»777. and e le g a n t ; that is, more fo than we had u fu a lly met with
s«p* ” bCT-1 at any o f thefe iflands. But the principal objeft I had in view,
this day, in go in g toOparre, was to take a view o f an embalmed
eorpfe, w hich fome o f our gentlemen had happened to mee
w ith at that place, near the refidence o f Otoo. On inquiry,
I found it to be the remains o f Tee , a C h ie f well kn own to
me, w hen I was at this ifland, during m y laft voyage,
was ly in g in a toopapaoo, more e legantly conftrufted than
their common ones, and in a ll refpefts fimilar to that late ly
feen by us at Oheitepeha, in w hich the remains o f V ahea-
dooa are depofited, embalmed in the fame manner. When
w e arrived at the place, th'e body was under cover, and
wrapped up in cloth, within the mfapaoo; but, at m y delire,
the man w ho had the care o f it, brought it out and laid it
upon a kind o f bier, in fuch a manner, that we had as fu
a view o f it as w e could w iih , but w e were not allowed to
go with in the pales that inclofed the toopapaoo. After h e
had thus exhibited the eorpfe, he h u n g the place with
mats and cloth, fodifpofed as to produce a v e ry pretty effeft.
We found the body not only entire in every part; but, what
furprized us much more, was, that p u t r e fa cW feemed
■fcarcely to be begun , as there was not the leaft difagreeable
(mell proceeding from i t ; though the climate is one: o f the
hotteft, and Tee had been dead above four months. T h e
only remarkable alteration that had happened was a Ihr.nk-
in g o f the mufcular parts and e ye s ; but the hair and nails
were in their original Hate, and Hill adhered firm ly ; and
the feveral joints were quite pliable, or in that kind o f relaxed
ftate w h ich happens to perfons who faint fu d d en y .
Such were Mr. Anderfon’s remarks to me, who alio told me,
that, on his inquiring into the method o f e ffe&in g t is prefervation
o f their dead bodies, he had been informed, that,
toon
fbon after their death, they are difembowelled, b y drawing Se^ bCT.
the inteftines, and other vi/cera, out at the anus; a n d 'th e ; ---- «
whole cavity is then filled or fluffed w ith cloth, introduced
through the fame p a r t ; that when any moifture appeared'
on the ikin , it was c a re fu lly dried up, and the bodies afterw
ard rubbed: all over, w ith a large quantity o f perfumed'
cocoa-nut o i l ; which, being frequently repeated, preferved-
them a ¿reat many m o n th s ; but that, at laft, they grad ually
moulder away. T h is was the information Mr. Ander-
Ibn received ; for my own part, I could.not learn any more
about their mode o f operation, than what Omai told me,
who faid, that they made ufe o f the ju ic e o f a plant which,
grows amongft the mountains;, of. cocoa-nut o il; and of.
frequent w afhin g w ith fea-water. I was alfo told, that the.
bodies o f all their great men, who die a natural death, are
preferved in this m a n n e r ;.a n d that they expofe. them to.
public view for a ve ry confiderable time after. At firft, they,
are laid out every day, w h en it does not ra in ; afterward,,
the intervals become greater and g r e a te r ; and, at laft, they-
are feldom to be feen.
In the evening, we returned from Oparre* where we left
Otoo, and all the royal fam ily ; and I faw none o f them till
the i z th ;. when all, but the C h ie f himfelf, paid me a vifir.- Friday i*-.
He, as they told.me, was gone to Attahooroo, to aflift, this,
day, at another human facrifice,- w hich the C h ie f o f Tiara-
boo had fent thither to be.-ofFered up at the- morai. This
fecond inftance, within the courfe o f a few days, was too
melancholy a proof, how numerous the viitim s o f this-
bloody fuperftition are amongft this humane, people.. 15
wou ld have been prefent at this facrifice too, had I kn own •
o f it in tim e ; for, now, it was 1 too late. From the ve ry ,
fame caufe, I miffed b eing prefent at a public tranfaeftion,
1 which.;