638 t'ttOCEEOlNGS OF SECTION G. 



Wizards. 



Though soiuevvhat given to necromancy, still Samoans 

 were comparatively free from the all-pervading superstition of 

 Avitchcraft which so extensively prevails among the Papuan 

 race. In Samoa there Avere men (sometimes women too) 

 who were supposed to hold intei'course with spirits (the aitiij. 

 These taulaitu, the media of the aita in some points resembled 

 the Roman augures, and were able to foretell future events. 

 They acted also as the media or intercessors with the totems 

 and tutelary deities, and i-eceived the oiferings made to such. 

 The office was hei'editarv and belonged to chiefs in some 

 cases, or members of a particular family, but not limited to 

 these. It was often taken up, or given, on account of some 

 malformation, or from a striking peculiarity in temper or 

 disposition. Hence, many hunchbacks were taulaitu, and 

 epileptics, who Avere considered as possessed of an aitu.* 



The tabu system in Samoa is employed chiefly for the 

 purpose of protecting the native plantations and fruit trees 

 from depredation by dishonest people. Each individual is 

 supposed to have this power of tajjuing his property, and 

 brhiging punishment on those who disregard it. Without 

 the aid of the taulaitu he will imprecate a curse on those 

 robbing him, and it is thought such imprecation will bring 

 evil on the perpetrator of mischief to his trees or plantation. 

 He will mark the nature of his tabu, or curse, by some 

 significant symbol. 



The Pajjuans are more given to witchcraft and the belief 

 in wizards than the Malay- Polynesians, and live ui abject 

 terror of these. Remnants of food and rejected scraps are 

 carefully collected after a meal, and immediately burned or 

 buried away secretly, as the use of these is the means by 

 which the wizard exercises his supposed ])uvver of sorcery. 

 Every alarming sickness, or accident, or death, was attributed 

 to the effects of sorcery ; and suspected persons have been 

 murdered in revenge for the injury inflicted. Several mission- 

 aries and native teachers have been murdered in the J\ew 

 Hebrides through this dark superstition ; their books, their 

 writing, and their prayers were considered as means of 

 sorcery. 



On the Loyalty Islands, the influence of evil spirits 

 (uneuthua) was much dreaded ; sudden death and other 

 calamities were viewed as the result of bewitchments, and the 



* The only female taulaitu I kneAv was an epileptic. 



