286 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



who seemed to be the chief priest sat at a small distance 

 and spoke for a quarter of an hour, but with different tones 

 and gestures, so that he seemed to expostulate with, or 

 question the dead person, to whom he constantly addressed 

 himself. He then chanted a prayer which lasted nearly 

 half an hour, in a whining, melancholy tone, accompanied 

 by two other priests, and in which Potatou and some others 

 joined. In the course of this prayer some more hair was 

 plucked by the priest from the head of the corpse and put 

 upon one of the bundles. After this the chief priest prayed 

 alone, holding in his hand the feathers which came from 

 Towha. When he had finished he gave them to another, 

 who prayed in like manner. Then all the tufts of feathers 

 were laid upon the bundles of cloth, which closed the 

 ceremony at this place. 



" The corpse was then carried up to the most conspicuous 

 part of the morai, with the feathers, the two bundles of 

 cloth, and the drums, the last of which beat slowly. The 

 feathers and bundles were laid against the pile of stones, 

 and the corpse at the foot of them. The priests having 

 again seated themselves round it, renewed their prayers, 

 while some of their attendants dug a hole about two feet 

 deep, into which they threw the unhappy victim, and 

 covered it over with earth and stones. While they were 

 putting him into the grave a boy squeaked aloud, and Omai 

 said to me that it was the Eatooa. During this time a fire 

 having been made, a dog was produced and killed by 

 twisting his neck and suffocating him. The hair was singed 

 off, and the entrails taken out and thrown into the fire, 

 where they were left to consume. The body of the dog, 

 after being besmeared with blood and dried over the fire, 

 was, with the liver and heart, carried and laid down before 

 the priests, who sat praying round the grave. They con- 

 tinued their ejaculations over the dog for some time, while 

 two men at intervals beat on two drums very loud, and 

 a boy screamed as before in a loud shrill voice three 

 different times. This, as we were told, was to invite Eatooa 

 to feast on the banquet that they had prepared for him. 

 As soon as the priests had ended their prayers, the carcass 

 of the dog with what belonged to it, was laid on a scaffold 

 about six feet high, that stood close by, on which lay the 

 remains of two other dogs and of two pigs which had lately 

 been sacrificed, and at this time emitted an intolerable 

 stench. This kept us at a greater distance than would 

 otherwise have been required of us. When the dog was 

 put upon the scaffold the priest and attendants gave a kind 

 of shout, which closed the ceremonies for the present. The 

 day being now also closed, we were conducted to a house 



