B IE M A U K S on. t s e i f 8
keligion. In their marriages • fomc. ceremonies, are oblcrved, -but .the au-
:thorities we have for talking o f them are o f no great weight,
becaufe the only people who were prefent, .did not underftand
enough of the language, to'obtain information relative -to the
fignification of feveral tranfadiions and ceremonies-they faw performed
in their prefence. The young Borabora man Maheine wds
married to the daughter o f Tvperre ch ie f o f the (.lift riel o f Mat aval,
-during our fecond ftay atTaheitee. We were -told that he had 'been
fitting on the ground by the fide o f his bride, holding her hand
in Jiis, being furrounded by ten or 'twelve perfons, chitefly women,
who repeated fome words .in a recitative or finging tone, to which
Maheine and his bride gave fome fhort -refponfes.: fome food was
prefcnted to them, and Maheine gave a part o f it to his bride and
-Ihe to him, which, action was Tikewife accompanied• b y certain
■ words, and laMy they bathed in the -river. This is -the whole
account o f the ceremony, which has been obferved and recounted.
Perfons o f little curiofity with a very flender knowledge o f the
language, were certainly not the belt qualified for enquiring into
the reafon and fignification o f any tranfaftion or ceremony, and we
-did not hear,-of fhefe circumftances till we had quitted the idle,
otherwife we Ihould have endeavoured to obtain fome information
on that head.
6 T h e
IT. U Ml A N-: S F E C 1 ' E ?. ^ 9 ,
The ceremonies-ufually performed-on the demife o f perfons . of religion.-.
rank.in.Taheitee are more curious-than any • other feen or.defcribed,.
andicontain,briefly the following circumftances.. As Toon as the-
perfon is known to be dead,, the relations .and friends refort to the
houfe hejoccupied when alive, and there join in lamentations and?
other,ligns. o f grief over..the lofs of' their friend,, which' continues-
all that day and night, till the next-; morning-; when the body is.
wrapped,in fome o f their white cloth, and carried to the.neighbour-
hood, o f the marai, where the remains o f 1 the deceafed-in future.
are to be depofited; i f that, place be diftant, the . corpfe is carried,
in a boat. and conveyed thither on a Men covered by. a little thatch ,
in the form o f a fmalT houfe. The corpfe is then carried near the
ihare, attended during the; whole, time by the prieft,.. who. repeats-
fome. prayers before the corpfe is taken, and continues to repeat';
them till he reaches the marai. H e then renews his prayers and
fcntences, andfprinkles fea-water,towards the body, but not upon,
i t ; which is -repeated., feveral. times;, the. body having been, taken.
away and .carried back each time j , till at laft a fmall inclofure being
made near the marai,. and .a kind o f open Ihed called T ueaeou, *
raifed- on polls fix or feven feet from the ground,, heing finilhed,
the.
* ' One of the Tupap'ous is reprefented ini GookY Voyage, vok i, jai 1 8 3 .p l, xliv, ancL.
another in Hawkefworth, ,tvol. ii. p. 234, .pi, N°>-v,.
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