ear,
and, seating themselves facing the sea, one commenced reciting a long
prayer, occasionally sending one of his attendants to place a young
plantain on the body. Whilst this recitation was going on an attendant
stood near holding two small bundles "seemingly of cloth; in one, as we
afterwards found, was the Royal Maro, and the other, if I may be allowed
the expression, was the ark of the Eatua" [God].

This prayer being ended, the priests returned to the beach, and more
prayers were said, the plantains being moved, one by one, from the body
and placed in front of the priests. Then the body, wrapped in leaves, was
put on the beach, with the feet to the sea, and the priests gathered
round, some sitting, some standing, the prayers still going on. The
leaves were then stripped off the body, and it was turned sideways on to
the sea, and one priest standing at the feet repeated another long prayer
in which he was occasionally joined by the others. Each priest at this
time held in his hand a bunch of the red feathers. Some hair was now
pulled from the head of the corpse, and an eye taken out, wrapped in
leaves and presented to Otoo, who did not touch them, but sent them back
with a bunch of feathers, soon after sending a second bunch he had asked
Cook to put in his pocket for him when starting. At this time a
king-fisher made a noise in some trees near, and Otoo remarked, "That is
the Eatua," evidently looking on it as a good omen.

The body was now moved away to the foot of one of the small Morais, the
two bundles of cloth being placed on the Morai at its head and the tufts
of feathers at its feet, the priests surrounding the body and the people
gathering in closer. More speeches were made, and a second lock of hair
plucked from the head and placed on the Morai. Then the red feathers were
placed on the cloth bundles, which were carried over to the great Morai
and laid against a pile of stones, to which the body was also brought,
and the attendants proceeded to dig a grave, whilst the priests continued
their recitations. The body was then buried, and a dog Towha had sent
over (a very poor one, says Cook) was partially cooked and presented to
the priests, who called on Eatua to come and see what was prepared for
him, at the same time putting it on a small altar on which were the
remains of two dogs and three pigs, which smelt so intolerably that the
white men were compelled to move further away than they wished. This
ended