336 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES 
islands near. The king often attended in person, 
to welcome his guest, or, if unable to do this him¬ 
self, sent one of his principal chiefs. 
When the canoes of the visitor approached the 
shore, the chiefs assembled on the beach. Long 
orations were pronounced by both parties before 
the guests stepped on the soil: as soon as they 
were landed, a kind of circle was formed by the 
people; the king or chiefs on the one side, and the 
strangers on the other; the latter brought their 
marotai, or offering, to the king and the gods, and 
accompanied its presentation with an address, ex¬ 
pressive of the friendship existing between them : 
the priest, or orators of the king, then brought the 
presents, or manufaiti, bird of recognition. On 
some occasions, two young plantain-trees and two 
pigs, or other articles of value, were first presented 
by the strangers, one for te atua , the god; the 
other for te hoa , the friend. A plantain-tree and 
a pig were brought by the residents for the king, a 
similar offering for the god ; this was followed by 
a plantain and a pig, for the toe moe, perhaps sleep¬ 
ing hatchet. A plantain-tree and a dog were then 
brought for the taura, the cord or bond of union, and 
then a plantain and a pig for the friend.* 
In some of their ceremonies, a plantain-tree was 
substituted for a man, and in the first plantain- 
trees offered in this ceremony to the god and the 
friend, they might perhaps be so regarded. Con¬ 
siderable ceremony attended the reception of a 
company of Areois. When they approached a 
village or district, the inhabitants came out of 
their doors, and, greeting them, shouted Manava, 
Manava, long before they reached the place. They 
usually answered, Teie, “ Here,” and so proceeded 
* Forster's Voyage, vol. i. 375. 
