CHAP. VII.] THE PRIESTS. 119 



The knowledge of the priests is handed down 

 from father to son ; and the youths undergo a re- 

 gular course of instruction. I was present at one of 

 the lessons : an old priest was sitting under a tree, 

 and at his feet was a boy, his relation, who listened 

 attentively to the repetition of certain words, which 

 seemed to have no meaning, but which it must have 

 required a good memory to retain in their due 

 order. At the old tohunga's side was part of a 

 man's skull filled with water; into this from time 

 to time he dipped a green branch, which he moved 

 over the boy's head. At my approach the old man 

 smiled good-humouredly, as if to say, " See how 

 clever I am," and continued his Abracadabra. I 

 have been assured by the missionaries that many of 

 these prayers have no meaning; but this I am 

 greatly inclined to doubt : the words of the prayers 

 are perhaps the remains of a language now for- 

 gotten; or, what is more probable, we find here 

 what has existed among most of the nations of anti- 

 quity, even the most civilized, viz., that religious 

 mysteries were confined to a certain class of men, 

 who kept them concealed from the " profanum vul- 

 gus," or communicated only such portion of them 

 as they thought fit. They often had a sacred sym- 

 bolic language, the knowledge of which was con- 

 fined to the priesthood, as, for instance, the Egyp- 

 tian hieroglyphics and the Sanscrit ; or, if we look 

 nearer home, we find the religion of Thor, Odin, 

 and Freya enveloped in a poetical mythos, which 



