FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 213 



right on the ground, and protected by an enclosure 

 bearing wooden images of their gods, and the whole 

 was painted bright red, so as to be conspicuous 

 from afar. Her go^vn was fastened to the coffin, 

 and her hair being cut off, was cast at its foot. The 

 relatives of the family had torn the flesh of their 

 ai'ms, bodies, and faces, so that they were covered 

 with clotted blood, and the old women looked most 

 filthy, disgusting objects. On the following day 

 some of the officers visited this place, and found 

 the women still howling and cutting themselves. 



We continued our walk, and soon reached Wai- 

 omio. Here there are some singular masses of 

 limestone, resembling ruined castles. These rocks 

 have long served for burial-places, and, in conse- 

 quence, are held too sacred to be approached. One 

 of the young men, however, cried out, " Let us all 

 be brave," and ran on ahead ; but when within a 

 hundred yards, the whole party thought better of 

 it, and stopped short. With perfect indifference, 

 however, they allowed us to examine the whole 

 place. At this village we I'ested some hours, du- 

 ring which time there was a long discussion with 

 Mr. Bushby concerning the right of sale of certain 

 lands. One old man, who appeared a perfect ge- 

 nealogist, illustrated the successive possessors by 

 bits of stick driven into the ground. Before leav- 

 ing the houses, a little basketful of roasted sweet 

 potatoes was given to each of our party, and we all, 

 according to the custom, can-ied them away to eat 

 on the road. I noticed that among the women em- 

 ployed in cooking there was a man slave : it must 

 bo a humiliating thing for a man in this warlike 

 country to be employed in doing that which is con- 

 sidered as tire lowest woman's work. Slaves are 

 not allowed to go to war ; but this, perhaps, can 

 hardly be considered as a hardship. I heard of 



