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The Chairman— I am sure that we all join in thanking Mr. Whitmee for 
his very interesting paper. It is now open for any one to offer remarks 
thereon. 
Mr. J. Enmore Jones. — I should like to ask a question upon a subject which 
has occupied my attention. On the 28th page of the paper the author deals 
with the religious notions of the Tarapon people, and asserts that their gods 
were chiefly the spirits of their ancestors. I should be glad to know what 
reasons they give for this belief, and if Mr. Whitmee has been able to get 
from the natives any information as to why their gods are regarded as the 
spirits of their ancestors F 
Mr. Whitmee. — When I was in the Gilbert Islands I made inquiries on 
this point, and I found that they spoke of some of their ancestors who had 
migrated from other portions of the Pacific ; some of them great men in their 
history, and regarded by them as their gods — that is to say, they worshipped the 
memory of those ancestors. I have no doubt at all, from what I know of their 
traditions, that those persons who have been great men in their former history 
have become deified in this w r ay. 
Mr. Jones. — Then it is a mere matter of memory or recollection of persons 
on their part, in the same way that we respect the late Duke of Wellington 
or any other great man, but not a notion that the spirits of their ancestors 
are gods ? 
Mr. Whitmee. — No ; they believe that the spirit exists after death. This 
belief is universal in those islands, and it was for this reason that the women 
carried about with them the skulls of their dead children, and that the people 
buried their dead in their houses — in the family house. I asked them the 
reason why they did this, and they said, “We do it so that we may be 
together.” They believe in the continued existence of the spirit after death. 
Rev. T. M. Gorman. — I should like, if I may be permitted, to follow 
up the questions that have just been put to Mr. Whitmee. At the Hibbert 
lecture last Thursday a similar point arose. It was in reference to where the 
most ancient Egyptians are represented as paying these honours to the 
memory of their ancestors. I am speaking of the most ancient form of the 
religion of Egypt. Those ancient Egyptians are represented as having made 
offerings of various kinds — fruits and fowls, beef, wine and beer — to the 
memory of their ancestors, and I was exceedingly struck with the idea that 
the priesthood were united in the same persons, which brings us more or less 
to the patriarchal relationship as we find it stated in our Bible, also the 
embalming of their dead and the partition, mentioned in to-night’s paper, 
between the spirit and the body. Eor my own part I think these things 
among the islanders referred to by Mr. Whitmee bear a striking resemblance 
to the ancient rites and ceremonials observed by the ancient Egyptians. 
I should also like to ask a question as to the use of the letters l and r. 
Has Mr. Whitmee noticed whether these letters are the same ? 
Mr. Whitmee. — Yes, they are the same. The letters l and r are not 
distinguishable in Samoa. In the Samoan words in which the letter l occurs 
