488 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Preserver of our lives^ we lay down upon our 
mats^ and enjoyed several hours of comfortable and 
refreshing repose. I have often been overtaken with 
storms when at sea in European vessels, boats, and 
native canoes, but, to whatever real danger I may 
have been exposed, I never was surrounded by so 
much that was apparent, as during this voyage. 
After a few hours of unbroken rest, we arose re¬ 
cruited the next morning, found our dried clothes 
comfortable, united with our host and his family in 
the morning devotions, and then, while they were pre¬ 
paring refreshments, took a view of the district. 
We found it not very extensive, though the land is 
rich and good. The gardens were large, and, at this 
time, well stocked with indigenous roots and vege¬ 
tables. Opoa has long been a place of celebrity, 
not only in Raiatea; but throughout the whole of 
the Society Islands. It was the hereditary land of 
the reigning family, and the usual residence of the 
king and his household. But the most remarkable 
object connected with Opoa, was the large marae, 
or temple, where the national idol was worshipped, 
and human victims sacrificed. These offerings were 
not only brought from the districts of Raiatea and 
the adjacent islands, but also from the windward 
group, and even from the more distant islands to 
the south and south-east. 
The worship of Oro, in the marae here, appears 
to have been of the most sanguinary kind; human 
immolation was frequent, and, in addition to the 
bones and other relics of the former sacrifices, now 
scattered among the ruins of the temple, there is 
still a large enclosure, the walls of which are formed 
