PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 167 



wounded upon the raft. And if this were the case, CH ^ P « 

 it affords a presumption that the custom of self-mu- "—^v— ' 

 tilation on such occasions, so common to many of iS. 

 the islands in the Pacific, does not exist here. 



As the sun went down the natives pointed to it, 

 and signified to us to be gone, exclaiming " Bobo 

 mai." We got from them a few articles of manufac- 

 ture, very similar to those of Pitcairn Islands. In 

 return for these we made them useful presents, and 

 took our leave with the promise of " Bobo mai," 

 which we understood to mean " come to-morrow." 

 We rowed round the rest of the island, and soon 

 satisfied ourselves of its extreme poverty. There 

 were two villages upon its western side, situated in 

 deep sandy bays, which would form excellent har- 

 bours for shipping, if they could be entered ; but 

 this is impracticable from the many coral knolls on 

 the outside. 



Lieutenant Belcher describes a morai, which he 

 visited, in the following manner. A hut, about 

 twenty feet in length by ten wide, and seven high, 

 with a thatched roof, of which the eaves were three 

 feet from the ground, contained the deity. There 

 were only two apertures, about two feet six inches 

 square, furnished with thatched shutters. In front 

 of the building, a space about twenty feet square 

 was paved with hewn coral slabs, with curbstones at 

 the edges, as neatly fitted as the pavements in Eng- 

 land. Along the whole length of the interior of 

 the hut was a trough elevated about three feet from 

 the ground; in the centre of which was an idol 

 three feet high, neatly carved and polished ; the eye- 

 brows were sculptured, but not the eyes ; and from 

 the manner in which the muscles were defined it was 



