5.  Taema and Titi were the names of two household gods in a family at the east end of the group.  They were twins, and Siamese.  Their bodies were united back to back.  They swam from the east, and as they came along the one said to the other:  “What a pity it is that we can only hear each other’s voice, but cannot see each other’s face!” On this they were struck by a wave, which cleaved asunder the joining and separated them.  Members of the family going on a journey were supposed to have these gods with them as their guardian angels.  Everything double—­such as a double yam, two bananas adhering, etc.—­was sacred, and not to be used under penalty of death.  It was also forbidden for any member of the family to sit back to back, lest it should be considered mockery and insult to the gods, and incur displeasure.

34.  TAISUMALIE—­Tide gently rising.

1.  This was the name of a lady in Upolu who went away among the gods, was worshipped first by her family, and then by all the people of the land where she resided.  She spoke through one of the heads 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.