206 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, 
gods^) and delivered them to the parties who had brought 
the red feathers. The feathers taken home, were depo¬ 
sited in small bamboo-canes, excepting when addressed 
in prayer. If prosperity attended their owner, it was 
attributed to their influence, and they were usually 
honoured with a too^ or image, into which they were in- 
wrought ; and subsequently, perhaps, an altar and a rude 
temple were erected for them. In the event, however, of 
their being attached to an image, this must be taken to 
the large temple, that the supreme idols might sanction 
the transfer of their influence. 
Their temples were either national, local, or domestic. 
The former were the depositories of their principal idols, 
and the scenes of all great festivals; the second were 
those belonging to the several districts; and the third, 
such as were appropriated to the worship of family gods. 
Marae was the name for temple, in the South Sea 
Islands. All were uncovered, and resembled oratories 
rather than temples. The national places of worship 
were designated by distinct appellations. Tabu-tabu-a- 
tea was the name of several in the South Sea Islands, 
especially of those belonging to the king; the word may 
mean wide-spread sacredness. The national temples 
consisted of a number of distinct maraes, altars, and 
sacred dormitories, appropriated to the chief pagan 
divinities, and included in one large stone enclosure of 
considerable extent. Several of the distinct temples 
contained smaller inner-courts, within which the gods 
were kept. The form of the interior or area of their 
temples was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram, 
the sides of which extended forty or fifty feet. Two 
sides of this space were enclosed by a high stone wall; 
the front was protected by a low fence; and opposite, a 
