THE CONTROVERSIALIST 1 79 



before making his escape. He learned the language 

 and lived the life of the islanders, familiarising him- 

 self with their beliefs and customs. Concerning their 

 theology, he says : — 



The human soul, after its separation from the body, 

 is termed a hotooa (a god or spirit ; hotooa is the same 

 as the better-known atud), and is believed to exist in 

 the shape of the body ; to have the same propensities 

 as during life, but to be corrected by a more enlight- 

 ened understanding, by which it readily distinguishes 

 good from evil, truth from falsehood, right from 

 wrong ; having the same attributes as the original 

 gods, but in a minor degree, and having its dwelling 

 forever in the happy regions of Bolotoo, holding the 

 same rank in regard to other souls as during this life : 

 it has, however, the power of returning to Tonga to 

 inspire priests, relations, or others, or to appear in 

 dreams to those it wishes to admonish ; and some- 

 times to the external eye in the form of a ghost or 

 apparition ; but this power of reappearance at Tonga 

 particularly belongs to the souls of chiefs than of 

 matabooles (a kind of " clients " in the Roman sense, 

 as Huxley explains in a footnote). 1 



The "atuas " include gods good and evil, home and 

 foreign, as well as the souls of men, so that they 

 " are exactly equivalent " to the " Elohim " of the 

 old Israelites, while the description of the incidents 

 attending the " inquiry of" an atua, as the paroxysm 

 and excitation of the priest, correspond " with the 



1 Coll. Essays, iv. p. 323 ; and Mariner, ii. p. 99 ff. (edition 

 1827). 



