n Pacific Ocean_, p. 129.

But perhaps the most popular recreation of the Marquesans was dancing
and singing, which formed a leading feature of their festivals. Every
inhabited district had its dancing-place, a sort of public square, where
places were set apart for the use of the performers, the musicians, and
the spectators. These have been described by the missionary, C. S.
Stewart, from personal observation. He says, "Our walk terminated at
what may be called the _theatre_ or _opera house_ of the settlement, a
large rectangular platform of stone pavement, surrounded by low terraces
also laid with stone; the first designed for the public exhibitions of
the song and the dance, and the last for the accommodation of the
spectators who assemble to witness the performance. Entertainments of
this kind are the most fashionable and favourite amusements at the
Washington and the Marquesan groups. Every inhabited district has its
_Tahua_, or public square of this kind; some of them so extensive, it is
said, as to be capable of accommodating ten thousand people."[47] Again,
speaking of another of these dancing-places, the same writer observes,
"This _Tahua_, or theatre, is a structure altogether superior to that
visited by us yesterday, and so massive and well built as to be capable
of enduring for ages. It is a regular oblong square, about sixty feet in
length and forty broad. The outer wall consists of immense stones, or
slabs of rock, three feet high, and many of them four or six feet long,
joined closely together and hewn with a regularity and neatness truly
astonishing, in view of the rude implements by which it must have been
accomplished. On a level with the top of this outer wall, a pavement of
large flat stones, several feet in width, extends entirely round,
forming seats for the chiefs, warriors, and other persons of
distinction, and singers performing the recitatives and choruses
accompanying the dance. Within this, and some inches lower, is another
pavement still wider, having large flat-topped stones fixed in it at
regular intervals of six or eight feet, used as seats by the beaters on
the drums, and other rude instruments of music, and immediately within
this again, an unpaved area, some twenty feet long by twelve broad,
constituting the stage on which the dancers exhibit their skill."[48]

[47] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 214 _sq._

[48] C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 233 _sq._ Compare
Vincendon-Dumou