BURYING THE SINS OF THE DEAD. 403 
which for this service were generally furnished in 
pigs and cloth, in proportion to the rank or pos¬ 
sessions of the family. 
All who were employed in embalming, which 
they called miri, were, during the process, care¬ 
fully avoided by every person, as the guilt of the 
crime for which the deceased had died, was sup¬ 
posed in some degree to attach to such as touched 
the body. They did not feed themselves, lest the 
food defiled by the touch of their polluted hands, 
should cause their own death,—but were fed by 
others. 
As soon as the ceremony of depositing the sins 
in the hole was over, all who had touched the body 
or the garments of the deceased, which were 
buried or destroyed, fled precipitately into the sea, 
to cleanse themselves from the pollution, called 
mahuruhuru, which they had contracted by touch¬ 
ing the corpse; casting also into the sea, the 
clothes they had worn while employed in the work. 
Having finished their ablutions, they gathered a 
few pieces of coral from the bottom of the sea, and, 
returning with them to the house, addressed the 
dead body by saying, “ With you may the ma¬ 
huruhuru, or pollution, be,” and threw down the 
pieces of coral on the top of the hole that had been 
dug for the purpose of receiving every thing con¬ 
taminating, connected with the deceased. 
The ceremonies in general were now finished, 
but if the property of the family was abundant, 
their attachment to the deceased great, and they 
wished his spirit to be conveyed to Rohutu noanoa , 
the Tahitian paradise, a fifth priest was employed. 
Costly offerings were presented, and valuable 
articles given to the priest of Romatane, the 
keeper of this happy place; IJrutaetae was the 
d 2 
