribes down to deities the private +possession of a very few."[111] Further, Mr. Collocot found that most of +the gods had sacred animals or other natural objects associated with +them,[112] and that the worshippers were generally forbidden to eat the +sacred animals of their gods. He concludes that "in the period of which +we have information totemism has given way to a more highly developed +polytheism, but there are indications that the development was by way of +totemism."[113] Among the facts which appear to support this conclusion +we may note the following. + + [111] E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 154 _sq._, 159. + + [112] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 160, 161. + + [113] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 159 _sq._ + +There was a great god called Boolotoo Katoa, that is, "the whole of +Boolotoo (Bolotoo)," who had the dog for his sacred animal; while the +deity was being worshipped, a dog lay at the side of the priest. This +god had his principal shrine at Boha in the eastern part of Tongataboo: +the district was of old the centre of government and the residence of +the Tooitonga.[114] Another god, whose name was the King of the tribe or +clan of Fonua (_Tui-Haafakafonua_), had for his sacred animal a lizard, +and for the convenience of his departure, and presumably arrival, a tree +or post was always provided for him to crawl along. A handy post or +tree-stump was a regular part of his temple furnishings.[115] Another +god, whose name signifies "Proud Boastfulness of the Season" +(_Mofuta-ae-ta'u_), had for his sacred animal a great sea-eel, which +dwelt in an opening of the reef opposite the village. This deity used to +take it very ill if anybody appeared on the beach near his abode wearing +a turban or whitened with lime; and should a man rashly disregard the +feelings of the divine eel in these respects, it was believed that the +deity would carry him off to his hole in the rock.[116] Another god, +named Haele-feke, used to manifest himself in the form of an octopus +(_feke_). Whenever an octopus appeared in a certain pool, it was at once +recognised as the god, and the priestess immediately went and awaited +him at the shrine, which seems to have been a small raised platform. +Thither the people presently resorted, bringing bunches of coco-nuts and +coco-nut leaves and earth. The priestess thereupon spoke as in the +person of the octopus, and apparently imitated the creature, presumably +by sprawling in the ungainly manner of an octopus. The worshippers of +this deity abstained from eating the flesh of the octopus, and even from +approaching a place where other people were eating it. If any of them +transgressed the taboo, he was afflicted with complete baldness. Should +any of the worshippers find a dead octopus, they buried it with all due +ceremony in Teekiu, their principal village.[117] The rail bird +(_kalae_) was worshipped by some people, who used to tie bunches of the +birds together and carry them about with them when they travelled; and +the priest had a bunch of the sacred birds tattooed as a badge on his +throat.[118] The clan Fainga'a had for its sacred animal the mullet; and +it is said that young mullets were tabooed to the men of the clan.[119] +A family group in Haapai had the owl for their sacred creature; if an +owl hooted near a house in the afternoon, it was a sign that there was a +pregnant woman in the household.[120] The god of Uiha in Haapai was the +Eel-in-the-Open-Sea (_Toke-i-Moana_); as usual, the worshippers might +not eat the flesh of eels or approach a place where an eel was being +cooked.[121] The clan Falefa worshipped two goddesses, Jiji and +Fainga'a, whose sacred creature was the heron. Jiji was supposed to be +incarnate in the dark-coloured heron, and Fainga'a in the light-coloured +heron. When a pair of herons, one dark and the other light-coloured, +were seen flying together, people said that it was the two goddesses +Jiji and Fainga'a.[122] In the island of Tofua there was a clan called +the King of Tofua (_Tui Tofua_), which had the shark for its god; +members of the clan might not eat the flesh of sharks, because they +believed themselves to be related to the fish; they said that long ago +some of the clansmen leaped from a canoe into the sea and were turned +into sharks.[123] Another god who appeared in the form of a shark was +Taufa of the Sea (_Taufa-tahi_); but in another aspect he was a god of +the land (_Taufa-uta_) and a notable protector of gardens. To secure his +aid the husbandman had only to plait a coco-nut leaf in the likeness of +a shark and to hang it up in his plantation; a garden thus protected was +under a taboo which no one would dare to violate. A Christian, who +ventured to thrust his hand in mockery into the maw of the sham shark, +had both his arms afterwards bitten off by a real shark.[124] Other gods +were recognised in the shape of flying-foxes, shell-fish, and little +blue and green lizards.[125] We hear of two Tongan gods who had black +volcanic pebbles for their sacred objects,[126] and of one whose shrine +was the tree called _fehi_, the hard wood of which was commonly used for +making spears and canoes.[127] The gods of Niua Fo'ou, one of the most +distant islands of the Tongan group, were three in number, to wit, the +octopus, pig's liver, and a large lump of coral. The worshippers of the +two former deities might not eat the divine octopus and the divine pig's +liver.[128] Christianity itself appears not to have wholly extinguished +the reverence of the natives for the sacred animals of their clans. A +much-respected native minister of the Methodist Church informed Mr. +Collocot that to this day he gets a headache if he eats the sacred +animal of his clan, though other people may partake of the creature, not +only with impunity, but with relish.[129] + + [114] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 162. + + [115] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 227. + + [116] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._ + + [117] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 231 _sq._ + + [118] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 161, 233. + + [119] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [120] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [121] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._ + + [122] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232. + + [123] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._ + + [124] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 229. + + [125] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 231, 233. + + [126] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 233. + + [127] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232. + + [128] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239. + + [129] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 160. + +Thus the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, fish, +and birds, presents a close analogy to the Samoan system, as we shall +see presently;[130] and it is not without significance that tradition +points to Samoa as the original home from which the ancestors of the +Tongans migrated to their present abode.[131] On the question of the +nature of the divine beings who presented themselves to their +worshippers in the form of animals, the evidence collected by Mr. +Collocot seems to confirm the statement of Mariner, that only the +primary or non-human gods were believed capable of thus becoming +incarnate; at least Mr. Collocot gives no hint that the worshipful +creatures were supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead; +in other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan worship of +animals was based on a theory of transmigration. + + [130] See below, pp. 154 _sq._ + + [131] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239. + +The statement of Miss Farmer, which I have quoted, that among the +Tongans the souls of the dead were the principal object of worship and +received the most sacrifices, is interesting and not improbable, though +it is not confirmed by Mariner. It may indeed, perhaps, be laid down as +a general principle that the worship of the dead tends constantly to +encroach on the worship of the high gods, who are pushed ever farther +into the background by the advent of their younger rivals. It is natural +enough that this should be so. The affection which we feel for virtue, +the reverence and awe inspired by great talents and powerful characters, +persist long after the objects of our love and admiration have passed +away from earth, and we now render to their memories the homage which we +paid, or perhaps grudged, to the men themselves in their lifetime. For +us they seem still to exist; with their features, their characteristic +turns of thought and speech still fresh in our memories, we can hardly +bring ourselves to believe that they have utterly ceased to be, that +nothing of them remains but the lifeless dust which we have committed to +the earth. The heart still clings fondly to the hope, if not to the +belief, that somewhere beyond our ken the loved and lost ones are joined +to the kindred spirits who have gone before in that unknown land, where, +in due time, we shall meet them again. And as with affection, so with +reverence and fear; they also are powerful incentives to this +instinctive belief in the continued existence of the dead. The busy +brain that explored the heights and depths of this mysterious +universe--the glowing imagination that conjured up visions of beauty +born, as we fondly think, for immortality--the aspiring soul and +vaulting ambition that founded or overturned empires and shook the +world--are they now no more than a few mouldering bones or a handful of +ashes under their marble monuments? The mind of most men revolts from a +conclusion so derogatory to what they deem the dignity of human nature; +and so to satisfy at once the promptings of the imagination and the +impulse of the heart, men gradually elevate their dead to the rank of +saints and heroes, who in course of time may easily pass by an almost +insensible transition to the supreme place of deities. It is thus that, +almost as far back as we can trace the gropings of the human mind, man +has been perpetually creating gods in his own likeness. + +In a pantheon thus constantly recruited by the accession of dead men, +the recruits tend to swamp the old deities by sheer force of numbers; +for whereas the muster-roll of the original gods is fixed and +unchangeable, the newcomers form a great host which is not only +innumerable but perpetually on the increase, for who can reckon up the +tale of the departed or set bounds to the ravages of death? Indeed, +where the deification of the dead is carried to its logical limit, a new +god is born for every man that dies; though in Tonga against such an +extreme expansion of the spiritual hierarchy, and a constant +overcrowding of Bolotoo, a solid barrier was interposed by the Tongan +doctrine which opened the gates of paradise only to noblemen.[132] + + [132] We have seen (p. 70) that according to Mariner the number + of the original gods was about three hundred; but as to the + deified noblemen he merely says that "of these there must be a + vast number" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 109). In his "Notes on Tongan + Religion" (_Journal of the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. + 159) Mr. E. E. V. Collocot remarks: "The number of the gods, + moreover, was liable to constant augmentation by the deification + of the illustrious or well-beloved dead." As a notable instance + he cites the case of a certain chief named Fakailoatonga, a + native of Vavau, who subdued or overran a large part of + Tongataboo. He was a leper, but for a long time did not know the + true nature of his malady. When he learned the truth, he in + disgust buried himself alive, and after his death he was + elevated to the godhead. But in this deification, if Mariner is + right, there was nothing exceptional; as a chief he became a god + after death in the course of nature. + + +§ 10. _Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments_ + +On the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that in Tonga the +distinction between the original superhuman deities and the new human +gods tended to be obliterated in the minds of the people. More and more, +we may suppose, the deified spirits of dead men usurped the functions +and assimilated themselves to the character of the ancient divinities. +Yet between these two classes of worshipful beings Mariner draws an +important distinction which we must not overlook. He says that these new +human gods, these souls of deified nobles, "have no houses dedicated to +them, but the proper places to invoke them are their graves, which are +considered sacred, and are therefore as much respected as consecrated +houses."[133] If this distinction is well founded, the consecrated house +or temple, as we may call it, of an original god was quite different +from the grave at which a new god, that is, a dead man or woman, was +worshipped. But in spite of the high authority of Mariner it seems +doubtful whether the distinction which he makes between the temples of +the old gods and the tombs of the new ones was always recognised in +practice, and whether the two were not apt to be confounded in the minds +even of the natives. The temples of the gods, as we have seen, did not +differ in shape and structure from the houses of men, and similar +houses, as we shall see, were also built on the graves of kings and +chiefs and even of common people. What was easier than to confuse the +two classes of spirit-houses, the houses of gods and the houses of dead +kings or chiefs, especially when the memory of these potentates had +grown dim and their human personality had been forgotten? Certainly +European observers have sometimes been in doubt as to whether places to +which the natives paid religious reverence were temples or graves. In +view of this ambiguity I propose to examine some of the descriptions +which have been given by eye-witnesses of the sacred structures and +enclosure which might be interpreted either as temples or tombs. The +question has a double interest and importance, first, in its bearing on +the theory, enunciated by Herbert Spencer, that temples are commonly, if +not universally, derived from tombs,[134] and gods from dead men; and +secondly, in its bearing on the question of the origin and meaning of +megalithic monuments; for not a few of the tombs of Tongan kings and +sacred chiefs are constructed in part of very large stones. + + [133] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110 + + [134] Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i + (London, 1904) pp. 249 _sqq._ + +I will begin with the evidence of Captain Cook, an excellent observer +and faithful witness. He paid two visits to the Tonga islands, a short +one in 1773, and a longer one of between two and three months in 1777. +Speaking of his first visit to Tongataboo in 1773, he writes as follows: + +"After sitting here some time, and distributing some presents to those +about us, we signified our desire to see the country. The chief +immediately took the hint, and conducted us along a lane that led to an +open green, on the one side of which was a house of worship built on a +mount that had been raised by the hand of man, about sixteen or eighteen +feet above the common level. It had an oblong figure, and was inclosed +by a wall or parapet of stone, about three feet in height. From this +wall the mount rose with a gentle slope, and was covered with a green +turf. On the top of it stood the house, which had the same figure as the +mount, about twenty feet in length, and fourteen or sixteen broad. As +soon as we came before the place, every one seated himself on the green, +about fifty or sixty yards from the front of the house. Presently came +three elderly men; who seated themselves between us and it, and began a +speech, which I understood to be a prayer, it being wholly directed to +the house. This lasted about ten minutes; and then the priests, for such +I took them to be, came and sat down along with us, when we made them +presents of such things as were about us. Having then made signs to them +that we wanted to view the premises, my friend Attago immediately got +up, and going with us, without showing the least backwardness, gave us +full liberty to examine every part of it. + +"In the front were two stone steps leading to the top of the wall; from +this the ascent to the house was easy, round which was a fine gravel +walk. The house was built, in all respects, like to their common +dwelling-houses; that is, with posts and rafters; and covered with palm +thatch. The eaves came down within about three feet of the ground, which +space was filled up with strong matting made of palm leaves, as a wall. +The floor of the house was laid with fine gravel; except in the middle, +where there was an oblong square of blue pebbles, raised about six +inches higher than the floor. At one corner of the house stood an image +rudely carved in wood, and on one side lay another; each about two feet +in length. I, who had no intention to offend either them or their gods, +did not so much as touch them, but asked Attago, as well as I could, if +they were _Eatuas_, or gods. Whether he understood me or no, I cannot +say; but he immediately turned them over and over, in as rough a manner +as he would have done any other log of wood, which convinced me that +they were not there as representatives of the Divinity. I was curious to +know if the dead were interred there, and asked Attago several questions +relative thereto; but I was not sure that he understood me; at least I +did not understand the answers he made, well enough to satisfy my +inquiries. For the reader must know, that at our first coming among +these people, we hardly could understand a word they said. Even my +Otaheitean youth, and the man on board the _Adventure_, were equally at +a loss: but more of this by and by. Before we quitted the house we +thought it necessary to make an offering at the altar. Accordingly we +laid down upon the blue pebbles, some medals, nails, and several other +things; which we had no sooner done than my friend Attago took them up, +and put them in his pocket. The stones with which the walls were made +that inclosed this mount, were some of them nine or ten feet by four, +and about six inches thick. It is difficult to conceive how they can cut +such stones out of the coral rocks. + +"This mount stood in a kind of grove open only on the side which fronted +the high road, and the green on which the people were seated. At this +green or open place, was a junction of five roads, two or three of which +appeared to be very public ones. The groves were composed of several +sorts of trees. Among others was the _Etoa_ tree, as it is called at +Otaheite, of which are made clubs, etc., and a kind of low palm, which +is very common in the northern parts of New Holland. + +"After we had done examining this place of worship, which in their +language is called _a-fiat-tou-ca_, we desired to return."[135] + + [135] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 182-184. + +A little farther on, still speaking of his first visit to Tonga, Captain +Cook observes: "So little do we know of their religion, that I hardly +dare mention it. The buildings called _afiatoucas_, before mentioned, +are undoubtedly set apart for this purpose. Some of our gentlemen were +of opinion, that they were merely burying-places. I can only say, from +my own knowledge, that they are places to which particular persons +directed set speeches, which I understood to be prayers, as hath been +already related. Joining my opinion with that of others, I was inclined +to think that they are set apart to be both temples and burying-places, +as at Otaheite, or even in Europe. But I have no idea of the images +being idols; not only from what I saw myself, but from Mr. Wales's +informing me that they set one of them up, for him and others to shoot +at."[136] + + [136] Captain James Cook, _op. cit._ iii. 206. + +Thus Captain Cook and his party were divided in opinion as to whether +the house on the mound, within its walled enclosure built of great +stones, was a temple or a tomb. Captain Cook himself called it simply a +"house of worship" and a "place of worship," but he inclined to the view +that it was both a temple and a burying-place, and in this opinion he +was probably right. The native name which he applied to it, _afiatouca_, +means a burial-place; for it is doubtless equivalent to _fytoca_, a word +which Mariner explains to mean "a burying-place, including the grave, +the mount in which it is sunk, and a sort of shed over it."[137] +Moreover, the oblong square of blue pebbles, which Captain Cook observed +on the floor of the house on the mound, and which he regarded as the +altar, speaks also in favour of the house being a tomb; for Mariner has +described how the mourners brought white and black pebbles to the house +which stood over the grave of King Finow, and how they "strewed the +inside of the house with the white ones, and also the outside about the +_fytoca_, as a decoration to it: the black pebbles they strewed only +upon those white ones, which covered the ground directly over the body, +to about the length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very +eccentric ellipse. After this, the house over the _fytoca_," continues +Mariner, "was closed up at both ends with a reed fencing, reaching from +the eaves to the ground, and, at the front and back, with a sort of +basket-work, made of the young branches of the cocoa-nut tree, split and +interwoven in a very curious and ornamental way, to remain till the next +burial, when they are to be taken down, and, after the conclusion of the +ceremony, new ones are to be put up in like manner."[138] This +description of the house over King Finow's grave agrees so closely with +Captain Cook's description of the house in the _afiatouca_, that we may +with much probability regard the latter as a tomb, and suppose that the +"oblong square of blue pebbles," which Cook regarded as an altar and on +which he laid down his offering, marked the place of the body in the +grave: it was at once an altar and a tombstone. + + [137] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 144, note *. However, in + another passage (i. 392, note *) Mariner tells us that, strictly + speaking, the word _fytoca_ applied only to the mound with the + grave in it, and not to the house upon the mound; for there were + several _fytocas_ that had no houses on them. For other mentions + of _fytocas_ and notices of them by Mariner, see _op. cit._ i. + pp. 386, note *, 387, 388, 392, 393, 394, 395, 402, ii. 214-218. + + [138] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 402. A little farther on + (p. 424, note *) Mariner remarks that "mourners were accustomed + to smooth the graves of their departed friends, and cover them + with black and white pebbles." + +On his second and more prolonged visit to the Tonga islands, Captain +Cook expressed, with more confidence, his opinion that the _fiatookas_, +as he calls them, were at once burial-grounds and places of worship. +Thus he says: "Their _morais_ or _fiatookas_ (for they are called by +both names, but mostly by the latter), are, as at Otaheite, and many +other parts of the world, burying-grounds and places of worship; though +some of them seemed to be only appropriated to the first purpose; but +these were small, and, in every other respect, inferior to the +others."[139] Again, in another passage he describes one of the more +stately of these temple-tombs. He says: "Some of us, accompanied by a +few of the king's attendants, and Omai as our interpreter, walked out to +take a view of a _fiatooka_, or burying-place, which we had observed to +be almost close by the house, and was much more extensive, and seemingly +of more consequence, than any we had seen at the other islands. We were +told, that it belonged to the king. It consisted of three pretty large +houses, situated upon a rising ground, or rather just by the brink of +it, with a small one, at some distance, all ranged longitudinally. The +middle house of the three first, was by much the largest, and placed in +a square, twenty-four paces by twenty-eight, raised about three feet. +The other houses were placed on little mounts, raised artificially to +the same height. The floors of these houses, as also the tops of the +mounts round them, were covered with loose, fine pebbles, and the whole +was inclosed by large flat stones of hard coral rock, properly hewn, +placed on their edges; one of which stones measured twelve feet in +length, two in breadth, and above one in thickness. One of the houses, +contrary to what we had seen before, was open on one side; and within it +were two rude, wooden busts of men; one near the entrance, and the other +farther in. On inquiring of the natives, who had followed us to the +ground, but durst not enter here, What these images were intended for? +they made us as sensible as we could wish, that they were merely +memorials of some chiefs who had been buried there, and not the +representations of any deity. Such monuments, it should seem, are seldom +raised; for these had probably been erected several ages ago. We were +told, that the dead had been buried in each of these houses; but no +marks of this appeared. In one of them, was the carved head of an +Otaheite canoe, which had been driven ashore on their coast, and +deposited here. At the foot of the rising ground was a large area, or +grass-plot, with different trees planted about it; amongst which were +several of those called _etoa_, very large. These, as they resemble the +cypresses, had a fine effect in such a place. There was also a row of +low palms near one of the houses, and behind it a ditch, in which lay a +great number of old baskets."[140] + + [139] Captain Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424. + + [140] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 342 _sq._ + +Between the departure of Cook and the arrival of Mariner the first +Protestant missionaries were fortunate enough to witness the burial of +a king of Tonga, by name Moom[=o]oe. Their description of it and of the +royal tomb entirely bears out the observations and conclusions of +Captain Cook. The _fiatooka_ or burial-ground, they tell us, "is +situated on a spot of ground about four acres. A mount rises with a +gentle slope about seven feet, and is about one hundred and twenty yards +in circumference at the base; upon the top stands a house neatly made, +which is about thirty feet long, and half that in width. The roof is +thatched, and the sides and ends left open. In the middle of this house +is the grave, the sides, ends, and bottom of which are of coral stone, +with a cover of the same: the floor of the house is of small stones. The +_etoa_ and other trees grow round the _fiatooka_."[141] Into this grave, +or rather stone vault, the missionaries saw the king's body lowered. The +stone which covered the vault was eight feet long, four feet broad, and +one foot thick. This massive stone was first raised and held in suspense +by means of two great ropes, the ends of which were wound round two +strong piles driven into the ground at the end of the house. The ropes +were held by about two hundred men, who, when the king's body had been +deposited in the grave, slowly lowered the great stone and covered the +vault.[142] Some years later Mariner witnessed the funeral of another +king of Tonga, Finow the First; and he similarly describes how the tomb +was a large stone vault, sunk about ten feet deep in the ground, the +covering stone of which was hoisted by the main strength of a hundred +and fifty or two hundred men pulling at the two ends of a rope; when the +bodies of the king and his daughter had been laid side by side in the +vault the massive stone was lowered by the men with a great shout.[143] +The number of the men required to raise and lower these great stones +gives us some idea of their weight. + + [141] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 240 _sq._ + + [142] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 244. + + [143] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 387 _sq._ + +Thus far we have been dealing only with the tombs of the civil kings of +Tonga. But far more stately and massive are the tombs of the sacred +kings or pontiffs, the Tooitongas, which still exist and still excite +the curiosity and admiration of European observers. The Tongan name for +these tombs is _langi_, which properly means "sky," also "a band of +singers"; but there appears to be no connexion between these different +meanings of the word.[144] The tombs are situated in Tongataboo, not far +from Mooa, the old capital of the island. They stand near the +south-eastern shore of the lagoon, which, under the name of the Mooa +Inlet, penetrates deeply into the northern side of Tongataboo. Beginning +at the northern outskirts of the village of Labaha, they stretch inland +for more than half a mile into the forest.[145] They are of various +constructions and shapes. Some consist of a square enclosure, on the +level of the ground, the boundary walls being formed of large stones; +while at each corner of the square two high stones, rising above the +wall, are placed upright at right angles to each other and in a line +with their respective sides.[146] But apparently the more usual and +characteristic type of tomb has the form of a truncated pyramid or +oblong platform raised in a series of steps or terraces, which are built +of massive blocks of coral. The number of steps or terraces seems to +vary from one to four according to the height of the monument.[147] It +is much to be regretted that no one has yet counted and mapped out these +tombs and recorded the names of their royal or divine occupants, so far +as they are remembered; but a trace of the religious awe which once +invested this hallowed ground still avails to keep it inviolate. A +proposal which Sir Basil Thomson made to clear away the forest and +preserve the tombs was very coldly received; in the eyes of the natives, +professing Christians as they are, it probably savoured of sacrilege. +The ancient custom was to clear the ground about every new tomb, and +after the interment to suffer the tropical undergrowth to swallow it up +for ever. Nowadays no holy pontiffs are borne to their last +resting-place in these hallowed shades; so the forest is never cleared, +and nature is left free to run wild. In consequence the tombs are so +overgrown and overshadowed that it is difficult to photograph them in +the gloomy and tangled thicket. Great _ifi_ trees[148] overhang them: +banyan-trees have sprouted on the terraces and thrust their roots into +every crevice, mantling the stones with a lacework of tendrils, which +year by year rend huge blocks asunder, until the original form of the +terrace is almost obliterated. Sir Basil Thomson followed the chain of +tombs for about half a mile, but on each occasion his guides told him +that there were other smaller tombs farther inland. The tombs increase +in size and in importance as they near the shore of the lagoon, and to +seven or eight of the larger ones the names of the occupants can be +assigned; but the names of the sacred chiefs who sleep in the smaller +tombs inland are quite forgotten. Some of them are mere enclosures of +stones, not squared, but taken haphazard from the reef.[149] + + [144] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._ + + [145] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 86. + + [146] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283 _sq._ + + [147] The tomb described and illustrated by the first + missionaries had four massive and lofty steps, each of them five + and a half feet broad and four feet or three feet nine inches + high. See Captain James Wilson, _l.c._, with the plate facing p. + 284. One such tomb, rising in four tiers, is ascribed + traditionally to a female Tooitonga, whose name has been + forgotten. See (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities + of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 88 n.^2. + + [148] The Tahitian chestnut (_Inocarpus edulis_); see above, p. + 74, note^2. + + [149] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_ + (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 379 _sq._; _id._ "Notes upon + the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological + Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 86. According to an earlier + authority, the Tongans could name and point out the tombs of no + less than thirty Tooitongas. See the letter of Mr. Philip + Hervey, quoted in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of + London_, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 77. + +The tombs were built in the lifetime of the sacred chiefs who were to +lie in them, and their size accordingly affords a certain measure of the +power and influence of the great men interred in them. Among the largest +is the tomb which goes by the name of Telea, though it is said to +contain no body, Telea himself being buried in the tomb next to it. We +are told that, dissatisfied with the first sepulchre that was built for +him, he replaced it by the other, which is also of great size. The most +modern of the tombs is that of Laufilitonga, the last to bear the title +of Tooitonga. He died a Christian about 1840 and was buried in the tomb +of very inferior size which crowns the village cemetery. The most +ancient cannot be dated; but that some are older than A.D. 1535 may be +inferred from the tradition that Takalaua, a Tooitonga, was assassinated +about that time because he was a tyrant who compelled his people to drag +great stones from Liku, at the back of the island, to the burial ground +at Mooa; the distance is about a mile and a half.[150] + + [150] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 86 _sq._, 88 n.^2. As to the legend of the tyrant + Takalaua, see _id._ _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp. + 294-302. + +The first, so far as I know, to see and describe these remarkable tombs +were the earliest missionaries to Tonga about the end of the eighteenth +century. Speaking of the burial ground at Mooa, where lay interred the +divine chiefs whose title was Tooitonga and whose family name was +Futtaf[=a]ihe or Fatafehi, the missionaries observe that "the +_fiatookas_ are remarkable. There lie the Futtaf[=a]ihes for many +generations, some vast and ruinous, which is the case with the largest; +the house on the top of it is fallen, and the area and tomb itself +overgrown with wood and weeds."[151] Later on they had the advantage of +being conducted over the august cemetery by the Futtaf[=a]ihe or +Tooitonga of the day in person, who gave them some explanations +concerning these sepulchres of his ancestors. To quote their +description, they say that the tombs "lie ranged in a line eastward from +his house, among a grove of trees, and are many in number, and of +different constructions: some, in a square form, were not in the least +raised above the level of the common ground; a row of large stones +formed the sides, and at each corner two high stones were placed upright +at right angles to each other, and in a line with their respective +sides: others were such as the brethren describe that of Moom[=o]oe to +be: and a third sort were built square like the first; the largest of +which was at the base one hundred and fifty-six feet by one hundred and +forty; it had four steps from the bottom to the top, that run quite +round the pile: one stone composed the height of each step, a part of it +being sunk in the ground; and some of these stones in the wall of the +lower are immensely large; one, which I measured, was twenty-four feet +by twelve, and two feet thick; these Futtaf[=a]ihe informed me were +brought in double canoes from the island of Lefooga. They are coral +stone, and are hewn into a tolerably good shape, both with respect to +the straightness of their sides and flatness of their surfaces. They are +now so hardened by the weather, that the great difficulty we had in +breaking a specimen of one corner made it not easy to conjecture how the +labour of hewing them at first had been effected; as, by the marks of +antiquity which some of them bear, they must have been built long before +Tasman showed the natives an iron tool. Besides the trees which grow on +the top and sides of most of them, there are the _etooa_, and a variety +of other trees about them; and these, together with the thousands of +bats which hang on their branches, all contribute to the awful solemnity +of those sepulchral mansions of the ancient chiefs. On our way back +Futtaf[=a]ihe told us that all the _fiatookas_ we had seen were built by +his ancestors, who also lay interred in them; and as there appeared no +reason to doubt the truth of this, it proves that a supreme power in the +government of the island must for many generations have been in the +family of the Futtaf[=a]ihes: for though there were many _fiatookas_ in +the island, the brethren, who had seen most of them, said they were not +to be compared to these for magnitude, either in the pile or the stones +which compose them."[152] + + [151] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean,_ p. 252. As to Futtaf[=a]ihe, the Tooitonga or + divine chief of their time, the missionaries remark (_l.c._) + that "Futtaf[=a]ihe is very superstitious, and himself esteemed + as an _odooa_ or god." Here _odooa_ is the Polynesian word which + is usually spelled _atua_. Mariner tells us (_Tonga Islands_, + ii. 76) that the family name of the Tooitonga was Fatafehi, + which seems to be only another way of spelling Futtaf[=a]ihe, + the form adopted by the missionaries. Captain Cook similarly + gives Futtaf[=a]ihe as the family name of the sacred kings or + Tooitongas, deriving the name "from the God so called, who is + probably their tutelary patron, and perhaps their common + ancestor." See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 425. + + [152] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283-285. The description is accompanied by + an engraved plate, which illustrates the three types of tombs + mentioned in the text. In the foreground is the stepped pyramid, + a massive and lofty structure, its flat top surmounted by a hut. + To the right, in the distance, is seen the square walled + enclosure, with high stones standing upright at the corners of + the walls, and with a hut enclosed in the middle of the square. + In the background appears a mound enclosed by a wall and + surmounted by a hut. Thus a hut figures as an essential part + in each type of tomb. However, Mariner tells us that "they + have several _fytocas_ which have no houses on them" (_Tonga + Islands_, i. 392 note *). + + Top. + ____________ + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | + _____________| + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | + _____________| + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | PROFILE OF THE STEPS. + _____________| + | + | 4 feet. + | + | + | + | + +Some thirty years later the tombs of the Tooitongas were visited and +described by the French explorer, J. Dumont d'Urville. His description +is worth quoting. He says: "I directed my steps to the splendid +_faï-tokas_ of the Fata-Faïs. As these monuments are essentially taboo, +in the absence of the Tooi-tonga no one looks after their upkeep, and +they are now buried on every side among dark masses of trees and almost +impenetrable thickets. Hence we had some difficulty in approaching them, +and it was impossible for us to get a single general view of the whole +of these structures, which must have a somewhat solemn effect when the +ground is properly cleared. + +"For the most part these mausoleums have the form of great rectangular +spaces surrounded by enormous blocks of stone, of which some are as much +as from fifteen to twenty feet long by six or eight broad and two feet +thick. The most sumptuous of these monuments have four or five rows of +steps, making up a total height of eighteen or twenty feet. The interior +is filled up with shingle and fragments of unhewn coral. One of these +_faï-tokas_, which I measured, was a hundred and eighty feet long by a +hundred and twenty broad. At one of the upper angles I observed a block +of considerable size with a deep cutting in it. I was told that it was +the seat of the Tooi-tonga-fafine[153]; it was there that she sat to +preside at the ceremony of the funeral of the Tooi-tonga. + + [153] The Tooi-tonga-fafine (or fefine) was the Tooitonga's + sister and ranked above him. Her title means "the lady + Tooi-tonga." "Her dignity is very great. She is treated as a + kind of divinity. Her rank is too high to allow of her uniting + herself in marriage with any mortal: but it is not thought wrong + or degrading for her to have a family, and in case of the birth + of a daughter the child becomes the _Tamaha_. This lady rises + higher than her mother in rank, and is nearer the gods. Every + one approaches her with gifts and homage. Her grandfather will + bring his offerings and sit down before her, with all humility, + like any of the common people. Sick people come to her for cure" + (Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 145, + apparently from the information of Mr. John Thomas). Captain + Cook learned with surprise that Poulaho, the Tooitonga of his + time (whom Cook speaks of as the king) acknowledged three women + as his superiors. "On our inquiring, who these extraordinary + personages were, whom they distinguish by the name and title of + _Tammaha_, we were told that the late king, Poulaho's father, + had a sister of equal rank, and elder than himself; that she, by + a man who came from the island of Feejee, had a son and two + daughters; and that these three persons, as well as their + mother, rank above Futtafaihe the king. We endeavoured, in vain, + to trace the reason of this singular pre-eminence of the + _Tammahas_; for we could learn nothing besides this account of + their pedigree. The mother and one of the daughters called + Tooeela-Kaipa, live at Vavaoo. Latoolibooloo, the son, and the + other daughter, whose name is Moungoula-Kaipa, reside at + Tongataboo. The latter is the woman who is mentioned to have + dined with me on the 21st of June. This gave occasion to our + discovering her superiority over the king, who would not eat in + her presence, though she made no scruple to do so before him, + and received from him the customary obeisance, by touching her + foot." See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 430 _sq._ + +"Some of these edifices were of an oval form, but they were much +smaller. Each of them was surmounted by a small hut, which served as an +oratory or house for the spirit of the dead; most of them have been +destroyed by the lapse of time, and only traces of them are left +scattered on the ground. + +"The enormous blocks of coral employed in the construction of these +monuments have all been brought by sea from Hifo to Mooa. They were got +on the shore of the sea at Hifo, were hewn on the spot, and were +transported in great canoes; then they were landed at Mooa and drawn on +rollers to the place of their destination. These monuments are +astonishing evidence of the patience which they must have demanded on +the part of these islanders; they were ocular testimony to me of the +high degree of civilisation which the natives had reached. Man must have +risen to ideas of a much higher order than those of a simple savage +before he would take so great pains for the single object of +consecrating the memory of his chiefs. + +"Such tombs are no longer built in Tongataboo: people content themselves +with simple mounds surrounded by a row of posts or even an ordinary +palisade. However, Singleton assured me that Finow the Younger had +erected two great _faï-tokas_ of stone in Vavao, one for the last +Tooitonga, and one for his father."[154] + + [154] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du + Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) pp. 106-108. Singleton was an + Englishman, one of the crew of the _Port-au-Prince_, the ship in + which Mariner sailed. When Dumont d'Urville visited Tonga, + Singleton had lived as a native among the natives for + twenty-three years; he was married and had children, and he + hoped to end his days in Tongataboo. See J. Dumont d'Urville, + _op. cit._ iv. 23 _sq._ + +The Frenchman, De Sainson, who accompanied Dumont d'Urville on his visit +to Tongataboo, has also described the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa +from personal observation. I will quote his description: "It is in the +heart of the forest that the ancient inhabitants of these countries, who +idolized their Kings (Tooi-tongas), placed the tombs of that sacred +race. These monuments of a more enterprising age still astonish the +beholder by their mass and their extent. The _fai-tokas_, as these +burial-places are called, are artificial eminences, on the top of which, +in the form of a square, are three or four crosses of great granitic +blocks arranged as steps, of which each block may be four or five feet +high. If there is only a single step on the top of the mound, it is +because only a single Tooi-tonga sleeps there in the grave; if the bones +of a whole family are deposited in a common tomb, three or four steps, +one above the other, mark their union in death. Some of these monuments +which contain only a single body are arranged in an oval. I counted more +than twelve of these immense structures, and yet we left a great many +aside. I counted more than one stone between eight and fifteen feet +long; and I conceived a high idea of those men of ancient days who +erected over the remains of their kings these imperishable mausoleums, +in an island based on coral, where it would be difficult to find a stone +of two feet square. I imagined them to be very different from their +effeminate descendants, those men of old who went in their canoes more +than a hundred and fifty leagues to look for the enormous blocks of +which these tombs are built, who cut them without the help of iron, and +succeeded, by means unknown, in planting them on these hillocks, where +by their own weight they are fixed for ever, like the Druidical +monuments of Brittany, which one would say were dropped on earth rather +by the magic of talismans than by the power of man. + +"The present inhabitants of Tonga contemplate with a pious awe the fruit +of the labours and patience of their forefathers, without dreaming for a +moment of imitating them in their noble enterprises. A distant voyage +affrights these degenerate scions of a hardy race, and the great canoes +which still survive, sheltered under sheds very skilfully built, are +little more than the useless encumbrance of chiefs grown languid in the +long peace which has infected the whole people with habits of indolence. + +"The most recent tombs consist of a small house enclosed on all sides, +built on a rising ground, and shaded by a circle of mimosas, a tree +sacred to the dead. Most of the illustrious graves are clustered +together at Mafanga, a large village of which the whole territory is +sacred on account of the hallowed relics which it contains. Along with +the corpse they bury at the depth of a few inches small wooden effigies +representing persons of both sexes. I had occasion to unearth a few of +these little statues, and I remarked in them an astonishing feeling for +artistic design."[155] + + [155] "Extrait du Journal de M. de Sainson," in J. Dumont + d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. + (Paris, 1832) pp. 361 _sq._ + +Some sixteen years later a Catholic missionary, living among the heathen +population of Tongataboo, wrote thus: "Nothing equals the care which +they take in the burial of their dead. As soon as a native has breathed +his last, the neighbours are informed, and immediately all the women +come to weep about the corpse. Here the men never weep. The body is kept +thus for a day or two, during which they are busy building a tomb near +the dwelling of the deceased's family. The sepulchral house is neat, +built on an eminence, surrounded by a pretty fence of choice bamboos; +the enclosure is planted with all kinds of odoriferous shrubs, +especially evergreens. Finally, the monument is covered by a roof +artistically constructed. For the tombs of kings and the greatest chiefs +they go to distant islands to find huge stones to crown the grave. I +have seen one twenty-four feet long by eight broad and at least eighteen +inches thick. One of these tombs was built by the natives of Wallis +Island, who brought the enormous blocks in immense canoes. It is +wonderful for these peoples."[156] + + [156] Jérôme Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) pp. 12 _sq._ + +Captain Erskine, who visited Tongataboo in 1849, says that "near the +landing-place at the village of Holobeka, off which we were lying, we +saw overshadowed with trees, one of the _faitokas_, or old burial-places +of the country, which, although no longer 'tabu,' are still in some +cases used as places of sepulture, and very carefully kept. This one was +an oblong square platform a few feet high, surrounded by a stone wall, +the interior being beautifully paved with coloured corals and gravel; +the house or temple, which Captain Cook and others describe as occupying +the centre, having been, I suppose, removed. I saw but one other of +these monuments during our stay among the islands, the largest of which +stands on several rows of steps, as described by all former +visitors."[157] + + [157] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of + the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 130. + +Thomas West, who lived as a missionary in the Tongan islands from 1846 +to 1855, tells us that "chiefs were usually interred in tombs, +constructed of blocks of sandstone, cut from suitable localities by the +seashore, where, at a little depth from the surface, layers of hard and +durable sandstone are found, even on many of the coralline islands. In +several of the ancient burial-places, similar stones, arranged in +terraces, surround the whole enclosure. Some of these are of immense +size, and seem to indicate the possession, on the part of former +inhabitants, either of greater energy than the present race, or of +better tools and appliances. The burial-places of the Tonguese are +always surrounded by the most imposing foliage of the tropics, and +placed in sequestered spots. A mound of earth is raised, of dimensions +varying with the necessities of the place; and, whenever a grave is +opened within the limits of this mound, it is always filled up with +beautiful white sand, and never contains more than one body. No particle +of clay or earthy mould is allowed to touch the remains of the dead. The +sand is brought in baskets by the chief mourners, who sometimes sail or +journey many miles to procure it; and each person pours the contents +into the grave until it is sufficiently filled up. The top of the grave +is, afterwards, carefully tended and decorated with black pebbles and +red coral, arranged in various devices, which have a very pretty effect. +Small houses are also placed over the tombs of the chiefs and +gentry."[158] + + [158] Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_ + (London, 1865), pp. 268 _sq._ + +In more recent years the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa have been +visited by Sir Basil Thomson, who has described and discussed them.[159] +From an anonymous pamphlet called _The Wairarapa Wilderness_, written by +the passengers of the s.s. _Wairarapa_ and published in 1884, Sir Basil +Thomson quotes a passage containing a description of the tombs, with +measurements which, he tells us, are accurate as far as they go. From it +I will extract a few particulars. The writers inform us that the tombs +are built of blocks of coral which vary in length and thickness; some of +the largest they found to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long and from +one and a half to two feet thick. The largest measured by them is +twenty-two feet long and two feet thick and stands between seven and +eight feet above the ground. This great stone, now split in two, is at +the middle of the lowest step of one of the pyramidal tombs. The height +of the steps varies much in the different pyramids; one step was found +to be four feet high. The breadth of each step is three feet or more: it +has been carefully levelled and covered with coral gravel. The stones +fit very closely and are very regular at top and bottom throughout the +tiers. The corners of one pyramid observed by the writers are formed of +huge rectangular stones, which seem to have been put in position before +they were finally faced. On the upper surface of the largest stone is a +deep hollow about the size and shape of a large chestnut mortar. Sir +Basil Thomson, who has examined this hollow, believes it to be a natural +cavity which has been artificially smoothed by a workman. He suggests +that it may have been lined with leaves and used as a bowl for brewing +kava at the funeral ceremonies. On one mound the writers of the +pamphlet remarked a large flat stone, some five and a half feet square; +and in several of the tombs they noticed huge slabs of volcanic stone +placed indiscriminately side by side with blocks of coral. The writers +measured the bases of three of the tombs and found them to be about two +chains (one hundred and thirty-two feet) long by a chain and a half +(ninety-nine feet) broad; the base of a fourth was even larger.[160] + + [159] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp. + 379 _sq._; _id._ "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal + of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 86-88. + + [160] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 87 _sq._ + +Surveying these various accounts of the tombs of the Tooitongas or +sacred chiefs, we may perhaps conclude that, while the type of tomb +varied in different cases, the most characteristic, and certainly the +most remarkable, type was that of a stepped or terraced pyramid built of +such large blocks of stone as to merit the name of megalithic monuments. +So far as I have observed in the accounts given of them, this type of +tomb was reserved exclusively for the sacred chiefs, the Tooitongas, +whom the Tongans regarded as divine and as direct descendants of the +gods. The civil kings, so far as appears, were not buried in these +massive pyramids, but merely in stone vaults sunk in the summits of +grassy mounds. + +It is natural, with Sir Basil Thomson,[161] to compare the pyramids of +the Tooitongas with the similar structures called _morais_ or _marais_ +which are found in Tahiti and the Marquesas islands. Indeed, the very +name _morai_ was sometimes applied to them by the Tongans themselves, +though more usually they called them _fiatookas_, which was simply the +common word for burying-ground.[162] In Tahiti and the Marquesas islands +these _marais_ were in like manner truncated pyramids, rising in a +series of steps or tiers, built of stones, some of which were large, but +apparently not so large as in the corresponding Tongan edifices; for in +describing one of the largest of the Tahitian _morais_ or _marais_ Cook +mentions only one stone measuring as much as four feet seven inches in +length by two feet four in breadth, though he found several three and a +half feet long by two and a half feet broad. These dimensions can hardly +compare with the size of the blocks in the tombs of the Tooitongas, some +of which, as we have seen, measure fifteen, eighteen, and even +twenty-two or twenty-four feet in length by eight or twelve feet in +height. These Tahitian and Marquesan pyramids are commonly described as +temples, and justly so, because the gods were worshipped there and human +sacrifices were offered on them.[163] But they were also, like the +similar structures in Tonga, used in certain cases for the burial of the +dead, or at all events for the preservation of their embalmed bodies. +Captain Cook seems even to have regarded the Tahitian _morais_ primarily +as burying-grounds and only secondarily as places of worship.[164] In +the island of Huahine, one of the Society Islands, the sovereign chiefs +were buried in a _marai_, where they lay, we are told, in more than +Oriental state.[165] William Ellis, one of our best authorities on the +religion of the Tahitians, tells us that "the family, district, or royal +_maraes_ were the general depositories of the bones of the departed, +whose bodies had been embalmed, and whose skulls were sometimes +preserved in the dwelling of the survivors. The _marae_ or temple +being sacred, and the bodies being under the guardianship of the gods, +were in general considered secure when deposited there. This was not, +however, always the case; and in times of war, the victors sometimes +not only despoiled the temples of the vanquished, and bore away their +idol, but robbed the sacred enclosure of the bones of celebrated +individuals."[166] Moerenhout, another good authority on the Tahitian +religion, informs us that the _marais_ which belonged to individuals +often served as cemeteries and were only the more respected on that +account; but he says that in the public _marais_ almost the only persons +buried were the human victims offered in sacrifice, and sometimes the +priests, who were laid face downwards in the grave, for the curious +reason that otherwise the gaze of the dead men would blight the trees +and cause the fruit to fall to the ground.[167] + + [161] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. + 379. + + [162] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424. Elsewhere (v. 364) + he speaks of "a _morai_ or _fiatooka_"; and shortly afterwards, + referring to the same structure, he mentions it as "this + _morai_, or what I may as well call temple" (p. 365). As to the + equivalence of the words _morai_ and _marai_ (_marae_), see J. + A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Îles du Grand Océan_ (Paris, 1837), + i. 466; and as to the significance of the word in its various + dialectical forms, see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 213, _s.v._ "malae." + + [163] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._; J. R. + Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ + (London, 1788), pp. 543 _sqq._; Captain James Wilson, + _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 207 + _sqq._; David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific + Ocean_ (New York, 1822), ii. 38 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, + _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1831), i. 240-248, 265 + _sqq._, 271, 274, 529 _sq._, ii. 13 _sq._, 38 _sq._; W. Ellis, + _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. + 340, 405; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Îles du Grand Océan_, + i. 466-470; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt + am Mayn, 1812), i. 115, 134; H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, + N.D.), pp. 166-169 (_Everyman's Library_); Matthias G----, + _Lettres sur les Îles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 54 _sq._; + C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, + 1875-1876), i. 49, ii. 180, 183 _sq._; G. Gerland, in Th. Waitz, + _Anthropologie_, vi (Leipzig, 1872) pp. 376 _sqq._ + + [164] Capt. James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sq._, "Their name for + such burying-grounds, which are also places of worship, is + _Morai_." Compare _id._, i. 217, 219, 220, 224, vi. 37, 41; J. + Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), p. 151, "the + _morais_, which serve the double purpose of places of worship + and receptacles for the dead." Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations_, p. 545, "To ornament the _marais_ and to honour + by it the gods and the decayed buried there, the inhabitants + plant several sorts of trees near them." + + [165] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271. + + [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 405. Elsewhere (p. + 401), speaking of the Tahitian burial customs, Ellis observes + that "the skull was carefully kept in the family, while the + other bones, etc., were buried within the precincts of the + family temple." + + [167] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470. As to the Tahitian + custom of burying the dead in the _marais_, see also C. E. + Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 183 _sq._, + according to whom only the bodies of persons of high rank were + interred in these sanctuaries. + +In the Marquesas islands the _morais_ appear to have been also used +occasionally or even regularly as burial-places. Langsdorff, one of our +earliest authorities on these islands, speaks of a _morai_ simply as a +place of burial.[168] He tells us that the mummified bodies of the dead +were deposited on scaffolds in the _morai_ or family burial-place, and +that the people of neighbouring but hostile districts used to try to +steal each other's dead from the _morais_, and deemed it a great triumph +when they succeeded in the attempt. To defeat such attempts, when the +inhabitants of a district expected to be attacked in force by their +enemies, they were wont to remove their dead from the _morai_ and bury +them in the neighbourhood.[169] Again, in their monograph on the +Marquesas islands, the French writers Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz +recognise only the mortuary aspect of the _morais_. They say: "The +_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are set up +on a platform of stone, which is the base of all Nukahivan +constructions. They are to be found scattered in the whole extent of the +valleys; no particular condition seems to be required in the choice of +the site. Near the shore of Taïohae is the _morai_ which contains the +remains of a brother of the _atepeïou Patini_, an uncle of Moana, who +died some years ago, as they tell us."[170] + + [168] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. + + [169] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134. + + [170] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Îles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), p. 253. + +Thus to some extent, in function as well as in form, these pyramidical +temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas islands corresponded to the +megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas or sacred chiefs of Tonga; in +fact, they were mausoleums as well as temples. We are not at liberty to +assume, with one authority on the Polynesians, that they were mausoleums +first and foremost, and that they only developed into temples at a later +time.[171] It is possible, on the contrary, that from the outset they +were temples dedicated to the worship of the high gods, and that the +custom of depositing the dead in them was a later practice adopted for +the sake of the protection which these holy places might be expected to +afford against the efforts of enemies to carry off and desecrate the +remains of the departed. Dr. Rivers propounded a theory that the custom +of building these megalithic monuments in the form of pyramids was +introduced into the Pacific by a people who brought with them a secret +worship of the sun, and he apparently inclined to regard the monuments +themselves as at least associated with that worship.[172] The theory can +hardly apply to the megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas in +Tongataboo; for the evidence which I have adduced seems to render it +certain that these monuments were erected primarily as tombs to receive +the bodies of the sacred chiefs. It is true that these tombs enjoyed a +sacred character and were the scene of worship which justly entitles +them to rank as temples; but so far as they were temples, they were +devoted to the worship, not of the sun, but of the dead. + + [171] C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 180. + + [172] W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Oceania," + _American Anthropologist_, N.S. xvii. (1915) pp. 431 _sqq._ + +Thus our enquiry into the meaning and origin of these interesting +monuments entirely confirms the view of the shrewd and observant Captain +Cook that the _fiatookas_, as the Tongans called them, were both places +of burial and places of worship. + +Finally, the evidence which I have cited appears to render it highly +probable that these imposing monuments were built, not by a prehistoric +people, predecessors of the Tongans in the islands, but by the Tongans +themselves; for not only do the people affirm that the tombs were +erected by their ancestors, but they have definite traditions of some of +the chiefs who built them, and are buried in them; and they still +profess to remember some of the islands from which the huge stones were +brought to Tongataboo in great double canoes. + +That the graves of the great chiefs were, like temples, regarded by the +people with religious reverence appears plainly from a statement of +Mariner. He tells us that a place called Mafanga, in the western part of +Tongataboo, being a piece of land about half a mile square, was +consecrated ground. "In this spot," he says, "are the graves where the +greatest chiefs from time immemorial have been buried, and the place is +therefore considered sacred; it would be a sacrilege to fight here, and +nobody can be prevented from landing: if the most inveterate enemies +meet upon this ground, they must look upon each other as friends, under +penalty of the displeasure of the gods, and consequently an untimely +death, or some great misfortune. There are several of these consecrated +places on different islands."[173] Thus the reverence paid to the tombs +of the chiefs was like the reverence paid to the consecrated houses and +enclosures of the gods; we have already seen what a sacrilege it was +deemed to fight or to pursue an enemy within the consecrated enclosure +of a god,[174] and we now learn that it was equally a sacrilege to fight +within the ground that was hallowed by the graves of the chiefs. + + [173] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88. + + [174] Above, pp. 74 _sqq._ + +Mariner has described for us the worship paid by the king and his chiefs +to one of the sacred graves at Mafanga. One morning Finow the king, +accompanied by several of his chiefs and their ministers (the +_matabooles_), landed at Mafanga and immediately proceeded to his +father's grave to perform a ceremony called _toogi_. Mariner attended +the party and witnessed the ceremony. All who went to participate in it +assumed the attire of mourners or suppliants, that is, they wore mats +instead of their usual dress and they had wreaths, made of the leaves of +the _ifi_ tree, round their necks. They sat down before the grave, and +the king and all of them beat their cheeks with their fists for about +half a minute without speaking a word. One of the principal ministers +(_matabooles_) then addressed the spirit of the king's father to the +following effect: "Behold the man (meaning Finow, the king) who has come +to Tonga to fight his enemies. Be pleased with him, and grant him thy +protection. He comes to battle, hoping he is not doing wrong. He has +always held Tooitonga in the highest respect, and has attended to all +religious ceremonies with exactness." One of the attendants then went to +the king and received from him a piece of kava root, which he laid down +on the raised mount before the burial-place (_fytoka_). Several others, +who had pieces of kava root in their bosoms, went up to the grave in +like manner and deposited them there.[175] + + [175] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88 _sq._ + +Thus the king prayed to the spirit of his dead father at his grave and +made an offering at the tomb. What more could he do to a god at his +temple? And in general we are told that when a great blessing was +desired, or a serious evil deprecated, if the people wished to enjoy +health or beget children, to be successful at sea, or victorious in war, +they would go to the burial grounds of their great chiefs, clean them +up thoroughly, sprinkle the floor with sand, and lay down their +offerings.[176] When Finow the king was dying, his friends carried him +on a bier, not only to the temples of the great gods Tali-y-Toobo and +Tooi-fooa-Bolotoo, where prayers for his recovery were offered; they +bore him also to the grave of a chieftainess and invoked her spirit in +like manner to pity and spare the expiring monarch.[177] Apparently they +thought that the ghost of the chieftainess was quite as able as the +great gods to heal the sick and restore the dying. + + [176] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 127. + + [177] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367. + +But on no occasion, perhaps, was the assimilation of dead men to gods +so conspicuous as at the annual offering of first-fruits, which seems to +have been the most impressive of all the yearly rites observed by the +Tongans. The ceremony was observed once a year just before the yams in +general had arrived at a state of maturity; the yams offered at it were +of a kind which admitted of being planted sooner than the others, and +which consequently, ripening earlier, were the first-fruits of the yam +season. The object of the offering was to ensure the protection of the +gods, that their favour might be extended to the welfare of the nation +generally, and in particular to the productions of the earth, of which +in Tonga yams are the most important. At this solemn ceremony the new +yams, slung on poles, were brought from distant islands, carried in +procession to the grave of the late Tooitonga, and deposited in front of +it, their bearers sitting down beside them. Thereupon one of the +ministers (_matabooles_) of the living Tooitonga arose, advanced, and +sat down before the grave, a little in front of the men who had brought +the yams. Next he addressed the gods generally, and afterwards +particularly, mentioning the late Tooitonga and the names of several +others. In doing so he returned thanks for their divine bounty in +favouring the land with the prospect of a good harvest, and prayed that +their beneficence might be continued in future. In this harvest +thanksgiving the spirit of the dead Tooitonga seems to have ranked on an +equality with the original or superhuman gods; indeed, in a sense he +took precedence of them, since the offerings were presented at his +grave. The first-fruits, we are told, were offered to the gods in the +person of the divine chief Tooitonga.[178] + + [178] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 196-202, compare p. 78. + The ceremony was also witnessed, though not understood, by + Captain Cook (_Voyages_, v. 363 _sqq._) and by the first English + missionaries (Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the + Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 264 _sq._). + +On the whole we may conclude that, however sharp a distinction was drawn +in theory between the old gods, who had always been gods, and the new +gods, who had once been men, the line which divided them in practice was +wavering and blurred. The dead men and women were fast rising, if they +had not already risen, to an equality with the ancient deities. We may +even surmise that some of these old gods themselves were human beings, +whose original humanity was forgotten. + +The tombs of the kings and sacred chiefs may be described as megalithic +monuments in so far as immense stones were often employed in the +construction either of the enclosing walls or of the high steps which +led up to the summit of the mound where the grave was dug. It is +possible, and indeed probable, that great stones were similarly employed +as ornaments or accessories of the consecrated houses or temples of the +primary gods, but of such an employment I have met with no express +notice among our authorities. So far as their descriptions allow us to +judge, these megalithic monuments of the Tongans were purely sepulchral +in character; they were dedicated only to the worship of the dead. But +there exists at least one other remarkable megalithic monument in these +islands of which the original meaning is quite uncertain, and of which +consequently we cannot confidently say that it was erected for the sake +of honouring or propitiating the spirits of the departed. The monument +in question is situated near the eastern extremity of Tongataboo, at a +distance of three or four hundred yards from the beach and facing +towards the island of Eua. The land on which it stands was the private +property of the Tooitongas, whose megalithic tombs are situated some +eight or nine miles away to the west. In the intervening country, which +is perfectly flat and partly covered with forest, partly under +cultivation, there are said to be no other monuments or ruins. It is +remarkable that this imposing monument, which naturally impresses the +observer by its resemblance to the trilithons or gate-like structures of +Stonehenge, should have apparently escaped the observation of Europeans +down to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not mentioned by +Cook and Mariner, nor even by those who, like the first missionaries and +Dumont d'Urville, described in some detail the tombs of the Tooitongas +not many miles off. Perhaps the solitariness of the surrounding country +may partly account for their ignorance and silence; for there are said +to be few inhabitants in this part of the island and none at all in the +immediate neighbourhood of the monument. It seems to have been first +discovered by Mr. Philip Hervey of Sydney in 1850 or 1851, but his +description of it was not published for some ten years. In August 1852 +it was seen by Dr. Charles Forbes, Surgeon of H.M.S. _Calliope_, and his +description of it was published by the Society of Antiquaries of London +in the following year. In 1865 it was seen and briefly described by Mr. +Foljambe of H.M.S. _Curaçoa_. Some twenty years later the passengers of +the s.s. _Wairarapa_, on a yachting cruise from New Zealand, visited the +spot and published an account of the structure. Still later Sir Basil +Thomson examined the monument and discussed its history.[179] + + [179] See the letter of Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia, or + Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity_, xxxv. (London, + 1853) p. 496 (with a woodcut); _Proceedings of the Society of + Antiquaries of London_ [First Series], iii. 19; _id._ Second + Series, i. 287; letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by Kenneth R. H. + Mackenzie, in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of + London_, Second Series, ii. 75-77; Julius L. Brenchley, + _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among the South + Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), p. 132 (with a woodcut); + (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_ (Edinburgh + and London, 1894), pp. 380-382 (with a woodcut on p. 393); _id._ + "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 81-84 (with a + photograph). Views of the monument, taken apparently from + photographs, have also been published by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard + (_Australasia_, vol. ii. London, 1894, p. 501), Dr. George Brown + (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, London, 1910, plate facing p. + 410), and by Mr. S. Percy Smith (_Hawaiki_, Third Edition, + Christchurch, N.Z., 1910, pp. 157 _sq._). Dr. W. H. R. Rivers + spoke as if there were several trilithons in Tongataboo + (_History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 430 _sq._; _id._ "Sun-cult + and Megaliths in Oceania," _American Anthropologist_, N.S. + xvii., 1915, p. 444); but in this he seems to have been + mistaken. So far as I can gather, there is only one of these + remarkable monuments in Tongataboo or indeed in the whole of the + Pacific. + +The monument in question is a structure of the type known as a +trilithon; that is, it is composed of three large stones, of which two +stand upright, while the third rests horizontally on their tops. All +three stones are monoliths of hardened coral, rough and much weathered +on the surface, and precisely similar to the coral of the neighbouring +reefs. Indeed, about halfway between the monument and the beach the +coral rock is exposed in a hollow, from which it seems probable that the +great blocks were hewn and brought to their present situation. The +statement of Mr. Brenchley, that the stone of which the monument +consists is not to be found elsewhere on the island, is erroneous. The +uprights are quadrangular monoliths neatly squared. No measurements of +the stones appear to be on record, but the two uprights are variously +estimated to measure from fourteen to sixteen feet in height; their +breadth or depth from front to back is variously given as from eight to +ten or even twelve feet; but they seem to taper somewhat upwards, for +the estimate which assigns twelve feet for the depth of the uprights at +their base, mentions seven feet or probably more as their breadth at the +top. The thickness of the uprights seems to be four feet. The space +between them is variously stated at ten and twelve feet. The +cross-stone, which rests on the two uprights, is reported to measure +twenty-four feet in length, by four or five feet in depth, and two feet +in thickness. Each of the uprights is estimated by Sir Basil Thomson to +weigh not less than fifty tons. The tops of both are deeply mortised to +receive the cross-stone, the ends of which are sunk into them instead of +being laid flat on the top. The cross-stone lies east and west, so that +the opening between the uprights faces north and south. On the upper +surface of the cross-stone, and at about the middle of it, is a cup-like +hollow, very carefully cut, about the size of a coco-nut shell. A large +bowl of the same material is said to have formerly stood on the +cross-stone, but the statement is not made by an eyewitness and is +probably mistaken.[180] + + [180] For the authorities, see the preceding note. The + measurements, to some extent discrepant, are given by Dr. + Charles Forbes, Mr. Philip Hervey, and the passengers of s.s. + _Wairarapa_, as reported by Sir Basil Thomson _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. 82 _sq._), who had + unfortunately mislaid his own notes containing the measurements. + The statement that the monument was surmounted by a large bowl + is made by Mr. Brenchley, in whose sketch of the structure the + bowl figures. But Mr. Brenchley did not himself see the + monument, and nobody else appears to have seen the bowl. I + suspect that the report of the bowl may have originated in a + hasty reading of Mr. Hervey's statement that "on the centre of + it [the cross-stone] a small cava bowl is scooped out," though + in Mr. Brenchley's account the bowl has seemingly increased in + size. Similarly in his report the height of the uprights has + grown to about thirty feet, which appears to be just double of + their real size. Perhaps Mr. Brenchley's erroneous allegation as + to the material of the monument similarly originated in a + misunderstanding of Mr. Hervey's statement that "the material is + the coral rock, or coral rag which are formed of stone brought + from Wallis's Island." + +The name which the natives give to this megalithic monument is +_Haamonga_ or _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_, which is said to mean "Maui's +burden." The name is explained by a story that the god or hero Maui +brought the massive stones in a gigantic canoe from Uea (Wallis Island), +where the great holes in the rock from which he quarried them may still +be seen. From the canoe he bore them on his back to the spot where they +now stand.[181] This story can hardly be thought to throw much light on +the origin of the monument; for the natives are in the habit of +referring the marvels which they do not understand to the action of the +god or hero Maui, just as the ancient Greeks fathered many natural +wonders on the deified hero Hercules.[182] But from Mateialona, Governor +of Haapai and cousin of the King of Tonga, Sir Basil Thomson obtained a +tradition of the origin of the stones which is at least free from the +miraculous element and connects the monument with Tongan history. The +account runs thus: "Concerning the Haamonga of Maui, they say forsooth +that a Tui Tonga (the sacred line of chiefs), named Tui-ta-tui, +erected it, and that he was so named because it was a time of +assassination.[183] And they say that he had it built for him to sit +upon during the Faikava (ceremony of brewing kava), when the people sat +round him in a circle, and that the king so dreaded assassination that +he had this lordly seat built for himself that he might sit out of the +reach of his people. And this, they say, is the origin of the present +custom of the Faikava, it being now forbidden for any one to sit behind +the king." At such wassails the presiding chief sits at the apex of an +oval. To this tradition Sir Basil Thomson adds: "Mr. Shirley Baker told +me that he believed the Haamonga to have been erected as a _fakamanatu_ +(memorial) to the son of some Tui Tonga, a view that finds support in +the fondness of Tongan chiefs for originality in the burial ceremonies +of their near relations--witness Mariner's account of the funeral of +Finau's daughter--but on the other hand native traditions generally +have a kernel of truth, and the legend of Tui-ta-tui and its +consequences finds an analogy in our own custom of guarding against an +assassin's dagger at the drinking of the loving cup."[184] The tradition +receives some confirmation from the bowl-like hollow on the upper +surface of the cross-stone; for the hollow might have served as the +king's drinking-cup to hold his kava at the customary wassails. Indeed, +Mr. Philip Hervey, the first to examine the monument, describes the +hollow in question as "a small cava bowl";[185] and after giving an +account of the monument Mr. Brenchley adds: "Its history seems to be +entirely unknown, but it is very natural to suppose from its form that +it was connected with some ancient kava ceremonies."[186] + + [181] Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. 496 (who gives + _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_ as the name of the stones); (Sir) Basil + Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. 382; _id._, "Notes + upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological + Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 81 (who gives _Haamonga_ as the + native name of the stones). + + [182] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 81. Maui is the great hero of Polynesia, known in + nearly every group of islands, generally regarded as a demigod + or deified man, but sometimes and in some places rising to the + dignity of full godhead. He appears, says Mr. E. Tregear, to + unite the classical attributes of Hercules and Prometheus. See + E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 233, + _s.v._ "Maui." + + [183] "_Tui-ta-tui, lit._ 'King-strike-King.'" + + [184] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 82. + + [185] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_, + Second Series, ii. 77. + + [186] Julius L. Brenchley, _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. + "Curaçoa" among the South Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), + p. 132. + +The tradition which connects the erection of the monument with the reign +of a Tooitonga named Tui-ta-tui is further countenanced, if not +confirmed, by a list of the Tooitongas, in which the name of Tui-ta-tui +occurs as the eleventh in descent from the great god Tangaloa.[187] This +Tui-ta-tui is believed to have reigned in the thirteenth or fourteenth +century of our era.[188] From the size and style of the masonry Sir +Basil Thomson is disposed to assign the monument to a later date. He +points out that for the quarrying and mortising of stones that weigh +some fifty tons apiece the craft of stone-cutting must have been fully +developed; and from a comparison of the megalithic tombs of the +Tooitongas which can be approximately dated, he infers that the craft of +stone-cutting in Tonga reached its culmination at the end of the +seventeenth century, though it was still practised down to the beginning +of the nineteenth century; for Mariner tells us that in his time a +professional class of masons was set apart for building the stone +sepulchral vaults of chiefs.[189] Yet on the whole Sir Basil Thomson +concludes that "when one is left to choose between a definite native +tradition on the one hand and probability on the other for the +assignment of a date, I would prefer the tradition. If the Tongans had +invented the story as a mere expression for antiquity they would not +have pitched upon Tui-ta-tui, about whom nothing else is recorded, in +preference to Takalaua, Kau-ulu-fonua-fekai, or any of the kings who +loom large in traditionary history. Whether the Haamonga was built for a +throne or for a memorial, doubtless it is connected with the reign of +Tui-ta-tui, who lived in the fourteenth century."[190] + + [187] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. + 395. In this work the author prints a list of the Tooitongas "as + given by Mr. E. Tregear on the authority of the Rev. J. E. + Moulton." + + [188] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 83; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, p. 158. + + [189] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 266. As to the size of + the stones, Mariner says, "The stones used for this purpose are + about a foot in thickness, and are cut of the requisite + dimensions, out of the stratum found on the beaches of some of + the islands." + + [190] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 83 _sq._ + +As an alternative to the view that the hollow on the cross-stone was a +kava bowl Dr. Rivers suggests that it "may have been destined to receive +the skull and other bones of the dead, so often preserved in +Polynesia."[191] The suggestion accords well with the opinion that the +monument is a memorial of the dead, and it might be supported by the +Samoan practice of severing a dead chief's head from his body and +burying it separately, to save it from being dug up and desecrated by +enemies in time of war.[192] However, Dr. Rivers is careful to add that +such a practice is not recorded in Tonga and appears to be incompatible +with the mode of sepulture which prevails there. + + [191] W. H. R. Rivers, _History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 431. + + [192] See below, p. 212. + +In this connexion another megalithic monument of the Tonga islands +deserves to be considered, though it appears to have been commonly +overlooked. It was observed by Captain Cook in the island of Lefooga +(Lifuka). He says: "Near the south end of the island, and on the west +side, we met with an artificial mount. From the size of some trees that +were growing upon it, and from other appearances, I guessed that it had +been raised in remote times. I judged it to be about forty feet high; +and the diameter of its summit measured fifty feet. At the bottom of +this mount stood a stone, which must have been hewn out of coral rock. +It was four feet broad, two and a half thick, and fourteen high; and we +were told by the natives present, that not above half its length +appeared above ground. They called it _Tangata Arekee_;[193] and said, +that it had been set up, and the mount raised, by some of their +forefathers, in memory of one of their kings; but how long since, they +could not tell."[194] + + [193] "_Tangata_, in their language, is man; _Arekee_, king." + + [194] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 298 _sq._ To this + description of the monument Sir Basil Thomson has called + attention; he rightly classes it with the tombs of the chiefs. + See his "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 85. + +When we remember that Tongan kings were commonly buried in such mounds +as Captain Cook here describes, and further that these mounds were +commonly enclosed or faced with great blocks of hewn stone, we may be +disposed to accept as reasonable and probable the explanation which the +natives gave of this great monolith, which, if the reported measurements +of it are correct, must have been no less than twenty-eight feet high. +If it was indeed a memorial of a dead king, it might be thought to +strengthen the view that the great trilithon was also set up as a +monument to a deceased monarch or Tooitonga. + +Another possible explanation of the trilithon is, as Sir Basil Thomson +points out, that it served as a gateway to some sacred spot inland. But +against this view he observes that he examined the bush for some +distance in the neighbourhood without finding any trace of ruins or +stones of any kind. He adds that the memory of sacred spots dies very +hard in Tonga, and that the natives do not believe the trilithon to have +been a gateway.[195] + + [195] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 81 _sq._ + +It is natural to compare the trilithon of Tongataboo with the famous +trilithons of Stonehenge, which it resembles in plan and to which it is +comparable in size. The resemblance struck Dr. Charles Forbes, the first +to publish a description of the monument based on personal observation. +He says: "The route we pursued led us over a country perfectly level, +with the exception of occasional mounds of earth, apparently artificial, +and reminding one very much of the barrows of Wilts and Dorset, which +idea is still more strongly impressed upon the mind on coming in sight +of the monument, which bears a most striking resemblance to the larger +gateway-looking stones at Stonehenge."[196] But at the same time, as Dr. +Forbes did not fail to note, the Tongan trilithon differs in some +respects from those of Stonehenge. In the first place the interval (ten +or twelve feet) between the uprights of the Tongan trilithon appears to +be much greater than the interval between the uprights of the trilithons +at Stonehenge.[197] In the second place, the cross-stone of the Tongan +trilithon is mortised much more deeply into the uprights than are the +cross-stones at Stonehenge. For whereas at Stonehenge these cross-stones +present the appearance of being laid flat on the top of the uprights, +the cross-stone of the Tongan trilithon is sunk deeply into the uprights +by means of mortises or grooves about two feet wide which are cut into +the uprights, so that the top of the cross-stone is nearly flush with +their tops, while its ends also are nearly flush with their outside +surfaces.[198] + + [196] Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. p. 496. + + [197] I have no measurements of these intervals, but write from + the impression of a recent visit to Stonehenge. + + [198] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 82, quoting the anonymous pamphlet _The Wairarapa + Wilderness_. + +As the origin and purpose of Stonehenge are still unknown, its massive +trilithons can hardly be cited to explain the similar monument of +Tongataboo. The rival theories which see in Stonehenge a memorial of the +dead and a temple of the sun[199] are equally applicable or inapplicable +to the Tongan monument. In favour of the mortuary character of this +solitary trilithon it might be urged that the Tongans were long +accustomed to erect megalithic monuments, though of a different type, at +the tombs of their sacred kings, which are situated not many miles away; +but against this view it may be argued that there are no traces of +burial or graves in the immediate neighbourhood, and that native +tradition, not lightly to be set aside, assigns a different origin to +the monument. Against the solar interpretation of the trilithon it may +be alleged, first, that the monument faces north and south, not east and +west, as it might be expected to do if it were a temple of the sun or a +gateway leading into such a temple; second, that, while a circle of +trilithons, as at Stonehenge, with an opening towards the sunrise may be +plausibly interpreted as a temple of the sun, such an interpretation +cannot so readily be applied to a solitary trilithon facing north and +south; and, third, that no trace of sun-worship has been discovered in +the Tonga islands. So far as I have observed, the Tongan pantheon is +nowhere said to have included a sun-god, and the Tongans are nowhere +reported to have paid any special respect to the sun. Savages in +general, it may be added, appear to be very little addicted to +sun-worship; it is for the most part among peoples at a much higher +level of culture, such as the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and +Peruvians, that solar worship becomes an important, or even the +predominant, feature of the national faith.[200] Perhaps the impulse to +it came rather from the meditations of priestly astronomers than from +the random fancies of common men. Some depth of thought was needed to +detect in the sun the source of all life on earth; the immutable +regularity of the great luminary's movements failed to rouse the +interest or to excite the fear of the savage, to whom the elements of +the unusual, the uncertain, and the terrible are the principal +incentives to wonder and awe, and hence to reflexion. We are all +naturally more impressed by extraordinary than by ordinary events; the +fine edge of the mind is dulled by familiarity in the one case and +whetted by curiosity in the other. + + [199] Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, Seventh Edition + (London, 1913), pp. 132 _sqq._; Sir Norman Lockyer, _Stonehenge + and other British Stone Monuments astronomically considered_ + (London, 1906); C. Schuchhardt, "Stonehenge," _Zeitschrift für + Ethnologie_, xlii. (1910), pp. 963-968; _id._ in _Zeitschrift + für Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 169-171; _id_., in + _Sitzungsberichte der königl. preuss. Akademie der + Wissenschaften_, 1913, pp. 759 _sqq._ (for the sepulchral + interpretation); W. Pastor, "Stonehenge," _Zeitschrift für + Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 163-(for the solar + interpretation). + + [200] Adolph Bastian observed that "sun-worship, which people + used to go sniffing about to discover everywhere, is found on + the contrary only in very exceptional regions or on lofty + table-lands of equatorial latitude." See his book, _Die Voelker + des Oestlichen Asien_, iv. (Jena, 1868) p. 175. Nobody, + probably, has ever been better qualified than Bastian to + pronounce an opinion on such a subject; for his knowledge of the + varieties of human thought and religion, acquired both by + reading and travel, was immense. It is only to be regretted that + through haste or negligence he too often gave out the fruits of + his learning in a form which rendered it difficult to sift and + almost impossible to digest them. Yet from his storehouse he + brought forth a treasure, of which we may say what Macaulay said + of the scholarship of Parr, that it was "too often buried in the + earth, too often paraded with injudicious and inelegant + ostentation, but still precious, massive, and splendid." + +Bearing in mind the numerous other stone monuments scattered widely over +the islands of the Pacific, from the Carolines to Easter Island, Dr. +Guillemard concludes that some race, with a different, if not a higher +civilisation preceded the Polynesian race in its present homes, and to +this earlier race he would apparently refer the erection of the +trilithon in Tongataboo.[201] He may be right. Yet when we consider, +first, the native tradition of the setting up of the trilithon by one of +the sacred kings of Tonga; second, the practice of the Tongans of +building megalithic tombs for these same sacred kings; and, third, the +former existence in Tonga of a professional class of masons whose +business it was to construct stone vaults for the burial of chiefs,[202] +we may hesitate to resort to the hypothesis of an unknown people in +order to explain the origin of a monument which the Tongans, as we know +them, appear to have been quite capable of building for themselves. + + [201] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 500. + + [202] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 266. + + +§ 11. _Rites of Burial and Mourning_ + +The only mode of disposing of the dead which was practised in the Tonga +islands seems to have been burial in the earth. So far as appears, the +corpse was not doubled up, but laid at full length in the grave; at all +events I have met with no mention of burying a corpse in a contracted +posture; and Captain Cook says that "when a person dies, he is buried, +after being wrapped up in mats and cloth, much after our manner." He +adds that, while chiefs had the special burial-places called _fiatookas_ +appropriated to their use, common people were interred in no particular +spot.[203] So far as I have observed, none of our authorities speak of a +practice of embalming the dead or of giving the bodies any particular +direction in the grave. + + [203] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 421. + +After a death the mourners testified their sorrow by dressing in old +ragged mats and wearing green leaves of the _ifi_ tree round their +necks. Thus attired they would repair to the tomb, where, on entering +the enclosure, they would pull off the green twigs from their necks and +throw them away; then sitting down they would solemnly drink kava.[204] +Further, they accompanied their cries and ejaculations of grief and +despair by inflicting on their own bodies many grievous wounds and +injuries. They burned circles and scars on their bodies, beat their +teeth with stones, struck shark's teeth into their heads till the blood +flowed in streams, and thrust spears into the inner part of the thigh, +into their sides below the arm-pits, and through the cheeks into the +mouth.[205] Women in wailing would cut off their fingers, and slit their +noses, their ears, and their cheeks.[206] At the funerals of the kings +especially the mourners indulged in frantic excesses of self-torture and +mutilation. Of two such funerals we have the detailed descriptions of +eye-witnesses who resided in the islands at a time when the natives were +as yet practically unaffected by European influence. King Moom[=o]oe +died in April 1797, and the first missionaries to Tonga witnessed and +described his funeral. They have told how, when the corpse was being +carried in procession to a temporary house near the royal burial-ground +(_fiatooka_), it was preceded by relatives of the deceased in the usual +mourning garb, who cut their heads with shark's teeth till the blood +streamed down their faces. A few days later, when the burial was to take +place, the missionaries found about four thousand people assembled at +the mound where the body was to be interred. In a few minutes they heard +a great shouting and blowing of conch-shells, and soon after there +appeared about a hundred men, armed with clubs and spears, who, rushing +into the area, began to cut and mangle themselves in a most dreadful +manner. Many struck their heads such violent blows with their clubs that +the sound could be heard thirty or forty yards off, and they repeated +them till the blood ran down in streams. Others, who had spears, thrust +them through their thighs, arms, and cheeks, all the while calling on +the deceased in a most affecting manner. A native of Fiji, who had been +a servant of the late king, appeared quite frantic; he entered the area +with fire in his hand, and having previously oiled his hair, he set it +ablaze, and ran about with it all on flame. When they had satisfied or +exhausted themselves with this manner of torment, they sat down, beat +their faces with their fists, and then retired. A second party then +inflicted on themselves the same cruelties. A third party next entered, +shouting and blowing shells; four of the foremost held stones, which +they used to knock out their teeth, while those who blew the shells +employed them as knives with which they hacked their heads in a shocking +manner. A man who had a spear pierced his arm with it just above the +elbow, and with it sticking fast in his flesh ran about the area for +some time. Another, who seemed to be a principal chief, acted as if +quite bereft of his senses; he ran to every corner of the area, and at +each station beat his head with a club till the blood flowed down on his +shoulders. At this point the missionary, unable to bear the sight of +these self-inflicted tortures, quitted the scene. When his colleagues +visited the place some hours later in the afternoon, they found the +natives of both sexes still at the dreadful work of cutting and mangling +themselves. In the course of these proceedings a party of mourners +entered the area, sixteen of whom had recently cut off their little +fingers. They were followed by another party with clubs and spears, who +battered and wounded themselves in the usual fashion, and also +disfigured their faces with coco-nut husks, which they had fastened to +the knuckles of both hands. The missionaries noticed that the mourners +who were either related to the dead king or had held office under him, +were the most cruel to themselves; some of them thrust two, three, and +even four spears into their arms, and so danced round the area, while +others broke off the spear-heads in their flesh.[207] + + [204] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 345 _sq._ As to the + mourning costume of mats and leaves, see also Captain James + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. + 240; W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 380, 392, 431, ii. 214 + _sq._ + + [205] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ v. 420. + + [206] Jérôme Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 13. + + [207] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 242-244. + +Similar scenes were witnessed some years later by Mariner at the death +and burial of Finow, another king of Tonga; and the Englishman has +described from personal observation how on this occasion the mourners +cut and wounded their heads and bodies with clubs, stones, knives, or +sharp shells. This they did on one or other of the _malais_[208] or +ceremonial grounds in the presence of many spectators, vying apparently +with each other in the effort to surpass the rest in this public +manifestation of their sorrow for the death of the king and their +respect for his memory. As one ran out into the middle of the ground he +would cry, "Finow! I know well your mind; you have departed to Bolotoo, +and left your people under suspicion that I, or some of those about you, +were unfaithful; but where is the proof of infidelity? where is a single +instance of disrespect?" Then, inflicting violent blows and deep cuts on +his head with a club, stone, or knife, he would again exclaim at +intervals, "Is this not a proof of my fidelity? does this not evince +loyalty and attachment to the memory of the departed warrior?" Some more +violent than others cut their heads to the skull with such heavy and +repeated blows that they reeled and lost their reason for a time.[209] +The king's successor, Finow the Second, not content with the usual +instruments of torture, employed a saw for the purpose, striking his +skull with the teeth so violently that he staggered for loss of blood; +but this he did, not at the time of the burial and in presence of the +multitude, but some weeks later at a more private ceremony of mourning +before the grave.[210] At the public ceremony the late king's fishermen +varied the usual breaking of heads and slashing of bodies by a peculiar +form of self-torment. Instead of clubs they appropriately carried the +paddles of canoes, with which they battered their heads in the orthodox +style; but besides every man of them had three arrows stuck through each +cheek in a slanting direction, so that, while the points pierced through +the cheeks into the mouth, the other ends went over the shoulder and +were kept in position by another arrow, the point of which was tied to +the ends of the arrows passing over one shoulder, while the other end +was tied to the ends of the other arrows which passed over the other +shoulder. Thus each fisherman was decorated with a triangle of arrows, +of which the apex consisted of six arrow-heads in his mouth, while the +base dangled on his back. With this remarkable equipment they walked +round the grave, beating their faces and heads with their paddles, or +pinching up the skin of the breast and sticking a spear right through +it.[211] + + [208] Mariner defines a _malai_ as "a piece of ground, generally + before a large house, or chief's grave, where public ceremonies + are principally held" (_Tonga Islands_, vol. ii., "Vocabulary" + _s.v._). It is the same word as _malae_ or _marae_, noticed + above, p. 116, note^3. + + [209] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 379-384. + + [210] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 440-442. + + [211] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 404 _sq._ + +The grave of a chief's family was a vault paved with a single large +stone, while the four walls were formed each of a single block. The +vault was about eight feet long, six feet broad, and eight feet deep, +and was covered at the top by one large stone.[212] So heavy was this +covering stone that, as we have seen, from a hundred and fifty to two +hundred men were required to lift and lower it.[213] Mariner estimated +that the family vault in which King Finow was interred was large enough +to hold thirty bodies. When the king's corpse was being deposited in it, +Mariner saw two dry and perfectly preserved bodies lying in the vault, +together with the bones of several others; and he was told by old men +that the well-preserved bodies had been buried when they, his +informants, were boys, which must have been upwards of forty years +before; whereas the bodies of which nothing but the bones remained had +been buried later. The natives attributed the exceptional preservation +of the two to the better constitution of their former owners; Mariner, +or more probably his editor, Dr. Martin, preferred to suppose that the +difference was due to the kind or duration of the disease which had +carried them off. Apparently the natives did not suggest that the bodies +had been embalmed, which they would almost certainly have done if they +had known of such a custom.[214] No sooner was the king's body deposited +in the grave, and the great stone lowered over it, than certain +ministers (_matabooles_) and warriors ran like men frantic round and +round the burial-ground, exclaiming, "Alas! how great is our loss! +Finow! you are departed; witness this proof of our love and loyalty!" At +the same time they cut and bruised their own heads with clubs, knives, +and axes in the usual fashion.[215] Afterwards the grave was filled up +with earth and strewed with sand, which a company of women and men had +brought for the purpose in baskets from a place at the back of the +island; what remained of the sand was scattered over the sepulchral +mound (_fytoca_), of which it was deemed a great embellishment. The +inside of the burial-ground was then spread with mats made of coco-nut +leaves.[216] + + [212] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 144 note *. + + [213] See above, p. 105. + + [214] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 note *. + + [215] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 _sq._ + + [216] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 389-392. + +Meantime the company of mourners had been seated on the green before the +burial-ground, still wearing their mourning garb of mats, with leaves of +the _ifi_ tree strung round their necks. They now arose and went to +their homes, where they shaved their heads and burnt their cheeks with a +lighted roll of bark-cloth, by applying it once upon each cheek-bone; +next they rubbed the place with an astringent berry, which caused it to +bleed, and afterwards they smeared the blood in a broad circle round the +wound, giving themselves a very ghastly appearance. They repeated this +friction with the berry every day, making the wound bleed afresh; and +the men meanwhile neglected to shave and to oil themselves during the +day, though they indulged in these comforts at night. Having burnt their +cheeks and shaved their heads, they built for themselves small temporary +huts, where they lived during the time of mourning, which lasted twenty +days.[217] + + [217] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 392 _sq._ + +The women who had become tabooed, that is, in a state of ceremonial +pollution, by touching the king's dead body, remained constantly within +the burial-ground for the twenty days of mourning, except when they +retired to one of the temporary huts to eat,[218] or rather to be fed by +others. For it was a rule that no ordinary person, man or woman, could +touch a dead chief without being tabooed, that is ceremonially polluted, +for ten lunar months, during which time he or she might not touch food +with their own hands. But for chiefs the period of pollution was +limited to three, four, or five months, according to the superiority of +the dead chief. Only when the dead body which they had touched was that +of the sacred chief, the Tooitonga, they were all tabooed for ten +months, however high their rank; for example, the king's wife was +tabooed for that length of time during the residence of Mariner, because +she had touched the dead body of the Tooitonga. During the time that a +person was tabooed, he might not feed himself with his own hands, but +must be fed by somebody else: he might not even use a toothpick himself, +but might guide another person's hand holding the toothpick. If he was +hungry and had no one to feed him, he must go down on his hands and +knees, and pick up his victuals with his mouth; and if he infringed any +of these rules, it was firmly expected that he would swell up and +die.[219] Captain Cook observed this custom in operation at Tongataboo. +On one of his walks he met with a party of women at supper, and noticed +that two of them were being fed by others. On asking the reason, he was +answered _taboo mattee_, that is, "Death taboo." It was explained to him +that one of the women had washed the dead body of a chief two months +before, and that consequently she might not handle any food for five +months. The other had performed the same office for the corpse of +another person of inferior rank, and was now under the same restriction, +but not for so long a time.[220] The tabooed women at Finow's grave were +supplied with food by the new king, Finow the Second. The food was +brought and placed on the ground at some distance from the grave, or +else it was deposited before the temporary house to which the chief of +the tabooed women retired to be fed. With the provisions was also sent +every day a supply of torches to light up the burial-ground by night. +The torches were held up by a woman of inferior rank, who, when she was +tired, was relieved in her office by another. During the twenty days of +mourning, if any one passed the burial-ground, he had to go at a slow +pace, with his head bowed down, and his hands clasped before him; and +if he carried a burden, he must lower it from his shoulder and carry it +in his hands or on his bended arms; but if he could not do so +conveniently, he had to make a circuit to avoid the grave. + + [218] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 393. + + [219] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 141 note *. + + [220] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 336. The writer does not + translate the expression _taboo mattee_; but _mate_ is the + regular Tongan word for "death" or "to die." See Mariner, _Tonga + Islands_, Vocabulary, _s.v._ "Mate." Compare E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 228, _s.v._ + "Mate." + +Such were the regular observances at the death and burial of chiefs; +they were not peculiar to the obsequies of Finow the king.[221] + + [221] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 394 _sq._ + +The twentieth day of mourning concluded the ceremonies in honour of the +deceased monarch. Early in the morning all his relations, together with +the members of his household, and also the women who were tabooed on +account of having touched his dead body in the process of oiling and +preparing it, went to the back of the island to procure a quantity of +flat pebbles, principally white, but a few black, which they brought +back in baskets to the grave. There they strewed the inside of the house +and the outside of the burial-ground (_fytoca_) with the white pebbles +as a decoration; the black pebbles they laid only on the top of those +white ones which covered the ground directly over the body, to about the +length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very eccentric ellipse. +After that, the house on the burial mound was closed up at both ends +with a reed fencing, which reached from the eaves to the ground; while +at the front and the back the house was closed with a sort of +basket-work, made of the young branches of the coco-nut tree, split and +interwoven in a very curious and ornamental way. These fences were to +remain until the next burial, when they would be taken down and, after +the conclusion of the ceremony, replaced by new ones of similar pattern. +A large quantity of food and kava was now sent by the chiefs and the +king to the public place (_malai_) in front of the burial mound, and +these provisions were served out among the people in the usual way. The +company then separated and repaired to their respective houses, to +prepare for the dances and the grand wrestling-match, which were to +conclude the funeral rites.[222] + + [222] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 401-403. + +During the intervals of the dances, which followed, several warriors and +ministers (_matabooles_) ran before the grave, cutting and bruising +their heads with axes, clubs, and so forth as proofs of fidelity to +their late chief, the dead and buried King Finow. It was on this +occasion that the deceased king's fishermen demonstrated their loyalty +and attachment to his memory by the self-inflicted tortures which I have +already described.[223] When these exhibitions of cruelty were over, the +day's ceremonies, which altogether lasted about six hours, were +terminated by a grand wrestling-match. That being over, the people +dispersed to their respective houses or occupations, and the obsequies +of Finow, king of the Tonga islands, came to an end.[224] + + [223] Above, pp. 135 _sq._ + + [224] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 403-405. + +The wrestling-match which wound up the funeral honours paid to the +departed monarch would seem not to have been an isolated case of +athletic sports held at this particular funeral. Apparently it was a +general custom in Tonga to conclude burial-rites with games of this +kind. At least we may infer as much from an expression made use of by +the first missionaries to Tongataboo. They say that the chief of their +district, after taking to himself a wife in the morning went in the +afternoon "to finish the funeral ceremonies for his brother, in +celebrating the games usual on that occasion."[225] The practice, which +is apt to seem to us incongruous, of holding games at a funeral, was +observed by the Greeks in antiquity and by not a few other peoples in +modern times.[226] + + [225] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 265. + + [226] _The Golden Bough_, Part III., _The Dying God_, pp. 92 + _sqq._ + +On the other hand the obsequies of the sacred or divine chief, the +Tooitonga, differed in certain remarkable particulars from the +posthumous honours generally paid to chiefs. It is true that his +burial-place was of the same form as that of other chiefs, and that the +mode of his interment did not differ essentially from theirs, except +that it was customary to deposit some of his most valuable property with +him in the grave, including his beads, whale's teeth, fine Samoan mats, +and other articles. Hence the family burying-place of the Tooitongas in +the island of Tongataboo, where the whole line of these pontiffs had +been interred, must have become very rich in the course of time; for no +native would dare to commit the sacrilege of stealing the treasures at +the holy tomb.[227] However, the sacrifice of property to the dead seems +not to have been, as Mariner supposed, peculiar to the funeral of the +Tooitonga; for at the burial of King Moom[=o]oe, in May 1797, the first +missionaries saw files of women and men bringing bags of valuable +articles, fine mats, and bales of cloth, which they deposited in the +tomb expressly as a present for the dead.[228] Again, the mourning +costume worn for the Tooitonga was the same as that for any chief, +consisting of ragged old mats on the body and leaves of the _ifi_ tree +round the neck; but in the case of the Tooitonga the time of mourning +was extended to four months, the mats being generally left off after +three months, while the leaves were still retained for another month; +and the female mourners remained within the burial-ground (_fytoca, +fiatooka_) for about two months, instead of twenty days, only retiring +occasionally to temporary houses in the neighbourhood to eat or for +other necessary purposes.[229] + + [227] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._ + + [228] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 243. + + [229] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 214 _sq._ + +One very remarkable peculiarity in the mourning for a Tooitonga was +that, though he ranked above the king and all other chiefs, the mourners +strictly abstained from manifesting their grief by wounding their heads +and cutting their bodies in the manner that was customary at the +funerals of all other great men. Mariner was never able to learn the +reason for this abstention.[230] + + [230] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213. + +Other peculiar features in the obsequies of a Tooitonga were the +following. In the afternoon of the day of burial, when the body of the +Tooitonga was already within the burial-ground, almost every man, woman, +and child, all dressed in the usual mourning garb, and all provided with +torches, used to sit down about eighty yards from the grave; in the +course of an hour a multitude of several thousands would thus assemble. +One of the female mourners would then come forth from the burial-ground +and call out to the people, saying, "Arise ye, and approach"; whereupon +the people would get up, and advancing about forty yards would again sit +down. Two men behind the grave now began to blow conch-shells, and six +others, with large lighted torches, about six feet high, advanced from +behind the burial-ground, descended the mound, and walked in single file +several times between the burial-ground and the people, waving their +flaming torches in the air. After that they began to ascend the mound, +whereupon all the people rose up together and made a loud crashing noise +by snapping their _bolatas_, which were pieces of the stem of a banana +tree used to receive the ashes falling from lighted torches. Having done +so, the people followed the torch-bearers in single file up the mound +and walked in procession round about the tomb (_fytoca_). As they passed +at the back of the tomb, they all, torch-bearers and people, deposited +their extinguished torches on the ground; while the female mourners +within thanked them for providing these things. Having thus marched +round, the people returned to their places and sat down. Thereupon the +master of the ceremonies came forward and ordered them to divide +themselves into parties according to their districts; which being done +he assigned to one party the duty of clearing away the bushes and grass +from one side of the grave, and to another party a similar task in +regard to another side of the grave, while a third party was charged to +remove rubbish, and so forth. In this way the whole neighbourhood of the +burial-ground was soon cleared, and when this was done, all the people +returned to the temporary houses which, as mourners, they were bound to +occupy.[231] + + [231] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 215-217. + +Soon after darkness had fallen, certain persons stationed at the grave +began again to sound the conches, while others chanted a song, or rather +recitative, partly in the Samoan dialect, partly in an unknown language, +of which the natives could give no account. None of them understood the +words, nor could they explain how their forefathers came to learn them. +All that they knew was that the words had been handed down from father +to son among the class of people whose business it was to direct burial +ceremonies. According to Mariner, some of the words were Tongan, and he +thought that the language was probably an old or corrupt form of Tongan, +though he could make no sense out of it. Such traditional repetition of +a litany in an unknown tongue is not uncommon among savages; it occurs, +for instance, very frequently among some of the aboriginal tribes of +Australia, where the chants or recitatives accompanying certain dances +or ceremonies are often passed on from one tribe to another, the members +of which perform the borrowed dance or ceremony and repeat by rote the +borrowed chants or recitatives without understanding a word of +them.[232] + + [232] W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the + North-west-central Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, + 1897), pp. 117 _sq._; (Sir) Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, + _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1904), pp. 234, + 235; _id._, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1899), + p. 281 note; _id._, _Across Australia_ (London, 1912), i. 244. + +While the conches were sounding and the voices of the singers broke the +silence of night, about sixty men assembled before the grave, where they +awaited further orders. When the chanting was over, and the notes of the +conches had ceased to sound, one of the women mourners came forward, and +sitting down outside the graveyard addressed the men thus: "Men! ye are +gathered here to perform the duty imposed on you; bear up, and let not +your exertions be wanting to accomplish the work." With these words she +retired into the burial-ground. The men now approached the mound in the +dark, and, in the words of Mariner, or his editor, performed their +devotions to Cloacina, after which they withdrew. As soon as it was +daylight the next morning, the women of the first rank, wives and +daughters of the greatest chiefs, assembled with their female +attendants, bringing baskets and shells wherewith to clear up the +deposit of the preceding night; and in this ceremonious act of humility +no lady of the highest rank refused to take her part. Some of the +mourners in the burial-ground generally came out to assist, so that in a +very little while the place was made perfectly clean. This deposit was +repeated the fourteen following nights, and as punctually cleared away +by sunrise every morning. No persons but the agents were allowed to be +witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies; at least it would have been +considered highly indecorous and irreligious to pry upon them. On the +sixteenth day, early in the morning, the same women again assembled, but +now they were dressed in the finest bark-cloth and beautiful Samoan +mats, decorated with ribbons and with wreaths of flowers round their +necks; they also brought new baskets, ornamented with flowers, and +little brooms very tastefully made. Thus equipped, they approached and +acted as if they had the same task to perform as before, pretending to +clear up the dirt, and to take it away in their baskets, though there +was no dirt to remove. Then they returned to the capital and resumed +their mourning dress of mats and leaves. Such were the rites performed +during the fifteen days; every day the ceremony of the burning torches +was also repeated.[233] + + [233] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 217-219. + +For one month from the day of burial, greater or less quantities of +provisions were brought every day and shared out to the people. On the +first day the quantity supplied was prodigious; but day by day the +supply gradually diminished till on the last day it was reduced to very +little.[234] Nevertheless the consumption or waste of food on such +occasions was so great that to guard against a future dearth of +provisions it was deemed necessary to lay a prohibition or taboo on the +eating of hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts for a period of eight or ten +months, though two or three plantations were exempted from this rigorous +embargo, to the end that in the meantime hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts +might be furnished for occasional religious rites, and that the higher +order of chiefs might be able to partake of these victuals. At the end +of the eight or ten months' fast the taboo was removed and permission to +eat of the forbidden foods was granted by the king at a solemn ceremony. +Immense quantities of yams having been collected and piled up in +columns, and some three or four hundred hogs having been killed, the +people assembled from all quarters at the king's _malái_ or public +place. Of the slaughtered hogs about twenty were deposited, along with a +large quantity of yams, at the grave of the deceased Tooitonga. The rest +of the provisions were shared out in definite proportions among the +gods, the king, the divine chief (the living Tooitonga), the inferior +chiefs, and the people, so that every man in the island of Tongataboo +got at least a mouthful of pork and yam. The ceremony concluded with +dancing, wrestling, and other sports, after which every person retired +to his home with his portion of food to share it with his family. The +hogs and yams deposited at the dead Tooitonga's grave were left lying +till the pork stank and the yams were rotten, whereupon the living +Tooitonga ordered that they should be distributed to all who chose to +apply for a portion. In strict law they belonged to the principal +chiefs, but as these persons were accustomed to feed on meat in a rather +less advanced stage of decomposition they kindly waived their claims to +the putrid pork and rotten yams in favour of the lower orders, who were +less nice in their eating.[235] + + [234] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220. + + [235] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 112 _sq._, 120-126, ii. + 220. + +It was customary that the chief widow of the Tooitonga should be +strangled and interred with his dead body.[236] But the practice of +strangling a wife at her husband's funeral was not limited to the widows +of the Tooitongas. A similar sacrifice seems to have been formerly +offered at the obsequies of a king; for at the funeral of King Moomöoe +the first missionaries to Tonga saw two of the king's widows being led +away to be strangled.[237] + + [236] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 135, 209 _sq._, 214. + + [237] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 240. + +The funeral and mourning customs which we have passed in review serve to +illustrate the Tongan conceptions of the soul and of its survival after +death. The strangling of widows was probably intended here as elsewhere +to despatch their spirits to attend their dead husbands in the spirit +land;[238] and the deposition of valuable property in the grave can +hardly have had, at least in origin, any other object than to ensure the +comfort of the departed in the other world, and incidentally, perhaps, +to remove from him any temptation to return to his sorrowing friends in +this world for the purpose of recovering the missing articles. The +self-inflicted wounds and bruises of the mourners were clearly intended +to impress the ghost with the sincerity of their regret at his departure +from this sublunary scene; if any doubt could linger in our minds as to +the intention of these extravagant proceedings, it would be set at rest +by the words with which, as we have seen, the mourners accompanied +them, calling on the dead man to witness their voluntary tortures and to +judge for himself of the genuineness of their sorrow. In this connexion +it is to be borne in mind that all dead noblemen, in the opinion of the +Tongans, were at once promoted to the rank of deities; so that it was in +their power to visit any disrespect to their memory and any defalcation +of their dues with the double terror of ghosts and of gods. No wonder +that the Tongans sought to keep on good terms with such mighty beings by +simulating, when they did not feel, a sense of the irreparable loss +which the world had sustained by their dissolution. + + [238] This was the reason assigned for the strangling of widows + at their husband's funeral in Fiji. See John Williams, + _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, + pp. 478 _sq._ + + +§ 12. _The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion_ + +Surveyed as a whole, the Tongan religion presents a singular instance of +a creed which restricted the hope of immortality to the nobly born and +denied it to commoners. According to the doctrine which it inculcated, +the aristocratic pre-eminence accorded to chiefs in this world was more +than maintained by them in the next, where they enjoyed a monopoly of +immortality. And not content with sojourning in the blissful regions of +Bolotoo, their departed spirits often returned to earth to warn, to +direct, to threaten their people, either in dreams and visions of the +night, or by the mouth of the priests whom they inspired. Such beliefs +involved in theory and to some extent in practice a subjection of the +living to the dead, of the seen and temporal to the unseen and eternal. +In favour of the creed it may at least be alleged that, while it looked +to spiritual powers, whether ghosts or gods, for the reward of virtue +and the punishment of vice, it did not appeal to another life to redress +the balance of justice which had been disturbed in this one. The Tongan +religion inculcated a belief that the good and the bad alike receive a +recompense here on earth, thus implicitly repudiating the unworthy +notion that men can only be lured or driven into the narrow way of +righteousness by the hope of heaven or the fear of hell. So far the +creed based morality on surer foundations than any faith which would +rest the ultimate sanctions of conduct on the slippery ground of +posthumous rewards and punishments. In this respect, if in no other, we +may compare the Tongan religion to that of the Hebrew prophets. It has +been rightly observed by Renan that whereas European races in general +have found in the assurance of a life to come ample compensation for the +iniquities of this present life, the Hebrew prophets never appeal to +rewards and punishments reserved for a future state of existence. They +were not content with the conception of a lame and laggard justice that +limps far behind the sinner in this world and only overtakes him in the +next. According to them, God's justice is swift and sure here on earth; +an unjust world was in their eyes a simple monstrosity.[239] So too, +apparently, thought the Tongans, and some Europeans may be inclined to +agree with them. + + [239] E. Renan, _Histoire du peuple d'Israël_, ii. 505. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS + + +§ 1. _The Samoan Islands_ + +About three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles nearly due north of +Tonga lies Samoa, a group of islands situated between 13° 30' and 14° +30' South latitude and between 168° and 173° West longitude. The native +name of the group is Samoa, which has this singularity, that it is +apparently the only name that designates a group of islands in the +Pacific; native names for all the other groups are wanting, though each +particular island has its own individual name. Samoa is also known to +Europeans as the Navigators' Islands, a name bestowed on them by the +French explorer De Bougainville, who visited the group in 1768. The +three most easterly islands were discovered in 1722 by Jacob Roggewein, +a Dutch navigator, but he appears not to have sighted the principal +islands of the group, which lie a good deal farther to the westward. +There is no record of any visit paid by a European vessel to the islands +in the interval between the visits of Roggewein and De Bougainville. The +whole archipelago was not explored till 1787, when the French navigator +La Pérouse determined the position of all the islands.[1] + + [1] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), ii. 117; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_ (London, 1897), pp. 21 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p. 500; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 1, 360. + +The islands are disposed in a line running from west to east. The most +westerly, Savaii, is also the largest, measuring about forty miles in +length. Next follow two small, but important islands, Apolima and +Manona. Then about three miles to the east of Manona comes Upolu, the +second of the islands in size, but the first in importance, whether we +regard population, harbours, or the extent of soil available for +cultivation. The channel which divides Upolu from Savaii is from fifteen +to twenty miles broad. About forty miles to the east, or rather +south-east, of Upolu lies the island of Tutuila, with the fine and +almost landlocked harbour of Pangopango. It was in this island that the +French navigator La Pérouse lost his second in command and twelve men in +a fierce encounter with the natives. The place where the fight took +place is now known as Massacre Cove.[2] Some fifty miles to the east of +Tutuila is situated a group of three small islands, Tau, Ofu, and +Olosenga, which are collectively known as Manua. + + [2] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 27 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 500, 504. + +The islands are of volcanic formation and for the most part surrounded +by coral reefs, but the intervening seas are quite free from danger, and +the possession of good harbours renders Samoa politically important. +Viewed from the sea the islands are mountainous and for the most part +wooded to the water's edge, except where a stretch of fertile plain is +interposed between the foot of the mountains and the sea. The whole +group presents to the voyager a succession of enchanting views as he +sails along the coast. The eye is delighted by the prospect of lofty and +rugged mountains, their tops sometimes lost in clouds, their slopes +mantled in the verdure of evergreen forests, varied here and there by +rich valleys, by grey and lofty cliffs, or by foaming waterfalls +tumbling from heights of hundreds of feet and showing like silvery +threads against the sombre green of the woods. Along the shore rocks of +black lava alternate with white sands dazzling in the sunlight and +fringed by groves of coco-nut palms, their feathery tops waving and +dancing in the breeze, while the brilliant cobalt blue of the calm +lagoon contrasts with the olive-green of the deep sea, which breaks in a +long line of seething foam on the barrier reef. The scenery as a whole +combines romantic grandeur with wild and rank luxuriance, thus winning +for Samoa the reputation of being among the loveliest of the islands +which stud like gems the bosom of the Pacific.[3] + + [3] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 110; T. H. + Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western + Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 40; J. L. Brenchley, _Jottings + during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among the South Sea + Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), pp. 37-39, 61 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; John B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 26 _sqq._ + +The island of Upolu in particular is wooded from its summit to the +water's edge, where in some places the roots of the trees are washed by +the surf, while in many places clumps of mangrove trees spread out into +the lagoon. The forests are dense and more sombre even than those of +Brazil. The lofty trees shoot up to a great height before sending out +branches. At their feet grow ferns of many sorts, while climbing vines +and other creepers mantle their trunks and sometimes even their tops. +But the gloom of the tropical forest is seldom or never relieved by +flowers of brilliant tints; the few flowers that bloom in them are of a +white or greyish hue, as if bleached for want of the sunbeams, which are +shut out by the thick umbrageous foliage overhead.[4] + + [4] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._, 52 _sq._ + +Very different from the aspect presented by this luxuriant vegetation is +a great part of the interior of Savaii, the largest island of the group. +Here the desolate and forbidding character of the landscape constantly +reminds the traveller of the dreadful forces which slumber beneath his +feet. Extinct volcanoes tower above him to heights of four and five +thousand feet, their steep and almost perpendicular sides formed of +volcanic ashes and denuded of vegetation. For miles around these gloomy +peaks the ground presents nothing to the eye but black rocks, scoriae, +and ashes; the forlorn wayfarer seems to be traversing a furnace barely +extinguished, so visible are the traces of fire on the sharp-pointed +stones among which he picks his painful way, and which in their twisted +and tormented forms seem still to preserve something of the movement of +the once boiling flood of molten lava. The whole country is a barren +and waterless wilderness, a solitude destitute alike of animal and of +vegetable life, alternately parched by the fierce rays of the tropical +sun and deluged by hurricanes of torrential rain. Even the natives +cannot traverse these dreary deserts; a European who strayed into them +was found, after five or six days, prostrate and almost dead on the +ground.[5] + + [5] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 71 _sq._; + F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + Old Samoa, p. 34; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 1 + _sqq._ + +In Samoa, as in Tonga, volcanic activity has ominously increased within +less than a hundred years. Near the island of Olosenga, in 1866 or 1867, +a submarine volcano suddenly burst out in eruption, vomiting forth rocks +and mud to a height, as it was estimated, of two thousand feet, killing +the fish and discolouring the sea for miles round.[6] Still later, +towards the end of 1905, another volcano broke out in the bottom of a +deep valley in the island of Savaii, and rose till it attained a height +of about four thousand feet. Down at least to the year 1910 this immense +volcano was still in full action, and had covered many miles of country +under a bed of lava some ten or twelve feet thick, while with the same +river of molten matter it completely filled up the neighbouring lagoon +and replaced the level shore by an iron-bound coast of volcanic +cliffs.[7] + + [6] F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ ii. 504; J. B. + Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 43. + + [7] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 3. + +A remarkable instance of these volcanic cliffs is furnished by the +little island of Apolima between Savaii and Upolu. The islet, which is +in fact the crater of an extinct volcano, is only about a mile long by +half to three-quarters of a mile in width. On every side but one it +presents to the sea a precipitous wall of basaltic rock some thousand +feet high, while the interior is scooped out in the likeness of a great +cauldron. Only at one place is there a break in the cliffs where a +landing can be effected, and there the operation is difficult and +dangerous even in fine weather. In bad weather the island is completely +isolated. Thus it forms a strong natural fortress, which under the +conditions of native warfare was almost impregnable.[8] + + [8] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 33 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 171. + +As might be expected from their volcanic formation, the islands are +subject to frequent and sometimes severe shocks of earthquake. The +veteran missionary, J. B. Stair, has recorded that the shocks increased +in number and violence during the last years of his residence in Samoa. +The last of them was preceded by loud subterranean noises, which lasted +for hours, to the great alarm of the natives. At the north-west of Upolu +also, Mr. Stair used often to hear a muffled sound, like the rumble of +distant thunder, proceeding apparently from the sea under the reef. This +curious noise always occurred on hot, sultry days, and seemed to strike +a note of warning, which filled natives and Europeans alike with a sense +of awe and insecurity.[9] Thus if, beheld from some points of view, the +Samoan islands appear an earthly paradise, from others they present the +aspect, and emit the sounds, of an inferno. + + [9] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in + the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 145; J. B. Stair, + _op. cit._ pp. 41 _sq._ + +And with all their natural beauty and charm the islands cannot be said +to enjoy a healthy climate. There is much bad weather, particularly +during the winter months, when long and heavy rains, attended at times +with high winds and gales, are frequent. The air is more moist than in +Tahiti, and the vegetation in consequence is more rank and luxuriant. +Decaying rapidly under the ardent rays of a tropical sun, it exhales a +poisonous miasma. But the heat, oppressive and exhausting at times, is +nevertheless tempered by the sea and land breezes, which blow daily, +alternating with intervals of calm between them. Besides these daily +breezes the trade wind blows regularly from the east during the fine +season, when the sky is constantly blue and cloudless. Yet with all +these alleviations the climate is enervating, and a long residence in it +is debilitating to the European frame.[10] Nor are the natives exempt +from the noxious effects of an atmosphere saturated with moisture and +impregnated with the fumes of vegetable decay. The open nature of their +dwellings, which were without walls, exposed them to the heavy night +dews and rendered them susceptible to diseases of the chest and lungs, +from which they suffered greatly; consumption in its many forms, coughs, +colds, inflammation of the chest and lungs, fevers, rheumatism, +pleurisy, diarrh[oe]a, lumbago, diseases of the spine, scrofula, and +many other ailments are enumerated among the disorders which afflicted +them. But the prevailing disease is elephantiasis, a dreadful malady +which attacks Europeans and natives alike. There are many cases of +epilepsy, and though idiots are rare, lunatics are less infrequent. +Hunchbacks are very common in both sexes, and virulent ophthalmia is +prevalent; many persons lose the sight of one eye, and some are totally +blinded; not less than a fifth part of the population is estimated to +suffer from this malady.[11] Curiously enough, hunchbacks, who are said +to be very numerous on account of scrofula, used to be looked on as +special favourites of the spirits, and many of them, on growing to +manhood, were accordingly admitted to the priesthood.[12] + + [10] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 118; Violette, "Notes d'un + Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72 (who, however, affirms that the + climate is not unhealthy); T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in + H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 144 + _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 16, 35 _sqq._ + + [11] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 124 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, + pp. 165 _sq._, 169 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 180 _sqq._ + + [12] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 622. + +During the stormy season, which lasts from December to April, hurricanes +sometimes occur, and are greatly dreaded by the natives on account of +the havoc which they spread both among the crops and the houses. A +steady rain, the absence of the sun, a deathlike stillness of the birds +and domestic animals, and above all the dark and lowering aspect of the +sky, are the premonitory symptoms of the coming calamity and inspire +general consternation, while the thunderous roar of the torrents and +waterfalls in the mountains strike on the ear with redoubled +distinctness in the prevailing silence which preludes the storm. Warned +by these ominous signs, the natives rush to secure their property from +being swept away by the fury of the blast. Some hurry their canoes +inland to places of comparative safety; others pile trunks of +banana-trees on the roofs of their houses or fasten down the roofs by +hanging heavy stones over them; while yet others bring rough poles, +hastily cut in the forest, and set them up inside the houses as props +against the rafters, to prevent the roof from falling in. Sometimes +these efforts are successful, sometimes futile, the hurricane sweeping +everything before it in its mad career, while the terrified natives +behold the fruits of months of toil, sometimes the growth of years, laid +waste in an hour. On such occasions the shores have been seen flooded by +the invading ocean, houses carried clean away, and a forest turned +suddenly into a bare and treeless plain. Men have been forced to fling +themselves flat on the ground and to dig their hands into the earth to +save themselves from being whirled away and precipitated into the sea or +a torrent. In April 1850 the town of Apia, the capital of the islands, +was almost destroyed by one of these cyclones. When the rage of the +tornado is spent and calm has returned, the shores of a harbour are apt +to present a melancholy scene of ruin and desolation, their shores +strewn with the wrecks of gallant ships which lately rode there at +anchor, their pennons streaming to the wind. So it happened in the +harbour of Apia on March 16th, 1889. Before the tempest burst, there +were many ships of various nations anchored in the bay, among them five +or six American and German warships. When it was over, all were wrecked +and their shattered fragments littered the reefs. One vessel alone, the +British man-of-war, _Calliope_, was saved by the courage and skill of +the captain, who, seconded by the splendid seamanship of the crew, +forced his ship, in the very teeth of the hurricane, out into the open +sea, where he safely weathered the storm.[13] + + [13] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 72; Violette, "Notes d'un + Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _Australasia_, ii. 504; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 38-41. + +A special interest attaches to Samoa in so far as it is now commonly +believed to be the original seat of the Polynesian race in the Pacific, +from which their ancestors gradually dispersed to the other islands of +that vast ocean, where their descendants are settled to this day. +Polynesian traditions point to such a dispersal from Samoa as a centre, +and they are confirmed by the name which the various branches of the +race give to their old ancestral home. The original form of that name +appears to have been Savaiki, which through dialectical variations has +been altered to Hawaiki in New Zealand, to Hawaii in the Sandwich +Islands, to Havaii in Tahiti, to Havaiki in the Marquesas, and to Avaiki +in Rarotonga. In the Samoan dialect, which of all the Polynesian +dialects alone retains the letter S, the word presumably appears as +Savaii, the name of the largest island of the group, which accordingly +may be regarded, with some probability, as the cradle-land of the +Polynesians in the Pacific; though native traditions indicate rather +Upolu or Manua as the place from which the canoes started on their long +and adventurous voyages. On the other hand in favour of Savaii it has +been pointed out that the island holds a decided superiority over the +other islands of the group in respect of canoe-building; for it +possesses extensive forests of hard and durable timber, which is much +sought after for the keels and other parts of vessels; indeed, the large +sea-going canoes were generally, if not always, built on Savaii, and +maritime expeditions appear sometimes to have started from its +shores.[14] In proof that the Samoans have long been settled in the +islands which they now occupy, it may be alleged that they appear to +have no tradition of any other home from which their ancestors migrated +to their present abode. With the single exception of a large village +called Matautu in Savaii, the inhabitants of which claim that they came +originally from Fiji, all the Samoans consider themselves +indigenous.[15] The Samoans and Tongans, says Mr. S. Percy Smith, +"formed part of the first migration into the Pacific, and they have +been there so long that they have forgotten their early history. All the +numerous legends as to their origin seem to express their own belief in +their being autochthones, created in the Samoan Islands."[16] + + [14] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the + United States Exploring Expedition_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. + 119 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 102 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 271 _sqq._ (compare _id._ p. 34 as to the + timber and canoe-building of Savaii); G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 358, 371 _sq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings + of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and + Present_ (Cambridge, 1920), p. 552. That the Samoan language, + alone of the Polynesian dialects, retains the S sound, is + affirmed by Ch. Wilkes (_Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 123). In some of the islands the name + of the ancient fatherland of the race (Hawaiki, etc.) has been + applied or transferred to the spirit-land to which the souls of + the dead are supposed to pass as their final abode. See S. Percy + Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 46 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Hawaiki." + + [15] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 360 + _sq._ As to the Fijian colony in Savaii, compare T. H. Hood, + _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ + (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 117 _sq._ + + [16] S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 114 _sq._ + + +§ 2. _The Samoan Islanders, their character_ + +In spite of the many diseases prevalent among them, the Samoans are +commonly reckoned among the finest, as well as the purest, specimens of +the Polynesian race. Like the Tongans, whom they closely resemble, they +are generally tall and shapely, with full rounded faces and limbs, but +without that grossness and laxity of fibre common in the Tahitians. The +average height of the men is said to be five feet ten inches, but some +of them are over six feet with the thews and sinews of a Hercules. Their +features, though not always regular, are commonly pleasing; and in +particular the forehead is remarkable for its ample development, which, +with the breadth between the eyes, gives to the countenance an +expression of nobleness and dignity. Some of the young men especially +are models of manly beauty; we read of one who, having decked his hair +with the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an +Antinous. The women are comely enough, but strikingly inferior to the +men in point of personal beauty. The prevailing colour is a light copper +or olive brown, but the shade varies a good deal, deepening somewhat in +fishermen and others who are much exposed to the sun; but it never +approaches the dark chocolate tint, or Vandyke brown, of the +Melanesians. Their hair is usually black and wavy, sometimes curly; but +hardly a vestige is to be seen among them of the crisped and woolly hair +and dusky complexion of the Melanesians, their neighbours on the +west.[17] + + [17] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the + United States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 10 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 125 + _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of + the Western Pacific_, pp. 41, 51; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln + des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, 1875-1876), ii. 110 _sq._; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, p. 3; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 58; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 55 _sq._ + +The prepossessing appearance of the Samoans on the whole does not belie +their character. They are reputed to be the most refined and civilised +of all the native races of the Pacific, and this superiority is said to +manifest itself in their social and domestic life.[18] The Samoans, we +are told, are a nation of gentlemen and contrast most favourably with +the generality of the Europeans who come among them.[19] They are said +to carry their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than +the most fastidious of civilised nations;[20] and the Samoan women +appear to be honourably distinguished by their modest behaviour and +fidelity in marriage, qualities which contrast with the profligacy of +their sex in other branches of the Polynesian race.[21] Equally +honourable to the men are the respect and kindness which, according to +the testimony of observers, they pay to their women, whom they are said +to regard as their equals.[22] The aged were treated with respect and +never abandoned; and strangers were always received in the best house +and provided with food specially prepared for them.[23] Infanticide, +which was carried to an appalling and almost incredible extent among +some of the Polynesians,[24] was unknown in Samoa; abortion, indeed, was +not uncommon, but once born children were affectionately cared for and +never killed or exposed.[25] Wives and slaves were never put to death at +a chief's burial, that their souls might attend their dead lord to the +spirit land[26], as was the practice in some of the other islands, even +in Tonga. Again, human sacrifices were not offered by the Samoans to the +gods within the time during which the islands have been under the +observation of Europeans; but in some of the more remote traditions +mention is made of such sacrifices offered to the sun. Thus it is said +that in the mythical island of Papatea, somewhere away in the east, the +sun used to call for two victims every day, one at his rising and +another at his setting. This lasted for eighty days. At such a rate of +consumption the population of the island was rapidly wasting away. To +escape the threatened doom, a brother and sister, named Luama and Ui, +fled from Papatea to Manua, the most easterly of the Samoan islands, but +they found to their consternation that there too, the sun was demanding +his daily victims. Every house had to supply a victim in succession, +and, when all had yielded the tribute, it came to the first house in +turn to renew the sacrifice. The victim was laid out on a pandanus tree, +and there the sun devoured him or her. When the lot fell on Luama, his +heroic sister Ui insisted on taking his place, and lying down, she +cried, "O cruel sun! come and eat your victim, we are all being devoured +by you." But the amorous sun fell in love with her and took her to wife, +at the same time putting an end to the human sacrifices. Another story +affirms that the heroine was a daughter of the King of Manua, and that +he yielded her up as an offering to the sun in order to end the +sacrifices by making her the saviour of the people.[27] + + [18] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 634. + + [19] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in + the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 59 _sq._ + + [20] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 110 + + [21] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 125; J. E. Erskine, + _op. cit._ p. 110 + + [22] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 148; Violette, " Notes + d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 156; J. L. Brenchley, _op. cit._ p. + 77; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 628 _sq._; G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. + 43, 410. + + [23] G. Brown, _op. cit._ p. 410. + + [24] For some evidence of the practice see John + Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp. 363 + _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich + Islands_ (London, 1828), pp. 251 _sqq._; P. Dillon, _Voyage in + the South Seas_ (London, 1829), ii. 134; William Ellis, + _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. + 248 _sqq._; J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in + the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 479-486. According to + Stewart, in those parts of Hawaii to which the influence of the + missionaries had not penetrated, two-thirds of the infants born + were murdered by their parents within the age of two years. In + Tahiti three women, questioned by Mr. Williams, acknowledged + that they had killed twenty-one of their children between them. + Another, at the point of death, confessed to him, in an anguish + of remorse, that she had destroyed sixteen of her children. + + [25] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79. Compare J. Williams, + _op. cit._ p. 479; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 621; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 47. + + [26] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 219. + + [27] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 201 _sq._ Compare G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 230 _sq._; J. + Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea + Islands_, p. 471; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 210. + +The Samoans, when they became known to Europe in the nineteenth century, +did not habitually indulge in cannibalism; indeed, according to John +Williams, one of the earliest missionaries to the islands, they spoke of +the practice with great horror and detestation.[28] But we have the +testimony of other early missionaries that in their wars they +occasionally resorted to it as a climax of hatred and revenge, devouring +some portion of an enemy who had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious +by his cruelty or his provocations. Traditions, too, are on record of +chiefs who habitually killed and devoured their fellow-creatures. A form +of submission which a conquered party used to adopt towards their +conquerors has also been interpreted as a relic of an old custom of +cannibalism. Representatives of the vanquished party used to bow down +before the victors, each holding in his hands a piece of firewood and a +bundle of leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven. This +was as much as to say, "Kill us and cook us, if you please." Criminals, +too, were sometimes bound hand and foot, slung on a pole, and laid down +before the persons they had injured, like pigs about to be killed and +cooked. Combining these and other indications we may surmise that +cannibalism was formerly not infrequent among the ancestors of the +Samoans, though among their descendants in the nineteenth century the +practice had almost wholly died out.[29] It is further to the credit of +the Samoans that their public administration of justice was on the whole +mild and humane. Torture was never employed to wring the truth from +witnesses or the accused, and there seems to be only a single case on +record of capital punishment inflicted by judicial sentence. At the same +time private individuals were free to avenge the adultery of a wife or +the murder of a kinsman by killing the culprit, and no blame attached to +them for so doing. The penalties imposed by the sentence of a court or +judicial assembly (_fono_) included fines, banishment, and the +destruction of houses, fruit-trees, and domestic animals. But a criminal +might also be condemned by a court to suffer corporal punishment in one +form or another. He might, for example, be obliged to wound himself by +beating his head and chest with a stone till the blood flowed freely; if +he seemed to spare himself, he would be ordered by the assembled chiefs +to strike harder, and if he still faltered, the prompt and unsparing +application of a war club to his person effectually assisted the +execution of the sentence. Again, he might be condemned to bite a +certain acrid and poisonous root (called in the native language _tevi_) +which caused the mouth to swell and the culprit to suffer intense agony +for a considerable time afterwards. Or he might have to throw up a spiny +and poisonous fish into the air and to catch it in his naked hand as it +fell; the sharp-pointed spines entered into the flesh and inflicted +acute pain and suffering. Or he might be suspended by hands and feet +from a pole and in this attitude exposed to the broiling sun for many +hours together; or he might be hung by the feet, head downward, from the +top of a tall coco-nut tree and left there to expiate his crime for a +long time. For certain offences the culprit was condemned to have his +nose tattooed or his ears split. In sentences of banishment the term of +exile was never specified, but when the sentence had been pronounced in +full assembly, and the offence was great, the culprit might live in +exile for years. When the punishment consisted in the destruction of +houses, plantations, and live stock, it was immediately inflicted by the +whole force of the district, under the direction and superintendence of +the leading men, who had taken part in the assembly and passed the +sentence. A whole family might suffer in this way for the offence of one +of its members, and be driven into exile, after witnessing the burning +of their house, the killing of their pigs, and the barking of their +breadfruit trees.[30] If such penalties seem to us in some cases +needlessly severe, they at least testify to a strong sense of public +justice developed among the Samoans, who had thus advanced far enough to +transfer, in some measure, the redress of wrongs to judicial assemblies +instead of leaving it to the caprice of the injured individuals. +Nevertheless the transference was but imperfect: the administration of +justice was loose and irregular: for the most part every man was a law +to himself, and did what was right in his own eyes. An aggrieved party +would become his own judge, jury, and executioner. The thirst for +vengeance was slaked only by the blood of a victim.[31] + + [28] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 456. + + [29] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 108-111; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 149 _sq._, 290; J. E. + Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 39, 101 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 125 _sq._; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 168; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 240 _sq._ + + [30] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 91 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 288-291. Compare Violette, + "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119, 120. + + [31] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 633. + +It is another sign of the intellectual enlightenment of the Samoans that +they rose apparently superior to that system of malignant magic, which +kept their neighbours the Melanesians in lifelong bondage. The +experienced missionary, Dr. George Brown, could not find in Samoa any +trace of the practice of that particular form of the black art with +which he was familiar in New Britain and other Melanesian islands, the +practice of procuring some object which has belonged to an enemy or been +touched by him, and taking it to a sorcerer, that he may perform over it +a ceremony for the purpose of injuring the person from whom the object +has been obtained. The proceeding is one of the commonest forms of +sympathetic magic, but the Samoans appear to have ignored or despised +it.[32] Again, the silence of our authorities on the subject of amulets +and talismans leaves us to infer that the Samoans were equally +indifferent to that branch of magic which seeks to ensure the safety and +prosperity of the individual by attaching a miscellaneous collection of +rubbish to his person, a system of ensurance against evil and misfortune +which has attained a prodigious development among some savages, notably +in Africa,[33] and is very far from being unknown in Europe at the +present day. Again, unlike most savages, the Samoans were close +observers of the stars, not only reckoning the time of night by the +rising of particular stars, but steering by them when they were out of +sight of land.[34] + + [32] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 245. + Compare S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 638. + + [33] See, for example, E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The + Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), i. + 252 _sqq._ + + [34] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 348. + +Against these amiable and enlightened traits in the Samoan character +must be set their cruelty in war. If they opened hostilities with a +great deal of formal politeness, they conducted them with great +ferocity. No quarter was given to men in battle, and captives were +ruthlessly slaughtered. Women were sometimes spared for the use of their +captors. Nor did death save the conquered from the insults and outrages +of the insolent victors. The slain on the battlefield were treated with +great indignity. Their heads were cut off and carried in triumph to the +village, where they were piled up in a heap in the place of public +assembly, the head of the most important chief being given the place of +honour on the top of the pile. However, they were not kept as trophies, +but after remaining for some hours exposed to public gaze were either +claimed by the relatives or buried on the spot. The headless trunks were +given to children to drag about the village and to spear, stone, or +mutilate at pleasure.[35] The first missionary to Samoa was told in +Manua that the victors used to scalp their victims and present the +scalps, with kava, either to the king or to the relatives of the slain +in battle, by whom these gory trophies were highly prized. He mentions +as an example the case of a young woman, whose father had been killed. A +scalp of a foe having been brought to her, she burnt it, strewed the +ashes on the fire with which she cooked her food, and then devoured the +meat with savage satisfaction.[36] But the climax of cruelty and horror +was reached in a great war which the people of A'ana, in Upolu, waged +against a powerful combination of enemies. After a brave resistance they +were at last defeated, and the surviving warriors, together with the +aged and infirm, the women and children, fled to the mountains, where +they endeavoured to hide themselves from their pursuers in the caves and +the depths of the forest. But they were hunted out and brought down to +the seashore; and an immense pit having been dug and filled with +firewood, they were all, men, women, and children, thrown into it and +burnt alive. The dreadful butchery went on for days. Four hundred +victims are said to have perished. The massacre was perpetrated at the +moment when the first missionaries were landing in Samoa. From the +opposite shore they beheld the mountains enveloped in the flames and +smoke of the funeral pile. The decisive battle had been fought that +very morning. For many years a great black circle of charcoal marked the +scene and preserved the memory of the fatal transaction.[37] + + [35] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 456; Ch. Wilkes, _op. + cit._ ii. 150 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian + Reminiscences_, p. 61; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 247 _sqq._; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170, 172 _sq._ Dr. + Brown here speaks as if captive women were regularly spared and + married by the victors. As to the elaborate civilities which + passed between the vanguards of two hostile armies at their + first meeting, see Dr. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 166 _sq._ + + [36] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 458. + + [37] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 286 _sq._, 456; J. B. + Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 254-258. + + +§ 3. _Houses, Agriculture, and Industries_ + +Like all the Polynesians, the Samoans are not nomadic, but live in +settled villages. The typical Samoan house is commonly described as oval +or elliptical, though in fact it would seem to be of oblong shape with +semicircular ends. But many houses were circular in shape, and with +their conical thatched roofs resembled gigantic beehives. From the +Tongans the Samoans also borrowed the custom of building oblong +quadrangular houses, which were called _afolau_. The best houses, in +particular those of important chiefs, were built on raised platforms of +stones about three feet high. One of the circular houses would measure +about thirty-five feet in diameter by a hundred in circumference. Two or +three posts in the centre of the house, some twenty feet high, supported +the roof, the lower end of which rested on a series of short posts, four +or five feet high, placed at intervals of about four feet all round the +house. The intervals between these posts were sometimes closed by thatch +neatly tied to sticks, which were planted upright in the ground and +fastened to the eaves; but more commonly, it would seem, the intervals +between the posts were left open and only closed at night by blinds made +of coco-nut leaves, which could be let down or pulled up like Venetian +blinds. During the day these blinds were drawn up, so that there was a +free current of air all through the house. The roofs of the best houses +were made of bread-fruit wood carefully thatched with leaves of the wild +sugar-cane; when well made, the thatch might last seven years. The +circular roofs were so constructed that they could be lifted clean off +the posts and removed anywhere, either by land or on a raft of canoes. +The whole house could also be transported; and as Samoan houses were +often bartered, or given as presents, or paid as fines, it frequently +happened that they were removed from place to place. In the whole house +there was not a single nail or spike: all joints were made by exactly +corresponding notches and secured by cinnet, that is cordage made from +the dried fibre of the coco-nut husk. The timber of the best houses was +the wood of the bread-fruit tree; and, if protected against damp, it +would last fifty years. The floor of the house was composed of stones, +overlaid with fine gravel and sand. In the centre of the floor was the +fire-place, a circular hollow two or three feet in diameter and a few +inches deep, lined with hardened clay. It was not used for cooking, but +for the purpose of lighting up the house by night. The cooking was never +done in the house, but always in the open air outside on an oven of hot +stones. An ordinary Samoan house consisted of a single apartment, which +served as the common parlour, dining-room, and bedroom of the family. +But at night small tents made of bark-cloth were hung from the +ridge-pole, and under them the various members of the family slept +separately, the tents serving them at the same time as curtains to +protect them against the mosquitoes. Formerly, the houses of the +principal chiefs were surrounded with two fences; the outer of the two +was formed of strong posts and had a narrow zigzag entrance, several +yards long, leading to an opening in the inner fence, which was made of +reeds. But with the advent of a more peaceful epoch these fortified +enclosures for the most part disappeared. Houses constructed on the +Tongan model were often very substantially built: a double row of posts +and cross-beams supported the roof. These houses were found better able +to resist the high winds which prevail at one season of the year.[38] + + [38] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._. ii. 145 _sqq._; J. E. + Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 45-47; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in + H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 32; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 152 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 634 _sq._; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa,_ pp. 105 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 24 _sqq._ + +Like the rest of the Polynesians, the Samoans are an agricultural +people, and subsist mainly by the fruits of the earth, though the +lagoons and reefs furnish them with a large supply of fish and +shell-fish, of which they are very fond. They all, but especially +persons of rank, occasionally regaled themselves on pigs, fowls, and +turtle. But bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, and coco-nuts formed the +staff of life in Samoa. As the soil is very rich and the hot, damp +climate is eminently favourable to the growth of vegetation, food was +always abundant, and the natives could procure the necessaries and even +the luxuries of life at the cost of very little labour; if they tilled +the soil, it was rather to vary their diet than to wring a scanty +subsistence from a niggardly nature. Coco-nut palms, bread-fruit and +chestnut trees, and wild yams, bananas, and plantains abound throughout +the islands, and require little attention to make them yield an ample +crop. For about half the year the Samoans have a plentiful supply of +food from the bread-fruit trees: during the other half they depend +principally upon their taro plantations. While the bread-fruit is in +season, every family lays up a quantity of the ripe fruit in a pit lined +with leaves and covered with stones. The fruit soon ferments and forms a +soft mass, which emits a very vile smell every time the pit is opened. +In this state it may be kept for years, for the older and more rotten +the fruit is, the better the natives like it. They bake it, with the +juice of the coco-nut, into flat cakes, which are eaten when the ripe +fruit is out of season or when taro is scarce. For taro is on the whole +the staple food of the Samoans; it grows all the year round. The water +of the coco-nut furnishes a cool, delicious, slightly effervescing +beverage, which is peculiarly welcome to the hot and weary wayfarer far +from any spring or rivulet.[39] + + [39] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 147; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 126-128; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 87 _sq._; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 105-107; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 53-55; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._ According + to Dr. Brown, there are generally three crops of bread-fruit in + the year, one of them lasting about three months. + +To obtain land for cultivation the Samoans went into the forest and cut +down the brushwood and creeping vines with small hatchets or large +knives. The large forest-trees they destroyed by chopping away the bark +in a circle round the trunk and then kindling a fire of brushwood at the +foot of the tree. Thus in the course of a few days a fair-sized piece of +ground would be cleared, nothing of the forest remaining but charred +trunks and leafless branches. Then followed the planting. The +agricultural instruments employed were of the simplest pattern. A +dibble, or pointed stick of hard wood, was used to make the hole in +which the plant was deposited. This took the place of a plough, and a +branch served the purpose of a harrow. Sometimes the earth was dug and +smoothed with the blade of a canoe paddle. The labour of clearing and +planting the ground was done by the men, but the task of weeding it +generally devolved on the women. The first crop taken from a piece of +land newly cleared in the forest was yams, which require a peculiar +culture and frequent change of site, two successive crops being seldom +obtained from the same land. After the first crop of yams had been +cleared off, taro was planted several times in succession; for this root +does not, like yams, require a change of site. However, we are told that +a second crop of taro grown on the same land was very inferior to the +first, and that as a rule the land was allowed to remain fallow until +the trees growing on it were as thick as a man's arm, when it was again +cleared for cultivation. In the wet season taro was planted on the high +land from one to four miles inland from the village; other kinds of taro +were planted in the swamps, and these were considered more succulent +than the taro grown on the uplands. The growing crops of taro were +weeded at least twice a year. The natives resorted to irrigation, when +they had the means; and they often dug trenches to drain away the water +from swampy ground. Yams also required attention; for sticks had to be +provided on which the plants could run. The fruit ripens only once a +year, but it was stored up, and with care would keep till the next +season. The natives found neither yams nor bread-fruit so nourishing as +taro.[40] + + [40] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 188; S. + Ella, _op. cit._ p. 635; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._, 338 + _sqq._ + +The degree of progress which any particular community has made in +civilisation may be fairly gauged by the degree of subdivision of labour +among its members; for it is only by restricting his energies to a +particular craft that a man can attain to any perfection in it. Judged +by this standard the Samoans had advanced some way on the road to +civilisation, since among them the division of labour was carried out to +a considerable extent: in their native state they had not a few separate +trades or professions, some of which may even be said to have developed +the stability and organisation of trade guilds. Among them, for example, +house-building, canoe-building, tattooing, and the making of nets and +fish-hooks were distinct crafts, which, though not strictly hereditary, +were usually confined to particular families. Thus by long practice and +experience handed down from generation to generation a considerable +degree of skill was acquired, and a considerable degree of reputation +accrued to the family. Every trade had its particular patron god and was +governed by certain well-known rules. The members formed, indeed, we are +told, a trade union which was remarkably effective. Thus they had rules +which prescribed the time and proportions of payment to be made at +different stages of the work, and these rules were strictly observed and +enforced by the workmen. For example, in the house-building trade, it +was a standing custom that after the sides and one end of a house were +finished, the principal part of the payment should be made. If the +carpenters were dissatisfied with the amount of payment, they simply +left off work and walked away, leaving the house unfinished, and no +carpenter in the whole length and breadth of Samoa would dare to finish +it, for it would have been as much as his business or even his life was +worth to undertake the job. Anyone so foolhardy as thus to set the rules +of the trade at defiance would have been attacked by the other workmen +and robbed of his tools; at the best he would receive a severe +thrashing, at the worst he might be killed. A house might thus stand +unfinished for months or even years. Sooner or later, if he was to have +a roof over his head, the unfortunate owner had to yield to the trade +union and agree to such terms as they might dictate. If it happened that +the house was almost finished before the fourth and final payment was +made, and the builder at that stage of the proceedings took offence, he +would remove a beam from the roof before retiring in dudgeon, and no +workman would dare to replace it. The rules in the other trades, such +as canoe-building and tattooing, were practically the same. In +canoe-building, for example, five separate payments were made to the +builders at five stages of the work; and if at any stage the workmen +were dissatisfied with the pay, they very unceremoniously abandoned the +work until the employer apologised or came to terms. No other party of +workmen would have the temerity to finish the abandoned canoe upon pain +of bringing down on their heads the wrath of the whole fraternity of +canoe-builders; any such rash offenders against the rules of the guild +would be robbed of their tools, expelled from their clan, and prohibited +from exercising their calling during the pleasure of the guild. Such +strides had the Samoans made in the direction of trade unionism.[41] + + [41] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 157 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 141 _sqq._, 145 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._, + 157 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 268, + 305-308. Compare Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 143 _sqq._; + Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 134 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 635 + _sq._ + +In addition to their household duties women engaged in special work of +their own, particularly in the manufacture of bark-cloths and of fine +mats; but among them there seems to have been no subdivision of labour +and consequently no professional guilds. In all families the making of +bark-cloth and mats was carried on by the women indifferently, though +some no doubt excelled others in the skill of their handiwork. The cloth +was made from the bark of the paper-mulberry (_Morus papyrifera_), which +was beaten out on boards with a grooved beetle. The sound of these +beetles ringing on the boards, though not very musical, was a familiar +sound in a Samoan village. The fine mats, on the manufacture of which +the Samoans particularly prided themselves, were worn as dresses on +ceremonial occasions. They were made from the leaves of a large plant +which the natives call _lau ie_; the leaves closely resemble those of +the pandanus, but are larger. These mats were of a straw or cream +colour, and were sometimes fringed with tufts of scarlet feathers of the +paroquet. They were thin and almost as flexible as calico. Many months, +sometimes even years, were spent over the making of a single mat. +Another kind of fine mat was made from the bark of a plant of the nettle +tribe (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_), which grows wild over the islands. Mats +of the latter sort were shaggy on one side, and, being bleached white, +resembled fleecy sheep-skins. These fine mats, especially those made +from the leaves of the pandanus-like plant, were considered by the +Samoans to be their most valuable property; they were handed down as +heirlooms from father to son, and were so much coveted that wars were +sometimes waged to obtain possession of them. The pedigrees of the more +famous mats, particularly those fringed with red feathers, were +carefully kept, and when they changed hands, their history was related +with solemn precision. Age enhanced their value; and their tattered +condition, deemed a proof of antiquity, rather added to than detracted +from the estimation in which they were held. The wealth of a family +consisted of its mats; with them it remunerated the services of +carpenters, boat-builders, and tattooers. The mats formed, indeed, a +sort of currency or medium of exchange; for while the Samoans were not +in general a trading people, and there was little or no actual buying +and selling among them, there was nevertheless a considerable exchange +of property on many occasions; at marriage, for example, it was +customary for the bride's family to give mats and bark-cloth as her +dowry, while the bridegroom's family provided a house, canoes, and other +articles. But though the fine mats were thus paid away or given in +exchange, they had no fixed negotiable value, and thus did not serve the +purpose of money.[42] + + [42] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 142 _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of + a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 109 + _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 129-132; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 119-121; S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 636; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 143 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 304 _sq._, 305, 315, 434. + + +§ 4. _Rights of Property_ + +In Samoa the rights of private property, both personal and landed, were +fully recognised, but with certain limitations. The lands were owned +alike by chiefs and by heads of families; the laws regulating their +possession were very definite. In no case did the whole of the land +belong to the chiefs. Every family owned portions of land not only in +the village and adjoining gardens, but far away in the unreclaimed +forests of the interior. The title, which passed by inheritance, +generally vested in the family; but the family was represented by the +head, who often claimed the right to dispose of it by sale or otherwise. +Yet he dared not do anything without consulting all concerned; were he +to persist in thwarting the wishes of the rest, they would take his +title from him and give it to another. Sometimes, however, the title to +landed property vested in individual owners. The legitimate heir was the +oldest surviving brother, but occasionally he waived his right in favour +of one of the sons. Women might hold land when the male side of a family +was extinct. The boundaries of land were well defined, being marked by +pathways, natural limits, such as a river, or by trenches and stones +half buried in the ground. Every inch of ground had its owner, even to +the tops of the mountains. Trespass by a neighbouring village would be +resisted, if necessary, by force of arms.[43] + + [43] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 176 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 287 _sq._, 314, 339. + +In regard to personal property it may be said that, like landed +property, it belonged rather to the family than to the individual; for +no Samoan could refuse to give, without an equivalent, anything which +any member of his family asked for. In this way boats, tools, garments, +and so forth passed freely from hand to hand. Nay, a man could enter the +plantation of a relative and help himself to the fruit without asking +the owner's leave; such an appropriation was not considered to be +stealing. Under this communistic system, as it has been called, +accumulation of property was scarcely possible, and industry was +discouraged. Why should a diligent man toil when he knew that the fruit +of his labour might all be consumed by lazy kinsfolk? He might lay out a +plantation of bananas, and when they were full-grown, bunch after bunch +might be plucked and eaten by his less industrious relations, until, +exasperated beyond endurance, the unfortunate owner would cut down all +the remaining trees. No matter how hard a man worked, he could not keep +his earnings; they all soon passed out of his hands into the common +stock of the clan. The system, we are told, ate like a canker-worm at +the roots of individual and national progress.[44] + + [44] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 160 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 247, 262 _sq._, 434. + + +§ 5. _Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs_ + +The native government of Samoa was not, like that of Tonga, a +centralised despotism. Under the form of a monarchy and aristocracy the +political constitution was fundamentally republican and indeed +democratic. The authority of the king and chiefs was limited and more or +less nominal; practically Samoa consisted of a large number of petty +independent and self-governing communities, which sometimes combined for +defence or common action in a sort of loose federation.[45] + + [45] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; T. + H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western + Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 118; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173; + S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held at + Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._, 89; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, p. 333. + +To a superficial observer the aristocratic cast of Samoan society might +at first sight seem very marked. The social ranks were sharply divided +from each other, and the inferior orders paid great formal deference to +their superiors. At the head of all ranked the chiefs (_alii_); but even +among them the ordinary chiefs were distinct from the sacred chiefs +(_alii paia_), who enjoyed the highest honours. These sacred chiefs +preserved their pedigrees for twenty or more generations with as great +care as the oldest and proudest families in Europe, and they possessed +many feudal rights and privileges which were as well known and as fully +acknowledged as are, or were, those of any lord of a manor in England. +The task of preserving a record of a chief's pedigrees was entrusted to +his orator or spokesman, who belonged to a lower social rank (that of +the _tulafales_).[46] The influence of chiefs was supported by the +belief that they possessed some magical or supernatural power, by which +they could enforce their decisions.[47] Their persons were sacred or +taboo. They might not be touched by any one. No one might sit beside +them. In the public assemblies a vacant place was left on each side of +the seat of honour which they occupied. Some chiefs were so holy that +they might not even be looked at by day. Their food might not be handed +to them, but was thrown to them, and it was so sacred that no one might +eat any of it which they had left over.[48] + + [46] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Violette, _op. cit._ p. + 168; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, + pp. 283, 430. + + [47] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 431. + + [48] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280, + 283, 285; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168 (as to chiefs too holy to + be seen by day). + +"The sacredness attributed to many chiefs of high rank gave rise to +observances which were irksome to their families and dependents, since +whatever they came in contact with required to undergo the ceremony of +_lulu'u_, or sprinkling with a particular kind of cocoanut-water +(_niu-ui_); both to remove the sanctity supposed to be communicated to +the article or place that had touched the chief, and also to counteract +the danger of speedy death, which was believed to be imminent to any +person who might touch the sacred chief, or anything that he had +touched; so great was the mantle of sanctity thrown around these chiefs, +although unconnected with the priesthood. Thus the spot where such a +chief had sat or slept was sprinkled with water immediately he had left +it, as were also the persons who had sat on either side of him when he +received company, as well as all the attendants who had waited upon him. + +"This remarkable custom was also observed on other occasions. It was +always used on the occasion of deposing a chief, and depriving him of +his _Ao_, or titles, in which case the ceremony was performed by some of +those who had either conferred the titles or had the power to do so. In +the case of O le Tamafainga, the usurper who was killed in A'ana in +1829, his body was first sprinkled with cocoanut-water, and his title of +_O le Tuia'ana_ recalled from him, before he was hewn in pieces. The +ceremony consisted of sprinkling the body with cocoanut-water, and the +officiating chief or _Tulafale_ saying, 'Give us back our _Ao_,' by +which means the title was recalled, and the sacredness attaching to it +was dispelled. It was also used over persons newly tattooed, and upon +those who contaminated themselves by contact with a dead body. In each +of these cases the ceremony was carefully observed, and reverently +attended to, as very dire consequences were considered certain to follow +its omission."[49] Thus the sacredness of a chief was deemed dangerous +to all persons with whom he might come, whether directly or indirectly, +into contact; it was apparently conceived as a sort of electric fluid +which discharged itself, it might be with fatal effect, on whatever it +touched. And the sacredness of a chief was clearly classed with the +uncleanness of a dead body, since contact with a dead body involved the +same dangerous consequences as contact with the sacred person of a chief +and had to be remedied in precisely the same manner. The two conceptions +of holiness and uncleanness, which to us seem opposite and even +contradictory, blend in the idea of taboo, in which both are implicitly +held as it were in solution. It requires the analytic tendency of more +advanced thought to distinguish the two conceptions, to precipitate, as +it were, the components of the solution in the testing-tube of the mind. + + [49] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 127 _sq._ Compare + Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 231, 280, 285. In this work Dr. Brown remarks + (p. 231) that there is no clear explanation of the custom of + sprinkling coco-nut water as a purificatory rite. But the + explanation given by Stair, which I have quoted in the text, is + clear and satisfactory, and elsewhere (p. 285) Dr. Brown + implicitly adopts the same explanation, where he says that the + man who had served kava to a sacred chief "sprinkled himself all + over to wash away the sacredness (_paia_)." + +The profound respect which the Samoans entertained for their chiefs +manifested itself in yet another fashion. A special form of speech was +adopted in addressing a chief, in conversing in his presence, or even in +alluding to him in his absence. Thus there arose what is called a +chiefs' language, or polite diction, which was used exclusively in +speaking to or of a chief, whether the speaker was a common man or a +chief of lower rank. But it was never used by a chief when he was +speaking of himself. Persons of high rank, in addressing others and +alluding to themselves, always employed ordinary language and sometimes +the very lowest terms; so that it was often amusing to listen to +expressions of feigned humility uttered by a proud man, who would have +been indignant indeed if the same terms which he applied to himself had +been applied to him by others. Thus, for example, the actions of +sitting, talking, eating, sleeping, and dying were expressed by +different terms according as the agent was a chief or a common man. The +ordinary word for a house was _fale_; but a chief's house was called +_maota_. The common word for anger was _ita_; the polite term was +_toasa_. To sleep in ordinary language was _moe_, but in polite language +it was _tof[=a]_ or _toá_. To be sick in common speech was _mai_, but in +polite language it was _ngasengase, faatafa, pulu pulusi_. To die was +_mate_ or _pe_ (said of animals), or _oti_ (said of men); but the +courtly expressions for death were _maliu_ ("gone"), _folau_ ("gone on a +voyage"), _fale-lauasi, ngasololo ao_, and a number of others. The terms +substituted in the court language sometimes had a meaning the very +opposite of that borne by the corresponding terms in the ordinary +language. For example, in the court language firewood was called +_polata_, which properly means the stem of the banana plant, a wood that +is incombustible. If the use of an ordinary word in the presence of a +chief were unavoidable, it had to be prefaced by the apologetic phrase +_veaeane_, literally "saving your presence," every time the word was +spoken. Nay, the courtly language itself varied with the rank of the +chief addressed or alluded to. For example, if you wished to say that a +person had come, you would say _alu_ of a common man; _alala_ of a head +of a household or landowner (_tulafale_); _maliu_ of a petty chief; +_susu_ of a chief of the second class; and _afiu_ of a chief of the +highest rank.[50] The same respect which was shown in the use of words +descriptive of a chief's actions or possessions was naturally extended +to his own name, when he belonged to the class of sacred chiefs. If his +name happened to be also the name of a common object, it ceased to be +used to designate the thing in question, and a new word or phrase was +substituted for it. Henceforth the old name of the object was dropped +and might never again be pronounced in the chief's district nor indeed +anywhere in his presence. In one district, for example, the chief's name +was Flying-fox; hence the ordinary word for flying-fox (_re'a_) was +dropped, and that species of bat was known as "bird of heaven" (_manu +langi_).[51] Again, when the chief of Pango-pango, in the island of +Tutuila, was called Maunga, which means "mountain," that word might +never be used in his presence, and a courtly term was substituted for +it.[52] This is only one instance of the ways in which the dialects of +savages tend to vary from each other under the influence of +superstition. + + [50] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 28 _sq._; Violette, "Notes + d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 190; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. + 67 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 380 + _sq._ Compare G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 175. + + [51] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280, + 381. + + [52] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_, p. 44. + +Yet despite the extraordinary deference thus paid to chiefs in outward +show, the authority which they possessed was for the most part very +limited; indeed in the ordinary affairs of life the powers and +privileges of a chief were little more than nominal, and he moved about +among the people and shared their everyday employments just like a +common man. Thus, for example, he would go out with a fishing party, +work in his plantation, help at building a house or a canoe, and even +lend a hand in cooking at a native oven. So strong was the democratic +spirit among the Samoans. The ordinary duties of a chief consisted in +administering the law, settling disputes, punishing transgressors, +appointing feasts, imposing taboos, and leading his people in war. It +was in time of war that a chief's dignity and authority were at their +highest, but even then he could hardly maintain strict discipline.[53] +However, the influence of chiefs varied a good deal and depended in +great measure on their personal character. If besides his hereditary +rank a chief was a man of energy and ability, he might become +practically supreme in his village or district. Some chiefs even used +their power in a very tyrannical manner.[54] + + [53] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 174 _sq._; S. Ella, + "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian + Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart, + Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 631 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286. + + [54] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286. + +But for the abuse of power by their nominal rulers the Samoans had a +remedy at hand. When a chief rendered himself odious to his people by +tyranny and oppression, the householders or gentry (_tulafales_) and +neighbouring chiefs would not uncommonly depose him and transfer his +office to another; in extreme cases they might banish him or even put +him to death. The place of banishment for exiled chiefs was the island +of Tutuila. Thither the fallen potentate was conveyed under custody in a +canoe, and on landing he was made to run the gauntlet between two rows +of the inhabitants, who belaboured him with sticks, pelted him with +stones, or subjected him to other indignities. He was lucky if he +escaped with nothing worse than bruises, for sometimes the injuries +inflicted were severe or actually fatal.[55] Chieftainship was +hereditary in the male line, but did not necessarily pass from father +to son; the usual heir would seem to have been the eldest surviving +brother, and next to him one of the sons. But a dying chief might +nominate his successor, though the final decision rested with the heads +of families. Failing a male heir, a daughter might be appointed to, or +might assume, the prerogative of chieftainship.[56] + + [55] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 28; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, p. 177; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 71 _sqq._ + + [56] Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; G. Turner, _Samoa_, + p. 174; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 631; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 282, 286, 430. + +In addition to their hereditary nobility chiefs might be raised to +higher rank by the possession of titles (_ao_), which were in the gift +of certain ruling towns or villages. When four or, according to another +account, five of these titles were conferred upon a single chief, he was +called _o le tupu_, or King of Samoa. But if the constituencies were not +unanimous in their choice of a candidate, the throne might remain vacant +for long periods. Thus the monarchy of Samoa was elective; the king was +chosen by a hereditary aristocracy, and his powers were tempered by the +rights and privileges of the nobility. Yet under the show of a limited +monarchy the constitution was essentially a federal republic.[57] The +ceremony of anointing a King of Samoa in ancient times appears to have +curiously resembled a similar solemnity in monarchical Europe. It took +place in presence of a large assembly of chiefs and people. A sacred +stone was consecrated as a throne, or rather stool, on which the king +stood, while a priest, who must also be a chief, called upon the gods to +behold and bless the king, and pronounced denunciations against such as +should fail to obey him. He then poured scented oil from a native bottle +over the head, shoulders, and body of the king, and proclaimed his +several titles and honours.[58] + + [57] Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 118 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, p. 283. Compare H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29. + + [58] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631. + +Next below the chiefs ranked an inferior order of nobility called +_tulafales_ or _faipules_, who are variously described as householders, +councillors, and secondary chiefs. They formed a very powerful and +influential class; indeed we are told that they generally exercised +greater authority than the chiefs, and that the real control of +districts often centred in their hands. They usually owned large lands: +they were the principal advisers of the chiefs: the orators were usually +selected from their number: the _ao_ or titles of districts were always +in their gift; and they had the power, which they did not scruple to +use, of deposing and banishing an unpopular chief. Sometimes a chief +contrived to bring them into subjection to himself; but as a rule they +were a sturdy class, who did not shrink from speaking out their minds +to their social superiors, often uttering very unpalatable truths and +acting with great determination when the conduct of a chief incurred +their displeasure. In short, they made laws, levied fines, and generally +ruled the village.[59] + + [59] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ + ii. 152; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 629; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 285 _sq._, 287. + +Below the _tulafales_ ranked the _faleupolu_ or House of Upolu, and the +_tangata nuu_ or Men of the Land. The former were considerable +landowners and possessed much influence; the latter were the humblest +class, bearing arms in time of war, and cultivating the soil, fishing, +and cooking in time of peace. But they were far from being serfs; most +of them were eligible for the position of head of a family, if, when a +vacancy occurred, the choice of the family fell upon them.[60] For the +title of head of a family was not hereditary. A son might succeed his +father in the dignity; but the members of the family would sometimes +pass over the son and confer the title on an uncle, a cousin, or even a +perfect stranger, if they desired to increase the numerical strength of +the family.[61] + + [60] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 74 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 432. + + [61] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173. + +The villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing and +independent communities, though every village was more or less loosely +federated with the other villages of its district. Each district or +confederation of villages had its capital (_laumua_) or ruling town. +These federal capitals, however, possessed no absolute authority over +the other villages of the district; and though great respect was always +shown to them, the people of the district, or even of a particular +village, would often dissent from the decisions of the capital and +assert their independence of action.[62] Of this independence a notable +instance occurred when the Catholic missionaries first settled in Samoa. +Under the influence of the Protestant missionaries a federal assembly +had passed a decree strictly forbidding the admission of Roman Catholics +to the islands, and threatening with war any community that should dare +to harbour the obnoxious sect. The better to enforce the decree, prayers +were publicly offered up in the chapels that God would be pleased to +keep all Papists out of Samoa. To these charitable petitions the deity +seems to have turned a deaf ear; for, in spite of prayers and +prohibitions, two Catholic priests and a lay brother landed and were +hospitably received and effectually protected by the people of a +village, who paid no heed either to the remonstrances of the chiefs or +to the thunders of the federal assembly.[63] + + [62] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, p. 333. + + [63] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119 + _sq._ + +The population of a village might be from two to five hundred persons, +and there might be eight or ten villages in a district. Throughout the +Samoan islands there were in all eight of these separate districts. The +union of the villages in a district was voluntary; they formed by common +consent a petty state for their mutual protection. When war was +threatened by another district, no single village acted alone; the whole +district, or state, assembled at their capital and held a special +parliament to concert the measures to be taken.[64] The boundaries of +the districts were well known and zealously guarded, if necessary, by +force of arms against the aggression of a neighbouring state. The +wardenship of the marches was committed to the two nearest villages on +either side, the inhabitants of which were called Boundary-Keepers. +Between two such villages in former days mutual ill-feeling constantly +existed and border feuds were frequent.[65] + + [64] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173, 180 _sq._ A third + local division, intermediate between the village and the + district, is mentioned by Stair, who calls it a settlement (_Old + Samoa_, p. 83); but the other authorities whom I have consulted + appear not to recognise such an intermediate division. + + [65] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 83. + +The form of government both of the village and of the district was +parliamentary. Affairs were discussed and settled in a representative +assembly (_fono_), composed of the leading men of each village or +district. These representatives included the chiefs, together with the +householders or landowners (_tulafales_) and the inferior gentry (the +_faleupolu_). The more weighty affairs, such as declaring war or making +peace, or any matters of importance which concerned the whole district, +were debated in the general parliament of the district, while business +of purely local interest was transacted in the parliament of the +village. It was the privilege of the capital to convene the district +parliament, to preside over its deliberations, to settle disputed +points, to sum up the proceedings, and to dismiss the assembly. These +meetings were usually conducted with much formality and decorum. They +were always held in the large public place (_malae_ or _marae_) of the +village or town. It was an open green spot surrounded by a circle of +trees and houses. The centre was occupied by a large house which +belonged to the chief and was set apart as a caravansary for the +entertainment of strangers and visitors. Members of all the three orders +which composed the parliament had the right to address it; but the +speaking was usually left to the householders or landowners +(_tulafales_). Each chief had generally attached to him one of that +order who acted as his mouthpiece; and in like manner each settlement +retained the services of a member of the order, who was the leading +orator of the district. Decisions were reached not by voting but by +general consent, the discussion being prolonged until some conclusion, +satisfactory to the greater part of the members, and particularly to the +most influential, was arrived at. One of the principal prerogatives of +the king seems to have been that of convoking a parliament; though, if +he refused to do so, when circumstances seemed to require it, the +assembly would undoubtedly have met without him. The functions of these +assemblies were judicial as well as legislative and deliberative. +Offenders were arraigned before them and, if found guilty, were +condemned and punished.[66] + + [66] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of + the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 153 _sq._; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 177 _sqq._, 180 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 632 + _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 84 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 286 _sq._, 288 _sqq._ + +It says much for the natural ability of the Samoans that they should +have attained to a level of culture so comparatively high with material +resources so scanty and defective. Nature, indeed, supplied them with +abundance of food and timber, but she denied them the metals, which were +unknown in the islands until they were introduced from Europe. In their +native state, accordingly, the Samoans were still in the Stone Age, +their principal tools being stone axes and adzes, made mainly from a +close-grained basalt which is found in the island of Tutuila. Of these +axes the rougher were chipped, but the finer were ground. Shells were +used as cutting instruments and as punches to bore holes in planks; and +combs, neatly carved out of bone, were employed as instruments in +tattooing. A wooden dibble served them instead of a plough to turn up +the earth. The only skins they prepared were those of sharks and some +other fish, which they used as rasps for smoothing woodwork. The art of +pottery was unknown.[67] Food was cooked in ovens of hot stones;[68] +fire was kindled by the friction of wood, the method adopted being what +is called the stick-and-groove process.[69] + + [67] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 319; + G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 158; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 146, + 149, 154, 159. As to the wooden dibbles, see Ella, _op. cit._ p. + 635 (above, p. 166). + + [68] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 111 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 130. + + [69] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 129. + +We now pass to a consideration of the religion of these interesting +people, especially in regard to the human soul and its destiny after +death. + + +§ 6. _Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts_ + +The first missionary to Samoa, John Williams, was struck by the contrast +between the religion of the Samoans and the religion of the other +Polynesian peoples whom he had studied. "The religious system of the +Samoans," he says, "differs essentially from that which obtained at the +Tahitian, Society, and other islands with which we are acquainted. They +have neither _maraes_, nor temples, nor altars, nor offerings; and, +consequently, none of the barbarous and sanguinary rites observed at the +other groups. In consequence of this, the Samoans were considered an +impious race, and their impiety became proverbial with the people of +Rarotonga; for, when upbraiding a person who neglected the worship of +the gods, they would call him 'a godless Samoan.' But, although +heathenism was presented to us by the Samoans in a dress different from +that in which we had been accustomed to see it, having no altars stained +with human blood, no _maraes_ strewed with the skulls and bones of its +numerous victims, no sacred groves devoted to rites of which brutality +and sensuality were the most obvious features, this people had 'lords +many and gods many';--their religious system was as obviously marked as +any other with absurdity, superstition, and vice."[70] + + [70] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 465 _sq._ + +This account of the Samoan religion, written at a time when the islands +were not yet fully opened up to Europeans, must be modified by the +testimony of later writers, in particular with regard to the alleged +absence of temples and offerings; but in its broad outlines it holds +good, in so far as the Samoan ritual was honourably distinguished from +that of many other islands in the Pacific by its freedom from human +sacrifice and from the gross and licentious practices which prevailed in +other branches of the Polynesian race. The notion of the Rarotongans +that the Samoans were a godless people has proved to be totally +mistaken. On closer acquaintance it was found that they lived under the +influence of a host of imaginary deities who exercised their faith and +demanded their obedience. Among these deities the most numerous and +perhaps the most influential were the _aitu_, which were the gods of +individuals, of families, of towns or villages, and of districts.[71] +These gods were supposed to appear in some visible embodiment or +incarnation, and the particular thing, or class of things, in which his +god was in the habit of appearing, was to the Samoan an object of +veneration, and he took great care never to injure it or treat it with +contempt. In the great majority of cases the thing in which the deity +presented himself to his worshippers was a class of natural objects, +most commonly a species of animal, bird, or fish, less frequently a tree +or plant or an inanimate object, such as a stone, the rainbow, or a +meteor. One man, for example, saw his god in the eel, another in the +shark, another in the turtle, another in the owl, another in the lizard, +and so on throughout all the fish of the sea, the birds, the four-footed +beasts, and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, such as the +limpets on the rocks, gods were supposed to be present. It was not +uncommon to see an intelligent chief muttering prayers to a fly, an ant, +or a lizard, which chanced to alight or crawl in his presence. A man +would eat freely of the incarnation of another man's god, but would most +scrupulously refrain from eating of the incarnation of his own +particular god, believing that death would be the consequence of such +sacrilege. The offended god was supposed to take up his abode in the +body of the impious eater and to generate there the very thing which he +had eaten, till it caused his death. For example, if a man, whose family +god was incarnate in the prickly sea-urchin (_Echinus_), were to eat of +a sea-urchin, it was believed that a prickly sea-urchin would grow in +his body and kill him. If his family god were incarnate in the turtle, +and he was rash enough to eat a turtle, the god would enter into him, +and his voice would be heard from within the sinner's body, saying, "I +am killing this man; he ate my incarnation." Occasionally, however, the +penalty exacted by the deity was less severe. If, for instance, a man's +god was in cockles, and he ate one of these shell-fish, a cockle would +grow on his nose; if he merely picked up a cockle on the shore and +walked away with it, the shell-fish would appear on some part of his +person. But in neither case, apparently, would the kindly cockle take +the life of the offender. It was not a bloodthirsty deity. Again, a man +whose god was in coco-nuts would never drink the refreshing beverage +which other people were free to extract from the nuts. But the +worshipper who shrank from eating or drinking his god in the shape, say, +of an octopus or of coco-nut water, would often look on with +indifference while other people partook of these his divinities. He +might pity their ignorance or envy their liberty, but he would not seek +to enlighten the one or to restrain the other.[72] Indeed this +indifference was sometimes carried to great lengths. For example, a man +whose god was incarnate in the turtle, though he would not himself dare +to partake of turtle, would have no scruple in helping a neighbour to +cut up and cook a turtle; but in doing so he took the precaution to tie +a bandage over his mouth to prevent an embryo turtle from slipping down +his throat and sealing his doom by growing up in his stomach.[73] +Sometimes the incarnate deity, out of consideration perhaps for the +weakness of the flesh, would limit his presence to a portion of an +animal, it might be the left wing of a pigeon, or the tail of a dog, or +the right leg of a pig.[74] The advantages of such a restriction to a +worshipper are obvious. A man, for instance, to whom it would have been +death to eat the right leg of a pig, might partake of a left leg of pork +with safety and even with gusto. And so with the rest of the divine +menagery. + + [71] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_ + (London, 1866), pp. 106 _sqq._; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise + in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p. 141; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211, 215 + _sqq._ + + [72] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 468; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the + United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131 _sq._; T. H. Hood, + _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p. + 141; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 106 + _sqq._; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de + Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 111; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._, 40, 50 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 211, 216 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 137, 218. The account of these deities given + by Dr. G. Turner is by far the fullest and best. + + [73] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 67 _sq._ + + [74] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ p. 107. Similarly some + people had pig's heart for their god, or the embodiment of their + god, and they scrupulously avoided eating pigs' hearts lest + pigs' hearts should grow in their bodies and so cause their + death. See G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72. + +However, even if the worst had happened, that is to say, if the deity +had been killed, cooked and eaten, the consequences were not necessarily +fatal to his worshippers; there were modes of redeeming the lives of the +sinners and of expiating their sin. Suppose, for example, that the god +of a household was the cuttle-fish, and that some visitor to the house +had, either in ignorance or in bravado, caught a cuttle-fish and cooked +it, or that a member of the family had been present where a cuttle-fish +was eaten, the family would meet in conclave to consult about the +sacrilege, and they would select one of their number, whether a man or a +woman, to go and lie down in a cold oven and be covered over with +leaves, just as in the process of baking, all to pretend that the person +was being offered up as a burnt sacrifice to avert the wrath of the +deity. While this solemn pretence was being enacted, the whole family +would engage in prayer, saying, "O bald-headed cuttle-fish, forgive what +has been done. It was all the work of a stranger." If they did not thus +abase themselves before the divine cuttle-fish, they believed that the +god would visit them and cause a cuttle-fish to grow internally in their +bodies and so be the death of some of them.[75] Similar modes of +appeasing the wrath of divine eels, mullets, stinging ray fish, turtles, +wild pigeons, and garden lizards were adopted with equal success.[76] + + [75] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._ + + [76] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 38, 58, 59, 69 _sq._, 72. + +Apparently the Samoans were even more concerned to defend their village +gods or district gods against injury and insult than to guard the +deities of simple individuals. We are told that all the inhabitants of a +district would thus unite for the protection of the local divinity.[77] +For example, it happened that in a village where the first native +Christian teachers settled one of them caught a sea-eel (_Muraena_) and +cooked it, and two of the village lads, who were their servants, ate +some of the eel for their supper. But the eel was the village god, and +when the villagers heard that the lads had eaten the god, they +administered a sound thrashing to the culprits, and dragged them off to +a cooking-house where they laid them down in the oven pit and covered +them with leaves in the usual way, as if the lads had been killed and +were now to be cooked as a peace-offering to avert the wrath of the +deity.[78] When John Williams had caused some Christian natives to kill +a large sea-snake and dry it on the rocks to be preserved as a specimen, +the heathen fishermen of the island at sight of it raised a most +terrific yell, and, seizing their clubs, rushed upon the Christian +natives, saying, "You have killed our god! You have killed our god!" It +was with difficulty that Mr. Williams restrained their violence on +condition that the reptile should be immediately carried back to the +boat from which the missionary had landed.[79] The island in which this +happened belonged to the Tongan group, but precisely the same incident +might have occurred in Samoa. In some parts of Upolu a goddess was +believed to be incarnate in bats, and if a neighbour chanced to kill one +of these creatures, the indignant worshippers of the bat might wage a +war to avenge the insult to their deity.[80] If people who had the +stinging ray fish for the incarnation of their god heard that their +neighbours had caught a fish of that sort, they would go and beg them to +give it up and not to cook it. A refusal to comply with the request +would be followed by a fight.[81] + + [77] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 216 _sq._ + + [78] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 58. + + [79] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 469. + + [80] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57. + + [81] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 75. + +Accordingly, when the Samoans were converted to Christianity, they gave +the strongest proof of the genuineness of their conversion by killing +and eating their animal gods. Thus when a chief named Malietoa renounced +heathenism, he caused an eel to be publicly caught, cooked, and eaten by +many persons who had hitherto regarded the eel as their god. His own +sons had a different sort of fish, called _anae_, for their private +deity, and to demonstrate their faith in the new religion they had a +quantity of the fish caught, cooked, and served up in the presence of a +large party of friends and relations. There, with trembling hearts, they +partook of the once sacred morsel; but, their fears getting the better +of them, they immediately retired from the feast and swallowed a +powerful emetic, lest the divine fish should lie heavy on their stomachs +and devour their vitals.[82] As nothing particular happened after these +daring innovations, the people took heart of grace, and concerted +further plans for the destruction of their ancient deities. Among these +was a certain Papo, who was nothing more or less than a piece of old +rotten matting, about three yards long and four inches wide; but being a +god of war and, in that capacity, always attached to the canoe of the +leader when they went forth to battle, he was regarded with great +veneration by the people. At the assembly convoked to decide on his +fate, the first proposal was to throw him into the fire. But the idea +was too shocking to the general sense of the community, and by way of +making death as little painful as possible to the deity, they decided to +take him out to sea in a canoe and there consign him to a watery grave. +Even from this mitigated doom Papo was rescued by the efforts of the +missionaries, and he now adorns a museum.[83] + + [82] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 373 _sq._ + + [83] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 375. + +But even when the career of one of these animal gods was not prematurely +cut short by being killed, cooked, and eaten, he was still liable to die +in the course of nature; and when his dead body was discovered, great +was the sorrow of his worshippers. If, for example, the god of a village +was an owl, and a dead owl was found lying beside a road or under a +tree, it would be reverently covered up with a white cloth by the person +who discovered it, and all the villagers would assemble round the dead +god and burn their bodies with firebrands and beat their foreheads with +stones till the blood flowed. Then the corpse of the feathered deity +would be wrapped up and buried with as much care and ceremony as if it +were a human body. However, that was not the death of the god. He was +supposed to be yet alive and incarnate in all the owls in existence.[84] + + [84] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 21, 26, 60 _sq._ Compare + W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 110 _sq._ + +The offerings to these deities consisted chiefly of cooked food,[85] +which was apparently deemed as essential to the sustenance of gods as of +men, and that even when the gods were not animals but stones. For +example, two oblong smooth stones, which stood on a platform of loose +stones near a village, were regarded as the parents of the rain-god, and +when the people were making ready to go off to the woods for the +favourite sport of pigeon-catching, they used to lay offerings of cooked +taro and fish on the stones, accompanied by prayers for fine weather and +no rain. These stone gods were also believed to cause yams to grow; +hence in time of dearth a man would present them with a yam in hope of +securing their favour.[86] + + [85] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20. + + [86] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 24 _sq._ + +At the feasts the first cup of kava was dedicated to the god, the +presiding chief either pouring it out on the ground or waving it towards +the sky. Afterwards all the chiefs drank from the same cup according to +their rank; then the food brought as an offering was divided and eaten +there before the god.[87] Even within the circle of the family it was +customary to pour out on the ground a little kava as an offering to the +family god before any one else drank of it.[88] + + [87] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 121 _sqq._ + + [88] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229. + +Annual feasts were held in honour of the gods, and the season of the +feast was often in May, but sometimes in April or June.[89] In some +cases the feasts were regulated by the appearance of the bird which was +believed to be the incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen, +the priest would say that the god had come, and he would fix upon a day +for the entertainment of the deity.[90] At these festivals all the +people met in the place of public assembly, where they had collected +heaps of cooked food. First, they made their offerings to the god and +prayed to him to avert calamity and grant prosperity; then they feasted +with and before their god, and after that any strangers present might +eat. Some of the festivals included games, such as wrestling, +spear-throwing, club exercises, sham-fights, and nocturnal dances; and +they lasted for days.[91] At one of these annual festivals held in the +month of June, the exercise with clubs assumed a serious and indeed +sanguinary form. All the people, old and young, men, women, and +children, took part in it, and battered their scalps till the blood +streamed down over their faces and bodies. This proof of their devotion +was supposed to be acceptable to the deity, who, gratified by the sight +of their flowing blood, would answer their prayers for health, good +crops, and victory in war.[92] At the feast of the cockle god in May +prayers were offered up to the divine shell-fish that he would be +pleased to cure the coughs and other ailments usually prevalent at that +season, which in Samoa forms the transition from the wet to the dry +months.[93] At the festival of an owl god, which fell about the month of +April, the offerings and prayers were particularly directed towards the +removal of caterpillars from the plantations; for these insects were +believed to be the servants of the owl god, who could send them as his +ministers of vengeance to lay waste the fields and orchards of the +impious.[94] Elsewhere the owl was a war god, and at the beginning of +the annual fish festivals the chiefs and people of the village assembled +round the opening of the first oven and gave the first fish to the +god.[95] A family, who had the eel for their household god, showed their +gratitude to him for his kindness by presenting him with the first +fruits of their taro plantation.[96] Another family believed their deity +to be incarnate in centipedes; and if a member of the family fell ill or +was bitten by a centipede, they would offer the divine reptile a fine +mat and a fan, with a prayer for the recovery of the patient.[97] The +utility of a fine mat and a fan to a centipede is too obvious to be +insisted on. Sometimes offerings were made to a god, not to persuade him +to come, but to induce him to go away. For example, where gods or +spirits were believed to voyage along the coast, offerings of food were +often set down on the beach as an inducement to the spirits to take the +victuals and pass on without calling at that particular place.[98] + + [89] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29, 41, 44, 47, + 53, 57. + + [90] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20 _sq._ + + [91] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29; W. T. + Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 123. + + [92] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57. + + [93] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 41. + + [94] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 47. + + [95] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [96] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._ + + [97] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 47 _sq._ + + [98] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229. + +Formal prayers were offered to the god by the head of a family, and +public prayer was put up when the men were setting out for war. On such +occasions they prayed that stones, stumps of trees, and other obstacles +might be taken out of the way of the warriors, and that their path might +be wet with the blood of their foes. All their prayers were for temporal +benefits, such as protection against enemies, plenty of food, and other +desirable objects. They attached great importance to confession of +wrongdoing in times of danger, but, so far as appears, they expressed no +repentance, promised no amendment, and offered no prayer for +forgiveness. If, for example, a canoe, crossing the channel between +Savaii and Upolu, were caught in a squall and seemed likely to be +swamped, the steersman would head the canoe to the wind, and every man +on board would make a clean breast of his sins. One would say, "I stole +a fowl at such and such a village." Another would confess an intrigue +with a married woman somewhere else; and so on. When all had either +confessed their guilt or declared their innocence, the helmsman would +put the helm about and scud before the wind, in perfect confidence of +bringing the canoe and crew safe to land.[99] + + [99] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 229 + _sq._ + +When a god was believed to be incarnate in a species of birds or animals +or fish, omens were naturally drawn from the appearance and behaviour of +the creatures. This happened particularly in time of war, when hopes and +fears were rife among the people. Thus, if their war god was an owl, +and the bird fluttered above the troops on the march, the omen was good; +but if the owl flew away in the direction of the enemy, it was an evil +omen, the god had deserted them and joined the foe;[100] if it crossed +the path of the warriors or flew back on them, it was a warning to +retreat.[101] So in places where the war-god was a rail-bird, if the +bird screeched and flew before the army, the people marched confidently +to battle; but if it turned and flew back, they hesitated. If the +plumage of the rail showed glossy red, it was a sign to go to war; but +if the feathers were dark and dingy, it was a warning to stay at home. +And if the bird were heard chattering or scolding, as they called it, at +midnight, it prognosticated an attack next day, and they would at once +send off the women and children to a place of safety.[102] In like +manner omens were drawn from the flight of herons, kingfishers, the +_Porphyris Samoensis_, and flying-foxes, where these creatures were +supposed to incarnate the war god.[103] People who saw their war god in +the lizard used to take omens from a lizard before they went forth to +fight. They watched the movements of a lizard in a bundle of spears. If +the creature ran about the outside of the bundle and the points of the +spears, the omen was favourable; but if it crept into the bundle for +concealment, it was an evil sign.[104] The inhabitants of several +villages looked upon dogs, especially white dogs, as the incarnation of +their war god; accordingly if the dog wagged his tail, barked, and +dashed ahead in sight of the enemy, it was a good omen; but if he +retreated or howled, their hearts failed them.[105] Again, where the +cuttle-fish was the war god, the movements of that fish at sea were +anxiously observed in time of war. If the fish swam inshore while the +people were mustering for battle, it augured victory; but if it swam far +away, it portended defeat.[106] + + [100] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [101] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 60. + + [102] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 52, 61, 65. + + [103] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 35, 51, 54 _sq._, 64. + + [104] G. Turner, pp. 46 _sq._ + + [105] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49. + + [106] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 29. + +When a god was supposed to dwell in some inanimate object, the art of +divination was similarly employed to elicit a knowledge of the future +from an observation of the object, whatever it might be. In several +villages, for example, the people viewed a rainbow as the representative +of their war god. If, when they were going to battle by land or sea, a +rainbow appeared in the sky right in front of them, with the arch, as it +were, straddling across the line of march or the course that the fleet +was steering, it was a warning to turn back. But if the bow shone on the +right or left of the army or of the fleet, it meant that the god was +marching with them, and cheering on the advance.[107] Another village +revered its god in the lightning. When lightning flashed frequently in +time of war, it was believed that the god had come to help and direct +his people. A constant play of lightning over a particular spot was a +warning that the enemy was lurking there in ambush. A rapid succession +of flashes in front meant that the foe was being driven back; but if the +lightning flashed from front to rear, it was a signal to retreat.[108] +In one large village the war god resided in two teeth of the sperm +whale, which were kept in a cave and observed by a priest in time of +war. If the teeth were found lying east and west, it was a good omen; +but if they lay north and south, it prognosticated defeat.[109] In +another place the war god was present in a bundle of shark's teeth, and +the people consulted the bundle before they went out to fight. If the +bundle felt heavy, it foreboded ill; but if it was light, it was an omen +of victory, and the troops marched with hearts correspondingly +light.[110] + + [107] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35; compare p. 43. + + [108] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 59 _sq._ + + [109] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35. + + [110] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55. + +When the god was incarnate in a live creature, it was an obvious +advantage to ensure his constant presence and blessing by owning a +specimen of his incarnation and feeding it. Hence some folk kept a tame +god on their premises. For instance, some people possessed a war god in +the shape of a pet owl;[111] others had a divine pigeon, which was +carefully kept and fed by the different members of the family in +turn.[112] Yet others were so fortunate as to capture the thunder god +and to keep him in durance, which effectually prevented him from doing +mischief. Having caught him, they tied him up with pandanus leaves and +frightened him by poking firebrands at him. And lest, as an old +offender, he should attempt to break prison and relapse into his former +career of crime, they filled a basket with pandanus leaves and charred +firebrands and hung it up on a tree _in terrorem_, to signify what he +might expect to get if he took it into his head to strike houses +again.[113] + + [111] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [112] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 64. + + [113] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 34. + +Vegetable gods were much less plentiful than animal gods in Samoa. Still +they occurred. Thus, the god of one family lived in a large tree +(_Hernandia peltata_); hence no member of the family dared to pluck a +leaf or break a branch of that tree.[114] The household deity of another +family dwelt in a tree of a different sort (_Conanga odorata_), which +has yellow and sweet-scented flowers.[115] In Savaii the special abode +of a village god called Tuifiti or "King of Fiji" was a grove of large +and durable trees (_Afzelia bijuga_). No one dared to cut that timber. +It is said that a party of natives from another island once tried to +fell one of these trees; but blood flowed from the trunk, and all the +sacrilegious strangers fell ill and died.[116] One family saw their god +in the moon. On the appearance of the new moon all the members of the +family called out, "Child of the moon, you have come." They assembled +also, presented offerings of food, feasted together, and joined in +praying, "Oh, child of the moon! Keep far away disease and death." And +they also prayed to the moon before they set out on the war path.[117] +But in Samoa, as in Tonga, there seems to be no record of a worship of +the sun, unless the stories of human sacrifices formerly offered to the +great luminary be regarded as reminiscences of sun-worship.[118] + + [114] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72. + + [115] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 71. + + [116] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 63. + + [117] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 67. + + [118] See above, p. 158. + + +§ 7. _Priests and Temples_ + +The father of a family acted as the priest of the household god. He +usually offered a short prayer at the evening meal, begging the deity to +guard them all from war, sickness, death, and the payment of fines. +Sometimes he would direct the family to hold a feast in honour of their +god, and on these occasions a cup of kava was poured out as a libation +to the divinity. Such simple domestic rites were celebrated in the +house, where the whole family assembled; for the gods were believed to +be present with men in a spiritual and invisible form as well as in the +material objects which were regarded as their visible embodiments. Often +the deity spoke through the father or other members of the family, +telling them what to do in order to remove a present evil or avert a +threatened one.[119] + + [119] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 18. For the offering of + kava to the household god, compare _id._ p. 51. + +But while every head of a family might thus act as a domestic priest and +mouthpiece of the deity, there was also a professional class of priests +set apart for the public worship of the gods, particularly of the war +gods, who in their nature did not differ essentially from the gods of +families, of villages, and of districts, being commonly embodied either +in particular material objects or in classes of such objects, especially +in various species of birds, animals, and fish, such as owls, rails, +kingfishers, dogs, lizards, flying-foxes, and cuttle-fish. Sometimes the +ruling chiefs acted as priests; but in general some one man in a +particular family claimed the dignity of the priesthood and professed to +declare the will of the god. His office was hereditary. He fixed the +days for the annual feasts in honour of the deity, received the +offerings, and thanked the people for them. He decided also whether the +people might go to war.[120] The priests possessed great authority over +the minds of the people, and they often availed themselves of their +influence to amass wealth.[121] The gods were supposed from time to time +to take possession of the priests and to speak through their mouths, +answering enquiries and issuing commands. Thus consulted as an oracle +the priest, or the god through him, might complain that the people had +been slack in making offerings of food and property, and he would +threaten them with vengeance if they did not speedily bring an ample +supply to the human representative of the deity. At other times the god +required a whole family to assemble and build him a large canoe or a +house, and such a command was always obeyed with alacrity and a humble +apology tendered for past neglect. The priests were also consulted +oracularly for the healing of the sick, the recovery of stolen property, +and the cursing of enemies. Thus they kept the people in constant fear +by their threats and impoverished them by their exactions.[122] + + [120] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20. For a full account of + the priesthood, see J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 220 _sqq._ As + to the Samoan war-gods, see G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 23, 25 + _sq._, 27 _sq._, 28, 32, 33, 35, 42, 46 _sq._, 48, 49, 51, 52, + 54 _sq._, 55, 57, 60, 61, 64, 65; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. + 215 _sq._ + + [121] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70, 222 _sq._, 225; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._ + + [122] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 223-225; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 246 _sq._ + +The outward signs of divine inspiration or possession were such as +priests or prophets have manifested in many lands and ages as conclusive +evidence of their being the vehicles of higher powers. The approach or +presence of the god was indicated by the priest beginning to gape, yawn, +and clear his throat; but soon his countenance changed, his body +underwent violent contortions, and in loud, unearthly tones, which the +trembling and awe-stricken hearers interpreted as the voice of an +indwelling deity, he delivered his message of exhortation or warning, of +menace, or comfort, or hope.[123] + + [123] J. B. Stair, p. 223; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._ + +Spirit-houses (_fale-aitu_) or temples were erected for some, but not +all, of the class of deities (_aitu_) which we are now considering. It +was chiefly the war gods who were thus honoured. Such temples were built +with the same materials and in the same style as the houses of men, with +nothing to distinguish them from ordinary dwellings, except that they +almost always stood on platforms of stones, which varied in height and +size with the respect felt for the particular deity. They were usually +situated on the principal public place or green (_malae_) of the village +and surrounded by a low fence. Sometimes they were mere huts; yet being +viewed as the abode of gods they were held sacred and regarded with +great veneration by the Samoans in the olden time. Whatever emblems of +deity were in possession of the village were always placed in these +houses under the watchful care of keepers.[124] In one temple, for +instance, might be seen a conch shell hung from the roof in a basket. +This shell the god was supposed to blow when he wished the people to go +to war. In another a cup made of the shell of a coco-nut was suspended +from the roof, and before it prayers were uttered and offerings +presented. The cup was also used in an ordeal for the detection of +theft. In a trial before chiefs the cup would be sent for, and each of +the suspected culprits would lay his hand on it and say, "With my hand +on this cup, may the god look upon me, and send swift destruction, if I +took the thing which has been stolen." They firmly believed that it +would be death to touch the cup and tell a lie.[125] + + [124] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 226-228. + + [125] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 19. + +The temples were always built by the united exertions of a whole family, +village, or district.[126] For example, when the inhabitants of a +village whose god was the cuttle-fish erected a new temple to that +deity, every man, woman, and child in the village contributed something +to it, if it was only a stick or a reed of thatch. While some of the +villagers were drafted off to put up the house, the rest engaged in a +free fight, which appears to have been considered as a necessary part of +the proceedings. On this occasion many old scores were settled, and he +who got most wounds was believed to have earned the special favour of +the deity. With the completion of the temple the fighting ended, and +ought not to be renewed for a year, till the anniversary of the building +of the temple came round, when the worshippers were again at liberty to +break each other's heads in honour of the divine cuttle-fish.[127] + + [126] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 227 _sq._ + + [127] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 29 _sq._ + +At one place in Savaii there was a temple in which a priest constantly +resided. The sick used to be carried to him in the temple and there laid +down with offerings of fine mats. Thereupon the priest stroked the +diseased part, and the patient was supposed to recover.[128] We hear of +another temple in which fine mats were brought as offerings to the +priests and stored up in large numbers among the temple treasures. Thus +in time the temples might have amassed a considerable degree of wealth +and might even, if economic progress had not been arrested by European +intervention, have developed into banks. However, when the people were +converted to Christianity, they destroyed this particular temple and +dissipated the accumulated treasures in a single feast by way of +celebrating their adhesion to the new faith.[129] Where the bat was the +local deity, many bats used to flock about the temple in time of +war.[130] Where the kingfisher received the homage of the people as the +god of war, the old men of the village were wont to enter his temple in +times of public emergency and address the kingfisher; and people outside +could hear the bird replying, though, singularly enough, his voice was +that of a man, and not that of a bird. But as usual the god was +invisible.[131] In one place a temple of the great god Tangaloa was +called "the House of the Gods," and it was carefully shut up all round, +the people thinking that, if this precaution were not taken, the gods +would get out and in too easily and be all the more destructive.[132] +Such a temple might be considered rather as a prison than a house of the +gods. + + [128] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49. + + [129] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55. + + [130] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 56 _sq._ + + [131] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._ + + [132] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 53. + +To the rule that Samoan temples were built of the same perishable +materials as ordinary houses a single exception is known. About ten +miles inland from the harbour of Apia, in the island of Upolu, are the +ruins of a temple, of which the central and side posts and the rafters +were all constructed of stone. The ground plan seems to have resembled +that of an ordinary Samoan house of the best style, forming an ellipse +which measured fifty feet in one direction by forty feet in the other. +Two central pillars appear to have supported the roof, each fashioned of +a single block of stone some thirteen feet high, twelve inches thick one +way and nine inches the other. The rafters were in lengths of twelve +feet and six feet, by four inches square. Of the outside pillars, which +upheld the lower edge of the sloping roof, eighteen were seen standing +by Pritchard, who has described the ruins. Each pillar stood three feet +high and measured nine inches thick in one way by six inches in the +other. Each had a notch or shoulder on the inner side for supporting the +roof. Pillars and rafters were quarried from an adjoining bluff, distant +only some fifty yards from the ruins. Some squared stones lying at the +foot of the bluff seem to show that the temple was never completed. The +site of the ruins is a flat about three acres in area. The natives call +the ruins _Fale-o-le-Fe'e_, that is, the House of the Fe'e. This Fe'e +was a famous war god of A'ana and Faleata, two native towns of Upolu; he +was commonly incarnated in the cuttle-fish. As the Samoans were +unacquainted with the art of cutting stones, and had no tools suitable +for the work, they thought that this temple, with its columns and +rafters of squared stone, must have been built by the gods, and they +explained its unfinished state by alleging that the divine builders had +quarrelled among themselves before they had brought the work to +completion.[133] + + [133] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 119-121; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de + Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 112; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, p. 31; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 228; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 220. + +For the sake of completeness I will mention another stone monument, of +more imposing dimensions, which has been discovered in Samoa, though its +origin and meaning are unknown. It stands on a tableland in the high +mountainous interior of Upolu and appears to be not altogether easy of +access. The discoverer, Mr. H. B. Sterndale, reached it by clambering up +from what he describes as a broad and dangerous ravine. In making his +way to the tableland he passed through a gap which from a distance he +had supposed to be a natural fissure in the rocks; but on arriving at it +he discovered, to his surprise, that the gap was in fact a great fosse +formed by the hand of man, being excavated in some places and built up +at others, while on one side, next to the rise of the hill, it was +further heightened by a parapet wall. When, passing through the fosse, +he issued upon the tableland, which is a level space of some twenty +acres in extent, he perceived the monument, "a truncated conical +structure or _Heidenmauer_ of such huge dimensions as must have required +the labour of a great multitude to construct. So little did I expect," +he says, "in this neighbourhood to meet with any example of human +architecture, and so rudely monstrous was the appearance of this +cyclopean building, that from its peculiar form, and from the vegetation +with which it was overgrown, I might have passed it by, supposing it to +have been a volcanic hillock, had not my attention been attracted by the +stonework of the fosse. I hastened to ascend it. It was about twenty +feet high by one hundred in diameter. It was circular with straight +[perpendicular?] sides; the lower tiers of stone were very large, they +were lava blocks, some of which would weigh at least a ton, which must +have been rolled or moved on skids to their present places. They were +laid in courses; and in two places near the top seemed to have been +entrances to the inside, as in one appeared a low cave choked with rocks +and tree roots. If there had been chambers within, they were probably +narrow and still existing, as there was no sign of depression on the +crown of the work, which was flat and covered with flat stones, among +which grew both trees and shrubs. It is likely that it was not in itself +intended as a place of defence, but rather as a base or platform upon +which some building of importance, perhaps of timber, had been erected, +no doubt in the centre of a village, as many foundations of a few feet +high were near it. The fosse, when unbroken, and its inner wall entire, +was probably crossed by a foot-bridge, to be withdrawn on the approach +of an enemy; and the little gap, by which I had entered, closed, so that +this must have been a place of great security. The Samoan natives, as +far as I have been able to learn, have no tradition of what people +inhabited this mountain fastness."[134] + + [134] H. B. Sterndale, quoted by R. A. Sterndale, + "Asiatic Architecture in Polynesia," _The Asiatic Quarterly + Review_, x. (July-October 1890) pp. 347-350. The writer of this + article reports the discoveries of his brother, Mr. Handley + Bathurst Sterndale. + +On an adjoining tableland, approached by a steep and narrow ridge, Mr. +Sterndale saw a great number of cairns of stone, apparently graves, +disposed in rows among huge trees, the roots of which had overturned and +destroyed very many of the cairns. Here, within the numerous trunks of a +great spreading banyan tree, Mr. Sterndale found what he calls an inner +chamber, or cell, about ten feet square, the floor being paved with flat +stones and the walls built of enormous blocks of the same material, +while the roof was composed of the twisted trunks of the banyan tree, +which had grown into a solid arch and, festooned by creepers, excluded +even the faint glimmer of twilight that dimly illuminated the +surrounding forest. Disturbed by a light which the traveller struck to +explore the gloomy interior, bats fluttered about his head. In the +centre of the chamber he discovered a cairn, or rather cromlech, about +four feet high, which was formed of several stones arranged in a +triangle, with a great flat slab on the top. On the flat slab lay a +large conch shell, white with age, and encrusted with moss and dead +animalculae. The chamber or cell, enclosed by the trunks of the +banyan-tree, might have been inaccessible, if it were not that, under +the pressure of the tree-trunks, several of the great slabs composing +the wall had been displaced, leaving a passage.[135] + + [135] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ pp. 351 _sq._ + +What were these remarkable monuments? Mr. Sterndale believed the stone +chamber to be the tomb of some man of authority in ancient days, the +antiquity of the structure being vouched for by the great banyan-tree +which had so completely overgrown it. This view is likely enough, and is +confirmed by the large number of cairns about it, which appear to be +sepulchral. But what was the massive circular monument or platform, +built of huge blocks of lava laid in tiers? From Mr. Sterndale's +description it would seem that the structure closely resembled the tombs +of the sacred kings of Tonga, though these tombs are oblong instead of +circular. But they often supported a house or hut of wood and thatch; +and Mr. Sterndale may well be right in supposing that the circular +Samoan monument in like manner served as a platform to support a wooden +building. In this connexion we must not forget that the typical Samoan +house was circular or oval in contrast to the typical Tongan house, +which was oblong. The openings, which seemed to lead into the interior +of the monument, may have given access to the sepulchral chamber where +the bodies of the dead were deposited. + +Slight as are these indications, they apparently point to the use of the +monument as a tomb. There is nothing, except perhaps its circular shape, +to suggest that it was a temple of the sun. As no such stone buildings +have been erected by the Samoans during the time they have been under +European observation, it may be, as Mr. Sterndale supposed, that all the +ruins described by him were the work of a people who inhabited the +islands before the arrival of the existing race.[136] + + [136] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ p. 352. + + +§ 8. _Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts: +Relation to Totemism_ + +If we ask, What was the origin of the peculiar Samoan worship of animals +and other natural objects? the most probable answer seems to be that it +has been developed out of totemism. The system is not simple totemism, +for in totemism the animals, plants, and other natural objects are not +worshipped, that is, they do not receive offerings nor are approached +with prayers; in short, they are not gods, but are regarded as the +kinsfolk of the men and women who have them for totems. Further, the +local distribution of the revered objects in Samoa, according to +villages and districts, differs from the characteristic distribution of +totems, which is not by place but by social groups or clans, the members +of which are usually more or less intermixed with each other in every +district. It is true that in Samoa we hear of family or household gods +as well as of gods of villages and districts, and these family gods, in +so far as they consist of species of animals and plants which the +worshippers are forbidden to kill or eat, present a close analogy to +totems. But it is to be observed that these family gods were, so to say, +in a state of unstable equilibrium, it being always uncertain whether a +man would inherit his father's or his mother's god or would be assigned +a god differing from both of them. This uncertainty arose from the +manner of determining a man's god at birth. When a woman was in travail, +the help of several gods was invoked, one after the other, to assist the +birth; and the god who happened to be invoked at the moment when the +child saw the light, was his god for life. As a rule, the god of the +father's family was prayed to first; so that generally, perhaps, a man +inherited the god of his father. But if the birth was tedious and +difficult, the god of the mother's family was next invoked. When the +child was born, the mother would call out, "To whom were you praying?" +and the god prayed to just before was carefully remembered, and his +incarnation duly acknowledged throughout the future life of the +child.[137] Such a mode of selecting a divine patron is totally +different from the mode whereby, under pure totemism, a person obtains +his totem; for his totem is automatically determined for him at birth, +being, in the vast majority of cases, inherited either from his father +or from his mother, without any possibility of variation or selection. +Lastly, the Samoan system differs from most, though not all, systems of +totemism, in that it is quite independent of exogamy; in other words, +there is no rule forbidding people who revere the same god to marry each +other. + + [137] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 17, 78 _sq._ + +Thus, while the Samoan worship of certain classes of natural objects, +especially species of animals, is certainly not pure totemism, it +presents points of analogy to that system, and might easily, we may +suppose, have been developed out of it, the feeling of kinship for +totemic animals and plants having been slowly transformed and sublimated +into a religious reverence for the creatures and a belief in their +divinity; while at the same time the clans, which were originally +intermixed, gradually sorted out from each other and settled down in +separate villages and districts. This gradual segregation of the clans +may have been facilitated by a change from maternal to paternal descent +of the totem; for when a man transmits his totem to his offspring, his +descendants in the male line tend naturally to expand into a local group +in which the totem remains constant from generation to generation +instead of alternating with each successive generation, as necessarily +happens when a man's children take their totem not from him but from +their mother. That the Samoan worship of _aitu_ was developed in some +such way out of simple totemism appears to have been the view of Dr. +George Brown, one of our best authorities on Samoan society and +religion; for he speaks without reserve of the revered objects as +totems.[138] A similar derivation of the Samoan _aitu_ was favoured by +Dr. Rivers, who, during a visit to Samoa, found some evidence +confirmatory of this conclusion.[139] + + [138] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 137, + 218, 334. + + [139] W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in Polynesia and + Melanesia," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, + xxxix. (1909) pp. 159 _sq._ + + +§ 9. _The High Gods of Samoa_ + +But besides these totemic gods of Samoa, as we may term them, which were +restricted in the circle of their worshippers to particular families, +villages, or districts, there were certain superior deities who were +worshipped by all the people in common and might accordingly be called +the national divinities of Samoa; indeed the worship of some of them was +not confined to Samoa, but was shared by the inhabitants of other groups +of islands in Polynesia. These high gods were considered the progenitors +of the inferior deities, and were believed to have formed the earth and +its inhabitants. They themselves dwelt in heaven, in the sea, on the +earth, or under the earth; but they were invisible and did not appear to +their worshippers in the form of animals or plants. They had no temples +and no priests, and were not invoked like their descendants.[140] + + [140] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 111 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211 _sq._ + +Among these high gods the chief was Tangaloa, or, as he was sometimes +called, Tangaloa-langi, that is, Tangaloa of the Skies. He was always +spoken of as the principal god, the creator of the world and progenitor +of the other gods and of mankind.[141] It is said that after existing +somewhere in space he made the heavens as an abode for himself, and that +wishing to have also a place under the heavens he created this lower +world (_Lalolangi_, that is, "Under the heavens"). According to one +account, he formed the islands of Savaii and Upolu by rolling down two +stones from the sky; but according to another story he fished them up +from the depths of the sea on a fishing-hook. Next he made the _Fee_ or +cuttle-fish, and told it to go down under the earth; hence the lower +regions of sea or land are called _Sa he fee_ or "sacred to the +cuttle-fish." In its turn the cuttle-fish brought forth all kinds of +rocks, including the great one on which we live.[142] Another myth +relates how Tangaloa sent down his son or daughter in the likeness of a +bird called _turi_, a species of plover or snipe (_Charadrius fulvus_). +She flew about, but could find no resting-place, for as yet there was +nothing but ocean; the earth had not been created or raised above the +sea. So she returned to her father in heaven and reported her fruitless +search; and at last he gave her some earth and a creeping plant. These +she took down with her on her next visit to earth; and after a time the +leaves of the plant withered and produced swarms of worms or maggots, +which gradually developed into men and women. The plant which thus by +its corruption gave birth to the human species was the convolvulus. +According to another version of the myth, it was in reply to the +complaint of his daughter or son that the sky-god Tangaloa fished up the +first islands from the bottom of the sea.[143] + + [141] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 212. + + [142] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 7. + + [143] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 7 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 212-214. The bird _turi_ or _tuli_ is spoken of + by Turner as the daughter, but by Stair as the son, of Tangaloa. + According to Turner, the bird is a species of snipe; according + to Stair, a species of plover. As to Tangaloa and the stories + told about him, compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 469 _sq._; H. Hale, + _Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, p. 22; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur + l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) + pp. 111 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 463, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." + +Another of the national gods of Samoa was Mafuie, who was supposed to +dwell in the subterranean regions and to cause earthquakes by shaking +the pillar on which the earth reposes. In a tussle with the hero +Ti'iti'i, who descended to the lower world to rob Mafuie of his fire, +the earthquake god lost one of his arms, and the Samoans considered this +as a very fortunate circumstance; for otherwise they said that, if +Mafuie had had two arms, he would have shaken the world to pieces.[144] +It is said that during a shock of earthquake the natives used to rush +from their houses, throw themselves upon the ground, gnaw the grass, and +shriek in the most frantic manner to Mafuie to desist, lest he should +shake the earth to bits.[145] + + [144] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian + Reminiscences_, pp. 112, 114 _sqq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. + 209-211; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 238 _sq._ + + [145] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 379. + +It seems to be doubtful whether among the Samoan gods are to be numbered +the souls of deceased ancestors. Certainly the evidence for the practice +of a worship of the dead is far less full and clear in Samoa than in +Tonga. On this subject Dr. George Brown writes as follows: "Traces of +ancestor worship are few and indistinct. The word _tupua_ is supposed by +some to mean the deified spirits of chiefs, and to mean that they +constituted a separate order from the _atua_, who were the original +gods. The word itself is the name of a stone, supposed to be a petrified +man, and is also generally used as the name of any image having some +sacred significance, and as representing the body into which the deified +spirit was changed. What appears certain is that ancestor worship had +amongst the Samoans gradually given place to the worship of a superior +order of supernatural beings not immediately connected with men, but +having many human passions and modes of action and life. There are, +however, some cases which seem to point to ancestor worship in olden +days, as in the case of the town of Matautu, which is said to have been +settled by a colony from Fiji. Their principal deity was called Tuifiti, +the King of Fiji. He was considered to be the head of that family, and a +grove of trees, _ifilele_ (the green-heart of India), was sacred to him +and could not be cut or injured in any way."[146] This god was supposed +to be incarnate in a man who walked about, but he was never visible to +the people of the place, though curiously enough he could be seen by +strangers.[147] + + [146] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 223. + See also above, p. 192. + + [147] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 62 _sq._ The town or + village of Matautu is in the island of Savaii. According to G. + Turner, the sacred tree of Tuifiti was the _Afzelia bijuga_. + +However, another experienced missionary, J. B. Stair, who knew Samoa a +good many years before Dr. Brown arrived in it, speaks apparently +without hesitation of the _tupua_ as being "the deified spirits of +chiefs, who were also supposed to dwell in Pulotu," where they became +posts in the house or temple of the gods. Many beautiful emblems, he +says, were chosen to represent the immortality of these deified spirits; +among them were some of the heavenly bodies, including the Pleiades and +the planet Jupiter, also the rainbow, the marine rainbow, and many +more. He adds that the embalmed bodies of some chiefs were worshipped +under the significant title of "sun-dried gods"; and that people prayed +and poured libations of kava at the graves of deceased relatives.[148] + + [148] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 210 _sq._, 215. + + +§ 10. _The Samoan Belief concerning the Human Soul: Funeral Customs_ + +Whether the Samoans practised the worship of the dead in a developed +form or not, they certainly possessed the elements out of which the +worship might under favourable circumstances be evolved. These elements +are a belief in the survival of the human soul after death, and a fear +of disembodied spirits or ghosts. + +The Samoans believed that every man is animated by a soul, which departs +from the body temporarily in faints and dreams and permanently at death. +The soul of the dreamer, they thought, really visited the places which +he saw in his dream. At death it departed to the subterranean world of +the dead which the Samoans called Pulotu, a name which clearly differs +only dialectically from the Tongan Bolotoo or Bulotu. Some people +professed to see the parting soul when it had quitted its mortal body +and was about to take flight to the nether region. It was always of the +same shape as the body. Such apparitions at the moment of death were +much dreaded, and people tried to drive them away by shouting and firing +guns. The word for soul is _anganga_, which is a reduplicated form of +_anga_, a verb meaning "to go" or "to come." Thus apparently the Samoans +did not, like many people, identify the soul with the shadow; for in +Samoan the word for shadow is _ata_.[149] + + [149] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 8, 16; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 220; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 218 + _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 26, _s.v._ "Ata." + +However, they seem to have in a dim way associated a man's soul with his +shadow. This appears from a remarkable custom which they observed in the +case of the unburied dead. The Samoans were much concerned for the lot +of these unfortunates and stood in great dread of their ghosts. They +believed that the spirits of those who had not received the rites of +burial wandered about wretched and forlorn and haunted their relatives +everywhere by day and night, crying in doleful tones, "Oh, how cold! oh, +how cold!" Hence when the body of a dead kinsman was lost because he had +been drowned at sea or slain on a battlefield, some of his relatives +would go down to the seashore or away to the battlefield where their +friend had perished; and there spreading out a cloth on the ground they +would pray to some god of the family, saying, "Oh, be kind to us; let us +obtain without difficulty the spirit of the young man!" After that the +first thing that lighted on the cloth was supposed to be the spirit of +the dead. It might be a butterfly, a grasshopper, an ant, a spider, or a +lizard; whatever it might be, it was carefully wrapt up and taken to the +family, who buried the bundle with all due ceremony, as if it contained +the body of their departed friend. Thus the unquiet spirit was believed +to find rest. Now the insect, or whatever it happened to be, which thus +acted as proxy at the burial was supposed to be the _ata_ or shadow of +the deceased. The same word _ata_ served to express likeness; a +photographer, for example, is called _pue-ata_, "shadow-catcher." The +Samoans do not appear to have associated the soul with the breath.[150] + + [150] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170 + _sq._, 218 sq.; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 150 _sq._; S. Ella, + "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian + Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart, + Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 641 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 184. According to Brown and Stair the ceremony + described in the text was observed when a man had died a violent + death, even when the relatives were in possession of the body, + and in that case the insect, or whatever it might be, was buried + with the corpse. I have followed Turner and Ella in supposing + that the ceremony was only observed when the corpse could not be + found. As to the fear of the spirits of the unburied dead, see + also W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 58 _sq._, + 151. + +They attributed disease and death to the anger of a god, to the agency +of an evil spirit, or to the ghost of a dead relative who had entered +into the body of the sufferer. Epilepsy, delirium, and mania were always +thus explained by the entrance into the patient of a god or demon. The +Samoan remedy for all such ailments was not medicine but exorcism. +Sometimes a near relative of the sick person would go round the house +brandishing a spear and striking the walls to drive away the spirit that +was causing the sickness.[151] Hence when a member of a family fell +seriously ill, his friends did not send for a doctor, but repaired to +the high priest of the village to enquire of him the cause of the +sickness, to learn why the family god (_aitu_) was angry with them, and +to implore his mercy and forgiveness. Often the priest took advantage of +their anxiety to demand a valuable piece of property, such as a canoe or +a parcel of ground, as the best means of propitiating the angry deity +and so ensuring the recovery of the patient. With all these demands the +anxious and unsuspecting relatives readily complied. But if the priest +happened not to want anything in particular at the time, he would +probably tell the messengers to gather the family about the bed of the +sufferer and there confess their sins. The command was implicitly +obeyed, and every member of the family assembled and made a clean breast +of his or her misdeeds, especially of any curse which he or she might +have called down either on the family generally or on the invalid in +particular. Curiously enough, the curse of a sister was peculiarly +dreaded; hence in such cases the sister of the sick man was closely +questioned as to whether she had cursed him and thus caused his illness; +if so, she was entreated to remove the curse, that he might recover. +Moved by these pleadings, she might take some coco-nut water in her +mouth and spurt it out towards or upon the body of the sufferer. By this +action she either removed the curse or declared her innocence; a similar +ceremony might be performed by any other member of the family who was +suspected of having cursed the sick man.[152] + + [151] S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 639, 643; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 402. + + [152] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 146 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 140 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 180 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 401. + +When an illness seemed likely to prove fatal, messengers were despatched +to friends at a distance that they might come and bid farewell to the +dying man. Every one who came to visit the sufferer in his last moments +brought a present of a fine mat or other valuable piece of property as +a token of regard, and to defray the cost of the illness and funeral. +The best of the mats would be laid on the body of the dying man that he +might have the comfort of seeing them before he closed his eyes for +ever. Dr. George Brown thought that the spirits of the mats thus laid on +the body of the dying chief were supposed to accompany his soul to the +other world. It is possible that their spirits did so, but it is certain +that their material substance did not; for after the funeral all the +mats and other valuables so presented were distributed among the +mourners and friends assembled on the occasion, so that every one who +had brought a gift took away something in return on his departure.[153] + + [153] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ pp. 147, 150 _sq._; + G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 141 _sq._, 146; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. + 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, pp. 220, 401, 405 _sq._ + +If the dying man happened to be a chief, numbers crowded round him to +receive a parting look or word, while in front of the house might be +seen men and women wildly beating their heads and bodies with great +stones, thus inflicting on themselves ghastly wounds, from which the +blood poured as an offering of affection and sympathy to their departing +friend or lord. It was hoped that, pleased and propitiated by the sight +of their devotion, the angry god might yet stay his hand and spare the +chief to his people. Above all the tumult and uproar would rise the +voice of one who prayed aloud for the life then trembling in the +balance. But if the prayer seemed likely to prove ineffectual, it was +exchanged for threats and upbraiding. "O thou shameless spirit," the +voice would now be heard exclaiming, "could I but grasp you, I would +smash your skull to pieces! Come here and let us fight together. Don't +conceal yourself, but show yourself like a man, and let us fight, if you +are angry."[154] + + [154] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 181 _sq._ + +Immediately after death, all the mats on the floor of the house were +thrown outside, and the thatched sides of the house were either torn +down or knocked in with clubs; while the relatives and assembled crowds +wrought themselves up to frenzy, uttering loud shrieks, rending their +garments, tearing out their hair by handfuls, burning their bodies with +firebrands, beating their faces and heads with clubs and stones, or +gashing themselves with shells and shark's teeth, till the blood ran +freely down. This they called an offering of blood for the dead. In +their fury some of the mourners fell on the canoes and houses, breaking +them up and tearing them down, felling the bread-fruit trees, and +devastating the plantations of yams and taro.[155] + + [155] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. + 148; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 144; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 401 _sq._ + +As decomposition is rapid in the hot moist climate of Samoa, it was +customary to bury commoners a few hours after death. The body was laid +out on a mat, anointed with scented oil, and the face tinged with +turmeric, to soften the cadaverous look. It was then wound up in several +folds of native cloth and the chin propped up, the head and face being +left uncovered, while for some hours longer the body was surrounded by +weeping relatives, who kept constant watch over it, so long as it +remained in the house. These watchers were always women, and none of +them might quit her post under any pretext till she was relieved by +another. A fire was kept burning brightly in the house all the time. If +the deceased had died of a complaint which had previously carried off +other members of the family, they would probably open the body to +"search for the disease." Any inflamed substance which they happened to +find they would take away and burn, thinking thus to prevent any other +member of the family from being similarly afflicted. Such a custom +betrays an incipient sense of death from natural, instead of +supernatural, causes, and must have contributed to diffuse a knowledge +of human anatomy.[156] + + [156] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 148 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 144 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402. + +So long as a corpse remained in the house no food might be eaten under +the roof; the family had their meals outside or in another house. Those +who had attended to the deceased or handled the corpse were taboo: they +might not feed themselves or touch food with their hands. For days they +were fed by others as if they were helpless infants. Baldness and the +loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by the +household god for a breach of the rule. Many people fasted at such +times, eating nothing during the day, but taking a meal in the evening. +The fifth day was a day of purification. The tabooed persons then washed +their faces and hands with hot water and were clean; after that they +were free to eat at the usual time and in the usual manner.[157] + + [157] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 145; W. T. Pritchard, _op. + cit._ p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. + 402. + +The ordinary mode of disposing of the dead was by interment either in a +stone vault or in a shallow grave. But occasionally other modes were +adopted, such as embalming, putting the corpse in a canoe and setting it +adrift on the sea, or exposing it on a stage erected in the forest, +where it was left to decay, the bones being afterwards collected and +buried. Upon the death of a chief his body was generally deposited in a +family vault, the sides and bottom of which were lined with large slabs +of sandstone or basalt, while another large slab of the same material +formed the roof. Such vaults were sometimes large and massive. The +stones used in their construction were found in various parts of the +islands. Commoners were buried in shallow graves.[158] + + [158] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 178 _sq._ + +Ordinary people were usually buried the day after they died. As many +friends as could be present attended the funeral. Every one brought a +present, but on the day after the funeral all these presents, like those +which had previously been made to the dying man, were distributed again, +so that none went empty-handed away. The corpse was generally buried +without a coffin; but chiefs were laid in hollow logs or canoes. +However, even the bodies of common people were sometimes interred +in rude coffins similarly constructed. There were no common +burying-grounds; all preferred to bury their dead on their own land. +Often the grave was dug close to the house. The body was laid in it with +the head to the east and the feet to the west. When it had been thus +committed to its last resting-place, a near relative of the deceased, a +sister, if one survived, seated herself at the grave, and waving a white +cloth over the corpse, began an address to the dead. "Compassion to +you," she said, "go with goodwill, and without bearing malice towards +us. Take with you all our diseases, and leave us life." Then pointing to +the west, she exclaimed, "Misery there!" Next pointing to the east, she +cried, "Prosperity there!" Lastly, pointing to the grave, she said, +"Misery there; but leave happiness with us!" With the body they +deposited in the grave several things which had been used by the +deceased during his illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup, and +his bamboo pillow. The wooden pickaxes and coco-nut shells employed as +shovels in digging the grave were also carefully buried with the corpse. +It was not, we are told, because the people believed these things to be +of use to the dead; but because it was supposed that, if they were left +and handled by others, further disease and death would be the +consequence. Valuable mats and other articles of property were sometimes +buried with the corpse, and the grave of a warrior was surrounded with +spears stuck upright in the ground. Graves were sometimes enclosed with +stones and strewn with sand or crumbled coral.[159] + + [159] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 150 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 146 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ pp. 640 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 179 _sq._, + 182 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 403. + +The obsequies of a chief of high rank were more elaborate. The body was +kept unburied for days until his clansfolk had assembled from various +parts of the islands and paraded the body, shoulder high, through the +village, chanting a melancholy dirge.[160] The mourning and ceremonies +lasted from ten to fifteen days. All that time the house of death was +watched night and day by men appointed for the purpose. After the +burial, and until the days of mourning were ended, the daytime was +generally spent in boxing and wrestling matches, and sham-fights, while +the nights were occupied with dancing and practising a kind of +buffoonery, which was customary at these seasons of mourning for the +dead. The performance was called _O le tau-pinga_. The performers amused +themselves by making a variety of ludicrous faces and grimaces at each +other, to see who could excite the other to laugh first. Thus they +whiled away the hours of night till the days of mourning were +expired.[161] So long as the funeral ceremonies and feasts lasted no +work might be done in the village, and no strangers might approach it. +The neighbouring lagoon and reefs were taboo: no canoe might pass over +the lagoon anywhere near the village, and no man might fish in it or on +the reef.[162] For a chief or man of distinction fires were kept burning +day and night in a line from the house to the grave; these fires were +maintained for ten days after the funeral. The reason assigned for this +custom, according to Ella, was to keep away evil spirits. Even common +people observed a similar custom. After burial they kept a fire blazing +in the house all night, and they were careful to clear the intervening +ground so that a stream of light went forth from the house to the grave. +The account which the Samoans gave of the custom, according to Turner, +was that it was merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and a +mark of their tender regard for him. Dr. George Brown believed that the +original motive for the custom was to warm the ghost, and probably at +the same time to protect the mourners against dangerous spirits.[163] + + [160] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 146 + + [161] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 183 _sq._ + + [162] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 149 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 642; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, pp. 403 _sq._ + + [163] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + pp. 640 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402. + +The head was deemed a very sacred part, and in olden days the bodies of +chiefs were often buried near their houses until decomposition had set +in, when the head was cut off and interred in some family burying-place +inland, to save it from insult in time of war. This interment of the +head was accompanied with feasts, dances, and sham-fights. The skull was +borne to the appointed place on a kind of stage, attended by a troop of +armed men. With these sham-fights Dr. George Brown, who records the +custom, compares the sham-fights which used to take place among the +Melanesians of the Duke of York Island when the body of a chief was laid +on a high platform in front of his house, one company of warriors +striving to deposit the corpse on the platform, while their adversaries +attempted to prevent them from doing so.[164] The meaning of these +curious sham-fights is obscure. Perhaps the attacking party represented +a band of evil spirits, who endeavoured to snatch away the chief's +body, but were defeated in the nefarious attempt. + + [164] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 388 + _sq._, 404 _sq._ + +One or two families of chiefs in the island of Upolu used to practise a +rude kind of embalming. The work was done exclusively by women. The +viscera having been removed and buried, the women anointed the body +daily with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids +escape, they punctured the body all over with fine needles. Finally, +wads of native cloth, saturated with oil or resinous gums, were inserted +in the abdomen, the apertures were closed up, and the body wrapt in +native cloth. The face, hands, and feet were left exposed, and were +repeatedly anointed with oil, mixed with turmeric powder, to give a +fresh and life-like appearance to the mummy. The whole process lasted +about two months. On its completion the mummy was placed in a house +built specially for the purpose, where, loosely covered with a sheet of +native cloth, it rested on a raised platform. Strangers were freely +admitted to see it. Four of these mummies, laid out in a house, were to +be seen down to about the year 1864. They were the bodies of a chief, +his wife, and two sons. Dr. George Turner judged that they must have +been embalmed upwards of thirty years, and although they had been +exposed all that time, they were in a remarkably good state of +preservation. The people assigned no particular reason for the practice, +further than that it sprang from an affectionate desire to keep the +bodies of their departed friends with them, as if they were still +alive.[165] + + [165] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 148 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 641; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 184 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 405. + + +§ 11. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_ + +With regard to the fate of human souls after death the Samoans appear to +have believed in their immortality, or at all events in their indefinite +survival. On this subject Dr. Brown observes: "All souls survived after +death, and so far as I know they had no idea of their dying a second +death or being destroyed. I do not think that a Samoan could give any +reason for his belief that the soul does not perish with the body, but +he certainly does believe this, and I never heard any one question +the fact."[166] Thus, according to Dr. Brown the Samoans, unlike the +Tongans, drew no invidious distinction between the souls of noblemen and +the souls of commoners, but liberally opened the doors of immortality to +gentle and simple alike. So far, they carried their republican or +democratic spirit into the world beyond the grave. + + [166] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 220 + _sq._ + +However, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio Hale, some of +the Samoans agreed with the Tongans in taking an aristocratic view of +the destiny of souls after death; and as he had good opportunities for +acquainting himself with the Samoan religion during the prolonged stay +of the American Exploring Expedition at Samoa in 1839, when the islands +were as yet but little affected by European influence, I will quote his +account. He says: "All believe in the existence of a large island, +situated far to the north-west called _Pulótu_, which is the residence +of the gods. Some suppose that while the souls of the common people +perish with their bodies, those of the chiefs are received into this +island, which is described as a terrestrial elysium, and become there +inferior divinities. Others hold (according to Mr. Heath) that the +spirits of the departed live and work in a dark subterraneous abode, and +are eaten by the gods. A third, and very common opinion is, that the +souls of all who die on an island, make their way to the western +extremity, where they plunge into the sea; but what then becomes of them +is not stated. The rock from which they leap, in the island of Upolu, +was pointed out to us; the natives term it '_Fatu-asofia_,' which was +rendered the 'jumping-off stone.'"[167] + + [167] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, p. 27. + +Of these various opinions described by Hale the third would seem to have +been by far the most prevalent. It was commonly believed that the +disembodied spirit retained the exact resemblance of its former self, by +which we are probably to understand the exact resemblance of its former +body. Immediately on quitting its earthly tabernacle it began its +solitary journey to Fafa, which was the subterranean abode of the dead, +lying somewhere to the west of Savaii, the most westerly island of the +group. Thus, if a man died in Manua, the most easterly of the islands, +his soul would journey to the western end of that island, then dive into +the sea and swim across to Tutuila. There it would walk along the beach +to the extreme westerly point of the island, when it would again plunge +into the sea and swim across to the next island, and so on to the most +westerly cape of Savaii, where it finally dived into the ocean and +pursued its way to the mysterious Fafa.[168] + + [168] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 218 _sq._ Compare + G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 643 _sq._ + +At the western end of Savaii, near the village of Falealupo, there are +two circular openings among the rocks, not far from the beach. Down +these two openings the souls of the dead were supposed to go on their +passage to the spirit-world. The souls of chiefs went down the larger of +the openings, and the souls of common people went down the smaller. Near +the spot stood a coco-nut tree, and if a passing soul chanced to collide +with it, the soul could not proceed farther, but returned to its body. +When a man recovered from a deep swoon, his friends supposed that his +soul had been arrested in its progress to the other world by knocking +against the coco-nut tree, and they rejoiced, saying, "He has come back +from the tree of the Watcher," for that was the name by which the +coco-nut tree was known. So firmly did the people of the neighbourhood +believe in the passage of the souls near their houses, that at night +they kept down the blinds to exclude the ghosts.[169] The "jumping-off +stone" at the west end of Upolu was also dreaded on account of the +passing ghosts. The place is a narrow rocky cape. The Samoans were much +astonished when a Christian native boldly built himself a house on the +haunted spot.[170] According to one account, the souls of the dead had +not to make their way through the chain of islands by the slow process +of walking and swimming, but were at once transported to the western end +of Savaii by a band of spirits, who hovered over the house of the dying +man, and catching up his parting spirit conveyed it in a straight +course westward.[171] + + [169] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 257 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ pp. 643 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. + 221. + + [170] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 219. + + [171] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 643. + +The place down which the spirits of the dead were supposed to descend to +the nether world was called by a native name (_Lua[=o]_), which means +"hollow pit." "May you go rumbling down the hollow pit" was a common +form of cursing. At the bottom of the pit was a running stream which +floated the spirits away to Pulotu. All alike, the handsome and the +ugly, old and young, chiefs and commoners, drifted pell-mell on the +current in a dazed, semi-conscious state, till they came to Pulotu. +There they bathed in "the Water of Life" and recovered all their old +life and vigour. Infirmity of every kind fled away; even the aged became +young again. The underworld of Pulotu was conceived on the model of our +upper world. There, as here, were heavens and earth and sea, fruits and +flowers; there the souls of the dead planted and fished and cooked; +there they married and were given in marriage, all after the manner of +life on earth.[172] + + [172] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 258 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 222. + +However, it appears that according to a widespread belief the world of +the dead was sharply discriminated into two regions, to wit, an Elysium +or place of bliss called Pulotu, and a Tartarus or place of woe named +S[=a]-le-Fe'e. The title for admission to one or other of these places +was not moral worth but social rank, chiefs going to Elysium and +commoners to Tartarus. The idea of the superiority of the chiefs to the +common people was thus perpetuated in the land of the dead.[173] The +king of the lower regions was a certain Saveasiuleo, that is, Savea of +the Echo. He reclined in a house in the company of the chiefs who +gathered round him: the upper part of his body was human, the lower part +was like that of a fish and stretched away into the sea. This royal +house of assembly was supported by the erect bodies of chiefs, who had +been of high rank on earth, and who, before they died, anticipated with +pride the honour they were to enjoy by serving as pillars in the temple +of the King of Pulotu.[174] + + [173] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 217 _sq._; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221. On the question + whether the Samoans held a doctrine of moral retribution after + death, Dr. Brown observes: "I do not remember any statement to + the effect that the conduct of a man in this life affected his + state after death. They certainly believe this now, but whether + they did so prior to the introduction of Christianity I cannot + definitely say. I am inclined, however, to believe that they did + not believe that conduct in this life affected them in the + future" (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 261 _sq._). + Elsewhere, however, Dr. Brown seems to express a contrary + opinion. He says: "It was generally understood that the + conditions of men in this life, even amongst the common people, + had an effect on their future conditions. A good man in Samoa + generally meant a liberal man, one who was generous and + hospitable; whilst a bad man was one who was mean, selfish, and + greedy about food" (_op. cit._ p. 222). + + [174] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 259 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 644. + +But the souls of the dead were not permanently confined to the lower +world. They could return to the land of the living by night to hold +converse with members of their families, to warn and instruct them in +dreams, and to foretell the future. They could cause disease and death +by entering into the bodies of their enemies and even of their friends, +and they produced nightmare by sitting on the chests of sleepers. They +haunted some houses and especially burying-grounds. Their apparitions +were visible to the living and were greatly dreaded; people tried to +drive them away by shouts, noises, and the firing of guns. But the +ghosts had to return to the nether world at daybreak. It was because +they feared the spirits of the dead that the Samoans took such great +pains to propitiate dying people with presents; this they did above all +to persons whom they had injured, because they had most reason to dread +the anger of their ghosts.[175] However, the souls of the departed were +also thought of in a more amiable light; they could help as well as harm +mankind. Hence prayers were commonly offered at the grave of a parent, a +brother, or a chief. The suppliant, for example, might pray for health +in sickness; or, if he were of a malignant turn, he might implore the +ghost to compass the death of some person at whom he bore a grudge. Thus +we are told that a woman prayed for the death of her brother, and he +died accordingly.[176] In such beliefs and practices we have, as I have +already observed, the essential elements of a regular worship of the +dead. Whether the Samoans were on the way to evolve such a religion or, +as Dr. George Brown preferred to suppose,[177] had left it behind them +and made some progress towards a higher faith, we hardly possess the +means of determining. + + [175] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 259; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 644; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. + 219, 221, 222. + + [176] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 151. + + [177] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 245, + 282. + +But while the Samoans thought that the dead return to earth to make or +mar the living, they did not believe that the spirits come back to be +born again in the form of men or animals or to occupy inanimate bodies; +in other words they had no belief in the transmigration of souls.[178] +The absence of such a belief is significant in view of Dr. Rivers's +suggestion that Melanesian totemism may have been evolved out of a +doctrine of metempsychosis, human souls being supposed to pass at death +into their totem animals or plants.[179] We have seen that the Samoan +system of family, village, and district gods bears strong marks of +having been developed out of totemism; and if their totemism had in turn +been developed out of a doctrine of transmigration, we should expect to +find among them a belief that the souls of the dead appeared in the +shape of the animals, plants, or other natural objects which were +regarded as the embodiments of their family, village, or district gods. +But of such a belief there is seemingly no trace. It appears, therefore, +unlikely that Samoan totemism was based on a doctrine of transmigration. +Similarly we have seen reason to think that the Tongan worship of +animals may have sprung from totemism, though according to the best +authorities that worship was not connected with a theory of +metempsychosis.[180] Taken together, the Samoan and the Tongan systems +seem to show that, if totemism ever flourished among the Polynesians, it +had not its roots in a worship of the dead. + + [178] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221, + "They had no belief in the transmigration of souls either into + animals, inert bodies, or into different human bodies." + + [179] W. H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian + Society_, ii. 358 _sqq._ + + [180] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._ + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS + + +§ 1. _The Hervey or Cook Islands_ + +The Hervey or Cook Archipelago is a scattered group of nine small +islands situated in the South Pacific about seven hundred miles +south-east of Samoa. The islands are either volcanic or coralline, and +approach to them is impeded by dangerous reefs and the absence of +harbours.[1] The two principal islands are Rarotonga and Mangaia, the +most southerly of the group. Of these the larger, Rarotonga, has a +circumference of about thirty miles. It is a vast mass of volcanic +mountains, rising peak above peak, to a height of between four and five +thousand feet above the sea; but from the foot of the mountains a +stretch of flat land, covered with rich alluvial soil, extends for one +or two miles to the coast, which is formed by a fringing reef of live +coral. The whole island is mantled in luxuriant tropical verdure. It is +difficult, we are told, to exaggerate the strange forms of beauty which +everywhere meet the eye in this lovely island: gigantic and fantastic +columns of rock draped with vines; deep valleys lying in the shadow of +overhanging mountains; primaeval forest with its many shades of green; +immense chestnut trees, laden with fragrant blossoms; miles of +bread-fruit groves, intermingled with coco-nut palms; and nearer the +beach plantains, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lastly, growing to the +water's edge, graceful iron-wood trees with hair-like leaves drooping +like tresses, all contribute to the variety and charm of the scenery.[2] + + [1] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p. + 509. + + [2] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_ (London, N.D.), p. + 11. Compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 16, 174-176. + According to Dr. Guillemard (_loc. cit._), the height of + Rarotonga is 2900 feet; according to W. W. Gill, our principal + authority on the island, it is 4500 feet. + +Very different is the aspect of Mangaia. It is a complete coral island +rising from deep water as a ring of live coral; there is no lagoon. A +few hundred yards inland from the rugged beach there rises gradually a +second or inner ring of dead coral, which towards the interior falls +away perpendicularly, thus surrounding the island like a cyclopean wall. +This belt or bulwark of dead coral is from one to two miles wide. To +cross it is like walking on spear-points: to slip and fall on it may +entail ghastly wounds. The streams of water from the interior find their +way through it to the sea by subterranean channels. Imbedded in the +highest parts of this inland reef of coral are many sea-shells of +existing species, and it is honeycombed with many extensive caves, which +were formerly used as dwellings, cemeteries, places of refuge, or +storehouses. Scores of them are filled with desiccated human bodies. So +vast are they that it is dangerous to venture alone into their recesses; +the forlorn wanderer might never emerge from them again. Some of them +are said to penetrate far under the bed of the ocean. In these caverns +stalactite and stalagmite abound, forming thick and fast-growing layers +of limestone rock. The largest and most famous of the caves is known as +the Labyrinth (_Tuatini_). The interior of the island is formed of dark +volcanic rock and red clay, descending in low hills from a flat-topped +centre, called the Crown of Mangaia. The summit is not more than six +hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea.[3] + + [3] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_. pp. 7 _sq._; + _id._, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_ (London, 1894), pp. + 6 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. + 271 _sqq._, 274 _sqq._ (as to the caverns). + + +§ 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_ + +Though the natives speak a Polynesian language closely akin to the +Samoan and have legends of their migration from Samoa, they appear not +to be pure Polynesians. They say that they found black people on +Rarotonga; and their more pronounced features, more wavy hair, darker +complexion, and more energetic character seem to indicate an admixture +of Melanesian blood. In Mangaia, indeed, this type is said to +predominate, the natives of that island being characterised by dusky +brown skin, wavy or frizzly hair, and ample beards: their features, too, +are more prominent than those of the Rarotongans, and their manners are +wilder.[4] Cannibalism prevailed in most of the islands of the group +down to the conversion of the natives to Christianity, which took place +between 1823 and 1834, when, with the exception of a few pagans in +Mangaia, there did not remain a single idolater, or vestige of idolatry, +in any one of the islands. However, many years afterwards old men, who +had partaken of cannibal feasts, assured a missionary that human flesh +was far superior to pork.[5] + + [4] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 509. Compare A. + Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. 257 _sq._, 269. The latter + writer remarks on the great variety of types among the natives + of these islands. In Mangaia he found the people darker than in + Rarotonga, undersized, sturdy, with thick lips, noses broad and + sunken at the bridge, which gave them a somewhat wild + appearance. As to the tradition of an emigration of the Hervey + Islanders from Samoa, see W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern + Isles_, pp. 23 _sqq._ "The Mangaians themselves trace their + origin to Avaiki, or nether world; but Avaiki, Hawai'i, and + Savai'i, are but slightly different forms of one word. The _s_ + of the Samoan dialect is invariably dropped in the Hervey Group + dialects, whilst a _k_ is substituted for the break at the end. + No native of these days doubts that by Avaiki his ancestors + really intended Savai'i, the largest island of the Samoan Group. + In Polynesia, to sail _west_ is to go _down_; to sail _east_ is + to go _up_. To sail from Samoa to Mangaia would be 'to come up,' + or, to translate their vernacular closely, 'to climb up.' In + their songs and myths are many references to 'the hosts of + _Uk_upolu,' undoubtedly the Upolu of Samoa" (W. W. Gill, _op. + cit._ p. 25). Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South + Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 166 _sq._ + + [5] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 13 _sq._; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _Report of the Second Meeting + of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science + held at Melbourne, 1890_, p. 324. As to the date of the + introduction of Christianity into the Hervey Islands, see John + Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea + Islands_, pp. 491 _sq._ + +In the larger islands the natives cultivated the soil diligently even +before their contact with Europeans. The missionary John Williams, who +discovered Rarotonga in 1823, found the island in a high state of +cultivation. Rows of superb chestnut trees (_inocarpus_), planted at +equal distances, stretched from the base of the mountains to the sea, +while the spaces between the rows, some half a mile wide, were divided +into taro patches, each about half an acre in extent, carefully banked +up and capable of being irrigated at pleasure. On the tops of the banks +grew fine bread-fruit trees placed at equal intervals, their stately +foliage presenting a pleasing contrast to the pea-green leaves of the +ordinary taro and the dark colour of the giant taro (_kape_) in the beds +and on the sloping banks beneath.[6] In Rarotonga bread-fruit and +plantains are the staple food; in Mangaia it is taro. On the atolls the +coco-nut palm flourishes, but no planting can be done, as the soil +consists of sand and gravel thrown up by the sea on the ever-growing +coral. The inhabitants of the atolls live contentedly on coco-nuts and +fish; they are expert fishermen, having little else to do. But fresh +fish are also eaten in large quantities on most of the islands.[7] In +some of the islands the planting was done by the women, but in others, +including Rarotonga, the taro was both planted and brought home by the +men. Women cooked the food in ovens of hot stones sunk in holes, and +they made cloth from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which they stripped +from the tree, steeped in water, and beat out with square mallets of +iron-wood. But garments were made also from the inner bark of the banyan +and bread-fruit trees.[8] In the old days the native houses were flimsy +quadrangular huts constructed of reeds and thatched with plaited +leaflets of the coco-nut palm, which were very pervious to rain; but the +temples and large houses of chiefs were thatched with pandanus leaves. +The doors were always sliding; the threshold was made of a single block +of timber, tastefully carved. There was a sacred and a common +entrance.[9] Like all the Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders before their +discovery were ignorant of the metals. When in a wrecked vessel they +found a bag of Californian gold, they thought it was something good to +eat and proceeded to cook the nuggets in order to make them juicy and +tender.[10] + + [6] John Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 175 _sq._ + + [7] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 12, 15; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _Report of the Second Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at + Melbourne, 1890_, p. 336. + + [8] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 332 + _sq._, 338. + + [9] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sq._ + + [10] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16. + + +§ 3. _Social Life: the Sacred Kings_ + +The people were divided into tribes or clans, each tracing descent in +the male line from a common ancestor, and each possessing its own lands, +which were inalienable. Exogamy, we are told, was the universal rule in +the olden time; but when a tribe was split up in war, the defeated +portion was treated as an alien tribe. Polygamy was very common, and was +not restricted to chiefs. A man often had two or three sisters to wife +at the same time. Distant cousins sometimes, though rarely, married each +other; but in such cases they had to belong to the same generation; that +is, they must be descended in the same degree, fourth, fifth, or even +more remote, from the common ancestor. If misfortune or disease overtook +couples linked even by so distant a relationship, the elders would +declare that it was brought upon them by the anger of the clan-god. It +was the duty of parents to teach their growing children whom they might +lawfully marry, but their choice was extremely limited. Children as a +rule belonged to the tribe or clan of their father, unless they were +adopted into another. However, parents had it at their option to assign +a child at birth either to the tribe of its father or to the tribe of +its mother; this they did by pronouncing over the infant the name either +of the father's or of the mother's god. Commonly the father had the +preference; but occasionally, when the father's tribe was one from which +human victims for sacrifice were regularly drawn, the mother would seek +to save the child's life by having the name of her tribal god pronounced +over it and so adopting it into her own tribe.[11] Circumcision in an +imperfect form was practised in the Hervey Islands from time immemorial. +It was usually performed on a youth about the age of sixteen. The +operation was indispensable to marriage. No woman would knowingly marry +an uncircumcised husband. The greatest insult that could be offered to +a man was to accuse him of being uncircumcised. The rite is said to have +been invented by the god Rongo in order to seduce the beautiful wife of +his brother Tangaroa, and he enjoined the observance of circumcision +upon his worshippers.[12] In Rarotonga it was customary to mould a +child's head into a high shape by pressing the forehead and the back of +the head between slabs of soft wood. This practice did not obtain on +Mangaia nor, apparently, on any other island of the Hervey Group.[13] + + [11] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 323, + 330, 331, 333. + + [12] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. + 327-329. In the operation the prepuce was slit longitudinally, + and the divided pieces were drawn underneath and twisted, so as + in time to form a small knot under the urethra. As to the + ceremony of assigning a child either to its father's or to its + mother's tribe, see W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South + Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 36 _sq._ + + [13] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 326. + +In Rarotonga four ranks of society were recognised. These were the +_ariki_, or king; the _mataiapo_, or governors of districts; the +_rangatira_, or landowners; and the _unga_, or tenants. A man was +accounted great according to the number of his _kaingas_ or farms, which +contained from one to five acres. These were let to tenants, who, like +vassals under the feudal system, obeyed the orders of their superior, +assisted him in erecting his house, in building his canoe, in making +fishing-nets, and in other occupations, besides bringing him a certain +portion of the produce of his lands.[14] + + [14] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 183 _sq._ + +The kings were sacred men, being regarded as priests and mouthpieces of +the great tutelary divinities.[15] In Mangaia they were the priests or +mouthpieces of the great god Rongo. So sacred were their royal persons +that no part of their body might be tattooed: they might not take part +in dances or in actual warfare. Peace could not be proclaimed nor blood +spilt lawfully without the consent of the king speaking in the name of +the god Rongo. Quite distinct from, and subordinate to, the sacred king +was the "lord of Mangaia," a warrior chief who gained his lordship by a +decisive victory. He represented the civil power, while the king +represented the spiritual power; but while the office of the king was +hereditary, the office of the civil lord was not. It sometimes happened +that the civil lord was at enmity with the king of his day. In that +case the king would refuse to complete the ceremonies necessary for his +formal investiture; life would remain unsafe; the soil could not be +cultivated, and famine soon ensued. This state of turbulence and misery +might last for years, till the obnoxious chief had been in his turn +despatched, and a more agreeable successor appointed.[16] Thus the +sacred king and the civil lord corresponded to the Tooitonga or sacred +chief and the civil king of Tonga.[17] + + [15] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 335. + + [16] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 293. + + [17] See above, pp. 62 _sq._ + + +§ 4. _Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism_ + +Yet though the king of Mangaia ranked above the civil or temporal lord, +it devolved on that lord to install a new king in office by formally +seating him on "the sacred sandstone" (_te kea inamoa_) in the sanctuary +or sacred grove (_marae_)[18] of Rongo on the sea-shore facing the +setting sun. The ceremony took place in presence of the leading +under-chiefs. The special duty of the king was by offering rhythmical +and very ancient prayers to Great Rongo to keep away evil-minded spirits +who might otherwise injure the island. For this end the principal king +(_te ariki pa uta_) lived in the interior of the island in the sacred +and fertile district of Keia. His prayers were thought to avert evil +spirits coming from the east. On the barren sea-shore at O-rongo (the +seat of the temple or grove of Rongo) lived the secondary king (_te +ariki pa tai_), who warded off bad spirits coming from the west. Besides +this primary ghostly function, many other important duties devolved upon +these royal personages. The secondary or shore king was not infrequently +a natural son of the great inland king. By virtue of their office all +kings were high priests of Rongo, the tutelary god of Mangaia.[19] + + [18] In the Hervey Islands a _marae_ seems to have been a sacred + grove. So it is described by W. W. Gill (_Myths and Songs from + the South Pacific_, p. 14), who adds in a note: "These _maraes_ + were planted with _callophylla inophylla_, etc., etc., which, + untouched by the hand of man from generation to generation, + threw a sacred gloom over the mysteries of idol-worship. The + trees were accounted sacred, not for their own sake, but on + account of the place where they grew." + + [19] W. W. Gill, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_, pp. 314 + _sq._ As to the installation of the priestly king by the + temporal lord, see also _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. + cit._ pp. 339 _sq._ + +But Rongo was not peculiar to the Hervey Islands. He was a great +Polynesian deity worshipped in almost every part of the Pacific, and +though his attributes differed greatly in different places, a universal +reverence was paid to him. In the Hervey Islands, he and his twin +brother Tangaroa were deemed the children of Vatea, the eldest of the +primary gods, a being half man and half fish, whose eyes are the sun and +the moon. The wife of this monstrous deity and mother of the divine +twins was Papa, whose name signifies Foundation and who was supposed to +be a daughter of Timatekore or "Nothing-more." The twin Tangaroa, +another great Polynesian deity, was specially honoured in Rarotonga and +Aitutaki, another of the Hervey Islands.[20] The famous Polynesian hero +Maui was also well known in the Hervey Islands, where people told how he +had brought up the first fire to men from the under world, having there +wrested it from the fire-god Mauike;[21] how he raised the sky--a solid +vault of blue stone--to its present height, for of old the sky almost +touched the earth, so that people could not walk upright;[22] and +finally how he caught the great sun-god Ra himself in six nooses made of +strong coco-nut fibre, so that the motions of the orb of day, which +before had been extremely irregular, have been most orderly ever +since.[23] + + [20] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 3 + _sqq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 348 + _sq._ As to Rongo and Tangaroa, see E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z., + 1891), pp. 424 _sq._, 463 _sq._, _svv._ "Rongo" and "Tangaroa." + + [21] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 51-58. + + [22] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 58-60. + + [23] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 61-63. + +But besides the divine or heroic figures of more or less anthropomorphic +type, which the Hervey Islanders recognised in common with the rest of +the Polynesians, we may distinguish in their mythology traces of that +other and probably older stage of thought in which the objects of +religious reverence are rather animals than men or beings modelled in +the image of man. We have seen that this early stage of religion was +well preserved in Samoa down to the time when the islands fell under the +observation of Europeans, and that it was probably a relic of +totemism,[24] which at an earlier period may perhaps have prevailed +generally among the ancestors of the Polynesians. In the Hervey Islands +there was a god called Tonga-iti, who appeared visibly in the form of +black and white spotted lizards.[25] Another deity named Tiaio took +possession of the body of the large white shark, the terror of these +islanders, and he had a small sacred grove (_marae_) set apart for his +worship. It is said that this shark-god was a former king of Mangaia, +who in the pride of his heart had defiled the sacred district of Keia, +the favourite haunt of the gods, by wearing some beautiful scarlet +hibiscus flowers in his ears. Now anything red was forbidden in that +part of the island as being offensive to the gods; and even the beating +of bark-cloth was prohibited there, lest the repose of the gods should +be disturbed by the noise. Hence an angry priest knocked the proud and +impious king on the head, and the blood of the slain monarch flowed into +a neighbouring stream, where it was drunk by a great fresh-water eel. So +the spirit of the dead king entered into the eel, but subsequently, +pursuing its way to the sea, the spirit forsook the eel and took +possession of the shark.[26] Nevertheless he continued occasionally to +appear to his worshippers in the form of an eel; for we are told that in +the old heathen days, if a huge eel were caught in a net, it would have +been regarded as the god Tiaio himself come on a visit, and that it +would accordingly have been allowed to return to the water +unmolested.[27] It is quite possible that this derivation of the eel-god +or shark-god from a former king of Mangaia may be historically correct; +for we are told that "many of the deities worshipped in the Hervey Group +and other islands of the eastern Pacific were canonised priests, kings, +and warriors, whose spirits were supposed to enter into various birds, +fish, reptiles, insects, etc., etc. Strangely enough, they were regarded +as being, in no respect, inferior to the original deities."[28] Among +the creatures in which gods, and especially the spirits of deified men, +were believed permanently to reside or to be incarnate were reckoned +sharks, sword-fish, eels, the octopus, yellow and black spotted lizards, +as well as several kinds of birds and insects.[29] In Rarotonga the +cuttle-fish was the special deity of the reigning family down to the +subversion of paganism.[30] In Mangaia the tribe of Teipe, whose members +were liable to serve as victims in human sacrifices, worshipped the +centipede: there was a shrine of the centipede god at Vaiau on the +eastern side of Mangaia.[31] Again, two gods, Tekuraaki and Utakea, were +supposed to be incarnate in the woodpecker.[32] A comprehensive +designation for divinities of all kinds was "the heavenly family" (_te +anau tuarangi_); and this celestial race included rats, lizards, +beetles, eels, sharks, and several kinds of birds. It was supposed that +"the heavenly family" had taken up their abode in these creatures.[33] +Nay, even inanimate objects, such as the triton-shell, sandstone, bits +of basalt, cinnet, and trees were believed to be thus tenanted by +gods.[34] The god Tane-kio, for example, was thought to be enshrined in +the planets Venus and Jupiter, and also, curiously enough, in cinnet +work.[35] Again, each tribe had its own sacred bird, which was supposed +to be sent by a god to warn the people of impending danger.[36] In these +superstitions it is possible that we have relics of totemism. + + [24] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + + [25] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 10 _sq._ 19. Another god called Turanga, who was worshipped at + Aumoana, was also supposed to be incarnate in white and black + spotted lizards. See _id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [26] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 29 _sq._ + + [27] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 79 _sq._ + + [28] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + + [29] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 347. + Yet in the same passage the writer affirms that "there is no + trace in the Eastern Pacific of the doctrine of transmigration + of human souls, although the spirits of the dead are fabled to + have assumed, temporarily, and for a specific purpose, the form + of an insect, bird, fish, or cloud." + + [30] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 289. + + [31] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 96, 308, 309. + + [32] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [33] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 34 + _sq._ + + [34] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 32. + + [35] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [36] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + +Originally, it is said, the gods spoke to men through the small land +birds, but the utterances of these creatures proved too indistinct to +guide the actions of mankind. Hence to meet this emergency an order of +priests was set apart, the gods actually taking up their abode, for the +time being, in their sacred persons. Hence priests were significantly +named "god-boxes" (_pia-atua_) a title which was generally abbreviated +to "gods," because they were believed to be living embodiments of the +divinities. When a priest was consulted, he drank a bowl of kava (_Piper +methysticum_), and falling into convulsions gave the oracular response +in language intelligible only to the initiated. The oracle so delivered, +from which there was no appeal, was thought to have been inspired by the +god, who had entered into the priest for the purpose.[37] + + [37] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 35; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + + +§ 5. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_ + +Like other Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders believed that human beings +are animated by a vital principle or soul, which survives the death of +the body for a longer or shorter time. Indeed, they held that nobody +dies a strictly natural death except as an effect of extreme old age. +Nineteen out of twenty deaths were believed to be caused either by the +anger of the gods or by the incantations of "the praying people" or +sorcerers.[38] Hence, when a person fell ill, it was customary to +consult a priest in order to discover the nature of the sin which had +drawn down on the sufferer the wrath of the deity or the enmity of the +sorcerer.[39] But besides its final departure at death, the soul was +thought to quit the body temporarily on other occasions. In sleep it was +supposed to leave the sleeper and travel over the island, holding +converse with the dead, and even visiting the spirit-world. It was thus +that the islanders, like so many other savages, explained the phenomena +of dreams. We are told that some of the most important events in their +national history were determined by dreams.[40] Again, they explained +sneezing as the return of the soul to the body after a temporary +absence. Hence in Rarotonga, when a person sneezes, the bystanders +exclaim, as though addressing his spirit, "Ha! you have come back!"[41] + + [38] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 342. + Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35. + + [39] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 35; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 339; _id._, + _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 70. + + [40] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 347. + + [41] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 177. + +How exactly the Hervey Islanders pictured to themselves the nature of +the human soul, appears not to be recorded. Probably their notions on +this obscure subject did not differ greatly from those of the natives of +Pukapuka or Danger Island, a lonely island situated some hundreds of +miles to the north-west of the Hervey Group. These savages apparently +conceived the soul as a small material substance that varied in size +with the dimensions of the body which it inhabited. For the sacred men +or sorcerers of that island used to set traps to catch the souls of +people, and the traps consisted of loops of coco-nut fibre, which +differed in size according as the soul to be caught in one of them was +fat or thin, or perhaps according as it was the soul of a child or that +of an adult. Two of these soul-traps were presented to Mr. W. W. Gill, +the first white missionary to land in Danger Island. The loops or rings +were arranged in pairs on each side of two cords, one of which was +twenty-eight feet long and the other fourteen. The mode of setting the +traps was this. If a person was very sick or had given offence to a +sorcerer, the offended wizard or priest would hang a soul-trap by night +from a branch of a tree overhanging the house of the sufferer or of the +person against whom he bore a grudge; then sitting down beside the snare +he would pretend to watch for the flight of the victim's spirit. If the +family enquired the sin for which the soul-trap had been set, the holy +man would probably allege some ceremonial fault committed by the sick +man against the gods. If an insect or small bird chanced to fly through +one of the loops, the priest would allege that the man's soul was caught +in the mesh, and that there was no hope for it but that the wretch must +die. In that case the demon Vaerua, who presided over the spirit-world, +was believed to hurry off the poor soul to the nether world, there to +feast upon it. The news that So-and-so had lost his soul would then +spread through the island, and great would be the lamentation. The +friends of the unhappy man would seek to propitiate the sorcerer by +large presents of food, begging him to intercede with the dread Vaerua +for the restoration of the lost soul. Sometimes the intercessions were +successful, and the patient recovered; but at other times the priest +reported that his prayers were of no avail, and that Vaerua could not +be induced to send back the soul to re-inhabit the body. The melancholy +tidings acted like a sentence of death. The patient gave up all hope and +soon pined away through sheer distress at the thought of his soul caught +in the trap.[42] + + [42] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 180-183; + _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 171. + + +§ 6. _Death and Funeral Rites_ + +The moment a sick person expired, his near relatives cut off their hair, +blackened their faces, and slashed their bodies with shark's teeth, so +that the blood might stream down; in Rarotonga it was customary also to +knock out some of the front teeth in token of sorrow. During the days of +mourning people wore only native cloth, dyed red in the sap of the +candle-nut tree and then dipped in the black mud of a taro-patch. The +very foul smell of these garments is said to have been symbolical of the +putrescent state of the corpse;[43] perhaps at the same time, though we +are not told so, it helped to keep the ghost at arm's length. + + [43] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 181; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + +That the mourners were not anxious to detain the departed spirit appears +from a custom observed by the Rarotongans and described by the +discoverer of the island, John Williams. He tells us that in order to +secure the admission of a departed spirit to future joys, the corpse was +dressed in the best attire the relatives could provide, the head was +wreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A pig was then +baked whole and placed on the body of the deceased, surrounded by a pile +of vegetable food. After that, supposing the departed to have been a +son, the father would thus address the corpse: "My son, when you were +alive I treated you with kindness, and when you were taken ill I did my +best to restore you to health; and now you are dead, there is your +_momoe o_, or property of admission. Go, my son, and with that gain an +entrance into the palace of Tiki,[44] and do not come to this world +again to disturb and alarm us." The whole would then be buried; and, if +they received no intimation to the contrary within a few days of the +interment, the relatives believed that the pig and the rest of the +victuals had obtained for the deceased an entrance to the abode of +bliss. If, however, a cricket was heard to chirp in the house, it was +deemed an ill omen, and they would immediately break into loud laments, +saying, for example, "Oh, our brother! his spirit has not entered the +paradise; he is suffering from hunger; he is shivering with cold!" +Forthwith the grave would be opened and the offering repeated. This +usually effected the purpose.[45] + + [44] The name of the god of the Rarotongan paradise. + + [45] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 477 _sq._ + +In Rarotonga the provisions which were buried with the dead person as an +offering to Tiki sometimes consisted of the head and kidneys of a hog, a +split coco-nut, and a root of kava; in the island of Aitutaki it was +usual to place at the pit of the stomach of the corpse the kernel of a +coco-nut, and a piece of sugar-cane; in Mangaia the extremity of a +coco-nut frond served the same purpose of propitiating Tiki and ensuring +the entrance of the ghost into paradise.[46] + + [46] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 170 _sq._ + +The bodies of the dead were anointed with scented oil, carefully wrapt +up in a number of cloths, and so committed to their last resting-place. +They were never disembowelled for the purpose of embalming, but some +were desiccated by being kept for about a month and daily anointed with +coco-nut oil. A few were buried in the earth within the precincts of a +sacred grove (_marae_); but by far the greater number were hidden in +caves which were regarded as the private property of certain families. +The bodies of warriors were in general carefully concealed by their +friends, lest foes should find and burn them in revenge. If a body were +buried in the earth, it was always laid face downwards, with chin and +knees meeting, and the limbs well secured with coco-nut fibre. A thin +covering of earth was spread over the corpse, and large heavy stones +were piled on the grave. "The intention," we are informed, "was to +render it impossible for the dead to rise up and injure the living." The +head of the corpse was always turned to the rising sun. It was customary +to bury with the dead some article of value: a woman would have her +cloth-mallet laid by her side, while a man would enjoin his friends to +bury with him a favourite stone adze or a beautiful white shell (_Ovula +ovum_, Linn.) which he had worn in the dance. Such articles were never +afterwards touched by the living. Many people were buried in easily +accessible caves, that their relatives might visit the mouldering +remains from time to time. On such visits the corpse might be again +exposed to the sun, anointed afresh with oil, and wrapt in new cloth. +But as the sorrow of the survivors abated, these visits became less and +less frequent, and finally ceased.[47] + + [47] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 72-76; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 343. + +A death in a family was the signal for a change of names among the near +relatives of the deceased. The greatest ingenuity was exercised in +devising new appellations. Sometimes these names were most offensive to +good taste. This custom of changing names after the death of a relative +has survived the conversion of the natives to Christianity;[48] probably +it originated in a desire to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the +ghost, who might be thought to be attracted by the sound of the familiar +names.[49] + + [48] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 78 _sq._; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + + [49] See _The Golden Bough_, Part II., _Taboo and the Perils of + the Soul_, pp. 356 _sqq._ + +As soon as the corpse was committed to its last resting-place, the +mourners selected five old coco-nuts, opened them one after the other, +and poured the water on the ground. These nuts were then wrapt up in +leaves and native cloth and thrown towards the grave; or, if the corpse +had been let down by cords into the deep chasm called Auraka, the nuts +and other food would be cast down successively upon it. Calling loudly +each time the name of the departed, they said, "Here is thy food; eat +it." When the fifth nut and the accompanying pudding were thrown down, +the mourners cried, "Farewell! we come back no more to thee."[50] + + [50] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 187; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + +Immediately after a decease a remarkable custom was observed in Mangaia. +A messenger was despatched to bear the tidings round the island. On +reaching the boundary of each district, he paused to give the war-shout +peculiar to the people of the district, adding, "So-and-so is dead." +Thereupon near relatives would start off at once for the house of the +deceased, each carrying a present of native cloth. Most of the athletic +young men of the entire island on the day following united in a series +of sham-fights called _ta i te mauri_ or "slaying the ghosts." The +district where the corpse lay represented the _mauri_ or ghosts. The +young men belonging to it early in the morning arrayed themselves as if +for battle, and, well armed, started off for the adjoining district, +where the young men were drawn up in battle array under the name of +_aka-oa_ or "friends." Having performed the war-dance, the two parties +rushed together, clashing their spears and wooden swords, as though +fighting in good earnest. The sufferers in this bloodless conflict were +supposed to be malignant spirits, who would thus be deterred from doing +further mischief to mortals. After the mock battle the combatants +united, and, being collectively called _mauri_ or "ghosts," passed on to +the third district. Throughout the day their leader carried the sacred +_iku kikau_, or coco-nut leaf, at the pit of his stomach, like a dead +man. Arrived at the third village, they found the younger men ready for +the friendly conflict and bearing the name of _aka-oa_ or "friends." The +battle of the ghosts was fought over again, and then with swelling +numbers they passed on to the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts, in +every one of them fighting and thrashing the ghosts afresh. Repairing at +last with united forces to the place where the corpse was laid out in +state, the brave ghost-killers were there entertained at a feast, after +which all, except the near relatives, returned to their various homes at +nightfall. So similar to actual warfare was this custom of fighting the +ghosts that it went by the name of "a younger brother of war."[51] +Apparently every death was attributed to the action of ghosts who had +carried off the soul of the departed brother or sister; and in order to +prevent a repetition of the catastrophe it was deemed necessary to repel +or even to slay the ghostly assailants by force of arms. + + [51] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 268 _sq._ + +The mourning ceremonies lasted from ten to fifteen days according to the +rank and age of the deceased. During the whole period no beating of bark +for the manufacture of the native cloth was permitted in the district +where the death had occurred. A woman who wished to beat out her +bark-cloth must go to another part of the island. This rule is said to +have been dictated by a fear of offending the female demon Mueu, who +introduced the beating of bark-cloth into the world, but who herself +beats out cloth of a very different texture; for her cloth-flail is the +stroke of death.[52] + + [52] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 182. + +Some months after the decease of a person of note funeral games called +_eva_ were performed in honour of the departed. These ceremonies +invariably took place by day. They were of four sorts. + +First, there was the _eva tapara_, or "funeral dirge." In this the +mourners appeared with blackened faces, shaved heads, streaming blood, +and stinking garments. This, we are told, was a most repulsive +exhibition.[53] + + [53] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 271. + +Second, there was the _eva puruki_ or "war dirge." In this the people +arrayed themselves in two columns facing each other, both sides armed +with spears made of a brittle kind of wood instead of the fatal +iron-wood (_Casuarina equasitifolia_), out of which the spears used in +real warfare were made. The performance began with an animated +conversation between the leaders of the two squadrons of supposed +enemies as to the grounds for war. When this was concluded, the person +most nearly related to the deceased began the history of the heroic +deeds of the clan by slowly chanting the introductory words. At the +appointed pause both companies took up the strain and chanted it +vigorously together, the mighty chorus being accompanied by the clash of +spears and all the evolutions of war. Then followed a momentary pause, +after which a new story would be introduced by the musical voice of the +chief mourner, to be caught up and recited in full chorus by both +companies as before. These war-dirges were most carefully elaborated, +and they embodied the only histories of the past known to these +islanders.[54] + + [54] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 272. + +Third, there was the _eva toki_ or "axe dirge." In this ceremony the +performers, armed with mimic axes of iron-wood instead of stone, used +to cleave the cruel earth which had swallowed up the dead; and as they +smote the ground, with tears streaming down their cheeks, they expressed +a vain wish that so they might open up a passage through which the +spirit of the departed might return. This axe-dirge was appropriate to +artisans only, who enjoyed great consideration because their skill was +believed to be a gift of the gods.[55] + + [55] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 272 _sq._ + +Fourth, there was the _eva ta_ or "crashing dirge." In this ceremony two +supposed armies were arrayed against each other as in the "war dirge," +but differed from it both in the style of composition and in the weapons +employed, the combatants being armed with flat spears or wooden swords. +In the dialogue or songs the death of their friends was explained by the +anger of the gods, for which reasons were assigned. These performances +generally concluded with a sort of comedy, the nature of which has not +been described.[56] + + [56] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 273. + +Sometimes, instead of these funeral games or ceremonies, a grand tribal +gathering was held for the sake of reciting songs in honour of the +illustrious dead. Such an assembly met in a large house built for the +purpose and well lighted with torches, for the doleful concert always +took place at night. As many as sixty songs might be prepared for the +occasion and mournfully chanted to the accompanying drone of the great +wooden drum. Every adult male relative was bound to recite a song; if he +could not compose one himself, he had to pay a more gifted person to +furnish him with the appropriate words. Some of the songs or ballads of +a touching nature were much admired and long remembered. Several months +were needed for the preparation of such a performance or "death-talk," +as it was called. Not only had the songs to be composed and the dresses +made, but a liberal supply of food had to be provided for the +guests.[57] + + [57] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 269-271; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 345. + +In general all mourning ceremonies were over within a year of the death. +But we hear of a chief of the island of Atiu who mourned for seven years +for an only child, living all that time in a hut near the grave, and +allowing his hair and nails to grow, and his body to remain unwashed. He +was the wonder of all the islanders.[58] + + [58] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 345. + +Among the caverns in which, in the island of Mangaia, the dead used to +be deposited, two are particularly famous. One of them, at Tamarua, is +the chasm called Raupa or "leafy entrance" on account of the dense +growth of hibiscus which formerly surrounded this supposed entrance to +the shades. It was the ancient burial-place of the Tongan tribe, the +descendants of a band of Tongans, who had landed in Mangaia and settled +there. The chasm is a hundred and fifty feet deep and has two openings, +the smaller of which was used only for chiefs and priests. The other +famous sepulchral cavern, called Auraka, is situated on the western side +of the island. It was the grand depository of the dead of the ruling +families, who claimed to be descended from the great god Rongo. This +chasm is not nearly so deep as Raupa, but, like it, has two entrances; +the one sacred and the other profane; the former was reserved for the +bodies of the nobility, the latter for the bodies of commoners. Besides +these ceremonial entrances there are many natural openings into the vast +subterranean cave, for the rock is everywhere perforated. It is possible +by torchlight to explore the gloomy recesses of the cavern, which in +some places contracts to the narrowest dimensions, while in others it +expands till the roof is almost lost to sight. Hundreds of +well-preserved mummies may be seen lying in rows, some on ledges of +stalactite, others on wooden platforms. Mr. Gill, who thrice visited the +cave, judged that some of the bodies were over fifty years old. The +whole neighbourhood of the great cavern was deemed sacred to wandering +disembodied spirits, who were believed to come up at midnight and +exhibit the ghastly wounds by which they had met their fate.[59] + + [59] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 71 _sq._ As + to the settlement of a Tongan colony in Mangaia, see _id._, + _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 287 _sq._ In + native tradition the colonists were spoken of as "Tongans + sailing through the skies" (_Tongaiti-akareva-moana_). Their + leader was the first high-priest of the god Turanga. + + +§ 7. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_ + +The home of the departed spirits was believed to be a vast subterranean +region called Avaiki. The natives of Mangaia believed that this +mysterious region was situated directly under their island. "As the dead +were usually thrown down the deepest chasms, it was not unnatural for +their friends to imagine the earth to be hollow, and the entrance to +this vast nether world to be down one of these pits. No one can wonder +at this who knows that the outer portion of Mangaia is a honeycomb, the +rock being pierced in every direction with winding caves and frightful +chasms. It is asserted that the Mission premises at Oneroa are built +over one of these great caverns, which extends so far towards the sea +that the beating of the surf can be distinctly heard, whilst the water, +purified from its saline particles, continually drips from the stony +roof." The inland opening into the infernal regions was believed to be +the great cavern of Auraka, in which, as we have just seen, so many of +the dead were deposited.[60] + + [60] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 152-154. + +However, Avaiki was not the home of the ghosts alone; it was tenanted +also by the gods, both the greater and the lesser, with their +dependants. There they married, and multiplied, and quarrelled, just +like mortals. There they planted, cooked, fished, and inhabited +dwellings of exactly the same sort as exist on earth. Their food was no +better than that of mortals. There might be seen birds, fish, and rats, +likewise the mantis, centipedes, and beetles. There the coco-nut palm, +the pandanus, and the myrtle flourished, and yams grew in abundance. The +gods committed murder and adultery; they got drunk; they lied; they +stole. The arts and crafts were also practised by the deities, who +indeed taught them to mankind. The visible world, in short, was but a +gross copy of the spiritual and invisible world. If fire burns, it is +because latent flame was hidden in wood by the god Mauike in Hades. If +the axe cleaves, it is because the fairy of the axe is present unseen in +the blade. If the ironwood club kills its man, it is because a fierce +demon from Tonga lives in the weapon.[61] + + [61] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 154. + +The old high-road to the spirit-land used to start from a place called +Aremauku, on a cliff overhanging the western ocean. By this road a +regular communication was formerly kept up with the infernal regions. It +was by this route, for example, that the hero Maui descended in ancient +days to the home of the fire-god Mauike and brought up fire for the use +of men. However, the denizens of spirit-land in time grew very +troublesome by constantly coming up and afflicting mankind with disease +and death; they also created a dearth by stealing people's food, and +they even ravished their wives. To put an end to these perpetual +annoyances a brave and beautiful woman, Tiki by name, rolled herself +alive down into the gloomy chasm which led to the infernal world. The +yawning abyss closed on her, and there has been no thoroughfare ever +since. The spirits have not been able to come up from Avaiki by that +road, and the souls of the dead have been equally unable to go down by +it; they are now obliged to descend by a different route.[62] + + [62] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 154 _sq._ + +After their departure from the body the spirits of the dead wandered +disconsolately along the seashore, picking their steps painfully among +the sharp spikes of the coral and stumbling over the bindweed and thick +vines which caught their feet. The fragrant smell of the heliotrope, +which grows luxuriantly among these barren and rugged rocks, afforded +them a little relief, and they wore a red creeper, like a turban, round +their heads; the rest of their costume was a miscellaneous collection of +weeds which they had picked up in the course of their wanderings. Twice +a year, at the summer and winter solstices, they mustered to follow the +setting sun down into the under world. They gathered at the two points +of the island which face towards the rising of the sun at these two +seasons of the year. At the summer solstice, in January, he seems to +rise out of the sea opposite to Ana-Kura, that is, the Red Cave, so +called because it receives the red rays of the morning. It was there +that by far the greater number of the ghosts gathered for their last +sad journey with the sun: they all belonged to the southern half of the +island. The other point of ghostly muster was called Karanga-iti or "the +Little Welcome"; it faced towards the rising of the sun at the winter +solstice in June, and it was there that the ghosts born in the northern +half of the island assembled. Thus many months might elapse between a +death and the final departure of the soul from the land of the living. +The weary interval was spent by the spirits in dancing and revisiting +their old homes. As a rule they were well disposed to their living +relatives, but the ghost of a mother would often grow vindictive when +she saw her pet child ill-treated by its stepmother. Sometimes, weary of +wandering, the poor ghosts huddled together in the Red Cave, waiting for +the midsummer sun and listening to the monotonous moan of the great +rollers, which break there eternally.[63] + + [63] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 155-157. + +The exact moment of departure was fixed by the leader of the band. As +the time drew near, messengers were despatched to call in the stray +ghosts who might be lingering near their ancient haunts. Tearfully they +gathered at the Red Cave or on a grassy lawn above it, out of reach of +the foam and the billows. All kept their eyes on the spot of the horizon +where the sun was expected to appear. At the first streak of dawn the +whole band took their departure to meet the rising orb of day. That +done, they followed in his train as nearly as might be, flitting behind +or beneath him across the rolling waters or the rocks and stones of the +coast, till towards the close of day they all mustered at Vairo-rongo, +"the Sacred Stream of Rongo," facing towards the setting sun. The spot +is so named from a little rivulet which there rushes out of the stones +at the sacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo: none but priests and kings might +bathe there in days of old. At the moment when the sun sank beneath the +horizon, the entire band of ghosts followed him along the golden track +of light across the shimmering sea and descended in his train to the +nether world, but not like him to reappear on the morrow.[64] + + [64] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 157 _sq._ + +There were three such points of departure for the spirit-land in +Mangaia, all facing the setting sun. Each of them was known as a +_Reinga vaerua_ or "leaping-place of souls." One of them was at Oneroa, +where a rocky bluff stands out by itself like a giant looking towards +the west. To it a band of souls from the great cavern of Auraka used to +go in mournful procession, and from it they leaped one by one to a +second and much smaller block of stone resting on the inner edge of the +reef; thence they passed to the outer brink of the reef, on which the +surf beats ceaselessly, and from which at sunset they flitted over the +ocean to sink with the great luminary into the land of the dead. + +Such appears to have been the general notion of the people concerning +the departure of human souls at death in Mangaia. Similar ideas +prevailed in the other islands of the group, in all of which the +"leaping-place of souls" was regularly situated on the western coast of +the island.[65] + + [65] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 159 _sq._ + +The teaching of the priests added many particulars to this general +account of the journey of the soul to the nether world. According to +them the souls of the dying, before life was quite extinct, left their +bodies and travelled towards the edge of the cliff at Araia, near the +sacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo, which faced westward. But if on its way +to this fatal bourne the soul of the dying chanced to meet a friendly +spirit who cried to it, "Go back and live," the departing soul would +joyfully return to its forsaken body, and the sick man or woman would +revive. This was the native explanation of fainting. But if no friendly +spirit intervened to save the passing soul, it pursued its way to the +edge of the cliff. On its arrival a great wave of the sea washed the +base of the crag, and a gigantic _bua_ tree (_Beslaria laurifolia_), +covered with fragrant blossoms, sprang up from Avaiki to receive the +ghost. The tree had as many branches as there were principal gods in +Mangaia, and every ghost had to perch on the particular branch allotted +to members of his or her tribe; the worshippers of the great gods, such +as Motoro and Tane, had separate boughs provided for their +accommodation; while the worshippers of the lesser deities huddled +together on a single big branch.[66] + + [66] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 160 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 346. + +No sooner had the ghost perched on the place appointed for him than down +plumped the tree with him into the nether world. Looking down to see +where he was going, what was the horror of the ghost to perceive a great +net spread by Akaanga and his assistants to catch him at the foot of the +tree! Into this fatal net the doomed spirit inevitably fell to sink in a +lake of fresh water and there to wriggle like a fish for a time. At last +the net was pulled up with the ghost in it, who, half-drowned, was now +ushered trembling into the presence of the grim hag Miru, generally +known as "the Ruddy," because her face reflected the glowing heat of the +ever-burning oven in which she cooked her ghostly victims. At first, +however, she fed, and perhaps fattened, them on a diet of black beetles, +red earth-worms, crabs, and small blackbirds. Thus refreshed, they had +next to drain bowls of strong kava brewed by the fair hands of the hag's +four lovely daughters. Reduced to a state of insensibility by the +intoxicating beverage, the ghosts were then borne off without a struggle +to the oven and cooked. On the substance of these hapless victims Miru +and her son and her peerless daughters regularly subsisted. The leavings +of the meal were thrown to the servants. Such was the fate of all who +died what we should call a natural death, and therefore of all cowards, +women, and children. They were annihilated.[67] + + [67] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 161 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 346 + _sq._ + +Not so with warriors who fell fighting on the field of battle. For a +time, indeed, their souls wandered about among the rocks and trees where +their bodies were thrown, the ghastly wounds by which they met their +fate being still visible. The plaintive chirping of a certain cricket, +rarely seen but heard continually at night, was believed to be the voice +of the slain warriors sorrowfully calling to their friends. At last the +first who fell would gather his brother ghosts at a place a little +beyond Araia, on the edge of the cliff and facing the sunset. There they +would linger for a time. But suddenly a mountain sprang up at their +feet, and they ascended it over the spears and clubs which had given +them their mortal wounds. Arrived at the summit they leaped up into the +blue expanse, thus becoming the peculiar clouds of the winter or dry +season. During the rainy season they could mount up to the warriors' +paradise in the sky. In June, the first month of winter, the atmosphere +was pervaded by these ghosts, to whom the chilliness of death still +clung. For days together their thronging shapes hid the sun, dimming the +sky and spreading among men the heaviness and oppression of spirits +which are characteristic of the season. But with the early days of +August, when the coral-tree puts forth its blood-red blossoms and the +sky grows mottled with light fleecy clouds, the ghosts of the brave +prepare to take flight for heaven. Soon the sky is cloudless, the +weather bright and warm. The ghosts have fled away, and the living +resume their wonted avocations in quiet and comfort.[68] + + [68] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 162 _sq._ + +In their celestial home the spirits of the slain are immortal. There, in +memory of their deeds on earth, they dance their old war dances over +again, decked with gay flowers--the white gardenia, the yellow _bua_, +the golden fruit of the pandanus, and the dark crimson, bell-like +blossom of the native laurel, intertwined with myrtle; and from their +blissful heights they look down with pity and disgust on the wretched +souls in Avaiki entangled in the fatal net and besmeared with filth. For +the spirits of the slain in battle are strong and vigorous, their bodies +never having been wasted by disease; whereas the spirits of those who +die a natural death are excessively feeble and weak, like their bodies +at the moment of dissolution. The natural result of such beliefs was to +breed an utter contempt for a violent death, nay even a desire to seek +it. Many stories are told of aged warriors, scarcely able to hold a +spear, who have insisted on being led to the battlefield in the hope of +finding a soldier's death and gaining a soldier's paradise.[69] + + [69] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 163 _sq._ + +Beliefs of the same general character concerning the fate of the dead +prevailed in other islands of the Hervey Group. Thus in Rarotonga the +great meeting-place of the ghosts was at Tuoro, facing the sunset. There +at a stately tree, called "the Weeping Laurel," the disembodied spirits +used to bewail their hard fate. If no pitying spirit sent him back to +life, the ghost had to scramble up a branch of an ancient _bua_ tree +which grew on the spot. Should the bough break under his weight, the +ghost was precipitated into the net which Muru had spread out for him in +a natural circular hollow of the rock. A lively ghost might break the +meshes of the net and escape for a while, but passing on to the outer +edge of the reef, in the hope of traversing the ocean, he inevitably +fell into another net artfully concealed by Akaanga. From this second +net escape was impossible. The demons drew the captive ghosts out of the +nets, and ruthlessly dashing out their brains on the sharp coral they +carried off the shattered victims in triumph to devour them in the lower +world. Ghosts from Ngatangiia ascended the noble mountain range which +stretches across the island, dipping into the sea at Tuoro. +Inexpressibly weary and sad was this journey over a road which foot of +living wight had never trod. The departed spirits of this tribe met at a +great iron-wood tree, of which some branches were green and others dead. +The souls that trod on the green branches came back to life; but the +souls that crawled on to the dead boughs were at once caught in the net +either of Muru or of Akaanga.[70] + + [70] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 169 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 346. + +In Rarotonga, as in Mangaia, the lot of warriors who died in battle was +much happier than that of the poor wretches who had the misfortune to +die quietly in bed or to be otherwise ignominiously snuffed out. The +gallant ghosts were said to join Tiki, who in Rarotonga appears to have +been a dead warrior, whereas in Mangaia, as we saw, Tiki was a dead +woman. In the Rarotongan Hades, which also went by the name of Avaiki, +this Tiki sat at the threshold of a very long house built with walls of +reeds, and surrounded by shrubs and flowers of fadeless bloom and +never-failing perfume. Each ghost on his arrival had to make an offering +to the warder Tiki, who, thus propitiated, admitted him to the house. +There, sitting at their ease, eating, drinking, dancing, or sleeping, +the brave of past ages dwelt in unwithering beauty and perpetual youth; +there they welcomed newcomers, and there they told the story of their +heroic exploits on earth and fought their old battles over again. But +ghosts who had nothing to give to Tiki were compelled to stay outside in +rain and darkness for ever, shivering with cold and hunger, watching +with envious eyes the joyous revels of the inmates, and racked with the +vain desire of being admitted to share them.[71] + + [71] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 170; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in + the South Sea Islands_, pp. 476 _sq._ + +Such beliefs in the survival of the soul after death may have nerved the +warrior with fresh courage in battle; but they can have contributed but +little to the happiness and consolation of ordinary people, who could +apparently look forward to nothing better in the life hereafter than +being cooked and eaten by a hideous hag. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS + + +§ 1. _The Society Islands_ + +The Society Islands are a large and scattered archipelago in the South +Pacific, situated within 16° and 18° of South latitude, and between 148° +and 155° of West longitude. They lie some three hundred miles from the +Hervey or Cook Islands, from which they are separated by the open sea. +The islands form a chain nearly two hundred miles in length, extending +from north-west to south-east, and fall into two groups, an eastern and +a western, which, on account of the prevailing wind, are known +respectively as the Windward and Leeward Islands. The Windward or +eastern group includes Eimeo or Moörea in the west, Maitea in the east, +and Tahiti, the principal island of the whole archipelago, in the +centre. In the Leeward or western group the chief islands are Huahine, +Raiatea, Tahaa, and Borabora. The islands appear to have been first +discovered by the Spanish navigator Fernandez de Quiros in 1606 or 1607, +but after him they were lost sight of till 1767, when they were +rediscovered by Wallis. A few years later they were repeatedly visited +by Captain Cook, who gave the first full and accurate description of the +islands and their inhabitants.[1] + + [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 6 _sq._; A. v. + H[ügel], "Tahiti," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, Ninth Edition, + xxiii. 22, 24; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, + ii. 151 _sqq._; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 510. As + to Wallis's discovery of the islands see J. Hawkesworth, + _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) pp. 433 _sqq._; R. Kerr, _General + History and Collection of Voyages and Travels_, xii. (Edinburgh, + 1814) pp. 164 _sqq._ + +The islands, with the exception of a few flat lagoon islands, are of +volcanic formation, high and mountainous, consisting for the most part +of a central peak or peaks of bold and striking outline, which descend +in steep ridges towards the sea, sometimes reaching the coast, but +oftener leaving a broad stretch of flat and very fertile land between +their last slopes and the beach. Between the ridges lie deep and +beautiful valleys, watered by winding streams and teeming with luxuriant +vegetation. The rocks of which the islands consist are all igneous, +chiefly trachyte, dolerite, basalt, and lava. They are considered by +geologists to present perhaps the most wonderful and instructive example +of volcanic rocks to be seen on the globe. Yet, though the islands are +judged to be of comparatively recent formation, there are no traces of +volcanic action in them at the present time. The craters have +disappeared: hot springs do not exist; and earthquakes are rare.[2] + + [2] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 11 _sqq._; C. E. + Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 152 _sq._; A. v. H[ügel], _op. cit._ + p. 22; F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ p. 513. + +The Society Islands, and Tahiti in particular, are famous for the beauty +of their natural scenery; indeed, by general consent they appear to rank +as the fairest islands in the Pacific. Travellers vie with each other in +praise of their enchanting loveliness. Tahiti, the largest island of the +group, may be taken as typical of them all. It consists of two almost +circular islands united by a very low and narrow neck of land: the +northern and larger island is known as Tahiti the Great (Tahiti nui), +the southern and smaller island is known as Tahiti the Little (Tahiti +iti). In the centre of each island the mountains rise in craggy peaks, +sometimes in the shape of pyramids or sugar-loaves, their rocky sides +clothed with every variety of verdure, and enlivened here and there by +cataracts falling from lofty cliffs, while the shore is washed by the +white-crested waves of the Pacific breaking in foam on the coral reefs +or dashing in spray on the beach. The scene is especially striking when +beheld for the first time from the sea at sunrise on a fine morning. +Then the happy combination of land and water, of precipices and plains, +of umbrageous trees drooping their pendent boughs over the sea, and +distant mountains shown in sublime outline and richest hues, all blended +in the harmony of nature, produces in the beholder sensations of +admiration and delight. The inland scenery is of a different character, +but not less impressive. There the prospect is occasionally extensive, +but more frequently circumscribed. There is, however, a startling +boldness in the towering piles of basalt, often heaped in picturesque +confusion near the source or margin of some crystal stream that flows in +silence at their base, or plashes purling over the rocks that obstruct +its bed; and there is the wildness of romance about the deep and lonely +glens, from which the mountains rise like the steep sides of a natural +amphitheatre till they seem to support the clouds that rest upon their +summits. In the character of the teeming vegetation, too, from the +verdant moss that drapes the rocks to the rich foliage of the +bread-fruit tree, the luxuriance of the pandanus, and the waving plumes +of the coconut palm, all nurtured by a prolific soil and matured by the +genial heat of a tropical climate, there is enough to arrest the +attention and to strike the imagination of the wanderer, who, in the +unbroken silence that reigns in these pleasing solitudes, may easily +fancy himself astray in fairyland and treading enchanted ground.[3] + + [3] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 14-18. Compare J. + Cook, _Voyages_, i. 172 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the + World_ (London, 1777), i. 253 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary + Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 321 _sqq._; D. + Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London, + 1831), i. 58 _sq._, 108 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 206 _sq._, 234 + _sq._, 316 _sq._, 555 _sq._, ii. 51-53, 59-61; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 511 _sqq._ C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ + ii. 152 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), + pp. 29 _sqq._ + + +§ 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_ + +The islanders are, or were at the date of their discovery by Europeans, +fine specimens of the Polynesian race, being tall, well-proportioned, +and robust. Captain Cook described them as of the largest size of +Europeans. Their complexion varies from olive to bronze and +reddish-brown, frequently presenting a hue intermediate between the +yellow of the Malay and the copper-colour of the American Indians. The +hair is shining black or dark brown, usually straight, but often soft +and curly; never lank and wiry like that of the American Indians, and +only in rare cases woolly or frizzly like that of the Papuans. The men +have beards, which they used to wear in a variety of fashions, always, +however, plucking out the greater part. The shape of the face is comely, +and the facial angle is often as perpendicular as in Europeans. The +cheek-bones are not high; the nose is either straight or aquiline, often +accompanied by a fulness about the nostrils; it is seldom flat, though +it was formerly the practice of mothers and nurses to press the nostrils +of the female children, a broad flat nose being by many regarded as a +beauty. The mouth in general is well formed, though the lips are +sometimes large and protuberant, yet never so much as to resemble the +lips of negroes; the chin is usually prominent. The general aspect of +the face very seldom presents any likeness to the Tartar or Mongolian +cast of countenance; while the profile frequently bears a most striking +resemblance to that of Europeans. A roundness and fulness of figure, not +usually extending to corpulency, is characteristic of the race, +especially of the women. In general physique they resemble the Sandwich +Islanders and Tonga Islanders; according to Ellis, they are more robust +than the Marquesans, but inferior in size and strength to the Maoris.[4] + + [4] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 175 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 79 + _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._ + +Their diet is chiefly vegetable; when Captain Cook visited the islands, +the only tame animals were hogs, dogs, and poultry. Bread-fruit, taro, +yams, bananas, and coconuts are their staple food; the bread-fruit in +particular has been called their staff of life. Taro and yams are +carefully cultivated by the natives, and they also grow the sweet potato +as an article of food, though to a less extent than the other two roots; +in quality the sweet potato of Tahiti is far inferior to that of the +Sandwich Islands. The sea affords a great variety of fish and +shell-fish, which the natives catch and eat; nothing that the sea +produces is said to come amiss to them. Hogs and dogs were in olden +times the only quadrupeds whose flesh was eaten by the Tahitians; but +for the most part they rarely tasted meat, subsisting almost exclusively +on a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish.[5] + + [5] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 185 _sq._ vi. 139 _sqq._; W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ i. 36 _sqq._, 70 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages + aux Îles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837), ii. 93 _sqq._; C. E. + Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171 _sq._ + +The common houses were of an oblong shape, usually from eighteen to +twenty-four feet in length, by eleven feet in width, the long sides +being parallel to each other, but the two ends commonly rounded, +especially in the houses of chiefs. The thatched roofs were supported on +three parallel rows of wooden posts, and there being no outer walls and +no partitions, the wind blew freely through them. The floor was covered +with mats, forming a single cushion, on which the people sat by day and +slept at night. In some houses there was a single stool appropriated to +the use of the master of the family; otherwise an ordinary dwelling +contained little or no furniture except a few small blocks of wood, +hollowed out on the upper surface so as to form head-rests or pillows. +The houses served chiefly as dormitories and as shelters in rain: the +people took their meals in the open air. Chiefs, however, often owned +houses of much larger dimensions, which were built and maintained for +them at the common expense of the district. Some of these chiefly +dwellings were two hundred feet long, thirty feet broad, and twenty feet +high under the ridge; one of them, belonging to the king, measured three +hundred and seventy feet in length. We read of houses which could +contain two or three thousand people;[6] and of one particular house in +Tahiti we are informed that it was no less than three hundred and +ninety-seven feet long by forty-eight feet broad, and that the roof was +supported in the middle by twenty wooden pillars, each twenty-one feet +high, while the sides or eaves of the roof rested on one hundred and +twenty-four pillars, each ten feet high. A wooden wall or fence enclosed +the whole. This great house was used for the celebration of feasts, +which sometimes lasted for days together, and at which nearly all the +hogs in the island were consumed.[7] + + [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 181 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 341 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 170 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ ii. 84 _sqq._ As to the wooden head-rests see W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 188 _sq._ + + [7] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 213 _sq._ + +Like all the Polynesians down to the date of their discovery by +Europeans, the inhabitants of the Society Islands were totally ignorant +of the use and even of the existence of the metals, and they had to +employ substitutes, chiefly stone and bone, for the manufacture of their +tools and weapons. Of their tools Captain Cook gives the following +account: "They have an adze of stone; a chisel, or gouge, of bone, +generally that of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; a rasp of +coral; and the skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, as a filer or +polisher. This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with these +they build houses, construct canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, +and polish timber. The stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a +kind of basaltes, of a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of +considerable toughness: they are of different sizes; some, that are +intended for felling, weigh from six to eight pounds; others, that are +used for carving, not more than so many ounces; but it is necessary to +sharpen both almost every minute; for which purpose, a stone and a +cocoa-nut shell full of water are always at hand. Their greatest +exploit, to which these tools are less equal than to any other, is +felling a tree; this requires many hands, and the constant labour of +several days."[8] The earliest missionaries expressed their astonishment +that with such simple tools the natives could carve so neatly and finish +so smoothly; our most ingenious workmen, they declared, could not excel +them.[9] + + [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 204 _sq._ + + [9] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 400. + +The principal manufacture of the Society Islanders was the making of the +cloth which they used for their garments. The material for the cloth was +furnished by the bark of several trees, including the paper-mulberry, +the bread-fruit tree, and a species of wild fig-tree. Having been +stripped from the tree and soaked in water, the bark was spread out on a +beam and beaten with heavy wooden mallets, till it was reduced to the +proper degree of thinness and flexibility. The finest and most valuable +kind of cloth was made chiefly, and sometimes entirely, from the bark of +the paper-mulberry and was bleached pure white. But vegetable dyes were +also commonly employed to stain the cloth with a variety of hues +arranged in patterns. The favourite colours were a brilliant scarlet and +a bright yellow; Captain Cook described the scarlet as exceedingly +beautiful, brighter and more delicate than any we have in Europe; it was +produced by a mixture of the juices of two vegetables, the fruit of a +species of fig and the leaves of the _Cordia sebastina_ or _etou_ tree. +The patterns were in this bright scarlet on a yellow ground; formerly +they were altogether devoid of uniformity or regularity, yet exhibited a +considerable degree of taste. The bales of bark-cloth were sometimes as +much as two hundred yards long by four yards wide; the whole bale was in +a single piece, being composed of narrow strips joined together by being +beaten with grooved mallets. A chief's wealth was sometimes estimated by +the number of bales which he possessed; the more valuable sort, covered +with matting or cloth of an inferior sort, were generally hung from the +roof of his house. The manufacture of cloth was chiefly in the hands of +women; indeed it was one of their most usual employments. Even women of +high rank did not disdain this form of industry; the wives and daughters +of chiefs took a pride in manufacturing cloth of a superior quality, +excelling that produced by common women in the elegance of the patterns +or the brilliance of the dyes. Every family had a little house where the +females laboured at the making of cloth; but in addition every district +had a sort of public factory, consisting of a spacious house where +immense quantities of cloth were produced on the occasion of festivals, +the visits of great chiefs, or other solemnities. In such a factory the +women would often assemble to the number of two or three hundred, and +the monotonous din of their hammers falling on the bark was almost +deafening; it began early in the morning, only to cease at night. Yet +heard at a distance in some lonely valley the sound was not +disagreeable, telling as it did of industry and peace.[10] + + [10] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 196 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage + round the World_ (London, 1777), i. 276 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. + cit._ pp. 389-392; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 179 _sqq._; J. A. + Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sqq._ + +Among the other articles manufactured by the Society Islanders before +the advent of Europeans were fine mats, baskets of many different +patterns, ropes, lines, and fishing-tackle, including nets, hooks, and +harpoons made of cane and pointed with hard wood. In every expedient for +taking fish they are said to have been exceedingly ingenious.[11] They +made bows and arrows, with which, as an amusement, they shot against +each other, not at a mark, but to see who could shoot farthest. Like the +rest of the Polynesians, they never used these weapons in war.[12] + + [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 202 _sq._ + + [12] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 368; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. + 217-220; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 148-150. + +Society among these islanders was divided into three ranks; first the +royal family and nobility (_hui arii_); second, the landed proprietors, +or gentry and farmers (_bue raatira_); and third, the common people +(_manahune_). Of these, the landed gentry and farmers were the most +numerous and influential class, constituting at all times the great body +of the people and the strength of the nation, as well as of the army. +The petty farmers owned from twenty to a hundred acres. Some of the +great landowners possessed many hundreds of acres, and being surrounded +by retainers they constituted the aristocracy of the country and imposed +a restraint upon the king, who, without their co-operation, could carry +but few of his measures. They also frequently acted as priests in their +family temples. The common people comprised slaves and servants. The +slaves were captives taken in war. Their treatment was in general mild, +and if peace continued, they often regained their freedom and were +allowed to return to their own country.[13] + + [13] W. Ellis, _op. cit._. iii. 94-98. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._ + +The government of the Society Islands, like that of Hawaii, was at least +in form an arbitrary monarchy. The supreme authority was vested in the +king and was hereditary in his family. It partook of a sacred character, +for in these islands government was closely interwoven with religion; +the king sometimes personated the god and received the homage and +prayers of the worshippers; at other times he officiated as high-priest +and transmitted the vows and petitions of the people to the superior +deities. The genealogy of the reigning family was usually traced back to +the first ages of the world: in some of the islands the kings were +believed to be descended from the gods: their persons were always +sacred, and their families constituted the highest rank recognised by +the people.[14] + + [14] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 93 _sq._ + +Indeed, everything in the least degree connected with the king or +queen--the cloth they wore, the houses in which they dwelt, the canoes +in which they voyaged, the men who carried them when they journeyed by +land--became sacred and could not be converted to common use. The very +sounds in the language which composed their names could no longer be +appropriated to ordinary significations. If on the accession of a king +any words in the language were found to resemble his name, they were +abolished and changed for others; and if any man were bold enough to +continue to use them, not only he but all his relations were immediately +put to death; and the same severity was exercised on any who should dare +to apply the sacred name to an animal. Thus in process of time the +original names of most common objects in the language underwent +considerable alterations. No one might touch the body of the king or +queen; nay, any person who should so much as stand over them, or pass +his hand over their heads, was liable to pay for the sacrilege with the +forfeiture of his life. The very ground on which the king or queen even +accidentally trod became sacred; and any house belonging to a private +person which they entered must for ever be vacated by the owner and +either set apart for the use of the royal personages or burnt down with +every part of its furniture. Hence it was a general rule that the king +and queen never entered any dwellings except such as were specially +dedicated to their use, and never trod on the ground in any part of the +island but their own hereditary districts. In journeying they were +always carried on men's shoulders.[15] + + [15] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 155 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. + 329; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 101 _sq._ + +The inauguration of a king consisted in girding him with a sacred girdle +(_maro ura_) of red, or red and yellow, feathers, which not only raised +him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with the gods. +The red feathers were taken from the images of the gods and interwoven +with feathers of other colours. A human victim was sacrificed when they +began to make the girdle, and another was sacrificed when it was +finished; sometimes others were slaughtered at intermediate stages, one +for each fresh piece added to the girdle. The blood of the victims was +supposed to consecrate the belt.[16] + + [16] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 108 _sqq._ Compare J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 327 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 22 + _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 526 _sq._, ii. 56. Another singular ceremony + observed at the installation of a king was this. The king + advanced into the sea and bathed there. Thither he was followed + by the priest of Oro bearing a branch plucked from a sacred tree + that grew within the precincts of the temple. While the king was + bathing, the priest struck him on the back with the holy bough, + at the same time invoking the great god Taaoroa. This ceremony + was designed to purify the monarch from any defilement or guilt + he might previously have contracted. See W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + iii. 110. + +The deification of kings in their lifetime would seem not to have been +confined to Tahiti, but to have prevailed in the other islands of the +Society Archipelago. We hear particularly of the divinity of the kings +of Raiatea. In that island a place called Opoa is said to have been the +metropolis of idolatry for all the South Pacific Islands within a +compass of five hundred miles. Hither, from every shore, human victims, +already slain, were sent to be offered on the altar of the war-god Oro, +whose principal image was there worshipped. There, too, was the +residence of the kings of the island, "who, beside the prerogatives of +royalty, enjoyed divine honours, and were in fact living idols among the +dead ones, being deified at the time of their accession to political +supremacy here. In the latter character, we presume, it was, that these +sovereigns (who always took the name of Tamatoa) were wont to receive +presents from the kings and chiefs of adjacent and distant islands, +whose gods were all considered tributary to the Oro of Raiatea, and +their princes owing homage to its monarch, who was Oro's hereditary +high-priest, as well as an independent divinity himself."[17] Of one +particular monarch of this line, Tamatoa by name, we read that he "had +been enrolled among the gods," and that "as one of the divinities of his +subjects, therefore, the king was worshipped, consulted as an oracle, +and had sacrifices and prayers offered to him."[18] + + [17] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, + i. 529 _sq._ + + [18] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 524. + +In the succession to the throne the law of primogeniture prevailed, and +in accordance with a singular usage, which was invariably observed, the +king regularly abdicated on the birth of his first son and became a +subject of his infant offspring. The child was at once proclaimed the +sovereign of the people: the royal title was conferred on him; and his +own father was the first to do him homage by saluting his feet and +declaring him king. The public herald was despatched round the island +with the flag of the infant monarch: in every district he unfurled the +banner and proclaimed the accession of the youthful sovereign. The +insignia of royalty and the homage of the people were at once +transferred from the father to the child: the royal domains and other +sources of revenue were appropriated to the maintenance of the household +of the infant ruler; and the father paid him all the marks of reverence +and submission which he had hitherto exacted from the people. However, +during the minority of his son the former king appears to have filled +the office of regent. This remarkable rule of succession was not limited +to the royal house, but prevailed also in noble families: no sooner did +a baron's wife give birth to a child than the baron was reduced to the +rank of a private man, though he continued to administer the estate for +the benefit of the infant, to whom all the outward marks of honour were +now transferred.[19] + + [19] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. + 99 _sq._ Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 180 _sq._, 327, 330, + 333; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp. + 134, 137, 188 _sq._, 344; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 13 + _sq._ + + +§ 3. _The Religion of the Society Islanders_ + +If religion consists essentially in a fear of gods, the natives of the +Society Islands were a very religious people, for they believed in a +multitude of gods and stood in constant dread of them. "Whatever +attention," says Ellis, "the Tahitians paid to their occupations or +amusements, and whatever energies have been devoted to the prosecution +of their barbarous wars, the claims of all were regarded as inferior to +those of their religion. On this every other was dependent, while each +was alike made subservient to its support."[20] "No people in the world, +in ancient or modern times, appear to have been more superstitious than +the South Sea Islanders, or to have been more entirely under the +influence of dread from imaginary demons, or supernatural beings. They +had not only their major, but their minor demons, or spirits, and all +the minute ramifications of idolatry."[21] "Religious rites were +connected with almost every act of their lives. An _ubu_ or prayer was +offered before they ate their food, when they tilled their ground, +planted their gardens, built their houses, launched their canoes, cast +their nets, and commenced or concluded a journey. The first fish taken +periodically on their shores, together with a number of kinds regarded +as sacred, were conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their +orchards and gardens were also _taumaha_, or offered, with a portion of +their live-stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was +supposed death would be inflicted on the owner or the occupant of the +land, from which the god should not receive such acknowledgment."[22] + + [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 321; compare J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 417. + + [21] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 361. + + [22] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 350. + +Different gods were worshipped in different islands, and even in +different parts of the same island,[23] and if a deity failed to answer +the expectations of his worshippers, they did not scruple to change him +for another. In Captain Cook's time the people of Tiaraboo (Tairaboo), +the southern peninsula of Tahiti, discarded their two old divinities and +adopted in their place Oraa, the god of the island of Bolabola +(Borabora), apparently because the people of Bolabola had lately been +victorious in war; and as, after this change of deity, they themselves +proved very successful in their operations against their enemies, they +imputed the success entirely to their new god, who, they literally said, +fought their battles.[24] Again, when the prayers and offerings for the +recovery of a sick chief were unavailing, the god was regarded as +inexorable, and was usually banished from the temple, and his image +destroyed.[25] + + [23] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148, 160; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1778), p. 539. + + [24] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148 _sq._ + + [25] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 350. + +The pantheon and mythology of the Society Islands were of the usual +Polynesian type; some of their chief gods were recognised and worshipped +under the same names, with dialectical differences, in other islands of +the Pacific. In the beginning they say that all things were in a state +of chaos or darkness, from which the principal deities, including +Taaroa, Oro, and Tane, at last emerged. Hence these high gods were said +to be born of Night or the primaeval darkness (_Po_). Among them all the +first place in time and dignity was generally assigned to Taaroa, who +appears in other parts of Polynesia as Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, and +so on. By some he was spoken of as the progenitor of the other gods and +as the creator of the heavens, the earth, and sea, as well as of men, +beasts, birds, and fishes; but others were of opinion that the land or +the world had existed before the gods. Oro, the great national god of +Tahiti, Raiatea, and other islands, was believed to be a son of +Taaroa.[26] To these three great gods, Oro, Tane, and Taaroa, the people +sacrificed in great emergencies, when the deities were thought to be +angry. At such times the wrath of the god was revealed to a priest, who, +wrapt up like a ball in a bundle of cloth, spoke in a sharp, shrill, +squeaky voice, saying, "I am angry; bring me hogs, kill a man, and my +anger will be appeased."[27] + + [26] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 322 _sqq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 539 + _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 149 _sqq._; J. + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. + 343 _sqq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux + Îles du Grand Ocean_, i. 416 _sqq._, 436 _sqq._, 442 _sq._ As to + Taaoroa and his counterparts in Polynesian mythology, see H. + Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_, p. 22; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 463 _sq._, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." + + [27] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 167 _sq._ + +Oro is sometimes described as the war-god.[28] The great seat of his +worship was at Opoa in the island of Raiatea: his principal image was +worshipped there "with the most bloody and detestable rites"; and +thither human victims, ready slain, were sent from every shore to be +offered on his altar.[29] Sometimes, instead of the bodies of the slain, +only their jaw-bones were sent to decorate the temple of Oro at Opoa; +long strings of these relics might be seen hanging about the sacred +edifice.[30] In the small island of Tahaa, off Raiatea, there was a +temple (_marae_) dedicated to Oro and his two daughters. It belonged to +the king and "was upheld for the convenience of finding a pretext to get +rid, from time to time, of obnoxious persons, of both sexes; the men +slain by assassination, or in war, being presented to the male idol, and +the women to his female progeny, who were held to be as cruelly +delighted with blood as their parent. But the human sacrifices brought +hither were not allowed to remain and infect the atmosphere. When they +had lain upon the altar till they became offensive, the carcases were +transported to Oro's metropolitan temple at Opoa, in Raiatea, which was +the common Golgotha of his victims."[31] + + [28] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114, 529. + + [29] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529. + + [30] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 14. In a long + house in the southern part of Tahiti, Captain Cook saw, at one + end of it, a semicircular board, from which hung fifteen human + jaw-bones, apparently fresh; not one of them wanted a tooth. He + was told that they "had been carried away as trophies, the + people here carrying away the jaw-bones of their enemies, as the + Indians of North America do the scalps." See J. Cook, _Voyages_, + i. 152, 160. + + [31] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549. + +Oro was said to have instituted the notorious Society of the Areois, a +licentious fraternity of strolling players and mountebanks, who roamed +about in troupes from island to island, everywhere entertaining the +populace by their shows, which comprised recitations, songs, dramatic +performances, wrestling matches, and especially dances, which were often +of a lascivious character.[32] These exhibitions, which were witnessed +by crowds and appear to have been the most popular amusement of the +islanders, were given in large, substantial, sometimes highly +ornamented, houses, which were erected chiefly for the purpose of +lodging these itinerant performers, and providing them with suitable +places for their performances.[33] The first missionaries describe how, +in a long native house where they lodged for the night, they saw the +Areois men and women dancing and singing till near midnight: so great +were their numbers that they made the house appear like a village.[34] +Sometimes, apparently, the performances took place in front of the +house, the musicians, singers, and reciters occupying a sort of stage, +while the actors or dancers performed on a place marked out for them on +the ground or on the floor.[35] The subject of their songs or +recitations was often a legend of the gods, or of some distinguished +member of the Society, which was chanted or recited by the performers in +chorus seated in a circle on the ground, while the leader stood in the +centre and introduced the recitation with a sort of prologue, +accompanied by antic gestures and attitudes.[36] In these recitals the +tales often turned on romantic and diverting episodes in the lives of +ancestors or of deities. "Many of these were very long, and regularly +composed, so as to be repeated verbatim, or with such illustrations only +as the wit or fancy of the narrator might have the skill to introduce. +Their captain on public occasions, was placed cross-legged on a stool +seven feet high, with a fan in his hand, in the midst of the circle of +laughing or admiring auditors, whom he delighted with his drollery, or +transported with his grimaces, being, in fact, the merry-andrew of the +corps, who, like a wise fool, well knew how to turn his folly to the +best account."[37] + + [32] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193-195; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. + 411-414; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 128-135; J. + Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 56, 57, 59, 65 _sq._, 153, 154, 174, 194 + _sq._, 209, 331, 335; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ + (London, 1813), p. 364; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. + 326-328; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 229-247; Waitz-Gerland, + _Anthropologie_, vi. 363-369. + + [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._ + + [34] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 209. + + [35] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 133 _sq._ + + [36] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 235. + + [37] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 327 _sq._ + +The Society of the Areois was wealthy and highly esteemed; members were +drawn from all social ranks and greatly prided themselves on belonging +to it.[38] Indeed, they were regarded as a sort of superhuman beings, +closely allied to the gods, and were treated with a corresponding degree +of veneration by many of the vulgar and ignorant.[39] They were divided +into seven ranks or classes, the members of which were distinguished +from each other by their tattoo marks; the greater the amount of the +tattooing, the higher the rank of the person.[40] Admission to the +Society was attended by a variety of ceremonies; a protracted noviciate +followed, and it was only by progressive advancement that any were +promoted to the higher dignities. It was imagined that those who became +Areois were prompted or inspired by the gods to take this step. A +candidate for admission, therefore, repaired to one of the public +exhibitions in that apparent state of frenzy which is commonly supposed +to indicate divine inspiration. His face was dyed scarlet; his hair was +perfumed and adorned with flowers, and he wore a girdle of yellow +plantain leaves. Thus arrayed, he rushed through the crowd assembled +round the house in which the actors or dancers were performing, and, +leaping into the circle, joined with seeming frantic wildness in the +dance or pantomime. If the Society approved of him, they appointed him +to wait as a servant on the principal Areois, and after a period of +probation he might be inducted into the Society as a full-fledged +member. At his induction, which took place in a great assembly of the +body, the candidate received a new name, by which he was thenceforth +known in the Society.[41] When a member was advanced from a lower to a +higher grade, the ceremony was performed at a public festival which all +the members of the Society in the island were expected to attend. The +candidate was then taken to a temple, where he was solemnly anointed +with fragrant oil on the forehead, and offered a pig to the god.[42] + + [38] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 245; G. Forster, _op. cit._ + ii. 130; J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 411 _sq._ + + [39] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 244; J. Turnbull, _op. cit._ + p. 364; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 492. + + [40] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + i. 238; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 491. + + [41] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 491 _sqq._ + + [42] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 241 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 493 _sq._ + +When a member of the Society died his body was conveyed by the Areois to +the grand temple, where the bones of the kings were deposited. There the +priest of Oro, standing over the corpse, offered a long prayer to his +god. This prayer, and the ceremonies accompanying it, were designed to +divest the body of all the sacred and mysterious influence which the +deceased was thought to have received from the god at the moment when, +in the presence of the idol, the perfumed oil had been sprinkled on him, +and he had been raised to the order or rank in which he died. By this +act they supposed that the sacred influence was restored to Oro, by whom +it had been imparted. The body was then buried, like that of a common +man, within the precincts of the temple, in which the mortal remains of +chiefs were interred.[43] But if for any reason the corpse were buried +in unconsecrated ground, the ghost would appear to a survivor next day +and remonstrate with him, saying, "You have buried me in common earth, +and so long as I lie there, I cannot go to heaven. You must bury me with +ceremonies, and in holy ground." After that the corpse was disinterred, +and having been doubled up by tying the arms to the shoulders and the +knees to the trunk, it was buried in a sitting posture in a hole so +shallow that the earth barely covered the head. This was esteemed the +most honourable form of sepulture, and was principally confined to +personages of high rank.[44] + + [43] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 244 _sq._ + + [44] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 273 _sq._ + +The Areoi Society comprised women as well as men,[45] but the accounts +given of the proportion of the sexes and their relations to each other +are conflicting. According to one account, the male members outnumbered +the women as five to one.[46] The first missionaries reported that the +Areois were said to have each two or three wives, whom they exchanged +with each other.[47] According to Cook, every woman was common to every +man[48]; and Turnbull affirmed that the community of women was the very +principle of their union.[49] On the other hand, the naturalist George +Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, observes: "We have been told a +wanton tale of promiscuous embraces, where every woman is common to +every man: but when we enquired for a confirmation of this story from +the natives, we were soon convinced that it must, like many others, be +considered as the groundless invention of a traveller's gay fancy."[50] +Again, Ellis observes that, "although addicted to every kind of +licentiousness themselves, each Areoi had his own wife, who was also a +member of the Society; and so jealous were they in this respect, that +improper conduct towards the wife of one of their own number, was +sometimes punished with death."[51] Yet the same writer speaks of "the +mysteries of iniquity, and acts of more than bestial degradation" to +which the Areois were at times addicted; and he says that "in some of +their meetings, they appear to have placed their invention on the rack, +to discover the worst pollutions of which it was possible for man to be +guilty, and to have striven to outdo each other in the most revolting +practices."[52] + + [45] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128. + + [46] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326. + + [47] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 174. + + [48] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193 _sq._ + + [49] J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p. 364. + + [50] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 132. + + [51] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239. + + [52] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 243. + +It was a rule of the Society that no member should have any children; +hence the first injunction given to a new member was to murder his +offspring. Any infant that might afterwards be born to him was strangled +at birth.[53] If a woman spared her child and could induce a man to +father it, "both the man and the woman, being deemed by this act to have +appropriated each other, are ejected from the community, and forfeit all +claim to the privileges and pleasures of Arreoy for the future; the +woman from that time being distinguished by the term _whannow-now_, +'bearer of children,' which is here a term of reproach."[54] The +pretext alleged by the Areois for this cruel practice was that, on +the institution of the Society by the god Oro, the first two members, +Orotetefa and Urutetefa, brothers of the god, had been celibate and +childless, and that therefore the members of the Society were bound to +imitate them by being also without offspring.[55] + + [53] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 194; J. R. Forster, _Observations_, + pp. 413 _sq._; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 129 _sq._; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 154 _sq._, 174, 194 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + i. 230 _sq._, 233, 240. Moerenhout says that when a chief was an + Areoi, his first-born son was spared, but all the rest were + sacrificed; but immediately afterwards he adds, with apparent + inconsistency, that "the first (by which he seems to mean the + principal) Areois only killed their first sons and all their + daughters; the other male infants were spared." See Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 495, 496. These statements, so far as I have + observed, are not confirmed by other writers. + + [54] J. Cook, i. 194. + + [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230 _sq._, 232 _sq._ + +In the constant repetition of their often obscene exhibitions the Areois +passed their lives, sailing from island to island or strolling from one +chief's house to that of another, where they renewed the same round of +dances, wrestlings, and pantomimic performances.[56] But the labour and +drudgery of dancing and performing for the amusement of the spectators +devolved chiefly on the lowest members of the Society, who were the +principal actors in all their shows, while the higher orders, though +they plastered themselves with charcoal and stained themselves scarlet +like their humbler brethren, were generally careful not to contribute to +the public hilarity by any exhausting efforts of their own. Thus they +led a life of dissipation and luxurious indolence.[57] + + [56] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236, 237. + + [57] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 238, 241. + +They seem to have moved about in great troupes. As many as seventy +canoes, with more than seven hundred of these vagabonds on board, have +been seen steering from island to island.[58] The approach of such a +fleet to the shore with drums beating, flutes playing, and streamers +floating on the wind, was a picturesque sight, and as the canoes neared +the land the dancers might be seen jigging it on stages erected on +board, while the voices of the singers mingled with the roll of the +drums, the shrill music of the flutes, and the roar of the surf on the +beach in a confused but not unmelodious babel of sound.[59] + + [58] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 412; G. Forster, + _Voyage_, ii. 128. + + [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._ Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ ii. 132 _sq._ According to the latter writer there + were traditions of as many as a hundred and fifty canoes sailing + at once, each one seldom containing less than thirty or forty, + and sometimes a hundred persons. + +On landing in an island their first business was to take a small +sucking-pig to the temple and present it to the god as a thank-offering +to him for having brought them safe to shore. This, we are told, was the +only sacrifice ever offered in token of gratitude by any of the South +Sea Islanders to their imaginary divinities.[60] While they were +everywhere welcomed by the vulgar for the merriment they carried with +them, and were everywhere countenanced and liberally entertained by the +kings and chiefs, who found them convenient tools of fraud and +oppression, they were not received with equal enthusiasm by the farmers, +who had to furnish them with provisions, and who durst not refuse them +anything, however unreasonable and extortionate their demands. For the +Areois lived on the fat of the land. When they alighted, like a swarm of +locusts, on a rich district, they would send out their henchmen to scour +the neighbourhood and plunder the miserable inhabitants; and when they +moved on to their next halting-place, the gardens which they left behind +them often presented a scene of desolation and ruin.[61] Such havoc, +indeed, did they spread by their feastings and carousings on even a +short visit of a few days, that in some parts of Tahiti the natives were +compelled to abandon the fertile lowlands and retreat up the mountains, +submitting to the trouble of clambering up almost inaccessible slopes +and cultivating a less fruitful soil rather than expose much of the +produce of their labour to the ravages of these privileged robbers.[62] + + [60] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._ + + [61] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 237 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. + Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326-328. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. + 174, "Wherever they go they exercise power to seize what they + want from the inhabitants. They smite their hand on their breast + and say '_Harre_, give,' whenever they covet any thing, and none + dares deny them. They never work; live by plunder; yet are + highly respected, as none but persons of rank are admitted among + them." This last statement, however, is contradicted by Ellis, + who says (_op. cit._ i. 239) that "the fraternity was not + confined to any particular rank or grade in society, but was + composed of individuals from every class." + + [62] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 197. + +Not the least of the privileges, real or imaginary, enjoyed by the +Areois was that after death their spirits were believed to pass without +difficulty to that paradise of delights to which otherwise none but the +noble and wealthy could hope to attain.[63] + + [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._ + +In spite of the profligate life which the Areoi led and their addiction +to a round of frivolous amusements and entertainments, it seems likely +that the Society was originally founded for some serious purpose, though +the accounts which have come down to us hardly enable us to determine, +or even to conjecture with a fair degree of probability, what that +purpose was. That its aim was religious might be inferred on general +grounds, and is confirmed by the close relation in which the Society +stood to the national god Oro. Not only is Oro said to have founded the +Society, but before a troop of Areois set out on their peregrinations +they were obliged to kill many pigs in sacrifice to him and to offer +large quantities of plantains, bananas, and other fruits on his altars. +Moreover, temporary shrines were erected in their canoes for the worship +of Oro's two divine brothers, Orotetefa and Urutetefa, who were +traditionally said to have been the first members of the Society and +were regarded as its tutelary deities. In these shrines the principal +symbols were a stone for each of the brothers taken from Oro's temple, +and a few red feathers from the inside of his sacred image. Into these +symbols the gods were supposed to enter when the priest pronounced a +short prayer immediately before the sailing of the fleet.[64] + + [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 234. + +We might be better able to understand the purpose and the functions of +the Areoi Society if we were acquainted with the nature and meaning +which the natives ascribed to the god Oro, the reputed founder of the +Society; but on this subject our authorities shed little light. He is +described as the war-god[65] and as "the great national idol of Raiatea, +Tahiti, Eimeo, and some of the other islands," and he was said to be a +son of the creator Taaroa, who at first dwelt alone up aloft, but who +afterwards, with the help of his daughter Hina, created the heavens, the +earth, and the sea.[66] By European writers Oro has been variously +interpreted as a god of the dead or of the sun; and accordingly the +Society of the Areois has been variously explained as devoted either to +a cult of the Lord of the Dead for the sake of securing eternal +happiness in a world beyond the grave, or to a worship of the sun-god; +but the grounds alleged for either interpretation appear to be extremely +slight.[67] + + [65] Above, p. 258. + + [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324, 325. + + [67] Gerland takes the former view, Moerenhout the latter. See + Waitz-Gerland, _Anthropologie_, vi. 368 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 484. The only evidence adduced by Moerenhout for + his interpretation of Oro as a sun-god is a statement that in + the Marquesas Islands the Areois suspended their performances + and went into retreat from April or May till the vernal equinox + (which in the southern hemisphere falls in September), and that + during their retreat they assumed the style of mourners and + bewailed the absence or death of their god, whom they called + Mahoui. This Mahoui is accordingly taken by Moerenhout to be the + sun and equated to Oro, the god of the Areois in the Society + Islands. But Mahoui seems to be no other than the well-known + Polynesian hero Maui, who can hardly have been the sun (see + below, p. 286 note^5); and Moerenhout's statement as to the + annual period of mourning observed by the Areois in the + Marquesas Islands is not, so far as I know, confirmed by any + other writer, and must, therefore, be regarded as open to doubt. + His statement and his interpretation of Oro and Mahoui were + accepted by Dr. Rivers, who made them the basis of his + far-reaching theory of a secret worship of the sun introduced + into the Pacific by immigrants from a far northern country, who + also built the megalithic monuments of Polynesia and Micronesia. + See W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Polynesia," + _American Anthropologist_, xvii. July-September 1915, pp. 431 + _sqq._ In proof of the supposed connexion between these + megalithic monuments and a worship of the sun, Dr. Rivers says + (p. 440) that the Areois "held their celebrations in an + enclosure called _marae_ or _marai_, at one end of which was + situated a pyramidical structure with steps leading to a + platform on which were placed the images of the gods during the + religious celebrations of the people." But if by "their + celebrations" Dr. Rivers means the ordinary dramatic, musical, + and athletic performances of the Areois, he seems to be in + error; for it appears to be certain that these exhibitions were + regularly given, not at the _maraes_, but in or before large + houses built or specially set apart for the purpose. See above, + pp. 259 _sq._ + +Perhaps a faint gleam of light may fall on the mystery of the Areois +from an examination of their traditionary first members and guardian +deities, the two divine brothers, Orotetefai and Urutetefai. The +similarity of the names of the brothers suggests that they may have been +twins; for it is a common custom to bestow either the same or a similar +name on each of a pair of twins in order to indicate their close +relationship to each other.[68] If they were twins, there are some +grounds for thinking that they were Heavenly Twins; for their father or +creator, Taaroa, seems certainly to have been a sky-god, and their +mother, Hina, is by some authorities regarded as the moon; moreover, the +two brothers are said to have first descended from the sky to the earth +on a rainbow.[69] If the twinship of the divine brothers could be made +out, it might perhaps explain some of the peculiar features of the Areoi +Society. For example, their remarkable custom of not allowing any of +their offspring to live; for it has been a common custom in many parts +of the world to put twins to death.[70] Further, the superhuman rank +accorded to the Areois becomes more intelligible on this hypothesis. For +among many savage peoples twins are credited with the possession of +powers superior to those of ordinary humanity; in particular, they are +thought to be able to influence the weather for good or evil, as by +causing rain or drought and the wind to blow or be still.[71] Among the +Baronga of South-Eastern Africa the supposed relation of twins to the +sky is very clearly marked. They call the mother of twins by a name +which means "Heaven" (_Tilo_), and consistently they style the twins +themselves "Children of Heaven" (_Bana ba Tilo_).[72] The mother is even +said to have "made Heaven," to have "carried Heaven," and to have +"ascended to Heaven."[73] The connexion which is believed to exist +between her and the twins on the one side and the sky on the other is +brought out plainly in the customs which the Baronga observe for the +purpose of procuring rain in time of drought. Thus they will take a +mother of twins, put her in a hole, and pour on her water which they +have drawn from all the wells, till the hole is half full, and the water +comes up to her breast. This is thought to make the rain fall.[74] Or +again, in order to get rain, the women will strip themselves naked +except for a girdle and head-dress of grass, and thus attired will go in +procession, headed by a mother of twins, and pour water on the graves of +twins. And if the body of a twin has been buried in dry ground, they +will dig it up and bury it again near a river; for the grave of a twin, +in their opinion, should always be wet. Thus they hope to draw down rain +on the thirsty ground.[75] Again, when a thunderstorm is raging and +lightning threatens to strike a village, the Baronga will say to a twin, +"Help us! you are a Child of Heaven! You can therefore cope with Heaven; +it will hear you when you speak." So the child goes out of the hut and +prays to Heaven as follows: "Go away! Do not annoy us! We are afraid. Go +and roar far away." When the thunderstorm is over, the child is thanked +for its services. The mother of twins is also supposed to be able to +help in the same way, for has she not, as the natives express it, +ascended to Heaven? They say that she can speak with Heaven, and that +she is at it or in it.[76] Among the Kpelle, a negro tribe of Liberia, +twins are regarded as born magicians, and as such are treated with +respect, and people sometimes make them presents in order to ensure +their goodwill; in doing so they are careful never to make a present to +the one twin without the other, and the twin who was born last gets his +present first, for he is regarded as the first-born. Twins are thought +by the Kpelle to do wonders; they even say that "a twin surpasses every +medicine-man."[77] Among the Fan or Fang, a tribe of the Cameroons in +West Africa, there is a curious superstition that a twin ought not to +see a rainbow. Should he by accident have caught sight of one, he must +shave his eyebrows and dye the place of the one black and the place of +the other red.[78] This superstition seems to imply a special relation +between twins and the sky, and it reminds us of the Tahitian tradition +that the two divine brothers, the first members of the Areoi Society, +descended to earth on a rainbow.[79] + + [68] J. Rendel Harris, _The Dioscuri in the Christian Legends_ + (London, 1903), pp. 1 _sqq._ _id._, _The Cult of the Heavenly + Twins_ (Cambridge, 1906), pp. 58 _sqq._; _id._, _Boanerges_ + (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 291 _sqq._ + + [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230, 232. Ellis does not admit that + Orotetefa and Urutetefa were, strictly speaking, the sons of + Oro. He writes: "According to the traditions of the people, + Taaroa created, and, by means of Hina, brought forth when full + grown Orotetefa and Urutetefa. They were not his sons; _oriori_ + is the term employed by the people, which seems to mean + _create_" (_op. cit._ i. 230). With regard to Hina (Heena), + interpreted as the moon, or the goddess of the moon, see J. R. + Forster, _Observations_, p. 549; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 152; + J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._. i. 428 _sq._, 458, 472; E. + Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 69. + _s.v._ "Hina," "Hina is by far the best known of all Polynesian + legendary personages. In the more easterly islands she is a + goddess, and is almost certainly the Moon-goddess." Similarly + Mr. E. E. V. Collocot observes that Hina "is generally regarded + as the Moon-goddess, and this view was spontaneously put forward + by a Tongan; in conversation with me" (_Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 238). + + [70] Abundant evidence of the custom is produced by Dr. Rendel + Harris in his learned works, _The Cult of the Heavenly Twins_ + and _Boanerges_. + + [71] _The Golden Bough_, Part I., _The Magic Art and the + Evolution of Kings_, i. 262 _sqq._ + + [72] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_ (Neuchâtel, 1898), p. 412; + _id._, _Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchâtel, 1912-1913), + ii. 394. + + [73] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 398. + + [74] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399. + + [75] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_, pp. 417 _sq._; _id._, _Life of + a South African Tribe_, ii. 296. + + [76] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399 _sq._ + + [77] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_ + (Göttingen, 1921), pp. 68, 212, 355. The Bambara, another tribe + of West Africa, similarly regard the last-born of twins as the + elder of the two. See Jos. Henry, _Les Bambara_ (Münster i. W., + 1910), p. 98. So, too, with the Mossi of the Sudan. See E. + Mangin, "Les Mossi," _Anthropos_, x.-xi. (1915-1916) p. 192. + + [78] L. Martrou, "Les 'Eki' des Fang," _Anthropos_, i. (1906) p. + 751; H. Trilles, _Le Totémisme chez les Fân_ (Münster i. W., + 1912), p. 593. Compare H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African + Tribe_, ii. 400, note^1, who reports the same superstition among + the Fan on the testimony of his wife, who was for years a + missionary in the tribe. + + [79] Above, p. 267. + +Another notion about twins which may possibly help to throw light on +some of the practices of the Areoi Society, is that they or their +parents or both are endowed with a fertilising or prolific virtue, which +enables them to multiply animals or plants and thereby to increase the +food supply. Thus, for example, some tribes of Northern Rhodesia keep +pigeons in their villages, and in erecting a pigeon-cote they take care +that the first stakes "are driven in by a woman who has borne twins, in +order, they say, that the pigeons may multiply."[80] Some Bantu tribes +of this region ascribe a similar virtue to both the father and the +mother of twins. They think that such parents exert a beneficial or +prolific influence at laying the foundations of pigeon-cotes, +chicken-houses, goat-pens, or any other building used for the purposes +of breeding; a certain woman who had borne twins thrice was lately in +great request at these functions.[81] The Zulus think that all goats +belonging to a twin bring forth young in couples.[82] + + [80] C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, _The Great Plateau of Northern + Nigeria_ (London, 1911), pp. 307 _sq._ + + [81] D. Campbell, _In the Heart of Bantuland_ (London, 1922), p. + 155. + + [82] Dudley Kidd, _Savage Childhood_ (London, 1906), p. 49. + +In the Central District of Busoga, Central Africa, when a woman has +given birth to twins, the people of her clan do not sow any seed until +the twins have been brought to the field. A pot of cooked grain is set +before the children with a cake of sesame and all the seed that is to be +sown. The food is eaten by the assembled people, and afterwards the +field is sown in presence of the twins; the plot is then said to be the +field of the twins. The mother of twins must sow her seed before any +person of the clan will sow his or hers.[83] These customs seem clearly +to imply a belief that twins and their mother possess a special power of +fertilising the seed. Among the Baganda of Central Africa twins were +supposed to be sent by Mukasa, the great god whose blessing on the crops +and on the people was ensured at an annual festival. The twins were +thought to be under the protection of the god, and they bore his name, +the boys being called Mukasa and the girls Namukasa. And a series of +customs observed by the parents of twins among the Baganda indicates in +the plainest manner a belief that they were endowed with a fertilising +virtue which extended, not only to the crops and the cattle, but also to +human beings. Thus the parents of twins were supposed to make people +fruitful by sprinkling them with a mixture of water and clay from pots, +of which each of the parents had one. Again, some time after the birth +the parents used to make a round of visits to relations and friends, +taking the twins with them. At every house they danced, the father +wearing a crown made from a certain creeper, and the mother wearing a +girdle of the same material. At these dances offerings were made to the +twins. These dances were most popular "because the people believed that +thereby they obtained a special blessing from the god Mukasa, who +favoured the parents of twins, and through them dispensed blessing +wherever they went." The persons whom the twins and their parents +honoured with a visit "thought that, not only they themselves would be +blessed and given children, but that their herds and crops also would be +multiplied." A ceremony performed by the father and mother of twins over +a flower of the plantain indicated in the plainest, if the grossest, +fashion the belief of the Baganda that parents of twins could magically +fertilise the plantains which form the staple food of the people. No +wonder, then, that among them a mother of twins is deemed a source of +blessing to the whole community, and that for some time after the birth +both she and the father were sacred and wore a distinctive dress to +prevent any one from touching them. The father, in particular, "could do +what he liked, because he was under the protection of the god"; for +example, he was free to enter anybody's garden and to take the produce +at will. Special drums, too, were made for the parents, one for the +father and one for the mother; and for some time after the birth these +were beaten continually both by day and by night.[84] + + [83] J. Roscoe, _The Northern Bantu_ (Cambridge, 1915), p. 235. + + [84] J. Roscoe, "Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the + Baganda," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 32-34, 80; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. + 64-72. These two accounts to some extent supplement each other. + I have drawn on both. As to the annual festival of the god + Mukasa, see _id._, _The Baganda_, pp. 298 _sq._ + +Among the Hos of Togo, in West Africa, in like manner, special drums are +beaten for the parents of twins, and the parents dance publicly to the +music in the main street of the village, after going nine times round +it. Some days later the parents go the round of all the Ho towns, +everywhere executing the same dance to the same music at noon; but +should one of the twins have died in the meantime, the parents dance at +night. It is believed that, if the customary rites were not performed at +the birth of twins, the parents of the twins would be crippled. +Curiously enough, the drums, to the music of which the parents dance, +may not be beaten by any one without special reason; and no one else may +dance to their music except such as have slain either a man or a +leopard. Among these people the birth of twins is the occasion of very +great rejoicing. They say that "the road which the mother of twins goes +is better than the road which the rich man goes."[85] The saying +suggests that the Hos, like the Baganda, regard a mother of twins as +diffusing fertility wherever she goes; and, on the analogy of the dances +of parents of twins among the Baganda, we may conjecture that in like +manner among the Hos the parents of twins are supposed to confer the +blessing of fruitfulness on all the towns where they dance. + + [85] J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 202-206. + +Among the Barundi of East Africa the birth of twins is celebrated with +rites, songs, and ritual dances, which last for days and even for weeks. +As soon as the news spreads, the neighbours, friends, and relations +flock to the house to sing, bringing with them presents for the parents +or offerings to the spirits. The amount of provisions thus accumulated +is enormous, but the parents of the twins benefit little by it; the +great bulk disappears as by magic among the self-invited guests. +Festivity, dancing, and singing are now the order of the day. Dancers, +male and female, their faces painted red and white or yellow, dance like +furies in a circle for hours together, singing ritual hymns at the top +of their voices, while an old sorceress besprinkles the troop with +lustral water. It is commonly believed that if these rites were omitted, +the twins and their parents would die. At the birth of twins it is +customary to buy two black sheep or lambs and to dedicate them to the +twins, one to each. These sheep are then left at liberty to run about as +they like by day and night, and to enter the fields and browse at will. +If one of them dies it is replaced by another. The animals are described +as the guardians of the children, the receptacle or symbol of their +spirits, in short, as their fetish.[86] To some extent, they are +analogous to the pig which an Areoi used to offer to the god at the +ceremony of his consecration; for, though sometimes the animal was +killed, at other times it was liberated, and, being regarded as sacred +or belonging to the god to whom it had been offered, was allowed to +range the district uncontrolled till it died.[87] Among the Baluba, a +tribe of the Belgian Congo, there is great joy at the birth of twins, +and special ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The twins are +invariably named Kyunga and Kahya, after the spirits of two ancient +kings, and to these spirits the twins are consecrated. After being +washed and decorated they are placed side by side in a winnowing-basket +and carried by the women of the family in procession through the +village, headed by the proud father. Dancing and singing they go to the +ash-heap of the village. There they all rub themselves with ashes and +perform another dance. After that, still led by the father of the twins, +they go to the houses of the chief people, and in front of each house +the father dances, while the women beat time with their hands. Wherever +the procession halts, the householder is expected to come and admire the +twins, to compliment the father, and to deposit a small present in the +winnowing-basket.[88] Among the Herero of South-West Africa the parents +of twins are looked on as sacred, and for a time they may not speak to +any one, and no one may speak to them. But after the lapse of some days +the family goes the round of the village, visiting three or four huts +every day. The father of the twins sits down on the right side of the +hut, and the inmates make him offerings of beads, oxen, and so forth. +When he has thus gone the round of the village, he repairs to the +neighbouring villages, where the same ceremonies are repeated. It is +often a year before he returns to his own village, and when he does so +he brings back with him a great quantity of offerings. Henceforth the +father of the twins enjoys all the privileges of a priestly chief; he +may sacrifice at the holy fire, and he may represent and even succeed +the chief in the office of priest for the village. The twins themselves +are eligible for the same office. If a chief dies a natural death, he is +succeeded in his priestly function by his twin son; whereas the +chieftainship passes to the chief's legal heir, who is properly the son +of his eldest sister, and who thenceforth assumes the name of the twin. +A twin is bound by no taboo; he may eat of all flesh offered in +sacrifice; he may drink of the milk of every holy cow, just like the +chief and the priest themselves.[89] + + [86] J. M. M. van der Burgt, _Dictionnaire Français-Kirundi_ + (Bois-le-Duc, 1903), pp. 324 _sq._; H. Meyer, _Die Barundi_ + (Leipzig, 1916), pp. 110 _sq._ + + [87] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 242. + + [88] Colle, _Les Baluba_ (Brussels, 1913), i. 253-255. + + [89] J. Irle, _Die Herero_ (Gütersloh, 1906), pp. 96-99. + +In these cases we are not told that twins and their parents are supposed +to be endowed with a power of multiplying the herds and generally of +increasing the supply of food by the prolific influence which they +diffuse about them; but the analogy of the customs and beliefs of the +Baganda concerning the birth of twins renders the supposition probable. +At least on this hypothesis we can readily understand the round of +visits which the parents, or one of them, pay to the surrounding towns +or villages, and the presents which are made to them. If they indeed +possess a power of imparting fertility and abundance wherever they go, +it is obviously in everybody's interest to be visited by them, and +clearly, on the same supposition, it is everybody's duty to make some +return to them for the wonderful benefits which they have conferred. + +Similarly we may perhaps suppose that the rounds which the Areois went +from island to island, dancing, singing, and playing their tricks +wherever they stopped, were believed to quicken the fruits of the earth, +and possibly also to multiply the pigs and the fish. On that assumption, +the unlimited right which these vagabonds enjoyed of appropriating and +consuming the produce of the gardens was probably accorded to them as a +natural and proper remuneration for the inestimable services which their +mere presence was believed to render to the crops. The sexual excesses, +in which they appear to have indulged, would also be intelligible, if it +was imagined that, on the principle of sympathetic magic, such +indulgences actually promoted the multiplication and growth of plants +and animals. But this explanation of the extravagant rites observed by +the Areois, and of the quaint beliefs entertained concerning them, is +offered only as an hypothesis for what it is worth. It may be worth +while noting that among the Kpelle, a tribe of Liberia in West Africa, +there is reported to exist a Secret Society of Twins,[90] but whether +it bears any resemblance to the Society of the Areois I do not know. + + [90] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_ + (Göttingen, 1921), p. 228. + +A familiar figure of the Polynesian pantheon, who meets us in the +mythology of the Society Islanders, was the famous god or hero Maui. +Many stories of his exploits were told in the islands. It is said that +originally the sky lay flat upon the face of the earth and ocean, being +held down by the legs of a huge cuttle-fish. But Maui dived into the +sea, and, grappling with the monster, utterly dismembered him; whereupon +the sky flew up and expanded into the beautiful blue vault which we now +see above us, with the noonday sun for the keystone of the arch.[91] +Again, the natives told how, one day, sitting in his canoe, Maui let +down his line with a hook at the end of it and fished up the earth, +which had hitherto lain at the bottom of the sea.[92] Also he is said to +have held the sun with ropes to prevent him from going too fast.[93] For +it happened that Maui was hard at work, building a temple, when he +perceived that the day was declining and that the night would overtake +him before he had accomplished his task; so hastily twining some ropes +of coco-nut fibre, he laid hold of the sun's rays and tethered them by +the ropes to a tree, so that the sun could not stir till Maui had +finished the task he was at.[94] Further, Maui is said to have invented +the mode of kindling fire by rubbing the point of one stick in the +groove of another,[95] which was the way in which the Society Islanders +regularly made fire.[96] Maui was also supposed to be the cause of +earthquakes.[97] In Tahiti a curious image of Maui was seen and +described by Captain Cook. "It was the figure of a man, constructed of +basket-work, rudely made, but not ill-designed; it was something more +than seven feet high, and rather too bulky in proportion to its height. +The wicker skeleton was completely covered with feathers, which were +white where the skin was to appear, and black in the parts which it is +their custom to paint or stain, and upon the head, where there was to be +a representation of hair: upon the head also were four protuberances, +three in front and one behind, which we should have called horns, but +which the Indians dignified with the name of _Tate Ete_, little men. The +image was called Manioe, and was said to be the only one in Otaheite. +They attempted to give us an explanation of its use and design, but we +had not then acquired enough of their language to understand them. We +learnt, however, afterwards that it was a representation of Mauwe, one +of their _Eatuas_, or gods of the second class."[98] + + [91] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526. + + [92] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 449 _sq._ + + [93] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 167. + + [94] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 40 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 170 _sq._ + + [95] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526. + + [96] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 141; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ p. 357; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p. + 349; Wallis, in R. Kerr's _General History and Collection of + Voyages and Travels_, xii. 212; _id._, in J. Hawkesworth's + _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) p. 483. + + [97] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 540; G. Forster, _Voyage + round the World_, ii. 151. These writers spell his name O-Maouwe + and O-mauwee. + + [98] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 156 _sq._ + +Besides the high primaeval deities, born of the Night, the Society +Islanders believed in a host of inferior divinities, many of whom were +said to have been created by Taaroa, the supreme god. Thus, between the +high gods and the deities of particular places or of particular +professions, there was a class of intermediate deities, who were not +supposed to have existed from the beginning or to have been born of +Night. Their origin was veiled in obscurity, but they were often +described as having been renowned men, who, after death, were deified by +their descendants. They all received the homage of the people, and on +all public occasions were acknowledged among the gods.[99] Again, there +were many gods of the sea, among whom the principal seem to have been +Tuaraatai and Ruahatu. These were generally called shark gods (_atua +mao_), not that the shark was itself deemed a god, but that it was +supposed to be employed by the marine gods as their minister of +vengeance. It was only the large blue shark which was believed to act in +this capacity; and it is said that these voracious creatures always +spared a shipwrecked priest, even when they devoured his companions; +nay, they would recognise a priest on board any canoe, come at his call, +and retire at his bidding. A priest of one of these shark gods told Mr. +Ellis that he or his father had been carried on the back of a shark from +Raiatea to Huahine, a distance of twenty miles. Other gods were thought +to preside over the fisheries, and to direct the shoals of fish to the +coasts. Their aid was invoked by fishermen before they launched their +canoes and while they were busy at sea. But these marine deities were +not supposed by the people to be of equal antiquity with the great +primordial gods, born of the Night (_atua fauau po_).[100] Again, there +were gods of the air, who were sometimes worshipped under the figure of +birds. The chief of these aerial deities were thought to be a brother +and sister, who dwelt near the great rock, which is the foundation of +the world. There they imprisoned the stormy winds, but sent them forth +from time to time to punish such as neglected the worship of the gods. +In tempests their compassion was besought by mariners tossed on the sea +or by their friends on shore.[101] To the minds of the islanders there +were also gods of hill and dale, of precipice and ravine. "By their rude +mythology each lovely island was made a sort of fairy-land, and the +spells of enchantment were thrown over its varied scenes.... The +mountain's summit, and the fleecy mists that hang upon its brows--the +rocky defile--the foaming cataract--and the lonely dell--were all +regarded as the abode or resort of these invisible beings."[102] + + [99] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._ As to the inferior gods, + see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 451 _sqq._ + + [100] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 327-329. + + [101] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._ As to the worship of + birds, Captain Cook says: "This island [Tahiti indeed, and the + rest that lie near it, have a particular bird, some a heron and + others a king's fisher, to which they pay a peculiar regard, and + concerning which they have some superstitious notions with + respect to good and bad fortune, as we have of the swallow and + robin-redbreast, giving them the name of _eatua_, and by no + means killing or molesting them; yet they never address a + petition to them, or approach them with any act of adoration." + See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224. + + [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._, 331. + +The general name for "god" in the Society Islands, as throughout +Polynesia, was _atua_.[103] The word was also applied, in the expression +_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, to the spirits of departed relatives, who +were also worshipped and ranked among the deities.[104] To these we +shall return presently; meantime it may not be out of place to give some +notice of the worship of the other gods, since in the religion of the +Society Islanders, as of other branches of the Polynesian race, it was +closely interwoven with the worship of the dead. + + [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 333 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 440 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 30 _sq._, _s.v._ "atua." Captain Cook and the + first missionaries spelled the word _eatua_ or _eatooa_. See J. + Cook, _Voyages_, i. 221, vi. 149; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343. + + [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 454 _sq._ + + +§ 4. _The Temples and Images of the Gods_ + +The sacred place dedicated to religious worship was called a _morai_, +or, as it is also spelled, a _marai_ or _marae_, which may be translated +"temple," though all such places were uncovered and open to the sky. The +national temples, where the principal idols were deposited, consisted of +large walled enclosures, some of which contained smaller inner courts. +The form was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram, with sides +forty or fifty feet long. The area was paved with flat stones, and two +sides of it were enclosed by a high stone wall, while the front was +protected by a low fence, and within rose in steps or terraces a solid +pyramidical structure built of stone, which usually formed one of the +narrow sides of the area, either at the western or at the eastern end. +These pyramids, which were always truncated so as to form a narrow +platform or ridge on their upper surface, were the most striking and +characteristic feature of the _morais_; indeed the name _morai_ or +_marae_ appears to have been sometimes confined, at least by European +observers, to the pyramid. In front of the pyramid the images were kept +and the altars fixed. The houses of the priests and of the keepers of +the idols were erected within the enclosure.[105] Of these interesting +monuments, which seemed destined to last for ages, only a few +insignificant ruins survive; the rest have been destroyed, chiefly at +the instigation of the missionaries.[106] + + [105] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 339 _sqq._ Compare + J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._, 217, 219, 220, 222, vi. 37, + _sq._, 41; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage + round the World_, pp. 543 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the + World_, i. 267, ii. 138 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207 + _sq._, 211 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267 + _sq._, 271, 280 _sqq._, 549, ii. 13 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 466-470; A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. + 111 _sqq._; S. and K. Routledge, "Notes on some Archaeological + Remains in the Society and Austral Islands," _Journal of the + Royal Anthropological Institute_, li. (1921) 438 _sqq._ + According to J. R. Forster (_l.c._), the _marais_ (_morais, + maraes_) "consist of a very large pile of stones, generally in + the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, with large steps; sometimes + this pyramid makes one of the sides of an area, walled in with + square stones and paved with flat stones: the pyramid is not + solid, but the inside is filled with smaller fragments of coral + stones." + + [106] A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, p. 135. This writer has + given us a survey and description of some of the principal + remains which existed at the end of the nineteenth century (pp. + 111-148). The ruins of two _maraes_ in the island of Moorea are + described by Mr. and Mrs. Routledge (_l.c._). In one of them the + pyramid stood at the western end of the enclosure, and in the + other at the eastern end. + +Some of the pyramids erected within these sacred enclosures were of +great size. In Tahiti an enormous one was seen and described by Captain +Cook as well as by later observers. It was of oblong shape and measured +two hundred and sixty-seven feet in length by eighty-seven feet in +width. It rose in a series of eleven steps or terraces, each four feet +high, so that the total height of the structure was forty-four feet. +Each step was formed of a single course of white coral stone, neatly +squared and polished. The steps on the long sides were broader than +those at the ends, so that at the top it terminated, not in an oblong of +the same figure as the base, but in a ridge like the roof of a house. +The interior of the pyramid was solid, being filled up with round +pebbles which, from the regularity of their figure, seemed to have been +wrought. Some of the coral stones were very large; one of them was three +and a half feet long by two and a half feet wide. The foundation of the +pyramid was built not of coral, but of what Captain Cook called rock, by +which he probably meant a volcanic stone. These foundation stones were +also squared; one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet +four inches. "Such a structure," says Captain Cook, "raised without the +assistance of iron tools to shape the stones, or mortar to join them, +struck us with astonishment: it seemed to be as compact and firm as it +could have been made by any workman in Europe, except that the steps +which range along its greatest length are not perfectly strait, but sink +in a kind of hollow in the middle, so that the whole surface, from end +to end, is not a right line, but a curve." All the stones, both rock and +coral, must have been brought from a distance, for there was no quarry +in the neighbourhood. The squaring of these blocks with stone tools +must, as Captain Cook observes, have been a work of incredible labour; +but the polishing of them could have been effected more easily by means +of the sharp coral sand, which is found everywhere on the seashore in +great abundance. On the top of the pyramid, and about the middle, stood +the wooden image of a bird; and near it lay the image of a fish carved +in stone. This great pyramid formed part of one side of a spacious area, +nearly square, which measured three hundred and sixty feet by three +hundred and fifty-four, and was walled in with stone as well as paved +with flat stones in its whole extent. Notwithstanding the pavement, +several trees were growing within the sacred enclosure. About a hundred +yards to the west was another paved area or court, in which were several +small stages raised on wooden pillars about seven feet high. These +stages the natives called _ewattas_. Captain Cook judged them rightly to +be altars, observing that they supported what appeared to be offerings +in the shape of provisions of all sorts, as well as whole hogs and many +skulls of hogs and dogs.