LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



pecially offered, and every object in nature, trees as well 

 as animals, the fountain and the brook, are supposed to 

 be attended by certain spiritual beings. Various animals 

 are held sacred among them. The most common of these 

 is a water-snake, banded with white and black colors, 

 which we often saw swimming about our ship. Some- 

 times each village or family has its own sacred animal 

 usually a fish of some kind and they deem it a sure 

 presage of death to kill one of them ; and so firmly is 

 this believed that death will follow through fear alone. 



" In each village there are one or more spirit houses 

 or temples which may be distinguished from the other 

 houses by a higher and sharper roof. In other respects, 

 neither inside nor out, is there much to attract atten- 

 tion. Here the people bring their first-fruits as an offering 

 to the gods. Piles of large cocoanuts, fruit, vegetables, 

 or fish may sometimes be seen here. They lie for a while, 

 and then are taken and eaten by the priests. There, 

 too, the priest offers prayers for the people. In these 

 prayers they ask for success in war and the destruction of 

 their enemies, a prosperous voyage in their canoes, good 

 crops, or luck in fishing, health and life, a good dance 

 and happy feast, and any gratification their savage natures 

 suggest. The priests pretend to look into the future, and 

 the people, from the chief down, have so much confidence 

 in them that they dare not go to war or enter upon any- 

 thing of importance without first consulting them. If 

 the priest assures them of good luck, they go, and are 

 confident of it; but if of hard luck, they will not move a 

 step. Before revealing future events, the priest pretends 

 to be for a while under the influence of the spirit, and 

 during that state of inspiration the future is supposed to 

 be made known. His body shakes most violently in 

 every limb and writhes as if in torture, while another 

 stands by and with a word every now and then urges and 

 encourages the spirit in his operations. The shaking fit 

 continues till nature is almost exhausted. When at last 

 ended, he declares in a solemn manner the oracle which, 

 as they think, has been revealed to him, and his words 

 are received as the words of God. 



" Besides offerings of fruit and vegetables, they also 

 make sacrifices to propitiate their deities, and occasionally, 

 when any calamity is dreaded, or great misfortune has 



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