240 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
repaired to some public exhibition, in a state of 
apparent neneva, or derangement. He generally 
wore a girdle of yellow plantain or ti leaves round 
his loins ; his face was stained with mati , or scarlet 
dye ; his brow decorated with a shade of curiously 
platted yellow cocoa-nut leaves ; his hair perfumed 
with powerfully scented oil, and ornamented with 
a profusion of fragrant flowers. Thus arrayed, 
disfigured, and adorned, he rushed through the 
crowd assembled round the house in which the 
actors or dancers were performing, and, leaping 
into the circle, joined with seeming frantic wild¬ 
ness in the dance or pantomime. He continued 
in the midst of the performers until the exhibition 
closed. This was considered an indication of his 
desire to join their company; and if approved, he 
was appointed to wait, as a servant, on the prin¬ 
cipal Areois. After a considerable trial of his 
natural disposition, docility, and devotednesss in 
this occupation, if he persevered in his deter¬ 
mination to join himself with them, he was in¬ 
augurated with all the attendant rites and observ¬ 
ances. 
This ceremony took place at some taupiti, or 
other great meeting of the body, when the prin¬ 
cipal Areoi brought him forth arrayed in the ahu 
haio , a curiously stained sort of native cloth, the 
badge of their order, and presented him to the 
members who were convened in full assembly. 
The Areois, as such, had distinct names, and, at 
his introduction, the candidate received from the 
chief of the body, the name by which in future he 
was to be known among them. He was now 
directed, in the first instance, to murder his chil¬ 
dren ; a deed of horrid barbarity, which he was in 
general too ready to perpetrate. He was then 
