which is devoid of a parallel in the known theologies of other races of
mankind, even of those who inhabit parts of the world most remote from
Palestine. And the foundation of the {158} whole, the ghost theory, is
exactly that theological speculation which is the most widely spread of
all, and the most deeply rooted among uncivilised men. I am able to base
this statement, to some extent, on facts within my own knowledge. In
December 1848, H.M.S. _Rattlesnake_, the ship to which I then belonged, was
anchored off Mount Ernest, an island in Torres Straits. The people were few
and well disposed; and, when a friend of mine (whom I will call B.) and I
went ashore, we made acquaintance with an old native, Paouda by name. In
course of time we became quite intimate with the old gentleman, partly by
the rendering of mutual good offices, but chiefly because Paouda believed
he had discovered that B. was his father-in-law. And his grounds for this
singular conviction were very remarkable. We had made a long stay at Cape
York hard by; and, in accordance with a theory which is widely spread among
the Australians, that white men are the reincarnated spirits of black men,
B. was held to be the ghost, or _narki_, of a certain Mount Ernest native,
one Antarki, who had lately died, on the ground of some real or fancied
resemblance to the latter. Now Paouda had taken to wife a daughter of
Antarki's, named Domani, and as soon as B. informed him that he was the
ghost of Antarki, Paouda at once admitted the relationship and acted upon
it. For, as all the women on the island had hidden away in fear of the
ship, and we were anxious to see what they were like, B. pleaded
pathetically with Paouda that it would be very unkind not to let him see
his daughter and grandchildren. {159} After a good deal of hesitation and
the exaction of pledges of deep secrecy, Paouda consented to take B., and
myself as B.'s friend, to see Domani and the three daughters, by whom B.
was received quite as one of the family, while I was courteously welcomed
on his account.
This scene made an impression upon me which is not yet effaced. It left no
question on my mind of the sincerity of the strange ghost theory of these
savages, and of the influence which their belief has on their practical
life. I had it in my mind, as well as many a like result of subsequent
anthropological studies, when, in 1869,[38] I wrote as follows:--
There are savages without God in any proper sense of the word, but none
without ghosts. And the Fetishism, Ancestor-worship, Hero-worship, and
Demonology of primitive savages are all, I believe, different manners
of expression of their belief in ghosts, and of the anthropomorphic
interpretation of out-of-the-way events which is its concomitant.
Witchcraft and sorcery are the practical expressions of these beliefs;
and they stand in the same relation to religious worship as the simple
anthropomorphism of children or savages does to theology.
I do not quote myself with any intention of making a claim to originality
in putting forth this view; for I have since discovered that the same
conception is virtually contained in the great _Discours sur l'Histoire
Universelle_ of Bossuet, now more than two centuries old:--
Le culte des hommes morts faisoit presque tout le fond de l'idolatrie:
presque tous les hommes sacrifioient aux manes, {160} c'est-a-dire aux
ames des morts. De si anciennes erreurs nous font voir a la verite
combien etoit ancienne la croyance de l'immortalite de l'ame, et nous
montrent qu'elle doit etre rangee parmi les premieres traditions du
genre humain. Mais l'homme, qui gatoit tout, en avoit etrangement
abuse, puisqu'elle le portoit a sacrifier aux morts. On alloit meme
jusqu'a cet exces, de leur sacrifier des hommes vivans: on tuoit leurs
esclaves, et meme leurs femmes, pour les aller servir dans l'autre
monde.[39]
Among more modern writers J. G. Mueller, in his excellent _Geschichte der
amerikanischen Urreligionen_ (1855), clearly recognises "gespensterhafter
Geisterglaube" as the foundation of all savage and semi-civilised theology,
and I need do no more than mention the important developments of the same
view which are to be found in Mr. Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, and in the
writings of Mr. Herbert Spencer, especially his recently-published
_Ecclesiastical Institutions_.[40]
It is a matter of fact that, whether we direct our attention to the older
conditions of civilised societies, in Japan, in China, in Hindostan, in
Greece, or in Rome,[41] we find underlying all other theological notions
