the family dared not partake, he would help a neighbour to cut up and
cook one; only while he was doing that, he had a bandage tied over his
mouth lest some embryo turtle should slip down his throat, grow up,
and cause his death.

2. In another family Apelesa spoke at times through an old man. When
an oven of food was opened the first basket was hung up on the outside
of one of the posts of the house for the god. If the rats, or a dog,
or any hungry mortal took it in the night, it was supposed that
Apelesa chose to come in _that_ form for his offering. He was also
considered the guardian of the family, and if any other gods came
about he frightened them away.

3. In another family a woman called Alaiava, or _means of
entertainment_, was priestess of Apelesa. She prayed at parturition
times, and in cases of severe illness. Her usual mode of acting the
doctor was, first of all, to order down all the cocoa-nut leaf
window-blinds of one end of the house. She then went into the darkened
place. Presently that end of the house shook as if by an earthquake,
and when she came out she declared what the disease was, and ordered
corresponding treatment; the result was that, "some recovered, and
some died."

In this family the first basket of cooked food was also sacred to the
god, but their custom was to take it and hang it up in the large house
of the village where passing travellers were accustomed to call and
rest. No one of the village dared to touch that basket without
risking the wrath of the god. Any passing _stranger_, however, was as
welcome to partake as if he had been specially sent for it by Apelesa.