with the manifestations of abnormal mental states among
ourselves, bears the stamp of fidelity, furnish a most instructive
commentary upon the story of the wise woman of Endor. As in the latter,
we have the possession by the spirit or soul (Atua, Elohim), the strange
voice, the speaking in the first person. Unfortunately nothing (beyond
the loud cry) is mentioned as to the state of the wise woman of Endor.
But what we learn from other sources (_e.g._ 1 Sam. x. 20-24) respecting
the physical concomitants of inspiration among the old Israelites
has its exact equivalent in this and other accounts of Polynesian
prophetism. An excellent authority, Moerenhout, who lived among the
people of the Society Islands many years and knew them well, says that,
in Tahiti, the _role_ of the prophet had very generally passed out of
the hands of the priests into that of private persons who professed
to represent the god, often assumed his name, and in this capacity
prophesied. I will not run the risk of weakening the force of
Moerenhout's description of the prophetic state by translating it:--

"Un individu, dans cet etat, avait le bras gauche enveloppe d'un morceau
d'etoffe, signe de la presence de la Divinite. Il ne parlait que d'un
ton imperieux et vehement. Ses attaques, quand il allait prophetiser,
etaient aussi effroyables qu'imposantes. Il tremblait d'abord de tous
ses membres, la figure enflee, les yeux hagards, rouges et etincelants
d'une expression sauvage. Il gesticulait, articulait des mots vides de
sens, poussait des cris horribles qui faisaient tressaillir tous
les assistants, et s'exaltait parfois au point qu'on n'osait par
l'approcher. Autour de lui, le silence de la terreur et du respect....
C'est alors qu'il repondait aux questions, annoncait l'avenir, le destin
des batailles, la volonte des dieux; et, chose etonnante! au sein de
ce delire, de cet enthousiasme religieux, son langage etait grave,
imposant, son eloquence noble et persuasive." [21]

Just so Saul strips off his clothes, "prophesies" before Samuel, and
lies down "naked all that day and night."

Both Mariner and Moerenhout refuse to have recourse to the hypothesis of
imposture in order to account for the inspired state of the Polynesian
prophets. On the contrary, they fully believe in their sincerity.
Mariner tells the story of a young chief, an acquaintance of his, who
thought himself possessed by the Atua of a dead woman who had fallen in
love with him, and