Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/446

Rh 426 POLYNESIA however, the father of a family was priest in his own household and presented offerings and prayers to the family god. There was, in the Society Islands, a privileged class known as the Areoi. They were the special devotees of two celibate gods. They were not permitted to have children ; any children they possessed when they entered the society, and all children subsequently born to them, were destroyed. The name Areoi became the synonym for all kinds of licence ; the party wandered about from place to place conducting obscene entertainments, and was feasted with the best of all the people possessed. There were seven regular grades among the Areoi society, besides an irregular class of attendants. lu some islands human sacrifices were of frequent occurrence ; in others they were offered only on very rare and exceptional occasions, when the demand was made by the priests for something specially valuable. The usual offerings to the gods were food. The system of lapu or tabu so common among the Sawaioris was connected with their religious rites. There were two ways by which things might become tapu, (1) by contact with anything belonging to the god, as his visible representation or his priest. Probably it was thought that a portion of the sacred essence of the god, or of a sacred per son, was directly communicable to objects which they touched. (2) Things were made tapu by being dedicated to the god ; and it is this form of tapu which is still kept up. If, e.g., any one wishes to preserve his cocoa-nuts from being taken, he will put something upon the trees to indicate that they are sacred or dedicated. They cannot then be used until the tapu is removed from them. Disease and death were often connected with the violation of tapu, the offended gods thus punishing the offenders. Disease was generally attributed to the anger of the gods. Hence offerings, &c. , were made to appease their anger. The first-fruits of a crop were usually dedi cated to the gods to prevent them from being angry ; and new canoes, fishing-nets, &c., were dedicated by prayers and offerings, in order that the gods might be propitious to their owners in their use. The Sawaiori people invariably believe in the existence of the spirit of man after the death of the body. Their traditions on the condition of the dead vary considerably in different groups ; yet there is a general agreement upon main points. Death is caused by the departure of the spirit from the body. The region of the dead is subterranean. AVhen the spirit leaves the body it is conveyed by waiting spirits to the abode of spirits. In most islands the place of descent is known. It is generally towards the west. In some tra ditions there is a distinction between chiefs and common people in the spirit world. In others all are much alike in condition. Some traditions indicate a marked distinction between the spirits of warriors and those of others : the former go to a place where they are happy and are immortal, while the latter are devoured by the gods and are annihilated. In some, however, the spirits are said to live again after being eaten. Some speak of the abode of spirits as being in darkness ; but usually the condition of things is similar to that which exists upon earth. Amongst all the people it is believed that the spirits of the dead are able to revisit the scenes of their earthly lifp. The visits are generally made in the night, and are often greatly dreaded, especially when there may be any supposed reason for spite on the part of the dead towards living relatives. Some writers have connected cannibalism, where it existed among the Sawaioris, with religious customs. In the Cook and Society Islands, when a human being was offered as a sacrifice, the priest presented an eye of the victim to the king, who either ate it or pre tended to do so. Probably the earliest human sacrifices were the bodies of enemies slain in battle. As it was supposed by some that the spirits of the dead were eaten by the gods, the bodies of those slain in battle may have been eaten by their victors in triumph. Mr Shortland appears to think that cannibalism among the Maories of Xew Zealand may have thus originated. 1 Among the Sawaioris generally it appears to have been the practice at times to eat a por tion of a slain enemy to make his degradation the greater. In several groups there is evidence that this was done. But where cannibalism was practised as a means of subsistence, it probably originated in times of actual want, such as may have occurred during the long voyages of the people, when it was resorted to as a means of self-preservation. Being once accustomed to the practice, we can easily imagine how they might resort to it again and again in times of scarcity. The testimony of cannibals is that human flesh is the best of food, and among such a people there would not be strong moral reasons to restrain them from the indulgence. lie amusements of these people are very numerous. They are i light-hearted race, usually living under easy conditions of life, Hid they have a large amount of enjoyment Some of their amuse ments are boisterous and even savage, such as wrestling and boxing. In some islands they have a kind of &quot;hockey&quot; and foot ball. They have running races, walking matches, and canoe- racing. One of their most exciting amusements is swimming in the surf. When there is a moderate sea on, great numbers often 0111 in this exercise and find immense pleasure in it. Throw ing the javelin, throwing at a