en (p. 70) that according to Mariner the number
of the original gods was about three hundred; but as to the
deified noblemen he merely says that "of these there must be a
vast number" (_Tonga Islands_, ii. 109). In his "Notes on Tongan
Religion" (_Journal of the Polynesian Society_, xxx. (1921) p.
159) Mr. E. E. V. Collocot remarks: "The number of the gods,
moreover, was liable to constant augmentation by the deification
of the illustrious or well-beloved dead." As a notable instance
he cites the case of a certain chief named Fakailoatonga, a
native of Vavau, who subdued or overran a large part of
Tongataboo. He was a leper, but for a long time did not know the
true nature of his malady. When he learned the truth, he in
disgust buried himself alive, and after his death he was
elevated to the godhead. But in this deification, if Mariner is
right, there was nothing exceptional; as a chief he became a god
after death in the course of nature.

Sec. 10. _Temples and Tombs: Megalithic Monuments_

On the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that in Tonga the
distinction between the original superhuman deities and the new human
gods tended to be obliterated in the minds of the people. More and more,
we may suppose, the deified spirits of dead men usurped the functions
and assimilated themselves to the character of the ancient divinities.
Yet between these two classes of worshipful beings Mariner draws an
important distinction which we must not overlook. He says that these new
human gods, these souls of deified nobles, "have no houses dedicated to
them, but the proper places to invoke them are their graves, which are
considered sacred, and are therefore as much respected as consecrated
houses."[133] If this distinction is well founded, the consecrated house
or temple, as we may call it, of an original god was quite different
from the grave at which a new god, that is, a dead man or woman, was
worshipped. But in spite of the high authority of Mariner it seems
doubtful whether the distinction which he makes between the temples of
the old gods and the tombs of the new ones was always recognised in
practice, and whether the two were not apt to be confounded in the minds
even of the natives. The temples of the gods, as we have seen, did not
differ in shape and structure from the houses of men, and similar
houses, as we shall see, were also built on the graves of kings an