e of the belief
in the survival of the soul after death.

[106] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110, 130 _sq._

[107] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ i. 423 _sq._

But the gods appeared to mankind to warn, comfort, and advise, not only
in their own divine form but also in the form of animals. Thus the
primitive gods, according to Mariner, sometimes entered into the living
bodies of lizards, porpoises, and a species of water snake. Hence these
creatures were much respected. The reason why gods entered into
porpoises was to take care of canoes. This power of assuming the form of
living animals, says Mariner, belonged only to the original gods, and
not to the deified souls of chiefs.[108] In thus denying that the
spirits of the dead were supposed sometimes to revisit the earth in
animal shapes Mariner was perhaps mistaken, for a different view on the
subject was apparently taken at a later time by Miss Farmer, who had
access to good sources of information. She writes as follows: "Bulotu
(Bolotoo) was peopled with the spirits of departed chiefs and great
persons of both sexes; and it was to these chiefly that worship was paid
and that sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were supposed
to act as intercessors with the supreme gods, who were too highly
exalted to be approached by men except in this way. The spirits were in
the habit of revisiting earth. They would come in birds, or in fish as
their shrines. The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel,
shark, whale, and many other animals were considered sacred, because
they were favourite shrines of these spirit-gods. The heathen never
killed any of these creatures; and if, in sailing, they chanced to find
themselves in the neighbourhood of a whale, they would offer scented oil
or kava to him. To some among the natives the cuttle-fish and the lizard
were gods; while others would lay offerings at the foot of certain
trees, with the idea of their being inhabited by spirits. A rainbow or a
shooting star would also command worship."[109]

[108] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 99, 131.

[109] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 126
_sq._

This account seems to imply that the spirits which took the form of
these animals, birds, and fish were believed to be the souls of the dead
returning from the spirit world to revisit their old homes on earth. But
even if we suppose that herein the writer was mistaken, and that, as
Mariner a