THE KINGS MILL ISLANDERS. 109 



able. When a man dies, his body is taken to the mariapa, washed, 

 and laid out on a clean mat, where it remains for eight days, and 

 every day at noon it is taken into the sun, washed, and oiled. During 

 this time the friends are engaged in wailing and singing praises of 

 the dead, and dancing ; but they think it a great weakness to shed 

 tears on such occasions. After this mourning, the body is sewed up 

 in two mats, and sometimes buried in the house of the nearest rela- 

 tives, the head being always turned towards the east. In other cases, 

 it is stored away in the loft. When the flesh is nearly gone, the 

 skull is taken off, carefully cleaned, oiled, and put away. The skulls 

 of their ancestors are kept by chiefs as a kind of household deity, 

 to which they frequently offer up prayers and entreaties, to have a 

 regard and to keep watchful care over their descendants. The 

 skulls are not unfrequently taken down, bound around with wreaths, 

 anointed with oil, and have food set before them. In passing from 

 one island to another, these skulls are always carried along, as if 

 members of the family, and treated with every mark of reverence. 



The funeral ceremonies on Makin, according to Wood, are still 

 more extraordinary ; but we have no good reason to doubt the facts, as 

 they seem to be somewhat allied to those above related. After the 

 first ceremonies of wailing, the body is washed and laid out upon a 

 new mat, which is spread on a large oblong plate, made of several 

 tortoise-shells sewed together. From two to six persons, according 

 to the size of the corpse, seat themselves opposite to one another on 

 the floor of the house, and hold this plate, with the body of their 

 friend, on their knees. When tired, they are relieved by others, and 

 in this way the service is kept up for a space of time varying from 

 four months to two years, according to the rank of the deceased. All 

 persons, whether freeborn or slaves, receive this treatment after death. 

 During the continuance of this lying in state, a fire is kept constantly 

 burning, both day and night, in the house, and its extinction would 

 be regarded as a most unlucky omen.* At the end of the period, the 

 remains are sometimes wrapped in mats, and stowed away in the loft 

 of the house, but more commonly they are buried in a piece of 

 ground set apart for the purpose. The grave is marked with three 

 stones, one at the head, another at the foot, and one placed horizontally 

 across these. 



* When the truth of this account was questioned, in consequence of the time that 

 would be employed by the natives, Wood readily answered, that " One half of them have 

 nothing else to do." 



vol. v. 28 



