LICENTIOUSNESS OF THE AREOIS. 237 
their performances. The house erected for this 
purpose, which we saw at Tiataepuaa, was one of 
the best in Eimeo. Sometimes they performed in 
their canoes, as they approached the shore ; espe¬ 
cially if they had the king of the island, or any 
principal chief, on board their fleet. When one 
of these companies thus advanced towards the 
land, with their streamers floating in the wind, 
their drums and flutes sounding, and the Areois, 
attended by their chief, who acted as their promp¬ 
ter, appeared on a stage erected for the purpose, 
with their wild distortions of person, antic gestures, 
painted bodies, and vociferated songs, mingling 
with the sound of the drum and the flute, the 
dashing of the sea, and the rolling and breaking 
of the surf, on the adjacent reef; the whole must 
have presented a ludicrous imposing spectacle, 
accompanied with a confusion of sight and sound, 
of which it is not very easy to form an adequate 
idea. 
The above were the principal occupations of the 
Areois; and in the constant repetition of these, 
often obscene exhibitions, they passed their lives, 
strolling from the habitation of one chief to that of 
another, or sailing among the different islands of 
the group. The farmers did not in general much 
respect them; but the chiefs, and those addicted 
to pleasure, held them in high estimation, furnish¬ 
ing them with liberal entertainment, and sparing 
no property to gratify them. This often proved 
the cause of most unjust and cruel oppression to 
the poor cultivators. When a party of Areois 
arrived in a district, in order to provide daily a 
sumptuous entertainment for them, the chief would 
send his servants to the best plantations in the 
neighbourhood; and these grounds, without any 
