r, a hog, which had also been made
an offering to the divinity. At a little distance from these, near
the middle of the _morai_, were three more of these square inclosed
places, with two pieces of carved wood at each, and upon them a heap
of fern. These, we were told, were the graves of three chiefs; and
before them was an oblong, inclosed space, to which our conductor also
gave the name of _Tangata taboo_; telling us, so explicitly, that we
could not mistake his meaning, that three human sacrifices had been
buried there; that is, one at the funeral of each chief. It was with
most sincere concern, that I could trace, on such undoubted evidence,
the prevalence of these bloody rites, throughout this immense ocean,
amongst people disjoined by such a distance, and even ignorant of each
other's existence, though so strongly marked as originally of the same
nation. It was no small addition to this concern, to reflect, that
every appearance led us to believe, that the barbarous practice was
very general here. The island seemed to abound with such places of
sacrifice as this which we were now visiting, and which appeared to
be one of the most inconsiderable of them, being far less conspicuous
than several others which we had seen, as we sailed along the coast,
and particularly than that on the opposite side of the water, in
this valley, the white _henananoo_, or pyramid, of which, we were now
almost sure, derived its colour only from pieces of the consecrated
cloth laid over it. In several parts, within the inclosure of this
burying-ground, were planted trees of the _cordia sebestina_ some
of the _morinda citrifolia_, and several plants of the _etee_, or
_jeejee_, of Tongataboo, with the leaves of which the _hemanaa_ was
thatched; and, as I observed, that this plant was not made use of in
thatching their dwelling-houses, probably it is reserved entirely for
religious purposes.

Our road to and from the _morai_, which I have described, lay through
the plantations. The greatest part of the ground was quite flat, with
ditches full of water intersecting different parts, and roads that
seemed artificially raised to some height. The interspaces were, in
general, planted with _taro_, which grows here with great strength, as
the fields are sunk below the common level, so as to contain the water
necessary to nourish the roots. This water probably comes from the
same source, which supplies the large pool from which we filled
our casks.