are the president's share. If, before the conclusion, any one in the superior circle wishes to leave, he says to the chief, Iky teoo mow cava, I cannot provide cava; and, with this apology, he leaves: or, if he has actually provided cava, he has only to state some reason for his leaving the company, such as going to another island, or to superintend some work.

It has been noticed, that there are two matabooles, one on each side of the president, who direct the ceremonies; but it must be mentioned, that only one of them regulates the preparation and sharing out of each bowl; i. e. one regulates the first bowl, and the other the second, and so on alternately. They generally sit close to the chief, except when Tooitonga presides, and then there is an intervening space, between him and them, of about six feet, or rather more. No chief comes to an inferior chief's cava party, or, if any extraordinary circumstance was to make this necessary, the inferior would be obliged to retire to his own exterior circle, and the superior visitor would preside: for the greatest chief present must always preside, unless there be an inspired priest, then he sits at the head of the circle, and the greatest chief in company, who would otherwise have that honour

able situation, now retires, with other chiefs, to the exterior circle, not out of respect to the priest, who may be only a mooa, but out of veneration to the god supposed to exist within him; so that the superior circle, in such a case, consists principally of matabooles and mooas; for chiefs may be looked upon as distant relations to the gods, and no person may sit in the upper circle along with his superior relation; besides it is an act of humility demonstrating great respect. When a priest presides, which is the case at all religious ceremonies, except where they are consulting a god who has no priest*, the latter always has the first cup; the presiding mataboole, not actually officiating, has the second; the third, fourth, fifth, and perhaps sixth cups, are given to the

* When a god has no priest, as Tali-y-Toobo', for instance, no person actually presides at the head of his cava circle, the place being left apparently vacant, but which, it is supposed, the god invisibly occupies. On such occasions the cava party is always held before the house consecrated to the god. (Sec Vol. I. p. 365.) And they go through the usual form of words, as if the first cup was actually filled and presented to the god: thus, before any cup is filled, the man by the side of the bowl says, Cava gooa héca, The cava is in the cup: the mataboole answers, Angi ma ho egi, Give it to our god; but this is mere form, for there is no cup filled for the god.

next highest persons in the superior circle; and then the chiefs who have retired to the exterior circle are, out of respect, helped; but this rests at the option of the officiating mataboole; afterwards the remainder of the superior circle are served.

At smaller cava parties, the forms and words of ceremony are precisely the same; but when a priest does not preside, familiar conversation, and even joke and merriment, are indulged in. On all occasions every individual pays the greatest attention to his dress, that it be decorous and well tied on, that is, with neatness.

We have been particular in the description of the ceremony of preparing and drinking this infusion, because it sets in so strong a light the manners and customs of the people, and because it so frequently accompanies almost every kind of religious ceremony. It is not pretended, however, that drinking cava is essential to every religious ceremony, or to most of them, but that it is the custom to take it generally on such occasions. These religious ceremonies we shall now describe, and shall take them nearly in the order in which, by the natives, they are considered of most importance, or most sacred: viz. Ina'chi; Fu'ccaláhi; cava

fucca égi; Tow-tow; Nawgia; Tootooni'ma; Boo'too; Langi; Ta'boo; Fo'ta; Mo'ë-mo ́ë; too goo ca'va.

Although the ceremony of ind'chi was entirely abrogated by Finow just before Mr. Mariner left Vavaoo, we place it first in rank, because it always used to be considered of the utmost importance before it was done away with; besides which, it was a ceremony which affected the property of every individual in Vavaoo, and all the Hapai islands, and formerly in the island of Tonga also.

INACHI. This word means, literally, a share or portion of any thing that is to be or has been distributed out: but in the sense here mentioned it means that portion of the fruits of the earth, and other eatables, which is offered to the gods in the person of the divine chief Tooitonga, which allotment is made once a year, just before the yams in general are arrived at a state of maturity; those which are used in this ceremony being of a kind which admit of being planted sooner than others, and, consequently, they are the first fruits of the yam season. The object of this offering is to insure the protection of the gods, that their favour may be extended to the welfare of the nation generally, and in particular to the pro

ductions of the earth, of which yams are the most important.

The time for planting most kinds of yams is about the latter end of July, but the species called ca'ho-ca'ho, which is always used in this ceremony, is put in the ground about a month before, when, on each plantation, there is a small piece of land chosen and fenced in, for the purpose of growing a couple of yams of the above description. As soon as they have arrived at a state of maturity, the How sends a messenger to Tooitonga, stating that the yams for the ina'chi are fit to be taken up, and requesting that he would appoint a day for the ceremony: he generally fixes on the tenth day afterwards, reckoning the following day for the first. There are no particular preparations made till the day before the ceremony : at night, however, the sound of the conch is heard occasionally in different parts of the islands, and as the day of the ceremony approaches it becomes more frequent, so that the people of almost every plantation sound the conch three or four times, which, breaking in upon the silence of the night, has a pleasing effect, particularly at Vavaoo, where the number of woods and hills send back repeated echoes, adding greatly to the effect.