the axe was soon laid to the roots of the trees*
I saw them pursuing their laborious employ
with alacrity. In a few days a sufficient
number of fine logs came floating down the
river to load the ship, and they were - all
cleared in a workmanlike manner, ready to
stow away.. The chief things to induce these
people to work are fire-arms and powder:
these are two stimulants to their industry
which never fail.
A few days after our return to E. O. Ke
Angha we received intelligence that A Rowa,
the father of Mooetara, and the eldest chief
in the district, was dead. These deaths, when
they occur among men of rank, are generally
accompanied by some» horrible . scenes of
butchery amongst their slaves, — a common
custom among all savages, but practised here,
(I was informed,) with peculiar cruelty. We
went on shore to witness the ceremony of
A Rowa’s lying in state, hoping at the same
time that our presence might induce them
to dispense with some of those barbarous
cruelties which generally accompany their
funeral rites- We had, indeed, every reason
to think we had conjectured rightly, for
nothing of the kind took place; which was
considered by all as a circumstance somewhat
remarkable. A great concourse of savages
had assembled all round the village of the
deceased chief and there was a tremendous
firing of muskets, but no particular marks of
grief I spoke to JVTooetara, and requested,
as a favour, if it were not breaking through
their established rules, that he would conduct
me to the body of his father. He accordingly
led me to the outside of the village; and
under a rude hut (constructed for the purpose)
lay the body of the deceased chief;
closely covered up with mats, leaving only
part of the face and head exposed; in his
hair was stuck a profusion of long white
feathers, by way of ornament. Two women
(whom I understood were his wives) sat close
to the corpse; they were painted all over
with red ochre, and seemed to perform the
parts of chief mourners. These kept up a low
moaning noise, and occasionally whisked off
the flies from the face of the deceased. The
women, the corpse, the hut, and the ground