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his own safeguard, lest certain chiefs should take the opportunity to revolt.

In the course of two hours they arrived at Felletoa, where the body was laid in a house on the marly at some distance from the grave, till another and smaller house could be brought close to it*; and this was done in the course of an hour, the corner posts being taken up, the four pieces which compose the building (a kind of shed in a pyramidal form, the eaves reaching within four feet of the ground) were brought by a sufficient number of men, and put together at the place where it was wanted. This being done, the body was brought on the same hurdle or hand-barrow to the newly erected building, (if it may be so termed) and then being taken off the hurdle it was laid within, on the bale of gnatoo, and the house was hung round with black gnatoo, reaching from the eaves to the groundt. The women,

The body is always placed in a house in front of the fytoca during the time the grave is dug: if there be no house near, a small one is immediately brought for the purpose, which, from the construction of their houses, is readily done by the aid of 50 or 60 men.

This black gnatoo, or rather gnatoo of a dark colour, having a deep brown ground with black stripes, is not chosen on account of its colour, but because it is coarse and common (emblematical of poverty and sadness). They have a

who were now all assembled and seated round the body, began a most dismal lamentation, similar to that at Neafoo; in the mean time a number of people, whose business it is to prepare graves, were digging the place of interment within the fytoca, under the direction of Lanagi, a mataboole whose office is to superintend such affairs. Having dug about ten feet, they came to the large stone vault, such as was described in the note p. 153; a rope being then fastened double round one end of the stone, which always remains a little raised for this purpose by means of certain bodies placed underneath; it was raised by the main strength of 150 or 200 men, pulling at the two ends of the rope, towards the opposite edge of the grave, till it was brought up on end. The body, being oiled with sandal-wood oil and then wrapped in Hamoa mats, was handed down on a large bale of gnatoo into the grave; the bale of gnatoo was then, as is customary, taken by the beforementioned mataboole as his perquisite. Next, the body of his daughter, in the model of a canoe, was let down in like manner and placed

kind of gnatoo of very superior quality, but of the same colour and pattern, and this is used on occasions of rejoicing.

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by his side. The great stone was then lowered down with a loud shout. Immediately certain matabooles and warriors ran like men frantic round and about the fytoca, exclaiming, "Alas! "how great is our loss! Finow!, are "departed; witness this proof of our love and loyalty!" At the same time they cut and bruised their own heads with clubs, knives, axes, &c.

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The whole company now formed themselves into a single line, the women first and afterwards the men, but without any particular order as to rank, and proceeded towards Lico (or the back of the island, as they term it, because there is no opening for large canoes), for the purpose (as customary) of getting a quantity of sand in small baskets, for the use directly to be described. The guns were not

* This grave, which was considered a large one, is capacious enough to hold thirty bodies. Two bodies which Mr. Mariner saw there, and which were in a very dry but perfect state, had been buried, as he was told by old men, when they were, boys, and consequently must have been there upwards of forty years; while several others, of which nothing remained but the bones, had not been buried so long: this circumstance, the natives suppose to be owing to different kinds of constitution, though, in all probability, to the kind or length of disease of which they died.

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..

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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 woand 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

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