Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before Part 7

This was a household G.o.d, and particularly useful to the family in detecting and telling out the name of the thief when anything was missed. He was called _first day_, as it was supposed that he existed in the world before mortals.

4. LEATUALOA--_The long G.o.d, or the centipede._

This was the name of a G.o.d seen in the centipede. A tree near the house was the residence of the creature. When any one of the family was ill, he went out with a fine mat and spread it under the tree, and there waited for the centipede to come down. If it came down and crawled _under_ the mat, that was a sign that the sick person was to be covered over with mats and buried. If, however, it crawled on the top of the mat, that was a sign of recovery.

5. O LE AUMA--_The red liver._

This family G.o.d was seen, or incarnate, in the wild pigeon. If any visitor happened to roast a pigeon while staying there, some member of the household would pay the penalty by being done up in leaves, as if ready to be baked, and carried and laid in the _cool_ oven for a time, as an offering to show their unabated regard to Auma.

The use of the reddish-seared bread-fruit leaf for any purpose was also insulting to this deity. Such leaves were in common use as _plates_ on which to hand a bit of food from one to another, but that particular family dared not use them under a penalty of being seized with rheumatic swellings, or an eruption all over the body called tangosusu, and resembling chicken-pox.

6. IULAUTALO--_Ends of the taro leaf._

To this family G.o.d the _ends_ of leaves and other things were considered sacred, and not to be handled or used in any way. In daily life it was no small trouble to this particular household to cut off the ends of all the taro, bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut leaves which they required for culinary purposes. Ends of taro, yams, bananas, fish, etc., were also carefully laid aside, and considered as unfit to be eaten as if they were poison. In a case of sickness, however, the G.o.d allowed, and indeed required, that the patient should be fanned with the _ends_ of cocoa-nut leaflets.

7. O LE ALII O FITI--_The Chief of Fiji._

This was the name of a G.o.d in a certain household, and present in the form of an eel, and hence the eel was never used by them as an article of food. This G.o.d was supposed to be unusually kind, and never injured any of the family. They showed their grat.i.tude by presenting the first fruits of their taro plantation.

8. LIMULIMUTA--_Sea-weed._

This was the name by which another protector was known. If any members of the family went to fight at sea, they collected some sea-weed to take with them. If in pursuit of a canoe, they threw out some of it to hinder the progress of the enemy, and make the chase successful in obtaining a decapitated head or two. If the enemy tried to pick up any of this deified sea-weed it immediately sank, but rose again and floated on the surface if one of its friends paddled up to the spot.

9. MOSO'OI.

This is the name of a tree (_Conanga Odorata_), the yellow flowers of which are highly fragrant. In one place it was supposed to be the habitat of a household G.o.d, and anything aromatic or sweet-scented which the family happened to get was presented as an offering.

At any household gathering the G.o.d was sent for to be present. Three different messengers had to go at short intervals, as it was not expected that he would come before the _third_ appeal or entreaty for his presence.

10. FATUPUAA MA LE FEE--_The pig's heart and the octopus._

Another family supposed that two of their G.o.ds were embodied in the said heart and octopus. Men, women, and children of them were most scrupulous never to eat either the one or the other, believing that such a meal would be the swallowing of a germ of a living heart or octopus growth, by which the insulted G.o.ds would bring about death.

11. PU'A.

This is the name of a large tree (_Hernandia Peltata_). A family G.o.d of the same name was supposed to live in it, and hence no one dared to pluck a leaf or break a branch.

The same G.o.d was also supposed to be incarnate in the octopus, and also in the land crab. If one of these crabs found its way into the house, it was a sign that the head of the house was about to die.

12. SAMANI.

This was the name of a family G.o.d. It was seen in the turtle, the sea eel, the octopus, and the garden lizard. Any one eating or injuring such things had either to be _sham_ baked in an unheated oven, or drink a quant.i.ty of rancid oil as penance and a purgative. This G.o.d predicted that there was a time coming when Samoa would be filled with foreign G.o.ds.

13. SATIA.

1. In one place the member of the family supposed to be the priest of the G.o.d was noted for cannibalism. At times he would cry out furiously and order those about him to be off and get him some of his "sacred food." He professed to be doctor as well as demon. A great chief when ill was once taken to him, and the doctor's bill for a cure was the erection of a mound of stones, on the top of which a house was to be built. The bill was paid by the retinue of the chief.

2. In another family it was supposed that their G.o.d Satia had the power to become incarnate in a man or a woman. If he wished to go to a particular woman, he became a man; and if he desired a man, he changed into a woman.

14. SENGI VAVE--_s.n.a.t.c.h quickly._

An old man named Sengi, or _s.n.a.t.c.h_, was an incarnation of this household G.o.d. All the fine mats and other valuables were in some mysterious way under his control. On returning from any kind of daily work in the bush every one on entering the house had to salute him, as the representative of the G.o.d, in some apologetic phrase, such as "I beg your pardon." If any one omitted this mark of respect, the penalty was the disappearance of a fine mat from the family bundle without any one knowing how it was taken.

15. SOESAI.

This was the name of a household G.o.d in some families. In one, the G.o.d was seen in the domestic fowl. In another, the incarnations were the eel, the octopus, and turtle. Prayers for life and recovery were offered in cases of great danger, and also at child-birth.

16. SI'U--_Extremity or end._

The family in which this G.o.d was worshipped said that he appeared in the form of a _skull_ once a year, about the month of May. Lemana, or the Powerful, was the name of the priest. If in time of famine or pestilence the family had been preserved thanks were specially offered to Lemana for having been so successful in his pleadings with the G.o.d.

17. SINA 'AI MATA--_Sina the eye-eater._

This G.o.d was incarnate in the bird called Ve'a, and was the juvenile scarecrow of the family. "Do not make such a noise; Sina, the eye-eater, will come and pick out your eyes." The eyes of fish were sacred to this G.o.d, and never eaten by any of the family.

18. TONGO.

1. In one family this G.o.d was incarnate in the bat, and was supposed to be specially attentive to turmeric. When a party of women were met to grate the root and prepare some of this native dye and cosmetic they usually had some food together. If at such a time a woman concealed a t.i.t-bit to eat by the sly, when she came to put it to her mouth it had been changed into _turmeric_ by the anger and power of Tongo.

2. The stinging ray fish was the incarnation of Tongo in another family. If they heard of any neighbour who had caught a fish of the sort, they would go and beg them to give it up and not to cook it. A refusal would be followed by a fight.

3. In another family Tongo was incarnate in the mullet, and the penalty for eating that fish by any of them was a disease ending in a squint.

19. TUIALII--_King of Chiefs._

1. In one family this G.o.d was greatly praised as being a good and kind deity. In a time of scarcity, for instance, he led them to some place in the bush where they could dig up plenty of wild yams.

2. In another family this G.o.d was prayed to for life and health before the evening meal; an offering of a blazing fire was essential to the success of the prayer, which ran as follows:--

"This is our fire to you, it burns bright; other fires are dim and going out; send these families to the lower regions, but give us life and health."

The sea eel, octopus, and mullet were incarnations of this G.o.d. He was also seen in the _ends_ of banana leaves. If any one used the end of a banana leaf as a cap, baldness was the punishment. All the children born in the family were called by the name of the G.o.d.