1769 MARAIS 175 



that their ancestors did the same : for both these operations 

 the priests are paid by every one according to his ability, 

 in the same manner as weddings, christenings, etc., etc., are 

 paid for in Europe. Their places of public worship, or 

 marais, are square enclosures of very different sizes, from 

 ten to a hundred yards in length. At one end a heap or 

 pile of stones is built up, near which the bones of the 

 principal people are interred, those of their dependents 

 lying all round on the outside of the wall. Near or in 

 these enclosures are often placed planks carved into different 

 figures, and very frequently images of many men standing 

 on each other's heads ; these, however, are in no degree the 

 objects of adoration, every prayer and sacrifice being offered 

 to invisible deities. 



Near, or even within the marai, are one or more large 

 altars, raised on high posts ten or twelve feet above the 

 ground, which are called ewhattas ; on these are laid the 

 offerings, hogs, dogs, fowls, fruits, or whatever else the piety 

 or superfluity of the owner thinks proper to dedicate to the 

 gods. 



Both these places are reverenced in the highest degree : 

 no man approaches them without taking his clothes from off 

 his shoulders, and no woman is on any account permitted 

 to enter them. The women, however, have marais of their 

 own, where they worship and sacrifice to their goddesses. 



Of these marais each family of consequence has one, 

 which serves for himself and his dependents. As each 

 family values itself on its antiquity, so are the marais 

 esteemed: in the Society Isles, especially Ulhietea, were 

 some of great antiquity, particularly that of Tapo de boatea. 

 The material of these is rough and coarse, but the stones of 

 which they are composed are immensely large. At Otahite 

 again, where from frequent wars or other accidents many 

 of the most ancient families are extinct, they have tried to 

 make them as elegant and expensive as possible, of which 

 sort is that of Oamo (described on pp. 102-4). 



Besides their gods, each island has a bird, to which the 

 title of Eatua or god is given : for instance Ulhietea has the 