the belief in ghosts, with its inevitable concomitant sorcery; and a
primitive cult in the shape of a worship of ancestors, which is essentially
an attempt to please, or appease, their ghosts. The {161} same thing is
true of old Mexico and Peru, and of every semi-civilised or savage people
who have developed a definite cult; and in those who, like the natives of
Australia, have not even a cult, the belief in, and fear of, ghosts is as
strong as anywhere else. The most clearly demonstrable article of the
theology of the Israelites in the eleventh and twelfth centuries B.C. is
therefore simply the article which is to be found in all primitive
theologies, namely, the belief that a man has a soul which continues to
exist after death for a longer or shorter time, and may return, as a ghost,
with a divine, or at least demonic, character, to influence for good or
evil (and usually for evil) the affairs of the living. But the
correspondence between the old Israelitic and other archaic forms of
theology extends to details. If, in order to avoid all chance of direct
communication, we direct our attention to the theology of semi-civilised
people, such as the Polynesian Islanders, separated by the greatest
possible distance, and by every conceivable barrier, from the inhabitants
of Palestine, we shall find not merely that all the features of
old-Israelitic theology, which are revealed in the records cited, are found
among them; but that extant information as to the inner mind of these
people tends to remove many of the difficulties which those who have not
studied anthropology find in the Hebrew narrative.
One of the best sources, if not the best source, of information on these
topics is Mariner's _Tonga Islands_, which tells us of the condition of
Cook's "Friendly Islanders" eighty years ago, before {162} European
influence was sensibly felt among them. Mariner, a youth of fair education
and of no inconsiderable natural ability (as the work which was drawn up
from the materials he furnished shows), was about fifteen years of age when
his ship was attacked and plundered by the Tongans: he remained four years
in the islands, familiarised himself with the language, lived the life of
the people, became intimate with many of them, and had every opportunity of
acquainting himself with their opinions, as well as with their habits and
customs. He seems to have been devoid of prejudices, theological or other,
and the impression of strict accuracy which his statements convey has been
justified by all the knowledge of Polynesian life which has been
subsequently acquired.
It is desirable, therefore, to pay close attention to that which Mariner
tells us about the theological views of these people:--
The human soul,[42] after its separation from the body, is termed a
_hotooa_ (a god or spirit), and is believed to exist in the shape of
the body; to have the same propensities as during life, but to be
corrected by a more enlightened understanding, by which it readily
distinguishes good from evil, truth from falsehood, right from wrong;
having the same attributes as the original gods, but in a minor degree,
and having its dwelling for ever in the happy regions of Bolotoo,
holding the same rank in regard to other souls as during this life; it
has, however, the power of returning to Tonga to inspire priests,
relations, or others, or to appear in dreams to those it wishes to
admonish; {163} and sometimes to the external eye in the form of a
ghost or apparition; but this power of reappearance at Tonga
particularly belongs to the souls of chiefs rather than of matabooles
(vol. ii. p. 130).
The word "hotooa" is the same as that which is usually spelt "atua" by
Polynesian philologues, and it will be convenient to adopt this spelling.
Now under this head of "_Atuas_ or supernatural intelligent beings" the
Tongans include:--
1. The original gods. 2. The souls of nobles that have all attributes
in common with the first but inferior in degree. 3. The souls of
matabooles[43] that are still inferior, and have not the power as the
two first have of coming back to Tonga to inspire the priests, though
they are supposed to have the power of appearing to their relatives. 4.
The original attendants or servants, as it were, of the gods, who,
although they had their origin and have ever since existed in Bolotoo,
are still inferior to the third class. 5. The _Atua pow_ or mischievous
gods. 6. _Mooi_, or the god that supports the earth and does not belong
to Bolotoo (vol. ii. pp. 103, 104).
