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 Hatwa or god is given: for instance Ulhietea has the 
