LECTURE XVI
Reading edition
THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF CENTRAL MELANESIA
The islands of Central Melanesia. Distinction between the religion of the Eastern and Western Islanders.
Dr. R. H. Codrington on the Melanesians.
For the whole of this region we are fortunate in possessing the evidence of the Rev. Dr. R. H. Codrington, one of the most sagacious, cautious, and accurate of observers, who laboured as a missionary among the natives for twenty-four years, from 1864 to 1887, and has given us a most valuable account of their customs and beliefs in his book The Melanesians, which must always remain an anthropological classic. In describing the worship of the dead as it is carried on among these islanders I shall draw chiefly on the copious evidence supplied by Dr. Codrington; and I shall avail myself of his admirable researches to enter into considerable details on the subject, since details recorded by an accurate observer are far more instructive than the vague generalities of superficial observers, which are too often all the information we possess as to the religion of savages.
Melanesian theory of the soul.
Distinction between ghosts of power and ghosts of no account.
Ghosts of the great and of the recently dead are chiefly regarded. Supernatural power (mana) acquired through ghosts.
We may now consider the theory and practice of the Central Melanesians on this subject somewhat more in detail; and in doing so we shall begin with their funeral customs, which throw much light on their views of death and the dead.
Burial customs in the Solomon Islands. Land burial and sea burial. Land-ghosts and sea-ghosts.
Burnt offerings in honour of the dead.
Funeral customs in the island of Florida. The ghostly ferry.
Belief of the Solomon Islanders that the souls of the dead live in islands. The second death.
Burial customs in Saa. Preservation of the skull and jawbone. Burial customs in Santa Cruz. Burial customs in Ysabel.
Beliefs and customs of the Eastern islanders concerning the dead. Panoi, the subterranean abode of the dead.
Distinction between the fate of the good and the fate of the bad in the other world.
Descent of the living to the world of the dead.
Disposal of the dead among the Eastern islanders. Burial customs of the Banks' Islanders.
Ghosts driven away from the village. Expulsion of the ghosts of persons who suffered from sores and ulcers.
Special treatment of the ghosts of women who died in childbed.
Funeral feasts.
Funeral customs in Vaté or Efat. Old people buried alive.
Burial and mourning customs in Aurora, one of the New Hebrides. Behaviour of the soul at death.
Journey of the ghost to the other world.
Only ghosts of powerful men are worshipped.
Worship paid chiefly to the recent and well-remembered dead.
Way in which a dead warrior came to be worshipped as a martial ghost.
Offerings to the dead.
Sacrificial ritual in the Solomon Islands.