104 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF 
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. 
The skulls of the chiefs are preserved, and treated in the same way 
as at the other islands. 
From diseases the natives appear to be tolerably free. Consump¬ 
tions, and a kind of cholera morbus, are the most fatal. There were 
no cases of elephantiasis seen; but, as has been remarked in speaking 
of the islands separately, the kind of cutaneous disorder called by the 
natives gune, prevails extensively; this, at some stages of the disease, 
resembles the ringworm. It begins with this appearance, in a small 
circle, about an inch in diameter, covered with a scurf; the ring 
gradually increases in size, and when it becomes large, a smaller one 
forms within it; as this last increases, another forms within it, and in 
this way the affection continues to spread, unless arrested. Several 
circles often form on the body within a short distance of each other, 
the rings meet and become confluent, producing a variety of curved 
lines, and concentrical circles. The whole body becomes at length 
covered with this scurf, which is always attended by painful itching. 
This finally passes off, and leaves the skin seamed with an infinity of 
circles and wavy lines of a livid hue, and produces a most disgusting 
appearance; in this stage it sometimes continues during the remainder 
of a person’s life, without materially affecting his general health. At 
other times it assumes a more virulent character, in which case large 
excrescences like warts form, first on the face, or between the fingers 
and toes, and then in other parts. The softer portions of the face and 
body swell to double their natural size; the person becomes unable to 
walk, or to move his limbs, until death at length overtakes and releases 
* 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.” 
