in the eleventh and twelfth centuries B.C. is therefore simply
the article which is to be found in all primitive theologies,
namely, the belief that a man has a soul which continues to
exist after death for a longer or shorter time, and may return,
as a ghost, with a divine, or at least demonic, character, to
influence for good or evil (and usually for evil) the affairs of
the living. But the correspondence between the old Israelitic
and other archaic forms of theology extends to details. If, in
order to avoid all chance of direct communication, we direct our
attention to the theology of semi-civilised people, such as the
Polynesian Islanders, separated by the greatest possible
distance, and by every conceivable physical barrier, from the
inhabitants of Palestine, we shall find not merely that all the
features of old Israelitic theology, which are revealed in the
records cited, are found among them; but that extant information
as to the inner mind of these people tends to remove many of the
difficulties which those who have not studied anthropology find
in the Hebrew narrative.

One of the best sources, if not the best source, of information
on these topics is Mariner's Tonga Islands, which tells
us of the condition of Cook's "Friendly Islanders" eighty years
ago, before European influence was sensibly felt among them.
Mariner, a youth of fair education and of no inconsiderable
natural ability (as the work which was drawn up from the
materials he furnished shows), was about fifteen years of age
when his ship was attacked and plundered by the Tongans:
he remained four years in the islands, familiarised himself with
the language, lived the life of the people, became intimate with
many of them, and had every opportunity of acquainting himself