wide, now
half-shut and sinking into stupor, while at other times the whole frame
was convulsed and appeared to have undergone a sudden and surprising
change. The voice sank to a low pitch, and grew squeaky and broken; but
at times it would suddenly rise to an astonishing height. The words
uttered by the possessed man were regarded as oracular, and nothing that
he asked for the god or for himself in this state was ever refused him.
Of all this the priest himself affected to be entirely unaware, but a
colleague was regularly at hand to record the divine message and the
divine requirements, which were often very large. When the deity took
his departure from the priest, he did so with such convulsions and
violence as to leave the man lying motionless and exhausted on the
ground, and the oracle was so timed that this happened at the very
moment when the sacred bird, the vehicle of the god, flew away from the
temple. On coming to himself the priest uttered a loud shriek and seemed
to wake as from a profound sleep, unconscious of everything that had
passed.[158] Sometimes, however, the priest continued to be possessed by
the deity for two or three days; at such times he wore a piece of native
cloth, of a peculiar sort, round one arm as a sign of his inspiration.
His acts during this period were deemed to be those of the god; hence
the greatest attention was paid to his expressions and to the whole of
his deportment. Indeed, so long as the fit of inspiration lasted he was
called a god (_atua_); but when it was over, he resumed his ordinary
title of priest.[159]

[158] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 349 _sq._

[159] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 373-375.

We are told that in his fine frenzy the priest "often rolled on the
earth, foaming at the mouth, as if labouring under the influence of the
divinity, by whom he was possessed, and, in shrill cries, and violent
and often indistinct sounds, revealed the will of the god."[160] It
would probably be a mistake to assume that on such occasions the frantic
behaviour was deliberately assumed and the wild whirling words were
consciously uttered for the purpose of deceiving the people; in short,
that the whole performance was a mere piece of acting, a bare-faced
imposture. It is far more likely that, bred from childhood to believe in
the reality of divine inspiration, the priest often sincerely imagined
himself to be possessed by a deity, and that, under the excitement which
such an ima