POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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influence of the god was imparted, and through them 
transferred to the objects to which they might be at¬ 
tached. Among the numerous ceremonies observed, the 
paeatua was one of the most conspicuous. On these 
occasions, the gods were all brought out of the temple, 
the sacred coverings removed, scented oils were applied 
to the images, and they were exposed to the sun. At 
these seasons, the parties who wished their emblems of 
deity to be impregnated with the essence of the gods, 
repaired to the ceremony with a number of red feathers, 
which they delivered to the officiating priest. 
The wooden idols being generally hollow, the feathers 
were deposited in the inside of the image, which was 
•filled with them. Many idols, however, were solid pieces 
of wood, bound or covered with finely-braided cinet, of 
the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk; to these the feathers 
were attached on the outside by small fibrous bands. 
In return for the feathers thus united to the god, the 
parties received two or three of the same kind, which 
had been deposited on a former festival in the inside 
of the wooden or inner fold of the cinet idol. These 
feathers were thought to possess all the properties of 
the images to which they had been attached, and a super¬ 
natural influence was supposed to be infused into them. 
They were carefully wound round with very fine cinet, 
the extremities alone remaining visible. When this was 
done, the new-made gods were placed before the larger 
images from which they had been taken; and, lest their 
detachment should induce the god to withhold his 
power, the priest addressed a prayer to the principal 
deities, requesting them to abide in the red feathers 
before them. At the close of his uhu, or invocation, he 
declared that they were dwelt in or inhabited, (by the 
