RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES. 135 
but sometimes stealing at night into their habi- 
tations, and killing the sleepers, whose hearts 
and entrails he devoured. This belief in ghosts 
is perhaps not more universal in Tahaiti than 
among civilized nations. 
According to another of Cook’s companions, 
the supreme God united departed souls with his 
own existence, which was signified by the phrase, 
*“* He eats them.” This was purification, after 
which the soul, or the genius, reached the abode 
of eternal happiness. If aman, for some months 
before his death, had kept himself apart from 
women, he did not require this purification, 
but went direct to Heaven. The pride of the 
Yeris prompted them to believe in a Heaven 
peculiar to themselves, where they should asso- 
ciate only with their equals in birth. 
The Tahaitians of rank had each a Marai 
sacred to themselves, and which served for their 
religious assemblies. The greatest and most 
solemn of these meetings were held at the Marai 
of the Kings. Here the priests harangued the 
people ; and here was performed the rite which 
stained the otherwise amiable character of these 
islanders — the offering of human. sacrifices! 
