PROPS OF SUPERSTITION. 401 
brimstone. Punishment is evidently inflicted upon 
evil-doers in the same locality where the good enjoy 
their fair rewards. Women, not tatooed, are chased 
by their own sex, allowed no repose, scraped up with 
shells and made into bread for the gods. Men who 
have not slain any enemy are compelled to beat dirt 
with their club,—the most degrading punishment the 
native mind can conceive,—because they used their club 
to so little purpose. Others are laid flat on their faces 
and converted into taro-beds, 
In order to uphold the whole fabric of heathen 
superstition, the priests had recourse to the same 
means which all religions have had in dealing with 
doubting minds. Punishment was sure to overtake 
the sceptic, let his station in life be what it might. 
What could be more terrible than that which was in- 
flicted upon Koroika? He, a chief high in rank at 
Bau, made bold to doubt the existence of the god 
Ratu mai Bulu ; and, as the god was then enshrined in a 
serpent of a neighbouring cave, he determined to put 
the question to the test. Embarking in a canoe with 
a cargo of fish, he steered for the very spot where the 
god was reported to be. On arriving, a serpent issued 
from the cave ; and the chief asked, “ Please, good Sir, 
are you the god Ratu mai Bulu?” “ No, I am not,” was 
the reply; “I am his son.” The chief made him a 
present of fish, and requested an interview with his 
father. Presently another serpent appeared, but that 
proved to be the grandson, and the same present and 
request was made to him as had been made to the son, 
At length there issued a serpent, so large, so noble and 
2D 
