520 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
ing in melancholy sadness, giving vent to their grief in 
loud and continued lamentations, often accompanied 
with the use of the shark’s tooth ; which they employed 
in cutting their temples, faces, and breasts, till they 
were covered with the blood from their self-inflicted 
wounds. The bodies were frequently committed to 
the grave in deep silence, unbroken excepting by occa¬ 
sional lamentations of those who attended. But on some 
occasions, the father delivered an affecting and pathetic 
oration at the funeral of his son. - - 
The bodies of the dead, among the chiefs, were, how¬ 
ever, in general preserved above ground: a temporary 
house or shed was erected for them, and they were placed 
on a kind of bier. The practice of embalming appears to 
have been long familiar to them 3 and the length of time 
which the body was thus preserved, depended altogether 
upon the costliness and care with which the process 
was performed. The methods employed were at all 
times remarkably simple : sometimes the moisture of the 
body was removed by pressing the different parts, 
drying it in the sun, and anointing it with fra¬ 
grant oils. At other times, the intestines, brain, &c. 
were removed, all moisture extracted from the body, 
which was fixed in a sitting position during the day, 
and exposed to the sun, and, when placed horizontally at 
night was frequently turned over, that it might not 
remain long on the same side. The inside was then 
filled with cloth saturated with perfumed oils, which 
were also injected into other parts of the body, and 
carefully rubbed over the outside every day. This, 
together with the heat of the sun, and the dryness of 
the atmosphere, favoured the preservation of the 
body. 
