Note 8 — PREFACE.

The pig was taken by the priest and offered to the deity with the prayer, “Oh God, here is the pig; give thou health (life) to your offspring and your descendants.” Then the rain fell (in answer).8 The people and the chiefs praised because of the propriety of sacrificing the pig to the deity. The same ceremonies were accorded the female deity when the travail was over and the child was born, a great royal child, Wakea by name. This was the royal procedure of ancient time, that when he was born he was taken before the deity in the presence of the priests. A priest waved the bambu with which the umbilical cord was to be cut, and then tied the umbilicus of the child with a string, and after a prayer severed the umbilicus. Blood flowed from the cut of the child,9 whereat the priest declared, “This is a rich child.”