OTAUEITE. 
167 
shell full of fresh water. Against the side of one of the posts hung 
a small bag, containing a few pieces of bread-fruit ready roasted^ 
The food so placed by the corpse was designed as an offering to their 
gods. They cast in near the , body, small pieces of cloth, on w'hich 
the tears and blood of the mourners have been shed ; for in their pat. 
rpxysm it was an universal custom to wound themselves with a shark’s 
tooth. The chief mourner must always be a man, and be dressed 
in, a very singular habit. When the bodies are stripped of their flesh, 
and become dry, they are buried. ' 
, As soon as a native of Otaheite is dead, the house is filled with 
relations, who deplore his loss ; some by loud lamentations, some 
by less clamorous, but more genuine expressions of grief. Those 
who are in the nearest degree of kindred, and are affected by the 
event, are silent; the rest are one moment uttering passionate excla^ 
inations in chorus, and the next laughing and talking without the least 
appearance of concern. In this manner the remainder of the day on 
which they assemble is spent, and all the succeeding night. On the 
next day the body is shrouded in a cloth, and conveyed to thh 
sea-side on a bier, Vv'hich the bearers support upon their shoiiidersv 
attended by the priest, who, having prayed over the body, repeats his 
sentences during the procession. When it arrives at the w^ater’s edge,' 
it is set down upon the beach ; the priest renews his prayers, and, taking 
up some of the water in his hands, sprinkles it tow'ards the body, but 
not upon it. It is then carried back forty or fifty yards, and soon after 
brought again to the beach, where the prayers and sprinkling are 
repeated. It is thus removed backwards and forwards several times ; 
and while these ceremonies have been performing, a house has been 
built, and a small space of ground railed in. In the centre of this 
house, or tupapow, posts are set up to support the bier, which is at 
length conveyed thither, and placed upon it ; and here the body remains 
to putrefy till the flesh is wasted off the bones. 
As soon as the body is deposited in the tupapow, the women assem- 
ble, and are led to the door by the nearest relation, who strikes a 
shark’s tooth several times into the crown of the chief mourner’s head; 
the blood copiously flows, and it is carefully received upon the pieces 
of linen, which are thrown under the bier. The rest of the women 
follow this example : and the ceremony is repeated at the interval of 
two , or three days, as long as the zeal and sorrow of the parties hold 
out. The tears also, which are shed upon these occasions, are received 
upon pieces of cloth, and offered as oblations to the dead. 
Whilst these ceremonies are carrying on by the women, the men 
seem to be wholly insensible of their loss; but two or three days after, 
they also begin to perform a part. The nearest relations take it in 
turn to assume the dress, and perform the offices. The chief mourner 
carries in his hand a long flat stick, the edge of which is set with 
shark’s teeth, and in his frenzy, which his grief is supposed to have 
inspired, he runs at all he sees, and if any of them happen to be over- 
taken, he strikes, them most unmercifully with his indented cudgel, 
which cannot fail to wound them in a dangerous manner. The pro-- 
cession continues, at certain intervals for five moons ; but are less and 
less frequent, by a gradual diminution, as the end of that time 
