"The concept of mana associated with the ancestor cult is strong in the native pattern of thought. According to this concept mana is the vital force or potency which gives supernatural significance to persons or things...Its presence in a person or thing is not attributed to power inherent in the thing itself but to some spiritual force lodging in it...The first-born of each noble clan was the temporary repository of the mana of the clan’s ancestral forefathers. The chiefs had the strongest forefathers and the high chief was the most sacred because theoretically they received mana from the most powerful ancestor gods."
