The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-29
ROOT OF ALL EXISTENCE
The Curious Belief Of the South Sea
Islanders Regarding the
Earth.
It Is Only an Enormous Coooanut
Shell With a Hole In the
Top
While the Sky IL simply n Blue Vault Of
Solid Stone Full OF
Apertures.

WulI0 lh0 SKY ~ SIMPLY u Iblu0 vAUtt q
Solid Stone Full OF
Apertures.
Tho savage islanders Of the South Pacif
believe that the world il a oocoanut shell
Of M dimensions, at the top O.
which is a single aperture communicating
with the upper air. where human being
dwell. At the very bottom Of this i'm
scinary shell is a stem gradually t~aperins
to a point. says the Washington Star, which
represents the beginning Of all things,
This point is n spirit or demon without hu-
man form, whose name is Root Of All Ex-
istenoe." by him the entire fabric of crea-
tion is sustained. In the interior of the
cocoanut shell. at its very bottom. lives a
female demon. 80 narrow IL the space into
which she is crowded. shat she is obliged to
cit forever with knees and chin touching.
Her name is 1.-The Very Beginning" and
from her are sprung numerous spirits.
They inhabit Eve different floors, into
which the great cocosnut is divided. From
certain OF these spirits mankind 10 de-
scended.
AAe uo
the only real men and women. were for.
merly accustomed to regard strangers as
evil spirits in the guise of humanity, whom
they killed when they could, offering them
as sacrifices. According to their belief the
shy was q blue vault Of solid stone. around
the bottom of which were a number of holes.
Through these the wins spirit blew. The
gods first spoke to man through certain
mail birds, but. because OF their indistinct
voice. an order OF priests had to be set
apart, the gods taking up their abode in
these sacred persons. Priests wore accord
ingly named god boxes" From the glut-
tonous habits in which they INDUCED the
phrase Ito gormandiZe like a god" is de-
rived. Their power was we'll nigh lnlim-
tied, Anybody whom they disllked they
could designate to sacrifice. Human sacri-
ing devoted for gene alton after generation
to furnishing such offerings.
One popular myth expresses the poetical
belief that the island of Tongarsva was
fshed out of the bottom of the sea by a god
who used for the purpose the tail of the Con-
stellation ''>corpio." batting this remark
able hook with a star. Another divinity
nccomp. ished a work of great beneticence
by regulating the sun.
The orb of the day used to nave a trick of
setting almost as soon as it had risen, 80
tsat it was impossible to get through any
work. Even an oven Of food could not be
prepared and cooked before darkness came
on.
So the deity Maui carefully planted six
great ropes OF strong cocoanut fiber, making
nooses in them, and with these he sought
the hole at the edge of the sky through
which the sun climbs up from the neither
world each morning. At this point of exit
from the land of ghosts into the heavens
Six noOscs were placed.
They enttapped the sun and that lumi-
was glad to agree to be in future mose
ate in his movements, so as to enable
the inhabitants of earth to get through
their employment.
Originally the heavens almost touched
the earth, but Mapi and another god named
Ru pushed them up to their present lofty
However. the work was not COM
plete. for the surface OF the sky was very
irregular. So they each took a big stone
adj and with them clipped of he rough
parts OF the sky, thus giving it a perfectly
oval appearance. Then they procured finer
of blue stone until it became faultlessly
smooth and beautiful, as 1t now is. There
are ten heavens, one above another, which
are the abode of warriors who have per-
ished in battle.
To these natives of the South Pacific the
Soooouus As q SfRetdDlo prouuct OF the Ut
most Importance. Its origin was divine.
There was a young woman, daughter of a
goddess, who lived in a cave close BY which
ran a stream that was filled with cells, One
day while bathing she was surprised bv u
huge eel. which presently assumed the form
Of a handsome youth. He informed her
he was the god of the cells. They be-
lovers. but finally he was compelled
10 bid her farewell. Before doing 30, how
over, he appeared in his cal shape and
directed her to cut off his head and bury it.
he dld so. and it sprouted into a tree,
From this tee all the cocoanuts in the
world were derived, and on each nut are in.
The young man. The white kernel is COM
monty referred to as his brains.
Hades, or the land of ghosts, is supposed
10 De inside the mighty cocoanut shell, be-
meath the surface OF the earth, which is
a thin crust over a vast hollow.
Some of the islands, being of volcanic
orlgln. are honeycombod with caves and
chasms, own the deepest of
which the coruses of the dead are thrown.
70 that the su vlvors not unnaturally i'm
that this entrance to the neither Voi Id
70 be down one or more of these pits.
In this strange spirit land il pur-
'ued by the immortals very much as mao.
pie live on earth. They are ve1y numeions
md their ways are mostly far from engage
ng. Some tribes of them are cannibals,
whose delight is to entrap and feed on the
'ouls OF mortals. Others have only one
apiece.
Each human soul. upon leaving the BODY.
9 compelled to climb upon a branch of a
go OF supernatural origin. The wretched
'plrlt LOOKS down to the root Of the tree.
inu, TO It's horror, sees a great net spread
'ut beneath to catch it. At length it falls
INTO this fatal net, and ia at once submerged
II a lake of fresh water filled with captive
which exhaust themselves by wri1-
,I1ng like fishes in the vain hope of escapinp.
the net is pulled mp and the
l~alt-drowned spirits are b ought into the
presence of a no rible necress named M;rn
INC superlntends an ever-burning oven.