Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAPTER XXVI.
The mysterious “still small voice”—Samoan mythology—The man who
pushed the Heavens up—The child of the Sun—A Figian version
of the “Flood”—The Paradise of the Figian—Lying Ghosts—
Singular case of abduction—The disobedient Naiogabui—All fair
in love and war—The fate of poor Rokoua—The Samoan hades
—Miscellaneous gods of the Samoans—A god for every village—
The cup of truth—Mourning the destruction of a god’s image—
The most fashionable god in Polynesia—Families marked for
human sacrifice—“Tapu” or “tabu”—Its antiquity and wide-spread
influence—Muzzled pigs and blindfolded chickens—Ceremony of
releasing the porkers—Tremendous feast of baked pig—The tapu
in New Zealand—A terrible tinder box—The sacred pole and the
missionaries—The chief’s backbone—The Pakeka and the iron
pot—One of the best uses of tapu—Its general advantages and
disadvantages—Tapu among the Samoans—Witchcraft in New
Zealand—Visit of a European to a “retired” witch—The religion of
the Dayak—“Tapa,” “Tenahi,” “Iang,” and “Jirong”—Warriors’
ghosts—Religious rites and superstitions of the Sea Dayaks—
The great god Singallong Burong—Belief in dreams among the
Sea Dayaks—Story of the stone bull—Of the painted dog.