_op. cit._ p. 227.

[116] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 227 _sq._

[117] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 231 _sq._

[118] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 161, 233.

[119] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234.

[120] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 234.

[121] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 234 _sq._

[122] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232.

[123] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 238 _sq._

[124] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 229.

[125] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 231, 233.

[126] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ pp. 230, 233.

[127] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 232.

[128] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239.

[129] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 160.

Thus the worship of natural objects, and especially of animals, fish,
and birds, presents a close analogy to the Samoan system, as we shall
see presently;[130] and it is not without significance that tradition
points to Samoa as the original home from which the ancestors of the
Tongans migrated to their present abode.[131] On the question of the
nature of the divine beings who presented themselves to their
worshippers in the form of animals, the evidence collected by Mr.
Collocot seems to confirm the statement of Mariner, that only the
primary or non-human gods were believed capable of thus becoming
incarnate; at least Mr. Collocot gives no hint that the worshipful
creatures were supposed to be tenanted by the souls of the human dead;
in other words, there is nothing to show that the Tongan worship of
animals was based on a theory of transmigration.

[130] See below, pp. 154 _sq._

[131] E. E. V. Collocot, _op. cit._ p. 239.

The statement of Miss Farmer, which I have quoted, that among the
Tongans the souls of the dead were the principal object of worship and
received the most sacrifices, is interesting and not improbable, though
it is not confirmed by Mariner. It may indeed, perhaps, be laid down as
a general principle that the worship of the dead tends constantly to
encroach on the worship of the high gods, who are pushed ever farther
into the background by the advent of their younger rivals. It is natural
enough that this should be so. The affection which we feel for virtue,
the reverence and awe inspired by great talents and powerful characters,
persist long after the objects of our love and admiration have passed
away from earth, and we now rende