ROYAL INAUGURATION. 109 
Sometimes a human victim was cffered for every 
fresh piece added to the girdle; and when it was 
finished, another man, called ‘‘ Sacrifice for the piu 
raa maro,” was slain; and the girdle was considered’ 
as consecrated by the blood of those victims. On 
the morning of what might be called the corenation 
day, when the king bathed, prior to the commence- 
ment of the ceremonies, another human victim was 
required in the name of the gods. 
The pageant, on this occasion, proceeded by 
land and water. The parties, who were to be en- 
gaged in the transactions of the day, assembled in 
the marae of Oro. Certain ceremonies were here 
performed : the image of Oro, stripped of the sacred 
cloth in which he usually reposed, and decorated 
with all the emblems of his divinity, was con- 
veyed to the large court of the temple; the Papa 
rahe o ruea, or great bed of Oro, a large curiously 
formed bench or sofa, cut out of a solid piece of 
timber, was brought out, for the throne on which 
the king was to sit. 
When these preliminaries were finished, they | 
proceeded from the temple in the following order. 
_-— Tairi-moa, one of the priests of the family of 
Tairi, carried the image of Oro. The king follow- 
ed immediately after the god. Behind him the 
large bed of Oro was borne by four chiefs. The 
miro-tahua, or orders of priests, with the great 
drum from the temple, the trumpets, and other 
instruments, followed. Each of the priests wore 
a tapaau on the arm, consisting of the braided 
leaflets of the cocoa-nut tree. As soon as the 
image appeared without the temple, the multitude, 
who were waiting to witness the pageant, retired 
to a respectful distance on’ each side, leaving a 
wide clear space. The priests sounded their trum- 
