eserve of the revered objects as
totems.[138] A similar derivation of the Samoan _aitu_ was favoured by
Dr. Rivers, who, during a visit to Samoa, found some evidence
confirmatory of this conclusion.[139]

[138] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 137,
218, 334.

[139] W. H. R. Rivers, "Totemism in Polynesia and
Melanesia," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,
xxxix. (1909) pp. 159 _sq._

Sec. 9. _The High Gods of Samoa_

But besides these totemic gods of Samoa, as we may term them, which were
restricted in the circle of their worshippers to particular families,
villages, or districts, there were certain superior deities who were
worshipped by all the people in common and might accordingly be called
the national divinities of Samoa; indeed the worship of some of them was
not confined to Samoa, but was shared by the inhabitants of other groups
of islands in Polynesia. These high gods were considered the progenitors
of the inferior deities, and were believed to have formed the earth and
its inhabitants. They themselves dwelt in heaven, in the sea, on the
earth, or under the earth; but they were invisible and did not appear to
their worshippers in the form of animals or plants. They had no temples
and no priests, and were not invoked like their descendants.[140]

[140] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.
111 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 211 _sq._

Among these high gods the chief was Tangaloa, or, as he was sometimes
called, Tangaloa-langi, that is, Tangaloa of the Skies. He was always
spoken of as the principal god, the creator of the world and progenitor
of the other gods and of mankind.[141] It is said that after existing
somewhere in space he made the heavens as an abode for himself, and that
wishing to have also a place under the heavens he created this lower
world (_Lalolangi_, that is, "Under the heavens"). According to one
account, he formed the islands of Savaii and Upolu by rolling down two
stones from the sky; but according to another story he fished them up
from the depths of the sea on a fishing-hook. Next he made the _Fee_ or
cuttle-fish, and told it to go down under the earth; hence the lower
regions of sea or land are called _Sa he fee_ or "sacred to the
cuttle-fish." In its turn the cuttle-fish brought forth all kinds of
rocks, including the great one on which we live.[142] Another myth
relates how Tangaloa sent down his son or d