Polynesians are aware of the detestation in which Europeans hold this
custom, and therefore invariably deny its existence, and, with the craft
peculiar to savages, endeavour to conceal every trace of it.

But to my story.

About a week after my discovery of the contents of the mysterious
packages, I happened to be at the Ti, when another war-alarm was sounded,
and the natives, rushing to their arms, sallied out to resist a second
incursion of the Happar invaders. The same scene was again repeated, only
that on this occasion I heard at least fifteen reports of muskets from the
mountains during the time that the skirmish lasted. An hour or two after
its termination, loud paeans chanted through the valley announced the
approach of the victors. I stood with Kory-Kory leaning against the
railing of the pi-pi, awaiting their advance, when a tumultuous crowd of
islanders emerged with wild clamours from the neighbouring groves. In the
midst of them marched four men, one preceding the other at regular
intervals of eight or ten feet, with poles of a corresponding length,
extending from shoulder to shoulder, to which were lashed with thongs of
bark three long narrow bundles, carefully wrapped in ample coverings of
freshly plucked palm-leaves, tacked together with slivers of bamboo. Here
and there upon these green winding-sheets might be seen the stains of
blood, while the warriors who carried the frightful burdens displayed upon
their naked limbs similar sanguinary marks. The shaven head of the
foremost had a deep gash upon it, and the clotted gore which had flowed
from the wound remained in dry patches around it. The savage seemed to be
sinking under the weight he bore. The bright tattooing upon his body was
covered with blood and dust; his inflamed eyes rolled in their sockets,
and his whole appearance denoted extraordinary suffering and exertion;
yet, sustained by some powerful impulse, he continued to advance, while
the throng around him with wild cheers sought to encourage him. The other
three men were marked about the arms and breasts with several slight
wounds, which they somewhat ostentatiously displayed.

These four individuals, having been the most active in the late encounter,
claimed the honour of bearing the bodies of their slain enemies to the Ti.
Such was the conclusion I drew from my own observations, and, as far as I
could understand, from the explanation which Kory-Kory gave me.

The royal Mehevi walked by the