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 HANDY] THE POLYNESIAN PROBLEM 235

(/) The belief in man's possessing a soul peculiar to himself, and in nature's being animated by nature spirits differing from men's souls. (See No. 13 above.)

(w) A generation or fertilization cult expressed in seasonal cere- monial; dancing in which sexual abandon played a part; the functioning of sacred chiefs or kings in a priestly capacity in first fruits .rites, and a belief in the intimate connection between the sacred chief or king and the growth of things and prosperity. (See No. 15 above.) (n) Organized dancing and singing as part of public ceremonial.

(See No. 14 above.) (o) The belief in a lower hades for the unfortunate, and an .upper

paradise for the fortunate. (See No. 20 above.) (p) In general -this stratum was represented by a better organized

and higher type of worship.

It may be remarked in connection with recent discussion of the occurrence of sun worship in Polynesia 1 that no evidence was found which would, in the opinion of the writer, warrant the assumption that a sun cult was ever a basic element in Polynesian worship.

We must leave untouched for the present the questions as to whether the Slab Users or Stone Builders were the first to colonize the area; whence they came, and when; and with which of the waves of colonization outlined by other students of the area they would probably be identified. It may be found as our store of accurate knowledge increases that many of the elements mentioned above are wrongly classified. But it. is my belief that the work of the next few years will prove at least the general conclusions which underlie this tentative grouping of elements; that the greater part of the culture of Polynesia was made up of the combination of the elements of two great cultural infusions; that it will be possible to resolve the cultural complexes of the various island groups into constituent elements which will be found to have been originally characteristic of these two strata ; and that these groups of elements will be capable of being traced back through the regions to the west-

1 See W. H. R., Rivers "Sun Cult and Megaliths in Oceania," American Anthro- pologist, N. s., vol. xvii, pp. 431-445. 16

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