HUMAN VICTIMS. 347 
and districts. When an individual had been taken 
as a sacrifice, the family to which he belonged was 
regarded as tabu or devoted; and when another 
was required, it was more frequently taken from 
that family than any other: and a district from 
which sacrifices had been taken, was, in the same 
way, considered as devoted ; and hence, when it 
was known that any ceremonies were near, on 
which human sacrifices were usually offered, the 
members of tabu families, or others who had 
reason to fear they were selected, fled to the 
mountains, and hid themselves in the caverns 
till the ceremony was over. At a public meet- 
ing in Raiatea, Paumoana, a native chieftain, 
alluded to this practice in terms resembling these : 
-—How great our dread of our former gods! Are 
there not some here who have fled from their 
houses, to avoid being taken for sacrifices? Yes! 
I know the cave in which they were concealed. 
In general, the victim was unconscious of his 
doom, until suddenly stunned by a blow from a 
club or a stone, sometimes from the hand of the 
very chief on whom he was depending as a guest 
for the rights of hospitality. He was usually mur- 
dered on the spot—his body placed in a long 
basket of cocoa-nut leaves, and carried to the 
temple. Here it was offered, not by consuming it 
with fire, but by placing it before the idol. The 
priest, in dedicating it, took out one of the eyes, 
placed it on a plantain leaf, and handed it to the 
king, who raised it to his mouth as if desirous to 
eat it, but passed it to one of the priests or attend- 
ants, stationed near him for the purpose of receiv- 
ing it. At imtervals during the prayers some of 
the hair was plucked off, and placed before the 
god; and when the ceremony was over, the body 
