and partly in Hamóa, a sort of song, or rather a piece of recitative. While this is going on, a number of men in the neighbourhood get ready to come to the grave, to perform a part of the ceremony which the reader will not think altogether consonant with the high character for cleanliness which we have given it must be considered, however, a religious rite, standing upon the foundation of very ancient custom. These men, about sixty in number, assemble before the grave, and wait farther orders. The chaunting being finished, and the conchs having ceased to blow, one of the mourners comes forward, seats herself outside the fytoca, and addresses the people thus: "Men! ye are gathered here to perform the duty imposed on you; bear up, and let not your exertions be wanting to accomplish the work :" having said this, she retires into the fytoca. The men now approach the mount (it being dark), and (if the phrase is allowable) perform their devotions to Cloacina, after which they retire. As soon as it is day-light, the following morning,

monies. None of them understand the words. It begins thus: too fia o chí tóccalów eío chi toccalów ca me fafángo eio manáve táwto, &c. There are several Tonga words among it, and in all probability it is old or corrupted Tonga, though no sense can now be made of it.

the women of the first rank (wives and daughters of the greatest chiefs), assemble with their female attendants, bringing baskets, one holding one side, and one the other, advancing two and two, with large shells to clear up the depositions of the over night; and in this ceremonious act of humility there is no female of the highest consequence refuses to take her part: some of the mourners in the fytoca generally come out to assist, so that in a very little while the place is made perfectly clean: this is repeated the fourteen following nights, and as punctually cleared away by sun-rise every morning. No persons but the agents are allowed to be witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies, at least it would be considered highly indecorous and irreligious to be so. On the sixteenth day, early in the morning, the same females again assemble; but now they are dressed up in the finest gnatoo, and most beautiful Hamoa mats, decorated with ribbons and with wreaths of flowers round their necks: they also bring new baskets, ornamented with flowers, and little brooms very tastefully made: thus equipped, they approach, and act as if they had the same task to do as before, pretending to clear away the dirt, though no dirt is now there, and take it away in their baskets. They then re

turn to the mood, and resume their mourning mats and leaves of the if tree. Such are the transactions of the fifteen days; every day the ceremony of the burning torches being also repeated. The natives themselves used to express their regret that the filthy part of these ceremonies was necessary to be performed, to demonstrate their great veneration for the high character of Tooitonga, and that it was the duty of the most exalted nobles, even of the most delicate females of rank, to perform the meanest and most disgusting offices, rather than the sacred ground in which he was buried should remain polluted.

For one month, from the day of burial, greater or less quantities of provisions are brought every day, and shared out to the people. On the first day a prodigious quantity is supplied; but on. every succeeding day a less quantity, gradually decreasing till the last, when, comparatively, a very small portion is brought. The expenditure, and we may say waste of provisions, is, however, so great, as to require a taboo to be laid on certain kinds of provisions, (see Vol. I. p. 119), which lasts about eight or ten months; and at the end of that time the ceremony of fuccalahi is performed, to remove it.

TABOO. This word has various shades of

signification: it means sacred or consecrated to a god, having the same signification as fucca égi: it means prohibited or forbidden, and is applied not only to the thing prohibited, but to the prohibition itself, and frequently (when it is in sacred matters), to the person who breaks the prohibition. Thus if a piece of ground or a house be consecrated to a god, by express declaration, or the burial of a great chief, it is said to be taboo; the like if a canoe be consecrated, which is frequently done, that it may be more safe in long voyages, &c. As it is forbidden to quarrel or fight upon consecrated ground, so fighting in such a place would be said to be táboo, and those that fought would be said also to be táboo; and a man who is thus táboo would have to make some sacrifice to the gods as an atonement for the sacrilege, as instanced in Palavali's case. (See Vol. I p. 227.) If any one touches a superior chief, or superior relation, or any thing immediately belonging to him, he táboos himself; but this is not supposed to produce any bad consequence, unless he feeds himself with his own hands, without first removing this táboo, which is to be done by performing the ceremony of mo'ë-mo'ë, directly to be explained. If a person touches the body of a dead chief, or any thing personally

belonging to him, he becomes táboo, and time alone can relieve him. (See note, Vol. I. p. 150.) Certain kinds of food, as turtle, and a certain species of fish, from something in their nature, are said to be táboo, and must not be eaten until a small portion be first given to the gods. Any other kind of food may be rendered ta'boo by a prohibition being laid on it. Fruits and flowers when tábooed are generally marked to be so, by pieces of white tapa, or a piece of plait, in the shape of a lizard or shark. To prevent certain kinds of food from growing scarce, a prohibition or táboo is set on them for a time as after the ina'chi, or other great and repeated ceremonies; and which ta'boo is afterwards removed by the ceremony called fuccala'hi; but this latter term is not only applied to the ceremony which removes the prohibition, but is equally used to express the duration of the taboo itself, and which therefore is often called the time of the fuccalahi. During certain ceremonies, as that of the ina'chi and the fala (see Vol. I. p. 404), nobody may appear abroad, or at least in sight, it being tabooed to do so.

Any thing that is not tabooed is said to be gnofoo'a (i. e. easy, or at liberty), and is a term used in contradistinction to ta'boo.

When a person is tabooed, by touching a