of the
child was present at the consultation and consented to the sacrifice.
The mother, fearing the decision, had concealed the child, but it was
found by one of the searchers, who took it up in his arms, while it
smiled with delight at being noticed. The mother tried to follow but
was held back; and on hearing her voice the child began to cry. But on
reaching the place of execution it was pleased and delighted with the
bandage that was put round its neck to strangle it, and looking up in
the face of the executioner it smiled again. "Such a sight," we are
told, "inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and fear
of the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, and its destroyer
could not help exclaiming, as he put on the fatal bandage, _O iaaoe chi
vale!_ (poor little innocent!)." Two men then tightened the cord by
pulling at each end, and the struggles of the innocent victim were soon
over. The little body was next placed upon a sort of hand-barrow,
supported on the shoulders of four men, and carried in a procession of
priests, chiefs, and _matabooles_, all clothed as suppliants in mats and
with wreaths of green leaves round their necks. In this way it was
conveyed to various houses dedicated to different gods, before each of
which it was placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it,
except one priest, who sat beside it and prayed aloud to the god that he
would be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the
heinous sacrilege committed, and that punishment might accordingly be
withheld from the people. When this had been done before all the
consecrated houses in the fortress, the body was given up to its
relations, to be buried in the usual manner.[69]

[69] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 216-219. As to the rule
that nobility descended only in the female line, through
mothers, not through fathers, see _id._ ii. 84, 95 _sq._; J.
Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Histoire du Voyage_,
iv. 239.

The consecration of a house or a piece of ground to a god was denoted by
the native word _taboo_, the general meaning of which was prohibited or
forbidden.[70] It was firmly believed by the Tongans in former days that
if a man committed sacrilege or broke a taboo, his liver or some other
of his internal organs was liable to become enlarged and scirrhous, that
is, indurated or knotty; hence they often opened dead bodies out of
curiosity, to see whether the