RACES BIBLIOGRAPHY COMMITTEE. 339 
have known entire families to subsist on the crown of a felled 
cocoanut, with what fish they could catch. 
The salutation of the Hervey Islanders was the very reverse 
of our own. We dow to our friends ; they toss the head upwards, 
at the same time elevating the eyebrows. 
Their great national amusement was the dance. In this 
singular performance the joints seem to be loose. I do not believe 
it possible for any European to move the limbs as a Polynesian 
loves to do. Ata very early age mothers carefully oil the hands, 
&c., and then knead the tiny limbs, stretching and “ cracking ” 
each joint. Respecting the morality of their dances, the less said 
the better; but the ‘‘ upaupa dance,” introduced from Tahiti, is 
obscene indeed. 
WIZARDS, 
Priests ex-officio dealt with the gods and the invisible world. 
It was for them alone to approach the deities on behalf of the 
state, clan, or chiefs, ze, to chaunt avakia (prayers) at the 
marae* and present offerings. If Rongo were the divinity to be 
propitiated, a human sacrifice specially selected must be offered. 
To all other gods offerings of tish and “taro,” &e., with the indis- 
pensable bowl of piper mythisticum, were presented from time to 
time. No worshipper dared go empty-handed to his priest to 
inquire the will of the gods. The value of the gift must be 
proportioned to his rank and means. The load might be carried 
by ma/e slaves to the outskirts of the marae, but the offerer had 
a place allotted to him within the sacred precincts. The priest, 
or “ god-box,” clothed in white} //koru, at a little distance, alone, 
in the most sacred place, went through the needful prayers. 
Ina case of sickness the deity would be asked about the fate 
of his devoted worshipper. At Mangaia the favourable response 
would be couched in these terms—(‘ The spirit) will go to the 
sun-rising ” (ka aere ki te ra iti), ze, the sick will recover. For 
the spirit to descend with the sun-god Ra into the nether, or 
invisible, world is death. If the sufferer must die, a different 
metaphor was employed by the priest —“ kua rau-ti para ”—‘‘ The 
leaf of the ¢ tree (Cordyline terminalis) is sere,” z.e., will drop off 
and perish. 
The office of priest was hereditary throughout the Hervey 
Group. When a new priest was installed, he first bathed in the 
sacred stream of his tribe, put on the white “/horu, ate only 
certain kinds of food, and abstained from many things permitted 
to others. On the day of installation of the priest of Rongo the 
temporal chief accompanied him to the marae—not too closely 
following him. Offerings of food having been deposited at the 
* Idol grove. 
+ Off duty, the priest might wear a yellow “tiputa” over his shoulders. 