From this it appears that the "Atuas" of the Polynesian are exactly
equivalent to the "Elohim" of the old Israelite.[44] They comprise
everything spiritual, from a ghost to a god, and from "the merely tutelar
gods to particular private families" (vol. ii. p. 104), to Ta-li-y-Tooboo,
who was the national god of Tonga. The Tongans had no doubt that these
Atuas daily and hourly influenced their destinies and could, conversely, be
influenced by them. {164} Hence their "piety," the incessant acts of
sacrificial worship which occupied their lives, and their belief in omens
and charms. Moreover, the Atuas were believed to visit particular
persons,--their own priests in the case of the higher gods, but apparently
anybody in that of the lower,--and to inspire them by a process which was
conceived to involve the actual residence of the god, for the time being,
in the person inspired, who was thus rendered capable of prophesying (vol.
ii. p. 100). For the Tongan, therefore, inspiration indubitably was
possession.
When one of the higher gods was invoked, through his priest, by a chief who
wished to consult the oracle, or, in old Israelitic phraseology, to
"inquire of," the god, a hog was killed and cooked over night, and,
together with plantains, yams, and the materials for making the peculiar
drink _kava_ (of which the Tongans were very fond), was carried next day to
the priest. A circle, as for an ordinary kava-drinking entertainment, was
then formed; but the priest, as the representative of the god, took the
highest place, while the chiefs sat outside the circle, as an expression of
humility calculated to please the god.
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
the victuals are being shared out and the kava preparing, the
matabooles sometimes begin to consult him; sometimes he answers, and 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
kava too. When he speaks he generally begins in a low {165} 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 on the 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 (vol. i. pp. 100, 101).
The phenomena thus described, in language which, to any one who is familiar
with the manifestations of abnormal mental states among ourselves, bears
the stamp of fidelity, furnish a most instructive commentary upon the story
of the wise woman of Endor. As in the latter, we have the possession by the
spirit or soul (Atua, Elohim), the strange voice, the speaking in the first
person. Unfortunately nothing (beyond the loud cry) is mentioned as to the
state of the wise woman of Endor. But what we learn from other sources
(_e.g._ 1 Sam. x. 20-24) respecting the physical {166} concomitants of
inspiration among the old Israelites has its exact equivalent in this and
other accounts of Polynesian prophetism. An excellent authority,
Moerenhout, who lived among the people of the Society Islands many years
and knew them well, says that, in Tahiti, the _role_ of the prophet had
very generally passed out of the hands of the priests into that of private
persons who professed to represent the god, often assumed his name, and in
this capacity prophesied. I will not run the risk of weakening the force of
Moerenhout's description of the prophetic state by translating it:--
Un individu, dans cet etat, avait le bras gauche enveloppe d'un morceau
d'etoffe, signe de la presence de la Divinite. Il ne parlait que d'un
ton imperieux et vehement. Ses attaques, quand il allait prophetiser,
etaient aussi effroyables qu'imposantes. Il tremblait d'abord de tous
ses membres, la figure enflee, les yeux hagards, rouges et etincelants
d'une expression sauvage. Il gesticulait, articulait des mots vides de
sens, poussait des cris horribles qui faisaient tressaillir tous les
assistans, et s'exaltait parfois au point qu'on n'osait pas
l'approcher. Autour de lui, le silence de la terreur et du respect....
C'est alors qu'il repondait aux questions, annoncait l'avenir, le
destin des batailles, la volonte des dieux; et, chose etonnante! au
sein de ce delire, de cet enthousiasme religieux, son langage etait
grave, imposant, son eloquence noble et persuasive.[45]
Just so Saul strips off his clothes, "prophesies" before Samuel, and lies
down "naked all that day and night."
Both Mariner and Moerenhout refuse to have recourse to the hypothesis of
imposture in order to {167} account for the inspired state of the
Polynesian prophets. On the contrary, they fully believe in their
sincerity. Mariner tells the story of a young chief, an acquaintance of
his, who thought himself possessed by the Atua of a dead woman who had
fallen in love with him, and who wished him to die that he might be near
her in Bolotoo. And he died accordingly. But the most valuable evidence on
this head is contained in what the same authority says about King Finow's
son. The previous king, Toogoo Ahoo, had been assassinated by Finow, and
his soul, become an Atua of divine rank in Bolotoo, had been pleased to
visit and inspire Finow's son--with what particular object does not appear.
