the ceremony for the day.

THE KING'S MARO.

Next morning they all returned to the Morai; a pig was sacrificed and
placed on the same altar, and about eight o'clock the priests, Otoo, and
a great number of people assembled. The two bundles were still in the
same place as on the previous night, but two drums were now standing in
front of them between which Otoo and Cook seated themselves. The priests,
placing a plantain tree in front of the king, resumed their praying, each
having his bunch of feathers in his hand. They then moved off to a place
between the Morai and the king and placed the feathers bunch by bunch on
the bundles, the prayers still going on. Four pigs were then produced,
one immediately killed, and the others put in a sty for future use. The
bundle containing the king's Maro was now untied and spread carefully on
the ground before the priests. The Maro was about five yards long by
fifteen inches broad, composed of red and yellow feathers, chiefly
yellow. At one end was a border of eight pieces about the size and shape
of horse-shoes fringed with black pigeon's feathers; the other end was
forked, the ends being of unequal length. The feathers were arranged in
two rows and had a very good effect. They were fastened on a piece of
native cloth, and then sewn to the English pendant which Wallis left
flying when he sailed from Matavai Bay. After the priests had repeated
another prayer, the emblem of royalty was carefully folded up and
replaced on the Morai, and then one end of what Cook called the Ark of
the Eatua was opened, but the visitors were not permitted to see what it
contained. The entrails of the pig were then prayed over, and one of the
priests stirred them gently with a stick, evidently trying to draw a
favourable omen from their movements. They were then thrown on the fire,
the partly-cooked pig was deposited on the altar, and when the bunches of
feathers that had been used had been placed in the Ark, the ceremony was
over.

The meanings of all this could not be discovered, but it was found that
when a victim was wanted, a chief picked him out and sent his servants to
kill him. This was done without any warning to the man who was to suffer,
usually by a blow with a stone on the head, and it appeared that at the
subsequent ceremony the presence of the king was absolutely
indispensable. Chiefs of an enemy's tribe who were killed in battle were
buried with some state in the Morais, the common men at