340 THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY vin 



(except perhaps in regard to the chastity of un- 

 married women), from that of the Tongans. 

 Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and David are strong- 

 handed men, some of whom are not outdone by 

 any Polynesian chieftain in the matter of murder 

 and treachery; while Deborah's jubilation over 

 Jael's violation of the primary duty of hospitality, 

 proffered and accepted under circumstances which 

 give a peculiarly atrocious character to the murder 

 of the guest ; and her witch-like gloating over the 

 picture of the disappointment of the mother of 

 the victim 



The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice, 

 Why is his chariot so long in coming 2 (Jud. v. 28. ) 



would not have been out of place in the choral 

 service of the most sanguinary god in the Polynesian 

 pantheon. 



With respect to the cannibalism which the 

 Tongans occasionally practised, Mariner says : 



Althougn a few young ferocious warriors chose to imitate 

 what they considered a mark of courageous fierceness in a neigh- 

 bouring nation, it was held in disgust by everybody else (vol. 

 ii. p. 171). 



That the moral standard of Tongan life was 

 less elevated than that indicated in the " Book of 

 the Covenant" (Exod. xxi.-xxiii.) may be freely 

 admitted. But then the evidence that this Book 

 of the Covenant, and even the ten commandments 

 as given in Exodus, were known to the Israelites 



