The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Volume Ii Part 22

[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 relations.h.i.+p, the elders would declare that it was brought upon them by the anger of the clan-G.o.d. 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 a.s.sign a child at birth either to the tribe of its father or to the tribe of its mother; this they did by p.r.o.nouncing over the infant the name either of the father's or of the mother's G.o.d. 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 G.o.d p.r.o.nounced over it and so adopting it into her own tribe.[11] Circ.u.mcision 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 uncirc.u.mcised husband. The greatest insult that could be offered to a man was to accuse him of being uncirc.u.mcised. The rite is said to have been invented by the G.o.d Rongo in order to seduce the beautiful wife of his brother Tangaroa, and he enjoined the observance of circ.u.mcision upon his wors.h.i.+ppers.[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 a.s.signing 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 va.s.sals under the feudal system, obeyed the orders of their superior, a.s.sisted him in erecting his house, in building his canoe, in making fis.h.i.+ng-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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d Rongo. Quite distinct from, and subordinate to, the sacred king was the "lord of Mangaia," a warrior chief who gained his lords.h.i.+p 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 invest.i.ture; 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 G.o.ds, 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-sh.o.r.e 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 princ.i.p.al 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-sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e 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 G.o.d 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-wors.h.i.+p. 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 wors.h.i.+pped 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 G.o.ds, 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-G.o.d 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-G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+p. It is said that this shark-G.o.d 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds; and even the beating of bark-cloth was prohibited there, lest the repose of the G.o.ds 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 G.o.d 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-G.o.d or shark-G.o.d from a former king of Mangaia may be historically correct; for we are told that "many of the deities wors.h.i.+pped 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 G.o.ds, 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, wors.h.i.+pped the centipede: there was a shrine of the centipede G.o.d at Vaiau on the eastern side of Mangaia.[31] Again, two G.o.ds, Tekuraaki and Utakea, were supposed to be incarnate in the woodp.e.c.k.e.r.[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-sh.e.l.l, sandstone, bits of basalt, cinnet, and trees were believed to be thus tenanted by G.o.ds.[34] The G.o.d 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 G.o.d to warn the people of impending danger.[36] In these superst.i.tions 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 G.o.d called Turanga, who was wors.h.i.+pped 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sumed, 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds actually taking up their abode, for the time being, in their sacred persons. Hence priests were significantly named "G.o.d-boxes" (_pia-atua_) a t.i.tle which was generally abbreviated to "G.o.ds," because they were believed to be living embodiments of the divinities. When a priest was consulted, he drank a bowl of kava (_Piper methystic.u.m_), 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 G.o.d, 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 n.o.body 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 G.o.ds 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.