354 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
liorrid cruelty. There was no fixed period of life at 
which the youth were said to have arrived at years of 
manhood. Unaccustomed to keep even traditionary 
accounts of the time of their birth^ there were but few 
whose age was known. The period therefore when the 
young king was formally invested with the regalia, and 
introduced to his high office, was regulated by his own 
character and disposition, the will of his father and guar¬ 
dians, or the exigences of the state; it generally took 
place some years before he had reached the age of twenty- 
one. 
As it was one of the most important events to the 
nation, great preparation was made for its being duly 
celebrated; and whatever could give effect to the pageant 
was carefully provided. The gods indicated the interest 
they were supposed to take in the transaction, by the 
miraculous events that occurred at this time. Among 
those might be mentioned the sacred aoa, a tree resem¬ 
bling the banian of India, that spread over Faa-ape. This 
was said to have shot forth a new fibrous branch at his 
birth, and this branch or tendril reached the ground 
when he was to be made king. Taneua, a bamboo used 
on the occasion, was said to draw its roots out of the 
ground at the approach of the ceremony, and to leap 
into the hand of the person who was sent for it. 
The inauguration ceremony, answering to coronation 
among other nations, consisted in girding the king with 
the maro ura^ or sacred girdle of red feathers; which not 
only raised him to the highest earthly station, but iden¬ 
tified him with their gods. The maro or girdle was 
made with the beaten fibres of the ava; with these 
a number of ura, red feathers, taken from the images 
of their deities, were interwoven. The maro thus became 
