316 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
leged libertines, who spent their days in travelling 
from island to island, and from one district to another, 
exhibiting their pantomimes, and spreading a moral con¬ 
tagion throughout society. Great preparation was neces¬ 
sary before the mareva^ or company, set out. Numbers 
of pigs were killed, and presented to Oro; large quanti¬ 
ties of plantains and bananas, with other fruits, were 
also offered upon his altars. Several weeks were neces¬ 
sary, to complete the preliminary ceremonies. The con¬ 
cluding parts of these consisted in erecting on board 
their canoes, two temporary maraes, or temples, for the 
worship of Orotetefa and his brother, the tutelar deities 
of the society. This was merely a symbol of the pre¬ 
sence of the gods ; and consisted principally in a stone 
for each, from Oro’s marae, and a few red feathers from 
the inside of the sacred image. Into these symbols the 
gods were supposed to enter when the priest pronounced 
a short ubu, or prayer, immediately before the sailing of 
the fleet. The numbers connected with this fraternity, 
and the magnitude of some of their expeditions, will 
appear, from the fact of Cook's witnessing, on one occa¬ 
sion, in Huahine, the departure of seventy canoes filled 
with Areois. 
On landing at the place of destination, they proceeded 
to the residence of the king or chief, and presented their 
marotai, or present 5 a similar offering was also sent to 
the temple and to the gods, as an acknowledgment for 
the preservation they had experienced at sea. If they 
remained in the neighbourhood, preparations were made 
for their dances and other performances. 
On public occasions, their appearance was, in some 
respects, such as it is not proper to describe. Their 
bodies were painted with charcoal, and their faces. 
