178 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES* 
many depredations as the Sandwich Islanders* 
They have, however, one very delicate method of 
preserving the recollection of the dead, which the 
latter do not appear to employ; that is, of having 
a small portion of the hair of the deceased passed 
through a perforation in one of their ears, in¬ 
geniously braided in the form of an ear-ring, and 
worn sometimes for life= 
But the Sandwich Islanders have another cus¬ 
tom, almost peculiar to themselves, viz. singing at 
the death of their chiefs, something in the manner 
of the ancient Peruvians. I have been peculiarly 
affected more than once on witnessing this cere¬ 
mony. 
A day or two after the decease of Keeaumoku, 
governor of Maui, and the elder brother of Kua- 
kini, governor of Hawaii, I was sitting with the 
surviving relatives, who were weeping around the 
couch on which the corpse was lying, when a 
middle-aged woman came in at the other end of 
the large house, and, having proceeded about half 
way towards the spot where the body lay, began 
to sing in a plaintive tone, accompanying her song 
with affecting gesticulations, such as wringing her 
hands, grasping her hair, and beating her breasts. 
I wrote down her monody as she repeated it. She 
described, in a feeling manner, the benevolence of 
the deceased, and her own consequent loss. One 
passage was as follows :— 
Ue, ue, ua mate tuu Aru, Alas, alas, dead is my chief, 
Ua mate tuu hatu e tuu hoa, Dead is my lord and my 
friend; 
Tuu hoa i ta wa o ta wi, My friend in the season of 
famine, 
Tun hoa i paa ta aina, My friend in the time of 
drought, 
Tuu hoa i tuu ilihune, My friend in my poverty, 
