1841.] MARRIAGES. 409 



circle, three feet in diameter, made of coral stones, and cov- 

 ered with white gravel ; in the centre of the ring is a cocoa- 

 nut, which is bound round with leaves when prayers are of- 

 fered up to the goddess. Almost every family of distinction 

 has one of the stones typical of Wainangin, but some of the 

 inhabitants do not recognize him, and worship birds, fish, an- 

 imals, and the souls of their ancestors represented by their 

 skulls, which are religiously preserved. Each family, too, 

 in the higher ranks, has an iboya, or priest, to offer up prayers, 

 and receive and eat the food presented to the tutelar deity. 

 After death, according to the belief of the natives, their spirits 

 ascend into the air — those of the children being carried by 

 their female relatives — and are there tossed about for some- 

 time by the winds, until finally, if of high rank, they are 

 wafted to Kainakaki, or Elysium; but the shade of the poor 

 kawa, of the person who is not tattooed (except in some parts 

 of the group), is intercepted, and doomed by a large giantess, 

 called Baine. The Kainakaki of the natives is supposed to 

 be in the island of Tavaira, one of the group, where there are 

 a number of curious oblong mounds, upwards of twenty feet 

 high. 



On a reef between the islets of Kuria and Onebka, is a 

 large flat coral stone, which the natives suppose to represent 

 another female deity called Itituapea ; and whenever they 

 pass that way they invoke the protection of the goddess, and 

 bestow upon her a portion of their food, if they chance to 

 have any with them. 



Children are named by the priest as soon as they arc born ; 

 but if they are soon taken sick, another name is substituted 

 for the first, in the hope that it will prove more fortunate to 

 the possessor. Females are betrothed immediately after their 

 birth, or at a very early age. Polygamy is practiced by all 

 the males of high rank, or who can afford to keep up a large 

 harem. Some of the principal chiefs have from twenty to 

 fifty wives, and they are pretty sure to monopolize all the 

 comeliest damsels in their vicinity. The kawas, however, 

 are denied the privilege of marrying, except with the consent 



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