when deep sleep had locked up the senses of mortals, Miru would make her way to the well-known fairy streams Auparu and Vaikaute, carrying the empty calabashes to be filled. To this there is an allusion in Tereavai's Fête Song : E taa vai no Tautiti. Na Miru rai e kāve, Kia inu Tane i te vai kea ra ē! A calabash of water for Tautiti. So that Tane may drink this living water. Her "peerless" daughters were often seen and admired; but the mother was most solicitous to conceal her ugly form. SNEEZING. The philosophy of sneezing is, that the spirit having gone travelling about-perchance on a visit to the homes or buryingplaces of its ancestors—its return to the body is naturally attended with some difficulty and excitement, occasioning a tingling and enlivening sensation all over the body. Hence the various customary remarks addressed to the returned spirit in different islands. At Rarotonga, when a person sneezes, the bystanders exclaim, as though addressing a spirit, "A, kua oki mai koe" = "Ha! you have come back." At Manihiki and Rakaanga (colonised from Rarotonga) they say to the spirit, "Aere koe ki Rarotonga" = "Go to Rarotonga." At Mangaia the customary address is," Ua nanave koe" "Thou art delighted." = The following well-known lines refer to Poêpoê, or Speck-land. (For Umuakaui, circa 1823.) Puputa motu taua ē ! Ka aere au tei Poêpoê! Alas, we part for ever! I go alone to Speck-land. E enua akarere Mangaia e taea mai ai! My home, Mangaia, for ever fades from sight. N Here is a reference to Tiairi, by Koroa, in his "Lament for Tāē," who was slain circa 1815. Another reference to Tiairi occurs in a lament for the sons of When Ikoke heard of the murder of his beloved younger brother Takurua, he feelingly said, "We will meet in the warriors' resting-place," i.e. "I, too, will die a violent death, so that we may meet in the warriors' heaven." Not long after, this wish was granted; for he fell in the battle of Tuopapa by those who had slain his brother. Ikoke could, according to his faith, only meet his favourite brother by a violent death, as all who die a natural death are devoured by Miru. Another saying of theirs in reference to the unseen world is : "Ka aere i nunga i te puokia ei aka i Tiairi :" "We will go to yon place of safety, Tiairi, to dance the warriors' dance." 1 "I nunga i te puokia maua e araveitu ei." Subjoined is a mention of the famous bua tree from the shades (Arakauvae's funeral games for his father, circa 1817). A FAREWELL (VEÊ) CHANTED AT A REED THROWING MATCH FOR WOMEN. COMPOSED IN MEMORY OF VAIANA, BY HER HUSBAND NAUPATA, The author of this "farewell" became a devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. These words are exceedingly popular with the natives. Part is omitted. Rakoia, chanting (in 1815) the praises of his first-born, Enuataurere, who was accidentally drowned at Tamarua, says : CHAPTER IX. VEETINI;1 OR, THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. ever THE first who ever died a natural death in Mangaia was Veêtini. He was the only and much beloved son of Tueva and his wife Manga. But Veêtini, when in the prime of early manhood, sickened and died. The parents, in their grief, instituted those signs of mourning and funeral games which were afterwards observed amongst these islanders. The chief mourners were Tueva, Manga, and the lovely Tiki-the attached sister of Veêtini. All these, with the more distant relatives, blackened their faces, cut off their hair, slashed their bodies with shark's teeth, and wore only "pakoko," or native cloth, dyed red in the sap of the candle-nut tree, and then dipped in the black mud of a taro-patch. The very offensive smell of this mourning garment is symbolical of the putrescent state of the dead. Their heads were encircled with common fern, singed with fire to give it a red 1 The allegorical character of this interesting myth is evident from the names. Veêtini means all-separating; Tueva, mourner; Manga, food, in allusion to the custom of offering food to the dead. Tiki signifies fetched: if a person dies, his spirit is said to be "fetched." |