appearance of a
hostile meeting in an enemy's camp, than of a group of mourners about to
be occupied in the melancholy duty of depositing out of sight for ever
the last remains of a beloved chief.

Mooetara, the son and successor of the deceased, came to meet us on the
beach, and seemed much gratified by our attention, our appearance on this
solemn occasion giving him importance in the eyes of all the natives then
assembled. He gave orders for our being conducted with much ceremony to
the place of mourning, where, amidst a number of uncouth pieces of
carving (which, we were informed were all tombs reared in honour of the
memory of several former chiefs, and all tabooed), was erected a small
hut, covered in at the top with thatch, but open at the sides. In the
centre of this hut the bones of the deceased chief were exposed to view.
After having undergone the process of decomposition during four months'
exposure to heat, wind, and rain, they had been collected, cleaned, and
decorated with a quantity of fresh white feathers, which rendered the
appearance of the skull still more frightful.

The women here invariably perform the parts of chief mourners; a group of
them, with the widow of the deceased at their head, kept up a most
mournful cadence, and at every pause in their dismal song slashed their
skins with a piece of shell, till their faces, necks, and arms were
literally streaming down with blood. This mourning and cutting is
completely a matter of business, and is sometimes carried on without
their feeling any real sorrow or sympathy. Parties kept arriving, and
when there was not room for them to thrust themselves round the hut, they
sat down in groups, perfectly unconcerned, employing themselves in
cleaning their firelocks, or playing off upon each other some practical
joke; but the moment a vacant space was presented near the hut, they
deliberately stripped themselves, put on a most sorrowful countenance,
and, seating themselves as near to the ornamented bones as possible, they
immediately began their howling and slashing; no one seemed to like the
idea of being outdone by his neighbour; but when the time allotted to
this ceremony had expired, all instantly jumped up, wiped themselves, put
on their mats, and joined the busy throng. There was, indeed, one real
mourner, who never moved from the bones, nor once lifted up her eyes from
them; she neither howled nor cut herself, and yet she inspired me with
pity and com