another island to fight, they went out from the shore half a mile and
then returned to a streamlet where they prayed for success, and were
sprinkled or purified, and then went off to the fight, free, as they
thought, from any delinquency curse which might have been resting
upon them.

This deity was also supposed to be incarnate in the sea eel
(_Muraena_). In a village where the first Christian native teachers
were located one of them caught an eel and had it cooked. Two lads of
the place who were their servants ate a bit at the evening meal. As
soon as the people heard that these lads had "eaten the god," they
mustered, gave them a beating, and dragged them off to a cooking
house. They laid them down in the oven pit, and covered them with
leaves _as if_ they had been killed, and were now to be cooked as a
peace-offering to avert the wrath of the deity. It was expected that
the lads would immediately die, but as nothing amiss happened to them
beyond the weals of the rods used by mortals, it was concluded that
Taisumalie was a mere sham, and that they had better now turn to the
God of heaven.

3. Taisumalie was also the name of a household god, and worshipped
among various families in different parts of the group.

(1.) In one place a member of the family was the incarnation, and
consulted on everything of importance. Before going to war each one
would ask whether he should go, what was to befall him, etc. If wounds
or death were predicted, the person would perhaps turn round and beat
the priest for giving _such_ a response!

(2.) In another place this god was incarnate in an old man who acted