TONGAN TRADITIONS. 307 



Tuitonga was performed with marked ceremonial, the pecu- 

 liarities of which may be here described. 



The day after his death, which was the day of the burial, 

 every individual in every island the news had reached man, 

 woman, and child had the head closely shaved ; this is a 

 peculiarity, and so is the custom of depositing some of his 

 most valuable property along with the body in the grave, such 

 as beads, whales' teeth, Samoa mats, etc. The time of mourn- 

 ing for a Tuitonga was four months. The tabu for touching 

 his body or anything he had on when he died, extended to at 

 least ten months. Every man would neglect to shave his 

 beard for at least one month, and during that time merely 

 oiled his body and not his head. 



In the afternoon of the day of burial, the body being already 

 in the fytoca (or burial-place), the men, women, and children, 

 all bearing torches, used to sit down at about 80 yards from 

 the grave. The assemblage being complete and qmet, one of 

 the female mourners would come out of the fytoca, and call out 

 to the people, ' Arise ye, and approach ;' whereupon the 

 people would get up, and advancing about 40 yards, would 

 again sit down. 



Two men from behind the grave would now begin to blow 

 conch-shells, and six others, with large lighted torches about 

 6 feet high and 6 inches thick, would descend from the raised 

 fytoca and walk round one after the other several times, waving 

 their flaming torches in the air. 



After this ceremony these six leaders would ascend the 

 mount again, and the moment they did so the people issued 

 en masse, and following the six men with the big torches, 

 ascended the mount in single file. As they passed the back 

 of the grave the first six men would deposit their extinguished 

 torches on the ground, an example which was followed by the 



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