he sick person would go round the house
brandishing a spear and striking the walls to drive away the spirit that
was causing the sickness.[151] Hence when a member of a family fell
seriously ill, his friends did not send for a doctor, but repaired to
the high priest of the village to enquire of him the cause of the
sickness, to learn why the family god (_aitu_) was angry with them, and
to implore his mercy and forgiveness. Often the priest took advantage of
their anxiety to demand a valuable piece of property, such as a canoe or
a parcel of ground, as the best means of propitiating the angry deity
and so ensuring the recovery of the patient. With all these demands the
anxious and unsuspecting relatives readily complied. But if the priest
happened not to want anything in particular at the time, he would
probably tell the messengers to gather the family about the bed of the
sufferer and there confess their sins. The command was implicitly
obeyed, and every member of the family assembled and made a clean breast
of his or her misdeeds, especially of any curse which he or she might
have called down either on the family generally or on the invalid in
particular. Curiously enough, the curse of a sister was peculiarly
dreaded; hence in such cases the sister of the sick man was closely
questioned as to whether she had cursed him and thus caused his illness;
if so, she was entreated to remove the curse, that he might recover.
Moved by these pleadings, she might take some coco-nut water in her
mouth and spurt it out towards or upon the body of the sufferer. By this
action she either removed the curse or declared her innocence; a similar
ceremony might be performed by any other member of the family who was
suspected of having cursed the sick man.[152]

[151] S. Ella, _op. cit._ pp. 639, 643; G. Brown,
_Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 402.

[152] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.
146 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 140 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.
cit._ p. 639; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 180 _sq._; G. Brown,
_Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 223 _sq._, 401.

When an illness seemed likely to prove fatal, messengers were despatched
to friends at a distance that they might come and bid farewell to the
dying man. Every one who came to visit the sufferer in his last moments
brought a present of a fine mat or other valuable piece of property as
a token of regard, and to defray the cost of t