Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/428

362 362 TRANSACTIONS AT of the death of Toob6 Niiha, (p. 143,) but in a very imperfect way, because Finow had ordered that no appearance of sorrow or sound of lamentation should .be made ; but, in spite of this injunction, they occasionally could not re- strain their grief, beating their breasts with every mark of deepfelt anguish. It is difficult to conceive the reason of Finow's whimsical conduct on this occasion, unless it were (as ge- nerally interpreted) an impious and revengeful endeavour to insult the gods, by ordering those ceremonies not to be performed which were considered objects of religious duty on such sacred occasions. Every morning and evening provisions and cava were brought for the enter- tainment of those who attended on the body. On the nineteenth day it was removed from the cedar chest, and deposited in the model of a canoe, about three feet and a half long, made for the express purpose, and nicely polished by one of Finow's carpenters (this is the Hamoa custom). By this time the body had become much inflated, and extremely offensive; but the office of removing it was performed by some foreigners, natives of Hamoa, who were accustomed to such tasks *. During the whole keep the dead above ground for a considerable length of time, as above related : as the body;, during this period, is
 * At Hamoa (the Navigr.tor's island) it is the custom to