When this young chief returned to Hapai, Mr. Mariner, who was upon a
footing of great friendship with him, one day asked him how he felt
himself when the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo visited him; he 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, and did not feel his own personal identity, as it
were, but seemed to have a mind different from his own natural mind,
his thoughts wandering upon strange and unusual subjects, although
perfectly sensible of surrounding objects. He next asked him how he
knew it was the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo? His answer was, "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" (vol. i.
pp. 104, 105).
Finow's son was evidently made for a theological disputant, and fell back
at once on the inexpugnable stronghold of faith when other evidence was
lacking. "There's a fool! I know it is true, because I know it," is the
exemplar and epitome of the {168} sceptic-crushing process in other places
than the Tonga Islands.
The island of Bolotoo, to which all the souls (of the upper classes at any
rate) repair after the death of the body, and from which they return at
will to interfere, for good or evil, with the lives of those whom they have
left behind, obviously answers to Sheol. In Tongan tradition this place of
souls is a sort of elysium above ground, and pleasant enough to live in.
But, in other parts of Polynesia, the corresponding locality, which is
called Po, has to be reached by descending into the earth, and is
represented dark and gloomy like Sheol. But it was not looked upon as a
place of rewards and punishments in any sense. Whether in Bolotoo or in Po,
the soul took the rank it had in the flesh; and, a shadow, lived among the
shadows of the friends and houses and food of its previous life.
The Tongan theologians recognised several hundred gods; but there was one,
already mentioned as their national god, whom they regarded as far greater
than any of the others, "as a great chief from the top of the sky down to
the bottom of the earth" (Mariner, vol. ii. p. 106). He was also god of
war, and the tutelar deity of the royal family, whoever happened to be the
incumbent of the royal office for the time being. He had no priest except
the king himself, and his visits, even to royalty, were few and far
between. The name of this supreme deity was Ta-li-y-Tooboo, the literal
meaning of which is said to be "Wait there, Tooboo," from which it would
appear {169} that the peculiar characteristic of Ta-li-y-Tooboo, in the
eyes of his worshippers, was persistence of duration. And it is curious to
notice, in relation to this circumstance, that many Hebrew philologers have
thought the meaning of Jahveh to be best expressed by the word "Eternal."
It would probably be difficult to express the notion of an eternal being,
in a dialect so little fitted to convey abstract conceptions as Tongan,
better than by that of one who always "waits there."
The characteristics of the gods in Tongan theology are exactly those of men
whose shape they are supposed to possess, only they have more intelligence
and greater power. The Tongan belief that, after death, the human Atua more
readily distinguishes good from evil, runs parallel with the old Israelitic
conception of Elohim expressed in Genesis, "Ye shall be as Elohim, knowing
good from evil." They further agreed with the old Israelites, that "all
rewards for virtue and punishments for vice happen to men in this world
only, and come immediately from the gods" (vol. ii. p. 100). Moreover, they
were of opinion that though the gods approve of some kinds of virtue and
are displeased with some kinds of vice, and, to a certain extent, protect
or forsake their worshippers according to their moral conduct, yet neglect
to pay due respect to the deities, and forgetfulness to keep them in good
humour, might be visited with even worse consequences than moral
delinquency. And those who will carefully study the so-called "Mosaic code"
contained in the {170} books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, will see
that, though Jahveh's prohibitions of certain forms of immorality are
strict and sweeping, his wrath is quite as strongly kindled against
infractions of ritual ordinances. Accidental homicide may go unpunished,
and reparation may be made for wilful theft. On the other hand, Nadab and
Abihu, who "offered strange fire before Jahveh, which he had not commanded
them," were swiftly devoured by Jahveh's fire; he who sacrificed anywhere
except at the allotted place was to be "cut off from his people"; so was he
who eat blood; and the details of the upholstery of the Tabernacle, of the
millinery of the priests' vestments, and of the cabinet work of the ark,
can plead direct authority from Jahveh, no less than moral commands.