[107] + + [107] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157-159. The great pyramid was + afterwards visited and described by the first missionaries. + Their measurements confirm, while slightly exceeding, those of + Captain Cook. They speak, however, of ten steps instead of + eleven, and say that the lowest step was six feet high and the + rest about five. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207 _sq._, with + the plate. + +The pyramids within the sacred enclosure were not usually so large or so +lofty. In the island of Huahine the pyramid of the chief god Tani or +Tane was a hundred and twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet broad, and +it had only two steps or stories. The lower step or story was about ten +feet high and faced with blocks of coral, set on their edges: some of +these blocks were as high as the step itself. The upper step or story +was similarly faced with coral, but was not more than three feet high. +The interior of both stories was filled with earth. In the centre of the +principal front stood the god's bed, a stone platform twenty-four feet +long by thirteen feet wide, but only eighteen inches high. The style and +masonry of this pyramid, as well as its dimensions, appear to have been +very inferior to those of the great one in Tahiti. The blocks were +apparently unhewn and unpolished, the angles ill formed, and the walls +not straight. Venerable and magnificent trees overshadowed the +sanctuary. One of them measured fifteen yards in girth above the roots. +It is said that the god often wished to fly away, but that his long tail +always caught in the boughs of this giant tree and dragged him down to +earth again.[108] + + [108] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 265 _sq._ + +These sacred pyramids "were erected in any place, and at any time, when +the priests required, by the slavish people. On such occasions the +former overlooked the latter at their work, and denounced the most +terrible judgments upon those who were remiss at it. The poor wretches +were thus compelled to finish their tasks (burthensome as they often +were, in heaving blocks from the sea, dragging them ashore, and heaping +them one upon another) without eating, which would have desecrated the +intended sanctuary. To restrain the gnawings of hunger they bound +girdles of bark round their bodies, tightening the ligatures from time +to time, as their stomachs shrank with emptiness. And, when the drudgery +was done, it was not uncommon for the remorseless priests to seize one +of the miserable builders and sacrifice him to the idol of the +place."[109] + + [109] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 13 _sq._ + +Temples of this sort were found scattered over the islands in every +situation--on hill-tops, on jutting headlands, and in the recesses of +groves.[110] They varied greatly in size: some were small and built in +the rudest manner, mere squares of ill-shapen and ill-piled stones. In +the island of Borabora the missionaries found not less than two hundred +and twenty of these structures crowded within an area only ten miles in +circumference.[111] The trees that grew within the sacred enclosure were +sacred. They comprised particularly the tall cypress-like casuarina and +the broader-leaved and more exuberant callophyllum, thespesia, and +cardia. Their interlacing boughs formed a thick umbrageous covert, which +often excluded the rays of the sun; and the contrast between the bright +glare of a tropical day outside and the sombre gloom in the depths of +the grove, combined with the sight of the gnarled trunks and twisted +boughs of the aged trees, and the sighing of the wind in the branches, +to strike a religious horror into the mind of the beholder.[112] The +ground which surrounded the temples (_morais_) was sacred and afforded a +sanctuary for criminals. Thither they fled on any apprehension of +danger, especially when many human sacrifices were expected, and thence +they might not be torn by violence, though they were sometimes seduced +from their asylum by guile.[113] + + [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341. + + [111] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 13. + + [112] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341 _sq._ + + [113] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 351. + +These remarkable sanctuaries were at once temples for the worship of the +gods and burial-places for the human dead. On this combination of +functions I have already adduced some evidence;[114] but as the point is +important, I will cite further testimonies as to the custom of burying +the dead in these enclosures. + + [114] Above, pp. 116 _sqq._ + +Thus Captain Cook writes: "I must more explicitly observe that there are +two places in which the dead are deposited: one a kind of shed, where +the flesh is suffered to putrefy; the other an enclosure, with erections +of stones, where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called +_tupapow_, and the enclosures _morai_. The _morais_ are also places of +worship".[115] Again, after describing how a dead body used to be placed +in the temporary house or shed (_tupapow_) and left there to decay for +five moons, Captain Cook tells us that "what remains of the body is +taken down from the bier, and the bones, having been scraped and washed +very clean, are buried, according to the rank of the person, either +within or without a _morai_: if the deceased was an _earee_ or chief, +his skull is not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in +fine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is +also placed in the _morai_. This coffer is called _ewharre no te +orometua_, the house of a teacher or master".[116] + + [115] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 217. + + [116] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 219. + +Again, after describing the human sacrifice which he witnessed at the +great _morai_ at Attahooroo, in Tahiti, Captain Cook proceeds as +follows: "The _morai_ (which, undoubtedly, is a place of worship, +sacrifice, and burial at the same time), where the sacrifice was now +offered, is that where the supreme chief of the whole island is always +buried, and is appropriated to his family, and some of the principal +people. It differs little from the common ones, except in extent. Its +principal part is a large oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each +other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, contracted toward the top, +with a square area on each side, loosely paved with pebble stones, under +which the bones of the chiefs are buried.... The human sacrifices are +buried under different parts of the pavement."[117] + + [117] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 37. + +Again, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the victors used to +collect all the dead that had fallen into their hands and bring them to +the _morai_, where, with much ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all +the bodies in it as so many offerings to the gods; but the skulls of the +slain were never afterwards taken up. Their own great chiefs who fell in +battle were treated in a different manner. Captain Cook was informed +that the bodies of the late king and two chiefs, who were slain in +battle, were brought to the _morai_ at Attahooroo. There the priests cut +out the bowels of the corpses before the great altar, and the bodies +were afterwards buried at three different spots in the great pile of +stones which formed the most conspicuous feature of the _morai_. Common +men who perished in the same battle were all buried in a single hole at +the foot of the pile. The spots where the bodies of the king and chiefs +reposed were pointed out to Captain Cook and his companions.[118] + + [118] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 40 _sq._ + +Again, in the island of Tahiti, the naturalist George Forster, who +accompanied Captain Cook, saw a stone building, "in form of the frustum +of a pyramid," constructed in terraces or steps, and measuring about +twenty yards in length at the base. "This the native said was a +burying-place and place of worship, _marài_, and distinguished it by the +name of _marai no-Aheatua_, the burying-place of Aheatua, the present +king of Tiarroboo."[119] + + [119] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, i. 267. + +Again, in the island of Huahine, the missionaries Tyerman and Bennet saw +"a pagan _marae_ hard by, where the sovereigns of Huahine were +buried--and where, indeed, they lay in more than oriental state, each +one resting in his bed, at the foot of the Sacred Mountain, beneath the +umbrage of the magnificent _aoa_ [tree], and near the beach for ever +washed by waters that roll round the world.... The great _marae_ itself +was dedicated to Tani, the father of the gods here; but the whole ground +adjacent was marked with the vestiges of smaller _maraes_--private +places for worship and family interment--while this was the capital of +the island and the headquarters of royalty and idolatry."[120] A little +later, speaking of the same sacred place, the missionaries observe, "The +first _marae_ that we visited was the sepulchral one of the kings of +Huahine, for many generations. It was an oblong inclosure, forty-five +feet long by twenty broad, fenced with a strong stone wall. Here the +bodies of the deceased, according to the manner of the country, being +bound up, with the arms doubled to their shoulders, the legs bent under +their thighs and both forced upwards against the abdomen, were let down, +without coffins, into a hole prepared for their reception, and just deep +enough to allow the earth to cover their heads."[121] + + [120] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271. + + [121] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 280. + +One of our best authorities on these islands, William Ellis, speaks of +the _maraes_ (_morais_), whether they belonged to private families, to +districts, or to the kings, as being "the general depositories of the +bones of the departed, whose bodies had been embalmed"; and as a motive +for the practice he alleges the sanctity which attached to these places, +and which might naturally be supposed to guard the graves against +impious and malicious violation.[122] However, the first missionaries +say of the islanders that "they bury none in the _morai_, but those +offered in sacrifice, or slain in battle, or the children of chiefs +which have been strangled at the birth--an act of atrocious inhumanity +too common."[123] According to Moerenhout, the _marais_ (_morais_) +belonging to private families were often used as cemeteries; but in the +public _marais_ none but the human victims, and sometimes the priests, +were interred.[124] Thus there is to some extent a conflict of testimony +between our authorities on the subject of burial in the temples. But the +evidence which I have adduced seems to render it probable that many at +least of the _morais_ served as burial-grounds for kings and chiefs of +high degree, and even for common men who had fallen fighting in the +service of their country. + + [122] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405. See above, pp. 117 _sq._ + + [123] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + + [124] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470. + +In more recent years the German traveller, Arthur Baessler, who examined +and described the existing ruins of these sacred edifices, denied that +the _maraes_ (_morais_) were places of burial, while he allowed that +they were places of worship.[125] He distinguished a _marae_ from an +_ahu_, admitting at the same time that they closely resembled each +other, both in their structure and in the ritual celebrated at +them.[126] According to him, a _marae_ was a sort of domestic chapel, +the possession of which constituted the most distinctive mark of a noble +family. Every chief, high or low, had one of them and took rank +according to its antiquity.[127] It was an oblong area, open to the sky +and enclosed by walls on three sides and by a pyramid on the fourth: +walls and pyramid alike were built of blocks of stone or coral.[128] The +_ahu_, on the other hand, was a monument erected to the memory of a +distinguished chief, whose mortal remains were deposited in it. But +apart from the grave which it contained, the _ahu_, according to +Baessler, hardly differed from a _marae_, though it was mostly larger: +it was a great walled enclosure with a pyramid, altars, and houses of +the priests. And the ritual celebrated in the _ahu_ resembled the ritual +performed in the _marae_: there, too, the faithful assembled to pray, +and there the priests recited the same liturgy.[129] Thus both the form +and, to some extent at least, the function of the two types of sanctuary +presented a close similarity. The islanders themselves, it appears, do +not always clearly distinguish them at the present day.[130] And the +single distinction on which Baessler insisted, that the dead were buried +in the _ahu_ but not in the _marae_, seems not to hold good universally, +even on Baessler's own showing. For he admits that, "if ever a chief was +buried in his own _marae_, it must have been in most exceptional cases, +but probably statements to that effect rest only on a confusion of the +_marae_ with the _ahu_; such a practice would also run counter to the +habits of the natives, who sought the most secret places for their dead, +and certainly concealed the heads in caves difficult of access and +unknown to others. On the other hand, the _maraes_ of humbler families +may more frequently, if not as a rule, have served as places of +burial."[131] And even in regard to the holiest _marae_, dedicated to +the great god Oro, in the island of Raiatea,[132] Baessler himself cites +a tradition, apparently well authenticated, that a great number of +warriors slain in battle were buried in it.[133] The argument that the +people buried their dead, or at all events their skulls, only in remote +caves among the mountains seems untenable; for according to the evidence +of earlier writers the practice of concealing the bones or the skulls of +the dead in caves was generally, if not always, a precaution adopted in +time of war, to prevent these sacred relics from falling into the hands +of invaders; the regular custom seems to have been to bury the bones in +or near the _marae_ and to keep the skulls either there or in the +house.[134] On the whole, then, it is perhaps safer to follow earlier +and, from the nature of the case, better-informed writers in neglecting +the distinction which Baessler drew between a _marae_ (_morai_) and an +_ahu_. In any case we have Baessler's testimony that an _ahu_ was at +once a place of burial and a place of worship. There seems to be no +evidence that any of these sacred edifices, whether _maraes_ or _ahus_, +were associated with a worship of the sun. On the other hand, it is +certain that some at least of them were dedicated, partly or chiefly, to +a cult of the dead, which formed a very important element in the +religion of the Society Islanders, whereas there is little or nothing to +show that they adored either the sun, or any other of the heavenly +bodies, with the possible exception of the moon.[135] This did not, +however, prevent them from entertaining absurd notions concerning these +great luminaries. At an eclipse they imagined that the moon or the sun +was being swallowed by some god whom they had offended; and on such +occasions they repaired to the temple and offered prayers and liberal +presents to the deity for the purpose of inducing him to disgorge the +luminary.[136] + + [125] A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. 116 _sq._, 127 + _sq._, 144 _sq._ + + [126] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130, 131. + + [127] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 119. + + [128] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._ + + [129] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130 _sq._ + + [130] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 140. + + [131] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 127. + + [132] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 124, 141. + + [133] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 127 _sq._, 144 _sq._ + + [134] See below, p. 311. + + [135] Ellis says, "I am not aware that they rendered divine + homage either to the sun or moon" (_Polynesian Researches_, iii. + 171). Speaking of the Areois, Moerenhout says that "it seems to + me clear that though they did not adore directly the sun and the + other stars, nevertheless their worship was little else than + sabeism or the adoration of the visible and animated universe" + (_op. cit._ i. 503). He interpreted both Oro and Maui or Mahoui + (as he spells the name) as the sun-god (_op. cit._ i. 484, 502, + 503, 560 _sq._); but these interpretations appear to be his own + guesses, unsupported by any statement of the natives. Maui was + the great Polynesian hero, one of whose most famous exploits was + catching the sun in a snare and compelling him to move more + slowly (E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + pp. 234 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Maui"; see above, p. 275); but this + story, far from favouring the identification of Maui with the + sun, seems fatal to it. According to J. R. Forster, the great + god Taroa (Taaroa) was thought to have created the sun and to + dwell in it (_Observations_, p. 540); but even if this statement + is correct, it hardly implies a worship of the sun. With regard + to the moon, the same writer tells us (_l.c._) that it was + supposed to be procreated by a goddess named O-Heena, "who + presides in the black cloud which appears in this luminary"; and + the statement is repeated by his son, George Forster, who adds: + "The women sing a short couplet, which seems to be an act of + adoration paid to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps because they + suppose her to have some influence upon their physical + [oe]conomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that cloud I love'" + (_Voyage round the World_, ii. 152). This so far seems to imply + a reverence for the moon; and there are some grounds for + thinking that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is usually spelt) was + in Eastern Polynesia a moon-goddess. See above, p. 267, note^2. + + [136] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._, iii. 171. According to + another account, the sun and moon in eclipse were supposed to be + in the act of copulation. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346. + +Temples such as have been described were erected on all important +occasions, such as a war, a decisive victory, or the installation of a +great chief or king of a whole island. In these latter cases the natives +boasted that the number of persons present was so great that, if each of +them only brought a single stone, the amount of stones thus collected +would have sufficed to build their largest temples and pyramids.[137] +One of the occasions when it became necessary to build new temples was +when the old ones had been overthrown by enemies in war. After such a +desecration it was customary to perform a ceremony for the purpose of +purifying the land from the defilement which it had incurred through the +devastations of the foe, who had, perhaps, demolished the temples, +destroyed or mutilated the idols, and burned with fire the curiously +carved pieces of wood which marked the sacred places of interment and +represented the spirits of the dead (_tiis_). Before the rite of +purification was performed the temples were rebuilt, new altars reared, +new images placed within the sacred precincts, and new wooden effigies +set up near the graves. At the close of the rites in the new temples, +the worshippers repaired to the seashore, where the chief priest offered +a short prayer and the people dragged a net of coco-nut leaves through a +shallow part of the sea, usually detaching small pieces of coral, which +they brought ashore. These were called fish and were delivered to the +priest, who conveyed them to the temple and deposited them on the altar, +offering at the same time a prayer to induce the gods to cleanse the +land from pollution, that it might be as pure as the coral fresh from +the sea. It was now thought safe to abide on the soil and to eat of its +produce, whereas if the ceremony had not been performed, death would +have been, in the opinion of the people, the consequence of partaking of +fruits grown on the defiled land.[138] + + [137] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 468. + + [138] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 348 _sq._ + +The temples were sacred. When a man approached one of them to worship or +to bring his offering to the altar, he bared his body to the waist in +sign of reverence and humility.[139] Women in general might not enter a +temple, but when their presence was indispensable for certain +ceremonies, the ground was covered with cloth, on which they walked, +lest they should defile the holy place with their feet.[140] For +example, some six weeks or two months after the birth of a child the +father and mother took the child to a temple, where they both offered +their blood to the gods by cutting their heads with shark's teeth and +allowing the blood to drip on leaves, which they laid on the altar. On +this occasion the husband spread a cloth on the floor of the temple for +his wife to tread upon, for she might not step on the ground or the +pavement.[141] Similarly at marriage bride and bridegroom visited the +family temple (_marae_, _morai_), where the skulls of their ancestors +were brought out and placed before them; but a large white cloth had to +be spread out on the pavement for the bride to walk upon. Sometimes at +these marriage rites the female relatives cut their faces and brows with +shark's teeth, caught the flowing blood on cloth, and deposited the +cloth, sprinkled with the mingled blood of the mothers of the married +pair, at the feet of the bride.[142] At other times the mother of the +bride gashed her own person cruelly with a shark's tooth, and having +filled a coco-nut basin with the blood which flowed from her wounds, she +presented it to the bridegroom, who immediately threw it from him.[143] +While certain festivals were being celebrated at the temples the +exclusion of women from them was still more rigid. Thus in the island of +Huahine, during the celebration of the great annual festival, at which +all the idols of the island were brought from their various shrines to +the principal temple to be clothed with new dresses and ornaments, no +woman was allowed to approach any of the sacred edifices under pain of +death, which was instantly inflicted by whoever witnessed the sacrilege. +Even if the wives and children of the priests themselves came within a +certain distance, while some particular services were going on, they +were murdered on the spot by their husbands and fathers with the utmost +ferocity.[144] + + [139] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224; J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 547; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 469. Elsewhere (vi. 149) Captain Cook mentions + that the baring of the body on the approach to a temple was + especially incumbent on women, who otherwise had to make a + considerable circuit to avoid the sacred edifice. + + [140] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 469 _sq._; A. Baessler, + _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. 126 _sq._ + + [141] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 536 _sq._ + + [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 271 _sq._ + + [143] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 558. + + [144] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267 _sq._ + +Some of these sacred edifices are still impressive in their ruins and +deserve the name of megalithic monuments. Thus the temple (_marae_, +_morai_) of Oro at Opoa, which was the holiest temple in the island of +Raiatea and perhaps in the Society Islands generally,[145] is about a +hundred and thirty-eight feet long by twenty-six feet broad. It is +enclosed by a wall of gigantic coral blocks standing side by side to a +height of about six feet seven inches. The blocks have been hewn from +the inner reef; the outer surfaces were smoothed, the inner left rough. +One of the blocks stands over eleven feet high, without reckoning the +part concealed by the soil; it is twelve feet wide, by two and a half +feet thick. Another block is about ten feet long by eight feet broad and +one foot thick.[146] In the ruined temple of Tainuu, situated in the +district of Tevaitoa, one block is about eleven and a half feet high by +eleven feet wide, with a thickness varying from twenty inches to two and +a half feet.[147] + + [145] A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. 124, 141; D. + Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529 _sq._ + + [146] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 142. + + [147] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 146. + +The idols or images of the gods were usually made of wood, but sometimes +of stone. Some were rudely carved in human shape; others were rough +unpolished logs, wrapped in many folds of cloth or covered with a +matting of coco-nut fibre.[148] The image of the god Oro was a straight +log of casuarina wood, six feet long, uncarved, but decorated with +feathers. On the other hand Taaroa, the supreme deity of Polynesia, was +represented by a rudely carved human figure about four feet high, with a +number of little images studding his body to indicate the multitude of +gods that had proceeded from him as creator. The body of the god was +hollow, and when it was taken from the temple, where it had been +worshipped for many generations, it was found to contain a number of +small idols in the cavity. It is supposed that these petty gods had been +placed there by their worshippers and owners that they might absorb some +of the supernatural powers of the greater divinity before being removed +to the places where they were to commence deities on their own +account.[149] With a similar intention it was customary to fill the +inside of the hollow images with red feathers in order that the plumes +might be impregnated with the divine influence and might afterwards +diffuse it for the benefit of the owner of the feathers, who had placed +them in the image for that purpose. The red feathers, plucked from a +small bird which is found in many of the islands, thus became an +ordinary medium for communicating and extending supernatural powers, not +only in the Society Islands, but throughout Polynesia. The beautiful +long tail-feathers of the tropic or man-of-war bird were used for the +same purpose. The gods were supposed to be very fond of these feathers +and ready to impart their blessed essence to them. Hence people brought +the feathers to the priest and received from him in exchange two or +three which had been sanctified in the stomach of the deity; on +extracting them from that receptacle, the priest prayed to the god that +he would continue to inhabit the red feathers even when they were +detached from his divine person.[150] The feathers thus consecrated were +themselves regarded as in some sense divine and were called gods +(_atuas_, _oromatuas_); the people had great confidence in their +sovereign virtue, and on occasions of danger they sought them out, +believing that the mere presence of the feathers would afford them +adequate protection. For example, when they were threatened by a storm +at sea, they would hold out the feathers to the menacing clouds and +command them to depart.[151] + + [148] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 471. According to Ellis, the wooden images were made + from the durable timber of the _aito_ or casuarina tree, and the + stone images were mostly rude uncarved angular columns of + basalt, of various sizes, though some were of calcareous or + siliceous stone. Some stone images, however, were rudely carved + in human form. See A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, pp. 128 + _sq._ + + [149] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 354. + + [150] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 338 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 471 _sqq._ + + [151] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 473 _sq._ + + +§ 5. _The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders_ + +The offerings presented to the gods included every kind of valuable +property, such as birds, fish, beasts, the fruits of the earth and the +choicest native manufactures. The fruits and other eatables were +generally, but not always, dressed. Portions of the fowls, pigs, or +fish, cooked with sacred fire in the temple, were presented to the +deity; the remainder furnished a banquet for the priests and other +sacred persons, who were privileged to eat of the sacrifices. The +portions appropriated to the gods were placed on the altar and left +there till they decayed. In the public temples the great altars were +wooden stages, some eight or ten feet high, supported on a number of +wooden posts, which were sometimes curiously carved and polished. But +there were also smaller altars in the temples; some of them were like +round tables, resting on a single post. Domestic altars and such as were +erected near the bodies of dead friends were small square structures of +wicker-work. In sacrificing pigs they were very anxious not to break a +bone or disfigure the animal. Hence they used to strangle the animal or +bleed it to death.[152] + + [152] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 344 _sq._ + +Human victims were sacrificed on many occasions, as in time of war, at +great national festivals, during the illness of their rulers, and at +the building of a temple. William Ellis was told that the foundations of +some of their sacred edifices were laid in human sacrifices, and that at +least the central pillar, which supported the roof of one of the sacred +houses at Maeva, had been planted on the body of a man. The victims were +either captives taken in war or persons who had rendered themselves +obnoxious to the chiefs or the priests. In the technical language of the +priests they were called "fish." When once a man had been chosen for +sacrifice, the family to which he belonged was regarded as taboo or +devoted to the altar, and when another victim was wanted, he was more +frequently taken from that family than from any other. Similarly, a +district which had once furnished victims was thenceforth devoted. +Hence, at the approach of ceremonies which were usually accompanied by +human sacrifices, the members of certain families and the inhabitants of +certain districts used to flee to the mountains and hide in caves till +the ceremony was over. But the doomed man was seldom apprised of his +fate beforehand. A sudden blow with a club or a stone on the nape of the +neck was the usual way of despatching him, lest the body should be +mangled or a bone broken. If the blow had only stunned him, he was soon +killed, and the corpse, placed in a long basket of coco-nut leaves, was +carried to the temple and offered to the god by being set before the +idol. In dedicating it the priest took out one of the eyes and handed it +on a leaf to the king, who made as if he would swallow it, but passed it +on to a priest or attendant. After the ceremony the body, still wrapt in +coco-nut leaves, was often deposited on the branches of a neighbouring +tree, where it remained some time. Finally, the bones were taken down +and buried under the pavement of the temple (_marae_).[153] + + [153] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 345-348. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, iii. 168 _sqq._ vi. 28-41; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 350 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549, ii. 38 + _sq._ + +In the family, according to patriarchal usage, the father was the +priest, but the priests of the national temples formed a distinct class; +their office was hereditary. The high priesthood was often held by a +member of the royal family, and sometimes the king himself acted as the +national priest. The duties of the priests were to recite prayers, to +present offerings, and to sacrifice victims. Their prayers, usually +uttered in shrill, chanting tones, were often exceedingly long and full +of repetitions.[154] They had plenty of employment, being called in to +officiate on all occasions, whether at birth or at death, at feasts or +in sickness; for they were the physicians as well as the clergy of the +country. They professed to possess extraordinary powers, such as to +promote conception or to effect abortion, to cause or to heal disease, +to pray the evil spirit into food, and even to kill men outright. Hence +they were greatly feared.[155] Of the little knowledge that existed in +the islands the priests are reported to have possessed the largest +share, but it consisted chiefly in an acquaintance with the names and +ranks of the various subordinate deities (_atuas_); however, according +to Captain Cook, they excelled the rest of the people in their knowledge +of navigation and astronomy: indeed, the very name for priest (_tahowa_) +signified nothing more than a man of knowledge.[156] In the island of +Huahine the priest whose duty it was to carry the image of the god Tani +(Tane) "was a personage of such superhuman sanctity that everything +which he touched became sacred; he was, therefore, not suffered to +marry, as the honour of being his wife was too much for any mortal +woman. But this was not all; he would himself be so defiled by such a +connection that he would be disqualified for his office, and must +immediately resign it; nay, if he did not repent, and return with a +great peace-offering to Tani's house, he might expect to be first struck +blind, and afterwards strangled in his sleep. He was not allowed to +climb a cocoa tree, because, if he did, it would be so hallowed that +nobody else durst afterwards ascend it."[157] + + [154] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 342 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 545 + _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 474 _sqq._ + + [155] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 348. + + [156] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 223. + + [157] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 279. + +One of the most important functions of the priests was to act as +mouthpieces of the gods. In the discharge of this duty they were +believed to be inspired and possessed by the deity, who spoke through +them to the people. When the time came for them to consult the god, they +assumed an odd fantastic dress, enriched with red and black feathers, +to which the deity was so partial, that when the priests approached him +in this array, he descended to earth at their call in one of the sacred +birds that frequented the temples (_morais_) and fed on the sacrifices. +As soon as the bird lighted on the sacred edifice, the god left the fowl +and entered into the priest. The holy man, thus inspired, now stretched +himself, yawned, and rubbed his arms, legs, and body, which began to be +inflated, as if the skin of the abdomen would burst; the eyes of the +seer were thrown into various contortions, now staring wide, now +half-shut and sinking into stupor, while at other times the whole frame +was convulsed and appeared to have undergone a sudden and surprising +change. The voice sank to a low pitch, and grew squeaky and broken; but +at times it would suddenly rise to an astonishing height. The words +uttered by the possessed man were regarded as oracular, and nothing that +he asked for the god or for himself in this state was ever refused him. +Of all this the priest himself affected to be entirely unaware, but a +colleague was regularly at hand to record the divine message and the +divine requirements, which were often very large. When the deity took +his departure from the priest, he did so with such convulsions and +violence as to leave the man lying motionless and exhausted on the +ground, and the oracle was so timed that this happened at the very +moment when the sacred bird, the vehicle of the god, flew away from the +temple. On coming to himself the priest uttered a loud shriek and seemed +to wake as from a profound sleep, unconscious of everything that had +passed.[158] Sometimes, however, the priest continued to be possessed by +the deity for two or three days; at such times he wore a piece of native +cloth, of a peculiar sort, round one arm as a sign of his inspiration. +His acts during this period were deemed to be those of the god; hence +the greatest attention was paid to his expressions and to the whole of +his deportment. Indeed, so long as the fit of inspiration lasted he was +called a god (_atua_); but when it was over, he resumed his ordinary +title of priest.[159] + + [158] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 349 _sq._ + + [159] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373-375. + +We are told that in his fine frenzy the priest "often rolled on the +earth, foaming at the mouth, as if labouring under the influence of the +divinity, by whom he was possessed, and, in shrill cries, and violent +and often indistinct sounds, revealed the will of the god."[160] It +would probably be a mistake to assume that on such occasions the frantic +behaviour was deliberately assumed and the wild whirling words were +consciously uttered for the purpose of deceiving the people; in short, +that the whole performance was a mere piece of acting, a bare-faced +imposture. It is far more likely that, bred from childhood to believe in +the reality of divine inspiration, the priest often sincerely imagined +himself to be possessed by a deity, and that, under the excitement which +such an imagination was calculated to produce, he honestly mistook his +own thick-coming fancies for a revelation from the gods. A chief, who +had formerly been a prophet of the god Oro, assured the missionaries +"that although he sometimes feigned his fits of inspiration, to deceive +the credulous multitude, yet, at other times, they came upon him +involuntarily and irresistibly. Something seemed to rush through his +whole frame, and overpower his spirit, in a manner which he could not +describe. Then he frothed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, and distorted +his limbs with such violence that it required five or six strong men to +hold him. At these times his words were deemed oracles, and whatever he +advised respecting state affairs, or other matters, was implicitly +observed by king and chiefs."[161] Thus on the ravings of these crazy +fanatics or deliberate impostors often hung the issues of life or death, +of war or peace.[162] It appears to have been especially the priests of +Oro who laid claim to inspiration and contrived to shape the destinies +of their country through the powerful sway which they exercised over the +mind of the king. In their fits of fanatical frenzy, while they +delivered their oracles, they insisted on the sovereign's implicit +compliance with their mandates, denouncing the most dreadful judgments +on him if he should prove refractory.[163] + + [160] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373 _sq._ + + [161] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 124. + + [162] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114 _sq._ + + [163] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 121. + +Apart from the priests there was a class of men whose business it was to +preserve and hand down to their successors the lists of the gods, the +liturgical prayers, and the sacred traditions. As these liturgies and +legends were often very lengthy and couched in a metaphorical and +obscure language, a prodigious memory and long practice were +indispensable for their preservation and transmission among a people to +whom the art of writing was unknown. Since the slightest mistake in the +recitation of a liturgy was deemed the worst of omens and necessitated +the suspension of the religious service, however costly and important +the service might be, the sacred recorders, as we may call them, were +obliged, for the sake of their credit, to practise continually the +recitation of the prayers, legends, and traditions of which they were +the depositories. To aid them in their task they made use of bundles of +little sticks of different sizes, one of which they drew from a bundle +at the conclusion of each prayer. It was their duty on solemn occasions +to recite these liturgies or sacred poems while they paced slowly by +night round the temples (_morais_) and other holy places; hence they +went by the name of _harepo_, which means "Walkers by night." We are +told that if at these times they made a mistake in a single word or +hesitated for a moment, they stopped and returned home; and if the +subject of their prayers chanced to be some enterprise in which they +desired to enlist the favour of the gods, such a mistake or hesitation +was enough to cause the undertaking to be abandoned irretrievably, since +success in it was believed to be impossible. Nothing, it is said, could +be more astonishing than the memory displayed by these men, while they +recited, word for word, and for nights together, the ancient traditions +of which the mutilated and mangled remains would demand the assiduous +study of several years. The office of sacred recorder (_harepo_) was +hereditary in the male line; the sons were trained in the duties from +their earliest years, but only such as were endowed with an excellent +memory could satisfy the requirements of the profession. They believed +that a good memory was a gift of the gods.[164] + + [164] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 504-507. + + +§ 6. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_ + +Of the Society Islanders we are informed that "they believe every man to +have a separate being within him, named _tee_, which acts in consequence +of the impression of the senses, and combines ideas into thoughts. This +being, which we would call the soul, exists after death, and lodges in +the wooden images which are placed round the burying-places, and which +are called by the same name, _tee_."[165] When they were asked in what +part of the body the soul resides, they always answered that it was +seated in the belly or in the bowels (_I roto té obou_). They would not +admit that the brain could be the seat of thought or the heart of the +affections; and in support of their opinion they alleged the agitation +of the bowels in strong emotion, such as fear and desire.[166] Hence, +too, they called thoughts by a phrase which signifies "words in the +belly" (_parou no te oboo_).[167] + + [165] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 151 _sq._ + Compare J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, pp. 534 _sq._, 542 _sq._, where the word for soul is + given as _E-teehee_ or _Teehee_. + + [166] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431. + + [167] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 151 note *. + +But the Society Islanders did not regard the possession of a soul as a +privilege peculiar to humanity. According to Captain Cook, "they +maintain that not only all other animals, but trees, fruit, and even +stones, have souls, which at death, or upon being consumed or broken, +ascend to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass +into the mansion allotted to each."[168] Their word for soul was +_varoua_, according to Moerenhout, who adds that, "It appears that they +accorded this _varoua_ (spirit, soul) not only to man, but even in +addition to the animals, to plants, to everything that vegetates, grows +or moves on the earth."[169] + + [168] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 151. + + [169] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 430. + +They thought that the soul of man could be separated for a time from the +body during life without causing immediate death. Thus, like many other +peoples, they explained dreams by the supposed absence of the soul +during slumber. We are told that "they put great confidence in dreams, +and suppose in sleep the soul leaves the body under the care of the +guardian angel, and moves at large through the regions of spirits. Thus +they say, My soul was such a night in such a place, and saw such a +spirit. When a person dies, they say his soul is fled away, _h[=a]rre +p[=o]_, gone to night."[170] But they also believed that a man's soul or +spirit could be conjured out of his body by magic art or demoniacal +agency. Thus, when people had been robbed, they would sometimes call in +the help of a priest to ascertain the thief. In such a case the priest, +after offering prayers to his demon, would direct them to dig a hole in +the floor of the house and to fill it with water; then, taking a young +plantain in his hand, he would stand over the hole and pray to the god, +whom he invoked, and who, if he were propitious, was supposed to conduct +the spirit of the thief to the house and to place it over the water. The +image of the spirit, which they believed to resemble the person of the +man, was, according to their account, reflected in the water and +perceived by the priest, who was thus able to identify the thief, +alleging that the god had shown him the reflection of the culprit in the +water.[171] From this it appears that in the opinion of the Society +Islanders, as of many other peoples, a man's soul or spirit is a +faithful image of his body.[172] + + [170] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346. In the Polynesian languages + _po_ is the word both for "night" and for "the shades," the + primaeval darkness from which all forms of life were evolved, + and to which the souls of the dead return. See E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 342, _s.v._ "po." + + [171] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 378 _sq._ + + [172] Compare W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396, "What their precise + ideas of a spirit were, it is not easy to ascertain. They + appear, however, to have imagined the shape or form resembled + that of the human body, in which they sometimes appeared in + dreams to the survivors." + +They believed that in the pangs of death the soul keeps fluttering about +the lips, and that, when all is over, it ascends and mixes with or, as +they expressed it, is eaten by the deity.[173] When one of their sacred +recorders (_harepo_), who had been famous in his life for his knowledge +of the ancient traditions, was at the point of death, it was customary +for his son and successor to place his mouth over the mouth of the dying +man, as if to inhale the parting soul at the moment of quitting the +body; for in this way he was supposed to inherit the lore of his father. +The natives, it is said, were convinced that these sages owed their +learning to this expedient, though none the less they studied day and +night to perfect themselves in their profession.[174] + + [173] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 150. + + [174] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 507. + + +§ 7. _Disease, Death, and Mourning_ + +Every disease was supposed to be the result of direct supernatural +agency, and to be inflicted by the gods for some crime committed against +the law of taboo of which the sufferer had been guilty; or it might have +been brought upon him by an enemy, who had compassed his destruction by +means of an offering. They explained death in like manner: according to +them, it was invariably caused by the direct influence of the gods.[175] +They acknowledged, indeed, that they possessed poisons which, taken with +food, produced convulsions and death, but these effects they traced to +the anger of the gods, who employed the drugs as their material agents +or secondary causes. Even when a man was killed in battle, they still +saw in his death the hand of a god, who had actually entered into the +weapon that inflicted the fatal blow.[176] + + [175] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 433, 538 _sqq._ + + [176] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395 _sq._ + +The gods who were thus supposed to afflict human life with sickness and +disease and to bring it to an untimely termination in death were not +always nor perhaps usually the high primaeval deities; often they were +the souls of the dead, who ranked among the domestic divinities +(_oromatuas_). And, like the Maoris,[177] the natives of the Society +Islands are said to have stood in particular fear of the souls of dead +infants, who, angered at their mother for their too early death, took +their revenge by sending sickness on the surviving members of the +family. Hence when a woman was ill-treated by her husband, she would +often threaten to insult the ghost of a dead baby; and this threat, with +the deplorable consequences which it was calculated to entail, seldom +failed to bring the husband to a better frame of mind; or if he happened +to prove recalcitrant, the other members of the family, who might be +involved in the calamity, would intercede and restore peace in the +household. Thus we are told that among these islanders the fear of the +dead supplied in some measure the place of natural affection and +tenderness in softening and humanising the general manners.[178] + + [177] See above, p. 49. + + [178] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 538 _sq._ + +Disease and death were also attributed to the malignant charms of +sorcerers, who, hired by an enemy of the sufferer, procured for the +purpose the clipped hair or the spittle of their intended victim, the +flowers or garment he had worn, or any object which had touched his +person. But the real agents who were thought to give effect to the +charms were the minor deities, whom the sorcerer employed to accomplish +his nefarious ends. For this purpose he put the hair or other personal +refuse of the victim in a bag along with the images and symbols of the +petty divinities, and buried the bag and its contents in a hole which he +had dug in the ground. There he left it until, applying his ear to the +hole, he could hear the soul of the sufferer whimpering down below, +which proved that the charm was taking effect. If the intended victim +got wind of these machinations, it was always in his power to render +them abortive, either by sacrificing to the gods or by sending a present +to the sorcerer, who thus was feed by both sides at the same time.[179] + + [179] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 539-541. Compare W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ i. 363 _sqq._ + +However, most cases of sickness apparently were set down not to the +wiles of sorcerers, but to the displeasure of the deified spirits of the +dead.[180] On this point the evidence of the early missionaries is +explicit. Speaking of the Society Islanders, they say that "they regard +the spirits of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into +_eatooas_ [_atuas_, deities], and their favour to be secured by prayers +and offerings. Every sickness and untoward accident they esteem as the +hand of judgment for some offence committed; and therefore, if they have +injured any person, they send their peace-offering, and make the matter +up: and if sick, send for the priest to offer up prayers and sacrifices +to pacify the offended _eatooa_; giving anything the priests ask, as +being very reluctant to die."[181] "As it is their fixed opinion, that +no disease affects them but as a punishment inflicted by their _eatooa_ +[_atua_] for some offence, and never brought on themselves by +intemperance or imprudence, they trust more to the prayers of their +priests than to any medicine."[182] + + [180] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 543. + + [181] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. + + [182] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 404. + +They imagined that at death the soul (_varua_) was drawn out of the head +by a god or spirit (_atua_) as a sword is drawn out of its scabbard, and +that the spirits of the dead often waited to catch it at the moment when +it issued from the body. Sometimes the dying man would fancy that he saw +the spirits lurking for him at the foot of the bed, and would cry out in +terror, "They are waiting for my spirit. Guard it! Preserve it from +them!"[183] + + [183] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396. + +When the last struggle was over, a priest or diviner (_tahua tutera_) +was called in to ascertain the cause of death. For this purpose he +entered his canoe and paddled slowly along on the sea, near the house in +which the dead body was lying, in order to watch the passage of the +departing spirit; for they thought that it would fly towards him with +the emblem of the cause through which the person had died. If he had +been cursed by the gods, the spirit would appear with a flame, fire +being the agent employed in the incantations of the sorcerers, who had +presumably drawn down the curse upon the deceased. If some enemy had +bribed the gods to kill him, the spirit would come with a red feather, +as a sign that evil spirits had entered into his food. After a short +time the diviner returned to the house, announced the cause of death to +the survivors, and received his fee, the amount of which was regulated +by the circumstances of the family. After that a priest was employed to +perform ceremonies and recite prayers for the purpose of averting +destruction from the surviving members of the family; but the nature of +the ceremonies has not been recorded.[184] + + [184] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 398 _sq._ + +When it was manifest that death was approaching, the relatives and +friends, who had gathered round the sufferer, broke into loud +lamentations and other demonstrations of sorrow, which redoubled in +violence as soon as the spirit had departed. Then they not only wailed +in the loudest and most affecting tone, but tore out their hair, rent +their garments, and cut themselves with shark's teeth or knives in a +shocking manner. The instrument usually employed was a small cane, about +four inches long, with five or six teeth fixed into it on opposite +sides. Struck forcibly into the head, these instruments wounded it like +a lancet, so that the blood poured down in copious streams. Every woman +at marriage provided herself with one of these implements and used it +unsparingly on herself on the occasion of a death in the family. Some +people, not content with this instrument of torture, provided themselves +with a sort of mallet armed with two or three rows of shark's teeth; and +with this formidable weapon, on the demise of a relative or friend, they +hammered themselves unmercifully, striking their skulls, temples, +cheeks, and breast, till the blood flowed profusely from the wounds. At +the same time they uttered the most deafening and agonising cries; and +what with their frantic gestures, the distortion of their countenances, +their torn and dishevelled hair, and the mingled tears and blood that +trickled down their bodies, they presented altogether a horrible +spectacle. This self-inflicted cruelty was practised chiefly by women, +but not by them alone; for the men on these occasions committed the like +enormities, and not only cut themselves, but came armed with clubs and +other deadly weapons, which they sometimes plied freely on the bodies of +other people. These dismal scenes began with the nearest relatives of +the deceased, but they were not confined to them. No sooner did the +tidings spread, and the sound of wailing was heard throughout the +neighbourhood, than friends and kinsfolk flocked to the spot and joined +in the demonstrations of real or affected sorrow. The pageant of woe +reached its climax when the deceased was a king or a principal chief. It +was then, above all, that the tenants and retainers came armed with +bludgeons and stones, with which they fought each other till some of +them were wounded or slain; while others operated on themselves by +tearing their hair and lacerating their bodies in the usual manner till +their bodies were bedabbled with blood. After the introduction of +firearms into the islands, these lethal weapons lent variety and noise +to the combats, as well as adding to the number of the slain. At the +death of a person of distinction these exhibitions of frenzied sorrow +sometimes lasted two or three days in succession, or even longer.[185] +On such occasions a body of armed men, composed of friends and allies, +used to arrive from a neighbouring district and request to be allowed +access to the body of the chief, in order that they might mourn for him +in due form. The request was always refused by the bodyguards, who kept +the last vigil over their departed lord; and in consequence a fight +ensued in which several warriors were generally wounded or killed. Yet +it was only a sham fight, which seems to have always ended in a victory +for the mourners who had come from a distance; and when it was over, +victors and vanquished regularly united in performing the usual +sanguinary rites of mourning. In all the islands wrestling matches, +combats, and assaults-at-arms were ordinary features of the obsequies of +chiefs.[186] + + [185] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 407-409; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ p. 352; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 546 _sq._ + + [186] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 551 _sq._ + +The blood which women in the paroxysms of grief drew from their bodies, +and the tears which flowed from their eyes, were received on pieces of +cloth, which were then thrown upon or under the bier as oblations to the +dead.[187] Sometimes for this purpose a woman would wear a short apron, +which she held up with one hand, while she cut herself with the other, +till the apron was soaked in blood. Afterwards she would dry it in the +sun and present it to the bereaved family, who kept it as a token of the +estimation in which the departed had been held.[188] Some of the younger +mourners used also to cut off their hair and throw it under the bier +with the other offerings.[189] When the deceased was a child, the +parents, in addition to other tokens of grief, used to cut their hair +short on one part of their heads, leaving the rest long; sometimes they +shaved a square patch on the forehead; sometimes they left the hair on +the forehead and cut off all the rest; at other times they removed all +the hair but a lock over one or both ears; or again they would clip +close one half of the head, while on the other half the tresses were +suffered to grow long; and these signs of mourning might be continued +for two or three years.[190] + + [187] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 135, 218; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560. + + [188] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410. + + [189] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218; J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560. + + [190] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 352 _sq._ + +Captain Cook tells us that the custom observed by mourners of offering +their own blood, tears, and hair to their departed relative or friend +"is founded upon a notion that the soul of the deceased, which they +believe to exist in a separate state, is hovering about the place where +the body is deposited: that it observes the actions of the survivors, +and is gratified by such testimonies of their affection and grief."[191] +This explanation, in perfect harmony with the vigilance, vanity, and +jealousy commonly ascribed to ghosts, is in all probability correct. Yet +it deserves to be noticed that the custom of voluntarily hacking the +body with shark's teeth to the effusion of blood was singularly enough +practised by the Society Islanders on occasions of joy as well as of +sorrow. When a husband or a son returned to his family after a season of +absence or exposure to danger, his arrival was greeted, not only with +the cordial welcome and the warm embrace, but with loud wailing, while +the happy wife or mother cut her body with shark's teeth, and the +gladder she was the more she gashed herself.[192] Similarly many savage +peoples weep over long-absent friends, or even over strangers, as a +polite form of greeting in which genuine sorrow can hardly be supposed +to play a part.[193] It is difficult to see how such observances can be +based on superstition; apparently the emotion of joy may express itself +in very different ways in different races. + + [191] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218 _sq._ + + [192] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 196, 362. + + [193] See _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, ii. 82 _sqq._ + +The natives stood in great fear of the spirits of the dead, which were +supposed to haunt the places of their former abode and to visit the +habitations of men, but seldom on errands of mercy or benevolence. They +woke the survivors from their slumbers by squeaking noises to upbraid +them with their past wickedness or to reproach them with the neglect of +some ceremony, for which the ghosts were compelled to suffer. Thus the +people imagined that they lived in a world of spirits, which surrounded +them night and day, watching every action of their lives and ready to +revenge the smallest slight or the least disobedience to their +injunctions, as these were proclaimed to the living by the priests. +Convulsions and hysterics, for example, were ascribed to the action of +spirits, which seized the sufferer, scratched his face, tore his hair, +or otherwise maltreated him.[194] + + [194] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 406. + +This fear of the spirits of the dead induced the Society Islanders to +resort to some peculiar ceremonies for the protection of the living +against the ghosts of persons who had recently died. One of these quaint +rites was performed by a priest, who went by the name of the +"corpse-praying priest" (_tahua bure tiapa-pau_). When the corpse had +been placed on a platform or bier in a temporary house, this priest +ordered a hole to be dug in the earth or floor, near the foot of the +platform, and over this hole he prayed to the god by whom the spirit of +the deceased had been summoned to its long home. The purport of the +prayer was that all the dead man's sins, and especially that for which +his soul had been called to the region of Night (_po_), should be +deposited in that hole, that they should not attach in any degree to the +survivors, and that the anger of the god might be appeased. The priest +next addressed the corpse, usually saying, "With you let the guilt now +remain." The pillar or post of the corpse, as it was called, was then +planted in the hole, earth was thrown over the guilt of the departed, +and the hole filled up. After that, the priest proceeded to the side of +the corpse, and taking some small slips of plantain leaf-stalk he fixed +two or three of them under each arm, placed a few on the breast, and +then, addressing the dead body, said, "There are your family, there is +your child, there is your wife, there is your father, and there is your +mother. Be satisfied yonder (that is, in the world of spirits). Look not +towards those who are left in this world." The concluding parts of the +ceremony were designed to impart contentment to the deceased, and to +prevent his spirit from repairing to the places of his former resort, +and so distressing the survivors. This was considered a most important +ceremony, being a kind of mass for the dead and necessary as well for +the peace of the living as for the quiet of the departed. It was seldom +omitted by any who could pay the priest his usual fees, which for this +service generally took the form of pigs and cloth, in proportion to the +rank or possessions of the family.[195] + + [195] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 401-403. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 552. + +Soon after the decease of a chief or person of distinction, another +singular ceremony, called a _heva_, was performed by the relatives or +dependants, who personated the ghost of the departed. The principal +actor in the procession was a priest or kinsman who wore a curious dress +and an imposing head-ornament called a _parae_. A cap or turban of thick +native cloth was fitted close to the head; in front were two broad +mother-of-pearl shells that covered the face like a mask, with only a +small aperture through which the wearer could look in order to find his +way. Above the mask were fixed a number of long, white, red-tipped +feathers of the tropic bird, diverging like rays and forming a radiant +circle; while beneath the mask was a thin yet strong board curved like a +crescent, from which hung a sort of network of small pieces of brilliant +mother-of-pearl, finely polished and strung together on threads. The +depth of this network varied according to the taste or means of the +family, but it was generally nine inches or a foot, and might consist of +ten to fifteen or twenty perfectly straight and parallel rows. The +labour of making this mother-of-pearl pendant must have been immense; +for many hundred pieces of the shell had to be cut, ground down to the +requisite thinness, polished and perforated, without the use of iron +tools, before a single line could be fixed upon the head-dress. Fringed +with feathers, the pendant formed a kind of ornamental breastplate or +stomacher. Attached to it was a garment composed of alternate stripes of +black and yellow cloth, which enveloped the body and reached sometimes +to the loins, to the knees, or even to the ankles.[196] On his back the +masker wore an ample cloak or mantle of network covered with glossy +pigeon's feathers of a bluish colour. The costume appears to have been +intended as a disguise to prevent the spectators from recognising the +wearer; for George Forster, who has given us an elaborate description of +it, observes that "an ample hood of alternate parallel stripes of brown, +yellow, and white cloth descends from the turban to cover the neck and +shoulders, in order that as little as possible of the human figure may +appear."[197] + + [196] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 412 _sq._ Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, i. 135 _sq._, 138, 219; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 547-549. + + [197] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 74. For the full + description of the garb, see _id._, ii. 71-75; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. + 450-453. + +In this strange garb the chief mummer, who was usually the nearest +relation of the deceased, carried in one hand a formidable weapon, +consisting of a staff about five feet long, one end of which was rounded +to serve as a handle, while the other end broadened out into a sort of +scythe, of which the inner or concave side was armed with a row of large +strong shark's teeth fixed in the wood. In the other hand he bore a kind +of clapper formed of two pearl-oyster shells, beautifully polished. Thus +attired and equipped, he led a procession either from the house of the +deceased, or, according to another account, from a valley to which, as +if under a paroxysm of grief, the party had retired at the death of the +person for whom the ceremony was performed; and as he walked along he +continued to rattle or jingle the shells against each other to give +notice of his approach. With him walked a number of men and boys, naked +except for a girdle, armed with cudgels, their faces and bodies painted +black, red, and white with charcoal and coloured earths. In this +impressive style the mummers marched through the district, the people +everywhere fleeing in terror at the sight of them, and even deserting +the houses at their approach. For whenever the leader caught sight of +any one, he ran at him, and if he overtook the fugitive, belaboured him +with his sharp-toothed club, to the grievous mauling of the unfortunate +wretch; while, not to be behind their leader, the assistants plied their +bludgeons on the bodies of all and sundry who chanced to fall into their +hands. At such times safety was only to be found in the king's temple, +which served on this as on other occasions as a sort of sanctuary or +place of refuge. Having thus scoured the country, the mummers marched +several times round the platform where the body was exposed, after which +they bathed in a river and resumed their customary apparel. This +performance was repeated at intervals for five moons, but less and less +frequently as the end of the time approached. The longer it lasted, the +greater was the honour supposed to be done to the dead. The relatives +took it in turn to assume the fantastic dress and discharge the office +of leader. Throughout the ceremonies the performers appeared and acted +as if they were deranged. They were supposed to be inspired by, or at +all events to represent, the spirit of the deceased, to revenge any +injury he might have received, or to punish those who had not shown due +respect to his remains.[198] Hence we may infer that the whole of this +quaint masquerade was designed to appease the anger of the ghost, and so +to protect the survivors by preventing him from returning to take +vengeance on them for any wrongs or slights he might have suffered at +their hands. + + [198] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 138 _sq._, 219; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 560 + _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 413 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 549 _sq._ According to Ellis, the mummers were supposed + to be inspired by the spirit of the deceased; according to + Moerenhout, they were not inspired by, but merely represented, + the ghost. The difference between spiritual representation and + inspiration is somewhat fine; too fine perhaps to be apprehended + by Tahitian intelligence. Forster says that the procession + started from the house of the deceased, Ellis that it started + from a valley. + +The same fear of the returning ghost is clearly expressed in a prayer +which the natives used to address to a dead relative at burial. They put +blossoms of bread-fruit and leaves of the edible fern under the arms of +the corpse, and as they did so, they prayed, saying, "You go to the Po +[Night, the World of Shades], plant bread-fruit there, and be food for +the gods; but do not come and strangle us, and we will feed your swine +and cultivate your lands."[199] + + [199] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 322. + + +§ 8. _The Disposal of the Dead_ + +The heat of the climate, by hastening the decomposition of dead bodies, +rendered it necessary that corpses should be speedily removed or treated +so as to preserve them for a time from decay. As such treatment was +generally too costly for the poor and even the middle ranks of society, +families belonging to these classes were usually obliged to inter their +dead on the first or second day after the decease. During the short +intervening period the body, resting on a bed of fragrant green leaves, +was placed on a sort of bier covered with white cloth and decorated with +wreaths and garlands of sweet-smelling flowers. Round it sat the +relatives, giving vent to their grief in loud and continued +lamentations, and often cutting their temples, faces, and breasts with +shark's teeth, till they were covered with blood from their +self-inflicted wounds. The bodies were frequently committed to the grave +in deep silence; but sometimes a father would deliver a pathetic oration +at the funeral of his son.[200] The grave was generally shallow and the +corpse was deposited in a bent posture, with the hands tied to the knees +or to the legs.[201] + + [200] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 399 _sq._ + + [201] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 553 _sq._ + +But in the families of chiefs the custom was to submit the bodies of the +dead to a sort of embalming and to preserve them above ground for a +time.[202] The Tahitians had a tradition of a rude or unpolished period +in their history, when the bodies of the dead were allowed to remain in +the houses in which they lived, and which were still occupied by the +survivors. A kind of stage or altar was erected in the dwelling, and on +it the corpse was deposited. But in a later and more polished age, which +lasted till the advent of Europeans, the practice was introduced of +building separate houses or sheds for the lodgment of corpses.[203] + + [202] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400. + + [203] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404. + +These houses or sheds (_tupapows_) were small temporary buildings, often +neatly constructed. The thatched roof rested on wooden pillars, which +were seldom more than six feet high. The body was laid on a bier or +platform raised on posts about three feet from the ground. This bier was +movable, for the purpose of being drawn out, and of exposing the body to +the rays of the sun. The body was usually clothed or covered with cloth, +and for a long time it was carefully rubbed with aromatic oils once a +day. The size of these charnel-houses varied with the rank of the +persons whose bodies they contained; the better sort were enclosed by +railings. Those which were allotted to people of the lower class just +sufficed to cover the bier, and were not railed in. The largest seen by +Captain Cook was eleven yards long. Such houses were ornamented +according to the taste and abilities of the surviving kindred, who never +failed to lay a profusion of good cloth about the body, and sometimes +almost covered the outside of the house.[204] + + [204] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135, 217, 218; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 84, 212 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404; J. A. + Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 547. + +But before the corpse was deposited in one of these temporary +structures, it was shrouded in cloth and carried on a bier to the +sea-shore, where it was set down on the beach at the water's edge. There +a priest, who accompanied the procession, renewed the prayers which he +had offered over the body both at the house and on its passage to the +shore. Further, he took up water in his hands and sprinkled it towards +the corpse, but not upon it. These prayers and sprinklings he repeated +several times, and between the repetitions the body was carried back +some forty or fifty yards from the sea, only to be brought back again to +the water's edge. While these ceremonies were being performed, the +temporary house or shed was being prepared, in which the corpse was to +remain until the flesh had wholly wasted from the bones. Thither it was +then carried from the beach and laid upon the bier.[205] + + [205] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 217 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 559. + +The practice of embalming appears to have been long familiar to the +natives of the Society Islands. The methods employed by them were +simple. Sometimes the juices were merely squeezed out of the corpse, +which was then exposed to the sun and anointed with fragrant oils. At +other times, and apparently more usually, the bowels, entrails, and +brains were extracted, and the cavities filled with cloth soaked in +perfumed oils, which were also injected into other parts of the body. +Scented oils were also rubbed over the outside daily: every day the +corpse was exposed to the sun in a sitting posture: every night it was +laid out horizontally and often turned over, that it might not remain +long on the same side. By these means, combined with the heat of the sun +and the dryness of the atmosphere, the process of desiccation was +effected in the course of a few weeks: the muscular parts and the eyes +shrivelled up; and the wizened body resembled a skeleton covered with +parchment or oilcloth. Thus reduced to a mummy, it was clothed and fixed +in a sitting attitude: a small altar was erected before it; and +offerings of fruit, food, and flowers were daily presented by the +relatives or by the priest who was appointed to attend to it. For if the +deceased was a chief of high rank or great renown, a priest or other +person was set apart to wait upon the corpse and to present food to its +mouth at different hours of the day. They supposed that the soul still +hovered over the mouldering remains and was pleased by such marks of +attention. Hence during the exposure of the body in the temporary house +the mourners would sometimes renew their lamentations there, and, +wounding themselves with shark's teeth, wipe off the blood on a cloth, +and deposit the bloody rag beside the mummy as a proof of their +affection. In this state the desiccated body was preserved for many +months till the flesh had completely decayed; Ellis was of opinion that +the best-preserved of these mummies could not be kept for more than +twelve months. The bones were then scraped, washed, and buried within +the precincts of the family temple (_morai_), if the deceased was a +chief; but if he was a commoner, they were interred outside of the holy +ground. However, the skull was not buried with the bones; it was +carefully wrapt in fine cloth and kept in a box by the family, it might +be for several generations. Sometimes the box containing the skull was +deposited at the temple, but often it was hung from the roof of the +house.[206] At marriage the skulls of ancestors were sometimes brought +out and set before the bride and bridegroom in order, apparently, to +place the newly wedded pair under the guardianship of the ancestral +spirits who had once animated these relics of mortality.[207] In time of +war victorious enemies would sometimes despoil the temples of the +vanquished and carry off the bones of famous men interred in them; these +they would then subject to the utmost indignity by converting them into +chisels, borers, or fish-hooks. To prevent this sacrilege the relations +of the dead conveyed the bones of their chiefs, and even the bodies of +persons who had lately died, to the mountains and hid them in caverns +among the most inaccessible rocks and lofty precipices of these wild +solitudes.[208] Where the mountains advance to the coast, many of these +caves exist in the face of cliffs overhanging the sea; for the most part +they are situated in places which Europeans can reach only with the help +of ropes and ladders, though the natives, it is said, can clamber up the +steepest crags with ease. Few even of the islanders know the situation +of the caverns, and fewer still will consent to act as guides to the +curious stranger who may wish to explore their recesses; for the fear of +the ghosts, who are supposed to haunt these ancient depositories of the +dead, is yet deeply rooted in the native mind. Moreover, the mouths of +the caves are generally so low and overgrown with shrubs and creepers +that they may easily be overlooked by an observer standing in front of +them. Some of the grottos are said to be still full of skulls, or were +so down to the end of the nineteenth century.[209] The mummies as well +as the bones were liable to be captured by an invader, and were esteemed +trophies not less glorious than foemen slain in battle. Hence during an +invasion the mummies were generally the first things to be carried off +for safety to the mountains.[210] + + [206] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135 _sq._, 218, 219, vi. + 47 _sq._; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage + round the World_, pp. 561 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 212 + _sq._, 363 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400 _sq._, 404 _sq._, + 405 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 554. + + [207] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 272, who observes that the + survivors "considered the spirits of the proprietors of these + skulls as the guardian spirits of the family." + + [208] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405. + + [209] A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 37 + _sq._, 81 _sq._, 83. + + [210] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + +A dangerous pollution was supposed to be contracted by all who had +handled a corpse. Hence the persons employed in embalming a body were +carefully shunned by every one else so long as the process lasted, +because the guilt of the crime for which the deceased had died was +supposed to attach in some degree to such as touched his mortal remains. +The embalmers did not feed themselves, lest the food, defiled by the +touch of their polluted hands, should cause their death; so they were +fed by others.[211] This state of uncleanness lasted for a month, during +which the tabooed persons were forbidden to handle food as well as to +put it into their own mouths.[212] + + [211] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403. + + [212] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 363. + +Again, when the ceremony of depositing the sins of the deceased in a +hole[213] was over, all who had touched the body or the garments of the +deceased, which were buried or destroyed, fled precipitately into the +sea to cleanse themselves from the pollution which they had incurred by +contact with the corpse; and they cast into the sea the garments they +had worn while they were engaged in the work. Having bathed, they +gathered a few pieces of coral from the bottom of the sea, and returning +with them to the house, addressed the dead body, saying, "With you may +the pollution be." With these words they threw down the pieces of coral +on the top of the hole that had been dug to receive all the objects +defiled by their connexion with the deceased.[214] + + [213] See above, p. 305. + + [214] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403. + +When a person had died of an infectious disorder, the priests entreated +him to bury the disease with him in the grave and not to inflict it upon +other people, when he revisited them as a ghost. They also threw a +plantain into the grave, and either buried with him or burned all his +utensils, that nobody might be infected by them.[215] + + [215] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + + +§ 9. _The Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The natives of the Society Islands believed in the immortality of the +human soul, or at all events in its separate existence after death[216]; +they thought that no person perishes or becomes extinct.[217] On its +departure from the body the spirit, now called a _tee_, _teehee_, or +_tii_, was supposed to linger near its old habitation, whether the +mouldering remains exposed on the bier, or the bones buried in the +earth, or the skull kept in its box. In this state the spirits were +believed to lodge in small wooden images, seldom more than eighteen +inches high, which were placed round about the burial-ground.[218] These +images are variously said to have borne the same name (_tee_, _teehee_) +as the spirits which inhabited them,[219] or to have been called by a +different name (_unus_)[220]. Specimens of these images were seen by +George Forster in Tahiti. He says that round about the _marai_ (_morai_) +of Aheatua, at that time King of Tiarroboo, "were placed +perpendicularly, or nearly so, fifteen slender pieces of wood, some +about eighteen feet long, in which six or eight diminutive human figures +of a rude unnatural shape were carved, standing above each other, male +or female promiscuously, yet so that the uppermost was always a male. +All these figures faced the sea, and perfectly resembled some which are +carved on the sterns of their canoes, and which they call _e-tee_."[221] +To the same effect George Forster's father, J. R. Forster, observes that +"near the _marais_ are twenty or thirty single pieces of wood fixed into +the ground, carved all over on one side with figures about eighteen +inches long, rudely representing a man and a woman alternately, so that +often more than fifteen or twenty figures may be counted on one piece of +wood, called by them _Teehee_."[222] But the souls of the dead, though +they inhabited chiefly the wooden figures erected at the temples or +burial-grounds (_marais_, _morais_), were by no means confined to them, +and were dreaded by the natives, who believed that during the night +these unquiet spirits crept into people's houses and ate the heart and +entrails of the sleepers, thus causing their death.[223] + + [216] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 222, vi. 150. + + [217] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. + + [218] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, pp. 552, 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, + ii. 151 _sq._ + + [219] J. R. Forster and G. Forster, _ll.cc._ + + [220] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 348, "the _unus_, or + curiously carved pieces of wood marking the sacred places of + interment, and emblematical of _tiis_ or spirits." + + [221] G. Forster, _op. cit._ i. 267. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 461, "_Les images des Tiis étaient placées aux + extrémités des marais et gardaient l'enceinte des terres + sacrées_." + + [222] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 544 _sq._ In the southern + peninsula of Tahiti, both on the coast and inland, Captain Cook + saw many sepulchral buildings, and he described them as + "decorated with many carved boards, which were set upright, and + on the top of which were various figures of birds and men: on + one in particular there was the representation of a cock, which + was painted red and yellow, to imitate the feathers of that + animal, and rude images of men were, in some of them, placed one + upon the head of another." See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 150 _sq._ + These "carved boards" were no doubt of the same sort as the + _tees_ or _teehees_ described by the two Forsters. No other + writer seems to mention the figures of birds carved on them. + + [223] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ p. 543. + +However, the Society Islanders appear to have been by no means +consistent in the views which they held concerning the fate of the soul +after death. Like many other people, they seem to have wavered between a +belief that the souls of the dead lingered invisible near their old +homes and the belief that the disembodied spirits went away to a distant +land, where all human souls, which have departed this life, met and +dwelt together. Or perhaps it might be more correct to say, that instead +of wavering between these two inconsistent beliefs, they held them both +firmly without perceiving their inconsistency. At all events these +islanders believed that either at death or at some time after it their +souls departed to a distant place called _po_ or Night, the common abode +of gods and of departed spirits.[224] Thither the soul was conducted by +other spirits, and on its arrival it was eaten by the gods, not all at +once, but by degrees. They imagined that the souls of ancestors or +relatives, who ranked among the gods, scraped the different parts of the +newly arrived spirit with a kind of serrated shell at different times, +after which they ate and digested it. If the soul underwent this process +of being eaten and digested three separate times, it became a deified or +imperishable spirit and might visit the world and inspire living +folk.[225] According to one account, the soul was cooked whole in an +earth-oven, as pigs are baked on earth, and was then placed in a basket +of coco-nut leaves before being served up to the god whom the deceased +had worshipped in life. "By this cannibal divinity he was now eaten up; +after which, through some inexplicable process, the dead and devoured +man emanated from the body of the god, and became immortal."[226] In the +island of Raiatea the great god Oro was supposed to use a scallop-shell +"to scrape the flesh from the bones of newly deceased bodies, previous +to their being converted into pure spirits by being devoured by him, and +afterwards transformed by passing through the laboratory of his cannibal +stomach."[227] This process of being devoured by a god was not conceived +of as a punishment inflicted on wicked people after death; for good and +bad souls had alike to submit to it. Rather, Captain Cook tells us, the +natives considered "this coalition with the deity as a kind of +purification necessary to be undergone before they enter a state of +bliss. For, according to their doctrine, if a man refrain from all +connexion with women some months before death, he passes immediately +into his eternal mansion, without such a previous union; as if already, +by this abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from the general +lot."[228] A slightly different account of this process of spiritual +purification is given by the first missionaries to Tahiti. They say that +"when the spirit departs from the body, they have a notion it is +swallowed by the _eat[=o]oa_ (_atua_) bird, who frequents their +burying-places and _morais_, and passes through him in order to be +purified, and be united to the deity. And such are afterwards employed +by him to attend other human beings and to inflict punishment, or remove +sickness, as shall be deemed requisite."[229] + + [224] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ + p. 346; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431; D. Tyerman and G. + Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 330. + + [225] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 433. + + [226] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 273; compare _ib._ pp. 330 _sq._ + + [227] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 521 _sq._ + + [228] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150. + + [229] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 345 _sq._ + +In spite of the purification which the souls of the dead underwent by +passing through the body of a god or of a divine bird, they were +believed to be not wholly divested of the passions which had actuated +them in life on earth. If the souls of former enemies met in the world +beyond the grave, they renewed their battles, but apparently to no +purpose, since they were accounted invulnerable in this invisible state. +Again, when the soul of a dead wife arrived in the spirit land, it was +known to the soul of her dead husband, if he had gone before, and the +two renewed their acquaintance in a spacious house, called _tourooa_, +where the souls of the deceased assembled to recreate themselves with +the gods. After that the pair retired to the separate abode of the +husband, where they remained for ever and had offspring, which, however, +was entirely spiritual; for they were neither married nor were their +embraces supposed to be like those of corporeal beings.[230] + + [230] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150 _sq._ + +In general the situation of _po_ or the land of the dead seems to have +been left vague and indefinite by the Society Islanders; apparently they +did not, like the Western Polynesians, imagine it to be in some far +western isle, to reach which the souls of the departed had to cross a +wide expanse of sea.[231] However, the natives of Raiatea had very +definite ideas on this mysterious subject. They thought that _po_ was +situated in a mysterious and unexplored cavern at the top of the highest +mountain in the island. This cavern, perhaps the crater of a volcano, +was said to communicate, by subterranean passages, with a cave on the +coast, the opening of which is so small that a child of two years could +hardly creep into it. Here an evil spirit (_varu iino_) was said to lurk +and, pouncing out on careless passers-by, to drag them into the darkest +recesses of his den and devour them. After the conversion of the natives +to Christianity the missionaries were shown the spot. Near it were the +ruins of a temple of the war god, where multitudes of the corpses of +warriors slain in battle had been either buried or left to rot on the +ground. The missionaries saw many mouldering fragments of skeletons. Not +far off a cape jutted into the sea, up the lofty and precipitous face of +which the souls of the dead were said to climb on their way to their +long home in the cavern at the top of the mountain. A native informant +assured the missionaries that he had often seen them scaling the dizzy +crag, both men and women.[232] + + [231] See above, pp. 87 _sq._, 214 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._ + + [232] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 537 _sq._ + +In the island of Borabora the fate even of kings after death was +believed to be a melancholy one. Their souls were converted into a piece +of furniture resembling an English hat-stand; only in Borabora the +corresponding utensil was the branch of a tree with the lateral forks +cut short, on which bonnets, garments, baskets, and so forth were +suspended. The natives very naturally concluded that in the other world +a similar stand was wanted for the convenience of the ghosts, to hang +their hats and coats on. Kings who shrank from the prospect of being +converted into a hat-stand after death made interest with the priest to +save them from such a degradation. So when a king who had been great and +powerful in life saw his end approaching, he would send to the priests +the most costly presents, such as four or five of the largest and +fattest hogs, as many of the best canoes, and any rare and valuable +European article which he happened to possess. In return the priests +prayed for him daily at the temples till he died; and afterwards his +dead body was brought to one of these sacred edifices and kept upright +there for several days and nights, during which yet larger gifts were +sent by his relatives, and the most expensive sacrifices offered to the +idols. The decaying corpse was then removed, placed on a canoe, and +rowed out on the lagoon as far as an opening in the reef, only to be +brought back again in like manner; while all the time the priests +recited their prayers and performed their lugubrious ceremonies +over it on the water as well as on the land. Finally, the mouldering +remains were laid out to rot on a platform in one of the usual +charnel-houses.[233] + + [233] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._ + +Conversion into a hat-stand was not, perhaps, the worst that could +happen to the soul of a Society Islander after death. In the island of +Raiatea there is a lake surrounded by trees, the tops of which appear +curiously flat. On this verdant platform the spirits of the newly +departed were said to dance and feast together until, at a subsequent +stage of their existence, they were converted into cockroaches.[234] The +souls of infants killed at birth were supposed to return in the bodies +of grasshoppers.[235] + + [234] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 522. + + [235] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 455. + +But the Society Islanders were far from thinking that the souls of the +dead herded together indiscriminately in the other world. They imagined +that the spirits were discriminated and assigned to abodes of different +degrees of happiness or misery, not according to their virtues or vices +in this life, but according to the rank which they had occupied in +society, one receptacle of superior attractions being occupied by the +souls of chiefs and other principal people, while another of an inferior +sort sufficed to lodge the souls of the lower orders. For they did not +suppose that their good or bad actions in this life affected in the +least their lot in the life hereafter, or that the deities took account +of any such distinction. Thus their religion exerted no influence on +their morality.[236] Happiness and misery in the world beyond the +grave, we are told, "were the destiny of individuals, altogether +irrespective of their moral character and virtuous conduct. The only +crimes that were visited by the displeasure of their deities were the +neglect of some rite or ceremony, or the failing to furnish required +offerings."[237] + + [236] J. Cook, i. 222. Compare _id._, vi. 150; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made on a Voyage round the World_, pp. 553 _sqq._ + + [237] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 397. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 433. + +The Society Islanders, especially the natives of the Leeward Islands, +believed that some of the souls of the dead were destined to enjoy a +kind of heaven or paradise, which they called _Rohutu noanoa_, +"sweet-scented Rohutu." This blissful region was supposed to be near a +lofty and stupendous mountain in the island of Raiatea, not far from the +harbour Hamaniino. The mountain went by the name of _Temehani unauna_, +"splendid or glorious Temehani." It was probably the same with the lofty +mountain on whose summit popular fancy placed the _po_ or common abode +of the dead.[238] But the paradise was invisible to mortal eyes, being +situated in the regions of the air (_reva_). The country was described +as most lovely and enchanting in appearance, adorned with flowers of +every shape and hue, and perfumed with odours of every fragrance. The +air was pure and salubrious. Every sort of delight was to be enjoyed +there; while rich viands and delicious fruits were supplied in abundance +for the celebration of sumptuous festivals. Handsome youths and women +thronged the place. But these honours and pleasures were only for the +privileged orders--the chiefs and the members of the society of the +Areois--for only they could afford to pay the heavy charges which the +priests exacted for a passport to paradise; common folk seldom or never +dreamed of attempting to procure for their relatives admission to the +abode of bliss. Even apart from the expense of getting to heaven, it is +probable that the sharp distinction kept up between chiefs and commoners +here on earth would be expected to be maintained hereafter, and to +exclude every person of the humbler sort from the society of his betters +in the future life.[239] The other less exclusive, and no doubt less +expensive, place for departed spirits, in contrast to "sweet-scented +Rohutu," went by the significant name of "foul-scented Rohutu"; but over +the nature of the substances which earned for it this unsavoury +appellation our missionary authority preferred to draw a veil.[240] + + [238] See above, p. 317. + + [239] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._ + + [240] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, p. 476. + +According to one account, the souls of the dead were supposed to gather +in the sun, where they feasted with the god Maouwe or O-Mauwee (Maui) on +bread-fruit and the flesh of pigs or dogs, and drank never-ending +draughts of kava.[241] + + [241] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, p. 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. + 151. + +But wherever the souls of the dead were imagined to dwell, we may infer +that they were credited with the power of returning to earth for a +longer or shorter time to benefit or injure the living. For we have seen +that sickness and death were commonly ascribed to the action of these +spirits,[242] which seems to imply that they revisited this sublunary +world on their errands of mischief. Accordingly, whenever the natives +approached by night one of the charnel-houses in which dead bodies were +exposed, they were startled "in the same manner that many of our +ignorant and superstitious people are with the apprehension of ghosts, +and at the sight of a churchyard." Again, the souls of the departed were +sometimes thought to communicate with their friends in dreams and to +announce to them things that should afterwards come to pass, thus +enabling the dreamer to foretell the future. Foreknowledge thus +acquired, however, was confined to particular persons, and such favoured +dreamers enjoyed a reputation little inferior to that of the inspired +priests. One of them prophesied to Captain Cook on the strength of a +communication vouchsafed to him by the soul of his deceased father in a +dream; but the event proved that the ghost was out in his reckoning by +five days.[243] + + [242] See above, pp. 299 _sqq._ + + [243] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 152. + +The fear of ghosts in the minds of the Society Islanders has long +survived their conversion to Christianity; indeed, we are informed that +it is as rampant as ever. No ordinary native would dare to visit one of +the lonely caves where the mouldering bones or skulls of his forefathers +were deposited for safety in days of old.[244] At one point on the +western coast of Tahiti, where the mountains advance in precipices close +to the sea, the road which skirts their base is a place of fear to the +natives. For in these precipices are caves full of skulls, and the +ghosts who reside in the caverns are reported sometimes to weary of +their own society and to come down to the road for company, where in a +sportive vein they play all sorts of tricks on passers-by. Not so long +ago three Tahitians were riding home at dusk from Papeete, where they +had been drinking rum. Just at the pass under the cliff they were +surprised by ghosts, who threw them into the ditch at the side of the +road. So great is the dread which the natives entertain of apparitions +at this spot that the Government has been compelled to divert the road, +so that it no longer skirts the foot of the haunted mountain, but gives +it a wide berth, and runs in a long sweep by the edge of the sea.[245] + + [244] A. Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_, p. 37. + + [245] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 83 _sq._ + +Again, at another point on the west coast of Tahiti, where mighty +mountains, a glorious sea, and little coral islands with their groves of +palms, offer a view of enchanting beauty, there is said to be a cave +containing the skulls of chiefs in a jutting cliff half-way up the +mountain. The cave was in charge of an old man in whose family the +office of guardian was hereditary. It had been entrusted to him by his +father on his deathbed, and the son had kept the secret faithfully ever +since. In vain did a traveller seek to persuade the old man to guide him +to the cave; in vain did the chief himself beg of him to reveal the +grotto which concealed the mouldering relics of his forefathers. The +guardian was obdurate; he believed that the world was not wide enough to +hold two men who knew the holy place. He assured the traveller that +nobody could reach the cave without the help of the ghosts, so +perpendicular and so smooth was the face of the cliff that led up to it. +When he himself wished to make his way to it, his custom was to go to +the foot of the crag and pray, till the spirits came and wafted him +lightly up and down again; otherwise it would have been a sheer +impossibility for him to ascend and descend.[246] + + [246] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 81 _sq._ + + +§ 10. _The Worship of the Dead_ + +The belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead, and in their +power to help or harm the living, naturally led the Society Islanders, +like so many other peoples of the world, to propitiate these powerful +beings, to sue their favour, or to appease their anger by prayer and +sacrifice, in short, to worship them. On this subject the first +missionaries to these islanders tell us that, in addition to the greater +gods, "for general worship they have an inferior race, a kind of _dii +penates_. Each family has its _tee_ or guardian spirit: he is supposed +to be one of their departed relatives, who, for his superior +excellences, has been exalted into an _eatooa_ (_atua_). They suppose +this spirit can inflict sickness or remove it, and preserve them from a +malignant deity who also bears the name _tee_, and is always employed in +mischief."[247] "Every family has its _tee_, or guardian spirit, whom +they set up, and worship at the _morai_."[248] "They regard the spirits +of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into _eatooas_ (_atuas_) +and their favour to be secured by prayers and offerings. Every sickness +and untoward accident they esteem as the hand of judgment for some +offence committed."[249] As for the mischievous spirit who bore the same +name as the worshipful spirit of a dead ancestor, the missionaries say +that "the evil demon named _Tee_ has no power but upon earth; and this +he exercises by getting into them with their food, and causing madness +or other diseases; but these they imagine their tutelar saints, if +propitious, can prevent or remove."[250] + + [247] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 344. + + [248] T. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343. + + [249] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. "The general name for deity, + in all its ramifications, is _eatooa_" (_id._ p. 343). + + [250] J. Wilson, p. 346. + +We may suspect that the missionaries were mistaken in thus sharply +distinguishing between an "evil demon" and a "tutelar saint," both of +whom went by the same name (_tee_). Probably the "evil demon" and the +"tutelar saint" were alike supposed to be souls of dead persons, with +this difference between them, that whereas the one had been good and +beneficent in his life, the other had been bad and maleficent; for it +is a common belief that the dead retain in the other world the character +and disposition which they manifested on earth, and that accordingly as +disembodied spirits they may benefit or injure their surviving +relatives.[251] Thus according to his character and behaviour in this +present state of existence a person's ghost may naturally develop either +into a god or into a devil. + + [251] In confirmation of my conjecture that the missionaries + mistook a general name (_tee_, otherwise spelled _tii_) for the + name of a particular demon, I may point out that the naturalist + J. R. Forster before them seems to have fallen into precisely + the same mistake with regard to another general name for + departed spirits (_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_). Thus he writes: + "Besides these divinities of the second class, there are others + of a still inferior rank, and though called _Eatooas_, are no + more than what the Greek or Roman mythologists would have called + _Genii_, or _Dii minorum gentium_: one of them, called + _Orometooa_, is of a malignant disposition, resides chiefly near + the _Marais_ and _Toopapous_ (places of burial) and in or near + the boxes, or little chests, including the heads of their + deceased friends, each of which, on that account, is called + _Te-wharre no te Orometooa_, the house of the evil genius + _Orometooa_, The people at Taheitee are of opinion, that if + their priests invoke this evil genius, he will kill, by a sudden + death, the person on whom they intend to bring down the + vengeance of this divinity." See J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 541 _sq._ In this + passage we can hardly doubt that "this evil genius," Orometooa, + is simply the _oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, the spirits of the + dead, by means of whom sorcerers were supposed to injure or + destroy any one at whom they or their employers had a grudge. + See above, p. 299, and below, pp. 323 _sqq._ + +It is to be feared that in the case of Tahitian ghosts the course of +spiritual evolution was rather in the direction of devilry than of +deity. At least this conclusion seems forced on us by the account which +William Ellis, perhaps our best authority on Tahitian religion, gives of +the character of these worshipful beings. I will reproduce it in his own +words. + +"The objects of worship among the Tahitians, next to the _atua_ or gods, +were the _oramatuas tiis_ or spirits. These were supposed to reside in +the _po_, or world of night, and were never invoked but by wizards or +sorcerers, who implored their aid for the destruction of an enemy, or +the injury of some person whom they were hired to destroy. They were +considered a different order of beings from the gods, a kind of +intermediate class between them and the human race, though in their +prayers all the attributes of the gods were ascribed to them. The +_oramatuas_ were the spirits of departed fathers, mothers, brothers, +sisters, children, etc. The natives were greatly afraid of them, and +presented offerings to avoid being cursed or destroyed, when they were +employed by the sorcerers. + +"They seem to have been regarded as a sort of demons. In the Leeward +Islands, the chief _oramatuas_ were spirits of departed warriors, who +had distinguished themselves by ferocity and murder, attributes of +character usually supposed to belong to these evil genii. Each +celebrated _tii_ was honoured with an image, through which it was +supposed his influence was exerted. The spirits of the reigning chiefs +were united to this class, and the skulls of deceased rulers, kept with +the images, were honoured with the same worship. Some idea of what was +regarded as their ruling passion, may be inferred from the fearful +apprehensions constantly entertained by all classes. They were supposed +to be exceedingly irritable and cruel, avenging with death the slightest +insult or neglect, and were kept within the precincts of the temple. In +the _marae_ of Tane at Maeva, the ruins of their abode were still +standing when I last visited the place. It was a house built upon a +number of large strong poles, which raised the floor ten or twelve feet +from the ground. They were thus elevated, to keep them out of the way of +men, as it was imagined they were constantly strangling, or otherwise +destroying, the chiefs and people. To prevent this, they were also +treated with great respect; men were appointed constantly to attend +them, and to keep them wrapped in the choicest kinds of cloth, to take +them out whenever there was a _pae atua_, or general exhibition of the +gods; to anoint them frequently with fragrant oil; and to sleep in the +house with them at night. All this was done, to keep them pacified. And +though the office of calming the angry spirits was honourable, it was +regarded as dangerous, for if, during the night or at any other time, +these keepers were guilty of the least impropriety, it was supposed the +spirits of the images, or the skulls, would hurl them headlong from +their high abodes, and break their necks in the fall."[252] + + [252] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_. i. 334-336. + +The difference in power and dignity between the great national gods +(_atuas_) and the spirits of deceased relations (_oramatuas tiis_) might +be measured by the size of their images; for whereas the images of the +gods were six or eight feet long, those of the spirits were not more +than so many inches.[253] But while these malignant and irritable +spirits--the souls of dead fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and +children--resided generally either in their little images or in their +skulls, they were not strictly confined to these material vehicles; they +resorted occasionally to the shells from the seashore, especially to a +beautiful kind of murex, the _Murex ramoces_. These shells were kept by +the sorcerers, and the peculiar singing or humming sound that may be +heard when the valve is applied to the ear was imagined to proceed from +the demon in the shell.[254] + + [253] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337. + + [254] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363. + +It was these malignant and dangerous demons whom the sorcerer employed +as his agents to execute his fell purposes. But to effect them he had to +secure something connected with the body of his intended victim, it +might be the parings of his nails, a lock of his hair, his spittle or +other bodily secretions, or else a portion of the food which he was +about to eat. Over this material substance, whatever it was, the +sorcerer recited his incantations and performed his magical rites either +in his own house or in his private temple (_marae_). The result was +believed to be that the demon entered into the substance, and through it +passed into the body of the man at whom the enchanter aimed his elfish +darts. The wretched sufferer experienced the acutest agonies; his +distortions were frightful to witness; his eyes seemed starting from his +head; he foamed at the mouth; he lay writhing in anguish on the ground; +in short, to adopt the native expression, he was torn by the evil +spirit. Yet his case was not hopeless; the demon could be mollified by a +bribe, or defeated by the intervention of a more powerful demon. Hence, +when any one was believed to be suffering from the incantations of a +sorcerer, if he or his friends were rich enough they engaged another +sorcerer for a fee to counteract the spells of the first and so to +restore the health of the invalid. It was generally supposed that the +efforts of the second sorcerer would be crowned with success if only the +demon whom he employed were equally powerful with that at the command of +his rival, and if the presents which he received for his professional +services were more valuable. In order to avoid the danger of being thus +bewitched through the refuse of their persons, the Tahitians used +scrupulously to burn or bury their shorn hair, lest it should fall into +the hands of enchanters.[255] + + [255] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363-370. + +It is possible that some even of the great national gods were no more +than ghosts of dead men, whose human origin was forgotten. There is some +reason for supposing that this was true of Hiro, the god of thieves. On +the one hand, this deity was reputed to be the son of the great god +Oro;[256] and when a mother desired her child to grow up a clever thief, +she repaired to a temple, where the priest, on receipt of the requisite +offerings, caught the spirit of the god in a snare and infused it into +the infant, thus ensuring the future proficiency of the infant in the +arts of theft and robbery.[257] Yet, in spite of these claims to +divinity, there are some grounds for thinking that Hiro was himself +originally no better than a thief and a robber. He is said to have been +a native of Raiatea, from whose sacrilegious fingers not even the +temples and altars of the gods were safe. His skull was shown in a large +temple of his own construction in that island down to the early years of +the nineteenth century. His hair, too, was stuffed into the image of his +reputed father, the god Oro, and perished when that image was committed +to the flames by the early converts to Christianity.[258] + + [256] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 112, 125. + + [257] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 466 _sq._ + + [258] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 254 _sq._ As to + Hiro, the god of thieves, see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 447-449. + +Once a year the Society Islanders celebrated a festival accompanied by +rites, of which one has been compared to the Roman Catholic custom of +performing a mass for the benefit of souls in purgatory. The festival +was called "the ripening of the year," and the time for its observance +was determined by the blossoming of reeds. It was regularly observed in +the island of Huahine, and vast multitudes assembled to take part in it. +As a rule, only men engaged in the pagan festivals, but at this +particular one women and children were also present, though they were +not allowed to enter the sacred enclosure. The celebration was regarded +as a kind of annual acknowledgment made to the gods. Prayers were +offered at the temple, and a sumptuous banquet formed part of the +festival. At the close of the festival every one returned to his home, +or to his family temple (_marae_), there to offer special prayers for +the spirits of departed relatives, that they might be liberated from the +_po_, or state of Night, and might either ascend to paradise +("sweet-scented Rohutu") or return to this world by entering into the +body of one of its inhabitants. But "they did not suppose, according to +the generally received doctrine of transmigration, that the spirits who +entered the body of some dweller upon earth, would permanently remain +there, but only come and inspire the person to declare future events, or +execute any other commission from the supernatural beings on whom they +imagined they were constantly dependent."[259] + + [259] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 351 _sq._ Compare + J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 502 note^1, 523. + +Hence we learn that the spirits of the dead as well as the gods were +believed to be capable of inspiring men and revealing to them the +future. In this, as in other respects, the dead were assimilated to +deities. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS + + +§ 1. _The Marquesas Islands_ + +The Marquesas are an archipelago of eleven or twelve chief islands in +the South Pacific, situated about nine hundred miles to the north-east +of Tahiti. They fall into two groups, which together stretch in a +direction from north-west to south-east, from 8° to 11° of South +latitude. The south-eastern group, of which Hivaoa (Dominica) is the +largest island, was discovered by the Spanish Admiral Alvaro Mendana de +Neyra in 1595, but, so far as appears, it was not again visited by +Europeans until 1774, when Captain Cook touched at the islands on his +second voyage. Curiously enough, the north-westerly group, of which +Nukahiva is the largest and most important island, remained unknown +until 1791, when it was discovered by the American Captain Ingraham, who +named the group the Washington Islands. About a month later, in June +1791, the French navigator Marchand visited the same islands, and in +1797 the first missionary, William Crook, was landed from the missionary +ship _Duff_. The whole archipelago is now known as the Marquesas, a name +which the Spanish Admiral Mendana bestowed on the islands discovered by +him in honour of the Marquess de Canete, Viceroy of Peru, by whose order +the voyage had been undertaken.[1] + + [1] Captain J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274 _sqq._; G. Forster, + _Voyage round the World_, ii. 5 _sqq._; C. P. Claret Fleurieu, + _Voyage round the World performed by E. Marchand_ (London, + 1801), i. 27 _sqq._, 55 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to + the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. lxxiii. _sqq._, 127 _sqq._; A. + J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), i. + 136; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Îles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._, 12 _sq._; Le P. Mathias + G----, _Lettres sur les Îles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 7 + _sqq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles + Marquises_ (Paris, 1877), pp. 1 _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die + Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 235 _sq._; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _Australasia_, ii. 522. + +The islands are of volcanic formation, lofty and mountainous. The +interior consists generally of a range of mountains some three thousand +feet high, from which a series of spurs descend steeply to the coast, +terminating for the most part in tremendous cliffs, at the foot of which +the great rollers break in foam; for with a single exception there are +no coral reefs, and a ship can sail in deep water within a cable's +length of the rocks. Viewed at a distance from the sea, the aspect of +the islands is somewhat stern and forbidding. Bare mountains, jagged +peaks, sometimes lost in the clouds, and an iron-bound coast of black +and beetling crags, buffeted eternally by the surf, make up a gloomy +picture; but a nearer view discloses verdant valleys nestling between +the ridges which radiate from the central mountains. These valleys are +watered by mountain streams and clothed with dense tropical vegetation, +their luxuriant green offering an agreeable contrast to the bareness and +aridity of the frowning precipices and sharp peaks which soar above +them. Cascades tumbling from high cliffs into the depths of the glens +add to the beauty and charm of the scenery. So steep and precipitous are +the ridges which divide these smiling vales from each other that the +ascent and descent are in many places both difficult and dangerous even +for the natives; European mountaineers need to have stout limbs and +steady heads to accomplish them in safety. Hence in former days each +valley contained a separate tribe, which was commonly in a state of +permanent hostility towards its neighbours across the mountain +barriers.[2] Of these tribes the most famous were the warlike and +dreaded Taipiis or Typees, who occupied a beautiful valley at the +eastern end of Nukahiva, and in their mountain fastness deemed +themselves inaccessible to their enemies. However, in the early part of +the nineteenth century an American naval officer, Captain David Porter, +succeeded, not without great difficulty, in carrying havoc and +devastation into these sylvan scenes.[3] Later in the century a runaway +American sailor, Hermann Melville, spent more than four months as a +captive in the tribe, and published an agreeable narrative of his +captivity; but never having mastered the language, he was not able to +give much exact information concerning the customs and beliefs of the +natives.[4] As there is no maritime plain interposed between the +mountains and the shore, the only way of passing from one valley to +another is either to go by sea or to clamber over the intervening +ridges. It would be materially impossible, we are told, unless at +enormous and ruinous cost, to make a road or even a mule-path round any +of the Marquesas Islands, as has been done in Tahiti.[5] + + [2] As to the formation and scenery of the islands, see + Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110; C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the + South Seas_ (London, 1832), i. 193 _sqq._; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840), + i. 299 _sqq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 8 _sq._, 17 _sq._, and + _passim_ (_Everyman's Library_); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, + _op. cit._ pp. 84 _sq._; Clavel, _Les Marquisiens_ (Paris, 1885) + pp. 1 _sq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 236 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 522 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue + Südsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 192 _sq._, 220 _sqq._ As to + the extreme difficulty of scaling the mountains and precipices + to pass from one valley to another, see particularly M. + Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 101 _sq._, + note. + + [3] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the + Pacific Ocean_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 86 _sqq._ + + [4] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_, no + date). The first edition of this book was published in 1846. + Melville's residence among the Taipiis (Typees) fell in the year + 1841. + + [5] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 85. + +Despite their situation in the heart of the tropics, the Marquesas enjoy +an extremely healthy climate subject to none of the inconveniences +usually incidental to countries in the same latitude; endemic and +epidemic diseases are alike unknown. European soldiers can work in the +sun without accident and without exhaustion.[6] The climate has been +described as an eternal spring, without winter or even autumn; though a +perpetual succession of ripe fruits may seem to lend an autumnal air to +the landscape, which yet is never chilled by hoar frosts or saddened by +the sight of bare boughs and fallen leaves.[7] Even in the hottest days +a cool wind blows from the sea, and at night there is a breeze from the +land. Rain falls during some months of the year, especially from May or +June to August or September; but on the whole there is little variation +in the seasons;[8] the Marquesan year has been described as one long +tropical month of June just melting into July.[9] Yet we are told that +the northern islands sometimes suffer from droughts which may last for +years; at such times vegetation languishes, till a fresh cloud-burst +restores the verdure of the trees and grass as by magic.[10] It is then, +too, that the cascades everywhere enliven the landscape by the glitter +and roar of their tumbling waters, which, after dropping from the +height, flow rapidly down their steep beds into the sea.[11] + + [6] M. Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 304 + _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. + + [7] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 94. + + [8] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. Compare M. + Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, pp. 304 _sq._ + + [9] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 220. + + [10] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 222 _sq._ + + [11] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 304. + + +§ 2. _Physical Appearance of the Natives_ + +Observers are generally agreed that from the purely physical point of +view the Marquesan islanders are, or used to be, the noblest specimens +of the Polynesian race. Captain Cook remarked that "the inhabitants of +these islands collectively are, without exception, the finest race of +people in this sea. For fine shape and regular features, they perhaps +surpass all other nations."[12] To the same effect the naturalist George +Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, gives his impression of a crowd +of Marquesan men, among whom were no women. He says: "They were tall, +and extremely well limbed; not one of them unwieldy or corpulent like a +Taheitian, nor meagre and shrivelled like a native of Easter Island. The +punctuation" (by which he meant the tattooing) "which almost entirely +covered the men of a middle age, made it difficult to distinguish their +elegance of form; but among the youths, who were not yet marked or +tattooed, it was easy to discover beauties singularly striking, and +often without a blemish, such as demanded the admiration of all +beholders. Many of them might be placed near the famous models of +antiquity, and would not suffer in the comparison: + + "_Qualis aut Nireus fuit, aut aquosa + Raptus ab Ida."_ + HOR. + +"The natural colour of these youths was not quite so dark as that of the +common people in the Society Isles; but the men appeared to be +infinitely blacker, on account of the punctures which covered their +whole body, from head to foot. These punctures were disposed with the +utmost regularity; so that the marks on each leg, arm, and cheek, and on +the corresponding muscles, were exactly similar. They never assumed the +determinate form of an animal or plant, but consisted of a variety of +blotches, spirals, bars, chequers, and lines, which had a most motley +appearance."[13] + + [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 284. + + [13] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 14 _sq._ Compare + Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 152 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage + round the World_ (London, 1814), p. 85; G. H. von Langsdorff, + _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812), i. 92 _sqq._; + Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 96 _sqq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 216 _sqq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. + cit._ p. 39. + +Similarly, speaking of the Taipiis or Typees, Melville observes, "In +beauty of form they surpassed anything I had ever seen. Not a single +instance of natural deformity was observable in all the throng attending +the revels. Occasionally I noticed among the men the scars of wounds +they had received in battle; and sometimes, though very seldom, the loss +of a finger, an eye, or an arm, attributable to the same cause. With +these exceptions, every individual appeared free from those blemishes +which sometimes mar the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their +physical excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from these +evils; nearly every individual of their number might have been taken for +a sculptor's model."[14] As to their stature, the same writer affirms +that "the men, in almost every instance, are of lofty stature, scarcely +ever less than six feet."[15] Similarly Captain Porter tell us that +"they are far above the common stature of the human race, seldom less +than five feet eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three +inches, and every way proportioned. Their faces are remarkably handsome, +with keen, piercing eyes; teeth white, and more beautiful than ivory; +countenances open and expressive, which reflect every emotion of their +souls; limbs which might serve as models for a statuary, and strength +and activity proportioned to their appearance."[16] Another observer +remarks of them that "the natives bear the palm for personal beauty +from most other of the Polynesian tribes. The men are tall and muscular, +though rather slightly framed; their deportment is graceful and +independent; their features are handsome, and partake more of the +European regularity of profile than is usual with Polynesian +islanders."[17] The nose is straight or aquiline, sometimes short or +slightly flattened, but never ill-shaped: the mouth is never large nor +the lips thick: the forehead is rather low and somewhat retreating.[18] +The hair is almost always straight or wavy; men or women with frizzly +hair are very seldom seen, especially in the north-western group. The +colour of the skin, where it is not darkened by tattooing, is a clear +brown, resembling the bronzed appearance acquired by Europeans through +exposure to a tropical sun.[19] The women are both absolutely and +relatively shorter than the men; indeed Melville describes them as +"uncommonly diminutive." Their complexion is lighter; in the parts of +the body which are seldom exposed to the sun they are even said to +appear as white as European women. Their features are good, but rather +pretty than beautiful; their hands and feet are very shapely. Unlike the +men, who are, or used to be, tattooed from head to foot, the women were +tattooed very little, and that chiefly on the lips.[20] They took pains +to whiten their skin by avoiding exposure to the sun and by washing +themselves with the juice of a small native vine,[21] or by smearing +themselves with a cosmetic in which the yellow of the turmeric root +predominated.[22] + + [14] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 194. + + [15] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 195. + + [16] David Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 58 _sq._ + + [17] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 304. + + [18] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 169. + + [19] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 39. + + [20] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 39 _sq._; H. Melville, + _Typee_, p. 195. + + [21] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, i. 231 _sq._, who + speaks highly of the beauty of the women. But the general + opinion appears to be that the Marquesan women are much less + handsome than the men. See Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 94-96; + Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 59. + + [22] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 308 _sq._ + + +§ 3. _Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing_ + +The Marquesans subsist chiefly on a vegetable diet. Their staple food is +the bread-fruit, and their national dish is a paste called _popoi_, +which is prepared from bread-fruit after it has been subjected to a +process of fermentation. Fish is also a common article of diet; the +natives usually eat it raw, even when it is rotten and stinking. They +keep pigs, but seldom kill them except for a festival or at the +reception of a stranger. Hence pork is not a regular or common article +of diet with them; and apart from it they hardly taste flesh. Other +sorts of food, such as bananas, taro, and sugar-cane, are entirely +subsidiary to the great staples, bread-fruit and fish. The natives do +not readily accustom themselves to a European diet; indeed when the +experiment has been made of feeding them exclusively in our manner, they +have wasted away and only recovered their health when they were allowed +to return to their usual nourishment. Their ordinary beverage was water, +but they were also addicted to the drinking of kava, which was extracted +from the root of the _Piper methysticum_ in the usual fashion.[23] +Drawing their sustenance chiefly from the bread-fruit tree, the +Marquesans paid little attention to the cultivation of the soil; +however, they grew a certain amount of taro, sweet potatoes, and +sugar-cane; and they had plantations of the paper-mulberry,[24] the bark +of which was manufactured by the women into cloth in the ordinary way. +But the bark of other trees was also employed for the same purpose. +Since the natives were able to procure European stuffs, the indigenous +manufacture of bark-cloth has much declined.[25] Hence agriculture +engaged the men very little; fishing, though it was part of their +business, they are said to have neglected; the only work of consequence +they did was to build their houses and manufacture their arms, but these +employments occupied them only occasionally.[26] + + [23] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 42-44; Clavel, _Les + Marquisiens_, pp. 3 _sqq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 27 + _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 106-108; Fleurieu, _op. cit._ + i. 115 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 50-55; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 316 _sq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 120-124, 179; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 277 _sq._; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._, 144 _sq._; A. Baessler, + _op. cit._ pp. 208-211. As to the preparation and drinking of + kava among the Marquesans, see also M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 64-66. + + [24] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 53; + C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 213 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 345 (who says that the only root the natives cultivate + for food is the sweet potato); Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. + 148, 149; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 18. + + [25] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 122 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. + 116; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. + 158-160, 210; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 137 _sq._; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 53 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ 55 + _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ 19. + + [26] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164. + +The weapons of the warriors were clubs, spears, and slings. The slings +were made of coco-nut fibre, and the natives were very expert in the use +of them. Bows and arrows were unknown.[27] Like the rest of the +Polynesians, the Marquesans were totally ignorant of the metals until +they acquired them from Europeans. Their tools were made of stone, bone, +and shell. Thus they employed a pointed stone to bore holes with, and an +axe of black, hard stone for cutting. The axe-head was shaped like an +elongated wedge or mortise-chisel, and was fastened to the haft by +coco-nut fibre. Some of these axes weighed as much as twenty-five +pounds. The natives also used sharp-edged or toothed shells as cutting +implements, and borers made of pointed bones; while rough fish-skins +served them as polishers.[28] Like the rest of the Polynesians, they +kindled fire by the method known as the stick-and-groove, that is, by +rubbing the sharp point of one stick against the flat surface of +another, so as to form a groove in it and, by continued friction, to +elicit smoke and a glow, which, with the help of dry leaves, is nursed +into a flame. Contrary to the usage of some peoples, the Marquesans +employed the same kind of wood for both the fire-sticks, either a +species of hibiscus (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_) or a species of poplar +(_Thespesia populnea_); for this purpose they split a branch in two, +lengthwise, and used the two pieces as the fire-sticks. In former days +these fire-sticks were regularly kept in every native house.[29] + + [27] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 118 _sq._; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ + i. 162; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 88; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. + 152 (bows and arrows unknown); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, + _op. cit._ pp. 282 _sq._ + + [28] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 121; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. + 162. + + [29] H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 118 _sq._; Clavel, _Les + Marquisiens_, pp. 11 _sq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. + 20; D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 116; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. + 143. + +The Marquesan houses are regularly built on stone platforms, oblong or +square in shape, and raised above the ground to heights varying from one +to four, eight, or even ten feet. The higher platforms are approached +from the ground by ladders or notched poles. The houses, constructed of +timber and bamboo, are oblong in shape, and comprise a high back wall, +generally inclined forward at an angle, from which the thatched roof +slopes down steeply to a low front wall, while two short walls close the +house at either end. The door is in the middle of the front wall, and +is so low that it is necessary to stoop in entering. Sometimes the +fronts of the houses are entirely open except for the low pillars which +support the roof. The interior of the house forms a single chamber +undivided by partitions. Two trunks of coco-nut palms extend parallel to +each other along the whole length of the floor at an interval of four or +five feet; the innermost log, a foot or two distant from the back wall, +forms a pillow on which the heads of the sleepers rest, while the other +supports their feet or legs. The space between the two logs is paved +with stone, and spread with mats. In the single apartment the whole +family live and sleep. Such at least were the domestic arrangements in +the old days. The size of the houses naturally varies. Some of them +measure eighty feet by forty, others only twenty-five feet by ten, or +even less.[30] + + [30] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 285 _sq._; G. Forster, _op. cit._ + pp. 21, 24; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 131, 134 _sq._; Lisiansky, + _op. cit._ p. 84; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 159; Langsdorff, + _op. cit._ i. 109-111; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 39 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 209-211, 212, 267 _sq._; Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 302 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. 81-83; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 274-276; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 122-129; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 36-38; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._; Clavel, + _op. cit._ pp. 15 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 200-208. + +The platforms on which the houses are built consist often of large +blocks of stone neatly and regularly laid without mortar or cement, in a +style which would do no discredit to European masons.[31] Sometimes the +stones are described as enormous blocks of rock,[32] some of which would +require ten or twelve men to carry or roll them.[33] Water-worn +boulders, washed down from the mountains in the bed of torrents, were +especially chosen for the purpose.[34] + + [31] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 109 _sq._ + + [32] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 129. + + [33] Langsdorff, _l.c._ + + [34] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 15. + +Sometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses were raised above +the ground on posts from eight or ten to sixteen feet high. Such houses +were lightly built of wood and thatched; the floor was an open work of +split bamboos. Sometimes these raised dwellings resembled the ordinary +Marquesan house in structure; at other times they were quadrangular, +with perpendicular walls and an ordinary roof. They were approached by +ladders and resembled the habitations in use among the Malay tribes of +the Indian Archipelago. No dwellings of this type have been noticed in +Nukahiva, the principal island of the archipelago; but they have been +seen and described in Tauata (Santa Christina) and Hivaoa +(Dominica).[35] + + [35] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 303 _sq._; Baessler, _op. + cit._ pp. 207 _sq._ + +The Marquesans built canoes of various sizes, the smaller for fishing, +the larger for war. These latter might be from forty to fifty feet long. +They were fitted with outriggers. The prow had an ornamental projection +rudely carved to represent the head of an animal. Sometimes the prows of +war canoes were decorated with the skulls of slaughtered enemies. But in +general the Marquesans appear to have been inferior to the other South +Sea islanders in the arts of canoe-building and navigation.[36] This +inferiority may perhaps have been partly due to the absence of those +lagoons which, formed by coral reefs, elsewhere enabled the natives to +acquire confidence and skill in sailing on smooth and sheltered waters. +The same cause may also, perhaps, explain why fishing was comparatively +little practised by the Marquesans. We are told that as an occupation it +was despised by such as owned a piece of land of any extent, and that +only the poorer class of people, who depended on the sea for a +livelihood, addicted themselves to it. They caught fish by means both of +nets and of lines with hooks neatly made of mother-of-pearl; also they +stupefied the fish by a certain mashed root, which the fisherman +distributed in the water by diving, and then caught the fish as they +rose to the surface.[37] + + [36] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 287; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. + 163 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 150; Porter, _op. cit._, + ii. 12-14; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 338; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 280-282. + + [37] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 163. + + +§ 4. _Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names_ + +The social life of the Marquesan islanders presented some peculiar +features. Thus they are said to have practised the rare custom of +polyandry. On this subject Stewart observes: "We have yet met with no +instance, in any rank of society, of a male with two wives, but are +informed that for one woman to have two husbands is a universal habit. +Some favourite in the father's household or retinue at an early period +becomes the husband of the daughter, who still remains under the +paternal roof till contracted in marriage to a second individual, on +which she removes with her first husband to his habitation, and both +herself and original companion are supported by him."[38] Melville +describes the custom in substantially the same way, and adds, "No man +has more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two +husbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not +frequent." He seems to have attributed the practice to a scarcity of +women; for he tells us that "the males considerably outnumber the +females."[39] The same view was taken at a later date by Dr. Clavel, who +observes: "In the islands where the women are in a minority we may to +this day observe tolerably numerous cases of polyandry. Thus at Ua-Una I +met some women who had each two husbands, almost always one of them +young and the other old. Such households of three are not worse than the +rest and never give rise to intestine dissensions."[40] According to +Radiguet, the right of having more husbands than one was not general and +hardly belonged to any but chieftainesses,[41] but this limitation is +denied by a good authority.[42] The Russian navigator Lisiansky, who +visited the Marquesas in 1804, seems to have supposed that the custom +was restricted to wealthy families. He says: "In rich families, every +woman has two husbands; of whom one may be called the assistant husband. +This last, when the other is at home, is nothing more than the head +servant of the house; but, in case of absence, exercises all the rights +of matrimony, and is also obliged to attend his lady wherever she goes. +It happens sometimes, that the subordinate partner is chosen after +marriage; but in general two men present themselves to the same woman, +who, if she approves their addresses, appoints one for the real husband, +and the other as his auxiliary: the auxiliary is generally poor, but +handsome and well-made."[43] + + [38] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 317. + + [39] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 203 _sq._ + + [40] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 60. + + [41] Radiguet, _op. cit._ 173. + + [42] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 111. + + [43] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 83. As to polyandry in the + Marquesas, see further E. Westermarck, _History of Human + Marriage_, Fifth Edition (London, 1921), iii. 146 _sqq._ + +Another peculiar habit of the Marquesans was to give away their children +to be adopted by other people soon after their birth. When a woman was +pregnant, she and her husband would discuss to whom they should give the +child that was about to be born. They received offers from neighbours, +and often knocked down the infant to the highest bidder; for the +adopting parents regularly made presents to the child's family, +consisting of cloth, tools, and pigs, according to the fortune of the +contracting parties. After birth the child remained with its mother for +some months till it was weaned, upon which it was sent away to its +parents by adoption, who might inhabit a different district and even a +different island. It is said to have been exceptional for parents to +bring up their own offspring.[44] + + [44] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._; Clavel, _op. + cit._ pp. 56, 61 _sq._ + +Another mode by which the Marquesans created artificial relationships +was the exchange of names. Such an exchange was equivalent to a +ratification of amity and good-will between the persons, who thereby +acquired a claim to mutual protection and the enjoyment of each other's +property and even of their wives, if they happened to be married men. +The custom was not limited to the natives; they readily exchanged names +with Europeans and granted them the privileges which flowed from the +pact. It is even said that some natives gave their own names to animals, +which thenceforth became sacred for them and for the rest of the tribe. +This led to so many inconveniences that the priests had to forbid the +practice of exchanging names with animals.[45] + + [45] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 16 _sq._, 158 _sq._; Clavel, _op. + cit._ pp. 61 _sq._ + + +§ 5. _Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls_ + +A favourite amusement of the islanders was racing or combating on +stilts. A stilt was composed of two pieces, a pole of light wood which +the runner held in his hand, and a step or foot-rest of hard wood, on +which he planted one of his feet. The step or foot-rest was often +adorned with human figures curiously carved, which are said to have +represented gods. The races or combats took place on the paved areas +which were to be seen in most villages, and which formed the scene of +public entertainments. In these contests each runner or combatant tried +to get in the way of his adversary, and, balancing himself on one stilt, +to strike his rival with the other, so as to bring him to the ground +amid the laughter and jeers of the spectators. It has sometimes been +supposed that the use of stilts in the Marquesas originated in the +practical purpose of enabling people to cross a stream without wetting +their feet. But the supposition is highly improbable. For, on the one +hand, the streams in the islands are mere rivulets, which dry up for the +greater part of the year; and, on the other hand, the natives are almost +amphibious, often spending whole days in the water, and swimming for +hours without fatigue. Hence it is absurd to imagine that they invented +stilts simply to keep their feet dry at crossing a shallow stream.[46] + + [46] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 119 _sq._, 124; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 146; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 124-126; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 284; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. + 96. As for the ability of the natives to swim in the sea for + hours without fatigue, compare J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to + the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. 129. + +But perhaps the most popular recreation of the Marquesans was dancing +and singing, which formed a leading feature of their festivals. Every +inhabited district had its dancing-place, a sort of public square, where +places were set apart for the use of the performers, the musicians, and +the spectators. These have been described by the missionary, C. S. +Stewart, from personal observation. He says, "Our walk terminated at +what may be called the _theatre_ or _opera house_ of the settlement, a +large rectangular platform of stone pavement, surrounded by low terraces +also laid with stone; the first designed for the public exhibitions of +the song and the dance, and the last for the accommodation of the +spectators who assemble to witness the performance. Entertainments of +this kind are the most fashionable and favourite amusements at the +Washington and the Marquesan groups. Every inhabited district has its +_Tahua_, or public square of this kind; some of them so extensive, it is +said, as to be capable of accommodating ten thousand people."[47] Again, +speaking of another of these dancing-places, the same writer observes, +"This _Tahua_, or theatre, is a structure altogether superior to that +visited by us yesterday, and so massive and well built as to be capable +of enduring for ages. It is a regular oblong square, about sixty feet in +length and forty broad. The outer wall consists of immense stones, or +slabs of rock, three feet high, and many of them four or six feet long, +joined closely together and hewn with a regularity and neatness truly +astonishing, in view of the rude implements by which it must have been +accomplished. On a level with the top of this outer wall, a pavement of +large flat stones, several feet in width, extends entirely round, +forming seats for the chiefs, warriors, and other persons of +distinction, and singers performing the recitatives and choruses +accompanying the dance. Within this, and some inches lower, is another +pavement still wider, having large flat-topped stones fixed in it at +regular intervals of six or eight feet, used as seats by the beaters on +the drums, and other rude instruments of music, and immediately within +this again, an unpaved area, some twenty feet long by twelve broad, +constituting the stage on which the dancers exhibit their skill."[48] + + [47] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 214 _sq._ + + [48] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 233 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 265 _sq._ + +Some of these dancing-places appear to have been much larger than those +seen by Stewart. According to Langsdorff they were sometimes not less +than a hundred fathoms in length, and the great smooth pavement +consisted of blocks of stone, several feet broad, laid so neatly and so +close together that you might have imagined it to be the work of +European master-masons.[49] Radiguet describes one such dancing-place as +a rectangular area eighty metres (about two hundred and sixty feet) long +by thirty metres (about one hundred feet) broad, and surrounded by a +terrace paved with stone, on which the spectators were seated.[50] + + [49] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138. + + [50] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 195. + +The festivals (_koikas_) celebrated at these places were either +periodical or occasional. Among the periodical perhaps the most +important was that held at the ingathering of the bread-fruit harvest in +February and March. Among the occasional were those held after a +successful fishing, at the ratification of peace, and after the death +of a priest or chief, who had been raised to the rank of a deity. A +messenger decked in all the native finery repaired to the surrounding +villages inviting the inhabitants to attend the festival. Immense +numbers of hogs were killed and huge troughs filled with bread-fruit +were provided by the hosts for the banquet. The festivals were attended +not only by the people of the particular valley in which they were held, +but by the inhabitants of other valleys and even of other islands; for +so long as a festival lasted, a special taboo forbade the natives to +harm the strangers in their midst. A general truce was observed; members +of hostile tribes came to share the pleasures of the festival with the +foes whom they had recently fought, and whom they would fight again in a +few days.[51] Yet such visitors were careful to observe certain +precautions: they never came unarmed, and they always kept together on +one side of the festival ground, in order that they might rally the more +easily for mutual defence, if they should be suddenly attacked.[52] + + [51] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 318; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. + 264 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 69 _sqq._; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 192 _sq._ + + [52] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138. + +The performers who sang and danced at these festivals for the +entertainment of the public were called _Hokis_ or _Kaioas_: they are +described as a sort of wandering troubadours or minstrels, who went from +tribe to tribe, seeking their fortune. They took great care of their +persons, which they artificially whitened. At once poets, musicians, and +dancers, they nevertheless did not enjoy the public esteem; on the +contrary, their effeminate habits incurred the contempt of a people who +had small taste for the fine arts.[53] Thus these wandering minstrels +and mountebanks would seem to have corresponded to the Areois of the +Society Islands.[54] The dances were accompanied by the beating of drums +and the songs of a chorus, it might be of a hundred and fifty singers, +who sat on the upper platform along with the chiefs and warriors. +Sometimes in the intervals between the dances a choir of women, seated +on an adjoining and elevated platform, would chant in dull monotonous +tones, clapping their hands loudly in unison with their song. The +subjects of the songs were various and were often furnished by some +passing event, such as the arrival of a ship or any less novel incident. +Not unfrequently, like ballads in our own country, the songs caught the +popular fancy and became fashionable, being sung in private by all +classes of society. So passionately addicted were the Marquesans to +these entertainments that they undertook the longest and most fatiguing +journeys from all parts of the island in order to be present at them, +carrying their food and suffering great hardships by the way; they even +came in their crazy canoes, at the hazard of their lives, from other +islands, and accepted the risk of being knocked on the head at one of +the brawls with which such gatherings usually ended.[55] + + [53] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 231. + Compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 237, who calls the + performers _Kaioi_. + + [54] See above, pp. 259 _sqq._ + + [55] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 234, 236, 237. + +Closely connected with the festivals were the banqueting-halls, as they +may be called. These were houses, or rather sheds, thatched with leaves +and open in front, where the lower end of the sloping roof was supported +on short wooden pillars, of which the upper parts were rudely carved in +the likeness of the god Tiki, thus forming a sort of Caryatids. These +sheds varied in length from thirty to sixty and even two hundred feet in +length. They stood on quadrangular stone platforms of the usual type, +ranging from three or four to six, eight, twelve, and even fifteen feet +in height. The blocks of stone put together to form the platforms were +sometimes enormous, many of them measuring eight feet long by four feet +thick and wide; and they were hewn and polished into such perfect form +as to excite the wonder of the European beholder, who reflected with +astonishment on the vast labour requisite to bring these huge rocks from +the sea and to chisel them into shape without the help of iron tools. +Access to the platforms was afforded by sloping trunks of trees notched +into steps. In these open sheds the men feasted and prayed. Before each +repast it was customary to offer to the deity a small portion of food +wrapt in leaves. Sometimes the priests would thrust the morsels into the +mouths of Tiki's grotesque images. No woman might enter these +banqueting-halls or mount the platforms on which they stood. The place +was strictly tabooed to them, and the taboo was signified in the usual +way by long pennants of white cloth attached to the posts of the +house.[56] + + [56] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 38 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ + i. 317 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 54-56; Melville, + _Typee_ pp. 93-95. Of these writers it is Porter who gives the + dimensions of some of the blocks of stone composing the + platforms and expresses his amazement at the labour involved in + their construction. He concludes his description as follows (ii. + 39): "When we count the immense numbers of such places, which + are everywhere to be met with, our astonishment is raised to the + highest, that a people in a state of nature, unassisted by any + of those artificial means, which so much assist and facilitate + the labour of the civilized man, could have conceived and + executed a work, which, to every beholder, must appear + stupendous. These piles are raised with views to magnificence + alone; there does not appear to be the slightest utility + attending them: the houses situated on them are unoccupied, + except during the period of feasting, and they appear to belong + to a public, without the whole efforts of which they could not + have been raised, and with every exertion that could possibly + have been made, years must have been requisite for the + completion of them." Of one of these structures seen by him in + the anterior of Nukahiva, Stewart observes, "The stones, bearing + marks of antiquity that threw the air of an old family mansion + around the whole, were regularly hewn and joined with the + greatest nicety, many which I measured being from four to six + feet in length, nearly as wide, and two or more deep" (_Visit to + the South Seas_, i. 267 _sq._). + + +§ 6. _Social Ranks, Taboo_ + +Socially the Marquesans were divided into chiefs or nobles and +commoners; but the chiefs seem to have possessed very little authority, +and to have received few outward marks of deference and respect. A +monarchical government in any proper sense of the word was unknown.[57] +The power of the chiefs, such as it was, rested mainly on their superior +wealth, particularly on their landed property; for the larger their +estates, the greater the number of the tenants whose services they could +command. Hence the government has been called aristocratic and compared +to the feudal system.[58] In a fruitful season the chiefs had a right to +a fourth part of the produce, and in other seasons a share according to +circumstances. Their dignity was hereditary.[59] There was no general +government of the archipelago as a whole. Each island was quite +independent of all the rest; and in every island there were several +independent tribes, which were generally at war with each other.[60] + + [57] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 165; Langsdorff, i. 112 _sq._; + Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 132-134; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 64; + Melville, _Typee_, p. 199; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, + _op. cit._ p. 225; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 24 _sq._ + + [58] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ 101 _sq._ + + [59] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 80. + + [60] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. + 62. + +A powerful instrument in the hands of the nobles was the taboo or +_tapu_, which, though it seems to have been originally a religious +institution,[61] was turned to political and economic account by the +chiefs and priests acting in conjunction. One of our best authorities on +the Marquesans describes the institution as a tool of despotism for the +gratification of the passions and caprices of such as could wield +it.[62] But this is a somewhat one-sided and imperfect view to take of +its scope. There is no doubt, as other good authorities on the +Marquesans have pointed out, that in the absence of a strong government +which could maintain order and protect life and property, the taboo to a +great extent served the purposes which in more civilised society are +fulfilled by laws.[63] The taboo was a sacred interdiction, a breach of +which was believed of itself to entail disastrous consequences on the +transgressor. The interdiction might be either public or private. To +give examples of public interdictions, when the quantity of breadfruit, +on which the people depended for their subsistence, was from any cause +seriously diminished in a district, the chief had the right to impose a +taboo on bread-fruit trees for twenty months, during which no one might +gather the fruit. This close time allowed the trees to recover their +strength and fertility. Similarly, if fish were scarce, the chief might +pronounce a taboo on the neighbouring bay, or a part of it, in order to +allow the fish to multiply undisturbed and replenish the sea in the +neighbourhood of human habitations. Again, in the prospect of a great +festival, a chief might lay an interdict on pigs for two or three years +in advance, in order that, when the time came, there might be plenty of +pork for the multitude at the banquet. Similarly, when the +paper-mulberry, from which the Marquesans made their bark-cloth, +threatened to give out, the chief might lay the trees under an +interdict for five years, at the end of which the crop was sure to be +magnificent.[64] In these and similar cases the taboo was of public +utility by ensuring a proper supply of the necessaries of life. However, +its imposition was not always guided by rational considerations, and +hence it sometimes failed of its purpose. For example, so long as the +bread-fruit was unripe, almost all kinds of fish were taboo and +therefore might not be eaten, and this interdiction, instead of +alleviating, tended naturally to aggravate the scarcity of food. The +reason for the taboo was a curious superstition that if any one were to +eat fish while the bread-fruit was unripe, the fruit would fall from the +trees.[65] + + [61] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 47 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 259. + + [62] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153. + + [63] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._; + Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._ + + [64] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 35 _sq._ Compare + Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 155. + + [65] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 118. + +But the taboo also served a useful purpose by ensuring respect for +private property, which is a fundamental condition of social prosperity. +"The priests only," we are told, "can impose a general taboo, but every +individual has a right to pronounce one upon his own property: this is +done by declaring, if his wish be to preserve a breadfruit, or a cocoa +tree, a house or a plantation, from robbery and destruction, that the +spirit of his father or of some king, or indeed of any other person, +reposes in this tree, or house, which then bears the name of the person, +and nobody ventures to attack it. If any one is so irreligious as to +break through a taboo, and should be convicted of it, he is called +_kikino_; and the _kikinos_ are always the first to be devoured by the +enemy, at least they believe it to be so, nor is it impossible that the +priests should so arrange matters as that this really happens."[66] +Again, if a man's pig had been stolen, and he suspected who had done the +deed, he would lay a taboo on the swine or other property of the thief +by giving his own name, or the name of somebody else, to the animals or +the trees or whatever it might be. After that, in the opinion of the +people, the property so named was bewitched or haunted by the spirit of +the person, whether alive or dead, whose name it bore; and this belief +sometimes sufficed to compel the thief to abandon his possessions and to +settle elsewhere.[67] A wreath of leaves or a strip of white cloth +attached to a house, a canoe, a fruit-tree, or other piece of property, +was the symbol of taboo, and in ordinary circumstances was enough to +protect it.[68] + + [66] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172. In this quotation I have + altered the spelling _tahbu_ into _taboo_. + + [67] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 116. + + [68] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 157; Melville, _Typee_, p. 230; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 264. + +But the taboo was an instrument which could be used capriciously to +thwart, as well as to further, the course of justice. Thus we read how, +under the French government of the islands, a wife set out for the +police-office to complain of the ill-treatment to which she had been +subjected by her husband. But scarcely had she put her foot outside the +door, when her husband, aware of her intention and determined to +frustrate it, called out after her, "The road from here to the +police-office is your father." On hearing that, the woman at once +stopped short, for under no circumstances would she dare to trample on +the author of her being. On the contrary, she immediately roasted two +little pigs and carried them to the tomb of her father as an offering to +appease his ghost, which might reasonably be supposed to fret at the +mere thought of being trodden under foot by his own daughter.[69] This +instructive example shows how closely the taboo was associated with the +fear and worship of the dead; by bestowing the name of a dead person on +a thing you rendered the thing inviolate, since thereby you placed it +under the immediate protection of the ghost. + + [69] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 68. + +Among the multitude of taboos which were religiously observed by the +Marquesans it is perhaps possible to detect a trace of totemism. Thus +the sting ray fish was taboo to the tribe of Houmis. Not only would they +not eat the fish, but they fled in horror if it were even shown to them. +Their horror was explained by a tradition that once on a time a great +chief of the tribe had been out fishing with his people, when a gigantic +sting ray upset their canoes and gobbled them all up.[70] This aversion +to eating and even looking at a certain species of animal, together with +a traditionary explanation based on an incident in the past history of +the tribe, is very characteristic of totemism. + + [70] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._ + + +§ 7. _Religion and Mythology_ + +The consideration of taboo introduces us to the subject of religion; +for, on the one hand, the foregoing evidence tends to establish a +connexion between the institution of taboo and the doctrine of the human +soul, and on the other hand some of our best authorities on the +Marquesans have stated that the taboo was believed to be an expression +of the will of the gods conveyed to the people through the mouth of a +priest.[71] The definition may be accepted, if under gods we include the +spirits of the dead, who were worshipped by the Marquesans and lent +their sanction, as we have just seen, to the taboo. + + [71] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 258; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 48; Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153; + Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 65. + +The Marquesan term for a god was the usual Polynesian word _atua_ or, as +it is sometimes spelled, _etua_. But their notion of divinity, as +commonly happens, was vague. One of the earliest writers on their +religion, the Russian navigator Krusenstern, informs us that "a confused +notion of a higher being, whom they call _Etua_, does indeed exist among +them, but of these there are several kinds; the spirit of a priest, of a +king, or of any of his relations, being an _etua_. They likewise +consider all Europeans as such; for as their ideas do not extend beyond +their own horizon, they are firmly convinced that their ships come from +the clouds; and they imagine that thunder is occasioned by the +cannonading of vessels which float in the atmosphere, on which account +they entertain a great dread of artillery."[72] The _atuas_ or deities +of the Marquesans, we are told by another writer, "are numerous and vary +in their character and powers. Besides those having dominion +respectively, as is supposed, over the different elements and their most +striking phenomena, there are _atuas_ of the mountain and of the forest, +of the sea-side and of the interior, _atuas_ of peace and of war, of the +song and of the dance, and of all the occupations and amusements of +life. It is supposed by them that many of the departed spirits of men +also become _atuas_: and thus the multiplicity of their gods is such, +that almost every sound in nature, from the roaring of the tempest in +the mountains and the bursting of a thunderbolt in the clouds, to the +sighing of a breeze through the cocoa-nut tops and the chirping of an +insect in the grass or in the thatch of their huts, is interpreted into +the movements of a god."[73] + + [72] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 171. + + [73] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 240; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 218 _sq._ + +But the Marquesans, not content with deifying some men after death, +deified others in their lifetime. Amongst them there is, or rather used +to be, a class of living men "who claim the title and attributes of the +Deity; not through a professed inspiration or possession by a +supernatural influence or power, but in their own right of godship as +those who control the elements, impart fruitfulness to the productions +of the earth or smite them with blasting and sterility, and who exercise +the prerogatives of the Deity in scattering disease and wielding the +shafts of death. They are few in number, not more than one or two at +farthest on an island, and live in a seclusion and mysticism somewhat in +unison with their blasphemous pretensions. There is none at present in +the near vicinity of Taiohae,[74] though the former abode of such an +individual is pointed out at the foot of a bold cliff, high in the +mountains. The Rev. Mr. Crook gives the following account of an Atua, at +the island of Tahuata, in the Windward or Marquesan group, while he +resided there temporarily in 1797, as a missionary from the London +Missionary Society: 'He is now of great age, and has lived from early +life at Hanateiteina, in a large house surrounded by an enclosure called +the A. In the house is an altar, and from the beams within and upon the +trees around it are human carcasses, suspended with their heads downward +and scalped. No one enters the premises but his servant, except when +human sacrifices are offered. Of these, more are offered to him than to +any other of their gods, and he frequently seats himself on an elevated +scaffold in front of his house and calls for two or three at a time. He +is invoked in all parts of the island, and offerings everywhere are +made to him and sent to Hanateiteina.'"[75] Similarly a Catholic +missionary tells us that in the island of Nukahiva he was personally +acquainted with two living human deities, a priest and a priestess, both +of whom, it was said, had the right to demand the sacrifice of human +victims to themselves. He adds, however, that they did not abuse the +right, and that nobody in the world appeared more affable and polite +than these divinities; he even entertained hopes of one day baptizing +the priest.[76] Of the reverence in which the priestly class in general +was held by the people, Captain Porter remarks that "their priests are +their oracles; they are considered but little inferior to their gods; to +some they are greatly superior, and after their death they rank with the +chief divinity."[77] + + [74] The principal harbour of Nukahiva. + + [75] C. S. Stewart, _op cit._ i. 244 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 226, 240 _sq._ + The missionary William Crook was landed in the Marquesas from + the missionary ship _Duff_ in 1797. See J. Wilson, _Missionary + Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 131 _sqq._ + + [76] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45. + + [77] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 114. + +Little seems to be recorded of the theology and mythology of the +Marquesans; but among their myths was the widespread Polynesian story of +the origin of fire. Of old, it was said, fire used to be jealously +guarded by Mahoike in the infernal regions. Hearing of its utility, Maui +descended into the nether world to steal some of the element; but he +failed to elude the vigilance of its guardian and was obliged to resort +to force to extort the boon from him. In the struggle which ensued +Mahoike lost an arm and a leg, and to save his remaining limbs he +consented to give fire to the victorious Maui. At the same time he +offered to rub it on Maui's leg; but Maui was too cunning to agree to +that, for he knew that in that case the fire which he took to earth +would not be sacred. Finally, Mahoike rubbed the fire on Maui's head, +and said to him, "Go back to the place you came from and touch with your +forehead all the trees except the _keïka_: all the trees will yield you +fire."[78] + + [78] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 223 _sq._ For the names of the + Marquesan deities, among whom Tiki appears to have been the most + famous, and for some myths concerning them, see Mathias G----, + _op. cit._ pp. 40 _sqq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 221 _sqq._; + Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xix. (1847) + pp. 23 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 27 _sqq._ + +In the Marquesas there was a class of men called _tauas_, who were +supposed to possess an hereditary gift of inspiration and to become +deities after their death. They could cause a god to dwell within them. +Often at night they might be heard conversing with the divinity in their +bodies, the deity crying out in a shrill voice, while the man answered +him in his own ordinary voice. Sometimes they would make a rustling +noise with their fingers in the leaves, and say that they had been +miraculously taken through the thatch of the house and brought back +again by the door. In their fits of inspiration they became convulsed +and glared fiercely with their eyes; then, with their hands quivering +violently, they would run about, while they prophesied death to their +enemies in squeaky tones, or demanded human victims for the god by whom +they were possessed. With the function of prophecy they combined the +office of physician or rather of exorciser. For every internal disorder +was believed to be inflicted by some god, who had taken possession of +the sufferer's person; and the _tauas_, or high priests, as we may call +them, were called in to heal the patient by ridding him of the divinity +who had entered into him. This they commonly did by feeling for the +mischievous deity till they found him, when they smothered him between +the palms of their hands.[79] Sometimes the good physician would +converse with the spirit whom he had thus caught between his hands, and +would elicit from him in conversation the cause of the sickness, which +usually consisted in some breach of taboo, such as a theft of +bread-fruit or coco-nuts from a sacred tree. At the same time the +affable spirit would reveal to the physician the penalty which the sick +man must pay in order to expiate his crime and thereby ensure his +recovery. A sacrifice of pigs would appear to have been usually deemed +indispensable for the patient's complete convalescence; the animals were +conveyed to a temple and there consumed by the priests for the benefit +of the sufferer.[80] The _tauas_ or high priests were supposed to become +gods after death; when one of them departed this life, it was essential +for his deification that human victims should be sacrificed. The number +of victims varied with the rank of the new deity; it was never less than +seven, but oftener ten. Each victim was sacrificed for the sake of a +particular part of the deity's body, as for his head, or his eyes, or +his hair. To procure the necessary tale of victims, predatory +expeditions were undertaken against the tribes in neighbouring +valleys.[81] + + [79] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._ + + [80] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 136. The writer's language seems + to imply that the spirit whom the priestly physician caught in + his hands and interrogated was the patient's own soul. + + [81] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ + i. 247; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 228 + _sq._ + + +§ 8. _The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs_ + +Like most savages, the Marquesans thought that they possessed souls +which could quit their bodies and wander far away in dreams. Thus a +young girl once related how, the night before, she had sailed in a +splendid canoe to Tiburones, a mythical paradise to the west of +Nukahiva; there she had seen beautiful things such as do not exist here +on earth. "There," said she, "the trees are very tall, and the people +very handsome; there they sing songs to music sweeter than ours. Ah! +when shall I be able to return to Tiburones?" On another occasion a +woman's soul appeared to a priest to inform him that she had committed +the heinous crime of eating a fowl, but that she would expiate the +sacrilege by an early death. The French authorities summoned both the +priest and the woman to the bar of justice. There the priest stuck to it +that he had received the revelation, and the woman expressed her regret +for the escapade of which her soul had been guilty without her +knowledge. It was necessary to reassure her on the subject of her soul's +rash act and melancholy prediction, otherwise she might have fulfilled +the prophecy by refusing food and dying outright.[82] + + [82] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._ + +At death the soul was supposed to depart from the body by the mouth or +the nose; hence in order to delay its departure and so to prolong the +life of its owner, affectionate relatives used to stop his mouth and +nostrils, thus accelerating the event which they wished to retard.[83] + + [83] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 245; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 44, + note^1. Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 115. + +The Marquesans have, or used to have, a sovereign contempt for death, +and do not fear its approach. When a native felt that he must die, he +took it calmly and ordered his coffin, which he caused to be brought to +the house while he was still in life. The coffin is hollowed out of a +single log and resembles a canoe. If the sick man after all recovered, +the coffin was kept in a corner of the house till it was wanted. No +attempt was made to hide it or to disguise its purpose. Should a +stranger ask, "What is that?" he would be told, "It is So-and-so's +coffin"; though So-and-so might be present and within hearing.[84] +Nevertheless, when it was clear that a serious illness was about to +terminate fatally, and that all the efforts of the priestly physician or +sorcerer to avert the inevitable end were fruitless, the house would be +filled by wailing women, who danced naked round the mat of the dying +man, cutting themselves with sharp stones or shark's teeth as in a +frenzy, and uttering the most piercing lamentations. This lasted till +the moment of death, when all united in a terrific and prolonged +howl.[85] Similar demonstrations of sorrow were continued or renewed +after the decease. If the departed was a married man and his widow +survived him, she would bruise her flesh with a stone, scratch it with +her nails, and cut her forehead, cheeks, and breast with shark's teeth +or splinters of bamboo till the blood trickled down.[86] Captain Porter +saw a woman with deep wounds still unhealed, which she had inflicted on +her neck, breast, and arms for the loss of her husband, who had been +devoured by a shark.[87] After the death, too, the widow would place +herself in front of the corpse, and three or four girls would surround +her; whereupon they would all engage in a lascivious dance, with +outstretched arms, tripping in cadence to the accompaniment of a funeral +hymn or lamentation, which was chanted by a choir in honour of the dead. +After executing the dance, which would seem to have been intended to +attract the attention of the deceased and recall his wandering spirit, +they would stoop over the corpse, and cry, "He has not stirred! He +stirs not. Alas! alas! he is no more." It was only after they had thus +practised their seductions in vain on the dead man that the widow gave +way to her frantic outburst of sorrow by mauling herself with a sort of +saw.[88] This funeral dance a widow was apparently expected to renew in +public at every festival for months after the death. At a festival, +which he called the Feast of Calabashes, Melville saw four or five old +women, stark naked, holding themselves erect and leaping stiffly into +the air, with their arms pressed close to their sides, like sticks +bobbing up and down in water. They preserved the utmost gravity of +countenance, and continued their strange movements without a single +moment's cessation, though they did not appear to attract the +observation of the crowd around them. The American was told that these +dancing or leaping figures "were bereaved widows, whose partners had +been slain in battle many moons previously; and who, at every festival, +gave public evidence in this manner of their calamities."[89] When the +deceased was a chief, the lamentations and the dances went on day and +night for some time. A priestess or sorceress, in festal costume, led +the choir of female mourners and vaunted the exploits of the dead +warrior, recalling his mighty deeds and the incidents of his life. The +dances were accompanied by the music of drums. The crowd of spectators, +in their best array, ate and drank to repletion, and, flushed with +liquor, abandoned themselves to excesses which transformed the mortuary +chamber, lit up at night by smoky torches, into a scene of low +debauchery. From time to time remarks of a gross nature were addressed +to the dead man on the helpless condition to which he was reduced; and +now and then the women would slash their faces and breasts with +splinters of bamboo in the usual fashion. The orgy went on till the +provisions were completely exhausted, which might not be for a +considerable time, since hecatombs of pigs were sometimes slaughtered +for the purpose of celebrating the obsequies of a chief in a manner +worthy of his rank.[90] + + [84] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 114. _sq._; Eyriaud des + Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 58. Compare Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 260 + _sqq._ + + [85] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 263; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 249 _sq._ + + [86] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 284; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 39. + + [87] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 121. + + [88] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 283 _sq._ Another writer mentions + that at the moment of death it was customary for a number of + matrons to strip themselves naked and execute obscene dances at + the door of the house, crying out at the pitch of their voices, + "Father! father!" See Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116. + + [89] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 180, 201. + + [90] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ + +The soul of the dead was believed not to abandon the corpse definitely +for two days after the death. In the interval it was thought to haunt +the house, watching the conduct of the survivors, and ready to act as a +friend or a foe according as the mourners behaved towards the deceased +and his remains. Hence, to keep the ghost in good humour it was +customary to offer him food, in the shape of breadfruit paste and other +dainties, which were wrapped up in leaves, hung on the edge of the +coffin, and frequently renewed.[91] On the third night after the death a +priest, stepping out on the terrace in front of the house, implored the +wandering soul of the deceased to depart; and by way of enforcing the +request a band of men, armed with spears and other lethal weapons, went +about in the outer darkness, beating the bushes and stabbing the +thatched roofs of the houses in order to drive the lingering ghost away. +If, roused by the clamour, the dogs began to bark, the priest would say, +"The soul is departing."[92] + + [91] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46. + + [92] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 284 _sq._ + +From the moment of death till the priests had completed the litany or +songs chanted on such occasions, all the assembled people fasted, no one +touched the provisions collected for the funeral feast, and no fire +might be kindled within sight of the house.[93] The litany consisted in +the mumbling of a long speech in an unintelligible language accompanied +by the constant beating of drums.[94] Among the victuals provided for +the funeral feast special importance appears to have been attached to +the head of a pig, which was cut off and attached to the bier.[95] We +are told that the professed intention was thereby "to propitiate the +gods, and obtain for the deceased a safe and peaceable passage through +the lower regions." But, in point of fact the priest took possession of +the pig's head and devoured it secretly, leaving only a small piece of +it under a stone.[96] + + [93] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251. + + [94] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 133. + + [95] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 285. + + [96] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. Compare Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 133; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251. + +When death had taken place, the body was washed, neatly dressed in +garments of new cloth, and laid on a bier constructed of bamboos or of +spears and other warlike weapons, fastened together with wicker-work and +spread with mats.[97] If the deceased was a chief and a warrior, his +body would be arrayed in his finest ornaments, and his club, plumed +helmet, necklaces of whale's teeth, and skulls of the enemies he had +killed, would be laid beside him. Thus exposed, the corpse might be kept +for weeks in the house, where, in spite of the stench, the family +continued to eat, drink, and sleep beside it. Sometimes, however, and +perhaps more usually, the body was transferred to a small house or shed +adjoining the dwelling of the deceased, where it received the necessary +attentions. Finally, it was removed to a little hut or shed, where the +bier was supported on posts under a thatched roof. To be buried in the +earth was a mark of ignominy reserved at most for a young girl of the +lowest rank who had died childless. Beside the corpse food was hung for +the use of the ghost, it might be fish, roast pork, or coco-nuts, and +there it was allowed to remain till it rotted and fell to the ground; +none but children would be greedy or impious enough to partake of the +sacred victuals, and that only in the greatest secrecy. Often the house +in which the death had taken place was tabooed and abandoned after the +remains had been deposited in their last home.[98] + + [97] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 133; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 81; C. S. Stewart, _op. + cit._ i. 264. + + [98] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._ As to the + decoration of the corpse, see Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ As + to the temporary house or shed in which the body was kept for + some time after death, compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 264, + 266; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 250. As for + the custom of keeping the body for months in the ordinary house, + surrounded by the family, see Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 286. As to + the practice of hanging food beside the body, even after its + removal to its last place of rest, see J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. + (Paris, 1842), p. 33; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46. + +The bodies of the dead were regularly subjected to a kind of embalmment, +which had the effect of preserving them for a longer or shorter time. As +soon as decomposition appeared imminent, the corpse was stripped of its +ornaments and placed in the usual canoe-shaped coffin, the trunk being +propped up so as to facilitate the work of the embalmers. The task of +embalming was entrusted to women, relations of the deceased, who rubbed +the body daily with coco-nut oil and perfumes. They had no intercourse +with the rest of the family, and took their meals apart without ever +washing their hands. According to one account, the anointment was +performed by night, while during the day the body was exposed to the sun +on the stone platform of the house. The products of decomposition were +carefully received in vessels and carried away to the place of +sepulture; and the corpse was gradually eviscerated through the rectum. +The friction was continued until the desiccated body was reduced to the +state of a mummy, though sometimes, in spite of all precautions, it +crumbled into dust. If the operation was successful, the mummy, wrapt in +many bandages, was covered by a second canoe attached to the first, and +was then placed on a scaffold in a _morai_ or sanctuary specially +consecrated to it. But sometimes the mummy was fastened up to the roof +or wall of the house wherein the person had died; and it might be kept +there even for years. When it was deposited in a _morai_, no woman was +allowed to approach it under pain of death.[99] Sometimes the head was +detached from the body and kept in the house, where it was treated with +respect. Sometimes it was carried away and hidden in some almost +inaccessible cave in the mountains or beside the sea. This was done as a +precaution to save the skulls from falling into the hands of enemies, +who were eager to bear them off as trophies.[100] + + [99] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. + 133 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, p. 206; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 286 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._ In a house in + Nukahiva the missionary Stewart saw a canoe-shaped coffin + containing the remains of a man who had died many years before. + It was raised on a bier of framework, at a height of two or + three feet above the ground. Stewart adds, "The dead bodies of + all persons of high distinction are preserved in their houses + for a long period in this way." See C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. + 259. + + [100] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 45 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. + 233 _sq._ + +Each family had its own _morai_ or burial-place, where the mouldering +bones or mummies were finally deposited and left to decay.[101] Such +family cemeteries were scattered about the valleys; the choice of a +site seems to have been determined by no special rule.[102] The _morai_ +or burial-place of ordinary people was near their houses, and not far +from it was a taboo-house, where the men feasted on the flesh of +pigs.[103] But the cemeteries of chiefs were situated in the interior of +the valleys, often so deeply imbedded in dense foliage that it was not +easy to find them without the guidance of a native.[104] Similarly we +are told that the cemeteries (_morais_) of priests lay quite apart from +all dwellings.[105] + + [101] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 127, 173; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 115, 134. Other writers on the Marquesas in like manner + speak of a _morai_ simply as a place of burial. See Porter, _op. + cit._ ii. 114 ("the gods at the burying-place, or morai, for so + it is called by them"); Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 52 ("un _morai_ + (sépulchre) en ruine"); Melville, _Typee_, p. 168 ("the 'morais' + or burying-grounds"). So, too, the term was understood by the + French navigator, J. Dumont d'Urville. See his _Voyage au Pole + Sud, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 27, 33. + + [102] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253. + + [103] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. According to Krusenstern + (_op. cit._ i. 127), the _morais_ in general "lie a good way + inland upon hills." + + [104] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 329. + + [105] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. + +The ordinary form of a Marquesan _morai_ or burial-place seems to have +been a thatched shed erected on a square or oblong platform of stones, +exactly resembling the stone platforms on which the Marquesan houses +were regularly built. Thus Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz say that "the +_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are erected +on a stone platform, the base of all Nukahivan edifices."[106] Again, +describing what he calls "a picturesque _morai_," Radiguet observes, +"Four posts, erected on a platform, supported a small plank covered with +a roof of leaves. Under this roof could be seen the remains of a +skeleton, perhaps that of the daughter-in-law of the neighbouring +house.... At the two ends of the platform two upright stones, about ten +feet high, and resembling the Breton _menhirs_, formed an exceptional +ornament to this _morai_, which the bushes were in course of invading +and the storms of demolishing."[107] Again, Stewart describes as follows +what he calls "a depository of the dead": "It stands in the midst of a +beautiful clump of trees, and consists of a platform of heavy stone +work, twenty feet or more square and four or five high, surmounted in +the centre by eight or ten posts arranged in the shape of a grave, and +supporting at a height of six or seven feet a long and narrow roof of +thatch. Close beneath this was the body enclosed in a coffin."[108] +Again, in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), Bennett describes a +chief's burial-place as follows: "A low but extensive stone platform, +beneath the shade of a venerable _fau_-tree, marks the more consecrated +ground; and on this is erected a wooden hut, containing an elevated +trough, shaped as a canoe, and holding the perfect skeleton of the late +chief. In front of the sepulchre are two hideous wooden idols, and +several bundles of coco-nut leaves."[109] The shed, which was erected on +the stone platform, and under which the body rested on a bier, seems to +have consisted for the most part simply of a thatched roof supported on +wooden posts.[110] Sometimes, however, instead of a simple shed, open on +all sides, a small house resembling the ordinary houses of the natives +appears to have been erected for the reception of the corpse or mummy. +Thus in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina) Bennett describes a +burial-place as follows: "The most picturesque mausoleum we noticed was +that which contained the corpse of one of Eutiti's children. It was +placed on the summit of an isolated hill, rising from the bosom of a +well-wooded savannah, and was covered entirely with the leaves of the +fan-palm. The posterior, or tallest wall, was twelve feet high, the +anterior was low, closed by a mat, and decorated with six wooden +pillars, covered with stained cinnet and white cloth. Strips of tapa +[bark-cloth], fixed to a wand, fluttered on the roof, to denote that the +spot was tabooed; and for the same purpose, a row of globular stones, +each the size of a football, and whitened with coral lime, occupied the +top of a low but broad stone wall which encircled the building. The +interior contained nothing but the bier on which the corpse was +laid."[111] From the sketch which Bennett gives of this particular +mausoleum, as he calls it, we gather that the sepulchral hut containing +the body was not raised on a stone platform, but built on the flat. + + [106] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253. + + [107] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 92. One of these stones was said + to have been erected by the French navigator, Captain Marchand, + and to have formerly borne an inscription recording his taking + possession of the island. Hence it would be unsafe to draw any + conclusion from the supposed antiquity of these two tall upright + stones. + + [108] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 260. + + [109] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 329. + + [110] Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud, Histoire + du Voyage_, iv. 33, "Sous un hangar se trouvent quelques + supports formant, à 2 mètres au-dessus du sol, une estrade sur + laquelle est déposé le _toui-papao_. C'est le nom que les + naturels donnent au cadavre enveloppé d'herbes et de _tapa_ + (étoffes de papyrus faites dans le pays). On n'aperçoit du corps + ainsi habillé que les extremités des doigts des pièds et des + mains." + + [111] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 331. + +There seems to be no evidence that the stone platforms on which the +sepulchral sheds or huts of the Marquesans were erected ever took the +shape of stepped or terraced pyramids like the massive stone pyramids of +Tahiti and Tonga. So far as the mortuary platforms of the Marquesans are +described, they appear to have been quadrangular piles of stone, with +upright sides, not stepped or terraced. Megalithic monuments in the form +of stepped or terraced pyramids seem to have been very rare in the +Marquesas Islands; indeed, it is doubtful whether they existed at all. +With regard to the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), it is positively +affirmed by Bennett that none of the valleys contain "any _morais_ or +other buildings devoted to religious purposes, nor any public +idols";[112] and by _morais_ he probably means stepped pyramids like +those of Tahiti and Tonga. However, in the valley of Taipii (Typee), in +Nukahiva, a megalithic monument, built in terraces, was seen by Melville +in 1842. He describes it as follows: + + [112] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 322. + +"One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon +a scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of +the Druids. At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all +sides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step by +step, for a considerable distance up the hillside. These terraces cannot +be less than one hundred yards in length and twenty in width. Their +magnitude, however, is less striking than the immense size of the blocks +composing them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to +fifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are +quite smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation, they +bear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without cement, and +here and there show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower one +are somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have both a +quadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace +elevated several feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense +trees have taken root, and their broad boughs, stretching far over and +interlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun. +Overgrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from one to another, +is a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy embrace many of the stones lie +half-hidden, while in some places a thick growth of bushes entirely +covers them. There is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of +these terraces, and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation, +that a stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of +their existence. + +"These structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity, and +Kory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters of scientific research, +gave me to understand that they were coeval with the creation of the +world; that the great gods themselves were the builders; and that they +would endure until time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's prompt +explanation, and his attributing the work to a divine origin, at once +convinced me that neither he nor the rest of his countrymen knew +anything about them."[113] Melville was accordingly disposed to +attribute the erection of these remarkable terraces to an extinct and +forgotten race.[114] The hypothesis is all the more probable because the +monument appears to have been entirely abandoned and unused by the +natives during the time when they have been known to Europeans. But it +is doubtful whether the edifice was a pyramid; all that Melville's +somewhat vague description implies is that it consisted of a series of +terraces built one above the other on the hillside. + + [113] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 166 _sq._ + + [114] Melville, _Typee_, p. 167. + +According to some accounts the remains of the dead, instead of being +deposited in sheds or huts erected on stone platforms, were buried in +the platforms themselves. Thus, according to William Crook, the first +missionary to the Marquesans, "they have a _morai_ in each district, +where the dead are buried beneath a pavement of large stones."[115] +Similarly, in Nukahiva two or three large quadrangular platforms +(_pi-pis_), heavily flagged, enclosed with regular stone walls and +almost hidden by the interlacing branches of enormous trees, were +pointed out as burial-places to Melville, and he was told that the +bodies "were deposited in rude vaults beneath the flagging, and were +suffered to remain there without being disinterred. Although nothing +could be more strange and gloomy than the aspect of these places, where +the lofty trees threw their dark shadows over rude blocks of stone, a +stranger looking at them would have discerned none of the ordinary +evidences of a place of sepulture."[116] To the same effect, perhaps, +Porter observes that, "when the flesh is mouldered from the bones, they +are, as I have been informed, carefully cleansed: some are kept for +relics, and some are deposited in the _morais_."[117] Again, Krusenstern +says that twelve months after the death "the corpse is broken into +pieces, and the bones are packed in a small box made of the wood of the +bread-fruit tree, and carried to the _morai_ or burial place, where no +woman is allowed to approach under pain of death."[118] However, these +statements do not necessarily imply that the bones were buried under the +stones of the platform at the _morai_. + + [115] Quoted by J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 144. + + [116] Melville, _Typee_, p. 205. + + [117] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 123. + + [118] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. + +But whether deposited on biers or buried under the pavement, the remains +of the dead were liable to be carried off in time of war by foes, who +regarded such an exploit as a great deed of heroism. Hence when an +invasion of the enemy in force was expected, the custom was to remove +the bodies from the _morai_ and bury them elsewhere.[119] The heads of +enemies killed in battle were invariably kept and hung up as trophies of +victory in the house of the conqueror. They seem to have been smoked in +order to preserve them better.[120] It is said that they were used as +cups to drink kava out of.[121] + + [119] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134. + + [120] Melville, _Typee_, p. 206. + + [121] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 47. + +After ten months or a year the obsequies were concluded by another +funeral feast, which might last from eight to thirty days according to +the rank of the deceased and the opulence of his family. At the same +time offerings of food were presented afresh at the tomb, and the +decorations were renewed, consisting of branches and leaves and strips +of white bark-cloth, which waved like flags at the end of little white +wands. At these anniversary feasts, to which, if the deceased was a man +of quality, only chiefs were in many cases admitted, great quantities +of pigs were consumed.[122] The intention of the feast is said to have +been to thank the gods for having permitted the dead person to arrive +safely in the other world.[123] + + [122] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._ + + [123] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. + + +§ 9. _Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The souls of the dead were supposed to depart either to an upper or to a +lower world, either to heaven or to a subterranean region called +Havaiki. The particular destination of a soul after death was +determined, not by moral considerations, not by the virtue or vice of +the deceased, but by the rank he had occupied in this life: people of +quality went to the upper world, and common people went to the lower, to +Havaiki.[124] According to a more precise account, heaven was inhabited +by deities of the highest order, by women who had died in childbed, by +warriors who had fallen on the field of battle, by suicides, and +especially by the aristocratic class of the chiefs. This celestial +region was supposed to be a happy land, abounding in bread-fruit paste +(_popoi_), pork, and fish, and offering the companionship of the most +beautiful women imaginable. There the bread-fruit trees dropped their +ripe fruit every moment to the ground, and the supply of coco-nuts and +bananas never failed. There the souls reposed on mats much finer than +those of Nukahiva; and every day they bathed in rivers of coco-nut oil. +In that happy land there were plenty of plumes and feathers, and +boars'-tusks, and sperm-whale teeth far better than even white men can +boast of. The nether world, on the other hand, was peopled with deities +of the second class and by ordinary human beings, who had no pretensions +to gentility. But it was not a place of misery much less of punishment +or torture; on the contrary, we are told that both the upper and the +lower regions were happier than the earth which the living inhabit.[125] +The approach to the lower world, curiously enough, was by sea. The soul +sailed away in a coffin shaped like a canoe (_pahaa_). When it came +near the channel which divides the island Tahuata from the island +Hivaoa, it was met by two deities or two opposing influences, one of +which tried to push the soul into a narrow strait between Tahuata and a +certain rock in the sea, while the other deity or influence endeavoured +to contrive that the soul should keep the broad channel between the rock +and Hivaoa. The souls that were thrust into the narrow strait were +killed; whereas such as kept the open channel were conducted safe by a +merciful god to their destination.[126] + + [124] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 44. + + [125] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 220; Melville, _Typee_, p. 185. + Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40. + + [126] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 220 _sq._ + +Sometimes the land of the dead was identified with a happy island or +islands called Tiburones lying somewhere in the ocean to the west of +Nukahiva. Not uncommonly natives of the Marquesas sailed away in great +double canoes to seek and find these happy isles, but were never heard +of again. On one occasion, for example, forty men in the island of +Ua-pu, who had revolted against their chief and been defeated, embarked +secretly by night and put to sea, hoping to discover the Fortunate +Islands, where they would be beyond the reach of their offended lord, +and where they might pass the remainder of their days in liberty and +bliss. What became of them is unknown, for they were seen and heard of +no more in their native island.[127] + + [127] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 51 _sq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 238 note, 239, 269, 270; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. + cit._ pp. 238 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._ + +But even the souls that went to heaven were supposed to stand in need of +a canoe in order to reach the place of bliss. On this point Porter +writes: "I endeavoured to ascertain whether they had an idea of a future +state of rewards and punishments, and the nature of their heaven. As +respects the latter article, they believed it to be an island, somewhere +in the sky, abounding with everything desirable; that those killed in +war and carried off by their friends, go there, provided they are +furnished with a canoe and provisions; but that those who are carried +off by the enemy, never reach it, unless a sufficient number of the +enemy can be obtained to paddle his canoe there. For this reason they +were so anxious to procure a crew for their priest, who was killed and +carried off by the Happahs. They have neither rewards nor punishments +in this world, and I could not learn that they expected any in the +next."[128] + + [128] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 113. + +In the valley of Taipii (Typee), in the island of Nukahiva, Captain +Porter visited "the chief place of religious ceremony." It was a +platform of the usual sort situated in a fine grove at the foot of a +steep mountain. On the platform was an idol of hard stone, rudely +representing a deity in human shape of about life size and in a +squatting posture. Arranged on either side of this idol, as well as in +front and rear, were several other images of about the same size and of +the same model, but better carved out of bread-fruit wood. The place was +decorated with streamers of white cloth. A few paces from the grave were +four fine war canoes, furnished with outriggers, and decorated with +human hair, coral shells, and many white streamers. In the stern of each +canoe was the effigy of a man with a paddle, steering, in full dress, +decked with plumes, ear-rings, and all the usual ornaments. On enquiring +of the natives, Captain Porter was informed that the dignified effigy +seated in the stern of the most splendid canoe represented a priest who +had been killed not long before by their enemies the Happahs. In the +bottom of the priest's canoe Captain Porter found the putrefying bodies +of two Taipiis (Typees) whom he and his men had recently killed in +battle; and lying about the canoe he saw many other human carcasses, +with the flesh still on them. The other canoes, he was told, belonged to +different warriors who had been killed or had died not long since. "I +asked them," continues Captain Porter, "why they had placed their +effigies in the canoes, and also why they put the bodies of the dead +Typees in that of the priest? They told me (as Wilson interpreted) that +they were going to heaven, and that it was impossible to get there +without canoes. The canoe of the priest being large, he was unable to +manage it himself, nor was it right that he should, he being now a god. +They had, therefore, placed in it the bodies of the Happas and Typees, +which had been killed since his death, to paddle him to the place of his +destination; but he had not been able yet to start, for the want of a +full crew, as it would require ten to paddle her, and as yet they had +only procured eight. They told me also that the taboo, laid in +consequence of his death, would continue until he had started on his +voyage, which he would not be able to do until they had killed two more +of their enemies, and by this means completed the crew. I inquired if he +took any sea stock with him. They told me he did, and pointing to some +red hogs in an enclosure, said that they were intended for him, as well +as a quantity of bread-fruit, coco-nuts, etc., which would be collected +from the trees in the grove. I inquired if he had far to go; they +replied, no: and pointing to a small square stone enclosure, informed me +that was their heaven, that he was to go there. This place was tabooed, +they told me, for every one except their priests."[129] + + [129] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 109-111. A similar, or the same, + effigy of a dead chief seated in his canoe was seen by Melville + in the same valley (_Typee_, pp. 183 _sq._). He says that "the + canoe was about seven feet in length; of a rich, dark-coloured + wood, handsomely carved, and adorned in many places with + variegated bindings of stained sinnate [cinnet], into which were + ingeniously wrought a number of sparkling sea-shells, and a belt + of the same shells ran all round it. The body of the figure--of + whatever material it might have been made--was effectually + concealed in a heavy robe of brown tappa [bark-cloth], revealing + only the hands and head; the latter skilfully carved in wood, + and surmounted by a superb arch of plumes." + +But it was deemed necessary to provide a dead priest or chief with human +victims for other purposes than to paddle his canoe to heaven. When a +great chief died, two commoners were sometimes sacrificed for the +purpose of escorting him to the abode of bliss; one of them carried the +chief's girdle, and the other bore the head of the pig that had been +slaughtered for the funeral feast. The head was intended as a present to +the warden of the infernal regions, who, if he did not get this +perquisite, would revile and stone the ghost, and shut the door in his +face.[130] The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a +priest varied with the respect and fear which he had inspired in his +lifetime;[131] a common number seems to have been three.[132] + + [130] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 163. + + [131] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 228. + + [132] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i, 170. + +The runaway English sailor, Roberts, who had long resided in the +islands, assured the Russian explorer Lisiansky "that, on the death of a +priest, three men must be sacrificed; two of whom are hung up in the +burying-ground, while the third is cut to pieces, and eaten by +visitors; all but the head, which is placed upon one of the idols. When +the flesh of the first two are wasted away, the bones that remain are +burnt. The custom of the country requires, that the men destined for +sacrifice should belong to some neighbouring nation, and accordingly +they are generally stolen. This occasions a war of six, and sometimes of +twelve, months: its duration, however, depends upon the nearest relation +of the deceased priest; who, as soon as he is acquainted with his death, +retires to a place of taboo; and till he chooses to come out, the blood +of the two parties does not cease to flow. During his retirement, he is +furnished with everything he may require, human flesh not +excepted."[133] + + [133] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 81 _sq._ + +A curious mode of preparing a dead man to appear to advantage before the +gods in the other world was to flay his corpse. A Catholic missionary +tells us that when a dead body began to swell up, in consequence of +internal putrefaction, it was customary to flay it and to preserve the +skin as a precious relic in the family treasury, where the eye of a +profane stranger could never fall on it.[134] The reason for observing +the custom is not mentioned by this missionary, but it is explained by +another missionary, Father Amable. It happened that the king or head +chief of the island of Tahuata died, and that his body was brought to +the house of the queen on the bay where Father Amable resided. For +thirty days she kept the corpse in the house and occupied herself with +skinning it with her fingers. Questioned by the missionary as to her +reasons for this strange procedure, she answered that her husband's body +must be without spot or stain, in order that the great goddess Upu might +give him leave to dwell in her land and to bathe in her lake. For this +deity rules over a sort of submarine Eden, planted with all sorts of +excellent fruits and beautified by the calm waters of an azure lake. The +natives of Tahuata believe that the souls of all who die in the +archipelago assemble on the top of a high mountain called Kiukiu. When a +great multitude of souls is there gathered together, the sea opens and +the souls fall plump down into the paradise of the goddess Upu. +However, not all of them are permitted to enter the happy land and to +enjoy the pleasures which it offers. Only such are admitted as have +owned in their lifetime many servants and many pigs and have not been +wicked. Further, none may enter in who bear on their body any marks of +tattooing.[135] Hence the reason for flaying dead bodies seems to have +been to efface, by removing the skin, the tattooed marks which would +have acted as a fatal bar to the entrance of the ghost into paradise. As +to the souls of slaves and the poor, in the opinion of the natives of +Tahuata they go to a gloomy land, which is never illumined by the sun, +and where there is nothing but muddy water to drink.[136] Nevertheless +the people would seem to have believed that the souls of the dead +lingered for a time beside their mouldering bodies before they took +their departure for the far country. In this belief they sacrificed to +them pigs, some baked, and some alive. The baked pigs they put in a +hollow log and hung from the roof of the hut, and they said that a god +named Mapuhanui, who in the beginning had bestowed pigs on men, used to +come and feast on the carcasses in company with the ghost. But when they +offered live pigs, they tethered the animals to the hut in which the +dead body lay, and they fed them till the flesh dropped from the +skeleton; after that they allowed the pigs to die of hunger.[137] +Perhaps, like some other peoples, they imagined that the ghost hovered +about his remains so long as the flesh adhered to the bones, but that +when even that faint semblance of life had vanished he went away and had +no further occasion for pigs, whether alive or dead. + + [134] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116. + + [135] Lettre du R. P. Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xix. (1847) pp. 22 _sq._, 24. + + [136] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [137] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ pp. 23 _sq._ + +However, the souls of the dead were not supposed to be permanently +confined to the other world. After a long sojourn in it, all alike, +whatever the region they inhabited in their disembodied state, could +return to earth and be born again.[138] Indeed, according to the natives +of Nukahiva, the interval between death and reincarnation was not unduly +long; for "every one here is persuaded, that the soul of a grandfather +is transmitted by Nature into the body of his grandchildren; and that, +if an unfruitful wife were to place herself under the corpse of her +deceased grandfather, she would be sure to become pregnant."[139] +Occasionally the soul of a dead person might even inhabit the body of an +animal. Once when a whale was stranded on one of the islands, a +priestess declared that it was the soul of a certain priest, which would +wander until eight human victims were sacrificed to the gods. In vain +her son would have substituted turtles for human beings; the people +would not hear of it; the prescribed victims were captured from a +neighbouring tribe and put to death in order to lay the ghost of the +whale, or rather of the priest who had animated the whale's body.[140] + + [138] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [139] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 89. + + [140] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 161 _sq._ + +But the souls of the dead were also believed to return from the spirit +land for other purposes than to be born again in the flesh. They might +come as ghosts to haunt and torment the living, and as such they were +greatly dreaded by the people.[141] The first watch of the night was the +hour when they were supposed especially to come on errands of +mischief.[142] Particularly dreaded were the ghosts of high priests and +great chiefs, who retained in their spiritual form the passions and the +rancours which they had nursed in life, and who returned in ghostly +shape to earth to meddle with the affairs of the living, and to punish +even trivial offences. To guard against these dangerous intrusions, the +intervention of a priest or priestess was deemed indispensable; it was +his or her business to counteract a spell cast on a family, or to heal a +sickness inflicted on an individual by one of these ghostly +vagrants.[143] Such was the fear of wandering ghosts that no Marquesan +would dare to stir a step abroad at night without the light of a torch; +for well he knew that evil spirits lurked beside the path to knock down +and throttle any rash wayfarer who should dare to leave his footsteps +unillumined.[144] Indeed, we are told that, of all beliefs in the minds +of the natives, the belief in ghosts was the most deeply rooted. It is +impossible to express the dread which they felt of spectres and +apparitions; nobody was exempt from it. But it was only at night that +these phantoms were to be feared. Though they remained invisible, they +revealed themselves to the terror-stricken wanderer by sound and touch; +the least noise heard in the darkness disclosed their presence; the +least contact with them was a sentence of death, sudden or slow, but +sure. Hence, if a man was obliged to go out after sunset, he would +always take somebody with him to bear him company, even if he had to +wake a comrade for the purpose. Among the women the fear of ghosts was +yet greater, many of them would not stir abroad on a moonless night even +in company. In passing by a burial-ground or a solitary tomb, people +used to throw food towards it for the purpose of appeasing the ghost, +who otherwise would have attacked them.[145] + + [141] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40. + + [142] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 210. + + [143] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 224 _sq._ + + [144] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227, 240. + + [145] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 31 _sq._ + +This deep-seated fear of the dead has survived the conversion, real or +nominal, of the Marquesans to Christianity. No native would even now +venture into a cave where the remains of the dead have been deposited, +not though the greatest treasures were to be found there, for such spots +are believed to be constantly haunted by the ghosts of the departed. +Nobody, it is said, would live in a house in which somebody has died; +every such dwelling is immediately burnt down. Hence, when a person is +grievously sick, a little primitive hut is erected beside the house, and +he is carried out to die in it, and when he is dead, the hut is in like +manner destroyed with fire.[146] A woman will sometimes commit suicide +in order that her ghost may haunt and torment her unfaithful +husband.[147] + + [146] Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [147] Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 193 _sq._ + +On the other hand, ghosts in the olden time had also their utility, for +they could be summoned up by a priest or priestess to give information +on various subjects, such as the issue of an illness. On these occasions +the wizard would hold a conversation with the spirit, whose voice could +be heard by the listeners, though his or her shape, as usual, was +invisible in the darkness. Sceptics thought that such communications +were made by means of ventriloquism, and indeed a priestess, who had +professed to evoke the soul of a dead chieftainess, solemnly maintained +that she could make the voice of anybody, whether dead or alive, to +speak from her stomach.[148] + + [148] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227-238. + +In such beliefs and customs are contained as in germ the whole theory +and practice of the worship of the dead. + +NOTE.--We possess no thorough account of the native Marquesan society +and religion as these existed before they were transformed by European +influence. Some of the writers who have described the islanders and +their customs spent only a few days or at most a few weeks among them. +Captain Cook was at the Marquesas only five days, from the 6th to the +11th of April 1774.[149] The French explorer Marchand spent eight days +in the islands from the 13th to the 21st of June 1791.[150] The Russian +explorers Krusenstern and Lisiansky were with their two ships, the +_Nadeshda_ and _Neva_, at Nukahiva for ten days, from the 7th to the +17th of May 1804; along with them was the naturalist Langsdorff, who +wrote an independent account of the voyage.[151] But though their stay +was short, they had the advantage of meeting with two Europeans, an +Englishman named E. Roberts, and a Frenchman named Jean (or Joseph) +Baptiste Cabri, who had lived long in the islands and spoke the native +language. These men acted as interpreters to the Russians and supplied +them with most of the information which they give in their books +concerning the customs and beliefs of the Marquesans. Roberts told them +that he had been seven years in Nukahiva and two years previously in +Santa Christina (Tau-ata); that he had been put ashore on the latter +island out of an English merchant ship, the crew of which had mutinied +against their captain and could not prevail upon him to join their +party; and that in Nukahiva he had lately married a relation of the +king's, by which he acquired great consideration, so that it would be +easy for him to be of assistance to them. At the same time he earnestly +warned them against the Frenchman, who had also resided for some years +in Nukahiva, but whose character he painted in very dark colours. The +two Russian captains, Krusenstern and Lisiansky, accordingly put their +trust in Roberts and drew most of their information concerning the +natives from him. On the other hand their naturalist, Langsdorff, made +most use of the Frenchman. He admitted, indeed, that the Englishman was +a man of better character, greater natural intelligence, and much higher +education; but on the other hand he tells us that the Frenchman had +been longer in the island and possessed a more thorough mastery of the +language and a greater intimacy with the natives, among whom he had +lived as a savage among savages so long that he had almost forgotten his +own native tongue. But Langsdorff took care to question both these men +and only accepted as true statements in which they agreed with each +other, and to this agreement he naturally attached the greater weight +because his two informants were bitterly hostile to each other and +therefore were unlikely to unite in deceiving him.[152] On the whole, +then, the account which Langsdorff gives of Marquesan society and +religion is perhaps more trustworthy as well as fuller than that of his +two compatriots and companions, Krusenstern and Lisiansky. + + [149] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274-281; compare G. Forster, + _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1777), ii. 5 _sqq._ + + [150] C. P. Claret Fleurieu, _Voyage round the World performed + during the years 1790, 1791, and 1792 by Étienne Marchand_ + (London, 1801), i. 31, 51. Marchand's brief account is + supplemented from other sources by his editor Fleurieu (_op. + cit._ i. 55 _sqq._). + + [151] A. J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World in the + years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806_ (London, 1813), i. 108 _sq._, + 133 _sqq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1814), pp. 62, 95; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Bemerkungen auf einer + Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1803 bis 1807_ (Frankfurt am + Main, 1812), i. 75, 161. + + [152] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110-112; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ + p. 79; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 77, 83-85. As to the subsequent + history of Roberts and Cabri, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. + 356-359. + +Captain David Porter of the United States Navy was with his ship the +_Essex_ at Nukahiva from October 24th till December 9th, 1813.[153] A +great part of his time was spent on shore and in close contact with the +natives, and though he did not learn the language, he was able to employ +as an interpreter an Englishman named Wilson, who had lived for many +years in the islands, spoke the language of the natives with the same +facility as his own, and had become a Marquesan in every respect except +in colour. He proved indispensable to the American as an organ of +communication with the people; and much of the information which Porter +gives concerning the customs of the Marquesans was derived by him from +this man.[154] + + [153] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the + Pacific Ocean in the United States frigate Essex in the years + 1812, 1813, and 1814_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 5, + 141. + + [154] D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 17 _sq._ + +The American naval chaplain, the Rev. C. S. Stewart, paid about a +fortnight's visit to Nukahiva, from July 27th to August 13th, 1829, +while his ship, the _Vincennes_, was anchored at the island. But he +received much information from the Rev. W. P. Crook, who spent nearly +two years (1797 and 1798) in the Marquesas, having been the first +missionary landed in the islands by the missionary ship _Duff_. During +his residence in the islands Mr. Crook kept a journal, which he allowed +Mr. Stewart to consult. The contents of the journal corroborated Mr. +Stewart's own observations as to the inhabitants, and the account which +he gives of the religion of the islanders is based mainly on the +information derived from Mr. Crook[155] and is therefore valuable; for +at the time when Mr. Crook landed in the Marquesas the customs and +beliefs of the islanders were still practically unaffected by contact +with Europeans. + + [155] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832), + i. pp. x _sq._, 193, 331. The writer speaks (p. 331) of his stay + of "a fortnight at the Washington Islands." Mr. Crook first + landed in the island of Santa Christina (Tau-ata) on June 6th, + 1797. See James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), pp. 129 _sqq._ As to his + subsequent history in the islands, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_, pp. 35-40. + +The surgeon F. D. Bennett, on a whaling voyage spent a few days in +Santa Christina (Tau-ata), from February 28th to March 4th, 1835; and +his descriptions of what he saw are good so far as they go; but +naturally he could collect but little accurate information as to the +habits and ideas of the people in so short a time.[156] + + [156] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the + Globe from the year 1833 to 1836_ (London, 1840), i 296, 346. + +One of the early Catholic missionaries to the Marquesas, Father Mathias +G----, spent two years in the islands and has given us, in a series of +letters, an account of the native customs and beliefs, which, though far +from complete or systematic, is based on personal observation and is +among the best that we possess.[157] + + [157] Le P. Mathias G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ + (Paris, 1843). The writer is not explicit as to the dates of his + residence in the Marquesas; but he tells us that he spent two + years in habitual intercourse with the natives (p. 49), and from + other allusions which he makes in his narrative (pp. 28 _sq._) + it would seem that the years were 1839 and 1840. The first + Catholic missionaries landed in 1838 (_ib._ p. 22), and others + in 1839 (_ib._ pp. 23 _sq._). Among the latter were Fathers + Garcia and Guilmard (_ib._ p. 24). Father G----may have been one + of them. + +Hermann Melville lived among the Taipiis (Typees) in Nukahiva for more +than four months,[158] and wrote a lively narrative of his experiences. +His personal observations are valuable, but as he did not master the +native language, he was not able to throw much light on the inner life +of the people, and in particular on their religious ideas. + + [158] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_), p. + 254. + +On the 1st of May, 1842, the Marquesas Islands were taken possession of +for France by the French Admiral, Du Petit-Thouars;[159] and next year, +to satisfy the interest of the French public in their new possession, a +comprehensive work on the islands and their inhabitants was published by +MM. Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz.[160] The authors had visited the +islands with the expedition of the French navigator, J. Dumont +d'Urville, in his ships the _Astrolabe_ and the _Zélée_. But as the +expedition stayed only about a week at Nukahiva, from August 26th to +September 3rd, 1838,[161] the writers had little opportunity of making +personal observations. Their work is mainly a careful compilation from +earlier sources, and as such it is a useful and trustworthy summary of +what was known about the archipelago and its inhabitants down to the +date of publication. + + [159] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 119 + _sqq._ + + [160] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843). + + [161] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans + l'Océanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 5, 49. + +Max Radiguet, one of the members of the expedition to the Marquesas +under Admiral Du Petit-Thouars, passed a considerable time in the +islands and wrote a graphic account of his experiences, which contains +some valuable information as to the natives, their customs, religion, +and mythology.[162] In the part which concerns the mythology he was +assisted by an officer of artillery, M. Rohr, who had lived for several +years in Nukahiva and was familiar with the language and customs of the +people.[163] + + [162] Max Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, Nouvelle Édition + (Paris, 1882). The author does not inform us as to the exact + length of his stay in the islands. + + [163] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 221 note. + +In 1877 a good general account of the archipelago and its inhabitants +was published at Paris. The author was a naval lieutenant, P. E. Eyriaud +des Vergnes, who having lived in the islands in the official capacity of +Resident for about six years (from 1868 to 1874) had ample time and +opportunity for obtaining accurate information on the subject.[164] His +work, though somewhat slight, is valuable so far as it goes; but it does +not tell us much about the native religion, which in his time had +probably lost a good deal of its original character through the +influence of the missionaries and of civilisation.[165] + + [164] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles Marquises_ + (Paris, 1877). + + [165] Some years previously a naval lieutenant, M. Jouan, who + had been in command of the French military post at Nukahiva, + published in the _Revue Coloniale_ (1857-1858) some notes on the + Marquesas, which are said to contain some useful information on + the archipelago. See M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 310 note. I have + not seen the work of M. Jouan; but according to Radiguet it + shows that in the twelve years and more which had elapsed since + the French occupation of the islands the presence of French + missionaries and of a French garrison had done little to + civilise the natives. + +Some years later, in 1881 and 1882, a French naval doctor, Clavel by +name, passed six months in the Marquesas. During his stay he made +personal observations and collected information on the natives. These he +subsequently published in a little work, which contains much of +value;[166] but when he wrote almost all the natives had been nominally +converted to Christianity and their ancient religion was practically +extinct.[167] + + [166] _Les Marquisiens_, par M. le Docteur Clavel (Paris, 1885). + + [167] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 68-71. + +Towards the end of the nineteenth century the German traveller Arthur +Baessler paid a short visit to the Marquesas. In his book of travel in +the South Sea he has given us descriptions of the islands and the people +as he saw them, including some account of the scanty remains of their +stone monuments and images.[168] + + [168] Arthur Baessler, _Neue Südsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. + 189-242. The writer omits to mention the date of his visit to + the islands, and the length of his stay in them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS + + +§ 1. _The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands_ + +The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands form an archipelago lying in the North +Pacific Ocean just within the northern tropic. They stretch in a +direction from north-west to south-east for more than four hundred miles +and include eight inhabited islands, of which the most important are +Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Of these Hawaii is by far the largest; +indeed it is the largest island in Polynesia with the exception of New +Zealand. The islands are all mountainous and of volcanic formation. In +Hawaii two of the mountains are between 13,000 and 14,000 feet in +height, and two of them are active volcanoes; one of them, named +Kilauea, possesses the greatest active crater in the world, a huge +cauldron of seething lava, which presents a spectacle of awe-inspiring +grandeur when seen on a moonless night. The other and much loftier +volcano, Mauna Loa, was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1877 and of +another in 1881. Craters, large and small, hot springs, and other +evidences of volcanic activity, abound throughout the archipelago. One +of the craters on the island of Maui is said to be no less than fifteen +miles in circumference and about two thousand feet deep. The islands +appear to have been known to the Spaniards as early as the sixteenth +century; but they were rediscovered in 1778 by Captain Cook, who was +afterwards killed in a fight with the natives in Hawaii.[1] + + [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 4 _sqq._; J. J. + Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._; J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_ + (Paris and Leipzig, 1862), pp. vii _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die + Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 271 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia + Britannica_, Ninth Edition, xi. 528 _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die + Hawaiischen Inseln_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 1 _sqq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 533 _sqq._ + +Viewed from the sea the islands are apt to present an appearance of +barrenness and desolation. The mountains descend into the sea in +precipices often hundreds of feet high: their summits are capped with +snow or lost in mist and clouds; and their sides, green and studded with +clumps of trees in some places, but black, scorched and bare in others, +are rent into ravines, down which in the rainy seasons cataracts rush +roaring to the sea. With the changes of sunshine and shadow the +landscape as a whole strikes the beholder now as in the highest degree +horrid, dismal, and dreary, now as wildly beautiful and romantic with a +sort of stern and sombre magnificence.[2] Inland, however, in many +places the summits of the ridges crowned with forests of perpetual +verdure, the slopes covered with flowering shrubs or lofty trees, the +rocks mantled in creepers, the waterfalls dropping from stupendous +cliffs, and the distant prospects of snowy peaks, bold romantic +headlands, and blue seas, all arched by a summer sky of the deepest +azure, combine to make up pictures of fairy-like and enchanting +loveliness.[3] + + [2] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 94; W. Ellis, _Polynesian + Researches_, iv. 34, 379; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, Fifth Edition (Boston, 1839), pp. 69 _sqq._, + 140; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, + i. 366, 391; Ch. Wilkes, _United States Exploring Expedition_, + New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 373. + + [3] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 13 _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ + pp. 213 _sqq._, 229 _sqq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. + 426 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xiv _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op. + cit._ iii. 390 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling + Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840), i. 198 _sqq._ The vale + of Anuanu, which runs up into the mountains from the plain of + Honululu in the island of Oahu, is especially famed for its + natural beauty. + +The climate naturally varies with the height above the sea. On the +coasts, though warm, it is remarkably equable, and perhaps no country in +the world enjoys a finer or healthier climate than some parts of Hawaii +and Maui. On the mountains all varieties of climate are to be found, +from the tropical heat of the lowlands to the arctic cold of the two +great peaks of Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa with their perpetual +snows, which are not, however, always visible from the sea or from the +foot of these giants. In the lowlands frost is unknown. The fresh +breezes, which blow from the sea during the day and from the mountains +at night, temper the heat of the sun, and render the evenings delicious; +nothing can surpass the splendour and clearness of the moonlight. Rain +falls more abundantly on the windward or eastern side of the islands +than on the leeward or western side. Thus at Hilo, on the eastern side +of Hawaii, it rains almost every day, whereas in Kena, on the western +side, rain hardly ever falls, and along the coast not a single +water-course is to be seen for many miles. In general it may be said +that the archipelago suffers from drought and hence occasionally from +dearth.[4] + + [4] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xvi _sqq._ Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, vii. 99 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 21 _sq._; Ch. + Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 283 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. + 12 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th edition, xi. 530. + + +§ 2. _The Natives and their Mode of Life_ + +The natives of the Sandwich Islands are typical Polynesians. In general +they are rather above the middle stature, well formed, with fine +muscular limbs, open countenances, and features frequently resembling +those of Europeans. The forehead is usually well developed, the lips +thick, and the nostrils full, without any flatness or spreading of the +nose. The complexion is tawny or olive in hue, but sometimes reddish +brown. The hair is black or brown and occasionally fair or rather ruddy +in colour, in texture it is strong, smooth, and sometimes curly. The +gait is graceful and even stately. But in these islands, as in other +parts of Polynesia, there is a conspicuous difference between the chiefs +and the commoners, the superiority being altogether on the side of +the chiefs. "The nobles of the land," says Stewart, "are so strongly +marked by their external appearance, as at all times to be easily +distinguishable from the common people. They seem, indeed, in size and +stature to be almost a distinct race. They are all large in their frame, +and often excessively corpulent, while the common people are scarce of +the ordinary height of Europeans, and of a thin rather than full +habit."[5] And the difference between the two ranks is as obvious in +their walk and general deportment as in their stature and size, the +nobles bearing themselves with a natural dignity and grace which are +wanting in their social inferiors. Yet there seems to be no reason to +suppose that they belong to a different race from the commoners; the +greater care taken of them in childhood, their better living, sexual +selection, and the influence of heredity appear sufficient to account +for their physical superiority. The women are well built and "beautiful +as ancient statues" with a sweet and engaging expression of countenance. +Yet on the whole the Hawaiians are judged to be physically inferior both +to the Tahitians and to the Marquesans; according to Captain King, they +are rather darker than the Tahitians, and not altogether so handsome a +people. On the other hand they are said to be more intelligent than +either the Tahitians or the Marquesans. Captain King describes them as +of a mild and affectionate disposition, equally remote from the extreme +levity and fickleness of the Tahitians, and from the distant gravity and +reserve of the Tongans.[6] They practised tattooing much less than many +other Polynesians, but their faces, hands, arms, and the forepart of +their bodies were often tattooed with a variety of patterns.[7] + + [5] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 104. + + [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 112 _sq._, 115 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, + _Voyage round the World_, pp. 123 _sq._; L. de Freycinet, + _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. Deuxième partie + (Paris, 1839), p. 570; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 23; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 104, 106; J. + J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 77 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. + xxxvii _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 209. The last of + these writers speaks in unfavourable terms of the personal + appearance of the women, whom he found less handsome than the + men and very inferior to the women of the Society Islands. + + [7] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 213 _sq._, vii. 121; W. Ellis, _op. + cit._ iv. 23. + +The staple food of the Hawaiians consists of taro (_kalo_), sweet +potatoes, and fish, but above all of taro. That root (_Arum_ or +_Caladium esculentum_) is to the Hawaiians what bread-fruit is to the +Tahitians, and its cultivation is their most important agricultural +industry. It is grown wherever there is water or a marsh, and it is even +planted on some arid heights in the island of Hawaii, where it yields +excellent crops. Artificial irrigation was practised and even regulated +by law or custom in the old days; for it was a rule that water should be +conducted over every plantation twice a week in general, and once a +week during the dry season. The bread-fruit tree is not so common, and +its fruit not so much prized, as in the Marquesas and Tahiti. The +natives grew sweet potatoes even before the arrival of Europeans. Yams +are found wild, but are hardly eaten except in times of scarcity. There +are several sorts of bananas; the fruit for the most part is better +cooked than raw. In the old days the cooking was done in the ordinary +native ovens, consisting of holes in the ground lined with stones which +were heated with fire. After being baked in an oven the roots of the +taro are mashed and diluted with water so as to form a paste or pudding +called _poe_ or _poi_, which is sometimes eaten sweet but is more +generally put aside till it has fermented, in which condition it is +preferred by the natives. It is a highly nutritious substance, and +though some Europeans complain of the sourness of taro pudding, others +find it not unpalatable. Fish used to be generally eaten raw, seasoned +with brine or sea-water. But they also commonly salt their fish, not for +the sake of preserving it for a season of scarcity, but because they +prefer the taste. They construct artificial fish-ponds, into which they +let young fish from the sea, principally the fry of the grey mullet, of +which the chiefs are particularly fond. Every chief has, or used to +have, his own fish-pond. The natives are very skilful fishermen. In the +old days they made a great variety of fish-hooks out of mother-of-pearl +and tortoise shell as well as out of bone, and these they dragged by +means of lines behind their canoes, and so caught bonettas, dolphins, +and albicores. They took prodigious numbers of flying fish in nets. At +the time when the islands were discovered by Captain Cook, the natives +possessed pigs and dogs. The flesh of both of these animals was eaten, +but only by persons of higher rank. Fowls were also bred and eaten, but +they were not very common, and their flesh was not very much esteemed. +The sugar-cane was indigenous in the islands, and the people ate it as a +fruit; along with bananas and plantains it occupied a considerable +portion of every plantation. Captain Cook found the natives skilful +husbandmen, but thought that with a more extensive system of +agriculture, the islands could have supported three times the number of +the existing inhabitants.[8] He remarked that the chiefs were much +addicted to the drinking of kava, and he attributed some of the +cutaneous and other diseases from which they suffered to an immoderate +use of what he calls the pernicious drug.[9] + + [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 215 _sq._, 219, 224 _sq._, vii. 126 + _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 126; Archibald + Campbell, _Voyage round the World_ (Edinburgh, 1816), pp. + 161-63, 182 _sq._, 194-197; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 61, 215 + _sq._, 420 (as to irrigation); C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, pp. 111-113; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ + i. 412, 426, 428, 430, 472; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die + Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 96; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 68 + _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxiv _sq._, xliii; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the World_, i. 213 _sqq._ + As to the system of irrigating the taro fields, see especially + O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and + Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 340 _sq._ + + [9] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 113 _sq._ + + +§ 3. _Houses, Mechanical Arts_ + +Captain King observed that in some respects the natives of the Sandwich +Islands approached nearer in their manners and customs to the Maoris of +New Zealand than to their less distant neighbours of the Society and +Friendly Islands, the Tahitians and the Tongans. In nothing, he says, is +this more observable than in their method of living together in small +towns or villages, containing from about one hundred to two hundred +houses, built pretty close together, without any order, and with a +winding path leading through them. They were generally flanked towards +the sea with loose detached walls, intended for shelter and defence.[10] +The shape of the houses was very simple. They were oblong with very high +thatched roofs, so that externally they resembled the top of hay-stacks +or rather barns with the thatched roof sloping down steeply to two very +low sides, and with gable ends to match. The entrance, placed +indifferently in one of the sides or ends, was an oblong hole, so low +that one had rather to creep than walk in, and often shut by a board of +planks fastened together, which served as a door. No light entered the +house but by this opening, for there were no windows. Internally every +house consisted of a single room without partitions. In spite of the +extreme simplicity of their structure, the houses were kept very clean; +the floors were covered with a large quantity of dried grass, over which +they spread mats to sit and sleep upon. At one end stood a kind of bench +about three feet high, on which were kept the household utensils. These +consisted merely of a few wooden bowls and trenchers, together with +gourd-shells, serving either as bottles or baskets. The houses varied in +size with the wealth or rank of the owners. Those of the poor were mere +hovels, which resembled the sties and kennels of pigs and dogs rather +than the abodes of men. The houses of the chiefs were generally large +and commodious by comparison, some forty to sixty feet long by twenty or +thirty feet broad, and eighteen or twenty feet high at the peak of the +roof. Chiefs had always a separate eating-house, and even people of the +lower ranks had one such house to every six or seven families for the +men. The women were forbidden to eat in company with the men and even to +enter the eating-house during the meals; they ate in the same houses in +which they slept. The houses of the chiefs were enclosed in large yards, +and sometimes stood on stone platforms, which rendered them more +comfortable.[11] + + [10] J. Cook, vii. 125. + + [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 214 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage + round the World_, p. 127; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, + pp. 180-182; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, + p. 107; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 320-322; Tyerman and Bennet, + _op. cit._ i. 371 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._ + +In the mechanical arts the Hawaiians displayed a considerable degree of +ingenuity and skill. While the men built the houses and canoes and +fashioned wooden dishes and bowls, the women undertook the manufacture +of bark-cloth (_kapa_) and mats. Bark-cloth was made in the usual way +from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which was beaten out with grooved +mallets. The cloth was dyed a variety of colours, and patterns at once +intricate and elegant were stamped on it and stained in different tints. +The mats were woven or braided by hand without the use of any frame or +instrument. The materials were rushes or palm-leaves; the mats made of +palm-leaves were much the more durable and therefore the more valuable. +The coarser and plainer were spread on the floor to sleep on; the finer +were of white colour with red stripes, rhombuses, and other figures +interwoven on one side. Among the most curious specimens of native +carving were the wooden bowls in which the chiefs drank kava. They were +perfectly round, beautifully polished, and supported on three or four +small human figures in various attitudes. These figures were accurately +proportioned and neatly finished; even the anatomy of the muscles +strained to support the weight were well expressed. The fishing-hooks +made by the men, especially the large hooks made to catch shark, are +described by Captain Cook as really astonishing for their strength and +neatness; he found them on trial much superior to his own.[12] + + [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 218 _sq._, vii. 133-135; L. de + Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 611 _sq._; + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 192-195; W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ iv. 109-113; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, pp. 114-116; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 66 + _sq._ + +The mechanical skill of these people was all the more remarkable because +of the extreme rudeness and simplicity of the tools with which they +worked. Their chief implement was an adze made of a black or +clay-coloured volcanic stone and polished by constant friction with +pumice-stone in water. They had also small instruments made each of a +single shark's tooth, some of which were fixed to the forepart of a +dog's jawbone and others to a thin wooden handle of the same shape. +These served as knives, and pieces of coral were used as files. Captain +Cook found the natives in possession of two iron tools, one of them a +piece of iron hoop, and the other an edge-tool, perhaps the point of a +broadsword. These they could only have procured from a European vessel +or from a wreck drifted on their coast. No mines of any kind are known +to exist in the islands.[13] + + [13] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 220-224; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. + 198; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 322; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise + um die Welt_, ii. 97 (as to the kava bowls); J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 66. As to the absence of mines in the Hawaiian Islands, + see J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xvi. + +Their weapons of war included spears, javelins, daggers, and clubs, all +of them made of wood. They also slung stones with deadly effect. But +they had no defensive armour; for the war-cloaks and wicker-work +helmets, surmounted with lofty crests and decked with the tail feathers +of the tropic bird, while they heightened the imposing and martial +appearance of the wearers, must have proved rather encumbrances than +protections. Captain Cook found the natives in possession of bows and +arrows, but from their scarcity and the slenderness of their make he +inferred that the Hawaiians, like other Polynesians, never used them in +battle.[14] + + [14] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 227 _sq._, vii. 136 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 156 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 56 + _sq._ + + +§ 4. _Government, Social Ranks, Taboo_ + +The government of the Hawaiian Islands was an absolute monarchy or +despotism; all rights of power and property vested in the king, whose +will and power alone were law, though in important matters he was to a +certain extent guided by the opinion of the chiefs in council. The rank +of the king and the chiefs was hereditary, descending from father to +son; but the appointment to all offices of authority and dignity was +made by the king alone. Nevertheless posts of honour, influence, and +emolument often continued in the same family for many generations. Nor +were hereditary rank and authority confined to men; they were inherited +also by women. According to tradition, several of the islands had been +once or twice under the government of a queen. The king was supported by +an annual tribute paid by all the islands at different periods according +to his directions. It comprised both the natural produce of the country +and manufactured articles. But besides the regular tribute the king was +at liberty to levy any additional tax he might please, and even to seize +and appropriate any personal possessions of a chief or other subject. +Not infrequently the whole crop of a plantation was thus carried off by +his retainers without the least apology or compensation.[15] However, +the government of the whole Hawaiian archipelago by a single monarch +was a comparatively modern innovation. Down to nearly the end of the +eighteenth century the different islands were independent of each other +and governed by separate kings, who were often at war one with the +other; indeed there were sometimes several independent kingdoms within +the same island. But towards the close of the eighteenth century an +energetic and able king of Hawaii, by name Kamehameha (Tamehameha), +succeeded in extending his sway by conquest over the whole archipelago, +and at his death in 1819 he bequeathed the undivided monarchy to his +successors.[16] + + [15] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._; A. Campbell, _op. + cit._ pp. 169 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 411 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 102; Tyerman + and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 380; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 30 + _sqq._ According to Jarves (_op. cit._ p. 33), "Rank was + hereditary, and descended chiefly from the females, who + frequently held the reins of government in their own right. This + custom originated in the great license existing between the + sexes; no child, with certainty, being able to designate his + father, while no mistake could be made in regard to the mother." + + [16] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 101; + J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 30; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. lxi + _sq._; _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 9th Edition, xi. 528. + +The whole body of chiefs fell into three classes or ranks. The first +included the royal family and all who were intimately connected with it. +The second included such as held hereditary offices of power or +governorships of islands, after the time when the whole archipelago was +united in a single kingdom. The third class embraced the rulers of +districts, the headmen of villages, and all inferior chiefs. The members +of the first two classes were usually called "high chiefs"; they were +few in number and closely related both by blood and marriage. The +members of the third class were known as "small" or "low" chiefs. They +were by far the most numerous body of chiefs in any island, and were +generally called _haku aina_ or landowners, though strictly speaking the +king was acknowledged in every island as the supreme lord and proprietor +of the soil by hereditary right or the law of conquest. When Kamehameha +had subdued the greater part of the islands, he distributed them among +his favourite chiefs and warriors on condition of their rendering him +not only military service, but a certain proportion of the produce of +their lands. In this he appears to have followed the ancient practice +invariably observed on the conquest of an island.[17] For "from the +earliest periods of Hawaiian history, the tenure of lands has been, in +most respects, feudal. The origin of the fiefs was the same as in the +northern nations of Europe. Any chieftain who could collect a sufficient +number of followers to conquer a district, or an island, and had +succeeded in his object, proceeded to divide the spoils, or 'cut up the +land,' as the natives termed it. The king, or principal chief, made his +choice from the best of the lands. Afterwards the remaining part of the +conquered territory was distributed among the leaders, and these again +subdivided their shares to others, who became vassals, owing fealty to +the sovereigns of the fee. The king placed some of his own particular +servants on his portion as his agents, to superintend the cultivation. +The original occupants who were on the land, usually remained under +their new conqueror, and by them the lands were cultivated, and rent or +taxes paid."[18] + + [17] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ p. 97; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. + 412 _sq._, 414; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 33. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, vii. 137 _sqq._ + + [18] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 34. + +Below the chiefs or nobles were the commoners, who included small +farmers, fishermen, mechanics, such as house-builders and +canoe-builders, musicians and dancers, in short, all the labouring +classes, whether they worked for a chief or farmer or cultivated patches +of land for their own benefit.[19] According to one account, "the common +people are generally considered as attached to the soil, and are +transferred with the land from one chief to another."[20] But this +statement is contradicted by an earlier and perhaps better-informed +writer, who spent some thirteen months in Oahu, while the islands were +still independent and before the conversion of the people to +Christianity. He tells us that commoners were not slaves nor attached to +the soil, but at liberty to change masters when they thought proper.[21] +On this subject Captain King observes: "How far the property of the +lower class is secured against the rapacity and despotism of the great +chiefs, I cannot say, but it should seem that it is sufficiently +protected against private theft, or mutual depredation; for not only +their plantations, which are spread over the whole country, but also +their houses, their hogs, and their cloth, were left unguarded, without +the smallest apprehensions. I have already remarked, that they not only +separate their possessions by walls in the plain country, but that, in +the woods likewise, wherever the horse-plantains grow, they make use of +small white flags in the same manner, and for the same purpose of +discriminating property, as they do bunches of leaves at Otaheite. All +which circumstances, if they do not amount to proofs, are strong +indications that the power of the chiefs, where property is concerned, +is not arbitrary, but at least so far circumscribed and ascertained, as +to make it worth the while for the inferior orders to cultivate the +soil, and to occupy their possessions distinct from each other."[22] Yet +on the other hand we are told by later writers that "in fact, the +condition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold nothing +which may not be taken from them by the strong hand of arbitrary power, +whether exercised by the sovereign or a petty chief." On one occasion +the writers saw nearly two thousand persons, laden with faggots of +sandal-wood, coming down from the mountains to deposit their burdens in +the royal store-houses, and then departing to their homes, weary with +their unpaid labours, yet without a murmur at their bondage.[23] When at +last, through contact with civilisation, they had learned to utter their +grievances, they complained that "the people was crushed by the numerous +forced labours and contributions of every sort exacted from them by the +chiefs. It was, indeed, very hard to furnish the chiefs, on every +requisition, with pigs, food, and all the good things which the folk +possessed, and to see the great despoiling the humble. In truth, the +people worked for the chiefs incessantly, they performed every kind of +painful task, and they paid the chiefs all the taxes which it pleased +them to demand."[24] + + [19] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413. + + [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 417. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 34. + + [21] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 169. As to the length of + Campbell's residence in Wahoo (Oahu), see _id._, p. 153 note. + The date of his residence was 1809-1810. Compare O. von + Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's + Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 246: "The people are almost + subject to the arbitrary will of the lord, but there are no + slaves or vassals (_glebae adscripti_). The peasant and the + labourer may go wherever they please. The man is free, he may be + killed, but not sold and not detained." + + [22] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 141 _sq._ + + [23] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 415. + + [24] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 167. + +Certainly commoners were bound to pay great outward marks of deference +to their social superiors, the chiefs, or nobles. Indeed, the respect +almost amounted to adoration, for they were on no occasion allowed to +touch their persons, but prostrated themselves before them, and might +not enter their houses without first receiving permission.[25] Above +all, the system of taboo or _kapu_, as it was called in the Hawaiian +dialect,[26] oppressed the common people and tended to keep them in a +state of abject subjection to the nobles; for the prescriptions of the +system were numerous and vexatious, and the penalty for breaches of them +was death. If the shadow of a subject fell on a chief, the subject was +put to death; if he robed himself in the cloth or assumed the girdle of +a chief, he was put to death; if he climbed on the wall of a chief's +courtyard, he was put to death; if he stood upright instead of +prostrating himself when a vessel of water was brought for the chief to +wash with or his garments to wear, he was put to death; if he stepped on +the shadow of a chief's house with his head smeared with white clay, or +decked with a garland of flowers, or merely wetted with water, he was +put to death; if he slept with his wife on a taboo day, he was put to +death; if he made a noise during public prayers, he was put to death; if +a woman ate pig, or coco-nuts, or bananas, or lobster, or the fish +called _ulua_, she was put to death; if she went in a canoe on a taboo +day, she was put to death; if husband and wife ate together, they were +both put to death.[27] + + [25] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. + 33 _sq._ Compare J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 137. + + [26] In the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian T is + pronounced K, and the Tongan B is pronounced P. Hence the Tongan + _taboo_ becomes in Hawaiian _kapoo_ (_kapu_). See E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. xxiii. + + [27] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 159, 161, 167. + +In Hawaii, as in other parts of Polynesia, the taboo formed an important +and essential part both of the religious and of the political system, of +which it was at once a strong support and a powerful instrument. The +proper sense of the word taboo (in Hawaiian _kapu_) is "sacred." This +did not, however, imply any moral quality; it expressed rather "a +connexion with the gods, or a separation from ordinary purposes, and +exclusive appropriation to persons or things considered sacred"; +sometimes it meant devoted as by a vow. Chiefs who traced their +genealogy to the gods were called _arii taboo_, "chiefs sacred"; a +temple was a _wahi taboo_, "place sacred"; the rule which prohibited +women from eating with men, and from eating, except on special +occasions, any fruits or animals ever offered in sacrifice to the gods, +while it allowed the men to partake of them, was called _ai taboo_, +"eating sacred." The opposite of _kapu_ was _noa_, which means "general" +or "common"; for example, _ai noa_ signifies "eating generally" or +"having food in common." Although it was employed for civil as well as +sacred purposes, the taboo was essentially a religious ceremony and +could be imposed only by the priests. A religious motive was always +assigned for laying it on, though it was often done at the instance of +the civil authorities; and persons called _kiaimoku_, "island keepers," +a kind of police officers, were always appointed by the king to see that +the taboo was strictly observed.[28] + + [28] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 385 _sqq._ Compare L. de + Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597. + +The application of the restriction implied by taboo was either general +or particular, either permanent or occasional. To take examples of +permanent taboos, the idols and temples, the persons and names of the +king and other members of the royal family, the persons of priests, +canoes belonging to the gods, the houses, clothes, and mats of the king +and priests, and the heads of men who were the devotees of any +particular idol, were always taboo or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, +turtles, and several sorts of fish, coco-nuts, and almost everything +offered in sacrifice were taboo or consecrated to the use of the gods +and the men; hence women were, except in cases of particular indulgence, +forbidden to partake of them. Particular places, such as those +frequented by the king for bathing, were also permanently taboo. As +examples of temporary taboos may be mentioned those which were imposed +on an island or district for a certain time, during which no canoe or +person was allowed to approach it. Particular fruits, animals, and the +fish of certain places were occasionally taboo for several months, +during which neither men nor women might eat them.[29] The predecessor +of Kamehameha, king of Hawaii, "was taboo to such a degree that he was +not allowed to be seen by day. He only showed himself in the night: if +any person had but accidentally seen him by daylight he was immediately +put to death; a sacred law, the fulfilment of which nothing could +prevent."[30] + + [29] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387. + + [30] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247. + +The seasons generally kept taboo were on the approach of some great +religious ceremony, immediately before going to war, and during the +sickness of chiefs. Their duration was various, and much longer in +ancient than in modern times. Tradition tells of a taboo which lasted +thirty years, during which men might not trim their beards and were +subject to other restrictions. Another was kept for five years. Before +the reign of Kamehameha forty days was the usual period; but in his time +the period was shortened to ten or five days, or even to a single day. +The taboo seasons might be either common or strict. During a common +taboo the men were only required to abstain from their usual avocations, +and to attend morning and evening prayers at the temple. But during a +strict taboo every fire and light in the district or island must be +extinguished; no canoe might be launched; no person might bathe or even +appear out of doors, unless his attendance was required at the temple; +no dog might bark, no pig grunt, and no cock crow; for if any of these +things were to happen the taboo would be broken and fail to accomplish +its object. To prevent this disaster the mouths of dogs and pigs were +tied up, and fowls were put under a calabash, or a cloth was fastened +over their eyes.[31] + + [31] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387 _sq._ + +The prohibitions of the taboo were strictly enforced; every breach of +them was punished with death, unless the delinquent had powerful friends +among the priests or chiefs, who could save him. The culprits were +generally offered in sacrifice, being either strangled or clubbed at the +temple; according to one account, they were burnt.[32] + + [32] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 389. As to the taboo in Hawaii, + see also J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 146 _sq._; L. de Freycinet, + _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597; C. S. Stewart, + _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, + _op. cit._ pp. 50-52; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxxviii _sq._, 159 + _sqq._ + +The system seems to have been found at last too burdensome to be borne +even by the king, who under it was forbidden to touch his food with his +own hands, and had to submit to having it put into his mouth by another +person, as if he were an infant.[33] Whatever his motive, Liholiho, son +of Kamehameha, had hardly succeeded his father on the throne of Hawaii +when he abolished the system of taboo and the national religion at a +single blow. This remarkable reformation took place in November 1819. +When the first Christian missionaries arrived from America, some months +later, March 30th, 1820, they were astonished to learn of a peaceful +revolution, which had so opportunely prepared the way for their own +teaching.[34] + + [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 388. + + [34] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 603; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 109 _sqq._; + W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 30, 126 _sqq._, 137, 204, 312; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31, 32 _sq._; + Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 378 _sq._, 397 _sq._, 442 + _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 197 _sq._, 201; J. Remy, + _op. cit._ pp. lxv, 133 _sqq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of + Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), pp. + 69 _sqq._ King Kamehameha the First died 8th May 1819. + + +§ 5. _Religion, the Gods_ + +Of the native Hawaiian religion, as it existed before the advent of +Europeans and the conversion of the people to Christianity, we possess +no adequate account. The defect is probably due in great measure to the +readiness with which the islanders relinquished their old faith and +adopted the new one. The transition seems to have been effected with +great ease and comparatively little opposition; hence when the +missionaries settled in the islands a few months after the formal +abolition of the ancient religion, paganism was already almost a thing +of the past, and the Christian teachers were either unable or perhaps +unwilling to record in detail the beliefs and rites which they regarded +as false and pernicious. Be that as it may, we possess no such +comparatively full and accurate records of the old Hawaiian religion, as +we possess, for example, of the old pagan religion of the Tongans and +the Samoans, who clung much more pertinaciously to the creed of their +fathers than their more enlightened or more fickle kinsfolk in the +Sandwich Islands. Hence we are obliged to content ourselves with some +more or less meagre and fragmentary notices of the ancient Hawaiian +system of religious belief and practice. But as the Hawaiians are, or +were, pure-blooded Polynesians, we may assume with a fair degree of +probability that in its broad lines their religious system conformed to +the ordinary Polynesian type. + +On this subject Captain King, the colleague and successor of Captain +Cook in his last voyage, observes as follows: "The religion of these +people resembles, in most of its principal features, that of the Society +and Friendly Islands. Their _Morais_, their _Whattas_, their idols, +their sacrifices, and their sacred songs, all of which they have in +common with each other, are convincing proofs that their religious +notions are derived from the same source. In the length and number of +their ceremonies this branch indeed far exceeds the rest; and though in +all these countries there is a certain class of men to whose care the +performance of their religious rites is committed, yet we had never met +with a regular society of priests, till we discovered the cloisters of +Kakooa in Karakakooa Bay [in the island of Hawaii]. The head of this +order was called _Orono_; a title which we imagined to imply something +highly sacred, and which, in the person of Omeeah, was honoured almost +to adoration.... It has been mentioned that the title of _Orono_, with +all its honours, was given to Captain Cook; and it is also certain that +they regarded us generally as a race of people superior to themselves; +and used often to say that great _Eatooa_ [_atuas_, spirits] dwelled in +our country. The little image, which we have before described as the +favourite idol on the _Morai_ in Karakakooa Bay, they called +_Koonooraekaiee_, and said it was Terreeoboo's god, and that he also +resided amongst us. There are found an infinite variety of these images +both on the _Morais_, and within and without their houses, to which they +give different names; but it soon became obvious to us in how little +estimation they were held, from their frequent expressions of contempt +of them, and from their even offering them to sale for trifles. At the +same time there seldom failed to be some one particular figure in +favour, to which, whilst this preference lasted, all their adoration was +addressed. This consisted in arraying it in red cloth, beating their +drums, and singing hymns before it, laying bunches of red feathers, and +different sorts of vegetables, at its feet, and exposing a pig or a dog +to rot on the _whatta_ that stood near it. In a bay to the southward of +Karakakooa, a party of our gentlemen were conducted to a large house, in +which they found the black figure of a man, resting on his fingers and +toes, with his head inclined backward, the limbs well formed and +exactly proportioned, and the whole beautifully polished. This figure +the natives call _Maee_; and round it were placed thirteen others of +rude and distorted shapes, which they said were the _Eatooas_ [spirits] +of several deceased chiefs, whose names they recounted. The place was +full of _whattas_, on which lay the remains of their offerings. They +likewise give a place in their houses to many ludicrous and some obscene +idols, like the Priapus of the ancients."[35] + + [35] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 142-144. + +The general Hawaiian name for god was _akua_, corresponding to the more +usual Polynesian form _atua_.[36] The four principal Hawaiian deities +were Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, and Lono.[37] Their names are only dialectically +different forms of Tu, Tane, Tangaroa or Tagaloa, and Rongo, four of the +greatest Polynesian gods.[38] Of these deities it is said that Ku, Kane, +and Lono formed the original Hawaiian triad or trinity, who were +worshipped as a unity under the name of Ku-kau-akahi, "the one +established."[39] The meaning or essence of the three persons of the +trinity is said to be Stability (Ku), Light (Tane), and Sound +(Lono).[40] "These gods," we are told, "created the three heavens as +their dwelling-place, then the earth, sun, moon, and stars, then, the +host of angels and ministers. Kanaloa (Tangaroa), who represented the +spirit of evil, was a later introduction into the Hawaiian theology; he +it was who led the rebellion of spirits, although Milu is in other +traditions credited with this bad pre-eminence."[41] We read that when +the trinity were at work on the task of creating the first man, the bad +spirit Kanaloa, out of rivalry, also made an image, but he could not +endow it with life. So, in a rage, he cried to Kane, "I will take your +man, he shall die!" And that, it is said, was the origin of death. The +reason why the spirits, under the leadership of Kanaloa, rebelled was +that they had been denied the sacrifice of kava. For their rebellion +they were thrust down to the lowest depth of Darkness or Night +(_Po_).[42] + + [36] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, p. 30, _s.v._ "Atua." + + [37] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. + 40; H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), p. 11; A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_ + (Leipzig, 1881), p. 131; _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_ + (Berlin, 1883), p. 225; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, + pp. 97 _sq._ + + [38] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ 425, 461, 464, 540, _s.vv._ "Rongo," + "Tane," "Tangaroa," "Tu." + + [39] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ "Rongo." + + [40] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ pp. 461, 540, _s.vv._ "Tane," "Tu." + + [41] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 540, _s.v._ "Tu." + + [42] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 464, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." According + to another account, the evil spirit was not Kanaloa, but Ku; + Kanaloa was a younger brother of Kane, and helped him in his + beneficent labours. See A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, + pp. 97 _sq._ This latter version agrees with the view of Kane + and Kanaloa as divine twins. See below, pp. 394 _sq._ + +A fuller account of these momentous transactions presents a close, +perhaps a suspicious, resemblance to the Biblical narrative of the same +events. It runs as follows: + +"According to ancient Hawaiian traditions, there existed in the chaos +three mighty gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono. By their common action light was +brought into the chaos. Then the gods created three heavenly spheres, in +which they dwelt, and last of all the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Out +of their spittle they thereupon created a host of angels, who had to +render service to the three original deities. Last of all came the +creation of man. His body was fashioned out of red earth, and his head +out of white clay, and Kane, the highest of the gods, breathed into this +Hawaiian Adam the breath of life. Out of one of his ribs the Hawaiian +Eve was created. The newly formed pair, by name Kumuhonua and +Keolakuhonua, were placed in a beautiful paradise called Paliuli, which +was watered by the three rivers of life, and planted with many fine +trees, among them the sacred bread-fruit tree. The mightiest of the +angels, Kanaloa, the Hawaiian Lucifer, desired that the newly created +human pair should worship him, which was forbidden by God the Father, +Kane. After vain attempts to create a new man devoted to himself, +Kanaloa, out of desire for vengeance, resolved to ruin the first human +pair created by the gods. In the likeness of a great lizard he crept +into Paradise and seduced the two inhabitants of the same into +committing sin, whereupon they were driven out of Paradise by a powerful +bird sent by Kane. Then follow, as in the Bible, the legends of the +Hawaiian Cain (Laka) and the Hawaiian Noah (Nuu), by whom the ancestors +of the Hawaiian people are said to have been saved from the universal +flood."[43] The story of the creation of the first woman out of a rib of +the first man appears to have been widespread in Polynesia, for it is +reported also from Tahiti,[44] Fakaofo or Bowditch Island,[45] and New +Zealand.[46] + + [43] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 97. + + [44] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 110 _sq._; Tyerman + and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 312 _sq._ + + [45] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 267 _sq._ + + [46] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 59. Compare _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, + i. 9 _sq._ + +Of the three persons in the Hawaiian trinity, Kane (Tane) is said to +have been the principal. He was especially associated with light; in a +fragment of an ancient liturgy he is called Heaven-father (_Lani-makua_) +and in a very ancient chant he is identified with the Creator. When +after the great flood the Hawaiian Noah, who is called Nuu, left his +vessel, he offered up sacrifice to the moon, saying, "You are doubtless +a transformation of Tane." But the deity was angry at this worship of a +material object; nevertheless, when Nuu expressed his contrition, the +rainbow was left as a pledge of forgiveness.[47] + + [47] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 461, _s.v._ "Tane." + +According to one account, the two great gods Kane and Kanaloa were +twins. In Hawaii twins are regarded as superior to ordinary mortals both +in mind and body; hence it was natural to conceive of a pair of divine +twins, like the Dioscuri in Greek mythology. And, like the Dioscuri, the +divine Hawaiian twins sometimes appeared together to their worshippers +as helpers in time of need. Thus, in a season of dearth, when people +were dying of hunger, a poor fisher lad in the island of Lanai set up a +tiny hut on the sea-shore, and there day by day he offered a little from +the scanty store of fish which his family had caught; and as he did so +he prayed, saying, "Here, O god, is fish for thee." One day, as he sat +there, racked with unsatisfied yearning for the divine assistance, two +men came walking that way and rested at the hut; and, taking them to be +weary wanderers, the fisher lad willingly gave them what little food he +had left over. They slept there that night, and next day, when they were +departing, they revealed themselves to him as the two gods Kane and +Kanaloa, and they told him that his prayer had been heard, and that +salvation would follow. Sure enough, plenty soon returned to the land, +and on the spot where the little hut had stood, a stone temple was +built in stately terraces.[48] Again, we hear how when drought had +lasted long in the island of Oahu, and death stared the farmers in the +face for lack of water, the gods Kane and Kanaloa appeared in the +likeness of two young men and showed them a spring, which was afterwards +consecrated to the divine twins.[49] Once more, it is said that, when +the two deities were in Oahu, it chanced that they could find no water +with which to moisten their dry food. Then at Kane's direction Kanaloa +struck a stone with his spear, and from the stone there sprang a +fountain, which bears the name of Kane to this day, and still it rises +and sinks on the day of the moon which is sacred to that divinity.[50] + + [48] A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_, pp. 131, + 132. + + [49] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ pp. 132 _sq._ + + [50] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 133. As to the divine twins in + Hawaii, see also _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 243. + +The god Lono was, as we have seen, no other than the great Polynesian +deity Rongo, the two names being the same word in dialectically +different forms. He was one of the most popular gods of Hawaii;[51] the +seasons and other natural phenomena were associated with him, and +prayers for rain were particularly addressed to him.[52] According to +one account, he was an uncreated, self-existent deity;[53] but according +to another account he was an ancient king of Hawaii, who rashly killed +his wife on a suspicion of infidelity, and then, full of remorse, +carried her lifeless body to a temple and made a great wail over it. +Thereafter he travelled through Hawaii in a state of frenzy, boxing and +wrestling with every one whom he met. The people in astonishment said, +"Is Lono entirely mad?" He replied, "I am frantic with my great love." +Having instituted games to commemorate his wife's death, he embarked in +a triangular canoe for a foreign land. Before he departed, he +prophesied, saying, "I will return in after times, on an island bearing +coco-nut trees, swine, and dogs." After his departure he was deified by +his countrymen, and annual games of boxing and wrestling were instituted +in his honour.[54] When Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, the natives +took him to be their god Lono returned according to his prophecy. The +priests threw a sacred red mantle on his shoulders and did him +reverence, prostrating themselves before him; they pronounced long +discourses with extreme volubility, by way of prayer and worship. They +offered him pigs and food and clothes, and everything that they offered +to the gods. When he landed, most of the inhabitants fled before him, +full of fear, and those who remained prostrated themselves in adoration. +They led him to a temple, and there they worshipped him. But afterwards +in a brawl, when they saw his blood flowing and heard his groans, they +said, "No, this is not Rono," and one of them struck him, so that he +died. But even after his death, some of them still thought that he was +Rono, and that he would come again. So they looked on some of his bones, +to wit his ribs and his breastbone, as sacred; they put them in a little +basket covered all over with red feathers, and they deposited it in a +temple dedicated to Rono. There religious homage was paid to the bones, +and thence they were carried every year in procession to several other +temples, or borne by the priests round the island, to collect the +offerings of the faithful for the support of the worship of the god +Rono.[55] + + [51] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 41. + + [52] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 98. + + [53] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ "Rongo." + + [54] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 135; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise + um die Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 88 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 41 _sq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one Years + in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), p. 32; A. Bastian, + _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 246. + + [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 134-136; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. + cit._ i. 376; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 29-37; O. von Kotzebue, + _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98 _sq._ + +The great Polynesian god or hero Maui was known in Hawaii, where the +stories told of him resembled those current in other parts of the +Pacific. He is said to have dragged up the islands on his fishing-hook +from the depths of the ocean, and to have brought men their first +fire.[56] One day, when his wife was making bark-cloth and had not time +to finish it before night, Maui laid his hand on the sun and prevented +it from going down till the work was completed.[57] + + [56] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 236, _s.v._ "Maui"; A. Marcuse, _Die Haiwaiischen Inseln_, p. + 98. + + [57] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 433; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 26. + +The national war-god of Hawaii was named Tairi (Kaili). In the evening +he used to be seen flitting about near his temple in the form of a sort +of luminous vapour, like a flame or the tail of a comet. A similar +appearance is also occasionally seen in the Society Islands, where the +terrified natives formerly identified it with their god Tane, and +supposed that the meteor was the deity flying from temple to temple or +seeking whom he might destroy.[58] The image of the war-god Tairi used +to be carried to battle by the priest, who held it aloft above the +ranks. It was four or five feet high; the upper part was of wicker-work, +covered with red feathers; the face grinned hideously; the mouth +displayed triple rows of dog's or shark's teeth; the eyes gleamed with +mother of pearl; and the head was crowned with a helmet crested with +long tresses of human hair. In the battle the priest used to distort his +face into a variety of frightful grimaces and to utter appalling yells, +which were supposed to proceed from the god whom he bore or attended. +But the national war-god was not the only deity whose image was borne to +battle. Other chiefs of rank had their war-gods carried near them by +their priests; and if the king or chief was killed or taken, the god +himself was usually captured also. The presence of their deities +inspired the warriors with courage; for they imagined the divine +influence to be essential to victory.[59] The diviners were consulted +immediately before a battle. They slew the victims, and noticed the face +of the heavens, the passage of clouds over the sun, and the appearance +of a rainbow. If the omens were favourable, the image of the principal +war-god was brought out in front of the whole army and placed near the +king. The priest then prayed to the gods, beseeching them to prove +themselves stronger than the gods of the enemy in the ensuing +engagement, and promising them hecatombs of victims in the event of +victory. The bodies of foes slain in the battle were dragged to the king +or priest, who offered them as victims to his gods.[60] + + [58] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 119. + + [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 158 _sq._ + + [60] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 157 _sq._, 159. + +The gods of Hawaii fell into two classes, according as they were +believed to have been primaeval deities born of Night (Po), or the souls +of men who had been deified after death. For it was believed to be +possible to detain the soul of a beloved or honoured person at death by +keeping his clothes or his bones; and the soul could thereafter be +invoked and could speak through the mouth of the person into whom it had +entered. Both classes of deities, the primaeval and the human, were +credited with the power of making people ill.[61] One way of obtaining a +guardian deity for a family was to take the body of a still-born child +and throw it into the sea or bury it in the earth; in the former case +the embryo was supposed to turn into a shark, in the latter case into a +grasshopper. When it was deemed necessary to obtain the help of a deity +(_akua_) for a special purpose, such as success in fishing or in +canoe-building, the divine spirit could be conjured into an image +(_kii_), and could thereafter appear in a dream to his worshipper and +reveal to him what food he desired to have dedicated to him, and what +accordingly the worshipper must abstain from eating. Often the god +showed himself to the dreamer in the shape of a stone or other object; +and on awakening the man was bound to procure the object, whatever it +was, and to honour it with prayer and sacrifice, in order to ensure the +protection of the deity. Prayers addressed to private gods were usually +the property of the owner, who was commonly also their author; whereas +prayers addressed to a public god, such as Kane, had to be learned from +a priest or other adept.[62] + + [61] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 269 _sq._ + + [62] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 271 _sq._ + +Among the deities who had once been men would seem to have been the god +of medicine, the Hawaiian Aesculapius. It is said that many generations +ago a certain man named Koreamoku received all medicinal herbs from the +gods, who also taught him the use of them. After his death he was +deified, and a wooden image of him was placed in a large temple at +Kairua, to which offerings of hogs, fish, and coco-nuts were frequently +presented. Oronopuha and Makanuiairomo, two friends and disciples of +Koreamoku, continued to practise the healing art after the death of +their master, and they too were deified after death, particularly +because they were often successful in driving away the evil spirits +which afflicted the people and threatened them with death. To these +deified men the priests addressed their prayers when they administered +medicine to the sick.[63] + + [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 335 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 71. + +Of all the deities of Hawaii the most dreaded was Pele, the goddess of +the volcanic fire, whose home was in the great and ever active volcano +of Kilauea. There she dwelt with the other members of her family, +brothers and sisters. They were all said to have come to Hawaii from a +foreign country called Tahiti after the great deluge had subsided. The +cones which rise like islands from the vast sea of boiling lava, +vomiting columns of smoke or pyramids of flame, were the houses where +these volcanic deities lived and amused themselves by playing at +draughts: the crackling of the flames and the roaring of the furnaces +were the music of their dance; and the red flaming surge was the surf +wherein they sported, swimming on the rolling fiery waves.[64] The +filaments of volcanic glass, of a dark olive colour and as fine as human +hair, some straight, some crimped or frizzled, which are to be seen +abundantly on the sides of the crater, and on the plain for miles round, +are called by the natives "Pele's hair"; in some places they lie so +thick as to resemble cobwebs covering the surface of the ground.[65] +Near the crater grow bushes bearing clusters of red and yellow berries +resembling large currants; of these the natives formerly would never eat +till they had thrown some of the clusters into the thickest of the smoke +and vapour as an offering to the goddess of the volcano.[66] Vast +numbers of hogs, some alive, others cooked, used to be cast into the +craters when they were in action or when they threatened an eruption; +and when they boiled over, the animals were flung into the rolling +torrent of lava to appease the gods and arrest the progress of the fiery +stream. For the whole island had to pay tribute to the gods of the +volcano and to furnish provisions for the support of their ministers; +and whenever the chiefs or people failed to send the proper offerings or +incurred the displeasure of the dreadful beings by insulting them or +their ministers, or by breaking the taboos which had to be observed in +the vicinity of the craters, the angry deities would spout lava from the +mountain or march by subterranean passages to the abode of the culprits +and overwhelm them under a flood of molten matter. And if the fishermen +did not offer them enough fish, they would rush down, kill the fish with +fire, and, filling up the shoals, destroy the fishing-grounds +entirely.[67] People who passed by the volcano of Kilauea often +presented locks of hair to Pele by throwing them into the crater with an +appropriate address to the deity.[68] On one occasion, when a river of +lava threatened destruction to the people of the neighbourhood, and the +sacrifice of many hogs, cast alive into the stream, had not availed to +stay its devastating course, King Kamehameha cut off some of his own +sacred locks and threw them into the torrent, with the result that in a +day or two the lava ceased to flow.[69] In the pleasant and verdant +valley of Kaua there used to be a temple of the goddess, where the +inhabitants of Hamakua, a district of Hawaii, formerly celebrated an +annual festival designed to propitiate the dread divinity and to secure +their country from earthquakes and floods of lava. On such occasions +large offerings of hogs, dogs, and fruit were made, and the priests +performed certain rites.[70] Worshippers of Pele also threw some of the +bones of their dead into the volcano, in the belief that the spirits of +the deceased would then be admitted to the society of the volcanic +deities, and that their influence would preserve the survivors from the +ravages of volcanic fire.[71] Nevertheless the apprehensions uniformly +entertained by the natives of the fearful consequences of Pele's anger +prevented them from paying very frequent visits to the vicinity of the +volcano; and when on their inland journeys they had occasion to approach +the mountain, they were scrupulously attentive to every injunction of +her priests, and regarded with a degree of superstitious veneration and +awe the appalling spectacle which the crater, with its sea of molten and +flaming lava, presented to their eyes.[72] They even requested strangers +not to dig or scratch the sand in its neighbourhood for fear of +displeasing the goddess and provoking her to manifest her displeasure by +an eruption.[73] + + [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 237, 246-249; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 42 _sq._ + + [65] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 363 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ + iv. 129. + + [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 234-236. + + [67] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 250. + + [68] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350. + + [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 59. _sq._ + + [70] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350. + + [71] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361. + + [72] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 275. + + [73] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 239. + +The service of Pele was regularly cared for by an hereditary steward +(_kahu_) and an hereditary priestess. The duty of the steward was to +provide the materials for the public sacrifices, including the food and +raiment for the goddess; it was for him to furnish the hogs and fowls, +to cultivate the taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane which were to +serve her for nourishment, to tend the plants from which her garments +were to be made, and to have all things in readiness for the offerings +at the appointed seasons. Of the plantations sacred to this use, one was +on the sea-shore, and another in the broken ground within the precincts +of the crater; and the steward with his family resided sometimes in the +one place and sometimes in the other. When the time came for offering +the sacrifice, the priestess descended into the depths of the volcano, +and there approaching as near as possible to the spot where the fire +burned most furiously, she cast into it her gifts, saying, "Here, Pele, +is food for you, and here is cloth," whereby she mentioned each article +as she flung it into the flames.[74] Sometimes the priestess claimed to +be inspired by Pele and even to be the goddess in person. One of the +priestesses, in an interview with the missionary William Ellis, assumed +a haughty air and declared, "I am Pele; I shall never die; and those who +follow me, when they die, if part of their bones be taken to Kilauea, +will live with me in the bright fires there." In a song she gave a long +account of the deeds and honours of the goddess, who, she said, dwelt in +the volcano and had come in former times from the land beyond the sky. +This song she chanted or recited in a rapid and vociferous manner, +accompanied by extravagant gestures, working herself up to a state of +excitement in which she appeared to lose all self-command. She also +claimed to be able to heal the sick through the indwelling spirit of the +goddess.[75] But the goddess was served also by priests. We read of one +such who offered prayers to her and assured the people that thereafter +she would do them no harm.[76] + + [74] C. S. Stewart, _A Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832), + ii. 104. + + [75] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 309-311. For other interviews with + priestesses of the goddess see _id._, iv. 275 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, ii. 100-103. + + [76] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 378. + +The Hawaiians also paid religious reverence to certain birds, fish, and +animals. In a village Captain King saw two tame ravens which the people +told him were _eatooas_ (_atuas_, _akuas_), that is, gods or spirits, +cautioning him at the same time not to hurt or offend them.[77] The +native authors of a work on the history of Hawaii, speaking of the +ancient religion of their people, tell us that "birds served some as +idols; if it was a fowl, the fowl was taboo for the worshippers, and the +same for all the birds which were deified. The idol of another was a +four-footed animal, and if it was a pig, the pig was taboo for him. So +with all the animals who became gods. Another had a stone for his idol; +it became taboo, and he could not sit upon the stone. The idol of +another was a fish, and if it was a shark, the shark was taboo for him. +So with all the fish, and so they deified all things in earth and +heaven, and all the bones of men."[78] Further, the same writers observe +that "the trees were idols for the people and for the chiefs. If a man +had for his idol the _ohia_ tree, the _ohia_ was taboo for him; if the +bread-fruit tree was the idol of another, the bread-fruit tree was taboo +for him. The taboo existed likewise for all the trees out of which men +had made divine images, and it was the same also for food. If taro was a +person's idol, taro was taboo for him. It was the same for all the +eatables of which they had made gods."[79] This deification of birds, +fish, animals, plants, and inanimate objects resembles the Samoan system +and may, like it, be a relic of totemism.[80] Among the living creatures +to which they thus accorded divine honours were lizards, rats, and +owls.[81] + + [77] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 144. + + [78] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 165. + + [79] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 163, 165. + + [80] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + + [81] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + +Among the deified fishes it would seem that the shark held a foremost +place. On almost every cape jutting out into the sea, a temple used to +be built for the worship of the shark. The first fish of each kind, +taken by the fishermen, were always carried to the temple and offered to +the god, who was supposed to have driven them towards the shore.[82] +When the king or the priests imagined that the shark wanted food, they +sallied forth with their attendants, one of whom carried a rope with a +running noose. On coming to a group or crowd of people, they threw the +rope among them, and whoever happened to be taken in the snare, whether +man, woman, or child, was strangled on the spot, the body cut in pieces, +and flung into the sea, to be bolted by the ravenous monsters.[83] +Fishermen sometimes wrapped their dead in red native cloth, and threw +them into the sea to be devoured by the sharks. They thought that the +soul of the deceased would animate the shark which had eaten his body, +and that the sharks would therefore spare the survivors in the event of +a mishap at sea.[84] It was especially stillborn children that were thus +disposed of. The worshipper of the shark would lay the body of the +infant on a mat, and having placed beside it two roots of taro, one of +kava, and a piece of sugar-cane, he would recite some prayers, and then +throw the whole bundle into the sea, fully persuaded that by means of +this offering the transmigration of the soul of the child into the body +of a shark would be effected, and that thenceforth the formidable +monster would be ready to spare such members of the family as might +afterwards be exposed to his attack. In the temples dedicated to sharks +there were priests who, at sunrise and sunset, addressed their prayers +to the image which represented the shark; and they rubbed themselves +constantly with water and salt, which, drying on their skin, made it +appear covered with scales. They also dressed in red cloth, uttered +piercing yells, and leaped over the wall of the sacred enclosure; +moreover they persuaded the islanders that they knew the exact moment +when the children that had been thrown into the sea were transformed +into sharks, and for this discovery they were rewarded by the happy +parents with liberal presents of little pigs, roots of kava, coco-nuts, +and so forth.[85] The priests also professed to be inspired by sharks +and in that condition to foretell future events. Many people accepted +these professions in good faith and contributed to support the +professors by their offerings.[86] + + [82] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 90; compare _id._, pp. 129 _sq._ + + [83] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 422 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, + _op. cit._ p. 45. + + [84] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361. + + [85] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 595 _sq._ + + [86] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 65. + +From the foregoing account it appears that some at least of the +worshipful sharks were supposed to be animated by the souls of the +dead. Whether the worship of other sacred animals in Hawaii was in like +manner combined with a theory of transmigration, there seems to be no +evidence to decide. We have seen that a similar doubt rests on the +worship of animals in Tonga.[87] + + [87] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._ + + +§ 6. _Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners_ + +The priesthood formed a numerous and powerful body. Their office was +hereditary. They owned much property in people and lands, which were +heavily taxed for their support. Each chief had his family priest, who +followed him to battle, carried his war-god, and superintended all the +sacred rites of his household. The priests took rank from their gods and +chiefs. The keeper of the national war-god, who was immediately attached +to the person of the king, was the high priest.[88] In the inner court +of the great temple dedicated to Tairi, the war-god, stood a lofty frame +of wicker-work, in shape something like an obelisk, hollow within and +measuring four or five feet square at the base. Within this framework +the priest stood and gave oracles in the name of the god, whenever the +king came to consult the deity on any matter of importance, such as a +declaration of war or the conclusion of peace; for the war-god was also +the king's oracle. The oracular answer, given by the priest in a +distinct and audible voice, was afterwards reported by the king, +publicly proclaimed, and generally acted upon.[89] When the villages +failed to pay their tribute punctually to the king, he used to send +forth a priest bearing the image of the great god Rono, who scoured the +country of the defaulters for twenty-three days and obliged them to pay +double tribute. The priest who bore the image was strictly tabooed; +during his peregrination he might not touch anything with his hands; his +food had to be put into his mouth either by the chiefs of the villages +where he halted or by the king himself, who accompanied him.[90] + + [88] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 48. + + [89] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 97. + + [90] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 596. + +Distinct from the regular priests were the diviners or sorcerers who +formed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. Their services were +employed for various purposes, such as to discover the cause of illness +or to detect a thief. The people generally believed that all deaths, +which were not due to acts of violence, were wrought either by the +action of a deity or by the incantations of a sorcerer. Hence in cases +of protracted illness the aid of one of these inferior clergy was almost +invariably sought by all who could procure a dog and a fowl for the +necessary sacrifice to the god, and a piece or two of cloth as a fee for +the priest. But the offerings to the god and the fees to the priest +naturally varied with the rank or wealth of the sufferer. After +sacrificing the victims the priest lay down to sleep, and if his prayers +were answered, he was usually able to inform the invalid of the cause of +his illness, which had been revealed to him in a dream. But the same +men, who could thus heal the sick by ascertaining and removing the cause +of sickness, were supposed to possess the power of praying or enchanting +people to death by the recitation of spells or incantations. The prayers +or incantations which they employed for these beneficent or maleficent +purposes varied with the individual: every practitioner had his own +formulas, the knowledge of which he carefully confined to his own +family; and he who was thought to have most influence with his god was +most frequently employed by the people and derived the greatest +emoluments from his profession.[91] Of this class of men the most +dreaded were those who invoked the god Uli as their patron deity. Their +special business was to kill people by their spells, which they recited +secretly, and for the most part by night; but to render these effectual +it was necessary for them to obtain some of the personal refuse of their +victim, such as his spittle, the parings of his nails, or the clippings +of his hair, which they buried or burned with the appropriate +incantations.[92] Hence the king of Hawaii was constantly attended by a +servant carrying a spittoon in which he collected the royal saliva to +prevent it from being used by the king's enemies for his injury or +destruction.[93] Ordinary chiefs seem to have adopted the same +precaution; a confidential servant deposited their spittle carefully in +a portable spittoon and buried it every morning.[94] + + [91] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 293-295. Compare U. Lisiansky, + _op. cit._ pp. 120 _sq._; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, + pp. 171 _sqq._; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich + Islands_, pp. 202 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 414; + J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 36 _sq._, 71 _sq._; A. Marcuse, + _op. cit._ pp. 103-105. + + [92] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 104. + + [93] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 313. + + [94] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 365. + +A form of divination or magic was employed to detect a thief. The person +who had suffered the loss used to apply to a priest, to whom he +presented a pig and told his story. Thereupon the priest kindled a fire +by rubbing two pieces of wood together, and having taken three nuts he +broke the shells and threw one of the kernels into the fire, saying, +"Kill or shoot the fellow." If the thief did not appear before the nut +was consumed in the flames, the priest repeated the ceremony with the +other two nuts. Such was the fear inspired by this rite that the culprit +seldom failed to come forward and acknowledge his guilt. But if he +persisted in concealing his crime, the king would cause proclamation to +be made throughout the island that so-and-so had been robbed, and that +the robber or robbers had been prayed to death. So firm was the belief +of the people in the power of these prayers, that the criminal, on +hearing the proclamation, would pine away, refuse food, and fall a +victim to his own credulity.[95] + + [95] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 171-173. + + +§ 7. _Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices_ + +Of the Hawaiian temples, as they existed before the abolition of the +native religion, we seem to possess no good and clear description. When +Captain Cook first visited Hawaii and was sailing along the coast, he +noticed from the ship at every village one or more elevated white +objects, like pyramids or rather obelisks; one of them he judged to be +fifty feet high. On landing to examine it, he could not reach it on +account of an intervening pool of water. However, he visited another +structure of the same sort in a more accessible situation, and found +that it stood in what he calls a burying-ground or _morai_ closely +resembling those which he had seen in other Polynesian islands and +especially in Tahiti. This particular _morai_ was an oblong space, of +considerable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about four feet +high. The area enclosed was loosely paved with smaller stones; and at +one end of it stood the pyramid or obelisk, measuring about four feet +square at the base and about twenty feet high. The four sides were +composed, not of stones, but of small poles interwoven with twigs and +branches, thus forming an indifferent wicker-work, hollow or open within +from bottom to top. It seemed to be in a rather ruinous state, but +enough remained to show that it had been originally covered with the +light grey cloth to which the natives attached a religious significance. +It was no doubt with similar cloth that the white pyramids or obelisks +were covered which Captain Cook beheld in the distance from the deck of +his ship. Beside the particular pyramid which he examined Captain Cook +found a sacrificial stage or altar with plantains laid upon it. The +pyramids or obelisks which he thus saw and described were presumably the +structures in which the priests concealed themselves when they gave +oracles in the name of the god. On the farther side of the area of the +_morai_ of which Captain Cook has given us a description stood a house +or shed about ten feet high, forty feet long, and ten broad in the +middle, but tapering somewhat towards the ends. The entrance into it was +at the middle of the side, which was in the _morai_. On the farther side +of the house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden images, each cut +out of a single piece, with pedestals, in all about three feet high, not +badly designed nor executed. They were said to represent goddesses +(_eatooa no veheina_). On the head of one of them was a carved helmet, +and on the other a cylindrical cap like the head-dress worn at Tahiti. +In the middle of the house, and before the two images, was an oblong +space, enclosed by a low edging of stone and covered with shreds of the +same grey cloth which draped the pyramid or obelisk. Within this +enclosure seven chiefs lay buried; and outside the house, just on one +side of the entrance, were two small square spaces in which a man and a +hog were buried respectively, after being killed and sacrificed to the +divinity. At a little distance from these, and near the middle of the +_morai_, were three more of these square enclosed places, in which three +chiefs had been interred. In front of their graves was an oblong +enclosed space in which, as Captain Cook was told, three human victims +were buried, each of them having been sacrificed at the funeral of one +of the three chiefs. Within the area of the _morai_ or burying-ground, +as Captain Cook calls it, were planted trees of various kinds. Similar +sanctuaries appeared to Captain Cook to abound in the island; the +particular one described by him he believed to be among the least +considerable, being far less conspicuous than several others which he +had seen in sailing along the coast.[96] + + [96] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 183-187. The cloth-covered pyramid + or obelisk was called a _henananoo_ (_ib._ p. 187). + +From his description we may infer that the temples (_morais_) observed +by him did not contain stone pyramids like those which formed such +prominent features in the Tahitian sanctuaries and in the burial grounds +of the Tooitongas in Tongataboo; for the pyramids, or rather obelisks, +of wicker-work seen by Captain Cook in the Hawaiian sanctuaries were +obviously structures of a wholly different kind. But there seem to be +some grounds for thinking that stone pyramids, built in steps or +terraces, did occur in some of the Hawaiian temples. Thus Captain King +saw a _morai_, as he calls it, which consisted of a square solid pile of +stones about forty yards long, twenty broad, and fourteen [feet?] in +height. The top was flat and well paved, and surrounded by a wooden +rail, on which were fixed the skulls of captives who had been sacrificed +on the death of chiefs. The ascent to the top of the pile was easy, but +whether it was a staircase or an inclined plane is not mentioned by +Captain King. At one end of the temple or sacred enclosure was an +irregular kind of scaffold supported on poles more than twenty feet +high, at the foot of which were twelve images ranged in a semicircle +with a sacrificial table or altar in front of them. On the scaffold +Captain Cook was made to stand, and there, swathed in red cloth, he +received the adoration of the natives, who offered him a hog and chanted +a long litany in his honour.[97] + + [97] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5-7. + +When Kamehameha was busy conquering the archipelago in the last years of +the eighteenth century, he built a great temple (_heiau_) for his +war-god Tairi in the island of Hawaii. Some thirty years later the +ruined temple was visited and described by the missionary William Ellis. +He says: "Its shape is an irregular parallelogram, 224 feet long, and +100 wide. The walls, though built of loose stones, were solid and +compact. At both ends, and on the side next the mountains, they were +twenty feet high, twelve feet thick at the bottom, but narrowed in +gradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, six feet +wide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the sea were not more than +seven or eight feet high, and were proportionally wide. The entrance to +the temple is by a narrow passage between two high walls.... The upper +terrace within the area was spacious, and much better finished than the +lower ones. It was paved with flat smooth stones, brought from a +distance. At the south end was a kind of inner court, which might be +called the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol +used to stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities.... +On the outside, near the entrance to the inner court, was the place of +the _rere_ (altar) on which human and other sacrifices were offered. The +remains of one of the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the +natives, and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men and +animals, the mouldering remains of those numerous offerings once +presented there. About the centre of the terrace was the spot where the +king's sacred house stood, in which he resided during the season of +strict _tabu_, and at the north end, the place occupied by the houses of +priests, who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons +permitted to dwell within the sacred enclosures. Holes were seen on the +walls, all around this, as well as the lower terraces, where wooden +idols of varied size and shape formerly stood, casting their hideous +stare in every direction."[98] + + [98] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 96-98. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 45 _sq._ + +From this somewhat indistinct description we gather that the temple was +a large oblong area enclosed by high stone walls and open to the sky, +and that at some place within the enclosure there rose a structure in a +series of terraces, of which the uppermost was paved with flat stones +and supported the king's house, while the houses of the priests stood in +another part of the sacred enclosure. If this interpretation is correct, +we may infer that the temple resembled a Tahitian _morai_, which was a +walled enclosure enclosing a sort of stepped and truncated pyramid built +of stone.[99] The inference is confirmed by the language used by Captain +King in speaking of the temple which he describes, for he calls it a +_morai_,[100] and the same term is applied to the sacred edifices in +Hawaii by other voyagers.[101] + + [99] See above, pp. 278 _sqq._ + + [100] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5. + + [101] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 89 _sq._; + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 175. + +Another ruined temple (_heiau_) seen by Ellis in Hawaii, is described by +him as built of immense blocks of lava, and measuring a hundred and +fifty feet long by seventy feet wide. At the north end was a smaller +enclosure, sixty feet long and ten wide, partitioned off by a high wall, +with but one narrow entrance. The places where the idols formerly stood +were apparent, though the idols had been removed. The spot where the +altar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of +earth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava. +The adjacent ground was strewn with bones of the ancient offerings.[102] +Another temple (_heiau_), in good preservation, visited by Ellis, +measured no less than two hundred and seventy feet in one direction by +two hundred and ten in another. The walls were thick and solid; on the +top of them the stones were piled in a series of small spires. The +temple was said to have been built by a queen of Hawaii about eleven +generations back.[103] Once more in one of the _puhonuas_ or cities of +refuge, which in Hawaii afforded an inviolable sanctuary to fugitives, +Ellis saw another temple (_heiau_), which he describes as "a compact +pile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, and ten feet +high. Many fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, of two or more tons +each, were seen in several parts of the wall, raised at least six feet +from the ground." Ellis was told that the city of refuge, of which this +temple formed part, had been built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii +about two hundred and fifty years before the time when the missionary +was writing.[104] From his descriptions we may infer that some at least +of the Hawaiian temples deserved to rank among megalithic structures, +and that the natives had definite traditions of the kings or queens by +whom the temples had been built. + + [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 116. + + [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 117 _sq._ + + [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 169. + +In the island of Oahu a temple (_heiau_) visited by the missionary +Stewart was forty yards long by twenty yards broad. The walls, of dark +stone, were perfectly regular and well built, about six feet high, three +feet wide at the level of the ground, and two feet wide at the top. It +was enclosed only on three sides, the oblong area formed by the walls +being open on the west; from that side there was a descent by three +regular terraces or very broad steps.[105] This brief account confirms +the inference which I have drawn from the more detailed description of +Ellis, as to the terraced structure of some Hawaiian temples. + + [105] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. + 226 _sq._ + +In the mountains of Hawaii, at a height of about five thousand feet +above the sea, Commodore Wilkes saw the ruins of an ancient temple of +the god Kaili (Tairi), round about which stood eight small pyramids +built of compact blocks of lava laid without cement. These pyramids were +said to have been erected at the command of Umi, an ancient king, to +commemorate his conquests. They seem to have measured each some ten or +twelve feet square. The temple which they surrounded was about +ninety-two feet long by seventy-two feet wide; the outer walls were +about seven feet high and as many thick. Internally the edifice was +divided by partition walls three feet high. The building was said to +have been formerly covered with idols, of which no traces remained at +the time of Wilkes's visit.[106] + + [106] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 99 _sq._, with the plate. + +Often, apparently, a Hawaiian temple consisted of little more than a +walled or palisaded enclosure containing a number of rudely carved +images and a place of sacrifice in the form of a platform raised on +poles. Such a temple is described by the Russian navigator Lisiansky. +The images in it were grouped and arranged so as to form a sort of +semicircle. The chief priest of the temple informed the Russians "that +the fifteen statues wrapped in cloth represented the gods of war; the +two to the right of the place of sacrifice, the gods of spring; those on +the opposite side, the guardians of autumn; and that the altar was +dedicated to the god of joy, before which the islanders dance and sing +on festivals appointed by their religion." With regard to the temples in +general, Lisiansky observes that they "were by no means calculated to +excite in the mind of a stranger religious veneration. They are suffered +to remain in so neglected and filthy a condition, that, were it not for +the statues, they might be taken rather for hog-sties than places of +worship."[107] + + [107] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 105-107. He says (p. 106) + that the temple was "called by the natives _Heavoo_, not + _Morai_, as some navigators have said." The word _Heavoo_ is + probably identical with the word _heiau_, which other writers + give as the Hawaiian name for a temple. As to the form of the + temples see also A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 175 + _sq._: "Their Morais, or places of worship, consist of one large + house or temple, with some smaller ones round it, in which are + the images of their inferior gods. The tabooed or consecrated + precincts are marked out by four square posts, which stand + thirty or forty yards from the building. In the inside of the + principal house there is a screen or curtain of white cloth, + hung across one end within which the image of Etooah [_atua_, + _akua_] is placed." Remy (_op. cit._ p. xl) describes the + Hawaiian temples as "simple enclosures of stones, roofless, + where the religious ceremonies were performed." + +The images of the gods were usually carved of wood. When a new idol was +to be made, a royal and priestly procession went forth, with great +ceremony, to the destined tree, where the king himself, with a stone +axe, struck the first blow at the root. After the tree was felled, a man +or a hog was killed and buried on the spot where it had grown.[108] +Sometimes, apparently, the direction to carve an idol out of a +particular tree was given by a god in a dream. There is a tradition that +once when the woodmen were felling such a tree with their stone axes, +the chips flew out and killed two of them; whereupon the other woodmen +covered their faces with masks, and cut down the tree with their +daggers.[109] Another famous idol was said to be made of wood so +poisonous, that if chips of it were steeped in water, and anybody drank +of the water, he would die in less than twenty-four hours.[110] The +Hawaiians seem to have made their idols hideous on purpose to inspire +terror.[111] The features of some of the images were violently +distorted, their mouths set with a double row of the fangs of dogs, +their eyes made of large pearl oysters with black nuts in the middle; +some had long pieces of carved wood, shaped like inverted cones, rising +from the top of their heads;[112] some had tongues of a monstrous size, +others had no tongues at all; some had mouths that reached from ear to +ear; the heads of some were a great deal larger than their bodies.[113] +Some of the idols were stones. In the island of Hawaii there is a pebbly +beach from which pebbles used to be carried away to be deified or to +represent deities. They were generally taken in couples, a male and a +female, and having been wrapt up very carefully together in a piece of +native cloth, they were conveyed to a temple (_heiau_), where ceremonies +of consecration or deification were performed over them.[114] + + [108] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 450. + + [109] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 92 _sq._ + + [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 91. + + [111] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 101. + + [112] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 6, 15; compare A. Campbell, _op. + cit._ p. 76. + + [113] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 107. + + [114] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 212 _sq._ + +The human sacrifice offered at the making of an idol was intended to +impart strength to the image.[115] But human sacrifices were offered on +many other occasions, such as on the approach of war, on the death of a +chief, and so forth. There is a tradition that Umi, a famous king of +Hawaii, once offered eighty men to his god as a thank-offering for +victory. The victims were generally prisoners of war, but in default of +captives any men who had broken taboos or rendered themselves obnoxious +to the chiefs were sacrificed. It does not appear that they were slain +in the presence of the idol or within the temple, but either on the +outside or where they were first taken; in all cases an attempt seems to +have been made to preserve the body entire or as little mangled as +possible. Generally the victims were despatched by a blow on the head +with a club or stone; sometimes, however, they were stabbed. Having been +stripped naked, the bodies were carried into the temple and laid in a +row, with their faces downwards, on the altar immediately before the +idol. The priest thereupon, in a kind of prayer, offered them to the +gods; and if hogs were sacrificed at the same time, they were +afterwards piled on the human bodies and left there to rot and putrefy +together.[116] + + [115] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 161. + + [116] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 150-152; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ + pp. 47 _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xl _sq._ Compare U. + Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 121 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. + cit._ i. 423 _sq._ + +When a new temple was about to be dedicated, some of the people used to +flee into the mountains to escape being sacrificed. The last human +sacrifices are said to have been offered in 1807, when the queen of the +islands was seriously ill.[117] Whenever war was in contemplation, the +diviners used to sacrifice animals, generally hogs and fowls, and to +draw omens from the manner in which they expired, from the appearance of +their entrails, and from other signs. Sometimes, when the animal was +slain, they disembowelled it, took out the spleen, and, holding it in +their hands, offered their prayers. But if the contemplated expedition +was of any importance or the danger was imminent, human sacrifices were +offered to ensure the co-operation of the war-gods in the destruction of +their enemies.[118] + + [117] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 103. + + [118] W. Ellis, iv. 150 _sq._ + + +§ 8. _Festivals_ + +In every lunar month the people celebrated four festivals. The festival +of the new moon lasted three nights and two days; the three others +lasted two nights and one day. These nights and days were taboo or +sacred: men who took part in the festivals might not speak to a woman +under pain of death, and all the people were forbidden to sail the sea, +to fish, to make bark-cloth, and to play games.[119] Besides these +monthly festivals there was one called Macahity, which lasted for a +whole month and seems to have celebrated the end of the old year. It +fell in November, and has been compared by Lisiansky to our festival of +Christmas. He tells us that "it continues a whole month, during which +the people amuse themselves with dances, plays, and sham-fights of every +kind. The king must open this festival wherever he is. On this occasion, +his majesty dresses himself in his richest cloak and helmet, and is +paddled in a canoe along the shore, followed sometimes by many of his +subjects. He embarks early, and must finish his excursion at sun-rise. +The strongest and most expert of the warriors is chosen to receive him +on his landing. This warrior watches the royal canoe along the beach; +and as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off his cloak, he darts +his spear at him, from a distance of about thirty paces, and the king +must either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer from it: there is no +jesting in the business. Having caught it, he carries it under his arm, +with the sharp end downwards, into the temple or _heavoo_. On his +entrance, the assembled multitude begin their sham-fights, and +immediately the air is obscured by clouds of spears, made for the +occasion with blunted ends. Hamamea [the king, Kamehameha] has been +frequently advised to abolish this ridiculous ceremony, in which he +risks his life every year; but to no effect. His answer always is, that +he is as able to catch a spear, as any one on the island is to throw it +at him. During the Macahity, all punishments are remitted throughout the +country; and no person can leave the place in which he commences these +holidays, let the affair requiring his absence be ever so +important."[120] The ceremony of throwing a spear at the king during the +festival of Macahity has been described also by the Scotch sailor +Archibald Campbell, who may have witnessed it. He says: "The king +remains in the _morai_ for the whole period; before entering it, a +singular ceremony takes place. He is obliged to stand till three spears +are darted at him: he must catch the first with his hand, and with it +ward off the other two. This is not a mere formality. The spear is +thrown with the utmost force; and should the king lose his life, there +is no help for it."[121] This curious rite may perhaps have been a relic +of an old custom which obliged the king to submit once a year to the +ordeal of battle, in order to prove his fitness for a renewed tenure of +office, death being the penalty of defeat and the kingdom the reward of +victory in the combat.[122] During the continuance of the festival the +priests were employed in collecting the taxes, which were paid by the +chiefs in proportion to the extent of their territories; these taxes +consisted of mats, feathers, and the produce of the country. The people +celebrated the festival by dancing, wrestling, and other +amusements.[123] The victor in the boxing matches and martial evolutions +was crowned and treated as king of the festival, which was held in +honour of the god Rono.[124] + + [119] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 595. Compare U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 118. + According to the latter writer, there were no taboos (festivals) + in the eleventh month. + + [120] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 118 _sq._ From + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 178, we learn that the + festival fell in November, and from a brief native notice we may + gather that the New Year celebration was the festival of + Macahity. See J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_, pp. + 167, 169, "_à la célébration de la nouvelle année, les citoyens, + les chefs, les femmes, les enfants se livraient à des boxes + furieuses, et plusieurs recevaient dans ces jeux des blessures + très graves_." + + [121] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 179. + + [122] Compare _The Golden Bough_, Part III. _The Dying God_, pp. + 117 _sq._ + + [123] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 178 _sq._ + + [124] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 88 _sq._ + +No one might go to war during the New Year festival; all the people had +to repair to the temples (_morais_). Three kinds of idols were +worshipped at this season; the principal of them, called Kekou-Aroha, +was carried round the island by a priest; everything that he could seize +with his left hand he had the right to appropriate, whether it was dogs, +pigs, vegetables, or what not; and any person on whom he in like manner +laid a hand was bound to assist him in carrying or leading to the temple +the tribute or booty he had thus taken possession of.[125] + + [125] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 596. + +Of the rigour with which the laws of taboo were enforced during one of +these festivals we may gather an idea from a statement of the Russian +navigator von Kotzebue. He says: "As Kareimoku's guests, we were present +at the celebration of a _Tabu pori_, which lasted from the setting of +the sun to sunrise on the third day. It is already known what degree of +sanctity is imparted to him who joins in this communion with the gods +during the time. Should he accidentally touch a woman, she must be +instantly put to death. Should he enter a woman's house, the flames must +immediately consume it."[126] + + [126] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_, iii. 248 _sq._ Compare A. von Chamisso, + _Reise um die Welt_ (Leipzig, 1836), ii. 312. + + +§9. _Death and Funeral Rites_ + +The Hawaiians explained life as usual by the hypothesis of a soul +(_uhane_), which animated the whole body, but had its seat especially in +the sockets of the eyes, and above all in the lachrymal gland. During +sleep the soul quits the body, wanders away, and sees the places and +things which appear to it in dreams; usually it returns in time to +resume its functions in the body without endangering the health of the +sleeper. Occasionally, however, it happens that in its rambles it loses +its way through falling in with a ghost or spectre, who frightens it; +but even then it may be brought back with the help of a familiar spirit +despatched to seek out and guide home the wanderer. When a man falls +sick, his soul begins to feel ill at ease in his body, and if the +sickness proves fatal, the soul quits him never to return.[127] +According to another account, the Hawaiians held that every man had two +souls in his body, of which one never left him in life, while the other +went forth from time to time in dreams or ecstasy, but only to return to +its corporeal tabernacle. Sometimes a diviner would warn a man that he +had seen his dream-soul roaming about, and that perhaps it might never +come back, because a certain deity was angry with him. Upon that the +terrified owner of the soul would naturally engage the diviner to +recover his spiritual property by propitiating the angry deity with a +valuable offering.[128] + + [127] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 272 _sq._ + + [128] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 39 note; A. Marcuse, _Die + Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 105. + +Sickness was commonly explained by the presence in the sufferer of an +evil spirit, who must be exorcised if the patient was to be restored to +health. For this purpose the services of a priest (_kahuna_) were +engaged, who by the recitation of a suitable incantation invited or +compelled the demon to declare through the mouth of the sick man why he +had entered into him, and on what terms he would consent to take his +departure. Sometimes, the demon was induced to perch on the head or +shoulders of one of the bystanders, and from that coign of vantage to +answer the interrogatory of the priest. But at other times he burrowed +so deep into the patient's body and held his tongue so obstinately, that +the priest had no alternative but to prick the sick man's body with +bamboo needles and to drop water into his eyes in order to drive out the +evil spirit.[129] + + [129] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 269. + +When all remedies had proved vain and death had followed, the bodies of +common people were buried in a crouching position. The upper part of the +body was raised; the face was bent forwards to meet the knees; the hands +were put under the hams and passed up between the knees; then head, +hands, and knees were bound together with cinnet or cord. Afterwards the +corpse was wrapt up in a coarse mat and interred on the first or second +day after death. But the corpses of chiefs and priests were not thus +doubled up; they were laid out straight, wrapt up in many folds of +native cloth, and buried in that posture. Priests were generally +committed to the earth within the precincts of the temple in which they +had officiated. A pile of stones or a circle of high poles marked their +grave. But it was only the bodies of priests or of persons of some +importance that were thus interred. For ordinary people natural graves +were preferred, where suitable places could be found, such as caves in +the face of cliffs or large subterranean grottos. Sometimes the +inhabitants of a village deposited their dead in one great cavern, but +generally each family had a distinct sepulchral cave. Their artificial +graves were either simple pits dug in the earth or large enclosures, +which might be surrounded with high stone walls so as to resemble the +ordinary temples (_heiaus_). Occasionally they buried their dead in +sequestered spots near their dwellings, but often in their gardens, and +sometimes in their houses. The graves were not deep, and the bodies were +usually placed in them in a sitting posture.[130] A rude method of +embalming by means of the flower of the sugar-cane was often practised, +whereby the entrails and brains were extracted and the body +desiccated.[131] When the dead was interred in the dwelling, the house +was not uncommonly shut up and deserted, the survivors seeking for +themselves a new habitation.[132] The custom no doubt sprang from a fear +of the ghosts, which were supposed to linger about their final +resting-places and to injure such as came within their reach; hence +their apparitions were much dreaded. For the same reason burials were +conducted in a private manner and by night. If people were seen carrying +a dead body past a house, the inmates would abuse or even stone them for +not taking it some other way; for they imagined that the ghost would ply +to and fro between the grave and his old home along the path by which +his corpse had been carried.[133] Sometimes, apparently, to prevent the +ghost from straying, his grave was enclosed by a sort of fence composed +of long poles stuck in the ground at intervals of three or four inches +and fastened together at the top. At all events Ellis saw a priest's +tomb thus enclosed, and he received this explanation of the fence from +some people; though others merely said that it was a custom so to inter +persons of consequence.[134] Nightmare was believed to be caused by a +ghost attempting to strangle the dreamer; under the influence of this +belief a strong man has been seen to run shrieking down the street, +tugging with both hands at his throat to tear the incubus away, till he +reached the door of a neighbour's house and, bursting in, fell fainting +on the floor. He thought that the ghost of a chief, who had died the day +before, had a grip on his throat and was trying to throttle him.[135] +Sometimes, however, affection for the dead sufficed to overcome the fear +of the ghost, and the mouldering bones were carried about as relics by +relations and friends.[136] When the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell +was in the islands in the early years of the nineteenth century, his +patroness the queen kept by her the bones of her father wrapt up in a +piece of cloth. Whenever she slept in her own house, the bones were +placed by her side; in her absence they were set on a feather-bed which +she had received from the captain of a ship, and which she used only for +this purpose. On being asked by the Scotchman why she observed this +singular custom, she replied that it was because she loved her father so +dearly.[137] More usually, however, the bones of a beloved chief were +carefully hidden to prevent his enemies from finding them and making +arrow-heads out of them, with which to hunt rats, or otherwise profaning +them. Hence there was a proverb to the effect that the bones of bad +chiefs were not concealed. When the great King Kamehameha died in 1819, +his bones were hidden and disappeared completely in some secret +cave.[138] + + [130] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 359 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 73 _sq._ + + [131] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 73; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. + xlvii. + + [132] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 429. + + [133] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 360 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 74; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inslen_, p. 109. + + [134] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 129. + + [135] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), pp. 11 _sq._, quoting Sheldon Dibble, _History of the + Sandwich Islands_, p. 99. + + [136] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98; A. + Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 261. + + [137] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 206 _sq._ + + [138] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 153. + +The death of a king or great chief in former days was the occasion for +the observance of some singular ceremonies and customs. The grief, real +or pretended, of the people found expression in many extravagant forms. +Men and women knocked out some of their front teeth with stones; but the +custom seems to have been observed even more extensively by men than by +women. The kinsmen or friends of the deceased chief set the example, and +their retainers were obliged to imitate them. Sometimes a man broke out +his own tooth with a stone, but more usually the service was rendered +him by another, who fixed one end of a stick against the tooth and +hammered the stick with a stone till the tooth broke off. If the men +deferred the operation, the women would perform it on them in their +sleep. More than one tooth was seldom sacrificed at one time; but as the +mutilation was repeated at the decease of every chief of rank or +authority, few men of mature years were to be seen with a whole set of +teeth, and many lost all their front teeth both in the upper and the +lower jaw. Another mutilation practised at such times was to cut one or +both ears, but it seems to have been comparatively rare. Much commoner +was the custom of burning circles or semi-circles on the face or breast +by means of strips of burning bark. The mourners also polled their hair +in various ways. Sometimes they made bald a small round piece on the +crown of the head, like the tonsure of Catholic priests; sometimes they +shaved or cropped close the whole head except round the edge, where a +short fringe was left to hang down; sometimes they made their heads +quite bald on one side and allowed the hair to remain long on the other; +occasionally they cut out a patch in the shape of a horse-shoe either at +the back of the head or above the forehead; sometimes they shore a +number of curved furrows from ear to ear or from the forehead to the +neck. When a chief who had lost a relative or friend had his own hair +cut after any particular pattern, his followers and dependants usually +cropped their hair in the same style. Not to clip or shave the hair in +mourning was regarded as disrespectful to the dead, but the particular +manner of cutting it was left to the taste of the individual.[139] Some +people in their frenzy knocked out their eyes with clubs and stones and +cut as well as burned their flesh.[140] Another peculiar badge of +mourning, adopted principally by the chiefs, was a black spot or line +tattooed on the tongue. The painful operation was performed by +puncturing the tongue with sharp fish-bones dipped in colouring +matter.[141] But though these personal mutilations were popular and +almost universal on the decease of chiefs, they appear not to have been +practised by the common people among themselves. Thus a wife did not +knock out her teeth on the death of her husband, and a son did not thus +express his grief for the loss of his parents, nor they for the death of +a child.[142] + + [139] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 175 _sqq._, 181. Compare U. + Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 123; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 142 + _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii. + + [140] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. + 166; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._ + + [141] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 177, 180 _sq._ + + [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 180. + +Similar extravagances in the expression of grief were commonly exhibited +by mourners, as we have seen, in other parts of Polynesia; but in Hawaii +the rites observed at the death of a king or high chief were in so far +peculiar that they assumed the character of a Saturnalia or orgy of +unbridled lust and crime. On this subject the Russian navigator +Lisiansky, who visited the islands while the ancient system of +superstition was still in full vogue, reports as follows: "On the death +of the king, a scene of horror takes place that is hardly credible. +Twelve men are sacrificed; and shortly after the whole island abandons +itself for a month to the utmost disorder and licentiousness. During +this period, both sexes go entirely naked, and men cohabit with women +without any distinction: the woman who should dare to make resistance, +would be considered as violating the laws of the country. The same +licentiousness is observed on the death of a noble; but it does not +extend beyond the domains of the deceased, and is of a much shorter +duration, not continuing, as Mr. Young informed me, more than a few +days, though attempts are made by the youth of the party to prolong the +period. Those who are put to death on the demise of the king, or any +great personage, are such as have offered themselves for the purpose +during the life of their master; and they are in consequence considered +and treated by him as his best friends, since they have sworn to live +and die with him. When I reflect upon the horrid nature of this +ceremony, I hardly know how to credit its existence amongst a race of +men so mild and good as these islanders in general appear to be; but Mr. +Young, whose veracity I had no reason to doubt, assured me of the +fact."[143] + + [143] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 122 _sq._ + +This John Young, who gave Lisiansky information as to the customs and +religion of the Hawaiians, was an Englishman who had resided in the +islands for many years at the time of the Russian navigator's visit in +1804. Originally a sailor, born at Liverpool, he had been compulsorily +detained by the natives when he landed from his ship in Hawaii in March +1790. But from the first he received the kindest treatment from the +king, Kamehameha, whose full confidence and high esteem he enjoyed and +deserved. The king gave him a fine estate and appointed him to several +responsible offices; in particular Young was governor of Hawaii for no +less than nine years during the king's absence. He married a native +woman of rank, by whom he had six children. While he remained warmly +attached to his native country and rendered essential services to +English vessels touching at the islands, he remained a voluntary exile +for forty-five years in Hawaii, where he died at the patriarchal age of +ninety-two in December 1835. During this long period he enjoyed the +favour of the kings, chiefs, and people, and was highly respected and +esteemed for his intelligence and good offices by European voyagers to +the islands.[144] Thus he had the best opportunities for acquainting +himself with the customs and beliefs of the natives, and it is much to +be regretted that of the ample store of knowledge which he thus acquired +nothing remains but a few scattered notices recorded by travellers to +whom he had verbally communicated them. + + [144] G. Vancouver, _Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific + Ocean and round the World_ (London, 1798), ii. 135 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 96; Tyerman and Bennet, + _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, i. 377 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 238 _sq._ + +In 1809, some five years after Lisiansky's visit to Hawaii, the Scotch +sailor Archibald Campbell witnessed one of these Saturnalia held on the +occasion of the death of the king's brother. He says: "The public +mourning that took place on this occasion was of so extraordinary a +nature that had I not been an eye-witness, I could not have given credit +to it. The natives cut out their hair, and went about completely naked. +Many of them, particularly the women, disfigured themselves, by knocking +out their front teeth, and branding their faces with red-hot stones, and +the small end of calabashes, which they held burning to their faces till +a circular mark was produced; whilst, at the same time, a general, I +believe I may say an universal, public prostitution of the women took +place. The queens, and the widow of the deceased, were alone exempted. +When the captain of a ship that lay in the harbour remonstrated with the +king upon these disgraceful scenes, he answered, that such was the law, +and he could not prevent them."[145] + + [145] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 142 _sq._ + +To these enormities the French navigator L. de Freycinet bore similar +testimony a few years later. He says: "The despair which is affected +after the loss of royal personages or great nobles presents also a +remarkable resemblance to what takes place under similar circumstances +among the inhabitants of the Marianne Islands. When we landed in Owhyhi +[Hawaii], signs of sorrow everywhere presented themselves to our eyes +and witnessed to the excesses that had been committed at the recent +death of Tamehameha. At such a crisis anarchy displays all its horrors: +the laws and the rules of taboo are broken without shame: the prohibited +foods are devoured without scruple, chiefly by the women: the rights of +property are ignored; force becomes the supreme law: the voice of chiefs +is powerless: old enmities are avenged by blood or pillage: in a word, +incredible scenes of disorder, of cruelty, and of lust are everywhere +renewed under the stimulus of impunity. Calm does not begin to reign +again until the heir is definitely invested with the royal power. Such +is the mode in which the common people, freed for the moment from all +restraint, express the grief which they are supposed to feel at the +death of their sovereign."[146] + + [146] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 602. + +The early missionaries to Hawaii also testified to the disorders which +prevailed on these occasions, though they seem not to have witnessed +them. From their accounts we gather that at such times the rights of +property were as little respected as the chastity of women. "On such an +occasion," says Stewart, "every restraint was cast off, and all were in +the habit of following the impulse of any and every wild passion that +might seize them. Rights of person or of property were no longer +regarded; and he who had the greatest muscular powers committed whatever +depredation he chose, and injured any one he thought proper. Even the +chiefs lost their ordinary pre-eminence, and could exert no influence of +restraint on the excesses of their subjects. It was the time of +redressing private wrongs, by committing violence on the property and +person of an enemy; and everything that any one possessed was liable to +be taken from him. Their grief was expressed by the most shocking +personal outrages, not only by tearing off their clothes entirely, but +by knocking out their eyes and teeth with clubs and stones, and pulling +out their hair, and by burning and cutting their flesh; while +drunkenness, riot, and every species of debauchery continued to be +indulged in for days after the death of the deceased."[147] To the same +effect Ellis writes that "as soon as the chief had expired, the whole +neighbourhood exhibited a scene of confusion, wickedness, and cruelty, +seldom witnessed even in the most barbarous society. The people ran to +and fro without their clothes, appearing and acting more like demons +than human beings; every vice was practised, and almost every species of +crime perpetrated. Houses were burnt, property plundered, even murder +sometimes committed, and the gratification of every base and savage +feeling sought without restraint. Injuries or accidents, long forgotten +perhaps by the offending party, were now revenged with unrelenting +cruelty."[148] According to Jarves, the early historian of Hawaii, on +these occasions no women were exempt from violation except the widows of +the deceased.[149] + + [147] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. + 165 _sq._ + + [148] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 177. + + [149] J. J. Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich + Islands_, p. 66. Compare J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii. + +Such outbursts of passion, released from all restraints of custom or +law, are not unknown elsewhere on the occasion of a death. Among the +Ba-ila of Northern Rhodesia it is customary at funerals for the women to +sing lewd songs. "Under ordinary circumstances it would be reckoned +taboo for women to utter such things in the presence of men; but at +funerals all restraints are removed. People do as they like. Grass may +be plucked out of the thatched roofs; the fields may be robbed of the +growing corn; all passions are let loose; and no complaint for damage, +theft, or adultery can be made. This last item used to be the case; +nowadays fines are claimed."[150] + + [150] E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The Ila-speaking Peoples of + Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), ii. 113 _sq._ + +The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a chief varied +with his rank. For a king of Hawaii the general number would seem to +have been ten or twelve.[151] But when King Kamehameha died in 1819, the +priest declared somewhat differently the custom in regard to human +sacrifice on such an occasion. When the corpse had been removed from the +king's own dwelling to a consecrated house for the performance of the +proper rites, a sacred hog was baked and offered to it by the priest; +for the dead king was now deemed to be a god. Then addressing the chiefs +and the new king, the priest spoke as follows: "I will now make known to +you the rules to be observed respecting persons to be sacrificed on the +burial of his body. If you obtain one man before the corpse is removed, +one will be sufficient; but after it leaves this house four will be +required. If delayed until we carry the corpse to the grave, there must +be ten; but after it is deposited in the grave, there must be fifteen. +To-morrow morning there will be a tabu, and if the sacrifice be delayed +until that time, forty men must die." However, on this occasion, no +human blood was shed, but three hundred dogs were sacrificed.[152] The +victims who were killed at the death of the king, princes, and +distinguished chiefs, and were buried with their remains, belonged to +the lowest class of society. In certain families the obligation of dying +with the different members of such or such a noble house was hereditary, +so that at the birth of a child it was known at whose death he must be +sacrificed. The victims knew their destiny, and their lot seems to have +had no terror for them.[153] + + [151] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 145; U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. + 122. + + [152] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 189, 190. Compare J. Remy, + _op. cit._ pp. 125, 127; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one + Years in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 71. + + [153] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247. + +At Honaunau, in the island of Hawaii, there was a sort of mausoleum in +which the bones of dead kings and princes were deposited. For some +reason it was spared in the general destruction of pagan monuments which +took place in 1819, and it was still almost intact when the missionary +Ellis visited and described it a few years later. It was a compact +building, twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet wide, built of the most +durable timber, and thatched with leaves. It stood on a bed of lava +jutting out into the sea, and was surrounded by a strong fence, leaving +a paved area in front and at the two ends. Several rudely carved male +and female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure, +some on low pedestals under the shade of a tree, others on high posts +planted on the jutting rocks which overhung the edge of the water. A +number of effigies stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; +but the principal assemblage of idols was at the south-east end of the +enclosed space, where twelve of them stood in a semicircle on a +crescent-shaped basement of stone raised about two feet above the +pavement. Some of them rested on small pedestals, others on pillars +eight or ten feet high. The principal idol, distinguished by the +variety and superiority of the carving on its body and especially +on its head, stood in the middle, the others on either side of it, +"as if perpetual guardians of 'the mighty dead' reposing in the house +adjoining."[154] + + [154] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 164 _sq._ + +When a death had taken place, the house in which it occurred, was deemed +defiled, and continued in that state until after the burial. But if the +deceased was a chief, the whole land was polluted, and the heirs sought +a residence in another part of the country, until the corpse was +dissected and the bones tied in a bundle; for when that was done the +season of defilement terminated. Hence on the death of King Kamehameha, +his son and successor, Liholiho, had to retire for a time to another +district.[155] + + [155] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 191; H. Bingham, _Residence of + Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 71 _sq._; J. + Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 127, 129. + + +§ 10. _Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The Hawaiians in general believed that the human soul exists after +death, but their notions on the subject were, as usual, vague, confused, +and contradictory. Some said that all the souls of the departed went to +the Po, or place of night, and were there annihilated or eaten by the +gods.[156] According to another account, the souls of the dead that had +no claim to divinity fluttered about their old homes till the moment +arrived when they became the food of the gods. It is not certain, adds +de Freycinet, that they recognised the immortality of the soul in the +case of persons of the lowest class.[157] Others said that some souls +went to the regions of Akea (Wakea) and Miru (Milu), two ancient kings +of Hawaii. Of these two, Akea was reported to have been the first king +of the island. When he died, he descended into the nether world and +there founded a kingdom. His successor on the throne of Hawaii, by name +Miru or Milu, also descended into the underworld at death, and shared +the government of the infernal realm with his predecessor Akea. Their +land is a place of darkness, their food, lizards and butterflies. But +there are streams of water of which they drink, and wide-spreading trees +under which they recline.[158] Milu is described as the Hawaiian Pluto, +the lord of the lower world to whose dominions departed spirits go. His +abode was in the west, hence the ghosts of such as died on the eastern +shore of an island always had to cross to the western shore before they +could set out for their final place of rest in the spirit land. Some +said that Milu had his dwelling under the ocean, and that he was the +prince of wicked spirits.[159] However, according to some accounts, the +two ancient kings, Milu and Akea, ruled over separate regions in the +spirit land, which were tabooed to each other, so that nobody could pass +from the one to the other. Akea or Wakea dwelt in the upper region, and +there the souls of chiefs dwelt with him; whereas Milu occupied the +muddy lower region, and there the souls of common folk abode with him. +In the upper region all was peaceful and orderly, and there persons who +had faithfully complied with the precepts of religion in life were +received after death. On the other hand the lower region, ruled over by +Milu, was noisy and disorderly; evil spirits played their pranks there, +and the souls of the dead subsisted on lizards and butterflies.[160] +When persons recovered from a death-like swoon, it was supposed that +their souls had gone to the underworld and been sent back to earth by +Milu. The best account of the spirit land was given by one who had spent +eight days in it, and on returning to life reported to his family what +he had seen. According to his observations, the spirit land is flat and +fruitful, it is tolerably well lighted, and everything grows there +spontaneously, so that, contrary to some reports, the palace of Milu is +a really delightful place. Milu himself is not married to any one +particular wife; but from time to time he chooses for his consorts the +most beautiful of the female ghosts when they arrive in deadland, and +the women thus honoured are naturally taboo for the male ghosts. All +souls live there in exactly the same state in which they quitted their +bodies. The souls of those who died young, especially of those who fell +in battle, are hale and strong; whereas the souls of those who perished +of disease are sickly and weak, and weak, too, are the souls of such as +died in old age.[161] + + [156] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 365 _sq._ + + [157] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + + [158] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 366; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. + 38; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 262. Ellis gives + Miru as the form of the name, but the correct Hawaiian form is + Milu; for in the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian R is + replaced by L. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. xxiii. In New Zealand and Mangaia the name Miru + was given to the goddess of hell or of the dead. See E. Tregear, + _op. cit._ pp. 243, 244, _s.v._ "Miru." + + [159] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 243 _sq._, _s.v._ "Miru." + + [160] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), p. 12; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 264 + _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99. + + [161] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 264. + +There were three places in the islands from which the ghosts took their +departure for the other world. One was at the northern extremity of the +island of Hawaii; one was at the western end of Maui; and one was at the +southern point of Oahu.[162] According to one account, the ghosts on +their passage to Milu's subterranean realm went westward in the +direction of the setting sun, and either leaped from a rock into the sea +or vanished into a hole in the ground.[163] + + [162] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 12; A. + Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99. + + [163] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 265. + +But before bidding a last farewell to earth, the soul of the deceased +was believed to linger for a time in the neighbourhood of the grave or +of the house. It had now become an _akua_ or divine spirit, but during +its stay on earth it was dreaded as an _akua-lapu_ or "terrifying +spirit," because it appeared to the living as a spectre or ghost. In +time, however, it grew weaker and weaker and gradually disappeared +altogether, like the other spirits (_akuas_). By that time it had found +a guide to show it the way to Milu's realm, from which there is no +return. Sometimes, however, the guardian god of a family would oppose +the passage of a soul to the other world, and send it back to life, so +that the seemingly dead man recovered.[164] It is said to have been a +firmly established belief that the dead appeared to the living and +communicated with them in dreams.[165] The priests in particular were +favoured with such messages from the other world.[166] + + [164] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 266. + + [165] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + + [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 367. + +A legend tells how a certain chief of Hawaii, sorrowing for the death of +his wife, applied to a priest, who furnished him with a god called +Kane-i-kou-alii (God of Chiefs), to guide him to the nether world of +Milu, whither his beloved spouse had departed. Journeying together, the +god and the man came to the end of the world, where grew a tree, which +split open and allowed them to glide down into the depths. There the god +hid behind a rock and allowed the chief to go on alone, but first he +rubbed stinking oil over the chief's body. On arriving at Milu's palace +the chief found the whole court full of spirits engaged in such noisy +and tumultuous sports, that he could steal in among them unobserved, all +the more because the nearest spirits mistook him for a ghost newly +arrived with the stench of his dead body still on him, so that they +turned away from him in disgust and made uncomplimentary remarks on his +unsavoury condition. When they had played all sorts of games, the chief +suggested that, as a new form of sport, they should all take out their +eyes and throw them in a heap. The suggestion was accepted, and every +one hastened to comply with it. But the chief took care to mark where +the eyes of Milu fell, and snatching them up he hid them in the coco-nut +beaker which he carried with him. As all the spirits were now blind, it +was easy for the chief to make his way to the neighbouring realm of Akea +or Wakea, which was tabooed to the spirits that swarmed in Milu's +kingdom and might not be entered by them. However, after long +negotiations, Milu was allowed to recover his eyes, on condition that +the soul of the chief's wife should be sent back to earth and reunited +to her body, which was happily accomplished.[167] + + [167] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 265 _sq._ + +The Hawaiians were not without some notion of a general resurrection of +the dead. When the missionary William Ellis was conversing with some of +the natives on that subject, they said that they had heard of it before +from a native priest named Kapihe, who had lived at their village in the +time of King Kamehameha. The priest told the king that at his death he +would see his ancestors, and that hereafter all the kings, chiefs, and +people of Hawaii would live again. When Ellis asked them how this would +be effected, and with what circumstances it would be attended, whether +they would live again in Hawaii or in Miru (Milu), the Hades of the +Sandwich Islands, they replied that there were two gods, who conducted +the departed spirits of their chiefs to some place in the heavens, where +the souls of kings and chiefs sometimes dwelt, and that afterwards the +two divine conductors returned with the royal and princely souls to +earth, where they accompanied the movements and watched over the +destinies of their survivors. The name of one of these gods was +Kaonohiokala, which means the eyeball of the sun; and the name of the +other was Kuahairo. Now Kapihe was priest to the latter god, and +professed to have received a revelation, in accordance with which he +informed King Kamehameha that, when the monarch should depart this life, +the god Kuahairo would carry his spirit to the sky and afterwards +accompany it back to earth again, whereupon his body would be restored +to life and youth; that he would have his wives again and resume his +government in Hawaii; that at the same time the existing generation +would see and know their parents and ancestors, and that all the people +who had died would rise again from the dead.[168] It is to be feared, +however, that the priest was a deceiver; for King Kamehameha has not yet +come to life again, and up to the present time the general resurrection +has not taken place in Hawaii. + + [168] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 144 _sq._ + +That must conclude what I have to say about the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead in Polynesia, The notions which the +Polynesians entertained on this subject cannot but strike a civilised +European as childish, while the customs which they based on them must +appear to him in great part foolish, even where they were not barbarous +and cruel. How far such childish notions and foolish customs tend to +confirm or to refute the widespread, almost universal, belief in the +survival of the human soul after death, is a question which I must leave +my readers to answer for themselves. + + + + +NOTE + +TABOO AMOUNG THE MAORIS + + +The power which Maori chiefs possessed of imposing, or at all +events of enforcing, a taboo seems not to have been quite so absolute +as might perhaps be inferred from the statement in the text.[1] We +are told that the power of the taboo mainly depended on the influence +of the person who imposed it. If it were put on by a great +chief, it would not be broken, but a powerful man often violated the +taboo of an inferior. A chief, for example, would frequently lay one +of these sacred interdicts on a road or a river, and then nobody +would dare to go by either, unless he felt himself strong enough to +set the chief's taboo at defiance. The duration of the taboo was +arbitrary, and depended on the will of the person who imposed it. +Similarly with the extent to which the prohibition applied: sometimes +it was limited to a particular object, sometimes it embraced +many: sometimes it was laid on a single spot, at other times it +covered a whole district.[2] + + [1] Above, p. 47. + + [2] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its + Inhabitants_, Second Edition (London, 1870), p. 168. Compare J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et à la recherche de + la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 530. + +To render a place taboo a chief had only to tie one of his old +garments to a pole and stick it up on the spot which he proposed +to make sacred, while at the same time he declared that the prohibited +area was part of his own body, such as his backbone, or +that it bore the name of one of his ancestors. In the latter case +all the persons descended from that particular ancestor were in +duty bound to rally to the defence of the chief's taboo, and the +more distant the ancestor, and the more numerous his descendants, +the greater the number of the champions thus pledged to the +support of the family honour. Hence the longer a man's pedigree, +the better chance he stood of maintaining his taboo against all +comers, for the larger was the troop of adherents whom he enlisted +in its defence. Thus chiefs, with family trees which reached backward +to the gods, were in a far better position to make good +their arbitrary interdicts than mere ordinary mortals, who hardly +remembered their grandfathers. In this as in other respects the +taboo was essentially an aristocratic institution.[3] + + [3] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 169. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abortions, spirits of, dreaded, 49 _n._^1 + + Adam, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Adoption among the Marquesans, 339 + + Aesculapius, the Hawaiian, 398 + + _Afiatouca_, burial-place, 102, 103 + + Agriculture of Maoris, 8 _sq._; + of the Tongans, 59 _sq._; + Samoan, 164 _sqq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 221 _sq._; + of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._ + + Air, gods of the, 277 + + _Aitu_, Samoan gods embodied in visible objects, animals, birds, etc., + 182, 201, 207 + + Akaanga, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 242, 244 + + Akea (Wakea), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 430 + + _Akua_, god, in the Hawaiian dialect, equivalent to _atua_, 392, 398 + + _Akuas_, spirits, 429 + + Alai Valoo, a Tongan god, 74 + + Alo Alo, a Tongan god, 71 _sq._ + + Altars in the Society Islands, 291 + + Amable, Father, Catholic missionary, 367 + + Ambler, English sailor, 84 + + Amusements of the Marquesans, 339 _sqq._ + + Ancestors worshipped by Maoris, 32 _sqq._; + skulls of, brought out at marriages, 288, 311 + + Ancestral spirits watch over the living, 33; + do not follow their kinsfolk among strangers, 34; + cause disease, 49; + worshipped by Society Islanders, 300, 315; + guardians of newly wedded pairs, 311 + + Angas, G. F., 48 _n._^1 + + Animals, gods in form of, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._; + deified spirits of men resident in, 227 _sq._; + worshipped in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._ + + Anointing a king of Samoa, 177 + + Anuanu, vale of, 376 _n._^2 + + _Ao_, titles of chiefs in Samoa, 172 _sq._ + + Apolima, Samoan island, 149, 151 + + Apparitions dreaded, 205, 217 + + Araia, 241, 242 + + Aremauku, starting-place for spirit-land, 239 + + Areois, Society of the, 259 _sqq._ + + _Arii taboo_, sacred chiefs, 387 + + _Ariki_, sacred chief, 41; + king, 224 + + Astronomy of priests, 293 + + _Atua_, the Polynesian word for god or spirit, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 44, + 46, 64 _n._^3, 89, 277, 322, 323, 348, 349. + _Compare akua, eatooa, etua_ + + _Atuas_, consecrated feathers called, 291; + inspired priests called, 294; + great national gods, distinguished from _oramatuas tiis_, the + spirits of dead relatives, 324 + + Auraka, a burial cavern, 233, 237, 238, 241 + + Avaiki, subterranean region, home of the dead, 238, 239, 241, 243, 244 + + Axes or adzes of stone, 61, 180, 233, 251, 335, 382 + + + Ba-ila, their licence at funerals, 425 + + Baessler, A., 221 _n._^1, 279 _n._^1, 285, 286, 374 + + Baganda, superstition as to twins among the, 270 _sq._ + + Baldness as penalty of impiety, 95; + the penalty of breach of taboo, 209 _sq._ + + Baluba, of the Congo, customs as to twins among the, 273 + + Banishment of chiefs in Samoa, 176 + + Banqueting-halls of the Marquesans, 343 _sq._ + + Baptism among the Maoris, 16 + + Bark-cloth, manufacture of, 61, 168, 222, 251 _sq._, 334, 381; + not made in time of mourning, 234 _sq._ + + Baronga, of S.E. Africa, their superstitions concerning twins, + 268 _sq._ + + Barundi, of E. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 272 _sq._ + + Bastian, Adolf, on sun-worship, 131 _n._ + + Bathing after burial, 21; + of king at installation, 255 _n._^1; + after contact with a corpse, 313 + + Bats, goddess incarnate in, 185; + local deity, 196 + + Bay of Plenty, 23 + + Bennett, F. D., 332 _sq._, 359, 360, 372 + + Best, Elsdon, 6 _n._, 33, 35 + + Birds, gods incarnate in, 187 _sq._; + sacred, 228; + small land birds formerly oracular, 228; + gods in the form of, 277, 294; + worshipped in Hawaii, 402 + + Birth, a man's god determined at, 200 _sq._, 223; + ceremonies after a, 288 + + Blackened faces in mourning, 231, 235 + + Blood of chief sacred, 45 _sq._; + human, acceptable offering to deity, 188; + offered to the dead, 209; + of relatives offered to bride at marriage, 289; + of bride's mother offered to bridegroom, 289; + of mourners offered to the dead, 303, 304, 311 + + Bolotoo (Boolotoo, Bulotu), fabulous island, residence of Tongan gods + and of noble dead, 65, 66, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 _sq._, + 92, 93, 98, 135 + + Bones of Captain Cook worshipped, 396 + + ---- of dead dug up, 21; + painted red, 21; + concealed, 21; + profaned, 21; + festival at removal of, 22; + burned, 23; + of sacrificial victims not broken, 291; + of famous men carried off by enemies, 311; + thrown into volcano, 400; + carried about by relatives, 419 _sq._; + hidden to prevent profanation, 420 + + ---- of dead chiefs buried in temples (_morais_), 311; + hidden in caves, 312, 420 + + Boolotoo Katoa, a Tongan god, 94 + + Borabora, one of the Society Islands, 246, 281, 317 + + Bows and arrows, unknown to Maoris, 10; + used by the Society Islanders as an amusement, 252 _sq._; + unknown to the Marquesans, 335; + found among the Hawaiians, 383 + + Boxing-matches in mourning, 211 + + Branch plucked from sacred trees, 255 _n._^1 + + Bread-fruit the staple food of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Rarotongans, 222; + and of the Marquesans, 333, 334 + + Breath of chief sacred, 45 + + Brenchley, J. L., 124, 125 _n._^1 + + Brown, Dr. George, 56, 161, 173 _n._^1, 201, 204, 206 _n._^1, 212, + 213, 214, 216 _n._^2, 218 + + Buffoonery in mourning for the dead, 211 + + Burial, Maori modes of, 20 _sq._; + in house, 20, 27; + on a stage, 20, 21; + on a tree, 20 _sq._; + secret, 21; + and mourning, rites of, in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + by night, 419 + + Burial customs in Samoa, 209 _sqq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._; + in the Marquesas, 356 _sqq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._ + + ---- ground dreaded, 27 + + ---- places (_morais_) of the Marquesans, 357 _sq._ + + Burying the sins of the dead, 305 + + Busoga, superstition as to twins in, 270 + + + Cabri, J. Baptiste, 371 + + Cain, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Campbell, A., 385, 412 _n._^1, 415, 419, 423 + + Cannibalism, 26, 62, 158 _sq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 221 + + Canoe-shaped coffins, 20, 353, 356, 363 + + Canoes, Maori, 9; + Tongan, 59; + Marquesan, 337; + provided for the dead to enable them to reach the spirit land, + 364 _sqq._ + + Caterpillars, servants of owl-god, 188 + + Caves, bones or bodies of dead deposited in, 22, 232, 233, 237, 312, + 320 _sq._, 357, 418 + + Centipedes, family god in, 188 _sq._; + worshipped in Mangaia, 228 + + Ceremonies, magical, of Maoris, 13 _sq._; + observed at death, 19 _sqq._; + to facilitate passage of soul to other world, 24 _sqq._, 29; + magical, of Tongans, 67 _sq._; + observed for unburied dead, 205 _sq._; + of mourning in the Hervey Islands, 234 _sqq._; + at the inauguration of a king, 254 _sq._, 255 _n._^1; + over dead Areoi, 261; + after childbirth, 288; + at marriage, 288 _sq._; + for the protection of the living against ghosts, 305 _sqq._ + _See_ Rites + + Ceremony of anointing a king of Samoa, 177; + performed by parents of twins to fertilise plantains, 271 + + Chiefs descended from the gods, 29; + their souls immortal, 29; + tabooed, 41 _sqq._; + physical superiority of, 58 _sq._, 377 _sq._; + Samoan, 171 _sqq._; + deified, 204; + embalmed, 205; + in the Marquesas, 344; + in Hawaii, 384 _sq._ + + Chiefs' language in Samoa, 173 _sqq._ + + Chieftainship hereditary in Samoa, 176 + + Children sacrificed, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._ + + Christianity in Tonga Islands, 60 + + Circumcision, in the Tonga Islands, 81; + in the Hervey Islands, 223 _sq._; + invented by god Rongo, 224 + + Civil lords and sacred kings in Mangaia, 224 _sq._ + + Clans, gods of, in animals or other natural objects, 94, 95 _sq._ + + Clavel, Dr., 338, 374 + + Cockles, god in, 183; prayers to cockle-god, 188 + + Coco-nuts, god in, 183; offered to the dead, 233 + + Coffins shaped like canoes, 20, 353, 356, 363 + + Collocot, E. E. V., 65 _n._^2, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98 _n._^1, 267 _n._^2 + + Comedies acted in mourning, 236 + + Commoners, the question of their souls, 66, 85 + + Communistic system in Samoa, 170 _sq._ + + Confession of sins, 189 + + Cook, Captain James, 1, 9, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61 _n._^2, 63, 81, 86, + 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 111 _n._, 117, 123, 128, + 129, 132, 246, 248, 249, 251, 257, 258 _n._^5, 262, + 275, 277 _n._^2 and ^4, 279, 280, 282, 283, 293, + 297, 304, 310, 314 _n._^3, 315, 321, 328, 331, 371, + 375, 379, 382, 383, 391, 395 _sq._, 406, 407, 408 + + ---- or Hervey Islands, 219 _sq._ + + Cooking in ovens of hot stones, 222, 379 + + Coral reefs, their formation, 55 _sq._ + + Corpses, sent adrift on the sea or exposed on stages, 210; + broken in pieces, 362; + flayed, 367 _sq._ + + Courage seated in liver, 85 + + Cousin marriage, 223 + + Creation, Hawaiian tradition of the, 393 + + Cremation among the Maoris, 23 + + Crickets, omens from, 231 + + Crimes, Tongan ideas about, 67 + + Crook, William P., first missionary to the Marquesas, 328, 349, 361, + 372 + + Cruise, R. A., 31 _n._^2 + + _Curse of Manaia_, 12 + + Curses, Maori, 15; + Tongan, 67; + of sisters specially dreaded, 207 + + Customs observed at the birth of twins, 268 _sqq._ + _See_ Burial customs, Ceremonies, Rites + + Cuttings in mourning for the dead, 19, 208 _sq._, 231, 302, 309, 311, + 353; + in Tonga, 133 _sqq._; + intention of the, 145 _sq._ + + Cuttle-fish, household god in, 184; + omens from, 190; + temple of, 195; + myth of the, 202 _sq._; + a god in Mangaia,228; + myth of Maui and the, 275 + + + Dances at the birth of twins, 270 _sqq._; + funeral, 139, 353 _sq._; + of widow, 353, 354 + + Dancing among the Marquesans, 340 _sq._ + + ---- -places of the Marquesans, 340 _sq._ + + Danger Island, 230 + + Darwin, Charles, on coral reefs, 55 + + De Sainson, 112 + + D'Urville, J. Dumont, 11, 58, 110, 123, 357 _n._^3, 359 _n._^3, 373 + + Dead, disposal of the bodies of the (Maori), 20 _sqq._; + buried in sitting posture, 20; + spirits of, appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._; + spirits of the dead become gods, 31; + taboo entailed by contact with the, 39,137 _sq._; + buried in _morais_, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._, 311; + worship of the, in Samoa, 204 _sq._; + blood offered to the, 209; + buried with head to the east, 210; + buried with the head to the rising sun, 232; + songs sung in honour of the, 236; + buried in sitting posture, 262; + images of spirits of the, 287 _sq._, 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._; + blood of mourners offered to the, 303, 304, 311; + fear of the spirits of the, 304 _sq._; + disposal of the, in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._; + souls of the, in images, 313 _sq._; + worship of the, in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._; + assimilated to deities, 327; + disposal of the, among the Marquesans, 356 _sqq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._; + evocation of the, 370 _sq._; + buried in crouching posture, 418. + _See_ Ghosts + + ---- men deified, 276 + + Death, Maori notion as to the cause of, 16; + stories as to the origin of, 16 _sqq._, 392; + Maori goddess of, 18; + fate of the soul after, 24 _sqq._, 85 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._, + 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._, 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq._; + the second, 29; + theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._; + Marquesan contempt for, 352 _sq._; + Hawaiian beliefs and customs concerning,417 _sqq._ + + Deaths caused by the anger of the gods or by sorcery, 229; + traced to the agency of gods or sorcerers, 405 + + Decadence of magic, 68 + + Deification of ancestors, 33, 35; + of kings in their lifetime, 255; + of dead men, 276; + of men after death, 351 _sq._, 397; + of animals, 402 + + Deified kings, priests, and warriors, 227 + + ---- men, 276, 349; + the spirits of,resident in animals, 228 + + ---- spirits of chiefs, 204 + + Deities, primaeval, personifications of nature, 32, 34 + + Deity, Maori conception of, 35 _sq._ + + Democratic spirit of Samoans, 171, 175 + + Desgraz, C., 118, 358, 373 + + Despotism in Hawaii, 63 + + Dieffenbach, E., 6 _n._^2, 8 _n._, 48 _n._^1 + + Diet of the Samoans, 164 _sq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 222; + of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Marquesans, 333 _sq._; + of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._ + + Dirges in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._ + + Disease, caused by souls of ancestors, 49; + and death ascribed to agency of gods, spirits, or ghosts, 206 _sq._, + 217; + theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._; + of the Marquesans concerning, 325. + _See_ Sickness + + Disorders, internal, supposed to be caused by entrance of a god into + the patient, 351 + + District gods, 182, 185 + + Divination, in Samoa, 190 _sq._; + to detect thieves, 298, 406; + to ascertain the cause of death, 301 + + Diviners consulted before battle, 397, 414; + Hawaiian, 404 _sq._, 414, 417 + + Division of labour among the Samoans, 166 _sqq._ + + Dogs, sacred, 94; + omens from, 190; + eaten, 379; + sacrificed, 405, 426 + + Doobludha, land of dead, 86 + + Dramatic performances of the Areois, 259 _sq._, 263, 266 _n._^4 + + Dreamers held in repute, 320 + + Dreams, Maori theories of, 12; + souls of the dead appear in, 31, 91 _sq._; + Samoan theory of, 205; + ideas of the Hervey Islanders concerning, 229; + ideas of the Society Islanders concerning, 297 _sq._; + souls of the dead communicate with the living in, 320, 429; + Marquesan ideas about, 352; + revelations to priests in, 405, 429; + Hawaiian ideas about, 417 + + Drums, special, beaten after the birth of twins, 271; + accompanying dances, 342, 354 + + Du Petit-Thouars, 373 + + Duke of York Island, 212 + + + Earth cleft with axes, as a mourning rite, 235 _sq._; + fished up from the sea by Maui, 275 + + Earthquakes, Tongan theory of, 72; + caused by Maui, 275 + + _Eatooas_, gods, spirits of the dead, 277 _n._^4, 300, 322, 391, 392, + 402. + See _Atua_ + + Eclipses, superstitions as to, 287 + + Eel-god, 227 + + Eels sacred, 95, 182, 184, 185 + + Eimeo or Moörea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 266 + + Ella, S., 206 _n._^1, 212 + + Ellis, William, 117, 118 _n._^1, 247, 249, 256 _sq._, 262, 265 _n._, + 267 _n._^2, 276, 277, 284, 286 _n._^5, 290 _n._^3, + 292, 295, 298 _n._^2, 308 _n._^1, 311, 314 _n._^1, + 315, 319, 323, 327, 401, 409, 410, 411, 419, 424, + 426, 430, 431 + + Embalmment of the dead, 117, 205; + in Samoa, 210, 213; + in the Society Islands, 309, 310 _sqq._; + in the Marquesas, 356 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 418 + + Erskine, J. E., 114 + + Ethical influence of the Tongan religion, 146 _sq._ + + _Etua_, a god, 348. + Compare _Atua_ + + Eua, one of Tonga Islands, 52, 123 + + Euhemerism, 69 + + Eve, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Evocation of the dead, 370 _sq._ + + Exogamy, Samoan religious system independent of, 201; + in the Hervey Islands, 223 + + Exorcisers, 351 + + Exorcism practised for the healing of the sick, 206 _sq._, 417 _sq._ + + Expiation for sacrilege, 74 _sqq._; + for eating sacred animal, 184, 185 + + Eye, spirit or soul thought to reside in, 42, 417; + of human victim presented to king, 292 + + + Fafa, subterranean abode of the dead, 215 + + Fakaofo or Bowditch Island, 394 + + Family gods embodied in visible objects, 182 _sqq._; + analogous to totems, 200 + + Fan or Fang, of West Africa, their superstition about a twin, 269 + + Farmer, Sarah S., 57 _n._^1, 61 _n._, 92, 97, 111 _n._ + + Fasting after a death, 210, 355 + + Fate of the soul after death, 213 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._, + 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq_. + + Fear of the dead, its humanising influence, 300; + of ghosts, 369 _sq._, 419. + _See_ Ghosts + + Feast of Calabashes, 354 + + Feasts, funeral, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366; + annual, in honour of the gods, 187 _sq._ + _See_ Festivals + + Feathers, sacred red, 254; + gods conjured into, 265; + placed in images of the gods, 290 _sq._; + called gods, 291 + + Female line, nobility traced in, 75 + + Ferry-boat for souls of dead, 26 + + Fertilising virtue attributed to twins, 269 _sqq._ + + Festival, great annual, 289; + called "the ripening of the year," 326 _sq._ + + Festivals, of the Samoans, 188; + of the Marquesans, 341 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 414 _sqq._ + _See_ Feasts + + _Fiatooka_, place of burial and of worship, 103, 104, 105, 109, 116, + 120, 132, 133 + + Fijian influence in Tonga, 59 + + Fingers mutilated in mourning, 19; + sacrificed, 80 _sq._ + + Finow, king of Tonga, 79, 80, 81, 82, 91, 92, 103, 105, 120, 121, 135, + 136, 137, 139, 140; + obsequies of, 135 _sqq._ + + Finow the Second, king of Fiji, 135 + + Fire, Polynesian knowledge of, 56 _sq._; + kindled by friction of wood, 181; + robbed by Ti'iti'i from Mafuie, 203; + kept up in house after a death, 209, 212; + first brought to men by Maui, 226, 239; + hidden in wood by Mauike, 238; + stick and groove method of kindling, invented by Maui, 275, 335; + stolen by Maui, 350; + first given to men by Maui, 396 + + Fires not kindled near house of death, 355; + extinguished during periods of strict taboo, 389 + + First-born sons, sacrifice of, 89 + + First-fruits, offerings of, in Tonga, 122; + in the Society Islands, 257; + of taro presented to eel-god, 188 + + Fish, sacrifices of, 257, 291; + human victims called fish, 292; + worshipped, 402; + offered to shark god, 402 + + ---- hooks made out of bones of dead, 21, 23, 311 _sq._ + + Fishing, modes of, 252, 337, 379 + + Flax cultivated by Maoris, 9 + + Flaying the dead, custom of, 367 _sq._ + + Flood, tradition of a great, 393, 394 + + Flying-foxes, gods in, 96; + incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190 + + _Fono_, representative assembly, parliament, 159, 179 + + Food buried with the dead, 24, 232; + not to be touched by tabooed person with his hands, 38, 44, 45, 137, + 138, 209, 312; + not eaten in a house so long as a corpse is in it, 209; + offered at tomb, 362 + + Footprints in magic, 15 + + Forbes, Dr. Charles, 12 + + Forster, George, 262, 283, 287 _n._, 397, 314, 331 + + Forster, J. R., 117 _n._^1, 278 _n._^1, 287 _n._, 314, 323 _n._^1 + + Foundation sacrifices, 292 + + Fowls bred and eaten, 379 + + Freycinet, L. de, 423, 427 + + Friendly Islands. _See_ Tonga + + Funeral dances, 139, 353 _sq._; + feasts, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366 + + ---- games in Tonga, 140, 144; + in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._ + + ---- rites in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._ + + Futtafaihe or Fatafehi, family name of the Tuitongas, 108, 109 + + _Fytoca_, grave, burial-place, 67, 82, 102, 103, 137, 139, 141 + + + G----, Father Mathias, 373 + + Games, funeral, in honour of the dead, 140, 144, 235; + athletic, at religious festivals, 188 + + Garment, evil magic wrought through, 67 + + Gerland, G., 266 _n._^4 + + Ghost personated by priest or kinsman, 306 _sqq._ + + Ghosts, fear of, 27, 31, 304 _sq._, 320 _sq._, 369 _sq._, 419 _sq._; + their passage to nether world, 27 _sq._; + live on sweet potatoes, 30; + slaying the, 234; + journeying with the sun, 239 _sqq._; + caught in nets, 242, 244; + eaten by Miru, 242; + driven away by force of arms, 355; + food offered to, 355, 356 + + Gill, W. W., 221 _n._^1, 225 _n._^1, 227, 228 _n._^1, 237, 238 + + Girdle, sacred, of kings, 254 + + God, patron, determined at birth, 200 _sq._, 223 + + "God-boxes," inspired priests, 228 _sq._ + + Godless, the Samoans called, 181 _sq._ + + Gods, chiefs and priests descended from the, 29; + confused with spirits of the dead, 31; + the great Polynesian, 35 _n._; + of the Maoris, 36 _sq._; + of the Tongans, 64 _sqq._; + souls of dead men as, 64 _sq._, 66, 69, 70, 84, 91; + men descended from, 66; + omens sent by, 67; + in form of animals, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._; + the primary or non-human, of Tonga, 68 _sqq._; + national and tribal, of Tonga, 93 _sq._; + temples of, in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._; + worship of, 79 _sqq._; + annual feasts in honour of, 187 _sq._; + tame, 191; + vegetable, 192; + totemic, 202; + high gods, 202 _sqq._; + the life of the, 238; + punished, 257; + born of Night (_Po_), 258, 277; + of the sea, 276 _sq._; + of the air, 277; + worship of the gods in the Society Islands, 277 _sqq._; + the causes of disease and death, 299, 351; + Hawaiian, two classes of, 397 + + Government, monarchical and aristocratic, of the Tongans, 62 _sq._; + democratic, of Samoans, 171 _sqq._; + of the Society Islands, 253; + in the Marquesas, 344 _sq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 383 _sq._ + + Grandfather, soul of, reborn in grandchild, 368 _sq._ + + Grange, Jérôme, 60 _n._^5, 113 _sq._ + + Grasshoppers, souls of dead children in, 318 + + Graves, sacred, 99; + in relation to temples, 99 _sqq._; + of Tongan kings, 103, 105; + prayers at, 121, 217; + of great chiefs religiously revered, 120; + enclosed with stones, 211; + in Society Islands, 309; + in Hawaii, 418. + _See_ Tombs + + Guardian deity, how obtained, 398 + + Gudgeon, W. E., 41, 42 _n._^1, 48 _n._^1 + + Guillemard, F. H. H., 132 + + + _Haamonga_, megalithic monument in Tonga, 125, 126 + + Haapai (Haabai), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 95, 126 + + Haddon, A. C., 6 _n._^2 + + Hahunga, Maori festival, 22 + + Hair cut in mourning, 19, 303 _sq._, 420_sq._; + ceremonies at cutting the, 44 _sq._; + used in evil magic, 300, 325, 405; + offered by mourners to the dead, 303, 304; + sacrificed to volcano, 400 + + Hale, Horatio, 6 _n._^2, 63, 214 + + Hands tabooed, 38, 45, 137, 138, 209, 312, 404 + + Happahs (Happas), a tribe of Marquesans, 364, 365 + + _Harepo_, sacred recorder, 296, 298 + + Harris, J. Rendel, 267 _n._^1 + + Havaiki, subterranean region of the dead, 363. _Compare_ Avaiki + + Hawaii, 375, 376, 378, 394, 400, 406, 409, 410, 411, 413, 426, 429 + + Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, 375 _sqq._ + + Hawaiians or Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._ + + Hawaiki, original home of Maoris, 5 _sq._, 29, 155 + + Head, sanctity of the, 44, 212, 388 + + Heads of dead dried and preserved, 23 _sq._; + of chiefs cut off and buried separately, 212; + of children moulded, 224; + of pigs attached to biers, 355; + of slain enemies kept as trophies, 362 + + Heart the special seat of the soul, 85 + + Heaven, ascent of souls to, 24 _sqq._, 29 + + "Heavenly family," gods incarnate in animals, 228 + + Hebrew prophets, Renan on the, 147 + + _Heiau_, temple, 409, 410, 411, 412 _n._^1, 418 + + Herero, of S.W. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 273 _sq._ + + Herons sacred, 95; + omens from, 190; + superstition about, 277 _n._^2 + + Hervey, Philip, 123, 125 _n._^1, 127 + + Hervey or Cook Islands, 219 _sq._ + + Hervey Islanders, 220 _sqq._ + + _Heva_, ceremony observed after a death, 306 + + Higgolayo, god of the dead, 86 + + Hikuleo, god of the dead, 88 _sq._, 90 + + Hina (O-Heena), a goddess, perhaps of the moon, 266, 267, 287 + + Hine-nui-te-po, the Maori goddess of death, 17 _sq._ + + Hiro, god of thieves, 326 + + Hivaoa (Dominica), one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 364 + + Hogs, sacrificed, 79; + to volcano, 399. + _See_ Pigs + + Holiness and uncleanness blent in taboo, 173 + + Honolulu, 376 _n._^2 + + Hos of Togo, customs as to twins among the, 271 _sq._ + + _Hotooas_ (_atuas_), gods, 64 + + Houmis, a tribe of Marquesans, 347 + + House, dead buried in, 20, 27, 418; + dying people removed from the, 39; + abandoned after a death, 356 + + Houses, Maori, 8; + Samoan, 163 _sq._; + in the Society Islands, 250; + of the Marquesans, 335 _sqq._; + of the Hawaiians, 380 _sq._ + + Huahine, one of the Society Islands, 117, 246, 280, 283, 284, 289, + 293, 326 + + Human sacrifices at burials, 24; + to the sun, tradition of, 158; + not offered by Samoans, 158; + at making king's girdle, 254; + offered to Oro, 258 _sq._; + in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._; + offered to living men, 349 _sq._; + at deification of men, 351 _sq._; + at the death of chiefs and priests, 365 _sqq._, 421 _sq._; + to sharks, 402 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 413 _sq._, 421 _sq._, 425 _sq._ + + Hunchbacks thought to be favourites of spirits, 153 + + Hurricanes in Samoa, 153 _sq._ + + + Idols, Hawaiian, 412 _sq._ _See_ Images + + _Ifi_ tree, 74, 121, 133, 137 + + Image of basket-work, 275 _sq._; + wooden, of deified man, 398 + + Images of the gods, 290, 391 _sq._; + in which the souls of the dead were supposed to lodge, 287 _sq._, + 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._; + carried to battle, 397; + spirits conjured into, 398; + of the gods, Hawaiian, 411 _sqq._ + + Immortality, belief in, its effect on the Maoris, 51; + restricted to chiefs and their ministers, 85; + of the human soul, 313. _See_ Soul + + Incantations, Maori, 13 _sqq._; + of sorcerers, 325; + Hawaiian, 405, 417 + + Incarnation of gods in animals, 182 _sqq._ + + Inconsistency of savage thought, 84, 90 _sq._ + + Indonesians, 3 + + Infanticide, in Polynesia, 157; + among the Areois, 263 + + Infants, souls of dead, cause disease, 49, 299 + + Inspiration by drinking kava, 75, 77 _sqq._; + by souls of dead, 91; + of Samoan priests, 194; + of priests, in the Society Islands, 293 _sqq._; + of men by deities, 351 + + Inspired men, 350 _sqq._ + + Iron in Tonga, 61 _n._^2 + + ---- tools among the Hawaiians, 382 + + Irrigation practised by Maoris, 9; + artificial, in Hawaii, 378 _sq._ + + + Jarves, J. J., 383 _n._^2, 425 + + Jaw-bones of human victims hung in temple, 258 + + Jumping-off stone of souls of the dead, 214, 215. + _See_ Leaping-off place + + Jupiter, the planet, emblem of deified chiefs, 204; + the shrine of a god, 228 + + Justice, administration of, in Samoa, 159 _sq._ + + + _Kahuna_, priest, 417 + + Kaili. _See_ Tairi + + Kamehameha (Tamehameha), king of Hawaii, 384, 388, 389, 400, 409, 415, + 420, 422, 425, 427, 430, 431 + + Kanaloa, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395 + + Kane, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395, 398 + + Kaonohiokala, "eye-ball of the sun," a Hawaiian god, 431 + + Kapihe, a priest, 430, 431 + + _Kapu_, taboo, in Hawaiian dialect, 387 + + Karakakooa Bay in Hawaii, 391 + + _Karakias_, prayers or spells (Maori), 32, 39 + + Kauai, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375 + + Kava as source of inspiration, 75, 78, 229; + offered to the gods, 79, 187; + offered to whales, 93; + offered at graves, 121, 205; + drunk by the Marquesans, 334; + by the Hawaiians, 380 + + Keolakuhonua, the first woman, 393 + + Kilauea, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 399, 401 + + King, Captain, 378, 379, 385 _sq._, 391, 402, 408, 410 + + King, of Samoa, 176 _sq._; + customs observed on the death of a king in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._ + + "King of Fiji," a Samoan family god, 192 + + Kingfisher sacred, 93; + superstition about, 277 _n._^2 + + Kingfishers, incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190; + gods of families, villages, or districts, embodied in, 193; + consulted oracularly, 196 + + Kings, two, in Tonga, one civil, the other religious, 62 _sq._; + the priests or mouthpieces of a god, 224; + sacred, in the Hervey Islands, 224 _sq._; + primary and secondary, in Mangaia, 225; + as gods or descended from gods in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._; + as high-priests, 253, 255; + in Hawaii, 383 _sq._ + + Kingship, double, 63 + + Kitchen, dying chief carried into the, 82 + + Koreamoku, a deified man, 398 + + Kotzebue, O. von, 385 _n._^4, 388 _sq._, 416 + + Kpelle, of Liberia, their superstitions about twins, 269, 274 + + Krusenstern, A. J. von, 346, 348, 362, 371, 372 + + Ku, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393 + + Kuahairo, a Hawaiian god, 431 + + Kumuhonua, the first man, 393 + + + La Pérouse, 149 + + Labillardière, 81 + + Langsdorff, G. H. von, 118, 341, 351 _n._^2, 371, 372 + + Language, Polynesian, 2; + special form of, used in speaking of chiefs, 173 _sqq._ + + Leaping-off place for souls of dead, 27, 241. + _See_ Jumping-off stone + + Leeward Islands, 246, 319 + + Lifuka (Lefooga), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 73, 109 + + Lightning, omens from, 191 + + Lipolipo, king of Hawaii, 389 _sq._, 427 + + Lisiansky, U., 338, 366 _sq._, 368 _sq._, 371, 372, 411, 412, 414, + 421, 422, 423 + + Litany chanted after a death, 355 + + Liturgies, in the Society Islands, 296 + + Liturgy, ancient Hawaiian, 394 + + Liver, the seat of courage, 85; + a disease of, attributed to breach of taboo, 76 _sq._; + of pig a god, 98 + + Lizard, the tempter in the form of a, 393 + + Lizards feared as causes of disease, 50; + gods in, 66, 92, 94, 96, 182, 227, 228; + omens from, 190 + + Lono (Rono), a great Hawaiian deity, the equivalent of Rongo, 392, + 393, 395; + Captain Cook identified with, 396 + + Lord of Mangaia, 224 + + Lucifer, the Hawaiian, 393 + + + Macahity, a Hawaiian festival, 414 _sqq._ + + Mafanga, burial-place of chiefs in Tongataboo, 120, 121 + + Mafuie, god of earthquakes, 203 + + Magic, among the Maoris, 13 _sqq._; + among the Tongans, 68; + black, not practised in Samoa, 161; + in the Society Islands, 300, 325 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 405 _sq_. + _See_ Sorcerers + + Magicians (Maori), 13 _sqq._ + + Mahoike, god of the infernal regions, original possessor of fire, 350 + + Mahoui, a god, apparently identical with Maui, 266 _n._^4, 286 _n._^5 + + Maitea, one of the Society Islands, 246 + + Malays, how related to the Polynesians, 2 _sqq._ + + Man, the creation of, 393 + + _Mana_, 42 + + Manaia, 13, 23 + + Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 228, + 232, 233, 237, 238, 239, 240, 244 + + Manona, Samoan island, 149 + + Manua, group of Samoan islands, 149, 155, 158, 162, 215 + + Maoris, 5 _sqq._; + their culture, 8 _sqq._; + beliefs concerning the souls of the living, 10 _sqq._; + beliefs concerning the souls of the dead, 19 _sqq._; + their notion as to the cause of death, 16; + their story of the origin of death, 16 _sqq._; + mourning, 19 _sq._; + disposal of the dead, 20 _sqq._; + their conception of deity, 35 _sq._; + taboo among the, 37 _sqq._, 432 + + Mapuhanui, a Marquesan god, 368 + + _Marae_. _See Morai_ + + _Marae_, a sacred grove, 225 _n._^3, 240, 241 + + _Marai_. _See Morai_ + + Marchand, Captain E., 358 _n._^6, 371 + + Marcuse, A., 393 + + Mariner, William, 62, 64, 67, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78 _sq._, 80, + 82, 83, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98 _n._, 99, 102, + 103, 110 _n._^1, 127, 135, 136, 138, 141, 142, 143 + + Marquesan islanders, 331 _sqq._ + + Marquesas Islands, 328 _sqq._; + _morais_ (_marais_) in the, 116 _sqq._ + + Marriage rites, 288 _sq._, 311 + + Martin, John, 64 + + Maruiwi, primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, 8 + + Mask worn by an actor personifying a ghost, 306 + + Masons in Tonga, 127 + + _Matabooles_, minister of Tongan nobles, 65, 66, 74, 85, 76, 77, 79, + 85, 87, 121, 136, 139 + + Mateialona, Governor of Haapai, 126 + + Mats, fine Samoan, 168 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 381 _sq._ + + Maui, mythical Polynesian hero, 266 _n._^4; + his contest with the goddess of death, 16 _sqq._; + said to have drawn up the Tongan Islands on a fish-hook, 72; + puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88; + said to have brought great stones from Uea, 125; + a kind of Polynesian Hercules, 126; + brought fire to men, 226, 239; + his exploits, 275, 287 _n._, 396; + his image, 275 _sq._; + steals fire from Mahoike, 350 + + ---- one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 429 + + ---- Atalanga, mythical first owner of fire, 57 + + ---- Kijikiji, the Polynesian Prometheus, 57 + + Mauike, the fire-god, 226, 238, 239 + + Mauna Kea, mountain in Hawaii, 376 + + ---- Loa, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 376 + + Mausoleum of the kings of Hawaii, 426 + + Medicine, the Hawaiian god of, 398 + + Megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas, 119; + in the Pacific, Dr. Rivers's theory as to, 119; + of the Tongans, 123; + in Lefooga (Lifuka), 128 _sq._; + their supposed relation to sun-worship, 266 _n._^4; + in the Marquesas, 360 _sq._ + + Megalithic tombs, 119, 123, 132 + + Meinicke, C. E., 118 _n._^2 + + Melanesian blood, admixture of, in the Hervey Islands, 221 + + ---- type, 6; + population of New Zealand, 6 _sq._ + + ---- totemism, 218 + + Melanesians, now related to Polynesians, 2 _sq._; + magic among the, 161; + sham-fights at funerals among the, 212 + + Melville, Hermann, 330, 332, 333, 338, 354, 357 _n._^3, 360 _sq._, + 361 _sq._, 373 + + Men deified in their lifetime, 349; + deified after death, 351 _sq._, 397 + + Metals unknown to the Polynesians, 61, 222, 250, 335 + + Metempsychosis, theory that Melanesian totemism has been developed out + of, 218 + + Milu (Miru), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 429, 430. + _See_ Miru + + ----, a rebel spirit, 392 + + Minstrels, wandering, in the Marquesas, 342 + + Miru, king of the nether world, 427; + goddess of hell or of the dead, 428 _n._^1; + the Hades of the Sandwich Islanders, 431. + _See_ Milu + + ----, an infernal hag, devours ghosts, 242 + + Moerenhout, J. A., 118, 263 _n._^2, 264 _n._^3, 266 _n._^4, 284, + 286 _n._^5, 297, 308 _n._^1 + + Monarchy, absolute, in Hawaii, 383 + + Mooa, old capital of Tongataboo, 106, 108, 111, 112 + + _Mooas_, middle-class in Tonga, 66, 85 + + Moomooe (Moomooi), king of Tonga, 83, 91, 108, 133, 141, 145 + + Moon, family god in, 192; + tradition of sacrifice to the, 394; + festival of the new, 414 + + Moon-goddess, 267, 287 _n._ + + Mo'ooi (Maui), Tongan god, 72 + + _Morai_ (_marai_, _marae_), burial-place, temple, 103, 116, 117, 118, + 119; + dead buried in, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq_. + + _Morais_, bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311; + burial-places, 357 _sq._, 361 _sq._; + mummies deposited in, 357; + in Hawaii, 391, 406 _sqq._; + dead chiefs buried in, 407 _sq._ + + Morality reinforced by superstitious terrors, 83; + not influenced by religion, 318 + + Mortality of souls of commoners, 66, 85 + + Motoro, a great god in the Hervey Islands, 241 + + Mourning for death of divine owl, 186 _sq._ + + ---- customs of Maoris, 19 _sq._; + in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + in Samoa, 208 _sq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 231; + among the Society Islands, 301 _sqq._; + of the Marquesans, 353 _sqq._; + in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._ + + Mouth and nostrils of dying stopped to prevent the escape of the soul, + 352 + + Mueu, a female demon of death, 235 + + Mukasa, great god of the Baganda, 270 + + Mullets sacred, 95, 184 + + Mummies kept in the house or deposited in a _morai_, 357 + + Muru, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 244 + + Mythology of the Society Islanders, 257 _sq._, 277; + of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._ + + + Nails, parings of, used in evil magic, 325, 405 + + Names of relatives changed after a death, 233; + of kings sacred, 254; + new, given at admission to the Society of the Areois, 261; + exchange of, 339 + + Namuka, one of the Tonga Islands, 52 + + Nature, personifications of, 32, 34; + worship of, 93 + + Necromancy among the Maoris, 30 _sq._ + + Negritoes, 3 + + Net to catch ghosts, 242, 244 + + New Zealand, the Maoris of, 5 _sqq._; + Melanesian population of, 6 _sq._ + + Neyra, Alvaro Mendana de, 328 + + Ngati-apa, a Maori tribe, 23 + + Nicholas, J. L., 16 _n._^3 + + Night, or the primaeval darkness (_Po_), 258, 276, 277, 298 _n._^1, + 305, 315, 323, 393, 397, 427; + burials by, 419 + + Nightmare caused by a ghost, 419 + + _Noa_, common, 38, 39, 40; + general, as opposed to _taboo_, sacred, 388 + + Noah, the Hawaiian, 393, 394 + + Nobility traced in female line in Tonga, 75 + + Nobles, souls of dead, as gods, 64, 66, 84, 91 + + North Cape of New Zealand, place of departure for souls of the dead, + 27, 28, 30 + + Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 350, 352, 360, 361, + 364, 368, 371, 372 + + Nuu, the Hawaiian Noah, 393, 394 + + + O-Heena, a goddess, 287 _n._ + _See_ Hina + + O-rongo, in Mangaia, 225 + + Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 376 _n._^2, 385, 395, 411, 429 + + Obsequies of kings and chiefs in Tonga, 133 _sqq._; + of the Tooitongas, 140 _sqq._; + of Samoan chiefs, 211 _sq._; + of chiefs, in the Society Islands, 303 + + Octopus, god in, 95, 96, 183 + + Offerings to gods, 79; + to Samoan deities, 187, 188, 189; + to priests, 195; + to the dead, 311; + of food at tombs, 362; + to volcanic goddess, 401. + _See_ Sacrifices + + Omens sent by gods, 67; + from sacred birds, animals, or fish, 189 _sq._; + from sacrificial victims, clouds, and rainbow, 397, 414 + + Opoa, metropolis of idolatry in the Society Islands, 255, 258, 259, + 289 + + Oracles delivered by priests, 295; + given by priests in the name of gods, 404 + + _Oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, worshipful spirits of departed relatives, + 277, 299, 323 _sq._; + sacred feathers called, 291 + + Origin of Samoan gods of families, villages, and districts, 200 _sqq._ + + Oro, war-god in the Society Islands, 255, 255 _n._^1, 258, 259, 261, + 263, 265, 266, 289, 295, 315, 326 + + Orono, head of a priestly order in Hawaii, 391 + + Orotetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267 + + Ovens, souls of dead in, 26 _sq._; + of hot stones, 222, 379 + + Owl god, festival of, 188; + kept tame, 191 + + Owls sacred, 95, 182; + mourning for dead, 186 _sq._; + omens from, 190 + + + Pantheon recruited by dead men, 98 + + Papa, goddess of earth, 34 _n._^2; + wife of Vatea, 226 + + Papatea, mythical island, 158 + + Papo, Samoan war-god, 186 + + Paradise of the Society Islanders, 319, 327 + + Parliamentary form of government in Samoa, 179 _sq._ + + _Pas_, Maori forts, 8 _n._^3 + + Pele, goddess of the volcano Kilauea in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._ + + Personifications of nature, 32, 34; + of ghost by an actor, 306 + + Pied fantail in Maori story of origin of death, 18 _sq._ + + Pigeons, divine, 184; + kept tame, 191 + + Pigs' liver a god, 96 + + Pigs offered to the dead, 231; + sacrificed, 264, 265, 291; + for recovery of sick, 351; + to the dead, 368. + _See_ Hogs + + Planets, the shrine of a god, 228 + + Pleiades, emblems of deified chiefs, 204 + + Po, region of departed souls (Maori), 27 + + _Po_, Night or the primaeval darkness, the abode of the gods and of + the dead, 258, 277, 298 _n._^1, 305, 308, 315, 316, + 317, 323, 393, 397, 427 + + Pollution caused by death, 312 _sq._, 427 + + Polack, J. S., 7 _n._^1 + + Polyandry among the Marquesans, 337 _sq._ + + Polygamy in the Hervey Islands, 223 + + Polynesians, 1 _sqq._; + their origin and language, 2 _sqq._; + mode of life, 4; + dispersal from Savaii (Hawaiki), 6, 154 _sq._; + or from Tonga, 56; + their knowledge of fire, 56 _sq._; + ignorant of metals, 61, 250 + + Polytheism developed out of totemism, 94 + + Porpoises, gods in, 66, 92 + + Porter, Captain David, 330, 332, 344 _n._^1, 350, 353, 357 _n._^3, + 362, 364 _sq._, 372 + + Pottery unknown to the Samoans, 181 + + Prayers to the gods, 79; + to the dead, 121; + to animal gods, 182; + for temporal benefits, 189; + before going to war, 189; + for the dying, 208; + offered to souls of dead relatives at their graves, 217; + rhythmical and ancient, 225; + offered to kings, 255; + of the Society Islanders, 257; + for the recovery of the sick, 257, 398; + to Oro, 261; + liturgical, 295 _sq._; + over the dead, 310; + for the dead, 318; + at temples, 327; + before battle, 397 + + "Praying people," sorcerers, 229 + + Presents brought to dying people, 207 _sq._ + + Priestess claiming to personify goddess, 401 + + Priests practise enchantments, 13 _sq._; + descended from the gods, 29; + their souls immortal, 29; + summon up spirits of dead, 31; + Tongan, their inspiration, 77 _sqq._; + Samoan, 192 _sq._; + inspired, 194; + consulted as to cause of sickness, 207; + inspired, called "god-boxes," 228 _sq._; + speaking in name of gods, 258, 293 _sqq._; + of shark gods, 276; + in the Society Islands, 292 _sqq._; + inspired by sharks, 403; + Hawaiian, 404 + + Property buried with the dead, 20, 140 _sq._, 211, 232 _sq._; + private, in relation to taboo, 47 _sq._; + rights of, in Samoa, 169 _sqq._ + + Prostitution, general, of women at the death of a great chief, 423 + + Pukapuka, Danger Island, 230 + + Pulotu, Samoan name for abode of the dead and of the gods, 204, 205, + 214, 216, 217. + _Compare_ Bolotoo + + Punishments in Samoa, 159 _sq._ + + Purification of king at installation, 255 _n._^1; + of land after defilement, 287 _sq._; + after contact with the dead, 210, 313; + of the souls of the dead, 316 + + Pyramidal tombs, 115 + + Pyramidical temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas, 119 + + Pyramids, stepped or terraced, 116, 117, 278 _sqq._; + of stone, stepped or terraced, in Hawaii, 408 _sqq._ + + + Quiros, Fernandez de, 246 + + + Ra, the sun-god, caught by Maui in nooses, 226 + + Radiguet, M., 338, 341, 357 _n._^1, 358, 373 + + Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 255, 258, 259, 266, 289, + 315, 317, 318, 319 + + Rail-bird sacred, 95; + omens from, 190 + + Rainbow worshipped, 93, 182; + omens from, 191, 397; + emblem of deified chiefs, 204 _sq._; + superstitions about, 267, 269 + + _Rangatira_, gentleman, 43, 44; + landowners, 224 + + Rangi, god of sky, 34 _n._^2 + + Rarotonga, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 221, 222, 224, 226, 228, + 232, 243, 244 + + Raupa, a burial cave, 237 + + Recorders, sacred, 295 _sq._, 298 + + Red, bones of dead painted, 21; + tabooed, 227; + feathers regarded as divine, 290 _sq._ + + ---- Cave, 239, 240 + + Reincarnation of the dead, 368 _sq._ + + Reinga, leaping-off place of souls (Maori), 27 + + Religion of Maoris concentrated on worship of dead kinsfolk, 34; + homogeneity of Polynesian, 35 _n._; + the Tongan, 64 _sqq._; + ethical influence of the Tongan, 146 _sq._; + of the Samoans, 181 _sqq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 225 _sqq._; + early stage of, 226; + of the Society Islanders, 256 _sqq._; + without influence on morality, 318; + of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._; + of the Hawaiians, 390 _sqq._ + + Remy, J., 412 _n._^1, 415 _n._^1 + + Renan, Ernest, on the Hebrew prophets, 147 + + Respect for chiefs in Samoa, 171 _sqq._ + + Resurrection of the dead, Hawaiian notions about the, 430 _sq._ + + Rewards, posthumous, no belief in, 67, 146 + + Rhodesia, Northern, belief as to mother of twins in, 269 + + Rib of the first man, the first woman created out of the, 393 _sq._ + + Rites, of burial and mourning in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + funeral, in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._; + religious, of the Society Islanders, 257; + of purification, 288. + _See_ Ceremonies + + River of the Water of Life (Maori), 28; + in the nether world, 216 + + Rivers, W. H. R., 4 _n._^1, 119, 124 _n._^1, 128, 202, 218, 266 _n._^4 + + Roberts, E., 371 + + Rohutu, the abode of the dead, 319 _sq._, 327 + + Rongo, god of peace and agriculture, 35 _n._; + a great Polynesian god, 224, 225, 226, 392, 395; + his sacred stream and grove, 240, 241; + god, inventor of circumcision, 224 + + Rono, a great Hawaiian god, 404, 416. + _See_ Lono + + Roscoe, J., 271 + + Routledge, S. and K., 279 _n._^1 + + Ruahatu, a sea-god, 276 + + + S[=a]-le-Fe'e, the Samoan Tartarus, 216 + + Sacredness of chiefs, 172 _sqq._ + + Sacrifice of children, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._; + of hogs, 79; + of fingers, 80; + of first-born sons, 89; + as magical, 83; + of pigs to the dead, 368; + of hogs to volcano, 399 + + Sacrifices in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._; + of pigs for the recovery of the sick, 351. + _See_ Human sacrifices + + Sacrilege, 67; + its expiation, 74 _sqq._, 183 _sqq._ + + Samoa, general name for the group of islands, 148; + original seat of Polynesian race, 154 + + Samoan Islands, 148 _sqq._; + volcanic activity in, 151 _sq._; + climate, 152 _sqq._ + + ---- Islanders, their appearance and character, 156 _sqq._; + houses, agriculture, and industries, 163 _sqq._; + rights of property, 169 _sqq._; + government, 171 _sqq._; + religion, 181 _sqq._ + + ---- worship of natural objects, 93, 96 _sq._; + of animals and other natural objects developed out of totemism, + 200 _sqq._, 218 + + Sanctity of kings in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._; + of priest of Tani (Tane), 293 + + Sanctuaries for criminals, 282 + + Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, 375 _sqq._ + + Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._; + their four chief gods, 35 _n._ + + Saturnalia at the death of a king or high chief in Hawaii, 421 _sqq._ + + Savage thought inconsistent, 84, 90 _sq._ + + Savages not addicted to sun-worship, 131 + + Savaii, one of the Samoan islands, centre of Polynesian dispersion, 6, + 148 _sq._, 150 _sq._, 154 _sq._, 192, 195, 202, 215 + + Saveasiuleo, the king of the lower regions, 216 _sq._ + + Scalps of slain foes taken, 162 + + Sea, gods of the, 276 _sq._ + + ---- eels sacred, 93, 94, 185 + + ---- gull sacred, 93 + + ---- -snake as god, 185 + + ---- -urchin, family god in, 183 + + Second death, 29 + + Secret burial, 21 + + Semites sacrifice first-born sons, 89 + + Serfdom, alleged, in Hawaii, 385 + + Shadow, soul associated with, 205 _sq._ + + Sham fights at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211, 212; + at Melanesian funerals, 212; + after a death, 234, 235, 236, 303 + + Shark-gods, 227, 276 + + Shark's teeth, omens from, 191 + + Sharks as ministers of justice, 77; + gods in, 96, 182; + sacred, 93; + still-born children turned into, 398, 403; + worshipped in Hawaii, 402 _sqq._ + + Shells (_Murex namoces_) in which the souls of the dead were supposed + to lodge, 325 + + Shortland, E., 6 _n._^2 + + Sick people carried to temple, 195 + + Sickness supposed to be caused by evil spirits, 417. + _See_ Disease + + Sinnet tenanted by a god, 228 + + Sins of the dead buried in a hole, 305 + + Sisters, curses of, specially dreaded, 207 + + Skins of the dead preserved as relics, 367 + + Skulls of dead kept in houses, 118; + of ancestors kept in temple or house, 288, 311; + of dead rulers worshipped, 324; + of dead hidden in caves, 357 + + Sky raised by Maui, 226, 275 + + Slaves killed to accompany their dead lords, 24; + in the Society Islands, 253 + + "Slaying the ghosts," 234 + + Smith, E. W. and Dale, A. M., 425 + + ----, S. Percy, 155 + + Snakes, water, gods in, 66, 92 + + Sneezing, Hervey Islanders' theory of, 229 + + Social ranks in Samoa, 171 _sqq._; + in Rarotonga, 224; + in the Society Islands, 253; + among the Marquesans, 344; + in Hawaii, 383 _sqq._ + + Society Islanders, 248 _sqq._ + + Society Islands, 246 _sqq._ + + Songs in honour of the dead, 236. + _See_ Dirges + + Sorcerers (Maori), 13 _sqq._; + disease and death ascribed to arts of, 300, 325 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 405. + _See_ Magic + + Soul, Maori ideas concerning the, 10 _sqq._; + as shadow, 11; + as breath, 11; + departure of soul from body, 12 _sqq._; + its fate after death, 24 _sqq._, 66, 86 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._, + 238 _sqq._, 313 _sq._, 427 _sqq._; + survival of, 24; + ascent to heaven, 24 _sqq._, 29; + Tongan theory of, 66, 84 _sqq._; + Samoan belief concerning the, 205 _sq._; + associated with shadow, 205 _sq._; + of the same shape as body, 205; + belief of the Society Islanders concerning the, 297 _sqq._; + beliefs of the Hervey Islanders concerning the, 229 _sqq._; + beliefs of the Marquesans concerning the, 352; + Hawaiian beliefs concerning the, 417 + + Souls of commoners mortal, 29; + souls of chiefs and priests immortal, 29; + of the dead appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._; + of ancestors cause disease, 49; + of dead infants cause disease, 49, 299; + of dead nobles as gods, 64 _sq._, 66, 84, 91; + of dead men as gods, 64, 66, 69, 85, 91, 351 _sq._, 397; + of Tongan commoners mortal, 66, 85; + caught in traps, 230 _sq._; + leaping-place of, 27, 241; + ascribed to animals, trees, and stones, 297; + of the dead eaten by the gods, 315, 427; + of children supposed to transmigrate into sharks, 403 + + Spells (Maori), 13 _sqq._ + + Spencer, Herbert, his theory that temples are derived from tombs, 100 + + Spirit world, Maori ideas of, 29 _sq._ + + Spirits of the dead become gods, 31 _sq._; + threatened, 208. + _See_ Gods, Souls + + Spittle used in magic, 15, 300, 325, 405; + collected to prevent its use in magic, 405 _sq._ + + Stair, J. B., 152, 173 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1 + + Star, shooting, worshipped, 93 + + Stars observed by the Samoans, 161 + + Sterndale, H. B., 197, 198, 199 + + Stewart, C. S., 157 _n._^7, 337 _sq._, 340 _sq._, 344 _n._^1, + 348 _sq._, 349 _sq._, 358, 372, 377, 424 + + Stick-and-groove mode of kindling fire, 181 + + Stilts, racing or combating on, 339 _sq._ + + Stinging ray fish, divine, 184, 185; + taboo to some Marquesans, 347 + + Stone-cutting in Tonga, craft of, 127 + + Stone monuments in Samoa, 197 _sqq._ + + Stone temple, ruins of, in Samoa, 196 _sq._ + + Stone tools and weapons, 10, 61, 180, 250 _sq._, 335, 382; + in Tonga, 61; + in Samoa, 180 + + Stonehenge, trilithons at, 123, 129, 130 + + Stones worshipped, 182, 187; + piled on graves to prevent the dead from rising, 232 + + Succession of eldest sons at their birth, 255 _sq._ + + Sugar-cane cultivated, 379 + + Suicides, their fate after death, 363 + + Sun, supposed secret worship of the, in the Pacific, 119; + Stonehenge supposed by some to be a temple of the, 130; + Tongans not worshippers of the, 131; + tradition of human sacrifices to, 158; + not worshipped in Samoa, 192; + ghosts journeying with the, 239 _sqq._; + caught and stopped by Maui, 275, 287 _n._, 396; + not worshipped by the Society Islanders, 286; + souls of the dead gather in the, 320 + + Sun god caught by Maui, 226; + supposed worship of, 266, 286 _n._^5 + + Sun worship, savages not addicted to, 131 + + "Sun-dried gods," title applied to embalmed bodies of chiefs, 205 + + Superstitious terrors reinforce morality, 83 + + + Taaroa (Taroa), a great god, 255 _n._^1, 258, 266, 267, 276, 287 _n._; + supreme god of Polynesia, 290. + _Compare_ Tanaroa, Tangaloa, Tangaroa + + Taboo (_tapu_) among the Maoris, 32, 34, 37 _sqq._, 432; + contracted by contact with the dead, 39, 209; + of sacred chiefs, 41 _sqq._; + its effect in confirming the rights of private property, 47 _sq._; + ultimate sanction of, 49; + supposed effects of breaking a, 76 _sq._; + consequent on touching a dead body, 137 _sq._; + comprises ideas of holiness and uncleanness, 173; + signified by white cloth, 344; + in the Marquesas, 345 _sqq._; + a definition of, 348; + in Hawaii, 387 _sqq._; + breaches of, punished with death, 389; + abolished in Hawaii, 389 _sq._; + rigour of, 416; + an aristocratic institution, 432 + + Tabooed priest, 404 + + Taboos imposed by chiefs, 175, 432 + + Tahaa, one of the Society Islands, 246, 258 + + Tahiti, 246, 247, 255, 266, 279, 282, 283, 314, 321; + _morais_ in, 116 _sqq._, 279 _sqq._ + + _Tahowa_, priest, 293 + + Tahuata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas, 349, 359, 360, 364, + 367 + + Taipii (Typee), valley of, in Nukahiva, 360, 365 + + Taipiis or Typees, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332, 365, 373 + + Tairi (Kaili), the national war-god of Hawaii, 396, 397, 404, 411 + + Takalaua, a Tooitonga, 108 + + Tali-y-Toobo, Tongan god of royal family, 70, 73, 77, 79, 121 + + Tame gods, 191 + + Tamehameha, king of Hawaii, 384, 423. + _See_ Kamehameha + + Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, Taaroa, dialectically different names of + a great Polynesian god, 258, 392 + + Tane (Tani), a great Polynesian god, 35 _n._, 241, 258, 280, 284, 293, + 392, 394, 397 + + Tane-kio, a god, enshrined in the planets Venus and Jupiter, 228 + + Tangaloa, god, drew up Tonga Islands on a fishing-hook, 65, 72 _sq._; + god of artificers, 72; + puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88; + ancestor of Tui-ta-tui, 127; + temple of, 196; + principal god of Samoans, the creator, 202 _sq._; + said to have fished up the islands, 202, 203 + + Tangaroa, god of ocean, 35 _n._; + a great god, brother of Rongo, 226 + + _Tapu_. _See_ Taboo + + Taro the staple food of the Samoans, 165; + of the Mangaians, 222; + and of the Hawaiians, 378 + + Tattooing, not applied to the Tooitonga, 81; + nor to the sacred kings of Mangaia, 224; + as a punishment in Samoa, 160; + of the Marquesan islanders, 331 _sq._; + marks of, removed from corpse, 368; + of the Hawaiians, 378; + of the tongue in mourning, 421 + + _Tauas_, inspired men, 350 _sq._ + + Tauata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas Islands, 337 + + Taylor, R., 7 _n._^1, 32 _n._^1, _n._^2, 36, 42 + + _Tee_, _teehee_, _tii_, spirit of the dead, guardian spirit, 313, 322, + 323 _n._^1 + + Teeth, loss of, penalty for breach of taboo, 209 _sq._; + knocked out in mourning, 231, 420, 423, 424 + + Tekuraaki, a god, incarnate in the woodpecker, 228 + + Temple, dead Areois buried in, 261; + bones of human victims buried in, 292; + bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311 + + Temples of the gods in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._; + and graves, question of, 99 _sqq._; + and tombs, 99 _sqq._; + Samoan, 194 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq._; + dedicated to sharks, 402, 403; + Hawaiian, 406 _sqq._ + + Theft, ordeal for detection of, 77 + + Thieves, Hiro the god of, 326; + divination to detect, 406 + + Thunder and lightning, no Tongan god of, 71; + Tongan idea concerning, 90 + + Thunder-god kept in captivity, 191 _sq._ + + Thomas, Rev. John, 57 _n._^1, 111 _n._ + + Thomson, A. S., 6 _n._^2 + + Thomson, Sir Basil, 87 _n._^1, 106, 107, 115, 116, 124, 125, 126, 127, + 128, 129 + + Tiaio, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 227 + + Tiaraboo (Tiarroboo, Tairaboo), the southern peninsula of Tahiti, 257, + 283 + + Tiburones, a mythical paradise, 352, 364 + + Ti'iti'i, hero, robs Mafuie of fire, 203 + + _Tii_, a worshipful spirit of the dead, 324. + Compare _Tee_ + + Tiki, the god of the dead, 231, 232 + + ----, a heroine, 239; + warder of the land of the dead, 244 _sq._ + + ----, a Marquesan god, 343, 350 _n._^4 + + Timatekore, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 226 + + Tofua, Tongan island, 96 + + Togo, in West Africa, 271 + + _Tohunga_, Maori priest, 16 _n._^3 + + Tombs, megalithic, of the Tooitongas, 99 _sqq._, 105 _sqq._, 119, + 123, 132; + and temples, 99 _sqq._ + + Tonga or Friendly Islands, 52 _sqq._ + + ---- Islanders, 57 _sqq._; + their religion, 64 _sqq._; + their national and tribal gods, 93 _sq._ + + Tongataboo, 52, 86, 94, 106, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120, 123 + + Tonga-iti, a god in the Hervey Islands, 227 + + _Tooas_ (_tuas_), Tongan commoners, 66, 85, 86, 87 + + Toobo Toty, a Tongan god, 71 + + Toogoo Ahoo, king of Tonga, 81 + + Tooi fooa Bolotoo, a Tongan god, 70 _sq._ + + Tooitonga, sacred chief or king of Tonga, 62, 66, 73, 81, 82, 94, + 106, 107, 108, 110, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121, + 122, 123, 126, 127, 144, 145; + tombs of the Tooitongas, 105 _sqq._; + obsequies of the, 140 _sqq._ + + Tooi-tonga-fafine, sister of the Tooitonga, 110 + + Totemic gods of Samoa, 202 + + Totemism, Tongan polytheism developed out of, 94; + Samoan worship of animals developed out of, 200 _sqq._, 218; + theory that it has been developed out of metempsychosis, 218; + relics of, in the Hervey Islands, 227 _sq._; + traces of, among the Marquesans, 347; + relics of, in Hawaii, 402 + + Trade guilds among the Samoans, 167 _sq._ + + Transmigration of souls not believed in by the Samoans, 218; + of souls of children into sharks, 403 + + Traps set for souls, 230 + + Tree, family god in, 192; + on which ghosts perch, 241 + + Trees, dead deposited on, 20 _sq._; + tenanted by gods, 228; + sacred, 281 _sq._; + worshipped, 402 + + Tregear, E., 6 _n._^2, 126 _n._^2, 392 + + Tribes or clans among the Hervey Islanders, 223 + + Trilithon in Tongataboo, 123 _sqq._ + + Trilithons at Stonehenge, 123, 129, 130 + + Trinity, the Hawaiian, 392 + + Triton-shell, god in, 228 + + Tropic-bird sacred, 93 + + Tu, Maori war-god, 35 _n._; + a great Polynesian deity, 392 + + Tuaraatai, a sea god in the Society Islands, 276 + + Tufoa, volcanic island, 53 + + Tui-ta-tui, a Tooitonga, 127, 128 + + _Tulafales_, householders or gentry in Samoa, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180 + + Tuoro, in Rarotonga, the meeting-place of ghosts, 243, 244 + + Turnbull, J., 262 + + Turner, Dr. George, 183 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1, 212, 213 + + Turtles, family god in, 183 _sq._ + + Tutuila, Samoan island, 149, 175, 176, 180, 215 + + Twins, divine, 226; + heavenly, 267; + customs and superstitions concerning, 267 _sqq._; + thought able to influence the weather, 267 _sq._; + fertilising power ascribed to, 269 _sqq._; + divine Hawaiian, 394 + + Tyerman and Bennet, 260, 281, 283, 295, 315, 386 + + Tylor, E. B., 3 _n._^3 + + Typee. _See_ Taipii + + Typees or Taipiis, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332 365, 375 + + + Uea (Wallis Island), 125 + + Uganda, human sacrifice in, 84 + + _Uhane_, soul, 417 + + Ui, a heroine, beloved by the sun, 158 + + Uli, a Hawaiian god, 405 + + Umi, king of Hawaii, 411, 413 + + Unburied dead, Samoan ceremonies for, 205 _sq._ + + Uncleanness, and holiness blent in taboo, 173; + caused by contact with a corpse, 312 _sq._, 427 + + Underworld, home of the souls of the dead, 27 + + Upolu, Samoan island, 149, 152, 155, 162, 185, 196, 202, 214, 215 + + Upu, a Marquesan goddess of the dead, 367, 368 + + Uriwera, a Maori people, 15 + + Urutetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267 + + Utakea, a god incarnate in the woodpecker, 228 + + + Vatea, a primary god, 226 + + Vavau, a Tongan island, 52, 53, 73 + + Veachi, sacred personage in Tonga, 66 + + Veeson, George, 86 + + Vegetable gods in Samoa, 192 + + Ventriloquism, 370 + + Venus, the planet, the shrine of a god, 228 + + Vergnes, P. E. Eyriaud des, 374 + + Village gods, 182, 185 + + Villages, Samoan, self-governing, 178 _sq._ + + Vincendon-Dumoulin, 118, 358, 373 + + Virtue, Tongan ideas of, 66 _sq._, 146 _sq._ + + Volcanic activity in Tonga Islands, 53 _sqq._; + in Samoa, 151; + in Hawaii, 375 + + Volcano, goddess of, in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._; + offerings to, 399 _sq._ + + + _Wahi taboo_, sacred place, temple, 387 _sq._ + + _Wahine ariki_, 40 + + Waimate Plains in New Zealand, 23 + + Wakea. _See_ Akea + + Wallis Island (Uea), 125 + + Wallis rediscovers Society Islands, 246 + + War gods, Samoan, 186, 188, 189 _sq._ + + War-gods, images of, carried to battle, 397 + + Warriors tabooed, 40 _sq._ + + Warriors, fate of souls of dead, 242 _sq._, 244 _sq._ + + Water of Life, River of the, 28; + in the nether world, 216 + + Weaving practised by Maoris, 9 + + West, Thomas, 114 + + Whale, soul of dead priest in a, 369 + + Whales worshipped, 93 + + _Whattas_, altars, 391, 392 + + White cloth as mark of taboo, 344; + flags as marks of property, 386 + + Widowers tabooed, 39 + + Widows killed to accompany their dead husbands, 24; + tabooed, 39; + strangled and buried with their husbands, 145; + dances of, 353, 354 + + Wilkes, Charles (Commodore), 57, 61 _n._, 87, 89 _n._^1, 90, + 155 _n._^1, 384 _sq._, 411 + + Williams, John, 80, 157 _n._^7, 158, 181, 185, 221, 231 + + Wilson, James, 264 _n._^5 + + Winds imprisoned by two gods, 277 + + Windward Islands, 246 + + Wiro, evil spirit, 27 + + Woman, the first, created out of a rib of the first man, 393 _sq._ + + Women well treated by Tongans, 61 _sq._; + well treated by the Samoans, 157; + excluded from temples, 288 _sq._; + forbidden to eat with men, 381; + forbidden to partake of sacrifices, 388 + + Woodpecker, gods incarnate in the, 228 + + Worms, souls of the dead in the shape of, 29 + + Worship of ancestors among the Maoris, 32 _sqq._; + of the Tongan gods, 79 _sqq._; + of nature, 93; + of the dead tends to encroach on the worship of the high gods, + 97 _sq._; + of animals and other natural objects in Samoa, 182 _sqq._, + 200 _sqq._; + of the dead in Samoa, 204 _sq._; + of the dead, elements of the, 205; + of the sun, supposed, 266, 286 _n._^5; + of the dead in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._; + of animals in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._ + _See_ Religion + + Wrestling matches as funeral rite, 140, 144, 211; + at obsequies of chiefs, 303 + + ---- and boxing matches at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211; + in honour of Lono (Rono), 395, 416 + + + Yam festival in Tonga, 71 _sq._ + + Yams, new, offered at grave, 122 + + Young, John, 422 _sq._ + + + Zulu superstition as to twins, 270 + + + +THE END + + +_Printed in Great Britain by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +WORKS BY SIR J. G. FRAZER + + + THE + BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + AND THE + WORSHIP OF THE DEAD + + VOL. I. + + THE BELIEF AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA, THE TORRES STRAITS + ISLANDS, NEW GUINEA, AND MELANESIA. + + THE GIFFORD LECTURES, ST. ANDREWS, 1911-1912. + + 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. + +Mr. EDWARD CLODD in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--"'If a man die, shall he +live again?' is a question asked chiliads before Job put it, and the +generations of mankind repeat it. In this profoundly interesting volume, +Professor Frazer, out of the treasury of his knowledge, and with +consummate art of attractive presentment, gives the answers devised by +the Lower Races." + +_FOLK-LORE_.--"It displays all the best qualities, both in respect of +style and matter, that characterise Dr. Frazer's former works." + +_NEW STATESMAN_.--"Dr. Frazer does not profess to explain the ultimate +source of religion, but only to attempt to follow the steps of its +growth among the races of men. It is his aim to set before us a +continent of facts known, or partly known, to the anthropologists, not a +solution of the mystery of the Universe. That aim he has achieved with +masterly success and lucidity." + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"The analysis of belief and practice +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits, New Guinea, and +Melanesia, which occupies nearly 400 pages of this volume, is a masterly +performance." + +_GUARDIAN_.--"The bare facts which Dr. Frazer sets before us are of an +absorbing interest.... The Biblical student may gain much from the +perusal of Dr. Frazer's work." + +_OBSERVER_.--"The importance of the work which Dr. Frazer has undertaken +cannot be overrated. His study of religion is a contribution to human +knowledge of such quality that the country to which he belongs may well +be proud of him.... Dr. Frazer has arranged the mass of detail from +which he has had to draw with a skill and judgment which in the work of +another man would be surprising; and he tells each story with the point +and clarity of an artist, so that, apart from the book's high mission, +it could be read as a storehouse of good tales. His comments, moreover, +are always brief and decisive." + + * * * * * + + THE GOLDEN BOUGH + + A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION + + Third Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. + + Part I. THE MAGIC ART AND THE EVOLUTION OF KINGS. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + II. TABOO AND THE PERILS OF THE SOUL. One volume. + 12s. 6d. net. + + III. THE DYING GOD. One volume. 12s. 6d. net. + + IV. ADONIS, ATTIS, OSIRIS. Two volumes. 25s. net. + + V. SPIRITS OF THE CORN AND OF THE WILD. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + VI. THE SCAPEGOAT. One volume, 12s. 6d. net. + + VII. BALDER THE BEAUTIFUL: THE FIRE-FESTIVALS OF EUROPE + AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE EXTERNAL SOUL. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + Vol. XII. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GENERAL INDEX. 25s. net. + +_TIMES_.--"The book is a great book, in just the sense in which the work +of Darwin, Zola, or Balzac is great. It has explored and mapped out a +new world. But it combines artistry with science. Not only does it +describe the greater part of the magical and religious beliefs and +practices of the lower races and peasant peoples of the world, with +a scientific precision and completeness superior to those of the +encyclopædic biologist; it also narrates, with greater truth and +vividness than has ever been essayed, the tragi-comedy of human +superstition." + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"This new edition is something more than +a mere enlargement. It is a new book, or a series of books; yet it is +the same 'Golden Bough.' The reader will find it full of good things, +new and old. He will also realise that 'The Golden Bough' is a great +book, one of the great books of our time." + + * * * * * + + THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION. + Abridged Edition. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 18s. net. + +This abridgment has been prepared in response to numerous requests that +the work should be issued in a more compendious form. While the book has +been greatly reduced in bulk, by omission of all the notes and +occasional condensation in the text, all the main principles of the +complete work are retained, together with a sufficient amount of +evidence to illustrate them clearly. Nothing has been added, and no +change has been made in the author's views. It is hoped that in this +abridged form the book may prove welcome to students and general readers +who cannot afford to buy and read the complete edition. + + * * * * * + + FOLK-LORE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Studies in Comparative Religion, + Legend, and Law. Three vols. 8vo. 37s. 6d. net. + +_TIMES_.--"The idea of illustrating the Old Testament by analogies drawn +from the myths, customs, and superstitions of various primitive peoples +is not, of course, a new one ... but no one has hitherto published +anything to be compared with the vast and varied store of information +which Sir James Frazer now places before us.... His book is a mine of +instructive facts for which all future students of the subject will be +grateful." + +_NATURE_.--"These three volumes should be the household companion of +every religious teacher, nay, of every one who cares or dares to see +what that latest daughter of science, folk-lore, has to say about the +cherished beliefs from the Old Testament, absorbed in infancy, and +rarely visualised differently in later life." + +_SPECTATOR_.--"We may say at once that Sir James Frazer's new work is +profoundly interesting, and that it throws a flood of light on many +familiar episodes and references." + + * * * * * + + TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY. A Treatise on Certain Early Forms of + Superstition and Society. With Maps. Four vols. 8vo. 50s. net. + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"That portion of the book which is +concerned with totemism (if we may express our own belief at the risk of +offending Prof. Frazer's characteristic modesty) is actually 'The +Complete History of Totemism, its Practice and its Theory, its Origin +and its End.'... Nearly two thousand pages are occupied with an +ethnographical survey of totemism, an invaluable compilation. The maps, +including that of the distribution of totemic peoples, are a new and +useful feature." + + * * * * * + + THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF KINGS. (Formerly published as "Lectures on + the Early History of the Kingship.") 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +_ATHENÆUM_.--"It is the effect of a good book not only to teach, but +also to stimulate and to suggest, and we think this the best and highest +quality, and one that will recommend these lectures to all intelligent +readers, as well as to the learned." + + * * * * * + + PSYCHE'S TASK. A Discourse concerning the Influence of + Superstition on the Growth of Institutions. Second Edition, + revised and enlarged. To which is added "The Scope of Social + Anthropology." 8vo. 6s. 6d. net. + +_OUTLOOK_.--"Whether we disagree or agree with Dr. Frazer's general +conclusions, he has provided us with a veritable storehouse of +correlated facts, for which, and for the learning that has gone to their +collection, and for the intellectual brilliance that has gone to their +arrangement, we can never be sufficiently grateful." + + * * * * * + + PAUSANIAS'S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. Translated with a Commentary, + Illustrations, and Maps. Second Edition. Six vols. 8vo. 126s. + net. + +_ATHENÆUM_.--"All these writings in many languages Mr. Eraser has read +and digested with extraordinary care, so that his book will be for years +the book of reference on such matters, not only in England, but in +France and Germany. It is a perfect thesaurus of Greek topography, +archæology, and art." + + * * * * * + + STUDIES IN GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND AND HISTORY. Selected from Sir + J. G. FRAZER'S Commentary on Pausanias. Globe 8vo. 5s. net. + +_GUARDIAN_.