VIII THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 320 



to royalty, were few and far between. The name 

 of this supreme deity was Ta-K-y-Tooboo, the 

 literal meaning of which is said to be " Wait there, 

 Tooboo," from which it would appear that the 

 peculiar characteristic of Ta-li-y-Tooboo, in the 

 eyes of his worshippers, was persistence of duration. 

 And it is curious to notice, jin relation to this 

 circumstance, that many Hebrew philologers have 

 thought the meaning of Jahveh to be best 

 expressed by the word " Eternal." It would 

 probably be difficult to express the notion of an 

 eternal being, in a dialect so little fitted to convey 

 abstract conceptions as Tongan, better than by 

 that of one who always " waits there." 



The characteristics of the gods in Tongan 

 theology are exactly those of men whose shape 

 they are supposed to possess, only they have more 

 intelligence and greater power. The Tongan 

 belief that, after death, the human Atua more 

 readily distinguishes good from evil, runs parallel 

 with the old Israelitic conception of Elohim ex- 

 pressed in Genesis, " Ye shall be as Elohim, 

 knowing good from evil." They further agreed 

 with the old Israelites, that " all rewards for 

 virtue and punishments for vice happen to men 

 in this world only, and come immediately from 

 the gods" (vol. ii. p. 100). Moreover, they were 

 of opinion that though the gods approve of some 

 kinds of virtue, are displeased with some kinds 

 of vice, arid, to a certain extent, protect or forsake 



