318 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
that would have been considered too degrading for them. 
Dancing, however, appears to have been their favourite 
and most frequent performance. In this they were always 
led by the manager or chief. Their bodies, blackened 
with charcoal, and stained with mati, rendered the exhibi¬ 
tion of their persons on these occasions most disgusting. 
They often maintained their dance through the greater 
part of the night, accompanied by their voices, and the 
music of the flute and the drum. These amusements 
frequently continued for a number of days and nights 
successively at the same place. The upaupa was then 
huiy or closed, and they journeyed to the next district, or 
principal chieftain’s abode, where the same train of 
dances, wrestlings, and pantomimic exhibitions, was 
repeated. ' 
Several other gods were supposed to preside over 
the upaupa, as well as the two brothers who were 
the guardian deities of the x\reois. The gods of these 
diversions, according to the ideas of the people, were 
monsters in vice, and of course patronized every evil 
practice perpetrated during such seasons of public 
festivity. 
Substantial, spacious, and sometimes highly orna¬ 
mented houses, were erected in several districts through¬ 
out most of the islands, principally for their accommo¬ 
dation, and the exhibition of their performances. The 
house erected for this purpose, which we saw at Tiatae- 
puaa, was one of the best in Eimeo. Sometimes they 
performed in their canoes, as they approached the shore ; 
especially if they had the king of the island, or any 
principal chief, on board their fleet. When one of these 
companies thus advanced towards the land, with their 
streamers floating in the wind, their drums and flutes 