mark with slings, and archery are 1 Maori Reliyion and MMotorjy, p. 2C. also practised. Some resort to cock-fighting. There are fishing matches ; and at a particular season large companies used to resort to pigeon-catching. In their houses they have a number of games. Betting is very often carried on in connexion with these. Much time is spent, especially after the evening meal, in asking riddles, in rhyming, &e. The recital of songs and myths is also a source of great amusement ; and on special occasions there is dancing. The night dances were generally accompanied by much indecency and immorality, and for that reason were discountenanced on the introduction of Christianity. III. The Tampon Race. These people have many points of resemblance to the Sawaioris, but, as a rule, they are of smaller stature and are less robust. They have straight black hair, which is more lank than that of the Sawaioris. The Tarapons, how ever, differ considerably from one another, and are evidently a mixed race. The natives of the Caroline Islands are larger than the Gilbert Islanders. They are also much lighter in colour ; they are more yellow, whereas the Gilbert Islanders are darker, than the Sawaioris. In many respects the Tarapons bear a much closer resemblance to the people cf some portions of the Indian Archi pelago than do the Sawaioris. It is the belief of the present writer that the bulk of the Tarapons are the descendants of people who, in comparatively recent times, migrated from the Indian Archi pelago, and that since they have been in Polynesia they have become mixed with people of other races. There appears to be a little Papuan admixture. Those in the Caroline Islands, especially, appear to have become mixed with Chinese and Japanese blood probably more Japanese than Chinese. There are several well- authenticated instances of Japanese junks, with living people in them, having been found in various parts of the North Pacific. In 1814 the British brig &quot;Forester&quot; met with one off the coast of California (about 30 N. lat. ), with three living men and fourteen dead bodies on board. In December 1832 a Japanese junk arrived at the Hawaiian Islands with four of the crew living. If these junks could cross the Pacific in the latitude of Hawaii it is not at all unlikely that others running in a south-easterly direction would reach some of the many atolls which stretch over about 35 of longitude, forming the Caroline and Marshall archipelagoes. The traditions of the Gilbert Islanders tell us that their islands were peopled from the west and also from the east. Those who came from the east are expressly said to be from Samoa. Those from the west were more numerous than those from the east. There are also traditions of the arrival of other strangers at some of these islands. When the present writer was at the island of Peru, in the Gilbert group, in 1869 there was still there the remnants of a large proah which, from the description given, appears to have been like those used in the Indian Archipelago. So far as we have materials for examination, craniometry confirms other evidence, and indicates that the Tarapon people are more mixed than either of the other Polynesian races. All the Tarapon people are navigators, but, owing to the fact that upon their atolls they have little good timber, most of their canoes are inferior to those of the Sawaioris. Their houses are also inferior. Their arms are fairly well made. In the Gilbert Islands they manu facture elaborate armour, to cover the entire body, from the fibre of the cocoa-nut husk. In the Caroline Islands very fine mats arc made ; and a hand-loom is used, with which a coarse cloth is made. Among the Tarapons women occupy a lower position than among the Sawaioris. The difference is not, however, in the amount of work, or kind of drudgery, that is expected from them, but rather in the social and domestic influence they exert. The gods are chiefly the spirits of the great men of past ages. The chieftainship and priesthood are often combined in the same persons. They are strict in the observance of their religious rites. The shrines of their gods are very numerous. In every house he visited in the Gilbert Islands, the present writer saw either a small circle or a square formed with pieces of coral or shells ; this was neatly covered with broken coral and shells from the beach, and in the centre stood a block of coral representing the god. These were the household shrines. In various places about the islands there were similar squares or circles, only larger, for the gods of villages or districts. Offerings of food were presented to them, and often the stones wen; garlanded with wreatns of cocoa-nut loaves. Some embalm their dead especially the bodies of beloved children. Women often carry the skulls of deceased children, hung by a cord around the neck, as a token of affection. In the Tarapon languages consonants are more freely used than in the Sawaiori. They have consonantal sounds which are not found in the latter, such as ck, dj, and sh. Closed syllables often occur ; occasionally doubled consonants are used, but among some of the people there is a tendency to introduce a slight vowel sound between them. Most words take the accent on the penult, hi some languages there appears to be no true article ; but in the Gilbert Island language the Sawaiori tc is used for both the definite and the indefinite article. Gonder is sexual only. Number in the noun is either gathered from the requirement of the sense, or is marked by pronominal words, or numerals. Case is known by tho