RELIGIOUS SERVICES. 349 
prayer, to induce the gods to cleanse the land 
from pollution, that it might be pure as the coral 
fresh from the sea. It was now supposed safe to 
abide on the soil, and appropriate its produce to 
the purposes of support; but had not this cere¬ 
mony been performed, death would have been 
anticipated. 
The maui fata , altar-raising, was connected 
with the preceding rites. No human victim was 
slain, but numbers of pigs, with abundance of 
plantains, &c. were placed upon the altars, which 
were newly ornamented with branches of the sacred 
miro, and yellow leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. 
These rites extended to every marae in the island, 
and were designed to secure rain and fertility for 
the country gained by conquest, or recovered from 
invasion. 
Besides these, the chief occasional services were 
those connected with the illness of their rulers, 
which was supposed to be inflicted by the gods for 
some offence of the chiefs or people. Long and 
frequent prayers were offered, to avert their anger, 
and prevent death. But, supposing the gods were 
always influenced by the same motives as them¬ 
selves, they imagined that the efficacy of their 
prayers would be in exact proportion to the value 
of the offerings with which they were accompanied. 
Hence, when the symptoms of disease were violent 
and alarming, if the sufferer was a chief of rank, 
the fruits of whole fields of plantains, and a hun¬ 
dred or more pigs, have been taken to the marae, 
and frequently, besides these, a number of men, 
with ropes round their necks , have been also led 
to the temple, and presented before the idol. The 
prayers of the priests have often been interrupted 
by the ejaculatory addresses of the men, calling on 
