POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
523 
themselves^ lest the food defiled by the touch of their 
polluted hands, should cause their own death, but were 
fed by others. 
As soon as the ceremony of depositing the sins in the 
hole was over, all who had touched the body or the 
garments of the deceased, which were buried or de¬ 
stroyed, fled precipitately into the sea, to cleanse them¬ 
selves from the pollution, called mahuruhuru, which they 
had contracted by touching the corpse; casting also 
into the sea, the clothes they had worn while employed 
in the work. Having finished their ablutions, they 
gathered a few pieces of coral from the bottom of the 
sea, and, returning with them to the house, addressed 
the dead body by saying, With you may the mahuruhicru, 
or pollution, be,’"* and threw down the pieces of coral on 
the top of the hole that had been dug for the purpose of 
receiving every thing contaminating connected with the 
deceased. 
The ceremonies in general were now finished, but if 
the property of the family was abundant, their attach¬ 
ment to the deceased great, and they wished his spirit 
to be conveyed to Rohutu noanoa, the Tahitian paradise, 
the fifth priest was employed. Costly offerings were 
presented, and valuable articles given to the priest of 
Romatane, the keeper of this happy place; Urutaetae 
was the guide of such as went thither, and the 
duty of the priest now employed was to engage him to 
conduct the spirit of the departed to this region of fan¬ 
cied enjoyment. 
The houses erected as depositories for the dead, were 
small and temporary buildings, though often remarkably 
neat. The pillars supporting the roof were planted in 
the ground, and were seldom more than six feet high. 
