344 AUSTRALASIAN AND POLYNESIAN 
it, as it is etiquette to see that distant relatives get back similar 
articles to what they brought. 
Whatever is laid upon the corpse is buried with it, and no 
further notice taken of it ; but whatever is placed by the side, 
without touching it, is repaid. 
The moment the sick died, the bodies of near relatives were 
cut with sharks’ teeth, so that the blood might stream down the 
bodies ; their faces were blackened, and the hair cut off. At 
Rarotonga it was usual to knock out some of the front teeth in 
token of sorrow. Everywhere the moment of death was the 
signal for the death-wail to commence. The most affecting things 
are said on such occasions, but always in a set form, commencing 
thus :— 
Aue toue! Aue! Aue! 
Alas for us! Alas! Alas! &e. 
The wailers usually lose their voices for several days, and their 
eyes are frightfully swollen with crying. 
As soon as the corpse was committed to its last resting-place, 
the mourners selected tive old cocoanuts, which were successively 
opened, and the water poured out upon the ground. These nuts 
were then wrapped up in leaves and native cloth, and thrown 
towards the grave ; or, if the corpse were let down with cords 
into the deep chasm of “ Auraka,” the nuts and other food would 
be successively thrown down upon it. Calling loudly each time 
the name of the departed, they said, ‘“‘ Here is thy food ; eat it.” 
When the fifth nut and the accompanying ‘“raroi,” or pudding, 
were thrown down, the mourners said, ‘‘ Farewell ! we come back 
no more to thee.” 
A death in the family is the signal for a change of names 
amongst the near relatives of the deceased. 
Chiefs and priests occasionally received the honour of a “ spirit- 
burial,” the corpse being borne to the most renowned marae of 
his tribe on the island, and allowed to remain within the sacred 
enclosure for some hours, but the same day hidden away in the 
tribal cave. In such cases the depositing of the body in the 
marae was “the burial,” or the committal of the spirit to the care 
of the god worshipped in life, whilst the letting down of the 
corpse into the deep chasm was designated “ the throwing away 
of the bones” (¢ringa ivi), the well-wrapped-up body being 
regarded as a mere bundle of bones after the exit of the spirit. 
In the olden times, relatives of the deceased wore only 
‘“‘pakoko,” or native cloth, dyed red in the sap of the candle-nut 
tree, and then dipped in the black mud of a taro-patch. ‘The 
very offensive smell of this mourning garment was symbolical of 
the putrescent state of the dead. Their heads were encircled 
with chaplets of mountain fern, singed with fire to give it a red 
appearance, 
