or sorcerers who
formed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. Their services were
employed for various purposes, such as to discover the cause of illness
or to detect a thief. The people generally believed that all deaths,
which were not due to acts of violence, were wrought either by the
action of a deity or by the incantations of a sorcerer. Hence in cases
of protracted illness the aid of one of these inferior clergy was almost
invariably sought by all who could procure a dog and a fowl for the
necessary sacrifice to the god, and a piece or two of cloth as a fee for
the priest. But the offerings to the god and the fees to the priest
naturally varied with the rank or wealth of the sufferer. After
sacrificing the victims the priest lay down to sleep, and if his prayers
were answered, he was usually able to inform the invalid of the cause of
his illness, which had been revealed to him in a dream. But the same
men, who could thus heal the sick by ascertaining and removing the cause
of sickness, were supposed to possess the power of praying or enchanting
people to death by the recitation of spells or incantations. The prayers
or incantations which they employed for these beneficent or maleficent
purposes varied with the individual: every practitioner had his own
formulas, the knowledge of which he carefully confined to his own
family; and he who was thought to have most influence with his god was
most frequently employed by the people and derived the greatest
emoluments from his profession.[91] Of this class of men the most
dreaded were those who invoked the god Uli as their patron deity. Their
special business was to kill people by their spells, which they recited
secretly, and for the most part by night; but to render these effectual
it was necessary for them to obtain some of the personal refuse of their
victim, such as his spittle, the parings of his nails, or the clippings
of his hair, which they buried or burned with the appropriate
incantations.[92] Hence the king of Hawaii was constantly attended by a
servant carrying a spittoon in which he collected the royal saliva to
prevent it from being used by the king's enemies for his injury or
destruction.[93] Ordinary chiefs seem to have adopted the same
precaution; a confidential servant deposited their spittle carefully in
a portable spittoon and buried it every morning.[94]

[91] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 293-295. Compare U. Lisiansky,
_op. cit._ pp. 120 _sq._;