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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
ble and cruel, avenging with death the slightest insult 
or neglect, and were kept within the precincts of the 
temple. In the marae of Tane at Maeva, the ruins of their 
abode were still standing, when I last visited the place. 
It was a house built upon a number of large strong 
poles, which raised the floor ten or twelve feet from the 
ground. They were thus elevated, to keep them out of 
the way of men, as it was imagined they were constantly 
strangling, or otherwise destroying, the chiefs and people. 
To prevent this, they were also treated with great re¬ 
spect; men were appointed constantly to attend them, 
and to keep them wrapped in the choicest kinds of cloth, 
to take them out whenever there was a pae atua, or 
general exhibition of the gods ; to anoint them frequently 
with fragrant oil; and to sleep in the house with them at 
night. All this was done, to keep them pacified. And 
though the office of calming the angry spirits was 
honourable, it was regarded as dangerous, for if, during 
the night or at any other time, these keepers were guilty 
of the least impropriety, it was supposed the spirits of 
the images, or the skulls, would hurl them headlong 
from their high abodes, and break their necks in the fall. 
The figures marked No. 7 ^ in the engraving of the Idols, 
represent the images of two tiis or oramatuas; whose 
form and appearance convey no inappropriate exhibition 
of their imagined malignity of disposition. 
Among the animate objects of their worship, they 
included a number of birds as well as fishes, especially 
a species of heron, a kingfisher, and one or two kinds 
of woodpecker, accustomed to frequent the sacred trees 
growing in the precincts of the temple. These birds 
were considered sacred, and usually fed upon the sacri¬ 
fices. The natives imagined the god was embodied in 
