118 RELIGION. [PART i. 



of Atua is often merged in the indefinable. For in- 

 stance, a compass, a barometer, are to them atuas. 

 In one word, Atuas are the secret powers of the 

 universe, whether they appear to them as beneficent 

 or malignant ; but the latter class is that especially 

 addressed in prayer, for the purpose of averting 

 their supposed wrath and hatred. There is no wor- 

 ship of idols, or of bodily representations of the 

 Atua; and what have been taken for idols are mere 

 ornaments or heir-looms from their ancestors, and 

 are called tiki, or e tiki, as already observed. The 

 wairua, or the spirits of the deceased, can commu- 

 nicate with mortals ; but I am not aware that they 

 can assume any form or appearance except the rays 

 of the sun or a shadow. The tohunga does not 

 see, but hears, them (their voice is a whistling or a 

 slight breeze), and communicates their demands to 

 the people. They are the immaterial and immortal 

 parts of men ; but it seems as if even these parts 

 could be annihilated, or rather incorporated with 

 the soul and body of another, if he consumes the 

 flesh of an enemy, and especially his left eye, which 

 is considered the seat of the soul. It was formerly 

 a very common practice, of which I myself know 

 an instance, to sacrifice slaves on the death of a 

 great chief, that he might have the advantage of 

 their services in the reinga. They appear to believe 

 that the after-life differs little from this, with the 

 exception that all the good things of this world, 

 especially kumaras, are there in great plenty and 

 profusion. 



