■94 Transactions . — Miscellaneo us. 



compelling her to reuiain in retirement. The men then 

 formed in a row for the piliii, or dance, and the women, before 

 sitting down in front of them, arranged their tUieis or petticoats 

 so as not to crumple them, as they prepared to join in the 

 chant. The bride had meanwhile not appeared, and it was 

 not until she had been angrily called that from a closed hut 

 some young girls emerged with what seemed to be a bundle of 

 ma,ts in the centre. This, however, was really the young 

 bride, who, coming forth, ran towards the hut where the bride- 

 groom was seated, and then, darting back, was again enveloped 

 in mats and withdrawn to the remotest corner of the house. 

 The bride does not entirely disrobe herself of matting for 

 several days after the man-iage, when she appears with the 

 tihei, which she v;ears constantly for the remainder of her 

 life. Whilst the bride hides herself under the matting, the 

 bridegroom sits in front of the hut, and the ceremony oi piJm 

 connnences, accompanied by an extra amount of crying, cut- 

 ting, and bleeding, making a most melancholy affair of the 

 happy event. The bride is then handed over to tbe oldest 

 I'clatives present for some furtber ceremonies, which over, the 

 affair is completed." In Mr. Wyatt Gill's " Life in the 

 Southern Isles " is given a pretty picture of a Manihiki bride, 

 which seems to depict much the same dress as here described. 

 The ceremony itself seems to be allied to the Samoan custom 

 on similar occasions — for which see Dr. Turner's " Samoa " — 

 and is more formal than that in vogue with the Maoris. 



Of their superstitious ceremonies Mr. Lamont gives several 

 descriptions, one of which, evidently a form of purification to 

 remove the evil effects which might arise from contact with 

 their foreign visitors, was briefly as follows. Part of it appears 

 to be called a hai, a ceremony very closely allied to that 

 called by the Maoris jjukauakaua, or irhakatarna — a kind of 

 dance of defiance, accompanied with much grimacing and 

 gesticulation, Lamont and his comjmnions were led to the 

 marac by the men. the women and children not being allowed 

 to enter: "Lour young men rushed with their spears to the 

 edge of the marac, as if about to attack an enemy, facing each 

 other with the most horrid grimaces, and rapidly uttering a 

 kind of incantation. When this hai, as it is called, was over, 

 the whole concourse of men hastened within the precincts of 

 the ■iiiarac. Two old priests, girt round with cocoanut-leaves, 

 took seats on either side of the viarae, some distance further 

 up than the rest. Three young cocoanuts were then placed 

 on the flat stones in front of us, near which stood four young 

 men decked witli wreaths of green cocoanut-leaves. At a 

 signal from the priests two of these, stripping pieces of husk 

 from the cocoanut-leaves before them, ran to a point, where 

 they deposited one piece of husk, and immediately darted 



