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Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before by George Turner
page 65 of 222 (29%)

3. ASOMUA--_First Day._

This was a household god, and particularly useful to the family in
detecting and telling out the name of the thief when anything was
missed. He was called _first day_, as it was supposed that he existed
in the world before mortals.


4. LEATUALOA--_The long god, or the centipede._

This was the name of a god seen in the centipede. A tree near the
house was the residence of the creature. When any one of the family
was ill, he went out with a fine mat and spread it under the tree, and
there waited for the centipede to come down. If it came down and
crawled _under_ the mat, that was a sign that the sick person was to
be covered over with mats and buried. If, however, it crawled on the
top of the mat, that was a sign of recovery.


5. O LE AUMĀ--_The red liver._

This family god was seen, or incarnate, in the wild pigeon. If any
visitor happened to roast a pigeon while staying there, some member of
the household would pay the penalty by being done up in leaves, as if
ready to be baked, and carried and laid in the _cool_ oven for a
time, as an offering to show their unabated regard to Aumā.

The use of the reddish-seared bread-fruit leaf for any purpose was
also insulting to this deity. Such leaves were in common use as
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