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Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before by George Turner
page 45 of 222 (20%)
they fell to the westward, it was a sign that the enemy there was to
be driven; but if they fell to eastward, that was a warning of defeat,
and delay in making an attack was ordered accordingly.

The iconoclast native teachers from Tahiti, in the early stage of the
mission, when such stones were given up to them, had them taken off to
the beach and broken into fragments, and so stamp out at once the
heathenism with which they were associated. Hardly a single relic of
the kind can be found at the present day.


23. LE SA--_The sacred one._

1. The name of a war god in several villages, and incarnate in the
lizard. Before going to battle the movements of a lizard in a bundle
of spears was watched. If the lizard ran about the points of the
spears and the outside of the bundle, it was a good omen; but if it
rather worked its way into the centre for concealment, it was a bad
sign.

A piece of matting was also spread over one of the posts of the house,
and if a lizard was seen coming down on the matting, the sign was
good; but if a bare post was chosen by the creature for its descent
from the rafters to the floor, it augured ill. If a lizard crossed the
path or ran against any one going to battle, that also was an evil
omen.

2. In some places Le Sa was incarnate in an owl, was more of an
agricultural god, who sent rain and abundance of food, and was
worshipped about the month of April. He was prayed to and propitiated
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