--"Here we have material which every one who has visited +Greece, or purposes to visit it, most certainly should read and +enjoy.... We cannot imagine a more excellent book for the educated +visitor to Greece." + + * * * * * + + SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, AND OTHER LITERARY PIECES. Crown 8vo. 8s. + 6d. net. + +_DAILY TELEGRAPH_.--"These various studies, biographical, fantastic, and +romantic, are the fine flower of scholarship and taste, touched +continually by the golden light of imagination, and full of that +interpretative sympathy which is half-sister to creation." + + * * * * * + + LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. Chosen and Edited, with a Memoir and + a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. l0s. net. + [_Eversley Series._ + +Mr. CLEMENT SHORTER in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--"The introductory Memoir, +of some eighty pages in length, is a valuable addition to the many +appraisements of Cowper that these later years have seen.... Dr. Frazer +has given us two volumes that are an unqualified joy." + + * * * * * + + ESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. Chosen and Edited, with a Preface and + a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. 10s. net. + [_Eversley Series._ + +_NATION_.--"Sir James Frazer, who writes a Preface, quite in the Addison +manner, has done his work of selection as only a scholar of his breadth +and distinction could achieve." + + + +LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break. + +3. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the paragraph +in which they are referenced. + +4. The original text has certain words which use "oe" ligature which is +indicated by [oe] within this text. + +5. There are certain letters with diacritical marks in the original text +which are indicated in this e-text version using: + + [=a] letter a with macron above + [=o] letter o with macron above + [)a] letter a with breve + +6. In the original text, the words lulu'u, A'ana and Tuia'ana use single +high-reversed-9 quotation mark which has been replaced by plain single +quotation mark in this e-text version. + +7. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead + Vol. II + +Author: James George Frazer + +Release Date: August 24, 2010 [EBook #33524] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was made using scans of public domain works from the +University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h2>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY</h2> + +<h3>VOL. II</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5><big>MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span></big><br /> +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MADRAS<br /> +MELBOURNE</h5> + +<h5><big>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</big><br /> +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO<br /> +DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO</h5> + +<h5><big>THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd</span>.</big><br /> +TORONTO</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE<br /> +<big>BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY</big><br /> +AND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD</h2> + + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Sir</span> JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F.R.S., F.B.A.</h2> + +<h5>FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE<br /> + +HON. D.C.L., OXFORD; HON. LITT.D., CAMBRIDGE AND DURHAM; HON. LL.D., GLASGOW; DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF PARIS AND STRASBOURG</h5> + + +<h3>VOL. II<br /> +THE BELIEF AMONG THE POLYNESIANS</h3> + + +<h2>MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br /> +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON<br /> +1922</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>COPYRIGHT</h4> + +<h5>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The first volume of this work, which comprised the Gifford Lectures +given by me at St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, dealt with the +belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New +Guinea, and Melanesia. In the present volume I take up the subject at +the point at which I broke off, and describe the corresponding belief +and worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbours +the Melanesians by language, if not by blood. The first chapter formed +the theme of two lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in 1916; +the other chapters have been written for lectures at Trinity College, +Cambridge, in 1921 and 1922. But in the book the lecture form has been +discarded, and the treatment of the subject is somewhat fuller than +comports with the limits imposed by oral delivery.</p> + +<p>Should circumstances allow me to continue the work, I propose in the +next volume to treat of the belief in immortality and the worship of the +dead among the Micronesians and Indonesians.</p> + + +<p style='text-align:right'>J. G. FRAZER.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">No. 1 Brick Court, Temple,<br /> + London</span>, <i>19th July 1922</i>.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><small>PAGES</small></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#PREFACE"><big><span class="smcap">Preface</span></big></a></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CONTENTS"><big><span class="smcap">Table of Contents</span></big></a></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_vii">vii-ix</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><small>CHAP.</small></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><big>I.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Maoris</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1-51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Polynesians</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1-5</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Maoris of New Zealand</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5-10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Living</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10-19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Dead</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19-37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. Taboo among the Maoris</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37-50</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Conclusion</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><big>II.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Tongans</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52-147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Tonga or Friendly Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52-57</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of Life, and Government</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57-63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. The Tongan Religion: its General Principles</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64-68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. The Primary or Non-human Gods</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68-73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. The Temples of the Gods</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73-77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Priests and their Inspiration</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77-79</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79-84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 8. The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_84">84-91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 9. The Souls of the Dead as Gods</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91-98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 10. Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99-132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 11. Rites of Burial and Mourning</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132-146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 12. The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_146">146-147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><big>III.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Samoans</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148-218</a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg viii]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Samoan Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148-156</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Samoan Islanders, their character</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_156">156-163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. Houses, Agriculture, and Industries</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163-169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. Rights of Property</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_169">169-171</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_171">171-181</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_181">181-192</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. Priests and Temples</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_192">192-200</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 8. Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts: Relation to Totemism</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_200">200-202</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 9. The High Gods of Samoa</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_202">202-205</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 10. The Samoan Belief concerning the Human Soul: Funeral Customs</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_205">205-213</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 11. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_213">213-218</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><big>IV.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Hervey Islanders</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219-245</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Hervey or Cook Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219-220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_220">220-223</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. Social Life: the Sacred Kings</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_223">223-225</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_225">225-229</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. The Doctrine of the Human Soul</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_229">229-231</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Death and Funeral Rites</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_231">231-237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_238">238-245</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><big>V.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Society Islanders</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_246">246-327</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Society Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_246">246-248</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_248">248-256</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. The Religion of the Society Islanders</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_256">256-278</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. The Temples and Images of the Gods</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_278">278-291</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_291">291-296</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. The Doctrine of the Human Soul</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_297">297-299</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. Disease, Death, and Mourning</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_299">299-308</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 8. The Disposal of the Dead</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_308">308-313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 9. The Fate of the Soul after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_313">313-321</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 10. The Worship of the Dead</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_322">322-327</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><big>VI.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Marquesans</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328-374</a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg ix]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Marquesas Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328-331</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. Physical Appearance of the Natives</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_331">331-333</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_333">333-337</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_337">337-339</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_339">339-344</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Social Ranks, Taboo</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_344">344-347</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. Religion and Mythology</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_348">348-352</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 8. The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_352">352-363</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 9. Fate of the Soul after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_363">363-374</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><big>VII.</big></a></td> + <td><big><span class="smcap">The Belief in Immortality among the Hawaiians</span></big></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_375">375-431</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 1. The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_375">375-377</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 2. The Natives and their Mode of Life</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_377">377-380</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 3. Houses, Mechanical Arts</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_380">380-383</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 4. Government, Social Ranks, Taboo</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_383">383-390</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 5. Religion, the Gods</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_390">390-404</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 6. Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_404">404-406</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 7. Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_406">406-414</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 8. Festivals</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_414">414-416</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 9. Death and Funeral Rites</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_417">417-427</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td>§ 10. Fate of the Soul after Death</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_427">427-431</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#INDEX"><big><span class="smcap">Index</span></big></a></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_433">433-447</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Polynesians</i></h4> + + +<p>The Polynesians are the tall brown race of men who inhabit +the widely scattered islands of the Pacific, from Hawaii on +the north to New Zealand on the south, and from Tonga +on the west to Easter Island on the east.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Down to the +eighteenth century they remained practically unknown to +Europe; the first navigator to bring back comparatively +full and accurate information concerning them was our great +English explorer, Captain James Cook. Thus at the date +of their discovery the natives were quite unaffected by +European influence: of our civilisation they knew nothing: +of Christianity, though it had existed in the world for nearly +eighteen hundred years, they had never heard: they were +totally ignorant of the metals, and had made so little +progress in the arts of life that in most of the islands +pottery was unknown,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and even so simple an invention +as that of bows and arrows for use in war had not been +thought of.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Hence their condition was of great interest to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +students of the early history of man, since it presented to +their observation the spectacle of a barbaric culture evolved +from an immemorial past in complete independence of those +material, intellectual, and moral forces which have moulded +the character of modern European nations. The lateness of +their discovery may also be reckoned a fortunate circumstance +for us as well as for them, since it fell at a time when scientific +curiosity was fully awakened among us, and when scientific +methods were sufficiently understood to allow us to study +with profit a state of society which differed so widely from +our own, and which in an earlier and less enlightened +age might have been contemplated only with aversion and +disgust.</p> + +<p>The question of the origin of the Polynesian race is still +unsettled, but the balance both of evidence and of probability +seems to incline in favour of the view that the people are +descended from one of the yellow Mongoloid races of South-Eastern +Asia, who gradually spread eastward over the Indian +Archipelago and intermingling to some extent with the black +aboriginal inhabitants of the islands formed the lighter-tinted +brown race which we call the Polynesian.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> A strong argument +in favour of this theory is drawn from the Polynesian +language, which belongs essentially to the same family of +speech as the Melanesian and Malay languages spoken by +the peoples who occupy the islands that intervene between +Polynesia and the south-eastern extremity of the Asiatic +continent.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The black Melanesian race occupies the south-eastern +portion of New Guinea and the chain of islands which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +stretches in a great curve round the north-eastern coasts of +New Guinea and Australia. The brown Malays, with the +kindred Indonesians and a small admixture of negritoes, +inhabit the islands westward from New Guinea to the Malay +Peninsula.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Of the two kindred languages, the Polynesian +and the Melanesian, the older in point of structure appears +unquestionably to be the Melanesian; for it is richer both in +sounds and in grammatical forms than the Polynesian, which +may accordingly be regarded as its later and simplified +descendant.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>But whereas the three peoples, the Polynesians, the +Melanesians, and the Malays speak languages belonging to +the same family, their physical types are so different that it +seems impossible to look on the brown straight-haired +Polynesians and Malays as pure descendants of the swarthy +frizzly-haired Melanesians. Accordingly in the present state +of our knowledge, or rather ignorance, the most reasonable +hypothesis would appear to be that the Melanesians, who +occupy a central position in the great ocean, between the +Polynesians on the east and the Malays on the west, represent +the original inhabitants of the islands, while the +Polynesians and Malays represent successive swarms of +emigrants, who hived off from the Asiatic continent, and +making their way eastward over the islands partially displaced +and partially blent with the aborigines, modifying +their own physical type in the process and exchanging their +original language for that of the islanders, which, through +their inability to assimilate it, they acquired only in corrupt +or degenerate forms.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Yet a serious difficulty meets us on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +this hypothesis. For both the Polynesians and the Malays, +as we know them, stand at a decidedly higher level of +culture, socially and intellectually, than the Melanesians, +and it is hard to understand why with this advantage they +should have fallen into a position of linguistic subordination +to them, for as a rule it is the higher race which imposes +its language on its inferiors, not the lower race which +succeeds in foisting its speech on its superiors.</p> + +<p>But these are intricate questions which await future +investigation. I cannot enter into them now, but must +confine myself to my immediate subject, the beliefs of the +Polynesians concerning the human soul and the life after +death.</p> + +<p>In spite of their diffusion over a multitude of islands +separated from each other by hundreds and even thousands +of miles of ocean, the Polynesians are on the whole a remarkably +homogeneous race in physical type, language, and +forms of society and religion. The differences of language +between them are inconsiderable, amounting to little more +than some well-marked dialectical variations: all dwell in +settled homes and subsist partly by fishing partly by the +fruits of the earth, tilling the soil and gathering coconuts +and bread-fruit from the trees:<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> all are bold and +expert mariners, making long voyages in large well-built +canoes: all possess a copious and comparatively well +developed mythology; and all at the time of their discovery +enjoyed, or perhaps we should rather say suffered +from, a singular institution, half social, half religious, +which may be summed up in the single Polynesian word +taboo. Hence it would no doubt be possible to give a +general account of the belief in human immortality which +would hold good in outline for all the different branches of +the Polynesian race; but such an account would necessarily +be somewhat meagre, inexact in detail, and liable to many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +exceptions. Accordingly I shall not attempt it, but shall +describe the creed of each group of islanders separately. +As the beliefs of the various islanders on this momentous +topic are characterised by a general similarity, the method +I have adopted will no doubt involve a certain sameness +and repetition, but for the serious student of comparative +religion I hope that these disadvantages may be more than +outweighed by the greater accuracy and fulness of detail +which this mode of treating the subject renders possible.</p> + +<p>The principal groups of islands included in Polynesia +are New Zealand, the Friendly or Tonga Islands, the +Samoan or Navigators Islands, the Hervey or Cook Islands, +the Society Islands, including Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, +and Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> All of them, except +New Zealand, are within the tropics; and all of them, +except Hawaii, lie to the south of the equator. I shall +deal with them in the order I have mentioned, beginning +with New Zealand.</p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Maoris of New Zealand</i></h4> + +<p>The Maoris of New Zealand are not aborigines of the +islands which they inhabit: they possess long and apparently +in the main trustworthy traditions of their migration to +New Zealand many generations ago. The circumstances +which led to the migration, the names of the canoes in +which it was accomplished, the names and genealogies of +the chiefs who conducted it, are all recorded, having been +handed on by word of mouth from generation to generation, +till they were finally written down from the lips of the +natives by English enquirers.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The place from which the +Maoris came is unanimously designated as Hawaiki, an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +island or group of islands lying far to the north or north-east +of New Zealand. Among English scholars there is +some difference of opinion whether Hawaiki is to be +identified with Hawaii, that is, the Sandwich Islands, or +with Savaii, one of the Samoan or Navigators Islands, +since Hawaii and Savaii are both dialectical variations of +the New Zealander's pronunciation of Hawaiki.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Though +Hawaii is more than twice as far as Savaii from New +Zealand, being separated from it by almost the whole +breadth of the tropics and a great stretch of ocean besides, +some good authorities have inclined to regard it as the +original home of the Maoris, but the balance of opinion +appears now to preponderate in favour of the view that +Savaii was the centre from which the Polynesians dispersed +all over the Pacific.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> However, the question is one that +hardly admits of a positive answer.</p> + +<p>The Maoris are not a pure-blooded Polynesian race. +Among them even at the present day two distinct racial +types may be distinguished, one of them the comparatively +fair Polynesian type with straight nose and good features, +the other the swarthy, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, frizzly-haired +Melanesian type. They have a tradition that on their +arrival in New Zealand they found the country in the +possession of a dark-skinned folk of repulsive appearance, +tall, spare, and spindle-shanked, with flat faces, overhanging +brows, and noses of which little but the upturned nostrils +could in some cases be discerned. These savages wore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +little clothing and built no good houses, nothing but rude +shelters against the inclemency of the weather. They were +ignorant and treacherous, and the Maoris regarded them +with dislike and contempt; but their women looked with +favour on the handsome Maori men, and a mixture of the +two races was the result. This tradition both explains and +is confirmed by the two different racial types which still exist +side by side or blent together among the Maoris. It seems, +therefore, highly probable that before the advent of the +Maoris the North Island of New Zealand was occupied by a +people of inferior culture belonging to the Melanesian stock, +who may themselves have had a strain of Polynesian blood in +their veins and some Polynesian words in their language. This +at least is suggested by some features in the Maori traditions +about them. For these savages told the Maoris that they +were the descendants of the crews of three fishing canoes +which had been driven to sea from their own land in past +times, and that their original home was a much warmer +country than New Zealand. All these various indications +may perhaps be reconciled by supposing that the dark predecessors +of the Maoris in New Zealand were a Melanesian +people, who had accidentally drifted from Fiji, the inhabitants +of which have long been in contact with their +Polynesian neighbours on the east, the Tongans.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +received from the Maoris the name of Maruiwi,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and were +perhaps of the same stock as the Moriori of the Chatham +Islands; for two skulls of the Moriori type have been found +in an old deposit at Wanganui, near the south end of the +North Island of New Zealand.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>At the time of their discovery the Maoris had attained +to a fair level of barbaric culture. They lived in comfortable +houses ornamented with carved work and with scrolls +painted in red and white on the posts and beams. Their +villages were fortified with earthworks, palisades, and +trenches, and surrounded by large gardens planted with +sweet potatoes, taro, and melons.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> "They excel in tillage,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +says Captain Cook, as might naturally be expected, where +the person that sows is to eat the produce, and where there +is so little besides that can be eaten: when we first came +to Tegadoo, a district between Poverty Bay and East Cape, +their crops were just covered, and not yet begun to sprout; +the mould was as smooth as in a garden, and every root +had its small hillock, ranged in a regular quincunx, by lines, +which with the pegs were still remaining in the field.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +They understood the arts of irrigating their gardens<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> and of +manuring them so as to render the soil light and porous and +therefore better suited for the growth of the sweet potato, +their favourite food. For this purpose they used sand, and +in the Waikatoo district, where the root was formerly much +cultivated, deep excavations, like the gravel pits of England, +may still be seen, from which the natives extracted sand to +fertilise their gardens.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Moreover, they cultivated various +species of native flax and used the fibre for the manufacture +of garments, first scraping it and drying it in the sun, then +steeping it in water, and afterwards beating it with wooden +mallets. Thus prepared the flax was dyed black or reddish +brown and woven into cloth with broad borders of neat and +varied patterns. The stronger and coarser fibres were made +into string, lines, and cordage of all sorts.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The Maoris +also built large and magnificently adorned canoes,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> in which +they made long voyages; for example, they invaded and +conquered the Chatham Islands, which lie to the eastward +across the open sea about five hundred miles distant from +the nearest coast of New Zealand.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> In hunting they had +little opportunity to shine, for the simple reason that in their +country there were no beasts to hunt except rats;<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +birds they could not shoot, because they had no bows and +arrows to shoot them with,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> but they made some amends by +catching them in ingeniously constructed snares.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> They +caught fish both with nets, some of which were of enormous +size, and with hooks made of bone or shell.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> They +displayed great skill and infinite patience in fashioning, +sharpening, and polishing their stone implements and +weapons.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> In council they were orators, and in the battlefield +warriors whose courage has merited the respect, and +whose military skill has won the admiration of the British +troops opposed to them.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> In short, the Maoris were and +are one of the most highly gifted among the many uncivilised +peoples which the English race, in its expansion over the +world, has met and subdued. It is therefore of peculiar +interest to learn what conceptions they had formed of man's +spiritual nature and his relations to the higher powers.</p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Living</i></h4> + +<p>Like most other peoples, whether savage or civilised, the +Maoris explained the mystery of life in man by the presence +of an invisible spirit or soul, which animates his body during +life and quits it at death to survive the separation for a +longer or shorter time either in this world or another. But +like many others who have sought to fathom this profound +subject, the Maoris would seem to have experienced some +difficulty in ascertaining the precise nature of the human +soul. When the natural man, on the strength of his native +faculties, essays to explore these dark abysses and to put his +vague thoughts into words, he commonly compares his soul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +either to his breath or to his shadow and his reflection, and +not content with a simple comparison he is led, by a natural +confusion of thought, to identify more or less closely the +imperceptible entity which he calls his soul with one or both +of these perceptible objects. To this general rule the Maori +is apparently no exception. He has two words which he +specially uses to designate the human spirit or soul: one is +<i>wairua</i>, the other is <i>hau</i>.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Of these words, <i>wairua</i>, the more +usual name, is said to mean also a shadow, an unsubstantial +image, a reflection, as of a person's face from a polished +surface;<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and we may surmise that these were the original +and proper meanings of the term. Similarly <i>hau</i>, which is +described as "the vital essence or life principle" in man,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +appears primarily to mean "wind,"<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> from which we may +infer that in its application to man it denotes properly the +breath. The idea of the soul as a breath appears in the +explanation which was given to Dumont d'Urville of the +Maori form of salutation by rubbing noses together. The +French traveller was told that the real intention of this salute +was to mingle the breath and thereby the souls of the persons +who gave each other this token of friendship. But as his +informant was not a Maori but a certain Mr. Kendall, the +truth of the explanation remains doubtful, though the Frenchman +believed that he obtained confirmation of it from his +own observation and the testimony of a native.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> On the +other hand the comparison of the soul to a shadow comes +out in the answer given by a Maori to an Englishman who +had asked him why his people did not prevent their souls +from passing away to the nether world. The Maori replied +by pointing to the Englishman's shadow on the wall and +asking him whether he could catch it.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Thus far the Maori conception of the soul does not perhaps +differ very materially from the popular notion of it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +current among ourselves. But we come now to a marked +difference between the Maori idea of the soul and our own. +For whereas the European commonly believes his soul to be +fixed during life immovably in his body, and only to depart +from it once for all at death, the soul of the Maori is under +no such narrow restrictions, but is free to quit its bodily +mansion at pleasure and to return to it without prejudice to +the life and health of its owner. For example, the Maori +explains a dream by supposing that the soul of the sleeper +has left his body behind and rambled away to places more +or less distant, where it converses with the spirits of other +people, whether alive or dead. Hence no well-bred Maori +would waken a sleeper suddenly by shaking him or calling +out to him in a loud voice. If he must rouse him, he will +do it gradually, speaking to him at first in low tones and +then raising his voice by degrees, in order to give the truant +soul fair warning and allow it to return at leisure.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Believing +in the power of the soul to wander far away and converse +with other spiritual beings in sleep, the Maoris naturally paid +great attention to dreams, which they fancied were often sent +them by the gods to warn them of coming events. All +dreams were supposed to have their special significance, and +the Maoris had framed a fanciful system for interpreting +them. Sometimes, as with ourselves, the interpretation went +by contraries. For example, if a man dreamed that he saw +a sick relative at the point of death, it was a sign that the +patient would soon recover; but if, on the contrary, the +sufferer appeared in perfect health, it was an omen of his +approaching end. When a priest was in doubt as to the +intentions of the higher powers, he usually waited for his +god to reveal his will in a dream, and accepted the vagaries +of his slumbering fancy as an infallible intimation of the +divine pleasure. Spells were commonly recited in order to +annul the effect of ill-omened dreams.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>But the departure of the soul from the body in life was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +not always voluntary; it might take place under the compulsion +of a hostile sorcerer or magician. In a Maori legend +called <i>The curse of Manaia</i> we read that "the priests next +dug a long pit, termed the pit of wrath, into which by their +enchantments they might bring the spirits of their enemies, +and hang them and destroy them there; and when they had +dug the pit, muttering the necessary incantations, they took +large shells in their hands to scrape the spirits of their +enemies into the pit with, whilst they muttered enchantments; +and when they had done this, they scraped the earth into +the pit again to cover them up, and beat down the earth +with their hands, and crossed the pit with enchanted cloths, +and wove baskets of flax-leaves to hold the spirits of the +foes which they had thus destroyed, and each of these acts +they accompanied with the proper spells."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>This mode of undoing an enemy by extracting and +killing his soul was not with the Maoris a mere legendary +fiction; it was practised in real life by their wizards. For we +are told that when a priest desired to slay a person by witchcraft, +he would often dig a hole in the ground, and standing +over it with a cord in his hand would let one end of the cord +hang down into the hole. He then recited an incantation +which compelled the soul of the doomed man to swarm +down the cord into the pit, whereupon another potent spell +chanted by the magician speedily put an end to the poor +soul for good and all.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>It seems obvious that spells of this sort may be used +with great advantage in war, for if you can only contrive to +kill the souls of your foes, their mere bodies will probably +give you little or no trouble. Nor did this practical application +of the magic art escape the sagacity of the Maoris. +When they marched to attack an enemy's stronghold, it was +an ancient custom to halt and kindle a fire, over which the +priest recited certain spells to cause the souls of his +adversaries to be drawn into the fire and there to perish +miserably in the flames. In theory the idea was admirable, +but unfortunately it did not always work out in practice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +For magic is a game at which two can play, and it sometimes +happened that the spells of the besieged proved +more powerful than those of the besiegers and enabled the +garrison to defy all the attempts of the enemy to filch their +souls from their bodies.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> But even when the assailants were +obliged to retire discomfited, they did not always lose +heart, the resources of the magic art were not yet exhausted. +On their return home the priest, nothing daunted by a +temporary discomfiture, might betake himself again to his +spells, and by crooning his incantations over a garment or a +weapon belonging to one of his party, might dash in pieces +the arms of the enemy and cause their souls to perish. +Thus by his ghostly skill would he snatch victory from +defeat, and humble the pride of the insolent foe in the very +moment of his imaginary triumph.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> One way in which he +effected his purpose was to take a bag or basket containing +some sacred food, hold it to the fire, and then opening the +bag point the mouth of it in the direction of the enemy. +The simple recitation of a spell then sufficed to draw the +souls of the adversaries into the bag, after which nothing was +easier for him than to destroy them utterly by means of the +appropriate incantation.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>But valuable as are these applications of magic to +practical life, the art, like every good thing, is liable to +abuse; and even where it is employed with the best intentions, +the forces which it controls are so powerful that in +spite of all precautions an accident will sometimes happen. +For example, in sickness the patient often had recourse to a +priest, who would lead him down to the nearest water, +whether a pool or a stream, and there perform the magical +rites necessary for the relief of his particular malady. While +the wizard was engaged in this beneficent task, all the +people in the village kept strictly indoors, lest their souls +should wander forth to the water-side and there colliding, +if I may be allowed the expression, with the mystic forces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +of the priest's spells be damaged or even annihilated +by the collision.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> In such a case the fatal consequences +were the result of a pure accident, but sometimes +they were intentional. For this fell purpose a malignant +wizard would dig a hole, invoke the spirit of the man +against whom he had a grudge, and when the spirit +appeared over the hole in the form of a light, he would +curse it, and the man whose soul was cursed would be sure +to die, sooner or later; nothing could save him. The +Uriwera, who dwelt dispersed among the forests and lonely +hills of a wild mountainous region in the North Island, were +reputed to be the greatest warlocks in all New Zealand. +When they descended from their mountains to the coast, +the lowlanders scarcely dared refuse them anything for fear +of incurring their displeasure. It is said that in their +magical rites they made a special use of the spittle of their +destined victims; hence all visitors to their country were +careful to conceal their spittle lest they should give these +wicked folk a handle against them.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Another mode in +which a Maori wizard could obtain power over a man's soul +was by working magic on the footprints of his intended +victim. The thing was done in this way. Suppose you +are walking and leave your footprints behind you on the +ground. I come behind you, take up the earth from your +footprints, and deposit it on the sacred <i>whata puaroa</i>, that is, +a post or pillar set up in the holy place of a village and +charged in a mysterious manner with the vitality both of +the people and of the land. Having laid the earth from +your footprints on the sacred post, I next perform a ceremony +of consecration over it, and then bury it with a seed of sweet +potato in the ground. After that you are doomed. You +may consider yourself for all practical purposes not only +dead but buried, like the earth from your footprints.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>From some of the foregoing facts it seems to follow +that the souls of the Maoris are not, so to say, constitutionally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +immortal, but that they are of a brittle and +perishable nature, and that in particular they are liable to +be cut short in their career and totally exterminated by the +insidious arts of magicians. So frequently, indeed, did this +happen in former days that the Maoris of old apparently +recognised no other cause of death, but imagined that every +man and woman would naturally live for ever, if the thread +of his or her life were not prematurely snipped by the +abhorred shears of some witch or wizard. Hence after +every death it was customary to hold an inquest in order to +discover the wretch who had brought about the catastrophe +by his enchantments; a sage presided at the solemn +enquiry, and under his direction the culprit was detected, +hunted down, and killed.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>The Maoris tell a story to explain how death first came +into the world, or at least how men were prevented from +enjoying the boon of immortality. The story runs as +follows.</p> + +<p>The great mythical hero of Polynesia is Maui, a demigod +or man of marvellous powers, who lived in the early +ages of the world, and whose mighty deeds are the theme +of tales of wonder told far and wide among the islands of +the Pacific.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> In his childhood his mother prophesied that +he should thereafter climb the threshold of his great +ancestress Hine-nui-te-po, and that death should have no +more dominion over men. A happy prediction, but alas! +never destined to be fulfilled, for even the would-be saviour +Maui himself did not escape the doom of mortality. The +way in which he became subject to death was this. His +father took him to the water to be baptized, for infant +baptism was a regular part of Maori ritual.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> But when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +baptism was over and the usual prayers had been offered +for making the lad sacred and clean from all impurity, his +father bethought him that through haste or forgetfulness he +had omitted some of the prayers and purifications of the +baptismal service. It was a fatal oversight, and the anxious +father was struck with consternation at the thought, for +too well he knew that the gods would punish the omission +by causing his son Maui to die.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Yet did his son make a +brave attempt to rescue all men from the doom of death +and to make them live for ever. One day, after he had +performed many feats and returned to his father's house, his +father, heavy at heart and overcome with a foreboding of +evil, said to him, "Oh, my son, I have heard from your +mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you +have succeeded in all feats that you have undertaken in +your own country, whether they were small or great; but +now that you have arrived in your father's country, you +will perhaps be overcome." Then Maui asked his father, +"What do you mean? what things are there that I can be +vanquished by?" And his father answered him, "By your +great ancestress, by Hine-nui-te-po, who, if you look, you +may see flashing, and, as it were, opening and shutting +there, where the horizon meets the sky." And Maui +answered, "Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both +fearlessly seek whether men are to die or live for ever." +And his father said, "My child, there has been an ill omen +for us; when I was baptizing you, I omitted a portion of +the fitting prayers, and that I know will be the cause of +your perishing." Then Maui asked his father, "What is +my ancestress Hine-nui-te-po like?" and he answered, +"What you see yonder shining so brightly red are her eyes, +and her teeth are as sharp and hard as pieces of volcanic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +glass; her body is like that of a man, and as for the pupils +of her eyes, they are jasper; and her hair is like the tangles +of long sea-weed, and her mouth is like that of a barracouta."</p> + +<p>Now Hine-nui-te-po was the Great Woman of Night, +the Goddess of Death, who dwelt in the nether world and +dragged down men to herself. But Maui was not afraid, +for he had caught the great Sun himself in a snare and +beaten him and caused him to go so tardily as we now see +him creeping across the sky with leaden steps and slow; +for of old the Sun was wont to speed across the firmament +like a young man rejoicing to run a race. So forth fared +the hero on his great enterprise to snatch the life of mortals +from the very jaws of death. And there came to him to +bear him company the small robin, and the large robin, +and the thrush, and the yellow hammer, and the pied +fantail (<i>tiwakawaka, Rhipidura flabellifora</i>), and every kind +of little bird; and these all assembled together, and they +started with Maui in the evening, and arrived at the +dwelling of Hine-nui-te-po, and found her fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Then Maui addressed them all, and said, "My little +friends, now if you see me creep into this old chieftainess, +do not laugh at what you see. Nay, nay, do not, I pray +you, but when I have got altogether inside her, and just as +I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with +laughter if you please." But his little friends were frightened +at what they saw, and they answered, "Oh, sir, you will +certainly be killed." And he answered them again, saying, +"If you burst out laughing at me as soon as I get inside +her, you will wake her up, and she will certainly kill me at +once; but if you do not laugh until I am quite inside her, +and am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall +live, and Hine-nui-te-po will die." And his little friends +answered, "Go on then, brave sir, but pray take good care +of yourself."</p> + +<p>Then the young hero started off, and twisted the strings +of his weapon tight round his wrist, and went into the house, +and stripped off his clothes, and the skin on his hips was as +mottled and beautiful as the skin of a mackerel by reason +of the tattoo marks cut on it with the chisel of Uetongo, and +he entered the old chieftainess. The little birds now screwed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +up their little mouths to keep back their laughter when they +saw him disappearing into the body of the giantess; their +cheeks swelled up and grew purple, and they almost choked +with suppressed emotion. At last the pied fantail could +bear it no longer, and he suddenly exploded with a loud +guffaw. That woke the old woman, she opened her eyes, +and shut her jaws with a snap, cutting the hero clean through +the middle, so that his legs dropped out of her mouth. Thus +died Maui, but before he died he begat children, and sons +were born to him, and some of his descendants are alive to +this day. That, according to Maori tradition, is how death +came into the world; for if only Maui had passed safely +through the jaws of the Goddess of Death, men would have +died no more and death itself would have been destroyed. +Thus the Maoris set down human mortality at the door of +the pied fantail, since but for his unseasonable merriment +we might all have lived for ever.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls +of the Dead</i></h4> + +<p>When a chief died, a loud howl or wail announced the +melancholy event, and the neighbours flocked to the scene of +death to testify their sorrow. The wives and near relations, +especially the women, of the deceased displayed their anguish +by cutting their faces, arms, legs, and breasts with flints or +shells till the blood flowed down in streams; it was not +wiped off, for the more the person of a mourner was covered +with clotted gore, the greater was esteemed his or her respect +for the dead. Sometimes relatives would hack off joints of +their fingers as a token of grief. Mourners likewise cut +their hair, the men generally contenting themselves with +clipping or shaving it on one side only, from the forehead to +the neck. The eyes of the dead were closed by the nearest +relative; and the body dressed in the finest mats, decked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +with feathers, and provided with weapons, lay in state for a +time. After the first day a brother of the deceased used to +beat the body with fresh flax gathered for the purpose; this +he did to drive away any evil thing that might be hovering +about the corpse. In the olden time one or more of the +chief's wives would strangle themselves, that their souls +might accompany their dead lord and wait upon him in the +other world, and with the same intentions slaves were killed, +lest the great man should lack attendants in the spirit land.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>The body was kept for three days because, we are told, +the soul was believed not to quit its mortal habitation till the +third day.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> The mode of disposing of the corpse differed in +different districts and according to the rank of the deceased. +In some places a grave was dug in the house and the body +buried in a sitting posture, the legs being kept in that position +by bandages or doubled up against the chest. In the grave +the dead man retained the fine garments in which he had +been dressed together with the family ornaments of jade +and shark's teeth. With him also was usually interred his +property, especially the clothes which he had worn and +everything else that had touched him during his last illness. +The weapons of a warrior were laid near him that he might +be able to fight his battles in the spirit land. In other places +the corpse was laid in a box on a stage; or two pieces +of an old canoe were set upright in the earth, and in the +hollow between them the body was seated on a grating so +as to allow the products of decomposition to drip through +on the ground. In other places again, the corpse was laid +in a sort of canoe-shaped coffin and deposited among the +branches of a tree in a grove, where it remained for several +months. This burial in the branches of a tree seems to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +have been usually adopted for the bodies of commoners; +the corpses of chiefs, enclosed in coffins, were placed in +mausoleums, carved and painted red, which were raised +on pillars. Whether buried in the earth or placed in +a tree or on a stage, the body was left until the flesh +had so far decayed as to permit of the bones being +easily detached; there was no fixed time allowed for decomposition, +it might vary from three months to six months, +or even a year. When decay was thought to have proceeded +far enough, the bones were dug up or taken down +from the stage or tree and scraped; the ornaments also +were removed from the skeleton and worn by the relatives. +In the south, where the custom was to bury the dead in the +ground, this disinterment took place four weeks after the +burial; the bones were then buried again, but only to be dug +up again after a longer interval, it might be two years, for +the final ceremony. When this took place, all the friends +and relatives of the dead were summoned to assist, and a +great feast was given: the bones were scraped, painted red, +decked with feathers, and wrapped up in mats. The precious +bundle was then deposited in a small canoe or a miniature +house elevated on a pole; or it was carried to the top of +some sacred tree and there left on a small stage. Sometimes +the bones were concealed in a hollow tree in a secret +place of the forest, or hidden away in one of the numerous +limestone caverns or in some lonely and inaccessible chasm +among the rocks. The motive for secret burial was a fear +lest an enemy should get possession of the bones and profane +them by making fish-hooks out of them or converting the +skull into a baler for his canoe. Such a profanation was +deemed a deadly insult to the surviving relatives. After +a burial the persons who had dressed or carried the corpse, +and all indeed who had had anything to do with it, repaired +to the nearest stream and plunged themselves several times +over head in the water.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>In some districts the removal of the bones from their +temporary to their final resting-place was the occasion of +a grand annual festival in which several neighbouring tribes +took part. The bones of all members of the tribes who +had died within the year were taken down from the stages +or trees where the bodies had been temporarily deposited. +The grave-clothes having been removed, the mouldering +remains were wrapped in new blankets and carried in procession, +attended by the crowd, to a place where they were +deposited on a carpet of leaves. Should any putrid flesh +be found still adhering to the bones, it was scraped off and +buried on the spot. A few old women, dressed in their +best, oiled from head to foot, and plastered with raddle, +received the skulls into their laps. While they held them +thus, a funeral ode was sung and speeches, loud and long, +were delivered. Then the bones were tied up, decked with +feathers of the gannet, rolled up in blankets, and carried to +their last place of rest in a sacred grove, where they were +left, securely fastened up and gaudily decorated with red and +white. Having thus discharged their duty to the dead, the +living gave themselves up to festivity; they ate and drank, +danced, sang, whistled, wrestled, quarrelled, bought and sold. +This Holy Fair, which went by the name of Hahunga, lasted +several days. At the end of it the mourners, or revellers, +dispersed and returned to their homes, laden with food +which had been made ready for them by their hosts.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Great +importance was attached to the final disposal of the remains +of the dead. According to one account, the soul of the dead +man could not rest till his bones were laid in the sepulchre +of his ancestors, which was often a natural cave or grotto. +There they were deposited on a shelf or platform a few +feet above the floor of the cavern.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not uncommonly the bones of the dead, instead of being +preserved, were burned.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> But cremation, though not unusual, +seems never to have been a general custom with the Maoris. +They resorted to it only in exceptional circumstances, for +example, in order to stay the spread of disease, or in cases +where a tribe occupied open country and found no suitable +place where to lay the bones of their dead after exhumation. +Cremation for the latter reason is said to have been practised +by the Ngati-apa tribe in the Rangatikikei District, and also +by the tribes who occupied the Waimate Plains. An old +earthwork fort near the present township of Manaia was the +scene of many cremations of the Maori dead in former days. +Again, it was a common custom for a raiding party to cremate +their dead in the enemy's country, when there was no time +to carry them home for the usual obsequies. The intention +of burning them was to prevent the enemy from eating the +bodies and making fish-hooks out of the bones. For a +similar reason even the wounded, whom they could not carry +with them, were sometimes thrown into great fires and burnt +alive. If the slain man was a chief, only his body would be +consumed in the flames; his head would be cut off, steamed, +cured, and carried home, to be wept over by his friends. In +the Bay of Plenty district the bodies of persons who died of +a certain disease called <i>Kai uaua</i>, apparently consumption, +used to be burnt to prevent the spread of the malady, and +all the ashes were carefully buried.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>Often enough the heads of dead relatives were cut off, +dried, and preserved by the family for many years in order +to be occasionally brought forth and mourned over. Sometimes +a widow would sleep with her husband's severed head +at her side. After a victory, too, it was customary to +decapitate the slain foes and dry their heads, which were +then carried home and used as scarecrows or stuck on short +stakes in the village, where they were jeered at and reviled. +When the time came to plant the sweet potatoes, and the +priests recited their spells for the sake of the crops, the dried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +heads were sometimes brought out and placed at the edge +of the field, for this was believed to promote the growth of +the sweet potatoes.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Apparently the spirits of the dead +were thought able to quicken the fruits of the earth.</p> + +<p>At all events the Maoris undoubtedly believed that the +souls of the departed survive the death of their bodies for a +longer or shorter time and in their disembodied state can +influence the living for weal or woe. The belief in the +survival of the soul is strikingly manifested in their old +custom of killing widows and slaves to serve dead chiefs in +the other world. It found expression in the more harmless +custom of laying food beside a dead person or burying it +with him in the grave; but, as usually happens in such +cases, the ghost only consumed the spiritual essence of the +victuals, considerately leaving the gross material substance +to be despatched by the priest.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> A dying Maori, unable to +eat a loaf which a missionary had offered to him, begged +that it might be kept for his ghost, who, after his death, +would come and fortify himself with it for the journey to his +long home.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> At Tanaraki the child of a chief was buried in +its father's house, grasping in each of its little fists a taro for +consumption in the other world. Over the grave were laid +boards, and the family slept on them. When they thought +that the child's body was sufficiently decayed, they dug it +up, scraped the bones, and hung them in the verandah, +where from time to time the priest recited spells to assist +the soul in its ascent to heaven. Every spell was supposed +to raise the soul one stage nearer to the abode of bliss. +But the ascent was long and tedious, for there were no less +than ten heavens one above the other; the tenth was believed +to be the principal abode of the gods. When the parents +of the child who had been despatched to the happy land +with taro in each hand were asked, "Why taro, if the little +one is gone to heaven?" they answered that they were not +quite sure whether it went up or down, and therefore as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +an additional precaution they planted a seed of taro in +the grave, so that their offspring might find something to +eat either above or below.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>Similar ceremonies were performed to facilitate the +ascension of the souls of chiefs and priests. Before the +body was taken to the place of burial, it was laid out with +its feet towards the north, and all the blood-relations of +the deceased, men, women, and children, assembled round +it. Then the priest, standing at the head of the corpse, +between the rows of the people, chanted two incantations, +of which the second was supposed to assist the soul to +ascend to heaven. The priest next put a bulb of taro in +the left hand of the corpse and chanted another incantation. +After that, flaxen cords were tied with a slip-knot to a +tassel of the mat in which the body was enshrouded, and a +cord was placed in the hand of each child, boy and girl, +present at the ceremony. When the priest had chanted +one more incantation, each child pulled the cord with a jerk, +to disconnect the soul from the body, lest it should remain +and afflict the relatives.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> This last rite, with the reason +assigned for it, is significant at once of the dread which the +Maoris felt for departed spirits, and of the very materialistic +conception which they entertained of the human soul, since +they appear to have imagined that it could be detached +from the body by jerking at a cord.</p> + +<p>The wish to raise the soul to heaven was perhaps the +motive for another curious rite performed at the obsequies +of a chief. When the body had been buried, the chief +returned to the village; but the men who had carried the +body went to the nearest swamp, and having caught a +swamp-sparrow (<i>matata</i>) sent word to the priest, who forthwith +rejoined them. Each of the bearers was then provided +with a stick to which certain of the feathers of the bird were +tied. Then, holding the sticks in their hands, they sat on +their heels in a row opposite the priest, who stood facing the +east with a stick similarly adorned in his left hand. Next +he moved to the south end of the row of men and chanted,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +and as he chanted he gradually raised his stick, while at the +same time all the bearers, holding their sticks at arm's +length, gradually raised them and their bodies simultaneously, +keeping perfect time, till the priest had concluded his chant, +when they all stood erect with outstretched arms. After +that the priest collected the sticks and threw them down in +front of the <i>mua</i>, which seems to have been a kind of altar.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> +We may surmise that the ceremony was intended to waft +the soul of the dead chief upward, the feathers of the bird +being naturally fitted to facilitate its heavenward flight.</p> + +<p>At other times, however, with the inconsistency so +common in such matters, it appears to have been supposed +that the soul set out on its far journey across the sea, and +steps were accordingly taken to equip it for the voyage. +Thus we hear of a <i>wahi tapu</i> or sacred repository of the +property of a deceased chief, which contained, among other +things, a little canoe with sail and paddles, "to serve as a +ferry-boat for the spirit to enter in safety into the eternal +abodes." Nevertheless in the same enclosure, which was +fenced with a double set of palings, "calabashes of food +and water, and a dish prepared from the pigeon, were placed +for the ghost to regale itself when visiting the spot; and +the heathen natives aver that at night the spirit comes and +feeds from the sacred calabashes."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>Many people in the Taranaki district thought that souls +went neither up nor down, but always stayed near their +mouldering bodies. Hence the sacred grove in which their +remains were buried was full of disembodied spirits; and +when a man died a violent death his soul wandered about +disconsolate, till a priest by his spells and enchantments +had brought the poor ghost within the spiritual fold.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>When a chief was killed in battle and eaten by his foes, +as often happened, his departed spirit entered the stones of +the oven in which his body had been cooked, and the stones +retained their heat so long as the ghost was in them. Meanwhile +his sorrowing friends at home recited their most potent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +spells to draw his soul out of the oven and back to the +sacred grove (<i>wahi tapu</i>) the burial-place of his people; for +otherwise the soul could find no repose, but must roam about +for ever, wreaking its spite on the living, for all disembodied +spirits were deemed malicious. Hence after a battle, if +people could not obtain the body of a slain friend, they +sought to procure at least some drops of his blood or shreds +of his raiment, that by crooning over them the appropriate +spell they might draw home the vagrant spirit to his place +of rest. The burial-grounds were regarded with awe and +fear, for sometimes a restless ghost would break bounds and +spread sickness among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. +Within their sacred precincts stood altars or stages for offerings +to the gods, and any living man who entered them did +so at his peril. For the same reason no one would set foot +in a house where a dead man or woman had been buried. +Hence in nearly every village half the houses stood empty +and deserted, falling into decay, tenanted only by ghosts. +The living had constantly before their eyes the mansions of +the dead.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The common belief of the Maoris seems to have been +that the souls of the dead pass away to a region of the +underworld, which was sometimes called Po and sometimes +Reinga. Properly speaking, Po was night or the primaeval +darkness out of which all forms of life and light were +evolved or created;<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> and Reinga was not so much the spirit +land itself as the leaping-off place where the souls bade +good-bye to earth and took their departure for the far +country. This leaping-off place was at the North Cape, the +Land's End of New Zealand. The cape terminates in a +steep cliff with a sea-cave at its foot, into which the tide +rushes with a thunderous roar. There the evil spirit Wiro is +thought to dwell, lurking for his prey; for he battens on +such of the passing souls of the dead as he can get into his +clutches. On their passage to the North Cape the ghosts +stop by the way at two hills; at the first, which is called +Wai-hokimai, they wail, cut themselves, and strip off their +clothes; at the second, which is called Wai-otioti, they turn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +their backs on the land of the living and set their faces +to the land of the dead. Arrived at the cape they pass outward +over a long narrow ledge of rock and then leap down +on a flat stone. There they see a mass of sea-weed floating +on the water, its roots hidden in the depth, its upper +branches clinging to a <i>pohutukawa</i> tree. When they perceive +an opening in the sea-weed they dive and soon find +themselves in the lower world. But before they reach the +abode of spirits they must cross a river by a plank; the +river is called Waiorotane or the River of the Water of +Life; and sometimes the warden of the plank will not suffer +the ghosts to pass the river, but drives them back with +friendly violence and bids them return to their friends on +earth. Such souls come back to the bright world of light +and life, and tell their friends what they have seen and +heard on the journey to that bourne from which so many +travellers return no more. Hence when any one has recovered +from a dangerous sickness or escaped some great +peril, they say of him that he has come back from the +River of the Water of Life. Even if a soul has crossed +that sombre stream, he may still return to the land of +the living, if only he refuses to partake of the food set +before him by the ghosts; but should he taste of it, he +cannot come back. They say that people living near the +North Cape can hear the spirits of the dead passing through +the air on their way to the spirit land; and in the old days, +when a battle had been fought and before the news of it +could reach them by word of mouth, the natives near the +cape were made aware of what had happened by the rushing +sound of a great multitude flitting by overhead in the darkness.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> +Perhaps the sighing of the night-wind or the +clangour of birds of passage winging their way out to sea +may have contributed to create or foster these fancies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the day after a burial the priest used to perform a +ceremony to facilitate the passage of the soul to its final +rest. For this purpose some men would go out in the +morning and kill a small bird of the swamps called <i>kokata</i> +and pluck up some reeds of a certain sort (<i>wiwi</i>). These +they brought to the priest at the grave. He asked them, +"Whence came ye?" They answered, "From the seeking, +from the searching." He asked them again, "Ah! what +have you got? ah! what have you gained?" Then the +men threw the bird and the reeds on the ground. Next the +priest chose a stalk of grass or fern and put it near the +grave in a direction pointing towards Hawaiki, the land far +away from which the forefathers of the Maoris came long +ago. Another stalk of grass or fern was laid near the place +of death, and along these stalks the soul of the dead man +travelled to rejoin his friends and kinsfolk who had gone +before.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>As might be anticipated, the accounts which the Maoris +gave of the spirit world and of life in it were neither +clear nor consistent. According to one account, while the +heavens increase in beauty as they ascend one above the +other, the lower regions increase in darkness and horror +as they descend, each being darker and worse than the one +above it, till in the lowest of all complete darkness reigns. +There the souls, deprived alike of light and food, wasted +away and ultimately ceased to exist; or according to another +account they assumed the shape of worms and in that guise +returned to earth, where they died a second death and so +finally perished. But it was only the souls of common folk +which came to this melancholy end. Chiefs and priests +were believed to be descended from the gods, and at death +their souls ascended to heaven, there to live for ever.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>Other reports, however, paint the nether world in more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +cheerful colours. We are told that the souls of the dead live +there very much as people do on earth, but all good things +are more plentiful there than here. The staple food of the +ghosts is sweet potatoes, and the quality of the potatoes +appears to be remarkably fine; for once a woman, who had +the good fortune to go to the spirit land and come back, received +from her dead father in the nether regions two roots +of sweet potatoes of a most prodigious size. These the +ghost told her to take back to earth and plant for the +benefit of his grandchild. So she hurried away with them +and arriving at the foot of the North Cape had begun to +clamber up the face of the cliff, when two infant spirits overtook +her and attempted to drag her back to dead land by +tugging at her cloak. To divert their attention she threw +the two roots of sweet potato behind her, and while the +sprites were munching them she made good her escape up +the cliff and succeeded in reaching home. Her friends were +very glad to see her again, but they always lamented that +she had not brought back at least one of those gigantic +roots of sweet potato, since it would unquestionably have +done much to improve the quality of sweet potatoes grown +here on earth.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>But the spirits of the dead are by no means strictly +confined to the lower world; they can quit it from time +to time and return to earth, there to influence the actions +and fortunes of the living and to communicate with them +through the priest, who can hear their voices. They speak +in whistling tones, which even common folk can sometimes +distinguish as they walk about in the dark. Often their +communications are made to the priest or chief in dreams, +and he announces the glad or mournful tidings to other +people in the morning. Any commands conveyed in this +manner from the other world are, or used to be, implicitly +obeyed and might decide the course to be pursued in the +most important affairs of life.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> In some tribes, especially +among the natives of Wangunui, it used to be customary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +to keep in the houses small carved images of wood, each +of them dedicated to an ancestor of the family, who was +believed occasionally to enter into the image in order to +hold converse with his living descendants.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> But even without +the intervention of such images the priest could summon +up the spirits of the dead and converse with them in the +presence of the relatives or of strangers; at these interviews, +which were held within doors and in the dark, the voices of +the ghosts, or perhaps of the priestly ventriloquist, were +sometimes distinctly audible even to sceptical Europeans. +Nor was the art of necromancy confined to men; for we +read of an old woman who, like the witch of Endor, professed +to exercise this ghostly office, and treated an English +visitor to an exhibition of her powers.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>The spirits of the dead were sometimes useful to the +living, for commonly enough they would appear to their +kinsfolk in dreams and warn them of approaching foes or +other dangers. Again, they might be and were invoked +by spells and enchantments to avenge a murder or even to +slay an innocent person against whom the enchanter had +a grudge.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> But for the most part the ghosts were greatly +dreaded as malicious demons who worked harm to man.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +Even the nearest and dearest relations were believed to +have their natures radically changed by death and to hate +those whom they had loved in life.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> And so powerful were +these malignant beings supposed to be that they were confused +with the gods, or rather the spirits of the dead became +themselves gods to all intents and purposes, and played a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +much more important part in the religious life of the Maoris +than the high primaeval deities, the personifications of +nature, who figured in Maori mythology and cosmogony.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +The gods whom the Maoris feared, we are told, were the +spirits of the dead, who were believed to be constantly +watching over the living with jealous eyes, lest they should +neglect any part of the law relating to persons or things +subject to the sacred restriction called taboo (<i>tapu</i>). These +spirits, however, confined their care almost exclusively to +persons among the living with whom they were connected +by ties of relationship, so that every tribe and every family +had its own worshipful ancestral spirit or god, whom +members of the tribe or family invoked with appropriate +prayers or spells (<i>karakias</i>). Ancestral spirits who lived +in the flesh before the Maoris emigrated to New Zealand +were invoked by all the tribes in New Zealand without +distinction, so far as their names and memories survived +in tradition. Thus the worship of these remote +ancestors constituted what may be called the national +religion of the Maoris as distinguished from the tribal and +family religions, which consisted in the worship of nearer +and better remembered progenitors. The great importance +attached by the Maoris to the worship of ancestors +may account, we are told, for the care with which they +preserved their genealogies; since the names of ancestors +often formed the groundwork of their religious formulas +(<i>karakias</i>), and any error or even hesitation in repeating these +prayers or incantations was deemed fatal to their efficacy.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +"Ancestor worship, or rather the deification of ancestors, +was essentially a Maori cult. It was a form of necrolatry, +or hero worship. A man would placate the spirit of his +father, grandfather, or ancestor, and make offerings to the +same, that such spirit might protect his life principle, warn +him of approaching danger, and give force or effectiveness +to his rites and charms of black or white magic."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>The ancestral spirits who particularly watched over the +fortunes of a tribe were the souls of its dead warriors and +great men. In war these powerful, though invisible, beings +were thought to attend the army and direct its movements +on the march by communicating advice or warning through +some one or other of their nearest living kinsmen. In battle +they hovered over the combatants and inspired courage into +the hearts of their own tribe. Hence when, on the eve of +battle, any young man showed signs of the white feather, +recourse was immediately had to the family priest, who repeated +a charm, invoking the aid of his friendly spirit; for the +sensation of fear was ascribed to the baneful influence of a +hostile spirit. If the friendly spirit prevailed, and the craven +spirit was expelled, the young man would rush into the thickest +of the fight and prove himself the bravest of the brave.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>The interest taken by the spirits of the dead in mundane +affairs seldom extended beyond the limits of the tribe to +which they belonged. Hence a captive in war, who was +carried away and enslaved by another tribe, ceased from that +moment to be under the protection and care of any ancestral +spirit or god. For the ancestral spirits of his own tribe did +not trouble themselves to follow him among a hostile tribe +and hostile spirits, and the ancestral spirits of the tribe whom +he served as a slave would not deign to give him a thought. +Hence being forsaken of god and left to their own devices, +slaves were relieved from many of the burdensome restrictions +which the Maori gods laid upon their worshippers; +they were therefore free to perform many menial offices, +particularly in regard to carrying and cooking food, which +no free Maori could discharge without sinning against the +sacred law of taboo and incurring the wrath of the ancestral +spirits, who for such a transgression might punish the sinner +with sickness or death.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>In addition to their deified ancestors, who had lived as +men of flesh and blood on earth, the Maoris believed in +certain great primaeval deities, who had existed before the +human race came into being, and whose doings were the +theme of many mythical stories. These mighty beings appear +to have been personifications of the various forces or elements +of nature, such as the sky and the earth. But though fancy +wove round them a glistering web of myth and fable, they +were apparently believed to stand aloof in cold abstraction +from human affairs and to take no interest in the present +race of men. The practical religion of the Maori was concentrated +on the souls of his deceased kinsfolk and forefathers: +"neither in any existing superstition nor tradition, +purely such, is there to be found internal evidence that an +idea of God existed more exalted than that of the spirit of a +dead ancestor."<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>The word which the Maoris applied to a god, whether +a personification of nature or the spirit of a dead ancestor, +was <i>atua</i>. The name is not confined to the Maori language, +but is the common word for god throughout Polynesia.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +When the Maoris attempt to define the nature of an <i>atua</i>, +they have recourse to the same comparisons with a shadow +and with breath which appear to underlie their conception +of the human soul.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> But though "god" is the nearest +English equivalent of the word <i>atua</i>, we must beware of +assuming that the Maori idea of godhead coincided with +ours. On this subject one of our best authorities tells us +that the term "god" is really not applicable to the <i>Atua +Maori</i>, the so-called gods of the Maoris. For these beings, +he says, "were, with few exceptions, malignant demons, to +be feared and placated or conciliated, but not worshipped. +Their principal task seems to have been the inflicting upon +mankind of diverse evils, pains, and penalties. Of the few +good offices performed by them, the warning of the people +in regard to coming troubles, seems to have been the most +important. The vast majority of the so-called gods of the +Maori were simply deified ancestors."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>In order to illustrate the difference between the Maori +conception of deity and our own, I will quote the words of +another eminent authority on the native religion of the New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +Zealanders. He says, "Before the mythology of the Maori +is further considered, it will be necessary briefly to state what +were the ideas of God entertained by the natives. The word +<i>atua</i>, or spirit, which is used for God, formerly had various +significations; a plague or disease was also <i>he atua</i>, or God; +a thief was an <i>atua</i>, thus also a thievish dog was <i>he kuri atua</i>, +a god-like dog, so also <i>he tangata atua ki te muru</i>, a man equal +to a god in stealing; a child who pilfered was <i>he tamaiti atua</i>, +a divine child; there were great spirits and small ones, a +man's spirit was an <i>atua pore pore</i>, a little spirit, but Maru +Rongomai and other gods were <i>Atua nui</i>, great gods; there +were <i>atua ika</i>, reptile or fish gods; a great chief was called +<i>He ika</i>, a fish, sea monster, or reptile, and was regarded as +a malignant god in life, and a still worse one after death; +there were likewise <i>Atua marau</i>, as the <i>toroa</i>, albatross, the +<i>ruru</i>, owl; and <i>karu karu</i>, the film which shades its eye +from the light, was also an <i>atua</i>; male and female spirits presided +over dreams, and were regarded as <i>atuas, Ko nga atua +moe moea o te poko</i>, the gods of dreams; <i>Tunui a rangi</i>, a male, +<i>Pare kewa</i>, a female deity, both were prayed to as gods; the +<i>atua kore</i> and <i>atua kiko kiko</i> were inferior gods. The <i>Atua +ngarara</i> or reptile gods were very abundant, and were supposed +to be the cause of all diseases and death, being always +ready to avail themselves of every opportunity of crawling +down the throat during sleep, and thus preying upon the lives +of unfortunate creatures. <i>Atuas</i> or spirits of the deceased +were thought to be able to revisit the earth and reveal to +their friends the cause of their sickness. Everything that +was evil or noxious was supposed especially to belong to the +gods; thus a species of euphorbium, whose milk or juice is +highly poisonous, is called <i>wai u atua</i>, the milk of the gods."<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> +"In fact, in the accounts which the natives give of their +gods and their exploits, we have but a magnified history of +their chiefs, their wars, murders, and lusts, with the addition +of some supernatural powers; they were cannibals; influenced +by like feelings and passions as men, and were uniformly +bad; to them were ascribed all the evils incident to the +human race; each disease was supposed to be occasioned by +a different god, who resided in the part affected; thus, Tonga,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +the god who caused headache, took up his abode in the +forehead; Moko Titi, a lizard god, was the source of all +pains in the breast; Tu-tangata-kino was the god of the +stomach; Titihai occasioned pains in the ankles and feet; +Rongomai and Tuparitapua were the gods of consumption, +and the wasting away of the legs and arms; Koro-kio-ewe +presided over childbirth, and did his worst to unfortunate +females in that state. In fact, the entire human body +appears to have been shared out amongst those evil beings, +who ruled over each part, to afflict and pain the poor +creatures who worshipped them."<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>Anything, indeed, whether good or evil, which excited +the fear or wonder of the Maoris would seem in the old days +to have been dubbed by them an <i>atua</i> and invested with the +attributes of divinity. For example, when a traveller in the +early years of the nineteenth century showed his watch to +some Maoris, the ticking struck them with such astonishment +that they deemed it nothing less than the voice of a +god; and the watch itself, being looked upon as a deity +(<i>atua</i>) in person, was treated by the whole of them with +profound reverence.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Other travellers have had similar experiences +among the Maoris,<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> and compasses and barometers +have also been accorded divine honours by these ignorant +savages.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>Taboo among the Maoris</i></h4> + +<p>But the most momentous practical consequence which +flowed from their belief in the spirits of the dead was the +enormous influence which that creed wielded in establishing +and maintaining the system of taboo, the most remarkable +and characteristic institution in the life of the Maoris and +of the Polynesians in general. I shall first give some +account of the taboo or <i>tapu</i>, as the Maoris called it, and +afterwards show how this extraordinary system of society +and religion was directly based on a belief in the existence +of ghosts and their mighty power over human destiny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>First, then, as to taboo or <i>tapu</i> itself. This curious +institution, as I have said, prevailed throughout all the +widely scattered islands of Polynesia, but nowhere to a +greater extent than in New Zealand. It pervaded the +whole life of the natives, affected their plans, influenced +their actions, and in the absence of an efficient police +provided a certain security both for their persons and their +property. Sometimes it was used for political, and sometimes +for religious purposes; sometimes it was the means of +saving life, and at other times it was the ostensible reason +for taking life away.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> It may be defined as a system of +consecration which made any person, place, or thing sacred +either permanently or for a limited time.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> The effect of +this consecration was to separate the sacred person or thing +from all contact with common (<i>noa</i>)<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> persons and things: +it established a sort of quarantine for the protection not +only of the sacred persons themselves, but of common folk, +who were supposed to be injured or killed by mere contact +with a tabooed person or object. For the sanctity which +the taboo conferred on people and things was conceived of +as a sort of dangerous atmosphere, charged with a spiritual +electricity, which discharged itself with serious and even +fatal effect on all rash intruders. A tabooed person might +not be touched by any one, so long as the taboo or state of +consecration lasted; he might not even put his own hand +to his own head; and he was most stringently forbidden +to touch food with his hands. Hence he was either fed +like a child by another, who put the food into his mouth; +or he had to lap up his victuals like a dog from the ground, +with his hands held behind his back; or lastly he might +convey the nourishment by means of a fern stalk to his +mouth. When he wished to drink, somebody else poured +water into his mouth from a calabash without allowing the +vessel to touch his lips; for mere contact with the lips of +the tabooed man would have rendered the vessel itself +sacred or tabooed and therefore unfit for common use. +Similarly, when he desired to wash his hands, water had to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +be poured on them from a distance by his attendant. This +state of consecration or defilement, as we might be tempted +rather to call it, was incurred by any person who had +touched either a young child or a corpse or had assisted +at a funeral. The taboo contracted by association with the +dead was the strictest and most virulent of all. It extended +not only to the persons who had handled the corpse +or paid the last offices of respect to the departed; it applied +to the place where the body was buried or the bones +deposited. So sacred, indeed, was deemed the spot where +a chief had died that in the old days everything upon it +was destroyed by fire. Hence in order to avoid the destruction +of a house, which a death in it would have entailed, +it was customary to remove a sick or dying man to a +temporary shed just large enough to shelter him from the +sun or screen him from the rain; for if the man died in it, +the destruction of the wretched hovel was no great loss to +the survivors.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> A widow was tabooed and had to observe +the aforesaid restrictions from the death of her husband +until his bones had been scraped and deposited in their last +resting-place; and the same rule applied to a widower.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +These taboos were temporary and could be removed by a +priest, who performed certain rites and repeated certain +spells (<i>karakias</i>), and thereby relieved the tabooed person +from the state of sanctity or consecration under which he +had laboured. The performance of the ceremony put an +end to the spiritual quarantine; the man ceased to be +sacred, he became common (<i>noa</i>) once more, and could +mingle freely with his fellows. One of the ceremonies of +desecration, as we may call it, was to pass a consecrated +piece of wood over the right shoulder of the tabooed person, +then round his loins, and back again over the left shoulder, +after which the stick was broken in two and buried, burned, +or cast into the sea.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> Again, a temporary taboo was laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +on all persons who were engaged in planting sweet potatoes, +or in sorting the seed, or in digging and preparing the +ground; they might not leave the fields where they were at +work nor undertake any other labour. The fields themselves +were sacred during these operations; none but the +persons who were tabooed for the purpose might set foot +on the ground or pluck up the weeds which grow rankly +round the roots of the vegetable.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Similarly, in their great +fishing-expeditions to catch mackerel, all concerned in +making or mending the nets were under a taboo: the +ground where the nets were made was sacred, and so was +the river on the banks of which the work went on. No +man but the tabooed persons might walk over the land or +pass up or down the river in a canoe: no fire might be +lighted within a prescribed distance: no food might be +dressed while the taboo lasted. Not till the net had been +finished and wetted with the sacred water, and the owner +had caught and eaten a fish, did these burdensome restrictions +come to an end by the removal of the taboo.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Once +more, the men who took part in a warlike expedition were +under a severe taboo and had to observe very strictly the +customs which that mysterious state of consecration rendered +obligatory.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Even after their return home they were not +allowed to enter their houses or to hold any direct communication +with their families who had remained there, till +they had been rendered common (<i>noa</i>) by a ceremony of +desecration. Before that ceremony took place, the warriors +were obliged to throw away the remains of the bodies of +their foes on which, as usual, they had been feasting; for +being sacred food the flesh could only be touched by sacred +or tabooed persons. One woman only, the <i>wahine ariki</i>, as +she was called, that is the elder female of the elder branch +of the stock from which the tribe traced their descent, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +permitted to touch the sanctified meat; indeed, in order +to carry out the ritual of desecration in due form she was +expected and required to swallow an ear of the first enemy +killed in battle.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> A warlike expedition might lay even +people at home under a taboo; for all who remained +behind, including old men, women, and slaves, were often +required to observe a rigid fast and to abstain from smoking +till the return of the warriors.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<p>But in contrast to the temporary taboos which affected +common folk and debarred them for a time from familiar +intercourse with their fellows, a perpetual and very stringent +taboo was laid on the persons and property of chiefs, +especially of those high hereditary chiefs who bore the title +of <i>Ariki</i> and were thought to be able at any time to hold +visible converse with their dead ancestors.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Strictly +speaking, "the <i>ariki</i> of a Maori tribe is the senior male +descendant of the elder branch of the tribe, that is, he +is a descendant of the elder son of the elder son of each +generation from the time of the original ancestor down to +the present day. As such, he was of old regarded almost +as a god, inasmuch as he represented all that there was of +<i>măna</i> and sacredness of his tribe. That he should have +been regarded in this light is not astonishing, for the Maoris +believed he was something more than human, in that he +was the shrine of an hereditary <i>Atua</i>, the guardian spirit of +the tribe, and could therefore at any time communicate with +the tribal gods.... Such a man was not only <i>tapu</i> in +person but he made everything he touched so dangerously +sacred as to be a source of terror to the tribe. To smoke +his pipe, or drink from any vessel he had touched, was death +speedy and certain at the hands of the gods, who avenge +breaches of the <i>tapu</i>."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> "The gods being no more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +deceased chiefs, the <i>arikis</i> were regarded as living ones, and +thus were not to be killed by inferior men, but only by +those who had more powerful <i>atuas</i> in them; the victorious +chief who had slain numbers, swallowed their eyes, and +drunk their blood, was supposed to have added the spirits +of his victims to his own, and thus increased his <i>mana</i> or +power; to keep up this idea, and hinder the lower orders +from trying whether it were possible to kill such corporeal +and living gods, was the grand work of the <i>tapu</i>."<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> The +godhead of a chief was thought to reside in his eyes, +especially in his left eye; that was why by swallowing the +eye or eyes of a slain chief a living chief was believed to +absorb the divine spirit of the dead man and thereby to +strengthen his own divinity; the more eyes he swallowed, +the greater god he became.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>Every such divine chief was under a permanent taboo;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +he was as it were surrounded by an atmosphere of sanctity +which attached to his person and never left him; it was his +birthright, a part of himself of which he could not be +divested, and it was well understood and recognised by +everybody at all times. And the sanctity was not confined +to his person, it was an infection which extended or was +communicated to all his movable property, especially to +his clothes, weapons, ornaments, and tools, indeed to everything +which he touched. Even the petty chiefs and fighting +men, everybody indeed who could claim the title of +<i>rangatira</i> or gentleman, possessed in some degree this +mysterious quality.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> However, in young people of rank +the sanctity which appertained to them by virtue of their +birth was supposed to be only latent; it did not develop or +burst into full bloom till they had reached mature age and +set up house on their own account. Hence noble boys and +lads were under none of the irksome restrictions to which +in their adult years they were afterwards bound to submit; +they mixed freely with the profane vulgar and did not even +disdain to carry fuel or provisions on their backs, a thing +which no man of any standing could possibly do; at all +events, if he did so demean himself, the food was thereby +rendered taboo and could accordingly be used by nobody +but himself. "If he went into the shed used as a kitchen +(a thing, however, he would never think of doing except on +some great emergency), all the pots, ovens, food, etc., would +be at once rendered useless—none of the cooks or inferior +people could make use of them, or partake of anything +which had been cooked in them. He might certainly light +a little fire in his own house, not for cooking, as that never +by any chance could be done in his house, but for warmth; +but that, or any other fire, if he should have blown upon it +with his breath in lighting it, became at once <i>tapu</i>, and +could be used for no common or culinary purpose. Even +to light a pipe at it would subject any inferior person, or in +many instances an equal, to a terrible attack of the <i>tapu +morbus</i>, besides being a slight or affront to the dignity of +the person himself. I have seen two or three young men +fairly wearing themselves out on a wet day and with bad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +apparatus trying to make fire to cook with, by rubbing two +sticks together, when on a journey, and at the same time +there was a roaring fire close at hand at which several +<i>rangatira</i> and myself were warming ourselves, but it was +<i>tapu</i>, or sacred fire—one of the <i>rangatira</i> had made it from +his own tinder-box, and blown upon it in lighting it, and as +there was not another tinder-box amongst us, fast we must, +though hungry as sharks, till common culinary fire could be +obtained."<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>The head of a chief was always and at all times deemed +most sacred, and in consequence he might not even touch it +with his own hand; if he chanced to commit the sacrilege, +he was obliged at once to apply his fingers to his sacred +nose and to snuff up the odour of sanctity which they had +abstracted, thus restoring the holy effluvium to the place +from which it had been taken.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> For the same reason the +cutting of a chief's hair was a most difficult and delicate +operation. While it lasted neither the great man himself +nor the barber who operated on him was allowed to do anything +or partake of any food except under the restrictions +imposed on all sacred or tabooed persons; to use the scissors +or the shell, with which the operation was performed, for any +other purpose or any other person would have been a terrible +profanation of sacred things, and would have rendered the +rash sacrilegious wretch, who had dared so to appropriate it, +liable to the severest punishment. The severed hair was +collected and buried or hung up on a tree,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> probably to put +it out of the way of common folk, who might have been +struck dead by contact with the holy locks. But apparently +the dangers incident to hair-cutting were by no means confined +to chiefs, but extended to any one who was bold +enough to submit his head to the barber's shears; for one +of the early writers on the Maoris tells us that "he who has +had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the <i>Atua</i>; he +is removed from the contact and society of his family and +his tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +his mouth by another person; nor can he for some days +resume his accustomed occupations, or associate with his +fellow-men."<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> The hair of the first-born of a family in +particular, on account of his extreme sanctity, might be cut +by nobody but a priest; and for many days after the +operation had been performed the priestly barber was in a +state of strict taboo. He could do nothing for himself, and +might not go near anybody. He might not touch food +with his hands, and no less than three persons were required +to feed him. One of them prepared the food at a safe +distance, took it to a certain place, and retired; a second +came forward, picked up the victuals, carried them to +another spot and left them; finally, a third, venturing into +the danger zone, actually brought the food to the priest and +put it into his mouth.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p>The atmosphere of taboo or sanctity which thus surrounded +Maori chiefs and gentlemen not only imposed many +troublesome and inconvenient restraints on the men themselves, +it was also frequently a source of very real danger, loss, +and annoyance to other people. For example, it was a rule +that a chief should not blow on a fire with his mouth, because +his breath being sacred would communicate its sanctity to the +fire, and if a slave or a common man afterwards cooked food +at the fire or merely took a brand from it, the chief's holiness +would cause that man's death.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Again, if the blood of a +high chief flowed on anything, though it were but a single +drop, it rendered the thing sacred to him, so that it could be +used by nobody else. Thus it once happened that a party +of natives came in a fine new canoe to pay their respects to +an eminent chief; the great man stepped into the canoe, +and in doing so he chanced to strike a splinter into his foot, +which bled. That sufficed to consecrate the canoe to him. +The owner at once leaped out, drew the canoe ashore opposite +to the chief's house and left it there.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> Again, a Maori gentleman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +visiting a missionary, knocked his head against a beam +in the house, and his sacred blood was spilt. The natives +present thereupon told the missionary that in former times +his house would after such an accident have belonged to his +noble visitor.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> Even the cast garments of a chief had acquired, +by contact with his holy body, so virulent a degree of sanctity +that they would kill anybody else who might happen in +ignorance to find and wear them. On a journey, when a +chief found his blanket too heavy to carry, he has been +known to throw it very considerately down a precipice where +nobody would be likely to light on it, lest some future +traveller should be struck dead by appropriating the sacred +garment. Once a chief's lost tinder-box actually caused the +death of several persons; for having found it and used it to +light their pipes, they literally died of fright on learning +the sacrilege which they had committed.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> Such fatal effects +consequent on the discovery of a breach of taboo were not +uncommon among the Maoris. For instance, a woman once +ate some peaches which, though she did not know it, had +been taken from a tabooed place. As soon as she heard +where the fruit had come from, the basket which she was +carrying dropped from her hands, and she exclaimed in +agony that the spirit (<i>atua</i>) of the chief whose sanctuary had +thus been profaned would kill her. That happened in the +afternoon, and next day by twelve o'clock she was dead.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> +Again, a slave, a strong man in the prime of life, once found +the remains of a chief's dinner beside the road, and being +hungry ate it up without asking any questions. No sooner, +however, did he hear to whom the food had belonged than +he was seized with the most extraordinary convulsions and +cramps in the stomach, which never ceased till he died about +sundown the same day. The English eyewitness who reports +the case adds, that any European freethinker who should have +denied that the man was killed by the chief's taboo would +have been listened to by the Maoris with feelings of contempt +for his ignorance and inability to understand plain and direct +evidence.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>In order that a thing should be consecrated or tabooed +to the exclusive use and possession of a chief, it was not +necessary that his sacred blood should flow on it, or that he +should merely touch it; he had only to call it his head, or +his back-bone, or any other part of his body, and at once +the thing, by a legal fiction, became his and might be +appropriated by nobody else under pain of violating the +taboo which the chief had laid upon it. For example, +when a chief desired to prevent a piece of ground from +being cultivated by any one but himself, he often resorted +to the expedient of calling it his back-bone; after that if +any man dared to set foot on the land so consecrated, the +transgression was equivalent to a declaration of war. In this +simple and easy fashion a chief might acquire anything that +took his fancy from an axe or a canoe to a landed estate, +and the rightful owner of the property dared not complain +nor dispute the claim of his superior.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless in daily life even ordinary people used the +taboo to secure their property or to acquire for themselves +what had hitherto been common to all. For example, if a +man found a piece of drift timber, he could make it his own +by tying something to it or giving it a chop with his axe; +he thereby set his taboo on the log, and as a general rule +the taboo would be respected. Again, with a simple piece +of flax he might bar the door of his house or his store of +food; the contents of the house or store were thus rendered +inviolable, nobody would meddle with them.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + +<p>It is easy to see that this form of taboo must have +greatly contributed to create and confirm respect for the +rights of private property. The most valuable articles +might, we are told, under ordinary circumstances be left to +its protection in the absence of the owners for any length of +time.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Indeed so obvious and so useful is this function of +taboo that one well-informed writer supposes the original +purpose of the institution to have been no other than the +preservation of private property;<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> and another observer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +after eulogising its beneficent effects, declares that "it was +undoubtedly the ordinance of a wise legislator."<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> But to +say this is greatly to overrate the wisdom and foresight of +primitive man in general and of the Polynesians in particular; +it implies a fundamental misconception of the real +nature and history of taboo. That curious institution was +not the creation of a prudent and sagacious legislator, who +devised this system of checks and restrictions for the purpose +of curbing the passions of a savage race and inducing +them to submit to the salutary restraints of law and +morality. It was in its origin, I believe, simply a crude +and barbarous form of superstition, which, like many other +superstitions, has accidentally led to good results that were +never contemplated by its ignorant and foolish votaries. It +is thus that in the long history of mankind things which to +a contemporary spectator might seem to be almost unmitigated +evils turn out in the end to be fraught with incalculable +good to humanity. This experience, often repeated, +enables students of the past to look forward, even in the +darkest hours, with cheerful confidence to the future.</p> + +<p>The particular superstition which lies at the root of taboo +and has incidentally exercised a beneficent influence by +inspiring a respect for law and morality appears to be a +belief in the existence of ghosts and their power to affect the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +fortunes of the living for good or evil. For the ultimate +sanction of the taboo, in other words, that which engaged the +people to observe its commandments, was a firm persuasion +that any breach of these commandments would surely and +speedily be punished by an <i>atua</i> or ghost, who would afflict +the sinner with a painful malady till he died. From youth +upwards the Maori was bred in the faith that the souls of his +dead ancestors, jealous of any infraction of the traditionary +rites, would commission some spirit of their kin to enter into +the transgressor's body and prey on a vital part. The visible +signs of this hidden and mysterious process they fancied to +be the various forms of disease. The mildest ailments were +thought to be caused by the spirits of those who had known +the sufferer on earth, and who accordingly were imagined to +be more merciful and more reluctant to injure an old friend +and relation. On the other hand the most malignant forms +of disease were attributed to the spirits of dead infants, who +having never learned to love their living friends, would rend +and devour the bowels of their nearest kin without compunction. +With these ideas as to the origin of disease the +Maoris naturally did not attempt to heal the sick through +the curative properties of herbs and other drugs; their +remedies consisted not in medicine but in exorcism: instead +of a physician they sent for a priest, who by his spells and +incantations undertook to drive the dangerous sprite from +the body of the patient and to appease the ancestral spirit, +whose wrath was believed to be the cause of all the mischief. +If the deity proved recalcitrant and obstinately declined to +accept this notice to quit, they did not hesitate to resort to +the most threatening and outrageous language, sometimes +telling him that they would kill and eat him, and at others +that they would burn him to a cinder if he did not take +himself off at once and allow the patient to recover.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +Curiously enough, the spirit which preyed on the vitals of a +sick man was supposed to assume the form of a lizard; +hence these animals, especially a beautiful green species +which the Maoris called <i>kakariki</i>, were regarded with fear +and horror by the natives.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> Once when a Maori of +Herculean thews and sinews was inadvertently shown +some green lizards preserved in a bottle of spirits, his +massive frame shrank back as from a mortal wound, and +his face betrayed signs of extreme horror. An aged chief +in the room, on learning what was the matter, cried out, +"I shall die! I shall die!" and crawled away on hands +and knees; while the other man gallantly interposed himself +as a bulwark between the fugitive and the green gods +(<i>atuas</i>) in the bottle, shifting his position adroitly so as to +screen the chief till he was out of range of the deities.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> An +old man once assured a missionary very seriously that in +attending to a sick person he had seen the god come out +of the sufferer's mouth in the form of a lizard, and that +from the same moment the patient began to mend and +was soon restored to perfect health.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Conclusion</i></h4> + +<p>If now we attempt to sum up the effects which the +belief in human immortality exercised on the life of the +Maoris we may perhaps conclude that these effects were +partly good and partly evil. On the one hand by ascribing +to the chiefs the special protection of the powerful spirits of +the dead, it invested the governing class with a degree of +authority to which on merely natural or rational grounds +they could have laid no claim; hence it tended to strengthen +the respect for government and to ensure the maintenance of +law and order. Moreover, by lending a supernatural sanction +to the rights of private property among all classes it further +contributed to abolish one of the most fruitful sources of +discord and crime in the community and thereby to foster +economic progress, which cannot exist without some measure +of peace and security for life and possessions. These were +great gains, and so far as the faith in immortality helped to +win them for the Maoris, it certainly ameliorated their condition +and furthered the cause of civilisation among them. +But on the other hand the belief in the essential malignancy +of the spirits of the dead and in their great power to harm +the living added a host of purely imaginary terrors to the +real evils with which man's existence on earth is naturally +and inevitably encompassed: it imposed a regular system of +needless and vexatious restrictions on social intercourse and +the simplest acts of daily life; and it erected an almost +insuperable barrier to the growth of science, and particularly +of that beneficent branch of science which has for its object +the alleviation of human suffering, since by concentrating +the whole attention of the people on a false and absurd +theory of supernatural agency it diverted them from that +fruitful investigation of natural causes which alone can +strengthen and extend man's control over matter. This was +a heavy toll to pay for the advantages incidental to a belief +in immortality; and if we were asked to strike a balance +between the good and the evil which that belief entailed on +the Maoris, we might well hesitate to say to which side the +scales of judgment should incline.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>The United States +Exploring Expedition, Ethnography +and Philology</i> (Philadelphia, 1846), +pp. 4 <i>sqq</i>., 9 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Deniker, <i>The +Races of Man</i> (London, 1900), pp. +500 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> J. Deniker, <i>The Races of Man</i> +(London, 1900), pp. 154, 501; <i>British +Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical +Collections</i> (1910), p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i> +(London, 1809), v. 416; W. Mariner, +<i>Account of the Natives of the Tonga +Islands</i>, Second Edition (London, +1818), i. 67; W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian +Researches</i>, Second Edition (London, +1832-1836), i. 220; E. Shortland, +<i>Traditions and Superstitions of the +New Zealanders</i>, Second Edition (London, +1856), p. 212; J. Deniker, <i>The +Races of Man</i>, p. 501. In Polynesia +"the bow was not a serious weapon; +it was found in some islands, <i>e.g.</i> in +Tahiti and Tonga, but was principally +used for killing rats or in shooting +matches" (<i>British Museum, Handbook +to the Ethnographical Collections</i>, p. +153). As to the limited use of bows +and arrows in Polynesia, see further +E. Tregear, "The Polynesian Bow," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. +i. no. 1 (April 1892), pp. 56-59; +W. H. R. Rivers, <i>The History of +Melanesian Society</i> (Cambridge, 1914), +ii. 446 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Compare (Sir) E. B. Tylor, <i>Anthropology</i> +(London, 1881), p. 102; +R. H. Codrington, <i>The Melanesian +Languages</i> (Oxford, 1885), pp. 33 +<i>sqq.</i>; S. Percy Smith, <i>Hawaiki, the +Original Home of the Maori</i> (Christchurch, +etc., New Zealand, 1910), pp. +85 <i>sqq.</i>; A. C. Haddon, <i>The Wanderings +of Peoples</i> (Cambridge, 1919), pp. +34 <i>sqq.</i>; A. H. Keane, <i>Man Past +and Present</i>, revised by A. Hingston-Quiggin +and A. C. Haddon (Cambridge, +1920), p. 552.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> On the affinity of the Polynesian, +Melanesian, and Malay languages, see +R. H. Codrington, <i>The Melanesian +Languages</i> (Oxford, 1885), pp. 10 <i>sqq.</i>; +S. H. Ray, "The Polynesian Language +in Melanesia," <i>Anthropos</i>, xiv.-xv. +(1919-1920), pp. 46 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> J. Deniker, <i>The Races of Man</i>, +pp. 482 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological +Expedition to Torres Straits</i>, +vol. iii. <i>Linguistics</i>, by Sydney H. +Ray (Cambridge, 1907), p. 528 (as to +the relation of the Polynesian to the +Melanesian language). As to the +poverty of the Polynesian language +in sounds and grammatical forms by +comparison with the Melanesian, see +R. H. Codrington, <i>The Melanesian +Languages</i>, p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This seems to be the hypothesis +favoured by Dr. R. H. Codrington, +<i>The Melanesian Languages</i>, pp. 33 +<i>sqq.</i> Compare J. Deniker, <i>The Races +of Man</i>, p. 505. On the other hand +Sir E. B. Tylor says (<i>Anthropology</i>, +pp. 163 <i>sq.</i>), "The parent language +of this family may have belonged to +Asia, for in the Malay region the +grammar is more complex, and words +are found like <i>tasik</i> = sea and <i>langit</i> = +sky, while in the distant islands of +New Zealand and Hawaii these have +come down to <i>tai</i> and <i>lai</i>, as though +the language became shrunk and formless +as the race migrated further from +home, and sank into the barbaric life +of ocean islanders." Dr. W. H. R. +Rivers suggests that the Polynesian +language "arose out of a pidgin Indonesian" +(<i>The History of Melanesian +Society</i>, ii. 584).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> J. Deniker, <i>The Races of Man</i>, +p. 501. On the apparent homogeneity +of the Polynesian race see W. H. R. +Rivers, <i>The History of Melanesian +Society</i> (Cambridge, 1914), ii. 280, +who, however, argues (ii. 280 <i>sqq.</i>) +that the race has been formed by the +fusion of two distinct peoples.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>United States Exploring +Expedition, Ethnography and +Philology</i> (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 +<i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i> (London, 1843), ii. 85 <i>sqq.</i>; +Horatio Hale, <i>United States Exploring +Expedition, Ethnography and Philology</i> +(Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 146 <i>sqq.</i>; +Sir George Grey, <i>Polynesian Mythology</i> +(London, 1855), pp. 123 <i>sqq.</i>, 136 +<i>sqq.</i>, 162 <i>sqq.</i>, 202 <i>sqq.</i>; E. Shortland, +<i>Traditions and Superstitions of +the New Zealanders</i>, Second Edition +(London, 1856), pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, +<i>Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and +its Inhabitants</i>, Second Edition (London, +1870), pp. 26, 27, 289 <i>sqq.</i>; +John White, <i>The Ancient History of +the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions</i> +(London, 1887-1889), ii. 176 +<i>sqq.</i>; Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of +New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, xiv. (1914) pp. +73-76. The number of generations +which have elapsed since the migration +to New Zealand is variously estimated. +Writing about the middle of the nineteenth +century Shortland reckoned the +number at about eighteen; Mr. Elsdon +Best, writing in 1914, variously calculated +it at about twenty-eight or twenty-nine +(on p. 73) and from eighteen to +twenty-eight (on p. 74).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and +Philology of the U.S. Exploring +Expedition</i>, pp. 119 <i>sq.</i>; E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i> +(London, 1843), ii. 85 <i>sqq.</i>; E. +Shortland, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, pp. 33 +<i>sqq.</i>; A. S. Thomson, <i>The Story of +New Zealand</i> (London, 1859), i. 57 +<i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +26; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i> (Wellington, +N.Z., 1891), pp. 56 <i>sqq.</i>, <i>s.v.</i> +"Hawaiki"; A. C. Haddon, <i>The +Wanderings of Peoples</i> (Cambridge, +1919), p. 36. Of these writers, +Dieffenbach, Shortland, and Taylor +decide in favour of Hawaii; Thomson, +Hale, and Haddon prefer Savaii; +Tregear seems to leave the question +open, pointing out that "the inhabitants +of those islands themselves believe in +another Hawaiki, neither in Samoa +nor Hawaii."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of +New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, xiv. (1914) pp. +73-76. The Melanesian strain in the +Maoris was recognised by previous +writers. See J. S. Polack, <i>Manners +and Customs of the New Zealanders</i> +(London, 1840), i. 6, "The nation +consists of two aboriginal and distinct +races, differing, at an earlier period, +as much from each other as both are +similarly removed in similitude from +Europeans. A series of intermarriages +for centuries has not even yet obliterated +the marked difference that +originally stamped the descendant of +the now amalgamated races. The +first may be known by a dark-brown +complexion, well formed and prominent +features, erect muscular proportions, +and lank hair, with a boldness +in the gait of a warrior, wholly differing +from that of the second and inferior +race, who have a complexion +brown-black, hair inclining to the wool, +like the Eastern African, stature short, +and skin exceeding soft." The writer +rightly connects the latter people with +the stock which we now call Melanesian. +Compare also R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A +Maui</i>, pp. 13 <i>sqq.</i>, who says (p. 13), +"The Melanesian preceded the Polynesian.... +The remains of this race +are to be seen in every part of New +Zealand, especially among the Nga-ti-ka-hunu, +to which the derisive name +of Pokerekahu—Black Kumara—is +applied. The Maori traditions preserve +both the names of the canoes +which brought them to New Zealand, +as well as of the chiefs who commanded +them; several of these records +make mention of their having found +this black race in occupation of the +country on their arrival." The blending of two distinct races, a light-brown +and a dark race, among the Maoris +is clearly recognised by E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, ii. +8-11. The dark race, he says (pp. 9 +<i>sq.</i>), "has undoubtedly a different +origin. This is proved by their less +regularly shaped cranium, which is +rather more compressed from the sides, +by their full and large features, prominent +cheek-bones, full lips, small +ears, curly and coarse, although not +woolly, hair, a much deeper colour of +the skin, and a short and rather ill-proportioned +figure. This race, which +is mixed in insensible gradations with +the former, is far less numerous; it +does not predominate in any one part +of the island, nor does it occupy any +particular station in a tribe, and there +is no difference made between the two +races amongst themselves; but I must +observe that I never met any man of +consequence belonging to this race, +and that, although free men, they +occupy the lower grades; from this we +may perhaps infer the relation in which +they stood to the earliest native immigrants +into the country, although their +traditions and legends are silent on the +subject."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of +New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, xiv. (1914) pp. +73 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> (Sir) Arthur Keith, "Moriori in +New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, xiii. (1913) +pp. 171 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the Maoris</i>, p. 202. +The elaborate system of fortification +employed by the Maoris, of which the +remains may be seen by thousands, +seems to have no exact parallel in +Polynesia. See Elsdon Best, "The +Peopling of New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, xiv. +(1914) p. 75. These native forts or +<i>pas</i>, as they were called, had often a +double or even quadruple line of fence, +the innermost formed by great poles +twenty or thirty feet high, which were +tightly woven together by the fibrous +roots of a creeper. They were built +by preference on hills, the sides of +which were scarped and terraced to +assist the defence. Some of them +were very extensive and are said to +have contained from one to two +thousand inhabitants. Many of them +were immensely strong and practically +impregnable in the absence of artillery. +It is believed that the habit of fortifying +their villages was characteristic of +the older race whom the Maoris, on +landing in New Zealand, found in +occupation of the country. See W. +Yate, <i>An Account of New Zealand</i> +(London, 1835), pp. 122 <i>sqq.</i>; G. F. +Angas, <i>Savage Life and Scenes in +Australia and New Zealand</i> (London, +1847), i. 332 <i>sq.</i>; Elsdon Best, +"Notes on the Art of War as conducted +by the Maoris of New Zealand," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, +vol. xii. no. 4 (December 1903), +pp. 204 <i>sqq.</i>; W. H. Skinner, "The +Ancient Fortified <i>Pa</i>," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xx. no. 78 +(June 1911), pp. 71-77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i> +(London, 1809), ii. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The ruins of native irrigation +works are to be found in New Zealand +as well as in other parts of Polynesia (J. +Deniker, <i>The Races of Man</i>, p. 501).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 202 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, ii. +30 <i>sq.</i>, 40 <i>sq.</i>; W. Yate, <i>An Account +of New Zealand</i> (London, 1835), pp. +157 <i>sqq.</i>; E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 204 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A +Maui</i>, p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, ii. +47 <i>sq.</i>; W. Yate, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 161 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> A. Shand, "The Occupation of the +Chatham Islands by the Maoris in +1835," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. i. no. 2 (July 1892), pp. +83 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 496; A. R. +Wallace, <i>Australasia</i> (London, 1913), +pp. 442 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 212; Elsdon Best, "Notes on the +Art of War as conducted by the Maori +of New Zealand," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. xi. no. 4 (December +1902), p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 212 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A +Maui</i>, pp. 442 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. +49 <i>sq.</i>; W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, ii. +49; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 4. +The Maoris delivered set speeches +composed according to certain recognised +laws of rhetoric, and their oratory +was distinguished by a native eloquence +and grace. See E. Shortland, <i>Traditions +and Superstitions of the New +Zealanders</i>, pp. 186 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), pp. 177 <i>sqq.</i>, 189 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 591 <i>sq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "wairua."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Elsdon Best, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 52, <i>s.v.</i> +"hau"; Elsdon Best, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage +autour du Monde et à la recherche de +la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, +1832-1833), ii. 558 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> William Brown, <i>New Zealand and +its Aborigines</i> (London, 1845), p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), pp. 177 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +333-335. As to omens derived from +dreams see Elsdon Best, "Omens and +Superstitious Beliefs of the Maori," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. +vii. no. 27 (September 1898), pp. +124 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Sir George Grey, <i>Polynesian +Mythology</i> (London, 1855), pp. 168 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art +of War as conducted by the Maori +of New Zealand," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xi. no. 3 +(September 1902), p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art +of War as conducted by the Maori +of New Zealand," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xii. no. 2 +(June 1903), p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical +Lore," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December +1904), p. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i> (London, 1843), ii. 58 <i>sq.</i>; +E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, pp. +116 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion and +Mythology</i> (London, 1882), p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), pp. 194 <i>sq.</i>, 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 233 <i>sqq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "Maui"; Horatio Hale, <i>United +States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography +and Philology</i> (Philadelphia, +1846), p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> J. L. Nicholas, <i>Narrative of a +Voyage to New Zealand</i> (London, +1817), i. 61 <i>sq.</i>, "The New Zealanders +make it an invariable practice, +when a child is born among them, to +take it to the <i>Tohunga</i>, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, +from a certain leaf which he holds in +his hand for that purpose; and they +believe that this ceremony is not only +beneficial to the infant, but that the +neglect of it would be attended with +the most baneful consequences. In +the latter case, they consider the child +as either doomed to immediate death, +or that, if allowed to live, it will grow +up with a most perverse and wicked +disposition." Before or after sprinkling +the child with water the priest bestowed +on the infant its name. See W. Yate, +<i>An Account of New Zealand</i> (London, +1835), pp. 82-84; A. S. Thomson, +<i>The Story of New Zealand</i> (London, +1859), i. 118 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika +A Maui</i>, Second Edition (London, +1870), pp. 184 <i>sqq</i>. Compare J. +Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde et à la recherche de la Pérouse, +Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, 1832-1833), +ii. 443 <i>sq</i>. (who says that the baptism +was performed by women); E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i> (London, +1843), ii. 28-30 (who, in contradiction +to all the other authorities, +says that the naming of the child was +unconnected with its baptism).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Sir George Grey, <i>Polynesian +Mythology</i> (London, 1855), p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Sir George Grey, <i>Polynesian Mythology</i>, +pp. 56-58; John White, <i>The +Ancient History of the Maori</i> (Wellington +and London, 1887-1889), ii. 98, +105-107. For another version of the +myth, told with some minor variations, +see S. Percy Smith, <i>The Lore of the +Whare-wānanga</i>, Part I. (New Plymouth, +N.Z., 1913), pp. 145 <i>sq.</i>, 176-178. +For the identification of the +bird <i>tiwakawaka</i> see E. Tregear, +<i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary</i>, +p. 519, <i>s.v.</i> "Tiwaiwaka."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, pp. 135 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Dumont +d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour du Monde et +à la recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire +du Voyage</i> (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. +541 <i>sq.</i>; Servant, "Notice sur la +Nouvelle-Zélande," <i>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</i>, xv. (1843) p. +25; E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 62, 118; W. Brown, <i>New +Zealand and its Inhabitants</i>, pp. 15 +<i>sqq.</i>; G. F. Angas, <i>Savage Life and +Scenes in Australia and New Zealand</i>, +i. 331; A. S. Thomson, <i>The Story of +New Zealand</i>, i. 185 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, +<i>Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand +and its Inhabitants</i>, Second Edition +(London, 1870), pp. 217 <i>sq.</i>; E. Tregear, +"The Maoris of New Zealand," +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, +xix. (1890) pp. 104 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +541.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +543 <i>sq.</i>; W. Yate, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 137; +Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," +<i>Annales de la Propagation +de la Foi</i>, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. +Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, +ii. 62 <i>sqq.</i>; G. F. Angas, <i>Savage Life +and Scenes in Australia and New +Zealand</i>, i. 331; A. S. Thomson, +<i>The Story of New Zealand</i>, i. 188; +R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. 218 +<i>sqq.</i>; E. Tregear, "The Maori of +New Zealand," <i>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</i>, xix. (1890) p. 105; +Elsdon Best, "Cremation among the +Maori Tribes of New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, +xiv. (1914) p. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, pp. 137-139; Servant, +"Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zélande," +<i>Annales de la Propagation de la Foi</i>, +xv. (1843) pp. 26 <i>sq.</i> The name +<i>Hahunga</i> is doubtless connected with +the verb <i>hahu</i> which means "to exhume +the bones of dead persons before +depositing them in their final resting-place." +See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 42, +<i>s.v.</i> "hahu."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +543, 545.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +220. This was called <i>tahunga</i>, +"burning," a word no doubt derived +from <i>tahu</i>, "to set on fire, kindle." +See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 444, <i>s.v.</i> +"tahu."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Cremation amongst +the Maori tribes of New Zealand," <i>Man</i>, +xiv. (1914) pp. 110 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art +of War as conducted by the Maori of +New Zealand," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. xii. no. 4 (December +1903), pp. 195-197. Compare +W. Yate, <i>An Account of New Zealand</i>, +pp. 130 <i>sqq.</i>; E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels +in New Zealand</i>, ii. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +542; G. F. Angas, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 71; R. +Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>l.c.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> John White, "A Chapter from +Maori Mythology," <i>Report of the Third +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science, held at +Christchurch, New Zealand, in January +1891</i>, pp. 362 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> John White, "A Chapter from +Maori Mythology," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 363. +As to the meaning of <i>mua</i>, see E. +Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 267, <i>s.v.</i> "mua."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> G. F. Angas, <i>Savage Life and +Scenes in Australia and New Zealand</i>, +ii. 70 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +220 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 342, <i>s.v.</i> "Po."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 150 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion and +Mythology</i>, p. 45; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika +A Maui</i>, pp. 52, 231; W. Yate, <i>An +Account of New Zealand</i>, p. 140; E. +Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, +ii. 66 <i>sq.</i>; E. Tregear, "The Maoris +of New Zealand," <i>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</i>, xix. (1890) +pp. 118 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 407 <i>sq.</i>, +591, <i>s.vv.</i> "Reinga" and "Waiora"; +John White, "A Chapter from Maori +Mythology," <i>Report of the Third +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science, +held at Christchurch, New Zealand, in +January 1891</i>, pp. 361 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Maori Religion and +Mythology</i>, p. 44. Such a stalk to aid +the spirit on its passage was called a +<i>tiri</i>. Compare E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. +517, <i>s.v.</i> "Tiri." The ceremony described +in the text resembles in some +points the one which seems intended +to raise the soul of the deceased to +heaven. See above, p. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +232; John White, "A Chapter from +Maori Mythology," <i>Report of the Third +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science, held at +Christchurch, New Zealand, in January +1891</i>, pp. 361 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 48 <i>sq.</i>, 67, 118; E. +Shortland, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, pp. 153 +<i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +233 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 67, 118; E. Shortland, +<i>Traditions and Superstitions of the +New Zealanders</i>, ii. 83, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 84 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a +Pakeha Maori (London, 1884), pp. +122 <i>sqq.</i> As to the belief in the reappearance +of the dead among the +living compare R. A. Cruise, <i>Journal +of a Ten Months' Residence in New +Zealand</i> (London, 1823), p. 186: +"The belief in the reappearance of +the dead is universal among the New +Zealanders: they fancy they hear +their deceased relatives speaking to +them when the wind is high; whenever +they pass the place where a man +has been murdered, it is customary for +each person to throw a stone upon it; +and the same practice is observed by +all those who visit a cavern at the +North Cape, through which the spirits +of departed men are supposed to pass +on their way to a future world."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts +of the Maori," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. ix. no. 4 (December +1900), p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Elsdon Best, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>The Southern Districts +of New Zealand</i> (London, 1851), +p. 294; <i>id.</i>, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, pp. 80, +81; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion and Mythology</i>, +pp. 10 <i>sq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A +Maui</i>, p. 108, "Maori gods are so +mixed up with the spirits of ancestors, +whose worship entered largely into +their religion, that it is difficult to +distinguish one from the other."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 81; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion and Mythology</i>, +p. 11. As to the <i>karakias</i>, which +were prayers or invocations, spells or +incantations, addressed to gods or ancestral +spirits, see E. Shortland, <i>Maori +Religion and Mythology</i>, pp. 28 <i>sqq.</i>; +E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 128, <i>s.v.</i> +"karakia." Apparently the <i>karakia</i> +partook of the nature of a spell rather +than of a prayer, since it was believed +to be so potent that the mere utterance +of it compelled the gods to do the will +of the person who recited the formula. +See R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +180 <i>sq.</i>: "The Maori, in his heathen +state, never undertook any work, +whether hunting, fishing, planting, or +war, without first uttering a <i>karakia</i>; +he would not even take a journey without +repeating a spell to secure his +safety; still he could not be said to +pray, for, properly speaking, they had +no such thing as prayer. As in war, +they armed themselves with the most +formidable weapons they could procure, +and laid their plans with the greatest +skill they possessed, so to secure the +fruition of their desires, they used their +most powerful means to compel the +gods to be obedient to their wishes, +whether they sought for victory over +their foes, fruitful crops, successful +fishings, or huntings, they called in +the aid of potent incantations; when +they planted their <i>kumara</i> [sweet +potatoes], they sought to compel the +god who presided over them to yield a +good increase; when they prepared their +nets and their hooks, they must force +the ocean god to let his fish enter +them; as the kingdom of heaven +suffers violence, and the violent take +it by storm, so the heathen Maori +sought, by spells and incantations, to +compel the gods to yield to their +wishes; they added sacrifices and +offerings at the same time, to appease +as it were their anger, for being thus +constrained to do what they wished +them. Their ancestors were addressed +as powerful familiar friends; they gave +them offerings, and if it can be said +that any prayers were offered up, it +was to them they were made. The +word <i>karakia</i>, which we use for prayer, +formerly meant a spell, charm, or incantation."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," +<i>Report of the Twelfth Meeting of the +Australasian Association for the Advancement +of Science, held at Brisbane, +1909</i>, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 81 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +pp. 82 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>The Southern Districts +of New Zealand</i>, pp. 296 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 80. Compare <i>id.</i>, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, p. +81; <i>id.</i>, <i>The Southern Districts of New +Zealand</i>, p. 294; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion +and Mythology</i>, pp. 10 <i>sq.</i> In Maori +mythology Rangi is the personification +of the sky, and Papa of earth. They +were the primal parents, and the +other great gods were their offspring. +See Elsdon Best, "The Maori Genius +for Personification," <i>Transactions of the +New Zealand Institute</i>, liii. (1921) p. 2. +Among the great primordial deities +who were worshipped by all tribes of +New Zealand may be mentioned +Tane, Tu, Tangaroa, and Rongo. Of +the four, Tane was the origin and +tutelary deity of forests and birds: no +tree might be felled and no bird caught +till certain rites had been performed to +placate him. Tu was the god of war. +Tangaroa was the god of the ocean, the +origin and tutelary deity of fish. Rongo +was the god of peace, and presided +over agriculture. See Elsdon Best, +"Maori Religion," <i>Report of the +Twelfth Meeting of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Brisbane, 1909</i>, p. 458. +The same four gods, with names only +dialectically different, were, as we shall +see later on, the principal deities of the +Sandwich Islanders, the most distant +geographically from the Maoris of +all the Polynesians. The coincidence +furnishes an example of the homogeneity +of religion which prevailed +among the various branches of the +Polynesian race.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 30 <i>sq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "Atua."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage +autour du Monde et à la recherche de la +Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, +1832-1833), ii. 516 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art +of War as conducted by the Maori of +New Zealand," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. xi. no. 2 (June +1902). pp. 63 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. 134 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> J. L. Nicholas, <i>Narrative of a +Voyage to New Zealand</i> (London, 1817), +i. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour +du Monde et à la recherche de la +Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, +1832-1833), ii. 516.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, pp. 84 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 84; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika +A Maui</i>, p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 268 <i>sq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "Noa."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, pp. 85 <i>sq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te +Ika A Maui</i>, pp. 163, 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour +du Monde et à la recherche de la +Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, +1832-1833), iii. 685; W. Yate, <i>An +Account of New Zealand</i>, p. 86; E. +Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, +ii. 104 <i>sq.</i>; Servant, "Notice sur +la Nouvelle-Zélande," <i>Annales de +la Propagation de la Foi</i>, xv. (1843) +p. 23; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, +pp. 166 <i>sq.</i>; <i>Old New Zealand</i>, +by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 104 <i>sqq.</i> +The taboo could be got rid of more +simply by the tabooed man touching +his child or grandchild and taking +food or drink from the child's hands. +But when that was done, the taboo +was transferred to the child, who +retained it for the rest of the day. +See E. Dieffenbach, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 85; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A +Maui</i>, pp. 165 <i>sq.</i>; <i>Old New Zealand</i>, +by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 103 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, pp. 96, 114 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>The Southern Districts +of New Zealand</i>, pp. 68 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, pp. 114 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 40, 112 <i>sq.</i>, 356; E. +Shortland, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, p. 104; +R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. 149, +164, 212 <i>sq.</i>; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, +pp. 23 <i>sq.</i>, <i>s.v.</i> "Ariki." The word +<i>ariki</i> signifies properly the first-born or +heir, whether male or female, of a family.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, +"Maori Religion," <i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, vol. xiv. no. 3 (September +1905), p. 130. Compare <i>id.</i>, +"The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations +of the Spirit World," <i>Journal +of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xv. no. +57 (March 1906), p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika a Maui</i>, p. +173. <i>Mana</i> means authority, especially +divine authority or supernatural power. +See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 203, <i>s.v.</i> +"Mana"; and for a full discussion of +the conception see Lieut.-Col. W. E. +Gudgeon, "Mana Tangata," <i>Journal +of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xiv. no. +2 (June 1905), pp. 49-66. "<i>Mana</i> +plays a leading part in the ability of a +leader, or successes in war of celebrated +warriors. When a man frequently +undertakes daring deeds, which +ought under ordinary circumstances to +fail, but none the less prove successful, +he is said to possess <i>mana</i>, +and thereafter is regarded as one +peculiarly favoured by the gods, and +in such cases it is held that he can +only be overcome by some act or +default; such as a disregard or neglect +of some religious or warlike observance, +which has been shown by experience +to be essential to success in +war, but which our warrior, spoiled +by a long career of good fortune, had +come to regard as necessary to ordinary +mortals only and of but little consequence +to men of <i>mana</i>" (W. E. +Gudgeon, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 62). "There +were cases in which the <i>mana</i> of a +man depended upon the facility with +which he could communicate with the +spirits of departed ancestors, that is, +upon his capacity to enforce the aid +and attendance of these minor deities. +To this end every man with any pretension +to <i>mana</i> had a knowledge of +certain forms of invocation by which +he could summon the spirits of long +departed heroes and ancestors, but it +must not be supposed that these invocations +would necessarily have power +in the mouths of all men, for such was +not the case. The efficacy of a <i>karakia</i> +or invocation depended in part on its +method of delivery, and in part on the +<i>mana</i> of the man who used it" (W. +E. Gudgeon, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 50). Compare +R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +172, 173; <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a +Pakeha Maori, p. 100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +147, 352. The soul was thought to +reside especially in the left eye; accordingly +it was the left eye of an enemy +which was most commonly swallowed +by a victorious chief who desired to +increase his spiritual power. See J. +Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde et à la recherche de la Pérouse, +Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, 1832-1833), +ii. 527; E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in +New Zealand</i>, ii. 118, 128 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 87; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika +A Maui</i>, p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 87; E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, ii. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Richard A. Cruise, <i>Journal of a +Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand</i> +(London, 1823), pp. 283 <i>sq.</i> Compare +J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage +autour du Monde et à la recherche de +la Pérouse, Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, +1832-1833), ii. 533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," +<i>Report of the Twelfth Meeting of the +Australasian Association for the Advancement +of Science, held at Brisbane, +1909</i>, p. 463.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 101; R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika +A Maui</i>, pp. 164 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. +165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, pp. +164 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> W. Brown, <i>New Zealand and its +Aborigines</i> (London, 1845), p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, pp. 95-97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</i>, +p. 111; <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, pp. 137 <i>sqq.</i>; R. Taylor, <i>Te +Ika A Maui</i>, p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, by a Pakeha +Maori, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> E. Dieffenbach, <i>Travels in New +Zealand</i>, ii. 100, "Ridiculous as this +custom of the <i>tapu</i> has appeared to +some, and as many of its applications +really are, it was, notwithstanding, a +wholesome restraint, and, in many +cases, almost the only one that could +have been imposed; the heavy penalties +attached to the violation of its laws +serving in one tribe, or in several not +in actual hostility with each other, as +moral and legal commandments. It +was undoubtedly the ordinance of a +wise legislator." Compare G. F. +Angas, <i>Savage Life and Scenes in +Australia and New Zealand</i>, i. 330, +"Doubtless this law is the result of +some wise regulation for the protection +of property and individuals, and it has +in many things a beneficial influence +amongst a people who have no written +or regularly established code of laws +of their own." To the same effect +another authority on the Maoris observes: +"The most politic and useful +of all the superstitious institutions of +the Maori people is that which involves +the rites of <i>tapu</i>. It has always seemed +to me that this institution, with its far-reaching +ramifications, must have been +the conception of a very gifted mind, +for, as a governing factor, it is very +superior to the Hindu institution of +caste. It must, moreover, have been +initiated during a period of civilisation, +to which the Polynesians have long +been strangers, but with which at one +period of their history they were sufficiently +familiar." See Lieut.-Colonel +Gudgeon, "The Tipua-Kura and other +Manifestations of the Spirit World," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. +xv. no. 57 (March 1906), p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> E. Shortland, <i>The Southern Districts +of New Zealand</i>, pp. 30 <i>sq.</i>, +294 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Traditions and Superstitions +of the New Zealanders</i>, pp. +114 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori Religion and +Mythology</i>, 31 <i>sq.</i>; W. Yate, <i>An +Account of New Zealand</i>, pp. 141 <i>sq.</i> +Most malignant and dangerous of all +appear to have been thought the +spirits of abortions or still-born infants. +See Elsdon Best, "The Lore of the +<i>Whare-Kohanga</i>," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, vol. xv. no. 57 +(March 1906), pp. 12-15; <i>Reise der +Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um +die Erde, Anthropologischer Theil, +Dritte Abtheilung, Ethnographie</i>, +bearbeitet von Dr. Fr. Müller +(Vienna, 1868), pp. 59 <i>sq.</i> Even +more dangerous than the spirits of +dead infants were supposed to be +the spirits of human germs, which the +Maoris imagined to exist in the menstrual +fluid. See E. Shortland, <i>Traditions +and Superstitions of the New +Zealanders</i>, pp. 115, 292; <i>id.</i>, <i>Maori +Religion and Mythology</i>, pp. 107 <i>sq.</i> +As to disease inflicted by ancestral +spirits (<i>atuas</i>) for breaches of taboo, see +further J. L. Nicholas, <i>Narrative of a +Voyage to New Zealand</i> (London, 1817), +i. 272 <i>sq.</i>, ii. 176 <i>sq.</i>; E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, ii. 105, "The +breaking of the <i>tapu</i>, if the crime does +not become known, is, they believe, +punished by the <i>Atua</i>, who inflicts disease +upon the criminal; if discovered, +it is punished by him whom it regards, +and often becomes the cause of +war."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Richard A. Cruise, <i>Journal of a +Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand</i> +(London, 1823), p. 320; J. +Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde et à la recherche de la Pérouse, +Histoire du Voyage</i> (Paris, 1832-1833), +ii. 517; W. Yate, <i>An Account of +New Zealand</i>, pp. 141 <i>sq.</i>; E. Dieffenbach, +<i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, ii. 117; +Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical Lore," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, vol. +xiii. no. 4 (December 1904), p. 228. +As to the superstitious veneration of +lizards among the peoples of the Malay-Polynesian +stock, see G. A. Wilken, +<i>Verspreide Geschriften</i> (The Hague, +1912), iv. 125 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> G. F. Angas, <i>Savage Life and +Scenes in Australia and New Zealand</i>, +ii. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> W. Yate, <i>An Account of New +Zealand</i>, p. 142.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Tonga or Friendly Islands</i></h4> + +<p>The Tonga or Friendly Islands form an archipelago of about +a hundred small islands situated in the South Pacific, between +18° and 22° South latitude and between 173° and 176° +East longitude. The archipelago falls into three groups of +islands, which lie roughly north and south of each other. The +southern is the Tonga group, the central is the Haabai or +Haapai group, and the northern is the Vavau group. In +the southern group the principal islands are Tongataboo and +Eua; in the central group, Namuka and Lifuka (Lefooga); +in the northern group, Vavau. The largest island of the +archipelago, Tongataboo, is about twenty-two miles long by +eight miles wide; next to it in importance are Vavau and +Eua, and there are seven or eight other islands not less than +five miles in length. The rest are mere islets. Most of the +islands are surrounded by dangerous coral reefs, and though +the soil is deep and very fertile, there is a great lack of +flowing water; running streams are almost unknown. Most +of the islands consist of coral and are very low; the highest +point of Tongataboo is only about sixty feet above the level +of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_1_128" id="FNanchor_1_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_128" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> However, some of the islands are lofty and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +volcanic formation. When Captain Cook visited the islands +in 1773 and 1777 there was apparently only one active +volcano in the archipelago; it was situated in the small +island of Tufoa, which lies to the west of Namuka. Cook +saw the island smoking at the distance of ten leagues, and +was told by the natives that it had never ceased smoking in +their memory, nor had they any tradition of its inactivity.<a name="FNanchor_2_129" id="FNanchor_2_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_129" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +In the hundred and fifty years which have elapsed since +Cook's time volcanic action has greatly increased in the archipelago. +A considerable eruption took place at Tufoa in +1885: the small but lofty island of Kao (5000 feet high) +has repeatedly been in eruption: the once fertile and populous +island of Amargura, or Funua-lai, in about 18° South +latitude, was suddenly devastated in 1846 or 1847 by a +terrific eruption, which reduced it to a huge mass of lava +and burnt sand, without a leaf or blade of grass of any kind. +Warned by violent earthquakes, which preceded the explosion, +the inhabitants escaped in time to Vavau. The roar of the +volcano was heard one hundred and thirty miles off; and an +American ship sailed through a shower of ashes, rolling like great +volumes of smoke, for forty miles. For months afterwards +the glare of the tremendous fires was visible night after night +in the island of Vavau, situated forty miles away.<a name="FNanchor_3_130" id="FNanchor_3_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_130" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Another +dreadful eruption occurred on the 24th of June 1853, in +Niua Foöu, an island about two hundred miles to the north-north-west +of Funua-lai. The entire island seems to be the +circular ridge of an ancient and vast volcano, of which the +crater is occupied by a lake of clear calm water. On the +occasion in question the earth was rent in the centre of a +native village; the flames of a new volcano burst forth from +the fissure, belching a sea of molten lava, under which ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +miles of country, once covered with the richest verdure, have +been encased in solid rock, averaging from eight to fifteen +feet in thickness. The lake boiled like a cauldron, and long +after the more powerful action of the volcano had ceased, the +waters of the lake were often rent by tongues of flame, which +shot up from them as well as from the clefts in the surrounding +precipices.<a name="FNanchor_4_131" id="FNanchor_4_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_131" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In the island of Late, lying to the west of +Vavau, a new volcano broke out with great violence in 1854; +the roar of the volcano was heard at Lifuka, fifty miles +away; the immense pillar of smoke was visible by day and +the fire by night. The central portion of one side of the +mountain (about 2500 feet high) was completely blown out +by the explosion.<a name="FNanchor_5_132" id="FNanchor_5_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_132" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>But not only have new volcanoes appeared or long +extinct volcanoes resumed their activity within the last +century in the existing islands, new islands have been formed +by volcanic action. One such island, emitting volumes of +fire, smoke, and steam, issued from the surface of the sea, +and was discovered by the missionary ship <i>John Wesley</i> +in August 1857; its appearance had been heralded some +years before by a strange agitation of the sea and by fire +and smoke ascending from the water. This new volcanic +island lies about midway between the two other volcanic +islands of Tufoa and Late.<a name="FNanchor_6_133" id="FNanchor_6_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_133" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> A third new volcanic island +seems to have been formed to the south of Tufoa in 1886.<a name="FNanchor_7_134" id="FNanchor_7_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_134" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +Another new island was thrown up from the sea about the +beginning of the twentieth century; it was partly washed +away again, but has again materially increased in size.<a name="FNanchor_8_135" id="FNanchor_8_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_135" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> It +is noteworthy that the volcanoes, new or old, all occur in a +line running roughly north and south at a considerable distance +to the west of, but parallel to, the main body of the +Tongan archipelago. They clearly indicate the existence of +submarine volcanic action on a great scale. Even in the +coralline islands traces of volcanic agency have come to light +in the shape of pumice-stones, which have been dug out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +the solid coral rock at considerable depths.<a name="FNanchor_9_136" id="FNanchor_9_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_136" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In the lofty +island of Eua an extensive dyke of basalt is found inland +underlying the coral formation.<a name="FNanchor_10_137" id="FNanchor_10_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_137" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>These facts lend some countenance to the view that the +whole archipelago forms the summit or visible ridge of a long +chain of submarine volcanoes, and that the islands, even +those of coralline formation, have been raised to their present +level by volcanic action.<a name="FNanchor_11_138" id="FNanchor_11_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_138" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> That very acute observer, Captain +Cook, or one of the naturalists of the expedition, noticed that +in the highest parts of Tongataboo, which he estimated roughly +at a hundred feet above sea-level, he often met with "the +same coral rock, which is found at the shore, projecting above +the surface, and perforated and cut into all those inequalities +which are usually seen in rocks that lie within the wash of +the tide."<a name="FNanchor_12_139" id="FNanchor_12_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_139" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Again, on ascending the comparatively lofty +island of Eua, Captain Cook observes: "We were now about +two or three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and yet, +even here, the coral was perforated into all the holes and +inequalities which usually diversify the surface of this substance +within the reach of the tide. Indeed, we found the +same coral till we began to approach the summits of the +highest hills; and, it was remarkable, that these were chiefly +composed of a yellowish, soft, sandy stone."<a name="FNanchor_13_140" id="FNanchor_13_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_140" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In the island +of Vavau it was remarked by Captain Waldegrave that the +coral rock rises many feet above the present level of the sea, +and he adds: "The action of fire is visible on it, and we saw +several instances of its crystallisation."<a name="FNanchor_14_141" id="FNanchor_14_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_141" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The view that even the coralline islands of the Tongan +archipelago have been elevated by volcanic agency is not +necessarily inconsistent with Darwin's theory that coral reefs +are formed during periods of subsidence, not of elevation;<a name="FNanchor_15_142" id="FNanchor_15_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_142" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +for it is quite possible that, after being raised ages ago by +volcanic forces, these islands may be now slowly subsiding,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +and that it has been during the period of subsidence that +they have become incrusted by coral reefs. Yet the occurrence +of coral rocks, bearing all the marks of marine action, +at considerable heights above the sea, appears indubitably to +prove that such a general subsidence has been in some places +varied by at least a temporary elevation.</p> + +<p>In thus postulating elevation by volcanic action, as well +as subsidence, to explain the formation of the Tongan islands +I am glad to have the support of a good observer, the late +Rev. Dr. George Brown, who spent the best years of his life +in the Pacific, where his experience both of the larger and +the smaller islands was varied and extensive. He writes: +"I have seen islands composed of true coralline limestone, +the cliffs of which rise so perpendicularly from the blue +ocean that the natives have to ascend and descend by ladders +in going from the ocean to the top, or vice versa. A large +steamer can go so close to some of these cliffs that she +could be moored alongside of them in calm weather. It is +not at all improbable, I think, that in these islands we have +the two factors in the formation of islands, viz. subsidence, +during which these immense cliffs were formed, and subsequent +upheaval. This is the only way, I think, in which we +can account for these perpendicular cliffs in the midst of +deep blue ocean."<a name="FNanchor_16_143" id="FNanchor_16_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_143" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>I have dwelt at what may seem undue length on the +volcanic phenomena of the Tonga islands because the occurrence +of such phenomena in savage lands has generally influenced +the beliefs and customs of the natives, quite apart +from the possibility, which should always be borne in mind, +that man first obtained fire from an active volcano. But even +if, as has been suggested, the Tonga islands formed the +starting-point from which the Polynesian race spread over +the islands of the Pacific,<a name="FNanchor_17_144" id="FNanchor_17_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_144" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> it seems very unlikely that the +Polynesians first learned the use of fire when they reached the +Tongan archipelago. More probably they were acquainted,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +not only with the use of fire, but with the mode of making +it long before they migrated from their original home in +Southern Asia. A people perfectly ignorant of that prime +necessity could hardly have made their way across such wide +stretches of sea and land. But it is quite possible that the +myth which the Tongans, in common with many other Polynesians, +tell of the manner in which their ancestors procured +their first fire, was suggested to them by the spectacle of a +volcano in eruption. They say that the hero Maui Kijikiji, +the Polynesian Prometheus, first procured fire for men by +descending into the bowels of the earth and stealing it from +his father, Maui Atalanga, who had kept it there jealously +concealed.<a name="FNanchor_18_145" id="FNanchor_18_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_145" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of Life, and +Government</i></h4> + +<p>Physically the Tonga islanders are fine specimens of the +Polynesian race and generally impress travellers very favourably. +Captain Cook, the first to observe them closely, +describes them as very strong and well made, some of them +really handsome, and many of them with truly European +features and genuine Roman noses.<a name="FNanchor_19_146" id="FNanchor_19_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_146" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> At a later date Commodore +Wilkes, the commander of the United States Exploring +Expedition, speaks of them as "some of the finest +specimens of the human race that can well be imagined, +surpassing in symmetry and grace those of all the other groups +we had visited"; and farther on he says: "A larger proportion +of fine-looking people is seldom to be seen, in any +portion of the globe; they are a shade lighter than any of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +the other islanders; their countenances are generally of the +European cast; they are tall and well made, and their muscles +are well developed."<a name="FNanchor_20_147" id="FNanchor_20_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_147" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Still later, in his account of the voyage of +the <i>Challenger</i>, Lord George Campbell expressed himself even +more warmly: "There are no people in the world," he says, +"who strike one at first so much as these Friendly Islanders. +Their clear, light, copper-brown coloured skins, yellow and +curly hair, good-humoured, handsome faces, their <i>tout ensemble</i>, +formed a novel and splendid picture of the genus <i>homo</i>; and, +as far as physique and appearance go, they gave one certainly +an impression of being a superior race to ours."<a name="FNanchor_21_148" id="FNanchor_21_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_148" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> A Catholic +missionary observes that "the natives of Tonga hardly +differ from Europeans in stature, features, and colour; they +are a little sallower, which may be set down to the high +temperature of the climate. It is difficult to have a very +fresh complexion with thirty degrees of heat, Réaumur, as we +have it during four or five months of the year."<a name="FNanchor_22_149" id="FNanchor_22_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_149" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> In appearance +the Tonga islanders closely resemble the Samoans, their +neighbours on the north; some find them a little lighter, but +others somewhat darker in colour than the Samoans.<a name="FNanchor_23_150" id="FNanchor_23_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_150" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> According +to the French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, who passed +about a month in Tongataboo in 1827, the Polynesian race +in Tonga exhibits less admixture with the swarthy Melanesian +race than in Tahiti and New Zealand, there being far fewer +individuals of stunted stature, flat noses, and frizzly hair +among the Tongans than among the other Polynesians.<a name="FNanchor_24_151" id="FNanchor_24_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_151" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +Even among the Tongans the physical superiority of the +chiefs to the common people is said to be conspicuous; they +are taller, comelier, and lighter in colour than the lower +orders. Some would explain the difference by a difference +in upbringing, noblemen being more carefully nursed, better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +fed, and less exposed to the sun than commoners;<a name="FNanchor_25_152" id="FNanchor_25_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_152" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> but it is +possible that they come of a different and better stock.</p> + +<p>Intellectually the Tongans are reported to "surpass all +the other South Sea islanders in their mental development, +showing great skill in the structure of their dwellings and +the manufacture of their implements, weapons, and dress."<a name="FNanchor_26_153" id="FNanchor_26_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_153" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +They are bold navigators,<a name="FNanchor_27_154" id="FNanchor_27_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_154" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> and Captain Cook observes that +"nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of their +ingenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, +which, in point of neatness and workmanship, exceed everything +of this kind we saw in this sea."<a name="FNanchor_28_155" id="FNanchor_28_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_155" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> However, the +Tongans appear to have acquired much of their skill in the +art of building and rigging canoes through intercourse with +the Fijians, their neighbours to the west, who, though their +inferiors in seamanship and the spirit of marine adventure, +originally surpassed them in naval architecture.<a name="FNanchor_29_156" id="FNanchor_29_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_156" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Indeed we +are told that all the large Tongan canoes are built in Fiji, +because the Tongan islands do not furnish any timber fit for +the purpose. Hence a number of Tongans are constantly +employed in the windward or eastern islands of the Fiji +group building these large canoes, a hundred feet or more in +length, a process which, it is said, lasts six or seven years.<a name="FNanchor_30_157" id="FNanchor_30_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_157" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +The debt which in this respect the Tongans owe to the +Fijians was necessarily unknown to Captain Cook, since he +never reached the Fijian islands and knew of them only by +report, though he met and questioned a few Fijians in +Tongataboo.<a name="FNanchor_31_158" id="FNanchor_31_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_158" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>When Captain Cook visited the Tonga islands he found +the land almost everywhere in a high state of cultivation. +He says that "cultivated roots and fruits being their +principal support, this requires their constant attention to +agriculture, which they pursue very diligently, and seem +to have brought almost to as great perfection as circumstances +will permit."<a name="FNanchor_32_159" id="FNanchor_32_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_159" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The plants which they chiefly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +cultivated and which furnished them with their staple foods +were yams and plantains. These were disposed in plantations +enclosed by neat fences of reeds about six feet high +and intersected by good smooth roads or lanes, which were +shaded from the scorching sun by fruit-trees.<a name="FNanchor_33_160" id="FNanchor_33_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_160" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Walking +on one of these roads Cook tells us, "I thought I was +transported into the most fertile plains in Europe. There +was not an inch of waste ground; the roads occupied no +more space than was absolutely necessary; the fences did +not take up above four inches each; and even this was not +wholly lost, for in many places were planted some useful +trees or plants. It was everywhere the same; change of +place altered not the scene. Nature, assisted by a little +art, nowhere appears in more splendour than at this isle."<a name="FNanchor_34_161" id="FNanchor_34_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_161" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +Interspersed among these plantations irregularly were bread-fruit +trees and coco-nut palms, of which the palms in +particular, raising their tufted heads in air above the sea +of perpetual verdure, formed a pleasing ornament of the +landscape.<a name="FNanchor_35_162" id="FNanchor_35_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_162" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> There were no towns or villages; most of the +houses were built in the plantations, generally surrounded +by trees or ornamental shrubs, whose fragrancy perfumed +the air.<a name="FNanchor_36_163" id="FNanchor_36_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_163" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p>When Captain Cook surveyed this rich and beautiful +country, the islands were and had long been at peace, so +that the natives were able to devote themselves without +distraction to the labour of tilling the soil and providing +in other ways for the necessities of life. Unhappily shortly +after his visit to the islands wars broke out among the +inhabitants and continued to rage more or less intermittently +for many years. Even the introduction of Christianity in +the early part of the nineteenth century, far from assuaging +the strife, only added bitterness to it by furnishing a fresh +pretext for hostilities, in which apparently the Christians +were sometimes the aggressors with the connivance or even +the encouragement of the missionaries.<a name="FNanchor_37_164" id="FNanchor_37_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_164" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> In consequence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +cultivation was neglected and large portions of land were +allowed to lie waste.<a name="FNanchor_38_165" id="FNanchor_38_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_165" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Like all the Polynesians the natives of Tonga were +ignorant of the metals, and their only tools were made of +stone, bone, shells, shark's teeth, and rough fish-skins. They +fashioned axes, or rather adzes, out of a smooth black stone, +which they procured from the volcanic island of Tufoa; +they used shells as knives; they constructed augers out of +shark's teeth, fixed on handles; and they made rasps of the +rough skin of a fish, fastened on flat pieces of wood. With +such imperfect tools they built their canoes and houses, +reared the massive tombs of their kings; and did all their +other work.<a name="FNanchor_39_166" id="FNanchor_39_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_166" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The wonder is that with implements so +imperfect they could accomplish so much and raise themselves +to a comparatively high level among savages.</p> + +<p>A feature of the Tongan character in which the islanders +evinced their superiority to most of the Polynesians was +their regard for women. In most savage tribes which +practise agriculture the labour of tilling the fields falls in +great measure on the female sex, but it was not so in Tonga. +There the women never tilled the ground nor did any hard +work, though they occupied themselves with the manufacture +of bark-cloth, mats, and other articles of domestic use. +Natives of Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii, who resided in Tonga, +used to remark on the easy lives led by the Tongan women,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +and remonstrated with the men on the subject, saying that +as men underwent hardships and dangers in war and other +masculine pursuits, so women ought to be made to labour +in the fields and to toil for their living. But the Tongan +men said that "it is not <i>gnale fafíne</i> (consistent with the +feminine character) to let them do hard work; women +ought only to do what is feminine: who loves a masculine +woman? besides, men are stronger, and therefore it is but +proper that they should do the hard labour."<a name="FNanchor_40_167" id="FNanchor_40_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_167" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Further, it is to the credit of the Tongans that, unlike +many other Polynesians, they were not generally cannibals, +and indeed for the most part held in abhorrence the practice +of eating human bodies. Still young warriors occasionally +devoured the corpses of their enemies in imitation of the +Fijians, imagining that in so doing they manifested a fierce, +warlike, and manly spirit. On one occasion, returning from +such a repast, they were shunned by every one, especially by +the women, who upbraided them, saying, "Away! you are +a man-eater."<a name="FNanchor_41_168" id="FNanchor_41_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_168" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>The government of the Tongan islanders was eminently +monarchical and aristocratic. A strict subordination of +ranks was established which has been aptly compared to +the feudal system. At the head of the social edifice were +two chiefs who bore some resemblance to the Emperor +and the Pope of mediaeval Europe, the one being the civil +and military head of the State, while the other embodied +the supreme spiritual power. Nominally the spiritual chief, +called the Tooitonga, ranked above the civil chief or king, +who paid him formal homage; but, as usually happens in +such cases, the real government was in the hands of the +secular rather than of the religious monarch. The Tooitonga +was acknowledged to be descended from one of the chief +gods; he is spoken of by Mariner, our principal authority, +as a divine chief of the highest rank, and he is said to have +enjoyed divine honours. The first-fruits of the year were +offered to him, and it was supposed that if this ceremony +were neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +signal manner upon the people. Yet he had no power or +authority in matters pertaining to the civil king.<a name="FNanchor_42_169" id="FNanchor_42_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_169" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The +existence of such a double kingship, with a corresponding +distribution of temporal and spiritual functions, is not +uncommon in more advanced societies; its occurrence +among a people so comparatively low in the scale of culture +as the Tongans is remarkable.</p> + +<p>Below the two great chiefs or kings were many subordinate +chiefs, and below them again the social ranks +descended in a succession of sharply marked gradations to +the peasants, who tilled the ground, and whose lives and +property were entirely at the mercy of the chiefs.<a name="FNanchor_43_170" id="FNanchor_43_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_170" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Yet the +social system as a whole seems to have worked well and +smoothly. "It does not, indeed, appear," says Captain +Cook, "that any of the most civilised nations have ever +exceeded this people, in the great order observed on all +occasions; in ready compliance with the commands of their +chiefs; and in the harmony that subsists throughout all +ranks, and unites them, as if they were all one man, informed +with, and directed by, the same principle."<a name="FNanchor_44_171" id="FNanchor_44_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_171" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> According to +the American ethnographer, Horatio Hale, the mass of the +people in the Tonga islands had no political rights, and +their condition in that respect was much inferior to that of +commoners in the Samoan islands, since in Tonga the +government was much stronger and better organized, as he +puts it, for the purpose of oppression. On the other hand, +he admitted that government in Tonga was milder than in +Tahiti, and infinitely preferable to the debasing despotism +which prevailed in Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands.<a name="FNanchor_45_172" id="FNanchor_45_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_172" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 3. <i>The Tongan Religion: its General Principles</i></h4> + +<p>For our knowledge of the religion and the social condition +of the Tongans before they came under European +influence, we are indebted chiefly to an English sailor, +William Mariner, who lived as a captive among them for +about four years, from 1806 to 1810.<a name="FNanchor_46_173" id="FNanchor_46_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_173" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> His account of the +natives, carefully elicited from him and published by a +medical doctor, Mr. John Martin, M.D., is one of the most +valuable descriptions of a savage people which we possess. +Mariner was a good observer and endowed with an excellent +memory, which enabled him to retain and record his experiences +after his return to England. He spoke the +Tongan language, and he was a special favourite of the two +Tongan kings, named Finow, who reigned successively in +Tonga during his residence in the islands. The kings befriended +and protected him, so that he had the best opportunities +for becoming acquainted with the customs and +beliefs of the people. His observations have been confirmed +from independent sources, and we have every reason +to regard them as trustworthy. So far as we can judge, +they are a simple record of facts, unbiassed by theory or +prejudice. In the following notice of the Tongan religion +and doctrine of the human soul I shall draw chiefly on the +evidence of Mariner.</p> + +<p>According to him, the religion of the Tonga islanders +rests, or rather used to rest, on the following notions.<a name="FNanchor_47_174" id="FNanchor_47_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_174" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>They believed that there are <i>hotooas</i>,<a name="FNanchor_48_175" id="FNanchor_48_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_175" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> gods, or superior +beings, who have the power of dispensing good and evil to +mankind, according to their merit, but of whose origin the +Tongans formed no idea, rather supposing them to be +eternal.</p> + +<p>They believed that there are other <i>hotooas</i> or gods, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +are the souls of all deceased nobles and <i>matabooles</i>, that is, +the companions, ministers, and counsellors of the chiefs, who +form a sort of inferior nobility.<a name="FNanchor_49_176" id="FNanchor_49_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_176" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> The souls of all these +dead men were held to possess a power of dispensing good +and evil to mankind like the power of the superior gods, +but in a lesser degree.</p> + +<p>They believed that there are besides several <i>hotooa pow</i>, +or mischievous gods, who never dispense good, but only +petty evils and troubles, not as a punishment, but indiscriminately +to anybody, from a purely mischievous disposition.</p> + +<p>They believed that all these superior beings, although +they may perhaps have had a beginning, will have no end.</p> + +<p>They believed that the world also is of uncertain origin, +having coexisted with the gods. The sky, which they +regard as solid, the heavenly bodies, and the ocean were in +being before the habitable earth. The Tonga islands were +drawn up out of the depth of the sea by the god Tangaloa +one day when he was fishing with a line and a hook.</p> + +<p>They believed that mankind, according to a partial +tradition, came originally from Bolotoo, the chief residence +of the gods, a fabulous island situated to the north-west of +the Tongan archipelago. The first men and women consisted +of two brothers, with their wives and attendants. +They were commanded by the god Tangaloa to take up +their abode in the Tonga islands, but of their origin or +creation the Tongans professed to know nothing.<a name="FNanchor_50_177" id="FNanchor_50_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_177" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>They believed that all human evil was inflicted by the +gods upon mankind on account of some neglect of religious +duty, whether the neglect is the fault of the sufferers or of +the chief whom they serve. In like manner the Tongans +apparently referred all human good to the gods, regarding +it as a reward bestowed by the divine beings on men who +punctually discharged the offices of religion.<a name="FNanchor_51_178" id="FNanchor_51_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_178" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>They believed that nobles had souls, which existed after +death in Bolotoo, not according to their moral merit, but +according to their rank in this world; these had power like +that of the original gods, but less in degree. The <i>matabooles</i>, +or ministers of the nobles, also went after death to Bolotoo, +where they existed as <i>matabooles</i>, or ministers of the gods, +but they had not, like the gods and the souls of dead noblemen, +the power of inspiring the priests with superhuman +knowledge. Some thought that the <i>mooas</i>, who ranked +next below the <i>matabooles</i> in the social hierarchy, also went +after death to Bolotoo; but this was a matter of great +doubt. As for the <i>tooas</i> or commoners, who formed the +lowest rung in the social ladder, they had either no souls at +all or only such as dissolved with the body after death, +which consequently ended their sentient existence.</p> + +<p>They believed that the human soul during life is not an +essence distinct from the body, but only the more ethereal +part of the corporeal frame, and that the moment after +death it exists in Bolotoo with the form and likeness of the +body which it had on earth.</p> + +<p>They believed that the primitive gods and deceased +nobles sometimes appear visibly to mankind to warn or to +afford comfort and advice; and that the primitive gods also +sometimes come into the living bodies of lizards, porpoises, +and a species of water snake, hence these animals are much +respected. When the gods thus entered into the bodies of +porpoises, it was for the sake of safeguarding canoes or for +other beneficent purposes.</p> + +<p>They believed that the two personages in the Tonga +islands known by the titles of Tooitonga and Veachi were +descendants in a right line from two chief gods, and that all +respect and veneration are therefore due to them.</p> + +<p>They believed that some persons are favoured with the +inspiration of the gods, and that while the inspiration lasts +the god actually exists in the body of the inspired person or +priest, who is then capable of prophesying.</p> + +<p>They believe that human merit or virtue consists chiefly +in paying respect to the gods, nobles, and aged persons; in +defending one's hereditary rights; in honour, justice, +patriotism, friendship, meekness, modesty, fidelity of married<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +women, parental and filial love, observance of all religious +ceremonies, patience in suffering, forbearance of temper, and +so on.</p> + +<p>They believed that all rewards for virtue or punishments +for vice happen to men in this world only, and come immediately +from the gods.</p> + +<p>They believed that several acts which civilised nations +regard as crimes are, under certain circumstances, matters +of indifference. Such acts included the taking of revenge +on an enemy and the killing of a servant who had +given provocation, or indeed the killing of anybody else, +always provided that the victim were not a very superior +chief or noble. Further, among indifferent acts was reckoned +rape, unless it were committed on a married woman or on +one whom the offender was bound to respect on the score of +her superior rank. Finally, the list of venial offences included +theft, unless the stolen object were consecrated property; +for in that case the action became sacrilege and was, as we +shall see presently, a very serious crime.</p> + +<p>They believed that omens are the direct intimations of +the future vouchsafed by the gods to men. "Charms or +superstitious ceremonies to bring evil upon any one are +considered for the most part infallible, as being generally +effective means to dispose the gods to accord with the curse +or evil wish of the malevolent invoker; to perform these +charms is considered cowardly and unmanly, but does not +constitute a crime."<a name="FNanchor_52_179" id="FNanchor_52_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_179" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> One such charm consisted in hiding +on a grave (<i>fytoca</i>) some portion of the wearing apparel of +an inferior relation of the deceased. The person whose +garment was so hidden was believed to sicken and die. +An equally effectual way of working the charm and ensuring +the death of the victim was to bury the garment in the +house consecrated to the tutelary god of the family. But +when a grave was made use of for the malignant purpose, +it was thought essential that the deceased should be of a +rank superior to that of the person against whom the charm +was directed; otherwise it was supposed that the charm +would have no effect.<a name="FNanchor_53_180" id="FNanchor_53_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_180" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In either case the fatal result was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +clearly held to be brought about by the power of the ghost +or of the god, who used the garment as an instrument for +putting the charm in operation. These charms or superstitious +ceremonies are what we should now call magical +rites, and they were apparently supposed to effect their +purpose indirectly by constraining the gods to carry out the +malevolent intention of the magician. If I am right in so +interpreting them, we seem driven to conclude that in +Tonga magic was supposed to be ineffectual without the +co-operation of the gods, although its power to compel them +was deemed for the most part irresistible. Even so its +assumed dependence on the consent, albeit the reluctant +consent, of the deities implies a certain decadence of magic +and a growing predominance of religion. Moreover, the +moral reprehension of such practices for the injury of +enemies is another sign that among the Tongans magic was +being relegated to that position of a black art which it +generally occupies among more civilised peoples. Be that +as it may, certain it is that we hear extremely little about +the practice of magic among the Tongans.</p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>The Primary or Non-human Gods</i></h4> + +<p>Such are, or rather used to be, the principal articles of +the old Tongan creed. We may now examine some of +them a little more at large. But first we may observe that +on this showing the Tongans were an eminently religious +people. They traced all the good and ill in human affairs +to the direct intervention of the gods, who rewarded or +punished mankind for their deeds in this life, bestowing the +reward or inflicting the punishment in the present world +and not deferring either to a distant and more or less +uncertain future in a world beyond the grave. Thus with +the Tongans the fear of the gods was a powerful incentive +to lead a virtuous life; morality was placed under the +immediate guardianship of the deities. It is true that +according to their notions morality consisted largely in the +performance of religious ceremonies, but it was by no means +limited to a simple observance of the prescribed rites; for +we have seen that their conception of a virtuous life included<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +compliance with the dictates of justice, modesty, and friendship, +the fidelity of wives to their husbands, the mutual +affection of parents and children, patience in suffering, and +other modes of conduct which we too should not hesitate to +rank among the virtues.</p> + +<p>When we consider the nature of the Tongan gods, we +perceive that they are sharply discriminated into two classes, +namely, the primitive and superior gods on the one side and +the secondary and inferior gods on the other side. The +primitive and superior gods are those who have always been +gods and whose origin and beginning are unknown; the +secondary and inferior gods are the souls of dead men, who +consequently have not always been gods, because they were +human beings before death elevated them to the rank of +deities. The distinction between these two classes of gods +is highly important, not merely for Tongan religion in +particular, but for the history of religion in general. For +whatever we may think of Euhemerism as a universal +explanation of the gods, there can be no doubt that in many +lands the ranks of the celestial hierarchy have been largely +recruited by the ghosts of men of flesh and blood. But +there appears to be a general tendency to allow the origin +of the human gods to fall into the background and to +confuse them with the true original deities, who from the +beginning have always been deities and nothing else. The +tendency may sometimes be accentuated by a deliberate +desire to cast a veil over the humble birth and modest +beginning of these now worshipful beings; but probably the +obliteration of the distinction between the two classes of +divinities is usually a simple result of oblivion and the lapse +of time. Once a man is dead, his figure, which bulked so +large and so clear to his contemporaries, begins to fade and +melt away into something vague and indistinct, until, if he +was a person of no importance, he is totally forgotten; or, +if he was one whose actions or thoughts deeply influenced +his fellows for good or evil, his memory lingers in after +generations, growing ever dimmer and it may be looming +ever larger through the long vista of the ages, as the +evening mist appears to magnify the orb of the descending +sun. Thus naturally and insensibly, as time goes on,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +our mortal nature fades or brightens into the immortal and +divine.</p> + +<p>As our subject is the belief in immortality and the +worship of the dead, we are not directly concerned with the +original Tongan deities who were believed never to have +been men. But since their functions and worship appear to +have been in certain respects closely analogous to those of +the inferior deities, the souls of the dead, some notice of +them may not be out of place, if it helps to a fuller understanding +of what we may call the human gods. Besides, +we must always bear in mind that some at least of the so-called +original gods may have been men, whose history and +humanity had been forgotten. We can hardly doubt that +the celestial hierarchy has often been recruited by the souls +of the dead.</p> + +<p>The original and superior gods, Mariner tells us, were +thought to be rather numerous, perhaps about three hundred +all told; but the names of very few of them were known, +and even those few were familiar only to some of the chiefs +and their ministers, the <i>matabooles</i>; "for it may easily be +supposed," says Mariner, "that, where no written records +are kept, only those (gods) whose attributes particularly +concern the affairs of this world should be much talked of; +as to the rest, they are, for the most part, merely tutelar +gods to particular private families, and having nothing in +their history at all interesting, are scarcely known to +anybody else."<a name="FNanchor_54_181" id="FNanchor_54_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_181" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>Among these original and superior deities was Tali-y-Toobo, +the patron god of the civil king and his family. +He was the god of war and was consequently always invoked +in time of war by the king's family; in time of +peace prayers were sometimes offered to him for the general +good of the nation as well as for the particular interest and +welfare of the royal house. He had no priest, unless it was +the king himself, who was occasionally inspired by him; +but sometimes a whole reign would pass without the king +being once favoured with the divine afflatus.<a name="FNanchor_55_182" id="FNanchor_55_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_182" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>Another god was Tooi fooa Bolotoo, whose name means<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +"Chief of all Bolotoo." From this it might be supposed +that he was the greatest god in Bolotoo, the home of the +gods and of the deified spirits of men; but in fact he was +regarded as inferior to the war god, and the natives could +give no explanation of his high-sounding title. He was the +god of rank in society, and as such he was often invoked +by the heads of great families on occasion of sickness or +other trouble. He had several priests, whom he occasionally +inspired.<a name="FNanchor_56_183" id="FNanchor_56_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_183" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>Another great god was Toobo Toty, whose name +signifies "Toobo the mariner." He was the god of voyages, +and in that capacity was invoked by chiefs or anybody else +at sea; for his principal function was to preserve canoes +from accidents. Without being himself the god of wind, +he had great influence with that deity, and was thus enabled +no doubt to save many who were in peril on the great +deep.<a name="FNanchor_57_184" id="FNanchor_57_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_184" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>Another god was Alo Alo, whose name means "to fan." +He was the god of wind and weather, rain, harvest, and +vegetation in general. When the weather was seasonable, +he was usually invoked about once a month to induce him +to keep on his good behaviour; but when the weather was +unseasonable, or the islands were swept by destructive +storms of wind and rain, the prayers to him were repeated +daily. But he was not supposed to wield the thunder and +lightning, "of which, indeed," says Mariner, "there is no god +acknowledged among them, as this phenomenon is never +recollected to have done any mischief of consequence."<a name="FNanchor_58_185" id="FNanchor_58_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_185" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +From this it would appear that where no harm was done, +the Tongans found it needless to suppose the existence of +a deity; they discovered the hand of a god only in the +working of evil; fear was the mainspring of their religion. +In boisterous weather at sea Alo Alo was not invoked; he +had then to make room for the superior god, Toobo Toty, +the protector of canoes, who with other sea gods always +received the homage of storm-tossed mariners. However, +Alo Alo, the weather god, came to his own when the yams +were approaching maturity in the early part of November.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +For then offerings of yams, coco-nuts, and other vegetable +products were offered to him in particular, as well as to all +the other gods in general, for the purpose of ensuring a +continuation of favourable weather and consequent fertility. +The offering was accompanied by prayers to Alo Alo and +the other gods, beseeching them to extend their bounty +and make the land fruitful. Wrestling and boxing matches +formed part of the ceremony, which was repeated eight +times at intervals of ten days. The time for the rite was +fixed by the priest of Alo Alo, and a curious feature of the +ceremony was the presence of a girl of noble family, some +seven or eight years old, who represented the wife of Alo +Alo and resided in his consecrated house during the eighty +days that the festal season lasted.<a name="FNanchor_59_186" id="FNanchor_59_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_186" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>Another god named Móooi was believed to support the +earth on his prostrate body. In person he was bigger than +any other of the gods; but he never inspired anybody, and +had no house dedicated to his service. Indeed, it was +supposed that this Atlas of the Pacific never budged from his +painful and burdensome post beneath the earth. Only +when he felt more than usually uneasy, he tried to turn +himself about under his heavy load; and the movement was +felt as an earthquake by the Tongans, who endeavoured to +make him lie still by shouting and beating the ground with +sticks.<a name="FNanchor_60_187" id="FNanchor_60_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_187" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Similar attempts to stop an earthquake are common +in many parts of the world.<a name="FNanchor_61_188" id="FNanchor_61_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_188" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>Tangaloa was the god of artificers and the arts. He +had several priests, who in Mariner's time were all carpenters. +It was he who was said to have brought up the Tonga +islands from the bottom of the sea at the end of his fishing +line;<a name="FNanchor_62_189" id="FNanchor_62_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_189" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> though in some accounts of Tongan tradition this feat +is attributed to Maui.<a name="FNanchor_63_190" id="FNanchor_63_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_190" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> The very hook on which he hauled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +up the islands was said to be preserved in Tonga down to +about thirty years before Mariner's time. It was in the +possession of the divine chief Tooitonga; but unfortunately, +his house catching fire, the basket in which the precious +hook was kept perished with its contents in the flames. +When Mariner asked Tooitonga what sort of hook it was, +the chief told him that it was made of tortoise-shell, +strengthened with a piece of whalebone, and that it measured +six or seven inches from the curve to the point where the +line was attached, and an inch and a half between the barb +and the stem. Mariner objected that such a hook could +hardly have been strong enough to support the whole weight +of the Tonga islands; but the chief replied that it was a +god's hook and therefore could not break. The hole in +the rock in which the divine hook caught on the memorable +occasion was shown down to Mariner's time in the island of +Hoonga. It was an aperture about two feet square.<a name="FNanchor_64_191" id="FNanchor_64_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_191" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>The Temples of the Gods</i></h4> + +<p>Some of the primitive gods had houses dedicated to +them. These sacred houses or temples, as we may call +them, were built in the style of ordinary dwellings; but +generally more than ordinary care was taken both in constructing +them and in keeping them in good order, decorating +their enclosures with flowers, and so on. About twenty of +the gods had houses thus consecrated to them; some of +them had five or six houses, some only one or two. For +example, Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the royal family, +had four houses dedicated to him in the island of Vavau, +two in the island of Lefooga (Lifuka), and two or three +others of smaller importance elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_65_192" id="FNanchor_65_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_192" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Another patron<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +god of the royal family, called Alai Valoo, had a large +consecrated enclosure in the island of Ofoo; he had also at +least one priest and was very frequently consulted in behalf +of sick persons.<a name="FNanchor_66_193" id="FNanchor_66_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_193" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>To desecrate any of these holy houses or enclosures +was a most serious offence. When Mariner was in the +islands it happened that two boys, who had belonged to +the crew of his ship, were detected in the act of stealing a +bale of bark-cloth from a consecrated house. If they had +been natives, they would instantly have been punished with +death; but the chiefs, taking into consideration the youth +and inexperience of the offenders, who were foreigners and +ignorant of native customs, decided that for that time the +crime might be overlooked. Nevertheless, to appease the +anger of the god, to whom the house was consecrated, it +was deemed necessary to address him humbly on the subject. +Accordingly his priest, followed by chiefs and their ministers +(<i>matabooles</i>), all dressed in mats with leaves of the <i>ifi</i> tree<a name="FNanchor_67_194" id="FNanchor_67_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_194" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +round their necks in token of humility and sorrow, went in +solemn procession to the house; they sat down before it, and +the priest addressed the divinity to the following purport: +"Here you see the chiefs and <i>matabooles</i> that have come to +thee, hoping that thou wilt be merciful: the boys are young, +and being foreigners, are not so well acquainted with our +customs, and did not reflect upon the greatness of the +crime: we pray thee, therefore, not to punish the people +for the sins of these thoughtless youths: we have spared +them, and hope that thou wilt be merciful and spare us." +The priest then rose up, and they all retired in the same way +they had come. The chiefs, and particularly the king, +severely reprimanded the boys, endeavouring to impress on +their minds the enormity of their offence, and assuring them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +that they owed their lives only to their presumed ignorance +of the heinousness of the crime.<a name="FNanchor_68_195" id="FNanchor_68_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_195" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>Another case of sacrilege, which occurred in Mariner's +time, was attended with more tragic consequences. He tells +us that consecrated places might not be the scene of war, +and that it would be highly sacrilegious to attack an enemy +or to spill his blood within their confines. On one occasion, +while Mariner was in the islands, four men, pursued by their +enemies, fled for refuge to a consecrated enclosure, where +they would have been perfectly safe. One of them was in +the act of scrambling over the reed fence, and had got a +leg over it, when he was overtaken by a foe, who struck +him such a furious blow on the head that he fell dead within +the hallowed ground. Conscience-stricken, the slayer fled to +his canoe, followed by his men; and on arriving at the +fortress where the king was stationed he made a clean +breast of his crime, alleging in excuse that it had been committed +in hot blood when he had lost all self-command. +The king immediately ordered kava to be taken to the priest +of his own tutelary god, that the divinity might be consulted +as to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a +sacrilege. Under the double inspiration of kava and the deity, +the priest made answer that it was necessary a child should be +strangled to appease the anger of the gods. The chiefs then +held a consultation and determined to sacrifice the child of +a high chief named Toobo Toa. The child was about two +years old and had been born to him by a female attendant. +On such occasions the child of a male chief by a female +attendant was always chosen for the victim first, because, as +a child of a chief, he was a worthier victim, and second, +because, as a child of a female attendant, he was not himself +a chief; for nobility being traced in the female line only +those children were reckoned chiefs whose mothers were +chieftainesses; the rank of the father, whether noble or not, +did not affect the rank of his offspring. On this occasion +the father of the child was present at the consultation and +consented to the sacrifice. The mother, fearing the decision, +had concealed the child, but it was found by one of the +searchers, who took it up in his arms, while it smiled with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +delight at being noticed. The mother tried to follow but +was held back; and on hearing her voice the child began +to cry. But on reaching the place of execution it was +pleased and delighted with the bandage that was put round +its neck to strangle it, and looking up in the face of the +executioner it smiled again. "Such a sight," we are told, +"inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and +fear of the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, +and its destroyer could not help exclaiming, as he put on +the fatal bandage, <i>O iaaoé chi vale!</i> (poor little innocent!)." +Two men then tightened the cord by pulling at each end, +and the struggles of the innocent victim were soon over. +The little body was next placed upon a sort of hand-barrow, +supported on the shoulders of four men, and carried in a +procession of priests, chiefs, and <i>matabooles</i>, all clothed as +suppliants in mats and with wreaths of green leaves round +their necks. In this way it was conveyed to various houses +dedicated to different gods, before each of which it was +placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it, +except one priest, who sat beside it and prayed aloud to the +god that he would be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as +an atonement for the heinous sacrilege committed, and that +punishment might accordingly be withheld from the people. +When this had been done before all the consecrated houses +in the fortress, the body was given up to its relations, to be +buried in the usual manner.<a name="FNanchor_69_196" id="FNanchor_69_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_196" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>The consecration of a house or a piece of ground to a +god was denoted by the native word <i>taboo</i>, the general meaning +of which was prohibited or forbidden.<a name="FNanchor_70_197" id="FNanchor_70_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_197" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> It was firmly +believed by the Tongans in former days that if a man committed +sacrilege or broke a taboo, his liver or some other +of his internal organs was liable to become enlarged and +scirrhous, that is, indurated or knotty; hence they often +opened dead bodies out of curiosity, to see whether the +deceased had been sacrilegious in their lifetime. As the +Tongans are particularly subject to scirrhous tumours, it seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +probable that many innocent persons were thus posthumously +accused of sacrilege on the strength of a post-mortem examination +into the state of their livers.<a name="FNanchor_71_198" id="FNanchor_71_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_198" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Another disagreeable +consequence of breaking a taboo was a peculiar liability +to be bitten by sharks, which thus might be said to act +as ministers of justice. As theft was included under the +general head of breach of taboo, a simple way of bringing +the crime home to the thief in case of doubt was to cause +the accused to go into the water where sharks were known +to swarm; if they bit him, he was guilty; if they did not, +he was innocent.<a name="FNanchor_72_199" id="FNanchor_72_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_199" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Priests and their Inspiration</i></h4> + +<p>Priests were known by the title of <i>fahe-gehe</i>, a term +which means "split off," "separate," or "distinct from," and +was applied to a man who has a peculiar sort of mind or +soul, different from that of ordinary men, which disposed +some god occasionally to inspire him. Such inspirations +frequently happened, and when the fit was on him the +priest had the same reverence shown to him as if he +were the god himself; at these times even the king would +retire to a respectful distance and sit down among the rest +of the spectators, because a god was believed to exist at +that moment in the priest and to speak from his mouth. +But at other times a priest had no other respect paid to him +than was due to him for his private rank in society. Priests +generally belonged to the lower order of chiefs or to their +ministers, the <i>matabooles</i>; but sometimes great chiefs were +thus visited by the gods, and the king himself has been +inspired by Tali-y-Toobo, the chief of the gods.<a name="FNanchor_73_200" id="FNanchor_73_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_200" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> The profession +of priest was generally hereditary, the eldest son +of a priest becoming, on his father's death, a priest of the +same god who had inspired his deceased parent. In their uninspired +moments the priests lived indiscriminately with the +rest of the people and were treated with no special deference.<a name="FNanchor_74_201" id="FNanchor_74_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_201" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>The ceremony of inspiration, during which the priest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +was believed to be possessed by a god and to speak in his +name, was regularly accompanied or preceded by a feast, +at which the drinking of kava formed the principal feature. +The priest himself presided at the feast and the people +gathered in a circle round him; or, to be more exact, the +people formed an ellipse, of which the priest occupied the +place of honour at one of the narrow ends; while opposite +him, at the other extremity of the ellipse, sat the man who +was charged with the important duty of brewing the kava. +At such sessions the chiefs sat indiscriminately among the +people on account of the sacredness of the occasion, conceiving +that such humble demeanour must be acceptable to +the gods. The actual process of inspiration was often witnessed +by Mariner, and is described by him in his own +words as follows:</p> + +<p>"As soon as they are all seated, the priest is considered +as inspired, the god being supposed to exist within him from +that moment. He remains for a considerable time in silence, +with his hands clasped before him; his eyes are cast down, +and he rests perfectly still. During the time that the victuals +are being shared out, and the cava preparing, the <i>matabooles</i> +sometimes begin to consult him; sometimes he answers +them, at other times not; in either case he remains with his +eyes cast down. Frequently he will not utter a word till +the repast is finished, and the cava too. When he speaks, +he generally begins in a low and very altered tone of voice, +which gradually rises to nearly its natural pitch, though +sometimes a little above it. All that he says is supposed +to be the declaration of the god, and he accordingly speaks +in the first person as if he were the god. All this is done +generally without any apparent inward emotion or outward +agitation; but on some occasions his countenance becomes +fierce, and, as it were, inflamed, and his whole frame agitated +with inward feeling; he is seized with an universal trembling; +the perspiration breaks out on his forehead, and his lips, +turning black, are convulsed; at length, tears start in floods +from his eyes, his breast heaves with great emotion, and his +utterance is choked. These symptoms gradually subside. +Before this paroxysm comes on, and after it is over, he often +eats as much as four hungry men, under other circumstances,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +could devour. The fit being now gone off, he +remains for some time calm, and then takes up a club that +is placed by him for the purpose, turns it over and regards +it attentively; he then looks up earnestly, now to the right, +now to the left, and now again at the club; afterwards he +looks up again, and about him in like manner, and then again +fixes his eyes upon his club, and so on, for several times: +at length he suddenly raises the club, and, after a moment's +pause, strikes the ground, or the adjacent part of the house, +with considerable force: immediately the god leaves him, +and he rises up and retires to the back of the ring among +the people."<a name="FNanchor_75_202" id="FNanchor_75_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_202" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 7. <i>The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices</i></h4> + +<p>The worship offered to the gods consisted as usual of +prayers and sacrifices. Prayers were put up to them, sometimes +in the fields, and sometimes at their consecrated +houses. On ordinary occasions a simple offering consisted +of a small piece of kava root deposited before a god's house.<a name="FNanchor_76_203" id="FNanchor_76_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_203" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +But in the great emergencies of life the favour of the gods +was sued with more precious offerings. When the younger +daughter of Finow, a girl of six or seven years, was sick to +death, the dying princess was carried from her father's house +into the sacred enclosure of Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god +of the kings, and there she remained for a fortnight. Almost +every morning a hog was killed, dressed, and presented +before the god's house to induce him to spare the life of the +princess. At the same time prayers were addressed to the +deity for the recovery of the patient; but as this particular +god had no priest, the prayers were offered by a minister +(<i>mataboole</i>), sometimes by two or three in succession, and +they were repeated five, six, or seven times a day. Their +general purport was as follows: "Here thou seest assembled +Finow and his chiefs, and the principal ministers (<i>matabooles</i>) +of thy favoured land; thou seest them humbled before thee. +We pray thee not to be merciless, but to spare the life of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +the woman for the sake of her father, who has always been +attentive to every religious ceremony. But if thy anger is +justly excited by some crime or misdemeanour committed +by any other of us who are here assembled, we entreat thee +to inflict on the guilty one the punishment which he merits, +and not to let loose thy vengeance on one who was born but +as yesterday. For our own parts, why do we wish to live +but for the sake of Finow? But if his family is afflicted, we +are all afflicted, innocent as well as guilty. How canst thou +be merciless? Have regard for Finow and spare the life of +his daughter." When despite of prayers and the sacrifices +of pigs, the girl grew daily worse instead of better, she was +removed to many other consecrated enclosures of other gods, +one after the other, where the like fond prayers and fruitless +offerings were presented in the vain hope of staving off the +approach of death.<a name="FNanchor_77_204" id="FNanchor_77_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_204" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>But more precious sacrifices than the blood of hogs were +often laid at the feet of the angry gods. When a relation +of a superior rank was ill, it was a very common practice for +one or more of his or her inferior kinsfolk to have a little +finger, or a joint of a finger, cut off as a sacrifice to induce +the offended deity to spare the sick man or woman. So +common was the custom in the old days that there was +scarcely a person living in the Tonga islands who had not +thus lost one or both of his little fingers, or a considerable +portion of both. It does not appear that the operation +was very painful. Mariner witnessed more than once little +children quarrelling for the honour of having it performed on +them. The finger was laid flat upon a block of wood: a +knife, axe, or sharp stone was placed with the edge on the +joint to be severed, and a powerful blow with a hammer or +heavy stone effected the amputation. Sometimes an affectionate +relative would perform the operation on his or her +own hand. John Williams questioned a girl of eighteen +who had hacked off her own little finger with a sharp +shell to induce the gods to spare her sick mother. Generally +a joint was taken off at a time; but some persons had +smaller portions amputated to admit of the operation being +often repeated in case they had many superior relations,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +who might be sick and require the sacrifice. When they +had no more joints which they could conveniently spare, they +rubbed the stumps of the mutilated fingers till the blood +streamed from the wounds; then they would hold up the +bleeding hands in hope of softening the heart of the angry +god.<a name="FNanchor_78_205" id="FNanchor_78_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_205" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Captain Cook understood that the operation was performed +for the benefit of the sufferers themselves to heal them +in sickness,<a name="FNanchor_79_206" id="FNanchor_79_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_206" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> and the same view was apparently taken by the +French navigator Labillardière,<a name="FNanchor_80_207" id="FNanchor_80_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_207" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> but in this they were probably +mistaken; neither of them had an accurate knowledge +of the language, and they may easily have misunderstood +their informants. Perhaps the only person in the islands +who was exempt from the necessity of occasionally submitting +to the painful sacrifice was the divine chief Tooitonga, +who, as he ranked above everybody, even above the king, +could have no superior relation for whom to amputate a +finger-joint. Certainly we know that Tooitonga had not, +like the rest of his countrymen, to undergo the painful +operations of tattooing and circumcision; if he desired to +be tattooed or circumcised, he was obliged to go to other +islands, particularly to Samoa, for the purpose.<a name="FNanchor_81_208" id="FNanchor_81_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_208" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Perhaps, +though this is not mentioned by our authorities, it would +have been deemed impious to shed his sacred blood in his +native land.</p> + +<p>But sacrifices to the gods for the recovery of the sick +were not limited to the amputation of finger-joints. Not +uncommonly children were strangled for this purpose.<a name="FNanchor_82_209" id="FNanchor_82_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_209" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Thus +when Finow the king was grievously sick and seemed likely +to die, the prince, his son, and a young chief went out to +procure one of the king's own children by a female attendant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +to sacrifice it as a vicarious offering to the gods, that their +anger might be appeased and the health of its father restored. +They found the child sleeping in its mother's lap in a +neighbouring house; they took it away by force, and retiring +with it behind an adjacent burial-ground (<i>fytoca</i>) they +strangled it with a band of bark-cloth. Then they carried +it before two consecrated houses and a grave, at each place +gabbling a short but appropriate prayer to the god, that he +would intercede with the other gods in behalf of the dying +king, and would accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for +the sick man's crimes.<a name="FNanchor_83_210" id="FNanchor_83_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_210" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> When, not long afterwards, the +divine chief Tooitonga, in spite of his divinity, fell sick and +seemed like to die, one or other of his young relations had +a little finger cut off every day, as a propitiatory offering to +the gods for the sins of the saintly sufferer. But these +sacrifices remaining fruitless, recourse was had to greater. +Three or four children were strangled at different times, +and prayers were offered up by the priests at the consecrated +houses and burial-grounds (<i>fytocas</i>) but all in vain. The +gods remained deaf to the prayers of the priests; their +hearts were not touched by the cutting off of fingers or the +strangling of children; and the illness of the sacred chief +grew every day more alarming. As a last resort and +desperate remedy, the emaciated body of the dying man +was carried into the kitchen, the people imagining that such +an act of humility, performed on behalf of the highest +dignitary of the Tonga islands, would surely move the +deities to compassion and induce them to spare a life so +precious to his subjects.<a name="FNanchor_84_211" id="FNanchor_84_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_211" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> The same curious remedy had +shortly before been resorted to for the benefit of the dying +or dead king, Finow the First: his body was carried into +the kitchen of the sacred chief, the Tooitonga, and there +placed over the hole in the ground where the fire was lighted +to cook victuals: "this was thought to be acceptable to the +gods, as being a mark of extreme humiliation, that the great +chief of all the Hapai islands and Vavaoo, should be laid +where the meanest class of mankind, the cooks, were +accustomed to operate."<a name="FNanchor_85_212" id="FNanchor_85_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_212" class="fnanchor">[85]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>The custom of strangling the relations of a sick chief +as a vicarious sacrifice to appease the anger of the deity and +ensure the recovery of the patient was found in vogue by +the first missionaries to Tonga before the arrival of Mariner. +When King Moomōoe lay very sick and his death was hourly +expected, one of his sons sent for a younger brother under +pretence of wishing to cut off his little fingers as a sacrifice +to save the life of their dying father. The young man came, +whereupon his elder brother had him seized, strangled, and +buried within a few yards of the house where the missionaries +were living. Afterwards the fratricide came and mourned +over his murdered brother by sitting on the grave with his +elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. +In this posture he remained for a long time in silence, and +then departed very thoughtful. His motive for thus mourning +over the brother whom he had done to death is not +mentioned by the missionaries and was probably not known +to them. We may conjecture that it was not so much +remorse for his crime as fear of his brother's ghost, who +otherwise might have haunted him.<a name="FNanchor_86_213" id="FNanchor_86_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_213" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Morality, or at all +events a semblance of it, has often been thus reinforced by +superstitious terrors.</p> + +<p>In recording this incident the missionaries make use of +an expression which seems to set the strangling of human +beings for the recovery of sick relations in a somewhat +different light. They say that "the prince of darkness has +impressed the idea on them, that the strength of the person +strangled will be transferred into the sick, and recover +him."<a name="FNanchor_87_214" id="FNanchor_87_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_214" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> On this theory the sacrifice acts, so to say, +mechanically without the intervention of a deity; the +life of the victim is transfused into the body of the patient +as a sort of tonic which strengthens and revives him. +Such a rite is therefore magical rather than religious; it +depends for its efficacy on natural causes, and not on the +pity and help of the gods. Yet the missionaries, who +record this explanation of the custom, elsewhere implicitly +accept the religious interpretation of such rites as vicarious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +sacrifices; for they say that among the superstitious notions +of the natives concerning spirits was one that "by strangling +some relations of the chief when he is sick, the deity will +be appeased, and he (that is, the sick chief) will recover."<a name="FNanchor_88_215" id="FNanchor_88_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_215" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +Perhaps both explanations, the religious and the magical, +were assigned by the Tongans: consistency of thought is as +little characteristic of savage as of civilised man: provided +he attains his ends, he recks little of the road by which he +reaches them. An English sailor named Ambler, who had +resided for thirteen months in Tonga before the arrival of +the missionaries, told them, "that when a great chief lay +sick they often strangled their women, to the number of +three or four at a time."<a name="FNanchor_89_216" id="FNanchor_89_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_216" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Such a sacrifice is more likely +to have been religious than magical; we may suppose that +the victims were rather offered to the gods as substitutes +for the chief than killed to recruit his failing strength by +an infusion of their health and vigour. A chief would +probably have disdained the idea of drawing fresh energy +from the bodies of women, though he might be ready +enough to believe that the gods would consent to accept +their life as a proxy for his own. It is true that elsewhere, +notably in Uganda, human beings have been killed to +prolong the life of the king by directly transferring their +strength to him;<a name="FNanchor_90_217" id="FNanchor_90_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_217" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> but in such cases it would seem that the +victims have invariably been men and not women.</p> + + +<h4>§ 8. <i>The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny after Death</i></h4> + +<p>Thus far we have dealt with the primary or superior +gods, who were believed to have been always gods, and +about whose origin nothing was known. We now pass to +a consideration of the secondary or inferior gods, whose +origin was perfectly well known, since they were all of +them the souls of dead chiefs or nobles, of whom some had +died or been killed in recent years. But before we take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +up the subject of their worship, it will be well to say a few +words on the Tongan doctrine of the human soul, since +these secondary deities were avowedly neither more nor +less than human souls raised to a higher power by death.</p> + +<p>The Tongans, in their native state, before the advent +of Europeans, did not conceive of the soul as a purely +immaterial essence, that being a conception too refined for +the thought of a savage. They imagined it to be the finer +or more aeriform part of the body which leaves it suddenly +at the moment of death, and which may be thought to +stand in the same relation to the body as the perfume of +a flower to its solid substance. They had no proper word +to express this fine ethereal part of man; for the word <i>loto</i>, +though it might sometimes be used for that purpose, yet +rather means a man's disposition, inclination, passion, or +sentiment. The soul was supposed to exist throughout +the whole of the body, but to be particularly present in the +heart, the pulsation of which they regarded as the strength +and power of the soul. They did not clearly distinguish +between the life and the soul, but said that the right auricle +of the heart was the seat of life. They took the liver to +be the seat of courage, and professed to have remarked, on +opening dead bodies, that the largest livers belonged to the +bravest men, in which observation they were careful to +make allowance for the enlargement of livers consequent +on disease.<a name="FNanchor_91_218" id="FNanchor_91_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_218" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>They acknowledged that the <i>tooas</i> or lower order of +people had minds or souls; but they firmly believed that +these vulgar souls died with their bodies and consequently +had no future existence. In this aristocratic opinion the +generality of the commoners acquiesced, though some were +vain enough to think that they had souls like their betters, +and that they would live hereafter in Bolotoo. But the +orthodox Tongan doctrine restricted immortality to chiefs +and their ministers (the <i>matabooles</i>); at most, by a stretch +of charity, it extended the privilege to the <i>mooas</i> or third +estate; but it held out no hope of salvation to <i>tooas</i>, who +formed the fourth and lowest rank of society.<a name="FNanchor_92_219" id="FNanchor_92_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_219" class="fnanchor">[92]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mariner's account, which I have followed, of the sharp +distinction which the Tongans drew between the immortality +of chiefs and the mortality of common people is confirmed +by the testimony of other and independent observers. +According to Captain Cook, while the souls of the chiefs +went immediately after death to the island of Boolootoo +(Bolotoo), the souls of the lower sort of people underwent +a sort of transmigration or were eaten by a bird +called <i>loata</i>, which walked upon their graves for that +purpose.<a name="FNanchor_93_220" id="FNanchor_93_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_220" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> The first missionaries, who landed in Tongataboo +in 1797, report that the natives "believe the +immortality of the soul, which at death, they say, is +immediately conveyed in a very large fast-sailing canoe +to a distant country called Doobludha, which they describe +as resembling the Mahometan paradise. They call the +god of this region of pleasure Higgolayo, and esteem him +as the greatest and most powerful of all others, the rest +being no better than servants to him. This doctrine, +however, is wholly confined to the chiefs, for the <i>tooas</i> +(or lower order) can give no account whatever; as they +reckon the enjoyments of Doobludha above their capacity, +so they seem never to think of what may become of them +after they have served the purposes of this life."<a name="FNanchor_94_221" id="FNanchor_94_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_221" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> One +of these first missionaries was a certain George Veeson, +who had been a bricklayer before he undertook to convert +the heathen to Christianity. Wearying, however, of missionary +work, he deserted his brethren and betook himself to +the heathen, among whom he lived as one of them, +adopting the native garb, marrying native women, and +eagerly fighting in the wars of the natives among themselves. +In this way he acquired a considerable knowledge of the +Tongan language and customs, of which he made some +use in the account of his experiences which he published +anonymously after his return to England. Speaking of +Tongan ideas concerning the immortality of the soul he +says that he heard the chiefs speak much of Bulotu +(Bolotoo). "Into this region, however, they believed none<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +were admitted but themselves. The Tuas, or lower class, +having no hope of sharing such bliss, seldom speculate +upon a futurity, which to them appears a subject lost in +shadows, clouds, and darkness."<a name="FNanchor_95_222" id="FNanchor_95_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_222" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The missionaries reported +to Commodore Wilkes that the spirits of all chiefs were +supposed to go to Bolotoo, while the souls of poor people +remained in this world to feed upon ants and lizards.<a name="FNanchor_96_223" id="FNanchor_96_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_223" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +With regard to the fate of the soul after death, the Tongans +universally and positively believed in the existence of a +great island, lying at a considerable distance to the north-west, +which they considered to be the abode of their gods +and of the souls of their dead nobles and their ministers +(the <i>matabooles</i>). This island they supposed to be much +larger than all their own islands put together, and to be +well stocked with all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, +always in a high state of perfection, and always bearing +the richest fruits and the most beautiful flowers according +to their respective natures; they thought that when these +fruits or flowers were plucked, others immediately took +their place, and that the whole atmosphere was filled with +the most delightful fragrance that the imagination can +conceive, exhaled from these immortal plants. The island, +too, was well stocked with the most beautiful birds, of all +imaginable kinds, as well as with abundance of hogs; and +all of these creatures were immortal, except when they +were killed to provide food for the gods. But the moment +a hog or a bird was killed, another live hog or bird came +into existence to supply its place, just as happened with +the fruits and flowers; and this, so far as they could +ascertain, was the only way in which plants and animals +were propagated in Bolotoo. So far away was the happy +island supposed to be that it was dangerous for living men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +to attempt to sail thither in their canoes; indeed, except +by the express permission of the gods, they could not find +the island, however near they might come to it. They +tell, however, of a Tongan canoe which, returning from +Fiji, was driven by stress of weather to Bolotoo. The +crew knew not the place, and being in want of provisions +and seeing the country to abound in all sorts of fruits, +they landed and proceeded to pluck some bread-fruit. +But to their unspeakable astonishment they could no more +lay hold of the fruit than if it were a shadow; they walked +through the trunks of the trees and passed through the +substance of the houses without feeling any shock or +resistance. At length they saw some of the gods, who +passed through the men's bodies as if they were empty +space. These gods recommended them to go away immediately, +as they had no proper food for them, and they +promised them a fair wind and a speedy passage. So the +men put to sea, and sailing with the utmost speed they +arrived at Samoa, where they stayed two or three days. +Thence, again sailing very fast, they returned to Tonga, +where in the course of a few days they all died, not as a +punishment for having been at Bolotoo, but as a natural +consequence, the air of that place, as it were, infecting +mortal bodies with speedy death. The gods who dwell in +Bolotoo have no canoes, not requiring them; for if they +wish to be anywhere, there they are the moment the +wish is felt.<a name="FNanchor_97_224" id="FNanchor_97_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_224" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> + +<p>It is said that in order to people Bolotoo the god Hikuleo +used to carry off the first-born sons of chiefs and other great +men, whom he transported to the island of the gods. To +such lengths did he go in this system of abduction that men +on earth grew very uneasy. Their ranks became thinner and +thinner. How was all this to end? At last the other gods +were moved to compassion. The two gods Tangaloa and +Maui laid hold of brother Hikuleo, passed a strong chain +round his waist and between his legs, and then taking the +chain by the ends they fastened one of them to the sky and +the other to the earth. Thus trussed up, the deity still +made many attempts to snatch away first-born sons; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +all his efforts were thwarted and baffled by the chain, for +no sooner did he dart out in one direction, than the chain +pulled him back in another. According to another, or the +same story, the excursions of the deity were further limited +by the length of his tail, the end of which was tethered to +the cave in which he resided; and though the tail was long +and allowed him a good deal of rope, do what he would, he +could not break bounds or obtain more than a very partial +view of what was going on in the rest of the world.<a name="FNanchor_98_225" id="FNanchor_98_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_225" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>In this curious story we may perhaps detect a tradition +of a time when among the Tongans, as among the Semites, +religion or superstition demanded the sacrifice of all first-born +sons, a barbarous custom which has been practised by not +a few peoples in various parts of the earth.<a name="FNanchor_99_226" id="FNanchor_99_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_226" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>The human soul after its separation from the body +at death was termed a <i>hotooa</i> or <i>atua</i>, that is, a god or spirit, +and was believed to exist in the shape of the body and to +have the same propensities as in life, but to be corrected by +a more enlightened understanding, by which it readily distinguished +good from evil, truth from falsehood, and right +from wrong. The souls dwelt for ever in the happy regions +of Bolotoo, where they bore the same names as in life and +held the same rank among themselves as they had held during +their mortal existence. But their lot in Bolotoo was in no +way affected by the good or evil which they had done on earth;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +for the Tongans did not believe in a future state of retribution +for deeds done in the body; they thought that the gods +punished crime in this present world, without waiting to +redress the balance of justice in the world to come. As +many of the nobles who passed at death to Bolotoo had been +warlike and turbulent in their life, it might naturally be +anticipated that they should continue to wage war on each +other in the land beyond the grave; but that was not so, +for by a merciful dispensation their understandings were so +much enlightened, or their tempers so much improved, by +their residence in Bolotoo, that any differences they might +have between themselves, or with the primitive gods, they +adjusted by temperate discussion without resort to violence; +though people in Tonga sometimes heard an echo and +caught a glimpse of these high debates in the rumble +of thunder and the flash of lightning.<a name="FNanchor_100_227" id="FNanchor_100_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_227" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> In the blissful +abode of Bolotoo the souls of chiefs and nobles lived +for ever, being not subject to a second death, and there +they feasted upon all the favourite productions of +their native country, which grew also abundantly in the +happy island.<a name="FNanchor_101_228" id="FNanchor_101_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_228" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>A less cheerful picture, however, of the state of souls in +the other world was painted for Commodore Wilkes by the +missionaries who furnished him with information on the +native religion of the Tongans. According to them, the souls +were forced to become the servants, or rather slaves, of the +long-tailed deity Hikuleo, whose commands they had no +choice but to execute. His house and all things in it were +even constructed of the souls of the dead; and he went so +far as to make fences out of them and bars to his gates, +an indignity which must have been deeply resented by the +proud spirits of kings and nobles.<a name="FNanchor_102_229" id="FNanchor_102_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_229" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> How this gloomy picture +of the fate of souls in Bolotoo is to be reconciled with the +bright descriptions of it which I have drawn from the pages +of Mariner and Cook, it is not easy to say. Apparently we +must acquiesce in the discrepancy. That savages should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +entertain inconsistent views on the life after death need not +surprise us, when we remember how little accurate information +even civilised peoples possess on that momentous subject.</p> + + +<h4>§ 9. <i>The Souls of the Dead as Gods</i></h4> + +<p>We have seen that according to Mariner, our best +authority on Tongan religion, the souls of dead nobles +ranked as gods, possessing all the powers and attributes of +the primary or original deities, though in an inferior degree.<a name="FNanchor_103_230" id="FNanchor_103_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_230" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +Thus, like the primary gods, they had the power of returning +to Tonga to inspire priests, relations, or other people.<a name="FNanchor_104_231" id="FNanchor_104_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_231" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> For +example, the son of Finow, the King, used to be inspired +by the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo, a former king of Tonga, who +had been assassinated with the connivance of his successor, +Finow. One day Mariner asked this young chief how he +felt when he was visited by the spirit of the murdered +monarch. The chief replied that he could not well describe +his feelings, but the best he could say of it was, that he felt +himself all over in a glow of heat and quite restless and uncomfortable; +he did not feel his personal identity, as it +were, but seemed to have a mind differing from his own +natural mind, his thoughts wandering upon strange and +unusual topics, though he remained perfectly sensible of surrounding +objects. When Mariner asked him how he knew +it was the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo who possessed him, the +chief answered impatiently, "There's a fool! How can I +tell you how I knew it? I felt and knew it was so by a +kind of consciousness; my mind told me that it was Toogoo +Ahoo." Similarly Finow himself, the father of this young +man, used occasionally to be inspired by the ghost of +Moomooi, a former king of Tonga.<a name="FNanchor_105_232" id="FNanchor_105_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_232" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p>Again, the souls of dead nobles, like gods, had the power +of appearing in dreams and visions to their relatives and +others to admonish and warn them. It was thought, for +example, that Finow the king was occasionally visited by a +deceased son of his; the ghost did not appear, but announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +his presence by whistling. Mariner once heard this whistling +when he was with the king and some chiefs in a house +at night; it was dark, and the sound appeared to come +from the loft of the house. In Mariner's opinion the sound +was produced by some trick of Finow's, but the natives +believed it to be the voice of a spirit.<a name="FNanchor_106_233" id="FNanchor_106_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_233" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Once more, when +Finow the king was himself dead, a noble lady who mourned +his death and generally slept on his grave, communicated to +his widow a dream which she had dreamed several nights at +the graveyard. She said that in her dream the late king +appeared to her, and, with a countenance full of sorrow, +asked why there yet remained so many evil-designing persons +in the islands; for he declared that, since he had been at +Bolotoo, he had been disturbed by the plots of wicked men +conspiring against his son; therefore was he come to warn +her of the danger. Finally, he bade her set in order +the pebbles on his grave, and pay every attention to his +burial-ground. With that he vanished.<a name="FNanchor_107_234" id="FNanchor_107_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_234" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> In such dreams +of the reappearance of the recent dead we may discover +one source of the belief in the survival of the soul after +death.</p> + +<p>But the gods appeared to mankind to warn, comfort, and +advise, not only in their own divine form but also in the +form of animals. Thus the primitive gods, according to +Mariner, sometimes entered into the living bodies of lizards, +porpoises, and a species of water snake. Hence these +creatures were much respected. The reason why gods +entered into porpoises was to take care of canoes. This +power of assuming the form of living animals, says Mariner, +belonged only to the original gods, and not to the deified +souls of chiefs.<a name="FNanchor_108_235" id="FNanchor_108_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_235" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> In thus denying that the spirits of the +dead were supposed sometimes to revisit the earth in animal +shapes Mariner was perhaps mistaken, for a different view +on the subject was apparently taken at a later time by Miss +Farmer, who had access to good sources of information. +She writes as follows: "Bulotu (Bolotoo) was peopled with +the spirits of departed chiefs and great persons of both sexes; +and it was to these chiefly that worship was paid and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed +to act as intercessors with the supreme gods, who +were too highly exalted to be approached by men except +in this way. The spirits were in the habit of revisiting +earth. They would come in birds, or in fish as their shrines. +The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel, shark, +whale, and many other animals were considered sacred, +because they were favourite shrines of these spirit-gods. +The heathen never killed any of these creatures; and if, in +sailing, they chanced to find themselves in the neighbourhood +of a whale, they would offer scented oil or kava to him. +To some among the natives the cuttle-fish and the lizard +were gods; while others would lay offerings at the foot of +certain trees, with the idea of their being inhabited by +spirits. A rainbow or a shooting star would also command +worship."<a name="FNanchor_109_236" id="FNanchor_109_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_236" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>This account seems to imply that the spirits which took +the form of these animals, birds, and fish were believed to +be the souls of the dead returning from the spirit world to +revisit their old homes on earth. But even if we suppose +that herein the writer was mistaken, and that, as Mariner +affirmed, only the original and superior gods were deemed +capable of incarnation in animal shape, the account is still +valuable and interesting because it calls attention to a side +of Tongan religion on which our principal authority, Mariner, +is almost silent. That side comprises the worship of natural +objects, and especially of animals, birds, and fish, regarded +as embodiments of spirits, whether gods or ghosts. This +worship of nature, and particularly of animated nature, was +highly developed among the Samoans; it would be natural, +therefore, to find the same system in vogue among their +neighbours and near kinsmen the Tongans, though our +authorities on Tongan religion say little about it. The +system may with some appearance of probability be regarded +as a relic of a former practice of totemism.<a name="FNanchor_110_237" id="FNanchor_110_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_237" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p> + +<p>In recent years a considerable amount of evidence +bearing on the subject has been collected by Mr. E. E. V. +Collocot. He distinguishes the national Tongan gods from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +the gods of tribes, clans, and small groups of allied households; +such a group of households, it appears, formed the +ordinary social unit. Indeed, he tells us that there was +nothing to prevent a man from setting up a tutelary deity +of his own, if he were so disposed; he might adopt almost +any object for the religious reverence of his household and +himself. Thus there was "a gradation in the divine +hierarchy from gods of populous tribes down to deities the +private possession of a very few."<a name="FNanchor_111_238" id="FNanchor_111_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_238" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> Further, Mr. Collocot +found that most of the gods had sacred animals or other +natural objects associated with them,<a name="FNanchor_112_239" id="FNanchor_112_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_239" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> and that the worshippers +were generally forbidden to eat the sacred animals of their +gods. He concludes that "in the period of which we have +information totemism has given way to a more highly +developed polytheism, but there are indications that the +development was by way of totemism."<a name="FNanchor_113_240" id="FNanchor_113_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_240" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Among the +facts which appear to support this conclusion we may note +the following.</p> + +<p>There was a great god called Boolotoo Katoa, that is, +"the whole of Boolotoo (Bolotoo)," who had the dog for +his sacred animal; while the deity was being worshipped, +a dog lay at the side of the priest. This god had his +principal shrine at Boha in the eastern part of Tongataboo: +the district was of old the centre of government and the +residence of the Tooitonga.<a name="FNanchor_114_241" id="FNanchor_114_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_241" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> Another god, whose name was +the King of the tribe or clan of Fonua (<i>Tui-Haafakafonua</i>), +had for his sacred animal a lizard, and for the convenience +of his departure, and presumably arrival, a tree or post was +always provided for him to crawl along. A handy post +or tree-stump was a regular part of his temple furnishings.<a name="FNanchor_115_242" id="FNanchor_115_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_242" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> +Another god, whose name signifies "Proud Boastfulness of +the Season" (<i>Mofuta-ae-ta'u</i>), had for his sacred animal a +great sea-eel, which dwelt in an opening of the reef opposite +the village. This deity used to take it very ill if anybody +appeared on the beach near his abode wearing a turban or +whitened with lime; and should a man rashly disregard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +the feelings of the divine eel in these respects, it was believed +that the deity would carry him off to his hole in the rock.<a name="FNanchor_116_243" id="FNanchor_116_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_243" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> +Another god, named Haele-feke, used to manifest himself +in the form of an octopus (<i>feke</i>). Whenever an octopus +appeared in a certain pool, it was at once recognised as the +god, and the priestess immediately went and awaited him +at the shrine, which seems to have been a small raised +platform. Thither the people presently resorted, bringing +bunches of coco-nuts and coco-nut leaves and earth. The +priestess thereupon spoke as in the person of the octopus, +and apparently imitated the creature, presumably by +sprawling in the ungainly manner of an octopus. The +worshippers of this deity abstained from eating the flesh +of the octopus, and even from approaching a place where +other people were eating it. If any of them transgressed +the taboo, he was afflicted with complete baldness. Should +any of the worshippers find a dead octopus, they buried it +with all due ceremony in Teekiu, their principal village.<a name="FNanchor_117_244" id="FNanchor_117_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_244" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> +The rail bird (<i>kalae</i>) was worshipped by some people, who +used to tie bunches of the birds together and carry them +about with them when they travelled; and the priest had +a bunch of the sacred birds tattooed as a badge on his +throat.<a name="FNanchor_118_245" id="FNanchor_118_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_245" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> The clan Fainga'a had for its sacred animal the +mullet; and it is said that young mullets were tabooed to +the men of the clan.<a name="FNanchor_119_246" id="FNanchor_119_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_246" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> A family group in Haapai had the +owl for their sacred creature; if an owl hooted near a house +in the afternoon, it was a sign that there was a pregnant +woman in the household.<a name="FNanchor_120_247" id="FNanchor_120_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_247" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The god of Uiha in Haapai +was the Eel-in-the-Open-Sea (<i>Toke-i-Moana</i>); as usual, the +worshippers might not eat the flesh of eels or approach a +place where an eel was being cooked.<a name="FNanchor_121_248" id="FNanchor_121_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_248" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> The clan Falefa +worshipped two goddesses, Jiji and Fainga'a, whose sacred +creature was the heron. Jiji was supposed to be incarnate +in the dark-coloured heron, and Fainga'a in the light-coloured +heron. When a pair of herons, one dark and the +other light-coloured, were seen flying together, people said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +that it was the two goddesses Jiji and Fainga'a.<a name="FNanchor_122_249" id="FNanchor_122_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_249" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> In the +island of Tofua there was a clan called the King of Tofua +(<i>Tui Tofua</i>), which had the shark for its god; members +of the clan might not eat the flesh of sharks, because they +believed themselves to be related to the fish; they said +that long ago some of the clansmen leaped from a canoe +into the sea and were turned into sharks.<a name="FNanchor_123_250" id="FNanchor_123_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_250" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Another god +who appeared in the form of a shark was Taufa of the Sea +(<i>Taufa-tahi</i>); but in another aspect he was a god of the +land (<i>Taufa-uta</i>) and a notable protector of gardens. To +secure his aid the husbandman had only to plait a coco-nut +leaf in the likeness of a shark and to hang it up in his +plantation; a garden thus protected was under a taboo +which no one would dare to violate. A Christian, who +ventured to thrust his hand in mockery into the maw of the +sham shark, had both his arms afterwards bitten off by a +real shark.<a name="FNanchor_124_251" id="FNanchor_124_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_251" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Other gods were recognised in the shape of +flying-foxes, shell-fish, and little blue and green lizards.<a name="FNanchor_125_252" id="FNanchor_125_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_252" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> +We hear of two Tongan gods who had black volcanic +pebbles for their sacred objects,<a name="FNanchor_126_253" id="FNanchor_126_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_253" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> and of one whose shrine +was the tree called <i>fehi</i>, the hard wood of which was +commonly used for making spears and canoes.<a name="FNanchor_127_254" id="FNanchor_127_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_254" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> The gods +of Niua Fo'ou, one of the most distant islands of the +Tongan group, were three in number, to wit, the octopus, +pig's liver, and a large lump of coral. The worshippers of +the two former deities might not eat the divine octopus and +the divine pig's liver.<a name="FNanchor_128_255" id="FNanchor_128_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_255" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Christianity itself appears not to +have wholly extinguished the reverence of the natives for +the sacred animals of their clans. A much-respected native +minister of the Methodist Church informed Mr. Collocot +that to this day he gets a headache if he eats the sacred +animal of his clan, though other people may partake of the +creature, not only with impunity, but with relish.<a name="FNanchor_129_256" id="FNanchor_129_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_256" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>Thus the worship of natural objects, and especially of +animals, fish, and birds, presents a close analogy to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +Samoan system, as we shall see presently;<a name="FNanchor_130_257" id="FNanchor_130_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_257" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> and it is not +without significance that tradition points to Samoa as the +original home from which the ancestors of the Tongans +migrated to their present abode.<a name="FNanchor_131_258" id="FNanchor_131_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_258" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> On the question of the +nature of the divine beings who presented themselves to +their worshippers in the form of animals, the evidence +collected by Mr. Collocot seems to confirm the statement of +Mariner, that only the primary or non-human gods were +believed capable of thus becoming incarnate; at least Mr. +Collocot gives no hint that the worshipful creatures were +supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead; +in other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan +worship of animals was based on a theory of transmigration.</p> + +<p>The statement of Miss Farmer, which I have quoted, +that among the Tongans the souls of the dead were the +principal object of worship and received the most sacrifices, +is interesting and not improbable, though it is not confirmed +by Mariner. It may indeed, perhaps, be laid down as a +general principle that the worship of the dead tends constantly +to encroach on the worship of the high gods, who +are pushed ever farther into the background by the advent +of their younger rivals. It is natural enough that this +should be so. The affection which we feel for virtue, the +reverence and awe inspired by great talents and powerful +characters, persist long after the objects of our love and admiration +have passed away from earth, and we now render +to their memories the homage which we paid, or perhaps +grudged, to the men themselves in their lifetime. For us +they seem still to exist; with their features, their characteristic +turns of thought and speech still fresh in our memories, +we can hardly bring ourselves to believe that they have +utterly ceased to be, that nothing of them remains but the +lifeless dust which we have committed to the earth. The +heart still clings fondly to the hope, if not to the belief, +that somewhere beyond our ken the loved and lost ones are +joined to the kindred spirits who have gone before in that +unknown land, where, in due time, we shall meet them again. +And as with affection, so with reverence and fear; they +also are powerful incentives to this instinctive belief in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +continued existence of the dead. The busy brain that explored +the heights and depths of this mysterious universe—the +glowing imagination that conjured up visions of beauty born, +as we fondly think, for immortality—the aspiring soul and +vaulting ambition that founded or overturned empires and +shook the world—are they now no more than a few mouldering +bones or a handful of ashes under their marble monuments? +The mind of most men revolts from a conclusion so +derogatory to what they deem the dignity of human nature; +and so to satisfy at once the promptings of the imagination +and the impulse of the heart, men gradually elevate their +dead to the rank of saints and heroes, who in course of time +may easily pass by an almost insensible transition to the +supreme place of deities. It is thus that, almost as far back +as we can trace the gropings of the human mind, man has +been perpetually creating gods in his own likeness.</p> + +<p>In a pantheon thus constantly recruited by the accession +of dead men, the recruits tend to swamp the old deities by +sheer force of numbers; for whereas the muster-roll of the +original gods is fixed and unchangeable, the newcomers form +a great host which is not only innumerable but perpetually +on the increase, for who can reckon up the tale of the +departed or set bounds to the ravages of death? Indeed, +where the deification of the dead is carried to its logical +limit, a new god is born for every man that dies; though in +Tonga against such an extreme expansion of the spiritual +hierarchy, and a constant overcrowding of Bolotoo, a solid +barrier was interposed by the Tongan doctrine which opened +the gates of paradise only to noblemen.<a name="FNanchor_132_259" id="FNanchor_132_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_259" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 10. <i>Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments</i></h4> + +<p>On the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that in +Tonga the distinction between the original superhuman +deities and the new human gods tended to be obliterated in +the minds of the people. More and more, we may suppose, +the deified spirits of dead men usurped the functions +and assimilated themselves to the character of the ancient +divinities. Yet between these two classes of worshipful +beings Mariner draws an important distinction which we must +not overlook. He says that these new human gods, these +souls of deified nobles, "have no houses dedicated to them, +but the proper places to invoke them are their graves, which +are considered sacred, and are therefore as much respected +as consecrated houses."<a name="FNanchor_133_260" id="FNanchor_133_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_260" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> If this distinction is well founded, +the consecrated house or temple, as we may call it, of an +original god was quite different from the grave at which a +new god, that is, a dead man or woman, was worshipped. +But in spite of the high authority of Mariner it seems +doubtful whether the distinction which he makes between +the temples of the old gods and the tombs of the new ones +was always recognised in practice, and whether the two were +not apt to be confounded in the minds even of the natives. +The temples of the gods, as we have seen, did not differ in +shape and structure from the houses of men, and similar +houses, as we shall see, were also built on the graves of +kings and chiefs and even of common people. What was +easier than to confuse the two classes of spirit-houses, the +houses of gods and the houses of dead kings or chiefs, +especially when the memory of these potentates had grown +dim and their human personality had been forgotten? +Certainly European observers have sometimes been in doubt +as to whether places to which the natives paid religious +reverence were temples or graves. In view of this ambiguity +I propose to examine some of the descriptions which have +been given by eye-witnesses of the sacred structures and +enclosure which might be interpreted either as temples or +tombs. The question has a double interest and importance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +first, in its bearing on the theory, enunciated by Herbert +Spencer, that temples are commonly, if not universally, derived +from tombs,<a name="FNanchor_134_261" id="FNanchor_134_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_261" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> and gods from dead men; and secondly, +in its bearing on the question of the origin and meaning of +megalithic monuments; for not a few of the tombs of +Tongan kings and sacred chiefs are constructed in part of +very large stones.</p> + +<p>I will begin with the evidence of Captain Cook, an +excellent observer and faithful witness. He paid two visits +to the Tonga islands, a short one in 1773, and a longer +one of between two and three months in 1777. Speaking +of his first visit to Tongataboo in 1773, he writes as +follows:</p> + +<p>"After sitting here some time, and distributing some +presents to those about us, we signified our desire to see the +country. The chief immediately took the hint, and conducted +us along a lane that led to an open green, on the one +side of which was a house of worship built on a mount that +had been raised by the hand of man, about sixteen or eighteen +feet above the common level. It had an oblong figure, and +was inclosed by a wall or parapet of stone, about three feet +in height. From this wall the mount rose with a gentle +slope, and was covered with a green turf. On the top of it +stood the house, which had the same figure as the mount, +about twenty feet in length, and fourteen or sixteen broad. +As soon as we came before the place, every one seated himself +on the green, about fifty or sixty yards from the front of +the house. Presently came three elderly men; who seated +themselves between us and it, and began a speech, which I +understood to be a prayer, it being wholly directed to the +house. This lasted about ten minutes; and then the priests, +for such I took them to be, came and sat down along with +us, when we made them presents of such things as were +about us. Having then made signs to them that we wanted +to view the premises, my friend Attago immediately got up, +and going with us, without showing the least backwardness, +gave us full liberty to examine every part of it.</p> + +<p>"In the front were two stone steps leading to the top of +the wall; from this the ascent to the house was easy, round<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +which was a fine gravel walk. The house was built, in all +respects, like to their common dwelling-houses; that is, with +posts and rafters; and covered with palm thatch. The eaves +came down within about three feet of the ground, which +space was filled up with strong matting made of palm leaves, +as a wall. The floor of the house was laid with fine gravel; +except in the middle, where there was an oblong square of +blue pebbles, raised about six inches higher than the floor. +At one corner of the house stood an image rudely carved in +wood, and on one side lay another; each about two feet in +length. I, who had no intention to offend either them or +their gods, did not so much as touch them, but asked Attago, +as well as I could, if they were <i>Eatuas</i>, or gods. Whether +he understood me or no, I cannot say; but he immediately +turned them over and over, in as rough a manner as he +would have done any other log of wood, which convinced +me that they were not there as representatives of the Divinity. +I was curious to know if the dead were interred there, and +asked Attago several questions relative thereto; but I was +not sure that he understood me; at least I did not understand +the answers he made, well enough to satisfy my +inquiries. For the reader must know, that at our first +coming among these people, we hardly could understand +a word they said. Even my Otaheitean youth, and the man +on board the <i>Adventure</i>, were equally at a loss: but more of +this by and by. Before we quitted the house we thought it +necessary to make an offering at the altar. Accordingly we +laid down upon the blue pebbles, some medals, nails, and +several other things; which we had no sooner done than my +friend Attago took them up, and put them in his pocket. +The stones with which the walls were made that inclosed +this mount, were some of them nine or ten feet by four, and +about six inches thick. It is difficult to conceive how they +can cut such stones out of the coral rocks.</p> + +<p>"This mount stood in a kind of grove open only on the +side which fronted the high road, and the green on which +the people were seated. At this green or open place, was a +junction of five roads, two or three of which appeared to be +very public ones. The groves were composed of several +sorts of trees. Among others was the <i>Etoa</i> tree, as it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +called at Otaheite, of which are made clubs, etc., and a kind +of low palm, which is very common in the northern parts of +New Holland.</p> + +<p>"After we had done examining this place of worship, +which in their language is called <i>a-fiat-tou-ca</i>, we desired to +return."<a name="FNanchor_135_262" id="FNanchor_135_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_262" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>A little farther on, still speaking of his first visit to +Tonga, Captain Cook observes: "So little do we know of +their religion, that I hardly dare mention it. The buildings +called <i>afiatoucas</i>, before mentioned, are undoubtedly set apart +for this purpose. Some of our gentlemen were of opinion, +that they were merely burying-places. I can only say, from +my own knowledge, that they are places to which particular +persons directed set speeches, which I understood to be +prayers, as hath been already related. Joining my opinion +with that of others, I was inclined to think that they are set +apart to be both temples and burying-places, as at Otaheite, +or even in Europe. But I have no idea of the images being +idols; not only from what I saw myself, but from Mr. +Wales's informing me that they set one of them up, for him +and others to shoot at."<a name="FNanchor_136_263" id="FNanchor_136_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_263" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p> + +<p>Thus Captain Cook and his party were divided in opinion +as to whether the house on the mound, within its walled +enclosure built of great stones, was a temple or a tomb. +Captain Cook himself called it simply a "house of worship" +and a "place of worship," but he inclined to the view that it +was both a temple and a burying-place, and in this opinion +he was probably right. The native name which he applied +to it, <i>afiatouca</i>, means a burial-place; for it is doubtless +equivalent to <i>fytoca</i>, a word which Mariner explains to mean +"a burying-place, including the grave, the mount in which it +is sunk, and a sort of shed over it."<a name="FNanchor_137_264" id="FNanchor_137_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_264" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Moreover, the oblong +square of blue pebbles, which Captain Cook observed on the +floor of the house on the mound, and which he regarded as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +the altar, speaks also in favour of the house being a tomb; +for Mariner has described how the mourners brought white +and black pebbles to the house which stood over the grave +of King Finow, and how they "strewed the inside of the +house with the white ones, and also the outside about the +<i>fytoca</i>, as a decoration to it: the black pebbles they strewed +only upon those white ones, which covered the ground directly +over the body, to about the length and breadth of a man, +in the form of a very eccentric ellipse. After this, the house +over the <i>fytoca</i>," continues Mariner, "was closed up at both +ends with a reed fencing, reaching from the eaves to the +ground, and, at the front and back, with a sort of basket-work, +made of the young branches of the cocoa-nut tree, +split and interwoven in a very curious and ornamental way, +to remain till the next burial, when they are to be taken +down, and, after the conclusion of the ceremony, new ones +are to be put up in like manner."<a name="FNanchor_138_265" id="FNanchor_138_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_265" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> This description of the +house over King Finow's grave agrees so closely with Captain +Cook's description of the house in the <i>afiatouca</i>, that we may +with much probability regard the latter as a tomb, and +suppose that the "oblong square of blue pebbles," which +Cook regarded as an altar and on which he laid down his +offering, marked the place of the body in the grave: it was +at once an altar and a tombstone.</p> + +<p>On his second and more prolonged visit to the Tonga +islands, Captain Cook expressed, with more confidence, his +opinion that the <i>fiatookas</i>, as he calls them, were at once +burial-grounds and places of worship. Thus he says: "Their +<i>morais</i> or <i>fiatookas</i> (for they are called by both names, but +mostly by the latter), are, as at Otaheite, and many other +parts of the world, burying-grounds and places of worship; +though some of them seemed to be only appropriated to the +first purpose; but these were small, and, in every other +respect, inferior to the others."<a name="FNanchor_139_266" id="FNanchor_139_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_266" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> Again, in another passage +he describes one of the more stately of these temple-tombs. +He says: "Some of us, accompanied by a few of the king's +attendants, and Omai as our interpreter, walked out to take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +a view of a <i>fiatooka</i>, or burying-place, which we had observed +to be almost close by the house, and was much more extensive, +and seemingly of more consequence, than any we had +seen at the other islands. We were told, that it belonged to +the king. It consisted of three pretty large houses, situated +upon a rising ground, or rather just by the brink of it, with +a small one, at some distance, all ranged longitudinally. +The middle house of the three first, was by much the largest, +and placed in a square, twenty-four paces by twenty-eight, +raised about three feet. The other houses were placed on +little mounts, raised artificially to the same height. The +floors of these houses, as also the tops of the mounts round +them, were covered with loose, fine pebbles, and the whole +was inclosed by large flat stones of hard coral rock, properly +hewn, placed on their edges; one of which stones measured +twelve feet in length, two in breadth, and above one in +thickness. One of the houses, contrary to what we had +seen before, was open on one side; and within it were +two rude, wooden busts of men; one near the entrance, and +the other farther in. On inquiring of the natives, who had +followed us to the ground, but durst not enter here, What +these images were intended for? they made us as sensible +as we could wish, that they were merely memorials of some +chiefs who had been buried there, and not the representations +of any deity. Such monuments, it should seem, are +seldom raised; for these had probably been erected several +ages ago. We were told, that the dead had been buried in +each of these houses; but no marks of this appeared. In +one of them, was the carved head of an Otaheite canoe, which +had been driven ashore on their coast, and deposited here. +At the foot of the rising ground was a large area, or grass-plot, +with different trees planted about it; amongst which +were several of those called <i>etoa</i>, very large. These, as they +resemble the cypresses, had a fine effect in such a place. +There was also a row of low palms near one of the houses, +and behind it a ditch, in which lay a great number of old +baskets."<a name="FNanchor_140_267" id="FNanchor_140_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_267" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> + +<p>Between the departure of Cook and the arrival of +Mariner the first Protestant missionaries were fortunate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +enough to witness the burial of a king of Tonga, by name +Moomōoe. Their description of it and of the royal tomb +entirely bears out the observations and conclusions of Captain +Cook. The <i>fiatooka</i> or burial-ground, they tell us, "is +situated on a spot of ground about four acres. A mount +rises with a gentle slope about seven feet, and is about one +hundred and twenty yards in circumference at the base; +upon the top stands a house neatly made, which is about +thirty feet long, and half that in width. The roof is +thatched, and the sides and ends left open. In the middle +of this house is the grave, the sides, ends, and bottom of +which are of coral stone, with a cover of the same: the +floor of the house is of small stones. The <i>etoa</i> and other +trees grow round the <i>fiatooka</i>."<a name="FNanchor_141_268" id="FNanchor_141_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_268" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> Into this grave, or rather +stone vault, the missionaries saw the king's body lowered. +The stone which covered the vault was eight feet long, +four feet broad, and one foot thick. This massive stone +was first raised and held in suspense by means of two +great ropes, the ends of which were wound round two +strong piles driven into the ground at the end of the house. +The ropes were held by about two hundred men, who, +when the king's body had been deposited in the grave, +slowly lowered the great stone and covered the vault.<a name="FNanchor_142_269" id="FNanchor_142_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_269" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> +Some years later Mariner witnessed the funeral of another +king of Tonga, Finow the First; and he similarly describes +how the tomb was a large stone vault, sunk about ten feet +deep in the ground, the covering stone of which was hoisted +by the main strength of a hundred and fifty or two hundred +men pulling at the two ends of a rope; when the bodies of +the king and his daughter had been laid side by side in the +vault the massive stone was lowered by the men with a +great shout.<a name="FNanchor_143_270" id="FNanchor_143_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_270" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> The number of the men required to raise +and lower these great stones gives us some idea of their +weight.</p> + +<p>Thus far we have been dealing only with the tombs +of the civil kings of Tonga. But far more stately and +massive are the tombs of the sacred kings or pontiffs, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +Tooitongas, which still exist and still excite the curiosity +and admiration of European observers. The Tongan name +for these tombs is <i>langi</i>, which properly means "sky," also +"a band of singers"; but there appears to be no connexion +between these different meanings of the word.<a name="FNanchor_144_271" id="FNanchor_144_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_271" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> The tombs +are situated in Tongataboo, not far from Mooa, the old +capital of the island. They stand near the south-eastern +shore of the lagoon, which, under the name of the Mooa +Inlet, penetrates deeply into the northern side of Tongataboo. +Beginning at the northern outskirts of the village +of Labaha, they stretch inland for more than half a mile +into the forest.<a name="FNanchor_145_272" id="FNanchor_145_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_272" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> They are of various constructions and +shapes. Some consist of a square enclosure, on the level +of the ground, the boundary walls being formed of large +stones; while at each corner of the square two high stones, +rising above the wall, are placed upright at right angles to +each other and in a line with their respective sides.<a name="FNanchor_146_273" id="FNanchor_146_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_273" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> But +apparently the more usual and characteristic type of tomb +has the form of a truncated pyramid or oblong platform +raised in a series of steps or terraces, which are built of +massive blocks of coral. The number of steps or terraces +seems to vary from one to four according to the height of +the monument.<a name="FNanchor_147_274" id="FNanchor_147_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_274" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> It is much to be regretted that no one +has yet counted and mapped out these tombs and recorded +the names of their royal or divine occupants, so far as they +are remembered; but a trace of the religious awe which +once invested this hallowed ground still avails to keep it +inviolate. A proposal which Sir Basil Thomson made to +clear away the forest and preserve the tombs was very +coldly received; in the eyes of the natives, professing +Christians as they are, it probably savoured of sacrilege. +The ancient custom was to clear the ground about every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +new tomb, and after the interment to suffer the tropical +undergrowth to swallow it up for ever. Nowadays no holy +pontiffs are borne to their last resting-place in these hallowed +shades; so the forest is never cleared, and nature is left +free to run wild. In consequence the tombs are so overgrown +and overshadowed that it is difficult to photograph +them in the gloomy and tangled thicket. Great <i>ifi</i> trees<a name="FNanchor_148_275" id="FNanchor_148_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_275" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> +overhang them: banyan-trees have sprouted on the terraces +and thrust their roots into every crevice, mantling the stones +with a lacework of tendrils, which year by year rend huge +blocks asunder, until the original form of the terrace is +almost obliterated. Sir Basil Thomson followed the chain +of tombs for about half a mile, but on each occasion his +guides told him that there were other smaller tombs farther +inland. The tombs increase in size and in importance as +they near the shore of the lagoon, and to seven or eight of +the larger ones the names of the occupants can be assigned; +but the names of the sacred chiefs who sleep in the smaller +tombs inland are quite forgotten. Some of them are mere +enclosures of stones, not squared, but taken haphazard from +the reef.<a name="FNanchor_149_276" id="FNanchor_149_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_276" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> + +<p>The tombs were built in the lifetime of the sacred +chiefs who were to lie in them, and their size accordingly +affords a certain measure of the power and influence of the +great men interred in them. Among the largest is the +tomb which goes by the name of Telea, though it is said +to contain no body, Telea himself being buried in the tomb +next to it. We are told that, dissatisfied with the first +sepulchre that was built for him, he replaced it by the +other, which is also of great size. The most modern of +the tombs is that of Laufilitonga, the last to bear the title +of Tooitonga. He died a Christian about 1840 and was +buried in the tomb of very inferior size which crowns the +village cemetery. The most ancient cannot be dated; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +that some are older than A.D. 1535 may be inferred +from the tradition that Takalaua, a Tooitonga, was +assassinated about that time because he was a tyrant who +compelled his people to drag great stones from Liku, at +the back of the island, to the burial ground at Mooa; the +distance is about a mile and a half.<a name="FNanchor_150_277" id="FNanchor_150_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_277" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 530px;"> +<img src="images/steps.png" width="530" height="320" alt="Profile of the Steps." title="Profile of the Steps." /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Profile of the Steps.</span></span> +</div> + +<p>The first, so far as I know, to see and describe these +remarkable tombs were the earliest missionaries to Tonga +about the end of the eighteenth century. Speaking of the +burial ground at Mooa, where lay interred the divine chiefs +whose title was Tooitonga and whose family name was +Futtafāihe or Fatafehi, the missionaries observe that "the +<i>fiatookas</i> are remarkable. There lie the Futtafāihes for +many generations, some vast and ruinous, which is the case +with the largest; the house on the top of it is fallen, and +the area and tomb itself overgrown with wood and +weeds."<a name="FNanchor_151_278" id="FNanchor_151_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_278" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> +Later on they had the advantage of being conducted over +the august cemetery by the Futtafāihe or Tooitonga of the +day in person, who gave them some explanations concerning +these sepulchres of his ancestors. To quote their description, +they say that the tombs "lie ranged in a line eastward from +his house, among a grove of trees, and are many in number, +and of different constructions: some, in a square form, were +not in the least raised above the level of the common +ground; a row of large stones formed the sides, and at +each corner two high stones were placed upright at right +angles to each other, and in a line with their respective +sides: others were such as the brethren describe that of +Moomōoe to be: and a third sort were built square like the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +first; the largest of which was at the base one hundred and +fifty-six feet by one hundred and forty; it had four steps +from the bottom to the top, that run quite round the pile: +one stone composed the height of each step, a part of it +being sunk in the ground; and some of these stones in the +wall of the lower are immensely large; one, which I +measured, was twenty-four feet by twelve, and two feet +thick; these Futtafāihe informed me were brought in +double canoes from the island of Lefooga. They are coral +stone, and are hewn into a tolerably good shape, both with +respect to the straightness of their sides and flatness of +their surfaces. They are now so hardened by the weather, +that the great difficulty we had in breaking a specimen of +one corner made it not easy to conjecture how the labour +of hewing them at first had been effected; as, by the marks +of antiquity which some of them bear, they must have been +built long before Tasman showed the natives an iron tool. +Besides the trees which grow on the top and sides of most +of them, there are the <i>etooa</i>, and a variety of other trees +about them; and these, together with the thousands of bats +which hang on their branches, all contribute to the awful +solemnity of those sepulchral mansions of the ancient chiefs. +On our way back Futtafāihe told us that all the <i>fiatookas</i> +we had seen were built by his ancestors, who also lay +interred in them; and as there appeared no reason to +doubt the truth of this, it proves that a supreme power in +the government of the island must for many generations +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +have been in the family of the Futtafāihes: for though +there were many <i>fiatookas</i> in the island, the brethren, who +had seen most of them, said they were not to be compared +to these for magnitude, either in the pile or the +stones which compose them."<a name="FNanchor_152_279" id="FNanchor_152_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_279" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> + +<p>Some thirty years later the tombs of the Tooitongas +were visited and described by the French explorer, J. Dumont +d'Urville. His description is worth quoting. He says: +"I directed my steps to the splendid <i>faï-tokas</i> of the Fata-Faïs. +As these monuments are essentially taboo, in the +absence of the Tooi-tonga no one looks after their upkeep, +and they are now buried on every side among dark masses +of trees and almost impenetrable thickets. Hence we had +some difficulty in approaching them, and it was impossible +for us to get a single general view of the whole of these +structures, which must have a somewhat solemn effect when +the ground is properly cleared.</p> + +<p>"For the most part these mausoleums have the form of +great rectangular spaces surrounded by enormous blocks of +stone, of which some are as much as from fifteen to twenty +feet long by six or eight broad and two feet thick. The +most sumptuous of these monuments have four or five rows +of steps, making up a total height of eighteen or twenty feet. +The interior is filled up with shingle and fragments of +unhewn coral. One of these <i>faï-tokas</i>, which I measured, was +a hundred and eighty feet long by a hundred and twenty +broad. At one of the upper angles I observed a block of +considerable size with a deep cutting in it. I was told that +it was the seat of the Tooi-tonga-fafine<a name="FNanchor_153_280" id="FNanchor_153_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_280" class="fnanchor">[153]</a>; it was there that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +she sat to preside at the ceremony of the funeral of the +Tooi-tonga.</p> + +<p>"Some of these edifices were of an oval form, but they +were much smaller. Each of them was surmounted by a +small hut, which served as an oratory or house for the spirit of +the dead; most of them have been destroyed by the lapse of +time, and only traces of them are left scattered on the ground.</p> + +<p>"The enormous blocks of coral employed in the construction +of these monuments have all been brought by sea +from Hifo to Mooa. They were got on the shore of the sea +at Hifo, were hewn on the spot, and were transported in +great canoes; then they were landed at Mooa and drawn +on rollers to the place of their destination. These monuments +are astonishing evidence of the patience which they +must have demanded on the part of these islanders; they +were ocular testimony to me of the high degree of civilisation +which the natives had reached. Man must have risen to +ideas of a much higher order than those of a simple savage +before he would take so great pains for the single object of +consecrating the memory of his chiefs.</p> + +<p>"Such tombs are no longer built in Tongataboo: people +content themselves with simple mounds surrounded by a +row of posts or even an ordinary palisade. However,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +Singleton assured me that Finow the Younger had erected +two great <i>faï-tokas</i> of stone in Vavao, one for the last Tooitonga, +and one for his father."<a name="FNanchor_154_281" id="FNanchor_154_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_281" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>The Frenchman, De Sainson, who accompanied Dumont +d'Urville on his visit to Tongataboo, has also described the +tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa from personal observation. +I will quote his description: "It is in the heart of the forest +that the ancient inhabitants of these countries, who idolized +their Kings (Tooi-tongas), placed the tombs of that sacred +race. These monuments of a more enterprising age still +astonish the beholder by their mass and their extent. +The <i>fai-tokas</i>, as these burial-places are called, are artificial +eminences, on the top of which, in the form of a square, are +three or four crosses of great granitic blocks arranged as +steps, of which each block may be four or five feet high. +If there is only a single step on the top of the mound, it is +because only a single Tooi-tonga sleeps there in the grave; +if the bones of a whole family are deposited in a common +tomb, three or four steps, one above the other, mark their +union in death. Some of these monuments which contain +only a single body are arranged in an oval. I counted more +than twelve of these immense structures, and yet we left a +great many aside. I counted more than one stone between +eight and fifteen feet long; and I conceived a high idea of +those men of ancient days who erected over the remains of +their kings these imperishable mausoleums, in an island based +on coral, where it would be difficult to find a stone of two +feet square. I imagined them to be very different from their +effeminate descendants, those men of old who went in their +canoes more than a hundred and fifty leagues to look for the +enormous blocks of which these tombs are built, who cut +them without the help of iron, and succeeded, by means +unknown, in planting them on these hillocks, where by their +own weight they are fixed for ever, like the Druidical +monuments of Brittany, which one would say were dropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +on earth rather by the magic of talismans than by the power +of man.</p> + +<p>"The present inhabitants of Tonga contemplate with a +pious awe the fruit of the labours and patience of their +forefathers, without dreaming for a moment of imitating +them in their noble enterprises. A distant voyage affrights +these degenerate scions of a hardy race, and the great canoes +which still survive, sheltered under sheds very skilfully built, +are little more than the useless encumbrance of chiefs grown +languid in the long peace which has infected the whole +people with habits of indolence.</p> + +<p>"The most recent tombs consist of a small house +enclosed on all sides, built on a rising ground, and shaded +by a circle of mimosas, a tree sacred to the dead. Most of +the illustrious graves are clustered together at Mafanga, a +large village of which the whole territory is sacred on +account of the hallowed relics which it contains. Along +with the corpse they bury at the depth of a few inches +small wooden effigies representing persons of both sexes. +I had occasion to unearth a few of these little statues, and +I remarked in them an astonishing feeling for artistic +design."<a name="FNanchor_155_282" id="FNanchor_155_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_282" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + +<p>Some sixteen years later a Catholic missionary, living +among the heathen population of Tongataboo, wrote thus: +"Nothing equals the care which they take in the burial of +their dead. As soon as a native has breathed his last, the +neighbours are informed, and immediately all the women +come to weep about the corpse. Here the men never weep. +The body is kept thus for a day or two, during which they +are busy building a tomb near the dwelling of the deceased's +family. The sepulchral house is neat, built on an eminence, +surrounded by a pretty fence of choice bamboos; the +enclosure is planted with all kinds of odoriferous shrubs, +especially evergreens. Finally, the monument is covered +by a roof artistically constructed. For the tombs of kings +and the greatest chiefs they go to distant islands to find +huge stones to crown the grave. I have seen one twenty-four +feet long by eight broad and at least eighteen inches thick.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +One of these tombs was built by the natives of Wallis Island, +who brought the enormous blocks in immense canoes. It +is wonderful for these peoples."<a name="FNanchor_156_283" id="FNanchor_156_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_283" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></p> + +<p>Captain Erskine, who visited Tongataboo in 1849, says +that "near the landing-place at the village of Holobeka, off +which we were lying, we saw overshadowed with trees, one +of the <i>faitokas</i>, or old burial-places of the country, which, +although no longer 'tabu,' are still in some cases used as +places of sepulture, and very carefully kept. This one was +an oblong square platform a few feet high, surrounded by +a stone wall, the interior being beautifully paved with +coloured corals and gravel; the house or temple, which +Captain Cook and others describe as occupying the centre, +having been, I suppose, removed. I saw but one other of +these monuments during our stay among the islands, the +largest of which stands on several rows of steps, as described +by all former visitors."<a name="FNanchor_157_284" id="FNanchor_157_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_284" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>Thomas West, who lived as a missionary in the +Tongan islands from 1846 to 1855, tells us that "chiefs +were usually interred in tombs, constructed of blocks of +sandstone, cut from suitable localities by the seashore, +where, at a little depth from the surface, layers of hard +and durable sandstone are found, even on many of the +coralline islands. In several of the ancient burial-places, +similar stones, arranged in terraces, surround the whole +enclosure. Some of these are of immense size, and seem +to indicate the possession, on the part of former inhabitants, +either of greater energy than the present race, or of better +tools and appliances. The burial-places of the Tonguese +are always surrounded by the most imposing foliage of the +tropics, and placed in sequestered spots. A mound of earth +is raised, of dimensions varying with the necessities of the +place; and, whenever a grave is opened within the limits +of this mound, it is always filled up with beautiful white +sand, and never contains more than one body. No particle +of clay or earthy mould is allowed to touch the remains of +the dead. The sand is brought in baskets by the chief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +mourners, who sometimes sail or journey many miles to +procure it; and each person pours the contents into the +grave until it is sufficiently filled up. The top of the grave +is, afterwards, carefully tended and decorated with black +pebbles and red coral, arranged in various devices, which +have a very pretty effect. Small houses are also placed +over the tombs of the chiefs and gentry."<a name="FNanchor_158_285" id="FNanchor_158_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_285" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> + +<p>In more recent years the tombs of the Tooitongas at +Mooa have been visited by Sir Basil Thomson, who has +described and discussed them.<a name="FNanchor_159_286" id="FNanchor_159_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_286" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> From an anonymous +pamphlet called <i>The Wairarapa Wilderness</i>, written by the +passengers of the s.s. <i>Wairarapa</i> and published in 1884, Sir +Basil Thomson quotes a passage containing a description +of the tombs, with measurements which, he tells us, are +accurate as far as they go. From it I will extract a few +particulars. The writers inform us that the tombs are built +of blocks of coral which vary in length and thickness; some +of the largest they found to be from fifteen to eighteen feet +long and from one and a half to two feet thick. The largest +measured by them is twenty-two feet long and two feet thick +and stands between seven and eight feet above the ground. +This great stone, now split in two, is at the middle of the +lowest step of one of the pyramidal tombs. The height of +the steps varies much in the different pyramids; one step +was found to be four feet high. The breadth of each step +is three feet or more: it has been carefully levelled and +covered with coral gravel. The stones fit very closely and +are very regular at top and bottom throughout the tiers. +The corners of one pyramid observed by the writers are +formed of huge rectangular stones, which seem to have been +put in position before they were finally faced. On the +upper surface of the largest stone is a deep hollow about +the size and shape of a large chestnut mortar. Sir Basil +Thomson, who has examined this hollow, believes it to be +a natural cavity which has been artificially smoothed by a +workman. He suggests that it may have been lined with +leaves and used as a bowl for brewing kava at the funeral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +ceremonies. On one mound the writers of the pamphlet +remarked a large flat stone, some five and a half feet square; +and in several of the tombs they noticed huge slabs of +volcanic stone placed indiscriminately side by side with +blocks of coral. The writers measured the bases of three +of the tombs and found them to be about two chains (one +hundred and thirty-two feet) long by a chain and a half +(ninety-nine feet) broad; the base of a fourth was even +larger.<a name="FNanchor_160_287" id="FNanchor_160_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_287" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<p>Surveying these various accounts of the tombs of the +Tooitongas or sacred chiefs, we may perhaps conclude that, +while the type of tomb varied in different cases, the most +characteristic, and certainly the most remarkable, type was +that of a stepped or terraced pyramid built of such large +blocks of stone as to merit the name of megalithic monuments. +So far as I have observed in the accounts given +of them, this type of tomb was reserved exclusively for the +sacred chiefs, the Tooitongas, whom the Tongans regarded +as divine and as direct descendants of the gods. The civil +kings, so far as appears, were not buried in these massive +pyramids, but merely in stone vaults sunk in the summits +of grassy mounds.</p> + +<p>It is natural, with Sir Basil Thomson,<a name="FNanchor_161_288" id="FNanchor_161_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_288" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> to compare the +pyramids of the Tooitongas with the similar structures called +<i>morais</i> or <i>marais</i> which are found in Tahiti and the Marquesas +islands. Indeed, the very name <i>morai</i> was sometimes applied +to them by the Tongans themselves, though more usually +they called them <i>fiatookas</i>, which was simply the common +word for burying-ground.<a name="FNanchor_162_289" id="FNanchor_162_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_289" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> In Tahiti and the Marquesas +islands these <i>marais</i> were in like manner truncated pyramids, +rising in a series of steps or tiers, built of stones, some of +which were large, but apparently not so large as in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +corresponding Tongan edifices; for in describing one of the +largest of the Tahitian <i>morais</i> or <i>marais</i> Cook mentions only +one stone measuring as much as four feet seven inches in +length by two feet four in breadth, though he found several +three and a half feet long by two and a half feet broad. +These dimensions can hardly compare with the size of the +blocks in the tombs of the Tooitongas, some of which, as +we have seen, measure fifteen, eighteen, and even twenty-two +or twenty-four feet in length by eight or twelve feet in height. +These Tahitian and Marquesan pyramids are commonly +described as temples, and justly so, because the gods were +worshipped there and human sacrifices were offered on +them.<a name="FNanchor_163_290" id="FNanchor_163_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_290" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> But they were also, like the similar structures in +Tonga, used in certain cases for the burial of the dead, or +at all events for the preservation of their embalmed bodies. +Captain Cook seems even to have regarded the Tahitian +<i>morais</i> primarily as burying-grounds and only secondarily +as places of worship.<a name="FNanchor_164_291" id="FNanchor_164_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_291" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> In the island of Huahine, one of the +Society Islands, the sovereign chiefs were buried in a <i>marai</i>, +where they lay, we are told, in more than Oriental state.<a name="FNanchor_165_292" id="FNanchor_165_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_292" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> +William Ellis, one of our best authorities on the religion +of the Tahitians, tells us that "the family, district, or royal +<i>maraes</i> were the general depositories of the bones of the +departed, whose bodies had been embalmed, and whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +skulls were sometimes preserved in the dwelling of the +survivors. The <i>marae</i> or temple being sacred, and the +bodies being under the guardianship of the gods, were in +general considered secure when deposited there. This was +not, however, always the case; and in times of war, the +victors sometimes not only despoiled the temples of the +vanquished, and bore away their idol, but robbed the +sacred enclosure of the bones of celebrated individuals."<a name="FNanchor_166_293" id="FNanchor_166_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_293" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> +Moerenhout, another good authority on the Tahitian religion, +informs us that the <i>marais</i> which belonged to individuals +often served as cemeteries and were only the more respected +on that account; but he says that in the public <i>marais</i> +almost the only persons buried were the human victims +offered in sacrifice, and sometimes the priests, who were +laid face downwards in the grave, for the curious reason +that otherwise the gaze of the dead men would blight the +trees and cause the fruit to fall to the ground.<a name="FNanchor_167_294" id="FNanchor_167_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_294" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>In the Marquesas islands the <i>morais</i> appear to have +been also used occasionally or even regularly as burial-places. +Langsdorff, one of our earliest authorities on these +islands, speaks of a <i>morai</i> simply as a place of burial.<a name="FNanchor_168_295" id="FNanchor_168_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_295" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> He +tells us that the mummified bodies of the dead were deposited +on scaffolds in the <i>morai</i> or family burial-place, and that the +people of neighbouring but hostile districts used to try to +steal each other's dead from the <i>morais</i>, and deemed it a +great triumph when they succeeded in the attempt. To +defeat such attempts, when the inhabitants of a district +expected to be attacked in force by their enemies, they were +wont to remove their dead from the <i>morai</i> and bury them in +the neighbourhood.<a name="FNanchor_169_296" id="FNanchor_169_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_296" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Again, in their monograph on the +Marquesas islands, the French writers Vincendon-Dumoulin +and Desgraz recognise only the mortuary aspect of the +<i>morais</i>. They say: "The <i>morais</i>, funeral monuments where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +the bodies are deposited, are set up on a platform of stone, +which is the base of all Nukahivan constructions. They are +to be found scattered in the whole extent of the valleys; no +particular condition seems to be required in the choice of +the site. Near the shore of Taïohae is the <i>morai</i> which +contains the remains of a brother of the <i>atepeïou Patini</i>, an +uncle of Moana, who died some years ago, as they tell us."<a name="FNanchor_170_297" id="FNanchor_170_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_297" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + +<p>Thus to some extent, in function as well as in form, +these pyramidical temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas +islands corresponded to the megalithic monuments of the +Tooitongas or sacred chiefs of Tonga; in fact, they were +mausoleums as well as temples. We are not at liberty to +assume, with one authority on the Polynesians, that they +were mausoleums first and foremost, and that they only +developed into temples at a later time.<a name="FNanchor_171_298" id="FNanchor_171_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_298" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> It is possible, on +the contrary, that from the outset they were temples dedicated +to the worship of the high gods, and that the custom of +depositing the dead in them was a later practice adopted for +the sake of the protection which these holy places might be +expected to afford against the efforts of enemies to carry off +and desecrate the remains of the departed. Dr. Rivers +propounded a theory that the custom of building these +megalithic monuments in the form of pyramids was introduced +into the Pacific by a people who brought with them a +secret worship of the sun, and he apparently inclined to +regard the monuments themselves as at least associated +with that worship.<a name="FNanchor_172_299" id="FNanchor_172_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_299" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> The theory can hardly apply to the +megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas in Tongataboo; +for the evidence which I have adduced seems to render it +certain that these monuments were erected primarily as +tombs to receive the bodies of the sacred chiefs. It is true +that these tombs enjoyed a sacred character and were the +scene of worship which justly entitles them to rank as +temples; but so far as they were temples, they were devoted +to the worship, not of the sun, but of the dead.</p> + +<p>Thus our enquiry into the meaning and origin of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +interesting monuments entirely confirms the view of the +shrewd and observant Captain Cook that the <i>fiatookas</i>, as +the Tongans called them, were both places of burial and +places of worship.</p> + +<p>Finally, the evidence which I have cited appears to +render it highly probable that these imposing monuments +were built, not by a prehistoric people, predecessors of the +Tongans in the islands, but by the Tongans themselves; for +not only do the people affirm that the tombs were erected +by their ancestors, but they have definite traditions of some +of the chiefs who built them, and are buried in them; and +they still profess to remember some of the islands from +which the huge stones were brought to Tongataboo in great +double canoes.</p> + +<p>That the graves of the great chiefs were, like temples, +regarded by the people with religious reverence appears +plainly from a statement of Mariner. He tells us that a +place called Mafanga, in the western part of Tongataboo, +being a piece of land about half a mile square, was consecrated +ground. "In this spot," he says, "are the graves +where the greatest chiefs from time immemorial have been +buried, and the place is therefore considered sacred; it +would be a sacrilege to fight here, and nobody can be +prevented from landing: if the most inveterate enemies meet +upon this ground, they must look upon each other as friends, +under penalty of the displeasure of the gods, and consequently +an untimely death, or some great misfortune. There +are several of these consecrated places on different islands."<a name="FNanchor_173_300" id="FNanchor_173_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_300" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> +Thus the reverence paid to the tombs of the chiefs was like +the reverence paid to the consecrated houses and enclosures +of the gods; we have already seen what a sacrilege it was +deemed to fight or to pursue an enemy within the consecrated +enclosure of a god,<a name="FNanchor_174_301" id="FNanchor_174_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_301" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> and we now learn that it was +equally a sacrilege to fight within the ground that was +hallowed by the graves of the chiefs.</p> + +<p>Mariner has described for us the worship paid by the +king and his chiefs to one of the sacred graves at Mafanga. +One morning Finow the king, accompanied by several of +his chiefs and their ministers (the <i>matabooles</i>), landed at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +Mafanga and immediately proceeded to his father's grave +to perform a ceremony called <i>toogi</i>. Mariner attended the +party and witnessed the ceremony. All who went to participate +in it assumed the attire of mourners or suppliants, +that is, they wore mats instead of their usual dress and they +had wreaths, made of the leaves of the <i>ifi</i> tree, round their +necks. They sat down before the grave, and the king and +all of them beat their cheeks with their fists for about half +a minute without speaking a word. One of the principal +ministers (<i>matabooles</i>) then addressed the spirit of the king's +father to the following effect: "Behold the man (meaning +Finow, the king) who has come to Tonga to fight his +enemies. Be pleased with him, and grant him thy protection. +He comes to battle, hoping he is not doing wrong. +He has always held Tooitonga in the highest respect, and has +attended to all religious ceremonies with exactness." One +of the attendants then went to the king and received from +him a piece of kava root, which he laid down on the raised +mount before the burial-place (<i>fytoka</i>). Several others, who +had pieces of kava root in their bosoms, went up to the +grave in like manner and deposited them there.<a name="FNanchor_175_302" id="FNanchor_175_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_302" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> + +<p>Thus the king prayed to the spirit of his dead father at +his grave and made an offering at the tomb. What more +could he do to a god at his temple? And in general we +are told that when a great blessing was desired, or a serious +evil deprecated, if the people wished to enjoy health or beget +children, to be successful at sea, or victorious in war, they +would go to the burial grounds of their great chiefs, clean +them up thoroughly, sprinkle the floor with sand, and lay +down their offerings.<a name="FNanchor_176_303" id="FNanchor_176_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_303" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> When Finow the king was dying, his +friends carried him on a bier, not only to the temples of +the great gods Tali-y-Toobo and Tooi-fooa-Bolotoo, where +prayers for his recovery were offered; they bore him also to +the grave of a chieftainess and invoked her spirit in like +manner to pity and spare the expiring monarch.<a name="FNanchor_177_304" id="FNanchor_177_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_304" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> Apparently +they thought that the ghost of the chieftainess was quite as +able as the great gods to heal the sick and restore the dying.</p> + +<p>But on no occasion, perhaps, was the assimilation of dead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +men to gods so conspicuous as at the annual offering of +first-fruits, which seems to have been the most impressive of +all the yearly rites observed by the Tongans. The ceremony +was observed once a year just before the yams in general had +arrived at a state of maturity; the yams offered at it were +of a kind which admitted of being planted sooner than the +others, and which consequently, ripening earlier, were the +first-fruits of the yam season. The object of the offering was +to ensure the protection of the gods, that their favour might +be extended to the welfare of the nation generally, and in +particular to the productions of the earth, of which in Tonga +yams are the most important. At this solemn ceremony +the new yams, slung on poles, were brought from distant +islands, carried in procession to the grave of the late Tooitonga, +and deposited in front of it, their bearers sitting down beside +them. Thereupon one of the ministers (<i>matabooles</i>) of the +living Tooitonga arose, advanced, and sat down before the +grave, a little in front of the men who had brought the yams. +Next he addressed the gods generally, and afterwards particularly, +mentioning the late Tooitonga and the names of +several others. In doing so he returned thanks for their +divine bounty in favouring the land with the prospect of +a good harvest, and prayed that their beneficence might +be continued in future. In this harvest thanksgiving the +spirit of the dead Tooitonga seems to have ranked on an +equality with the original or superhuman gods; indeed, +in a sense he took precedence of them, since the offerings +were presented at his grave. The first-fruits, we are told, +were offered to the gods in the person of the divine chief +Tooitonga.<a name="FNanchor_178_305" id="FNanchor_178_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_305" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>On the whole we may conclude that, however sharp a +distinction was drawn in theory between the old gods, who +had always been gods, and the new gods, who had once been +men, the line which divided them in practice was wavering +and blurred. The dead men and women were fast rising, if +they had not already risen, to an equality with the ancient +deities. We may even surmise that some of these old gods<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +themselves were human beings, whose original humanity was +forgotten.</p> + +<p>The tombs of the kings and sacred chiefs may be described +as megalithic monuments in so far as immense stones +were often employed in the construction either of the enclosing +walls or of the high steps which led up to the summit of +the mound where the grave was dug. It is possible, and +indeed probable, that great stones were similarly employed +as ornaments or accessories of the consecrated houses or +temples of the primary gods, but of such an employment +I have met with no express notice among our authorities. +So far as their descriptions allow us to judge, these megalithic +monuments of the Tongans were purely sepulchral in +character; they were dedicated only to the worship of the +dead. But there exists at least one other remarkable megalithic +monument in these islands of which the original meaning +is quite uncertain, and of which consequently we cannot +confidently say that it was erected for the sake of honouring +or propitiating the spirits of the departed. The monument +in question is situated near the eastern extremity of Tongataboo, +at a distance of three or four hundred yards from the +beach and facing towards the island of Eua. The land on +which it stands was the private property of the Tooitongas, +whose megalithic tombs are situated some eight or nine miles +away to the west. In the intervening country, which is +perfectly flat and partly covered with forest, partly under +cultivation, there are said to be no other monuments or +ruins. It is remarkable that this imposing monument, which +naturally impresses the observer by its resemblance to the +trilithons or gate-like structures of Stonehenge, should have +apparently escaped the observation of Europeans down to +the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not mentioned +by Cook and Mariner, nor even by those who, like the first +missionaries and Dumont d'Urville, described in some detail +the tombs of the Tooitongas not many miles off. Perhaps +the solitariness of the surrounding country may partly account +for their ignorance and silence; for there are said to be few +inhabitants in this part of the island and none at all in the +immediate neighbourhood of the monument. It seems to +have been first discovered by Mr. Philip Hervey of Sydney<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +in 1850 or 1851, but his description of it was not published +for some ten years. In August 1852 it was seen by Dr. +Charles Forbes, Surgeon of H.M.S. <i>Calliope</i>, and his description +of it was published by the Society of Antiquaries of +London in the following year. In 1865 it was seen and +briefly described by Mr. Foljambe of H.M.S. <i>Curaçoa</i>. Some +twenty years later the passengers of the s.s. <i>Wairarapa</i>, +on a yachting cruise from New Zealand, visited the spot +and published an account of the structure. Still later Sir +Basil Thomson examined the monument and discussed its +history.<a name="FNanchor_179_306" id="FNanchor_179_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_306" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> + +<p>The monument in question is a structure of the type +known as a trilithon; that is, it is composed of three large +stones, of which two stand upright, while the third rests +horizontally on their tops. All three stones are monoliths +of hardened coral, rough and much weathered on the surface, +and precisely similar to the coral of the neighbouring reefs. +Indeed, about halfway between the monument and the beach +the coral rock is exposed in a hollow, from which it seems +probable that the great blocks were hewn and brought to +their present situation. The statement of Mr. Brenchley, that +the stone of which the monument consists is not to be found +elsewhere on the island, is erroneous. The uprights are +quadrangular monoliths neatly squared. No measurements +of the stones appear to be on record, but the two uprights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +are variously estimated to measure from fourteen to sixteen +feet in height; their breadth or depth from front to back is +variously given as from eight to ten or even twelve feet; but +they seem to taper somewhat upwards, for the estimate which +assigns twelve feet for the depth of the uprights at their +base, mentions seven feet or probably more as their breadth +at the top. The thickness of the uprights seems to be four +feet. The space between them is variously stated at ten +and twelve feet. The cross-stone, which rests on the two +uprights, is reported to measure twenty-four feet in length, by +four or five feet in depth, and two feet in thickness. Each +of the uprights is estimated by Sir Basil Thomson to weigh +not less than fifty tons. The tops of both are deeply mortised +to receive the cross-stone, the ends of which are sunk into +them instead of being laid flat on the top. The cross-stone +lies east and west, so that the opening between the uprights +faces north and south. On the upper surface of the cross-stone, +and at about the middle of it, is a cup-like hollow, +very carefully cut, about the size of a coco-nut shell. A +large bowl of the same material is said to have formerly +stood on the cross-stone, but the statement is not made +by an eyewitness and is probably mistaken.<a name="FNanchor_180_307" id="FNanchor_180_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_307" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> + +<p>The name which the natives give to this megalithic +monument is <i>Haamonga</i> or <i>Ho ha Mo-nga Maui</i>, which is said +to mean "Maui's burden." The name is explained by a +story that the god or hero Maui brought the massive stones +in a gigantic canoe from Uea (Wallis Island), where the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +holes in the rock from which he quarried them may still be +seen. From the canoe he bore them on his back to the +spot where they now stand.<a name="FNanchor_181_308" id="FNanchor_181_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_308" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> This story can hardly be +thought to throw much light on the origin of the monument; +for the natives are in the habit of referring the marvels which +they do not understand to the action of the god or hero +Maui, just as the ancient Greeks fathered many natural +wonders on the deified hero Hercules.<a name="FNanchor_182_309" id="FNanchor_182_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_309" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> But from Mateialona, +Governor of Haapai and cousin of the King of Tonga, Sir +Basil Thomson obtained a tradition of the origin of the +stones which is at least free from the miraculous element and +connects the monument with Tongan history. The account +runs thus: "Concerning the Haamonga of Maui, they say +forsooth that a Tui Tonga (the sacred line of chiefs), +named Tui-ta-tui, erected it, and that he was so named +because it was a time of assassination.<a name="FNanchor_183_310" id="FNanchor_183_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_310" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> And they say that +he had it built for him to sit upon during the Faikava +(ceremony of brewing kava), when the people sat round him +in a circle, and that the king so dreaded assassination that +he had this lordly seat built for himself that he might sit +out of the reach of his people. And this, they say, is the +origin of the present custom of the Faikava, it being now +forbidden for any one to sit behind the king." At such +wassails the presiding chief sits at the apex of an oval. To +this tradition Sir Basil Thomson adds: "Mr. Shirley Baker +told me that he believed the Haamonga to have been erected +as a <i>fakamanatu</i> (memorial) to the son of some Tui Tonga, +a view that finds support in the fondness of Tongan chiefs +for originality in the burial ceremonies of their near relations—witness +Mariner's account of the funeral of Finau's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +daughter—but on the other hand native traditions generally have a +kernel of truth, and the legend of Tui-ta-tui and its consequences +finds an analogy in our own custom of guarding against +an assassin's dagger at the drinking of the loving cup."<a name="FNanchor_184_311" id="FNanchor_184_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_311" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> +The tradition receives some confirmation from the bowl-like +hollow on the upper surface of the cross-stone; for the hollow +might have served as the king's drinking-cup to hold his +kava at the customary wassails. Indeed, Mr. Philip Hervey, +the first to examine the monument, describes the hollow in +question as "a small cava bowl";<a name="FNanchor_185_312" id="FNanchor_185_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_312" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> and after giving an +account of the monument Mr. Brenchley adds: "Its history +seems to be entirely unknown, but it is very natural to +suppose from its form that it was connected with some +ancient kava ceremonies."<a name="FNanchor_186_313" id="FNanchor_186_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_313" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> + +<p>The tradition which connects the erection of the monument +with the reign of a Tooitonga named Tui-ta-tui is +further countenanced, if not confirmed, by a list of the +Tooitongas, in which the name of Tui-ta-tui occurs as the +eleventh in descent from the great god Tangaloa.<a name="FNanchor_187_314" id="FNanchor_187_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_314" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> This +Tui-ta-tui is believed to have reigned in the thirteenth or +fourteenth century of our era.<a name="FNanchor_188_315" id="FNanchor_188_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_315" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> From the size and style of +the masonry Sir Basil Thomson is disposed to assign the +monument to a later date. He points out that for the +quarrying and mortising of stones that weigh some fifty +tons apiece the craft of stone-cutting must have been fully +developed; and from a comparison of the megalithic tombs +of the Tooitongas which can be approximately dated, he +infers that the craft of stone-cutting in Tonga reached its +culmination at the end of the seventeenth century, though +it was still practised down to the beginning of the nineteenth +century; for Mariner tells us that in his time a +professional class of masons was set apart for building the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +stone sepulchral vaults of chiefs.<a name="FNanchor_189_316" id="FNanchor_189_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_316" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> Yet on the whole Sir +Basil Thomson concludes that "when one is left to choose +between a definite native tradition on the one hand and +probability on the other for the assignment of a date, I +would prefer the tradition. If the Tongans had invented +the story as a mere expression for antiquity they would not +have pitched upon Tui-ta-tui, about whom nothing else is +recorded, in preference to Takalaua, Kau-ulu-fonua-fekai, +or any of the kings who loom large in traditionary history. +Whether the Haamonga was built for a throne or for a +memorial, doubtless it is connected with the reign of Tui-ta-tui, +who lived in the fourteenth century."<a name="FNanchor_190_317" id="FNanchor_190_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_317" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p> + +<p>As an alternative to the view that the hollow on the +cross-stone was a kava bowl Dr. Rivers suggests that it +"may have been destined to receive the skull and other +bones of the dead, so often preserved in Polynesia."<a name="FNanchor_191_318" id="FNanchor_191_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_318" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> The +suggestion accords well with the opinion that the monument +is a memorial of the dead, and it might be supported by the +Samoan practice of severing a dead chief's head from his +body and burying it separately, to save it from being dug +up and desecrated by enemies in time of war.<a name="FNanchor_192_319" id="FNanchor_192_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_319" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> However, +Dr. Rivers is careful to add that such a practice is not +recorded in Tonga and appears to be incompatible with the +mode of sepulture which prevails there.</p> + +<p>In this connexion another megalithic monument of the +Tonga islands deserves to be considered, though it appears +to have been commonly overlooked. It was observed by +Captain Cook in the island of Lefooga (Lifuka). He says: +"Near the south end of the island, and on the west side, we +met with an artificial mount. From the size of some trees that +were growing upon it, and from other appearances, I guessed +that it had been raised in remote times. I judged it to be +about forty feet high; and the diameter of its summit +measured fifty feet. At the bottom of this mount stood a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +stone, which must have been hewn out of coral rock. It +was four feet broad, two and a half thick, and fourteen high; +and we were told by the natives present, that not above half +its length appeared above ground. They called it <i>Tangata +Arekee</i>;<a name="FNanchor_193_320" id="FNanchor_193_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_320" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> and said, that it had been set up, and the mount +raised, by some of their forefathers, in memory of one of +their kings; but how long since, they could not tell."<a name="FNanchor_194_321" id="FNanchor_194_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_321" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> + +<p>When we remember that Tongan kings were commonly +buried in such mounds as Captain Cook here describes, and +further that these mounds were commonly enclosed or faced +with great blocks of hewn stone, we may be disposed to +accept as reasonable and probable the explanation which +the natives gave of this great monolith, which, if the reported +measurements of it are correct, must have been no less than +twenty-eight feet high. If it was indeed a memorial of a +dead king, it might be thought to strengthen the view that +the great trilithon was also set up as a monument to a +deceased monarch or Tooitonga.</p> + +<p>Another possible explanation of the trilithon is, as Sir +Basil Thomson points out, that it served as a gateway to +some sacred spot inland. But against this view he observes +that he examined the bush for some distance in the neighbourhood +without finding any trace of ruins or stones of any +kind. He adds that the memory of sacred spots dies very +hard in Tonga, and that the natives do not believe the +trilithon to have been a gateway.<a name="FNanchor_195_322" id="FNanchor_195_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_322" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>It is natural to compare the trilithon of Tongataboo +with the famous trilithons of Stonehenge, which it resembles +in plan and to which it is comparable in size. The resemblance +struck Dr. Charles Forbes, the first to publish a +description of the monument based on personal observation. +He says: "The route we pursued led us over a country +perfectly level, with the exception of occasional mounds of +earth, apparently artificial, and reminding one very much of +the barrows of Wilts and Dorset, which idea is still more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +strongly impressed upon the mind on coming in sight of the +monument, which bears a most striking resemblance to the +larger gateway-looking stones at Stonehenge."<a name="FNanchor_196_323" id="FNanchor_196_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_323" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> But at the +same time, as Dr. Forbes did not fail to note, the Tongan +trilithon differs in some respects from those of Stonehenge. +In the first place the interval (ten or twelve feet) between +the uprights of the Tongan trilithon appears to be much +greater than the interval between the uprights of the trilithons +at Stonehenge.<a name="FNanchor_197_324" id="FNanchor_197_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_324" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> In the second place, the cross-stone of the +Tongan trilithon is mortised much more deeply into the +uprights than are the cross-stones at Stonehenge. For +whereas at Stonehenge these cross-stones present the appearance +of being laid flat on the top of the uprights, the cross-stone +of the Tongan trilithon is sunk deeply into the uprights +by means of mortises or grooves about two feet wide +which are cut into the uprights, so that the top of the cross-stone +is nearly flush with their tops, while its ends also are +nearly flush with their outside surfaces.<a name="FNanchor_198_325" id="FNanchor_198_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_325" class="fnanchor">[198]</a></p> + +<p>As the origin and purpose of Stonehenge are still +unknown, its massive trilithons can hardly be cited to +explain the similar monument of Tongataboo. The rival +theories which see in Stonehenge a memorial of the dead +and a temple of the sun<a name="FNanchor_199_326" id="FNanchor_199_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_326" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> are equally applicable or inapplicable +to the Tongan monument. In favour of the +mortuary character of this solitary trilithon it might be +urged that the Tongans were long accustomed to erect +megalithic monuments, though of a different type, at the +tombs of their sacred kings, which are situated not many +miles away; but against this view it may be argued that +there are no traces of burial or graves in the immediate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +neighbourhood, and that native tradition, not lightly to be +set aside, assigns a different origin to the monument. +Against the solar interpretation of the trilithon it may be +alleged, first, that the monument faces north and south, +not east and west, as it might be expected to do if it were +a temple of the sun or a gateway leading into such a +temple; second, that, while a circle of trilithons, as at +Stonehenge, with an opening towards the sunrise may be +plausibly interpreted as a temple of the sun, such an +interpretation cannot so readily be applied to a solitary +trilithon facing north and south; and, third, that no trace +of sun-worship has been discovered in the Tonga islands. +So far as I have observed, the Tongan pantheon is nowhere +said to have included a sun-god, and the Tongans are +nowhere reported to have paid any special respect to the +sun. Savages in general, it may be added, appear to be +very little addicted to sun-worship; it is for the most +part among peoples at a much higher level of culture, such +as the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Peruvians, that +solar worship becomes an important, or even the predominant, +feature of the national faith.<a name="FNanchor_200_327" id="FNanchor_200_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_327" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> Perhaps the +impulse to it came rather from the meditations of priestly +astronomers than from the random fancies of common men. +Some depth of thought was needed to detect in the sun +the source of all life on earth; the immutable regularity +of the great luminary's movements failed to rouse the +interest or to excite the fear of the savage, to whom the +elements of the unusual, the uncertain, and the terrible +are the principal incentives to wonder and awe, and hence +to reflexion. We are all naturally more impressed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +extraordinary than by ordinary events; the fine edge of +the mind is dulled by familiarity in the one case and +whetted by curiosity in the other.</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind the numerous other stone monuments +scattered widely over the islands of the Pacific, from the +Carolines to Easter Island, Dr. Guillemard concludes that +some race, with a different, if not a higher civilisation +preceded the Polynesian race in its present homes, and to +this earlier race he would apparently refer the erection of +the trilithon in Tongataboo.<a name="FNanchor_201_328" id="FNanchor_201_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_328" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> He may be right. Yet +when we consider, first, the native tradition of the setting +up of the trilithon by one of the sacred kings of Tonga; +second, the practice of the Tongans of building megalithic +tombs for these same sacred kings; and, third, the former +existence in Tonga of a professional class of masons whose +business it was to construct stone vaults for the burial of +chiefs,<a name="FNanchor_202_329" id="FNanchor_202_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_329" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> we may hesitate to resort to the hypothesis of an +unknown people in order to explain the origin of a +monument which the Tongans, as we know them, appear +to have been quite capable of building for themselves.</p> + + +<h4>§ 11. <i>Rites of Burial and Mourning</i></h4> + +<p>The only mode of disposing of the dead which was +practised in the Tonga islands seems to have been burial +in the earth. So far as appears, the corpse was not doubled +up, but laid at full length in the grave; at all events I +have met with no mention of burying a corpse in a contracted +posture; and Captain Cook says that "when a +person dies, he is buried, after being wrapped up in mats +and cloth, much after our manner." He adds that, while +chiefs had the special burial-places called <i>fiatookas</i> appropriated +to their use, common people were interred in no +particular spot.<a name="FNanchor_203_330" id="FNanchor_203_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_330" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> So far as I have observed, none of our +authorities speak of a practice of embalming the dead or +of giving the bodies any particular direction in the grave.</p> + +<p>After a death the mourners testified their sorrow by +dressing in old ragged mats and wearing green leaves of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +the <i>ifi</i> tree round their necks. Thus attired they would +repair to the tomb, where, on entering the enclosure, they +would pull off the green twigs from their necks and throw +them away; then sitting down they would solemnly +drink kava.<a name="FNanchor_204_331" id="FNanchor_204_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_331" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> Further, they accompanied their cries and +ejaculations of grief and despair by inflicting on their own +bodies many grievous wounds and injuries. They burned +circles and scars on their bodies, beat their teeth with +stones, struck shark's teeth into their heads till the blood +flowed in streams, and thrust spears into the inner part +of the thigh, into their sides below the arm-pits, and +through the cheeks into the mouth.<a name="FNanchor_205_332" id="FNanchor_205_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_332" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> Women in wailing +would cut off their fingers, and slit their noses, their ears, +and their cheeks.<a name="FNanchor_206_333" id="FNanchor_206_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_333" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> At the funerals of the kings especially +the mourners indulged in frantic excesses of self-torture +and mutilation. Of two such funerals we have the detailed +descriptions of eye-witnesses who resided in the islands at +a time when the natives were as yet practically unaffected +by European influence. King Moomōoe died in April +1797, and the first missionaries to Tonga witnessed and +described his funeral. They have told how, when the +corpse was being carried in procession to a temporary house +near the royal burial-ground (<i>fiatooka</i>), it was preceded by +relatives of the deceased in the usual mourning garb, who +cut their heads with shark's teeth till the blood streamed +down their faces. A few days later, when the burial was +to take place, the missionaries found about four thousand +people assembled at the mound where the body was to be +interred. In a few minutes they heard a great shouting +and blowing of conch-shells, and soon after there appeared +about a hundred men, armed with clubs and spears, who, +rushing into the area, began to cut and mangle themselves +in a most dreadful manner. Many struck their heads such +violent blows with their clubs that the sound could be +heard thirty or forty yards off, and they repeated them till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +the blood ran down in streams. Others, who had spears, +thrust them through their thighs, arms, and cheeks, all the +while calling on the deceased in a most affecting manner. +A native of Fiji, who had been a servant of the late king, +appeared quite frantic; he entered the area with fire in his +hand, and having previously oiled his hair, he set it ablaze, +and ran about with it all on flame. When they had +satisfied or exhausted themselves with this manner of +torment, they sat down, beat their faces with their fists, +and then retired. A second party then inflicted on themselves +the same cruelties. A third party next entered, +shouting and blowing shells; four of the foremost held +stones, which they used to knock out their teeth, while +those who blew the shells employed them as knives with +which they hacked their heads in a shocking manner. +A man who had a spear pierced his arm with it just above +the elbow, and with it sticking fast in his flesh ran about +the area for some time. Another, who seemed to be a +principal chief, acted as if quite bereft of his senses; he +ran to every corner of the area, and at each station beat +his head with a club till the blood flowed down on his +shoulders. At this point the missionary, unable to bear the +sight of these self-inflicted tortures, quitted the scene. +When his colleagues visited the place some hours later in +the afternoon, they found the natives of both sexes still at +the dreadful work of cutting and mangling themselves. +In the course of these proceedings a party of mourners +entered the area, sixteen of whom had recently cut off +their little fingers. They were followed by another party +with clubs and spears, who battered and wounded themselves +in the usual fashion, and also disfigured their faces with +coco-nut husks, which they had fastened to the knuckles +of both hands. The missionaries noticed that the mourners +who were either related to the dead king or had held office +under him, were the most cruel to themselves; some of +them thrust two, three, and even four spears into their +arms, and so danced round the area, while others broke +off the spear-heads in their flesh.<a name="FNanchor_207_334" id="FNanchor_207_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_334" class="fnanchor">[207]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>Similar scenes were witnessed some years later by +Mariner at the death and burial of Finow, another king of +Tonga; and the Englishman has described from personal +observation how on this occasion the mourners cut and +wounded their heads and bodies with clubs, stones, knives, +or sharp shells. This they did on one or other of the +<i>malais</i><a name="FNanchor_208_335" id="FNanchor_208_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_335" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> or ceremonial grounds in the presence of many +spectators, vying apparently with each other in the effort +to surpass the rest in this public manifestation of their +sorrow for the death of the king and their respect for his +memory. As one ran out into the middle of the ground he +would cry, "Finow! I know well your mind; you have +departed to Bolotoo, and left your people under suspicion that +I, or some of those about you, were unfaithful; but where +is the proof of infidelity? where is a single instance of +disrespect?" Then, inflicting violent blows and deep cuts +on his head with a club, stone, or knife, he would again +exclaim at intervals, "Is this not a proof of my fidelity? does +this not evince loyalty and attachment to the memory of the +departed warrior?" Some more violent than others cut +their heads to the skull with such heavy and repeated blows +that they reeled and lost their reason for a time.<a name="FNanchor_209_336" id="FNanchor_209_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_336" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> The +king's successor, Finow the Second, not content with the +usual instruments of torture, employed a saw for the purpose, +striking his skull with the teeth so violently that he +staggered for loss of blood; but this he did, not at the time +of the burial and in presence of the multitude, but some +weeks later at a more private ceremony of mourning before +the grave.<a name="FNanchor_210_337" id="FNanchor_210_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_337" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> At the public ceremony the late king's fishermen +varied the usual breaking of heads and slashing of +bodies by a peculiar form of self-torment. Instead of clubs +they appropriately carried the paddles of canoes, with which +they battered their heads in the orthodox style; but besides +every man of them had three arrows stuck through each +cheek in a slanting direction, so that, while the points +pierced through the cheeks into the mouth, the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +ends went over the shoulder and were kept in position by +another arrow, the point of which was tied to the ends of the +arrows passing over one shoulder, while the other end was +tied to the ends of the other arrows which passed over the +other shoulder. Thus each fisherman was decorated with a +triangle of arrows, of which the apex consisted of six arrow-heads +in his mouth, while the base dangled on his back. +With this remarkable equipment they walked round the +grave, beating their faces and heads with their paddles, or +pinching up the skin of the breast and sticking a spear right +through it.<a name="FNanchor_211_338" id="FNanchor_211_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_338" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> + +<p>The grave of a chief's family was a vault paved with a +single large stone, while the four walls were formed each of +a single block. The vault was about eight feet long, six +feet broad, and eight feet deep, and was covered at the top +by one large stone.<a name="FNanchor_212_339" id="FNanchor_212_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_339" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> So heavy was this covering stone that, +as we have seen, from a hundred and fifty to two hundred +men were required to lift and lower it.<a name="FNanchor_213_340" id="FNanchor_213_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_340" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> Mariner estimated +that the family vault in which King Finow was interred was +large enough to hold thirty bodies. When the king's corpse +was being deposited in it, Mariner saw two dry and perfectly +preserved bodies lying in the vault, together with the bones +of several others; and he was told by old men that the well-preserved +bodies had been buried when they, his informants, +were boys, which must have been upwards of forty years +before; whereas the bodies of which nothing but the bones +remained had been buried later. The natives attributed +the exceptional preservation of the two to the better constitution +of their former owners; Mariner, or more probably +his editor, Dr. Martin, preferred to suppose that the +difference was due to the kind or duration of the disease +which had carried them off. Apparently the natives did +not suggest that the bodies had been embalmed, which they +would almost certainly have done if they had known of such +a custom.<a name="FNanchor_214_341" id="FNanchor_214_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_341" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> No sooner was the king's body deposited in +the grave, and the great stone lowered over it, than certain +ministers (<i>matabooles</i>) and warriors ran like men frantic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +round and round the burial-ground, exclaiming, "Alas! how +great is our loss! Finow! you are departed; witness this +proof of our love and loyalty!" At the same time they cut +and bruised their own heads with clubs, knives, and axes in +the usual fashion.<a name="FNanchor_215_342" id="FNanchor_215_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_342" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Afterwards the grave was filled up with +earth and strewed with sand, which a company of women +and men had brought for the purpose in baskets from a +place at the back of the island; what remained of the sand +was scattered over the sepulchral mound (<i>fytoca</i>), of which +it was deemed a great embellishment. The inside of the +burial-ground was then spread with mats made of coco-nut +leaves.<a name="FNanchor_216_343" id="FNanchor_216_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_343" class="fnanchor">[216]</a></p> + +<p>Meantime the company of mourners had been seated on +the green before the burial-ground, still wearing their mourning +garb of mats, with leaves of the <i>ifi</i> tree strung round +their necks. They now arose and went to their homes, +where they shaved their heads and burnt their cheeks with +a lighted roll of bark-cloth, by applying it once upon each +cheek-bone; next they rubbed the place with an astringent +berry, which caused it to bleed, and afterwards they smeared +the blood in a broad circle round the wound, giving themselves +a very ghastly appearance. They repeated this friction with +the berry every day, making the wound bleed afresh; and +the men meanwhile neglected to shave and to oil themselves +during the day, though they indulged in these comforts at +night. Having burnt their cheeks and shaved their heads, +they built for themselves small temporary huts, where they +lived during the time of mourning, which lasted twenty +days.<a name="FNanchor_217_344" id="FNanchor_217_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_344" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> + +<p>The women who had become tabooed, that is, in a state +of ceremonial pollution, by touching the king's dead body, +remained constantly within the burial-ground for the twenty +days of mourning, except when they retired to one of the +temporary huts to eat,<a name="FNanchor_218_345" id="FNanchor_218_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_345" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> or rather to be fed by others. For +it was a rule that no ordinary person, man or woman, could +touch a dead chief without being tabooed, that is ceremonially +polluted, for ten lunar months, during which time he or +she might not touch food with their own hands. But for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +chiefs the period of pollution was limited to three, four, or +five months, according to the superiority of the dead chief. +Only when the dead body which they had touched was that +of the sacred chief, the Tooitonga, they were all tabooed for +ten months, however high their rank; for example, the king's +wife was tabooed for that length of time during the residence +of Mariner, because she had touched the dead body of the +Tooitonga. During the time that a person was tabooed, he +might not feed himself with his own hands, but must be +fed by somebody else: he might not even use a toothpick +himself, but might guide another person's hand holding the +toothpick. If he was hungry and had no one to feed him, +he must go down on his hands and knees, and pick up his +victuals with his mouth; and if he infringed any of these +rules, it was firmly expected that he would swell up and die.<a name="FNanchor_219_346" id="FNanchor_219_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_346" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> +Captain Cook observed this custom in operation at Tongataboo. +On one of his walks he met with a party of women at +supper, and noticed that two of them were being fed by others. +On asking the reason, he was answered <i>taboo mattee</i>, that is, +"Death taboo." It was explained to him that one of the +women had washed the dead body of a chief two months +before, and that consequently she might not handle any food +for five months. The other had performed the same office +for the corpse of another person of inferior rank, and was +now under the same restriction, but not for so long a time.<a name="FNanchor_220_347" id="FNanchor_220_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_347" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> +The tabooed women at Finow's grave were supplied with +food by the new king, Finow the Second. The food was +brought and placed on the ground at some distance from the +grave, or else it was deposited before the temporary house +to which the chief of the tabooed women retired to be fed. +With the provisions was also sent every day a supply of +torches to light up the burial-ground by night. The torches +were held up by a woman of inferior rank, who, when she +was tired, was relieved in her office by another. During the +twenty days of mourning, if any one passed the burial-ground, +he had to go at a slow pace, with his head bowed down, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +his hands clasped before him; and if he carried a burden, +he must lower it from his shoulder and carry it in his hands +or on his bended arms; but if he could not do so conveniently, +he had to make a circuit to avoid the grave.</p> + +<p>Such were the regular observances at the death and +burial of chiefs; they were not peculiar to the obsequies of +Finow the king.<a name="FNanchor_221_348" id="FNanchor_221_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_348" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> + +<p>The twentieth day of mourning concluded the ceremonies +in honour of the deceased monarch. Early in the morning +all his relations, together with the members of his household, +and also the women who were tabooed on account of having +touched his dead body in the process of oiling and preparing +it, went to the back of the island to procure a quantity of +flat pebbles, principally white, but a few black, which they +brought back in baskets to the grave. There they strewed +the inside of the house and the outside of the burial-ground +(<i>fytoca</i>) with the white pebbles as a decoration; the black +pebbles they laid only on the top of those white ones which +covered the ground directly over the body, to about the +length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very eccentric +ellipse. After that, the house on the burial mound was +closed up at both ends with a reed fencing, which reached +from the eaves to the ground; while at the front and the +back the house was closed with a sort of basket-work, made +of the young branches of the coco-nut tree, split and interwoven +in a very curious and ornamental way. These fences +were to remain until the next burial, when they would be +taken down and, after the conclusion of the ceremony, replaced +by new ones of similar pattern. A large quantity +of food and kava was now sent by the chiefs and the king +to the public place (<i>malai</i>) in front of the burial mound, and +these provisions were served out among the people in the +usual way. The company then separated and repaired to +their respective houses, to prepare for the dances and the +grand wrestling-match, which were to conclude the funeral +rites.<a name="FNanchor_222_349" id="FNanchor_222_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_349" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> + +<p>During the intervals of the dances, which followed, several +warriors and ministers (<i>matabooles</i>) ran before the grave,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +cutting and bruising their heads with axes, clubs, and so +forth as proofs of fidelity to their late chief, the dead +and buried King Finow. It was on this occasion that the +deceased king's fishermen demonstrated their loyalty and +attachment to his memory by the self-inflicted tortures which +I have already described.<a name="FNanchor_223_350" id="FNanchor_223_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_350" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> When these exhibitions of cruelty +were over, the day's ceremonies, which altogether lasted about +six hours, were terminated by a grand wrestling-match. +That being over, the people dispersed to their respective +houses or occupations, and the obsequies of Finow, king of +the Tonga islands, came to an end.<a name="FNanchor_224_351" id="FNanchor_224_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_351" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p> + +<p>The wrestling-match which wound up the funeral honours +paid to the departed monarch would seem not to have been +an isolated case of athletic sports held at this particular +funeral. Apparently it was a general custom in Tonga to +conclude burial-rites with games of this kind. At least we +may infer as much from an expression made use of by the +first missionaries to Tongataboo. They say that the chief +of their district, after taking to himself a wife in the morning +went in the afternoon "to finish the funeral ceremonies for +his brother, in celebrating the games usual on that occasion."<a name="FNanchor_225_352" id="FNanchor_225_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_352" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> +The practice, which is apt to seem to us incongruous, of +holding games at a funeral, was observed by the Greeks +in antiquity and by not a few other peoples in modern +times.<a name="FNanchor_226_353" id="FNanchor_226_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_353" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand the obsequies of the sacred or divine +chief, the Tooitonga, differed in certain remarkable particulars +from the posthumous honours generally paid to chiefs. +It is true that his burial-place was of the same form as that +of other chiefs, and that the mode of his interment did not +differ essentially from theirs, except that it was customary to +deposit some of his most valuable property with him in the +grave, including his beads, whale's teeth, fine Samoan mats, +and other articles. Hence the family burying-place of the +Tooitongas in the island of Tongataboo, where the whole line +of these pontiffs had been interred, must have become very rich +in the course of time; for no native would dare to commit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +the sacrilege of stealing the treasures at the holy tomb.<a name="FNanchor_227_354" id="FNanchor_227_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_354" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> +However, the sacrifice of property to the dead seems not +to have been, as Mariner supposed, peculiar to the funeral +of the Tooitonga; for at the burial of King Moomōoe, in +May 1797, the first missionaries saw files of women and +men bringing bags of valuable articles, fine mats, and bales +of cloth, which they deposited in the tomb expressly as a +present for the dead.<a name="FNanchor_228_355" id="FNanchor_228_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_355" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> Again, the mourning costume worn +for the Tooitonga was the same as that for any chief, consisting +of ragged old mats on the body and leaves of the +<i>ifi</i> tree round the neck; but in the case of the Tooitonga the +time of mourning was extended to four months, the mats +being generally left off after three months, while the leaves +were still retained for another month; and the female +mourners remained within the burial-ground (<i>fytoca, fiatooka</i>) +for about two months, instead of twenty days, only retiring +occasionally to temporary houses in the neighbourhood to +eat or for other necessary purposes.<a name="FNanchor_229_356" id="FNanchor_229_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_356" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>One very remarkable peculiarity in the mourning for a +Tooitonga was that, though he ranked above the king and +all other chiefs, the mourners strictly abstained from manifesting +their grief by wounding their heads and cutting +their bodies in the manner that was customary at the funerals +of all other great men. Mariner was never able to learn +the reason for this abstention.<a name="FNanchor_230_357" id="FNanchor_230_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_357" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p> + +<p>Other peculiar features in the obsequies of a Tooitonga +were the following. In the afternoon of the day of burial, +when the body of the Tooitonga was already within the +burial-ground, almost every man, woman, and child, all +dressed in the usual mourning garb, and all provided with +torches, used to sit down about eighty yards from the grave; +in the course of an hour a multitude of several thousands +would thus assemble. One of the female mourners would +then come forth from the burial-ground and call out to the +people, saying, "Arise ye, and approach"; whereupon the +people would get up, and advancing about forty yards would +again sit down. Two men behind the grave now began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +blow conch-shells, and six others, with large lighted torches, +about six feet high, advanced from behind the burial-ground, +descended the mound, and walked in single file several times +between the burial-ground and the people, waving their +flaming torches in the air. After that they began to ascend +the mound, whereupon all the people rose up together and +made a loud crashing noise by snapping their <i>bolatas</i>, which +were pieces of the stem of a banana tree used to receive the +ashes falling from lighted torches. Having done so, the +people followed the torch-bearers in single file up the mound +and walked in procession round about the tomb (<i>fytoca</i>). +As they passed at the back of the tomb, they all, torch-bearers +and people, deposited their extinguished torches on +the ground; while the female mourners within thanked them +for providing these things. Having thus marched round, the +people returned to their places and sat down. Thereupon +the master of the ceremonies came forward and ordered them +to divide themselves into parties according to their districts; +which being done he assigned to one party the duty of +clearing away the bushes and grass from one side of the +grave, and to another party a similar task in regard to +another side of the grave, while a third party was charged +to remove rubbish, and so forth. In this way the whole +neighbourhood of the burial-ground was soon cleared, and +when this was done, all the people returned to the temporary +houses which, as mourners, they were bound to occupy.<a name="FNanchor_231_358" id="FNanchor_231_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_358" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p>Soon after darkness had fallen, certain persons stationed +at the grave began again to sound the conches, while others +chanted a song, or rather recitative, partly in the Samoan +dialect, partly in an unknown language, of which the natives +could give no account. None of them understood the +words, nor could they explain how their forefathers came to +learn them. All that they knew was that the words had +been handed down from father to son among the class of +people whose business it was to direct burial ceremonies. +According to Mariner, some of the words were Tongan, and +he thought that the language was probably an old or corrupt +form of Tongan, though he could make no sense out of it. +Such traditional repetition of a litany in an unknown tongue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +is not uncommon among savages; it occurs, for instance, +very frequently among some of the aboriginal tribes of +Australia, where the chants or recitatives accompanying +certain dances or ceremonies are often passed on from one +tribe to another, the members of which perform the borrowed +dance or ceremony and repeat by rote the borrowed chants +or recitatives without understanding a word of them.<a name="FNanchor_232_359" id="FNanchor_232_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_359" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>While the conches were sounding and the voices of the +singers broke the silence of night, about sixty men assembled +before the grave, where they awaited further orders. When +the chanting was over, and the notes of the conches had +ceased to sound, one of the women mourners came forward, +and sitting down outside the graveyard addressed the men +thus: "Men! ye are gathered here to perform the duty imposed +on you; bear up, and let not your exertions be wanting +to accomplish the work." With these words she retired into +the burial-ground. The men now approached the mound in +the dark, and, in the words of Mariner, or his editor, performed +their devotions to Cloacina, after which they withdrew. +As soon as it was daylight the next morning, the +women of the first rank, wives and daughters of the greatest +chiefs, assembled with their female attendants, bringing +baskets and shells wherewith to clear up the deposit of the +preceding night; and in this ceremonious act of humility no +lady of the highest rank refused to take her part. Some of +the mourners in the burial-ground generally came out to +assist, so that in a very little while the place was made +perfectly clean. This deposit was repeated the fourteen +following nights, and as punctually cleared away by sunrise +every morning. No persons but the agents were allowed to +be witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies; at least it +would have been considered highly indecorous and irreligious +to pry upon them. On the sixteenth day, early in the +morning, the same women again assembled, but now they +were dressed in the finest bark-cloth and beautiful Samoan +mats, decorated with ribbons and with wreaths of flowers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +round their necks; they also brought new baskets, ornamented +with flowers, and little brooms very tastefully made. +Thus equipped, they approached and acted as if they had +the same task to perform as before, pretending to clear up +the dirt, and to take it away in their baskets, though there +was no dirt to remove. Then they returned to the capital +and resumed their mourning dress of mats and leaves. Such +were the rites performed during the fifteen days; every day +the ceremony of the burning torches was also repeated.<a name="FNanchor_233_360" id="FNanchor_233_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_360" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>For one month from the day of burial, greater or +less quantities of provisions were brought every day and +shared out to the people. On the first day the quantity +supplied was prodigious; but day by day the supply gradually +diminished till on the last day it was reduced to very +little.<a name="FNanchor_234_361" id="FNanchor_234_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_361" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> Nevertheless the consumption or waste of food on +such occasions was so great that to guard against a future +dearth of provisions it was deemed necessary to lay a prohibition +or taboo on the eating of hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts +for a period of eight or ten months, though two or three +plantations were exempted from this rigorous embargo, to +the end that in the meantime hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts +might be furnished for occasional religious rites, and that the +higher order of chiefs might be able to partake of these +victuals. At the end of the eight or ten months' fast the +taboo was removed and permission to eat of the forbidden +foods was granted by the king at a solemn ceremony. +Immense quantities of yams having been collected and piled +up in columns, and some three or four hundred hogs having +been killed, the people assembled from all quarters at the +king's <i>malái</i> or public place. Of the slaughtered hogs about +twenty were deposited, along with a large quantity of yams, +at the grave of the deceased Tooitonga. The rest of the +provisions were shared out in definite proportions among the +gods, the king, the divine chief (the living Tooitonga), the +inferior chiefs, and the people, so that every man in the +island of Tongataboo got at least a mouthful of pork and +yam. The ceremony concluded with dancing, wrestling, and +other sports, after which every person retired to his home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +with his portion of food to share it with his family. The +hogs and yams deposited at the dead Tooitonga's grave +were left lying till the pork stank and the yams were rotten, +whereupon the living Tooitonga ordered that they should be +distributed to all who chose to apply for a portion. In +strict law they belonged to the principal chiefs, but as these +persons were accustomed to feed on meat in a rather less +advanced stage of decomposition they kindly waived their +claims to the putrid pork and rotten yams in favour of the +lower orders, who were less nice in their eating.<a name="FNanchor_235_362" id="FNanchor_235_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_362" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>It was customary that the chief widow of the Tooitonga +should be strangled and interred with his dead body.<a name="FNanchor_236_363" id="FNanchor_236_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_363" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> But +the practice of strangling a wife at her husband's funeral +was not limited to the widows of the Tooitongas. A similar +sacrifice seems to have been formerly offered at the obsequies +of a king; for at the funeral of King Moomöoe the first +missionaries to Tonga saw two of the king's widows being +led away to be strangled.<a name="FNanchor_237_364" id="FNanchor_237_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_364" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> + +<p>The funeral and mourning customs which we have +passed in review serve to illustrate the Tongan conceptions +of the soul and of its survival after death. The strangling of +widows was probably intended here as elsewhere to despatch +their spirits to attend their dead husbands in the spirit +land;<a name="FNanchor_238_365" id="FNanchor_238_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_365" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> and the deposition of valuable property in the grave +can hardly have had, at least in origin, any other object +than to ensure the comfort of the departed in the other +world, and incidentally, perhaps, to remove from him any +temptation to return to his sorrowing friends in this world +for the purpose of recovering the missing articles. The +self-inflicted wounds and bruises of the mourners were +clearly intended to impress the ghost with the sincerity of +their regret at his departure from this sublunary scene; if +any doubt could linger in our minds as to the intention of +these extravagant proceedings, it would be set at rest by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +words with which, as we have seen, the mourners accompanied +them, calling on the dead man to witness their +voluntary tortures and to judge for himself of the genuineness +of their sorrow. In this connexion it is to be borne in mind +that all dead noblemen, in the opinion of the Tongans, were +at once promoted to the rank of deities; so that it was in +their power to visit any disrespect to their memory and any +defalcation of their dues with the double terror of ghosts +and of gods. No wonder that the Tongans sought to keep on +good terms with such mighty beings by simulating, when +they did not feel, a sense of the irreparable loss which the +world had sustained by their dissolution.</p> + + +<h4>§ 12. <i>The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion</i></h4> + +<p>Surveyed as a whole, the Tongan religion presents +a singular instance of a creed which restricted the hope of +immortality to the nobly born and denied it to commoners. +According to the doctrine which it inculcated, the aristocratic +pre-eminence accorded to chiefs in this world was more +than maintained by them in the next, where they enjoyed +a monopoly of immortality. And not content with sojourning +in the blissful regions of Bolotoo, their departed spirits +often returned to earth to warn, to direct, to threaten +their people, either in dreams and visions of the night, or +by the mouth of the priests whom they inspired. Such +beliefs involved in theory and to some extent in practice +a subjection of the living to the dead, of the seen and +temporal to the unseen and eternal. In favour of the +creed it may at least be alleged that, while it looked to +spiritual powers, whether ghosts or gods, for the reward of +virtue and the punishment of vice, it did not appeal to +another life to redress the balance of justice which had been +disturbed in this one. The Tongan religion inculcated a +belief that the good and the bad alike receive a recompense +here on earth, thus implicitly repudiating the unworthy +notion that men can only be lured or driven into the narrow +way of righteousness by the hope of heaven or the fear of +hell. So far the creed based morality on surer foundations +than any faith which would rest the ultimate sanctions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +conduct on the slippery ground of posthumous rewards and +punishments. In this respect, if in no other, we may +compare the Tongan religion to that of the Hebrew +prophets. It has been rightly observed by Renan that +whereas European races in general have found in the +assurance of a life to come ample compensation for the +iniquities of this present life, the Hebrew prophets never +appeal to rewards and punishments reserved for a future +state of existence. They were not content with the conception +of a lame and laggard justice that limps far behind +the sinner in this world and only overtakes him in the +next. According to them, God's justice is swift and sure +here on earth; an unjust world was in their eyes a simple +monstrosity.<a name="FNanchor_239_366" id="FNanchor_239_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_366" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> So too, apparently, thought the Tongans, +and some Europeans may be inclined to agree with them.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_128" id="Footnote_1_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_128"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>U.S. Exploring +Expedition, Ethnography and Philology</i> +(Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 <i>sq.</i>; +F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, ii. +(London, 1894) pp. 497, 499. As to +the scarcity of running water, see Captain +James Cook, <i>Voyages</i> (London, +1809), iii. 206, v. 389. He was told +that there was a running stream on the +high island of Kao. As to the soil of +Tongataboo, see Captain James Wilson, +<i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern +Pacific Ocean</i> (London, 1899), p. 280, +"The soil is everywhere prolific, and +consists of a fine rich mould, upon an +average about fourteen or fifteen inches +deep, free from stones, except near the +beach, where coral rocks appear above the +surface. Beneath this mould is a red +loam four or five inches thick; next is +a very strong blue clay in small quantities; +and in some places has been +found a black earth, which emits a very +fragrant smell resembling bergamot, +but it soon evaporates when exposed to +the air."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_129" id="Footnote_2_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_129"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +277. For descriptions of the volcano +see W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, Second +Edition (London, 1818), i. 240 <i>sq.</i>; +and especially Thomas West, <i>Ten Years +in South-Eastern Polynesia</i> (London, +1865), pp. 89 <i>sqq.</i> Both these writers +ascended the volcano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_130" id="Footnote_3_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_130"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Thomas West, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 79 <i>sqq.</i>; +J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal of a Cruise +among the Islands of the Western +Pacific</i> (London, 1853), p. 120; F. H. +H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, ii. p. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_131" id="Footnote_4_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_131"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> T. West, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 82 <i>sqq.</i>; +George Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i> +(London, 1910), pp. 4 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_132" id="Footnote_5_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_132"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> T. West, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 88 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_133" id="Footnote_6_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_133"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> T. West, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 92-93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_134" id="Footnote_7_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_134"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> I infer this from the entry "Volcanic +island, 1886," in Mr. Guillemard's +map of the Pacific Islands. He does +not mention it in the text (<i>Australasia</i>, +ii. p. 497).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_135" id="Footnote_8_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_135"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> George Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_136" id="Footnote_9_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_136"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> T. West, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_137" id="Footnote_10_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_137"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> George Brown, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_138" id="Footnote_11_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_138"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> T. West, <i>op. cit.</i> 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_139" id="Footnote_12_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_139"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_140" id="Footnote_13_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_140"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_141" id="Footnote_14_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_141"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Captain the Hon. W. Waldegrave, +R.N., "Extracts from a Private Journal," +<i>Journal of the Royal Geographical Society</i>, +iii. (1833) p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_142" id="Footnote_15_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_142"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Charles Darwin, <i>Journal of Researches, +etc., during the Voyage of the +"Beagle"</i> (London, 1912), pp. 471 <i>sqq.</i>; +Sir Charles Lyell, <i>Principles of Geology</i>, +Twelfth Edition (London, 1875), ii. +602 <i>sqq.</i>; T. H. Huxley, <i>Physiography</i> +(London, 1881), pp. 256 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_143" id="Footnote_16_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_143"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> George Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i> (London, 1910), pp. 13 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_144" id="Footnote_17_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_144"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> John Crawfurd, <i>Grammar and +Dictionary of the Malay Language</i> +(London, 1852), <i>Preliminary Dissertation</i>, +p. 253, quoted by Thomas West, +<i>Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia</i>, +pp. 248 <i>sqq.</i> But the more usual view +is that the starting-point of the dispersal +of the Polynesian race in the +Pacific was Samoa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_145" id="Footnote_18_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_145"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and the +Friendly Islands</i> (London, 1855), pp. +134-137; Le P. Reiter, "Traditions +Tonguiennes," <i>Anthropos</i>, xii.-xiii. +(1917-1918), pp. 1026-1040; E. E. +Collcott, "Legends from Tonga," +<i>Folk-lore</i>, xxxii. (1921) pp. 45-48. +Miss Farmer probably obtained +the story from the Rev. John Thomas, +who was a missionary in the islands +for twenty-five years (from 1826 +to 1850). She acknowledges her +obligations to him for information on +the religion of the natives (p. 125). +For the period of Mr. Thomas's residence +in Tonga, see Miss Farmer's +book, p. 161. The story is told in +closely similar forms in many other +islands of the Pacific. For some of the +evidence see my edition of Apollodorus, +<i>The Library</i>, vol. ii. p. 331 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_146" id="Footnote_19_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_146"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +401 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_147" id="Footnote_20_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_147"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. +10, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_148" id="Footnote_21_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_148"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Quoted by F. H. H. Guillemard, +<i>Australasia</i>, ii. p. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_149" id="Footnote_22_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_149"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Jérôme Grange, in <i>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) p. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_150" id="Footnote_23_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_150"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>United States Exploring +Expedition, Ethnography and +Philology</i>, pp. 10 <i>sq.</i>; Charles Wilkes, +<i>Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, iii. 25; J. E. Erskine, +<i>Journal of a Cruise among the Islands +of the Western Pacific</i>, pp. 116, 155. +The naturalist J. R. Forster thought +the Tongans darker than the Tahitians. +See his <i>Observations made during a +Voyage round the World</i> (London, +1778), p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_151" id="Footnote_24_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_151"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage de +la corvette Astrolabe, Histoire du +Voyage</i>, iv. (Paris, 1832) p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_152" id="Footnote_25_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_152"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 155 +<i>sq.</i>; Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and the +Friendly Islands</i>, p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_153" id="Footnote_26_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_153"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. pp. 498 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_154" id="Footnote_27_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_154"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_155" id="Footnote_28_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_155"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_156" id="Footnote_29_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_156"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>The Tonga Islands</i>, +ii. 263 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_157" id="Footnote_30_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_157"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_158" id="Footnote_31_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_158"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +396 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_159" id="Footnote_32_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_159"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +411 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_160" id="Footnote_33_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_160"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +184, 195, v. 274, 316, 357, 416.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_161" id="Footnote_34_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_161"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_162" id="Footnote_35_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_162"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +274, 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_163" id="Footnote_36_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_163"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Id.</i> iii. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_164" id="Footnote_37_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_164"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> This is affirmed by the Catholic +missionary, Jérôme Grange (<i>Annales de +la Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) +pp. 15 <i>sqq.</i>), and though he writes +with a manifest prejudice against his +rivals the Protestant missionaries, his +evidence is confirmed by Commodore +Wilkes, the commander of the United +States Exploring Expedition, who on +his visit to Tongataboo found the +Christians and heathens about to go +to war with each other. He attempted +to make peace between them, but in +vain. The heathen were ready to +accept his overtures, but "it was +evident that King George and his +advisers, and, indeed, the whole +Christian party, seemed to be desirous +of continuing the war, either to force +the heathen to become Christians, or to +carry it on to extermination, which the +number of their warriors made them +believe they had the power to effect. +I felt, in addition, that the missionaries +were thwarting my exertions by permitting +warlike preparations during +the pending of the negotiations." +See Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +iii. 7 <i>sqq.</i> (my quotation is from p. 16). +The story is told from the point of +view of the Protestant (Wesleyan) missionaries +by Miss S. S. Farmer, <i>Tonga +and The Friendly Islands</i>, pp. 293 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_165" id="Footnote_38_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_165"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> John Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprise in the South Seas</i> +(London, 1838), p. 264; Charles +Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 32 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_166" id="Footnote_39_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_166"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +199, v. 414 <i>sq.</i> Captain Cook says +that the only piece of iron he found +among the Tongans was a small broad +awl, which had been made of a nail. +But this nail they must have procured +either from a former navigator, perhaps +Tasman, or from a wreck.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_167" id="Footnote_40_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_167"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>The Tonga Islands</i>, +ii. 287. Compare <i>id.</i> ii. 124, note *; +Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. 410 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_168" id="Footnote_41_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_168"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +194; compare <i>id.</i> i. 317-320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_169" id="Footnote_42_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_169"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +424 <i>sqq.</i>; W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, +ii. 74 <i>sqq.</i>, 132 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Dumont +d'Urville, <i>Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire +du Voyage</i>, iv. (Paris, 1832) pp. +90 <i>sq.</i>, "<i>Si tout était suivant l'ordre +légal à Tonga-Tabou, on verrait d'abord +à la tête de la société le toui-tonga +qui est le véritable souverain nominal +des îles Tonga, et qui jouit même des +honneurs divins</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_170" id="Footnote_43_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_170"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +424 <i>sq.</i>, 429 <i>sq.</i>; W. Mariner, <i>Tonga +Islands</i>, ii. 83 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_171" id="Footnote_44_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_171"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_172" id="Footnote_45_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_172"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>United States Exploring +Expedition, Ethnography and +Philology</i>, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_173" id="Footnote_46_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_173"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Mariner was captured by the +Tongans on December 1, 1806, and he +escaped from the islands in 1810, +apparently in November, but the exact +date of his escape is not given. See +W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 43, ii. +15 <i>sqq.</i>, 68, 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_174" id="Footnote_47_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_174"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +97 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_175" id="Footnote_48_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_175"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> The word is commonly spelled +<i>atua</i> in the Polynesian languages. See +E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i> (Wellington, N.Z. +1891), pp. 30 <i>sq.</i>, who gives <i>otua</i> as +the Tongan form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_176" id="Footnote_49_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_176"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> As to the <i>matabooles</i> see W. +Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 84 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_177" id="Footnote_50_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_177"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> According to a later account, "on +Ata were born the first men, three in +number, formed from a worm bred by +a rotten plant, whose seed was brought +by Tangaloa from heaven. These +three were afterwards provided by the +Maui with wives from the Underworld." +See E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on +Tongan Religion," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, xxx. (1921) p. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_178" id="Footnote_51_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_178"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> So apparently we must interpret +Mariner's brief statement "and the +contrary of good" (<i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +98).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_179" id="Footnote_52_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_179"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_180" id="Footnote_53_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_180"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 424, note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_181" id="Footnote_54_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_181"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_182" id="Footnote_55_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_182"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_183" id="Footnote_56_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_183"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +105 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_184" id="Footnote_57_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_184"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 106 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_185" id="Footnote_58_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_185"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_186" id="Footnote_59_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_186"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +205-208; compare <i>id.</i> 7, note *, 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_187" id="Footnote_60_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_187"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 112 <i>sq.</i> +Compare Captain James Wilson, +<i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern +Pacific Ocean</i> (London, 1799), pp. +277 <i>sq.</i> Móooi is the Polynesian god +or hero whose name is usually spelled +Maui. See Horatio Hale, <i>United +States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography +and Philology</i>, p. 23; E. Tregear, +<i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, pp. 233 <i>sqq.</i> <i>s.v.</i> "Maui."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_188" id="Footnote_61_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_188"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</i>, i. 197 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_189" id="Footnote_62_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_189"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +109, 114 <i>sq.</i>; Horatio Hale, <i>United +States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography +and Philology</i>, pp. 24 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_190" id="Footnote_63_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_190"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Jérôme Grange, in <i>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) p. +11; Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +iii. 23; Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and +the Friendly Islands</i>, p. 133. According +to this last writer it was only +the low islands that were fished up +by Maui; the high islands were +thrown down from the sky by the god +Hikuleo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_191" id="Footnote_64_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_191"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +272, ii. 114 <i>sq.</i> The Catholic missionary +Jérôme Grange was told that the +hook in question existed down to his +time (1843), but that only the king +might see it, since it was certain death +to anybody else to look on it. See +<i>Annales de la Propagation de la Foi</i>, +xvii. (1845) p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_192" id="Footnote_65_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_192"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Island</i>, ii. +104 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_193" id="Footnote_66_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_193"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii, +107 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_194" id="Footnote_67_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_194"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The <i>ifi</i> tree, of which the leaves +were used by the Tongans in many +religious ceremonies, is a species of +chestnut (<i>Inocarpus edulis</i>) which +grows in Indonesia, but is thought +to be a native of America. It is +supposed that the Polynesians brought +the seeds of this tree with them into +the Pacific, where it is said to be a +cultivated plant. See S. Percy Smith, +<i>Hawaiki, the Original Home of the +Maori</i> (Christchurch, etc., New Zealand, +1910), p. 146. To wear a wreath of +the leaves round the neck, and to sit +with the head bowed down, constituted +the strongest possible expression of +humility and entreaty. See E. E. V. +Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," +<i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, xxx. (1921) p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_195" id="Footnote_68_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_195"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 163 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_196" id="Footnote_69_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_196"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +216-219. As to the rule that nobility +descended only in the female line, +through mothers, not through fathers, +see <i>id.</i> ii. 84, 95 <i>sq.</i>; J. Dumont +d'Urville, <i>Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire +du Voyage</i>, iv. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_197" id="Footnote_70_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_197"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_198" id="Footnote_71_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_198"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 194, +note *; compare 434, note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_199" id="Footnote_72_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_199"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_200" id="Footnote_73_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_200"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +80 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_201" id="Footnote_74_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_201"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 136-138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_202" id="Footnote_75_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_202"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 99-101. +Compare E. E. V. Collocot, +"Notes on Tongan Religion," <i>Journal +of the Polynesian Society</i>, xxx. (1921) +pp. 155-157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_203" id="Footnote_76_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_203"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_204" id="Footnote_77_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_204"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 350-360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_205" id="Footnote_78_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_205"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +438 <i>sq.</i>, ii. 210-212; Captain James +Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the +Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 239, 278; +John Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +pp. 470 <i>sq.</i>; Jérôme Grange, in <i>Annales +de la Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) +pp. 12, 26; Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga +and the Friendly Islands</i>, p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_206" id="Footnote_79_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_206"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +204, v. 421 <i>sq.</i> However, in a footnote +to the latter passage Captain Cook +gives the correct explanation of the +custom on the authority of Captain +King: "It is common for the inferior +people to cut off a joint of their little +finger, on account of the sickness of +the chiefs to whom they belong."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_207" id="Footnote_80_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_207"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Labillardière, <i>Relation du Voyage +à la recherche de la Pérouse</i> (Paris, +1800), ii. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_208" id="Footnote_81_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_208"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 79, +268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_209" id="Footnote_82_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_209"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +208 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_210" id="Footnote_83_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_210"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_211" id="Footnote_84_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_211"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +438 <i>sq.</i>; compare <i>id.</i> ii. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_212" id="Footnote_85_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_212"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 367 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_213" id="Footnote_86_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_213"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 238-240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_214" id="Footnote_87_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_214"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. +240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_215" id="Footnote_88_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_215"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_216" id="Footnote_89_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_216"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. +278. This Ambler was a man of +very indifferent, not to say infamous, +character, but he rendered the missionaries +considerable service by instructing +them in the Tongan language, which +he spoke fluently. See Captain James +Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 98, 244 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_217" id="Footnote_90_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_217"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> See <i>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</i>, Third +Edition, ii. 219 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_218" id="Footnote_91_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_218"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +127 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_219" id="Footnote_92_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_219"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 419, ii. 99, +128 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_220" id="Footnote_93_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_220"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_221" id="Footnote_94_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_221"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 278 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_222" id="Footnote_95_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_222"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Quoted by Miss Sarah S. Farmer, +<i>Tonga and the Friendly Islands</i>, p. +131. As to Veeson, see <i>id.</i> pp. 78, +85 <i>sqq.</i> The title of his book is given +(p. 87) as <i>Authentic Narrative of a +Four Years' Residence in Tongataboo</i> +(London: Longman & Co., 1815). I +have not seen the book. The man's +name is given as Vason by (Sir) Basil +Thomson in his <i>Diversions of a Prime +Minister</i> (Edinburgh and London, +1894), pp. 326, 327, 329, 331; but +his real name seems to have been +George Veeson. See Captain James +Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the +Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 6, 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_223" id="Footnote_96_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_223"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +iii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_224" id="Footnote_97_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_224"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 101-103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_225" id="Footnote_98_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_225"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and the +Friendly Islands</i>, pp. 132 <i>sq.</i> As to +Hikuleo and his long tail, see also +Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the United +States Exploring Expedition</i>, iii. 23, +"Hikuleo is the god of spirits, and is +the third in order of time; he dwells +in a cave in the island. Bulotu is +most remarkable for a long tail, which +prevents him from going farther from +the cave in which he resides than its +length will admit of." Here the god +Hikuleo appears to be confused with +the island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which +he resided. Tradition wavers on the +question whether Hikuleo was a god +or goddess, "but the general suffrage +seems in favour of the female sex." +See E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on +Tongan Religion," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, xxx. (1921) pp. +152, 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_226" id="Footnote_99_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_226"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> As to a custom of putting the +first-born to death, see <i>The Dying God</i>, +pp. 178 <i>sqq.</i>; and for other reported +instances of the custom, see Mrs. +James Smith, <i>The Booandik Tribe of +South Australia</i> (Adelaide, 1880), pp. +7 <i>sq.</i>; C. E. Fox, "Social Organisation +in San Cristoval, Solomon Islands," +<i>Journal of the R. Anthropological +Institute</i>, xlix. (1919) p. 100; E. O. +Martin, <i>The Gods of India</i> (London +and Toronto, 1914), p. 215; N. W. +Thomas, <i>Anthropological Report on the +Ibo-speaking peoples of Nigeria</i>, Part i. +(London, 1913) p. 12. Compare E. +Westermarck, <i>Origin and Development +of the Moral Ideas</i> (London, 1906), +i. 458 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_227" id="Footnote_100_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_227"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +110 <i>sq.</i>, 130, 131, 139, 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_228" id="Footnote_101_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_228"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_229" id="Footnote_102_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_229"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Charles Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +iii. 23. The writer here speaks of +Bulotu, where he should have said +Hikuleo. See above, <a href="#Footnote_98_225">p. 89, note<sup>1</sup></a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_230" id="Footnote_103_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_230"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tongan Islands</i>, ii. +97, 99, 103, 109 <i>sq.</i> See above, pp. +<a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_231" id="Footnote_104_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_231"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> W. Mariner, ii. 130 <i>sq.</i>; compare +<i>id.</i> pp. 99, 103 <i>sq.</i>, 109 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_232" id="Footnote_105_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_232"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +104 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_233" id="Footnote_106_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_233"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +110, 130 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_234" id="Footnote_107_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_234"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 423 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_235" id="Footnote_108_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_235"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 99, 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_236" id="Footnote_109_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_236"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and the Friendly Islands</i>, pp. 126 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_237" id="Footnote_110_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_237"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> See below, pp. <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_238" id="Footnote_111_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_238"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on +Tongan Religion," <i>Journal of the +Polynesian Society</i>, xxx. (1921) pp. +154 <i>sq.</i>, 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_239" id="Footnote_112_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_239"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +160, 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_240" id="Footnote_113_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_240"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +159 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_241" id="Footnote_114_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_241"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_242" id="Footnote_115_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_242"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_243" id="Footnote_116_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_243"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +227 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_244" id="Footnote_117_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_244"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +231 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_245" id="Footnote_118_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_245"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +161, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_246" id="Footnote_119_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_246"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_247" id="Footnote_120_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_247"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_248" id="Footnote_121_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_248"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +234 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_249" id="Footnote_122_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_249"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_250" id="Footnote_123_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_250"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +238 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_251" id="Footnote_124_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_251"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_252" id="Footnote_125_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_252"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +230, 231, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_253" id="Footnote_126_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_253"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +230, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_254" id="Footnote_127_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_254"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_255" id="Footnote_128_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_255"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_256" id="Footnote_129_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_256"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_257" id="Footnote_130_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_257"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> See below, pp. <a href="#Page_154">154 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_258" id="Footnote_131_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_258"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> E. E. V. Collocot, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_259" id="Footnote_132_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_259"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> We have seen (p. 70) that according +to Mariner the number of the +original gods was about three hundred; +but as to the deified noblemen he merely +says that "of these there must be a +vast number" (<i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 109). +In his "Notes on Tongan Religion" +(<i>Journal of the Polynesian Society</i>, +xxx. (1921) p. 159) Mr. E. E. V. +Collocot remarks: "The number +of the gods, moreover, was liable +to constant augmentation by the deification +of the illustrious or well-beloved +dead." As a notable instance he +cites the case of a certain chief named +Fakailoatonga, a native of Vavau, who +subdued or overran a large part of +Tongataboo. He was a leper, but for +a long time did not know the true +nature of his malady. When he +learned the truth, he in disgust buried +himself alive, and after his death he +was elevated to the godhead. But in +this deification, if Mariner is right, +there was nothing exceptional; as a +chief he became a god after death in +the course of nature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_260" id="Footnote_133_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_260"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 110</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_261" id="Footnote_134_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_261"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Principles of Sociology</i>, vol. i (London, 1904) pp. 249 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_262" id="Footnote_135_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_262"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. +182-184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_263" id="Footnote_136_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_263"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. +206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_264" id="Footnote_137_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_264"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 144, +note *. However, in another passage +(i. 392, note *) Mariner tells us that, +strictly speaking, the word <i>fytoca</i> +applied only to the mound with the +grave in it, and not to the house upon +the mound; for there were several +<i>fytocas</i> that had no houses on them. +For other mentions of <i>fytocas</i> and +notices of them by Mariner, see <i>op. cit.</i> +i. pp. 386, note *, 387, 388, 392, 393, +394, 395, 402, ii. 214-218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_265" id="Footnote_138_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_265"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +402. A little farther on (p. 424, +note *) Mariner remarks that "mourners +were accustomed to smooth the +graves of their departed friends, and +cover them with black and white +pebbles."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_266" id="Footnote_139_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_266"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Captain Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_267" id="Footnote_140_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_267"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. 342 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_268" id="Footnote_141_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_268"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 240 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_269" id="Footnote_142_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_269"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_270" id="Footnote_143_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_270"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +387 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_271" id="Footnote_144_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_271"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +213 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_272" id="Footnote_145_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_272"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_273" id="Footnote_146_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_273"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 283 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_274" id="Footnote_147_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_274"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> The tomb described and illustrated +by the first missionaries had four massive +and lofty steps, each of them five and +a half feet broad and four feet or three +feet nine inches high. See Captain +James Wilson, <i>l.c.</i>, with the plate +facing p. 284. One such tomb, rising +in four tiers, is ascribed traditionally to +a female Tooitonga, whose name has +been forgotten. See (Sir) Basil +Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities +of Tonga," <i>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</i>, xxxii. (1902) p. 88 n.<sup>2</sup>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_275" id="Footnote_148_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_275"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> The Tahitian chestnut (<i>Inocarpus +edulis</i>); see above, <a href="#Footnote_67_194">p. 74, note<sup>2</sup></a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_276" id="Footnote_149_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_276"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions +of a Prime Minister</i> (Edinburgh +and London, 1894), pp. 379 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i> +"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, +xxxii. (1902) p. 86. According to an +earlier authority, the Tongans could +name and point out the tombs of no +less than thirty Tooitongas. See the +letter of Mr. Philip Hervey, quoted in +<i>Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries +of London</i>, Second Series, vol. ii. p. +77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_277" id="Footnote_150_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_277"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) pp. 86 <i>sq.</i>, 88 n.<sup>2</sup>. As to the +legend of the tyrant Takalaua, see <i>id.</i> +<i>Diversions of a Prime Minister</i>, pp. +294-302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_278" id="Footnote_151_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_278"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean,</i> +p. 252. As to Futtafāihe, the Tooitonga +or divine chief of their time, +the missionaries remark (<i>l.c.</i>) that +"Futtafāihe is very superstitious, and +himself esteemed as an <i>odooa</i> or god." +Here <i>odooa</i> is the Polynesian word +which is usually spelled <i>atua</i>. Mariner +tells us (<i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 76) that the +family name of the Tooitonga was +Fatafehi, which seems to be only +another way of spelling Futtafāihe, the +form adopted by the missionaries. +Captain Cook similarly gives Futtafāihe +as the family name of the sacred kings +or Tooitongas, deriving the name +"from the God so called, who is +probably their tutelary patron, and +perhaps their common ancestor." See +Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. 425.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_279" id="Footnote_152_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_279"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 283-285. The description is +accompanied by an engraved plate, +which illustrates the three types of +tombs mentioned in the text. In the +foreground is the stepped pyramid, a +massive and lofty structure, its flat top +surmounted by a hut. To the right, +in the distance, is seen the square +walled enclosure, with high stones +standing upright at the corners of the +walls, and with a hut enclosed in the +middle of the square. In the background +appears a mound enclosed by a +wall and surmounted by a hut. Thus +a hut figures as an essential part in each +type of tomb. However, Mariner +tells us that "they have several <i>fytocas</i> +which have no houses on them" (<i>Tonga +Islands</i>, i. 392 note *).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_280" id="Footnote_153_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_280"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> The Tooi-tonga-fafine (or fefine) +was the Tooitonga's sister and ranked +above him. Her title means "the lady +Tooi-tonga." "Her dignity is very +great. She is treated as a kind of +divinity. Her rank is too high to +allow of her uniting herself in marriage +with any mortal: but it is not thought +wrong or degrading for her to have a +family, and in case of the birth of a +daughter the child becomes the <i>Tamaha</i>. +This lady rises higher than her mother +in rank, and is nearer the gods. Every +one approaches her with gifts and +homage. Her grandfather will bring +his offerings and sit down before her, +with all humility, like any of the +common people. Sick people come to +her for cure" (Miss Sarah S. Farmer, +<i>Tonga and the Friendly Islands</i>, p. 145, +apparently from the information of Mr. +John Thomas). Captain Cook learned +with surprise that Poulaho, the Tooitonga +of his time (whom Cook speaks +of as the king) acknowledged three +women as his superiors. "On our +inquiring, who these extraordinary +personages were, whom they distinguish +by the name and title of <i>Tammaha</i>, we +were told that the late king, Poulaho's +father, had a sister of equal rank, and +elder than himself; that she, by a man +who came from the island of Feejee, +had a son and two daughters; and that +these three persons, as well as their +mother, rank above Futtafaihe the +king. We endeavoured, in vain, to +trace the reason of this singular pre-eminence +of the <i>Tammahas</i>; for we +could learn nothing besides this account +of their pedigree. The mother and one +of the daughters called Tooeela-Kaipa, +live at Vavaoo. Latoolibooloo, the son, +and the other daughter, whose name is +Moungoula-Kaipa, reside at Tongataboo. +The latter is the woman who +is mentioned to have dined with me on +the 21st of June. This gave occasion +to our discovering her superiority over +the king, who would not eat in her +presence, though she made no scruple +to do so before him, and received from +him the customary obeisance, by touching +her foot." See Captain James +Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. 430 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_281" id="Footnote_154_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_281"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage de +l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage</i>, iv. +(Paris, 1832) pp. 106-108. Singleton +was an Englishman, one of the crew +of the <i>Port-au-Prince</i>, the ship in +which Mariner sailed. When Dumont +d'Urville visited Tonga, Singleton had +lived as a native among the natives for +twenty-three years; he was married and +had children, and he hoped to end his +days in Tongataboo. See J. Dumont +d'Urville, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 23 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_282" id="Footnote_155_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_282"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> "Extrait du Journal de M. de +Sainson," in J. Dumont d'Urville, +<i>Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du +Voyage</i>, iv. (Paris, 1832) pp. 361 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_283" id="Footnote_156_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_283"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Jérôme Grange, in <i>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) +pp. 12 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_284" id="Footnote_157_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_284"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal of a Cruise +among the Islands of the Western Pacific</i> +(London, 1853), p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_285" id="Footnote_158_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_285"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Thomas West, <i>Ten Years in South-Central +Polynesia</i> (London, 1865), pp. 268 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_286" id="Footnote_159_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_286"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions +of a Prime Minister</i>, pp. 379 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i> +"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, +xxxii. (1902) pp. 86-88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_287" id="Footnote_160_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_287"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) pp. 87 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_288" id="Footnote_161_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_288"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions +of a Prime Minister</i>, p. 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_289" id="Footnote_162_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_289"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +424. Elsewhere (v. 364) he speaks of +"a <i>morai</i> or <i>fiatooka</i>"; and shortly +afterwards, referring to the same structure, +he mentions it as "this <i>morai</i>, +or what I may as well call temple" +(p. 365). As to the equivalence of +the words <i>morai</i> and <i>marai</i> (<i>marae</i>), +see J. A. Moerenhout, <i>Voyages aux Îles +du Grand Océan</i> (Paris, 1837), i. 466; +and as to the significance of the word +in its various dialectical forms, see +E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 213, <i>s.v.</i> +"malae."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_290" id="Footnote_163_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_290"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. +157 <i>sqq.</i>; J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made during a Voyage round the World</i> +(London, 1788), pp. 543 <i>sqq.</i>; Captain +James Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the +Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 207 <i>sqq.</i>; +David Porter, <i>Journal of a Cruise made +to the Pacific Ocean</i> (New York, 1822), +ii. 38 <i>sq.</i>; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, +<i>Journal of Voyages and Travels</i> +(London, 1831), i. 240-248, 265 <i>sqq.</i>, +271, 274, 529 <i>sq.</i>, ii. 13 <i>sq.</i>, 38 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, Second +Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. 340, +405; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>Voyages aux +Îles du Grand Océan</i>, i. 466-470; +G. H. von Langsdorff, <i>Reise um die +Welt</i> (Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812), i. +115, 134; H. Melville, <i>Typee</i> (London, +N.D.), pp. 166-169 (<i>Everyman's +Library</i>); Matthias G——, <i>Lettres +sur les Îles Marquises</i> (Paris, 1843), +pp. 54 <i>sq.</i>; C. E. Meinicke, <i>Die +Inseln des Stillen Oceans</i> (Leipzig, +1875-1876), i. 49, ii. 180, 183 <i>sq.</i>; G. +Gerland, in Th. Waitz, <i>Anthropologie</i>, +vi (Leipzig, 1872) pp. 376 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_291" id="Footnote_164_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_291"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Capt. James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. +157 <i>sq.</i>, "Their name for such burying-grounds, +which are also places of +worship, is <i>Morai</i>." Compare <i>id.</i>, i. +217, 219, 220, 224, vi. 37, 41; J. +Turnbull, <i>Voyage round the World</i> +(London, 1813), p. 151, "the <i>morais</i>, +which serve the double purpose of +places of worship and receptacles for +the dead." Compare J. R. Forster, +<i>Observations</i>, p. 545, "To ornament +the <i>marais</i> and to honour by it the +gods and the decayed buried there, the +inhabitants plant several sorts of trees +near them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_292" id="Footnote_165_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_292"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_293" id="Footnote_166_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_293"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 405. Elsewhere (p. 401), speaking +of the Tahitian burial customs, Ellis +observes that "the skull was carefully +kept in the family, while the other +bones, etc., were buried within the +precincts of the family temple."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_294" id="Footnote_167_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_294"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 470. +As to the Tahitian custom of burying +the dead in the <i>marais</i>, see also +C. E. Meinicke, <i>Die Inseln des Stillen +Oceans</i>, ii. 183 <i>sq.</i>, according to whom +only the bodies of persons of high rank +were interred in these sanctuaries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_295" id="Footnote_168_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_295"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> G. H. von Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_296" id="Footnote_169_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_296"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> G. H. von Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_297" id="Footnote_170_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_297"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>Îles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva</i> +(Paris, 1843), p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_298" id="Footnote_171_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_298"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> C. E. Meinicke, <i>Die Inseln des +Stillen Oceans</i>, ii. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_299" id="Footnote_172_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_299"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and +Megaliths in Oceania," <i>American +Anthropologist</i>, N.S. xvii. (1915) pp. +431 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_300" id="Footnote_173_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_300"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_301" id="Footnote_174_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_301"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Above, pp. <a href="#Page_74">74 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_302" id="Footnote_175_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_302"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 88 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_303" id="Footnote_176_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_303"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Sarah S. Farmer, <i>Tonga and the +Friendly Islands</i>, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_304" id="Footnote_177_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_304"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_305" id="Footnote_178_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_305"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +196-202, compare p. 78. The ceremony +was also witnessed, though not +understood, by Captain Cook (<i>Voyages</i>, +v. 363 <i>sqq.</i>) and by the first English +missionaries (Captain James Wilson, +<i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern +Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 264 <i>sq.</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_306" id="Footnote_179_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_306"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> See the letter of Dr. Charles +Forbes, in <i>Archaeologia, or Miscellaneous +Tracts relating to Antiquity</i>, +xxxv. (London, 1853) p. 496 (with a +woodcut); <i>Proceedings of the Society +of Antiquaries of London</i> [First Series], +iii. 19; <i>id.</i> Second Series, i. 287; +letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by +Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, in <i>Proceedings +of the Society of Antiquaries +of London</i>, Second Series, ii. 75-77; +Julius L. Brenchley, <i>Jottings during +the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among +the South Sea Islands in 1865</i> (London, +1873), p. 132 (with a woodcut); (Sir) +Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions of a Prime +Minister</i> (Edinburgh and London, +1894), pp. 380-382 (with a woodcut +on p. 393); <i>id.</i> "Notes upon the +Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. (1902) +pp. 81-84 (with a photograph). Views +of the monument, taken apparently +from photographs, have also been +published by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard +(<i>Australasia</i>, vol. ii. London, 1894, p. +501), Dr. George Brown (<i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, London, 1910, plate +facing p. 410), and by Mr. S. Percy +Smith (<i>Hawaiki</i>, Third Edition, Christchurch, +N.Z., 1910, pp. 157 <i>sq.</i>). +Dr. W. H. R. Rivers spoke as if there +were several trilithons in Tongataboo +(<i>History of Melanesian Society</i>, ii. 430 +<i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i> "Sun-cult and Megaliths in +Oceania," <i>American Anthropologist</i>, +N.S. xvii., 1915, p. 444); but in this +he seems to have been mistaken. So +far as I can gather, there is only one +of these remarkable monuments in +Tongataboo or indeed in the whole +of the Pacific.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_307" id="Footnote_180_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_307"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> For the authorities, see the preceding +note. The measurements, to some +extent discrepant, are given by Dr. +Charles Forbes, Mr. Philip Hervey, +and the passengers of s.s. <i>Wairarapa</i>, +as reported by Sir Basil Thomson +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, +xxxii. 82 <i>sq.</i>), who had unfortunately +mislaid his own notes containing the +measurements. The statement that +the monument was surmounted by a +large bowl is made by Mr. Brenchley, +in whose sketch of the structure the +bowl figures. But Mr. Brenchley did +not himself see the monument, and +nobody else appears to have seen the +bowl. I suspect that the report of the +bowl may have originated in a hasty +reading of Mr. Hervey's statement that +"on the centre of it [the cross-stone] +a small cava bowl is scooped out," +though in Mr. Brenchley's account the +bowl has seemingly increased in size. +Similarly in his report the height of +the uprights has grown to about thirty +feet, which appears to be just double +of their real size. Perhaps Mr. +Brenchley's erroneous allegation as to +the material of the monument similarly +originated in a misunderstanding of +Mr. Hervey's statement that "the +material is the coral rock, or coral rag +which are formed of stone brought +from Wallis's Island."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_308" id="Footnote_181_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_308"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Charles Forbes, in <i>Archaeologia</i>, +xxxv. 496 (who gives <i>Ho ha Mo-nga +Maui</i> as the name of the stones); (Sir) +Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions of a Prime +Minister</i>, p. 382; <i>id.</i>, "Notes upon the +Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. (1902) +p. 81 (who gives <i>Haamonga</i> as the +native name of the stones).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_309" id="Footnote_182_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_309"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) p. 81. Maui is the great hero +of Polynesia, known in nearly every +group of islands, generally regarded as +a demigod or deified man, but sometimes +and in some places rising to the +dignity of full godhead. He appears, +says Mr. E. Tregear, to unite the +classical attributes of Hercules and +Prometheus. See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. +233, <i>s.v.</i> "Maui."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_310" id="Footnote_183_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_310"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> "<i>Tui-ta-tui, lit.</i> 'King-strike-King.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_311" id="Footnote_184_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_311"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) p. 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_312" id="Footnote_185_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_312"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> <i>Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries +of London</i>, Second Series, ii. +77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_313" id="Footnote_186_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_313"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Julius L. Brenchley, <i>Jottings during +the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among +the South Sea Islands in 1865</i> (London, +1873), p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_314" id="Footnote_187_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_314"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, <i>Diversions +of a Prime Minister</i>, p. 395. In this +work the author prints a list of the +Tooitongas "as given by Mr. E. Tregear +on the authority of the Rev. J. E. +Moulton."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_315" id="Footnote_188_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_315"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) p. 83; S. Percy Smith, <i>Hawaiki</i>, +p. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_316" id="Footnote_189_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_316"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +266. As to the size of the stones, +Mariner says, "The stones used for +this purpose are about a foot in thickness, +and are cut of the requisite dimensions, +out of the stratum found on the +beaches of some of the islands."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_317" id="Footnote_190_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_317"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) pp. 83 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_318" id="Footnote_191_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_318"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> W. H. R. Rivers, <i>History of +Melanesian Society</i>, ii. 431.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_319" id="Footnote_192_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_319"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_320" id="Footnote_193_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_320"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> "<i>Tangata</i>, in their language, is +man; <i>Arekee</i>, king."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_321" id="Footnote_194_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_321"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +298 <i>sq.