POLYNESIA. 27 



not surrounded by an enclosure. In all these groups human sacri- 

 fices were common. The individuals selected were men of low rank, 

 who had made themselves obnoxious to the chiefs or priests, and who 

 were put to death as much to glut the vengeance of their oppressors 

 as to propitiate the favour of the divinity. 



The native superstitions on the subjects of sorcery, inspiration, 

 omens, apparitions, the worship of animals, and other similar matters, 

 are not so peculiar and distinctive as to require a notice here. Their 

 ideas, however, with respect to a future state, merit attention. At the 

 Navigator Islands different opinions prevail. All believe in the 

 existence of a large island, situated far to the northwest, called Puldtu, 

 which is the residence of the gods. Some suppose that while the 

 souls of common people perish with their bodies, those of the chiefs 

 are received into this island, which is described as a terrestrial ely- 

 sium, and become there inferior divinities. Others hold, (according 

 to Mr. Heath,) that the spirits of the departed live and work in a dark 

 subterraneous abode, and are eaten by the gods. A third, and very 

 common opinion is, that the souls of all who die on an island, make 

 their way to the western extremity, where they plunge into the sea ; 

 but what then becomes of them is not stated. The rock from which 

 they leap, in the island of Upolu, was pointed out to us ; the natives 

 term it " Fatu-asofta," which was rendered the "jumping-off stone." 



Some one or other of these three opinions prevails in every part of 

 Polynesia. At the Friendly Islands, that which relates to the island 

 lying to the westward, called by them Buldtu, is the most common. 

 In New Zealand the departed spirits are supposed to proceed to the 

 northern end of the island, where, from a rock, called Reinga, they 

 descend into the sea, and pass through it till they reach the islands of 

 the Three Kings, a small cluster, about thirty miles from the North 

 Cape, on which is placed the elysium of the islanders. At the 

 Society Islands, according to Mr. Ellis, they supposed that the soul, 

 on leaving the body, was conducted to the^o, or place of night, where 

 it was eaten by the gods, not at once, but by degrees, and after it 

 had three times undergone this operation, it acquired the rank and 

 attributes of a divinity. They also believe in the existence of a para- 

 dise, termed by them Rohutu noanoa, or sweet-scented Rohutu, which 

 was the abode of the gods and of deified spirits. It was situated near 

 a high mountain, called Tamahani unauna, glorious Tamahani, on 

 the northwest side of the island of Raiatea. Rohutu may be a cor- 

 ruption of Purotu. The Rarotongans, says Mr. Williams, " repre- 



