weather, and this again into sunshine. He was also supposed to come
with his share of food for the entertainment of strangers, and add a
pig to the number prepared by the people. If six were laid down, the
guests found, when they separated the heap of dainties they had
received, that there would be _seven_ instead of six. The trick of
adding secretly a pig was carried on by some of the priesthood, and,
in the eyes of the credulous multitude, added vastly to the
wonder-working power of Turia. On another island the shrine of Turia
was a very smooth stone in a sacred grove. The priest was careful to
weed all round about, and covered it with branches to keep the god
warm. When praying on account of war, drought, famine, or epidemic,
the branch _clothes_ were carefully renewed. No one dared to touch
this stone, lest a poisonous and deadly influence of some kind should
at once radiate from it to the transgressor.


41. TUIFITI--_King of Fiji._

This was the name of a village god in Savaii supposed to be incarnate
in a man who walked about but was never visible to the people of the
place. He could be seen, however, by strangers. For instance, if a
large travelling party were spending a day at the settlement, and
entertained in the usual way by every inhabitant turning out to march
in procession to the guests, each with a basket of cooked food, the
god would be among them. This was known by two things. First, more
pigs by one, two, or three than the chiefs arranged to provide; and
secondly, by the guests after the ceremony putting such a question as,
"Whose son was that handsome young man dressed with a girdle of fancy
bush leaves?" while at the same time no one of the place had seen such
a person.