it was desirable that they should become human. Spirits
were accordingly sent to them by Tuli, and the worms became
man and woman.”
e Their notions of a future existence are quite vague. They
believe, however, in a happy future state, whei 'e every thing
good is provided. Some say that it is on their own island* -
others in distant islands, and for the chiefs at the residence of
the gods on Polotu, an island to the westward. They also
believe that the spirit goes there immediately after death;
that itv these' places it never rains ; that they eat and drink
there without labour, and are waited upon by the most .beau-
ti fill women, who are always young, or, as. a chief expressed
it to one of our officers, e whose breasts never hang down.’”
The spirits, according to their belief, often come down to
wander about at night around their former dwellings. . Some
spirits are, believed to: die, while others are immortak;
dwell in subterranean abodes, and are eaten by the god%
Some persons believe that after death they become j aitus”
or inferior gods.” g|
11 They believed, in\ many omens, which were carefully
watched. If the black stork, called matuu, flew before them
on a war expedition in the direction they were, going, they
deemed, it betokened success, but. if in any other direefion it
was an ill omen. If a dim moon, or very bright starlight,, or
comet were observed, it always indicated the death of a chief;
and a rainbow was a sign of war. The squeaking <j(f rats was
an unfortunate omen. Sneezing was also considered unlucky;
i f any one of a party sneezed on a journey, their future progress
was postponed.%i.
CHAPTER VI.
OF NATIVES^ OF THE MICRONES IAN" A RCHIPEL AÖO.
Section I .— Geograghital Situ a tio nRea so n fo r mdoptiiig
| the N am e; Questions relative to 'tfue Origin-of the -People*
Late writers on th e ; gêography of tohfe5©CCaniö'vpg ioiis have
proposed . to ' divide the;Paéi<ic! iptoi «several departments; to
which they have assigned differêntnumeS;* 'öhe or two of
these divisions will bö-especially useful in aid dfmy present
attempt, which is' to afford my-readers a clear 'view i of ■ the
lÉiatioïiS of tribes and races intheGreat Southetof^totoi
Micronesiay or the Mieröfiesten' ATcfelpèlS^^iS a designation
given to* a space inithë^’oCia» intorgpelÉè#with islands
pfȑmaii! xIt compreh^tds ^ the western part 'b#the
Northern Pacific,■‘--in other-'Words;' »a'gfekfc tra c t of that ocean
lyin^ t© the northward of the >@quatèr, <aitó between that line
and the northern tropic, and in longitude included-between
the meridian of the Fiji islands and the extreme border to*
wards the ocean of the Philippine!Arctópélag©» and'):the! in*
sular empire of Japan. Withihitfeese difSits iMiéronesia comprehends
the groupe of the Ladrones.i or'Marian “ Isles* to
the northward, and nearer to the equator all those clusters
of islands lying under the same parallel of latitude, which
in recent times have been comprised under the name of the
Caroline Archipelago.
All the Micronesian islands are, as the name noplies^ of
small extent. Guahan, or Guam, in the Marian tor northern
* Such as Malaisie, meaning the Malayan island’s of the Indian Archipelago,
Papouasie, Melanésie, Micronésie. See M. de Bietïàf, Bulletin de la
Société Geogr. de Paris, tom. xvii. 1832.