POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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the priests. When they were wanted^ a stone was^ at 
the request of the priest^ sent by the king to the chief of 
the district from which the victims were required. If the 
stone was received, it was an indication of an intention 
to comply with the requisition. It is a singular fact, that 
the cruelty of the practice extended not only to indivi¬ 
duals, but to families and districts. When an individual 
had been taken as a sacrifice, the family to which he 
belonged was regarded as tabu or devoted; and when 
another was required, it was more frequently taken from 
that family than any other i and a district from which 
sacrifices had been taken, was, in the same way, consi¬ 
dered as devoted; and hence, when it was known that 
any ceremonies were near, on which human sacrifices 
were usually offered, the members of tabu families, or 
others who had reason to fear they were selected, fled 
to the mountains, and hid themselves in the dens and 
caverns till the ceremony was over. At a public meet¬ 
ing in Raiatea, Paumoana, a native chieftain, alluded to 
this practice in terms resembling these:—^How great our 
dread of our former gods ! Are there not some here who 
have fled from their houses, to avoid being taken for 
sacrifices ? Yes! I know the cave in which they were 
concealed. 
In general, the victim was unconscious of his doom, 
until suddenly stunned by a blow from a club or a stone, 
sometimes from the hand of the very chief on whom he 
was depending as a guest for the rights of hospitality. 
He was usually murdered on the spot—his body placed 
in a long basket of cocoa-nut leaves, and carried to the 
temple. Here it was offered, not by consuming it with 
fire, but by placing it before the idol. The priest, in 
dedicating it, took out one of the eyes, placed it on a 