</i> To this description of the +monument Sir Basil Thomson has +called attention; he rightly classes it +with the tombs of the chiefs. See his +"Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, +xxxii. (1902) p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_322" id="Footnote_195_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_322"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) pp. 81 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_323" id="Footnote_196_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_323"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Dr. Charles Forbes, in <i>Archaeologia</i>, +xxxv. p. 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_324" id="Footnote_197_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_324"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> I have no measurements of these +intervals, but write from the impression +of a recent visit to Stonehenge.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_325" id="Footnote_198_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_325"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon +the Antiquities of Tonga," <i>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</i>, xxxii. +(1902) p. 82, quoting the anonymous +pamphlet <i>The Wairarapa Wilderness</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_326" id="Footnote_199_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_326"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Lord Avebury, <i>Prehistoric Times</i>, +Seventh Edition (London, 1913), +pp. 132 <i>sqq.</i>; Sir Norman Lockyer, +<i>Stonehenge and other British Stone +Monuments astronomically considered</i> +(London, 1906); C. Schuchhardt, +"Stonehenge," <i>Zeitschrift für Ethnologie</i>, +xlii. (1910), pp. 963-968; <i>id.</i> +in <i>Zeitschrift für Ethnologie</i>, xliii. +(1911) pp. 169-171; <i>id</i>., in <i>Sitzungsberichte +der königl. preuss. Akademie +der Wissenschaften</i>, 1913, pp. 759 <i>sqq.</i> +(for the sepulchral interpretation); W. +Pastor, "Stonehenge," <i>Zeitschrift für +Ethnologie</i>, xliii. (1911) pp. 163- +(for the solar interpretation).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_327" id="Footnote_200_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_327"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Adolph Bastian observed that +"sun-worship, which people used to +go sniffing about to discover everywhere, +is found on the contrary only in +very exceptional regions or on lofty +table-lands of equatorial latitude." See +his book, <i>Die Voelker des Oestlichen +Asien</i>, iv. (Jena, 1868) p. 175. Nobody, +probably, has ever been better +qualified than Bastian to pronounce an +opinion on such a subject; for his +knowledge of the varieties of human +thought and religion, acquired both by +reading and travel, was immense. It +is only to be regretted that through +haste or negligence he too often gave +out the fruits of his learning in a form +which rendered it difficult to sift and +almost impossible to digest them. +Yet from his storehouse he brought +forth a treasure, of which we may +say what Macaulay said of the scholarship +of Parr, that it was "too often +buried in the earth, too often paraded +with injudicious and inelegant ostentation, +but still precious, massive, and +splendid."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_328" id="Footnote_201_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_328"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. 500.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_329" id="Footnote_202_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_329"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_330" id="Footnote_203_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_330"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +421.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_331" id="Footnote_204_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_331"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +345 <i>sq.</i> As to the mourning costume +of mats and leaves, see also Captain +James Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to +the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, p. 240; +W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 380, +392, 431, ii. 214 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_332" id="Footnote_205_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_332"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i> v. +420.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_333" id="Footnote_206_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_333"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Jérôme Grange, in <i>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</i>, xvii. (1845) p. +13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_334" id="Footnote_207_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_334"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. 242-244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_335" id="Footnote_208_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_335"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Mariner defines a <i>malai</i> as "a piece +of ground, generally before a large house, +or chief's grave, where public ceremonies +are principally held" (<i>Tonga +Islands</i>, vol. ii., "Vocabulary" <i>s.v.</i>). +It is the same word as <i>malae</i> or <i>marae</i>, +noticed above, <a href="#Footnote_162_289">p. 116, note<sup>3</sup></a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_336" id="Footnote_209_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_336"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +379-384.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_337" id="Footnote_210_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_337"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 440-442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_338" id="Footnote_211_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_338"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +404 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_339" id="Footnote_212_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_339"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 144 note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_340" id="Footnote_213_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_340"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_341" id="Footnote_214_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_341"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 388 note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_342" id="Footnote_215_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_342"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 388 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_343" id="Footnote_216_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_343"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 389-392.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_344" id="Footnote_217_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_344"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 392 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_345" id="Footnote_218_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_345"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_346" id="Footnote_219_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_346"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 141 note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_347" id="Footnote_220_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_347"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Captain James Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, v. +336. The writer does not translate +the expression <i>taboo mattee</i>; but <i>mate</i> +is the regular Tongan word for "death" +or "to die." See Mariner, <i>Tonga +Islands</i>, Vocabulary, <i>s.v.</i> "Mate." +Compare E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. +228, <i>s.v.</i> "Mate."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_348" id="Footnote_221_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_348"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 394 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_349" id="Footnote_222_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_349"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 401-403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_350" id="Footnote_223_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_350"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Above, pp. <a href="#Page_135">135 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_351" id="Footnote_224_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_351"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. 403-405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_352" id="Footnote_225_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_352"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_353" id="Footnote_226_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_353"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> <i>The Golden Bough</i>, Part III., <i>The +Dying God</i>, pp. 92 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_354" id="Footnote_227_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_354"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +213 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_355" id="Footnote_228_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_355"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_356" id="Footnote_229_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_356"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 214 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_357" id="Footnote_230_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_357"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_358" id="Footnote_231_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_358"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. 215-217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_359" id="Footnote_232_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_359"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> W. E. Roth, <i>Ethnological Studies +among the North-west-central Queensland +Aborigines</i> (Brisbane and London, +1897), pp. 117 <i>sq.</i>; (Sir) Baldwin +Spencer and F. J. Gillen, <i>Northern +Tribes of Central Australia</i> (London, +1904), pp. 234, 235; <i>id.</i>, <i>Native +Tribes of Central Australia</i> (London, +1899), p. 281 note; <i>id.</i>, <i>Across Australia</i> +(London, 1912), i. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_360" id="Footnote_233_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_360"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +217-219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_361" id="Footnote_234_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_361"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, ii. +220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_362" id="Footnote_235_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_362"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, i. +112 <i>sq.</i>, 120-126, ii. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_363" id="Footnote_236_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_363"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> W. Mariner, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 135, 209 +<i>sq.</i>, 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_364" id="Footnote_237_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_364"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Captain James Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_365" id="Footnote_238_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_365"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> This was the reason assigned for +the strangling of widows at their husband's +funeral in Fiji. See John +Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +pp. 478 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_366" id="Footnote_239_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_366"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> E. Renan, <i>Histoire du peuple d'Israël</i>, ii. 505.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Samoan Islands</i></h4> + +<p>About three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles nearly +due north of Tonga lies Samoa, a group of islands situated +between 13° 30' and 14° 30' South latitude and between +168° and 173° West longitude. The native name of the +group is Samoa, which has this singularity, that it is +apparently the only name that designates a group of islands +in the Pacific; native names for all the other groups are +wanting, though each particular island has its own individual +name. Samoa is also known to Europeans as the +Navigators' Islands, a name bestowed on them by the +French explorer De Bougainville, who visited the group in +1768. The three most easterly islands were discovered in +1722 by Jacob Roggewein, a Dutch navigator, but he +appears not to have sighted the principal islands of the +group, which lie a good deal farther to the westward. +There is no record of any visit paid by a European vessel +to the islands in the interval between the visits of Roggewein +and De Bougainville. The whole archipelago was not +explored till 1787, when the French navigator La Pérouse +determined the position of all the islands.<a name="FNanchor_1_367" id="FNanchor_1_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_367" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The islands are disposed in a line running from west +to east. The most westerly, Savaii, is also the largest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +measuring about forty miles in length. Next follow two +small, but important islands, Apolima and Manona. Then +about three miles to the east of Manona comes Upolu, the +second of the islands in size, but the first in importance, +whether we regard population, harbours, or the extent of +soil available for cultivation. The channel which divides +Upolu from Savaii is from fifteen to twenty miles broad. +About forty miles to the east, or rather south-east, of +Upolu lies the island of Tutuila, with the fine and almost +landlocked harbour of Pangopango. It was in this island +that the French navigator La Pérouse lost his second in +command and twelve men in a fierce encounter with the +natives. The place where the fight took place is now +known as Massacre Cove.<a name="FNanchor_2_368" id="FNanchor_2_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_368" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Some fifty miles to the east +of Tutuila is situated a group of three small islands, Tau, +Ofu, and Olosenga, which are collectively known as Manua.</p> + +<p>The islands are of volcanic formation and for the most +part surrounded by coral reefs, but the intervening seas +are quite free from danger, and the possession of good +harbours renders Samoa politically important. Viewed +from the sea the islands are mountainous and for the most +part wooded to the water's edge, except where a stretch +of fertile plain is interposed between the foot of the +mountains and the sea. The whole group presents to +the voyager a succession of enchanting views as he sails +along the coast. The eye is delighted by the prospect of +lofty and rugged mountains, their tops sometimes lost in +clouds, their slopes mantled in the verdure of evergreen +forests, varied here and there by rich valleys, by grey and +lofty cliffs, or by foaming waterfalls tumbling from heights +of hundreds of feet and showing like silvery threads +against the sombre green of the woods. Along the shore +rocks of black lava alternate with white sands dazzling in +the sunlight and fringed by groves of coco-nut palms, their +feathery tops waving and dancing in the breeze, while the +brilliant cobalt blue of the calm lagoon contrasts with the +olive-green of the deep sea, which breaks in a long line +of seething foam on the barrier reef. The scenery as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +whole combines romantic grandeur with wild and rank +luxuriance, thus winning for Samoa the reputation of being +among the loveliest of the islands which stud like gems the +bosom of the Pacific.<a name="FNanchor_3_369" id="FNanchor_3_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_369" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>The island of Upolu in particular is wooded from its +summit to the water's edge, where in some places the roots +of the trees are washed by the surf, while in many places +clumps of mangrove trees spread out into the lagoon. +The forests are dense and more sombre even than those +of Brazil. The lofty trees shoot up to a great height +before sending out branches. At their feet grow ferns of +many sorts, while climbing vines and other creepers mantle +their trunks and sometimes even their tops. But the +gloom of the tropical forest is seldom or never relieved by +flowers of brilliant tints; the few flowers that bloom in +them are of a white or greyish hue, as if bleached for +want of the sunbeams, which are shut out by the thick +umbrageous foliage overhead.<a name="FNanchor_4_370" id="FNanchor_4_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_370" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Very different from the aspect presented by this luxuriant +vegetation is a great part of the interior of Savaii, the +largest island of the group. Here the desolate and forbidding +character of the landscape constantly reminds the +traveller of the dreadful forces which slumber beneath +his feet. Extinct volcanoes tower above him to heights of +four and five thousand feet, their steep and almost perpendicular +sides formed of volcanic ashes and denuded +of vegetation. For miles around these gloomy peaks the +ground presents nothing to the eye but black rocks, scoriae, +and ashes; the forlorn wayfarer seems to be traversing a +furnace barely extinguished, so visible are the traces of +fire on the sharp-pointed stones among which he picks +his painful way, and which in their twisted and tormented +forms seem still to preserve something of the movement of +the once boiling flood of molten lava. The whole country is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +a barren and waterless wilderness, a solitude destitute alike +of animal and of vegetable life, alternately parched by the +fierce rays of the tropical sun and deluged by hurricanes +of torrential rain. Even the natives cannot traverse these +dreary deserts; a European who strayed into them was +found, after five or six days, prostrate and almost dead on +the ground.<a name="FNanchor_5_371" id="FNanchor_5_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_371" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>In Samoa, as in Tonga, volcanic activity has ominously +increased within less than a hundred years. Near the island +of Olosenga, in 1866 or 1867, a submarine volcano suddenly +burst out in eruption, vomiting forth rocks and mud to a +height, as it was estimated, of two thousand feet, killing the +fish and discolouring the sea for miles round.<a name="FNanchor_6_372" id="FNanchor_6_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_372" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Still later, +towards the end of 1905, another volcano broke out in the +bottom of a deep valley in the island of Savaii, and rose till +it attained a height of about four thousand feet. Down at +least to the year 1910 this immense volcano was still in full +action, and had covered many miles of country under a bed +of lava some ten or twelve feet thick, while with the same +river of molten matter it completely filled up the neighbouring +lagoon and replaced the level shore by an iron-bound coast +of volcanic cliffs.<a name="FNanchor_7_373" id="FNanchor_7_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_373" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>A remarkable instance of these volcanic cliffs is furnished +by the little island of Apolima between Savaii and Upolu. +The islet, which is in fact the crater of an extinct volcano, +is only about a mile long by half to three-quarters of a mile +in width. On every side but one it presents to the sea a +precipitous wall of basaltic rock some thousand feet high, +while the interior is scooped out in the likeness of a great +cauldron. Only at one place is there a break in the cliffs +where a landing can be effected, and there the operation is +difficult and dangerous even in fine weather. In bad weather +the island is completely isolated. Thus it forms a strong +natural fortress, which under the conditions of native warfare +was almost impregnable.<a name="FNanchor_8_374" id="FNanchor_8_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_374" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>As might be expected from their volcanic formation, the +islands are subject to frequent and sometimes severe shocks +of earthquake. The veteran missionary, J. B. Stair, has +recorded that the shocks increased in number and violence +during the last years of his residence in Samoa. The last +of them was preceded by loud subterranean noises, which +lasted for hours, to the great alarm of the natives. At the +north-west of Upolu also, Mr. Stair used often to hear a +muffled sound, like the rumble of distant thunder, proceeding +apparently from the sea under the reef. This curious noise +always occurred on hot, sultry days, and seemed to strike a +note of warning, which filled natives and Europeans alike +with a sense of awe and insecurity.<a name="FNanchor_9_375" id="FNanchor_9_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_375" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Thus if, beheld from +some points of view, the Samoan islands appear an earthly +paradise, from others they present the aspect, and emit the +sounds, of an inferno.</p> + +<p>And with all their natural beauty and charm the islands +cannot be said to enjoy a healthy climate. There is much +bad weather, particularly during the winter months, when +long and heavy rains, attended at times with high winds and +gales, are frequent. The air is more moist than in Tahiti, +and the vegetation in consequence is more rank and luxuriant. +Decaying rapidly under the ardent rays of a tropical sun, it +exhales a poisonous miasma. But the heat, oppressive and +exhausting at times, is nevertheless tempered by the sea and +land breezes, which blow daily, alternating with intervals of +calm between them. Besides these daily breezes the trade +wind blows regularly from the east during the fine season, +when the sky is constantly blue and cloudless. Yet with all +these alleviations the climate is enervating, and a long +residence in it is debilitating to the European frame.<a name="FNanchor_10_376" id="FNanchor_10_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_376" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Nor +are the natives exempt from the noxious effects of an atmosphere +saturated with moisture and impregnated with the +fumes of vegetable decay. The open nature of their dwellings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +which were without walls, exposed them to the heavy +night dews and rendered them susceptible to diseases of the +chest and lungs, from which they suffered greatly; consumption +in its many forms, coughs, colds, inflammation of the +chest and lungs, fevers, rheumatism, pleurisy, diarrhœa, lumbago, +diseases of the spine, scrofula, and many other ailments +are enumerated among the disorders which afflicted them. +But the prevailing disease is elephantiasis, a dreadful malady +which attacks Europeans and natives alike. There are many +cases of epilepsy, and though idiots are rare, lunatics are less +infrequent. Hunchbacks are very common in both sexes, +and virulent ophthalmia is prevalent; many persons lose the +sight of one eye, and some are totally blinded; not less than +a fifth part of the population is estimated to suffer from this +malady.<a name="FNanchor_11_377" id="FNanchor_11_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_377" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Curiously enough, hunchbacks, who are said to +be very numerous on account of scrofula, used to be looked +on as special favourites of the spirits, and many of them, +on growing to manhood, were accordingly admitted to the +priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_12_378" id="FNanchor_12_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_378" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>During the stormy season, which lasts from December to +April, hurricanes sometimes occur, and are greatly dreaded +by the natives on account of the havoc which they spread +both among the crops and the houses. A steady rain, the +absence of the sun, a deathlike stillness of the birds and +domestic animals, and above all the dark and lowering +aspect of the sky, are the premonitory symptoms of the +coming calamity and inspire general consternation, while +the thunderous roar of the torrents and waterfalls in the +mountains strike on the ear with redoubled distinctness in +the prevailing silence which preludes the storm. Warned +by these ominous signs, the natives rush to secure their property +from being swept away by the fury of the blast. Some +hurry their canoes inland to places of comparative safety; +others pile trunks of banana-trees on the roofs of their houses +or fasten down the roofs by hanging heavy stones over them;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +while yet others bring rough poles, hastily cut in the forest, +and set them up inside the houses as props against the rafters, +to prevent the roof from falling in. Sometimes these efforts +are successful, sometimes futile, the hurricane sweeping everything +before it in its mad career, while the terrified natives +behold the fruits of months of toil, sometimes the growth of +years, laid waste in an hour. On such occasions the shores +have been seen flooded by the invading ocean, houses carried +clean away, and a forest turned suddenly into a bare and +treeless plain. Men have been forced to fling themselves +flat on the ground and to dig their hands into the earth to +save themselves from being whirled away and precipitated +into the sea or a torrent. In April 1850 the town of Apia, +the capital of the islands, was almost destroyed by one of +these cyclones. When the rage of the tornado is spent and +calm has returned, the shores of a harbour are apt to present +a melancholy scene of ruin and desolation, their shores +strewn with the wrecks of gallant ships which lately rode +there at anchor, their pennons streaming to the wind. So +it happened in the harbour of Apia on March 16th, 1889. +Before the tempest burst, there were many ships of various +nations anchored in the bay, among them five or six American +and German warships. When it was over, all were wrecked +and their shattered fragments littered the reefs. One vessel +alone, the British man-of-war, <i>Calliope</i>, was saved by the +courage and skill of the captain, who, seconded by the +splendid seamanship of the crew, forced his ship, in the very +teeth of the hurricane, out into the open sea, where he safely +weathered the storm.<a name="FNanchor_13_379" id="FNanchor_13_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_379" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>A special interest attaches to Samoa in so far as it is +now commonly believed to be the original seat of the +Polynesian race in the Pacific, from which their ancestors +gradually dispersed to the other islands of that vast ocean, +where their descendants are settled to this day. Polynesian +traditions point to such a dispersal from Samoa as a centre, +and they are confirmed by the name which the various +branches of the race give to their old ancestral home. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +original form of that name appears to have been Savaiki, +which through dialectical variations has been altered to +Hawaiki in New Zealand, to Hawaii in the Sandwich +Islands, to Havaii in Tahiti, to Havaiki in the Marquesas, +and to Avaiki in Rarotonga. In the Samoan dialect, which of +all the Polynesian dialects alone retains the letter S, the word +presumably appears as Savaii, the name of the largest island +of the group, which accordingly may be regarded, with some +probability, as the cradle-land of the Polynesians in the +Pacific; though native traditions indicate rather Upolu or +Manua as the place from which the canoes started on their +long and adventurous voyages. On the other hand in +favour of Savaii it has been pointed out that the island holds +a decided superiority over the other islands of the group in +respect of canoe-building; for it possesses extensive forests +of hard and durable timber, which is much sought after for +the keels and other parts of vessels; indeed, the large +sea-going canoes were generally, if not always, built on +Savaii, and maritime expeditions appear sometimes to have +started from its shores.<a name="FNanchor_14_380" id="FNanchor_14_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_380" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> In proof that the Samoans have +long been settled in the islands which they now occupy, it +may be alleged that they appear to have no tradition of +any other home from which their ancestors migrated to their +present abode. With the single exception of a large village +called Matautu in Savaii, the inhabitants of which claim that +they came originally from Fiji, all the Samoans consider +themselves indigenous.<a name="FNanchor_15_381" id="FNanchor_15_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_381" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The Samoans and Tongans, says +Mr. S. Percy Smith, "formed part of the first migration into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +the Pacific, and they have been there so long that they have +forgotten their early history. All the numerous legends as +to their origin seem to express their own belief in their +being autochthones, created in the Samoan Islands."<a name="FNanchor_16_382" id="FNanchor_16_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_382" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Samoan Islanders, their character</i></h4> + +<p>In spite of the many diseases prevalent among them, +the Samoans are commonly reckoned among the finest, as +well as the purest, specimens of the Polynesian race. Like +the Tongans, whom they closely resemble, they are generally +tall and shapely, with full rounded faces and limbs, but +without that grossness and laxity of fibre common in the +Tahitians. The average height of the men is said to be five +feet ten inches, but some of them are over six feet with the +thews and sinews of a Hercules. Their features, though +not always regular, are commonly pleasing; and in +particular the forehead is remarkable for its ample development, +which, with the breadth between the eyes, gives to the +countenance an expression of nobleness and dignity. Some +of the young men especially are models of manly beauty; +we read of one who, having decked his hair with the flowers +of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an Antinous. The +women are comely enough, but strikingly inferior to the men +in point of personal beauty. The prevailing colour is a +light copper or olive brown, but the shade varies a good deal, +deepening somewhat in fishermen and others who are much +exposed to the sun; but it never approaches the dark +chocolate tint, or Vandyke brown, of the Melanesians. Their +hair is usually black and wavy, sometimes curly; but hardly +a vestige is to be seen among them of the crisped and +woolly hair and dusky complexion of the Melanesians, their +neighbours on the west.<a name="FNanchor_17_383" id="FNanchor_17_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_383" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The prepossessing appearance of the Samoans on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +whole does not belie their character. They are reputed to +be the most refined and civilised of all the native races of +the Pacific, and this superiority is said to manifest itself in +their social and domestic life.<a name="FNanchor_18_384" id="FNanchor_18_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_384" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The Samoans, we are told, +are a nation of gentlemen and contrast most favourably with +the generality of the Europeans who come among them.<a name="FNanchor_19_385" id="FNanchor_19_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_385" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +They are said to carry their habits of cleanliness and decency +to a higher point than the most fastidious of civilised +nations;<a name="FNanchor_20_386" id="FNanchor_20_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_386" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> and the Samoan women appear to be honourably +distinguished by their modest behaviour and fidelity in +marriage, qualities which contrast with the profligacy of their +sex in other branches of the Polynesian race.<a name="FNanchor_21_387" id="FNanchor_21_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_387" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Equally +honourable to the men are the respect and kindness which, +according to the testimony of observers, they pay to their +women, whom they are said to regard as their equals.<a name="FNanchor_22_388" id="FNanchor_22_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_388" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> The +aged were treated with respect and never abandoned; and +strangers were always received in the best house and +provided with food specially prepared for them.<a name="FNanchor_23_389" id="FNanchor_23_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_389" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Infanticide, +which was carried to an appalling and almost incredible +extent among some of the Polynesians,<a name="FNanchor_24_390" id="FNanchor_24_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_390" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> was unknown in +Samoa; abortion, indeed, was not uncommon, but once born +children were affectionately cared for and never killed or +exposed.<a name="FNanchor_25_391" id="FNanchor_25_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_391" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Wives and slaves were never put to death at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +chief's burial, that their souls might attend their dead lord to +the spirit land<a name="FNanchor_26_392" id="FNanchor_26_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_392" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>, as was the practice in some of the other +islands, even in Tonga. Again, human sacrifices were not +offered by the Samoans to the gods within the time during +which the islands have been under the observation of Europeans; +but in some of the more remote traditions mention +is made of such sacrifices offered to the sun. Thus it is said +that in the mythical island of Papatea, somewhere away in +the east, the sun used to call for two victims every day, one +at his rising and another at his setting. This lasted for +eighty days. At such a rate of consumption the population +of the island was rapidly wasting away. To escape the +threatened doom, a brother and sister, named Luama and +Ui, fled from Papatea to Manua, the most easterly of the +Samoan islands, but they found to their consternation that +there too, the sun was demanding his daily victims. Every +house had to supply a victim in succession, and, when all +had yielded the tribute, it came to the first house in turn to +renew the sacrifice. The victim was laid out on a pandanus +tree, and there the sun devoured him or her. When the lot +fell on Luama, his heroic sister Ui insisted on taking his +place, and lying down, she cried, "O cruel sun! come and +eat your victim, we are all being devoured by you." But +the amorous sun fell in love with her and took her to wife, +at the same time putting an end to the human sacrifices. +Another story affirms that the heroine was a daughter of the +King of Manua, and that he yielded her up as an offering to +the sun in order to end the sacrifices by making her the +saviour of the people.<a name="FNanchor_27_393" id="FNanchor_27_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_393" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>The Samoans, when they became known to Europe +in the nineteenth century, did not habitually indulge in +cannibalism; indeed, according to John Williams, one of +the earliest missionaries to the islands, they spoke of the +practice with great horror and detestation.<a name="FNanchor_28_394" id="FNanchor_28_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_394" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> But we have +the testimony of other early missionaries that in their wars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +they occasionally resorted to it as a climax of hatred and +revenge, devouring some portion of an enemy who had +rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious by his cruelty or his +provocations. Traditions, too, are on record of chiefs who +habitually killed and devoured their fellow-creatures. A +form of submission which a conquered party used to adopt +towards their conquerors has also been interpreted as a relic +of an old custom of cannibalism. Representatives of the +vanquished party used to bow down before the victors, each +holding in his hands a piece of firewood and a bundle of +leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven. +This was as much as to say, "Kill us and cook us, if you +please." Criminals, too, were sometimes bound hand and +foot, slung on a pole, and laid down before the persons +they had injured, like pigs about to be killed and cooked. +Combining these and other indications we may surmise that +cannibalism was formerly not infrequent among the ancestors +of the Samoans, though among their descendants in the +nineteenth century the practice had almost wholly died out.<a name="FNanchor_29_395" id="FNanchor_29_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_395" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +It is further to the credit of the Samoans that their public +administration of justice was on the whole mild and humane. +Torture was never employed to wring the truth from +witnesses or the accused, and there seems to be only a +single case on record of capital punishment inflicted by +judicial sentence. At the same time private individuals +were free to avenge the adultery of a wife or the murder +of a kinsman by killing the culprit, and no blame attached +to them for so doing. The penalties imposed by the +sentence of a court or judicial assembly (<i>fono</i>) included +fines, banishment, and the destruction of houses, fruit-trees, +and domestic animals. But a criminal might also be condemned +by a court to suffer corporal punishment in one +form or another. He might, for example, be obliged to +wound himself by beating his head and chest with a stone +till the blood flowed freely; if he seemed to spare himself, +he would be ordered by the assembled chiefs to strike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +harder, and if he still faltered, the prompt and unsparing +application of a war club to his person effectually assisted +the execution of the sentence. Again, he might be condemned +to bite a certain acrid and poisonous root (called +in the native language <i>tevi</i>) which caused the mouth to +swell and the culprit to suffer intense agony for a considerable +time afterwards. Or he might have to throw up a +spiny and poisonous fish into the air and to catch it in his +naked hand as it fell; the sharp-pointed spines entered into +the flesh and inflicted acute pain and suffering. Or he +might be suspended by hands and feet from a pole and in +this attitude exposed to the broiling sun for many hours +together; or he might be hung by the feet, head downward, +from the top of a tall coco-nut tree and left there to expiate +his crime for a long time. For certain offences the culprit +was condemned to have his nose tattooed or his ears split. In +sentences of banishment the term of exile was never specified, +but when the sentence had been pronounced in full assembly, +and the offence was great, the culprit might live in exile for +years. When the punishment consisted in the destruction +of houses, plantations, and live stock, it was immediately +inflicted by the whole force of the district, under the direction +and superintendence of the leading men, who had taken part +in the assembly and passed the sentence. A whole family +might suffer in this way for the offence of one of its members, +and be driven into exile, after witnessing the burning of their +house, the killing of their pigs, and the barking of their breadfruit +trees.<a name="FNanchor_30_396" id="FNanchor_30_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_396" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> If such penalties seem to us in some cases +needlessly severe, they at least testify to a strong sense of +public justice developed among the Samoans, who had thus +advanced far enough to transfer, in some measure, the redress +of wrongs to judicial assemblies instead of leaving it to the +caprice of the injured individuals. Nevertheless the transference +was but imperfect: the administration of justice was +loose and irregular: for the most part every man was a law +to himself, and did what was right in his own eyes. An +aggrieved party would become his own judge, jury, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +executioner. The thirst for vengeance was slaked only by +the blood of a victim.<a name="FNanchor_31_397" id="FNanchor_31_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_397" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>It is another sign of the intellectual enlightenment of +the Samoans that they rose apparently superior to that +system of malignant magic, which kept their neighbours +the Melanesians in lifelong bondage. The experienced +missionary, Dr. George Brown, could not find in Samoa +any trace of the practice of that particular form of the black +art with which he was familiar in New Britain and other +Melanesian islands, the practice of procuring some object +which has belonged to an enemy or been touched by him, +and taking it to a sorcerer, that he may perform over it a +ceremony for the purpose of injuring the person from whom +the object has been obtained. The proceeding is one of the +commonest forms of sympathetic magic, but the Samoans +appear to have ignored or despised it.<a name="FNanchor_32_398" id="FNanchor_32_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_398" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Again, the silence +of our authorities on the subject of amulets and talismans +leaves us to infer that the Samoans were equally indifferent +to that branch of magic which seeks to ensure the safety +and prosperity of the individual by attaching a miscellaneous +collection of rubbish to his person, a system of ensurance +against evil and misfortune which has attained a prodigious +development among some savages, notably in Africa,<a name="FNanchor_33_399" id="FNanchor_33_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_399" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> and +is very far from being unknown in Europe at the present +day. Again, unlike most savages, the Samoans were close +observers of the stars, not only reckoning the time of night +by the rising of particular stars, but steering by them when +they were out of sight of land.<a name="FNanchor_34_400" id="FNanchor_34_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_400" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Against these amiable and enlightened traits in the +Samoan character must be set their cruelty in war. If they +opened hostilities with a great deal of formal politeness, +they conducted them with great ferocity. No quarter was +given to men in battle, and captives were ruthlessly +slaughtered. Women were sometimes spared for the use +of their captors. Nor did death save the conquered from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +the insults and outrages of the insolent victors. The slain +on the battlefield were treated with great indignity. Their +heads were cut off and carried in triumph to the village, +where they were piled up in a heap in the place of public +assembly, the head of the most important chief being given +the place of honour on the top of the pile. However, they +were not kept as trophies, but after remaining for some +hours exposed to public gaze were either claimed by the +relatives or buried on the spot. The headless trunks were +given to children to drag about the village and to spear, +stone, or mutilate at pleasure.<a name="FNanchor_35_401" id="FNanchor_35_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_401" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The first missionary to +Samoa was told in Manua that the victors used to scalp +their victims and present the scalps, with kava, either to the +king or to the relatives of the slain in battle, by whom +these gory trophies were highly prized. He mentions as an +example the case of a young woman, whose father had been +killed. A scalp of a foe having been brought to her, she +burnt it, strewed the ashes on the fire with which she cooked +her food, and then devoured the meat with savage satisfaction.<a name="FNanchor_36_402" id="FNanchor_36_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_402" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +But the climax of cruelty and horror was reached +in a great war which the people of A‛ana, in Upolu, waged +against a powerful combination of enemies. After a brave +resistance they were at last defeated, and the surviving warriors, +together with the aged and infirm, the women and children, +fled to the mountains, where they endeavoured to hide +themselves from their pursuers in the caves and the depths +of the forest. But they were hunted out and brought down +to the seashore; and an immense pit having been dug and +filled with firewood, they were all, men, women, and children, +thrown into it and burnt alive. The dreadful butchery went +on for days. Four hundred victims are said to have perished. +The massacre was perpetrated at the moment when the first +missionaries were landing in Samoa. From the opposite +shore they beheld the mountains enveloped in the flames +and smoke of the funeral pile. The decisive battle had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +been fought that very morning. For many years a great +black circle of charcoal marked the scene and preserved the +memory of the fatal transaction.<a name="FNanchor_37_403" id="FNanchor_37_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_403" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>Houses, Agriculture, and Industries</i></h4> + +<p>Like all the Polynesians, the Samoans are not nomadic, +but live in settled villages. The typical Samoan house is +commonly described as oval or elliptical, though in fact it +would seem to be of oblong shape with semicircular ends. +But many houses were circular in shape, and with their +conical thatched roofs resembled gigantic beehives. From +the Tongans the Samoans also borrowed the custom of +building oblong quadrangular houses, which were called +<i>afolau</i>. The best houses, in particular those of important +chiefs, were built on raised platforms of stones about three +feet high. One of the circular houses would measure about +thirty-five feet in diameter by a hundred in circumference. +Two or three posts in the centre of the house, some twenty +feet high, supported the roof, the lower end of which rested +on a series of short posts, four or five feet high, placed at +intervals of about four feet all round the house. The +intervals between these posts were sometimes closed by +thatch neatly tied to sticks, which were planted upright in +the ground and fastened to the eaves; but more commonly, +it would seem, the intervals between the posts were left +open and only closed at night by blinds made of coco-nut +leaves, which could be let down or pulled up like Venetian +blinds. During the day these blinds were drawn up, so +that there was a free current of air all through the house. +The roofs of the best houses were made of bread-fruit wood +carefully thatched with leaves of the wild sugar-cane; when +well made, the thatch might last seven years. The circular +roofs were so constructed that they could be lifted clean off +the posts and removed anywhere, either by land or on a +raft of canoes. The whole house could also be transported; +and as Samoan houses were often bartered, or given as +presents, or paid as fines, it frequently happened that they +were removed from place to place. In the whole house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +there was not a single nail or spike: all joints were made +by exactly corresponding notches and secured by cinnet, that +is cordage made from the dried fibre of the coco-nut husk. +The timber of the best houses was the wood of the bread-fruit +tree; and, if protected against damp, it would last fifty +years. The floor of the house was composed of stones, +overlaid with fine gravel and sand. In the centre of the +floor was the fire-place, a circular hollow two or three feet +in diameter and a few inches deep, lined with hardened +clay. It was not used for cooking, but for the purpose of +lighting up the house by night. The cooking was never +done in the house, but always in the open air outside on an +oven of hot stones. An ordinary Samoan house consisted +of a single apartment, which served as the common parlour, +dining-room, and bedroom of the family. But at night +small tents made of bark-cloth were hung from the ridge-pole, +and under them the various members of the family +slept separately, the tents serving them at the same time as +curtains to protect them against the mosquitoes. Formerly, +the houses of the principal chiefs were surrounded with two +fences; the outer of the two was formed of strong posts +and had a narrow zigzag entrance, several yards long, +leading to an opening in the inner fence, which was made +of reeds. But with the advent of a more peaceful epoch +these fortified enclosures for the most part disappeared. +Houses constructed on the Tongan model were often very +substantially built: a double row of posts and cross-beams +supported the roof. These houses were found better able +to resist the high winds which prevail at one season of the +year.<a name="FNanchor_38_404" id="FNanchor_38_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_404" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Like the rest of the Polynesians, the Samoans are an +agricultural people, and subsist mainly by the fruits of the +earth, though the lagoons and reefs furnish them with a +large supply of fish and shell-fish, of which they are very +fond. They all, but especially persons of rank, occasionally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +regaled themselves on pigs, fowls, and turtle. But bread-fruit, +taro, yams, bananas, and coco-nuts formed the staff of +life in Samoa. As the soil is very rich and the hot, damp +climate is eminently favourable to the growth of vegetation, +food was always abundant, and the natives could procure +the necessaries and even the luxuries of life at the cost of +very little labour; if they tilled the soil, it was rather to +vary their diet than to wring a scanty subsistence from a +niggardly nature. Coco-nut palms, bread-fruit and chestnut +trees, and wild yams, bananas, and plantains abound throughout +the islands, and require little attention to make them +yield an ample crop. For about half the year the Samoans +have a plentiful supply of food from the bread-fruit trees: +during the other half they depend principally upon their +taro plantations. While the bread-fruit is in season, every +family lays up a quantity of the ripe fruit in a pit lined +with leaves and covered with stones. The fruit soon +ferments and forms a soft mass, which emits a very vile +smell every time the pit is opened. In this state it may be +kept for years, for the older and more rotten the fruit is, the +better the natives like it. They bake it, with the juice of +the coco-nut, into flat cakes, which are eaten when the ripe +fruit is out of season or when taro is scarce. For taro is on +the whole the staple food of the Samoans; it grows all the +year round. The water of the coco-nut furnishes a cool, +delicious, slightly effervescing beverage, which is peculiarly +welcome to the hot and weary wayfarer far from any spring +or rivulet.<a name="FNanchor_39_405" id="FNanchor_39_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_405" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>To obtain land for cultivation the Samoans went into +the forest and cut down the brushwood and creeping vines +with small hatchets or large knives. The large forest-trees +they destroyed by chopping away the bark in a circle round +the trunk and then kindling a fire of brushwood at the foot +of the tree. Thus in the course of a few days a fair-sized +piece of ground would be cleared, nothing of the forest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +remaining but charred trunks and leafless branches. Then +followed the planting. The agricultural instruments employed +were of the simplest pattern. A dibble, or pointed +stick of hard wood, was used to make the hole in which the +plant was deposited. This took the place of a plough, and +a branch served the purpose of a harrow. Sometimes the +earth was dug and smoothed with the blade of a canoe +paddle. The labour of clearing and planting the ground +was done by the men, but the task of weeding it generally +devolved on the women. The first crop taken from a piece +of land newly cleared in the forest was yams, which require +a peculiar culture and frequent change of site, two successive +crops being seldom obtained from the same land. After +the first crop of yams had been cleared off, taro was planted +several times in succession; for this root does not, like +yams, require a change of site. However, we are told that +a second crop of taro grown on the same land was very +inferior to the first, and that as a rule the land was allowed +to remain fallow until the trees growing on it were as thick +as a man's arm, when it was again cleared for cultivation. +In the wet season taro was planted on the high land from +one to four miles inland from the village; other kinds of +taro were planted in the swamps, and these were considered +more succulent than the taro grown on the uplands. The +growing crops of taro were weeded at least twice a year. +The natives resorted to irrigation, when they had the +means; and they often dug trenches to drain away the +water from swampy ground. Yams also required attention; +for sticks had to be provided on which the plants could run. +The fruit ripens only once a year, but it was stored up, and +with care would keep till the next season. The natives +found neither yams nor bread-fruit so nourishing as taro.<a name="FNanchor_40_406" id="FNanchor_40_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_406" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>The degree of progress which any particular community +has made in civilisation may be fairly gauged by the degree +of subdivision of labour among its members; for it is only +by restricting his energies to a particular craft that a man +can attain to any perfection in it. Judged by this standard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +the Samoans had advanced some way on the road to +civilisation, since among them the division of labour was +carried out to a considerable extent: in their native state +they had not a few separate trades or professions, some of +which may even be said to have developed the stability and +organisation of trade guilds. Among them, for example, +house-building, canoe-building, tattooing, and the making +of nets and fish-hooks were distinct crafts, which, though +not strictly hereditary, were usually confined to particular +families. Thus by long practice and experience handed +down from generation to generation a considerable degree +of skill was acquired, and a considerable degree of reputation +accrued to the family. Every trade had its particular +patron god and was governed by certain well-known rules. +The members formed, indeed, we are told, a trade union +which was remarkably effective. Thus they had rules +which prescribed the time and proportions of payment to be +made at different stages of the work, and these rules were +strictly observed and enforced by the workmen. For +example, in the house-building trade, it was a standing +custom that after the sides and one end of a house were +finished, the principal part of the payment should be made. +If the carpenters were dissatisfied with the amount of payment, +they simply left off work and walked away, leaving +the house unfinished, and no carpenter in the whole length +and breadth of Samoa would dare to finish it, for it would +have been as much as his business or even his life was +worth to undertake the job. Anyone so foolhardy as thus +to set the rules of the trade at defiance would have been +attacked by the other workmen and robbed of his tools; at +the best he would receive a severe thrashing, at the worst he +might be killed. A house might thus stand unfinished for +months or even years. Sooner or later, if he was to have a +roof over his head, the unfortunate owner had to yield to +the trade union and agree to such terms as they might +dictate. If it happened that the house was almost finished +before the fourth and final payment was made, and the +builder at that stage of the proceedings took offence, he +would remove a beam from the roof before retiring in +dudgeon, and no workman would dare to replace it. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +rules in the other trades, such as canoe-building and tattooing, +were practically the same. In canoe-building, for +example, five separate payments were made to the builders +at five stages of the work; and if at any stage the workmen +were dissatisfied with the pay, they very unceremoniously +abandoned the work until the employer apologised or came +to terms. No other party of workmen would have the +temerity to finish the abandoned canoe upon pain of bringing +down on their heads the wrath of the whole fraternity +of canoe-builders; any such rash offenders against the rules +of the guild would be robbed of their tools, expelled from +their clan, and prohibited from exercising their calling +during the pleasure of the guild. Such strides had the +Samoans made in the direction of trade unionism.<a name="FNanchor_41_407" id="FNanchor_41_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_407" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>In addition to their household duties women engaged +in special work of their own, particularly in the manufacture +of bark-cloths and of fine mats; but among them there +seems to have been no subdivision of labour and consequently +no professional guilds. In all families the making +of bark-cloth and mats was carried on by the women +indifferently, though some no doubt excelled others in the +skill of their handiwork. The cloth was made from the +bark of the paper-mulberry (<i>Morus papyrifera</i>), which was +beaten out on boards with a grooved beetle. The sound +of these beetles ringing on the boards, though not very +musical, was a familiar sound in a Samoan village. The +fine mats, on the manufacture of which the Samoans +particularly prided themselves, were worn as dresses on +ceremonial occasions. They were made from the leaves +of a large plant which the natives call <i>lau ie</i>; the leaves +closely resemble those of the pandanus, but are larger. +These mats were of a straw or cream colour, and were +sometimes fringed with tufts of scarlet feathers of the +paroquet. They were thin and almost as flexible as calico. +Many months, sometimes even years, were spent over the +making of a single mat. Another kind of fine mat was +made from the bark of a plant of the nettle tribe (<i>Hibiscus</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +<i>tiliaceus</i>), which grows wild over the islands. Mats of the +latter sort were shaggy on one side, and, being bleached +white, resembled fleecy sheep-skins. These fine mats, +especially those made from the leaves of the pandanus-like +plant, were considered by the Samoans to be their +most valuable property; they were handed down as heirlooms +from father to son, and were so much coveted that +wars were sometimes waged to obtain possession of them. +The pedigrees of the more famous mats, particularly those +fringed with red feathers, were carefully kept, and when +they changed hands, their history was related with solemn +precision. Age enhanced their value; and their tattered +condition, deemed a proof of antiquity, rather added to than +detracted from the estimation in which they were held. +The wealth of a family consisted of its mats; with them +it remunerated the services of carpenters, boat-builders, +and tattooers. The mats formed, indeed, a sort of currency +or medium of exchange; for while the Samoans were not +in general a trading people, and there was little or no +actual buying and selling among them, there was nevertheless +a considerable exchange of property on many occasions; +at marriage, for example, it was customary for the bride's +family to give mats and bark-cloth as her dowry, while +the bridegroom's family provided a house, canoes, and other +articles. But though the fine mats were thus paid away +or given in exchange, they had no fixed negotiable value, +and thus did not serve the purpose of money.<a name="FNanchor_42_408" id="FNanchor_42_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_408" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>Rights of Property</i></h4> + +<p>In Samoa the rights of private property, both personal +and landed, were fully recognised, but with certain limitations. +The lands were owned alike by chiefs and by heads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +of families; the laws regulating their possession were very +definite. In no case did the whole of the land belong to +the chiefs. Every family owned portions of land not only +in the village and adjoining gardens, but far away in the +unreclaimed forests of the interior. The title, which passed +by inheritance, generally vested in the family; but the +family was represented by the head, who often claimed +the right to dispose of it by sale or otherwise. Yet he +dared not do anything without consulting all concerned; +were he to persist in thwarting the wishes of the rest, they +would take his title from him and give it to another. +Sometimes, however, the title to landed property vested +in individual owners. The legitimate heir was the oldest +surviving brother, but occasionally he waived his right +in favour of one of the sons. Women might hold land +when the male side of a family was extinct. The boundaries +of land were well defined, being marked by pathways, +natural limits, such as a river, or by trenches and stones +half buried in the ground. Every inch of ground had its +owner, even to the tops of the mountains. Trespass by +a neighbouring village would be resisted, if necessary, by +force of arms.<a name="FNanchor_43_409" id="FNanchor_43_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_409" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>In regard to personal property it may be said that, like +landed property, it belonged rather to the family than to +the individual; for no Samoan could refuse to give, without +an equivalent, anything which any member of his family +asked for. In this way boats, tools, garments, and so forth +passed freely from hand to hand. Nay, a man could enter +the plantation of a relative and help himself to the fruit +without asking the owner's leave; such an appropriation +was not considered to be stealing. Under this communistic +system, as it has been called, accumulation of property +was scarcely possible, and industry was discouraged. Why +should a diligent man toil when he knew that the fruit of +his labour might all be consumed by lazy kinsfolk? He +might lay out a plantation of bananas, and when they +were full-grown, bunch after bunch might be plucked and +eaten by his less industrious relations, until, exasperated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +beyond endurance, the unfortunate owner would cut down +all the remaining trees. No matter how hard a man +worked, he could not keep his earnings; they all soon +passed out of his hands into the common stock of the +clan. The system, we are told, ate like a canker-worm at +the roots of individual and national progress.<a name="FNanchor_44_410" id="FNanchor_44_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_410" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs</i></h4> + +<p>The native government of Samoa was not, like that +of Tonga, a centralised despotism. Under the form of a +monarchy and aristocracy the political constitution was +fundamentally republican and indeed democratic. The +authority of the king and chiefs was limited and more +or less nominal; practically Samoa consisted of a large +number of petty independent and self-governing communities, +which sometimes combined for defence or common action +in a sort of loose federation.<a name="FNanchor_45_411" id="FNanchor_45_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_411" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>To a superficial observer the aristocratic cast of Samoan +society might at first sight seem very marked. The social +ranks were sharply divided from each other, and the inferior +orders paid great formal deference to their superiors. At +the head of all ranked the chiefs (<i>alii</i>); but even among +them the ordinary chiefs were distinct from the sacred +chiefs (<i>alii paia</i>), who enjoyed the highest honours. These +sacred chiefs preserved their pedigrees for twenty or more +generations with as great care as the oldest and proudest +families in Europe, and they possessed many feudal rights +and privileges which were as well known and as fully +acknowledged as are, or were, those of any lord of a manor +in England. The task of preserving a record of a chief's +pedigrees was entrusted to his orator or spokesman, who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +belonged to a lower social rank (that of the <i>tulafales</i>).<a name="FNanchor_46_412" id="FNanchor_46_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_412" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> +The influence of chiefs was supported by the belief that +they possessed some magical or supernatural power, by +which they could enforce their decisions.<a name="FNanchor_47_413" id="FNanchor_47_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_413" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Their persons +were sacred or taboo. They might not be touched by +any one. No one might sit beside them. In the public +assemblies a vacant place was left on each side of the seat +of honour which they occupied. Some chiefs were so holy +that they might not even be looked at by day. Their food +might not be handed to them, but was thrown to them, +and it was so sacred that no one might eat any of it which +they had left over.<a name="FNanchor_48_414" id="FNanchor_48_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_414" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>"The sacredness attributed to many chiefs of high +rank gave rise to observances which were irksome to their +families and dependents, since whatever they came in +contact with required to undergo the ceremony of <i>lulu‛u</i>, +or sprinkling with a particular kind of cocoanut-water +(<i>niu-ui</i>); both to remove the sanctity supposed to be +communicated to the article or place that had touched the +chief, and also to counteract the danger of speedy death, +which was believed to be imminent to any person who +might touch the sacred chief, or anything that he had +touched; so great was the mantle of sanctity thrown +around these chiefs, although unconnected with the priesthood. +Thus the spot where such a chief had sat or slept +was sprinkled with water immediately he had left it, as +were also the persons who had sat on either side of him +when he received company, as well as all the attendants +who had waited upon him.</p> + +<p>"This remarkable custom was also observed on other +occasions. It was always used on the occasion of deposing +a chief, and depriving him of his <i>Ao</i>, or titles, in which +case the ceremony was performed by some of those who +had either conferred the titles or had the power to do so. +In the case of O le Tamafainga, the usurper who was killed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +in A‛ana in 1829, his body was first sprinkled with +cocoanut-water, and his title of <i>O le Tuia‛ana</i> recalled from +him, before he was hewn in pieces. The ceremony consisted +of sprinkling the body with cocoanut-water, and the +officiating chief or <i>Tulafale</i> saying, 'Give us back our <i>Ao</i>,' +by which means the title was recalled, and the sacredness +attaching to it was dispelled. It was also used over persons +newly tattooed, and upon those who contaminated themselves +by contact with a dead body. In each of these cases the +ceremony was carefully observed, and reverently attended +to, as very dire consequences were considered certain to +follow its omission."<a name="FNanchor_49_415" id="FNanchor_49_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_415" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Thus the sacredness of a chief was +deemed dangerous to all persons with whom he might +come, whether directly or indirectly, into contact; it was +apparently conceived as a sort of electric fluid which discharged +itself, it might be with fatal effect, on whatever it +touched. And the sacredness of a chief was clearly classed +with the uncleanness of a dead body, since contact with +a dead body involved the same dangerous consequences as +contact with the sacred person of a chief and had to be +remedied in precisely the same manner. The two conceptions +of holiness and uncleanness, which to us seem +opposite and even contradictory, blend in the idea of taboo, +in which both are implicitly held as it were in solution. It +requires the analytic tendency of more advanced thought to +distinguish the two conceptions, to precipitate, as it were, the +components of the solution in the testing-tube of the mind.</p> + +<p>The profound respect which the Samoans entertained +for their chiefs manifested itself in yet another fashion. A +special form of speech was adopted in addressing a chief, in +conversing in his presence, or even in alluding to him in his +absence. Thus there arose what is called a chiefs' language, +or polite diction, which was used exclusively in speaking to +or of a chief, whether the speaker was a common man or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +chief of lower rank. But it was never used by a chief when +he was speaking of himself. Persons of high rank, in +addressing others and alluding to themselves, always employed +ordinary language and sometimes the very lowest +terms; so that it was often amusing to listen to expressions +of feigned humility uttered by a proud man, who would +have been indignant indeed if the same terms which he +applied to himself had been applied to him by others. +Thus, for example, the actions of sitting, talking, eating, +sleeping, and dying were expressed by different terms according +as the agent was a chief or a common man. The +ordinary word for a house was <i>fale</i>; but a chief's house was +called <i>maota</i>. The common word for anger was <i>ita</i>; the +polite term was <i>toasa</i>. To sleep in ordinary language was +<i>moe</i>, but in polite language it was <i>tofā</i> or <i>toá</i>. To be sick +in common speech was <i>mai</i>, but in polite language it was +<i>ngasengase, faatafa, pulu pulusi</i>. To die was <i>mate</i> or <i>pe</i> +(said of animals), or <i>oti</i> (said of men); but the courtly expressions +for death were <i>maliu</i> ("gone"), <i>folau</i> ("gone on a +voyage"), <i>fale-lauasi, ngasololo ao</i>, and a number of others. +The terms substituted in the court language sometimes +had a meaning the very opposite of that borne by the +corresponding terms in the ordinary language. For example, +in the court language firewood was called <i>polata</i>, +which properly means the stem of the banana plant, a wood +that is incombustible. If the use of an ordinary word in +the presence of a chief were unavoidable, it had to be +prefaced by the apologetic phrase <i>veaeane</i>, literally "saving +your presence," every time the word was spoken. Nay, the +courtly language itself varied with the rank of the chief +addressed or alluded to. For example, if you wished to +say that a person had come, you would say <i>alu</i> of a common +man; <i>alala</i> of a head of a household or landowner (<i>tulafale</i>); +<i>maliu</i> of a petty chief; <i>susu</i> of a chief of the second class; +and <i>afiu</i> of a chief of the highest rank.<a name="FNanchor_50_416" id="FNanchor_50_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_416" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The same respect +which was shown in the use of words descriptive of a chief's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +actions or possessions was naturally extended to his own +name, when he belonged to the class of sacred chiefs. If +his name happened to be also the name of a common +object, it ceased to be used to designate the thing in +question, and a new word or phrase was substituted for it. +Henceforth the old name of the object was dropped and +might never again be pronounced in the chief's district nor +indeed anywhere in his presence. In one district, for +example, the chief's name was Flying-fox; hence the +ordinary word for flying-fox (<i>re'a</i>) was dropped, and that +species of bat was known as "bird of heaven" (<i>manu langi</i>).<a name="FNanchor_51_417" id="FNanchor_51_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_417" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> +Again, when the chief of Pango-pango, in the island of +Tutuila, was called Maunga, which means "mountain," that +word might never be used in his presence, and a courtly +term was substituted for it.<a name="FNanchor_52_418" id="FNanchor_52_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_418" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> This is only one instance of +the ways in which the dialects of savages tend to vary from +each other under the influence of superstition.</p> + +<p>Yet despite the extraordinary deference thus paid to +chiefs in outward show, the authority which they possessed +was for the most part very limited; indeed in the ordinary +affairs of life the powers and privileges of a chief were little +more than nominal, and he moved about among the people +and shared their everyday employments just like a common +man. Thus, for example, he would go out with a fishing +party, work in his plantation, help at building a house or a +canoe, and even lend a hand in cooking at a native oven. +So strong was the democratic spirit among the Samoans. +The ordinary duties of a chief consisted in administering +the law, settling disputes, punishing transgressors, appointing +feasts, imposing taboos, and leading his people in war. It +was in time of war that a chief's dignity and authority were +at their highest, but even then he could hardly maintain +strict discipline.<a name="FNanchor_53_419" id="FNanchor_53_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_419" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> However, the influence of chiefs varied a +good deal and depended in great measure on their personal +character. If besides his hereditary rank a chief was a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +of energy and ability, he might become practically supreme +in his village or district. Some chiefs even used their power +in a very tyrannical manner.<a name="FNanchor_54_420" id="FNanchor_54_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_420" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>But for the abuse of power by their nominal rulers the +Samoans had a remedy at hand. When a chief rendered +himself odious to his people by tyranny and oppression, the +householders or gentry (<i>tulafales</i>) and neighbouring chiefs +would not uncommonly depose him and transfer his office +to another; in extreme cases they might banish him or +even put him to death. The place of banishment for exiled +chiefs was the island of Tutuila. Thither the fallen potentate +was conveyed under custody in a canoe, and on landing he +was made to run the gauntlet between two rows of the +inhabitants, who belaboured him with sticks, pelted him +with stones, or subjected him to other indignities. He was +lucky if he escaped with nothing worse than bruises, for +sometimes the injuries inflicted were severe or actually +fatal.<a name="FNanchor_55_421" id="FNanchor_55_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_421" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> Chieftainship was hereditary in the male line, but +did not necessarily pass from father to son; the usual heir +would seem to have been the eldest surviving brother, and +next to him one of the sons. But a dying chief might +nominate his successor, though the final decision rested with +the heads of families. Failing a male heir, a daughter +might be appointed to, or might assume, the prerogative of +chieftainship.<a name="FNanchor_56_422" id="FNanchor_56_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_422" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>In addition to their hereditary nobility chiefs might be +raised to higher rank by the possession of titles (<i>ao</i>), which +were in the gift of certain ruling towns or villages. When +four or, according to another account, five of these titles +were conferred upon a single chief, he was called <i>o le tupu</i>, +or King of Samoa. But if the constituencies were not +unanimous in their choice of a candidate, the throne might +remain vacant for long periods. Thus the monarchy of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +Samoa was elective; the king was chosen by a hereditary +aristocracy, and his powers were tempered by the rights and +privileges of the nobility. Yet under the show of a limited +monarchy the constitution was essentially a federal republic.<a name="FNanchor_57_423" id="FNanchor_57_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_423" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> +The ceremony of anointing a King of Samoa in ancient +times appears to have curiously resembled a similar solemnity +in monarchical Europe. It took place in presence of a +large assembly of chiefs and people. A sacred stone was +consecrated as a throne, or rather stool, on which the king +stood, while a priest, who must also be a chief, called upon +the gods to behold and bless the king, and pronounced +denunciations against such as should fail to obey him. He +then poured scented oil from a native bottle over the head, +shoulders, and body of the king, and proclaimed his several +titles and honours.<a name="FNanchor_58_424" id="FNanchor_58_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_424" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>Next below the chiefs ranked an inferior order of nobility +called <i>tulafales</i> or <i>faipules</i>, who are variously described +as householders, councillors, and secondary chiefs. They +formed a very powerful and influential class; indeed we are +told that they generally exercised greater authority than the +chiefs, and that the real control of districts often centred in +their hands. They usually owned large lands: they were +the principal advisers of the chiefs: the orators were usually +selected from their number: the <i>ao</i> or titles of districts were +always in their gift; and they had the power, which they +did not scruple to use, of deposing and banishing an unpopular +chief. Sometimes a chief contrived to bring them +into subjection to himself; but as a rule they were a sturdy +class, who did not shrink from speaking out their minds to +their social superiors, often uttering very unpalatable truths +and acting with great determination when the conduct of a +chief incurred their displeasure. In short, they made laws, +levied fines, and generally ruled the village.<a name="FNanchor_59_425" id="FNanchor_59_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_425" class="fnanchor">[59]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<p>Below the <i>tulafales</i> ranked the <i>faleupolu</i> or House of +Upolu, and the <i>tangata nuu</i> or Men of the Land. The +former were considerable landowners and possessed much +influence; the latter were the humblest class, bearing arms +in time of war, and cultivating the soil, fishing, and cooking +in time of peace. But they were far from being serfs; +most of them were eligible for the position of head of a +family, if, when a vacancy occurred, the choice of the family +fell upon them.<a name="FNanchor_60_426" id="FNanchor_60_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_426" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> For the title of head of a family was not +hereditary. A son might succeed his father in the dignity; +but the members of the family would sometimes pass over +the son and confer the title on an uncle, a cousin, or even a +perfect stranger, if they desired to increase the numerical +strength of the family.<a name="FNanchor_61_427" id="FNanchor_61_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_427" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>The villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing +and independent communities, though every +village was more or less loosely federated with the other +villages of its district. Each district or confederation of +villages had its capital (<i>laumua</i>) or ruling town. These +federal capitals, however, possessed no absolute authority +over the other villages of the district; and though great +respect was always shown to them, the people of the +district, or even of a particular village, would often dissent +from the decisions of the capital and assert their independence +of action.<a name="FNanchor_62_428" id="FNanchor_62_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_428" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Of this independence a notable instance +occurred when the Catholic missionaries first settled in +Samoa. Under the influence of the Protestant missionaries +a federal assembly had passed a decree strictly forbidding +the admission of Roman Catholics to the islands, and threatening +with war any community that should dare to harbour +the obnoxious sect. The better to enforce the decree, +prayers were publicly offered up in the chapels that God +would be pleased to keep all Papists out of Samoa. To +these charitable petitions the deity seems to have turned a +deaf ear; for, in spite of prayers and prohibitions, two +Catholic priests and a lay brother landed and were hospitably +received and effectually protected by the people of a village,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +who paid no heed either to the remonstrances of the chiefs +or to the thunders of the federal assembly.<a name="FNanchor_63_429" id="FNanchor_63_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_429" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>The population of a village might be from two to five +hundred persons, and there might be eight or ten villages in +a district. Throughout the Samoan islands there were in +all eight of these separate districts. The union of the villages +in a district was voluntary; they formed by common consent +a petty state for their mutual protection. When war was +threatened by another district, no single village acted alone; +the whole district, or state, assembled at their capital and +held a special parliament to concert the measures to be +taken.<a name="FNanchor_64_430" id="FNanchor_64_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_430" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> The boundaries of the districts were well known +and zealously guarded, if necessary, by force of arms against +the aggression of a neighbouring state. The wardenship of +the marches was committed to the two nearest villages on +either side, the inhabitants of which were called Boundary-Keepers. +Between two such villages in former days mutual +ill-feeling constantly existed and border feuds were frequent.<a name="FNanchor_65_431" id="FNanchor_65_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_431" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>The form of government both of the village and of the +district was parliamentary. Affairs were discussed and +settled in a representative assembly (<i>fono</i>), composed of the +leading men of each village or district. These representatives +included the chiefs, together with the householders or +landowners (<i>tulafales</i>) and the inferior gentry (the <i>faleupolu</i>). +The more weighty affairs, such as declaring war or making +peace, or any matters of importance which concerned the +whole district, were debated in the general parliament of the +district, while business of purely local interest was transacted +in the parliament of the village. It was the privilege of the +capital to convene the district parliament, to preside over its +deliberations, to settle disputed points, to sum up the proceedings, +and to dismiss the assembly. These meetings +were usually conducted with much formality and decorum. +They were always held in the large public place (<i>malae</i> or +<i>marae</i>) of the village or town. It was an open green spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +surrounded by a circle of trees and houses. The centre was +occupied by a large house which belonged to the chief and +was set apart as a caravansary for the entertainment of +strangers and visitors. Members of all the three orders +which composed the parliament had the right to address it; +but the speaking was usually left to the householders or +landowners (<i>tulafales</i>). Each chief had generally attached +to him one of that order who acted as his mouthpiece; +and in like manner each settlement retained the services of +a member of the order, who was the leading orator of the +district. Decisions were reached not by voting but by +general consent, the discussion being prolonged until some +conclusion, satisfactory to the greater part of the members, +and particularly to the most influential, was arrived at. One +of the principal prerogatives of the king seems to have been +that of convoking a parliament; though, if he refused to do +so, when circumstances seemed to require it, the assembly +would undoubtedly have met without him. The functions +of these assemblies were judicial as well as legislative and +deliberative. Offenders were arraigned before them and, if +found guilty, were condemned and punished.<a name="FNanchor_66_432" id="FNanchor_66_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_432" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>It says much for the natural ability of the Samoans +that they should have attained to a level of culture so +comparatively high with material resources so scanty and +defective. Nature, indeed, supplied them with abundance of +food and timber, but she denied them the metals, which were +unknown in the islands until they were introduced from +Europe. In their native state, accordingly, the Samoans +were still in the Stone Age, their principal tools being stone +axes and adzes, made mainly from a close-grained basalt +which is found in the island of Tutuila. Of these axes the +rougher were chipped, but the finer were ground. Shells +were used as cutting instruments and as punches to bore +holes in planks; and combs, neatly carved out of bone, +were employed as instruments in tattooing. A wooden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +dibble served them instead of a plough to turn up the earth. +The only skins they prepared were those of sharks and some +other fish, which they used as rasps for smoothing woodwork. +The art of pottery was unknown.<a name="FNanchor_67_433" id="FNanchor_67_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_433" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Food was cooked +in ovens of hot stones;<a name="FNanchor_68_434" id="FNanchor_68_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_434" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> fire was kindled by the friction of +wood, the method adopted being what is called the stick-and-groove +process.<a name="FNanchor_69_435" id="FNanchor_69_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_435" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>We now pass to a consideration of the religion of these +interesting people, especially in regard to the human soul +and its destiny after death.</p> + + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts</i></h4> + +<p>The first missionary to Samoa, John Williams, was +struck by the contrast between the religion of the Samoans +and the religion of the other Polynesian peoples whom he +had studied. "The religious system of the Samoans," he +says, "differs essentially from that which obtained at the +Tahitian, Society, and other islands with which we are +acquainted. They have neither <i>maraes</i>, nor temples, nor +altars, nor offerings; and, consequently, none of the barbarous +and sanguinary rites observed at the other groups. In consequence +of this, the Samoans were considered an impious +race, and their impiety became proverbial with the people of +Rarotonga; for, when upbraiding a person who neglected +the worship of the gods, they would call him 'a godless +Samoan.' But, although heathenism was presented to us by +the Samoans in a dress different from that in which we had +been accustomed to see it, having no altars stained with +human blood, no <i>maraes</i> strewed with the skulls and bones +of its numerous victims, no sacred groves devoted to rites +of which brutality and sensuality were the most obvious +features, this people had 'lords many and gods many';—their +religious system was as obviously marked as any other +with absurdity, superstition, and vice."<a name="FNanchor_70_436" id="FNanchor_70_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_436" class="fnanchor">[70]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>This account of the Samoan religion, written at a time +when the islands were not yet fully opened up to Europeans, +must be modified by the testimony of later writers, in +particular with regard to the alleged absence of temples and +offerings; but in its broad outlines it holds good, in so far +as the Samoan ritual was honourably distinguished from +that of many other islands in the Pacific by its freedom +from human sacrifice and from the gross and licentious +practices which prevailed in other branches of the Polynesian +race. The notion of the Rarotongans that the Samoans +were a godless people has proved to be totally mistaken. +On closer acquaintance it was found that they lived under +the influence of a host of imaginary deities who exercised +their faith and demanded their obedience. Among these +deities the most numerous and perhaps the most influential +were the <i>aitu</i>, which were the gods of individuals, of +families, of towns or villages, and of districts.<a name="FNanchor_71_437" id="FNanchor_71_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_437" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> These +gods were supposed to appear in some visible embodiment +or incarnation, and the particular thing, or class of things, +in which his god was in the habit of appearing, was to the +Samoan an object of veneration, and he took great care +never to injure it or treat it with contempt. In the great +majority of cases the thing in which the deity presented +himself to his worshippers was a class of natural objects, +most commonly a species of animal, bird, or fish, less +frequently a tree or plant or an inanimate object, such as a +stone, the rainbow, or a meteor. One man, for example, +saw his god in the eel, another in the shark, another in the +turtle, another in the owl, another in the lizard, and so on +throughout all the fish of the sea, the birds, the four-footed +beasts, and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, such +as the limpets on the rocks, gods were supposed to be +present. It was not uncommon to see an intelligent chief +muttering prayers to a fly, an ant, or a lizard, which chanced +to alight or crawl in his presence. A man would eat freely +of the incarnation of another man's god, but would most +scrupulously refrain from eating of the incarnation of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +own particular god, believing that death would be the +consequence of such sacrilege. The offended god was +supposed to take up his abode in the body of the impious +eater and to generate there the very thing which he had +eaten, till it caused his death. For example, if a man, +whose family god was incarnate in the prickly sea-urchin +(<i>Echinus</i>), were to eat of a sea-urchin, it was believed that a +prickly sea-urchin would grow in his body and kill him. +If his family god were incarnate in the turtle, and he was +rash enough to eat a turtle, the god would enter into him, +and his voice would be heard from within the sinner's body, +saying, "I am killing this man; he ate my incarnation." +Occasionally, however, the penalty exacted by the deity was +less severe. If, for instance, a man's god was in cockles, +and he ate one of these shell-fish, a cockle would grow on his +nose; if he merely picked up a cockle on the shore and +walked away with it, the shell-fish would appear on some +part of his person. But in neither case, apparently, would +the kindly cockle take the life of the offender. It was +not a bloodthirsty deity. Again, a man whose god was in +coco-nuts would never drink the refreshing beverage which +other people were free to extract from the nuts. But the +worshipper who shrank from eating or drinking his god in +the shape, say, of an octopus or of coco-nut water, would +often look on with indifference while other people partook +of these his divinities. He might pity their ignorance or +envy their liberty, but he would not seek to enlighten the +one or to restrain the other.<a name="FNanchor_72_438" id="FNanchor_72_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_438" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Indeed this indifference was +sometimes carried to great lengths. For example, a man +whose god was incarnate in the turtle, though he would not +himself dare to partake of turtle, would have no scruple in +helping a neighbour to cut up and cook a turtle; but in +doing so he took the precaution to tie a bandage over his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +mouth to prevent an embryo turtle from slipping down his +throat and sealing his doom by growing up in his stomach.<a name="FNanchor_73_439" id="FNanchor_73_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_439" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> +Sometimes the incarnate deity, out of consideration perhaps +for the weakness of the flesh, would limit his presence to a +portion of an animal, it might be the left wing of a pigeon, +or the tail of a dog, or the right leg of a pig.<a name="FNanchor_74_440" id="FNanchor_74_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_440" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> The +advantages of such a restriction to a worshipper are obvious. +A man, for instance, to whom it would have been death to +eat the right leg of a pig, might partake of a left leg of pork +with safety and even with gusto. And so with the rest +of the divine menagery.</p> + +<p>However, even if the worst had happened, that is to say, +if the deity had been killed, cooked and eaten, the consequences +were not necessarily fatal to his worshippers; there +were modes of redeeming the lives of the sinners and of +expiating their sin. Suppose, for example, that the god of +a household was the cuttle-fish, and that some visitor to the +house had, either in ignorance or in bravado, caught a cuttle-fish +and cooked it, or that a member of the family had been +present where a cuttle-fish was eaten, the family would meet +in conclave to consult about the sacrilege, and they would +select one of their number, whether a man or a woman, to +go and lie down in a cold oven and be covered over with +leaves, just as in the process of baking, all to pretend that +the person was being offered up as a burnt sacrifice to avert +the wrath of the deity. While this solemn pretence was +being enacted, the whole family would engage in prayer, +saying, "O bald-headed cuttle-fish, forgive what has been +done. It was all the work of a stranger." If they did not +thus abase themselves before the divine cuttle-fish, they +believed that the god would visit them and cause a cuttle-fish +to grow internally in their bodies and so be the death +of some of them.<a name="FNanchor_75_441" id="FNanchor_75_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_441" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Similar modes of appeasing the wrath +of divine eels, mullets, stinging ray fish, turtles, wild pigeons, +and garden lizards were adopted with equal success.<a name="FNanchor_76_442" id="FNanchor_76_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_442" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>Apparently the Samoans were even more concerned to +defend their village gods or district gods against injury and +insult than to guard the deities of simple individuals. We +are told that all the inhabitants of a district would thus +unite for the protection of the local divinity.<a name="FNanchor_77_443" id="FNanchor_77_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_443" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> For example, +it happened that in a village where the first native Christian +teachers settled one of them caught a sea-eel (<i>Muraena</i>) and +cooked it, and two of the village lads, who were their +servants, ate some of the eel for their supper. But the eel +was the village god, and when the villagers heard that the +lads had eaten the god, they administered a sound thrashing +to the culprits, and dragged them off to a cooking-house +where they laid them down in the oven pit and covered +them with leaves in the usual way, as if the lads had +been killed and were now to be cooked as a peace-offering +to avert the wrath of the deity.<a name="FNanchor_78_444" id="FNanchor_78_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_444" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> When John +Williams had caused some Christian natives to kill a large +sea-snake and dry it on the rocks to be preserved as a +specimen, the heathen fishermen of the island at sight of it +raised a most terrific yell, and, seizing their clubs, rushed upon +the Christian natives, saying, "You have killed our god! +You have killed our god!" It was with difficulty that Mr. +Williams restrained their violence on condition that the +reptile should be immediately carried back to the boat +from which the missionary had landed.<a name="FNanchor_79_445" id="FNanchor_79_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_445" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> The island in +which this happened belonged to the Tongan group, +but precisely the same incident might have occurred in +Samoa. In some parts of Upolu a goddess was believed +to be incarnate in bats, and if a neighbour chanced to kill +one of these creatures, the indignant worshippers of the bat +might wage a war to avenge the insult to their deity.<a name="FNanchor_80_446" id="FNanchor_80_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_446" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> If +people who had the stinging ray fish for the incarnation of +their god heard that their neighbours had caught a fish of +that sort, they would go and beg them to give it up and not +to cook it. A refusal to comply with the request would be +followed by a fight.<a name="FNanchor_81_447" id="FNanchor_81_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_447" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>Accordingly, when the Samoans were converted to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +Christianity, they gave the strongest proof of the genuineness +of their conversion by killing and eating their animal +gods. Thus when a chief named Malietoa renounced +heathenism, he caused an eel to be publicly caught, cooked, +and eaten by many persons who had hitherto regarded the +eel as their god. His own sons had a different sort of fish, +called <i>anae</i>, for their private deity, and to demonstrate their +faith in the new religion they had a quantity of the fish +caught, cooked, and served up in the presence of a large +party of friends and relations. There, with trembling hearts, +they partook of the once sacred morsel; but, their fears +getting the better of them, they immediately retired from +the feast and swallowed a powerful emetic, lest the divine +fish should lie heavy on their stomachs and devour their +vitals.<a name="FNanchor_82_448" id="FNanchor_82_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_448" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> As nothing particular happened after these daring +innovations, the people took heart of grace, and concerted +further plans for the destruction of their ancient deities. +Among these was a certain Papo, who was nothing more +or less than a piece of old rotten matting, about three yards +long and four inches wide; but being a god of war and, +in that capacity, always attached to the canoe of the leader +when they went forth to battle, he was regarded with great +veneration by the people. At the assembly convoked to +decide on his fate, the first proposal was to throw him into +the fire. But the idea was too shocking to the general +sense of the community, and by way of making death as +little painful as possible to the deity, they decided to take +him out to sea in a canoe and there consign him to a +watery grave. Even from this mitigated doom Papo was +rescued by the efforts of the missionaries, and he now +adorns a museum.<a name="FNanchor_83_449" id="FNanchor_83_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_449" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<p>But even when the career of one of these animal gods +was not prematurely cut short by being killed, cooked, and +eaten, he was still liable to die in the course of nature; +and when his dead body was discovered, great was the +sorrow of his worshippers. If, for example, the god of a +village was an owl, and a dead owl was found lying beside +a road or under a tree, it would be reverently covered up +with a white cloth by the person who discovered it, and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +the villagers would assemble round the dead god and burn +their bodies with firebrands and beat their foreheads with +stones till the blood flowed. Then the corpse of the +feathered deity would be wrapped up and buried with as +much care and ceremony as if it were a human body. +However, that was not the death of the god. He was +supposed to be yet alive and incarnate in all the owls in +existence.<a name="FNanchor_84_450" id="FNanchor_84_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_450" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>The offerings to these deities consisted chiefly of cooked +food,<a name="FNanchor_85_451" id="FNanchor_85_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_451" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> which was apparently deemed as essential to the +sustenance of gods as of men, and that even when the gods +were not animals but stones. For example, two oblong +smooth stones, which stood on a platform of loose stones +near a village, were regarded as the parents of the rain-god, +and when the people were making ready to go off to the +woods for the favourite sport of pigeon-catching, they used +to lay offerings of cooked taro and fish on the stones, +accompanied by prayers for fine weather and no rain. +These stone gods were also believed to cause yams to +grow; hence in time of dearth a man would present them +with a yam in hope of securing their favour.<a name="FNanchor_86_452" id="FNanchor_86_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_452" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>At the feasts the first cup of kava was dedicated to the +god, the presiding chief either pouring it out on the ground +or waving it towards the sky. Afterwards all the chiefs +drank from the same cup according to their rank; then the +food brought as an offering was divided and eaten there +before the god.<a name="FNanchor_87_453" id="FNanchor_87_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_453" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Even within the circle of the family it was +customary to pour out on the ground a little kava as an +offering to the family god before any one else drank of it.<a name="FNanchor_88_454" id="FNanchor_88_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_454" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>Annual feasts were held in honour of the gods, and the +season of the feast was often in May, but sometimes in +April or June.<a name="FNanchor_89_455" id="FNanchor_89_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_455" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> In some cases the feasts were regulated +by the appearance of the bird which was believed to be +the incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen, +the priest would say that the god had come, and he would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +fix upon a day for the entertainment of the deity.<a name="FNanchor_90_456" id="FNanchor_90_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_456" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> At +these festivals all the people met in the place of public +assembly, where they had collected heaps of cooked food. +First, they made their offerings to the god and prayed to +him to avert calamity and grant prosperity; then they +feasted with and before their god, and after that any +strangers present might eat. Some of the festivals included +games, such as wrestling, spear-throwing, club exercises, +sham-fights, and nocturnal dances; and they lasted for days.<a name="FNanchor_91_457" id="FNanchor_91_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_457" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> +At one of these annual festivals held in the month of June, +the exercise with clubs assumed a serious and indeed +sanguinary form. All the people, old and young, men, +women, and children, took part in it, and battered their +scalps till the blood streamed down over their faces and +bodies. This proof of their devotion was supposed to be +acceptable to the deity, who, gratified by the sight of their +flowing blood, would answer their prayers for health, good +crops, and victory in war.<a name="FNanchor_92_458" id="FNanchor_92_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_458" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> At the feast of the cockle god +in May prayers were offered up to the divine shell-fish that +he would be pleased to cure the coughs and other ailments +usually prevalent at that season, which in Samoa forms the +transition from the wet to the dry months.<a name="FNanchor_93_459" id="FNanchor_93_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_459" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> At the festival +of an owl god, which fell about the month of April, the +offerings and prayers were particularly directed towards the +removal of caterpillars from the plantations; for these +insects were believed to be the servants of the owl god, who +could send them as his ministers of vengeance to lay waste +the fields and orchards of the impious.<a name="FNanchor_94_460" id="FNanchor_94_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_460" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Elsewhere the owl +was a war god, and at the beginning of the annual fish +festivals the chiefs and people of the village assembled round +the opening of the first oven and gave the first fish to the +god.<a name="FNanchor_95_461" id="FNanchor_95_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_461" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> A family, who had the eel for their household god, +showed their gratitude to him for his kindness by presenting +him with the first fruits of their taro plantation.<a name="FNanchor_96_462" id="FNanchor_96_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_462" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +Another family believed their deity to be incarnate in +centipedes; and if a member of the family fell ill or was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +bitten by a centipede, they would offer the divine reptile a +fine mat and a fan, with a prayer for the recovery of the +patient.<a name="FNanchor_97_463" id="FNanchor_97_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_463" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> The utility of a fine mat and a fan to a centipede +is too obvious to be insisted on. Sometimes offerings +were made to a god, not to persuade him to come, but to +induce him to go away. For example, where gods or spirits +were believed to voyage along the coast, offerings of food +were often set down on the beach as an inducement to the +spirits to take the victuals and pass on without calling at +that particular place.<a name="FNanchor_98_464" id="FNanchor_98_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_464" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>Formal prayers were offered to the god by the head of +a family, and public prayer was put up when the men were +setting out for war. On such occasions they prayed that +stones, stumps of trees, and other obstacles might be taken +out of the way of the warriors, and that their path might be +wet with the blood of their foes. All their prayers were for +temporal benefits, such as protection against enemies, plenty +of food, and other desirable objects. They attached great +importance to confession of wrongdoing in times of danger, +but, so far as appears, they expressed no repentance, promised +no amendment, and offered no prayer for forgiveness. +If, for example, a canoe, crossing the channel between +Savaii and Upolu, were caught in a squall and seemed +likely to be swamped, the steersman would head the canoe +to the wind, and every man on board would make a clean +breast of his sins. One would say, "I stole a fowl at such +and such a village." Another would confess an intrigue +with a married woman somewhere else; and so on. When +all had either confessed their guilt or declared their innocence, +the helmsman would put the helm about and scud before +the wind, in perfect confidence of bringing the canoe and +crew safe to land.<a name="FNanchor_99_465" id="FNanchor_99_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_465" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>When a god was believed to be incarnate in a species +of birds or animals or fish, omens were naturally drawn +from the appearance and behaviour of the creatures. This +happened particularly in time of war, when hopes and fears +were rife among the people. Thus, if their war god was an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +owl, and the bird fluttered above the troops on the march, +the omen was good; but if the owl flew away in the direction +of the enemy, it was an evil omen, the god had deserted +them and joined the foe;<a name="FNanchor_100_466" id="FNanchor_100_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_466" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> if it crossed the path of the +warriors or flew back on them, it was a warning to retreat.<a name="FNanchor_101_467" id="FNanchor_101_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_467" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> +So in places where the war-god was a rail-bird, if the bird +screeched and flew before the army, the people marched +confidently to battle; but if it turned and flew back, they +hesitated. If the plumage of the rail showed glossy red, +it was a sign to go to war; but if the feathers were dark +and dingy, it was a warning to stay at home. And if the +bird were heard chattering or scolding, as they called it, at +midnight, it prognosticated an attack next day, and they +would at once send off the women and children to a place +of safety.<a name="FNanchor_102_468" id="FNanchor_102_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_468" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> In like manner omens were drawn from the +flight of herons, kingfishers, the <i>Porphyris Samoensis</i>, and +flying-foxes, where these creatures were supposed to incarnate +the war god.<a name="FNanchor_103_469" id="FNanchor_103_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_469" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> People who saw their war god in the lizard +used to take omens from a lizard before they went forth to +fight. They watched the movements of a lizard in a bundle +of spears. If the creature ran about the outside of the +bundle and the points of the spears, the omen was favourable; +but if it crept into the bundle for concealment, it was an evil +sign.<a name="FNanchor_104_470" id="FNanchor_104_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_470" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> The inhabitants of several villages looked upon dogs, +especially white dogs, as the incarnation of their war god; +accordingly if the dog wagged his tail, barked, and dashed +ahead in sight of the enemy, it was a good omen; but if he +retreated or howled, their hearts failed them.<a name="FNanchor_105_471" id="FNanchor_105_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_471" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> Again, where +the cuttle-fish was the war god, the movements of that fish +at sea were anxiously observed in time of war. If the fish +swam inshore while the people were mustering for battle, +it augured victory; but if it swam far away, it portended +defeat.<a name="FNanchor_106_472" id="FNanchor_106_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_472" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>When a god was supposed to dwell in some inanimate +object, the art of divination was similarly employed to elicit +a knowledge of the future from an observation of the object,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +whatever it might be. In several villages, for example, the +people viewed a rainbow as the representative of their war +god. If, when they were going to battle by land or sea, a +rainbow appeared in the sky right in front of them, with the +arch, as it were, straddling across the line of march or the +course that the fleet was steering, it was a warning to turn +back. But if the bow shone on the right or left of the army +or of the fleet, it meant that the god was marching with +them, and cheering on the advance.<a name="FNanchor_107_473" id="FNanchor_107_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_473" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Another village revered +its god in the lightning. When lightning flashed frequently +in time of war, it was believed that the god had come to +help and direct his people. A constant play of lightning +over a particular spot was a warning that the enemy was +lurking there in ambush. A rapid succession of flashes in +front meant that the foe was being driven back; but if the +lightning flashed from front to rear, it was a signal to retreat.<a name="FNanchor_108_474" id="FNanchor_108_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_474" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> +In one large village the war god resided in two teeth of the +sperm whale, which were kept in a cave and observed by a +priest in time of war. If the teeth were found lying east +and west, it was a good omen; but if they lay north and +south, it prognosticated defeat.<a name="FNanchor_109_475" id="FNanchor_109_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_475" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> In another place the war +god was present in a bundle of shark's teeth, and the people +consulted the bundle before they went out to fight. If the +bundle felt heavy, it foreboded ill; but if it was light, it was +an omen of victory, and the troops marched with hearts +correspondingly light.<a name="FNanchor_110_476" id="FNanchor_110_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_476" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p> + +<p>When the god was incarnate in a live creature, it was +an obvious advantage to ensure his constant presence and +blessing by owning a specimen of his incarnation and feeding +it. Hence some folk kept a tame god on their premises. +For instance, some people possessed a war god in the shape +of a pet owl;<a name="FNanchor_111_477" id="FNanchor_111_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_477" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> others had a divine pigeon, which was carefully +kept and fed by the different members of the family in +turn.<a name="FNanchor_112_478" id="FNanchor_112_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_478" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> Yet others were so fortunate as to capture the thunder +god and to keep him in durance, which effectually prevented +him from doing mischief. Having caught him, they tied him +up with pandanus leaves and frightened him by poking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +firebrands at him. And lest, as an old offender, he should +attempt to break prison and relapse into his former career +of crime, they filled a basket with pandanus leaves and +charred firebrands and hung it up on a tree <i>in terrorem</i>, to +signify what he might expect to get if he took it into his +head to strike houses again.<a name="FNanchor_113_479" id="FNanchor_113_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_479" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>Vegetable gods were much less plentiful than animal gods +in Samoa. Still they occurred. Thus, the god of one family +lived in a large tree (<i>Hernandia peltata</i>); hence no member +of the family dared to pluck a leaf or break a branch of that +tree.<a name="FNanchor_114_480" id="FNanchor_114_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_480" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> The household deity of another family dwelt in a tree +of a different sort (<i>Conanga odorata</i>), which has yellow and +sweet-scented flowers.<a name="FNanchor_115_481" id="FNanchor_115_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_481" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> In Savaii the special abode of a +village god called Tuifiti or "King of Fiji" was a grove of large +and durable trees (<i>Afzelia bijuga</i>). No one dared to cut that +timber. It is said that a party of natives from another island +once tried to fell one of these trees; but blood flowed from +the trunk, and all the sacrilegious strangers fell ill and died.<a name="FNanchor_116_482" id="FNanchor_116_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_482" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> +One family saw their god in the moon. On the appearance +of the new moon all the members of the family called out, +"Child of the moon, you have come." They assembled also, +presented offerings of food, feasted together, and joined in +praying, "Oh, child of the moon! Keep far away disease +and death." And they also prayed to the moon before they +set out on the war path.<a name="FNanchor_117_483" id="FNanchor_117_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_483" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> But in Samoa, as in Tonga, there +seems to be no record of a worship of the sun, unless the +stories of human sacrifices formerly offered to the great +luminary be regarded as reminiscences of sun-worship.<a name="FNanchor_118_484" id="FNanchor_118_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_484" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 7. <i>Priests and Temples</i></h4> + +<p>The father of a family acted as the priest of the household +god. He usually offered a short prayer at the evening +meal, begging the deity to guard them all from war, sickness, +death, and the payment of fines. Sometimes he would direct +the family to hold a feast in honour of their god, and on +these occasions a cup of kava was poured out as a libation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +to the divinity. Such simple domestic rites were celebrated +in the house, where the whole family assembled; for the +gods were believed to be present with men in a spiritual and +invisible form as well as in the material objects which were +regarded as their visible embodiments. Often the deity +spoke through the father or other members of the family, +telling them what to do in order to remove a present evil or +avert a threatened one.<a name="FNanchor_119_485" id="FNanchor_119_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_485" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>But while every head of a family might thus act as a +domestic priest and mouthpiece of the deity, there was also +a professional class of priests set apart for the public worship +of the gods, particularly of the war gods, who in their nature +did not differ essentially from the gods of families, of villages, +and of districts, being commonly embodied either in particular +material objects or in classes of such objects, especially in +various species of birds, animals, and fish, such as owls, rails, +kingfishers, dogs, lizards, flying-foxes, and cuttle-fish. Sometimes +the ruling chiefs acted as priests; but in general some +one man in a particular family claimed the dignity of the +priesthood and professed to declare the will of the god. His +office was hereditary. He fixed the days for the annual +feasts in honour of the deity, received the offerings, and +thanked the people for them. He decided also whether the +people might go to war.<a name="FNanchor_120_486" id="FNanchor_120_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_486" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The priests possessed great +authority over the minds of the people, and they often +availed themselves of their influence to amass wealth.<a name="FNanchor_121_487" id="FNanchor_121_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_487" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> The +gods were supposed from time to time to take possession of +the priests and to speak through their mouths, answering +enquiries and issuing commands. Thus consulted as an +oracle the priest, or the god through him, might complain +that the people had been slack in making offerings of food +and property, and he would threaten them with vengeance +if they did not speedily bring an ample supply to the human +representative of the deity. At other times the god required +a whole family to assemble and build him a large canoe or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +house, and such a command was always obeyed with alacrity +and a humble apology tendered for past neglect. The priests +were also consulted oracularly for the healing of the sick, the +recovery of stolen property, and the cursing of enemies. Thus +they kept the people in constant fear by their threats and +impoverished them by their exactions.<a name="FNanchor_122_488" id="FNanchor_122_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_488" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p>The outward signs of divine inspiration or possession +were such as priests or prophets have manifested in many +lands and ages as conclusive evidence of their being the +vehicles of higher powers. The approach or presence of +the god was indicated by the priest beginning to gape, yawn, +and clear his throat; but soon his countenance changed, his +body underwent violent contortions, and in loud, unearthly +tones, which the trembling and awe-stricken hearers interpreted +as the voice of an indwelling deity, he delivered his +message of exhortation or warning, of menace, or comfort, +or hope.<a name="FNanchor_123_489" id="FNanchor_123_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_489" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> + +<p>Spirit-houses (<i>fale-aitu</i>) or temples were erected for some, +but not all, of the class of deities (<i>aitu</i>) which we are now +considering. It was chiefly the war gods who were thus +honoured. Such temples were built with the same materials +and in the same style as the houses of men, with nothing to +distinguish them from ordinary dwellings, except that they +almost always stood on platforms of stones, which varied in +height and size with the respect felt for the particular deity. +They were usually situated on the principal public place or +green (<i>malae</i>) of the village and surrounded by a low fence. +Sometimes they were mere huts; yet being viewed as the +abode of gods they were held sacred and regarded with great +veneration by the Samoans in the olden time. Whatever +emblems of deity were in possession of the village were +always placed in these houses under the watchful care of +keepers.<a name="FNanchor_124_490" id="FNanchor_124_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_490" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> In one temple, for instance, might be seen a conch +shell hung from the roof in a basket. This shell the god +was supposed to blow when he wished the people to go to +war. In another a cup made of the shell of a coco-nut was +suspended from the roof, and before it prayers were uttered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +and offerings presented. The cup was also used in an ordeal +for the detection of theft. In a trial before chiefs the cup +would be sent for, and each of the suspected culprits would +lay his hand on it and say, "With my hand on this cup, +may the god look upon me, and send swift destruction, +if I took the thing which has been stolen." They firmly +believed that it would be death to touch the cup and +tell a lie.<a name="FNanchor_125_491" id="FNanchor_125_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_491" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>The temples were always built by the united exertions +of a whole family, village, or district.<a name="FNanchor_126_492" id="FNanchor_126_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_492" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> For example, when +the inhabitants of a village whose god was the cuttle-fish +erected a new temple to that deity, every man, woman, and +child in the village contributed something to it, if it was only +a stick or a reed of thatch. While some of the villagers +were drafted off to put up the house, the rest engaged in a +free fight, which appears to have been considered as a necessary +part of the proceedings. On this occasion many old +scores were settled, and he who got most wounds was believed +to have earned the special favour of the deity. With the +completion of the temple the fighting ended, and ought not +to be renewed for a year, till the anniversary of the building +of the temple came round, when the worshippers were again +at liberty to break each other's heads in honour of the divine +cuttle-fish.<a name="FNanchor_127_493" id="FNanchor_127_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_493" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>At one place in Savaii there was a temple in which a +priest constantly resided. The sick used to be carried to +him in the temple and there laid down with offerings of fine +mats. Thereupon the priest stroked the diseased part, and +the patient was supposed to recover.<a name="FNanchor_128_494" id="FNanchor_128_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_494" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> We hear of another +temple in which fine mats were brought as offerings to the +priests and stored up in large numbers among the temple +treasures. Thus in time the temples might have amassed a +considerable degree of wealth and might even, if economic +progress had not been arrested by European intervention, +have developed into banks. However, when the people were +converted to Christianity, they destroyed this particular +temple and dissipated the accumulated treasures in a single<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +feast by way of celebrating their adhesion to the new +faith.<a name="FNanchor_129_495" id="FNanchor_129_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_495" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Where the bat was the local deity, many bats +used to flock about the temple in time of war.<a name="FNanchor_130_496" id="FNanchor_130_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_496" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> Where +the kingfisher received the homage of the people as the +god of war, the old men of the village were wont to enter +his temple in times of public emergency and address the +kingfisher; and people outside could hear the bird replying, +though, singularly enough, his voice was that of a man, and +not that of a bird. But as usual the god was invisible.<a name="FNanchor_131_497" id="FNanchor_131_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_497" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> In +one place a temple of the great god Tangaloa was called +"the House of the Gods," and it was carefully shut up all +round, the people thinking that, if this precaution were not +taken, the gods would get out and in too easily and be all +the more destructive.<a name="FNanchor_132_498" id="FNanchor_132_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_498" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Such a temple might be considered +rather as a prison than a house of the gods.</p> + +<p>To the rule that Samoan temples were built of the same +perishable materials as ordinary houses a single exception is +known. About ten miles inland from the harbour of Apia, +in the island of Upolu, are the ruins of a temple, of which +the central and side posts and the rafters were all constructed +of stone. The ground plan seems to have resembled that of +an ordinary Samoan house of the best style, forming an +ellipse which measured fifty feet in one direction by forty +feet in the other. Two central pillars appear to have supported +the roof, each fashioned of a single block of stone +some thirteen feet high, twelve inches thick one way and +nine inches the other. The rafters were in lengths of twelve +feet and six feet, by four inches square. Of the outside +pillars, which upheld the lower edge of the sloping roof, +eighteen were seen standing by Pritchard, who has described +the ruins. Each pillar stood three feet high and measured +nine inches thick in one way by six inches in the other. +Each had a notch or shoulder on the inner side for supporting +the roof. Pillars and rafters were quarried from an +adjoining bluff, distant only some fifty yards from the ruins. +Some squared stones lying at the foot of the bluff seem to +show that the temple was never completed. The site of the +ruins is a flat about three acres in area. The natives call the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +ruins <i>Fale-o-le-Fe‛e</i>, that is, the House of the Fe‛e. This +Fe‛e was a famous war god of A‛ana and Faleata, two native +towns of Upolu; he was commonly incarnated in the cuttle-fish. +As the Samoans were unacquainted with the art of +cutting stones, and had no tools suitable for the work, they +thought that this temple, with its columns and rafters of +squared stone, must have been built by the gods, and they +explained its unfinished state by alleging that the divine +builders had quarrelled among themselves before they had +brought the work to completion.<a name="FNanchor_133_499" id="FNanchor_133_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_499" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<p>For the sake of completeness I will mention another +stone monument, of more imposing dimensions, which has +been discovered in Samoa, though its origin and meaning +are unknown. It stands on a tableland in the high mountainous +interior of Upolu and appears to be not altogether +easy of access. The discoverer, Mr. H. B. Sterndale, +reached it by clambering up from what he describes as a +broad and dangerous ravine. In making his way to the +tableland he passed through a gap which from a distance +he had supposed to be a natural fissure in the rocks; but +on arriving at it he discovered, to his surprise, that the gap +was in fact a great fosse formed by the hand of man, being +excavated in some places and built up at others, while on +one side, next to the rise of the hill, it was further heightened +by a parapet wall. When, passing through the fosse, he +issued upon the tableland, which is a level space of some +twenty acres in extent, he perceived the monument, "a +truncated conical structure or <i>Heidenmauer</i> of such huge +dimensions as must have required the labour of a great +multitude to construct. So little did I expect," he says, +"in this neighbourhood to meet with any example of human +architecture, and so rudely monstrous was the appearance +of this cyclopean building, that from its peculiar form, and +from the vegetation with which it was overgrown, I might +have passed it by, supposing it to have been a volcanic +hillock, had not my attention been attracted by the stonework +of the fosse. I hastened to ascend it. It was about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +twenty feet high by one hundred in diameter. It was +circular with straight [perpendicular?] sides; the lower tiers +of stone were very large, they were lava blocks, some of +which would weigh at least a ton, which must have been +rolled or moved on skids to their present places. They +were laid in courses; and in two places near the top seemed +to have been entrances to the inside, as in one appeared +a low cave choked with rocks and tree roots. If there had +been chambers within, they were probably narrow and +still existing, as there was no sign of depression on the +crown of the work, which was flat and covered with flat +stones, among which grew both trees and shrubs. It is +likely that it was not in itself intended as a place of +defence, but rather as a base or platform upon which some +building of importance, perhaps of timber, had been erected, +no doubt in the centre of a village, as many foundations of +a few feet high were near it. The fosse, when unbroken, +and its inner wall entire, was probably crossed by a foot-bridge, +to be withdrawn on the approach of an enemy; +and the little gap, by which I had entered, closed, so that +this must have been a place of great security. The +Samoan natives, as far as I have been able to learn, have +no tradition of what people inhabited this mountain +fastness."<a name="FNanchor_134_500" id="FNanchor_134_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_500" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>On an adjoining tableland, approached by a steep and +narrow ridge, Mr. Sterndale saw a great number of cairns +of stone, apparently graves, disposed in rows among huge +trees, the roots of which had overturned and destroyed +very many of the cairns. Here, within the numerous +trunks of a great spreading banyan tree, Mr. Sterndale +found what he calls an inner chamber, or cell, about ten +feet square, the floor being paved with flat stones and the +walls built of enormous blocks of the same material, while +the roof was composed of the twisted trunks of the banyan +tree, which had grown into a solid arch and, festooned by +creepers, excluded even the faint glimmer of twilight that +dimly illuminated the surrounding forest. Disturbed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +a light which the traveller struck to explore the gloomy +interior, bats fluttered about his head. In the centre of +the chamber he discovered a cairn, or rather cromlech, +about four feet high, which was formed of several stones +arranged in a triangle, with a great flat slab on the top. +On the flat slab lay a large conch shell, white with age, +and encrusted with moss and dead animalculae. The +chamber or cell, enclosed by the trunks of the banyan-tree, +might have been inaccessible, if it were not that, under +the pressure of the tree-trunks, several of the great slabs +composing the wall had been displaced, leaving a +passage.<a name="FNanchor_135_501" id="FNanchor_135_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_501" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>What were these remarkable monuments? Mr. Sterndale +believed the stone chamber to be the tomb of some +man of authority in ancient days, the antiquity of the +structure being vouched for by the great banyan-tree which +had so completely overgrown it. This view is likely enough, +and is confirmed by the large number of cairns about +it, which appear to be sepulchral. But what was the +massive circular monument or platform, built of huge +blocks of lava laid in tiers? From Mr. Sterndale's +description it would seem that the structure closely +resembled the tombs of the sacred kings of Tonga, though +these tombs are oblong instead of circular. But they often +supported a house or hut of wood and thatch; and Mr. +Sterndale may well be right in supposing that the circular +Samoan monument in like manner served as a platform to +support a wooden building. In this connexion we must +not forget that the typical Samoan house was circular or +oval in contrast to the typical Tongan house, which was +oblong. The openings, which seemed to lead into the +interior of the monument, may have given access to the +sepulchral chamber where the bodies of the dead were +deposited.</p> + +<p>Slight as are these indications, they apparently point to +the use of the monument as a tomb. There is nothing, +except perhaps its circular shape, to suggest that it was +a temple of the sun. As no such stone buildings have +been erected by the Samoans during the time they have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +under European observation, it may be, as Mr. Sterndale +supposed, that all the ruins described by him were the work +of a people who inhabited the islands before the arrival of +the existing race.<a name="FNanchor_136_502" id="FNanchor_136_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_502" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 8. <i>Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, +and Districts: Relation to Totemism</i></h4> + +<p>If we ask, What was the origin of the peculiar Samoan +worship of animals and other natural objects? the most +probable answer seems to be that it has been developed out +of totemism. The system is not simple totemism, for in +totemism the animals, plants, and other natural objects are +not worshipped, that is, they do not receive offerings nor +are approached with prayers; in short, they are not gods, +but are regarded as the kinsfolk of the men and women +who have them for totems. Further, the local distribution +of the revered objects in Samoa, according to villages +and districts, differs from the characteristic distribution of +totems, which is not by place but by social groups or clans, +the members of which are usually more or less intermixed +with each other in every district. It is true that in Samoa +we hear of family or household gods as well as of gods of +villages and districts, and these family gods, in so far as +they consist of species of animals and plants which the +worshippers are forbidden to kill or eat, present a close +analogy to totems. But it is to be observed that these +family gods were, so to say, in a state of unstable equilibrium, +it being always uncertain whether a man would inherit his +father's or his mother's god or would be assigned a god +differing from both of them. This uncertainty arose from +the manner of determining a man's god at birth. When +a woman was in travail, the help of several gods was +invoked, one after the other, to assist the birth; and the +god who happened to be invoked at the moment when the +child saw the light, was his god for life. As a rule, the +god of the father's family was prayed to first; so that +generally, perhaps, a man inherited the god of his father. +But if the birth was tedious and difficult, the god of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +mother's family was next invoked. When the child was +born, the mother would call out, "To whom were you +praying?" and the god prayed to just before was carefully +remembered, and his incarnation duly acknowledged throughout +the future life of the child.<a name="FNanchor_137_503" id="FNanchor_137_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_503" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Such a mode of selecting +a divine patron is totally different from the mode whereby, +under pure totemism, a person obtains his totem; for his +totem is automatically determined for him at birth, being, in +the vast majority of cases, inherited either from his father +or from his mother, without any possibility of variation +or selection. Lastly, the Samoan system differs from +most, though not all, systems of totemism, in that it is +quite independent of exogamy; in other words, there is +no rule forbidding people who revere the same god to +marry each other.</p> + +<p>Thus, while the Samoan worship of certain classes of +natural objects, especially species of animals, is certainly not +pure totemism, it presents points of analogy to that system, +and might easily, we may suppose, have been developed out +of it, the feeling of kinship for totemic animals and plants +having been slowly transformed and sublimated into a +religious reverence for the creatures and a belief in their +divinity; while at the same time the clans, which were +originally intermixed, gradually sorted out from each other +and settled down in separate villages and districts. This +gradual segregation of the clans may have been facilitated +by a change from maternal to paternal descent of the +totem; for when a man transmits his totem to his offspring, +his descendants in the male line tend naturally to +expand into a local group in which the totem remains +constant from generation to generation instead of alternating +with each successive generation, as necessarily happens when +a man's children take their totem not from him but from +their mother. That the Samoan worship of <i>aitu</i> was +developed in some such way out of simple totemism appears +to have been the view of Dr. George Brown, one of our best +authorities on Samoan society and religion; for he speaks +without reserve of the revered objects as totems.<a name="FNanchor_138_504" id="FNanchor_138_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_504" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> A similar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +derivation of the Samoan <i>aitu</i> was favoured by Dr. Rivers, +who, during a visit to Samoa, found some evidence confirmatory +of this conclusion.<a name="FNanchor_139_505" id="FNanchor_139_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_505" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 9. <i>The High Gods of Samoa</i></h4> + +<p>But besides these totemic gods of Samoa, as we may +term them, which were restricted in the circle of their +worshippers to particular families, villages, or districts, there +were certain superior deities who were worshipped by all the +people in common and might accordingly be called the +national divinities of Samoa; indeed the worship of some of +them was not confined to Samoa, but was shared by the +inhabitants of other groups of islands in Polynesia. These +high gods were considered the progenitors of the inferior +deities, and were believed to have formed the earth and its +inhabitants. They themselves dwelt in heaven, in the sea, +on the earth, or under the earth; but they were invisible +and did not appear to their worshippers in the form of +animals or plants. They had no temples and no priests, +and were not invoked like their descendants.<a name="FNanchor_140_506" id="FNanchor_140_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_506" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> + +<p>Among these high gods the chief was Tangaloa, or, as +he was sometimes called, Tangaloa-langi, that is, Tangaloa +of the Skies. He was always spoken of as the principal +god, the creator of the world and progenitor of the other +gods and of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_141_507" id="FNanchor_141_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_507" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> It is said that after existing somewhere +in space he made the heavens as an abode for himself, +and that wishing to have also a place under the heavens he +created this lower world (<i>Lalolangi</i>, that is, "Under the +heavens"). According to one account, he formed the +islands of Savaii and Upolu by rolling down two stones +from the sky; but according to another story he fished +them up from the depths of the sea on a fishing-hook. +Next he made the <i>Fee</i> or cuttle-fish, and told it to go down +under the earth; hence the lower regions of sea or land are +called <i>Sa he fee</i> or "sacred to the cuttle-fish." In its turn +the cuttle-fish brought forth all kinds of rocks, including<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +the great one on which we live.<a name="FNanchor_142_508" id="FNanchor_142_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_508" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> Another myth relates how +Tangaloa sent down his son or daughter in the likeness of +a bird called <i>turi</i>, a species of plover or snipe (<i>Charadrius +fulvus</i>). She flew about, but could find no resting-place, for +as yet there was nothing but ocean; the earth had not been +created or raised above the sea. So she returned to her father +in heaven and reported her fruitless search; and at last he +gave her some earth and a creeping plant. These she took +down with her on her next visit to earth; and after a time +the leaves of the plant withered and produced swarms of +worms or maggots, which gradually developed into men and +women. The plant which thus by its corruption gave birth +to the human species was the convolvulus. According to +another version of the myth, it was in reply to the complaint +of his daughter or son that the sky-god Tangaloa +fished up the first islands from the bottom of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_143_509" id="FNanchor_143_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_509" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>Another of the national gods of Samoa was Mafuie, who +was supposed to dwell in the subterranean regions and to +cause earthquakes by shaking the pillar on which the earth +reposes. In a tussle with the hero Ti'iti'i, who descended +to the lower world to rob Mafuie of his fire, the earthquake +god lost one of his arms, and the Samoans considered this +as a very fortunate circumstance; for otherwise they said +that, if Mafuie had had two arms, he would have shaken the +world to pieces.<a name="FNanchor_144_510" id="FNanchor_144_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_510" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> It is said that during a shock of earthquake +the natives used to rush from their houses, throw +themselves upon the ground, gnaw the grass, and shriek in +the most frantic manner to Mafuie to desist, lest he should +shake the earth to bits.<a name="FNanchor_145_511" id="FNanchor_145_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_511" class="fnanchor">[145]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<p>It seems to be doubtful whether among the Samoan +gods are to be numbered the souls of deceased ancestors. +Certainly the evidence for the practice of a worship of the +dead is far less full and clear in Samoa than in Tonga. On +this subject Dr. George Brown writes as follows: "Traces +of ancestor worship are few and indistinct. The word <i>tupua</i> +is supposed by some to mean the deified spirits of chiefs, +and to mean that they constituted a separate order from the +<i>atua</i>, who were the original gods. The word itself is the +name of a stone, supposed to be a petrified man, and is also +generally used as the name of any image having some +sacred significance, and as representing the body into which +the deified spirit was changed. What appears certain is +that ancestor worship had amongst the Samoans gradually +given place to the worship of a superior order of supernatural +beings not immediately connected with men, but +having many human passions and modes of action and life. +There are, however, some cases which seem to point to +ancestor worship in olden days, as in the case of the town +of Matautu, which is said to have been settled by a colony +from Fiji. Their principal deity was called Tuifiti, the +King of Fiji. He was considered to be the head of that +family, and a grove of trees, <i>ifilele</i> (the green-heart of India), +was sacred to him and could not be cut or injured in any +way."<a name="FNanchor_146_512" id="FNanchor_146_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_512" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> This god was supposed to be incarnate in a man +who walked about, but he was never visible to the people of +the place, though curiously enough he could be seen by +strangers.<a name="FNanchor_147_513" id="FNanchor_147_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_513" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>However, another experienced missionary, J. B. Stair, +who knew Samoa a good many years before Dr. Brown +arrived in it, speaks apparently without hesitation of the +<i>tupua</i> as being "the deified spirits of chiefs, who were also +supposed to dwell in Pulotu," where they became posts in +the house or temple of the gods. Many beautiful emblems, +he says, were chosen to represent the immortality of these +deified spirits; among them were some of the heavenly +bodies, including the Pleiades and the planet Jupiter, also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +the rainbow, the marine rainbow, and many more. He adds +that the embalmed bodies of some chiefs were worshipped +under the significant title of "sun-dried gods"; and that +people prayed and poured libations of kava at the graves +of deceased relatives.<a name="FNanchor_148_514" id="FNanchor_148_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_514" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 10. <i>The Samoan Belief concerning the Human Soul: +Funeral Customs</i></h4> + +<p>Whether the Samoans practised the worship of the +dead in a developed form or not, they certainly possessed +the elements out of which the worship might under favourable +circumstances be evolved. These elements are a belief +in the survival of the human soul after death, and a fear of +disembodied spirits or ghosts.</p> + +<p>The Samoans believed that every man is animated by +a soul, which departs from the body temporarily in faints +and dreams and permanently at death. The soul of the +dreamer, they thought, really visited the places which he +saw in his dream. At death it departed to the subterranean +world of the dead which the Samoans called Pulotu, a name +which clearly differs only dialectically from the Tongan +Bolotoo or Bulotu. Some people professed to see the +parting soul when it had quitted its mortal body and +was about to take flight to the nether region. It was +always of the same shape as the body. Such apparitions +at the moment of death were much dreaded, and people +tried to drive them away by shouting and firing guns. +The word for soul is <i>anganga</i>, which is a reduplicated form +of <i>anga</i>, a verb meaning "to go" or "to come." Thus +apparently the Samoans did not, like many people, identify +the soul with the shadow; for in Samoan the word for +shadow is <i>ata</i>.<a name="FNanchor_149_515" id="FNanchor_149_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_515" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> + +<p>However, they seem to have in a dim way associated +a man's soul with his shadow. This appears from a +remarkable custom which they observed in the case of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +unburied dead. The Samoans were much concerned for the +lot of these unfortunates and stood in great dread of their +ghosts. They believed that the spirits of those who had +not received the rites of burial wandered about wretched +and forlorn and haunted their relatives everywhere by day +and night, crying in doleful tones, "Oh, how cold! oh, how +cold!" Hence when the body of a dead kinsman was lost +because he had been drowned at sea or slain on a battlefield, +some of his relatives would go down to the seashore or +away to the battlefield where their friend had perished; +and there spreading out a cloth on the ground they would +pray to some god of the family, saying, "Oh, be kind to us; +let us obtain without difficulty the spirit of the young man!" +After that the first thing that lighted on the cloth was +supposed to be the spirit of the dead. It might be a +butterfly, a grasshopper, an ant, a spider, or a lizard; +whatever it might be, it was carefully wrapt up and taken +to the family, who buried the bundle with all due ceremony, +as if it contained the body of their departed friend. Thus +the unquiet spirit was believed to find rest. Now the insect, +or whatever it happened to be, which thus acted as proxy +at the burial was supposed to be the <i>ata</i> or shadow of the +deceased. The same word <i>ata</i> served to express likeness; +a photographer, for example, is called <i>pue-ata</i>, "shadow-catcher." +The Samoans do not appear to have associated +the soul with the breath.<a name="FNanchor_150_516" id="FNanchor_150_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_516" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>They attributed disease and death to the anger of a god, +to the agency of an evil spirit, or to the ghost of a dead +relative who had entered into the body of the sufferer. +Epilepsy, delirium, and mania were always thus explained by +the entrance into the patient of a god or demon. The +Samoan remedy for all such ailments was not medicine but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +exorcism. Sometimes a near relative of the sick person +would go round the house brandishing a spear and striking +the walls to drive away the spirit that was causing the +sickness.<a name="FNanchor_151_517" id="FNanchor_151_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_517" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> Hence when a member of a family fell seriously +ill, his friends did not send for a doctor, but repaired to the +high priest of the village to enquire of him the cause of the +sickness, to learn why the family god (<i>aitu</i>) was angry with +them, and to implore his mercy and forgiveness. Often the +priest took advantage of their anxiety to demand a valuable +piece of property, such as a canoe or a parcel of ground, +as the best means of propitiating the angry deity and +so ensuring the recovery of the patient. With all these +demands the anxious and unsuspecting relatives readily +complied. But if the priest happened not to want anything +in particular at the time, he would probably tell +the messengers to gather the family about the bed of the +sufferer and there confess their sins. The command was +implicitly obeyed, and every member of the family assembled +and made a clean breast of his or her misdeeds, especially +of any curse which he or she might have called down either +on the family generally or on the invalid in particular. +Curiously enough, the curse of a sister was peculiarly +dreaded; hence in such cases the sister of the sick man was +closely questioned as to whether she had cursed him and +thus caused his illness; if so, she was entreated to remove +the curse, that he might recover. Moved by these pleadings, +she might take some coco-nut water in her mouth and +spurt it out towards or upon the body of the sufferer. By +this action she either removed the curse or declared her +innocence; a similar ceremony might be performed by any +other member of the family who was suspected of having +cursed the sick man.<a name="FNanchor_152_518" id="FNanchor_152_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_518" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> + +<p>When an illness seemed likely to prove fatal, messengers +were despatched to friends at a distance that they might +come and bid farewell to the dying man. Every one who +came to visit the sufferer in his last moments brought a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +present of a fine mat or other valuable piece of property as +a token of regard, and to defray the cost of the illness and +funeral. The best of the mats would be laid on the body +of the dying man that he might have the comfort of seeing +them before he closed his eyes for ever. Dr. George Brown +thought that the spirits of the mats thus laid on the body of +the dying chief were supposed to accompany his soul to the +other world. It is possible that their spirits did so, but it +is certain that their material substance did not; for after +the funeral all the mats and other valuables so presented +were distributed among the mourners and friends assembled +on the occasion, so that every one who had brought a gift +took away something in return on his departure.<a name="FNanchor_153_519" id="FNanchor_153_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_519" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> + +<p>If the dying man happened to be a chief, numbers +crowded round him to receive a parting look or word, while +in front of the house might be seen men and women wildly +beating their heads and bodies with great stones, thus +inflicting on themselves ghastly wounds, from which the +blood poured as an offering of affection and sympathy to +their departing friend or lord. It was hoped that, pleased +and propitiated by the sight of their devotion, the angry +god might yet stay his hand and spare the chief to his +people. Above all the tumult and uproar would rise the +voice of one who prayed aloud for the life then trembling in +the balance. But if the prayer seemed likely to prove +ineffectual, it was exchanged for threats and upbraiding. +"O thou shameless spirit," the voice would now be heard +exclaiming, "could I but grasp you, I would smash your +skull to pieces! Come here and let us fight together. +Don't conceal yourself, but show yourself like a man, and +let us fight, if you are angry."<a name="FNanchor_154_520" id="FNanchor_154_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_520" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>Immediately after death, all the mats on the floor of the +house were thrown outside, and the thatched sides of the +house were either torn down or knocked in with clubs; while +the relatives and assembled crowds wrought themselves up +to frenzy, uttering loud shrieks, rending their garments, +tearing out their hair by handfuls, burning their bodies with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +firebrands, beating their faces and heads with clubs and +stones, or gashing themselves with shells and shark's teeth, +till the blood ran freely down. This they called an offering +of blood for the dead. In their fury some of the mourners +fell on the canoes and houses, breaking them up and tearing +them down, felling the bread-fruit trees, and devastating the +plantations of yams and taro.<a name="FNanchor_155_521" id="FNanchor_155_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_521" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + +<p>As decomposition is rapid in the hot moist climate of +Samoa, it was customary to bury commoners a few hours +after death. The body was laid out on a mat, anointed with +scented oil, and the face tinged with turmeric, to soften the +cadaverous look. It was then wound up in several folds of +native cloth and the chin propped up, the head and face +being left uncovered, while for some hours longer the body +was surrounded by weeping relatives, who kept constant +watch over it, so long as it remained in the house. These +watchers were always women, and none of them might quit +her post under any pretext till she was relieved by another. +A fire was kept burning brightly in the house all the time. +If the deceased had died of a complaint which had previously +carried off other members of the family, they would probably +open the body to "search for the disease." Any inflamed +substance which they happened to find they would take +away and burn, thinking thus to prevent any other member +of the family from being similarly afflicted. Such a custom +betrays an incipient sense of death from natural, instead of +supernatural, causes, and must have contributed to diffuse a +knowledge of human anatomy.<a name="FNanchor_156_522" id="FNanchor_156_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_522" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></p> + +<p>So long as a corpse remained in the house no food +might be eaten under the roof; the family had their meals +outside or in another house. Those who had attended +to the deceased or handled the corpse were taboo: they +might not feed themselves or touch food with their hands. +For days they were fed by others as if they were helpless +infants. Baldness and the loss of teeth were supposed to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +the punishment inflicted by the household god for a breach +of the rule. Many people fasted at such times, eating +nothing during the day, but taking a meal in the evening. +The fifth day was a day of purification. The tabooed persons +then washed their faces and hands with hot water and were +clean; after that they were free to eat at the usual time and +in the usual manner.<a name="FNanchor_157_523" id="FNanchor_157_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_523" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>The ordinary mode of disposing of the dead was by +interment either in a stone vault or in a shallow grave. But +occasionally other modes were adopted, such as embalming, +putting the corpse in a canoe and setting it adrift on the sea, +or exposing it on a stage erected in the forest, where it was +left to decay, the bones being afterwards collected and buried. +Upon the death of a chief his body was generally deposited in +a family vault, the sides and bottom of which were lined with +large slabs of sandstone or basalt, while another large slab of +the same material formed the roof. Such vaults were sometimes +large and massive. The stones used in their construction +were found in various parts of the islands. Commoners +were buried in shallow graves.<a name="FNanchor_158_524" id="FNanchor_158_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_524" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> + +<p>Ordinary people were usually buried the day after they +died. As many friends as could be present attended the +funeral. Every one brought a present, but on the day after +the funeral all these presents, like those which had previously +been made to the dying man, were distributed again, so that +none went empty-handed away. The corpse was generally +buried without a coffin; but chiefs were laid in hollow logs +or canoes. However, even the bodies of common people +were sometimes interred in rude coffins similarly constructed. +There were no common burying-grounds; all preferred to +bury their dead on their own land. Often the grave was +dug close to the house. The body was laid in it with the +head to the east and the feet to the west. When it had +been thus committed to its last resting-place, a near relative +of the deceased, a sister, if one survived, seated herself at the +grave, and waving a white cloth over the corpse, began an +address to the dead. "Compassion to you," she said, "go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +with goodwill, and without bearing malice towards us. Take +with you all our diseases, and leave us life." Then pointing +to the west, she exclaimed, "Misery there!" Next pointing +to the east, she cried, "Prosperity there!" Lastly, pointing +to the grave, she said, "Misery there; but leave happiness +with us!" With the body they deposited in the grave +several things which had been used by the deceased during +his illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup, and his +bamboo pillow. The wooden pickaxes and coco-nut shells +employed as shovels in digging the grave were also carefully +buried with the corpse. It was not, we are told, because the +people believed these things to be of use to the dead; but +because it was supposed that, if they were left and handled +by others, further disease and death would be the consequence. +Valuable mats and other articles of property were +sometimes buried with the corpse, and the grave of a warrior +was surrounded with spears stuck upright in the ground. +Graves were sometimes enclosed with stones and strewn +with sand or crumbled coral.<a name="FNanchor_159_525" id="FNanchor_159_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_525" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>The obsequies of a chief of high rank were more +elaborate. The body was kept unburied for days until his +clansfolk had assembled from various parts of the islands +and paraded the body, shoulder high, through the village, +chanting a melancholy dirge.<a name="FNanchor_160_526" id="FNanchor_160_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_526" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> The mourning and ceremonies +lasted from ten to fifteen days. All that time the house of +death was watched night and day by men appointed for the +purpose. After the burial, and until the days of mourning +were ended, the daytime was generally spent in boxing and +wrestling matches, and sham-fights, while the nights were +occupied with dancing and practising a kind of buffoonery, +which was customary at these seasons of mourning for the +dead. The performance was called <i>O le tau-pinga</i>. The +performers amused themselves by making a variety of +ludicrous faces and grimaces at each other, to see who +could excite the other to laugh first. Thus they whiled +away the hours of night till the days of mourning were +expired.<a name="FNanchor_161_527" id="FNanchor_161_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_527" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> So long as the funeral ceremonies and feasts lasted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +no work might be done in the village, and no strangers +might approach it. The neighbouring lagoon and reefs were +taboo: no canoe might pass over the lagoon anywhere near +the village, and no man might fish in it or on the reef.<a name="FNanchor_162_528" id="FNanchor_162_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_528" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> +For a chief or man of distinction fires were kept burning +day and night in a line from the house to the grave; these +fires were maintained for ten days after the funeral. The +reason assigned for this custom, according to Ella, was to +keep away evil spirits. Even common people observed a +similar custom. After burial they kept a fire blazing in +the house all night, and they were careful to clear the +intervening ground so that a stream of light went forth from +the house to the grave. The account which the Samoans +gave of the custom, according to Turner, was that it was +merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and a +mark of their tender regard for him. Dr. George Brown +believed that the original motive for the custom was to warm +the ghost, and probably at the same time to protect the +mourners against dangerous spirits.<a name="FNanchor_163_529" id="FNanchor_163_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_529" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p>The head was deemed a very sacred part, and in olden +days the bodies of chiefs were often buried near their houses +until decomposition had set in, when the head was cut off +and interred in some family burying-place inland, to save +it from insult in time of war. This interment of the head +was accompanied with feasts, dances, and sham-fights. The +skull was borne to the appointed place on a kind of stage, +attended by a troop of armed men. With these sham-fights +Dr. George Brown, who records the custom, compares +the sham-fights which used to take place among the +Melanesians of the Duke of York Island when the body of +a chief was laid on a high platform in front of his house, +one company of warriors striving to deposit the corpse +on the platform, while their adversaries attempted to +prevent them from doing so.<a name="FNanchor_164_530" id="FNanchor_164_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_530" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> The meaning of these +curious sham-fights is obscure. Perhaps the attacking +party represented a band of evil spirits, who endeavoured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +to snatch away the chief's body, but were defeated in the +nefarious attempt.</p> + +<p>One or two families of chiefs in the island of Upolu used +to practise a rude kind of embalming. The work was done +exclusively by women. The viscera having been removed +and buried, the women anointed the body daily with a +mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids +escape, they punctured the body all over with fine needles. +Finally, wads of native cloth, saturated with oil or resinous +gums, were inserted in the abdomen, the apertures were +closed up, and the body wrapt in native cloth. The face, +hands, and feet were left exposed, and were repeatedly +anointed with oil, mixed with turmeric powder, to give a +fresh and life-like appearance to the mummy. The whole +process lasted about two months. On its completion the +mummy was placed in a house built specially for the purpose, +where, loosely covered with a sheet of native cloth, it rested +on a raised platform. Strangers were freely admitted to see +it. Four of these mummies, laid out in a house, were to be +seen down to about the year 1864. They were the bodies +of a chief, his wife, and two sons. Dr. George Turner +judged that they must have been embalmed upwards of +thirty years, and although they had been exposed all that +time, they were in a remarkably good state of preservation. +The people assigned no particular reason for the practice, +further than that it sprang from an affectionate desire to +keep the bodies of their departed friends with them, as if +they were still alive.<a name="FNanchor_165_531" id="FNanchor_165_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_531" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 11. <i>The Fate of the Human Soul after Death</i></h4> + +<p>With regard to the fate of human souls after death the +Samoans appear to have believed in their immortality, or +at all events in their indefinite survival. On this subject +Dr. Brown observes: "All souls survived after death, and +so far as I know they had no idea of their dying a second +death or being destroyed. I do not think that a Samoan +could give any reason for his belief that the soul does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +perish with the body, but he certainly does believe this, and +I never heard any one question the fact."<a name="FNanchor_166_532" id="FNanchor_166_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_532" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> Thus, according +to Dr. Brown the Samoans, unlike the Tongans, drew no +invidious distinction between the souls of noblemen and the +souls of commoners, but liberally opened the doors of +immortality to gentle and simple alike. So far, they carried +their republican or democratic spirit into the world beyond +the grave.</p> + +<p>However, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio +Hale, some of the Samoans agreed with the Tongans in +taking an aristocratic view of the destiny of souls after +death; and as he had good opportunities for acquainting +himself with the Samoan religion during the prolonged +stay of the American Exploring Expedition at Samoa +in 1839, when the islands were as yet but little affected +by European influence, I will quote his account. He +says: "All believe in the existence of a large island, +situated far to the north-west called <i>Pulótu</i>, which is the +residence of the gods. Some suppose that while the souls +of the common people perish with their bodies, those of the +chiefs are received into this island, which is described as +a terrestrial elysium, and become there inferior divinities. +Others hold (according to Mr. Heath) that the spirits of the +departed live and work in a dark subterraneous abode, and +are eaten by the gods. A third, and very common opinion +is, that the souls of all who die on an island, make their way +to the western extremity, where they plunge into the sea; +but what then becomes of them is not stated. The rock +from which they leap, in the island of Upolu, was pointed +out to us; the natives term it '<i>Fatu-asofia</i>,' which was +rendered the 'jumping-off stone.'"<a name="FNanchor_167_533" id="FNanchor_167_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_533" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>Of these various opinions described by Hale the third +would seem to have been by far the most prevalent. It was +commonly believed that the disembodied spirit retained the +exact resemblance of its former self, by which we are probably +to understand the exact resemblance of its former +body. Immediately on quitting its earthly tabernacle it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +began its solitary journey to Fafa, which was the subterranean +abode of the dead, lying somewhere to the west of +Savaii, the most westerly island of the group. Thus, if a +man died in Manua, the most easterly of the islands, his soul +would journey to the western end of that island, then dive +into the sea and swim across to Tutuila. There it would +walk along the beach to the extreme westerly point of the +island, when it would again plunge into the sea and swim +across to the next island, and so on to the most westerly +cape of Savaii, where it finally dived into the ocean and +pursued its way to the mysterious Fafa.<a name="FNanchor_168_534" id="FNanchor_168_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_534" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>At the western end of Savaii, near the village of +Falealupo, there are two circular openings among the rocks, +not far from the beach. Down these two openings the souls +of the dead were supposed to go on their passage to the +spirit-world. The souls of chiefs went down the larger of +the openings, and the souls of common people went down +the smaller. Near the spot stood a coco-nut tree, and if a +passing soul chanced to collide with it, the soul could not +proceed farther, but returned to its body. When a man +recovered from a deep swoon, his friends supposed that his +soul had been arrested in its progress to the other world by +knocking against the coco-nut tree, and they rejoiced, saying, +"He has come back from the tree of the Watcher," for that +was the name by which the coco-nut tree was known. So +firmly did the people of the neighbourhood believe in the +passage of the souls near their houses, that at night they +kept down the blinds to exclude the ghosts.<a name="FNanchor_169_535" id="FNanchor_169_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_535" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The "jumping-off +stone" at the west end of Upolu was also dreaded on +account of the passing ghosts. The place is a narrow rocky +cape. The Samoans were much astonished when a Christian +native boldly built himself a house on the haunted spot.<a name="FNanchor_170_536" id="FNanchor_170_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_536" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> +According to one account, the souls of the dead had not to +make their way through the chain of islands by the slow +process of walking and swimming, but were at once transported +to the western end of Savaii by a band of spirits, +who hovered over the house of the dying man, and catching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +up his parting spirit conveyed it in a straight course +westward.<a name="FNanchor_171_537" id="FNanchor_171_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_537" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p> + +<p>The place down which the spirits of the dead were +supposed to descend to the nether world was called by a +native name (<i>Luaō</i>), which means "hollow pit." "May you +go rumbling down the hollow pit" was a common form of +cursing. At the bottom of the pit was a running stream +which floated the spirits away to Pulotu. All alike, the +handsome and the ugly, old and young, chiefs and +commoners, drifted pell-mell on the current in a dazed, semi-conscious +state, till they came to Pulotu. There they bathed +in "the Water of Life" and recovered all their old life and +vigour. Infirmity of every kind fled away; even the aged +became young again. The underworld of Pulotu was conceived +on the model of our upper world. There, as here, +were heavens and earth and sea, fruits and flowers; there +the souls of the dead planted and fished and cooked; there +they married and were given in marriage, all after the +manner of life on earth.<a name="FNanchor_172_538" id="FNanchor_172_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_538" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>However, it appears that according to a widespread +belief the world of the dead was sharply discriminated into +two regions, to wit, an Elysium or place of bliss called +Pulotu, and a Tartarus or place of woe named Sā-le-Fe'e. +The title for admission to one or other of these places was +not moral worth but social rank, chiefs going to Elysium +and commoners to Tartarus. The idea of the superiority of +the chiefs to the common people was thus perpetuated in +the land of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_173_539" id="FNanchor_173_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_539" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> The king of the lower regions was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +a certain Saveasiuleo, that is, Savea of the Echo. He reclined +in a house in the company of the chiefs who gathered +round him: the upper part of his body was human, the +lower part was like that of a fish and stretched away into +the sea. This royal house of assembly was supported by +the erect bodies of chiefs, who had been of high rank on +earth, and who, before they died, anticipated with pride the +honour they were to enjoy by serving as pillars in the +temple of the King of Pulotu.<a name="FNanchor_174_540" id="FNanchor_174_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_540" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + +<p>But the souls of the dead were not permanently confined +to the lower world. They could return to the land of the +living by night to hold converse with members of their +families, to warn and instruct them in dreams, and to foretell +the future. They could cause disease and death by entering +into the bodies of their enemies and even of their friends, and +they produced nightmare by sitting on the chests of sleepers. +They haunted some houses and especially burying-grounds. +Their apparitions were visible to the living and were greatly +dreaded; people tried to drive them away by shouts, noises, +and the firing of guns. But the ghosts had to return to the +nether world at daybreak. It was because they feared the +spirits of the dead that the Samoans took such great pains +to propitiate dying people with presents; this they did +above all to persons whom they had injured, because they +had most reason to dread the anger of their ghosts.<a name="FNanchor_175_541" id="FNanchor_175_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_541" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> However, +the souls of the departed were also thought of in a +more amiable light; they could help as well as harm mankind. +Hence prayers were commonly offered at the grave +of a parent, a brother, or a chief. The suppliant, for +example, might pray for health in sickness; or, if he were +of a malignant turn, he might implore the ghost to compass +the death of some person at whom he bore a grudge. Thus +we are told that a woman prayed for the death of her +brother, and he died accordingly.<a name="FNanchor_176_542" id="FNanchor_176_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_542" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> In such beliefs and +practices we have, as I have already observed, the essential +elements of a regular worship of the dead. Whether the +Samoans were on the way to evolve such a religion or, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +Dr. George Brown preferred to suppose,<a name="FNanchor_177_543" id="FNanchor_177_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_543" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> had left it behind +them and made some progress towards a higher faith, we +hardly possess the means of determining.</p> + +<p>But while the Samoans thought that the dead return to +earth to make or mar the living, they did not believe that +the spirits come back to be born again in the form of men +or animals or to occupy inanimate bodies; in other words +they had no belief in the transmigration of souls.<a name="FNanchor_178_544" id="FNanchor_178_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_544" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> The +absence of such a belief is significant in view of Dr. Rivers's +suggestion that Melanesian totemism may have been evolved +out of a doctrine of metempsychosis, human souls being +supposed to pass at death into their totem animals or plants.<a name="FNanchor_179_545" id="FNanchor_179_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_545" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> +We have seen that the Samoan system of family, village, +and district gods bears strong marks of having been developed +out of totemism; and if their totemism had in turn +been developed out of a doctrine of transmigration, we +should expect to find among them a belief that the souls of +the dead appeared in the shape of the animals, plants, or +other natural objects which were regarded as the embodiments +of their family, village, or district gods. But of such +a belief there is seemingly no trace. It appears, therefore, +unlikely that Samoan totemism was based on a doctrine of +transmigration. Similarly we have seen reason to think +that the Tongan worship of animals may have sprung +from totemism, though according to the best authorities +that worship was not connected with a theory of metempsychosis.<a name="FNanchor_180_546" id="FNanchor_180_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_546" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> +Taken together, the Samoan and the Tongan +systems seem to show that, if totemism ever flourished +among the Polynesians, it had not its roots in a worship +of the dead.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_367" id="Footnote_1_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_367"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +New Edition (New York, 1851), ii. +117; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i> (London, +1897), pp. 21 <i>sq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, +<i>Australasia</i>, ii. (London, 1894) p. +500; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i> (London, 1910), pp. 1, 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_368" id="Footnote_2_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_368"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 27 <i>sq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 500, 504.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_369" id="Footnote_3_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_369"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal of a +Cruise among the Islands of the Western +Pacific</i> (London, 1853), p. 110; T. H. +Hood, <i>Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. +"Fawn" in the Western Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, +1863), p. 40; J. L. Brenchley, +<i>Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. +"Curaçoa" among the South Sea Islands +in 1865</i> (London, 1873), pp. 37-39, +61 <i>sq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. 502 <i>sq.</i>; John B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 26 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_370" id="Footnote_4_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_370"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 31 <i>sq.</i>, +52 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_371" id="Footnote_5_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_371"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire +sur l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) pp. 71 <i>sq.</i>; +F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. 502 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, Old Samoa, +p. 34; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_372" id="Footnote_6_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_372"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +504; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_373" id="Footnote_7_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_373"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_374" id="Footnote_8_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_374"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 33 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_375" id="Footnote_9_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_375"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a Cruise +in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western +Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 145; +J. B. Stair, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 41 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_376" id="Footnote_10_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_376"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the United +States Exploring Expedition</i>, ii. 118; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 72 (who, +however, affirms that the climate is not +unhealthy); T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a +Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the +Western Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. +144 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +16, 35 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_377" id="Footnote_11_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_377"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +ii. 124 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +pp. 165 <i>sq.</i>, 169 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 180 +<i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_378" id="Footnote_12_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_378"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> S. Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the +Fourth Meeting of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in +January 1892</i>, p. 622.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_379" id="Footnote_13_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_379"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the United +States Exploring Expedition</i>, ii. 72; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 72; F. H. H. +Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, ii. 504; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 38-41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_380" id="Footnote_14_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_380"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>Ethnography and +Philology of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i> (Philadelphia, 1846), +pp. 119 <i>sqq.</i>; J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal +of a Cruise among the Islands of the +Western Pacific</i>, pp. 102 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 271 <i>sqq.</i> (compare +<i>id.</i> p. 34 as to the timber and +canoe-building of Savaii); G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 358, +371 <i>sq.</i>; A. C. Haddon, <i>The Wanderings +of Peoples</i> (Cambridge, 1919), +p. 36; A. H. Keane, <i>Man Past and +Present</i> (Cambridge, 1920), p. 552. +That the Samoan language, alone of +the Polynesian dialects, retains the S +sound, is affirmed by Ch. Wilkes +(<i>Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, ii. 123). In some of +the islands the name of the ancient +fatherland of the race (Hawaiki, etc.) +has been applied or transferred to the +spirit-land to which the souls of the +dead are supposed to pass as their +final abode. See S. Percy Smith, +<i>Hawaiki</i>, pp. 46 <i>sqq.</i>; E. Tregear, +<i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary</i>, +pp. 56 <i>sqq.</i>, <i>s.v.</i> "Hawaiki."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_381" id="Footnote_15_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_381"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 360 <i>sq.</i> As to the Fijian +colony in Savaii, compare T. H. Hood, +<i>Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" +in the Western Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, +1863), pp. 117 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_382" id="Footnote_16_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_382"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> S. Percy Smith, <i>Hawaiki</i>, pp. +114 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_383" id="Footnote_17_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_383"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Horatio Hale, <i>Ethnography and +Philology of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, pp. 10 <i>sq.</i>; Ch. Wilkes, +<i>Narrative of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, ii. 125 <i>sq.</i>; J. E. +Erskine, <i>Journal of a Cruise among +the Islands of the Western Pacific</i>, pp. +41, 51; C. E. Meinicke, <i>Die Inseln +des Stillen Oceans</i> (Leipzig, 1875-1876), +ii. 110 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 3; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 58; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 55 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_384" id="Footnote_18_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_384"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> S. Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the +Fourth Meeting of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in +January 1892</i>, p. 634.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_385" id="Footnote_19_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_385"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a Cruise +in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western +Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 59 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_386" id="Footnote_20_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_386"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 110</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_387" id="Footnote_21_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_387"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 125; J. E. +Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 110</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_388" id="Footnote_22_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_388"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 148; +Violette, " Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 156; J. L. +Brenchley, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 77; S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 628 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 43, 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_389" id="Footnote_23_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_389"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_390" id="Footnote_24_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_390"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> For some evidence of the practice +see John Turnbull, <i>Voyage round the +World</i> (London, 1813), pp. 363 <i>sq.</i>; +C. S. Stewart, <i>Journal of a Residence +in the Sandwich Islands</i> (London, +1828), pp. 251 <i>sqq.</i>; P. Dillon, <i>Voyage +in the South Seas</i> (London, 1829), +ii. 134; William Ellis, <i>Polynesian +Researches</i>, Second Edition (London, +1832-1836), i. 248 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Williams, +<i>Narrative of Missionary Enterprises +in the South Sea Islands</i> (London, +1838), pp. 479-486. According to +Stewart, in those parts of Hawaii to +which the influence of the missionaries +had not penetrated, two-thirds of the +infants born were murdered by their +parents within the age of two years. +In Tahiti three women, questioned by +Mr. Williams, acknowledged that they +had killed twenty-one of their children +between them. Another, at the point +of death, confessed to him, in an +anguish of remorse, that she had destroyed +sixteen of her children.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_391" id="Footnote_25_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_391"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 79. Compare +J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 479; +S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 621; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_392" id="Footnote_26_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_392"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_393" id="Footnote_27_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_393"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 201 <i>sq.</i> +Compare G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 230 <i>sq.</i>; J. Williams, +<i>Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in +the South Sea Islands</i>, p. 471; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_394" id="Footnote_28_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_394"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea +Islands</i>, p. 456.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_395" id="Footnote_29_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_395"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 108-111; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 149 <i>sq.</i>, 290; J. E. +Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 39, 101 <i>sq.</i>; +W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i> +(London, 1866), pp. 125 <i>sq.</i>; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 168; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 240 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_396" id="Footnote_30_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_396"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 91 +<i>sqq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 288-291. Compare +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) pp. 119, 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_397" id="Footnote_31_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_397"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> S. Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the +Fourth Meeting of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in +January 1892</i>, p. 633.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_398" id="Footnote_32_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_398"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 245. Compare S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 638.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_399" id="Footnote_33_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_399"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> See, for example, E. W. Smith +and A. M. Dale, <i>The Ila-speaking +Peoples of Northern Rhodesia</i> (London, +1920), i. 252 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_400" id="Footnote_34_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_400"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_401" id="Footnote_35_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_401"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 456; Ch. +Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 150 <i>sq.</i>; W. T. +Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +p. 61; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +247 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 170, 172 <i>sq.</i> Dr. +Brown here speaks as if captive women +were regularly spared and married by +the victors. As to the elaborate civilities +which passed between the vanguards +of two hostile armies at their +first meeting, see Dr. Brown, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 166 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_402" id="Footnote_36_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_402"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_403" id="Footnote_37_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_403"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 286 <i>sq.</i>, 456; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 254-258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_404" id="Footnote_38_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_404"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i>. ii. 145 <i>sqq.</i>; +J. E. Erskine, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 45-47; +T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a Cruise in +H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western +Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 32; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. +Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 152 <i>sqq.</i>; S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 634 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old +Samoa,</i> pp. 105 <i>sqq.</i>, 153 <i>sqq.</i>; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 24 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_405" id="Footnote_39_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_405"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 147; W. T. +Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i> +(London, 1866), pp. 126-128; Violette, +"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel +de Samoa," <i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, +iii. (1870) pp. 87 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 105-107; J. B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 53-55; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 130 +<i>sqq.</i> According to Dr. Brown, there +are generally three crops of bread-fruit +in the year, one of them lasting +about three months.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_406" id="Footnote_40_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_406"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire +sur l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 188; S. +Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 635; J. B. Stair, <i>Old +Samoa</i>, pp. 54 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 130 +<i>sqq.</i>, 338 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_407" id="Footnote_41_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_407"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 157 <i>sqq.</i>, +162 <i>sqq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +141 <i>sqq.</i>, 145 <i>sqq.</i>, 153 <i>sqq.</i>, 157 <i>sqq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 268, 305-308. Compare +Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 143 <i>sqq.</i>; +Violette, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 134 <i>sq.</i>; S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 635 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_408" id="Footnote_42_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_408"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +ii. 142 <i>sq.</i>; J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal of a +Cruise among the Islands of the Western +Pacific</i>, pp. 109 <i>sq.</i>; W. T. Pritchard, +<i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, pp. 129-132; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. +Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 119-121; S. Ella, +"Samoa," <i>Report of the Fourth Meeting +of the Australasian Association for the +Advancement of Science, held at Hobart, +Tasmania, in January 1892</i>, p. 636; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 143 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 304 <i>sq.</i>, 305, 315, 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_409" id="Footnote_43_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_409"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 176 <i>sq.</i>; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 83 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 287 <i>sq.</i>, 314, 339.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_410" id="Footnote_44_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_410"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 160 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 247, 262 <i>sq.</i>, 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_411" id="Footnote_45_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_411"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +p. 454; H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and +Philology of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, p. 29; T. H. Hood, <i>Notes +of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the +Western Pacific</i> (Edinburgh, 1863), p. +118; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 173; S. +Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the Fourth +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science, held at +Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892</i>, +p. 631; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +83 <i>sq.</i>, 89; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, p. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_412" id="Footnote_46_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_412"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 28; Violette, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 168; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +pp. 173 <i>sqq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +pp. 65 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, pp. 283, 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_413" id="Footnote_47_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_413"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 431.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_414" id="Footnote_48_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_414"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 280, 283, 285; Violette, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 168 (as to chiefs too holy to +be seen by day).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_415" id="Footnote_49_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_415"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 127 +<i>sq.</i> Compare Violette, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 168; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 231, 280, 285. In this +work Dr. Brown remarks (p. 231) that +there is no clear explanation of the +custom of sprinkling coco-nut water as +a purificatory rite. But the explanation +given by Stair, which I have quoted in +the text, is clear and satisfactory, and +elsewhere (p. 285) Dr. Brown implicitly +adopts the same explanation, where he +says that the man who had served kava +to a sacred chief "sprinkled himself +all over to wash away the sacredness +(<i>paia</i>)."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_416" id="Footnote_50_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_416"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and Philology +of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, pp. 28 <i>sq.</i>; Violette, +"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel +de Samoa," <i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, +iii. (1870) p. 190; J. B. Stair, <i>Old +Samoa</i>, pp. 67 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 380 +<i>sq.</i> Compare G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_417" id="Footnote_51_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_417"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 280, 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_418" id="Footnote_52_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_418"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> J. E. Erskine, <i>Journal of a Cruise +among the Islands of the Western +Pacific</i>, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_419" id="Footnote_53_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_419"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 174 <i>sq.</i>; +S. Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the Fourth +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science, held at +Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892</i>, +pp. 631 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +p. 70; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, p. 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_420" id="Footnote_54_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_420"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 70; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_421" id="Footnote_55_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_421"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea +Islands</i>, p. 454; H. Hale, <i>Ethnography +and Philology of the United +States Exploring Expedition</i>, p. 28; +Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur +l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les Missions +Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. +Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 177; J. B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 71 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_422" id="Footnote_56_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_422"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Violette, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 119; G. +Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 174; S. Ella, <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 631; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, pp. 282, 286, 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_423" id="Footnote_57_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_423"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Violette, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 118 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 65 <i>sqq.</i>; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 283. Compare H. Hale, <i>Ethnography +and Philology of the United +States Exploring Expedition</i>, p. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_424" id="Footnote_58_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_424"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> S. Ella, "Samoa," <i>Report of the +Fourth Meeting of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, +in January 1892</i>, p. 631.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_425" id="Footnote_59_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_425"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 28; Ch. +Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 152; Violette, <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 119; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 629; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 70 <i>sq.</i>; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 285 <i>sq.</i>, 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_426" id="Footnote_60_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_426"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 74 +<i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 432.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_427" id="Footnote_61_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_427"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_428" id="Footnote_62_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_428"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 180; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_429" id="Footnote_63_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_429"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire +sur l'archipel de Samoa," <i>Les +Missions Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) pp. +119 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_430" id="Footnote_64_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_430"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 173, 180 +<i>sq.</i> A third local division, intermediate +between the village and the district, is +mentioned by Stair, who calls it a +settlement (<i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 83); but +the other authorities whom I have consulted +appear not to recognise such an +intermediate division.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_431" id="Footnote_65_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_431"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_432" id="Footnote_66_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_432"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and Philology +of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, p. 29; Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative +of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, ii. 153 <i>sq.</i>; Violette, +"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel +de Samoa," <i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, +iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 177 <i>sqq.</i>, 180 <i>sqq.</i>; S. +Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 632 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 84 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 286 +<i>sq.</i>, 288 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_433" id="Footnote_67_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_433"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 319; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +p. 158; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +146, 149, 154, 159. As to the wooden +dibbles, see Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 635 (above, +p. <a href="#Page_166">166</a>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_434" id="Footnote_68_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_434"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 111 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_435" id="Footnote_69_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_435"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_436" id="Footnote_70_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_436"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> John Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, pp. 465 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_437" id="Footnote_71_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_437"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i> +(London, 1866), pp. 106 <i>sqq.</i>; T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a Cruise +in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific</i>, p. 141; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +pp. 16 <i>sqq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 211, 215 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_438" id="Footnote_72_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_438"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +p. 468; Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, ii. +131 <i>sq.</i>; T. H. Hood, <i>Notes of a +Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the +Western Pacific</i>, p. 141; W. T. +Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 106 <i>sqq.</i>; Violette, "Notes d'un +Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," +<i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) +p. 111; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 16 <i>sqq.</i>, +40, 50 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +pp. 211, 216 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, pp. 137, 218. +The account of these deities given by +Dr. G. Turner is by far the fullest and +best.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_439" id="Footnote_73_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_439"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 67 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_440" id="Footnote_74_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_440"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 107. +Similarly some people had pig's heart +for their god, or the embodiment of +their god, and they scrupulously avoided +eating pigs' hearts lest pigs' hearts +should grow in their bodies and so +cause their death. See G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_441" id="Footnote_75_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_441"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 31 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_442" id="Footnote_76_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_442"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 38, 58, +59, 69 <i>sq.</i>, 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_443" id="Footnote_77_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_443"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 216 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_444" id="Footnote_78_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_444"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_445" id="Footnote_79_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_445"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_446" id="Footnote_80_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_446"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_447" id="Footnote_81_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_447"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_448" id="Footnote_82_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_448"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 373 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_449" id="Footnote_83_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_449"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_450" id="Footnote_84_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_450"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 21, 26, +60 <i>sq.</i> Compare W. T. Pritchard, +<i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, pp. 110 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_451" id="Footnote_85_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_451"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_452" id="Footnote_86_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_452"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 24 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_453" id="Footnote_87_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_453"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 20; W. T. +Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 121 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_454" id="Footnote_88_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_454"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_455" id="Footnote_89_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_455"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 20, 26, +29, 41, 44, 47, 53, 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_456" id="Footnote_90_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_456"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 20 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_457" id="Footnote_91_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_457"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 20, 26, +29; W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian +Reminiscences</i>, p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_458" id="Footnote_92_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_458"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_459" id="Footnote_93_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_459"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_460" id="Footnote_94_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_460"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_461" id="Footnote_95_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_461"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 25 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_462" id="Footnote_96_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_462"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 70 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_463" id="Footnote_97_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_463"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 47 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_464" id="Footnote_98_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_464"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_465" id="Footnote_99_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_465"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 229 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_466" id="Footnote_100_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_466"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 25 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_467" id="Footnote_101_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_467"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_468" id="Footnote_102_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_468"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 52, 61, +65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_469" id="Footnote_103_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_469"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 35, 51, +54 <i>sq.</i>, 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_470" id="Footnote_104_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_470"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> G. Turner, pp. 46 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_471" id="Footnote_105_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_471"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_472" id="Footnote_106_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_472"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_473" id="Footnote_107_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_473"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 35; compare +p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_474" id="Footnote_108_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_474"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 59 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_475" id="Footnote_109_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_475"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_476" id="Footnote_110_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_476"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_477" id="Footnote_111_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_477"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 25 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_478" id="Footnote_112_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_478"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_479" id="Footnote_113_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_479"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_480" id="Footnote_114_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_480"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_481" id="Footnote_115_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_481"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_482" id="Footnote_116_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_482"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_483" id="Footnote_117_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_483"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_484" id="Footnote_118_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_484"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_485" id="Footnote_119_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_485"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 18. For +the offering of kava to the household +god, compare <i>id.</i> p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_486" id="Footnote_120_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_486"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 20. For a +full account of the priesthood, see J. +B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 220 <i>sqq.</i> As +to the Samoan war-gods, see G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 23, 25 <i>sq.</i>, 27 <i>sq.</i>, 28, 32, +33, 35, 42, 46 <i>sq.</i>, 48, 49, 51, 52, +54 <i>sq.</i>, 55, 57, 60, 61, 64, 65; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 215 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_487" id="Footnote_121_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_487"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 70, +222 <i>sq.</i>, 225; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, pp. 228, 246 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_488" id="Footnote_122_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_488"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 223-225; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 246 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_489" id="Footnote_123_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_489"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> J. B. Stair, p. 223; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 228, +246 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_490" id="Footnote_124_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_490"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 226-228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_491" id="Footnote_125_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_491"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_492" id="Footnote_126_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_492"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 227 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_493" id="Footnote_127_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_493"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 29 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_494" id="Footnote_128_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_494"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_495" id="Footnote_129_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_495"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_496" id="Footnote_130_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_496"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 56 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_497" id="Footnote_131_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_497"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 54 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_498" id="Footnote_132_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_498"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_499" id="Footnote_133_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_499"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 119-121; Violette, +"Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel +de Samoa," <i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, +iii. (1870) p. 112; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +p. 31; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 228; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_500" id="Footnote_134_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_500"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> H. B. Sterndale, quoted by R. A. +Sterndale, "Asiatic Architecture in +Polynesia," <i>The Asiatic Quarterly +Review</i>, x. (July-October 1890) pp. +347-350. The writer of this article +reports the discoveries of his brother, +Mr. Handley Bathurst Sterndale.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_501" id="Footnote_135_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_501"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> H. B. Sterndale, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 351 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_502" id="Footnote_136_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_502"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> H. B. Sterndale, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_503" id="Footnote_137_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_503"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 17, 78 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_504" id="Footnote_138_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_504"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 137, 218, 334.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_505" id="Footnote_139_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_505"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in +Polynesia and Melanesia," <i>Journal of +the Royal Anthropological Institute</i>, +xxxix. (1909) pp. 159 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_506" id="Footnote_140_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_506"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 111 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 211 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_507" id="Footnote_141_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_507"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_508" id="Footnote_142_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_508"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_509" id="Footnote_143_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_509"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 7 <i>sq.</i>; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 212-214. +The bird <i>turi</i> or <i>tuli</i> is spoken of by +Turner as the daughter, but by Stair as +the son, of Tangaloa. According to +Turner, the bird is a species of snipe; +according to Stair, a species of plover. +As to Tangaloa and the stories told +about him, compare John Williams, +<i>Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in +the South Sea Islands</i>, pp. 469 <i>sq.</i>; +H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and Philology +of the United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +p. 22; Violette, "Notes d'un +Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," +<i>Les Missions Catholiques</i>, iii. (1870) +pp. 111 <i>sq.</i>; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 463, +<i>s.v.</i> "Tangaroa."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_510" id="Footnote_144_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_510"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>Narrative of the +United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +ii. 131; W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian +Reminiscences</i>, pp. 112, 114 <i>sqq.</i>; +G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 209-211; J. B. +Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 238 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_511" id="Footnote_145_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_511"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_512" id="Footnote_146_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_512"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 223. See also above, p. <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_513" id="Footnote_147_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_513"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 62 <i>sq.</i> +The town or village of Matautu is in +the island of Savaii. According to +G. Turner, the sacred tree of Tuifiti +was the <i>Afzelia bijuga</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_514" id="Footnote_148_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_514"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 210 <i>sq.</i>, +215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_515" id="Footnote_149_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_515"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 8, 16; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 220; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 218 <i>sq.</i>; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 26, +<i>s.v.</i> "Ata."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_516" id="Footnote_150_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_516"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 170 <i>sq.</i>, 218 sq.; G. +Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 150 <i>sq.</i>; S. Ella, +"Samoa," <i>Report of the Fourth Meeting +of the Australasian Association for +the Advancement of Science, held at +Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892</i>, +pp. 641 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +p. 184. According to Brown and +Stair the ceremony described in the +text was observed when a man had +died a violent death, even when the +relatives were in possession of the body, +and in that case the insect, or whatever +it might be, was buried with the +corpse. I have followed Turner and +Ella in supposing that the ceremony +was only observed when the corpse +could not be found. As to the fear of +the spirits of the unburied dead, see +also W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 58 <i>sq.</i>, 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_517" id="Footnote_151_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_517"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 639, 643; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 223 <i>sq.</i>, 402.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_518" id="Footnote_152_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_518"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 146 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 140 <i>sq.</i>; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 639; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +180 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, pp. 223 <i>sq.</i>, 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_519" id="Footnote_153_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_519"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 147, +150 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 141 +<i>sq.</i>, 146; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 639; +J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 180; G. +Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 220, 401, 405 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_520" id="Footnote_154_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_520"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 181 +<i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_521" id="Footnote_155_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_521"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +p. 148; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, p. 144; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. +640; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 182; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 401 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_522" id="Footnote_156_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_522"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 148 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 144 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old +Samoa</i>, 182; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, p. 402.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_523" id="Footnote_157_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_523"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 145; W. T. +Pritchard, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 149; S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 640; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +p. 182; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and +Polynesians</i>, p. 402.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_524" id="Footnote_158_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_524"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 178 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_525" id="Footnote_159_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_525"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 150 <i>sq.</i>; G. Turner, +<i>Samoa</i>, pp. 146 <i>sq.</i>; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 640 <i>sq.</i>; J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, +pp. 179 <i>sq.</i>, 182 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_526" id="Footnote_160_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_526"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 146</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_527" id="Footnote_161_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_527"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 183 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_528" id="Footnote_162_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_528"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> W. T. Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, +pp. 149 <i>sq.</i>; S. Ella, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 642; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians +and Polynesians</i>, pp. 403 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_529" id="Footnote_163_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_529"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 149; S. +Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 640 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 402.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_530" id="Footnote_164_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_530"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 388 <i>sq.</i>, 404 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_531" id="Footnote_165_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_531"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 148 <i>sq.</i>; +S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 641; J. B. Stair, +<i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 184 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_532" id="Footnote_166_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_532"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 220 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_533" id="Footnote_167_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_533"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> H. Hale, <i>Ethnography and Philology +of the United States Exploring +Expedition</i>, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_534" id="Footnote_168_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_534"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. +218 <i>sq.</i> Compare G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, +p. 257; S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 643 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_535" id="Footnote_169_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_535"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 257 <i>sq.</i>; +S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 643 <i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, p. 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_536" id="Footnote_170_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_536"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_537" id="Footnote_171_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_537"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 257; S. +Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 643.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_538" id="Footnote_172_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_538"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 258 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_539" id="Footnote_173_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_539"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> J. B. Stair, <i>Old Samoa</i>, pp. 217 +<i>sq.</i>; G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 221. On the question +whether the Samoans held a doctrine +of moral retribution after death, Dr. +Brown observes: "I do not remember +any statement to the effect that the +conduct of a man in this life affected +his state after death. They certainly +believe this now, but whether they +did so prior to the introduction of +Christianity I cannot definitely say. I +am inclined, however, to believe that +they did not believe that conduct in +this life affected them in the future" +(<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. +261 <i>sq.</i>). Elsewhere, however, Dr. +Brown seems to express a contrary +opinion. He says: "It was generally +understood that the conditions of men +in this life, even amongst the common +people, had an effect on their future +conditions. A good man in Samoa +generally meant a liberal man, one who +was generous and hospitable; whilst a +bad man was one who was mean, selfish, +and greedy about food" (<i>op. cit.</i> p. 222).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_540" id="Footnote_174_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_540"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 259 <i>sq.</i>; +S. Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 644.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_541" id="Footnote_175_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_541"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 259; S. +Ella, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 644; G. Brown, +<i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, pp. 219, +221, 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_542" id="Footnote_176_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_542"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_543" id="Footnote_177_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_543"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +pp. 245, 282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_544" id="Footnote_178_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_544"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> G. Brown, <i>Melanesians and Polynesians</i>, +p. 221, "They had no belief +in the transmigration of souls either +into animals, inert bodies, or into +different human bodies."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_545" id="Footnote_179_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_545"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> W. H. R. Rivers, <i>The History of +Melanesian Society</i>, ii. 358 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_546" id="Footnote_180_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_546"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_92">92 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Hervey or Cook Islands</i></h4> + +<p>The Hervey or Cook Archipelago is a scattered group +of nine small islands situated in the South Pacific about +seven hundred miles south-east of Samoa. The islands are +either volcanic or coralline, and approach to them is impeded +by dangerous reefs and the absence of harbours.<a name="FNanchor_1_547" id="FNanchor_1_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_547" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The +two principal islands are Rarotonga and Mangaia, the most +southerly of the group. Of these the larger, Rarotonga, has +a circumference of about thirty miles. It is a vast mass of +volcanic mountains, rising peak above peak, to a height of +between four and five thousand feet above the sea; but from +the foot of the mountains a stretch of flat land, covered with +rich alluvial soil, extends for one or two miles to the coast, +which is formed by a fringing reef of live coral. The +whole island is mantled in luxuriant tropical verdure. It +is difficult, we are told, to exaggerate the strange forms of +beauty which everywhere meet the eye in this lovely island: +gigantic and fantastic columns of rock draped with vines; +deep valleys lying in the shadow of overhanging mountains; +primaeval forest with its many shades of green; immense +chestnut trees, laden with fragrant blossoms; miles of bread-fruit +groves, intermingled with coco-nut palms; and nearer +the beach plantains, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lastly, +growing to the water's edge, graceful iron-wood trees with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +hair-like leaves drooping like tresses, all contribute to the +variety and charm of the scenery.<a name="FNanchor_2_548" id="FNanchor_2_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_548" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Very different is the aspect of Mangaia. It is a +complete coral island rising from deep water as a ring of +live coral; there is no lagoon. A few hundred yards inland +from the rugged beach there rises gradually a second or +inner ring of dead coral, which towards the interior falls +away perpendicularly, thus surrounding the island like a +cyclopean wall. This belt or bulwark of dead coral is from +one to two miles wide. To cross it is like walking on +spear-points: to slip and fall on it may entail ghastly +wounds. The streams of water from the interior find their +way through it to the sea by subterranean channels. +Imbedded in the highest parts of this inland reef of coral +are many sea-shells of existing species, and it is honeycombed +with many extensive caves, which were formerly used as +dwellings, cemeteries, places of refuge, or storehouses. Scores +of them are filled with desiccated human bodies. So vast +are they that it is dangerous to venture alone into their +recesses; the forlorn wanderer might never emerge from them +again. Some of them are said to penetrate far under the +bed of the ocean. In these caverns stalactite and stalagmite +abound, forming thick and fast-growing layers of limestone +rock. The largest and most famous of the caves is known +as the Labyrinth (<i>Tuatini</i>). The interior of the island is +formed of dark volcanic rock and red clay, descending in low +hills from a flat-topped centre, called the Crown of Mangaia. +The summit is not more than six hundred and fifty feet +above the level of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_3_549" id="FNanchor_3_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_549" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Islanders and their Mode of Life</i></h4> + +<p>Though the natives speak a Polynesian language closely +akin to the Samoan and have legends of their migration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +from Samoa, they appear not to be pure Polynesians. They +say that they found black people on Rarotonga; and their +more pronounced features, more wavy hair, darker complexion, +and more energetic character seem to indicate an +admixture of Melanesian blood. In Mangaia, indeed, this +type is said to predominate, the natives of that island being +characterised by dusky brown skin, wavy or frizzly hair, and +ample beards: their features, too, are more prominent than +those of the Rarotongans, and their manners are wilder.<a name="FNanchor_4_550" id="FNanchor_4_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_550" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +Cannibalism prevailed in most of the islands of the group +down to the conversion of the natives to Christianity, which +took place between 1823 and 1834, when, with the exception +of a few pagans in Mangaia, there did not remain a +single idolater, or vestige of idolatry, in any one of the +islands. However, many years afterwards old men, who had +partaken of cannibal feasts, assured a missionary that human +flesh was far superior to pork.<a name="FNanchor_5_551" id="FNanchor_5_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_551" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>In the larger islands the natives cultivated the soil +diligently even before their contact with Europeans. The +missionary John Williams, who discovered Rarotonga in 1823, +found the island in a high state of cultivation. Rows of +superb chestnut trees (<i>inocarpus</i>), planted at equal distances,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +stretched from the base of the mountains to the sea, while +the spaces between the rows, some half a mile wide, were +divided into taro patches, each about half an acre in extent, +carefully banked up and capable of being irrigated at pleasure. +On the tops of the banks grew fine bread-fruit trees placed +at equal intervals, their stately foliage presenting a pleasing +contrast to the pea-green leaves of the ordinary taro and +the dark colour of the giant taro (<i>kape</i>) in the beds and on +the sloping banks beneath.<a name="FNanchor_6_552" id="FNanchor_6_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_552" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> In Rarotonga bread-fruit and +plantains are the staple food; in Mangaia it is taro. On +the atolls the coco-nut palm flourishes, but no planting can +be done, as the soil consists of sand and gravel thrown up +by the sea on the ever-growing coral. The inhabitants of +the atolls live contentedly on coco-nuts and fish; they are +expert fishermen, having little else to do. But fresh fish are +also eaten in large quantities on most of the islands.<a name="FNanchor_7_553" id="FNanchor_7_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_553" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> In +some of the islands the planting was done by the women, +but in others, including Rarotonga, the taro was both planted +and brought home by the men. Women cooked the food +in ovens of hot stones sunk in holes, and they made cloth +from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which they stripped +from the tree, steeped in water, and beat out with square +mallets of iron-wood. But garments were made also from +the inner bark of the banyan and bread-fruit trees.<a name="FNanchor_8_554" id="FNanchor_8_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_554" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In the +old days the native houses were flimsy quadrangular huts +constructed of reeds and thatched with plaited leaflets of +the coco-nut palm, which were very pervious to rain; but +the temples and large houses of chiefs were thatched with +pandanus leaves. The doors were always sliding; the +threshold was made of a single block of timber, tastefully +carved. There was a sacred and a common entrance.<a name="FNanchor_9_555" id="FNanchor_9_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_555" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Like +all the Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders before their discovery +were ignorant of the metals. When in a wrecked +vessel they found a bag of Californian gold, they thought it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +was something good to eat and proceeded to cook the +nuggets in order to make them juicy and tender.<a name="FNanchor_10_556" id="FNanchor_10_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_556" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>Social Life: the Sacred Kings</i></h4> + +<p>The people were divided into tribes or clans, each tracing +descent in the male line from a common ancestor, and each +possessing its own lands, which were inalienable. Exogamy, +we are told, was the universal rule in the olden time; but +when a tribe was split up in war, the defeated portion was +treated as an alien tribe. Polygamy was very common, and +was not restricted to chiefs. A man often had two or three +sisters to wife at the same time. Distant cousins sometimes, +though rarely, married each other; but in such cases they +had to belong to the same generation; that is, they must be +descended in the same degree, fourth, fifth, or even more +remote, from the common ancestor. If misfortune or disease +overtook couples linked even by so distant a relationship, the +elders would declare that it was brought upon them by the +anger of the clan-god. It was the duty of parents to teach +their growing children whom they might lawfully marry, but +their choice was extremely limited. Children as a rule +belonged to the tribe or clan of their father, unless they +were adopted into another. However, parents had it at +their option to assign a child at birth either to the tribe of its +father or to the tribe of its mother; this they did by pronouncing +over the infant the name either of the father's or of +the mother's god. Commonly the father had the preference; +but occasionally, when the father's tribe was one from which +human victims for sacrifice were regularly drawn, the mother +would seek to save the child's life by having the name +of her tribal god pronounced over it and so adopting +it into her own tribe.<a name="FNanchor_11_557" id="FNanchor_11_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_557" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Circumcision in an imperfect form +was practised in the Hervey Islands from time immemorial. +It was usually performed on a youth about the age of sixteen. +The operation was indispensable to marriage. No woman +would knowingly marry an uncircumcised husband. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +greatest insult that could be offered to a man was to accuse +him of being uncircumcised. The rite is said to have been +invented by the god Rongo in order to seduce the beautiful +wife of his brother Tangaroa, and he enjoined the observance +of circumcision upon his worshippers.<a name="FNanchor_12_558" id="FNanchor_12_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_558" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> In Rarotonga it was +customary to mould a child's head into a high shape by +pressing the forehead and the back of the head between slabs +of soft wood. This practice did not obtain on Mangaia nor, +apparently, on any other island of the Hervey Group.<a name="FNanchor_13_559" id="FNanchor_13_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_559" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>In Rarotonga four ranks of society were recognised. These +were the <i>ariki</i>, or king; the <i>mataiapo</i>, or governors of districts; +the <i>rangatira</i>, or landowners; and the <i>unga</i>, or tenants. +A man was accounted great according to the number of his +<i>kaingas</i> or farms, which contained from one to five acres. +These were let to tenants, who, like vassals under the feudal +system, obeyed the orders of their superior, assisted him in +erecting his house, in building his canoe, in making fishing-nets, +and in other occupations, besides bringing him a certain +portion of the produce of his lands.<a name="FNanchor_14_560" id="FNanchor_14_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_560" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The kings were sacred men, being regarded as priests +and mouthpieces of the great tutelary divinities.<a name="FNanchor_15_561" id="FNanchor_15_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_561" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In +Mangaia they were the priests or mouthpieces of the +great god Rongo. So sacred were their royal persons that +no part of their body might be tattooed: they might not +take part in dances or in actual warfare. Peace could not +be proclaimed nor blood spilt lawfully without the consent +of the king speaking in the name of the god Rongo. Quite +distinct from, and subordinate to, the sacred king was the +"lord of Mangaia," a warrior chief who gained his lordship +by a decisive victory. He represented the civil power, while +the king represented the spiritual power; but while the +office of the king was hereditary, the office of the civil lord was +not. It sometimes happened that the civil lord was at enmity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +with the king of his day. In that case the king would refuse to +complete the ceremonies necessary for his formal investiture; +life would remain unsafe; the soil could not be cultivated, +and famine soon ensued. This state of turbulence and +misery might last for years, till the obnoxious chief had been +in his turn despatched, and a more agreeable successor +appointed.<a name="FNanchor_16_562" id="FNanchor_16_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_562" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Thus the sacred king and the civil lord corresponded +to the Tooitonga or sacred chief and the civil king +of Tonga.<a name="FNanchor_17_563" id="FNanchor_17_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_563" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism</i></h4> + +<p>Yet though the king of Mangaia ranked above the civil +or temporal lord, it devolved on that lord to install a new +king in office by formally seating him on "the sacred sandstone" +(<i>te kea inamoa</i>) in the sanctuary or sacred grove +(<i>marae</i>)<a name="FNanchor_18_564" id="FNanchor_18_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_564" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> of Rongo on the sea-shore facing the setting sun. +The ceremony took place in presence of the leading +under-chiefs. The special duty of the king was by offering +rhythmical and very ancient prayers to Great Rongo to +keep away evil-minded spirits who might otherwise injure +the island. For this end the principal king (<i>te ariki pa uta</i>) +lived in the interior of the island in the sacred and fertile +district of Keia. His prayers were thought to avert evil +spirits coming from the east. On the barren sea-shore +at O-rongo (the seat of the temple or grove of Rongo) +lived the secondary king (<i>te ariki pa tai</i>), who warded +off bad spirits coming from the west. Besides this primary +ghostly function, many other important duties devolved +upon these royal personages. The secondary or shore +king was not infrequently a natural son of the great inland +king. By virtue of their office all kings were high priests +of Rongo, the tutelary god of Mangaia.<a name="FNanchor_19_565" id="FNanchor_19_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_565" class="fnanchor">[19]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Rongo was not peculiar to the Hervey Islands. He +was a great Polynesian deity worshipped in almost every +part of the Pacific, and though his attributes differed greatly +in different places, a universal reverence was paid to him. +In the Hervey Islands, he and his twin brother Tangaroa were +deemed the children of Vatea, the eldest of the primary gods, +a being half man and half fish, whose eyes are the sun and +the moon. The wife of this monstrous deity and mother +of the divine twins was Papa, whose name signifies Foundation +and who was supposed to be a daughter of Timatekore +or "Nothing-more." The twin Tangaroa, another great +Polynesian deity, was specially honoured in Rarotonga and +Aitutaki, another of the Hervey Islands.<a name="FNanchor_20_566" id="FNanchor_20_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_566" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The famous +Polynesian hero Maui was also well known in the Hervey +Islands, where people told how he had brought up the first +fire to men from the under world, having there wrested it +from the fire-god Mauike;<a name="FNanchor_21_567" id="FNanchor_21_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_567" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> how he raised the sky—a solid +vault of blue stone—to its present height, for of old the sky +almost touched the earth, so that people could not walk +upright;<a name="FNanchor_22_568" id="FNanchor_22_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_568" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> and finally how he caught the great sun-god Ra +himself in six nooses made of strong coco-nut fibre, so +that the motions of the orb of day, which before had been +extremely irregular, have been most orderly ever since.<a name="FNanchor_23_569" id="FNanchor_23_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_569" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>But besides the divine or heroic figures of more or less +anthropomorphic type, which the Hervey Islanders recognised +in common with the rest of the Polynesians, we may +distinguish in their mythology traces of that other and +probably older stage of thought in which the objects of +religious reverence are rather animals than men or beings +modelled in the image of man. We have seen that this +early stage of religion was well preserved in Samoa down to +the time when the islands fell under the observation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +Europeans, and that it was probably a relic of totemism,<a name="FNanchor_24_570" id="FNanchor_24_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_570" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +which at an earlier period may perhaps have prevailed generally +among the ancestors of the Polynesians. In the Hervey +Islands there was a god called Tonga-iti, who appeared +visibly in the form of black and white spotted lizards.<a name="FNanchor_25_571" id="FNanchor_25_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_571" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +Another deity named Tiaio took possession of the body of +the large white shark, the terror of these islanders, and he +had a small sacred grove (<i>marae</i>) set apart for his worship. +It is said that this shark-god was a former king of Mangaia, +who in the pride of his heart had defiled the sacred district +of Keia, the favourite haunt of the gods, by wearing some +beautiful scarlet hibiscus flowers in his ears. Now anything +red was forbidden in that part of the island as being offensive +to the gods; and even the beating of bark-cloth was prohibited +there, lest the repose of the gods should be disturbed +by the noise. Hence an angry priest knocked the proud and +impious king on the head, and the blood of the slain monarch +flowed into a neighbouring stream, where it was drunk by a +great fresh-water eel. So the spirit of the dead king entered +into the eel, but subsequently, pursuing its way to the sea, +the spirit forsook the eel and took possession of the shark.<a name="FNanchor_26_572" id="FNanchor_26_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_572" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +Nevertheless he continued occasionally to appear to his +worshippers in the form of an eel; for we are told that in +the old heathen days, if a huge eel were caught in a net, it +would have been regarded as the god Tiaio himself come on +a visit, and that it would accordingly have been allowed to +return to the water unmolested.<a name="FNanchor_27_573" id="FNanchor_27_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_573" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> It is quite possible that +this derivation of the eel-god or shark-god from a former +king of Mangaia may be historically correct; for we are told +that "many of the deities worshipped in the Hervey Group +and other islands of the eastern Pacific were canonised +priests, kings, and warriors, whose spirits were supposed to +enter into various birds, fish, reptiles, insects, etc., etc. +Strangely enough, they were regarded as being, in no respect, +inferior to the original deities."<a name="FNanchor_28_574" id="FNanchor_28_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_574" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Among the creatures in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +which gods, and especially the spirits of deified men, were +believed permanently to reside or to be incarnate were +reckoned sharks, sword-fish, eels, the octopus, yellow and +black spotted lizards, as well as several kinds of birds and +insects.<a name="FNanchor_29_575" id="FNanchor_29_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_575" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> In Rarotonga the cuttle-fish was the special deity +of the reigning family down to the subversion of paganism.<a name="FNanchor_30_576" id="FNanchor_30_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_576" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +In Mangaia the tribe of Teipe, whose members were liable to +serve as victims in human sacrifices, worshipped the centipede: +there was a shrine of the centipede god at Vaiau on +the eastern side of Mangaia.<a name="FNanchor_31_577" id="FNanchor_31_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_577" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Again, two gods, Tekuraaki +and Utakea, were supposed to be incarnate in the woodpecker.<a name="FNanchor_32_578" id="FNanchor_32_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_578" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +A comprehensive designation for divinities of all +kinds was "the heavenly family" (<i>te anau tuarangi</i>); and +this celestial race included rats, lizards, beetles, eels, sharks, +and several kinds of birds. It was supposed that "the +heavenly family" had taken up their abode in these creatures.<a name="FNanchor_33_579" id="FNanchor_33_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_579" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +Nay, even inanimate objects, such as the triton-shell, sandstone, +bits of basalt, cinnet, and trees were believed to be +thus tenanted by gods.<a name="FNanchor_34_580" id="FNanchor_34_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_580" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The god Tane-kio, for example, +was thought to be enshrined in the planets Venus and Jupiter, +and also, curiously enough, in cinnet work.<a name="FNanchor_35_581" id="FNanchor_35_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_581" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Again, each tribe +had its own sacred bird, which was supposed to be sent by +a god to warn the people of impending danger.<a name="FNanchor_36_582" id="FNanchor_36_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_582" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In these +superstitions it is possible that we have relics of totemism.</p> + +<p>Originally, it is said, the gods spoke to men through the +small land birds, but the utterances of these creatures proved +too indistinct to guide the actions of mankind. Hence to +meet this emergency an order of priests was set apart, the +gods actually taking up their abode, for the time being, in +their sacred persons. Hence priests were significantly named<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +"god-boxes" (<i>pia-atua</i>) a title which was generally abbreviated +to "gods," because they were believed to be living +embodiments of the divinities. When a priest was consulted, +he drank a bowl of kava (<i>Piper methysticum</i>), and falling into +convulsions gave the oracular response in language intelligible +only to the initiated. The oracle so delivered, from +which there was no appeal, was thought to have been inspired +by the god, who had entered into the priest for the purpose.<a name="FNanchor_37_583" id="FNanchor_37_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_583" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>The Doctrine of the Human Soul</i></h4> + +<p>Like other Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders believed +that human beings are animated by a vital principle or soul, +which survives the death of the body for a longer or shorter +time. Indeed, they held that nobody dies a strictly natural +death except as an effect of extreme old age. Nineteen +out of twenty deaths were believed to be caused either +by the anger of the gods or by the incantations of "the +praying people" or sorcerers.<a name="FNanchor_38_584" id="FNanchor_38_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_584" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Hence, when a person +fell ill, it was customary to consult a priest in order to +discover the nature of the sin which had drawn down on +the sufferer the wrath of the deity or the enmity of the +sorcerer.<a name="FNanchor_39_585" id="FNanchor_39_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_585" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> But besides its final departure at death, the soul +was thought to quit the body temporarily on other occasions. +In sleep it was supposed to leave the sleeper and travel over +the island, holding converse with the dead, and even visiting +the spirit-world. It was thus that the islanders, like so +many other savages, explained the phenomena of dreams. +We are told that some of the most important events in their +national history were determined by dreams.<a name="FNanchor_40_586" id="FNanchor_40_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_586" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Again, they +explained sneezing as the return of the soul to the body after +a temporary absence. Hence in Rarotonga, when a person +sneezes, the bystanders exclaim, as though addressing his +spirit, "Ha! you have come back!"<a name="FNanchor_41_587" id="FNanchor_41_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_587" class="fnanchor">[41]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>How exactly the Hervey Islanders pictured to themselves +the nature of the human soul, appears not to be recorded. +Probably their notions on this obscure subject did not differ +greatly from those of the natives of Pukapuka or Danger +Island, a lonely island situated some hundreds of miles to +the north-west of the Hervey Group. These savages apparently +conceived the soul as a small material substance that +varied in size with the dimensions of the body which it +inhabited. For the sacred men or sorcerers of that island +used to set traps to catch the souls of people, and the traps +consisted of loops of coco-nut fibre, which differed in size +according as the soul to be caught in one of them was fat or +thin, or perhaps according as it was the soul of a child or +that of an adult. Two of these soul-traps were presented to +Mr. W. W. Gill, the first white missionary to land in Danger +Island. The loops or rings were arranged in pairs on each +side of two cords, one of which was twenty-eight feet long and +the other fourteen. The mode of setting the traps was this. +If a person was very sick or had given offence to a sorcerer, +the offended wizard or priest would hang a soul-trap by night +from a branch of a tree overhanging the house of the sufferer +or of the person against whom he bore a grudge; then sitting +down beside the snare he would pretend to watch for the +flight of the victim's spirit. If the family enquired the sin +for which the soul-trap had been set, the holy man would +probably allege some ceremonial fault committed by the sick +man against the gods. If an insect or small bird chanced +to fly through one of the loops, the priest would allege that +the man's soul was caught in the mesh, and that there was +no hope for it but that the wretch must die. In that case +the demon Vaerua, who presided over the spirit-world, was +believed to hurry off the poor soul to the nether world, there +to feast upon it. The news that So-and-so had lost his soul +would then spread through the island, and great would be +the lamentation. The friends of the unhappy man would +seek to propitiate the sorcerer by large presents of food, +begging him to intercede with the dread Vaerua for the +restoration of the lost soul. Sometimes the intercessions +were successful, and the patient recovered; but at other +times the priest reported that his prayers were of no avail,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +and that Vaerua could not be induced to send back the soul +to re-inhabit the body. The melancholy tidings acted like a +sentence of death. The patient gave up all hope and soon +pined away through sheer distress at the thought of his soul +caught in the trap.<a name="FNanchor_42_588" id="FNanchor_42_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_588" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Death and Funeral Rites</i></h4> + +<p>The moment a sick person expired, his near relatives cut +off their hair, blackened their faces, and slashed their bodies +with shark's teeth, so that the blood might stream down; +in Rarotonga it was customary also to knock out some of +the front teeth in token of sorrow. During the days of +mourning people wore only native cloth, dyed red in the sap +of the candle-nut tree and then dipped in the black mud of +a taro-patch. The very foul smell of these garments is said +to have been symbolical of the putrescent state of the corpse;<a name="FNanchor_43_589" id="FNanchor_43_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_589" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +perhaps at the same time, though we are not told so, it +helped to keep the ghost at arm's length.</p> + +<p>That the mourners were not anxious to detain the +departed spirit appears from a custom observed by the Rarotongans +and described by the discoverer of the island, John +Williams. He tells us that in order to secure the admission +of a departed spirit to future joys, the corpse was dressed +in the best attire the relatives could provide, the head was +wreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A +pig was then baked whole and placed on the body of the +deceased, surrounded by a pile of vegetable food. After +that, supposing the departed to have been a son, the father +would thus address the corpse: "My son, when you were +alive I treated you with kindness, and when you were taken +ill I did my best to restore you to health; and now you are +dead, there is your <i>momoe o</i>, or property of admission. Go, +my son, and with that gain an entrance into the palace of +Tiki,<a name="FNanchor_44_590" id="FNanchor_44_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_590" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and do not come to this world again to disturb and +alarm us." The whole would then be buried; and, if they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +received no intimation to the contrary within a few days of the +interment, the relatives believed that the pig and the rest of +the victuals had obtained for the deceased an entrance to the +abode of bliss. If, however, a cricket was heard to chirp in +the house, it was deemed an ill omen, and they would immediately +break into loud laments, saying, for example, "Oh, our +brother! his spirit has not entered the paradise; he is +suffering from hunger; he is shivering with cold!" Forthwith +the grave would be opened and the offering repeated. +This usually effected the purpose.<a name="FNanchor_45_591" id="FNanchor_45_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_591" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>In Rarotonga the provisions which were buried with the +dead person as an offering to Tiki sometimes consisted of +the head and kidneys of a hog, a split coco-nut, and a root +of kava; in the island of Aitutaki it was usual to place at +the pit of the stomach of the corpse the kernel of a coco-nut, +and a piece of sugar-cane; in Mangaia the extremity of a +coco-nut frond served the same purpose of propitiating Tiki +and ensuring the entrance of the ghost into paradise.<a name="FNanchor_46_592" id="FNanchor_46_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_592" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>The bodies of the dead were anointed with scented oil, +carefully wrapt up in a number of cloths, and so committed +to their last resting-place. They were never disembowelled +for the purpose of embalming, but some were desiccated by +being kept for about a month and daily anointed with coco-nut +oil. A few were buried in the earth within the precincts +of a sacred grove (<i>marae</i>); but by far the greater number +were hidden in caves which were regarded as the private +property of certain families. The bodies of warriors were +in general carefully concealed by their friends, lest foes should +find and burn them in revenge. If a body were buried in +the earth, it was always laid face downwards, with chin and +knees meeting, and the limbs well secured with coco-nut +fibre. A thin covering of earth was spread over the corpse, +and large heavy stones were piled on the grave. "The +intention," we are informed, "was to render it impossible for +the dead to rise up and injure the living." The head of the +corpse was always turned to the rising sun. It was customary +to bury with the dead some article of value: a woman would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +have her cloth-mallet laid by her side, while a man would +enjoin his friends to bury with him a favourite stone adze or a +beautiful white shell (<i>Ovula ovum</i>, Linn.) which he had worn +in the dance. Such articles were never afterwards touched +by the living. Many people were buried in easily accessible +caves, that their relatives might visit the mouldering remains +from time to time. On such visits the corpse might be again +exposed to the sun, anointed afresh with oil, and wrapt in +new cloth. But as the sorrow of the survivors abated, these +visits became less and less frequent, and finally ceased.<a name="FNanchor_47_593" id="FNanchor_47_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_593" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>A death in a family was the signal for a change of names +among the near relatives of the deceased. The greatest +ingenuity was exercised in devising new appellations. Sometimes +these names were most offensive to good taste. This +custom of changing names after the death of a relative has +survived the conversion of the natives to Christianity;<a name="FNanchor_48_594" id="FNanchor_48_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_594" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +probably it originated in a desire to avoid the unwelcome +attentions of the ghost, who might be thought to be attracted +by the sound of the familiar names.<a name="FNanchor_49_595" id="FNanchor_49_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_595" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>As soon as the corpse was committed to its last resting-place, +the mourners selected five old coco-nuts, opened them +one after the other, and poured the water on the ground. +These nuts were then wrapt up in leaves and native cloth +and thrown towards the grave; or, if the corpse had been +let down by cords into the deep chasm called Auraka, the +nuts and other food would be cast down successively upon +it. Calling loudly each time the name of the departed, they +said, "Here is thy food; eat it." When the fifth nut and +the accompanying pudding were thrown down, the mourners +cried, "Farewell! we come back no more to thee."<a name="FNanchor_50_596" id="FNanchor_50_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_596" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>Immediately after a decease a remarkable custom was +observed in Mangaia. A messenger was despatched to bear +the tidings round the island. On reaching the boundary of +each district, he paused to give the war-shout peculiar to +the people of the district, adding, "So-and-so is dead."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +Thereupon near relatives would start off at once for the +house of the deceased, each carrying a present of native +cloth. Most of the athletic young men of the entire island +on the day following united in a series of sham-fights called +<i>ta i te mauri</i> or "slaying the ghosts." The district where +the corpse lay represented the <i>mauri</i> or ghosts. The young +men belonging to it early in the morning arrayed themselves +as if for battle, and, well armed, started off for the adjoining +district, where the young men were drawn up in battle array +under the name of <i>aka-oa</i> or "friends." Having performed +the war-dance, the two parties rushed together, clashing +their spears and wooden swords, as though fighting in good +earnest. The sufferers in this bloodless conflict were supposed +to be malignant spirits, who would thus be deterred +from doing further mischief to mortals. After the mock +battle the combatants united, and, being collectively called +<i>mauri</i> or "ghosts," passed on to the third district. Throughout +the day their leader carried the sacred <i>iku kikau</i>, or +coco-nut leaf, at the pit of his stomach, like a dead man. +Arrived at the third village, they found the younger men +ready for the friendly conflict and bearing the name of +<i>aka-oa</i> or "friends." The battle of the ghosts was fought +over again, and then with swelling numbers they passed on +to the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts, in every one of them +fighting and thrashing the ghosts afresh. Repairing at last +with united forces to the place where the corpse was laid +out in state, the brave ghost-killers were there entertained +at a feast, after which all, except the near relatives, returned +to their various homes at nightfall. So similar to actual +warfare was this custom of fighting the ghosts that it went +by the name of "a younger brother of war."<a name="FNanchor_51_597" id="FNanchor_51_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_597" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Apparently +every death was attributed to the action of ghosts who had +carried off the soul of the departed brother or sister; and +in order to prevent a repetition of the catastrophe it was +deemed necessary to repel or even to slay the ghostly +assailants by force of arms.</p> + +<p>The mourning ceremonies lasted from ten to fifteen days +according to the rank and age of the deceased. During the +whole period no beating of bark for the manufacture of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +native cloth was permitted in the district where the death +had occurred. A woman who wished to beat out her bark-cloth +must go to another part of the island. This rule is +said to have been dictated by a fear of offending the female +demon Mueu, who introduced the beating of bark-cloth into +the world, but who herself beats out cloth of a very different +texture; for her cloth-flail is the stroke of death.<a name="FNanchor_52_598" id="FNanchor_52_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_598" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>Some months after the decease of a person of note +funeral games called <i>eva</i> were performed in honour of the +departed. These ceremonies invariably took place by day. +They were of four sorts.</p> + +<p>First, there was the <i>eva tapara</i>, or "funeral dirge." In +this the mourners appeared with blackened faces, shaved +heads, streaming blood, and stinking garments. This, we +are told, was a most repulsive exhibition.<a name="FNanchor_53_599" id="FNanchor_53_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_599" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>Second, there was the <i>eva puruki</i> or "war dirge." In +this the people arrayed themselves in two columns facing +each other, both sides armed with spears made of a brittle +kind of wood instead of the fatal iron-wood (<i>Casuarina +equasitifolia</i>), out of which the spears used in real warfare +were made. The performance began with an animated +conversation between the leaders of the two squadrons of +supposed enemies as to the grounds for war. When this +was concluded, the person most nearly related to the +deceased began the history of the heroic deeds of the clan +by slowly chanting the introductory words. At the appointed +pause both companies took up the strain and chanted it +vigorously together, the mighty chorus being accompanied +by the clash of spears and all the evolutions of war. Then +followed a momentary pause, after which a new story would +be introduced by the musical voice of the chief mourner, to +be caught up and recited in full chorus by both companies +as before. These war-dirges were most carefully elaborated, +and they embodied the only histories of the past known to +these islanders.<a name="FNanchor_54_600" id="FNanchor_54_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_600" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>Third, there was the <i>eva toki</i> or "axe dirge." In this +ceremony the performers, armed with mimic axes of iron-wood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +instead of stone, used to cleave the cruel earth which +had swallowed up the dead; and as they smote the ground, +with tears streaming down their cheeks, they expressed a +vain wish that so they might open up a passage through +which the spirit of the departed might return. This axe-dirge +was appropriate to artisans only, who enjoyed great +consideration because their skill was believed to be a gift +of the gods.<a name="FNanchor_55_601" id="FNanchor_55_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_601" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>Fourth, there was the <i>eva ta</i> or "crashing dirge." In +this ceremony two supposed armies were arrayed against +each other as in the "war dirge," but differed from it both in +the style of composition and in the weapons employed, the +combatants being armed with flat spears or wooden swords. +In the dialogue or songs the death of their friends was +explained by the anger of the gods, for which reasons were +assigned. These performances generally concluded with a +sort of comedy, the nature of which has not been described.<a name="FNanchor_56_602" id="FNanchor_56_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_602" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>Sometimes, instead of these funeral games or ceremonies, +a grand tribal gathering was held for the sake of reciting +songs in honour of the illustrious dead. Such an assembly +met in a large house built for the purpose and well lighted +with torches, for the doleful concert always took place at +night. As many as sixty songs might be prepared for +the occasion and mournfully chanted to the accompanying +drone of the great wooden drum. Every adult male +relative was bound to recite a song; if he could not compose +one himself, he had to pay a more gifted person to furnish +him with the appropriate words. Some of the songs or +ballads of a touching nature were much admired and long +remembered. Several months were needed for the preparation +of such a performance or "death-talk," as it was called. +Not only had the songs to be composed and the dresses +made, but a liberal supply of food had to be provided for the +guests.<a name="FNanchor_57_603" id="FNanchor_57_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_603" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>In general all mourning ceremonies were over within a +year of the death. But we hear of a chief of the island of +Atiu who mourned for seven years for an only child, living<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +all that time in a hut near the grave, and allowing his hair +and nails to grow, and his body to remain unwashed. He +was the wonder of all the islanders.<a name="FNanchor_58_604" id="FNanchor_58_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_604" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>Among the caverns in which, in the island of Mangaia, +the dead used to be deposited, two are particularly famous. +One of them, at Tamarua, is the chasm called Raupa or +"leafy entrance" on account of the dense growth of hibiscus +which formerly surrounded this supposed entrance to the +shades. It was the ancient burial-place of the Tongan +tribe, the descendants of a band of Tongans, who had landed +in Mangaia and settled there. The chasm is a hundred and +fifty feet deep and has two openings, the smaller of which +was used only for chiefs and priests. The other famous +sepulchral cavern, called Auraka, is situated on the western +side of the island. It was the grand depository of the dead +of the ruling families, who claimed to be descended from the +great god Rongo. This chasm is not nearly so deep as +Raupa, but, like it, has two entrances; the one sacred and +the other profane; the former was reserved for the bodies of +the nobility, the latter for the bodies of commoners. Besides +these ceremonial entrances there are many natural openings +into the vast subterranean cave, for the rock is everywhere +perforated. It is possible by torchlight to explore the +gloomy recesses of the cavern, which in some places contracts +to the narrowest dimensions, while in others it expands +till the roof is almost lost to sight. Hundreds of well-preserved +mummies may be seen lying in rows, some on +ledges of stalactite, others on wooden platforms. Mr. Gill, +who thrice visited the cave, judged that some of the bodies +were over fifty years old. The whole neighbourhood of the +great cavern was deemed sacred to wandering disembodied +spirits, who were believed to come up at midnight and exhibit +the ghastly wounds by which they had met their fate.<a name="FNanchor_59_605" id="FNanchor_59_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_605" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 7. <i>The Fate of the Human Soul after Death</i></h4> + +<p>The home of the departed spirits was believed to be a +vast subterranean region called Avaiki. The natives of +Mangaia believed that this mysterious region was situated +directly under their island. "As the dead were usually +thrown down the deepest chasms, it was not unnatural for +their friends to imagine the earth to be hollow, and the +entrance to this vast nether world to be down one of these +pits. No one can wonder at this who knows that the outer +portion of Mangaia is a honeycomb, the rock being pierced +in every direction with winding caves and frightful chasms. +It is asserted that the Mission premises at Oneroa are built +over one of these great caverns, which extends so far towards +the sea that the beating of the surf can be distinctly heard, +whilst the water, purified from its saline particles, continually +drips from the stony roof." The inland opening into the +infernal regions was believed to be the great cavern of +Auraka, in which, as we have just seen, so many of the +dead were deposited.<a name="FNanchor_60_606" id="FNanchor_60_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_606" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>However, Avaiki was not the home of the ghosts alone; +it was tenanted also by the gods, both the greater and the +lesser, with their dependants. There they married, and +multiplied, and quarrelled, just like mortals. There they +planted, cooked, fished, and inhabited dwellings of exactly +the same sort as exist on earth. Their food was no better +than that of mortals. There might be seen birds, fish, and +rats, likewise the mantis, centipedes, and beetles. There the +coco-nut palm, the pandanus, and the myrtle flourished, and +yams grew in abundance. The gods committed murder and +adultery; they got drunk; they lied; they stole. The arts +and crafts were also practised by the deities, who indeed +taught them to mankind. The visible world, in short, was +but a gross copy of the spiritual and invisible world. If fire +burns, it is because latent flame was hidden in wood by the +god Mauike in Hades. If the axe cleaves, it is because the +fairy of the axe is present unseen in the blade. If the ironwood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +club kills its man, it is because a fierce demon from +Tonga lives in the weapon.<a name="FNanchor_61_607" id="FNanchor_61_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_607" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>The old high-road to the spirit-land used to start from a +place called Aremauku, on a cliff overhanging the western +ocean. By this road a regular communication was formerly +kept up with the infernal regions. It was by this route, for +example, that the hero Maui descended in ancient days to +the home of the fire-god Mauike and brought up fire for the +use of men. However, the denizens of spirit-land in time +grew very troublesome by constantly coming up and afflicting +mankind with disease and death; they also created a dearth +by stealing people's food, and they even ravished their wives. +To put an end to these perpetual annoyances a brave and +beautiful woman, Tiki by name, rolled herself alive down into +the gloomy chasm which led to the infernal world. The +yawning abyss closed on her, and there has been no thoroughfare +ever since. The spirits have not been able to come up +from Avaiki by that road, and the souls of the dead have +been equally unable to go down by it; they are now obliged +to descend by a different route.<a name="FNanchor_62_608" id="FNanchor_62_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_608" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>After their departure from the body the spirits of the +dead wandered disconsolately along the seashore, picking +their steps painfully among the sharp spikes of the coral and +stumbling over the bindweed and thick vines which caught +their feet. The fragrant smell of the heliotrope, which grows +luxuriantly among these barren and rugged rocks, afforded +them a little relief, and they wore a red creeper, like a +turban, round their heads; the rest of their costume was a +miscellaneous collection of weeds which they had picked up +in the course of their wanderings. Twice a year, at the +summer and winter solstices, they mustered to follow the +setting sun down into the under world. They gathered at +the two points of the island which face towards the rising of +the sun at these two seasons of the year. At the summer +solstice, in January, he seems to rise out of the sea opposite +to Ana-Kura, that is, the Red Cave, so called because it +receives the red rays of the morning. It was there that by +far the greater number of the ghosts gathered for their last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +sad journey with the sun: they all belonged to the southern +half of the island. The other point of ghostly muster was +called Karanga-iti or "the Little Welcome"; it faced towards +the rising of the sun at the winter solstice in June, and it +was there that the ghosts born in the northern half of the +island assembled. Thus many months might elapse between +a death and the final departure of the soul from the land of +the living. The weary interval was spent by the spirits in +dancing and revisiting their old homes. As a rule they were +well disposed to their living relatives, but the ghost of a mother +would often grow vindictive when she saw her pet child ill-treated +by its stepmother. Sometimes, weary of wandering, +the poor ghosts huddled together in the Red Cave, waiting +for the midsummer sun and listening to the monotonous +moan of the great rollers, which break there eternally.<a name="FNanchor_63_609" id="FNanchor_63_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_609" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>The exact moment of departure was fixed by the leader +of the band. As the time drew near, messengers were despatched +to call in the stray ghosts who might be lingering +near their ancient haunts. Tearfully they gathered at the +Red Cave or on a grassy lawn above it, out of reach of the +foam and the billows. All kept their eyes on the spot of +the horizon where the sun was expected to appear. At the +first streak of dawn the whole band took their departure to +meet the rising orb of day. That done, they followed in his +train as nearly as might be, flitting behind or beneath him +across the rolling waters or the rocks and stones of the coast, +till towards the close of day they all mustered at Vairo-rongo, +"the Sacred Stream of Rongo," facing towards the +setting sun. The spot is so named from a little rivulet +which there rushes out of the stones at the sacred grove +(<i>marae</i>) of Rongo: none but priests and kings might bathe +there in days of old. At the moment when the sun sank +beneath the horizon, the entire band of ghosts followed him +along the golden track of light across the shimmering sea and +descended in his train to the nether world, but not like him +to reappear on the morrow.<a name="FNanchor_64_610" id="FNanchor_64_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_610" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>There were three such points of departure for the spirit-land +in Mangaia, all facing the setting sun. Each of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +was known as a <i>Reinga vaerua</i> or "leaping-place of souls." +One of them was at Oneroa, where a rocky bluff stands out +by itself like a giant looking towards the west. To it a band +of souls from the great cavern of Auraka used to go in +mournful procession, and from it they leaped one by one +to a second and much smaller block of stone resting on the +inner edge of the reef; thence they passed to the outer brink +of the reef, on which the surf beats ceaselessly, and from +which at sunset they flitted over the ocean to sink with the +great luminary into the land of the dead.</p> + +<p>Such appears to have been the general notion of the +people concerning the departure of human souls at death in +Mangaia. Similar ideas prevailed in the other islands of the +group, in all of which the "leaping-place of souls" was regularly +situated on the western coast of the island.<a name="FNanchor_65_611" id="FNanchor_65_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_611" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>The teaching of the priests added many particulars to this +general account of the journey of the soul to the nether world. +According to them the souls of the dying, before life was +quite extinct, left their bodies and travelled towards the edge +of the cliff at Araia, near the sacred grove (<i>marae</i>) of Rongo, +which faced westward. But if on its way to this fatal bourne +the soul of the dying chanced to meet a friendly spirit who +cried to it, "Go back and live," the departing soul would joyfully +return to its forsaken body, and the sick man or woman +would revive. This was the native explanation of fainting. +But if no friendly spirit intervened to save the passing +soul, it pursued its way to the edge of the cliff. On its +arrival a great wave of the sea washed the base of the crag, +and a gigantic <i>bua</i> tree (<i>Beslaria laurifolia</i>), covered with +fragrant blossoms, sprang up from Avaiki to receive the +ghost. The tree had as many branches as there were +principal gods in Mangaia, and every ghost had to perch +on the particular branch allotted to members of his or her +tribe; the worshippers of the great gods, such as Motoro +and Tane, had separate boughs provided for their accommodation; +while the worshippers of the lesser deities +huddled together on a single big branch.<a name="FNanchor_66_612" id="FNanchor_66_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_612" class="fnanchor">[66]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>No sooner had the ghost perched on the place appointed +for him than down plumped the tree with him into the nether +world. Looking down to see where he was going, what was +the horror of the ghost to perceive a great net spread by +Akaanga and his assistants to catch him at the foot of the +tree! Into this fatal net the doomed spirit inevitably fell to +sink in a lake of fresh water and there to wriggle like a fish +for a time. At last the net was pulled up with the ghost in it, +who, half-drowned, was now ushered trembling into the presence +of the grim hag Miru, generally known as "the Ruddy," +because her face reflected the glowing heat of the ever-burning +oven in which she cooked her ghostly victims. At first, +however, she fed, and perhaps fattened, them on a diet of +black beetles, red earth-worms, crabs, and small blackbirds. +Thus refreshed, they had next to drain bowls of strong kava +brewed by the fair hands of the hag's four lovely daughters. +Reduced to a state of insensibility by the intoxicating beverage, +the ghosts were then borne off without a struggle to the +oven and cooked. On the substance of these hapless victims +Miru and her son and her peerless daughters regularly +subsisted. The leavings of the meal were thrown to the +servants. Such was the fate of all who died what we should +call a natural death, and therefore of all cowards, women, +and children. They were annihilated.<a name="FNanchor_67_613" id="FNanchor_67_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_613" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>Not so with warriors who fell fighting on the field of +battle. For a time, indeed, their souls wandered about +among the rocks and trees where their bodies were thrown, +the ghastly wounds by which they met their fate being still +visible. The plaintive chirping of a certain cricket, rarely +seen but heard continually at night, was believed to be the +voice of the slain warriors sorrowfully calling to their friends. +At last the first who fell would gather his brother ghosts at +a place a little beyond Araia, on the edge of the cliff and +facing the sunset. There they would linger for a time. +But suddenly a mountain sprang up at their feet, and they +ascended it over the spears and clubs which had given them +their mortal wounds. Arrived at the summit they leaped up +into the blue expanse, thus becoming the peculiar clouds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +the winter or dry season. During the rainy season they +could mount up to the warriors' paradise in the sky. In +June, the first month of winter, the atmosphere was pervaded +by these ghosts, to whom the chilliness of death still +clung. For days together their thronging shapes hid the +sun, dimming the sky and spreading among men the +heaviness and oppression of spirits which are characteristic +of the season. But with the early days of August, when +the coral-tree puts forth its blood-red blossoms and the sky +grows mottled with light fleecy clouds, the ghosts of the +brave prepare to take flight for heaven. Soon the sky is +cloudless, the weather bright and warm. The ghosts have +fled away, and the living resume their wonted avocations in +quiet and comfort.<a name="FNanchor_68_614" id="FNanchor_68_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_614" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>In their celestial home the spirits of the slain are +immortal. There, in memory of their deeds on earth, they +dance their old war dances over again, decked with gay +flowers—the white gardenia, the yellow <i>bua</i>, the golden fruit +of the pandanus, and the dark crimson, bell-like blossom of +the native laurel, intertwined with myrtle; and from their +blissful heights they look down with pity and disgust on the +wretched souls in Avaiki entangled in the fatal net and +besmeared with filth. For the spirits of the slain in battle are +strong and vigorous, their bodies never having been wasted +by disease; whereas the spirits of those who die a natural +death are excessively feeble and weak, like their bodies at +the moment of dissolution. The natural result of such +beliefs was to breed an utter contempt for a violent death, +nay even a desire to seek it. Many stories are told of aged +warriors, scarcely able to hold a spear, who have insisted on +being led to the battlefield in the hope of finding a soldier's +death and gaining a soldier's paradise.<a name="FNanchor_69_615" id="FNanchor_69_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_615" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>Beliefs of the same general character concerning the fate +of the dead prevailed in other islands of the Hervey Group. +Thus in Rarotonga the great meeting-place of the ghosts +was at Tuoro, facing the sunset. There at a stately tree, +called "the Weeping Laurel," the disembodied spirits used +to bewail their hard fate. If no pitying spirit sent him back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +to life, the ghost had to scramble up a branch of an ancient +<i>bua</i> tree which grew on the spot. Should the bough +break under his weight, the ghost was precipitated into +the net which Muru had spread out for him in a natural +circular hollow of the rock. A lively ghost might break +the meshes of the net and escape for a while, but passing +on to the outer edge of the reef, in the hope of traversing +the ocean, he inevitably fell into another net artfully concealed +by Akaanga. From this second net escape was +impossible. The demons drew the captive ghosts out of +the nets, and ruthlessly dashing out their brains on the +sharp coral they carried off the shattered victims in triumph +to devour them in the lower world. Ghosts from Ngatangiia +ascended the noble mountain range which stretches across the +island, dipping into the sea at Tuoro. Inexpressibly weary +and sad was this journey over a road which foot of living wight +had never trod. The departed spirits of this tribe met at a +great iron-wood tree, of which some branches were green and +others dead. The souls that trod on the green branches came +back to life; but the souls that crawled on to the dead +boughs were at once caught in the net either of Muru or +of Akaanga.<a name="FNanchor_70_616" id="FNanchor_70_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_616" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>In Rarotonga, as in Mangaia, the lot of warriors who died +in battle was much happier than that of the poor wretches who +had the misfortune to die quietly in bed or to be otherwise ignominiously +snuffed out. The gallant ghosts were said to join +Tiki, who in Rarotonga appears to have been a dead warrior, +whereas in Mangaia, as we saw, Tiki was a dead woman. +In the Rarotongan Hades, which also went by the name of +Avaiki, this Tiki sat at the threshold of a very long house +built with walls of reeds, and surrounded by shrubs and flowers +of fadeless bloom and never-failing perfume. Each ghost on +his arrival had to make an offering to the warder Tiki, who, +thus propitiated, admitted him to the house. There, sitting +at their ease, eating, drinking, dancing, or sleeping, the brave +of past ages dwelt in unwithering beauty and perpetual +youth; there they welcomed newcomers, and there they +told the story of their heroic exploits on earth and fought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +their old battles over again. But ghosts who had nothing +to give to Tiki were compelled to stay outside in rain and +darkness for ever, shivering with cold and hunger, watching +with envious eyes the joyous revels of the inmates, and +racked with the vain desire of being admitted to share them.<a name="FNanchor_71_617" id="FNanchor_71_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_617" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>Such beliefs in the survival of the soul after death may +have nerved the warrior with fresh courage in battle; but +they can have contributed but little to the happiness and +consolation of ordinary people, who could apparently look +forward to nothing better in the life hereafter than being +cooked and eaten by a hideous hag.</p> + + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_547" id="Footnote_1_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_547"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, ii. (London, 1894) p. 509.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_548" id="Footnote_2_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_548"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i> (London, N.D.), p. 11. Compare +John Williams, <i>Narrative of +Missionary Enterprises in the South +Sea Islands</i> (London, 1838), pp. 16, +174-176. According to Dr. Guillemard +(<i>loc. cit.</i>), the height of Rarotonga is +2900 feet; according to W. W. Gill, +our principal authority on the island, +it is 4500 feet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_549" id="Footnote_3_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_549"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>. pp. 7 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>From Darkness +to Light in Polynesia</i> (London, 1894), +pp. 6 <i>sq.</i>; A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i> +(Berlin, 1900), pp. 271 <i>sqq.</i>, +274 <i>sqq.</i> (as to the caverns).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_550" id="Footnote_4_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_550"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. 509. Compare A. Baessler, <i>Neue +Südsee-Bilder</i>, pp. 257 <i>sq.</i>, 269. The +latter writer remarks on the great +variety of types among the natives of +these islands. In Mangaia he found +the people darker than in Rarotonga, +undersized, sturdy, with thick lips, +noses broad and sunken at the bridge, +which gave them a somewhat wild +appearance. As to the tradition of an +emigration of the Hervey Islanders +from Samoa, see W. W. Gill, <i>Life in +the Southern Isles</i>, pp. 23 <i>sqq.</i> "The +Mangaians themselves trace their origin +to Avaiki, or nether world; but Avaiki, +Hawai'i, and Savai'i, are but slightly +different forms of one word. The <i>s</i> +of the Samoan dialect is invariably +dropped in the Hervey Group dialects, +whilst a <i>k</i> is substituted for the break +at the end. No native of these days +doubts that by Avaiki his ancestors +really intended Savai'i, the largest +island of the Samoan Group. In +Polynesia, to sail <i>west</i> is to go <i>down</i>; +to sail <i>east</i> is to go <i>up</i>. To sail from +Samoa to Mangaia would be 'to come +up,' or, to translate their vernacular +closely, 'to climb up.' In their songs +and myths are many references to 'the +hosts of <i>Uk</i>upolu,' undoubtedly the +Upolu of Samoa" (W. W. Gill, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 25). Compare <i>id.</i>, <i>Myths and +Songs from the South Pacific</i> (London, +1876), pp. 166 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_551" id="Footnote_5_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_551"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 13 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>Report of the Second +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science held at +Melbourne, 1890</i>, p. 324. As to the +date of the introduction of Christianity +into the Hervey Islands, see John +Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +pp. 491 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_552" id="Footnote_6_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_552"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> John Williams, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +175 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_553" id="Footnote_7_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_553"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 12, 15; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>Report of the Second +Meeting of the Australasian Association +for the Advancement of Science held at +Melbourne, 1890</i>, p. 336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_554" id="Footnote_8_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_554"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 332 <i>sq.</i>, 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_555" id="Footnote_9_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_555"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, p. 16; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 335 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_556" id="Footnote_10_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_556"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_557" id="Footnote_11_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_557"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 323, 330, 331, 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_558" id="Footnote_12_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_558"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 327-329. In +the operation the prepuce was slit +longitudinally, and the divided pieces +were drawn underneath and twisted, +so as in time to form a small knot under +the urethra. As to the ceremony of +assigning a child either to its father's +or to its mother's tribe, see W. W. Gill, +<i>Myths and Songs from the South +Pacific</i> (London, 1876), pp. 36 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_559" id="Footnote_13_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_559"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_560" id="Footnote_14_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_560"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> John Williams, <i>Narrative of +Missionary Enterprises in the South +Sea Islands</i>, pp. 183 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_561" id="Footnote_15_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_561"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_562" id="Footnote_16_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_562"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_563" id="Footnote_17_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_563"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_62">62 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_564" id="Footnote_18_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_564"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> In the Hervey Islands a <i>marae</i> +seems to have been a sacred grove. +So it is described by W. W. Gill +(<i>Myths and Songs from the South +Pacific</i>, p. 14), who adds in a note: +"These <i>maraes</i> were planted with +<i>callophylla inophylla</i>, etc., etc., which, +untouched by the hand of man from +generation to generation, threw a sacred +gloom over the mysteries of idol-worship. +The trees were accounted +sacred, not for their own sake, but on +account of the place where they grew."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_565" id="Footnote_19_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_565"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>From Darkness to +Light in Polynesia</i>, pp. 314 <i>sq.</i> As to +the installation of the priestly king by +the temporal lord, see also <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +339 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_566" id="Footnote_20_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_566"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 3 <i>sqq.</i>; +<i>id.</i>, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 348 <i>sq.</i> As to Rongo and +Tangaroa, see E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i> +(Wellington, N.Z., 1891), pp. 424 <i>sq.</i>, +463 <i>sq.</i>, <i>svv.</i> "Rongo" and "Tangaroa."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_567" id="Footnote_21_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_567"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, pp. 51-58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_568" id="Footnote_22_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_568"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 58-60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_569" id="Footnote_23_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_569"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, pp. 61-63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_570" id="Footnote_24_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_570"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_571" id="Footnote_25_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_571"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 10 <i>sq.</i> 19. +Another god called Turanga, who was +worshipped at Aumoana, was also +supposed to be incarnate in white and +black spotted lizards. See <i>id.</i>, <i>Life in +the Southern Isles</i>, p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_572" id="Footnote_26_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_572"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 29 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_573" id="Footnote_27_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_573"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 79 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_574" id="Footnote_28_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_574"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_575" id="Footnote_29_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_575"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 347. Yet in the +same passage the writer affirms that +"there is no trace in the Eastern +Pacific of the doctrine of transmigration +of human souls, although the +spirits of the dead are fabled to have +assumed, temporarily, and for a specific +purpose, the form of an insect, bird, +fish, or cloud."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_576" id="Footnote_30_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_576"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Life in the Southern Isles</i>, +p. 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_577" id="Footnote_31_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_577"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Life in the Southern Isles</i>, +pp. 96, 308, 309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_578" id="Footnote_32_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_578"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Life in the Southern Isles</i>, +p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_579" id="Footnote_33_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_579"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Myths and Songs from the +South Pacific</i>, pp. 34 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_580" id="Footnote_34_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_580"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Myths and Songs from the +South Pacific</i>, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_581" id="Footnote_35_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_581"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Life in the Southern Isles</i>, +p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_582" id="Footnote_36_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_582"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Myths and Songs from the +South Pacific</i>, p. 35; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_583" id="Footnote_37_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_583"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 35; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_584" id="Footnote_38_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_584"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 342. Compare +<i>id.</i>, <i>Myths and Songs from the South +Pacific</i>, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_585" id="Footnote_39_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_585"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 35; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 339; <i>id.</i>, +<i>Life in the Southern Isles</i>, p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_586" id="Footnote_40_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_586"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_587" id="Footnote_41_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_587"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_588" id="Footnote_42_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_588"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 180-183; <i>id.</i>, <i>Myths and +Songs from the South Pacific</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_589" id="Footnote_43_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_589"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 181; <i>id.</i>, +"Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_590" id="Footnote_44_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_590"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The name of the god of the +Rarotongan paradise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_591" id="Footnote_45_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_591"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> John Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea +Islands</i>, pp. 477 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_592" id="Footnote_46_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_592"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, pp. 170 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_593" id="Footnote_47_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_593"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 72-76; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_594" id="Footnote_48_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_594"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 78 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_595" id="Footnote_49_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_595"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See <i>The Golden Bough</i>, Part II., +<i>Taboo and the Perils of the Soul</i>, pp. +356 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_596" id="Footnote_50_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_596"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 187; <i>id.</i>, "Mangaia +(Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_597" id="Footnote_51_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_597"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 268 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_598" id="Footnote_52_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_598"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_599" id="Footnote_53_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_599"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_600" id="Footnote_54_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_600"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_601" id="Footnote_55_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_601"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, pp. 272 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_602" id="Footnote_56_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_602"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, p. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_603" id="Footnote_57_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_603"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from +the South Pacific</i>, pp. 269-271; <i>id.</i>, +"Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_604" id="Footnote_58_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_604"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey +Islands)," <i>op. cit.</i> p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_605" id="Footnote_59_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_605"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Life in the Southern +Isles</i>, pp. 71 <i>sq.</i> As to the settlement +of a Tongan colony in Mangaia, see +<i>id.</i>, <i>Myths and Songs from the South +Pacific</i>, pp. 287 <i>sq.</i> In native tradition +the colonists were spoken of as "Tongans +sailing through the skies" (<i>Tongaiti-akareva-moana</i>). +Their leader +was the first high-priest of the god +Turanga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_606" id="Footnote_60_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_606"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 152-154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_607" id="Footnote_61_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_607"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_608" id="Footnote_62_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_608"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 154 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_609" id="Footnote_63_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_609"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 155-157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_610" id="Footnote_64_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_610"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 157 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_611" id="Footnote_65_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_611"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 159 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_612" id="Footnote_66_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_612"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 160 <i>sq.</i>; +<i>id.</i>, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_613" id="Footnote_67_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_613"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 161 <i>sq.</i>; +<i>id.</i>, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 346 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_614" id="Footnote_68_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_614"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 162 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_615" id="Footnote_69_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_615"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 163 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_616" id="Footnote_70_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_616"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, pp. 169 <i>sq.</i>; +<i>id.</i>, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_617" id="Footnote_71_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_617"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> W. W. Gill, <i>Myths and Songs +from the South Pacific</i>, p. 170; John +Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea Islands</i>, +pp. 476 <i>sq.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Society Islands</i></h4> + +<p>The Society Islands are a large and scattered archipelago +in the South Pacific, situated within 16° and 18° of South +latitude, and between 148° and 155° of West longitude. They +lie some three hundred miles from the Hervey or Cook +Islands, from which they are separated by the open sea. The +islands form a chain nearly two hundred miles in length, +extending from north-west to south-east, and fall into two +groups, an eastern and a western, which, on account of the +prevailing wind, are known respectively as the Windward +and Leeward Islands. The Windward or eastern group +includes Eimeo or Moörea in the west, Maitea in the east, +and Tahiti, the principal island of the whole archipelago, in +the centre. In the Leeward or western group the chief +islands are Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, and Borabora. The +islands appear to have been first discovered by the Spanish +navigator Fernandez de Quiros in 1606 or 1607, but after +him they were lost sight of till 1767, when they were rediscovered +by Wallis. A few years later they were repeatedly +visited by Captain Cook, who gave the first full and accurate +description of the islands and their inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_1_618" id="FNanchor_1_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_618" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The islands, with the exception of a few flat lagoon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +islands, are of volcanic formation, high and mountainous, +consisting for the most part of a central peak or peaks of +bold and striking outline, which descend in steep ridges +towards the sea, sometimes reaching the coast, but oftener +leaving a broad stretch of flat and very fertile land between +their last slopes and the beach. Between the ridges lie deep +and beautiful valleys, watered by winding streams and teeming +with luxuriant vegetation. The rocks of which the islands +consist are all igneous, chiefly trachyte, dolerite, basalt, and +lava. They are considered by geologists to present perhaps +the most wonderful and instructive example of volcanic rocks +to be seen on the globe. Yet, though the islands are judged +to be of comparatively recent formation, there are no traces of +volcanic action in them at the present time. The craters +have disappeared: hot springs do not exist; and earthquakes +are rare.<a name="FNanchor_2_619" id="FNanchor_2_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_619" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The Society Islands, and Tahiti in particular, are famous +for the beauty of their natural scenery; indeed, by general +consent they appear to rank as the fairest islands in the +Pacific. Travellers vie with each other in praise of their +enchanting loveliness. Tahiti, the largest island of the +group, may be taken as typical of them all. It consists of +two almost circular islands united by a very low and +narrow neck of land: the northern and larger island is known +as Tahiti the Great (Tahiti nui), the southern and smaller +island is known as Tahiti the Little (Tahiti iti). In the +centre of each island the mountains rise in craggy peaks, +sometimes in the shape of pyramids or sugar-loaves, their +rocky sides clothed with every variety of verdure, and +enlivened here and there by cataracts falling from lofty cliffs, +while the shore is washed by the white-crested waves of the +Pacific breaking in foam on the coral reefs or dashing in +spray on the beach. The scene is especially striking when +beheld for the first time from the sea at sunrise on a fine +morning. Then the happy combination of land and water, +of precipices and plains, of umbrageous trees drooping their +pendent boughs over the sea, and distant mountains shown +in sublime outline and richest hues, all blended in the harmony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +of nature, produces in the beholder sensations of admiration +and delight. The inland scenery is of a different character, +but not less impressive. There the prospect is occasionally +extensive, but more frequently circumscribed. There is, +however, a startling boldness in the towering piles of basalt, +often heaped in picturesque confusion near the source or +margin of some crystal stream that flows in silence at their +base, or plashes purling over the rocks that obstruct its bed; +and there is the wildness of romance about the deep and +lonely glens, from which the mountains rise like the steep +sides of a natural amphitheatre till they seem to support the +clouds that rest upon their summits. In the character of the +teeming vegetation, too, from the verdant moss that drapes +the rocks to the rich foliage of the bread-fruit tree, the luxuriance +of the pandanus, and the waving plumes of the coconut +palm, all nurtured by a prolific soil and matured by the +genial heat of a tropical climate, there is enough to arrest +the attention and to strike the imagination of the wanderer, +who, in the unbroken silence that reigns in these pleasing +solitudes, may easily fancy himself astray in fairyland and +treading enchanted ground.<a name="FNanchor_3_620" id="FNanchor_3_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_620" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Islanders and their Mode of Life</i></h4> + +<p>The islanders are, or were at the date of their discovery +by Europeans, fine specimens of the Polynesian race, being +tall, well-proportioned, and robust. Captain Cook described +them as of the largest size of Europeans. Their complexion +varies from olive to bronze and reddish-brown, frequently +presenting a hue intermediate between the yellow of the +Malay and the copper-colour of the American Indians. The +hair is shining black or dark brown, usually straight, but +often soft and curly; never lank and wiry like that of the +American Indians, and only in rare cases woolly or frizzly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +like that of the Papuans. The men have beards, which they +used to wear in a variety of fashions, always, however, plucking +out the greater part. The shape of the face is comely, +and the facial angle is often as perpendicular as in Europeans. +The cheek-bones are not high; the nose is either straight or +aquiline, often accompanied by a fulness about the nostrils; +it is seldom flat, though it was formerly the practice of +mothers and nurses to press the nostrils of the female children, +a broad flat nose being by many regarded as a beauty. +The mouth in general is well formed, though the lips are +sometimes large and protuberant, yet never so much as to +resemble the lips of negroes; the chin is usually prominent. +The general aspect of the face very seldom presents any +likeness to the Tartar or Mongolian cast of countenance; +while the profile frequently bears a most striking resemblance +to that of Europeans. A roundness and fulness of figure, +not usually extending to corpulency, is characteristic of the +race, especially of the women. In general physique they +resemble the Sandwich Islanders and Tonga Islanders; according +to Ellis, they are more robust than the Marquesans, +but inferior in size and strength to the Maoris.<a name="FNanchor_4_621" id="FNanchor_4_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_621" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Their diet is chiefly vegetable; when Captain Cook +visited the islands, the only tame animals were hogs, dogs, +and poultry. Bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, and coconuts +are their staple food; the bread-fruit in particular has +been called their staff of life. Taro and yams are carefully +cultivated by the natives, and they also grow the sweet potato +as an article of food, though to a less extent than the other +two roots; in quality the sweet potato of Tahiti is far inferior +to that of the Sandwich Islands. The sea affords a great +variety of fish and shell-fish, which the natives catch and eat; +nothing that the sea produces is said to come amiss to them. +Hogs and dogs were in olden times the only quadrupeds +whose flesh was eaten by the Tahitians; but for the most +part they rarely tasted meat, subsisting almost exclusively +on a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish.<a name="FNanchor_5_622" id="FNanchor_5_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_622" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>The common houses were of an oblong shape, usually +from eighteen to twenty-four feet in length, by eleven feet in +width, the long sides being parallel to each other, but the two +ends commonly rounded, especially in the houses of chiefs. +The thatched roofs were supported on three parallel rows of +wooden posts, and there being no outer walls and no partitions, +the wind blew freely through them. The floor was +covered with mats, forming a single cushion, on which the +people sat by day and slept at night. In some houses there +was a single stool appropriated to the use of the master of +the family; otherwise an ordinary dwelling contained little +or no furniture except a few small blocks of wood, hollowed +out on the upper surface so as to form head-rests or pillows. +The houses served chiefly as dormitories and as shelters in +rain: the people took their meals in the open air. Chiefs, +however, often owned houses of much larger dimensions, +which were built and maintained for them at the common +expense of the district. Some of these chiefly dwellings +were two hundred feet long, thirty feet broad, and twenty +feet high under the ridge; one of them, belonging to the +king, measured three hundred and seventy feet in length. +We read of houses which could contain two or three thousand +people;<a name="FNanchor_6_623" id="FNanchor_6_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_623" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and of one particular house in Tahiti we are +informed that it was no less than three hundred and ninety-seven +feet long by forty-eight feet broad, and that the roof +was supported in the middle by twenty wooden pillars, each +twenty-one feet high, while the sides or eaves of the roof +rested on one hundred and twenty-four pillars, each ten feet +high. A wooden wall or fence enclosed the whole. This +great house was used for the celebration of feasts, which +sometimes lasted for days together, and at which nearly all +the hogs in the island were consumed.<a name="FNanchor_7_624" id="FNanchor_7_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_624" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Like all the Polynesians down to the date of their discovery +by Europeans, the inhabitants of the Society Islands +were totally ignorant of the use and even of the existence of +the metals, and they had to employ substitutes, chiefly stone +and bone, for the manufacture of their tools and weapons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +Of their tools Captain Cook gives the following account: +"They have an adze of stone; a chisel, or gouge, of bone, +generally that of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; +a rasp of coral; and the skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, +as a filer or polisher. This is a complete catalogue of their +tools, and with these they build houses, construct canoes, +hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, and polish timber. The +stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a kind of +basaltes, of a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of +considerable toughness: they are of different sizes; some, +that are intended for felling, weigh from six to eight pounds; +others, that are used for carving, not more than so many +ounces; but it is necessary to sharpen both almost every +minute; for which purpose, a stone and a cocoa-nut shell +full of water are always at hand. Their greatest exploit, +to which these tools are less equal than to any other, is +felling a tree; this requires many hands, and the constant +labour of several days."<a name="FNanchor_8_625" id="FNanchor_8_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_625" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The earliest missionaries expressed +their astonishment that with such simple tools +the natives could carve so neatly and finish so smoothly; +our most ingenious workmen, they declared, could not +excel them.<a name="FNanchor_9_626" id="FNanchor_9_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_626" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The principal manufacture of the Society Islanders was +the making of the cloth which they used for their garments. +The material for the cloth was furnished by the bark of +several trees, including the paper-mulberry, the bread-fruit +tree, and a species of wild fig-tree. Having been stripped +from the tree and soaked in water, the bark was spread out +on a beam and beaten with heavy wooden mallets, till it was +reduced to the proper degree of thinness and flexibility. +The finest and most valuable kind of cloth was made chiefly, +and sometimes entirely, from the bark of the paper-mulberry +and was bleached pure white. But vegetable dyes were also +commonly employed to stain the cloth with a variety of hues +arranged in patterns. The favourite colours were a brilliant +scarlet and a bright yellow; Captain Cook described the +scarlet as exceedingly beautiful, brighter and more delicate +than any we have in Europe; it was produced by a mixture +of the juices of two vegetables, the fruit of a species of fig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +and the leaves of the <i>Cordia sebastina</i> or <i>etou</i> tree. The +patterns were in this bright scarlet on a yellow ground; +formerly they were altogether devoid of uniformity or regularity, +yet exhibited a considerable degree of taste. The +bales of bark-cloth were sometimes as much as two hundred +yards long by four yards wide; the whole bale was in a +single piece, being composed of narrow strips joined together +by being beaten with grooved mallets. A chief's wealth was +sometimes estimated by the number of bales which he +possessed; the more valuable sort, covered with matting +or cloth of an inferior sort, were generally hung from the +roof of his house. The manufacture of cloth was chiefly in +the hands of women; indeed it was one of their most usual +employments. Even women of high rank did not disdain +this form of industry; the wives and daughters of chiefs +took a pride in manufacturing cloth of a superior quality, +excelling that produced by common women in the elegance +of the patterns or the brilliance of the dyes. Every family +had a little house where the females laboured at the making +of cloth; but in addition every district had a sort of public +factory, consisting of a spacious house where immense quantities +of cloth were produced on the occasion of festivals, +the visits of great chiefs, or other solemnities. In such a +factory the women would often assemble to the number +of two or three hundred, and the monotonous din of +their hammers falling on the bark was almost deafening; +it began early in the morning, only to cease at night. +Yet heard at a distance in some lonely valley the sound +was not disagreeable, telling as it did of industry and +peace.<a name="FNanchor_10_627" id="FNanchor_10_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_627" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Among the other articles manufactured by the Society +Islanders before the advent of Europeans were fine mats, +baskets of many different patterns, ropes, lines, and fishing-tackle, +including nets, hooks, and harpoons made of cane +and pointed with hard wood. In every expedient for taking +fish they are said to have been exceedingly ingenious.<a name="FNanchor_11_628" id="FNanchor_11_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_628" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +They made bows and arrows, with which, as an amusement,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +they shot against each other, not at a mark, but to see who +could shoot farthest. Like the rest of the Polynesians, they +never used these weapons in war.<a name="FNanchor_12_629" id="FNanchor_12_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_629" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Society among these islanders was divided into three +ranks; first the royal family and nobility (<i>hui arii</i>); second, +the landed proprietors, or gentry and farmers (<i>bue raatira</i>); +and third, the common people (<i>manahune</i>). Of these, the +landed gentry and farmers were the most numerous and +influential class, constituting at all times the great body of +the people and the strength of the nation, as well as of the +army. The petty farmers owned from twenty to a hundred +acres. Some of the great landowners possessed many hundreds +of acres, and being surrounded by retainers they constituted +the aristocracy of the country and imposed a +restraint upon the king, who, without their co-operation, +could carry but few of his measures. They also frequently +acted as priests in their family temples. The +common people comprised slaves and servants. The slaves +were captives taken in war. Their treatment was in +general mild, and if peace continued, they often regained +their freedom and were allowed to return to their own +country.<a name="FNanchor_13_630" id="FNanchor_13_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_630" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The government of the Society Islands, like that of +Hawaii, was at least in form an arbitrary monarchy. The +supreme authority was vested in the king and was hereditary +in his family. It partook of a sacred character, for in these +islands government was closely interwoven with religion; +the king sometimes personated the god and received the +homage and prayers of the worshippers; at other times he +officiated as high-priest and transmitted the vows and +petitions of the people to the superior deities. The genealogy +of the reigning family was usually traced back to the first +ages of the world: in some of the islands the kings were +believed to be descended from the gods: their persons were +always sacred, and their families constituted the highest +rank recognised by the people.<a name="FNanchor_14_631" id="FNanchor_14_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_631" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>Indeed, everything in the least degree connected with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +the king or queen—the cloth they wore, the houses in +which they dwelt, the canoes in which they voyaged, the +men who carried them when they journeyed by land—became +sacred and could not be converted to common use. +The very sounds in the language which composed their +names could no longer be appropriated to ordinary significations. +If on the accession of a king any words in the +language were found to resemble his name, they were +abolished and changed for others; and if any man were +bold enough to continue to use them, not only he but all +his relations were immediately put to death; and the same +severity was exercised on any who should dare to apply the +sacred name to an animal. Thus in process of time the +original names of most common objects in the language +underwent considerable alterations. No one might touch +the body of the king or queen; nay, any person who should +so much as stand over them, or pass his hand over their +heads, was liable to pay for the sacrilege with the forfeiture +of his life. The very ground on which the king or queen +even accidentally trod became sacred; and any house +belonging to a private person which they entered must +for ever be vacated by the owner and either set apart +for the use of the royal personages or burnt down with +every part of its furniture. Hence it was a general rule +that the king and queen never entered any dwellings +except such as were specially dedicated to their use, and +never trod on the ground in any part of the island but +their own hereditary districts. In journeying they were +always carried on men's shoulders.<a name="FNanchor_15_632" id="FNanchor_15_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_632" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>The inauguration of a king consisted in girding him +with a sacred girdle (<i>maro ura</i>) of red, or red and yellow, +feathers, which not only raised him to the highest earthly +station, but identified him with the gods. The red feathers +were taken from the images of the gods and interwoven with +feathers of other colours. A human victim was sacrificed +when they began to make the girdle, and another was +sacrificed when it was finished; sometimes others were +slaughtered at intermediate stages, one for each fresh piece<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +added to the girdle. The blood of the victims was supposed +to consecrate the belt.<a name="FNanchor_16_633" id="FNanchor_16_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_633" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The deification of kings in their lifetime would seem +not to have been confined to Tahiti, but to have prevailed +in the other islands of the Society Archipelago. We hear +particularly of the divinity of the kings of Raiatea. In +that island a place called Opoa is said to have been the +metropolis of idolatry for all the South Pacific Islands +within a compass of five hundred miles. Hither, from every +shore, human victims, already slain, were sent to be offered +on the altar of the war-god Oro, whose principal image was +there worshipped. There, too, was the residence of the +kings of the island, "who, beside the prerogatives of royalty, +enjoyed divine honours, and were in fact living idols among +the dead ones, being deified at the time of their accession +to political supremacy here. In the latter character, we +presume, it was, that these sovereigns (who always took the +name of Tamatoa) were wont to receive presents from the +kings and chiefs of adjacent and distant islands, whose gods +were all considered tributary to the Oro of Raiatea, and +their princes owing homage to its monarch, who was Oro's +hereditary high-priest, as well as an independent divinity +himself."<a name="FNanchor_17_634" id="FNanchor_17_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_634" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Of one particular monarch of this line, Tamatoa +by name, we read that he "had been enrolled among the +gods," and that "as one of the divinities of his subjects, +therefore, the king was worshipped, consulted as an oracle, +and had sacrifices and prayers offered to him."<a name="FNanchor_18_635" id="FNanchor_18_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_635" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>In the succession to the throne the law of primogeniture +prevailed, and in accordance with a singular usage, which +was invariably observed, the king regularly abdicated on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +birth of his first son and became a subject of his infant +offspring. The child was at once proclaimed the sovereign +of the people: the royal title was conferred on him; and +his own father was the first to do him homage by saluting +his feet and declaring him king. The public herald was +despatched round the island with the flag of the infant +monarch: in every district he unfurled the banner and +proclaimed the accession of the youthful sovereign. The +insignia of royalty and the homage of the people were at +once transferred from the father to the child: the royal +domains and other sources of revenue were appropriated to +the maintenance of the household of the infant ruler; and +the father paid him all the marks of reverence and submission +which he had hitherto exacted from the people. +However, during the minority of his son the former king +appears to have filled the office of regent. This remarkable +rule of succession was not limited to the royal house, but +prevailed also in noble families: no sooner did a baron's +wife give birth to a child than the baron was reduced to the +rank of a private man, though he continued to administer +the estate for the benefit of the infant, to whom all the +outward marks of honour were now transferred.<a name="FNanchor_19_636" id="FNanchor_19_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_636" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>The Religion of the Society Islanders</i></h4> + +<p>If religion consists essentially in a fear of gods, the +natives of the Society Islands were a very religious people, +for they believed in a multitude of gods and stood in +constant dread of them. "Whatever attention," says Ellis, +"the Tahitians paid to their occupations or amusements, and +whatever energies have been devoted to the prosecution of +their barbarous wars, the claims of all were regarded as +inferior to those of their religion. On this every other was +dependent, while each was alike made subservient to its +support."<a name="FNanchor_20_637" id="FNanchor_20_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_637" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "No people in the world, in ancient or modern +times, appear to have been more superstitious than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +South Sea Islanders, or to have been more entirely under +the influence of dread from imaginary demons, or supernatural +beings. They had not only their major, but their +minor demons, or spirits, and all the minute ramifications of +idolatry."<a name="FNanchor_21_638" id="FNanchor_21_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_638" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> "Religious rites were connected with almost +every act of their lives. An <i>ubu</i> or prayer was offered +before they ate their food, when they tilled their ground, +planted their gardens, built their houses, launched their +canoes, cast their nets, and commenced or concluded a +journey. The first fish taken periodically on their shores, +together with a number of kinds regarded as sacred, were +conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their orchards and +gardens were also <i>taumaha</i>, or offered, with a portion of their +live-stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was +supposed death would be inflicted on the owner or the +occupant of the land, from which the god should not receive +such acknowledgment."<a name="FNanchor_22_639" id="FNanchor_22_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_639" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Different gods were worshipped in different islands, and +even in different parts of the same island,<a name="FNanchor_23_640" id="FNanchor_23_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_640" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and if a deity +failed to answer the expectations of his worshippers, they +did not scruple to change him for another. In Captain +Cook's time the people of Tiaraboo (Tairaboo), the southern +peninsula of Tahiti, discarded their two old divinities and +adopted in their place Oraa, the god of the island of Bolabola +(Borabora), apparently because the people of Bolabola +had lately been victorious in war; and as, after this change +of deity, they themselves proved very successful in their +operations against their enemies, they imputed the success +entirely to their new god, who, they literally said, fought +their battles.<a name="FNanchor_24_641" id="FNanchor_24_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_641" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Again, when the prayers and offerings for +the recovery of a sick chief were unavailing, the god was +regarded as inexorable, and was usually banished from the +temple, and his image destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_25_642" id="FNanchor_25_642"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_642" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>The pantheon and mythology of the Society Islands +were of the usual Polynesian type; some of their chief gods +were recognised and worshipped under the same names,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +with dialectical differences, in other islands of the Pacific. +In the beginning they say that all things were in a state of +chaos or darkness, from which the principal deities, including +Taaroa, Oro, and Tane, at last emerged. Hence these high +gods were said to be born of Night or the primaeval darkness +(<i>Po</i>). Among them all the first place in time and dignity +was generally assigned to Taaroa, who appears in other +parts of Polynesia as Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, and so +on. By some he was spoken of as the progenitor of the +other gods and as the creator of the heavens, the earth, and +sea, as well as of men, beasts, birds, and fishes; but others +were of opinion that the land or the world had existed +before the gods. Oro, the great national god of Tahiti, +Raiatea, and other islands, was believed to be a son of +Taaroa.<a name="FNanchor_26_643" id="FNanchor_26_643"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_643" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> To these three great gods, Oro, Tane, and Taaroa, +the people sacrificed in great emergencies, when the deities +were thought to be angry. At such times the wrath of the +god was revealed to a priest, who, wrapt up like a ball in +a bundle of cloth, spoke in a sharp, shrill, squeaky voice, +saying, "I am angry; bring me hogs, kill a man, and my +anger will be appeased."<a name="FNanchor_27_644" id="FNanchor_27_644"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_644" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>Oro is sometimes described as the war-god.<a name="FNanchor_28_645" id="FNanchor_28_645"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_645" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> The great +seat of his worship was at Opoa in the island of Raiatea: +his principal image was worshipped there "with the most +bloody and detestable rites"; and thither human victims, +ready slain, were sent from every shore to be offered on his +altar.<a name="FNanchor_29_646" id="FNanchor_29_646"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_646" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Sometimes, instead of the bodies of the slain, only +their jaw-bones were sent to decorate the temple of Oro at +Opoa; long strings of these relics might be seen hanging +about the sacred edifice.<a name="FNanchor_30_647" id="FNanchor_30_647"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_647" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> In the small island of Tahaa, off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +Raiatea, there was a temple (<i>marae</i>) dedicated to Oro and +his two daughters. It belonged to the king and "was +upheld for the convenience of finding a pretext to get rid, +from time to time, of obnoxious persons, of both sexes; +the men slain by assassination, or in war, being presented to +the male idol, and the women to his female progeny, who +were held to be as cruelly delighted with blood as their +parent. But the human sacrifices brought hither were not +allowed to remain and infect the atmosphere. When they +had lain upon the altar till they became offensive, the +carcases were transported to Oro's metropolitan temple at +Opoa, in Raiatea, which was the common Golgotha of his +victims."<a name="FNanchor_31_648" id="FNanchor_31_648"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_648" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>Oro was said to have instituted the notorious Society +of the Areois, a licentious fraternity of strolling players and +mountebanks, who roamed about in troupes from island to +island, everywhere entertaining the populace by their shows, +which comprised recitations, songs, dramatic performances, +wrestling matches, and especially dances, which were often +of a lascivious character.<a name="FNanchor_32_649" id="FNanchor_32_649"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_649" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> These exhibitions, which were +witnessed by crowds and appear to have been the most +popular amusement of the islanders, were given in large, +substantial, sometimes highly ornamented, houses, which were +erected chiefly for the purpose of lodging these itinerant +performers, and providing them with suitable places for their +performances.<a name="FNanchor_33_650" id="FNanchor_33_650"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_650" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The first missionaries describe how, in a long +native house where they lodged for the night, they saw the +Areois men and women dancing and singing till near midnight: +so great were their numbers that they made the +house appear like a village.<a name="FNanchor_34_651" id="FNanchor_34_651"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_651" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Sometimes, apparently, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +performances took place in front of the house, the musicians, +singers, and reciters occupying a sort of stage, while the +actors or dancers performed on a place marked out for them +on the ground or on the floor.<a name="FNanchor_35_652" id="FNanchor_35_652"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_652" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The subject of their songs +or recitations was often a legend of the gods, or of some +distinguished member of the Society, which was chanted +or recited by the performers in chorus seated in a circle on +the ground, while the leader stood in the centre and introduced +the recitation with a sort of prologue, accompanied by +antic gestures and attitudes.<a name="FNanchor_36_653" id="FNanchor_36_653"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_653" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In these recitals the tales +often turned on romantic and diverting episodes in the lives +of ancestors or of deities. "Many of these were very long, +and regularly composed, so as to be repeated verbatim, or +with such illustrations only as the wit or fancy of the +narrator might have the skill to introduce. Their captain +on public occasions, was placed cross-legged on a stool seven +feet high, with a fan in his hand, in the midst of the circle +of laughing or admiring auditors, whom he delighted with +his drollery, or transported with his grimaces, being, in fact, +the merry-andrew of the corps, who, like a wise fool, well +knew how to turn his folly to the best account."<a name="FNanchor_37_654" id="FNanchor_37_654"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_654" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>The Society of the Areois was wealthy and highly +esteemed; members were drawn from all social ranks and +greatly prided themselves on belonging to it.<a name="FNanchor_38_655" id="FNanchor_38_655"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_655" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Indeed, they +were regarded as a sort of superhuman beings, closely +allied to the gods, and were treated with a corresponding +degree of veneration by many of the vulgar and ignorant.<a name="FNanchor_39_656" id="FNanchor_39_656"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_656" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> +They were divided into seven ranks or classes, the members +of which were distinguished from each other by their tattoo +marks; the greater the amount of the tattooing, the higher +the rank of the person.<a name="FNanchor_40_657" id="FNanchor_40_657"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_657" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Admission to the Society was +attended by a variety of ceremonies; a protracted noviciate +followed, and it was only by progressive advancement that +any were promoted to the higher dignities. It was imagined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +that those who became Areois were prompted or inspired +by the gods to take this step. A candidate for admission, +therefore, repaired to one of the public exhibitions in that +apparent state of frenzy which is commonly supposed to +indicate divine inspiration. His face was dyed scarlet; his +hair was perfumed and adorned with flowers, and he wore a +girdle of yellow plantain leaves. Thus arrayed, he rushed +through the crowd assembled round the house in which the +actors or dancers were performing, and, leaping into the circle, +joined with seeming frantic wildness in the dance or pantomime. +If the Society approved of him, they appointed him to wait +as a servant on the principal Areois, and after a period of +probation he might be inducted into the Society as a full-fledged +member. At his induction, which took place in a +great assembly of the body, the candidate received a new +name, by which he was thenceforth known in the Society.<a name="FNanchor_41_658" id="FNanchor_41_658"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_658" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> +When a member was advanced from a lower to a higher +grade, the ceremony was performed at a public festival +which all the members of the Society in the island were +expected to attend. The candidate was then taken to a +temple, where he was solemnly anointed with fragrant oil +on the forehead, and offered a pig to the god.<a name="FNanchor_42_659" id="FNanchor_42_659"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_659" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>When a member of the Society died his body was +conveyed by the Areois to the grand temple, where the +bones of the kings were deposited. There the priest of Oro, +standing over the corpse, offered a long prayer to his god. +This prayer, and the ceremonies accompanying it, were +designed to divest the body of all the sacred and mysterious +influence which the deceased was thought to have received +from the god at the moment when, in the presence of the +idol, the perfumed oil had been sprinkled on him, and he had +been raised to the order or rank in which he died. By this +act they supposed that the sacred influence was restored to +Oro, by whom it had been imparted. The body was then +buried, like that of a common man, within the precincts of the +temple, in which the mortal remains of chiefs were interred.<a name="FNanchor_43_660" id="FNanchor_43_660"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_660" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +But if for any reason the corpse were buried in unconsecrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +ground, the ghost would appear to a survivor next day and +remonstrate with him, saying, "You have buried me in +common earth, and so long as I lie there, I cannot go to +heaven. You must bury me with ceremonies, and in holy +ground." After that the corpse was disinterred, and having +been doubled up by tying the arms to the shoulders and +the knees to the trunk, it was buried in a sitting posture +in a hole so shallow that the earth barely covered the +head. This was esteemed the most honourable form of +sepulture, and was principally confined to personages of +high rank.<a name="FNanchor_44_661" id="FNanchor_44_661"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_661" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>The Areoi Society comprised women as well as men,<a name="FNanchor_45_662" id="FNanchor_45_662"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_662" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +but the accounts given of the proportion of the sexes and +their relations to each other are conflicting. According to +one account, the male members outnumbered the women as +five to one.<a name="FNanchor_46_663" id="FNanchor_46_663"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_663" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> The first missionaries reported that the Areois +were said to have each two or three wives, whom they +exchanged with each other.<a name="FNanchor_47_664" id="FNanchor_47_664"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_664" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> According to Cook, every +woman was common to every man<a name="FNanchor_48_665" id="FNanchor_48_665"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_665" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>; and Turnbull affirmed +that the community of women was the very principle of their +union.<a name="FNanchor_49_666" id="FNanchor_49_666"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_666" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> On the other hand, the naturalist George Forster, +who accompanied Captain Cook, observes: "We have been +told a wanton tale of promiscuous embraces, where every +woman is common to every man: but when we enquired for a +confirmation of this story from the natives, we were soon +convinced that it must, like many others, be considered as +the groundless invention of a traveller's gay fancy."<a name="FNanchor_50_667" id="FNanchor_50_667"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_667" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Again, +Ellis observes that, "although addicted to every kind of +licentiousness themselves, each Areoi had his own wife, who +was also a member of the Society; and so jealous were they +in this respect, that improper conduct towards the wife of +one of their own number, was sometimes punished with +death."<a name="FNanchor_51_668" id="FNanchor_51_668"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_668" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Yet the same writer speaks of "the mysteries of +iniquity, and acts of more than bestial degradation" to which +the Areois were at times addicted; and he says that "in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +some of their meetings, they appear to have placed their invention +on the rack, to discover the worst pollutions of which it +was possible for man to be guilty, and to have striven to outdo +each other in the most revolting practices."<a name="FNanchor_52_669" id="FNanchor_52_669"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_669" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>It was a rule of the Society that no member should have +any children; hence the first injunction given to a new +member was to murder his offspring. Any infant that +might afterwards be born to him was strangled at birth.<a name="FNanchor_53_670" id="FNanchor_53_670"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_670" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> If +a woman spared her child and could induce a man to father +it, "both the man and the woman, being deemed by this act +to have appropriated each other, are ejected from the +community, and forfeit all claim to the privileges and +pleasures of Arreoy for the future; the woman from that +time being distinguished by the term <i>whannow-now</i>, 'bearer +of children,' which is here a term of reproach."<a name="FNanchor_54_671" id="FNanchor_54_671"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_671" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> The pretext +alleged by the Areois for this cruel practice was that, on the +institution of the Society by the god Oro, the first two +members, Orotetefa and Urutetefa, brothers of the god, had +been celibate and childless, and that therefore the members +of the Society were bound to imitate them by being also +without offspring.<a name="FNanchor_55_672" id="FNanchor_55_672"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_672" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>In the constant repetition of their often obscene exhibitions +the Areois passed their lives, sailing from island to island +or strolling from one chief's house to that of another, where +they renewed the same round of dances, wrestlings, and +pantomimic performances.<a name="FNanchor_56_673" id="FNanchor_56_673"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_673" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> But the labour and drudgery of +dancing and performing for the amusement of the spectators +devolved chiefly on the lowest members of the Society, who +were the principal actors in all their shows, while the higher +orders, though they plastered themselves with charcoal and +stained themselves scarlet like their humbler brethren, were +generally careful not to contribute to the public hilarity by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +any exhausting efforts of their own. Thus they led a life of +dissipation and luxurious indolence.<a name="FNanchor_57_674" id="FNanchor_57_674"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_674" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>They seem to have moved about in great troupes. As +many as seventy canoes, with more than seven hundred of +these vagabonds on board, have been seen steering from +island to island.<a name="FNanchor_58_675" id="FNanchor_58_675"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_675" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The approach of such a fleet to the shore +with drums beating, flutes playing, and streamers floating on +the wind, was a picturesque sight, and as the canoes neared +the land the dancers might be seen jigging it on stages +erected on board, while the voices of the singers mingled +with the roll of the drums, the shrill music of the flutes, and +the roar of the surf on the beach in a confused but not +unmelodious babel of sound.<a name="FNanchor_59_676" id="FNanchor_59_676"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_676" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>On landing in an island their first business was to take +a small sucking-pig to the temple and present it to the god +as a thank-offering to him for having brought them safe +to shore. This, we are told, was the only sacrifice ever +offered in token of gratitude by any of the South Sea +Islanders to their imaginary divinities.<a name="FNanchor_60_677" id="FNanchor_60_677"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_677" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> While they were +everywhere welcomed by the vulgar for the merriment they +carried with them, and were everywhere countenanced and +liberally entertained by the kings and chiefs, who found them +convenient tools of fraud and oppression, they were not +received with equal enthusiasm by the farmers, who had +to furnish them with provisions, and who durst not refuse +them anything, however unreasonable and extortionate their +demands. For the Areois lived on the fat of the land. When +they alighted, like a swarm of locusts, on a rich district, they +would send out their henchmen to scour the neighbourhood +and plunder the miserable inhabitants; and when they +moved on to their next halting-place, the gardens which they +left behind them often presented a scene of desolation and +ruin.<a name="FNanchor_61_678" id="FNanchor_61_678"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_678" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Such havoc, indeed, did they spread by their feastings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +and carousings on even a short visit of a few days, that in +some parts of Tahiti the natives were compelled to abandon +the fertile lowlands and retreat up the mountains, submitting +to the trouble of clambering up almost inaccessible slopes +and cultivating a less fruitful soil rather than expose much of +the produce of their labour to the ravages of these privileged +robbers.<a name="FNanchor_62_679" id="FNanchor_62_679"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_679" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>Not the least of the privileges, real or imaginary, +enjoyed by the Areois was that after death their spirits +were believed to pass without difficulty to that paradise of +delights to which otherwise none but the noble and wealthy +could hope to attain.<a name="FNanchor_63_680" id="FNanchor_63_680"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_680" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of the profligate life which the Areoi led and +their addiction to a round of frivolous amusements and +entertainments, it seems likely that the Society was originally +founded for some serious purpose, though the accounts +which have come down to us hardly enable us to determine, +or even to conjecture with a fair degree of probability, what +that purpose was. That its aim was religious might be +inferred on general grounds, and is confirmed by the close +relation in which the Society stood to the national god Oro. +Not only is Oro said to have founded the Society, but before +a troop of Areois set out on their peregrinations they were +obliged to kill many pigs in sacrifice to him and to offer +large quantities of plantains, bananas, and other fruits on his +altars. Moreover, temporary shrines were erected in their +canoes for the worship of Oro's two divine brothers, Orotetefa +and Urutetefa, who were traditionally said to have been the +first members of the Society and were regarded as its tutelary +deities. In these shrines the principal symbols were a stone +for each of the brothers taken from Oro's temple, and a few +red feathers from the inside of his sacred image. Into these +symbols the gods were supposed to enter when the priest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +pronounced a short prayer immediately before the sailing of +the fleet.<a name="FNanchor_64_681" id="FNanchor_64_681"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_681" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>We might be better able to understand the purpose and +the functions of the Areoi Society if we were acquainted +with the nature and meaning which the natives ascribed to +the god Oro, the reputed founder of the Society; but on this +subject our authorities shed little light. He is described as +the war-god<a name="FNanchor_65_682" id="FNanchor_65_682"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_682" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> and as "the great national idol of Raiatea, +Tahiti, Eimeo, and some of the other islands," and he was +said to be a son of the creator Taaroa, who at first dwelt +alone up aloft, but who afterwards, with the help of his +daughter Hina, created the heavens, the earth, and the sea.<a name="FNanchor_66_683" id="FNanchor_66_683"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_683" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> +By European writers Oro has been variously interpreted as a +god of the dead or of the sun; and accordingly the Society +of the Areois has been variously explained as devoted either +to a cult of the Lord of the Dead for the sake of securing +eternal happiness in a world beyond the grave, or to a +worship of the sun-god; but the grounds alleged for either +interpretation appear to be extremely slight.<a name="FNanchor_67_684" id="FNanchor_67_684"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_684" class="fnanchor">[67]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> + +<p>Perhaps a faint gleam of light may fall on the mystery +of the Areois from an examination of their traditionary +first members and guardian deities, the two divine brothers, +Orotetefai and Urutetefai. The similarity of the names of +the brothers suggests that they may have been twins; for it +is a common custom to bestow either the same or a similar +name on each of a pair of twins in order to indicate their +close relationship to each other.<a name="FNanchor_68_685" id="FNanchor_68_685"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_685" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> If they were twins, there +are some grounds for thinking that they were Heavenly +Twins; for their father or creator, Taaroa, seems certainly +to have been a sky-god, and their mother, Hina, is by some +authorities regarded as the moon; moreover, the two brothers +are said to have first descended from the sky to the earth +on a rainbow.<a name="FNanchor_69_686" id="FNanchor_69_686"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_686" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> If the twinship of the divine brothers could +be made out, it might perhaps explain some of the peculiar +features of the Areoi Society. For example, their remarkable +custom of not allowing any of their offspring to live; +for it has been a common custom in many parts of the +world to put twins to death.<a name="FNanchor_70_687" id="FNanchor_70_687"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_687" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Further, the superhuman +rank accorded to the Areois becomes more intelligible on +this hypothesis. For among many savage peoples twins +are credited with the possession of powers superior to those +of ordinary humanity; in particular, they are thought to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +able to influence the weather for good or evil, as by causing +rain or drought and the wind to blow or be still.<a name="FNanchor_71_688" id="FNanchor_71_688"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_688" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Among +the Baronga of South-Eastern Africa the supposed relation +of twins to the sky is very clearly marked. They call the +mother of twins by a name which means "Heaven" (<i>Tilo</i>), +and consistently they style the twins themselves "Children +of Heaven" (<i>Bana ba Tilo</i>).<a name="FNanchor_72_689" id="FNanchor_72_689"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_689" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The mother is even said to +have "made Heaven," to have "carried Heaven," and to +have "ascended to Heaven."<a name="FNanchor_73_690" id="FNanchor_73_690"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_690" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> The connexion which is +believed to exist between her and the twins on the one side +and the sky on the other is brought out plainly in the +customs which the Baronga observe for the purpose of procuring +rain in time of drought. Thus they will take a +mother of twins, put her in a hole, and pour on her water +which they have drawn from all the wells, till the hole is +half full, and the water comes up to her breast. This is +thought to make the rain fall.<a name="FNanchor_74_691" id="FNanchor_74_691"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_691" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Or again, in order to get +rain, the women will strip themselves naked except for a +girdle and head-dress of grass, and thus attired will go in +procession, headed by a mother of twins, and pour water on +the graves of twins. And if the body of a twin has been +buried in dry ground, they will dig it up and bury it again +near a river; for the grave of a twin, in their opinion, should +always be wet. Thus they hope to draw down rain on the +thirsty ground.<a name="FNanchor_75_692" id="FNanchor_75_692"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_692" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Again, when a thunderstorm is raging +and lightning threatens to strike a village, the Baronga will +say to a twin, "Help us! you are a Child of Heaven! You +can therefore cope with Heaven; it will hear you when you +speak." So the child goes out of the hut and prays to +Heaven as follows: "Go away! Do not annoy us! We +are afraid. Go and roar far away." When the thunderstorm +is over, the child is thanked for its services. The +mother of twins is also supposed to be able to help in +the same way, for has she not, as the natives express it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +ascended to Heaven? They say that she can speak with +Heaven, and that she is at it or in it.<a name="FNanchor_76_693" id="FNanchor_76_693"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_693" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Among the Kpelle, +a negro tribe of Liberia, twins are regarded as born magicians, +and as such are treated with respect, and people sometimes +make them presents in order to ensure their goodwill; in +doing so they are careful never to make a present to the one +twin without the other, and the twin who was born last gets +his present first, for he is regarded as the first-born. Twins +are thought by the Kpelle to do wonders; they even say that +"a twin surpasses every medicine-man."<a name="FNanchor_77_694" id="FNanchor_77_694"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_694" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Among the Fan +or Fang, a tribe of the Cameroons in West Africa, there is +a curious superstition that a twin ought not to see a rainbow. +Should he by accident have caught sight of one, he must +shave his eyebrows and dye the place of the one black +and the place of the other red.<a name="FNanchor_78_695" id="FNanchor_78_695"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_695" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> This superstition seems to +imply a special relation between twins and the sky, and it +reminds us of the Tahitian tradition that the two divine +brothers, the first members of the Areoi Society, descended +to earth on a rainbow.<a name="FNanchor_79_696" id="FNanchor_79_696"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_696" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>Another notion about twins which may possibly help to +throw light on some of the practices of the Areoi Society, is +that they or their parents or both are endowed with a +fertilising or prolific virtue, which enables them to multiply +animals or plants and thereby to increase the food supply. +Thus, for example, some tribes of Northern Rhodesia keep +pigeons in their villages, and in erecting a pigeon-cote they +take care that the first stakes "are driven in by a woman +who has borne twins, in order, they say, that the pigeons +may multiply."<a name="FNanchor_80_697" id="FNanchor_80_697"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_697" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Some Bantu tribes of this region ascribe +a similar virtue to both the father and the mother of twins.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +They think that such parents exert a beneficial or prolific +influence at laying the foundations of pigeon-cotes, chicken-houses, +goat-pens, or any other building used for the purposes +of breeding; a certain woman who had borne twins thrice +was lately in great request at these functions.<a name="FNanchor_81_698" id="FNanchor_81_698"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_698" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> The Zulus +think that all goats belonging to a twin bring forth young +in couples.<a name="FNanchor_82_699" id="FNanchor_82_699"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_699" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>In the Central District of Busoga, Central Africa, when +a woman has given birth to twins, the people of her clan +do not sow any seed until the twins have been brought to +the field. A pot of cooked grain is set before the children +with a cake of sesame and all the seed that is to be sown. +The food is eaten by the assembled people, and afterwards +the field is sown in presence of the twins; the plot is then +said to be the field of the twins. The mother of twins +must sow her seed before any person of the clan will sow +his or hers.<a name="FNanchor_83_700" id="FNanchor_83_700"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_700" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> These customs seem clearly to imply a belief +that twins and their mother possess a special power of +fertilising the seed. Among the Baganda of Central Africa +twins were supposed to be sent by Mukasa, the great god +whose blessing on the crops and on the people was ensured +at an annual festival. The twins were thought to be under +the protection of the god, and they bore his name, the +boys being called Mukasa and the girls Namukasa. And +a series of customs observed by the parents of twins among +the Baganda indicates in the plainest manner a belief that +they were endowed with a fertilising virtue which extended, +not only to the crops and the cattle, but also to human +beings. Thus the parents of twins were supposed to make +people fruitful by sprinkling them with a mixture of water +and clay from pots, of which each of the parents had one. +Again, some time after the birth the parents used to make +a round of visits to relations and friends, taking the twins +with them. At every house they danced, the father wearing +a crown made from a certain creeper, and the mother wearing +a girdle of the same material. At these dances offerings +were made to the twins. These dances were most popular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +"because the people believed that thereby they obtained a +special blessing from the god Mukasa, who favoured the +parents of twins, and through them dispensed blessing +wherever they went." The persons whom the twins and +their parents honoured with a visit "thought that, not only +they themselves would be blessed and given children, but +that their herds and crops also would be multiplied." A +ceremony performed by the father and mother of twins over +a flower of the plantain indicated in the plainest, if the +grossest, fashion the belief of the Baganda that parents of +twins could magically fertilise the plantains which form the +staple food of the people. No wonder, then, that among +them a mother of twins is deemed a source of blessing to +the whole community, and that for some time after the +birth both she and the father were sacred and wore a distinctive +dress to prevent any one from touching them. The +father, in particular, "could do what he liked, because he +was under the protection of the god"; for example, he was +free to enter anybody's garden and to take the produce at +will. Special drums, too, were made for the parents, one +for the father and one for the mother; and for some time +after the birth these were beaten continually both by day +and by night.<a name="FNanchor_84_701" id="FNanchor_84_701"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_701" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>Among the Hos of Togo, in West Africa, in like manner, +special drums are beaten for the parents of twins, and the +parents dance publicly to the music in the main street of +the village, after going nine times round it. Some days +later the parents go the round of all the Ho towns, everywhere +executing the same dance to the same music at noon; +but should one of the twins have died in the meantime, the +parents dance at night. It is believed that, if the customary +rites were not performed at the birth of twins, the parents +of the twins would be crippled. Curiously enough, the +drums, to the music of which the parents dance, may not +be beaten by any one without special reason; and no one +else may dance to their music except such as have slain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +either a man or a leopard. Among these people the birth +of twins is the occasion of very great rejoicing. They say +that "the road which the mother of twins goes is better +than the road which the rich man goes."<a name="FNanchor_85_702" id="FNanchor_85_702"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_702" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> The saying +suggests that the Hos, like the Baganda, regard a mother +of twins as diffusing fertility wherever she goes; and, on +the analogy of the dances of parents of twins among the +Baganda, we may conjecture that in like manner among the +Hos the parents of twins are supposed to confer the blessing +of fruitfulness on all the towns where they dance.</p> + +<p>Among the Barundi of East Africa the birth of twins +is celebrated with rites, songs, and ritual dances, which last +for days and even for weeks. As soon as the news spreads, +the neighbours, friends, and relations flock to the house to +sing, bringing with them presents for the parents or offerings +to the spirits. The amount of provisions thus accumulated +is enormous, but the parents of the twins benefit little by +it; the great bulk disappears as by magic among the self-invited +guests. Festivity, dancing, and singing are now the +order of the day. Dancers, male and female, their faces +painted red and white or yellow, dance like furies in a circle +for hours together, singing ritual hymns at the top of their +voices, while an old sorceress besprinkles the troop with +lustral water. It is commonly believed that if these rites +were omitted, the twins and their parents would die. At +the birth of twins it is customary to buy two black sheep +or lambs and to dedicate them to the twins, one to each. +These sheep are then left at liberty to run about as they +like by day and night, and to enter the fields and browse +at will. If one of them dies it is replaced by another. The +animals are described as the guardians of the children, the +receptacle or symbol of their spirits, in short, as their fetish.<a name="FNanchor_86_703" id="FNanchor_86_703"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_703" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +To some extent, they are analogous to the pig which an +Areoi used to offer to the god at the ceremony of his +consecration; for, though sometimes the animal was killed, +at other times it was liberated, and, being regarded as sacred +or belonging to the god to whom it had been offered, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +allowed to range the district uncontrolled till it died.<a name="FNanchor_87_704" id="FNanchor_87_704"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_704" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> +Among the Baluba, a tribe of the Belgian Congo, there is +great joy at the birth of twins, and special ceremonies are +observed on the occasion. The twins are invariably named +Kyunga and Kahya, after the spirits of two ancient kings, +and to these spirits the twins are consecrated. After being +washed and decorated they are placed side by side in a +winnowing-basket and carried by the women of the family +in procession through the village, headed by the proud +father. Dancing and singing they go to the ash-heap of +the village. There they all rub themselves with ashes and +perform another dance. After that, still led by the father +of the twins, they go to the houses of the chief people, and +in front of each house the father dances, while the women +beat time with their hands. Wherever the procession halts, +the householder is expected to come and admire the twins, +to compliment the father, and to deposit a small present in +the winnowing-basket.<a name="FNanchor_88_705" id="FNanchor_88_705"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_705" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Among the Herero of South-West +Africa the parents of twins are looked on as sacred, and for +a time they may not speak to any one, and no one may +speak to them. But after the lapse of some days the family +goes the round of the village, visiting three or four huts +every day. The father of the twins sits down on the right +side of the hut, and the inmates make him offerings of +beads, oxen, and so forth. When he has thus gone the +round of the village, he repairs to the neighbouring villages, +where the same ceremonies are repeated. It is often a year +before he returns to his own village, and when he does so +he brings back with him a great quantity of offerings. +Henceforth the father of the twins enjoys all the privileges +of a priestly chief; he may sacrifice at the holy fire, and he +may represent and even succeed the chief in the office of +priest for the village. The twins themselves are eligible for +the same office. If a chief dies a natural death, he is succeeded +in his priestly function by his twin son; whereas the +chieftainship passes to the chief's legal heir, who is properly +the son of his eldest sister, and who thenceforth assumes the +name of the twin. A twin is bound by no taboo; he may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +eat of all flesh offered in sacrifice; he may drink of the +milk of every holy cow, just like the chief and the priest +themselves.<a name="FNanchor_89_706" id="FNanchor_89_706"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_706" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>In these cases we are not told that twins and their +parents are supposed to be endowed with a power of +multiplying the herds and generally of increasing the supply +of food by the prolific influence which they diffuse about +them; but the analogy of the customs and beliefs of the +Baganda concerning the birth of twins renders the supposition +probable. At least on this hypothesis we can readily +understand the round of visits which the parents, or one of +them, pay to the surrounding towns or villages, and the +presents which are made to them. If they indeed possess +a power of imparting fertility and abundance wherever they +go, it is obviously in everybody's interest to be visited by +them, and clearly, on the same supposition, it is everybody's +duty to make some return to them for the wonderful benefits +which they have conferred.</p> + +<p>Similarly we may perhaps suppose that the rounds which +the Areois went from island to island, dancing, singing, and +playing their tricks wherever they stopped, were believed to +quicken the fruits of the earth, and possibly also to multiply +the pigs and the fish. On that assumption, the unlimited +right which these vagabonds enjoyed of appropriating and +consuming the produce of the gardens was probably accorded +to them as a natural and proper remuneration for the inestimable +services which their mere presence was believed to +render to the crops. The sexual excesses, in which they +appear to have indulged, would also be intelligible, if it was +imagined that, on the principle of sympathetic magic, such +indulgences actually promoted the multiplication and growth +of plants and animals. But this explanation of the extravagant +rites observed by the Areois, and of the quaint beliefs +entertained concerning them, is offered only as an hypothesis +for what it is worth. It may be worth while noting that +among the Kpelle, a tribe of Liberia in West Africa, there +is reported to exist a Secret Society of Twins,<a name="FNanchor_90_707" id="FNanchor_90_707"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_707" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> but whether it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +bears any resemblance to the Society of the Areois I do not +know.</p> + +<p>A familiar figure of the Polynesian pantheon, who meets +us in the mythology of the Society Islanders, was the famous +god or hero Maui. Many stories of his exploits were told +in the islands. It is said that originally the sky lay flat +upon the face of the earth and ocean, being held down by +the legs of a huge cuttle-fish. But Maui dived into the +sea, and, grappling with the monster, utterly dismembered +him; whereupon the sky flew up and expanded into the +beautiful blue vault which we now see above us, with the +noonday sun for the keystone of the arch.<a name="FNanchor_91_708" id="FNanchor_91_708"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_708" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Again, the +natives told how, one day, sitting in his canoe, Maui let down +his line with a hook at the end of it and fished up the earth, +which had hitherto lain at the bottom of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_92_709" id="FNanchor_92_709"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_709" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Also he +is said to have held the sun with ropes to prevent him from +going too fast.<a name="FNanchor_93_710" id="FNanchor_93_710"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_710" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> For it happened that Maui was hard at +work, building a temple, when he perceived that the day was +declining and that the night would overtake him before he +had accomplished his task; so hastily twining some ropes of +coco-nut fibre, he laid hold of the sun's rays and tethered +them by the ropes to a tree, so that the sun could not stir +till Maui had finished the task he was at.<a name="FNanchor_94_711" id="FNanchor_94_711"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_711" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Further, Maui is +said to have invented the mode of kindling fire by rubbing +the point of one stick in the groove of another,<a name="FNanchor_95_712" id="FNanchor_95_712"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_712" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> which was +the way in which the Society Islanders regularly made fire.<a name="FNanchor_96_713" id="FNanchor_96_713"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_713" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +Maui was also supposed to be the cause of earthquakes.<a name="FNanchor_97_714" id="FNanchor_97_714"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_714" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> In +Tahiti a curious image of Maui was seen and described by +Captain Cook. "It was the figure of a man, constructed of +basket-work, rudely made, but not ill-designed; it was something +more than seven feet high, and rather too bulky in +proportion to its height. The wicker skeleton was completely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +covered with feathers, which were white where the skin was +to appear, and black in the parts which it is their custom to +paint or stain, and upon the head, where there was to be a +representation of hair: upon the head also were four protuberances, +three in front and one behind, which we should +have called horns, but which the Indians dignified with the +name of <i>Tate Ete</i>, little men. The image was called Manioe, +and was said to be the only one in Otaheite. They attempted +to give us an explanation of its use and design, but we had +not then acquired enough of their language to understand +them. We learnt, however, afterwards that it was a representation +of Mauwe, one of their <i>Eatuas</i>, or gods of the second +class."<a name="FNanchor_98_715" id="FNanchor_98_715"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_715" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>Besides the high primaeval deities, born of the Night, the +Society Islanders believed in a host of inferior divinities, +many of whom were said to have been created by Taaroa, +the supreme god. Thus, between the high gods and the +deities of particular places or of particular professions, there +was a class of intermediate deities, who were not supposed +to have existed from the beginning or to have been born of +Night. Their origin was veiled in obscurity, but they were +often described as having been renowned men, who, after +death, were deified by their descendants. They all received +the homage of the people, and on all public occasions were +acknowledged among the gods.<a name="FNanchor_99_716" id="FNanchor_99_716"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_716" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Again, there were many +gods of the sea, among whom the principal seem to have +been Tuaraatai and Ruahatu. These were generally called +shark gods (<i>atua mao</i>), not that the shark was itself deemed +a god, but that it was supposed to be employed by the +marine gods as their minister of vengeance. It was only the +large blue shark which was believed to act in this capacity; +and it is said that these voracious creatures always spared a +shipwrecked priest, even when they devoured his companions; +nay, they would recognise a priest on board any canoe, come +at his call, and retire at his bidding. A priest of one of +these shark gods told Mr. Ellis that he or his father had been +carried on the back of a shark from Raiatea to Huahine, +a distance of twenty miles. Other gods were thought to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +preside over the fisheries, and to direct the shoals of fish to +the coasts. Their aid was invoked by fishermen before they +launched their canoes and while they were busy at sea. But +these marine deities were not supposed by the people to be +of equal antiquity with the great primordial gods, born of +the Night (<i>atua fauau po</i>).<a name="FNanchor_100_717" id="FNanchor_100_717"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_717" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Again, there were gods of the +air, who were sometimes worshipped under the figure of +birds. The chief of these aerial deities were thought to be +a brother and sister, who dwelt near the great rock, which is +the foundation of the world. There they imprisoned the +stormy winds, but sent them forth from time to time to +punish such as neglected the worship of the gods. In tempests +their compassion was besought by mariners tossed on the +sea or by their friends on shore.<a name="FNanchor_101_718" id="FNanchor_101_718"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_718" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> To the minds of the +islanders there were also gods of hill and dale, of precipice +and ravine. "By their rude mythology each lovely island +was made a sort of fairy-land, and the spells of enchantment +were thrown over its varied scenes.... The mountain's +summit, and the fleecy mists that hang upon its brows—the +rocky defile—the foaming cataract—and the lonely dell—were +all regarded as the abode or resort of these invisible +beings."<a name="FNanchor_102_719" id="FNanchor_102_719"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_719" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<p>The general name for "god" in the Society Islands, as +throughout Polynesia, was <i>atua</i>.<a name="FNanchor_103_720" id="FNanchor_103_720"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_720" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> The word was also applied, +in the expression <i>oramatuas</i> or <i>oromatuas</i>, to the spirits of +departed relatives, who were also worshipped and ranked +among the deities.<a name="FNanchor_104_721" id="FNanchor_104_721"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_721" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> To these we shall return presently; +meantime it may not be out of place to give some notice +of the worship of the other gods, since in the religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +of the Society Islanders, as of other branches of the Polynesian +race, it was closely interwoven with the worship +of the dead.</p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>The Temples and Images of the Gods</i></h4> + +<p>The sacred place dedicated to religious worship was called +a <i>morai</i>, or, as it is also spelled, a <i>marai</i> or <i>marae</i>, which +may be translated "temple," though all such places were +uncovered and open to the sky. The national temples, +where the principal idols were deposited, consisted of large +walled enclosures, some of which contained smaller inner +courts. The form was frequently that of a square or a +parallelogram, with sides forty or fifty feet long. The area +was paved with flat stones, and two sides of it were enclosed +by a high stone wall, while the front was protected by a low +fence, and within rose in steps or terraces a solid pyramidical +structure built of stone, which usually formed one of the +narrow sides of the area, either at the western or at the +eastern end. These pyramids, which were always truncated +so as to form a narrow platform or ridge on their upper +surface, were the most striking and characteristic feature of +the <i>morais</i>; indeed the name <i>morai</i> or <i>marae</i> appears to +have been sometimes confined, at least by European observers, +to the pyramid. In front of the pyramid the images were +kept and the altars fixed. The houses of the priests and of +the keepers of the idols were erected within the enclosure.<a name="FNanchor_105_722" id="FNanchor_105_722"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_722" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> +Of these interesting monuments, which seemed destined to +last for ages, only a few insignificant ruins survive; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +rest have been destroyed, chiefly at the instigation of the +missionaries.<a name="FNanchor_106_723" id="FNanchor_106_723"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_723" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>Some of the pyramids erected within these sacred +enclosures were of great size. In Tahiti an enormous +one was seen and described by Captain Cook as well as +by later observers. It was of oblong shape and measured +two hundred and sixty-seven feet in length by eighty-seven +feet in width. It rose in a series of eleven steps or terraces, +each four feet high, so that the total height of the structure +was forty-four feet. Each step was formed of a single +course of white coral stone, neatly squared and polished. +The steps on the long sides were broader than those at +the ends, so that at the top it terminated, not in an oblong +of the same figure as the base, but in a ridge like the roof +of a house. The interior of the pyramid was solid, being +filled up with round pebbles which, from the regularity of +their figure, seemed to have been wrought. Some of the +coral stones were very large; one of them was three and +a half feet long by two and a half feet wide. The foundation +of the pyramid was built not of coral, but of what +Captain Cook called rock, by which he probably meant +a volcanic stone. These foundation stones were also +squared; one of them measured four feet seven inches +by two feet four inches. "Such a structure," says Captain +Cook, "raised without the assistance of iron tools to +shape the stones, or mortar to join them, struck us with +astonishment: it seemed to be as compact and firm as +it could have been made by any workman in Europe, +except that the steps which range along its greatest +length are not perfectly strait, but sink in a kind of +hollow in the middle, so that the whole surface, from +end to end, is not a right line, but a curve." All the +stones, both rock and coral, must have been brought from +a distance, for there was no quarry in the neighbourhood. +The squaring of these blocks with stone tools must, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +Captain Cook observes, have been a work of incredible +labour; but the polishing of them could have been effected +more easily by means of the sharp coral sand, which is +found everywhere on the seashore in great abundance. On +the top of the pyramid, and about the middle, stood the +wooden image of a bird; and near it lay the image of a fish +carved in stone. This great pyramid formed part of one +side of a spacious area, nearly square, which measured three +hundred and sixty feet by three hundred and fifty-four, +and was walled in with stone as well as paved with flat +stones in its whole extent. Notwithstanding the pavement, +several trees were growing within the sacred enclosure. +About a hundred yards to the west was another paved +area or court, in which were several small stages raised on +wooden pillars about seven feet high. These stages the +natives called <i>ewattas</i>. Captain Cook judged them rightly +to be altars, observing that they supported what appeared +to be offerings in the shape of provisions of all sorts, as well +as whole hogs and many skulls of hogs and dogs.<a name="FNanchor_107_724" id="FNanchor_107_724"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_724" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>The pyramids within the sacred enclosure were not +usually so large or so lofty. In the island of Huahine +the pyramid of the chief god Tani or Tane was a hundred +and twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet broad, and it had +only two steps or stories. The lower step or story was +about ten feet high and faced with blocks of coral, set on +their edges: some of these blocks were as high as the step +itself. The upper step or story was similarly faced with +coral, but was not more than three feet high. The interior +of both stories was filled with earth. In the centre of the +principal front stood the god's bed, a stone platform twenty-four +feet long by thirteen feet wide, but only eighteen inches +high. The style and masonry of this pyramid, as well as +its dimensions, appear to have been very inferior to those +of the great one in Tahiti. The blocks were apparently +unhewn and unpolished, the angles ill formed, and the walls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +not straight. Venerable and magnificent trees overshadowed +the sanctuary. One of them measured fifteen yards in +girth above the roots. It is said that the god often +wished to fly away, but that his long tail always caught +in the boughs of this giant tree and dragged him down +to earth again.<a name="FNanchor_108_725" id="FNanchor_108_725"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_725" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>These sacred pyramids "were erected in any place, and +at any time, when the priests required, by the slavish people. +On such occasions the former overlooked the latter at their +work, and denounced the most terrible judgments upon those +who were remiss at it. The poor wretches were thus compelled +to finish their tasks (burthensome as they often were, +in heaving blocks from the sea, dragging them ashore, and +heaping them one upon another) without eating, which would +have desecrated the intended sanctuary. To restrain the +gnawings of hunger they bound girdles of bark round their +bodies, tightening the ligatures from time to time, as their +stomachs shrank with emptiness. And, when the drudgery +was done, it was not uncommon for the remorseless priests +to seize one of the miserable builders and sacrifice him to +the idol of the place."<a name="FNanchor_109_726" id="FNanchor_109_726"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_726" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>Temples of this sort were found scattered over the islands +in every situation—on hill-tops, on jutting headlands, and in +the recesses of groves.<a name="FNanchor_110_727" id="FNanchor_110_727"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_727" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> They varied greatly in size: some +were small and built in the rudest manner, mere squares of +ill-shapen and ill-piled stones. In the island of Borabora +the missionaries found not less than two hundred and twenty +of these structures crowded within an area only ten miles +in circumference.<a name="FNanchor_111_728" id="FNanchor_111_728"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_728" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> The trees that grew within the sacred +enclosure were sacred. They comprised particularly the tall +cypress-like casuarina and the broader-leaved and more +exuberant callophyllum, thespesia, and cardia. Their interlacing +boughs formed a thick umbrageous covert, which often +excluded the rays of the sun; and the contrast between the +bright glare of a tropical day outside and the sombre +gloom in the depths of the grove, combined with the sight +of the gnarled trunks and twisted boughs of the aged trees,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +and the sighing of the wind in the branches, to strike a +religious horror into the mind of the beholder.<a name="FNanchor_112_729" id="FNanchor_112_729"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_729" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> The ground +which surrounded the temples (<i>morais</i>) was sacred and +afforded a sanctuary for criminals. Thither they fled on +any apprehension of danger, especially when many human +sacrifices were expected, and thence they might not be +torn by violence, though they were sometimes seduced +from their asylum by guile.<a name="FNanchor_113_730" id="FNanchor_113_730"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_730" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>These remarkable sanctuaries were at once temples for +the worship of the gods and burial-places for the human +dead. On this combination of functions I have already +adduced some evidence;<a name="FNanchor_114_731" id="FNanchor_114_731"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_731" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> but as the point is important, +I will cite further testimonies as to the custom of burying +the dead in these enclosures.</p> + +<p>Thus Captain Cook writes: "I must more explicitly +observe that there are two places in which the dead are +deposited: one a kind of shed, where the flesh is suffered to +putrefy; the other an enclosure, with erections of stones, +where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called +<i>tupapow</i>, and the enclosures <i>morai</i>. The <i>morais</i> are also +places of worship".<a name="FNanchor_115_732" id="FNanchor_115_732"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_732" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> Again, after describing how a dead +body used to be placed in the temporary house or shed +(<i>tupapow</i>) and left there to decay for five moons, Captain +Cook tells us that "what remains of the body is taken down +from the bier, and the bones, having been scraped and +washed very clean, are buried, according to the rank of +the person, either within or without a <i>morai</i>: if the deceased +was an <i>earee</i> or chief, his skull is not buried with the rest +of the bones, but is wrapped up in fine cloth, and put in +a kind of box made for that purpose, which is also placed +in the <i>morai</i>. This coffer is called <i>ewharre no te orometua</i>, +the house of a teacher or master".<a name="FNanchor_116_733" id="FNanchor_116_733"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_733" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>Again, after describing the human sacrifice which he +witnessed at the great <i>morai</i> at Attahooroo, in Tahiti, +Captain Cook proceeds as follows: "The <i>morai</i> (which, +undoubtedly, is a place of worship, sacrifice, and burial +at the same time), where the sacrifice was now offered, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +that where the supreme chief of the whole island is always +buried, and is appropriated to his family, and some of the +principal people. It differs little from the common ones, +except in extent. Its principal part is a large oblong pile +of stones, lying loosely upon each other, about twelve or +fourteen feet high, contracted toward the top, with a square +area on each side, loosely paved with pebble stones, under +which the bones of the chiefs are buried.... The human +sacrifices are buried under different parts of the pavement."<a name="FNanchor_117_734" id="FNanchor_117_734"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_734" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>Again, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the +victors used to collect all the dead that had fallen into their +hands and bring them to the <i>morai</i>, where, with much +ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all the bodies in it +as so many offerings to the gods; but the skulls of the slain +were never afterwards taken up. Their own great chiefs who +fell in battle were treated in a different manner. Captain +Cook was informed that the bodies of the late king and two +chiefs, who were slain in battle, were brought to the <i>morai</i> +at Attahooroo. There the priests cut out the bowels of the +corpses before the great altar, and the bodies were afterwards +buried at three different spots in the great pile of stones +which formed the most conspicuous feature of the <i>morai</i>. +Common men who perished in the same battle were all +buried in a single hole at the foot of the pile. The spots +where the bodies of the king and chiefs reposed were pointed +out to Captain Cook and his companions.<a name="FNanchor_118_735" id="FNanchor_118_735"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_735" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> + +<p>Again, in the island of Tahiti, the naturalist George +Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, saw a stone +building, "in form of the frustum of a pyramid," constructed +in terraces or steps, and measuring about twenty +yards in length at the base. "This the native said was a +burying-place and place of worship, <i>marài</i>, and distinguished +it by the name of <i>marai no-Aheatua</i>, the burying-place of +Aheatua, the present king of Tiarroboo."<a name="FNanchor_119_736" id="FNanchor_119_736"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_736" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>Again, in the island of Huahine, the missionaries Tyerman +and Bennet saw "a pagan <i>marae</i> hard by, where the +sovereigns of Huahine were buried—and where, indeed, +they lay in more than oriental state, each one resting in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +his bed, at the foot of the Sacred Mountain, beneath the +umbrage of the magnificent <i>aoa</i> [tree], and near the beach +for ever washed by waters that roll round the world.... +The great <i>marae</i> itself was dedicated to Tani, the father of +the gods here; but the whole ground adjacent was marked +with the vestiges of smaller <i>maraes</i>—private places for +worship and family interment—while this was the capital +of the island and the headquarters of royalty and idolatry."<a name="FNanchor_120_737" id="FNanchor_120_737"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_737" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> +A little later, speaking of the same sacred place, the +missionaries observe, "The first <i>marae</i> that we visited was +the sepulchral one of the kings of Huahine, for many +generations. It was an oblong inclosure, forty-five feet +long by twenty broad, fenced with a strong stone wall. +Here the bodies of the deceased, according to the manner +of the country, being bound up, with the arms doubled to +their shoulders, the legs bent under their thighs and both +forced upwards against the abdomen, were let down, without +coffins, into a hole prepared for their reception, and just deep +enough to allow the earth to cover their heads."<a name="FNanchor_121_738" id="FNanchor_121_738"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_738" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>One of our best authorities on these islands, William +Ellis, speaks of the <i>maraes</i> (<i>morais</i>), whether they belonged +to private families, to districts, or to the kings, as being +"the general depositories of the bones of the departed, +whose bodies had been embalmed"; and as a motive for +the practice he alleges the sanctity which attached to these +places, and which might naturally be supposed to guard the +graves against impious and malicious violation.<a name="FNanchor_122_739" id="FNanchor_122_739"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_739" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> However, +the first missionaries say of the islanders that "they bury +none in the <i>morai</i>, but those offered in sacrifice, or slain in +battle, or the children of chiefs which have been strangled at +the birth—an act of atrocious inhumanity too common."<a name="FNanchor_123_740" id="FNanchor_123_740"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_740" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> +According to Moerenhout, the <i>marais</i> (<i>morais</i>) belonging to +private families were often used as cemeteries; but in the +public <i>marais</i> none but the human victims, and sometimes +the priests, were interred.<a name="FNanchor_124_741" id="FNanchor_124_741"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_741" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Thus there is to some extent +a conflict of testimony between our authorities on the subject +of burial in the temples. But the evidence which I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +adduced seems to render it probable that many at least of +the <i>morais</i> served as burial-grounds for kings and chiefs of +high degree, and even for common men who had fallen +fighting in the service of their country.</p> + +<p>In more recent years the German traveller, Arthur +Baessler, who examined and described the existing ruins +of these sacred edifices, denied that the <i>maraes</i> (<i>morais</i>) were +places of burial, while he allowed that they were places of +worship.<a name="FNanchor_125_742" id="FNanchor_125_742"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_742" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> He distinguished a <i>marae</i> from an <i>ahu</i>, admitting +at the same time that they closely resembled each other, +both in their structure and in the ritual celebrated at them.<a name="FNanchor_126_743" id="FNanchor_126_743"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_743" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> +According to him, a <i>marae</i> was a sort of domestic chapel, +the possession of which constituted the most distinctive mark +of a noble family. Every chief, high or low, had one of +them and took rank according to its antiquity.<a name="FNanchor_127_744" id="FNanchor_127_744"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_744" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> It was an +oblong area, open to the sky and enclosed by walls on three +sides and by a pyramid on the fourth: walls and pyramid +alike were built of blocks of stone or coral.<a name="FNanchor_128_745" id="FNanchor_128_745"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_745" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> The <i>ahu</i>, on +the other hand, was a monument erected to the memory of +a distinguished chief, whose mortal remains were deposited +in it. But apart from the grave which it contained, the <i>ahu</i>, +according to Baessler, hardly differed from a <i>marae</i>, though +it was mostly larger: it was a great walled enclosure with +a pyramid, altars, and houses of the priests. And the ritual +celebrated in the <i>ahu</i> resembled the ritual performed in the +<i>marae</i>: there, too, the faithful assembled to pray, and there +the priests recited the same liturgy.<a name="FNanchor_129_746" id="FNanchor_129_746"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_746" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Thus both the form +and, to some extent at least, the function of the two types +of sanctuary presented a close similarity. The islanders +themselves, it appears, do not always clearly distinguish them +at the present day.<a name="FNanchor_130_747" id="FNanchor_130_747"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_747" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> And the single distinction on which +Baessler insisted, that the dead were buried in the <i>ahu</i> but +not in the <i>marae</i>, seems not to hold good universally, even +on Baessler's own showing. For he admits that, "if ever +a chief was buried in his own <i>marae</i>, it must have been in +most exceptional cases, but probably statements to that +effect rest only on a confusion of the <i>marae</i> with the <i>ahu</i>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +such a practice would also run counter to the habits of the +natives, who sought the most secret places for their dead, +and certainly concealed the heads in caves difficult of access +and unknown to others. On the other hand, the <i>maraes</i> of +humbler families may more frequently, if not as a rule, have +served as places of burial."<a name="FNanchor_131_748" id="FNanchor_131_748"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_748" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> And even in regard to the +holiest <i>marae</i>, dedicated to the great god Oro, in the island +of Raiatea,<a name="FNanchor_132_749" id="FNanchor_132_749"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_749" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Baessler himself cites a tradition, apparently well +authenticated, that a great number of warriors slain in battle +were buried in it.<a name="FNanchor_133_750" id="FNanchor_133_750"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_750" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> The argument that the people buried +their dead, or at all events their skulls, only in remote caves +among the mountains seems untenable; for according to the +evidence of earlier writers the practice of concealing the +bones or the skulls of the dead in caves was generally, if not +always, a precaution adopted in time of war, to prevent these +sacred relics from falling into the hands of invaders; the +regular custom seems to have been to bury the bones in or +near the <i>marae</i> and to keep the skulls either there or in the +house.<a name="FNanchor_134_751" id="FNanchor_134_751"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_751" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> On the whole, then, it is perhaps safer to follow +earlier and, from the nature of the case, better-informed +writers in neglecting the distinction which Baessler drew +between a <i>marae</i> (<i>morai</i>) and an <i>ahu</i>. In any case we +have Baessler's testimony that an <i>ahu</i> was at once a place +of burial and a place of worship. There seems to be no +evidence that any of these sacred edifices, whether <i>maraes</i> +or <i>ahus</i>, were associated with a worship of the sun. On the +other hand, it is certain that some at least of them were +dedicated, partly or chiefly, to a cult of the dead, which +formed a very important element in the religion of the +Society Islanders, whereas there is little or nothing to show +that they adored either the sun, or any other of the heavenly +bodies, with the possible exception of the moon.<a name="FNanchor_135_752" id="FNanchor_135_752"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_752" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> This did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +not, however, prevent them from entertaining absurd notions +concerning these great luminaries. At an eclipse they +imagined that the moon or the sun was being swallowed +by some god whom they had offended; and on such +occasions they repaired to the temple and offered prayers +and liberal presents to the deity for the purpose of inducing +him to disgorge the luminary.<a name="FNanchor_136_753" id="FNanchor_136_753"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_753" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p> + +<p>Temples such as have been described were erected on all +important occasions, such as a war, a decisive victory, or the +installation of a great chief or king of a whole island. In +these latter cases the natives boasted that the number of +persons present was so great that, if each of them only +brought a single stone, the amount of stones thus collected +would have sufficed to build their largest temples and +pyramids.<a name="FNanchor_137_754" id="FNanchor_137_754"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_754" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> One of the occasions when it became necessary +to build new temples was when the old ones had been overthrown +by enemies in war. After such a desecration it was +customary to perform a ceremony for the purpose of purifying +the land from the defilement which it had incurred through +the devastations of the foe, who had, perhaps, demolished +the temples, destroyed or mutilated the idols, and burned +with fire the curiously carved pieces of wood which marked +the sacred places of interment and represented the spirits of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +the dead (<i>tiis</i>). Before the rite of purification was performed +the temples were rebuilt, new altars reared, new images +placed within the sacred precincts, and new wooden effigies +set up near the graves. At the close of the rites in the new +temples, the worshippers repaired to the seashore, where the +chief priest offered a short prayer and the people dragged +a net of coco-nut leaves through a shallow part of the sea, +usually detaching small pieces of coral, which they brought +ashore. These were called fish and were delivered to the +priest, who conveyed them to the temple and deposited them +on the altar, offering at the same time a prayer to induce +the gods to cleanse the land from pollution, that it might be +as pure as the coral fresh from the sea. It was now thought +safe to abide on the soil and to eat of its produce, whereas +if the ceremony had not been performed, death would have +been, in the opinion of the people, the consequence of +partaking of fruits grown on the defiled land.<a name="FNanchor_138_755" id="FNanchor_138_755"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_755" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> + +<p>The temples were sacred. When a man approached one +of them to worship or to bring his offering to the altar, he +bared his body to the waist in sign of reverence and humility.<a name="FNanchor_139_756" id="FNanchor_139_756"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_756" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> +Women in general might not enter a temple, but when their +presence was indispensable for certain ceremonies, the ground +was covered with cloth, on which they walked, lest they should +defile the holy place with their feet.<a name="FNanchor_140_757" id="FNanchor_140_757"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_757" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> For example, some +six weeks or two months after the birth of a child the father +and mother took the child to a temple, where they both +offered their blood to the gods by cutting their heads with +shark's teeth and allowing the blood to drip on leaves, which +they laid on the altar. On this occasion the husband spread +a cloth on the floor of the temple for his wife to tread upon, +for she might not step on the ground or the pavement.<a name="FNanchor_141_758" id="FNanchor_141_758"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_758" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> +Similarly at marriage bride and bridegroom visited the family +temple (<i>marae</i>, <i>morai</i>), where the skulls of their ancestors +were brought out and placed before them; but a large white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +cloth had to be spread out on the pavement for the bride to +walk upon. Sometimes at these marriage rites the female +relatives cut their faces and brows with shark's teeth, caught +the flowing blood on cloth, and deposited the cloth, sprinkled +with the mingled blood of the mothers of the married pair, at +the feet of the bride.<a name="FNanchor_142_759" id="FNanchor_142_759"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_759" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> At other times the mother of the bride +gashed her own person cruelly with a shark's tooth, and having +filled a coco-nut basin with the blood which flowed from her +wounds, she presented it to the bridegroom, who immediately +threw it from him.<a name="FNanchor_143_760" id="FNanchor_143_760"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_760" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> While certain festivals were being celebrated +at the temples the exclusion of women from them +was still more rigid. Thus in the island of Huahine, during +the celebration of the great annual festival, at which all the +idols of the island were brought from their various shrines to +the principal temple to be clothed with new dresses and +ornaments, no woman was allowed to approach any of the +sacred edifices under pain of death, which was instantly +inflicted by whoever witnessed the sacrilege. Even if the +wives and children of the priests themselves came within a +certain distance, while some particular services were going +on, they were murdered on the spot by their husbands and +fathers with the utmost ferocity.<a name="FNanchor_144_761" id="FNanchor_144_761"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_761" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> + +<p>Some of these sacred edifices are still impressive in their +ruins and deserve the name of megalithic monuments. Thus +the temple (<i>marae</i>, <i>morai</i>) of Oro at Opoa, which was the +holiest temple in the island of Raiatea and perhaps in the +Society Islands generally,<a name="FNanchor_145_762" id="FNanchor_145_762"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_762" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> is about a hundred and thirty-eight +feet long by twenty-six feet broad. It is enclosed by a +wall of gigantic coral blocks standing side by side to a height +of about six feet seven inches. The blocks have been hewn +from the inner reef; the outer surfaces were smoothed, the +inner left rough. One of the blocks stands over eleven feet +high, without reckoning the part concealed by the soil; it +is twelve feet wide, by two and a half feet thick. Another +block is about ten feet long by eight feet broad and one foot +thick.<a name="FNanchor_146_763" id="FNanchor_146_763"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_763" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> In the ruined temple of Tainuu, situated in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +district of Tevaitoa, one block is about eleven and a half feet +high by eleven feet wide, with a thickness varying from +twenty inches to two and a half feet.<a name="FNanchor_147_764" id="FNanchor_147_764"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_764" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>The idols or images of the gods were usually made of +wood, but sometimes of stone. Some were rudely carved in +human shape; others were rough unpolished logs, wrapped +in many folds of cloth or covered with a matting of coco-nut +fibre.<a name="FNanchor_148_765" id="FNanchor_148_765"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_765" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> The image of the god Oro was a straight log of +casuarina wood, six feet long, uncarved, but decorated with +feathers. On the other hand Taaroa, the supreme deity of +Polynesia, was represented by a rudely carved human figure +about four feet high, with a number of little images studding +his body to indicate the multitude of gods that had proceeded +from him as creator. The body of the god was hollow, and +when it was taken from the temple, where it had been +worshipped for many generations, it was found to contain a +number of small idols in the cavity. It is supposed that +these petty gods had been placed there by their worshippers +and owners that they might absorb some of the supernatural +powers of the greater divinity before being removed to the +places where they were to commence deities on their own +account.<a name="FNanchor_149_766" id="FNanchor_149_766"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_766" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> With a similar intention it was customary to fill +the inside of the hollow images with red feathers in order +that the plumes might be impregnated with the divine influence +and might afterwards diffuse it for the benefit of the +owner of the feathers, who had placed them in the image +for that purpose. The red feathers, plucked from a small +bird which is found in many of the islands, thus became an +ordinary medium for communicating and extending supernatural +powers, not only in the Society Islands, but throughout +Polynesia. The beautiful long tail-feathers of the tropic +or man-of-war bird were used for the same purpose. The +gods were supposed to be very fond of these feathers and +ready to impart their blessed essence to them. Hence people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +brought the feathers to the priest and received from him in +exchange two or three which had been sanctified in the +stomach of the deity; on extracting them from that receptacle, +the priest prayed to the god that he would continue to +inhabit the red feathers even when they were detached from +his divine person.<a name="FNanchor_150_767" id="FNanchor_150_767"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_767" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> The feathers thus consecrated were themselves +regarded as in some sense divine and were called gods +(<i>atuas</i>, <i>oromatuas</i>); the people had great confidence in their +sovereign virtue, and on occasions of danger they sought +them out, believing that the mere presence of the feathers +would afford them adequate protection. For example, when +they were threatened by a storm at sea, they would hold out +the feathers to the menacing clouds and command them to +depart.<a name="FNanchor_151_768" id="FNanchor_151_768"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_768" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders</i></h4> + +<p>The offerings presented to the gods included every kind +of valuable property, such as birds, fish, beasts, the fruits of +the earth and the choicest native manufactures. The fruits +and other eatables were generally, but not always, dressed. +Portions of the fowls, pigs, or fish, cooked with sacred fire in +the temple, were presented to the deity; the remainder +furnished a banquet for the priests and other sacred persons, +who were privileged to eat of the sacrifices. The portions +appropriated to the gods were placed on the altar and left +there till they decayed. In the public temples the great +altars were wooden stages, some eight or ten feet high, supported +on a number of wooden posts, which were sometimes +curiously carved and polished. But there were also smaller +altars in the temples; some of them were like round tables, +resting on a single post. Domestic altars and such as were +erected near the bodies of dead friends were small square +structures of wicker-work. In sacrificing pigs they were +very anxious not to break a bone or disfigure the animal. +Hence they used to strangle the animal or bleed it to death.<a name="FNanchor_152_769" id="FNanchor_152_769"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_769" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> + +<p>Human victims were sacrificed on many occasions, as in +time of war, at great national festivals, during the illness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +their rulers, and at the building of a temple. William Ellis +was told that the foundations of some of their sacred edifices +were laid in human sacrifices, and that at least the central +pillar, which supported the roof of one of the sacred houses +at Maeva, had been planted on the body of a man. The +victims were either captives taken in war or persons who had +rendered themselves obnoxious to the chiefs or the priests. +In the technical language of the priests they were called "fish." +When once a man had been chosen for sacrifice, the family +to which he belonged was regarded as taboo or devoted to +the altar, and when another victim was wanted, he was more +frequently taken from that family than from any other. +Similarly, a district which had once furnished victims was +thenceforth devoted. Hence, at the approach of ceremonies +which were usually accompanied by human sacrifices, the +members of certain families and the inhabitants of certain +districts used to flee to the mountains and hide in +caves till the ceremony was over. But the doomed man +was seldom apprised of his fate beforehand. A sudden +blow with a club or a stone on the nape of the neck was +the usual way of despatching him, lest the body should be +mangled or a bone broken. If the blow had only stunned +him, he was soon killed, and the corpse, placed in a long +basket of coco-nut leaves, was carried to the temple and +offered to the god by being set before the idol. In dedicating +it the priest took out one of the eyes and handed it on +a leaf to the king, who made as if he would swallow it, but +passed it on to a priest or attendant. After the ceremony +the body, still wrapt in coco-nut leaves, was often deposited +on the branches of a neighbouring tree, where it remained +some time. Finally, the bones were taken down and buried +under the pavement of the temple (<i>marae</i>).<a name="FNanchor_153_770" id="FNanchor_153_770"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_770" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> + +<p>In the family, according to patriarchal usage, the father +was the priest, but the priests of the national temples formed +a distinct class; their office was hereditary. The high priesthood +was often held by a member of the royal family, and +sometimes the king himself acted as the national priest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +The duties of the priests were to recite prayers, to present +offerings, and to sacrifice victims. Their prayers, usually +uttered in shrill, chanting tones, were often exceedingly long +and full of repetitions.<a name="FNanchor_154_771" id="FNanchor_154_771"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_771" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> They had plenty of employment, +being called in to officiate on all occasions, whether at birth +or at death, at feasts or in sickness; for they were the +physicians as well as the clergy of the country. They +professed to possess extraordinary powers, such as to promote +conception or to effect abortion, to cause or to heal +disease, to pray the evil spirit into food, and even to kill +men outright. Hence they were greatly feared.<a name="FNanchor_155_772" id="FNanchor_155_772"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_772" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> Of +the little knowledge that existed in the islands the priests +are reported to have possessed the largest share, but it +consisted chiefly in an acquaintance with the names and +ranks of the various subordinate deities (<i>atuas</i>); however, +according to Captain Cook, they excelled the rest of +the people in their knowledge of navigation and astronomy: +indeed, the very name for priest (<i>tahowa</i>) signified nothing +more than a man of knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_156_773" id="FNanchor_156_773"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_773" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> In the island of Huahine the +priest whose duty it was to carry the image of the god Tani +(Tane) "was a personage of such superhuman sanctity that +everything which he touched became sacred; he was, therefore, +not suffered to marry, as the honour of being his wife +was too much for any mortal woman. But this was not all; +he would himself be so defiled by such a connection that he +would be disqualified for his office, and must immediately +resign it; nay, if he did not repent, and return with a great +peace-offering to Tani's house, he might expect to be first +struck blind, and afterwards strangled in his sleep. He was +not allowed to climb a cocoa tree, because, if he did, it would +be so hallowed that nobody else durst afterwards ascend it."<a name="FNanchor_157_774" id="FNanchor_157_774"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_774" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>One of the most important functions of the priests was +to act as mouthpieces of the gods. In the discharge of this +duty they were believed to be inspired and possessed by the +deity, who spoke through them to the people. When the +time came for them to consult the god, they assumed an odd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +fantastic dress, enriched with red and black feathers, to which +the deity was so partial, that when the priests approached +him in this array, he descended to earth at their call in one +of the sacred birds that frequented the temples (<i>morais</i>) and +fed on the sacrifices. As soon as the bird lighted on the +sacred edifice, the god left the fowl and entered into the +priest. The holy man, thus inspired, now stretched himself, +yawned, and rubbed his arms, legs, and body, which began +to be inflated, as if the skin of the abdomen would burst; +the eyes of the seer were thrown into various contortions, +now staring wide, now half-shut and sinking into stupor, while +at other times the whole frame was convulsed and appeared +to have undergone a sudden and surprising change. The +voice sank to a low pitch, and grew squeaky and broken; +but at times it would suddenly rise to an astonishing height. +The words uttered by the possessed man were regarded as +oracular, and nothing that he asked for the god or for himself +in this state was ever refused him. Of all this the priest +himself affected to be entirely unaware, but a colleague was +regularly at hand to record the divine message and the divine +requirements, which were often very large. When the deity +took his departure from the priest, he did so with such convulsions +and violence as to leave the man lying motionless +and exhausted on the ground, and the oracle was so timed +that this happened at the very moment when the sacred bird, +the vehicle of the god, flew away from the temple. On +coming to himself the priest uttered a loud shriek and seemed +to wake as from a profound sleep, unconscious of everything +that had passed.<a name="FNanchor_158_775" id="FNanchor_158_775"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_775" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Sometimes, however, the priest continued +to be possessed by the deity for two or three days; at such +times he wore a piece of native cloth, of a peculiar sort, +round one arm as a sign of his inspiration. His acts during +this period were deemed to be those of the god; hence the +greatest attention was paid to his expressions and to the +whole of his deportment. Indeed, so long as the fit of +inspiration lasted he was called a god (<i>atua</i>); but when it +was over, he resumed his ordinary title of priest.<a name="FNanchor_159_776" id="FNanchor_159_776"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_776" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>We are told that in his fine frenzy the priest "often rolled +on the earth, foaming at the mouth, as if labouring under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +the influence of the divinity, by whom he was possessed, and, +in shrill cries, and violent and often indistinct sounds, revealed +the will of the god."<a name="FNanchor_160_777" id="FNanchor_160_777"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_777" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> It would probably be a mistake to +assume that on such occasions the frantic behaviour was +deliberately assumed and the wild whirling words were +consciously uttered for the purpose of deceiving the people; +in short, that the whole performance was a mere piece of +acting, a bare-faced imposture. It is far more likely that, +bred from childhood to believe in the reality of divine inspiration, +the priest often sincerely imagined himself to be possessed +by a deity, and that, under the excitement which such +an imagination was calculated to produce, he honestly mistook +his own thick-coming fancies for a revelation from the gods. +A chief, who had formerly been a prophet of the god Oro, +assured the missionaries "that although he sometimes feigned +his fits of inspiration, to deceive the credulous multitude, yet, +at other times, they came upon him involuntarily and irresistibly. +Something seemed to rush through his whole frame, +and overpower his spirit, in a manner which he could not +describe. Then he frothed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, +and distorted his limbs with such violence that it required +five or six strong men to hold him. At these times his +words were deemed oracles, and whatever he advised respecting +state affairs, or other matters, was implicitly observed by +king and chiefs."<a name="FNanchor_161_778" id="FNanchor_161_778"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_778" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> Thus on the ravings of these crazy +fanatics or deliberate impostors often hung the issues of life +or death, of war or peace.<a name="FNanchor_162_779" id="FNanchor_162_779"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_779" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> It appears to have been especially +the priests of Oro who laid claim to inspiration and contrived +to shape the destinies of their country through the powerful +sway which they exercised over the mind of the king. In +their fits of fanatical frenzy, while they delivered their oracles, +they insisted on the sovereign's implicit compliance with their +mandates, denouncing the most dreadful judgments on him +if he should prove refractory.<a name="FNanchor_163_780" id="FNanchor_163_780"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_780" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p>Apart from the priests there was a class of men whose +business it was to preserve and hand down to their successors +the lists of the gods, the liturgical prayers, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +sacred traditions. As these liturgies and legends were often +very lengthy and couched in a metaphorical and obscure +language, a prodigious memory and long practice were +indispensable for their preservation and transmission among a +people to whom the art of writing was unknown. Since the +slightest mistake in the recitation of a liturgy was deemed +the worst of omens and necessitated the suspension of the +religious service, however costly and important the service +might be, the sacred recorders, as we may call them, were +obliged, for the sake of their credit, to practise continually +the recitation of the prayers, legends, and traditions of which +they were the depositories. To aid them in their task they +made use of bundles of little sticks of different sizes, one of +which they drew from a bundle at the conclusion of each +prayer. It was their duty on solemn occasions to recite +these liturgies or sacred poems while they paced slowly +by night round the temples (<i>morais</i>) and other holy places; +hence they went by the name of <i>harepo</i>, which means +"Walkers by night." We are told that if at these times they +made a mistake in a single word or hesitated for a moment, +they stopped and returned home; and if the subject of their +prayers chanced to be some enterprise in which they desired +to enlist the favour of the gods, such a mistake or hesitation +was enough to cause the undertaking to be abandoned +irretrievably, since success in it was believed to be impossible. +Nothing, it is said, could be more astonishing than the +memory displayed by these men, while they recited, word +for word, and for nights together, the ancient traditions of +which the mutilated and mangled remains would demand +the assiduous study of several years. The office of sacred +recorder (<i>harepo</i>) was hereditary in the male line; the sons +were trained in the duties from their earliest years, but only +such as were endowed with an excellent memory could +satisfy the requirements of the profession. They believed +that a good memory was a gift of the gods.<a name="FNanchor_164_781" id="FNanchor_164_781"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_781" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 6. <i>The Doctrine of the Human Soul</i></h4> + +<p>Of the Society Islanders we are informed that "they +believe every man to have a separate being within him, +named <i>tee</i>, which acts in consequence of the impression of +the senses, and combines ideas into thoughts. This being, +which we would call the soul, exists after death, and lodges +in the wooden images which are placed round the burying-places, +and which are called by the same name, <i>tee</i>."<a name="FNanchor_165_782" id="FNanchor_165_782"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_782" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> When +they were asked in what part of the body the soul resides, +they always answered that it was seated in the belly or in +the bowels (<i>I roto té obou</i>). They would not admit that the +brain could be the seat of thought or the heart of the +affections; and in support of their opinion they alleged the +agitation of the bowels in strong emotion, such as fear and +desire.<a name="FNanchor_166_783" id="FNanchor_166_783"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_783" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> Hence, too, they called thoughts by a phrase which +signifies "words in the belly" (<i>parou no te oboo</i>).<a name="FNanchor_167_784" id="FNanchor_167_784"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_784" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>But the Society Islanders did not regard the possession +of a soul as a privilege peculiar to humanity. According +to Captain Cook, "they maintain that not only all other +animals, but trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls, which +at death, or upon being consumed or broken, ascend to +the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass +into the mansion allotted to each."