In the Tonga Islands, there are two principal personages,—Tooitonga and Veachi,—who are believed to be the living representatives of powerful gods. Upon the death of Tooitonga, certain ceremonies are practised, among which: “The men now approach the mount, i. e., the funeral mound, it being dark, and, if the phrase be allowable, perform the devotions to Cloacina, after which they retire. As soon as it is daylight the following morning, the women of the first rank, wives and daughters of the greatest chiefs, assemble with their female attendants, bringing baskets, one holding one side and one the other, advancing two and two, with large shells to clear up the depositions of the preceding night, and in this ceremonious act of humiliation, no female of the highest consequence refuses to take her part. Some of the mourners in the ‘fytoca’ generally come out to assist; so that, in a very little while, the place is made perfectly clean. This is repeated the fourteen following nights, and as punctually cleaned away by sunrise every morning. No persons but the agents are allowed to be witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies; at least, it would be considered highly indecorous and irreligious to be so. On the sixteenth day, early in the morning, the same females again assemble; but now they are dressed up in the finest ‘gnatoo,’ and most beautiful Hamao mats, decorated with ribbons, and with wreaths of flowers round their necks; they also bring new baskets ornamented with flowers, and little brooms, very tastefully made. Thus equipped they approach, and act as if they had the same task to do as before, pretending to clear away the dirt, though no dirt is now there, and take it away in their blankets.... The natives themselves used to regret that the filthy part of these ceremonies was necessary to be performed, ... and that it was the duty of the most exalted nobles, even of the most delicate females of rank, to perform the meanest and most disgusting offices, rather than that the sacred grounds in which he was buried should remain polluted.” (Dillon’s “Expedition in Search of La Perouse,” London, 1829, vol. ii. pp. 57-59.) Dillon says that this “must be considered a religious rite, standing upon the foundation of very ancient customs.”—(Idem, p. 57.) XXXIX. MYTHS. “All peoples have invented myths to explain why they observed certain customs.”—(“The Golden Bough,” vol. ii. p. 128.) “Myth changes while custom remains constant; men continue to do what their fathers did before them, though the reasons on which their fathers acted have long been forgotten. The history of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason; to find a sound theory for an absurd practice.”—(Idem, p. 62.)