however taken in the procession, as the young prince considered the measure now unnecessary, every thing appearing perfectly quiet, for if any party had intended to revolt, they would have done it on their way from Neafoo to the grave, whilst they had clubs and spears in their possession, and not during the ceremony of burial, before which every man, according to custom, deposits his arms in the neighbouring houses. It is true they might afterwards have taken up their arms again and planned mischief, but the prince, who had always his spies about, neither perceiving nor hearing of any symptoms of disturbance, did not wish to seem fearful of revolt, which would have been the case had he taken the guns with him to the back of the island, and which he could not have done with any plausible pretence, such as he had for carrying them to Felletoa,

In their road to the back of the island they sang loudly the whole way, as a signal to all who might be in the road or adjacent fields to hide themselves as quickly as possible, for it is sacrilegious for any body to be seen abroad by the procession during this part of the ceremony; and if any man had unfortunately made his appearance, he would undoubtedly have been pursued by one of the party, and

soon dispatched with the club. So strictly is this attended to, that nobody in Mr. Mariner's time recollected a breach of a law so well known. Even if a common man was to be buried, and Finow himself was to be upon the road, or in the neighbourhood of the procession, whilst going to get sand at the back of the island, he would immediately hide himself; not that they would knock out the king's brains on such an occasion, but it would be thought sacrilegious and unlucky, the gods of Bolotoo being supposed to be present at the time. The chiefs are particularly careful not to infringe upon sacred laws, lest they should set an example of disobedience to the people. The song on this occasion, which is very short, is sung first by the men, and then by the wo men, and so on alternately, and intimates (though Mr. Mariner has forgotten the exact words) that the fala (which is the name of this part of the ceremony) is coming, and that every body must get out of the way.

When they arrived at the back of the island, where any body may be present to see them, and, on this occasion, it was at the part called Mofooé, every one proceeded to make a small basket of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, holding about two quarts, and to fill it with

sand this being done, each of the men carried two upon a stick across the shoulder, one at each end-while the women only carried one, pressed, in general, against the left hip, or rather upon it, by the hand of the same side, and supported by the hand of the opposite side, brought backwards across the loins, which they consider the easiest mode for women to carry small burdens; they then proceeded back the same way, and with the same ceremony, to the grave. By this time the grave above the vault was nearly filled with the earth lately dug out, the remaining small space being left to be filled up by the sand, which is always more than enough for this purpose, that the mount, of which the fytoca. consists, may be strewed in like manner, it being considered a great embellishment to a grave to have it thus covered, and is thought to appear very well from a distance, where the clean sand may be seen on the outside of the fytoca; besides which, it is the custom, and nobody can explain the reason why, which ist the case with several of their customs. This

This mode, which the women use, is called fafa; that which the men use, as just described, dmo; carrying in the hand by the side, taggi-taggi;-whilst the general term for any mode of carrying is food,

*

being done, the temporary house is taken to pieces, and thrown behind the fytoca in the hole, out of which the earth was originally dug to raise the mount on which the fytoca stands in this hole also are thrown all the baskets in which the sand was brought, as well as the remaining quantity of earth not used in filling up the grave. The ground within the fytoca is now covered with mats, similar to what are commonly used in the houses, and which are made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. During the whole of this time the company was seated on the green before the fytoca, still clothed in mats, and their necks strung with the leaves of the ifi tree: after this they arose and went to their respective habitations, where they shaved their heads, and burnt their cheeks with a small lighted roll of tapat, by applying it once upon each cheek bone; after which, the place was rubbed with the astringent berry of the matchi, which occasions it to bleed, and with the blood they smeared about the wound, in a circular form,

* Or rather the house upon the fytoca, for the latter is a term given merely to the mount and the grave within it, for they have several fytocas which have no houses on them.

Tápa differs from gnatoo merely by its not being stamped or imprinted with any pattern.

to about two inches in diameter, giving themselves a very unseemly appearance*. They repeat this friction with the berry every day, making the wound bleed afresh: and the men, in the mean time, neglect to shave, and to oil themselves during the day; they do, however, at night, for the comfort which this operation affords. After having, in the first place, burnt their cheeks and shaved their heads, they built for themselves small temporary huts; for their own accommodation during the time of mourning, which lasts twenty days. The women, who have become tabooed by touching the dead body, remain constantly in the fytoca, except when they want food, for which they retire to one or other of these temporary houses, to be fed as mentioned in the note, p. 150, but they sleep in the fytoca. The provisions with which these tabooed women and mourners in general are provided were sent, on this occasion, with bales of gnatoo, first to the young prince, by the different chiefs and matabooles; the prince then ordered the greater

* Those whose love for the deceased is very great, or who wish it to be thought so, instead of burning their cheeks in the way mentioned, rub off the cuticle by beating and rubbing their cheeks with platt wound round their hands, made of the husk of the cocoa-nut; and this is a most painful operation.