44 Shells as evidence of the Migraliviis. 



meats of the Fijians, and of the ]\Iaories of New Zea- 

 land." 



When Captain Wilson visited Tongataboo, in the 

 Friendly Islands, in 1797, four large conch- shells were 

 found on the floor of a large house sacred to the god 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 Triton tritonis 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 they had generally 

 something for the eye to rest upon with superstitious 

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

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

 this the god was supposed to blow when he wished the 

 people to rise to w ar." 



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 b}^ a trumpet-shell, and at the annual worship of 

 this god all the people met in the place of public gatherings 

 with heaps of cooked food. Another local god was called 

 Tapaai (Beckoning) and was a war god of a family on 

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

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

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



" Lubbock, "Prehistoric Times," 1865, pp. 358 and 369. Captain 

 Cook also mentions tlie " Triton's trumpet" as one of the sonorous instru- 

 ments of the New Zealanders. 



'■- G. A. Cooke, "Sy.siem of Universal Geography," London, i., 

 iSoi, pp. 77 and 97. 



'^' G. Turner, "'Samoa, etc.," London, 18S4, p. 19. 



