The Areois. 
47 
“ Upaupa ” was the name of many of their 
exhibitions. In performing these, they some¬ 
times sat in a circle on the ground, and recited, 
in concert, a legend or song in honour of the 
gods, or some distinguished Areoi. The leader 
of the party stood in the centre, and introduced 
the recitation with a sort of prologue, when, 
with a number of fantastic movements and atti¬ 
tudes, those that sat around began their song in 
a slow and measured tone and voice, which in¬ 
creased as they proceeded, till it became vociferous 
and unintelligibly rapid. It was also accompanied 
by movements of the arms and hands, in exact 
keeping with the tones of the voice, until they 
were wrought to the highest pitch of excitement. 
This they continued until, becoming breathless 
and exhausted, they were obliged to suspend the 
performance. 
Their public entertainments frequently con¬ 
sisted in delivering speeches, accompanied by 
every variety of gesture and action ; and their 
representations, on these occasions, assumed 
something of the histrionic character. The 
priests and others were fearlessly ridiculed in 
these performances, in which allusion was 
ludicrously made to public events. In the 
