55^ 



rEELIGION 



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H ^ M A H 



S 



ON 



T HTE 



In their marriages fomc ceremonies are obfervedj but 4:he au- 

 sthorities v/e have for talking of them are of no great weight 



becaufe the 



peopl 



wh 



were prefent, did not underftand 



enough of the language, to obtain information relative to the 



t 



Signification of feveral tranfadions and ceremonies they faw per- 

 formed in their prefence. The young Borabora man Maheine was 

 .married to the daughter of Toper re chief of the diftrid of Mat aval, 

 .during our fecond flay at Taheitee. 



We were told that he had been 



^fitting on the ground by the fide of h 



bride 



holding her hand 



in his, being furrounded by ten or twelve perfons, chiefly women 



r 



who repeated fome words in a recitative or finging tone, to which 

 Maheine and his bride gave fome fliort refponfes : fome food was 

 prefented to them, and Maheine gave a part of it to his bride and 



4 



ilie to him, which adion was Hkewife accompanied by certain 



V 



words, and lafi:ly they bathed in the river. This is the whole 

 account of the ceremony, which has been obferved and recounted. 

 Perfons of little curiofity with a very flender knowledge of the 

 language, were certainly not the bell qualified for enquiring into 

 the.reafon and fignification of any tranfadion or ceremony, and we 

 did not hear of thefe circumflances till we had quitted the ifle 



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otherwife we fhould have eAdeavoured to obtain fome information 



on^that head. 



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The 



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