PROPS OF SUPERSTITION. 401 



brimstone. Punishment is evidently inflicted upon 

 evil-doers in the same locality where the good enjoy 

 their fair rewards. Women, not tatooed, are chased 

 T)y their own sex, allowed no repose, scraped up with 

 shells and made into bread for the gods. Men who 

 have not slain any enemy are compelled to beat dirt 

 with their club, the most degrading punishment the 

 native mind can conceive, because they used their club 

 to so little purpose. Others are laid flat on their faces 

 and converted into taro-beds. 



In order to uphold the whole fabric of heathen 

 superstition, the priests had recourse to the same 

 means which all religions have had in dealing with 

 doubting minds. Punishment was sure to overtake 

 the sceptic, let his station in life be what it might. 

 What could be more terrible than that which was in- 

 flicted upon Koroika'? He, a chief high in rank at 

 Bau, made bold to doubt the existence of the god 

 Ratu mai Bulu ; and, as the god was then enshrined in a 

 serpent of a neighbouring cave, he determined to put 

 the question to the test. Embarking in a canoe with 

 a cargo of fish, he steered for the very spot where the 

 god was reported to be. On arriving, a serpent issued 

 from the cave ; and the chief asked, " Please, good Sir, 

 are you the god Ratu mai Bulu V 9 " No, I am not," was 

 the reply; "I am his son." The chief made him a 

 present of fish, and requested an interview with his 

 father. Presently another serpent appeared, but that 

 proved to be the grandson, and the same present and 

 request was made to him as had been made to the son, 

 At length there issued a serpent, so large, so noble and 



2 D 



