328 THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY vm 



because I know it," is the exemplar and epitome 

 of the 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 men- 

 tioned 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 



