THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
67 
people. This praying and finging continued for an hour. 1777. 
Then, after a fhort prayer, the principal priefl uncovered l Scptember ' 1 
the maro ; and Otoo role up, and wrapped it about him, 
holding, at the fame time, in his hand, a cap or bonnet, 
compofed of the red feathers of the tail of the tropic bird, 
mixed with other feathers of a dark colour. He Hood in 
the middle fpace, facing the three priefis, who continued 
their prayers for about ten minutes ; when a man, ftarting 
from the crowd, faid fomething which ended with the 
word he'iva! and the crowd echoed back to him, three 
times, Earee! This, as I had been told before, was the prin¬ 
cipal part of the folemnity. 
The company now moved to the oppofite fide of the great 
pile of Hones, where is, what they call, the king’s moral ; 
which is not unlike a large grave. Here the fame ceremony 
was performed over again, and ended in three cheers. The 
maro was now wrapped up, and increafed in its fplendor by 
the addition of a fmall piece of red feathers, which one of 
the prieHs gave Otoo when he had it on, and which he 
Huck into it. 
From this place, the people went to a large hut, clofe by 
the moraiy where they feated themfelves in much greater 
order than is ufual among them. A man of Tiaraboo, then 
made an oration, which lafted about ten minutes. He was 
followed by an Attahooroo man; afterward Potatou fpoke 
with much greater fluency and grace than any of them; 
for, in general, they fpoke in fhort, broken fentences, with 
a motion of the hand that was rather awkward.' Tooteo, 
Otoo’s orator, fpoke next; and, after him, a man from 
Eimeo. Two or three more fpeeches were made; but not 
much attended to. Omai told me, that the fpeeches de¬ 
clared, that they fhould not fight, but all be friends. As 
K 2 many 
