m
A V O Y A G E
On the 2 ill, fome of us went on ihore, and bought many plantains, and cocoa-
aiuts- The plantains were moftly green, and, boiled or roailed, ate as well as a
potatoe.
In the afternoon we went on Ihore again, and faw but few of the natives in the
country, which, though very pleafant, looks like an uninhabited or deferted
place. We faw fome moráis, [fee pi. X.] or burial places, which are fimilar in all
thefe iAands, and went into one of them, in which there was a whatee, or altar,
with a roaffed hog, • and fifh upon it, defigned as an offering to the Ethoóa, or god.
Near to the whatee, or altar, there was a large houfe, which contained the coong-
■drums ufed at their, folemnities; and, adjoining to this houfe, were feveral large
cages of wood, having awnings of palm-leaves upon them. Thefe cages are called1
O ro , and relied upon beams laid upon others that flood upright, and feemed intended
for the reception of the birds facred to Ethooa, 'of which there are two that
fly about their moráis, the grey heron, and a blue and brown king-filher. Thefe
moráis are paved, or rather covered with a fort of coral, and planted with various
forts of flowering fttrubs, fuch as nonoah, etoa, and hibifcus. At the front of the
morai, which faces the fea, they have built a fort of amphitheatre, of large
rough Hones; and, among thefe Hones, there aré a great many long boards fet
up, carved in various figures, according to their fancy. Every family of note has
one of thefe moráis ornamented as much as they can afford *. I have-been told,
that the inhabitants of thefe three ifles worthip the rainbow, which they call
Toomeitee no Tane.
On-
* A. kind of prieft, [fee pi. XI.] callea heiva, attends thefe Moráis, doathed in a feather garment,
ornamented with round pieces of mother-of-pearl, and a very high cap on his' head, made
o f cane, or bamboo ¡ the front of which is feather-work , the edges befet with quills ftripped of
the plumage. He has alfo a fort of breaft-platc, of a femicircular ihapc, made of a kind of wickerwork,
on which they weave their plaited twine in a variety of figures : over this they put feathers of
a green pigeon in rows ; and between the rows is a femicircular row of ihark’ s teeth. The edge of
ifie breafl-plafe is fringed-with fine white dog’s hair»
This prieft is commonly attended with two boys, painted black, who affift him in placing the hog
and fiih for the Ethooa ¡ asalfo in ftrewing the body of the defun& with leaves and flowers of bamboo;
and,