<a name="FNanchor_168_785" id="FNanchor_168_785"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_785" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> Their word for soul +was <i>varoua</i>, according to Moerenhout, who adds that, "It +appears that they accorded this <i>varoua</i> (spirit, soul) not +only to man, but even in addition to the animals, to plants, +to everything that vegetates, grows or moves on the earth."<a name="FNanchor_169_786" id="FNanchor_169_786"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_786" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> + +<p>They thought that the soul of man could be separated +for a time from the body during life without causing +immediate death. Thus, like many other peoples, they +explained dreams by the supposed absence of the soul +during slumber. We are told that "they put great confidence +in dreams, and suppose in sleep the soul leaves +the body under the care of the guardian angel, and moves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +at large through the regions of spirits. Thus they say, +My soul was such a night in such a place, and saw such +a spirit. When a person dies, they say his soul is fled +away, <i>hārre pō</i>, gone to night."<a name="FNanchor_170_787" id="FNanchor_170_787"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_787" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> But they also believed +that a man's soul or spirit could be conjured out of his +body by magic art or demoniacal agency. Thus, when +people had been robbed, they would sometimes call in +the help of a priest to ascertain the thief. In such a case +the priest, after offering prayers to his demon, would direct +them to dig a hole in the floor of the house and to fill +it with water; then, taking a young plantain in his hand, +he would stand over the hole and pray to the god, whom +he invoked, and who, if he were propitious, was supposed +to conduct the spirit of the thief to the house and to place +it over the water. The image of the spirit, which they +believed to resemble the person of the man, was, according +to their account, reflected in the water and perceived by +the priest, who was thus able to identify the thief, alleging +that the god had shown him the reflection of the culprit in +the water.<a name="FNanchor_171_788" id="FNanchor_171_788"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_788" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> From this it appears that in the opinion of +the Society Islanders, as of many other peoples, a man's +soul or spirit is a faithful image of his body.<a name="FNanchor_172_789" id="FNanchor_172_789"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_789" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>They believed that in the pangs of death the soul keeps +fluttering about the lips, and that, when all is over, it ascends +and mixes with or, as they expressed it, is eaten by the +deity.<a name="FNanchor_173_790" id="FNanchor_173_790"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_790" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> When one of their sacred recorders (<i>harepo</i>), who +had been famous in his life for his knowledge of the ancient +traditions, was at the point of death, it was customary for +his son and successor to place his mouth over the mouth of +the dying man, as if to inhale the parting soul at the moment +of quitting the body; for in this way he was supposed to +inherit the lore of his father. The natives, it is said, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +convinced that these sages owed their learning to this +expedient, though none the less they studied day and night +to perfect themselves in their profession.<a name="FNanchor_174_791" id="FNanchor_174_791"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_791" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 7. <i>Disease, Death, and Mourning</i></h4> + +<p>Every disease was supposed to be the result of direct +supernatural agency, and to be inflicted by the gods for +some crime committed against the law of taboo of which the +sufferer had been guilty; or it might have been brought +upon him by an enemy, who had compassed his destruction +by means of an offering. They explained death in like +manner: according to them, it was invariably caused by +the direct influence of the gods.<a name="FNanchor_175_792" id="FNanchor_175_792"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_792" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> They acknowledged, +indeed, that they possessed poisons which, taken with food, +produced convulsions and death, but these effects they traced +to the anger of the gods, who employed the drugs as their +material agents or secondary causes. Even when a man +was killed in battle, they still saw in his death the hand +of a god, who had actually entered into the weapon that +inflicted the fatal blow.<a name="FNanchor_176_793" id="FNanchor_176_793"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_793" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>The gods who were thus supposed to afflict human life +with sickness and disease and to bring it to an untimely +termination in death were not always nor perhaps usually +the high primaeval deities; often they were the souls of the +dead, who ranked among the domestic divinities (<i>oromatuas</i>). +And, like the Maoris,<a name="FNanchor_177_794" id="FNanchor_177_794"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_794" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> the natives of the Society Islands are +said to have stood in particular fear of the souls of dead +infants, who, angered at their mother for their too early death, +took their revenge by sending sickness on the surviving members +of the family. Hence when a woman was ill-treated by +her husband, she would often threaten to insult the ghost of a +dead baby; and this threat, with the deplorable consequences +which it was calculated to entail, seldom failed to bring the +husband to a better frame of mind; or if he happened to +prove recalcitrant, the other members of the family, who might +be involved in the calamity, would intercede and restore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +peace in the household. Thus we are told that among these +islanders the fear of the dead supplied in some measure +the place of natural affection and tenderness in softening +and humanising the general manners.<a name="FNanchor_178_795" id="FNanchor_178_795"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_795" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>Disease and death were also attributed to the malignant +charms of sorcerers, who, hired by an enemy of the sufferer, +procured for the purpose the clipped hair or the spittle of +their intended victim, the flowers or garment he had worn, +or any object which had touched his person. But the real +agents who were thought to give effect to the charms were +the minor deities, whom the sorcerer employed to accomplish +his nefarious ends. For this purpose he put the hair or +other personal refuse of the victim in a bag along with the +images and symbols of the petty divinities, and buried the +bag and its contents in a hole which he had dug in the +ground. There he left it until, applying his ear to the hole, +he could hear the soul of the sufferer whimpering down +below, which proved that the charm was taking effect. If the +intended victim got wind of these machinations, it was always +in his power to render them abortive, either by sacrificing +to the gods or by sending a present to the sorcerer, who thus +was feed by both sides at the same time.<a name="FNanchor_179_796" id="FNanchor_179_796"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_796" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> + +<p>However, most cases of sickness apparently were set +down not to the wiles of sorcerers, but to the displeasure +of the deified spirits of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_180_797" id="FNanchor_180_797"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_797" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> On this point the +evidence of the early missionaries is explicit. Speaking of +the Society Islanders, they say that "they regard the spirits +of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into <i>eatooas</i> +[<i>atuas</i>, deities], and their favour to be secured by prayers +and offerings. Every sickness and untoward accident they +esteem as the hand of judgment for some offence committed; +and therefore, if they have injured any person, +they send their peace-offering, and make the matter up: +and if sick, send for the priest to offer up prayers and +sacrifices to pacify the offended <i>eatooa</i>; giving anything the +priests ask, as being very reluctant to die."<a name="FNanchor_181_798" id="FNanchor_181_798"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_798" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> "As it is their +fixed opinion, that no disease affects them but as a punishment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +inflicted by their <i>eatooa</i> [<i>atua</i>] for some offence, and +never brought on themselves by intemperance or imprudence, +they trust more to the prayers of their priests than to any +medicine."<a name="FNanchor_182_799" id="FNanchor_182_799"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_799" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p> + +<p>They imagined that at death the soul (<i>varua</i>) was drawn +out of the head by a god or spirit (<i>atua</i>) as a sword is +drawn out of its scabbard, and that the spirits of the dead +often waited to catch it at the moment when it issued from +the body. Sometimes the dying man would fancy that he +saw the spirits lurking for him at the foot of the bed, and +would cry out in terror, "They are waiting for my spirit. +Guard it! Preserve it from them!"<a name="FNanchor_183_800" id="FNanchor_183_800"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_800" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> + +<p>When the last struggle was over, a priest or diviner +(<i>tahua tutera</i>) was called in to ascertain the cause of death. +For this purpose he entered his canoe and paddled slowly +along on the sea, near the house in which the dead body +was lying, in order to watch the passage of the departing +spirit; for they thought that it would fly towards him with +the emblem of the cause through which the person had died. +If he had been cursed by the gods, the spirit would appear +with a flame, fire being the agent employed in the incantations +of the sorcerers, who had presumably drawn down the +curse upon the deceased. If some enemy had bribed the +gods to kill him, the spirit would come with a red feather, +as a sign that evil spirits had entered into his food. After +a short time the diviner returned to the house, announced +the cause of death to the survivors, and received his fee, the +amount of which was regulated by the circumstances of +the family. After that a priest was employed to perform +ceremonies and recite prayers for the purpose of averting +destruction from the surviving members of the family; but +the nature of the ceremonies has not been recorded.<a name="FNanchor_184_801" id="FNanchor_184_801"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_801" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>When it was manifest that death was approaching, the +relatives and friends, who had gathered round the sufferer, +broke into loud lamentations and other demonstrations of +sorrow, which redoubled in violence as soon as the spirit +had departed. Then they not only wailed in the loudest +and most affecting tone, but tore out their hair, rent their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +garments, and cut themselves with shark's teeth or knives in +a shocking manner. The instrument usually employed was +a small cane, about four inches long, with five or six teeth +fixed into it on opposite sides. Struck forcibly into the +head, these instruments wounded it like a lancet, so that the +blood poured down in copious streams. Every woman at +marriage provided herself with one of these implements and +used it unsparingly on herself on the occasion of a death in +the family. Some people, not content with this instrument +of torture, provided themselves with a sort of mallet armed +with two or three rows of shark's teeth; and with this +formidable weapon, on the demise of a relative or friend, +they hammered themselves unmercifully, striking their skulls, +temples, cheeks, and breast, till the blood flowed profusely +from the wounds. At the same time they uttered the most +deafening and agonising cries; and what with their frantic +gestures, the distortion of their countenances, their torn and +dishevelled hair, and the mingled tears and blood that +trickled down their bodies, they presented altogether a +horrible spectacle. This self-inflicted cruelty was practised +chiefly by women, but not by them alone; for the men on +these occasions committed the like enormities, and not only +cut themselves, but came armed with clubs and other deadly +weapons, which they sometimes plied freely on the bodies of +other people. These dismal scenes began with the nearest +relatives of the deceased, but they were not confined to them. +No sooner did the tidings spread, and the sound of wailing +was heard throughout the neighbourhood, than friends and +kinsfolk flocked to the spot and joined in the demonstrations +of real or affected sorrow. The pageant of woe reached its +climax when the deceased was a king or a principal chief. +It was then, above all, that the tenants and retainers came +armed with bludgeons and stones, with which they fought +each other till some of them were wounded or slain; +while others operated on themselves by tearing their +hair and lacerating their bodies in the usual manner till +their bodies were bedabbled with blood. After the introduction +of firearms into the islands, these lethal weapons +lent variety and noise to the combats, as well as adding +to the number of the slain. At the death of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +person of distinction these exhibitions of frenzied sorrow +sometimes lasted two or three days in succession, or even +longer.<a name="FNanchor_185_802" id="FNanchor_185_802"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_802" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> On such occasions a body of armed men, composed +of friends and allies, used to arrive from a neighbouring +district and request to be allowed access to the body of the +chief, in order that they might mourn for him in due form. +The request was always refused by the bodyguards, who +kept the last vigil over their departed lord; and in consequence +a fight ensued in which several warriors were +generally wounded or killed. Yet it was only a sham +fight, which seems to have always ended in a victory for +the mourners who had come from a distance; and when +it was over, victors and vanquished regularly united in +performing the usual sanguinary rites of mourning. In +all the islands wrestling matches, combats, and assaults-at-arms +were ordinary features of the obsequies of chiefs.<a name="FNanchor_186_803" id="FNanchor_186_803"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_803" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> + +<p>The blood which women in the paroxysms of grief +drew from their bodies, and the tears which flowed from +their eyes, were received on pieces of cloth, which were then +thrown upon or under the bier as oblations to the dead.<a name="FNanchor_187_804" id="FNanchor_187_804"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_804" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> +Sometimes for this purpose a woman would wear a short +apron, which she held up with one hand, while she cut +herself with the other, till the apron was soaked in blood. +Afterwards she would dry it in the sun and present it to the +bereaved family, who kept it as a token of the estimation in +which the departed had been held.<a name="FNanchor_188_805" id="FNanchor_188_805"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_805" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> Some of the younger +mourners used also to cut off their hair and throw it under +the bier with the other offerings.<a name="FNanchor_189_806" id="FNanchor_189_806"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_806" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> When the deceased was +a child, the parents, in addition to other tokens of grief, +used to cut their hair short on one part of their heads, +leaving the rest long; sometimes they shaved a square +patch on the forehead; sometimes they left the hair on the +forehead and cut off all the rest; at other times they removed +all the hair but a lock over one or both ears; or again +they would clip close one half of the head, while on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +other half the tresses were suffered to grow long; and these +signs of mourning might be continued for two or three +years.<a name="FNanchor_190_807" id="FNanchor_190_807"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_807" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p> + +<p>Captain Cook tells us that the custom observed by +mourners of offering their own blood, tears, and hair to +their departed relative or friend "is founded upon a notion +that the soul of the deceased, which they believe to exist in +a separate state, is hovering about the place where the body +is deposited: that it observes the actions of the survivors, +and is gratified by such testimonies of their affection and +grief."<a name="FNanchor_191_808" id="FNanchor_191_808"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_808" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> This explanation, in perfect harmony with the +vigilance, vanity, and jealousy commonly ascribed to ghosts, +is in all probability correct. Yet it deserves to be noticed +that the custom of voluntarily hacking the body with shark's +teeth to the effusion of blood was singularly enough practised +by the Society Islanders on occasions of joy as well as of +sorrow. When a husband or a son returned to his family +after a season of absence or exposure to danger, his arrival +was greeted, not only with the cordial welcome and the +warm embrace, but with loud wailing, while the happy wife +or mother cut her body with shark's teeth, and the gladder +she was the more she gashed herself.<a name="FNanchor_192_809" id="FNanchor_192_809"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_809" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> Similarly many +savage peoples weep over long-absent friends, or even over +strangers, as a polite form of greeting in which genuine +sorrow can hardly be supposed to play a part.<a name="FNanchor_193_810" id="FNanchor_193_810"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_810" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> It is +difficult to see how such observances can be based on +superstition; apparently the emotion of joy may express +itself in very different ways in different races.</p> + +<p>The natives stood in great fear of the spirits of the dead, +which were supposed to haunt the places of their former +abode and to visit the habitations of men, but seldom on +errands of mercy or benevolence. They woke the survivors +from their slumbers by squeaking noises to upbraid them +with their past wickedness or to reproach them with the +neglect of some ceremony, for which the ghosts were compelled +to suffer. Thus the people imagined that they lived +in a world of spirits, which surrounded them night and day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +watching every action of their lives and ready to revenge the +smallest slight or the least disobedience to their injunctions, +as these were proclaimed to the living by the priests. Convulsions +and hysterics, for example, were ascribed to the +action of spirits, which seized the sufferer, scratched his face, +tore his hair, or otherwise maltreated him.<a name="FNanchor_194_811" id="FNanchor_194_811"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_811" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> + +<p>This fear of the spirits of the dead induced the Society +Islanders to resort to some peculiar ceremonies for the +protection of the living against the ghosts of persons who +had recently died. One of these quaint rites was performed +by a priest, who went by the name of the +"corpse-praying priest" (<i>tahua bure tiapa-pau</i>). When +the corpse had been placed on a platform or bier in a +temporary house, this priest ordered a hole to be dug in +the earth or floor, near the foot of the platform, and over +this hole he prayed to the god by whom the spirit of +the deceased had been summoned to its long home. The +purport of the prayer was that all the dead man's sins, and +especially that for which his soul had been called to the +region of Night (<i>po</i>), should be deposited in that hole, that +they should not attach in any degree to the survivors, and +that the anger of the god might be appeased. The priest +next addressed the corpse, usually saying, "With you let the +guilt now remain." The pillar or post of the corpse, as it +was called, was then planted in the hole, earth was thrown +over the guilt of the departed, and the hole filled up. After +that, the priest proceeded to the side of the corpse, and +taking some small slips of plantain leaf-stalk he fixed two +or three of them under each arm, placed a few on the breast, +and then, addressing the dead body, said, "There are your +family, there is your child, there is your wife, there is your +father, and there is your mother. Be satisfied yonder (that +is, in the world of spirits). Look not towards those who are +left in this world." The concluding parts of the ceremony +were designed to impart contentment to the deceased, and +to prevent his spirit from repairing to the places of his +former resort, and so distressing the survivors. This was +considered a most important ceremony, being a kind of mass +for the dead and necessary as well for the peace of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +living as for the quiet of the departed. It was seldom +omitted by any who could pay the priest his usual fees, +which for this service generally took the form of pigs +and cloth, in proportion to the rank or possessions of the +family.<a name="FNanchor_195_812" id="FNanchor_195_812"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_812" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>Soon after the decease of a chief or person of distinction, +another singular ceremony, called a <i>heva</i>, was performed by +the relatives or dependants, who personated the ghost of the +departed. The principal actor in the procession was a priest +or kinsman who wore a curious dress and an imposing head-ornament +called a <i>parae</i>. A cap or turban of thick native +cloth was fitted close to the head; in front were two broad +mother-of-pearl shells that covered the face like a mask, with +only a small aperture through which the wearer could look +in order to find his way. Above the mask were fixed a +number of long, white, red-tipped feathers of the tropic bird, +diverging like rays and forming a radiant circle; while +beneath the mask was a thin yet strong board curved like a +crescent, from which hung a sort of network of small pieces +of brilliant mother-of-pearl, finely polished and strung together +on threads. The depth of this network varied according +to the taste or means of the family, but it was generally +nine inches or a foot, and might consist of ten to fifteen or +twenty perfectly straight and parallel rows. The labour of +making this mother-of-pearl pendant must have been immense; +for many hundred pieces of the shell had to be cut, +ground down to the requisite thinness, polished and perforated, +without the use of iron tools, before a single line could +be fixed upon the head-dress. Fringed with feathers, the +pendant formed a kind of ornamental breastplate or stomacher. +Attached to it was a garment composed of alternate stripes +of black and yellow cloth, which enveloped the body and +reached sometimes to the loins, to the knees, or even to the +ankles.<a name="FNanchor_196_813" id="FNanchor_196_813"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_813" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> On his back the masker wore an ample cloak or +mantle of network covered with glossy pigeon's feathers of a +bluish colour. The costume appears to have been intended +as a disguise to prevent the spectators from recognising the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +wearer; for George Forster, who has given us an elaborate +description of it, observes that "an ample hood of alternate +parallel stripes of brown, yellow, and white cloth descends +from the turban to cover the neck and shoulders, in order +that as little as possible of the human figure may appear."<a name="FNanchor_197_814" id="FNanchor_197_814"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_814" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>In this strange garb the chief mummer, who was usually +the nearest relation of the deceased, carried in one hand a formidable +weapon, consisting of a staff about five feet long, one +end of which was rounded to serve as a handle, while the +other end broadened out into a sort of scythe, of which the +inner or concave side was armed with a row of large strong +shark's teeth fixed in the wood. In the other hand he bore +a kind of clapper formed of two pearl-oyster shells, beautifully +polished. Thus attired and equipped, he led a procession +either from the house of the deceased, or, according to +another account, from a valley to which, as if under a paroxysm +of grief, the party had retired at the death of the person for +whom the ceremony was performed; and as he walked along +he continued to rattle or jingle the shells against each other +to give notice of his approach. With him walked a number +of men and boys, naked except for a girdle, armed with +cudgels, their faces and bodies painted black, red, and white +with charcoal and coloured earths. In this impressive style +the mummers marched through the district, the people everywhere +fleeing in terror at the sight of them, and even deserting +the houses at their approach. For whenever the leader +caught sight of any one, he ran at him, and if he overtook +the fugitive, belaboured him with his sharp-toothed club, to +the grievous mauling of the unfortunate wretch; while, not +to be behind their leader, the assistants plied their bludgeons +on the bodies of all and sundry who chanced to fall into +their hands. At such times safety was only to be found in +the king's temple, which served on this as on other occasions +as a sort of sanctuary or place of refuge. Having thus scoured +the country, the mummers marched several times round the +platform where the body was exposed, after which they +bathed in a river and resumed their customary apparel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +This performance was repeated at intervals for five moons, +but less and less frequently as the end of the time approached. +The longer it lasted, the greater was the honour supposed to +be done to the dead. The relatives took it in turn to assume +the fantastic dress and discharge the office of leader. Throughout +the ceremonies the performers appeared and acted as if +they were deranged. They were supposed to be inspired by, +or at all events to represent, the spirit of the deceased, to +revenge any injury he might have received, or to punish +those who had not shown due respect to his remains.<a name="FNanchor_198_815" id="FNanchor_198_815"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_815" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Hence +we may infer that the whole of this quaint masquerade was +designed to appease the anger of the ghost, and so to protect +the survivors by preventing him from returning to take +vengeance on them for any wrongs or slights he might have +suffered at their hands.</p> + +<p>The same fear of the returning ghost is clearly expressed +in a prayer which the natives used to address to a dead +relative at burial. They put blossoms of bread-fruit and +leaves of the edible fern under the arms of the corpse, and +as they did so, they prayed, saying, "You go to the Po +[Night, the World of Shades], plant bread-fruit there, and be +food for the gods; but do not come and strangle us, and we +will feed your swine and cultivate your lands."<a name="FNanchor_199_816" id="FNanchor_199_816"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_816" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 8. <i>The Disposal of the Dead</i></h4> + +<p>The heat of the climate, by hastening the decomposition +of dead bodies, rendered it necessary that corpses should +be speedily removed or treated so as to preserve them +for a time from decay. As such treatment was generally +too costly for the poor and even the middle ranks of +society, families belonging to these classes were usually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +obliged to inter their dead on the first or second day after +the decease. During the short intervening period the body, +resting on a bed of fragrant green leaves, was placed on a +sort of bier covered with white cloth and decorated with +wreaths and garlands of sweet-smelling flowers. Round it +sat the relatives, giving vent to their grief in loud and continued +lamentations, and often cutting their temples, faces, +and breasts with shark's teeth, till they were covered with +blood from their self-inflicted wounds. The bodies were +frequently committed to the grave in deep silence; but +sometimes a father would deliver a pathetic oration at the +funeral of his son.<a name="FNanchor_200_817" id="FNanchor_200_817"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_817" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> The grave was generally shallow and +the corpse was deposited in a bent posture, with the hands +tied to the knees or to the legs.<a name="FNanchor_201_818" id="FNanchor_201_818"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_818" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> + +<p>But in the families of chiefs the custom was to submit +the bodies of the dead to a sort of embalming and to preserve +them above ground for a time.<a name="FNanchor_202_819" id="FNanchor_202_819"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_819" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> The Tahitians had a +tradition of a rude or unpolished period in their history, when +the bodies of the dead were allowed to remain in the houses +in which they lived, and which were still occupied by the +survivors. A kind of stage or altar was erected in the dwelling, +and on it the corpse was deposited. But in a later and +more polished age, which lasted till the advent of Europeans, +the practice was introduced of building separate houses or +sheds for the lodgment of corpses.<a name="FNanchor_203_820" id="FNanchor_203_820"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_820" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>These houses or sheds (<i>tupapows</i>) were small temporary +buildings, often neatly constructed. The thatched roof rested +on wooden pillars, which were seldom more than six feet +high. The body was laid on a bier or platform raised on +posts about three feet from the ground. This bier was movable, +for the purpose of being drawn out, and of exposing the +body to the rays of the sun. The body was usually clothed +or covered with cloth, and for a long time it was carefully +rubbed with aromatic oils once a day. The size of these +charnel-houses varied with the rank of the persons whose +bodies they contained; the better sort were enclosed by railings. +Those which were allotted to people of the lower class +just sufficed to cover the bier, and were not railed in. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +largest seen by Captain Cook was eleven yards long. Such +houses were ornamented according to the taste and abilities +of the surviving kindred, who never failed to lay a profusion +of good cloth about the body, and sometimes almost covered +the outside of the house.<a name="FNanchor_204_821" id="FNanchor_204_821"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_821" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p> + +<p>But before the corpse was deposited in one of these +temporary structures, it was shrouded in cloth and carried +on a bier to the sea-shore, where it was set down on the +beach at the water's edge. There a priest, who accompanied +the procession, renewed the prayers which he had +offered over the body both at the house and on its passage +to the shore. Further, he took up water in his hands and +sprinkled it towards the corpse, but not upon it. These +prayers and sprinklings he repeated several times, and +between the repetitions the body was carried back some +forty or fifty yards from the sea, only to be brought back +again to the water's edge. While these ceremonies were +being performed, the temporary house or shed was being +prepared, in which the corpse was to remain until the flesh +had wholly wasted from the bones. Thither it was then +carried from the beach and laid upon the bier.<a name="FNanchor_205_822" id="FNanchor_205_822"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_822" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>The practice of embalming appears to have been long +familiar to the natives of the Society Islands. The methods +employed by them were simple. Sometimes the juices were +merely squeezed out of the corpse, which was then exposed +to the sun and anointed with fragrant oils. At other times, +and apparently more usually, the bowels, entrails, and brains +were extracted, and the cavities filled with cloth soaked in +perfumed oils, which were also injected into other parts of +the body. Scented oils were also rubbed over the outside +daily: every day the corpse was exposed to the sun in a +sitting posture: every night it was laid out horizontally and +often turned over, that it might not remain long on the same +side. By these means, combined with the heat of the sun +and the dryness of the atmosphere, the process of desiccation +was effected in the course of a few weeks: the muscular +parts and the eyes shrivelled up; and the wizened body<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +resembled a skeleton covered with parchment or oilcloth. +Thus reduced to a mummy, it was clothed and fixed in a +sitting attitude: a small altar was erected before it; and +offerings of fruit, food, and flowers were daily presented by +the relatives or by the priest who was appointed to attend +to it. For if the deceased was a chief of high rank or +great renown, a priest or other person was set apart to wait +upon the corpse and to present food to its mouth at different +hours of the day. They supposed that the soul still hovered +over the mouldering remains and was pleased by such marks +of attention. Hence during the exposure of the body in the +temporary house the mourners would sometimes renew their +lamentations there, and, wounding themselves with shark's +teeth, wipe off the blood on a cloth, and deposit the bloody +rag beside the mummy as a proof of their affection. In this +state the desiccated body was preserved for many months +till the flesh had completely decayed; Ellis was of opinion +that the best-preserved of these mummies could not be kept +for more than twelve months. The bones were then scraped, +washed, and buried within the precincts of the family temple +(<i>morai</i>), if the deceased was a chief; but if he was a commoner, +they were interred outside of the holy ground. However, +the skull was not buried with the bones; it was carefully +wrapt in fine cloth and kept in a box by the family, it might +be for several generations. Sometimes the box containing +the skull was deposited at the temple, but often it was hung +from the roof of the house.<a name="FNanchor_206_823" id="FNanchor_206_823"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_823" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> At marriage the skulls of +ancestors were sometimes brought out and set before the +bride and bridegroom in order, apparently, to place the +newly wedded pair under the guardianship of the ancestral +spirits who had once animated these relics of mortality.<a name="FNanchor_207_824" id="FNanchor_207_824"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_824" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> In +time of war victorious enemies would sometimes despoil the +temples of the vanquished and carry off the bones of famous +men interred in them; these they would then subject to the +utmost indignity by converting them into chisels, borers, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +fish-hooks. To prevent this sacrilege the relations of the +dead conveyed the bones of their chiefs, and even the bodies +of persons who had lately died, to the mountains and hid +them in caverns among the most inaccessible rocks and lofty +precipices of these wild solitudes.<a name="FNanchor_208_825" id="FNanchor_208_825"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_825" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> Where the mountains +advance to the coast, many of these caves exist in the face +of cliffs overhanging the sea; for the most part they are +situated in places which Europeans can reach only with the +help of ropes and ladders, though the natives, it is said, can +clamber up the steepest crags with ease. Few even of the +islanders know the situation of the caverns, and fewer still +will consent to act as guides to the curious stranger who may +wish to explore their recesses; for the fear of the ghosts, who +are supposed to haunt these ancient depositories of the dead, +is yet deeply rooted in the native mind. Moreover, the +mouths of the caves are generally so low and overgrown +with shrubs and creepers that they may easily be overlooked +by an observer standing in front of them. Some of the +grottos are said to be still full of skulls, or were so down to +the end of the nineteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_209_826" id="FNanchor_209_826"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_826" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> The mummies as well +as the bones were liable to be captured by an invader, and +were esteemed trophies not less glorious than foemen slain +in battle. Hence during an invasion the mummies were +generally the first things to be carried off for safety to the +mountains.<a name="FNanchor_210_827" id="FNanchor_210_827"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_827" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<p>A dangerous pollution was supposed to be contracted by +all who had handled a corpse. Hence the persons employed +in embalming a body were carefully shunned by every one +else so long as the process lasted, because the guilt of the +crime for which the deceased had died was supposed to +attach in some degree to such as touched his mortal remains. +The embalmers did not feed themselves, lest the food, defiled +by the touch of their polluted hands, should cause their +death; so they were fed by others.<a name="FNanchor_211_828" id="FNanchor_211_828"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_828" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> This state of uncleanness +lasted for a month, during which the tabooed +persons were forbidden to handle food as well as to put it +into their own mouths.<a name="FNanchor_212_829" id="FNanchor_212_829"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_829" class="fnanchor">[212]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + +<p>Again, when the ceremony of depositing the sins of the +deceased in a hole<a name="FNanchor_213_830" id="FNanchor_213_830"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_830" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> was over, all who had touched the body +or the garments of the deceased, which were buried or +destroyed, fled precipitately into the sea to cleanse themselves +from the pollution which they had incurred by contact +with the corpse; and they cast into the sea the garments +they had worn while they were engaged in the work. +Having bathed, they gathered a few pieces of coral from +the bottom of the sea, and returning with them to the +house, addressed the dead body, saying, "With you may +the pollution be." With these words they threw down the +pieces of coral on the top of the hole that had been dug to +receive all the objects defiled by their connexion with the +deceased.<a name="FNanchor_214_831" id="FNanchor_214_831"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_831" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>When a person had died of an infectious disorder, the +priests entreated him to bury the disease with him in the +grave and not to inflict it upon other people, when he +revisited them as a ghost. They also threw a plantain into +the grave, and either buried with him or burned all his +utensils, that nobody might be infected by them.<a name="FNanchor_215_832" id="FNanchor_215_832"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_832" class="fnanchor">[215]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 9. <i>The Fate of the Soul after Death</i></h4> + +<p>The natives of the Society Islands believed in the +immortality of the human soul, or at all events in its +separate existence after death<a name="FNanchor_216_833" id="FNanchor_216_833"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_833" class="fnanchor">[216]</a>; they thought that no +person perishes or becomes extinct.<a name="FNanchor_217_834" id="FNanchor_217_834"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_834" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> On its departure +from the body the spirit, now called a <i>tee</i>, <i>teehee</i>, or <i>tii</i>, +was supposed to linger near its old habitation, whether the +mouldering remains exposed on the bier, or the bones buried +in the earth, or the skull kept in its box. In this state the +spirits were believed to lodge in small wooden images, +seldom more than eighteen inches high, which were placed +round about the burial-ground.<a name="FNanchor_218_835" id="FNanchor_218_835"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_835" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> These images are variously +said to have borne the same name (<i>tee</i>, <i>teehee</i>) as the spirits +which inhabited them,<a name="FNanchor_219_836" id="FNanchor_219_836"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_836" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> or to have been called by a different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +name (<i>unus</i>)<a name="FNanchor_220_837" id="FNanchor_220_837"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_837" class="fnanchor">[220]</a>. Specimens of these images were seen by +George Forster in Tahiti. He says that round about the +<i>marai</i> (<i>morai</i>) of Aheatua, at that time King of Tiarroboo, +"were placed perpendicularly, or nearly so, fifteen slender +pieces of wood, some about eighteen feet long, in which six +or eight diminutive human figures of a rude unnatural shape +were carved, standing above each other, male or female +promiscuously, yet so that the uppermost was always a male. +All these figures faced the sea, and perfectly resembled some +which are carved on the sterns of their canoes, and which +they call <i>e-tee</i>."<a name="FNanchor_221_838" id="FNanchor_221_838"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_838" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> To the same effect George Forster's father, +J. R. Forster, observes that "near the <i>marais</i> are twenty or +thirty single pieces of wood fixed into the ground, carved all +over on one side with figures about eighteen inches long, +rudely representing a man and a woman alternately, so that +often more than fifteen or twenty figures may be counted +on one piece of wood, called by them <i>Teehee</i>."<a name="FNanchor_222_839" id="FNanchor_222_839"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_839" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> But the +souls of the dead, though they inhabited chiefly the wooden +figures erected at the temples or burial-grounds (<i>marais</i>, +<i>morais</i>), were by no means confined to them, and were +dreaded by the natives, who believed that during the +night these unquiet spirits crept into people's houses and +ate the heart and entrails of the sleepers, thus causing +their death.<a name="FNanchor_223_840" id="FNanchor_223_840"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_840" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> + +<p>However, the Society Islanders appear to have been +by no means consistent in the views which they held +concerning the fate of the soul after death. Like many +other people, they seem to have wavered between a belief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +that the souls of the dead lingered invisible near their +old homes and the belief that the disembodied spirits went +away to a distant land, where all human souls, which +have departed this life, met and dwelt together. Or perhaps +it might be more correct to say, that instead of wavering +between these two inconsistent beliefs, they held them both +firmly without perceiving their inconsistency. At all events +these islanders believed that either at death or at some +time after it their souls departed to a distant place called +<i>po</i> or Night, the common abode of gods and of departed +spirits.<a name="FNanchor_224_841" id="FNanchor_224_841"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_841" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> Thither the soul was conducted by other spirits, +and on its arrival it was eaten by the gods, not all at once, +but by degrees. They imagined that the souls of ancestors +or relatives, who ranked among the gods, scraped the +different parts of the newly arrived spirit with a kind of +serrated shell at different times, after which they ate and +digested it. If the soul underwent this process of being +eaten and digested three separate times, it became a deified +or imperishable spirit and might visit the world and inspire +living folk.<a name="FNanchor_225_842" id="FNanchor_225_842"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_842" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> According to one account, the soul was cooked +whole in an earth-oven, as pigs are baked on earth, and was +then placed in a basket of coco-nut leaves before being +served up to the god whom the deceased had worshipped +in life. "By this cannibal divinity he was now eaten up; +after which, through some inexplicable process, the dead and +devoured man emanated from the body of the god, and became +immortal."<a name="FNanchor_226_843" id="FNanchor_226_843"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_843" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> In the island of Raiatea the great god Oro +was supposed to use a scallop-shell "to scrape the flesh +from the bones of newly deceased bodies, previous to their +being converted into pure spirits by being devoured by +him, and afterwards transformed by passing through the +laboratory of his cannibal stomach."<a name="FNanchor_227_844" id="FNanchor_227_844"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_844" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> This process of being +devoured by a god was not conceived of as a punishment +inflicted on wicked people after death; for good and bad +souls had alike to submit to it. Rather, Captain Cook tells<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +us, the natives considered "this coalition with the deity as +a kind of purification necessary to be undergone before they +enter a state of bliss. For, according to their doctrine, if +a man refrain from all connexion with women some months +before death, he passes immediately into his eternal mansion, +without such a previous union; as if already, by this +abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from +the general lot."<a name="FNanchor_228_845" id="FNanchor_228_845"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_845" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> A slightly different account of this +process of spiritual purification is given by the first +missionaries to Tahiti. They say that "when the spirit +departs from the body, they have a notion it is swallowed +by the <i>eatōoa</i> (<i>atua</i>) bird, who frequents their burying-places +and <i>morais</i>, and passes through him in order to +be purified, and be united to the deity. And such are +afterwards employed by him to attend other human beings +and to inflict punishment, or remove sickness, as shall be +deemed requisite."<a name="FNanchor_229_846" id="FNanchor_229_846"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_846" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of the purification which the souls of the dead +underwent by passing through the body of a god or of a +divine bird, they were believed to be not wholly divested of +the passions which had actuated them in life on earth. +If the souls of former enemies met in the world beyond the +grave, they renewed their battles, but apparently to no +purpose, since they were accounted invulnerable in this +invisible state. Again, when the soul of a dead wife +arrived in the spirit land, it was known to the soul of +her dead husband, if he had gone before, and the two +renewed their acquaintance in a spacious house, called +<i>tourooa</i>, where the souls of the deceased assembled to +recreate themselves with the gods. After that the pair +retired to the separate abode of the husband, where they +remained for ever and had offspring, which, however, was +entirely spiritual; for they were neither married nor were +their embraces supposed to be like those of corporeal beings.<a name="FNanchor_230_847" id="FNanchor_230_847"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_847" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p> + +<p>In general the situation of <i>po</i> or the land of the dead +seems to have been left vague and indefinite by the Society +Islanders; apparently they did not, like the Western +Polynesians, imagine it to be in some far western isle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +to reach which the souls of the departed had to cross a +wide expanse of sea.<a name="FNanchor_231_848" id="FNanchor_231_848"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_848" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> However, the natives of Raiatea +had very definite ideas on this mysterious subject. They +thought that <i>po</i> was situated in a mysterious and unexplored +cavern at the top of the highest mountain in the island. +This cavern, perhaps the crater of a volcano, was said to +communicate, by subterranean passages, with a cave on the +coast, the opening of which is so small that a child of two +years could hardly creep into it. Here an evil spirit (<i>varu +iino</i>) was said to lurk and, pouncing out on careless passers-by, +to drag them into the darkest recesses of his den and devour +them. After the conversion of the natives to Christianity +the missionaries were shown the spot. Near it were the ruins +of a temple of the war god, where multitudes of the corpses of +warriors slain in battle had been either buried or left to rot +on the ground. The missionaries saw many mouldering +fragments of skeletons. Not far off a cape jutted into the +sea, up the lofty and precipitous face of which the souls +of the dead were said to climb on their way to their long +home in the cavern at the top of the mountain. A native +informant assured the missionaries that he had often seen +them scaling the dizzy crag, both men and women.<a name="FNanchor_232_849" id="FNanchor_232_849"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_849" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>In the island of Borabora the fate even of kings after +death was believed to be a melancholy one. Their souls were +converted into a piece of furniture resembling an English hat-stand; +only in Borabora the corresponding utensil was the +branch of a tree with the lateral forks cut short, on which +bonnets, garments, baskets, and so forth were suspended. +The natives very naturally concluded that in the other world +a similar stand was wanted for the convenience of the ghosts, +to hang their hats and coats on. Kings who shrank from +the prospect of being converted into a hat-stand after death +made interest with the priest to save them from such a +degradation. So when a king who had been great and +powerful in life saw his end approaching, he would send to +the priests the most costly presents, such as four or five of +the largest and fattest hogs, as many of the best canoes, and +any rare and valuable European article which he happened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +to possess. In return the priests prayed for him daily at +the temples till he died; and afterwards his dead body was +brought to one of these sacred edifices and kept upright +there for several days and nights, during which yet larger +gifts were sent by his relatives, and the most expensive +sacrifices offered to the idols. The decaying corpse was then +removed, placed on a canoe, and rowed out on the lagoon as +far as an opening in the reef, only to be brought back again +in like manner; while all the time the priests recited their +prayers and performed their lugubrious ceremonies over it +on the water as well as on the land. Finally, the mouldering +remains were laid out to rot on a platform in one of the +usual charnel-houses.<a name="FNanchor_233_850" id="FNanchor_233_850"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_850" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>Conversion into a hat-stand was not, perhaps, the worst +that could happen to the soul of a Society Islander after +death. In the island of Raiatea there is a lake surrounded +by trees, the tops of which appear curiously flat. On this +verdant platform the spirits of the newly departed were said +to dance and feast together until, at a subsequent stage of +their existence, they were converted into cockroaches.<a name="FNanchor_234_851" id="FNanchor_234_851"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_851" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> The +souls of infants killed at birth were supposed to return in the +bodies of grasshoppers.<a name="FNanchor_235_852" id="FNanchor_235_852"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_852" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>But the Society Islanders were far from thinking that +the souls of the dead herded together indiscriminately in +the other world. They imagined that the spirits were discriminated +and assigned to abodes of different degrees of +happiness or misery, not according to their virtues or vices +in this life, but according to the rank which they had +occupied in society, one receptacle of superior attractions +being occupied by the souls of chiefs and other principal +people, while another of an inferior sort sufficed to lodge the +souls of the lower orders. For they did not suppose that +their good or bad actions in this life affected in the least +their lot in the life hereafter, or that the deities took account +of any such distinction. Thus their religion exerted no +influence on their morality.<a name="FNanchor_236_853" id="FNanchor_236_853"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_853" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Happiness and misery in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +world beyond the grave, we are told, "were the destiny of +individuals, altogether irrespective of their moral character +and virtuous conduct. The only crimes that were visited +by the displeasure of their deities were the neglect of +some rite or ceremony, or the failing to furnish required +offerings."<a name="FNanchor_237_854" id="FNanchor_237_854"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_854" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> + +<p>The Society Islanders, especially the natives of the Leeward +Islands, believed that some of the souls of the dead +were destined to enjoy a kind of heaven or paradise, which +they called <i>Rohutu noanoa</i>, "sweet-scented Rohutu." This +blissful region was supposed to be near a lofty and stupendous +mountain in the island of Raiatea, not far from the +harbour Hamaniino. The mountain went by the name of +<i>Temehani unauna</i>, "splendid or glorious Temehani." It was +probably the same with the lofty mountain on whose summit +popular fancy placed the <i>po</i> or common abode of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_238_855" id="FNanchor_238_855"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_855" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> +But the paradise was invisible to mortal eyes, being situated +in the regions of the air (<i>reva</i>). The country was described +as most lovely and enchanting in appearance, adorned with +flowers of every shape and hue, and perfumed with odours of +every fragrance. The air was pure and salubrious. Every sort +of delight was to be enjoyed there; while rich viands and +delicious fruits were supplied in abundance for the celebration +of sumptuous festivals. Handsome youths and women +thronged the place. But these honours and pleasures +were only for the privileged orders—the chiefs and the +members of the society of the Areois—for only they could +afford to pay the heavy charges which the priests exacted +for a passport to paradise; common folk seldom or never +dreamed of attempting to procure for their relatives admission +to the abode of bliss. Even apart from the expense +of getting to heaven, it is probable that the sharp distinction +kept up between chiefs and commoners here on earth would +be expected to be maintained hereafter, and to exclude every +person of the humbler sort from the society of his betters +in the future life.<a name="FNanchor_239_856" id="FNanchor_239_856"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_856" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> The other less exclusive, and no doubt +less expensive, place for departed spirits, in contrast to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +"sweet-scented Rohutu," went by the significant name of +"foul-scented Rohutu"; but over the nature of the substances +which earned for it this unsavoury appellation our +missionary authority preferred to draw a veil.<a name="FNanchor_240_857" id="FNanchor_240_857"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_857" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p> + +<p>According to one account, the souls of the dead were +supposed to gather in the sun, where they feasted with the +god Maouwe or O-Mauwee (Maui) on bread-fruit and the +flesh of pigs or dogs, and drank never-ending draughts +of kava.<a name="FNanchor_241_858" id="FNanchor_241_858"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_858" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> + +<p>But wherever the souls of the dead were imagined to +dwell, we may infer that they were credited with the power +of returning to earth for a longer or shorter time to benefit +or injure the living. For we have seen that sickness and +death were commonly ascribed to the action of these spirits,<a name="FNanchor_242_859" id="FNanchor_242_859"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_859" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> +which seems to imply that they revisited this sublunary +world on their errands of mischief. Accordingly, whenever +the natives approached by night one of the charnel-houses +in which dead bodies were exposed, they were startled "in +the same manner that many of our ignorant and superstitious +people are with the apprehension of ghosts, and at +the sight of a churchyard." Again, the souls of the departed +were sometimes thought to communicate with their +friends in dreams and to announce to them things that should +afterwards come to pass, thus enabling the dreamer to foretell +the future. Foreknowledge thus acquired, however, was +confined to particular persons, and such favoured dreamers +enjoyed a reputation little inferior to that of the inspired +priests. One of them prophesied to Captain Cook on the +strength of a communication vouchsafed to him by the soul +of his deceased father in a dream; but the event proved +that the ghost was out in his reckoning by five days.<a name="FNanchor_243_860" id="FNanchor_243_860"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_860" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> + +<p>The fear of ghosts in the minds of the Society Islanders +has long survived their conversion to Christianity; indeed, +we are informed that it is as rampant as ever. No ordinary +native would dare to visit one of the lonely caves where the +mouldering bones or skulls of his forefathers were deposited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +for safety in days of old.<a name="FNanchor_244_861" id="FNanchor_244_861"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_861" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> At one point on the western +coast of Tahiti, where the mountains advance in precipices +close to the sea, the road which skirts their base is a place +of fear to the natives. For in these precipices are caves full +of skulls, and the ghosts who reside in the caverns are +reported sometimes to weary of their own society and to +come down to the road for company, where in a sportive +vein they play all sorts of tricks on passers-by. Not so +long ago three Tahitians were riding home at dusk from +Papeete, where they had been drinking rum. Just at the +pass under the cliff they were surprised by ghosts, who +threw them into the ditch at the side of the road. So great +is the dread which the natives entertain of apparitions at this +spot that the Government has been compelled to divert the +road, so that it no longer skirts the foot of the haunted +mountain, but gives it a wide berth, and runs in a long +sweep by the edge of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_245_862" id="FNanchor_245_862"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_862" class="fnanchor">[245]</a></p> + +<p>Again, at another point on the west coast of Tahiti, +where mighty mountains, a glorious sea, and little coral +islands with their groves of palms, offer a view of enchanting +beauty, there is said to be a cave containing the skulls of +chiefs in a jutting cliff half-way up the mountain. The cave +was in charge of an old man in whose family the office of +guardian was hereditary. It had been entrusted to him by +his father on his deathbed, and the son had kept the secret +faithfully ever since. In vain did a traveller seek to persuade +the old man to guide him to the cave; in vain did +the chief himself beg of him to reveal the grotto which +concealed the mouldering relics of his forefathers. The +guardian was obdurate; he believed that the world was +not wide enough to hold two men who knew the holy place. +He assured the traveller that nobody could reach the cave +without the help of the ghosts, so perpendicular and so smooth +was the face of the cliff that led up to it. When he himself +wished to make his way to it, his custom was to go to the +foot of the crag and pray, till the spirits came and wafted +him lightly up and down again; otherwise it would have +been a sheer impossibility for him to ascend and descend.<a name="FNanchor_246_863" id="FNanchor_246_863"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_863" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 10. <i>The Worship of the Dead</i></h4> + +<p>The belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead, +and in their power to help or harm the living, naturally +led the Society Islanders, like so many other peoples of the +world, to propitiate these powerful beings, to sue their favour, +or to appease their anger by prayer and sacrifice, in short, +to worship them. On this subject the first missionaries to +these islanders tell us that, in addition to the greater gods, +"for general worship they have an inferior race, a kind of +<i>dii penates</i>. Each family has its <i>tee</i> or guardian spirit: he +is supposed to be one of their departed relatives, who, for +his superior excellences, has been exalted into an <i>eatooa</i> +(<i>atua</i>). They suppose this spirit can inflict sickness or +remove it, and preserve them from a malignant deity who +also bears the name <i>tee</i>, and is always employed in mischief."<a name="FNanchor_247_864" id="FNanchor_247_864"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_864" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> +"Every family has its <i>tee</i>, or guardian spirit, whom +they set up, and worship at the <i>morai</i>."<a name="FNanchor_248_865" id="FNanchor_248_865"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_865" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> "They regard the +spirits of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into +<i>eatooas</i> (<i>atuas</i>) and their favour to be secured by prayers +and offerings. Every sickness and untoward accident they +esteem as the hand of judgment for some offence committed."<a name="FNanchor_249_866" id="FNanchor_249_866"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_866" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> +As for the mischievous spirit who bore the same +name as the worshipful spirit of a dead ancestor, the missionaries +say that "the evil demon named <i>Tee</i> has no power +but upon earth; and this he exercises by getting into them +with their food, and causing madness or other diseases; +but these they imagine their tutelar saints, if propitious, can +prevent or remove."<a name="FNanchor_250_867" id="FNanchor_250_867"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_867" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<p>We may suspect that the missionaries were mistaken in +thus sharply distinguishing between an "evil demon" and a +"tutelar saint," both of whom went by the same name (<i>tee</i>). +Probably the "evil demon" and the "tutelar saint" were +alike supposed to be souls of dead persons, with this difference +between them, that whereas the one had been good and +beneficent in his life, the other had been bad and maleficent;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +for it is a common belief that the dead retain in the other +world the character and disposition which they manifested +on earth, and that accordingly as disembodied spirits they +may benefit or injure their surviving relatives.<a name="FNanchor_251_868" id="FNanchor_251_868"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_868" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> Thus +according to his character and behaviour in this present +state of existence a person's ghost may naturally develop +either into a god or into a devil.</p> + +<p>It is to be feared that in the case of Tahitian ghosts the +course of spiritual evolution was rather in the direction of +devilry than of deity. At least this conclusion seems +forced on us by the account which William Ellis, perhaps +our best authority on Tahitian religion, gives of the character +of these worshipful beings. I will reproduce it in his own +words.</p> + +<p>"The objects of worship among the Tahitians, next to +the <i>atua</i> or gods, were the <i>oramatuas tiis</i> or spirits. These +were supposed to reside in the <i>po</i>, or world of night, and +were never invoked but by wizards or sorcerers, who implored +their aid for the destruction of an enemy, or the injury of +some person whom they were hired to destroy. They were +considered a different order of beings from the gods, a kind +of intermediate class between them and the human race, +though in their prayers all the attributes of the gods were +ascribed to them. The <i>oramatuas</i> were the spirits of departed +fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, etc. The natives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +were greatly afraid of them, and presented offerings to avoid +being cursed or destroyed, when they were employed by the +sorcerers.</p> + +<p>"They seem to have been regarded as a sort of demons. +In the Leeward Islands, the chief <i>oramatuas</i> were spirits of +departed warriors, who had distinguished themselves by +ferocity and murder, attributes of character usually supposed +to belong to these evil genii. Each celebrated <i>tii</i> was honoured +with an image, through which it was supposed his influence +was exerted. The spirits of the reigning chiefs were united +to this class, and the skulls of deceased rulers, kept with the +images, were honoured with the same worship. Some idea +of what was regarded as their ruling passion, may be inferred +from the fearful apprehensions constantly entertained by all +classes. They were supposed to be exceedingly irritable and +cruel, avenging with death the slightest insult or neglect, and +were kept within the precincts of the temple. In the <i>marae</i> +of Tane at Maeva, the ruins of their abode were still standing +when I last visited the place. It was a house built upon +a number of large strong poles, which raised the floor ten or +twelve feet from the ground. They were thus elevated, to +keep them out of the way of men, as it was imagined they +were constantly strangling, or otherwise destroying, the chiefs +and people. To prevent this, they were also treated with +great respect; men were appointed constantly to attend +them, and to keep them wrapped in the choicest kinds of +cloth, to take them out whenever there was a <i>pae atua</i>, or +general exhibition of the gods; to anoint them frequently +with fragrant oil; and to sleep in the house with them at +night. All this was done, to keep them pacified. And +though the office of calming the angry spirits was honourable, +it was regarded as dangerous, for if, during the night or at +any other time, these keepers were guilty of the least impropriety, +it was supposed the spirits of the images, or the +skulls, would hurl them headlong from their high abodes, +and break their necks in the fall."<a name="FNanchor_252_869" id="FNanchor_252_869"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_869" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> + +<p>The difference in power and dignity between the great +national gods (<i>atuas</i>) and the spirits of deceased relations +(<i>oramatuas tiis</i>) might be measured by the size of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +images; for whereas the images of the gods were six or +eight feet long, those of the spirits were not more than so many +inches.<a name="FNanchor_253_870" id="FNanchor_253_870"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_870" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> But while these malignant and irritable spirits—the +souls of dead fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and children—resided +generally either in their little images or in their +skulls, they were not strictly confined to these material +vehicles; they resorted occasionally to the shells from the +seashore, especially to a beautiful kind of murex, the <i>Murex +ramoces</i>. These shells were kept by the sorcerers, and the +peculiar singing or humming sound that may be heard when +the valve is applied to the ear was imagined to proceed from +the demon in the shell.<a name="FNanchor_254_871" id="FNanchor_254_871"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_871" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> + +<p>It was these malignant and dangerous demons whom +the sorcerer employed as his agents to execute his fell purposes. +But to effect them he had to secure something +connected with the body of his intended victim, it might be +the parings of his nails, a lock of his hair, his spittle or other +bodily secretions, or else a portion of the food which he was +about to eat. Over this material substance, whatever it +was, the sorcerer recited his incantations and performed his +magical rites either in his own house or in his private temple +(<i>marae</i>). The result was believed to be that the demon +entered into the substance, and through it passed into the +body of the man at whom the enchanter aimed his elfish +darts. The wretched sufferer experienced the acutest agonies; +his distortions were frightful to witness; his eyes seemed +starting from his head; he foamed at the mouth; he lay +writhing in anguish on the ground; in short, to adopt the +native expression, he was torn by the evil spirit. Yet his case +was not hopeless; the demon could be mollified by a bribe, +or defeated by the intervention of a more powerful demon. +Hence, when any one was believed to be suffering from the +incantations of a sorcerer, if he or his friends were rich enough +they engaged another sorcerer for a fee to counteract the +spells of the first and so to restore the health of the invalid. +It was generally supposed that the efforts of the second sorcerer +would be crowned with success if only the demon whom +he employed were equally powerful with that at the command +of his rival, and if the presents which he received for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +professional services were more valuable. In order to avoid +the danger of being thus bewitched through the refuse of +their persons, the Tahitians used scrupulously to burn or +bury their shorn hair, lest it should fall into the hands of +enchanters.<a name="FNanchor_255_872" id="FNanchor_255_872"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_872" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>It is possible that some even of the great national gods were +no more than ghosts of dead men, whose human origin was +forgotten. There is some reason for supposing that this was +true of Hiro, the god of thieves. On the one hand, this deity +was reputed to be the son of the great god Oro;<a name="FNanchor_256_873" id="FNanchor_256_873"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_873" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> and when +a mother desired her child to grow up a clever thief, she +repaired to a temple, where the priest, on receipt of the +requisite offerings, caught the spirit of the god in a snare +and infused it into the infant, thus ensuring the future +proficiency of the infant in the arts of theft and robbery.<a name="FNanchor_257_874" id="FNanchor_257_874"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_874" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> +Yet, in spite of these claims to divinity, there are some +grounds for thinking that Hiro was himself originally no +better than a thief and a robber. He is said to have been +a native of Raiatea, from whose sacrilegious fingers not even +the temples and altars of the gods were safe. His skull was +shown in a large temple of his own construction in that +island down to the early years of the nineteenth century. +His hair, too, was stuffed into the image of his reputed father, +the god Oro, and perished when that image was committed +to the flames by the early converts to Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_258_875" id="FNanchor_258_875"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_875" class="fnanchor">[258]</a></p> + +<p>Once a year the Society Islanders celebrated a festival +accompanied by rites, of which one has been compared to +the Roman Catholic custom of performing a mass for the +benefit of souls in purgatory. The festival was called "the +ripening of the year," and the time for its observance was +determined by the blossoming of reeds. It was regularly +observed in the island of Huahine, and vast multitudes +assembled to take part in it. As a rule, only men engaged +in the pagan festivals, but at this particular one women and +children were also present, though they were not allowed to +enter the sacred enclosure. The celebration was regarded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +as a kind of annual acknowledgment made to the gods. +Prayers were offered at the temple, and a sumptuous banquet +formed part of the festival. At the close of the festival +every one returned to his home, or to his family temple +(<i>marae</i>), there to offer special prayers for the spirits of departed +relatives, that they might be liberated from the <i>po</i>, or +state of Night, and might either ascend to paradise ("sweet-scented +Rohutu") or return to this world by entering into +the body of one of its inhabitants. But "they did not +suppose, according to the generally received doctrine of transmigration, +that the spirits who entered the body of some +dweller upon earth, would permanently remain there, but only +come and inspire the person to declare future events, or +execute any other commission from the supernatural beings +on whom they imagined they were constantly dependent."<a name="FNanchor_259_876" id="FNanchor_259_876"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_876" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> + +<p>Hence we learn that the spirits of the dead as well as +the gods were believed to be capable of inspiring men and +revealing to them the future. In this, as in other respects, +the dead were assimilated to deities.</p> + + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_618" id="Footnote_1_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_618"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 6 <i>sq.</i>; A. v. H[ügel], "Tahiti," +<i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i>, Ninth Edition, +xxiii. 22, 24; C. E. Meinicke, +<i>Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans</i>, ii. 151 +<i>sqq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, +ii. 510. As to Wallis's discovery of +the islands see J. Hawkesworth, <i>Voyages</i>, +i. (London, 1773) pp. 433 <i>sqq.</i>; +R. Kerr, <i>General History and Collection +of Voyages and Travels</i>, xii. (Edinburgh, +1814) pp. 164 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_619" id="Footnote_2_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_619"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 11 <i>sqq.</i>; C. E. Meinicke, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 152 <i>sq.</i>; A. v. H[ügel], <i>op. cit.</i> p. 22; +F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_620" id="Footnote_3_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_620"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 14-18. Compare J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, +i. 172 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Forster, <i>Voyage round +the World</i> (London, 1777), i. 253 <i>sq.</i>; +J. Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the +Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 321 <i>sqq.</i>; +D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>Journal +of Voyages and Travels</i> (London, 1831), +i. 58 <i>sq.</i>, 108 <i>sqq.</i>, 136 <i>sqq.</i>, 206 <i>sq.</i>, +234 <i>sq.</i>, 316 <i>sq.</i>, 555 <i>sq.</i>, ii. 51-53, +59-61; F. H. H. Guillemard, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 511 <i>sqq.</i> C. E. Meinicke, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 152 <i>sq.</i>; A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i> +(Berlin, 1900), pp. 29 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_621" id="Footnote_4_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_621"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 175 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 79 <i>sqq.</i>; C. E. +Meinicke, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 171; F. H. H. +Guillemard, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 513 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_622" id="Footnote_5_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_622"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 185 <i>sq.</i> vi. +139 <i>sqq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 36 <i>sqq.</i>, +70 <i>sqq.</i>; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>Voyages +aux Îles du Grand Ocean</i> (Paris, 1837), +ii. 93 <i>sqq.</i>; C. E. Meinicke, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 171 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_623" id="Footnote_6_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_623"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 181 <i>sqq.</i>; +J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 341 <i>sq.</i>; W. +Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 170 <i>sqq.</i>; J. A. Moerenhout, +<i>op. cit.</i> ii. 84 <i>sqq.</i> As to the +wooden head-rests see W. Ellis, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 188 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_624" id="Footnote_7_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_624"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 213 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_625" id="Footnote_8_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_625"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 204 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_626" id="Footnote_9_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_626"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_627" id="Footnote_10_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_627"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 196 <i>sqq.</i>; +G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the World</i> +(London, 1777), i. 276 <i>sq.</i>; J. Wilson, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 389-392; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 179 <i>sqq.</i>; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 112 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_628" id="Footnote_11_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_628"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 202 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_629" id="Footnote_12_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_629"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 368; W. +Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 217-220; J. A. Moerenhout, +<i>op. cit.</i> ii. 148-150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_630" id="Footnote_13_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_630"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i>. iii. 94-98. Compare +J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 225 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_631" id="Footnote_14_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_631"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 93 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_632" id="Footnote_15_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_632"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 155 <i>sq.</i>; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 329; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> +iii. 101 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_633" id="Footnote_16_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_633"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 108 <i>sqq.</i> +Compare J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 327 +<i>sq.</i>; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 22 +<i>sq.</i>; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, +<i>Journal of Voyages and Travels</i>, i. +526 <i>sq.</i>, ii. 56. Another singular +ceremony observed at the installation +of a king was this. The king advanced +into the sea and bathed there. Thither +he was followed by the priest of Oro +bearing a branch plucked from a sacred +tree that grew within the precincts of +the temple. While the king was +bathing, the priest struck him on the +back with the holy bough, at the same +time invoking the great god Taaoroa. +This ceremony was designed to purify +the monarch from any defilement or +guilt he might previously have contracted. +See W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_634" id="Footnote_17_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_634"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, +<i>Journal of Voyages and Travels</i>, i. +529 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_635" id="Footnote_18_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_635"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_636" id="Footnote_19_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_636"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 225 <i>sq.</i>; W. +Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 99 <i>sq.</i> Compare J. +Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 180 <i>sq.</i>, 327, 330, +333; J. Turnbull, <i>Voyage round the +World</i> (London, 1813), pp. 134, 137, +188 <i>sq.</i>, 344; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. +cit.</i> ii. 13 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_637" id="Footnote_20_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_637"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 321; compare +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 417.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_638" id="Footnote_21_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_638"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_639" id="Footnote_22_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_639"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_640" id="Footnote_23_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_640"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 148, 160; +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made during +a Voyage round the World</i> (London, +1778), p. 539.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_641" id="Footnote_24_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_641"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 148 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_642" id="Footnote_25_642"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_642"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, i. +350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_643" id="Footnote_26_643"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_643"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 322 <i>sqq.</i> +Compare J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made during a Voyage round the World</i>, +pp. 539 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Forster, <i>Voyage round +the World</i>, ii. 149 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Wilson, +<i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern +Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 343 <i>sqq.</i>; D. Tyerman +and G. Bennet, <i>Journal of Voyages +and Travels</i>, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. +A. Moerenhout, <i>Voyages aux Îles du +Grand Ocean</i>, i. 416 <i>sqq.</i>, 436 <i>sqq.</i>, +442 <i>sq.</i> As to Taaoroa and his counterparts +in Polynesian mythology, see +H. Hale, <i>United States Exploring Expedition, +Ethnography and Philology</i>, +p. 22; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 463 <i>sq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "Tangaroa."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_644" id="Footnote_27_644"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_644"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 167 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_645" id="Footnote_28_645"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_645"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 114, 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_646" id="Footnote_29_646"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_646"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_647" id="Footnote_30_647"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_647"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> ii. 14. In a long house in the +southern part of Tahiti, Captain Cook +saw, at one end of it, a semicircular +board, from which hung fifteen human +jaw-bones, apparently fresh; not one +of them wanted a tooth. He was told +that they "had been carried away as +trophies, the people here carrying away +the jaw-bones of their enemies, as the +Indians of North America do the scalps." +See J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 152, 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_648" id="Footnote_31_648"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_648"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_649" id="Footnote_32_649"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_649"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 193-195; J. +R. Forster, <i>Observations made during a +Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 411-414; +G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, +ii. 128-135; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 56, +57, 59, 65 <i>sq.</i>, 153, 154, 174, 194 <i>sq.</i>, +209, 331, 335; J. Turnbull, <i>Voyage +round the World</i> (London, 1813), p. +364; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 326-328; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 229-247; +Waitz-Gerland, <i>Anthropologie</i>, +vi. 363-369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_650" id="Footnote_33_650"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_650"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 236 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_651" id="Footnote_34_651"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_651"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_652" id="Footnote_35_652"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_652"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +133 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_653" id="Footnote_36_653"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_653"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 235.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_654" id="Footnote_37_654"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_654"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 327 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_655" id="Footnote_38_655"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_655"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 239, 245; +G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 130; J. R. +Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 411 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_656" id="Footnote_39_656"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_656"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 239, 244; +J. Turnbull, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 364; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 492.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_657" id="Footnote_40_657"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_657"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 128 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 238; J. A. Moerenhout, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_658" id="Footnote_41_658"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_658"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 239 <i>sq.</i>; J. +A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 491 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_659" id="Footnote_42_659"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_659"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 241 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 493 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_660" id="Footnote_43_660"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_660"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 244 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_661" id="Footnote_44_661"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_661"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 273 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_662" id="Footnote_45_662"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_662"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_663" id="Footnote_46_663"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_663"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_664" id="Footnote_47_664"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_664"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_665" id="Footnote_48_665"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_665"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 193 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_666" id="Footnote_49_666"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_666"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> J. Turnbull, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, p. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_667" id="Footnote_50_667"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_667"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_668" id="Footnote_51_668"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_668"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_669" id="Footnote_52_669"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_669"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_670" id="Footnote_53_670"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_670"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 194; J. R. +Forster, <i>Observations</i>, pp. 413 <i>sq.</i>; G. +Forster, <i>Voyage</i>, ii. 129 <i>sq.</i>; J. Wilson, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 154 <i>sq.</i>, 174, 194 <i>sq.</i>; W. +Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 230 <i>sq.</i>, 233, 240. +Moerenhout says that when a chief was +an Areoi, his first-born son was spared, +but all the rest were sacrificed; but +immediately afterwards he adds, with +apparent inconsistency, that "the first +(by which he seems to mean the principal) +Areois only killed their first sons +and all their daughters; the other male +infants were spared." See Moerenhout, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 495, 496. These statements, +so far as I have observed, are not confirmed +by other writers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_671" id="Footnote_54_671"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_671"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> J. Cook, i. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_672" id="Footnote_55_672"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_672"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 230 <i>sq.</i>, +232 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_673" id="Footnote_56_673"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_673"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 236, 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_674" id="Footnote_57_674"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_674"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 238, 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_675" id="Footnote_58_675"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_675"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>Observations</i>, p. +412; G. Forster, <i>Voyage</i>, ii. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_676" id="Footnote_59_676"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_676"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 236 <i>sq.</i> +Compare J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 132 <i>sq.</i> According to the latter +writer there were traditions of as many +as a hundred and fifty canoes sailing at +once, each one seldom containing less +than thirty or forty, and sometimes a +hundred persons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_677" id="Footnote_60_677"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_677"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 326 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_678" id="Footnote_61_678"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_678"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 237 <i>sq.</i>; D. +Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +326-328. Compare J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 174, "Wherever they go they +exercise power to seize what they want +from the inhabitants. They smite their +hand on their breast and say '<i>Harre</i>, +give,' whenever they covet any thing, +and none dares deny them. They +never work; live by plunder; yet are +highly respected, as none but persons +of rank are admitted among them." +This last statement, however, is contradicted +by Ellis, who says (<i>op. cit.</i> i. +239) that "the fraternity was not +confined to any particular rank or grade +in society, but was composed of individuals +from every class."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_679" id="Footnote_62_679"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_679"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_680" id="Footnote_63_680"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_680"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 245 <i>sq.</i>, 397; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 434 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_681" id="Footnote_64_681"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_681"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_682" id="Footnote_65_682"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_682"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Above, p. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_683" id="Footnote_66_683"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_683"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 324, 325.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_684" id="Footnote_67_684"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_684"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Gerland takes the former view, +Moerenhout the latter. See Waitz-Gerland, +<i>Anthropologie</i>, vi. 368 <i>sq.</i>; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 484. +The only evidence adduced by Moerenhout +for his interpretation of Oro as a +sun-god is a statement that in the +Marquesas Islands the Areois suspended +their performances and went into retreat +from April or May till the vernal +equinox (which in the southern hemisphere +falls in September), and that +during their retreat they assumed the +style of mourners and bewailed the +absence or death of their god, whom +they called Mahoui. This Mahoui is +accordingly taken by Moerenhout to +be the sun and equated to Oro, the +god of the Areois in the Society Islands. +But Mahoui seems to be no other than +the well-known Polynesian hero Maui, +who can hardly have been the sun (see +below, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">p. 286 note<sup>5</sup></a>); and Moerenhout's +statement as to the annual period of +mourning observed by the Areois in +the Marquesas Islands is not, so far as +I know, confirmed by any other writer, +and must, therefore, be regarded as +open to doubt. His statement and +his interpretation of Oro and Mahoui +were accepted by Dr. Rivers, who +made them the basis of his far-reaching +theory of a secret worship of the sun +introduced into the Pacific by immigrants +from a far northern country, +who also built the megalithic monuments +of Polynesia and Micronesia. +See W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and +Megaliths in Polynesia," <i>American +Anthropologist</i>, xvii. July-September +1915, pp. 431 <i>sqq.</i> In proof of the +supposed connexion between these +megalithic monuments and a worship +of the sun, Dr. Rivers says (p. 440) +that the Areois "held their celebrations +in an enclosure called <i>marae</i> or +<i>marai</i>, at one end of which was situated +a pyramidical structure with steps +leading to a platform on which were +placed the images of the gods during +the religious celebrations of the people." +But if by "their celebrations" Dr. +Rivers means the ordinary dramatic, +musical, and athletic performances of +the Areois, he seems to be in error; +for it appears to be certain that these +exhibitions were regularly given, not +at the <i>maraes</i>, but in or before large +houses built or specially set apart for +the purpose. See above, pp. <a href="#Page_259">259 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_685" id="Footnote_68_685"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_685"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> J. Rendel Harris, <i>The Dioscuri +in the Christian Legends</i> (London, +1903), pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i> <i>id.</i>, <i>The Cult of +the Heavenly Twins</i> (Cambridge, +1906), pp. 58 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Boanerges</i> +(Cambridge, 1913), pp. 291 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_686" id="Footnote_69_686"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_686"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 230, 232. +Ellis does not admit that Orotetefa +and Urutetefa were, strictly speaking, +the sons of Oro. He writes: "According +to the traditions of the people, +Taaroa created, and, by means of +Hina, brought forth when full grown +Orotetefa and Urutetefa. They were +not his sons; <i>oriori</i> is the term employed +by the people, which seems to +mean <i>create</i>" (<i>op. cit.</i> i. 230). With +regard to Hina (Heena), interpreted as +the moon, or the goddess of the moon, +see J. R. Forster, <i>Observations</i>, p. +549; G. Forster, <i>Voyage</i>, ii. 152; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i>. i. 428 <i>sq.</i>, +458, 472; E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 69. +<i>s.v.</i> "Hina," "Hina is by far the best +known of all Polynesian legendary personages. +In the more easterly islands +she is a goddess, and is almost certainly +the Moon-goddess." Similarly Mr. E. E. V. +Collocot observes that Hina "is +generally regarded as the Moon-goddess, +and this view was spontaneously put +forward by a Tongan; in conversation +with me" (<i>Journal of the Polynesian +Society</i>, xxx. (1921) p. 238).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_687" id="Footnote_70_687"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_687"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Abundant evidence of the custom +is produced by Dr. Rendel Harris in +his learned works, <i>The Cult of the +Heavenly Twins</i> and <i>Boanerges</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_688" id="Footnote_71_688"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_688"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>The Golden Bough</i>, Part I., <i>The +Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings</i>, +i. 262 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_689" id="Footnote_72_689"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_689"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> H. A. Junod, <i>Les Ba-ronga</i> +(Neuchâtel, 1898), p. 412; <i>id.</i>, <i>Life +of a South African Tribe</i> (Neuchâtel, +1912-1913), ii. 394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_690" id="Footnote_73_690"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_690"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> H. A. Junod, <i>Life of a South +African Tribe</i>, ii. 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_691" id="Footnote_74_691"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_691"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> H. A. Junod, <i>Life of a South +African Tribe</i>, ii. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_692" id="Footnote_75_692"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_692"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> H. A. Junod, <i>Les Ba-ronga</i>, pp. +417 <i>sq.</i>; <i>id.</i>, <i>Life of a South African +Tribe</i>, ii. 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_693" id="Footnote_76_693"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_693"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> H. A. Junod, <i>Life of a South +African Tribe</i>, ii. 399 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_694" id="Footnote_77_694"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_694"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> D. Westermann, <i>Die Kpelle, ein +Negerstamm in Liberia</i> (Göttingen, +1921), pp. 68, 212, 355. The Bambara, +another tribe of West Africa, +similarly regard the last-born of twins +as the elder of the two. See Jos. +Henry, <i>Les Bambara</i> (Münster i. W., +1910), p. 98. So, too, with the Mossi +of the Sudan. See E. Mangin, "Les +Mossi," <i>Anthropos</i>, x.-xi. (1915-1916) +p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_695" id="Footnote_78_695"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_695"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> L. Martrou, "Les 'Eki' des +Fang," <i>Anthropos</i>, i. (1906) p. 751; +H. Trilles, <i>Le Totémisme chez les Fân</i> +(Münster i. W., 1912), p. 593. Compare +H. A. Junod, <i>Life of a South +African Tribe</i>, ii. 400, note<sup>1</sup>, who reports +the same superstition among the +Fan on the testimony of his wife, who +was for years a missionary in the tribe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_696" id="Footnote_79_696"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_696"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Above, p. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_697" id="Footnote_80_697"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_697"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, +<i>The Great Plateau of Northern Nigeria</i> +(London, 1911), pp. 307 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_698" id="Footnote_81_698"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_698"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> D. Campbell, <i>In the Heart of +Bantuland</i> (London, 1922), p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_699" id="Footnote_82_699"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_699"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Dudley Kidd, <i>Savage Childhood</i> +(London, 1906), p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_700" id="Footnote_83_700"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_700"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> J. Roscoe, <i>The Northern Bantu</i> +(Cambridge, 1915), p. 235.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_701" id="Footnote_84_701"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_701"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> J. Roscoe, "Further Notes on +the Manners and Customs of the +Baganda," <i>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</i>, xxxii. (1902) pp. 32-34, +80; <i>id.</i>, <i>The Baganda</i> (London, +1911), pp. 64-72. These two accounts +to some extent supplement each other. +I have drawn on both. As to the +annual festival of the god Mukasa, see +<i>id.</i>, <i>The Baganda</i>, pp. 298 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_702" id="Footnote_85_702"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_702"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> J. Spieth, <i>Die Ewe-Stämme</i> +(Berlin, 1906), pp. 202-206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_703" id="Footnote_86_703"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_703"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> J. M. M. van der Burgt, <i>Dictionnaire +Français-Kirundi</i> (Bois-le-Duc, +1903), pp. 324 <i>sq.</i>; H. Meyer, <i>Die +Barundi</i> (Leipzig, 1916), pp. 110 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_704" id="Footnote_87_704"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_704"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_705" id="Footnote_88_705"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_705"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Colle, <i>Les Baluba</i> (Brussels, 1913), +i. 253-255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_706" id="Footnote_89_706"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_706"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> J. Irle, <i>Die Herero</i> (Gütersloh, +1906), pp. 96-99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_707" id="Footnote_90_707"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_707"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> D. Westermann, <i>Die Kpelle, ein +Negerstamm in Liberia</i> (Göttingen, +1921), p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_708" id="Footnote_91_708"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_708"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 526.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_709" id="Footnote_92_709"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_709"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +449 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_710" id="Footnote_93_710"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_710"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_711" id="Footnote_94_711"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_711"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> ii. 40 <i>sq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. +170 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_712" id="Footnote_95_712"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_712"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 526.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_713" id="Footnote_96_713"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_713"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 141; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 357; +J. Turnbull, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, +p. 349; Wallis, in R. Kerr's <i>General +History and Collection of Voyages and +Travels</i>, xii. 212; <i>id.</i>, in J. Hawkesworth's +<i>Voyages</i>, i. (London, 1773) +p. 483.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_714" id="Footnote_97_714"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_714"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>Observations</i>, p. +540; G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 151. These writers spell +his name O-Maouwe and O-mauwee.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_715" id="Footnote_98_715"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_715"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 156 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_716" id="Footnote_99_716"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_716"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 326 <i>sq.</i> As +to the inferior gods, see also J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 451 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_717" id="Footnote_100_717"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_717"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 327-329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_718" id="Footnote_101_718"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_718"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 329 <i>sq.</i> As +to the worship of birds, Captain Cook +says: "This island [Tahiti] indeed, +and the rest that lie near it, have a particular +bird, some a heron and others +a king's fisher, to which they pay a +peculiar regard, and concerning which +they have some superstitious notions +with respect to good and bad fortune, +as we have of the swallow and robin-redbreast, +giving them the name of +<i>eatua</i>, and by no means killing or +molesting them; yet they never address +a petition to them, or approach them +with any act of adoration." See J. +Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_719" id="Footnote_102_719"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_719"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 329 <i>sq.</i>, 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_720" id="Footnote_103_720"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_720"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 333 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 440 <i>sqq.</i>; E. +Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, pp. 30 <i>sq.</i>, <i>s.v.</i> +"atua." Captain Cook and the first +missionaries spelled the word <i>eatua</i> or +<i>eatooa</i>. See J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 221, +vi. 149; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_721" id="Footnote_104_721"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_721"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 324 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 454 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_722" id="Footnote_105_722"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_722"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 339 <i>sqq.</i> Compare J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, +i. 157 <i>sqq.</i>, 217, 219, 220, 222, vi. +37, <i>sq.</i>, 41; J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made during a Voyage round the World</i>, +pp. 543 <i>sqq.</i>; G. Forster, <i>Voyage +round the World</i>, i. 267, ii. 138 <i>sq.</i>; +J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 207 <i>sq.</i>, 211 <i>sq.</i>; +D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +267 <i>sq.</i>, 271, 280 <i>sqq.</i>, 549, ii. 13 <i>sq.</i>; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 466-470; +A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, pp. +111 <i>sqq.</i>; S. and K. Routledge, "Notes +on some Archaeological Remains in the +Society and Austral Islands," <i>Journal +of the Royal Anthropological Institute</i>, +li. (1921) 438 <i>sqq.</i> According to +J. R. Forster (<i>l.c.</i>), the <i>marais</i> (<i>morais, +maraes</i>) "consist of a very large pile of +stones, generally in the shape of an +Egyptian pyramid, with large steps; +sometimes this pyramid makes one of +the sides of an area, walled in with +square stones and paved with flat stones: +the pyramid is not solid, but the inside +is filled with smaller fragments of coral +stones."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_723" id="Footnote_106_723"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_723"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, +p. 135. This writer has given us a +survey and description of some of the +principal remains which existed at the +end of the nineteenth century (pp. 111-148). +The ruins of two <i>maraes</i> in the +island of Moorea are described by Mr. +and Mrs. Routledge (<i>l.c.</i>). In one of +them the pyramid stood at the western +end of the enclosure, and in the other +at the eastern end.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_724" id="Footnote_107_724"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_724"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 157-159. +The great pyramid was afterwards +visited and described by the first +missionaries. Their measurements +confirm, while slightly exceeding, +those of Captain Cook. They speak, +however, of ten steps instead of eleven, +and say that the lowest step was six +feet high and the rest about five. See +J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 207 <i>sq.</i>, with +the plate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_725" id="Footnote_108_725"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_725"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 265 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_726" id="Footnote_109_726"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_726"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 13 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_727" id="Footnote_110_727"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_727"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_728" id="Footnote_111_728"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_728"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> ii. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_729" id="Footnote_112_729"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_729"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 341 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_730" id="Footnote_113_730"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_730"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_731" id="Footnote_114_731"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_731"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Above, pp. <a href="#Page_116">116 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_732" id="Footnote_115_732"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_732"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_733" id="Footnote_116_733"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_733"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_734" id="Footnote_117_734"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_734"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_735" id="Footnote_118_735"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_735"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 40 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_736" id="Footnote_119_736"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_736"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, i. 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_737" id="Footnote_120_737"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_737"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_738" id="Footnote_121_738"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_738"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_739" id="Footnote_122_739"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_739"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 405. See above, pp. <a href="#Page_117">117 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_740" id="Footnote_123_740"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_740"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_741" id="Footnote_124_741"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_741"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 470.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_742" id="Footnote_125_742"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_742"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, +pp. 116 <i>sq.</i>, 127 <i>sq.</i>, 144 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_743" id="Footnote_126_743"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_743"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 130, 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_744" id="Footnote_127_744"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_744"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_745" id="Footnote_128_745"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_745"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 117 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_746" id="Footnote_129_746"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_746"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 130 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_747" id="Footnote_130_747"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_747"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_748" id="Footnote_131_748"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_748"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_749" id="Footnote_132_749"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_749"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 124, 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_750" id="Footnote_133_750"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_750"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 127 <i>sq.</i>, +144 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_751" id="Footnote_134_751"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_751"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_752" id="Footnote_135_752"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_752"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Ellis says, "I am not aware that +they rendered divine homage either +to the sun or moon" (<i>Polynesian +Researches</i>, iii. 171). Speaking of +the Areois, Moerenhout says that +"it seems to me clear that though they +did not adore directly the sun and +the other stars, nevertheless their +worship was little else than sabeism or +the adoration of the visible and animated +universe" (<i>op. cit.</i> i. 503). He interpreted +both Oro and Maui or Mahoui +(as he spells the name) as the sun-god +(<i>op. cit.</i> i. 484, 502, 503, 560 <i>sq.</i>); +but these interpretations appear to +be his own guesses, unsupported by +any statement of the natives. Maui was +the great Polynesian hero, one of whose +most famous exploits was catching the +sun in a snare and compelling him to +move more slowly (E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, +pp. 234 <i>sqq.</i>, <i>s.v.</i> "Maui"; see above, +p. <a href="#Page_275">275</a>); but this story, far from favouring +the identification of Maui with the +sun, seems fatal to it. According to J. R. +Forster, the great god Taroa (Taaroa) +was thought to have created the sun +and to dwell in it (<i>Observations</i>, p. 540); +but even if this statement is correct, it +hardly implies a worship of the sun. +With regard to the moon, the same +writer tells us (<i>l.c.</i>) that it was supposed +to be procreated by a goddess named +O-Heena, "who presides in the black +cloud which appears in this luminary"; +and the statement is repeated by his +son, George Forster, who adds: "The +women sing a short couplet, which +seems to be an act of adoration paid +to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps +because they suppose her to have some +influence upon their physical œconomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that +cloud I love'" (<i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 152). This so far seems to +imply a reverence for the moon; and +there are some grounds for thinking +that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is +usually spelt) was in Eastern Polynesia +a moon-goddess. See above, <a href="#Footnote_69_686">p. 267, note<sup>2</sup></a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_753" id="Footnote_136_753"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_753"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 331 <i>sq.</i>, iii. +171. According to another account, +the sun and moon in eclipse were +supposed to be in the act of copulation. +See J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_754" id="Footnote_137_754"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_754"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_755" id="Footnote_138_755"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_755"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 348 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_756" id="Footnote_139_756"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_756"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 224; J. R. +Forster, <i>Observations made during a +Voyage round the World</i>, p. 547; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 469. Elsewhere +(vi. 149) Captain Cook mentions that +the baring of the body on the approach +to a temple was especially incumbent +on women, who otherwise had to make +a considerable circuit to avoid the +sacred edifice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_757" id="Footnote_140_757"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_757"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 469 +<i>sq.</i>; A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, +pp. 126 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_758" id="Footnote_141_758"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_758"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 536 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_759" id="Footnote_142_759"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_759"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 271 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_760" id="Footnote_143_760"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_760"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 558.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_761" id="Footnote_144_761"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_761"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 267 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_762" id="Footnote_145_762"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_762"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, +pp. 124, 141; D. Tyerman and G. +Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 529 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_763" id="Footnote_146_763"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_763"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_764" id="Footnote_147_764"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_764"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_765" id="Footnote_148_765"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_765"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 337 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 471. According +to Ellis, the wooden images were made +from the durable timber of the <i>aito</i> or +casuarina tree, and the stone images +were mostly rude uncarved angular +columns of basalt, of various sizes, +though some were of calcareous or siliceous +stone. Some stone images, however, +were rudely carved in human +form. See A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, +pp. 128 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_766" id="Footnote_149_766"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_766"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_767" id="Footnote_150_767"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_767"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 338 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 471 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_768" id="Footnote_151_768"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_768"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 473 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_769" id="Footnote_152_769"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_769"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 344 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_770" id="Footnote_153_770"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_770"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 345-348. +Compare J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 168 +<i>sqq.</i> vi. 28-41; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +350 <i>sq.</i>; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 549, ii. 38 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_771" id="Footnote_154_771"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_771"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 342 <i>sq.</i> Compare +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made +during a Voyage round the World</i>, pp. +545 <i>sqq.</i>; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 474 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_772" id="Footnote_155_772"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_772"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_773" id="Footnote_156_773"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_773"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_774" id="Footnote_157_774"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_774"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_775" id="Footnote_158_775"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_775"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 349 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_776" id="Footnote_159_776"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_776"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 373-375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_777" id="Footnote_160_777"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_777"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 373 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_778" id="Footnote_161_778"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_778"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_779" id="Footnote_162_779"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_779"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 114 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_780" id="Footnote_163_780"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_780"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_781" id="Footnote_164_781"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_781"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 504-507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_782" id="Footnote_165_782"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_782"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 151 <i>sq.</i> Compare J. R. +Forster, <i>Observations made during a +Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 534 <i>sq.</i>, +542 <i>sq.</i>, where the word for soul is +given as <i>E-teehee</i> or <i>Teehee</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_783" id="Footnote_166_783"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_783"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 431.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_784" id="Footnote_167_784"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_784"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 151 note *.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_785" id="Footnote_168_785"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_785"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>op. cit.</i> vi. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_786" id="Footnote_169_786"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_786"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_787" id="Footnote_170_787"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_787"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 346. In the +Polynesian languages <i>po</i> is the word +both for "night" and for "the shades," +the primaeval darkness from which all +forms of life were evolved, and to +which the souls of the dead return. +See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 342, <i>s.v.</i> "po."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_788" id="Footnote_171_788"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_788"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 378 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_789" id="Footnote_172_789"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_789"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Compare W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 396, +"What their precise ideas of a spirit +were, it is not easy to ascertain. They +appear, however, to have imagined the +shape or form resembled that of the +human body, in which they sometimes +appeared in dreams to the survivors."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_790" id="Footnote_173_790"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_790"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>op. cit.</i> vi. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_791" id="Footnote_174_791"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_791"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_792" id="Footnote_175_792"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_792"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 395; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 433, 538 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_793" id="Footnote_176_793"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_793"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 395 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_794" id="Footnote_177_794"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_794"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_795" id="Footnote_178_795"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_795"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 538 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_796" id="Footnote_179_796"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_796"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 539-541. +Compare W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 363 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_797" id="Footnote_180_797"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_797"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 543.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_798" id="Footnote_181_798"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_798"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_799" id="Footnote_182_799"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_799"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_800" id="Footnote_183_800"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_800"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_801" id="Footnote_184_801"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_801"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 398 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_802" id="Footnote_185_802"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_802"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 407-409; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 352; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 546 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_803" id="Footnote_186_803"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_803"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 551 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_804" id="Footnote_187_804"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_804"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 135, 218; +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made during +a Voyage round the World</i>, p. 560.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_805" id="Footnote_188_805"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_805"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_806" id="Footnote_189_806"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_806"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 218; J. R. +Forster, <i>Observations made during a +Voyage round the World</i>, p. 560.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_807" id="Footnote_190_807"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_807"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 352 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_808" id="Footnote_191_808"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_808"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 218 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_809" id="Footnote_192_809"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_809"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 410; J. Wilson, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 196, 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_810" id="Footnote_193_810"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_810"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> See <i>Folk-lore in the Old Testament</i>, +ii. 82 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_811" id="Footnote_194_811"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_811"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 406.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_812" id="Footnote_195_812"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_812"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 401-403. +Compare J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 552.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_813" id="Footnote_196_813"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_813"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 412 <i>sq.</i> Compare +J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 135 <i>sq.</i>, 138, +219; J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 547-549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_814" id="Footnote_197_814"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_814"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 74. For the full description +of the garb, see <i>id.</i>, ii. 71-75; +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made during +a Voyage round the World</i>, pp. +450-453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_815" id="Footnote_198_815"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_815"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 138 <i>sq.</i>, 219; +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made during +a Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 560 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 413 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 549 <i>sq.</i> According +to Ellis, the mummers were +supposed to be inspired by the spirit of +the deceased; according to Moerenhout, +they were not inspired by, but merely +represented, the ghost. The difference +between spiritual representation and inspiration +is somewhat fine; too fine +perhaps to be apprehended by Tahitian +intelligence. Forster says that the procession +started from the house of the +deceased, Ellis that it started from a +valley.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_816" id="Footnote_199_816"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_816"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>Journal +of Voyages and Travels</i>, i. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_817" id="Footnote_200_817"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_817"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 399 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_818" id="Footnote_201_818"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_818"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 553 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_819" id="Footnote_202_819"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_819"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_820" id="Footnote_203_820"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_820"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_821" id="Footnote_204_821"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_821"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 93 <i>sq.</i>, 135, +217, 218; J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 84, +212 <i>sq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 404; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_822" id="Footnote_205_822"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_822"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 217 <i>sq.</i> Compare +J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made +during a Voyage round the World</i>, p. +559.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_823" id="Footnote_206_823"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_823"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 93 <i>sq.</i>, 135 <i>sq.</i>, +218, 219, vi. 47 <i>sq.</i>; J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made during a Voyage round +the World</i>, pp. 561 <i>sq.</i>; J. Wilson, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 212 <i>sq.</i>, 363 <i>sq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 400 <i>sq.</i>, 404 <i>sq.</i>, 405 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 554.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_824" id="Footnote_207_824"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_824"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 272, who observes +that the survivors "considered +the spirits of the proprietors of these +skulls as the guardian spirits of the +family."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_825" id="Footnote_208_825"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_825"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_826" id="Footnote_209_826"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_826"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i> +(Berlin, 1900), pp. 37 <i>sq.</i>, 81 <i>sq.</i>, 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_827" id="Footnote_210_827"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_827"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_828" id="Footnote_211_828"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_828"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_829" id="Footnote_212_829"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_829"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_830" id="Footnote_213_830"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_830"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_831" id="Footnote_214_831"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_831"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_832" id="Footnote_215_832"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_832"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_833" id="Footnote_216_833"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_833"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 222, vi. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_834" id="Footnote_217_834"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_834"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_835" id="Footnote_218_835"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_835"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made +during a Voyage round the World</i>, +pp. 552, 553; G. Forster, <i>Voyage +round the World</i>, ii. 151 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_836" id="Footnote_219_836"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_836"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> J. R. Forster and G. Forster, <i>ll.cc.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_837" id="Footnote_220_837"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_837"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 348, "the <i>unus</i>, or curiously carved +pieces of wood marking the sacred +places of interment, and emblematical +of <i>tiis</i> or spirits."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_838" id="Footnote_221_838"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_838"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 267. Compare +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 461, +"<i>Les images des Tiis étaient placées +aux extrémités des marais et gardaient +l'enceinte des terres sacrées</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_839" id="Footnote_222_839"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_839"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 544 <i>sq.</i> +In the southern peninsula of Tahiti, +both on the coast and inland, Captain +Cook saw many sepulchral buildings, +and he described them as "decorated +with many carved boards, which were +set upright, and on the top of which +were various figures of birds and men: +on one in particular there was the +representation of a cock, which was +painted red and yellow, to imitate the +feathers of that animal, and rude +images of men were, in some of them, +placed one upon the head of another." +See J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, i. 150 <i>sq.</i> +These "carved boards" were no +doubt of the same sort as the <i>tees</i> +or <i>teehees</i> described by the two +Forsters. No other writer seems to +mention the figures of birds carved on +them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_840" id="Footnote_223_840"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_840"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 543.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_841" id="Footnote_224_841"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_841"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 396. Compare +J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 346; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 431; D. Tyerman +and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 330.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_842" id="Footnote_225_842"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_842"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 396 <i>sq.</i>; J. A. +Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 433.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_843" id="Footnote_226_843"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_843"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, +<i>Journal of Voyages and Travels</i>, i. 273; +compare <i>ib.</i> pp. 330 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_844" id="Footnote_227_844"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_844"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 521 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_845" id="Footnote_228_845"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_845"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_846" id="Footnote_229_846"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_846"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 345 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_847" id="Footnote_230_847"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_847"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 150 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_848" id="Footnote_231_848"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_848"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_87">87 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_214">214 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_238">238 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_849" id="Footnote_232_849"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_849"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 537 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_850" id="Footnote_233_850"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_850"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 331 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_851" id="Footnote_234_851"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_851"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_852" id="Footnote_235_852"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_852"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_853" id="Footnote_236_853"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_853"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> J. Cook, i. 222. Compare <i>id.</i>, +vi. 150; J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made on a Voyage round the World</i>, +pp. 553 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_854" id="Footnote_237_854"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_854"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 397. Compare +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 433.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_855" id="Footnote_238_855"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_855"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_317">317</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_856" id="Footnote_239_856"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_856"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 245 <i>sq.</i>, 397; +J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 434 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_857" id="Footnote_240_857"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_857"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea +Islands</i>, p. 476.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_858" id="Footnote_241_858"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_858"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> J. R. Forster, <i>Observations made +during a Voyage round the World</i>, p. +553; G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_859" id="Footnote_242_859"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_859"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_299">299 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_860" id="Footnote_243_860"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_860"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_861" id="Footnote_244_861"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_861"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i>, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_862" id="Footnote_245_862"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_862"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 83 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_863" id="Footnote_246_863"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_863"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 81 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_864" id="Footnote_247_864"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_864"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_865" id="Footnote_248_865"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_865"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> T. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_866" id="Footnote_249_866"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_866"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> J. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 345. "The +general name for deity, in all its ramifications, +is <i>eatooa</i>" (<i>id.</i> p. 343).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_867" id="Footnote_250_867"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_867"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> J. Wilson, p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_868" id="Footnote_251_868"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_868"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> In confirmation of my conjecture +that the missionaries mistook a general +name (<i>tee</i>, otherwise spelled <i>tii</i>) for the +name of a particular demon, I may +point out that the naturalist J. R. +Forster before them seems to have fallen +into precisely the same mistake with +regard to another general name for +departed spirits (<i>oramatuas</i> or <i>oromatuas</i>). +Thus he writes: "Besides these +divinities of the second class, there are +others of a still inferior rank, and +though called <i>Eatooas</i>, are no more +than what the Greek or Roman mythologists +would have called <i>Genii</i>, or +<i>Dii minorum gentium</i>: one of them, +called <i>Orometooa</i>, is of a malignant disposition, +resides chiefly near the <i>Marais</i> +and <i>Toopapous</i> (places of burial) and in +or near the boxes, or little chests, including +the heads of their deceased +friends, each of which, on that account, +is called <i>Te-wharre no te Orometooa</i>, +the house of the evil genius <i>Orometooa</i>, +The people at Taheitee are of opinion, +that if their priests invoke this evil +genius, he will kill, by a sudden death, +the person on whom they intend to +bring down the vengeance of this +divinity." See J. R. Forster, <i>Observations +made during a Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 541 <i>sq.</i> In this passage +we can hardly doubt that "this evil +genius," Orometooa, is simply the <i>oramatuas</i> +or <i>oromatuas</i>, the spirits of the +dead, by means of whom sorcerers were +supposed to injure or destroy any one +at whom they or their employers had +a grudge. See above, p. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, and +below, pp. <a href="#Page_323">323 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_869" id="Footnote_252_869"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_869"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>. i. 334-336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_870" id="Footnote_253_870"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_870"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_871" id="Footnote_254_871"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_871"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_872" id="Footnote_255_872"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_872"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 363-370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_873" id="Footnote_256_873"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_873"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 112, 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_874" id="Footnote_257_874"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_874"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> J. Williams, <i>Narrative of Missionary +Enterprises in the South Sea +Islands</i>, pp. 466 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_875" id="Footnote_258_875"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_875"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 254 <i>sq.</i> As to Hiro, the god of +thieves, see also J. A. Moerenhout, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 447-449.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_876" id="Footnote_259_876"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_876"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, i. 351 <i>sq.</i> Compare J. A. Moerenhout, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 502 note<sup>1</sup>, 523.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Marquesas Islands</i></h4> + +<p>The Marquesas are an archipelago of eleven or twelve chief +islands in the South Pacific, situated about nine hundred +miles to the north-east of Tahiti. They fall into two groups, +which together stretch in a direction from north-west to +south-east, from 8° to 11° of South latitude. The south-eastern +group, of which Hivaoa (Dominica) is the largest +island, was discovered by the Spanish Admiral Alvaro Mendana +de Neyra in 1595, but, so far as appears, it was not +again visited by Europeans until 1774, when Captain Cook +touched at the islands on his second voyage. Curiously +enough, the north-westerly group, of which Nukahiva is the +largest and most important island, remained unknown until +1791, when it was discovered by the American Captain +Ingraham, who named the group the Washington Islands. +About a month later, in June 1791, the French navigator +Marchand visited the same islands, and in 1797 the first +missionary, William Crook, was landed from the missionary +ship <i>Duff</i>. The whole archipelago is now known as the +Marquesas, a name which the Spanish Admiral Mendana +bestowed on the islands discovered by him in honour of the +Marquess de Canete, Viceroy of Peru, by whose order the +voyage had been undertaken.<a name="FNanchor_1_877" id="FNanchor_1_877"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_877" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p> + +<p>The islands are of volcanic formation, lofty and mountainous. +The interior consists generally of a range of +mountains some three thousand feet high, from which a +series of spurs descend steeply to the coast, terminating for +the most part in tremendous cliffs, at the foot of which the +great rollers break in foam; for with a single exception there +are no coral reefs, and a ship can sail in deep water within +a cable's length of the rocks. Viewed at a distance from the +sea, the aspect of the islands is somewhat stern and forbidding. +Bare mountains, jagged peaks, sometimes lost in +the clouds, and an iron-bound coast of black and beetling +crags, buffeted eternally by the surf, make up a gloomy +picture; but a nearer view discloses verdant valleys nestling +between the ridges which radiate from the central mountains. +These valleys are watered by mountain streams and clothed +with dense tropical vegetation, their luxuriant green offering +an agreeable contrast to the bareness and aridity of the +frowning precipices and sharp peaks which soar above them. +Cascades tumbling from high cliffs into the depths of the +glens add to the beauty and charm of the scenery. So steep +and precipitous are the ridges which divide these smiling +vales from each other that the ascent and descent are in +many places both difficult and dangerous even for the +natives; European mountaineers need to have stout limbs +and steady heads to accomplish them in safety. Hence in +former days each valley contained a separate tribe, which +was commonly in a state of permanent hostility towards its +neighbours across the mountain barriers.<a name="FNanchor_2_878" id="FNanchor_2_878"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_878" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Of these tribes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +the most famous were the warlike and dreaded Taipiis or +Typees, who occupied a beautiful valley at the eastern end +of Nukahiva, and in their mountain fastness deemed themselves +inaccessible to their enemies. However, in the early +part of the nineteenth century an American naval officer, +Captain David Porter, succeeded, not without great difficulty, +in carrying havoc and devastation into these sylvan scenes.<a name="FNanchor_3_879" id="FNanchor_3_879"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_879" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +Later in the century a runaway American sailor, Hermann +Melville, spent more than four months as a captive +in the tribe, and published an agreeable narrative of his +captivity; but never having mastered the language, he +was not able to give much exact information concerning +the customs and beliefs of the natives.<a name="FNanchor_4_880" id="FNanchor_4_880"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_880" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> As there is no +maritime plain interposed between the mountains and the +shore, the only way of passing from one valley to another +is either to go by sea or to clamber over the intervening +ridges. It would be materially impossible, we are told, +unless at enormous and ruinous cost, to make a road or +even a mule-path round any of the Marquesas Islands, as +has been done in Tahiti.<a name="FNanchor_5_881" id="FNanchor_5_881"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_881" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Despite their situation in the heart of the tropics, the +Marquesas enjoy an extremely healthy climate subject to +none of the inconveniences usually incidental to countries +in the same latitude; endemic and epidemic diseases are +alike unknown. European soldiers can work in the sun +without accident and without exhaustion.<a name="FNanchor_6_882" id="FNanchor_6_882"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_882" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The climate +has been described as an eternal spring, without winter +or even autumn; though a perpetual succession of ripe fruits +may seem to lend an autumnal air to the landscape, which +yet is never chilled by hoar frosts or saddened by the sight +of bare boughs and fallen leaves.<a name="FNanchor_7_883" id="FNanchor_7_883"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_883" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Even in the hottest days +a cool wind blows from the sea, and at night there is a breeze +from the land. Rain falls during some months of the year, +especially from May or June to August or September; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +on the whole there is little variation in the seasons;<a name="FNanchor_8_884" id="FNanchor_8_884"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_884" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> the +Marquesan year has been described as one long tropical +month of June just melting into July.<a name="FNanchor_9_885" id="FNanchor_9_885"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_885" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Yet we are told that +the northern islands sometimes suffer from droughts which +may last for years; at such times vegetation languishes, +till a fresh cloud-burst restores the verdure of the trees and +grass as by magic.<a name="FNanchor_10_886" id="FNanchor_10_886"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_886" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> It is then, too, that the cascades everywhere +enliven the landscape by the glitter and roar of their +tumbling waters, which, after dropping from the height, flow +rapidly down their steep beds into the sea.<a name="FNanchor_11_887" id="FNanchor_11_887"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_887" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>Physical Appearance of the Natives</i></h4> + +<p>Observers are generally agreed that from the purely +physical point of view the Marquesan islanders are, or used +to be, the noblest specimens of the Polynesian race. Captain +Cook remarked that "the inhabitants of these islands collectively +are, without exception, the finest race of people in +this sea. For fine shape and regular features, they perhaps +surpass all other nations."<a name="FNanchor_12_888" id="FNanchor_12_888"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_888" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> To the same effect the naturalist +George Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, gives his +impression of a crowd of Marquesan men, among whom +were no women. He says: "They were tall, and extremely +well limbed; not one of them unwieldy or corpulent like a +Taheitian, nor meagre and shrivelled like a native of Easter +Island. The punctuation" (by which he meant the tattooing) +"which almost entirely covered the men of a middle +age, made it difficult to distinguish their elegance of form; +but among the youths, who were not yet marked or tattooed, +it was easy to discover beauties singularly striking, and often +without a blemish, such as demanded the admiration of all +beholders. Many of them might be placed near the famous +models of antiquity, and would not suffer in the comparison:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Qualis aut Nireus fuit, aut aquosa</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Raptus ab Ida."</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p style='text-align:right;'><span class="smcap">Hor.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> +<p>"The natural colour of these youths was not quite so +dark as that of the common people in the Society Isles; but +the men appeared to be infinitely blacker, on account of the +punctures which covered their whole body, from head to foot. +These punctures were disposed with the utmost regularity; +so that the marks on each leg, arm, and cheek, and on the +corresponding muscles, were exactly similar. They never +assumed the determinate form of an animal or plant, but +consisted of a variety of blotches, spirals, bars, chequers, and +lines, which had a most motley appearance."<a name="FNanchor_13_889" id="FNanchor_13_889"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_889" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Similarly, speaking of the Taipiis or Typees, Melville +observes, "In beauty of form they surpassed anything I +had ever seen. Not a single instance of natural deformity +was observable in all the throng attending the revels. +Occasionally I noticed among the men the scars of wounds +they had received in battle; and sometimes, though very +seldom, the loss of a finger, an eye, or an arm, attributable +to the same cause. With these exceptions, every individual +appeared free from those blemishes which sometimes mar +the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their physical +excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from these +evils; nearly every individual of their number might have +been taken for a sculptor's model."<a name="FNanchor_14_890" id="FNanchor_14_890"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_890" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> As to their stature, the +same writer affirms that "the men, in almost every instance, +are of lofty stature, scarcely ever less than six feet."<a name="FNanchor_15_891" id="FNanchor_15_891"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_891" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Similarly +Captain Porter tell us that "they are far above the +common stature of the human race, seldom less than five feet +eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three +inches, and every way proportioned. Their faces are remarkably +handsome, with keen, piercing eyes; teeth white, and +more beautiful than ivory; countenances open and expressive, +which reflect every emotion of their souls; limbs which +might serve as models for a statuary, and strength and +activity proportioned to their appearance."<a name="FNanchor_16_892" id="FNanchor_16_892"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_892" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Another observer +remarks of them that "the natives bear the palm for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +personal beauty from most other of the Polynesian tribes. +The men are tall and muscular, though rather slightly +framed; their deportment is graceful and independent; +their features are handsome, and partake more of the +European regularity of profile than is usual with Polynesian +islanders."<a name="FNanchor_17_893" id="FNanchor_17_893"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_893" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> The nose is straight or aquiline, +sometimes short or slightly flattened, but never ill-shaped: +the mouth is never large nor the lips thick: the forehead +is rather low and somewhat retreating.<a name="FNanchor_18_894" id="FNanchor_18_894"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_894" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The hair +is almost always straight or wavy; men or women with +frizzly hair are very seldom seen, especially in the north-western +group. The colour of the skin, where it is not +darkened by tattooing, is a clear brown, resembling the +bronzed appearance acquired by Europeans through exposure +to a tropical sun.<a name="FNanchor_19_895" id="FNanchor_19_895"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_895" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The women are both absolutely and +relatively shorter than the men; indeed Melville describes +them as "uncommonly diminutive." Their complexion is +lighter; in the parts of the body which are seldom exposed +to the sun they are even said to appear as white as European +women. Their features are good, but rather pretty than +beautiful; their hands and feet are very shapely. Unlike +the men, who are, or used to be, tattooed from head to foot, +the women were tattooed very little, and that chiefly on the +lips.<a name="FNanchor_20_896" id="FNanchor_20_896"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_896" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> They took pains to whiten their skin by avoiding +exposure to the sun and by washing themselves with the +juice of a small native vine,<a name="FNanchor_21_897" id="FNanchor_21_897"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_897" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> or by smearing themselves with +a cosmetic in which the yellow of the turmeric root predominated.<a name="FNanchor_22_898" id="FNanchor_22_898"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_898" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing</i></h4> + +<p>The Marquesans subsist chiefly on a vegetable diet. +Their staple food is the bread-fruit, and their national dish +is a paste called <i>popoi</i>, which is prepared from bread-fruit +after it has been subjected to a process of fermentation. Fish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +is also a common article of diet; the natives usually eat it +raw, even when it is rotten and stinking. They keep pigs, +but seldom kill them except for a festival or at the reception +of a stranger. Hence pork is not a regular or common +article of diet with them; and apart from it they hardly taste +flesh. Other sorts of food, such as bananas, taro, and sugar-cane, +are entirely subsidiary to the great staples, bread-fruit +and fish. The natives do not readily accustom themselves +to a European diet; indeed when the experiment has been +made of feeding them exclusively in our manner, they have +wasted away and only recovered their health when they were +allowed to return to their usual nourishment. Their ordinary +beverage was water, but they were also addicted to the +drinking of kava, which was extracted from the root of +the <i>Piper methysticum</i> in the usual fashion.<a name="FNanchor_23_899" id="FNanchor_23_899"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_899" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Drawing their +sustenance chiefly from the bread-fruit tree, the Marquesans +paid little attention to the cultivation of the soil; however, +they grew a certain amount of taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane; +and they had plantations of the paper-mulberry,<a name="FNanchor_24_900" id="FNanchor_24_900"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_900" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> the +bark of which was manufactured by the women into cloth +in the ordinary way. But the bark of other trees was also +employed for the same purpose. Since the natives were able +to procure European stuffs, the indigenous manufacture of +bark-cloth has much declined.<a name="FNanchor_25_901" id="FNanchor_25_901"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_901" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Hence agriculture engaged +the men very little; fishing, though it was part of their +business, they are said to have neglected; the only work of +consequence they did was to build their houses and manufacture +their arms, but these employments occupied them +only occasionally.<a name="FNanchor_26_902" id="FNanchor_26_902"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_902" class="fnanchor">[26]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<p>The weapons of the warriors were clubs, spears, and +slings. The slings were made of coco-nut fibre, and the +natives were very expert in the use of them. Bows and +arrows were unknown.<a name="FNanchor_27_903" id="FNanchor_27_903"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_903" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Like the rest of the Polynesians, +the Marquesans were totally ignorant of the metals until they +acquired them from Europeans. Their tools were made of +stone, bone, and shell. Thus they employed a pointed stone +to bore holes with, and an axe of black, hard stone for cutting. +The axe-head was shaped like an elongated wedge +or mortise-chisel, and was fastened to the haft by coco-nut +fibre. Some of these axes weighed as much as twenty-five +pounds. The natives also used sharp-edged or toothed shells +as cutting implements, and borers made of pointed bones; +while rough fish-skins served them as polishers.<a name="FNanchor_28_904" id="FNanchor_28_904"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_904" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Like the +rest of the Polynesians, they kindled fire by the method +known as the stick-and-groove, that is, by rubbing the sharp +point of one stick against the flat surface of another, so as to +form a groove in it and, by continued friction, to elicit smoke +and a glow, which, with the help of dry leaves, is nursed into +a flame. Contrary to the usage of some peoples, the Marquesans +employed the same kind of wood for both the fire-sticks, +either a species of hibiscus (<i>Hibiscus tiliaceus</i>) or a +species of poplar (<i>Thespesia populnea</i>); for this purpose they +split a branch in two, lengthwise, and used the two pieces as +the fire-sticks. In former days these fire-sticks were regularly +kept in every native house.<a name="FNanchor_29_905" id="FNanchor_29_905"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_905" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>The Marquesan houses are regularly built on stone platforms, +oblong or square in shape, and raised above the ground +to heights varying from one to four, eight, or even ten feet. +The higher platforms are approached from the ground by +ladders or notched poles. The houses, constructed of timber +and bamboo, are oblong in shape, and comprise a high back +wall, generally inclined forward at an angle, from which the +thatched roof slopes down steeply to a low front wall, while +two short walls close the house at either end. The door is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +in the middle of the front wall, and is so low that it is +necessary to stoop in entering. Sometimes the fronts of the +houses are entirely open except for the low pillars which +support the roof. The interior of the house forms a single +chamber undivided by partitions. Two trunks of coco-nut +palms extend parallel to each other along the whole length +of the floor at an interval of four or five feet; the innermost +log, a foot or two distant from the back wall, forms a pillow +on which the heads of the sleepers rest, while the other +supports their feet or legs. The space between the two logs +is paved with stone, and spread with mats. In the single +apartment the whole family live and sleep. Such at least +were the domestic arrangements in the old days. The size +of the houses naturally varies. Some of them measure eighty +feet by forty, others only twenty-five feet by ten, or even +less.<a name="FNanchor_30_906" id="FNanchor_30_906"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_906" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The platforms on which the houses are built consist often +of large blocks of stone neatly and regularly laid without +mortar or cement, in a style which would do no discredit to +European masons.<a name="FNanchor_31_907" id="FNanchor_31_907"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_907" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Sometimes the stones are described as +enormous blocks of rock,<a name="FNanchor_32_908" id="FNanchor_32_908"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_908" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> some of which would require ten +or twelve men to carry or roll them.<a name="FNanchor_33_909" id="FNanchor_33_909"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_909" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Water-worn boulders, +washed down from the mountains in the bed of torrents, were +especially chosen for the purpose.<a name="FNanchor_34_910" id="FNanchor_34_910"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_910" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Sometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses +were raised above the ground on posts from eight or ten +to sixteen feet high. Such houses were lightly built of +wood and thatched; the floor was an open work of split +bamboos. Sometimes these raised dwellings resembled the +ordinary Marquesan house in structure; at other times they +were quadrangular, with perpendicular walls and an ordinary +roof. They were approached by ladders and resembled the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +habitations in use among the Malay tribes of the Indian +Archipelago. No dwellings of this type have been noticed +in Nukahiva, the principal island of the archipelago; but +they have been seen and described in Tauata (Santa Christina) +and Hivaoa (Dominica).<a name="FNanchor_35_911" id="FNanchor_35_911"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_911" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>The Marquesans built canoes of various sizes, the smaller +for fishing, the larger for war. These latter might be from +forty to fifty feet long. They were fitted with outriggers. +The prow had an ornamental projection rudely carved to +represent the head of an animal. Sometimes the prows of war +canoes were decorated with the skulls of slaughtered enemies. +But in general the Marquesans appear to have been inferior +to the other South Sea islanders in the arts of canoe-building +and navigation.<a name="FNanchor_36_912" id="FNanchor_36_912"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_912" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> This inferiority may perhaps have been +partly due to the absence of those lagoons which, formed by +coral reefs, elsewhere enabled the natives to acquire confidence +and skill in sailing on smooth and sheltered waters. +The same cause may also, perhaps, explain why fishing was +comparatively little practised by the Marquesans. We are +told that as an occupation it was despised by such as owned +a piece of land of any extent, and that only the poorer class +of people, who depended on the sea for a livelihood, addicted +themselves to it. They caught fish by means both of nets +and of lines with hooks neatly made of mother-of-pearl; also +they stupefied the fish by a certain mashed root, which the +fisherman distributed in the water by diving, and then caught +the fish as they rose to the surface.<a name="FNanchor_37_913" id="FNanchor_37_913"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_913" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names</i></h4> + +<p>The social life of the Marquesan islanders presented +some peculiar features. Thus they are said to have +practised the rare custom of polyandry. On this subject +Stewart observes: "We have yet met with no instance, in +any rank of society, of a male with two wives, but are +informed that for one woman to have two husbands is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +universal habit. Some favourite in the father's household +or retinue at an early period becomes the husband of the +daughter, who still remains under the paternal roof till +contracted in marriage to a second individual, on which she +removes with her first husband to his habitation, and both +herself and original companion are supported by him."<a name="FNanchor_38_914" id="FNanchor_38_914"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_914" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +Melville describes the custom in substantially the same way, +and adds, "No man has more than one wife, and no wife +of mature years has less than two husbands,—sometimes +she has three, but such instances are not frequent." He +seems to have attributed the practice to a scarcity of +women; for he tells us that "the males considerably outnumber +the females."<a name="FNanchor_39_915" id="FNanchor_39_915"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_915" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The same view was taken at a +later date by Dr. Clavel, who observes: "In the islands +where the women are in a minority we may to this day +observe tolerably numerous cases of polyandry. Thus at +Ua-Una I met some women who had each two husbands, +almost always one of them young and the other old. Such +households of three are not worse than the rest and never +give rise to intestine dissensions."<a name="FNanchor_40_916" id="FNanchor_40_916"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_916" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> According to Radiguet, +the right of having more husbands than one was not general +and hardly belonged to any but chieftainesses,<a name="FNanchor_41_917" id="FNanchor_41_917"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_917" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> but this +limitation is denied by a good authority.<a name="FNanchor_42_918" id="FNanchor_42_918"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_918" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The Russian +navigator Lisiansky, who visited the Marquesas in 1804, +seems to have supposed that the custom was restricted to +wealthy families. He says: "In rich families, every woman +has two husbands; of whom one may be called the assistant +husband. This last, when the other is at home, is nothing +more than the head servant of the house; but, in case of +absence, exercises all the rights of matrimony, and is also +obliged to attend his lady wherever she goes. It happens +sometimes, that the subordinate partner is chosen after +marriage; but in general two men present themselves to the +same woman, who, if she approves their addresses, appoints +one for the real husband, and the other as his auxiliary: the +auxiliary is generally poor, but handsome and well-made."<a name="FNanchor_43_919" id="FNanchor_43_919"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_919" class="fnanchor">[43]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another peculiar habit of the Marquesans was to give +away their children to be adopted by other people soon +after their birth. When a woman was pregnant, she and +her husband would discuss to whom they should give the +child that was about to be born. They received offers from +neighbours, and often knocked down the infant to the +highest bidder; for the adopting parents regularly made +presents to the child's family, consisting of cloth, tools, and +pigs, according to the fortune of the contracting parties. +After birth the child remained with its mother for some +months till it was weaned, upon which it was sent away to +its parents by adoption, who might inhabit a different +district and even a different island. It is said to have been +exceptional for parents to bring up their own offspring.<a name="FNanchor_44_920" id="FNanchor_44_920"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_920" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>Another mode by which the Marquesans created artificial +relationships was the exchange of names. Such an exchange +was equivalent to a ratification of amity and good-will +between the persons, who thereby acquired a claim to +mutual protection and the enjoyment of each other's +property and even of their wives, if they happened to be +married men. The custom was not limited to the natives; +they readily exchanged names with Europeans and granted +them the privileges which flowed from the pact. It is even +said that some natives gave their own names to animals, +which thenceforth became sacred for them and for the rest +of the tribe. This led to so many inconveniences that the +priests had to forbid the practice of exchanging names with +animals.<a name="FNanchor_45_921" id="FNanchor_45_921"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_921" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls</i></h4> + +<p>A favourite amusement of the islanders was racing or +combating on stilts. A stilt was composed of two pieces, +a pole of light wood which the runner held in his hand, and +a step or foot-rest of hard wood, on which he planted one +of his feet. The step or foot-rest was often adorned with +human figures curiously carved, which are said to have +represented gods. The races or combats took place on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +paved areas which were to be seen in most villages, and +which formed the scene of public entertainments. In these +contests each runner or combatant tried to get in the way of +his adversary, and, balancing himself on one stilt, to strike +his rival with the other, so as to bring him to the ground +amid the laughter and jeers of the spectators. It has +sometimes been supposed that the use of stilts in the +Marquesas originated in the practical purpose of enabling +people to cross a stream without wetting their feet. But +the supposition is highly improbable. For, on the one hand, +the streams in the islands are mere rivulets, which dry up +for the greater part of the year; and, on the other hand, +the natives are almost amphibious, often spending whole +days in the water, and swimming for hours without fatigue. +Hence it is absurd to imagine that they invented stilts +simply to keep their feet dry at crossing a shallow stream.<a name="FNanchor_46_922" id="FNanchor_46_922"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_922" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>But perhaps the most popular recreation of the +Marquesans was dancing and singing, which formed a +leading feature of their festivals. Every inhabited district +had its dancing-place, a sort of public square, where places +were set apart for the use of the performers, the musicians, +and the spectators. These have been described by the +missionary, C. S. Stewart, from personal observation. He +says, "Our walk terminated at what may be called the +<i>theatre</i> or <i>opera house</i> of the settlement, a large rectangular +platform of stone pavement, surrounded by low terraces also +laid with stone; the first designed for the public exhibitions +of the song and the dance, and the last for the accommodation +of the spectators who assemble to witness the performance. +Entertainments of this kind are the most +fashionable and favourite amusements at the Washington +and the Marquesan groups. Every inhabited district has its +<i>Tahua</i>, or public square of this kind; some of them so +extensive, it is said, as to be capable of accommodating ten +thousand people."<a name="FNanchor_47_923" id="FNanchor_47_923"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_923" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Again, speaking of another of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +dancing-places, the same writer observes, "This <i>Tahua</i>, or +theatre, is a structure altogether superior to that visited by +us yesterday, and so massive and well built as to be capable +of enduring for ages. It is a regular oblong square, about +sixty feet in length and forty broad. The outer wall consists +of immense stones, or slabs of rock, three feet high, and +many of them four or six feet long, joined closely together +and hewn with a regularity and neatness truly astonishing, in +view of the rude implements by which it must have been +accomplished. On a level with the top of this outer wall, +a pavement of large flat stones, several feet in width, extends +entirely round, forming seats for the chiefs, warriors, and +other persons of distinction, and singers performing the +recitatives and choruses accompanying the dance. Within +this, and some inches lower, is another pavement still wider, +having large flat-topped stones fixed in it at regular intervals +of six or eight feet, used as seats by the beaters on the +drums, and other rude instruments of music, and immediately +within this again, an unpaved area, some twenty feet long +by twelve broad, constituting the stage on which the dancers +exhibit their skill."<a name="FNanchor_48_924" id="FNanchor_48_924"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_924" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Some of these dancing-places appear to have been much +larger than those seen by Stewart. According to Langsdorff +they were sometimes not less than a hundred fathoms in +length, and the great smooth pavement consisted of blocks +of stone, several feet broad, laid so neatly and so close +together that you might have imagined it to be the work +of European master-masons.<a name="FNanchor_49_925" id="FNanchor_49_925"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_925" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Radiguet describes one such +dancing-place as a rectangular area eighty metres (about +two hundred and sixty feet) long by thirty metres (about +one hundred feet) broad, and surrounded by a terrace paved +with stone, on which the spectators were seated.<a name="FNanchor_50_926" id="FNanchor_50_926"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_926" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>The festivals (<i>koikas</i>) celebrated at these places were +either periodical or occasional. Among the periodical +perhaps the most important was that held at the ingathering +of the bread-fruit harvest in February and March. +Among the occasional were those held after a successful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +fishing, at the ratification of peace, and after the death of +a priest or chief, who had been raised to the rank of a deity. +A messenger decked in all the native finery repaired to +the surrounding villages inviting the inhabitants to attend +the festival. Immense numbers of hogs were killed and +huge troughs filled with bread-fruit were provided by the +hosts for the banquet. The festivals were attended not +only by the people of the particular valley in which they +were held, but by the inhabitants of other valleys and even +of other islands; for so long as a festival lasted, a special +taboo forbade the natives to harm the strangers in their +midst. A general truce was observed; members of hostile +tribes came to share the pleasures of the festival with the +foes whom they had recently fought, and whom they would +fight again in a few days.<a name="FNanchor_51_927" id="FNanchor_51_927"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_927" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Yet such visitors were careful +to observe certain precautions: they never came unarmed, +and they always kept together on one side of the festival +ground, in order that they might rally the more easily for +mutual defence, if they should be suddenly attacked.<a name="FNanchor_52_928" id="FNanchor_52_928"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_928" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>The performers who sang and danced at these festivals +for the entertainment of the public were called <i>Hokis</i> or +<i>Kaioas</i>: they are described as a sort of wandering +troubadours or minstrels, who went from tribe to tribe, +seeking their fortune. They took great care of their persons, +which they artificially whitened. At once poets, musicians, +and dancers, they nevertheless did not enjoy the public +esteem; on the contrary, their effeminate habits incurred +the contempt of a people who had small taste for the fine +arts.<a name="FNanchor_53_929" id="FNanchor_53_929"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_929" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Thus these wandering minstrels and mountebanks +would seem to have corresponded to the Areois of the +Society Islands.<a name="FNanchor_54_930" id="FNanchor_54_930"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_930" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> The dances were accompanied by the +beating of drums and the songs of a chorus, it might be of +a hundred and fifty singers, who sat on the upper platform +along with the chiefs and warriors. Sometimes in the +intervals between the dances a choir of women, seated on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +an adjoining and elevated platform, would chant in dull +monotonous tones, clapping their hands loudly in unison +with their song. The subjects of the songs were various +and were often furnished by some passing event, such as +the arrival of a ship or any less novel incident. Not +unfrequently, like ballads in our own country, the songs +caught the popular fancy and became fashionable, being +sung in private by all classes of society. So passionately +addicted were the Marquesans to these entertainments that +they undertook the longest and most fatiguing journeys +from all parts of the island in order to be present at them, +carrying their food and suffering great hardships by the +way; they even came in their crazy canoes, at the hazard +of their lives, from other islands, and accepted the risk of +being knocked on the head at one of the brawls with which +such gatherings usually ended.<a name="FNanchor_55_931" id="FNanchor_55_931"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_931" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>Closely connected with the festivals were the banqueting-halls, +as they may be called. These were houses, or rather +sheds, thatched with leaves and open in front, where the +lower end of the sloping roof was supported on short +wooden pillars, of which the upper parts were rudely carved +in the likeness of the god Tiki, thus forming a sort of +Caryatids. These sheds varied in length from thirty to +sixty and even two hundred feet in length. They stood on +quadrangular stone platforms of the usual type, ranging +from three or four to six, eight, twelve, and even fifteen +feet in height. The blocks of stone put together to form +the platforms were sometimes enormous, many of them +measuring eight feet long by four feet thick and wide; +and they were hewn and polished into such perfect form +as to excite the wonder of the European beholder, who +reflected with astonishment on the vast labour requisite to +bring these huge rocks from the sea and to chisel them into +shape without the help of iron tools. Access to the platforms +was afforded by sloping trunks of trees notched into steps. +In these open sheds the men feasted and prayed. Before +each repast it was customary to offer to the deity a small +portion of food wrapt in leaves. Sometimes the priests +would thrust the morsels into the mouths of Tiki's grotesque<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +images. No woman might enter these banqueting-halls or +mount the platforms on which they stood. The place was +strictly tabooed to them, and the taboo was signified in the +usual way by long pennants of white cloth attached to the +posts of the house.<a name="FNanchor_56_932" id="FNanchor_56_932"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_932" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Social Ranks, Taboo</i></h4> + +<p>Socially the Marquesans were divided into chiefs or +nobles and commoners; but the chiefs seem to have +possessed very little authority, and to have received few +outward marks of deference and respect. A monarchical +government in any proper sense of the word was unknown.<a name="FNanchor_57_933" id="FNanchor_57_933"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_933" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> +The power of the chiefs, such as it was, rested mainly on +their superior wealth, particularly on their landed property; +for the larger their estates, the greater the number of the +tenants whose services they could command. Hence the +government has been called aristocratic and compared to the +feudal system.<a name="FNanchor_58_934" id="FNanchor_58_934"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_934" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> In a fruitful season the chiefs had a right +to a fourth part of the produce, and in other seasons a share +according to circumstances. Their dignity was hereditary.<a name="FNanchor_59_935" id="FNanchor_59_935"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_935" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> +There was no general government of the archipelago as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +whole. Each island was quite independent of all the rest; +and in every island there were several independent tribes, +which were generally at war with each other.<a name="FNanchor_60_936" id="FNanchor_60_936"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_936" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>A powerful instrument in the hands of the nobles was +the taboo or <i>tapu</i>, which, though it seems to have been +originally a religious institution,<a name="FNanchor_61_937" id="FNanchor_61_937"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_937" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> was turned to political and +economic account by the chiefs and priests acting in conjunction. +One of our best authorities on the Marquesans +describes the institution as a tool of despotism for the +gratification of the passions and caprices of such as could +wield it.<a name="FNanchor_62_938" id="FNanchor_62_938"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_938" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> But this is a somewhat one-sided and imperfect +view to take of its scope. There is no doubt, as other +good authorities on the Marquesans have pointed out, +that in the absence of a strong government which could +maintain order and protect life and property, the taboo to +a great extent served the purposes which in more civilised +society are fulfilled by laws.<a name="FNanchor_63_939" id="FNanchor_63_939"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_939" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> The taboo was a sacred +interdiction, a breach of which was believed of itself to +entail disastrous consequences on the transgressor. The +interdiction might be either public or private. To give +examples of public interdictions, when the quantity of breadfruit, +on which the people depended for their subsistence, +was from any cause seriously diminished in a district, the +chief had the right to impose a taboo on bread-fruit trees +for twenty months, during which no one might gather the +fruit. This close time allowed the trees to recover their +strength and fertility. Similarly, if fish were scarce, the +chief might pronounce a taboo on the neighbouring bay, or +a part of it, in order to allow the fish to multiply undisturbed +and replenish the sea in the neighbourhood of human +habitations. Again, in the prospect of a great festival, a +chief might lay an interdict on pigs for two or three years +in advance, in order that, when the time came, there might +be plenty of pork for the multitude at the banquet. +Similarly, when the paper-mulberry, from which the +Marquesans made their bark-cloth, threatened to give out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +the chief might lay the trees under an interdict for five +years, at the end of which the crop was sure to be +magnificent.<a name="FNanchor_64_940" id="FNanchor_64_940"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_940" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> In these and similar cases the taboo was of +public utility by ensuring a proper supply of the necessaries +of life. However, its imposition was not always guided by +rational considerations, and hence it sometimes failed of its +purpose. For example, so long as the bread-fruit was +unripe, almost all kinds of fish were taboo and therefore +might not be eaten, and this interdiction, instead of alleviating, +tended naturally to aggravate the scarcity of food. +The reason for the taboo was a curious superstition that if +any one were to eat fish while the bread-fruit was unripe, +the fruit would fall from the trees.<a name="FNanchor_65_941" id="FNanchor_65_941"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_941" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>But the taboo also served a useful purpose by ensuring +respect for private property, which is a fundamental condition +of social prosperity. "The priests only," we are told, "can +impose a general taboo, but every individual has a right to +pronounce one upon his own property: this is done by +declaring, if his wish be to preserve a breadfruit, or a cocoa +tree, a house or a plantation, from robbery and destruction, +that the spirit of his father or of some king, or indeed of +any other person, reposes in this tree, or house, which then +bears the name of the person, and nobody ventures to +attack it. If any one is so irreligious as to break through +a taboo, and should be convicted of it, he is called <i>kikino</i>; +and the <i>kikinos</i> are always the first to be devoured by the +enemy, at least they believe it to be so, nor is it impossible +that the priests should so arrange matters as that this really +happens."<a name="FNanchor_66_942" id="FNanchor_66_942"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_942" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Again, if a man's pig had been stolen, and he +suspected who had done the deed, he would lay a taboo on +the swine or other property of the thief by giving his own +name, or the name of somebody else, to the animals or the +trees or whatever it might be. After that, in the opinion +of the people, the property so named was bewitched or +haunted by the spirit of the person, whether alive or dead, +whose name it bore; and this belief sometimes sufficed to +compel the thief to abandon his possessions and to settle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_67_943" id="FNanchor_67_943"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_943" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> A wreath of leaves or a strip of white cloth +attached to a house, a canoe, a fruit-tree, or other piece +of property, was the symbol of taboo, and in ordinary +circumstances was enough to protect it.<a name="FNanchor_68_944" id="FNanchor_68_944"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_944" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>But the taboo was an instrument which could be used +capriciously to thwart, as well as to further, the course of +justice. Thus we read how, under the French government +of the islands, a wife set out for the police-office to complain +of the ill-treatment to which she had been subjected by her +husband. But scarcely had she put her foot outside the +door, when her husband, aware of her intention and determined +to frustrate it, called out after her, "The road from +here to the police-office is your father." On hearing that, +the woman at once stopped short, for under no circumstances +would she dare to trample on the author of her being. On +the contrary, she immediately roasted two little pigs and +carried them to the tomb of her father as an offering to +appease his ghost, which might reasonably be supposed to +fret at the mere thought of being trodden under foot by his own +daughter.<a name="FNanchor_69_945" id="FNanchor_69_945"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_945" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> This instructive example shows how closely the +taboo was associated with the fear and worship of the dead; +by bestowing the name of a dead person on a thing you +rendered the thing inviolate, since thereby you placed it +under the immediate protection of the ghost.</p> + +<p>Among the multitude of taboos which were religiously +observed by the Marquesans it is perhaps possible to detect +a trace of totemism. Thus the sting ray fish was taboo to +the tribe of Houmis. Not only would they not eat the fish, +but they fled in horror if it were even shown to them. +Their horror was explained by a tradition that once on a +time a great chief of the tribe had been out fishing with his +people, when a gigantic sting ray upset their canoes and +gobbled them all up.<a name="FNanchor_70_946" id="FNanchor_70_946"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_946" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> This aversion to eating and even +looking at a certain species of animal, together with a +traditionary explanation based on an incident in the past +history of the tribe, is very characteristic of totemism.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§ 7. <i>Religion and Mythology</i></h4> + +<p>The consideration of taboo introduces us to the subject +of religion; for, on the one hand, the foregoing evidence +tends to establish a connexion between the institution of +taboo and the doctrine of the human soul, and on the other +hand some of our best authorities on the Marquesans have +stated that the taboo was believed to be an expression of +the will of the gods conveyed to the people through the +mouth of a priest.<a name="FNanchor_71_947" id="FNanchor_71_947"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_947" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> The definition may be accepted, if +under gods we include the spirits of the dead, who were +worshipped by the Marquesans and lent their sanction, as +we have just seen, to the taboo.</p> + +<p>The Marquesan term for a god was the usual Polynesian +word <i>atua</i> or, as it is sometimes spelled, <i>etua</i>. But their +notion of divinity, as commonly happens, was vague. One +of the earliest writers on their religion, the Russian navigator +Krusenstern, informs us that "a confused notion of a higher +being, whom they call <i>Etua</i>, does indeed exist among them, +but of these there are several kinds; the spirit of a priest, of +a king, or of any of his relations, being an <i>etua</i>. They +likewise consider all Europeans as such; for as their ideas +do not extend beyond their own horizon, they are firmly +convinced that their ships come from the clouds; and they +imagine that thunder is occasioned by the cannonading of +vessels which float in the atmosphere, on which account they +entertain a great dread of artillery."<a name="FNanchor_72_948" id="FNanchor_72_948"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_948" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The <i>atuas</i> or deities +of the Marquesans, we are told by another writer, "are +numerous and vary in their character and powers. Besides +those having dominion respectively, as is supposed, over the +different elements and their most striking phenomena, there +are <i>atuas</i> of the mountain and of the forest, of the sea-side and +of the interior, <i>atuas</i> of peace and of war, of the song and of +the dance, and of all the occupations and amusements of life. +It is supposed by them that many of the departed spirits of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +men also become <i>atuas</i>: and thus the multiplicity of their +gods is such, that almost every sound in nature, from the +roaring of the tempest in the mountains and the bursting +of a thunderbolt in the clouds, to the sighing of a breeze +through the cocoa-nut tops and the chirping of an insect in +the grass or in the thatch of their huts, is interpreted into +the movements of a god."<a name="FNanchor_73_949" id="FNanchor_73_949"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_949" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>But the Marquesans, not content with deifying some men +after death, deified others in their lifetime. Amongst them +there is, or rather used to be, a class of living men "who +claim the title and attributes of the Deity; not through a +professed inspiration or possession by a supernatural influence +or power, but in their own right of godship as those +who control the elements, impart fruitfulness to the productions +of the earth or smite them with blasting and sterility, +and who exercise the prerogatives of the Deity in scattering +disease and wielding the shafts of death. They are few in +number, not more than one or two at farthest on an island, +and live in a seclusion and mysticism somewhat in unison +with their blasphemous pretensions. There is none at +present in the near vicinity of Taiohae,<a name="FNanchor_74_950" id="FNanchor_74_950"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_950" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> though the former +abode of such an individual is pointed out at the foot of a +bold cliff, high in the mountains. The Rev. Mr. Crook gives +the following account of an Atua, at the island of Tahuata, +in the Windward or Marquesan group, while he resided there +temporarily in 1797, as a missionary from the London +Missionary Society: 'He is now of great age, and has lived +from early life at Hanateiteina, in a large house surrounded +by an enclosure called the A. In the house is an altar, and +from the beams within and upon the trees around it are +human carcasses, suspended with their heads downward and +scalped. No one enters the premises but his servant, except +when human sacrifices are offered. Of these, more are +offered to him than to any other of their gods, and he +frequently seats himself on an elevated scaffold in front of +his house and calls for two or three at a time. He is invoked +in all parts of the island, and offerings everywhere are made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +to him and sent to Hanateiteina.'"<a name="FNanchor_75_951" id="FNanchor_75_951"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_951" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Similarly a Catholic +missionary tells us that in the island of Nukahiva he was +personally acquainted with two living human deities, a priest +and a priestess, both of whom, it was said, had the right to +demand the sacrifice of human victims to themselves. He +adds, however, that they did not abuse the right, and that +nobody in the world appeared more affable and polite than +these divinities; he even entertained hopes of one day +baptizing the priest.<a name="FNanchor_76_952" id="FNanchor_76_952"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_952" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Of the reverence in which the priestly +class in general was held by the people, Captain Porter +remarks that "their priests are their oracles; they are considered +but little inferior to their gods; to some they are +greatly superior, and after their death they rank with the +chief divinity."<a name="FNanchor_77_953" id="FNanchor_77_953"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_953" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>Little seems to be recorded of the theology and mythology +of the Marquesans; but among their myths was the +widespread Polynesian story of the origin of fire. Of old, it +was said, fire used to be jealously guarded by Mahoike in the +infernal regions. Hearing of its utility, Maui descended into +the nether world to steal some of the element; but he failed +to elude the vigilance of its guardian and was obliged to +resort to force to extort the boon from him. In the struggle +which ensued Mahoike lost an arm and a leg, and to save +his remaining limbs he consented to give fire to the victorious +Maui. At the same time he offered to rub it on Maui's leg; +but Maui was too cunning to agree to that, for he knew that +in that case the fire which he took to earth would not be +sacred. Finally, Mahoike rubbed the fire on Maui's head, +and said to him, "Go back to the place you came from and +touch with your forehead all the trees except the <i>keïka</i>: all +the trees will yield you fire."<a name="FNanchor_78_954" id="FNanchor_78_954"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_954" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>In the Marquesas there was a class of men called <i>tauas</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +who were supposed to possess an hereditary gift of inspiration +and to become deities after their death. They could cause +a god to dwell within them. Often at night they might be +heard conversing with the divinity in their bodies, the deity +crying out in a shrill voice, while the man answered him in +his own ordinary voice. Sometimes they would make a +rustling noise with their fingers in the leaves, and say that +they had been miraculously taken through the thatch of the +house and brought back again by the door. In their fits of +inspiration they became convulsed and glared fiercely with +their eyes; then, with their hands quivering violently, they +would run about, while they prophesied death to their +enemies in squeaky tones, or demanded human victims for +the god by whom they were possessed. With the function +of prophecy they combined the office of physician or rather +of exorciser. For every internal disorder was believed to be +inflicted by some god, who had taken possession of the +sufferer's person; and the <i>tauas</i>, or high priests, as we may +call them, were called in to heal the patient by ridding him +of the divinity who had entered into him. This they +commonly did by feeling for the mischievous deity till +they found him, when they smothered him between the +palms of their hands.<a name="FNanchor_79_955" id="FNanchor_79_955"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_955" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Sometimes the good physician would +converse with the spirit whom he had thus caught between +his hands, and would elicit from him in conversation the +cause of the sickness, which usually consisted in some breach +of taboo, such as a theft of bread-fruit or coco-nuts from a +sacred tree. At the same time the affable spirit would +reveal to the physician the penalty which the sick man must +pay in order to expiate his crime and thereby ensure his +recovery. A sacrifice of pigs would appear to have been +usually deemed indispensable for the patient's complete +convalescence; the animals were conveyed to a temple and +there consumed by the priests for the benefit of the sufferer.<a name="FNanchor_80_956" id="FNanchor_80_956"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_956" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> +The <i>tauas</i> or high priests were supposed to become gods +after death; when one of them departed this life, it was +essential for his deification that human victims should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +sacrificed. The number of victims varied with the rank of +the new deity; it was never less than seven, but oftener ten. +Each victim was sacrificed for the sake of a particular part of +the deity's body, as for his head, or his eyes, or his hair. To +procure the necessary tale of victims, predatory expeditions +were undertaken against the tribes in neighbouring valleys.<a name="FNanchor_81_957" id="FNanchor_81_957"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_957" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 8. <i>The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs</i></h4> + +<p>Like most savages, the Marquesans thought that they +possessed souls which could quit their bodies and wander far +away in dreams. Thus a young girl once related how, the +night before, she had sailed in a splendid canoe to Tiburones, +a mythical paradise to the west of Nukahiva; there she had +seen beautiful things such as do not exist here on earth. +"There," said she, "the trees are very tall, and the people +very handsome; there they sing songs to music sweeter than +ours. Ah! when shall I be able to return to Tiburones?" +On another occasion a woman's soul appeared to a priest to +inform him that she had committed the heinous crime of +eating a fowl, but that she would expiate the sacrilege by an +early death. The French authorities summoned both the +priest and the woman to the bar of justice. There the +priest stuck to it that he had received the revelation, and the +woman expressed her regret for the escapade of which her +soul had been guilty without her knowledge. It was +necessary to reassure her on the subject of her soul's +rash act and melancholy prediction, otherwise she might +have fulfilled the prophecy by refusing food and dying +outright.<a name="FNanchor_82_958" id="FNanchor_82_958"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_958" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>At death the soul was supposed to depart from the +body by the mouth or the nose; hence in order to delay +its departure and so to prolong the life of its owner, +affectionate relatives used to stop his mouth and nostrils, +thus accelerating the event which they wished to retard.<a name="FNanchor_83_959" id="FNanchor_83_959"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_959" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<p>The Marquesans have, or used to have, a sovereign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +contempt for death, and do not fear its approach. When a +native felt that he must die, he took it calmly and ordered +his coffin, which he caused to be brought to the house while +he was still in life. The coffin is hollowed out of a single +log and resembles a canoe. If the sick man after all +recovered, the coffin was kept in a corner of the house till +it was wanted. No attempt was made to hide it or to +disguise its purpose. Should a stranger ask, "What is +that?" he would be told, "It is So-and-so's coffin"; though +So-and-so might be present and within hearing.<a name="FNanchor_84_960" id="FNanchor_84_960"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_960" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Nevertheless, +when it was clear that a serious illness was about +to terminate fatally, and that all the efforts of the priestly +physician or sorcerer to avert the inevitable end were fruitless, +the house would be filled by wailing women, who +danced naked round the mat of the dying man, cutting +themselves with sharp stones or shark's teeth as in a +frenzy, and uttering the most piercing lamentations. This +lasted till the moment of death, when all united in a terrific +and prolonged howl.<a name="FNanchor_85_961" id="FNanchor_85_961"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_961" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> Similar demonstrations of sorrow +were continued or renewed after the decease. If the +departed was a married man and his widow survived him, +she would bruise her flesh with a stone, scratch it with her +nails, and cut her forehead, cheeks, and breast with shark's +teeth or splinters of bamboo till the blood trickled down.<a name="FNanchor_86_962" id="FNanchor_86_962"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_962" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +Captain Porter saw a woman with deep wounds still +unhealed, which she had inflicted on her neck, breast, and +arms for the loss of her husband, who had been devoured +by a shark.<a name="FNanchor_87_963" id="FNanchor_87_963"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_963" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> After the death, too, the widow would place +herself in front of the corpse, and three or four girls would +surround her; whereupon they would all engage in a +lascivious dance, with outstretched arms, tripping in cadence +to the accompaniment of a funeral hymn or lamentation, +which was chanted by a choir in honour of the dead. After +executing the dance, which would seem to have been +intended to attract the attention of the deceased and recall +his wandering spirit, they would stoop over the corpse, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +cry, "He has not stirred! He stirs not. Alas! alas! he +is no more." It was only after they had thus practised +their seductions in vain on the dead man that the widow +gave way to her frantic outburst of sorrow by mauling herself +with a sort of saw.<a name="FNanchor_88_964" id="FNanchor_88_964"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_964" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> This funeral dance a widow was +apparently expected to renew in public at every festival for +months after the death. At a festival, which he called the +Feast of Calabashes, Melville saw four or five old women, +stark naked, holding themselves erect and leaping stiffly +into the air, with their arms pressed close to their sides, +like sticks bobbing up and down in water. They preserved +the utmost gravity of countenance, and continued +their strange movements without a single moment's cessation, +though they did not appear to attract the observation of the +crowd around them. The American was told that these +dancing or leaping figures "were bereaved widows, whose +partners had been slain in battle many moons previously; +and who, at every festival, gave public evidence in this +manner of their calamities."<a name="FNanchor_89_965" id="FNanchor_89_965"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_965" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> When the deceased was a +chief, the lamentations and the dances went on day and +night for some time. A priestess or sorceress, in festal +costume, led the choir of female mourners and vaunted the +exploits of the dead warrior, recalling his mighty deeds and +the incidents of his life. The dances were accompanied by +the music of drums. The crowd of spectators, in their best +array, ate and drank to repletion, and, flushed with liquor, +abandoned themselves to excesses which transformed the +mortuary chamber, lit up at night by smoky torches, +into a scene of low debauchery. From time to time +remarks of a gross nature were addressed to the dead +man on the helpless condition to which he was reduced; +and now and then the women would slash their faces and +breasts with splinters of bamboo in the usual fashion. The +orgy went on till the provisions were completely exhausted, +which might not be for a considerable time, since hecatombs +of pigs were sometimes slaughtered for the purpose of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +celebrating the obsequies of a chief in a manner worthy of +his rank.<a name="FNanchor_90_966" id="FNanchor_90_966"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_966" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p> + +<p>The soul of the dead was believed not to abandon the +corpse definitely for two days after the death. In the +interval it was thought to haunt the house, watching the +conduct of the survivors, and ready to act as a friend or a +foe according as the mourners behaved towards the deceased +and his remains. Hence, to keep the ghost in good humour +it was customary to offer him food, in the shape of breadfruit +paste and other dainties, which were wrapped up in +leaves, hung on the edge of the coffin, and frequently +renewed.<a name="FNanchor_91_967" id="FNanchor_91_967"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_967" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> On the third night after the death a priest, +stepping out on the terrace in front of the house, implored +the wandering soul of the deceased to depart; and by way +of enforcing the request a band of men, armed with spears +and other lethal weapons, went about in the outer darkness, +beating the bushes and stabbing the thatched roofs of the +houses in order to drive the lingering ghost away. If, +roused by the clamour, the dogs began to bark, the priest +would say, "The soul is departing."<a name="FNanchor_92_968" id="FNanchor_92_968"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_968" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>From the moment of death till the priests had completed +the litany or songs chanted on such occasions, all +the assembled people fasted, no one touched the provisions +collected for the funeral feast, and no fire might be kindled +within sight of the house.<a name="FNanchor_93_969" id="FNanchor_93_969"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_969" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> The litany consisted in the +mumbling of a long speech in an unintelligible language +accompanied by the constant beating of drums.<a name="FNanchor_94_970" id="FNanchor_94_970"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_970" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Among +the victuals provided for the funeral feast special importance +appears to have been attached to the head of a pig, which +was cut off and attached to the bier.<a name="FNanchor_95_971" id="FNanchor_95_971"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_971" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> We are told that +the professed intention was thereby "to propitiate the gods, +and obtain for the deceased a safe and peaceable passage +through the lower regions." But, in point of fact the priest +took possession of the pig's head and devoured it secretly, +leaving only a small piece of it under a stone.<a name="FNanchor_96_972" id="FNanchor_96_972"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_972" class="fnanchor">[96]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p> + +<p>When death had taken place, the body was washed, +neatly dressed in garments of new cloth, and laid on a bier +constructed of bamboos or of spears and other warlike weapons, +fastened together with wicker-work and spread with mats.<a name="FNanchor_97_973" id="FNanchor_97_973"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_973" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +If the deceased was a chief and a warrior, his body would be +arrayed in his finest ornaments, and his club, plumed helmet, +necklaces of whale's teeth, and skulls of the enemies he had +killed, would be laid beside him. Thus exposed, the corpse +might be kept for weeks in the house, where, in spite of the +stench, the family continued to eat, drink, and sleep beside +it. Sometimes, however, and perhaps more usually, the body +was transferred to a small house or shed adjoining the dwelling +of the deceased, where it received the necessary attentions. +Finally, it was removed to a little hut or shed, where +the bier was supported on posts under a thatched roof. To +be buried in the earth was a mark of ignominy reserved at +most for a young girl of the lowest rank who had died +childless. Beside the corpse food was hung for the use of +the ghost, it might be fish, roast pork, or coco-nuts, and there +it was allowed to remain till it rotted and fell to the ground; +none but children would be greedy or impious enough to +partake of the sacred victuals, and that only in the greatest +secrecy. Often the house in which the death had taken +place was tabooed and abandoned after the remains had been +deposited in their last home.<a name="FNanchor_98_974" id="FNanchor_98_974"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_974" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>The bodies of the dead were regularly subjected to a +kind of embalmment, which had the effect of preserving them +for a longer or shorter time. As soon as decomposition +appeared imminent, the corpse was stripped of its ornaments +and placed in the usual canoe-shaped coffin, the trunk being +propped up so as to facilitate the work of the embalmers. +The task of embalming was entrusted to women, relations of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +the deceased, who rubbed the body daily with coco-nut oil +and perfumes. They had no intercourse with the rest of the +family, and took their meals apart without ever washing +their hands. According to one account, the anointment was +performed by night, while during the day the body was +exposed to the sun on the stone platform of the house. The +products of decomposition were carefully received in vessels +and carried away to the place of sepulture; and the corpse +was gradually eviscerated through the rectum. The friction +was continued until the desiccated body was reduced to the +state of a mummy, though sometimes, in spite of all precautions, +it crumbled into dust. If the operation was successful, +the mummy, wrapt in many bandages, was covered +by a second canoe attached to the first, and was then placed +on a scaffold in a <i>morai</i> or sanctuary specially consecrated +to it. But sometimes the mummy was fastened up to the +roof or wall of the house wherein the person had died; and +it might be kept there even for years. When it was deposited +in a <i>morai</i>, no woman was allowed to approach it under pain +of death.<a name="FNanchor_99_975" id="FNanchor_99_975"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_975" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Sometimes the head was detached from the body +and kept in the house, where it was treated with respect. +Sometimes it was carried away and hidden in some almost +inaccessible cave in the mountains or beside the sea. This was +done as a precaution to save the skulls from falling into the +hands of enemies, who were eager to bear them off as trophies.<a name="FNanchor_100_976" id="FNanchor_100_976"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_976" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>Each family had its own <i>morai</i> or burial-place, where the +mouldering bones or mummies were finally deposited and +left to decay.<a name="FNanchor_101_977" id="FNanchor_101_977"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_977" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> Such family cemeteries were scattered about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +the valleys; the choice of a site seems to have been determined +by no special rule.<a name="FNanchor_102_978" id="FNanchor_102_978"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_978" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> The <i>morai</i> or burial-place of +ordinary people was near their houses, and not far from it +was a taboo-house, where the men feasted on the flesh of +pigs.<a name="FNanchor_103_979" id="FNanchor_103_979"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_979" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> But the cemeteries of chiefs were situated in the +interior of the valleys, often so deeply imbedded in dense +foliage that it was not easy to find them without the guidance +of a native.<a name="FNanchor_104_980" id="FNanchor_104_980"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_980" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> Similarly we are told that the cemeteries +(<i>morais</i>) of priests lay quite apart from all dwellings.<a name="FNanchor_105_981" id="FNanchor_105_981"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_981" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p>The ordinary form of a Marquesan <i>morai</i> or burial-place +seems to have been a thatched shed erected on a square +or oblong platform of stones, exactly resembling the stone +platforms on which the Marquesan houses were regularly +built. Thus Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz say that +"the <i>morais</i>, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, +are erected on a stone platform, the base of all +Nukahivan edifices."<a name="FNanchor_106_982" id="FNanchor_106_982"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_982" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Again, describing what he calls "a +picturesque <i>morai</i>," Radiguet observes, "Four posts, erected +on a platform, supported a small plank covered with a roof +of leaves. Under this roof could be seen the remains of a +skeleton, perhaps that of the daughter-in-law of the neighbouring +house.... At the two ends of the platform two +upright stones, about ten feet high, and resembling the Breton +<i>menhirs</i>, formed an exceptional ornament to this <i>morai</i>, which +the bushes were in course of invading and the storms of +demolishing."<a name="FNanchor_107_983" id="FNanchor_107_983"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_983" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Again, Stewart describes as follows what he +calls "a depository of the dead": "It stands in the midst of +a beautiful clump of trees, and consists of a platform of +heavy stone work, twenty feet or more square and four or +five high, surmounted in the centre by eight or ten posts +arranged in the shape of a grave, and supporting at a height +of six or seven feet a long and narrow roof of thatch. Close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +beneath this was the body enclosed in a coffin."<a name="FNanchor_108_984" id="FNanchor_108_984"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_984" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Again, +in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), Bennett describes +a chief's burial-place as follows: "A low but extensive +stone platform, beneath the shade of a venerable <i>fau</i>-tree, +marks the more consecrated ground; and on this is erected +a wooden hut, containing an elevated trough, shaped as a +canoe, and holding the perfect skeleton of the late chief. In +front of the sepulchre are two hideous wooden idols, and +several bundles of coco-nut leaves."<a name="FNanchor_109_985" id="FNanchor_109_985"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_985" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> The shed, which was +erected on the stone platform, and under which the body +rested on a bier, seems to have consisted for the most part +simply of a thatched roof supported on wooden posts.<a name="FNanchor_110_986" id="FNanchor_110_986"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_986" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> Sometimes, +however, instead of a simple shed, open on all sides, +a small house resembling the ordinary houses of the natives +appears to have been erected for the reception of the corpse +or mummy. Thus in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina) +Bennett describes a burial-place as follows: "The most +picturesque mausoleum we noticed was that which contained +the corpse of one of Eutiti's children. It was placed on the +summit of an isolated hill, rising from the bosom of a well-wooded +savannah, and was covered entirely with the leaves +of the fan-palm. The posterior, or tallest wall, was twelve +feet high, the anterior was low, closed by a mat, and decorated +with six wooden pillars, covered with stained cinnet and +white cloth. Strips of tapa [bark-cloth], fixed to a wand, +fluttered on the roof, to denote that the spot was tabooed; +and for the same purpose, a row of globular stones, each the +size of a football, and whitened with coral lime, occupied +the top of a low but broad stone wall which encircled the +building. The interior contained nothing but the bier on +which the corpse was laid."<a name="FNanchor_111_987" id="FNanchor_111_987"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_987" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> From the sketch which Bennett +gives of this particular mausoleum, as he calls it, we gather +that the sepulchral hut containing the body was not raised +on a stone platform, but built on the flat.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> + +<p>There seems to be no evidence that the stone platforms +on which the sepulchral sheds or huts of the Marquesans +were erected ever took the shape of stepped or terraced +pyramids like the massive stone pyramids of Tahiti and +Tonga. So far as the mortuary platforms of the Marquesans +are described, they appear to have been quadrangular +piles of stone, with upright sides, not stepped or +terraced. Megalithic monuments in the form of stepped +or terraced pyramids seem to have been very rare in the +Marquesas Islands; indeed, it is doubtful whether they +existed at all. With regard to the island of Tahuata (Santa +Christina), it is positively affirmed by Bennett that none of +the valleys contain "any <i>morais</i> or other buildings devoted +to religious purposes, nor any public idols";<a name="FNanchor_112_988" id="FNanchor_112_988"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_988" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> and by <i>morais</i> +he probably means stepped pyramids like those of Tahiti +and Tonga. However, in the valley of Taipii (Typee), in +Nukahiva, a megalithic monument, built in terraces, was +seen by Melville in 1842. He describes it as follows:</p> + +<p>"One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous +path, I came upon a scene which reminded me of Stonehenge +and the architectural labours of the Druids. At the +base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all sides +by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step +by step, for a considerable distance up the hillside. These +terraces cannot be less than one hundred yards in length +and twenty in width. Their magnitude, however, is less +striking than the immense size of the blocks composing +them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from +ten to fifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. +Their sides are quite smooth, but though square, and of +pretty regular formation, they bear no mark of the chisel. +They are laid together without cement, and here and there +show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower +one are somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have +both a quadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the +rest of the terrace elevated several feet above it. In the +intervals of the stones immense trees have taken root, and +their broad boughs, stretching far over and interlacing +together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +Overgrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from +one to another, is a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy +embrace many of the stones lie half-hidden, while in some +places a thick growth of bushes entirely covers them. There +is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of these terraces, +and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation, that +a stranger to the place might pass along it without being +aware of their existence.</p> + +<p>"These structures bear every indication of a very high +antiquity, and Kory-Kory, who was my authority in all +matters of scientific research, gave me to understand that +they were coeval with the creation of the world; that the +great gods themselves were the builders; and that they +would endure until time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's +prompt explanation, and his attributing the work to a divine +origin, at once convinced me that neither he nor the rest +of his countrymen knew anything about them."<a name="FNanchor_113_989" id="FNanchor_113_989"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_989" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Melville +was accordingly disposed to attribute the erection of +these remarkable terraces to an extinct and forgotten +race.<a name="FNanchor_114_990" id="FNanchor_114_990"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_990" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> The hypothesis is all the more probable because +the monument appears to have been entirely abandoned +and unused by the natives during the time when they have +been known to Europeans. But it is doubtful whether the +edifice was a pyramid; all that Melville's somewhat vague +description implies is that it consisted of a series of terraces +built one above the other on the hillside.</p> + +<p>According to some accounts the remains of the dead, +instead of being deposited in sheds or huts erected on stone +platforms, were buried in the platforms themselves. Thus, +according to William Crook, the first missionary to the +Marquesans, "they have a <i>morai</i> in each district, where the +dead are buried beneath a pavement of large stones."<a name="FNanchor_115_991" id="FNanchor_115_991"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_991" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> +Similarly, in Nukahiva two or three large quadrangular +platforms (<i>pi-pis</i>), heavily flagged, enclosed with regular +stone walls and almost hidden by the interlacing branches +of enormous trees, were pointed out as burial-places to +Melville, and he was told that the bodies "were deposited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +in rude vaults beneath the flagging, and were suffered to +remain there without being disinterred. Although nothing +could be more strange and gloomy than the aspect of these +places, where the lofty trees threw their dark shadows over +rude blocks of stone, a stranger looking at them would have +discerned none of the ordinary evidences of a place of +sepulture."<a name="FNanchor_116_992" id="FNanchor_116_992"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_992" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> To the same effect, perhaps, Porter observes +that, "when the flesh is mouldered from the bones, they are, +as I have been informed, carefully cleansed: some are kept +for relics, and some are deposited in the <i>morais</i>."<a name="FNanchor_117_993" id="FNanchor_117_993"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_993" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Again, +Krusenstern says that twelve months after the death "the +corpse is broken into pieces, and the bones are packed in a +small box made of the wood of the bread-fruit tree, and +carried to the <i>morai</i> or burial place, where no woman is +allowed to approach under pain of death."<a name="FNanchor_118_994" id="FNanchor_118_994"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_994" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> However, these +statements do not necessarily imply that the bones were +buried under the stones of the platform at the <i>morai</i>.</p> + +<p>But whether deposited on biers or buried under the +pavement, the remains of the dead were liable to be carried +off in time of war by foes, who regarded such an exploit as +a great deed of heroism. Hence when an invasion of the +enemy in force was expected, the custom was to remove the +bodies from the <i>morai</i> and bury them elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_119_995" id="FNanchor_119_995"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_995" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> The +heads of enemies killed in battle were invariably kept +and hung up as trophies of victory in the house of the +conqueror. They seem to have been smoked in order +to preserve them better.<a name="FNanchor_120_996" id="FNanchor_120_996"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_996" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> It is said that they were used as +cups to drink kava out of.<a name="FNanchor_121_997" id="FNanchor_121_997"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_997" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>After ten months or a year the obsequies were concluded +by another funeral feast, which might last from +eight to thirty days according to the rank of the deceased +and the opulence of his family. At the same time offerings +of food were presented afresh at the tomb, and the decorations +were renewed, consisting of branches and leaves and strips +of white bark-cloth, which waved like flags at the end of +little white wands. At these anniversary feasts, to which, +if the deceased was a man of quality, only chiefs were in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +many cases admitted, great quantities of pigs were consumed.<a name="FNanchor_122_998" id="FNanchor_122_998"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_998" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> +The intention of the feast is said to have been to thank the +gods for having permitted the dead person to arrive safely +in the other world.<a name="FNanchor_123_999" id="FNanchor_123_999"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_999" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 9. <i>Fate of the Soul after Death</i></h4> + +<p>The souls of the dead were supposed to depart either +to an upper or to a lower world, either to heaven or to a +subterranean region called Havaiki. The particular destination +of a soul after death was determined, not by moral +considerations, not by the virtue or vice of the deceased, +but by the rank he had occupied in this life: people of +quality went to the upper world, and common people went +to the lower, to Havaiki.<a name="FNanchor_124_1000" id="FNanchor_124_1000"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_1000" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> According to a more precise +account, heaven was inhabited by deities of the highest +order, by women who had died in childbed, by warriors who +had fallen on the field of battle, by suicides, and especially +by the aristocratic class of the chiefs. This celestial region +was supposed to be a happy land, abounding in bread-fruit +paste (<i>popoi</i>), pork, and fish, and offering the companionship +of the most beautiful women imaginable. There the bread-fruit +trees dropped their ripe fruit every moment to the +ground, and the supply of coco-nuts and bananas never +failed. There the souls reposed on mats much finer than +those of Nukahiva; and every day they bathed in rivers of +coco-nut oil. In that happy land there were plenty of +plumes and feathers, and boars'-tusks, and sperm-whale +teeth far better than even white men can boast of. The +nether world, on the other hand, was peopled with deities +of the second class and by ordinary human beings, who +had no pretensions to gentility. But it was not a place of +misery much less of punishment or torture; on the contrary, +we are told that both the upper and the lower regions were +happier than the earth which the living inhabit.<a name="FNanchor_125_1001" id="FNanchor_125_1001"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_1001" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> The +approach to the lower world, curiously enough, was by +sea. The soul sailed away in a coffin shaped like a canoe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +(<i>pahaa</i>). When it came near the channel which divides +the island Tahuata from the island Hivaoa, it was met by +two deities or two opposing influences, one of which tried +to push the soul into a narrow strait between Tahuata and +a certain rock in the sea, while the other deity or influence +endeavoured to contrive that the soul should keep the broad +channel between the rock and Hivaoa. The souls that +were thrust into the narrow strait were killed; whereas such +as kept the open channel were conducted safe by a merciful +god to their destination.<a name="FNanchor_126_1002" id="FNanchor_126_1002"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_1002" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>Sometimes the land of the dead was identified with +a happy island or islands called Tiburones lying somewhere +in the ocean to the west of Nukahiva. Not uncommonly +natives of the Marquesas sailed away in great double canoes +to seek and find these happy isles, but were never heard of +again. On one occasion, for example, forty men in the +island of Ua-pu, who had revolted against their chief and +been defeated, embarked secretly by night and put to sea, +hoping to discover the Fortunate Islands, where they would +be beyond the reach of their offended lord, and where they +might pass the remainder of their days in liberty and bliss. +What became of them is unknown, for they were seen and +heard of no more in their native island.<a name="FNanchor_127_1003" id="FNanchor_127_1003"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_1003" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>But even the souls that went to heaven were supposed +to stand in need of a canoe in order to reach the place of +bliss. On this point Porter writes: "I endeavoured to +ascertain whether they had an idea of a future state of +rewards and punishments, and the nature of their heaven. +As respects the latter article, they believed it to be an island, +somewhere in the sky, abounding with everything desirable; +that those killed in war and carried off by their friends, go +there, provided they are furnished with a canoe and +provisions; but that those who are carried off by the +enemy, never reach it, unless a sufficient number of the +enemy can be obtained to paddle his canoe there. For +this reason they were so anxious to procure a crew for their +priest, who was killed and carried off by the Happahs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +They have neither rewards nor punishments in this world, +and I could not learn that they expected any in the next."<a name="FNanchor_128_1004" id="FNanchor_128_1004"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_1004" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>In the valley of Taipii (Typee), in the island of +Nukahiva, Captain Porter visited "the chief place of +religious ceremony." It was a platform of the usual sort +situated in a fine grove at the foot of a steep mountain. +On the platform was an idol of hard stone, rudely representing +a deity in human shape of about life size and in a +squatting posture. Arranged on either side of this idol, as well +as in front and rear, were several other images of about the +same size and of the same model, but better carved out of +bread-fruit wood. The place was decorated with streamers +of white cloth. A few paces from the grave were four +fine war canoes, furnished with outriggers, and decorated +with human hair, coral shells, and many white streamers. +In the stern of each canoe was the effigy of a man with a +paddle, steering, in full dress, decked with plumes, ear-rings, +and all the usual ornaments. On enquiring of the natives, +Captain Porter was informed that the dignified effigy seated +in the stern of the most splendid canoe represented a priest +who had been killed not long before by their enemies the +Happahs. In the bottom of the priest's canoe Captain +Porter found the putrefying bodies of two Taipiis (Typees) +whom he and his men had recently killed in battle; and +lying about the canoe he saw many other human carcasses, +with the flesh still on them. The other canoes, he was told, +belonged to different warriors who had been killed or had +died not long since. "I asked them," continues Captain +Porter, "why they had placed their effigies in the canoes, +and also why they put the bodies of the dead Typees in +that of the priest? They told me (as Wilson interpreted) that +they were going to heaven, and that it was impossible to +get there without canoes. The canoe of the priest being +large, he was unable to manage it himself, nor was it right +that he should, he being now a god. They had, therefore, +placed in it the bodies of the Happas and Typees, which had +been killed since his death, to paddle him to the place of +his destination; but he had not been able yet to start, for +the want of a full crew, as it would require ten to paddle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +her, and as yet they had only procured eight. They told +me also that the taboo, laid in consequence of his death, +would continue until he had started on his voyage, which he +would not be able to do until they had killed two more +of their enemies, and by this means completed the crew. +I inquired if he took any sea stock with him. They told +me he did, and pointing to some red hogs in an enclosure, +said that they were intended for him, as well as a quantity +of bread-fruit, coco-nuts, etc., which would be collected from +the trees in the grove. I inquired if he had far to go; +they replied, no: and pointing to a small square stone +enclosure, informed me that was their heaven, that he was +to go there. This place was tabooed, they told me, for +every one except their priests."<a name="FNanchor_129_1005" id="FNanchor_129_1005"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_1005" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>But it was deemed necessary to provide a dead priest or +chief with human victims for other purposes than to paddle +his canoe to heaven. When a great chief died, two +commoners were sometimes sacrificed for the purpose of +escorting him to the abode of bliss; one of them carried +the chief's girdle, and the other bore the head of the pig +that had been slaughtered for the funeral feast. The head +was intended as a present to the warden of the infernal +regions, who, if he did not get this perquisite, would revile +and stone the ghost, and shut the door in his face.<a name="FNanchor_130_1006" id="FNanchor_130_1006"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_1006" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> The +number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a priest +varied with the respect and fear which he had inspired in +his lifetime;<a name="FNanchor_131_1007" id="FNanchor_131_1007"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_1007" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> a common number seems to have been three.<a name="FNanchor_132_1008" id="FNanchor_132_1008"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_1008" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>The runaway English sailor, Roberts, who had long +resided in the islands, assured the Russian explorer Lisiansky +"that, on the death of a priest, three men must be sacrificed; +two of whom are hung up in the burying-ground, while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +third is cut to pieces, and eaten by visitors; all but the head, +which is placed upon one of the idols. When the flesh of +the first two are wasted away, the bones that remain are +burnt. The custom of the country requires, that the men +destined for sacrifice should belong to some neighbouring +nation, and accordingly they are generally stolen. This +occasions a war of six, and sometimes of twelve, months: +its duration, however, depends upon the nearest relation of +the deceased priest; who, as soon as he is acquainted with +his death, retires to a place of taboo; and till he chooses to +come out, the blood of the two parties does not cease to +flow. During his retirement, he is furnished with everything +he may require, human flesh not excepted."<a name="FNanchor_133_1009" id="FNanchor_133_1009"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_1009" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<p>A curious mode of preparing a dead man to appear to +advantage before the gods in the other world was to flay +his corpse. A Catholic missionary tells us that when a +dead body began to swell up, in consequence of internal +putrefaction, it was customary to flay it and to preserve the +skin as a precious relic in the family treasury, where the eye +of a profane stranger could never fall on it.<a name="FNanchor_134_1010" id="FNanchor_134_1010"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_1010" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> The reason +for observing the custom is not mentioned by this missionary, +but it is explained by another missionary, Father Amable. +It happened that the king or head chief of the island of +Tahuata died, and that his body was brought to the house of +the queen on the bay where Father Amable resided. For +thirty days she kept the corpse in the house and occupied +herself with skinning it with her fingers. Questioned by +the missionary as to her reasons for this strange procedure, +she answered that her husband's body must be without spot +or stain, in order that the great goddess Upu might give +him leave to dwell in her land and to bathe in her lake. +For this deity rules over a sort of submarine Eden, planted +with all sorts of excellent fruits and beautified by the calm +waters of an azure lake. The natives of Tahuata believe +that the souls of all who die in the archipelago assemble on +the top of a high mountain called Kiukiu. When a great +multitude of souls is there gathered together, the sea opens +and the souls fall plump down into the paradise of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +goddess Upu. However, not all of them are permitted to +enter the happy land and to enjoy the pleasures which it +offers. Only such are admitted as have owned in their lifetime +many servants and many pigs and have not been +wicked. Further, none may enter in who bear on their +body any marks of tattooing.<a name="FNanchor_135_1011" id="FNanchor_135_1011"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_1011" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> Hence the reason for flaying +dead bodies seems to have been to efface, by removing +the skin, the tattooed marks which would have acted as a +fatal bar to the entrance of the ghost into paradise. As to +the souls of slaves and the poor, in the opinion of the natives +of Tahuata they go to a gloomy land, which is never illumined +by the sun, and where there is nothing but muddy +water to drink.<a name="FNanchor_136_1012" id="FNanchor_136_1012"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_1012" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Nevertheless the people would seem to +have believed that the souls of the dead lingered for a time +beside their mouldering bodies before they took their departure +for the far country. In this belief they sacrificed to +them pigs, some baked, and some alive. The baked pigs +they put in a hollow log and hung from the roof of the hut, +and they said that a god named Mapuhanui, who in the +beginning had bestowed pigs on men, used to come and +feast on the carcasses in company with the ghost. But when +they offered live pigs, they tethered the animals to the hut +in which the dead body lay, and they fed them till the flesh +dropped from the skeleton; after that they allowed the pigs +to die of hunger.<a name="FNanchor_137_1013" id="FNanchor_137_1013"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_1013" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Perhaps, like some other peoples, they +imagined that the ghost hovered about his remains so long +as the flesh adhered to the bones, but that when even that +faint semblance of life had vanished he went away and had +no further occasion for pigs, whether alive or dead.</p> + +<p>However, the souls of the dead were not supposed to be +permanently confined to the other world. After a long sojourn +in it, all alike, whatever the region they inhabited in their disembodied +state, could return to earth and be born again.<a name="FNanchor_138_1014" id="FNanchor_138_1014"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_1014" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> +Indeed, according to the natives of Nukahiva, the interval +between death and reincarnation was not unduly long; for +"every one here is persuaded, that the soul of a grandfather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +is transmitted by Nature into the body of his grandchildren; +and that, if an unfruitful wife were to place herself under the +corpse of her deceased grandfather, she would be sure to +become pregnant."<a name="FNanchor_139_1015" id="FNanchor_139_1015"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_1015" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> Occasionally the soul of a dead person +might even inhabit the body of an animal. Once when a +whale was stranded on one of the islands, a priestess declared +that it was the soul of a certain priest, which would wander +until eight human victims were sacrificed to the gods. In +vain her son would have substituted turtles for human beings; +the people would not hear of it; the prescribed victims +were captured from a neighbouring tribe and put to death +in order to lay the ghost of the whale, or rather of the priest +who had animated the whale's body.<a name="FNanchor_140_1016" id="FNanchor_140_1016"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_1016" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> + +<p>But the souls of the dead were also believed to return +from the spirit land for other purposes than to be born +again in the flesh. They might come as ghosts to haunt +and torment the living, and as such they were greatly +dreaded by the people.<a name="FNanchor_141_1017" id="FNanchor_141_1017"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_1017" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> The first watch of the night was +the hour when they were supposed especially to come on +errands of mischief.<a name="FNanchor_142_1018" id="FNanchor_142_1018"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_1018" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> Particularly dreaded were the ghosts of +high priests and great chiefs, who retained in their spiritual +form the passions and the rancours which they had nursed +in life, and who returned in ghostly shape to earth to meddle +with the affairs of the living, and to punish even trivial +offences. To guard against these dangerous intrusions, the +intervention of a priest or priestess was deemed indispensable; +it was his or her business to counteract a spell cast on a +family, or to heal a sickness inflicted on an individual by +one of these ghostly vagrants.<a name="FNanchor_143_1019" id="FNanchor_143_1019"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_1019" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> Such was the fear of +wandering ghosts that no Marquesan would dare to stir a +step abroad at night without the light of a torch; for well +he knew that evil spirits lurked beside the path to knock +down and throttle any rash wayfarer who should dare +to leave his footsteps unillumined.<a name="FNanchor_144_1020" id="FNanchor_144_1020"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_1020" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> Indeed, we are told +that, of all beliefs in the minds of the natives, the +belief in ghosts was the most deeply rooted. It is impossible +to express the dread which they felt of spectres and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +apparitions; nobody was exempt from it. But it was +only at night that these phantoms were to be feared. +Though they remained invisible, they revealed themselves +to the terror-stricken wanderer by sound and touch; the +least noise heard in the darkness disclosed their presence; +the least contact with them was a sentence of death, sudden +or slow, but sure. Hence, if a man was obliged to go out +after sunset, he would always take somebody with him to +bear him company, even if he had to wake a comrade for +the purpose. Among the women the fear of ghosts was yet +greater, many of them would not stir abroad on a moonless +night even in company. In passing by a burial-ground or +a solitary tomb, people used to throw food towards it for +the purpose of appeasing the ghost, who otherwise would +have attacked them.<a name="FNanchor_145_1021" id="FNanchor_145_1021"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_1021" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>This deep-seated fear of the dead has survived the +conversion, real or nominal, of the Marquesans to Christianity. +No native would even now venture into a cave where the +remains of the dead have been deposited, not though the +greatest treasures were to be found there, for such spots are +believed to be constantly haunted by the ghosts of the +departed. Nobody, it is said, would live in a house in +which somebody has died; every such dwelling is immediately +burnt down. Hence, when a person is grievously sick, a +little primitive hut is erected beside the house, and he is +carried out to die in it, and when he is dead, the hut is in +like manner destroyed with fire.<a name="FNanchor_146_1022" id="FNanchor_146_1022"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_1022" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> A woman will sometimes +commit suicide in order that her ghost may haunt and +torment her unfaithful husband.<a name="FNanchor_147_1023" id="FNanchor_147_1023"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_1023" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand, ghosts in the olden time had also +their utility, for they could be summoned up by a priest or +priestess to give information on various subjects, such as the +issue of an illness. On these occasions the wizard would +hold a conversation with the spirit, whose voice could be +heard by the listeners, though his or her shape, as usual, +was invisible in the darkness. Sceptics thought that such +communications were made by means of ventriloquism, and +indeed a priestess, who had professed to evoke the soul of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +dead chieftainess, solemnly maintained that she could make +the voice of anybody, whether dead or alive, to speak +from her stomach.<a name="FNanchor_148_1024" id="FNanchor_148_1024"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_1024" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>In such beliefs and customs are contained as in germ +the whole theory and practice of the worship of the dead.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—We possess no thorough account of the native Marquesan +society and religion as these existed before they were transformed by +European influence. Some of the writers who have described the +islanders and their customs spent only a few days or at most a few +weeks among them. Captain Cook was at the Marquesas only five +days, from the 6th to the 11th of April 1774.<a name="FNanchor_149_1025" id="FNanchor_149_1025"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_1025" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> The French explorer +Marchand spent eight days in the islands from the 13th to the 21st +of June 1791.<a name="FNanchor_150_1026" id="FNanchor_150_1026"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_1026" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> The Russian explorers Krusenstern and Lisiansky +were with their two ships, the <i>Nadeshda</i> and <i>Neva</i>, at Nukahiva for +ten days, from the 7th to the 17th of May 1804; along with them was +the naturalist Langsdorff, who wrote an independent account of the +voyage.<a name="FNanchor_151_1027" id="FNanchor_151_1027"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_1027" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> But though their stay was short, they had the advantage of +meeting with two Europeans, an Englishman named E. Roberts, and +a Frenchman named Jean (or Joseph) Baptiste Cabri, who had lived +long in the islands and spoke the native language. These men acted +as interpreters to the Russians and supplied them with most of the +information which they give in their books concerning the customs and +beliefs of the Marquesans. Roberts told them that he had been seven +years in Nukahiva and two years previously in Santa Christina (Tau-ata); +that he had been put ashore on the latter island out of an English +merchant ship, the crew of which had mutinied against their captain +and could not prevail upon him to join their party; and that in +Nukahiva he had lately married a relation of the king's, by which he +acquired great consideration, so that it would be easy for him to be of +assistance to them. At the same time he earnestly warned them against +the Frenchman, who had also resided for some years in Nukahiva, but +whose character he painted in very dark colours. The two Russian +captains, Krusenstern and Lisiansky, accordingly put their trust in +Roberts and drew most of their information concerning the natives +from him. On the other hand their naturalist, Langsdorff, made most +use of the Frenchman. He admitted, indeed, that the Englishman +was a man of better character, greater natural intelligence, and much +higher education; but on the other hand he tells us that the Frenchman +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>had been longer in the island and possessed a more thorough mastery +of the language and a greater intimacy with the natives, among whom +he had lived as a savage among savages so long that he had almost +forgotten his own native tongue. But Langsdorff took care to question +both these men and only accepted as true statements in which they +agreed with each other, and to this agreement he naturally attached +the greater weight because his two informants were bitterly hostile to +each other and therefore were unlikely to unite in deceiving him.<a name="FNanchor_152_1028" id="FNanchor_152_1028"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_1028" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> On +the whole, then, the account which Langsdorff gives of Marquesan +society and religion is perhaps more trustworthy as well as fuller than +that of his two compatriots and companions, Krusenstern and Lisiansky.</p> + +<p>Captain David Porter of the United States Navy was with his ship +the <i>Essex</i> at Nukahiva from October 24th till December 9th, 1813.<a name="FNanchor_153_1029" id="FNanchor_153_1029"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_1029" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> +A great part of his time was spent on shore and in close contact with +the natives, and though he did not learn the language, he was able to +employ as an interpreter an Englishman named Wilson, who had lived +for many years in the islands, spoke the language of the natives with +the same facility as his own, and had become a Marquesan in every +respect except in colour. He proved indispensable to the American as +an organ of communication with the people; and much of the information +which Porter gives concerning the customs of the Marquesans was +derived by him from this man.<a name="FNanchor_154_1030" id="FNanchor_154_1030"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_1030" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>The American naval chaplain, the Rev. C. S. Stewart, paid about +a fortnight's visit to Nukahiva, from July 27th to August 13th, 1829, +while his ship, the <i>Vincennes</i>, was anchored at the island. But he +received much information from the Rev. W. P. Crook, who spent +nearly two years (1797 and 1798) in the Marquesas, having been the +first missionary landed in the islands by the missionary ship <i>Duff</i>. +During his residence in the islands Mr. Crook kept a journal, which he +allowed Mr. Stewart to consult. The contents of the journal corroborated +Mr. Stewart's own observations as to the inhabitants, and the account +which he gives of the religion of the islanders is based mainly on the +information derived from Mr. Crook<a name="FNanchor_155_1031" id="FNanchor_155_1031"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_1031" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> and is therefore valuable; for at +the time when Mr. Crook landed in the Marquesas the customs and +beliefs of the islanders were still practically unaffected by contact with +Europeans.</p> + +<p>The surgeon F. D. Bennett, on a whaling voyage spent a few days +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>in Santa Christina (Tau-ata), from February 28th to March 4th, 1835; +and his descriptions of what he saw are good so far as they go; but +naturally he could collect but little accurate information as to the habits +and ideas of the people in so short a time.<a name="FNanchor_156_1032" id="FNanchor_156_1032"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_1032" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></p> + +<p>One of the early Catholic missionaries to the Marquesas, Father +Mathias G——, spent two years in the islands and has given us, in a +series of letters, an account of the native customs and beliefs, which, +though far from complete or systematic, is based on personal +observation and is among the best that we possess.<a name="FNanchor_157_1033" id="FNanchor_157_1033"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_1033" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>Hermann Melville lived among the Taipiis (Typees) in Nukahiva +for more than four months,<a name="FNanchor_158_1034" id="FNanchor_158_1034"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_1034" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> and wrote a lively narrative of his +experiences. His personal observations are valuable, but as he did +not master the native language, he was not able to throw much light +on the inner life of the people, and in particular on their religious ideas.</p> + +<p>On the 1st of May, 1842, the Marquesas Islands were taken +possession of for France by the French Admiral, Du Petit-Thouars;<a name="FNanchor_159_1035" id="FNanchor_159_1035"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_1035" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> +and next year, to satisfy the interest of the French public in their new +possession, a comprehensive work on the islands and their inhabitants +was published by MM. Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz.<a name="FNanchor_160_1036" id="FNanchor_160_1036"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_1036" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> The +authors had visited the islands with the expedition of the French +navigator, J. Dumont d'Urville, in his ships the <i>Astrolabe</i> and the +<i>Zélée</i>. But as the expedition stayed only about a week at Nukahiva, +from August 26th to September 3rd, 1838,<a name="FNanchor_161_1037" id="FNanchor_161_1037"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_1037" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> the writers had little +opportunity of making personal observations. Their work is mainly +a careful compilation from earlier sources, and as such it is a useful +and trustworthy summary of what was known about the archipelago +and its inhabitants down to the date of publication.</p> + +<p>Max Radiguet, one of the members of the expedition to the +Marquesas under Admiral Du Petit-Thouars, passed a considerable +time in the islands and wrote a graphic account of his experiences, +which contains some valuable information as to the natives, their +customs, religion, and mythology.<a name="FNanchor_162_1038" id="FNanchor_162_1038"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_1038" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> In the part which concerns the +mythology he was assisted by an officer of artillery, M. Rohr, who had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>lived for several years in Nukahiva and was familiar with the language +and customs of the people.<a name="FNanchor_163_1039" id="FNanchor_163_1039"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_1039" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p>In 1877 a good general account of the archipelago and its +inhabitants was published at Paris. The author was a naval lieutenant, +P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, who having lived in the islands in the +official capacity of Resident for about six years (from 1868 to 1874) +had ample time and opportunity for obtaining accurate information on +the subject.<a name="FNanchor_164_1040" id="FNanchor_164_1040"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_1040" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> His work, though somewhat slight, is valuable so far as +it goes; but it does not tell us much about the native religion, which +in his time had probably lost a good deal of its original character +through the influence of the missionaries and of civilisation.<a name="FNanchor_165_1041" id="FNanchor_165_1041"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_1041" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> + +<p>Some years later, in 1881 and 1882, a French naval doctor, Clavel +by name, passed six months in the Marquesas. During his stay he made +personal observations and collected information on the natives. These +he subsequently published in a little work, which contains much of +value;<a name="FNanchor_166_1042" id="FNanchor_166_1042"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_1042" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> but when he wrote almost all the natives had been nominally +converted to Christianity and their ancient religion was practically +extinct.<a name="FNanchor_167_1043" id="FNanchor_167_1043"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_1043" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>Towards the end of the nineteenth century the German traveller +Arthur Baessler paid a short visit to the Marquesas. In his book of +travel in the South Sea he has given us descriptions of the islands and +the people as he saw them, including some account of the scanty remains +of their stone monuments and images.<a name="FNanchor_168_1044" id="FNanchor_168_1044"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_1044" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p></div> + + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_877" id="Footnote_1_877"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_877"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Captain J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 274 +<i>sqq.</i>; G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 5 <i>sqq.</i>; C. P. Claret Fleurieu, +<i>Voyage round the World performed by +E. Marchand</i> (London, 1801), i. 27 +<i>sqq.</i>, 55 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +pp. lxxiii. <i>sqq.</i>, 127 <i>sqq.</i>; A. J. von +Krusenstern, <i>Voyage round the World</i> +(London, 1813), i. 136; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>Îles Marquises +ou Nouka-hiva</i> (Paris, 1843), pp. 1 +<i>sqq.</i>, 12 <i>sq.</i>; Le P. Mathias G——, +<i>Lettres sur les Îles Marquises</i> (Paris, +1843), pp. 7 <i>sqq.</i>; P. E. Eyriaud des +Vergnes, <i>L'Archipel des Iles Marquises</i> +(Paris, 1877), pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i>; C. E. +Meinicke, <i>Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans</i>, +ii. 235 <i>sq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, +<i>Australasia</i>, ii. 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_878" id="Footnote_2_878"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_878"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> As to the formation and scenery of +the islands, see Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +110; C. S. Stewart, <i>Visit to the South +Seas</i> (London, 1832), i. 193 <i>sqq.</i>; F. +D. Bennett, <i>Narrative of a Whaling +Voyage round the Globe</i> (London, 1840), +i. 299 <i>sqq.</i>; H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. +8 <i>sq.</i>, 17 <i>sq.</i>, and <i>passim</i> (<i>Everyman's +Library</i>); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 138 <i>sq.</i>; P. E. +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 84 +<i>sq.</i>; Clavel, <i>Les Marquisiens</i> (Paris, +1885) pp. 1 <i>sq.</i>; C. E. Meinicke, <i>op. +cit.</i> ii. 236 <i>sq.</i>; F. H. H. Guillemard, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 522 <i>sq.</i>; A. Baessler, <i>Neue +Südsee-Bilder</i> (Berlin, 1900), pp. 192 +<i>sq.</i>, 220 <i>sqq.</i> As to the extreme difficulty +of scaling the mountains and +precipices to pass from one valley to +another, see particularly M. Radiguet, +<i>Les Derniers Sauvages</i> (Paris, 1882), +pp. 101 <i>sq.</i>, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_879" id="Footnote_3_879"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_879"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Captain David Porter, <i>Journal of +a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean</i>, +Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. +86 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_880" id="Footnote_4_880"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_880"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i> (London, <i>Everyman's +Library</i>, no date). The first edition +of this book was published in 1846. +Melville's residence among the Taipiis +(Typees) fell in the year 1841.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_881" id="Footnote_5_881"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_881"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_882" id="Footnote_6_882"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_882"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> M. Radiguet, <i>Les Derniers Sauvages</i> +(Paris, 1882), pp. 304 <i>sq.</i>; P. E. +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_883" id="Footnote_7_883"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_883"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_884" id="Footnote_8_884"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_884"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 57. Compare M. Radiguet, +<i>Les Derniers Sauvages</i>, pp. 304 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_885" id="Footnote_9_885"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_885"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_886" id="Footnote_10_886"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_886"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 222 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_887" id="Footnote_11_887"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_887"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> M. Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_888" id="Footnote_12_888"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_888"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 284.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_889" id="Footnote_13_889"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_889"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, ii. 14 <i>sq.</i> Compare Krusenstern, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 152 <i>sq.</i>; U. Lisiansky, +<i>Voyage round the World</i> (London, +1814), p. 85; G. H. von Langsdorff, +<i>Reise um die Welt</i> (Frankfurt am Mayn, +1812), i. 92 <i>sqq.</i>; Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +96 <i>sqq.</i>; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 216 <i>sqq.</i>; Eyriaud +des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_890" id="Footnote_14_890"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_890"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_891" id="Footnote_15_891"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_891"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_892" id="Footnote_16_892"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_892"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> David Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 58 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_893" id="Footnote_17_893"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_893"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_894" id="Footnote_18_894"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_894"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> M. Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_895" id="Footnote_19_895"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_895"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_896" id="Footnote_20_896"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_896"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +39 <i>sq.</i>; H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_897" id="Footnote_21_897"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_897"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Visit to the South +Seas</i>, i. 231 <i>sq.</i>, who speaks highly of +the beauty of the women. But the +general opinion appears to be that the +Marquesan women are much less handsome +than the men. See Langsdorff, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 94-96; Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_898" id="Footnote_22_898"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_898"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 308 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_899" id="Footnote_23_899"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_899"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +42-44; Clavel, <i>Les Marquisiens</i>, pp. +3 <i>sqq.</i> Compare G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> +ii. 27 <i>sq.</i>; Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 106-108; +Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 115 <i>sq.</i>; +Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 50-55; F. D. +Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 316 <i>sq.</i>; H. Melville, +<i>Typee</i>, pp. 120-124, 179; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 277 <i>sq.</i>; Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +138 <i>sq.</i>, 144 <i>sq.</i>; A. Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 208-211. As to the preparation +and drinking of kava among the Marquesans, +see also M. Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 64-66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_900" id="Footnote_24_900"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_900"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 164; Porter, +<i>op. cit.</i> ii. 53; C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 213 <i>sq.</i>; F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +345 (who says that the only root the +natives cultivate for food is the sweet +potato); Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +148, 149; Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_901" id="Footnote_25_901"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_901"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 122 <i>sq.</i>; Porter, +<i>op. cit.</i> ii. 116; Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 337 +<i>sq.</i>; Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 158-160, +210; Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 137 +<i>sq.</i>; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 53 <i>sq.</i>; +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> 55 <i>sq.</i>; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_902" id="Footnote_26_902"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_902"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_903" id="Footnote_27_903"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_903"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 118 <i>sq.</i>; Krusenstern, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 162; Lisiansky, <i>op. +cit.</i> p. 88; Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 152 +(bows and arrows unknown); Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 282 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_904" id="Footnote_28_904"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_904"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 121; Krusenstern, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_905" id="Footnote_29_905"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_905"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 118 <i>sq.</i>; +Clavel, <i>Les Marquisiens</i>, pp. 11 <i>sq.</i> +Compare G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 20; +D. Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 116; Mathias +G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_906" id="Footnote_30_906"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_906"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 285 <i>sq.</i>; +G. Forster, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 21, 24; J. +Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 131, 134 <i>sq.</i>; Lisiansky, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 84; Krusenstern, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 159; Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +109-111; Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 39 <i>sq.</i>; +C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 209-211, 212, +267 <i>sq.</i>; Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 302 <i>sq.</i>; +Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 81-83; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +274-276; Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +122-129; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 36-38; +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 44 <i>sq.</i>; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 15 <i>sq.</i>; Baessler, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 200-208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_907" id="Footnote_31_907"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_907"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 109 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_908" id="Footnote_32_908"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_908"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_909" id="Footnote_33_909"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_909"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>l.c.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_910" id="Footnote_34_910"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_910"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_911" id="Footnote_35_911"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_911"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 303 <i>sq.</i>; +Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 207 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_912" id="Footnote_36_912"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_912"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 287; Krusenstern, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 163 <i>sq.</i>; Langsdorff, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 150; Porter, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 12-14; +Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 338; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +280-282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_913" id="Footnote_37_913"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_913"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_914" id="Footnote_38_914"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_914"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_915" id="Footnote_39_915"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_915"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 203 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_916" id="Footnote_40_916"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_916"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_917" id="Footnote_41_917"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_917"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_918" id="Footnote_42_918"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_918"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_919" id="Footnote_43_919"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_919"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 83. As to +polyandry in the Marquesas, see +further E. Westermarck, <i>History of +Human Marriage</i>, Fifth Edition +(London, 1921), iii. 146 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_920" id="Footnote_44_920"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_920"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +19 <i>sq.</i>; Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 56, 61 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_921" id="Footnote_45_921"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_921"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 16 <i>sq.</i>, +158 <i>sq.</i>; Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 61 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_922" id="Footnote_46_922"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_922"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Fleurieu, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 119 <i>sq.</i>, 124; +Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 146; Porter, +<i>op. cit.</i> ii. 124-126; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. +284; Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 96. +As for the ability of the natives to +swim in the sea for hours without +fatigue, compare J. Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_923" id="Footnote_47_923"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_923"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 214 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_924" id="Footnote_48_924"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_924"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 233 <i>sq.</i> +Compare Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 265 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_925" id="Footnote_49_925"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_925"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_926" id="Footnote_50_926"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_926"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_927" id="Footnote_51_927"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_927"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 236 <i>sq.</i>; +F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 318; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 264 <i>sq.</i>; Mathias G——, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 69 <i>sqq.</i>; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 192 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_928" id="Footnote_52_928"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_928"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_929" id="Footnote_53_929"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_929"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 231. Compare C. S. +Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 237, who calls the +performers <i>Kaioi</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_930" id="Footnote_54_930"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_930"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_259">259 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_931" id="Footnote_55_931"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_931"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 234, 236, 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_932" id="Footnote_56_932"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_932"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 38 <i>sq.</i>; F. D. +Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 317 <i>sq.</i>; Mathias +G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 54-56; Melville, <i>Typee</i> +pp. 93-95. Of these writers it is Porter +who gives the dimensions of some of +the blocks of stone composing the platforms +and expresses his amazement at +the labour involved in their construction. +He concludes his description as +follows (ii. 39): "When we count +the immense numbers of such places, +which are everywhere to be met with, +our astonishment is raised to the highest, +that a people in a state of nature, unassisted +by any of those artificial means, +which so much assist and facilitate +the labour of the civilized man, could +have conceived and executed a work, +which, to every beholder, must appear +stupendous. These piles are raised +with views to magnificence alone; there +does not appear to be the slightest +utility attending them: the houses +situated on them are unoccupied, +except during the period of feasting, +and they appear to belong to a public, +without the whole efforts of which +they could not have been raised, and +with every exertion that could possibly +have been made, years must have been +requisite for the completion of them." +Of one of these structures seen by him +in the anterior of Nukahiva, Stewart +observes, "The stones, bearing marks +of antiquity that threw the air of an +old family mansion around the whole, +were regularly hewn and joined with +the greatest nicety, many which I +measured being from four to six feet in +length, nearly as wide, and two or +more deep" (<i>Visit to the South Seas</i>, +i. 267 <i>sq.</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_933" id="Footnote_57_933"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_933"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 165; +Langsdorff, i. 112 <i>sq.</i>; Fleurieu, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 132-134; Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 64; +Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 199; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 225; +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 24 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_934" id="Footnote_58_934"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_934"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> 101 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_935" id="Footnote_59_935"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_935"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_936" id="Footnote_60_936"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_936"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 79 <i>sq.</i>; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_937" id="Footnote_61_937"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_937"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 47 <i>sq.</i>; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_938" id="Footnote_62_938"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_938"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_939" id="Footnote_63_939"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_939"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 258 <i>sq.</i>; Clavel, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 65 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_940" id="Footnote_64_940"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_940"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 35 <i>sq.</i> Compare Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_941" id="Footnote_65_941"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_941"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_942" id="Footnote_66_942"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_942"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 172. In +this quotation I have altered the spelling +<i>tahbu</i> into <i>taboo</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_943" id="Footnote_67_943"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_943"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_944" id="Footnote_68_944"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_944"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 157; Melville, +<i>Typee</i>, p. 230; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_945" id="Footnote_69_945"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_945"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_946" id="Footnote_70_946"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_946"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 67 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_947" id="Footnote_71_947"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_947"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 258; Mathias G——, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 48; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 153; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_948" id="Footnote_72_948"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_948"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_949" id="Footnote_73_949"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_949"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 243 <i>sq.</i> +Compare Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 240; Radiguet, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 218 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_950" id="Footnote_74_950"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_950"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> The principal harbour of Nukahiva.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_951" id="Footnote_75_951"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_951"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op cit.</i> i. 244 <i>sq.</i> +Compare Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. +Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 226, 240 <i>sq.</i> The +missionary William Crook was landed +in the Marquesas from the missionary +ship <i>Duff</i> in 1797. See J. Wilson, +<i>Missionary Voyage to the Southern +Pacific Ocean</i>, pp. 131 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_952" id="Footnote_76_952"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_952"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_953" id="Footnote_77_953"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_953"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_954" id="Footnote_78_954"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_954"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 223 <i>sq.</i> For +the names of the Marquesan deities, +among whom Tiki appears to have been +the most famous, and for some myths +concerning them, see Mathias G——, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 40 <i>sqq.</i>; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 221 <i>sqq.</i>; Amable, in <i>Annales de +la Propagation de la Foi</i>, xix. (1847) +pp. 23 <i>sq.</i>; Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 27 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_955" id="Footnote_79_955"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_955"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 245 <i>sq.</i>; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 227 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_956" id="Footnote_80_956"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_956"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 136. The +writer's language seems to imply that +the spirit whom the priestly physician +caught in his hands and interrogated +was the patient's own soul.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_957" id="Footnote_81_957"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_957"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 45; C. S. +Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 247; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +228 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_958" id="Footnote_82_958"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_958"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 238 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_959" id="Footnote_83_959"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_959"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 245; Clavel, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 44, note<sup>1</sup>. Compare +Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_960" id="Footnote_84_960"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_960"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 114. <i>sq.</i>; +Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 58. +Compare Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 260 +<i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_961" id="Footnote_85_961"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_961"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 263; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 249 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_962" id="Footnote_86_962"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_962"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 284; Clavel, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_963" id="Footnote_87_963"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_963"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_964" id="Footnote_88_964"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_964"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 283 <i>sq.</i> +Another writer mentions that at the +moment of death it was customary for +a number of matrons to strip themselves +naked and execute obscene +dances at the door of the house, crying +out at the pitch of their voices, "Father! +father!" See Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_965" id="Footnote_89_965"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_965"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 180, 201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_966" id="Footnote_90_966"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_966"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 43 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_967" id="Footnote_91_967"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_967"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_968" id="Footnote_92_968"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_968"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 284 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_969" id="Footnote_93_969"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_969"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 265; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_970" id="Footnote_94_970"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_970"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_971" id="Footnote_95_971"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_971"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_972" id="Footnote_96_972"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_972"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 173. +Compare Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 133; +C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 265; Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_973" id="Footnote_97_973"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_973"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 172 <i>sq.</i>; +Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 133; Lisiansky, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 81; C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_974" id="Footnote_98_974"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_974"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 116 +<i>sq.</i> As to the decoration of the corpse, +see Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 43 <i>sq.</i> As to +the temporary house or shed in which +the body was kept for some time after +death, compare C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 264, 266; Vincendon-Dumoulin et +C. Desgraz, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 250. As for +the custom of keeping the body for +months in the ordinary house, surrounded +by the family, see Radiguet, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 286. As to the practice of +hanging food beside the body, even +after its removal to its last place of rest, +see J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage au +Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie, Histoire du +Voyage</i>, iv. (Paris, 1842), p. 33; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_975" id="Footnote_99_975"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_975"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 173; Langsdorff, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 133 <i>sq.</i>; Melville, <i>Typee</i>, +p. 206; Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 286 <i>sq.</i>; +Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 44 <i>sq.</i> In a house in +Nukahiva the missionary Stewart saw +a canoe-shaped coffin containing the +remains of a man who had died many +years before. It was raised on a bier +of framework, at a height of two or +three feet above the ground. Stewart +adds, "The dead bodies of all persons +of high distinction are preserved in +their houses for a long period in this +way." See C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_976" id="Footnote_100_976"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_976"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 45 <i>sq.</i>; Baessler, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 233 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_977" id="Footnote_101_977"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_977"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 127, 173; +Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 115, 134. Other +writers on the Marquesas in like manner +speak of a <i>morai</i> simply as a place of +burial. See Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 114 +("the gods at the burying-place, or +morai, for so it is called by them"); +Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 52 ("un <i>morai</i> +(sépulchre) en ruine"); Melville, <i>Typee</i>, +p. 168 ("the 'morais' or burying-grounds"). +So, too, the term was +understood by the French navigator, +J. Dumont d'Urville. See his <i>Voyage +au Pole Sud, Histoire du Voyage</i>, iv. +(Paris, 1842), pp. 27, 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_978" id="Footnote_102_978"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_978"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_979" id="Footnote_103_979"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_979"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 115. According +to Krusenstern (<i>op. cit.</i> i. 127), +the <i>morais</i> in general "lie a good way +inland upon hills."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_980" id="Footnote_104_980"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_980"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>Narrative of a +Whaling Voyage</i>, i. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_981" id="Footnote_105_981"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_981"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_982" id="Footnote_106_982"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_982"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_983" id="Footnote_107_983"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_983"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 92. One of +these stones was said to have been +erected by the French navigator, Captain +Marchand, and to have formerly +borne an inscription recording his taking +possession of the island. Hence it +would be unsafe to draw any conclusion +from the supposed antiquity of these +two tall upright stones.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_984" id="Footnote_108_984"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_984"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_985" id="Footnote_109_985"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_985"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_986" id="Footnote_110_986"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_986"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, +<i>Voyage au Pole Sud, Histoire du Voyage</i>, +iv. 33, "Sous un hangar se trouvent +quelques supports formant, à 2 +mètres au-dessus du sol, une estrade sur +laquelle est déposé le <i>toui-papao</i>. C'est +le nom que les naturels donnent au +cadavre enveloppé d'herbes et de <i>tapa</i> +(étoffes de papyrus faites dans le pays). +On n'aperçoit du corps ainsi habillé +que les extremités des doigts des pièds +et des mains."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_987" id="Footnote_111_987"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_987"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_988" id="Footnote_112_988"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_988"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_989" id="Footnote_113_989"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_989"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, pp. 166 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_990" id="Footnote_114_990"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_990"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_991" id="Footnote_115_991"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_991"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Quoted by J. Wilson, <i>Missionary +Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean</i>, +p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_992" id="Footnote_116_992"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_992"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_993" id="Footnote_117_993"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_993"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_994" id="Footnote_118_994"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_994"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_995" id="Footnote_119_995"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_995"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Langsdorff, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_996" id="Footnote_120_996"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_996"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Melville, <i>Typee</i>, p. 206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_997" id="Footnote_121_997"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_997"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_998" id="Footnote_122_998"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_998"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 117 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_999" id="Footnote_123_999"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_999"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_1000" id="Footnote_124_1000"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_1000"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_1001" id="Footnote_125_1001"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_1001"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 220; Melville, +<i>Typee</i>, p. 185. Compare Mathias +G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_1002" id="Footnote_126_1002"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_1002"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 220 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_1003" id="Footnote_127_1003"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_1003"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 51 <i>sq.</i>; Radiguet, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 238 note, 239, 269, 270; +Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 238 <i>sq.</i>; Mathias G——, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 234 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_1004" id="Footnote_128_1004"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_1004"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_1005" id="Footnote_129_1005"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_1005"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 109-111. A +similar, or the same, effigy of a dead +chief seated in his canoe was seen by +Melville in the same valley (<i>Typee</i>, +pp. 183 <i>sq.</i>). He says that "the canoe +was about seven feet in length; of a +rich, dark-coloured wood, handsomely +carved, and adorned in many places +with variegated bindings of stained +sinnate [cinnet], into which were ingeniously +wrought a number of sparkling +sea-shells, and a belt of the same +shells ran all round it. The body of the +figure—of whatever material it might +have been made—was effectually concealed +in a heavy robe of brown tappa +[bark-cloth], revealing only the hands +and head; the latter skilfully carved in +wood, and surmounted by a superb arch +of plumes."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_1006" id="Footnote_130_1006"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_1006"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_1007" id="Footnote_131_1007"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_1007"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_1008" id="Footnote_132_1008"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_1008"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i, 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_1009" id="Footnote_133_1009"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_1009"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 81 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_1010" id="Footnote_134_1010"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_1010"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_1011" id="Footnote_135_1011"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_1011"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Lettre du R. P. Amable, in +<i>Annales de la Propagation de la Foi</i>, +xix. (1847) pp. 22 <i>sq.</i>, 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_1012" id="Footnote_136_1012"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_1012"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Lettre du R. P. Amable, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_1013" id="Footnote_137_1013"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_1013"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Lettre du R. P. Amable, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 23 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_1014" id="Footnote_138_1014"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_1014"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Lettre du R. P. Amable, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_1015" id="Footnote_139_1015"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_1015"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_1016" id="Footnote_140_1016"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_1016"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 161 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_1017" id="Footnote_141_1017"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_1017"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_1018" id="Footnote_142_1018"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_1018"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Mathias G——, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_1019" id="Footnote_143_1019"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_1019"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 224 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_1020" id="Footnote_144_1020"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_1020"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 227, 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_1021" id="Footnote_145_1021"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_1021"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Eyriaud des Vergnes, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +31 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_1022" id="Footnote_146_1022"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_1022"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_1023" id="Footnote_147_1023"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_1023"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Baessler, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 193 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_1024" id="Footnote_148_1024"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_1024"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 227-238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_1025" id="Footnote_149_1025"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_1025"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, iii. 274-281; +compare G. Forster, <i>Voyage round the +World</i> (London, 1777), ii. 5 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_1026" id="Footnote_150_1026"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_1026"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> C. P. Claret Fleurieu, <i>Voyage round +the World performed during the years +1790, 1791, and 1792 by Étienne +Marchand</i> (London, 1801), i. 31, +51. Marchand's brief account is +supplemented from other sources by +his editor Fleurieu (<i>op. cit.</i> i. 55 <i>sqq.</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_1027" id="Footnote_151_1027"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_1027"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> A. J. von Krusenstern, <i>Voyage +round the World in the years 1803, +1804, 1805, and 1806</i> (London, 1813), +i. 108 <i>sq.</i>, 133 <i>sqq.</i>; U. Lisiansky, +<i>Voyage round the World</i> (London, +1814), pp. 62, 95; G. H. von Langsdorff, +<i>Bemerkungen auf einer Reise um +die Welt in den Jahren 1803 bis 1807</i> +(Frankfurt am Main, 1812), i. 75, 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_1028" id="Footnote_152_1028"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_1028"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Krusenstern, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 110-112; +Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 79; Langsdorff, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 77, 83-85. As to the subsequent +history of Roberts and Cabri, +see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva</i> +(Paris, 1843), pp. 356-359.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_1029" id="Footnote_153_1029"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_1029"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Captain David Porter, <i>Journal of +a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean in +the United States frigate Essex in the +years 1812, 1813, and 1814</i>, Second +Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 5, 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_1030" id="Footnote_154_1030"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_1030"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> D. Porter, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 17 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_1031" id="Footnote_155_1031"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_1031"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Visit to the South +Seas</i> (London, 1832), i. pp. x <i>sq.</i>, 193, +331. The writer speaks (p. 331) of his +stay of "a fortnight at the Washington +Islands." Mr. Crook first landed in +the island of Santa Christina (Tau-ata) +on June 6th, 1797. See James +Wilson, <i>Missionary Voyage to the +Southern Pacific Ocean</i> (London, 1799), +pp. 129 <i>sqq.</i> As to his subsequent +history in the islands, see Vincendon-Dumoulin +et C. Desgraz, <i>Iles Marquises +ou Nouka-hiva</i>, pp. 35-40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_1032" id="Footnote_156_1032"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_1032"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> F. D. Bennett, <i>Narrative of a +Whaling Voyage round the Globe from +the year 1833 to 1836</i> (London, 1840), +i 296, 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_1033" id="Footnote_157_1033"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_1033"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Le P. Mathias G——, <i>Lettres sur +les Iles Marquises</i> (Paris, 1843). The +writer is not explicit as to the dates of +his residence in the Marquesas; but he +tells us that he spent two years in habitual +intercourse with the natives (p. 49), +and from other allusions which he +makes in his narrative (pp. 28 <i>sq.</i>) +it would seem that the years were 1839 +and 1840. The first Catholic missionaries +landed in 1838 (<i>ib.</i> p. 22), and +others in 1839 (<i>ib.</i> pp. 23 <i>sq.</i>). Among +the latter were Fathers Garcia and +Guilmard (<i>ib.</i> p. 24). Father G—— +may have been one of them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_1034" id="Footnote_158_1034"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_1034"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> H. Melville, <i>Typee</i> (London, +<i>Everyman's Library</i>), p. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_1035" id="Footnote_159_1035"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_1035"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 119 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_1036" id="Footnote_160_1036"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_1036"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, +<i>Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva</i> +(Paris, 1843).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_1037" id="Footnote_161_1037"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_1037"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> J. Dumont d'Urville, <i>Voyage au +Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie, Histoire du +Voyage</i>, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 5, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_1038" id="Footnote_162_1038"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_1038"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Max Radiguet, <i>Les Derniers +Sauvages</i>, Nouvelle Édition (Paris, +1882). The author does not inform +us as to the exact length of his stay in +the islands.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_1039" id="Footnote_163_1039"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_1039"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> M. Radiguet, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 221 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_1040" id="Footnote_164_1040"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_1040"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, +<i>L'Archipel des Iles Marquises</i> (Paris, +1877).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_1041" id="Footnote_165_1041"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_1041"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Some years previously a naval +lieutenant, M. Jouan, who had been +in command of the French military +post at Nukahiva, published in the +<i>Revue Coloniale</i> (1857-1858) some +notes on the Marquesas, which are said +to contain some useful information on +the archipelago. See M. Radiguet, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 310 note. I have not seen +the work of M. Jouan; but according +to Radiguet it shows that in the twelve +years and more which had elapsed +since the French occupation of the +islands the presence of French missionaries +and of a French garrison had +done little to civilise the natives.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_1042" id="Footnote_166_1042"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_1042"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> <i>Les Marquisiens</i>, par M. le +Docteur Clavel (Paris, 1885).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_1043" id="Footnote_167_1043"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_1043"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Clavel, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 68-71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_1044" id="Footnote_168_1044"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_1044"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Arthur Baessler, <i>Neue Südsee-Bilder</i> +(Berlin, 1900), pp. 189-242. The +writer omits to mention the date of his +visit to the islands, and the length of +his stay in them.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS</h3> + + +<h4>§ 1. <i>The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands</i></h4> + +<p>The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands form an archipelago +lying in the North Pacific Ocean just within the northern +tropic. They stretch in a direction from north-west to +south-east for more than four hundred miles and include +eight inhabited islands, of which the most important are +Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Of these Hawaii is by +far the largest; indeed it is the largest island in Polynesia +with the exception of New Zealand. The islands are all +mountainous and of volcanic formation. In Hawaii two of +the mountains are between 13,000 and 14,000 feet in height, +and two of them are active volcanoes; one of them, +named Kilauea, possesses the greatest active crater in the +world, a huge cauldron of seething lava, which presents a +spectacle of awe-inspiring grandeur when seen on a moonless +night. The other and much loftier volcano, Mauna Loa, +was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1877 and of another +in 1881. Craters, large and small, hot springs, and other +evidences of volcanic activity, abound throughout the +archipelago. One of the craters on the island of Maui is +said to be no less than fifteen miles in circumference and +about two thousand feet deep. The islands appear to have +been known to the Spaniards as early as the sixteenth +century; but they were rediscovered in 1778 by Captain +Cook, who was afterwards killed in a fight with the natives +in Hawaii.<a name="FNanchor_1_1045" id="FNanchor_1_1045"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1045" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span></p> + +<p>Viewed from the sea the islands are apt to present an +appearance of barrenness and desolation. The mountains +descend into the sea in precipices often hundreds of feet +high: their summits are capped with snow or lost in mist +and clouds; and their sides, green and studded with clumps +of trees in some places, but black, scorched and bare in +others, are rent into ravines, down which in the rainy seasons +cataracts rush roaring to the sea. With the changes of +sunshine and shadow the landscape as a whole strikes the +beholder now as in the highest degree horrid, dismal, and +dreary, now as wildly beautiful and romantic with a sort of +stern and sombre magnificence.<a name="FNanchor_2_1046" id="FNanchor_2_1046"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_1046" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Inland, however, in many +places the summits of the ridges crowned with forests of +perpetual verdure, the slopes covered with flowering shrubs +or lofty trees, the rocks mantled in creepers, the waterfalls +dropping from stupendous cliffs, and the distant prospects +of snowy peaks, bold romantic headlands, and blue seas, all +arched by a summer sky of the deepest azure, combine to +make up pictures of fairy-like and enchanting loveliness.<a name="FNanchor_3_1047" id="FNanchor_3_1047"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_1047" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>The climate naturally varies with the height above the +sea. On the coasts, though warm, it is remarkably equable, +and perhaps no country in the world enjoys a finer or +healthier climate than some parts of Hawaii and Maui. +On the mountains all varieties of climate are to be found, +from the tropical heat of the lowlands to the arctic cold of +the two great peaks of Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa +with their perpetual snows, which are not, however, always +visible from the sea or from the foot of these giants. In the +lowlands frost is unknown. The fresh breezes, which blow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> +from the sea during the day and from the mountains at night, +temper the heat of the sun, and render the evenings delicious; +nothing can surpass the splendour and clearness of the +moonlight. Rain falls more abundantly on the windward +or eastern side of the islands than on the leeward or +western side. Thus at Hilo, on the eastern side of Hawaii, +it rains almost every day, whereas in Kena, on the western +side, rain hardly ever falls, and along the coast not a single +water-course is to be seen for many miles. In general +it may be said that the archipelago suffers from drought +and hence occasionally from dearth.<a name="FNanchor_4_1048" id="FNanchor_4_1048"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_1048" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 2. <i>The Natives and their Mode of Life</i></h4> + +<p>The natives of the Sandwich Islands are typical +Polynesians. In general they are rather above the +middle stature, well formed, with fine muscular limbs, +open countenances, and features frequently resembling +those of Europeans. The forehead is usually well developed, +the lips thick, and the nostrils full, without any flatness or +spreading of the nose. The complexion is tawny or olive +in hue, but sometimes reddish brown. The hair is black +or brown and occasionally fair or rather ruddy in colour, +in texture it is strong, smooth, and sometimes curly. The +gait is graceful and even stately. But in these islands, +as in other parts of Polynesia, there is a conspicuous +difference between the chiefs and the commoners, the +superiority being altogether on the side of the chiefs. "The +nobles of the land," says Stewart, "are so strongly marked +by their external appearance, as at all times to be easily +distinguishable from the common people. They seem, +indeed, in size and stature to be almost a distinct race. +They are all large in their frame, and often excessively +corpulent, while the common people are scarce of the +ordinary height of Europeans, and of a thin rather than full +habit."<a name="FNanchor_5_1049" id="FNanchor_5_1049"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_1049" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> And the difference between the two ranks is as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +obvious in their walk and general deportment as in their +stature and size, the nobles bearing themselves with a +natural dignity and grace which are wanting in their social +inferiors. Yet there seems to be no reason to suppose that +they belong to a different race from the commoners; the +greater care taken of them in childhood, their better living, +sexual selection, and the influence of heredity appear +sufficient to account for their physical superiority. The +women are well built and "beautiful as ancient statues" +with a sweet and engaging expression of countenance. Yet +on the whole the Hawaiians are judged to be physically +inferior both to the Tahitians and to the Marquesans; +according to Captain King, they are rather darker than the +Tahitians, and not altogether so handsome a people. On +the other hand they are said to be more intelligent than +either the Tahitians or the Marquesans. Captain King +describes them as of a mild and affectionate disposition, +equally remote from the extreme levity and fickleness of +the Tahitians, and from the distant gravity and reserve +of the Tongans.<a name="FNanchor_6_1050" id="FNanchor_6_1050"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_1050" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> They practised tattooing much less than +many other Polynesians, but their faces, hands, arms, and +the forepart of their bodies were often tattooed with a +variety of patterns.<a name="FNanchor_7_1051" id="FNanchor_7_1051"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_1051" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The staple food of the Hawaiians consists of taro (<i>kalo</i>), +sweet potatoes, and fish, but above all of taro. That root +(<i>Arum</i> or <i>Caladium esculentum</i>) is to the Hawaiians what +bread-fruit is to the Tahitians, and its cultivation is their +most important agricultural industry. It is grown wherever +there is water or a marsh, and it is even planted on some +arid heights in the island of Hawaii, where it yields +excellent crops. Artificial irrigation was practised and +even regulated by law or custom in the old days; for it +was a rule that water should be conducted over every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +plantation twice a week in general, and once a week during +the dry season. The bread-fruit tree is not so common, +and its fruit not so much prized, as in the Marquesas and +Tahiti. The natives grew sweet potatoes even before the +arrival of Europeans. Yams are found wild, but are hardly +eaten except in times of scarcity. There are several sorts +of bananas; the fruit for the most part is better cooked +than raw. In the old days the cooking was done in +the ordinary native ovens, consisting of holes in the +ground lined with stones which were heated with fire. +After being baked in an oven the roots of the taro are +mashed and diluted with water so as to form a paste or +pudding called <i>poe</i> or <i>poi</i>, which is sometimes eaten sweet +but is more generally put aside till it has fermented, in +which condition it is preferred by the natives. It is a +highly nutritious substance, and though some Europeans +complain of the sourness of taro pudding, others find it not +unpalatable. Fish used to be generally eaten raw, seasoned +with brine or sea-water. But they also commonly salt their +fish, not for the sake of preserving it for a season of scarcity, +but because they prefer the taste. They construct artificial +fish-ponds, into which they let young fish from the sea, +principally the fry of the grey mullet, of which the chiefs +are particularly fond. Every chief has, or used to have, his +own fish-pond. The natives are very skilful fishermen. In +the old days they made a great variety of fish-hooks out +of mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell as well as out of bone, +and these they dragged by means of lines behind their +canoes, and so caught bonettas, dolphins, and albicores. +They took prodigious numbers of flying fish in nets. At +the time when the islands were discovered by Captain Cook, +the natives possessed pigs and dogs. The flesh of both of +these animals was eaten, but only by persons of higher +rank. Fowls were also bred and eaten, but they were not +very common, and their flesh was not very much esteemed. +The sugar-cane was indigenous in the islands, and the people +ate it as a fruit; along with bananas and plantains it +occupied a considerable portion of every plantation. Captain +Cook found the natives skilful husbandmen, but thought +that with a more extensive system of agriculture, the islands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +could have supported three times the number of the existing +inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_8_1052" id="FNanchor_8_1052"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_1052" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> He remarked that the chiefs were much +addicted to the drinking of kava, and he attributed some +of the cutaneous and other diseases from which they suffered +to an immoderate use of what he calls the pernicious drug.<a name="FNanchor_9_1053" id="FNanchor_9_1053"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_1053" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 3. <i>Houses, Mechanical Arts</i></h4> + +<p>Captain King observed that in some respects the natives +of the Sandwich Islands approached nearer in their manners +and customs to the Maoris of New Zealand than to their +less distant neighbours of the Society and Friendly Islands, +the Tahitians and the Tongans. In nothing, he says, is this +more observable than in their method of living together in +small towns or villages, containing from about one hundred +to two hundred houses, built pretty close together, without +any order, and with a winding path leading through them. +They were generally flanked towards the sea with loose +detached walls, intended for shelter and defence.<a name="FNanchor_10_1054" id="FNanchor_10_1054"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_1054" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The +shape of the houses was very simple. They were oblong +with very high thatched roofs, so that externally they +resembled the top of hay-stacks or rather barns with the +thatched roof sloping down steeply to two very low sides, +and with gable ends to match. The entrance, placed +indifferently in one of the sides or ends, was an oblong hole, +so low that one had rather to creep than walk in, and often +shut by a board of planks fastened together, which served as +a door. No light entered the house but by this opening, +for there were no windows. Internally every house consisted +of a single room without partitions. In spite of +the extreme simplicity of their structure, the houses were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +kept very clean; the floors were covered with a large +quantity of dried grass, over which they spread mats to sit +and sleep upon. At one end stood a kind of bench about +three feet high, on which were kept the household utensils. +These consisted merely of a few wooden bowls and trenchers, +together with gourd-shells, serving either as bottles or +baskets. The houses varied in size with the wealth or rank +of the owners. Those of the poor were mere hovels, which +resembled the sties and kennels of pigs and dogs rather +than the abodes of men. The houses of the chiefs were +generally large and commodious by comparison, some forty +to sixty feet long by twenty or thirty feet broad, and eighteen +or twenty feet high at the peak of the roof. Chiefs had +always a separate eating-house, and even people of the +lower ranks had one such house to every six or seven +families for the men. The women were forbidden to eat in +company with the men and even to enter the eating-house +during the meals; they ate in the same houses in which +they slept. The houses of the chiefs were enclosed in large +yards, and sometimes stood on stone platforms, which +rendered them more comfortable.<a name="FNanchor_11_1055" id="FNanchor_11_1055"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_1055" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>In the mechanical arts the Hawaiians displayed a considerable +degree of ingenuity and skill. While the men +built the houses and canoes and fashioned wooden dishes +and bowls, the women undertook the manufacture of bark-cloth +(<i>kapa</i>) and mats. Bark-cloth was made in the usual +way from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which was beaten +out with grooved mallets. The cloth was dyed a variety +of colours, and patterns at once intricate and elegant were +stamped on it and stained in different tints. The mats +were woven or braided by hand without the use of any +frame or instrument. The materials were rushes or palm-leaves; +the mats made of palm-leaves were much the more +durable and therefore the more valuable. The coarser and +plainer were spread on the floor to sleep on; the finer were +of white colour with red stripes, rhombuses, and other figures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> +interwoven on one side. Among the most curious specimens +of native carving were the wooden bowls in which the +chiefs drank kava. They were perfectly round, beautifully +polished, and supported on three or four small human +figures in various attitudes. These figures were accurately +proportioned and neatly finished; even the anatomy of the +muscles strained to support the weight were well expressed. +The fishing-hooks made by the men, especially the large +hooks made to catch shark, are described by Captain Cook +as really astonishing for their strength and neatness; he +found them on trial much superior to his own.<a name="FNanchor_12_1056" id="FNanchor_12_1056"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_1056" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The mechanical skill of these people was all the more +remarkable because of the extreme rudeness and simplicity +of the tools with which they worked. Their chief implement +was an adze made of a black or clay-coloured volcanic +stone and polished by constant friction with pumice-stone +in water. They had also small instruments made each of a +single shark's tooth, some of which were fixed to the forepart +of a dog's jawbone and others to a thin wooden handle +of the same shape. These served as knives, and pieces of +coral were used as files. Captain Cook found the natives in +possession of two iron tools, one of them a piece of iron +hoop, and the other an edge-tool, perhaps the point of +a broadsword. These they could only have procured +from a European vessel or from a wreck drifted on their +coast. No mines of any kind are known to exist in the +islands.<a name="FNanchor_13_1057" id="FNanchor_13_1057"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_1057" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Their weapons of war included spears, javelins, daggers, +and clubs, all of them made of wood. They also slung +stones with deadly effect. But they had no defensive +armour; for the war-cloaks and wicker-work helmets, surmounted +with lofty crests and decked with the tail feathers +of the tropic bird, while they heightened the imposing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +martial appearance of the wearers, must have proved rather +encumbrances than protections. Captain Cook found the +natives in possession of bows and arrows, but from their +scarcity and the slenderness of their make he inferred that +the Hawaiians, like other Polynesians, never used them in +battle.<a name="FNanchor_14_1058" id="FNanchor_14_1058"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_1058" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 4. <i>Government, Social Ranks, Taboo</i></h4> + +<p>The government of the Hawaiian Islands was an +absolute monarchy or despotism; all rights of power and +property vested in the king, whose will and power alone +were law, though in important matters he was to a certain +extent guided by the opinion of the chiefs in council. The +rank of the king and the chiefs was hereditary, descending +from father to son; but the appointment to all offices of +authority and dignity was made by the king alone. +Nevertheless posts of honour, influence, and emolument +often continued in the same family for many generations. +Nor were hereditary rank and authority confined to men; +they were inherited also by women. According to tradition, +several of the islands had been once or twice under the +government of a queen. The king was supported by an +annual tribute paid by all the islands at different periods +according to his directions. It comprised both the natural +produce of the country and manufactured articles. But +besides the regular tribute the king was at liberty to levy +any additional tax he might please, and even to seize and +appropriate any personal possessions of a chief or other +subject. Not infrequently the whole crop of a plantation +was thus carried off by his retainers without the least +apology or compensation.<a name="FNanchor_15_1059" id="FNanchor_15_1059"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_1059" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> However, the government of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +whole Hawaiian archipelago by a single monarch was a +comparatively modern innovation. Down to nearly the end +of the eighteenth century the different islands were independent +of each other and governed by separate kings, +who were often at war one with the other; indeed there were +sometimes several independent kingdoms within the same +island. But towards the close of the eighteenth century an +energetic and able king of Hawaii, by name Kamehameha +(Tamehameha), succeeded in extending his sway by conquest +over the whole archipelago, and at his death in +1819 he bequeathed the undivided monarchy to his successors.<a name="FNanchor_16_1060" id="FNanchor_16_1060"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_1060" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The whole body of chiefs fell into three classes or +ranks. The first included the royal family and all who were +intimately connected with it. The second included such as +held hereditary offices of power or governorships of islands, +after the time when the whole archipelago was united in a +single kingdom. The third class embraced the rulers of +districts, the headmen of villages, and all inferior chiefs. +The members of the first two classes were usually called +"high chiefs"; they were few in number and closely related +both by blood and marriage. The members of the third +class were known as "small" or "low" chiefs. They were +by far the most numerous body of chiefs in any island, and +were generally called <i>haku aina</i> or landowners, though +strictly speaking the king was acknowledged in every island +as the supreme lord and proprietor of the soil by hereditary +right or the law of conquest. When Kamehameha had +subdued the greater part of the islands, he distributed them +among his favourite chiefs and warriors on condition of +their rendering him not only military service, but a certain +proportion of the produce of their lands. In this he appears +to have followed the ancient practice invariably observed on +the conquest of an island.<a name="FNanchor_17_1061" id="FNanchor_17_1061"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_1061" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> For "from the earliest periods +of Hawaiian history, the tenure of lands has been, in most +respects, feudal. The origin of the fiefs was the same as in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +the northern nations of Europe. Any chieftain who could +collect a sufficient number of followers to conquer a district, +or an island, and had succeeded in his object, proceeded to +divide the spoils, or 'cut up the land,' as the natives termed +it. The king, or principal chief, made his choice from the +best of the lands. Afterwards the remaining part of the +conquered territory was distributed among the leaders, and +these again subdivided their shares to others, who became +vassals, owing fealty to the sovereigns of the fee. The +king placed some of his own particular servants on his +portion as his agents, to superintend the cultivation. The +original occupants who were on the land, usually remained +under their new conqueror, and by them the lands were +cultivated, and rent or taxes paid."<a name="FNanchor_18_1062" id="FNanchor_18_1062"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_1062" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Below the chiefs or nobles were the commoners, who +included small farmers, fishermen, mechanics, such as house-builders +and canoe-builders, musicians and dancers, in short, +all the labouring classes, whether they worked for a chief +or farmer or cultivated patches of land for their own +benefit.<a name="FNanchor_19_1063" id="FNanchor_19_1063"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_1063" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> According to one account, "the common people +are generally considered as attached to the soil, and are +transferred with the land from one chief to another."<a name="FNanchor_20_1064" id="FNanchor_20_1064"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_1064" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> +But this statement is contradicted by an earlier and perhaps +better-informed writer, who spent some thirteen months in +Oahu, while the islands were still independent and before +the conversion of the people to Christianity. He tells us +that commoners were not slaves nor attached to the soil, but +at liberty to change masters when they thought proper.<a name="FNanchor_21_1065" id="FNanchor_21_1065"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_1065" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +On this subject Captain King observes: "How far the +property of the lower class is secured against the rapacity +and despotism of the great chiefs, I cannot say, but it should +seem that it is sufficiently protected against private theft, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +mutual depredation; for not only their plantations, which +are spread over the whole country, but also their houses, +their hogs, and their cloth, were left unguarded, without the +smallest apprehensions. I have already remarked, that they +not only separate their possessions by walls in the plain +country, but that, in the woods likewise, wherever the horse-plantains +grow, they make use of small white flags in the +same manner, and for the same purpose of discriminating +property, as they do bunches of leaves at Otaheite. All +which circumstances, if they do not amount to proofs, +are strong indications that the power of the chiefs, where +property is concerned, is not arbitrary, but at least so far +circumscribed and ascertained, as to make it worth the while +for the inferior orders to cultivate the soil, and to occupy +their possessions distinct from each other."<a name="FNanchor_22_1066" id="FNanchor_22_1066"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_1066" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Yet on the +other hand we are told by later writers that "in fact, the +condition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold +nothing which may not be taken from them by the strong +hand of arbitrary power, whether exercised by the sovereign +or a petty chief." On one occasion the writers saw nearly +two thousand persons, laden with faggots of sandal-wood, +coming down from the mountains to deposit their burdens +in the royal store-houses, and then departing to their homes, +weary with their unpaid labours, yet without a murmur at +their bondage.<a name="FNanchor_23_1067" id="FNanchor_23_1067"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_1067" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> When at last, through contact with civilisation, +they had learned to utter their grievances, they complained +that "the people was crushed by the numerous +forced labours and contributions of every sort exacted from +them by the chiefs. It was, indeed, very hard to furnish +the chiefs, on every requisition, with pigs, food, and all the +good things which the folk possessed, and to see the great +despoiling the humble. In truth, the people worked for the +chiefs incessantly, they performed every kind of painful task, +and they paid the chiefs all the taxes which it pleased them +to demand."<a name="FNanchor_24_1068" id="FNanchor_24_1068"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_1068" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>Certainly commoners were bound to pay great outward +marks of deference to their social superiors, the chiefs, or +nobles. Indeed, the respect almost amounted to adoration,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +for they were on no occasion allowed to touch their persons, +but prostrated themselves before them, and might not enter +their houses without first receiving permission.<a name="FNanchor_25_1069" id="FNanchor_25_1069"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_1069" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Above all, +the system of taboo or <i>kapu</i>, as it was called in the Hawaiian +dialect,<a name="FNanchor_26_1070" id="FNanchor_26_1070"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_1070" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> oppressed the common people and tended to keep +them in a state of abject subjection to the nobles; for the +prescriptions of the system were numerous and vexatious, +and the penalty for breaches of them was death. If the +shadow of a subject fell on a chief, the subject was put to +death; if he robed himself in the cloth or assumed the girdle +of a chief, he was put to death; if he climbed on the wall of +a chief's courtyard, he was put to death; if he stood upright +instead of prostrating himself when a vessel of water was +brought for the chief to wash with or his garments to wear, +he was put to death; if he stepped on the shadow of a +chief's house with his head smeared with white clay, or +decked with a garland of flowers, or merely wetted with +water, he was put to death; if he slept with his wife on a +taboo day, he was put to death; if he made a noise during +public prayers, he was put to death; if a woman ate pig, or +coco-nuts, or bananas, or lobster, or the fish called <i>ulua</i>, she +was put to death; if she went in a canoe on a taboo day, +she was put to death; if husband and wife ate together, they +were both put to death.<a name="FNanchor_27_1071" id="FNanchor_27_1071"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_1071" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>In Hawaii, as in other parts of Polynesia, the taboo +formed an important and essential part both of the religious +and of the political system, of which it was at once a strong +support and a powerful instrument. The proper sense of +the word taboo (in Hawaiian <i>kapu</i>) is "sacred." This did +not, however, imply any moral quality; it expressed rather +"a connexion with the gods, or a separation from ordinary +purposes, and exclusive appropriation to persons or things +considered sacred"; sometimes it meant devoted as by a +vow. Chiefs who traced their genealogy to the gods were +called <i>arii taboo</i>, "chiefs sacred"; a temple was a <i>wahi taboo</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +"place sacred"; the rule which prohibited women from eating +with men, and from eating, except on special occasions, any +fruits or animals ever offered in sacrifice to the gods, while +it allowed the men to partake of them, was called <i>ai taboo</i>, +"eating sacred." The opposite of <i>kapu</i> was <i>noa</i>, which +means "general" or "common"; for example, <i>ai noa</i> +signifies "eating generally" or "having food in common." +Although it was employed for civil as well as sacred +purposes, the taboo was essentially a religious ceremony +and could be imposed only by the priests. A religious +motive was always assigned for laying it on, though it +was often done at the instance of the civil authorities; and +persons called <i>kiaimoku</i>, "island keepers," a kind of police +officers, were always appointed by the king to see that the +taboo was strictly observed.<a name="FNanchor_28_1072" id="FNanchor_28_1072"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_1072" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>The application of the restriction implied by taboo was +either general or particular, either permanent or occasional. +To take examples of permanent taboos, the idols and temples, +the persons and names of the king and other members of +the royal family, the persons of priests, canoes belonging to +the gods, the houses, clothes, and mats of the king and priests, +and the heads of men who were the devotees of any particular +idol, were always taboo or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, +turtles, and several sorts of fish, coco-nuts, and almost everything +offered in sacrifice were taboo or consecrated to the use +of the gods and the men; hence women were, except in +cases of particular indulgence, forbidden to partake of them. +Particular places, such as those frequented by the king for +bathing, were also permanently taboo. As examples of temporary +taboos may be mentioned those which were imposed +on an island or district for a certain time, during which no +canoe or person was allowed to approach it. Particular +fruits, animals, and the fish of certain places were occasionally +taboo for several months, during which neither men nor +women might eat them.<a name="FNanchor_29_1073" id="FNanchor_29_1073"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_1073" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The predecessor of Kamehameha, +king of Hawaii, "was taboo to such a degree that he was +not allowed to be seen by day. He only showed himself in +the night: if any person had but accidentally seen him by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +daylight he was immediately put to death; a sacred law, +the fulfilment of which nothing could prevent."<a name="FNanchor_30_1074" id="FNanchor_30_1074"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_1074" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The seasons generally kept taboo were on the approach +of some great religious ceremony, immediately before going +to war, and during the sickness of chiefs. Their duration +was various, and much longer in ancient than in modern +times. Tradition tells of a taboo which lasted thirty years, +during which men might not trim their beards and were subject +to other restrictions. Another was kept for five years. Before +the reign of Kamehameha forty days was the usual period; +but in his time the period was shortened to ten or five days, +or even to a single day. The taboo seasons might be either +common or strict. During a common taboo the men were +only required to abstain from their usual avocations, and to +attend morning and evening prayers at the temple. But during +a strict taboo every fire and light in the district or island must +be extinguished; no canoe might be launched; no person +might bathe or even appear out of doors, unless his attendance +was required at the temple; no dog might bark, no pig +grunt, and no cock crow; for if any of these things were to +happen the taboo would be broken and fail to accomplish its +object. To prevent this disaster the mouths of dogs and +pigs were tied up, and fowls were put under a calabash, or a +cloth was fastened over their eyes.<a name="FNanchor_31_1075" id="FNanchor_31_1075"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_1075" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>The prohibitions of the taboo were strictly enforced; +every breach of them was punished with death, unless the +delinquent had powerful friends among the priests or chiefs, +who could save him. The culprits were generally offered in +sacrifice, being either strangled or clubbed at the temple; +according to one account, they were burnt.<a name="FNanchor_32_1076" id="FNanchor_32_1076"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_1076" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>The system seems to have been found at last too burdensome +to be borne even by the king, who under it was forbidden +to touch his food with his own hands, and had to submit +to having it put into his mouth by another person, as if +he were an infant.<a name="FNanchor_33_1077" id="FNanchor_33_1077"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_1077" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Whatever his motive, Liholiho, son of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +Kamehameha, had hardly succeeded his father on the throne +of Hawaii when he abolished the system of taboo and the +national religion at a single blow. This remarkable reformation +took place in November 1819. When the first Christian +missionaries arrived from America, some months later, March +30th, 1820, they were astonished to learn of a peaceful +revolution, which had so opportunely prepared the way for +their own teaching.<a name="FNanchor_34_1078" id="FNanchor_34_1078"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_1078" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 5. <i>Religion, the Gods</i></h4> + +<p>Of the native Hawaiian religion, as it existed before +the advent of Europeans and the conversion of the people +to Christianity, we possess no adequate account. The defect +is probably due in great measure to the readiness with which +the islanders relinquished their old faith and adopted the +new one. The transition seems to have been effected with +great ease and comparatively little opposition; hence when +the missionaries settled in the islands a few months after the +formal abolition of the ancient religion, paganism was already +almost a thing of the past, and the Christian teachers were +either unable or perhaps unwilling to record in detail the +beliefs and rites which they regarded as false and pernicious. +Be that as it may, we possess no such comparatively full and +accurate records of the old Hawaiian religion, as we possess, +for example, of the old pagan religion of the Tongans and +the Samoans, who clung much more pertinaciously to the +creed of their fathers than their more enlightened or more +fickle kinsfolk in the Sandwich Islands. Hence we are +obliged to content ourselves with some more or less meagre +and fragmentary notices of the ancient Hawaiian system of +religious belief and practice. But as the Hawaiians are, or +were, pure-blooded Polynesians, we may assume with a fair +degree of probability that in its broad lines their religious +system conformed to the ordinary Polynesian type.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>On this subject Captain King, the colleague and successor +of Captain Cook in his last voyage, observes as follows: +"The religion of these people resembles, in most of its +principal features, that of the Society and Friendly Islands. +Their <i>Morais</i>, their <i>Whattas</i>, their idols, their sacrifices, and +their sacred songs, all of which they have in common with +each other, are convincing proofs that their religious notions +are derived from the same source. In the length and number +of their ceremonies this branch indeed far exceeds the rest; +and though in all these countries there is a certain class of +men to whose care the performance of their religious rites is +committed, yet we had never met with a regular society of +priests, till we discovered the cloisters of Kakooa in Karakakooa +Bay [in the island of Hawaii]. The head of this order +was called <i>Orono</i>; a title which we imagined to imply something +highly sacred, and which, in the person of Omeeah, was +honoured almost to adoration.... It has been mentioned +that the title of <i>Orono</i>, with all its honours, was given to +Captain Cook; and it is also certain that they regarded us +generally as a race of people superior to themselves; and used +often to say that great <i>Eatooa</i> [<i>atuas</i>, spirits] dwelled in our +country. The little image, which we have before described +as the favourite idol on the <i>Morai</i> in Karakakooa Bay, they +called <i>Koonooraekaiee</i>, and said it was Terreeoboo's god, and +that he also resided amongst us. There are found an infinite +variety of these images both on the <i>Morais</i>, and within and +without their houses, to which they give different names; +but it soon became obvious to us in how little estimation +they were held, from their frequent expressions of contempt +of them, and from their even offering them to sale for trifles. +At the same time there seldom failed to be some one particular +figure in favour, to which, whilst this preference lasted, +all their adoration was addressed. This consisted in arraying +it in red cloth, beating their drums, and singing hymns before +it, laying bunches of red feathers, and different sorts of +vegetables, at its feet, and exposing a pig or a dog to rot on +the <i>whatta</i> that stood near it. In a bay to the southward +of Karakakooa, a party of our gentlemen were conducted to +a large house, in which they found the black figure of a man, +resting on his fingers and toes, with his head inclined backward,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +the limbs well formed and exactly proportioned, and +the whole beautifully polished. This figure the natives call +<i>Maee</i>; and round it were placed thirteen others of rude and +distorted shapes, which they said were the <i>Eatooas</i> [spirits] +of several deceased chiefs, whose names they recounted. The +place was full of <i>whattas</i>, on which lay the remains of their +offerings. They likewise give a place in their houses to +many ludicrous and some obscene idols, like the Priapus of +the ancients."<a name="FNanchor_35_1079" id="FNanchor_35_1079"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_1079" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>The general Hawaiian name for god was <i>akua</i>, corresponding +to the more usual Polynesian form <i>atua</i>.<a name="FNanchor_36_1080" id="FNanchor_36_1080"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_1080" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The +four principal Hawaiian deities were Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, +and Lono.<a name="FNanchor_37_1081" id="FNanchor_37_1081"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_1081" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Their names are only dialectically different +forms of Tu, Tane, Tangaroa or Tagaloa, and Rongo, four +of the greatest Polynesian gods.<a name="FNanchor_38_1082" id="FNanchor_38_1082"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_1082" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Of these deities it is said +that Ku, Kane, and Lono formed the original Hawaiian +triad or trinity, who were worshipped as a unity under the +name of Ku-kau-akahi, "the one established."<a name="FNanchor_39_1083" id="FNanchor_39_1083"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_1083" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The +meaning or essence of the three persons of the trinity is +said to be Stability (Ku), Light (Tane), and Sound (Lono).<a name="FNanchor_40_1084" id="FNanchor_40_1084"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_1084" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +"These gods," we are told, "created the three heavens as +their dwelling-place, then the earth, sun, moon, and stars, +then, the host of angels and ministers. Kanaloa (Tangaroa), +who represented the spirit of evil, was a later introduction +into the Hawaiian theology; he it was who led the rebellion +of spirits, although Milu is in other traditions credited with +this bad pre-eminence."<a name="FNanchor_41_1085" id="FNanchor_41_1085"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_1085" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> We read that when the trinity were +at work on the task of creating the first man, the bad spirit +Kanaloa, out of rivalry, also made an image, but he could +not endow it with life. So, in a rage, he cried to Kane, "I +will take your man, he shall die!" And that, it is said, was +the origin of death. The reason why the spirits, under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> +leadership of Kanaloa, rebelled was that they had been +denied the sacrifice of kava. For their rebellion they were +thrust down to the lowest depth of Darkness or Night (<i>Po</i>).<a name="FNanchor_42_1086" id="FNanchor_42_1086"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_1086" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>A fuller account of these momentous transactions presents +a close, perhaps a suspicious, resemblance to the Biblical +narrative of the same events. It runs as follows:</p> + +<p>"According to ancient Hawaiian traditions, there existed +in the chaos three mighty gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono. By +their common action light was brought into the chaos. +Then the gods created three heavenly spheres, in which they +dwelt, and last of all the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Out +of their spittle they thereupon created a host of angels, who +had to render service to the three original deities. Last of +all came the creation of man. His body was fashioned out +of red earth, and his head out of white clay, and Kane, the +highest of the gods, breathed into this Hawaiian Adam the +breath of life. Out of one of his ribs the Hawaiian Eve +was created. The newly formed pair, by name Kumuhonua +and Keolakuhonua, were placed in a beautiful paradise called +Paliuli, which was watered by the three rivers of life, and +planted with many fine trees, among them the sacred bread-fruit +tree. The mightiest of the angels, Kanaloa, the +Hawaiian Lucifer, desired that the newly created human +pair should worship him, which was forbidden by God the +Father, Kane. After vain attempts to create a new man +devoted to himself, Kanaloa, out of desire for vengeance, +resolved to ruin the first human pair created by the gods. +In the likeness of a great lizard he crept into Paradise and +seduced the two inhabitants of the same into committing +sin, whereupon they were driven out of Paradise by a +powerful bird sent by Kane. Then follow, as in the Bible, +the legends of the Hawaiian Cain (Laka) and the Hawaiian +Noah (Nuu), by whom the ancestors of the Hawaiian people +are said to have been saved from the universal flood."<a name="FNanchor_43_1087" id="FNanchor_43_1087"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_1087" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The +story of the creation of the first woman out of a rib of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +first man appears to have been widespread in Polynesia, for +it is reported also from Tahiti,<a name="FNanchor_44_1088" id="FNanchor_44_1088"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_1088" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Fakaofo or Bowditch Island,<a name="FNanchor_45_1089" id="FNanchor_45_1089"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_1089" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +and New Zealand.<a name="FNanchor_46_1090" id="FNanchor_46_1090"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_1090" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>Of the three persons in the Hawaiian trinity, Kane +(Tane) is said to have been the principal. He was especially +associated with light; in a fragment of an ancient liturgy he +is called Heaven-father (<i>Lani-makua</i>) and in a very ancient +chant he is identified with the Creator. When after the +great flood the Hawaiian Noah, who is called Nuu, left his +vessel, he offered up sacrifice to the moon, saying, "You are +doubtless a transformation of Tane." But the deity was +angry at this worship of a material object; nevertheless, +when Nuu expressed his contrition, the rainbow was left as +a pledge of forgiveness.<a name="FNanchor_47_1091" id="FNanchor_47_1091"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_1091" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>According to one account, the two great gods Kane and +Kanaloa were twins. In Hawaii twins are regarded as +superior to ordinary mortals both in mind and body; hence +it was natural to conceive of a pair of divine twins, like the +Dioscuri in Greek mythology. And, like the Dioscuri, the +divine Hawaiian twins sometimes appeared together to their +worshippers as helpers in time of need. Thus, in a season +of dearth, when people were dying of hunger, a poor fisher +lad in the island of Lanai set up a tiny hut on the sea-shore, +and there day by day he offered a little from the scanty +store of fish which his family had caught; and as he did so +he prayed, saying, "Here, O god, is fish for thee." One +day, as he sat there, racked with unsatisfied yearning for the +divine assistance, two men came walking that way and +rested at the hut; and, taking them to be weary wanderers, +the fisher lad willingly gave them what little food he had +left over. They slept there that night, and next day, when +they were departing, they revealed themselves to him as +the two gods Kane and Kanaloa, and they told him that his +prayer had been heard, and that salvation would follow. +Sure enough, plenty soon returned to the land, and on the +spot where the little hut had stood, a stone temple was built<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +in stately terraces.<a name="FNanchor_48_1092" id="FNanchor_48_1092"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_1092" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> Again, we hear how when drought had +lasted long in the island of Oahu, and death stared the +farmers in the face for lack of water, the gods Kane and +Kanaloa appeared in the likeness of two young men and +showed them a spring, which was afterwards consecrated to +the divine twins.<a name="FNanchor_49_1093" id="FNanchor_49_1093"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_1093" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Once more, it is said that, when the two +deities were in Oahu, it chanced that they could find no +water with which to moisten their dry food. Then at Kane's +direction Kanaloa struck a stone with his spear, and from +the stone there sprang a fountain, which bears the name of +Kane to this day, and still it rises and sinks on the day of +the moon which is sacred to that divinity.<a name="FNanchor_50_1094" id="FNanchor_50_1094"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_1094" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>The god Lono was, as we have seen, no other than +the great Polynesian deity Rongo, the two names being the +same word in dialectically different forms. He was one of +the most popular gods of Hawaii;<a name="FNanchor_51_1095" id="FNanchor_51_1095"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_1095" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> the seasons and other +natural phenomena were associated with him, and prayers +for rain were particularly addressed to him.<a name="FNanchor_52_1096" id="FNanchor_52_1096"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_1096" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> According to +one account, he was an uncreated, self-existent deity;<a name="FNanchor_53_1097" id="FNanchor_53_1097"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_1097" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> but +according to another account he was an ancient king of +Hawaii, who rashly killed his wife on a suspicion of infidelity, +and then, full of remorse, carried her lifeless body to a temple +and made a great wail over it. Thereafter he travelled +through Hawaii in a state of frenzy, boxing and wrestling +with every one whom he met. The people in astonishment +said, "Is Lono entirely mad?" He replied, "I am frantic +with my great love." Having instituted games to commemorate +his wife's death, he embarked in a triangular +canoe for a foreign land. Before he departed, he prophesied, +saying, "I will return in after times, on an island bearing +coco-nut trees, swine, and dogs." After his departure he +was deified by his countrymen, and annual games of boxing +and wrestling were instituted in his honour.<a name="FNanchor_54_1098" id="FNanchor_54_1098"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_1098" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> When Captain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +Cook arrived in Hawaii, the natives took him to be their god +Lono returned according to his prophecy. The priests threw +a sacred red mantle on his shoulders and did him reverence, +prostrating themselves before him; they pronounced long +discourses with extreme volubility, by way of prayer and +worship. They offered him pigs and food and clothes, +and everything that they offered to the gods. When +he landed, most of the inhabitants fled before him, full +of fear, and those who remained prostrated themselves +in adoration. They led him to a temple, and there they +worshipped him. But afterwards in a brawl, when they saw +his blood flowing and heard his groans, they said, "No, this +is not Rono," and one of them struck him, so that he died. +But even after his death, some of them still thought that he +was Rono, and that he would come again. So they looked +on some of his bones, to wit his ribs and his breastbone, as +sacred; they put them in a little basket covered all over +with red feathers, and they deposited it in a temple dedicated +to Rono. There religious homage was paid to the bones, +and thence they were carried every year in procession to +several other temples, or borne by the priests round the +island, to collect the offerings of the faithful for the support +of the worship of the god Rono.<a name="FNanchor_55_1099" id="FNanchor_55_1099"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_1099" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>The great Polynesian god or hero Maui was known in +Hawaii, where the stories told of him resembled those current +in other parts of the Pacific. He is said to have dragged +up the islands on his fishing-hook from the depths of the +ocean, and to have brought men their first fire.<a name="FNanchor_56_1100" id="FNanchor_56_1100"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_1100" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> One day, +when his wife was making bark-cloth and had not time to +finish it before night, Maui laid his hand on the sun and +prevented it from going down till the work was completed.<a name="FNanchor_57_1101" id="FNanchor_57_1101"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_1101" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>The national war-god of Hawaii was named Tairi (Kaili). +In the evening he used to be seen flitting about near his +temple in the form of a sort of luminous vapour, like a flame +or the tail of a comet. A similar appearance is also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +occasionally seen in the Society Islands, where the terrified +natives formerly identified it with their god Tane, and +supposed that the meteor was the deity flying from temple +to temple or seeking whom he might destroy.<a name="FNanchor_58_1102" id="FNanchor_58_1102"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_1102" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The image +of the war-god Tairi used to be carried to battle by the +priest, who held it aloft above the ranks. It was four or +five feet high; the upper part was of wicker-work, covered +with red feathers; the face grinned hideously; the mouth +displayed triple rows of dog's or shark's teeth; the eyes +gleamed with mother of pearl; and the head was crowned +with a helmet crested with long tresses of human hair. In +the battle the priest used to distort his face into a variety of +frightful grimaces and to utter appalling yells, which were +supposed to proceed from the god whom he bore or attended. +But the national war-god was not the only deity whose +image was borne to battle. Other chiefs of rank had their +war-gods carried near them by their priests; and if the king +or chief was killed or taken, the god himself was usually +captured also. The presence of their deities inspired the +warriors with courage; for they imagined the divine influence +to be essential to victory.<a name="FNanchor_59_1103" id="FNanchor_59_1103"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_1103" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> The diviners were consulted +immediately before a battle. They slew the victims, and +noticed the face of the heavens, the passage of clouds over +the sun, and the appearance of a rainbow. If the omens +were favourable, the image of the principal war-god was +brought out in front of the whole army and placed near the +king. The priest then prayed to the gods, beseeching them +to prove themselves stronger than the gods of the enemy in +the ensuing engagement, and promising them hecatombs of +victims in the event of victory. The bodies of foes slain +in the battle were dragged to the king or priest, who offered +them as victims to his gods.<a name="FNanchor_60_1104" id="FNanchor_60_1104"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_1104" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>The gods of Hawaii fell into two classes, according as +they were believed to have been primaeval deities born of +Night (Po), or the souls of men who had been deified after +death. For it was believed to be possible to detain the +soul of a beloved or honoured person at death by keeping +his clothes or his bones; and the soul could thereafter be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +invoked and could speak through the mouth of the person +into whom it had entered. Both classes of deities, the +primaeval and the human, were credited with the power of +making people ill.<a name="FNanchor_61_1105" id="FNanchor_61_1105"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_1105" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> One way of obtaining a guardian deity +for a family was to take the body of a still-born child and +throw it into the sea or bury it in the earth; in the former +case the embryo was supposed to turn into a shark, in the +latter case into a grasshopper. When it was deemed necessary +to obtain the help of a deity (<i>akua</i>) for a special +purpose, such as success in fishing or in canoe-building, the +divine spirit could be conjured into an image (<i>kii</i>), and could +thereafter appear in a dream to his worshipper and reveal to +him what food he desired to have dedicated to him, and +what accordingly the worshipper must abstain from eating. +Often the god showed himself to the dreamer in the shape +of a stone or other object; and on awakening the man was +bound to procure the object, whatever it was, and to honour +it with prayer and sacrifice, in order to ensure the protection +of the deity. Prayers addressed to private gods were usually +the property of the owner, who was commonly also their +author; whereas prayers addressed to a public god, such as +Kane, had to be learned from a priest or other adept.<a name="FNanchor_62_1106" id="FNanchor_62_1106"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_1106" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>Among the deities who had once been men would seem +to have been the god of medicine, the Hawaiian Aesculapius. +It is said that many generations ago a certain man named +Koreamoku received all medicinal herbs from the gods, who +also taught him the use of them. After his death he was +deified, and a wooden image of him was placed in a large +temple at Kairua, to which offerings of hogs, fish, and coco-nuts +were frequently presented. Oronopuha and Makanuiairomo, +two friends and disciples of Koreamoku, continued +to practise the healing art after the death of their master, +and they too were deified after death, particularly because +they were often successful in driving away the evil spirits +which afflicted the people and threatened them with death. +To these deified men the priests addressed their prayers +when they administered medicine to the sick.<a name="FNanchor_63_1107" id="FNanchor_63_1107"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_1107" class="fnanchor">[63]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of all the deities of Hawaii the most dreaded was Pele, +the goddess of the volcanic fire, whose home was in the +great and ever active volcano of Kilauea. There she dwelt +with the other members of her family, brothers and sisters. +They were all said to have come to Hawaii from a foreign +country called Tahiti after the great deluge had subsided. +The cones which rise like islands from the vast sea of boiling +lava, vomiting columns of smoke or pyramids of flame, were +the houses where these volcanic deities lived and amused +themselves by playing at draughts: the crackling of the +flames and the roaring of the furnaces were the music of +their dance; and the red flaming surge was the surf wherein +they sported, swimming on the rolling fiery waves.<a name="FNanchor_64_1108" id="FNanchor_64_1108"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_1108" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> The +filaments of volcanic glass, of a dark olive colour and as fine +as human hair, some straight, some crimped or frizzled, +which are to be seen abundantly on the sides of the crater, +and on the plain for miles round, are called by the natives +"Pele's hair"; in some places they lie so thick as to +resemble cobwebs covering the surface of the ground.<a name="FNanchor_65_1109" id="FNanchor_65_1109"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_1109" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +Near the crater grow bushes bearing clusters of red and +yellow berries resembling large currants; of these the +natives formerly would never eat till they had thrown some +of the clusters into the thickest of the smoke and vapour as +an offering to the goddess of the volcano.<a name="FNanchor_66_1110" id="FNanchor_66_1110"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_1110" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Vast numbers +of hogs, some alive, others cooked, used to be cast into the +craters when they were in action or when they threatened +an eruption; and when they boiled over, the animals were +flung into the rolling torrent of lava to appease the gods +and arrest the progress of the fiery stream. For the whole +island had to pay tribute to the gods of the volcano and to +furnish provisions for the support of their ministers; and +whenever the chiefs or people failed to send the proper +offerings or incurred the displeasure of the dreadful beings +by insulting them or their ministers, or by breaking the +taboos which had to be observed in the vicinity of the +craters, the angry deities would spout lava from the +mountain or march by subterranean passages to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +abode of the culprits and overwhelm them under a flood of +molten matter. And if the fishermen did not offer them +enough fish, they would rush down, kill the fish with fire, +and, filling up the shoals, destroy the fishing-grounds +entirely.<a name="FNanchor_67_1111" id="FNanchor_67_1111"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_1111" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> People who passed by the volcano of Kilauea +often presented locks of hair to Pele by throwing them into +the crater with an appropriate address to the deity.<a name="FNanchor_68_1112" id="FNanchor_68_1112"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_1112" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> On +one occasion, when a river of lava threatened destruction to +the people of the neighbourhood, and the sacrifice of many +hogs, cast alive into the stream, had not availed to stay its +devastating course, King Kamehameha cut off some of his +own sacred locks and threw them into the torrent, with the +result that in a day or two the lava ceased to flow.<a name="FNanchor_69_1113" id="FNanchor_69_1113"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_1113" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> In the +pleasant and verdant valley of Kaua there used to be a +temple of the goddess, where the inhabitants of Hamakua, +a district of Hawaii, formerly celebrated an annual festival +designed to propitiate the dread divinity and to secure their +country from earthquakes and floods of lava. On such +occasions large offerings of hogs, dogs, and fruit were made, +and the priests performed certain rites.<a name="FNanchor_70_1114" id="FNanchor_70_1114"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_1114" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Worshippers of +Pele also threw some of the bones of their dead into the +volcano, in the belief that the spirits of the deceased would +then be admitted to the society of the volcanic deities, and +that their influence would preserve the survivors from the +ravages of volcanic fire.<a name="FNanchor_71_1115" id="FNanchor_71_1115"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_1115" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Nevertheless the apprehensions +uniformly entertained by the natives of the fearful consequences +of Pele's anger prevented them from paying very +frequent visits to the vicinity of the volcano; and when on +their inland journeys they had occasion to approach the +mountain, they were scrupulously attentive to every injunction +of her priests, and regarded with a degree of +superstitious veneration and awe the appalling spectacle +which the crater, with its sea of molten and flaming lava, +presented to their eyes.<a name="FNanchor_72_1116" id="FNanchor_72_1116"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_1116" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> They even requested strangers +not to dig or scratch the sand in its neighbourhood for fear +of displeasing the goddess and provoking her to manifest +her displeasure by an eruption.<a name="FNanchor_73_1117" id="FNanchor_73_1117"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_1117" class="fnanchor">[73]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<p>The service of Pele was regularly cared for by an +hereditary steward (<i>kahu</i>) and an hereditary priestess. The +duty of the steward was to provide the materials for the public +sacrifices, including the food and raiment for the goddess; +it was for him to furnish the hogs and fowls, to cultivate the +taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane which were to serve her +for nourishment, to tend the plants from which her garments +were to be made, and to have all things in readiness for the +offerings at the appointed seasons. Of the plantations sacred +to this use, one was on the sea-shore, and another in the broken +ground within the precincts of the crater; and the steward +with his family resided sometimes in the one place and +sometimes in the other. When the time came for offering +the sacrifice, the priestess descended into the depths of the +volcano, and there approaching as near as possible to the +spot where the fire burned most furiously, she cast into it +her gifts, saying, "Here, Pele, is food for you, and here is +cloth," whereby she mentioned each article as she flung it +into the flames.<a name="FNanchor_74_1118" id="FNanchor_74_1118"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_1118" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Sometimes the priestess claimed to be +inspired by Pele and even to be the goddess in person. +One of the priestesses, in an interview with the missionary +William Ellis, assumed a haughty air and declared, "I am +Pele; I shall never die; and those who follow me, when +they die, if part of their bones be taken to Kilauea, will +live with me in the bright fires there." In a song she gave +a long account of the deeds and honours of the goddess, +who, she said, dwelt in the volcano and had come in former +times from the land beyond the sky. This song she chanted +or recited in a rapid and vociferous manner, accompanied +by extravagant gestures, working herself up to a state of +excitement in which she appeared to lose all self-command. +She also claimed to be able to heal the sick through the +indwelling spirit of the goddess.<a name="FNanchor_75_1119" id="FNanchor_75_1119"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_1119" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> But the goddess was +served also by priests. We read of one such who offered +prayers to her and assured the people that thereafter she +would do them no harm.<a name="FNanchor_76_1120" id="FNanchor_76_1120"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_1120" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p>The Hawaiians also paid religious reverence to certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +birds, fish, and animals. In a village Captain King saw +two tame ravens which the people told him were <i>eatooas</i> +(<i>atuas</i>, <i>akuas</i>), that is, gods or spirits, cautioning him at the +same time not to hurt or offend them.<a name="FNanchor_77_1121" id="FNanchor_77_1121"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_1121" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> The native authors +of a work on the history of Hawaii, speaking of the ancient +religion of their people, tell us that "birds served some as +idols; if it was a fowl, the fowl was taboo for the worshippers, +and the same for all the birds which were deified. +The idol of another was a four-footed animal, and if it was +a pig, the pig was taboo for him. So with all the animals +who became gods. Another had a stone for his idol; it +became taboo, and he could not sit upon the stone. The +idol of another was a fish, and if it was a shark, the shark +was taboo for him. So with all the fish, and so they deified +all things in earth and heaven, and all the bones of men."<a name="FNanchor_78_1122" id="FNanchor_78_1122"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_1122" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +Further, the same writers observe that "the trees were idols +for the people and for the chiefs. If a man had for his +idol the <i>ohia</i> tree, the <i>ohia</i> was taboo for him; if the bread-fruit +tree was the idol of another, the bread-fruit tree was +taboo for him. The taboo existed likewise for all the trees +out of which men had made divine images, and it was the +same also for food. If taro was a person's idol, taro was +taboo for him. It was the same for all the eatables of +which they had made gods."<a name="FNanchor_79_1123" id="FNanchor_79_1123"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_1123" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> This deification of birds, +fish, animals, plants, and inanimate objects resembles the +Samoan system and may, like it, be a relic of totemism.<a name="FNanchor_80_1124" id="FNanchor_80_1124"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_1124" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> +Among the living creatures to which they thus accorded +divine honours were lizards, rats, and owls.<a name="FNanchor_81_1125" id="FNanchor_81_1125"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_1125" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>Among the deified fishes it would seem that the shark +held a foremost place. On almost every cape jutting out +into the sea, a temple used to be built for the worship of +the shark. The first fish of each kind, taken by the fishermen, +were always carried to the temple and offered to the +god, who was supposed to have driven them towards the +shore.<a name="FNanchor_82_1126" id="FNanchor_82_1126"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_1126" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> When the king or the priests imagined that the +shark wanted food, they sallied forth with their attendants, +one of whom carried a rope with a running noose. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +coming to a group or crowd of people, they threw the rope +among them, and whoever happened to be taken in the +snare, whether man, woman, or child, was strangled on the +spot, the body cut in pieces, and flung into the sea, to be +bolted by the ravenous monsters.<a name="FNanchor_83_1127" id="FNanchor_83_1127"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_1127" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Fishermen sometimes +wrapped their dead in red native cloth, and threw them into +the sea to be devoured by the sharks. They thought that +the soul of the deceased would animate the shark which +had eaten his body, and that the sharks would therefore +spare the survivors in the event of a mishap at sea.<a name="FNanchor_84_1128" id="FNanchor_84_1128"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_1128" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> It +was especially stillborn children that were thus disposed of. +The worshipper of the shark would lay the body of the +infant on a mat, and having placed beside it two roots of +taro, one of kava, and a piece of sugar-cane, he would recite +some prayers, and then throw the whole bundle into the +sea, fully persuaded that by means of this offering the transmigration +of the soul of the child into the body of a shark +would be effected, and that thenceforth the formidable monster +would be ready to spare such members of the family as +might afterwards be exposed to his attack. In the temples +dedicated to sharks there were priests who, at sunrise and +sunset, addressed their prayers to the image which represented +the shark; and they rubbed themselves constantly +with water and salt, which, drying on their skin, made it +appear covered with scales. They also dressed in red +cloth, uttered piercing yells, and leaped over the wall of the +sacred enclosure; moreover they persuaded the islanders that +they knew the exact moment when the children that had +been thrown into the sea were transformed into sharks, and +for this discovery they were rewarded by the happy parents +with liberal presents of little pigs, roots of kava, coco-nuts, +and so forth.<a name="FNanchor_85_1129" id="FNanchor_85_1129"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_1129" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> The priests also professed to be inspired by +sharks and in that condition to foretell future events. Many +people accepted these professions in good faith and contributed +to support the professors by their offerings.<a name="FNanchor_86_1130" id="FNanchor_86_1130"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_1130" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>From the foregoing account it appears that some at least +of the worshipful sharks were supposed to be animated by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +the souls of the dead. Whether the worship of other sacred +animals in Hawaii was in like manner combined with a +theory of transmigration, there seems to be no evidence to +decide. We have seen that a similar doubt rests on the +worship of animals in Tonga.<a name="FNanchor_87_1131" id="FNanchor_87_1131"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_1131" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 6. <i>Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners</i></h4> + +<p>The priesthood formed a numerous and powerful body. +Their office was hereditary. They owned much property +in people and lands, which were heavily taxed for their +support. Each chief had his family priest, who followed +him to battle, carried his war-god, and superintended all the +sacred rites of his household. The priests took rank from +their gods and chiefs. The keeper of the national war-god, +who was immediately attached to the person of the king, +was the high priest.<a name="FNanchor_88_1132" id="FNanchor_88_1132"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_1132" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> In the inner court of the great temple +dedicated to Tairi, the war-god, stood a lofty frame of +wicker-work, in shape something like an obelisk, hollow +within and measuring four or five feet square at the base. +Within this framework the priest stood and gave oracles in +the name of the god, whenever the king came to consult the +deity on any matter of importance, such as a declaration of +war or the conclusion of peace; for the war-god was also +the king's oracle. The oracular answer, given by the priest +in a distinct and audible voice, was afterwards reported by +the king, publicly proclaimed, and generally acted upon.<a name="FNanchor_89_1133" id="FNanchor_89_1133"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_1133" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> +When the villages failed to pay their tribute punctually to +the king, he used to send forth a priest bearing the image +of the great god Rono, who scoured the country of the +defaulters for twenty-three days and obliged them to pay +double tribute. The priest who bore the image was strictly +tabooed; during his peregrination he might not touch anything +with his hands; his food had to be put into his mouth +either by the chiefs of the villages where he halted or by +the king himself, who accompanied him.<a name="FNanchor_90_1134" id="FNanchor_90_1134"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_1134" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p> + +<p>Distinct from the regular priests were the diviners or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> +sorcerers who formed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. +Their services were employed for various purposes, such as +to discover the cause of illness or to detect a thief. The +people generally believed that all deaths, which were not +due to acts of violence, were wrought either by the action of +a deity or by the incantations of a sorcerer. Hence in cases +of protracted illness the aid of one of these inferior clergy +was almost invariably sought by all who could procure a +dog and a fowl for the necessary sacrifice to the god, and a +piece or two of cloth as a fee for the priest. But the +offerings to the god and the fees to the priest naturally +varied with the rank or wealth of the sufferer. After +sacrificing the victims the priest lay down to sleep, and +if his prayers were answered, he was usually able to inform +the invalid of the cause of his illness, which had been +revealed to him in a dream. But the same men, who could +thus heal the sick by ascertaining and removing the cause +of sickness, were supposed to possess the power of praying +or enchanting people to death by the recitation of spells +or incantations. The prayers or incantations which they +employed for these beneficent or maleficent purposes varied +with the individual: every practitioner had his own formulas, +the knowledge of which he carefully confined to his own +family; and he who was thought to have most influence +with his god was most frequently employed by the people +and derived the greatest emoluments from his profession.<a name="FNanchor_91_1135" id="FNanchor_91_1135"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_1135" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Of +this class of men the most dreaded were those who invoked +the god Uli as their patron deity. Their special business was +to kill people by their spells, which they recited secretly, and +for the most part by night; but to render these effectual +it was necessary for them to obtain some of the personal +refuse of their victim, such as his spittle, the parings of his +nails, or the clippings of his hair, which they buried or +burned with the appropriate incantations.<a name="FNanchor_92_1136" id="FNanchor_92_1136"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_1136" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Hence the +king of Hawaii was constantly attended by a servant +carrying a spittoon in which he collected the royal saliva<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +to prevent it from being used by the king's enemies for +his injury or destruction.<a name="FNanchor_93_1137" id="FNanchor_93_1137"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_1137" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Ordinary chiefs seem to have +adopted the same precaution; a confidential servant deposited +their spittle carefully in a portable spittoon and buried it +every morning.<a name="FNanchor_94_1138" id="FNanchor_94_1138"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_1138" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<p>A form of divination or magic was employed to detect +a thief. The person who had suffered the loss used to +apply to a priest, to whom he presented a pig and told his +story. Thereupon the priest kindled a fire by rubbing two +pieces of wood together, and having taken three nuts he +broke the shells and threw one of the kernels into the fire, +saying, "Kill or shoot the fellow." If the thief did not +appear before the nut was consumed in the flames, the +priest repeated the ceremony with the other two nuts. +Such was the fear inspired by this rite that the culprit +seldom failed to come forward and acknowledge his guilt. +But if he persisted in concealing his crime, the king would +cause proclamation to be made throughout the island that +so-and-so had been robbed, and that the robber or robbers +had been prayed to death. So firm was the belief of the +people in the power of these prayers, that the criminal, on +hearing the proclamation, would pine away, refuse food, and +fall a victim to his own credulity.<a name="FNanchor_95_1139" id="FNanchor_95_1139"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_1139" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 7. <i>Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices</i></h4> + +<p>Of the Hawaiian temples, as they existed before the +abolition of the native religion, we seem to possess no good +and clear description. When Captain Cook first visited +Hawaii and was sailing along the coast, he noticed from the +ship at every village one or more elevated white objects, like +pyramids or rather obelisks; one of them he judged to be +fifty feet high. On landing to examine it, he could not +reach it on account of an intervening pool of water. However, +he visited another structure of the same sort in a +more accessible situation, and found that it stood in what he +calls a burying-ground or <i>morai</i> closely resembling those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +which he had seen in other Polynesian islands and especially +in Tahiti. This particular <i>morai</i> was an oblong space, of +considerable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about +four feet high. The area enclosed was loosely paved with +smaller stones; and at one end of it stood the pyramid or +obelisk, measuring about four feet square at the base and +about twenty feet high. The four sides were composed, not +of stones, but of small poles interwoven with twigs and +branches, thus forming an indifferent wicker-work, hollow or +open within from bottom to top. It seemed to be in a +rather ruinous state, but enough remained to show that it +had been originally covered with the light grey cloth to which +the natives attached a religious significance. It was no +doubt with similar cloth that the white pyramids or obelisks +were covered which Captain Cook beheld in the distance from +the deck of his ship. Beside the particular pyramid which he +examined Captain Cook found a sacrificial stage or altar with +plantains laid upon it. The pyramids or obelisks which he +thus saw and described were presumably the structures in +which the priests concealed themselves when they gave +oracles in the name of the god. On the farther side of the +area of the <i>morai</i> of which Captain Cook has given us a +description stood a house or shed about ten feet high, forty +feet long, and ten broad in the middle, but tapering somewhat +towards the ends. The entrance into it was at the +middle of the side, which was in the <i>morai</i>. On the farther +side of the house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden +images, each cut out of a single piece, with pedestals, in all +about three feet high, not badly designed nor executed. +They were said to represent goddesses (<i>eatooa no veheina</i>). +On the head of one of them was a carved helmet, and on +the other a cylindrical cap like the head-dress worn at Tahiti. +In the middle of the house, and before the two images, was +an oblong space, enclosed by a low edging of stone and +covered with shreds of the same grey cloth which draped the +pyramid or obelisk. Within this enclosure seven chiefs lay +buried; and outside the house, just on one side of the +entrance, were two small square spaces in which a man and +a hog were buried respectively, after being killed and +sacrificed to the divinity. At a little distance from these,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +and near the middle of the <i>morai</i>, were three more of these +square enclosed places, in which three chiefs had been +interred. In front of their graves was an oblong enclosed +space in which, as Captain Cook was told, three human +victims were buried, each of them having been sacrificed +at the funeral of one of the three chiefs. Within the area +of the <i>morai</i> or burying-ground, as Captain Cook calls it, +were planted trees of various kinds. Similar sanctuaries +appeared to Captain Cook to abound in the island; the +particular one described by him he believed to be among +the least considerable, being far less conspicuous than +several others which he had seen in sailing along the +coast.<a name="FNanchor_96_1140" id="FNanchor_96_1140"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_1140" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>From his description we may infer that the temples +(<i>morais</i>) observed by him did not contain stone pyramids +like those which formed such prominent features in the +Tahitian sanctuaries and in the burial grounds of the +Tooitongas in Tongataboo; for the pyramids, or rather +obelisks, of wicker-work seen by Captain Cook in the +Hawaiian sanctuaries were obviously structures of a wholly +different kind. But there seem to be some grounds for +thinking that stone pyramids, built in steps or terraces, did +occur in some of the Hawaiian temples. Thus Captain +King saw a <i>morai</i>, as he calls it, which consisted of a square +solid pile of stones about forty yards long, twenty broad, +and fourteen [feet?] in height. The top was flat and well +paved, and surrounded by a wooden rail, on which were fixed +the skulls of captives who had been sacrificed on the death +of chiefs. The ascent to the top of the pile was easy, but +whether it was a staircase or an inclined plane is not +mentioned by Captain King. At one end of the temple or +sacred enclosure was an irregular kind of scaffold supported +on poles more than twenty feet high, at the foot of which +were twelve images ranged in a semicircle with a sacrificial +table or altar in front of them. On the scaffold Captain +Cook was made to stand, and there, swathed in red cloth, he +received the adoration of the natives, who offered him a hog +and chanted a long litany in his honour.<a name="FNanchor_97_1141" id="FNanchor_97_1141"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_1141" class="fnanchor">[97]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Kamehameha was busy conquering the archipelago +in the last years of the eighteenth century, he +built a great temple (<i>heiau</i>) for his war-god Tairi in the +island of Hawaii. Some thirty years later the ruined +temple was visited and described by the missionary William +Ellis. He says: "Its shape is an irregular parallelogram, +224 feet long, and 100 wide. The walls, though built of +loose stones, were solid and compact. At both ends, and +on the side next the mountains, they were twenty feet +high, twelve feet thick at the bottom, but narrowed in +gradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, +six feet wide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the +sea were not more than seven or eight feet high, and were +proportionally wide. The entrance to the temple is by a +narrow passage between two high walls.... The upper +terrace within the area was spacious, and much better +finished than the lower ones. It was paved with flat smooth +stones, brought from a distance. At the south end was a +kind of inner court, which might be called the sanctum +sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol used to +stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior +deities.... On the outside, near the entrance to the inner +court, was the place of the <i>rere</i> (altar) on which human +and other sacrifices were offered. The remains of one of +the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the natives, +and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men +and animals, the mouldering remains of those numerous +offerings once presented there. About the centre of the +terrace was the spot where the king's sacred house stood, +in which he resided during the season of strict <i>tabu</i>, and at +the north end, the place occupied by the houses of priests, +who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons +permitted to dwell within the sacred enclosures. Holes +were seen on the walls, all around this, as well as the lower +terraces, where wooden idols of varied size and shape formerly +stood, casting their hideous stare in every direction."<a name="FNanchor_98_1142" id="FNanchor_98_1142"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_1142" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>From this somewhat indistinct description we gather +that the temple was a large oblong area enclosed by high +stone walls and open to the sky, and that at some place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> +within the enclosure there rose a structure in a series of +terraces, of which the uppermost was paved with flat stones +and supported the king's house, while the houses of the +priests stood in another part of the sacred enclosure. If +this interpretation is correct, we may infer that the temple +resembled a Tahitian <i>morai</i>, which was a walled enclosure +enclosing a sort of stepped and truncated pyramid built of +stone.<a name="FNanchor_99_1143" id="FNanchor_99_1143"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_1143" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> The inference is confirmed by the language used by +Captain King in speaking of the temple which he describes, +for he calls it a <i>morai</i>,<a name="FNanchor_100_1144" id="FNanchor_100_1144"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_1144" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> and the same term is applied to the +sacred edifices in Hawaii by other voyagers.<a name="FNanchor_101_1145" id="FNanchor_101_1145"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_1145" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>Another ruined temple (<i>heiau</i>) seen by Ellis in Hawaii, +is described by him as built of immense blocks of lava, +and measuring a hundred and fifty feet long by seventy feet +wide. At the north end was a smaller enclosure, sixty feet +long and ten wide, partitioned off by a high wall, with but +one narrow entrance. The places where the idols formerly +stood were apparent, though the idols had been removed. +The spot where the altar had been erected could be distinctly +traced; it was a mound of earth, paved with smooth stones, +and surrounded by a firm curb of lava. The adjacent ground +was strewn with bones of the ancient offerings.<a name="FNanchor_102_1146" id="FNanchor_102_1146"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_1146" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> Another +temple (<i>heiau</i>), in good preservation, visited by Ellis, measured +no less than two hundred and seventy feet in one direction by +two hundred and ten in another. The walls were thick and +solid; on the top of them the stones were piled in a series +of small spires. The temple was said to have been built by +a queen of Hawaii about eleven generations back.<a name="FNanchor_103_1147" id="FNanchor_103_1147"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_1147" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Once +more in one of the <i>puhonuas</i> or cities of refuge, which in +Hawaii afforded an inviolable sanctuary to fugitives, Ellis +saw another temple (<i>heiau</i>), which he describes as "a compact +pile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, and +ten feet high. Many fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, +of two or more tons each, were seen in several parts of the +wall, raised at least six feet from the ground." Ellis was +told that the city of refuge, of which this temple formed +part, had been built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +two hundred and fifty years before the time when the +missionary was writing.<a name="FNanchor_104_1148" id="FNanchor_104_1148"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_1148" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> From his descriptions we may +infer that some at least of the Hawaiian temples deserved +to rank among megalithic structures, and that the natives +had definite traditions of the kings or queens by whom the +temples had been built.</p> + +<p>In the island of Oahu a temple (<i>heiau</i>) visited by the +missionary Stewart was forty yards long by twenty yards +broad. The walls, of dark stone, were perfectly regular and +well built, about six feet high, three feet wide at the level of +the ground, and two feet wide at the top. It was enclosed +only on three sides, the oblong area formed by the walls +being open on the west; from that side there was a descent +by three regular terraces or very broad steps.<a name="FNanchor_105_1149" id="FNanchor_105_1149"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_1149" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> This brief +account confirms the inference which I have drawn from the +more detailed description of Ellis, as to the terraced structure +of some Hawaiian temples.</p> + +<p>In the mountains of Hawaii, at a height of about five +thousand feet above the sea, Commodore Wilkes saw the ruins +of an ancient temple of the god Kaili (Tairi), round about +which stood eight small pyramids built of compact blocks +of lava laid without cement. These pyramids were said +to have been erected at the command of Umi, an ancient +king, to commemorate his conquests. They seem to have +measured each some ten or twelve feet square. The temple +which they surrounded was about ninety-two feet long by +seventy-two feet wide; the outer walls were about seven +feet high and as many thick. Internally the edifice was +divided by partition walls three feet high. The building +was said to have been formerly covered with idols, of which +no traces remained at the time of Wilkes's visit.<a name="FNanchor_106_1150" id="FNanchor_106_1150"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_1150" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>Often, apparently, a Hawaiian temple consisted of little +more than a walled or palisaded enclosure containing a +number of rudely carved images and a place of sacrifice in +the form of a platform raised on poles. Such a temple is +described by the Russian navigator Lisiansky. The images +in it were grouped and arranged so as to form a sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +semicircle. The chief priest of the temple informed the +Russians "that the fifteen statues wrapped in cloth represented +the gods of war; the two to the right of the place of +sacrifice, the gods of spring; those on the opposite side, the +guardians of autumn; and that the altar was dedicated to +the god of joy, before which the islanders dance and sing on +festivals appointed by their religion." With regard to the +temples in general, Lisiansky observes that they "were by +no means calculated to excite in the mind of a stranger +religious veneration. They are suffered to remain in so +neglected and filthy a condition, that, were it not for the +statues, they might be taken rather for hog-sties than places +of worship."<a name="FNanchor_107_1151" id="FNanchor_107_1151"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_1151" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>The images of the gods were usually carved of wood. +When a new idol was to be made, a royal and priestly +procession went forth, with great ceremony, to the destined +tree, where the king himself, with a stone axe, struck the +first blow at the root. After the tree was felled, a man or +a hog was killed and buried on the spot where it had grown.<a name="FNanchor_108_1152" id="FNanchor_108_1152"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_1152" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> +Sometimes, apparently, the direction to carve an idol out +of a particular tree was given by a god in a dream. There +is a tradition that once when the woodmen were felling +such a tree with their stone axes, the chips flew out and +killed two of them; whereupon the other woodmen covered +their faces with masks, and cut down the tree with their +daggers.<a name="FNanchor_109_1153" id="FNanchor_109_1153"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_1153" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> Another famous idol was said to be made of +wood so poisonous, that if chips of it were steeped in water, +and anybody drank of the water, he would die in less than +twenty-four hours.<a name="FNanchor_110_1154" id="FNanchor_110_1154"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_1154" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> The Hawaiians seem to have made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +their idols hideous on purpose to inspire terror.<a name="FNanchor_111_1155" id="FNanchor_111_1155"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_1155" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> The +features of some of the images were violently distorted, their +mouths set with a double row of the fangs of dogs, their eyes +made of large pearl oysters with black nuts in the middle; +some had long pieces of carved wood, shaped like inverted +cones, rising from the top of their heads;<a name="FNanchor_112_1156" id="FNanchor_112_1156"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_1156" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> some had +tongues of a monstrous size, others had no tongues at all; +some had mouths that reached from ear to ear; the heads +of some were a great deal larger than their bodies.<a name="FNanchor_113_1157" id="FNanchor_113_1157"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_1157" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Some +of the idols were stones. In the island of Hawaii there +is a pebbly beach from which pebbles used to be carried +away to be deified or to represent deities. They were +generally taken in couples, a male and a female, and +having been wrapt up very carefully together in a piece of +native cloth, they were conveyed to a temple (<i>heiau</i>), where +ceremonies of consecration or deification were performed +over them.<a name="FNanchor_114_1158" id="FNanchor_114_1158"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_1158" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> + +<p>The human sacrifice offered at the making of an idol +was intended to impart strength to the image.<a name="FNanchor_115_1159" id="FNanchor_115_1159"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_1159" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> But human +sacrifices were offered on many other occasions, such as on +the approach of war, on the death of a chief, and so forth. +There is a tradition that Umi, a famous king of Hawaii, +once offered eighty men to his god as a thank-offering for +victory. The victims were generally prisoners of war, but +in default of captives any men who had broken taboos or +rendered themselves obnoxious to the chiefs were sacrificed. +It does not appear that they were slain in the presence of +the idol or within the temple, but either on the outside or +where they were first taken; in all cases an attempt seems +to have been made to preserve the body entire or as little +mangled as possible. Generally the victims were despatched +by a blow on the head with a club or stone; sometimes, +however, they were stabbed. Having been stripped naked, +the bodies were carried into the temple and laid in a row, +with their faces downwards, on the altar immediately before +the idol. The priest thereupon, in a kind of prayer, offered +them to the gods; and if hogs were sacrificed at the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> +time, they were afterwards piled on the human bodies and +left there to rot and putrefy together.<a name="FNanchor_116_1160" id="FNanchor_116_1160"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_1160" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>When a new temple was about to be dedicated, some +of the people used to flee into the mountains to escape +being sacrificed. The last human sacrifices are said to have +been offered in 1807, when the queen of the islands was +seriously ill.<a name="FNanchor_117_1161" id="FNanchor_117_1161"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_1161" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Whenever war was in contemplation, the +diviners used to sacrifice animals, generally hogs and fowls, +and to draw omens from the manner in which they expired, +from the appearance of their entrails, and from other signs. +Sometimes, when the animal was slain, they disembowelled +it, took out the spleen, and, holding it in their hands, offered +their prayers. But if the contemplated expedition was of +any importance or the danger was imminent, human sacrifices +were offered to ensure the co-operation of the war-gods in +the destruction of their enemies.<a name="FNanchor_118_1162" id="FNanchor_118_1162"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_1162" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 8. <i>Festivals</i></h4> + +<p>In every lunar month the people celebrated four festivals. +The festival of the new moon lasted three nights and two +days; the three others lasted two nights and one day. +These nights and days were taboo or sacred: men who took +part in the festivals might not speak to a woman under pain +of death, and all the people were forbidden to sail the sea, +to fish, to make bark-cloth, and to play games.<a name="FNanchor_119_1163" id="FNanchor_119_1163"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_1163" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> Besides +these monthly festivals there was one called Macahity, which +lasted for a whole month and seems to have celebrated the +end of the old year. It fell in November, and has been +compared by Lisiansky to our festival of Christmas. He +tells us that "it continues a whole month, during which the +people amuse themselves with dances, plays, and sham-fights +of every kind. The king must open this festival wherever +he is. On this occasion, his majesty dresses himself in his +richest cloak and helmet, and is paddled in a canoe along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +the shore, followed sometimes by many of his subjects. He +embarks early, and must finish his excursion at sun-rise. +The strongest and most expert of the warriors is chosen to +receive him on his landing. This warrior watches the +royal canoe along the beach; and as soon as the king lands, +and has thrown off his cloak, he darts his spear at him, +from a distance of about thirty paces, and the king must +either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer from it: there +is no jesting in the business. Having caught it, he carries +it under his arm, with the sharp end downwards, into the +temple or <i>heavoo</i>. On his entrance, the assembled multitude +begin their sham-fights, and immediately the air is obscured +by clouds of spears, made for the occasion with blunted +ends. Hamamea [the king, Kamehameha] has been +frequently advised to abolish this ridiculous ceremony, +in which he risks his life every year; but to no effect. +His answer always is, that he is as able to catch a spear, +as any one on the island is to throw it at him. During the +Macahity, all punishments are remitted throughout the +country; and no person can leave the place in which he +commences these holidays, let the affair requiring his +absence be ever so important."<a name="FNanchor_120_1164" id="FNanchor_120_1164"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_1164" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The ceremony of throwing +a spear at the king during the festival of Macahity has been +described also by the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell, +who may have witnessed it. He says: "The king remains +in the <i>morai</i> for the whole period; before entering it, a +singular ceremony takes place. He is obliged to stand +till three spears are darted at him: he must catch the first +with his hand, and with it ward off the other two. This is +not a mere formality. The spear is thrown with the utmost +force; and should the king lose his life, there is no help for +it."<a name="FNanchor_121_1165" id="FNanchor_121_1165"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_1165" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> This curious rite may perhaps have been a relic of +an old custom which obliged the king to submit once a year +to the ordeal of battle, in order to prove his fitness for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +renewed tenure of office, death being the penalty of defeat +and the kingdom the reward of victory in the combat.<a name="FNanchor_122_1166" id="FNanchor_122_1166"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_1166" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> +During the continuance of the festival the priests were +employed in collecting the taxes, which were paid by +the chiefs in proportion to the extent of their territories; +these taxes consisted of mats, feathers, and the produce of +the country. The people celebrated the festival by dancing, +wrestling, and other amusements.<a name="FNanchor_123_1167" id="FNanchor_123_1167"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_1167" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> The victor in the boxing +matches and martial evolutions was crowned and treated as +king of the festival, which was held in honour of the god +Rono.<a name="FNanchor_124_1168" id="FNanchor_124_1168"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_1168" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p>No one might go to war during the New Year festival; +all the people had to repair to the temples (<i>morais</i>). Three +kinds of idols were worshipped at this season; the principal +of them, called Kekou-Aroha, was carried round the island +by a priest; everything that he could seize with his left +hand he had the right to appropriate, whether it was dogs, +pigs, vegetables, or what not; and any person on whom +he in like manner laid a hand was bound to assist him in +carrying or leading to the temple the tribute or booty he +had thus taken possession of.<a name="FNanchor_125_1169" id="FNanchor_125_1169"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_1169" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>Of the rigour with which the laws of taboo were enforced +during one of these festivals we may gather an idea from +a statement of the Russian navigator von Kotzebue. He +says: "As Kareimoku's guests, we were present at the +celebration of a <i>Tabu pori</i>, which lasted from the setting of +the sun to sunrise on the third day. It is already known +what degree of sanctity is imparted to him who joins in +this communion with the gods during the time. Should +he accidentally touch a woman, she must be instantly put +to death. Should he enter a woman's house, the flames +must immediately consume it."<a name="FNanchor_126_1170" id="FNanchor_126_1170"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_1170" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span></p> + +<h4>§9. <i>Death and Funeral Rites</i></h4> + +<p>The Hawaiians explained life as usual by the hypothesis +of a soul (<i>uhane</i>), which animated the whole body, but had +its seat especially in the sockets of the eyes, and above all +in the lachrymal gland. During sleep the soul quits the +body, wanders away, and sees the places and things which +appear to it in dreams; usually it returns in time to resume +its functions in the body without endangering the health of +the sleeper. Occasionally, however, it happens that in its +rambles it loses its way through falling in with a ghost or +spectre, who frightens it; but even then it may be brought +back with the help of a familiar spirit despatched to seek +out and guide home the wanderer. When a man falls +sick, his soul begins to feel ill at ease in his body, and +if the sickness proves fatal, the soul quits him never to +return.<a name="FNanchor_127_1171" id="FNanchor_127_1171"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_1171" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> According to another account, the Hawaiians held +that every man had two souls in his body, of which one +never left him in life, while the other went forth from time +to time in dreams or ecstasy, but only to return to its +corporeal tabernacle. Sometimes a diviner would warn a +man that he had seen his dream-soul roaming about, and +that perhaps it might never come back, because a certain +deity was angry with him. Upon that the terrified owner +of the soul would naturally engage the diviner to recover +his spiritual property by propitiating the angry deity with a +valuable offering.<a name="FNanchor_128_1172" id="FNanchor_128_1172"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_1172" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>Sickness was commonly explained by the presence in +the sufferer of an evil spirit, who must be exorcised if the +patient was to be restored to health. For this purpose +the services of a priest (<i>kahuna</i>) were engaged, who by the +recitation of a suitable incantation invited or compelled the +demon to declare through the mouth of the sick man why +he had entered into him, and on what terms he would +consent to take his departure. Sometimes, the demon was +induced to perch on the head or shoulders of one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +bystanders, and from that coign of vantage to answer the +interrogatory of the priest. But at other times he burrowed +so deep into the patient's body and held his tongue so +obstinately, that the priest had no alternative but to prick +the sick man's body with bamboo needles and to drop water +into his eyes in order to drive out the evil spirit.<a name="FNanchor_129_1173" id="FNanchor_129_1173"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_1173" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>When all remedies had proved vain and death had +followed, the bodies of common people were buried in a +crouching position. The upper part of the body was raised; +the face was bent forwards to meet the knees; the hands +were put under the hams and passed up between the knees; +then head, hands, and knees were bound together with cinnet +or cord. Afterwards the corpse was wrapt up in a coarse +mat and interred on the first or second day after death. +But the corpses of chiefs and priests were not thus doubled +up; they were laid out straight, wrapt up in many folds +of native cloth, and buried in that posture. Priests were +generally committed to the earth within the precincts of the +temple in which they had officiated. A pile of stones or a +circle of high poles marked their grave. But it was only +the bodies of priests or of persons of some importance that +were thus interred. For ordinary people natural graves +were preferred, where suitable places could be found, such +as caves in the face of cliffs or large subterranean grottos. +Sometimes the inhabitants of a village deposited their dead +in one great cavern, but generally each family had a distinct +sepulchral cave. Their artificial graves were either simple +pits dug in the earth or large enclosures, which might be +surrounded with high stone walls so as to resemble the +ordinary temples (<i>heiaus</i>). Occasionally they buried their +dead in sequestered spots near their dwellings, but often in +their gardens, and sometimes in their houses. The graves +were not deep, and the bodies were usually placed in them +in a sitting posture.<a name="FNanchor_130_1174" id="FNanchor_130_1174"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_1174" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> A rude method of embalming by +means of the flower of the sugar-cane was often practised, +whereby the entrails and brains were extracted and the body +desiccated.<a name="FNanchor_131_1175" id="FNanchor_131_1175"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_1175" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> When the dead was interred in the dwelling,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +the house was not uncommonly shut up and deserted, the +survivors seeking for themselves a new habitation.<a name="FNanchor_132_1176" id="FNanchor_132_1176"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_1176" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> The +custom no doubt sprang from a fear of the ghosts, which +were supposed to linger about their final resting-places and +to injure such as came within their reach; hence their +apparitions were much dreaded. For the same reason +burials were conducted in a private manner and by night. +If people were seen carrying a dead body past a house, the +inmates would abuse or even stone them for not taking it +some other way; for they imagined that the ghost would ply +to and fro between the grave and his old home along the +path by which his corpse had been carried.<a name="FNanchor_133_1177" id="FNanchor_133_1177"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_1177" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> Sometimes, +apparently, to prevent the ghost from straying, his grave +was enclosed by a sort of fence composed of long poles +stuck in the ground at intervals of three or four inches and +fastened together at the top. At all events Ellis saw a +priest's tomb thus enclosed, and he received this explanation +of the fence from some people; though others merely said +that it was a custom so to inter persons of consequence.<a name="FNanchor_134_1178" id="FNanchor_134_1178"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_1178" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> +Nightmare was believed to be caused by a ghost attempting +to strangle the dreamer; under the influence of this belief +a strong man has been seen to run shrieking down the +street, tugging with both hands at his throat to tear the +incubus away, till he reached the door of a neighbour's +house and, bursting in, fell fainting on the floor. He +thought that the ghost of a chief, who had died the day +before, had a grip on his throat and was trying to throttle +him.<a name="FNanchor_135_1179" id="FNanchor_135_1179"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_1179" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> Sometimes, however, affection for the dead sufficed +to overcome the fear of the ghost, and the mouldering bones +were carried about as relics by relations and friends.<a name="FNanchor_136_1180" id="FNanchor_136_1180"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_1180" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> When +the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell was in the islands in +the early years of the nineteenth century, his patroness the +queen kept by her the bones of her father wrapt up in a +piece of cloth. Whenever she slept in her own house, the +bones were placed by her side; in her absence they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +set on a feather-bed which she had received from the +captain of a ship, and which she used only for this purpose. +On being asked by the Scotchman why she observed this +singular custom, she replied that it was because she loved +her father so dearly.<a name="FNanchor_137_1181" id="FNanchor_137_1181"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_1181" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> More usually, however, the bones of +a beloved chief were carefully hidden to prevent his enemies +from finding them and making arrow-heads out of them, +with which to hunt rats, or otherwise profaning them. Hence +there was a proverb to the effect that the bones of bad +chiefs were not concealed. When the great King Kamehameha +died in 1819, his bones were hidden and disappeared +completely in some secret cave.<a name="FNanchor_138_1182" id="FNanchor_138_1182"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_1182" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> + +<p>The death of a king or great chief in former days was +the occasion for the observance of some singular ceremonies +and customs. The grief, real or pretended, of the people +found expression in many extravagant forms. Men and +women knocked out some of their front teeth with stones; +but the custom seems to have been observed even more +extensively by men than by women. The kinsmen or +friends of the deceased chief set the example, and their +retainers were obliged to imitate them. Sometimes a man +broke out his own tooth with a stone, but more usually the +service was rendered him by another, who fixed one end of +a stick against the tooth and hammered the stick with a +stone till the tooth broke off. If the men deferred the +operation, the women would perform it on them in their +sleep. More than one tooth was seldom sacrificed at one +time; but as the mutilation was repeated at the decease of +every chief of rank or authority, few men of mature years +were to be seen with a whole set of teeth, and many lost all +their front teeth both in the upper and the lower jaw. +Another mutilation practised at such times was to cut one +or both ears, but it seems to have been comparatively rare. +Much commoner was the custom of burning circles or semi-circles +on the face or breast by means of strips of burning +bark. The mourners also polled their hair in various ways. +Sometimes they made bald a small round piece on the +crown of the head, like the tonsure of Catholic priests;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +sometimes they shaved or cropped close the whole head +except round the edge, where a short fringe was left to +hang down; sometimes they made their heads quite bald +on one side and allowed the hair to remain long on the +other; occasionally they cut out a patch in the shape of a +horse-shoe either at the back of the head or above the +forehead; sometimes they shore a number of curved furrows +from ear to ear or from the forehead to the neck. When a +chief who had lost a relative or friend had his own hair cut +after any particular pattern, his followers and dependants +usually cropped their hair in the same style. Not to clip +or shave the hair in mourning was regarded as disrespectful +to the dead, but the particular manner of cutting it was left +to the taste of the individual.<a name="FNanchor_139_1183" id="FNanchor_139_1183"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_1183" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> Some people in their frenzy +knocked out their eyes with clubs and stones and cut as +well as burned their flesh.<a name="FNanchor_140_1184" id="FNanchor_140_1184"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_1184" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> Another peculiar badge of +mourning, adopted principally by the chiefs, was a black +spot or line tattooed on the tongue. The painful operation +was performed by puncturing the tongue with sharp fish-bones +dipped in colouring matter.<a name="FNanchor_141_1185" id="FNanchor_141_1185"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_1185" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> But though these +personal mutilations were popular and almost universal on +the decease of chiefs, they appear not to have been practised +by the common people among themselves. Thus a wife +did not knock out her teeth on the death of her husband, +and a son did not thus express his grief for the loss of his +parents, nor they for the death of a child.<a name="FNanchor_142_1186" id="FNanchor_142_1186"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_1186" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p> + +<p>Similar extravagances in the expression of grief were +commonly exhibited by mourners, as we have seen, in other +parts of Polynesia; but in Hawaii the rites observed at the +death of a king or high chief were in so far peculiar that +they assumed the character of a Saturnalia or orgy of +unbridled lust and crime. On this subject the Russian +navigator Lisiansky, who visited the islands while the +ancient system of superstition was still in full vogue, reports +as follows: "On the death of the king, a scene of horror +takes place that is hardly credible. Twelve men are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +sacrificed; and shortly after the whole island abandons +itself for a month to the utmost disorder and licentiousness. +During this period, both sexes go entirely naked, and men +cohabit with women without any distinction: the woman +who should dare to make resistance, would be considered as +violating the laws of the country. The same licentiousness +is observed on the death of a noble; but it does not extend +beyond the domains of the deceased, and is of a much +shorter duration, not continuing, as Mr. Young informed me, +more than a few days, though attempts are made by the +youth of the party to prolong the period. Those who are +put to death on the demise of the king, or any great +personage, are such as have offered themselves for the +purpose during the life of their master; and they are in +consequence considered and treated by him as his best +friends, since they have sworn to live and die with him. +When I reflect upon the horrid nature of this ceremony, I +hardly know how to credit its existence amongst a race of +men so mild and good as these islanders in general appear +to be; but Mr. Young, whose veracity I had no reason to +doubt, assured me of the fact."<a name="FNanchor_143_1187" id="FNanchor_143_1187"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_1187" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>This John Young, who gave Lisiansky information as +to the customs and religion of the Hawaiians, was an +Englishman who had resided in the islands for many years +at the time of the Russian navigator's visit in 1804. +Originally a sailor, born at Liverpool, he had been compulsorily +detained by the natives when he landed from his +ship in Hawaii in March 1790. But from the first he +received the kindest treatment from the king, Kamehameha, +whose full confidence and high esteem he enjoyed and +deserved. The king gave him a fine estate and appointed +him to several responsible offices; in particular Young was +governor of Hawaii for no less than nine years during the +king's absence. He married a native woman of rank, by +whom he had six children. While he remained warmly +attached to his native country and rendered essential +services to English vessels touching at the islands, he remained +a voluntary exile for forty-five years in Hawaii, where he +died at the patriarchal age of ninety-two in December 1835.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> +During this long period he enjoyed the favour of the kings, +chiefs, and people, and was highly respected and esteemed +for his intelligence and good offices by European voyagers +to the islands.<a name="FNanchor_144_1188" id="FNanchor_144_1188"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_1188" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> Thus he had the best opportunities for +acquainting himself with the customs and beliefs of the +natives, and it is much to be regretted that of the ample +store of knowledge which he thus acquired nothing remains +but a few scattered notices recorded by travellers to whom +he had verbally communicated them.</p> + +<p>In 1809, some five years after Lisiansky's visit to Hawaii, +the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell witnessed one of these +Saturnalia held on the occasion of the death of the king's +brother. He says: "The public mourning that took place +on this occasion was of so extraordinary a nature that had I +not been an eye-witness, I could not have given credit to it. +The natives cut out their hair, and went about completely +naked. Many of them, particularly the women, disfigured +themselves, by knocking out their front teeth, and branding +their faces with red-hot stones, and the small end of calabashes, +which they held burning to their faces till a circular +mark was produced; whilst, at the same time, a general, I +believe I may say an universal, public prostitution of the +women took place. The queens, and the widow of the +deceased, were alone exempted. When the captain of a +ship that lay in the harbour remonstrated with the king +upon these disgraceful scenes, he answered, that such was +the law, and he could not prevent them."<a name="FNanchor_145_1189" id="FNanchor_145_1189"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_1189" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>To these enormities the French navigator L. de Freycinet +bore similar testimony a few years later. He says: "The +despair which is affected after the loss of royal personages +or great nobles presents also a remarkable resemblance to +what takes place under similar circumstances among the +inhabitants of the Marianne Islands. When we landed in +Owhyhi [Hawaii], signs of sorrow everywhere presented themselves +to our eyes and witnessed to the excesses that had +been committed at the recent death of Tamehameha. At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> +such a crisis anarchy displays all its horrors: the laws and +the rules of taboo are broken without shame: the prohibited +foods are devoured without scruple, chiefly by the women: +the rights of property are ignored; force becomes the supreme +law: the voice of chiefs is powerless: old enmities are avenged +by blood or pillage: in a word, incredible scenes of disorder, +of cruelty, and of lust are everywhere renewed under the +stimulus of impunity. Calm does not begin to reign again +until the heir is definitely invested with the royal power. +Such is the mode in which the common people, freed for the +moment from all restraint, express the grief which they are +supposed to feel at the death of their sovereign."<a name="FNanchor_146_1190" id="FNanchor_146_1190"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_1190" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> + +<p>The early missionaries to Hawaii also testified to the +disorders which prevailed on these occasions, though they +seem not to have witnessed them. From their accounts we +gather that at such times the rights of property were as little +respected as the chastity of women. "On such an occasion," +says Stewart, "every restraint was cast off, and all were in +the habit of following the impulse of any and every wild +passion that might seize them. Rights of person or of +property were no longer regarded; and he who had the +greatest muscular powers committed whatever depredation he +chose, and injured any one he thought proper. Even the +chiefs lost their ordinary pre-eminence, and could exert no +influence of restraint on the excesses of their subjects. It +was the time of redressing private wrongs, by committing +violence on the property and person of an enemy; and +everything that any one possessed was liable to be taken +from him. Their grief was expressed by the most shocking +personal outrages, not only by tearing off their clothes +entirely, but by knocking out their eyes and teeth with +clubs and stones, and pulling out their hair, and by burning +and cutting their flesh; while drunkenness, riot, and every +species of debauchery continued to be indulged in for days +after the death of the deceased."<a name="FNanchor_147_1191" id="FNanchor_147_1191"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_1191" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> To the same effect Ellis +writes that "as soon as the chief had expired, the whole +neighbourhood exhibited a scene of confusion, wickedness, and +cruelty, seldom witnessed even in the most barbarous society.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> +The people ran to and fro without their clothes, appearing +and acting more like demons than human beings; every +vice was practised, and almost every species of crime perpetrated. +Houses were burnt, property plundered, even murder +sometimes committed, and the gratification of every base and +savage feeling sought without restraint. Injuries or accidents, +long forgotten perhaps by the offending party, were +now revenged with unrelenting cruelty."