fs rather than of matabooles. (vol. ii. p. 130).

The word "hotooa" is the same as that which is usually spelt "atua"
by Polynesian philologues, and it will be convenient to adopt this
spelling. Now under this head of "_Atuas_ or supernatural intelligent
beings" the Tongans include:--

"1. The original gods. 2. The souls of nobles that have all attributes
in common with the first but inferior in degree. 3. The souls of
matabooles [19] that are still inferior, and have not the power as the
two first have of coming back to Tonga to inspire the priest, though
they are supposed to have the power of appearing to their relatives.
4. The original attendants or servants, as it were, of the gods, who,
although they had their origin and have ever since existed in Bolotoo,
are still inferior to the third class. 5. The _Atua pow_ or mischievous
gods. 6. _Mooi,_ or the god that supports the earth and does not belong
to Bolotoo (vol. ii. pp. 103, 104)."

From this it appears that the "Atuas" of the Polynesian are exactly
equivalent to the "Elohim" of the old Israelite. [20] They comprise
everything spiritual, from a ghost to a god, and from "the merely
tutelar gods to particular private families" (vol, ii. p. 104), to
Ta-li-y-Tooboo, who was the national god of Tonga. The Tongans had no
doubt that these Atuas daily and hourly influenced their destinies
and could, conversely, be influenced by them. Hence their "piety," the
incessant acts of sacrificial worship which occupied their lives, and
their belief in omens and charms. Moreover, the Atuas were believed to
visit particular persons,--their own priests in the case of the higher
gods, but apparently anybody in that of the lower,--and to inspire them
by a process which was conceived to involve the actual residence of the
god, for the time being, in the person inspired, who was thus rendered
capable of prophesying (vol. ii. p. 100). For the Tongan, therefore,
inspiration indubitably was possession.

When one of the higher gods was invoked, through his priest, by a chief
who wished to consult the oracle, or, in old Israelitic phraseology,
to "inquire of," the god, a hog was killed and cooked over night, and,
together with plantains, yams, and the materials for making the peculiar
drink _kava_ (of which the Tongans were very fond), was carried next day
to the priest. A circle, as for an ordinary kava-drinking entertainment,
was then formed; but the priest, as the representative of th