ling this man; he ate my incarnation." Occasionally, however, the
penalty exacted by the deity was less severe. If, for instance, a man's
god was in cockles, and he ate one of these shell-fish, a cockle would
grow on his nose; if he merely picked up a cockle on the shore and
walked away with it, the shell-fish would appear on some part of his
person. But in neither case, apparently, would the kindly cockle take
the life of the offender. It was not a bloodthirsty deity. Again, a man
whose god was in coco-nuts would never drink the refreshing beverage
which other people were free to extract from the nuts. But the
worshipper who shrank from eating or drinking his god in the shape, say,
of an octopus or of coco-nut water, would often look on with
indifference while other people partook of these his divinities. He
might pity their ignorance or envy their liberty, but he would not seek
to enlighten the one or to restrain the other.[72] Indeed this
indifference was sometimes carried to great lengths. For example, a man
whose god was incarnate in the turtle, though he would not himself dare
to partake of turtle, would have no scruple in helping a neighbour to
cut up and cook a turtle; but in doing so he took the precaution to tie
a bandage over his mouth to prevent an embryo turtle from slipping down
his throat and sealing his doom by growing up in his stomach.[73]
Sometimes the incarnate deity, out of consideration perhaps for the
weakness of the flesh, would limit his presence to a portion of an
animal, it might be the left wing of a pigeon, or the tail of a dog, or
the right leg of a pig.[74] The advantages of such a restriction to a
worshipper are obvious. A man, for instance, to whom it would have been
death to eat the right leg of a pig, might partake of a left leg of pork
with safety and even with gusto. And so with the rest of the divine
menagery.

[71] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_
(London, 1866), pp. 106 _sqq._; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise
in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p. 141; G. Turner,
_Samoa_, pp. 16 _sqq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211, 215
_sqq._

[72] J. Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises
in the South Sea Islands_, p. 468; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the
United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 131 _sq._; T. H. Hood,
_Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_, p.
141; W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_