412 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
It was, throughout, adapted to awaken tenderness* 
and regret at the event* and sympathy with the 
survivors* 
Soon after the decease of a chief or person of 
distinction, another singular ceremony, called a 
heva , was performed by the relatives or depend¬ 
ants. The principal actor in this procession was a 
priest, or relative, who wore a curious dress, the 
most imposing part of which was the head-orna¬ 
ment, or parae. A cap of thick native cloth was 
fitted close to the head; in front were two large 
broad mother-of-pearl shells, covering the face 
like a mask, with one small aperture through 
which the wearer could look. Above the mask a 
number of beautiful, long, white, red-tipped, tail 
feathers of the tropic bird, were fixed, diverging 
like rays; beneath the mask was a curved piece 
of thin yet strong board, six or nine inches wide 
in the centre, but narrow at the ends, which, turned 
upwards, gave it the appearance of a crescent. 
Attached to this was a beautiful kind of net¬ 
work of small pieces of brilliant mother-of-pearl 
shell called the ahu aua , each piece being about 
an inch or an inch and a half long, and less than 
a quarter of an inch wide. Every piece was finely 
polished, and reduced to the thinness of a card ; a 
small perforation was made at each corner, and 
the pieces fastened together by threads passed 
through these perforations. They were fixed per¬ 
pendicularly to the board, and extended nearly 
from one end to the other. The depth varied 
according to the taste or means of the family, but 
it was generally nine inches or a foot. 
The labour in making this part of the parae 
must have been excessive. The many hundred 
pieces of mother-of-pearl shell, that must have been 
