ed the body all over with fine needles. Finally,
wads of native cloth, saturated with oil or resinous gums, were inserted
in the abdomen, the apertures were closed up, and the body wrapt in
native cloth. The face, hands, and feet were left exposed, and were
repeatedly anointed with oil, mixed with turmeric powder, to give a
fresh and life-like appearance to the mummy. The whole process lasted
about two months. On its completion the mummy was placed in a house
built specially for the purpose, where, loosely covered with a sheet of
native cloth, it rested on a raised platform. Strangers were freely
admitted to see it. Four of these mummies, laid out in a house, were to
be seen down to about the year 1864. They were the bodies of a chief,
his wife, and two sons. Dr. George Turner judged that they must have
been embalmed upwards of thirty years, and although they had been
exposed all that time, they were in a remarkably good state of
preservation. The people assigned no particular reason for the practice,
further than that it sprang from an affectionate desire to keep the
bodies of their departed friends with them, as if they were still
alive.[165]

[165] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 148 _sq._; S. Ella, _op.
cit._ p. 641; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 184 _sq._; G. Brown,
_Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 405.

Sec. 11. _The Fate of the Human Soul after Death_

With regard to the fate of human souls after death the Samoans appear to
have believed in their immortality, or at all events in their indefinite
survival. On this subject Dr. Brown observes: "All souls survived after
death, and so far as I know they had no idea of their dying a second
death or being destroyed. I do not think that a Samoan could give any
reason for his belief that the soul does not perish with the body, but
he certainly does believe this, and I never heard any one question
the fact."[166] Thus, according to Dr. Brown the Samoans, unlike the
Tongans, drew no invidious distinction between the souls of noblemen and
the souls of commoners, but liberally opened the doors of immortality to
gentle and simple alike. So far, they carried their republican or
democratic spirit into the world beyond the grave.

[166] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 220
_sq._

However, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio Hale, some of
the Samoans agreed with the Tongans in taking an aristocratic view of
the destiny of souls after dea