44 S/ici/s (IS evidence of the Jfi[qr(7t?oi/s. 



inents of the l-'ijians, aiul of tlie Maories of New Zea- 

 land.-' 



Wlien Captain Wilson visited Tongataboo. in the 

 Friend!}- Islands, in 1797, four lar^^^e conch-sliells were 

 found on the iloor of a lari^e house sacred to the i^^od of 

 Bretane. These were used to alarm the country in times 

 of danger. In these islands conch-shells were also blown 

 at the interment of chiefs."' 



Shell-trumpets, made from J'riton tn'tonis and other 

 large shells, enter largely into the religious ceremonies of 

 the Samoans. 



In his description of the religion of these people, 

 Turner*^'- relates that " in their temples the)- had generally 

 something for the eye to rest upon with su[)erstitious 

 reveration. In one might be seen a conch shell, susjjended 

 from the roof in a basket made of cinnet network ; and 

 this the god was su])posed to blow when he wished the 

 people to rise to war." 



The Samoans have a host of imaginary deities, and 

 these gods are supposed to be incarnate in some visible 

 object, the particular thing in which the god appears being 

 an object of veneration. 



Faamalu (shade), one of the village gods, was repre- 

 sented by a trumpet-shell, and at the annual worship of 

 this god all the people met in the place of i)ublic gatherings 

 with heaps of cooked food. Another local god was called 

 Tapaai (Beckoning) and was a war god of a famil}- on 

 Tutuila. He was supposed to be present in a trumpet- 

 shell. When the people were about tcj go to war the shell 

 was blown by the priest, and all listened. If it blew rough 



*' Lubbock, " I'rehistoiic Times," 1S05, pp. 358 and 309. ''aplain 

 Cook also ineini(jns llie " Triion's Uumpet " as une of tlie scinoKuis instru- 

 ments of the \ew Zcalanders. 



''- (j. A. Cooke, ■•Sysieui of Univer.-a! (iei)i;iaphy," LoiuKm, !.. 

 [Soi, pp. 77 and 97. 



•■■'• C Turner, "Samoa, etc.," Lond<in, 18S4, p. 19. 