<a name="FNanchor_148_1192" id="FNanchor_148_1192"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_1192" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> According to +Jarves, the early historian of Hawaii, on these occasions no +women were exempt from violation except the widows of the +deceased.<a name="FNanchor_149_1193" id="FNanchor_149_1193"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_1193" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> + +<p>Such outbursts of passion, released from all restraints of +custom or law, are not unknown elsewhere on the occasion +of a death. Among the Ba-ila of Northern Rhodesia it is +customary at funerals for the women to sing lewd songs. +"Under ordinary circumstances it would be reckoned taboo +for women to utter such things in the presence of men; but +at funerals all restraints are removed. People do as they like. +Grass may be plucked out of the thatched roofs; the fields +may be robbed of the growing corn; all passions are let +loose; and no complaint for damage, theft, or adultery can +be made. This last item used to be the case; nowadays +fines are claimed."<a name="FNanchor_150_1194" id="FNanchor_150_1194"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_1194" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of +a chief varied with his rank. For a king of Hawaii the +general number would seem to have been ten or twelve.<a name="FNanchor_151_1195" id="FNanchor_151_1195"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_1195" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> +But when King Kamehameha died in 1819, the priest +declared somewhat differently the custom in regard to human +sacrifice on such an occasion. When the corpse had been +removed from the king's own dwelling to a consecrated house +for the performance of the proper rites, a sacred hog was +baked and offered to it by the priest; for the dead king was +now deemed to be a god. Then addressing the chiefs and +the new king, the priest spoke as follows: "I will now make +known to you the rules to be observed respecting persons to +be sacrificed on the burial of his body. If you obtain one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +man before the corpse is removed, one will be sufficient; +but after it leaves this house four will be required. If delayed +until we carry the corpse to the grave, there must be ten; +but after it is deposited in the grave, there must be fifteen. +To-morrow morning there will be a tabu, and if the sacrifice +be delayed until that time, forty men must die." However, +on this occasion, no human blood was shed, but three hundred +dogs were sacrificed.<a name="FNanchor_152_1196" id="FNanchor_152_1196"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_1196" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> The victims who were killed at the +death of the king, princes, and distinguished chiefs, and were +buried with their remains, belonged to the lowest class of +society. In certain families the obligation of dying with +the different members of such or such a noble house was +hereditary, so that at the birth of a child it was known +at whose death he must be sacrificed. The victims knew +their destiny, and their lot seems to have had no terror for +them.<a name="FNanchor_153_1197" id="FNanchor_153_1197"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_1197" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> + +<p>At Honaunau, in the island of Hawaii, there was a sort +of mausoleum in which the bones of dead kings and princes +were deposited. For some reason it was spared in the +general destruction of pagan monuments which took place +in 1819, and it was still almost intact when the missionary +Ellis visited and described it a few years later. It was a +compact building, twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet wide, +built of the most durable timber, and thatched with leaves. +It stood on a bed of lava jutting out into the sea, and was +surrounded by a strong fence, leaving a paved area in front +and at the two ends. Several rudely carved male and +female images of wood were placed on the outside of the +enclosure, some on low pedestals under the shade of a tree, +others on high posts planted on the jutting rocks which +overhung the edge of the water. A number of effigies +stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; but +the principal assemblage of idols was at the south-east end +of the enclosed space, where twelve of them stood in a +semicircle on a crescent-shaped basement of stone raised +about two feet above the pavement. Some of them rested +on small pedestals, others on pillars eight or ten feet high.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +The principal idol, distinguished by the variety and superiority +of the carving on its body and especially on its head, stood +in the middle, the others on either side of it, "as if perpetual +guardians of 'the mighty dead' reposing in the house +adjoining."<a name="FNanchor_154_1198" id="FNanchor_154_1198"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_1198" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>When a death had taken place, the house in which it +occurred, was deemed defiled, and continued in that state +until after the burial. But if the deceased was a chief, the +whole land was polluted, and the heirs sought a residence in +another part of the country, until the corpse was dissected +and the bones tied in a bundle; for when that was done +the season of defilement terminated. Hence on the death +of King Kamehameha, his son and successor, Liholiho, had +to retire for a time to another district.<a name="FNanchor_155_1199" id="FNanchor_155_1199"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_1199" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + + +<h4>§ 10. <i>Fate of the Soul after Death</i></h4> + +<p>The Hawaiians in general believed that the human soul +exists after death, but their notions on the subject were, +as usual, vague, confused, and contradictory. Some said +that all the souls of the departed went to the Po, or place +of night, and were there annihilated or eaten by the gods.<a name="FNanchor_156_1200" id="FNanchor_156_1200"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_1200" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> +According to another account, the souls of the dead that +had no claim to divinity fluttered about their old homes +till the moment arrived when they became the food of +the gods. It is not certain, adds de Freycinet, that they +recognised the immortality of the soul in the case of +persons of the lowest class.<a name="FNanchor_157_1201" id="FNanchor_157_1201"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_1201" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> Others said that some +souls went to the regions of Akea (Wakea) and Miru +(Milu), two ancient kings of Hawaii. Of these two, Akea +was reported to have been the first king of the island. +When he died, he descended into the nether world and +there founded a kingdom. His successor on the throne +of Hawaii, by name Miru or Milu, also descended into +the underworld at death, and shared the government of +the infernal realm with his predecessor Akea. Their land<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +is a place of darkness, their food, lizards and butterflies. +But there are streams of water of which they drink, and +wide-spreading trees under which they recline.<a name="FNanchor_158_1202" id="FNanchor_158_1202"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_1202" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Milu is +described as the Hawaiian Pluto, the lord of the lower +world to whose dominions departed spirits go. His abode +was in the west, hence the ghosts of such as died on the +eastern shore of an island always had to cross to the western +shore before they could set out for their final place of rest +in the spirit land. Some said that Milu had his dwelling +under the ocean, and that he was the prince of wicked +spirits.<a name="FNanchor_159_1203" id="FNanchor_159_1203"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_1203" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> However, according to some accounts, the two +ancient kings, Milu and Akea, ruled over separate regions +in the spirit land, which were tabooed to each other, so +that nobody could pass from the one to the other. Akea +or Wakea dwelt in the upper region, and there the souls +of chiefs dwelt with him; whereas Milu occupied the muddy +lower region, and there the souls of common folk abode +with him. In the upper region all was peaceful and orderly, +and there persons who had faithfully complied with the +precepts of religion in life were received after death. On +the other hand the lower region, ruled over by Milu, was +noisy and disorderly; evil spirits played their pranks there, +and the souls of the dead subsisted on lizards and butterflies.<a name="FNanchor_160_1204" id="FNanchor_160_1204"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_1204" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> +When persons recovered from a death-like swoon, it +was supposed that their souls had gone to the underworld +and been sent back to earth by Milu. The best account of +the spirit land was given by one who had spent eight days +in it, and on returning to life reported to his family what +he had seen. According to his observations, the spirit land +is flat and fruitful, it is tolerably well lighted, and everything +grows there spontaneously, so that, contrary to some reports, +the palace of Milu is a really delightful place. Milu himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> +is not married to any one particular wife; but from time to +time he chooses for his consorts the most beautiful of the +female ghosts when they arrive in deadland, and the women +thus honoured are naturally taboo for the male ghosts. +All souls live there in exactly the same state in which +they quitted their bodies. The souls of those who died +young, especially of those who fell in battle, are hale and +strong; whereas the souls of those who perished of disease +are sickly and weak, and weak, too, are the souls of such +as died in old age.<a name="FNanchor_161_1205" id="FNanchor_161_1205"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_1205" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> + +<p>There were three places in the islands from which the +ghosts took their departure for the other world. One was +at the northern extremity of the island of Hawaii; one +was at the western end of Maui; and one was at the southern +point of Oahu.<a name="FNanchor_162_1206" id="FNanchor_162_1206"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_1206" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> According to one account, the ghosts on +their passage to Milu's subterranean realm went westward in +the direction of the setting sun, and either leaped from a +rock into the sea or vanished into a hole in the ground.<a name="FNanchor_163_1207" id="FNanchor_163_1207"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_1207" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p>But before bidding a last farewell to earth, the soul of +the deceased was believed to linger for a time in the +neighbourhood of the grave or of the house. It had now +become an <i>akua</i> or divine spirit, but during its stay on earth +it was dreaded as an <i>akua-lapu</i> or "terrifying spirit," because +it appeared to the living as a spectre or ghost. In time, +however, it grew weaker and weaker and gradually disappeared +altogether, like the other spirits (<i>akuas</i>). By that +time it had found a guide to show it the way to Milu's realm, +from which there is no return. Sometimes, however, the +guardian god of a family would oppose the passage of a soul +to the other world, and send it back to life, so that the +seemingly dead man recovered.<a name="FNanchor_164_1208" id="FNanchor_164_1208"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_1208" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> It is said to have been a +firmly established belief that the dead appeared to the living +and communicated with them in dreams.<a name="FNanchor_165_1209" id="FNanchor_165_1209"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_1209" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> The priests in +particular were favoured with such messages from the +other world.<a name="FNanchor_166_1210" id="FNanchor_166_1210"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_1210" class="fnanchor">[166]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span></p> + +<p>A legend tells how a certain chief of Hawaii, sorrowing +for the death of his wife, applied to a priest, who furnished +him with a god called Kane-i-kou-alii (God of Chiefs), to +guide him to the nether world of Milu, whither his beloved +spouse had departed. Journeying together, the god and +the man came to the end of the world, where grew a tree, +which split open and allowed them to glide down into the +depths. There the god hid behind a rock and allowed the +chief to go on alone, but first he rubbed stinking oil over +the chief's body. On arriving at Milu's palace the chief +found the whole court full of spirits engaged in such noisy +and tumultuous sports, that he could steal in among them +unobserved, all the more because the nearest spirits mistook +him for a ghost newly arrived with the stench of his dead +body still on him, so that they turned away from him in +disgust and made uncomplimentary remarks on his unsavoury +condition. When they had played all sorts of games, the +chief suggested that, as a new form of sport, they should all +take out their eyes and throw them in a heap. The suggestion +was accepted, and every one hastened to comply +with it. But the chief took care to mark where the eyes of +Milu fell, and snatching them up he hid them in the coco-nut +beaker which he carried with him. As all the spirits +were now blind, it was easy for the chief to make his way +to the neighbouring realm of Akea or Wakea, which was +tabooed to the spirits that swarmed in Milu's kingdom +and might not be entered by them. However, after long +negotiations, Milu was allowed to recover his eyes, on +condition that the soul of the chief's wife should be sent +back to earth and reunited to her body, which was happily +accomplished.<a name="FNanchor_167_1211" id="FNanchor_167_1211"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_1211" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>The Hawaiians were not without some notion of a +general resurrection of the dead. When the missionary +William Ellis was conversing with some of the natives on +that subject, they said that they had heard of it before from +a native priest named Kapihe, who had lived at their village +in the time of King Kamehameha. The priest told the +king that at his death he would see his ancestors, and that +hereafter all the kings, chiefs, and people of Hawaii would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +live again. When Ellis asked them how this would be +effected, and with what circumstances it would be attended, +whether they would live again in Hawaii or in Miru (Milu), +the Hades of the Sandwich Islands, they replied that there +were two gods, who conducted the departed spirits of their +chiefs to some place in the heavens, where the souls of +kings and chiefs sometimes dwelt, and that afterwards the +two divine conductors returned with the royal and princely +souls to earth, where they accompanied the movements and +watched over the destinies of their survivors. The name of +one of these gods was Kaonohiokala, which means the eyeball +of the sun; and the name of the other was Kuahairo. +Now Kapihe was priest to the latter god, and professed to +have received a revelation, in accordance with which he informed +King Kamehameha that, when the monarch should +depart this life, the god Kuahairo would carry his spirit to +the sky and afterwards accompany it back to earth again, +whereupon his body would be restored to life and youth; that +he would have his wives again and resume his government +in Hawaii; that at the same time the existing generation +would see and know their parents and ancestors, and that +all the people who had died would rise again from the dead.<a name="FNanchor_168_1212" id="FNanchor_168_1212"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_1212" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> +It is to be feared, however, that the priest was a deceiver; for +King Kamehameha has not yet come to life again, and up +to the present time the general resurrection has not taken +place in Hawaii.</p> + +<p>That must conclude what I have to say about the belief +in immortality and the worship of the dead in Polynesia, +The notions which the Polynesians entertained on this +subject cannot but strike a civilised European as childish, +while the customs which they based on them must appear +to him in great part foolish, even where they were not +barbarous and cruel. How far such childish notions and +foolish customs tend to confirm or to refute the widespread, +almost universal, belief in the survival of the human soul +after death, is a question which I must leave my readers +to answer for themselves.</p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1045" id="Footnote_1_1045"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1045"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +iv. 4 <i>sqq.</i>; J. J. Jarves, <i>History of the +Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands</i> (London, +1843), pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Remy, +<i>Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien</i> (Paris +and Leipzig, 1862), pp. vii <i>sqq.</i>; C. E. +Meinicke, <i>Die Inseln des Stillen +Oceans</i>, ii. 271 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>Encyclopaedia +Britannica</i>, Ninth Edition, xi. 528 <i>sqq.</i>; +A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen Inseln</i> +(Berlin, 1894), pp. 1 <i>sqq.</i>; F. H. H. +Guillemard, <i>Australasia</i>, ii. 533 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_1046" id="Footnote_2_1046"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_1046"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 94; W. +Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, iv. 34, +379; C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, Fifth Edition (Boston, +1839), pp. 69 <i>sqq.</i>, 140; D. Tyerman +and G. Bennet, <i>Journal of Voyages +and Travels</i>, i. 366, 391; Ch. Wilkes, +<i>United States Exploring Expedition</i>, +New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. +373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_1047" id="Footnote_3_1047"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_1047"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 13 <i>sq.</i>; +C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 213 <i>sqq.</i>, +229 <i>sqq.</i>; Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 426 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. xiv +<i>sq.</i>; Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iii. 390 <i>sq.</i>; F. D. +Bennett, <i>Narrative of a Whaling +Voyage round the Globe</i> (London, 1840), +i. 198 <i>sqq.</i> The vale of Anuanu, +which runs up into the mountains from +the plain of Honululu in the island of +Oahu, is especially famed for its +natural beauty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_1048" id="Footnote_4_1048"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_1048"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. xvi <i>sqq.</i> +Compare J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 99 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 21 <i>sq.</i>; Ch. +Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 283 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 12 <i>sqq.</i>; <i>Encyclopaedia +Britannica</i>, 9th edition, xi. +530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_1049" id="Footnote_5_1049"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_1049"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_1050" id="Footnote_6_1050"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_1050"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 112 <i>sq.</i>, +115 <i>sq.</i>; U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round +the World</i>, pp. 123 <i>sq.</i>; L. de Freycinet, +<i>Voyage autour du Monde, Historique</i>, +ii. Deuxième partie (Paris, +1839), p. 570; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. +23; C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 104, 106; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 77 <i>sqq.</i>; J. Remy, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. xxxvii <i>sq.</i>; F. D. Bennett, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 209. The last of these +writers speaks in unfavourable terms +of the personal appearance of the +women, whom he found less handsome +than the men and very inferior to the +women of the Society Islands.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_1051" id="Footnote_7_1051"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_1051"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 213 <i>sq.</i>, vii. +121; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_1052" id="Footnote_8_1052"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_1052"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 215 <i>sq.</i>, 219, +224 <i>sq.</i>, vii. 126 <i>sq.</i>; U. Lisiansky, +<i>Voyage round the World</i>, p. 126; +Archibald Campbell, <i>Voyage round the +World</i> (Edinburgh, 1816), pp. 161-63, +182 <i>sq.</i>, 194-197; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> +iv. 61, 215 <i>sq.</i>, 420 (as to irrigation); +C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 111-113; +Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +412, 426, 428, 430, 472; O. von +Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um die Welt</i> +(Weimar, 1830), ii. 96; J. J. Jarves, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 68 <i>sq.</i>; J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. xxiv <i>sq.</i>, xliii; F. D. Bennett, +<i>Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round +the World</i>, i. 213 <i>sqq.</i> As to the +system of irrigating the taro fields, +see especially O. von Kotzebue, <i>Voyage +of Discovery into the South Sea and +Beering's Straits</i> (London, 1821), i. +340 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_1053" id="Footnote_9_1053"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_1053"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 113 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_1054" id="Footnote_10_1054"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_1054"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> J. Cook, vii. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_1055" id="Footnote_11_1055"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_1055"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 214 <i>sq.</i>; +U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, +p. 127; A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round +the World</i>, pp. 180-182; C. S. +Stewart, <i>Residence in the Sandwich +Islands</i>, p. 107; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. +320-322; Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. +cit.</i> i. 371 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 67 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_1056" id="Footnote_12_1056"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_1056"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 218 <i>sq.</i>, vii. +133-135; L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage +autour du Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 611 +<i>sq.</i>; A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 192-195; W. Ellis, <i>op. +cit.</i> iv. 109-113; C. S. Stewart, +<i>Residence in the Sandwich Islands</i>, +pp. 114-116; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 66 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_1057" id="Footnote_13_1057"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_1057"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 220-224; +A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 198; W. +Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 322; O. von Kotzebue, +<i>Neue Reise um die Welt</i>, ii. 97 (as to +the kava bowls); J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 66. As to the absence of mines in +the Hawaiian Islands, see J. Remy, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_1058" id="Footnote_14_1058"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_1058"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 227 <i>sq.</i>, +vii. 136 <i>sq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. +156 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +56 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_1059" id="Footnote_15_1059"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_1059"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 116 <i>sq.</i>; +A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 169 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 411 <i>sq.</i>; C. S. +Stewart, <i>Residence in the Sandwich +Islands</i>, p. 102; Tyerman and Bennet, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 380; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 30 <i>sqq.</i> According to Jarves (<i>op. +cit.</i> p. 33), "Rank was hereditary, and +descended chiefly from the females, +who frequently held the reins of +government in their own right. This +custom originated in the great license +existing between the sexes; no child, +with certainty, being able to designate +his father, while no mistake could be +made in regard to the mother."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_1060" id="Footnote_16_1060"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_1060"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, p. 101; J. J. Jarves, +<i>op. cit.</i> p. 30; J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +lxi <i>sq.</i>; <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, +9th Edition, xi. 528.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_1061" id="Footnote_17_1061"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_1061"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 97; +W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 412 <i>sq.</i>, 414; +J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 33. Compare +J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 137 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_1062" id="Footnote_18_1062"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_1062"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_1063" id="Footnote_19_1063"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_1063"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_1064" id="Footnote_20_1064"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_1064"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 417. Compare +J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_1065" id="Footnote_21_1065"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_1065"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 169. +As to the length of Campbell's residence +in Wahoo (Oahu), see <i>id.</i>, p. +153 note. The date of his residence +was 1809-1810. Compare O. von +Kotzebue, <i>Voyage of Discovery into the +South Sea and Beering's Straits</i> (London, +1821), iii. 246: "The people are +almost subject to the arbitrary will of +the lord, but there are no slaves or +vassals (<i>glebae adscripti</i>). The peasant +and the labourer may go wherever +they please. The man is free, he may +be killed, but not sold and not detained."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_1066" id="Footnote_22_1066"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_1066"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 141 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_1067" id="Footnote_23_1067"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_1067"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_1068" id="Footnote_24_1068"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_1068"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_1069" id="Footnote_25_1069"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_1069"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 413; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 33 <i>sq.</i> Compare +J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_1070" id="Footnote_26_1070"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_1070"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> In the Hawaiian dialect the +ordinary Polynesian T is pronounced +K, and the Tongan B is pronounced P. +Hence the Tongan <i>taboo</i> becomes in +Hawaiian <i>kapoo</i> (<i>kapu</i>). See E. +Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. xxiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_1071" id="Footnote_27_1071"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_1071"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 159, 161, +167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_1072" id="Footnote_28_1072"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_1072"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 385 <i>sqq.</i> +Compare L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage +autour du Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 597.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_1073" id="Footnote_29_1073"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_1073"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_1074" id="Footnote_30_1074"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_1074"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Voyage of Discovery +into the South Sea and Beering's +Straits</i> (London, 1821), iii. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_1075" id="Footnote_31_1075"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_1075"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 387 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_1076" id="Footnote_32_1076"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_1076"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 389. As to +the taboo in Hawaii, see also J. Cook, +<i>Voyages</i>, vii. 146 <i>sq.</i>; L. de Freycinet, +<i>Voyage autour du Monde, Historique</i>, +ii. 597; C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in +the Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 31 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 50-52; J. Remy, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. xxxviii <i>sq.</i>, 159 <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_1077" id="Footnote_33_1077"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_1077"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_1078" id="Footnote_34_1078"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_1078"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 603; O. von +Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um die Welt</i>, ii. 109 +<i>sqq.</i>; W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 30, 126 <i>sqq.</i>, +137, 204, 312; C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence +in the Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 31, +32 <i>sq.</i>; Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 378 <i>sq.</i>, 397 <i>sq.</i>, 442 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 197 <i>sq.</i>, 201; +J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. lxv, 133 <i>sqq.</i>; H. +Bingham, <i>Residence of Twenty-one +Years in the Sandwich Islands</i> (Hartford, +1849), pp. 69 <i>sqq.</i> King Kamehameha +the First died 8th May 1819.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_1079" id="Footnote_35_1079"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_1079"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 142-144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_1080" id="Footnote_36_1080"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_1080"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. xxxix; E. +Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian Comparative +Dictionary</i>, p. 30, <i>s.v.</i> "Atua."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_1081" id="Footnote_37_1081"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_1081"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. xxxix; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 40; H. T. Cheever, +<i>Life in the Sandwich Islands</i> (London, +1851), p. 11; A. Bastian, <i>Die heilige +Sage der Polynesier</i> (Leipzig, 1881), p. +131; <i>id.</i>, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i> +(Berlin, 1883), p. 225; A. Marcuse, +<i>Die Hawaiischen Inseln</i>, pp. 97 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_1082" id="Footnote_38_1082"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_1082"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> 425, 461, +464, 540, <i>s.vv.</i> "Rongo," "Tane," +"Tangaroa," "Tu."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_1083" id="Footnote_39_1083"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_1083"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 425, <i>s.v.</i> +"Rongo."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_1084" id="Footnote_40_1084"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_1084"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 461, 540, +<i>s.vv.</i> "Tane," "Tu."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_1085" id="Footnote_41_1085"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_1085"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 540, <i>s.v.</i> +"Tu."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_1086" id="Footnote_42_1086"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_1086"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 464, <i>s.v.</i> +"Tangaroa." According to another +account, the evil spirit was not Kanaloa, +but Ku; Kanaloa was a younger +brother of Kane, and helped him in +his beneficent labours. See A. Marcuse, +<i>Die Hawaiischen Inseln</i>, pp. 97 +<i>sq.</i> This latter version agrees with the +view of Kane and Kanaloa as divine +twins. See below, pp. <a href="#Page_394">394 <i>sq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_1087" id="Footnote_43_1087"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_1087"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen +Inseln</i>, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_1088" id="Footnote_44_1088"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_1088"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +i. 110 <i>sq.</i>; Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> +i. 312 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_1089" id="Footnote_45_1089"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_1089"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> G. Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, pp. 267 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_1090" id="Footnote_46_1090"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_1090"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> J. L. Nicholas, <i>Narrative of a +Voyage to New Zealand</i> (London, 1817), +i. 59. Compare <i>Folk-lore in the Old +Testament</i>, i. 9 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_1091" id="Footnote_47_1091"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_1091"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 461, <i>s.v.</i> +"Tane."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_1092" id="Footnote_48_1092"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_1092"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Die heilige Sage der +Polynesier</i>, pp. 131, 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_1093" id="Footnote_49_1093"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_1093"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 132 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_1094" id="Footnote_50_1094"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_1094"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 133. As +to the divine twins in Hawaii, see also +<i>id.</i>, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_1095" id="Footnote_51_1095"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_1095"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_1096" id="Footnote_52_1096"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_1096"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen +Inseln</i>, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_1097" id="Footnote_53_1097"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_1097"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 425, <i>s.v.</i> +"Rongo."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_1098" id="Footnote_54_1098"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_1098"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 135; O. von +Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um die Welt</i> +(Weimar, 1830), ii. 88 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. Jarves, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 41 <i>sq.</i>; H. Bingham, +<i>Residence of Twenty-one Years in the +Sandwich Islands</i> (Hartford, 1849), +p. 32; A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in +Oceanien</i>, p. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_1099" id="Footnote_55_1099"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_1099"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 134-136; +Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 376; +J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 29-37; O. von +Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um die Welt</i>, +ii. 98 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_1100" id="Footnote_56_1100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_1100"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. 236, <i>s.v.</i> +"Maui"; A. Marcuse, <i>Die Haiwaiischen +Inseln</i>, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_1101" id="Footnote_57_1101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_1101"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +433; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_1102" id="Footnote_58_1102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_1102"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_1103" id="Footnote_59_1103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_1103"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 158 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_1104" id="Footnote_60_1104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_1104"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 157 <i>sq.</i>, 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_1105" id="Footnote_61_1105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_1105"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +pp. 269 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_1106" id="Footnote_62_1106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_1106"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +pp. 271 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_1107" id="Footnote_63_1107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_1107"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 335 <i>sq.</i>; +J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_1108" id="Footnote_64_1108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_1108"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 237, 246-249; +J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 42 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_1109" id="Footnote_65_1109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_1109"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 363 <i>sq.</i>; Ch. +Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_1110" id="Footnote_66_1110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_1110"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 234-236.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_1111" id="Footnote_67_1111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_1111"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_1112" id="Footnote_68_1112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_1112"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_1113" id="Footnote_69_1113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_1113"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 59. <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_1114" id="Footnote_70_1114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_1114"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_1115" id="Footnote_71_1115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_1115"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_1116" id="Footnote_72_1116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_1116"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_1117" id="Footnote_73_1117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_1117"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_1118" id="Footnote_74_1118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_1118"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>A Visit to the +South Seas</i> (London, 1832), ii. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_1119" id="Footnote_75_1119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_1119"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 309-311. +For other interviews with priestesses +of the goddess see <i>id.</i>, iv. 275 <i>sq.</i>; +C. S. Stewart, <i>Visit to the South Seas</i>, +ii. 100-103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_1120" id="Footnote_76_1120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_1120"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_1121" id="Footnote_77_1121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_1121"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_1122" id="Footnote_78_1122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_1122"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_1123" id="Footnote_79_1123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_1123"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 163, 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_1124" id="Footnote_80_1124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_1124"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_1125" id="Footnote_81_1125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_1125"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 594.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_1126" id="Footnote_82_1126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_1126"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 90; compare +<i>id.</i>, pp. 129 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_1127" id="Footnote_83_1127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_1127"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +422 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_1128" id="Footnote_84_1128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_1128"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_1129" id="Footnote_85_1129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_1129"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour +du Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 595 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_1130" id="Footnote_86_1130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_1130"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> ii. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_1131" id="Footnote_87_1131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_1131"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_92">92 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_1132" id="Footnote_88_1132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_1132"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_1133" id="Footnote_89_1133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_1133"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_1134" id="Footnote_90_1134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_1134"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 596.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_1135" id="Footnote_91_1135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_1135"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 293-295. +Compare U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. +120 <i>sq.</i>; A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round +the World</i>, pp. 171 <i>sqq.</i>; C. S. Stewart, +<i>Residence in the Sandwich Islands</i>, +pp. 202 <i>sq.</i>; Tyerman and Bennett, +<i>op. cit.</i> i. 414; J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 36 <i>sq.</i>, 71 <i>sq.</i>; A. Marcuse, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 103-105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_1136" id="Footnote_92_1136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_1136"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> A. Marcuse, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_1137" id="Footnote_93_1137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_1137"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Voyage of Discovery +into the South Sea and Beering's +Straits</i> (London, 1821), i. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_1138" id="Footnote_94_1138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_1138"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 365.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_1139" id="Footnote_95_1139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_1139"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 171-173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_1140" id="Footnote_96_1140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_1140"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vi. 183-187. +The cloth-covered pyramid or obelisk +was called a <i>henananoo</i> (<i>ib.</i> p. 187).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_1141" id="Footnote_97_1141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_1141"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 5-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_1142" id="Footnote_98_1142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_1142"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 96-98. Compare J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 45 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_1143" id="Footnote_99_1143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_1143"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_278">278 <i>sqq.</i></a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_1144" id="Footnote_100_1144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_1144"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_1145" id="Footnote_101_1145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_1145"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um +die Welt</i>, ii. 89 <i>sq.</i>; A. Campbell, +<i>Voyage round the World</i>, p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_1146" id="Footnote_102_1146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_1146"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_1147" id="Footnote_103_1147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_1147"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 117 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_1148" id="Footnote_104_1148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_1148"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_1149" id="Footnote_105_1149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_1149"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 226 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_1150" id="Footnote_106_1150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_1150"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Ch. Wilkes, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 99 <i>sq.</i>, +with the plate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_1151" id="Footnote_107_1151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_1151"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 105-107. +He says (p. 106) that the temple was +"called by the natives <i>Heavoo</i>, not +<i>Morai</i>, as some navigators have said." +The word <i>Heavoo</i> is probably identical +with the word <i>heiau</i>, which other writers +give as the Hawaiian name for a temple. +As to the form of the temples see +also A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 175 <i>sq.</i>: "Their Morais, +or places of worship, consist of one +large house or temple, with some +smaller ones round it, in which are +the images of their inferior gods. The +tabooed or consecrated precincts are +marked out by four square posts, +which stand thirty or forty yards from +the building. In the inside of the +principal house there is a screen or +curtain of white cloth, hung across one +end within which the image of Etooah +[<i>atua</i>, <i>akua</i>] is placed." Remy (<i>op. cit.</i> +p. xl) describes the Hawaiian temples +as "simple enclosures of stones, roofless, +where the religious ceremonies +were performed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_1152" id="Footnote_108_1152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_1152"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 450.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_1153" id="Footnote_109_1153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_1153"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 92 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_1154" id="Footnote_110_1154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_1154"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_1155" id="Footnote_111_1155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_1155"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen +Inseln</i>, p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_1156" id="Footnote_112_1156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_1156"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 6, 15; compare +A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_1157" id="Footnote_113_1157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_1157"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_1158" id="Footnote_114_1158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_1158"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 212 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_1159" id="Footnote_115_1159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_1159"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_1160" id="Footnote_116_1160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_1160"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 150-152; +J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 47 <i>sq.</i>; J. +Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. xl <i>sq.</i> Compare +U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 121 <i>sq.</i>; +Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. 423 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_1161" id="Footnote_117_1161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_1161"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> A. Marcuse, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_1162" id="Footnote_118_1162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_1162"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> W. Ellis, iv. 150 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_1163" id="Footnote_119_1163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_1163"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 595. Compare +U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, +p. 118. According to the latter writer, +there were no taboos (festivals) in the +eleventh month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_1164" id="Footnote_120_1164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_1164"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 118 <i>sq.</i> From A. Campbell, +<i>Voyage round the World</i>, p. 178, +we learn that the festival fell in +November, and from a brief native +notice we may gather that the New +Year celebration was the festival of +Macahity. See J. Remy, <i>Histoire de +l'Archipel Havaiien</i>, pp. 167, 169, +"<i>à la célébration de la nouvelle année, +les citoyens, les chefs, les femmes, les +enfants se livraient à des boxes furieuses, +et plusieurs recevaient dans ces jeux des +blessures très graves</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_1165" id="Footnote_121_1165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_1165"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_1166" id="Footnote_122_1166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_1166"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Compare <i>The Golden Bough</i>, Part +III. <i>The Dying God</i>, pp. 117 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_1167" id="Footnote_123_1167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_1167"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 178 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_1168" id="Footnote_124_1168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_1168"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise um +die Welt</i>, ii. 88 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_1169" id="Footnote_125_1169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_1169"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 596.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_1170" id="Footnote_126_1170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_1170"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Voyage of Discovery +into the South Sea and Beering's +Straits</i>, iii. 248 <i>sq.</i> Compare A. von +Chamisso, <i>Reise um die Welt</i> (Leipzig, +1836), ii. 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_1171" id="Footnote_127_1171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_1171"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +pp. 272 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_1172" id="Footnote_128_1172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_1172"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 39 note; +A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen Inseln</i>, +p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_1173" id="Footnote_129_1173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_1173"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_1174" id="Footnote_130_1174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_1174"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 359 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 73 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_1175" id="Footnote_131_1175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_1175"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 73; J. +Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. xlvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_1176" id="Footnote_132_1176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_1176"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Tyerman and Bennet, <i>op. cit.</i> i. +429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_1177" id="Footnote_133_1177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_1177"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 360 <i>sq.</i>; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 74; A. Marcuse, +<i>Die Hawaiischen Inslen</i>, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_1178" id="Footnote_134_1178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_1178"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_1179" id="Footnote_135_1179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_1179"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> H. T. Cheever, <i>Life in the Sandwich +Islands</i> (London, 1851), pp. 11 +<i>sq.</i>, quoting Sheldon Dibble, <i>History +of the Sandwich Islands</i>, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_1180" id="Footnote_136_1180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_1180"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Neue Reise +um die Welt</i>, ii. 98; A. Bastian, +<i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_1181" id="Footnote_137_1181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_1181"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 206 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_1182" id="Footnote_138_1182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_1182"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_1183" id="Footnote_139_1183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_1183"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 175 <i>sqq.</i>, +181. Compare U. Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> +p. 123; A. Campbell, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 142 +<i>sq.</i>; J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. xlvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_1184" id="Footnote_140_1184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_1184"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, p. 166; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 65 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_1185" id="Footnote_141_1185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_1185"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 177, 180 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_1186" id="Footnote_142_1186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_1186"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_1187" id="Footnote_143_1187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_1187"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> U. Lisiansky, <i>Voyage round the World</i>, pp. 122 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_1188" id="Footnote_144_1188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_1188"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> G. Vancouver, <i>Voyage of Discovery +to the North Pacific Ocean and round +the World</i> (London, 1798), ii. 135 <i>sq.</i>; +W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, iv. +96; Tyerman and Bennet, <i>Journal of +Voyages and Travels</i>, i. 377 <i>sq.</i>; F. +D. Bennett, <i>Narrative of a Whaling +Voyage</i>, i. 238 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_1189" id="Footnote_145_1189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_1189"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> A. Campbell, <i>Voyage round the +World</i>, pp. 142 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_1190" id="Footnote_146_1190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_1190"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour du +Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 602.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_1191" id="Footnote_147_1191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_1191"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> C. S. Stewart, <i>Residence in the +Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. 165 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_1192" id="Footnote_148_1192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_1192"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +iv. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_1193" id="Footnote_149_1193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_1193"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>History of the Hawaiian +or Sandwich Islands</i>, p. 66. +Compare J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> p. xlvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_1194" id="Footnote_150_1194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_1194"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, +<i>The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern +Rhodesia</i> (London, 1920), ii. 113 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_1195" id="Footnote_151_1195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_1195"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> J. Cook, <i>Voyages</i>, vii. 145; U. +Lisiansky, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_1196" id="Footnote_152_1196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_1196"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 189, 190. +Compare J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 125, +127; H. Bingham, <i>Residence of Twenty-one +Years in the Sandwich Islands</i>, p. +71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_1197" id="Footnote_153_1197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_1197"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> O. von Kotzebue, <i>Voyage of Discovery +into the South Sea and Beering's +Straits</i> (London, 1821), iii. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_1198" id="Footnote_154_1198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_1198"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +iv. 164 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_1199" id="Footnote_155_1199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_1199"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> J. J. Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 191; H. +Bingham, <i>Residence of Twenty-one +Years in the Sandwich Islands</i>, pp. +71 <i>sq.</i>; J. Remy, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 127, +129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_1200" id="Footnote_156_1200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_1200"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 365 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_1201" id="Footnote_157_1201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_1201"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour +du Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 594.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_1202" id="Footnote_158_1202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_1202"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i> iv. 366; J. J. +Jarves, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 38; A. Bastian, +<i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, p. 262. +Ellis gives Miru as the form of the +name, but the correct Hawaiian form +is Milu; for in the Hawaiian dialect +the ordinary Polynesian R is replaced +by L. See E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, p. xxiii. +In New Zealand and Mangaia the name +Miru was given to the goddess of hell +or of the dead. See E. Tregear, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 243, 244, <i>s.v.</i> "Miru."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_1203" id="Footnote_159_1203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_1203"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> E. Tregear, <i>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</i>, pp. 243 <i>sq.</i>, +<i>s.v.</i> "Miru."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_1204" id="Footnote_160_1204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_1204"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> H. T. Cheever, <i>Life in the Sandwich +Islands</i> (London, 1851), p. 12; +A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +pp. 264 <i>sqq.</i>; A. Marcuse, <i>Die Hawaiischen +Inseln</i>, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_1205" id="Footnote_161_1205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_1205"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in +Oceanien</i>, p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_1206" id="Footnote_162_1206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_1206"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> H. T. Cheever, <i>Life in the Sandwich +Islands</i>, p. 12; A. Marcuse, <i>Die +Hawaiischen Inseln</i>, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_1207" id="Footnote_163_1207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_1207"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, +p. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_1208" id="Footnote_164_1208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_1208"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_1209" id="Footnote_165_1209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_1209"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> L. de Freycinet, <i>Voyage autour +du Monde, Historique</i>, ii. 594.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_1210" id="Footnote_166_1210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_1210"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, +iv. 367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_1211" id="Footnote_167_1211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_1211"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> A. Bastian, <i>Inselgruppen in Oceanien</i>, pp. 265 <i>sq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_1212" id="Footnote_168_1212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_1212"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> W. Ellis, <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, iv. 144 <i>sq.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p> +<h2>NOTE</h2> + +<h3>TABOO AMOUNG THE MAORIS</h3> + + +<p>The power which Maori chiefs possessed of imposing, or at all +events of enforcing, a taboo seems not to have been quite so absolute +as might perhaps be inferred from the statement in the text.<a name="FNanchor_1_1213" id="FNanchor_1_1213"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1213" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> We +are told that the power of the taboo mainly depended on the influence +of the person who imposed it. If it were put on by a great +chief, it would not be broken, but a powerful man often violated the +taboo of an inferior. A chief, for example, would frequently lay one +of these sacred interdicts on a road or a river, and then nobody +would dare to go by either, unless he felt himself strong enough to +set the chief's taboo at defiance. The duration of the taboo was +arbitrary, and depended on the will of the person who imposed it. +Similarly with the extent to which the prohibition applied: sometimes +it was limited to a particular object, sometimes it embraced +many: sometimes it was laid on a single spot, at other times it +covered a whole district.<a name="FNanchor_2_1214" id="FNanchor_2_1214"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_1214" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>To render a place taboo a chief had only to tie one of his old +garments to a pole and stick it up on the spot which he proposed +to make sacred, while at the same time he declared that the prohibited +area was part of his own body, such as his backbone, or +that it bore the name of one of his ancestors. In the latter case +all the persons descended from that particular ancestor were in +duty bound to rally to the defence of the chief's taboo, and the +more distant the ancestor, and the more numerous his descendants, +the greater the number of the champions thus pledged to the +support of the family honour. Hence the longer a man's pedigree, +the better chance he stood of maintaining his taboo against all +comers, for the larger was the troop of adherents whom he enlisted +in its defence. Thus chiefs, with family trees which reached backward +to the gods, were in a far better position to make good +their arbitrary interdicts than mere ordinary mortals, who hardly +remembered their grandfathers. In this as in other respects the +taboo was essentially an aristocratic institution.<a name="FNanchor_3_1215" id="FNanchor_3_1215"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_1215" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1213" id="Footnote_1_1213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1213"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Above, p. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_1214" id="Footnote_2_1214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_1214"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>Te Ika A Maui, or +New Zealand and its Inhabitants</i>, +Second Edition (London, 1870), p. +168. Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, +<i>Voyage autour du Monde et à la +recherche de la Pérouse, Histoire du +Voyage</i> (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_1215" id="Footnote_3_1215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_1215"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> R. Taylor, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 169.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<p> +Abortions, spirits of, dreaded, <a href="#Footnote_124_124">49 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Adam, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Adoption among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_339">339</a><br /> +<br /> +Aesculapius, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Afiatouca</i>, burial-place, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Agriculture of Maoris, <a href="#Page_8">8 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Tongans, <a href="#Page_59">59 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan, <a href="#Page_164">164 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_221">221 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_378">378 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Air, gods of the, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Aitu</i>, Samoan gods embodied in visible objects, animals, birds, etc., <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a><br /> +<br /> +Akaanga, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Akea" id="Akea"></a>Akea (Wakea), king of the nether world, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="akua" id="akua"></a><i>Akua</i>, god, in the Hawaiian dialect, equivalent to <i>atua</i>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Akuas</i>, spirits, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Alai Valoo, a Tongan god, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Alo Alo, a Tongan god, <a href="#Page_71">71 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Altars in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Amable, Father, Catholic missionary, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br /> +<br /> +Ambler, English sailor, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +<br /> +Amusements of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_339">339 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Ancestors worshipped by Maoris, <a href="#Page_32">32 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">skulls of, brought out at marriages, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ancestral spirits watch over the living, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do not follow their kinsfolk among strangers, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause disease, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped by Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">guardians of newly wedded pairs, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Angas, G. F., <a href="#Footnote_123_123">48 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Animals, gods in form of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified spirits of men resident in, <a href="#Page_227">227 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_401">401 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Anointing a king of Samoa, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +Anuanu, vale of, <a href="#Footnote_3_1047">376 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Ao</i>, titles of chiefs in Samoa, <a href="#Page_172">172 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Apolima, Samoan island, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /> +<br /> +Apparitions dreaded, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a><br /> +<br /> +Araia, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Aremauku, starting-place for spirit-land, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Areois, Society of the, <a href="#Page_259">259 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Arii taboo</i>, sacred chiefs, <a href="#Page_387">387</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Ariki</i>, sacred chief, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">king, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Astronomy of priests, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Atua" id="Atua"></a><i>Atua</i>, the Polynesian word for god or spirit, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Footnote_48_175">64 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Compare <a href="#akua">akua</a>, <a href="#eatooa">eatooa</a>, <a href="#etua">etua</a></i></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Atuas</i>, consecrated feathers called, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspired priests called, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great national gods, distinguished from <i>oramatuas tiis</i>, the spirits of dead relatives, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Auraka, a burial cavern, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Avaiki" id="Avaiki"></a>Avaiki, subterranean region, home of the dead, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Axes or adzes of stone, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ba-ila, their licence at funerals, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Baessler, A., <a href="#Footnote_4_550">221 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_106_723">279 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Baganda, superstition as to twins among the, <a href="#Page_270">270 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Baldness as penalty of impiety, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the penalty of breach of taboo, <a href="#Page_209">209 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baluba, of the Congo, customs as to twins among the, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Banishment of chiefs in Samoa, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Banqueting-halls of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_343">343 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Baptism among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +<br /> +Bark-cloth, manufacture of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not made in time of mourning, <a href="#Page_234">234 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baronga, of S.E. Africa, their superstitions concerning twins, <a href="#Page_268">268 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Barundi, of E. Africa, customs as to twins among the, <a href="#Page_272">272 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Bastian, Adolf, on sun-worship, <a href="#Footnote_200_327">131 <i>n.</i></a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span><br /> +Bathing after burial, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of king at installation, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after contact with a corpse, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bats, goddess incarnate in, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local deity, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bay of Plenty, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Bennett, F. D., <a href="#Page_332">332 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Best, Elsdon, <a href="#Footnote_11_11">6 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Birds, gods incarnate in, <a href="#Page_187">187 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">small land birds formerly oracular, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in the form of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Birth, a man's god determined at, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceremonies after a, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Blackened faces in mourning, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Blood of chief sacred, <a href="#Page_45">45 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">human, acceptable offering to deity, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to the dead, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of relatives offered to bride at marriage, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of bride's mother offered to bridegroom, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of mourners offered to the dead, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Bolotoo" id="Bolotoo"></a>Bolotoo (Boolotoo, Bulotu), fabulous island, residence of Tongan gods and of noble dead, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Bones of Captain Cook worshipped, <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +Bones of dead dug up, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">painted red, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concealed, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">profaned, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival at removal of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burned, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of sacrificial victims not broken, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of famous men carried off by enemies, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thrown into volcano, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carried about by relatives, <a href="#Page_419">419 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hidden to prevent profanation, <a href="#Page_420">420</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bones of dead chiefs buried in temples (<i>morais</i>), <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hidden in caves, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Boolotoo Katoa, a Tongan god, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Borabora, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br /> +<br /> +Bows and arrows, unknown to Maoris, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">used by the Society Islanders as an amusement, <a href="#Page_252">252 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unknown to the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">found among the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_383">383</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Boxing-matches in mourning, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Branch plucked from sacred trees, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Bread-fruit the staple food of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Rarotongans, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Breath of chief sacred, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Brenchley, J. L., <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Footnote_180_307">125 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Dr. George, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Footnote_49_415">173 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Footnote_150_516">206 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Footnote_172_538">216 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +Buffoonery in mourning for the dead, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Burial, Maori modes of, <a href="#Page_20">20 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in house, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on a stage, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on a tree, <a href="#Page_20">20 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and mourning, rites of, in Tonga, <a href="#Page_132">132 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by night, <a href="#Page_419">419</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Burial" id="Burial"></a>Burial customs in Samoa, <a href="#Page_209">209 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_231">231 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_308">308 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_356">356 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hawaiian Islands, <a href="#Page_418">418 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Burial ground dreaded, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Burial places (<i>morais</i>) of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_357">357 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Burying the sins of the dead, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Busoga, superstition as to twins in, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Cabri, J. Baptiste, <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br /> +<br /> +Cain, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Campbell, A., <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Footnote_107_1151">412 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +Cannibalism, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Canoe-shaped coffins, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br /> +<br /> +Canoes, Maori, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongan, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marquesan, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">provided for the dead to enable them to reach the spirit land, <a href="#Page_364">364 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Caterpillars, servants of owl-god, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +<br /> +Caves, bones or bodies of dead deposited in, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a><br /> +<br /> +Centipedes, family god in, <a href="#Page_188">188 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped in Mangaia, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Ceremonies" id="Ceremonies"></a>Ceremonies, magical, of Maoris, <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">observed at death, <a href="#Page_19">19 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to facilitate passage of soul to other world, <a href="#Page_24">24 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">magical, of Tongans, <a href="#Page_67">67 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">observed for unburied dead, <a href="#Page_205">205 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of mourning in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_234">234 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the inauguration of a king, <a href="#Page_254">254 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">over dead Areoi, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after childbirth, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at marriage, <a href="#Page_288">288 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for the protection of the living against ghosts, <a href="#Page_305">305 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Rites">Rites</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ceremony of anointing a king of Samoa, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">performed by parents of twins to fertilise plantains, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chiefs descended from the gods, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their souls immortal, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tabooed, <a href="#Page_41">41 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical superiority of, <a href="#Page_58">58 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_377">377 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan, <a href="#Page_171">171 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embalmed, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_384">384 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chiefs' language in Samoa, <a href="#Page_173">173 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Chieftainship hereditary in Samoa, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Children sacrificed, <a href="#Page_75">75 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_81">81 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Christianity in Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +Circumcision, in the Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_223">223 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invented by god Rongo, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Civil lords and sacred kings in Mangaia, <a href="#Page_224">224 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span><br /> +Clans, gods of, in animals or other natural objects, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Clavel, Dr., <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Cockles, god in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>; prayers to cockle-god, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +<br /> +Coco-nuts, god in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>; offered to the dead, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Coffins shaped like canoes, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br /> +<br /> +Collocot, E. E. V., <a href="#Footnote_50_177">65 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Footnote_132_259">98 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_69_686">267 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Comedies acted in mourning, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +<br /> +Commoners, the question of their souls, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Communistic system in Samoa, <a href="#Page_170">170 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Confession of sins, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook, Captain James, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Footnote_39_166">61 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Footnote_153_280">111 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Footnote_30_647">258 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Footnote_101_718">277 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a> and <a href="#Footnote_103_720"><sup>4</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Footnote_222_839">314 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook or Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_219">219 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Cooking in ovens of hot stones, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br /> +<br /> +Coral reefs, their formation, <a href="#Page_55">55 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Corpses, sent adrift on the sea or exposed on stages, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">broken in pieces, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flayed, <a href="#Page_367">367 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Courage seated in liver, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Cousin marriage, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Creation, Hawaiian tradition of the, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Cremation among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Crickets, omens from, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Crimes, Tongan ideas about, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Crook, William P., first missionary to the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Cruise, R. A., <a href="#Footnote_74_74">31 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Curse of Manaia</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Curses, Maori, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongan, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of sisters specially dreaded, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Customs observed at the birth of twins, <a href="#Page_268">268 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Burial">Burial customs</a>, <a href="#Ceremonies">Ceremonies</a>, <a href="#Rites">Rites</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cuttings in mourning for the dead, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Tonga, <a href="#Page_133">133 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intention of the, <a href="#Page_145">145 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cuttle-fish, household god in, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">myth of the, <a href="#Page_202">202 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a god in Mangaia,228;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">myth of Maui and the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dances at the birth of twins, <a href="#Page_270">270 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of widow, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dancing among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_340">340 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Dancing-places of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_340">340 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Danger Island, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Darwin, Charles, on coral reefs, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> +<br /> +De Sainson, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +D'Urville, J. Dumont, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Footnote_101_977">357 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_110_986">359 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Dead, disposal of the bodies of the (Maori), <a href="#Page_20">20 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried in sitting posture, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirits of, appear in dreams, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirits of the dead become gods, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taboo entailed by contact with the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>,137 <i>sq.</i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried in <i>morais</i>, <a href="#Page_117">117 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_282">282 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of the, in Samoa, <a href="#Page_204">204 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blood offered to the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried with head to the east, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried with the head to the rising sun, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">songs sung in honour of the, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried in sitting posture, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">images of spirits of the, <a href="#Page_287">287 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_324">324 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blood of mourners offered to the, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fear of the spirits of the, <a href="#Page_304">304 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disposal of the, in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_308">308 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of the, in images, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of the, in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_322">322 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assimilated to deities, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disposal of the, among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_356">356 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hawaiian Islands, <a href="#Page_418">418 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evocation of the, <a href="#Page_370">370 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried in crouching posture, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Ghosts">Ghosts</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dead men deified, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +Death, Maori notion as to the cause of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stories as to the origin of, <a href="#Page_16">16 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maori goddess of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fate of the soul after, <a href="#Page_24">24 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_85">85 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_213">213 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_238">238 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_363">363 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the second, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theories of the Society Islanders concerning, <a href="#Page_299">299 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marquesan contempt for, <a href="#Page_352">352 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian beliefs and customs concerning,417 <i>sqq.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Deaths caused by the anger of the gods or by sorcery, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traced to the agency of gods or sorcerers, <a href="#Page_405">405</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Decadence of magic, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +Deification of ancestors, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of kings in their lifetime, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead men, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of men after death, <a href="#Page_351">351 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of animals, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Deified kings, priests, and warriors, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Deified men, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the spirits of,resident in animals, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Deified spirits of chiefs, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +Deities, primaeval, personifications of nature, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Deity, Maori conception of, <a href="#Page_35">35 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Democratic spirit of Samoans, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Desgraz, C., <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Despotism in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Dieffenbach, E., <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_14_14">8 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Footnote_123_123">48 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Diet of the Samoans, <a href="#Page_164">164 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_333">333 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_378">378 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Dirges" id="Dirges"></a>Dirges in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_235">235 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Disease" id="Disease"></a>Disease, caused by souls of ancestors, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and death ascribed to agency of gods, spirits, or ghosts, <a href="#Page_206">206 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theories of the Society Islanders concerning, <a href="#Page_299">299 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans concerning, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Sickness">Sickness</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Disorders, internal, supposed to be caused by entrance of a god into the patient, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +District gods, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Divination, in Samoa, <a href="#Page_190">190 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to detect thieves, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to ascertain the cause of death, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Diviners consulted before battle, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_404">404 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Division of labour among the Samoans, <a href="#Page_166">166 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Dogs, sacred, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eaten, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrificed, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Doobludha, land of dead, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Dramatic performances of the Areois, <a href="#Page_259">259 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Dreamers held in repute, <a href="#Page_320">320</a><br /> +<br /> +Dreams, Maori theories of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of the dead appear in, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan theory of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas of the Hervey Islanders concerning, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas of the Society Islanders concerning, <a href="#Page_297">297 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of the dead communicate with the living in, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marquesan ideas about, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revelations to priests in, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian ideas about, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Drums, special, beaten after the birth of twins, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accompanying dances, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Du Petit-Thouars, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Duke of York Island, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Earth cleft with axes, as a mourning rite, <a href="#Page_235">235 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fished up from the sea by Maui, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Earthquakes, Tongan theory of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caused by Maui, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="eatooa" id="eatooa"></a><i>Eatooas</i>, gods, spirits of the dead, <a href="#Footnote_103_720">277 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Atua"><i>Atua</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eclipses, superstitions as to, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Eel-god, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Eels sacred, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Eimeo or Moörea, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +<br /> +Ella, S., <a href="#Footnote_150_516">206 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Ellis, William, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Footnote_166_293">118 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Footnote_61_678">265 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Footnote_69_686">267 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">286 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_149_766">290 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Footnote_171_788">298 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_198_815">308 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Footnote_220_837">314 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +Embalmment of the dead, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Samoa, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_356">356 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Erskine, J. E., <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /> +<br /> +Ethical influence of the Tongan religion, <a href="#Page_146">146 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="etua" id="etua"></a><i>Etua</i>, a god, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Compare <a href="#Atua"><i>Atua</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eua, one of Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Euhemerism, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +<br /> +Eve, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Evocation of the dead, <a href="#Page_370">370 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Exogamy, Samoan religious system independent of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Exorcisers, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Exorcism practised for the healing of the sick, <a href="#Page_206">206 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_417">417 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Expiation for sacrilege, <a href="#Page_74">74 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for eating sacred animal, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eye, spirit or soul thought to reside in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of human victim presented to king, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Fafa, subterranean abode of the dead, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Fakaofo or Bowditch Island, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br /> +<br /> +Family gods embodied in visible objects, <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">analogous to totems, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fan or Fang, of West Africa, their superstition about a twin, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +Farmer, Sarah S., <a href="#Footnote_18_145">57 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_37_164">61 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Footnote_153_280">111 <i>n.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Fasting after a death, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br /> +<br /> +Fate of the soul after death, <a href="#Page_213">213 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_238">238 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_363">363 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427 <i>sq.</i></a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fear of the dead, its humanising influence, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ghosts, <a href="#Page_369">369 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Ghosts">Ghosts</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Feast of Calabashes, <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Feasts" id="Feasts"></a>Feasts, funeral, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">annual, in honour of the gods, <a href="#Page_187">187 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Festivals">Festivals</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Feathers, sacred red, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods conjured into, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">placed in images of the gods, <a href="#Page_290">290 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called gods, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Female line, nobility traced in, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Ferry-boat for souls of dead, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Fertilising virtue attributed to twins, <a href="#Page_269">269 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Festival, great annual, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called "the ripening of the year," 326 <i>sq.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Festivals" id="Festivals"></a>Festivals, of the Samoans, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_341">341 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_414">414 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Feasts">Feasts</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Fiatooka</i>, place of burial and of worship, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +Fijian influence in Tonga, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Fingers mutilated in mourning, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrificed, <a href="#Page_80">80 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span>Finow, king of Tonga, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obsequies of, <a href="#Page_135">135 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Finow the Second, king of Fiji, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Fire, Polynesian knowledge of, <a href="#Page_56">56 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kindled by friction of wood, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robbed by Ti'iti'i from Mafuie, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kept up in house after a death, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first brought to men by Maui, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hidden in wood by Mauike, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stick and groove method of kindling, invented by Maui, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stolen by Maui, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first given to men by Maui, <a href="#Page_396">396</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fires not kindled near house of death, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extinguished during periods of strict taboo, <a href="#Page_389">389</a></span><br /> +<br /> +First-born sons, sacrifice of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +First-fruits, offerings of, in Tonga, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of taro presented to eel-god, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fish, sacrifices of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">human victims called fish, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to shark god, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fish hooks made out of bones of dead, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Fishing, modes of, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br /> +<br /> +Flax cultivated by Maoris, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Flaying the dead, custom of, <a href="#Page_367">367 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Flood, tradition of a great, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br /> +<br /> +Flying-foxes, gods in, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incarnations of war-god, omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Fono</i>, representative assembly, parliament, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +Food buried with the dead, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not to be touched by tabooed person with his hands, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not eaten in a house so long as a corpse is in it, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered at tomb, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Footprints in magic, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Forbes, Dr. Charles, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Forster, George, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a><br /> +<br /> +Forster, J. R., <a href="#Footnote_163_290">117 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_105_722">278 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Footnote_251_868">323 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Foundation sacrifices, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Fowls bred and eaten, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br /> +<br /> +Freycinet, L. de, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br /> +<br /> +Friendly Islands. <i>See</i> <a href="#Tonga">Tonga</a><br /> +<br /> +Funeral dances, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feasts, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Funeral games in Tonga, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_235">235 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Funeral rites in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_231">231 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Futtafaihe or Fatafehi, family name of the Tuitongas, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Fytoca</i>, grave, burial-place, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +G——, Father Mathias, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Games, funeral, in honour of the dead, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">athletic, at religious festivals, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Garment, evil magic wrought through, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Gerland, G., <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Ghost personated by priest or kinsman, <a href="#Page_306">306 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Ghosts" id="Ghosts"></a>Ghosts, fear of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_320">320 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_369">369 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_419">419 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their passage to nether world, <a href="#Page_27">27 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">live on sweet potatoes, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slaying the, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journeying with the sun, <a href="#Page_239">239 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caught in nets, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eaten by Miru, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven away by force of arms, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">food offered to, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gill, W. W., <a href="#Footnote_4_550">221 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_16_562">225 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Footnote_29_575">228 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Girdle, sacred, of kings, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +<br /> +God, patron, determined at birth, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +"God-boxes," inspired priests, <a href="#Page_228">228 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Godless, the Samoans called, <a href="#Page_181">181 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Gods" id="Gods"></a>Gods, chiefs and priests descended from the, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confused with spirits of the dead, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the great Polynesian, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Maoris, <a href="#Page_36">36 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Tongans, <a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of dead men as, <a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">men descended from, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens sent by, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in form of animals, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the primary or non-human, of Tonga, <a href="#Page_68">68 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national and tribal, of Tonga, <a href="#Page_93">93 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temples of, in Tonga, <a href="#Page_73">73 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of, <a href="#Page_79">79 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">annual feasts in honour of, <a href="#Page_187">187 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tame, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vegetable, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">totemic, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">high gods, <a href="#Page_202">202 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the life of the, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punished, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">born of Night (<i>Po</i>), <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the sea, <a href="#Page_276">276 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the air, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of the gods in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_277">277 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the causes of disease and death, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, two classes of, <a href="#Page_397">397</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Government, monarchical and aristocratic, of the Tongans, <a href="#Page_62">62 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">democratic, of Samoans, <a href="#Page_171">171 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_344">344 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hawaiian Islands, <a href="#Page_383">383 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grandfather, soul of, reborn in grandchild, <a href="#Page_368">368 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Grange, Jérôme, <a href="#Footnote_37_164">60 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_113">113 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Grasshoppers, souls of dead children in, <a href="#Page_318">318</a><br /> +<br /> +Graves, sacred, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in relation to temples, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Tongan kings, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prayers at, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of great chiefs religiously revered, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enclosed with stones, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Society Islands, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Tombs">Tombs</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span><br /> +Guardian deity, how obtained, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Gudgeon, W. E., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Footnote_105_105">42 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_123_123">48 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Guillemard, F. H. H., <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Haamonga</i>, megalithic monument in Tonga, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Haapai (Haabai), one of the Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Haddon, A. C., <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Hahunga, Maori festival, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +<br /> +Hair cut in mourning, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a><i>sq.</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceremonies at cutting the, <a href="#Page_44">44 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">used in evil magic, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered by mourners to the dead, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrificed to volcano, <a href="#Page_400">400</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hale, Horatio, <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Hands tabooed, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br /> +<br /> +Happahs (Happas), a tribe of Marquesans, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Harepo</i>, sacred recorder, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br /> +<br /> +Harris, J. Rendel, <a href="#Footnote_68_685">267 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Havaiki, subterranean region of the dead, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>. <i>Compare</i> <a href="#Avaiki">Avaiki</a><br /> +<br /> +Hawaii, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, <a href="#Page_375">375 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Hawaiians or Sandwich Islanders, <a href="#Page_377">377 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Hawaiki, original home of Maoris, <a href="#Page_5">5 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Head, sanctity of the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a><br /> +<br /> +Heads of dead dried and preserved, <a href="#Page_23">23 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of chiefs cut off and buried separately, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of children moulded, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of pigs attached to biers, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of slain enemies kept as trophies, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Heart the special seat of the soul, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Heaven, ascent of souls to, <a href="#Page_24">24 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +"Heavenly family," gods incarnate in animals, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Hebrew prophets, Renan on the, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Heiau</i>, temple, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Footnote_107_1151">412 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a><br /> +<br /> +Herero, of S.W. Africa, customs as to twins among the, <a href="#Page_273">273 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Herons sacred, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superstition about, <a href="#Footnote_101_718">277 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hervey, Philip, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Footnote_180_307">125 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Hervey or Cook Islands, <a href="#Page_219">219 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_220">220 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Heva</i>, ceremony observed after a death, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Higgolayo, god of the dead, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Hikuleo, god of the dead, <a href="#Page_88">88 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Hina" id="Hina"></a>Hina (O-Heena), a goddess, perhaps of the moon, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Hine-nui-te-po, the Maori goddess of death, <a href="#Page_17">17 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Hiro, god of thieves, <a href="#Page_326">326</a><br /> +<br /> +Hivaoa (Dominica), one of the Marquesas Islands, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Hogs" id="Hogs"></a>Hogs, sacrificed, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to volcano, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Pigs">Pigs</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Holiness and uncleanness blent in taboo, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Honolulu, <a href="#Footnote_3_1047">376 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Hos of Togo, customs as to twins among the, <a href="#Page_271">271 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Hotooas</i> (<i>atuas</i>), gods, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +Houmis, a tribe of Marquesans, <a href="#Page_347">347</a><br /> +<br /> +House, dead buried in, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dying people removed from the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abandoned after a death, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Houses, Maori, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan, <a href="#Page_163">163 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_335">335 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_380">380 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Huahine, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Human_sacrifices" id="Human_sacrifices"></a>Human sacrifices at burials, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to the sun, tradition of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not offered by Samoans, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at making king's girdle, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to Oro, <a href="#Page_258">258 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_291">291 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to living men, <a href="#Page_349">349 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at deification of men, <a href="#Page_351">351 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the death of chiefs and priests, <a href="#Page_365">365 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_421">421 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to sharks, <a href="#Page_402">402 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_413">413 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_421">421 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_425">425 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hunchbacks thought to be favourites of spirits, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +Hurricanes in Samoa, <a href="#Page_153">153 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Idols, Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_412">412 <i>sq.</i></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#Images">Images</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Ifi</i> tree, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Image of basket-work, <a href="#Page_275">275 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wooden, of deified man, <a href="#Page_398">398</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Images" id="Images"></a>Images of the gods, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in which the souls of the dead were supposed to lodge, <a href="#Page_287">287 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_324">324 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carried to battle, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirits conjured into, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the gods, Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_411">411 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Immortality, belief in, its effect on the Maoris, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restricted to chiefs and their ministers, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the human soul, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#Soul">Soul</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Incantations, Maori, <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of sorcerers, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Incarnation of gods in animals, <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Inconsistency of savage thought, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Indonesians, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Infanticide, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the Areois, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Infants, souls of dead, cause disease, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a><br /> +<br /> +Inspiration by drinking kava, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by souls of dead, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Samoan priests, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of priests, in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_293">293 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of men by deities, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Inspired men, <a href="#Page_350">350 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span><br /> +Iron in Tonga, <a href="#Footnote_39_166">61 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Iron tools among the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br /> +<br /> +Irrigation practised by Maoris, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artificial, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_378">378 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Jarves, J. J., <a href="#Footnote_15_1059">383 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Jaw-bones of human victims hung in temple, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="JOstone" id="JOstone"></a>Jumping-off stone of souls of the dead, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#LOplace">Leaping-off place</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Jupiter, the planet, emblem of deified chiefs, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the shrine of a god, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Justice, administration of, in Samoa, <a href="#Page_159">159 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Kahuna</i>, priest, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +Kaili. <i>See</i> <a href="#Tairi">Tairi</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Kamehameha" id="Kamehameha"></a>Kamehameha (Tamehameha), king of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +Kanaloa, a great Hawaiian deity, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a><br /> +<br /> +Kane, a great Hawaiian deity, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Kaonohiokala, "eye-ball of the sun," a Hawaiian god, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +Kapihe, a priest, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Kapu</i>, taboo, in Hawaiian dialect, <a href="#Page_387">387</a><br /> +<br /> +Karakakooa Bay in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Karakias</i>, prayers or spells (Maori), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Kauai, one of the Sandwich Islands, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br /> +<br /> +Kava as source of inspiration, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to the gods, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to whales, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered at graves, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drunk by the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Keolakuhonua, the first woman, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Kilauea, volcano in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br /> +<br /> +King, Captain, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +King, of Samoa, <a href="#Page_176">176 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">customs observed on the death of a king in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_420">420 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +"King of Fiji," a Samoan family god, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Kingfisher sacred, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superstition about, <a href="#Footnote_101_718">277 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kingfishers, incarnations of war-god, omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods of families, villages, or districts, embodied in, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consulted oracularly, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kings, two, in Tonga, one civil, the other religious, <a href="#Page_62">62 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the priests or mouthpieces of a god, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred, in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_224">224 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">primary and secondary, in Mangaia, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as gods or descended from gods in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_253">253 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as high-priests, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_383">383 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kingship, double, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Kitchen, dying chief carried into the, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /> +<br /> +Koreamoku, a deified man, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Kotzebue, O. von, <a href="#Footnote_21_1065">385 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_388">388 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +Kpelle, of Liberia, their superstitions about twins, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br /> +<br /> +Krusenstern, A. J. von, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Ku, a great Hawaiian deity, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Kuahairo, a Hawaiian god, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +Kumuhonua, the first man, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +La Pérouse, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Labillardière, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Langsdorff, G. H. von, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Footnote_80_956">351 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Language, Polynesian, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special form of, used in speaking of chiefs, <a href="#Page_173">173 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="LOplace" id="LOplace"></a>Leaping-off place for souls of dead, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#JOstone">Jumping-off stone</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Leeward Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a><br /> +<br /> +Lifuka (Lefooga), one of the Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Lightning, omens from, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Lipolipo, king of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_389">389 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br /> +<br /> +Lisiansky, U., <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_368">368 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +Litany chanted after a death, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br /> +<br /> +Liturgies, in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Liturgy, ancient Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br /> +<br /> +Liver, the seat of courage, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a disease of, attributed to breach of taboo, <a href="#Page_76">76 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of pig a god, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lizard, the tempter in the form of a, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Lizards feared as causes of disease, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Lono" id="Lono"></a>Lono (Rono), a great Hawaiian deity, the equivalent of Rongo, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captain Cook identified with, <a href="#Page_396">396</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lord of Mangaia, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Lucifer, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Macahity, a Hawaiian festival, <a href="#Page_414">414 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Mafanga, burial-place of chiefs in Tongataboo, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /> +<br /> +Mafuie, god of earthquakes, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Magic" id="Magic"></a>Magic, among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the Tongans, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">black, not practised in Samoa, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_405">405</a> <i>sq</i>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Sorcerers">Sorcerers</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Magicians (Maori), <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Mahoike, god of the infernal regions, original possessor of fire, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<br /> +Mahoui, a god, apparently identical with Maui, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">286 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Maitea, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +Malays, how related to the Polynesians, <a href="#Page_2">2 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Man, the creation of, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span><br /> +<i>Mana</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +Manaia, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Manona, Samoan island, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Manua, group of Samoan islands, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Maoris, <a href="#Page_5">5 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their culture, <a href="#Page_8">8 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beliefs concerning the souls of the living, <a href="#Page_10">10 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beliefs concerning the souls of the dead, <a href="#Page_19">19 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their notion as to the cause of death, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their story of the origin of death, <a href="#Page_16">16 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mourning, <a href="#Page_19">19 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disposal of the dead, <a href="#Page_20">20 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their conception of deity, <a href="#Page_35">35 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taboo among the, <a href="#Page_37">37 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mapuhanui, a Marquesan god, <a href="#Page_368">368</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Marae</i>. <i>See <a href="#Morai">Morai</a></i><br /> +<br /> +<i>Marae</i>, a sacred grove, <a href="#Footnote_18_564">225 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Marai</i>. <i>See <a href="#Morai">Morai</a></i><br /> +<br /> +Marchand, Captain E., <a href="#Footnote_107_983">358 <i>n.</i><sup>6</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br /> +<br /> +Marcuse, A., <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Mariner, William, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Footnote_132_259">98 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Footnote_152_279">110 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a><br /> +<br /> +Marquesan islanders, <a href="#Page_331">331 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Marquesas Islands, <a href="#Page_328">328 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>morais</i> (<i>marais</i>) in the, <a href="#Page_116">116 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Marriage rites, <a href="#Page_288">288 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a><br /> +<br /> +Martin, John, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +Maruiwi, primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +Mask worn by an actor personifying a ghost, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Masons in Tonga, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Matabooles</i>, minister of Tongan nobles, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br /> +<br /> +Mateialona, Governor of Haapai, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Mats, fine Samoan, <a href="#Page_168">168 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_381">381 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Maui, mythical Polynesian hero, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his contest with the goddess of death, <a href="#Page_16">16 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">said to have drawn up the Tongan Islands on a fish-hook, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">puts god Hikuleo in durance, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">said to have brought great stones from Uea, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a kind of Polynesian Hercules, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brought fire to men, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his exploits, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his image, <a href="#Page_275">275 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">steals fire from Mahoike, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Maui one of the Sandwich Islands, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Maui Atalanga, mythical first owner of fire, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Maui Kijikiji, the Polynesian Prometheus, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Mauike, the fire-god, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Mauna Kea, mountain in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_376">376</a><br /> +<br /> +Mauna Loa, volcano in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a><br /> +<br /> +Mausoleum of the kings of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_426">426</a><br /> +<br /> +Medicine, the Hawaiian god of, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Pacific, Dr. Rivers's theory as to, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Tongans, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lefooga (Lifuka), <a href="#Page_128">128 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their supposed relation to sun-worship, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_360">360 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Megalithic tombs, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Meinicke, C. E., <a href="#Footnote_167_294">118 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Melanesian blood, admixture of, in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Melanesian type, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">population of New Zealand, <a href="#Page_6">6 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Melanesian totemism, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +Melanesians, now related to Polynesians, <a href="#Page_2">2 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">magic among the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sham-fights at funerals among the, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Melville, Hermann, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Footnote_101_977">357 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_360">360 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_361">361 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Men deified in their lifetime, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified after death, <a href="#Page_351">351 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Metals unknown to the Polynesians, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a><br /> +<br /> +Metempsychosis, theory that Melanesian totemism has been developed out of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Milu" id="Milu"></a>Milu (Miru), king of the nether world, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Miru">Miru</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Milu (Miru), a rebel spirit, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br /> +<br /> +Minstrels, wandering, in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_342">342</a><br /> +<br /> +Miru, king of the nether world, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of hell or of the dead, <a href="#Footnote_158_1202">428 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Hades of the Sandwich Islanders, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Milu">Milu</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Miru" id="Miru"></a>Miru, an infernal hag, devours ghosts, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Moerenhout, J. A., <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Footnote_53_670">263 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_59_676">264 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">286 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Footnote_198_815">308 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Monarchy, absolute, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_383">383</a><br /> +<br /> +Mooa, old capital of Tongataboo, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Mooas</i>, middle-class in Tonga, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Moomooe (Moomooi), king of Tonga, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +Moon, family god in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tradition of sacrifice to the, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of the new, <a href="#Page_414">414</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Moon-goddess, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Mo'ooi (Maui), Tongan god, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Morai" id="Morai"></a><i>Morai</i> (<i>marai</i>, <i>marae</i>), burial-place, temple, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dead buried in, <a href="#Page_117">117 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_282">282 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_278">278 <i>sq.</i></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Morais</i>, bones of dead chiefs buried in, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial-places, <a href="#Page_357">357 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_361">361 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mummies deposited in, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dead chiefs buried in, <a href="#Page_407">407 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Morality reinforced by superstitious terrors, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not influenced by religion, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mortality of souls of commoners, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Motoro, a great god in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +Mourning for death of divine owl, <a href="#Page_186">186 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Mourning customs of Maoris, <a href="#Page_19">19 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Tonga, <a href="#Page_132">132 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Samoa, <a href="#Page_208">208 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_301">301 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_353">353 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_420">420 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mouth and nostrils of dying stopped to prevent the escape of the soul, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br /> +<br /> +Mueu, a female demon of death, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Mukasa, great god of the Baganda, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +Mullets sacred, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Mummies kept in the house or deposited in a <i>morai</i>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br /> +<br /> +Muru, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Mythology of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_257">257 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_348">348 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Nails, parings of, used in evil magic, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a><br /> +<br /> +Names of relatives changed after a death, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of kings sacred, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">new, given at admission to the Society of the Areois, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exchange of, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Namuka, one of the Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +Nature, personifications of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Necromancy among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_30">30 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Negritoes, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Net to catch ghosts, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +New Zealand, the Maoris of, <a href="#Page_5">5 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Melanesian population of, <a href="#Page_6">6 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Neyra, Alvaro Mendana de, <a href="#Page_328">328</a><br /> +<br /> +Ngati-apa, a Maori tribe, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Nicholas, J. L., <a href="#Footnote_48_48">16 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Night, or the primaeval darkness (<i>Po</i>), <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Footnote_170_787">298 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burials by, <a href="#Page_419">419</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nightmare caused by a ghost, <a href="#Page_419">419</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Noa</i>, common, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general, as opposed to <i>taboo</i>, sacred, <a href="#Page_388">388</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Noah, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br /> +<br /> +Nobility traced in female line in Tonga, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Nobles, souls of dead, as gods, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +North Cape of New Zealand, place of departure for souls of the dead, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Nuu, the Hawaiian Noah, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +O-Heena, a goddess, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Hina">Hina</a></span><br /> +<br /> +O-rongo, in Mangaia, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<br /> +Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Footnote_3_1047">376 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Obsequies of kings and chiefs in Tonga, <a href="#Page_133">133 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Tooitongas, <a href="#Page_140">140 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Samoan chiefs, <a href="#Page_211">211 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of chiefs, in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Octopus, god in, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Offerings to gods, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Samoan deities, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to priests, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to the dead, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of food at tombs, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to volcanic goddess, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Sacrifices">Sacrifices</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Omens sent by gods, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from sacred birds, animals, or fish, <a href="#Page_189">189 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from sacrificial victims, clouds, and rainbow, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Opoa, metropolis of idolatry in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br /> +<br /> +Oracles delivered by priests, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given by priests in the name of gods, <a href="#Page_404">404</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Oramatuas</i> or <i>oromatuas</i>, worshipful spirits of departed relatives, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred feathers called, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Origin of Samoan gods of families, villages, and districts, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Oro, war-god in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a><br /> +<br /> +Orono, head of a priestly order in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Orotetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Ovens, souls of dead in, <a href="#Page_26">26 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of hot stones, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Owl god, festival of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kept tame, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Owls sacred, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mourning for dead, <a href="#Page_186">186 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Pantheon recruited by dead men, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Papa, goddess of earth, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">34 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife of Vatea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Papatea, mythical island, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Papo, Samoan war-god, <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> +<br /> +Paradise of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +Parliamentary form of government in Samoa, <a href="#Page_179">179 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pas</i>, Maori forts, <a href="#Footnote_17_17">8 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Pele, goddess of the volcano Kilauea in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_399">399 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Personifications of nature, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ghost by an actor, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span><br /> +Pied fantail in Maori story of origin of death, <a href="#Page_18">18 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Pigeons, divine, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kept tame, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pigs' liver a god, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Pigs" id="Pigs"></a>Pigs offered to the dead, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrificed, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for recovery of sick, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to the dead, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Hogs">Hogs</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Planets, the shrine of a god, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Pleiades, emblems of deified chiefs, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +Po, region of departed souls (Maori), <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Po</i>, Night or the primaeval darkness, the abode of the gods and of the dead, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Footnote_170_787">298 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br /> +<br /> +Pollution caused by death, <a href="#Page_312">312 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a><br /> +<br /> +Polack, J. S., <a href="#Footnote_16_16">7 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Polyandry among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_337">337 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Polygamy in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Polynesians, <a href="#Page_1">1 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their origin and language, <a href="#Page_2">2 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mode of life, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dispersal from Savaii (Hawaiki), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">or from Tonga, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their knowledge of fire, <a href="#Page_56">56 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignorant of metals, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Polytheism developed out of totemism, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Porpoises, gods in, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br /> +<br /> +Porter, Captain David, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Footnote_56_932">344 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Footnote_101_977">357 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Pottery unknown to the Samoans, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +Prayers to the gods, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to the dead, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to animal gods, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for temporal benefits, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">before going to war, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for the dying, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to souls of dead relatives at their graves, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rhythmical and ancient, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered to kings, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for the recovery of the sick, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Oro, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liturgical, <a href="#Page_295">295 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">over the dead, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for the dead, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at temples, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">before battle, <a href="#Page_397">397</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Praying people," sorcerers, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> +<br /> +Presents brought to dying people, <a href="#Page_207">207 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Priestess claiming to personify goddess, <a href="#Page_401">401</a><br /> +<br /> +Priests practise enchantments, <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">descended from the gods, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their souls immortal, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summon up spirits of dead, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongan, their inspiration, <a href="#Page_77">77 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan, <a href="#Page_192">192 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspired, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consulted as to cause of sickness, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspired, called "god-boxes," 228 <i>sq.</i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaking in name of gods, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of shark gods, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_292">292 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspired by sharks, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_404">404</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Property buried with the dead, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private, in relation to taboo, <a href="#Page_47">47 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of, in Samoa, <a href="#Page_169">169 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Prostitution, general, of women at the death of a great chief, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +Pukapuka, Danger Island, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Pulotu, Samoan name for abode of the dead and of the gods, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Compare</i> <a href="#Bolotoo">Bolotoo</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Punishments in Samoa, <a href="#Page_159">159 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Purification of king at installation, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of land after defilement, <a href="#Page_287">287 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after contact with the dead, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the souls of the dead, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pyramidal tombs, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Pyramidical temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Pyramids, stepped or terraced, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of stone, stepped or terraced, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_408">408 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Quiros, Fernandez de, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ra, the sun-god, caught by Maui in nooses, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Radiguet, M., <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Footnote_99_975">357 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a><br /> +<br /> +Rail-bird sacred, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rainbow worshipped, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">emblem of deified chiefs, <a href="#Page_204">204 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superstitions about, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Rangatira</i>, gentleman, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">landowners, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rangi, god of sky, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">34 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Rarotonga, one of the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Raupa, a burial cave, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br /> +<br /> +Recorders, sacred, <a href="#Page_295">295 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br /> +<br /> +Red, bones of dead painted, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tabooed, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feathers regarded as divine, <a href="#Page_290">290 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Red Cave, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br /> +<br /> +Reincarnation of the dead, <a href="#Page_368">368 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Reinga, leaping-off place of souls (Maori), <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Religion" id="Religion"></a>Religion of Maoris concentrated on worship of dead kinsfolk, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">homogeneity of Polynesian, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Tongan, <a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ethical influence of the Tongan, <a href="#Page_146">146 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Samoans, <a href="#Page_181">181 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_225">225 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early stage of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_256">256 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without influence on morality, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_348">348 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_390">390 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span><br /> +Remy, J., <a href="#Footnote_107_1151">412 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_120_1164">415 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Renan, Ernest, on the Hebrew prophets, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Respect for chiefs in Samoa, <a href="#Page_171">171 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Resurrection of the dead, Hawaiian notions about the, <a href="#Page_430">430 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Rewards, posthumous, no belief in, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br /> +<br /> +Rhodesia, Northern, belief as to mother of twins in, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +Rib of the first man, the first woman created out of the, <a href="#Page_393">393 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Rites" id="Rites"></a>Rites, of burial and mourning in Tonga, <a href="#Page_132">132 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_231">231 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious, of the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of purification, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Ceremonies">Ceremonies</a></span><br /> +<br /> +River of the Water of Life (Maori), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the nether world, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rivers, W. H. R., <a href="#Footnote_9_9">4 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Footnote_179_306">124 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Footnote_67_684">266 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Roberts, E., <a href="#Page_371">371</a><br /> +<br /> +Rohutu, the abode of the dead, <a href="#Page_319">319 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +Rongo, god of peace and agriculture, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a great Polynesian god, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sacred stream and grove, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god, inventor of circumcision, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rono, a great Hawaiian god, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Lono">Lono</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Roscoe, J., <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +<br /> +Routledge, S. and K., <a href="#Footnote_106_723">279 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Ruahatu, a sea-god, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sā-le-Fe'e, the Samoan Tartarus, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +<br /> +Sacredness of chiefs, <a href="#Page_172">172 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Sacrifice of children, <a href="#Page_75">75 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_81">81 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of hogs, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of fingers, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of first-born sons, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as magical, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of pigs to the dead, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of hogs to volcano, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Sacrifices" id="Sacrifices"></a>Sacrifices in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_291">291 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of pigs for the recovery of the sick, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Human_sacrifices">Human sacrifices</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sacrilege, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its expiation, <a href="#Page_74">74 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_183">183 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Samoa, general name for the group of islands, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original seat of Polynesian race, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Samoan Islands, <a href="#Page_148">148 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volcanic activity in, <a href="#Page_151">151 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate, <a href="#Page_152">152 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Samoan Islanders, their appearance and character, <a href="#Page_156">156 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">houses, agriculture, and industries, <a href="#Page_163">163 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of property, <a href="#Page_169">169 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">government, <a href="#Page_171">171 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religion, <a href="#Page_181">181 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Samoan worship of natural objects, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of animals and other natural objects developed out of totemism, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sanctity of kings in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_253">253 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of priest of Tani (Tane), <a href="#Page_293">293</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sanctuaries for criminals, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, <a href="#Page_375">375 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Sandwich Islanders, <a href="#Page_377">377 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their four chief gods, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Saturnalia at the death of a king or high chief in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_421">421 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Savage thought inconsistent, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Savages not addicted to sun-worship, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Savaii, one of the Samoan islands, centre of Polynesian dispersion, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_150">150 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_154">154 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Saveasiuleo, the king of the lower regions, <a href="#Page_216">216 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Scalps of slain foes taken, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Sea, gods of the, <a href="#Page_276">276 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Sea eels sacred, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Sea gull sacred, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Sea-snake as god, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Sea-urchin, family god in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Second death, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Secret burial, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Semites sacrifice first-born sons, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Serfdom, alleged, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_385">385</a><br /> +<br /> +Shadow, soul associated with, <a href="#Page_205">205 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Sham fights at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Melanesian funerals, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after a death, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Shark-gods, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +Shark's teeth, omens from, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Sharks as ministers of justice, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">still-born children turned into, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_402">402 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Shells (<i>Murex namoces</i>) in which the souls of the dead were supposed to lodge, <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<br /> +Shortland, E., <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Sick people carried to temple, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Sickness" id="Sickness"></a>Sickness supposed to be caused by evil spirits, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Disease">Disease</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sinnet tenanted by a god, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Sins of the dead buried in a hole, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Sisters, curses of, specially dreaded, <a href="#Page_207">207</a><br /> +<br /> +Skins of the dead preserved as relics, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br /> +<br /> +Skulls of dead kept in houses, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ancestors kept in temple or house, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead rulers worshipped, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead hidden in caves, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sky raised by Maui, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Slaves killed to accompany their dead lords, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Slaying the ghosts," 234<br /> +<br /> +Smith, E. W. and Dale, A. M., <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith, S. Percy, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Snakes, water, gods in, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span><br /> +Sneezing, Hervey Islanders' theory of, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> +<br /> +Social ranks in Samoa, <a href="#Page_171">171 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Rarotonga, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_383">383 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_248">248 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Songs in honour of the dead, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Dirges">Dirges</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Sorcerers" id="Sorcerers"></a>Sorcerers (Maori), <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disease and death ascribed to arts of, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Magic">Magic</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Soul" id="Soul"></a>Soul, Maori ideas concerning the, <a href="#Page_10">10 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as shadow, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as breath, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure of soul from body, <a href="#Page_12">12 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its fate after death, <a href="#Page_24">24 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_213">213 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_238">238 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_313">313 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">survival of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ascent to heaven, <a href="#Page_24">24 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongan theory of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan belief concerning the, <a href="#Page_205">205 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with shadow, <a href="#Page_205">205 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the same shape as body, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">belief of the Society Islanders concerning the, <a href="#Page_297">297 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beliefs of the Hervey Islanders concerning the, <a href="#Page_229">229 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beliefs of the Marquesans concerning the, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian beliefs concerning the, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Souls" id="Souls"></a>Souls of commoners mortal, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of chiefs and priests immortal, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead appear in dreams, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ancestors cause disease, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead infants cause disease, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead nobles as gods, <a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead men as gods, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Tongan commoners mortal, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caught in traps, <a href="#Page_230">230 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaping-place of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ascribed to animals, trees, and stones, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead eaten by the gods, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of children supposed to transmigrate into sharks, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Spells (Maori), <a href="#Page_13">13 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Herbert, his theory that temples are derived from tombs, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +<br /> +Spirit world, Maori ideas of, <a href="#Page_29">29 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Spirits of the dead become gods, <a href="#Page_31">31 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatened, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Gods">Gods</a>, <a href="#Souls">Souls</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Spittle used in magic, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">collected to prevent its use in magic, <a href="#Page_405">405 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stair, J. B., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Footnote_49_415">173 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_143_509">203 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_150_516">206 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Star, shooting, worshipped, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Stars observed by the Samoans, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Sterndale, H. B., <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a><br /> +<br /> +Stewart, C. S., <a href="#Footnote_24_390">157 <i>n.</i><sup>7</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_337">337 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_340">340 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Footnote_56_932">344 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_348">348 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_349">349 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a><br /> +<br /> +Stick-and-groove mode of kindling fire, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +Stilts, racing or combating on, <a href="#Page_339">339 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Stinging ray fish, divine, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taboo to some Marquesans, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stone-cutting in Tonga, craft of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Stone monuments in Samoa, <a href="#Page_197">197 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Stone temple, ruins of, in Samoa, <a href="#Page_196">196 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Stone tools and weapons, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Tonga, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Samoa, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stonehenge, trilithons at, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Stones worshipped, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piled on graves to prevent the dead from rising, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Succession of eldest sons at their birth, <a href="#Page_255">255 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Sugar-cane cultivated, <a href="#Page_379">379</a><br /> +<br /> +Suicides, their fate after death, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br /> +<br /> +Sun, supposed secret worship of the, in the Pacific, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stonehenge supposed by some to be a temple of the, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongans not worshippers of the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tradition of human sacrifices to, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not worshipped in Samoa, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ghosts journeying with the, <a href="#Page_239">239 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caught and stopped by Maui, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not worshipped by the Society Islanders, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">souls of the dead gather in the, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sun god caught by Maui, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supposed worship of, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">286 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sun worship, savages not addicted to, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +"Sun-dried gods," title applied to embalmed bodies of chiefs, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Superstitious terrors reinforce morality, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Taaroa (Taroa), a great god, <a href="#Footnote_16_633">255 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">287 <i>n.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supreme god of Polynesia, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Compare</i> <a href="#Tanaroa">Tanaroa</a>, <a href="#Tangaloa">Tangaloa</a>, <a href="#Tangaroa">Tangaroa</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Taboo" id="Taboo"></a>Taboo (<i>tapu</i>) among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contracted by contact with the dead, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of sacred chiefs, <a href="#Page_41">41 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its effect in confirming the rights of private property, <a href="#Page_47">47 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimate sanction of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supposed effects of breaking a, <a href="#Page_76">76 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consequent on touching a dead body, <a href="#Page_137">137 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comprises ideas of holiness and uncleanness, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signified by white cloth, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_345">345 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a definition of, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_387">387 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaches of, punished with death, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolished in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_389">389 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rigour of, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an aristocratic institution, <a href="#Page_432">432</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tabooed priest, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br /> +<br /> +Taboos imposed by chiefs, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a><br /> +<br /> +Tahaa, one of the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span><br /> +Tahiti, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>morais</i> in, <a href="#Page_116">116 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_279">279 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tahowa</i>, priest, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Tahuata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Taipii" id="Taipii"></a>Taipii (Typee), valley of, in Nukahiva, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a><br /> +<br /> +Taipiis or Typees, a tribe of Nukahiva, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tairi" id="Tairi"></a>Tairi (Kaili), the national war-god of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a><br /> +<br /> +Takalaua, a Tooitonga, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Tali-y-Toobo, Tongan god of royal family, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /> +<br /> +Tame gods, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Tamehameha, king of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Kamehameha">Kamehameha</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tanaroa" id="Tanaroa"></a>Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, Taaroa, dialectically different names of a great Polynesian god, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br /> +<br /> +Tane (Tani), a great Polynesian god, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br /> +<br /> +Tane-kio, a god, enshrined in the planets Venus and Jupiter, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tangaloa" id="Tangaloa"></a>Tangaloa, god, drew up Tonga Islands on a fishing-hook, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of artificers, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">puts god Hikuleo in durance, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancestor of Tui-ta-tui, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principal god of Samoans, the creator, <a href="#Page_202">202 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">said to have fished up the islands, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tangaroa" id="Tangaroa"></a>Tangaroa, god of ocean, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a great god, brother of Rongo, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tapu</i>. <i>See</i> <a href="#Taboo">Taboo</a><br /> +<br /> +Taro the staple food of the Samoans, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Mangaians, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_378">378</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tattooing, not applied to the Tooitonga, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nor to the sacred kings of Mangaia, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a punishment in Samoa, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Marquesan islanders, <a href="#Page_331">331 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marks of, removed from corpse, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Hawaiians, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the tongue in mourning, <a href="#Page_421">421</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tauas</i>, inspired men, <a href="#Page_350">350 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Tauata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas Islands, <a href="#Page_337">337</a><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, R., <a href="#Footnote_14_14">7 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_78_78">32 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_79_79"><i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tee" id="Tee"></a><i>Tee</i>, <i>teehee</i>, <i>tii</i>, spirit of the dead, guardian spirit, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Footnote_251_868">323 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Teeth, loss of, penalty for breach of taboo, <a href="#Page_209">209 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">knocked out in mourning, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tekuraaki, a god, incarnate in the woodpecker, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Temple, dead Areois buried in, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bones of human victims buried in, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bones of dead chiefs buried in, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Temples of the gods in Tonga, <a href="#Page_73">73 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and graves, question of, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and tombs, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan, <a href="#Page_194">194 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_278">278 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dedicated to sharks, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_406">406 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Theft, ordeal for detection of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Thieves, Hiro the god of, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divination to detect, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thunder and lightning, no Tongan god of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tongan idea concerning, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thunder-god kept in captivity, <a href="#Page_191">191 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Thomas, Rev. John, <a href="#Footnote_18_145">57 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_153_280">111 <i>n.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Thomson, A. S., <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Thomson, Sir Basil, <a href="#Footnote_95_222">87 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Tiaio, a god of the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Tiaraboo (Tiarroboo, Tairaboo), the southern peninsula of Tahiti, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<br /> +Tiburones, a mythical paradise, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br /> +<br /> +Ti'iti'i, hero, robs Mafuie of fire, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tii</i>, a worshipful spirit of the dead, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Compare <a href="#Tee">Tee</a></i></span><br /> +<br /> +Tiki, the god of the dead, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +Tiki, a heroine, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warder of the land of the dead, <a href="#Page_244">244 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tiki, a Marquesan god, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Footnote_78_954">350 <i>n.</i><sup>4</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Timatekore, a god of the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Tofua, Tongan island, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Togo, in West Africa, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tohunga</i>, Maori priest, <a href="#Footnote_48_48">16 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tombs" id="Tombs"></a>Tombs, megalithic, of the Tooitongas, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_105">105 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and temples, <a href="#Page_99">99 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Tonga" id="Tonga"></a>Tonga or Friendly Islands, <a href="#Page_52">52 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Tonga Islanders, <a href="#Page_57">57 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their religion, <a href="#Page_64">64 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their national and tribal gods, <a href="#Page_93">93 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tongataboo, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Tonga-iti, a god in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tooas</i> (<i>tuas</i>), Tongan commoners, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Toobo Toty, a Tongan god, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Toogoo Ahoo, king of Tonga, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Tooi fooa Bolotoo, a Tongan god, <a href="#Page_70">70 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Tooitonga, sacred chief or king of Tonga, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tombs of the Tooitongas, <a href="#Page_105">105 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obsequies of the, <a href="#Page_140">140 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tooi-tonga-fafine, sister of the Tooitonga, <a href="#Page_110">110</a><br /> +<br /> +Totemic gods of Samoa, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Totemism, Tongan polytheism developed out of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoan worship of animals developed out of, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theory that it has been developed out of metempsychosis, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relics of, in the Hervey Islands, <a href="#Page_227">227 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traces of, among the Marquesans, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relics of, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Trade guilds among the Samoans, <a href="#Page_167">167 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Transmigration of souls not believed in by the Samoans, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of souls of children into sharks, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Traps set for souls, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Tree, family god in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on which ghosts perch, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Trees, dead deposited on, <a href="#Page_20">20 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenanted by gods, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred, <a href="#Page_281">281 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tregear, E., <a href="#Footnote_13_13">6 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_182_309">126 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br /> +<br /> +Tribes or clans among the Hervey Islanders, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Trilithon in Tongataboo, <a href="#Page_123">123 <i>sqq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Trilithons at Stonehenge, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Trinity, the Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br /> +<br /> +Triton-shell, god in, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Tropic-bird sacred, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Tu, Maori war-god, <a href="#Footnote_83_83">35 <i>n.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a great Polynesian deity, <a href="#Page_392">392</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tuaraatai, a sea god in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +Tufoa, volcanic island, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> +<br /> +Tui-ta-tui, a Tooitonga, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tulafales</i>, householders or gentry in Samoa, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +Tuoro, in Rarotonga, the meeting-place of ghosts, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Turnbull, J., <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<br /> +Turner, Dr. George, <a href="#Footnote_72_438">183 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_143_509">203 <i>n.</i><sup>2</sup></a>, <a href="#Footnote_150_516">206 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br /> +<br /> +Turtles, family god in, <a href="#Page_183">183 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Tutuila, Samoan island, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Twins, divine, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heavenly, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">customs and superstitions concerning, <a href="#Page_267">267 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thought able to influence the weather, <a href="#Page_267">267 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fertilising power ascribed to, <a href="#Page_269">269 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divine Hawaiian, <a href="#Page_394">394</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tyerman and Bennet, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a><br /> +<br /> +Tylor, E. B., <a href="#Footnote_8_8">3 <i>n.</i><sup>3</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Typee. <i>See</i> <a href="#Taipii">Taipii</a><br /> +<br /> +Typees or Taipiis, a tribe of Nukahiva, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a> 365, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Uea (Wallis Island), <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +<br /> +Uganda, human sacrifice in, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Uhane</i>, soul, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +Ui, a heroine, beloved by the sun, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Uli, a Hawaiian god, <a href="#Page_405">405</a><br /> +<br /> +Umi, king of Hawaii, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +Unburied dead, Samoan ceremonies for, <a href="#Page_205">205 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Uncleanness, and holiness blent in taboo, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caused by contact with a corpse, <a href="#Page_312">312 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Underworld, home of the souls of the dead, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Upolu, Samoan island, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Upu, a Marquesan goddess of the dead, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a><br /> +<br /> +Uriwera, a Maori people, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Urutetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Utakea, a god incarnate in the woodpecker, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vatea, a primary god, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Vavau, a Tongan island, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Veachi, sacred personage in Tonga, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Veeson, George, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Vegetable gods in Samoa, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Ventriloquism, <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br /> +<br /> +Venus, the planet, the shrine of a god, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Vergnes, P. E. Eyriaud des, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Village gods, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Villages, Samoan, self-governing, <a href="#Page_178">178 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Vincendon-Dumoulin, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Virtue, Tongan ideas of, <a href="#Page_66">66 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_146">146 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Volcanic activity in Tonga Islands, <a href="#Page_53">53 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Samoa, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Volcano, goddess of, in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_399">399 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offerings to, <a href="#Page_399">399 <i>sq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Wahi taboo</i>, sacred place, temple, <a href="#Page_387">387 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Wahine ariki</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Waimate Plains in New Zealand, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Wakea. <i>See</i> <a href="#Akea">Akea</a><br /> +<br /> +Wallis Island (Uea), <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +<br /> +Wallis rediscovers Society Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +War gods, Samoan, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +War-gods, images of, carried to battle, <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br /> +<br /> +Warriors tabooed, <a href="#Page_40">40 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Warriors, fate of souls of dead, <a href="#Page_242">242 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_244">244 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Water of Life, River of the, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the nether world, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Weaving practised by Maoris, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +West, Thomas, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /> +<br /> +Whale, soul of dead priest in a, <a href="#Page_369">369</a><br /> +<br /> +Whales worshipped, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Whattas</i>, altars, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a><br /> +<br /> +White cloth as mark of taboo, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flags as marks of property, <a href="#Page_386">386</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Widowers tabooed, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Widows killed to accompany their dead husbands, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tabooed, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strangled and buried with their husbands, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dances of, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wilkes, Charles (Commodore), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Footnote_37_164">61 <i>n.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Footnote_98_225">89 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Footnote_14_380">155 <i>n.</i><sup>1</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_384">384 <i>sq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a><br /> +<br /> +Williams, John, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Footnote_24_390">157 <i>n.</i><sup>7</sup></a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span><br /> +Wilson, James, <a href="#Footnote_61_678">264 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a><br /> +<br /> +Winds imprisoned by two gods, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Windward Islands, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +Wiro, evil spirit, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Woman, the first, created out of a rib of the first man, <a href="#Page_393">393 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Women well treated by Tongans, <a href="#Page_61">61 <i>sq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">well treated by the Samoans, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excluded from temples, <a href="#Page_288">288 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forbidden to eat with men, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forbidden to partake of sacrifices, <a href="#Page_388">388</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Woodpecker, gods incarnate in the, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Worms, souls of the dead in the shape of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Worship of ancestors among the Maoris, <a href="#Page_32">32 <i>sqq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Tongan gods, <a href="#Page_79">79 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of nature, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead tends to encroach on the worship of the high gods, <a href="#Page_97">97 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of animals and other natural objects in Samoa, <a href="#Page_182">182 <i>sqq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_200">200 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead in Samoa, <a href="#Page_204">204 <i>sq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead, elements of the, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the sun, supposed, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Footnote_135_752">286 <i>n.</i><sup>5</sup></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the dead in the Society Islands, <a href="#Page_322">322 <i>sqq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of animals in Hawaii, <a href="#Page_401">401 <i>sqq.</i></a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>See</i> <a href="#Religion">Religion</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling matches as funeral rite, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at obsequies of chiefs, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling and boxing matches at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in honour of Lono (Rono), <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Yam festival in Tonga, <a href="#Page_71">71 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Yams, new, offered at grave, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Young, John, <a href="#Page_422">422 <i>sq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Zulu superstition as to twins, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +</p> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<h5><i>Printed in Great Britain by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</h5> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[1]</a></span></p> +<h3>WORKS BY SIR J. G. FRAZER</h3> + +<h4>THE<br /> +BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY<br /> +AND THE<br /> +WORSHIP OF THE DEAD<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Vol. I.</span></h4> + +<h5>THE BELIEF AMONG THE ABORIGINES +OF AUSTRALIA, THE TORRES STRAITS +ISLANDS, NEW GUINEA, AND MELANESIA.<br /><br /> + +THE GIFFORD LECTURES, ST. ANDREWS, 1911-1912.</h5> + +<h4>8vo. 12s. 6d. net.</h4> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Edward Clodd</span> in the <i>DAILY CHRONICLE</i>.—"'If a man die, shall +he live again?' is a question asked chiliads before Job put it, and the generations +of mankind repeat it. In this profoundly interesting volume, Professor Frazer, +out of the treasury of his knowledge, and with consummate art of attractive +presentment, gives the answers devised by the Lower Races."</p> + +<p><i>FOLK-LORE</i>.—"It displays all the best qualities, both in respect of style +and matter, that characterise Dr. Frazer's former works."</p> + +<p><i>NEW STATESMAN</i>.—"Dr. Frazer does not profess to explain the +ultimate source of religion, but only to attempt to follow the steps of its growth +among the races of men. It is his aim to set before us a continent of facts known, +or partly known, to the anthropologists, not a solution of the mystery of the +Universe. That aim he has achieved with masterly success and lucidity."</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">A. E. Crawley</span> in <i>NATURE</i>.—"The analysis of belief and practice +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits, New Guinea, and +Melanesia, which occupies nearly 400 pages of this volume, is a masterly +performance."</p> + +<p><i>GUARDIAN</i>.—"The bare facts which Dr. Frazer sets before us are of an +absorbing interest.... The Biblical student may gain much from the perusal of +Dr. Frazer's work."</p> + +<p><i>OBSERVER</i>.—"The importance of the work which Dr. Frazer has undertaken +cannot be overrated. His study of religion is a contribution to human +knowledge of such quality that the country to which he belongs may well be +proud of him.... Dr. Frazer has arranged the mass of detail from which he +has had to draw with a skill and judgment which in the work of another man +would be surprising; and he tells each story with the point and clarity of an +artist, so that, apart from the book's high mission, it could be read as a storehouse +of good tales. His comments, moreover, are always brief and decisive."</p> + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[2]</a></span></p> + +<h4>THE GOLDEN BOUGH<br /> + +A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION</h4> + +<h4>Third Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo.</h4> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Part I. <span class="smcap">The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings.</span> Two volumes. 25s. net.<br /> +<br /> + II. <span class="smcap">Taboo and the Perils of the Soul.</span> One volume. 12s. 6d. net.<br /> +<br /> + III. <span class="smcap">The Dying God.</span> One volume. 12s. 6d. net.<br /> +<br /> + IV. <span class="smcap">Adonis, Attis, Osiris.</span> Two volumes. 25s. net.<br /> +<br /> + V. <span class="smcap">Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild.</span> Two volumes. 25s. net.<br /> +<br /> + VI. <span class="smcap">The Scapegoat.</span> One volume, 12s. 6d. net.<br /> +<br /> + VII. <span class="smcap">Balder the Beautiful: The Fire-festivals of Europe And the Doctrine of the External Soul.</span> Two volumes. 25s. net.<br /> +<br /> +Vol. XII. <span class="smcap">Bibliography and General Index.</span> 25s. net.<br /> +</p></div> + + +<p><i>TIMES</i>.—"The book is a great book, in just the sense in which the work +of Darwin, Zola, or Balzac is great. It has explored and mapped out a new +world. But it combines artistry with science. Not only does it describe the +greater part of the magical and religious beliefs and practices of the lower races +and peasant peoples of the world, with a scientific precision and completeness +superior to those of the encyclopædic biologist; it also narrates, with greater +truth and vividness than has ever been essayed, the tragi-comedy of human +superstition."</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">A. E. Crawley</span> in <i>NATURE</i>.—"This new edition is something more +than a mere enlargement. It is a new book, or a series of books; yet it is the +same 'Golden Bough.' The reader will find it full of good things, new and old. +He will also realise that 'The Golden Bough' is a great book, one of the +great books of our time."</p> + + +<h4>THE GOLDEN BOUGH: <span class="smcap">A Study in Magic and Religion.</span><br /> +Abridged Edition. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 18s. net.</h4> + +<p>This abridgment has been prepared in response to numerous +requests that the work should be issued in a more compendious +form. While the book has been greatly reduced in bulk, by omission +of all the notes and occasional condensation in the text, all the +main principles of the complete work are retained, together with a +sufficient amount of evidence to illustrate them clearly. Nothing +has been added, and no change has been made in the author's views. +It is hoped that in this abridged form the book may prove welcome +to students and general readers who cannot afford to buy and read +the complete edition.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[3]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>FOLK-LORE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Studies +in Comparative Religion, Legend, and Law.<br /> +Three vols. 8vo. 37s. 6d. net.</h4> + +<p><i>TIMES</i>.—"The idea of illustrating the Old Testament by analogies drawn +from the myths, customs, and superstitions of various primitive peoples is not, of +course, a new one ... but no one has hitherto published anything to be +compared with the vast and varied store of information which Sir James Frazer +now places before us.... His book is a mine of instructive facts for which all +future students of the subject will be grateful."</p> + +<p><i>NATURE</i>.—"These three volumes should be the household companion of +every religious teacher, nay, of every one who cares or dares to see what that +latest daughter of science, folk-lore, has to say about the cherished beliefs from +the Old Testament, absorbed in infancy, and rarely visualised differently in +later life."</p> + +<p><i>SPECTATOR</i>.—"We may say at once that Sir James Frazer's new work is +profoundly interesting, and that it throws a flood of light on many familiar +episodes and references."</p> + + +<h4>TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY. A Treatise on Certain +Early Forms of Superstition and Society. With Maps.<br /> +Four vols. 8vo. 50s. net.</h4> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">A. E. Crawley</span> in <i>NATURE</i>.—"That portion of the book which is +concerned with totemism (if we may express our own belief at the risk of offending +Prof. Frazer's characteristic modesty) is actually 'The Complete History of +Totemism, its Practice and its Theory, its Origin and its End.'... Nearly two +thousand pages are occupied with an ethnographical survey of totemism, an invaluable +compilation. The maps, including that of the distribution of totemic +peoples, are a new and useful feature."</p> + + +<h4>THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF KINGS. (Formerly +published as "Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship.")<br /> +8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</h4> + +<p><i>ATHENÆUM</i>.—"It is the effect of a good book not only to teach, but also +to stimulate and to suggest, and we think this the best and highest quality, and +one that will recommend these lectures to all intelligent readers, as well as to the +learned."</p> + + +<h4>PSYCHE'S TASK. A Discourse concerning the Influence +of Superstition on the Growth of Institutions.<br /> +Second Edition, revised and enlarged. To which is added +"The Scope of Social Anthropology."<br /> +8vo. 6s. 6d. net.</h4> + +<p><i>OUTLOOK</i>.—"Whether we disagree or agree with Dr. Frazer's general +conclusions, he has provided us with a veritable storehouse of correlated facts, for +which, and for the learning that has gone to their collection, and for the +intellectual brilliance that has gone to their arrangement, we can never be +sufficiently grateful."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[4]</a></span></p> +<h4>PAUSANIAS'S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. Translated +with a Commentary, Illustrations, and Maps.<br /> +Second Edition. Six vols. 8vo. 126s. net.</h4> + +<p><i>ATHENÆUM</i>.—"All these writings in many languages Mr. Eraser has +read and digested with extraordinary care, so that his book will be for years the +book of reference on such matters, not only in England, but in France and +Germany. It is a perfect thesaurus of Greek topography, archæology, and art."</p> + + +<h4>STUDIES IN GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND AND +HISTORY. Selected from Sir <span class="smcap">J. G. Frazer's</span> Commentary +on Pausanias.<br /> +Globe 8vo. 5s. net.</h4> + +<p><i>GUARDIAN</i>.—"Here we have material which every one who has visited +Greece, or purposes to visit it, most certainly should read and enjoy.... We +cannot imagine a more excellent book for the educated visitor to Greece."</p> + + +<h4>SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, AND OTHER +LITERARY PIECES.<br /> +Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.</h4> + +<p><i>DAILY TELEGRAPH</i>.—"These various studies, biographical, fantastic, +and romantic, are the fine flower of scholarship and taste, touched continually by +the golden light of imagination, and full of that interpretative sympathy which is +half-sister to creation."</p> + +<h4>LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. Chosen and +Edited, with a Memoir and a few Notes, by Sir <span class="smcap">J. G. +Frazer.</span><br /> +Two vols. Globe 8vo. l0s. net.</h4> + +<p style='text-align:right'> +[<i>Eversley Series.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Clement Shorter</span> in the <i>DAILY CHRONICLE</i>.—"The introductory +Memoir, of some eighty pages in length, is a valuable addition to the +many appraisements of Cowper that these later years have seen.... Dr. Frazer +has given us two volumes that are an unqualified joy."</p> + + +<h4>ESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. Chosen and Edited, +with a Preface and a few Notes, by Sir <span class="smcap">J. G. Frazer.</span><br /> +Two vols. Globe 8vo. 10s. net.</h4> + +<p style='text-align:right'> +[<i>Eversley Series.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><i>NATION</i>.—"Sir James Frazer, who writes a Preface, quite in the Addison +manner, has done his work of selection as only a scholar of his breadth and +distinction could achieve."</p> + + +<h3>LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span></h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>1. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break.</p> + +<p>2. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the chapter +in which they are referenced.</p> + +<p>3. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies +in spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been +retained.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Belief in Immortality and the +Worship of the Dead, by James George Frazer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY *** + +***** This file should be named 33524-h.htm or 33524-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/2/33524/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was made using scans of public domain works from the +University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead + Vol. II + +Author: James George Frazer + +Release Date: August 24, 2010 [EBook #33524] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was made using scans of public domain works from the +University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + VOL. II + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MADRAS + MELBOURNE + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO + DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO + + THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. + TORONTO + + + + THE + BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + AND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD + + BY + SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F.R.S., F.B.A. + + FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + + HON. D.C.L., OXFORD; HON. LITT.D., CAMBRIDGE AND DURHAM; + + HON. LL.D., GLASGOW; DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF + PARIS AND STRASBOURG + + + + VOL. II + THE BELIEF AMONG THE POLYNESIANS + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + 1922 + + + + COPYRIGHT + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + + + +PREFACE + + +The first volume of this work, which comprised the Gifford Lectures +given by me at St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, dealt with the +belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New +Guinea, and Melanesia. In the present volume I take up the subject at +the point at which I broke off, and describe the corresponding belief +and worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbours +the Melanesians by language, if not by blood. The first chapter formed +the theme of two lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in 1916; +the other chapters have been written for lectures at Trinity College, +Cambridge, in 1921 and 1922. But in the book the lecture form has been +discarded, and the treatment of the subject is somewhat fuller than +comports with the limits imposed by oral delivery. + +Should circumstances allow me to continue the work, I propose in the +next volume to treat of the belief in immortality and the worship of the +dead among the Micronesians and Indonesians. + + +J. G. FRAZER. + +NO. 1 BRICK COURT, TEMPLE, +LONDON, _19th July 1922_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGES + + PREFACE v + + TABLE OF CONTENTS vii-ix + + CHAP. + I. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS 1-51 + + Sec. 1. The Polynesians 1-5 + Sec. 2. The Maoris of New Zealand 5-10 + Sec. 3. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of + the Living 10-19 + Sec. 4. The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of + the Dead 19-37 + Sec. 5. Taboo among the Maoris 37-50 + Sec. 6. Conclusion 51 + + II. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS 52-147 + + Sec. 1. The Tonga or Friendly Islands 52-57 + Sec. 2. The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of + Life, and Government 57-63 + Sec. 3. The Tongan Religion: its General Principles 64-68 + Sec. 4. The Primary or Non-human Gods 68-73 + Sec. 5. The Temples of the Gods 73-77 + Sec. 6. Priests and their Inspiration 77-79 + Sec. 7. The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices 79-84 + Sec. 8. The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny + after Death 84-91 + Sec. 9. The Souls of the Dead as Gods 91-98 + Sec. 10. Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments 99-132 + Sec. 11. Rites of Burial and Mourning 132-146 + Sec. 12. The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion 146-147 + + III. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS 148-218 + + Sec. 1. The Samoan Islands 148-156 + Sec. 2. The Samoan Islanders, their character 156-163 + Sec. 3. Houses, Agriculture, and Industries 163-169 + Sec. 4. Rights of Property 169-171 + Sec. 5. Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs 171-181 + Sec. 6. Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, + and Districts 181-192 + Sec. 7. Priests and Temples 192-200 + Sec. 8. Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, + and Districts: Relation to Totemism 200-202 + Sec. 9. The High Gods of Samoa 202-205 + Sec. 10. The Samoan Belief concerning the Human + Soul: Funeral Customs 205-213 + Sec. 11. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 213-218 + + IV. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS 219-245 + + Sec. 1. The Hervey or Cook Islands 219-220 + Sec. 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 220-223 + Sec. 3. Social Life: the Sacred Kings 223-225 + Sec. 4. Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism 225-229 + Sec. 5. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 229-231 + Sec. 6. Death and Funeral Rites 231-237 + Sec. 7. The Fate of the Human Soul after Death 238-245 + + V. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS 246-327 + + Sec. 1. The Society Islands 246-248 + Sec. 2. The Islanders and their Mode of Life 248-256 + Sec. 3. The Religion of the Society Islanders 256-278 + Sec. 4. The Temples and Images of the Gods 278-291 + Sec. 5. The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders 291-296 + Sec. 6. The Doctrine of the Human Soul 297-299 + Sec. 7. Disease, Death, and Mourning 299-308 + Sec. 8. The Disposal of the Dead 308-313 + Sec. 9. The Fate of the Soul after Death 313-321 + Sec. 10. The Worship of the Dead 322-327 + + VI. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS 328-374 + + Sec. 1. The Marquesas Islands 328-331 + Sec. 2. Physical Appearance of the Natives 331-333 + Sec. 3. Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing 333-337 + Sec. 4. Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names 337-339 + Sec. 5. Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls 339-344 + Sec. 6. Social Ranks, Taboo 344-347 + Sec. 7. Religion and Mythology 348-352 + Sec. 8. The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs 352-363 + Sec. 9. Fate of the Soul after Death 363-374 + + VII. THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS 375-431 + + Sec. 1. The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands 375-377 + Sec. 2. The Natives and their Mode of Life 377-380 + Sec. 3. Houses, Mechanical Arts 380-383 + Sec. 4. Government, Social Ranks, Taboo 383-390 + Sec. 5. Religion, the Gods 390-404 + Sec. 6. Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners 404-406 + Sec. 7. Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices 406-414 + Sec. 8. Festivals 414-416 + Sec. 9. Death and Funeral Rites 417-427 + Sec. 10. Fate of the Soul after Death 427-431 + + INDEX 433-447 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MAORIS + + +Sec. 1. _The Polynesians_ + +The Polynesians are the tall brown race of men who inhabit the widely +scattered islands of the Pacific, from Hawaii on the north to New +Zealand on the south, and from Tonga on the west to Easter Island on the +east.[1] Down to the eighteenth century they remained practically +unknown to Europe; the first navigator to bring back comparatively full +and accurate information concerning them was our great English explorer, +Captain James Cook. Thus at the date of their discovery the natives were +quite unaffected by European influence: of our civilisation they knew +nothing: of Christianity, though it had existed in the world for nearly +eighteen hundred years, they had never heard: they were totally ignorant +of the metals, and had made so little progress in the arts of life that +in most of the islands pottery was unknown,[2] and even so simple an +invention as that of bows and arrows for use in war had not been thought +of.[3] Hence their condition was of great interest to students of the +early history of man, since it presented to their observation the +spectacle of a barbaric culture evolved from an immemorial past in +complete independence of those material, intellectual, and moral forces +which have moulded the character of modern European nations. The +lateness of their discovery may also be reckoned a fortunate +circumstance for us as well as for them, since it fell at a time when +scientific curiosity was fully awakened among us, and when scientific +methods were sufficiently understood to allow us to study with profit a +state of society which differed so widely from our own, and which in an +earlier and less enlightened age might have been contemplated only with +aversion and disgust. + + [1] Horatio Hale, _The United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq_., + 9 _sqq._; J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 500 + _sqq._ + + [2] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_ (London, 1900), pp. 154, 501; + _British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_ + (1910), p. 147. + + [3] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), v. 416; W. + Mariner, _Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_, Second + Edition (London, 1818), i. 67; W. Ellis, _Polynesian + Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. 220; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + Second Edition (London, 1856), p. 212; J. Deniker, _The Races of + Man_, p. 501. In Polynesia "the bow was not a serious weapon; it + was found in some islands, _e.g._ in Tahiti and Tonga, but was + principally used for killing rats or in shooting matches" + (_British Museum, Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections_, + p. 153). As to the limited use of bows and arrows in Polynesia, + see further E. Tregear, "The Polynesian Bow," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. i. no. 1 (April 1892), pp. 56-59; W. + H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge, + 1914), ii. 446 _sqq._ + +The question of the origin of the Polynesian race is still unsettled, +but the balance both of evidence and of probability seems to incline in +favour of the view that the people are descended from one of the yellow +Mongoloid races of South-Eastern Asia, who gradually spread eastward +over the Indian Archipelago and intermingling to some extent with the +black aboriginal inhabitants of the islands formed the lighter-tinted +brown race which we call the Polynesian.[4] A strong argument in favour +of this theory is drawn from the Polynesian language, which belongs +essentially to the same family of speech as the Melanesian and Malay +languages spoken by the peoples who occupy the islands that intervene +between Polynesia and the south-eastern extremity of the Asiatic +continent.[5] The black Melanesian race occupies the south-eastern +portion of New Guinea and the chain of islands which stretches in a +great curve round the north-eastern coasts of New Guinea and Australia. +The brown Malays, with the kindred Indonesians and a small admixture of +negritoes, inhabit the islands westward from New Guinea to the Malay +Peninsula.[6] Of the two kindred languages, the Polynesian and the +Melanesian, the older in point of structure appears unquestionably to be +the Melanesian; for it is richer both in sounds and in grammatical forms +than the Polynesian, which may accordingly be regarded as its later and +simplified descendant.[7] + + [4] Compare (Sir) E. B. Tylor, _Anthropology_ (London, 1881), p. + 102; R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_ (Oxford, + 1885), pp. 33 _sqq._; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki, the Original + Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc., New Zealand, 1910), pp. + 85 _sqq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge, + 1919), pp. 34 _sqq._; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and Present_, + revised by A. Hingston-Quiggin and A. C. Haddon (Cambridge, + 1920), p. 552. + + [5] On the affinity of the Polynesian, Melanesian, and Malay + languages, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_ + (Oxford, 1885), pp. 10 _sqq._; S. H. Ray, "The Polynesian + Language in Melanesia," _Anthropos_, xiv.-xv. (1919-1920), pp. + 46 _sqq._ + + [6] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, pp. 482 _sqq._ + + [7] _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to + Torres Straits_, vol. iii. _Linguistics_, by Sydney H. Ray + (Cambridge, 1907), p. 528 (as to the relation of the Polynesian + to the Melanesian language). As to the poverty of the Polynesian + language in sounds and grammatical forms by comparison with the + Melanesian, see R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, p. + 11. + +But whereas the three peoples, the Polynesians, the Melanesians, and the +Malays speak languages belonging to the same family, their physical +types are so different that it seems impossible to look on the brown +straight-haired Polynesians and Malays as pure descendants of the +swarthy frizzly-haired Melanesians. Accordingly in the present state of +our knowledge, or rather ignorance, the most reasonable hypothesis would +appear to be that the Melanesians, who occupy a central position in the +great ocean, between the Polynesians on the east and the Malays on the +west, represent the original inhabitants of the islands, while the +Polynesians and Malays represent successive swarms of emigrants, who +hived off from the Asiatic continent, and making their way eastward over +the islands partially displaced and partially blent with the aborigines, +modifying their own physical type in the process and exchanging their +original language for that of the islanders, which, through their +inability to assimilate it, they acquired only in corrupt or degenerate +forms.[8] Yet a serious difficulty meets us on this hypothesis. For +both the Polynesians and the Malays, as we know them, stand at a +decidedly higher level of culture, socially and intellectually, than the +Melanesians, and it is hard to understand why with this advantage they +should have fallen into a position of linguistic subordination to them, +for as a rule it is the higher race which imposes its language on its +inferiors, not the lower race which succeeds in foisting its speech on +its superiors. + + [8] This seems to be the hypothesis favoured by Dr. R. H. + Codrington, _The Melanesian Languages_, pp. 33 _sqq._ Compare J. + Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 505. On the other hand Sir E. B. + Tylor says (_Anthropology_, pp. 163 _sq._), "The parent language + of this family may have belonged to Asia, for in the Malay + region the grammar is more complex, and words are found like + _tasik_ = sea and _langit_ = sky, while in the distant islands + of New Zealand and Hawaii these have come down to _tai_ and + _lai_, as though the language became shrunk and formless as the + race migrated further from home, and sank into the barbaric life + of ocean islanders." Dr. W. H. R. Rivers suggests that the + Polynesian language "arose out of a pidgin Indonesian" (_The + History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 584). + +But these are intricate questions which await future investigation. I +cannot enter into them now, but must confine myself to my immediate +subject, the beliefs of the Polynesians concerning the human soul and +the life after death. + +In spite of their diffusion over a multitude of islands separated from +each other by hundreds and even thousands of miles of ocean, the +Polynesians are on the whole a remarkably homogeneous race in physical +type, language, and forms of society and religion. The differences of +language between them are inconsiderable, amounting to little more than +some well-marked dialectical variations: all dwell in settled homes and +subsist partly by fishing partly by the fruits of the earth, tilling the +soil and gathering coconuts and bread-fruit from the trees:[9] all are +bold and expert mariners, making long voyages in large well-built +canoes: all possess a copious and comparatively well developed +mythology; and all at the time of their discovery enjoyed, or perhaps we +should rather say suffered from, a singular institution, half social, +half religious, which may be summed up in the single Polynesian word +taboo. Hence it would no doubt be possible to give a general account of +the belief in human immortality which would hold good in outline for all +the different branches of the Polynesian race; but such an account would +necessarily be somewhat meagre, inexact in detail, and liable to many +exceptions. Accordingly I shall not attempt it, but shall describe the +creed of each group of islanders separately. As the beliefs of the +various islanders on this momentous topic are characterised by a general +similarity, the method I have adopted will no doubt involve a certain +sameness and repetition, but for the serious student of comparative +religion I hope that these disadvantages may be more than outweighed by +the greater accuracy and fulness of detail which this mode of treating +the subject renders possible. + + [9] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, p. 501. On the apparent + homogeneity of the Polynesian race see W. H. R. Rivers, _The + History of Melanesian Society_ (Cambridge, 1914), ii. 280, who, + however, argues (ii. 280 _sqq._) that the race has been formed + by the fusion of two distinct peoples. + +The principal groups of islands included in Polynesia are New Zealand, +the Friendly or Tonga Islands, the Samoan or Navigators Islands, the +Hervey or Cook Islands, the Society Islands, including Tahiti, the +Marquesas Islands, and Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands.[10] All of them, +except New Zealand, are within the tropics; and all of them, except +Hawaii, lie to the south of the equator. I shall deal with them in the +order I have mentioned, beginning with New Zealand. + + [10] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 2. _The Maoris of New Zealand_ + +The Maoris of New Zealand are not aborigines of the islands which they +inhabit: they possess long and apparently in the main trustworthy +traditions of their migration to New Zealand many generations ago. The +circumstances which led to the migration, the names of the canoes in +which it was accomplished, the names and genealogies of the chiefs who +conducted it, are all recorded, having been handed on by word of mouth +from generation to generation, till they were finally written down from +the lips of the natives by English enquirers.[11] The place from which +the Maoris came is unanimously designated as Hawaiki, an island or +group of islands lying far to the north or north-east of New Zealand. +Among English scholars there is some difference of opinion whether +Hawaiki is to be identified with Hawaii, that is, the Sandwich Islands, +or with Savaii, one of the Samoan or Navigators Islands, since Hawaii +and Savaii are both dialectical variations of the New Zealander's +pronunciation of Hawaiki.[12] Though Hawaii is more than twice as far as +Savaii from New Zealand, being separated from it by almost the whole +breadth of the tropics and a great stretch of ocean besides, some good +authorities have inclined to regard it as the original home of the +Maoris, but the balance of opinion appears now to preponderate in favour +of the view that Savaii was the centre from which the Polynesians +dispersed all over the Pacific.[13] However, the question is one that +hardly admits of a positive answer. + + [11] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843), + ii. 85 _sqq._; Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring + Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. + 146 _sqq._; Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, + 1855), pp. 123 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._, 202 _sqq._; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + Second Edition (London, 1856), pp. 1 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika + A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition + (London, 1870), pp. 26, 27, 289 _sqq._; John White, _The Ancient + History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions_ (London, + 1887-1889), ii. 176 _sqq._; Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New + Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 73-76. The number of + generations which have elapsed since the migration to New + Zealand is variously estimated. Writing about the middle of the + nineteenth century Shortland reckoned the number at about + eighteen; Mr. Elsdon Best, writing in 1914, variously calculated + it at about twenty-eight or twenty-nine (on p. 73) and from + eighteen to twenty-eight (on p. 74). + + [12] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 33. + + [13] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the U.S. Exploring + Expedition_, pp. 119 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New + Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 85 _sqq._; E. Shortland, + _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 33 + _sqq._; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, + 1859), i. 57 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 26; E. + Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington, + N.Z., 1891), pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Hawaiki"; A. C. Haddon, _The + Wanderings of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36. Of these + writers, Dieffenbach, Shortland, and Taylor decide in favour of + Hawaii; Thomson, Hale, and Haddon prefer Savaii; Tregear seems + to leave the question open, pointing out that "the inhabitants + of those islands themselves believe in another Hawaiki, neither + in Samoa nor Hawaii." + +The Maoris are not a pure-blooded Polynesian race. Among them even at +the present day two distinct racial types may be distinguished, one of +them the comparatively fair Polynesian type with straight nose and good +features, the other the swarthy, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, +frizzly-haired Melanesian type. They have a tradition that on their +arrival in New Zealand they found the country in the possession of a +dark-skinned folk of repulsive appearance, tall, spare, and +spindle-shanked, with flat faces, overhanging brows, and noses of which +little but the upturned nostrils could in some cases be discerned. These +savages wore little clothing and built no good houses, nothing but rude +shelters against the inclemency of the weather. They were ignorant and +treacherous, and the Maoris regarded them with dislike and contempt; but +their women looked with favour on the handsome Maori men, and a mixture +of the two races was the result. This tradition both explains and is +confirmed by the two different racial types which still exist side by +side or blent together among the Maoris. It seems, therefore, highly +probable that before the advent of the Maoris the North Island of New +Zealand was occupied by a people of inferior culture belonging to the +Melanesian stock, who may themselves have had a strain of Polynesian +blood in their veins and some Polynesian words in their language. This +at least is suggested by some features in the Maori traditions about +them. For these savages told the Maoris that they were the descendants +of the crews of three fishing canoes which had been driven to sea from +their own land in past times, and that their original home was a much +warmer country than New Zealand. All these various indications may +perhaps be reconciled by supposing that the dark predecessors of the +Maoris in New Zealand were a Melanesian people, who had accidentally +drifted from Fiji, the inhabitants of which have long been in contact +with their Polynesian neighbours on the east, the Tongans.[14] They +received from the Maoris the name of Maruiwi,[15] and were perhaps of +the same stock as the Moriori of the Chatham Islands; for two skulls of +the Moriori type have been found in an old deposit at Wanganui, near the +south end of the North Island of New Zealand.[16] + + [14] Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. + (1914) pp. 73-76. The Melanesian strain in the Maoris was + recognised by previous writers. See J. S. Polack, _Manners and + Customs of the New Zealanders_ (London, 1840), i. 6, "The nation + consists of two aboriginal and distinct races, differing, at an + earlier period, as much from each other as both are similarly + removed in similitude from Europeans. A series of intermarriages + for centuries has not even yet obliterated the marked difference + that originally stamped the descendant of the now amalgamated + races. The first may be known by a dark-brown complexion, well + formed and prominent features, erect muscular proportions, and + lank hair, with a boldness in the gait of a warrior, wholly + differing from that of the second and inferior race, who have a + complexion brown-black, hair inclining to the wool, like the + Eastern African, stature short, and skin exceeding soft." The + writer rightly connects the latter people with the stock which + we now call Melanesian. Compare also R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, + pp. 13 _sqq._, who says (p. 13), "The Melanesian preceded the + Polynesian.... The remains of this race are to be seen in every + part of New Zealand, especially among the Nga-ti-ka-hunu, to + which the derisive name of Pokerekahu--Black Kumara--is applied. + The Maori traditions preserve both the names of the canoes which + brought them to New Zealand, as well as of the chiefs who + commanded them; several of these records make mention of their + having found this black race in occupation of the country on + their arrival." The blending of two distinct races, a + light-brown and a dark race, among the Maoris is clearly + recognised by E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. + 8-11. The dark race, he says (pp. 9 _sq._), "has undoubtedly a + different origin. This is proved by their less regularly shaped + cranium, which is rather more compressed from the sides, by + their full and large features, prominent cheek-bones, full lips, + small ears, curly and coarse, although not woolly, hair, a much + deeper colour of the skin, and a short and rather + ill-proportioned figure. This race, which is mixed in insensible + gradations with the former, is far less numerous; it does not + predominate in any one part of the island, nor does it occupy + any particular station in a tribe, and there is no difference + made between the two races amongst themselves; but I must + observe that I never met any man of consequence belonging to + this race, and that, although free men, they occupy the lower + grades; from this we may perhaps infer the relation in which + they stood to the earliest native immigrants into the country, + although their traditions and legends are silent on the + subject." + + [15] Elsdon Best, "The Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. + (1914) pp. 73 _sq._ + + [16] (Sir) Arthur Keith, "Moriori in New Zealand," _Man_, xiii. + (1913) pp. 171 _sq._ + +At the time of their discovery the Maoris had attained to a fair level +of barbaric culture. They lived in comfortable houses ornamented with +carved work and with scrolls painted in red and white on the posts and +beams. Their villages were fortified with earthworks, palisades, and +trenches, and surrounded by large gardens planted with sweet potatoes, +taro, and melons.[17] "They excel in tillage," says Captain Cook, as +might naturally be expected, where the person that sows is to eat the +produce, and where there is so little besides that can be eaten: when we +first came to Tegadoo, a district between Poverty Bay and East Cape, +their crops were just covered, and not yet begun to sprout; the mould +was as smooth as in a garden, and every root had its small hillock, +ranged in a regular quincunx, by lines, which with the pegs were still +remaining in the field.[18] They understood the arts of irrigating their +gardens[19] and of manuring them so as to render the soil light and +porous and therefore better suited for the growth of the sweet potato, +their favourite food. For this purpose they used sand, and in the +Waikatoo district, where the root was formerly much cultivated, deep +excavations, like the gravel pits of England, may still be seen, from +which the natives extracted sand to fertilise their gardens.[20] +Moreover, they cultivated various species of native flax and used the +fibre for the manufacture of garments, first scraping it and drying it +in the sun, then steeping it in water, and afterwards beating it with +wooden mallets. Thus prepared the flax was dyed black or reddish brown +and woven into cloth with broad borders of neat and varied patterns. The +stronger and coarser fibres were made into string, lines, and cordage of +all sorts.[21] The Maoris also built large and magnificently adorned +canoes,[22] in which they made long voyages; for example, they invaded +and conquered the Chatham Islands, which lie to the eastward across the +open sea about five hundred miles distant from the nearest coast of New +Zealand.[23] In hunting they had little opportunity to shine, for the +simple reason that in their country there were no beasts to hunt except +rats;[24] even birds they could not shoot, because they had no bows and +arrows to shoot them with,[25] but they made some amends by catching +them in ingeniously constructed snares.[26] They caught fish both with +nets, some of which were of enormous size, and with hooks made of bone +or shell.[27] They displayed great skill and infinite patience in +fashioning, sharpening, and polishing their stone implements and +weapons.[28] In council they were orators, and in the battlefield +warriors whose courage has merited the respect, and whose military skill +has won the admiration of the British troops opposed to them.[29] In +short, the Maoris were and are one of the most highly gifted among the +many uncivilised peoples which the English race, in its expansion over +the world, has met and subdued. It is therefore of peculiar interest to +learn what conceptions they had formed of man's spiritual nature and his +relations to the higher powers. + + [17] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the Maoris_, + p. 202. The elaborate system of fortification employed by the + Maoris, of which the remains may be seen by thousands, seems to + have no exact parallel in Polynesia. See Elsdon Best, "The + Peopling of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 75. These native + forts or _pas_, as they were called, had often a double or even + quadruple line of fence, the innermost formed by great poles + twenty or thirty feet high, which were tightly woven together by + the fibrous roots of a creeper. They were built by preference on + hills, the sides of which were scarped and terraced to assist + the defence. Some of them were very extensive and are said to + have contained from one to two thousand inhabitants. Many of + them were immensely strong and practically impregnable in the + absence of artillery. It is believed that the habit of + fortifying their villages was characteristic of the older race + whom the Maoris, on landing in New Zealand, found in occupation + of the country. See W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ + (London, 1835), pp. 122 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and + Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_ (London, 1847), i. 332 + _sq._; Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maoris of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, + vol. xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 204 _sqq._; W. H. Skinner, + "The Ancient Fortified _Pa_," _Journal of the Polynesian + Society_, vol. xx. no. 78 (June 1911), pp. 71-77. + + [18] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ (London, 1809), ii. 50. + + [19] The ruins of native irrigation works are to be found in New + Zealand as well as in other parts of Polynesia (J. Deniker, _The + Races of Man_, p. 501). + + [20] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 202 _sq._ + + [21] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 30 _sq._, 40 _sq._; W. + Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 157 + _sqq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 204 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 5. + + [22] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 47 _sq._; W. Yate, _op. + cit._ pp. 161 _sqq._ + + [23] A. Shand, "The Occupation of the Chatham Islands by the + Maoris in 1835," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. i. + no. 2 (July 1892), pp. 83 _sqq._ + + [24] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 496; A. R. Wallace, _Australasia_ + (London, 1913), pp. 442 _sq._ + + [25] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 212; Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as + conducted by the Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xi. no. 4 (December 1902), p. 240. + + [26] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 212 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 442 + _sq._ + + [27] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 49 _sq._; W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, p. 160. + + [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, ii. 49; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A + Maui_, p. 4. + + [29] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 4. The Maoris delivered set + speeches composed according to certain recognised laws of + rhetoric, and their oratory was distinguished by a native + eloquence and grace. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and + Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 186 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 3. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Living_ + +Like most other peoples, whether savage or civilised, the Maoris +explained the mystery of life in man by the presence of an invisible +spirit or soul, which animates his body during life and quits it at +death to survive the separation for a longer or shorter time either in +this world or another. But like many others who have sought to fathom +this profound subject, the Maoris would seem to have experienced some +difficulty in ascertaining the precise nature of the human soul. When +the natural man, on the strength of his native faculties, essays to +explore these dark abysses and to put his vague thoughts into words, he +commonly compares his soul either to his breath or to his shadow and +his reflection, and not content with a simple comparison he is led, by a +natural confusion of thought, to identify more or less closely the +imperceptible entity which he calls his soul with one or both of these +perceptible objects. To this general rule the Maori is apparently no +exception. He has two words which he specially uses to designate the +human spirit or soul: one is _wairua_, the other is _hau_.[30] Of these +words, _wairua_, the more usual name, is said to mean also a shadow, an +unsubstantial image, a reflection, as of a person's face from a polished +surface;[31] and we may surmise that these were the original and proper +meanings of the term. Similarly _hau_, which is described as "the vital +essence or life principle" in man,[32] appears primarily to mean +"wind,"[33] from which we may infer that in its application to man it +denotes properly the breath. The idea of the soul as a breath appears in +the explanation which was given to Dumont d'Urville of the Maori form of +salutation by rubbing noses together. The French traveller was told that +the real intention of this salute was to mingle the breath and thereby +the souls of the persons who gave each other this token of friendship. +But as his informant was not a Maori but a certain Mr. Kendall, the +truth of the explanation remains doubtful, though the Frenchman believed +that he obtained confirmation of it from his own observation and the +testimony of a native.[34] On the other hand the comparison of the soul +to a shadow comes out in the answer given by a Maori to an Englishman +who had asked him why his people did not prevent their souls from +passing away to the nether world. The Maori replied by pointing to the +Englishman's shadow on the wall and asking him whether he could catch +it.[35] + + [30] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177 + _sqq._, 189 _sqq._ + + [31] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 591 _sq._, _s.v._ "wairua." + + [32] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 189. + + [33] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 52, _s.v._ "hau"; Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 190. + + [34] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la + recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 558 _sq._ + + [35] William Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, + 1845), p. 81. + +Thus far the Maori conception of the soul does not perhaps differ very +materially from the popular notion of it current among ourselves. But +we come now to a marked difference between the Maori idea of the soul +and our own. For whereas the European commonly believes his soul to be +fixed during life immovably in his body, and only to depart from it once +for all at death, the soul of the Maori is under no such narrow +restrictions, but is free to quit its bodily mansion at pleasure and to +return to it without prejudice to the life and health of its owner. For +example, the Maori explains a dream by supposing that the soul of the +sleeper has left his body behind and rambled away to places more or less +distant, where it converses with the spirits of other people, whether +alive or dead. Hence no well-bred Maori would waken a sleeper suddenly +by shaking him or calling out to him in a loud voice. If he must rouse +him, he will do it gradually, speaking to him at first in low tones and +then raising his voice by degrees, in order to give the truant soul fair +warning and allow it to return at leisure.[36] Believing in the power of +the soul to wander far away and converse with other spiritual beings in +sleep, the Maoris naturally paid great attention to dreams, which they +fancied were often sent them by the gods to warn them of coming events. +All dreams were supposed to have their special significance, and the +Maoris had framed a fanciful system for interpreting them. Sometimes, as +with ourselves, the interpretation went by contraries. For example, if a +man dreamed that he saw a sick relative at the point of death, it was a +sign that the patient would soon recover; but if, on the contrary, the +sufferer appeared in perfect health, it was an omen of his approaching +end. When a priest was in doubt as to the intentions of the higher +powers, he usually waited for his god to reveal his will in a dream, and +accepted the vagaries of his slumbering fancy as an infallible +intimation of the divine pleasure. Spells were commonly recited in order +to annul the effect of ill-omened dreams.[37] + + [36] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 177 + _sq._ + + [37] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 333-335. As to omens + derived from dreams see Elsdon Best, "Omens and Superstitious + Beliefs of the Maori," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + vii. no. 27 (September 1898), pp. 124 _sqq._ + +But the departure of the soul from the body in life was not always +voluntary; it might take place under the compulsion of a hostile +sorcerer or magician. In a Maori legend called _The curse of Manaia_ we +read that "the priests next dug a long pit, termed the pit of wrath, +into which by their enchantments they might bring the spirits of their +enemies, and hang them and destroy them there; and when they had dug the +pit, muttering the necessary incantations, they took large shells in +their hands to scrape the spirits of their enemies into the pit with, +whilst they muttered enchantments; and when they had done this, they +scraped the earth into the pit again to cover them up, and beat down the +earth with their hands, and crossed the pit with enchanted cloths, and +wove baskets of flax-leaves to hold the spirits of the foes which they +had thus destroyed, and each of these acts they accompanied with the +proper spells."[38] + + [38] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), pp. + 168 _sq._ + +This mode of undoing an enemy by extracting and killing his soul was not +with the Maoris a mere legendary fiction; it was practised in real life +by their wizards. For we are told that when a priest desired to slay a +person by witchcraft, he would often dig a hole in the ground, and +standing over it with a cord in his hand would let one end of the cord +hang down into the hole. He then recited an incantation which compelled +the soul of the doomed man to swarm down the cord into the pit, +whereupon another potent spell chanted by the magician speedily put an +end to the poor soul for good and all.[39] + + [39] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 187. + +It seems obvious that spells of this sort may be used with great +advantage in war, for if you can only contrive to kill the souls of your +foes, their mere bodies will probably give you little or no trouble. Nor +did this practical application of the magic art escape the sagacity of +the Maoris. When they marched to attack an enemy's stronghold, it was an +ancient custom to halt and kindle a fire, over which the priest recited +certain spells to cause the souls of his adversaries to be drawn into +the fire and there to perish miserably in the flames. In theory the idea +was admirable, but unfortunately it did not always work out in +practice. For magic is a game at which two can play, and it sometimes +happened that the spells of the besieged proved more powerful than those +of the besiegers and enabled the garrison to defy all the attempts of +the enemy to filch their souls from their bodies.[40] But even when the +assailants were obliged to retire discomfited, they did not always lose +heart, the resources of the magic art were not yet exhausted. On their +return home the priest, nothing daunted by a temporary discomfiture, +might betake himself again to his spells, and by crooning his +incantations over a garment or a weapon belonging to one of his party, +might dash in pieces the arms of the enemy and cause their souls to +perish. Thus by his ghostly skill would he snatch victory from defeat, +and humble the pride of the insolent foe in the very moment of his +imaginary triumph.[41] One way in which he effected his purpose was to +take a bag or basket containing some sacred food, hold it to the fire, +and then opening the bag point the mouth of it in the direction of the +enemy. The simple recitation of a spell then sufficed to draw the souls +of the adversaries into the bag, after which nothing was easier for him +than to destroy them utterly by means of the appropriate +incantation.[42] + + [40] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 181. + + [41] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xi. no. 3 (September 1902), p. 141. + + [42] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xii. no. 2 (June 1903), p. 72. + +But valuable as are these applications of magic to practical life, the +art, like every good thing, is liable to abuse; and even where it is +employed with the best intentions, the forces which it controls are so +powerful that in spite of all precautions an accident will sometimes +happen. For example, in sickness the patient often had recourse to a +priest, who would lead him down to the nearest water, whether a pool or +a stream, and there perform the magical rites necessary for the relief +of his particular malady. While the wizard was engaged in this +beneficent task, all the people in the village kept strictly indoors, +lest their souls should wander forth to the water-side and there +colliding, if I may be allowed the expression, with the mystic forces +of the priest's spells be damaged or even annihilated by the +collision.[43] In such a case the fatal consequences were the result of +a pure accident, but sometimes they were intentional. For this fell +purpose a malignant wizard would dig a hole, invoke the spirit of the +man against whom he had a grudge, and when the spirit appeared over the +hole in the form of a light, he would curse it, and the man whose soul +was cursed would be sure to die, sooner or later; nothing could save +him. The Uriwera, who dwelt dispersed among the forests and lonely hills +of a wild mountainous region in the North Island, were reputed to be the +greatest warlocks in all New Zealand. When they descended from their +mountains to the coast, the lowlanders scarcely dared refuse them +anything for fear of incurring their displeasure. It is said that in +their magical rites they made a special use of the spittle of their +destined victims; hence all visitors to their country were careful to +conceal their spittle lest they should give these wicked folk a handle +against them.[44] Another mode in which a Maori wizard could obtain +power over a man's soul was by working magic on the footprints of his +intended victim. The thing was done in this way. Suppose you are walking +and leave your footprints behind you on the ground. I come behind you, +take up the earth from your footprints, and deposit it on the sacred +_whata puaroa_, that is, a post or pillar set up in the holy place of a +village and charged in a mysterious manner with the vitality both of the +people and of the land. Having laid the earth from your footprints on +the sacred post, I next perform a ceremony of consecration over it, and +then bury it with a seed of sweet potato in the ground. After that you +are doomed. You may consider yourself for all practical purposes not +only dead but buried, like the earth from your footprints.[45] + + [43] Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical Lore," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December 1904), p. 225. + + [44] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_ (London, 1843), + ii. 58 _sq._; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, pp. 116 _sq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_ (London, 1882), p. 31. + + [45] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), pp. 194 + _sq._, 196. + +From some of the foregoing facts it seems to follow that the souls of +the Maoris are not, so to say, constitutionally immortal, but that they +are of a brittle and perishable nature, and that in particular they are +liable to be cut short in their career and totally exterminated by the +insidious arts of magicians. So frequently, indeed, did this happen in +former days that the Maoris of old apparently recognised no other cause +of death, but imagined that every man and woman would naturally live for +ever, if the thread of his or her life were not prematurely snipped by +the abhorred shears of some witch or wizard. Hence after every death it +was customary to hold an inquest in order to discover the wretch who had +brought about the catastrophe by his enchantments; a sage presided at +the solemn enquiry, and under his direction the culprit was detected, +hunted down, and killed.[46] + + [46] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 51. + +The Maoris tell a story to explain how death first came into the world, +or at least how men were prevented from enjoying the boon of +immortality. The story runs as follows. + +The great mythical hero of Polynesia is Maui, a demigod or man of +marvellous powers, who lived in the early ages of the world, and whose +mighty deeds are the theme of tales of wonder told far and wide among +the islands of the Pacific.[47] In his childhood his mother prophesied +that he should thereafter climb the threshold of his great ancestress +Hine-nui-te-po, and that death should have no more dominion over men. A +happy prediction, but alas! never destined to be fulfilled, for even the +would-be saviour Maui himself did not escape the doom of mortality. The +way in which he became subject to death was this. His father took him to +the water to be baptized, for infant baptism was a regular part of Maori +ritual.[48] But when the baptism was over and the usual prayers had +been offered for making the lad sacred and clean from all impurity, his +father bethought him that through haste or forgetfulness he had omitted +some of the prayers and purifications of the baptismal service. It was a +fatal oversight, and the anxious father was struck with consternation at +the thought, for too well he knew that the gods would punish the +omission by causing his son Maui to die.[49] Yet did his son make a +brave attempt to rescue all men from the doom of death and to make them +live for ever. One day, after he had performed many feats and returned +to his father's house, his father, heavy at heart and overcome with a +foreboding of evil, said to him, "Oh, my son, I have heard from your +mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded +in all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they +were small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's +country, you will perhaps be overcome." Then Maui asked his father, +"What do you mean? what things are there that I can be vanquished by?" +And his father answered him, "By your great ancestress, by +Hine-nui-te-po, who, if you look, you may see flashing, and, as it were, +opening and shutting there, where the horizon meets the sky." And Maui +answered, "Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek +whether men are to die or live for ever." And his father said, "My +child, there has been an ill omen for us; when I was baptizing you, I +omitted a portion of the fitting prayers, and that I know will be the +cause of your perishing." Then Maui asked his father, "What is my +ancestress Hine-nui-te-po like?" and he answered, "What you see yonder +shining so brightly red are her eyes, and her teeth are as sharp and +hard as pieces of volcanic glass; her body is like that of a man, and +as for the pupils of her eyes, they are jasper; and her hair is like the +tangles of long sea-weed, and her mouth is like that of a barracouta." + + [47] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 233 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Maui"; Horatio Hale, _United States + Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_ (Philadelphia, + 1846), p. 23. + + [48] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 61 _sq._, "The New Zealanders make it an + invariable practice, when a child is born among them, to take it + to the _Tohunga_, or priest, who sprinkles it on the face with + water, from a certain leaf which he holds in his hand for that + purpose; and they believe that this ceremony is not only + beneficial to the infant, but that the neglect of it would be + attended with the most baneful consequences. In the latter case, + they consider the child as either doomed to immediate death, or + that, if allowed to live, it will grow up with a most perverse + and wicked disposition." Before or after sprinkling the child + with water the priest bestowed on the infant its name. See W. + Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_ (London, 1835), pp. 82-84; A. + S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_ (London, 1859), i. 118 + _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, Second Edition (London, + 1870), pp. 184 _sqq_. Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage + autour du Monde et a la recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du + Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 443 _sq_. (who says that the + baptism was performed by women); E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New + Zealand_ (London, 1843), ii. 28-30 (who, in contradiction to all + the other authorities, says that the naming of the child was + unconnected with its baptism). + + [49] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_ (London, 1855), p. + 32. + +Now Hine-nui-te-po was the Great Woman of Night, the Goddess of Death, +who dwelt in the nether world and dragged down men to herself. But Maui +was not afraid, for he had caught the great Sun himself in a snare and +beaten him and caused him to go so tardily as we now see him creeping +across the sky with leaden steps and slow; for of old the Sun was wont +to speed across the firmament like a young man rejoicing to run a race. +So forth fared the hero on his great enterprise to snatch the life of +mortals from the very jaws of death. And there came to him to bear him +company the small robin, and the large robin, and the thrush, and the +yellow hammer, and the pied fantail (_tiwakawaka, Rhipidura +flabellifora_), and every kind of little bird; and these all assembled +together, and they started with Maui in the evening, and arrived at the +dwelling of Hine-nui-te-po, and found her fast asleep. + +Then Maui addressed them all, and said, "My little friends, now if you +see me creep into this old chieftainess, do not laugh at what you see. +Nay, nay, do not, I pray you, but when I have got altogether inside her, +and just as I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with +laughter if you please." But his little friends were frightened at what +they saw, and they answered, "Oh, sir, you will certainly be killed." +And he answered them again, saying, "If you burst out laughing at me as +soon as I get inside her, you will wake her up, and she will certainly +kill me at once; but if you do not laugh until I am quite inside her, +and am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall live, and +Hine-nui-te-po will die." And his little friends answered, "Go on then, +brave sir, but pray take good care of yourself." + +Then the young hero started off, and twisted the strings of his weapon +tight round his wrist, and went into the house, and stripped off his +clothes, and the skin on his hips was as mottled and beautiful as the +skin of a mackerel by reason of the tattoo marks cut on it with the +chisel of Uetongo, and he entered the old chieftainess. The little birds +now screwed up their little mouths to keep back their laughter when +they saw him disappearing into the body of the giantess; their cheeks +swelled up and grew purple, and they almost choked with suppressed +emotion. At last the pied fantail could bear it no longer, and he +suddenly exploded with a loud guffaw. That woke the old woman, she +opened her eyes, and shut her jaws with a snap, cutting the hero clean +through the middle, so that his legs dropped out of her mouth. Thus died +Maui, but before he died he begat children, and sons were born to him, +and some of his descendants are alive to this day. That, according to +Maori tradition, is how death came into the world; for if only Maui had +passed safely through the jaws of the Goddess of Death, men would have +died no more and death itself would have been destroyed. Thus the Maoris +set down human mortality at the door of the pied fantail, since but for +his unseasonable merriment we might all have lived for ever.[50] + + [50] Sir George Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 56-58; John + White, _The Ancient History of the Maori_ (Wellington and + London, 1887-1889), ii. 98, 105-107. For another version of the + myth, told with some minor variations, see S. Percy Smith, _The + Lore of the Whare-w[=a]nanga_, Part I. (New Plymouth, N.Z., + 1913), pp. 145 _sq._, 176-178. For the identification of the + bird _tiwakawaka_ see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 519, _s.v._ "Tiwaiwaka." + + +Sec. 4. _The Beliefs of the Maoris concerning the Souls of the Dead_ + +When a chief died, a loud howl or wail announced the melancholy event, +and the neighbours flocked to the scene of death to testify their +sorrow. The wives and near relations, especially the women, of the +deceased displayed their anguish by cutting their faces, arms, legs, and +breasts with flints or shells till the blood flowed down in streams; it +was not wiped off, for the more the person of a mourner was covered with +clotted gore, the greater was esteemed his or her respect for the dead. +Sometimes relatives would hack off joints of their fingers as a token of +grief. Mourners likewise cut their hair, the men generally contenting +themselves with clipping or shaving it on one side only, from the +forehead to the neck. The eyes of the dead were closed by the nearest +relative; and the body dressed in the finest mats, decked with +feathers, and provided with weapons, lay in state for a time. After the +first day a brother of the deceased used to beat the body with fresh +flax gathered for the purpose; this he did to drive away any evil thing +that might be hovering about the corpse. In the olden time one or more +of the chief's wives would strangle themselves, that their souls might +accompany their dead lord and wait upon him in the other world, and with +the same intentions slaves were killed, lest the great man should lack +attendants in the spirit land.[51] + + [51] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 135 _sqq._; J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de + la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 541 + _sq._; Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande," _Annales de la + Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62, 118; W. Brown, _New Zealand + and its Inhabitants_, pp. 15 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life + and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 331; A. S. Thomson, + _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 185 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A + Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition + (London, 1870), pp. 217 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris of New + Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix. + (1890) pp. 104 _sq._ + +The body was kept for three days because, we are told, the soul was +believed not to quit its mortal habitation till the third day.[52] The +mode of disposing of the corpse differed in different districts and +according to the rank of the deceased. In some places a grave was dug in +the house and the body buried in a sitting posture, the legs being kept +in that position by bandages or doubled up against the chest. In the +grave the dead man retained the fine garments in which he had been +dressed together with the family ornaments of jade and shark's teeth. +With him also was usually interred his property, especially the clothes +which he had worn and everything else that had touched him during his +last illness. The weapons of a warrior were laid near him that he might +be able to fight his battles in the spirit land. In other places the +corpse was laid in a box on a stage; or two pieces of an old canoe were +set upright in the earth, and in the hollow between them the body was +seated on a grating so as to allow the products of decomposition to drip +through on the ground. In other places again, the corpse was laid in a +sort of canoe-shaped coffin and deposited among the branches of a tree +in a grove, where it remained for several months. This burial in the +branches of a tree seems to have been usually adopted for the bodies of +commoners; the corpses of chiefs, enclosed in coffins, were placed in +mausoleums, carved and painted red, which were raised on pillars. +Whether buried in the earth or placed in a tree or on a stage, the body +was left until the flesh had so far decayed as to permit of the bones +being easily detached; there was no fixed time allowed for +decomposition, it might vary from three months to six months, or even a +year. When decay was thought to have proceeded far enough, the bones +were dug up or taken down from the stage or tree and scraped; the +ornaments also were removed from the skeleton and worn by the relatives. +In the south, where the custom was to bury the dead in the ground, this +disinterment took place four weeks after the burial; the bones were then +buried again, but only to be dug up again after a longer interval, it +might be two years, for the final ceremony. When this took place, all +the friends and relatives of the dead were summoned to assist, and a +great feast was given: the bones were scraped, painted red, decked with +feathers, and wrapped up in mats. The precious bundle was then deposited +in a small canoe or a miniature house elevated on a pole; or it was +carried to the top of some sacred tree and there left on a small stage. +Sometimes the bones were concealed in a hollow tree in a secret place of +the forest, or hidden away in one of the numerous limestone caverns or +in some lonely and inaccessible chasm among the rocks. The motive for +secret burial was a fear lest an enemy should get possession of the +bones and profane them by making fish-hooks out of them or converting +the skull into a baler for his canoe. Such a profanation was deemed a +deadly insult to the surviving relatives. After a burial the persons who +had dressed or carried the corpse, and all indeed who had had anything +to do with it, repaired to the nearest stream and plunged themselves +several times over head in the water.[53] + + [52] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 541. + + [53] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543 _sq._; W. Yate, + _op. cit._ p. 137; Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande," + _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62 _sqq._; G. F. + Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, + i. 331; A. S. Thomson, _The Story of New Zealand_, i. 188; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 218 _sqq._; E. Tregear, "The Maori + of New Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, + xix. (1890) p. 105; Elsdon Best, "Cremation among the Maori + Tribes of New Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) p. 110. + +In some districts the removal of the bones from their temporary to their +final resting-place was the occasion of a grand annual festival in which +several neighbouring tribes took part. The bones of all members of the +tribes who had died within the year were taken down from the stages or +trees where the bodies had been temporarily deposited. The grave-clothes +having been removed, the mouldering remains were wrapped in new blankets +and carried in procession, attended by the crowd, to a place where they +were deposited on a carpet of leaves. Should any putrid flesh be found +still adhering to the bones, it was scraped off and buried on the spot. +A few old women, dressed in their best, oiled from head to foot, and +plastered with raddle, received the skulls into their laps. While they +held them thus, a funeral ode was sung and speeches, loud and long, were +delivered. Then the bones were tied up, decked with feathers of the +gannet, rolled up in blankets, and carried to their last place of rest +in a sacred grove, where they were left, securely fastened up and +gaudily decorated with red and white. Having thus discharged their duty +to the dead, the living gave themselves up to festivity; they ate and +drank, danced, sang, whistled, wrestled, quarrelled, bought and sold. +This Holy Fair, which went by the name of Hahunga, lasted several days. +At the end of it the mourners, or revellers, dispersed and returned to +their homes, laden with food which had been made ready for them by their +hosts.[54] Great importance was attached to the final disposal of the +remains of the dead. According to one account, the soul of the dead man +could not rest till his bones were laid in the sepulchre of his +ancestors, which was often a natural cave or grotto. There they were +deposited on a shelf or platform a few feet above the floor of the +cavern.[55] + + [54] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 137-139; Servant, + "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande," _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xv. (1843) pp. 26 _sq._ The name _Hahunga_ is doubtless + connected with the verb _hahu_ which means "to exhume the bones + of dead persons before depositing them in their final + resting-place." See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 42, _s.v._ "hahu." + + [55] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 543, 545. + +Not uncommonly the bones of the dead, instead of being preserved, were +burned.[56] But cremation, though not unusual, seems never to have been +a general custom with the Maoris. They resorted to it only in +exceptional circumstances, for example, in order to stay the spread of +disease, or in cases where a tribe occupied open country and found no +suitable place where to lay the bones of their dead after exhumation. +Cremation for the latter reason is said to have been practised by the +Ngati-apa tribe in the Rangatikikei District, and also by the tribes who +occupied the Waimate Plains. An old earthwork fort near the present +township of Manaia was the scene of many cremations of the Maori dead in +former days. Again, it was a common custom for a raiding party to +cremate their dead in the enemy's country, when there was no time to +carry them home for the usual obsequies. The intention of burning them +was to prevent the enemy from eating the bodies and making fish-hooks +out of the bones. For a similar reason even the wounded, whom they could +not carry with them, were sometimes thrown into great fires and burnt +alive. If the slain man was a chief, only his body would be consumed in +the flames; his head would be cut off, steamed, cured, and carried home, +to be wept over by his friends. In the Bay of Plenty district the bodies +of persons who died of a certain disease called _Kai uaua_, apparently +consumption, used to be burnt to prevent the spread of the malady, and +all the ashes were carefully buried.[57] + + [56] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. This was called + _tahunga_, "burning," a word no doubt derived from _tahu_, + "to set on fire, kindle." See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, p. 444, _s.v._ "tahu." + + [57] Elsdon Best, "Cremation amongst the Maori tribes of New + Zealand," _Man_, xiv. (1914) pp. 110 _sq._ + +Often enough the heads of dead relatives were cut off, dried, and +preserved by the family for many years in order to be occasionally +brought forth and mourned over. Sometimes a widow would sleep with her +husband's severed head at her side. After a victory, too, it was +customary to decapitate the slain foes and dry their heads, which were +then carried home and used as scarecrows or stuck on short stakes in the +village, where they were jeered at and reviled. When the time came to +plant the sweet potatoes, and the priests recited their spells for the +sake of the crops, the dried heads were sometimes brought out and +placed at the edge of the field, for this was believed to promote the +growth of the sweet potatoes.[58] Apparently the spirits of the dead +were thought able to quicken the fruits of the earth. + + [58] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xii. no. 4 (December 1903), pp. 195-197. Compare W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, pp. 130 _sqq._; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66. + +At all events the Maoris undoubtedly believed that the souls of the +departed survive the death of their bodies for a longer or shorter time +and in their disembodied state can influence the living for weal or woe. +The belief in the survival of the soul is strikingly manifested in their +old custom of killing widows and slaves to serve dead chiefs in the +other world. It found expression in the more harmless custom of laying +food beside a dead person or burying it with him in the grave; but, as +usually happens in such cases, the ghost only consumed the spiritual +essence of the victuals, considerately leaving the gross material +substance to be despatched by the priest.[59] A dying Maori, unable to +eat a loaf which a missionary had offered to him, begged that it might +be kept for his ghost, who, after his death, would come and fortify +himself with it for the journey to his long home.[60] At Tanaraki the +child of a chief was buried in its father's house, grasping in each of +its little fists a taro for consumption in the other world. Over the +grave were laid boards, and the family slept on them. When they thought +that the child's body was sufficiently decayed, they dug it up, scraped +the bones, and hung them in the verandah, where from time to time the +priest recited spells to assist the soul in its ascent to heaven. Every +spell was supposed to raise the soul one stage nearer to the abode of +bliss. But the ascent was long and tedious, for there were no less than +ten heavens one above the other; the tenth was believed to be the +principal abode of the gods. When the parents of the child who had been +despatched to the happy land with taro in each hand were asked, "Why +taro, if the little one is gone to heaven?" they answered that they +were not quite sure whether it went up or down, and therefore as an +additional precaution they planted a seed of taro in the grave, so that +their offspring might find something to eat either above or below.[61] + + [59] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 542; G. F. Angas, + _op. cit._ ii. 71; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. + + [60] J. Dumont d'Urville, _l.c._ + + [61] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220. + +Similar ceremonies were performed to facilitate the ascension of the +souls of chiefs and priests. Before the body was taken to the place of +burial, it was laid out with its feet towards the north, and all the +blood-relations of the deceased, men, women, and children, assembled +round it. Then the priest, standing at the head of the corpse, between +the rows of the people, chanted two incantations, of which the second +was supposed to assist the soul to ascend to heaven. The priest next put +a bulb of taro in the left hand of the corpse and chanted another +incantation. After that, flaxen cords were tied with a slip-knot to a +tassel of the mat in which the body was enshrouded, and a cord was +placed in the hand of each child, boy and girl, present at the ceremony. +When the priest had chanted one more incantation, each child pulled the +cord with a jerk, to disconnect the soul from the body, lest it should +remain and afflict the relatives.[62] This last rite, with the reason +assigned for it, is significant at once of the dread which the Maoris +felt for departed spirits, and of the very materialistic conception +which they entertained of the human soul, since they appear to have +imagined that it could be detached from the body by jerking at a cord. + + [62] John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _Report of + the Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, in + January 1891_, pp. 362 _sq._ + +The wish to raise the soul to heaven was perhaps the motive for another +curious rite performed at the obsequies of a chief. When the body had +been buried, the chief returned to the village; but the men who had +carried the body went to the nearest swamp, and having caught a +swamp-sparrow (_matata_) sent word to the priest, who forthwith rejoined +them. Each of the bearers was then provided with a stick to which +certain of the feathers of the bird were tied. Then, holding the sticks +in their hands, they sat on their heels in a row opposite the priest, +who stood facing the east with a stick similarly adorned in his left +hand. Next he moved to the south end of the row of men and chanted, and +as he chanted he gradually raised his stick, while at the same time all +the bearers, holding their sticks at arm's length, gradually raised them +and their bodies simultaneously, keeping perfect time, till the priest +had concluded his chant, when they all stood erect with outstretched +arms. After that the priest collected the sticks and threw them down in +front of the _mua_, which seems to have been a kind of altar.[63] We may +surmise that the ceremony was intended to waft the soul of the dead +chief upward, the feathers of the bird being naturally fitted to +facilitate its heavenward flight. + + [63] John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _op. cit._ + p. 363. As to the meaning of _mua_, see E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 267, _s.v._ "mua." + +At other times, however, with the inconsistency so common in such +matters, it appears to have been supposed that the soul set out on its +far journey across the sea, and steps were accordingly taken to equip it +for the voyage. Thus we hear of a _wahi tapu_ or sacred repository of +the property of a deceased chief, which contained, among other things, a +little canoe with sail and paddles, "to serve as a ferry-boat for the +spirit to enter in safety into the eternal abodes." Nevertheless in the +same enclosure, which was fenced with a double set of palings, +"calabashes of food and water, and a dish prepared from the pigeon, were +placed for the ghost to regale itself when visiting the spot; and the +heathen natives aver that at night the spirit comes and feeds from the +sacred calabashes."[64] + + [64] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New + Zealand_, ii. 70 _sq._ + +Many people in the Taranaki district thought that souls went neither up +nor down, but always stayed near their mouldering bodies. Hence the +sacred grove in which their remains were buried was full of disembodied +spirits; and when a man died a violent death his soul wandered about +disconsolate, till a priest by his spells and enchantments had brought +the poor ghost within the spiritual fold.[65] + + [65] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 220 _sq._ + +When a chief was killed in battle and eaten by his foes, as often +happened, his departed spirit entered the stones of the oven in which +his body had been cooked, and the stones retained their heat so long as +the ghost was in them. Meanwhile his sorrowing friends at home recited +their most potent spells to draw his soul out of the oven and back to +the sacred grove (_wahi tapu_) the burial-place of his people; for +otherwise the soul could find no repose, but must roam about for ever, +wreaking its spite on the living, for all disembodied spirits were +deemed malicious. Hence after a battle, if people could not obtain the +body of a slain friend, they sought to procure at least some drops of +his blood or shreds of his raiment, that by crooning over them the +appropriate spell they might draw home the vagrant spirit to his place +of rest. The burial-grounds were regarded with awe and fear, for +sometimes a restless ghost would break bounds and spread sickness among +the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Within their sacred precincts +stood altars or stages for offerings to the gods, and any living man who +entered them did so at his peril. For the same reason no one would set +foot in a house where a dead man or woman had been buried. Hence in +nearly every village half the houses stood empty and deserted, falling +into decay, tenanted only by ghosts. The living had constantly before +their eyes the mansions of the dead.[66] + + [66] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 221. + +The common belief of the Maoris seems to have been that the souls of the +dead pass away to a region of the underworld, which was sometimes called +Po and sometimes Reinga. Properly speaking, Po was night or the +primaeval darkness out of which all forms of life and light were evolved +or created;[67] and Reinga was not so much the spirit land itself as the +leaping-off place where the souls bade good-bye to earth and took their +departure for the far country. This leaping-off place was at the North +Cape, the Land's End of New Zealand. The cape terminates in a steep +cliff with a sea-cave at its foot, into which the tide rushes with a +thunderous roar. There the evil spirit Wiro is thought to dwell, lurking +for his prey; for he battens on such of the passing souls of the dead as +he can get into his clutches. On their passage to the North Cape the +ghosts stop by the way at two hills; at the first, which is called +Wai-hokimai, they wail, cut themselves, and strip off their clothes; at +the second, which is called Wai-otioti, they turn their backs on the +land of the living and set their faces to the land of the dead. Arrived +at the cape they pass outward over a long narrow ledge of rock and then +leap down on a flat stone. There they see a mass of sea-weed floating on +the water, its roots hidden in the depth, its upper branches clinging to +a _pohutukawa_ tree. When they perceive an opening in the sea-weed they +dive and soon find themselves in the lower world. But before they reach +the abode of spirits they must cross a river by a plank; the river is +called Waiorotane or the River of the Water of Life; and sometimes the +warden of the plank will not suffer the ghosts to pass the river, but +drives them back with friendly violence and bids them return to their +friends on earth. Such souls come back to the bright world of light and +life, and tell their friends what they have seen and heard on the +journey to that bourne from which so many travellers return no more. +Hence when any one has recovered from a dangerous sickness or escaped +some great peril, they say of him that he has come back from the River +of the Water of Life. Even if a soul has crossed that sombre stream, he +may still return to the land of the living, if only he refuses to +partake of the food set before him by the ghosts; but should he taste of +it, he cannot come back. They say that people living near the North Cape +can hear the spirits of the dead passing through the air on their way to +the spirit land; and in the old days, when a battle had been fought and +before the news of it could reach them by word of mouth, the natives +near the cape were made aware of what had happened by the rushing sound +of a great multitude flitting by overhead in the darkness.[68] Perhaps +the sighing of the night-wind or the clangour of birds of passage +winging their way out to sea may have contributed to create or foster +these fancies. + + [67] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + p. 342, _s.v._ "Po." + + [68] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 150 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, p. 45; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 52, 231; + W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 140; E. Dieffenbach, + _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris + of New Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, + xix. (1890) pp. 118 _sq._; _id._, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 407 _sq._, 591, _s.vv._ "Reinga" and "Waiora"; + John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _Report of the + Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, + in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._ + +On the day after a burial the priest used to perform a ceremony to +facilitate the passage of the soul to its final rest. For this purpose +some men would go out in the morning and kill a small bird of the swamps +called _kokata_ and pluck up some reeds of a certain sort (_wiwi_). +These they brought to the priest at the grave. He asked them, "Whence +came ye?" They answered, "From the seeking, from the searching." He +asked them again, "Ah! what have you got? ah! what have you gained?" +Then the men threw the bird and the reeds on the ground. Next the priest +chose a stalk of grass or fern and put it near the grave in a direction +pointing towards Hawaiki, the land far away from which the forefathers +of the Maoris came long ago. Another stalk of grass or fern was laid +near the place of death, and along these stalks the soul of the dead man +travelled to rejoin his friends and kinsfolk who had gone before.[69] + + [69] E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p. 44. Such + a stalk to aid the spirit on its passage was called a _tiri_. + Compare E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + p. 517, _s.v._ "Tiri." The ceremony described in the text + resembles in some points the one which seems intended to raise + the soul of the deceased to heaven. See above, p. 25. + +As might be anticipated, the accounts which the Maoris gave of the +spirit world and of life in it were neither clear nor consistent. +According to one account, while the heavens increase in beauty as they +ascend one above the other, the lower regions increase in darkness and +horror as they descend, each being darker and worse than the one above +it, till in the lowest of all complete darkness reigns. There the souls, +deprived alike of light and food, wasted away and ultimately ceased to +exist; or according to another account they assumed the shape of worms +and in that guise returned to earth, where they died a second death and +so finally perished. But it was only the souls of common folk which came +to this melancholy end. Chiefs and priests were believed to be descended +from the gods, and at death their souls ascended to heaven, there to +live for ever.[70] + + [70] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 232; John White, "A Chapter + from Maori Mythology," _Report of the Third Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held + at Christchurch, New Zealand, in January 1891_, pp. 361 _sq._ + +Other reports, however, paint the nether world in more cheerful +colours. We are told that the souls of the dead live there very much as +people do on earth, but all good things are more plentiful there than +here. The staple food of the ghosts is sweet potatoes, and the quality +of the potatoes appears to be remarkably fine; for once a woman, who had +the good fortune to go to the spirit land and come back, received from +her dead father in the nether regions two roots of sweet potatoes of a +most prodigious size. These the ghost told her to take back to earth and +plant for the benefit of his grandchild. So she hurried away with them +and arriving at the foot of the North Cape had begun to clamber up the +face of the cliff, when two infant spirits overtook her and attempted to +drag her back to dead land by tugging at her cloak. To divert their +attention she threw the two roots of sweet potato behind her, and while +the sprites were munching them she made good her escape up the cliff and +succeeded in reaching home. Her friends were very glad to see her again, +but they always lamented that she had not brought back at least one of +those gigantic roots of sweet potato, since it would unquestionably have +done much to improve the quality of sweet potatoes grown here on +earth.[71] + + [71] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 48 _sq._, 67, + 118; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 153 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 233 + _sq._ + +But the spirits of the dead are by no means strictly confined to the +lower world; they can quit it from time to time and return to earth, +there to influence the actions and fortunes of the living and to +communicate with them through the priest, who can hear their voices. +They speak in whistling tones, which even common folk can sometimes +distinguish as they walk about in the dark. Often their communications +are made to the priest or chief in dreams, and he announces the glad or +mournful tidings to other people in the morning. Any commands conveyed +in this manner from the other world are, or used to be, implicitly +obeyed and might decide the course to be pursued in the most important +affairs of life.[72] In some tribes, especially among the natives of +Wangunui, it used to be customary to keep in the houses small carved +images of wood, each of them dedicated to an ancestor of the family, who +was believed occasionally to enter into the image in order to hold +converse with his living descendants.[73] But even without the +intervention of such images the priest could summon up the spirits of +the dead and converse with them in the presence of the relatives or of +strangers; at these interviews, which were held within doors and in the +dark, the voices of the ghosts, or perhaps of the priestly +ventriloquist, were sometimes distinctly audible even to sceptical +Europeans. Nor was the art of necromancy confined to men; for we read of +an old woman who, like the witch of Endor, professed to exercise this +ghostly office, and treated an English visitor to an exhibition of her +powers.[74] + + [72] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 67, 118; E. + Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, + ii. 83, 84. + + [73] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 83. + + [74] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 84 _sqq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha + Maori (London, 1884), pp. 122 _sqq._ As to the belief in the + reappearance of the dead among the living compare R. A. Cruise, + _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand_ (London, + 1823), p. 186: "The belief in the reappearance of the dead is + universal among the New Zealanders: they fancy they hear their + deceased relatives speaking to them when the wind is high; + whenever they pass the place where a man has been murdered, it + is customary for each person to throw a stone upon it; and the + same practice is observed by all those who visit a cavern at the + North Cape, through which the spirits of departed men are + supposed to pass on their way to a future world." + +The spirits of the dead were sometimes useful to the living, for +commonly enough they would appear to their kinsfolk in dreams and warn +them of approaching foes or other dangers. Again, they might be and were +invoked by spells and enchantments to avenge a murder or even to slay an +innocent person against whom the enchanter had a grudge.[75] But for the +most part the ghosts were greatly dreaded as malicious demons who worked +harm to man.[76] Even the nearest and dearest relations were believed to +have their natures radically changed by death and to hate those whom +they had loved in life.[77] And so powerful were these malignant beings +supposed to be that they were confused with the gods, or rather the +spirits of the dead became themselves gods to all intents and purposes, +and played a much more important part in the religious life of the +Maoris than the high primaeval deities, the personifications of nature, +who figured in Maori mythology and cosmogony.[78] The gods whom the +Maoris feared, we are told, were the spirits of the dead, who were +believed to be constantly watching over the living with jealous eyes, +lest they should neglect any part of the law relating to persons or +things subject to the sacred restriction called taboo (_tapu_). These +spirits, however, confined their care almost exclusively to persons +among the living with whom they were connected by ties of relationship, +so that every tribe and every family had its own worshipful ancestral +spirit or god, whom members of the tribe or family invoked with +appropriate prayers or spells (_karakias_). Ancestral spirits who lived +in the flesh before the Maoris emigrated to New Zealand were invoked by +all the tribes in New Zealand without distinction, so far as their names +and memories survived in tradition. Thus the worship of these remote +ancestors constituted what may be called the national religion of the +Maoris as distinguished from the tribal and family religions, which +consisted in the worship of nearer and better remembered progenitors. +The great importance attached by the Maoris to the worship of ancestors +may account, we are told, for the care with which they preserved their +genealogies; since the names of ancestors often formed the groundwork of +their religious formulas (_karakias_), and any error or even hesitation +in repeating these prayers or incantations was deemed fatal to their +efficacy.[79] "Ancestor worship, or rather the deification of +ancestors, was essentially a Maori cult. It was a form of necrolatry, or +hero worship. A man would placate the spirit of his father, grandfather, +or ancestor, and make offerings to the same, that such spirit might +protect his life principle, warn him of approaching danger, and give +force or effectiveness to his rites and charms of black or white +magic."[80] + + [75] Elsdon Best, "Spiritual Concepts of the Maori," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. ix. no. 4 (December 1900), p. 182. + + [76] Elsdon Best, _op. cit._ p. 184. + + [77] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 104. + + [78] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_ + (London, 1851), p. 294; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of + the New Zealanders_, pp. 80, 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, pp. 10 _sq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 108, + "Maori gods are so mixed up with the spirits of ancestors, whose + worship entered largely into their religion, that it is + difficult to distinguish one from the other." + + [79] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p. + 11. As to the _karakias_, which were prayers or invocations, + spells or incantations, addressed to gods or ancestral spirits, + see E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 28 _sqq._; + E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 128, + _s.v._ "karakia." Apparently the _karakia_ partook of the nature + of a spell rather than of a prayer, since it was believed to be + so potent that the mere utterance of it compelled the gods to do + the will of the person who recited the formula. See R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 180 _sq._: "The Maori, in his heathen + state, never undertook any work, whether hunting, fishing, + planting, or war, without first uttering a _karakia_; he would + not even take a journey without repeating a spell to secure his + safety; still he could not be said to pray, for, properly + speaking, they had no such thing as prayer. As in war, they + armed themselves with the most formidable weapons they could + procure, and laid their plans with the greatest skill they + possessed, so to secure the fruition of their desires, they used + their most powerful means to compel the gods to be obedient to + their wishes, whether they sought for victory over their foes, + fruitful crops, successful fishings, or huntings, they called in + the aid of potent incantations; when they planted their _kumara_ + [sweet potatoes], they sought to compel the god who presided + over them to yield a good increase; when they prepared their + nets and their hooks, they must force the ocean god to let his + fish enter them; as the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and + the violent take it by storm, so the heathen Maori sought, by + spells and incantations, to compel the gods to yield to their + wishes; they added sacrifices and offerings at the same time, to + appease as it were their anger, for being thus constrained to do + what they wished them. Their ancestors were addressed as + powerful familiar friends; they gave them offerings, and if it + can be said that any prayers were offered up, it was to them + they were made. The word _karakia_, which we use for prayer, + formerly meant a spell, charm, or incantation." + + [80] Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the Twelfth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 459. + +The ancestral spirits who particularly watched over the fortunes of a +tribe were the souls of its dead warriors and great men. In war these +powerful, though invisible, beings were thought to attend the army and +direct its movements on the march by communicating advice or warning +through some one or other of their nearest living kinsmen. In battle +they hovered over the combatants and inspired courage into the hearts of +their own tribe. Hence when, on the eve of battle, any young man showed +signs of the white feather, recourse was immediately had to the family +priest, who repeated a charm, invoking the aid of his friendly spirit; +for the sensation of fear was ascribed to the baneful influence of a +hostile spirit. If the friendly spirit prevailed, and the craven spirit +was expelled, the young man would rush into the thickest of the fight +and prove himself the bravest of the brave.[81] + + [81] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 81 _sq._ + +The interest taken by the spirits of the dead in mundane affairs seldom +extended beyond the limits of the tribe to which they belonged. Hence a +captive in war, who was carried away and enslaved by another tribe, +ceased from that moment to be under the protection and care of any +ancestral spirit or god. For the ancestral spirits of his own tribe did +not trouble themselves to follow him among a hostile tribe and hostile +spirits, and the ancestral spirits of the tribe whom he served as a +slave would not deign to give him a thought. Hence being forsaken of +god and left to their own devices, slaves were relieved from many of +the burdensome restrictions which the Maori gods laid upon their +worshippers; they were therefore free to perform many menial offices, +particularly in regard to carrying and cooking food, which no free Maori +could discharge without sinning against the sacred law of taboo and +incurring the wrath of the ancestral spirits, who for such a +transgression might punish the sinner with sickness or death.[82] + + [82] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, pp. 82 _sq._; _id._, _The Southern Districts of New + Zealand_, pp. 296 _sq._ + +In addition to their deified ancestors, who had lived as men of flesh +and blood on earth, the Maoris believed in certain great primaeval +deities, who had existed before the human race came into being, and +whose doings were the theme of many mythical stories. These mighty +beings appear to have been personifications of the various forces or +elements of nature, such as the sky and the earth. But though fancy wove +round them a glistering web of myth and fable, they were apparently +believed to stand aloof in cold abstraction from human affairs and to +take no interest in the present race of men. The practical religion of +the Maori was concentrated on the souls of his deceased kinsfolk and +forefathers: "neither in any existing superstition nor tradition, purely +such, is there to be found internal evidence that an idea of God existed +more exalted than that of the spirit of a dead ancestor."[83] + + [83] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 80. Compare _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions + of the New Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _The Southern Districts of + New Zealand_, p. 294; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. + 10 _sq._ In Maori mythology Rangi is the personification of the + sky, and Papa of earth. They were the primal parents, and the + other great gods were their offspring. See Elsdon Best, "The + Maori Genius for Personification," _Transactions of the New + Zealand Institute_, liii. (1921) p. 2. Among the great + primordial deities who were worshipped by all tribes of New + Zealand may be mentioned Tane, Tu, Tangaroa, and Rongo. Of the + four, Tane was the origin and tutelary deity of forests and + birds: no tree might be felled and no bird caught till certain + rites had been performed to placate him. Tu was the god of war. + Tangaroa was the god of the ocean, the origin and tutelary deity + of fish. Rongo was the god of peace, and presided over + agriculture. See Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the + Twelfth Meeting of the Australasian Association for the + Advancement of Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 458. The + same four gods, with names only dialectically different, were, + as we shall see later on, the principal deities of the Sandwich + Islanders, the most distant geographically from the Maoris of + all the Polynesians. The coincidence furnishes an example of the + homogeneity of religion which prevailed among the various + branches of the Polynesian race. + +The word which the Maoris applied to a god, whether a personification of +nature or the spirit of a dead ancestor, was _atua_. The name is not +confined to the Maori language, but is the common word for god +throughout Polynesia.[84] When the Maoris attempt to define the nature +of an _atua_, they have recourse to the same comparisons with a shadow +and with breath which appear to underlie their conception of the human +soul.[85] But though "god" is the nearest English equivalent of the word +_atua_, we must beware of assuming that the Maori idea of godhead +coincided with ours. On this subject one of our best authorities tells +us that the term "god" is really not applicable to the _Atua Maori_, the +so-called gods of the Maoris. For these beings, he says, "were, with few +exceptions, malignant demons, to be feared and placated or conciliated, +but not worshipped. Their principal task seems to have been the +inflicting upon mankind of diverse evils, pains, and penalties. Of the +few good offices performed by them, the warning of the people in regard +to coming troubles, seems to have been the most important. The vast +majority of the so-called gods of the Maori were simply deified +ancestors."[86] + + [84] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 30 _sq._, _s.v._ "Atua." + + [85] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la + recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 516 _sq._ + + [86] Elsdon Best, "Notes on the Art of War as conducted by the + Maori of New Zealand," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xi. no. 2 (June 1902). pp. 63 _sq._ + +In order to illustrate the difference between the Maori conception of +deity and our own, I will quote the words of another eminent authority +on the native religion of the New Zealanders. He says, "Before the +mythology of the Maori is further considered, it will be necessary +briefly to state what were the ideas of God entertained by the natives. +The word _atua_, or spirit, which is used for God, formerly had various +significations; a plague or disease was also _he atua_, or God; a thief +was an _atua_, thus also a thievish dog was _he kuri atua_, a god-like +dog, so also _he tangata atua ki te muru_, a man equal to a god in +stealing; a child who pilfered was _he tamaiti atua_, a divine child; +there were great spirits and small ones, a man's spirit was an _atua +pore pore_, a little spirit, but Maru Rongomai and other gods were _Atua +nui_, great gods; there were _atua ika_, reptile or fish gods; a great +chief was called _He ika_, a fish, sea monster, or reptile, and was +regarded as a malignant god in life, and a still worse one after death; +there were likewise _Atua marau_, as the _toroa_, albatross, the _ruru_, +owl; and _karu karu_, the film which shades its eye from the light, was +also an _atua_; male and female spirits presided over dreams, and were +regarded as _atuas, Ko nga atua moe moea o te poko_, the gods of dreams; +_Tunui a rangi_, a male, _Pare kewa_, a female deity, both were prayed +to as gods; the _atua kore_ and _atua kiko kiko_ were inferior gods. The +_Atua ngarara_ or reptile gods were very abundant, and were supposed to +be the cause of all diseases and death, being always ready to avail +themselves of every opportunity of crawling down the throat during +sleep, and thus preying upon the lives of unfortunate creatures. _Atuas_ +or spirits of the deceased were thought to be able to revisit the earth +and reveal to their friends the cause of their sickness. Everything that +was evil or noxious was supposed especially to belong to the gods; thus +a species of euphorbium, whose milk or juice is highly poisonous, is +called _wai u atua_, the milk of the gods."[87] "In fact, in the +accounts which the natives give of their gods and their exploits, we +have but a magnified history of their chiefs, their wars, murders, and +lusts, with the addition of some supernatural powers; they were +cannibals; influenced by like feelings and passions as men, and were +uniformly bad; to them were ascribed all the evils incident to the human +race; each disease was supposed to be occasioned by a different god, who +resided in the part affected; thus, Tonga, the god who caused headache, +took up his abode in the forehead; Moko Titi, a lizard god, was the +source of all pains in the breast; Tu-tangata-kino was the god of the +stomach; Titihai occasioned pains in the ankles and feet; Rongomai and +Tuparitapua were the gods of consumption, and the wasting away of the +legs and arms; Koro-kio-ewe presided over childbirth, and did his worst +to unfortunate females in that state. In fact, the entire human body +appears to have been shared out amongst those evil beings, who ruled +over each part, to afflict and pain the poor creatures who worshipped +them."[88] + + [87] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 134 _sq._ + + [88] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 137. + +Anything, indeed, whether good or evil, which excited the fear or wonder +of the Maoris would seem in the old days to have been dubbed by them an +_atua_ and invested with the attributes of divinity. For example, when a +traveller in the early years of the nineteenth century showed his watch +to some Maoris, the ticking struck them with such astonishment that they +deemed it nothing less than the voice of a god; and the watch itself, +being looked upon as a deity (_atua_) in person, was treated by the +whole of them with profound reverence.[89] Other travellers have had +similar experiences among the Maoris,[90] and compasses and barometers +have also been accorded divine honours by these ignorant savages.[91] + + [89] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 254. + + [90] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la + recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 516. + + [91] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118. + + +Sec. 5. _Taboo among the Maoris_ + +But the most momentous practical consequence which flowed from their +belief in the spirits of the dead was the enormous influence which that +creed wielded in establishing and maintaining the system of taboo, the +most remarkable and characteristic institution in the life of the Maoris +and of the Polynesians in general. I shall first give some account of +the taboo or _tapu_, as the Maoris called it, and afterwards show how +this extraordinary system of society and religion was directly based on +a belief in the existence of ghosts and their mighty power over human +destiny. + +First, then, as to taboo or _tapu_ itself. This curious institution, as +I have said, prevailed throughout all the widely scattered islands of +Polynesia, but nowhere to a greater extent than in New Zealand. It +pervaded the whole life of the natives, affected their plans, influenced +their actions, and in the absence of an efficient police provided a +certain security both for their persons and their property. Sometimes it +was used for political, and sometimes for religious purposes; sometimes +it was the means of saving life, and at other times it was the +ostensible reason for taking life away.[92] It may be defined as a +system of consecration which made any person, place, or thing sacred +either permanently or for a limited time.[93] The effect of this +consecration was to separate the sacred person or thing from all contact +with common (_noa_)[94] persons and things: it established a sort of +quarantine for the protection not only of the sacred persons themselves, +but of common folk, who were supposed to be injured or killed by mere +contact with a tabooed person or object. For the sanctity which the +taboo conferred on people and things was conceived of as a sort of +dangerous atmosphere, charged with a spiritual electricity, which +discharged itself with serious and even fatal effect on all rash +intruders. A tabooed person might not be touched by any one, so long as +the taboo or state of consecration lasted; he might not even put his own +hand to his own head; and he was most stringently forbidden to touch +food with his hands. Hence he was either fed like a child by another, +who put the food into his mouth; or he had to lap up his victuals like a +dog from the ground, with his hands held behind his back; or lastly he +might convey the nourishment by means of a fern stalk to his mouth. When +he wished to drink, somebody else poured water into his mouth from a +calabash without allowing the vessel to touch his lips; for mere contact +with the lips of the tabooed man would have rendered the vessel itself +sacred or tabooed and therefore unfit for common use. Similarly, when he +desired to wash his hands, water had to be poured on them from a +distance by his attendant. This state of consecration or defilement, as +we might be tempted rather to call it, was incurred by any person who +had touched either a young child or a corpse or had assisted at a +funeral. The taboo contracted by association with the dead was the +strictest and most virulent of all. It extended not only to the persons +who had handled the corpse or paid the last offices of respect to the +departed; it applied to the place where the body was buried or the bones +deposited. So sacred, indeed, was deemed the spot where a chief had died +that in the old days everything upon it was destroyed by fire. Hence in +order to avoid the destruction of a house, which a death in it would +have entailed, it was customary to remove a sick or dying man to a +temporary shed just large enough to shelter him from the sun or screen +him from the rain; for if the man died in it, the destruction of the +wretched hovel was no great loss to the survivors.[95] A widow was +tabooed and had to observe the aforesaid restrictions from the death of +her husband until his bones had been scraped and deposited in their last +resting-place; and the same rule applied to a widower.[96] These taboos +were temporary and could be removed by a priest, who performed certain +rites and repeated certain spells (_karakias_), and thereby relieved the +tabooed person from the state of sanctity or consecration under which he +had laboured. The performance of the ceremony put an end to the +spiritual quarantine; the man ceased to be sacred, he became common +(_noa_) once more, and could mingle freely with his fellows. One of the +ceremonies of desecration, as we may call it, was to pass a consecrated +piece of wood over the right shoulder of the tabooed person, then round +his loins, and back again over the left shoulder, after which the stick +was broken in two and buried, burned, or cast into the sea.[97] Again, a +temporary taboo was laid on all persons who were engaged in planting +sweet potatoes, or in sorting the seed, or in digging and preparing the +ground; they might not leave the fields where they were at work nor +undertake any other labour. The fields themselves were sacred during +these operations; none but the persons who were tabooed for the purpose +might set foot on the ground or pluck up the weeds which grow rankly +round the roots of the vegetable.[98] Similarly, in their great +fishing-expeditions to catch mackerel, all concerned in making or +mending the nets were under a taboo: the ground where the nets were made +was sacred, and so was the river on the banks of which the work went on. +No man but the tabooed persons might walk over the land or pass up or +down the river in a canoe: no fire might be lighted within a prescribed +distance: no food might be dressed while the taboo lasted. Not till the +net had been finished and wetted with the sacred water, and the owner +had caught and eaten a fish, did these burdensome restrictions come to +an end by the removal of the taboo.[99] Once more, the men who took part +in a warlike expedition were under a severe taboo and had to observe +very strictly the customs which that mysterious state of consecration +rendered obligatory.[100] Even after their return home they were not +allowed to enter their houses or to hold any direct communication with +their families who had remained there, till they had been rendered +common (_noa_) by a ceremony of desecration. Before that ceremony took +place, the warriors were obliged to throw away the remains of the bodies +of their foes on which, as usual, they had been feasting; for being +sacred food the flesh could only be touched by sacred or tabooed +persons. One woman only, the _wahine ariki_, as she was called, that is +the elder female of the elder branch of the stock from which the tribe +traced their descent, was permitted to touch the sanctified meat; +indeed, in order to carry out the ritual of desecration in due form she +was expected and required to swallow an ear of the first enemy killed in +battle.[101] A warlike expedition might lay even people at home under a +taboo; for all who remained behind, including old men, women, and +slaves, were often required to observe a rigid fast and to abstain from +smoking till the return of the warriors.[102] + + [92] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 84 _sq._ + + [93] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 84; R. Taylor, _Te + Ika A Maui_, p. 163. + + [94] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 268 _sq._, _s.v._ "Noa." + + [95] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 85 _sq._; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 163, 164. + + [96] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40. + + [97] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la + recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + iii. 685; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 86; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104 _sq._; Servant, + "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande," _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 23; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 166 + _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 104 _sqq._ The + taboo could be got rid of more simply by the tabooed man + touching his child or grandchild and taking food or drink from + the child's hands. But when that was done, the taboo was + transferred to the child, who retained it for the rest of the + day. See E. Dieffenbach, _op. cit._ ii. 105. + + [98] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85; R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 165 _sq._; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha + Maori, pp. 103 _sq._ + + [99] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 85. + + [100] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 96, 114 _sq._ + + [101] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp. + 68 _sq._ + + [102] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 114 _sq._ + +But in contrast to the temporary taboos which affected common folk and +debarred them for a time from familiar intercourse with their fellows, a +perpetual and very stringent taboo was laid on the persons and property +of chiefs, especially of those high hereditary chiefs who bore the title +of _Ariki_ and were thought to be able at any time to hold visible +converse with their dead ancestors.[103] Strictly speaking, "the _ariki_ +of a Maori tribe is the senior male descendant of the elder branch of +the tribe, that is, he is a descendant of the elder son of the elder son +of each generation from the time of the original ancestor down to the +present day. As such, he was of old regarded almost as a god, inasmuch +as he represented all that there was of _m[)a]na_ and sacredness of his +tribe. That he should have been regarded in this light is not +astonishing, for the Maoris believed he was something more than human, +in that he was the shrine of an hereditary _Atua_, the guardian spirit +of the tribe, and could therefore at any time communicate with the +tribal gods.... Such a man was not only _tapu_ in person but he made +everything he touched so dangerously sacred as to be a source of terror +to the tribe. To smoke his pipe, or drink from any vessel he had +touched, was death speedy and certain at the hands of the gods, who +avenge breaches of the _tapu_."[104] "The gods being no more than +deceased chiefs, the _arikis_ were regarded as living ones, and thus +were not to be killed by inferior men, but only by those who had more +powerful _atuas_ in them; the victorious chief who had slain numbers, +swallowed their eyes, and drunk their blood, was supposed to have added +the spirits of his victims to his own, and thus increased his _mana_ or +power; to keep up this idea, and hinder the lower orders from trying +whether it were possible to kill such corporeal and living gods, was the +grand work of the _tapu_."[105] The godhead of a chief was thought to +reside in his eyes, especially in his left eye; that was why by +swallowing the eye or eyes of a slain chief a living chief was believed +to absorb the divine spirit of the dead man and thereby to strengthen +his own divinity; the more eyes he swallowed, the greater god he +became.[106] + + [103] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 40, 112 + _sq._, 356; E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, p. 104; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 149, + 164, 212 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 23 _sq._, _s.v._ "Ariki." The word _ariki_ + signifies properly the first-born or heir, whether male or + female, of a family. + + [104] Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, "Maori Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 3 (September 1905), p. + 130. Compare _id._, "The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations of + the Spirit World," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xv. + no. 57 (March 1906), p. 38. + + [105] R. Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui_, p. 173. _Mana_ means + authority, especially divine authority or supernatural power. + See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 203, _s.v._ "Mana"; and for a full discussion of the conception + see Lieut.-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, "Mana Tangata," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xiv. no. 2 (June 1905), pp. 49-66. + "_Mana_ plays a leading part in the ability of a leader, or + successes in war of celebrated warriors. When a man frequently + undertakes daring deeds, which ought under ordinary + circumstances to fail, but none the less prove successful, he is + said to possess _mana_, and thereafter is regarded as one + peculiarly favoured by the gods, and in such cases it is held + that he can only be overcome by some act or default; such as a + disregard or neglect of some religious or warlike observance, + which has been shown by experience to be essential to success in + war, but which our warrior, spoiled by a long career of good + fortune, had come to regard as necessary to ordinary mortals + only and of but little consequence to men of _mana_" (W. E. + Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p. 62). "There were cases in which the + _mana_ of a man depended upon the facility with which he could + communicate with the spirits of departed ancestors, that is, + upon his capacity to enforce the aid and attendance of these + minor deities. To this end every man with any pretension to + _mana_ had a knowledge of certain forms of invocation by which + he could summon the spirits of long departed heroes and + ancestors, but it must not be supposed that these invocations + would necessarily have power in the mouths of all men, for such + was not the case. The efficacy of a _karakia_ or invocation + depended in part on its method of delivery, and in part on the + _mana_ of the man who used it" (W. E. Gudgeon, _op. cit._ p. + 50). Compare R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 172, 173; _Old New + Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 100. + + [106] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 147, 352. The soul was + thought to reside especially in the left eye; accordingly it was + the left eye of an enemy which was most commonly swallowed by a + victorious chief who desired to increase his spiritual power. + See J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la + recherche de la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), + ii. 527; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118, 128 + _sq._ + +Every such divine chief was under a permanent taboo; he was as it were +surrounded by an atmosphere of sanctity which attached to his person and +never left him; it was his birthright, a part of himself of which he +could not be divested, and it was well understood and recognised by +everybody at all times. And the sanctity was not confined to his person, +it was an infection which extended or was communicated to all his +movable property, especially to his clothes, weapons, ornaments, and +tools, indeed to everything which he touched. Even the petty chiefs and +fighting men, everybody indeed who could claim the title of _rangatira_ +or gentleman, possessed in some degree this mysterious quality.[107] +However, in young people of rank the sanctity which appertained to them +by virtue of their birth was supposed to be only latent; it did not +develop or burst into full bloom till they had reached mature age and +set up house on their own account. Hence noble boys and lads were under +none of the irksome restrictions to which in their adult years they were +afterwards bound to submit; they mixed freely with the profane vulgar +and did not even disdain to carry fuel or provisions on their backs, a +thing which no man of any standing could possibly do; at all events, if +he did so demean himself, the food was thereby rendered taboo and could +accordingly be used by nobody but himself. "If he went into the shed +used as a kitchen (a thing, however, he would never think of doing +except on some great emergency), all the pots, ovens, food, etc., would +be at once rendered useless--none of the cooks or inferior people could +make use of them, or partake of anything which had been cooked in them. +He might certainly light a little fire in his own house, not for +cooking, as that never by any chance could be done in his house, but for +warmth; but that, or any other fire, if he should have blown upon it +with his breath in lighting it, became at once _tapu_, and could be used +for no common or culinary purpose. Even to light a pipe at it would +subject any inferior person, or in many instances an equal, to a +terrible attack of the _tapu morbus_, besides being a slight or affront +to the dignity of the person himself. I have seen two or three young men +fairly wearing themselves out on a wet day and with bad apparatus +trying to make fire to cook with, by rubbing two sticks together, when +on a journey, and at the same time there was a roaring fire close at +hand at which several _rangatira_ and myself were warming ourselves, but +it was _tapu_, or sacred fire--one of the _rangatira_ had made it from +his own tinder-box, and blown upon it in lighting it, and as there was +not another tinder-box amongst us, fast we must, though hungry as +sharks, till common culinary fire could be obtained."[108] + + [107] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94. + + [108] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 98. + +The head of a chief was always and at all times deemed most sacred, and +in consequence he might not even touch it with his own hand; if he +chanced to commit the sacrilege, he was obliged at once to apply his +fingers to his sacred nose and to snuff up the odour of sanctity which +they had abstracted, thus restoring the holy effluvium to the place from +which it had been taken.[109] For the same reason the cutting of a +chief's hair was a most difficult and delicate operation. While it +lasted neither the great man himself nor the barber who operated on him +was allowed to do anything or partake of any food except under the +restrictions imposed on all sacred or tabooed persons; to use the +scissors or the shell, with which the operation was performed, for any +other purpose or any other person would have been a terrible profanation +of sacred things, and would have rendered the rash sacrilegious wretch, +who had dared so to appropriate it, liable to the severest punishment. +The severed hair was collected and buried or hung up on a tree,[110] +probably to put it out of the way of common folk, who might have been +struck dead by contact with the holy locks. But apparently the dangers +incident to hair-cutting were by no means confined to chiefs, but +extended to any one who was bold enough to submit his head to the +barber's shears; for one of the early writers on the Maoris tells us +that "he who has had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the +_Atua_; he is removed from the contact and society of his family and his +tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put into his mouth by +another person; nor can he for some days resume his accustomed +occupations, or associate with his fellow-men."[111] The hair of the +first-born of a family in particular, on account of his extreme +sanctity, might be cut by nobody but a priest; and for many days after +the operation had been performed the priestly barber was in a state of +strict taboo. He could do nothing for himself, and might not go near +anybody. He might not touch food with his hands, and no less than three +persons were required to feed him. One of them prepared the food at a +safe distance, took it to a certain place, and retired; a second came +forward, picked up the victuals, carried them to another spot and left +them; finally, a third, venturing into the danger zone, actually brought +the food to the priest and put it into his mouth.[112] + + [109] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; R. Taylor, + _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [110] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104. + + [111] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in + New Zealand_ (London, 1823), pp. 283 _sq._ Compare J. Dumont + d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de la + Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 533. + + [112] Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the Twelfth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 463. + +The atmosphere of taboo or sanctity which thus surrounded Maori chiefs +and gentlemen not only imposed many troublesome and inconvenient +restraints on the men themselves, it was also frequently a source of +very real danger, loss, and annoyance to other people. For example, it +was a rule that a chief should not blow on a fire with his mouth, +because his breath being sacred would communicate its sanctity to the +fire, and if a slave or a common man afterwards cooked food at the fire +or merely took a brand from it, the chief's holiness would cause that +man's death.[113] Again, if the blood of a high chief flowed on +anything, though it were but a single drop, it rendered the thing sacred +to him, so that it could be used by nobody else. Thus it once happened +that a party of natives came in a fine new canoe to pay their respects +to an eminent chief; the great man stepped into the canoe, and in doing +so he chanced to strike a splinter into his foot, which bled. That +sufficed to consecrate the canoe to him. The owner at once leaped out, +drew the canoe ashore opposite to the chief's house and left it +there.[114] Again, a Maori gentleman, visiting a missionary, knocked +his head against a beam in the house, and his sacred blood was spilt. +The natives present thereupon told the missionary that in former times +his house would after such an accident have belonged to his noble +visitor.[115] Even the cast garments of a chief had acquired, by contact +with his holy body, so virulent a degree of sanctity that they would +kill anybody else who might happen in ignorance to find and wear them. +On a journey, when a chief found his blanket too heavy to carry, he has +been known to throw it very considerately down a precipice where nobody +would be likely to light on it, lest some future traveller should be +struck dead by appropriating the sacred garment. Once a chief's lost +tinder-box actually caused the death of several persons; for having +found it and used it to light their pipes, they literally died of fright +on learning the sacrilege which they had committed.[116] Such fatal +effects consequent on the discovery of a breach of taboo were not +uncommon among the Maoris. For instance, a woman once ate some peaches +which, though she did not know it, had been taken from a tabooed place. +As soon as she heard where the fruit had come from, the basket which she +was carrying dropped from her hands, and she exclaimed in agony that the +spirit (_atua_) of the chief whose sanctuary had thus been profaned +would kill her. That happened in the afternoon, and next day by twelve +o'clock she was dead.[117] Again, a slave, a strong man in the prime of +life, once found the remains of a chief's dinner beside the road, and +being hungry ate it up without asking any questions. No sooner, however, +did he hear to whom the food had belonged than he was seized with the +most extraordinary convulsions and cramps in the stomach, which never +ceased till he died about sundown the same day. The English eyewitness +who reports the case adds, that any European freethinker who should have +denied that the man was killed by the chief's taboo would have been +listened to by the Maoris with feelings of contempt for his ignorance +and inability to understand plain and direct evidence.[118] + + [113] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [114] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 101; R. + Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._ + + [115] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165. + + [116] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 164 _sq._ + + [117] W. Brown, _New Zealand and its Aborigines_ (London, 1845), + p. 76. + + [118] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. 95-97. + +In order that a thing should be consecrated or tabooed to the exclusive +use and possession of a chief, it was not necessary that his sacred +blood should flow on it, or that he should merely touch it; he had only +to call it his head, or his back-bone, or any other part of his body, +and at once the thing, by a legal fiction, became his and might be +appropriated by nobody else under pain of violating the taboo which the +chief had laid upon it. For example, when a chief desired to prevent a +piece of ground from being cultivated by any one but himself, he often +resorted to the expedient of calling it his back-bone; after that if any +man dared to set foot on the land so consecrated, the transgression was +equivalent to a declaration of war. In this simple and easy fashion a +chief might acquire anything that took his fancy from an axe or a canoe +to a landed estate, and the rightful owner of the property dared not +complain nor dispute the claim of his superior.[119] + + [119] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New + Zealanders_, p. 111; _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, pp. + 137 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 168. + +Nevertheless in daily life even ordinary people used the taboo to secure +their property or to acquire for themselves what had hitherto been +common to all. For example, if a man found a piece of drift timber, he +could make it his own by tying something to it or giving it a chop with +his axe; he thereby set his taboo on the log, and as a general rule the +taboo would be respected. Again, with a simple piece of flax he might +bar the door of his house or his store of food; the contents of the +house or store were thus rendered inviolable, nobody would meddle with +them.[120] + + [120] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 171. + +It is easy to see that this form of taboo must have greatly contributed +to create and confirm respect for the rights of private property. The +most valuable articles might, we are told, under ordinary circumstances +be left to its protection in the absence of the owners for any length of +time.[121] Indeed so obvious and so useful is this function of taboo +that one well-informed writer supposes the original purpose of the +institution to have been no other than the preservation of private +property;[122] and another observer, after eulogising its beneficent +effects, declares that "it was undoubtedly the ordinance of a wise +legislator."[123] But to say this is greatly to overrate the wisdom and +foresight of primitive man in general and of the Polynesians in +particular; it implies a fundamental misconception of the real nature +and history of taboo. That curious institution was not the creation of a +prudent and sagacious legislator, who devised this system of checks and +restrictions for the purpose of curbing the passions of a savage race +and inducing them to submit to the salutary restraints of law and +morality. It was in its origin, I believe, simply a crude and barbarous +form of superstition, which, like many other superstitions, has +accidentally led to good results that were never contemplated by its +ignorant and foolish votaries. It is thus that in the long history of +mankind things which to a contemporary spectator might seem to be almost +unmitigated evils turn out in the end to be fraught with incalculable +good to humanity. This experience, often repeated, enables students of +the past to look forward, even in the darkest hours, with cheerful +confidence to the future. + + [121] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 97. + + [122] _Old New Zealand_, by a Pakeha Maori, p. 94. + + [123] E. Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 100, + "Ridiculous as this custom of the _tapu_ has appeared to some, + and as many of its applications really are, it was, + notwithstanding, a wholesome restraint, and, in many cases, + almost the only one that could have been imposed; the heavy + penalties attached to the violation of its laws serving in one + tribe, or in several not in actual hostility with each other, as + moral and legal commandments. It was undoubtedly the ordinance + of a wise legislator." Compare G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and + Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 330, "Doubtless this + law is the result of some wise regulation for the protection of + property and individuals, and it has in many things a beneficial + influence amongst a people who have no written or regularly + established code of laws of their own." To the same effect + another authority on the Maoris observes: "The most politic and + useful of all the superstitious institutions of the Maori people + is that which involves the rites of _tapu_. It has always seemed + to me that this institution, with its far-reaching + ramifications, must have been the conception of a very gifted + mind, for, as a governing factor, it is very superior to the + Hindu institution of caste. It must, moreover, have been + initiated during a period of civilisation, to which the + Polynesians have long been strangers, but with which at one + period of their history they were sufficiently familiar." See + Lieut.-Colonel Gudgeon, "The Tipua-Kura and other Manifestations + of the Spirit World," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. + xv. no. 57 (March 1906), p. 49. + +The particular superstition which lies at the root of taboo and has +incidentally exercised a beneficent influence by inspiring a respect for +law and morality appears to be a belief in the existence of ghosts and +their power to affect the fortunes of the living for good or evil. For +the ultimate sanction of the taboo, in other words, that which engaged +the people to observe its commandments, was a firm persuasion that any +breach of these commandments would surely and speedily be punished by an +_atua_ or ghost, who would afflict the sinner with a painful malady till +he died. From youth upwards the Maori was bred in the faith that the +souls of his dead ancestors, jealous of any infraction of the +traditionary rites, would commission some spirit of their kin to enter +into the transgressor's body and prey on a vital part. The visible signs +of this hidden and mysterious process they fancied to be the various +forms of disease. The mildest ailments were thought to be caused by the +spirits of those who had known the sufferer on earth, and who +accordingly were imagined to be more merciful and more reluctant to +injure an old friend and relation. On the other hand the most malignant +forms of disease were attributed to the spirits of dead infants, who +having never learned to love their living friends, would rend and devour +the bowels of their nearest kin without compunction. With these ideas as +to the origin of disease the Maoris naturally did not attempt to heal +the sick through the curative properties of herbs and other drugs; their +remedies consisted not in medicine but in exorcism: instead of a +physician they sent for a priest, who by his spells and incantations +undertook to drive the dangerous sprite from the body of the patient and +to appease the ancestral spirit, whose wrath was believed to be the +cause of all the mischief. If the deity proved recalcitrant and +obstinately declined to accept this notice to quit, they did not +hesitate to resort to the most threatening and outrageous language, +sometimes telling him that they would kill and eat him, and at others +that they would burn him to a cinder if he did not take himself off at +once and allow the patient to recover.[124] Curiously enough, the +spirit which preyed on the vitals of a sick man was supposed to assume +the form of a lizard; hence these animals, especially a beautiful green +species which the Maoris called _kakariki_, were regarded with fear and +horror by the natives.[125] Once when a Maori of Herculean thews and +sinews was inadvertently shown some green lizards preserved in a bottle +of spirits, his massive frame shrank back as from a mortal wound, and +his face betrayed signs of extreme horror. An aged chief in the room, on +learning what was the matter, cried out, "I shall die! I shall die!" and +crawled away on hands and knees; while the other man gallantly +interposed himself as a bulwark between the fugitive and the green gods +(_atuas_) in the bottle, shifting his position adroitly so as to screen +the chief till he was out of range of the deities.[126] An old man once +assured a missionary very seriously that in attending to a sick person +he had seen the god come out of the sufferer's mouth in the form of a +lizard, and that from the same moment the patient began to mend and was +soon restored to perfect health.[127] + + [124] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_, pp. + 30 _sq._, 294 _sq._; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of the + New Zealanders_, pp. 114 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and + Mythology_, 31 _sq._; W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. + 141 _sq._ Most malignant and dangerous of all appear to have + been thought the spirits of abortions or still-born infants. See + Elsdon Best, "The Lore of the _Whare-Kohanga_," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, vol. xv. no. 57 (March 1906), pp. 12-15; + _Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde, + Anthropologischer Theil, Dritte Abtheilung, Ethnographie_, + bearbeitet von Dr. Fr. Mueller (Vienna, 1868), pp. 59 _sq._ Even + more dangerous than the spirits of dead infants were supposed to + be the spirits of human germs, which the Maoris imagined to + exist in the menstrual fluid. See E. Shortland, _Traditions and + Superstitions of the New Zealanders_, pp. 115, 292; _id._, + _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 107 _sq._ As to disease + inflicted by ancestral spirits (_atuas_) for breaches of taboo, + see further J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New + Zealand_ (London, 1817), i. 272 _sq._, ii. 176 _sq._; E. + Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 105, "The breaking of + the _tapu_, if the crime does not become known, is, they + believe, punished by the _Atua_, who inflicts disease upon the + criminal; if discovered, it is punished by him whom it regards, + and often becomes the cause of war." + + [125] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in + New Zealand_ (London, 1823), p. 320; J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de la Perouse, + Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 517; W. Yate, _An + Account of New Zealand_, pp. 141 _sq._; E. Dieffenbach, _Travels + in New Zealand_, ii. 117; Elsdon Best, "Maori Medical Lore," + _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, vol. xiii. no. 4 (December + 1904), p. 228. As to the superstitious veneration of lizards + among the peoples of the Malay-Polynesian stock, see G. A. + Wilken, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iv. 125 + _sqq._ + + [126] G. F. Angas, _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New + Zealand_, ii. 67. + + [127] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 142. + + +Sec. 6. _Conclusion_ + +If now we attempt to sum up the effects which the belief in human +immortality exercised on the life of the Maoris we may perhaps conclude +that these effects were partly good and partly evil. On the one hand by +ascribing to the chiefs the special protection of the powerful spirits +of the dead, it invested the governing class with a degree of authority +to which on merely natural or rational grounds they could have laid no +claim; hence it tended to strengthen the respect for government and to +ensure the maintenance of law and order. Moreover, by lending a +supernatural sanction to the rights of private property among all +classes it further contributed to abolish one of the most fruitful +sources of discord and crime in the community and thereby to foster +economic progress, which cannot exist without some measure of peace and +security for life and possessions. These were great gains, and so far as +the faith in immortality helped to win them for the Maoris, it certainly +ameliorated their condition and furthered the cause of civilisation +among them. But on the other hand the belief in the essential malignancy +of the spirits of the dead and in their great power to harm the living +added a host of purely imaginary terrors to the real evils with which +man's existence on earth is naturally and inevitably encompassed: it +imposed a regular system of needless and vexatious restrictions on +social intercourse and the simplest acts of daily life; and it erected +an almost insuperable barrier to the growth of science, and particularly +of that beneficent branch of science which has for its object the +alleviation of human suffering, since by concentrating the whole +attention of the people on a false and absurd theory of supernatural +agency it diverted them from that fruitful investigation of natural +causes which alone can strengthen and extend man's control over matter. +This was a heavy toll to pay for the advantages incidental to a belief +in immortality; and if we were asked to strike a balance between the +good and the evil which that belief entailed on the Maoris, we might +well hesitate to say to which side the scales of judgment should +incline. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE TONGANS + + +Sec. 1. _The Tonga or Friendly Islands_ + +The Tonga or Friendly Islands form an archipelago of about a hundred +small islands situated in the South Pacific, between 18 deg. and 22 deg. South +latitude and between 173 deg. and 176 deg. East longitude. The archipelago falls +into three groups of islands, which lie roughly north and south of each +other. The southern is the Tonga group, the central is the Haabai or +Haapai group, and the northern is the Vavau group. In the southern group +the principal islands are Tongataboo and Eua; in the central group, +Namuka and Lifuka (Lefooga); in the northern group, Vavau. The largest +island of the archipelago, Tongataboo, is about twenty-two miles long by +eight miles wide; next to it in importance are Vavau and Eua, and there +are seven or eight other islands not less than five miles in length. The +rest are mere islets. Most of the islands are surrounded by dangerous +coral reefs, and though the soil is deep and very fertile, there is a +great lack of flowing water; running streams are almost unknown. Most of +the islands consist of coral and are very low; the highest point of +Tongataboo is only about sixty feet above the level of the sea.[1] +However, some of the islands are lofty and of volcanic formation. When +Captain Cook visited the islands in 1773 and 1777 there was apparently +only one active volcano in the archipelago; it was situated in the small +island of Tufoa, which lies to the west of Namuka. Cook saw the island +smoking at the distance of ten leagues, and was told by the natives that +it had never ceased smoking in their memory, nor had they any tradition +of its inactivity.[2] In the hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since Cook's time volcanic action has greatly increased in the +archipelago. A considerable eruption took place at Tufoa in 1885: the +small but lofty island of Kao (5000 feet high) has repeatedly been in +eruption: the once fertile and populous island of Amargura, or +Funua-lai, in about 18 deg. South latitude, was suddenly devastated in 1846 +or 1847 by a terrific eruption, which reduced it to a huge mass of lava +and burnt sand, without a leaf or blade of grass of any kind. Warned by +violent earthquakes, which preceded the explosion, the inhabitants +escaped in time to Vavau. The roar of the volcano was heard one hundred +and thirty miles off; and an American ship sailed through a shower of +ashes, rolling like great volumes of smoke, for forty miles. For months +afterwards the glare of the tremendous fires was visible night after +night in the island of Vavau, situated forty miles away.[3] Another +dreadful eruption occurred on the 24th of June 1853, in Niua Fooeu, an +island about two hundred miles to the north-north-west of Funua-lai. The +entire island seems to be the circular ridge of an ancient and vast +volcano, of which the crater is occupied by a lake of clear calm water. +On the occasion in question the earth was rent in the centre of a native +village; the flames of a new volcano burst forth from the fissure, +belching a sea of molten lava, under which ten miles of country, once +covered with the richest verdure, have been encased in solid rock, +averaging from eight to fifteen feet in thickness. The lake boiled like +a cauldron, and long after the more powerful action of the volcano had +ceased, the waters of the lake were often rent by tongues of flame, +which shot up from them as well as from the clefts in the surrounding +precipices.[4] In the island of Late, lying to the west of Vavau, a new +volcano broke out with great violence in 1854; the roar of the volcano +was heard at Lifuka, fifty miles away; the immense pillar of smoke was +visible by day and the fire by night. The central portion of one side of +the mountain (about 2500 feet high) was completely blown out by the +explosion.[5] + + [1] Horatio Hale, _U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 4 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) pp. 497, 499. As + to the scarcity of running water, see Captain James Cook, + _Voyages_ (London, 1809), iii. 206, v. 389. He was told that + there was a running stream on the high island of Kao. As to the + soil of Tongataboo, see Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage + to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1899), p. 280, "The soil + is everywhere prolific, and consists of a fine rich mould, upon + an average about fourteen or fifteen inches deep, free from + stones, except near the beach, where coral rocks appear above + the surface. Beneath this mould is a red loam four or five + inches thick; next is a very strong blue clay in small + quantities; and in some places has been found a black earth, + which emits a very fragrant smell resembling bergamot, but it + soon evaporates when exposed to the air." + + [2] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 277. For descriptions of + the volcano see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, Second Edition + (London, 1818), i. 240 _sq._; and especially Thomas West, _Ten + Years in South-Eastern Polynesia_ (London, 1865), pp. 89 _sqq._ + Both these writers ascended the volcano. + + [3] Thomas West, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine, + _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ + (London, 1853), p. 120; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. + p. 497. + + [4] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 82 _sqq._; George Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 4 _sq._ + + [5] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 88 _sq._ + +But not only have new volcanoes appeared or long extinct volcanoes +resumed their activity within the last century in the existing islands, +new islands have been formed by volcanic action. One such island, +emitting volumes of fire, smoke, and steam, issued from the surface of +the sea, and was discovered by the missionary ship _John Wesley_ in +August 1857; its appearance had been heralded some years before by a +strange agitation of the sea and by fire and smoke ascending from the +water. This new volcanic island lies about midway between the two other +volcanic islands of Tufoa and Late.[6] A third new volcanic island seems +to have been formed to the south of Tufoa in 1886.[7] Another new island +was thrown up from the sea about the beginning of the twentieth century; +it was partly washed away again, but has again materially increased in +size.[8] It is noteworthy that the volcanoes, new or old, all occur in a +line running roughly north and south at a considerable distance to the +west of, but parallel to, the main body of the Tongan archipelago. They +clearly indicate the existence of submarine volcanic action on a great +scale. Even in the coralline islands traces of volcanic agency have come +to light in the shape of pumice-stones, which have been dug out of the +solid coral rock at considerable depths.[9] In the lofty island of Eua +an extensive dyke of basalt is found inland underlying the coral +formation.[10] + + [6] T. West, _op. cit._ pp. 92-93. + + [7] I infer this from the entry "Volcanic island, 1886," in Mr. + Guillemard's map of the Pacific Islands. He does not mention it + in the text (_Australasia_, ii. p. 497). + + [8] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 6. + + [9] T. West, _op. cit._ p. 94. + + [10] George Brown, _op. cit._ p. 4. + +These facts lend some countenance to the view that the whole archipelago +forms the summit or visible ridge of a long chain of submarine +volcanoes, and that the islands, even those of coralline formation, have +been raised to their present level by volcanic action.[11] That very +acute observer, Captain Cook, or one of the naturalists of the +expedition, noticed that in the highest parts of Tongataboo, which he +estimated roughly at a hundred feet above sea-level, he often met with +"the same coral rock, which is found at the shore, projecting above the +surface, and perforated and cut into all those inequalities which are +usually seen in rocks that lie within the wash of the tide."[12] Again, +on ascending the comparatively lofty island of Eua, Captain Cook +observes: "We were now about two or three hundred feet above the level +of the sea, and yet, even here, the coral was perforated into all the +holes and inequalities which usually diversify the surface of this +substance within the reach of the tide. Indeed, we found the same coral +till we began to approach the summits of the highest hills; and, it was +remarkable, that these were chiefly composed of a yellowish, soft, sandy +stone."[13] In the island of Vavau it was remarked by Captain Waldegrave +that the coral rock rises many feet above the present level of the sea, +and he adds: "The action of fire is visible on it, and we saw several +instances of its crystallisation."[14] + + [11] T. West, _op. cit._ 95. + + [12] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 344. + + [13] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 381. + + [14] Captain the Hon. W. Waldegrave, R.N., "Extracts from a + Private Journal," _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, + iii. (1833) p. 193. + +The view that even the coralline islands of the Tongan archipelago have +been elevated by volcanic agency is not necessarily inconsistent with +Darwin's theory that coral reefs are formed during periods of +subsidence, not of elevation;[15] for it is quite possible that, after +being raised ages ago by volcanic forces, these islands may be now +slowly subsiding, and that it has been during the period of subsidence +that they have become incrusted by coral reefs. Yet the occurrence of +coral rocks, bearing all the marks of marine action, at considerable +heights above the sea, appears indubitably to prove that such a general +subsidence has been in some places varied by at least a temporary +elevation. + + [15] Charles Darwin, _Journal of Researches, etc., during the + Voyage of the "Beagle"_ (London, 1912), pp. 471 _sqq._; Sir + Charles Lyell, _Principles of Geology_, Twelfth Edition (London, + 1875), ii. 602 _sqq._; T. H. Huxley, _Physiography_ (London, + 1881), pp. 256 _sqq._ + +In thus postulating elevation by volcanic action, as well as subsidence, +to explain the formation of the Tongan islands I am glad to have the +support of a good observer, the late Rev. Dr. George Brown, who spent +the best years of his life in the Pacific, where his experience both of +the larger and the smaller islands was varied and extensive. He writes: +"I have seen islands composed of true coralline limestone, the cliffs of +which rise so perpendicularly from the blue ocean that the natives have +to ascend and descend by ladders in going from the ocean to the top, or +vice versa. A large steamer can go so close to some of these cliffs that +she could be moored alongside of them in calm weather. It is not at all +improbable, I think, that in these islands we have the two factors in +the formation of islands, viz. subsidence, during which these immense +cliffs were formed, and subsequent upheaval. This is the only way, I +think, in which we can account for these perpendicular cliffs in the +midst of deep blue ocean."[16] + + [16] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), + pp. 13 _sq._ + +I have dwelt at what may seem undue length on the volcanic phenomena of +the Tonga islands because the occurrence of such phenomena in savage +lands has generally influenced the beliefs and customs of the natives, +quite apart from the possibility, which should always be borne in mind, +that man first obtained fire from an active volcano. But even if, as has +been suggested, the Tonga islands formed the starting-point from which +the Polynesian race spread over the islands of the Pacific,[17] it seems +very unlikely that the Polynesians first learned the use of fire when +they reached the Tongan archipelago. More probably they were +acquainted, not only with the use of fire, but with the mode of making +it long before they migrated from their original home in Southern Asia. +A people perfectly ignorant of that prime necessity could hardly have +made their way across such wide stretches of sea and land. But it is +quite possible that the myth which the Tongans, in common with many +other Polynesians, tell of the manner in which their ancestors procured +their first fire, was suggested to them by the spectacle of a volcano in +eruption. They say that the hero Maui Kijikiji, the Polynesian +Prometheus, first procured fire for men by descending into the bowels of +the earth and stealing it from his father, Maui Atalanga, who had kept +it there jealously concealed.[18] + + [17] John Crawfurd, _Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay + Language_ (London, 1852), _Preliminary Dissertation_, p. 253, + quoted by Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_, + pp. 248 _sqq._ But the more usual view is that the + starting-point of the dispersal of the Polynesian race in the + Pacific was Samoa. + + [18] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_ (London, + 1855), pp. 134-137; Le P. Reiter, "Traditions Tonguiennes," + _Anthropos_, xii.-xiii. (1917-1918), pp. 1026-1040; E. E. + Collcott, "Legends from Tonga," _Folk-lore_, xxxii. (1921) pp. + 45-48. Miss Farmer probably obtained the story from the Rev. + John Thomas, who was a missionary in the islands for twenty-five + years (from 1826 to 1850). She acknowledges her obligations to + him for information on the religion of the natives (p. 125). For + the period of Mr. Thomas's residence in Tonga, see Miss Farmer's + book, p. 161. The story is told in closely similar forms in many + other islands of the Pacific. For some of the evidence see my + edition of Apollodorus, _The Library_, vol. ii. p. 331 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 2. _The Tonga Islanders, their Character, Mode of Life, and +Government_ + +Physically the Tonga islanders are fine specimens of the Polynesian race +and generally impress travellers very favourably. Captain Cook, the +first to observe them closely, describes them as very strong and well +made, some of them really handsome, and many of them with truly European +features and genuine Roman noses.[19] At a later date Commodore Wilkes, +the commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, speaks of them +as "some of the finest specimens of the human race that can well be +imagined, surpassing in symmetry and grace those of all the other groups +we had visited"; and farther on he says: "A larger proportion of +fine-looking people is seldom to be seen, in any portion of the globe; +they are a shade lighter than any of the other islanders; their +countenances are generally of the European cast; they are tall and well +made, and their muscles are well developed."[20] Still later, in his +account of the voyage of the _Challenger_, Lord George Campbell +expressed himself even more warmly: "There are no people in the world," +he says, "who strike one at first so much as these Friendly Islanders. +Their clear, light, copper-brown coloured skins, yellow and curly hair, +good-humoured, handsome faces, their _tout ensemble_, formed a novel and +splendid picture of the genus _homo_; and, as far as physique and +appearance go, they gave one certainly an impression of being a superior +race to ours."[21] A Catholic missionary observes that "the natives of +Tonga hardly differ from Europeans in stature, features, and colour; +they are a little sallower, which may be set down to the high +temperature of the climate. It is difficult to have a very fresh +complexion with thirty degrees of heat, Reaumur, as we have it during +four or five months of the year."[22] In appearance the Tonga islanders +closely resemble the Samoans, their neighbours on the north; some find +them a little lighter, but others somewhat darker in colour than the +Samoans.[23] According to the French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, who +passed about a month in Tongataboo in 1827, the Polynesian race in Tonga +exhibits less admixture with the swarthy Melanesian race than in Tahiti +and New Zealand, there being far fewer individuals of stunted stature, +flat noses, and frizzly hair among the Tongans than among the other +Polynesians.[24] Even among the Tongans the physical superiority of the +chiefs to the common people is said to be conspicuous; they are taller, +comelier, and lighter in colour than the lower orders. Some would +explain the difference by a difference in upbringing, noblemen being +more carefully nursed, better fed, and less exposed to the sun than +commoners;[25] but it is possible that they come of a different and +better stock. + + [19] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 401 _sq._ + + [20] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 10, 25. + + [21] Quoted by F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. p. 488. + + [22] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 8. + + [23] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_, pp. 10 _sq._; Charles Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 25; + J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the + Western Pacific_, pp. 116, 155. The naturalist J. R. Forster + thought the Tongans darker than the Tahitians. See his + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1778), p. 234. + + [24] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de la corvette Astrolabe, + Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) p. 229. + + [25] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 155 _sq._; Sarah S. Farmer, + _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 140. + +Intellectually the Tongans are reported to "surpass all the other South +Sea islanders in their mental development, showing great skill in the +structure of their dwellings and the manufacture of their implements, +weapons, and dress."[26] They are bold navigators,[27] and Captain Cook +observes that "nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of their +ingenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, which, in +point of neatness and workmanship, exceed everything of this kind we saw +in this sea."[28] However, the Tongans appear to have acquired much of +their skill in the art of building and rigging canoes through +intercourse with the Fijians, their neighbours to the west, who, though +their inferiors in seamanship and the spirit of marine adventure, +originally surpassed them in naval architecture.[29] Indeed we are told +that all the large Tongan canoes are built in Fiji, because the Tongan +islands do not furnish any timber fit for the purpose. Hence a number of +Tongans are constantly employed in the windward or eastern islands of +the Fiji group building these large canoes, a hundred feet or more in +length, a process which, it is said, lasts six or seven years.[30] The +debt which in this respect the Tongans owe to the Fijians was +necessarily unknown to Captain Cook, since he never reached the Fijian +islands and knew of them only by report, though he met and questioned a +few Fijians in Tongataboo.[31] + + [26] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. pp. 498 _sq._ + + [27] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 264. + + [28] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 197. + + [29] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 263 _sqq._ + + [30] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 132. + + [31] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 396 _sq._ + +When Captain Cook visited the Tonga islands he found the land almost +everywhere in a high state of cultivation. He says that "cultivated +roots and fruits being their principal support, this requires their +constant attention to agriculture, which they pursue very diligently, +and seem to have brought almost to as great perfection as circumstances +will permit."[32] The plants which they chiefly cultivated and which +furnished them with their staple foods were yams and plantains. These +were disposed in plantations enclosed by neat fences of reeds about six +feet high and intersected by good smooth roads or lanes, which were +shaded from the scorching sun by fruit-trees.[33] Walking on one of +these roads Cook tells us, "I thought I was transported into the most +fertile plains in Europe. There was not an inch of waste ground; the +roads occupied no more space than was absolutely necessary; the fences +did not take up above four inches each; and even this was not wholly +lost, for in many places were planted some useful trees or plants. It +was everywhere the same; change of place altered not the scene. Nature, +assisted by a little art, nowhere appears in more splendour than at this +isle."[34] Interspersed among these plantations irregularly were +bread-fruit trees and coco-nut palms, of which the palms in particular, +raising their tufted heads in air above the sea of perpetual verdure, +formed a pleasing ornament of the landscape.[35] There were no towns or +villages; most of the houses were built in the plantations, generally +surrounded by trees or ornamental shrubs, whose fragrancy perfumed the +air.[36] + + [32] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 411 _sq._ + + [33] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184, 195, v. 274, 316, + 357, 416. + + [34] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184. + + [35] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 274, 357. + + [36] _Id._ iii. 196. + +When Captain Cook surveyed this rich and beautiful country, the islands +were and had long been at peace, so that the natives were able to devote +themselves without distraction to the labour of tilling the soil and +providing in other ways for the necessities of life. Unhappily shortly +after his visit to the islands wars broke out among the inhabitants and +continued to rage more or less intermittently for many years. Even the +introduction of Christianity in the early part of the nineteenth +century, far from assuaging the strife, only added bitterness to it by +furnishing a fresh pretext for hostilities, in which apparently the +Christians were sometimes the aggressors with the connivance or even the +encouragement of the missionaries.[37] In consequence cultivation was +neglected and large portions of land were allowed to lie waste.[38] + + [37] This is affirmed by the Catholic missionary, Jerome Grange + (_Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) pp. 15 + _sqq._), and though he writes with a manifest prejudice against + his rivals the Protestant missionaries, his evidence is + confirmed by Commodore Wilkes, the commander of the United + States Exploring Expedition, who on his visit to Tongataboo + found the Christians and heathens about to go to war with each + other. He attempted to make peace between them, but in vain. The + heathen were ready to accept his overtures, but "it was evident + that King George and his advisers, and, indeed, the whole + Christian party, seemed to be desirous of continuing the war, + either to force the heathen to become Christians, or to carry it + on to extermination, which the number of their warriors made + them believe they had the power to effect. I felt, in addition, + that the missionaries were thwarting my exertions by permitting + warlike preparations during the pending of the negotiations." + See Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 7 _sqq._ (my quotation is from p. 16). The + story is told from the point of view of the Protestant + (Wesleyan) missionaries by Miss S. S. Farmer, _Tonga and The + Friendly Islands_, pp. 293 _sqq._ + + [38] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprise in the + South Seas_ (London, 1838), p. 264; Charles Wilkes, _op. cit._ + iii. 32 _sq._ + +Like all the Polynesians the natives of Tonga were ignorant of the +metals, and their only tools were made of stone, bone, shells, shark's +teeth, and rough fish-skins. They fashioned axes, or rather adzes, out +of a smooth black stone, which they procured from the volcanic island of +Tufoa; they used shells as knives; they constructed augers out of +shark's teeth, fixed on handles; and they made rasps of the rough skin +of a fish, fastened on flat pieces of wood. With such imperfect tools +they built their canoes and houses, reared the massive tombs of their +kings; and did all their other work.[39] The wonder is that with +implements so imperfect they could accomplish so much and raise +themselves to a comparatively high level among savages. + + [39] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 199, v. 414 _sq._ + Captain Cook says that the only piece of iron he found among the + Tongans was a small broad awl, which had been made of a nail. + But this nail they must have procured either from a former + navigator, perhaps Tasman, or from a wreck. + +A feature of the Tongan character in which the islanders evinced their +superiority to most of the Polynesians was their regard for women. In +most savage tribes which practise agriculture the labour of tilling the +fields falls in great measure on the female sex, but it was not so in +Tonga. There the women never tilled the ground nor did any hard work, +though they occupied themselves with the manufacture of bark-cloth, +mats, and other articles of domestic use. Natives of Fiji, Samoa, and +Hawaii, who resided in Tonga, used to remark on the easy lives led by +the Tongan women, and remonstrated with the men on the subject, saying +that as men underwent hardships and dangers in war and other masculine +pursuits, so women ought to be made to labour in the fields and to toil +for their living. But the Tongan men said that "it is not _gnale fafine_ +(consistent with the feminine character) to let them do hard work; women +ought only to do what is feminine: who loves a masculine woman? besides, +men are stronger, and therefore it is but proper that they should do the +hard labour."[40] + + [40] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 287. Compare _id._ ii. + 124, note *; Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 410 _sq._ + +Further, it is to the credit of the Tongans that, unlike many other +Polynesians, they were not generally cannibals, and indeed for the most +part held in abhorrence the practice of eating human bodies. Still young +warriors occasionally devoured the corpses of their enemies in imitation +of the Fijians, imagining that in so doing they manifested a fierce, +warlike, and manly spirit. On one occasion, returning from such a +repast, they were shunned by every one, especially by the women, who +upbraided them, saying, "Away! you are a man-eater."[41] + + [41] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194; compare _id._ i. + 317-320. + +The government of the Tongan islanders was eminently monarchical and +aristocratic. A strict subordination of ranks was established which has +been aptly compared to the feudal system. At the head of the social +edifice were two chiefs who bore some resemblance to the Emperor and the +Pope of mediaeval Europe, the one being the civil and military head of +the State, while the other embodied the supreme spiritual power. +Nominally the spiritual chief, called the Tooitonga, ranked above the +civil chief or king, who paid him formal homage; but, as usually happens +in such cases, the real government was in the hands of the secular +rather than of the religious monarch. The Tooitonga was acknowledged to +be descended from one of the chief gods; he is spoken of by Mariner, our +principal authority, as a divine chief of the highest rank, and he is +said to have enjoyed divine honours. The first-fruits of the year were +offered to him, and it was supposed that if this ceremony were +neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon +the people. Yet he had no power or authority in matters pertaining to +the civil king.[42] The existence of such a double kingship, with a +corresponding distribution of temporal and spiritual functions, is not +uncommon in more advanced societies; its occurrence among a people so +comparatively low in the scale of culture as the Tongans is remarkable. + + [42] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sqq._; W. Mariner, + _Tonga Islands_, ii. 74 _sqq._, 132 _sqq._; J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) + pp. 90 _sq._, "_Si tout etait suivant l'ordre legal a + Tonga-Tabou, on verrait d'abord a la tete de la societe le + toui-tonga qui est le veritable souverain nominal des iles + Tonga, et qui jouit meme des honneurs divins_." + +Below the two great chiefs or kings were many subordinate chiefs, and +below them again the social ranks descended in a succession of sharply +marked gradations to the peasants, who tilled the ground, and whose +lives and property were entirely at the mercy of the chiefs.[43] Yet the +social system as a whole seems to have worked well and smoothly. "It +does not, indeed, appear," says Captain Cook, "that any of the most +civilised nations have ever exceeded this people, in the great order +observed on all occasions; in ready compliance with the commands of +their chiefs; and in the harmony that subsists throughout all ranks, and +unites them, as if they were all one man, informed with, and directed +by, the same principle."[44] According to the American ethnographer, +Horatio Hale, the mass of the people in the Tonga islands had no +political rights, and their condition in that respect was much inferior +to that of commoners in the Samoan islands, since in Tonga the +government was much stronger and better organized, as he puts it, for +the purpose of oppression. On the other hand, he admitted that +government in Tonga was milder than in Tahiti, and infinitely preferable +to the debasing despotism which prevailed in Hawaii or the Sandwich +Islands.[45] + + [43] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sq._, 429 _sq._; W. + Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 83 _sqq._ + + [44] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 426. + + [45] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, + Ethnography and Philology_, p. 32. + + +Sec. 3. _The Tongan Religion: its General Principles_ + +For our knowledge of the religion and the social condition of the +Tongans before they came under European influence, we are indebted +chiefly to an English sailor, William Mariner, who lived as a captive +among them for about four years, from 1806 to 1810.[46] His account of +the natives, carefully elicited from him and published by a medical +doctor, Mr. John Martin, M.D., is one of the most valuable descriptions +of a savage people which we possess. Mariner was a good observer and +endowed with an excellent memory, which enabled him to retain and record +his experiences after his return to England. He spoke the Tongan +language, and he was a special favourite of the two Tongan kings, named +Finow, who reigned successively in Tonga during his residence in the +islands. The kings befriended and protected him, so that he had the best +opportunities for becoming acquainted with the customs and beliefs of +the people. His observations have been confirmed from independent +sources, and we have every reason to regard them as trustworthy. So far +as we can judge, they are a simple record of facts, unbiassed by theory +or prejudice. In the following notice of the Tongan religion and +doctrine of the human soul I shall draw chiefly on the evidence of +Mariner. + + [46] Mariner was captured by the Tongans on December 1, 1806, + and he escaped from the islands in 1810, apparently in November, + but the exact date of his escape is not given. See W. Mariner, + _Tonga Islands_, i. 43, ii. 15 _sqq._, 68, 69. + +According to him, the religion of the Tonga islanders rests, or rather +used to rest, on the following notions.[47] + + [47] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 97 _sqq._ + +They believed that there are _hotooas_,[48] gods, or superior beings, +who have the power of dispensing good and evil to mankind, according to +their merit, but of whose origin the Tongans formed no idea, rather +supposing them to be eternal. + + [48] The word is commonly spelled _atua_ in the Polynesian + languages. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z. 1891), pp. 30 _sq._, who gives + _otua_ as the Tongan form. + +They believed that there are other _hotooas_ or gods, who are the souls +of all deceased nobles and _matabooles_, that is, the companions, +ministers, and counsellors of the chiefs, who form a sort of inferior +nobility.[49] The souls of all these dead men were held to possess a +power of dispensing good and evil to mankind like the power of the +superior gods, but in a lesser degree. + + [49] As to the _matabooles_ see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. + 84 _sqq._ + +They believed that there are besides several _hotooa pow_, or +mischievous gods, who never dispense good, but only petty evils and +troubles, not as a punishment, but indiscriminately to anybody, from a +purely mischievous disposition. + +They believed that all these superior beings, although they may perhaps +have had a beginning, will have no end. + +They believed that the world also is of uncertain origin, having +coexisted with the gods. The sky, which they regard as solid, the +heavenly bodies, and the ocean were in being before the habitable earth. +The Tonga islands were drawn up out of the depth of the sea by the god +Tangaloa one day when he was fishing with a line and a hook. + +They believed that mankind, according to a partial tradition, came +originally from Bolotoo, the chief residence of the gods, a fabulous +island situated to the north-west of the Tongan archipelago. The first +men and women consisted of two brothers, with their wives and +attendants. They were commanded by the god Tangaloa to take up their +abode in the Tonga islands, but of their origin or creation the Tongans +professed to know nothing.[50] + + [50] According to a later account, "on Ata were born the first + men, three in number, formed from a worm bred by a rotten plant, + whose seed was brought by Tangaloa from heaven. These three were + afterwards provided by the Maui with wives from the Underworld." + See E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 154. + +They believed that all human evil was inflicted by the gods upon mankind +on account of some neglect of religious duty, whether the neglect is the +fault of the sufferers or of the chief whom they serve. In like manner +the Tongans apparently referred all human good to the gods, regarding it +as a reward bestowed by the divine beings on men who punctually +discharged the offices of religion.[51] + + [51] So apparently we must interpret Mariner's brief statement + "and the contrary of good" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 98). + +They believed that nobles had souls, which existed after death in +Bolotoo, not according to their moral merit, but according to their rank +in this world; these had power like that of the original gods, but less +in degree. The _matabooles_, or ministers of the nobles, also went after +death to Bolotoo, where they existed as _matabooles_, or ministers of +the gods, but they had not, like the gods and the souls of dead +noblemen, the power of inspiring the priests with superhuman knowledge. +Some thought that the _mooas_, who ranked next below the _matabooles_ in +the social hierarchy, also went after death to Bolotoo; but this was a +matter of great doubt. As for the _tooas_ or commoners, who formed the +lowest rung in the social ladder, they had either no souls at all or +only such as dissolved with the body after death, which consequently +ended their sentient existence. + +They believed that the human soul during life is not an essence distinct +from the body, but only the more ethereal part of the corporeal frame, +and that the moment after death it exists in Bolotoo with the form and +likeness of the body which it had on earth. + +They believed that the primitive gods and deceased nobles sometimes +appear visibly to mankind to warn or to afford comfort and advice; and +that the primitive gods also sometimes come into the living bodies of +lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake, hence these animals +are much respected. When the gods thus entered into the bodies of +porpoises, it was for the sake of safeguarding canoes or for other +beneficent purposes. + +They believed that the two personages in the Tonga islands known by the +titles of Tooitonga and Veachi were descendants in a right line from two +chief gods, and that all respect and veneration are therefore due to +them. + +They believed that some persons are favoured with the inspiration of the +gods, and that while the inspiration lasts the god actually exists in +the body of the inspired person or priest, who is then capable of +prophesying. + +They believe that human merit or virtue consists chiefly in paying +respect to the gods, nobles, and aged persons; in defending one's +hereditary rights; in honour, justice, patriotism, friendship, meekness, +modesty, fidelity of married women, parental and filial love, +observance of all religious ceremonies, patience in suffering, +forbearance of temper, and so on. + +They believed that all rewards for virtue or punishments for vice happen +to men in this world only, and come immediately from the gods. + +They believed that several acts which civilised nations regard as crimes +are, under certain circumstances, matters of indifference. Such acts +included the taking of revenge on an enemy and the killing of a servant +who had given provocation, or indeed the killing of anybody else, always +provided that the victim were not a very superior chief or noble. +Further, among indifferent acts was reckoned rape, unless it were +committed on a married woman or on one whom the offender was bound to +respect on the score of her superior rank. Finally, the list of venial +offences included theft, unless the stolen object were consecrated +property; for in that case the action became sacrilege and was, as we +shall see presently, a very serious crime. + +They believed that omens are the direct intimations of the future +vouchsafed by the gods to men. "Charms or superstitious ceremonies to +bring evil upon any one are considered for the most part infallible, as +being generally effective means to dispose the gods to accord with the +curse or evil wish of the malevolent invoker; to perform these charms is +considered cowardly and unmanly, but does not constitute a crime."[52] +One such charm consisted in hiding on a grave (_fytoca_) some portion of +the wearing apparel of an inferior relation of the deceased. The person +whose garment was so hidden was believed to sicken and die. An equally +effectual way of working the charm and ensuring the death of the victim +was to bury the garment in the house consecrated to the tutelary god of +the family. But when a grave was made use of for the malignant purpose, +it was thought essential that the deceased should be of a rank superior +to that of the person against whom the charm was directed; otherwise it +was supposed that the charm would have no effect.[53] In either case the +fatal result was clearly held to be brought about by the power of the +ghost or of the god, who used the garment as an instrument for putting +the charm in operation. These charms or superstitious ceremonies are +what we should now call magical rites, and they were apparently supposed +to effect their purpose indirectly by constraining the gods to carry out +the malevolent intention of the magician. If I am right in so +interpreting them, we seem driven to conclude that in Tonga magic was +supposed to be ineffectual without the co-operation of the gods, +although its power to compel them was deemed for the most part +irresistible. Even so its assumed dependence on the consent, albeit the +reluctant consent, of the deities implies a certain decadence of magic +and a growing predominance of religion. Moreover, the moral reprehension +of such practices for the injury of enemies is another sign that among +the Tongans magic was being relegated to that position of a black art +which it generally occupies among more civilised peoples. Be that as it +may, certain it is that we hear extremely little about the practice of +magic among the Tongans. + + [52] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101. + + [53] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 424, note *. + + +Sec. 4. _The Primary or Non-human Gods_ + +Such are, or rather used to be, the principal articles of the old Tongan +creed. We may now examine some of them a little more at large. But first +we may observe that on this showing the Tongans were an eminently +religious people. They traced all the good and ill in human affairs to +the direct intervention of the gods, who rewarded or punished mankind +for their deeds in this life, bestowing the reward or inflicting the +punishment in the present world and not deferring either to a distant +and more or less uncertain future in a world beyond the grave. Thus with +the Tongans the fear of the gods was a powerful incentive to lead a +virtuous life; morality was placed under the immediate guardianship of +the deities. It is true that according to their notions morality +consisted largely in the performance of religious ceremonies, but it was +by no means limited to a simple observance of the prescribed rites; for +we have seen that their conception of a virtuous life included +compliance with the dictates of justice, modesty, and friendship, the +fidelity of wives to their husbands, the mutual affection of parents and +children, patience in suffering, and other modes of conduct which we too +should not hesitate to rank among the virtues. + +When we consider the nature of the Tongan gods, we perceive that they +are sharply discriminated into two classes, namely, the primitive and +superior gods on the one side and the secondary and inferior gods on the +other side. The primitive and superior gods are those who have always +been gods and whose origin and beginning are unknown; the secondary and +inferior gods are the souls of dead men, who consequently have not +always been gods, because they were human beings before death elevated +them to the rank of deities. The distinction between these two classes +of gods is highly important, not merely for Tongan religion in +particular, but for the history of religion in general. For whatever we +may think of Euhemerism as a universal explanation of the gods, there +can be no doubt that in many lands the ranks of the celestial hierarchy +have been largely recruited by the ghosts of men of flesh and blood. But +there appears to be a general tendency to allow the origin of the human +gods to fall into the background and to confuse them with the true +original deities, who from the beginning have always been deities and +nothing else. The tendency may sometimes be accentuated by a deliberate +desire to cast a veil over the humble birth and modest beginning of +these now worshipful beings; but probably the obliteration of the +distinction between the two classes of divinities is usually a simple +result of oblivion and the lapse of time. Once a man is dead, his +figure, which bulked so large and so clear to his contemporaries, begins +to fade and melt away into something vague and indistinct, until, if he +was a person of no importance, he is totally forgotten; or, if he was +one whose actions or thoughts deeply influenced his fellows for good or +evil, his memory lingers in after generations, growing ever dimmer and +it may be looming ever larger through the long vista of the ages, as the +evening mist appears to magnify the orb of the descending sun. Thus +naturally and insensibly, as time goes on, our mortal nature fades or +brightens into the immortal and divine. + +As our subject is the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, +we are not directly concerned with the original Tongan deities who were +believed never to have been men. But since their functions and worship +appear to have been in certain respects closely analogous to those of +the inferior deities, the souls of the dead, some notice of them may not +be out of place, if it helps to a fuller understanding of what we may +call the human gods. Besides, we must always bear in mind that some at +least of the so-called original gods may have been men, whose history +and humanity had been forgotten. We can hardly doubt that the celestial +hierarchy has often been recruited by the souls of the dead. + +The original and superior gods, Mariner tells us, were thought to be +rather numerous, perhaps about three hundred all told; but the names of +very few of them were known, and even those few were familiar only to +some of the chiefs and their ministers, the _matabooles_; "for it may +easily be supposed," says Mariner, "that, where no written records are +kept, only those (gods) whose attributes particularly concern the +affairs of this world should be much talked of; as to the rest, they +are, for the most part, merely tutelar gods to particular private +families, and having nothing in their history at all interesting, are +scarcely known to anybody else."[54] + + [54] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 104. + +Among these original and superior deities was Tali-y-Toobo, the patron +god of the civil king and his family. He was the god of war and was +consequently always invoked in time of war by the king's family; in time +of peace prayers were sometimes offered to him for the general good of +the nation as well as for the particular interest and welfare of the +royal house. He had no priest, unless it was the king himself, who was +occasionally inspired by him; but sometimes a whole reign would pass +without the king being once favoured with the divine afflatus.[55] + + [55] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105. + +Another god was Tooi fooa Bolotoo, whose name means "Chief of all +Bolotoo." From this it might be supposed that he was the greatest god in +Bolotoo, the home of the gods and of the deified spirits of men; but in +fact he was regarded as inferior to the war god, and the natives could +give no explanation of his high-sounding title. He was the god of rank +in society, and as such he was often invoked by the heads of great +families on occasion of sickness or other trouble. He had several +priests, whom he occasionally inspired.[56] + + [56] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105 _sq._ + +Another great god was Toobo Toty, whose name signifies "Toobo the +mariner." He was the god of voyages, and in that capacity was invoked by +chiefs or anybody else at sea; for his principal function was to +preserve canoes from accidents. Without being himself the god of wind, +he had great influence with that deity, and was thus enabled no doubt to +save many who were in peril on the great deep.[57] + + [57] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 106 _sq._ + +Another god was Alo Alo, whose name means "to fan." He was the god of +wind and weather, rain, harvest, and vegetation in general. When the +weather was seasonable, he was usually invoked about once a month to +induce him to keep on his good behaviour; but when the weather was +unseasonable, or the islands were swept by destructive storms of wind +and rain, the prayers to him were repeated daily. But he was not +supposed to wield the thunder and lightning, "of which, indeed," says +Mariner, "there is no god acknowledged among them, as this phenomenon is +never recollected to have done any mischief of consequence."[58] From +this it would appear that where no harm was done, the Tongans found it +needless to suppose the existence of a deity; they discovered the hand +of a god only in the working of evil; fear was the mainspring of their +religion. In boisterous weather at sea Alo Alo was not invoked; he had +then to make room for the superior god, Toobo Toty, the protector of +canoes, who with other sea gods always received the homage of +storm-tossed mariners. However, Alo Alo, the weather god, came to his +own when the yams were approaching maturity in the early part of +November. For then offerings of yams, coco-nuts, and other vegetable +products were offered to him in particular, as well as to all the other +gods in general, for the purpose of ensuring a continuation of +favourable weather and consequent fertility. The offering was +accompanied by prayers to Alo Alo and the other gods, beseeching them to +extend their bounty and make the land fruitful. Wrestling and boxing +matches formed part of the ceremony, which was repeated eight times at +intervals of ten days. The time for the rite was fixed by the priest of +Alo Alo, and a curious feature of the ceremony was the presence of a +girl of noble family, some seven or eight years old, who represented the +wife of Alo Alo and resided in his consecrated house during the eighty +days that the festal season lasted.[59] + + [58] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 108. + + [59] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 205-208; compare _id._ 7, + note *, 108. + +Another god named Moooi was believed to support the earth on his +prostrate body. In person he was bigger than any other of the gods; but +he never inspired anybody, and had no house dedicated to his service. +Indeed, it was supposed that this Atlas of the Pacific never budged from +his painful and burdensome post beneath the earth. Only when he felt +more than usually uneasy, he tried to turn himself about under his heavy +load; and the movement was felt as an earthquake by the Tongans, who +endeavoured to make him lie still by shouting and beating the ground +with sticks.[60] Similar attempts to stop an earthquake are common in +many parts of the world.[61] + + [60] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sq._ Compare Captain James + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ + (London, 1799), pp. 277 _sq._ Moooi is the Polynesian god or + hero whose name is usually spelled Maui. See Horatio Hale, + _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_, + p. 23; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + pp. 233 _sqq._ _s.v._ "Maui." + + [61] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, i. 197 _sqq._ + +Tangaloa was the god of artificers and the arts. He had several priests, +who in Mariner's time were all carpenters. It was he who was said to +have brought up the Tonga islands from the bottom of the sea at the end +of his fishing line;[62] though in some accounts of Tongan tradition +this feat is attributed to Maui.[63] The very hook on which he hauled +up the islands was said to be preserved in Tonga down to about thirty +years before Mariner's time. It was in the possession of the divine +chief Tooitonga; but unfortunately, his house catching fire, the basket +in which the precious hook was kept perished with its contents in the +flames. When Mariner asked Tooitonga what sort of hook it was, the chief +told him that it was made of tortoise-shell, strengthened with a piece +of whalebone, and that it measured six or seven inches from the curve to +the point where the line was attached, and an inch and a half between +the barb and the stem. Mariner objected that such a hook could hardly +have been strong enough to support the whole weight of the Tonga +islands; but the chief replied that it was a god's hook and therefore +could not break. The hole in the rock in which the divine hook caught on +the memorable occasion was shown down to Mariner's time in the island of +Hoonga. It was an aperture about two feet square.[64] + + [62] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 109, 114 _sq._; Horatio + Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_, pp. 24 _sq._ + + [63] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 11; Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga + and the Friendly Islands_, p. 133. According to this last writer + it was only the low islands that were fished up by Maui; the + high islands were thrown down from the sky by the god Hikuleo. + + [64] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 272, ii. 114 _sq._ The + Catholic missionary Jerome Grange was told that the hook in + question existed down to his time (1843), but that only the king + might see it, since it was certain death to anybody else to look + on it. See _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) + p. 11. + + +Sec. 5. _The Temples of the Gods_ + +Some of the primitive gods had houses dedicated to them. These sacred +houses or temples, as we may call them, were built in the style of +ordinary dwellings; but generally more than ordinary care was taken both +in constructing them and in keeping them in good order, decorating their +enclosures with flowers, and so on. About twenty of the gods had houses +thus consecrated to them; some of them had five or six houses, some only +one or two. For example, Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the royal +family, had four houses dedicated to him in the island of Vavau, two in +the island of Lefooga (Lifuka), and two or three others of smaller +importance elsewhere.[65] Another patron god of the royal family, +called Alai Valoo, had a large consecrated enclosure in the island of +Ofoo; he had also at least one priest and was very frequently consulted +in behalf of sick persons.[66] + + [65] W. Mariner, _Tonga Island_, ii. 104 _sq._ + + [66] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii, 107 _sq._ + +To desecrate any of these holy houses or enclosures was a most serious +offence. When Mariner was in the islands it happened that two boys, who +had belonged to the crew of his ship, were detected in the act of +stealing a bale of bark-cloth from a consecrated house. If they had been +natives, they would instantly have been punished with death; but the +chiefs, taking into consideration the youth and inexperience of the +offenders, who were foreigners and ignorant of native customs, decided +that for that time the crime might be overlooked. Nevertheless, to +appease the anger of the god, to whom the house was consecrated, it was +deemed necessary to address him humbly on the subject. Accordingly his +priest, followed by chiefs and their ministers (_matabooles_), all +dressed in mats with leaves of the _ifi_ tree[67] round their necks in +token of humility and sorrow, went in solemn procession to the house; +they sat down before it, and the priest addressed the divinity to the +following purport: "Here you see the chiefs and _matabooles_ that have +come to thee, hoping that thou wilt be merciful: the boys are young, and +being foreigners, are not so well acquainted with our customs, and did +not reflect upon the greatness of the crime: we pray thee, therefore, +not to punish the people for the sins of these thoughtless youths: we +have spared them, and hope that thou wilt be merciful and spare us." The +priest then rose up, and they all retired in the same way they had come. +The chiefs, and particularly the king, severely reprimanded the boys, +endeavouring to impress on their minds the enormity of their offence, +and assuring them that they owed their lives only to their presumed +ignorance of the heinousness of the crime.[68] + + [67] The _ifi_ tree, of which the leaves were used by the + Tongans in many religious ceremonies, is a species of chestnut + (_Inocarpus edulis_) which grows in Indonesia, but is thought to + be a native of America. It is supposed that the Polynesians + brought the seeds of this tree with them into the Pacific, where + it is said to be a cultivated plant. See S. Percy Smith, + _Hawaiki, the Original Home of the Maori_ (Christchurch, etc., + New Zealand, 1910), p. 146. To wear a wreath of the leaves round + the neck, and to sit with the head bowed down, constituted the + strongest possible expression of humility and entreaty. See E. + E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 159. + + [68] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 163 _sq._ + +Another case of sacrilege, which occurred in Mariner's time, was +attended with more tragic consequences. He tells us that consecrated +places might not be the scene of war, and that it would be highly +sacrilegious to attack an enemy or to spill his blood within their +confines. On one occasion, while Mariner was in the islands, four men, +pursued by their enemies, fled for refuge to a consecrated enclosure, +where they would have been perfectly safe. One of them was in the act of +scrambling over the reed fence, and had got a leg over it, when he was +overtaken by a foe, who struck him such a furious blow on the head that +he fell dead within the hallowed ground. Conscience-stricken, the slayer +fled to his canoe, followed by his men; and on arriving at the fortress +where the king was stationed he made a clean breast of his crime, +alleging in excuse that it had been committed in hot blood when he had +lost all self-command. The king immediately ordered kava to be taken to +the priest of his own tutelary god, that the divinity might be consulted +as to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a sacrilege. +Under the double inspiration of kava and the deity, the priest made +answer that it was necessary a child should be strangled to appease the +anger of the gods. The chiefs then held a consultation and determined to +sacrifice the child of a high chief named Toobo Toa. The child was about +two years old and had been born to him by a female attendant. On such +occasions the child of a male chief by a female attendant was always +chosen for the victim first, because, as a child of a chief, he was a +worthier victim, and second, because, as a child of a female attendant, +he was not himself a chief; for nobility being traced in the female line +only those children were reckoned chiefs whose mothers were +chieftainesses; the rank of the father, whether noble or not, did not +affect the rank of his offspring. On this occasion the father of the +child was present at the consultation and consented to the sacrifice. +The mother, fearing the decision, had concealed the child, but it was +found by one of the searchers, who took it up in his arms, while it +smiled with delight at being noticed. The mother tried to follow but +was held back; and on hearing her voice the child began to cry. But on +reaching the place of execution it was pleased and delighted with the +bandage that was put round its neck to strangle it, and looking up in +the face of the executioner it smiled again. "Such a sight," we are +told, "inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and fear +of the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, and its destroyer +could not help exclaiming, as he put on the fatal bandage, _O iaaoe chi +vale!_ (poor little innocent!)." Two men then tightened the cord by +pulling at each end, and the struggles of the innocent victim were soon +over. The little body was next placed upon a sort of hand-barrow, +supported on the shoulders of four men, and carried in a procession of +priests, chiefs, and _matabooles_, all clothed as suppliants in mats and +with wreaths of green leaves round their necks. In this way it was +conveyed to various houses dedicated to different gods, before each of +which it was placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it, +except one priest, who sat beside it and prayed aloud to the god that he +would be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the +heinous sacrilege committed, and that punishment might accordingly be +withheld from the people. When this had been done before all the +consecrated houses in the fortress, the body was given up to its +relations, to be buried in the usual manner.[69] + + [69] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 216-219. As to the rule + that nobility descended only in the female line, through + mothers, not through fathers, see _id._ ii. 84, 95 _sq._; J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, + iv. 239. + +The consecration of a house or a piece of ground to a god was denoted by +the native word _taboo_, the general meaning of which was prohibited or +forbidden.[70] It was firmly believed by the Tongans in former days that +if a man committed sacrilege or broke a taboo, his liver or some other +of his internal organs was liable to become enlarged and scirrhous, that +is, indurated or knotty; hence they often opened dead bodies out of +curiosity, to see whether the deceased had been sacrilegious in their +lifetime. As the Tongans are particularly subject to scirrhous tumours, +it seems probable that many innocent persons were thus posthumously +accused of sacrilege on the strength of a post-mortem examination into +the state of their livers.[71] Another disagreeable consequence of +breaking a taboo was a peculiar liability to be bitten by sharks, which +thus might be said to act as ministers of justice. As theft was included +under the general head of breach of taboo, a simple way of bringing the +crime home to the thief in case of doubt was to cause the accused to go +into the water where sharks were known to swarm; if they bit him, he was +guilty; if they did not, he was innocent.[72] + + [70] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220. + + [71] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194, note *; compare 434, + note *. + + [72] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 221. + + +Sec. 6. _Priests and their Inspiration_ + +Priests were known by the title of _fahe-gehe_, a term which means +"split off," "separate," or "distinct from," and was applied to a man +who has a peculiar sort of mind or soul, different from that of ordinary +men, which disposed some god occasionally to inspire him. Such +inspirations frequently happened, and when the fit was on him the priest +had the same reverence shown to him as if he were the god himself; at +these times even the king would retire to a respectful distance and sit +down among the rest of the spectators, because a god was believed to +exist at that moment in the priest and to speak from his mouth. But at +other times a priest had no other respect paid to him than was due to +him for his private rank in society. Priests generally belonged to the +lower order of chiefs or to their ministers, the _matabooles_; but +sometimes great chiefs were thus visited by the gods, and the king +himself has been inspired by Tali-y-Toobo, the chief of the gods.[73] +The profession of priest was generally hereditary, the eldest son of a +priest becoming, on his father's death, a priest of the same god who had +inspired his deceased parent. In their uninspired moments the priests +lived indiscriminately with the rest of the people and were treated with +no special deference.[74] + + [73] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 80 _sq._ + + [74] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 136-138. + +The ceremony of inspiration, during which the priest was believed to be +possessed by a god and to speak in his name, was regularly accompanied +or preceded by a feast, at which the drinking of kava formed the +principal feature. The priest himself presided at the feast and the +people gathered in a circle round him; or, to be more exact, the people +formed an ellipse, of which the priest occupied the place of honour at +one of the narrow ends; while opposite him, at the other extremity of +the ellipse, sat the man who was charged with the important duty of +brewing the kava. At such sessions the chiefs sat indiscriminately among +the people on account of the sacredness of the occasion, conceiving that +such humble demeanour must be acceptable to the gods. The actual process +of inspiration was often witnessed by Mariner, and is described by him +in his own words as follows: + +"As soon as they are all seated, the priest is considered as inspired, +the god being supposed to exist within him from that moment. He remains +for a considerable time in silence, with his hands clasped before him; +his eyes are cast down, and he rests perfectly still. During the time +that the victuals are being shared out, and the cava preparing, the +_matabooles_ sometimes begin to consult him; sometimes he answers them, +at other times not; in either case he remains with his eyes cast down. +Frequently he will not utter a word till the repast is finished, and the +cava too. When he speaks, he generally begins in a low and very altered +tone of voice, which gradually rises to nearly its natural pitch, though +sometimes a little above it. All that he says is supposed to be the +declaration of the god, and he accordingly speaks in the first person as +if he were the god. All this is done generally without any apparent +inward emotion or outward agitation; but on some occasions his +countenance becomes fierce, and, as it were, inflamed, and his whole +frame agitated with inward feeling; he is seized with an universal +trembling; the perspiration breaks out on his forehead, and his lips, +turning black, are convulsed; at length, tears start in floods from his +eyes, his breast heaves with great emotion, and his utterance is choked. +These symptoms gradually subside. Before this paroxysm comes on, and +after it is over, he often eats as much as four hungry men, under other +circumstances, could devour. The fit being now gone off, he remains for +some time calm, and then takes up a club that is placed by him for the +purpose, turns it over and regards it attentively; he then looks up +earnestly, now to the right, now to the left, and now again at the club; +afterwards he looks up again, and about him in like manner, and then +again fixes his eyes upon his club, and so on, for several times: at +length he suddenly raises the club, and, after a moment's pause, strikes +the ground, or the adjacent part of the house, with considerable force: +immediately the god leaves him, and he rises up and retires to the back +of the ring among the people."[75] + + [75] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 99-101. Compare E. E. V. + Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the Polynesian + Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 155-157. + + +Sec. 7. _The Worship of the Gods, Prayers, and Sacrifices_ + +The worship offered to the gods consisted as usual of prayers and +sacrifices. Prayers were put up to them, sometimes in the fields, and +sometimes at their consecrated houses. On ordinary occasions a simple +offering consisted of a small piece of kava root deposited before a +god's house.[76] But in the great emergencies of life the favour of the +gods was sued with more precious offerings. When the younger daughter of +Finow, a girl of six or seven years, was sick to death, the dying +princess was carried from her father's house into the sacred enclosure +of Tali-y-Toobo, the patron god of the kings, and there she remained for +a fortnight. Almost every morning a hog was killed, dressed, and +presented before the god's house to induce him to spare the life of the +princess. At the same time prayers were addressed to the deity for the +recovery of the patient; but as this particular god had no priest, the +prayers were offered by a minister (_mataboole_), sometimes by two or +three in succession, and they were repeated five, six, or seven times a +day. Their general purport was as follows: "Here thou seest assembled +Finow and his chiefs, and the principal ministers (_matabooles_) of thy +favoured land; thou seest them humbled before thee. We pray thee not to +be merciless, but to spare the life of the woman for the sake of her +father, who has always been attentive to every religious ceremony. But +if thy anger is justly excited by some crime or misdemeanour committed +by any other of us who are here assembled, we entreat thee to inflict on +the guilty one the punishment which he merits, and not to let loose thy +vengeance on one who was born but as yesterday. For our own parts, why +do we wish to live but for the sake of Finow? But if his family is +afflicted, we are all afflicted, innocent as well as guilty. How canst +thou be merciless? Have regard for Finow and spare the life of his +daughter." When despite of prayers and the sacrifices of pigs, the girl +grew daily worse instead of better, she was removed to many other +consecrated enclosures of other gods, one after the other, where the +like fond prayers and fruitless offerings were presented in the vain +hope of staving off the approach of death.[77] + + [76] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 224. + + [77] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 350-360. + +But more precious sacrifices than the blood of hogs were often laid at +the feet of the angry gods. When a relation of a superior rank was ill, +it was a very common practice for one or more of his or her inferior +kinsfolk to have a little finger, or a joint of a finger, cut off as a +sacrifice to induce the offended deity to spare the sick man or woman. +So common was the custom in the old days that there was scarcely a +person living in the Tonga islands who had not thus lost one or both of +his little fingers, or a considerable portion of both. It does not +appear that the operation was very painful. Mariner witnessed more than +once little children quarrelling for the honour of having it performed +on them. The finger was laid flat upon a block of wood: a knife, axe, or +sharp stone was placed with the edge on the joint to be severed, and a +powerful blow with a hammer or heavy stone effected the amputation. +Sometimes an affectionate relative would perform the operation on his or +her own hand. John Williams questioned a girl of eighteen who had hacked +off her own little finger with a sharp shell to induce the gods to spare +her sick mother. Generally a joint was taken off at a time; but some +persons had smaller portions amputated to admit of the operation being +often repeated in case they had many superior relations, who might be +sick and require the sacrifice. When they had no more joints which they +could conveniently spare, they rubbed the stumps of the mutilated +fingers till the blood streamed from the wounds; then they would hold up +the bleeding hands in hope of softening the heart of the angry god.[78] +Captain Cook understood that the operation was performed for the benefit +of the sufferers themselves to heal them in sickness,[79] and the same +view was apparently taken by the French navigator Labillardiere,[80] but +in this they were probably mistaken; neither of them had an accurate +knowledge of the language, and they may easily have misunderstood their +informants. Perhaps the only person in the islands who was exempt from +the necessity of occasionally submitting to the painful sacrifice was +the divine chief Tooitonga, who, as he ranked above everybody, even +above the king, could have no superior relation for whom to amputate a +finger-joint. Certainly we know that Tooitonga had not, like the rest of +his countrymen, to undergo the painful operations of tattooing and +circumcision; if he desired to be tattooed or circumcised, he was +obliged to go to other islands, particularly to Samoa, for the +purpose.[81] Perhaps, though this is not mentioned by our authorities, +it would have been deemed impious to shed his sacred blood in his native +land. + + [78] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._, ii. 210-212; + Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific + Ocean_, pp. 239, 278; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 470 _sq._; Jerome + Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) + pp. 12, 26; Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, + p. 128. + + [79] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 204, v. 421 _sq._ + However, in a footnote to the latter passage Captain Cook gives + the correct explanation of the custom on the authority of + Captain King: "It is common for the inferior people to cut off a + joint of their little finger, on account of the sickness of the + chiefs to whom they belong." + + [80] Labillardiere, _Relation du Voyage a la recherche de la + Perouse_ (Paris, 1800), ii. 151. + + [81] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 79, 268. + +But sacrifices to the gods for the recovery of the sick were not limited +to the amputation of finger-joints. Not uncommonly children were +strangled for this purpose.[82] Thus when Finow the king was grievously +sick and seemed likely to die, the prince, his son, and a young chief +went out to procure one of the king's own children by a female +attendant to sacrifice it as a vicarious offering to the gods, that +their anger might be appeased and the health of its father restored. +They found the child sleeping in its mother's lap in a neighbouring +house; they took it away by force, and retiring with it behind an +adjacent burial-ground (_fytoca_) they strangled it with a band of +bark-cloth. Then they carried it before two consecrated houses and a +grave, at each place gabbling a short but appropriate prayer to the god, +that he would intercede with the other gods in behalf of the dying king, +and would accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the sick man's +crimes.[83] When, not long afterwards, the divine chief Tooitonga, in +spite of his divinity, fell sick and seemed like to die, one or other of +his young relations had a little finger cut off every day, as a +propitiatory offering to the gods for the sins of the saintly sufferer. +But these sacrifices remaining fruitless, recourse was had to greater. +Three or four children were strangled at different times, and prayers +were offered up by the priests at the consecrated houses and +burial-grounds (_fytocas_) but all in vain. The gods remained deaf to +the prayers of the priests; their hearts were not touched by the cutting +off of fingers or the strangling of children; and the illness of the +sacred chief grew every day more alarming. As a last resort and +desperate remedy, the emaciated body of the dying man was carried into +the kitchen, the people imagining that such an act of humility, +performed on behalf of the highest dignitary of the Tonga islands, would +surely move the deities to compassion and induce them to spare a life so +precious to his subjects.[84] The same curious remedy had shortly before +been resorted to for the benefit of the dying or dead king, Finow the +First: his body was carried into the kitchen of the sacred chief, the +Tooitonga, and there placed over the hole in the ground where the fire +was lighted to cook victuals: "this was thought to be acceptable to the +gods, as being a mark of extreme humiliation, that the great chief of +all the Hapai islands and Vavaoo, should be laid where the meanest class +of mankind, the cooks, were accustomed to operate."[85] + + [82] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 208 _sq._ + + [83] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 366. + + [84] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 438 _sq._; compare _id._ + ii. 214. + + [85] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367 _sq._ + +The custom of strangling the relations of a sick chief as a vicarious +sacrifice to appease the anger of the deity and ensure the recovery of +the patient was found in vogue by the first missionaries to Tonga before +the arrival of Mariner. When King Moom[=o]oe lay very sick and his death +was hourly expected, one of his sons sent for a younger brother under +pretence of wishing to cut off his little fingers as a sacrifice to save +the life of their dying father. The young man came, whereupon his elder +brother had him seized, strangled, and buried within a few yards of the +house where the missionaries were living. Afterwards the fratricide came +and mourned over his murdered brother by sitting on the grave with his +elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. In this +posture he remained for a long time in silence, and then departed very +thoughtful. His motive for thus mourning over the brother whom he had +done to death is not mentioned by the missionaries and was probably not +known to them. We may conjecture that it was not so much remorse for his +crime as fear of his brother's ghost, who otherwise might have haunted +him.[86] Morality, or at all events a semblance of it, has often been +thus reinforced by superstitious terrors. + + [86] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 238-240. + +In recording this incident the missionaries make use of an expression +which seems to set the strangling of human beings for the recovery of +sick relations in a somewhat different light. They say that "the prince +of darkness has impressed the idea on them, that the strength of the +person strangled will be transferred into the sick, and recover +him."[87] On this theory the sacrifice acts, so to say, mechanically +without the intervention of a deity; the life of the victim is +transfused into the body of the patient as a sort of tonic which +strengthens and revives him. Such a rite is therefore magical rather +than religious; it depends for its efficacy on natural causes, and not +on the pity and help of the gods. Yet the missionaries, who record this +explanation of the custom, elsewhere implicitly accept the religious +interpretation of such rites as vicarious sacrifices; for they say that +among the superstitious notions of the natives concerning spirits was +one that "by strangling some relations of the chief when he is sick, the +deity will be appeased, and he (that is, the sick chief) will +recover."[88] Perhaps both explanations, the religious and the magical, +were assigned by the Tongans: consistency of thought is as little +characteristic of savage as of civilised man: provided he attains his +ends, he recks little of the road by which he reaches them. An English +sailor named Ambler, who had resided for thirteen months in Tonga before +the arrival of the missionaries, told them, "that when a great chief lay +sick they often strangled their women, to the number of three or four at +a time."[89] Such a sacrifice is more likely to have been religious than +magical; we may suppose that the victims were rather offered to the gods +as substitutes for the chief than killed to recruit his failing strength +by an infusion of their health and vigour. A chief would probably have +disdained the idea of drawing fresh energy from the bodies of women, +though he might be ready enough to believe that the gods would consent +to accept their life as a proxy for his own. It is true that elsewhere, +notably in Uganda, human beings have been killed to prolong the life of +the king by directly transferring their strength to him;[90] but in such +cases it would seem that the victims have invariably been men and not +women. + + [87] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 240. + + [88] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 257. + + [89] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._, p. 278. This Ambler was a + man of very indifferent, not to say infamous, character, but he + rendered the missionaries considerable service by instructing + them in the Tongan language, which he spoke fluently. See + Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 98, 244 _sq._ + + [90] See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Third Edition, ii. 219 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 8. _The Doctrine of the Soul and its Destiny after Death_ + +Thus far we have dealt with the primary or superior gods, who were +believed to have been always gods, and about whose origin nothing was +known. We now pass to a consideration of the secondary or inferior gods, +whose origin was perfectly well known, since they were all of them the +souls of dead chiefs or nobles, of whom some had died or been killed in +recent years. But before we take up the subject of their worship, it +will be well to say a few words on the Tongan doctrine of the human +soul, since these secondary deities were avowedly neither more nor less +than human souls raised to a higher power by death. + +The Tongans, in their native state, before the advent of Europeans, did +not conceive of the soul as a purely immaterial essence, that being a +conception too refined for the thought of a savage. They imagined it to +be the finer or more aeriform part of the body which leaves it suddenly +at the moment of death, and which may be thought to stand in the same +relation to the body as the perfume of a flower to its solid substance. +They had no proper word to express this fine ethereal part of man; for +the word _loto_, though it might sometimes be used for that purpose, yet +rather means a man's disposition, inclination, passion, or sentiment. +The soul was supposed to exist throughout the whole of the body, but to +be particularly present in the heart, the pulsation of which they +regarded as the strength and power of the soul. They did not clearly +distinguish between the life and the soul, but said that the right +auricle of the heart was the seat of life. They took the liver to be the +seat of courage, and professed to have remarked, on opening dead bodies, +that the largest livers belonged to the bravest men, in which +observation they were careful to make allowance for the enlargement of +livers consequent on disease.[91] + + [91] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 127 _sq._ + +They acknowledged that the _tooas_ or lower order of people had minds or +souls; but they firmly believed that these vulgar souls died with their +bodies and consequently had no future existence. In this aristocratic +opinion the generality of the commoners acquiesced, though some were +vain enough to think that they had souls like their betters, and that +they would live hereafter in Bolotoo. But the orthodox Tongan doctrine +restricted immortality to chiefs and their ministers (the _matabooles_); +at most, by a stretch of charity, it extended the privilege to the +_mooas_ or third estate; but it held out no hope of salvation to +_tooas_, who formed the fourth and lowest rank of society.[92] + + [92] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 419, ii. 99, 128 _sq._ + +Mariner's account, which I have followed, of the sharp distinction which +the Tongans drew between the immortality of chiefs and the mortality of +common people is confirmed by the testimony of other and independent +observers. According to Captain Cook, while the souls of the chiefs went +immediately after death to the island of Boolootoo (Bolotoo), the souls +of the lower sort of people underwent a sort of transmigration or were +eaten by a bird called _loata_, which walked upon their graves for that +purpose.[93] The first missionaries, who landed in Tongataboo in 1797, +report that the natives "believe the immortality of the soul, which at +death, they say, is immediately conveyed in a very large fast-sailing +canoe to a distant country called Doobludha, which they describe as +resembling the Mahometan paradise. They call the god of this region of +pleasure Higgolayo, and esteem him as the greatest and most powerful of +all others, the rest being no better than servants to him. This +doctrine, however, is wholly confined to the chiefs, for the _tooas_ (or +lower order) can give no account whatever; as they reckon the enjoyments +of Doobludha above their capacity, so they seem never to think of what +may become of them after they have served the purposes of this +life."[94] One of these first missionaries was a certain George Veeson, +who had been a bricklayer before he undertook to convert the heathen to +Christianity. Wearying, however, of missionary work, he deserted his +brethren and betook himself to the heathen, among whom he lived as one +of them, adopting the native garb, marrying native women, and eagerly +fighting in the wars of the natives among themselves. In this way he +acquired a considerable knowledge of the Tongan language and customs, of +which he made some use in the account of his experiences which he +published anonymously after his return to England. Speaking of Tongan +ideas concerning the immortality of the soul he says that he heard the +chiefs speak much of Bulotu (Bolotoo). "Into this region, however, they +believed none were admitted but themselves. The Tuas, or lower class, +having no hope of sharing such bliss, seldom speculate upon a futurity, +which to them appears a subject lost in shadows, clouds, and +darkness."[95] The missionaries reported to Commodore Wilkes that the +spirits of all chiefs were supposed to go to Bolotoo, while the souls of +poor people remained in this world to feed upon ants and lizards.[96] +With regard to the fate of the soul after death, the Tongans universally +and positively believed in the existence of a great island, lying at a +considerable distance to the north-west, which they considered to be the +abode of their gods and of the souls of their dead nobles and their +ministers (the _matabooles_). This island they supposed to be much +larger than all their own islands put together, and to be well stocked +with all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, always in a high state +of perfection, and always bearing the richest fruits and the most +beautiful flowers according to their respective natures; they thought +that when these fruits or flowers were plucked, others immediately took +their place, and that the whole atmosphere was filled with the most +delightful fragrance that the imagination can conceive, exhaled from +these immortal plants. The island, too, was well stocked with the most +beautiful birds, of all imaginable kinds, as well as with abundance of +hogs; and all of these creatures were immortal, except when they were +killed to provide food for the gods. But the moment a hog or a bird was +killed, another live hog or bird came into existence to supply its +place, just as happened with the fruits and flowers; and this, so far as +they could ascertain, was the only way in which plants and animals were +propagated in Bolotoo. So far away was the happy island supposed to be +that it was dangerous for living men to attempt to sail thither in +their canoes; indeed, except by the express permission of the gods, they +could not find the island, however near they might come to it. They +tell, however, of a Tongan canoe which, returning from Fiji, was driven +by stress of weather to Bolotoo. The crew knew not the place, and being +in want of provisions and seeing the country to abound in all sorts of +fruits, they landed and proceeded to pluck some bread-fruit. But to +their unspeakable astonishment they could no more lay hold of the fruit +than if it were a shadow; they walked through the trunks of the trees +and passed through the substance of the houses without feeling any shock +or resistance. At length they saw some of the gods, who passed through +the men's bodies as if they were empty space. These gods recommended +them to go away immediately, as they had no proper food for them, and +they promised them a fair wind and a speedy passage. So the men put to +sea, and sailing with the utmost speed they arrived at Samoa, where they +stayed two or three days. Thence, again sailing very fast, they returned +to Tonga, where in the course of a few days they all died, not as a +punishment for having been at Bolotoo, but as a natural consequence, the +air of that place, as it were, infecting mortal bodies with speedy +death. The gods who dwell in Bolotoo have no canoes, not requiring them; +for if they wish to be anywhere, there they are the moment the wish is +felt.[97] + + [93] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423. + + [94] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 278 _sq._ + + [95] Quoted by Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly + Islands_, p. 131. As to Veeson, see _id._ pp. 78, 85 _sqq._ The + title of his book is given (p. 87) as _Authentic Narrative of a + Four Years' Residence in Tongataboo_ (London: Longman & Co., + 1815). I have not seen the book. The man's name is given as + Vason by (Sir) Basil Thomson in his _Diversions of a Prime + Minister_ (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 326, 327, 329, 331; + but his real name seems to have been George Veeson. See Captain + James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, + pp. 6, 230. + + [96] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 22. + + [97] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101-103. + +It is said that in order to people Bolotoo the god Hikuleo used to carry +off the first-born sons of chiefs and other great men, whom he +transported to the island of the gods. To such lengths did he go in this +system of abduction that men on earth grew very uneasy. Their ranks +became thinner and thinner. How was all this to end? At last the other +gods were moved to compassion. The two gods Tangaloa and Maui laid hold +of brother Hikuleo, passed a strong chain round his waist and between +his legs, and then taking the chain by the ends they fastened one of +them to the sky and the other to the earth. Thus trussed up, the deity +still made many attempts to snatch away first-born sons; but all his +efforts were thwarted and baffled by the chain, for no sooner did he +dart out in one direction, than the chain pulled him back in another. +According to another, or the same story, the excursions of the deity +were further limited by the length of his tail, the end of which was +tethered to the cave in which he resided; and though the tail was long +and allowed him a good deal of rope, do what he would, he could not +break bounds or obtain more than a very partial view of what was going +on in the rest of the world.[98] + + [98] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 132 + _sq._ As to Hikuleo and his long tail, see also Charles Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23, + "Hikuleo is the god of spirits, and is the third in order of + time; he dwells in a cave in the island. Bulotu is most + remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from going + farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will + admit of." Here the god Hikuleo appears to be confused with the + island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which he resided. Tradition wavers + on the question whether Hikuleo was a god or goddess, "but the + general suffrage seems in favour of the female sex." See E. E. + V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 152, 153. + +In this curious story we may perhaps detect a tradition of a time when +among the Tongans, as among the Semites, religion or superstition +demanded the sacrifice of all first-born sons, a barbarous custom which +has been practised by not a few peoples in various parts of the +earth.[99] + + [99] As to a custom of putting the first-born to death, see _The + Dying God_, pp. 178 _sqq._; and for other reported instances of + the custom, see Mrs. James Smith, _The Booandik Tribe of South + Australia_ (Adelaide, 1880), pp. 7 _sq._; C. E. Fox, "Social + Organisation in San Cristoval, Solomon Islands," _Journal of the + R. Anthropological Institute_, xlix. (1919) p. 100; E. O. + Martin, _The Gods of India_ (London and Toronto, 1914), p. 215; + N. W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking + peoples of Nigeria_, Part i. (London, 1913) p. 12. Compare E. + Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_ + (London, 1906), i. 458 _sqq._ + +The human soul after its separation from the body at death was termed a +_hotooa_ or _atua_, that is, a god or spirit, and was believed to exist +in the shape of the body and to have the same propensities as in life, +but to be corrected by a more enlightened understanding, by which it +readily distinguished good from evil, truth from falsehood, and right +from wrong. The souls dwelt for ever in the happy regions of Bolotoo, +where they bore the same names as in life and held the same rank among +themselves as they had held during their mortal existence. But their lot +in Bolotoo was in no way affected by the good or evil which they had +done on earth; for the Tongans did not believe in a future state of +retribution for deeds done in the body; they thought that the gods +punished crime in this present world, without waiting to redress the +balance of justice in the world to come. As many of the nobles who +passed at death to Bolotoo had been warlike and turbulent in their life, +it might naturally be anticipated that they should continue to wage war +on each other in the land beyond the grave; but that was not so, for by +a merciful dispensation their understandings were so much enlightened, +or their tempers so much improved, by their residence in Bolotoo, that +any differences they might have between themselves, or with the +primitive gods, they adjusted by temperate discussion without resort to +violence; though people in Tonga sometimes heard an echo and caught a +glimpse of these high debates in the rumble of thunder and the flash of +lightning.[100] In the blissful abode of Bolotoo the souls of chiefs and +nobles lived for ever, being not subject to a second death, and there +they feasted upon all the favourite productions of their native country, +which grew also abundantly in the happy island.[101] + + [100] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110 _sq._, 130, 131, 139, + 140. + + [101] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 423. + +A less cheerful picture, however, of the state of souls in the other +world was painted for Commodore Wilkes by the missionaries who furnished +him with information on the native religion of the Tongans. According to +them, the souls were forced to become the servants, or rather slaves, of +the long-tailed deity Hikuleo, whose commands they had no choice but to +execute. His house and all things in it were even constructed of the +souls of the dead; and he went so far as to make fences out of them and +bars to his gates, an indignity which must have been deeply resented by +the proud spirits of kings and nobles.[102] How this gloomy picture of +the fate of souls in Bolotoo is to be reconciled with the bright +descriptions of it which I have drawn from the pages of Mariner and +Cook, it is not easy to say. Apparently we must acquiesce in the +discrepancy. That savages should entertain inconsistent views on the +life after death need not surprise us, when we remember how little +accurate information even civilised peoples possess on that momentous +subject. + + [102] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, iii. 23. The writer here speaks of Bulotu, where he + should have said Hikuleo. See above, p. 89, note^1. + + +Sec. 9. _The Souls of the Dead as Gods_ + +We have seen that according to Mariner, our best authority on Tongan +religion, the souls of dead nobles ranked as gods, possessing all the +powers and attributes of the primary or original deities, though in an +inferior degree.[103] Thus, like the primary gods, they had the power of +returning to Tonga to inspire priests, relations, or other people.[104] +For example, the son of Finow, the King, used to be inspired by the +spirit of Toogoo Ahoo, a former king of Tonga, who had been assassinated +with the connivance of his successor, Finow. One day Mariner asked this +young chief how he felt when he was visited by the spirit of the +murdered monarch. The chief replied that he could not well describe his +feelings, but the best he could say of it was, that he felt himself all +over in a glow of heat and quite restless and uncomfortable; he did not +feel his personal identity, as it were, but seemed to have a mind +differing from his own natural mind, his thoughts wandering upon strange +and unusual topics, though he remained perfectly sensible of surrounding +objects. When Mariner asked him how he knew it was the spirit of Toogoo +Ahoo who possessed him, the chief answered impatiently, "There's a fool! +How can I tell you how I knew it? I felt and knew it was so by a kind of +consciousness; my mind told me that it was Toogoo Ahoo." Similarly Finow +himself, the father of this young man, used occasionally to be inspired +by the ghost of Moomooi, a former king of Tonga.[105] + + [103] W. Mariner, _Tongan Islands_, ii. 97, 99, 103, 109 _sq._ + See above, pp. 64 _sq._, 66. + + [104] W. Mariner, ii. 130 _sq._; compare _id._ pp. 99, 103 + _sq._, 109 _sq._ + + [105] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 104 _sq._ + +Again, the souls of dead nobles, like gods, had the power of appearing +in dreams and visions to their relatives and others to admonish and warn +them. It was thought, for example, that Finow the king was occasionally +visited by a deceased son of his; the ghost did not appear, but +announced his presence by whistling. Mariner once heard this whistling +when he was with the king and some chiefs in a house at night; it was +dark, and the sound appeared to come from the loft of the house. In +Mariner's opinion the sound was produced by some trick of Finow's, but +the natives believed it to be the voice of a spirit.[106] Once more, +when Finow the king was himself dead, a noble lady who mourned his death +and generally slept on his grave, communicated to his widow a dream +which she had dreamed several nights at the graveyard. She said that in +her dream the late king appeared to her, and, with a countenance full of +sorrow, asked why there yet remained so many evil-designing persons in +the islands; for he declared that, since he had been at Bolotoo, he had +been disturbed by the plots of wicked men conspiring against his son; +therefore was he come to warn her of the danger. Finally, he bade her +set in order the pebbles on his grave, and pay every attention to his +burial-ground. With that he vanished.[107] In such dreams of the +reappearance of the recent dead we may discover one source of the belief +in the survival of the soul after death. + + [106] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110, 130 _sq._ + + [107] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 423 _sq._ + +But the gods appeared to mankind to warn, comfort, and advise, not only +in their own divine form but also in the form of animals. Thus the +primitive gods, according to Mariner, sometimes entered into the living +bodies of lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake. Hence these +creatures were much respected. The reason why gods entered into +porpoises was to take care of canoes. This power of assuming the form of +living animals, says Mariner, belonged only to the original gods, and +not to the deified souls of chiefs.[108] In thus denying that the +spirits of the dead were supposed sometimes to revisit the earth in +animal shapes Mariner was perhaps mistaken, for a different view on the +subject was apparently taken at a later time by Miss Farmer, who had +access to good sources of information. She writes as follows: "Bulotu +(Bolotoo) was peopled with the spirits of departed chiefs and great +persons of both sexes; and it was to these chiefly that worship was paid +and that sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed +to act as intercessors with the supreme gods, who were too highly +exalted to be approached by men except in this way. The spirits were in +the habit of revisiting earth. They would come in birds, or in fish as +their shrines. The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel, +shark, whale, and many other animals were considered sacred, because +they were favourite shrines of these spirit-gods. The heathen never +killed any of these creatures; and if, in sailing, they chanced to find +themselves in the neighbourhood of a whale, they would offer scented oil +or kava to him. To some among the natives the cuttle-fish and the lizard +were gods; while others would lay offerings at the foot of certain +trees, with the idea of their being inhabited by spirits. A rainbow or a +shooting star would also command worship."[109] + + [108] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 99, 131. + + [109] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 126 + _sq._ + +This account seems to imply that the spirits which took the form of +these animals, birds, and fish were believed to be the souls of the dead +returning from the spirit world to revisit their old homes on earth. But +even if we suppose that herein the writer was mistaken, and that, as +Mariner affirmed, only the original and superior gods were deemed +capable of incarnation in animal shape, the account is still valuable +and interesting because it calls attention to a side of Tongan religion +on which our principal authority, Mariner, is almost silent. That side +comprises the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, +birds, and fish, regarded as embodiments of spirits, whether gods or +ghosts. This worship of nature, and particularly of animated nature, was +highly developed among the Samoans; it would be natural, therefore, to +find the same system in vogue among their neighbours and near kinsmen +the Tongans, though our authorities on Tongan religion say little about +it. The system may with some appearance of probability be regarded as a +relic of a former practice of totemism.[110] + + [110] See below, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + +In recent years a considerable amount of evidence bearing on the subject +has been collected by Mr. E. E. V. Collocot. He distinguishes the +national Tongan gods from the gods of tribes, clans, and small groups +of allied households; such a group of households, it appears, formed the +ordinary social unit. Indeed, he tells us that there was nothing to +prevent a man from setting up a tutelary deity of his own, if he were so +disposed; he might adopt almost any object for the religious reverence +of his household and himself. Thus there was "a gradation in the divine +hierarchy from gods of populous tribes down to deities the private +possession of a very few."[111] Further, Mr. Collocot found that most of +the gods had sacred animals or other natural objects associated with +them,[112] and that the worshippers were generally forbidden to eat the +sacred animals of their gods. He concludes that "in the period of which +we have information totemism has given way to a more highly developed +polytheism, but there are indications that the development was by way of +totemism."[113] Among the facts which appear to support this conclusion +we may note the following. + + [111] E. E. V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of + the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) pp. 154 _sq._, 159. + + [112] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 160, 161. + + [113] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 159 _sq._ + +There was a great god called Boolotoo Katoa, that is, "the whole of +Boolotoo (Bolotoo)," who had the dog for his sacred animal; while the +deity was being worshipped, a dog lay at the side of the priest. This +god had his principal shrine at Boha in the eastern part of Tongataboo: +the district was of old the centre of government and the residence of +the Tooitonga.[114] Another god, whose name was the King of the tribe or +clan of Fonua (_Tui-Haafakafonua_), had for his sacred animal a lizard, +and for the convenience of his departure, and presumably arrival, a tree +or post was always provided for him to crawl along. A handy post or +tree-stump was a regular part of his temple furnishings.[115] Another +god, whose name signifies "Proud Boastfulness of the Season" +(_Mofuta-ae-ta'u_), had for his sacred animal a great sea-eel, which +dwelt in an opening of the reef opposite the village. This deity used to +take it very ill if anybody appeared on the beach near his abode wearing +a turban or whitened with lime; and should a man rashly disregard the +feelings of the divine eel in these respects, it was believed that the +deity would carry him off to his hole in the rock.[116] Another god, +named Haele-feke, used to manifest himself in the form of an octopus +(_feke_). Whenever an octopus appeared in a certain pool, it was at once +recognised as the god, and the priestess immediately went and awaited +him at the shrine, which seems to have been a small raised platform. +Thither the people presently resorted, bringing bunches of coco-nuts and +coco-nut leaves and earth. The priestess thereupon spoke as in the +person of the octopus, and apparently imitated the creature, presumably +by sprawling in the ungainly manner of an octopus. The worshippers of +this deity abstained from eating the flesh of the octopus, and even from +approaching a place where other people were eating it. If any of them +transgressed the taboo, he was afflicted with complete baldness. Should +any of the worshippers find a dead octopus, they buried it with all due +ceremony in Teekiu, their principal village.[117] The rail bird +(_kalae_) was worshipped by some people, who used to tie bunches of the +birds together and carry them about with them when they travelled; and +the priest had a bunch of the sacred birds tattooed as a badge on his +throat.[118] The clan Fainga'a had for its sacred animal the mullet; and +it is said that young mullets were tabooed to the men of the clan.[119] +A family group in Haapai had the owl for their sacred creature; if an +owl hooted near a house in the afternoon, it was a sign that there was a +pregnant woman in the household.[120] The god of Uiha in Haapai was the +Eel-in-the-Open-Sea (_Toke-i-Moana_); as usual, the worshippers might +not eat the flesh of eels or approach a place where an eel was being +cooked.[121] The clan Falefa worshipped two goddesses, Jiji and +Fainga'a, whose sacred creature was the heron. Jiji was supposed to be +incarnate in the dark-coloured heron, and Fainga'a in the light-coloured +heron. When a pair of herons, one dark and the other light-coloured, +were seen flying together, people said that it was the two goddesses +Jiji and Fainga'a.