ETHNOLOGY OF POLYNESIA.—XIV.

Samoan Reporter, Issue 16, 1 December 1854, Page 1

ETHNOLOGY OF POLYNESIA.— XIV.

SAMOAj OR NAVIGATORS’ ISLANDS. INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY LIFE — {continued}. A Future State. Before proceeding to describe the ideas of a future state, we beg to add another fact connected with death and burial, the subject of our last paper. On the evening after the burial of any important chief, his friends kindled a number of fires at distances of some twenty feet from each other, near the grave ; and there they sat and kept them burning till morning light. This was continued sometimes for ten days after the funeral. It was also done before burial. In the house where the body lay, or out in front of it, fires were kept burning all night by the immediate relatives of the departed. The common people had a similar custom. After burial, they kept a fire blazing in the house all night, and had the space between the house and the grave so cleared as that a stream of light went forth all night from the fire to the grave. Whether this had its origin in any custom of burning the dead body, like the ancient Greeks, it is impossible now to ascertain. The probability however is, that it had not. The account the Samoans give of it is, that it was merely a light burning in honour of the departed, and a mark of tender regard. Just as, we may suppose, the Jews did after the death of Asa, when, it is said : “ they made a very great burning for him.” (2 Chron. xvi. 14.) Those commentators who hold that this and one or two other passages refer to a Jewish mark of respect, and not to the actual burning of the body, have, in the Samoan custom which w T e have just named, a remarkable coincidence in their favour. But, to proceed to their ideas of a future state, the entrance to the hades of the Samoans was supposed to be a circular basin among the rocks, at the west end of Savaii. Savaii is the most westerly island of the group. When a person was near death, it was thought that the house was surrounded by a host of spirits, all waiting to take the soul away to their subterranean home at the place referred to. If at night, the people of the family were afraid to go out of doors, lest they should be snatched away by some one of these invisible powers. As soon as the spirit left the body, it was supposed to go in company with this band of spirits direct to the west end of Savaii. If it was a person residing on one of the more easterly islands of the group —on Upolu, for example—they travelled on, by land, to the west end of the island, not to a Charon, but to a great stone, called “ the stone to leap from.” It was thought that the spirits here leaped into the sea, swam to the island of Manono, crossed the land to the west point of that island, again leaped from another stone there, swam to Savaii, crossed fifty miles of country there again, and, at length, reached the Fafd, or entrance to their imaginary world of spirits. There was a cocoa-nut tree near this spot, and it was supposed that, if the spirit happened to come in contact with the tree, it returned, and the person who seemed to be dead revived and recovered. If, however, the spirit did not strike against the tree, it went down the Fafa at once.

At this place on Savaii, there are two circular basins, not many feet deep, still pointed out as the place where the spirits went down. One, which is the larger of the two, was supposed to be for chiefs; the other for common people. These lower regions were reported to have a heaven, an earth, and a sea, and people with real bodies, planting, fishing, cooking, and otherwise employed, just as in the present life. At night, their bodies were supposed to change their form, and become like a confused collection of sparks of fire. In this state, and during the hours of darkness, they were said to ascend and revisit their former places of abode, retiring at early dawn, either to the bush or back to the lower regions. It was supposed that these spirits had power to return, and cause disease and death in other members of the family. Hence, all were anxious, as a person drew near the close of life, to part in good terms with him, feeling assured that, if he died with angry feelings towards any one, he would certainly return, and bring some calamity upon that very person, or some one closely allied to him. This was considered a frequent source of disease and death, viz., the spirit

of a departed member of the family returning and •taking up his abode in the head, or chest, or stomach of the party, and so causing sickness and death. The spirits of the departed were also supposed to come and talk, through a certain member of the family, prophesying various events, or giving directions as to certain family affairs. If a man died suddenly, it was thought that he was eaten by the spirit that took him. His soul was said to go to the common

residence of the departed ; only, it was thought, that such not the power of speech, and could only, in reply to a question, “ beat their breasts.” The chiefs were supposed to have a separate place allotted them, called Pulotu, (or, according to English orthography, Poolotoo), and to have plenty of the best of food, and other indulgencies.i Saveasiuleo was the great king, or Pluto, of these subterranean regions, and to him all yielded the profoundest homage. He was supposed to have the head of a man, and the upper part of his body reclining in a great house in company with the spirits of departed chiefs. The extremity of his body was said to stretch away into the sea, in the shape of an eel or serpent. He ruled the destinies of war and other affairs; but of this we may speak again, when we describe the ancient religion of the Samoans. His great house, or temple, was supported, not by pillars of wood or stone, but by columns of living men—men who, on earth, had been chiefs of the highest rank. Chiefs, in anticipation of death, were often pleased with the thought of the high honour which awaited them, of * being at once the ornament and support of the man- ; sion of the great chief of their Pulotu Paradise. I Here, again, we have another striking coincidence i with the language of Scripture, and one which throws an additional interest around our instructions, as we read and expound the words of Him who exhorted His people to perseverance by the cheering declaration, applicable to all, high and low, rich and poor, “ Him that overcometh wall 1 make a pillar in the temple of my God.”