242 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
were commenced by the principal Areoi, who arose, 
and uttered an invocation to Te huaa ra , (which, 
I presume, must mean the sacred pig.) to the 
sacred company of Tabutabuatea , (the name of a 
principal national temple in Raiatea,) belonging to 
Taramanini, the chief Areoi of that island. He then 
paused, and another exclaimed, Give us such an 
individual, or individuals, mentioning the names 
of the party nominated for the intended elevation. 
When the gods had been thus required to sanc¬ 
tion their advancement, they were taken to the 
temple. Here, in the presence of the gods, they 
were solemnly anointed, the forehead of each person 
being sprinkled with fragrant oil. The sacred pig, 
clothed or wrapped in the haio or cloth of the 
order, was next put into his hand, and offered to 
the god. Each individual was then declared, by 
the person officiating on the occasion, to be an 
Areoi of the order to which he was thus raised. If 
the pig wrapped in the sacred cloth was killed, 
which was sometimes done, it was buried in the 
temple ; but if alive, its ears were ornamented with 
the orooro , or sacred braid and tassel, of cocoa-nut 
fibre. It was then liberated, and being regarded 
as sacred, or belonging to the god to whom it had 
been offered, was allowed to range the district 
uncontrolled till it died. 
The artist or priest of the tatau was now em¬ 
ployed to imprint, with unfading marks, the dis¬ 
tinctive badges of the rank or class to which the 
individuals had been raised. As this operation 
was attended with considerable suffering to the 
parties invested with these insignia of rank, it was 
usually deferred till the termination of the festival 
which followed the ceremony. This was generally 
furnished with an extravagant profusion: every 