[122] In the island of Tofua there was a clan called +the King of Tofua (_Tui Tofua_), which had the shark for its god; +members of the clan might not eat the flesh of sharks, because they +believed themselves to be related to the fish; they said that long ago +some of the clansmen leaped from a canoe into the sea and were turned +into sharks.[123] Another god who appeared in the form of a shark was +Taufa of the Sea (_Taufa-tahi_); but in another aspect he was a god of +the land (_Taufa-uta_) and a notable protector of gardens. To secure his +aid the husbandman had only to plait a coco-nut leaf in the likeness of +a shark and to hang it up in his plantation; a garden thus protected was +under a taboo which no one would dare to violate. A Christian, who +ventured to thrust his hand in mockery into the maw of the sham shark, +had both his arms afterwards bitten off by a real shark.[124] Other gods +were recognised in the shape of flying-foxes, shell-fish, and little +blue and green lizards.[125] We hear of two Tongan gods who had black +volcanic pebbles for their sacred objects,[126] and of one whose shrine +was the tree called _fehi_, the hard wood of which was commonly used for +making spears and canoes.[127] The gods of Niua Fo'ou, one of the most +distant islands of the Tongan group, were three in number, to wit, the +octopus, pig's liver, and a large lump of coral. The worshippers of the +two former deities might not eat the divine octopus and the divine pig's +liver.[128] Christianity itself appears not to have wholly extinguished +the reverence of the natives for the sacred animals of their clans. A +much-respected native minister of the Methodist Church informed Mr. +Collocot that to this day he gets a headache if he eats the sacred +animal of his clan, though other people may partake of the creature, not +only with impunity, but with relish.[129] + + [114] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 162. + + [115] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 227. + + [116] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._ + + [117] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 231 _sq._ + + [118] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 161, 233. + + [119] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [120] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [121] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._ + + [122] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232. + + [123] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._ + + [124] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 229. + + [125] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 231, 233. + + [126] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 233. + + [127] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232. + + [128] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239. + + [129] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 160. + +Thus the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, fish, +and birds, presents a close analogy to the Samoan system, as we shall +see presently;[130] and it is not without significance that tradition +points to Samoa as the original home from which the ancestors of the +Tongans migrated to their present abode.[131] On the question of the +nature of the divine beings who presented themselves to their +worshippers in the form of animals, the evidence collected by Mr. +Collocot seems to confirm the statement of Mariner, that only the +primary or non-human gods were believed capable of thus becoming +incarnate; at least Mr. Collocot gives no hint that the worshipful +creatures were supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead; +in other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan worship of +animals was based on a theory of transmigration. + + [130] See below, pp. 154 _sq._ + + [131] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239. + +The statement of Miss Farmer, which I have quoted, that among the +Tongans the souls of the dead were the principal object of worship and +received the most sacrifices, is interesting and not improbable, though +it is not confirmed by Mariner. It may indeed, perhaps, be laid down as +a general principle that the worship of the dead tends constantly to +encroach on the worship of the high gods, who are pushed ever farther +into the background by the advent of their younger rivals. It is natural +enough that this should be so. The affection which we feel for virtue, +the reverence and awe inspired by great talents and powerful characters, +persist long after the objects of our love and admiration have passed +away from earth, and we now render to their memories the homage which we +paid, or perhaps grudged, to the men themselves in their lifetime. For +us they seem still to exist; with their features, their characteristic +turns of thought and speech still fresh in our memories, we can hardly +bring ourselves to believe that they have utterly ceased to be, that +nothing of them remains but the lifeless dust which we have committed to +the earth. The heart still clings fondly to the hope, if not to the +belief, that somewhere beyond our ken the loved and lost ones are joined +to the kindred spirits who have gone before in that unknown land, where, +in due time, we shall meet them again. And as with affection, so with +reverence and fear; they also are powerful incentives to this +instinctive belief in the continued existence of the dead. The busy +brain that explored the heights and depths of this mysterious +universe--the glowing imagination that conjured up visions of beauty +born, as we fondly think, for immortality--the aspiring soul and +vaulting ambition that founded or overturned empires and shook the +world--are they now no more than a few mouldering bones or a handful of +ashes under their marble monuments? The mind of most men revolts from a +conclusion so derogatory to what they deem the dignity of human nature; +and so to satisfy at once the promptings of the imagination and the +impulse of the heart, men gradually elevate their dead to the rank of +saints and heroes, who in course of time may easily pass by an almost +insensible transition to the supreme place of deities. It is thus that, +almost as far back as we can trace the gropings of the human mind, man +has been perpetually creating gods in his own likeness. + +In a pantheon thus constantly recruited by the accession of dead men, +the recruits tend to swamp the old deities by sheer force of numbers; +for whereas the muster-roll of the original gods is fixed and +unchangeable, the newcomers form a great host which is not only +innumerable but perpetually on the increase, for who can reckon up the +tale of the departed or set bounds to the ravages of death? Indeed, +where the deification of the dead is carried to its logical limit, a new +god is born for every man that dies; though in Tonga against such an +extreme expansion of the spiritual hierarchy, and a constant +overcrowding of Bolotoo, a solid barrier was interposed by the Tongan +doctrine which opened the gates of paradise only to noblemen.[132] + + [132] We have seen (p. 70) that according to Mariner the number + of the original gods was about three hundred; but as to the + deified noblemen he merely says that "of these there must be a + vast number" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 109). In his "Notes on Tongan + Religion" (_Journal of the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. + 159) Mr. E. E. V. Collocot remarks: "The number of the gods, + moreover, was liable to constant augmentation by the deification + of the illustrious or well-beloved dead." As a notable instance + he cites the case of a certain chief named Fakailoatonga, a + native of Vavau, who subdued or overran a large part of + Tongataboo. He was a leper, but for a long time did not know the + true nature of his malady. When he learned the truth, he in + disgust buried himself alive, and after his death he was + elevated to the godhead. But in this deification, if Mariner is + right, there was nothing exceptional; as a chief he became a god + after death in the course of nature. + + +Sec. 10. _Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments_ + +On the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that in Tonga the +distinction between the original superhuman deities and the new human +gods tended to be obliterated in the minds of the people. More and more, +we may suppose, the deified spirits of dead men usurped the functions +and assimilated themselves to the character of the ancient divinities. +Yet between these two classes of worshipful beings Mariner draws an +important distinction which we must not overlook. He says that these new +human gods, these souls of deified nobles, "have no houses dedicated to +them, but the proper places to invoke them are their graves, which are +considered sacred, and are therefore as much respected as consecrated +houses."[133] If this distinction is well founded, the consecrated house +or temple, as we may call it, of an original god was quite different +from the grave at which a new god, that is, a dead man or woman, was +worshipped. But in spite of the high authority of Mariner it seems +doubtful whether the distinction which he makes between the temples of +the old gods and the tombs of the new ones was always recognised in +practice, and whether the two were not apt to be confounded in the minds +even of the natives. The temples of the gods, as we have seen, did not +differ in shape and structure from the houses of men, and similar +houses, as we shall see, were also built on the graves of kings and +chiefs and even of common people. What was easier than to confuse the +two classes of spirit-houses, the houses of gods and the houses of dead +kings or chiefs, especially when the memory of these potentates had +grown dim and their human personality had been forgotten? Certainly +European observers have sometimes been in doubt as to whether places to +which the natives paid religious reverence were temples or graves. In +view of this ambiguity I propose to examine some of the descriptions +which have been given by eye-witnesses of the sacred structures and +enclosure which might be interpreted either as temples or tombs. The +question has a double interest and importance, first, in its bearing on +the theory, enunciated by Herbert Spencer, that temples are commonly, if +not universally, derived from tombs,[134] and gods from dead men; and +secondly, in its bearing on the question of the origin and meaning of +megalithic monuments; for not a few of the tombs of Tongan kings and +sacred chiefs are constructed in part of very large stones. + + [133] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110 + + [134] Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i + (London, 1904) pp. 249 _sqq._ + +I will begin with the evidence of Captain Cook, an excellent observer +and faithful witness. He paid two visits to the Tonga islands, a short +one in 1773, and a longer one of between two and three months in 1777. +Speaking of his first visit to Tongataboo in 1773, he writes as follows: + +"After sitting here some time, and distributing some presents to those +about us, we signified our desire to see the country. The chief +immediately took the hint, and conducted us along a lane that led to an +open green, on the one side of which was a house of worship built on a +mount that had been raised by the hand of man, about sixteen or eighteen +feet above the common level. It had an oblong figure, and was inclosed +by a wall or parapet of stone, about three feet in height. From this +wall the mount rose with a gentle slope, and was covered with a green +turf. On the top of it stood the house, which had the same figure as the +mount, about twenty feet in length, and fourteen or sixteen broad. As +soon as we came before the place, every one seated himself on the green, +about fifty or sixty yards from the front of the house. Presently came +three elderly men; who seated themselves between us and it, and began a +speech, which I understood to be a prayer, it being wholly directed to +the house. This lasted about ten minutes; and then the priests, for such +I took them to be, came and sat down along with us, when we made them +presents of such things as were about us. Having then made signs to them +that we wanted to view the premises, my friend Attago immediately got +up, and going with us, without showing the least backwardness, gave us +full liberty to examine every part of it. + +"In the front were two stone steps leading to the top of the wall; from +this the ascent to the house was easy, round which was a fine gravel +walk. The house was built, in all respects, like to their common +dwelling-houses; that is, with posts and rafters; and covered with palm +thatch. The eaves came down within about three feet of the ground, which +space was filled up with strong matting made of palm leaves, as a wall. +The floor of the house was laid with fine gravel; except in the middle, +where there was an oblong square of blue pebbles, raised about six +inches higher than the floor. At one corner of the house stood an image +rudely carved in wood, and on one side lay another; each about two feet +in length. I, who had no intention to offend either them or their gods, +did not so much as touch them, but asked Attago, as well as I could, if +they were _Eatuas_, or gods. Whether he understood me or no, I cannot +say; but he immediately turned them over and over, in as rough a manner +as he would have done any other log of wood, which convinced me that +they were not there as representatives of the Divinity. I was curious to +know if the dead were interred there, and asked Attago several questions +relative thereto; but I was not sure that he understood me; at least I +did not understand the answers he made, well enough to satisfy my +inquiries. For the reader must know, that at our first coming among +these people, we hardly could understand a word they said. Even my +Otaheitean youth, and the man on board the _Adventure_, were equally at +a loss: but more of this by and by. Before we quitted the house we +thought it necessary to make an offering at the altar. Accordingly we +laid down upon the blue pebbles, some medals, nails, and several other +things; which we had no sooner done than my friend Attago took them up, +and put them in his pocket. The stones with which the walls were made +that inclosed this mount, were some of them nine or ten feet by four, +and about six inches thick. It is difficult to conceive how they can cut +such stones out of the coral rocks. + +"This mount stood in a kind of grove open only on the side which fronted +the high road, and the green on which the people were seated. At this +green or open place, was a junction of five roads, two or three of which +appeared to be very public ones. The groves were composed of several +sorts of trees. Among others was the _Etoa_ tree, as it is called at +Otaheite, of which are made clubs, etc., and a kind of low palm, which +is very common in the northern parts of New Holland. + +"After we had done examining this place of worship, which in their +language is called _a-fiat-tou-ca_, we desired to return."[135] + + [135] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 182-184. + +A little farther on, still speaking of his first visit to Tonga, Captain +Cook observes: "So little do we know of their religion, that I hardly +dare mention it. The buildings called _afiatoucas_, before mentioned, +are undoubtedly set apart for this purpose. Some of our gentlemen were +of opinion, that they were merely burying-places. I can only say, from +my own knowledge, that they are places to which particular persons +directed set speeches, which I understood to be prayers, as hath been +already related. Joining my opinion with that of others, I was inclined +to think that they are set apart to be both temples and burying-places, +as at Otaheite, or even in Europe. But I have no idea of the images +being idols; not only from what I saw myself, but from Mr. Wales's +informing me that they set one of them up, for him and others to shoot +at."[136] + + [136] Captain James Cook, _op. cit._ iii. 206. + +Thus Captain Cook and his party were divided in opinion as to whether +the house on the mound, within its walled enclosure built of great +stones, was a temple or a tomb. Captain Cook himself called it simply a +"house of worship" and a "place of worship," but he inclined to the view +that it was both a temple and a burying-place, and in this opinion he +was probably right. The native name which he applied to it, _afiatouca_, +means a burial-place; for it is doubtless equivalent to _fytoca_, a word +which Mariner explains to mean "a burying-place, including the grave, +the mount in which it is sunk, and a sort of shed over it."[137] +Moreover, the oblong square of blue pebbles, which Captain Cook observed +on the floor of the house on the mound, and which he regarded as the +altar, speaks also in favour of the house being a tomb; for Mariner has +described how the mourners brought white and black pebbles to the house +which stood over the grave of King Finow, and how they "strewed the +inside of the house with the white ones, and also the outside about the +_fytoca_, as a decoration to it: the black pebbles they strewed only +upon those white ones, which covered the ground directly over the body, +to about the length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very +eccentric ellipse. After this, the house over the _fytoca_," continues +Mariner, "was closed up at both ends with a reed fencing, reaching from +the eaves to the ground, and, at the front and back, with a sort of +basket-work, made of the young branches of the cocoa-nut tree, split and +interwoven in a very curious and ornamental way, to remain till the next +burial, when they are to be taken down, and, after the conclusion of the +ceremony, new ones are to be put up in like manner."[138] This +description of the house over King Finow's grave agrees so closely with +Captain Cook's description of the house in the _afiatouca_, that we may +with much probability regard the latter as a tomb, and suppose that the +"oblong square of blue pebbles," which Cook regarded as an altar and on +which he laid down his offering, marked the place of the body in the +grave: it was at once an altar and a tombstone. + + [137] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 144, note *. However, in + another passage (i. 392, note *) Mariner tells us that, strictly + speaking, the word _fytoca_ applied only to the mound with the + grave in it, and not to the house upon the mound; for there were + several _fytocas_ that had no houses on them. For other mentions + of _fytocas_ and notices of them by Mariner, see _op. cit._ i. + pp. 386, note *, 387, 388, 392, 393, 394, 395, 402, ii. 214-218. + + [138] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 402. A little farther on + (p. 424, note *) Mariner remarks that "mourners were accustomed + to smooth the graves of their departed friends, and cover them + with black and white pebbles." + +On his second and more prolonged visit to the Tonga islands, Captain +Cook expressed, with more confidence, his opinion that the _fiatookas_, +as he calls them, were at once burial-grounds and places of worship. +Thus he says: "Their _morais_ or _fiatookas_ (for they are called by +both names, but mostly by the latter), are, as at Otaheite, and many +other parts of the world, burying-grounds and places of worship; though +some of them seemed to be only appropriated to the first purpose; but +these were small, and, in every other respect, inferior to the +others."[139] Again, in another passage he describes one of the more +stately of these temple-tombs. He says: "Some of us, accompanied by a +few of the king's attendants, and Omai as our interpreter, walked out to +take a view of a _fiatooka_, or burying-place, which we had observed to +be almost close by the house, and was much more extensive, and seemingly +of more consequence, than any we had seen at the other islands. We were +told, that it belonged to the king. It consisted of three pretty large +houses, situated upon a rising ground, or rather just by the brink of +it, with a small one, at some distance, all ranged longitudinally. The +middle house of the three first, was by much the largest, and placed in +a square, twenty-four paces by twenty-eight, raised about three feet. +The other houses were placed on little mounts, raised artificially to +the same height. The floors of these houses, as also the tops of the +mounts round them, were covered with loose, fine pebbles, and the whole +was inclosed by large flat stones of hard coral rock, properly hewn, +placed on their edges; one of which stones measured twelve feet in +length, two in breadth, and above one in thickness. One of the houses, +contrary to what we had seen before, was open on one side; and within it +were two rude, wooden busts of men; one near the entrance, and the other +farther in. On inquiring of the natives, who had followed us to the +ground, but durst not enter here, What these images were intended for? +they made us as sensible as we could wish, that they were merely +memorials of some chiefs who had been buried there, and not the +representations of any deity. Such monuments, it should seem, are seldom +raised; for these had probably been erected several ages ago. We were +told, that the dead had been buried in each of these houses; but no +marks of this appeared. In one of them, was the carved head of an +Otaheite canoe, which had been driven ashore on their coast, and +deposited here. At the foot of the rising ground was a large area, or +grass-plot, with different trees planted about it; amongst which were +several of those called _etoa_, very large. These, as they resemble the +cypresses, had a fine effect in such a place. There was also a row of +low palms near one of the houses, and behind it a ditch, in which lay a +great number of old baskets."[140] + + [139] Captain Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424. + + [140] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 342 _sq._ + +Between the departure of Cook and the arrival of Mariner the first +Protestant missionaries were fortunate enough to witness the burial of +a king of Tonga, by name Moom[=o]oe. Their description of it and of the +royal tomb entirely bears out the observations and conclusions of +Captain Cook. The _fiatooka_ or burial-ground, they tell us, "is +situated on a spot of ground about four acres. A mount rises with a +gentle slope about seven feet, and is about one hundred and twenty yards +in circumference at the base; upon the top stands a house neatly made, +which is about thirty feet long, and half that in width. The roof is +thatched, and the sides and ends left open. In the middle of this house +is the grave, the sides, ends, and bottom of which are of coral stone, +with a cover of the same: the floor of the house is of small stones. The +_etoa_ and other trees grow round the _fiatooka_."[141] Into this grave, +or rather stone vault, the missionaries saw the king's body lowered. The +stone which covered the vault was eight feet long, four feet broad, and +one foot thick. This massive stone was first raised and held in suspense +by means of two great ropes, the ends of which were wound round two +strong piles driven into the ground at the end of the house. The ropes +were held by about two hundred men, who, when the king's body had been +deposited in the grave, slowly lowered the great stone and covered the +vault.[142] Some years later Mariner witnessed the funeral of another +king of Tonga, Finow the First; and he similarly describes how the tomb +was a large stone vault, sunk about ten feet deep in the ground, the +covering stone of which was hoisted by the main strength of a hundred +and fifty or two hundred men pulling at the two ends of a rope; when the +bodies of the king and his daughter had been laid side by side in the +vault the massive stone was lowered by the men with a great shout.[143] +The number of the men required to raise and lower these great stones +gives us some idea of their weight. + + [141] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 240 _sq._ + + [142] Captain James Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 244. + + [143] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 387 _sq._ + +Thus far we have been dealing only with the tombs of the civil kings of +Tonga. But far more stately and massive are the tombs of the sacred +kings or pontiffs, the Tooitongas, which still exist and still excite +the curiosity and admiration of European observers. The Tongan name for +these tombs is _langi_, which properly means "sky," also "a band of +singers"; but there appears to be no connexion between these different +meanings of the word.[144] The tombs are situated in Tongataboo, not far +from Mooa, the old capital of the island. They stand near the +south-eastern shore of the lagoon, which, under the name of the Mooa +Inlet, penetrates deeply into the northern side of Tongataboo. Beginning +at the northern outskirts of the village of Labaha, they stretch inland +for more than half a mile into the forest.[145] They are of various +constructions and shapes. Some consist of a square enclosure, on the +level of the ground, the boundary walls being formed of large stones; +while at each corner of the square two high stones, rising above the +wall, are placed upright at right angles to each other and in a line +with their respective sides.[146] But apparently the more usual and +characteristic type of tomb has the form of a truncated pyramid or +oblong platform raised in a series of steps or terraces, which are built +of massive blocks of coral. The number of steps or terraces seems to +vary from one to four according to the height of the monument.[147] It +is much to be regretted that no one has yet counted and mapped out these +tombs and recorded the names of their royal or divine occupants, so far +as they are remembered; but a trace of the religious awe which once +invested this hallowed ground still avails to keep it inviolate. A +proposal which Sir Basil Thomson made to clear away the forest and +preserve the tombs was very coldly received; in the eyes of the natives, +professing Christians as they are, it probably savoured of sacrilege. +The ancient custom was to clear the ground about every new tomb, and +after the interment to suffer the tropical undergrowth to swallow it up +for ever. Nowadays no holy pontiffs are borne to their last +resting-place in these hallowed shades; so the forest is never cleared, +and nature is left free to run wild. In consequence the tombs are so +overgrown and overshadowed that it is difficult to photograph them in +the gloomy and tangled thicket. Great _ifi_ trees[148] overhang them: +banyan-trees have sprouted on the terraces and thrust their roots into +every crevice, mantling the stones with a lacework of tendrils, which +year by year rend huge blocks asunder, until the original form of the +terrace is almost obliterated. Sir Basil Thomson followed the chain of +tombs for about half a mile, but on each occasion his guides told him +that there were other smaller tombs farther inland. The tombs increase +in size and in importance as they near the shore of the lagoon, and to +seven or eight of the larger ones the names of the occupants can be +assigned; but the names of the sacred chiefs who sleep in the smaller +tombs inland are quite forgotten. Some of them are mere enclosures of +stones, not squared, but taken haphazard from the reef.[149] + + [144] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._ + + [145] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 86. + + [146] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283 _sq._ + + [147] The tomb described and illustrated by the first + missionaries had four massive and lofty steps, each of them five + and a half feet broad and four feet or three feet nine inches + high. See Captain James Wilson, _l.c._, with the plate facing p. + 284. One such tomb, rising in four tiers, is ascribed + traditionally to a female Tooitonga, whose name has been + forgotten. See (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities + of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 88 n.^2. + + [148] The Tahitian chestnut (_Inocarpus edulis_); see above, p. + 74, note^2. + + [149] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_ + (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 379 _sq._; _id._ "Notes upon + the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological + Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 86. According to an earlier + authority, the Tongans could name and point out the tombs of no + less than thirty Tooitongas. See the letter of Mr. Philip + Hervey, quoted in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of + London_, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 77. + +The tombs were built in the lifetime of the sacred chiefs who were to +lie in them, and their size accordingly affords a certain measure of the +power and influence of the great men interred in them. Among the largest +is the tomb which goes by the name of Telea, though it is said to +contain no body, Telea himself being buried in the tomb next to it. We +are told that, dissatisfied with the first sepulchre that was built for +him, he replaced it by the other, which is also of great size. The most +modern of the tombs is that of Laufilitonga, the last to bear the title +of Tooitonga. He died a Christian about 1840 and was buried in the tomb +of very inferior size which crowns the village cemetery. The most +ancient cannot be dated; but that some are older than A.D. 1535 may be +inferred from the tradition that Takalaua, a Tooitonga, was assassinated +about that time because he was a tyrant who compelled his people to drag +great stones from Liku, at the back of the island, to the burial ground +at Mooa; the distance is about a mile and a half.[150] + + [150] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 86 _sq._, 88 n.^2. As to the legend of the tyrant + Takalaua, see _id._ _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp. + 294-302. + +The first, so far as I know, to see and describe these remarkable tombs +were the earliest missionaries to Tonga about the end of the eighteenth +century. Speaking of the burial ground at Mooa, where lay interred the +divine chiefs whose title was Tooitonga and whose family name was +Futtaf[=a]ihe or Fatafehi, the missionaries observe that "the +_fiatookas_ are remarkable. There lie the Futtaf[=a]ihes for many +generations, some vast and ruinous, which is the case with the largest; +the house on the top of it is fallen, and the area and tomb itself +overgrown with wood and weeds."[151] Later on they had the advantage of +being conducted over the august cemetery by the Futtaf[=a]ihe or +Tooitonga of the day in person, who gave them some explanations +concerning these sepulchres of his ancestors. To quote their +description, they say that the tombs "lie ranged in a line eastward from +his house, among a grove of trees, and are many in number, and of +different constructions: some, in a square form, were not in the least +raised above the level of the common ground; a row of large stones +formed the sides, and at each corner two high stones were placed upright +at right angles to each other, and in a line with their respective +sides: others were such as the brethren describe that of Moom[=o]oe to +be: and a third sort were built square like the first; the largest of +which was at the base one hundred and fifty-six feet by one hundred and +forty; it had four steps from the bottom to the top, that run quite +round the pile: one stone composed the height of each step, a part of it +being sunk in the ground; and some of these stones in the wall of the +lower are immensely large; one, which I measured, was twenty-four feet +by twelve, and two feet thick; these Futtaf[=a]ihe informed me were +brought in double canoes from the island of Lefooga. They are coral +stone, and are hewn into a tolerably good shape, both with respect to +the straightness of their sides and flatness of their surfaces. They are +now so hardened by the weather, that the great difficulty we had in +breaking a specimen of one corner made it not easy to conjecture how the +labour of hewing them at first had been effected; as, by the marks of +antiquity which some of them bear, they must have been built long before +Tasman showed the natives an iron tool. Besides the trees which grow on +the top and sides of most of them, there are the _etooa_, and a variety +of other trees about them; and these, together with the thousands of +bats which hang on their branches, all contribute to the awful solemnity +of those sepulchral mansions of the ancient chiefs. On our way back +Futtaf[=a]ihe told us that all the _fiatookas_ we had seen were built by +his ancestors, who also lay interred in them; and as there appeared no +reason to doubt the truth of this, it proves that a supreme power in the +government of the island must for many generations have been in the +family of the Futtaf[=a]ihes: for though there were many _fiatookas_ in +the island, the brethren, who had seen most of them, said they were not +to be compared to these for magnitude, either in the pile or the stones +which compose them."[152] + + [151] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean,_ p. 252. As to Futtaf[=a]ihe, the Tooitonga or + divine chief of their time, the missionaries remark (_l.c._) + that "Futtaf[=a]ihe is very superstitious, and himself esteemed + as an _odooa_ or god." Here _odooa_ is the Polynesian word which + is usually spelled _atua_. Mariner tells us (_Tonga Islands_, + ii. 76) that the family name of the Tooitonga was Fatafehi, + which seems to be only another way of spelling Futtaf[=a]ihe, + the form adopted by the missionaries. Captain Cook similarly + gives Futtaf[=a]ihe as the family name of the sacred kings or + Tooitongas, deriving the name "from the God so called, who is + probably their tutelary patron, and perhaps their common + ancestor." See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 425. + + [152] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 283-285. The description is accompanied by + an engraved plate, which illustrates the three types of tombs + mentioned in the text. In the foreground is the stepped pyramid, + a massive and lofty structure, its flat top surmounted by a hut. + To the right, in the distance, is seen the square walled + enclosure, with high stones standing upright at the corners of + the walls, and with a hut enclosed in the middle of the square. + In the background appears a mound enclosed by a wall and + surmounted by a hut. Thus a hut figures as an essential part + in each type of tomb. However, Mariner tells us that "they + have several _fytocas_ which have no houses on them" (_Tonga + Islands_, i. 392 note *). + + Top. + ____________ + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | + _____________| + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | + _____________| + | + | 3 ft. 9 in. + | + 5-1/2 feet. | PROFILE OF THE STEPS. + _____________| + | + | 4 feet. + | + | + | + | + +Some thirty years later the tombs of the Tooitongas were visited and +described by the French explorer, J. Dumont d'Urville. His description +is worth quoting. He says: "I directed my steps to the splendid +_fai-tokas_ of the Fata-Fais. As these monuments are essentially taboo, +in the absence of the Tooi-tonga no one looks after their upkeep, and +they are now buried on every side among dark masses of trees and almost +impenetrable thickets. Hence we had some difficulty in approaching them, +and it was impossible for us to get a single general view of the whole +of these structures, which must have a somewhat solemn effect when the +ground is properly cleared. + +"For the most part these mausoleums have the form of great rectangular +spaces surrounded by enormous blocks of stone, of which some are as much +as from fifteen to twenty feet long by six or eight broad and two feet +thick. The most sumptuous of these monuments have four or five rows of +steps, making up a total height of eighteen or twenty feet. The interior +is filled up with shingle and fragments of unhewn coral. One of these +_fai-tokas_, which I measured, was a hundred and eighty feet long by a +hundred and twenty broad. At one of the upper angles I observed a block +of considerable size with a deep cutting in it. I was told that it was +the seat of the Tooi-tonga-fafine[153]; it was there that she sat to +preside at the ceremony of the funeral of the Tooi-tonga. + + [153] The Tooi-tonga-fafine (or fefine) was the Tooitonga's + sister and ranked above him. Her title means "the lady + Tooi-tonga." "Her dignity is very great. She is treated as a + kind of divinity. Her rank is too high to allow of her uniting + herself in marriage with any mortal: but it is not thought wrong + or degrading for her to have a family, and in case of the birth + of a daughter the child becomes the _Tamaha_. This lady rises + higher than her mother in rank, and is nearer the gods. Every + one approaches her with gifts and homage. Her grandfather will + bring his offerings and sit down before her, with all humility, + like any of the common people. Sick people come to her for cure" + (Miss Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 145, + apparently from the information of Mr. John Thomas). Captain + Cook learned with surprise that Poulaho, the Tooitonga of his + time (whom Cook speaks of as the king) acknowledged three women + as his superiors. "On our inquiring, who these extraordinary + personages were, whom they distinguish by the name and title of + _Tammaha_, we were told that the late king, Poulaho's father, + had a sister of equal rank, and elder than himself; that she, by + a man who came from the island of Feejee, had a son and two + daughters; and that these three persons, as well as their + mother, rank above Futtafaihe the king. We endeavoured, in vain, + to trace the reason of this singular pre-eminence of the + _Tammahas_; for we could learn nothing besides this account of + their pedigree. The mother and one of the daughters called + Tooeela-Kaipa, live at Vavaoo. Latoolibooloo, the son, and the + other daughter, whose name is Moungoula-Kaipa, reside at + Tongataboo. The latter is the woman who is mentioned to have + dined with me on the 21st of June. This gave occasion to our + discovering her superiority over the king, who would not eat in + her presence, though she made no scruple to do so before him, + and received from him the customary obeisance, by touching her + foot." See Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 430 _sq._ + +"Some of these edifices were of an oval form, but they were much +smaller. Each of them was surmounted by a small hut, which served as an +oratory or house for the spirit of the dead; most of them have been +destroyed by the lapse of time, and only traces of them are left +scattered on the ground. + +"The enormous blocks of coral employed in the construction of these +monuments have all been brought by sea from Hifo to Mooa. They were got +on the shore of the sea at Hifo, were hewn on the spot, and were +transported in great canoes; then they were landed at Mooa and drawn on +rollers to the place of their destination. These monuments are +astonishing evidence of the patience which they must have demanded on +the part of these islanders; they were ocular testimony to me of the +high degree of civilisation which the natives had reached. Man must have +risen to ideas of a much higher order than those of a simple savage +before he would take so great pains for the single object of +consecrating the memory of his chiefs. + +"Such tombs are no longer built in Tongataboo: people content themselves +with simple mounds surrounded by a row of posts or even an ordinary +palisade. However, Singleton assured me that Finow the Younger had +erected two great _fai-tokas_ of stone in Vavao, one for the last +Tooitonga, and one for his father."[154] + + [154] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du + Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) pp. 106-108. Singleton was an + Englishman, one of the crew of the _Port-au-Prince_, the ship in + which Mariner sailed. When Dumont d'Urville visited Tonga, + Singleton had lived as a native among the natives for + twenty-three years; he was married and had children, and he + hoped to end his days in Tongataboo. See J. Dumont d'Urville, + _op. cit._ iv. 23 _sq._ + +The Frenchman, De Sainson, who accompanied Dumont d'Urville on his visit +to Tongataboo, has also described the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa +from personal observation. I will quote his description: "It is in the +heart of the forest that the ancient inhabitants of these countries, who +idolized their Kings (Tooi-tongas), placed the tombs of that sacred +race. These monuments of a more enterprising age still astonish the +beholder by their mass and their extent. The _fai-tokas_, as these +burial-places are called, are artificial eminences, on the top of which, +in the form of a square, are three or four crosses of great granitic +blocks arranged as steps, of which each block may be four or five feet +high. If there is only a single step on the top of the mound, it is +because only a single Tooi-tonga sleeps there in the grave; if the bones +of a whole family are deposited in a common tomb, three or four steps, +one above the other, mark their union in death. Some of these monuments +which contain only a single body are arranged in an oval. I counted more +than twelve of these immense structures, and yet we left a great many +aside. I counted more than one stone between eight and fifteen feet +long; and I conceived a high idea of those men of ancient days who +erected over the remains of their kings these imperishable mausoleums, +in an island based on coral, where it would be difficult to find a stone +of two feet square. I imagined them to be very different from their +effeminate descendants, those men of old who went in their canoes more +than a hundred and fifty leagues to look for the enormous blocks of +which these tombs are built, who cut them without the help of iron, and +succeeded, by means unknown, in planting them on these hillocks, where +by their own weight they are fixed for ever, like the Druidical +monuments of Brittany, which one would say were dropped on earth rather +by the magic of talismans than by the power of man. + +"The present inhabitants of Tonga contemplate with a pious awe the fruit +of the labours and patience of their forefathers, without dreaming for a +moment of imitating them in their noble enterprises. A distant voyage +affrights these degenerate scions of a hardy race, and the great canoes +which still survive, sheltered under sheds very skilfully built, are +little more than the useless encumbrance of chiefs grown languid in the +long peace which has infected the whole people with habits of indolence. + +"The most recent tombs consist of a small house enclosed on all sides, +built on a rising ground, and shaded by a circle of mimosas, a tree +sacred to the dead. Most of the illustrious graves are clustered +together at Mafanga, a large village of which the whole territory is +sacred on account of the hallowed relics which it contains. Along with +the corpse they bury at the depth of a few inches small wooden effigies +representing persons of both sexes. I had occasion to unearth a few of +these little statues, and I remarked in them an astonishing feeling for +artistic design."[155] + + [155] "Extrait du Journal de M. de Sainson," in J. Dumont + d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. + (Paris, 1832) pp. 361 _sq._ + +Some sixteen years later a Catholic missionary, living among the heathen +population of Tongataboo, wrote thus: "Nothing equals the care which +they take in the burial of their dead. As soon as a native has breathed +his last, the neighbours are informed, and immediately all the women +come to weep about the corpse. Here the men never weep. The body is kept +thus for a day or two, during which they are busy building a tomb near +the dwelling of the deceased's family. The sepulchral house is neat, +built on an eminence, surrounded by a pretty fence of choice bamboos; +the enclosure is planted with all kinds of odoriferous shrubs, +especially evergreens. Finally, the monument is covered by a roof +artistically constructed. For the tombs of kings and the greatest chiefs +they go to distant islands to find huge stones to crown the grave. I +have seen one twenty-four feet long by eight broad and at least eighteen +inches thick. One of these tombs was built by the natives of Wallis +Island, who brought the enormous blocks in immense canoes. It is +wonderful for these peoples."[156] + + [156] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) pp. 12 _sq._ + +Captain Erskine, who visited Tongataboo in 1849, says that "near the +landing-place at the village of Holobeka, off which we were lying, we +saw overshadowed with trees, one of the _faitokas_, or old burial-places +of the country, which, although no longer 'tabu,' are still in some +cases used as places of sepulture, and very carefully kept. This one was +an oblong square platform a few feet high, surrounded by a stone wall, +the interior being beautifully paved with coloured corals and gravel; +the house or temple, which Captain Cook and others describe as occupying +the centre, having been, I suppose, removed. I saw but one other of +these monuments during our stay among the islands, the largest of which +stands on several rows of steps, as described by all former +visitors."[157] + + [157] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of + the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 130. + +Thomas West, who lived as a missionary in the Tongan islands from 1846 +to 1855, tells us that "chiefs were usually interred in tombs, +constructed of blocks of sandstone, cut from suitable localities by the +seashore, where, at a little depth from the surface, layers of hard and +durable sandstone are found, even on many of the coralline islands. In +several of the ancient burial-places, similar stones, arranged in +terraces, surround the whole enclosure. Some of these are of immense +size, and seem to indicate the possession, on the part of former +inhabitants, either of greater energy than the present race, or of +better tools and appliances. The burial-places of the Tonguese are +always surrounded by the most imposing foliage of the tropics, and +placed in sequestered spots. A mound of earth is raised, of dimensions +varying with the necessities of the place; and, whenever a grave is +opened within the limits of this mound, it is always filled up with +beautiful white sand, and never contains more than one body. No particle +of clay or earthy mould is allowed to touch the remains of the dead. The +sand is brought in baskets by the chief mourners, who sometimes sail or +journey many miles to procure it; and each person pours the contents +into the grave until it is sufficiently filled up. The top of the grave +is, afterwards, carefully tended and decorated with black pebbles and +red coral, arranged in various devices, which have a very pretty effect. +Small houses are also placed over the tombs of the chiefs and +gentry."[158] + + [158] Thomas West, _Ten Years in South-Central Polynesia_ + (London, 1865), pp. 268 _sq._ + +In more recent years the tombs of the Tooitongas at Mooa have been +visited by Sir Basil Thomson, who has described and discussed them.[159] +From an anonymous pamphlet called _The Wairarapa Wilderness_, written by +the passengers of the s.s. _Wairarapa_ and published in 1884, Sir Basil +Thomson quotes a passage containing a description of the tombs, with +measurements which, he tells us, are accurate as far as they go. From it +I will extract a few particulars. The writers inform us that the tombs +are built of blocks of coral which vary in length and thickness; some of +the largest they found to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long and from +one and a half to two feet thick. The largest measured by them is +twenty-two feet long and two feet thick and stands between seven and +eight feet above the ground. This great stone, now split in two, is at +the middle of the lowest step of one of the pyramidal tombs. The height +of the steps varies much in the different pyramids; one step was found +to be four feet high. The breadth of each step is three feet or more: it +has been carefully levelled and covered with coral gravel. The stones +fit very closely and are very regular at top and bottom throughout the +tiers. The corners of one pyramid observed by the writers are formed of +huge rectangular stones, which seem to have been put in position before +they were finally faced. On the upper surface of the largest stone is a +deep hollow about the size and shape of a large chestnut mortar. Sir +Basil Thomson, who has examined this hollow, believes it to be a natural +cavity which has been artificially smoothed by a workman. He suggests +that it may have been lined with leaves and used as a bowl for brewing +kava at the funeral ceremonies. On one mound the writers of the +pamphlet remarked a large flat stone, some five and a half feet square; +and in several of the tombs they noticed huge slabs of volcanic stone +placed indiscriminately side by side with blocks of coral. The writers +measured the bases of three of the tombs and found them to be about two +chains (one hundred and thirty-two feet) long by a chain and a half +(ninety-nine feet) broad; the base of a fourth was even larger.[160] + + [159] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, pp. + 379 _sq._; _id._ "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal + of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 86-88. + + [160] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 87 _sq._ + +Surveying these various accounts of the tombs of the Tooitongas or +sacred chiefs, we may perhaps conclude that, while the type of tomb +varied in different cases, the most characteristic, and certainly the +most remarkable, type was that of a stepped or terraced pyramid built of +such large blocks of stone as to merit the name of megalithic monuments. +So far as I have observed in the accounts given of them, this type of +tomb was reserved exclusively for the sacred chiefs, the Tooitongas, +whom the Tongans regarded as divine and as direct descendants of the +gods. The civil kings, so far as appears, were not buried in these +massive pyramids, but merely in stone vaults sunk in the summits of +grassy mounds. + +It is natural, with Sir Basil Thomson,[161] to compare the pyramids of +the Tooitongas with the similar structures called _morais_ or _marais_ +which are found in Tahiti and the Marquesas islands. Indeed, the very +name _morai_ was sometimes applied to them by the Tongans themselves, +though more usually they called them _fiatookas_, which was simply the +common word for burying-ground.[162] In Tahiti and the Marquesas islands +these _marais_ were in like manner truncated pyramids, rising in a +series of steps or tiers, built of stones, some of which were large, but +apparently not so large as in the corresponding Tongan edifices; for in +describing one of the largest of the Tahitian _morais_ or _marais_ Cook +mentions only one stone measuring as much as four feet seven inches in +length by two feet four in breadth, though he found several three and a +half feet long by two and a half feet broad. These dimensions can hardly +compare with the size of the blocks in the tombs of the Tooitongas, some +of which, as we have seen, measure fifteen, eighteen, and even +twenty-two or twenty-four feet in length by eight or twelve feet in +height. These Tahitian and Marquesan pyramids are commonly described as +temples, and justly so, because the gods were worshipped there and human +sacrifices were offered on them.[163] But they were also, like the +similar structures in Tonga, used in certain cases for the burial of the +dead, or at all events for the preservation of their embalmed bodies. +Captain Cook seems even to have regarded the Tahitian _morais_ primarily +as burying-grounds and only secondarily as places of worship.[164] In +the island of Huahine, one of the Society Islands, the sovereign chiefs +were buried in a _marai_, where they lay, we are told, in more than +Oriental state.[165] William Ellis, one of our best authorities on the +religion of the Tahitians, tells us that "the family, district, or royal +_maraes_ were the general depositories of the bones of the departed, +whose bodies had been embalmed, and whose skulls were sometimes +preserved in the dwelling of the survivors. The _marae_ or temple +being sacred, and the bodies being under the guardianship of the gods, +were in general considered secure when deposited there. This was not, +however, always the case; and in times of war, the victors sometimes +not only despoiled the temples of the vanquished, and bore away their +idol, but robbed the sacred enclosure of the bones of celebrated +individuals."[166] Moerenhout, another good authority on the Tahitian +religion, informs us that the _marais_ which belonged to individuals +often served as cemeteries and were only the more respected on that +account; but he says that in the public _marais_ almost the only persons +buried were the human victims offered in sacrifice, and sometimes the +priests, who were laid face downwards in the grave, for the curious +reason that otherwise the gaze of the dead men would blight the trees +and cause the fruit to fall to the ground.[167] + + [161] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. + 379. + + [162] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424. Elsewhere (v. 364) + he speaks of "a _morai_ or _fiatooka_"; and shortly afterwards, + referring to the same structure, he mentions it as "this + _morai_, or what I may as well call temple" (p. 365). As to the + equivalence of the words _morai_ and _marai_ (_marae_), see J. + A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Iles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837), + i. 466; and as to the significance of the word in its various + dialectical forms, see E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 213, _s.v._ "malae." + + [163] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._; J. R. + Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ + (London, 1788), pp. 543 _sqq._; Captain James Wilson, + _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 207 + _sqq._; David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific + Ocean_ (New York, 1822), ii. 38 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, + _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1831), i. 240-248, 265 + _sqq._, 271, 274, 529 _sq._, ii. 13 _sq._, 38 _sq._; W. Ellis, + _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. + 340, 405; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux Iles du Grand Ocean_, + i. 466-470; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt + am Mayn, 1812), i. 115, 134; H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, + N.D.), pp. 166-169 (_Everyman's Library_); Matthias G----, + _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 54 _sq._; + C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, + 1875-1876), i. 49, ii. 180, 183 _sq._; G. Gerland, in Th. Waitz, + _Anthropologie_, vi (Leipzig, 1872) pp. 376 _sqq._ + + [164] Capt. James Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sq._, "Their name for + such burying-grounds, which are also places of worship, is + _Morai_." Compare _id._, i. 217, 219, 220, 224, vi. 37, 41; J. + Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), p. 151, "the + _morais_, which serve the double purpose of places of worship + and receptacles for the dead." Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations_, p. 545, "To ornament the _marais_ and to honour + by it the gods and the decayed buried there, the inhabitants + plant several sorts of trees near them." + + [165] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271. + + [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 405. Elsewhere (p. + 401), speaking of the Tahitian burial customs, Ellis observes + that "the skull was carefully kept in the family, while the + other bones, etc., were buried within the precincts of the + family temple." + + [167] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470. As to the Tahitian + custom of burying the dead in the _marais_, see also C. E. + Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 183 _sq._, + according to whom only the bodies of persons of high rank were + interred in these sanctuaries. + +In the Marquesas islands the _morais_ appear to have been also used +occasionally or even regularly as burial-places. Langsdorff, one of our +earliest authorities on these islands, speaks of a _morai_ simply as a +place of burial.[168] He tells us that the mummified bodies of the dead +were deposited on scaffolds in the _morai_ or family burial-place, and +that the people of neighbouring but hostile districts used to try to +steal each other's dead from the _morais_, and deemed it a great triumph +when they succeeded in the attempt. To defeat such attempts, when the +inhabitants of a district expected to be attacked in force by their +enemies, they were wont to remove their dead from the _morai_ and bury +them in the neighbourhood.[169] Again, in their monograph on the +Marquesas islands, the French writers Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz +recognise only the mortuary aspect of the _morais_. They say: "The +_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are set up +on a platform of stone, which is the base of all Nukahivan +constructions. They are to be found scattered in the whole extent of the +valleys; no particular condition seems to be required in the choice of +the site. Near the shore of Taiohae is the _morai_ which contains the +remains of a brother of the _atepeiou Patini_, an uncle of Moana, who +died some years ago, as they tell us."[170] + + [168] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. + + [169] G. H. von Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134. + + [170] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), p. 253. + +Thus to some extent, in function as well as in form, these pyramidical +temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas islands corresponded to the +megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas or sacred chiefs of Tonga; in +fact, they were mausoleums as well as temples. We are not at liberty to +assume, with one authority on the Polynesians, that they were mausoleums +first and foremost, and that they only developed into temples at a later +time.[171] It is possible, on the contrary, that from the outset they +were temples dedicated to the worship of the high gods, and that the +custom of depositing the dead in them was a later practice adopted for +the sake of the protection which these holy places might be expected to +afford against the efforts of enemies to carry off and desecrate the +remains of the departed. Dr. Rivers propounded a theory that the custom +of building these megalithic monuments in the form of pyramids was +introduced into the Pacific by a people who brought with them a secret +worship of the sun, and he apparently inclined to regard the monuments +themselves as at least associated with that worship.[172] The theory can +hardly apply to the megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas in +Tongataboo; for the evidence which I have adduced seems to render it +certain that these monuments were erected primarily as tombs to receive +the bodies of the sacred chiefs. It is true that these tombs enjoyed a +sacred character and were the scene of worship which justly entitles +them to rank as temples; but so far as they were temples, they were +devoted to the worship, not of the sun, but of the dead. + + [171] C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 180. + + [172] W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Oceania," + _American Anthropologist_, N.S. xvii. (1915) pp. 431 _sqq._ + +Thus our enquiry into the meaning and origin of these interesting +monuments entirely confirms the view of the shrewd and observant Captain +Cook that the _fiatookas_, as the Tongans called them, were both places +of burial and places of worship. + +Finally, the evidence which I have cited appears to render it highly +probable that these imposing monuments were built, not by a prehistoric +people, predecessors of the Tongans in the islands, but by the Tongans +themselves; for not only do the people affirm that the tombs were +erected by their ancestors, but they have definite traditions of some of +the chiefs who built them, and are buried in them; and they still +profess to remember some of the islands from which the huge stones were +brought to Tongataboo in great double canoes. + +That the graves of the great chiefs were, like temples, regarded by the +people with religious reverence appears plainly from a statement of +Mariner. He tells us that a place called Mafanga, in the western part of +Tongataboo, being a piece of land about half a mile square, was +consecrated ground. "In this spot," he says, "are the graves where the +greatest chiefs from time immemorial have been buried, and the place is +therefore considered sacred; it would be a sacrilege to fight here, and +nobody can be prevented from landing: if the most inveterate enemies +meet upon this ground, they must look upon each other as friends, under +penalty of the displeasure of the gods, and consequently an untimely +death, or some great misfortune. There are several of these consecrated +places on different islands."[173] Thus the reverence paid to the tombs +of the chiefs was like the reverence paid to the consecrated houses and +enclosures of the gods; we have already seen what a sacrilege it was +deemed to fight or to pursue an enemy within the consecrated enclosure +of a god,[174] and we now learn that it was equally a sacrilege to fight +within the ground that was hallowed by the graves of the chiefs. + + [173] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88. + + [174] Above, pp. 74 _sqq._ + +Mariner has described for us the worship paid by the king and his chiefs +to one of the sacred graves at Mafanga. One morning Finow the king, +accompanied by several of his chiefs and their ministers (the +_matabooles_), landed at Mafanga and immediately proceeded to his +father's grave to perform a ceremony called _toogi_. Mariner attended +the party and witnessed the ceremony. All who went to participate in it +assumed the attire of mourners or suppliants, that is, they wore mats +instead of their usual dress and they had wreaths, made of the leaves of +the _ifi_ tree, round their necks. They sat down before the grave, and +the king and all of them beat their cheeks with their fists for about +half a minute without speaking a word. One of the principal ministers +(_matabooles_) then addressed the spirit of the king's father to the +following effect: "Behold the man (meaning Finow, the king) who has come +to Tonga to fight his enemies. Be pleased with him, and grant him thy +protection. He comes to battle, hoping he is not doing wrong. He has +always held Tooitonga in the highest respect, and has attended to all +religious ceremonies with exactness." One of the attendants then went to +the king and received from him a piece of kava root, which he laid down +on the raised mount before the burial-place (_fytoka_). Several others, +who had pieces of kava root in their bosoms, went up to the grave in +like manner and deposited them there.[175] + + [175] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 88 _sq._ + +Thus the king prayed to the spirit of his dead father at his grave and +made an offering at the tomb. What more could he do to a god at his +temple? And in general we are told that when a great blessing was +desired, or a serious evil deprecated, if the people wished to enjoy +health or beget children, to be successful at sea, or victorious in war, +they would go to the burial grounds of their great chiefs, clean them +up thoroughly, sprinkle the floor with sand, and lay down their +offerings.[176] When Finow the king was dying, his friends carried him +on a bier, not only to the temples of the great gods Tali-y-Toobo and +Tooi-fooa-Bolotoo, where prayers for his recovery were offered; they +bore him also to the grave of a chieftainess and invoked her spirit in +like manner to pity and spare the expiring monarch.[177] Apparently they +thought that the ghost of the chieftainess was quite as able as the +great gods to heal the sick and restore the dying. + + [176] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 127. + + [177] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 367. + +But on no occasion, perhaps, was the assimilation of dead men to gods +so conspicuous as at the annual offering of first-fruits, which seems to +have been the most impressive of all the yearly rites observed by the +Tongans. The ceremony was observed once a year just before the yams in +general had arrived at a state of maturity; the yams offered at it were +of a kind which admitted of being planted sooner than the others, and +which consequently, ripening earlier, were the first-fruits of the yam +season. The object of the offering was to ensure the protection of the +gods, that their favour might be extended to the welfare of the nation +generally, and in particular to the productions of the earth, of which +in Tonga yams are the most important. At this solemn ceremony the new +yams, slung on poles, were brought from distant islands, carried in +procession to the grave of the late Tooitonga, and deposited in front of +it, their bearers sitting down beside them. Thereupon one of the +ministers (_matabooles_) of the living Tooitonga arose, advanced, and +sat down before the grave, a little in front of the men who had brought +the yams. Next he addressed the gods generally, and afterwards +particularly, mentioning the late Tooitonga and the names of several +others. In doing so he returned thanks for their divine bounty in +favouring the land with the prospect of a good harvest, and prayed that +their beneficence might be continued in future. In this harvest +thanksgiving the spirit of the dead Tooitonga seems to have ranked on an +equality with the original or superhuman gods; indeed, in a sense he +took precedence of them, since the offerings were presented at his +grave. The first-fruits, we are told, were offered to the gods in the +person of the divine chief Tooitonga.[178] + + [178] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 196-202, compare p. 78. + The ceremony was also witnessed, though not understood, by + Captain Cook (_Voyages_, v. 363 _sqq._) and by the first English + missionaries (Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the + Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 264 _sq._). + +On the whole we may conclude that, however sharp a distinction was drawn +in theory between the old gods, who had always been gods, and the new +gods, who had once been men, the line which divided them in practice was +wavering and blurred. The dead men and women were fast rising, if they +had not already risen, to an equality with the ancient deities. We may +even surmise that some of these old gods themselves were human beings, +whose original humanity was forgotten. + +The tombs of the kings and sacred chiefs may be described as megalithic +monuments in so far as immense stones were often employed in the +construction either of the enclosing walls or of the high steps which +led up to the summit of the mound where the grave was dug. It is +possible, and indeed probable, that great stones were similarly employed +as ornaments or accessories of the consecrated houses or temples of the +primary gods, but of such an employment I have met with no express +notice among our authorities. So far as their descriptions allow us to +judge, these megalithic monuments of the Tongans were purely sepulchral +in character; they were dedicated only to the worship of the dead. But +there exists at least one other remarkable megalithic monument in these +islands of which the original meaning is quite uncertain, and of which +consequently we cannot confidently say that it was erected for the sake +of honouring or propitiating the spirits of the departed. The monument +in question is situated near the eastern extremity of Tongataboo, at a +distance of three or four hundred yards from the beach and facing +towards the island of Eua. The land on which it stands was the private +property of the Tooitongas, whose megalithic tombs are situated some +eight or nine miles away to the west. In the intervening country, which +is perfectly flat and partly covered with forest, partly under +cultivation, there are said to be no other monuments or ruins. It is +remarkable that this imposing monument, which naturally impresses the +observer by its resemblance to the trilithons or gate-like structures of +Stonehenge, should have apparently escaped the observation of Europeans +down to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not mentioned by +Cook and Mariner, nor even by those who, like the first missionaries and +Dumont d'Urville, described in some detail the tombs of the Tooitongas +not many miles off. Perhaps the solitariness of the surrounding country +may partly account for their ignorance and silence; for there are said +to be few inhabitants in this part of the island and none at all in the +immediate neighbourhood of the monument. It seems to have been first +discovered by Mr. Philip Hervey of Sydney in 1850 or 1851, but his +description of it was not published for some ten years. In August 1852 +it was seen by Dr. Charles Forbes, Surgeon of H.M.S. _Calliope_, and his +description of it was published by the Society of Antiquaries of London +in the following year. In 1865 it was seen and briefly described by Mr. +Foljambe of H.M.S. _Curacoa_. Some twenty years later the passengers of +the s.s. _Wairarapa_, on a yachting cruise from New Zealand, visited the +spot and published an account of the structure. Still later Sir Basil +Thomson examined the monument and discussed its history.[179] + + [179] See the letter of Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia, or + Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity_, xxxv. (London, + 1853) p. 496 (with a woodcut); _Proceedings of the Society of + Antiquaries of London_ [First Series], iii. 19; _id._ Second + Series, i. 287; letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by Kenneth R. H. + Mackenzie, in _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of + London_, Second Series, ii. 75-77; Julius L. Brenchley, + _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curacoa" among the South + Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), p. 132 (with a woodcut); + (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_ (Edinburgh + and London, 1894), pp. 380-382 (with a woodcut on p. 393); _id._ + "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 81-84 (with a + photograph). Views of the monument, taken apparently from + photographs, have also been published by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard + (_Australasia_, vol. ii. London, 1894, p. 501), Dr. George Brown + (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, London, 1910, plate facing p. + 410), and by Mr. S. Percy Smith (_Hawaiki_, Third Edition, + Christchurch, N.Z., 1910, pp. 157 _sq._). Dr. W. H. R. Rivers + spoke as if there were several trilithons in Tongataboo + (_History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 430 _sq._; _id._ "Sun-cult + and Megaliths in Oceania," _American Anthropologist_, N.S. + xvii., 1915, p. 444); but in this he seems to have been + mistaken. So far as I can gather, there is only one of these + remarkable monuments in Tongataboo or indeed in the whole of the + Pacific. + +The monument in question is a structure of the type known as a +trilithon; that is, it is composed of three large stones, of which two +stand upright, while the third rests horizontally on their tops. All +three stones are monoliths of hardened coral, rough and much weathered +on the surface, and precisely similar to the coral of the neighbouring +reefs. Indeed, about halfway between the monument and the beach the +coral rock is exposed in a hollow, from which it seems probable that the +great blocks were hewn and brought to their present situation. The +statement of Mr. Brenchley, that the stone of which the monument +consists is not to be found elsewhere on the island, is erroneous. The +uprights are quadrangular monoliths neatly squared. No measurements of +the stones appear to be on record, but the two uprights are variously +estimated to measure from fourteen to sixteen feet in height; their +breadth or depth from front to back is variously given as from eight to +ten or even twelve feet; but they seem to taper somewhat upwards, for +the estimate which assigns twelve feet for the depth of the uprights at +their base, mentions seven feet or probably more as their breadth at the +top. The thickness of the uprights seems to be four feet. The space +between them is variously stated at ten and twelve feet. The +cross-stone, which rests on the two uprights, is reported to measure +twenty-four feet in length, by four or five feet in depth, and two feet +in thickness. Each of the uprights is estimated by Sir Basil Thomson to +weigh not less than fifty tons. The tops of both are deeply mortised to +receive the cross-stone, the ends of which are sunk into them instead of +being laid flat on the top. The cross-stone lies east and west, so that +the opening between the uprights faces north and south. On the upper +surface of the cross-stone, and at about the middle of it, is a cup-like +hollow, very carefully cut, about the size of a coco-nut shell. A large +bowl of the same material is said to have formerly stood on the +cross-stone, but the statement is not made by an eyewitness and is +probably mistaken.[180] + + [180] For the authorities, see the preceding note. The + measurements, to some extent discrepant, are given by Dr. + Charles Forbes, Mr. Philip Hervey, and the passengers of s.s. + _Wairarapa_, as reported by Sir Basil Thomson _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. 82 _sq._), who had + unfortunately mislaid his own notes containing the measurements. + The statement that the monument was surmounted by a large bowl + is made by Mr. Brenchley, in whose sketch of the structure the + bowl figures. But Mr. Brenchley did not himself see the + monument, and nobody else appears to have seen the bowl. I + suspect that the report of the bowl may have originated in a + hasty reading of Mr. Hervey's statement that "on the centre of + it [the cross-stone] a small cava bowl is scooped out," though + in Mr. Brenchley's account the bowl has seemingly increased in + size. Similarly in his report the height of the uprights has + grown to about thirty feet, which appears to be just double of + their real size. Perhaps Mr. Brenchley's erroneous allegation as + to the material of the monument similarly originated in a + misunderstanding of Mr. Hervey's statement that "the material is + the coral rock, or coral rag which are formed of stone brought + from Wallis's Island." + +The name which the natives give to this megalithic monument is +_Haamonga_ or _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_, which is said to mean "Maui's +burden." The name is explained by a story that the god or hero Maui +brought the massive stones in a gigantic canoe from Uea (Wallis Island), +where the great holes in the rock from which he quarried them may still +be seen. From the canoe he bore them on his back to the spot where they +now stand.[181] This story can hardly be thought to throw much light on +the origin of the monument; for the natives are in the habit of +referring the marvels which they do not understand to the action of the +god or hero Maui, just as the ancient Greeks fathered many natural +wonders on the deified hero Hercules.[182] But from Mateialona, Governor +of Haapai and cousin of the King of Tonga, Sir Basil Thomson obtained a +tradition of the origin of the stones which is at least free from the +miraculous element and connects the monument with Tongan history. The +account runs thus: "Concerning the Haamonga of Maui, they say forsooth +that a Tui Tonga (the sacred line of chiefs), named Tui-ta-tui, +erected it, and that he was so named because it was a time of +assassination.[183] And they say that he had it built for him to sit +upon during the Faikava (ceremony of brewing kava), when the people sat +round him in a circle, and that the king so dreaded assassination that +he had this lordly seat built for himself that he might sit out of the +reach of his people. And this, they say, is the origin of the present +custom of the Faikava, it being now forbidden for any one to sit behind +the king." At such wassails the presiding chief sits at the apex of an +oval. To this tradition Sir Basil Thomson adds: "Mr. Shirley Baker told +me that he believed the Haamonga to have been erected as a _fakamanatu_ +(memorial) to the son of some Tui Tonga, a view that finds support in +the fondness of Tongan chiefs for originality in the burial ceremonies +of their near relations--witness Mariner's account of the funeral of +Finau's daughter--but on the other hand native traditions generally +have a kernel of truth, and the legend of Tui-ta-tui and its +consequences finds an analogy in our own custom of guarding against an +assassin's dagger at the drinking of the loving cup."[184] The tradition +receives some confirmation from the bowl-like hollow on the upper +surface of the cross-stone; for the hollow might have served as the +king's drinking-cup to hold his kava at the customary wassails. Indeed, +Mr. Philip Hervey, the first to examine the monument, describes the +hollow in question as "a small cava bowl";[185] and after giving an +account of the monument Mr. Brenchley adds: "Its history seems to be +entirely unknown, but it is very natural to suppose from its form that +it was connected with some ancient kava ceremonies."[186] + + [181] Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. 496 (who gives + _Ho ha Mo-nga Maui_ as the name of the stones); (Sir) Basil + Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. 382; _id._, "Notes + upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological + Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 81 (who gives _Haamonga_ as the + native name of the stones). + + [182] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 81. Maui is the great hero of Polynesia, known in + nearly every group of islands, generally regarded as a demigod + or deified man, but sometimes and in some places rising to the + dignity of full godhead. He appears, says Mr. E. Tregear, to + unite the classical attributes of Hercules and Prometheus. See + E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 233, + _s.v._ "Maui." + + [183] "_Tui-ta-tui, lit._ 'King-strike-King.'" + + [184] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 82. + + [185] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_, + Second Series, ii. 77. + + [186] Julius L. Brenchley, _Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. + "Curacoa" among the South Sea Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), + p. 132. + +The tradition which connects the erection of the monument with the reign +of a Tooitonga named Tui-ta-tui is further countenanced, if not +confirmed, by a list of the Tooitongas, in which the name of Tui-ta-tui +occurs as the eleventh in descent from the great god Tangaloa.[187] This +Tui-ta-tui is believed to have reigned in the thirteenth or fourteenth +century of our era.[188] From the size and style of the masonry Sir +Basil Thomson is disposed to assign the monument to a later date. He +points out that for the quarrying and mortising of stones that weigh +some fifty tons apiece the craft of stone-cutting must have been fully +developed; and from a comparison of the megalithic tombs of the +Tooitongas which can be approximately dated, he infers that the craft of +stone-cutting in Tonga reached its culmination at the end of the +seventeenth century, though it was still practised down to the beginning +of the nineteenth century; for Mariner tells us that in his time a +professional class of masons was set apart for building the stone +sepulchral vaults of chiefs.[189] Yet on the whole Sir Basil Thomson +concludes that "when one is left to choose between a definite native +tradition on the one hand and probability on the other for the +assignment of a date, I would prefer the tradition. If the Tongans had +invented the story as a mere expression for antiquity they would not +have pitched upon Tui-ta-tui, about whom nothing else is recorded, in +preference to Takalaua, Kau-ulu-fonua-fekai, or any of the kings who +loom large in traditionary history. Whether the Haamonga was built for a +throne or for a memorial, doubtless it is connected with the reign of +Tui-ta-tui, who lived in the fourteenth century."[190] + + [187] (Sir) Basil Thomson, _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. + 395. In this work the author prints a list of the Tooitongas "as + given by Mr. E. Tregear on the authority of the Rev. J. E. + Moulton." + + [188] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 83; S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, p. 158. + + [189] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 266. As to the size of + the stones, Mariner says, "The stones used for this purpose are + about a foot in thickness, and are cut of the requisite + dimensions, out of the stratum found on the beaches of some of + the islands." + + [190] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 83 _sq._ + +As an alternative to the view that the hollow on the cross-stone was a +kava bowl Dr. Rivers suggests that it "may have been destined to receive +the skull and other bones of the dead, so often preserved in +Polynesia."[191] The suggestion accords well with the opinion that the +monument is a memorial of the dead, and it might be supported by the +Samoan practice of severing a dead chief's head from his body and +burying it separately, to save it from being dug up and desecrated by +enemies in time of war.[192] However, Dr. Rivers is careful to add that +such a practice is not recorded in Tonga and appears to be incompatible +with the mode of sepulture which prevails there. + + [191] W. H. R. Rivers, _History of Melanesian Society_, ii. 431. + + [192] See below, p. 212. + +In this connexion another megalithic monument of the Tonga islands +deserves to be considered, though it appears to have been commonly +overlooked. It was observed by Captain Cook in the island of Lefooga +(Lifuka). He says: "Near the south end of the island, and on the west +side, we met with an artificial mount. From the size of some trees that +were growing upon it, and from other appearances, I guessed that it had +been raised in remote times. I judged it to be about forty feet high; +and the diameter of its summit measured fifty feet. At the bottom of +this mount stood a stone, which must have been hewn out of coral rock. +It was four feet broad, two and a half thick, and fourteen high; and we +were told by the natives present, that not above half its length +appeared above ground. They called it _Tangata Arekee_;[193] and said, +that it had been set up, and the mount raised, by some of their +forefathers, in memory of one of their kings; but how long since, they +could not tell."[194] + + [193] "_Tangata_, in their language, is man; _Arekee_, king." + + [194] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 298 _sq._ To this + description of the monument Sir Basil Thomson has called + attention; he rightly classes it with the tombs of the chiefs. + See his "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," _Journal of the + Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 85. + +When we remember that Tongan kings were commonly buried in such mounds +as Captain Cook here describes, and further that these mounds were +commonly enclosed or faced with great blocks of hewn stone, we may be +disposed to accept as reasonable and probable the explanation which the +natives gave of this great monolith, which, if the reported measurements +of it are correct, must have been no less than twenty-eight feet high. +If it was indeed a memorial of a dead king, it might be thought to +strengthen the view that the great trilithon was also set up as a +monument to a deceased monarch or Tooitonga. + +Another possible explanation of the trilithon is, as Sir Basil Thomson +points out, that it served as a gateway to some sacred spot inland. But +against this view he observes that he examined the bush for some +distance in the neighbourhood without finding any trace of ruins or +stones of any kind. He adds that the memory of sacred spots dies very +hard in Tonga, and that the natives do not believe the trilithon to have +been a gateway.[195] + + [195] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 81 _sq._ + +It is natural to compare the trilithon of Tongataboo with the famous +trilithons of Stonehenge, which it resembles in plan and to which it is +comparable in size. The resemblance struck Dr. Charles Forbes, the first +to publish a description of the monument based on personal observation. +He says: "The route we pursued led us over a country perfectly level, +with the exception of occasional mounds of earth, apparently artificial, +and reminding one very much of the barrows of Wilts and Dorset, which +idea is still more strongly impressed upon the mind on coming in sight +of the monument, which bears a most striking resemblance to the larger +gateway-looking stones at Stonehenge."[196] But at the same time, as Dr. +Forbes did not fail to note, the Tongan trilithon differs in some +respects from those of Stonehenge. In the first place the interval (ten +or twelve feet) between the uprights of the Tongan trilithon appears to +be much greater than the interval between the uprights of the trilithons +at Stonehenge.[197] In the second place, the cross-stone of the Tongan +trilithon is mortised much more deeply into the uprights than are the +cross-stones at Stonehenge. For whereas at Stonehenge these cross-stones +present the appearance of being laid flat on the top of the uprights, +the cross-stone of the Tongan trilithon is sunk deeply into the uprights +by means of mortises or grooves about two feet wide which are cut into +the uprights, so that the top of the cross-stone is nearly flush with +their tops, while its ends also are nearly flush with their outside +surfaces.[198] + + [196] Dr. Charles Forbes, in _Archaeologia_, xxxv. p. 496. + + [197] I have no measurements of these intervals, but write from + the impression of a recent visit to Stonehenge. + + [198] (Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of + Tonga," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) p. 82, quoting the anonymous pamphlet _The Wairarapa + Wilderness_. + +As the origin and purpose of Stonehenge are still unknown, its massive +trilithons can hardly be cited to explain the similar monument of +Tongataboo. The rival theories which see in Stonehenge a memorial of the +dead and a temple of the sun[199] are equally applicable or inapplicable +to the Tongan monument. In favour of the mortuary character of this +solitary trilithon it might be urged that the Tongans were long +accustomed to erect megalithic monuments, though of a different type, at +the tombs of their sacred kings, which are situated not many miles away; +but against this view it may be argued that there are no traces of +burial or graves in the immediate neighbourhood, and that native +tradition, not lightly to be set aside, assigns a different origin to +the monument. Against the solar interpretation of the trilithon it may +be alleged, first, that the monument faces north and south, not east and +west, as it might be expected to do if it were a temple of the sun or a +gateway leading into such a temple; second, that, while a circle of +trilithons, as at Stonehenge, with an opening towards the sunrise may be +plausibly interpreted as a temple of the sun, such an interpretation +cannot so readily be applied to a solitary trilithon facing north and +south; and, third, that no trace of sun-worship has been discovered in +the Tonga islands. So far as I have observed, the Tongan pantheon is +nowhere said to have included a sun-god, and the Tongans are nowhere +reported to have paid any special respect to the sun. Savages in +general, it may be added, appear to be very little addicted to +sun-worship; it is for the most part among peoples at a much higher +level of culture, such as the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and +Peruvians, that solar worship becomes an important, or even the +predominant, feature of the national faith.[200] Perhaps the impulse to +it came rather from the meditations of priestly astronomers than from +the random fancies of common men. Some depth of thought was needed to +detect in the sun the source of all life on earth; the immutable +regularity of the great luminary's movements failed to rouse the +interest or to excite the fear of the savage, to whom the elements of +the unusual, the uncertain, and the terrible are the principal +incentives to wonder and awe, and hence to reflexion. We are all +naturally more impressed by extraordinary than by ordinary events; the +fine edge of the mind is dulled by familiarity in the one case and +whetted by curiosity in the other. + + [199] Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, Seventh Edition + (London, 1913), pp. 132 _sqq._; Sir Norman Lockyer, _Stonehenge + and other British Stone Monuments astronomically considered_ + (London, 1906); C. Schuchhardt, "Stonehenge," _Zeitschrift fuer + Ethnologie_, xlii. (1910), pp. 963-968; _id._ in _Zeitschrift + fuer Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 169-171; _id_., in + _Sitzungsberichte der koenigl. preuss. Akademie der + Wissenschaften_, 1913, pp. 759 _sqq._ (for the sepulchral + interpretation); W. Pastor, "Stonehenge," _Zeitschrift fuer + Ethnologie_, xliii. (1911) pp. 163-(for the solar + interpretation). + + [200] Adolph Bastian observed that "sun-worship, which people + used to go sniffing about to discover everywhere, is found on + the contrary only in very exceptional regions or on lofty + table-lands of equatorial latitude." See his book, _Die Voelker + des Oestlichen Asien_, iv. (Jena, 1868) p. 175. Nobody, + probably, has ever been better qualified than Bastian to + pronounce an opinion on such a subject; for his knowledge of the + varieties of human thought and religion, acquired both by + reading and travel, was immense. It is only to be regretted that + through haste or negligence he too often gave out the fruits of + his learning in a form which rendered it difficult to sift and + almost impossible to digest them. Yet from his storehouse he + brought forth a treasure, of which we may say what Macaulay said + of the scholarship of Parr, that it was "too often buried in the + earth, too often paraded with injudicious and inelegant + ostentation, but still precious, massive, and splendid." + +Bearing in mind the numerous other stone monuments scattered widely over +the islands of the Pacific, from the Carolines to Easter Island, Dr. +Guillemard concludes that some race, with a different, if not a higher +civilisation preceded the Polynesian race in its present homes, and to +this earlier race he would apparently refer the erection of the +trilithon in Tongataboo.[201] He may be right. Yet when we consider, +first, the native tradition of the setting up of the trilithon by one of +the sacred kings of Tonga; second, the practice of the Tongans of +building megalithic tombs for these same sacred kings; and, third, the +former existence in Tonga of a professional class of masons whose +business it was to construct stone vaults for the burial of chiefs,[202] +we may hesitate to resort to the hypothesis of an unknown people in +order to explain the origin of a monument which the Tongans, as we know +them, appear to have been quite capable of building for themselves. + + [201] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 500. + + [202] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 266. + + +Sec. 11. _Rites of Burial and Mourning_ + +The only mode of disposing of the dead which was practised in the Tonga +islands seems to have been burial in the earth. So far as appears, the +corpse was not doubled up, but laid at full length in the grave; at all +events I have met with no mention of burying a corpse in a contracted +posture; and Captain Cook says that "when a person dies, he is buried, +after being wrapped up in mats and cloth, much after our manner." He +adds that, while chiefs had the special burial-places called _fiatookas_ +appropriated to their use, common people were interred in no particular +spot.[203] So far as I have observed, none of our authorities speak of a +practice of embalming the dead or of giving the bodies any particular +direction in the grave. + + [203] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 421. + +After a death the mourners testified their sorrow by dressing in old +ragged mats and wearing green leaves of the _ifi_ tree round their +necks. Thus attired they would repair to the tomb, where, on entering +the enclosure, they would pull off the green twigs from their necks and +throw them away; then sitting down they would solemnly drink kava.[204] +Further, they accompanied their cries and ejaculations of grief and +despair by inflicting on their own bodies many grievous wounds and +injuries. They burned circles and scars on their bodies, beat their +teeth with stones, struck shark's teeth into their heads till the blood +flowed in streams, and thrust spears into the inner part of the thigh, +into their sides below the arm-pits, and through the cheeks into the +mouth.[205] Women in wailing would cut off their fingers, and slit their +noses, their ears, and their cheeks.[206] At the funerals of the kings +especially the mourners indulged in frantic excesses of self-torture and +mutilation. Of two such funerals we have the detailed descriptions of +eye-witnesses who resided in the islands at a time when the natives were +as yet practically unaffected by European influence. King Moom[=o]oe +died in April 1797, and the first missionaries to Tonga witnessed and +described his funeral. They have told how, when the corpse was being +carried in procession to a temporary house near the royal burial-ground +(_fiatooka_), it was preceded by relatives of the deceased in the usual +mourning garb, who cut their heads with shark's teeth till the blood +streamed down their faces. A few days later, when the burial was to take +place, the missionaries found about four thousand people assembled at +the mound where the body was to be interred. In a few minutes they heard +a great shouting and blowing of conch-shells, and soon after there +appeared about a hundred men, armed with clubs and spears, who, rushing +into the area, began to cut and mangle themselves in a most dreadful +manner. Many struck their heads such violent blows with their clubs that +the sound could be heard thirty or forty yards off, and they repeated +them till the blood ran down in streams. Others, who had spears, thrust +them through their thighs, arms, and cheeks, all the while calling on +the deceased in a most affecting manner. A native of Fiji, who had been +a servant of the late king, appeared quite frantic; he entered the area +with fire in his hand, and having previously oiled his hair, he set it +ablaze, and ran about with it all on flame. When they had satisfied or +exhausted themselves with this manner of torment, they sat down, beat +their faces with their fists, and then retired. A second party then +inflicted on themselves the same cruelties. A third party next entered, +shouting and blowing shells; four of the foremost held stones, which +they used to knock out their teeth, while those who blew the shells +employed them as knives with which they hacked their heads in a shocking +manner. A man who had a spear pierced his arm with it just above the +elbow, and with it sticking fast in his flesh ran about the area for +some time. Another, who seemed to be a principal chief, acted as if +quite bereft of his senses; he ran to every corner of the area, and at +each station beat his head with a club till the blood flowed down on his +shoulders. At this point the missionary, unable to bear the sight of +these self-inflicted tortures, quitted the scene. When his colleagues +visited the place some hours later in the afternoon, they found the +natives of both sexes still at the dreadful work of cutting and mangling +themselves. In the course of these proceedings a party of mourners +entered the area, sixteen of whom had recently cut off their little +fingers. They were followed by another party with clubs and spears, who +battered and wounded themselves in the usual fashion, and also +disfigured their faces with coco-nut husks, which they had fastened to +the knuckles of both hands. The missionaries noticed that the mourners +who were either related to the dead king or had held office under him, +were the most cruel to themselves; some of them thrust two, three, and +even four spears into their arms, and so danced round the area, while +others broke off the spear-heads in their flesh.[207] + + [204] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 345 _sq._ As to the + mourning costume of mats and leaves, see also Captain James + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. + 240; W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 380, 392, 431, ii. 214 + _sq._ + + [205] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_ v. 420. + + [206] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, + xvii. (1845) p. 13. + + [207] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, pp. 242-244. + +Similar scenes were witnessed some years later by Mariner at the death +and burial of Finow, another king of Tonga; and the Englishman has +described from personal observation how on this occasion the mourners +cut and wounded their heads and bodies with clubs, stones, knives, or +sharp shells. This they did on one or other of the _malais_[208] or +ceremonial grounds in the presence of many spectators, vying apparently +with each other in the effort to surpass the rest in this public +manifestation of their sorrow for the death of the king and their +respect for his memory. As one ran out into the middle of the ground he +would cry, "Finow! I know well your mind; you have departed to Bolotoo, +and left your people under suspicion that I, or some of those about you, +were unfaithful; but where is the proof of infidelity? where is a single +instance of disrespect?" Then, inflicting violent blows and deep cuts on +his head with a club, stone, or knife, he would again exclaim at +intervals, "Is this not a proof of my fidelity? does this not evince +loyalty and attachment to the memory of the departed warrior?" Some more +violent than others cut their heads to the skull with such heavy and +repeated blows that they reeled and lost their reason for a time.[209] +The king's successor, Finow the Second, not content with the usual +instruments of torture, employed a saw for the purpose, striking his +skull with the teeth so violently that he staggered for loss of blood; +but this he did, not at the time of the burial and in presence of the +multitude, but some weeks later at a more private ceremony of mourning +before the grave.[210] At the public ceremony the late king's fishermen +varied the usual breaking of heads and slashing of bodies by a peculiar +form of self-torment. Instead of clubs they appropriately carried the +paddles of canoes, with which they battered their heads in the orthodox +style; but besides every man of them had three arrows stuck through each +cheek in a slanting direction, so that, while the points pierced through +the cheeks into the mouth, the other ends went over the shoulder and +were kept in position by another arrow, the point of which was tied to +the ends of the arrows passing over one shoulder, while the other end +was tied to the ends of the other arrows which passed over the other +shoulder. Thus each fisherman was decorated with a triangle of arrows, +of which the apex consisted of six arrow-heads in his mouth, while the +base dangled on his back. With this remarkable equipment they walked +round the grave, beating their faces and heads with their paddles, or +pinching up the skin of the breast and sticking a spear right through +it.[211] + + [208] Mariner defines a _malai_ as "a piece of ground, generally + before a large house, or chief's grave, where public ceremonies + are principally held" (_Tonga Islands_, vol. ii., "Vocabulary" + _s.v._). It is the same word as _malae_ or _marae_, noticed + above, p. 116, note^3. + + [209] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 379-384. + + [210] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 440-442. + + [211] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 404 _sq._ + +The grave of a chief's family was a vault paved with a single large +stone, while the four walls were formed each of a single block. The +vault was about eight feet long, six feet broad, and eight feet deep, +and was covered at the top by one large stone.[212] So heavy was this +covering stone that, as we have seen, from a hundred and fifty to two +hundred men were required to lift and lower it.[213] Mariner estimated +that the family vault in which King Finow was interred was large enough +to hold thirty bodies. When the king's corpse was being deposited in it, +Mariner saw two dry and perfectly preserved bodies lying in the vault, +together with the bones of several others; and he was told by old men +that the well-preserved bodies had been buried when they, his +informants, were boys, which must have been upwards of forty years +before; whereas the bodies of which nothing but the bones remained had +been buried later. The natives attributed the exceptional preservation +of the two to the better constitution of their former owners; Mariner, +or more probably his editor, Dr. Martin, preferred to suppose that the +difference was due to the kind or duration of the disease which had +carried them off. Apparently the natives did not suggest that the bodies +had been embalmed, which they would almost certainly have done if they +had known of such a custom.[214] No sooner was the king's body deposited +in the grave, and the great stone lowered over it, than certain +ministers (_matabooles_) and warriors ran like men frantic round and +round the burial-ground, exclaiming, "Alas! how great is our loss! +Finow! you are departed; witness this proof of our love and loyalty!" At +the same time they cut and bruised their own heads with clubs, knives, +and axes in the usual fashion.[215] Afterwards the grave was filled up +with earth and strewed with sand, which a company of women and men had +brought for the purpose in baskets from a place at the back of the +island; what remained of the sand was scattered over the sepulchral +mound (_fytoca_), of which it was deemed a great embellishment. The +inside of the burial-ground was then spread with mats made of coco-nut +leaves.[216] + + [212] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 144 note *. + + [213] See above, p. 105. + + [214] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 note *. + + [215] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 388 _sq._ + + [216] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 389-392. + +Meantime the company of mourners had been seated on the green before the +burial-ground, still wearing their mourning garb of mats, with leaves of +the _ifi_ tree strung round their necks. They now arose and went to +their homes, where they shaved their heads and burnt their cheeks with a +lighted roll of bark-cloth, by applying it once upon each cheek-bone; +next they rubbed the place with an astringent berry, which caused it to +bleed, and afterwards they smeared the blood in a broad circle round the +wound, giving themselves a very ghastly appearance. They repeated this +friction with the berry every day, making the wound bleed afresh; and +the men meanwhile neglected to shave and to oil themselves during the +day, though they indulged in these comforts at night. Having burnt their +cheeks and shaved their heads, they built for themselves small temporary +huts, where they lived during the time of mourning, which lasted twenty +days.[217] + + [217] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 392 _sq._ + +The women who had become tabooed, that is, in a state of ceremonial +pollution, by touching the king's dead body, remained constantly within +the burial-ground for the twenty days of mourning, except when they +retired to one of the temporary huts to eat,[218] or rather to be fed by +others. For it was a rule that no ordinary person, man or woman, could +touch a dead chief without being tabooed, that is ceremonially polluted, +for ten lunar months, during which time he or she might not touch food +with their own hands. But for chiefs the period of pollution was +limited to three, four, or five months, according to the superiority of +the dead chief. Only when the dead body which they had touched was that +of the sacred chief, the Tooitonga, they were all tabooed for ten +months, however high their rank; for example, the king's wife was +tabooed for that length of time during the residence of Mariner, because +she had touched the dead body of the Tooitonga. During the time that a +person was tabooed, he might not feed himself with his own hands, but +must be fed by somebody else: he might not even use a toothpick himself, +but might guide another person's hand holding the toothpick. If he was +hungry and had no one to feed him, he must go down on his hands and +knees, and pick up his victuals with his mouth; and if he infringed any +of these rules, it was firmly expected that he would swell up and +die.[219] Captain Cook observed this custom in operation at Tongataboo. +On one of his walks he met with a party of women at supper, and noticed +that two of them were being fed by others. On asking the reason, he was +answered _taboo mattee_, that is, "Death taboo." It was explained to him +that one of the women had washed the dead body of a chief two months +before, and that consequently she might not handle any food for five +months. The other had performed the same office for the corpse of +another person of inferior rank, and was now under the same restriction, +but not for so long a time.[220] The tabooed women at Finow's grave were +supplied with food by the new king, Finow the Second. The food was +brought and placed on the ground at some distance from the grave, or +else it was deposited before the temporary house to which the chief of +the tabooed women retired to be fed. With the provisions was also sent +every day a supply of torches to light up the burial-ground by night. +The torches were held up by a woman of inferior rank, who, when she was +tired, was relieved in her office by another. During the twenty days of +mourning, if any one passed the burial-ground, he had to go at a slow +pace, with his head bowed down, and his hands clasped before him; and +if he carried a burden, he must lower it from his shoulder and carry it +in his hands or on his bended arms; but if he could not do so +conveniently, he had to make a circuit to avoid the grave. + + [218] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 393. + + [219] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 141 note *. + + [220] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 336. The writer does not + translate the expression _taboo mattee_; but _mate_ is the + regular Tongan word for "death" or "to die." See Mariner, _Tonga + Islands_, Vocabulary, _s.v._ "Mate." Compare E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 228, _s.v._ + "Mate." + +Such were the regular observances at the death and burial of chiefs; +they were not peculiar to the obsequies of Finow the king.[221] + + [221] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 394 _sq._ + +The twentieth day of mourning concluded the ceremonies in honour of the +deceased monarch. Early in the morning all his relations, together with +the members of his household, and also the women who were tabooed on +account of having touched his dead body in the process of oiling and +preparing it, went to the back of the island to procure a quantity of +flat pebbles, principally white, but a few black, which they brought +back in baskets to the grave. There they strewed the inside of the house +and the outside of the burial-ground (_fytoca_) with the white pebbles +as a decoration; the black pebbles they laid only on the top of those +white ones which covered the ground directly over the body, to about the +length and breadth of a man, in the form of a very eccentric ellipse. +After that, the house on the burial mound was closed up at both ends +with a reed fencing, which reached from the eaves to the ground; while +at the front and the back the house was closed with a sort of +basket-work, made of the young branches of the coco-nut tree, split and +interwoven in a very curious and ornamental way. These fences were to +remain until the next burial, when they would be taken down and, after +the conclusion of the ceremony, replaced by new ones of similar pattern. +A large quantity of food and kava was now sent by the chiefs and the +king to the public place (_malai_) in front of the burial mound, and +these provisions were served out among the people in the usual way. The +company then separated and repaired to their respective houses, to +prepare for the dances and the grand wrestling-match, which were to +conclude the funeral rites.[222] + + [222] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 401-403. + +During the intervals of the dances, which followed, several warriors and +ministers (_matabooles_) ran before the grave, cutting and bruising +their heads with axes, clubs, and so forth as proofs of fidelity to +their late chief, the dead and buried King Finow. It was on this +occasion that the deceased king's fishermen demonstrated their loyalty +and attachment to his memory by the self-inflicted tortures which I have +already described.[223] When these exhibitions of cruelty were over, the +day's ceremonies, which altogether lasted about six hours, were +terminated by a grand wrestling-match. That being over, the people +dispersed to their respective houses or occupations, and the obsequies +of Finow, king of the Tonga islands, came to an end.[224] + + [223] Above, pp. 135 _sq._ + + [224] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 403-405. + +The wrestling-match which wound up the funeral honours paid to the +departed monarch would seem not to have been an isolated case of +athletic sports held at this particular funeral. Apparently it was a +general custom in Tonga to conclude burial-rites with games of this +kind. At least we may infer as much from an expression made use of by +the first missionaries to Tongataboo. They say that the chief of their +district, after taking to himself a wife in the morning went in the +afternoon "to finish the funeral ceremonies for his brother, in +celebrating the games usual on that occasion."[225] The practice, which +is apt to seem to us incongruous, of holding games at a funeral, was +observed by the Greeks in antiquity and by not a few other peoples in +modern times.[226] + + [225] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 265. + + [226] _The Golden Bough_, Part III., _The Dying God_, pp. 92 + _sqq._ + +On the other hand the obsequies of the sacred or divine chief, the +Tooitonga, differed in certain remarkable particulars from the +posthumous honours generally paid to chiefs. It is true that his +burial-place was of the same form as that of other chiefs, and that the +mode of his interment did not differ essentially from theirs, except +that it was customary to deposit some of his most valuable property with +him in the grave, including his beads, whale's teeth, fine Samoan mats, +and other articles. Hence the family burying-place of the Tooitongas in +the island of Tongataboo, where the whole line of these pontiffs had +been interred, must have become very rich in the course of time; for no +native would dare to commit the sacrilege of stealing the treasures at +the holy tomb.[227] However, the sacrifice of property to the dead seems +not to have been, as Mariner supposed, peculiar to the funeral of the +Tooitonga; for at the burial of King Moom[=o]oe, in May 1797, the first +missionaries saw files of women and men bringing bags of valuable +articles, fine mats, and bales of cloth, which they deposited in the +tomb expressly as a present for the dead.[228] Again, the mourning +costume worn for the Tooitonga was the same as that for any chief, +consisting of ragged old mats on the body and leaves of the _ifi_ tree +round the neck; but in the case of the Tooitonga the time of mourning +was extended to four months, the mats being generally left off after +three months, while the leaves were still retained for another month; +and the female mourners remained within the burial-ground (_fytoca, +fiatooka_) for about two months, instead of twenty days, only retiring +occasionally to temporary houses in the neighbourhood to eat or for +other necessary purposes.[229] + + [227] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213 _sq._ + + [228] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 243. + + [229] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 214 _sq._ + +One very remarkable peculiarity in the mourning for a Tooitonga was +that, though he ranked above the king and all other chiefs, the mourners +strictly abstained from manifesting their grief by wounding their heads +and cutting their bodies in the manner that was customary at the +funerals of all other great men. Mariner was never able to learn the +reason for this abstention.[230] + + [230] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 213. + +Other peculiar features in the obsequies of a Tooitonga were the +following. In the afternoon of the day of burial, when the body of the +Tooitonga was already within the burial-ground, almost every man, woman, +and child, all dressed in the usual mourning garb, and all provided with +torches, used to sit down about eighty yards from the grave; in the +course of an hour a multitude of several thousands would thus assemble. +One of the female mourners would then come forth from the burial-ground +and call out to the people, saying, "Arise ye, and approach"; whereupon +the people would get up, and advancing about forty yards would again sit +down. Two men behind the grave now began to blow conch-shells, and six +others, with large lighted torches, about six feet high, advanced from +behind the burial-ground, descended the mound, and walked in single file +several times between the burial-ground and the people, waving their +flaming torches in the air. After that they began to ascend the mound, +whereupon all the people rose up together and made a loud crashing noise +by snapping their _bolatas_, which were pieces of the stem of a banana +tree used to receive the ashes falling from lighted torches. Having done +so, the people followed the torch-bearers in single file up the mound +and walked in procession round about the tomb (_fytoca_). As they passed +at the back of the tomb, they all, torch-bearers and people, deposited +their extinguished torches on the ground; while the female mourners +within thanked them for providing these things. Having thus marched +round, the people returned to their places and sat down. Thereupon the +master of the ceremonies came forward and ordered them to divide +themselves into parties according to their districts; which being done +he assigned to one party the duty of clearing away the bushes and grass +from one side of the grave, and to another party a similar task in +regard to another side of the grave, while a third party was charged to +remove rubbish, and so forth. In this way the whole neighbourhood of the +burial-ground was soon cleared, and when this was done, all the people +returned to the temporary houses which, as mourners, they were bound to +occupy.[231] + + [231] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 215-217. + +Soon after darkness had fallen, certain persons stationed at the grave +began again to sound the conches, while others chanted a song, or rather +recitative, partly in the Samoan dialect, partly in an unknown language, +of which the natives could give no account. None of them understood the +words, nor could they explain how their forefathers came to learn them. +All that they knew was that the words had been handed down from father +to son among the class of people whose business it was to direct burial +ceremonies. According to Mariner, some of the words were Tongan, and he +thought that the language was probably an old or corrupt form of Tongan, +though he could make no sense out of it. Such traditional repetition of +a litany in an unknown tongue is not uncommon among savages; it occurs, +for instance, very frequently among some of the aboriginal tribes of +Australia, where the chants or recitatives accompanying certain dances +or ceremonies are often passed on from one tribe to another, the members +of which perform the borrowed dance or ceremony and repeat by rote the +borrowed chants or recitatives without understanding a word of +them.[232] + + [232] W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the + North-west-central Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, + 1897), pp. 117 _sq._; (Sir) Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, + _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1904), pp. 234, + 235; _id._, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1899), + p. 281 note; _id._, _Across Australia_ (London, 1912), i. 244. + +While the conches were sounding and the voices of the singers broke the +silence of night, about sixty men assembled before the grave, where they +awaited further orders. When the chanting was over, and the notes of the +conches had ceased to sound, one of the women mourners came forward, and +sitting down outside the graveyard addressed the men thus: "Men! ye are +gathered here to perform the duty imposed on you; bear up, and let not +your exertions be wanting to accomplish the work." With these words she +retired into the burial-ground. The men now approached the mound in the +dark, and, in the words of Mariner, or his editor, performed their +devotions to Cloacina, after which they withdrew. As soon as it was +daylight the next morning, the women of the first rank, wives and +daughters of the greatest chiefs, assembled with their female +attendants, bringing baskets and shells wherewith to clear up the +deposit of the preceding night; and in this ceremonious act of humility +no lady of the highest rank refused to take her part. Some of the +mourners in the burial-ground generally came out to assist, so that in a +very little while the place was made perfectly clean. This deposit was +repeated the fourteen following nights, and as punctually cleared away +by sunrise every morning. No persons but the agents were allowed to be +witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies; at least it would have been +considered highly indecorous and irreligious to pry upon them. On the +sixteenth day, early in the morning, the same women again assembled, but +now they were dressed in the finest bark-cloth and beautiful Samoan +mats, decorated with ribbons and with wreaths of flowers round their +necks; they also brought new baskets, ornamented with flowers, and +little brooms very tastefully made. Thus equipped, they approached and +acted as if they had the same task to perform as before, pretending to +clear up the dirt, and to take it away in their baskets, though there +was no dirt to remove. Then they returned to the capital and resumed +their mourning dress of mats and leaves. Such were the rites performed +during the fifteen days; every day the ceremony of the burning torches +was also repeated.[233] + + [233] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 217-219. + +For one month from the day of burial, greater or less quantities of +provisions were brought every day and shared out to the people. On the +first day the quantity supplied was prodigious; but day by day the +supply gradually diminished till on the last day it was reduced to very +little.[234] Nevertheless the consumption or waste of food on such +occasions was so great that to guard against a future dearth of +provisions it was deemed necessary to lay a prohibition or taboo on the +eating of hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts for a period of eight or ten +months, though two or three plantations were exempted from this rigorous +embargo, to the end that in the meantime hogs, fowls, and coco-nuts +might be furnished for occasional religious rites, and that the higher +order of chiefs might be able to partake of these victuals. At the end +of the eight or ten months' fast the taboo was removed and permission to +eat of the forbidden foods was granted by the king at a solemn ceremony. +Immense quantities of yams having been collected and piled up in +columns, and some three or four hundred hogs having been killed, the +people assembled from all quarters at the king's _malai_ or public +place. Of the slaughtered hogs about twenty were deposited, along with a +large quantity of yams, at the grave of the deceased Tooitonga. The rest +of the provisions were shared out in definite proportions among the +gods, the king, the divine chief (the living Tooitonga), the inferior +chiefs, and the people, so that every man in the island of Tongataboo +got at least a mouthful of pork and yam. The ceremony concluded with +dancing, wrestling, and other sports, after which every person retired +to his home with his portion of food to share it with his family. The +hogs and yams deposited at the dead Tooitonga's grave were left lying +till the pork stank and the yams were rotten, whereupon the living +Tooitonga ordered that they should be distributed to all who chose to +apply for a portion. In strict law they belonged to the principal +chiefs, but as these persons were accustomed to feed on meat in a rather +less advanced stage of decomposition they kindly waived their claims to +the putrid pork and rotten yams in favour of the lower orders, who were +less nice in their eating.[235] + + [234] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 220. + + [235] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 112 _sq._, 120-126, ii. + 220. + +It was customary that the chief widow of the Tooitonga should be +strangled and interred with his dead body.[236] But the practice of +strangling a wife at her husband's funeral was not limited to the widows +of the Tooitongas. A similar sacrifice seems to have been formerly +offered at the obsequies of a king; for at the funeral of King Moomoeoe +the first missionaries to Tonga saw two of the king's widows being led +away to be strangled.[237] + + [236] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 135, 209 _sq._, 214. + + [237] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 240. + +The funeral and mourning customs which we have passed in review serve to +illustrate the Tongan conceptions of the soul and of its survival after +death. The strangling of widows was probably intended here as elsewhere +to despatch their spirits to attend their dead husbands in the spirit +land;[238] and the deposition of valuable property in the grave can +hardly have had, at least in origin, any other object than to ensure the +comfort of the departed in the other world, and incidentally, perhaps, +to remove from him any temptation to return to his sorrowing friends in +this world for the purpose of recovering the missing articles. The +self-inflicted wounds and bruises of the mourners were clearly intended +to impress the ghost with the sincerity of their regret at his departure +from this sublunary scene; if any doubt could linger in our minds as to +the intention of these extravagant proceedings, it would be set at rest +by the words with which, as we have seen, the mourners accompanied +them, calling on the dead man to witness their voluntary tortures and to +judge for himself of the genuineness of their sorrow. In this connexion +it is to be borne in mind that all dead noblemen, in the opinion of the +Tongans, were at once promoted to the rank of deities; so that it was in +their power to visit any disrespect to their memory and any defalcation +of their dues with the double terror of ghosts and of gods. No wonder +that the Tongans sought to keep on good terms with such mighty beings by +simulating, when they did not feel, a sense of the irreparable loss +which the world had sustained by their dissolution. + + [238] This was the reason assigned for the strangling of widows + at their husband's funeral in Fiji. See John Williams, + _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, + pp. 478 _sq._ + + +Sec. 12. _The Ethical Influence of Tongan Religion_ + +Surveyed as a whole, the Tongan religion presents a singular instance of +a creed which restricted the hope of immortality to the nobly born and +denied it to commoners. According to the doctrine which it inculcated, +the aristocratic pre-eminence accorded to chiefs in this world was more +than maintained by them in the next, where they enjoyed a monopoly of +immortality. And not content with sojourning in the blissful regions of +Bolotoo, their departed spirits often returned to earth to warn, to +direct, to threaten their people, either in dreams and visions of the +night, or by the mouth of the priests whom they inspired. Such beliefs +involved in theory and to some extent in practice a subjection of the +living to the dead, of the seen and temporal to the unseen and eternal. +In favour of the creed it may at least be alleged that, while it looked +to spiritual powers, whether ghosts or gods, for the reward of virtue +and the punishment of vice, it did not appeal to another life to redress +the balance of justice which had been disturbed in this one. The Tongan +religion inculcated a belief that the good and the bad alike receive a +recompense here on earth, thus implicitly repudiating the unworthy +notion that men can only be lured or driven into the narrow way of +righteousness by the hope of heaven or the fear of hell. So far the +creed based morality on surer foundations than any faith which would +rest the ultimate sanctions of conduct on the slippery ground of +posthumous rewards and punishments. In this respect, if in no other, we +may compare the Tongan religion to that of the Hebrew prophets. It has +been rightly observed by Renan that whereas European races in general +have found in the assurance of a life to come ample compensation for the +iniquities of this present life, the Hebrew prophets never appeal to +rewards and punishments reserved for a future state of existence. They +were not content with the conception of a lame and laggard justice that +limps far behind the sinner in this world and only overtakes him in the +next. According to them, God's justice is swift and sure here on earth; +an unjust world was in their eyes a simple monstrosity.[239] So too, +apparently, thought the Tongans, and some Europeans may be inclined to +agree with them. + + [239] E. Renan, _Histoire du peuple d'Israel_, ii. 505. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SAMOANS + + +Sec. 1. _The Samoan Islands_ + +About three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles nearly due north of +Tonga lies Samoa, a group of islands situated between 13 deg. 30' and 14 deg. +30' South latitude and between 168 deg. and 173 deg. West longitude. The native +name of the group is Samoa, which has this singularity, that it is +apparently the only name that designates a group of islands in the +Pacific; native names for all the other groups are wanting, though each +particular island has its own individual name. Samoa is also known to +Europeans as the Navigators' Islands, a name bestowed on them by the +French explorer De Bougainville, who visited the group in 1768. The +three most easterly islands were discovered in 1722 by Jacob Roggewein, +a Dutch navigator, but he appears not to have sighted the principal +islands of the group, which lie a good deal farther to the westward. +There is no record of any visit paid by a European vessel to the islands +in the interval between the visits of Roggewein and De Bougainville. The +whole archipelago was not explored till 1787, when the French navigator +La Perouse determined the position of all the islands.[1] + + [1] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), ii. 117; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_ (London, 1897), pp. 21 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p. 500; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910), pp. 1, 360. + +The islands are disposed in a line running from west to east. The most +westerly, Savaii, is also the largest, measuring about forty miles in +length. Next follow two small, but important islands, Apolima and +Manona. Then about three miles to the east of Manona comes Upolu, the +second of the islands in size, but the first in importance, whether we +regard population, harbours, or the extent of soil available for +cultivation. The channel which divides Upolu from Savaii is from fifteen +to twenty miles broad. About forty miles to the east, or rather +south-east, of Upolu lies the island of Tutuila, with the fine and +almost landlocked harbour of Pangopango. It was in this island that the +French navigator La Perouse lost his second in command and twelve men in +a fierce encounter with the natives. The place where the fight took +place is now known as Massacre Cove.[2] Some fifty miles to the east of +Tutuila is situated a group of three small islands, Tau, Ofu, and +Olosenga, which are collectively known as Manua. + + [2] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 27 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 500, 504. + +The islands are of volcanic formation and for the most part surrounded +by coral reefs, but the intervening seas are quite free from danger, and +the possession of good harbours renders Samoa politically important. +Viewed from the sea the islands are mountainous and for the most part +wooded to the water's edge, except where a stretch of fertile plain is +interposed between the foot of the mountains and the sea. The whole +group presents to the voyager a succession of enchanting views as he +sails along the coast. The eye is delighted by the prospect of lofty and +rugged mountains, their tops sometimes lost in clouds, their slopes +mantled in the verdure of evergreen forests, varied here and there by +rich valleys, by grey and lofty cliffs, or by foaming waterfalls +tumbling from heights of hundreds of feet and showing like silvery +threads against the sombre green of the woods. Along the shore rocks of +black lava alternate with white sands dazzling in the sunlight and +fringed by groves of coco-nut palms, their feathery tops waving and +dancing in the breeze, while the brilliant cobalt blue of the calm +lagoon contrasts with the olive-green of the deep sea, which breaks in a +long line of seething foam on the barrier reef. The scenery as a whole +combines romantic grandeur with wild and rank luxuriance, thus winning +for Samoa the reputation of being among the loveliest of the islands +which stud like gems the bosom of the Pacific.[3] + + [3] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), p. 110; T. H. + Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western + Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 40; J. L. Brenchley, _Jottings + during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curacoa" among the South Sea + Islands in 1865_ (London, 1873), pp. 37-39, 61 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; John B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 26 _sqq._ + +The island of Upolu in particular is wooded from its summit to the +water's edge, where in some places the roots of the trees are washed by +the surf, while in many places clumps of mangrove trees spread out into +the lagoon. The forests are dense and more sombre even than those of +Brazil. The lofty trees shoot up to a great height before sending out +branches. At their feet grow ferns of many sorts, while climbing vines +and other creepers mantle their trunks and sometimes even their tops. +But the gloom of the tropical forest is seldom or never relieved by +flowers of brilliant tints; the few flowers that bloom in them are of a +white or greyish hue, as if bleached for want of the sunbeams, which are +shut out by the thick umbrageous foliage overhead.[4] + + [4] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._, 52 _sq._ + +Very different from the aspect presented by this luxuriant vegetation is +a great part of the interior of Savaii, the largest island of the group. +Here the desolate and forbidding character of the landscape constantly +reminds the traveller of the dreadful forces which slumber beneath his +feet. Extinct volcanoes tower above him to heights of four and five +thousand feet, their steep and almost perpendicular sides formed of +volcanic ashes and denuded of vegetation. For miles around these gloomy +peaks the ground presents nothing to the eye but black rocks, scoriae, +and ashes; the forlorn wayfarer seems to be traversing a furnace barely +extinguished, so visible are the traces of fire on the sharp-pointed +stones among which he picks his painful way, and which in their twisted +and tormented forms seem still to preserve something of the movement of +the once boiling flood of molten lava. The whole country is a barren +and waterless wilderness, a solitude destitute alike of animal and of +vegetable life, alternately parched by the fierce rays of the tropical +sun and deluged by hurricanes of torrential rain. Even the natives +cannot traverse these dreary deserts; a European who strayed into them +was found, after five or six days, prostrate and almost dead on the +ground.[5] + + [5] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 71 _sq._; + F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 502 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + Old Samoa, p. 34; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 1 + _sqq._ + +In Samoa, as in Tonga, volcanic activity has ominously increased within +less than a hundred years. Near the island of Olosenga, in 1866 or 1867, +a submarine volcano suddenly burst out in eruption, vomiting forth rocks +and mud to a height, as it was estimated, of two thousand feet, killing +the fish and discolouring the sea for miles round.[6] Still later, +towards the end of 1905, another volcano broke out in the bottom of a +deep valley in the island of Savaii, and rose till it attained a height +of about four thousand feet. Down at least to the year 1910 this immense +volcano was still in full action, and had covered many miles of country +under a bed of lava some ten or twelve feet thick, while with the same +river of molten matter it completely filled up the neighbouring lagoon +and replaced the level shore by an iron-bound coast of volcanic +cliffs.[7] + + [6] F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ ii. 504; J. B. + Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 43. + + [7] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 3. + +A remarkable instance of these volcanic cliffs is furnished by the +little island of Apolima between Savaii and Upolu. The islet, which is +in fact the crater of an extinct volcano, is only about a mile long by +half to three-quarters of a mile in width. On every side but one it +presents to the sea a precipitous wall of basaltic rock some thousand +feet high, while the interior is scooped out in the likeness of a great +cauldron. Only at one place is there a break in the cliffs where a +landing can be effected, and there the operation is difficult and +dangerous even in fine weather. In bad weather the island is completely +isolated. Thus it forms a strong natural fortress, which under the +conditions of native warfare was almost impregnable.[8] + + [8] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 33 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 171. + +As might be expected from their volcanic formation, the islands are +subject to frequent and sometimes severe shocks of earthquake. The +veteran missionary, J. B. Stair, has recorded that the shocks increased +in number and violence during the last years of his residence in Samoa. +The last of them was preceded by loud subterranean noises, which lasted +for hours, to the great alarm of the natives. At the north-west of Upolu +also, Mr. Stair used often to hear a muffled sound, like the rumble of +distant thunder, proceeding apparently from the sea under the reef. This +curious noise always occurred on hot, sultry days, and seemed to strike +a note of warning, which filled natives and Europeans alike with a sense +of awe and insecurity.[9] Thus if, beheld from some points of view, the +Samoan islands appear an earthly paradise, from others they present the +aspect, and emit the sounds, of an inferno. + + [9] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in + the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 145; J. B. Stair, + _op. cit._ pp. 41 _sq._ + +And with all their natural beauty and charm the islands cannot be said +to enjoy a healthy climate. There is much bad weather, particularly +during the winter months, when long and heavy rains, attended at times +with high winds and gales, are frequent. The air is more moist than in +Tahiti, and the vegetation in consequence is more rank and luxuriant. +Decaying rapidly under the ardent rays of a tropical sun, it exhales a +poisonous miasma. But the heat, oppressive and exhausting at times, is +nevertheless tempered by the sea and land breezes, which blow daily, +alternating with intervals of calm between them. Besides these daily +breezes the trade wind blows regularly from the east during the fine +season, when the sky is constantly blue and cloudless. Yet with all +these alleviations the climate is enervating, and a long residence in it +is debilitating to the European frame.[10] Nor are the natives exempt +from the noxious effects of an atmosphere saturated with moisture and +impregnated with the fumes of vegetable decay. The open nature of their +dwellings, which were without walls, exposed them to the heavy night +dews and rendered them susceptible to diseases of the chest and lungs, +from which they suffered greatly; consumption in its many forms, coughs, +colds, inflammation of the chest and lungs, fevers, rheumatism, +pleurisy, diarrh[oe]a, lumbago, diseases of the spine, scrofula, and +many other ailments are enumerated among the disorders which afflicted +them. But the prevailing disease is elephantiasis, a dreadful malady +which attacks Europeans and natives alike. There are many cases of +epilepsy, and though idiots are rare, lunatics are less infrequent. +Hunchbacks are very common in both sexes, and virulent ophthalmia is +prevalent; many persons lose the sight of one eye, and some are totally +blinded; not less than a fifth part of the population is estimated to +suffer from this malady.[11] Curiously enough, hunchbacks, who are said +to be very numerous on account of scrofula, used to be looked on as +special favourites of the spirits, and many of them, on growing to +manhood, were accordingly admitted to the priesthood.[12] + + [10] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 118; Violette, "Notes d'un + Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72 (who, however, affirms that the + climate is not unhealthy); T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in + H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 144 + _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 16, 35 _sqq._ + + [11] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 124 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, + pp. 165 _sq._, 169 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 180 _sqq._ + + [12] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 622. + +During the stormy season, which lasts from December to April, hurricanes +sometimes occur, and are greatly dreaded by the natives on account of +the havoc which they spread both among the crops and the houses. A +steady rain, the absence of the sun, a deathlike stillness of the birds +and domestic animals, and above all the dark and lowering aspect of the +sky, are the premonitory symptoms of the coming calamity and inspire +general consternation, while the thunderous roar of the torrents and +waterfalls in the mountains strike on the ear with redoubled +distinctness in the prevailing silence which preludes the storm. Warned +by these ominous signs, the natives rush to secure their property from +being swept away by the fury of the blast. Some hurry their canoes +inland to places of comparative safety; others pile trunks of +banana-trees on the roofs of their houses or fasten down the roofs by +hanging heavy stones over them; while yet others bring rough poles, +hastily cut in the forest, and set them up inside the houses as props +against the rafters, to prevent the roof from falling in. Sometimes +these efforts are successful, sometimes futile, the hurricane sweeping +everything before it in its mad career, while the terrified natives +behold the fruits of months of toil, sometimes the growth of years, laid +waste in an hour. On such occasions the shores have been seen flooded by +the invading ocean, houses carried clean away, and a forest turned +suddenly into a bare and treeless plain. Men have been forced to fling +themselves flat on the ground and to dig their hands into the earth to +save themselves from being whirled away and precipitated into the sea or +a torrent. In April 1850 the town of Apia, the capital of the islands, +was almost destroyed by one of these cyclones. When the rage of the +tornado is spent and calm has returned, the shores of a harbour are apt +to present a melancholy scene of ruin and desolation, their shores +strewn with the wrecks of gallant ships which lately rode there at +anchor, their pennons streaming to the wind. So it happened in the +harbour of Apia on March 16th, 1889. Before the tempest burst, there +were many ships of various nations anchored in the bay, among them five +or six American and German warships. When it was over, all were wrecked +and their shattered fragments littered the reefs. One vessel alone, the +British man-of-war, _Calliope_, was saved by the courage and skill of +the captain, who, seconded by the splendid seamanship of the crew, +forced his ship, in the very teeth of the hurricane, out into the open +sea, where he safely weathered the storm.[13] + + [13] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 72; Violette, "Notes d'un + Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 72; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _Australasia_, ii. 504; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 38-41. + +A special interest attaches to Samoa in so far as it is now commonly +believed to be the original seat of the Polynesian race in the Pacific, +from which their ancestors gradually dispersed to the other islands of +that vast ocean, where their descendants are settled to this day. +Polynesian traditions point to such a dispersal from Samoa as a centre, +and they are confirmed by the name which the various branches of the +race give to their old ancestral home. The original form of that name +appears to have been Savaiki, which through dialectical variations has +been altered to Hawaiki in New Zealand, to Hawaii in the Sandwich +Islands, to Havaii in Tahiti, to Havaiki in the Marquesas, and to Avaiki +in Rarotonga. In the Samoan dialect, which of all the Polynesian +dialects alone retains the letter S, the word presumably appears as +Savaii, the name of the largest island of the group, which accordingly +may be regarded, with some probability, as the cradle-land of the +Polynesians in the Pacific; though native traditions indicate rather +Upolu or Manua as the place from which the canoes started on their long +and adventurous voyages. On the other hand in favour of Savaii it has +been pointed out that the island holds a decided superiority over the +other islands of the group in respect of canoe-building; for it +possesses extensive forests of hard and durable timber, which is much +sought after for the keels and other parts of vessels; indeed, the large +sea-going canoes were generally, if not always, built on Savaii, and +maritime expeditions appear sometimes to have started from its +shores.[14] In proof that the Samoans have long been settled in the +islands which they now occupy, it may be alleged that they appear to +have no tradition of any other home from which their ancestors migrated +to their present abode. With the single exception of a large village +called Matautu in Savaii, the inhabitants of which claim that they came +originally from Fiji, all the Samoans consider themselves +indigenous.[15] The Samoans and Tongans, says Mr. S. Percy Smith, +"formed part of the first migration into the Pacific, and they have +been there so long that they have forgotten their early history. All the +numerous legends as to their origin seem to express their own belief in +their being autochthones, created in the Samoan Islands."[16] + + [14] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the + United States Exploring Expedition_ (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. + 119 _sqq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 102 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 271 _sqq._ (compare _id._ p. 34 as to the + timber and canoe-building of Savaii); G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 358, 371 _sq._; A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings + of Peoples_ (Cambridge, 1919), p. 36; A. H. Keane, _Man Past and + Present_ (Cambridge, 1920), p. 552. That the Samoan language, + alone of the Polynesian dialects, retains the S sound, is + affirmed by Ch. Wilkes (_Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 123). In some of the islands the name + of the ancient fatherland of the race (Hawaiki, etc.) has been + applied or transferred to the spirit-land to which the souls of + the dead are supposed to pass as their final abode. See S. Percy + Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 46 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, pp. 56 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Hawaiki." + + [15] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 360 + _sq._ As to the Fijian colony in Savaii, compare T. H. Hood, + _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ + (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 117 _sq._ + + [16] S. Percy Smith, _Hawaiki_, pp. 114 _sq._ + + +Sec. 2. _The Samoan Islanders, their character_ + +In spite of the many diseases prevalent among them, the Samoans are +commonly reckoned among the finest, as well as the purest, specimens of +the Polynesian race. Like the Tongans, whom they closely resemble, they +are generally tall and shapely, with full rounded faces and limbs, but +without that grossness and laxity of fibre common in the Tahitians. The +average height of the men is said to be five feet ten inches, but some +of them are over six feet with the thews and sinews of a Hercules. Their +features, though not always regular, are commonly pleasing; and in +particular the forehead is remarkable for its ample development, which, +with the breadth between the eyes, gives to the countenance an +expression of nobleness and dignity. Some of the young men especially +are models of manly beauty; we read of one who, having decked his hair +with the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an +Antinous. The women are comely enough, but strikingly inferior to the +men in point of personal beauty. The prevailing colour is a light copper +or olive brown, but the shade varies a good deal, deepening somewhat in +fishermen and others who are much exposed to the sun; but it never +approaches the dark chocolate tint, or Vandyke brown, of the +Melanesians. Their hair is usually black and wavy, sometimes curly; but +hardly a vestige is to be seen among them of the crisped and woolly hair +and dusky complexion of the Melanesians, their neighbours on the +west.[17] + + [17] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the + United States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 10 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, + _Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 125 + _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of + the Western Pacific_, pp. 41, 51; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln + des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, 1875-1876), ii. 110 _sq._; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, p. 3; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 58; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 55 _sq._ + +The prepossessing appearance of the Samoans on the whole does not belie +their character. They are reputed to be the most refined and civilised +of all the native races of the Pacific, and this superiority is said to +manifest itself in their social and domestic life.[18] The Samoans, we +are told, are a nation of gentlemen and contrast most favourably with +the generality of the Europeans who come among them.[19] They are said +to carry their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than +the most fastidious of civilised nations;[20] and the Samoan women +appear to be honourably distinguished by their modest behaviour and +fidelity in marriage, qualities which contrast with the profligacy of +their sex in other branches of the Polynesian race.[21] Equally +honourable to the men are the respect and kindness which, according to +the testimony of observers, they pay to their women, whom they are said +to regard as their equals.[22] The aged were treated with respect and +never abandoned; and strangers were always received in the best house +and provided with food specially prepared for them.[23] Infanticide, +which was carried to an appalling and almost incredible extent among +some of the Polynesians,[24] was unknown in Samoa; abortion, indeed, was +not uncommon, but once born children were affectionately cared for and +never killed or exposed.[25] Wives and slaves were never put to death at +a chief's burial, that their souls might attend their dead lord to the +spirit land[26], as was the practice in some of the other islands, even +in Tonga. Again, human sacrifices were not offered by the Samoans to the +gods within the time during which the islands have been under the +observation of Europeans; but in some of the more remote traditions +mention is made of such sacrifices offered to the sun. Thus it is said +that in the mythical island of Papatea, somewhere away in the east, the +sun used to call for two victims every day, one at his rising and +another at his setting. This lasted for eighty days. At such a rate of +consumption the population of the island was rapidly wasting away. To +escape the threatened doom, a brother and sister, named Luama and Ui, +fled from Papatea to Manua, the most easterly of the Samoan islands, but +they found to their consternation that there too, the sun was demanding +his daily victims. Every house had to supply a victim in succession, +and, when all had yielded the tribute, it came to the first house in +turn to renew the sacrifice. The victim was laid out on a pandanus tree, +and there the sun devoured him or her. When the lot fell on Luama, his +heroic sister Ui insisted on taking his place, and lying down, she +cried, "O cruel sun! come and eat your victim, we are all being devoured +by you." But the amorous sun fell in love with her and took her to wife, +at the same time putting an end to the human sacrifices. Another story +affirms that the heroine was a daughter of the King of Manua, and that +he yielded her up as an offering to the sun in order to end the +sacrifices by making her the saviour of the people.[27] + + [18] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 634. + + [19] T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in + the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 59 _sq._ + + [20] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 110 + + [21] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 125; J. E. Erskine, + _op. cit._ p. 110 + + [22] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 148; Violette, " Notes + d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 156; J. L. Brenchley, _op. cit._ p. + 77; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 628 _sq._; G. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. + 43, 410. + + [23] G. Brown, _op. cit._ p. 410. + + [24] For some evidence of the practice see John + Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp. 363 + _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich + Islands_ (London, 1828), pp. 251 _sqq._; P. Dillon, _Voyage in + the South Seas_ (London, 1829), ii. 134; William Ellis, + _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. + 248 _sqq._; J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in + the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 479-486. According to + Stewart, in those parts of Hawaii to which the influence of the + missionaries had not penetrated, two-thirds of the infants born + were murdered by their parents within the age of two years. In + Tahiti three women, questioned by Mr. Williams, acknowledged + that they had killed twenty-one of their children between them. + Another, at the point of death, confessed to him, in an anguish + of remorse, that she had destroyed sixteen of her children. + + [25] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 79. Compare J. Williams, + _op. cit._ p. 479; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 621; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 47. + + [26] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 219. + + [27] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 201 _sq._ Compare G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 230 _sq._; J. + Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea + Islands_, p. 471; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 210. + +The Samoans, when they became known to Europe in the nineteenth century, +did not habitually indulge in cannibalism; indeed, according to John +Williams, one of the earliest missionaries to the islands, they spoke of +the practice with great horror and detestation.[28] But we have the +testimony of other early missionaries that in their wars they +occasionally resorted to it as a climax of hatred and revenge, devouring +some portion of an enemy who had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious +by his cruelty or his provocations. Traditions, too, are on record of +chiefs who habitually killed and devoured their fellow-creatures. A form +of submission which a conquered party used to adopt towards their +conquerors has also been interpreted as a relic of an old custom of +cannibalism. Representatives of the vanquished party used to bow down +before the victors, each holding in his hands a piece of firewood and a +bundle of leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven. This +was as much as to say, "Kill us and cook us, if you please." Criminals, +too, were sometimes bound hand and foot, slung on a pole, and laid down +before the persons they had injured, like pigs about to be killed and +cooked. Combining these and other indications we may surmise that +cannibalism was formerly not infrequent among the ancestors of the +Samoans, though among their descendants in the nineteenth century the +practice had almost wholly died out.[29] It is further to the credit of +the Samoans that their public administration of justice was on the whole +mild and humane. Torture was never employed to wring the truth from +witnesses or the accused, and there seems to be only a single case on +record of capital punishment inflicted by judicial sentence. At the same +time private individuals were free to avenge the adultery of a wife or +the murder of a kinsman by killing the culprit, and no blame attached to +them for so doing. The penalties imposed by the sentence of a court or +judicial assembly (_fono_) included fines, banishment, and the +destruction of houses, fruit-trees, and domestic animals. But a criminal +might also be condemned by a court to suffer corporal punishment in one +form or another. He might, for example, be obliged to wound himself by +beating his head and chest with a stone till the blood flowed freely; if +he seemed to spare himself, he would be ordered by the assembled chiefs +to strike harder, and if he still faltered, the prompt and unsparing +application of a war club to his person effectually assisted the +execution of the sentence. Again, he might be condemned to bite a +certain acrid and poisonous root (called in the native language _tevi_) +which caused the mouth to swell and the culprit to suffer intense agony +for a considerable time afterwards. Or he might have to throw up a spiny +and poisonous fish into the air and to catch it in his naked hand as it +fell; the sharp-pointed spines entered into the flesh and inflicted +acute pain and suffering. Or he might be suspended by hands and feet +from a pole and in this attitude exposed to the broiling sun for many +hours together; or he might be hung by the feet, head downward, from the +top of a tall coco-nut tree and left there to expiate his crime for a +long time. For certain offences the culprit was condemned to have his +nose tattooed or his ears split. In sentences of banishment the term of +exile was never specified, but when the sentence had been pronounced in +full assembly, and the offence was great, the culprit might live in +exile for years. When the punishment consisted in the destruction of +houses, plantations, and live stock, it was immediately inflicted by the +whole force of the district, under the direction and superintendence of +the leading men, who had taken part in the assembly and passed the +sentence. A whole family might suffer in this way for the offence of one +of its members, and be driven into exile, after witnessing the burning +of their house, the killing of their pigs, and the barking of their +breadfruit trees.[30] If such penalties seem to us in some cases +needlessly severe, they at least testify to a strong sense of public +justice developed among the Samoans, who had thus advanced far enough to +transfer, in some measure, the redress of wrongs to judicial assemblies +instead of leaving it to the caprice of the injured individuals. +Nevertheless the transference was but imperfect: the administration of +justice was loose and irregular: for the most part every man was a law +to himself, and did what was right in his own eyes. An aggrieved party +would become his own judge, jury, and executioner. The thirst for +vengeance was slaked only by the blood of a victim.[31] + + [28] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 456. + + [29] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 108-111; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 149 _sq._, 290; J. E. + Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 39, 101 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 125 _sq._; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 168; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 240 _sq._ + + [30] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 91 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 288-291. Compare Violette, + "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119, 120. + + [31] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 633. + +It is another sign of the intellectual enlightenment of the Samoans that +they rose apparently superior to that system of malignant magic, which +kept their neighbours the Melanesians in lifelong bondage. The +experienced missionary, Dr. George Brown, could not find in Samoa any +trace of the practice of that particular form of the black art with +which he was familiar in New Britain and other Melanesian islands, the +practice of procuring some object which has belonged to an enemy or been +touched by him, and taking it to a sorcerer, that he may perform over it +a ceremony for the purpose of injuring the person from whom the object +has been obtained. The proceeding is one of the commonest forms of +sympathetic magic, but the Samoans appear to have ignored or despised +it.[32] Again, the silence of our authorities on the subject of amulets +and talismans leaves us to infer that the Samoans were equally +indifferent to that branch of magic which seeks to ensure the safety and +prosperity of the individual by attaching a miscellaneous collection of +rubbish to his person, a system of ensurance against evil and misfortune +which has attained a prodigious development among some savages, notably +in Africa,[33] and is very far from being unknown in Europe at the +present day. Again, unlike most savages, the Samoans were close +observers of the stars, not only reckoning the time of night by the +rising of particular stars, but steering by them when they were out of +sight of land.[34] + + [32] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 245. + Compare S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 638. + + [33] See, for example, E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The + Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), i. + 252 _sqq._ + + [34] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 348. + +Against these amiable and enlightened traits in the Samoan character +must be set their cruelty in war. If they opened hostilities with a +great deal of formal politeness, they conducted them with great +ferocity. No quarter was given to men in battle, and captives were +ruthlessly slaughtered. Women were sometimes spared for the use of their +captors. Nor did death save the conquered from the insults and outrages +of the insolent victors. The slain on the battlefield were treated with +great indignity. Their heads were cut off and carried in triumph to the +village, where they were piled up in a heap in the place of public +assembly, the head of the most important chief being given the place of +honour on the top of the pile. However, they were not kept as trophies, +but after remaining for some hours exposed to public gaze were either +claimed by the relatives or buried on the spot. The headless trunks were +given to children to drag about the village and to spear, stone, or +mutilate at pleasure.[35] The first missionary to Samoa was told in +Manua that the victors used to scalp their victims and present the +scalps, with kava, either to the king or to the relatives of the slain +in battle, by whom these gory trophies were highly prized. He mentions +as an example the case of a young woman, whose father had been killed. A +scalp of a foe having been brought to her, she burnt it, strewed the +ashes on the fire with which she cooked her food, and then devoured the +meat with savage satisfaction.[36] But the climax of cruelty and horror +was reached in a great war which the people of A'ana, in Upolu, waged +against a powerful combination of enemies. After a brave resistance they +were at last defeated, and the surviving warriors, together with the +aged and infirm, the women and children, fled to the mountains, where +they endeavoured to hide themselves from their pursuers in the caves and +the depths of the forest. But they were hunted out and brought down to +the seashore; and an immense pit having been dug and filled with +firewood, they were all, men, women, and children, thrown into it and +burnt alive. The dreadful butchery went on for days. Four hundred +victims are said to have perished. The massacre was perpetrated at the +moment when the first missionaries were landing in Samoa. From the +opposite shore they beheld the mountains enveloped in the flames and +smoke of the funeral pile. The decisive battle had been fought that +very morning. For many years a great black circle of charcoal marked the +scene and preserved the memory of the fatal transaction.[37] + + [35] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 456; Ch. Wilkes, _op. + cit._ ii. 150 _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian + Reminiscences_, p. 61; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 247 _sqq._; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170, 172 _sq._ Dr. + Brown here speaks as if captive women were regularly spared and + married by the victors. As to the elaborate civilities which + passed between the vanguards of two hostile armies at their + first meeting, see Dr. Brown, _op. cit._ pp. 166 _sq._ + + [36] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 458. + + [37] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 286 _sq._, 456; J. B. + Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 254-258. + + +Sec. 3. _Houses, Agriculture, and Industries_ + +Like all the Polynesians, the Samoans are not nomadic, but live in +settled villages. The typical Samoan house is commonly described as oval +or elliptical, though in fact it would seem to be of oblong shape with +semicircular ends. But many houses were circular in shape, and with +their conical thatched roofs resembled gigantic beehives. From the +Tongans the Samoans also borrowed the custom of building oblong +quadrangular houses, which were called _afolau_. The best houses, in +particular those of important chiefs, were built on raised platforms of +stones about three feet high. One of the circular houses would measure +about thirty-five feet in diameter by a hundred in circumference. Two or +three posts in the centre of the house, some twenty feet high, supported +the roof, the lower end of which rested on a series of short posts, four +or five feet high, placed at intervals of about four feet all round the +house. The intervals between these posts were sometimes closed by thatch +neatly tied to sticks, which were planted upright in the ground and +fastened to the eaves; but more commonly, it would seem, the intervals +between the posts were left open and only closed at night by blinds made +of coco-nut leaves, which could be let down or pulled up like Venetian +blinds. During the day these blinds were drawn up, so that there was a +free current of air all through the house. The roofs of the best houses +were made of bread-fruit wood carefully thatched with leaves of the wild +sugar-cane; when well made, the thatch might last seven years. The +circular roofs were so constructed that they could be lifted clean off +the posts and removed anywhere, either by land or on a raft of canoes. +The whole house could also be transported; and as Samoan houses were +often bartered, or given as presents, or paid as fines, it frequently +happened that they were removed from place to place. In the whole house +there was not a single nail or spike: all joints were made by exactly +corresponding notches and secured by cinnet, that is cordage made from +the dried fibre of the coco-nut husk. The timber of the best houses was +the wood of the bread-fruit tree; and, if protected against damp, it +would last fifty years. The floor of the house was composed of stones, +overlaid with fine gravel and sand. In the centre of the floor was the +fire-place, a circular hollow two or three feet in diameter and a few +inches deep, lined with hardened clay. It was not used for cooking, but +for the purpose of lighting up the house by night. The cooking was never +done in the house, but always in the open air outside on an oven of hot +stones. An ordinary Samoan house consisted of a single apartment, which +served as the common parlour, dining-room, and bedroom of the family. +But at night small tents made of bark-cloth were hung from the +ridge-pole, and under them the various members of the family slept +separately, the tents serving them at the same time as curtains to +protect them against the mosquitoes. Formerly, the houses of the +principal chiefs were surrounded with two fences; the outer of the two +was formed of strong posts and had a narrow zigzag entrance, several +yards long, leading to an opening in the inner fence, which was made of +reeds. But with the advent of a more peaceful epoch these fortified +enclosures for the most part disappeared. Houses constructed on the +Tongan model were often very substantially built: a double row of posts +and cross-beams supported the roof. These houses were found better able +to resist the high winds which prevail at one season of the year.[38] + + [38] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._. ii. 145 _sqq._; J. E. + Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 45-47; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in + H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 32; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 152 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 634 _sq._; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa,_ pp. 105 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 24 _sqq._ + +Like the rest of the Polynesians, the Samoans are an agricultural +people, and subsist mainly by the fruits of the earth, though the +lagoons and reefs furnish them with a large supply of fish and +shell-fish, of which they are very fond. They all, but especially +persons of rank, occasionally regaled themselves on pigs, fowls, and +turtle. But bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, and coco-nuts formed the +staff of life in Samoa. As the soil is very rich and the hot, damp +climate is eminently favourable to the growth of vegetation, food was +always abundant, and the natives could procure the necessaries and even +the luxuries of life at the cost of very little labour; if they tilled +the soil, it was rather to vary their diet than to wring a scanty +subsistence from a niggardly nature. Coco-nut palms, bread-fruit and +chestnut trees, and wild yams, bananas, and plantains abound throughout +the islands, and require little attention to make them yield an ample +crop. For about half the year the Samoans have a plentiful supply of +food from the bread-fruit trees: during the other half they depend +principally upon their taro plantations. While the bread-fruit is in +season, every family lays up a quantity of the ripe fruit in a pit lined +with leaves and covered with stones. The fruit soon ferments and forms a +soft mass, which emits a very vile smell every time the pit is opened. +In this state it may be kept for years, for the older and more rotten +the fruit is, the better the natives like it. They bake it, with the +juice of the coco-nut, into flat cakes, which are eaten when the ripe +fruit is out of season or when taro is scarce. For taro is on the whole +the staple food of the Samoans; it grows all the year round. The water +of the coco-nut furnishes a cool, delicious, slightly effervescing +beverage, which is peculiarly welcome to the hot and weary wayfarer far +from any spring or rivulet.[39] + + [39] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 147; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_ (London, 1866), pp. 126-128; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 87 _sq._; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 105-107; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 53-55; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._ According + to Dr. Brown, there are generally three crops of bread-fruit in + the year, one of them lasting about three months. + +To obtain land for cultivation the Samoans went into the forest and cut +down the brushwood and creeping vines with small hatchets or large +knives. The large forest-trees they destroyed by chopping away the bark +in a circle round the trunk and then kindling a fire of brushwood at the +foot of the tree. Thus in the course of a few days a fair-sized piece of +ground would be cleared, nothing of the forest remaining but charred +trunks and leafless branches. Then followed the planting. The +agricultural instruments employed were of the simplest pattern. A +dibble, or pointed stick of hard wood, was used to make the hole in +which the plant was deposited. This took the place of a plough, and a +branch served the purpose of a harrow. Sometimes the earth was dug and +smoothed with the blade of a canoe paddle. The labour of clearing and +planting the ground was done by the men, but the task of weeding it +generally devolved on the women. The first crop taken from a piece of +land newly cleared in the forest was yams, which require a peculiar +culture and frequent change of site, two successive crops being seldom +obtained from the same land. After the first crop of yams had been +cleared off, taro was planted several times in succession; for this root +does not, like yams, require a change of site. However, we are told that +a second crop of taro grown on the same land was very inferior to the +first, and that as a rule the land was allowed to remain fallow until +the trees growing on it were as thick as a man's arm, when it was again +cleared for cultivation. In the wet season taro was planted on the high +land from one to four miles inland from the village; other kinds of taro +were planted in the swamps, and these were considered more succulent +than the taro grown on the uplands. The growing crops of taro were +weeded at least twice a year. The natives resorted to irrigation, when +they had the means; and they often dug trenches to drain away the water +from swampy ground. Yams also required attention; for sticks had to be +provided on which the plants could run. The fruit ripens only once a +year, but it was stored up, and with care would keep till the next +season. The natives found neither yams nor bread-fruit so nourishing as +taro.[40] + + [40] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 188; S. + Ella, _op. cit._ p. 635; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 130 _sqq._, 338 + _sqq._ + +The degree of progress which any particular community has made in +civilisation may be fairly gauged by the degree of subdivision of labour +among its members; for it is only by restricting his energies to a +particular craft that a man can attain to any perfection in it. Judged +by this standard the Samoans had advanced some way on the road to +civilisation, since among them the division of labour was carried out to +a considerable extent: in their native state they had not a few separate +trades or professions, some of which may even be said to have developed +the stability and organisation of trade guilds. Among them, for example, +house-building, canoe-building, tattooing, and the making of nets and +fish-hooks were distinct crafts, which, though not strictly hereditary, +were usually confined to particular families. Thus by long practice and +experience handed down from generation to generation a considerable +degree of skill was acquired, and a considerable degree of reputation +accrued to the family. Every trade had its particular patron god and was +governed by certain well-known rules. The members formed, indeed, we are +told, a trade union which was remarkably effective. Thus they had rules +which prescribed the time and proportions of payment to be made at +different stages of the work, and these rules were strictly observed and +enforced by the workmen. For example, in the house-building trade, it +was a standing custom that after the sides and one end of a house were +finished, the principal part of the payment should be made. If the +carpenters were dissatisfied with the amount of payment, they simply +left off work and walked away, leaving the house unfinished, and no +carpenter in the whole length and breadth of Samoa would dare to finish +it, for it would have been as much as his business or even his life was +worth to undertake the job. Anyone so foolhardy as thus to set the rules +of the trade at defiance would have been attacked by the other workmen +and robbed of his tools; at the best he would receive a severe +thrashing, at the worst he might be killed. A house might thus stand +unfinished for months or even years. Sooner or later, if he was to have +a roof over his head, the unfortunate owner had to yield to the trade +union and agree to such terms as they might dictate. If it happened that +the house was almost finished before the fourth and final payment was +made, and the builder at that stage of the proceedings took offence, he +would remove a beam from the roof before retiring in dudgeon, and no +workman would dare to replace it. The rules in the other trades, such +as canoe-building and tattooing, were practically the same. In +canoe-building, for example, five separate payments were made to the +builders at five stages of the work; and if at any stage the workmen +were dissatisfied with the pay, they very unceremoniously abandoned the +work until the employer apologised or came to terms. No other party of +workmen would have the temerity to finish the abandoned canoe upon pain +of bringing down on their heads the wrath of the whole fraternity of +canoe-builders; any such rash offenders against the rules of the guild +would be robbed of their tools, expelled from their clan, and prohibited +from exercising their calling during the pleasure of the guild. Such +strides had the Samoans made in the direction of trade unionism.[41] + + [41] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 157 _sqq._, 162 _sqq._; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 141 _sqq._, 145 _sqq._, 153 _sqq._, + 157 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 268, + 305-308. Compare Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ ii. 143 _sqq._; + Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 134 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 635 + _sq._ + +In addition to their household duties women engaged in special work of +their own, particularly in the manufacture of bark-cloths and of fine +mats; but among them there seems to have been no subdivision of labour +and consequently no professional guilds. In all families the making of +bark-cloth and mats was carried on by the women indifferently, though +some no doubt excelled others in the skill of their handiwork. The cloth +was made from the bark of the paper-mulberry (_Morus papyrifera_), which +was beaten out on boards with a grooved beetle. The sound of these +beetles ringing on the boards, though not very musical, was a familiar +sound in a Samoan village. The fine mats, on the manufacture of which +the Samoans particularly prided themselves, were worn as dresses on +ceremonial occasions. They were made from the leaves of a large plant +which the natives call _lau ie_; the leaves closely resemble those of +the pandanus, but are larger. These mats were of a straw or cream +colour, and were sometimes fringed with tufts of scarlet feathers of the +paroquet. They were thin and almost as flexible as calico. Many months, +sometimes even years, were spent over the making of a single mat. +Another kind of fine mat was made from the bark of a plant of the nettle +tribe (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_), which grows wild over the islands. Mats +of the latter sort were shaggy on one side, and, being bleached white, +resembled fleecy sheep-skins. These fine mats, especially those made +from the leaves of the pandanus-like plant, were considered by the +Samoans to be their most valuable property; they were handed down as +heirlooms from father to son, and were so much coveted that wars were +sometimes waged to obtain possession of them. The pedigrees of the more +famous mats, particularly those fringed with red feathers, were +carefully kept, and when they changed hands, their history was related +with solemn precision. Age enhanced their value; and their tattered +condition, deemed a proof of antiquity, rather added to than detracted +from the estimation in which they were held. The wealth of a family +consisted of its mats; with them it remunerated the services of +carpenters, boat-builders, and tattooers. The mats formed, indeed, a +sort of currency or medium of exchange; for while the Samoans were not +in general a trading people, and there was little or no actual buying +and selling among them, there was nevertheless a considerable exchange +of property on many occasions; at marriage, for example, it was +customary for the bride's family to give mats and bark-cloth as her +dowry, while the bridegroom's family provided a house, canoes, and other +articles. But though the fine mats were thus paid away or given in +exchange, they had no fixed negotiable value, and thus did not serve the +purpose of money.[42] + + [42] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 142 _sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of + a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_, pp. 109 + _sq._; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 129-132; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 135; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 119-121; S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth + Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of + Science, held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 636; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 143 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 304 _sq._, 305, 315, 434. + + +Sec. 4. _Rights of Property_ + +In Samoa the rights of private property, both personal and landed, were +fully recognised, but with certain limitations. The lands were owned +alike by chiefs and by heads of families; the laws regulating their +possession were very definite. In no case did the whole of the land +belong to the chiefs. Every family owned portions of land not only in +the village and adjoining gardens, but far away in the unreclaimed +forests of the interior. The title, which passed by inheritance, +generally vested in the family; but the family was represented by the +head, who often claimed the right to dispose of it by sale or otherwise. +Yet he dared not do anything without consulting all concerned; were he +to persist in thwarting the wishes of the rest, they would take his +title from him and give it to another. Sometimes, however, the title to +landed property vested in individual owners. The legitimate heir was the +oldest surviving brother, but occasionally he waived his right in favour +of one of the sons. Women might hold land when the male side of a family +was extinct. The boundaries of land were well defined, being marked by +pathways, natural limits, such as a river, or by trenches and stones +half buried in the ground. Every inch of ground had its owner, even to +the tops of the mountains. Trespass by a neighbouring village would be +resisted, if necessary, by force of arms.[43] + + [43] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 176 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 287 _sq._, 314, 339. + +In regard to personal property it may be said that, like landed +property, it belonged rather to the family than to the individual; for +no Samoan could refuse to give, without an equivalent, anything which +any member of his family asked for. In this way boats, tools, garments, +and so forth passed freely from hand to hand. Nay, a man could enter the +plantation of a relative and help himself to the fruit without asking +the owner's leave; such an appropriation was not considered to be +stealing. Under this communistic system, as it has been called, +accumulation of property was scarcely possible, and industry was +discouraged. Why should a diligent man toil when he knew that the fruit +of his labour might all be consumed by lazy kinsfolk? He might lay out a +plantation of bananas, and when they were full-grown, bunch after bunch +might be plucked and eaten by his less industrious relations, until, +exasperated beyond endurance, the unfortunate owner would cut down all +the remaining trees. No matter how hard a man worked, he could not keep +his earnings; they all soon passed out of his hands into the common +stock of the clan. The system, we are told, ate like a canker-worm at +the roots of individual and national progress.[44] + + [44] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 160 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 247, 262 _sq._, 434. + + +Sec. 5. _Government, Social Ranks, Respect for Chiefs_ + +The native government of Samoa was not, like that of Tonga, a +centralised despotism. Under the form of a monarchy and aristocracy the +political constitution was fundamentally republican and indeed +democratic. The authority of the king and chiefs was limited and more or +less nominal; practically Samoa consisted of a large number of petty +independent and self-governing communities, which sometimes combined for +defence or common action in a sort of loose federation.[45] + + [45] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; T. + H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western + Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 118; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173; + S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held at + Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 83 _sq._, 89; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, p. 333. + +To a superficial observer the aristocratic cast of Samoan society might +at first sight seem very marked. The social ranks were sharply divided +from each other, and the inferior orders paid great formal deference to +their superiors. At the head of all ranked the chiefs (_alii_); but even +among them the ordinary chiefs were distinct from the sacred chiefs +(_alii paia_), who enjoyed the highest honours. These sacred chiefs +preserved their pedigrees for twenty or more generations with as great +care as the oldest and proudest families in Europe, and they possessed +many feudal rights and privileges which were as well known and as fully +acknowledged as are, or were, those of any lord of a manor in England. +The task of preserving a record of a chief's pedigrees was entrusted to +his orator or spokesman, who belonged to a lower social rank (that of +the _tulafales_).[46] The influence of chiefs was supported by the +belief that they possessed some magical or supernatural power, by which +they could enforce their decisions.[47] Their persons were sacred or +taboo. They might not be touched by any one. No one might sit beside +them. In the public assemblies a vacant place was left on each side of +the seat of honour which they occupied. Some chiefs were so holy that +they might not even be looked at by day. Their food might not be handed +to them, but was thrown to them, and it was so sacred that no one might +eat any of it which they had left over.[48] + + [46] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Violette, _op. cit._ p. + 168; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, + pp. 283, 430. + + [47] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 431. + + [48] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280, + 283, 285; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168 (as to chiefs too holy to + be seen by day). + +"The sacredness attributed to many chiefs of high rank gave rise to +observances which were irksome to their families and dependents, since +whatever they came in contact with required to undergo the ceremony of +_lulu'u_, or sprinkling with a particular kind of cocoanut-water +(_niu-ui_); both to remove the sanctity supposed to be communicated to +the article or place that had touched the chief, and also to counteract +the danger of speedy death, which was believed to be imminent to any +person who might touch the sacred chief, or anything that he had +touched; so great was the mantle of sanctity thrown around these chiefs, +although unconnected with the priesthood. Thus the spot where such a +chief had sat or slept was sprinkled with water immediately he had left +it, as were also the persons who had sat on either side of him when he +received company, as well as all the attendants who had waited upon him. + +"This remarkable custom was also observed on other occasions. It was +always used on the occasion of deposing a chief, and depriving him of +his _Ao_, or titles, in which case the ceremony was performed by some of +those who had either conferred the titles or had the power to do so. In +the case of O le Tamafainga, the usurper who was killed in A'ana in +1829, his body was first sprinkled with cocoanut-water, and his title of +_O le Tuia'ana_ recalled from him, before he was hewn in pieces. The +ceremony consisted of sprinkling the body with cocoanut-water, and the +officiating chief or _Tulafale_ saying, 'Give us back our _Ao_,' by +which means the title was recalled, and the sacredness attaching to it +was dispelled. It was also used over persons newly tattooed, and upon +those who contaminated themselves by contact with a dead body. In each +of these cases the ceremony was carefully observed, and reverently +attended to, as very dire consequences were considered certain to follow +its omission."[49] Thus the sacredness of a chief was deemed dangerous +to all persons with whom he might come, whether directly or indirectly, +into contact; it was apparently conceived as a sort of electric fluid +which discharged itself, it might be with fatal effect, on whatever it +touched. And the sacredness of a chief was clearly classed with the +uncleanness of a dead body, since contact with a dead body involved the +same dangerous consequences as contact with the sacred person of a chief +and had to be remedied in precisely the same manner. The two conceptions +of holiness and uncleanness, which to us seem opposite and even +contradictory, blend in the idea of taboo, in which both are implicitly +held as it were in solution. It requires the analytic tendency of more +advanced thought to distinguish the two conceptions, to precipitate, as +it were, the components of the solution in the testing-tube of the mind. + + [49] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 127 _sq._ Compare + Violette, _op. cit._ p. 168; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 231, 280, 285. In this work Dr. Brown remarks + (p. 231) that there is no clear explanation of the custom of + sprinkling coco-nut water as a purificatory rite. But the + explanation given by Stair, which I have quoted in the text, is + clear and satisfactory, and elsewhere (p. 285) Dr. Brown + implicitly adopts the same explanation, where he says that the + man who had served kava to a sacred chief "sprinkled himself all + over to wash away the sacredness (_paia_)." + +The profound respect which the Samoans entertained for their chiefs +manifested itself in yet another fashion. A special form of speech was +adopted in addressing a chief, in conversing in his presence, or even in +alluding to him in his absence. Thus there arose what is called a +chiefs' language, or polite diction, which was used exclusively in +speaking to or of a chief, whether the speaker was a common man or a +chief of lower rank. But it was never used by a chief when he was +speaking of himself. Persons of high rank, in addressing others and +alluding to themselves, always employed ordinary language and sometimes +the very lowest terms; so that it was often amusing to listen to +expressions of feigned humility uttered by a proud man, who would have +been indignant indeed if the same terms which he applied to himself had +been applied to him by others. Thus, for example, the actions of +sitting, talking, eating, sleeping, and dying were expressed by +different terms according as the agent was a chief or a common man. The +ordinary word for a house was _fale_; but a chief's house was called +_maota_. The common word for anger was _ita_; the polite term was +_toasa_. To sleep in ordinary language was _moe_, but in polite language +it was _tof[=a]_ or _toa_. To be sick in common speech was _mai_, but in +polite language it was _ngasengase, faatafa, pulu pulusi_. To die was +_mate_ or _pe_ (said of animals), or _oti_ (said of men); but the +courtly expressions for death were _maliu_ ("gone"), _folau_ ("gone on a +voyage"), _fale-lauasi, ngasololo ao_, and a number of others. The terms +substituted in the court language sometimes had a meaning the very +opposite of that borne by the corresponding terms in the ordinary +language. For example, in the court language firewood was called +_polata_, which properly means the stem of the banana plant, a wood that +is incombustible. If the use of an ordinary word in the presence of a +chief were unavoidable, it had to be prefaced by the apologetic phrase +_veaeane_, literally "saving your presence," every time the word was +spoken. Nay, the courtly language itself varied with the rank of the +chief addressed or alluded to. For example, if you wished to say that a +person had come, you would say _alu_ of a common man; _alala_ of a head +of a household or landowner (_tulafale_); _maliu_ of a petty chief; +_susu_ of a chief of the second class; and _afiu_ of a chief of the +highest rank.[50] The same respect which was shown in the use of words +descriptive of a chief's actions or possessions was naturally extended +to his own name, when he belonged to the class of sacred chiefs. If his +name happened to be also the name of a common object, it ceased to be +used to designate the thing in question, and a new word or phrase was +substituted for it. Henceforth the old name of the object was dropped +and might never again be pronounced in the chief's district nor indeed +anywhere in his presence. In one district, for example, the chief's name +was Flying-fox; hence the ordinary word for flying-fox (_re'a_) was +dropped, and that species of bat was known as "bird of heaven" (_manu +langi_).[51] Again, when the chief of Pango-pango, in the island of +Tutuila, was called Maunga, which means "mountain," that word might +never be used in his presence, and a courtly term was substituted for +it.[52] This is only one instance of the ways in which the dialects of +savages tend to vary from each other under the influence of +superstition. + + [50] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 28 _sq._; Violette, "Notes + d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions + Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 190; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. + 67 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 380 + _sq._ Compare G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 175. + + [51] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 280, + 381. + + [52] J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the + Islands of the Western Pacific_, p. 44. + +Yet despite the extraordinary deference thus paid to chiefs in outward +show, the authority which they possessed was for the most part very +limited; indeed in the ordinary affairs of life the powers and +privileges of a chief were little more than nominal, and he moved about +among the people and shared their everyday employments just like a +common man. Thus, for example, he would go out with a fishing party, +work in his plantation, help at building a house or a canoe, and even +lend a hand in cooking at a native oven. So strong was the democratic +spirit among the Samoans. The ordinary duties of a chief consisted in +administering the law, settling disputes, punishing transgressors, +appointing feasts, imposing taboos, and leading his people in war. It +was in time of war that a chief's dignity and authority were at their +highest, but even then he could hardly maintain strict discipline.[53] +However, the influence of chiefs varied a good deal and depended in +great measure on their personal character. If besides his hereditary +rank a chief was a man of energy and ability, he might become +practically supreme in his village or district. Some chiefs even used +their power in a very tyrannical manner.[54] + + [53] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 174 _sq._; S. Ella, + "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian + Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart, + Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 631 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286. + + [54] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 70; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 286. + +But for the abuse of power by their nominal rulers the Samoans had a +remedy at hand. When a chief rendered himself odious to his people by +tyranny and oppression, the householders or gentry (_tulafales_) and +neighbouring chiefs would not uncommonly depose him and transfer his +office to another; in extreme cases they might banish him or even put +him to death. The place of banishment for exiled chiefs was the island +of Tutuila. Thither the fallen potentate was conveyed under custody in a +canoe, and on landing he was made to run the gauntlet between two rows +of the inhabitants, who belaboured him with sticks, pelted him with +stones, or subjected him to other indignities. He was lucky if he +escaped with nothing worse than bruises, for sometimes the injuries +inflicted were severe or actually fatal.[55] Chieftainship was +hereditary in the male line, but did not necessarily pass from father +to son; the usual heir would seem to have been the eldest surviving +brother, and next to him one of the sons. But a dying chief might +nominate his successor, though the final decision rested with the heads +of families. Failing a male heir, a daughter might be appointed to, or +might assume, the prerogative of chieftainship.[56] + + [55] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 454; H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 28; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, p. 177; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 71 _sqq._ + + [56] Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; G. Turner, _Samoa_, + p. 174; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 631; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 282, 286, 430. + +In addition to their hereditary nobility chiefs might be raised to +higher rank by the possession of titles (_ao_), which were in the gift +of certain ruling towns or villages. When four or, according to another +account, five of these titles were conferred upon a single chief, he was +called _o le tupu_, or King of Samoa. But if the constituencies were not +unanimous in their choice of a candidate, the throne might remain vacant +for long periods. Thus the monarchy of Samoa was elective; the king was +chosen by a hereditary aristocracy, and his powers were tempered by the +rights and privileges of the nobility. Yet under the show of a limited +monarchy the constitution was essentially a federal republic.[57] The +ceremony of anointing a King of Samoa in ancient times appears to have +curiously resembled a similar solemnity in monarchical Europe. It took +place in presence of a large assembly of chiefs and people. A sacred +stone was consecrated as a throne, or rather stool, on which the king +stood, while a priest, who must also be a chief, called upon the gods to +behold and bless the king, and pronounced denunciations against such as +should fail to obey him. He then poured scented oil from a native bottle +over the head, shoulders, and body of the king, and proclaimed his +several titles and honours.[58] + + [57] Violette, _op. cit._ pp. 118 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 65 _sqq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, p. 283. Compare H. Hale, _Ethnography and + Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29. + + [58] S. Ella, "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of + the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, + held at Hobart, Tasmania, in January 1892_, p. 631. + +Next below the chiefs ranked an inferior order of nobility called +_tulafales_ or _faipules_, who are variously described as householders, +councillors, and secondary chiefs. They formed a very powerful and +influential class; indeed we are told that they generally exercised +greater authority than the chiefs, and that the real control of +districts often centred in their hands. They usually owned large lands: +they were the principal advisers of the chiefs: the orators were usually +selected from their number: the _ao_ or titles of districts were always +in their gift; and they had the power, which they did not scruple to +use, of deposing and banishing an unpopular chief. Sometimes a chief +contrived to bring them into subjection to himself; but as a rule they +were a sturdy class, who did not shrink from speaking out their minds +to their social superiors, often uttering very unpalatable truths and +acting with great determination when the conduct of a chief incurred +their displeasure. In short, they made laws, levied fines, and generally +ruled the village.[59] + + [59] H. Hale, _op. cit._ p. 28; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ + ii. 152; Violette, _op. cit._ p. 119; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 629; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 285 _sq._, 287. + +Below the _tulafales_ ranked the _faleupolu_ or House of Upolu, and the +_tangata nuu_ or Men of the Land. The former were considerable +landowners and possessed much influence; the latter were the humblest +class, bearing arms in time of war, and cultivating the soil, fishing, +and cooking in time of peace. But they were far from being serfs; most +of them were eligible for the position of head of a family, if, when a +vacancy occurred, the choice of the family fell upon them.[60] For the +title of head of a family was not hereditary. A son might succeed his +father in the dignity; but the members of the family would sometimes +pass over the son and confer the title on an uncle, a cousin, or even a +perfect stranger, if they desired to increase the numerical strength of +the family.[61] + + [60] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 74 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 432. + + [61] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173. + +The villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing and +independent communities, though every village was more or less loosely +federated with the other villages of its district. Each district or +confederation of villages had its capital (_laumua_) or ruling town. +These federal capitals, however, possessed no absolute authority over +the other villages of the district; and though great respect was always +shown to them, the people of the district, or even of a particular +village, would often dissent from the decisions of the capital and +assert their independence of action.[62] Of this independence a notable +instance occurred when the Catholic missionaries first settled in Samoa. +Under the influence of the Protestant missionaries a federal assembly +had passed a decree strictly forbidding the admission of Roman Catholics +to the islands, and threatening with war any community that should dare +to harbour the obnoxious sect. The better to enforce the decree, prayers +were publicly offered up in the chapels that God would be pleased to +keep all Papists out of Samoa. To these charitable petitions the deity +seems to have turned a deaf ear; for, in spite of prayers and +prohibitions, two Catholic priests and a lay brother landed and were +hospitably received and effectually protected by the people of a +village, who paid no heed either to the remonstrances of the chiefs or +to the thunders of the federal assembly.[63] + + [62] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, p. 333. + + [63] Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel + de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) pp. 119 + _sq._ + +The population of a village might be from two to five hundred persons, +and there might be eight or ten villages in a district. Throughout the +Samoan islands there were in all eight of these separate districts. The +union of the villages in a district was voluntary; they formed by common +consent a petty state for their mutual protection. When war was +threatened by another district, no single village acted alone; the whole +district, or state, assembled at their capital and held a special +parliament to concert the measures to be taken.[64] The boundaries of +the districts were well known and zealously guarded, if necessary, by +force of arms against the aggression of a neighbouring state. The +wardenship of the marches was committed to the two nearest villages on +either side, the inhabitants of which were called Boundary-Keepers. +Between two such villages in former days mutual ill-feeling constantly +existed and border feuds were frequent.[65] + + [64] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 173, 180 _sq._ A third + local division, intermediate between the village and the + district, is mentioned by Stair, who calls it a settlement (_Old + Samoa_, p. 83); but the other authorities whom I have consulted + appear not to recognise such an intermediate division. + + [65] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 83. + +The form of government both of the village and of the district was +parliamentary. Affairs were discussed and settled in a representative +assembly (_fono_), composed of the leading men of each village or +district. These representatives included the chiefs, together with the +householders or landowners (_tulafales_) and the inferior gentry (the +_faleupolu_). The more weighty affairs, such as declaring war or making +peace, or any matters of importance which concerned the whole district, +were debated in the general parliament of the district, while business +of purely local interest was transacted in the parliament of the +village. It was the privilege of the capital to convene the district +parliament, to preside over its deliberations, to settle disputed +points, to sum up the proceedings, and to dismiss the assembly. These +meetings were usually conducted with much formality and decorum. They +were always held in the large public place (_malae_ or _marae_) of the +village or town. It was an open green spot surrounded by a circle of +trees and houses. The centre was occupied by a large house which +belonged to the chief and was set apart as a caravansary for the +entertainment of strangers and visitors. Members of all the three orders +which composed the parliament had the right to address it; but the +speaking was usually left to the householders or landowners +(_tulafales_). Each chief had generally attached to him one of that +order who acted as his mouthpiece; and in like manner each settlement +retained the services of a member of the order, who was the leading +orator of the district. Decisions were reached not by voting but by +general consent, the discussion being prolonged until some conclusion, +satisfactory to the greater part of the members, and particularly to the +most influential, was arrived at. One of the principal prerogatives of +the king seems to have been that of convoking a parliament; though, if +he refused to do so, when circumstances seemed to require it, the +assembly would undoubtedly have met without him. The functions of these +assemblies were judicial as well as legislative and deliberative. +Offenders were arraigned before them and, if found guilty, were +condemned and punished.[66] + + [66] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, p. 29; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of + the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 153 _sq._; + Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de Samoa," + _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 119; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 177 _sqq._, 180 _sqq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 632 + _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 84 _sqq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 286 _sq._, 288 _sqq._ + +It says much for the natural ability of the Samoans that they should +have attained to a level of culture so comparatively high with material +resources so scanty and defective. Nature, indeed, supplied them with +abundance of food and timber, but she denied them the metals, which were +unknown in the islands until they were introduced from Europe. In their +native state, accordingly, the Samoans were still in the Stone Age, +their principal tools being stone axes and adzes, made mainly from a +close-grained basalt which is found in the island of Tutuila. Of these +axes the rougher were chipped, but the finer were ground. Shells were +used as cutting instruments and as punches to bore holes in planks; and +combs, neatly carved out of bone, were employed as instruments in +tattooing. A wooden dibble served them instead of a plough to turn up +the earth. The only skins they prepared were those of sharks and some +other fish, which they used as rasps for smoothing woodwork. The art of +pottery was unknown.[67] Food was cooked in ovens of hot stones;[68] +fire was kindled by the friction of wood, the method adopted being what +is called the stick-and-groove process.[69] + + [67] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 319; + G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 158; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 146, + 149, 154, 159. As to the wooden dibbles, see Ella, _op. cit._ p. + 635 (above, p. 166). + + [68] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 111 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 130. + + [69] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 129. + +We now pass to a consideration of the religion of these interesting +people, especially in regard to the human soul and its destiny after +death. + + +Sec. 6. _Religion: Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts_ + +The first missionary to Samoa, John Williams, was struck by the contrast +between the religion of the Samoans and the religion of the other +Polynesian peoples whom he had studied. "The religious system of the +Samoans," he says, "differs essentially from that which obtained at the +Tahitian, Society, and other islands with which we are acquainted. They +have neither _maraes_, nor temples, nor altars, nor offerings; and, +consequently, none of the barbarous and sanguinary rites observed at the +other groups. In consequence of this, the Samoans were considered an +impious race, and their impiety became proverbial with the people of +Rarotonga; for, when upbraiding a person who neglected the worship of +the gods, they would call him 'a godless Samoan.' But, although +heathenism was presented to us by the Samoans in a dress different from +that in which we had been accustomed to see it, having no altars stained +with human blood, no _maraes_ strewed with the skulls and bones of its +numerous victims, no sacred groves devoted to rites of which brutality +and sensuality were the most obvious features, this people had 'lords +many and gods many';--their religious system was as obviously marked as +any other with absurdity, superstition, and vice."[70] + + [70] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 465 _sq._ + +This account of the Samoan religion, written at a time when the islands +were not yet fully opened up to Europeans, must be modified by the +testimony of later writers, in particular with regard to the alleged +absence of temples and offerings; but in its broad outlines it holds +good, in so far as the Samoan ritual was honourably distinguished from +that of many other islands in the Pacific by its freedom from human +sacrifice and from the gross and licentious practices which prevailed in +other branches of the Polynesian race. The notion of the Rarotongans +that the Samoans were a godless people has proved to be totally +mistaken. On closer acquaintance it was found that they lived under the +influence of a host of imaginary deities who exercised their faith and +demanded their obedience. Among these deities the most numerous and +perhaps the most influential were the _aitu_, which were the gods of +individuals, of families, of towns or villages, and of districts.[71] +These gods were supposed to appear in some visible embodiment or +incarnation, and the particular thing, or class of things, in which his +god was in the habit of appearing, was to the Samoan an object of +veneration, and he took great care never to injure it or treat it with +contempt. In the great majority of cases the thing in which the deity +presented himself to his worshippers was a class of natural objects, +most commonly a species of animal, bird, or fish, less frequently a tree +or plant or an inanimate object, such as a stone, the rainbow, or a +meteor. One man, for example, saw his god in the eel, another in the +shark, another in the turtle, another in the owl, another in the lizard, +and so on throughout all the fish of the sea, the birds, the four-footed +beasts, and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, such as the +limpets on the rocks, gods were supposed to be present. It was not +uncommon to see an intelligent chief muttering prayers to a fly, an ant, +or a lizard, which chanced to alight or crawl in his presence. A man +would eat freely of the incarnation of another man's god, but would most +scrupulously refrain from eating of the incarnation of his own +particular god, believing that death would be the consequence of such +sacrilege. The offended god was supposed to take up his abode in the +body of the impious eater and to generate there the very thing which he +had eaten, till it caused his death. For example, if a man, whose family +god was incarnate in the prickly sea-urchin (_Echinus_), were to eat of +a sea-urchin, it was believed that a prickly sea-urchin would grow in +his body and kill him. If his family god were incarnate in the turtle, +and he was rash enough to eat a turtle, the god would enter into him, +and his voice would be heard from within the sinner's body, saying, "I +am killing this man; he ate my incarnation." Occasionally, however, the +penalty exacted by the deity was less severe. If, for instance, a man's +god was in cockles, and he ate one of these shell-fish, a cockle would +grow on his nose; if he merely picked up a cockle on the shore and +walked away with it, the shell-fish would appear on some part of his +person. But in neither case, apparently, would the kindly cockle take +the life of the offender. It was not a bloodthirsty deity. Again, a man +whose god was in coco-nuts would never drink the refreshing beverage +which other people were free to extract from the nuts. But the +worshipper who shrank from eating or drinking his god in the shape, say, +of an octopus or of coco-nut water, would often look on with +indifference while other people partook of these his divinities. He +might pity their ignorance or envy their liberty, but he would not seek +to enlighten the one or to restrain the other.[72] Indeed this +indifference was sometimes carried to great lengths. For example, a man +whose god was incarnate in the turtle, though he would not himself dare +to partake of turtle, would have no scruple in helping a neighbour to +cut up and cook a turtle; but in doing so he took the precaution to tie +a bandage over his mouth to prevent an embryo turtle from slipping down +his throat and sealing his doom by growing up in his stomach.[73] +Sometimes the incarnate deity, out of consideration perhaps for the +weakness of the flesh, would limit his presence to a portion of an +animal, it might be the left wing of a pigeon, or the tail of a dog, or +the right leg of a pig.[74] The advantages of such a restriction to a +worshipper are obvious. A man, for instance, to whom it would have been +death to eat the right leg of a pig, might partake of a left leg of pork +with safety and even with gusto. And so with the rest of the divine +menagery. + + [71] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_ + (London, 1866), pp. 106 _sqq._; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise + in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p. 141; G. Turner, + _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211, 215 + _sqq._ + + [72] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_, p. 468; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the + United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131 _sq._; T. H. Hood, + _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p. + 141; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 106 + _sqq._; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de + Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 111; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._, 40, 50 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, pp. 211, 216 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 137, 218. The account of these deities given + by Dr. G. Turner is by far the fullest and best. + + [73] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 67 _sq._ + + [74] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ p. 107. Similarly some + people had pig's heart for their god, or the embodiment of their + god, and they scrupulously avoided eating pigs' hearts lest + pigs' hearts should grow in their bodies and so cause their + death. See G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72. + +However, even if the worst had happened, that is to say, if the deity +had been killed, cooked and eaten, the consequences were not necessarily +fatal to his worshippers; there were modes of redeeming the lives of the +sinners and of expiating their sin. Suppose, for example, that the god +of a household was the cuttle-fish, and that some visitor to the house +had, either in ignorance or in bravado, caught a cuttle-fish and cooked +it, or that a member of the family had been present where a cuttle-fish +was eaten, the family would meet in conclave to consult about the +sacrilege, and they would select one of their number, whether a man or a +woman, to go and lie down in a cold oven and be covered over with +leaves, just as in the process of baking, all to pretend that the person +was being offered up as a burnt sacrifice to avert the wrath of the +deity. While this solemn pretence was being enacted, the whole family +would engage in prayer, saying, "O bald-headed cuttle-fish, forgive what +has been done. It was all the work of a stranger." If they did not thus +abase themselves before the divine cuttle-fish, they believed that the +god would visit them and cause a cuttle-fish to grow internally in their +bodies and so be the death of some of them.[75] Similar modes of +appeasing the wrath of divine eels, mullets, stinging ray fish, turtles, +wild pigeons, and garden lizards were adopted with equal success.[76] + + [75] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 31 _sq._ + + [76] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 38, 58, 59, 69 _sq._, 72. + +Apparently the Samoans were even more concerned to defend their village +gods or district gods against injury and insult than to guard the +deities of simple individuals. We are told that all the inhabitants of a +district would thus unite for the protection of the local divinity.[77] +For example, it happened that in a village where the first native +Christian teachers settled one of them caught a sea-eel (_Muraena_) and +cooked it, and two of the village lads, who were their servants, ate +some of the eel for their supper. But the eel was the village god, and +when the villagers heard that the lads had eaten the god, they +administered a sound thrashing to the culprits, and dragged them off to +a cooking-house where they laid them down in the oven pit and covered +them with leaves in the usual way, as if the lads had been killed and +were now to be cooked as a peace-offering to avert the wrath of the +deity.[78] When John Williams had caused some Christian natives to kill +a large sea-snake and dry it on the rocks to be preserved as a specimen, +the heathen fishermen of the island at sight of it raised a most +terrific yell, and, seizing their clubs, rushed upon the Christian +natives, saying, "You have killed our god! You have killed our god!" It +was with difficulty that Mr. Williams restrained their violence on +condition that the reptile should be immediately carried back to the +boat from which the missionary had landed.[79] The island in which this +happened belonged to the Tongan group, but precisely the same incident +might have occurred in Samoa. In some parts of Upolu a goddess was +believed to be incarnate in bats, and if a neighbour chanced to kill one +of these creatures, the indignant worshippers of the bat might wage a +war to avenge the insult to their deity.[80] If people who had the +stinging ray fish for the incarnation of their god heard that their +neighbours had caught a fish of that sort, they would go and beg them to +give it up and not to cook it. A refusal to comply with the request +would be followed by a fight.[81] + + [77] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 216 _sq._ + + [78] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 58. + + [79] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 469. + + [80] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57. + + [81] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 75. + +Accordingly, when the Samoans were converted to Christianity, they gave +the strongest proof of the genuineness of their conversion by killing +and eating their animal gods. Thus when a chief named Malietoa renounced +heathenism, he caused an eel to be publicly caught, cooked, and eaten by +many persons who had hitherto regarded the eel as their god. His own +sons had a different sort of fish, called _anae_, for their private +deity, and to demonstrate their faith in the new religion they had a +quantity of the fish caught, cooked, and served up in the presence of a +large party of friends and relations. There, with trembling hearts, they +partook of the once sacred morsel; but, their fears getting the better +of them, they immediately retired from the feast and swallowed a +powerful emetic, lest the divine fish should lie heavy on their stomachs +and devour their vitals.[82] As nothing particular happened after these +daring innovations, the people took heart of grace, and concerted +further plans for the destruction of their ancient deities. Among these +was a certain Papo, who was nothing more or less than a piece of old +rotten matting, about three yards long and four inches wide; but being a +god of war and, in that capacity, always attached to the canoe of the +leader when they went forth to battle, he was regarded with great +veneration by the people. At the assembly convoked to decide on his +fate, the first proposal was to throw him into the fire. But the idea +was too shocking to the general sense of the community, and by way of +making death as little painful as possible to the deity, they decided to +take him out to sea in a canoe and there consign him to a watery grave. +Even from this mitigated doom Papo was rescued by the efforts of the +missionaries, and he now adorns a museum.[83] + + [82] J. Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 373 _sq._ + + [83] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 375. + +But even when the career of one of these animal gods was not prematurely +cut short by being killed, cooked, and eaten, he was still liable to die +in the course of nature; and when his dead body was discovered, great +was the sorrow of his worshippers. If, for example, the god of a village +was an owl, and a dead owl was found lying beside a road or under a +tree, it would be reverently covered up with a white cloth by the person +who discovered it, and all the villagers would assemble round the dead +god and burn their bodies with firebrands and beat their foreheads with +stones till the blood flowed. Then the corpse of the feathered deity +would be wrapped up and buried with as much care and ceremony as if it +were a human body. However, that was not the death of the god. He was +supposed to be yet alive and incarnate in all the owls in existence.[84] + + [84] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 21, 26, 60 _sq._ Compare + W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 110 _sq._ + +The offerings to these deities consisted chiefly of cooked food,[85] +which was apparently deemed as essential to the sustenance of gods as of +men, and that even when the gods were not animals but stones. For +example, two oblong smooth stones, which stood on a platform of loose +stones near a village, were regarded as the parents of the rain-god, and +when the people were making ready to go off to the woods for the +favourite sport of pigeon-catching, they used to lay offerings of cooked +taro and fish on the stones, accompanied by prayers for fine weather and +no rain. These stone gods were also believed to cause yams to grow; +hence in time of dearth a man would present them with a yam in hope of +securing their favour.[86] + + [85] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20. + + [86] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 24 _sq._ + +At the feasts the first cup of kava was dedicated to the god, the +presiding chief either pouring it out on the ground or waving it towards +the sky. Afterwards all the chiefs drank from the same cup according to +their rank; then the food brought as an offering was divided and eaten +there before the god.[87] Even within the circle of the family it was +customary to pour out on the ground a little kava as an offering to the +family god before any one else drank of it.[88] + + [87] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20; W. T. Pritchard, + _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 121 _sqq._ + + [88] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229. + +Annual feasts were held in honour of the gods, and the season of the +feast was often in May, but sometimes in April or June.[89] In some +cases the feasts were regulated by the appearance of the bird which was +believed to be the incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen, +the priest would say that the god had come, and he would fix upon a day +for the entertainment of the deity.[90] At these festivals all the +people met in the place of public assembly, where they had collected +heaps of cooked food. First, they made their offerings to the god and +prayed to him to avert calamity and grant prosperity; then they feasted +with and before their god, and after that any strangers present might +eat. Some of the festivals included games, such as wrestling, +spear-throwing, club exercises, sham-fights, and nocturnal dances; and +they lasted for days.[91] At one of these annual festivals held in the +month of June, the exercise with clubs assumed a serious and indeed +sanguinary form. All the people, old and young, men, women, and +children, took part in it, and battered their scalps till the blood +streamed down over their faces and bodies. This proof of their devotion +was supposed to be acceptable to the deity, who, gratified by the sight +of their flowing blood, would answer their prayers for health, good +crops, and victory in war.[92] At the feast of the cockle god in May +prayers were offered up to the divine shell-fish that he would be +pleased to cure the coughs and other ailments usually prevalent at that +season, which in Samoa forms the transition from the wet to the dry +months.[93] At the festival of an owl god, which fell about the month of +April, the offerings and prayers were particularly directed towards the +removal of caterpillars from the plantations; for these insects were +believed to be the servants of the owl god, who could send them as his +ministers of vengeance to lay waste the fields and orchards of the +impious.[94] Elsewhere the owl was a war god, and at the beginning of +the annual fish festivals the chiefs and people of the village assembled +round the opening of the first oven and gave the first fish to the +god.[95] A family, who had the eel for their household god, showed their +gratitude to him for his kindness by presenting him with the first +fruits of their taro plantation.[96] Another family believed their deity +to be incarnate in centipedes; and if a member of the family fell ill or +was bitten by a centipede, they would offer the divine reptile a fine +mat and a fan, with a prayer for the recovery of the patient.[97] The +utility of a fine mat and a fan to a centipede is too obvious to be +insisted on. Sometimes offerings were made to a god, not to persuade him +to come, but to induce him to go away. For example, where gods or +spirits were believed to voyage along the coast, offerings of food were +often set down on the beach as an inducement to the spirits to take the +victuals and pass on without calling at that particular place.[98] + + [89] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29, 41, 44, 47, + 53, 57. + + [90] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20 _sq._ + + [91] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 20, 26, 29; W. T. + Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. 123. + + [92] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 57. + + [93] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 41. + + [94] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 47. + + [95] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [96] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 70 _sq._ + + [97] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 47 _sq._ + + [98] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229. + +Formal prayers were offered to the god by the head of a family, and +public prayer was put up when the men were setting out for war. On such +occasions they prayed that stones, stumps of trees, and other obstacles +might be taken out of the way of the warriors, and that their path might +be wet with the blood of their foes. All their prayers were for temporal +benefits, such as protection against enemies, plenty of food, and other +desirable objects. They attached great importance to confession of +wrongdoing in times of danger, but, so far as appears, they expressed no +repentance, promised no amendment, and offered no prayer for +forgiveness. If, for example, a canoe, crossing the channel between +Savaii and Upolu, were caught in a squall and seemed likely to be +swamped, the steersman would head the canoe to the wind, and every man +on board would make a clean breast of his sins. One would say, "I stole +a fowl at such and such a village." Another would confess an intrigue +with a married woman somewhere else; and so on. When all had either +confessed their guilt or declared their innocence, the helmsman would +put the helm about and scud before the wind, in perfect confidence of +bringing the canoe and crew safe to land.[99] + + [99] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 229 + _sq._ + +When a god was believed to be incarnate in a species of birds or animals +or fish, omens were naturally drawn from the appearance and behaviour of +the creatures. This happened particularly in time of war, when hopes and +fears were rife among the people. Thus, if their war god was an owl, +and the bird fluttered above the troops on the march, the omen was good; +but if the owl flew away in the direction of the enemy, it was an evil +omen, the god had deserted them and joined the foe;[100] if it crossed +the path of the warriors or flew back on them, it was a warning to +retreat.[101] So in places where the war-god was a rail-bird, if the +bird screeched and flew before the army, the people marched confidently +to battle; but if it turned and flew back, they hesitated. If the +plumage of the rail showed glossy red, it was a sign to go to war; but +if the feathers were dark and dingy, it was a warning to stay at home. +And if the bird were heard chattering or scolding, as they called it, at +midnight, it prognosticated an attack next day, and they would at once +send off the women and children to a place of safety.[102] In like +manner omens were drawn from the flight of herons, kingfishers, the +_Porphyris Samoensis_, and flying-foxes, where these creatures were +supposed to incarnate the war god.[103] People who saw their war god in +the lizard used to take omens from a lizard before they went forth to +fight. They watched the movements of a lizard in a bundle of spears. If +the creature ran about the outside of the bundle and the points of the +spears, the omen was favourable; but if it crept into the bundle for +concealment, it was an evil sign.[104] The inhabitants of several +villages looked upon dogs, especially white dogs, as the incarnation of +their war god; accordingly if the dog wagged his tail, barked, and +dashed ahead in sight of the enemy, it was a good omen; but if he +retreated or howled, their hearts failed them.[105] Again, where the +cuttle-fish was the war god, the movements of that fish at sea were +anxiously observed in time of war. If the fish swam inshore while the +people were mustering for battle, it augured victory; but if it swam far +away, it portended defeat.[106] + + [100] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [101] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 60. + + [102] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 52, 61, 65. + + [103] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 35, 51, 54 _sq._, 64. + + [104] G. Turner, pp. 46 _sq._ + + [105] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49. + + [106] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 29. + +When a god was supposed to dwell in some inanimate object, the art of +divination was similarly employed to elicit a knowledge of the future +from an observation of the object, whatever it might be. In several +villages, for example, the people viewed a rainbow as the representative +of their war god. If, when they were going to battle by land or sea, a +rainbow appeared in the sky right in front of them, with the arch, as it +were, straddling across the line of march or the course that the fleet +was steering, it was a warning to turn back. But if the bow shone on the +right or left of the army or of the fleet, it meant that the god was +marching with them, and cheering on the advance.[107] Another village +revered its god in the lightning. When lightning flashed frequently in +time of war, it was believed that the god had come to help and direct +his people. A constant play of lightning over a particular spot was a +warning that the enemy was lurking there in ambush. A rapid succession +of flashes in front meant that the foe was being driven back; but if the +lightning flashed from front to rear, it was a signal to retreat.[108] +In one large village the war god resided in two teeth of the sperm +whale, which were kept in a cave and observed by a priest in time of +war. If the teeth were found lying east and west, it was a good omen; +but if they lay north and south, it prognosticated defeat.[109] In +another place the war god was present in a bundle of shark's teeth, and +the people consulted the bundle before they went out to fight. If the +bundle felt heavy, it foreboded ill; but if it was light, it was an omen +of victory, and the troops marched with hearts correspondingly +light.[110] + + [107] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35; compare p. 43. + + [108] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 59 _sq._ + + [109] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 35. + + [110] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55. + +When the god was incarnate in a live creature, it was an obvious +advantage to ensure his constant presence and blessing by owning a +specimen of his incarnation and feeding it. Hence some folk kept a tame +god on their premises. For instance, some people possessed a war god in +the shape of a pet owl;[111] others had a divine pigeon, which was +carefully kept and fed by the different members of the family in +turn.[112] Yet others were so fortunate as to capture the thunder god +and to keep him in durance, which effectually prevented him from doing +mischief. Having caught him, they tied him up with pandanus leaves and +frightened him by poking firebrands at him. And lest, as an old +offender, he should attempt to break prison and relapse into his former +career of crime, they filled a basket with pandanus leaves and charred +firebrands and hung it up on a tree _in terrorem_, to signify what he +might expect to get if he took it into his head to strike houses +again.[113] + + [111] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 25 _sq._ + + [112] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 64. + + [113] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 34. + +Vegetable gods were much less plentiful than animal gods in Samoa. Still +they occurred. Thus, the god of one family lived in a large tree +(_Hernandia peltata_); hence no member of the family dared to pluck a +leaf or break a branch of that tree.[114] The household deity of another +family dwelt in a tree of a different sort (_Conanga odorata_), which +has yellow and sweet-scented flowers.[115] In Savaii the special abode +of a village god called Tuifiti or "King of Fiji" was a grove of large +and durable trees (_Afzelia bijuga_). No one dared to cut that timber. +It is said that a party of natives from another island once tried to +fell one of these trees; but blood flowed from the trunk, and all the +sacrilegious strangers fell ill and died.[116] One family saw their god +in the moon. On the appearance of the new moon all the members of the +family called out, "Child of the moon, you have come." They assembled +also, presented offerings of food, feasted together, and joined in +praying, "Oh, child of the moon! Keep far away disease and death." And +they also prayed to the moon before they set out on the war path.[117] +But in Samoa, as in Tonga, there seems to be no record of a worship of +the sun, unless the stories of human sacrifices formerly offered to the +great luminary be regarded as reminiscences of sun-worship.[118] + + [114] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 72. + + [115] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 71. + + [116] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 63. + + [117] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 67. + + [118] See above, p. 158. + + +Sec. 7. _Priests and Temples_ + +The father of a family acted as the priest of the household god. He +usually offered a short prayer at the evening meal, begging the deity to +guard them all from war, sickness, death, and the payment of fines. +Sometimes he would direct the family to hold a feast in honour of their +god, and on these occasions a cup of kava was poured out as a libation +to the divinity. Such simple domestic rites were celebrated in the +house, where the whole family assembled; for the gods were believed to +be present with men in a spiritual and invisible form as well as in the +material objects which were regarded as their visible embodiments. Often +the deity spoke through the father or other members of the family, +telling them what to do in order to remove a present evil or avert a +threatened one.[119] + + [119] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 18. For the offering of + kava to the household god, compare _id._ p. 51. + +But while every head of a family might thus act as a domestic priest and +mouthpiece of the deity, there was also a professional class of priests +set apart for the public worship of the gods, particularly of the war +gods, who in their nature did not differ essentially from the gods of +families, of villages, and of districts, being commonly embodied either +in particular material objects or in classes of such objects, especially +in various species of birds, animals, and fish, such as owls, rails, +kingfishers, dogs, lizards, flying-foxes, and cuttle-fish. Sometimes the +ruling chiefs acted as priests; but in general some one man in a +particular family claimed the dignity of the priesthood and professed to +declare the will of the god. His office was hereditary. He fixed the +days for the annual feasts in honour of the deity, received the +offerings, and thanked the people for them. He decided also whether the +people might go to war.[120] The priests possessed great authority over +the minds of the people, and they often availed themselves of their +influence to amass wealth.[121] The gods were supposed from time to time +to take possession of the priests and to speak through their mouths, +answering enquiries and issuing commands. Thus consulted as an oracle +the priest, or the god through him, might complain that the people had +been slack in making offerings of food and property, and he would +threaten them with vengeance if they did not speedily bring an ample +supply to the human representative of the deity. At other times the god +required a whole family to assemble and build him a large canoe or a +house, and such a command was always obeyed with alacrity and a humble +apology tendered for past neglect. The priests were also consulted +oracularly for the healing of the sick, the recovery of stolen property, +and the cursing of enemies. Thus they kept the people in constant fear +by their threats and impoverished them by their exactions.[122] + + [120] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20. For a full account of + the priesthood, see J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 220 _sqq._ As + to the Samoan war-gods, see G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 23, 25 + _sq._, 27 _sq._, 28, 32, 33, 35, 42, 46 _sq._, 48, 49, 51, 52, + 54 _sq._, 55, 57, 60, 61, 64, 65; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. + 215 _sq._ + + [121] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 70, 222 _sq._, 225; + G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._ + + [122] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 223-225; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 246 _sq._ + +The outward signs of divine inspiration or possession were such as +priests or prophets have manifested in many lands and ages as conclusive +evidence of their being the vehicles of higher powers. The approach or +presence of the god was indicated by the priest beginning to gape, yawn, +and clear his throat; but soon his countenance changed, his body +underwent violent contortions, and in loud, unearthly tones, which the +trembling and awe-stricken hearers interpreted as the voice of an +indwelling deity, he delivered his message of exhortation or warning, of +menace, or comfort, or hope.[123] + + [123] J. B. Stair, p. 223; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 228, 246 _sq._ + +Spirit-houses (_fale-aitu_) or temples were erected for some, but not +all, of the class of deities (_aitu_) which we are now considering. It +was chiefly the war gods who were thus honoured. Such temples were built +with the same materials and in the same style as the houses of men, with +nothing to distinguish them from ordinary dwellings, except that they +almost always stood on platforms of stones, which varied in height and +size with the respect felt for the particular deity. They were usually +situated on the principal public place or green (_malae_) of the village +and surrounded by a low fence. Sometimes they were mere huts; yet being +viewed as the abode of gods they were held sacred and regarded with +great veneration by the Samoans in the olden time. Whatever emblems of +deity were in possession of the village were always placed in these +houses under the watchful care of keepers.[124] In one temple, for +instance, might be seen a conch shell hung from the roof in a basket. +This shell the god was supposed to blow when he wished the people to go +to war. In another a cup made of the shell of a coco-nut was suspended +from the roof, and before it prayers were uttered and offerings +presented. The cup was also used in an ordeal for the detection of +theft. In a trial before chiefs the cup would be sent for, and each of +the suspected culprits would lay his hand on it and say, "With my hand +on this cup, may the god look upon me, and send swift destruction, if I +took the thing which has been stolen." They firmly believed that it +would be death to touch the cup and tell a lie.[125] + + [124] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 226-228. + + [125] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 19. + +The temples were always built by the united exertions of a whole family, +village, or district.[126] For example, when the inhabitants of a +village whose god was the cuttle-fish erected a new temple to that +deity, every man, woman, and child in the village contributed something +to it, if it was only a stick or a reed of thatch. While some of the +villagers were drafted off to put up the house, the rest engaged in a +free fight, which appears to have been considered as a necessary part of +the proceedings. On this occasion many old scores were settled, and he +who got most wounds was believed to have earned the special favour of +the deity. With the completion of the temple the fighting ended, and +ought not to be renewed for a year, till the anniversary of the building +of the temple came round, when the worshippers were again at liberty to +break each other's heads in honour of the divine cuttle-fish.[127] + + [126] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 227 _sq._ + + [127] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 29 _sq._ + +At one place in Savaii there was a temple in which a priest constantly +resided. The sick used to be carried to him in the temple and there laid +down with offerings of fine mats. Thereupon the priest stroked the +diseased part, and the patient was supposed to recover.[128] We hear of +another temple in which fine mats were brought as offerings to the +priests and stored up in large numbers among the temple treasures. Thus +in time the temples might have amassed a considerable degree of wealth +and might even, if economic progress had not been arrested by European +intervention, have developed into banks. However, when the people were +converted to Christianity, they destroyed this particular temple and +dissipated the accumulated treasures in a single feast by way of +celebrating their adhesion to the new faith.[129] Where the bat was the +local deity, many bats used to flock about the temple in time of +war.[130] Where the kingfisher received the homage of the people as the +god of war, the old men of the village were wont to enter his temple in +times of public emergency and address the kingfisher; and people outside +could hear the bird replying, though, singularly enough, his voice was +that of a man, and not that of a bird. But as usual the god was +invisible.[131] In one place a temple of the great god Tangaloa was +called "the House of the Gods," and it was carefully shut up all round, +the people thinking that, if this precaution were not taken, the gods +would get out and in too easily and be all the more destructive.[132] +Such a temple might be considered rather as a prison than a house of the +gods. + + [128] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 49. + + [129] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55. + + [130] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 56 _sq._ + + [131] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 54 _sq._ + + [132] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 53. + +To the rule that Samoan temples were built of the same perishable +materials as ordinary houses a single exception is known. About ten +miles inland from the harbour of Apia, in the island of Upolu, are the +ruins of a temple, of which the central and side posts and the rafters +were all constructed of stone. The ground plan seems to have resembled +that of an ordinary Samoan house of the best style, forming an ellipse +which measured fifty feet in one direction by forty feet in the other. +Two central pillars appear to have supported the roof, each fashioned of +a single block of stone some thirteen feet high, twelve inches thick one +way and nine inches the other. The rafters were in lengths of twelve +feet and six feet, by four inches square. Of the outside pillars, which +upheld the lower edge of the sloping roof, eighteen were seen standing +by Pritchard, who has described the ruins. Each pillar stood three feet +high and measured nine inches thick in one way by six inches in the +other. Each had a notch or shoulder on the inner side for supporting the +roof. Pillars and rafters were quarried from an adjoining bluff, distant +only some fifty yards from the ruins. Some squared stones lying at the +foot of the bluff seem to show that the temple was never completed. The +site of the ruins is a flat about three acres in area. The natives call +the ruins _Fale-o-le-Fe'e_, that is, the House of the Fe'e. This Fe'e +was a famous war god of A'ana and Faleata, two native towns of Upolu; he +was commonly incarnated in the cuttle-fish. As the Samoans were +unacquainted with the art of cutting stones, and had no tools suitable +for the work, they thought that this temple, with its columns and +rafters of squared stone, must have been built by the gods, and they +explained its unfinished state by alleging that the divine builders had +quarrelled among themselves before they had brought the work to +completion.[133] + + [133] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 119-121; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel de + Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 112; G. + Turner, _Samoa_, p. 31; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 228; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 220. + +For the sake of completeness I will mention another stone monument, of +more imposing dimensions, which has been discovered in Samoa, though its +origin and meaning are unknown. It stands on a tableland in the high +mountainous interior of Upolu and appears to be not altogether easy of +access. The discoverer, Mr. H. B. Sterndale, reached it by clambering up +from what he describes as a broad and dangerous ravine. In making his +way to the tableland he passed through a gap which from a distance he +had supposed to be a natural fissure in the rocks; but on arriving at it +he discovered, to his surprise, that the gap was in fact a great fosse +formed by the hand of man, being excavated in some places and built up +at others, while on one side, next to the rise of the hill, it was +further heightened by a parapet wall. When, passing through the fosse, +he issued upon the tableland, which is a level space of some twenty +acres in extent, he perceived the monument, "a truncated conical +structure or _Heidenmauer_ of such huge dimensions as must have required +the labour of a great multitude to construct. So little did I expect," +he says, "in this neighbourhood to meet with any example of human +architecture, and so rudely monstrous was the appearance of this +cyclopean building, that from its peculiar form, and from the vegetation +with which it was overgrown, I might have passed it by, supposing it to +have been a volcanic hillock, had not my attention been attracted by the +stonework of the fosse. I hastened to ascend it. It was about twenty +feet high by one hundred in diameter. It was circular with straight +[perpendicular?] sides; the lower tiers of stone were very large, they +were lava blocks, some of which would weigh at least a ton, which must +have been rolled or moved on skids to their present places. They were +laid in courses; and in two places near the top seemed to have been +entrances to the inside, as in one appeared a low cave choked with rocks +and tree roots. If there had been chambers within, they were probably +narrow and still existing, as there was no sign of depression on the +crown of the work, which was flat and covered with flat stones, among +which grew both trees and shrubs. It is likely that it was not in itself +intended as a place of defence, but rather as a base or platform upon +which some building of importance, perhaps of timber, had been erected, +no doubt in the centre of a village, as many foundations of a few feet +high were near it. The fosse, when unbroken, and its inner wall entire, +was probably crossed by a foot-bridge, to be withdrawn on the approach +of an enemy; and the little gap, by which I had entered, closed, so that +this must have been a place of great security. The Samoan natives, as +far as I have been able to learn, have no tradition of what people +inhabited this mountain fastness."[134] + + [134] H. B. Sterndale, quoted by R. A. Sterndale, + "Asiatic Architecture in Polynesia," _The Asiatic Quarterly + Review_, x. (July-October 1890) pp. 347-350. The writer of this + article reports the discoveries of his brother, Mr. Handley + Bathurst Sterndale. + +On an adjoining tableland, approached by a steep and narrow ridge, Mr. +Sterndale saw a great number of cairns of stone, apparently graves, +disposed in rows among huge trees, the roots of which had overturned and +destroyed very many of the cairns. Here, within the numerous trunks of a +great spreading banyan tree, Mr. Sterndale found what he calls an inner +chamber, or cell, about ten feet square, the floor being paved with flat +stones and the walls built of enormous blocks of the same material, +while the roof was composed of the twisted trunks of the banyan tree, +which had grown into a solid arch and, festooned by creepers, excluded +even the faint glimmer of twilight that dimly illuminated the +surrounding forest. Disturbed by a light which the traveller struck to +explore the gloomy interior, bats fluttered about his head. In the +centre of the chamber he discovered a cairn, or rather cromlech, about +four feet high, which was formed of several stones arranged in a +triangle, with a great flat slab on the top. On the flat slab lay a +large conch shell, white with age, and encrusted with moss and dead +animalculae. The chamber or cell, enclosed by the trunks of the +banyan-tree, might have been inaccessible, if it were not that, under +the pressure of the tree-trunks, several of the great slabs composing +the wall had been displaced, leaving a passage.[135] + + [135] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ pp. 351 _sq._ + +What were these remarkable monuments? Mr. Sterndale believed the stone +chamber to be the tomb of some man of authority in ancient days, the +antiquity of the structure being vouched for by the great banyan-tree +which had so completely overgrown it. This view is likely enough, and is +confirmed by the large number of cairns about it, which appear to be +sepulchral. But what was the massive circular monument or platform, +built of huge blocks of lava laid in tiers? From Mr. Sterndale's +description it would seem that the structure closely resembled the tombs +of the sacred kings of Tonga, though these tombs are oblong instead of +circular. But they often supported a house or hut of wood and thatch; +and Mr. Sterndale may well be right in supposing that the circular +Samoan monument in like manner served as a platform to support a wooden +building. In this connexion we must not forget that the typical Samoan +house was circular or oval in contrast to the typical Tongan house, +which was oblong. The openings, which seemed to lead into the interior +of the monument, may have given access to the sepulchral chamber where +the bodies of the dead were deposited. + +Slight as are these indications, they apparently point to the use of the +monument as a tomb. There is nothing, except perhaps its circular shape, +to suggest that it was a temple of the sun. As no such stone buildings +have been erected by the Samoans during the time they have been under +European observation, it may be, as Mr. Sterndale supposed, that all the +ruins described by him were the work of a people who inhabited the +islands before the arrival of the existing race.[136] + + [136] H. B. Sterndale, _op. cit._ p. 352. + + +Sec. 8. _Origin of the Samoan Gods of Families, Villages, and Districts: +Relation to Totemism_ + +If we ask, What was the origin of the peculiar Samoan worship of animals +and other natural objects? the most probable answer seems to be that it +has been developed out of totemism. The system is not simple totemism, +for in totemism the animals, plants, and other natural objects are not +worshipped, that is, they do not receive offerings nor are approached +with prayers; in short, they are not gods, but are regarded as the +kinsfolk of the men and women who have them for totems. Further, the +local distribution of the revered objects in Samoa, according to +villages and districts, differs from the characteristic distribution of +totems, which is not by place but by social groups or clans, the members +of which are usually more or less intermixed with each other in every +district. It is true that in Samoa we hear of family or household gods +as well as of gods of villages and districts, and these family gods, in +so far as they consist of species of animals and plants which the +worshippers are forbidden to kill or eat, present a close analogy to +totems. But it is to be observed that these family gods were, so to say, +in a state of unstable equilibrium, it being always uncertain whether a +man would inherit his father's or his mother's god or would be assigned +a god differing from both of them. This uncertainty arose from the +manner of determining a man's god at birth. When a woman was in travail, +the help of several gods was invoked, one after the other, to assist the +birth; and the god who happened to be invoked at the moment when the +child saw the light, was his god for life. As a rule, the god of the +father's family was prayed to first; so that generally, perhaps, a man +inherited the god of his father. But if the birth was tedious and +difficult, the god of the mother's family was next invoked. When the +child was born, the mother would call out, "To whom were you praying?" +and the god prayed to just before was carefully remembered, and his +incarnation duly acknowledged throughout the future life of the +child.[137] Such a mode of selecting a divine patron is totally +different from the mode whereby, under pure totemism, a person obtains +his totem; for his totem is automatically determined for him at birth, +being, in the vast majority of cases, inherited either from his father +or from his mother, without any possibility of variation or selection. +Lastly, the Samoan system differs from most, though not all, systems of +totemism, in that it is quite independent of exogamy; in other words, +there is no rule forbidding people who revere the same god to marry each +other. + + [137] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 17, 78 _sq._ + +Thus, while the Samoan worship of certain classes of natural objects, +especially species of animals, is certainly not pure totemism, it +presents points of analogy to that system, and might easily, we may +suppose, have been developed out of it, the feeling of kinship for +totemic animals and plants having been slowly transformed and sublimated +into a religious reverence for the creatures and a belief in their +divinity; while at the same time the clans, which were originally +intermixed, gradually sorted out from each other and settled down in +separate villages and districts. This gradual segregation of the clans +may have been facilitated by a change from maternal to paternal descent +of the totem; for when a man transmits his totem to his offspring, his +descendants in the male line tend naturally to expand into a local group +in which the totem remains constant from generation to generation +instead of alternating with each successive generation, as necessarily +happens when a man's children take their totem not from him but from +their mother. That the Samoan worship of _aitu_ was developed in some +such way out of simple totemism appears to have been the view of Dr. +George Brown, one of our best authorities on Samoan society and +religion; for he speaks without reserve of the revered objects as +totems.[138] A similar derivation of the Samoan _aitu_ was favoured by +Dr. Rivers, who, during a visit to Samoa, found some evidence +confirmatory of this conclusion.[139] + + [138] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 137, + 218, 334. + + [139] W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in Polynesia and + Melanesia," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, + xxxix. (1909) pp. 159 _sq._ + + +Sec. 9. _The High Gods of Samoa_ + +But besides these totemic gods of Samoa, as we may term them, which were +restricted in the circle of their worshippers to particular families, +villages, or districts, there were certain superior deities who were +worshipped by all the people in common and might accordingly be called +the national divinities of Samoa; indeed the worship of some of them was +not confined to Samoa, but was shared by the inhabitants of other groups +of islands in Polynesia. These high gods were considered the progenitors +of the inferior deities, and were believed to have formed the earth and +its inhabitants. They themselves dwelt in heaven, in the sea, on the +earth, or under the earth; but they were invisible and did not appear to +their worshippers in the form of animals or plants. They had no temples +and no priests, and were not invoked like their descendants.[140] + + [140] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 111 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211 _sq._ + +Among these high gods the chief was Tangaloa, or, as he was sometimes +called, Tangaloa-langi, that is, Tangaloa of the Skies. He was always +spoken of as the principal god, the creator of the world and progenitor +of the other gods and of mankind.[141] It is said that after existing +somewhere in space he made the heavens as an abode for himself, and that +wishing to have also a place under the heavens he created this lower +world (_Lalolangi_, that is, "Under the heavens"). According to one +account, he formed the islands of Savaii and Upolu by rolling down two +stones from the sky; but according to another story he fished them up +from the depths of the sea on a fishing-hook. Next he made the _Fee_ or +cuttle-fish, and told it to go down under the earth; hence the lower +regions of sea or land are called _Sa he fee_ or "sacred to the +cuttle-fish." In its turn the cuttle-fish brought forth all kinds of +rocks, including the great one on which we live.[142] Another myth +relates how Tangaloa sent down his son or daughter in the likeness of a +bird called _turi_, a species of plover or snipe (_Charadrius fulvus_). +She flew about, but could find no resting-place, for as yet there was +nothing but ocean; the earth had not been created or raised above the +sea. So she returned to her father in heaven and reported her fruitless +search; and at last he gave her some earth and a creeping plant. These +she took down with her on her next visit to earth; and after a time the +leaves of the plant withered and produced swarms of worms or maggots, +which gradually developed into men and women. The plant which thus by +its corruption gave birth to the human species was the convolvulus. +According to another version of the myth, it was in reply to the +complaint of his daughter or son that the sky-god Tangaloa fished up the +first islands from the bottom of the sea.[143] + + [141] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 212. + + [142] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 7. + + [143] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 7 _sq._; J. B. Stair, + _Old Samoa_, pp. 212-214. The bird _turi_ or _tuli_ is spoken of + by Turner as the daughter, but by Stair as the son, of Tangaloa. + According to Turner, the bird is a species of snipe; according + to Stair, a species of plover. As to Tangaloa and the stories + told about him, compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary + Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, pp. 469 _sq._; H. Hale, + _Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring + Expedition_, p. 22; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur + l'archipel de Samoa," _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) + pp. 111 _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. 463, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." + +Another of the national gods of Samoa was Mafuie, who was supposed to +dwell in the subterranean regions and to cause earthquakes by shaking +the pillar on which the earth reposes. In a tussle with the hero +Ti'iti'i, who descended to the lower world to rob Mafuie of his fire, +the earthquake god lost one of his arms, and the Samoans considered this +as a very fortunate circumstance; for otherwise they said that, if +Mafuie had had two arms, he would have shaken the world to pieces.[144] +It is said that during a shock of earthquake the natives used to rush +from their houses, throw themselves upon the ground, gnaw the grass, and +shriek in the most frantic manner to Mafuie to desist, lest he should +shake the earth to bits.[145] + + [144] Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States + Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian + Reminiscences_, pp. 112, 114 _sqq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. + 209-211; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 238 _sq._ + + [145] J. Williams, _op. cit._ p. 379. + +It seems to be doubtful whether among the Samoan gods are to be numbered +the souls of deceased ancestors. Certainly the evidence for the practice +of a worship of the dead is far less full and clear in Samoa than in +Tonga. On this subject Dr. George Brown writes as follows: "Traces of +ancestor worship are few and indistinct. The word _tupua_ is supposed by +some to mean the deified spirits of chiefs, and to mean that they +constituted a separate order from the _atua_, who were the original +gods. The word itself is the name of a stone, supposed to be a petrified +man, and is also generally used as the name of any image having some +sacred significance, and as representing the body into which the deified +spirit was changed. What appears certain is that ancestor worship had +amongst the Samoans gradually given place to the worship of a superior +order of supernatural beings not immediately connected with men, but +having many human passions and modes of action and life. There are, +however, some cases which seem to point to ancestor worship in olden +days, as in the case of the town of Matautu, which is said to have been +settled by a colony from Fiji. Their principal deity was called Tuifiti, +the King of Fiji. He was considered to be the head of that family, and a +grove of trees, _ifilele_ (the green-heart of India), was sacred to him +and could not be cut or injured in any way."[146] This god was supposed +to be incarnate in a man who walked about, but he was never visible to +the people of the place, though curiously enough he could be seen by +strangers.[147] + + [146] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 223. + See also above, p. 192. + + [147] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 62 _sq._ The town or + village of Matautu is in the island of Savaii. According to G. + Turner, the sacred tree of Tuifiti was the _Afzelia bijuga_. + +However, another experienced missionary, J. B. Stair, who knew Samoa a +good many years before Dr. Brown arrived in it, speaks apparently +without hesitation of the _tupua_ as being "the deified spirits of +chiefs, who were also supposed to dwell in Pulotu," where they became +posts in the house or temple of the gods. Many beautiful emblems, he +says, were chosen to represent the immortality of these deified spirits; +among them were some of the heavenly bodies, including the Pleiades and +the planet Jupiter, also the rainbow, the marine rainbow, and many +more. He adds that the embalmed bodies of some chiefs were worshipped +under the significant title of "sun-dried gods"; and that people prayed +and poured libations of kava at the graves of deceased relatives.[148] + + [148] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 210 _sq._, 215. + + +Sec. 10. _The Samoan Belief concerning the Human Soul: Funeral Customs_ + +Whether the Samoans practised the worship of the dead in a developed +form or not, they certainly possessed the elements out of which the +worship might under favourable circumstances be evolved. These elements +are a belief in the survival of the human soul after death, and a fear +of disembodied spirits or ghosts. + +The Samoans believed that every man is animated by a soul, which departs +from the body temporarily in faints and dreams and permanently at death. +The soul of the dreamer, they thought, really visited the places which +he saw in his dream. At death it departed to the subterranean world of +the dead which the Samoans called Pulotu, a name which clearly differs +only dialectically from the Tongan Bolotoo or Bulotu. Some people +professed to see the parting soul when it had quitted its mortal body +and was about to take flight to the nether region. It was always of the +same shape as the body. Such apparitions at the moment of death were +much dreaded, and people tried to drive them away by shouting and firing +guns. The word for soul is _anganga_, which is a reduplicated form of +_anga_, a verb meaning "to go" or "to come." Thus apparently the Samoans +did not, like many people, identify the soul with the shadow; for in +Samoan the word for shadow is _ata_.[149] + + [149] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 8, 16; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 220; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 218 + _sq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 26, _s.v._ "Ata." + +However, they seem to have in a dim way associated a man's soul with his +shadow. This appears from a remarkable custom which they observed in the +case of the unburied dead. The Samoans were much concerned for the lot +of these unfortunates and stood in great dread of their ghosts. They +believed that the spirits of those who had not received the rites of +burial wandered about wretched and forlorn and haunted their relatives +everywhere by day and night, crying in doleful tones, "Oh, how cold! oh, +how cold!" Hence when the body of a dead kinsman was lost because he had +been drowned at sea or slain on a battlefield, some of his relatives +would go down to the seashore or away to the battlefield where their +friend had perished; and there spreading out a cloth on the ground they +would pray to some god of the family, saying, "Oh, be kind to us; let us +obtain without difficulty the spirit of the young man!" After that the +first thing that lighted on the cloth was supposed to be the spirit of +the dead. It might be a butterfly, a grasshopper, an ant, a spider, or a +lizard; whatever it might be, it was carefully wrapt up and taken to the +family, who buried the bundle with all due ceremony, as if it contained +the body of their departed friend. Thus the unquiet spirit was believed +to find rest. Now the insect, or whatever it happened to be, which thus +acted as proxy at the burial was supposed to be the _ata_ or shadow of +the deceased. The same word _ata_ served to express likeness; a +photographer, for example, is called _pue-ata_, "shadow-catcher." The +Samoans do not appear to have associated the soul with the breath.[150] + + [150] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 170 + _sq._, 218 sq.; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 150 _sq._; S. Ella, + "Samoa," _Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Australasian + Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Hobart, + Tasmania, in January 1892_, pp. 641 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 184. According to Brown and Stair the ceremony + described in the text was observed when a man had died a violent + death, even when the relatives were in possession of the body, + and in that case the insect, or whatever it might be, was buried + with the corpse. I have followed Turner and Ella in supposing + that the ceremony was only observed when the corpse could not be + found. As to the fear of the spirits of the unburied dead, see + also W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 58 _sq._, + 151. + +They attributed disease and death to the anger of a god, to the agency +of an evil spirit, or to the ghost of a dead relative who had entered +into the body of the sufferer. Epilepsy, delirium, and mania were always +thus explained by the entrance into the patient of a god or demon. The +Samoan remedy for all such ailments was not medicine but exorcism. +Sometimes a near relative of the sick person would go round the house +brandishing a spear and striking the walls to drive away the spirit that +was causing the sickness.[151] Hence when a member of a family fell +seriously ill, his friends did not send for a doctor, but repaired to +the high priest of the village to enquire of him the cause of the +sickness, to learn why the family god (_aitu_) was angry with them, and +to implore his mercy and forgiveness. Often the priest took advantage of +their anxiety to demand a valuable piece of property, such as a canoe or +a parcel of ground, as the best means of propitiating the angry deity +and so ensuring the recovery of the patient. With all these demands the +anxious and unsuspecting relatives readily complied. But if the priest +happened not to want anything in particular at the time, he would +probably tell the messengers to gather the family about the bed of the +sufferer and there confess their sins. The command was implicitly +obeyed, and every member of the family assembled and made a clean breast +of his or her misdeeds, especially of any curse which he or she might +have called down either on the family generally or on the invalid in +particular. Curiously enough, the curse of a sister was peculiarly +dreaded; hence in such cases the sister of the sick man was closely +questioned as to whether she had cursed him and thus caused his illness; +if so, she was entreated to remove the curse, that he might recover. +Moved by these pleadings, she might take some coco-nut water in her +mouth and spurt it out towards or upon the body of the sufferer. By this +action she either removed the curse or declared her innocence; a similar +ceremony might be performed by any other member of the family who was +suspected of having cursed the sick man.[152] + + [151] S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 639, 643; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 402. + + [152] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 146 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 140 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 180 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 401. + +When an illness seemed likely to prove fatal, messengers were despatched +to friends at a distance that they might come and bid farewell to the +dying man. Every one who came to visit the sufferer in his last moments +brought a present of a fine mat or other valuable piece of property as +a token of regard, and to defray the cost of the illness and funeral. +The best of the mats would be laid on the body of the dying man that he +might have the comfort of seeing them before he closed his eyes for +ever. Dr. George Brown thought that the spirits of the mats thus laid on +the body of the dying chief were supposed to accompany his soul to the +other world. It is possible that their spirits did so, but it is certain +that their material substance did not; for after the funeral all the +mats and other valuables so presented were distributed among the +mourners and friends assembled on the occasion, so that every one who +had brought a gift took away something in return on his departure.[153] + + [153] W. T. Pritchard, _op. cit._ pp. 147, 150 _sq._; + G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 141 _sq._, 146; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. + 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 180; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, pp. 220, 401, 405 _sq._ + +If the dying man happened to be a chief, numbers crowded round him to +receive a parting look or word, while in front of the house might be +seen men and women wildly beating their heads and bodies with great +stones, thus inflicting on themselves ghastly wounds, from which the +blood poured as an offering of affection and sympathy to their departing +friend or lord. It was hoped that, pleased and propitiated by the sight +of their devotion, the angry god might yet stay his hand and spare the +chief to his people. Above all the tumult and uproar would rise the +voice of one who prayed aloud for the life then trembling in the +balance. But if the prayer seemed likely to prove ineffectual, it was +exchanged for threats and upbraiding. "O thou shameless spirit," the +voice would now be heard exclaiming, "could I but grasp you, I would +smash your skull to pieces! Come here and let us fight together. Don't +conceal yourself, but show yourself like a man, and let us fight, if you +are angry."[154] + + [154] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 181 _sq._ + +Immediately after death, all the mats on the floor of the house were +thrown outside, and the thatched sides of the house were either torn +down or knocked in with clubs; while the relatives and assembled crowds +wrought themselves up to frenzy, uttering loud shrieks, rending their +garments, tearing out their hair by handfuls, burning their bodies with +firebrands, beating their faces and heads with clubs and stones, or +gashing themselves with shells and shark's teeth, till the blood ran +freely down. This they called an offering of blood for the dead. In +their fury some of the mourners fell on the canoes and houses, breaking +them up and tearing them down, felling the bread-fruit trees, and +devastating the plantations of yams and taro.[155] + + [155] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p. + 148; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 144; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J. + B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and + Polynesians_, pp. 401 _sq._ + +As decomposition is rapid in the hot moist climate of Samoa, it was +customary to bury commoners a few hours after death. The body was laid +out on a mat, anointed with scented oil, and the face tinged with +turmeric, to soften the cadaverous look. It was then wound up in several +folds of native cloth and the chin propped up, the head and face being +left uncovered, while for some hours longer the body was surrounded by +weeping relatives, who kept constant watch over it, so long as it +remained in the house. These watchers were always women, and none of +them might quit her post under any pretext till she was relieved by +another. A fire was kept burning brightly in the house all the time. If +the deceased had died of a complaint which had previously carried off +other members of the family, they would probably open the body to +"search for the disease." Any inflamed substance which they happened to +find they would take away and burn, thinking thus to prevent any other +member of the family from being similarly afflicted. Such a custom +betrays an incipient sense of death from natural, instead of +supernatural, causes, and must have contributed to diffuse a knowledge +of human anatomy.[156] + + [156] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 148 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 144 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402. + +So long as a corpse remained in the house no food might be eaten under +the roof; the family had their meals outside or in another house. Those +who had attended to the deceased or handled the corpse were taboo: they +might not feed themselves or touch food with their hands. For days they +were fed by others as if they were helpless infants. Baldness and the +loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by the +household god for a breach of the rule. Many people fasted at such +times, eating nothing during the day, but taking a meal in the evening. +The fifth day was a day of purification. The tabooed persons then washed +their faces and hands with hot water and were clean; after that they +were free to eat at the usual time and in the usual manner.[157] + + [157] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 145; W. T. Pritchard, _op. + cit._ p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J. B. Stair, _Old + Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. + 402. + +The ordinary mode of disposing of the dead was by interment either in a +stone vault or in a shallow grave. But occasionally other modes were +adopted, such as embalming, putting the corpse in a canoe and setting it +adrift on the sea, or exposing it on a stage erected in the forest, +where it was left to decay, the bones being afterwards collected and +buried. Upon the death of a chief his body was generally deposited in a +family vault, the sides and bottom of which were lined with large slabs +of sandstone or basalt, while another large slab of the same material +formed the roof. Such vaults were sometimes large and massive. The +stones used in their construction were found in various parts of the +islands. Commoners were buried in shallow graves.[158] + + [158] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 178 _sq._ + +Ordinary people were usually buried the day after they died. As many +friends as could be present attended the funeral. Every one brought a +present, but on the day after the funeral all these presents, like those +which had previously been made to the dying man, were distributed again, +so that none went empty-handed away. The corpse was generally buried +without a coffin; but chiefs were laid in hollow logs or canoes. +However, even the bodies of common people were sometimes interred +in rude coffins similarly constructed. There were no common +burying-grounds; all preferred to bury their dead on their own land. +Often the grave was dug close to the house. The body was laid in it with +the head to the east and the feet to the west. When it had been thus +committed to its last resting-place, a near relative of the deceased, a +sister, if one survived, seated herself at the grave, and waving a white +cloth over the corpse, began an address to the dead. "Compassion to +you," she said, "go with goodwill, and without bearing malice towards +us. Take with you all our diseases, and leave us life." Then pointing to +the west, she exclaimed, "Misery there!" Next pointing to the east, she +cried, "Prosperity there!" Lastly, pointing to the grave, she said, +"Misery there; but leave happiness with us!" With the body they +deposited in the grave several things which had been used by the +deceased during his illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup, and +his bamboo pillow. The wooden pickaxes and coco-nut shells employed as +shovels in digging the grave were also carefully buried with the corpse. +It was not, we are told, because the people believed these things to be +of use to the dead; but because it was supposed that, if they were left +and handled by others, further disease and death would be the +consequence. Valuable mats and other articles of property were sometimes +buried with the corpse, and the grave of a warrior was surrounded with +spears stuck upright in the ground. Graves were sometimes enclosed with +stones and strewn with sand or crumbled coral.[159] + + [159] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 150 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 146 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ pp. 640 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 179 _sq._, + 182 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 403. + +The obsequies of a chief of high rank were more elaborate. The body was +kept unburied for days until his clansfolk had assembled from various +parts of the islands and paraded the body, shoulder high, through the +village, chanting a melancholy dirge.[160] The mourning and ceremonies +lasted from ten to fifteen days. All that time the house of death was +watched night and day by men appointed for the purpose. After the +burial, and until the days of mourning were ended, the daytime was +generally spent in boxing and wrestling matches, and sham-fights, while +the nights were occupied with dancing and practising a kind of +buffoonery, which was customary at these seasons of mourning for the +dead. The performance was called _O le tau-pinga_. The performers amused +themselves by making a variety of ludicrous faces and grimaces at each +other, to see who could excite the other to laugh first. Thus they +whiled away the hours of night till the days of mourning were +expired.[161] So long as the funeral ceremonies and feasts lasted no +work might be done in the village, and no strangers might approach it. +The neighbouring lagoon and reefs were taboo: no canoe might pass over +the lagoon anywhere near the village, and no man might fish in it or on +the reef.[162] For a chief or man of distinction fires were kept burning +day and night in a line from the house to the grave; these fires were +maintained for ten days after the funeral. The reason assigned for this +custom, according to Ella, was to keep away evil spirits. Even common +people observed a similar custom. After burial they kept a fire blazing +in the house all night, and they were careful to clear the intervening +ground so that a stream of light went forth from the house to the grave. +The account which the Samoans gave of the custom, according to Turner, +was that it was merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and a +mark of their tender regard for him. Dr. George Brown believed that the +original motive for the custom was to warm the ghost, and probably at +the same time to protect the mourners against dangerous spirits.[163] + + [160] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 146 + + [161] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 183 _sq._ + + [162] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. + 149 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 642; G. Brown, _Melanesians + and Polynesians_, pp. 403 _sq._ + + [163] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 149; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + pp. 640 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402. + +The head was deemed a very sacred part, and in olden days the bodies of +chiefs were often buried near their houses until decomposition had set +in, when the head was cut off and interred in some family burying-place +inland, to save it from insult in time of war. This interment of the +head was accompanied with feasts, dances, and sham-fights. The skull was +borne to the appointed place on a kind of stage, attended by a troop of +armed men. With these sham-fights Dr. George Brown, who records the +custom, compares the sham-fights which used to take place among the +Melanesians of the Duke of York Island when the body of a chief was laid +on a high platform in front of his house, one company of warriors +striving to deposit the corpse on the platform, while their adversaries +attempted to prevent them from doing so.[164] The meaning of these +curious sham-fights is obscure. Perhaps the attacking party represented +a band of evil spirits, who endeavoured to snatch away the chief's +body, but were defeated in the nefarious attempt. + + [164] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 388 + _sq._, 404 _sq._ + +One or two families of chiefs in the island of Upolu used to practise a +rude kind of embalming. The work was done exclusively by women. The +viscera having been removed and buried, the women anointed the body +daily with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids +escape, they punctured the body all over with fine needles. Finally, +wads of native cloth, saturated with oil or resinous gums, were inserted +in the abdomen, the apertures were closed up, and the body wrapt in +native cloth. The face, hands, and feet were left exposed, and were +repeatedly anointed with oil, mixed with turmeric powder, to give a +fresh and life-like appearance to the mummy. The whole process lasted +about two months. On its completion the mummy was placed in a house +built specially for the purpose, where, loosely covered with a sheet of +native cloth, it rested on a raised platform. Strangers were freely +admitted to see it. Four of these mummies, laid out in a house, were to +be seen down to about the year 1864. They were the bodies of a chief, +his wife, and two sons. Dr. George Turner judged that they must have +been embalmed upwards of thirty years, and although they had been +exposed all that time, they were in a remarkably good state of +preservation. The people assigned no particular reason for the practice, +further than that it sprang from an affectionate desire to keep the +bodies of their departed friends with them, as if they were still +alive.[165] + + [165] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 148 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 641; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 184 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 405. + + +Sec. 11. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_ + +With regard to the fate of human souls after death the Samoans appear to +have believed in their immortality, or at all events in their indefinite +survival. On this subject Dr. Brown observes: "All souls survived after +death, and so far as I know they had no idea of their dying a second +death or being destroyed. I do not think that a Samoan could give any +reason for his belief that the soul does not perish with the body, but +he certainly does believe this, and I never heard any one question +the fact."[166] Thus, according to Dr. Brown the Samoans, unlike the +Tongans, drew no invidious distinction between the souls of noblemen and +the souls of commoners, but liberally opened the doors of immortality to +gentle and simple alike. So far, they carried their republican or +democratic spirit into the world beyond the grave. + + [166] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 220 + _sq._ + +However, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio Hale, some of +the Samoans agreed with the Tongans in taking an aristocratic view of +the destiny of souls after death; and as he had good opportunities for +acquainting himself with the Samoan religion during the prolonged stay +of the American Exploring Expedition at Samoa in 1839, when the islands +were as yet but little affected by European influence, I will quote his +account. He says: "All believe in the existence of a large island, +situated far to the north-west called _Pulotu_, which is the residence +of the gods. Some suppose that while the souls of the common people +perish with their bodies, those of the chiefs are received into this +island, which is described as a terrestrial elysium, and become there +inferior divinities. Others hold (according to Mr. Heath) that the +spirits of the departed live and work in a dark subterraneous abode, and +are eaten by the gods. A third, and very common opinion is, that the +souls of all who die on an island, make their way to the western +extremity, where they plunge into the sea; but what then becomes of them +is not stated. The rock from which they leap, in the island of Upolu, +was pointed out to us; the natives term it '_Fatu-asofia_,' which was +rendered the 'jumping-off stone.'"[167] + + [167] H. Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the United + States Exploring Expedition_, p. 27. + +Of these various opinions described by Hale the third would seem to have +been by far the most prevalent. It was commonly believed that the +disembodied spirit retained the exact resemblance of its former self, by +which we are probably to understand the exact resemblance of its former +body. Immediately on quitting its earthly tabernacle it began its +solitary journey to Fafa, which was the subterranean abode of the dead, +lying somewhere to the west of Savaii, the most westerly island of the +group. Thus, if a man died in Manua, the most easterly of the islands, +his soul would journey to the western end of that island, then dive into +the sea and swim across to Tutuila. There it would walk along the beach +to the extreme westerly point of the island, when it would again plunge +into the sea and swim across to the next island, and so on to the most +westerly cape of Savaii, where it finally dived into the ocean and +pursued its way to the mysterious Fafa.[168] + + [168] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 218 _sq._ Compare + G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 643 _sq._ + +At the western end of Savaii, near the village of Falealupo, there are +two circular openings among the rocks, not far from the beach. Down +these two openings the souls of the dead were supposed to go on their +passage to the spirit-world. The souls of chiefs went down the larger of +the openings, and the souls of common people went down the smaller. Near +the spot stood a coco-nut tree, and if a passing soul chanced to collide +with it, the soul could not proceed farther, but returned to its body. +When a man recovered from a deep swoon, his friends supposed that his +soul had been arrested in its progress to the other world by knocking +against the coco-nut tree, and they rejoiced, saying, "He has come back +from the tree of the Watcher," for that was the name by which the +coco-nut tree was known. So firmly did the people of the neighbourhood +believe in the passage of the souls near their houses, that at night +they kept down the blinds to exclude the ghosts.[169] The "jumping-off +stone" at the west end of Upolu was also dreaded on account of the +passing ghosts. The place is a narrow rocky cape. The Samoans were much +astonished when a Christian native boldly built himself a house on the +haunted spot.[170] According to one account, the souls of the dead had +not to make their way through the chain of islands by the slow process +of walking and swimming, but were at once transported to the western end +of Savaii by a band of spirits, who hovered over the house of the dying +man, and catching up his parting spirit conveyed it in a straight +course westward.[171] + + [169] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 257 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ pp. 643 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. + 221. + + [170] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 219. + + [171] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 257; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 643. + +The place down which the spirits of the dead were supposed to descend to +the nether world was called by a native name (_Lua[=o]_), which means +"hollow pit." "May you go rumbling down the hollow pit" was a common +form of cursing. At the bottom of the pit was a running stream which +floated the spirits away to Pulotu. All alike, the handsome and the +ugly, old and young, chiefs and commoners, drifted pell-mell on the +current in a dazed, semi-conscious state, till they came to Pulotu. +There they bathed in "the Water of Life" and recovered all their old +life and vigour. Infirmity of every kind fled away; even the aged became +young again. The underworld of Pulotu was conceived on the model of our +upper world. There, as here, were heavens and earth and sea, fruits and +flowers; there the souls of the dead planted and fished and cooked; +there they married and were given in marriage, all after the manner of +life on earth.[172] + + [172] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 258 _sq._; G. Brown, + _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 222. + +However, it appears that according to a widespread belief the world of +the dead was sharply discriminated into two regions, to wit, an Elysium +or place of bliss called Pulotu, and a Tartarus or place of woe named +S[=a]-le-Fe'e. The title for admission to one or other of these places +was not moral worth but social rank, chiefs going to Elysium and +commoners to Tartarus. The idea of the superiority of the chiefs to the +common people was thus perpetuated in the land of the dead.[173] The +king of the lower regions was a certain Saveasiuleo, that is, Savea of +the Echo. He reclined in a house in the company of the chiefs who +gathered round him: the upper part of his body was human, the lower part +was like that of a fish and stretched away into the sea. This royal +house of assembly was supported by the erect bodies of chiefs, who had +been of high rank on earth, and who, before they died, anticipated with +pride the honour they were to enjoy by serving as pillars in the temple +of the King of Pulotu.[174] + + [173] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 217 _sq._; G. + Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221. On the question + whether the Samoans held a doctrine of moral retribution after + death, Dr. Brown observes: "I do not remember any statement to + the effect that the conduct of a man in this life affected his + state after death. They certainly believe this now, but whether + they did so prior to the introduction of Christianity I cannot + definitely say. I am inclined, however, to believe that they did + not believe that conduct in this life affected them in the + future" (_Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 261 _sq._). + Elsewhere, however, Dr. Brown seems to express a contrary + opinion. He says: "It was generally understood that the + conditions of men in this life, even amongst the common people, + had an effect on their future conditions. A good man in Samoa + generally meant a liberal man, one who was generous and + hospitable; whilst a bad man was one who was mean, selfish, and + greedy about food" (_op. cit._ p. 222). + + [174] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 259 _sq._; S. Ella, _op. + cit._ p. 644. + +But the souls of the dead were not permanently confined to the lower +world. They could return to the land of the living by night to hold +converse with members of their families, to warn and instruct them in +dreams, and to foretell the future. They could cause disease and death +by entering into the bodies of their enemies and even of their friends, +and they produced nightmare by sitting on the chests of sleepers. They +haunted some houses and especially burying-grounds. Their apparitions +were visible to the living and were greatly dreaded; people tried to +drive them away by shouts, noises, and the firing of guns. But the +ghosts had to return to the nether world at daybreak. It was because +they feared the spirits of the dead that the Samoans took such great +pains to propitiate dying people with presents; this they did above all +to persons whom they had injured, because they had most reason to dread +the anger of their ghosts.[175] However, the souls of the departed were +also thought of in a more amiable light; they could help as well as harm +mankind. Hence prayers were commonly offered at the grave of a parent, a +brother, or a chief. The suppliant, for example, might pray for health +in sickness; or, if he were of a malignant turn, he might implore the +ghost to compass the death of some person at whom he bore a grudge. Thus +we are told that a woman prayed for the death of her brother, and he +died accordingly.[176] In such beliefs and practices we have, as I have +already observed, the essential elements of a regular worship of the +dead. Whether the Samoans were on the way to evolve such a religion or, +as Dr. George Brown preferred to suppose,[177] had left it behind them +and made some progress towards a higher faith, we hardly possess the +means of determining. + + [175] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 259; S. Ella, _op. cit._ + p. 644; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. + 219, 221, 222. + + [176] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 151. + + [177] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 245, + 282. + +But while the Samoans thought that the dead return to earth to make or +mar the living, they did not believe that the spirits come back to be +born again in the form of men or animals or to occupy inanimate bodies; +in other words they had no belief in the transmigration of souls.[178] +The absence of such a belief is significant in view of Dr. Rivers's +suggestion that Melanesian totemism may have been evolved out of a +doctrine of metempsychosis, human souls being supposed to pass at death +into their totem animals or plants.[179] We have seen that the Samoan +system of family, village, and district gods bears strong marks of +having been developed out of totemism; and if their totemism had in turn +been developed out of a doctrine of transmigration, we should expect to +find among them a belief that the souls of the dead appeared in the +shape of the animals, plants, or other natural objects which were +regarded as the embodiments of their family, village, or district gods. +But of such a belief there is seemingly no trace. It appears, therefore, +unlikely that Samoan totemism was based on a doctrine of transmigration. +Similarly we have seen reason to think that the Tongan worship of +animals may have sprung from totemism, though according to the best +authorities that worship was not connected with a theory of +metempsychosis.[180] Taken together, the Samoan and the Tongan systems +seem to show that, if totemism ever flourished among the Polynesians, it +had not its roots in a worship of the dead. + + [178] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 221, + "They had no belief in the transmigration of souls either into + animals, inert bodies, or into different human bodies." + + [179] W. H. R. Rivers, _The History of Melanesian + Society_, ii. 358 _sqq._ + + [180] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._ + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HERVEY ISLANDERS + + +Sec. 1. _The Hervey or Cook Islands_ + +The Hervey or Cook Archipelago is a scattered group of nine small +islands situated in the South Pacific about seven hundred miles +south-east of Samoa. The islands are either volcanic or coralline, and +approach to them is impeded by dangerous reefs and the absence of +harbours.[1] The two principal islands are Rarotonga and Mangaia, the +most southerly of the group. Of these the larger, Rarotonga, has a +circumference of about thirty miles. It is a vast mass of volcanic +mountains, rising peak above peak, to a height of between four and five +thousand feet above the sea; but from the foot of the mountains a +stretch of flat land, covered with rich alluvial soil, extends for one +or two miles to the coast, which is formed by a fringing reef of live +coral. The whole island is mantled in luxuriant tropical verdure. It is +difficult, we are told, to exaggerate the strange forms of beauty which +everywhere meet the eye in this lovely island: gigantic and fantastic +columns of rock draped with vines; deep valleys lying in the shadow of +overhanging mountains; primaeval forest with its many shades of green; +immense chestnut trees, laden with fragrant blossoms; miles of +bread-fruit groves, intermingled with coco-nut palms; and nearer the +beach plantains, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lastly, growing to the +water's edge, graceful iron-wood trees with hair-like leaves drooping +like tresses, all contribute to the variety and charm of the scenery.[2] + + [1] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p. + 509. + + [2] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_ (London, N.D.), p. + 11. Compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises + in the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 16, 174-176. + According to Dr. Guillemard (_loc. cit._), the height of + Rarotonga is 2900 feet; according to W. W. Gill, our principal + authority on the island, it is 4500 feet. + +Very different is the aspect of Mangaia. It is a complete coral island +rising from deep water as a ring of live coral; there is no lagoon. A +few hundred yards inland from the rugged beach there rises gradually a +second or inner ring of dead coral, which towards the interior falls +away perpendicularly, thus surrounding the island like a cyclopean wall. +This belt or bulwark of dead coral is from one to two miles wide. To +cross it is like walking on spear-points: to slip and fall on it may +entail ghastly wounds. The streams of water from the interior find their +way through it to the sea by subterranean channels. Imbedded in the +highest parts of this inland reef of coral are many sea-shells of +existing species, and it is honeycombed with many extensive caves, which +were formerly used as dwellings, cemeteries, places of refuge, or +storehouses. Scores of them are filled with desiccated human bodies. So +vast are they that it is dangerous to venture alone into their recesses; +the forlorn wanderer might never emerge from them again. Some of them +are said to penetrate far under the bed of the ocean. In these caverns +stalactite and stalagmite abound, forming thick and fast-growing layers +of limestone rock. The largest and most famous of the caves is known as +the Labyrinth (_Tuatini_). The interior of the island is formed of dark +volcanic rock and red clay, descending in low hills from a flat-topped +centre, called the Crown of Mangaia. The summit is not more than six +hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea.[3] + + [3] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_. pp. 7 _sq._; + _id._, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_ (London, 1894), pp. + 6 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. + 271 _sqq._, 274 _sqq._ (as to the caverns). + + +Sec. 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_ + +Though the natives speak a Polynesian language closely akin to the +Samoan and have legends of their migration from Samoa, they appear not +to be pure Polynesians. They say that they found black people on +Rarotonga; and their more pronounced features, more wavy hair, darker +complexion, and more energetic character seem to indicate an admixture +of Melanesian blood. In Mangaia, indeed, this type is said to +predominate, the natives of that island being characterised by dusky +brown skin, wavy or frizzly hair, and ample beards: their features, too, +are more prominent than those of the Rarotongans, and their manners are +wilder.[4] Cannibalism prevailed in most of the islands of the group +down to the conversion of the natives to Christianity, which took place +between 1823 and 1834, when, with the exception of a few pagans in +Mangaia, there did not remain a single idolater, or vestige of idolatry, +in any one of the islands. However, many years afterwards old men, who +had partaken of cannibal feasts, assured a missionary that human flesh +was far superior to pork.[5] + + [4] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 509. Compare A. + Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 257 _sq._, 269. The latter + writer remarks on the great variety of types among the natives + of these islands. In Mangaia he found the people darker than in + Rarotonga, undersized, sturdy, with thick lips, noses broad and + sunken at the bridge, which gave them a somewhat wild + appearance. As to the tradition of an emigration of the Hervey + Islanders from Samoa, see W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern + Isles_, pp. 23 _sqq._ "The Mangaians themselves trace their + origin to Avaiki, or nether world; but Avaiki, Hawai'i, and + Savai'i, are but slightly different forms of one word. The _s_ + of the Samoan dialect is invariably dropped in the Hervey Group + dialects, whilst a _k_ is substituted for the break at the end. + No native of these days doubts that by Avaiki his ancestors + really intended Savai'i, the largest island of the Samoan Group. + In Polynesia, to sail _west_ is to go _down_; to sail _east_ is + to go _up_. To sail from Samoa to Mangaia would be 'to come up,' + or, to translate their vernacular closely, 'to climb up.' In + their songs and myths are many references to 'the hosts of + _Uk_upolu,' undoubtedly the Upolu of Samoa" (W. W. Gill, _op. + cit._ p. 25). Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South + Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 166 _sq._ + + [5] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 13 _sq._; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _Report of the Second Meeting + of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science + held at Melbourne, 1890_, p. 324. As to the date of the + introduction of Christianity into the Hervey Islands, see John + Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea + Islands_, pp. 491 _sq._ + +In the larger islands the natives cultivated the soil diligently even +before their contact with Europeans. The missionary John Williams, who +discovered Rarotonga in 1823, found the island in a high state of +cultivation. Rows of superb chestnut trees (_inocarpus_), planted at +equal distances, stretched from the base of the mountains to the sea, +while the spaces between the rows, some half a mile wide, were divided +into taro patches, each about half an acre in extent, carefully banked +up and capable of being irrigated at pleasure. On the tops of the banks +grew fine bread-fruit trees placed at equal intervals, their stately +foliage presenting a pleasing contrast to the pea-green leaves of the +ordinary taro and the dark colour of the giant taro (_kape_) in the beds +and on the sloping banks beneath.[6] In Rarotonga bread-fruit and +plantains are the staple food; in Mangaia it is taro. On the atolls the +coco-nut palm flourishes, but no planting can be done, as the soil +consists of sand and gravel thrown up by the sea on the ever-growing +coral. The inhabitants of the atolls live contentedly on coco-nuts and +fish; they are expert fishermen, having little else to do. But fresh +fish are also eaten in large quantities on most of the islands.[7] In +some of the islands the planting was done by the women, but in others, +including Rarotonga, the taro was both planted and brought home by the +men. Women cooked the food in ovens of hot stones sunk in holes, and +they made cloth from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which they stripped +from the tree, steeped in water, and beat out with square mallets of +iron-wood. But garments were made also from the inner bark of the banyan +and bread-fruit trees.[8] In the old days the native houses were flimsy +quadrangular huts constructed of reeds and thatched with plaited +leaflets of the coco-nut palm, which were very pervious to rain; but the +temples and large houses of chiefs were thatched with pandanus leaves. +The doors were always sliding; the threshold was made of a single block +of timber, tastefully carved. There was a sacred and a common +entrance.[9] Like all the Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders before their +discovery were ignorant of the metals. When in a wrecked vessel they +found a bag of Californian gold, they thought it was something good to +eat and proceeded to cook the nuggets in order to make them juicy and +tender.[10] + + [6] John Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 175 _sq._ + + [7] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 12, 15; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _Report of the Second Meeting of the + Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at + Melbourne, 1890_, p. 336. + + [8] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 332 + _sq._, 338. + + [9] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sq._ + + [10] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16. + + +Sec. 3. _Social Life: the Sacred Kings_ + +The people were divided into tribes or clans, each tracing descent in +the male line from a common ancestor, and each possessing its own lands, +which were inalienable. Exogamy, we are told, was the universal rule in +the olden time; but when a tribe was split up in war, the defeated +portion was treated as an alien tribe. Polygamy was very common, and was +not restricted to chiefs. A man often had two or three sisters to wife +at the same time. Distant cousins sometimes, though rarely, married each +other; but in such cases they had to belong to the same generation; that +is, they must be descended in the same degree, fourth, fifth, or even +more remote, from the common ancestor. If misfortune or disease overtook +couples linked even by so distant a relationship, the elders would +declare that it was brought upon them by the anger of the clan-god. It +was the duty of parents to teach their growing children whom they might +lawfully marry, but their choice was extremely limited. Children as a +rule belonged to the tribe or clan of their father, unless they were +adopted into another. However, parents had it at their option to assign +a child at birth either to the tribe of its father or to the tribe of +its mother; this they did by pronouncing over the infant the name either +of the father's or of the mother's god. Commonly the father had the +preference; but occasionally, when the father's tribe was one from which +human victims for sacrifice were regularly drawn, the mother would seek +to save the child's life by having the name of her tribal god pronounced +over it and so adopting it into her own tribe.[11] Circumcision in an +imperfect form was practised in the Hervey Islands from time immemorial. +It was usually performed on a youth about the age of sixteen. The +operation was indispensable to marriage. No woman would knowingly marry +an uncircumcised husband. The greatest insult that could be offered to +a man was to accuse him of being uncircumcised. The rite is said to have +been invented by the god Rongo in order to seduce the beautiful wife of +his brother Tangaroa, and he enjoined the observance of circumcision +upon his worshippers.[12] In Rarotonga it was customary to mould a +child's head into a high shape by pressing the forehead and the back of +the head between slabs of soft wood. This practice did not obtain on +Mangaia nor, apparently, on any other island of the Hervey Group.[13] + + [11] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 323, + 330, 331, 333. + + [12] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. + 327-329. In the operation the prepuce was slit longitudinally, + and the divided pieces were drawn underneath and twisted, so as + in time to form a small knot under the urethra. As to the + ceremony of assigning a child either to its father's or to its + mother's tribe, see W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South + Pacific_ (London, 1876), pp. 36 _sq._ + + [13] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 326. + +In Rarotonga four ranks of society were recognised. These were the +_ariki_, or king; the _mataiapo_, or governors of districts; the +_rangatira_, or landowners; and the _unga_, or tenants. A man was +accounted great according to the number of his _kaingas_ or farms, which +contained from one to five acres. These were let to tenants, who, like +vassals under the feudal system, obeyed the orders of their superior, +assisted him in erecting his house, in building his canoe, in making +fishing-nets, and in other occupations, besides bringing him a certain +portion of the produce of his lands.[14] + + [14] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 183 _sq._ + +The kings were sacred men, being regarded as priests and mouthpieces of +the great tutelary divinities.[15] In Mangaia they were the priests or +mouthpieces of the great god Rongo. So sacred were their royal persons +that no part of their body might be tattooed: they might not take part +in dances or in actual warfare. Peace could not be proclaimed nor blood +spilt lawfully without the consent of the king speaking in the name of +the god Rongo. Quite distinct from, and subordinate to, the sacred king +was the "lord of Mangaia," a warrior chief who gained his lordship by a +decisive victory. He represented the civil power, while the king +represented the spiritual power; but while the office of the king was +hereditary, the office of the civil lord was not. It sometimes happened +that the civil lord was at enmity with the king of his day. In that +case the king would refuse to complete the ceremonies necessary for his +formal investiture; life would remain unsafe; the soil could not be +cultivated, and famine soon ensued. This state of turbulence and misery +might last for years, till the obnoxious chief had been in his turn +despatched, and a more agreeable successor appointed.[16] Thus the +sacred king and the civil lord corresponded to the Tooitonga or sacred +chief and the civil king of Tonga.[17] + + [15] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 335. + + [16] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 293. + + [17] See above, pp. 62 _sq._ + + +Sec. 4. _Religion, the Gods, Traces of Totemism_ + +Yet though the king of Mangaia ranked above the civil or temporal lord, +it devolved on that lord to install a new king in office by formally +seating him on "the sacred sandstone" (_te kea inamoa_) in the sanctuary +or sacred grove (_marae_)[18] of Rongo on the sea-shore facing the +setting sun. The ceremony took place in presence of the leading +under-chiefs. The special duty of the king was by offering rhythmical +and very ancient prayers to Great Rongo to keep away evil-minded spirits +who might otherwise injure the island. For this end the principal king +(_te ariki pa uta_) lived in the interior of the island in the sacred +and fertile district of Keia. His prayers were thought to avert evil +spirits coming from the east. On the barren sea-shore at O-rongo (the +seat of the temple or grove of Rongo) lived the secondary king (_te +ariki pa tai_), who warded off bad spirits coming from the west. Besides +this primary ghostly function, many other important duties devolved upon +these royal personages. The secondary or shore king was not infrequently +a natural son of the great inland king. By virtue of their office all +kings were high priests of Rongo, the tutelary god of Mangaia.[19] + + [18] In the Hervey Islands a _marae_ seems to have been a sacred + grove. So it is described by W. W. Gill (_Myths and Songs from + the South Pacific_, p. 14), who adds in a note: "These _maraes_ + were planted with _callophylla inophylla_, etc., etc., which, + untouched by the hand of man from generation to generation, + threw a sacred gloom over the mysteries of idol-worship. The + trees were accounted sacred, not for their own sake, but on + account of the place where they grew." + + [19] W. W. Gill, _From Darkness to Light in Polynesia_, pp. 314 + _sq._ As to the installation of the priestly king by the + temporal lord, see also _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. + cit._ pp. 339 _sq._ + +But Rongo was not peculiar to the Hervey Islands. He was a great +Polynesian deity worshipped in almost every part of the Pacific, and +though his attributes differed greatly in different places, a universal +reverence was paid to him. In the Hervey Islands, he and his twin +brother Tangaroa were deemed the children of Vatea, the eldest of the +primary gods, a being half man and half fish, whose eyes are the sun and +the moon. The wife of this monstrous deity and mother of the divine +twins was Papa, whose name signifies Foundation and who was supposed to +be a daughter of Timatekore or "Nothing-more." The twin Tangaroa, +another great Polynesian deity, was specially honoured in Rarotonga and +Aitutaki, another of the Hervey Islands.[20] The famous Polynesian hero +Maui was also well known in the Hervey Islands, where people told how he +had brought up the first fire to men from the under world, having there +wrested it from the fire-god Mauike;[21] how he raised the sky--a solid +vault of blue stone--to its present height, for of old the sky almost +touched the earth, so that people could not walk upright;[22] and +finally how he caught the great sun-god Ra himself in six nooses made of +strong coco-nut fibre, so that the motions of the orb of day, which +before had been extremely irregular, have been most orderly ever +since.[23] + + [20] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 3 + _sqq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 348 + _sq._ As to Rongo and Tangaroa, see E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z., + 1891), pp. 424 _sq._, 463 _sq._, _svv._ "Rongo" and "Tangaroa." + + [21] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 51-58. + + [22] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 58-60. + + [23] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 61-63. + +But besides the divine or heroic figures of more or less anthropomorphic +type, which the Hervey Islanders recognised in common with the rest of +the Polynesians, we may distinguish in their mythology traces of that +other and probably older stage of thought in which the objects of +religious reverence are rather animals than men or beings modelled in +the image of man. We have seen that this early stage of religion was +well preserved in Samoa down to the time when the islands fell under the +observation of Europeans, and that it was probably a relic of +totemism,[24] which at an earlier period may perhaps have prevailed +generally among the ancestors of the Polynesians. In the Hervey Islands +there was a god called Tonga-iti, who appeared visibly in the form of +black and white spotted lizards.[25] Another deity named Tiaio took +possession of the body of the large white shark, the terror of these +islanders, and he had a small sacred grove (_marae_) set apart for his +worship. It is said that this shark-god was a former king of Mangaia, +who in the pride of his heart had defiled the sacred district of Keia, +the favourite haunt of the gods, by wearing some beautiful scarlet +hibiscus flowers in his ears. Now anything red was forbidden in that +part of the island as being offensive to the gods; and even the beating +of bark-cloth was prohibited there, lest the repose of the gods should +be disturbed by the noise. Hence an angry priest knocked the proud and +impious king on the head, and the blood of the slain monarch flowed into +a neighbouring stream, where it was drunk by a great fresh-water eel. So +the spirit of the dead king entered into the eel, but subsequently, +pursuing its way to the sea, the spirit forsook the eel and took +possession of the shark.[26] Nevertheless he continued occasionally to +appear to his worshippers in the form of an eel; for we are told that in +the old heathen days, if a huge eel were caught in a net, it would have +been regarded as the god Tiaio himself come on a visit, and that it +would accordingly have been allowed to return to the water +unmolested.[27] It is quite possible that this derivation of the eel-god +or shark-god from a former king of Mangaia may be historically correct; +for we are told that "many of the deities worshipped in the Hervey Group +and other islands of the eastern Pacific were canonised priests, kings, +and warriors, whose spirits were supposed to enter into various birds, +fish, reptiles, insects, etc., etc. Strangely enough, they were regarded +as being, in no respect, inferior to the original deities."[28] Among +the creatures in which gods, and especially the spirits of deified men, +were believed permanently to reside or to be incarnate were reckoned +sharks, sword-fish, eels, the octopus, yellow and black spotted lizards, +as well as several kinds of birds and insects.[29] In Rarotonga the +cuttle-fish was the special deity of the reigning family down to the +subversion of paganism.[30] In Mangaia the tribe of Teipe, whose members +were liable to serve as victims in human sacrifices, worshipped the +centipede: there was a shrine of the centipede god at Vaiau on the +eastern side of Mangaia.[31] Again, two gods, Tekuraaki and Utakea, were +supposed to be incarnate in the woodpecker.[32] A comprehensive +designation for divinities of all kinds was "the heavenly family" (_te +anau tuarangi_); and this celestial race included rats, lizards, +beetles, eels, sharks, and several kinds of birds. It was supposed that +"the heavenly family" had taken up their abode in these creatures.[33] +Nay, even inanimate objects, such as the triton-shell, sandstone, bits +of basalt, cinnet, and trees were believed to be thus tenanted by +gods.[34] The god Tane-kio, for example, was thought to be enshrined in +the planets Venus and Jupiter, and also, curiously enough, in cinnet +work.[35] Again, each tribe had its own sacred bird, which was supposed +to be sent by a god to warn the people of impending danger.[36] In these +superstitions it is possible that we have relics of totemism. + + [24] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + + [25] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 10 _sq._ 19. Another god called Turanga, who was worshipped at + Aumoana, was also supposed to be incarnate in white and black + spotted lizards. See _id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [26] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 29 _sq._ + + [27] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 79 _sq._ + + [28] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + + [29] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 347. + Yet in the same passage the writer affirms that "there is no + trace in the Eastern Pacific of the doctrine of transmigration + of human souls, although the spirits of the dead are fabled to + have assumed, temporarily, and for a specific purpose, the form + of an insect, bird, fish, or cloud." + + [30] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 289. + + [31] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 96, 308, 309. + + [32] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [33] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 34 + _sq._ + + [34] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 32. + + [35] _Id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 96. + + [36] _Id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + +Originally, it is said, the gods spoke to men through the small land +birds, but the utterances of these creatures proved too indistinct to +guide the actions of mankind. Hence to meet this emergency an order of +priests was set apart, the gods actually taking up their abode, for the +time being, in their sacred persons. Hence priests were significantly +named "god-boxes" (_pia-atua_) a title which was generally abbreviated +to "gods," because they were believed to be living embodiments of the +divinities. When a priest was consulted, he drank a bowl of kava (_Piper +methysticum_), and falling into convulsions gave the oracular response +in language intelligible only to the initiated. The oracle so delivered, +from which there was no appeal, was thought to have been inspired by the +god, who had entered into the priest for the purpose.[37] + + [37] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 35; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 349. + + +Sec. 5. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_ + +Like other Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders believed that human beings +are animated by a vital principle or soul, which survives the death of +the body for a longer or shorter time. Indeed, they held that nobody +dies a strictly natural death except as an effect of extreme old age. +Nineteen out of twenty deaths were believed to be caused either by the +anger of the gods or by the incantations of "the praying people" or +sorcerers.[38] Hence, when a person fell ill, it was customary to +consult a priest in order to discover the nature of the sin which had +drawn down on the sufferer the wrath of the deity or the enmity of the +sorcerer.[39] But besides its final departure at death, the soul was +thought to quit the body temporarily on other occasions. In sleep it was +supposed to leave the sleeper and travel over the island, holding +converse with the dead, and even visiting the spirit-world. It was thus +that the islanders, like so many other savages, explained the phenomena +of dreams. We are told that some of the most important events in their +national history were determined by dreams.[40] Again, they explained +sneezing as the return of the soul to the body after a temporary +absence. Hence in Rarotonga, when a person sneezes, the bystanders +exclaim, as though addressing his spirit, "Ha! you have come back!"[41] + + [38] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 342. + Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35. + + [39] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 35; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 339; _id._, + _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 70. + + [40] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 347. + + [41] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 177. + +How exactly the Hervey Islanders pictured to themselves the nature of +the human soul, appears not to be recorded. Probably their notions on +this obscure subject did not differ greatly from those of the natives of +Pukapuka or Danger Island, a lonely island situated some hundreds of +miles to the north-west of the Hervey Group. These savages apparently +conceived the soul as a small material substance that varied in size +with the dimensions of the body which it inhabited. For the sacred men +or sorcerers of that island used to set traps to catch the souls of +people, and the traps consisted of loops of coco-nut fibre, which +differed in size according as the soul to be caught in one of them was +fat or thin, or perhaps according as it was the soul of a child or that +of an adult. Two of these soul-traps were presented to Mr. W. W. Gill, +the first white missionary to land in Danger Island. The loops or rings +were arranged in pairs on each side of two cords, one of which was +twenty-eight feet long and the other fourteen. The mode of setting the +traps was this. If a person was very sick or had given offence to a +sorcerer, the offended wizard or priest would hang a soul-trap by night +from a branch of a tree overhanging the house of the sufferer or of the +person against whom he bore a grudge; then sitting down beside the snare +he would pretend to watch for the flight of the victim's spirit. If the +family enquired the sin for which the soul-trap had been set, the holy +man would probably allege some ceremonial fault committed by the sick +man against the gods. If an insect or small bird chanced to fly through +one of the loops, the priest would allege that the man's soul was caught +in the mesh, and that there was no hope for it but that the wretch must +die. In that case the demon Vaerua, who presided over the spirit-world, +was believed to hurry off the poor soul to the nether world, there to +feast upon it. The news that So-and-so had lost his soul would then +spread through the island, and great would be the lamentation. The +friends of the unhappy man would seek to propitiate the sorcerer by +large presents of food, begging him to intercede with the dread Vaerua +for the restoration of the lost soul. Sometimes the intercessions were +successful, and the patient recovered; but at other times the priest +reported that his prayers were of no avail, and that Vaerua could not +be induced to send back the soul to re-inhabit the body. The melancholy +tidings acted like a sentence of death. The patient gave up all hope and +soon pined away through sheer distress at the thought of his soul caught +in the trap.[42] + + [42] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 180-183; + _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 171. + + +Sec. 6. _Death and Funeral Rites_ + +The moment a sick person expired, his near relatives cut off their hair, +blackened their faces, and slashed their bodies with shark's teeth, so +that the blood might stream down; in Rarotonga it was customary also to +knock out some of the front teeth in token of sorrow. During the days of +mourning people wore only native cloth, dyed red in the sap of the +candle-nut tree and then dipped in the black mud of a taro-patch. The +very foul smell of these garments is said to have been symbolical of the +putrescent state of the corpse;[43] perhaps at the same time, though we +are not told so, it helped to keep the ghost at arm's length. + + [43] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 181; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + +That the mourners were not anxious to detain the departed spirit appears +from a custom observed by the Rarotongans and described by the +discoverer of the island, John Williams. He tells us that in order to +secure the admission of a departed spirit to future joys, the corpse was +dressed in the best attire the relatives could provide, the head was +wreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A pig was then +baked whole and placed on the body of the deceased, surrounded by a pile +of vegetable food. After that, supposing the departed to have been a +son, the father would thus address the corpse: "My son, when you were +alive I treated you with kindness, and when you were taken ill I did my +best to restore you to health; and now you are dead, there is your +_momoe o_, or property of admission. Go, my son, and with that gain an +entrance into the palace of Tiki,[44] and do not come to this world +again to disturb and alarm us." The whole would then be buried; and, if +they received no intimation to the contrary within a few days of the +interment, the relatives believed that the pig and the rest of the +victuals had obtained for the deceased an entrance to the abode of +bliss. If, however, a cricket was heard to chirp in the house, it was +deemed an ill omen, and they would immediately break into loud laments, +saying, for example, "Oh, our brother! his spirit has not entered the +paradise; he is suffering from hunger; he is shivering with cold!" +Forthwith the grave would be opened and the offering repeated. This +usually effected the purpose.[45] + + [44] The name of the god of the Rarotongan paradise. + + [45] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 477 _sq._ + +In Rarotonga the provisions which were buried with the dead person as an +offering to Tiki sometimes consisted of the head and kidneys of a hog, a +split coco-nut, and a root of kava; in the island of Aitutaki it was +usual to place at the pit of the stomach of the corpse the kernel of a +coco-nut, and a piece of sugar-cane; in Mangaia the extremity of a +coco-nut frond served the same purpose of propitiating Tiki and ensuring +the entrance of the ghost into paradise.[46] + + [46] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 170 _sq._ + +The bodies of the dead were anointed with scented oil, carefully wrapt +up in a number of cloths, and so committed to their last resting-place. +They were never disembowelled for the purpose of embalming, but some +were desiccated by being kept for about a month and daily anointed with +coco-nut oil. A few were buried in the earth within the precincts of a +sacred grove (_marae_); but by far the greater number were hidden in +caves which were regarded as the private property of certain families. +The bodies of warriors were in general carefully concealed by their +friends, lest foes should find and burn them in revenge. If a body were +buried in the earth, it was always laid face downwards, with chin and +knees meeting, and the limbs well secured with coco-nut fibre. A thin +covering of earth was spread over the corpse, and large heavy stones +were piled on the grave. "The intention," we are informed, "was to +render it impossible for the dead to rise up and injure the living." The +head of the corpse was always turned to the rising sun. It was customary +to bury with the dead some article of value: a woman would have her +cloth-mallet laid by her side, while a man would enjoin his friends to +bury with him a favourite stone adze or a beautiful white shell (_Ovula +ovum_, Linn.) which he had worn in the dance. Such articles were never +afterwards touched by the living. Many people were buried in easily +accessible caves, that their relatives might visit the mouldering +remains from time to time. On such visits the corpse might be again +exposed to the sun, anointed afresh with oil, and wrapt in new cloth. +But as the sorrow of the survivors abated, these visits became less and +less frequent, and finally ceased.[47] + + [47] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 72-76; _id._, + "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 343. + +A death in a family was the signal for a change of names among the near +relatives of the deceased. The greatest ingenuity was exercised in +devising new appellations. Sometimes these names were most offensive to +good taste. This custom of changing names after the death of a relative +has survived the conversion of the natives to Christianity;[48] probably +it originated in a desire to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the +ghost, who might be thought to be attracted by the sound of the familiar +names.[49] + + [48] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 78 _sq._; + _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + + [49] See _The Golden Bough_, Part II., _Taboo and the Perils of + the Soul_, pp. 356 _sqq._ + +As soon as the corpse was committed to its last resting-place, the +mourners selected five old coco-nuts, opened them one after the other, +and poured the water on the ground. These nuts were then wrapt up in +leaves and native cloth and thrown towards the grave; or, if the corpse +had been let down by cords into the deep chasm called Auraka, the nuts +and other food would be cast down successively upon it. Calling loudly +each time the name of the departed, they said, "Here is thy food; eat +it." When the fifth nut and the accompanying pudding were thrown down, +the mourners cried, "Farewell! we come back no more to thee."[50] + + [50] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 187; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344. + +Immediately after a decease a remarkable custom was observed in Mangaia. +A messenger was despatched to bear the tidings round the island. On +reaching the boundary of each district, he paused to give the war-shout +peculiar to the people of the district, adding, "So-and-so is dead." +Thereupon near relatives would start off at once for the house of the +deceased, each carrying a present of native cloth. Most of the athletic +young men of the entire island on the day following united in a series +of sham-fights called _ta i te mauri_ or "slaying the ghosts." The +district where the corpse lay represented the _mauri_ or ghosts. The +young men belonging to it early in the morning arrayed themselves as if +for battle, and, well armed, started off for the adjoining district, +where the young men were drawn up in battle array under the name of +_aka-oa_ or "friends." Having performed the war-dance, the two parties +rushed together, clashing their spears and wooden swords, as though +fighting in good earnest. The sufferers in this bloodless conflict were +supposed to be malignant spirits, who would thus be deterred from doing +further mischief to mortals. After the mock battle the combatants +united, and, being collectively called _mauri_ or "ghosts," passed on to +the third district. Throughout the day their leader carried the sacred +_iku kikau_, or coco-nut leaf, at the pit of his stomach, like a dead +man. Arrived at the third village, they found the younger men ready for +the friendly conflict and bearing the name of _aka-oa_ or "friends." The +battle of the ghosts was fought over again, and then with swelling +numbers they passed on to the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts, in +every one of them fighting and thrashing the ghosts afresh. Repairing at +last with united forces to the place where the corpse was laid out in +state, the brave ghost-killers were there entertained at a feast, after +which all, except the near relatives, returned to their various homes at +nightfall. So similar to actual warfare was this custom of fighting the +ghosts that it went by the name of "a younger brother of war."[51] +Apparently every death was attributed to the action of ghosts who had +carried off the soul of the departed brother or sister; and in order to +prevent a repetition of the catastrophe it was deemed necessary to repel +or even to slay the ghostly assailants by force of arms. + + [51] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 268 _sq._ + +The mourning ceremonies lasted from ten to fifteen days according to the +rank and age of the deceased. During the whole period no beating of bark +for the manufacture of the native cloth was permitted in the district +where the death had occurred. A woman who wished to beat out her +bark-cloth must go to another part of the island. This rule is said to +have been dictated by a fear of offending the female demon Mueu, who +introduced the beating of bark-cloth into the world, but who herself +beats out cloth of a very different texture; for her cloth-flail is the +stroke of death.[52] + + [52] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 182. + +Some months after the decease of a person of note funeral games called +_eva_ were performed in honour of the departed. These ceremonies +invariably took place by day. They were of four sorts. + +First, there was the _eva tapara_, or "funeral dirge." In this the +mourners appeared with blackened faces, shaved heads, streaming blood, +and stinking garments. This, we are told, was a most repulsive +exhibition.[53] + + [53] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 271. + +Second, there was the _eva puruki_ or "war dirge." In this the people +arrayed themselves in two columns facing each other, both sides armed +with spears made of a brittle kind of wood instead of the fatal +iron-wood (_Casuarina equasitifolia_), out of which the spears used in +real warfare were made. The performance began with an animated +conversation between the leaders of the two squadrons of supposed +enemies as to the grounds for war. When this was concluded, the person +most nearly related to the deceased began the history of the heroic +deeds of the clan by slowly chanting the introductory words. At the +appointed pause both companies took up the strain and chanted it +vigorously together, the mighty chorus being accompanied by the clash of +spears and all the evolutions of war. Then followed a momentary pause, +after which a new story would be introduced by the musical voice of the +chief mourner, to be caught up and recited in full chorus by both +companies as before. These war-dirges were most carefully elaborated, +and they embodied the only histories of the past known to these +islanders.[54] + + [54] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 272. + +Third, there was the _eva toki_ or "axe dirge." In this ceremony the +performers, armed with mimic axes of iron-wood instead of stone, used +to cleave the cruel earth which had swallowed up the dead; and as they +smote the ground, with tears streaming down their cheeks, they expressed +a vain wish that so they might open up a passage through which the +spirit of the departed might return. This axe-dirge was appropriate to +artisans only, who enjoyed great consideration because their skill was +believed to be a gift of the gods.[55] + + [55] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 272 _sq._ + +Fourth, there was the _eva ta_ or "crashing dirge." In this ceremony two +supposed armies were arrayed against each other as in the "war dirge," +but differed from it both in the style of composition and in the weapons +employed, the combatants being armed with flat spears or wooden swords. +In the dialogue or songs the death of their friends was explained by the +anger of the gods, for which reasons were assigned. These performances +generally concluded with a sort of comedy, the nature of which has not +been described.[56] + + [56] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 273. + +Sometimes, instead of these funeral games or ceremonies, a grand tribal +gathering was held for the sake of reciting songs in honour of the +illustrious dead. Such an assembly met in a large house built for the +purpose and well lighted with torches, for the doleful concert always +took place at night. As many as sixty songs might be prepared for the +occasion and mournfully chanted to the accompanying drone of the great +wooden drum. Every adult male relative was bound to recite a song; if he +could not compose one himself, he had to pay a more gifted person to +furnish him with the appropriate words. Some of the songs or ballads of +a touching nature were much admired and long remembered. Several months +were needed for the preparation of such a performance or "death-talk," +as it was called. Not only had the songs to be composed and the dresses +made, but a liberal supply of food had to be provided for the +guests.[57] + + [57] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 269-271; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 345. + +In general all mourning ceremonies were over within a year of the death. +But we hear of a chief of the island of Atiu who mourned for seven years +for an only child, living all that time in a hut near the grave, and +allowing his hair and nails to grow, and his body to remain unwashed. He +was the wonder of all the islanders.[58] + + [58] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 345. + +Among the caverns in which, in the island of Mangaia, the dead used to +be deposited, two are particularly famous. One of them, at Tamarua, is +the chasm called Raupa or "leafy entrance" on account of the dense +growth of hibiscus which formerly surrounded this supposed entrance to +the shades. It was the ancient burial-place of the Tongan tribe, the +descendants of a band of Tongans, who had landed in Mangaia and settled +there. The chasm is a hundred and fifty feet deep and has two openings, +the smaller of which was used only for chiefs and priests. The other +famous sepulchral cavern, called Auraka, is situated on the western side +of the island. It was the grand depository of the dead of the ruling +families, who claimed to be descended from the great god Rongo. This +chasm is not nearly so deep as Raupa, but, like it, has two entrances; +the one sacred and the other profane; the former was reserved for the +bodies of the nobility, the latter for the bodies of commoners. Besides +these ceremonial entrances there are many natural openings into the vast +subterranean cave, for the rock is everywhere perforated. It is possible +by torchlight to explore the gloomy recesses of the cavern, which in +some places contracts to the narrowest dimensions, while in others it +expands till the roof is almost lost to sight. Hundreds of +well-preserved mummies may be seen lying in rows, some on ledges of +stalactite, others on wooden platforms. Mr. Gill, who thrice visited the +cave, judged that some of the bodies were over fifty years old. The +whole neighbourhood of the great cavern was deemed sacred to wandering +disembodied spirits, who were believed to come up at midnight and +exhibit the ghastly wounds by which they had met their fate.[59] + + [59] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 71 _sq._ As + to the settlement of a Tongan colony in Mangaia, see _id._, + _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. 287 _sq._ In + native tradition the colonists were spoken of as "Tongans + sailing through the skies" (_Tongaiti-akareva-moana_). Their + leader was the first high-priest of the god Turanga. + + +Sec. 7. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_ + +The home of the departed spirits was believed to be a vast subterranean +region called Avaiki. The natives of Mangaia believed that this +mysterious region was situated directly under their island. "As the dead +were usually thrown down the deepest chasms, it was not unnatural for +their friends to imagine the earth to be hollow, and the entrance to +this vast nether world to be down one of these pits. No one can wonder +at this who knows that the outer portion of Mangaia is a honeycomb, the +rock being pierced in every direction with winding caves and frightful +chasms. It is asserted that the Mission premises at Oneroa are built +over one of these great caverns, which extends so far towards the sea +that the beating of the surf can be distinctly heard, whilst the water, +purified from its saline particles, continually drips from the stony +roof." The inland opening into the infernal regions was believed to be +the great cavern of Auraka, in which, as we have just seen, so many of +the dead were deposited.[60] + + [60] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 152-154. + +However, Avaiki was not the home of the ghosts alone; it was tenanted +also by the gods, both the greater and the lesser, with their +dependants. There they married, and multiplied, and quarrelled, just +like mortals. There they planted, cooked, fished, and inhabited +dwellings of exactly the same sort as exist on earth. Their food was no +better than that of mortals. There might be seen birds, fish, and rats, +likewise the mantis, centipedes, and beetles. There the coco-nut palm, +the pandanus, and the myrtle flourished, and yams grew in abundance. The +gods committed murder and adultery; they got drunk; they lied; they +stole. The arts and crafts were also practised by the deities, who +indeed taught them to mankind. The visible world, in short, was but a +gross copy of the spiritual and invisible world. If fire burns, it is +because latent flame was hidden in wood by the god Mauike in Hades. If +the axe cleaves, it is because the fairy of the axe is present unseen in +the blade. If the ironwood club kills its man, it is because a fierce +demon from Tonga lives in the weapon.[61] + + [61] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 154. + +The old high-road to the spirit-land used to start from a place called +Aremauku, on a cliff overhanging the western ocean. By this road a +regular communication was formerly kept up with the infernal regions. It +was by this route, for example, that the hero Maui descended in ancient +days to the home of the fire-god Mauike and brought up fire for the use +of men. However, the denizens of spirit-land in time grew very +troublesome by constantly coming up and afflicting mankind with disease +and death; they also created a dearth by stealing people's food, and +they even ravished their wives. To put an end to these perpetual +annoyances a brave and beautiful woman, Tiki by name, rolled herself +alive down into the gloomy chasm which led to the infernal world. The +yawning abyss closed on her, and there has been no thoroughfare ever +since. The spirits have not been able to come up from Avaiki by that +road, and the souls of the dead have been equally unable to go down by +it; they are now obliged to descend by a different route.[62] + + [62] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 154 _sq._ + +After their departure from the body the spirits of the dead wandered +disconsolately along the seashore, picking their steps painfully among +the sharp spikes of the coral and stumbling over the bindweed and thick +vines which caught their feet. The fragrant smell of the heliotrope, +which grows luxuriantly among these barren and rugged rocks, afforded +them a little relief, and they wore a red creeper, like a turban, round +their heads; the rest of their costume was a miscellaneous collection of +weeds which they had picked up in the course of their wanderings. Twice +a year, at the summer and winter solstices, they mustered to follow the +setting sun down into the under world. They gathered at the two points +of the island which face towards the rising of the sun at these two +seasons of the year. At the summer solstice, in January, he seems to +rise out of the sea opposite to Ana-Kura, that is, the Red Cave, so +called because it receives the red rays of the morning. It was there +that by far the greater number of the ghosts gathered for their last +sad journey with the sun: they all belonged to the southern half of the +island. The other point of ghostly muster was called Karanga-iti or "the +Little Welcome"; it faced towards the rising of the sun at the winter +solstice in June, and it was there that the ghosts born in the northern +half of the island assembled. Thus many months might elapse between a +death and the final departure of the soul from the land of the living. +The weary interval was spent by the spirits in dancing and revisiting +their old homes. As a rule they were well disposed to their living +relatives, but the ghost of a mother would often grow vindictive when +she saw her pet child ill-treated by its stepmother. Sometimes, weary of +wandering, the poor ghosts huddled together in the Red Cave, waiting for +the midsummer sun and listening to the monotonous moan of the great +rollers, which break there eternally.[63] + + [63] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 155-157. + +The exact moment of departure was fixed by the leader of the band. As +the time drew near, messengers were despatched to call in the stray +ghosts who might be lingering near their ancient haunts. Tearfully they +gathered at the Red Cave or on a grassy lawn above it, out of reach of +the foam and the billows. All kept their eyes on the spot of the horizon +where the sun was expected to appear. At the first streak of dawn the +whole band took their departure to meet the rising orb of day. That +done, they followed in his train as nearly as might be, flitting behind +or beneath him across the rolling waters or the rocks and stones of the +coast, till towards the close of day they all mustered at Vairo-rongo, +"the Sacred Stream of Rongo," facing towards the setting sun. The spot +is so named from a little rivulet which there rushes out of the stones +at the sacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo: none but priests and kings might +bathe there in days of old. At the moment when the sun sank beneath the +horizon, the entire band of ghosts followed him along the golden track +of light across the shimmering sea and descended in his train to the +nether world, but not like him to reappear on the morrow.[64] + + [64] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 157 _sq._ + +There were three such points of departure for the spirit-land in +Mangaia, all facing the setting sun. Each of them was known as a +_Reinga vaerua_ or "leaping-place of souls." One of them was at Oneroa, +where a rocky bluff stands out by itself like a giant looking towards +the west. To it a band of souls from the great cavern of Auraka used to +go in mournful procession, and from it they leaped one by one to a +second and much smaller block of stone resting on the inner edge of the +reef; thence they passed to the outer brink of the reef, on which the +surf beats ceaselessly, and from which at sunset they flitted over the +ocean to sink with the great luminary into the land of the dead. + +Such appears to have been the general notion of the people concerning +the departure of human souls at death in Mangaia. Similar ideas +prevailed in the other islands of the group, in all of which the +"leaping-place of souls" was regularly situated on the western coast of +the island.[65] + + [65] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 159 _sq._ + +The teaching of the priests added many particulars to this general +account of the journey of the soul to the nether world. According to +them the souls of the dying, before life was quite extinct, left their +bodies and travelled towards the edge of the cliff at Araia, near the +sacred grove (_marae_) of Rongo, which faced westward. But if on its way +to this fatal bourne the soul of the dying chanced to meet a friendly +spirit who cried to it, "Go back and live," the departing soul would +joyfully return to its forsaken body, and the sick man or woman would +revive. This was the native explanation of fainting. But if no friendly +spirit intervened to save the passing soul, it pursued its way to the +edge of the cliff. On its arrival a great wave of the sea washed the +base of the crag, and a gigantic _bua_ tree (_Beslaria laurifolia_), +covered with fragrant blossoms, sprang up from Avaiki to receive the +ghost. The tree had as many branches as there were principal gods in +Mangaia, and every ghost had to perch on the particular branch allotted +to members of his or her tribe; the worshippers of the great gods, such +as Motoro and Tane, had separate boughs provided for their +accommodation; while the worshippers of the lesser deities huddled +together on a single big branch.[66] + + [66] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 160 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 346. + +No sooner had the ghost perched on the place appointed for him than down +plumped the tree with him into the nether world. Looking down to see +where he was going, what was the horror of the ghost to perceive a great +net spread by Akaanga and his assistants to catch him at the foot of the +tree! Into this fatal net the doomed spirit inevitably fell to sink in a +lake of fresh water and there to wriggle like a fish for a time. At last +the net was pulled up with the ghost in it, who, half-drowned, was now +ushered trembling into the presence of the grim hag Miru, generally +known as "the Ruddy," because her face reflected the glowing heat of the +ever-burning oven in which she cooked her ghostly victims. At first, +however, she fed, and perhaps fattened, them on a diet of black beetles, +red earth-worms, crabs, and small blackbirds. Thus refreshed, they had +next to drain bowls of strong kava brewed by the fair hands of the hag's +four lovely daughters. Reduced to a state of insensibility by the +intoxicating beverage, the ghosts were then borne off without a struggle +to the oven and cooked. On the substance of these hapless victims Miru +and her son and her peerless daughters regularly subsisted. The leavings +of the meal were thrown to the servants. Such was the fate of all who +died what we should call a natural death, and therefore of all cowards, +women, and children. They were annihilated.[67] + + [67] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 161 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 346 + _sq._ + +Not so with warriors who fell fighting on the field of battle. For a +time, indeed, their souls wandered about among the rocks and trees where +their bodies were thrown, the ghastly wounds by which they met their +fate being still visible. The plaintive chirping of a certain cricket, +rarely seen but heard continually at night, was believed to be the voice +of the slain warriors sorrowfully calling to their friends. At last the +first who fell would gather his brother ghosts at a place a little +beyond Araia, on the edge of the cliff and facing the sunset. There they +would linger for a time. But suddenly a mountain sprang up at their +feet, and they ascended it over the spears and clubs which had given +them their mortal wounds. Arrived at the summit they leaped up into the +blue expanse, thus becoming the peculiar clouds of the winter or dry +season. During the rainy season they could mount up to the warriors' +paradise in the sky. In June, the first month of winter, the atmosphere +was pervaded by these ghosts, to whom the chilliness of death still +clung. For days together their thronging shapes hid the sun, dimming the +sky and spreading among men the heaviness and oppression of spirits +which are characteristic of the season. But with the early days of +August, when the coral-tree puts forth its blood-red blossoms and the +sky grows mottled with light fleecy clouds, the ghosts of the brave +prepare to take flight for heaven. Soon the sky is cloudless, the +weather bright and warm. The ghosts have fled away, and the living +resume their wonted avocations in quiet and comfort.[68] + + [68] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 162 _sq._ + +In their celestial home the spirits of the slain are immortal. There, in +memory of their deeds on earth, they dance their old war dances over +again, decked with gay flowers--the white gardenia, the yellow _bua_, +the golden fruit of the pandanus, and the dark crimson, bell-like +blossom of the native laurel, intertwined with myrtle; and from their +blissful heights they look down with pity and disgust on the wretched +souls in Avaiki entangled in the fatal net and besmeared with filth. For +the spirits of the slain in battle are strong and vigorous, their bodies +never having been wasted by disease; whereas the spirits of those who +die a natural death are excessively feeble and weak, like their bodies +at the moment of dissolution. The natural result of such beliefs was to +breed an utter contempt for a violent death, nay even a desire to seek +it. Many stories are told of aged warriors, scarcely able to hold a +spear, who have insisted on being led to the battlefield in the hope of +finding a soldier's death and gaining a soldier's paradise.[69] + + [69] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 163 _sq._ + +Beliefs of the same general character concerning the fate of the dead +prevailed in other islands of the Hervey Group. Thus in Rarotonga the +great meeting-place of the ghosts was at Tuoro, facing the sunset. There +at a stately tree, called "the Weeping Laurel," the disembodied spirits +used to bewail their hard fate. If no pitying spirit sent him back to +life, the ghost had to scramble up a branch of an ancient _bua_ tree +which grew on the spot. Should the bough break under his weight, the +ghost was precipitated into the net which Muru had spread out for him in +a natural circular hollow of the rock. A lively ghost might break the +meshes of the net and escape for a while, but passing on to the outer +edge of the reef, in the hope of traversing the ocean, he inevitably +fell into another net artfully concealed by Akaanga. From this second +net escape was impossible. The demons drew the captive ghosts out of the +nets, and ruthlessly dashing out their brains on the sharp coral they +carried off the shattered victims in triumph to devour them in the lower +world. Ghosts from Ngatangiia ascended the noble mountain range which +stretches across the island, dipping into the sea at Tuoro. +Inexpressibly weary and sad was this journey over a road which foot of +living wight had never trod. The departed spirits of this tribe met at a +great iron-wood tree, of which some branches were green and others dead. +The souls that trod on the green branches came back to life; but the +souls that crawled on to the dead boughs were at once caught in the net +either of Muru or of Akaanga.[70] + + [70] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp. + 169 _sq._; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 346. + +In Rarotonga, as in Mangaia, the lot of warriors who died in battle was +much happier than that of the poor wretches who had the misfortune to +die quietly in bed or to be otherwise ignominiously snuffed out. The +gallant ghosts were said to join Tiki, who in Rarotonga appears to have +been a dead warrior, whereas in Mangaia, as we saw, Tiki was a dead +woman. In the Rarotongan Hades, which also went by the name of Avaiki, +this Tiki sat at the threshold of a very long house built with walls of +reeds, and surrounded by shrubs and flowers of fadeless bloom and +never-failing perfume. Each ghost on his arrival had to make an offering +to the warder Tiki, who, thus propitiated, admitted him to the house. +There, sitting at their ease, eating, drinking, dancing, or sleeping, +the brave of past ages dwelt in unwithering beauty and perpetual youth; +there they welcomed newcomers, and there they told the story of their +heroic exploits on earth and fought their old battles over again. But +ghosts who had nothing to give to Tiki were compelled to stay outside in +rain and darkness for ever, shivering with cold and hunger, watching +with envious eyes the joyous revels of the inmates, and racked with the +vain desire of being admitted to share them.[71] + + [71] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. + 170; John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in + the South Sea Islands_, pp. 476 _sq._ + +Such beliefs in the survival of the soul after death may have nerved the +warrior with fresh courage in battle; but they can have contributed but +little to the happiness and consolation of ordinary people, who could +apparently look forward to nothing better in the life hereafter than +being cooked and eaten by a hideous hag. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS + + +Sec. 1. _The Society Islands_ + +The Society Islands are a large and scattered archipelago in the South +Pacific, situated within 16 deg. and 18 deg. of South latitude, and between 148 deg. +and 155 deg. of West longitude. They lie some three hundred miles from the +Hervey or Cook Islands, from which they are separated by the open sea. +The islands form a chain nearly two hundred miles in length, extending +from north-west to south-east, and fall into two groups, an eastern and +a western, which, on account of the prevailing wind, are known +respectively as the Windward and Leeward Islands. The Windward or +eastern group includes Eimeo or Mooerea in the west, Maitea in the east, +and Tahiti, the principal island of the whole archipelago, in the +centre. In the Leeward or western group the chief islands are Huahine, +Raiatea, Tahaa, and Borabora. The islands appear to have been first +discovered by the Spanish navigator Fernandez de Quiros in 1606 or 1607, +but after him they were lost sight of till 1767, when they were +rediscovered by Wallis. A few years later they were repeatedly visited +by Captain Cook, who gave the first full and accurate description of the +islands and their inhabitants.[1] + + [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 6 _sq._; A. v. + H[uegel], "Tahiti," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, Ninth Edition, + xxiii. 22, 24; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, + ii. 151 _sqq._; F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 510. As + to Wallis's discovery of the islands see J. Hawkesworth, + _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) pp. 433 _sqq._; R. Kerr, _General + History and Collection of Voyages and Travels_, xii. (Edinburgh, + 1814) pp. 164 _sqq._ + +The islands, with the exception of a few flat lagoon islands, are of +volcanic formation, high and mountainous, consisting for the most part +of a central peak or peaks of bold and striking outline, which descend +in steep ridges towards the sea, sometimes reaching the coast, but +oftener leaving a broad stretch of flat and very fertile land between +their last slopes and the beach. Between the ridges lie deep and +beautiful valleys, watered by winding streams and teeming with luxuriant +vegetation. The rocks of which the islands consist are all igneous, +chiefly trachyte, dolerite, basalt, and lava. They are considered by +geologists to present perhaps the most wonderful and instructive example +of volcanic rocks to be seen on the globe. Yet, though the islands are +judged to be of comparatively recent formation, there are no traces of +volcanic action in them at the present time. The craters have +disappeared: hot springs do not exist; and earthquakes are rare.[2] + + [2] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 11 _sqq._; C. E. + Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 152 _sq._; A. v. H[uegel], _op. cit._ + p. 22; F. H. H. Guillemard, _op. cit._ p. 513. + +The Society Islands, and Tahiti in particular, are famous for the beauty +of their natural scenery; indeed, by general consent they appear to rank +as the fairest islands in the Pacific. Travellers vie with each other in +praise of their enchanting loveliness. Tahiti, the largest island of the +group, may be taken as typical of them all. It consists of two almost +circular islands united by a very low and narrow neck of land: the +northern and larger island is known as Tahiti the Great (Tahiti nui), +the southern and smaller island is known as Tahiti the Little (Tahiti +iti). In the centre of each island the mountains rise in craggy peaks, +sometimes in the shape of pyramids or sugar-loaves, their rocky sides +clothed with every variety of verdure, and enlivened here and there by +cataracts falling from lofty cliffs, while the shore is washed by the +white-crested waves of the Pacific breaking in foam on the coral reefs +or dashing in spray on the beach. The scene is especially striking when +beheld for the first time from the sea at sunrise on a fine morning. +Then the happy combination of land and water, of precipices and plains, +of umbrageous trees drooping their pendent boughs over the sea, and +distant mountains shown in sublime outline and richest hues, all blended +in the harmony of nature, produces in the beholder sensations of +admiration and delight. The inland scenery is of a different character, +but not less impressive. There the prospect is occasionally extensive, +but more frequently circumscribed. There is, however, a startling +boldness in the towering piles of basalt, often heaped in picturesque +confusion near the source or margin of some crystal stream that flows in +silence at their base, or plashes purling over the rocks that obstruct +its bed; and there is the wildness of romance about the deep and lonely +glens, from which the mountains rise like the steep sides of a natural +amphitheatre till they seem to support the clouds that rest upon their +summits. In the character of the teeming vegetation, too, from the +verdant moss that drapes the rocks to the rich foliage of the +bread-fruit tree, the luxuriance of the pandanus, and the waving plumes +of the coconut palm, all nurtured by a prolific soil and matured by the +genial heat of a tropical climate, there is enough to arrest the +attention and to strike the imagination of the wanderer, who, in the +unbroken silence that reigns in these pleasing solitudes, may easily +fancy himself astray in fairyland and treading enchanted ground.[3] + + [3] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 14-18. Compare J. + Cook, _Voyages_, i. 172 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the + World_ (London, 1777), i. 253 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary + Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 321 _sqq._; D. + Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London, + 1831), i. 58 _sq._, 108 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 206 _sq._, 234 + _sq._, 316 _sq._, 555 _sq._, ii. 51-53, 59-61; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 511 _sqq._ C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ + ii. 152 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), + pp. 29 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_ + +The islanders are, or were at the date of their discovery by Europeans, +fine specimens of the Polynesian race, being tall, well-proportioned, +and robust. Captain Cook described them as of the largest size of +Europeans. Their complexion varies from olive to bronze and +reddish-brown, frequently presenting a hue intermediate between the +yellow of the Malay and the copper-colour of the American Indians. The +hair is shining black or dark brown, usually straight, but often soft +and curly; never lank and wiry like that of the American Indians, and +only in rare cases woolly or frizzly like that of the Papuans. The men +have beards, which they used to wear in a variety of fashions, always, +however, plucking out the greater part. The shape of the face is comely, +and the facial angle is often as perpendicular as in Europeans. The +cheek-bones are not high; the nose is either straight or aquiline, often +accompanied by a fulness about the nostrils; it is seldom flat, though +it was formerly the practice of mothers and nurses to press the nostrils +of the female children, a broad flat nose being by many regarded as a +beauty. The mouth in general is well formed, though the lips are +sometimes large and protuberant, yet never so much as to resemble the +lips of negroes; the chin is usually prominent. The general aspect of +the face very seldom presents any likeness to the Tartar or Mongolian +cast of countenance; while the profile frequently bears a most striking +resemblance to that of Europeans. A roundness and fulness of figure, not +usually extending to corpulency, is characteristic of the race, +especially of the women. In general physique they resemble the Sandwich +Islanders and Tonga Islanders; according to Ellis, they are more robust +than the Marquesans, but inferior in size and strength to the Maoris.[4] + + [4] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 175 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 79 + _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._ + +Their diet is chiefly vegetable; when Captain Cook visited the islands, +the only tame animals were hogs, dogs, and poultry. Bread-fruit, taro, +yams, bananas, and coconuts are their staple food; the bread-fruit in +particular has been called their staff of life. Taro and yams are +carefully cultivated by the natives, and they also grow the sweet potato +as an article of food, though to a less extent than the other two roots; +in quality the sweet potato of Tahiti is far inferior to that of the +Sandwich Islands. The sea affords a great variety of fish and +shell-fish, which the natives catch and eat; nothing that the sea +produces is said to come amiss to them. Hogs and dogs were in olden +times the only quadrupeds whose flesh was eaten by the Tahitians; but +for the most part they rarely tasted meat, subsisting almost exclusively +on a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish.[5] + + [5] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 185 _sq._ vi. 139 _sqq._; W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ i. 36 _sqq._, 70 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages + aux Iles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837), ii. 93 _sqq._; C. E. + Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171 _sq._ + +The common houses were of an oblong shape, usually from eighteen to +twenty-four feet in length, by eleven feet in width, the long sides +being parallel to each other, but the two ends commonly rounded, +especially in the houses of chiefs. The thatched roofs were supported on +three parallel rows of wooden posts, and there being no outer walls and +no partitions, the wind blew freely through them. The floor was covered +with mats, forming a single cushion, on which the people sat by day and +slept at night. In some houses there was a single stool appropriated to +the use of the master of the family; otherwise an ordinary dwelling +contained little or no furniture except a few small blocks of wood, +hollowed out on the upper surface so as to form head-rests or pillows. +The houses served chiefly as dormitories and as shelters in rain: the +people took their meals in the open air. Chiefs, however, often owned +houses of much larger dimensions, which were built and maintained for +them at the common expense of the district. Some of these chiefly +dwellings were two hundred feet long, thirty feet broad, and twenty feet +high under the ridge; one of them, belonging to the king, measured three +hundred and seventy feet in length. We read of houses which could +contain two or three thousand people;[6] and of one particular house in +Tahiti we are informed that it was no less than three hundred and +ninety-seven feet long by forty-eight feet broad, and that the roof was +supported in the middle by twenty wooden pillars, each twenty-one feet +high, while the sides or eaves of the roof rested on one hundred and +twenty-four pillars, each ten feet high. A wooden wall or fence enclosed +the whole. This great house was used for the celebration of feasts, +which sometimes lasted for days together, and at which nearly all the +hogs in the island were consumed.[7] + + [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 181 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 341 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 170 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ ii. 84 _sqq._ As to the wooden head-rests see W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 188 _sq._ + + [7] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 213 _sq._ + +Like all the Polynesians down to the date of their discovery by +Europeans, the inhabitants of the Society Islands were totally ignorant +of the use and even of the existence of the metals, and they had to +employ substitutes, chiefly stone and bone, for the manufacture of their +tools and weapons. Of their tools Captain Cook gives the following +account: "They have an adze of stone; a chisel, or gouge, of bone, +generally that of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; a rasp of +coral; and the skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, as a filer or +polisher. This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with these +they build houses, construct canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, +and polish timber. The stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a +kind of basaltes, of a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of +considerable toughness: they are of different sizes; some, that are +intended for felling, weigh from six to eight pounds; others, that are +used for carving, not more than so many ounces; but it is necessary to +sharpen both almost every minute; for which purpose, a stone and a +cocoa-nut shell full of water are always at hand. Their greatest +exploit, to which these tools are less equal than to any other, is +felling a tree; this requires many hands, and the constant labour of +several days."[8] The earliest missionaries expressed their astonishment +that with such simple tools the natives could carve so neatly and finish +so smoothly; our most ingenious workmen, they declared, could not excel +them.[9] + + [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 204 _sq._ + + [9] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 400. + +The principal manufacture of the Society Islanders was the making of the +cloth which they used for their garments. The material for the cloth was +furnished by the bark of several trees, including the paper-mulberry, +the bread-fruit tree, and a species of wild fig-tree. Having been +stripped from the tree and soaked in water, the bark was spread out on a +beam and beaten with heavy wooden mallets, till it was reduced to the +proper degree of thinness and flexibility. The finest and most valuable +kind of cloth was made chiefly, and sometimes entirely, from the bark of +the paper-mulberry and was bleached pure white. But vegetable dyes were +also commonly employed to stain the cloth with a variety of hues +arranged in patterns. The favourite colours were a brilliant scarlet and +a bright yellow; Captain Cook described the scarlet as exceedingly +beautiful, brighter and more delicate than any we have in Europe; it was +produced by a mixture of the juices of two vegetables, the fruit of a +species of fig and the leaves of the _Cordia sebastina_ or _etou_ tree. +The patterns were in this bright scarlet on a yellow ground; formerly +they were altogether devoid of uniformity or regularity, yet exhibited a +considerable degree of taste. The bales of bark-cloth were sometimes as +much as two hundred yards long by four yards wide; the whole bale was in +a single piece, being composed of narrow strips joined together by being +beaten with grooved mallets. A chief's wealth was sometimes estimated by +the number of bales which he possessed; the more valuable sort, covered +with matting or cloth of an inferior sort, were generally hung from the +roof of his house. The manufacture of cloth was chiefly in the hands of +women; indeed it was one of their most usual employments. Even women of +high rank did not disdain this form of industry; the wives and daughters +of chiefs took a pride in manufacturing cloth of a superior quality, +excelling that produced by common women in the elegance of the patterns +or the brilliance of the dyes. Every family had a little house where the +females laboured at the making of cloth; but in addition every district +had a sort of public factory, consisting of a spacious house where +immense quantities of cloth were produced on the occasion of festivals, +the visits of great chiefs, or other solemnities. In such a factory the +women would often assemble to the number of two or three hundred, and +the monotonous din of their hammers falling on the bark was almost +deafening; it began early in the morning, only to cease at night. Yet +heard at a distance in some lonely valley the sound was not +disagreeable, telling as it did of industry and peace.[10] + + [10] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 196 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage + round the World_ (London, 1777), i. 276 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. + cit._ pp. 389-392; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 179 _sqq._; J. A. + Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sqq._ + +Among the other articles manufactured by the Society Islanders before +the advent of Europeans were fine mats, baskets of many different +patterns, ropes, lines, and fishing-tackle, including nets, hooks, and +harpoons made of cane and pointed with hard wood. In every expedient for +taking fish they are said to have been exceedingly ingenious.[11] They +made bows and arrows, with which, as an amusement, they shot against +each other, not at a mark, but to see who could shoot farthest. Like the +rest of the Polynesians, they never used these weapons in war.[12] + + [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 202 _sq._ + + [12] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 368; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. + 217-220; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 148-150. + +Society among these islanders was divided into three ranks; first the +royal family and nobility (_hui arii_); second, the landed proprietors, +or gentry and farmers (_bue raatira_); and third, the common people +(_manahune_). Of these, the landed gentry and farmers were the most +numerous and influential class, constituting at all times the great body +of the people and the strength of the nation, as well as of the army. +The petty farmers owned from twenty to a hundred acres. Some of the +great landowners possessed many hundreds of acres, and being surrounded +by retainers they constituted the aristocracy of the country and imposed +a restraint upon the king, who, without their co-operation, could carry +but few of his measures. They also frequently acted as priests in their +family temples. The common people comprised slaves and servants. The +slaves were captives taken in war. Their treatment was in general mild, +and if peace continued, they often regained their freedom and were +allowed to return to their own country.[13] + + [13] W. Ellis, _op. cit._. iii. 94-98. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._ + +The government of the Society Islands, like that of Hawaii, was at least +in form an arbitrary monarchy. The supreme authority was vested in the +king and was hereditary in his family. It partook of a sacred character, +for in these islands government was closely interwoven with religion; +the king sometimes personated the god and received the homage and +prayers of the worshippers; at other times he officiated as high-priest +and transmitted the vows and petitions of the people to the superior +deities. The genealogy of the reigning family was usually traced back to +the first ages of the world: in some of the islands the kings were +believed to be descended from the gods: their persons were always +sacred, and their families constituted the highest rank recognised by +the people.[14] + + [14] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 93 _sq._ + +Indeed, everything in the least degree connected with the king or +queen--the cloth they wore, the houses in which they dwelt, the canoes +in which they voyaged, the men who carried them when they journeyed by +land--became sacred and could not be converted to common use. The very +sounds in the language which composed their names could no longer be +appropriated to ordinary significations. If on the accession of a king +any words in the language were found to resemble his name, they were +abolished and changed for others; and if any man were bold enough to +continue to use them, not only he but all his relations were immediately +put to death; and the same severity was exercised on any who should dare +to apply the sacred name to an animal. Thus in process of time the +original names of most common objects in the language underwent +considerable alterations. No one might touch the body of the king or +queen; nay, any person who should so much as stand over them, or pass +his hand over their heads, was liable to pay for the sacrilege with the +forfeiture of his life. The very ground on which the king or queen even +accidentally trod became sacred; and any house belonging to a private +person which they entered must for ever be vacated by the owner and +either set apart for the use of the royal personages or burnt down with +every part of its furniture. Hence it was a general rule that the king +and queen never entered any dwellings except such as were specially +dedicated to their use, and never trod on the ground in any part of the +island but their own hereditary districts. In journeying they were +always carried on men's shoulders.[15] + + [15] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 155 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. + 329; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 101 _sq._ + +The inauguration of a king consisted in girding him with a sacred girdle +(_maro ura_) of red, or red and yellow, feathers, which not only raised +him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with the gods. +The red feathers were taken from the images of the gods and interwoven +with feathers of other colours. A human victim was sacrificed when they +began to make the girdle, and another was sacrificed when it was +finished; sometimes others were slaughtered at intermediate stages, one +for each fresh piece added to the girdle. The blood of the victims was +supposed to consecrate the belt.[16] + + [16] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 108 _sqq._ Compare J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 327 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 22 + _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 526 _sq._, ii. 56. Another singular ceremony + observed at the installation of a king was this. The king + advanced into the sea and bathed there. Thither he was followed + by the priest of Oro bearing a branch plucked from a sacred tree + that grew within the precincts of the temple. While the king was + bathing, the priest struck him on the back with the holy bough, + at the same time invoking the great god Taaoroa. This ceremony + was designed to purify the monarch from any defilement or guilt + he might previously have contracted. See W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + iii. 110. + +The deification of kings in their lifetime would seem not to have been +confined to Tahiti, but to have prevailed in the other islands of the +Society Archipelago. We hear particularly of the divinity of the kings +of Raiatea. In that island a place called Opoa is said to have been the +metropolis of idolatry for all the South Pacific Islands within a +compass of five hundred miles. Hither, from every shore, human victims, +already slain, were sent to be offered on the altar of the war-god Oro, +whose principal image was there worshipped. There, too, was the +residence of the kings of the island, "who, beside the prerogatives of +royalty, enjoyed divine honours, and were in fact living idols among the +dead ones, being deified at the time of their accession to political +supremacy here. In the latter character, we presume, it was, that these +sovereigns (who always took the name of Tamatoa) were wont to receive +presents from the kings and chiefs of adjacent and distant islands, +whose gods were all considered tributary to the Oro of Raiatea, and +their princes owing homage to its monarch, who was Oro's hereditary +high-priest, as well as an independent divinity himself."[17] Of one +particular monarch of this line, Tamatoa by name, we read that he "had +been enrolled among the gods," and that "as one of the divinities of his +subjects, therefore, the king was worshipped, consulted as an oracle, +and had sacrifices and prayers offered to him."[18] + + [17] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, + i. 529 _sq._ + + [18] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 524. + +In the succession to the throne the law of primogeniture prevailed, and +in accordance with a singular usage, which was invariably observed, the +king regularly abdicated on the birth of his first son and became a +subject of his infant offspring. The child was at once proclaimed the +sovereign of the people: the royal title was conferred on him; and his +own father was the first to do him homage by saluting his feet and +declaring him king. The public herald was despatched round the island +with the flag of the infant monarch: in every district he unfurled the +banner and proclaimed the accession of the youthful sovereign. The +insignia of royalty and the homage of the people were at once +transferred from the father to the child: the royal domains and other +sources of revenue were appropriated to the maintenance of the household +of the infant ruler; and the father paid him all the marks of reverence +and submission which he had hitherto exacted from the people. However, +during the minority of his son the former king appears to have filled +the office of regent. This remarkable rule of succession was not limited +to the royal house, but prevailed also in noble families: no sooner did +a baron's wife give birth to a child than the baron was reduced to the +rank of a private man, though he continued to administer the estate for +the benefit of the infant, to whom all the outward marks of honour were +now transferred.[19] + + [19] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. + 99 _sq._ Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 180 _sq._, 327, 330, + 333; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp. + 134, 137, 188 _sq._, 344; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 13 + _sq._ + + +Sec. 3. _The Religion of the Society Islanders_ + +If religion consists essentially in a fear of gods, the natives of the +Society Islands were a very religious people, for they believed in a +multitude of gods and stood in constant dread of them. "Whatever +attention," says Ellis, "the Tahitians paid to their occupations or +amusements, and whatever energies have been devoted to the prosecution +of their barbarous wars, the claims of all were regarded as inferior to +those of their religion. On this every other was dependent, while each +was alike made subservient to its support."[20] "No people in the world, +in ancient or modern times, appear to have been more superstitious than +the South Sea Islanders, or to have been more entirely under the +influence of dread from imaginary demons, or supernatural beings. They +had not only their major, but their minor demons, or spirits, and all +the minute ramifications of idolatry."[21] "Religious rites were +connected with almost every act of their lives. An _ubu_ or prayer was +offered before they ate their food, when they tilled their ground, +planted their gardens, built their houses, launched their canoes, cast +their nets, and commenced or concluded a journey. The first fish taken +periodically on their shores, together with a number of kinds regarded +as sacred, were conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their +orchards and gardens were also _taumaha_, or offered, with a portion of +their live-stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was +supposed death would be inflicted on the owner or the occupant of the +land, from which the god should not receive such acknowledgment."[22] + + [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 321; compare J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 417. + + [21] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 361. + + [22] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 350. + +Different gods were worshipped in different islands, and even in +different parts of the same island,[23] and if a deity failed to answer +the expectations of his worshippers, they did not scruple to change him +for another. In Captain Cook's time the people of Tiaraboo (Tairaboo), +the southern peninsula of Tahiti, discarded their two old divinities and +adopted in their place Oraa, the god of the island of Bolabola +(Borabora), apparently because the people of Bolabola had lately been +victorious in war; and as, after this change of deity, they themselves +proved very successful in their operations against their enemies, they +imputed the success entirely to their new god, who, they literally said, +fought their battles.[24] Again, when the prayers and offerings for the +recovery of a sick chief were unavailing, the god was regarded as +inexorable, and was usually banished from the temple, and his image +destroyed.[25] + + [23] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148, 160; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1778), p. 539. + + [24] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 148 _sq._ + + [25] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 350. + +The pantheon and mythology of the Society Islands were of the usual +Polynesian type; some of their chief gods were recognised and worshipped +under the same names, with dialectical differences, in other islands of +the Pacific. In the beginning they say that all things were in a state +of chaos or darkness, from which the principal deities, including +Taaroa, Oro, and Tane, at last emerged. Hence these high gods were said +to be born of Night or the primaeval darkness (_Po_). Among them all the +first place in time and dignity was generally assigned to Taaroa, who +appears in other parts of Polynesia as Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, and +so on. By some he was spoken of as the progenitor of the other gods and +as the creator of the heavens, the earth, and sea, as well as of men, +beasts, birds, and fishes; but others were of opinion that the land or +the world had existed before the gods. Oro, the great national god of +Tahiti, Raiatea, and other islands, was believed to be a son of +Taaroa.[26] To these three great gods, Oro, Tane, and Taaroa, the people +sacrificed in great emergencies, when the deities were thought to be +angry. At such times the wrath of the god was revealed to a priest, who, +wrapt up like a ball in a bundle of cloth, spoke in a sharp, shrill, +squeaky voice, saying, "I am angry; bring me hogs, kill a man, and my +anger will be appeased."[27] + + [26] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 322 _sqq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 539 + _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 149 _sqq._; J. + Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. + 343 _sqq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux + Iles du Grand Ocean_, i. 416 _sqq._, 436 _sqq._, 442 _sq._ As to + Taaoroa and his counterparts in Polynesian mythology, see H. + Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and + Philology_, p. 22; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 463 _sq._, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." + + [27] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 167 _sq._ + +Oro is sometimes described as the war-god.[28] The great seat of his +worship was at Opoa in the island of Raiatea: his principal image was +worshipped there "with the most bloody and detestable rites"; and +thither human victims, ready slain, were sent from every shore to be +offered on his altar.[29] Sometimes, instead of the bodies of the slain, +only their jaw-bones were sent to decorate the temple of Oro at Opoa; +long strings of these relics might be seen hanging about the sacred +edifice.[30] In the small island of Tahaa, off Raiatea, there was a +temple (_marae_) dedicated to Oro and his two daughters. It belonged to +the king and "was upheld for the convenience of finding a pretext to get +rid, from time to time, of obnoxious persons, of both sexes; the men +slain by assassination, or in war, being presented to the male idol, and +the women to his female progeny, who were held to be as cruelly +delighted with blood as their parent. But the human sacrifices brought +hither were not allowed to remain and infect the atmosphere. When they +had lain upon the altar till they became offensive, the carcases were +transported to Oro's metropolitan temple at Opoa, in Raiatea, which was +the common Golgotha of his victims."[31] + + [28] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114, 529. + + [29] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529. + + [30] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 14. In a long + house in the southern part of Tahiti, Captain Cook saw, at one + end of it, a semicircular board, from which hung fifteen human + jaw-bones, apparently fresh; not one of them wanted a tooth. He + was told that they "had been carried away as trophies, the + people here carrying away the jaw-bones of their enemies, as the + Indians of North America do the scalps." See J. Cook, _Voyages_, + i. 152, 160. + + [31] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549. + +Oro was said to have instituted the notorious Society of the Areois, a +licentious fraternity of strolling players and mountebanks, who roamed +about in troupes from island to island, everywhere entertaining the +populace by their shows, which comprised recitations, songs, dramatic +performances, wrestling matches, and especially dances, which were often +of a lascivious character.[32] These exhibitions, which were witnessed +by crowds and appear to have been the most popular amusement of the +islanders, were given in large, substantial, sometimes highly +ornamented, houses, which were erected chiefly for the purpose of +lodging these itinerant performers, and providing them with suitable +places for their performances.[33] The first missionaries describe how, +in a long native house where they lodged for the night, they saw the +Areois men and women dancing and singing till near midnight: so great +were their numbers that they made the house appear like a village.[34] +Sometimes, apparently, the performances took place in front of the +house, the musicians, singers, and reciters occupying a sort of stage, +while the actors or dancers performed on a place marked out for them on +the ground or on the floor.[35] The subject of their songs or +recitations was often a legend of the gods, or of some distinguished +member of the Society, which was chanted or recited by the performers in +chorus seated in a circle on the ground, while the leader stood in the +centre and introduced the recitation with a sort of prologue, +accompanied by antic gestures and attitudes.[36] In these recitals the +tales often turned on romantic and diverting episodes in the lives of +ancestors or of deities. "Many of these were very long, and regularly +composed, so as to be repeated verbatim, or with such illustrations only +as the wit or fancy of the narrator might have the skill to introduce. +Their captain on public occasions, was placed cross-legged on a stool +seven feet high, with a fan in his hand, in the midst of the circle of +laughing or admiring auditors, whom he delighted with his drollery, or +transported with his grimaces, being, in fact, the merry-andrew of the +corps, who, like a wise fool, well knew how to turn his folly to the +best account."[37] + + [32] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193-195; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. + 411-414; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 128-135; J. + Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 56, 57, 59, 65 _sq._, 153, 154, 174, 194 + _sq._, 209, 331, 335; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ + (London, 1813), p. 364; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. + 326-328; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 229-247; Waitz-Gerland, + _Anthropologie_, vi. 363-369. + + [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._ + + [34] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 209. + + [35] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 133 _sq._ + + [36] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 235. + + [37] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 327 _sq._ + +The Society of the Areois was wealthy and highly esteemed; members were +drawn from all social ranks and greatly prided themselves on belonging +to it.[38] Indeed, they were regarded as a sort of superhuman beings, +closely allied to the gods, and were treated with a corresponding degree +of veneration by many of the vulgar and ignorant.[39] They were divided +into seven ranks or classes, the members of which were distinguished +from each other by their tattoo marks; the greater the amount of the +tattooing, the higher the rank of the person.[40] Admission to the +Society was attended by a variety of ceremonies; a protracted noviciate +followed, and it was only by progressive advancement that any were +promoted to the higher dignities. It was imagined that those who became +Areois were prompted or inspired by the gods to take this step. A +candidate for admission, therefore, repaired to one of the public +exhibitions in that apparent state of frenzy which is commonly supposed +to indicate divine inspiration. His face was dyed scarlet; his hair was +perfumed and adorned with flowers, and he wore a girdle of yellow +plantain leaves. Thus arrayed, he rushed through the crowd assembled +round the house in which the actors or dancers were performing, and, +leaping into the circle, joined with seeming frantic wildness in the +dance or pantomime. If the Society approved of him, they appointed him +to wait as a servant on the principal Areois, and after a period of +probation he might be inducted into the Society as a full-fledged +member. At his induction, which took place in a great assembly of the +body, the candidate received a new name, by which he was thenceforth +known in the Society.[41] When a member was advanced from a lower to a +higher grade, the ceremony was performed at a public festival which all +the members of the Society in the island were expected to attend. The +candidate was then taken to a temple, where he was solemnly anointed +with fragrant oil on the forehead, and offered a pig to the god.[42] + + [38] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 245; G. Forster, _op. cit._ + ii. 130; J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 411 _sq._ + + [39] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 244; J. Turnbull, _op. cit._ + p. 364; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 492. + + [40] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + i. 238; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 491. + + [41] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 491 _sqq._ + + [42] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 241 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 493 _sq._ + +When a member of the Society died his body was conveyed by the Areois to +the grand temple, where the bones of the kings were deposited. There the +priest of Oro, standing over the corpse, offered a long prayer to his +god. This prayer, and the ceremonies accompanying it, were designed to +divest the body of all the sacred and mysterious influence which the +deceased was thought to have received from the god at the moment when, +in the presence of the idol, the perfumed oil had been sprinkled on him, +and he had been raised to the order or rank in which he died. By this +act they supposed that the sacred influence was restored to Oro, by whom +it had been imparted. The body was then buried, like that of a common +man, within the precincts of the temple, in which the mortal remains of +chiefs were interred.[43] But if for any reason the corpse were buried +in unconsecrated ground, the ghost would appear to a survivor next day +and remonstrate with him, saying, "You have buried me in common earth, +and so long as I lie there, I cannot go to heaven. You must bury me with +ceremonies, and in holy ground." After that the corpse was disinterred, +and having been doubled up by tying the arms to the shoulders and the +knees to the trunk, it was buried in a sitting posture in a hole so +shallow that the earth barely covered the head. This was esteemed the +most honourable form of sepulture, and was principally confined to +personages of high rank.[44] + + [43] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 244 _sq._ + + [44] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 273 _sq._ + +The Areoi Society comprised women as well as men,[45] but the accounts +given of the proportion of the sexes and their relations to each other +are conflicting. According to one account, the male members outnumbered +the women as five to one.[46] The first missionaries reported that the +Areois were said to have each two or three wives, whom they exchanged +with each other.[47] According to Cook, every woman was common to every +man[48]; and Turnbull affirmed that the community of women was the very +principle of their union.[49] On the other hand, the naturalist George +Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, observes: "We have been told a +wanton tale of promiscuous embraces, where every woman is common to +every man: but when we enquired for a confirmation of this story from +the natives, we were soon convinced that it must, like many others, be +considered as the groundless invention of a traveller's gay fancy."[50] +Again, Ellis observes that, "although addicted to every kind of +licentiousness themselves, each Areoi had his own wife, who was also a +member of the Society; and so jealous were they in this respect, that +improper conduct towards the wife of one of their own number, was +sometimes punished with death."[51] Yet the same writer speaks of "the +mysteries of iniquity, and acts of more than bestial degradation" to +which the Areois were at times addicted; and he says that "in some of +their meetings, they appear to have placed their invention on the rack, +to discover the worst pollutions of which it was possible for man to be +guilty, and to have striven to outdo each other in the most revolting +practices."[52] + + [45] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128. + + [46] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326. + + [47] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 174. + + [48] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 193 _sq._ + + [49] J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p. 364. + + [50] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 132. + + [51] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239. + + [52] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 243. + +It was a rule of the Society that no member should have any children; +hence the first injunction given to a new member was to murder his +offspring. Any infant that might afterwards be born to him was strangled +at birth.[53] If a woman spared her child and could induce a man to +father it, "both the man and the woman, being deemed by this act to have +appropriated each other, are ejected from the community, and forfeit all +claim to the privileges and pleasures of Arreoy for the future; the +woman from that time being distinguished by the term _whannow-now_, +'bearer of children,' which is here a term of reproach."[54] The +pretext alleged by the Areois for this cruel practice was that, on +the institution of the Society by the god Oro, the first two members, +Orotetefa and Urutetefa, brothers of the god, had been celibate and +childless, and that therefore the members of the Society were bound to +imitate them by being also without offspring.[55] + + [53] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 194; J. R. Forster, _Observations_, + pp. 413 _sq._; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 129 _sq._; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 154 _sq._, 174, 194 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ + i. 230 _sq._, 233, 240. Moerenhout says that when a chief was an + Areoi, his first-born son was spared, but all the rest were + sacrificed; but immediately afterwards he adds, with apparent + inconsistency, that "the first (by which he seems to mean the + principal) Areois only killed their first sons and all their + daughters; the other male infants were spared." See Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 495, 496. These statements, so far as I have + observed, are not confirmed by other writers. + + [54] J. Cook, i. 194. + + [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230 _sq._, 232 _sq._ + +In the constant repetition of their often obscene exhibitions the Areois +passed their lives, sailing from island to island or strolling from one +chief's house to that of another, where they renewed the same round of +dances, wrestlings, and pantomimic performances.[56] But the labour and +drudgery of dancing and performing for the amusement of the spectators +devolved chiefly on the lowest members of the Society, who were the +principal actors in all their shows, while the higher orders, though +they plastered themselves with charcoal and stained themselves scarlet +like their humbler brethren, were generally careful not to contribute to +the public hilarity by any exhausting efforts of their own. Thus they +led a life of dissipation and luxurious indolence.[57] + + [56] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236, 237. + + [57] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 238, 241. + +They seem to have moved about in great troupes. As many as seventy +canoes, with more than seven hundred of these vagabonds on board, have +been seen steering from island to island.[58] The approach of such a +fleet to the shore with drums beating, flutes playing, and streamers +floating on the wind, was a picturesque sight, and as the canoes neared +the land the dancers might be seen jigging it on stages erected on +board, while the voices of the singers mingled with the roll of the +drums, the shrill music of the flutes, and the roar of the surf on the +beach in a confused but not unmelodious babel of sound.[59] + + [58] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 412; G. Forster, + _Voyage_, ii. 128. + + [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._ Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ ii. 132 _sq._ According to the latter writer there + were traditions of as many as a hundred and fifty canoes sailing + at once, each one seldom containing less than thirty or forty, + and sometimes a hundred persons. + +On landing in an island their first business was to take a small +sucking-pig to the temple and present it to the god as a thank-offering +to him for having brought them safe to shore. This, we are told, was the +only sacrifice ever offered in token of gratitude by any of the South +Sea Islanders to their imaginary divinities.[60] While they were +everywhere welcomed by the vulgar for the merriment they carried with +them, and were everywhere countenanced and liberally entertained by the +kings and chiefs, who found them convenient tools of fraud and +oppression, they were not received with equal enthusiasm by the farmers, +who had to furnish them with provisions, and who durst not refuse them +anything, however unreasonable and extortionate their demands. For the +Areois lived on the fat of the land. When they alighted, like a swarm of +locusts, on a rich district, they would send out their henchmen to scour +the neighbourhood and plunder the miserable inhabitants; and when they +moved on to their next halting-place, the gardens which they left behind +them often presented a scene of desolation and ruin.[61] Such havoc, +indeed, did they spread by their feastings and carousings on even a +short visit of a few days, that in some parts of Tahiti the natives were +compelled to abandon the fertile lowlands and retreat up the mountains, +submitting to the trouble of clambering up almost inaccessible slopes +and cultivating a less fruitful soil rather than expose much of the +produce of their labour to the ravages of these privileged robbers.[62] + + [60] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._ + + [61] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 237 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. + Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 326-328. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. + 174, "Wherever they go they exercise power to seize what they + want from the inhabitants. They smite their hand on their breast + and say '_Harre_, give,' whenever they covet any thing, and none + dares deny them. They never work; live by plunder; yet are + highly respected, as none but persons of rank are admitted among + them." This last statement, however, is contradicted by Ellis, + who says (_op. cit._ i. 239) that "the fraternity was not + confined to any particular rank or grade in society, but was + composed of individuals from every class." + + [62] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 197. + +Not the least of the privileges, real or imaginary, enjoyed by the +Areois was that after death their spirits were believed to pass without +difficulty to that paradise of delights to which otherwise none but the +noble and wealthy could hope to attain.[63] + + [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._ + +In spite of the profligate life which the Areoi led and their addiction +to a round of frivolous amusements and entertainments, it seems likely +that the Society was originally founded for some serious purpose, though +the accounts which have come down to us hardly enable us to determine, +or even to conjecture with a fair degree of probability, what that +purpose was. That its aim was religious might be inferred on general +grounds, and is confirmed by the close relation in which the Society +stood to the national god Oro. Not only is Oro said to have founded the +Society, but before a troop of Areois set out on their peregrinations +they were obliged to kill many pigs in sacrifice to him and to offer +large quantities of plantains, bananas, and other fruits on his altars. +Moreover, temporary shrines were erected in their canoes for the worship +of Oro's two divine brothers, Orotetefa and Urutetefa, who were +traditionally said to have been the first members of the Society and +were regarded as its tutelary deities. In these shrines the principal +symbols were a stone for each of the brothers taken from Oro's temple, +and a few red feathers from the inside of his sacred image. Into these +symbols the gods were supposed to enter when the priest pronounced a +short prayer immediately before the sailing of the fleet.[64] + + [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 234. + +We might be better able to understand the purpose and the functions of +the Areoi Society if we were acquainted with the nature and meaning +which the natives ascribed to the god Oro, the reputed founder of the +Society; but on this subject our authorities shed little light. He is +described as the war-god[65] and as "the great national idol of Raiatea, +Tahiti, Eimeo, and some of the other islands," and he was said to be a +son of the creator Taaroa, who at first dwelt alone up aloft, but who +afterwards, with the help of his daughter Hina, created the heavens, the +earth, and the sea.[66] By European writers Oro has been variously +interpreted as a god of the dead or of the sun; and accordingly the +Society of the Areois has been variously explained as devoted either to +a cult of the Lord of the Dead for the sake of securing eternal +happiness in a world beyond the grave, or to a worship of the sun-god; +but the grounds alleged for either interpretation appear to be extremely +slight.[67] + + [65] Above, p. 258. + + [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324, 325. + + [67] Gerland takes the former view, Moerenhout the latter. See + Waitz-Gerland, _Anthropologie_, vi. 368 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 484. The only evidence adduced by Moerenhout for + his interpretation of Oro as a sun-god is a statement that in + the Marquesas Islands the Areois suspended their performances + and went into retreat from April or May till the vernal equinox + (which in the southern hemisphere falls in September), and that + during their retreat they assumed the style of mourners and + bewailed the absence or death of their god, whom they called + Mahoui. This Mahoui is accordingly taken by Moerenhout to be the + sun and equated to Oro, the god of the Areois in the Society + Islands. But Mahoui seems to be no other than the well-known + Polynesian hero Maui, who can hardly have been the sun (see + below, p. 286 note^5); and Moerenhout's statement as to the + annual period of mourning observed by the Areois in the + Marquesas Islands is not, so far as I know, confirmed by any + other writer, and must, therefore, be regarded as open to doubt. + His statement and his interpretation of Oro and Mahoui were + accepted by Dr. Rivers, who made them the basis of his + far-reaching theory of a secret worship of the sun introduced + into the Pacific by immigrants from a far northern country, who + also built the megalithic monuments of Polynesia and Micronesia. + See W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Polynesia," + _American Anthropologist_, xvii. July-September 1915, pp. 431 + _sqq._ In proof of the supposed connexion between these + megalithic monuments and a worship of the sun, Dr. Rivers says + (p. 440) that the Areois "held their celebrations in an + enclosure called _marae_ or _marai_, at one end of which was + situated a pyramidical structure with steps leading to a + platform on which were placed the images of the gods during the + religious celebrations of the people." But if by "their + celebrations" Dr. Rivers means the ordinary dramatic, musical, + and athletic performances of the Areois, he seems to be in + error; for it appears to be certain that these exhibitions were + regularly given, not at the _maraes_, but in or before large + houses built or specially set apart for the purpose. See above, + pp. 259 _sq._ + +Perhaps a faint gleam of light may fall on the mystery of the Areois +from an examination of their traditionary first members and guardian +deities, the two divine brothers, Orotetefai and Urutetefai. The +similarity of the names of the brothers suggests that they may have been +twins; for it is a common custom to bestow either the same or a similar +name on each of a pair of twins in order to indicate their close +relationship to each other.[68] If they were twins, there are some +grounds for thinking that they were Heavenly Twins; for their father or +creator, Taaroa, seems certainly to have been a sky-god, and their +mother, Hina, is by some authorities regarded as the moon; moreover, the +two brothers are said to have first descended from the sky to the earth +on a rainbow.[69] If the twinship of the divine brothers could be made +out, it might perhaps explain some of the peculiar features of the Areoi +Society. For example, their remarkable custom of not allowing any of +their offspring to live; for it has been a common custom in many parts +of the world to put twins to death.[70] Further, the superhuman rank +accorded to the Areois becomes more intelligible on this hypothesis. For +among many savage peoples twins are credited with the possession of +powers superior to those of ordinary humanity; in particular, they are +thought to be able to influence the weather for good or evil, as by +causing rain or drought and the wind to blow or be still.[71] Among the +Baronga of South-Eastern Africa the supposed relation of twins to the +sky is very clearly marked. They call the mother of twins by a name +which means "Heaven" (_Tilo_), and consistently they style the twins +themselves "Children of Heaven" (_Bana ba Tilo_).[72] The mother is even +said to have "made Heaven," to have "carried Heaven," and to have +"ascended to Heaven."[73] The connexion which is believed to exist +between her and the twins on the one side and the sky on the other is +brought out plainly in the customs which the Baronga observe for the +purpose of procuring rain in time of drought. Thus they will take a +mother of twins, put her in a hole, and pour on her water which they +have drawn from all the wells, till the hole is half full, and the water +comes up to her breast. This is thought to make the rain fall.[74] Or +again, in order to get rain, the women will strip themselves naked +except for a girdle and head-dress of grass, and thus attired will go in +procession, headed by a mother of twins, and pour water on the graves of +twins. And if the body of a twin has been buried in dry ground, they +will dig it up and bury it again near a river; for the grave of a twin, +in their opinion, should always be wet. Thus they hope to draw down rain +on the thirsty ground.[75] Again, when a thunderstorm is raging and +lightning threatens to strike a village, the Baronga will say to a twin, +"Help us! you are a Child of Heaven! You can therefore cope with Heaven; +it will hear you when you speak." So the child goes out of the hut and +prays to Heaven as follows: "Go away! Do not annoy us! We are afraid. Go +and roar far away." When the thunderstorm is over, the child is thanked +for its services. The mother of twins is also supposed to be able to +help in the same way, for has she not, as the natives express it, +ascended to Heaven? They say that she can speak with Heaven, and that +she is at it or in it.[76] Among the Kpelle, a negro tribe of Liberia, +twins are regarded as born magicians, and as such are treated with +respect, and people sometimes make them presents in order to ensure +their goodwill; in doing so they are careful never to make a present to +the one twin without the other, and the twin who was born last gets his +present first, for he is regarded as the first-born. Twins are thought +by the Kpelle to do wonders; they even say that "a twin surpasses every +medicine-man."[77] Among the Fan or Fang, a tribe of the Cameroons in +West Africa, there is a curious superstition that a twin ought not to +see a rainbow. Should he by accident have caught sight of one, he must +shave his eyebrows and dye the place of the one black and the place of +the other red.[78] This superstition seems to imply a special relation +between twins and the sky, and it reminds us of the Tahitian tradition +that the two divine brothers, the first members of the Areoi Society, +descended to earth on a rainbow.[79] + + [68] J. Rendel Harris, _The Dioscuri in the Christian Legends_ + (London, 1903), pp. 1 _sqq._ _id._, _The Cult of the Heavenly + Twins_ (Cambridge, 1906), pp. 58 _sqq._; _id._, _Boanerges_ + (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 291 _sqq._ + + [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 230, 232. Ellis does not admit that + Orotetefa and Urutetefa were, strictly speaking, the sons of + Oro. He writes: "According to the traditions of the people, + Taaroa created, and, by means of Hina, brought forth when full + grown Orotetefa and Urutetefa. They were not his sons; _oriori_ + is the term employed by the people, which seems to mean + _create_" (_op. cit._ i. 230). With regard to Hina (Heena), + interpreted as the moon, or the goddess of the moon, see J. R. + Forster, _Observations_, p. 549; G. Forster, _Voyage_, ii. 152; + J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._. i. 428 _sq._, 458, 472; E. + Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 69. + _s.v._ "Hina," "Hina is by far the best known of all Polynesian + legendary personages. In the more easterly islands she is a + goddess, and is almost certainly the Moon-goddess." Similarly + Mr. E. E. V. Collocot observes that Hina "is generally regarded + as the Moon-goddess, and this view was spontaneously put forward + by a Tongan; in conversation with me" (_Journal of the + Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p. 238). + + [70] Abundant evidence of the custom is produced by Dr. Rendel + Harris in his learned works, _The Cult of the Heavenly Twins_ + and _Boanerges_. + + [71] _The Golden Bough_, Part I., _The Magic Art and the + Evolution of Kings_, i. 262 _sqq._ + + [72] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), p. 412; + _id._, _Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel, 1912-1913), + ii. 394. + + [73] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 398. + + [74] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399. + + [75] H. A. Junod, _Les Ba-ronga_, pp. 417 _sq._; _id._, _Life of + a South African Tribe_, ii. 296. + + [76] H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African Tribe_, ii. 399 _sq._ + + [77] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_ + (Goettingen, 1921), pp. 68, 212, 355. The Bambara, another tribe + of West Africa, similarly regard the last-born of twins as the + elder of the two. See Jos. Henry, _Les Bambara_ (Muenster i. W., + 1910), p. 98. So, too, with the Mossi of the Sudan. See E. + Mangin, "Les Mossi," _Anthropos_, x.-xi. (1915-1916) p. 192. + + [78] L. Martrou, "Les 'Eki' des Fang," _Anthropos_, i. (1906) p. + 751; H. Trilles, _Le Totemisme chez les Fan_ (Muenster i. W., + 1912), p. 593. Compare H. A. Junod, _Life of a South African + Tribe_, ii. 400, note^1, who reports the same superstition among + the Fan on the testimony of his wife, who was for years a + missionary in the tribe. + + [79] Above, p. 267. + +Another notion about twins which may possibly help to throw light on +some of the practices of the Areoi Society, is that they or their +parents or both are endowed with a fertilising or prolific virtue, which +enables them to multiply animals or plants and thereby to increase the +food supply. Thus, for example, some tribes of Northern Rhodesia keep +pigeons in their villages, and in erecting a pigeon-cote they take care +that the first stakes "are driven in by a woman who has borne twins, in +order, they say, that the pigeons may multiply."[80] Some Bantu tribes +of this region ascribe a similar virtue to both the father and the +mother of twins. They think that such parents exert a beneficial or +prolific influence at laying the foundations of pigeon-cotes, +chicken-houses, goat-pens, or any other building used for the purposes +of breeding; a certain woman who had borne twins thrice was lately in +great request at these functions.[81] The Zulus think that all goats +belonging to a twin bring forth young in couples.[82] + + [80] C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, _The Great Plateau of Northern + Nigeria_ (London, 1911), pp. 307 _sq._ + + [81] D. Campbell, _In the Heart of Bantuland_ (London, 1922), p. + 155. + + [82] Dudley Kidd, _Savage Childhood_ (London, 1906), p. 49. + +In the Central District of Busoga, Central Africa, when a woman has +given birth to twins, the people of her clan do not sow any seed until +the twins have been brought to the field. A pot of cooked grain is set +before the children with a cake of sesame and all the seed that is to be +sown. The food is eaten by the assembled people, and afterwards the +field is sown in presence of the twins; the plot is then said to be the +field of the twins. The mother of twins must sow her seed before any +person of the clan will sow his or hers.[83] These customs seem clearly +to imply a belief that twins and their mother possess a special power of +fertilising the seed. Among the Baganda of Central Africa twins were +supposed to be sent by Mukasa, the great god whose blessing on the crops +and on the people was ensured at an annual festival. The twins were +thought to be under the protection of the god, and they bore his name, +the boys being called Mukasa and the girls Namukasa. And a series of +customs observed by the parents of twins among the Baganda indicates in +the plainest manner a belief that they were endowed with a fertilising +virtue which extended, not only to the crops and the cattle, but also to +human beings. Thus the parents of twins were supposed to make people +fruitful by sprinkling them with a mixture of water and clay from pots, +of which each of the parents had one. Again, some time after the birth +the parents used to make a round of visits to relations and friends, +taking the twins with them. At every house they danced, the father +wearing a crown made from a certain creeper, and the mother wearing a +girdle of the same material. At these dances offerings were made to the +twins. These dances were most popular "because the people believed that +thereby they obtained a special blessing from the god Mukasa, who +favoured the parents of twins, and through them dispensed blessing +wherever they went." The persons whom the twins and their parents +honoured with a visit "thought that, not only they themselves would be +blessed and given children, but that their herds and crops also would be +multiplied." A ceremony performed by the father and mother of twins over +a flower of the plantain indicated in the plainest, if the grossest, +fashion the belief of the Baganda that parents of twins could magically +fertilise the plantains which form the staple food of the people. No +wonder, then, that among them a mother of twins is deemed a source of +blessing to the whole community, and that for some time after the birth +both she and the father were sacred and wore a distinctive dress to +prevent any one from touching them. The father, in particular, "could do +what he liked, because he was under the protection of the god"; for +example, he was free to enter anybody's garden and to take the produce +at will. Special drums, too, were made for the parents, one for the +father and one for the mother; and for some time after the birth these +were beaten continually both by day and by night.[84] + + [83] J. Roscoe, _The Northern Bantu_ (Cambridge, 1915), p. 235. + + [84] J. Roscoe, "Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the + Baganda," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. + (1902) pp. 32-34, 80; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. + 64-72. These two accounts to some extent supplement each other. + I have drawn on both. As to the annual festival of the god + Mukasa, see _id._, _The Baganda_, pp. 298 _sq._ + +Among the Hos of Togo, in West Africa, in like manner, special drums are +beaten for the parents of twins, and the parents dance publicly to the +music in the main street of the village, after going nine times round +it. Some days later the parents go the round of all the Ho towns, +everywhere executing the same dance to the same music at noon; but +should one of the twins have died in the meantime, the parents dance at +night. It is believed that, if the customary rites were not performed at +the birth of twins, the parents of the twins would be crippled. +Curiously enough, the drums, to the music of which the parents dance, +may not be beaten by any one without special reason; and no one else may +dance to their music except such as have slain either a man or a +leopard. Among these people the birth of twins is the occasion of very +great rejoicing. They say that "the road which the mother of twins goes +is better than the road which the rich man goes."[85] The saying +suggests that the Hos, like the Baganda, regard a mother of twins as +diffusing fertility wherever she goes; and, on the analogy of the dances +of parents of twins among the Baganda, we may conjecture that in like +manner among the Hos the parents of twins are supposed to confer the +blessing of fruitfulness on all the towns where they dance. + + [85] J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 202-206. + +Among the Barundi of East Africa the birth of twins is celebrated with +rites, songs, and ritual dances, which last for days and even for weeks. +As soon as the news spreads, the neighbours, friends, and relations +flock to the house to sing, bringing with them presents for the parents +or offerings to the spirits. The amount of provisions thus accumulated +is enormous, but the parents of the twins benefit little by it; the +great bulk disappears as by magic among the self-invited guests. +Festivity, dancing, and singing are now the order of the day. Dancers, +male and female, their faces painted red and white or yellow, dance like +furies in a circle for hours together, singing ritual hymns at the top +of their voices, while an old sorceress besprinkles the troop with +lustral water. It is commonly believed that if these rites were omitted, +the twins and their parents would die. At the birth of twins it is +customary to buy two black sheep or lambs and to dedicate them to the +twins, one to each. These sheep are then left at liberty to run about as +they like by day and night, and to enter the fields and browse at will. +If one of them dies it is replaced by another. The animals are described +as the guardians of the children, the receptacle or symbol of their +spirits, in short, as their fetish.[86] To some extent, they are +analogous to the pig which an Areoi used to offer to the god at the +ceremony of his consecration; for, though sometimes the animal was +killed, at other times it was liberated, and, being regarded as sacred +or belonging to the god to whom it had been offered, was allowed to +range the district uncontrolled till it died.[87] Among the Baluba, a +tribe of the Belgian Congo, there is great joy at the birth of twins, +and special ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The twins are +invariably named Kyunga and Kahya, after the spirits of two ancient +kings, and to these spirits the twins are consecrated. After being +washed and decorated they are placed side by side in a winnowing-basket +and carried by the women of the family in procession through the +village, headed by the proud father. Dancing and singing they go to the +ash-heap of the village. There they all rub themselves with ashes and +perform another dance. After that, still led by the father of the twins, +they go to the houses of the chief people, and in front of each house +the father dances, while the women beat time with their hands. Wherever +the procession halts, the householder is expected to come and admire the +twins, to compliment the father, and to deposit a small present in the +winnowing-basket.[88] Among the Herero of South-West Africa the parents +of twins are looked on as sacred, and for a time they may not speak to +any one, and no one may speak to them. But after the lapse of some days +the family goes the round of the village, visiting three or four huts +every day. The father of the twins sits down on the right side of the +hut, and the inmates make him offerings of beads, oxen, and so forth. +When he has thus gone the round of the village, he repairs to the +neighbouring villages, where the same ceremonies are repeated. It is +often a year before he returns to his own village, and when he does so +he brings back with him a great quantity of offerings. Henceforth the +father of the twins enjoys all the privileges of a priestly chief; he +may sacrifice at the holy fire, and he may represent and even succeed +the chief in the office of priest for the village. The twins themselves +are eligible for the same office. If a chief dies a natural death, he is +succeeded in his priestly function by his twin son; whereas the +chieftainship passes to the chief's legal heir, who is properly the son +of his eldest sister, and who thenceforth assumes the name of the twin. +A twin is bound by no taboo; he may eat of all flesh offered in +sacrifice; he may drink of the milk of every holy cow, just like the +chief and the priest themselves.[89] + + [86] J. M. M. van der Burgt, _Dictionnaire Francais-Kirundi_ + (Bois-le-Duc, 1903), pp. 324 _sq._; H. Meyer, _Die Barundi_ + (Leipzig, 1916), pp. 110 _sq._ + + [87] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 242. + + [88] Colle, _Les Baluba_ (Brussels, 1913), i. 253-255. + + [89] J. Irle, _Die Herero_ (Guetersloh, 1906), pp. 96-99. + +In these cases we are not told that twins and their parents are supposed +to be endowed with a power of multiplying the herds and generally of +increasing the supply of food by the prolific influence which they +diffuse about them; but the analogy of the customs and beliefs of the +Baganda concerning the birth of twins renders the supposition probable. +At least on this hypothesis we can readily understand the round of +visits which the parents, or one of them, pay to the surrounding towns +or villages, and the presents which are made to them. If they indeed +possess a power of imparting fertility and abundance wherever they go, +it is obviously in everybody's interest to be visited by them, and +clearly, on the same supposition, it is everybody's duty to make some +return to them for the wonderful benefits which they have conferred. + +Similarly we may perhaps suppose that the rounds which the Areois went +from island to island, dancing, singing, and playing their tricks +wherever they stopped, were believed to quicken the fruits of the earth, +and possibly also to multiply the pigs and the fish. On that assumption, +the unlimited right which these vagabonds enjoyed of appropriating and +consuming the produce of the gardens was probably accorded to them as a +natural and proper remuneration for the inestimable services which their +mere presence was believed to render to the crops. The sexual excesses, +in which they appear to have indulged, would also be intelligible, if it +was imagined that, on the principle of sympathetic magic, such +indulgences actually promoted the multiplication and growth of plants +and animals. But this explanation of the extravagant rites observed by +the Areois, and of the quaint beliefs entertained concerning them, is +offered only as an hypothesis for what it is worth. It may be worth +while noting that among the Kpelle, a tribe of Liberia in West Africa, +there is reported to exist a Secret Society of Twins,[90] but whether +it bears any resemblance to the Society of the Areois I do not know. + + [90] D. Westermann, _Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia_ + (Goettingen, 1921), p. 228. + +A familiar figure of the Polynesian pantheon, who meets us in the +mythology of the Society Islanders, was the famous god or hero Maui. +Many stories of his exploits were told in the islands. It is said that +originally the sky lay flat upon the face of the earth and ocean, being +held down by the legs of a huge cuttle-fish. But Maui dived into the +sea, and, grappling with the monster, utterly dismembered him; whereupon +the sky flew up and expanded into the beautiful blue vault which we now +see above us, with the noonday sun for the keystone of the arch.[91] +Again, the natives told how, one day, sitting in his canoe, Maui let +down his line with a hook at the end of it and fished up the earth, +which had hitherto lain at the bottom of the sea.[92] Also he is said to +have held the sun with ropes to prevent him from going too fast.[93] For +it happened that Maui was hard at work, building a temple, when he +perceived that the day was declining and that the night would overtake +him before he had accomplished his task; so hastily twining some ropes +of coco-nut fibre, he laid hold of the sun's rays and tethered them by +the ropes to a tree, so that the sun could not stir till Maui had +finished the task he was at.[94] Further, Maui is said to have invented +the mode of kindling fire by rubbing the point of one stick in the +groove of another,[95] which was the way in which the Society Islanders +regularly made fire.[96] Maui was also supposed to be the cause of +earthquakes.[97] In Tahiti a curious image of Maui was seen and +described by Captain Cook. "It was the figure of a man, constructed of +basket-work, rudely made, but not ill-designed; it was something more +than seven feet high, and rather too bulky in proportion to its height. +The wicker skeleton was completely covered with feathers, which were +white where the skin was to appear, and black in the parts which it is +their custom to paint or stain, and upon the head, where there was to be +a representation of hair: upon the head also were four protuberances, +three in front and one behind, which we should have called horns, but +which the Indians dignified with the name of _Tate Ete_, little men. The +image was called Manioe, and was said to be the only one in Otaheite. +They attempted to give us an explanation of its use and design, but we +had not then acquired enough of their language to understand them. We +learnt, however, afterwards that it was a representation of Mauwe, one +of their _Eatuas_, or gods of the second class."[98] + + [91] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526. + + [92] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 449 _sq._ + + [93] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 167. + + [94] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 40 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 170 _sq._ + + [95] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 526. + + [96] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 141; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ p. 357; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_, p. + 349; Wallis, in R. Kerr's _General History and Collection of + Voyages and Travels_, xii. 212; _id._, in J. Hawkesworth's + _Voyages_, i. (London, 1773) p. 483. + + [97] J. R. Forster, _Observations_, p. 540; G. Forster, _Voyage + round the World_, ii. 151. These writers spell his name O-Maouwe + and O-mauwee. + + [98] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 156 _sq._ + +Besides the high primaeval deities, born of the Night, the Society +Islanders believed in a host of inferior divinities, many of whom were +said to have been created by Taaroa, the supreme god. Thus, between the +high gods and the deities of particular places or of particular +professions, there was a class of intermediate deities, who were not +supposed to have existed from the beginning or to have been born of +Night. Their origin was veiled in obscurity, but they were often +described as having been renowned men, who, after death, were deified by +their descendants. They all received the homage of the people, and on +all public occasions were acknowledged among the gods.[99] Again, there +were many gods of the sea, among whom the principal seem to have been +Tuaraatai and Ruahatu. These were generally called shark gods (_atua +mao_), not that the shark was itself deemed a god, but that it was +supposed to be employed by the marine gods as their minister of +vengeance. It was only the large blue shark which was believed to act in +this capacity; and it is said that these voracious creatures always +spared a shipwrecked priest, even when they devoured his companions; +nay, they would recognise a priest on board any canoe, come at his call, +and retire at his bidding. A priest of one of these shark gods told Mr. +Ellis that he or his father had been carried on the back of a shark from +Raiatea to Huahine, a distance of twenty miles. Other gods were thought +to preside over the fisheries, and to direct the shoals of fish to the +coasts. Their aid was invoked by fishermen before they launched their +canoes and while they were busy at sea. But these marine deities were +not supposed by the people to be of equal antiquity with the great +primordial gods, born of the Night (_atua fauau po_).[100] Again, there +were gods of the air, who were sometimes worshipped under the figure of +birds. The chief of these aerial deities were thought to be a brother +and sister, who dwelt near the great rock, which is the foundation of +the world. There they imprisoned the stormy winds, but sent them forth +from time to time to punish such as neglected the worship of the gods. +In tempests their compassion was besought by mariners tossed on the sea +or by their friends on shore.[101] To the minds of the islanders there +were also gods of hill and dale, of precipice and ravine. "By their rude +mythology each lovely island was made a sort of fairy-land, and the +spells of enchantment were thrown over its varied scenes.... The +mountain's summit, and the fleecy mists that hang upon its brows--the +rocky defile--the foaming cataract--and the lonely dell--were all +regarded as the abode or resort of these invisible beings."[102] + + [99] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 326 _sq._ As to the inferior gods, + see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 451 _sqq._ + + [100] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 327-329. + + [101] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._ As to the worship of + birds, Captain Cook says: "This island [Tahiti indeed, and the + rest that lie near it, have a particular bird, some a heron and + others a king's fisher, to which they pay a peculiar regard, and + concerning which they have some superstitious notions with + respect to good and bad fortune, as we have of the swallow and + robin-redbreast, giving them the name of _eatua_, and by no + means killing or molesting them; yet they never address a + petition to them, or approach them with any act of adoration." + See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224. + + [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 329 _sq._, 331. + +The general name for "god" in the Society Islands, as throughout +Polynesia, was _atua_.[103] The word was also applied, in the expression +_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, to the spirits of departed relatives, who +were also worshipped and ranked among the deities.[104] To these we +shall return presently; meantime it may not be out of place to give some +notice of the worship of the other gods, since in the religion of the +Society Islanders, as of other branches of the Polynesian race, it was +closely interwoven with the worship of the dead. + + [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 333 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 440 _sqq._; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, pp. 30 _sq._, _s.v._ "atua." Captain Cook and the + first missionaries spelled the word _eatua_ or _eatooa_. See J. + Cook, _Voyages_, i. 221, vi. 149; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343. + + [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 324 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 454 _sq._ + + +Sec. 4. _The Temples and Images of the Gods_ + +The sacred place dedicated to religious worship was called a _morai_, +or, as it is also spelled, a _marai_ or _marae_, which may be translated +"temple," though all such places were uncovered and open to the sky. The +national temples, where the principal idols were deposited, consisted of +large walled enclosures, some of which contained smaller inner courts. +The form was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram, with sides +forty or fifty feet long. The area was paved with flat stones, and two +sides of it were enclosed by a high stone wall, while the front was +protected by a low fence, and within rose in steps or terraces a solid +pyramidical structure built of stone, which usually formed one of the +narrow sides of the area, either at the western or at the eastern end. +These pyramids, which were always truncated so as to form a narrow +platform or ridge on their upper surface, were the most striking and +characteristic feature of the _morais_; indeed the name _morai_ or +_marae_ appears to have been sometimes confined, at least by European +observers, to the pyramid. In front of the pyramid the images were kept +and the altars fixed. The houses of the priests and of the keepers of +the idols were erected within the enclosure.[105] Of these interesting +monuments, which seemed destined to last for ages, only a few +insignificant ruins survive; the rest have been destroyed, chiefly at +the instigation of the missionaries.[106] + + [105] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 339 _sqq._ Compare + J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157 _sqq._, 217, 219, 220, 222, vi. 37, + _sq._, 41; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage + round the World_, pp. 543 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the + World_, i. 267, ii. 138 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207 + _sq._, 211 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267 + _sq._, 271, 280 _sqq._, 549, ii. 13 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 466-470; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. + 111 _sqq._; S. and K. Routledge, "Notes on some Archaeological + Remains in the Society and Austral Islands," _Journal of the + Royal Anthropological Institute_, li. (1921) 438 _sqq._ + According to J. R. Forster (_l.c._), the _marais_ (_morais, + maraes_) "consist of a very large pile of stones, generally in + the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, with large steps; sometimes + this pyramid makes one of the sides of an area, walled in with + square stones and paved with flat stones: the pyramid is not + solid, but the inside is filled with smaller fragments of coral + stones." + + [106] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, p. 135. This writer has + given us a survey and description of some of the principal + remains which existed at the end of the nineteenth century (pp. + 111-148). The ruins of two _maraes_ in the island of Moorea are + described by Mr. and Mrs. Routledge (_l.c._). In one of them the + pyramid stood at the western end of the enclosure, and in the + other at the eastern end. + +Some of the pyramids erected within these sacred enclosures were of +great size. In Tahiti an enormous one was seen and described by Captain +Cook as well as by later observers. It was of oblong shape and measured +two hundred and sixty-seven feet in length by eighty-seven feet in +width. It rose in a series of eleven steps or terraces, each four feet +high, so that the total height of the structure was forty-four feet. +Each step was formed of a single course of white coral stone, neatly +squared and polished. The steps on the long sides were broader than +those at the ends, so that at the top it terminated, not in an oblong of +the same figure as the base, but in a ridge like the roof of a house. +The interior of the pyramid was solid, being filled up with round +pebbles which, from the regularity of their figure, seemed to have been +wrought. Some of the coral stones were very large; one of them was three +and a half feet long by two and a half feet wide. The foundation of the +pyramid was built not of coral, but of what Captain Cook called rock, by +which he probably meant a volcanic stone. These foundation stones were +also squared; one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet +four inches. "Such a structure," says Captain Cook, "raised without the +assistance of iron tools to shape the stones, or mortar to join them, +struck us with astonishment: it seemed to be as compact and firm as it +could have been made by any workman in Europe, except that the steps +which range along its greatest length are not perfectly strait, but sink +in a kind of hollow in the middle, so that the whole surface, from end +to end, is not a right line, but a curve." All the stones, both rock and +coral, must have been brought from a distance, for there was no quarry +in the neighbourhood. The squaring of these blocks with stone tools +must, as Captain Cook observes, have been a work of incredible labour; +but the polishing of them could have been effected more easily by means +of the sharp coral sand, which is found everywhere on the seashore in +great abundance. On the top of the pyramid, and about the middle, stood +the wooden image of a bird; and near it lay the image of a fish carved +in stone. This great pyramid formed part of one side of a spacious area, +nearly square, which measured three hundred and sixty feet by three +hundred and fifty-four, and was walled in with stone as well as paved +with flat stones in its whole extent. Notwithstanding the pavement, +several trees were growing within the sacred enclosure. About a hundred +yards to the west was another paved area or court, in which were several +small stages raised on wooden pillars about seven feet high. These +stages the natives called _ewattas_. Captain Cook judged them rightly to +be altars, observing that they supported what appeared to be offerings +in the shape of provisions of all sorts, as well as whole hogs and many +skulls of hogs and dogs.[107] + + [107] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 157-159. The great pyramid was + afterwards visited and described by the first missionaries. + Their measurements confirm, while slightly exceeding, those of + Captain Cook. They speak, however, of ten steps instead of + eleven, and say that the lowest step was six feet high and the + rest about five. