Lack of genuine idols

A far-reaching influence was produced on the life of these races by the fact that they made no special images of their gods, but regarded them rather as only temporarily embodied in arbitrarily selected things. Fetishes of this kind were, however, not absolutely necessary for intercourse with the gods. Prayers uttered in a low tone with a whispering movement of the lips were, as with us, directed up to heaven, and in Hawaii customary language drew a contrast between the worship of idols and speech addressed to invisible beings. The idols were only reverenced when the god had taken up his abode in them, and the priest could obtain this by prayer and sacrifice.

Embodiments of gods

The choice of objects was quite arbitrary, it might be matting or wood, but only the sacred wood of the tree Casuarina equisetifolia, and only if this could not be obtained that of Calophyllum, Ficus, or Cordia. Stones were employed very frequently, roughly worked wood-blocks with a human countenance recognisable at a pinch, and frequently with the sexual parts indicated in an exaggerated degree; blocks of stone similarly worked, even imposing statues, as on Easter Island, and giant stone figures; spirits of the sand and of the rock are the nearest approach to our idea of an idol. But as a matter of fact, these are often less revered than some perfectly arbitrary figure - a bit of wood bound round with string, or a twig of banana tied up with coco-nut fibre.

We must not see an "idol" in every carved image; for figure-carving is an art, carried on con amore and with great ability. In the stone figures we may possibly assume the survivals of a former cult, holding a closer relation to mythologic and historical conceptions than does that of shapeless lumps of wood. In the west we are obviously much nearer to the origin of these figures. If a Papua has died, his son carves a figure, sets it up in the house, and calls upon it in difficulties; when the sculptor himself dies, his son makes an idol of him, and throws away the now useless grandfather.

Ancestral image (Korvar) from New Guinea - approx, 300mm high. (British Museum.)

In the Duke of York Island (New Lauenburg) have been found double idols, supposed to represent an ancestral married couple. These figures of souls conventionalised can easily pass into regular idols. The idols from Dorey in New Guinea, 6 to 8 inches high, represent unquestionably a sexless being, standing with its arms supported on an ornamental trellis (as in the cut above). This development converts the domestic ancestral figure into a public institution. In the Solomon Islands crude carvings of this kind support the roof of the assembly hall.

Feather-idols

In the far-famed Hawaii feather idols, the idea of the mythological bird (for instance, the sacred alae bird) lay no doubt originally at the root of the representation. In Tonga the patron god of a tribe was symbolised by a folded mat with red feathers; in New Zealand red feathers were strewn about to ensure fertility.

Idols were set up in spots where immediate help was expected from them. Along the roads in Hawaii stones wrapped in grass are pointed out as local gods; and on mountain-paths sacrifices were offered before upright stones to avert a fall. To this class belong also the gods' footprints in stone, to which legends have become attached even in comparatively recent times. Near Taupa in New Zealand a chief left his footstep on a rock; and the prints of a chief who had been slain by Kamehameha were pointed out to Birgham. The temple precinct was a recognised asylum wherever social relations were at all advanced, and herein temple and grave coincide. In Hawaii, asylum might be sought near the grave of the kings, and similarly in Tonga a chief's burial place was holy ground. Also the capability of affording protection passed in both cases from the place to the priest who served it. In Ranai an asylum was formed diagonally across the island, by a simple process. The priests allowed fugitives to pass under their staves, which they then crossed against the pursuers.