218 
RITES AND CUSTOMS RELATING TO THE DEAD. 
being made, and until the interment, the body laid in state, 
dressed out. in the finest mats, and ornamented with feathers, 
the mere, gun, and spear being placed by its side. In some 
parts the grave was dug in the house of the deceased, in 
which the body was placed in a sitting posture, the limbs 
being retained in that position by bandages, still dressed in 
the best garments, adorned with the family ornaments of 
green-stone and sharks teeth ; it was then wrapped up in 
a fine sleeping mat, and the grave covered over with planks 
and a little soil ; it is still usual to inter the property of the 
chief with him, especially all things which have touched his 
person during his illness, such as garments, &c. 
In former times, one or more of the chiefs wives would 
strangle themselves to accompany and wait upon their lord 
in the other world ; for this purpose, also, several slaves 
were killed, that the chief might not be without attendants ; 
sometimes the chief wife would have her husband^ head cut 
off and dried, and always sleep with it by her side. 
In other places, the body was put into a kind of frame, 
A FRAME TO DEPOSIT CORPSES IN UNTIL DECOMPOSED. 
E hinu ra, he taro ra, 
Ko te kai, kai namu 
Ai, kia wangai ia, 
Kai namu ki Pai-rau ra, 
&c., &c. 
Even Christian natives regard the spade used in digging a grave as being 
tapu, and do not like to use it again, except for the same purpose. 
In early dawn, 
Eat the spirit of the fat, the taro, 
Your food to feed you is the fly, 
Eat it in Pairau your abode. 
