them in good humour, might be visited with even worse
consequences than moral delinquency. And those who will
carefully study the so-called "Mosaic code" contained in the
books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, will see that, though
Jahveh's prohibitions of certain forms of immorality are strict
and sweeping, his wrath is quite as strongly kindled against
infractions of ritual ordinances. Accidental homicide may go
unpunished, and reparation may be made for wilful theft. On the
other hand, Nadab and Abihu, who "offered strange fire before
Jahveh, which he had not commanded them," were swiftly devoured
by Jahveh's fire; he who sacrificed anywhere except at the
allotted place was to be "cut off from his people"; so was he
who ate blood; and the details of the upholstery of the
Tabernacle, of the millinery of the priests' vestments, and of
the cabinet work of the ark, can plead direct authority from
Jahveh, no less than moral commands.

Amongst the Tongans, the sacrifices were regarded as gifts of
food and drink offered to the divine Atuas, just as the articles
deposited by the graves of the recently dead were meant as food
for Atuas of lower rank. A kava root was a constant form of
offering all over Polynesia. In the excellent work of the Rev.
George Turner, entitled Nineteen Years in Polynesia
(p. 241), I find it said of the Samoans (near neighbours of
the Tongans):--


The offerings were principally cooked food. As in ancient
Greece so in Samoa, the first cup was in honour of the god.
It was either poured out on the ground or waved towards