Amongst the Tongans, the sacrifices were regarded as gifts of food and
drink offered to the divine Atuas, just as the articles deposited by the
graves of the recently dead were meant as food for Atuas of lower rank. A
kava root was a constant form of offering all over Polynesia. In the
excellent work of the Rev. George Turner, entitled _Nineteen Years in
Polynesia_ (p. 241), I find it said of the Samoans (near neighbours of the
Tongans):--
_The offerings_ were principally cooked food. As in ancient Greece so
in Samoa, the first cup was in honour of the god. It was either poured
out on the ground or _waved_ towards the heavens, reminding us again of
the Mosaic ceremonies. The chiefs all drank a portion out of the same
cup, according to rank; and after that, the food brought as an offering
was divided and eaten "_there before the Lord_."
In Tonga, when they consulted a god who had a {171} priest, the latter, as
representative of the god, had the first cup; but if the god, like
Ta-li-y-Tooboo, had no priest, then the chief place was left vacant, and
was supposed to be occupied by the god himself. When the first cup of kava
was filled, the mataboole who acted as master of the ceremonies said, "Give
it to your god," and it was offered, though only as a matter of form. In
Tonga and Samoa there were many sacred places or _morais_, with houses of
the ordinary construction, but which served as temples in consequence of
being dedicated to various gods; and there were altars on which the
sacrifices were offered; nevertheless there were few or no images. Mariner
mentions none in Tonga, and the Samoans seem to have been regarded as no
better than atheists by other Polynesians because they had none. It does
not appear that either of these peoples had images even of their family or
ancestral gods.
In Tahiti and the adjacent islands, Moerenhout (t. i. p. 471) makes the
very interesting observation, not only that idols were often absent, but
that, where they existed, the images of the gods served merely as
depositories for the proper representatives of the divinity. Each of these
was called a _maro aurou_, and was a kind of girdle artistically adorned
with red, yellow, blue, and black feathers--the red feathers being
especially important--which were consecrated and kept as sacred objects
within the idols. They were worn by great personages on solemn occasions,
and conferred upon their wearers a sacred and almost divine character.
There is no distinct evidence that the {172} _maro aurou_ was supposed to
have any special efficacy in divination, but one cannot fail to see a
certain parallelism between this holy girdle, which endowed its wearer with
a particular sanctity, and the ephod.
According to the Rev. R. Taylor, the New Zealanders formerly used the word
_karakia_ (now employed for "prayer") to signify a "spell, charm, or
incantation," and the utterance of these karakias constituted the chief
part of their cult. In the south, the officiating priest had a small image,
"about eighteen inches long, resembling a peg with a carved head," which
reminds one of the form commonly attributed to the teraphim.
The priest first bandaged a fillet of red parrot feathers under the
god's chin, which was called his pahau or beard; this bandage was made
of a certain kind of sennet, which was tied on in a peculiar way. When
this was done it was taken possession of by the Atua, whose spirit
entered it. The priest then either held it in the hand and vibrated it
in the air, whilst the powerful karakia was repeated, or he tied a
piece of string (formed of the centre of a flax leaf) round the neck of
the image and stuck it in the ground. He sat at a little distance from
it, leaning against a tuahu, a short stone pillar stuck in the ground
in a slanting position, and holding the string in his hand, he gave the
god a jerk to arrest his attention, lest he should be otherwise
engaged, like Baal of old, either hunting, fishing, or sleeping, and
therefore must be awaked.... The god is supposed to make use of the
priest's tongue in giving a reply. Image-worship appears to have been
confined to one part of the island. The Atua was supposed only to enter
the image for the occasion. The natives declare they did not worship
the image itself, but only the Atua it represented, and that the image
was merely used as a way of approaching him.[46]
{173}