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 207 _sq._, with + the plate. + +The pyramids within the sacred enclosure were not usually so large or so +lofty. In the island of Huahine the pyramid of the chief god Tani or +Tane was a hundred and twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet broad, and +it had only two steps or stories. The lower step or story was about ten +feet high and faced with blocks of coral, set on their edges: some of +these blocks were as high as the step itself. The upper step or story +was similarly faced with coral, but was not more than three feet high. +The interior of both stories was filled with earth. In the centre of the +principal front stood the god's bed, a stone platform twenty-four feet +long by thirteen feet wide, but only eighteen inches high. The style and +masonry of this pyramid, as well as its dimensions, appear to have been +very inferior to those of the great one in Tahiti. The blocks were +apparently unhewn and unpolished, the angles ill formed, and the walls +not straight. Venerable and magnificent trees overshadowed the +sanctuary. One of them measured fifteen yards in girth above the roots. +It is said that the god often wished to fly away, but that his long tail +always caught in the boughs of this giant tree and dragged him down to +earth again.[108] + + [108] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 265 _sq._ + +These sacred pyramids "were erected in any place, and at any time, when +the priests required, by the slavish people. On such occasions the +former overlooked the latter at their work, and denounced the most +terrible judgments upon those who were remiss at it. The poor wretches +were thus compelled to finish their tasks (burthensome as they often +were, in heaving blocks from the sea, dragging them ashore, and heaping +them one upon another) without eating, which would have desecrated the +intended sanctuary. To restrain the gnawings of hunger they bound +girdles of bark round their bodies, tightening the ligatures from time +to time, as their stomachs shrank with emptiness. And, when the drudgery +was done, it was not uncommon for the remorseless priests to seize one +of the miserable builders and sacrifice him to the idol of the +place."[109] + + [109] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 13 _sq._ + +Temples of this sort were found scattered over the islands in every +situation--on hill-tops, on jutting headlands, and in the recesses of +groves.[110] They varied greatly in size: some were small and built in +the rudest manner, mere squares of ill-shapen and ill-piled stones. In +the island of Borabora the missionaries found not less than two hundred +and twenty of these structures crowded within an area only ten miles in +circumference.[111] The trees that grew within the sacred enclosure were +sacred. They comprised particularly the tall cypress-like casuarina and +the broader-leaved and more exuberant callophyllum, thespesia, and +cardia. Their interlacing boughs formed a thick umbrageous covert, which +often excluded the rays of the sun; and the contrast between the bright +glare of a tropical day outside and the sombre gloom in the depths of +the grove, combined with the sight of the gnarled trunks and twisted +boughs of the aged trees, and the sighing of the wind in the branches, +to strike a religious horror into the mind of the beholder.[112] The +ground which surrounded the temples (_morais_) was sacred and afforded a +sanctuary for criminals. Thither they fled on any apprehension of +danger, especially when many human sacrifices were expected, and thence +they might not be torn by violence, though they were sometimes seduced +from their asylum by guile.[113] + + [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341. + + [111] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ ii. 13. + + [112] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 341 _sq._ + + [113] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 351. + +These remarkable sanctuaries were at once temples for the worship of the +gods and burial-places for the human dead. On this combination of +functions I have already adduced some evidence;[114] but as the point is +important, I will cite further testimonies as to the custom of burying +the dead in these enclosures. + + [114] Above, pp. 116 _sqq._ + +Thus Captain Cook writes: "I must more explicitly observe that there are +two places in which the dead are deposited: one a kind of shed, where +the flesh is suffered to putrefy; the other an enclosure, with erections +of stones, where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called +_tupapow_, and the enclosures _morai_. The _morais_ are also places of +worship".[115] Again, after describing how a dead body used to be placed +in the temporary house or shed (_tupapow_) and left there to decay for +five moons, Captain Cook tells us that "what remains of the body is +taken down from the bier, and the bones, having been scraped and washed +very clean, are buried, according to the rank of the person, either +within or without a _morai_: if the deceased was an _earee_ or chief, +his skull is not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in +fine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is +also placed in the _morai_. This coffer is called _ewharre no te +orometua_, the house of a teacher or master".[116] + + [115] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 217. + + [116] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 219. + +Again, after describing the human sacrifice which he witnessed at the +great _morai_ at Attahooroo, in Tahiti, Captain Cook proceeds as +follows: "The _morai_ (which, undoubtedly, is a place of worship, +sacrifice, and burial at the same time), where the sacrifice was now +offered, is that where the supreme chief of the whole island is always +buried, and is appropriated to his family, and some of the principal +people. It differs little from the common ones, except in extent. Its +principal part is a large oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each +other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, contracted toward the top, +with a square area on each side, loosely paved with pebble stones, under +which the bones of the chiefs are buried.... The human sacrifices are +buried under different parts of the pavement."[117] + + [117] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 37. + +Again, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the victors used to +collect all the dead that had fallen into their hands and bring them to +the _morai_, where, with much ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all +the bodies in it as so many offerings to the gods; but the skulls of the +slain were never afterwards taken up. Their own great chiefs who fell in +battle were treated in a different manner. Captain Cook was informed +that the bodies of the late king and two chiefs, who were slain in +battle, were brought to the _morai_ at Attahooroo. There the priests cut +out the bowels of the corpses before the great altar, and the bodies +were afterwards buried at three different spots in the great pile of +stones which formed the most conspicuous feature of the _morai_. Common +men who perished in the same battle were all buried in a single hole at +the foot of the pile. The spots where the bodies of the king and chiefs +reposed were pointed out to Captain Cook and his companions.[118] + + [118] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 40 _sq._ + +Again, in the island of Tahiti, the naturalist George Forster, who +accompanied Captain Cook, saw a stone building, "in form of the frustum +of a pyramid," constructed in terraces or steps, and measuring about +twenty yards in length at the base. "This the native said was a +burying-place and place of worship, _marai_, and distinguished it by the +name of _marai no-Aheatua_, the burying-place of Aheatua, the present +king of Tiarroboo."[119] + + [119] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, i. 267. + +Again, in the island of Huahine, the missionaries Tyerman and Bennet saw +"a pagan _marae_ hard by, where the sovereigns of Huahine were +buried--and where, indeed, they lay in more than oriental state, each +one resting in his bed, at the foot of the Sacred Mountain, beneath the +umbrage of the magnificent _aoa_ [tree], and near the beach for ever +washed by waters that roll round the world.... The great _marae_ itself +was dedicated to Tani, the father of the gods here; but the whole ground +adjacent was marked with the vestiges of smaller _maraes_--private +places for worship and family interment--while this was the capital of +the island and the headquarters of royalty and idolatry."[120] A little +later, speaking of the same sacred place, the missionaries observe, "The +first _marae_ that we visited was the sepulchral one of the kings of +Huahine, for many generations. It was an oblong inclosure, forty-five +feet long by twenty broad, fenced with a strong stone wall. Here the +bodies of the deceased, according to the manner of the country, being +bound up, with the arms doubled to their shoulders, the legs bent under +their thighs and both forced upwards against the abdomen, were let down, +without coffins, into a hole prepared for their reception, and just deep +enough to allow the earth to cover their heads."[121] + + [120] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 271. + + [121] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 280. + +One of our best authorities on these islands, William Ellis, speaks of +the _maraes_ (_morais_), whether they belonged to private families, to +districts, or to the kings, as being "the general depositories of the +bones of the departed, whose bodies had been embalmed"; and as a motive +for the practice he alleges the sanctity which attached to these places, +and which might naturally be supposed to guard the graves against +impious and malicious violation.[122] However, the first missionaries +say of the islanders that "they bury none in the _morai_, but those +offered in sacrifice, or slain in battle, or the children of chiefs +which have been strangled at the birth--an act of atrocious inhumanity +too common."[123] According to Moerenhout, the _marais_ (_morais_) +belonging to private families were often used as cemeteries; but in the +public _marais_ none but the human victims, and sometimes the priests, +were interred.[124] Thus there is to some extent a conflict of testimony +between our authorities on the subject of burial in the temples. But the +evidence which I have adduced seems to render it probable that many at +least of the _morais_ served as burial-grounds for kings and chiefs of +high degree, and even for common men who had fallen fighting in the +service of their country. + + [122] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405. See above, pp. 117 _sq._ + + [123] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + + [124] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 470. + +In more recent years the German traveller, Arthur Baessler, who examined +and described the existing ruins of these sacred edifices, denied that +the _maraes_ (_morais_) were places of burial, while he allowed that +they were places of worship.[125] He distinguished a _marae_ from an +_ahu_, admitting at the same time that they closely resembled each +other, both in their structure and in the ritual celebrated at +them.[126] According to him, a _marae_ was a sort of domestic chapel, +the possession of which constituted the most distinctive mark of a noble +family. Every chief, high or low, had one of them and took rank +according to its antiquity.[127] It was an oblong area, open to the sky +and enclosed by walls on three sides and by a pyramid on the fourth: +walls and pyramid alike were built of blocks of stone or coral.[128] The +_ahu_, on the other hand, was a monument erected to the memory of a +distinguished chief, whose mortal remains were deposited in it. But +apart from the grave which it contained, the _ahu_, according to +Baessler, hardly differed from a _marae_, though it was mostly larger: +it was a great walled enclosure with a pyramid, altars, and houses of +the priests. And the ritual celebrated in the _ahu_ resembled the ritual +performed in the _marae_: there, too, the faithful assembled to pray, +and there the priests recited the same liturgy.[129] Thus both the form +and, to some extent at least, the function of the two types of sanctuary +presented a close similarity. The islanders themselves, it appears, do +not always clearly distinguish them at the present day.[130] And the +single distinction on which Baessler insisted, that the dead were buried +in the _ahu_ but not in the _marae_, seems not to hold good universally, +even on Baessler's own showing. For he admits that, "if ever a chief was +buried in his own _marae_, it must have been in most exceptional cases, +but probably statements to that effect rest only on a confusion of the +_marae_ with the _ahu_; such a practice would also run counter to the +habits of the natives, who sought the most secret places for their dead, +and certainly concealed the heads in caves difficult of access and +unknown to others. On the other hand, the _maraes_ of humbler families +may more frequently, if not as a rule, have served as places of +burial."[131] And even in regard to the holiest _marae_, dedicated to +the great god Oro, in the island of Raiatea,[132] Baessler himself cites +a tradition, apparently well authenticated, that a great number of +warriors slain in battle were buried in it.[133] The argument that the +people buried their dead, or at all events their skulls, only in remote +caves among the mountains seems untenable; for according to the evidence +of earlier writers the practice of concealing the bones or the skulls of +the dead in caves was generally, if not always, a precaution adopted in +time of war, to prevent these sacred relics from falling into the hands +of invaders; the regular custom seems to have been to bury the bones in +or near the _marae_ and to keep the skulls either there or in the +house.[134] On the whole, then, it is perhaps safer to follow earlier +and, from the nature of the case, better-informed writers in neglecting +the distinction which Baessler drew between a _marae_ (_morai_) and an +_ahu_. In any case we have Baessler's testimony that an _ahu_ was at +once a place of burial and a place of worship. There seems to be no +evidence that any of these sacred edifices, whether _maraes_ or _ahus_, +were associated with a worship of the sun. On the other hand, it is +certain that some at least of them were dedicated, partly or chiefly, to +a cult of the dead, which formed a very important element in the +religion of the Society Islanders, whereas there is little or nothing to +show that they adored either the sun, or any other of the heavenly +bodies, with the possible exception of the moon.[135] This did not, +however, prevent them from entertaining absurd notions concerning these +great luminaries. At an eclipse they imagined that the moon or the sun +was being swallowed by some god whom they had offended; and on such +occasions they repaired to the temple and offered prayers and liberal +presents to the deity for the purpose of inducing him to disgorge the +luminary.[136] + + [125] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 116 _sq._, 127 + _sq._, 144 _sq._ + + [126] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130, 131. + + [127] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 119. + + [128] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._ + + [129] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 130 _sq._ + + [130] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 140. + + [131] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 127. + + [132] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 124, 141. + + [133] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 127 _sq._, 144 _sq._ + + [134] See below, p. 311. + + [135] Ellis says, "I am not aware that they rendered divine + homage either to the sun or moon" (_Polynesian Researches_, iii. + 171). Speaking of the Areois, Moerenhout says that "it seems to + me clear that though they did not adore directly the sun and the + other stars, nevertheless their worship was little else than + sabeism or the adoration of the visible and animated universe" + (_op. cit._ i. 503). He interpreted both Oro and Maui or Mahoui + (as he spells the name) as the sun-god (_op. cit._ i. 484, 502, + 503, 560 _sq._); but these interpretations appear to be his own + guesses, unsupported by any statement of the natives. Maui was + the great Polynesian hero, one of whose most famous exploits was + catching the sun in a snare and compelling him to move more + slowly (E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, + pp. 234 _sqq._, _s.v._ "Maui"; see above, p. 275); but this + story, far from favouring the identification of Maui with the + sun, seems fatal to it. According to J. R. Forster, the great + god Taroa (Taaroa) was thought to have created the sun and to + dwell in it (_Observations_, p. 540); but even if this statement + is correct, it hardly implies a worship of the sun. With regard + to the moon, the same writer tells us (_l.c._) that it was + supposed to be procreated by a goddess named O-Heena, "who + presides in the black cloud which appears in this luminary"; and + the statement is repeated by his son, George Forster, who adds: + "The women sing a short couplet, which seems to be an act of + adoration paid to that divinity [O-Heena], perhaps because they + suppose her to have some influence upon their physical + [oe]conomy.... 'The cloud within the moon, that cloud I love'" + (_Voyage round the World_, ii. 152). This so far seems to imply + a reverence for the moon; and there are some grounds for + thinking that O-Heena or Hina (as the name is usually spelt) was + in Eastern Polynesia a moon-goddess. See above, p. 267, note^2. + + [136] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._, iii. 171. According to + another account, the sun and moon in eclipse were supposed to be + in the act of copulation. See J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346. + +Temples such as have been described were erected on all important +occasions, such as a war, a decisive victory, or the installation of a +great chief or king of a whole island. In these latter cases the natives +boasted that the number of persons present was so great that, if each of +them only brought a single stone, the amount of stones thus collected +would have sufficed to build their largest temples and pyramids.[137] +One of the occasions when it became necessary to build new temples was +when the old ones had been overthrown by enemies in war. After such a +desecration it was customary to perform a ceremony for the purpose of +purifying the land from the defilement which it had incurred through the +devastations of the foe, who had, perhaps, demolished the temples, +destroyed or mutilated the idols, and burned with fire the curiously +carved pieces of wood which marked the sacred places of interment and +represented the spirits of the dead (_tiis_). Before the rite of +purification was performed the temples were rebuilt, new altars reared, +new images placed within the sacred precincts, and new wooden effigies +set up near the graves. At the close of the rites in the new temples, +the worshippers repaired to the seashore, where the chief priest offered +a short prayer and the people dragged a net of coco-nut leaves through a +shallow part of the sea, usually detaching small pieces of coral, which +they brought ashore. These were called fish and were delivered to the +priest, who conveyed them to the temple and deposited them on the altar, +offering at the same time a prayer to induce the gods to cleanse the +land from pollution, that it might be as pure as the coral fresh from +the sea. It was now thought safe to abide on the soil and to eat of its +produce, whereas if the ceremony had not been performed, death would +have been, in the opinion of the people, the consequence of partaking of +fruits grown on the defiled land.[138] + + [137] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 468. + + [138] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 348 _sq._ + +The temples were sacred. When a man approached one of them to worship or +to bring his offering to the altar, he bared his body to the waist in +sign of reverence and humility.[139] Women in general might not enter a +temple, but when their presence was indispensable for certain +ceremonies, the ground was covered with cloth, on which they walked, +lest they should defile the holy place with their feet.[140] For +example, some six weeks or two months after the birth of a child the +father and mother took the child to a temple, where they both offered +their blood to the gods by cutting their heads with shark's teeth and +allowing the blood to drip on leaves, which they laid on the altar. On +this occasion the husband spread a cloth on the floor of the temple for +his wife to tread upon, for she might not step on the ground or the +pavement.[141] Similarly at marriage bride and bridegroom visited the +family temple (_marae_, _morai_), where the skulls of their ancestors +were brought out and placed before them; but a large white cloth had to +be spread out on the pavement for the bride to walk upon. Sometimes at +these marriage rites the female relatives cut their faces and brows with +shark's teeth, caught the flowing blood on cloth, and deposited the +cloth, sprinkled with the mingled blood of the mothers of the married +pair, at the feet of the bride.[142] At other times the mother of the +bride gashed her own person cruelly with a shark's tooth, and having +filled a coco-nut basin with the blood which flowed from her wounds, she +presented it to the bridegroom, who immediately threw it from him.[143] +While certain festivals were being celebrated at the temples the +exclusion of women from them was still more rigid. Thus in the island of +Huahine, during the celebration of the great annual festival, at which +all the idols of the island were brought from their various shrines to +the principal temple to be clothed with new dresses and ornaments, no +woman was allowed to approach any of the sacred edifices under pain of +death, which was instantly inflicted by whoever witnessed the sacrilege. +Even if the wives and children of the priests themselves came within a +certain distance, while some particular services were going on, they +were murdered on the spot by their husbands and fathers with the utmost +ferocity.[144] + + [139] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 224; J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 547; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 469. Elsewhere (vi. 149) Captain Cook mentions + that the baring of the body on the approach to a temple was + especially incumbent on women, who otherwise had to make a + considerable circuit to avoid the sacred edifice. + + [140] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 469 _sq._; A. Baessler, + _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 126 _sq._ + + [141] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 536 _sq._ + + [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 271 _sq._ + + [143] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 558. + + [144] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 267 _sq._ + +Some of these sacred edifices are still impressive in their ruins and +deserve the name of megalithic monuments. Thus the temple (_marae_, +_morai_) of Oro at Opoa, which was the holiest temple in the island of +Raiatea and perhaps in the Society Islands generally,[145] is about a +hundred and thirty-eight feet long by twenty-six feet broad. It is +enclosed by a wall of gigantic coral blocks standing side by side to a +height of about six feet seven inches. The blocks have been hewn from +the inner reef; the outer surfaces were smoothed, the inner left rough. +One of the blocks stands over eleven feet high, without reckoning the +part concealed by the soil; it is twelve feet wide, by two and a half +feet thick. Another block is about ten feet long by eight feet broad and +one foot thick.[146] In the ruined temple of Tainuu, situated in the +district of Tevaitoa, one block is about eleven and a half feet high by +eleven feet wide, with a thickness varying from twenty inches to two and +a half feet.[147] + + [145] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 124, 141; D. + Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 529 _sq._ + + [146] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 142. + + [147] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 146. + +The idols or images of the gods were usually made of wood, but sometimes +of stone. Some were rudely carved in human shape; others were rough +unpolished logs, wrapped in many folds of cloth or covered with a +matting of coco-nut fibre.[148] The image of the god Oro was a straight +log of casuarina wood, six feet long, uncarved, but decorated with +feathers. On the other hand Taaroa, the supreme deity of Polynesia, was +represented by a rudely carved human figure about four feet high, with a +number of little images studding his body to indicate the multitude of +gods that had proceeded from him as creator. The body of the god was +hollow, and when it was taken from the temple, where it had been +worshipped for many generations, it was found to contain a number of +small idols in the cavity. It is supposed that these petty gods had been +placed there by their worshippers and owners that they might absorb some +of the supernatural powers of the greater divinity before being removed +to the places where they were to commence deities on their own +account.[149] With a similar intention it was customary to fill the +inside of the hollow images with red feathers in order that the plumes +might be impregnated with the divine influence and might afterwards +diffuse it for the benefit of the owner of the feathers, who had placed +them in the image for that purpose. The red feathers, plucked from a +small bird which is found in many of the islands, thus became an +ordinary medium for communicating and extending supernatural powers, not +only in the Society Islands, but throughout Polynesia. The beautiful +long tail-feathers of the tropic or man-of-war bird were used for the +same purpose. The gods were supposed to be very fond of these feathers +and ready to impart their blessed essence to them. Hence people brought +the feathers to the priest and received from him in exchange two or +three which had been sanctified in the stomach of the deity; on +extracting them from that receptacle, the priest prayed to the god that +he would continue to inhabit the red feathers even when they were +detached from his divine person.[150] The feathers thus consecrated were +themselves regarded as in some sense divine and were called gods +(_atuas_, _oromatuas_); the people had great confidence in their +sovereign virtue, and on occasions of danger they sought them out, +believing that the mere presence of the feathers would afford them +adequate protection. For example, when they were threatened by a storm +at sea, they would hold out the feathers to the menacing clouds and +command them to depart.[151] + + [148] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 471. According to Ellis, the wooden images were made + from the durable timber of the _aito_ or casuarina tree, and the + stone images were mostly rude uncarved angular columns of + basalt, of various sizes, though some were of calcareous or + siliceous stone. Some stone images, however, were rudely carved + in human form. See A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, pp. 128 + _sq._ + + [149] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 354. + + [150] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 338 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 471 _sqq._ + + [151] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 473 _sq._ + + +Sec. 5. _The Sacrifices, Priests, and Sacred Recorders_ + +The offerings presented to the gods included every kind of valuable +property, such as birds, fish, beasts, the fruits of the earth and the +choicest native manufactures. The fruits and other eatables were +generally, but not always, dressed. Portions of the fowls, pigs, or +fish, cooked with sacred fire in the temple, were presented to the +deity; the remainder furnished a banquet for the priests and other +sacred persons, who were privileged to eat of the sacrifices. The +portions appropriated to the gods were placed on the altar and left +there till they decayed. In the public temples the great altars were +wooden stages, some eight or ten feet high, supported on a number of +wooden posts, which were sometimes curiously carved and polished. But +there were also smaller altars in the temples; some of them were like +round tables, resting on a single post. Domestic altars and such as were +erected near the bodies of dead friends were small square structures of +wicker-work. In sacrificing pigs they were very anxious not to break a +bone or disfigure the animal. Hence they used to strangle the animal or +bleed it to death.[152] + + [152] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 344 _sq._ + +Human victims were sacrificed on many occasions, as in time of war, at +great national festivals, during the illness of their rulers, and at +the building of a temple. William Ellis was told that the foundations of +some of their sacred edifices were laid in human sacrifices, and that at +least the central pillar, which supported the roof of one of the sacred +houses at Maeva, had been planted on the body of a man. The victims were +either captives taken in war or persons who had rendered themselves +obnoxious to the chiefs or the priests. In the technical language of the +priests they were called "fish." When once a man had been chosen for +sacrifice, the family to which he belonged was regarded as taboo or +devoted to the altar, and when another victim was wanted, he was more +frequently taken from that family than from any other. Similarly, a +district which had once furnished victims was thenceforth devoted. +Hence, at the approach of ceremonies which were usually accompanied by +human sacrifices, the members of certain families and the inhabitants of +certain districts used to flee to the mountains and hide in caves till +the ceremony was over. But the doomed man was seldom apprised of his +fate beforehand. A sudden blow with a club or a stone on the nape of the +neck was the usual way of despatching him, lest the body should be +mangled or a bone broken. If the blow had only stunned him, he was soon +killed, and the corpse, placed in a long basket of coco-nut leaves, was +carried to the temple and offered to the god by being set before the +idol. In dedicating it the priest took out one of the eyes and handed it +on a leaf to the king, who made as if he would swallow it, but passed it +on to a priest or attendant. After the ceremony the body, still wrapt in +coco-nut leaves, was often deposited on the branches of a neighbouring +tree, where it remained some time. Finally, the bones were taken down +and buried under the pavement of the temple (_marae_).[153] + + [153] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 345-348. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, iii. 168 _sqq._ vi. 28-41; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 350 _sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 549, ii. 38 + _sq._ + +In the family, according to patriarchal usage, the father was the +priest, but the priests of the national temples formed a distinct class; +their office was hereditary. The high priesthood was often held by a +member of the royal family, and sometimes the king himself acted as the +national priest. The duties of the priests were to recite prayers, to +present offerings, and to sacrifice victims. Their prayers, usually +uttered in shrill, chanting tones, were often exceedingly long and full +of repetitions.[154] They had plenty of employment, being called in to +officiate on all occasions, whether at birth or at death, at feasts or +in sickness; for they were the physicians as well as the clergy of the +country. They professed to possess extraordinary powers, such as to +promote conception or to effect abortion, to cause or to heal disease, +to pray the evil spirit into food, and even to kill men outright. Hence +they were greatly feared.[155] Of the little knowledge that existed in +the islands the priests are reported to have possessed the largest +share, but it consisted chiefly in an acquaintance with the names and +ranks of the various subordinate deities (_atuas_); however, according +to Captain Cook, they excelled the rest of the people in their knowledge +of navigation and astronomy: indeed, the very name for priest (_tahowa_) +signified nothing more than a man of knowledge.[156] In the island of +Huahine the priest whose duty it was to carry the image of the god Tani +(Tane) "was a personage of such superhuman sanctity that everything +which he touched became sacred; he was, therefore, not suffered to +marry, as the honour of being his wife was too much for any mortal +woman. But this was not all; he would himself be so defiled by such a +connection that he would be disqualified for his office, and must +immediately resign it; nay, if he did not repent, and return with a +great peace-offering to Tani's house, he might expect to be first struck +blind, and afterwards strangled in his sleep. He was not allowed to +climb a cocoa tree, because, if he did, it would be so hallowed that +nobody else durst afterwards ascend it."[157] + + [154] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 342 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 545 + _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 474 _sqq._ + + [155] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 348. + + [156] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 223. + + [157] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 279. + +One of the most important functions of the priests was to act as +mouthpieces of the gods. In the discharge of this duty they were +believed to be inspired and possessed by the deity, who spoke through +them to the people. When the time came for them to consult the god, they +assumed an odd fantastic dress, enriched with red and black feathers, +to which the deity was so partial, that when the priests approached him +in this array, he descended to earth at their call in one of the sacred +birds that frequented the temples (_morais_) and fed on the sacrifices. +As soon as the bird lighted on the sacred edifice, the god left the fowl +and entered into the priest. The holy man, thus inspired, now stretched +himself, yawned, and rubbed his arms, legs, and body, which began to be +inflated, as if the skin of the abdomen would burst; the eyes of the +seer were thrown into various contortions, now staring wide, now +half-shut and sinking into stupor, while at other times the whole frame +was convulsed and appeared to have undergone a sudden and surprising +change. The voice sank to a low pitch, and grew squeaky and broken; but +at times it would suddenly rise to an astonishing height. The words +uttered by the possessed man were regarded as oracular, and nothing that +he asked for the god or for himself in this state was ever refused him. +Of all this the priest himself affected to be entirely unaware, but a +colleague was regularly at hand to record the divine message and the +divine requirements, which were often very large. When the deity took +his departure from the priest, he did so with such convulsions and +violence as to leave the man lying motionless and exhausted on the +ground, and the oracle was so timed that this happened at the very +moment when the sacred bird, the vehicle of the god, flew away from the +temple. On coming to himself the priest uttered a loud shriek and seemed +to wake as from a profound sleep, unconscious of everything that had +passed.[158] Sometimes, however, the priest continued to be possessed by +the deity for two or three days; at such times he wore a piece of native +cloth, of a peculiar sort, round one arm as a sign of his inspiration. +His acts during this period were deemed to be those of the god; hence +the greatest attention was paid to his expressions and to the whole of +his deportment. Indeed, so long as the fit of inspiration lasted he was +called a god (_atua_); but when it was over, he resumed his ordinary +title of priest.[159] + + [158] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 349 _sq._ + + [159] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373-375. + +We are told that in his fine frenzy the priest "often rolled on the +earth, foaming at the mouth, as if labouring under the influence of the +divinity, by whom he was possessed, and, in shrill cries, and violent +and often indistinct sounds, revealed the will of the god."[160] It +would probably be a mistake to assume that on such occasions the frantic +behaviour was deliberately assumed and the wild whirling words were +consciously uttered for the purpose of deceiving the people; in short, +that the whole performance was a mere piece of acting, a bare-faced +imposture. It is far more likely that, bred from childhood to believe in +the reality of divine inspiration, the priest often sincerely imagined +himself to be possessed by a deity, and that, under the excitement which +such an imagination was calculated to produce, he honestly mistook his +own thick-coming fancies for a revelation from the gods. A chief, who +had formerly been a prophet of the god Oro, assured the missionaries +"that although he sometimes feigned his fits of inspiration, to deceive +the credulous multitude, yet, at other times, they came upon him +involuntarily and irresistibly. Something seemed to rush through his +whole frame, and overpower his spirit, in a manner which he could not +describe. Then he frothed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, and distorted +his limbs with such violence that it required five or six strong men to +hold him. At these times his words were deemed oracles, and whatever he +advised respecting state affairs, or other matters, was implicitly +observed by king and chiefs."[161] Thus on the ravings of these crazy +fanatics or deliberate impostors often hung the issues of life or death, +of war or peace.[162] It appears to have been especially the priests of +Oro who laid claim to inspiration and contrived to shape the destinies +of their country through the powerful sway which they exercised over the +mind of the king. In their fits of fanatical frenzy, while they +delivered their oracles, they insisted on the sovereign's implicit +compliance with their mandates, denouncing the most dreadful judgments +on him if he should prove refractory.[163] + + [160] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373 _sq._ + + [161] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 124. + + [162] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 114 _sq._ + + [163] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 121. + +Apart from the priests there was a class of men whose business it was to +preserve and hand down to their successors the lists of the gods, the +liturgical prayers, and the sacred traditions. As these liturgies and +legends were often very lengthy and couched in a metaphorical and +obscure language, a prodigious memory and long practice were +indispensable for their preservation and transmission among a people to +whom the art of writing was unknown. Since the slightest mistake in the +recitation of a liturgy was deemed the worst of omens and necessitated +the suspension of the religious service, however costly and important +the service might be, the sacred recorders, as we may call them, were +obliged, for the sake of their credit, to practise continually the +recitation of the prayers, legends, and traditions of which they were +the depositories. To aid them in their task they made use of bundles of +little sticks of different sizes, one of which they drew from a bundle +at the conclusion of each prayer. It was their duty on solemn occasions +to recite these liturgies or sacred poems while they paced slowly by +night round the temples (_morais_) and other holy places; hence they +went by the name of _harepo_, which means "Walkers by night." We are +told that if at these times they made a mistake in a single word or +hesitated for a moment, they stopped and returned home; and if the +subject of their prayers chanced to be some enterprise in which they +desired to enlist the favour of the gods, such a mistake or hesitation +was enough to cause the undertaking to be abandoned irretrievably, since +success in it was believed to be impossible. Nothing, it is said, could +be more astonishing than the memory displayed by these men, while they +recited, word for word, and for nights together, the ancient traditions +of which the mutilated and mangled remains would demand the assiduous +study of several years. The office of sacred recorder (_harepo_) was +hereditary in the male line; the sons were trained in the duties from +their earliest years, but only such as were endowed with an excellent +memory could satisfy the requirements of the profession. They believed +that a good memory was a gift of the gods.[164] + + [164] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 504-507. + + +Sec. 6. _The Doctrine of the Human Soul_ + +Of the Society Islanders we are informed that "they believe every man to +have a separate being within him, named _tee_, which acts in consequence +of the impression of the senses, and combines ideas into thoughts. This +being, which we would call the soul, exists after death, and lodges in +the wooden images which are placed round the burying-places, and which +are called by the same name, _tee_."[165] When they were asked in what +part of the body the soul resides, they always answered that it was +seated in the belly or in the bowels (_I roto te obou_). They would not +admit that the brain could be the seat of thought or the heart of the +affections; and in support of their opinion they alleged the agitation +of the bowels in strong emotion, such as fear and desire.[166] Hence, +too, they called thoughts by a phrase which signifies "words in the +belly" (_parou no te oboo_).[167] + + [165] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 151 _sq._ + Compare J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, pp. 534 _sq._, 542 _sq._, where the word for soul is + given as _E-teehee_ or _Teehee_. + + [166] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431. + + [167] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 151 note *. + +But the Society Islanders did not regard the possession of a soul as a +privilege peculiar to humanity. According to Captain Cook, "they +maintain that not only all other animals, but trees, fruit, and even +stones, have souls, which at death, or upon being consumed or broken, +ascend to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass +into the mansion allotted to each."[168] Their word for soul was +_varoua_, according to Moerenhout, who adds that, "It appears that they +accorded this _varoua_ (spirit, soul) not only to man, but even in +addition to the animals, to plants, to everything that vegetates, grows +or moves on the earth."[169] + + [168] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 151. + + [169] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 430. + +They thought that the soul of man could be separated for a time from the +body during life without causing immediate death. Thus, like many other +peoples, they explained dreams by the supposed absence of the soul +during slumber. We are told that "they put great confidence in dreams, +and suppose in sleep the soul leaves the body under the care of the +guardian angel, and moves at large through the regions of spirits. Thus +they say, My soul was such a night in such a place, and saw such a +spirit. When a person dies, they say his soul is fled away, _h[=a]rre +p[=o]_, gone to night."[170] But they also believed that a man's soul or +spirit could be conjured out of his body by magic art or demoniacal +agency. Thus, when people had been robbed, they would sometimes call in +the help of a priest to ascertain the thief. In such a case the priest, +after offering prayers to his demon, would direct them to dig a hole in +the floor of the house and to fill it with water; then, taking a young +plantain in his hand, he would stand over the hole and pray to the god, +whom he invoked, and who, if he were propitious, was supposed to conduct +the spirit of the thief to the house and to place it over the water. The +image of the spirit, which they believed to resemble the person of the +man, was, according to their account, reflected in the water and +perceived by the priest, who was thus able to identify the thief, +alleging that the god had shown him the reflection of the culprit in the +water.[171] From this it appears that in the opinion of the Society +Islanders, as of many other peoples, a man's soul or spirit is a +faithful image of his body.[172] + + [170] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 346. In the Polynesian languages + _po_ is the word both for "night" and for "the shades," the + primaeval darkness from which all forms of life were evolved, + and to which the souls of the dead return. See E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 342, _s.v._ "po." + + [171] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 378 _sq._ + + [172] Compare W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396, "What their precise + ideas of a spirit were, it is not easy to ascertain. They + appear, however, to have imagined the shape or form resembled + that of the human body, in which they sometimes appeared in + dreams to the survivors." + +They believed that in the pangs of death the soul keeps fluttering about +the lips, and that, when all is over, it ascends and mixes with or, as +they expressed it, is eaten by the deity.[173] When one of their sacred +recorders (_harepo_), who had been famous in his life for his knowledge +of the ancient traditions, was at the point of death, it was customary +for his son and successor to place his mouth over the mouth of the dying +man, as if to inhale the parting soul at the moment of quitting the +body; for in this way he was supposed to inherit the lore of his father. +The natives, it is said, were convinced that these sages owed their +learning to this expedient, though none the less they studied day and +night to perfect themselves in their profession.[174] + + [173] J. Cook, _op. cit._ vi. 150. + + [174] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 507. + + +Sec. 7. _Disease, Death, and Mourning_ + +Every disease was supposed to be the result of direct supernatural +agency, and to be inflicted by the gods for some crime committed against +the law of taboo of which the sufferer had been guilty; or it might have +been brought upon him by an enemy, who had compassed his destruction by +means of an offering. They explained death in like manner: according to +them, it was invariably caused by the direct influence of the gods.[175] +They acknowledged, indeed, that they possessed poisons which, taken with +food, produced convulsions and death, but these effects they traced to +the anger of the gods, who employed the drugs as their material agents +or secondary causes. Even when a man was killed in battle, they still +saw in his death the hand of a god, who had actually entered into the +weapon that inflicted the fatal blow.[176] + + [175] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 433, 538 _sqq._ + + [176] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 395 _sq._ + +The gods who were thus supposed to afflict human life with sickness and +disease and to bring it to an untimely termination in death were not +always nor perhaps usually the high primaeval deities; often they were +the souls of the dead, who ranked among the domestic divinities +(_oromatuas_). And, like the Maoris,[177] the natives of the Society +Islands are said to have stood in particular fear of the souls of dead +infants, who, angered at their mother for their too early death, took +their revenge by sending sickness on the surviving members of the +family. Hence when a woman was ill-treated by her husband, she would +often threaten to insult the ghost of a dead baby; and this threat, with +the deplorable consequences which it was calculated to entail, seldom +failed to bring the husband to a better frame of mind; or if he happened +to prove recalcitrant, the other members of the family, who might be +involved in the calamity, would intercede and restore peace in the +household. Thus we are told that among these islanders the fear of the +dead supplied in some measure the place of natural affection and +tenderness in softening and humanising the general manners.[178] + + [177] See above, p. 49. + + [178] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 538 _sq._ + +Disease and death were also attributed to the malignant charms of +sorcerers, who, hired by an enemy of the sufferer, procured for the +purpose the clipped hair or the spittle of their intended victim, the +flowers or garment he had worn, or any object which had touched his +person. But the real agents who were thought to give effect to the +charms were the minor deities, whom the sorcerer employed to accomplish +his nefarious ends. For this purpose he put the hair or other personal +refuse of the victim in a bag along with the images and symbols of the +petty divinities, and buried the bag and its contents in a hole which he +had dug in the ground. There he left it until, applying his ear to the +hole, he could hear the soul of the sufferer whimpering down below, +which proved that the charm was taking effect. If the intended victim +got wind of these machinations, it was always in his power to render +them abortive, either by sacrificing to the gods or by sending a present +to the sorcerer, who thus was feed by both sides at the same time.[179] + + [179] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 539-541. Compare W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ i. 363 _sqq._ + +However, most cases of sickness apparently were set down not to the +wiles of sorcerers, but to the displeasure of the deified spirits of the +dead.[180] On this point the evidence of the early missionaries is +explicit. Speaking of the Society Islanders, they say that "they regard +the spirits of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into +_eatooas_ [_atuas_, deities], and their favour to be secured by prayers +and offerings. Every sickness and untoward accident they esteem as the +hand of judgment for some offence committed; and therefore, if they have +injured any person, they send their peace-offering, and make the matter +up: and if sick, send for the priest to offer up prayers and sacrifices +to pacify the offended _eatooa_; giving anything the priests ask, as +being very reluctant to die."[181] "As it is their fixed opinion, that +no disease affects them but as a punishment inflicted by their _eatooa_ +[_atua_] for some offence, and never brought on themselves by +intemperance or imprudence, they trust more to the prayers of their +priests than to any medicine."[182] + + [180] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 543. + + [181] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. + + [182] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 404. + +They imagined that at death the soul (_varua_) was drawn out of the head +by a god or spirit (_atua_) as a sword is drawn out of its scabbard, and +that the spirits of the dead often waited to catch it at the moment when +it issued from the body. Sometimes the dying man would fancy that he saw +the spirits lurking for him at the foot of the bed, and would cry out in +terror, "They are waiting for my spirit. Guard it! Preserve it from +them!"[183] + + [183] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396. + +When the last struggle was over, a priest or diviner (_tahua tutera_) +was called in to ascertain the cause of death. For this purpose he +entered his canoe and paddled slowly along on the sea, near the house in +which the dead body was lying, in order to watch the passage of the +departing spirit; for they thought that it would fly towards him with +the emblem of the cause through which the person had died. If he had +been cursed by the gods, the spirit would appear with a flame, fire +being the agent employed in the incantations of the sorcerers, who had +presumably drawn down the curse upon the deceased. If some enemy had +bribed the gods to kill him, the spirit would come with a red feather, +as a sign that evil spirits had entered into his food. After a short +time the diviner returned to the house, announced the cause of death to +the survivors, and received his fee, the amount of which was regulated +by the circumstances of the family. After that a priest was employed to +perform ceremonies and recite prayers for the purpose of averting +destruction from the surviving members of the family; but the nature of +the ceremonies has not been recorded.[184] + + [184] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 398 _sq._ + +When it was manifest that death was approaching, the relatives and +friends, who had gathered round the sufferer, broke into loud +lamentations and other demonstrations of sorrow, which redoubled in +violence as soon as the spirit had departed. Then they not only wailed +in the loudest and most affecting tone, but tore out their hair, rent +their garments, and cut themselves with shark's teeth or knives in a +shocking manner. The instrument usually employed was a small cane, about +four inches long, with five or six teeth fixed into it on opposite +sides. Struck forcibly into the head, these instruments wounded it like +a lancet, so that the blood poured down in copious streams. Every woman +at marriage provided herself with one of these implements and used it +unsparingly on herself on the occasion of a death in the family. Some +people, not content with this instrument of torture, provided themselves +with a sort of mallet armed with two or three rows of shark's teeth; and +with this formidable weapon, on the demise of a relative or friend, they +hammered themselves unmercifully, striking their skulls, temples, +cheeks, and breast, till the blood flowed profusely from the wounds. At +the same time they uttered the most deafening and agonising cries; and +what with their frantic gestures, the distortion of their countenances, +their torn and dishevelled hair, and the mingled tears and blood that +trickled down their bodies, they presented altogether a horrible +spectacle. This self-inflicted cruelty was practised chiefly by women, +but not by them alone; for the men on these occasions committed the like +enormities, and not only cut themselves, but came armed with clubs and +other deadly weapons, which they sometimes plied freely on the bodies of +other people. These dismal scenes began with the nearest relatives of +the deceased, but they were not confined to them. No sooner did the +tidings spread, and the sound of wailing was heard throughout the +neighbourhood, than friends and kinsfolk flocked to the spot and joined +in the demonstrations of real or affected sorrow. The pageant of woe +reached its climax when the deceased was a king or a principal chief. It +was then, above all, that the tenants and retainers came armed with +bludgeons and stones, with which they fought each other till some of +them were wounded or slain; while others operated on themselves by +tearing their hair and lacerating their bodies in the usual manner till +their bodies were bedabbled with blood. After the introduction of +firearms into the islands, these lethal weapons lent variety and noise +to the combats, as well as adding to the number of the slain. At the +death of a person of distinction these exhibitions of frenzied sorrow +sometimes lasted two or three days in succession, or even longer.[185] +On such occasions a body of armed men, composed of friends and allies, +used to arrive from a neighbouring district and request to be allowed +access to the body of the chief, in order that they might mourn for him +in due form. The request was always refused by the bodyguards, who kept +the last vigil over their departed lord; and in consequence a fight +ensued in which several warriors were generally wounded or killed. Yet +it was only a sham fight, which seems to have always ended in a victory +for the mourners who had come from a distance; and when it was over, +victors and vanquished regularly united in performing the usual +sanguinary rites of mourning. In all the islands wrestling matches, +combats, and assaults-at-arms were ordinary features of the obsequies of +chiefs.[186] + + [185] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 407-409; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ p. 352; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 546 _sq._ + + [186] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 551 _sq._ + +The blood which women in the paroxysms of grief drew from their bodies, +and the tears which flowed from their eyes, were received on pieces of +cloth, which were then thrown upon or under the bier as oblations to the +dead.[187] Sometimes for this purpose a woman would wear a short apron, +which she held up with one hand, while she cut herself with the other, +till the apron was soaked in blood. Afterwards she would dry it in the +sun and present it to the bereaved family, who kept it as a token of the +estimation in which the departed had been held.[188] Some of the younger +mourners used also to cut off their hair and throw it under the bier +with the other offerings.[189] When the deceased was a child, the +parents, in addition to other tokens of grief, used to cut their hair +short on one part of their heads, leaving the rest long; sometimes they +shaved a square patch on the forehead; sometimes they left the hair on +the forehead and cut off all the rest; at other times they removed all +the hair but a lock over one or both ears; or again they would clip +close one half of the head, while on the other half the tresses were +suffered to grow long; and these signs of mourning might be continued +for two or three years.[190] + + [187] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 135, 218; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560. + + [188] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410. + + [189] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218; J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 560. + + [190] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 352 _sq._ + +Captain Cook tells us that the custom observed by mourners of offering +their own blood, tears, and hair to their departed relative or friend +"is founded upon a notion that the soul of the deceased, which they +believe to exist in a separate state, is hovering about the place where +the body is deposited: that it observes the actions of the survivors, +and is gratified by such testimonies of their affection and grief."[191] +This explanation, in perfect harmony with the vigilance, vanity, and +jealousy commonly ascribed to ghosts, is in all probability correct. Yet +it deserves to be noticed that the custom of voluntarily hacking the +body with shark's teeth to the effusion of blood was singularly enough +practised by the Society Islanders on occasions of joy as well as of +sorrow. When a husband or a son returned to his family after a season of +absence or exposure to danger, his arrival was greeted, not only with +the cordial welcome and the warm embrace, but with loud wailing, while +the happy wife or mother cut her body with shark's teeth, and the +gladder she was the more she gashed herself.[192] Similarly many savage +peoples weep over long-absent friends, or even over strangers, as a +polite form of greeting in which genuine sorrow can hardly be supposed +to play a part.[193] It is difficult to see how such observances can be +based on superstition; apparently the emotion of joy may express itself +in very different ways in different races. + + [191] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 218 _sq._ + + [192] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 410; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. + 196, 362. + + [193] See _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, ii. 82 _sqq._ + +The natives stood in great fear of the spirits of the dead, which were +supposed to haunt the places of their former abode and to visit the +habitations of men, but seldom on errands of mercy or benevolence. They +woke the survivors from their slumbers by squeaking noises to upbraid +them with their past wickedness or to reproach them with the neglect of +some ceremony, for which the ghosts were compelled to suffer. Thus the +people imagined that they lived in a world of spirits, which surrounded +them night and day, watching every action of their lives and ready to +revenge the smallest slight or the least disobedience to their +injunctions, as these were proclaimed to the living by the priests. +Convulsions and hysterics, for example, were ascribed to the action of +spirits, which seized the sufferer, scratched his face, tore his hair, +or otherwise maltreated him.[194] + + [194] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 406. + +This fear of the spirits of the dead induced the Society Islanders to +resort to some peculiar ceremonies for the protection of the living +against the ghosts of persons who had recently died. One of these quaint +rites was performed by a priest, who went by the name of the +"corpse-praying priest" (_tahua bure tiapa-pau_). When the corpse had +been placed on a platform or bier in a temporary house, this priest +ordered a hole to be dug in the earth or floor, near the foot of the +platform, and over this hole he prayed to the god by whom the spirit of +the deceased had been summoned to its long home. The purport of the +prayer was that all the dead man's sins, and especially that for which +his soul had been called to the region of Night (_po_), should be +deposited in that hole, that they should not attach in any degree to the +survivors, and that the anger of the god might be appeased. The priest +next addressed the corpse, usually saying, "With you let the guilt now +remain." The pillar or post of the corpse, as it was called, was then +planted in the hole, earth was thrown over the guilt of the departed, +and the hole filled up. After that, the priest proceeded to the side of +the corpse, and taking some small slips of plantain leaf-stalk he fixed +two or three of them under each arm, placed a few on the breast, and +then, addressing the dead body, said, "There are your family, there is +your child, there is your wife, there is your father, and there is your +mother. Be satisfied yonder (that is, in the world of spirits). Look not +towards those who are left in this world." The concluding parts of the +ceremony were designed to impart contentment to the deceased, and to +prevent his spirit from repairing to the places of his former resort, +and so distressing the survivors. This was considered a most important +ceremony, being a kind of mass for the dead and necessary as well for +the peace of the living as for the quiet of the departed. It was seldom +omitted by any who could pay the priest his usual fees, which for this +service generally took the form of pigs and cloth, in proportion to the +rank or possessions of the family.[195] + + [195] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 401-403. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 552. + +Soon after the decease of a chief or person of distinction, another +singular ceremony, called a _heva_, was performed by the relatives or +dependants, who personated the ghost of the departed. The principal +actor in the procession was a priest or kinsman who wore a curious dress +and an imposing head-ornament called a _parae_. A cap or turban of thick +native cloth was fitted close to the head; in front were two broad +mother-of-pearl shells that covered the face like a mask, with only a +small aperture through which the wearer could look in order to find his +way. Above the mask were fixed a number of long, white, red-tipped +feathers of the tropic bird, diverging like rays and forming a radiant +circle; while beneath the mask was a thin yet strong board curved like a +crescent, from which hung a sort of network of small pieces of brilliant +mother-of-pearl, finely polished and strung together on threads. The +depth of this network varied according to the taste or means of the +family, but it was generally nine inches or a foot, and might consist of +ten to fifteen or twenty perfectly straight and parallel rows. The +labour of making this mother-of-pearl pendant must have been immense; +for many hundred pieces of the shell had to be cut, ground down to the +requisite thinness, polished and perforated, without the use of iron +tools, before a single line could be fixed upon the head-dress. Fringed +with feathers, the pendant formed a kind of ornamental breastplate or +stomacher. Attached to it was a garment composed of alternate stripes of +black and yellow cloth, which enveloped the body and reached sometimes +to the loins, to the knees, or even to the ankles.[196] On his back the +masker wore an ample cloak or mantle of network covered with glossy +pigeon's feathers of a bluish colour. The costume appears to have been +intended as a disguise to prevent the spectators from recognising the +wearer; for George Forster, who has given us an elaborate description of +it, observes that "an ample hood of alternate parallel stripes of brown, +yellow, and white cloth descends from the turban to cover the neck and +shoulders, in order that as little as possible of the human figure may +appear."[197] + + [196] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 412 _sq._ Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, i. 135 _sq._, 138, 219; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 547-549. + + [197] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 74. For the full + description of the garb, see _id._, ii. 71-75; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. + 450-453. + +In this strange garb the chief mummer, who was usually the nearest +relation of the deceased, carried in one hand a formidable weapon, +consisting of a staff about five feet long, one end of which was rounded +to serve as a handle, while the other end broadened out into a sort of +scythe, of which the inner or concave side was armed with a row of large +strong shark's teeth fixed in the wood. In the other hand he bore a kind +of clapper formed of two pearl-oyster shells, beautifully polished. Thus +attired and equipped, he led a procession either from the house of the +deceased, or, according to another account, from a valley to which, as +if under a paroxysm of grief, the party had retired at the death of the +person for whom the ceremony was performed; and as he walked along he +continued to rattle or jingle the shells against each other to give +notice of his approach. With him walked a number of men and boys, naked +except for a girdle, armed with cudgels, their faces and bodies painted +black, red, and white with charcoal and coloured earths. In this +impressive style the mummers marched through the district, the people +everywhere fleeing in terror at the sight of them, and even deserting +the houses at their approach. For whenever the leader caught sight of +any one, he ran at him, and if he overtook the fugitive, belaboured him +with his sharp-toothed club, to the grievous mauling of the unfortunate +wretch; while, not to be behind their leader, the assistants plied their +bludgeons on the bodies of all and sundry who chanced to fall into their +hands. At such times safety was only to be found in the king's temple, +which served on this as on other occasions as a sort of sanctuary or +place of refuge. Having thus scoured the country, the mummers marched +several times round the platform where the body was exposed, after which +they bathed in a river and resumed their customary apparel. This +performance was repeated at intervals for five moons, but less and less +frequently as the end of the time approached. The longer it lasted, the +greater was the honour supposed to be done to the dead. The relatives +took it in turn to assume the fantastic dress and discharge the office +of leader. Throughout the ceremonies the performers appeared and acted +as if they were deranged. They were supposed to be inspired by, or at +all events to represent, the spirit of the deceased, to revenge any +injury he might have received, or to punish those who had not shown due +respect to his remains.[198] Hence we may infer that the whole of this +quaint masquerade was designed to appease the anger of the ghost, and so +to protect the survivors by preventing him from returning to take +vengeance on them for any wrongs or slights he might have suffered at +their hands. + + [198] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 138 _sq._, 219; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 560 + _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 413 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 549 _sq._ According to Ellis, the mummers were supposed + to be inspired by the spirit of the deceased; according to + Moerenhout, they were not inspired by, but merely represented, + the ghost. The difference between spiritual representation and + inspiration is somewhat fine; too fine perhaps to be apprehended + by Tahitian intelligence. Forster says that the procession + started from the house of the deceased, Ellis that it started + from a valley. + +The same fear of the returning ghost is clearly expressed in a prayer +which the natives used to address to a dead relative at burial. They put +blossoms of bread-fruit and leaves of the edible fern under the arms of +the corpse, and as they did so, they prayed, saying, "You go to the Po +[Night, the World of Shades], plant bread-fruit there, and be food for +the gods; but do not come and strangle us, and we will feed your swine +and cultivate your lands."[199] + + [199] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 322. + + +Sec. 8. _The Disposal of the Dead_ + +The heat of the climate, by hastening the decomposition of dead bodies, +rendered it necessary that corpses should be speedily removed or treated +so as to preserve them for a time from decay. As such treatment was +generally too costly for the poor and even the middle ranks of society, +families belonging to these classes were usually obliged to inter their +dead on the first or second day after the decease. During the short +intervening period the body, resting on a bed of fragrant green leaves, +was placed on a sort of bier covered with white cloth and decorated with +wreaths and garlands of sweet-smelling flowers. Round it sat the +relatives, giving vent to their grief in loud and continued +lamentations, and often cutting their temples, faces, and breasts with +shark's teeth, till they were covered with blood from their +self-inflicted wounds. The bodies were frequently committed to the grave +in deep silence; but sometimes a father would deliver a pathetic oration +at the funeral of his son.[200] The grave was generally shallow and the +corpse was deposited in a bent posture, with the hands tied to the knees +or to the legs.[201] + + [200] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 399 _sq._ + + [201] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 553 _sq._ + +But in the families of chiefs the custom was to submit the bodies of the +dead to a sort of embalming and to preserve them above ground for a +time.[202] The Tahitians had a tradition of a rude or unpolished period +in their history, when the bodies of the dead were allowed to remain in +the houses in which they lived, and which were still occupied by the +survivors. A kind of stage or altar was erected in the dwelling, and on +it the corpse was deposited. But in a later and more polished age, which +lasted till the advent of Europeans, the practice was introduced of +building separate houses or sheds for the lodgment of corpses.[203] + + [202] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400. + + [203] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404. + +These houses or sheds (_tupapows_) were small temporary buildings, often +neatly constructed. The thatched roof rested on wooden pillars, which +were seldom more than six feet high. The body was laid on a bier or +platform raised on posts about three feet from the ground. This bier was +movable, for the purpose of being drawn out, and of exposing the body to +the rays of the sun. The body was usually clothed or covered with cloth, +and for a long time it was carefully rubbed with aromatic oils once a +day. The size of these charnel-houses varied with the rank of the +persons whose bodies they contained; the better sort were enclosed by +railings. Those which were allotted to people of the lower class just +sufficed to cover the bier, and were not railed in. The largest seen by +Captain Cook was eleven yards long. Such houses were ornamented +according to the taste and abilities of the surviving kindred, who never +failed to lay a profusion of good cloth about the body, and sometimes +almost covered the outside of the house.[204] + + [204] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135, 217, 218; J. Wilson, + _op. cit._ pp. 84, 212 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 404; J. A. + Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 547. + +But before the corpse was deposited in one of these temporary +structures, it was shrouded in cloth and carried on a bier to the +sea-shore, where it was set down on the beach at the water's edge. There +a priest, who accompanied the procession, renewed the prayers which he +had offered over the body both at the house and on its passage to the +shore. Further, he took up water in his hands and sprinkled it towards +the corpse, but not upon it. These prayers and sprinklings he repeated +several times, and between the repetitions the body was carried back +some forty or fifty yards from the sea, only to be brought back again to +the water's edge. While these ceremonies were being performed, the +temporary house or shed was being prepared, in which the corpse was to +remain until the flesh had wholly wasted from the bones. Thither it was +then carried from the beach and laid upon the bier.[205] + + [205] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 217 _sq._ Compare J. R. Forster, + _Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, p. 559. + +The practice of embalming appears to have been long familiar to the +natives of the Society Islands. The methods employed by them were +simple. Sometimes the juices were merely squeezed out of the corpse, +which was then exposed to the sun and anointed with fragrant oils. At +other times, and apparently more usually, the bowels, entrails, and +brains were extracted, and the cavities filled with cloth soaked in +perfumed oils, which were also injected into other parts of the body. +Scented oils were also rubbed over the outside daily: every day the +corpse was exposed to the sun in a sitting posture: every night it was +laid out horizontally and often turned over, that it might not remain +long on the same side. By these means, combined with the heat of the sun +and the dryness of the atmosphere, the process of desiccation was +effected in the course of a few weeks: the muscular parts and the eyes +shrivelled up; and the wizened body resembled a skeleton covered with +parchment or oilcloth. Thus reduced to a mummy, it was clothed and fixed +in a sitting attitude: a small altar was erected before it; and +offerings of fruit, food, and flowers were daily presented by the +relatives or by the priest who was appointed to attend to it. For if the +deceased was a chief of high rank or great renown, a priest or other +person was set apart to wait upon the corpse and to present food to its +mouth at different hours of the day. They supposed that the soul still +hovered over the mouldering remains and was pleased by such marks of +attention. Hence during the exposure of the body in the temporary house +the mourners would sometimes renew their lamentations there, and, +wounding themselves with shark's teeth, wipe off the blood on a cloth, +and deposit the bloody rag beside the mummy as a proof of their +affection. In this state the desiccated body was preserved for many +months till the flesh had completely decayed; Ellis was of opinion that +the best-preserved of these mummies could not be kept for more than +twelve months. The bones were then scraped, washed, and buried within +the precincts of the family temple (_morai_), if the deceased was a +chief; but if he was a commoner, they were interred outside of the holy +ground. However, the skull was not buried with the bones; it was +carefully wrapt in fine cloth and kept in a box by the family, it might +be for several generations. Sometimes the box containing the skull was +deposited at the temple, but often it was hung from the roof of the +house.[206] At marriage the skulls of ancestors were sometimes brought +out and set before the bride and bridegroom in order, apparently, to +place the newly wedded pair under the guardianship of the ancestral +spirits who had once animated these relics of mortality.[207] In time of +war victorious enemies would sometimes despoil the temples of the +vanquished and carry off the bones of famous men interred in them; these +they would then subject to the utmost indignity by converting them into +chisels, borers, or fish-hooks. To prevent this sacrilege the relations +of the dead conveyed the bones of their chiefs, and even the bodies of +persons who had lately died, to the mountains and hid them in caverns +among the most inaccessible rocks and lofty precipices of these wild +solitudes.[208] Where the mountains advance to the coast, many of these +caves exist in the face of cliffs overhanging the sea; for the most part +they are situated in places which Europeans can reach only with the help +of ropes and ladders, though the natives, it is said, can clamber up the +steepest crags with ease. Few even of the islanders know the situation +of the caverns, and fewer still will consent to act as guides to the +curious stranger who may wish to explore their recesses; for the fear of +the ghosts, who are supposed to haunt these ancient depositories of the +dead, is yet deeply rooted in the native mind. Moreover, the mouths of +the caves are generally so low and overgrown with shrubs and creepers +that they may easily be overlooked by an observer standing in front of +them. Some of the grottos are said to be still full of skulls, or were +so down to the end of the nineteenth century.[209] The mummies as well +as the bones were liable to be captured by an invader, and were esteemed +trophies not less glorious than foemen slain in battle. Hence during an +invasion the mummies were generally the first things to be carried off +for safety to the mountains.[210] + + [206] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 93 _sq._, 135 _sq._, 218, 219, vi. + 47 _sq._; J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage + round the World_, pp. 561 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 212 + _sq._, 363 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 400 _sq._, 404 _sq._, + 405 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 554. + + [207] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 272, who observes that the + survivors "considered the spirits of the proprietors of these + skulls as the guardian spirits of the family." + + [208] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 405. + + [209] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 37 + _sq._, 81 _sq._, 83. + + [210] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + +A dangerous pollution was supposed to be contracted by all who had +handled a corpse. Hence the persons employed in embalming a body were +carefully shunned by every one else so long as the process lasted, +because the guilt of the crime for which the deceased had died was +supposed to attach in some degree to such as touched his mortal remains. +The embalmers did not feed themselves, lest the food, defiled by the +touch of their polluted hands, should cause their death; so they were +fed by others.[211] This state of uncleanness lasted for a month, during +which the tabooed persons were forbidden to handle food as well as to +put it into their own mouths.[212] + + [211] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403. + + [212] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 363. + +Again, when the ceremony of depositing the sins of the deceased in a +hole[213] was over, all who had touched the body or the garments of the +deceased, which were buried or destroyed, fled precipitately into the +sea to cleanse themselves from the pollution which they had incurred by +contact with the corpse; and they cast into the sea the garments they +had worn while they were engaged in the work. Having bathed, they +gathered a few pieces of coral from the bottom of the sea, and returning +with them to the house, addressed the dead body, saying, "With you may +the pollution be." With these words they threw down the pieces of coral +on the top of the hole that had been dug to receive all the objects +defiled by their connexion with the deceased.[214] + + [213] See above, p. 305. + + [214] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 403. + +When a person had died of an infectious disorder, the priests entreated +him to bury the disease with him in the grave and not to inflict it upon +other people, when he revisited them as a ghost. They also threw a +plantain into the grave, and either buried with him or burned all his +utensils, that nobody might be infected by them.[215] + + [215] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 364. + + +Sec. 9. _The Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The natives of the Society Islands believed in the immortality of the +human soul, or at all events in its separate existence after death[216]; +they thought that no person perishes or becomes extinct.[217] On its +departure from the body the spirit, now called a _tee_, _teehee_, or +_tii_, was supposed to linger near its old habitation, whether the +mouldering remains exposed on the bier, or the bones buried in the +earth, or the skull kept in its box. In this state the spirits were +believed to lodge in small wooden images, seldom more than eighteen +inches high, which were placed round about the burial-ground.[218] These +images are variously said to have borne the same name (_tee_, _teehee_) +as the spirits which inhabited them,[219] or to have been called by a +different name (_unus_)[220]. Specimens of these images were seen by +George Forster in Tahiti. He says that round about the _marai_ (_morai_) +of Aheatua, at that time King of Tiarroboo, "were placed +perpendicularly, or nearly so, fifteen slender pieces of wood, some +about eighteen feet long, in which six or eight diminutive human figures +of a rude unnatural shape were carved, standing above each other, male +or female promiscuously, yet so that the uppermost was always a male. +All these figures faced the sea, and perfectly resembled some which are +carved on the sterns of their canoes, and which they call _e-tee_."[221] +To the same effect George Forster's father, J. R. Forster, observes that +"near the _marais_ are twenty or thirty single pieces of wood fixed into +the ground, carved all over on one side with figures about eighteen +inches long, rudely representing a man and a woman alternately, so that +often more than fifteen or twenty figures may be counted on one piece of +wood, called by them _Teehee_."[222] But the souls of the dead, though +they inhabited chiefly the wooden figures erected at the temples or +burial-grounds (_marais_, _morais_), were by no means confined to them, +and were dreaded by the natives, who believed that during the night +these unquiet spirits crept into people's houses and ate the heart and +entrails of the sleepers, thus causing their death.[223] + + [216] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 222, vi. 150. + + [217] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. + + [218] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, pp. 552, 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, + ii. 151 _sq._ + + [219] J. R. Forster and G. Forster, _ll.cc._ + + [220] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 348, "the _unus_, or + curiously carved pieces of wood marking the sacred places of + interment, and emblematical of _tiis_ or spirits." + + [221] G. Forster, _op. cit._ i. 267. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 461, "_Les images des Tiis etaient placees aux + extremites des marais et gardaient l'enceinte des terres + sacrees_." + + [222] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 544 _sq._ In the southern + peninsula of Tahiti, both on the coast and inland, Captain Cook + saw many sepulchral buildings, and he described them as + "decorated with many carved boards, which were set upright, and + on the top of which were various figures of birds and men: on + one in particular there was the representation of a cock, which + was painted red and yellow, to imitate the feathers of that + animal, and rude images of men were, in some of them, placed one + upon the head of another." See J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 150 _sq._ + These "carved boards" were no doubt of the same sort as the + _tees_ or _teehees_ described by the two Forsters. No other + writer seems to mention the figures of birds carved on them. + + [223] J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ p. 543. + +However, the Society Islanders appear to have been by no means +consistent in the views which they held concerning the fate of the soul +after death. Like many other people, they seem to have wavered between a +belief that the souls of the dead lingered invisible near their old +homes and the belief that the disembodied spirits went away to a distant +land, where all human souls, which have departed this life, met and +dwelt together. Or perhaps it might be more correct to say, that instead +of wavering between these two inconsistent beliefs, they held them both +firmly without perceiving their inconsistency. At all events these +islanders believed that either at death or at some time after it their +souls departed to a distant place called _po_ or Night, the common abode +of gods and of departed spirits.[224] Thither the soul was conducted by +other spirits, and on its arrival it was eaten by the gods, not all at +once, but by degrees. They imagined that the souls of ancestors or +relatives, who ranked among the gods, scraped the different parts of the +newly arrived spirit with a kind of serrated shell at different times, +after which they ate and digested it. If the soul underwent this process +of being eaten and digested three separate times, it became a deified or +imperishable spirit and might visit the world and inspire living +folk.[225] According to one account, the soul was cooked whole in an +earth-oven, as pigs are baked on earth, and was then placed in a basket +of coco-nut leaves before being served up to the god whom the deceased +had worshipped in life. "By this cannibal divinity he was now eaten up; +after which, through some inexplicable process, the dead and devoured +man emanated from the body of the god, and became immortal."[226] In the +island of Raiatea the great god Oro was supposed to use a scallop-shell +"to scrape the flesh from the bones of newly deceased bodies, previous +to their being converted into pure spirits by being devoured by him, and +afterwards transformed by passing through the laboratory of his cannibal +stomach."[227] This process of being devoured by a god was not conceived +of as a punishment inflicted on wicked people after death; for good and +bad souls had alike to submit to it. Rather, Captain Cook tells us, the +natives considered "this coalition with the deity as a kind of +purification necessary to be undergone before they enter a state of +bliss. For, according to their doctrine, if a man refrain from all +connexion with women some months before death, he passes immediately +into his eternal mansion, without such a previous union; as if already, +by this abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from the general +lot."[228] A slightly different account of this process of spiritual +purification is given by the first missionaries to Tahiti. They say that +"when the spirit departs from the body, they have a notion it is +swallowed by the _eat[=o]oa_ (_atua_) bird, who frequents their +burying-places and _morais_, and passes through him in order to be +purified, and be united to the deity. And such are afterwards employed +by him to attend other human beings and to inflict punishment, or remove +sickness, as shall be deemed requisite."[229] + + [224] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396. Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ + p. 346; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 431; D. Tyerman and G. + Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 330. + + [225] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 396 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. + cit._ i. 433. + + [226] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and + Travels_, i. 273; compare _ib._ pp. 330 _sq._ + + [227] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 521 _sq._ + + [228] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150. + + [229] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 345 _sq._ + +In spite of the purification which the souls of the dead underwent by +passing through the body of a god or of a divine bird, they were +believed to be not wholly divested of the passions which had actuated +them in life on earth. If the souls of former enemies met in the world +beyond the grave, they renewed their battles, but apparently to no +purpose, since they were accounted invulnerable in this invisible state. +Again, when the soul of a dead wife arrived in the spirit land, it was +known to the soul of her dead husband, if he had gone before, and the +two renewed their acquaintance in a spacious house, called _tourooa_, +where the souls of the deceased assembled to recreate themselves with +the gods. After that the pair retired to the separate abode of the +husband, where they remained for ever and had offspring, which, however, +was entirely spiritual; for they were neither married nor were their +embraces supposed to be like those of corporeal beings.[230] + + [230] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 150 _sq._ + +In general the situation of _po_ or the land of the dead seems to have +been left vague and indefinite by the Society Islanders; apparently they +did not, like the Western Polynesians, imagine it to be in some far +western isle, to reach which the souls of the departed had to cross a +wide expanse of sea.[231] However, the natives of Raiatea had very +definite ideas on this mysterious subject. They thought that _po_ was +situated in a mysterious and unexplored cavern at the top of the highest +mountain in the island. This cavern, perhaps the crater of a volcano, +was said to communicate, by subterranean passages, with a cave on the +coast, the opening of which is so small that a child of two years could +hardly creep into it. Here an evil spirit (_varu iino_) was said to lurk +and, pouncing out on careless passers-by, to drag them into the darkest +recesses of his den and devour them. After the conversion of the natives +to Christianity the missionaries were shown the spot. Near it were the +ruins of a temple of the war god, where multitudes of the corpses of +warriors slain in battle had been either buried or left to rot on the +ground. The missionaries saw many mouldering fragments of skeletons. Not +far off a cape jutted into the sea, up the lofty and precipitous face of +which the souls of the dead were said to climb on their way to their +long home in the cavern at the top of the mountain. A native informant +assured the missionaries that he had often seen them scaling the dizzy +crag, both men and women.[232] + + [231] See above, pp. 87 _sq._, 214 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._ + + [232] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 537 _sq._ + +In the island of Borabora the fate even of kings after death was +believed to be a melancholy one. Their souls were converted into a piece +of furniture resembling an English hat-stand; only in Borabora the +corresponding utensil was the branch of a tree with the lateral forks +cut short, on which bonnets, garments, baskets, and so forth were +suspended. The natives very naturally concluded that in the other world +a similar stand was wanted for the convenience of the ghosts, to hang +their hats and coats on. Kings who shrank from the prospect of being +converted into a hat-stand after death made interest with the priest to +save them from such a degradation. So when a king who had been great and +powerful in life saw his end approaching, he would send to the priests +the most costly presents, such as four or five of the largest and +fattest hogs, as many of the best canoes, and any rare and valuable +European article which he happened to possess. In return the priests +prayed for him daily at the temples till he died; and afterwards his +dead body was brought to one of these sacred edifices and kept upright +there for several days and nights, during which yet larger gifts were +sent by his relatives, and the most expensive sacrifices offered to the +idols. The decaying corpse was then removed, placed on a canoe, and +rowed out on the lagoon as far as an opening in the reef, only to be +brought back again in like manner; while all the time the priests +recited their prayers and performed their lugubrious ceremonies +over it on the water as well as on the land. Finally, the mouldering +remains were laid out to rot on a platform in one of the usual +charnel-houses.[233] + + [233] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 331 _sq._ + +Conversion into a hat-stand was not, perhaps, the worst that could +happen to the soul of a Society Islander after death. In the island of +Raiatea there is a lake surrounded by trees, the tops of which appear +curiously flat. On this verdant platform the spirits of the newly +departed were said to dance and feast together until, at a subsequent +stage of their existence, they were converted into cockroaches.[234] The +souls of infants killed at birth were supposed to return in the bodies +of grasshoppers.[235] + + [234] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 522. + + [235] J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 455. + +But the Society Islanders were far from thinking that the souls of the +dead herded together indiscriminately in the other world. They imagined +that the spirits were discriminated and assigned to abodes of different +degrees of happiness or misery, not according to their virtues or vices +in this life, but according to the rank which they had occupied in +society, one receptacle of superior attractions being occupied by the +souls of chiefs and other principal people, while another of an inferior +sort sufficed to lodge the souls of the lower orders. For they did not +suppose that their good or bad actions in this life affected in the +least their lot in the life hereafter, or that the deities took account +of any such distinction. Thus their religion exerted no influence on +their morality.[236] Happiness and misery in the world beyond the +grave, we are told, "were the destiny of individuals, altogether +irrespective of their moral character and virtuous conduct. The only +crimes that were visited by the displeasure of their deities were the +neglect of some rite or ceremony, or the failing to furnish required +offerings."[237] + + [236] J. Cook, i. 222. Compare _id._, vi. 150; J. R. Forster, + _Observations made on a Voyage round the World_, pp. 553 _sqq._ + + [237] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 397. Compare J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 433. + +The Society Islanders, especially the natives of the Leeward Islands, +believed that some of the souls of the dead were destined to enjoy a +kind of heaven or paradise, which they called _Rohutu noanoa_, +"sweet-scented Rohutu." This blissful region was supposed to be near a +lofty and stupendous mountain in the island of Raiatea, not far from the +harbour Hamaniino. The mountain went by the name of _Temehani unauna_, +"splendid or glorious Temehani." It was probably the same with the lofty +mountain on whose summit popular fancy placed the _po_ or common abode +of the dead.[238] But the paradise was invisible to mortal eyes, being +situated in the regions of the air (_reva_). The country was described +as most lovely and enchanting in appearance, adorned with flowers of +every shape and hue, and perfumed with odours of every fragrance. The +air was pure and salubrious. Every sort of delight was to be enjoyed +there; while rich viands and delicious fruits were supplied in abundance +for the celebration of sumptuous festivals. Handsome youths and women +thronged the place. But these honours and pleasures were only for the +privileged orders--the chiefs and the members of the society of the +Areois--for only they could afford to pay the heavy charges which the +priests exacted for a passport to paradise; common folk seldom or never +dreamed of attempting to procure for their relatives admission to the +abode of bliss. Even apart from the expense of getting to heaven, it is +probable that the sharp distinction kept up between chiefs and commoners +here on earth would be expected to be maintained hereafter, and to +exclude every person of the humbler sort from the society of his betters +in the future life.[239] The other less exclusive, and no doubt less +expensive, place for departed spirits, in contrast to "sweet-scented +Rohutu," went by the significant name of "foul-scented Rohutu"; but over +the nature of the substances which earned for it this unsavoury +appellation our missionary authority preferred to draw a veil.[240] + + [238] See above, p. 317. + + [239] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._, 397; J. A. Moerenhout, + _op. cit._ i. 434 _sq._ + + [240] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, p. 476. + +According to one account, the souls of the dead were supposed to gather +in the sun, where they feasted with the god Maouwe or O-Mauwee (Maui) on +bread-fruit and the flesh of pigs or dogs, and drank never-ending +draughts of kava.[241] + + [241] J. R. Forster, _Observations made during a Voyage round + the World_, p. 553; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. + 151. + +But wherever the souls of the dead were imagined to dwell, we may infer +that they were credited with the power of returning to earth for a +longer or shorter time to benefit or injure the living. For we have seen +that sickness and death were commonly ascribed to the action of these +spirits,[242] which seems to imply that they revisited this sublunary +world on their errands of mischief. Accordingly, whenever the natives +approached by night one of the charnel-houses in which dead bodies were +exposed, they were startled "in the same manner that many of our +ignorant and superstitious people are with the apprehension of ghosts, +and at the sight of a churchyard." Again, the souls of the departed were +sometimes thought to communicate with their friends in dreams and to +announce to them things that should afterwards come to pass, thus +enabling the dreamer to foretell the future. Foreknowledge thus +acquired, however, was confined to particular persons, and such favoured +dreamers enjoyed a reputation little inferior to that of the inspired +priests. One of them prophesied to Captain Cook on the strength of a +communication vouchsafed to him by the soul of his deceased father in a +dream; but the event proved that the ghost was out in his reckoning by +five days.[243] + + [242] See above, pp. 299 _sqq._ + + [243] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 152. + +The fear of ghosts in the minds of the Society Islanders has long +survived their conversion to Christianity; indeed, we are informed that +it is as rampant as ever. No ordinary native would dare to visit one of +the lonely caves where the mouldering bones or skulls of his forefathers +were deposited for safety in days of old.[244] At one point on the +western coast of Tahiti, where the mountains advance in precipices close +to the sea, the road which skirts their base is a place of fear to the +natives. For in these precipices are caves full of skulls, and the +ghosts who reside in the caverns are reported sometimes to weary of +their own society and to come down to the road for company, where in a +sportive vein they play all sorts of tricks on passers-by. Not so long +ago three Tahitians were riding home at dusk from Papeete, where they +had been drinking rum. Just at the pass under the cliff they were +surprised by ghosts, who threw them into the ditch at the side of the +road. So great is the dread which the natives entertain of apparitions +at this spot that the Government has been compelled to divert the road, +so that it no longer skirts the foot of the haunted mountain, but gives +it a wide berth, and runs in a long sweep by the edge of the sea.[245] + + [244] A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_, p. 37. + + [245] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 83 _sq._ + +Again, at another point on the west coast of Tahiti, where mighty +mountains, a glorious sea, and little coral islands with their groves of +palms, offer a view of enchanting beauty, there is said to be a cave +containing the skulls of chiefs in a jutting cliff half-way up the +mountain. The cave was in charge of an old man in whose family the +office of guardian was hereditary. It had been entrusted to him by his +father on his deathbed, and the son had kept the secret faithfully ever +since. In vain did a traveller seek to persuade the old man to guide him +to the cave; in vain did the chief himself beg of him to reveal the +grotto which concealed the mouldering relics of his forefathers. The +guardian was obdurate; he believed that the world was not wide enough to +hold two men who knew the holy place. He assured the traveller that +nobody could reach the cave without the help of the ghosts, so +perpendicular and so smooth was the face of the cliff that led up to it. +When he himself wished to make his way to it, his custom was to go to +the foot of the crag and pray, till the spirits came and wafted him +lightly up and down again; otherwise it would have been a sheer +impossibility for him to ascend and descend.[246] + + [246] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 81 _sq._ + + +Sec. 10. _The Worship of the Dead_ + +The belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead, and in their +power to help or harm the living, naturally led the Society Islanders, +like so many other peoples of the world, to propitiate these powerful +beings, to sue their favour, or to appease their anger by prayer and +sacrifice, in short, to worship them. On this subject the first +missionaries to these islanders tell us that, in addition to the greater +gods, "for general worship they have an inferior race, a kind of _dii +penates_. Each family has its _tee_ or guardian spirit: he is supposed +to be one of their departed relatives, who, for his superior +excellences, has been exalted into an _eatooa_ (_atua_). They suppose +this spirit can inflict sickness or remove it, and preserve them from a +malignant deity who also bears the name _tee_, and is always employed in +mischief."[247] "Every family has its _tee_, or guardian spirit, whom +they set up, and worship at the _morai_."[248] "They regard the spirits +of their ancestors, male and female, as exalted into _eatooas_ (_atuas_) +and their favour to be secured by prayers and offerings. Every sickness +and untoward accident they esteem as the hand of judgment for some +offence committed."[249] As for the mischievous spirit who bore the same +name as the worshipful spirit of a dead ancestor, the missionaries say +that "the evil demon named _Tee_ has no power but upon earth; and this +he exercises by getting into them with their food, and causing madness +or other diseases; but these they imagine their tutelar saints, if +propitious, can prevent or remove."[250] + + [247] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 344. + + [248] T. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 343. + + [249] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 345. "The general name for deity, + in all its ramifications, is _eatooa_" (_id._ p. 343). + + [250] J. Wilson, p. 346. + +We may suspect that the missionaries were mistaken in thus sharply +distinguishing between an "evil demon" and a "tutelar saint," both of +whom went by the same name (_tee_). Probably the "evil demon" and the +"tutelar saint" were alike supposed to be souls of dead persons, with +this difference between them, that whereas the one had been good and +beneficent in his life, the other had been bad and maleficent; for it +is a common belief that the dead retain in the other world the character +and disposition which they manifested on earth, and that accordingly as +disembodied spirits they may benefit or injure their surviving +relatives.[251] Thus according to his character and behaviour in this +present state of existence a person's ghost may naturally develop either +into a god or into a devil. + + [251] In confirmation of my conjecture that the missionaries + mistook a general name (_tee_, otherwise spelled _tii_) for the + name of a particular demon, I may point out that the naturalist + J. R. Forster before them seems to have fallen into precisely + the same mistake with regard to another general name for + departed spirits (_oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_). Thus he writes: + "Besides these divinities of the second class, there are others + of a still inferior rank, and though called _Eatooas_, are no + more than what the Greek or Roman mythologists would have called + _Genii_, or _Dii minorum gentium_: one of them, called + _Orometooa_, is of a malignant disposition, resides chiefly near + the _Marais_ and _Toopapous_ (places of burial) and in or near + the boxes, or little chests, including the heads of their + deceased friends, each of which, on that account, is called + _Te-wharre no te Orometooa_, the house of the evil genius + _Orometooa_, The people at Taheitee are of opinion, that if + their priests invoke this evil genius, he will kill, by a sudden + death, the person on whom they intend to bring down the + vengeance of this divinity." See J. R. Forster, _Observations + made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 541 _sq._ In this + passage we can hardly doubt that "this evil genius," Orometooa, + is simply the _oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, the spirits of the + dead, by means of whom sorcerers were supposed to injure or + destroy any one at whom they or their employers had a grudge. + See above, p. 299, and below, pp. 323 _sqq._ + +It is to be feared that in the case of Tahitian ghosts the course of +spiritual evolution was rather in the direction of devilry than of +deity. At least this conclusion seems forced on us by the account which +William Ellis, perhaps our best authority on Tahitian religion, gives of +the character of these worshipful beings. I will reproduce it in his own +words. + +"The objects of worship among the Tahitians, next to the _atua_ or gods, +were the _oramatuas tiis_ or spirits. These were supposed to reside in +the _po_, or world of night, and were never invoked but by wizards or +sorcerers, who implored their aid for the destruction of an enemy, or +the injury of some person whom they were hired to destroy. They were +considered a different order of beings from the gods, a kind of +intermediate class between them and the human race, though in their +prayers all the attributes of the gods were ascribed to them. The +_oramatuas_ were the spirits of departed fathers, mothers, brothers, +sisters, children, etc. The natives were greatly afraid of them, and +presented offerings to avoid being cursed or destroyed, when they were +employed by the sorcerers. + +"They seem to have been regarded as a sort of demons. In the Leeward +Islands, the chief _oramatuas_ were spirits of departed warriors, who +had distinguished themselves by ferocity and murder, attributes of +character usually supposed to belong to these evil genii. Each +celebrated _tii_ was honoured with an image, through which it was +supposed his influence was exerted. The spirits of the reigning chiefs +were united to this class, and the skulls of deceased rulers, kept with +the images, were honoured with the same worship. Some idea of what was +regarded as their ruling passion, may be inferred from the fearful +apprehensions constantly entertained by all classes. They were supposed +to be exceedingly irritable and cruel, avenging with death the slightest +insult or neglect, and were kept within the precincts of the temple. In +the _marae_ of Tane at Maeva, the ruins of their abode were still +standing when I last visited the place. It was a house built upon a +number of large strong poles, which raised the floor ten or twelve feet +from the ground. They were thus elevated, to keep them out of the way of +men, as it was imagined they were constantly strangling, or otherwise +destroying, the chiefs and people. To prevent this, they were also +treated with great respect; men were appointed constantly to attend +them, and to keep them wrapped in the choicest kinds of cloth, to take +them out whenever there was a _pae atua_, or general exhibition of the +gods; to anoint them frequently with fragrant oil; and to sleep in the +house with them at night. All this was done, to keep them pacified. And +though the office of calming the angry spirits was honourable, it was +regarded as dangerous, for if, during the night or at any other time, +these keepers were guilty of the least impropriety, it was supposed the +spirits of the images, or the skulls, would hurl them headlong from +their high abodes, and break their necks in the fall."[252] + + [252] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_. i. 334-336. + +The difference in power and dignity between the great national gods +(_atuas_) and the spirits of deceased relations (_oramatuas tiis_) might +be measured by the size of their images; for whereas the images of the +gods were six or eight feet long, those of the spirits were not more +than so many inches.[253] But while these malignant and irritable +spirits--the souls of dead fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and +children--resided generally either in their little images or in their +skulls, they were not strictly confined to these material vehicles; they +resorted occasionally to the shells from the seashore, especially to a +beautiful kind of murex, the _Murex ramoces_. These shells were kept by +the sorcerers, and the peculiar singing or humming sound that may be +heard when the valve is applied to the ear was imagined to proceed from +the demon in the shell.[254] + + [253] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 337. + + [254] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363. + +It was these malignant and dangerous demons whom the sorcerer employed +as his agents to execute his fell purposes. But to effect them he had to +secure something connected with the body of his intended victim, it +might be the parings of his nails, a lock of his hair, his spittle or +other bodily secretions, or else a portion of the food which he was +about to eat. Over this material substance, whatever it was, the +sorcerer recited his incantations and performed his magical rites either +in his own house or in his private temple (_marae_). The result was +believed to be that the demon entered into the substance, and through it +passed into the body of the man at whom the enchanter aimed his elfish +darts. The wretched sufferer experienced the acutest agonies; his +distortions were frightful to witness; his eyes seemed starting from his +head; he foamed at the mouth; he lay writhing in anguish on the ground; +in short, to adopt the native expression, he was torn by the evil +spirit. Yet his case was not hopeless; the demon could be mollified by a +bribe, or defeated by the intervention of a more powerful demon. Hence, +when any one was believed to be suffering from the incantations of a +sorcerer, if he or his friends were rich enough they engaged another +sorcerer for a fee to counteract the spells of the first and so to +restore the health of the invalid. It was generally supposed that the +efforts of the second sorcerer would be crowned with success if only the +demon whom he employed were equally powerful with that at the command of +his rival, and if the presents which he received for his professional +services were more valuable. In order to avoid the danger of being thus +bewitched through the refuse of their persons, the Tahitians used +scrupulously to burn or bury their shorn hair, lest it should fall into +the hands of enchanters.[255] + + [255] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 363-370. + +It is possible that some even of the great national gods were no more +than ghosts of dead men, whose human origin was forgotten. There is some +reason for supposing that this was true of Hiro, the god of thieves. On +the one hand, this deity was reputed to be the son of the great god +Oro;[256] and when a mother desired her child to grow up a clever thief, +she repaired to a temple, where the priest, on receipt of the requisite +offerings, caught the spirit of the god in a snare and infused it into +the infant, thus ensuring the future proficiency of the infant in the +arts of theft and robbery.[257] Yet, in spite of these claims to +divinity, there are some grounds for thinking that Hiro was himself +originally no better than a thief and a robber. He is said to have been +a native of Raiatea, from whose sacrilegious fingers not even the +temples and altars of the gods were safe. His skull was shown in a large +temple of his own construction in that island down to the early years of +the nineteenth century. His hair, too, was stuffed into the image of his +reputed father, the god Oro, and perished when that image was committed +to the flames by the early converts to Christianity.[258] + + [256] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 112, 125. + + [257] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the + South Sea Islands_, pp. 466 _sq._ + + [258] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 254 _sq._ As to + Hiro, the god of thieves, see also J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ + i. 447-449. + +Once a year the Society Islanders celebrated a festival accompanied by +rites, of which one has been compared to the Roman Catholic custom of +performing a mass for the benefit of souls in purgatory. The festival +was called "the ripening of the year," and the time for its observance +was determined by the blossoming of reeds. It was regularly observed in +the island of Huahine, and vast multitudes assembled to take part in it. +As a rule, only men engaged in the pagan festivals, but at this +particular one women and children were also present, though they were +not allowed to enter the sacred enclosure. The celebration was regarded +as a kind of annual acknowledgment made to the gods. Prayers were +offered at the temple, and a sumptuous banquet formed part of the +festival. At the close of the festival every one returned to his home, +or to his family temple (_marae_), there to offer special prayers for +the spirits of departed relatives, that they might be liberated from the +_po_, or state of Night, and might either ascend to paradise +("sweet-scented Rohutu") or return to this world by entering into the +body of one of its inhabitants. But "they did not suppose, according to +the generally received doctrine of transmigration, that the spirits who +entered the body of some dweller upon earth, would permanently remain +there, but only come and inspire the person to declare future events, or +execute any other commission from the supernatural beings on whom they +imagined they were constantly dependent."[259] + + [259] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 351 _sq._ Compare + J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 502 note^1, 523. + +Hence we learn that the spirits of the dead as well as the gods were +believed to be capable of inspiring men and revealing to them the +future. In this, as in other respects, the dead were assimilated to +deities. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE MARQUESANS + + +Sec. 1. _The Marquesas Islands_ + +The Marquesas are an archipelago of eleven or twelve chief islands in +the South Pacific, situated about nine hundred miles to the north-east +of Tahiti. They fall into two groups, which together stretch in a +direction from north-west to south-east, from 8 deg. to 11 deg. of South +latitude. The south-eastern group, of which Hivaoa (Dominica) is the +largest island, was discovered by the Spanish Admiral Alvaro Mendana de +Neyra in 1595, but, so far as appears, it was not again visited by +Europeans until 1774, when Captain Cook touched at the islands on his +second voyage. Curiously enough, the north-westerly group, of which +Nukahiva is the largest and most important island, remained unknown +until 1791, when it was discovered by the American Captain Ingraham, who +named the group the Washington Islands. About a month later, in June +1791, the French navigator Marchand visited the same islands, and in +1797 the first missionary, William Crook, was landed from the missionary +ship _Duff_. The whole archipelago is now known as the Marquesas, a name +which the Spanish Admiral Mendana bestowed on the islands discovered by +him in honour of the Marquess de Canete, Viceroy of Peru, by whose order +the voyage had been undertaken.[1] + + [1] Captain J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274 _sqq._; G. Forster, + _Voyage round the World_, ii. 5 _sqq._; C. P. Claret Fleurieu, + _Voyage round the World performed by E. Marchand_ (London, + 1801), i. 27 _sqq._, 55 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to + the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. lxxiii. _sqq._, 127 _sqq._; A. + J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), i. + 136; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._, 12 _sq._; Le P. Mathias + G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 7 + _sqq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles + Marquises_ (Paris, 1877), pp. 1 _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die + Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 235 _sq._; F. H. H. Guillemard, + _Australasia_, ii. 522. + +The islands are of volcanic formation, lofty and mountainous. The +interior consists generally of a range of mountains some three thousand +feet high, from which a series of spurs descend steeply to the coast, +terminating for the most part in tremendous cliffs, at the foot of which +the great rollers break in foam; for with a single exception there are +no coral reefs, and a ship can sail in deep water within a cable's +length of the rocks. Viewed at a distance from the sea, the aspect of +the islands is somewhat stern and forbidding. Bare mountains, jagged +peaks, sometimes lost in the clouds, and an iron-bound coast of black +and beetling crags, buffeted eternally by the surf, make up a gloomy +picture; but a nearer view discloses verdant valleys nestling between +the ridges which radiate from the central mountains. These valleys are +watered by mountain streams and clothed with dense tropical vegetation, +their luxuriant green offering an agreeable contrast to the bareness and +aridity of the frowning precipices and sharp peaks which soar above +them. Cascades tumbling from high cliffs into the depths of the glens +add to the beauty and charm of the scenery. So steep and precipitous are +the ridges which divide these smiling vales from each other that the +ascent and descent are in many places both difficult and dangerous even +for the natives; European mountaineers need to have stout limbs and +steady heads to accomplish them in safety. Hence in former days each +valley contained a separate tribe, which was commonly in a state of +permanent hostility towards its neighbours across the mountain +barriers.[2] Of these tribes the most famous were the warlike and +dreaded Taipiis or Typees, who occupied a beautiful valley at the +eastern end of Nukahiva, and in their mountain fastness deemed +themselves inaccessible to their enemies. However, in the early part of +the nineteenth century an American naval officer, Captain David Porter, +succeeded, not without great difficulty, in carrying havoc and +devastation into these sylvan scenes.[3] Later in the century a runaway +American sailor, Hermann Melville, spent more than four months as a +captive in the tribe, and published an agreeable narrative of his +captivity; but never having mastered the language, he was not able to +give much exact information concerning the customs and beliefs of the +natives.[4] As there is no maritime plain interposed between the +mountains and the shore, the only way of passing from one valley to +another is either to go by sea or to clamber over the intervening +ridges. It would be materially impossible, we are told, unless at +enormous and ruinous cost, to make a road or even a mule-path round any +of the Marquesas Islands, as has been done in Tahiti.[5] + + [2] As to the formation and scenery of the islands, see + Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110; C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the + South Seas_ (London, 1832), i. 193 _sqq._; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840), + i. 299 _sqq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 8 _sq._, 17 _sq._, and + _passim_ (_Everyman's Library_); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, + _op. cit._ pp. 84 _sq._; Clavel, _Les Marquisiens_ (Paris, 1885) + pp. 1 _sq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 236 _sq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 522 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue + Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. 192 _sq._, 220 _sqq._ As to + the extreme difficulty of scaling the mountains and precipices + to pass from one valley to another, see particularly M. + Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 101 _sq._, + note. + + [3] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the + Pacific Ocean_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 86 _sqq._ + + [4] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_, no + date). The first edition of this book was published in 1846. + Melville's residence among the Taipiis (Typees) fell in the year + 1841. + + [5] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 85. + +Despite their situation in the heart of the tropics, the Marquesas enjoy +an extremely healthy climate subject to none of the inconveniences +usually incidental to countries in the same latitude; endemic and +epidemic diseases are alike unknown. European soldiers can work in the +sun without accident and without exhaustion.[6] The climate has been +described as an eternal spring, without winter or even autumn; though a +perpetual succession of ripe fruits may seem to lend an autumnal air to +the landscape, which yet is never chilled by hoar frosts or saddened by +the sight of bare boughs and fallen leaves.[7] Even in the hottest days +a cool wind blows from the sea, and at night there is a breeze from the +land. Rain falls during some months of the year, especially from May or +June to August or September; but on the whole there is little variation +in the seasons;[8] the Marquesan year has been described as one long +tropical month of June just melting into July.[9] Yet we are told that +the northern islands sometimes suffer from droughts which may last for +years; at such times vegetation languishes, till a fresh cloud-burst +restores the verdure of the trees and grass as by magic.[10] It is then, +too, that the cascades everywhere enliven the landscape by the glitter +and roar of their tumbling waters, which, after dropping from the +height, flow rapidly down their steep beds into the sea.[11] + + [6] M. Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_ (Paris, 1882), pp. 304 + _sq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. + + [7] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 94. + + [8] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. Compare M. + Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, pp. 304 _sq._ + + [9] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 220. + + [10] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 222 _sq._ + + [11] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 304. + + +Sec. 2. _Physical Appearance of the Natives_ + +Observers are generally agreed that from the purely physical point of +view the Marquesan islanders are, or used to be, the noblest specimens +of the Polynesian race. Captain Cook remarked that "the inhabitants of +these islands collectively are, without exception, the finest race of +people in this sea. For fine shape and regular features, they perhaps +surpass all other nations."[12] To the same effect the naturalist George +Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, gives his impression of a crowd +of Marquesan men, among whom were no women. He says: "They were tall, +and extremely well limbed; not one of them unwieldy or corpulent like a +Taheitian, nor meagre and shrivelled like a native of Easter Island. The +punctuation" (by which he meant the tattooing) "which almost entirely +covered the men of a middle age, made it difficult to distinguish their +elegance of form; but among the youths, who were not yet marked or +tattooed, it was easy to discover beauties singularly striking, and +often without a blemish, such as demanded the admiration of all +beholders. Many of them might be placed near the famous models of +antiquity, and would not suffer in the comparison: + + "_Qualis aut Nireus fuit, aut aquosa + Raptus ab Ida."_ + HOR. + +"The natural colour of these youths was not quite so dark as that of the +common people in the Society Isles; but the men appeared to be +infinitely blacker, on account of the punctures which covered their +whole body, from head to foot. These punctures were disposed with the +utmost regularity; so that the marks on each leg, arm, and cheek, and on +the corresponding muscles, were exactly similar. They never assumed the +determinate form of an animal or plant, but consisted of a variety of +blotches, spirals, bars, chequers, and lines, which had a most motley +appearance."[13] + + [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 284. + + [13] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 14 _sq._ Compare + Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 152 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage + round the World_ (London, 1814), p. 85; G. H. von Langsdorff, + _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812), i. 92 _sqq._; + Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 96 _sqq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 216 _sqq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. + cit._ p. 39. + +Similarly, speaking of the Taipiis or Typees, Melville observes, "In +beauty of form they surpassed anything I had ever seen. Not a single +instance of natural deformity was observable in all the throng attending +the revels. Occasionally I noticed among the men the scars of wounds +they had received in battle; and sometimes, though very seldom, the loss +of a finger, an eye, or an arm, attributable to the same cause. With +these exceptions, every individual appeared free from those blemishes +which sometimes mar the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their +physical excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from these +evils; nearly every individual of their number might have been taken for +a sculptor's model."[14] As to their stature, the same writer affirms +that "the men, in almost every instance, are of lofty stature, scarcely +ever less than six feet."[15] Similarly Captain Porter tell us that +"they are far above the common stature of the human race, seldom less +than five feet eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three +inches, and every way proportioned. Their faces are remarkably handsome, +with keen, piercing eyes; teeth white, and more beautiful than ivory; +countenances open and expressive, which reflect every emotion of their +souls; limbs which might serve as models for a statuary, and strength +and activity proportioned to their appearance."[16] Another observer +remarks of them that "the natives bear the palm for personal beauty +from most other of the Polynesian tribes. The men are tall and muscular, +though rather slightly framed; their deportment is graceful and +independent; their features are handsome, and partake more of the +European regularity of profile than is usual with Polynesian +islanders."[17] The nose is straight or aquiline, sometimes short or +slightly flattened, but never ill-shaped: the mouth is never large nor +the lips thick: the forehead is rather low and somewhat retreating.[18] +The hair is almost always straight or wavy; men or women with frizzly +hair are very seldom seen, especially in the north-western group. The +colour of the skin, where it is not darkened by tattooing, is a clear +brown, resembling the bronzed appearance acquired by Europeans through +exposure to a tropical sun.[19] The women are both absolutely and +relatively shorter than the men; indeed Melville describes them as +"uncommonly diminutive." Their complexion is lighter; in the parts of +the body which are seldom exposed to the sun they are even said to +appear as white as European women. Their features are good, but rather +pretty than beautiful; their hands and feet are very shapely. Unlike the +men, who are, or used to be, tattooed from head to foot, the women were +tattooed very little, and that chiefly on the lips.[20] They took pains +to whiten their skin by avoiding exposure to the sun and by washing +themselves with the juice of a small native vine,[21] or by smearing +themselves with a cosmetic in which the yellow of the turmeric root +predominated.[22] + + [14] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 194. + + [15] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 195. + + [16] David Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 58 _sq._ + + [17] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 304. + + [18] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 169. + + [19] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 39. + + [20] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 39 _sq._; H. Melville, + _Typee_, p. 195. + + [21] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, i. 231 _sq._, who + speaks highly of the beauty of the women. But the general + opinion appears to be that the Marquesan women are much less + handsome than the men. See Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 94-96; + Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 59. + + [22] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 308 _sq._ + + +Sec. 3. _Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fishing_ + +The Marquesans subsist chiefly on a vegetable diet. Their staple food is +the bread-fruit, and their national dish is a paste called _popoi_, +which is prepared from bread-fruit after it has been subjected to a +process of fermentation. Fish is also a common article of diet; the +natives usually eat it raw, even when it is rotten and stinking. They +keep pigs, but seldom kill them except for a festival or at the +reception of a stranger. Hence pork is not a regular or common article +of diet with them; and apart from it they hardly taste flesh. Other +sorts of food, such as bananas, taro, and sugar-cane, are entirely +subsidiary to the great staples, bread-fruit and fish. The natives do +not readily accustom themselves to a European diet; indeed when the +experiment has been made of feeding them exclusively in our manner, they +have wasted away and only recovered their health when they were allowed +to return to their usual nourishment. Their ordinary beverage was water, +but they were also addicted to the drinking of kava, which was extracted +from the root of the _Piper methysticum_ in the usual fashion.[23] +Drawing their sustenance chiefly from the bread-fruit tree, the +Marquesans paid little attention to the cultivation of the soil; +however, they grew a certain amount of taro, sweet potatoes, and +sugar-cane; and they had plantations of the paper-mulberry,[24] the bark +of which was manufactured by the women into cloth in the ordinary way. +But the bark of other trees was also employed for the same purpose. +Since the natives were able to procure European stuffs, the indigenous +manufacture of bark-cloth has much declined.[25] Hence agriculture +engaged the men very little; fishing, though it was part of their +business, they are said to have neglected; the only work of consequence +they did was to build their houses and manufacture their arms, but these +employments occupied them only occasionally.[26] + + [23] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 42-44; Clavel, _Les + Marquisiens_, pp. 3 _sqq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 27 + _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 106-108; Fleurieu, _op. cit._ + i. 115 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 50-55; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 316 _sq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 120-124, 179; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 277 _sq._; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._, 144 _sq._; A. Baessler, + _op. cit._ pp. 208-211. As to the preparation and drinking of + kava among the Marquesans, see also M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 64-66. + + [24] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 53; + C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 213 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 345 (who says that the only root the natives cultivate + for food is the sweet potato); Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. + 148, 149; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 18. + + [25] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 122 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. + 116; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. + 158-160, 210; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 137 _sq._; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 53 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ 55 + _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ 19. + + [26] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164. + +The weapons of the warriors were clubs, spears, and slings. The slings +were made of coco-nut fibre, and the natives were very expert in the use +of them. Bows and arrows were unknown.[27] Like the rest of the +Polynesians, the Marquesans were totally ignorant of the metals until +they acquired them from Europeans. Their tools were made of stone, bone, +and shell. Thus they employed a pointed stone to bore holes with, and an +axe of black, hard stone for cutting. The axe-head was shaped like an +elongated wedge or mortise-chisel, and was fastened to the haft by +coco-nut fibre. Some of these axes weighed as much as twenty-five +pounds. The natives also used sharp-edged or toothed shells as cutting +implements, and borers made of pointed bones; while rough fish-skins +served them as polishers.[28] Like the rest of the Polynesians, they +kindled fire by the method known as the stick-and-groove, that is, by +rubbing the sharp point of one stick against the flat surface of +another, so as to form a groove in it and, by continued friction, to +elicit smoke and a glow, which, with the help of dry leaves, is nursed +into a flame. Contrary to the usage of some peoples, the Marquesans +employed the same kind of wood for both the fire-sticks, either a +species of hibiscus (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_) or a species of poplar +(_Thespesia populnea_); for this purpose they split a branch in two, +lengthwise, and used the two pieces as the fire-sticks. In former days +these fire-sticks were regularly kept in every native house.[29] + + [27] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 118 _sq._; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ + i. 162; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 88; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. + 152 (bows and arrows unknown); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, + _op. cit._ pp. 282 _sq._ + + [28] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 121; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. + 162. + + [29] H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 118 _sq._; Clavel, _Les + Marquisiens_, pp. 11 _sq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. + 20; D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 116; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. + 143. + +The Marquesan houses are regularly built on stone platforms, oblong or +square in shape, and raised above the ground to heights varying from one +to four, eight, or even ten feet. The higher platforms are approached +from the ground by ladders or notched poles. The houses, constructed of +timber and bamboo, are oblong in shape, and comprise a high back wall, +generally inclined forward at an angle, from which the thatched roof +slopes down steeply to a low front wall, while two short walls close the +house at either end. The door is in the middle of the front wall, and +is so low that it is necessary to stoop in entering. Sometimes the +fronts of the houses are entirely open except for the low pillars which +support the roof. The interior of the house forms a single chamber +undivided by partitions. Two trunks of coco-nut palms extend parallel to +each other along the whole length of the floor at an interval of four or +five feet; the innermost log, a foot or two distant from the back wall, +forms a pillow on which the heads of the sleepers rest, while the other +supports their feet or legs. The space between the two logs is paved +with stone, and spread with mats. In the single apartment the whole +family live and sleep. Such at least were the domestic arrangements in +the old days. The size of the houses naturally varies. Some of them +measure eighty feet by forty, others only twenty-five feet by ten, or +even less.[30] + + [30] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 285 _sq._; G. Forster, _op. cit._ + pp. 21, 24; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 131, 134 _sq._; Lisiansky, + _op. cit._ p. 84; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 159; Langsdorff, + _op. cit._ i. 109-111; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 39 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 209-211, 212, 267 _sq._; Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 302 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. 81-83; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 274-276; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 122-129; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 36-38; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._; Clavel, + _op. cit._ pp. 15 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 200-208. + +The platforms on which the houses are built consist often of large +blocks of stone neatly and regularly laid without mortar or cement, in a +style which would do no discredit to European masons.[31] Sometimes the +stones are described as enormous blocks of rock,[32] some of which would +require ten or twelve men to carry or roll them.[33] Water-worn +boulders, washed down from the mountains in the bed of torrents, were +especially chosen for the purpose.[34] + + [31] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 109 _sq._ + + [32] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 129. + + [33] Langsdorff, _l.c._ + + [34] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 15. + +Sometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses were raised above +the ground on posts from eight or ten to sixteen feet high. Such houses +were lightly built of wood and thatched; the floor was an open work of +split bamboos. Sometimes these raised dwellings resembled the ordinary +Marquesan house in structure; at other times they were quadrangular, +with perpendicular walls and an ordinary roof. They were approached by +ladders and resembled the habitations in use among the Malay tribes of +the Indian Archipelago. No dwellings of this type have been noticed in +Nukahiva, the principal island of the archipelago; but they have been +seen and described in Tauata (Santa Christina) and Hivaoa +(Dominica).[35] + + [35] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 303 _sq._; Baessler, _op. + cit._ pp. 207 _sq._ + +The Marquesans built canoes of various sizes, the smaller for fishing, +the larger for war. These latter might be from forty to fifty feet long. +They were fitted with outriggers. The prow had an ornamental projection +rudely carved to represent the head of an animal. Sometimes the prows of +war canoes were decorated with the skulls of slaughtered enemies. But in +general the Marquesans appear to have been inferior to the other South +Sea islanders in the arts of canoe-building and navigation.[36] This +inferiority may perhaps have been partly due to the absence of those +lagoons which, formed by coral reefs, elsewhere enabled the natives to +acquire confidence and skill in sailing on smooth and sheltered waters. +The same cause may also, perhaps, explain why fishing was comparatively +little practised by the Marquesans. We are told that as an occupation it +was despised by such as owned a piece of land of any extent, and that +only the poorer class of people, who depended on the sea for a +livelihood, addicted themselves to it. They caught fish by means both of +nets and of lines with hooks neatly made of mother-of-pearl; also they +stupefied the fish by a certain mashed root, which the fisherman +distributed in the water by diving, and then caught the fish as they +rose to the surface.[37] + + [36] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 287; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. + 163 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 150; Porter, _op. cit._, + ii. 12-14; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 338; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 280-282. + + [37] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 163. + + +Sec. 4. _Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names_ + +The social life of the Marquesan islanders presented some peculiar +features. Thus they are said to have practised the rare custom of +polyandry. On this subject Stewart observes: "We have yet met with no +instance, in any rank of society, of a male with two wives, but are +informed that for one woman to have two husbands is a universal habit. +Some favourite in the father's household or retinue at an early period +becomes the husband of the daughter, who still remains under the +paternal roof till contracted in marriage to a second individual, on +which she removes with her first husband to his habitation, and both +herself and original companion are supported by him."[38] Melville +describes the custom in substantially the same way, and adds, "No man +has more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two +husbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not +frequent." He seems to have attributed the practice to a scarcity of +women; for he tells us that "the males considerably outnumber the +females."[39] The same view was taken at a later date by Dr. Clavel, who +observes: "In the islands where the women are in a minority we may to +this day observe tolerably numerous cases of polyandry. Thus at Ua-Una I +met some women who had each two husbands, almost always one of them +young and the other old. Such households of three are not worse than the +rest and never give rise to intestine dissensions."[40] According to +Radiguet, the right of having more husbands than one was not general and +hardly belonged to any but chieftainesses,[41] but this limitation is +denied by a good authority.[42] The Russian navigator Lisiansky, who +visited the Marquesas in 1804, seems to have supposed that the custom +was restricted to wealthy families. He says: "In rich families, every +woman has two husbands; of whom one may be called the assistant husband. +This last, when the other is at home, is nothing more than the head +servant of the house; but, in case of absence, exercises all the rights +of matrimony, and is also obliged to attend his lady wherever she goes. +It happens sometimes, that the subordinate partner is chosen after +marriage; but in general two men present themselves to the same woman, +who, if she approves their addresses, appoints one for the real husband, +and the other as his auxiliary: the auxiliary is generally poor, but +handsome and well-made."[43] + + [38] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 317. + + [39] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 203 _sq._ + + [40] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 60. + + [41] Radiguet, _op. cit._ 173. + + [42] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 111. + + [43] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 83. As to polyandry in the + Marquesas, see further E. Westermarck, _History of Human + Marriage_, Fifth Edition (London, 1921), iii. 146 _sqq._ + +Another peculiar habit of the Marquesans was to give away their children +to be adopted by other people soon after their birth. When a woman was +pregnant, she and her husband would discuss to whom they should give the +child that was about to be born. They received offers from neighbours, +and often knocked down the infant to the highest bidder; for the +adopting parents regularly made presents to the child's family, +consisting of cloth, tools, and pigs, according to the fortune of the +contracting parties. After birth the child remained with its mother for +some months till it was weaned, upon which it was sent away to its +parents by adoption, who might inhabit a different district and even a +different island. It is said to have been exceptional for parents to +bring up their own offspring.[44] + + [44] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._; Clavel, _op. + cit._ pp. 56, 61 _sq._ + +Another mode by which the Marquesans created artificial relationships +was the exchange of names. Such an exchange was equivalent to a +ratification of amity and good-will between the persons, who thereby +acquired a claim to mutual protection and the enjoyment of each other's +property and even of their wives, if they happened to be married men. +The custom was not limited to the natives; they readily exchanged names +with Europeans and granted them the privileges which flowed from the +pact. It is even said that some natives gave their own names to animals, +which thenceforth became sacred for them and for the rest of the tribe. +This led to so many inconveniences that the priests had to forbid the +practice of exchanging names with animals.[45] + + [45] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 16 _sq._, 158 _sq._; Clavel, _op. + cit._ pp. 61 _sq._ + + +Sec. 5. _Amusements, Dancing-places, Banqueting-halls_ + +A favourite amusement of the islanders was racing or combating on +stilts. A stilt was composed of two pieces, a pole of light wood which +the runner held in his hand, and a step or foot-rest of hard wood, on +which he planted one of his feet. The step or foot-rest was often +adorned with human figures curiously carved, which are said to have +represented gods. The races or combats took place on the paved areas +which were to be seen in most villages, and which formed the scene of +public entertainments. In these contests each runner or combatant tried +to get in the way of his adversary, and, balancing himself on one stilt, +to strike his rival with the other, so as to bring him to the ground +amid the laughter and jeers of the spectators. It has sometimes been +supposed that the use of stilts in the Marquesas originated in the +practical purpose of enabling people to cross a stream without wetting +their feet. But the supposition is highly improbable. For, on the one +hand, the streams in the islands are mere rivulets, which dry up for the +greater part of the year; and, on the other hand, the natives are almost +amphibious, often spending whole days in the water, and swimming for +hours without fatigue. Hence it is absurd to imagine that they invented +stilts simply to keep their feet dry at crossing a shallow stream.[46] + + [46] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 119 _sq._, 124; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 146; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 124-126; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 284; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. + 96. As for the ability of the natives to swim in the sea for + hours without fatigue, compare J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to + the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. 129. + +But perhaps the most popular recreation of the Marquesans was dancing +and singing, which formed a leading feature of their festivals. Every +inhabited district had its dancing-place, a sort of public square, where +places were set apart for the use of the performers, the musicians, and +the spectators. These have been described by the missionary, C. S. +Stewart, from personal observation. He says, "Our walk terminated at +what may be called the _theatre_ or _opera house_ of the settlement, a +large rectangular platform of stone pavement, surrounded by low terraces +also laid with stone; the first designed for the public exhibitions of +the song and the dance, and the last for the accommodation of the +spectators who assemble to witness the performance. Entertainments of +this kind are the most fashionable and favourite amusements at the +Washington and the Marquesan groups. Every inhabited district has its +_Tahua_, or public square of this kind; some of them so extensive, it is +said, as to be capable of accommodating ten thousand people."[47] Again, +speaking of another of these dancing-places, the same writer observes, +"This _Tahua_, or theatre, is a structure altogether superior to that +visited by us yesterday, and so massive and well built as to be capable +of enduring for ages. It is a regular oblong square, about sixty feet in +length and forty broad. The outer wall consists of immense stones, or +slabs of rock, three feet high, and many of them four or six feet long, +joined closely together and hewn with a regularity and neatness truly +astonishing, in view of the rude implements by which it must have been +accomplished. On a level with the top of this outer wall, a pavement of +large flat stones, several feet in width, extends entirely round, +forming seats for the chiefs, warriors, and other persons of +distinction, and singers performing the recitatives and choruses +accompanying the dance. Within this, and some inches lower, is another +pavement still wider, having large flat-topped stones fixed in it at +regular intervals of six or eight feet, used as seats by the beaters on +the drums, and other rude instruments of music, and immediately within +this again, an unpaved area, some twenty feet long by twelve broad, +constituting the stage on which the dancers exhibit their skill."[48] + + [47] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 214 _sq._ + + [48] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 233 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 265 _sq._ + +Some of these dancing-places appear to have been much larger than those +seen by Stewart. According to Langsdorff they were sometimes not less +than a hundred fathoms in length, and the great smooth pavement +consisted of blocks of stone, several feet broad, laid so neatly and so +close together that you might have imagined it to be the work of +European master-masons.[49] Radiguet describes one such dancing-place as +a rectangular area eighty metres (about two hundred and sixty feet) long +by thirty metres (about one hundred feet) broad, and surrounded by a +terrace paved with stone, on which the spectators were seated.[50] + + [49] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138. + + [50] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 195. + +The festivals (_koikas_) celebrated at these places were either +periodical or occasional. Among the periodical perhaps the most +important was that held at the ingathering of the bread-fruit harvest in +February and March. Among the occasional were those held after a +successful fishing, at the ratification of peace, and after the death +of a priest or chief, who had been raised to the rank of a deity. A +messenger decked in all the native finery repaired to the surrounding +villages inviting the inhabitants to attend the festival. Immense +numbers of hogs were killed and huge troughs filled with bread-fruit +were provided by the hosts for the banquet. The festivals were attended +not only by the people of the particular valley in which they were held, +but by the inhabitants of other valleys and even of other islands; for +so long as a festival lasted, a special taboo forbade the natives to +harm the strangers in their midst. A general truce was observed; members +of hostile tribes came to share the pleasures of the festival with the +foes whom they had recently fought, and whom they would fight again in a +few days.[51] Yet such visitors were careful to observe certain +precautions: they never came unarmed, and they always kept together on +one side of the festival ground, in order that they might rally the more +easily for mutual defence, if they should be suddenly attacked.[52] + + [51] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 236 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. + cit._ i. 318; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. + 264 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 69 _sqq._; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 192 _sq._ + + [52] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 138. + +The performers who sang and danced at these festivals for the +entertainment of the public were called _Hokis_ or _Kaioas_: they are +described as a sort of wandering troubadours or minstrels, who went from +tribe to tribe, seeking their fortune. They took great care of their +persons, which they artificially whitened. At once poets, musicians, and +dancers, they nevertheless did not enjoy the public esteem; on the +contrary, their effeminate habits incurred the contempt of a people who +had small taste for the fine arts.[53] Thus these wandering minstrels +and mountebanks would seem to have corresponded to the Areois of the +Society Islands.[54] The dances were accompanied by the beating of drums +and the songs of a chorus, it might be of a hundred and fifty singers, +who sat on the upper platform along with the chiefs and warriors. +Sometimes in the intervals between the dances a choir of women, seated +on an adjoining and elevated platform, would chant in dull monotonous +tones, clapping their hands loudly in unison with their song. The +subjects of the songs were various and were often furnished by some +passing event, such as the arrival of a ship or any less novel incident. +Not unfrequently, like ballads in our own country, the songs caught the +popular fancy and became fashionable, being sung in private by all +classes of society. So passionately addicted were the Marquesans to +these entertainments that they undertook the longest and most fatiguing +journeys from all parts of the island in order to be present at them, +carrying their food and suffering great hardships by the way; they even +came in their crazy canoes, at the hazard of their lives, from other +islands, and accepted the risk of being knocked on the head at one of +the brawls with which such gatherings usually ended.[55] + + [53] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 231. + Compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 237, who calls the + performers _Kaioi_. + + [54] See above, pp. 259 _sqq._ + + [55] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 234, 236, 237. + +Closely connected with the festivals were the banqueting-halls, as they +may be called. These were houses, or rather sheds, thatched with leaves +and open in front, where the lower end of the sloping roof was supported +on short wooden pillars, of which the upper parts were rudely carved in +the likeness of the god Tiki, thus forming a sort of Caryatids. These +sheds varied in length from thirty to sixty and even two hundred feet in +length. They stood on quadrangular stone platforms of the usual type, +ranging from three or four to six, eight, twelve, and even fifteen feet +in height. The blocks of stone put together to form the platforms were +sometimes enormous, many of them measuring eight feet long by four feet +thick and wide; and they were hewn and polished into such perfect form +as to excite the wonder of the European beholder, who reflected with +astonishment on the vast labour requisite to bring these huge rocks from +the sea and to chisel them into shape without the help of iron tools. +Access to the platforms was afforded by sloping trunks of trees notched +into steps. In these open sheds the men feasted and prayed. Before each +repast it was customary to offer to the deity a small portion of food +wrapt in leaves. Sometimes the priests would thrust the morsels into the +mouths of Tiki's grotesque images. No woman might enter these +banqueting-halls or mount the platforms on which they stood. The place +was strictly tabooed to them, and the taboo was signified in the usual +way by long pennants of white cloth attached to the posts of the +house.[56] + + [56] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 38 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ + i. 317 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 54-56; Melville, + _Typee_ pp. 93-95. Of these writers it is Porter who gives the + dimensions of some of the blocks of stone composing the + platforms and expresses his amazement at the labour involved in + their construction. He concludes his description as follows (ii. + 39): "When we count the immense numbers of such places, which + are everywhere to be met with, our astonishment is raised to the + highest, that a people in a state of nature, unassisted by any + of those artificial means, which so much assist and facilitate + the labour of the civilized man, could have conceived and + executed a work, which, to every beholder, must appear + stupendous. These piles are raised with views to magnificence + alone; there does not appear to be the slightest utility + attending them: the houses situated on them are unoccupied, + except during the period of feasting, and they appear to belong + to a public, without the whole efforts of which they could not + have been raised, and with every exertion that could possibly + have been made, years must have been requisite for the + completion of them." Of one of these structures seen by him in + the anterior of Nukahiva, Stewart observes, "The stones, bearing + marks of antiquity that threw the air of an old family mansion + around the whole, were regularly hewn and joined with the + greatest nicety, many which I measured being from four to six + feet in length, nearly as wide, and two or more deep" (_Visit to + the South Seas_, i. 267 _sq._). + + +Sec. 6. _Social Ranks, Taboo_ + +Socially the Marquesans were divided into chiefs or nobles and +commoners; but the chiefs seem to have possessed very little authority, +and to have received few outward marks of deference and respect. A +monarchical government in any proper sense of the word was unknown.[57] +The power of the chiefs, such as it was, rested mainly on their superior +wealth, particularly on their landed property; for the larger their +estates, the greater the number of the tenants whose services they could +command. Hence the government has been called aristocratic and compared +to the feudal system.[58] In a fruitful season the chiefs had a right to +a fourth part of the produce, and in other seasons a share according to +circumstances. Their dignity was hereditary.[59] There was no general +government of the archipelago as a whole. Each island was quite +independent of all the rest; and in every island there were several +independent tribes, which were generally at war with each other.[60] + + [57] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 165; Langsdorff, i. 112 _sq._; + Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 132-134; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 64; + Melville, _Typee_, p. 199; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, + _op. cit._ p. 225; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 24 _sq._ + + [58] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ 101 _sq._ + + [59] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 80. + + [60] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. + 62. + +A powerful instrument in the hands of the nobles was the taboo or +_tapu_, which, though it seems to have been originally a religious +institution,[61] was turned to political and economic account by the +chiefs and priests acting in conjunction. One of our best authorities on +the Marquesans describes the institution as a tool of despotism for the +gratification of the passions and caprices of such as could wield +it.[62] But this is a somewhat one-sided and imperfect view to take of +its scope. There is no doubt, as other good authorities on the +Marquesans have pointed out, that in the absence of a strong government +which could maintain order and protect life and property, the taboo to a +great extent served the purposes which in more civilised society are +fulfilled by laws.[63] The taboo was a sacred interdiction, a breach of +which was believed of itself to entail disastrous consequences on the +transgressor. The interdiction might be either public or private. To +give examples of public interdictions, when the quantity of breadfruit, +on which the people depended for their subsistence, was from any cause +seriously diminished in a district, the chief had the right to impose a +taboo on bread-fruit trees for twenty months, during which no one might +gather the fruit. This close time allowed the trees to recover their +strength and fertility. Similarly, if fish were scarce, the chief might +pronounce a taboo on the neighbouring bay, or a part of it, in order to +allow the fish to multiply undisturbed and replenish the sea in the +neighbourhood of human habitations. Again, in the prospect of a great +festival, a chief might lay an interdict on pigs for two or three years +in advance, in order that, when the time came, there might be plenty of +pork for the multitude at the banquet. Similarly, when the +paper-mulberry, from which the Marquesans made their bark-cloth, +threatened to give out, the chief might lay the trees under an +interdict for five years, at the end of which the crop was sure to be +magnificent.[64] In these and similar cases the taboo was of public +utility by ensuring a proper supply of the necessaries of life. However, +its imposition was not always guided by rational considerations, and +hence it sometimes failed of its purpose. For example, so long as the +bread-fruit was unripe, almost all kinds of fish were taboo and +therefore might not be eaten, and this interdiction, instead of +alleviating, tended naturally to aggravate the scarcity of food. The +reason for the taboo was a curious superstition that if any one were to +eat fish while the bread-fruit was unripe, the fruit would fall from the +trees.[65] + + [61] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 47 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 259. + + [62] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153. + + [63] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 258 _sq._; + Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._ + + [64] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 35 _sq._ Compare + Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 155. + + [65] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 118. + +But the taboo also served a useful purpose by ensuring respect for +private property, which is a fundamental condition of social prosperity. +"The priests only," we are told, "can impose a general taboo, but every +individual has a right to pronounce one upon his own property: this is +done by declaring, if his wish be to preserve a breadfruit, or a cocoa +tree, a house or a plantation, from robbery and destruction, that the +spirit of his father or of some king, or indeed of any other person, +reposes in this tree, or house, which then bears the name of the person, +and nobody ventures to attack it. If any one is so irreligious as to +break through a taboo, and should be convicted of it, he is called +_kikino_; and the _kikinos_ are always the first to be devoured by the +enemy, at least they believe it to be so, nor is it impossible that the +priests should so arrange matters as that this really happens."[66] +Again, if a man's pig had been stolen, and he suspected who had done the +deed, he would lay a taboo on the swine or other property of the thief +by giving his own name, or the name of somebody else, to the animals or +the trees or whatever it might be. After that, in the opinion of the +people, the property so named was bewitched or haunted by the spirit of +the person, whether alive or dead, whose name it bore; and this belief +sometimes sufficed to compel the thief to abandon his possessions and to +settle elsewhere.[67] A wreath of leaves or a strip of white cloth +attached to a house, a canoe, a fruit-tree, or other piece of property, +was the symbol of taboo, and in ordinary circumstances was enough to +protect it.[68] + + [66] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172. In this quotation I have + altered the spelling _tahbu_ into _taboo_. + + [67] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 116. + + [68] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 157; Melville, _Typee_, p. 230; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 264. + +But the taboo was an instrument which could be used capriciously to +thwart, as well as to further, the course of justice. Thus we read how, +under the French government of the islands, a wife set out for the +police-office to complain of the ill-treatment to which she had been +subjected by her husband. But scarcely had she put her foot outside the +door, when her husband, aware of her intention and determined to +frustrate it, called out after her, "The road from here to the +police-office is your father." On hearing that, the woman at once +stopped short, for under no circumstances would she dare to trample on +the author of her being. On the contrary, she immediately roasted two +little pigs and carried them to the tomb of her father as an offering to +appease his ghost, which might reasonably be supposed to fret at the +mere thought of being trodden under foot by his own daughter.[69] This +instructive example shows how closely the taboo was associated with the +fear and worship of the dead; by bestowing the name of a dead person on +a thing you rendered the thing inviolate, since thereby you placed it +under the immediate protection of the ghost. + + [69] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 68. + +Among the multitude of taboos which were religiously observed by the +Marquesans it is perhaps possible to detect a trace of totemism. Thus +the sting ray fish was taboo to the tribe of Houmis. Not only would they +not eat the fish, but they fled in horror if it were even shown to them. +Their horror was explained by a tradition that once on a time a great +chief of the tribe had been out fishing with his people, when a gigantic +sting ray upset their canoes and gobbled them all up.[70] This aversion +to eating and even looking at a certain species of animal, together with +a traditionary explanation based on an incident in the past history of +the tribe, is very characteristic of totemism. + + [70] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._ + + +Sec. 7. _Religion and Mythology_ + +The consideration of taboo introduces us to the subject of religion; +for, on the one hand, the foregoing evidence tends to establish a +connexion between the institution of taboo and the doctrine of the human +soul, and on the other hand some of our best authorities on the +Marquesans have stated that the taboo was believed to be an expression +of the will of the gods conveyed to the people through the mouth of a +priest.[71] The definition may be accepted, if under gods we include the +spirits of the dead, who were worshipped by the Marquesans and lent +their sanction, as we have just seen, to the taboo. + + [71] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 258; + Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 48; Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 153; + Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 65. + +The Marquesan term for a god was the usual Polynesian word _atua_ or, as +it is sometimes spelled, _etua_. But their notion of divinity, as +commonly happens, was vague. One of the earliest writers on their +religion, the Russian navigator Krusenstern, informs us that "a confused +notion of a higher being, whom they call _Etua_, does indeed exist among +them, but of these there are several kinds; the spirit of a priest, of a +king, or of any of his relations, being an _etua_. They likewise +consider all Europeans as such; for as their ideas do not extend beyond +their own horizon, they are firmly convinced that their ships come from +the clouds; and they imagine that thunder is occasioned by the +cannonading of vessels which float in the atmosphere, on which account +they entertain a great dread of artillery."[72] The _atuas_ or deities +of the Marquesans, we are told by another writer, "are numerous and vary +in their character and powers. Besides those having dominion +respectively, as is supposed, over the different elements and their most +striking phenomena, there are _atuas_ of the mountain and of the forest, +of the sea-side and of the interior, _atuas_ of peace and of war, of the +song and of the dance, and of all the occupations and amusements of +life. It is supposed by them that many of the departed spirits of men +also become _atuas_: and thus the multiplicity of their gods is such, +that almost every sound in nature, from the roaring of the tempest in +the mountains and the bursting of a thunderbolt in the clouds, to the +sighing of a breeze through the cocoa-nut tops and the chirping of an +insect in the grass or in the thatch of their huts, is interpreted into +the movements of a god."[73] + + [72] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 171. + + [73] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 240; Radiguet, + _op. cit._ pp. 218 _sq._ + +But the Marquesans, not content with deifying some men after death, +deified others in their lifetime. Amongst them there is, or rather used +to be, a class of living men "who claim the title and attributes of the +Deity; not through a professed inspiration or possession by a +supernatural influence or power, but in their own right of godship as +those who control the elements, impart fruitfulness to the productions +of the earth or smite them with blasting and sterility, and who exercise +the prerogatives of the Deity in scattering disease and wielding the +shafts of death. They are few in number, not more than one or two at +farthest on an island, and live in a seclusion and mysticism somewhat in +unison with their blasphemous pretensions. There is none at present in +the near vicinity of Taiohae,[74] though the former abode of such an +individual is pointed out at the foot of a bold cliff, high in the +mountains. The Rev. Mr. Crook gives the following account of an Atua, at +the island of Tahuata, in the Windward or Marquesan group, while he +resided there temporarily in 1797, as a missionary from the London +Missionary Society: 'He is now of great age, and has lived from early +life at Hanateiteina, in a large house surrounded by an enclosure called +the A. In the house is an altar, and from the beams within and upon the +trees around it are human carcasses, suspended with their heads downward +and scalped. No one enters the premises but his servant, except when +human sacrifices are offered. Of these, more are offered to him than to +any other of their gods, and he frequently seats himself on an elevated +scaffold in front of his house and calls for two or three at a time. He +is invoked in all parts of the island, and offerings everywhere are +made to him and sent to Hanateiteina.'"[75] Similarly a Catholic +missionary tells us that in the island of Nukahiva he was personally +acquainted with two living human deities, a priest and a priestess, both +of whom, it was said, had the right to demand the sacrifice of human +victims to themselves. He adds, however, that they did not abuse the +right, and that nobody in the world appeared more affable and polite +than these divinities; he even entertained hopes of one day baptizing +the priest.[76] Of the reverence in which the priestly class in general +was held by the people, Captain Porter remarks that "their priests are +their oracles; they are considered but little inferior to their gods; to +some they are greatly superior, and after their death they rank with the +chief divinity."[77] + + [74] The principal harbour of Nukahiva. + + [75] C. S. Stewart, _op cit._ i. 244 _sq._ Compare + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 226, 240 _sq._ + The missionary William Crook was landed in the Marquesas from + the missionary ship _Duff_ in 1797. See J. Wilson, _Missionary + Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 131 _sqq._ + + [76] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45. + + [77] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 114. + +Little seems to be recorded of the theology and mythology of the +Marquesans; but among their myths was the widespread Polynesian story of +the origin of fire. Of old, it was said, fire used to be jealously +guarded by Mahoike in the infernal regions. Hearing of its utility, Maui +descended into the nether world to steal some of the element; but he +failed to elude the vigilance of its guardian and was obliged to resort +to force to extort the boon from him. In the struggle which ensued +Mahoike lost an arm and a leg, and to save his remaining limbs he +consented to give fire to the victorious Maui. At the same time he +offered to rub it on Maui's leg; but Maui was too cunning to agree to +that, for he knew that in that case the fire which he took to earth +would not be sacred. Finally, Mahoike rubbed the fire on Maui's head, +and said to him, "Go back to the place you came from and touch with your +forehead all the trees except the _keika_: all the trees will yield you +fire."[78] + + [78] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 223 _sq._ For the names of the + Marquesan deities, among whom Tiki appears to have been the most + famous, and for some myths concerning them, see Mathias G----, + _op. cit._ pp. 40 _sqq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 221 _sqq._; + Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xix. (1847) + pp. 23 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 27 _sqq._ + +In the Marquesas there was a class of men called _tauas_, who were +supposed to possess an hereditary gift of inspiration and to become +deities after their death. They could cause a god to dwell within them. +Often at night they might be heard conversing with the divinity in their +bodies, the deity crying out in a shrill voice, while the man answered +him in his own ordinary voice. Sometimes they would make a rustling +noise with their fingers in the leaves, and say that they had been +miraculously taken through the thatch of the house and brought back +again by the door. In their fits of inspiration they became convulsed +and glared fiercely with their eyes; then, with their hands quivering +violently, they would run about, while they prophesied death to their +enemies in squeaky tones, or demanded human victims for the god by whom +they were possessed. With the function of prophecy they combined the +office of physician or rather of exorciser. For every internal disorder +was believed to be inflicted by some god, who had taken possession of +the sufferer's person; and the _tauas_, or high priests, as we may call +them, were called in to heal the patient by ridding him of the divinity +who had entered into him. This they commonly did by feeling for the +mischievous deity till they found him, when they smothered him between +the palms of their hands.[79] Sometimes the good physician would +converse with the spirit whom he had thus caught between his hands, and +would elicit from him in conversation the cause of the sickness, which +usually consisted in some breach of taboo, such as a theft of +bread-fruit or coco-nuts from a sacred tree. At the same time the +affable spirit would reveal to the physician the penalty which the sick +man must pay in order to expiate his crime and thereby ensure his +recovery. A sacrifice of pigs would appear to have been usually deemed +indispensable for the patient's complete convalescence; the animals were +conveyed to a temple and there consumed by the priests for the benefit +of the sufferer.[80] The _tauas_ or high priests were supposed to become +gods after death; when one of them departed this life, it was essential +for his deification that human victims should be sacrificed. The number +of victims varied with the rank of the new deity; it was never less than +seven, but oftener ten. Each victim was sacrificed for the sake of a +particular part of the deity's body, as for his head, or his eyes, or +his hair. To procure the necessary tale of victims, predatory +expeditions were undertaken against the tribes in neighbouring +valleys.[81] + + [79] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin + et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._ + + [80] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 136. The writer's language seems + to imply that the spirit whom the priestly physician caught in + his hands and interrogated was the patient's own soul. + + [81] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 45; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ + i. 247; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 228 + _sq._ + + +Sec. 8. _The Soul, Death, and Funeral Customs_ + +Like most savages, the Marquesans thought that they possessed souls +which could quit their bodies and wander far away in dreams. Thus a +young girl once related how, the night before, she had sailed in a +splendid canoe to Tiburones, a mythical paradise to the west of +Nukahiva; there she had seen beautiful things such as do not exist here +on earth. "There," said she, "the trees are very tall, and the people +very handsome; there they sing songs to music sweeter than ours. Ah! +when shall I be able to return to Tiburones?" On another occasion a +woman's soul appeared to a priest to inform him that she had committed +the heinous crime of eating a fowl, but that she would expiate the +sacrilege by an early death. The French authorities summoned both the +priest and the woman to the bar of justice. There the priest stuck to it +that he had received the revelation, and the woman expressed her regret +for the escapade of which her soul had been guilty without her +knowledge. It was necessary to reassure her on the subject of her soul's +rash act and melancholy prediction, otherwise she might have fulfilled +the prophecy by refusing food and dying outright.[82] + + [82] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._ + +At death the soul was supposed to depart from the body by the mouth or +the nose; hence in order to delay its departure and so to prolong the +life of its owner, affectionate relatives used to stop his mouth and +nostrils, thus accelerating the event which they wished to retard.[83] + + [83] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 245; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 44, + note^1. Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 115. + +The Marquesans have, or used to have, a sovereign contempt for death, +and do not fear its approach. When a native felt that he must die, he +took it calmly and ordered his coffin, which he caused to be brought to +the house while he was still in life. The coffin is hollowed out of a +single log and resembles a canoe. If the sick man after all recovered, +the coffin was kept in a corner of the house till it was wanted. No +attempt was made to hide it or to disguise its purpose. Should a +stranger ask, "What is that?" he would be told, "It is So-and-so's +coffin"; though So-and-so might be present and within hearing.[84] +Nevertheless, when it was clear that a serious illness was about to +terminate fatally, and that all the efforts of the priestly physician or +sorcerer to avert the inevitable end were fruitless, the house would be +filled by wailing women, who danced naked round the mat of the dying +man, cutting themselves with sharp stones or shark's teeth as in a +frenzy, and uttering the most piercing lamentations. This lasted till +the moment of death, when all united in a terrific and prolonged +howl.[85] Similar demonstrations of sorrow were continued or renewed +after the decease. If the departed was a married man and his widow +survived him, she would bruise her flesh with a stone, scratch it with +her nails, and cut her forehead, cheeks, and breast with shark's teeth +or splinters of bamboo till the blood trickled down.[86] Captain Porter +saw a woman with deep wounds still unhealed, which she had inflicted on +her neck, breast, and arms for the loss of her husband, who had been +devoured by a shark.[87] After the death, too, the widow would place +herself in front of the corpse, and three or four girls would surround +her; whereupon they would all engage in a lascivious dance, with +outstretched arms, tripping in cadence to the accompaniment of a funeral +hymn or lamentation, which was chanted by a choir in honour of the dead. +After executing the dance, which would seem to have been intended to +attract the attention of the deceased and recall his wandering spirit, +they would stoop over the corpse, and cry, "He has not stirred! He +stirs not. Alas! alas! he is no more." It was only after they had thus +practised their seductions in vain on the dead man that the widow gave +way to her frantic outburst of sorrow by mauling herself with a sort of +saw.[88] This funeral dance a widow was apparently expected to renew in +public at every festival for months after the death. At a festival, +which he called the Feast of Calabashes, Melville saw four or five old +women, stark naked, holding themselves erect and leaping stiffly into +the air, with their arms pressed close to their sides, like sticks +bobbing up and down in water. They preserved the utmost gravity of +countenance, and continued their strange movements without a single +moment's cessation, though they did not appear to attract the +observation of the crowd around them. The American was told that these +dancing or leaping figures "were bereaved widows, whose partners had +been slain in battle many moons previously; and who, at every festival, +gave public evidence in this manner of their calamities."[89] When the +deceased was a chief, the lamentations and the dances went on day and +night for some time. A priestess or sorceress, in festal costume, led +the choir of female mourners and vaunted the exploits of the dead +warrior, recalling his mighty deeds and the incidents of his life. The +dances were accompanied by the music of drums. The crowd of spectators, +in their best array, ate and drank to repletion, and, flushed with +liquor, abandoned themselves to excesses which transformed the mortuary +chamber, lit up at night by smoky torches, into a scene of low +debauchery. From time to time remarks of a gross nature were addressed +to the dead man on the helpless condition to which he was reduced; and +now and then the women would slash their faces and breasts with +splinters of bamboo in the usual fashion. The orgy went on till the +provisions were completely exhausted, which might not be for a +considerable time, since hecatombs of pigs were sometimes slaughtered +for the purpose of celebrating the obsequies of a chief in a manner +worthy of his rank.[90] + + [84] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 114. _sq._; Eyriaud des + Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 58. Compare Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 260 + _sqq._ + + [85] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 263; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 249 _sq._ + + [86] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 284; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 39. + + [87] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 121. + + [88] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 283 _sq._ Another writer mentions + that at the moment of death it was customary for a number of + matrons to strip themselves naked and execute obscene dances at + the door of the house, crying out at the pitch of their voices, + "Father! father!" See Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116. + + [89] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 180, 201. + + [90] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ + +The soul of the dead was believed not to abandon the corpse definitely +for two days after the death. In the interval it was thought to haunt +the house, watching the conduct of the survivors, and ready to act as a +friend or a foe according as the mourners behaved towards the deceased +and his remains. Hence, to keep the ghost in good humour it was +customary to offer him food, in the shape of breadfruit paste and other +dainties, which were wrapped up in leaves, hung on the edge of the +coffin, and frequently renewed.[91] On the third night after the death a +priest, stepping out on the terrace in front of the house, implored the +wandering soul of the deceased to depart; and by way of enforcing the +request a band of men, armed with spears and other lethal weapons, went +about in the outer darkness, beating the bushes and stabbing the +thatched roofs of the houses in order to drive the lingering ghost away. +If, roused by the clamour, the dogs began to bark, the priest would say, +"The soul is departing."[92] + + [91] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46. + + [92] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 284 _sq._ + +From the moment of death till the priests had completed the litany or +songs chanted on such occasions, all the assembled people fasted, no one +touched the provisions collected for the funeral feast, and no fire +might be kindled within sight of the house.[93] The litany consisted in +the mumbling of a long speech in an unintelligible language accompanied +by the constant beating of drums.[94] Among the victuals provided for +the funeral feast special importance appears to have been attached to +the head of a pig, which was cut off and attached to the bier.[95] We +are told that the professed intention was thereby "to propitiate the +gods, and obtain for the deceased a safe and peaceable passage through +the lower regions." But, in point of fact the priest took possession of +the pig's head and devoured it secretly, leaving only a small piece of +it under a stone.[96] + + [93] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251. + + [94] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 133. + + [95] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 285. + + [96] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. Compare Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 133; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 265; + Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 251. + +When death had taken place, the body was washed, neatly dressed in +garments of new cloth, and laid on a bier constructed of bamboos or of +spears and other warlike weapons, fastened together with wicker-work and +spread with mats.[97] If the deceased was a chief and a warrior, his +body would be arrayed in his finest ornaments, and his club, plumed +helmet, necklaces of whale's teeth, and skulls of the enemies he had +killed, would be laid beside him. Thus exposed, the corpse might be kept +for weeks in the house, where, in spite of the stench, the family +continued to eat, drink, and sleep beside it. Sometimes, however, and +perhaps more usually, the body was transferred to a small house or shed +adjoining the dwelling of the deceased, where it received the necessary +attentions. Finally, it was removed to a little hut or shed, where the +bier was supported on posts under a thatched roof. To be buried in the +earth was a mark of ignominy reserved at most for a young girl of the +lowest rank who had died childless. Beside the corpse food was hung for +the use of the ghost, it might be fish, roast pork, or coco-nuts, and +there it was allowed to remain till it rotted and fell to the ground; +none but children would be greedy or impious enough to partake of the +sacred victuals, and that only in the greatest secrecy. Often the house +in which the death had taken place was tabooed and abandoned after the +remains had been deposited in their last home.[98] + + [97] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 172 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 133; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 81; C. S. Stewart, _op. + cit._ i. 264. + + [98] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._ As to the + decoration of the corpse, see Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ As + to the temporary house or shed in which the body was kept for + some time after death, compare C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 264, + 266; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 250. As for + the custom of keeping the body for months in the ordinary house, + surrounded by the family, see Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 286. As to + the practice of hanging food beside the body, even after its + removal to its last place of rest, see J. Dumont d'Urville, + _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Oceanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. + (Paris, 1842), p. 33; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 46. + +The bodies of the dead were regularly subjected to a kind of embalmment, +which had the effect of preserving them for a longer or shorter time. As +soon as decomposition appeared imminent, the corpse was stripped of its +ornaments and placed in the usual canoe-shaped coffin, the trunk being +propped up so as to facilitate the work of the embalmers. The task of +embalming was entrusted to women, relations of the deceased, who rubbed +the body daily with coco-nut oil and perfumes. They had no intercourse +with the rest of the family, and took their meals apart without ever +washing their hands. According to one account, the anointment was +performed by night, while during the day the body was exposed to the sun +on the stone platform of the house. The products of decomposition were +carefully received in vessels and carried away to the place of +sepulture; and the corpse was gradually eviscerated through the rectum. +The friction was continued until the desiccated body was reduced to the +state of a mummy, though sometimes, in spite of all precautions, it +crumbled into dust. If the operation was successful, the mummy, wrapt in +many bandages, was covered by a second canoe attached to the first, and +was then placed on a scaffold in a _morai_ or sanctuary specially +consecrated to it. But sometimes the mummy was fastened up to the roof +or wall of the house wherein the person had died; and it might be kept +there even for years. When it was deposited in a _morai_, no woman was +allowed to approach it under pain of death.[99] Sometimes the head was +detached from the body and kept in the house, where it was treated with +respect. Sometimes it was carried away and hidden in some almost +inaccessible cave in the mountains or beside the sea. This was done as a +precaution to save the skulls from falling into the hands of enemies, +who were eager to bear them off as trophies.[100] + + [99] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. + 133 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, p. 206; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 286 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._ In a house in + Nukahiva the missionary Stewart saw a canoe-shaped coffin + containing the remains of a man who had died many years before. + It was raised on a bier of framework, at a height of two or + three feet above the ground. Stewart adds, "The dead bodies of + all persons of high distinction are preserved in their houses + for a long period in this way." See C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. + 259. + + [100] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 45 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. + 233 _sq._ + +Each family had its own _morai_ or burial-place, where the mouldering +bones or mummies were finally deposited and left to decay.[101] Such +family cemeteries were scattered about the valleys; the choice of a +site seems to have been determined by no special rule.[102] The _morai_ +or burial-place of ordinary people was near their houses, and not far +from it was a taboo-house, where the men feasted on the flesh of +pigs.[103] But the cemeteries of chiefs were situated in the interior of +the valleys, often so deeply imbedded in dense foliage that it was not +easy to find them without the guidance of a native.[104] Similarly we +are told that the cemeteries (_morais_) of priests lay quite apart from +all dwellings.[105] + + [101] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 127, 173; Langsdorff, _op. + cit._ i. 115, 134. Other writers on the Marquesas in like manner + speak of a _morai_ simply as a place of burial. See Porter, _op. + cit._ ii. 114 ("the gods at the burying-place, or morai, for so + it is called by them"); Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 52 ("un _morai_ + (sepulchre) en ruine"); Melville, _Typee_, p. 168 ("the 'morais' + or burying-grounds"). So, too, the term was understood by the + French navigator, J. Dumont d'Urville. See his _Voyage au Pole + Sud, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 27, 33. + + [102] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253. + + [103] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. According to Krusenstern + (_op. cit._ i. 127), the _morais_ in general "lie a good way + inland upon hills." + + [104] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 329. + + [105] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 115. + +The ordinary form of a Marquesan _morai_ or burial-place seems to have +been a thatched shed erected on a square or oblong platform of stones, +exactly resembling the stone platforms on which the Marquesan houses +were regularly built. Thus Vincendon-Dumoulin and Desgraz say that "the +_morais_, funeral monuments where the bodies are deposited, are erected +on a stone platform, the base of all Nukahivan edifices."[106] Again, +describing what he calls "a picturesque _morai_," Radiguet observes, +"Four posts, erected on a platform, supported a small plank covered with +a roof of leaves. Under this roof could be seen the remains of a +skeleton, perhaps that of the daughter-in-law of the neighbouring +house.... At the two ends of the platform two upright stones, about ten +feet high, and resembling the Breton _menhirs_, formed an exceptional +ornament to this _morai_, which the bushes were in course of invading +and the storms of demolishing."[107] Again, Stewart describes as follows +what he calls "a depository of the dead": "It stands in the midst of a +beautiful clump of trees, and consists of a platform of heavy stone +work, twenty feet or more square and four or five high, surmounted in +the centre by eight or ten posts arranged in the shape of a grave, and +supporting at a height of six or seven feet a long and narrow roof of +thatch. Close beneath this was the body enclosed in a coffin."[108] +Again, in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), Bennett describes a +chief's burial-place as follows: "A low but extensive stone platform, +beneath the shade of a venerable _fau_-tree, marks the more consecrated +ground; and on this is erected a wooden hut, containing an elevated +trough, shaped as a canoe, and holding the perfect skeleton of the late +chief. In front of the sepulchre are two hideous wooden idols, and +several bundles of coco-nut leaves."[109] The shed, which was erected on +the stone platform, and under which the body rested on a bier, seems to +have consisted for the most part simply of a thatched roof supported on +wooden posts.[110] Sometimes, however, instead of a simple shed, open on +all sides, a small house resembling the ordinary houses of the natives +appears to have been erected for the reception of the corpse or mummy. +Thus in the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina) Bennett describes a +burial-place as follows: "The most picturesque mausoleum we noticed was +that which contained the corpse of one of Eutiti's children. It was +placed on the summit of an isolated hill, rising from the bosom of a +well-wooded savannah, and was covered entirely with the leaves of the +fan-palm. The posterior, or tallest wall, was twelve feet high, the +anterior was low, closed by a mat, and decorated with six wooden +pillars, covered with stained cinnet and white cloth. Strips of tapa +[bark-cloth], fixed to a wand, fluttered on the roof, to denote that the +spot was tabooed; and for the same purpose, a row of globular stones, +each the size of a football, and whitened with coral lime, occupied the +top of a low but broad stone wall which encircled the building. The +interior contained nothing but the bier on which the corpse was +laid."[111] From the sketch which Bennett gives of this particular +mausoleum, as he calls it, we gather that the sepulchral hut containing +the body was not raised on a stone platform, but built on the flat. + + [106] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 253. + + [107] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 92. One of these stones was said + to have been erected by the French navigator, Captain Marchand, + and to have formerly borne an inscription recording his taking + possession of the island. Hence it would be unsafe to draw any + conclusion from the supposed antiquity of these two tall upright + stones. + + [108] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 260. + + [109] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 329. + + [110] Compare J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud, Histoire + du Voyage_, iv. 33, "Sous un hangar se trouvent quelques + supports formant, a 2 metres au-dessus du sol, une estrade sur + laquelle est depose le _toui-papao_. C'est le nom que les + naturels donnent au cadavre enveloppe d'herbes et de _tapa_ + (etoffes de papyrus faites dans le pays). On n'apercoit du corps + ainsi habille que les extremites des doigts des pieds et des + mains." + + [111] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 331. + +There seems to be no evidence that the stone platforms on which the +sepulchral sheds or huts of the Marquesans were erected ever took the +shape of stepped or terraced pyramids like the massive stone pyramids of +Tahiti and Tonga. So far as the mortuary platforms of the Marquesans are +described, they appear to have been quadrangular piles of stone, with +upright sides, not stepped or terraced. Megalithic monuments in the form +of stepped or terraced pyramids seem to have been very rare in the +Marquesas Islands; indeed, it is doubtful whether they existed at all. +With regard to the island of Tahuata (Santa Christina), it is positively +affirmed by Bennett that none of the valleys contain "any _morais_ or +other buildings devoted to religious purposes, nor any public +idols";[112] and by _morais_ he probably means stepped pyramids like +those of Tahiti and Tonga. However, in the valley of Taipii (Typee), in +Nukahiva, a megalithic monument, built in terraces, was seen by Melville +in 1842. He describes it as follows: + + [112] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 322. + +"One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon +a scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of +the Druids. At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all +sides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step by +step, for a considerable distance up the hillside. These terraces cannot +be less than one hundred yards in length and twenty in width. Their +magnitude, however, is less striking than the immense size of the blocks +composing them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to +fifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are +quite smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation, they +bear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without cement, and +here and there show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower one +are somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have both a +quadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace +elevated several feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense +trees have taken root, and their broad boughs, stretching far over and +interlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun. +Overgrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from one to another, +is a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy embrace many of the stones lie +half-hidden, while in some places a thick growth of bushes entirely +covers them. There is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of +these terraces, and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation, +that a stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of +their existence. + +"These structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity, and +Kory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters of scientific research, +gave me to understand that they were coeval with the creation of the +world; that the great gods themselves were the builders; and that they +would endure until time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's prompt +explanation, and his attributing the work to a divine origin, at once +convinced me that neither he nor the rest of his countrymen knew +anything about them."[113] Melville was accordingly disposed to +attribute the erection of these remarkable terraces to an extinct and +forgotten race.[114] The hypothesis is all the more probable because the +monument appears to have been entirely abandoned and unused by the +natives during the time when they have been known to Europeans. But it +is doubtful whether the edifice was a pyramid; all that Melville's +somewhat vague description implies is that it consisted of a series of +terraces built one above the other on the hillside. + + [113] Melville, _Typee_, pp. 166 _sq._ + + [114] Melville, _Typee_, p. 167. + +According to some accounts the remains of the dead, instead of being +deposited in sheds or huts erected on stone platforms, were buried in +the platforms themselves. Thus, according to William Crook, the first +missionary to the Marquesans, "they have a _morai_ in each district, +where the dead are buried beneath a pavement of large stones."[115] +Similarly, in Nukahiva two or three large quadrangular platforms +(_pi-pis_), heavily flagged, enclosed with regular stone walls and +almost hidden by the interlacing branches of enormous trees, were +pointed out as burial-places to Melville, and he was told that the +bodies "were deposited in rude vaults beneath the flagging, and were +suffered to remain there without being disinterred. Although nothing +could be more strange and gloomy than the aspect of these places, where +the lofty trees threw their dark shadows over rude blocks of stone, a +stranger looking at them would have discerned none of the ordinary +evidences of a place of sepulture."[116] To the same effect, perhaps, +Porter observes that, "when the flesh is mouldered from the bones, they +are, as I have been informed, carefully cleansed: some are kept for +relics, and some are deposited in the _morais_."[117] Again, Krusenstern +says that twelve months after the death "the corpse is broken into +pieces, and the bones are packed in a small box made of the wood of the +bread-fruit tree, and carried to the _morai_ or burial place, where no +woman is allowed to approach under pain of death."[118] However, these +statements do not necessarily imply that the bones were buried under the +stones of the platform at the _morai_. + + [115] Quoted by J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_, p. 144. + + [116] Melville, _Typee_, p. 205. + + [117] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 123. + + [118] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. + +But whether deposited on biers or buried under the pavement, the remains +of the dead were liable to be carried off in time of war by foes, who +regarded such an exploit as a great deed of heroism. Hence when an +invasion of the enemy in force was expected, the custom was to remove +the bodies from the _morai_ and bury them elsewhere.[119] The heads of +enemies killed in battle were invariably kept and hung up as trophies of +victory in the house of the conqueror. They seem to have been smoked in +order to preserve them better.[120] It is said that they were used as +cups to drink kava out of.[121] + + [119] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134. + + [120] Melville, _Typee_, p. 206. + + [121] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 47. + +After ten months or a year the obsequies were concluded by another +funeral feast, which might last from eight to thirty days according to +the rank of the deceased and the opulence of his family. At the same +time offerings of food were presented afresh at the tomb, and the +decorations were renewed, consisting of branches and leaves and strips +of white bark-cloth, which waved like flags at the end of little white +wands. At these anniversary feasts, to which, if the deceased was a man +of quality, only chiefs were in many cases admitted, great quantities +of pigs were consumed.[122] The intention of the feast is said to have +been to thank the gods for having permitted the dead person to arrive +safely in the other world.[123] + + [122] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sq._ + + [123] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 173. + + +Sec. 9. _Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The souls of the dead were supposed to depart either to an upper or to a +lower world, either to heaven or to a subterranean region called +Havaiki. The particular destination of a soul after death was +determined, not by moral considerations, not by the virtue or vice of +the deceased, but by the rank he had occupied in this life: people of +quality went to the upper world, and common people went to the lower, to +Havaiki.[124] According to a more precise account, heaven was inhabited +by deities of the highest order, by women who had died in childbed, by +warriors who had fallen on the field of battle, by suicides, and +especially by the aristocratic class of the chiefs. This celestial +region was supposed to be a happy land, abounding in bread-fruit paste +(_popoi_), pork, and fish, and offering the companionship of the most +beautiful women imaginable. There the bread-fruit trees dropped their +ripe fruit every moment to the ground, and the supply of coco-nuts and +bananas never failed. There the souls reposed on mats much finer than +those of Nukahiva; and every day they bathed in rivers of coco-nut oil. +In that happy land there were plenty of plumes and feathers, and +boars'-tusks, and sperm-whale teeth far better than even white men can +boast of. The nether world, on the other hand, was peopled with deities +of the second class and by ordinary human beings, who had no pretensions +to gentility. But it was not a place of misery much less of punishment +or torture; on the contrary, we are told that both the upper and the +lower regions were happier than the earth which the living inhabit.[125] +The approach to the lower world, curiously enough, was by sea. The soul +sailed away in a coffin shaped like a canoe (_pahaa_). When it came +near the channel which divides the island Tahuata from the island +Hivaoa, it was met by two deities or two opposing influences, one of +which tried to push the soul into a narrow strait between Tahuata and a +certain rock in the sea, while the other deity or influence endeavoured +to contrive that the soul should keep the broad channel between the rock +and Hivaoa. The souls that were thrust into the narrow strait were +killed; whereas such as kept the open channel were conducted safe by a +merciful god to their destination.[126] + + [124] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 44. + + [125] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 220; Melville, _Typee_, p. 185. + Compare Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40. + + [126] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 220 _sq._ + +Sometimes the land of the dead was identified with a happy island or +islands called Tiburones lying somewhere in the ocean to the west of +Nukahiva. Not uncommonly natives of the Marquesas sailed away in great +double canoes to seek and find these happy isles, but were never heard +of again. On one occasion, for example, forty men in the island of +Ua-pu, who had revolted against their chief and been defeated, embarked +secretly by night and put to sea, hoping to discover the Fortunate +Islands, where they would be beyond the reach of their offended lord, +and where they might pass the remainder of their days in liberty and +bliss. What became of them is unknown, for they were seen and heard of +no more in their native island.[127] + + [127] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 51 _sq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. + 238 note, 239, 269, 270; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. + cit._ pp. 238 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._ + +But even the souls that went to heaven were supposed to stand in need of +a canoe in order to reach the place of bliss. On this point Porter +writes: "I endeavoured to ascertain whether they had an idea of a future +state of rewards and punishments, and the nature of their heaven. As +respects the latter article, they believed it to be an island, somewhere +in the sky, abounding with everything desirable; that those killed in +war and carried off by their friends, go there, provided they are +furnished with a canoe and provisions; but that those who are carried +off by the enemy, never reach it, unless a sufficient number of the +enemy can be obtained to paddle his canoe there. For this reason they +were so anxious to procure a crew for their priest, who was killed and +carried off by the Happahs. They have neither rewards nor punishments +in this world, and I could not learn that they expected any in the +next."[128] + + [128] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 113. + +In the valley of Taipii (Typee), in the island of Nukahiva, Captain +Porter visited "the chief place of religious ceremony." It was a +platform of the usual sort situated in a fine grove at the foot of a +steep mountain. On the platform was an idol of hard stone, rudely +representing a deity in human shape of about life size and in a +squatting posture. Arranged on either side of this idol, as well as in +front and rear, were several other images of about the same size and of +the same model, but better carved out of bread-fruit wood. The place was +decorated with streamers of white cloth. A few paces from the grave were +four fine war canoes, furnished with outriggers, and decorated with +human hair, coral shells, and many white streamers. In the stern of each +canoe was the effigy of a man with a paddle, steering, in full dress, +decked with plumes, ear-rings, and all the usual ornaments. On enquiring +of the natives, Captain Porter was informed that the dignified effigy +seated in the stern of the most splendid canoe represented a priest who +had been killed not long before by their enemies the Happahs. In the +bottom of the priest's canoe Captain Porter found the putrefying bodies +of two Taipiis (Typees) whom he and his men had recently killed in +battle; and lying about the canoe he saw many other human carcasses, +with the flesh still on them. The other canoes, he was told, belonged to +different warriors who had been killed or had died not long since. "I +asked them," continues Captain Porter, "why they had placed their +effigies in the canoes, and also why they put the bodies of the dead +Typees in that of the priest? They told me (as Wilson interpreted) that +they were going to heaven, and that it was impossible to get there +without canoes. The canoe of the priest being large, he was unable to +manage it himself, nor was it right that he should, he being now a god. +They had, therefore, placed in it the bodies of the Happas and Typees, +which had been killed since his death, to paddle him to the place of his +destination; but he had not been able yet to start, for the want of a +full crew, as it would require ten to paddle her, and as yet they had +only procured eight. They told me also that the taboo, laid in +consequence of his death, would continue until he had started on his +voyage, which he would not be able to do until they had killed two more +of their enemies, and by this means completed the crew. I inquired if he +took any sea stock with him. They told me he did, and pointing to some +red hogs in an enclosure, said that they were intended for him, as well +as a quantity of bread-fruit, coco-nuts, etc., which would be collected +from the trees in the grove. I inquired if he had far to go; they +replied, no: and pointing to a small square stone enclosure, informed me +that was their heaven, that he was to go there. This place was tabooed, +they told me, for every one except their priests."[129] + + [129] Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 109-111. A similar, or the same, + effigy of a dead chief seated in his canoe was seen by Melville + in the same valley (_Typee_, pp. 183 _sq._). He says that "the + canoe was about seven feet in length; of a rich, dark-coloured + wood, handsomely carved, and adorned in many places with + variegated bindings of stained sinnate [cinnet], into which were + ingeniously wrought a number of sparkling sea-shells, and a belt + of the same shells ran all round it. The body of the figure--of + whatever material it might have been made--was effectually + concealed in a heavy robe of brown tappa [bark-cloth], revealing + only the hands and head; the latter skilfully carved in wood, + and surmounted by a superb arch of plumes." + +But it was deemed necessary to provide a dead priest or chief with human +victims for other purposes than to paddle his canoe to heaven. When a +great chief died, two commoners were sometimes sacrificed for the +purpose of escorting him to the abode of bliss; one of them carried the +chief's girdle, and the other bore the head of the pig that had been +slaughtered for the funeral feast. The head was intended as a present to +the warden of the infernal regions, who, if he did not get this +perquisite, would revile and stone the ghost, and shut the door in his +face.[130] The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a +priest varied with the respect and fear which he had inspired in his +lifetime;[131] a common number seems to have been three.[132] + + [130] Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 163. + + [131] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ p. 228. + + [132] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i, 170. + +The runaway English sailor, Roberts, who had long resided in the +islands, assured the Russian explorer Lisiansky "that, on the death of a +priest, three men must be sacrificed; two of whom are hung up in the +burying-ground, while the third is cut to pieces, and eaten by +visitors; all but the head, which is placed upon one of the idols. When +the flesh of the first two are wasted away, the bones that remain are +burnt. The custom of the country requires, that the men destined for +sacrifice should belong to some neighbouring nation, and accordingly +they are generally stolen. This occasions a war of six, and sometimes of +twelve, months: its duration, however, depends upon the nearest relation +of the deceased priest; who, as soon as he is acquainted with his death, +retires to a place of taboo; and till he chooses to come out, the blood +of the two parties does not cease to flow. During his retirement, he is +furnished with everything he may require, human flesh not +excepted."[133] + + [133] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 81 _sq._ + +A curious mode of preparing a dead man to appear to advantage before the +gods in the other world was to flay his corpse. A Catholic missionary +tells us that when a dead body began to swell up, in consequence of +internal putrefaction, it was customary to flay it and to preserve the +skin as a precious relic in the family treasury, where the eye of a +profane stranger could never fall on it.[134] The reason for observing +the custom is not mentioned by this missionary, but it is explained by +another missionary, Father Amable. It happened that the king or head +chief of the island of Tahuata died, and that his body was brought to +the house of the queen on the bay where Father Amable resided. For +thirty days she kept the corpse in the house and occupied herself with +skinning it with her fingers. Questioned by the missionary as to her +reasons for this strange procedure, she answered that her husband's body +must be without spot or stain, in order that the great goddess Upu might +give him leave to dwell in her land and to bathe in her lake. For this +deity rules over a sort of submarine Eden, planted with all sorts of +excellent fruits and beautified by the calm waters of an azure lake. The +natives of Tahuata believe that the souls of all who die in the +archipelago assemble on the top of a high mountain called Kiukiu. When a +great multitude of souls is there gathered together, the sea opens and +the souls fall plump down into the paradise of the goddess Upu. +However, not all of them are permitted to enter the happy land and to +enjoy the pleasures which it offers. Only such are admitted as have +owned in their lifetime many servants and many pigs and have not been +wicked. Further, none may enter in who bear on their body any marks of +tattooing.[135] Hence the reason for flaying dead bodies seems to have +been to efface, by removing the skin, the tattooed marks which would +have acted as a fatal bar to the entrance of the ghost into paradise. As +to the souls of slaves and the poor, in the opinion of the natives of +Tahuata they go to a gloomy land, which is never illumined by the sun, +and where there is nothing but muddy water to drink.[136] Nevertheless +the people would seem to have believed that the souls of the dead +lingered for a time beside their mouldering bodies before they took +their departure for the far country. In this belief they sacrificed to +them pigs, some baked, and some alive. The baked pigs they put in a +hollow log and hung from the roof of the hut, and they said that a god +named Mapuhanui, who in the beginning had bestowed pigs on men, used to +come and feast on the carcasses in company with the ghost. But when they +offered live pigs, they tethered the animals to the hut in which the +dead body lay, and they fed them till the flesh dropped from the +skeleton; after that they allowed the pigs to die of hunger.[137] +Perhaps, like some other peoples, they imagined that the ghost hovered +about his remains so long as the flesh adhered to the bones, but that +when even that faint semblance of life had vanished he went away and had +no further occasion for pigs, whether alive or dead. + + [134] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 116. + + [135] Lettre du R. P. Amable, in _Annales de la Propagation de + la Foi_, xix. (1847) pp. 22 _sq._, 24. + + [136] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [137] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ pp. 23 _sq._ + +However, the souls of the dead were not supposed to be permanently +confined to the other world. After a long sojourn in it, all alike, +whatever the region they inhabited in their disembodied state, could +return to earth and be born again.[138] Indeed, according to the natives +of Nukahiva, the interval between death and reincarnation was not unduly +long; for "every one here is persuaded, that the soul of a grandfather +is transmitted by Nature into the body of his grandchildren; and that, +if an unfruitful wife were to place herself under the corpse of her +deceased grandfather, she would be sure to become pregnant."[139] +Occasionally the soul of a dead person might even inhabit the body of an +animal. Once when a whale was stranded on one of the islands, a +priestess declared that it was the soul of a certain priest, which would +wander until eight human victims were sacrificed to the gods. In vain +her son would have substituted turtles for human beings; the people +would not hear of it; the prescribed victims were captured from a +neighbouring tribe and put to death in order to lay the ghost of the +whale, or rather of the priest who had animated the whale's body.[140] + + [138] Lettre du R. P. Amable, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [139] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 89. + + [140] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 161 _sq._ + +But the souls of the dead were also believed to return from the spirit +land for other purposes than to be born again in the flesh. They might +come as ghosts to haunt and torment the living, and as such they were +greatly dreaded by the people.[141] The first watch of the night was the +hour when they were supposed especially to come on errands of +mischief.[142] Particularly dreaded were the ghosts of high priests and +great chiefs, who retained in their spiritual form the passions and the +rancours which they had nursed in life, and who returned in ghostly +shape to earth to meddle with the affairs of the living, and to punish +even trivial offences. To guard against these dangerous intrusions, the +intervention of a priest or priestess was deemed indispensable; it was +his or her business to counteract a spell cast on a family, or to heal a +sickness inflicted on an individual by one of these ghostly +vagrants.[143] Such was the fear of wandering ghosts that no Marquesan +would dare to stir a step abroad at night without the light of a torch; +for well he knew that evil spirits lurked beside the path to knock down +and throttle any rash wayfarer who should dare to leave his footsteps +unillumined.[144] Indeed, we are told that, of all beliefs in the minds +of the natives, the belief in ghosts was the most deeply rooted. It is +impossible to express the dread which they felt of spectres and +apparitions; nobody was exempt from it. But it was only at night that +these phantoms were to be feared. Though they remained invisible, they +revealed themselves to the terror-stricken wanderer by sound and touch; +the least noise heard in the darkness disclosed their presence; the +least contact with them was a sentence of death, sudden or slow, but +sure. Hence, if a man was obliged to go out after sunset, he would +always take somebody with him to bear him company, even if he had to +wake a comrade for the purpose. Among the women the fear of ghosts was +yet greater, many of them would not stir abroad on a moonless night even +in company. In passing by a burial-ground or a solitary tomb, people +used to throw food towards it for the purpose of appeasing the ghost, +who otherwise would have attacked them.[145] + + [141] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 40. + + [142] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 210. + + [143] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 224 _sq._ + + [144] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227, 240. + + [145] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 31 _sq._ + +This deep-seated fear of the dead has survived the conversion, real or +nominal, of the Marquesans to Christianity. No native would even now +venture into a cave where the remains of the dead have been deposited, +not though the greatest treasures were to be found there, for such spots +are believed to be constantly haunted by the ghosts of the departed. +Nobody, it is said, would live in a house in which somebody has died; +every such dwelling is immediately burnt down. Hence, when a person is +grievously sick, a little primitive hut is erected beside the house, and +he is carried out to die in it, and when he is dead, the hut is in like +manner destroyed with fire.[146] A woman will sometimes commit suicide +in order that her ghost may haunt and torment her unfaithful +husband.[147] + + [146] Baessler, _op. cit._ p. 234. + + [147] Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 193 _sq._ + +On the other hand, ghosts in the olden time had also their utility, for +they could be summoned up by a priest or priestess to give information +on various subjects, such as the issue of an illness. On these occasions +the wizard would hold a conversation with the spirit, whose voice could +be heard by the listeners, though his or her shape, as usual, was +invisible in the darkness. Sceptics thought that such communications +were made by means of ventriloquism, and indeed a priestess, who had +professed to evoke the soul of a dead chieftainess, solemnly maintained +that she could make the voice of anybody, whether dead or alive, to +speak from her stomach.[148] + + [148] Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 227-238. + +In such beliefs and customs are contained as in germ the whole theory +and practice of the worship of the dead. + +NOTE.--We possess no thorough account of the native Marquesan society +and religion as these existed before they were transformed by European +influence. Some of the writers who have described the islanders and +their customs spent only a few days or at most a few weeks among them. +Captain Cook was at the Marquesas only five days, from the 6th to the +11th of April 1774.[149] The French explorer Marchand spent eight days +in the islands from the 13th to the 21st of June 1791.[150] The Russian +explorers Krusenstern and Lisiansky were with their two ships, the +_Nadeshda_ and _Neva_, at Nukahiva for ten days, from the 7th to the +17th of May 1804; along with them was the naturalist Langsdorff, who +wrote an independent account of the voyage.[151] But though their stay +was short, they had the advantage of meeting with two Europeans, an +Englishman named E. Roberts, and a Frenchman named Jean (or Joseph) +Baptiste Cabri, who had lived long in the islands and spoke the native +language. These men acted as interpreters to the Russians and supplied +them with most of the information which they give in their books +concerning the customs and beliefs of the Marquesans. Roberts told them +that he had been seven years in Nukahiva and two years previously in +Santa Christina (Tau-ata); that he had been put ashore on the latter +island out of an English merchant ship, the crew of which had mutinied +against their captain and could not prevail upon him to join their +party; and that in Nukahiva he had lately married a relation of the +king's, by which he acquired great consideration, so that it would be +easy for him to be of assistance to them. At the same time he earnestly +warned them against the Frenchman, who had also resided for some years +in Nukahiva, but whose character he painted in very dark colours. The +two Russian captains, Krusenstern and Lisiansky, accordingly put their +trust in Roberts and drew most of their information concerning the +natives from him. On the other hand their naturalist, Langsdorff, made +most use of the Frenchman. He admitted, indeed, that the Englishman was +a man of better character, greater natural intelligence, and much higher +education; but on the other hand he tells us that the Frenchman had +been longer in the island and possessed a more thorough mastery of the +language and a greater intimacy with the natives, among whom he had +lived as a savage among savages so long that he had almost forgotten his +own native tongue. But Langsdorff took care to question both these men +and only accepted as true statements in which they agreed with each +other, and to this agreement he naturally attached the greater weight +because his two informants were bitterly hostile to each other and +therefore were unlikely to unite in deceiving him.[152] On the whole, +then, the account which Langsdorff gives of Marquesan society and +religion is perhaps more trustworthy as well as fuller than that of his +two compatriots and companions, Krusenstern and Lisiansky. + + [149] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274-281; compare G. Forster, + _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1777), ii. 5 _sqq._ + + [150] C. P. Claret Fleurieu, _Voyage round the World performed + during the years 1790, 1791, and 1792 by Etienne Marchand_ + (London, 1801), i. 31, 51. Marchand's brief account is + supplemented from other sources by his editor Fleurieu (_op. + cit._ i. 55 _sqq._). + + [151] A. J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World in the + years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806_ (London, 1813), i. 108 _sq._, + 133 _sqq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_ (London, + 1814), pp. 62, 95; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Bemerkungen auf einer + Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1803 bis 1807_ (Frankfurt am + Main, 1812), i. 75, 161. + + [152] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 110-112; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ + p. 79; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 77, 83-85. As to the subsequent + history of Roberts and Cabri, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. + 356-359. + +Captain David Porter of the United States Navy was with his ship the +_Essex_ at Nukahiva from October 24th till December 9th, 1813.[153] A +great part of his time was spent on shore and in close contact with the +natives, and though he did not learn the language, he was able to employ +as an interpreter an Englishman named Wilson, who had lived for many +years in the islands, spoke the language of the natives with the same +facility as his own, and had become a Marquesan in every respect except +in colour. He proved indispensable to the American as an organ of +communication with the people; and much of the information which Porter +gives concerning the customs of the Marquesans was derived by him from +this man.[154] + + [153] Captain David Porter, _Journal of a Cruise made to the + Pacific Ocean in the United States frigate Essex in the years + 1812, 1813, and 1814_, Second Edition (New York, 1822), ii. 5, + 141. + + [154] D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 17 _sq._ + +The American naval chaplain, the Rev. C. S. Stewart, paid about a +fortnight's visit to Nukahiva, from July 27th to August 13th, 1829, +while his ship, the _Vincennes_, was anchored at the island. But he +received much information from the Rev. W. P. Crook, who spent nearly +two years (1797 and 1798) in the Marquesas, having been the first +missionary landed in the islands by the missionary ship _Duff_. During +his residence in the islands Mr. Crook kept a journal, which he allowed +Mr. Stewart to consult. The contents of the journal corroborated Mr. +Stewart's own observations as to the inhabitants, and the account which +he gives of the religion of the islanders is based mainly on the +information derived from Mr. Crook[155] and is therefore valuable; for +at the time when Mr. Crook landed in the Marquesas the customs and +beliefs of the islanders were still practically unaffected by contact +with Europeans. + + [155] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832), + i. pp. x _sq._, 193, 331. The writer speaks (p. 331) of his stay + of "a fortnight at the Washington Islands." Mr. Crook first + landed in the island of Santa Christina (Tau-ata) on June 6th, + 1797. See James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern + Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), pp. 129 _sqq._ As to his + subsequent history in the islands, see Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. + Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva_, pp. 35-40. + +The surgeon F. D. Bennett, on a whaling voyage spent a few days in +Santa Christina (Tau-ata), from February 28th to March 4th, 1835; and +his descriptions of what he saw are good so far as they go; but +naturally he could collect but little accurate information as to the +habits and ideas of the people in so short a time.[156] + + [156] F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the + Globe from the year 1833 to 1836_ (London, 1840), i 296, 346. + +One of the early Catholic missionaries to the Marquesas, Father Mathias +G----, spent two years in the islands and has given us, in a series of +letters, an account of the native customs and beliefs, which, though far +from complete or systematic, is based on personal observation and is +among the best that we possess.[157] + + [157] Le P. Mathias G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ + (Paris, 1843). The writer is not explicit as to the dates of his + residence in the Marquesas; but he tells us that he spent two + years in habitual intercourse with the natives (p. 49), and from + other allusions which he makes in his narrative (pp. 28 _sq._) + it would seem that the years were 1839 and 1840. The first + Catholic missionaries landed in 1838 (_ib._ p. 22), and others + in 1839 (_ib._ pp. 23 _sq._). Among the latter were Fathers + Garcia and Guilmard (_ib._ p. 24). Father G----may have been one + of them. + +Hermann Melville lived among the Taipiis (Typees) in Nukahiva for more +than four months,[158] and wrote a lively narrative of his experiences. +His personal observations are valuable, but as he did not master the +native language, he was not able to throw much light on the inner life +of the people, and in particular on their religious ideas. + + [158] H. Melville, _Typee_ (London, _Everyman's Library_), p. + 254. + +On the 1st of May, 1842, the Marquesas Islands were taken possession of +for France by the French Admiral, Du Petit-Thouars;[159] and next year, +to satisfy the interest of the French public in their new possession, a +comprehensive work on the islands and their inhabitants was published by +MM. Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz.[160] The authors had visited the +islands with the expedition of the French navigator, J. Dumont +d'Urville, in his ships the _Astrolabe_ and the _Zelee_. But as the +expedition stayed only about a week at Nukahiva, from August 26th to +September 3rd, 1838,[161] the writers had little opportunity of making +personal observations. Their work is mainly a careful compilation from +earlier sources, and as such it is a useful and trustworthy summary of +what was known about the archipelago and its inhabitants down to the +date of publication. + + [159] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 119 + _sqq._ + + [160] Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou + Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843). + + [161] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage au Pole Sud et dans + l'Oceanie, Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1842), pp. 5, 49. + +Max Radiguet, one of the members of the expedition to the Marquesas +under Admiral Du Petit-Thouars, passed a considerable time in the +islands and wrote a graphic account of his experiences, which contains +some valuable information as to the natives, their customs, religion, +and mythology.[162] In the part which concerns the mythology he was +assisted by an officer of artillery, M. Rohr, who had lived for several +years in Nukahiva and was familiar with the language and customs of the +people.[163] + + [162] Max Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, Nouvelle Edition + (Paris, 1882). The author does not inform us as to the exact + length of his stay in the islands. + + [163] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 221 note. + +In 1877 a good general account of the archipelago and its inhabitants +was published at Paris. The author was a naval lieutenant, P. E. Eyriaud +des Vergnes, who having lived in the islands in the official capacity of +Resident for about six years (from 1868 to 1874) had ample time and +opportunity for obtaining accurate information on the subject.[164] His +work, though somewhat slight, is valuable so far as it goes; but it does +not tell us much about the native religion, which in his time had +probably lost a good deal of its original character through the +influence of the missionaries and of civilisation.[165] + + [164] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles Marquises_ + (Paris, 1877). + + [165] Some years previously a naval lieutenant, M. Jouan, who + had been in command of the French military post at Nukahiva, + published in the _Revue Coloniale_ (1857-1858) some notes on the + Marquesas, which are said to contain some useful information on + the archipelago. See M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 310 note. I have + not seen the work of M. Jouan; but according to Radiguet it + shows that in the twelve years and more which had elapsed since + the French occupation of the islands the presence of French + missionaries and of a French garrison had done little to + civilise the natives. + +Some years later, in 1881 and 1882, a French naval doctor, Clavel by +name, passed six months in the Marquesas. During his stay he made +personal observations and collected information on the natives. These he +subsequently published in a little work, which contains much of +value;[166] but when he wrote almost all the natives had been nominally +converted to Christianity and their ancient religion was practically +extinct.[167] + + [166] _Les Marquisiens_, par M. le Docteur Clavel (Paris, 1885). + + [167] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 68-71. + +Towards the end of the nineteenth century the German traveller Arthur +Baessler paid a short visit to the Marquesas. In his book of travel in +the South Sea he has given us descriptions of the islands and the people +as he saw them, including some account of the scanty remains of their +stone monuments and images.[168] + + [168] Arthur Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900), pp. + 189-242. The writer omits to mention the date of his visit to + the islands, and the length of his stay in them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE HAWAIIANS + + +Sec. 1. _The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands_ + +The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands form an archipelago lying in the North +Pacific Ocean just within the northern tropic. They stretch in a +direction from north-west to south-east for more than four hundred miles +and include eight inhabited islands, of which the most important are +Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Of these Hawaii is by far the largest; +indeed it is the largest island in Polynesia with the exception of New +Zealand. The islands are all mountainous and of volcanic formation. In +Hawaii two of the mountains are between 13,000 and 14,000 feet in +height, and two of them are active volcanoes; one of them, named +Kilauea, possesses the greatest active crater in the world, a huge +cauldron of seething lava, which presents a spectacle of awe-inspiring +grandeur when seen on a moonless night. The other and much loftier +volcano, Mauna Loa, was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1877 and of +another in 1881. Craters, large and small, hot springs, and other +evidences of volcanic activity, abound throughout the archipelago. One +of the craters on the island of Maui is said to be no less than fifteen +miles in circumference and about two thousand feet deep. The islands +appear to have been known to the Spaniards as early as the sixteenth +century; but they were rediscovered in 1778 by Captain Cook, who was +afterwards killed in a fight with the natives in Hawaii.[1] + + [1] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 4 _sqq._; J. J. + Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._; J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_ + (Paris and Leipzig, 1862), pp. vii _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die + Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 271 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia + Britannica_, Ninth Edition, xi. 528 _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die + Hawaiischen Inseln_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 1 _sqq._; F. H. H. + Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. 533 _sqq._ + +Viewed from the sea the islands are apt to present an appearance of +barrenness and desolation. The mountains descend into the sea in +precipices often hundreds of feet high: their summits are capped with +snow or lost in mist and clouds; and their sides, green and studded with +clumps of trees in some places, but black, scorched and bare in others, +are rent into ravines, down which in the rainy seasons cataracts rush +roaring to the sea. With the changes of sunshine and shadow the +landscape as a whole strikes the beholder now as in the highest degree +horrid, dismal, and dreary, now as wildly beautiful and romantic with a +sort of stern and sombre magnificence.[2] Inland, however, in many +places the summits of the ridges crowned with forests of perpetual +verdure, the slopes covered with flowering shrubs or lofty trees, the +rocks mantled in creepers, the waterfalls dropping from stupendous +cliffs, and the distant prospects of snowy peaks, bold romantic +headlands, and blue seas, all arched by a summer sky of the deepest +azure, combine to make up pictures of fairy-like and enchanting +loveliness.[3] + + [2] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 94; W. Ellis, _Polynesian + Researches_, iv. 34, 379; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, Fifth Edition (Boston, 1839), pp. 69 _sqq._, + 140; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, + i. 366, 391; Ch. Wilkes, _United States Exploring Expedition_, + New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 373. + + [3] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 13 _sq._; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ + pp. 213 _sqq._, 229 _sqq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. + 426 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xiv _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op. + cit._ iii. 390 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _Narrative of a Whaling + Voyage round the Globe_ (London, 1840), i. 198 _sqq._ The vale + of Anuanu, which runs up into the mountains from the plain of + Honululu in the island of Oahu, is especially famed for its + natural beauty. + +The climate naturally varies with the height above the sea. On the +coasts, though warm, it is remarkably equable, and perhaps no country in +the world enjoys a finer or healthier climate than some parts of Hawaii +and Maui. On the mountains all varieties of climate are to be found, +from the tropical heat of the lowlands to the arctic cold of the two +great peaks of Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa with their perpetual +snows, which are not, however, always visible from the sea or from the +foot of these giants. In the lowlands frost is unknown. The fresh +breezes, which blow from the sea during the day and from the mountains +at night, temper the heat of the sun, and render the evenings delicious; +nothing can surpass the splendour and clearness of the moonlight. Rain +falls more abundantly on the windward or eastern side of the islands +than on the leeward or western side. Thus at Hilo, on the eastern side +of Hawaii, it rains almost every day, whereas in Kena, on the western +side, rain hardly ever falls, and along the coast not a single +water-course is to be seen for many miles. In general it may be said +that the archipelago suffers from drought and hence occasionally from +dearth.[4] + + [4] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xvi _sqq._ Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, vii. 99 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 21 _sq._; Ch. + Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 283 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. + 12 _sqq._; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th edition, xi. 530. + + +Sec. 2. _The Natives and their Mode of Life_ + +The natives of the Sandwich Islands are typical Polynesians. In general +they are rather above the middle stature, well formed, with fine +muscular limbs, open countenances, and features frequently resembling +those of Europeans. The forehead is usually well developed, the lips +thick, and the nostrils full, without any flatness or spreading of the +nose. The complexion is tawny or olive in hue, but sometimes reddish +brown. The hair is black or brown and occasionally fair or rather ruddy +in colour, in texture it is strong, smooth, and sometimes curly. The +gait is graceful and even stately. But in these islands, as in other +parts of Polynesia, there is a conspicuous difference between the chiefs +and the commoners, the superiority being altogether on the side of +the chiefs. "The nobles of the land," says Stewart, "are so strongly +marked by their external appearance, as at all times to be easily +distinguishable from the common people. They seem, indeed, in size and +stature to be almost a distinct race. They are all large in their frame, +and often excessively corpulent, while the common people are scarce of +the ordinary height of Europeans, and of a thin rather than full +habit."[5] And the difference between the two ranks is as obvious in +their walk and general deportment as in their stature and size, the +nobles bearing themselves with a natural dignity and grace which are +wanting in their social inferiors. Yet there seems to be no reason to +suppose that they belong to a different race from the commoners; the +greater care taken of them in childhood, their better living, sexual +selection, and the influence of heredity appear sufficient to account +for their physical superiority. The women are well built and "beautiful +as ancient statues" with a sweet and engaging expression of countenance. +Yet on the whole the Hawaiians are judged to be physically inferior both +to the Tahitians and to the Marquesans; according to Captain King, they +are rather darker than the Tahitians, and not altogether so handsome a +people. On the other hand they are said to be more intelligent than +either the Tahitians or the Marquesans. Captain King describes them as +of a mild and affectionate disposition, equally remote from the extreme +levity and fickleness of the Tahitians, and from the distant gravity and +reserve of the Tongans.[6] They practised tattooing much less than many +other Polynesians, but their faces, hands, arms, and the forepart of +their bodies were often tattooed with a variety of patterns.[7] + + [5] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 104. + + [6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 112 _sq._, 115 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, + _Voyage round the World_, pp. 123 _sq._; L. de Freycinet, + _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. Deuxieme partie + (Paris, 1839), p. 570; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 23; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 104, 106; J. + J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 77 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. + xxxvii _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 209. The last of + these writers speaks in unfavourable terms of the personal + appearance of the women, whom he found less handsome than the + men and very inferior to the women of the Society Islands. + + [7] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 213 _sq._, vii. 121; W. Ellis, _op. + cit._ iv. 23. + +The staple food of the Hawaiians consists of taro (_kalo_), sweet +potatoes, and fish, but above all of taro. That root (_Arum_ or +_Caladium esculentum_) is to the Hawaiians what bread-fruit is to the +Tahitians, and its cultivation is their most important agricultural +industry. It is grown wherever there is water or a marsh, and it is even +planted on some arid heights in the island of Hawaii, where it yields +excellent crops. Artificial irrigation was practised and even regulated +by law or custom in the old days; for it was a rule that water should be +conducted over every plantation twice a week in general, and once a +week during the dry season. The bread-fruit tree is not so common, and +its fruit not so much prized, as in the Marquesas and Tahiti. The +natives grew sweet potatoes even before the arrival of Europeans. Yams +are found wild, but are hardly eaten except in times of scarcity. There +are several sorts of bananas; the fruit for the most part is better +cooked than raw. In the old days the cooking was done in the ordinary +native ovens, consisting of holes in the ground lined with stones which +were heated with fire. After being baked in an oven the roots of the +taro are mashed and diluted with water so as to form a paste or pudding +called _poe_ or _poi_, which is sometimes eaten sweet but is more +generally put aside till it has fermented, in which condition it is +preferred by the natives. It is a highly nutritious substance, and +though some Europeans complain of the sourness of taro pudding, others +find it not unpalatable. Fish used to be generally eaten raw, seasoned +with brine or sea-water. But they also commonly salt their fish, not for +the sake of preserving it for a season of scarcity, but because they +prefer the taste. They construct artificial fish-ponds, into which they +let young fish from the sea, principally the fry of the grey mullet, of +which the chiefs are particularly fond. Every chief has, or used to +have, his own fish-pond. The natives are very skilful fishermen. In the +old days they made a great variety of fish-hooks out of mother-of-pearl +and tortoise shell as well as out of bone, and these they dragged by +means of lines behind their canoes, and so caught bonettas, dolphins, +and albicores. They took prodigious numbers of flying fish in nets. At +the time when the islands were discovered by Captain Cook, the natives +possessed pigs and dogs. The flesh of both of these animals was eaten, +but only by persons of higher rank. Fowls were also bred and eaten, but +they were not very common, and their flesh was not very much esteemed. +The sugar-cane was indigenous in the islands, and the people ate it as a +fruit; along with bananas and plantains it occupied a considerable +portion of every plantation. Captain Cook found the natives skilful +husbandmen, but thought that with a more extensive system of +agriculture, the islands could have supported three times the number of +the existing inhabitants.[8] He remarked that the chiefs were much +addicted to the drinking of kava, and he attributed some of the +cutaneous and other diseases from which they suffered to an immoderate +use of what he calls the pernicious drug.[9] + + [8] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 215 _sq._, 219, 224 _sq._, vii. 126 + _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 126; Archibald + Campbell, _Voyage round the World_ (Edinburgh, 1816), pp. + 161-63, 182 _sq._, 194-197; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 61, 215 + _sq._, 420 (as to irrigation); C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, pp. 111-113; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ + i. 412, 426, 428, 430, 472; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die + Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 96; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 68 + _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxiv _sq._, xliii; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the World_, i. 213 _sqq._ + As to the system of irrigating the taro fields, see especially + O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and + Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 340 _sq._ + + [9] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 113 _sq._ + + +Sec. 3. _Houses, Mechanical Arts_ + +Captain King observed that in some respects the natives of the Sandwich +Islands approached nearer in their manners and customs to the Maoris of +New Zealand than to their less distant neighbours of the Society and +Friendly Islands, the Tahitians and the Tongans. In nothing, he says, is +this more observable than in their method of living together in small +towns or villages, containing from about one hundred to two hundred +houses, built pretty close together, without any order, and with a +winding path leading through them. They were generally flanked towards +the sea with loose detached walls, intended for shelter and defence.[10] +The shape of the houses was very simple. They were oblong with very high +thatched roofs, so that externally they resembled the top of hay-stacks +or rather barns with the thatched roof sloping down steeply to two very +low sides, and with gable ends to match. The entrance, placed +indifferently in one of the sides or ends, was an oblong hole, so low +that one had rather to creep than walk in, and often shut by a board of +planks fastened together, which served as a door. No light entered the +house but by this opening, for there were no windows. Internally every +house consisted of a single room without partitions. In spite of the +extreme simplicity of their structure, the houses were kept very clean; +the floors were covered with a large quantity of dried grass, over which +they spread mats to sit and sleep upon. At one end stood a kind of bench +about three feet high, on which were kept the household utensils. These +consisted merely of a few wooden bowls and trenchers, together with +gourd-shells, serving either as bottles or baskets. The houses varied in +size with the wealth or rank of the owners. Those of the poor were mere +hovels, which resembled the sties and kennels of pigs and dogs rather +than the abodes of men. The houses of the chiefs were generally large +and commodious by comparison, some forty to sixty feet long by twenty or +thirty feet broad, and eighteen or twenty feet high at the peak of the +roof. Chiefs had always a separate eating-house, and even people of the +lower ranks had one such house to every six or seven families for the +men. The women were forbidden to eat in company with the men and even to +enter the eating-house during the meals; they ate in the same houses in +which they slept. The houses of the chiefs were enclosed in large yards, +and sometimes stood on stone platforms, which rendered them more +comfortable.[11] + + [10] J. Cook, vii. 125. + + [11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 214 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage + round the World_, p. 127; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, + pp. 180-182; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, + p. 107; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 320-322; Tyerman and Bennet, + _op. cit._ i. 371 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 67 _sq._ + +In the mechanical arts the Hawaiians displayed a considerable degree of +ingenuity and skill. While the men built the houses and canoes and +fashioned wooden dishes and bowls, the women undertook the manufacture +of bark-cloth (_kapa_) and mats. Bark-cloth was made in the usual way +from the bark of the paper-mulberry, which was beaten out with grooved +mallets. The cloth was dyed a variety of colours, and patterns at once +intricate and elegant were stamped on it and stained in different tints. +The mats were woven or braided by hand without the use of any frame or +instrument. The materials were rushes or palm-leaves; the mats made of +palm-leaves were much the more durable and therefore the more valuable. +The coarser and plainer were spread on the floor to sleep on; the finer +were of white colour with red stripes, rhombuses, and other figures +interwoven on one side. Among the most curious specimens of native +carving were the wooden bowls in which the chiefs drank kava. They were +perfectly round, beautifully polished, and supported on three or four +small human figures in various attitudes. These figures were accurately +proportioned and neatly finished; even the anatomy of the muscles +strained to support the weight were well expressed. The fishing-hooks +made by the men, especially the large hooks made to catch shark, are +described by Captain Cook as really astonishing for their strength and +neatness; he found them on trial much superior to his own.[12] + + [12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 218 _sq._, vii. 133-135; L. de + Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 611 _sq._; + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 192-195; W. Ellis, + _op. cit._ iv. 109-113; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the + Sandwich Islands_, pp. 114-116; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 66 + _sq._ + +The mechanical skill of these people was all the more remarkable because +of the extreme rudeness and simplicity of the tools with which they +worked. Their chief implement was an adze made of a black or +clay-coloured volcanic stone and polished by constant friction with +pumice-stone in water. They had also small instruments made each of a +single shark's tooth, some of which were fixed to the forepart of a +dog's jawbone and others to a thin wooden handle of the same shape. +These served as knives, and pieces of coral were used as files. Captain +Cook found the natives in possession of two iron tools, one of them a +piece of iron hoop, and the other an edge-tool, perhaps the point of a +broadsword. These they could only have procured from a European vessel +or from a wreck drifted on their coast. No mines of any kind are known +to exist in the islands.[13] + + [13] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 220-224; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. + 198; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 322; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise + um die Welt_, ii. 97 (as to the kava bowls); J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 66. As to the absence of mines in the Hawaiian Islands, + see J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xvi. + +Their weapons of war included spears, javelins, daggers, and clubs, all +of them made of wood. They also slung stones with deadly effect. But +they had no defensive armour; for the war-cloaks and wicker-work +helmets, surmounted with lofty crests and decked with the tail feathers +of the tropic bird, while they heightened the imposing and martial +appearance of the wearers, must have proved rather encumbrances than +protections. Captain Cook found the natives in possession of bows and +arrows, but from their scarcity and the slenderness of their make he +inferred that the Hawaiians, like other Polynesians, never used them in +battle.[14] + + [14] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 227 _sq._, vii. 136 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 156 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 56 + _sq._ + + +Sec. 4. _Government, Social Ranks, Taboo_ + +The government of the Hawaiian Islands was an absolute monarchy or +despotism; all rights of power and property vested in the king, whose +will and power alone were law, though in important matters he was to a +certain extent guided by the opinion of the chiefs in council. The rank +of the king and the chiefs was hereditary, descending from father to +son; but the appointment to all offices of authority and dignity was +made by the king alone. Nevertheless posts of honour, influence, and +emolument often continued in the same family for many generations. Nor +were hereditary rank and authority confined to men; they were inherited +also by women. According to tradition, several of the islands had been +once or twice under the government of a queen. The king was supported by +an annual tribute paid by all the islands at different periods according +to his directions. It comprised both the natural produce of the country +and manufactured articles. But besides the regular tribute the king was +at liberty to levy any additional tax he might please, and even to seize +and appropriate any personal possessions of a chief or other subject. +Not infrequently the whole crop of a plantation was thus carried off by +his retainers without the least apology or compensation.[15] However, +the government of the whole Hawaiian archipelago by a single monarch +was a comparatively modern innovation. Down to nearly the end of the +eighteenth century the different islands were independent of each other +and governed by separate kings, who were often at war one with the +other; indeed there were sometimes several independent kingdoms within +the same island. But towards the close of the eighteenth century an +energetic and able king of Hawaii, by name Kamehameha (Tamehameha), +succeeded in extending his sway by conquest over the whole archipelago, +and at his death in 1819 he bequeathed the undivided monarchy to his +successors.[16] + + [15] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 116 _sq._; A. Campbell, _op. + cit._ pp. 169 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 411 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 102; Tyerman + and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 380; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 30 + _sqq._ According to Jarves (_op. cit._ p. 33), "Rank was + hereditary, and descended chiefly from the females, who + frequently held the reins of government in their own right. This + custom originated in the great license existing between the + sexes; no child, with certainty, being able to designate his + father, while no mistake could be made in regard to the mother." + + [16] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 101; + J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 30; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. lxi + _sq._; _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th Edition, xi. 528. + +The whole body of chiefs fell into three classes or ranks. The first +included the royal family and all who were intimately connected with it. +The second included such as held hereditary offices of power or +governorships of islands, after the time when the whole archipelago was +united in a single kingdom. The third class embraced the rulers of +districts, the headmen of villages, and all inferior chiefs. The members +of the first two classes were usually called "high chiefs"; they were +few in number and closely related both by blood and marriage. The +members of the third class were known as "small" or "low" chiefs. They +were by far the most numerous body of chiefs in any island, and were +generally called _haku aina_ or landowners, though strictly speaking the +king was acknowledged in every island as the supreme lord and proprietor +of the soil by hereditary right or the law of conquest. When Kamehameha +had subdued the greater part of the islands, he distributed them among +his favourite chiefs and warriors on condition of their rendering him +not only military service, but a certain proportion of the produce of +their lands. In this he appears to have followed the ancient practice +invariably observed on the conquest of an island.[17] For "from the +earliest periods of Hawaiian history, the tenure of lands has been, in +most respects, feudal. The origin of the fiefs was the same as in the +northern nations of Europe. Any chieftain who could collect a sufficient +number of followers to conquer a district, or an island, and had +succeeded in his object, proceeded to divide the spoils, or 'cut up the +land,' as the natives termed it. The king, or principal chief, made his +choice from the best of the lands. Afterwards the remaining part of the +conquered territory was distributed among the leaders, and these again +subdivided their shares to others, who became vassals, owing fealty to +the sovereigns of the fee. The king placed some of his own particular +servants on his portion as his agents, to superintend the cultivation. +The original occupants who were on the land, usually remained under +their new conqueror, and by them the lands were cultivated, and rent or +taxes paid."[18] + + [17] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ p. 97; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. + 412 _sq._, 414; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 33. Compare J. Cook, + _Voyages_, vii. 137 _sqq._ + + [18] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 34. + +Below the chiefs or nobles were the commoners, who included small +farmers, fishermen, mechanics, such as house-builders and +canoe-builders, musicians and dancers, in short, all the labouring +classes, whether they worked for a chief or farmer or cultivated patches +of land for their own benefit.[19] According to one account, "the common +people are generally considered as attached to the soil, and are +transferred with the land from one chief to another."[20] But this +statement is contradicted by an earlier and perhaps better-informed +writer, who spent some thirteen months in Oahu, while the islands were +still independent and before the conversion of the people to +Christianity. He tells us that commoners were not slaves nor attached to +the soil, but at liberty to change masters when they thought proper.[21] +On this subject Captain King observes: "How far the property of the +lower class is secured against the rapacity and despotism of the great +chiefs, I cannot say, but it should seem that it is sufficiently +protected against private theft, or mutual depredation; for not only +their plantations, which are spread over the whole country, but also +their houses, their hogs, and their cloth, were left unguarded, without +the smallest apprehensions. I have already remarked, that they not only +separate their possessions by walls in the plain country, but that, in +the woods likewise, wherever the horse-plantains grow, they make use of +small white flags in the same manner, and for the same purpose of +discriminating property, as they do bunches of leaves at Otaheite. All +which circumstances, if they do not amount to proofs, are strong +indications that the power of the chiefs, where property is concerned, +is not arbitrary, but at least so far circumscribed and ascertained, as +to make it worth the while for the inferior orders to cultivate the +soil, and to occupy their possessions distinct from each other."[22] Yet +on the other hand we are told by later writers that "in fact, the +condition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold nothing +which may not be taken from them by the strong hand of arbitrary power, +whether exercised by the sovereign or a petty chief." On one occasion +the writers saw nearly two thousand persons, laden with faggots of +sandal-wood, coming down from the mountains to deposit their burdens in +the royal store-houses, and then departing to their homes, weary with +their unpaid labours, yet without a murmur at their bondage.[23] When at +last, through contact with civilisation, they had learned to utter their +grievances, they complained that "the people was crushed by the numerous +forced labours and contributions of every sort exacted from them by the +chiefs. It was, indeed, very hard to furnish the chiefs, on every +requisition, with pigs, food, and all the good things which the folk +possessed, and to see the great despoiling the humble. In truth, the +people worked for the chiefs incessantly, they performed every kind of +painful task, and they paid the chiefs all the taxes which it pleased +them to demand."[24] + + [19] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413. + + [20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 417. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 34. + + [21] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 169. As to the length of + Campbell's residence in Wahoo (Oahu), see _id._, p. 153 note. + The date of his residence was 1809-1810. Compare O. von + Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's + Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 246: "The people are almost + subject to the arbitrary will of the lord, but there are no + slaves or vassals (_glebae adscripti_). The peasant and the + labourer may go wherever they please. The man is free, he may be + killed, but not sold and not detained." + + [22] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 141 _sq._ + + [23] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 415. + + [24] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 167. + +Certainly commoners were bound to pay great outward marks of deference +to their social superiors, the chiefs, or nobles. Indeed, the respect +almost amounted to adoration, for they were on no occasion allowed to +touch their persons, but prostrated themselves before them, and might +not enter their houses without first receiving permission.[25] Above +all, the system of taboo or _kapu_, as it was called in the Hawaiian +dialect,[26] oppressed the common people and tended to keep them in a +state of abject subjection to the nobles; for the prescriptions of the +system were numerous and vexatious, and the penalty for breaches of them +was death. If the shadow of a subject fell on a chief, the subject was +put to death; if he robed himself in the cloth or assumed the girdle of +a chief, he was put to death; if he climbed on the wall of a chief's +courtyard, he was put to death; if he stood upright instead of +prostrating himself when a vessel of water was brought for the chief to +wash with or his garments to wear, he was put to death; if he stepped on +the shadow of a chief's house with his head smeared with white clay, or +decked with a garland of flowers, or merely wetted with water, he was +put to death; if he slept with his wife on a taboo day, he was put to +death; if he made a noise during public prayers, he was put to death; if +a woman ate pig, or coco-nuts, or bananas, or lobster, or the fish +called _ulua_, she was put to death; if she went in a canoe on a taboo +day, she was put to death; if husband and wife ate together, they were +both put to death.[27] + + [25] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 413; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. + 33 _sq._ Compare J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 137. + + [26] In the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian T is + pronounced K, and the Tongan B is pronounced P. Hence the Tongan + _taboo_ becomes in Hawaiian _kapoo_ (_kapu_). See E. Tregear, + _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. xxiii. + + [27] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 159, 161, 167. + +In Hawaii, as in other parts of Polynesia, the taboo formed an important +and essential part both of the religious and of the political system, of +which it was at once a strong support and a powerful instrument. The +proper sense of the word taboo (in Hawaiian _kapu_) is "sacred." This +did not, however, imply any moral quality; it expressed rather "a +connexion with the gods, or a separation from ordinary purposes, and +exclusive appropriation to persons or things considered sacred"; +sometimes it meant devoted as by a vow. Chiefs who traced their +genealogy to the gods were called _arii taboo_, "chiefs sacred"; a +temple was a _wahi taboo_, "place sacred"; the rule which prohibited +women from eating with men, and from eating, except on special +occasions, any fruits or animals ever offered in sacrifice to the gods, +while it allowed the men to partake of them, was called _ai taboo_, +"eating sacred." The opposite of _kapu_ was _noa_, which means "general" +or "common"; for example, _ai noa_ signifies "eating generally" or +"having food in common." Although it was employed for civil as well as +sacred purposes, the taboo was essentially a religious ceremony and +could be imposed only by the priests. A religious motive was always +assigned for laying it on, though it was often done at the instance of +the civil authorities; and persons called _kiaimoku_, "island keepers," +a kind of police officers, were always appointed by the king to see that +the taboo was strictly observed.[28] + + [28] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 385 _sqq._ Compare L. de + Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597. + +The application of the restriction implied by taboo was either general +or particular, either permanent or occasional. To take examples of +permanent taboos, the idols and temples, the persons and names of the +king and other members of the royal family, the persons of priests, +canoes belonging to the gods, the houses, clothes, and mats of the king +and priests, and the heads of men who were the devotees of any +particular idol, were always taboo or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, +turtles, and several sorts of fish, coco-nuts, and almost everything +offered in sacrifice were taboo or consecrated to the use of the gods +and the men; hence women were, except in cases of particular indulgence, +forbidden to partake of them. Particular places, such as those +frequented by the king for bathing, were also permanently taboo. As +examples of temporary taboos may be mentioned those which were imposed +on an island or district for a certain time, during which no canoe or +person was allowed to approach it. Particular fruits, animals, and the +fish of certain places were occasionally taboo for several months, +during which neither men nor women might eat them.[29] The predecessor +of Kamehameha, king of Hawaii, "was taboo to such a degree that he was +not allowed to be seen by day. He only showed himself in the night: if +any person had but accidentally seen him by daylight he was immediately +put to death; a sacred law, the fulfilment of which nothing could +prevent."[30] + + [29] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387. + + [30] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247. + +The seasons generally kept taboo were on the approach of some great +religious ceremony, immediately before going to war, and during the +sickness of chiefs. Their duration was various, and much longer in +ancient than in modern times. Tradition tells of a taboo which lasted +thirty years, during which men might not trim their beards and were +subject to other restrictions. Another was kept for five years. Before +the reign of Kamehameha forty days was the usual period; but in his time +the period was shortened to ten or five days, or even to a single day. +The taboo seasons might be either common or strict. During a common +taboo the men were only required to abstain from their usual avocations, +and to attend morning and evening prayers at the temple. But during a +strict taboo every fire and light in the district or island must be +extinguished; no canoe might be launched; no person might bathe or even +appear out of doors, unless his attendance was required at the temple; +no dog might bark, no pig grunt, and no cock crow; for if any of these +things were to happen the taboo would be broken and fail to accomplish +its object. To prevent this disaster the mouths of dogs and pigs were +tied up, and fowls were put under a calabash, or a cloth was fastened +over their eyes.[31] + + [31] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 387 _sq._ + +The prohibitions of the taboo were strictly enforced; every breach of +them was punished with death, unless the delinquent had powerful friends +among the priests or chiefs, who could save him. The culprits were +generally offered in sacrifice, being either strangled or clubbed at the +temple; according to one account, they were burnt.[32] + + [32] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 389. As to the taboo in Hawaii, + see also J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 146 _sq._; L. de Freycinet, + _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 597; C. S. Stewart, + _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, + _op. cit._ pp. 50-52; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xxxviii _sq._, 159 + _sqq._ + +The system seems to have been found at last too burdensome to be borne +even by the king, who under it was forbidden to touch his food with his +own hands, and had to submit to having it put into his mouth by another +person, as if he were an infant.[33] Whatever his motive, Liholiho, son +of Kamehameha, had hardly succeeded his father on the throne of Hawaii +when he abolished the system of taboo and the national religion at a +single blow. This remarkable reformation took place in November 1819. +When the first Christian missionaries arrived from America, some months +later, March 30th, 1820, they were astonished to learn of a peaceful +revolution, which had so opportunely prepared the way for their own +teaching.[34] + + [33] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 388. + + [34] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 603; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 109 _sqq._; + W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 30, 126 _sqq._, 137, 204, 312; C. S. + Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 31, 32 _sq._; + Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 378 _sq._, 397 _sq._, 442 + _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 197 _sq._, 201; J. Remy, + _op. cit._ pp. lxv, 133 _sqq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of + Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), pp. + 69 _sqq._ King Kamehameha the First died 8th May 1819. + + +Sec. 5. _Religion, the Gods_ + +Of the native Hawaiian religion, as it existed before the advent of +Europeans and the conversion of the people to Christianity, we possess +no adequate account. The defect is probably due in great measure to the +readiness with which the islanders relinquished their old faith and +adopted the new one. The transition seems to have been effected with +great ease and comparatively little opposition; hence when the +missionaries settled in the islands a few months after the formal +abolition of the ancient religion, paganism was already almost a thing +of the past, and the Christian teachers were either unable or perhaps +unwilling to record in detail the beliefs and rites which they regarded +as false and pernicious. Be that as it may, we possess no such +comparatively full and accurate records of the old Hawaiian religion, as +we possess, for example, of the old pagan religion of the Tongans and +the Samoans, who clung much more pertinaciously to the creed of their +fathers than their more enlightened or more fickle kinsfolk in the +Sandwich Islands. Hence we are obliged to content ourselves with some +more or less meagre and fragmentary notices of the ancient Hawaiian +system of religious belief and practice. But as the Hawaiians are, or +were, pure-blooded Polynesians, we may assume with a fair degree of +probability that in its broad lines their religious system conformed to +the ordinary Polynesian type. + +On this subject Captain King, the colleague and successor of Captain +Cook in his last voyage, observes as follows: "The religion of these +people resembles, in most of its principal features, that of the Society +and Friendly Islands. Their _Morais_, their _Whattas_, their idols, +their sacrifices, and their sacred songs, all of which they have in +common with each other, are convincing proofs that their religious +notions are derived from the same source. In the length and number of +their ceremonies this branch indeed far exceeds the rest; and though in +all these countries there is a certain class of men to whose care the +performance of their religious rites is committed, yet we had never met +with a regular society of priests, till we discovered the cloisters of +Kakooa in Karakakooa Bay [in the island of Hawaii]. The head of this +order was called _Orono_; a title which we imagined to imply something +highly sacred, and which, in the person of Omeeah, was honoured almost +to adoration.... It has been mentioned that the title of _Orono_, with +all its honours, was given to Captain Cook; and it is also certain that +they regarded us generally as a race of people superior to themselves; +and used often to say that great _Eatooa_ [_atuas_, spirits] dwelled in +our country. The little image, which we have before described as the +favourite idol on the _Morai_ in Karakakooa Bay, they called +_Koonooraekaiee_, and said it was Terreeoboo's god, and that he also +resided amongst us. There are found an infinite variety of these images +both on the _Morais_, and within and without their houses, to which they +give different names; but it soon became obvious to us in how little +estimation they were held, from their frequent expressions of contempt +of them, and from their even offering them to sale for trifles. At the +same time there seldom failed to be some one particular figure in +favour, to which, whilst this preference lasted, all their adoration was +addressed. This consisted in arraying it in red cloth, beating their +drums, and singing hymns before it, laying bunches of red feathers, and +different sorts of vegetables, at its feet, and exposing a pig or a dog +to rot on the _whatta_ that stood near it. In a bay to the southward of +Karakakooa, a party of our gentlemen were conducted to a large house, in +which they found the black figure of a man, resting on his fingers and +toes, with his head inclined backward, the limbs well formed and +exactly proportioned, and the whole beautifully polished. This figure +the natives call _Maee_; and round it were placed thirteen others of +rude and distorted shapes, which they said were the _Eatooas_ [spirits] +of several deceased chiefs, whose names they recounted. The place was +full of _whattas_, on which lay the remains of their offerings. They +likewise give a place in their houses to many ludicrous and some obscene +idols, like the Priapus of the ancients."[35] + + [35] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 142-144. + +The general Hawaiian name for god was _akua_, corresponding to the more +usual Polynesian form _atua_.[36] The four principal Hawaiian deities +were Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, and Lono.[37] Their names are only dialectically +different forms of Tu, Tane, Tangaroa or Tagaloa, and Rongo, four of the +greatest Polynesian gods.[38] Of these deities it is said that Ku, Kane, +and Lono formed the original Hawaiian triad or trinity, who were +worshipped as a unity under the name of Ku-kau-akahi, "the one +established."[39] The meaning or essence of the three persons of the +trinity is said to be Stability (Ku), Light (Tane), and Sound +(Lono).[40] "These gods," we are told, "created the three heavens as +their dwelling-place, then the earth, sun, moon, and stars, then, the +host of angels and ministers. Kanaloa (Tangaroa), who represented the +spirit of evil, was a later introduction into the Hawaiian theology; he +it was who led the rebellion of spirits, although Milu is in other +traditions credited with this bad pre-eminence."[41] We read that when +the trinity were at work on the task of creating the first man, the bad +spirit Kanaloa, out of rivalry, also made an image, but he could not +endow it with life. So, in a rage, he cried to Kane, "I will take your +man, he shall die!" And that, it is said, was the origin of death. The +reason why the spirits, under the leadership of Kanaloa, rebelled was +that they had been denied the sacrifice of kava. For their rebellion +they were thrust down to the lowest depth of Darkness or Night +(_Po_).[42] + + [36] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian + Comparative Dictionary_, p. 30, _s.v._ "Atua." + + [37] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xxxix; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. + 40; H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), p. 11; A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_ + (Leipzig, 1881), p. 131; _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_ + (Berlin, 1883), p. 225; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, + pp. 97 _sq._ + + [38] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ 425, 461, 464, 540, _s.vv._ "Rongo," + "Tane," "Tangaroa," "Tu." + + [39] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ "Rongo." + + [40] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ pp. 461, 540, _s.vv._ "Tane," "Tu." + + [41] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 540, _s.v._ "Tu." + + [42] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 464, _s.v._ "Tangaroa." According + to another account, the evil spirit was not Kanaloa, but Ku; + Kanaloa was a younger brother of Kane, and helped him in his + beneficent labours. See A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, + pp. 97 _sq._ This latter version agrees with the view of Kane + and Kanaloa as divine twins. See below, pp. 394 _sq._ + +A fuller account of these momentous transactions presents a close, +perhaps a suspicious, resemblance to the Biblical narrative of the same +events. It runs as follows: + +"According to ancient Hawaiian traditions, there existed in the chaos +three mighty gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono. By their common action light was +brought into the chaos. Then the gods created three heavenly spheres, in +which they dwelt, and last of all the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Out +of their spittle they thereupon created a host of angels, who had to +render service to the three original deities. Last of all came the +creation of man. His body was fashioned out of red earth, and his head +out of white clay, and Kane, the highest of the gods, breathed into this +Hawaiian Adam the breath of life. Out of one of his ribs the Hawaiian +Eve was created. The newly formed pair, by name Kumuhonua and +Keolakuhonua, were placed in a beautiful paradise called Paliuli, which +was watered by the three rivers of life, and planted with many fine +trees, among them the sacred bread-fruit tree. The mightiest of the +angels, Kanaloa, the Hawaiian Lucifer, desired that the newly created +human pair should worship him, which was forbidden by God the Father, +Kane. After vain attempts to create a new man devoted to himself, +Kanaloa, out of desire for vengeance, resolved to ruin the first human +pair created by the gods. In the likeness of a great lizard he crept +into Paradise and seduced the two inhabitants of the same into +committing sin, whereupon they were driven out of Paradise by a powerful +bird sent by Kane. Then follow, as in the Bible, the legends of the +Hawaiian Cain (Laka) and the Hawaiian Noah (Nuu), by whom the ancestors +of the Hawaiian people are said to have been saved from the universal +flood."[43] The story of the creation of the first woman out of a rib of +the first man appears to have been widespread in Polynesia, for it is +reported also from Tahiti,[44] Fakaofo or Bowditch Island,[45] and New +Zealand.[46] + + [43] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 97. + + [44] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 110 _sq._; Tyerman + and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 312 _sq._ + + [45] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 267 _sq._ + + [46] J. L. Nicholas, _Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand_ + (London, 1817), i. 59. Compare _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, + i. 9 _sq._ + +Of the three persons in the Hawaiian trinity, Kane (Tane) is said to +have been the principal. He was especially associated with light; in a +fragment of an ancient liturgy he is called Heaven-father (_Lani-makua_) +and in a very ancient chant he is identified with the Creator. When +after the great flood the Hawaiian Noah, who is called Nuu, left his +vessel, he offered up sacrifice to the moon, saying, "You are doubtless +a transformation of Tane." But the deity was angry at this worship of a +material object; nevertheless, when Nuu expressed his contrition, the +rainbow was left as a pledge of forgiveness.[47] + + [47] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 461, _s.v._ "Tane." + +According to one account, the two great gods Kane and Kanaloa were +twins. In Hawaii twins are regarded as superior to ordinary mortals both +in mind and body; hence it was natural to conceive of a pair of divine +twins, like the Dioscuri in Greek mythology. And, like the Dioscuri, the +divine Hawaiian twins sometimes appeared together to their worshippers +as helpers in time of need. Thus, in a season of dearth, when people +were dying of hunger, a poor fisher lad in the island of Lanai set up a +tiny hut on the sea-shore, and there day by day he offered a little from +the scanty store of fish which his family had caught; and as he did so +he prayed, saying, "Here, O god, is fish for thee." One day, as he sat +there, racked with unsatisfied yearning for the divine assistance, two +men came walking that way and rested at the hut; and, taking them to be +weary wanderers, the fisher lad willingly gave them what little food he +had left over. They slept there that night, and next day, when they were +departing, they revealed themselves to him as the two gods Kane and +Kanaloa, and they told him that his prayer had been heard, and that +salvation would follow. Sure enough, plenty soon returned to the land, +and on the spot where the little hut had stood, a stone temple was +built in stately terraces.[48] Again, we hear how when drought had +lasted long in the island of Oahu, and death stared the farmers in the +face for lack of water, the gods Kane and Kanaloa appeared in the +likeness of two young men and showed them a spring, which was afterwards +consecrated to the divine twins.[49] Once more, it is said that, when +the two deities were in Oahu, it chanced that they could find no water +with which to moisten their dry food. Then at Kane's direction Kanaloa +struck a stone with his spear, and from the stone there sprang a +fountain, which bears the name of Kane to this day, and still it rises +and sinks on the day of the moon which is sacred to that divinity.[50] + + [48] A. Bastian, _Die heilige Sage der Polynesier_, pp. 131, + 132. + + [49] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ pp. 132 _sq._ + + [50] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 133. As to the divine twins in + Hawaii, see also _id._, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 243. + +The god Lono was, as we have seen, no other than the great Polynesian +deity Rongo, the two names being the same word in dialectically +different forms. He was one of the most popular gods of Hawaii;[51] the +seasons and other natural phenomena were associated with him, and +prayers for rain were particularly addressed to him.[52] According to +one account, he was an uncreated, self-existent deity;[53] but according +to another account he was an ancient king of Hawaii, who rashly killed +his wife on a suspicion of infidelity, and then, full of remorse, +carried her lifeless body to a temple and made a great wail over it. +Thereafter he travelled through Hawaii in a state of frenzy, boxing and +wrestling with every one whom he met. The people in astonishment said, +"Is Lono entirely mad?" He replied, "I am frantic with my great love." +Having instituted games to commemorate his wife's death, he embarked in +a triangular canoe for a foreign land. Before he departed, he +prophesied, saying, "I will return in after times, on an island bearing +coco-nut trees, swine, and dogs." After his departure he was deified by +his countrymen, and annual games of boxing and wrestling were instituted +in his honour.[54] When Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, the natives +took him to be their god Lono returned according to his prophecy. The +priests threw a sacred red mantle on his shoulders and did him +reverence, prostrating themselves before him; they pronounced long +discourses with extreme volubility, by way of prayer and worship. They +offered him pigs and food and clothes, and everything that they offered +to the gods. When he landed, most of the inhabitants fled before him, +full of fear, and those who remained prostrated themselves in adoration. +They led him to a temple, and there they worshipped him. But afterwards +in a brawl, when they saw his blood flowing and heard his groans, they +said, "No, this is not Rono," and one of them struck him, so that he +died. But even after his death, some of them still thought that he was +Rono, and that he would come again. So they looked on some of his bones, +to wit his ribs and his breastbone, as sacred; they put them in a little +basket covered all over with red feathers, and they deposited it in a +temple dedicated to Rono. There religious homage was paid to the bones, +and thence they were carried every year in procession to several other +temples, or borne by the priests round the island, to collect the +offerings of the faithful for the support of the worship of the god +Rono.[55] + + [51] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 41. + + [52] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 98. + + [53] E. Tregear, _op. cit._ p. 425, _s.v._ "Rongo." + + [54] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 135; O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise + um die Welt_ (Weimar, 1830), ii. 88 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 41 _sq._; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one Years + in the Sandwich Islands_ (Hartford, 1849), p. 32; A. Bastian, + _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 246. + + [55] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 134-136; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. + cit._ i. 376; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 29-37; O. von Kotzebue, + _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98 _sq._ + +The great Polynesian god or hero Maui was known in Hawaii, where the +stories told of him resembled those current in other parts of the +Pacific. He is said to have dragged up the islands on his fishing-hook +from the depths of the ocean, and to have brought men their first +fire.[56] One day, when his wife was making bark-cloth and had not time +to finish it before night, Maui laid his hand on the sun and prevented +it from going down till the work was completed.[57] + + [56] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. + 236, _s.v._ "Maui"; A. Marcuse, _Die Haiwaiischen Inseln_, p. + 98. + + [57] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 433; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 26. + +The national war-god of Hawaii was named Tairi (Kaili). In the evening +he used to be seen flitting about near his temple in the form of a sort +of luminous vapour, like a flame or the tail of a comet. A similar +appearance is also occasionally seen in the Society Islands, where the +terrified natives formerly identified it with their god Tane, and +supposed that the meteor was the deity flying from temple to temple or +seeking whom he might destroy.[58] The image of the war-god Tairi used +to be carried to battle by the priest, who held it aloft above the +ranks. It was four or five feet high; the upper part was of wicker-work, +covered with red feathers; the face grinned hideously; the mouth +displayed triple rows of dog's or shark's teeth; the eyes gleamed with +mother of pearl; and the head was crowned with a helmet crested with +long tresses of human hair. In the battle the priest used to distort his +face into a variety of frightful grimaces and to utter appalling yells, +which were supposed to proceed from the god whom he bore or attended. +But the national war-god was not the only deity whose image was borne to +battle. Other chiefs of rank had their war-gods carried near them by +their priests; and if the king or chief was killed or taken, the god +himself was usually captured also. The presence of their deities +inspired the warriors with courage; for they imagined the divine +influence to be essential to victory.[59] The diviners were consulted +immediately before a battle. They slew the victims, and noticed the face +of the heavens, the passage of clouds over the sun, and the appearance +of a rainbow. If the omens were favourable, the image of the principal +war-god was brought out in front of the whole army and placed near the +king. The priest then prayed to the gods, beseeching them to prove +themselves stronger than the gods of the enemy in the ensuing +engagement, and promising them hecatombs of victims in the event of +victory. The bodies of foes slain in the battle were dragged to the king +or priest, who offered them as victims to his gods.[60] + + [58] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 119. + + [59] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 158 _sq._ + + [60] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 157 _sq._, 159. + +The gods of Hawaii fell into two classes, according as they were +believed to have been primaeval deities born of Night (Po), or the souls +of men who had been deified after death. For it was believed to be +possible to detain the soul of a beloved or honoured person at death by +keeping his clothes or his bones; and the soul could thereafter be +invoked and could speak through the mouth of the person into whom it had +entered. Both classes of deities, the primaeval and the human, were +credited with the power of making people ill.[61] One way of obtaining a +guardian deity for a family was to take the body of a still-born child +and throw it into the sea or bury it in the earth; in the former case +the embryo was supposed to turn into a shark, in the latter case into a +grasshopper. When it was deemed necessary to obtain the help of a deity +(_akua_) for a special purpose, such as success in fishing or in +canoe-building, the divine spirit could be conjured into an image +(_kii_), and could thereafter appear in a dream to his worshipper and +reveal to him what food he desired to have dedicated to him, and what +accordingly the worshipper must abstain from eating. Often the god +showed himself to the dreamer in the shape of a stone or other object; +and on awakening the man was bound to procure the object, whatever it +was, and to honour it with prayer and sacrifice, in order to ensure the +protection of the deity. Prayers addressed to private gods were usually +the property of the owner, who was commonly also their author; whereas +prayers addressed to a public god, such as Kane, had to be learned from +a priest or other adept.[62] + + [61] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 269 _sq._ + + [62] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 271 _sq._ + +Among the deities who had once been men would seem to have been the god +of medicine, the Hawaiian Aesculapius. It is said that many generations +ago a certain man named Koreamoku received all medicinal herbs from the +gods, who also taught him the use of them. After his death he was +deified, and a wooden image of him was placed in a large temple at +Kairua, to which offerings of hogs, fish, and coco-nuts were frequently +presented. Oronopuha and Makanuiairomo, two friends and disciples of +Koreamoku, continued to practise the healing art after the death of +their master, and they too were deified after death, particularly +because they were often successful in driving away the evil spirits +which afflicted the people and threatened them with death. To these +deified men the priests addressed their prayers when they administered +medicine to the sick.[63] + + [63] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 335 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 71. + +Of all the deities of Hawaii the most dreaded was Pele, the goddess of +the volcanic fire, whose home was in the great and ever active volcano +of Kilauea. There she dwelt with the other members of her family, +brothers and sisters. They were all said to have come to Hawaii from a +foreign country called Tahiti after the great deluge had subsided. The +cones which rise like islands from the vast sea of boiling lava, +vomiting columns of smoke or pyramids of flame, were the houses where +these volcanic deities lived and amused themselves by playing at +draughts: the crackling of the flames and the roaring of the furnaces +were the music of their dance; and the red flaming surge was the surf +wherein they sported, swimming on the rolling fiery waves.[64] The +filaments of volcanic glass, of a dark olive colour and as fine as human +hair, some straight, some crimped or frizzled, which are to be seen +abundantly on the sides of the crater, and on the plain for miles round, +are called by the natives "Pele's hair"; in some places they lie so +thick as to resemble cobwebs covering the surface of the ground.[65] +Near the crater grow bushes bearing clusters of red and yellow berries +resembling large currants; of these the natives formerly would never eat +till they had thrown some of the clusters into the thickest of the smoke +and vapour as an offering to the goddess of the volcano.[66] Vast +numbers of hogs, some alive, others cooked, used to be cast into the +craters when they were in action or when they threatened an eruption; +and when they boiled over, the animals were flung into the rolling +torrent of lava to appease the gods and arrest the progress of the fiery +stream. For the whole island had to pay tribute to the gods of the +volcano and to furnish provisions for the support of their ministers; +and whenever the chiefs or people failed to send the proper offerings or +incurred the displeasure of the dreadful beings by insulting them or +their ministers, or by breaking the taboos which had to be observed in +the vicinity of the craters, the angry deities would spout lava from the +mountain or march by subterranean passages to the abode of the culprits +and overwhelm them under a flood of molten matter. And if the fishermen +did not offer them enough fish, they would rush down, kill the fish with +fire, and, filling up the shoals, destroy the fishing-grounds +entirely.[67] People who passed by the volcano of Kilauea often +presented locks of hair to Pele by throwing them into the crater with an +appropriate address to the deity.[68] On one occasion, when a river of +lava threatened destruction to the people of the neighbourhood, and the +sacrifice of many hogs, cast alive into the stream, had not availed to +stay its devastating course, King Kamehameha cut off some of his own +sacred locks and threw them into the torrent, with the result that in a +day or two the lava ceased to flow.[69] In the pleasant and verdant +valley of Kaua there used to be a temple of the goddess, where the +inhabitants of Hamakua, a district of Hawaii, formerly celebrated an +annual festival designed to propitiate the dread divinity and to secure +their country from earthquakes and floods of lava. On such occasions +large offerings of hogs, dogs, and fruit were made, and the priests +performed certain rites.[70] Worshippers of Pele also threw some of the +bones of their dead into the volcano, in the belief that the spirits of +the deceased would then be admitted to the society of the volcanic +deities, and that their influence would preserve the survivors from the +ravages of volcanic fire.[71] Nevertheless the apprehensions uniformly +entertained by the natives of the fearful consequences of Pele's anger +prevented them from paying very frequent visits to the vicinity of the +volcano; and when on their inland journeys they had occasion to approach +the mountain, they were scrupulously attentive to every injunction of +her priests, and regarded with a degree of superstitious veneration and +awe the appalling spectacle which the crater, with its sea of molten and +flaming lava, presented to their eyes.[72] They even requested strangers +not to dig or scratch the sand in its neighbourhood for fear of +displeasing the goddess and provoking her to manifest her displeasure by +an eruption.[73] + + [64] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 237, 246-249; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 42 _sq._ + + [65] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 363 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ + iv. 129. + + [66] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 234-236. + + [67] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 250. + + [68] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350. + + [69] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 59. _sq._ + + [70] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 350. + + [71] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361. + + [72] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 275. + + [73] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 239. + +The service of Pele was regularly cared for by an hereditary steward +(_kahu_) and an hereditary priestess. The duty of the steward was to +provide the materials for the public sacrifices, including the food and +raiment for the goddess; it was for him to furnish the hogs and fowls, +to cultivate the taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane which were to +serve her for nourishment, to tend the plants from which her garments +were to be made, and to have all things in readiness for the offerings +at the appointed seasons. Of the plantations sacred to this use, one was +on the sea-shore, and another in the broken ground within the precincts +of the crater; and the steward with his family resided sometimes in the +one place and sometimes in the other. When the time came for offering +the sacrifice, the priestess descended into the depths of the volcano, +and there approaching as near as possible to the spot where the fire +burned most furiously, she cast into it her gifts, saying, "Here, Pele, +is food for you, and here is cloth," whereby she mentioned each article +as she flung it into the flames.[74] Sometimes the priestess claimed to +be inspired by Pele and even to be the goddess in person. One of the +priestesses, in an interview with the missionary William Ellis, assumed +a haughty air and declared, "I am Pele; I shall never die; and those who +follow me, when they die, if part of their bones be taken to Kilauea, +will live with me in the bright fires there." In a song she gave a long +account of the deeds and honours of the goddess, who, she said, dwelt in +the volcano and had come in former times from the land beyond the sky. +This song she chanted or recited in a rapid and vociferous manner, +accompanied by extravagant gestures, working herself up to a state of +excitement in which she appeared to lose all self-command. She also +claimed to be able to heal the sick through the indwelling spirit of the +goddess.[75] But the goddess was served also by priests. We read of one +such who offered prayers to her and assured the people that thereafter +she would do them no harm.[76] + + [74] C. S. Stewart, _A Visit to the South Seas_ (London, 1832), + ii. 104. + + [75] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 309-311. For other interviews with + priestesses of the goddess see _id._, iv. 275 _sq._; C. S. + Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, ii. 100-103. + + [76] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 378. + +The Hawaiians also paid religious reverence to certain birds, fish, and +animals. In a village Captain King saw two tame ravens which the people +told him were _eatooas_ (_atuas_, _akuas_), that is, gods or spirits, +cautioning him at the same time not to hurt or offend them.[77] The +native authors of a work on the history of Hawaii, speaking of the +ancient religion of their people, tell us that "birds served some as +idols; if it was a fowl, the fowl was taboo for the worshippers, and the +same for all the birds which were deified. The idol of another was a +four-footed animal, and if it was a pig, the pig was taboo for him. So +with all the animals who became gods. Another had a stone for his idol; +it became taboo, and he could not sit upon the stone. The idol of +another was a fish, and if it was a shark, the shark was taboo for him. +So with all the fish, and so they deified all things in earth and +heaven, and all the bones of men."[78] Further, the same writers observe +that "the trees were idols for the people and for the chiefs. If a man +had for his idol the _ohia_ tree, the _ohia_ was taboo for him; if the +bread-fruit tree was the idol of another, the bread-fruit tree was taboo +for him. The taboo existed likewise for all the trees out of which men +had made divine images, and it was the same also for food. If taro was a +person's idol, taro was taboo for him. It was the same for all the +eatables of which they had made gods."[79] This deification of birds, +fish, animals, plants, and inanimate objects resembles the Samoan system +and may, like it, be a relic of totemism.[80] Among the living creatures +to which they thus accorded divine honours were lizards, rats, and +owls.[81] + + [77] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 144. + + [78] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 165. + + [79] J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 163, 165. + + [80] See above, pp. 182 _sqq._, 200 _sqq._ + + [81] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + +Among the deified fishes it would seem that the shark held a foremost +place. On almost every cape jutting out into the sea, a temple used to +be built for the worship of the shark. The first fish of each kind, +taken by the fishermen, were always carried to the temple and offered to +the god, who was supposed to have driven them towards the shore.[82] +When the king or the priests imagined that the shark wanted food, they +sallied forth with their attendants, one of whom carried a rope with a +running noose. On coming to a group or crowd of people, they threw the +rope among them, and whoever happened to be taken in the snare, whether +man, woman, or child, was strangled on the spot, the body cut in pieces, +and flung into the sea, to be bolted by the ravenous monsters.[83] +Fishermen sometimes wrapped their dead in red native cloth, and threw +them into the sea to be devoured by the sharks. They thought that the +soul of the deceased would animate the shark which had eaten his body, +and that the sharks would therefore spare the survivors in the event of +a mishap at sea.[84] It was especially stillborn children that were thus +disposed of. The worshipper of the shark would lay the body of the +infant on a mat, and having placed beside it two roots of taro, one of +kava, and a piece of sugar-cane, he would recite some prayers, and then +throw the whole bundle into the sea, fully persuaded that by means of +this offering the transmigration of the soul of the child into the body +of a shark would be effected, and that thenceforth the formidable +monster would be ready to spare such members of the family as might +afterwards be exposed to his attack. In the temples dedicated to sharks +there were priests who, at sunrise and sunset, addressed their prayers +to the image which represented the shark; and they rubbed themselves +constantly with water and salt, which, drying on their skin, made it +appear covered with scales. They also dressed in red cloth, uttered +piercing yells, and leaped over the wall of the sacred enclosure; +moreover they persuaded the islanders that they knew the exact moment +when the children that had been thrown into the sea were transformed +into sharks, and for this discovery they were rewarded by the happy +parents with liberal presents of little pigs, roots of kava, coco-nuts, +and so forth.[85] The priests also professed to be inspired by sharks +and in that condition to foretell future events. Many people accepted +these professions in good faith and contributed to support the +professors by their offerings.[86] + + [82] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 90; compare _id._, pp. 129 _sq._ + + [83] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 422 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, + _op. cit._ p. 45. + + [84] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 361. + + [85] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 595 _sq._ + + [86] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ ii. 65. + +From the foregoing account it appears that some at least of the +worshipful sharks were supposed to be animated by the souls of the +dead. Whether the worship of other sacred animals in Hawaii was in like +manner combined with a theory of transmigration, there seems to be no +evidence to decide. We have seen that a similar doubt rests on the +worship of animals in Tonga.[87] + + [87] See above, pp. 92 _sqq._ + + +Sec. 6. _Priests, Sorcerers, Diviners_ + +The priesthood formed a numerous and powerful body. Their office was +hereditary. They owned much property in people and lands, which were +heavily taxed for their support. Each chief had his family priest, who +followed him to battle, carried his war-god, and superintended all the +sacred rites of his household. The priests took rank from their gods and +chiefs. The keeper of the national war-god, who was immediately attached +to the person of the king, was the high priest.[88] In the inner court +of the great temple dedicated to Tairi, the war-god, stood a lofty frame +of wicker-work, in shape something like an obelisk, hollow within and +measuring four or five feet square at the base. Within this framework +the priest stood and gave oracles in the name of the god, whenever the +king came to consult the deity on any matter of importance, such as a +declaration of war or the conclusion of peace; for the war-god was also +the king's oracle. The oracular answer, given by the priest in a +distinct and audible voice, was afterwards reported by the king, +publicly proclaimed, and generally acted upon.[89] When the villages +failed to pay their tribute punctually to the king, he used to send +forth a priest bearing the image of the great god Rono, who scoured the +country of the defaulters for twenty-three days and obliged them to pay +double tribute. The priest who bore the image was strictly tabooed; +during his peregrination he might not touch anything with his hands; his +food had to be put into his mouth either by the chiefs of the villages +where he halted or by the king himself, who accompanied him.[90] + + [88] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 48. + + [89] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 97. + + [90] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 596. + +Distinct from the regular priests were the diviners or sorcerers who +formed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. Their services were +employed for various purposes, such as to discover the cause of illness +or to detect a thief. The people generally believed that all deaths, +which were not due to acts of violence, were wrought either by the +action of a deity or by the incantations of a sorcerer. Hence in cases +of protracted illness the aid of one of these inferior clergy was almost +invariably sought by all who could procure a dog and a fowl for the +necessary sacrifice to the god, and a piece or two of cloth as a fee for +the priest. But the offerings to the god and the fees to the priest +naturally varied with the rank or wealth of the sufferer. After +sacrificing the victims the priest lay down to sleep, and if his prayers +were answered, he was usually able to inform the invalid of the cause of +his illness, which had been revealed to him in a dream. But the same +men, who could thus heal the sick by ascertaining and removing the cause +of sickness, were supposed to possess the power of praying or enchanting +people to death by the recitation of spells or incantations. The prayers +or incantations which they employed for these beneficent or maleficent +purposes varied with the individual: every practitioner had his own +formulas, the knowledge of which he carefully confined to his own +family; and he who was thought to have most influence with his god was +most frequently employed by the people and derived the greatest +emoluments from his profession.[91] Of this class of men the most +dreaded were those who invoked the god Uli as their patron deity. Their +special business was to kill people by their spells, which they recited +secretly, and for the most part by night; but to render these effectual +it was necessary for them to obtain some of the personal refuse of their +victim, such as his spittle, the parings of his nails, or the clippings +of his hair, which they buried or burned with the appropriate +incantations.[92] Hence the king of Hawaii was constantly attended by a +servant carrying a spittoon in which he collected the royal saliva to +prevent it from being used by the king's enemies for his injury or +destruction.[93] Ordinary chiefs seem to have adopted the same +precaution; a confidential servant deposited their spittle carefully in +a portable spittoon and buried it every morning.[94] + + [91] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 293-295. Compare U. Lisiansky, + _op. cit._ pp. 120 _sq._; A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, + pp. 171 _sqq._; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich + Islands_, pp. 202 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 414; + J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 36 _sq._, 71 _sq._; A. Marcuse, + _op. cit._ pp. 103-105. + + [92] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 104. + + [93] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), i. 313. + + [94] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 365. + +A form of divination or magic was employed to detect a thief. The person +who had suffered the loss used to apply to a priest, to whom he +presented a pig and told his story. Thereupon the priest kindled a fire +by rubbing two pieces of wood together, and having taken three nuts he +broke the shells and threw one of the kernels into the fire, saying, +"Kill or shoot the fellow." If the thief did not appear before the nut +was consumed in the flames, the priest repeated the ceremony with the +other two nuts. Such was the fear inspired by this rite that the culprit +seldom failed to come forward and acknowledge his guilt. But if he +persisted in concealing his crime, the king would cause proclamation to +be made throughout the island that so-and-so had been robbed, and that +the robber or robbers had been prayed to death. So firm was the belief +of the people in the power of these prayers, that the criminal, on +hearing the proclamation, would pine away, refuse food, and fall a +victim to his own credulity.[95] + + [95] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 171-173. + + +Sec. 7. _Temples, Images, Human Sacrifices_ + +Of the Hawaiian temples, as they existed before the abolition of the +native religion, we seem to possess no good and clear description. When +Captain Cook first visited Hawaii and was sailing along the coast, he +noticed from the ship at every village one or more elevated white +objects, like pyramids or rather obelisks; one of them he judged to be +fifty feet high. On landing to examine it, he could not reach it on +account of an intervening pool of water. However, he visited another +structure of the same sort in a more accessible situation, and found +that it stood in what he calls a burying-ground or _morai_ closely +resembling those which he had seen in other Polynesian islands and +especially in Tahiti. This particular _morai_ was an oblong space, of +considerable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about four feet +high. The area enclosed was loosely paved with smaller stones; and at +one end of it stood the pyramid or obelisk, measuring about four feet +square at the base and about twenty feet high. The four sides were +composed, not of stones, but of small poles interwoven with twigs and +branches, thus forming an indifferent wicker-work, hollow or open within +from bottom to top. It seemed to be in a rather ruinous state, but +enough remained to show that it had been originally covered with the +light grey cloth to which the natives attached a religious significance. +It was no doubt with similar cloth that the white pyramids or obelisks +were covered which Captain Cook beheld in the distance from the deck of +his ship. Beside the particular pyramid which he examined Captain Cook +found a sacrificial stage or altar with plantains laid upon it. The +pyramids or obelisks which he thus saw and described were presumably the +structures in which the priests concealed themselves when they gave +oracles in the name of the god. On the farther side of the area of the +_morai_ of which Captain Cook has given us a description stood a house +or shed about ten feet high, forty feet long, and ten broad in the +middle, but tapering somewhat towards the ends. The entrance into it was +at the middle of the side, which was in the _morai_. On the farther side +of the house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden images, each cut +out of a single piece, with pedestals, in all about three feet high, not +badly designed nor executed. They were said to represent goddesses +(_eatooa no veheina_). On the head of one of them was a carved helmet, +and on the other a cylindrical cap like the head-dress worn at Tahiti. +In the middle of the house, and before the two images, was an oblong +space, enclosed by a low edging of stone and covered with shreds of the +same grey cloth which draped the pyramid or obelisk. Within this +enclosure seven chiefs lay buried; and outside the house, just on one +side of the entrance, were two small square spaces in which a man and a +hog were buried respectively, after being killed and sacrificed to the +divinity. At a little distance from these, and near the middle of the +_morai_, were three more of these square enclosed places, in which three +chiefs had been interred. In front of their graves was an oblong +enclosed space in which, as Captain Cook was told, three human victims +were buried, each of them having been sacrificed at the funeral of one +of the three chiefs. Within the area of the _morai_ or burying-ground, +as Captain Cook calls it, were planted trees of various kinds. Similar +sanctuaries appeared to Captain Cook to abound in the island; the +particular one described by him he believed to be among the least +considerable, being far less conspicuous than several others which he +had seen in sailing along the coast.[96] + + [96] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 183-187. The cloth-covered pyramid + or obelisk was called a _henananoo_ (_ib._ p. 187). + +From his description we may infer that the temples (_morais_) observed +by him did not contain stone pyramids like those which formed such +prominent features in the Tahitian sanctuaries and in the burial grounds +of the Tooitongas in Tongataboo; for the pyramids, or rather obelisks, +of wicker-work seen by Captain Cook in the Hawaiian sanctuaries were +obviously structures of a wholly different kind. But there seem to be +some grounds for thinking that stone pyramids, built in steps or +terraces, did occur in some of the Hawaiian temples. Thus Captain King +saw a _morai_, as he calls it, which consisted of a square solid pile of +stones about forty yards long, twenty broad, and fourteen [feet?] in +height. The top was flat and well paved, and surrounded by a wooden +rail, on which were fixed the skulls of captives who had been sacrificed +on the death of chiefs. The ascent to the top of the pile was easy, but +whether it was a staircase or an inclined plane is not mentioned by +Captain King. At one end of the temple or sacred enclosure was an +irregular kind of scaffold supported on poles more than twenty feet +high, at the foot of which were twelve images ranged in a semicircle +with a sacrificial table or altar in front of them. On the scaffold +Captain Cook was made to stand, and there, swathed in red cloth, he +received the adoration of the natives, who offered him a hog and chanted +a long litany in his honour.[97] + + [97] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5-7. + +When Kamehameha was busy conquering the archipelago in the last years of +the eighteenth century, he built a great temple (_heiau_) for his +war-god Tairi in the island of Hawaii. Some thirty years later the +ruined temple was visited and described by the missionary William Ellis. +He says: "Its shape is an irregular parallelogram, 224 feet long, and +100 wide. The walls, though built of loose stones, were solid and +compact. At both ends, and on the side next the mountains, they were +twenty feet high, twelve feet thick at the bottom, but narrowed in +gradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, six feet +wide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the sea were not more than +seven or eight feet high, and were proportionally wide. The entrance to +the temple is by a narrow passage between two high walls.... The upper +terrace within the area was spacious, and much better finished than the +lower ones. It was paved with flat smooth stones, brought from a +distance. At the south end was a kind of inner court, which might be +called the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol +used to stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities.... +On the outside, near the entrance to the inner court, was the place of +the _rere_ (altar) on which human and other sacrifices were offered. The +remains of one of the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the +natives, and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men and +animals, the mouldering remains of those numerous offerings once +presented there. About the centre of the terrace was the spot where the +king's sacred house stood, in which he resided during the season of +strict _tabu_, and at the north end, the place occupied by the houses of +priests, who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons +permitted to dwell within the sacred enclosures. Holes were seen on the +walls, all around this, as well as the lower terraces, where wooden +idols of varied size and shape formerly stood, casting their hideous +stare in every direction."[98] + + [98] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 96-98. Compare J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 45 _sq._ + +From this somewhat indistinct description we gather that the temple was +a large oblong area enclosed by high stone walls and open to the sky, +and that at some place within the enclosure there rose a structure in a +series of terraces, of which the uppermost was paved with flat stones +and supported the king's house, while the houses of the priests stood in +another part of the sacred enclosure. If this interpretation is correct, +we may infer that the temple resembled a Tahitian _morai_, which was a +walled enclosure enclosing a sort of stepped and truncated pyramid built +of stone.[99] The inference is confirmed by the language used by Captain +King in speaking of the temple which he describes, for he calls it a +_morai_,[100] and the same term is applied to the sacred edifices in +Hawaii by other voyagers.[101] + + [99] See above, pp. 278 _sqq._ + + [100] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 5. + + [101] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 89 _sq._; + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 175. + +Another ruined temple (_heiau_) seen by Ellis in Hawaii, is described by +him as built of immense blocks of lava, and measuring a hundred and +fifty feet long by seventy feet wide. At the north end was a smaller +enclosure, sixty feet long and ten wide, partitioned off by a high wall, +with but one narrow entrance. The places where the idols formerly stood +were apparent, though the idols had been removed. The spot where the +altar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of +earth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava. +The adjacent ground was strewn with bones of the ancient offerings.[102] +Another temple (_heiau_), in good preservation, visited by Ellis, +measured no less than two hundred and seventy feet in one direction by +two hundred and ten in another. The walls were thick and solid; on the +top of them the stones were piled in a series of small spires. The +temple was said to have been built by a queen of Hawaii about eleven +generations back.[103] Once more in one of the _puhonuas_ or cities of +refuge, which in Hawaii afforded an inviolable sanctuary to fugitives, +Ellis saw another temple (_heiau_), which he describes as "a compact +pile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, and ten feet +high. Many fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, of two or more tons +each, were seen in several parts of the wall, raised at least six feet +from the ground." Ellis was told that the city of refuge, of which this +temple formed part, had been built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii +about two hundred and fifty years before the time when the missionary +was writing.[104] From his descriptions we may infer that some at least +of the Hawaiian temples deserved to rank among megalithic structures, +and that the natives had definite traditions of the kings or queens by +whom the temples had been built. + + [102] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 116. + + [103] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 117 _sq._ + + [104] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 169. + +In the island of Oahu a temple (_heiau_) visited by the missionary +Stewart was forty yards long by twenty yards broad. The walls, of dark +stone, were perfectly regular and well built, about six feet high, three +feet wide at the level of the ground, and two feet wide at the top. It +was enclosed only on three sides, the oblong area formed by the walls +being open on the west; from that side there was a descent by three +regular terraces or very broad steps.[105] This brief account confirms +the inference which I have drawn from the more detailed description of +Ellis, as to the terraced structure of some Hawaiian temples. + + [105] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. + 226 _sq._ + +In the mountains of Hawaii, at a height of about five thousand feet +above the sea, Commodore Wilkes saw the ruins of an ancient temple of +the god Kaili (Tairi), round about which stood eight small pyramids +built of compact blocks of lava laid without cement. These pyramids were +said to have been erected at the command of Umi, an ancient king, to +commemorate his conquests. They seem to have measured each some ten or +twelve feet square. The temple which they surrounded was about +ninety-two feet long by seventy-two feet wide; the outer walls were +about seven feet high and as many thick. Internally the edifice was +divided by partition walls three feet high. The building was said to +have been formerly covered with idols, of which no traces remained at +the time of Wilkes's visit.[106] + + [106] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 99 _sq._, with the plate. + +Often, apparently, a Hawaiian temple consisted of little more than a +walled or palisaded enclosure containing a number of rudely carved +images and a place of sacrifice in the form of a platform raised on +poles. Such a temple is described by the Russian navigator Lisiansky. +The images in it were grouped and arranged so as to form a sort of +semicircle. The chief priest of the temple informed the Russians "that +the fifteen statues wrapped in cloth represented the gods of war; the +two to the right of the place of sacrifice, the gods of spring; those on +the opposite side, the guardians of autumn; and that the altar was +dedicated to the god of joy, before which the islanders dance and sing +on festivals appointed by their religion." With regard to the temples in +general, Lisiansky observes that they "were by no means calculated to +excite in the mind of a stranger religious veneration. They are suffered +to remain in so neglected and filthy a condition, that, were it not for +the statues, they might be taken rather for hog-sties than places of +worship."[107] + + [107] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 105-107. He says (p. 106) + that the temple was "called by the natives _Heavoo_, not + _Morai_, as some navigators have said." The word _Heavoo_ is + probably identical with the word _heiau_, which other writers + give as the Hawaiian name for a temple. As to the form of the + temples see also A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 175 + _sq._: "Their Morais, or places of worship, consist of one large + house or temple, with some smaller ones round it, in which are + the images of their inferior gods. The tabooed or consecrated + precincts are marked out by four square posts, which stand + thirty or forty yards from the building. In the inside of the + principal house there is a screen or curtain of white cloth, + hung across one end within which the image of Etooah [_atua_, + _akua_] is placed." Remy (_op. cit._ p. xl) describes the + Hawaiian temples as "simple enclosures of stones, roofless, + where the religious ceremonies were performed." + +The images of the gods were usually carved of wood. When a new idol was +to be made, a royal and priestly procession went forth, with great +ceremony, to the destined tree, where the king himself, with a stone +axe, struck the first blow at the root. After the tree was felled, a man +or a hog was killed and buried on the spot where it had grown.[108] +Sometimes, apparently, the direction to carve an idol out of a +particular tree was given by a god in a dream. There is a tradition that +once when the woodmen were felling such a tree with their stone axes, +the chips flew out and killed two of them; whereupon the other woodmen +covered their faces with masks, and cut down the tree with their +daggers.[109] Another famous idol was said to be made of wood so +poisonous, that if chips of it were steeped in water, and anybody drank +of the water, he would die in less than twenty-four hours.[110] The +Hawaiians seem to have made their idols hideous on purpose to inspire +terror.[111] The features of some of the images were violently +distorted, their mouths set with a double row of the fangs of dogs, +their eyes made of large pearl oysters with black nuts in the middle; +some had long pieces of carved wood, shaped like inverted cones, rising +from the top of their heads;[112] some had tongues of a monstrous size, +others had no tongues at all; some had mouths that reached from ear to +ear; the heads of some were a great deal larger than their bodies.[113] +Some of the idols were stones. In the island of Hawaii there is a pebbly +beach from which pebbles used to be carried away to be deified or to +represent deities. They were generally taken in couples, a male and a +female, and having been wrapt up very carefully together in a piece of +native cloth, they were conveyed to a temple (_heiau_), where ceremonies +of consecration or deification were performed over them.[114] + + [108] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 450. + + [109] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 92 _sq._ + + [110] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 91. + + [111] A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 101. + + [112] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 6, 15; compare A. Campbell, _op. + cit._ p. 76. + + [113] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 107. + + [114] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 212 _sq._ + +The human sacrifice offered at the making of an idol was intended to +impart strength to the image.[115] But human sacrifices were offered on +many other occasions, such as on the approach of war, on the death of a +chief, and so forth. There is a tradition that Umi, a famous king of +Hawaii, once offered eighty men to his god as a thank-offering for +victory. The victims were generally prisoners of war, but in default of +captives any men who had broken taboos or rendered themselves obnoxious +to the chiefs were sacrificed. It does not appear that they were slain +in the presence of the idol or within the temple, but either on the +outside or where they were first taken; in all cases an attempt seems to +have been made to preserve the body entire or as little mangled as +possible. Generally the victims were despatched by a blow on the head +with a club or stone; sometimes, however, they were stabbed. Having been +stripped naked, the bodies were carried into the temple and laid in a +row, with their faces downwards, on the altar immediately before the +idol. The priest thereupon, in a kind of prayer, offered them to the +gods; and if hogs were sacrificed at the same time, they were +afterwards piled on the human bodies and left there to rot and putrefy +together.[116] + + [115] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 161. + + [116] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 150-152; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ + pp. 47 _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp. xl _sq._ Compare U. + Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 121 _sq._; Tyerman and Bennet, _op. + cit._ i. 423 _sq._ + +When a new temple was about to be dedicated, some of the people used to +flee into the mountains to escape being sacrificed. The last human +sacrifices are said to have been offered in 1807, when the queen of the +islands was seriously ill.[117] Whenever war was in contemplation, the +diviners used to sacrifice animals, generally hogs and fowls, and to +draw omens from the manner in which they expired, from the appearance of +their entrails, and from other signs. Sometimes, when the animal was +slain, they disembowelled it, took out the spleen, and, holding it in +their hands, offered their prayers. But if the contemplated expedition +was of any importance or the danger was imminent, human sacrifices were +offered to ensure the co-operation of the war-gods in the destruction of +their enemies.[118] + + [117] A. Marcuse, _op. cit._ p. 103. + + [118] W. Ellis, iv. 150 _sq._ + + +Sec. 8. _Festivals_ + +In every lunar month the people celebrated four festivals. The festival +of the new moon lasted three nights and two days; the three others +lasted two nights and one day. These nights and days were taboo or +sacred: men who took part in the festivals might not speak to a woman +under pain of death, and all the people were forbidden to sail the sea, +to fish, to make bark-cloth, and to play games.[119] Besides these +monthly festivals there was one called Macahity, which lasted for a +whole month and seems to have celebrated the end of the old year. It +fell in November, and has been compared by Lisiansky to our festival of +Christmas. He tells us that "it continues a whole month, during which +the people amuse themselves with dances, plays, and sham-fights of every +kind. The king must open this festival wherever he is. On this occasion, +his majesty dresses himself in his richest cloak and helmet, and is +paddled in a canoe along the shore, followed sometimes by many of his +subjects. He embarks early, and must finish his excursion at sun-rise. +The strongest and most expert of the warriors is chosen to receive him +on his landing. This warrior watches the royal canoe along the beach; +and as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off his cloak, he darts +his spear at him, from a distance of about thirty paces, and the king +must either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer from it: there is no +jesting in the business. Having caught it, he carries it under his arm, +with the sharp end downwards, into the temple or _heavoo_. On his +entrance, the assembled multitude begin their sham-fights, and +immediately the air is obscured by clouds of spears, made for the +occasion with blunted ends. Hamamea [the king, Kamehameha] has been +frequently advised to abolish this ridiculous ceremony, in which he +risks his life every year; but to no effect. His answer always is, that +he is as able to catch a spear, as any one on the island is to throw it +at him. During the Macahity, all punishments are remitted throughout the +country; and no person can leave the place in which he commences these +holidays, let the affair requiring his absence be ever so +important."[120] The ceremony of throwing a spear at the king during the +festival of Macahity has been described also by the Scotch sailor +Archibald Campbell, who may have witnessed it. He says: "The king +remains in the _morai_ for the whole period; before entering it, a +singular ceremony takes place. He is obliged to stand till three spears +are darted at him: he must catch the first with his hand, and with it +ward off the other two. This is not a mere formality. The spear is +thrown with the utmost force; and should the king lose his life, there +is no help for it."[121] This curious rite may perhaps have been a relic +of an old custom which obliged the king to submit once a year to the +ordeal of battle, in order to prove his fitness for a renewed tenure of +office, death being the penalty of defeat and the kingdom the reward of +victory in the combat.[122] During the continuance of the festival the +priests were employed in collecting the taxes, which were paid by the +chiefs in proportion to the extent of their territories; these taxes +consisted of mats, feathers, and the produce of the country. The people +celebrated the festival by dancing, wrestling, and other +amusements.[123] The victor in the boxing matches and martial evolutions +was crowned and treated as king of the festival, which was held in +honour of the god Rono.[124] + + [119] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 595. Compare U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, p. 118. + According to the latter writer, there were no taboos (festivals) + in the eleventh month. + + [120] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 118 _sq._ From + A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, p. 178, we learn that the + festival fell in November, and from a brief native notice we may + gather that the New Year celebration was the festival of + Macahity. See J. Remy, _Histoire de l'Archipel Havaiien_, pp. + 167, 169, "_a la celebration de la nouvelle annee, les citoyens, + les chefs, les femmes, les enfants se livraient a des boxes + furieuses, et plusieurs recevaient dans ces jeux des blessures + tres graves_." + + [121] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 179. + + [122] Compare _The Golden Bough_, Part III. _The Dying God_, pp. + 117 _sq._ + + [123] A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 178 _sq._ + + [124] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 88 _sq._ + +No one might go to war during the New Year festival; all the people had +to repair to the temples (_morais_). Three kinds of idols were +worshipped at this season; the principal of them, called Kekou-Aroha, +was carried round the island by a priest; everything that he could seize +with his left hand he had the right to appropriate, whether it was dogs, +pigs, vegetables, or what not; and any person on whom he in like manner +laid a hand was bound to assist him in carrying or leading to the temple +the tribute or booty he had thus taken possession of.[125] + + [125] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 596. + +Of the rigour with which the laws of taboo were enforced during one of +these festivals we may gather an idea from a statement of the Russian +navigator von Kotzebue. He says: "As Kareimoku's guests, we were present +at the celebration of a _Tabu pori_, which lasted from the setting of +the sun to sunrise on the third day. It is already known what degree of +sanctity is imparted to him who joins in this communion with the gods +during the time. Should he accidentally touch a woman, she must be +instantly put to death. Should he enter a woman's house, the flames must +immediately consume it."[126] + + [126] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_, iii. 248 _sq._ Compare A. von Chamisso, + _Reise um die Welt_ (Leipzig, 1836), ii. 312. + + +Sec.9. _Death and Funeral Rites_ + +The Hawaiians explained life as usual by the hypothesis of a soul +(_uhane_), which animated the whole body, but had its seat especially in +the sockets of the eyes, and above all in the lachrymal gland. During +sleep the soul quits the body, wanders away, and sees the places and +things which appear to it in dreams; usually it returns in time to +resume its functions in the body without endangering the health of the +sleeper. Occasionally, however, it happens that in its rambles it loses +its way through falling in with a ghost or spectre, who frightens it; +but even then it may be brought back with the help of a familiar spirit +despatched to seek out and guide home the wanderer. When a man falls +sick, his soul begins to feel ill at ease in his body, and if the +sickness proves fatal, the soul quits him never to return.[127] +According to another account, the Hawaiians held that every man had two +souls in his body, of which one never left him in life, while the other +went forth from time to time in dreams or ecstasy, but only to return to +its corporeal tabernacle. Sometimes a diviner would warn a man that he +had seen his dream-soul roaming about, and that perhaps it might never +come back, because a certain deity was angry with him. Upon that the +terrified owner of the soul would naturally engage the diviner to +recover his spiritual property by propitiating the angry deity with a +valuable offering.[128] + + [127] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 272 _sq._ + + [128] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 39 note; A. Marcuse, _Die + Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 105. + +Sickness was commonly explained by the presence in the sufferer of an +evil spirit, who must be exorcised if the patient was to be restored to +health. For this purpose the services of a priest (_kahuna_) were +engaged, who by the recitation of a suitable incantation invited or +compelled the demon to declare through the mouth of the sick man why he +had entered into him, and on what terms he would consent to take his +departure. Sometimes, the demon was induced to perch on the head or +shoulders of one of the bystanders, and from that coign of vantage to +answer the interrogatory of the priest. But at other times he burrowed +so deep into the patient's body and held his tongue so obstinately, that +the priest had no alternative but to prick the sick man's body with +bamboo needles and to drop water into his eyes in order to drive out the +evil spirit.[129] + + [129] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 269. + +When all remedies had proved vain and death had followed, the bodies of +common people were buried in a crouching position. The upper part of the +body was raised; the face was bent forwards to meet the knees; the hands +were put under the hams and passed up between the knees; then head, +hands, and knees were bound together with cinnet or cord. Afterwards the +corpse was wrapt up in a coarse mat and interred on the first or second +day after death. But the corpses of chiefs and priests were not thus +doubled up; they were laid out straight, wrapt up in many folds of +native cloth, and buried in that posture. Priests were generally +committed to the earth within the precincts of the temple in which they +had officiated. A pile of stones or a circle of high poles marked their +grave. But it was only the bodies of priests or of persons of some +importance that were thus interred. For ordinary people natural graves +were preferred, where suitable places could be found, such as caves in +the face of cliffs or large subterranean grottos. Sometimes the +inhabitants of a village deposited their dead in one great cavern, but +generally each family had a distinct sepulchral cave. Their artificial +graves were either simple pits dug in the earth or large enclosures, +which might be surrounded with high stone walls so as to resemble the +ordinary temples (_heiaus_). Occasionally they buried their dead in +sequestered spots near their dwellings, but often in their gardens, and +sometimes in their houses. The graves were not deep, and the bodies were +usually placed in them in a sitting posture.[130] A rude method of +embalming by means of the flower of the sugar-cane was often practised, +whereby the entrails and brains were extracted and the body +desiccated.[131] When the dead was interred in the dwelling, the house +was not uncommonly shut up and deserted, the survivors seeking for +themselves a new habitation.[132] The custom no doubt sprang from a fear +of the ghosts, which were supposed to linger about their final +resting-places and to injure such as came within their reach; hence +their apparitions were much dreaded. For the same reason burials were +conducted in a private manner and by night. If people were seen carrying +a dead body past a house, the inmates would abuse or even stone them for +not taking it some other way; for they imagined that the ghost would ply +to and fro between the grave and his old home along the path by which +his corpse had been carried.[133] Sometimes, apparently, to prevent the +ghost from straying, his grave was enclosed by a sort of fence composed +of long poles stuck in the ground at intervals of three or four inches +and fastened together at the top. At all events Ellis saw a priest's +tomb thus enclosed, and he received this explanation of the fence from +some people; though others merely said that it was a custom so to inter +persons of consequence.[134] Nightmare was believed to be caused by a +ghost attempting to strangle the dreamer; under the influence of this +belief a strong man has been seen to run shrieking down the street, +tugging with both hands at his throat to tear the incubus away, till he +reached the door of a neighbour's house and, bursting in, fell fainting +on the floor. He thought that the ghost of a chief, who had died the day +before, had a grip on his throat and was trying to throttle him.[135] +Sometimes, however, affection for the dead sufficed to overcome the fear +of the ghost, and the mouldering bones were carried about as relics by +relations and friends.[136] When the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell +was in the islands in the early years of the nineteenth century, his +patroness the queen kept by her the bones of her father wrapt up in a +piece of cloth. Whenever she slept in her own house, the bones were +placed by her side; in her absence they were set on a feather-bed which +she had received from the captain of a ship, and which she used only for +this purpose. On being asked by the Scotchman why she observed this +singular custom, she replied that it was because she loved her father so +dearly.[137] More usually, however, the bones of a beloved chief were +carefully hidden to prevent his enemies from finding them and making +arrow-heads out of them, with which to hunt rats, or otherwise profaning +them. Hence there was a proverb to the effect that the bones of bad +chiefs were not concealed. When the great King Kamehameha died in 1819, +his bones were hidden and disappeared completely in some secret +cave.[138] + + [130] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 359 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ pp. 73 _sq._ + + [131] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 73; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. + xlvii. + + [132] Tyerman and Bennet, _op. cit._ i. 429. + + [133] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 360 _sq._; J. J. Jarves, _op. + cit._ p. 74; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inslen_, p. 109. + + [134] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 129. + + [135] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), pp. 11 _sq._, quoting Sheldon Dibble, _History of the + Sandwich Islands_, p. 99. + + [136] O. von Kotzebue, _Neue Reise um die Welt_, ii. 98; A. + Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 261. + + [137] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 206 _sq._ + + [138] J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. 153. + +The death of a king or great chief in former days was the occasion for +the observance of some singular ceremonies and customs. The grief, real +or pretended, of the people found expression in many extravagant forms. +Men and women knocked out some of their front teeth with stones; but the +custom seems to have been observed even more extensively by men than by +women. The kinsmen or friends of the deceased chief set the example, and +their retainers were obliged to imitate them. Sometimes a man broke out +his own tooth with a stone, but more usually the service was rendered +him by another, who fixed one end of a stick against the tooth and +hammered the stick with a stone till the tooth broke off. If the men +deferred the operation, the women would perform it on them in their +sleep. More than one tooth was seldom sacrificed at one time; but as the +mutilation was repeated at the decease of every chief of rank or +authority, few men of mature years were to be seen with a whole set of +teeth, and many lost all their front teeth both in the upper and the +lower jaw. Another mutilation practised at such times was to cut one or +both ears, but it seems to have been comparatively rare. Much commoner +was the custom of burning circles or semi-circles on the face or breast +by means of strips of burning bark. The mourners also polled their hair +in various ways. Sometimes they made bald a small round piece on the +crown of the head, like the tonsure of Catholic priests; sometimes they +shaved or cropped close the whole head except round the edge, where a +short fringe was left to hang down; sometimes they made their heads +quite bald on one side and allowed the hair to remain long on the other; +occasionally they cut out a patch in the shape of a horse-shoe either at +the back of the head or above the forehead; sometimes they shore a +number of curved furrows from ear to ear or from the forehead to the +neck. When a chief who had lost a relative or friend had his own hair +cut after any particular pattern, his followers and dependants usually +cropped their hair in the same style. Not to clip or shave the hair in +mourning was regarded as disrespectful to the dead, but the particular +manner of cutting it was left to the taste of the individual.[139] Some +people in their frenzy knocked out their eyes with clubs and stones and +cut as well as burned their flesh.[140] Another peculiar badge of +mourning, adopted principally by the chiefs, was a black spot or line +tattooed on the tongue. The painful operation was performed by +puncturing the tongue with sharp fish-bones dipped in colouring +matter.[141] But though these personal mutilations were popular and +almost universal on the decease of chiefs, they appear not to have been +practised by the common people among themselves. Thus a wife did not +knock out her teeth on the death of her husband, and a son did not thus +express his grief for the loss of his parents, nor they for the death of +a child.[142] + + [139] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 175 _sqq._, 181. Compare U. + Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 123; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 142 + _sq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii. + + [140] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. + 166; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 65 _sq._ + + [141] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 177, 180 _sq._ + + [142] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 180. + +Similar extravagances in the expression of grief were commonly exhibited +by mourners, as we have seen, in other parts of Polynesia; but in Hawaii +the rites observed at the death of a king or high chief were in so far +peculiar that they assumed the character of a Saturnalia or orgy of +unbridled lust and crime. On this subject the Russian navigator +Lisiansky, who visited the islands while the ancient system of +superstition was still in full vogue, reports as follows: "On the death +of the king, a scene of horror takes place that is hardly credible. +Twelve men are sacrificed; and shortly after the whole island abandons +itself for a month to the utmost disorder and licentiousness. During +this period, both sexes go entirely naked, and men cohabit with women +without any distinction: the woman who should dare to make resistance, +would be considered as violating the laws of the country. The same +licentiousness is observed on the death of a noble; but it does not +extend beyond the domains of the deceased, and is of a much shorter +duration, not continuing, as Mr. Young informed me, more than a few +days, though attempts are made by the youth of the party to prolong the +period. Those who are put to death on the demise of the king, or any +great personage, are such as have offered themselves for the purpose +during the life of their master; and they are in consequence considered +and treated by him as his best friends, since they have sworn to live +and die with him. When I reflect upon the horrid nature of this +ceremony, I hardly know how to credit its existence amongst a race of +men so mild and good as these islanders in general appear to be; but Mr. +Young, whose veracity I had no reason to doubt, assured me of the +fact."[143] + + [143] U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 122 _sq._ + +This John Young, who gave Lisiansky information as to the customs and +religion of the Hawaiians, was an Englishman who had resided in the +islands for many years at the time of the Russian navigator's visit in +1804. Originally a sailor, born at Liverpool, he had been compulsorily +detained by the natives when he landed from his ship in Hawaii in March +1790. But from the first he received the kindest treatment from the +king, Kamehameha, whose full confidence and high esteem he enjoyed and +deserved. The king gave him a fine estate and appointed him to several +responsible offices; in particular Young was governor of Hawaii for no +less than nine years during the king's absence. He married a native +woman of rank, by whom he had six children. While he remained warmly +attached to his native country and rendered essential services to +English vessels touching at the islands, he remained a voluntary exile +for forty-five years in Hawaii, where he died at the patriarchal age of +ninety-two in December 1835. During this long period he enjoyed the +favour of the kings, chiefs, and people, and was highly respected and +esteemed for his intelligence and good offices by European voyagers to +the islands.[144] Thus he had the best opportunities for acquainting +himself with the customs and beliefs of the natives, and it is much to +be regretted that of the ample store of knowledge which he thus acquired +nothing remains but a few scattered notices recorded by travellers to +whom he had verbally communicated them. + + [144] G. Vancouver, _Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific + Ocean and round the World_ (London, 1798), ii. 135 _sq._; W. + Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 96; Tyerman and Bennet, + _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, i. 377 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, + _Narrative of a Whaling Voyage_, i. 238 _sq._ + +In 1809, some five years after Lisiansky's visit to Hawaii, the Scotch +sailor Archibald Campbell witnessed one of these Saturnalia held on the +occasion of the death of the king's brother. He says: "The public +mourning that took place on this occasion was of so extraordinary a +nature that had I not been an eye-witness, I could not have given credit +to it. The natives cut out their hair, and went about completely naked. +Many of them, particularly the women, disfigured themselves, by knocking +out their front teeth, and branding their faces with red-hot stones, and +the small end of calabashes, which they held burning to their faces till +a circular mark was produced; whilst, at the same time, a general, I +believe I may say an universal, public prostitution of the women took +place. The queens, and the widow of the deceased, were alone exempted. +When the captain of a ship that lay in the harbour remonstrated with the +king upon these disgraceful scenes, he answered, that such was the law, +and he could not prevent them."[145] + + [145] A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 142 _sq._ + +To these enormities the French navigator L. de Freycinet bore similar +testimony a few years later. He says: "The despair which is affected +after the loss of royal personages or great nobles presents also a +remarkable resemblance to what takes place under similar circumstances +among the inhabitants of the Marianne Islands. When we landed in Owhyhi +[Hawaii], signs of sorrow everywhere presented themselves to our eyes +and witnessed to the excesses that had been committed at the recent +death of Tamehameha. At such a crisis anarchy displays all its horrors: +the laws and the rules of taboo are broken without shame: the prohibited +foods are devoured without scruple, chiefly by the women: the rights of +property are ignored; force becomes the supreme law: the voice of chiefs +is powerless: old enmities are avenged by blood or pillage: in a word, +incredible scenes of disorder, of cruelty, and of lust are everywhere +renewed under the stimulus of impunity. Calm does not begin to reign +again until the heir is definitely invested with the royal power. Such +is the mode in which the common people, freed for the moment from all +restraint, express the grief which they are supposed to feel at the +death of their sovereign."[146] + + [146] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 602. + +The early missionaries to Hawaii also testified to the disorders which +prevailed on these occasions, though they seem not to have witnessed +them. From their accounts we gather that at such times the rights of +property were as little respected as the chastity of women. "On such an +occasion," says Stewart, "every restraint was cast off, and all were in +the habit of following the impulse of any and every wild passion that +might seize them. Rights of person or of property were no longer +regarded; and he who had the greatest muscular powers committed whatever +depredation he chose, and injured any one he thought proper. Even the +chiefs lost their ordinary pre-eminence, and could exert no influence of +restraint on the excesses of their subjects. It was the time of +redressing private wrongs, by committing violence on the property and +person of an enemy; and everything that any one possessed was liable to +be taken from him. Their grief was expressed by the most shocking +personal outrages, not only by tearing off their clothes entirely, but +by knocking out their eyes and teeth with clubs and stones, and pulling +out their hair, and by burning and cutting their flesh; while +drunkenness, riot, and every species of debauchery continued to be +indulged in for days after the death of the deceased."[147] To the same +effect Ellis writes that "as soon as the chief had expired, the whole +neighbourhood exhibited a scene of confusion, wickedness, and cruelty, +seldom witnessed even in the most barbarous society. The people ran to +and fro without their clothes, appearing and acting more like demons +than human beings; every vice was practised, and almost every species of +crime perpetrated. Houses were burnt, property plundered, even murder +sometimes committed, and the gratification of every base and savage +feeling sought without restraint. Injuries or accidents, long forgotten +perhaps by the offending party, were now revenged with unrelenting +cruelty."[148] According to Jarves, the early historian of Hawaii, on +these occasions no women were exempt from violation except the widows of +the deceased.[149] + + [147] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. + 165 _sq._ + + [148] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 177. + + [149] J. J. Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich + Islands_, p. 66. Compare J. Remy, _op. cit._ p. xlvii. + +Such outbursts of passion, released from all restraints of custom or +law, are not unknown elsewhere on the occasion of a death. Among the +Ba-ila of Northern Rhodesia it is customary at funerals for the women to +sing lewd songs. "Under ordinary circumstances it would be reckoned +taboo for women to utter such things in the presence of men; but at +funerals all restraints are removed. People do as they like. Grass may +be plucked out of the thatched roofs; the fields may be robbed of the +growing corn; all passions are let loose; and no complaint for damage, +theft, or adultery can be made. This last item used to be the case; +nowadays fines are claimed."[150] + + [150] E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, _The Ila-speaking Peoples of + Northern Rhodesia_ (London, 1920), ii. 113 _sq._ + +The number of human victims sacrificed at the death of a chief varied +with his rank. For a king of Hawaii the general number would seem to +have been ten or twelve.[151] But when King Kamehameha died in 1819, the +priest declared somewhat differently the custom in regard to human +sacrifice on such an occasion. When the corpse had been removed from the +king's own dwelling to a consecrated house for the performance of the +proper rites, a sacred hog was baked and offered to it by the priest; +for the dead king was now deemed to be a god. Then addressing the chiefs +and the new king, the priest spoke as follows: "I will now make known to +you the rules to be observed respecting persons to be sacrificed on the +burial of his body. If you obtain one man before the corpse is removed, +one will be sufficient; but after it leaves this house four will be +required. If delayed until we carry the corpse to the grave, there must +be ten; but after it is deposited in the grave, there must be fifteen. +To-morrow morning there will be a tabu, and if the sacrifice be delayed +until that time, forty men must die." However, on this occasion, no +human blood was shed, but three hundred dogs were sacrificed.[152] The +victims who were killed at the death of the king, princes, and +distinguished chiefs, and were buried with their remains, belonged to +the lowest class of society. In certain families the obligation of dying +with the different members of such or such a noble house was hereditary, +so that at the birth of a child it was known at whose death he must be +sacrificed. The victims knew their destiny, and their lot seems to have +had no terror for them.[153] + + [151] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 145; U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. + 122. + + [152] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 189, 190. Compare J. Remy, + _op. cit._ pp. 125, 127; H. Bingham, _Residence of Twenty-one + Years in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 71. + + [153] O. von Kotzebue, _Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea + and Beering's Straits_ (London, 1821), iii. 247. + +At Honaunau, in the island of Hawaii, there was a sort of mausoleum in +which the bones of dead kings and princes were deposited. For some +reason it was spared in the general destruction of pagan monuments which +took place in 1819, and it was still almost intact when the missionary +Ellis visited and described it a few years later. It was a compact +building, twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet wide, built of the most +durable timber, and thatched with leaves. It stood on a bed of lava +jutting out into the sea, and was surrounded by a strong fence, leaving +a paved area in front and at the two ends. Several rudely carved male +and female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure, +some on low pedestals under the shade of a tree, others on high posts +planted on the jutting rocks which overhung the edge of the water. A +number of effigies stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; +but the principal assemblage of idols was at the south-east end of the +enclosed space, where twelve of them stood in a semicircle on a +crescent-shaped basement of stone raised about two feet above the +pavement. Some of them rested on small pedestals, others on pillars +eight or ten feet high. The principal idol, distinguished by the +variety and superiority of the carving on its body and especially +on its head, stood in the middle, the others on either side of it, +"as if perpetual guardians of 'the mighty dead' reposing in the house +adjoining."[154] + + [154] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 164 _sq._ + +When a death had taken place, the house in which it occurred, was deemed +defiled, and continued in that state until after the burial. But if the +deceased was a chief, the whole land was polluted, and the heirs sought +a residence in another part of the country, until the corpse was +dissected and the bones tied in a bundle; for when that was done the +season of defilement terminated. Hence on the death of King Kamehameha, +his son and successor, Liholiho, had to retire for a time to another +district.[155] + + [155] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 191; H. Bingham, _Residence of + Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 71 _sq._; J. + Remy, _op. cit._ pp. 127, 129. + + +Sec. 10. _Fate of the Soul after Death_ + +The Hawaiians in general believed that the human soul exists after +death, but their notions on the subject were, as usual, vague, confused, +and contradictory. Some said that all the souls of the departed went to +the Po, or place of night, and were there annihilated or eaten by the +gods.[156] According to another account, the souls of the dead that had +no claim to divinity fluttered about their old homes till the moment +arrived when they became the food of the gods. It is not certain, adds +de Freycinet, that they recognised the immortality of the soul in the +case of persons of the lowest class.[157] Others said that some souls +went to the regions of Akea (Wakea) and Miru (Milu), two ancient kings +of Hawaii. Of these two, Akea was reported to have been the first king +of the island. When he died, he descended into the nether world and +there founded a kingdom. His successor on the throne of Hawaii, by name +Miru or Milu, also descended into the underworld at death, and shared +the government of the infernal realm with his predecessor Akea. Their +land is a place of darkness, their food, lizards and butterflies. But +there are streams of water of which they drink, and wide-spreading trees +under which they recline.[158] Milu is described as the Hawaiian Pluto, +the lord of the lower world to whose dominions departed spirits go. His +abode was in the west, hence the ghosts of such as died on the eastern +shore of an island always had to cross to the western shore before they +could set out for their final place of rest in the spirit land. Some +said that Milu had his dwelling under the ocean, and that he was the +prince of wicked spirits.[159] However, according to some accounts, the +two ancient kings, Milu and Akea, ruled over separate regions in the +spirit land, which were tabooed to each other, so that nobody could pass +from the one to the other. Akea or Wakea dwelt in the upper region, and +there the souls of chiefs dwelt with him; whereas Milu occupied the +muddy lower region, and there the souls of common folk abode with him. +In the upper region all was peaceful and orderly, and there persons who +had faithfully complied with the precepts of religion in life were +received after death. On the other hand the lower region, ruled over by +Milu, was noisy and disorderly; evil spirits played their pranks there, +and the souls of the dead subsisted on lizards and butterflies.[160] +When persons recovered from a death-like swoon, it was supposed that +their souls had gone to the underworld and been sent back to earth by +Milu. The best account of the spirit land was given by one who had spent +eight days in it, and on returning to life reported to his family what +he had seen. According to his observations, the spirit land is flat and +fruitful, it is tolerably well lighted, and everything grows there +spontaneously, so that, contrary to some reports, the palace of Milu is +a really delightful place. Milu himself is not married to any one +particular wife; but from time to time he chooses for his consorts the +most beautiful of the female ghosts when they arrive in deadland, and +the women thus honoured are naturally taboo for the male ghosts. All +souls live there in exactly the same state in which they quitted their +bodies. The souls of those who died young, especially of those who fell +in battle, are hale and strong; whereas the souls of those who perished +of disease are sickly and weak, and weak, too, are the souls of such as +died in old age.[161] + + [156] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 365 _sq._ + + [157] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + + [158] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 366; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. + 38; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 262. Ellis gives + Miru as the form of the name, but the correct Hawaiian form is + Milu; for in the Hawaiian dialect the ordinary Polynesian R is + replaced by L. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative + Dictionary_, p. xxiii. In New Zealand and Mangaia the name Miru + was given to the goddess of hell or of the dead. See E. Tregear, + _op. cit._ pp. 243, 244, _s.v._ "Miru." + + [159] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, pp. + 243 _sq._, _s.v._ "Miru." + + [160] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (London, + 1851), p. 12; A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 264 + _sqq._; A. Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99. + + [161] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 264. + +There were three places in the islands from which the ghosts took their +departure for the other world. One was at the northern extremity of the +island of Hawaii; one was at the western end of Maui; and one was at the +southern point of Oahu.[162] According to one account, the ghosts on +their passage to Milu's subterranean realm went westward in the +direction of the setting sun, and either leaped from a rock into the sea +or vanished into a hole in the ground.[163] + + [162] H. T. Cheever, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 12; A. + Marcuse, _Die Hawaiischen Inseln_, p. 99. + + [163] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, p. 265. + +But before bidding a last farewell to earth, the soul of the deceased +was believed to linger for a time in the neighbourhood of the grave or +of the house. It had now become an _akua_ or divine spirit, but during +its stay on earth it was dreaded as an _akua-lapu_ or "terrifying +spirit," because it appeared to the living as a spectre or ghost. In +time, however, it grew weaker and weaker and gradually disappeared +altogether, like the other spirits (_akuas_). By that time it had found +a guide to show it the way to Milu's realm, from which there is no +return. Sometimes, however, the guardian god of a family would oppose +the passage of a soul to the other world, and send it back to life, so +that the seemingly dead man recovered.[164] It is said to have been a +firmly established belief that the dead appeared to the living and +communicated with them in dreams.[165] The priests in particular were +favoured with such messages from the other world.[166] + + [164] A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 266. + + [165] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. + 594. + + [166] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 367. + +A legend tells how a certain chief of Hawaii, sorrowing for the death of +his wife, applied to a priest, who furnished him with a god called +Kane-i-kou-alii (God of Chiefs), to guide him to the nether world of +Milu, whither his beloved spouse had departed. Journeying together, the +god and the man came to the end of the world, where grew a tree, which +split open and allowed them to glide down into the depths. There the god +hid behind a rock and allowed the chief to go on alone, but first he +rubbed stinking oil over the chief's body. On arriving at Milu's palace +the chief found the whole court full of spirits engaged in such noisy +and tumultuous sports, that he could steal in among them unobserved, all +the more because the nearest spirits mistook him for a ghost newly +arrived with the stench of his dead body still on him, so that they +turned away from him in disgust and made uncomplimentary remarks on his +unsavoury condition. When they had played all sorts of games, the chief +suggested that, as a new form of sport, they should all take out their +eyes and throw them in a heap. The suggestion was accepted, and every +one hastened to comply with it. But the chief took care to mark where +the eyes of Milu fell, and snatching them up he hid them in the coco-nut +beaker which he carried with him. As all the spirits were now blind, it +was easy for the chief to make his way to the neighbouring realm of Akea +or Wakea, which was tabooed to the spirits that swarmed in Milu's +kingdom and might not be entered by them. However, after long +negotiations, Milu was allowed to recover his eyes, on condition that +the soul of the chief's wife should be sent back to earth and reunited +to her body, which was happily accomplished.[167] + + [167] A. Bastian, _Inselgruppen in Oceanien_, pp. 265 _sq._ + +The Hawaiians were not without some notion of a general resurrection of +the dead. When the missionary William Ellis was conversing with some of +the natives on that subject, they said that they had heard of it before +from a native priest named Kapihe, who had lived at their village in the +time of King Kamehameha. The priest told the king that at his death he +would see his ancestors, and that hereafter all the kings, chiefs, and +people of Hawaii would live again. When Ellis asked them how this would +be effected, and with what circumstances it would be attended, whether +they would live again in Hawaii or in Miru (Milu), the Hades of the +Sandwich Islands, they replied that there were two gods, who conducted +the departed spirits of their chiefs to some place in the heavens, where +the souls of kings and chiefs sometimes dwelt, and that afterwards the +two divine conductors returned with the royal and princely souls to +earth, where they accompanied the movements and watched over the +destinies of their survivors. The name of one of these gods was +Kaonohiokala, which means the eyeball of the sun; and the name of the +other was Kuahairo. Now Kapihe was priest to the latter god, and +professed to have received a revelation, in accordance with which he +informed King Kamehameha that, when the monarch should depart this life, +the god Kuahairo would carry his spirit to the sky and afterwards +accompany it back to earth again, whereupon his body would be restored +to life and youth; that he would have his wives again and resume his +government in Hawaii; that at the same time the existing generation +would see and know their parents and ancestors, and that all the people +who had died would rise again from the dead.[168] It is to be feared, +however, that the priest was a deceiver; for King Kamehameha has not yet +come to life again, and up to the present time the general resurrection +has not taken place in Hawaii. + + [168] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iv. 144 _sq._ + +That must conclude what I have to say about the belief in immortality +and the worship of the dead in Polynesia, The notions which the +Polynesians entertained on this subject cannot but strike a civilised +European as childish, while the customs which they based on them must +appear to him in great part foolish, even where they were not barbarous +and cruel. How far such childish notions and foolish customs tend to +confirm or to refute the widespread, almost universal, belief in the +survival of the human soul after death, is a question which I must leave +my readers to answer for themselves. + + + + +NOTE + +TABOO AMOUNG THE MAORIS + + +The power which Maori chiefs possessed of imposing, or at all +events of enforcing, a taboo seems not to have been quite so absolute +as might perhaps be inferred from the statement in the text.[1] We +are told that the power of the taboo mainly depended on the influence +of the person who imposed it. If it were put on by a great +chief, it would not be broken, but a powerful man often violated the +taboo of an inferior. A chief, for example, would frequently lay one +of these sacred interdicts on a road or a river, and then nobody +would dare to go by either, unless he felt himself strong enough to +set the chief's taboo at defiance. The duration of the taboo was +arbitrary, and depended on the will of the person who imposed it. +Similarly with the extent to which the prohibition applied: sometimes +it was limited to a particular object, sometimes it embraced +many: sometimes it was laid on a single spot, at other times it +covered a whole district.[2] + + [1] Above, p. 47. + + [2] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its + Inhabitants_, Second Edition (London, 1870), p. 168. Compare J. + Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de + la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 530. + +To render a place taboo a chief had only to tie one of his old +garments to a pole and stick it up on the spot which he proposed +to make sacred, while at the same time he declared that the prohibited +area was part of his own body, such as his backbone, or +that it bore the name of one of his ancestors. In the latter case +all the persons descended from that particular ancestor were in +duty bound to rally to the defence of the chief's taboo, and the +more distant the ancestor, and the more numerous his descendants, +the greater the number of the champions thus pledged to the +support of the family honour. Hence the longer a man's pedigree, +the better chance he stood of maintaining his taboo against all +comers, for the larger was the troop of adherents whom he enlisted +in its defence. Thus chiefs, with family trees which reached backward +to the gods, were in a far better position to make good +their arbitrary interdicts than mere ordinary mortals, who hardly +remembered their grandfathers. In this as in other respects the +taboo was essentially an aristocratic institution.[3] + + [3] R. Taylor, _op. cit._ p. 169. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abortions, spirits of, dreaded, 49 _n._^1 + + Adam, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Adoption among the Marquesans, 339 + + Aesculapius, the Hawaiian, 398 + + _Afiatouca_, burial-place, 102, 103 + + Agriculture of Maoris, 8 _sq._; + of the Tongans, 59 _sq._; + Samoan, 164 _sqq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 221 _sq._; + of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._ + + Air, gods of the, 277 + + _Aitu_, Samoan gods embodied in visible objects, animals, birds, etc., + 182, 201, 207 + + Akaanga, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 242, 244 + + Akea (Wakea), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 430 + + _Akua_, god, in the Hawaiian dialect, equivalent to _atua_, 392, 398 + + _Akuas_, spirits, 429 + + Alai Valoo, a Tongan god, 74 + + Alo Alo, a Tongan god, 71 _sq._ + + Altars in the Society Islands, 291 + + Amable, Father, Catholic missionary, 367 + + Ambler, English sailor, 84 + + Amusements of the Marquesans, 339 _sqq._ + + Ancestors worshipped by Maoris, 32 _sqq._; + skulls of, brought out at marriages, 288, 311 + + Ancestral spirits watch over the living, 33; + do not follow their kinsfolk among strangers, 34; + cause disease, 49; + worshipped by Society Islanders, 300, 315; + guardians of newly wedded pairs, 311 + + Angas, G. F., 48 _n._^1 + + Animals, gods in form of, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._; + deified spirits of men resident in, 227 _sq._; + worshipped in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._ + + Anointing a king of Samoa, 177 + + Anuanu, vale of, 376 _n._^2 + + _Ao_, titles of chiefs in Samoa, 172 _sq._ + + Apolima, Samoan island, 149, 151 + + Apparitions dreaded, 205, 217 + + Araia, 241, 242 + + Aremauku, starting-place for spirit-land, 239 + + Areois, Society of the, 259 _sqq._ + + _Arii taboo_, sacred chiefs, 387 + + _Ariki_, sacred chief, 41; + king, 224 + + Astronomy of priests, 293 + + _Atua_, the Polynesian word for god or spirit, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 44, + 46, 64 _n._^3, 89, 277, 322, 323, 348, 349. + _Compare akua, eatooa, etua_ + + _Atuas_, consecrated feathers called, 291; + inspired priests called, 294; + great national gods, distinguished from _oramatuas tiis_, the + spirits of dead relatives, 324 + + Auraka, a burial cavern, 233, 237, 238, 241 + + Avaiki, subterranean region, home of the dead, 238, 239, 241, 243, 244 + + Axes or adzes of stone, 61, 180, 233, 251, 335, 382 + + + Ba-ila, their licence at funerals, 425 + + Baessler, A., 221 _n._^1, 279 _n._^1, 285, 286, 374 + + Baganda, superstition as to twins among the, 270 _sq._ + + Baldness as penalty of impiety, 95; + the penalty of breach of taboo, 209 _sq._ + + Baluba, of the Congo, customs as to twins among the, 273 + + Banishment of chiefs in Samoa, 176 + + Banqueting-halls of the Marquesans, 343 _sq._ + + Baptism among the Maoris, 16 + + Bark-cloth, manufacture of, 61, 168, 222, 251 _sq._, 334, 381; + not made in time of mourning, 234 _sq._ + + Baronga, of S.E. Africa, their superstitions concerning twins, + 268 _sq._ + + Barundi, of E. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 272 _sq._ + + Bastian, Adolf, on sun-worship, 131 _n._ + + Bathing after burial, 21; + of king at installation, 255 _n._^1; + after contact with a corpse, 313 + + Bats, goddess incarnate in, 185; + local deity, 196 + + Bay of Plenty, 23 + + Bennett, F. D., 332 _sq._, 359, 360, 372 + + Best, Elsdon, 6 _n._, 33, 35 + + Birds, gods incarnate in, 187 _sq._; + sacred, 228; + small land birds formerly oracular, 228; + gods in the form of, 277, 294; + worshipped in Hawaii, 402 + + Birth, a man's god determined at, 200 _sq._, 223; + ceremonies after a, 288 + + Blackened faces in mourning, 231, 235 + + Blood of chief sacred, 45 _sq._; + human, acceptable offering to deity, 188; + offered to the dead, 209; + of relatives offered to bride at marriage, 289; + of bride's mother offered to bridegroom, 289; + of mourners offered to the dead, 303, 304, 311 + + Bolotoo (Boolotoo, Bulotu), fabulous island, residence of Tongan gods + and of noble dead, 65, 66, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 _sq._, + 92, 93, 98, 135 + + Bones of Captain Cook worshipped, 396 + + ---- of dead dug up, 21; + painted red, 21; + concealed, 21; + profaned, 21; + festival at removal of, 22; + burned, 23; + of sacrificial victims not broken, 291; + of famous men carried off by enemies, 311; + thrown into volcano, 400; + carried about by relatives, 419 _sq._; + hidden to prevent profanation, 420 + + ---- of dead chiefs buried in temples (_morais_), 311; + hidden in caves, 312, 420 + + Boolotoo Katoa, a Tongan god, 94 + + Borabora, one of the Society Islands, 246, 281, 317 + + Bows and arrows, unknown to Maoris, 10; + used by the Society Islanders as an amusement, 252 _sq._; + unknown to the Marquesans, 335; + found among the Hawaiians, 383 + + Boxing-matches in mourning, 211 + + Branch plucked from sacred trees, 255 _n._^1 + + Bread-fruit the staple food of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Rarotongans, 222; + and of the Marquesans, 333, 334 + + Breath of chief sacred, 45 + + Brenchley, J. L., 124, 125 _n._^1 + + Brown, Dr. George, 56, 161, 173 _n._^1, 201, 204, 206 _n._^1, 212, + 213, 214, 216 _n._^2, 218 + + Buffoonery in mourning for the dead, 211 + + Burial, Maori modes of, 20 _sq._; + in house, 20, 27; + on a stage, 20, 21; + on a tree, 20 _sq._; + secret, 21; + and mourning, rites of, in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + by night, 419 + + Burial customs in Samoa, 209 _sqq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._; + in the Marquesas, 356 _sqq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._ + + ---- ground dreaded, 27 + + ---- places (_morais_) of the Marquesans, 357 _sq._ + + Burying the sins of the dead, 305 + + Busoga, superstition as to twins in, 270 + + + Cabri, J. Baptiste, 371 + + Cain, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Campbell, A., 385, 412 _n._^1, 415, 419, 423 + + Cannibalism, 26, 62, 158 _sq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 221 + + Canoe-shaped coffins, 20, 353, 356, 363 + + Canoes, Maori, 9; + Tongan, 59; + Marquesan, 337; + provided for the dead to enable them to reach the spirit land, + 364 _sqq._ + + Caterpillars, servants of owl-god, 188 + + Caves, bones or bodies of dead deposited in, 22, 232, 233, 237, 312, + 320 _sq._, 357, 418 + + Centipedes, family god in, 188 _sq._; + worshipped in Mangaia, 228 + + Ceremonies, magical, of Maoris, 13 _sq._; + observed at death, 19 _sqq._; + to facilitate passage of soul to other world, 24 _sqq._, 29; + magical, of Tongans, 67 _sq._; + observed for unburied dead, 205 _sq._; + of mourning in the Hervey Islands, 234 _sqq._; + at the inauguration of a king, 254 _sq._, 255 _n._^1; + over dead Areoi, 261; + after childbirth, 288; + at marriage, 288 _sq._; + for the protection of the living against ghosts, 305 _sqq._ + _See_ Rites + + Ceremony of anointing a king of Samoa, 177; + performed by parents of twins to fertilise plantains, 271 + + Chiefs descended from the gods, 29; + their souls immortal, 29; + tabooed, 41 _sqq._; + physical superiority of, 58 _sq._, 377 _sq._; + Samoan, 171 _sqq._; + deified, 204; + embalmed, 205; + in the Marquesas, 344; + in Hawaii, 384 _sq._ + + Chiefs' language in Samoa, 173 _sqq._ + + Chieftainship hereditary in Samoa, 176 + + Children sacrificed, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._ + + Christianity in Tonga Islands, 60 + + Circumcision, in the Tonga Islands, 81; + in the Hervey Islands, 223 _sq._; + invented by god Rongo, 224 + + Civil lords and sacred kings in Mangaia, 224 _sq._ + + Clans, gods of, in animals or other natural objects, 94, 95 _sq._ + + Clavel, Dr., 338, 374 + + Cockles, god in, 183; prayers to cockle-god, 188 + + Coco-nuts, god in, 183; offered to the dead, 233 + + Coffins shaped like canoes, 20, 353, 356, 363 + + Collocot, E. E. V., 65 _n._^2, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98 _n._^1, 267 _n._^2 + + Comedies acted in mourning, 236 + + Commoners, the question of their souls, 66, 85 + + Communistic system in Samoa, 170 _sq._ + + Confession of sins, 189 + + Cook, Captain James, 1, 9, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61 _n._^2, 63, 81, 86, + 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 111 _n._, 117, 123, 128, + 129, 132, 246, 248, 249, 251, 257, 258 _n._^5, 262, + 275, 277 _n._^2 and ^4, 279, 280, 282, 283, 293, + 297, 304, 310, 314 _n._^3, 315, 321, 328, 331, 371, + 375, 379, 382, 383, 391, 395 _sq._, 406, 407, 408 + + ---- or Hervey Islands, 219 _sq._ + + Cooking in ovens of hot stones, 222, 379 + + Coral reefs, their formation, 55 _sq._ + + Corpses, sent adrift on the sea or exposed on stages, 210; + broken in pieces, 362; + flayed, 367 _sq._ + + Courage seated in liver, 85 + + Cousin marriage, 223 + + Creation, Hawaiian tradition of the, 393 + + Cremation among the Maoris, 23 + + Crickets, omens from, 231 + + Crimes, Tongan ideas about, 67 + + Crook, William P., first missionary to the Marquesas, 328, 349, 361, + 372 + + Cruise, R. A., 31 _n._^2 + + _Curse of Manaia_, 12 + + Curses, Maori, 15; + Tongan, 67; + of sisters specially dreaded, 207 + + Customs observed at the birth of twins, 268 _sqq._ + _See_ Burial customs, Ceremonies, Rites + + Cuttings in mourning for the dead, 19, 208 _sq._, 231, 302, 309, 311, + 353; + in Tonga, 133 _sqq._; + intention of the, 145 _sq._ + + Cuttle-fish, household god in, 184; + omens from, 190; + temple of, 195; + myth of the, 202 _sq._; + a god in Mangaia,228; + myth of Maui and the, 275 + + + Dances at the birth of twins, 270 _sqq._; + funeral, 139, 353 _sq._; + of widow, 353, 354 + + Dancing among the Marquesans, 340 _sq._ + + ---- -places of the Marquesans, 340 _sq._ + + Danger Island, 230 + + Darwin, Charles, on coral reefs, 55 + + De Sainson, 112 + + D'Urville, J. Dumont, 11, 58, 110, 123, 357 _n._^3, 359 _n._^3, 373 + + Dead, disposal of the bodies of the (Maori), 20 _sqq._; + buried in sitting posture, 20; + spirits of, appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._; + spirits of the dead become gods, 31; + taboo entailed by contact with the, 39,137 _sq._; + buried in _morais_, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._, 311; + worship of the, in Samoa, 204 _sq._; + blood offered to the, 209; + buried with head to the east, 210; + buried with the head to the rising sun, 232; + songs sung in honour of the, 236; + buried in sitting posture, 262; + images of spirits of the, 287 _sq._, 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._; + blood of mourners offered to the, 303, 304, 311; + fear of the spirits of the, 304 _sq._; + disposal of the, in the Society Islands, 308 _sqq._; + souls of the, in images, 313 _sq._; + worship of the, in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._; + assimilated to deities, 327; + disposal of the, among the Marquesans, 356 _sqq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 418 _sqq._; + evocation of the, 370 _sq._; + buried in crouching posture, 418. + _See_ Ghosts + + ---- men deified, 276 + + Death, Maori notion as to the cause of, 16; + stories as to the origin of, 16 _sqq._, 392; + Maori goddess of, 18; + fate of the soul after, 24 _sqq._, 85 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._, + 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._, 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq._; + the second, 29; + theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._; + Marquesan contempt for, 352 _sq._; + Hawaiian beliefs and customs concerning,417 _sqq._ + + Deaths caused by the anger of the gods or by sorcery, 229; + traced to the agency of gods or sorcerers, 405 + + Decadence of magic, 68 + + Deification of ancestors, 33, 35; + of kings in their lifetime, 255; + of dead men, 276; + of men after death, 351 _sq._, 397; + of animals, 402 + + Deified kings, priests, and warriors, 227 + + ---- men, 276, 349; + the spirits of,resident in animals, 228 + + ---- spirits of chiefs, 204 + + Deities, primaeval, personifications of nature, 32, 34 + + Deity, Maori conception of, 35 _sq._ + + Democratic spirit of Samoans, 171, 175 + + Desgraz, C., 118, 358, 373 + + Despotism in Hawaii, 63 + + Dieffenbach, E., 6 _n._^2, 8 _n._, 48 _n._^1 + + Diet of the Samoans, 164 _sq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 222; + of the Society Islanders, 249; + of the Marquesans, 333 _sq._; + of the Hawaiians, 378 _sq._ + + Dirges in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._ + + Disease, caused by souls of ancestors, 49; + and death ascribed to agency of gods, spirits, or ghosts, 206 _sq._, + 217; + theories of the Society Islanders concerning, 299 _sqq._; + of the Marquesans concerning, 325. + _See_ Sickness + + Disorders, internal, supposed to be caused by entrance of a god into + the patient, 351 + + District gods, 182, 185 + + Divination, in Samoa, 190 _sq._; + to detect thieves, 298, 406; + to ascertain the cause of death, 301 + + Diviners consulted before battle, 397, 414; + Hawaiian, 404 _sq._, 414, 417 + + Division of labour among the Samoans, 166 _sqq._ + + Dogs, sacred, 94; + omens from, 190; + eaten, 379; + sacrificed, 405, 426 + + Doobludha, land of dead, 86 + + Dramatic performances of the Areois, 259 _sq._, 263, 266 _n._^4 + + Dreamers held in repute, 320 + + Dreams, Maori theories of, 12; + souls of the dead appear in, 31, 91 _sq._; + Samoan theory of, 205; + ideas of the Hervey Islanders concerning, 229; + ideas of the Society Islanders concerning, 297 _sq._; + souls of the dead communicate with the living in, 320, 429; + Marquesan ideas about, 352; + revelations to priests in, 405, 429; + Hawaiian ideas about, 417 + + Drums, special, beaten after the birth of twins, 271; + accompanying dances, 342, 354 + + Du Petit-Thouars, 373 + + Duke of York Island, 212 + + + Earth cleft with axes, as a mourning rite, 235 _sq._; + fished up from the sea by Maui, 275 + + Earthquakes, Tongan theory of, 72; + caused by Maui, 275 + + _Eatooas_, gods, spirits of the dead, 277 _n._^4, 300, 322, 391, 392, + 402. + See _Atua_ + + Eclipses, superstitions as to, 287 + + Eel-god, 227 + + Eels sacred, 95, 182, 184, 185 + + Eimeo or Mooerea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 266 + + Ella, S., 206 _n._^1, 212 + + Ellis, William, 117, 118 _n._^1, 247, 249, 256 _sq._, 262, 265 _n._, + 267 _n._^2, 276, 277, 284, 286 _n._^5, 290 _n._^3, + 292, 295, 298 _n._^2, 308 _n._^1, 311, 314 _n._^1, + 315, 319, 323, 327, 401, 409, 410, 411, 419, 424, + 426, 430, 431 + + Embalmment of the dead, 117, 205; + in Samoa, 210, 213; + in the Society Islands, 309, 310 _sqq._; + in the Marquesas, 356 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 418 + + Erskine, J. E., 114 + + Ethical influence of the Tongan religion, 146 _sq._ + + _Etua_, a god, 348. + Compare _Atua_ + + Eua, one of Tonga Islands, 52, 123 + + Euhemerism, 69 + + Eve, the Hawaiian, 393 + + Evocation of the dead, 370 _sq._ + + Exogamy, Samoan religious system independent of, 201; + in the Hervey Islands, 223 + + Exorcisers, 351 + + Exorcism practised for the healing of the sick, 206 _sq._, 417 _sq._ + + Expiation for sacrilege, 74 _sqq._; + for eating sacred animal, 184, 185 + + Eye, spirit or soul thought to reside in, 42, 417; + of human victim presented to king, 292 + + + Fafa, subterranean abode of the dead, 215 + + Fakaofo or Bowditch Island, 394 + + Family gods embodied in visible objects, 182 _sqq._; + analogous to totems, 200 + + Fan or Fang, of West Africa, their superstition about a twin, 269 + + Farmer, Sarah S., 57 _n._^1, 61 _n._, 92, 97, 111 _n._ + + Fasting after a death, 210, 355 + + Fate of the soul after death, 213 _sqq._, 238 _sqq._, 313 _sqq._, + 363 _sqq._, 427 _sqq_. + + Fear of the dead, its humanising influence, 300; + of ghosts, 369 _sq._, 419. + _See_ Ghosts + + Feast of Calabashes, 354 + + Feasts, funeral, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366; + annual, in honour of the gods, 187 _sq._ + _See_ Festivals + + Feathers, sacred red, 254; + gods conjured into, 265; + placed in images of the gods, 290 _sq._; + called gods, 291 + + Female line, nobility traced in, 75 + + Ferry-boat for souls of dead, 26 + + Fertilising virtue attributed to twins, 269 _sqq._ + + Festival, great annual, 289; + called "the ripening of the year," 326 _sq._ + + Festivals, of the Samoans, 188; + of the Marquesans, 341 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 414 _sqq._ + _See_ Feasts + + _Fiatooka_, place of burial and of worship, 103, 104, 105, 109, 116, + 120, 132, 133 + + Fijian influence in Tonga, 59 + + Fingers mutilated in mourning, 19; + sacrificed, 80 _sq._ + + Finow, king of Tonga, 79, 80, 81, 82, 91, 92, 103, 105, 120, 121, 135, + 136, 137, 139, 140; + obsequies of, 135 _sqq._ + + Finow the Second, king of Fiji, 135 + + Fire, Polynesian knowledge of, 56 _sq._; + kindled by friction of wood, 181; + robbed by Ti'iti'i from Mafuie, 203; + kept up in house after a death, 209, 212; + first brought to men by Maui, 226, 239; + hidden in wood by Mauike, 238; + stick and groove method of kindling, invented by Maui, 275, 335; + stolen by Maui, 350; + first given to men by Maui, 396 + + Fires not kindled near house of death, 355; + extinguished during periods of strict taboo, 389 + + First-born sons, sacrifice of, 89 + + First-fruits, offerings of, in Tonga, 122; + in the Society Islands, 257; + of taro presented to eel-god, 188 + + Fish, sacrifices of, 257, 291; + human victims called fish, 292; + worshipped, 402; + offered to shark god, 402 + + ---- hooks made out of bones of dead, 21, 23, 311 _sq._ + + Fishing, modes of, 252, 337, 379 + + Flax cultivated by Maoris, 9 + + Flaying the dead, custom of, 367 _sq._ + + Flood, tradition of a great, 393, 394 + + Flying-foxes, gods in, 96; + incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190 + + _Fono_, representative assembly, parliament, 159, 179 + + Food buried with the dead, 24, 232; + not to be touched by tabooed person with his hands, 38, 44, 45, 137, + 138, 209, 312; + not eaten in a house so long as a corpse is in it, 209; + offered at tomb, 362 + + Footprints in magic, 15 + + Forbes, Dr. Charles, 12 + + Forster, George, 262, 283, 287 _n._, 397, 314, 331 + + Forster, J. R., 117 _n._^1, 278 _n._^1, 287 _n._, 314, 323 _n._^1 + + Foundation sacrifices, 292 + + Fowls bred and eaten, 379 + + Freycinet, L. de, 423, 427 + + Friendly Islands. _See_ Tonga + + Funeral dances, 139, 353 _sq._; + feasts, 144, 355, 362 _sq._, 366 + + ---- games in Tonga, 140, 144; + in the Hervey Islands, 235 _sq._ + + ---- rites in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._ + + Futtafaihe or Fatafehi, family name of the Tuitongas, 108, 109 + + _Fytoca_, grave, burial-place, 67, 82, 102, 103, 137, 139, 141 + + + G----, Father Mathias, 373 + + Games, funeral, in honour of the dead, 140, 144, 235; + athletic, at religious festivals, 188 + + Garment, evil magic wrought through, 67 + + Gerland, G., 266 _n._^4 + + Ghost personated by priest or kinsman, 306 _sqq._ + + Ghosts, fear of, 27, 31, 304 _sq._, 320 _sq._, 369 _sq._, 419 _sq._; + their passage to nether world, 27 _sq._; + live on sweet potatoes, 30; + slaying the, 234; + journeying with the sun, 239 _sqq._; + caught in nets, 242, 244; + eaten by Miru, 242; + driven away by force of arms, 355; + food offered to, 355, 356 + + Gill, W. W., 221 _n._^1, 225 _n._^1, 227, 228 _n._^1, 237, 238 + + Girdle, sacred, of kings, 254 + + God, patron, determined at birth, 200 _sq._, 223 + + "God-boxes," inspired priests, 228 _sq._ + + Godless, the Samoans called, 181 _sq._ + + Gods, chiefs and priests descended from the, 29; + confused with spirits of the dead, 31; + the great Polynesian, 35 _n._; + of the Maoris, 36 _sq._; + of the Tongans, 64 _sqq._; + souls of dead men as, 64 _sq._, 66, 69, 70, 84, 91; + men descended from, 66; + omens sent by, 67; + in form of animals, 66, 92 _sqq._, 182 _sqq._; + the primary or non-human, of Tonga, 68 _sqq._; + national and tribal, of Tonga, 93 _sq._; + temples of, in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._; + worship of, 79 _sqq._; + annual feasts in honour of, 187 _sq._; + tame, 191; + vegetable, 192; + totemic, 202; + high gods, 202 _sqq._; + the life of the, 238; + punished, 257; + born of Night (_Po_), 258, 277; + of the sea, 276 _sq._; + of the air, 277; + worship of the gods in the Society Islands, 277 _sqq._; + the causes of disease and death, 299, 351; + Hawaiian, two classes of, 397 + + Government, monarchical and aristocratic, of the Tongans, 62 _sq._; + democratic, of Samoans, 171 _sqq._; + of the Society Islands, 253; + in the Marquesas, 344 _sq._; + in the Hawaiian Islands, 383 _sq._ + + Grandfather, soul of, reborn in grandchild, 368 _sq._ + + Grange, Jerome, 60 _n._^5, 113 _sq._ + + Grasshoppers, souls of dead children in, 318 + + Graves, sacred, 99; + in relation to temples, 99 _sqq._; + of Tongan kings, 103, 105; + prayers at, 121, 217; + of great chiefs religiously revered, 120; + enclosed with stones, 211; + in Society Islands, 309; + in Hawaii, 418. + _See_ Tombs + + Guardian deity, how obtained, 398 + + Gudgeon, W. E., 41, 42 _n._^1, 48 _n._^1 + + Guillemard, F. H. H., 132 + + + _Haamonga_, megalithic monument in Tonga, 125, 126 + + Haapai (Haabai), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 95, 126 + + Haddon, A. C., 6 _n._^2 + + Hahunga, Maori festival, 22 + + Hair cut in mourning, 19, 303 _sq._, 420_sq._; + ceremonies at cutting the, 44 _sq._; + used in evil magic, 300, 325, 405; + offered by mourners to the dead, 303, 304; + sacrificed to volcano, 400 + + Hale, Horatio, 6 _n._^2, 63, 214 + + Hands tabooed, 38, 45, 137, 138, 209, 312, 404 + + Happahs (Happas), a tribe of Marquesans, 364, 365 + + _Harepo_, sacred recorder, 296, 298 + + Harris, J. Rendel, 267 _n._^1 + + Havaiki, subterranean region of the dead, 363. _Compare_ Avaiki + + Hawaii, 375, 376, 378, 394, 400, 406, 409, 410, 411, 413, 426, 429 + + Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, 375 _sqq._ + + Hawaiians or Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._ + + Hawaiki, original home of Maoris, 5 _sq._, 29, 155 + + Head, sanctity of the, 44, 212, 388 + + Heads of dead dried and preserved, 23 _sq._; + of chiefs cut off and buried separately, 212; + of children moulded, 224; + of pigs attached to biers, 355; + of slain enemies kept as trophies, 362 + + Heart the special seat of the soul, 85 + + Heaven, ascent of souls to, 24 _sqq._, 29 + + "Heavenly family," gods incarnate in animals, 228 + + Hebrew prophets, Renan on the, 147 + + _Heiau_, temple, 409, 410, 411, 412 _n._^1, 418 + + Herero, of S.W. Africa, customs as to twins among the, 273 _sq._ + + Herons sacred, 95; + omens from, 190; + superstition about, 277 _n._^2 + + Hervey, Philip, 123, 125 _n._^1, 127 + + Hervey or Cook Islands, 219 _sq._ + + Hervey Islanders, 220 _sqq._ + + _Heva_, ceremony observed after a death, 306 + + Higgolayo, god of the dead, 86 + + Hikuleo, god of the dead, 88 _sq._, 90 + + Hina (O-Heena), a goddess, perhaps of the moon, 266, 267, 287 + + Hine-nui-te-po, the Maori goddess of death, 17 _sq._ + + Hiro, god of thieves, 326 + + Hivaoa (Dominica), one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 364 + + Hogs, sacrificed, 79; + to volcano, 399. + _See_ Pigs + + Holiness and uncleanness blent in taboo, 173 + + Honolulu, 376 _n._^2 + + Hos of Togo, customs as to twins among the, 271 _sq._ + + _Hotooas_ (_atuas_), gods, 64 + + Houmis, a tribe of Marquesans, 347 + + House, dead buried in, 20, 27, 418; + dying people removed from the, 39; + abandoned after a death, 356 + + Houses, Maori, 8; + Samoan, 163 _sq._; + in the Society Islands, 250; + of the Marquesans, 335 _sqq._; + of the Hawaiians, 380 _sq._ + + Huahine, one of the Society Islands, 117, 246, 280, 283, 284, 289, + 293, 326 + + Human sacrifices at burials, 24; + to the sun, tradition of, 158; + not offered by Samoans, 158; + at making king's girdle, 254; + offered to Oro, 258 _sq._; + in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._; + offered to living men, 349 _sq._; + at deification of men, 351 _sq._; + at the death of chiefs and priests, 365 _sqq._, 421 _sq._; + to sharks, 402 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 413 _sq._, 421 _sq._, 425 _sq._ + + Hunchbacks thought to be favourites of spirits, 153 + + Hurricanes in Samoa, 153 _sq._ + + + Idols, Hawaiian, 412 _sq._ _See_ Images + + _Ifi_ tree, 74, 121, 133, 137 + + Image of basket-work, 275 _sq._; + wooden, of deified man, 398 + + Images of the gods, 290, 391 _sq._; + in which the souls of the dead were supposed to lodge, 287 _sq._, + 313 _sq._, 324 _sq._; + carried to battle, 397; + spirits conjured into, 398; + of the gods, Hawaiian, 411 _sqq._ + + Immortality, belief in, its effect on the Maoris, 51; + restricted to chiefs and their ministers, 85; + of the human soul, 313. _See_ Soul + + Incantations, Maori, 13 _sqq._; + of sorcerers, 325; + Hawaiian, 405, 417 + + Incarnation of gods in animals, 182 _sqq._ + + Inconsistency of savage thought, 84, 90 _sq._ + + Indonesians, 3 + + Infanticide, in Polynesia, 157; + among the Areois, 263 + + Infants, souls of dead, cause disease, 49, 299 + + Inspiration by drinking kava, 75, 77 _sqq._; + by souls of dead, 91; + of Samoan priests, 194; + of priests, in the Society Islands, 293 _sqq._; + of men by deities, 351 + + Inspired men, 350 _sqq._ + + Iron in Tonga, 61 _n._^2 + + ---- tools among the Hawaiians, 382 + + Irrigation practised by Maoris, 9; + artificial, in Hawaii, 378 _sq._ + + + Jarves, J. J., 383 _n._^2, 425 + + Jaw-bones of human victims hung in temple, 258 + + Jumping-off stone of souls of the dead, 214, 215. + _See_ Leaping-off place + + Jupiter, the planet, emblem of deified chiefs, 204; + the shrine of a god, 228 + + Justice, administration of, in Samoa, 159 _sq._ + + + _Kahuna_, priest, 417 + + Kaili. _See_ Tairi + + Kamehameha (Tamehameha), king of Hawaii, 384, 388, 389, 400, 409, 415, + 420, 422, 425, 427, 430, 431 + + Kanaloa, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395 + + Kane, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393, 394, 395, 398 + + Kaonohiokala, "eye-ball of the sun," a Hawaiian god, 431 + + Kapihe, a priest, 430, 431 + + _Kapu_, taboo, in Hawaiian dialect, 387 + + Karakakooa Bay in Hawaii, 391 + + _Karakias_, prayers or spells (Maori), 32, 39 + + Kauai, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375 + + Kava as source of inspiration, 75, 78, 229; + offered to the gods, 79, 187; + offered to whales, 93; + offered at graves, 121, 205; + drunk by the Marquesans, 334; + by the Hawaiians, 380 + + Keolakuhonua, the first woman, 393 + + Kilauea, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 399, 401 + + King, Captain, 378, 379, 385 _sq._, 391, 402, 408, 410 + + King, of Samoa, 176 _sq._; + customs observed on the death of a king in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._ + + "King of Fiji," a Samoan family god, 192 + + Kingfisher sacred, 93; + superstition about, 277 _n._^2 + + Kingfishers, incarnations of war-god, omens from, 190; + gods of families, villages, or districts, embodied in, 193; + consulted oracularly, 196 + + Kings, two, in Tonga, one civil, the other religious, 62 _sq._; + the priests or mouthpieces of a god, 224; + sacred, in the Hervey Islands, 224 _sq._; + primary and secondary, in Mangaia, 225; + as gods or descended from gods in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._; + as high-priests, 253, 255; + in Hawaii, 383 _sq._ + + Kingship, double, 63 + + Kitchen, dying chief carried into the, 82 + + Koreamoku, a deified man, 398 + + Kotzebue, O. von, 385 _n._^4, 388 _sq._, 416 + + Kpelle, of Liberia, their superstitions about twins, 269, 274 + + Krusenstern, A. J. von, 346, 348, 362, 371, 372 + + Ku, a great Hawaiian deity, 392, 393 + + Kuahairo, a Hawaiian god, 431 + + Kumuhonua, the first man, 393 + + + La Perouse, 149 + + Labillardiere, 81 + + Langsdorff, G. H. von, 118, 341, 351 _n._^2, 371, 372 + + Language, Polynesian, 2; + special form of, used in speaking of chiefs, 173 _sqq._ + + Leaping-off place for souls of dead, 27, 241. + _See_ Jumping-off stone + + Leeward Islands, 246, 319 + + Lifuka (Lefooga), one of the Tonga Islands, 52, 73, 109 + + Lightning, omens from, 191 + + Lipolipo, king of Hawaii, 389 _sq._, 427 + + Lisiansky, U., 338, 366 _sq._, 368 _sq._, 371, 372, 411, 412, 414, + 421, 422, 423 + + Litany chanted after a death, 355 + + Liturgies, in the Society Islands, 296 + + Liturgy, ancient Hawaiian, 394 + + Liver, the seat of courage, 85; + a disease of, attributed to breach of taboo, 76 _sq._; + of pig a god, 98 + + Lizard, the tempter in the form of a, 393 + + Lizards feared as causes of disease, 50; + gods in, 66, 92, 94, 96, 182, 227, 228; + omens from, 190 + + Lono (Rono), a great Hawaiian deity, the equivalent of Rongo, 392, + 393, 395; + Captain Cook identified with, 396 + + Lord of Mangaia, 224 + + Lucifer, the Hawaiian, 393 + + + Macahity, a Hawaiian festival, 414 _sqq._ + + Mafanga, burial-place of chiefs in Tongataboo, 120, 121 + + Mafuie, god of earthquakes, 203 + + Magic, among the Maoris, 13 _sqq._; + among the Tongans, 68; + black, not practised in Samoa, 161; + in the Society Islands, 300, 325 _sq._; + in Hawaii, 405 _sq_. + _See_ Sorcerers + + Magicians (Maori), 13 _sqq._ + + Mahoike, god of the infernal regions, original possessor of fire, 350 + + Mahoui, a god, apparently identical with Maui, 266 _n._^4, 286 _n._^5 + + Maitea, one of the Society Islands, 246 + + Malays, how related to the Polynesians, 2 _sqq._ + + Man, the creation of, 393 + + _Mana_, 42 + + Manaia, 13, 23 + + Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 228, + 232, 233, 237, 238, 239, 240, 244 + + Manona, Samoan island, 149 + + Manua, group of Samoan islands, 149, 155, 158, 162, 215 + + Maoris, 5 _sqq._; + their culture, 8 _sqq._; + beliefs concerning the souls of the living, 10 _sqq._; + beliefs concerning the souls of the dead, 19 _sqq._; + their notion as to the cause of death, 16; + their story of the origin of death, 16 _sqq._; + mourning, 19 _sq._; + disposal of the dead, 20 _sqq._; + their conception of deity, 35 _sq._; + taboo among the, 37 _sqq._, 432 + + Mapuhanui, a Marquesan god, 368 + + _Marae_. _See Morai_ + + _Marae_, a sacred grove, 225 _n._^3, 240, 241 + + _Marai_. _See Morai_ + + Marchand, Captain E., 358 _n._^6, 371 + + Marcuse, A., 393 + + Mariner, William, 62, 64, 67, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78 _sq._, 80, + 82, 83, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98 _n._, 99, 102, + 103, 110 _n._^1, 127, 135, 136, 138, 141, 142, 143 + + Marquesan islanders, 331 _sqq._ + + Marquesas Islands, 328 _sqq._; + _morais_ (_marais_) in the, 116 _sqq._ + + Marriage rites, 288 _sq._, 311 + + Martin, John, 64 + + Maruiwi, primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, 8 + + Mask worn by an actor personifying a ghost, 306 + + Masons in Tonga, 127 + + _Matabooles_, minister of Tongan nobles, 65, 66, 74, 85, 76, 77, 79, + 85, 87, 121, 136, 139 + + Mateialona, Governor of Haapai, 126 + + Mats, fine Samoan, 168 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 381 _sq._ + + Maui, mythical Polynesian hero, 266 _n._^4; + his contest with the goddess of death, 16 _sqq._; + said to have drawn up the Tongan Islands on a fish-hook, 72; + puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88; + said to have brought great stones from Uea, 125; + a kind of Polynesian Hercules, 126; + brought fire to men, 226, 239; + his exploits, 275, 287 _n._, 396; + his image, 275 _sq._; + steals fire from Mahoike, 350 + + ---- one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 429 + + ---- Atalanga, mythical first owner of fire, 57 + + ---- Kijikiji, the Polynesian Prometheus, 57 + + Mauike, the fire-god, 226, 238, 239 + + Mauna Kea, mountain in Hawaii, 376 + + ---- Loa, volcano in Hawaii, 375, 376 + + Mausoleum of the kings of Hawaii, 426 + + Medicine, the Hawaiian god of, 398 + + Megalithic monuments of the Tooitongas, 119; + in the Pacific, Dr. Rivers's theory as to, 119; + of the Tongans, 123; + in Lefooga (Lifuka), 128 _sq._; + their supposed relation to sun-worship, 266 _n._^4; + in the Marquesas, 360 _sq._ + + Megalithic tombs, 119, 123, 132 + + Meinicke, C. E., 118 _n._^2 + + Melanesian blood, admixture of, in the Hervey Islands, 221 + + ---- type, 6; + population of New Zealand, 6 _sq._ + + ---- totemism, 218 + + Melanesians, now related to Polynesians, 2 _sq._; + magic among the, 161; + sham-fights at funerals among the, 212 + + Melville, Hermann, 330, 332, 333, 338, 354, 357 _n._^3, 360 _sq._, + 361 _sq._, 373 + + Men deified in their lifetime, 349; + deified after death, 351 _sq._, 397 + + Metals unknown to the Polynesians, 61, 222, 250, 335 + + Metempsychosis, theory that Melanesian totemism has been developed out + of, 218 + + Milu (Miru), king of the nether world, 427, 428, 429, 430. + _See_ Miru + + ----, a rebel spirit, 392 + + Minstrels, wandering, in the Marquesas, 342 + + Miru, king of the nether world, 427; + goddess of hell or of the dead, 428 _n._^1; + the Hades of the Sandwich Islanders, 431. + _See_ Milu + + ----, an infernal hag, devours ghosts, 242 + + Moerenhout, J. A., 118, 263 _n._^2, 264 _n._^3, 266 _n._^4, 284, + 286 _n._^5, 297, 308 _n._^1 + + Monarchy, absolute, in Hawaii, 383 + + Mooa, old capital of Tongataboo, 106, 108, 111, 112 + + _Mooas_, middle-class in Tonga, 66, 85 + + Moomooe (Moomooi), king of Tonga, 83, 91, 108, 133, 141, 145 + + Moon, family god in, 192; + tradition of sacrifice to the, 394; + festival of the new, 414 + + Moon-goddess, 267, 287 _n._ + + Mo'ooi (Maui), Tongan god, 72 + + _Morai_ (_marai_, _marae_), burial-place, temple, 103, 116, 117, 118, + 119; + dead buried in, 117 _sqq._, 282 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq_. + + _Morais_, bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311; + burial-places, 357 _sq._, 361 _sq._; + mummies deposited in, 357; + in Hawaii, 391, 406 _sqq._; + dead chiefs buried in, 407 _sq._ + + Morality reinforced by superstitious terrors, 83; + not influenced by religion, 318 + + Mortality of souls of commoners, 66, 85 + + Motoro, a great god in the Hervey Islands, 241 + + Mourning for death of divine owl, 186 _sq._ + + ---- customs of Maoris, 19 _sq._; + in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + in Samoa, 208 _sq._; + in the Hervey Islands, 231; + among the Society Islands, 301 _sqq._; + of the Marquesans, 353 _sqq._; + in Hawaii, 420 _sqq._ + + Mouth and nostrils of dying stopped to prevent the escape of the soul, + 352 + + Mueu, a female demon of death, 235 + + Mukasa, great god of the Baganda, 270 + + Mullets sacred, 95, 184 + + Mummies kept in the house or deposited in a _morai_, 357 + + Muru, a god, spreads a net to catch ghosts, 244 + + Mythology of the Society Islanders, 257 _sq._, 277; + of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._ + + + Nails, parings of, used in evil magic, 325, 405 + + Names of relatives changed after a death, 233; + of kings sacred, 254; + new, given at admission to the Society of the Areois, 261; + exchange of, 339 + + Namuka, one of the Tonga Islands, 52 + + Nature, personifications of, 32, 34; + worship of, 93 + + Necromancy among the Maoris, 30 _sq._ + + Negritoes, 3 + + Net to catch ghosts, 242, 244 + + New Zealand, the Maoris of, 5 _sqq._; + Melanesian population of, 6 _sq._ + + Neyra, Alvaro Mendana de, 328 + + Ngati-apa, a Maori tribe, 23 + + Nicholas, J. L., 16 _n._^3 + + Night, or the primaeval darkness (_Po_), 258, 276, 277, 298 _n._^1, + 305, 315, 323, 393, 397, 427; + burials by, 419 + + Nightmare caused by a ghost, 419 + + _Noa_, common, 38, 39, 40; + general, as opposed to _taboo_, sacred, 388 + + Noah, the Hawaiian, 393, 394 + + Nobility traced in female line in Tonga, 75 + + Nobles, souls of dead, as gods, 64, 66, 84, 91 + + North Cape of New Zealand, place of departure for souls of the dead, + 27, 28, 30 + + Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, 328, 337, 350, 352, 360, 361, + 364, 368, 371, 372 + + Nuu, the Hawaiian Noah, 393, 394 + + + O-Heena, a goddess, 287 _n._ + _See_ Hina + + O-rongo, in Mangaia, 225 + + Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, 375, 376 _n._^2, 385, 395, 411, 429 + + Obsequies of kings and chiefs in Tonga, 133 _sqq._; + of the Tooitongas, 140 _sqq._; + of Samoan chiefs, 211 _sq._; + of chiefs, in the Society Islands, 303 + + Octopus, god in, 95, 96, 183 + + Offerings to gods, 79; + to Samoan deities, 187, 188, 189; + to priests, 195; + to the dead, 311; + of food at tombs, 362; + to volcanic goddess, 401. + _See_ Sacrifices + + Omens sent by gods, 67; + from sacred birds, animals, or fish, 189 _sq._; + from sacrificial victims, clouds, and rainbow, 397, 414 + + Opoa, metropolis of idolatry in the Society Islands, 255, 258, 259, + 289 + + Oracles delivered by priests, 295; + given by priests in the name of gods, 404 + + _Oramatuas_ or _oromatuas_, worshipful spirits of departed relatives, + 277, 299, 323 _sq._; + sacred feathers called, 291 + + Origin of Samoan gods of families, villages, and districts, 200 _sqq._ + + Oro, war-god in the Society Islands, 255, 255 _n._^1, 258, 259, 261, + 263, 265, 266, 289, 295, 315, 326 + + Orono, head of a priestly order in Hawaii, 391 + + Orotetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267 + + Ovens, souls of dead in, 26 _sq._; + of hot stones, 222, 379 + + Owl god, festival of, 188; + kept tame, 191 + + Owls sacred, 95, 182; + mourning for dead, 186 _sq._; + omens from, 190 + + + Pantheon recruited by dead men, 98 + + Papa, goddess of earth, 34 _n._^2; + wife of Vatea, 226 + + Papatea, mythical island, 158 + + Papo, Samoan war-god, 186 + + Paradise of the Society Islanders, 319, 327 + + Parliamentary form of government in Samoa, 179 _sq._ + + _Pas_, Maori forts, 8 _n._^3 + + Pele, goddess of the volcano Kilauea in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._ + + Personifications of nature, 32, 34; + of ghost by an actor, 306 + + Pied fantail in Maori story of origin of death, 18 _sq._ + + Pigeons, divine, 184; + kept tame, 191 + + Pigs' liver a god, 96 + + Pigs offered to the dead, 231; + sacrificed, 264, 265, 291; + for recovery of sick, 351; + to the dead, 368. + _See_ Hogs + + Planets, the shrine of a god, 228 + + Pleiades, emblems of deified chiefs, 204 + + Po, region of departed souls (Maori), 27 + + _Po_, Night or the primaeval darkness, the abode of the gods and of + the dead, 258, 277, 298 _n._^1, 305, 308, 315, 316, + 317, 323, 393, 397, 427 + + Pollution caused by death, 312 _sq._, 427 + + Polack, J. S., 7 _n._^1 + + Polyandry among the Marquesans, 337 _sq._ + + Polygamy in the Hervey Islands, 223 + + Polynesians, 1 _sqq._; + their origin and language, 2 _sqq._; + mode of life, 4; + dispersal from Savaii (Hawaiki), 6, 154 _sq._; + or from Tonga, 56; + their knowledge of fire, 56 _sq._; + ignorant of metals, 61, 250 + + Polytheism developed out of totemism, 94 + + Porpoises, gods in, 66, 92 + + Porter, Captain David, 330, 332, 344 _n._^1, 350, 353, 357 _n._^3, + 362, 364 _sq._, 372 + + Pottery unknown to the Samoans, 181 + + Prayers to the gods, 79; + to the dead, 121; + to animal gods, 182; + for temporal benefits, 189; + before going to war, 189; + for the dying, 208; + offered to souls of dead relatives at their graves, 217; + rhythmical and ancient, 225; + offered to kings, 255; + of the Society Islanders, 257; + for the recovery of the sick, 257, 398; + to Oro, 261; + liturgical, 295 _sq._; + over the dead, 310; + for the dead, 318; + at temples, 327; + before battle, 397 + + "Praying people," sorcerers, 229 + + Presents brought to dying people, 207 _sq._ + + Priestess claiming to personify goddess, 401 + + Priests practise enchantments, 13 _sq._; + descended from the gods, 29; + their souls immortal, 29; + summon up spirits of dead, 31; + Tongan, their inspiration, 77 _sqq._; + Samoan, 192 _sq._; + inspired, 194; + consulted as to cause of sickness, 207; + inspired, called "god-boxes," 228 _sq._; + speaking in name of gods, 258, 293 _sqq._; + of shark gods, 276; + in the Society Islands, 292 _sqq._; + inspired by sharks, 403; + Hawaiian, 404 + + Property buried with the dead, 20, 140 _sq._, 211, 232 _sq._; + private, in relation to taboo, 47 _sq._; + rights of, in Samoa, 169 _sqq._ + + Prostitution, general, of women at the death of a great chief, 423 + + Pukapuka, Danger Island, 230 + + Pulotu, Samoan name for abode of the dead and of the gods, 204, 205, + 214, 216, 217. + _Compare_ Bolotoo + + Punishments in Samoa, 159 _sq._ + + Purification of king at installation, 255 _n._^1; + of land after defilement, 287 _sq._; + after contact with the dead, 210, 313; + of the souls of the dead, 316 + + Pyramidal tombs, 115 + + Pyramidical temples of Tahiti and the Marquesas, 119 + + Pyramids, stepped or terraced, 116, 117, 278 _sqq._; + of stone, stepped or terraced, in Hawaii, 408 _sqq._ + + + Quiros, Fernandez de, 246 + + + Ra, the sun-god, caught by Maui in nooses, 226 + + Radiguet, M., 338, 341, 357 _n._^1, 358, 373 + + Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, 246, 255, 258, 259, 266, 289, + 315, 317, 318, 319 + + Rail-bird sacred, 95; + omens from, 190 + + Rainbow worshipped, 93, 182; + omens from, 191, 397; + emblem of deified chiefs, 204 _sq._; + superstitions about, 267, 269 + + _Rangatira_, gentleman, 43, 44; + landowners, 224 + + Rangi, god of sky, 34 _n._^2 + + Rarotonga, one of the Hervey Islands, 219, 221, 222, 224, 226, 228, + 232, 243, 244 + + Raupa, a burial cave, 237 + + Recorders, sacred, 295 _sq._, 298 + + Red, bones of dead painted, 21; + tabooed, 227; + feathers regarded as divine, 290 _sq._ + + ---- Cave, 239, 240 + + Reincarnation of the dead, 368 _sq._ + + Reinga, leaping-off place of souls (Maori), 27 + + Religion of Maoris concentrated on worship of dead kinsfolk, 34; + homogeneity of Polynesian, 35 _n._; + the Tongan, 64 _sqq._; + ethical influence of the Tongan, 146 _sq._; + of the Samoans, 181 _sqq._; + of the Hervey Islanders, 225 _sqq._; + early stage of, 226; + of the Society Islanders, 256 _sqq._; + without influence on morality, 318; + of the Marquesans, 348 _sqq._; + of the Hawaiians, 390 _sqq._ + + Remy, J., 412 _n._^1, 415 _n._^1 + + Renan, Ernest, on the Hebrew prophets, 147 + + Respect for chiefs in Samoa, 171 _sqq._ + + Resurrection of the dead, Hawaiian notions about the, 430 _sq._ + + Rewards, posthumous, no belief in, 67, 146 + + Rhodesia, Northern, belief as to mother of twins in, 269 + + Rib of the first man, the first woman created out of the, 393 _sq._ + + Rites, of burial and mourning in Tonga, 132 _sqq._; + funeral, in the Hervey Islands, 231 _sqq._; + religious, of the Society Islanders, 257; + of purification, 288. + _See_ Ceremonies + + River of the Water of Life (Maori), 28; + in the nether world, 216 + + Rivers, W. H. R., 4 _n._^1, 119, 124 _n._^1, 128, 202, 218, 266 _n._^4 + + Roberts, E., 371 + + Rohutu, the abode of the dead, 319 _sq._, 327 + + Rongo, god of peace and agriculture, 35 _n._; + a great Polynesian god, 224, 225, 226, 392, 395; + his sacred stream and grove, 240, 241; + god, inventor of circumcision, 224 + + Rono, a great Hawaiian god, 404, 416. + _See_ Lono + + Roscoe, J., 271 + + Routledge, S. and K., 279 _n._^1 + + Ruahatu, a sea-god, 276 + + + S[=a]-le-Fe'e, the Samoan Tartarus, 216 + + Sacredness of chiefs, 172 _sqq._ + + Sacrifice of children, 75 _sq._, 81 _sq._; + of hogs, 79; + of fingers, 80; + of first-born sons, 89; + as magical, 83; + of pigs to the dead, 368; + of hogs to volcano, 399 + + Sacrifices in the Society Islands, 291 _sq._; + of pigs for the recovery of the sick, 351. + _See_ Human sacrifices + + Sacrilege, 67; + its expiation, 74 _sqq._, 183 _sqq._ + + Samoa, general name for the group of islands, 148; + original seat of Polynesian race, 154 + + Samoan Islands, 148 _sqq._; + volcanic activity in, 151 _sq._; + climate, 152 _sqq._ + + ---- Islanders, their appearance and character, 156 _sqq._; + houses, agriculture, and industries, 163 _sqq._; + rights of property, 169 _sqq._; + government, 171 _sqq._; + religion, 181 _sqq._ + + ---- worship of natural objects, 93, 96 _sq._; + of animals and other natural objects developed out of totemism, + 200 _sqq._, 218 + + Sanctity of kings in the Society Islands, 253 _sq._; + of priest of Tani (Tane), 293 + + Sanctuaries for criminals, 282 + + Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, 375 _sqq._ + + Sandwich Islanders, 377 _sqq._; + their four chief gods, 35 _n._ + + Saturnalia at the death of a king or high chief in Hawaii, 421 _sqq._ + + Savage thought inconsistent, 84, 90 _sq._ + + Savages not addicted to sun-worship, 131 + + Savaii, one of the Samoan islands, centre of Polynesian dispersion, 6, + 148 _sq._, 150 _sq._, 154 _sq._, 192, 195, 202, 215 + + Saveasiuleo, the king of the lower regions, 216 _sq._ + + Scalps of slain foes taken, 162 + + Sea, gods of the, 276 _sq._ + + ---- eels sacred, 93, 94, 185 + + ---- gull sacred, 93 + + ---- -snake as god, 185 + + ---- -urchin, family god in, 183 + + Second death, 29 + + Secret burial, 21 + + Semites sacrifice first-born sons, 89 + + Serfdom, alleged, in Hawaii, 385 + + Shadow, soul associated with, 205 _sq._ + + Sham fights at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211, 212; + at Melanesian funerals, 212; + after a death, 234, 235, 236, 303 + + Shark-gods, 227, 276 + + Shark's teeth, omens from, 191 + + Sharks as ministers of justice, 77; + gods in, 96, 182; + sacred, 93; + still-born children turned into, 398, 403; + worshipped in Hawaii, 402 _sqq._ + + Shells (_Murex namoces_) in which the souls of the dead were supposed + to lodge, 325 + + Shortland, E., 6 _n._^2 + + Sick people carried to temple, 195 + + Sickness supposed to be caused by evil spirits, 417. + _See_ Disease + + Sinnet tenanted by a god, 228 + + Sins of the dead buried in a hole, 305 + + Sisters, curses of, specially dreaded, 207 + + Skins of the dead preserved as relics, 367 + + Skulls of dead kept in houses, 118; + of ancestors kept in temple or house, 288, 311; + of dead rulers worshipped, 324; + of dead hidden in caves, 357 + + Sky raised by Maui, 226, 275 + + Slaves killed to accompany their dead lords, 24; + in the Society Islands, 253 + + "Slaying the ghosts," 234 + + Smith, E. W. and Dale, A. M., 425 + + ----, S. Percy, 155 + + Snakes, water, gods in, 66, 92 + + Sneezing, Hervey Islanders' theory of, 229 + + Social ranks in Samoa, 171 _sqq._; + in Rarotonga, 224; + in the Society Islands, 253; + among the Marquesans, 344; + in Hawaii, 383 _sqq._ + + Society Islanders, 248 _sqq._ + + Society Islands, 246 _sqq._ + + Songs in honour of the dead, 236. + _See_ Dirges + + Sorcerers (Maori), 13 _sqq._; + disease and death ascribed to arts of, 300, 325 _sq._; + Hawaiian, 405. + _See_ Magic + + Soul, Maori ideas concerning the, 10 _sqq._; + as shadow, 11; + as breath, 11; + departure of soul from body, 12 _sqq._; + its fate after death, 24 _sqq._, 66, 86 _sqq._, 213 _sqq._, + 238 _sqq._, 313 _sq._, 427 _sqq._; + survival of, 24; + ascent to heaven, 24 _sqq._, 29; + Tongan theory of, 66, 84 _sqq._; + Samoan belief concerning the, 205 _sq._; + associated with shadow, 205 _sq._; + of the same shape as body, 205; + belief of the Society Islanders concerning the, 297 _sqq._; + beliefs of the Hervey Islanders concerning the, 229 _sqq._; + beliefs of the Marquesans concerning the, 352; + Hawaiian beliefs concerning the, 417 + + Souls of commoners mortal, 29; + souls of chiefs and priests immortal, 29; + of the dead appear in dreams, 31, 91 _sq._; + of ancestors cause disease, 49; + of dead infants cause disease, 49, 299; + of dead nobles as gods, 64 _sq._, 66, 84, 91; + of dead men as gods, 64, 66, 69, 85, 91, 351 _sq._, 397; + of Tongan commoners mortal, 66, 85; + caught in traps, 230 _sq._; + leaping-place of, 27, 241; + ascribed to animals, trees, and stones, 297; + of the dead eaten by the gods, 315, 427; + of children supposed to transmigrate into sharks, 403 + + Spells (Maori), 13 _sqq._ + + Spencer, Herbert, his theory that temples are derived from tombs, 100 + + Spirit world, Maori ideas of, 29 _sq._ + + Spirits of the dead become gods, 31 _sq._; + threatened, 208. + _See_ Gods, Souls + + Spittle used in magic, 15, 300, 325, 405; + collected to prevent its use in magic, 405 _sq._ + + Stair, J. B., 152, 173 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1 + + Star, shooting, worshipped, 93 + + Stars observed by the Samoans, 161 + + Sterndale, H. B., 197, 198, 199 + + Stewart, C. S., 157 _n._^7, 337 _sq._, 340 _sq._, 344 _n._^1, + 348 _sq._, 349 _sq._, 358, 372, 377, 424 + + Stick-and-groove mode of kindling fire, 181 + + Stilts, racing or combating on, 339 _sq._ + + Stinging ray fish, divine, 184, 185; + taboo to some Marquesans, 347 + + Stone-cutting in Tonga, craft of, 127 + + Stone monuments in Samoa, 197 _sqq._ + + Stone temple, ruins of, in Samoa, 196 _sq._ + + Stone tools and weapons, 10, 61, 180, 250 _sq._, 335, 382; + in Tonga, 61; + in Samoa, 180 + + Stonehenge, trilithons at, 123, 129, 130 + + Stones worshipped, 182, 187; + piled on graves to prevent the dead from rising, 232 + + Succession of eldest sons at their birth, 255 _sq._ + + Sugar-cane cultivated, 379 + + Suicides, their fate after death, 363 + + Sun, supposed secret worship of the, in the Pacific, 119; + Stonehenge supposed by some to be a temple of the, 130; + Tongans not worshippers of the, 131; + tradition of human sacrifices to, 158; + not worshipped in Samoa, 192; + ghosts journeying with the, 239 _sqq._; + caught and stopped by Maui, 275, 287 _n._, 396; + not worshipped by the Society Islanders, 286; + souls of the dead gather in the, 320 + + Sun god caught by Maui, 226; + supposed worship of, 266, 286 _n._^5 + + Sun worship, savages not addicted to, 131 + + "Sun-dried gods," title applied to embalmed bodies of chiefs, 205 + + Superstitious terrors reinforce morality, 83 + + + Taaroa (Taroa), a great god, 255 _n._^1, 258, 266, 267, 276, 287 _n._; + supreme god of Polynesia, 290. + _Compare_ Tanaroa, Tangaloa, Tangaroa + + Taboo (_tapu_) among the Maoris, 32, 34, 37 _sqq._, 432; + contracted by contact with the dead, 39, 209; + of sacred chiefs, 41 _sqq._; + its effect in confirming the rights of private property, 47 _sq._; + ultimate sanction of, 49; + supposed effects of breaking a, 76 _sq._; + consequent on touching a dead body, 137 _sq._; + comprises ideas of holiness and uncleanness, 173; + signified by white cloth, 344; + in the Marquesas, 345 _sqq._; + a definition of, 348; + in Hawaii, 387 _sqq._; + breaches of, punished with death, 389; + abolished in Hawaii, 389 _sq._; + rigour of, 416; + an aristocratic institution, 432 + + Tabooed priest, 404 + + Taboos imposed by chiefs, 175, 432 + + Tahaa, one of the Society Islands, 246, 258 + + Tahiti, 246, 247, 255, 266, 279, 282, 283, 314, 321; + _morais_ in, 116 _sqq._, 279 _sqq._ + + _Tahowa_, priest, 293 + + Tahuata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas, 349, 359, 360, 364, + 367 + + Taipii (Typee), valley of, in Nukahiva, 360, 365 + + Taipiis or Typees, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332, 365, 373 + + Tairi (Kaili), the national war-god of Hawaii, 396, 397, 404, 411 + + Takalaua, a Tooitonga, 108 + + Tali-y-Toobo, Tongan god of royal family, 70, 73, 77, 79, 121 + + Tame gods, 191 + + Tamehameha, king of Hawaii, 384, 423. + _See_ Kamehameha + + Tanaroa, Tangaroa, Tagaloa, Taaroa, dialectically different names of + a great Polynesian god, 258, 392 + + Tane (Tani), a great Polynesian god, 35 _n._, 241, 258, 280, 284, 293, + 392, 394, 397 + + Tane-kio, a god, enshrined in the planets Venus and Jupiter, 228 + + Tangaloa, god, drew up Tonga Islands on a fishing-hook, 65, 72 _sq._; + god of artificers, 72; + puts god Hikuleo in durance, 88; + ancestor of Tui-ta-tui, 127; + temple of, 196; + principal god of Samoans, the creator, 202 _sq._; + said to have fished up the islands, 202, 203 + + Tangaroa, god of ocean, 35 _n._; + a great god, brother of Rongo, 226 + + _Tapu_. _See_ Taboo + + Taro the staple food of the Samoans, 165; + of the Mangaians, 222; + and of the Hawaiians, 378 + + Tattooing, not applied to the Tooitonga, 81; + nor to the sacred kings of Mangaia, 224; + as a punishment in Samoa, 160; + of the Marquesan islanders, 331 _sq._; + marks of, removed from corpse, 368; + of the Hawaiians, 378; + of the tongue in mourning, 421 + + _Tauas_, inspired men, 350 _sq._ + + Tauata (Santa Christina), one of the Marquesas Islands, 337 + + Taylor, R., 7 _n._^1, 32 _n._^1, _n._^2, 36, 42 + + _Tee_, _teehee_, _tii_, spirit of the dead, guardian spirit, 313, 322, + 323 _n._^1 + + Teeth, loss of, penalty for breach of taboo, 209 _sq._; + knocked out in mourning, 231, 420, 423, 424 + + Tekuraaki, a god, incarnate in the woodpecker, 228 + + Temple, dead Areois buried in, 261; + bones of human victims buried in, 292; + bones of dead chiefs buried in, 311 + + Temples of the gods in Tonga, 73 _sqq._, 99 _sqq._; + and graves, question of, 99 _sqq._; + and tombs, 99 _sqq._; + Samoan, 194 _sqq._; + in the Society Islands, 278 _sqq._; + dedicated to sharks, 402, 403; + Hawaiian, 406 _sqq._ + + Theft, ordeal for detection of, 77 + + Thieves, Hiro the god of, 326; + divination to detect, 406 + + Thunder and lightning, no Tongan god of, 71; + Tongan idea concerning, 90 + + Thunder-god kept in captivity, 191 _sq._ + + Thomas, Rev. John, 57 _n._^1, 111 _n._ + + Thomson, A. S., 6 _n._^2 + + Thomson, Sir Basil, 87 _n._^1, 106, 107, 115, 116, 124, 125, 126, 127, + 128, 129 + + Tiaio, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 227 + + Tiaraboo (Tiarroboo, Tairaboo), the southern peninsula of Tahiti, 257, + 283 + + Tiburones, a mythical paradise, 352, 364 + + Ti'iti'i, hero, robs Mafuie of fire, 203 + + _Tii_, a worshipful spirit of the dead, 324. + Compare _Tee_ + + Tiki, the god of the dead, 231, 232 + + ----, a heroine, 239; + warder of the land of the dead, 244 _sq._ + + ----, a Marquesan god, 343, 350 _n._^4 + + Timatekore, a god of the Hervey Islanders, 226 + + Tofua, Tongan island, 96 + + Togo, in West Africa, 271 + + _Tohunga_, Maori priest, 16 _n._^3 + + Tombs, megalithic, of the Tooitongas, 99 _sqq._, 105 _sqq._, 119, + 123, 132; + and temples, 99 _sqq._ + + Tonga or Friendly Islands, 52 _sqq._ + + ---- Islanders, 57 _sqq._; + their religion, 64 _sqq._; + their national and tribal gods, 93 _sq._ + + Tongataboo, 52, 86, 94, 106, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120, 123 + + Tonga-iti, a god in the Hervey Islands, 227 + + _Tooas_ (_tuas_), Tongan commoners, 66, 85, 86, 87 + + Toobo Toty, a Tongan god, 71 + + Toogoo Ahoo, king of Tonga, 81 + + Tooi fooa Bolotoo, a Tongan god, 70 _sq._ + + Tooitonga, sacred chief or king of Tonga, 62, 66, 73, 81, 82, 94, + 106, 107, 108, 110, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121, + 122, 123, 126, 127, 144, 145; + tombs of the Tooitongas, 105 _sqq._; + obsequies of the, 140 _sqq._ + + Tooi-tonga-fafine, sister of the Tooitonga, 110 + + Totemic gods of Samoa, 202 + + Totemism, Tongan polytheism developed out of, 94; + Samoan worship of animals developed out of, 200 _sqq._, 218; + theory that it has been developed out of metempsychosis, 218; + relics of, in the Hervey Islands, 227 _sq._; + traces of, among the Marquesans, 347; + relics of, in Hawaii, 402 + + Trade guilds among the Samoans, 167 _sq._ + + Transmigration of souls not believed in by the Samoans, 218; + of souls of children into sharks, 403 + + Traps set for souls, 230 + + Tree, family god in, 192; + on which ghosts perch, 241 + + Trees, dead deposited on, 20 _sq._; + tenanted by gods, 228; + sacred, 281 _sq._; + worshipped, 402 + + Tregear, E., 6 _n._^2, 126 _n._^2, 392 + + Tribes or clans among the Hervey Islanders, 223 + + Trilithon in Tongataboo, 123 _sqq._ + + Trilithons at Stonehenge, 123, 129, 130 + + Trinity, the Hawaiian, 392 + + Triton-shell, god in, 228 + + Tropic-bird sacred, 93 + + Tu, Maori war-god, 35 _n._; + a great Polynesian deity, 392 + + Tuaraatai, a sea god in the Society Islands, 276 + + Tufoa, volcanic island, 53 + + Tui-ta-tui, a Tooitonga, 127, 128 + + _Tulafales_, householders or gentry in Samoa, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180 + + Tuoro, in Rarotonga, the meeting-place of ghosts, 243, 244 + + Turnbull, J., 262 + + Turner, Dr. George, 183 _n._^1, 203 _n._^2, 206 _n._^1, 212, 213 + + Turtles, family god in, 183 _sq._ + + Tutuila, Samoan island, 149, 175, 176, 180, 215 + + Twins, divine, 226; + heavenly, 267; + customs and superstitions concerning, 267 _sqq._; + thought able to influence the weather, 267 _sq._; + fertilising power ascribed to, 269 _sqq._; + divine Hawaiian, 394 + + Tyerman and Bennet, 260, 281, 283, 295, 315, 386 + + Tylor, E. B., 3 _n._^3 + + Typee. _See_ Taipii + + Typees or Taipiis, a tribe of Nukahiva, 330, 332 365, 375 + + + Uea (Wallis Island), 125 + + Uganda, human sacrifice in, 84 + + _Uhane_, soul, 417 + + Ui, a heroine, beloved by the sun, 158 + + Uli, a Hawaiian god, 405 + + Umi, king of Hawaii, 411, 413 + + Unburied dead, Samoan ceremonies for, 205 _sq._ + + Uncleanness, and holiness blent in taboo, 173; + caused by contact with a corpse, 312 _sq._, 427 + + Underworld, home of the souls of the dead, 27 + + Upolu, Samoan island, 149, 152, 155, 162, 185, 196, 202, 214, 215 + + Upu, a Marquesan goddess of the dead, 367, 368 + + Uriwera, a Maori people, 15 + + Urutetefa, patron deity of the Areoi Society, 263, 265, 267 + + Utakea, a god incarnate in the woodpecker, 228 + + + Vatea, a primary god, 226 + + Vavau, a Tongan island, 52, 53, 73 + + Veachi, sacred personage in Tonga, 66 + + Veeson, George, 86 + + Vegetable gods in Samoa, 192 + + Ventriloquism, 370 + + Venus, the planet, the shrine of a god, 228 + + Vergnes, P. E. Eyriaud des, 374 + + Village gods, 182, 185 + + Villages, Samoan, self-governing, 178 _sq._ + + Vincendon-Dumoulin, 118, 358, 373 + + Virtue, Tongan ideas of, 66 _sq._, 146 _sq._ + + Volcanic activity in Tonga Islands, 53 _sqq._; + in Samoa, 151; + in Hawaii, 375 + + Volcano, goddess of, in Hawaii, 399 _sqq._; + offerings to, 399 _sq._ + + + _Wahi taboo_, sacred place, temple, 387 _sq._ + + _Wahine ariki_, 40 + + Waimate Plains in New Zealand, 23 + + Wakea. _See_ Akea + + Wallis Island (Uea), 125 + + Wallis rediscovers Society Islands, 246 + + War gods, Samoan, 186, 188, 189 _sq._ + + War-gods, images of, carried to battle, 397 + + Warriors tabooed, 40 _sq._ + + Warriors, fate of souls of dead, 242 _sq._, 244 _sq._ + + Water of Life, River of the, 28; + in the nether world, 216 + + Weaving practised by Maoris, 9 + + West, Thomas, 114 + + Whale, soul of dead priest in a, 369 + + Whales worshipped, 93 + + _Whattas_, altars, 391, 392 + + White cloth as mark of taboo, 344; + flags as marks of property, 386 + + Widowers tabooed, 39 + + Widows killed to accompany their dead husbands, 24; + tabooed, 39; + strangled and buried with their husbands, 145; + dances of, 353, 354 + + Wilkes, Charles (Commodore), 57, 61 _n._, 87, 89 _n._^1, 90, + 155 _n._^1, 384 _sq._, 411 + + Williams, John, 80, 157 _n._^7, 158, 181, 185, 221, 231 + + Wilson, James, 264 _n._^5 + + Winds imprisoned by two gods, 277 + + Windward Islands, 246 + + Wiro, evil spirit, 27 + + Woman, the first, created out of a rib of the first man, 393 _sq._ + + Women well treated by Tongans, 61 _sq._; + well treated by the Samoans, 157; + excluded from temples, 288 _sq._; + forbidden to eat with men, 381; + forbidden to partake of sacrifices, 388 + + Woodpecker, gods incarnate in the, 228 + + Worms, souls of the dead in the shape of, 29 + + Worship of ancestors among the Maoris, 32 _sqq._; + of the Tongan gods, 79 _sqq._; + of nature, 93; + of the dead tends to encroach on the worship of the high gods, + 97 _sq._; + of animals and other natural objects in Samoa, 182 _sqq._, + 200 _sqq._; + of the dead in Samoa, 204 _sq._; + of the dead, elements of the, 205; + of the sun, supposed, 266, 286 _n._^5; + of the dead in the Society Islands, 322 _sqq._; + of animals in Hawaii, 401 _sqq._ + _See_ Religion + + Wrestling matches as funeral rite, 140, 144, 211; + at obsequies of chiefs, 303 + + ---- and boxing matches at obsequies of Samoan chiefs, 211; + in honour of Lono (Rono), 395, 416 + + + Yam festival in Tonga, 71 _sq._ + + Yams, new, offered at grave, 122 + + Young, John, 422 _sq._ + + + Zulu superstition as to twins, 270 + + + +THE END + + +_Printed in Great Britain by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +WORKS BY SIR J. G. FRAZER + + + THE + BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY + AND THE + WORSHIP OF THE DEAD + + VOL. I. + + THE BELIEF AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA, THE TORRES STRAITS + ISLANDS, NEW GUINEA, AND MELANESIA. + + THE GIFFORD LECTURES, ST. ANDREWS, 1911-1912. + + 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. + +Mr. EDWARD CLODD in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--"'If a man die, shall he +live again?' is a question asked chiliads before Job put it, and the +generations of mankind repeat it. In this profoundly interesting volume, +Professor Frazer, out of the treasury of his knowledge, and with +consummate art of attractive presentment, gives the answers devised by +the Lower Races." + +_FOLK-LORE_.--"It displays all the best qualities, both in respect of +style and matter, that characterise Dr. Frazer's former works." + +_NEW STATESMAN_.--"Dr. Frazer does not profess to explain the ultimate +source of religion, but only to attempt to follow the steps of its +growth among the races of men. It is his aim to set before us a +continent of facts known, or partly known, to the anthropologists, not a +solution of the mystery of the Universe. That aim he has achieved with +masterly success and lucidity." + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"The analysis of belief and practice +among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits, New Guinea, and +Melanesia, which occupies nearly 400 pages of this volume, is a masterly +performance." + +_GUARDIAN_.--"The bare facts which Dr. Frazer sets before us are of an +absorbing interest.... The Biblical student may gain much from the +perusal of Dr. Frazer's work." + +_OBSERVER_.--"The importance of the work which Dr. Frazer has undertaken +cannot be overrated. His study of religion is a contribution to human +knowledge of such quality that the country to which he belongs may well +be proud of him.... Dr. Frazer has arranged the mass of detail from +which he has had to draw with a skill and judgment which in the work of +another man would be surprising; and he tells each story with the point +and clarity of an artist, so that, apart from the book's high mission, +it could be read as a storehouse of good tales. His comments, moreover, +are always brief and decisive." + + * * * * * + + THE GOLDEN BOUGH + + A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION + + Third Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. + + Part I. THE MAGIC ART AND THE EVOLUTION OF KINGS. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + II. TABOO AND THE PERILS OF THE SOUL. One volume. + 12s. 6d. net. + + III. THE DYING GOD. One volume. 12s. 6d. net. + + IV. ADONIS, ATTIS, OSIRIS. Two volumes. 25s. net. + + V. SPIRITS OF THE CORN AND OF THE WILD. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + VI. THE SCAPEGOAT. One volume, 12s. 6d. net. + + VII. BALDER THE BEAUTIFUL: THE FIRE-FESTIVALS OF EUROPE + AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE EXTERNAL SOUL. Two volumes. + 25s. net. + + Vol. XII. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GENERAL INDEX. 25s. net. + +_TIMES_.--"The book is a great book, in just the sense in which the work +of Darwin, Zola, or Balzac is great. It has explored and mapped out a +new world. But it combines artistry with science. Not only does it +describe the greater part of the magical and religious beliefs and +practices of the lower races and peasant peoples of the world, with +a scientific precision and completeness superior to those of the +encyclopaedic biologist; it also narrates, with greater truth and +vividness than has ever been essayed, the tragi-comedy of human +superstition." + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"This new edition is something more than +a mere enlargement. It is a new book, or a series of books; yet it is +the same 'Golden Bough.' The reader will find it full of good things, +new and old. He will also realise that 'The Golden Bough' is a great +book, one of the great books of our time." + + * * * * * + + THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION. + Abridged Edition. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 18s. net. + +This abridgment has been prepared in response to numerous requests that +the work should be issued in a more compendious form. While the book has +been greatly reduced in bulk, by omission of all the notes and +occasional condensation in the text, all the main principles of the +complete work are retained, together with a sufficient amount of +evidence to illustrate them clearly. Nothing has been added, and no +change has been made in the author's views. It is hoped that in this +abridged form the book may prove welcome to students and general readers +who cannot afford to buy and read the complete edition. + + * * * * * + + FOLK-LORE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Studies in Comparative Religion, + Legend, and Law. Three vols. 8vo. 37s. 6d. net. + +_TIMES_.--"The idea of illustrating the Old Testament by analogies drawn +from the myths, customs, and superstitions of various primitive peoples +is not, of course, a new one ... but no one has hitherto published +anything to be compared with the vast and varied store of information +which Sir James Frazer now places before us.... His book is a mine of +instructive facts for which all future students of the subject will be +grateful." + +_NATURE_.--"These three volumes should be the household companion of +every religious teacher, nay, of every one who cares or dares to see +what that latest daughter of science, folk-lore, has to say about the +cherished beliefs from the Old Testament, absorbed in infancy, and +rarely visualised differently in later life." + +_SPECTATOR_.--"We may say at once that Sir James Frazer's new work is +profoundly interesting, and that it throws a flood of light on many +familiar episodes and references." + + * * * * * + + TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY. A Treatise on Certain Early Forms of + Superstition and Society. With Maps. Four vols. 8vo. 50s. net. + +Mr. A. E. CRAWLEY in _NATURE_.--"That portion of the book which is +concerned with totemism (if we may express our own belief at the risk of +offending Prof. Frazer's characteristic modesty) is actually 'The +Complete History of Totemism, its Practice and its Theory, its Origin +and its End.'... Nearly two thousand pages are occupied with an +ethnographical survey of totemism, an invaluable compilation. The maps, +including that of the distribution of totemic peoples, are a new and +useful feature." + + * * * * * + + THE MAGICAL ORIGIN OF KINGS. (Formerly published as "Lectures on + the Early History of the Kingship.") 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +_ATHENAEUM_.--"It is the effect of a good book not only to teach, but +also to stimulate and to suggest, and we think this the best and highest +quality, and one that will recommend these lectures to all intelligent +readers, as well as to the learned." + + * * * * * + + PSYCHE'S TASK. A Discourse concerning the Influence of + Superstition on the Growth of Institutions. Second Edition, + revised and enlarged. To which is added "The Scope of Social + Anthropology." 8vo. 6s. 6d. net. + +_OUTLOOK_.--"Whether we disagree or agree with Dr. Frazer's general +conclusions, he has provided us with a veritable storehouse of +correlated facts, for which, and for the learning that has gone to their +collection, and for the intellectual brilliance that has gone to their +arrangement, we can never be sufficiently grateful." + + * * * * * + + PAUSANIAS'S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. Translated with a Commentary, + Illustrations, and Maps. Second Edition. Six vols. 8vo. 126s. + net. + +_ATHENAEUM_.--"All these writings in many languages Mr. Eraser has read +and digested with extraordinary care, so that his book will be for years +the book of reference on such matters, not only in England, but in +France and Germany. It is a perfect thesaurus of Greek topography, +archaeology, and art." + + * * * * * + + STUDIES IN GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND AND HISTORY. Selected from Sir + J. G. FRAZER'S Commentary on Pausanias. Globe 8vo. 5s. net. + +_GUARDIAN_.--"Here we have material which every one who has visited +Greece, or purposes to visit it, most certainly should read and +enjoy.... We cannot imagine a more excellent book for the educated +visitor to Greece." + + * * * * * + + SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, AND OTHER LITERARY PIECES. Crown 8vo. 8s. + 6d. net. + +_DAILY TELEGRAPH_.--"These various studies, biographical, fantastic, and +romantic, are the fine flower of scholarship and taste, touched +continually by the golden light of imagination, and full of that +interpretative sympathy which is half-sister to creation." + + * * * * * + + LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. Chosen and Edited, with a Memoir and + a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. l0s. net. + [_Eversley Series._ + +Mr. CLEMENT SHORTER in the _DAILY CHRONICLE_.--"The introductory Memoir, +of some eighty pages in length, is a valuable addition to the many +appraisements of Cowper that these later years have seen.... Dr. Frazer +has given us two volumes that are an unqualified joy." + + * * * * * + + ESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. Chosen and Edited, with a Preface and + a few Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. Two vols. Globe 8vo. 10s. net. + [_Eversley Series._ + +_NATION_.--"Sir James Frazer, who writes a Preface, quite in the Addison +manner, has done his work of selection as only a scholar of his breadth +and distinction could achieve." + + + +LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break. + +3. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the paragraph +in which they are referenced. + +4. The original text has certain words which use "oe" ligature which is +indicated by [oe] within this text. + +5. There are certain letters with diacritical marks in the original text +which are indicated in this e-text version using: + + [=a] letter a with macron above + [=o] letter o with macron above + [)a] letter a with breve + +6. In the original text, the words lulu'u, A'ana and Tuia'ana use single +high-reversed-9 quotation mark which has been replaced by plain single +quotation mark in this e-text version. + +7. 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