The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Volume Ii Part 9

[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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d Hikuleo appears to be confused with the island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which he resided. Tradition wavers on the question whether Hikuleo was a G.o.d or G.o.ddess, "but the general suffrage seems in favour of the female s.e.x." See E. E.

V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, x.x.x. (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 superst.i.tion 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 G.o.d_, 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 Inst.i.tute_, xlix. (1919) p. 100; E. O.

Martin, _The G.o.ds 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ds punished crime in this present world, without waiting to redress the balance of justice in the world to come. As many of the n.o.bles who pa.s.sed at death to Bolotoo had been warlike and turbulent in their life, it might naturally be antic.i.p.ated 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 G.o.ds, 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 n.o.bles 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 n.o.bles.[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 G.o.ds_

We have seen that according to Mariner, our best authority on Tongan religion, the souls of dead n.o.bles ranked as G.o.ds, possessing all the powers and attributes of the primary or original deities, though in an inferior degree.[103] Thus, like the primary G.o.ds, 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 a.s.sa.s.sinated 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 ident.i.ty, 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 n.o.bles, like G.o.ds, 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 n.o.ble 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds entered into porpoises was to take care of canoes. This power of a.s.suming the form of living animals, says Mariner, belonged only to the original G.o.ds, 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 s.e.xes; and it was to these chiefly that wors.h.i.+p was paid and that sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed to act as intercessors with the supreme G.o.ds, 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-G.o.ds. 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 G.o.ds; 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 wors.h.i.+p."[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 G.o.ds 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 princ.i.p.al authority, Mariner, is almost silent. That side comprises the wors.h.i.+p of natural objects, and especially of animals, birds, and fish, regarded as embodiments of spirits, whether G.o.ds or ghosts. This wors.h.i.+p 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 G.o.ds from the G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds of populous tribes down to deities the private possession of a very few."[111] Further, Mr. Collocot found that most of the G.o.ds had sacred animals or other natural objects a.s.sociated with them,[112] and that the wors.h.i.+ppers were generally forbidden to eat the sacred animals of their G.o.ds. 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_, x.x.x. (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 G.o.d called Boolotoo Katoa, that is, "the whole of Boolotoo (Bolotoo)," who had the dog for his sacred animal; while the deity was being wors.h.i.+pped, a dog lay at the side of the priest. This G.o.d had his princ.i.p.al 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 G.o.d, 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 furnis.h.i.+ngs.[115] Another G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 wors.h.i.+ppers find a dead octopus, they buried it with all due ceremony in Teekiu, their princ.i.p.al village.[117] The rail bird (_kalae_) was wors.h.i.+pped 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 G.o.d of Uiha in Haapai was the Eel-in-the-Open-Sea (_Toke-i-Moana_); as usual, the wors.h.i.+ppers might not eat the flesh of eels or approach a place where an eel was being cooked.[121] The clan Falefa wors.h.i.+pped two G.o.ddesses, 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 G.o.ddesses 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 G.o.d; 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 G.o.d who appeared in the form of a shark was Taufa of the Sea (_Taufa-tahi_); but in another aspect he was a G.o.d 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 G.o.ds were recognised in the shape of flying-foxes, sh.e.l.l-fish, and little blue and green lizards.[125] We hear of two Tongan G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 wors.h.i.+p of natural objects, and especially of animals, fish, and birds, presents a close a.n.a.logy 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 G.o.ds were believed capable of thus becoming incarnate; at least Mr. Collocot gives no hint that the wors.h.i.+pful creatures were supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead; in other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan wors.h.i.+p of animals was based on a theory of transmigration.

[130] See below, pp. 154 _sq._