d
chiefs and even of common people. What was easier than to confuse the
two classes of spirit-houses, the houses of gods and the houses of dead
kings or chiefs, especially when the memory of these potentates had
grown dim and their human personality had been forgotten? Certainly
European observers have sometimes been in doubt as to whether places to
which the natives paid religious reverence were temples or graves. In
view of this ambiguity I propose to examine some of the descriptions
which have been given by eye-witnesses of the sacred structures and
enclosure which might be interpreted either as temples or tombs. The
question has a double interest and importance, first, in its bearing on
the theory, enunciated by Herbert Spencer, that temples are commonly, if
not universally, derived from tombs,[134] and gods from dead men; and
secondly, in its bearing on the question of the origin and meaning of
megalithic monuments; for not a few of the tombs of Tongan kings and
sacred chiefs are constructed in part of very large stones.

[133] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 110

[134] Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i
(London, 1904) pp. 249 _sqq._

I will begin with the evidence of Captain Cook, an excellent observer
and faithful witness. He paid two visits to the Tonga islands, a short
one in 1773, and a longer one of between two and three months in 1777.
Speaking of his first visit to Tongataboo in 1773, he writes as follows:

"After sitting here some time, and distributing some presents to those
about us, we signified our desire to see the country. The chief
immediately took the hint, and conducted us along a lane that led to an
open green, on the one side of which was a house of worship built on a
mount that had been raised by the hand of man, about sixteen or eighteen
feet above the common level. It had an oblong figure, and was inclosed
by a wall or parapet of stone, about three feet in height. From this
wall the mount rose with a gentle slope, and was covered with a green
turf. On the top of it stood the house, which had the same figure as the
mount, about twenty feet in length, and fourteen or sixteen broad. As
soon as we came before the place, every one seated himself on the green,
about fifty or sixty yards from the front of the house. Presently came
three elderly men; who seated themselves between us and it, and began a
speech, which I understood to be a prayer, it being wholly directed