of the
family. The bat also was an incarnation, and an unusual number of
them came about the temple in time of war. One flying ahead of the
troops was always a good omen. If a neighbour killed a bat, it might
lead to war to avenge the insult. Another representative of this deity
was a shrub (_Ascarina lanceolata_). The leaf of the ti (_Dracaena
terminalis_) was carried as a banner wherever the troops went. June
was the usual month for special worship. All kinds of food from the
land and the sea were provided as a feast, but only the one family of
the priest was allowed to partake. Whatever was over after the meal
was buried at the beach. After that followed club exercise, and in
terrible earnest they battered each other's scalps till the blood
streamed down and over their faces and bodies; and this as an offering
to the deity. Old and young, men, women, and children, all took part
in this general _melee_ and blood-letting, in the belief that
Taisumalie would thereby be all the more pleased with their
devotedness, and answer prayer for health, good crops, and success in
battle.

2. This was also the name of a war god in Savaii. Incarnate in a man
and spoke through him. When the war fleet was about to cross to
another island to fight, they went out from the shore half a mile and
then returned to a streamlet where they prayed for success, and were
sprinkled or purified, and then went off to the fight, free, as they
thought, from any delinquency curse which might have been resting
upon them.

This deity was also supposed to be incarnate in the sea eel
(_Muraena_). In a village where the first Christian native teachers
were located one of them caught an eel and had it cooked. Two lads of
the place who were their servants ate a bit at the evening meal. As
soon as the people heard that these lads had "eaten the god," they
mustered, gave them a beating, and dragged them off to a cooking
house. They laid them down in the oven pit, and covered them with
leaves _as if_ they had been killed, and were now to be cooked as a
peace-offering to avert the wrath of the deity. It was expected that
the lads would immediately die, but as nothing amiss happened to them
beyond the weals of the rods used by mortals, it was concluded that
Taisumalie was a mere sham, and that they had better now turn to the
God of heaven.

3. Taisumalie was also the name of a household god, and worshipped
among various families in different parts of the gro