340 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
several districts ; and the third, such as were ap¬ 
propriated to the worship of family gods. Marae 
was the name for temple, in the South Sea Islands. 
All were uncovered, and resembled oratories rather 
than temples. The national places of worship 
were designated by distinct appellations. Tabu - 
tabu-a-tea was the name of several in the South 
Sea Islands, especially of those belonging to the 
king : the word may mean wide-spread sacredness. 
The national temples consisted of a number of 
distinct maraes, altars, and sacred dormitories, 
appropriated to the chief pagan divinities, and 
included in one large stone enclosure of consi¬ 
derable extent. Several of the distinct temples 
contained smaller inner-courts, within which the 
gods were kept. The form of the interior or area 
of their temples was frequently that of a square or 
a parallelogram, the sides of which extended forty 
or fifty feet. Two sides of this space were en¬ 
closed by a high stone wall; the front was pro¬ 
tected by a low fence ; and opposite, a solid pyra¬ 
midal structure was raised, in front of which the 
images were kept, and the altars fixed. These 
piles were often immense. That which formed 
one side of the square of the large temple in 
Atehuru, according to Mr. Wilson, by whom it 
was visited when in a state of preservation, was 
two hundred and seventy feet long, ninety-four 
wide at the base, and fifty feet high, being at the 
summit one hundred and eighty feet long, and six 
wide. A flight of steps led to its summit; the 
bottom step was six feet high. The outer stones 
of the pyramid, composed of coral and basalt, 
were laid with great care, and hewn or squared 
with immense labour, especially the tiava, or 
corner stones. 
