LECTURE XVIII
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THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN MELANESIA
Northern Melanesia. Material culture of the North Melanesians.
Commercial habits of the North Melanesians. Their backwardness in other respects.
The Rev. George Brown on the Melanesians.
North Melanesian theory of the soul. Fear of ghosts, especially the ghosts of persons who have been killed and eaten.
Offerings to the souls of the dead.
Burial customs in New Ireland and New Britain. Preservation of the skull.
Disposal of the dead among the Sulka of New Britain.
Disposal of the dead among the Moanus of the Admiralty Islands. Prayers offered to the skull of a dead chief.
Disposal of the dead in the Kaniet Islands. Preservation of the skull.
Death attributed to witchcraft.
Burial customs in the Duke of York Island. Preservation of the skull.
Prayers to the spirits of the dead.
North Melanesian views as to the land of the dead.
The land of the dead. State of the dead in the other world supposed to depend on the amount of money they left in this one.
Fiji and the Fijians.
Political superiority of the Fijians over the other Melanesians.
Means of subsistence of the Fijians. Ferocity and depravity of the Fijians.
Scenery of the Fijian islands.
Fijian doctrine of souls.
Reported Fijian doctrine of two human souls, a light one and a dark one.
Absence of the soul in sleep. Catching the soul of a rascal in a scarf.
Fijian dread of sorcery and witchcraft.
The fear of sorcery has had the beneficial effect of enforcing habits of personal cleanliness.
Fijian dread of ghosts. Uproar made to drive away ghosts.
Killing a ghost.
Dazing the ghost of a grandfather.
Special relation of grandfather to grandchild. Soul of a grandfather reborn in his grandchildren.
A dead grandfather may reasonably reclaim his own soul from his grandchild.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Footnote 627: (return) G. Brown, D.D., Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 23 sq., 125, 320 sqq.Note 2 · Footnote 628: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 294 sqq.; P. A. Kleintitschen, Die Küstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel (Hiltrup bei Münster, NNote 3 · Footnote 629: (return) Rev. G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 307, 313, 435, 436.Note 4 · Footnote 630: (return) Rev. G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 270 sq., compare pp. 127, 200.Note 5 · Footnote 631: (return) Rev. G. Brown, op. cit. pp. v., 18.Note 6 · Footnote 632: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 141 sq., 144, 145, 190-193.Note 7 · Footnote 633: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 142, 192, 385, 386 sq.Note 8 · Footnote 634: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. p. 390. The custom of cremating the dead in New Ireland is described more fully by Mr. R. ParkinsoNote 9 · Footnote 635: (return) R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in der Südsee (Stuttgart, 1907) p. 78; P. A. Kleintitschen, Die Küstenbewohner der GazelNote 10 · Footnote 636: (return) Mgr. Couppé, "En Nouvelle-Poméranie," Les Missions Catholiques, xxiii. (1891) pp. 364 sq.; J. Graf Pfeil, Studien undNote 11 · Footnote 637: (return) R. Parkinson, op. cit. p. 81.Note 12 · Footnote 638: (return) P. Rascher, M.S.C., "Die Sulka, ein Beitrag zur Ethnographic Neu-Pommern," Archiv für Anthropologie, xxix. (1904) pp.Note 13 · Footnote 639: (return) R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in der Südsee, pp. 404-406.Note 14 · Footnote 640: (return) R. Parkinson, op. cit. pp. 441 sq.Note 15 · Footnote 641: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 176, 183, 385 sq. As to the wide-spread belief in New Britain that what we call natural deathsNote 16 · Footnote 642: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 387-390.Note 17 · Footnote 643: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 35, 89, 196, 201.Note 18 · Footnote 644: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 177, 183, 184.Note 19 · Footnote 645: (return) G. Brown, op. cit. pp. 192-195.Note 20 · Footnote 646: (return) P. A. Kleintitschen, Die Küstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel, pp. 225 sq. Compare R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in derNote 21 · Footnote 647: (return) Lorimer Fison, Tales from Old Fiji (London, 1904), p. xiv.Note 22 · Footnote 648: (return) Thomas Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, Second Edition (London, 1860), i. 22-26.Note 23 · Footnote 649: (return) Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 77; Th. WilliNote 24 · Footnote 650: (return) Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 332 sqq.; ThoNote 25 · Footnote 651: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 60 sq.Note 26 · Footnote 652: (return) Basil Thomson, The Fijians, pp. 338, 389 sq. The Fijians are in the main vegetarians, but the vegetables which they cNote 27 · Footnote 653: (return) Capt. J. E. Erskine, Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific (London, 1853), pp. 272 sq.Note 28 · Footnote 654: (return) Ch. Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 46, 363. As to the cruelty and depravity of the Fijians in the old days see further LorimerNote 29 · Footnote 655: (return) Th. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 6 sq. As to the scenery of the Fijian archipelago see further id., i. 4 sqq.; Note 30 · Footnote 656: (return) Th. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 5 sq., 11; Ch. Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 46 sq. However, there is a remarkable difNote 31 · Footnote 657: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 241; J. E. Erskine, op. cit. p. 249; B. Seeman, Viti (Cambridge, 1862), p. 398.Note 32 · Footnote 658: (return) William Mariner, An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, Second Edition (London, 1818), ii. 129 sq. The matabNote 33 · Footnote 659: (return) Th. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 241.Note 34 · Footnote 660: (return) This is the opinion of my late friend, the Rev. Lorimer Fison, which he communicated to me in a letter dated 26th AugNote 35 · Footnote 661: (return) Communication of the late Rev. Lorimer Fison in a letter to me dated 3rd November, 1898. I have already published it Note 36 · Footnote 662: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 242; Lorimer Fison, Tales from Old Fiji, pp. 163 sq.; Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp.Note 37 · Footnote 663: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 250.Note 38 · Footnote 664: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 248.Note 39 · Footnote 665: (return) Lorimer Fison, op. cit. p. xxxii.Note 40 · Footnote 666: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 248 sq.; Lorimer Fison, op. cit. pp. xxxi. sq.Note 41 · Footnote 667: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 249.Note 42 · Footnote 668: (return) Basil Thomson, The Fijians (London, 1908), p. 166. A rara is a public square (Rev. Lorimer Fison, in Journal of the ANote 43 · Footnote 669: (return) Th. Williams, op. cit. i. 241.Note 44 · Footnote 670: (return) Ch. Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 50.Note 45 · Footnote 671: (return) Narrative of John Jackson, in Capt. J. E. Erskine's Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific (LonNote 46 · Footnote 672: (return) Ch. Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 85.Note 47 · Footnote 673: (return) Lorimer Fison, op. cit. pp. 168 sq.Note 48 · Footnote 674: (return) W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in Fiji," Man, viii. (1908) pp. 133 sqq.; Totemism and Exogamy, ii. 134 sqq.Note 49 · Footnote 675: (return) U. Lisiansky, A Voyage Round the World (London, 1814), p. 89.Note 50 · Footnote 676: (return) Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (London, 1912), ii. 47.Note 51 · Footnote 677: (return) Compare Totemism and Exogamy, iii. 297-299.Note 52 · In the last lecture I concluded my account of the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead among the natives of Central Melanesia. Note 53 · Nevertheless, in spite of their limited intercourse with surrounding villages, the natives of the New Britain or the Bismarck Archipelago weNote 54 · With regard to the religious ideas and customs of the natives we are not fully informed, but so far as these have been described they appearNote 55 · The natives of the archipelago believe that every person is animated by a soul, which survives his death and may afterwards influence the suNote 56 · With regard to the death of their friends they deem it very important to obtain the bodies and bury them. They offer food to the souls of thNote 57 · In New Ireland the dead were rolled up in winding-sheets made of pandanus leaves, then weighted with stones and buried at sea. However, at sNote 58 · Somewhat similar is the disposal of the dead among the Sulka, a tribe of New Britain who inhabit a mountainous and well-watered country to tNote 59 · Among the Moanus of the Admiralty Islands the dead are kept in the houses unburied until the flesh is completely decayed and nothing remainsNote 60 · In the Kaniet Islands, a small group to the north-west of the Admiralty Islands, the dead are either sunk in the sea or buried in shallow grNote 61 · Amongst the natives of the Bismarck Archipelago few persons, if any, are believed to die from natural causes alone; if they are not killed iNote 62 · When a man of mark is buried in the Duke of York Island, the masters of sorcery take leaves, spit on them, and throw them, with a number of Note 63 · The souls of the dead are always regarded by these people as beings whose help can be invoked on special occasions, such as fighting or fishNote 64 · Sooner or later the souls of all the North Melanesian dead take their departure for the spirit land. But the information which has reached tNote 65 · Some of the natives of the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain imagine that the home of departed spirits is in Nakanei, the part of the coast tNote 66 · So much for the belief in immortality as it is reported to exist among the Northern Melanesians of New Britain and the Bismarck Archipelago.Note 67 · Politically the Fijians shewed their superiority to all the other Melanesians in the advance they had made towards a regular and organised gNote 68 · Like the other peoples of the Melanesian stock the Fijians subsist chiefly by agriculture, raising many sorts of esculent fruits and roots, Note 69 · For the Fijian islands are exceedingly beautiful. They are of volcanic origin, mostly high and mountainous, but intersected by picturesque vNote 70 · Like most savages, the Fijians believed that man is animated by a soul which quits his body temporarily in sleep and permanently at death, tNote 71 · According to one account, the Fijians imagined that every man has two souls, a dark soul, consisting of his shadow, and a light soul, consisNote 72 · The souls of some men were supposed to quit their bodies in sleep and enter into the bodies of other sleepers, troubling and disturbing themNote 73 · Further, the Fijians, like many other savages, stood in great terror of witchcraft, believing that the sorcerer had it in his power to kill Note 74 · "In the face of such instances as these," says one who knows the Fijians well, "it demands some courage to assert that upon the whole the beNote 75 · Of apparitions the Fijians used to be very much afraid. They believed that the ghosts of the dead appeared often and afflicted mankind, espeNote 76 · However, stronger measures were sometimes resorted to. It was believed to be possible to kill a troublesome ghost. Once it happened that manNote 77 · A more humane method of dealing with an importunate ghost used to be adopted in Vanua-levu, the largest but one of the Fijian islands. In thNote 78 · Mr. Fison, who reports this quaint mode of bilking a ghost, explains the special attachment of the grandfather to his grandchild by the ruleNote 79 · Now where such a belief is held, it seems reasonable enough that a dead grandfather should reclaim his own soul for his personal use before