70 EEV. M. EELLS, ON THE WOESHIP AND TRADITIONS OF 



that they sliould be heard for their much speaking. The 

 petitioner did not address the god standing or prostrate, but 

 knelt on one knee, sat cross-legged, or in a crouching posi- 

 tion. When embalming a dead body, they dug a hole in 

 the ground, and a priest deposited with prayer the dead 

 man's sins there, asking that they do not attach to the 

 survivor. A prayer was offered up before they ate their 

 food, when they tilled the ground, planted the garden, 

 built their houses, launched their canoes, cast their nets, and 

 commenced or concluded a journey.* 



(3) Sacrifices, Priests, and Temples. — Man as a sinful being- 

 needs to atone for sins. — The people of Sumatra have 

 priests.f The Dyaks of Borneo sacrificed animals, fruits, 

 and sometimes human beings to appease or invoke their 

 gods,:}: and the customs of the people of Java were very 

 similar. The inhabitants of Celebes had sacrifices, but no 

 temples. § There were temples in the north and Avest 

 of New Guinea,!! and the people of New Zealand had 

 priests.lF 



Among the Fijians nearly every village had its temples, 

 and votive offerings decorated the interior. There Avere 

 priestesses, human sacrifices were common, and they 

 ofiered many peace offerings.** Among the Tahitians priests 

 were numerous and powerful and human sacrifices of slaves 

 were offered.!! They made offerings to their ti-is or spirits, 

 their temples were national, local and domestic, and one is 

 described as a solid pyramidal structure, in front of which 

 images were kept, and the altars fixed. The priests of the 

 national temples were a distinct class, and the office of the 

 priesthood was hereditary in all its departments. In the 

 family the father M^as priest, in the village or district the 

 family of the j)riest was sacred, and the office Avas held by 

 one who was a chief. Their offerings included OA'ery kind 

 of valuable property, the fowls of the an-, the fishes of 

 the sea, the beasts of the field, and the fruits of the earth, 



* Polynesian Researches, \)\^. 2(51, 263, 269, 30C. 



t Malte Brun's Geog., vol. ii, ]). 313. 



\ Encydoptedia, Britt., art., " Borueo." 



§ Malte Brun's Geog., vol. ii, ]i. 342. 



II Evci/clopcvdia Britt., art., "New Guinea." 



IT Cook's Voyages, vol. p. 103. 



** Fiji (Otd Fijians, chap. 7. 



tt Malte Brun's Geog., vol. ii, p. 406. 



