1()6 CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 



of the rites. Thus, at Muthuata, the body of a chief is usually taken 

 to the royal mbure, on the island of that name, to be interred. The 

 corpse, instead of being dressed in the habiliments of life, is wrapped 

 in white mats, and borne on a wide plank. On its arrival at the 

 mbure, it is received by the priest, who pronounces an eulogium on 

 his character, after which the young men form themselves into two 

 ranks, between which and around the corpse the rest of the people 

 pass several times. 



All the boys who have arrived at a suitable age are now circum- 

 cised, and many boys suffer the loss of their little fingers. The 

 foreskins and fingers are placed in the grave of the chief. When 

 this part of the ceremony is over, young bread-fruit trees are pre- 

 sented by the relatives of the chief to the boys, whose connexions 

 are bound to cultivate them until the boys are able to do it them- 

 selves.* 



The strangulation of the chief's wives follows; and this is suc- 

 ceeded by a farther eulogium of the deceased, and a lament for the 

 loss his people have sustained. The whole is concluded by a great 

 feast of hogs, taro, yams, and bananas. 



The funerals of persons of lower rank are of course far less ceremo- 

 nious. The body is wrapped in tapa or mats, and sometimes sprinkled 

 with turmeric, and is buried in a sitting posture, just below the sur- 

 face of the ground. Even in this class the wife generally insists on 

 being strangled. Instances are now, however, beginning to occur, in 

 which this custom is not persisted in, a circumstance which seems 

 to show that the dawn of civilization is breaking upon them. 



On the day of the death, a feast called mburua is always provided ; 

 another four days after, called boniva ; and a third at the end of ten 

 days, which is called boniviti. 



The usual outward sign of mourning is to crop the hair or beard, 

 or very rarely both. Indeed, they are too vain of these appendages 

 to part with them on trifling occasions ; and as the hair, if cut off, 

 takes a long time to grow again, they use a wig as a substitute. 

 Some of these wigs are beautifully made, and even more exact 

 imitations of nature, than those of our best perruquiers. 



Another mark of sorrow is to cut off the joints of the small toe and 

 little finger ; and this is not done only as a mark of grief or a token 



* This custom has an important influence in keeping up a stock of this important 

 source of food, and may have originated with that view. 



