126 Notes on the Customs of Mota, Banks Islands. 



from a desire to appear young, or to save trouble. Male 

 children were killed rather than female, because of the family 

 passing by the female side. 



[The fact noted by Mr. Codrington that "male children were killed rather 

 than female," together with the reason for it, is of great importance. Mr. 

 M'Lennan's theory of exogamy is that it is " connected with the practice in 

 early times of female infanticide, which, rendering women scarce, led at once 

 to polyandry within the tribe, and to the capturing of women from wMhout." 

 (Primitive Marriage, p. 138). The Mota practice tells against this theory as 

 far as it goes, and it goes a long way. For in " early times " descent was, as 

 it is now at Mota, through females. That is to say, this line of descent can 

 be shown to be earlier than the agnatic On many other grounds I believe 

 Mr. M'Lennan's theory to be utterly untenable. 



Infanticide was, and still is, very common in Fiji. There are several words 

 for killing an unborn child. An old chief once defended, in my hearing, the 

 practice of killing new-born children on the ground that "their souls had not 

 yet come to them." — L. F.] 



10. Ghosts. 



It is most desirable to distinguish between ghosts, and 

 spirits which are not the spirits of dead men. The Mota 

 people use different words for them, and never think of them 

 as the same. A ghost, in vulgar English, is a dead man — 

 " tamate." A spirit, an incorporeal personal being, is a 

 " vui." Neither the English " ghost " nor the Latin " spirit " 

 makes this distinction, but to keep it we may use " ghost " 

 for the dead man's ghost (tamate), and "spirit " for the being 

 that never was incorporate. 



A ghost, then (tamate), is the soul or " atai" of a man 

 which has left the body. It does not go far at first, and may 

 possibly be recalled. Hence the people shout the name of 

 the person who is dying, or just dead, in hope that the atai 

 may hear and come back. It is even supposed that an atai 

 may be caught and put back. Not long ago a man heard a 

 rustling just as a neighbour had expired, and believed 

 he had caught the atai in his hand. He took it to the 

 corpse and opened his hand over the dead man's mouth, but 

 the expected revival did not take place. On the fifth day 

 after death they shout and blow conchs to scare the tamate 

 away, the dead body, which also is called " tamate," having 

 been buried on the day of death or the day after. 



The ghosts of the dead are believed to congregate in a 

 common receptacle called Panoi, which has several entrances 

 to it on the various islands. Whether they remain there for 

 ever or perish after a while is a matter of doubt. There are 

 houses at Panoi, and trees with red leaves, but all is unsub- 

 stantial. The ghosts live together as on earth, but they live 



