CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 1 03 



and the face painted black, as is done by the natives on festal occa- 

 sions. It is then carried to the mbure, where it is offered to the 

 gods, and is afterwards removed to be cut up and distributed, to be 

 eaten by the people. 



Women are not allowed to enter the mbure, or to eat human flesh. 



Human sacrifices are a preliminary to almost all their undertakings. 

 When a new mbure is built, a party goes out and seizes the first 

 person they meet, whom they sacrifice to the gods ; when a large 

 canoe is launched, the first person, man or woman, whom they en- 

 counter, is laid hold of and carried home for a feast. 



When Tanoa launches a canoe, ten or more men are slaughtered 

 on the deck, in order that it may be washed with human blood. 



Human sacrifices are also among the rites performed at the funerals 

 of chiefs, when slaves are in some instances put to death. Their 

 bodies are first placed in the grave, and upon them those of the chief 

 and his wives are laid. 



The ceremonies attendant on the death and burial of a great chief, 

 were described to me by persons who had witnessed them. When 

 his last moments are approaching, his friends place in his hands two 

 whale's teeth, which it is supposed he will need to throw at a tree 

 that stands on the road to the regions of the dead. As soon as the 

 last struggle is over, the friends and attendants fill the air with their 

 lamentations. Two priests then take in each of their hands a reed 

 about eighteen inches long, on which the leaves at the end are left, 

 and with these they indicate two persons for grave-diggers, and mark 

 out the place for the grave. The spot usually selected is as near as 

 possible to the banks of a stream. The grave-diggers are provided 

 with mangrove-staves (tiri) for their work, and take their positions, 

 one at the head, the other at the foot of the grave, having each one of 

 the priests on his right hand. At a given signal, the labourers, 

 making three feints before they strike, stick their staves into the 

 ground, while the priests twice exchange reeds, repeating Feejee, 

 Tonga; Feejee, Tonga. The diggers work in a sitting posture, and 

 thus dig a pit sufficiently large to contain the body. The first earth 

 which is removed is considered as sacred, and laid aside. 



The persons who have dug the grave also wash and prepare the 

 body for interment, and they are the only persons who can touch the 

 corpse without being laid under a taboo for ten months. The body 

 after being washed is laid on a couch of cloth and mats, and carefully 

 wiped. It is then dressed and decorated as the deceased was in life, 



