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S. 



The ceremonies ufually performed on the demlfe of perfons of RELiGiOKi 



mnk in Taheitee are more curious than any 



fcQn or defcribed 



r J 



and contain briefly the following circumftances* As foon as the 



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H 



perfon is known to be dead, the relations and friends refort to the 



ft- 



houfe heoccupied when alive, and there join in lamentations and 

 other fighs of grief over the lofs of their friend, which continues 

 all that day and night, till the next morning,;, when the body is 

 wrapped in fome of their white cloth, and carried to the neighbour- 

 hood of the marai,, where the remains of the deceafed in future. 



t 



are to be depofited ; if that place be diflant, the corpfe is carried 



boat and conveyed thither 



bier covered by 



thatch 



•,- 



form of a fmall houfe. The corpfe is then carried near th 



fliore, attended during the whole time by the priefl: 



wh 



peats 



fome prayers befo 



the 



•pfe is taken, and continues to 



peat 



them till he reaches the marai. 



He then renews his prayers and 

 fentences, and fprinkles fea- water towards the body, but not upon 

 it J ; which is repeated- feveral times, the body having been taken 

 away and carried back each time^ till at lafl: a fmall inclofure being 



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made near the marai, and a kind, of open fhed called Tupapou, * 

 raifed on pofts fix or feven feet from the ground, being finiihed, 



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the 



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One of the Tupapous is reprefented in Cook's Voyage, vol.4, p.. 1S5. pUxlIv, aad> 

 another in Hawkefworthj. vol. ii. p. 2345. pi, N9' v. 



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