CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 99 
is then put around her neck, and drawn tight by four or five strong 
men, so that the struggle is soon over. The cord is left tight, and tied 
in a bow-knot, until the friends of the husband present a whale’s tooth, 
saying, “ This is the untying of the cord of strangling.” The cord is 
then loosed, but is not removed from the neck of the corpse. 
When the grave is finished, the principal workman takes the four 
reeds used by the priests, and passes them backwards and forwards 
across each other; he then lines the pit or grave with fine mats, and 
lays two of the leaves at the head and two at the foot of the grave; on 
these the corpse of the chief is placed, with two of his wives, one on 
each side, having their right and left hands, respectively, laid on his 
breast; the bodies are then wrapped together in folds of native cloth; 
the grave is then filled in, and the sacred earth is laid on, and a stone 
over it. All the men who have had any thing to do with the dead 
body take off their maro or masi, and rub themselves all over with the 
leaves of a plant they call koaikoaia. A friend of the parties takes new 
tapa, and clothes them, for they are not allowed to touch any thing, 
being tabooed persons. At the end of ten days, the head chief of the 
tribe provides a great feast (mburua), at which time the tabooed men 
again scrub themselves, and are newly dressed. After the feast, ava 
is prepared and set before the priest, who goes through many incanta- 
tions, shiverings, and shakings, and prays for long life and abundance 
of children. The soul of the deceased is now enabled to quit the body 
and go to its destination. During these ten days, all the women in the 
town provide themselves with long whips, knotted with shells; these 
they use upon the men, inflicting bloody wounds, which the men retort 
by flirting from a piece of split bamboo little hard balls of clay. 
When the tabooed person becomes tired of remaining so restricted, 
they send to the head chief, and inform him, and he replies that he 
will remove the taboo whenever they please; they then send him 
presents of pigs and other provisions, which he shares among the 
people. ‘The tabooed persons then go into a stream and wash them- 
selves, which act they call vuluvulu; they then catch some animal, a 
pig or turtle, on which they wipe their hands: it then becomes sacred 
to the chief. The taboo is now removed, and the men are free to 
work, feed themselves, and live with their wives. The taboo usually 
lasts from two to ten months in the case of chiefs, according to their 
rank; in the case of a petty chief, the taboo would not exceed a 
month, and for a common person, not more than four days. It is 
generally resorted to by the lazy and idle; for during this time they 
are not only provided with food, but are actually fed by attendants, or 
