James Frazer - The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 2 (of 3)

Capt. James Cook, Voyages , i. 157 sq. , "Their name for such burying-grounds, which are also places of worship, is Morai ." Compare id. , i. 217, 219, 220, 224, vi. 37, 41; J. Turnbull, Voyage round the World (London, 1813), p. 151, "the morais , which serve the double purpose of places of worship and receptacles for the dead." Compare J. R. Forster, Observations , p. 545, "To ornament the marais and to honour by it the gods and the decayed buried there, the inhabitants plant several sorts of trees near them."

D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, op. cit. i. 271.

W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches , i. 405. Elsewhere (p. 401), speaking of the Tahitian burial customs, Ellis observes that "the skull was carefully kept in the family, while the other bones, etc., were buried within the precincts of the family temple."

J. A. Moerenhout, op. cit. i. 470. As to the Tahitian custom of burying the dead in the marais , see also C. E. Meinicke, Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans , ii. 183 sq. , according to whom only the bodies of persons of high rank were interred in these sanctuaries.

G. H. von Langsdorff, op. cit. i. 115.

G. H. von Langsdorff, op. cit. i. 134.

Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, Îles Marquises ou Nouka-hiva (Paris, 1843), p. 253.

C. E. Meinicke, Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans , ii. 180.

W. H. R. Rivers, "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Oceania," American Anthropologist , N.S. xvii. (1915) pp. 431 sqq.

W. Mariner, Tonga Islands , i. 88.

Above, pp. 74 sqq.

W. Mariner, Tonga Islands , i. 88 sq.

Sarah S. Farmer, Tonga and the Friendly Islands , p. 127.

W. Mariner, op. cit. i. 367.

W. Mariner, Tonga Islands , ii. 196-202, compare p. 78. The ceremony was also witnessed, though not understood, by Captain Cook ( Voyages , v. 363 sqq. ) and by the first English missionaries (Captain James Wilson, Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean , pp. 264 sq. ).

See the letter of Dr. Charles Forbes, in Archaeologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity , xxxv. (London, 1853) p. 496 (with a woodcut); Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London [First Series], iii. 19; id. Second Series, i. 287; letter of Philip Hervey, quoted by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London , Second Series, ii. 75-77; Julius L. Brenchley, Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among the South Sea Islands in 1865 (London, 1873), p. 132 (with a woodcut); (Sir) Basil Thomson, Diversions of a Prime Minister (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 380-382 (with a woodcut on p. 393); id. "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. (1902) pp. 81-84 (with a photograph). Views of the monument, taken apparently from photographs, have also been published by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard ( Australasia , vol. ii. London, 1894, p. 501), Dr. George Brown ( Melanesians and Polynesians , London, 1910, plate facing p. 410), and by Mr. S. Percy Smith ( Hawaiki , Third Edition, Christchurch, N.Z., 1910, pp. 157 sq. ). Dr. W. H. R. Rivers spoke as if there were several trilithons in Tongataboo ( History of Melanesian Society , ii. 430 sq. ; id. "Sun-cult and Megaliths in Oceania," American Anthropologist , N.S. xvii., 1915, p. 444); but in this he seems to have been mistaken. So far as I can gather, there is only one of these remarkable monuments in Tongataboo or indeed in the whole of the Pacific.

For the authorities, see the preceding note. The measurements, to some extent discrepant, are given by Dr. Charles Forbes, Mr. Philip Hervey, and the passengers of s.s. Wairarapa , as reported by Sir Basil Thomson Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. 82 sq. ), who had unfortunately mislaid his own notes containing the measurements. The statement that the monument was surmounted by a large bowl is made by Mr. Brenchley, in whose sketch of the structure the bowl figures. But Mr. Brenchley did not himself see the monument, and nobody else appears to have seen the bowl. I suspect that the report of the bowl may have originated in a hasty reading of Mr. Hervey's statement that "on the centre of it [the cross-stone] a small cava bowl is scooped out," though in Mr. Brenchley's account the bowl has seemingly increased in size. Similarly in his report the height of the uprights has grown to about thirty feet, which appears to be just double of their real size. Perhaps Mr. Brenchley's erroneous allegation as to the material of the monument similarly originated in a misunderstanding of Mr. Hervey's statement that "the material is the coral rock, or coral rag which are formed of stone brought from Wallis's Island."

Charles Forbes, in Archaeologia , xxxv. 496 (who gives Ho ha Mo-nga Maui as the name of the stones); (Sir) Basil Thomson, Diversions of a Prime Minister , p. 382; id. , "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. (1902) p. 81 (who gives Haamonga as the native name of the stones).

(Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. (1902) p. 81. Maui is the great hero of Polynesia, known in nearly every group of islands, generally regarded as a demigod or deified man, but sometimes and in some places rising to the dignity of full godhead. He appears, says Mr. E. Tregear, to unite the classical attributes of Hercules and Prometheus. See E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary , p. 233, s. v. "Maui."

" Tui-ta-tui, lit. 'King-strike-King.'"

(Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. (1902) p. 82.

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London , Second Series, ii. 77.

Julius L. Brenchley, Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. "Curaçoa" among the South Sea Islands in 1865 (London, 1873), p. 132.

(Sir) Basil Thomson, Diversions of a Prime Minister , p. 395. In this work the author prints a list of the Tooitongas "as given by Mr. E. Tregear on the authority of the Rev. J. E. Moulton."

(Sir) Basil Thomson, "Notes upon the Antiquities of Tonga," Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xxxii. (1902) p. 83; S. Percy Smith, Hawaiki , p. 158.

W. Mariner, Tonga Islands , ii. 266. As to the size of the stones, Mariner says, "The stones used for this purpose are about a foot in thickness, and are cut of the requisite dimensions, out of the stratum found on the beaches of some of the islands."